#anyway hi the lesson is to step out of your comfort zone I guess. because bg is so out of my comfort zone

[chexie]

It’s interesting to find out that there’s apparently a very real Darkside Detective to Baldur’s Gate pipeline

[nishisun]

couples therapy w/ KUROO!

pairing: kenma kozume x reader

summery: y/n and kenma attend “couples therapy” little did y/n know, there would be a rather pleasant suprised.

genre: just fluff and tiny angst

a/n: this is really rushed because ik y’all are waiting for another dorm buddies part so i wrote this in the middle of the night cause i was bored. i hope you like it LWNAJDHAJDHD. also, i hate reading my works so if there’s any errors i apologize

[recording. patients: kenma kozume & l/n y/n]

[kuroo] hello, kenma-san, l/n-san. how are you both doing today?

[kenma] why are we doing this again?

[kuroo] well KENMA, i already told you, this is good for my training and even better for my resume!

[kuroo] back to the question, y/n-san?

[y/n] (sighs) to be honest, i could be better.

[y/n] uh, kuroo, no need for the honorific titles.

[kuroo] right. kenma?

[kenma] i’ve been.. okay.

[kuroo] okay, so, one of your close friends, kuroo-san i think it was, scheduled you both for this session in which you both agreed to take, am i right?

[y/n] ... aren’t you—

[kenma] ...

[y/n] (looks at kenma, and then sighs and looks back at kuroo) uh— yeah, we did.

[kuroo] okay so, first, i want to know the reasons why you both are here, starting with kenma.

[kuroo] kenma, why are you here today?

[kenma] because you forced me to

[kuroo] ...

[kuroo] A for effort kenma! but that’s not the only reason.

[kenma] well, i’m here to... better this relationship.

[kuroo] okay, why?

[kenma] ... what?

[kuroo] why do you want to better this relationship you have with y/n?

[kenma] ... i don’t know.

[y/n] (scoffs) kozume, really?

[kenma] (shrugs)

[kuroo] so, you don’t know why you want to better this relationship?

[kenma] ...

[kuroo] well, if that’s the case, why are you here? do you want y/n to leave?

[kenma] ...

[y/n] (scoffs) kuroo, thank you so much for attempting to help, but i think it’s just best i go—

[kenma] no! wait. please y/n, wait.

[y/n] kenma, you know i’m trying my best to be patient with you, but it seems to me like you’re not putting effort! i’ve really tried. i did. all i’m asking is to at least put some effort.

[kenma] i know, i know you are. i’m sorry.

[y/n] it’s fine, kozume.

[kuroo] alright then, kenma—

[kenma] i want to better this relationship... because i care about y/n. a lot.

[kuroo] and?

[kenma] and..? (looks at y/n) and uh.. because she makes me happy. i feel.. happier when she’s with me.

[kuroo] thank you so much for sharing. now, y/n, why are you here today?

[y/n] i’m here because i’m willing to give kenma and this relationship a second chance.

[kuroo] (writes notes) that’s very good to hear. thank you for sharing that.

[kuroo] now, it has come to my attention that you both are currently not together, am i right?

(kenma and y/n glance at each other)

[kenma] ...

[y/n] uh, yes, that’s true.

[kuroo] okay. (shuffles through notes) now, a week before you both came here, i asked you both to come here with a video—

[kenma] kuroo, maybe the video isn’t necessary—

[y/n] video? i wasn’t aware of a—

[kuroo] ah, yes. let me rephrase that. i asked kenma actually, he insisted.

[kenma] you forced me—

[kuroo] not important!

[y/n] kenma?

[kenma] (sighs) i... made a video... apologizing because i didn’t think you’d want to see me.. and i’m bad at communicating... kuroo thought it was a good idea.

[kuroo] would you like to see the video, y/n?

[y/n] yes please

[kuroo] okay, i’m just gonna leave and let you both watch the video.

[kenma] maybe i should come with you-

[kuroo] no. (slams door)

——

“okay, it’s recording!” kuroo says behind the camera, giving kenma a thumbs up.

“kuroo honestly, this seems stupid. i don’t even know what to say.”

“say whatever comes in your head. this is a great way for you to realize how important y/n is to you.” he reassures behind the camera. kenma gives kuroo an unsure look as he plays around with his fingers.

kenma sighs and gives kuroo a bored look as he’s adjusting the angle of the camera and once he catches kenma staring, he straightens up and sighs as well. “kenma, you’re not good with words. yes, i know this. making this video is a great way for you to release emotions that you’ve concealed. i know you may think it’s stupid right now, but you’ll be suprised how much you’ve said by the end of this. even if you decide to keep this video to yourself, you’ll feel better. trust me.”

kenma nods slightly, still giving kuroo an unsure look as he readjusted the camera once more.

“pretend i’m not even here!”

“i’m trying to but you keep talking.”

“right. i’ll stop”

“uh.. hi y/n. if you’re seeing this, i want you to know that I’m... sorry for not being there for you when you needed me the most. I’m sorry for neglecting you in our relationship. I’m sorry that it took me so long to realize you were the one for me.” kenma looks down at the ground, pursing his lips and sighs. he looks behind the camera to see a smiling kuroo who’s shaking his head, signaling that kenma should keep going.

“I love you, so much. The truth is, I’m not very good at expressing my feelings, which you already know and you’ve accepted me for it. i just wanna tell you that i really do appreciate that. not a lot of people can handle someone like me and the fact that you could just proves how amazing you are.” kenma is looking everywhere but the camera. he looks up at the ceiling and smiles as he reminisces the first time he met you.

“When you first told me you loved me, I warned you, saying ‘You do know what you’re going to be dealing with, right?’ and you told me, and i remember, with a proud and positive voice you said , ‘Yes, I do. And i’m willing to have the best time with you, even if it’s going to end up being the best romance or the worst heart break.’” I laughed at that. You used to crack me up all the time. I missed that.

“Nowadays, I lay on my bed that used to be ours, staring at the wall for hours wishing you were there with me. Crazy, isn’t it? Because when you were with me I never wanted to do anything with you. Well, that’s not the case. It’s not that i didn’t want anything to do with you, i just... i don’t really know. As stupid as it sounds.. i didn’t think you deserved someone like me. You were— are still too good for me. I guess.. i always pushed you away because I wanted you to realize that.” kenma let’s out a silent laugh and sighs. He looks at kuroo for a brief moment and then looks away, fumbling with his fingers.

“uh... it’s been hard to do a lot of things without you lately. Remember when you’d always have to remind me to eat? Even though I pushed you away, you’d still try to get me to eat because you cared so much for my well-being. You always put me first and I hate myself for not doing the same when it came to you.”

“I miss you so much. I miss your voice. I miss everything about you and it hurts me so much that you’re gone... That I was the one that let you go. Everyday I lay in bed wondering if i should call you just to hear your voice. I wonder if you’d answer. Probably not. You probably hate me for letting you go. Trust me, I hate myself for it too. I hate that it took me actually letting you go for me to realize just how much i needed you.”

“It’s quiet at home. It doesn’t even feel like home without you, y/n. I miss the TV being on your favorite show at 9 in the morning as you’d sit on the couch with both our breakfast set on the table as you waited for me to wake up and eat with you.” kenma puts his hands on his face and sighs again for what seems like the hundredth time today.

“i’m an idiot.”

“kenma, no you aren’t. although you haven’t been.. the smartest recently, i’m happy you’re realizing your mistakes. you’re doing great by the way.” kuroo says, giving the faux blond a reassuring smile.

“thank you.” kenma nods.

“I’m sorry for all the pain I caused you. When I broke up with you, I hated the pained expression you had on your face. I thought I was doing what was best for you without even letting you have a say. You were begging me to not do this to you, but I didn’t listen.”

“I’m not trying to make this video to seek your forgiveness.. i’m probably not going to show this to you anyway. i’ll keep this as a lesson to not let go of the one person you love the most because i love you, y/n.”

“is that it?” kuroo asks,

“uh...” kenma thinks for a second, and then shakes his head “yeah. i think i’m done.”

—

By now you’re already tearing up. Tears of joy. You know how hard this must’ve been for Kenma but the fact that he was willing to step out of his comfort zone for you spoke volumes. He was sitting next to you, as you stared down at the phone that had already turned off covering your mouth and it’s your hands. Kenma didn’t know whether to comfort you, scared that you may reject his touch.

“i’m... sorry—“

“dont, kenma.” you sigh. kenma has a pained expression on his face.

You wipe your tears off your face and look up at him giving him a smile. Out of nowhere, a sudden urge of confidence came through you and you basically tackling him in a hug.

“you’re an idiot, you know that, right?”

“yeah, i know.” kenma huffs out a laugh as you chuckle. he hugs you back, gripping you tight with fear that this moment might end.

“i’ve missed you.” kenma places his head in the crook of your neck, inhaling your scent as he plays with his fingers that are wrapped around you.

“i’ve missed you too,” you break off the hug and sit up straight next to him. he’s looking at you— staring actually, you don’t think he’s aware of what he’s doing. “earth to kenma?” you wave your hand in front of his face and he rubs his eyes and chuckles.

“sorry.” he turns and faces forward, still having a small smile on his face.

“hey, what’s up with all of these apologies? are you gonna do something or not?”

kenma turns back to you in confusion, furrowing his brows and you cross your arms smirking, waiting for kenma to understand. Once he finally understands what you’re trying to say, he’s the one hugging you.

“will you take me back, y/n?” he asks— or mumbles. you don’t care though. he’s done enough today. what matters is that he tried. why wouldn’t you give him a second chance?

“of course i will, kozume.” you say, rubbing his back. “hey kenma,”

“hm?”

“a video, really?”

“shut up, i don’t want to talk about it. i just really missed you, okay.”

you laugh at that. you hear the door of that room open. it was kuroo, who was already having a smirk on his face. that idiot.

“a new couple in town, might i ask?”

“oh fuck off, kuroo.” kenma mumbles through your chest, you and kuroo laugh at how annoyed kenma seems.

“see kenma, i told you. chicks love romantic gestures.” kenma lifts his head up from where it’s resting in your chest and glares at kuroo.

“i wouldn’t say that was romantic, but it’s the thought that counts i guess!” you laugh, kenma turns back to look at you and you can’t help but laugh once again at kenma’s expressive facial expressions “but it was cute though. i loved it, baby.”

kenma drops his head back in your chest with a grumble and you caress his hair as kuroo crosses his arms and looks at you both with a smile.

“you guys are soulmates.” he says.

“you think so?”

“nah,” his shakes his head, “i know so.”

tags: @tazinva

[junko-and-riri-domain]

exam season ˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ ni-ki

“you aren't wasting my time, and you need rest. please, ___ this isn’t healthy.” riki pleaded, and he seemed so genuinely concerned for you.  “I know we’re labelled as rivals all the time but I want to get to know you better. as someone who ranked 1 consistently, I wanted to meet the one person who managed to achieve the same thing."

or 

you and nishimura riki are rivals under the same company. after all, being the same age and pretty much the same level of talent made you and him quite unstoppable. the company thought it’d be a good idea to let you two meet and get along, but it turned out to be quite the opposite ordeal. though, this always remained to be a respectful rivalry. nothing petty.

warnings : overworked reader, insecurities, fainting from exhaustion, hints at negative body image ( good ending ) 

note : this is also off the top of my head, please ignore any mistakes !

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ rest under the cut

what were you supposed to think?

you had to admit it to yourself though, similar age and practically same amount of skill in dance would mean that this unit would be pretty much unstoppable. it’s just ;; the unspoken consequences of young teamwork at play. 

training for about half a year at belift, you’ve become quite popular among the trainees. they describe you as a dance prodigy. if you were going to be honest, it was kind of embarrassing. the spotlight was okay depending on the circumstances but, to be described as something so honorable made you feel like you weren’t worthy of it. on top of that, your vocals were always stable while practicing, making you stand out and always place #1 on exams. 

and so you started to practice harder, with the same thought of

‘i have to prove that i’m worthy to be labeled as a prodigy, otherwise why else am i here?’ 

to ni-ki, you were always so hardworking. sometimes, he thought it was too much. he’d pass by the room you were practicing in during lunch breaks and he would see you dancing your heart out, sweat threatening to fall from your face. he could tell you were tired, but due to the rules, he wasn’t allowed to talk to you. he considered you his opponent in a way, but it wasn’t to the extent of ruining your workflow. 

and to you, ni-ki seemed like a charming rival. the way he danced had always mesmerized you, his snaps and swift moves are always close to perfect. this motivated you to practice even harder, despite already achieving extreme skill. you often nitpicked on yourself and keep saying that you’re not doing something well enough, and that you’re not good enough and you have to try harder. you honestly thought he was kind of annoying. not only is he literally so tall, he's a dancing machine. everything that you wanted to be. ni-ki may have been your unspoken rival, 

but overcoming your extreme feeling to be better than the previous day is your true rival. 

coming home after training, you were always exhausted. as much water you drank, it never felt as if it quenched the thirst you brought upon yourself from working so hard. while doing homework you always zoned out, your concentration nowhere to be found. at some point, you even stopped messaging your friends as much as before, ignoring any notification that popped up and practicing till the sun peeked above the horizon.

this feeling of wanting to slip away into well-deserved rest never sat right with you.

'if I have time to do something, then I'll do it now. rest can wait.'

---

the week before, an exam was assigned to all the trainees. the exam was to be separated by gender, but you thought this was kind of dumb. and so what did you do? you asked the choreographer if you could take both of the choreographies instead of being categorized into one section.

"that's a great idea, ___! I'll allow it this once, since you always rank 1 anyways. in fact, why don't I ask riki if he wants to do an co-op exam with you? you guys are the same age right?"

all you could do was let out a hum and nod.

'nishimura riki... I hope I don't mess anything up.'

"he always ranks 1 in exams as well so I think it'd be perfect!" he continued, a bright smile flashed across his face at the realization of a great performance in development.

he walks off, and briskly walks to where riki usually practiced.

phew

you let out a breath you didn't even know you were holding. you've done many exams before but it had never been with another person. trying to convince yourself everything would be okay, your intrusive thoughts came in again.

'what if i embarass myself? what if I can't learn the choreo and mess everything up? what if he doesn't like m- wait. that doesn't even matter- ugh.'

you stood there for so long thinking to yourself about the future that one of the trainees had to tap you on the shoulder to make sure you didn't see medusa or something. repeating your little sorries and thank yous, you left the practice room and went on your way home.

you'd think that after weeks of non-stop overworking you'd hit your limit by now. the thing is, you never learn your lesson until you have to learn it the hard way. and that's exactly what's gonna happen.

---

back to the present, riki was currently doing a run-over of what he thinks you guys should do to make the choreography better. if there was one thing you and him had in common, it's that you always wanted to be ranked 1 through hard work.

however, you disagreed with some of the steps he created, and respectfully asked if you could show him what you were thinking of. in all honesty, riki was quite impressed. he'd never seen you dance up close since all he was able to do was take quick glances, but seeing you pour your heart into what you love and being absolutely great at it, it kind of gave him the feels.

yes. the feels. the butterflies. 🦋🦋🦋

though, in the next moment, butterflies was far from what he felt. his stomach did a full 180 and his face in such a shocked state as he watched your eyes roll back as your body practically shut down in front of him. he sped down to your side quickly and shouted for help, as he tried to shake you awake.

"please please wake up, I'm not sure if you'd wake up at all if you fell asleep so please..."

was the last faint thing you heard before slipping into unconsciousness.

---

beep , beep , beep

your eyes flutter open to reveal that you were in the nurse's office in the same building. to say you were relieved was an understatement, hospitals scared you a lot more since they'd have to call your parents.

looking around the dim room, it still resembled a hospital room, monitor, needles, riki, IV, wait. riki?

your eyes practically shot back to where he sat, head bowed down in an awkward position, closed eyes with phone in hands.

honestly speaking, it was kind of cute. but you knew it was uncomfortable. and you also felt SUPER guilty making him wait for you and practically ruining practice. he stirred a bit, easy to wake up due to the uncomfy position his neck was in.

in a couple of seconds you hear him ask, "___? you're awake?"

"riki.. what happened?"

"the trainer, our choreographer and the building's medical team were all here. they said that you were overworking yourself. not only that, you didn't eat, drink, or sleep enough. which I can only assume is because you're constantly practicing."

"... I'm guessing that has to be true then, if I'm already here. riki, I'm sorry."

"sorry for what?"

"for wasting your time. you didn't have to be tangled up in my mess if I wasn't an idiot and asked them for a different exam. we could'v-"

he cut you off, “you aren't wasting my time, and you need rest. please, ___ this isn’t healthy.” riki pleaded, and he seemed so genuinely concerned for you.  “I know we’re labelled as rivals all the time but I want to get to know you better. as someone who ranked 1 consistently, I wanted to meet the one person who managed to achieve the same thing. you didn't disappoint me, you didn't waste my time, in fact, it was fun watching you disagree with the things I said. but then you fainted in front of me. I had no idea what to do, but thankfully Jungwon-hyung came in and helped me. but all that aside, your body needs rest. I've talked too much."

"it's okay, your voice seems to be making me sleepy anyways."

he didn't know whether to take that as a compliment or an insult.

you handed him a spare pillow from your bed though, so he'll just take it as a compliment for now.

he didn't know what took over him in the next few seconds but he slowly put his phone in his pocket and reached his hand out to you, his hand resting on the bed right next to your waistline. as if it was beckoning you, your hand gravitated towards his, and the warmth of his hand and his comforting presence was enough to lull you back to sleep.

---

all the trainees in the floor were gathered in practice room #1, awaiting the announcement to see who got rank 1.

of course, they were expecting you and riki, but not together at the same time.

"nishimura riki, ___ ___. rank #1"

you and riki looked at each other in excitement, you could do nothing but listen at the moment, but celebration was in order later.

celebration? oh did you mean cuddles, making sure you're rested well and eating okay, hand holding, and a whole lot of light-hearted teasing? yeah.

[end]

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ written by junko

|blog masterlist|

[kozumekenza]

house of memories :: seven

:: kageyama tobio x f!reader :: playlist :: masterlist ::

:: taglist: closed :: wc: 1.7k ::

the last you had heard of kageyama tobio, he was following his grandfather’s footsteps and leaving you behind to join the syndicate. a chance meeting throws him back into your life, along with all of the memories.

tw: mafia elements, profanity, kidnapping, gun and knife violence, knives, gunshot and knife wounds

You have never seen Kageyama Tobio cry, but right now, there are tears in his eyes.

The cold steel of the gun makes you whimper. Never in your life have you ever been in a situation like this. Hell, you’ve never even imagined you would be in a situation like this. All you can do is stay still in Hajime’s grip and pray that he won’t pull the trigger. Kageyama is looking back and forth between you and Oikawa, seemingly looking for a way out.

In your heart, you know there isn’t one.

Somebody will die here tonight. Would it be too self-sacrificing to say that you wish it is you? Kageyama would never allow it, but between you and him, he’s the one who is worth more. When you have to put a price on life, his wins.

You watch Kageyama carefully. His right hand is slowly drifting towards his back, subtle enough that neither Oikawa nor Hajime have noticed. He must have his gun, right? He’s looking straight at you, his eyes more emotional than you’ve ever seen them. What is his plan here? If he pulls the gun, Hajime will definitely shoot you.

Think, y/n. Think.

Hajime had knocked away the gun you had, but you can’t recall if he took it or left it on the floor. There’s a high chance that he has another sort of weapon on him, maybe a knife or something. With the way he’s caging you, there isn’t an easy way to try to grab for something; your hands are trapped at your sides. Plus, with the gun against your head, you don’t want to risk anything.

Four things happen at once.

Kageyama grabs his gun from the back of his jeans and simultaneously pops the safety off and points it at Oikawa.

Hajime loosens his grip on you and points his gun at Kageyama.

Oikawa shoots at Kageyama, who ducks.

And finally, something solid slides across the floor and hits your foot.

Kageyama’s switchblade.

With Hajime momentarily distracted, Oikawa shooting at Kageyama, and Kageyama ducking and trying to shoot back, you duck down to the floor and reach for the knife, flicking it open and stabbing behind you. You know you’ve met your mark when Hajime’s grip loosens completely and he falls back, clutching his abdomen.

There’s a gunshot, a shout, and Kageyama slumps to the floor.

---

There’s a particular memory you have, of a summer in high school, Kageyama teaching you how to use and care for the switchblade. You were more interested in tricks than any practical uses, but you remember one topic that you thoroughly enjoyed.

Throwing.

The way the knife spins through the air, slicing before it hits the target, mesmerizes you. When you brought it up to Kageyama, you never thought learning would be pragmatic. It was supposed to be a party trick; something you could show off at a darts board at a bar, something you could impress people with if you were drunk enough.

Nevertheless, he taught you, and you picked it up with ease. It was simple, at least for you. Something that required less brain power than studying for a test, something that required a routine that stayed the same every time. The only things that ever changed would be your target, the distance, and the weight of the knife.

Luckily for you, the same knife you had grown up practicing with is the same one that’s currently in your hand.

It’s like second nature to you; like the back of your hand, the curve of Kageyama’s jaw, the distinct smell of the grass in the summer after a heavy rain back home.

Before Kageyama has even hit the ground, the knife is out of your hand, spinning, spinning, spinning towards your target.

You don’t think you made a noise when you threw, but Oikawa must have a sixth sense for this sort of thing, because he turns and locks his wide eyes with yours as the knife arcs through the air and embeds itself deep within his chest.

You don’t have the time to think about whether or not you just committed murder; your only concern now is getting Kageyama and getting the hell out of here. He’s still conscious when you dash over to him, and you scramble out of your t-shirt to press it to the wound. Nearly identical to the one he had stumbled into the penthouse with that night, you worry about him surviving another gunshot wound to the same area.

Carefully, you support his weight and stagger to his Artura. When he’s safely secured in the passenger seat, you dial Miwa and set off towards the penthouse.

---

Miwa meets you in the garage; Kiyoko’s already with her. Kiyoko takes Kageyama upstairs as Miwa pulls you into a hug. You’ve been missing for over twelve hours, it’s now five in the morning, she says. You follow her upstairs where she wrestles you into bed with food and a glass of water. You put up quite the fight; you’re exhausted and could pass out at any moment, but Kageyama is your only concern.

She stays until you’ve finally given up, sleep pulling you under.

---

When you wake again, the sun is setting. You’ve slept the day away. You’re alone in Miwa’s room, and you bolt out of bed. Kageyama must be better by now, surely someone would’ve woken you up if something was wrong. When you reach his room, the door is open. He’s sitting up, Miwa in a chair at his bedside. Tears are falling from your eyes as you cross the short distance, carefully wrapping your arms around him.

“Thank God, you’re alright.”

“I could say the same for you.” His voice is scratchy, but you’ve never been so glad to hear him speak. You hear Miwa push her chair back and leave, pulling the door closed behind her.

You pull away from Kageyama, instead sliding under the covers next to him. “I thought I told you not to do anything stupid.”

He chuckles, a small grin on his face. “Nothing is stupid when it comes to you.”

“You literally walked straight into a gun.”

“To come get you.”

“Not the point.”

He sighs. “Well, it all worked out, didn’t it?”

“I guess.” You bury yourself in his chest, mindful of his injury, before you remember the promise you made to yourself while kidnapped. “Tobio?” Your voice is soft.

“Yes?”

“I love you.”

“I love you too, y/n.”

---

Kageyama makes a full recovery, as do you. There are many mental hurdles to tackle as you become more and more immersed in Kageyama’s business, but with Miwa and Kageyama by your side, you feel like you can take on anything. You move out of your apartment and into the penthouse when you graduate with your bachelor’s degree, although you’ve practically been living at the penthouse anyway. It all ends up working out regardless; Hana and Ushijima are engaged and bought a house together.

You get into your medical school of choice and begin working under Kiyoko for the time being. She teaches you things that medical school won’t; things specific to your role in Kageyama’s life.

Kageyama is content for you to remain on the sidelines, simply watching, but you disagree. When you graduate from medical school, you want to share some of Kageyama’s burden; you want to become his partner in everything. He concedes eventually, grumbling something about how “all the women in his life are happy to throw themselves in the way of danger.” You and Miwa laugh; because really, did he expect anything less from you? Kageyama’s only caveat is that you learn how to protect yourself, something you’re happy to oblige. Miwa provides lessons, and you learn quickly. Everything from hand-to-hand combat to how to shoot a gun is covered.

The nostalgia of being with Kageyama makes itself known every day, but you wouldn’t have it any other way.

---

“Stop moving.”

“I’m not moving.”

“I’m going to get mascara in your eye if you don’t stop.”

You sigh. “I don’t know why you’re putting it on anyway, I’m just going to cry it off.”

Miwa grins, holding up the tube. “It’s waterproof.”

The door swings open, Hana dashing through. “You look so, so gorgeous, y/n. I’m so happy for you.”

“Thanks, Hana.”

The door opens again, this time Ushijima and Miya Atsumu walk through. Ushijima stops to talk to Hana while Atsumu strides towards you. In the years since the two of you were first introduced, it’s become somewhat of a running joke for Atsumu to flirt with you just to piss off Kageyama.

Miwa steps back to let you look in the mirror and Atsumu steps closer, placing his hands on your shoulders. “Y’know, y/n, it’s not too late to be with me instead.”

You roll your eyes and slap his hands off. “I do have a knife on me.”

He just winks. “Even better.”

After the finishing touches are put in place, the ceremony begins. It’s an elaborate thing; far out of your comfort zone, but something that has to be done for appearances. Kageyama wasn’t too pleased about the extravagance either, which is why you two had said your vows in secret weeks ago, with only Miwa as witness.

He’s grinning and crying when you meet him at the altar. “Hello, wife.”

“Hello, husband.”

The ceremony is long and you’re relieved when it’s finally over. The relief doesn’t last for long though because you’re quickly shuffled to the reception, another over-the-top event with too many people. At the earliest chance, you tug Kageyama by his suit-clad arm and into the hallway.

You groan when you’re finally alone. “Why did we have to do all this, again?”

He shrugs. “Not sure. I need a drink. Or something.”

Grinning, you lift a flask from where you’d hid it under your large dress. “Something like this?”

“Perfect.”

After you’ve both drained the flask of its contents, you sigh. “Can we just leave?”

“I don’t see why not. It’s our wedding anyway.”

“Great, let’s go.”

Later, when you’re both exhausted and cuddled up beneath the sheets, you lean in and press a kiss to Kageyama’s cheek.

“I love you, Tobio.”

“And I love you, y/n.”

taglist: @lilith412426​ @itoshibaby​ @wallywaffle​ @princess-sunshyn​ @zukoslosthishonor​ @fatal-impact​ @kageyamakock​ 

[girlboss-molina]

Be Who You Are (No Compromise)

A Julie and the Phantoms Modern Royalty AU

Chapter 5: Let’s go Lesbians

AO3 Link

Words: 9721

-----

Julie POV

...

Julie awoke with the sunrise barely peeking over the mountains into her window. The light didn’t hit her eyes, though, she woke of her own accord… wrapped in Luke’s arms, with her head on his chest. 

She could’ve stayed there forever. He was warm, and smelled sweet, like roses, honey, and something else she couldn’t place, but it reminded her of the forest. She had her arms wrapped around his waist, securely holding them together. She wasn’t tired at all, but she did not want to move. She was too comfortable, and holding Luke close like this wasn’t something she might ever get to do again. 

She tilted her head, watching as the sunrise painted bands of gold and pink throughout the lightening sky, watching shadows move with the trees and mountains, watching the silhouettes of birds flocking from tree to tree, soaring through the light like dandelion wisps on the wind. A few cotton ball clouds graced the sky, like bits of cotton candy hung from the heavens. 

She shifted an inch more, freezing when she felt Luke jump. He blinked and looked around, finally catching her eyes. 

“Sorry,” she whispered. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“No, it’s okay,” he replied, his cheeks pink in the sunlight. “Why are you up so early?” She shrugged.

“Just not tired, I guess.” He gave a sleepy smile that made Julie’s heart flutter. How dare he be so cute? She didn’t move again, still laying next to him, one arm around his waist. He didn’t move either, seemingly content to hold her. Then, he hugged her closer, bringing his face to her hair. 

“Your hair smells nice,” he whispered. Julie giggled. Dork. 

She laid there for a few minutes longer, finally wiggling out of Luke’s arms and standing upright, doing her best not to trip over a blanket. Luke pouted, and she had to stifle a laugh in order not to wake up anyone else; All eight of them had fallen asleep, and aside from her and Luke, everyone else was still curled up in restful oblivion. 

“I’m gonna change,” she whispered, gesturing to her wrinkled dress. She’d forgotten to put on pajamas. “We’re still going to the mall later, right?” Luke nodded, and she smiled, stepping over Mira’s legs and Carrie and Flynn, who were snuggled up against each other, then silently padding to her huge walk-in closet and closing the door. 

She shed her dress, walking to the shelf and rack where she kept her normal, not so… princessy clothes. She chose a pair of straight-leg plaid pants, bright yellow and black, and hooked a chain through the belt loops by her right hip. She also chose a white, slim-fitting crop top with a purple butterfly embroidered over her heart, paired with a distressed denim jacket that she left unbuttoned and hanging off one shoulder. She chose a pair of black Vans with a white stripe on the side, as well. 

Her signature necklaces still hung by her collar, and she left her normal earrings, as well as a faux helix. 

Walking back out of her closet and to her bathroom, she sat in front of the vanity, fixing her hair and tying it into a thick braid over her shoulder. She carefully painted some eyeliner into a wing on each eye, brushed mascara onto her lashes, and even dabbed on a bit of lip gloss. Then, she stood in front of her mirror, deciding she looked cute. 

She hopped back to her room, where Luke had sat up and was now looking at his phone. Julie caught his eye, smiling when he blushed. She was sure she was blushing as well, though, so she looked away, walking to the side of her bed where she’d left her phone, careful to dodge Erik’s arm, which was sprawled over Reggie. She grabbed her phone and sat down, scrolling through her notifications. She had a reminder from Duolingo to keep doing her French lessons (which, if she was being honest, she was not going to remember to do), a couple memes from Carlos, a few Instagram DMs, plus an email from the Dahlian Times, telling her that the combined story from them and the Tambor Times, with their photoshoots, had been a huge hit, and that if she wanted, they could hit up their connections with Vogue to get her a modeling job. She politely declined; Vogue wasn’t on her radar at the moment. 

What was on her radar, however, was the fact that she would be going to the mall with her friends today. It was a thirty minute drive, and she didn’t want an escort. They could handle themselves; plus, it would make it a lot harder to avoid flocks of people. Julie knew that Alex wasn’t a great driver, nor was Flynn. She herself wasn’t bad, nor were Carrie or Mira. Reggie was probably the best driver out of all of them, which was surprising. And yet, every time she’d been in a car with him, he’d never missed a sign, never gone too fast, and always stayed in his lane. He wouldn’t want to be the one driving, though. And Julie didn’t know Erik’s driving skills very well, given that she didn’t know him as well as she wanted to. They were friends, sure, but not as close as she was with the others. 

That left her, Luke, or Carrie; and there was no way she would let Luke drive. She didn’t care how good of a driver he might’ve turned out to be, his vibes were way too chaotic. And Carrie might not mind driving, but Flynn would protest. So, Julie supposed she would drive, if the rest were okay with it. 

She heard Erik stir, followed by Carrie. 

“Morning,” she whispered. Carrie gave a smile; contrary to popular belief, she was a morning person. Erik seemed to be as well, because his eyes were bright as he grinned at her. 

“Hi, Julie,” he whispered back. “We’re still planning on going to the mall later, right?”

“As far as I know.” Luke nodded.

“I think it’ll be a lot of fun,” she remarked. “I haven’t been to the city in awhile.”

…

When they got to the mall, Julie pulled the large SUV into a parking space, very proud of how even she was. Everyone piled out of the car. 

As they reached the lobby, they decided to split into two groups since there were multiple places they wanted to go, and they would draw less attention than they would as a group of eight. It took a few minutes to settle on the groups, but they eventually decided that Julie, Alex, Carrie, and Flynn would be one group, and Erik, Luke, Reggie, and Mira would be the other. 

“Let’s meet at the food court for lunch at noon,” Julie said. 

“Sounds good to me,” Reggie agreed. 

Julie had to admit, she was a little disappointed that Luke hadn’t been put in her group. But, then again, she wasn’t sure she could handle it if he was; she’d be a blushing mess the entire time. However, when she saw the sad puppy eyes that Luke was giving her, she hoped they were because he wanted to be with her as well. 

As they went their separate ways, Alex led Julie, Carrie, and Flynn to one of the long aisles. 

“Where should we go first?” he asked, gesturing to all the different shops they could choose from. “Personally, I vote to go to Justice.” Julie couldn’t tell if he was being sarcastic or not, but she laughed, and Carrie’s giggle-filled nodding, plus Flynn’s smiley eye-roll all convinced her. 

…

“Okay,” Alex said. “Be honest.” As he strutted out of the changing room, a pink crop top in place of the tee he’d been wearing, he struck a pose. “How do I look?” 

Julie laughed, clapping. 

“Almost ready for your Vogue shoot, I see,” she quipped. Alex flipped his hair. 

“Covington could never.” 

“Amen to that, sister,” Carrie said, walking up to him and spinning her finger. He twirled, and Carrie clapped. “It’s perfect. Now you just need a skirt to go with it.” Alex turned bright red, and Julie stifled a laugh, as did Flynn. But his smile never receded. 

After he’d changed back into his tee, and Carrie (lovingly) bullied him into buying it (“You didn’t need to bully me, Carrie, I was going to buy it anyways!”), Julie wandered through the racks of sparkly clothes, letting the glitter blur in her eyes. A calm wave washed over her, and she basked in the euphoria of being in the mall with her friends. 

“Julie? Did you hear me?” Flynn asked. Julie snapped out of her daze, shaking her head. 

“Sorry, I zoned out.”

“I said, we’re going to grab a snack at Cinnabon.” When Julie didn’t move, Flynn rolled her eyes and dragged her out of the store. 

Julie followed along, a grin on her face. She’d always loved Cinnabon. Every year on her birthday, her Tía Victoria would take her there in the morning, and there was nothing not to like. 

She noticed Alex slow, staring at someone walking away. From Julie’s view, she saw a top hat and a cloak, but they walked with a strange saunter, like they knew something nobody else did. 

“Alex, you coming?”

“Yeah, yeah,” he said, jogging back to them. “Sorry.”

…

After they’d all eaten their cinnamon rolls, they walked into a women’s apparel store that Julie couldn’t pronounce the name of, and Carrie immediately went to the business casual section. Flynn protested, but not too hard, because Carrie had a sort of elegance to her that made even the most standard outfits seem ethereal. Julie and Alex wandered over there as well; Julie had been wanting a new suit. She only had one, and she was starting to outgrow it. 

She browsed through the racks of carefully hung jackets and pants, soon, finding one that she loved and rushing to the changing room to try it on. 

Underneath the jacket was a slim white dress shirt. The jacket was violet, and the sleeves reached perfectly to her wrists. The pants were white, slim cut but comfortable and professional. Julie left the top buttons of her shirt undone and didn’t fasten the jacket over her stomach, letting the casual in business casual shine through. 

As she walked out of the changing room, Carrie gasped.

“Let’s go, lesbians!” Julie stifled a laugh.

“I’m glad you like it!” Carrie rolled her eyes.

“Like it? Jules, if you don’t buy that, I will, and it will end up in your closet no matter what.” Julie blushed. 

“I think I'm going to buy it,” she agreed. 

“Alex! There you are!” Luke’s voice made Julie’s head whip around. 

“Yeah? Is everything okay? I thought we were meeting for lunch in”- he pulled out his phone and checked the time -”half an hour.”

“No, we are, but we needed to find you and tell you about this amazing prank we just pulled-” his voice trailed off as he looked at Julie. She looked back, her cheeks warm, but not as warm as he seemed to be. His blush stretched all the way down his neck. 

“We, uh…” he cleared his throat and looked back at Alex. Julie’s face might’ve caught fire, especially as Flynn elbowed her and gave her The Look.

“-Luke, I could’ve sworn we told you no shenanigans before we separated!” Alex’s voice caught Julie’s attention. 

“Oh come on, bro, it was one singular shenanigan,” Reggie interjected. “Just one!” Alex sighed.

“Do I even want to know?”

-----

Alex POV

… 

When Alex woke up, Julie, Luke, Carrie, Erik, and Reggie were already awake. It wasn’t that late, though; the sun had risen, and the clock on his phone read 08:11. He stretched, giving a quick “good morning” to his friends, before wandering down the hall to change into more casual clothes, after Julie had confirmed that they were still going to the mall.

He chose a pair of black shorts, vans, and a pale pink t-shirt, plus a fanny pack that he strapped across his chest to hold his epi-pen, inhaler, and wallet. 

As he walked back to Julie’s room, she was still laying on her bed, scrolling on her phone, and she and Luke kept shooting each other glances whenever the other looked away. It was adorable, to be honest. But they were both so oblivious, it was almost painful to watch. Alex was positive he was the only one with a brain cell. 

Well, actually, that would be Flynn, Carrie, or Mira, but, he got fourth place, which wasn’t bad. 

Alex gave Luke The Look, glancing at Julie, then back to Luke, raising his eyebrows. He held his tongue, however much he wanted to blurt out that they were both stupid.  

…

As he got ready for breakfast, something inside of Alex clicked. He wanted to bring Willie to the mall today. It wouldn’t be like a date, of course, just a casual hangout with a friend whom he was mildly in love with, accompanied by seven other friends, one of whom he was supposed to be marrying, but didn’t want to. 

The usual. 

“Hey, Julie?” he asked, jogging up to her before they reached the great hall. “Would it be okay if I invite my friend to come to the mall with us?” He scratched the back of his neck, sure he was blushing. “I, well, I met him the first night I was here, and-” 

“Of course,” Julie said, giving him a knowing smirk. “Let your friend”- she winked as she said it -”know that he’s welcome to hang out with us any time.” Alex grinned. That went… way better than he’d expected. Not that he’d expected it to go wrong, of course, but it was still comforting. 

He barely ate any of his breakfast, just enough so he wouldn’t be hungry when they left. Then, as soon as he was done, he walked out the back door of the great hall, turning to the kitchen doors. He allowed himself a few minutes to settle his nerves, and then knocked, disappointed when the person opening the door was a tall (seriously! He was almost six feet tall, and this woman had at least three inches on him), severe looking young woman instead of Willie. She gave him a smile, though, softening her harsh appearance. 

“Your highness, may I help you?”

“Hi, yeah. Sorry to disturb you, but I was looking for Willie?” The woman grinned. 

“I’m afraid you just missed him. He left on break about five minutes ago. Not sure where he is now.”

“Oh.”

“Sorry,” she said. “I’ll tell him you were looking for him the next time I see him, though.”

“Thank you, miss, uh…” 

“Lilian.”

“Awesome. Thank you, Lilian.”

“Of course.” She offered a kind smile and wave, though Alex definitely noted the quirk in her eyebrow. Was he really that obvious? 

He gave a wave and walked away. He didn’t know where Willie would be, although he had a hunch. So, he followed his instincts and walked out the back door, breathing in the mild air as he turned and headed to the park where Willie had brought him for their not-date. 

Hey, maybe this would count for Luke’s trade-off thing about it being Alex’s turn to ask out Willie? Even though it hadn’t technically been a date, it had kinda felt like one, which made Alex’s heart soar. And it only soared higher when he saw a familiar, brown-eyed baker skateboarding around one of the roundabouts. 

Alex considered calling out, but he didn’t have to. Willie saw him as he came around the bend. He grinned, but his smile didn’t reach his eyes. 

Had Alex done something wrong? What if he’d freaked out Willie? What if he was annoying? What if-

“Hey there, your royal pancakeness!” Willie called, skating to a stop as Alex shoved down those anxieties. He had to be brave. 

“Hey, Willie,” he said. “So, um, I was wondering…” he took a breath, gathering his words and trying not to gay panic. “We’re going to the mall today, and I was wondering if you would want to come?” Willie’s smile did reach his eyes that time, and it eased Alex’s nerves. But then, his face fell.

“I wish I could, man,” he said, “but I’m going to be working all day today. I’m really sorry.”

“No, no, that’s okay,” Alex assured him, despite the low feeling in his heart. He caught Willie’s gaze again, beautiful and deep, with flecks of gold in his warm eyes, and the emotions tangled in their depths were unreadable, but strong. Then again, Alex couldn’t piece together his own emotions warring inside his heart either, so he supposed it was normal. 

“Well,” he said awkwardly, “I guess I’ll see you around?”

“Yeah!” Willie said, a genuine grin on his face. They stood there for another moment, just comfortable in each others’ presence, before Willie’s phone beeped a timer. The baker sighed.

“That’s my cue. See you, Alex,” he said, sounding disappointed. Alex offered a weak smile and a wave as the baker walked away, staring at the grass, each individual blade flicking in the wind and making his eyes blur. 

…

Julie was the one driving to the mall, and Alex beat Reggie to the passenger’s seat. 

“Uh uh, cretins sit in the back,” he told him. Reggie pouted, but they all knew it was a joke. Besides, Alex wanted what little space he could get. 

He knew Willie wouldn’t lie about that. Even if he hadn’t wanted to go, he was too polite. So it didn’t make sense for Alex to be as upset as he was; it wasn’t even a big thing, for God’s sake! It was the mall! And it wouldn’t have even been a date, since there were seven other people there. 

He just wanted to spend time with Willie, didn’t he? He was such an idiot. Willie didn’t like Alex the way Alex liked him. And besides, it was quite literally treason. Willie had to know that. So, even on the off chance that he did feel the same way, there was no way he would ever make a move, lest he have the desire to be exiled.

Alex sighed, but it was more of a groan. He was right back to considering his ingenious run-away-into-the-woods plan.

…

As he walked with Julie, Flynn, and Carrie, deciding to go into Justice, it was 99% because they all wanted to make fun of the store that they’d all loved when they were little (despite how much Flynn denied ever liking it). But, if he was being honest, Alex did kinda want to go. Even though it was mostly for elementary or middle-school-aged girls, the excess of sparkles and pink always made him smile. And if he’d once bought a small tube of lip gloss that tasted like strawberries, that was nobody’s business but his own. 

They were all bouncing around the circular racks, brushing the mesmerizing flippy sequin pillows back and forth, letting the glitter and bling spot their eyes, when Alex found a really cute pink crop top, in his size. It wasn’t something he would wear regularly, of course, but as he put it on in the changing room and sauntered out, he felt confident and comfortable with his friends. 

Of course, he was already planning on buying it and tucking it in the back of his closet, before a certain Carrie Wilson bullied him into doing it. He wasn’t sure what he expected from a mean lesbian with fashion sense, though. 

“Now you just need a skirt to go with it,” she informed him. Alex laughed, sure his face was bright red. He’d never worn a skirt before, and while he wasn’t opposed to the idea, it wasn’t something anyone else could see. 

Ever.

They started making their way to Cinnabon, when Alex bumped shoulders with a tall man. 

“Hey-” he started, before being overwhelmed by confusion. He looked so familiar, with his piercing blue eyes, but his outfit was… strange, to say the least. He wore a black three-piece paired with a dark purple shirt, and a black cloak that sparkled violet on the inside. His head was adorned with a top hat, and the cold smirk he gave Alex sent chills down his spine. 

“Alex, you coming?”

“Yeah, yeah,” he said, jogging back towards Julie, Carrie, and Flynn. “Sorry.”

“You’re good,” they assured him, though they did seem confused and concerned. 

…

As Julie tried on a purple and white suit, Alex was well aware of the fierce blush on Luke’s face when he walked in, hoping to inform him of some dumbass shenanigan, but instead being flustered by one Julie Molina in a suit. It was understandable, though; If you were into girls, you automatically had a crush on Julie Molina. Especially if she was wearing a suit. Carrie agreed; as soon as she walked out, she’d excitedly thrown up her hands and said “let’s go, lesbians!”

Alex shot Luke a smirk, before remembering his friends’ dumbassery. 

“Oh my God, Luke, I could’ve sworn we told you no shenanigans before we separated!” Alex rolled his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose as he tried to comprehend the amount of chaos that Luke, Reggie, Erik, and Mira could cause. 

“Oh come on, bro, it was one singular shenanigan,” Reggie interjected. “Just one!” Alex groaned.

“Do I even want to know?”

“Of course you do!” Mira told him. So, Alex endured multiple minutes of her’s and Erik’s intertwining retellings of their infamous prank, which was something along the lines of them hiding in one of the giant store entrances at the front of the mall, then jumping out, pretending to be time travellers. 

“Whose idea was it to leave you four alone?”

“Yours.”

-----

Luke POV

...

Luke never remembered his dreams when he awoke, only tiny snippets and feelings that tied with them, but when he awoke that morning, he didn’t even remember that. He wasn’t sure if he even dreamed at all, though he was well-rested.

He woke up suddenly, when he felt something move on his chest. He inhaled, looking around, before realizing that it was Julie’s head shifting to look out her window and see the sunrise. He smiled sleepily.  

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you,” Julie whispered softly. He grinned. 

“No, it’s okay,” he replied, caught up in the golden glow cast across her dark skin.. “Why are you up so early?” 

“Just not tired, I guess.” He smiled, letting her lay her head back down on his chest, then taking a risk and hugging her closer. She didn’t protest, which made Luke’s heart soar. He loved the feeling of floating when he held her, loved how her head fit perfectly in the crook of his shoulder, loved how well her body fit next to his as they cuddled. 

He leaned down, his nose in her curly hair.

“Your hair smells nice,” he whispered. Julie giggled.

They laid there for a few more minutes before Julie wiggled out from his arms. Luke let out a protestant groan, holding her tighter, and she giggled again.

“I’m gonna change,” she whispered, gesturing to her wrinkled dress. Luke pouted, which only made Julie smile. “We’re still going to the mall later, right?” He nodded, letting himself smile. He wasn’t actually upset, though it was a crime that he was being deprived of Julie Cuddles. 

Luke grabbed his phone from under his pillow where he’d left it, being careful not to disturb Alex, whose back was pressed against his. Alex’s parents were never very touchy, and paired with Alex’s anxiety, he was very touch starved, so there was no way Luke was going to interrupt any cuddles with his best friend. 

He scrolled through his feed, and found an article about the alleged budding romance between Princess Julie and Prince Alexander. He snorted. Did the Tambor Times have no gaydar? It was kind of pathetic. 

As he scrolled through his news and the occasional meme, he caught a glimpse of a butterfly fluttering past Julie’s floor-to-ceiling windows. He smiled to himself as it flew against the wind. It reminded him of Julie, graceful but stubborn. 

When Julie walked back out, dressed in a slim white crop top and plaid pants, complete with a chain over her hip, he blushed. In his defense, she had a very different vibe in regular citizen clothes, though he supposed that was the point. Either way, though, she was still ethereally beautiful. 

He glanced away, hoping he wasn’t as red as he felt. Julie grinned - great, so she had noticed his blush - and flopped above him on her bed, leaving the faint aroma of peaches and vanilla. 

…

Luke felt much more comfortable in his normal clothes - a sleeveless shirt, pants, and a chain - than he did in his regular, formal attire. He loved feeling fancy, sure, but dressing casually was a luxury in and of itself. 

He spent the entire car ride watching Julie from the right back seat, the way she furrowed her brow in traffic, how the light played off of her collarbone. She was breathtaking. 

When they got to the mall, they’d decided to split up into two separate groups to draw less attention; needless to say, Luke pouted when he wasn’t in Julie’s group. But, he got to hang with Reggie, and get to know Erik and Mira better. He’d already gotten a chaotic vibe from Mira, but he did not expect Erik to be just as down for causing a little trouble. He’d seemed so chill and outspoken, but he had a ton of fun with their little time-travelling prank. 

But, as he was trying to explain their shenanigans - or, as Reggie decided, one singular shenanigan - to Alex, he got distracted by a certain Julie Molina, who was checking out how she looked in a purple and white suit, which she’d left partially unbuttoned, showing her collarbone. Luke had never seen Julie wear a suit, and holy shit. It should’ve been illegal for someone to look that good. 

Julie caught his eye, and every instinct in his head told him LOOK AWAY BEFORE SHE NOTICES YOU WERE STARING, but he just couldn’t. Julie’s cheeks flushed a bit, and Luke scratched the back of his neck, trying to remember what he was saying, finally saved by Alex ranting about how he’d thought he’d told them no shenanigans. 

“Okay,” Mira said when Luke finally tore his eyes away from Julie, “but consider: it was really funny.” Alex rolled his eyes so hard he might’ve seen his own brain, and Luke laughed. 

“Relax, bro, it wasn’t that bad.”

“Yeah!” Erik agreed. “All we did was jump out and pretend we’d just time travelled from 1995!”

…

They ate their lunch in the food court afterwards, and Luke helped himself to a taco from Cafe Rio. 

“Dude,” Reggie said, “did you seriously get a taco rather than pizza?” 

“I’m always a slut for Mexican food.” He’d said it with a straight face, but no sooner had the words left his mouth than the entire table erupted into laughter, including Julie, her cheeks flushed from laughing. Luke grinned and looked back to his food, suddenly very interested in the avocado on his tortilla. 

He finally looked up, tuning out Reggie and Erik’s intense conversation about Star Wars, when he saw a strange man staring at them from a few tables away. He looked vaguely familiar, but was so… creepy that Luke couldn’t place him. He wore a top hat, dark three-piece, and a cloak that glittered violet on the inside, his eyes colder than ice. Luke held his stare, allowing his face to fall into a glare. The man stood, and Luke elbowed Alex, muttering “uh, guys,” as he walked towards them. 

Luke’s hand reached to his pocket, where he kept a pocket knife concealed. He didn’t pull it out, but kept his hands near the handle should worst come to worst. 

Julie looked at him, her brow furrowed before raising in… nervousness?

“Well, well,” the man said with a sly smile, “if it isn’t Princess Molina.” Julie stood, smoothing the front of her pants, and Luke noticed she squared her shoulders, not quavering as she stood her ground. 

“King Covington,” she said, and Luke’s stomach dropped. “To what do we owe the occasion?” She spoke the words sharply, bitingly, and it sent a shiver down Luke’s spine. 

“Well, I couldn’t pass up a chance to see my favorite princess and her… friends, now could I?” he asked, and Luke didn’t like the way he lingered on the word friends, especially when he caught his eye and furrowed his brow. 

“Nonetheless,” he continued, “I’m coming for this diplomacy meeting tonight! So exciting,” he said, readjusting his cloak. “Though I must say���- his voice became like poison -”I’m not sure what a diplomacy meeting has to do with impeding on Kryptonian sovereignty for over two centuries.”

“With all due respect,” Julie said, in a way that implied that the amount of ‘due respect’ was, in fact, none, “the kingdom of Dahlia has in no way impeded on the sovereignty of yours. We’ve been peaceful allies for a century.”

“Yes, well, I’d argue that certain friendships aren’t what they seem, hm?” he said, his eyes flickering to Alex, then Luke, before he looked back to Julie. “Nevertheless, we needn’t discuss this right now. You’re just teenagers! Go enjoy yourselves,” he told them. Luke’s fists curled. 

“Have you informed my father that you’re here so soon? We only decided on a diplomacy meeting last night.”

“Yes, he contacted me to tell me your idea last night. I decided to come as soon as I could, so we could get this over with and move on to your surrender,” he said, far too cheerily for the situation. “Ah,” he continued, “I’m afraid we’re drawing attention.” He pointed to multiple people staring and pointing confusedly. “As you were, your highness.”

Luke glanced back to Julie, who practically radiated stress. 

“Jules?” Flynn asked. “Are you okay?”

“Wonderful,” she replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm. 

…

After lunch, they’d decided to stick together, but despite that, the anxiety never quite left. 

Julie didn’t speak to anyone much until they left for the car, and when she sat in the driver’s seat but didn’t turn the key, Reggie offered to drive. She didn’t say anything as she nodded, trading seats with him. 

“Julie?” Erik asked, but she didn’t respond, just tucking her knees to her chest in the seat. Luke pulled out his phone, locking eyes with Flynn, who nodded concernedly. He opened up his messaging app and clicked on Julie’s contact. 

Me: julie? i know you’re really stressed now but i wanted you to know that i’m here for you

Me: and the rest of us are too 

Julie shifted, pulling out her phone, and Luke looked out the window, half-surprised when his phone buzzed.

Julie: Thanks, I appreciate it. I’m just scared. I already texted my dad to ask if he knew Covington was coming today, but he hasn’t responded. I get why he wouldn’t have told us if he knew, but still. 

Me: i know what you mean. but i’m sure it’ll be fine

Julie: Thanks for understanding. And yeah. I’m sure everything will be okay. 

They didn’t text anymore through the drive. Luke stared out his window as Reggie steered them towards the palace, and none of them said a word as they went inside, passing by palace staff and giving cordial waves and bows. They all went to Julie’s room, and Luke sat in the same place he’d slept the night before. Julie immediately went back to her closet, and Luke barely registered the minute she must’ve taken to change out of her civilian clothes and touch up her hair and makeup. 

She didn’t smile as she walked out, dressed in her suit that she’d bought. 

“Covington isn’t going to get what he wants,” she announced to the group, all of whom were sitting silently around her room. “My dad texted me back. He said he was going to wait to tell us until we got back, because he only heard the news after we’d left.” That made sense to Luke. Ray was a kind man, and wouldn’t want to ruin their fun. 

“Is there any other news?” Alex asked worriedly. 

“Yes,” Julie said, her voice cold, confident, and smooth. “There will be an impromptu ball tonight. Covington is an extravagant man, so this will appeal to him. It will be us, my father, Carlos, the council, as well as Covington and representatives from Krypto, plus any members of the Dahlian Nobility who choose to attend. Mira, Erik, rather than being a lady-in-waiting or butler, you’ll be counted as Nobility. Not much of a change, since you’re both relatively used to just hanging with us. If anyone needs assistance, you can call for someone, but tonight, we’re all going to be united, none of us better than the other.

“Covington doesn’t get to show up this abruptly and claim we’ve impeded on Kryptonian sovereignty. So, we’re going to prove that he doesn’t own us.” A grin spread on Luke’s face. That was the confidence he liked to see. 

“So,” she continued, a smirk on her face. “Take the afternoon to prepare. Instructions will be sent to your rooms, probably with my dad to check up on all of us. So get ready,” she said. “We have a ball to attend. And,” she added as everyone got up, “put on your dancing shoes.”

-----

Reggie POV

...

When Reggie fell asleep, his head on Alex’s lap and torso curled around Erik, he didn’t dream, which was odd. He was a very imaginative person, and couldn’t remember the last night he hadn’t dreamed. He would’ve expected to have been horribly exhausted, but it was the best night’s sleep he’d gotten in awhile, despite the stressful situation. 

When he awoke, Erik had moved, having woken up an hour ago. Luke and Julie were also awake. 

Reggie stretched, rolling over. He didn’t try to go back to sleep, but he didn’t actually get up, either. 

This was alright.

…

As Reggie got dressed for the mall, he considered a few outfit variations, finally settling on a white tee, black leather jacket, distressed skinny jeans, and some nice shoes for a bit of flair. He gave himself finger guns in the mirror (his right as a dramatic bisexual) and sauntered back to Julie’s room before heading to the car. 

He scrambled for the passenger’s seat, but Alex beat him to it. 

“Cretins sit in the back,” he said. Reggie pouted, but also smiled. The backseat was always more fun in a crowded car. 

He hopped between Luke and Flynn, settling in and grabbing his phone, scrolling through an email from the Dahlian Times asking if he (and Julie) wanted to be put in line for a Vogue photoshoot. Julie had already declined, though, so he politely declined as well. 

The car ride wasn’t as chaotic as he’d expected, but it was still fun. He, Luke, and Flynn showed each other memes, whilst Mira, Erik, and Carrie chatted in the row behind them. 

…

“Alright, we should probably split into two groups,” Alex said. “That way we’ll draw less attention.” They all nodded, and Reggie tried to grab Alex, but he’d already gone with Julie, Flynn, and Carrie. So, Reggie got to hang with Luke, Erik, and Mira.

“We’re gonna cause some chaos, right?” Luke asked.

“100%.”

“Definitely.”

“Was that even a question?”

Reggie grinned, ideas already forming in his mind. He could just imagine the fun they would have if they… ooh, if they played hide and seek? In the mall? The chaos would be incredible. And then they could get pizza at the food court for lunch, and-

“Brooooo,” Luke said, “follow us.” Reggie did, letting Luke lead him into a warehouse store. A huge grin spread on his face. These kinds of stores were always the best for causing chaos. If he released a herd of puppies? Iconic. 

Reggie tugged on Erik’s sleeve, and they all followed him behind a large tower of containers and baskets. As a few employees turned around the corner of their aisle, Reggie hissed instructions to Luke, Mira, and Erik, who all nodded enthusiastically. 

…

“Whoa,” Luke said as he popped out from behind the tower, right as the employees walked by. “How did we get here?” Reggie had to give him credit; he was a better actor than he’d thought. 

“Where is here?” Mira asked. “Weren’t we just at the Blockbuster?” She turned to the employees, who were staring at them like they’d just grown horns. “Hi, uh, where is this?” 

“It’s the Container Store,” one of them said warily. 

“Whoa,” Reggie said excitedly. “What is that?” He pointed to a television screen that showed the cameras. “It looks like my TV at home but after getting squashed!”

“And the picture is so clear,” Erik pointed out. 

“Rad,” Luke breathed. “It’s like the future.” 

“Not the future,” the other employee countered amusedly. “It’s still 2021. It is the newest model, though.”

“Wh- 2021?” Mira asked, dumbfounded. “Has it been… 26 years? Have we been in those baskets for 26 years? HOW is that possible?” 

“I don’t know, bro,” Erik started, “but-”

“Ha, ha,” the first employee interjected, “very funny. The good ol’ time travel prank.”

“Bro, this isn’t a prank,” Reggie lied. “I literally have my blockbuster card right here!” He whipped it out of the pocket of his leather jacket, meriting an impressed look from Luke, and respective how the fuck??? looks from Mira and Erik. 

Reggie always came prepared, and that sometimes included the random Blockbuster card he’d found a few months back. 

… 

They pulled their schtick a few more times around the store, and one time, the employee had believed them to the very end. She freaked out because, in her words, holy fuck time travelers, but she asked a lot of questions like “wait so how old are you?” and “did you enjoy neon being a thing?” Reggie wanted to be friends with her, but she had to leave. 

As they wandered the mall in search of Julie’s group to inform them of their single shenanigan, Reggie resisted the urge to get a bunch of gumballs and shove them in his mouth. He needed his mouth for talking. And eating pizza. 

When they finally found them, Julie was trying to figure out whether she was going to purchase the suit she was wearing, which was absolutely gorgeous. And Reggie noticed Luke immediately trail off when he saw her. Reggie elbowed him and quirked his eyebrow, offering a smirk that Luke didn’t even register. 

Simp. 

“-No, bro, it was awesome,” Erik insisted as Alex reminded them that they weren’t supposed to do any shenanigans. 

“But it was one singular shenanigan,” Reggie informed him. “One.”

“Still.”

“Okay, but consider,” Mira suggested, “it was really funny.” Alex pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing. 

“Whose idea was it to leave you four alone?” 

“Yours,” Reggie added helpfully. 

“It wasn’t… okay.” 

As they made their way to the food court, Reggie didn’t hesitate to order pizza, with thin slices of pepperoni dotted on top. He loved pizza. 

“Okay,” Erik said over his sub. “Star Wars. Thoughts?” Reggie nodded excitedly.

“Yes!!! The Millenium falcon has such a cool design, and even though it wasn’t the best for spatial usage and storage, it had a badass vibe, so it gets rights. Plus, it looks like a frisbee.”

“Right?” Erik agreed. “I just want to skip it over a giant lake like a rock.”

“You. You get it.”

“I know, I’m awesome. Favorite character?”

“Oooh, Han Solo for sure. He’s the best, I do not take criticism.” Erik snorted, and Reggie gasped in mock offense, but also not mock offense. 

“How does it feel to be wrong?” he asked. “Leia.” Reggie sighed.

“Leia is a badass, I agree, but Han Solo is just the best character.” 

“Okay. You’re wrong, but okay.” 

“Hey, don’t diss Solo!”

“I’m not dissing him! But Leia is just better!” Erik took another bite of his sub, and Reggie huffed. 

“I’d agree with you, but then we’d both be wrong.” 

“You guys are both wrong,” Flynn informed them. “The best character, hands down, is Rey.” 

“New movies don’t get rights,” Reggie and Erik said in unison. They looked at each other, grinned, and Reggie reached across the table to give him a high five. 

“Solidarity.”

Reggie was about to reply, when he noticed a man walking towards them, a man in a top hat, three-piece, and cloak. 

Reggie recognized him immediately.

And he was walking to Julie. 

“Well, well,” the man said with a sly smile, “if it isn’t Princess Molina.” Julie stood confidently, and Reggie resisted the urge to stand and guard his sister. 

“King Covington. To what do we owe the occasion?” Julie’s words were cold, sharp, and sent a shiver down Reggie’s spine. He’d never heard her speak so coldly. 

“Well, I couldn’t pass up a chance to see my favorite princess and her… friends, now could I?” Covington lingered on the word ‘friends,’ glancing around the table, his eyes settling on Luke before he continued, each word making Reggie’s hands curl into fists. 

“Nonetheless, I’m coming for this diplomacy meeting tonight! So exciting. Though I must say”- his voice became like poison -”I’m not sure what a diplomacy meeting has to do with impeding on Kryptonian sovereignty for over two centuries.”

“With all due respect,” Julie said, in a way that implied that the amount of ‘due respect’ was, in fact, none, “the kingdom of Dahlia has in no way impeded on the sovereignty of yours. We’ve been peaceful allies for a century.” Reggie fought a grin. That was his sister, that badass woman standing up to another royal was his sister. 

“Yes, well, I’d argue that certain friendships aren’t what they seem, hm?” he said, his eyes flickering to Alex, then Luke, before he looked back to Julie. “Nevertheless, we needn’t discuss this right now. You’re just teenagers! Go enjoy yourselves,” he told them. Reggie had a feeling he didn’t want them to just enjoy their teenage years.  

“Have you informed my father that you’re here so soon?” Julie shot back. “We only decided on a diplomacy meeting last night.”

“Yes, he contacted me to tell me your idea last night. I decided to come as soon as I could, so we could get this over with and move on to your surrender,” he said, far too cheerily for the situation. “Ah,” he continued, “I’m afraid we’re drawing attention. As you were, your highness.”

…

Reggie took Julie’s shoulder and helped her out of the driver’s seat when she froze, leading her around the front to the passenger’s seat. Wordlessly, he helped her down as she rubbed her temples, stressed and deep in thought and worry. 

He pulled out of the parking lot once everyone was buckled in, and nobody talked much. He noticed Julie on her phone, texting someone. Who, he wasn’t sure, he just hoped she was okay. She might’ve been in shock, but she wasn’t pale. She was just scared. And confused. Reggie understood; he was extremely confused as to why Caleb had come so soon. They were supposed to have tonight to contact him again and work out the details, weren’t they?

Reggie dragged a hand down his face as they waited at a red light, but the ride to the palace was quick after that. As he pulled into the huge garage, Julie seemed more alert, and she walked steadily back inside. He smiled to himself. 

As he made his way to Julie’s room, his hands clasped with MIra’s and Erik’s, Reggie offered his signature smile to anyone they passed, hoping he was convincing enough. 

As he sat, he wrapped an arm around Luke, hoping the touch was comforting. It seemed to be; Luke’s shoulders softened, and as Reggie reached across to give the same contact to Alex, the prince sighed and wrapped them in a hug as Julie went to her closet. Then, they sat, waiting. Julie was the boss. Even if she was one of the youngest, she was also the most qualified. 

When she walked out, her face was stone cold, confident, but not a trace of a smile.

She didn’t smile as she walked out, dressed in her suit that she’d bought. 

“Covington isn’t going to get what he wants,” she decided. “My dad texted me back. He said he was going to wait to tell us until we got back, because he only heard the news after we’d left.” Ah. Reggie understood; Ray never wanted people to be worried. 

“Is there any other news?” Alex asked worriedly. 

“Yes. There will be an impromptu ball tonight.” She smoothed her jacket around her waist. “Covington is an extravagant man, so this will appeal to him. It will be us, my father, Carlos, the council, as well as Covington and representatives from Krypto, plus any members of the Dahlian Nobility who choose to attend.”

Reggie planned for a crowded night. Not that it would be a problem; the ballroom was huge. Everyone would fit with room to spare.

“Mira, Erik,” Julie added, “rather than being a lady-in-waiting or butler, you’ll be counted as Nobility. Not much of a change, since you’re both relatively used to just hanging with us. If anyone needs assistance, you can call for someone, but tonight, we’re all going to be united, none of us better than the other.

“Covington doesn’t get to show up this abruptly and claim we’ve impeded on Kryptonian sovereignty. So, we’re going to prove that he doesn’t own us.” Reggie nodded, smiling, proud of his sister’s confidence. 

“So,” she continued, a smirk on her face, “take the afternoon to prepare. Instructions will be sent to your rooms, probably with my dad to check up on all of us. So get ready,” she said. “We have a ball to attend. And,” she added as everyone got up, flashing her most confident smirk yet, “put on your dancing shoes.”

----- 

Willie POV

...

Willie had finally gone back inside in the middle of the night, after his tears were dry and the stars left spots in his eyes. 

He snuck back into his quarters, falling on his bed and staring at the wall until his eyes glazed over, finally falling asleep, but the day came all too soon. He was exhausted; not the kind of exhausted where you yawn and doze off, but exhausted emotionally. He didn’t speak much throughout the day, and only felt better when Lilian gave him a break and he went skating. 

Then, when he turned around the bend, he saw Alex, and he couldn’t help but let his heart flutter and his face break out into a grin. But it wasn’t as full as it could be. Still, though, he was happy to see him. 

“Hey there, your royal pancakeness!” he called, skating towards him. 

“Hey, Willie! So, um, I was wondering…” he took a breath, and Willie wondered if he was okay. “We’re going to the mall today,” Alex explained, “and I was wondering if you would want to come?” He grinned. He would love to; and, this kinda sounded like Alex asking him out. 

“I wish I could, man,” he said, “but I’m going to be working all day today. I’m really sorry.” Lilian had said that there was another meeting happening tonight, but they weren’t allowed to know what about. Only that King Ray had seemed stressed.

“No, no, that’s okay,” Alex assured him, and Willie’s emotions warred in his heart. Confliction toyed with anger, anxiety fought with love, happiness danced with melancholy. His eyes met Alex’s, blue in the light but with a silvery tint.  

“Well,” he said awkwardly, “I guess I’ll see you around?”

“Yeah!” Willie agreed. Neither of them moved, and Willie was okay with that. Alex seemed nervous but comfortable, which lifted his spirits. At least Alex didn’t dislike him. If he had, why would he invite him to hang out with him and his friends? Willie might never get to act on his feelings for the prince, but they could be friends.

And that was enough.

Willie inhaled to speak, but then his phone beeped, sounding the end of his half-hour break. He sighed.

“That’s my cue. See you, Alex,” he said. Alex offered a weak smile, and Willie tried to return it. Then, he kicked up his skateboard, jogging back towards the palace, stealing one last glance at Alex, who was still facing away, staring at the grass. But he did eventually look back, and Willie’s instincts told him to act as if nothing had happened. 

So, that’s exactly what he did.

He hated himself for it, but he really did have to get back, and he didn’t want to waste Alex’s time. 

…

“Hey, Willie,” Lilian called as he kneaded the dough he’d just finished making. “Prince Alexander came looking for you while you were on break, just thought I should let you know. Everything okay?” she asked, the subtle quirk of her eyebrow making Willie laugh. 

“Yeah, everything’s good,” Willie assured her. “Alex just had a question.” Lilian’s eyebrows shot up. 

“Well, it’s nice that you and Alex are such good friends,” she prodded, a shit-eating grin on her face. Willie’s face flamed at his mistake; he’d referred to Alex as Alex rather than Prince Alexander. Sometimes he cursed Lilian for being so perceptive. 

“You know,” she continued, “I’ve always hated the idea of an arranged marriage.” Willie’s stomach dropped, but a laugh bubbled in his throat. He wasn’t at all surprised that Lilian was pulling this move. 

“I have as well,” he agreed. “But we can’t get in the way,” he said pointedly. “It’s literally treason.” Lilian snorted. 

“As if you’ve ever cared about rules.” Willie stammered before she laughed. “Relax, child. I’m happy for you. And don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.” Willie blushed. 

“Uh huh, thanks,” he told her sarcastically. She clapped him on the back. 

“I’m here to help.” 

“Yeah, sure. Hey, have you actually confessed to your crush yet?” he asked, and it was his turn to grin as Lilian stammered indignantly. 

“Ah,” he continued. “Still at the pining lesbians stage, I see. Hypocrisy at its finest.” Lilian couldn’t get on him for crushing on Alex if she refused to woman up and ask out the girl she liked, one of the palace blacksmiths. Willie had met her once, and while Lilian might’ve been intimidating and tough and a million other things, but he knew her weakness: any time he mentioned the blacksmith, a petite woman with dark skin and short, curly hair, she got all blushy and told him to shut it. 

“Shut it, Wilbert,” she said. Willie burst out laughing. They all knew his full name was William, but whenever Lilian wanted to be mean, she would call him Wilbert. 

“Oh, so mean,” he said jokingly.

“I’m a lesbian, I get to be mean when I want to be.”

“Fair enough.” She playfully swatted his shoulder as he kneaded the dough, putting it in a bowl to rise. Note to self, Willie thought, the mean lesbian is, in fact, a simp. 

While the dough rose, Willie stretched and started stirring together the ingredients for the cake he was making, adding his signature pinch of cinnamon to bring out the depth of the cocoa, but never tasting the batter. He never tasted batter or dough that had raw flour or eggs in it; he’d learned his lesson after getting salmonella from it when he was nine. Truth be told, salmonella could get fucked. But he still didn’t want to risk it, because it sucked. 

At some point, Lilian had stalked away and was preparing the roast, her sleeves rolled up. Willie grinned. She knew how to get her mind off of her crush when she needed to work. Willie, on the other hand, preferred to get lost in thought about something - or someone - as he baked. If he could get so lost in thought that he was almost dissociating, it would be like no time had passed, and everything would be done perfectly. So, he let his mind wander as he preheated the oven. 

He wondered what was happening tonight. There had already been a royal meeting last night, what could be so urgent to call another the day after? 

“Willie?” Lilian called. “I just got word from the king. Better make that a double batch of cake, at least. The king of Krypto is coming for an impromptu ball.” 

“Whoa,” he said, grabbing another bowl to make more batter. “Why?”

“He couldn’t say, but he seemed tense. Time to put those cake decorating skills to work.” Willie nodded, turning back to his bowl. 

A ball? Willie remembered the last - and only - ball he’d ever attended. He’d attended as a chef, of course, but it was huge. Two and a half years ago, for Princess Julie’s sixteenth birthday. There had been people galore, dancing around the massive ballroom, eating treats he’d made (and complimenting him, allowing him to ride off of that serotonin for weeks), and chatting amongst themselves. 

He poured the cake batter into tins, different shapes for tiers, then shoved them in the oven, washed his hands, and put the risen dough in a loaf pan, sticking it in the other oven, which had already beeped to temperature. 

He wondered if he would get to go to the ball; it was impromptu, but still. He was one of the main bakers, so maybe he’d be allowed to serve some of the desserts and see the fancy lights and outfits. 

He’d never been a very fancy person himself, usually opting for shorts and a t-shirt or crop top, plus some funky socks and vans. But he wasn’t opposed to wearing a suit, he actually quite enjoyed these rare occasions in which he was able to dress up so fancy. 

Of course, he might’ve just wanted to use the ball as an excuse to see Alex. He wondered if Alex was at the mall at that very moment. Did he know about the ball? Was he excited, or nervous? And why was the king of Krypto coming for it? Was something happening?

And, most importantly: what was Covington’s opinion on red velvet mini cupcakes?

Better safe than sorry, Willie decided as he started making the batter. It was, admittedly, very similar to chocolate. However, a few ingredients gave it some extra flair, plus the deep maroon color that he enhanced with red dye. He shoved those into the oven as well, setting another timer and getting started on the cream cheese frosting. 

He remembered making this exact recipe of frosting when he was little, teaching his little sister, Eva, how to measure the ingredients. He remembered picking her up in his gangly twelve-year-old arms so she could reach the counter, laughing when she spilled powdered sugar all over the place. She would be twelve now; he couldn’t wait to visit her again. She and their mom lived near the eastern straits. It was a long drive, they lived at the southern end of them, but the palace, while slightly east, was also far north. But he had plans to visit them for a few days next month, and he was ecstatic. 

Memories of baking with his mom and Eva floated through his mind as he pulled the cakes out of the oven. Eva was always partial to anything strawberry flavored, while Willie had an affinity for key lime. His mom, though, loved chocolate. Willie did too, of course, but his mom’s smile any time he made chocolate cake was infectious. Her enthusiasm and excitement whenever he and Eva experimented with recipes, her laugh whenever they made a mess, even the long braid down her back, all of those memories flooded back to him. 

His family was always important to him. His mom and Eva, yes, but also the people he’d grown to love as his own. People like Lilian, or his childhood best friend who he still pestered over text, or his eighth grade science teacher who’d helped him when he came out. 

But one face floated through his head that confused and delighted him at the same time. 

Alex. 

He didn’t know if Alex even knew how to bake, much less why his face was appearing when Willie was thinking about his family, the people he cared most about-

Oh. 

Oh. 

Well. He’d known he’d liked Alex, but… it was truly something that, even in their limited interactions, he’d made his way far enough into Willie’s heart that he fit in so naturally with the people he loved, the people who were his home. 

He thought he would be surprised, but as he thought more and more about it, the more it made sense. Alex, with his endearing laugh. Alex, with his anxious smiles and bursts of courage. Alex, with his eyes that shifted from icy blue to spring green to steely grey, Alex, with his freckles like the constellations in the night sky but still somehow bright as day. 

Although, the current situation was decidedly Not Great. Alex was a prince, and in an arranged marriage. Plus, he didn’t even know if he felt the same way. To confess his feelings would be treason, and would possibly get Willie (and maybe even Alex) exiled. He knew exile was only used for the most severe punishments, but still. He’d met one of the council members (Councilman Richard, if he recalled correctly), and got absolutely rancid vibes from him. 

So. Confessing his feelings was out. Alex might not even like him back. Alex was also already set to be married, and a literal prince.

A prince with whom Willie was in love. 

This was a problem. 

[mimiri22-6]

I JUST FOUND OUT BEE AND PUPPYCAT HAD A SECOND SEASON! GUESS WHAT I JUST FINISHED WATCHING!

Oh my fucking god holy shit, my guys! This show. This fucking show. Where do I even start! First off

SPOILERS!!!!!!

YOU DO NOT WANT TO WALK INTO THIS SEASON, THIS SHOW, WITH SPOILERS! DO NOT FUCKING LOOK, THIS IS 1000% SPOILER TERRITORY!!!

So I will be taking the extra step of taking my laptop out, and continuing this on there(and after I wake up because it's 4am and I regret absolutely NONE of this whatsoever because, guys, I love this show with everything I have left to my being, I swear, I will die for a third season)

Warning: This is a long one.

OKOKOKOK! I know I know! It’s been uh...A Month since I first posted this! BUT I am Here Now and Ready!!! I am less than 10 seconds into the first episode of season 2 and I am already So Ready to relive this!!(Dream SMP has Nothing on this show, God I Love This Show Far Too Much!!!!!!)

...First ten minutes...I have So Much I want to say...Just-just a lot of love...

okokokokokokokokokok!!!!!! I think I know how I’m going to do this now! One bullet for each episode! Let’s see if I stick with it.

Gentle Touch

In the first episode we already get a big game changer for Bee and her development. Bee becoming more responsible as a favor for Deckard. He asks her to take care of his family while he’s at cooking school and we already see her doing this. Going out to the ocean with Weasley, going out of her comfort zone for people she’s practically family to, which is why we got the beginning flashback, once again going out of her comfort zone to stop Puppycat from punching kittens, And Finally, coming out from her nap cupboard to face Howl and help pay for bills by eating ugly food.

Little Fingers

Ooh, this one has foreshadowing dream sequence. I would say more about it if it had more significance, but it’s really just what happens to Bee in the last ep. This episode brings more of Bee being responsible, trying to take her phone away from Puppycat so he stops making bad purchases. This episode made me realize what Puppycat’s role is this season, the child. Or something among those lines. He’s the same as he was last season, but it seems/is a bit more exaggerated because Bee isn’t doing the same things anymore. She’s started to care about consequences. And speaking about consequences, Toast announces she’s pregnant while confirming that she’s been staying...in Cass’s room(?)...weird, but ok, and by Tim pointing and Merlin’s reaction, it’s Merlin’s...but also everyone else seemed like they thought they were the culprit and I don’t want to think about the implications of that....MOVING ON-OH WAIT, And Cardamon’s mom is spouting magic tears that messes with the plants, so there’s that.

Snow and Violets

I’m going to be honest, I’m not 100% sure what to put here and I’m loosing steam. (I’ve been awake since 3 am...) But I think I can put something. The situation with Mr. Cup is the definition of being haunted by your past. The guilt and regret of cheating in the past has made him lose his motivation to give it his all in racing because, what’s the point? Motivation and not caring was his norm, so he just stuck with it. Until Bee, and now he can be a rainbow and sleep with less guilt and regret on his conscience. The thing with the island rapidly changing could be one of three things. Something to do with the ship that  Is the island, a metaphor for change, or something really cool the creators just wanted.

Day off Work

Not Too much to note for this ep overall. Puppycat totally did do the ‘wrecking the house in search for the owner’ thing dogs do. Finally, a dog trait! Every time I see Cardamon now I just get sad cause he’s 7, and should Not be doing landlord stuff. Bee showing worry about how Cardamon’s mom is still asleep and being worried about Cardamon himself, I’m just glad someone’s noticing. I keep forgetting that some people haven’t watched the pilot so they don’t know about Puppycat being a Space Outlaw, so when he found all his stuff under the apartment I was less surprised and more excited. The two last things I want to say is I think it’s interesting/cool/intriguing how the Wizard family just takes every weird thing either in stride, unquestioningly, or ignorance. Just trying to pretend it didn’t happen so they don’t have to deal with it(other than Crispin, but he’s coming up). And the last thing I just want to bring to light is CARDAMON BEING SO CUTE IN THE LAST SCENE! JUST BEING A CHILD! AND LAUGHING WITH HIS DOG! ON A FUNNY CHAIR! I LOVE HIM YOUR HONOR AND I WILL PROTECT THAT SMILE WITH MY WHOLE BEING!!!

My Favorite

Note, Pretty Patrick is also The Mayor. Alright. It’s definitely been a few months and you can see the relationship between Howl and Bee has gotten better, not that it was too bad to begin with, just a bit less peeved on Howl’s end. The theme of Bee being responsible is brought into play again with the train station scene. Telling Puppycat to not hit and the way Puppycat was acting around Patrick. All little kid stuff. Which also kind of clashes with what I thought was Puppycat being older than Bee by a lot, I’m honestly slowly getting more and more confused exactly how I should perceive Puppycat. THE FIRST REAL LOOK AT THE HAND GUYS! I’m still not sure what their deals are, but they have a corpse on their hands and that is already the biggest red flag. I have a guess as to what/who they are in relation to Puppycat and, by acquaintance, Bee, but I could be wrong, but I also can’t think of any other people they may be. I’ll bring it back up either the next time we see them or at the end.

Did You Remember

Grampa Puppycat cares about his granddaughter a whole lot. Don’t @ me, their dynamic is more confusing than a moving maze...Now this episode, ooh boy, it feels like a lot, but in a minimal way? First off, Cardamon finally breaks down about the stress of being a 7 year old landlord and Bee takes care of him for the day. Big Sis Bee For The Win! DON’T @ ME I MAKE UP MY OWN FAMILY DYNAMICS!!! Kind of continuing from the first sentence, Puppycat and Bee love each other(I Stand By Platonically For Them) so much already, for them it’s been a little over a year considering Puppycat fell into Bee’s life before her last birthday and now they’re celebrating another one. And I must admit, I can not for the life of me figure out wtf the deal is with the tears. They have little shapes of recent events in them and they make plants weird/straight up just make life! Like, What Even Is That?! Also, Cardamon finally gets a good sleep.

Bird Friend

Ok, so we got more ship pieces, a most likely reason as to why Puppycat was Like That in the last few episodes of season 1 and has been goopy every now and again in this season. Apparently eating things he shouldn’t eat make him Extremely off model and goopy. More hands! But not the rest of them this time around. I wonder if Sticky’s hunt for all the birds has any significance other than showing us another piece. Puppycat breaking down and spilling a few secrets after stress eating off the floor and Bee immediately saying no to someone else telling her what’s wrong with Puppycat and letting him come to her first instead of forcing him is always such a good lesson to have. Also, Cass is into weirdly shaped shiny things.

Two Clown Noses

Ah, it’s this one. The one that Really throws a wrench into the Bee/Deckard ship. THEY’RE BOTH SO CUTE! I CAN’T CHOOSE!!! This entire episode is just Crispin and Bee hanging out with the added angst of the beginning ‘story’. This world is full of such amazingly crazy characters and Crispin’s backstory is one of those crazier ones. Bee and him Lived Together and Know Each Other, he knows she’s a robot! My only question is, what happened that they broke up? WAIT- DID THEY EVEN BREAK UP?! It would be weird if they weren’t because they were living together and then they decide to live separate again would make no sense. I think I just jumped to the weirdest conclusion...Anyway! How would Puppycat get sick? I feel like that was just another thing they added to create different dynamics. The beginning birthday thing and the conclusion felt so real even though the cause was something so out there that I feel like only animated shows like this could pass, but also I feel like someone out there has done something similar, so what do I know. Yeah, not much else about this episode, it was mostly just Bee/Crispin stuff and character stuff. Gosh they’re so cute...but so is Bee/Deckard. Being a multishipper is hard...

Funny Lying

RIGHT! THEY’RE CALLED THE WARLOCKS! THAT’S THE TITLE I WAS FORGETTING! Tim knows everyone’s secrets, comes with the perk of having a lot of time and not talking much, you observe everyone else while they think you’re doing something else. I know from experience. Eavesdropping is a specialty of mine. SHIT THIS IS THE ONE WHERE CASS GETS THE MESSAGE DISSING HER FOR FALLING FOR TOAST FROM A COWORKER! I caught those vibes during the first season, but then the first half of this season came along and I was forced to drop those vibes in favor of cannon because TOAST WAS PREGOS WITH ONE OF CASS’S BROTHER’S KIDS! I’m good at catching gay vibes in fictional worlds, but I’m shit in the real world, just like everything else. And the thing is, we don’t get Any kind of explanation/closure for the entire rest of the season! We see Toast totally shocked reaction, probably moments before she was going to sneak attack Cass, but froze upon seeing that text. AND WE GET NOTHING ABOUT THAT FOR THE REST OF THE SEASON! Anyway, that was only like 2 minutes into the ep, this is taking forever. We got more Bee being responsible for Cardamon and getting rid of the tears, but the biggest part of this episode is undoubtedly Puppycat’s scenes. We got him sinking to the bottom of the ocean and getting cradled by flowers created by the tears next to the ship. We find out he was bullied and ridiculed in school as a kid and his best friend(idk what else they would be counted as), Violet, convinced him to leave their planet after they accidently summon their ship, leaving Puppycat’s mother behind. seeing how he cried about leaving her she seems to have been a great caretaker and he loved her immensely. We get the scene of Bee’s dad as a baby/Very young child on a mission, giving a presentation, and finding the candy to be a source of energy by cracking it open. Making me think, ‘Is that Bee’s fuel source? If it is, how would not taking full doses for two years effect her?’ because in the first season she splits the candy in half to share with Puppycat and in this season she didn’t eat the candy at all. Makes me even more worried for the future knowing what state she’s in when this season ends. With the last flower fever dream/memory it seems that the princess that he fell in love with was the one to make the final move to turning him into a ‘monster.’ Don’t worry tho, Bee saved him from the bottom of the ocean 

Golden Eyes

(I’m getting more and more tired as this goes one. I started doing this at around 12 this morning and now it’s nearing 6 pm. I’m loosing it!) We got another birthday and it’s Howl’s this time, though it’s not really his episode. The fish are attracted to the wish crystals for some reason and one eats a bit of it to be ‘human’ for a day. I love how the fish hated being a human and Weasley didn’t even notice it was a date. I don’t know if it was or not, but ending on that was funny. We got the return of the major douche from the season 1 finally and a mention of Moully. 

Why Don’t You Help Me?

(I took a break between episodes, aka I went tf to sleep, because I was falling asleep at the table and not really processing everything enough for what I’m trying to do) Ok, so this is a day in the life of Cardamon episode with supposed parelles to the Warlocks. We start with the red one stuck and the others unwilling to help...and then they start drawing Puppycat’s face on the 5th one’s corpse and these guys just do not care that it’s a dead body that they supposedly killed themselves. In short, they have all my fear because they are uncaring about body counts. Cardamon still goes to school on top of being a self proclaimed landlord and gets made fun of for being responsible and tattling at every chance he gets. Something I just noticed too is, at first I just assumed he was finally getting tired after being an adult in a child’s body for who knows how long, but now I’m thinking if he’s supposed to be asleep with Violet, his mom, then the reason for him being so tired is being awake too long. It could most likely be both, too. Just like Cardamon, I have no idea what all the tears mean. In the most recent one was see Moully as the charm in the center. What’s the pattern with these? Again we see Bee being responsible and taking care of Cardamon, making sure he gets home safe, tucking him in, and pulling an all night favor so he can sleep and get to school in the morning. Speaking of that, I can’t say I like Cardamon’s teachers all that much. I could rant about them, but this is already long and they’re not worth it. My only real question is, why the hell are their clothes so ragged and dirty? Do they not know how to bathe? Just, WTF? (either that or they’re Really not trying to hide their *ahem* activities from the kids, which just makes me want to punch sense into them or something)

Now I’m Really Alone

MOULLY!!!! Sorry, I just love him a lot. From what I can put together, he’s some kind of gift giving being. Giving wishes, exchanging good deeds and quick favors for other good deeds and favors. Just being Really nice and wanting to help everyone he comes across. This episode makes me see so much in common between Bee and Moully. They both want to help even when they don’t know how. Making messes and finding ways clean up those messes out of guilt and the feeling of obligation. They both have lost things they need to pick up and the knowledge that they have all the time in the world because they’ve both been alive for so long. It keeps getting hinted, but now kind of confirmed, that the Wizard’s know Bee is Weird because they haven’t seen her age. Hell, seeing how she interacts with Cardamon she could have even baby sat them. So all the Wizard’s know she’s Weird and, supposedly, only Crispin knew she was a robot. That was until Deckard found out in the season 1 finally. Once again bringing up the point of people in the Wizard family finding something out and ignoring it and hiding it. In the season 1 finally, Tim asked Cass if Deckard wasn’t depressed anymore, practically saying that Deckard has some form of depression. Depression being a mental illness that runs in families, it wouldn’t be a stretch to assume that some other members of the family have similar problems. One of the things I remember depression doing is the person will see a problem and ignore it. Something that many people in this show do with the weirdness around them and the emotional states/situations of the other people in the show. This season is about finally seeing the thing you’ve been ignoring and doing something about it. And that’s what Bee’s been doing this season, taking charge and finally getting her junk out of the ocean and getting REALLY far out of her comfort zone. She HATES water and the ocean, but she’s diving in to take back what’s hers and cleaning up a mess. There’s A Lot to analyze with this episode, the similarities of Moully’s and Bee’s situations and personalities, Puppycat being the responsible one again for the long run of things, the tears and how the wish crystals work, and the state of multiple character’s minds. Ignorance is bliss until it isn’t.

I Won’t Leave You Alone

Ok, SO MANY NOTES! Which makes sense seeing how it’s the last episode. First off, THOSE WARLOCK BASTDARDS VIOLATED MOULLY AND IF THEY WERE REAL I WOULD THROTLE THEM TILL THEIR HEADS POPPED OFF!!! I am a very protective person when it comes to things I care about. And I’m going to say it here and now incase something comes up of it, Cooking Prince gives be Colorful Vibes, if you know what I mean. You don’t follow someone home and bother them when they don’t want to be bothered unless you’re Into into them. That’s all I’m saying and if nothing comes of it, I will drop it. I’m barely hanging onto it to begin with. So, last episode we watched one of three hands punching the other hands to let Moully go, and in this episode it’s confirmed that the day Moully was pulled through the void, the 5th warlock died. My theory with that is, the 5th one was against getting Puppycat in some way and retaliated by fighting them off of Moully and then the others retaliated by killing them in some way. And the tears in this episode didn’t give life to the corpse, but grew new life over top of it, the tears can’t bring the dead back. The ship gets put back together and we see Puppycat being pretty selfish again, bringing the ship online while Bee gets scooped trying to help Moully. He indirectly helped, but only after he got what he wanted. Cooking Prince, an outsider, brings up how everything going on on the island is Weird and Cass celebrates someone acknowledging it. Once again, bringing back the ‘ignorance is bliss until it’s not’ thing going on around here. Cardamon does more childish things this episode, making a wish and crying in his mother’s arms. He got to finally let go of his responsibilities and let it out until he passed out, and now he gets to sleep again. Moully and Bee are out of commission and the Wizard’s+Cooking Prince stay one the island/ship to be with Bee even though they are mostly confused about EVERYTHING going on rn. Bee has multiple Bees now while she’s out, and so, they go looking for Bee’s dad. I have a feeling he has at least some white hairs by now.

I remember watching this season for the first time. I remember I definitely cried at multiple points, but I can’t exactly remember what points now. I didn’t cry this time, I was too busy taking everything in and trying to put what little pieces I could find together. The first season was to get us used to this world and get comfortable for a chill ride, but then it smacks you in the face with something much bigger at the very end. This season was to make you pay more attention and to question your surroundings. It was also about the first steps to taking charge of your life. If Bee didn’t do all the responsible things she did this season, the warlocks would have probably gotten Puppycat while the island went to shambles. Actions have consequences and that’s what this was about. I believe next season is why ‘Lazy in Space’ was the title. The characters are going to be in space, looking for Bee’s dad, and will acknowledge all the weird things going on while developing, excuse the pun, in out of this world ways. 

I can’t wait for season 3.

[vampcubus]

Izuku with a reader with a vampire like quirk (acts like Marceline from adventure time) and likes to sing. She and Uraraka argue and fight for his attention and affection. Fluff and angst at the end please. I really like your writing luv! Keep up the good work!! UwU

| A/N: I had so much fun writing this so it got pretty lengthy! It’s also not as fluffy as I had first intended, but I hope you like it nonetheless! |

(Edit: It’s been split up into two parts due to text block limitations.)

♡ Warnings: Angst, blood-drinking.♡

♡ Words: 2200+ ♡

See part 2 … here

.   .   .

Bite Me (Midoriya/Vampire!Reader) [Part 1]

You reclined on Midoriya’s bed in his dorm room, fingers plucking at the strings of your guitar to find a good rhythm that stuck. You were technically here for a friendly study session with Midoriya, Iida, and Uraraka, but your bluenette friend canceled last minute so it was just you three. Which, was fine you could still get a lot of work in.

The only thing was, it wasn’t fine. Your eyes drifted from the strings to where Ochako and Deku sat adjacent to you, laughing about something you didn’t care to know about.

Midoriya has barely paid any attention to you the entire time you’ve been here and it was getting on your damn nerves. You frowned, leaning further away from the rays of sun that shone through the slightly open curtains. He always made sure to close them for you when you came over. I guess he was too busy with Uraraka to care.

Not that you couldn’t close them yourself! But that wasn’t the point.

As selfish as it may sound you like to think that he thinks about you. And normally, he does! But when Uraraka-san’s around… not so much.

Why did he like her so much? Was she better than you? Was it because she had a more reliable pulse? Better impulse control? Fuck, now you’re just making yourself feel bad.

While sifting through your bitter thoughts your fingers subconsciously caught onto a good tune, and you closed your eyes, humming to the rhythm and trying to think up some rad lyrics to pair with it. A bit early, but you were never a conformist to basic music composition anyways.

You heard Uraraka giggle and Midoriya chuckled back, the sound making you snap your eyes open and strike a harsher yet kind of nice-sounding chord.

You continued playing quietly to yourself, whispering a few different lyrics every now and then to sound them out and see which ones stuck. As you build a good foundation, you had unknowingly captured the attention of your classmates who finally turned away from the assignment and one another to look at you as you played.

She looks so concentrated! Midoriya thought as he watched you with sparkling eyes, feeling blessed to have been given the opportunity to bear witness to your creative process. He’s always admired you, especially your way with music. And now that you’re properly hanging out as friends more often, he’s written almost an entire notebook about you and your quirk! You were so cool!

Your quirk was very vampire-like in nature. You had increased physical strength and speed, the ability to float, and the more blood you consumed the stronger you were. Not only that but you could shape-shift into a bat! A cute one at that… Midoriya smiled crookedly at that, reminded of the time you fell asleep in class and when Mr. Aizawa smacked a book down on your desk. You got so frightened you poofed into a little bat version of yourself!

He might have drawn your bat form too…

Some might say your quirk was a little villainous, but he didn’t see it that way at all! You’d make a great hero one day, regardless of how er… exotic? Morbid? Your quirk was.

“Wow, Y/N-chan, that sounds really good so far!” Midoriya gushed a little, shaking you from your focused trance and negative thoughts—accidentally pulling the wrong string, making you cringe.

“Oh-uh, thanks!” You blushed, feeling the blood rise to your usually ice-cold cheeks.

“You’re going to make a great artist one day. After you go pro that is.” Deku flattered, freckled cheeks lighting up with the slightest dusting of pink. That’s also when he noticed the weird angle you were leaning to keep out of the light streaming through the curtains.

“Oh no! The curtains! I completely f-forgot, I’m so sorry, Y/N-chan!” He stuttered apologetically, scrambling to his feet to go and pull the curtains shut. You sighed in relief leaning back into a more comfortable position. “You should’ve said something.” He frowned, the guilt clear in his mesmerizing emerald green eyes.

“D-don’t worry about it, Deku. You looked… busy.” You coughed awkwardly, fingers subconsciously returning to strumming across the strings to distract yourself.

To your delight, Midoriya sat closer to you this time. And you shot Uraraka a subtle-yet-victorious glance, to which you were met with her frustrated one. It was almost like there was an invisible bolt of lightning between you, cracking challengingly between two rivals as you shared a familiar look of ‘friendly’ competition. You knew she had a crush on Deku, and she knew that you had feelings for him in turn. Neither of you wanted to step away, both dead set on winning Deku’s affections for your own. Of course, the little green ray of sunshine had no idea about this, but he didn’t need to know.

“Can you—um… c-can you possibly… teach me some things?” Midoriya asked bashfully, rubbing the back of his neck, eyes darting from your own now-softer ones and your guitar. Your normally-still heart swelled and beat a few times, your cheeks burning. You felt the excitement bubble inside and you couldn’t help but give him an enthusiastic fanged smile. You didn’t even have time to send Uraraka a bragging look, you were too eager.

“Of course!” You exclaimed, slipping your guitar strap off your shoulder. “Scoot a bit closer.”

A while later you found yourself sitting behind Deku, arms wrapped around him to guide his clumsy hands across the strings of your favorite guitar. He had been incredibly nervous the first few lessons, especially with you touching him like this, but he relaxed once you got him into the zone. Uraraka scribbled away at an assignment to your left, sending you glances every now and then.

For once you weren’t worried about her though. All you could think about was the rough texture of Midoriya’s hands under your own as you adjusted his posture once more.

“Hey, there ya go, you’re getting the hang of this!” You complimented, and he flushed, cringing when his fingers fumbled and played the wrong tune. “You’re fine. You’re a natural, Deku!”

“You think so?” He asked, eyes shiny as they glanced over his shoulder at you. You avoided his gaze deliberately to hide the heat that had risen to your face.

“Mm-hm.” You hummed, trying to contain your excitement as he managed to play a few basic tunes. You were so proud!

“Hey, Deku?” Came Uraraka’s voice out of nowhere. You’d forgotten she was there��� Midoriya turned to her, asking her what she needed. “I’m having a hard time with this problem, can you help me out?”

Ochako smiled charmingly, tilting her head to the side in a cute way as her pink cheeks spread with her grin. You scoffed, covering it up with a fake cough when Midoriya gave you a questioning look. She wasn’t that cute.

Apparently, that was an unpopular opinion because Midoriya gingerly returned your instrument and scooched over to the end of the bed to help Uraraka with her assignment. You weren’t saying that she didn’t actually need help, but you weren’t saying that you trusted her either. You knew she was just trying to deter his attention from you and onto herself.

You sighed, standing up from the bed with a look of temporary defeat.

“Sorry, guys. I think imma leave, catch you later.” You announced, and while your back was turned you missed the look of disappointment on Midoriya’s face. You slid your guitar over your shoulder to rest on your back and slung your book bag over your other shoulder. Your green-haired classmate didn’t have much time to say goodbye before you were crossing the room to the door.

“Oh, okay I’ll see you—” the door closes before he can finish. “Later…”

.   .   .

The next morning you sat on the steps at the entrance of U.A. with your guitar, doing your usual morning fiddling around with a new song. The same one you started the night prior. You’d gotten pretty far, an open notebook with scrawled lyrics and music notes balance on your outstretched knee crossed casually over the other.

You used to do this while waiting for your friends to come to school, perhaps serenade them jokingly as they approached. Even after moving into your dorm, you couldn’t quite shake the habit.

The sun wasn’t ideal, but you had a giant sun hat and the appropriate clothing for being outside in it. Deku usually met you on the stairs anyways so why would you move?

“Hey there, Y/N!” You hear Deku call from behind you.

Speak of the devil.

You turned your head to look over your shoulder, flashing him a fanged smile while your finger continued dragging your pick across the strings. “Heyyy, g’morning sleepy, you’re later than usual.”

He laughed nervously, walking over to sit down on the stairs beside you. Now that you got a better look at him, you noticed how drained he looked, the bags underneath his eyes more prominent in the light of the morning sun. A gentle wind rustled his curly green hair, and his jade eyes reflected the glare of the sun, making them almost glow.

Your cool cheeks darkened and you cleared your throat, eyes darting from him to save yourself the embarrassment.

“Long night?” You asked and he nodded sheepishly. He’d spent most of the night studying with Uraraka who was unusually… enthusiastic? He wasn’t sure how to put it.

“You usually stay up with us. Was something wrong last night? You left… so suddenly.” Midoriya looked to you expectantly, eyes crinkled with concern and something else you couldn’t quite place. You tried to laugh it off in your usual cool, smooth way, playing a bit more enthusiastically in an attempt to sell it further.

“Nah, man I’m cool. I was just… I was just.” Your words failed you when you were suddenly taken back to last night, the stare Uraraka had given you, how jealous you’d felt. So much so that you just couldn’t stand being in the room any longer. The same reason the lyrics of the same song you’d been working on since then were so bitter. You couldn’t help it, really. The way Ochako looked at him sometimes sent your blood way over the boiling point.

It was like a parasite, feeding on your patience with every tiny competition for Deku’s attention until eventually one of you cracked. It wouldn’t be you.

You jumped when you felt a hand on your shoulder and whipped your head to the side to see Midoriya with a sympathetically worried expression, hand twitching on your shoulder. The coolness of your flesh crept through even your sleeves and for a moment he was mesmerized by it. He made a mental note to scribble it down in his notebook later. You felt the frosty sheen of your resolve melt under his touch. Not many had the balls to touch you.

“You were just what? Are you okay?” He asked, not sure if the surprised look of confusion swirling in your eyes as they reflected some of the morning light—even from under the huge sun hat on top of your head—meant that you were going to get angry or not. You didn’t normally respond well to others worrying about you when you could obviously take care of yourself.

“Pssh—Yeah! I’m fine, quit worrying. Wouldn’t want any of your pretty green hair falling out for me.” You chuckled, and his spotted cheeks bloomed a light pink. Did you just say he had pretty hair? You looked away from him and back to your guitar with a newly-lit smile. It was alarming how much effect this boy had on you, being able to cheer you up just by worrying for you. “And uh, if you’re free later…”

“Yes!” You blinked at him as he blurted it before you could even finish your sentence. Did he even know what you were going to say?

“Uh…”

“I-I mean, um…” Izuku blushed madly, realizing that he’d just gotten way too ahead of himself. He must sound so desperate right now! The truth is that he would’ve said yes regardless of what you asked, never the type to pass up the chance to hang with you. “S-sorry, please continue.”

“I was going to ask if you wanted s’more guitar lessons.” You giggled at his embarrassed posture, palm shielding his face from you as it reddened.

“O-only if you promise to train with me!” He blurted out without thinking, eyes shining with emerald stars as he stood up from the stairs.

He couldn’t help it. He’s been wanting to ask you to train with him for such a long time but never knew how to ask without coming off as strange. Your quirk fascinated him, and he still knew so little about it! And what better way to evaluate your quirk than in a fight?

Again you blinked, caught off-guard by his enthusiasm.

Hah, what a fanboy. Can’t blame him though, I am pretty rad.

“Deal.” You grinned, showing off your pearly-white fangs, floating into the air and strumming your guitar as you made your way inside.

[padfootagain]

A Very Rose Mistake (VI)

Part 6: How You Almost Did

 Here I come with a new chapter for this series!!! I'm sorry the posting schedule is a little bit more hectic than usual, but depression is kicking my arse pretty badly, and it's harder to write then. BUT here is a new chapter!! Things are… evolving. A lot of this chapter is the flashback, because it's an important scene.

I hope you like this chapter, and don't forget to leave a little comment if you read, cause that really helps motivating me into writing, and I need that extra piece of motivation now more than ever, sadly.

No warnings here, it's pretty fluffy :)

Pairing: Harry Styles x Reader

Word Count : 4283

I.

Holmes Chapel, 2010

 "So… do you have everything?"

"Yeah, it's all ready."

"Did you take your inhaler? I won't be here to save your distracted arse this time."

"I do have it. Thanks, Lambkin."

"Fuck you, Chuckaboo."

"Oi!"

You laughed as you helped Harry carry his suitcase down the stairs. He was leaving to take a chance at X-factor. It was already crazy that he got through the first round of auditions, but now he had to travel across the country to start the first steps of the show.

Whenever the two of you talked about it though, he insisted that he would be back in the blink of an eye. He hadn't even expected to successfully get two 'yes' from the jury during the auditions, and now his purpose was to learn as much as he could from the experience, and enjoy it while it would last. It was a crazy adventure, but one he was certain would simply end in a flicker. He had asked you to get all the lessons for him that he would miss, so he wouldn't struggle too much when he would come back in a couple of weeks.

And to be honest, you thought the same about the whole thing as he did. It wasn't that you didn't believe in him enough, because you did. If there was one person that you trusted and believed in on this Earth, it was Harry. And you had heard him sing before, you knew he had talent, even if it was a little raw for now. You did not doubt though that he was full of potential, and with some hard work, could definitely stand a chance. But he was also a sixteen-year-old boy, from this little English town you called home where nothing happened, and he was your best friend. You had known each other since you were five. It was almost impossible for you to imagine him as anything else but the goofy teenager he was when around you. So, a professional singer? It was improbable up to a hilarious degree.

Still, you were nervous and sad at the sight of Harry checking the content of his backpack one last time, checking if he had everything. He would be leaving early the next morning. It was the last evening you would share before he was off for an unknown period of time, and even if you both assumed it would be but a short one, it was still scary to think about how you didn't know when you would next see him. Maybe it was simply because it had never happened before, you guessed so, at the very least. Anything unknown was scary, after all.

Harry was trying to keep a calm façade, but you were far from a fool, and knew perfectly well that he was, in reality, terrified about the whole endeavour. After all, he was going to be leaving his home for some time. Any sixteen-year-old would find the mere thought terrifying.

After you brought all of his bags to the hallway by the front door, ready for his journey the next day, you settled for a while in the kitchen, where you prepared some toasts and sandwiches for your dinner. Anne was working late, and would not be coming home for another hour or so, which meant that Harry and you could enjoy some quality time together for a little longer.

You both laughed as you almost burned down the kitchen preparing the toasts, both of you pretending for that time that everything was normal. It was almost as if you had both silently came to the agreement that for that evening, while the two of you were alone cooking in the kitchen, his journey of the next day was but a reverie, and instead, the next morning would simply be the beginning of a normal day.

You talked about video games, and TV shows you found funny but stupid, and school. You couldn't really describe why talking with Harry was so different to talking to anyone else. It was just so easy. Fluent. It came without an effort, and it seemed that the two of you could have been left there for hours on your own and would still have found some things to say to each other, some new topic to discuss. You had always attributed that trait of his to the fact that he was your best friend, and had been so for such a long time. Knowing him so well meant that there wasn't much you didn't dare to do in front of him. You weren't afraid to be yourself when he was around, never had been.

And for a long time, you reckoned that it was simply explained by you seeing a brother in him. A twin of sort that you had never had. But as puberty started its work, and your mind embraced new possible explanations and understood new kinds of relationships, you wondered if a brotherly bond was really what united so closely the two of you.

Because you weren't sure that it was all there was to it, really. Maybe, it wasn't the reason why you didn't like his girlfriends. Maybe it wasn't why you were so sad to say goodbye tonight. Maybe it wasn't why you trusted him so blindly all the time. Why you always forgave him.

But you were young, and you weren't quite sure yet of what you felt meant. Maybe you were just trying to figure yourself out, and were making a fuss of nothing.

Or maybe, Harry meant something else to you than a brother.

All you knew was that when the conversation finally quietened, slowing down to reach a full stop that filled the room with silence, his departure on the tip of both your tongues once more, you were sad and afraid like you had never been before.

"We should wash the dishes," Harry threw one last attempt at avoiding the floating threat hovering in the comfortable silence. One last ammunition used to keep his fear at bay for a little longer, and instead, bathe in your presence for a little longer.

He couldn't really explain how he felt about you. It wasn't something he had felt with the few girls he had been with before, and it wasn't either a level of intimacy that he had ever reached with any other of his friends. You were in that special box in his heart, that had only your name on it, and no one else's. More than a friend, but not a girlfriend either. Somehow, you were more than that to him. You were family to him. But he didn't see you like a sister either. Maybe he had for a while, but it slowly yet irremediably changed along the past few years. He wasn't sure to understand what that box your name lived in inside his heart was, but he was okay with that, for now. Sixteen was young after all, to understand matters of the heart.

For now, he simply wanted to be with you whenever he could, and that was enough.

He started to wash the plates in the sink, while you grabbed a clothe and started to dry the cutlery.

You didn't notice the glances he threw towards your direction, and he didn't notice the way your eyes lingered on his features as if to carve them into memory either. It was an unspoken, halfway type of zone you had settled in. It was hard to escape it now.

"Are you worried about tomorrow?" you asked, breaking the long silence that had settled in the kitchen, broken only by the distant murmur of cars passing by the street, and the water running from the faucet.

Had it been anyone else, Harry would have probably lied and pretended that he was perfectly fine.

But then, it was you, standing in that special little box of yours, and despite how fragile it made him feel, he answered you anyway.

"Yeah… I'm a bit nervous."

"I mean, I reckon it's normal to be so."

"Yeah… I mean, it's all new and I don't really know what will happen. And… huh… I think… It's gonna be hard to be away, I guess. I think I'll miss my mum a lot. And… and you too."

You stared at him for a moment, yellow photons from the lamp above your heads getting caught in the wild curls of his hair. He seemed a little lost. He was just a boy, after all.

You nudged him, trying to make him feel better.

"Hey, don't worry. I'm sure you'll be alright. Besides, you'll have fun, and make new friends over there, I'm sure. You will barely notice I'm not here."

He frowned, looking hurt at your statement, and you wondered why.

"You really think I would forget about you?" he asked, his voice a little too low, a little too deep, a little too fragile.

You shook your head, but he could see in the way you fidgeted with the cloth that you were not completely earnest with him.

"Of course not. I know you won't."

He turned off the water, the silence becoming deafening while he took his time to turn fully towards you, drying his hands on his worn-out jeans. Meanwhile, you were drying a plate, or at least, faking to do so, for there was no more water to sweep away across the porcelain. But it was easier to rub the white plate than to look at your friend at that moment.

"Hey, look at me."

When you stubbornly kept your eyes on this plate you kept on drying, Harry gently rested his hands upon yours, successfully interrupting your movements.

"Y/N. Please."

You let him take the plate away from you, putting it away before taking your chin in between his fingers to force you to turn to him. He wasn't surprised to find withheld tears glimmering in your eyes, yet the sight broke his heart all the same.

He couldn't see you cry. Never had been able to. He would have done anything to make you smile, and it had been so since the two of you were five.

He gave you a tender, reassuring smile.

"You're stupid sometimes, you know that?"

You frowned at that, taken aback. If anything, you weren't expecting that kind of response from him. But it wasn't all that he had to say.

"I could never forget you, you dummy. You're my best friend. You're… You're special to me. And whatever happens, I will never ever forget about you. Okay?"

You looked down at your feet, fleeing his green eyes that seemed to pierce right through all the pieces of armoury you had built around your soul. You nodded, slowly, your throat too tight to speak. But you weren't so worried anymore.

"You're not gonna forget about me either, are you?" he asked, his voice fragile again too.

You smiled one more time, looking up to find yourself trapped in the green hues of his irises.

"Now, you're being the silly one. Of course not. Besides, you'll be back in two weeks, tops. You're not half as charming as you think you are."

"Aren't I?" he asked, wiggling his eyebrows in a ridiculous way, making you laugh.

"No, you're not."

As you both fell quiet again, you suddenly seemed hype-aware of Harry's hold on your chin, that hadn't wavered throughout your exchange. He brushed his thumb across the soft skin, making you gasp.

And all of a sudden, there was a shift between the two of you. The air across the room seemed to be filled with electricity, growing denser, and maybe it was why both of you found it harder to breathe. Or maybe it was the way you both lost yourselves in each other's eyes in a way you never had before.

You caught him as he glimpsed down at your lips. You noticed the way his eyes travelled across your mouth, as if he was hesitating, weighing his options. You saw his Adam's apple jumping as he struggled to swallow the lump that was growing in his throat. When his gaze flickered back to meet yours though, both of you could barely breathe at all, your two hearts stomping under your ribcages.

His hold on your chin had become more of a caress than a hold: gentle, brushing of fingertips against your skin, giving you back complete freedom of your movements. Yet, you didn't want to move away at all.

And when Harry leaned closer to you, it was your turn to glance at his lips, watching the two lines barely parted fall towards yours. And when you realized what he was doing, you stopped breathing altogether.

Because Harry was about to kiss you.

But then he stopped, merely an inch or so away, his breath fanning and brushing your lips, warm and staggering, uncertain through uneven pants. And he was absolutely sure that he had never felt anything as intense as this moment in his entire short life.

But he stopped, because it was you he was about to kiss. His best friend. And even if you lived in that special box in his heart, even if, to him, maybe it meant that you were more than just a friend to him, you were way too important for him to take any uncalculated risk. So instead of closing the gap between your mouths, he stood still, in his kitchen under the yellowish light of the lamp, fingers still a little wet from washing the dishes, or maybe it was more because of how nervous he was. He needed to give you a chance to step back and stop him.

So, he blinked a few times, staring at your eyes with a silent question in his green irises. To which you answered by leaning closer to him too.

So… you didn't want him to stop?

He moved his hand up your jaw, cupping your cheek instead, closing his eyes and focusing on how warm the air leaving your lungs was against his face, breaths mingling together halfway between your parted lips.

And you were about to meet when the front door of Harry's house loudly opened.

"Harry! Y/N! I'm home!"

Both you and Harry jumped away from each other as Anne was ruffling in the hallway, probably taking off her shoes and coat.

In the kitchen, you both shied away. The moment had passed, broken, and you both knew that there wasn't going to be any other moment for you to be alone before Harry would leave.

Harry looked over his shoulder, and before his mother would appear, he hurried to take your hand in his.

He seemed frightened, and a little frantic. A little desperate too, still struggling to catch his breath.

"We'll talk about it when I come back."

You stared at him intensely, and he took your other hand in his as well.

"It's a promise. We'll talk about what just happened when I come back, okay? Cause… that… that was a thing. Right?"

"Yeah… yeah I think it… was a thing."

He struggled to swallow, stuttering a little as he let down his armour before you completely, and with a shaky voice asked one more question.

"Will you… would you wait for me?"

You gave him a reassuring smile, and to his hands you gifted a tender squeeze.

"I will. I'll wait for you."

 II. 

Loch Lomond, 2020

 Harry was pretty when he slept.

Not that he was ever not pretty, you reckoned that Harry was a very handsome man in general. But there was something soft in the way he looked when he slept, peaceful, that you really loved.

Maybe it was his parted lips, or the soft sound of air leaving his lungs in a perfectly regular rhythm. The occasional little crease between his brow that appeared and vanished at the rhythm of his dreams. Or the way his eyelids trembled a little sometimes before growing still again, eyelashes perfectly bent in the most graceful curve barely disturbed by the movement at all. Or perhaps it was how messy his hair became as they rubbed against the pillow.

But you could hardly deny that the main reason was that Harry always grabbed whatever he could during the night and held onto it for dear life throughout the rest of the night. To ensure that he would not disturb your sleep – and knowing Harry, probably also because he was worried it would make you uncomfortable – he had hold onto a pillow for the first evening, making sure that he would not end up curled around you instead. And it had worked, the two of you waking up peacefully on each side of the bed.

But not today.

This morning, you opened your eyes to find that the reason why you felt so warm and snuggled up was because you were safely tucked in Harry's side, his arms wrapped around you and his nose almost brushing yours, face resting at the edge of his own pillow, legs tangled in a mess of limbs. A quick glance across the bed revealed that the pillow he was hugging when you went to bed the previous night was nowhere to be seen. You guessed that Harry had dropped it to the floor during the night, turned around, probably wearing across his features a grumpy little pout as he tossed and turned while still mostly asleep, until he found your form sleeping soundly on the other side of the mattress. And then, well, the rest was easy to guess given your current position.

There was a little voice in your head that kept on telling you to pull away. That you should have felt uneasy with your current position. And had it been anyone but Harry, yes, you guessed that you would have been uncomfortable right now and would have freed yourself with little regard for the other person's sleep. But the thing was, it was Harry.

It was Harry all cuddled up around you, holding you close, and you didn't feel uncomfortable at all. You felt safe and warm and taken care of. Because it was Harry holding you. Harry who had always been here for you, since your early childhood. You felt so safe with him all the time after all, this morning waking up in his arms wasn't different. It was safe, the same way you always felt whenever he was around.

It was barely dawn and the orange light of the rising sun bathed the room a colourful hue. It was still quite dark, despite the deep orange shades of the beams licking at the walls. Particles of light were caught in his wild curls, brown tainted with orange, and you spent long minutes studying the changes in the colours, the way the light made his cheeks look a little pinker, the way it seemed to hug his jawline, and was left stranded across his eyelashes and the stubble that coloured his skin. It took all of your strengths to refrain yourself from running your fingers across the swallows tattooed on his upper chest, but you were too scared of waking him if you did so. You couldn't help but stare at them though, the black ink rising and falling with his regular breathing. He was still wearing his cross necklace around his neck, the gold reflecting the morning light. It wasn't the first time that you saw him with a bare chest, and it wasn't the first either that he hugged you without a shirt on. But it didn't stop you from shivering in the best way when he moved his arm around you ever so slightly, his bare skin sliding across your own bare arms. Because you were trapped in his arms, your arms folded between your two bodies, your hands were pressed against your chest. But now that your eyes were settling on his skin again, a little tanned and looking so invitingly smooth, you really couldn't summon enough willpower to not reach across the inches-long gap between your hand and his chest, and you gently rested your palm against his heart. You could feel the organ beating under his skin and muscles, little rhythm pulsing through your skin. Regular, soothing, safe. Just like Harry.

After a long while staring at him, with a smile across your lips you hadn't even noticed, your gaze moved across the room to settle upon the window instead, and you watched the quiet waters of the loch as it reflected the bright gold and orange of the sky. With the trees alongside the shores also covered with autumnal hues, it looked as if someone had painted the entire scene in shades of ochre. It was peaceful, a landscape still barely awake, that only the wind carrying freshly fallen skeleton leaves seemed able to disturb.

You didn't know for how long you had remained like this, staring at the landscape outside, safely tugged in Harry's warmth, when he finally started to stir and wake up. You turned to him again just in time to catch his eyes fluttering open, green irises appearing in the early morning light that fell upon your face instantly, as if they had been looking for you as a reflex. A bright smile appeared on his lips at the sight of your dishevelled and freshly awaken form in his arms.

"Morning," he mumbled, sleep making his voice deeper than usual, raw and warm.

"Good morning," you answered with a smile of your own.

He snuggled closer to you, until you were tugged under his chin, so he could bury his face in your hair, inhaling the addicting fragrance of your shampoo.

You were so warm against him. He could feel your hand pressed to his chest, and the mere touch was enough to set his whole body on fire. Your smell was reassuring, so reassuring, like the scent of something familiar, the scent of an old memory. And he felt so safe like this, with you in his arms. Invincible. Yes, that was the word. He felt invincible, like nothing bad could ever happen while he held you as close as he did now.

Why hadn't he done that sooner? It felt amazing.

His eyes snapped open when the thought finished to form in his mind.

Why hadn't he done that sooner? Because you were just a friend.

He quickly unwrapped his arms from around you, pushing himself away and in his haste to put distance between your two bodies, falling from the bed and onto the wooden floor and the pillow that had grown cold after he had lost it during the night. He let out a loud 'ouch', and when you peered beyond the bed, Harry was rubbing his arse cheek through his sweatpants. And you couldn't stop yourself from laughing at him.

"You alright down there?"

"Oh shut up!" he fought back, looking all pouty and grumpy, and you found the sight so ridiculously adorable that you had to laugh to stop yourself from melting instead.

"Are you alright? Did you hurt yourself?" you asked a little more seriously.

"My butt and my ego will be equally bruised by the incident for a few days," he replied, but he couldn't refrain a smile of his own as the situation was rather hilarious.

You laughed at that, but grew silent again when he finally looked up at you. He seemed uncomfortable, running a hand in his hair. Embarrassed, even. And for some reason, it hurt to see him react like this.

"I… I'm sorry."

"About?"

"About… how we woke up," he apologized, stumbling on his words and stuttering a little. "I… I must have lost my pillow during the night."

"I had figured that much."

"I… I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable."

"You didn't. It's okay."

He gave you a hopeful stare.

"Really?"

"Yeah, really," you nodded. "I mean, you were just hugging me, not much to say about it."

Nothing much to say about it? Then why was your heart still beating this fast just thinking about it then?

"I… you sure you're okay?"

You rolled your eyes at him.

"Yes, I'm sure. It's fine."

"Oh. Okay."

Harry had to admit that he was surprised that you were taking this so… well. As if it didn't have any meaning at all. When he had woken up cuddling you, holding you as close as he could.

As he finally stumbled back to his feet, he had to admit that he was not just surprised, he was also a little disappointed. Because he didn't take the situation as lightly as you did, and that was because…

He pushed the thought away before it could finish forming in his mind. He didn't need to think about this at all. It was all something from the past. He was over it. Had been for a while. No need to think of it again.

"Right. Well, still, I'm sorry."

"You were asleep, it's alright."

"You should have woken me up."

"I… I was barely awake myself, hadn't really processed what was going on yet."

It was a lie, but he seemed to buy it.

"Oh… okay."

"Besides, I've noticed by now how clingy you can be!" you joked, making him chuckle.

"Right… uhm… I'm gonna go take a shower, and then we can go grab a bite for breakfast, yeah?"

"Sure, you can take the shower first."

"Thanks."

And indeed, Harry was grateful that you granted him access to the bathroom first. Because he could hide how much he was blushing in there.

***********************************************************

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@swtxel​

[lunarmessenger]

Figure Skating (RFA, V, + Saeran)

I always wanted to be a figure skater hahahaaa so have this! ilysm x - luna (also i couldn’t find the proper gif to show what MC did in Jumin’s headcanon but oh well please don’t hate me)

Zen

• He’d just landed a role that involved ice skating so he’d decided to take lessons right away

• He was already pretty graceful while walking normally so there was no surprise when he’d picked it up right away

• You always attended his practices and one day mused that you’d love to help him practice a scene or two

• He was fully ready to help you out too once you two had gotten to the skating rink

• “Be careful MC it’s pretty slippery when you first step on~”

• “I appreciate that Zen but I think I’ll be okay” and you laced up your skates for the first time in a few years

• He held his hands out for you but you slid right past him and did a couple of laps around the rink to sort of warm up and by now he was like “Oh okay I guess you got it”

• Then all of a sudden you do a toe loop??? On the way to him? Like it was no big deal? And his jaw just about hits the floor?

• “WHEN DID YOU LEARN TO DO THAT MC AND HOW COME YOU DIDN’T TELL ME?!?!”

• He’s a little butt hurt that he wasn’t told sooner but forgets about it an hour later when you allow him to use you as a model to help him practice for his role (and he gets the excuse to touch your hips and thighs whenever he wants now huehuehue)

Yoosung:

• He was a little nervous since it was a little class trip (and almost decided to just stay home with you and play LOLOL)

• He’s also not very active but never mind that MC “I just don’t want to hurt myself doing this please don’t make me go”

• You do manage to convince him to go since “Yoosung I used to skate and since you can bring a plus one can we go???”

• There was no way he could resist your cute face

• That weekend you both show up to the rink, you excited with your old skates while Yoosung is more excited to show you off to his friends from class (look they’re so pretty I told you guys I have a partner now leave me alone)

• Yoosung clings to you when you both get on the ice but he lets go after about half an hour once he gets a hold of the basics

• “Can I go skate now, can I, can I?”

• Damn it you’re so cute MC “Sure but be careful since they’re being a bit rowdy out there”

• Then zoom you are off before Yoosung can even blink

• When you have enough room you whip out a Salchow and Yoosung is absolutely floored (so are his classmates lol)

• “Did you see Yoosung did you see?”

• “Yes MC let’s go home” He didn’t like how his classmates were suddenly staring at you for the rest of the trip, and he promised you guys could go again when it was just the two of you.

Jaehee:

• She’d found a small coffee club that went ice skating every weekend and figured it’d be a great stress reliever for the two of you (especially since you’d told her that you’d been figure skating since you were a child)

• You were beyond excited, and that alone was enough to motivate Jaehee to try her hardest once you’d gone to the club

• The club was full of both beginners and experienced skaters so everyone was pretty comfortable and it was a judgement free zone

• Jaehee had managed to hop from one foot to the next and was extremely proud mind you because “look MC I didn’t fall this time”

• And while you encouraged her a lot you really wanted to show her what you knew how to do so when the club allowed some space for the more experienced skaters you immediately pushed yourself off the wall and started to skate

• You slowly built yourself up until you pulled off a triple loop, the scarf around your neck twirling with you as you landed perfectly and skated back towards Jaehee

• She was definitely a little enchanted by how graceful you looked and clapped the loudest amongst everyone in the group

• Vowed that you two would go back weekly just so you could teach her how to do that

Jumin:

• He’d had the sudden idea of opening a cat themed skating rink (especially since he’d seen you looking fondly at your pair of ice skates)

• You were so excited (you honestly didn’t care if it were alligator themed you just wanted to skate) that you asked if the other RFA members could join????

• He strongly opposed but ended up giving in anyways

• He also mainly wanted to see Zen suffer from his cat allergy but that was his own selfish gain and not yours

• It was extremely private and everybody was having fun just lazily gliding across the ice (Jumin stayed by the bleachers with a glass of wine he would not be caught dead ice skating)

• And then you finally finished lacing up your skates and you were so excited you almost fell on your way onto the ice

• “MC please be careful; maybe you should sit with me a little longer?”

• He suddenly was wondering if maybe you hadn’t skated in a while because you weren’t that good at it??? Since you almost fell before you even got on the ice?

• “I’m fine Jumin I know what I’m doing.”

• “Alright as long as you—” And he was cut off because you were suddenly gracefully gliding circles around everybody else (who suddenly stopped skating and just grabbed on to the nearby wall to watch)

• Then you suddenly did the flip maneuver (you wanted to do something a bit more extravagant but you didn’t want to fall on accident knowing Jumin would forbid you from skating ever again if you got hurt)

• “Excuse me MC do that again” He pulled out his phone to take pictures and videos (you swore you saw a slight blush and knew he was impressed)

• They all ended up blurry but luckily Saeyoung had managed to take a few photos for him

Saeyoung:

• He’d recently binge watched an anime (you can guess which one) and he was suddenly obsessed with the idea of ice skating

• “MC let’s go ice skating” “What???”

• “PLEASE I know this amazing rink and we can drive one of my baby’s every day to get to it please MC?!?!?!”

• You figured saying yes wouldn’t hurt since he never stayed fixated for more than a month

• And it gave you a chance to get back into doing what you used to be so passionate about

• Of course he knew that you used to ice skate (due to that totally legal background check haha don’t worry about it MC) so he figured you’d go along with it

• He was right damn it

• He beat you on the ice immediately and fell like three times but he didn’t care because he was going to get it down even if he broke a leg to do it

• “Saeyoung please I am not strong enough to carry you back to the car if you hurt yourself”

• You smiled though because it was fun to see him slowly get little jumps down here and there

• “Hey MC can you show me one of your favorite moves?? I wanna see if I can do it!”

• “Okay but it’s gonna be a bit more advanced than I think you can handle right now.”

• “Oh please—” Before he could even finished you pulled out the most stunning triple lutz he’d ever seen??

• He begged you to teach him and you promised you would as long as he kept it up for longer than a month (and you got to come with him of course)

• He tried to pick you up to do a trick with you after two tries and it took you screaming like a banshee for him to put you down “because you will kill us Saeyoung” (he didn’t try again)

V:

• After he’d had the surgery he decided to pick up photography again

• A family friend had wanted him to take photos of his son’s skating for his portfolio for future events and shows

• He’d mentioned it in passing, not knowing how much you loved skating and was a little surprised at how quickly you’d asked if you could come along

• Of course he said yes why would he ever say no to you????

• Once you’d gotten to the rink you tried your best to stay calm since obviously he was there for work and not just pleasure

• But of course you’d brought your skates just in case there would be a bit of down time where you could skate

• There was but only because V asked for it when he saw how excited you were to be there

• You had never laced up your skates so fast, but you were careful because you could feel his eyes on you

• You’d brought your iPod with you for some simple music; it was quiet enough to where it didn’t echo throughout the rink, but it was loud enough that both you and V could hear it

• It was soft piano music, and as it played you gracefully started to skate along the empty rink

• V was completely entranced, and when you decided to do an axel jump in the middle of the dance a small gasp escaped his lips because wow how did he get so damn lucky???

• You were nervous, finishing off the routine and slowly skating back towards V who was on the bleachers with his camera sitting beside him

• “Get any good pictures?” He blushed and looked down slightly embarrassed

• “I uh, no—would you mind doing that again?”

Saeran:

• You both suffered from major anxiety and the only way you managed to get through it was to skate it out at least once a week

• But he didn’t know that so when you would leave the house for hours on end he was starting to get worried (though he would obviously never show it)

• So he decided to follow you one day without you knowing (and he forced his poor brother to go with him smh)

• “Saeyoung help me find out where MC is always going”

• “...you could always ask her I mean—”

• “No. Shut up and help me.”

• They of course followed you and saw you walk inside the skating rink (though Saeyoung refused to leave his car)

• Saeran stayed hidden in the shadows while you slowly stepped onto the ice and glided around for a moment, rolling your neck and shoulders to loosen them up

• And then you were off, the entire place silent except for the sound of your skates cutting into the ice as you raced around the rink

• You did multiple jumps from an axel, to a lutz, without missing a single step

• He was beyond mesmerized, his eyes focusing entirely on you (he didn’t even realize when he’d started to slowly shift out of the shadows to get a closer look at you)

• Each move was extremely aggressive, and it was then he could tell that you were letting out every frustration and worry in this routine

• Then to tie off the routine and let go of all your anxiety you let one of your legs bend out behind you while you leaned backwards, bringing your arms up for balance as you spun faster and faster and then slowly came to a halt while standing upright.

• You were breathing hard, chest heaving as he let out a soft wow

• “If you’re done spying on me; can I come sit with you?”

• “I wasn’t spying MC” He grumbled, refusing to look you in the eye while you made your way over and sat next to him you reveled in how he blushed at being caught staring

• You apologized for worrying him and pecked him on the cheek, while he looked away again and wrapped an arm around you and brought you closer still couldn’t hide that blush tho huehuehueheuue

[hamiltalian-creates]

Wine Mom Dadceit, Pt 2

Summary: Janus takes his disaster children to the park. Two of them nearly attempt murder and the third meets a new crush friend. 

Pairings: Virgil x Remy, past Janus x Patton

Words: 2,080

Warnings: Misgendering / Attempted deadnaming (They don’t know his actual deadname)

As they pulled up to the house, Janus began setting out the rules for the quick stop.

“Both of you wear what you want to wear to the park and then wait for me in the living room. I’m going to be cleaning up the drinks that I was planning on enjoying earlier and mourning my hot bath.”

“You know, you can take hot baths during the week,” Virgil pointed out. “I mean, you do work from home a lot, aren’t you always saying that nobody can stop you from doing what you want when you work at home?”

Janus sighed and walked with the two boys into the house. “Virgil. The point of the hot bath is to relax away the stresses of the week. How can I do that if I’m working?”

Virgil turned to face him, staring his father dead in the eyes. “Dad, I love you, but if anybody else asks me why I’m so dramatic, I’m going to start writing these kinds of things down to quote back to them.”

“When you’re older, you will understand the importance of self care.” Sure, Janus made sure they knew the value of doing regular self care, but it wasn’t the same as doing self care regimens that were as extra as his own. “You’re going to look back at this conversation one day and realize that I know exactly what I’m talking about.”

Virgil shrugged and walked off, not very sure that he believed that as he went to his room, Remus darting to do the same.

Janus sighed and went to the bathroom, grabbing his water bottle on the way and pouring the drinks into it. They didn’t quite fill the water bottle all the way, so Janus filled the rest of it with orange juice and finished cleaning up the day that he’d previously planned, finding both Remus and Virgil waiting for him once he was done.

“Do I really have to go?” Virgil asked. “I will go back to dad’s and be on my best behavior.”

“Yes, you have to go. It’ll be good for you to go outside for once.” He grabbed his parasol and Remus’s leash, just in case. “Come on, Remus isn’t complaining.”

“Remus doesn’t mind human contact!”

“I want to climb the swing sets!” Remus said, running over to cling onto Janus’s legs. “And the kids are all stinky!”

Janus peeled him off. “No, you’re in trouble. If you so much as think about putting spiders in someone’s hair, it’s the leash for you.”

Remus pouted and followed him as they all walked outside and drove down to the park.

The second that they got there, Remus hopped out of the car and ran to the nearest playground, Janus sighing as he watched. “Well... At least the car was parked this time.”

“I can literally just stay in here the whole time,” Virgil said. “Please.”

“Nope. We’re just going to walk around, you can wear your hoodie, god forbid I make you expose your whole arms to everyone.”

Virgil huffed and got out of the car with Janus, pulling up his hood as he join his dad under the parasol.

“Virgil, I respect that you want nobody to recognize you ever, but aren’t you a little hot in that?..”

“I wouldn’t be if you’d let me stay home.”

Janus rolled his eyes. “I want you to learn a lesson about what happens when you tape children to walls, but I don’t want you to overheat.” Even Janus had switched out his usual long sleeved button up for a t-shirt. It wasn’t particularly hot, but Virgil wasn’t particularly used to being anywhere without air conditioning.

“Fine... I’m going to leave my hoodie in the car, only because my shirt has long sleeves.” Virgil went and sat in the car as he took off his hoodie, glad that this particular purple shirt wasn’t too worn out.

“Isn’t that a little better?” Janus asked as Virgil joined him back under the parasol.

“No.”

Janus tutted. “You’re such a drama queen.”

Virgil shrugged and messed with his fidget cube as they began walking around. “Yeah, I get it from you.”

Janus smiled a bit as they walked. He didn’t particularly like forcing Virgil out of his comfort zone like that, but the poor kid had had a hard time making friends his own age, so it was pretty rare that he went anywhere that wasn’t school. It was tough to get him out during the week, so on the weekends where he took them back early, he made sure to take advantage of it.

About fifteen minutes into their time at the park, Janus was approached by one of the PTA moms from Virgil’s school.

“Oh my goodness, hi! It’s funny running into you two here. You’re the last people I’d expect to see out here, knowing Virgie,” she joked.

Janus faked a smile. He always at least attempted to be civil with any moms he didn’t already have beef with. “Virgil doesn’t do that well in social settings, I know I’ve said it time and time again. I just thought this would be quiet enough.”

“Well, where’s that other kid of yours? He’s always so.. Upbeat at the PTA meetings.”

Janus looked over at the playground where he last saw Remus and saw him running around like a normal kid. “He’s over there, just playing around.”

She looked over and nodded. “It’s good to make him get out all of that energy from time to time, isn’t it?”

“If it’s too much to handle, I guess that would be the best course of action, wouldn’t it?”  

She laughed, though it was pretty clear that she caught onto his passive aggression. “That reminds me, we haven’t seen dear Patty in a while. All of us other PTA moms have to look out for one another, after all.”

That was it. That was the last straw. “Virgil, why don’t you go sit with your brother? I think the two of us have a bit of catching up to do.” He pulled the beanie off of his head and gave it to Virgil, knowing that his son would be too nervous to draw attention with the parasol.

Virgil did not hesitate to take the beanie and leave. As much as he wanted to see his dad fuck someone up, he did not want to be in the direct path of any spilled blood. So, he went over to the playground Remus was at, playing with his fidget cube to distract himself.

Unfortunately, having his face down meant that he couldn’t see a basketball shooting straight for his face until someone caught it, inches from his nose.

“Woah, that was trippy. I mean, I, like, never can catch anything like that.”

Virgil glanced up, his face as pale as a ghost as he realized what had just happened. He almost just got hit in the face by a basketball and this unfortunately cute boy his age just saved him.

“Woah, holy eyeshadow.”

Okay, Virgil had seen enough. He was ready to die.

“I mean, that is an intense look and I’m kind of digging it,” he said as he threw the ball back towards the court. “Now that my jock phase is over, can I get a name? I’m Remy.”

As much as Virgil wanted to quietly walk away, this guy did save his face. “Thank you... I guess since you helped me, I’m Virgil..”

“Virgil, that’s a cute name. What’s a little vampire prince like you doing out here?”

Virgil laughed awkwardly. “I’m just here with my family, I guess...”

“You guess?” Remy asked, pulling off his sunglasses. “That’s a weird thing not to be sure about.”

Virgil shrugged and glanced over at the playground where Remus was at, trying to find him. “It wasn't my choice.. My brother likes it here better than-” Virgil cut himself off as he saw a kid knock Remus off of the playground, feeling himself fill up with rage. “Hey!” He immediately ran over and helped his brother off of the ground, clenching his jaw as he saw some scrapes on Remus’s face.

“It didn’t even hurt!” Remus insisted, though the way he was tearing up said otherwise.

Virgil looked up at the kid who’d knocked him down and glared. “You fucking brat,” he spat out venomously before turning his attention back to Remus. “What happened?” he asked much more softly.

“I told him I had three dads and he pushed me like a coward,” Remus explained through his tears.

“Fucking hell...” Virgil grumbled under his breath. “Come on, let’s go get dad.”  

“No, I’m fine!” Remus kept insisting, wiping his eyes. “Just let me get him back, I’m fine.”

“No, Remus... If I let you keep running around, dad is going to get mad at us both.”

“Hey, is he okay?” Remy asked as he walked up behind Virgil.

“I just have battle scars! I can fight that other guy!” Remus insisted. “I’m fine!”

Remy laughed and knelt down beside the two of them, pulling out a box of band-aids. “I’m, like, a serious clutz, so I carry these around all the time. Do you mind?” he asked Virgil.

“I.. Um... I mean...” Virgil was back to his normal, disaster gay self now that his initial anger wore off.

“I want a band-aid!” Remus said.

Remy smiled and gave Virgil a look, making sure it was okay with him.

Virgil just nodded.

“Well, I don’t see why you can’t have one,” Remy said as he pulled out a band-aid and put it on Remus’s face.

Virgil almost fainted as he noticed that it was a rainbow band-aid.

“Hey, it’s like the flag in Virgil’s roo-”

“Weren’t you going to go torment a child?”

Remus grinned widely as he got permission to do as he please and ran off, chasing down the kid.

“Pfft.. Kids, right?..” Virgil asked, trying to brush it off.

“Oh, I already knew you were gay,” Remy said matter-of-factly. “I saw you walking under a parasol.”

“That was my dad’s idea,” Virgil quickly insisted. “I mean.. Yeah, I’m gay...”

Remy smiled. “Knew it. Anyways, a little information about me: I’m gay, I have band-aids, I’m new in town.”

Virgil couldn’t stop himself from laughing at that. “John Mulaney..”

“It never fails,” Remy said, shrugging.

“What never fails?” Remus asked as he popped up behind them.

Virgil jumped and turned to face him, ignoring the handful of hair hanging out of his pocket. “How long have you been standing there?”

Remus shrugged. “We should go home before that kid’s mom sees that I took his hair.”

Virgil glanced between him and Remy and Remus seemed to catch on quickly.

“Ooh! He’s a homosexual and Virgil’s the homo!”

“Remus!”

Remy quickly stepped in, though this time, it was his turn to start blushing. “So, my brother probably knows that I’ve escaped my grounding by now, do you have a phone number that I can get for my trouble?”

“Uh- Yeah! I mean...” Virgil searched his pockets. “Yeah, but I left my phone in the car...” He checked his back pockets and found his eyeliner pencil. “Would this work for you?..”

“Yeah!” Remy gladly rolled up his jacket sleeve. “Mark me up.”

Virgil nodded and moved to grab Remy’s arm, hesitating as he realized it meant direct physical contact, which he wasn’t too sure that he was ready for.

“Come on, I don’t bite. I, uh.. I kind of feel like that’s your brother’s job.”

Remus smiled proudly.

“Right, yeah, I know that,” Virgil said awkwardly. As quickly as he could without making it seem like he was trying to get away from Remy, he grabbed his arm and wrote his phone number down.

“Great! I’ll text you later if my bro doesn’t chew my head off. I just seriously needed to get outside after all that unpacking.” He got up and grabbed his box of band-aids again, giving a few more to Remus. “You do you, little buddy.”

“Thank you!” Remus took them and immediately began putting them on random spots on his arms and legs.

Remy chuckled and looked back at Virgil one more time. “I’ll talk to you later..”

Virgil nodded and watched as he walked off, thankful that Remus wasn’t making the obvious joke.

Instead, his brother sat down beside him and let him be gay in peace.

Unfortunately, his father didn’t get the memo.

[sylvanfreckles]

Just Dudes Being Bros

I’m not even sorry for this. Not even a little.

I started this around the same time I wrote “Taking It Slow”, but left it half-finished and abandoned in my hard drive until now. After the crazy day I had, though, I just had to do something.

Summary: All in all, Sam was really glad that Dean had a best friend like Castiel. They were happy, he was happy...as long as everyone was happy, what was there to worry about? (Five times Sam appreciate Dean and Cas’s friendship...and one time he finally got the hint.)

* * *

(1)

They didn't often go shopping together, partly because Dean usually had meticulous list of what he needed while Sam made more of a vague plan and they drove each other crazy. But Cas wanted to go shopping and Sam needed to pick up some things for himself...so Dean decided it was time for a family outing.

That was strange. Normally Dean would have just handed Cas his list and told him to stick to it, then disappeared deeper into the bunker to beat his frustrations out on a boxing dummy. Though Sam didn't know why Dean would be frustrated that Sam and Cas were going shopping together. He could have come along any time.

He was glad that the former angel had talked Dean around to this trip, though. It turned out to be fun to go together, even if Dean and Cas spent most of the time whispering to each other and holding hands while Sam pushed the cart.

Man, he hadn't held hands with a best friend in a long time. First grade maybe? It must be nice to be that close to someone, to have a best friend who would hold your hand out in public no matter how old you were. Dean was over forty, and Cas was literally thousands of years old (if not millions—but by best guess Jimmy Novak would have been forty-three, so they went with that usually), but their friendship was just so deep they didn't care who saw them holding hands.

Sam made eye contact with an older woman who was watching his brother and his brother's best friend walking down the aisle. She was smiling fondly, so he gave her a friendly nod. “Aren't best friends the best?” he asked.

He never really understood why she gave him such a funny look.

(2)

They'd obviously gone way, way off the list at the store, but for once Dean didn't seem to mind. Cas had talked him in to buying some exotic ingredients, listing out recipes he'd been wanting to try ever since he became human.

It was adorable. Sam remembered having a best friend he could share hobbies with. Granted, it had only been for a few weeks before Dad dragged them to another city, but it was a good few weeks. Dean always loved cooking so much, at least he had someone he could share that with now.

Sam settled down in a chair in the kitchen, not wanting to lose the warm, familial atmosphere from their shopping excursion. Dean was carefully tying an apron on Cas, smoothing it down over his chest and adjusting the neck strap behind his collar. It was probably Cas's first time wearing an apron like this, so it was so sweet of Dean to make sure his best friend was wearing it properly.

Then two of them bent their heads together over a battered cookbook they'd found at a second-hand bookstore. From what Sam could hear they were going to attempt to make breaded chicken cutlets, and as he watched Dean carefully talk Cas through each ingredient he started to appreciate the effort his brother put into cooking a little more.

They had to pound the chicken breasts flat, and apparently Cas was wielding the meat tenderizer wrong as Dean stepped up behind him and wrapped his arms around the former angel to guide his hands. From his perch at the table Sam could see how Dean had his hands around Cas's wrists and murmured instructions into his ears as they pounded the chicken together.

That was nice. Dean was stepping out of his comfort zone, leaving his personal space behind to teach his best friend how to prepare a chicken cutlet for breading. Sam was pretty sure Dean could have taught Cas without standing so close to him, but maybe there was a secret technique that required that much physical contact.

He rested his chin in his hand and sighed. If only he had a best friend like that.

(3)

Another thing Sam could appreciate about Dean and Cas's friendship was the way the former angel was opening his brother's mind to different kinds of music. Not that Sam had much of a grudge about the copious amounts of mullet rock Dean kept in his car, but it was nice to listen to some classic jazz or new age or something like that.

Cas had found a huge stash of vinyl records in one of the storage rooms and was slowly working through them while the three of them researched or worked around the bunker or just hung out together. Sam had heard Cas humming along and swaying with the music, and when he glanced at his brother he usually saw Dean watching Cas with a fond smile on his face.

Man. It must be great to watch your best friend discover the world like that. Hearing music with human ears for the first time, discovering the sounds he liked best...Sam started to wonder if he should find new music to introduce Cas to, so the former angel didn't feel like Sam cared about him less than Dean did.

They had been researching some Native legends about the mounds near Medicine Creek when Cas abruptly pushed himself to his feet, holding one hand out to Dean. Sam watched in amusement as his brother took the offered hand and was pulled into a dance. Arms twined around each other, swaying to the music, Cas softly singing in Dean's ear (though a little out of tune, but that was okay).

As Sam watched Cas lifted his hand and spun Dean around, then pulled him into a ballroom-style dip that had Dean crinkling up his eyes with laughter.

Man. Sam had danced with his best friend once before, when Dad had actually stayed around long enough for them to go to one of the school's dances. He'd been tutoring Chelsea in geometry and they went to the dance as part of their friend group, and she'd tugged him out on the floor to dance. He still remembered stepping on her feet.

Dean and Cas weren't stepping on each other's feet as they continued the dance. Maybe that was just because they were such good friends.

(4)

Sam couldn't believe it. Dean and Cas were having a movie night to watch Akeelah and the Bee. He was so used to the Dean Cave being filled with the sounds of gunshots and horses and explosions he almost didn't recognize it.

Cas invited him to join, though Dean looked a little disgruntled. Sam didn't understand why, it wasn't like he was going to take up too much space—not with Dean and Cas sharing the love seat like that. That left the big, comfy arm chair all for Sam, and he felt so bad he offered to swap with Cas so the oldest member of their family could have the most comfortable spot...but the look Dean shot him made him change his mind.

After all, the former angel was still relatively new to experiences like watching a movie together. He probably just wanted to sit with his best friend for something like this—maybe Dean was going to comfort him through any intense scenes.

Sam was so entranced by the story of a young girl from South Los Angeles trying to make it to the National Spelling Bee he didn’t really notice that Dean and Cas weren’t really paying attention. They seemed to be discussing something, judging by how close their faces are.

Dean's probably explaining spelling bees to Cas. Man. Sam had this best friend once, when he was in sixth grade, who tried to get him to participate in the school's spelling bee. Sam had refused, knowing his father would be pulling them out of the school all too quickly to head off to the next hunt.

He wished he had a best friend who encouraged his interests in academic competition, the way Akeelah had Dylan and Javier. Or the way Dean had Cas, as Sam had once seen the former angel reciting poetry to Dean, obviously trying to awaken the older Winchester's literary interests.

Funny. Sam hadn't recognized the poem. Maybe Cas had written it himself, and was trying to encourage Dean to try new outlets for creativity.

He didn't know why Cas would be reciting a love poem for Dean, anyway. That was a weird thing to do with your best friend.

(5)

The cooking lessons, so far, had been a success—so Sam was a little disappointed when he learned Dean and Cas wanted to go out and have dinner by themselves.

It made sense, he supposed. Sometimes you wanted to do something with your best friend without your brother. He remembered plenty of times he hadn't wanted Dean hanging around...okay, maybe a couple of times. Dean was ditching Sam more often than not, though that was usually to hang out with a girl. Not a best friend. But times changed, and they all got older, and the two of them had always had that whole “profound bond” thing going.

Man. He supposed the two of them had earned it. Sam remembered all the times Dean and Cas had let something get in the way of their friendship and how miserable his brother was during those times. It was almost weird, almost more like the time Sam had to leave his first girlfriend rather than all the times he'd gotten pulled away from his best friend.

But as Dean and Cas prepared to leave—Dean wearing a new, light-blue button-up that matched Cas's eyes and Cas wearing those dark jeans that always made Dean swallow and look away (Sam didn't understand why his brother was so bothered by the former angel wearing tight jeans)—Sam tried to wave them off with a smile.

It was just one night a week, he rationalized. A man had to have private time with his best friend once a week, right? And as long as Dean didn't drag Cas around to dive bars or teach him to hustle pool or try to dine-and-dash or anything like that, Sam couldn't see the harm in it.

He didn't understand why Dean glared at him when he tried to give Cas advice on hooking up at the bar.

(+1)

Sam wandered into the library, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He'd been up researching way too late and hadn't heard Dean and Cas get back from their weekly guys' night out. He hadn't heard them leave either, but they always went out on Wednesdays. He supposed it was some kind of best friends' trivia night somewhere.

To his surprise, they were actually in the library. He was about to open his mouth to greet them when he finally registered something strange about their behavior.

They were wearing pajamas, which wasn't strange in and of itself, but the pajamas were mismatched. Cas's shirt obviously went with Dean's pants, and Dean was just wearing an athletic undershirt that showed off his biceps and collarbone. But even that...that wasn't they weirdest thing.

Cas was sitting in Dean's lap. He was straddling it, actually, with his arms around Dean's neck.

They were kissing. And not the way best friends sometimes did, when you swore to your younger brother that it was just practice and didn't really count. Not the kind he gave you ten bucks to forget about before Dad came home. This was the real kind, the kind you saw from two people who maybe loved each other more than just as best friends.

Sam's jaw fell open as finally...finally...the pieces fell into place.

“Oh my god! You guys are gay!”

(There would later be a discussion that actually as a former interdimensional being Cas was Pan, and Dean was Bi, but at least Sam was finally on the right track. Man. He wished he had a best friend to fall in love with and live happily ever after.)

[sparklydreamies]

Best Shot ~Ch 3

Group: Stray Kids

Genre: Fluff

Word Count: 7900+

Summary: Han Jisung, certified quiet boy, has never really understood the hype about love and romance. That is until he has to step out of his comfort zone and onto the basketball court to impress that one person he can’t stop thinking about.

Main themes: highschool!AU, basketball!AU, internalized homophobia, friends-to-lovers

a/n: So much for this fic just being skz, I’m now making it skz featuring the whole JYP family lmao,, I’m so happy about this chapter, the story is finally kicking off ;) Y’all can expect a lot of internalized homophobia because who doesn’t experience that... anyways, thank you guys for taking the time to read this, I’m sorry it took so long, but I am very proud of this chapter!! :))

MASTERLIST

CHAPTER 3

Jisung often found it a little bit difficult to fall asleep, but for some reason, it was getting harder and harder. Countless nights that he should have spent in deep sleep were spent scrolling through Twitter and Youtube, simply because it was so hard for Jisung to find a way to shut his brain off. He didn’t know why he found his brain racing during the nighttime. He tried giving up the coffee that he normally drinks in the morning, but all that did was make him doze off during class. 

Not being able to fall asleep every single night causes a certain type of hopeless frustration in someone. Jisung felt himself getting more and more irritated with every passing day of not sleeping nearly enough for a teenage boy. 

Jisung had dozed off during his classes multiple times within the week that he couldn’t fall asleep. He often would find his eyelids getting heavier during important lectures and lessons. He couldn’t help it. 

Jisung’s class was given biology work to complete on their own one day, however Jisung found himself blacking out for seconds at a time. He kept telling himself in his head to wake up, slap yourself, open your eyes, do your work, but it was to no avail. He just kept drifting, and drifting, and drifting...

“Jisung?” Jisung snapped his head upright to the sound of his teacher, Mr. Kim’s voice. “Is everything alright?”

Jisung rubbed his eyes a little bit before straightening himself up in his chair. “Yeah, of course it is,” he said, picking up his pencil, “why?”

“Well,” Mr Kim started, “I’ve been noticing that you’ve been sort of... distant these past few days, I just wanted to make sure you were okay,” 

Jisung nodded his head, “yeah I’m okay, I’ve just been having a bit of trouble sleeping is all,” 

Mr. Kim nodded his head. Jisung figured he understood that since he teaches all sorts of students in higher grades and levels. Jisung thought that almost none of them have good sleeping schedules. 

“Jisung, why don’t you take the rest of the class period to just lay down in the nurse’s office?” Mr. Kim suggested, and judging by the fact that the man was completely blurry to him, Jisung figured it was a half decent idea. That was one of the things Jisung loved about Mr. Kim. One could tell that he really cared about the students that sat in his classroom. Not like most teachers that would just scold Jisung for not sleeping when he should.

So, that is how he ended up on his way down to the school nurse’s office, dragging himself down the slightly dingy and empty hallways of his school. 

The nurse, Mrs. Lee was a nice lady. Jisung had only seen her once before, and that was when he fainted after doing suicides in gym class during his freshman year. 

Mrs. Lee was kind enough to let Jisung rest for a minute on the cot that was in the side room of her office. It was lumpy and uncomfortable, but since Jisung was practically turning into a nocturnal animal, he found it was like sleeping on a cloud. 

Jisung dozed off to the sound of Mrs. Lee scratching something down on her notepad and making quiet phone calls. 

He was woken up about half an hour later by the bell, indicating that it was lunch hour. He had half a mind to stay there and sleep some more since he was so comfortable, but he knew that Felix and Seungmin would be waiting for him. So, with heavy limbs, Jisung rose from the bed, thanked Mrs. Kim, and made his way into the crowded hallways towards his locker. 

“Jisung!” Jisung heard his name being shouted from behind him, and when he turned around, he was greeted with the bright, smiling face of Hwang Hyunjin. Jisung waited for Hyunjin to catch up to him before he continued walking to his locker. “Hey, what’s going on?” 

Jisung shrugged and chuckled a bit at him. “Nothing really, how about you?” 

“Same,” Hyunjin said. The two boys turned down the hallway where Jisung’s locker was. “You look rough today,” he said.

Jisung scoffed at him, “I look rough everyday,” he countered, giving a small giggle.

Hyunjin shoved Jisung a little bit, “you’re not supposed to agree with me,” they arrived at Jisung’s locker, and he began typing in the code to unlock it.

“Hyunjin, you look rough everyday, I just wanted to fit in with you,” Jisung mocked.

“That’s better,” the boys laughed at each other’s childish ways. Jisung thought about how it seemed like they never even had a falling out. “By the way Jisung,” Hyunjin continued, “my mom was really happy when I told her we started talking again,”

Jisung cooed at him, “you talk about me to your mom? That’s so cute,” he teased. 

“Hey, just be glad I didn’t tell her why we started talking again,” he warned. Jisung put his hands up in a surrendering gesture. Jisung really didn’t want the other boy’s mother to know that he had to get driven home from a party, blackout drunk. “Anyways, I wanted to talk to you because she wanted me to invite you guys over for dinner tonight. Are you free?” Hyunjin asked. 

“I mean my dad’s working, but yeah I think we’re free,” Jisung answered. Hyunjin gave him a smile. Jisung had missed Hyunjin’s smile. 

“Great!” he said, clapping his hands together, “I’ll see you guys at eight?” Jisung nodded his head. 

Just then, Jisung heard somebody calling Hyunjin’s name. Jisung looked over to see it was Bang Chan and Seo Changbin. They were both wearing the same red varsity jackets that Hyunjin was also wearing. 

“Hyunjin, you coming?” they called, and Hyunjin yelled a yes back to them. 

“Do you want to come get some lunch with us?” Hyunjin offered, pointing over to where his friends were standing. 

Jisung shook his head, “nah, Felix and Seungmin are probably wondering where I am,” Hyunjin nodded in understanding, “thanks though, maybe another time,” 

“Sure,” Hyunjin agreed, walking backwards towards his friends, “see you tonight!” 

Jisung gave him a little wave of his own. Not only were Felix and Seungmin waiting for him, but Jisung also was hesitant to go because he felt very awkward around most of the basketball team. To him, it was like social class distance. Of course he didn’t feel weird with Hyunjin or Minho now, but the thought of being an outcast in a social situation with boys like Chan, Changbin, Jeongin or any of the other members of the team made him feel nauseous. 

Jisung made his way to the table in the cafeteria where he, Felix and Seungmin always sat. He could see from a distance that the two boys were already there, and obviously in deep conversation. 

When Jisung got into earshot, he heard Seungmin say “Bullshit, Felix,”

“Dude no, I’m being serious!” Felix argued, leaning so far over the table that his chest was close to touching the questionably clean surface. 

“What’s happening?” Jisung asked as he sat down next to Seungmin. 

“Felix apparently got a date with Kim Dahyun,” Seungmin said, shrugging. “I’m calling bullshit,”

“It’s not bullshit!” Felix groaned, “okay so Jisung, picture this,” Felix started, “we’re in first period, right? History. Teacher pairs kids up for a critical thinking activity, and who am I paired with? Oh yeah, Kim Dahyun,” Felix said, emphasizing her name and staring intensely at Seungmin who is trying hard to keep a straight face. 

“So we’re working hard, right? And close to the end of class I tell her that I know this really nice ice cream parlor that’s run by my cousin, and I ask her if she wanted to go with me sometime, and she actually fucking says yes,” he finishes, hitting Seungmin in the side of the arm.

“Felix, Dahyun is a pretty, smart, funny girl, why the hell would she want to go out with you?” Seungmin argued, breaking into a smile closer to the end of the sentence. 

“Because I’m fucking whimsical, that’s why.” Felix answered. 

“If there’s anything I know, it’s that Felix is whimsical as hell,” Jisung agreed. Felix slammed his hand down on the table. 

“See?” he asked Seungmin. 

“Alright fine,” Seungmin gave up, “I guess I just don’t like the fact that Felix got an actual human girl to go out with him before I did, and he didn’t even have to use force,” Jisung laughed at him. Seungmin let out a yelp, “Felix stop goddamn kicking me!” he groaned, lowering himself to rub at his shin. 

“Anyways, Dahyun also told me something very interesting,” Felix said, wiggling his eyebrows at Jisung. 

Jisung waited a beat of awkward eyebrow dancing before asking “what is it, Felix?”

“She told me that her friend, Im Nayeon, got a little bit friendly with one of my good friends, Han Jisung,” he teased. Jisung felt himself blush at the comment. “Oh my god, you’re all red! How come you didn’t tell us?” Felix whined.

Seungmin turned himself a full ninety degrees and faced Jisung. “What the hell, you made out with Im Nayeon? I had a class with her last year!” he said, hitting Jisung in the chest. 

Jisung felt flustered at all of the commotion about this. He never even thought about telling them he kissed Nayeon, he was more focused on the whole situation with Minho and Hyunjin. 

“I didn’t know it was that big of a deal,” Jisung said, trying to shield himself away from Seungmin’s fists. 

“Not that big of a deal?” Felix accused. 

Jisung found it so confusing that Felix and Seungmin were this worked up about it. Jisung hadn’t even thought about the kiss since it happened. Maybe he was just too distracted to let it sink in that he made out with a girl. 

“I’m so disappointed in you,” Seungmin laughed at him. Jisung rolled his eyes. 

The bell to end lunch rang throughout the school, and the boys began to pack their things up. 

“We are not done talking about this,” Felix warned, wagging a small finger at Jisung. 

Jisung sighed. He knew they weren’t.

----

That night, Jisung told his family about what happened with Hyunjin and how they were invited for dinner. Jisung’s mom was very happy that Jisung made up with Hyunjin. She said she was happy that he was being more social, but Jisung knew she was just happy to have a charming and handsome boy like Hyunjin back in her life to fawn over. 

Chaeryeong on the other hand stared at Jisung dumbfounded for a second before racing up the stairs to get herself ready. 

“You know that it’s just casual, right?” Jisung yelled after her. 

She answered back a quick “doesn’t matter!” before closing her door on him. 

Jisung decided to shower and get changed before going over to Hyunjin’s place. He wanted to make a good impression on Hyunjin’s family again, since they haven’t really had a conversation together since Jisung and Hyunjin were freshmen. 

When 8:00 came, Jisung called out to his family members that it was time to leave. The walk over to Hyunjin’s house was filled with Jisung’s mom talking about how nice it would be to see Hyunjin again, and how she’d seen him around the town and he looked even more handsome than she remembered. Chaeryeong was agreeing with everything his mother said, especially with the part about Hyunjin being handsome. 

Hyunjin’s parents were just as welcoming as Jisung remembered them to be. Jisung had always thought of the Hwangs as his second family, and once he arrived, he felt the same level of comfort that he had always experienced when he was a kid. 

Before dinner, Hyunjin led Jisung and Chaeryeong into the living room while their parents talked and drank wine in the kitchen. Much like with Hyunjin’s car, Jisung could easily tell the Hwang family’s wealth from the way they decorate their house. The living room was spacious, with a large TV and a very modern design. Jisung enjoyed being over at the Hwangs. 

“So Chaeryeong, how’s your first year of high school?” Hyunjin asked once they got settled, and Chaeryeong gave him a massive smile. 

“Oh, it’s great,” she said, “I’m really happy that you two made up, I missed coming over here,” Chaeryeong said, and Hyunjin rubbed his neck awkwardly, looking at Jisung.

“Actually Chaeryeong, it’s not that we had a fight or anything, we technically didn’t make up...” Hyunjin trailed off, looking to Jisung for help explaining the situation. 

“Yeah, it was more like we just sort of drifted apart,” Jisung supplied. Chaeryeong nodded her head in understanding. 

“Do you guys want to go outside?” Hyunjin offered, changing the subject, “it’s boring in here,” 

Jisung and Chaeryeong agreed to going outside. The house was stuffy and warm, and it was such a nice night out anyways. 

When they got out into the backyard, Chaeryeong ran over to where she saw Hyunjin’s basketball and basketball hoop. She excitedly picked up the ball. “Hyunjin, you’re so good at basketball,” she complimented. Jisung rolled his eyes at her. “Can you teach me to shoot?” she asked, and Hyunjin smiled and agreed. 

She threw him the ball and he dribbled it on the cement of his backyard three times before raising it, bending his knees and shooting the ball straight into the hoop. Chaeryeong clapped for him. 

“You see, it’s all about balance and aim,” he said, chasing after the ball to show Chaeryeong. “Try this,” he said, and gave her the ball. He explained to her how she should stand, and how she should hold the ball. 

Jisung thought it looked like a scene out of a drama. If he was right, this would be the moment they would lock eyes and fall in love. However, in real life, the boy would let go of her hands and let her try and shoot, which Hyunjin did.

Chaeryeong released the ball, and it flew through the air, hitting the backboard of the net. It bounced back down to the ground and over to where Hyunjin was standing.

“That was really good!” He praised, “you have good aim, you just need to work on your form. There’s a certain technique that you learn over time that helps the ball get into the net instead of just hitting the backboard”.

Chaeryoung agreed with him, and tried again, this time hitting the rim of the net. She was closer this time, but still unsuccessful. 

“Jisung, why don’t you try?” Hyunjin offered, passing the ball to Jisung. 

Jisung took the ball, but was sort of hesitant to try. Jisung was not necessarily a sporty kid, and he knew he would look stupid if he didn’t even hit the backboard. 

“Come on, try it,” Hyunjin coaxed, and Jisung finally agreed to try. “You heard what I told Chaeryeong, right?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Jisung answered, and Hyunjin told him how to stand properly. 

“Now for your hands,” Hyunjin moved Jisung’s hands so that one was supporting behind and one was supporting the side of the ball. “Perfect, that looks really good, Jisung” 

Hyunjin backed away from Jisung enough to give the boy room to shoot the ball. Jisung concentrated on watching the net, bent his knees, and jumped while releasing the ball like he saw Hyunjin do earlier. 

The ball floated through the air, hit the side of the rim, and bounced into the net. 

“You got it!” Hyunjin praised, patting Jisung in the back with the stupidest grin on his face. Jisung was also smiling. He may not be good at sports usually, but it was nice to feel like he was sometimes. 

“How the hell did Jisung do better than me?” Chaeryeong teased, jogging to go grab the ball from where it fell. 

“Hey you shoot like that, you might as well join the team,” Hyunjin joked, shaking Jisung’s shoulders. 

“Kids, dinner’s on the table!” Jisung heard Hyunjin’s mother yell from the window. Hyunjin yelled back a confirmation, and they began to head inside.

“You know Jisung,” Hyunjin started, “I’m not actually joking about you joining the team,”

Jisung choked on air. “You think that I could join the basketball team?” Jisung laughed at him. “Did you hit your head?”.

How on earth could Jisung play basketball? That shot was obviously beginners luck, he had no actual skill, he barely knew how to play the game.

“I’m serious! Dowoon is out for the rest of the season because he broke his leg, so there’s an open spot,” Hyunjin explained.

“Jesus, a guy from your team is out because he’s injured, and you think that would make me want to join?” Jisung said, disbelievingly. 

“It was an unrelated injury,” Jisung rolled his eyes, “I’m not kidding, it’s too late to have tryouts, and we need numbers to win the championship this year,” 

“Hyunjin, you realize I don’t know anything about basketball?” Jisung leaned against the side of the house and crossed his arms over his chest. “Besides, why do you want me instead of somebody else at school that might actually know how to dribble a ball properly?”

Hyunjin sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “Look, you don’t have to, but I want to be able to spend more time with you now that we’re friends again,” he said, “I can help you- sort of train you if you want, and I already know Minho’s going to like having you on the team,”

Jisung thought about it. For some reason, Jisung wanted to be closer to Minho. He wanted to be Minho’s friend. He also agreed with Hyunjin; he wanted to do more things together. Basketball didn’t seem like that difficult of a sport, you just had to get the ball into the net, how hard could it be? 

“Plus,” Hyunjin continued after a beat, “you don’t even really have to play that much, we really just need another body on our bench,”

Jisung couldn’t believe he was considering playing basketball. He saw the way Hyunjin’s eyes lit up when he was talking about the two of them on the team together. Jisung could see that he was happy. 

“Oh damnit,” Jisung sighed at Hyunjin, “I’ll consider it,” 

“Really?” Hyunjin asked. Jisung saw that his eyes were sparkly and bright. Jisung thought it almost gave Hyunjin an innocent glow. The positivity radiating off of Hyunjin made Jisung smile. 

“Yeah,” he admitted, “Now let’s go eat, I’m hungry,”

----

That night was the first time in a week that Jisung was able to sleep for more than two hours. 

Jisung didn’t know what changed, or why he suddenly was able to shut his brain off, but he was thankful he could. He figured that with Hyunjin trying to get him to join the basketball team it would be harder to sleep, but if anything, that night was the deepest he’s slept in weeks. Maybe it was the fact that Jisung’s brain wanted to fuck him up all week, only to give him the proper rest that he needs on the Friday night, when he knows he won’t be doing anything important on the Saturday.

Jisung knew what Felix and Seungmin would say if he asked them. They would want him to join the team. Not for the thrill of playing basketball, but for the popularity and the girls. All of them knew that the boys on the basketball team could get whatever girl they wanted, but Jisung didn’t want that sort of power. 

He knew what Chaeryeong would say. She would want him to join the team so that she could be known as the girl who’s brother is on the varsity boys basketball team.

He also knew that his mother would be against it. She knows what those basketball boys do. She still vividly remembers her son coming home at three in the morning, blackout drunk. She wouldn’t want that type of lifestyle to determine her son’s future. 

Oddly enough, the fact that his mom would want him not to is what makes Jisung want to join the team the most.

And of course, he knew what joining the team would mean to Hyunjin. Quite frankly, Jisung was touched that Hyunjin would want to spend more time with him so much that he would take it upon himself to teach Jisung how to play an entire sport. Not only just to teach him, but to make him good enough that their team has a chance at winning the championship again, even if he only played a few times all season.

Jisung knew how much this championship meant to Minho, thanks to their conversation the week prior. Jisung smiled while he thought back to that day. He liked the feeling of talking to Minho. He was kind, and he was sweet, and Jisung could tell that he wasn’t the same person that people believed through their little stereotypes. 

It sounded really weird and strange to Jisung, but all he wanted to do was to get closer to Minho. 

Jisung knew that there was no harm in at least trying to fit in with the team. Right?

----

Jisung was torn. On one hand, he didn’t know a single thing about basketball, and he was so afraid to make a fool out of himself and the team if he joined. But on the other hand, he wanted the opportunity to spend more time with Hyunjin and Minho. It was a dilemma. 

The last thing Jisung wanted was to take his focus away from studying. Jisung had always lived by the idea that nothing was more important than school. He had wanted to do a lot of things over the years, but he had never really had the motivation to try. He didn’t want to go through his life without experiencing things, because he was deathly afraid of waking up in ten years to realize that his life had no value. Maybe basketball could help with that. 

Jisung had always been told that the friendships, experiences and memories that were essential to a teenage life could be created by putting yourself out there, taking risks, getting involved and trying new things, but he had never bothered. Maybe he was always just satisfied with his friendships with Felix and Seungmin that he didn’t feel the need to try new things. 

Jisung thought about why he was so hung up on it. Part of him wondered if it was because he was worried that he was missing out on the amazing teenage life that he had always expected growing up. Thinking about it, most of the cheesy high school movies he used to watch glorified the athletes and social butterflies, and called the people that don’t have a lot of friends and don’t belong to clubs the “social outcasts”. 

Minho was a social butterfly. He had girls lined up down the block for him. He never went a weekend without doing something fun. Even though he couldn’t for the life of him figure out why, Jisung wanted to be his friend. He wanted to make Minho laugh. Minho was such a desirable friend. 

Jisung thought that Minho was mysterious. Like there were layers to him that nobody could understand. The image that Jisung got about Minho a few weeks ago was so different from the image he got after the party, and then again after they had that conversation after school. Jisung wanted to tear down those fake images he gets about Minho. He wanted Minho to trust him. 

Jisung snapped out of those thoughts. He still had a dilemma. Should he join the basketball team? 

Life is full of risks and opportunities that you sometimes just have to take. 

Jisung sent Hyunjin a text. 

Me: If the offer is still up, I think I’d like to join the team

Me: THAT IS, if you’ll be willing to coach me :))

----

Of course, Hyunjin was ecstatic that Jisung agreed to join the team. The boys agreed to meet up every Tuesday and Saturday, which staggered nicely with the team’s official practices. 

When Jisung told Felix and Seungmin during lunch on the following Monday, they were Hyunjin’s ecstatic times one thousand. 

“You joined the basketball team?” Felix shouted in the middle of the cafeteria, causing a number of heads to turn in confusion. Jisung hid his face in his hands. 

“Yes,” was his small response, “but I’m not really going to be playing that much, so don’t get too excited,” 

Felix scoffed at him. He was grinning from ear to ear, beaming with the new found possibilities of what having a friend on the basketball team could be. “I don’t care if you play one game all season, you are going to be on the basketball team!”

Seungmin pinched Jisung in the arm. “Maybe once you get that nice ass varsity jacket, you can properly ask out Nayeon,” he teased, wiggling his eyebrows flirtatiously at Jisung. 

The latter choked on his lunch, “why do you assume I want to ask out Nayeon?” he asked.

Felix gave Jisung a look that was basically asking if he was the dumbest person ever, “because you sucked her face and last time I checked, you don’t have a girlfriend,” 

“That’s because I don’t want a girlfriend,” Jisung countered.

“That’s because you can’t get a girlfriend,” Seungmin teased, laughing and giving Felix a high five. Jisung just rolled his eyes. 

If there’s anything Jisung knew, it was that he could get a date solely based off his looks. He has always been asked out and adored by girls at their school, but no matter how much they tried to get his attention, it wouldn’t make him want a girlfriend any more than he already does. 

“Speaking of girlfriends,” Felix said, “I have my date with Dahyun on Friday,” 

Seungmin laughed as he ate. “Don’t screw it up,” he warned. 

As Felix was cursing out Seungmin, Jisung thought about how happy it makes him that somebody is appreciating Felix. 

The bell rang some time after that, and the boys left to get to class. 

Jisung spent the entire rest of the day worrying about what was to come after school. Hyunjin told him that he should come by and join the team for their practice after school, where Minho will hopefully agree to let Jisung join the team. 

Jisung was terrified, to say the least. He didn’t have any time to learn the basics with Hyunjin, he only knew general rules from elementary school gym classes. Now he’s kicking himself for not taking those pointless classes seriously.

When the bell rang after last period, Jisung felt a spike of anxiety. Thankfully, he had his last period class with Hyunjin, which meant he didn’t have to make his way to the gym change rooms himself. 

“Are you ready?” Hyunjin asked, packing up the last of his notes and shoving them messily into his school bag. 

Jisung was anything but ready. “Yeah,” he answered, feigning confidence. Hyunjin gave him a wide smile, and led him out the door. 

“Nervous?” Hyunjin asked over the sound of the crowded halls. 

“A little bit,” Jisung answered. Jisung grabbed onto Hyunjin’s backpack, trying to stay close to him while they walked through the school’s main hallway. It didn’t help that the walls were lined with lockers, all with students opening and loitering by them. 

“Don’t be,” Hyunjin said, once they turned down the gym hallway. “Remember one thing,” he commented as they walked down the less populated hallway, “these boys won’t bite. They aren’t here to try and push you down, I’ve talked you up really nicely, and I think they are all looking forward to you joining the team,” 

Jisung smiled at him. One of his biggest fears was that these boys would think he was a joke. Hyunjin had a nice way of making him feel calmer. Safer.

“Plus, Minho’s the only one who can make the final decision about whether or not you join, and he’s very non-judgmental,” Hyunjin added on as they arrived at a heavy door marked Changing Room 3.

Hyunjin swung open the door without a second thought, and Jisung followed him in, feeling the wave of anxiety freeze his blood and sink his stomach. 

The wooden bench along the walls of the change room were littered with boys that Jisung had seen around school often. They were all talking while stripping off their school uniforms, and replacing them with the usual basketball uniform. Jisung was surprised to find that nobody even batted an eye at the sight of a strange, skinny, new kid invading their changing space. 

Hyunjin nonchalantly took a seat in the back corner, beckoning for Jisung to follow him. Jisung took the cue, and dodged around the backpacks left on the floor to get to Hyunjin. 

"So we just,” Jisung paused, glancing quickly around the room of teenage boys, “get dressed here? In front of everyone?” he asked quietly, trying to avoid the attention of the unfamiliar boys. 

Hyunjin gave him a chuckle. “Yeah, unless you want to change in the hallway,” he answered. 

The thought of getting changed in front of these boys made Jisung blush. He took Hyunjin’s lead, and slowly tried to wiggle all of his clothes off, so he could change into the set of workout clothes he brought from home. 

“So, what do you think we’ll have to do today?”  Jisung asked Hyunjin. 

Hyunjin took a second to pull his shirt off of his head before answering “Minho is the one who runs the practices. He knows that you are coming though, so I told him not to make it too complicated today,” 

Jisung sighed in relief as he finished getting dressed by tying his running shoes. “You know Hyunjin, I am not even interested in playing that much, I really just want to be... a benchwarmer,” Jisung said. 

Hyunjin gave a little bit of a laugh. “I told him to make it simple for today, but after you begin your training with coach Hwang, I told him you’ll be improving and ready to play in no time,” 

Jisung was shocked at the other boy. “You told him what? Hyunjin, I told you that I didn’t want to really play, I just want to be a spare,”

“And you won’t really play! At least not until you develop the skills,”

Jisung was about to argue back when suddenly, the door to the changeroom swung open, and Jisung saw Lee Minho calling the team into the gym. 

“We’ll talk later,” Hyunjin promised, standing up to leave with the rest of the boys. 

Jisung hurried to catch up with him, “I thought we agreed I won’t be playing a lot! Hyunjin don’t undermine me,” he warned, following a giggling Hyunjin through the double doors and into the gym. 

All of the other boys began doing various warm-ups, stretching their muscles, and setting up the stands of basketballs. Jisung felt very out of place with them, but that was nothing unexpected. He suddenly got the thought that he didn’t belong there. He didn’t even know how to warm himself up.

He turned towards Hyunjin for reassurance, who just smiled and led him to one side of the court, where Chan and Changbin were talking amongst themselves. 

“Hey guys,” Hyunjin called, walking over to the two other boys. Hyunjin looked like he was calm and collected, whereas Jisung felt like his whole body was on fire. 

“I see you brought Dowoon’s replacement with you,” Bang Chan said, nodding at Jisung and smiling. Jisung calmed down slightly and felt the tension inside him ease when he realized Chan was joking around with him. 

Jisung gave a small, awkward wave and mumbled a small greeting. 

The four of them began talking a little bit about Jisung, filling him in on what usually happens during these practices. From what Jisung gathers, practices usually consist of a cardio warm up, a few drills, some positioning plays practice, and then finally some muscle training and a cool down. It didn’t seem too hard, except for the fact that Jisung wasn’t good at cardio, he didn’t have the majority of the skills required for the drills, he didn’t understand basketball plays and he didn’t have very much muscle. 

Nevertheless, Jisung made a vow to himself that he would do his best and try hard this practice. People always talk about how you can do anything that you work hard for, so why can’t Jisung play basketball? 

Jisung was snapped out of the conversation by a sharp whistle. He turned his head to see Lee Minho standing in the middle of the face-off circle, calling for the team to gather around him. 

Jisung and Hyunjin made their way towards the center. It was then that Jisung made eye contact with Minho, who gave him an encouraging smile. Jisung smiled back. He was happy that Minho didn’t seem like a harsh and mean leader. 

“Okay guys,” Minho called, grabbing the attention of the team, “we all know the unfortunate incident that happened with Dowoon, and though we will miss him for the remainder of the season, it still must go on,” he started, and Jisung heard some of the boys begin to whoop when Minho said that. “That means we have an open spot on this team, and since we already held try-outs this year, Hyunjin took the opportunity to invite a friend to help us. Everybody, this is Han Jisung,” Minho said, gesturing towards Jisung. 

One or two of the boys whooped for Jisung after that, which made him a little bit shy. Hyunjin bumped Jisung lightly on the shoulder. Minho gave Jisung a welcoming smile, which made Jisung’s heart flutter, for some reason. 

Practice started with running laps as a warm up, and then they moved onto skill developmental drills. Jisung fumbled the ball a few times, made some off shots, but overall he was genuinely not that bad. 

Throughout practice, Jisung got small words of encouragement from Hyunjin and Minho, as well as thumbs up from other members of the team, particularly Youngjae. Choi Youngjae was widely known to be a very nice and sweet kid, so it didn’t surprise Jisung. 

“Hey Jisung,” Minho called to him once practice finished. The rest of the boys all made their way back to the change room. 

Jisung walked over to Minho, feeling extra gross and sweaty. His hair felt like it was plastered to his forehead, and even though his body temperature is boiling, the sweat on his body gives him chills. 

“Welcome to the team,” Minho said, smiling as he extended his hand out for Jisung to shake. Jisung was very happy, and excitedly took Minho’s hand and shook it. 

Jisung never even processed how much the idea of being on the team grew on him until he heard those words coming from his new captain's mouth. 

“Are you serious?” Jisung beamed. Minho gave him a pat on the shoulder as he gave him a confirming head nod. 

“But, you’ll still have to work hard if you want playing time this year,” Minho told him, leading Jisung towards the change rooms. 

“Of course,” Jisung agreed. 

“I think this is going to be a great season, Jisung,” Minho predicted, “I’m glad you took the jump and joined the team, I know Hyunjin said you were hesitant...” he trailed off.

Jisung noticed the way that Minho’s eyes gleamed, and the sweat made his skin sparkle. It wasn’t the first time that Jisung marveled at the boy’s handsomeness, but it feels like it. Jisung could never get over how smooth and pretty Minho’s skin was, or how it looked like Minho’s dark eyes reflected the rich warmth of the sun. Jisung thought he felt warm. 

It was then that it hit Jisung. His mind was flicking from one thought to the next, and before he knew it, he was thinking about how soft Minho’s lips looked. 

He snapped out of that thought, and saw Minho give a confused look. Jisung must have jumped a little bit at the shocking thoughts about his friend. 

“Jisung, are you okay?” Minho asked, placing a comforting hand on Jisung’s bare arm. Jisung felt his skin burn where Minho touched it, and his arm muscles tensed up. 

“Yeah,” he assured as they got to the change room door, “just the chills,” he excused, pushing open the heavy door and making his way to where Hyunjin was. 

Hyunjin raised his eyebrows in expectation, and Jisung realized he was asking what Minho said. Jisung smiled at him and nodded his head. 

“Yes!” Hyunjin celebrated. Jisung really appreciated how happy Hyunjin was that they will be playing basketball together. 

Jisung tried to engage himself in conversation with Hyunjin about everybody's positions and the team’s plays they used in the games, but Jisung was still hung up on the thought of Minho. 

----

That night, Jisung had a tough time shutting his brain off. All he could think about was why he reacted so harshly when he thought about Minho’s lips. It was nothing that out of the ordinary, he was just thinking about Minho’s face. He thought about Minho’s eyes, his nose, his skin, his hair, his laugh, everything, but for some reason, he felt guilty while thinking about his lips. 

Jisung figured that thinking about another guy’s lips seemed wrong. It just seemed weird. Usually, when a guy thinks about lips, they usually think about wanting to kiss those lips. And, those lips usually belong to a girl. 

Jisung tested out a theory. He thought about Nayeon, the girl he kissed at the party. He remembered her starry eyes, smooth and pale skin, and her lips that were soft and pink, pressed against his. He remembered how it felt, and what she tasted like, and even the pressure of her body flush against his in the dark hallway, but he still felt nothing. He might as well have been thinking about his school work. 

Then, Jisung cautiously thought about Minho’s lips. He thought the same thing that he thought earlier that day. They are some of the softest and prettiest lips Jisung has seen on any boy. Immediately, he felt his cheeks heat up in a blush. He felt dizzy as he thought about Minho. He imagined how smooth his skin must be. He imagined touching it. Suddenly, without his permission, Jisung’s mind trailed to what Minho’s lips would feel like when he kissed him, and he shot up in bed. 

He didn’t know what type of emotion he was feeling, but it felt like adrenaline, guilt, excitement, and fear all wrapped up in one. He was panting hard, trying to catch his breath. Suddenly, Jisung understood what people meant in all of those love songs and romance movies he used to watch. He feels a spark; he feels dizzy; he feels drunk. 

And it is terrifying.

Jisung snapped back to reality. He was having thoughts about kissing another boy. Not a girl, but a boy. Was he gay? He couldn’t be gay. He didn’t know why, but he just knew that he wasn’t gay. 

Jisung was confused and scared at this revelation. How could he face Minho again? Minho had been so kind and welcoming to him, and Jisung repays him by imagining gross scenarios filled with subconscious, perverted thoughts. 

There has to be someone he can go to for help. Someone that can help him figure out his feelings, because he can’t deal with them on his own. Jisung could never talk to Felix or Seungmin because he was too worried that they’d think he was weird, or gross, or something like that. Obviously he couldn’t tell Minho or Hyunjin. Chaeryeong would end his entire life if she found out her brother was having homosexual thoughts. His mother would disown him if he was anything other than straight. 

Then it hit him. Myoui Mina was a girl in his grade, and she was openly bisexual. Jisung had never really thought to talk to her or try and get close to her, not because he didn’t think that it was okay for her to like girls, but just because he was never really interested in making more friends. 

Jisung had a few classes with her over the years, and from what he could tell, she was a very kind person. Jisung also knows that after she came out freshman year, she suffered all kinds of bullying. Jisung had heard about the horror stories about her locker getting the D slur written on it in permanent marker, and the rumors that she hooked up with a thirteen year old girl. Of course Jisung never believed it, but people can be outright vicious when they want to be. 

Jisung assumed that if anyone would be trustworthy and possibly helpful to him, it would be Myoui Mina. 

So, he made up his mind to talk to her the next day, and ask her for advice. What did he have to lose?

----

When the bell rang for lunch, Jisung immediately doubted his plan to ask Mina for advice. He felt himself begin to shake as he saw her across the hall from where he was, talking to a girl he doesn’t know. 

Jisung thought about the night before, how gross it felt having those thoughts about Minho, which gave him the confidence he needed to catch up to Mina. 

When Jisung got to where she was walking, she bid her friend goodbye as she stopped and opened a locker, Jisung figures it probably belongs to her. Mina’s friend kept walking down the hall, which Jisung was thankful for. 

Now or never. 

“Uhm.. Hi Mina,” he greeted, leaning against the locker beside her in an attempt to look less awkward and panicked. 

She was a little bit startled from the sudden guy beside her, but her gaze softened when she saw it was Jisung. 

“Han Jisung? What’s going on?” she asked, grabbing her bag out of her locker and leaving her school books inside.

Jisung took a breath. He was scared to tell anybody about his situation, which he thought would be understandable. He doesn’t think that coming to terms with something like this would be easy for anybody. 

“Uhm..” he starts. Suddenly, he begins to shake slightly again, finding it hard to breathe.

“Are you okay?” She asks, closing her locker and giving him a concerned look. 

“Can we talk... in private?” he asked, and she gave him a confused nod. The two of them began to walk in silence, Mina leading him outside to the bleachers on the side of the running track. Nobody ever sat there, so Jisung saw that it was a perfect spot for this conversation. 

“Not gonna lie, you’re kind of freaking me out,” Mina says, sitting down on the metal bench. Jisung joins her and stares intently at the track in front of them. He likes sitting here because he didn’t have to look at her in the eyes while he told her his biggest secret. “I know we don’t really know each other, but something’s obviously wrong,” she said. 

“Mina...” he started. The air outside was cool, which was hardly unusual for early-mid October. There was a breeze that supplied Jisung with more oxygen. He took a deep inhale of the refreshing air, and bit his lip. “When did you realize... you liked girls?” he asked in a small voice. 

Mina smiled in understanding. Jisung sat in the question for a second, waiting for her to answer. He began to feel anxious, worried that she thought he was weird for asking. He was about to backtrack and find a way to leave when-

“I was thirteen, and I watched Harry Potter,” she answered. Jisung felt a massive weight lift off of his shoulders as he listened to her response. “It was Hermione, really. I don’t know why, but I had such a big crush on her. I didn’t even realize that it was a romantic thing until I was fourteen,” she let out a small, airy laugh. “everyone has their crushes...” 

Jisung smiled and nodded. 

“I assume that’s not the only think you wanted to talk to be about though, is it?” she said, resting her arm on his shoulder, “it’s okay, I won’t judge you,” 

Jisung almost felt himself tear up. He didn’t realize it would be this hard to come to terms with himself, but here he was. “I...” he started, and then stopped. 

“Jisung, do you think you might be interested in boys?” she asked cautiously, moving her hand to his back and rubbing consoling circles over the uniform. 

Jisung couldn’t find it in him to give her a verbal answer, so he just nodded his head. Mina gave him a smile, which he didn’t see since he was so focused on the track. 

“What makes you think that?” she asked, using a calming voice. Jisung felt safe with her. He almost felt like she was giving him motherly love, and it was intoxicating. 

He took a deep breath, and willed himself to explain it. “So...” he began, “I have this friend, I’m not going to say his name, and... I don’t know, I really wanted to be his friend, and he’s always so nice to me,” he mustered up the courage to look Mina in her eyes. He saw the genuine look she had on her face, and it made him feel less scared. “Anyways, I had.. a weird thought about him yesterday,” 

“What kind of a weird thought?” she asked. Jisung felt a whole new wave of nervousness engulf him when he realized he was about to tell her that he thought about kissing another boy, and he liked the idea. 

“It was..” he trailed off, but brought himself back, “His lips.. and I wanted to kiss them,” he finished. He hung his head in shame, hoping to hide his embarrassed cheeks from her. He felt his heart pound throughout his whole body, sounding like thunder in his ears. 

“I see,” Mina whispered. Jisung waited for her response, but there was none. 

“I just.. I don’t know, am I gay?” he asked her, turning to fully face her finally. 

Mina gave him an apologetic smile. “I can’t answer that for you, Jisung,” she moved both of her hands to grab both of his, “but I can tell you that whatever you are, it’s okay,” she confirmed, “liking boys is not a bad thing, okay?” she told him. 

Jisung felt his emotions get stronger again. He realized that what he really wanted was validation. He craved somebody to tell him his feelings for Minho weren’t disgusting. He needed that to help him become at peace with it. And he got it, in the form of Myoui Mina. 

The two of them exchanged numbers so that they could talk, and Jisung could keep her updated on what happens with him. 

When Jisung was walking back to his locker, he saw Minho, Jeongin and Sungjin all walking down the hall. As much as Jisung tried not to focus on the boy in the middle, his gaze automatically landed on Minho. 

He was wearing the red varsity jacket, his hair was slightly messy, but it looked attractive on him. Jisung met his eyes, and Minho gave him a wink and a smile as he walked. Jisung felt himself freeze in place when he noticed Minho’s lips curled into the most radiant smile Jisung had ever had the privilage of seeing. He felt his breath catch in his throat as Minho turned back to the other two boys, walking right past Jisung. 

He has absolutely no idea the damage he is doing. 

[argylemnwrites]

Gifts and Games

Pairing: Levi Schuler x MC (Tara Day)

Book: Mother of the Year (about one month after the end)

Word Count: ~1500

Rating: PG (some mild innuendo)

Summary: Levi hadn’t had a reason to celebrate any holidays for a long time.

Author’s Note: Alright, started off Hanukkah with a Seth piece, let’s end it with a piece featuring my newest Jewish LI, Levi. Just starting to dabble in some MOTY fic here. I loved that book a lot and found all the LIs really compelling, so even though it’s a standalone, I’m still gonna play around with these characters. This piece is for Day 29 of both the Choices December Challenge (Sunset) and Day 30 of 41 Days of Cheer (Celebration) because I am unabashedly working time zones to my advantage here.

Levi hadn’t played dreidel in years. Nah, scratch that. It had been several decades. That fact made him feel older than the fact that he was at a point in his life where dating a woman with a 10 yo kid was a reasonable thing ever did.

Honestly, Levi had never really felt that connected to his faith. If someone had pushed him on it, he’d have to say he really didn’t believe in anything spiritual or religious. Being Jewish to him was more about his connection to his family, and as he got older, he knew he’d gotten more and more disconnected there. It was just strange, being the unmarried, intermittently unemployed uncle, so often, he’d chosen to work instead of going to his grandmother’s for any of the holidays.

But when Zoey had asked him about Hanukkah across the dinner table the other night, he’d been caught off guard. She was so genuinely curious, because of course that smart little nerd wanted to know everything.

“Levi, you’re Jewish, right?” she’d asked between bites of spaghetti.

“Yeah, why are you asking, Rocket?”

“Well, we were learning about winter holidays in my world cultures class, and Ensley was talking about how she got the new iPhone for Hanukkah, and I was just wondering if you celebrated Hanukkah or not. I’ve never been Jewish or anything, so I don’t know exactly how it works.”

Levi had swallowed his mouthful of spaghetti before he answered, “Uh, I haven’t really celebrated Hanukkah in a few years.”

“Why not?”

“Haven’t had anyone to celebrate with, I guess.”

“Do you have to be Jewish to celebrate Hanukkah? Because we could celebrate with you, right mom?”

Tara had locked eyes with him, clearly trying to make sure he was okay with Zoey’s plan. They hadn’t really talked about his background, so he was grateful that she was trying to gauge his feelings about the topic, but he honestly didn’t care. If Zoey wanted to try out Hanukkah, who was he to throw a fit about that? So he’d shrugged and given Tara a little smile. And that’s how he found himself on the floor around the coffee table now, playing a game of dreidel with the two of them.

“So, all you do is spin the top? That’s it?” asked Zoey, a skeptical look on her face that was almost comical.

“That’s it, Rocket.”

She frowned at that, “But there’s no strategy then. It’s all just luck.”

“Yup.”

“Huh, that’s kinda boring.”

“Zoey!” chided Tara, shooting a look at her daughter, “Don’t be rude. You were the one who wanted to celebrate Hanukkah, remember?”

Zoey bit her lip and looked down before glancing up at Levi. “Sorry, Levi. I didn’t mean to say your game was boring. I’m sure it will be a lot of fun.”

Levi just shrugged, “No worries, Rocket. I didn’t make the rules.”

And so they’d started a game, using some leftover rocket parts as their pieces, passing around the little top and taking their turns. But after about 50 rounds, Levi could sense not only Zoey getting antsy, even though she was trying her damnedest to sit still and stay interested, but Tara was also frequently checking the time on her phone when she thought no one was looking. Levi honestly couldn’t blame them. He’d forgotten how long and dull dreidel games could be. In fact, he was impressed that Zoey had stuck with it as long as she had. 

“Hey, Rocket?”

“Yeah, Levi?”

“I think you’re right. This is a boring game.”

Zoey blinked at him before giving him a bright smile. Tara just shook her head.

“It’s not that bad, Levi.”

“Nah, you don’t have to pretend. I totally forgot how long this could drag on. I don’t know how I had the patience for it as a kid. So what do you say, kiddo? Should we call it?”

Zoey looked between him and Tara, who gave her a slight nod. Zoey paused for just a second longer before nodding, “If that’s okay with you guys.”

“Completely fine with me,” said Levi, “It’s just a little game to pass the time, anyway.”

“Thanks, babe,” said Tara, squeezing his shoulder as she stood up, wandering into the kitchen to check on the frozen lasagna she had in the oven. Not exactly traditional Hanukkah food, but hey, nothing about him or Tara’s life was exactly traditional.

Levi hefted himself off the floor and onto the couch, watching as Zoey much more nimbly hopped up and took a seat on the couch next to him. 

“Is there something else we could do to celebrate Hanukkah?” she asked him as she crossed her legs beneath her on the couch.

Levi paused for a moment, trying to think of what he could share with her. He wasn’t sure if any of the chocolate he had was safe for her, and handing out candy right before dinner seemed like a great way to annoy Tara. He didn’t own a menorah. Suddenly, an idea hit him.

“Did your world cultures teacher tell you about the reason we celebrate Hanukkah?”

Zoey nodded proudly, “Yup! It’s because after the Maccabees fought and reclaimed their temple from the Syrians, they only had one jar of oil for light. They sent out someone to get more oil, and when he got back eight days later, that tiny jar of oil was still burning.”

“Exactly. That’s why we celebrate after sunset and usually light candles. Basically, a lot of the shi… stuff Jewish people do to celebrate Hanukkah focuses on oil or light. And I bet you have something squirreled away in your bedroom that uses some oil.”

Zoey chewed on her lip for a couple of seconds before she answered, “Well, the engine kit I got from Luz and Thomas for Christmas uses oil, but that’s a different type of oil.”

“Well, I say the type of oil doesn’t matter one bit. So what do you say, how about we work on that after dinner?”

She grinned brightly at him. “I’ll go get things ready,” she said as she climbed off the couch and bounded into her room.

“Only five minute until dinner!” cried out Tara, “And you need to wash your hands before then!”

Some muffled sounds of agreement drifted out of Zoey’s room. Deciding to see if Tara needed any help, Levi strolled over to the kitchen. “How can I be of assistance?”

Tara glanced up from the green beans see was stirring on the stove top. “The bread could use slicing. It’s on top of the fridge.”

“On it.”

As he grabbed a cutting board from the cabinet and the serrated knife from the drawer, Tara spoke again, grabbing the oven mitts and pulling the lasagna from the oven.

“Quite the history lesson I got there. All I knew about Hanukkah prior to tonight I learned from Adam Sandler.”

Levi laughed at that, “Chanukah Song or Eight Crazy Nights?”

“Both, of course! It’s a shame it’s the last night, though. Otherwise we could have had eight crazy nights of our own.”

Levi turned to face her at that, stepping closer so that they were practically touching. “That is a shame. I guess we’ll really have to make tonight count, then,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows comically. Tara smirked at him at that, but any response she might make was cut off as Zoey bounded into the room.

“Hands all washed, Mom,” she said, walking into the kitchen and grabbing three sets of silverware out of the drawer as she went to set the table, oblivious to what she’d just interrupted.

“Levi’s just finishing up slicing the bread, then we’ll be all set,” said Tara, stepping away from him, turning back to the stove, and grabbing the green beans to drain. He had to marvel at her ability to go from sexy as hell to mom mode without missing a beat, but as she brushed past him, she oh so casually dragged her hand across the front of his jeans, throwing him a wink.

Levi just shook his head, grateful that he had a few moments of slicing the bread to redirect his thoughts, calm down enough to get back in the family mindset. Compartmentalizing was something he was getting better at since he started seeing Tara, but she was still infinitely better at it than him. Probably because she had years of experience compared to his few months. And while with other girlfriends, an innuendo-laced conversation like that would have led to a burnt and late dinner, Levi honestly didn’t mind having to wait until Zoey was in bed. Tara was worth it. They both were worth it. So he sliced the bread and joined his two favorite girls at the dinner table. He never thought this would be his life, but it was amazing how comfortable it felt. It felt nice, and honestly - it was probably the best holiday gift he’d ever received.

Permatag: @mfackenthal   @lilyofchoices @thequeenofcronuts @jamesashtonisbae

Mother of the Year:  @sunnyxdazed @octobereighth

Levi x MC: @srta-give-me-my-jax-rl

Events: @choicesbyjade @jlpplays1-41daysofcheerchallenge @choicesdecemberchallenge​

[t0ngue-tech]

Deadline | Four

“The gym was a bit empty, not as empty as last night, but thankfully it wasn’t crowded. You scanned the gym for the sight of Jungkook and you spotted him in the ring again with his coach. You weren’t even sure if seeing him was going to make anything better for you, but you walked towards the ring anyway.

‘Oh, Jungkook, your girlfriend.’ His coach said out loud.”

↠fluff, angst, highschoolAU, fakerelationshipAU↞

word count: 5.6k

↠ series: 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 6 | ↞

A/N: WHOAAAAA OKAYYYYYYYYY I HAVE GONE MISSING BUT HERE I AM ONCE AGAIN. i know my last update was Deadline so i hope you dont mind another update of it huhu. i hope that you all enjoy this part to the series! don’t skip your meals and pls stay hydrated  ♡

-

-

-

“No. Way. Makoto is the best girl! Did you not see how she held onto Joker when they were in the house?”

“I beg to differ! Futuba is the best girl and the ultimate waifu!”

Lunch was more lively than usual that day. Instead of just Namjoon, Seokjin, and Jimin sitting with you and Jungkook, Jennie and Taehyung joined as well.

Jennie took part in a playful argument with Seokjin and Taehyung about Persona 5’s romance options. Namjoon, Jimin, and Jungkook just smiled along, trying to keep up with their conversation. You, on the other hand, stared at your math notebook at the practice problems you copied from one of your textbooks. Maybe trying to study at the moment wasn’t such a good idea.

“Okay, yeah, yeah. I bet we can all agree that Ryuji should have been a romance option.” Taehyung added.

“Oh, totally! Joker and Ryuji is one of me and y/n’s favorite bro-tps, besides Yosuke and Yu from Persona 4. Right, y/n? Jennie mentioned. “Y/n?”

“What?” You whipped your head up, dazed about whatever conversation just took place. “I’m sorry, Jennie. I’m just swamped right now. I didn’t realize the math competition was at the end of this month until I looked at my planner in first period.”

It was honestly stupid of you to forget about something as important as the math competition. You had it written in your planner, on your calendar in your room, your whiteboard, and on a post-it note on your desk in some sort of red ink. The past weeks were filled with thoughts about the history project, tutoring, and having to keep up with your fake relationship Jungkook. This morning took you by surprise; Jungkook coming over and having breakfast with you and your mom. Plus, you were still having an internal battle about having to initiate physical contact with him.

“You need some help? I think I should know how to solve it because I have a killer math tutor!” Jimin winked at you and you smiled, pointing finger guns at him.

“Alright, I think I got this.” Jungkook scooted closer towards you and lifted your notebook for him to have a better look. “Mhm, mhm. I knew it.”

“What?” You questioned and everyone stared at Jungkook in anticipation.

“I actually do not get any of this.” Jungkook slid your notebook back in front of you and everyone scoffed, Namjoon even tossed a crumpled napkin at him.

“My God..” You laughed and naturally leaned towards your right to place your head on his shoulder. On impulse, Jungkook chuckled along and draped his arm around you.

Jennie’s facial expression didn’t go unnoticed by you and she gently nudged your leg underneath the table. You didn’t tell her about your determination to initiate PDA first so you were preparing yourself for an uplifting speech about how proud she was of you. Honestly, you were looking forward to it. This was pushing your comfort zone, but deep down, it felt nice.

“I’m going to safely assume you’re going to attend the math team’s meeting today?” Jennie asked.

“Yeah. It’s for the best--sorry Jimin, Seokjin. I can’t tutor today.” You pouted and flashed puppy eyes towards the two boys who enjoyed the look you gave them.

“Y/n, it’s okay.” Seokjin squeaked in laughter. “Jungkook, she’s so cute.”

Jennie leaned towards you to cup your cheek. “Yeah she is and she’s mine first, Jeon.”

Jungkook pressed his cheek against the top of your head and squeezed your shoulder. “Don’t worry, Jennie. Y/n is all yours--oh, so do you want me to wait for you until after your meeting?”

Before you spoke, Jennie poked Jungkook’s hand that sat on your shoulder. “It’s alright, Jeon. I’ll wait for her. I haven’t seen her mom in a while, so I think this is the best opportunity.”

“Oh, of course. Okay.” Jungkook smiled and held you closer to him. “I’ll just walk you to the math lab, so wait for me by your fourth period y/n.”

“Okay.” Your eyes were still trained on your notebook and you scanned your eyes across the table, towards the other side of the cafeteria and accidentally made eye contact with Chaeyoung who was staring you down with daggers in her eyes. In a state of panic, you kept your head down and tried to focus on your math problem.

Making Sehun jealous was one thing, but making eye contact with a jealous Chaeyoung was something else.

↠↞

Third period was the same routine: work on the day’s lesson and if there was any free time, work on the history project.

Fourth period flew by and you could barely focus. You had a lot of homework stacked on your plate, making you instantly overwhelmed. The math competition was at the end of the month, the history project was due next month and you were nowhere near assembling the visual aid.

If anymore stress were to be added into your life, you were so sure you were going to cry on the spot.

“Junior year can suck my ass.” You pinched the bridge of your nose and blew out an angry sigh.

“Are you sure you want to attend the meeting? You could always take the day to do homework. I’m pretty sure your teammates would understand.” Jungkook suggested.

“Yeah, I’m sure. It’s important that I go. I don’t think I can afford to miss anymore meetings.” You spoke sadly. “Wait here.”

You took a minute to take your belongings from Jungkook to place inside the math lab. Hani’s face lit up seeing you in the classroom and mentioned how much she missed you. A weak smile appeared on your face and you asked her to wait a moment before catching up with her. Chanyeol was in the corner of the classroom, making copies of some sort of worksheet—you made the decision to greet him later.

As you make your way back to the door, you spotted Jungkook and Sehun standing face-to-face with Sehun’s arms across his chest and Jungkook’s hands stuffed inside his pockets.

Oh no.

“U-Um.” You choked out.

Sehun turned his head and stepped back at the sight of you. “Hey, y/n.”

“Hi, Sehun.” You took your spot next to Jungkook and he automatically wrapped his arm around your lower back and settled his hand on your waist. “Uh, Jungkook? I’ll text you when I get home to let you know I made it safe.”

“Okay, babe. Be careful not to make your head explode.” Jungkook spun you around to have you in a hugging position where you face was buried in his chest. “See you around, Sehun.”

“Yeah. Whatever.” You couldn’t see his face, but Sehun pretty much spat out his reply.

It was quiet for a few seconds and you tilted your head to the side and caught a glimpse of Sehun walking away.

“What happened?” You asked, looking back up at Jungkook who had an obvious crease between his eyebrows.

“Nothing important.” Jungkook stroked your hair before letting you go, and nudging you to go into the classroom. “I’ll talk to you later, y/n.”

You felt uneasy because something definitely happened and Jungkook wasn’t telling you anything, but he smiled sweetly and poked your forehead.

“Everything is fine, y/n. Go on, you have math problems to tackle.”

Even with an assuring smile, you couldn’t shake the tension between Jungkook and Sehun. But Jungkook was right, you had actual problems to solve and you needed to be as focused as possible.

/

“Ohhhhhhhhhh. See, I was trying to use the shortcut formula to figure this out but I guess sometimes you have to take the long way to reach your destination.” Jaehyun, another teammate who arrived later, sighed.

“Yeah, I made that same mistake too, but once you get used to the long version, it’s just as short as the short formula.” You underlined the answer on the whiteboard and took a sip from your water bottle.

To your surprise, you were figuring out math problems with ease. Considering how frazzled you were, you expect yourself to be a complete mess throughout the entire session. 

“Okay, let’s pick up here tomorrow. Saero High has a whole bunch of brainiacs this year, but we have to do our best to keep up our streak with them.” Chanyeol spoke. “Plus, we still have community service with the elementary school next week Wednesday, so clear your schedule that day too.”

Although he was speaking to the entire team, if felt as if Chanyeol was speaking directly to you. Come to think of it, he was being short with you the entire afternoon. You greeted him, asked about his day, but his replies were quick and he didn’t even bat you an eye.

Was he that angry with you?

“Y/n, you’ll be here tomorrow right?” Hani asked.

“Yeah I am. What’s up?” You replied whilst organizing your things.

“My sister came back from her trip and she has a lot of packs of those wasabi almonds you like! I’ll bring you some.” Hani’s warm smile melted away some of the exhaustion you were feeling.

“Thanks, Hani—oh! Mingyu, when you see Eunha in your second period tomorrow, can you tell her that Ms. Song gave her the ‘okay’ for the history project? She wasn’t in class today, but she’ll know what you mean.” You called over to Mingyu who was ready to leave the class.

“You got it!”

The class began to empty out but it still felt stuffy, only because it was just you and Chanyeol left in the room. The tension was apparent and it felt like you were about to suffocate if you didn’t leave anytime soon. You had to get out of there. Especially because Jennie was still waiting for you in her car.

“O-Okay, Chanyeol. I’ll see you tomorrow.” You stuttered.

“Wait.” He replied and you froze up. “I need to discuss something with you.”

Chanyeol was finally looking at you with ice in his eyes and all you wanted to do was run away. You hated confrontation with every fiber in your body. You especially hated arguing with people because even if someone raised their voice at you a little, tears would form in your eyes.

Weak? Yes, very weak.

“Where have you been these past weeks?” He asked coldly.

“S-Sorry, Chan. I’ve been extremely busy these days. Homework from other classes, projects, tutoring friends—It’s been draining.” It was your turn to avoid eye contact with him.

“I understand that we all have other classes we have to focus on, but the competition is at the end of this month! You can always use this time for study hall, just be here.” There was a hint of annoyance in his voice. “And tutoring? Who are you tutoring?”

“Oh, um, Jungkook and some of his friends. They’re having trouble in their trigonometry class, so I offered to help.” You spoke softly.

“Ugh, seriously?” Chanyeol scoffed and squeezed his eyes shut. “You have responsibilities here too. They can always find another tutor.”

What the hell is he even saying? 

“H-Hey, I actually enjoy tutoring them. It’s always a great time.” You spoke a bit louder this time.

“You’re having a great time tutoring them or having fun spending time with your boyfriend?”

Chanyeol’s comment took you by surprise.

“Why do you even go out with guys like Sehun and Jungkook? For your information, this happened last year too. You skipped weeks of meetings to watch Sehun practice out on the football field.” Chanyeol bluntly said.

“Ex-Excuse me?” You furrowed your eyebrows.

“What’s the point of dating someone who’s not on the same academic level as you anyway? They’re just going to slow you down.”

Your blood was boiling at this point. Was Chanyeol seriously judging you? Was he that angry because you’re dating someone who isn’t as “smart” as you were? He had no right—

You clench your fists and angrily grabbed your backpack off the table. “You know what, Chanyeol? You’re in no position to judge me right now. I’ll see you tomorrow.” In a huff, you left Chanyeol in the classroom ignoring his requests for you to stay. 

There were tears stinging your eyes.

Weakness.

What the hell was his problem?! Where did those words even come from anyway? God! 

You didn’t need this right now. You were already stressed and frustrated as is and Chanyeol just made everything worse.

With heavy footsteps, you reached Jennie’s car and you spotted her laughing to tears staring at her phone. You smiled and knocked on her window.

“Oh, God, hey.” Jennie said in between laughter as she rolled her window down and unlocked her car.

“Funny video?”

“Just catching up on some vlogs, oh man, I have to show you some videos when we get to your house.” Jennie waited for you to get settled in the passenger seat and watched as you raked your hands through your hair. “You okay?”

“I’ll tell you at home.” You sighed. “Can we get some things for a coke floats and kettle corn popcorn?”

Jennie started her car right away and pulled out of the school parking lot with determination. “Say no more, y/n!”

↠↞

The trip to the supermarket to your house felt like three seconds as Jennie was anticipating for you to spill the tea. Your mother was in the kitchen when you got home and Jennie was delighted to see her. As they caught up, you began popping two bags of popcorn and poured coke over two tall glasses of vanilla ice cream.

Before you vented to Jennie, you spent thirty-minutes watching the videos Jennie wanted you to see. In the midst of frustration, the vlogs were a ray of light, making you laugh until your stomach hurt.

Jennie pulled up another window on your laptop and showcased the outfit one of the girls in the video wore. “Girl, you would look hot in that!”

You scrunch your nose. The outfit was an off-the-shoulder crop top paired with light denim high-waisted shorts; totally out of your comfort zone.

“It’s cute.” You admitted. “But I think it would look better on you.”

Jennie shuffled on top of your bed and sat up. “Ugh, y/n, come on! You would turn heads of both girls and boys! Let’s go to the mall next week and look for something like this. Plus, I need a whole new outfit for my sister’s dance recital.”

“For the cute high school siblings of your sister’s friends?” You chuckled.

“You know me so well!” Jennie laughed. “So, please?”

Your stomach turned at the thought of dressing up in an outfit like that. “O-Okay, I’ll give it a try.”

Jennie practically jumped on you, suffocating you with a hug. “Yes! Love you! Okay, now it’s your turn. What the hell happened during the meeting?”

Ugh.

You explained how tired and stressed you’ve been and that getting into an argument was the last thing you needed. Then, you dropped the bomb and told her about how Chanyeol was pretty much pissed off about how you weren’t attending the meetings.

“What the hell? You have your own responsibilities dude.” Jennie huffed.

“I know, but I’m doing the last questions for the math competition this year like how he did last year.”

“Oh fuck, so you’re doing the hard questions?” She sighed. “But still! You’re allowed to do your own things.”

You sighed. “I guess...but that’s not all..”

You then explained how Chanyeol also blew up about your choice in boys.

“He said what?!” Jennie tossed your pillow off the floor. “You want me to kick his ass? What the fuck is his problem?! He’s judging you about your choice in guys—fuck out of here!”

You flopped onto your back and grabbed another one of your pillows to scream in. “I don’t know what’s his problem, like what did I do…” your voice began to falter.

“Y/n. Can I be honest?” Jennie pulled the pillow away from your face and waited for you to nod your head. “I think Chanyeol is jealous.”

You sat up at an instant. “Jealous?! No, no, no, no, no.”

“Yes! Jealous! Y/n, you need to open your pretty dark brown eyes and realize that guys find you attractive!” Jennie put her arm around you and leaned on your shoulder.

Chanyeol? Jealous?

You’ve known him for a while and spent a lot of time together through the math team, but he was nothing more than a friend to you. Of course, you were dating Sehun last year, so you didn’t notice any signs of him liking you. But it seemed too weird. There was no way Chanyeol was jealous.

↠↞

Jennie left your house around 8 pm and took a pack of popcorn with her. You sat at the dining table with a fresh glass of coke float in front of you. Traces of the jealousy conversation still lingered in your head and it made you plant your forehead on top of your table.

“Everything alright, honey?”

You peeked over to your mother who was heating up leftovers from the previous night for her dinner.

“Yeah, mom, just...stressed.” You said quietly.

“Want to talk about it?”

There was no shame in talking to your mom about your problems, but you didn’t feel like speaking to her about it at the moment.

“Not right now mom. I’ll be fine though.”

Sigh. You felt uneasy.

“Mom, you can have this.” You pushed the glass away from you. “I’m going to go for a drive. I need to clear my head. I won’t go far, I promise.”

“O-Okay, hon’. Just be careful.”

Where were you going? You just started your car and began driving, feeling the fall breeze against your cheeks. If you kept thinking about everything, you were so sure that your brain was going to start melting inside of your skull.

After driving around for fifteen minutes, you pulled into a parking stall.

“What am I even doing here?” You breathed.

In front of you was the gym Jungkook trained at. It was definitely deja vu because you were just here last night but under different circumstances. For a second you weren’t sure if Jungkook was going to be there, but you spotted his car parked near the entrance. You had the choice to turn back around to lay down at home, but you opened your car door and darted towards the entrance doors of the gym.

The gym was a bit empty, not as empty as last night, but thankfully it wasn’t crowded. You scanned the gym for the sight of Jungkook and you spotted him in the ring again with his coach. You weren’t even sure if seeing him was going to make anything better for you, but you walked towards the ring anyway.

“Oh, Jungkook, your girlfriend.” His coach said out loud.

Jungkook let his stance down and whipped his head around to find you several feet away from the ring. His coach gave him the okay to take a quick break to have a chat with you. He hastily took off his boxing gloves and exited the ring.

“What a nice surprise.” He chuckled. “I’d hug you but I’m all sweaty.”

“No, it’s fine.” You hesitated at first, but followed through with the hug you planned on giving him, ignoring the dampness of his t-shirt.

“Hey,” Jungkook leaned you back a bit and held your face with one hand. “You alright?”

Instantly, you cheeks flared. Wha-wha-what is he doing!

“Sorry,” you panicked and let go. “I’ve just been stressed out since this morning, I guess.”

“Nothing got better?”

“No, worse.” You accidentally blurted out. You had no plans on telling Jungkook about your altercation with Chanyeol especially because he was slightly involved.

Jungkook nodded and stroked your hair. “Have you used a punching bag before?”

“U-Uh, no?”

“Okay, Just wait like ten minutes and I’ll get you set up with a punching bag.” Jungkook gently touched your cheek with his fingers and walked back into the ring.

What the hell is up with today?

↠↞

After patiently waiting for Jungkook to finish up, he assisted you in finding a perfect fit for boxing gloves, he even let you borrow one of his t-shirts from his gym bag so your shirt wouldn’t get sweaty.

At first, you were self conscious; you had no idea what you were doing and plus there were people around. You were going to make a fool out of yourself, but Jungkook encouraged you and promised to beat the shit out of anyone who laughed at you.

“A little too extreme, but okay.”

With each punch you threw, Jungkook praised you and encouraged you to hit harder to let out all of your frustrations. It was difficult, but little by little, you were feeling bits and pieces of relief. Your idea of stress relief was five cups of coffee and netflix, but using the punching bag gave the exact same feeling. 

Jungkook taught you how to throw an uppercut, how to block, and even a quick lesson on kicking. You were grateful that he took the time to teach you some of the ropes almost like how you tutored him. It was different, but it was exhilarating.

“Here you go.” Jungkook handed you his blender bottle filled with water and protein powder.

You sparred with the punching bag for about ten to fifteen minutes before you threw in the towel. Now, you were in the same spot as last night, sitting on a parking block near your car.

As soon as you are done making his protein shake, he offered you a sip but you quickly rejected it remembering how gross it tasted last night.

“You’re drinking chocolate grass.” You squirmed.

“Trust me, you’ll get used to it after a while. Come on, just one sip.” Jungkook loomed over you and gestured his blender bottle near your lips.

“Fine, but if I die—” you threatened him with your finger pressed on his chin.

You stared up at him with disgust before taking a quick sip of that god awful protein shake. On the other hand, Jungkook looked satisfied.

“So, what happened today?” Jungkook took the bottle out of your hands and sat beside you, barely leaving an inch of space between you two.

“Uhhh, well,” you started off nervously. “I uh, I got into an argument with Chanyeol.”

Jungkook tilted his head. “Chanyeol? That guy is so quiet, I can’t imagine him getting into an argument with anybody, let alone you.”

You chuckled. “I know, but he was just angry about me not showing up to the meetings. I can’t blame him though.” It felt as if this was the thousandth time you were explaining this, even if the only person you told was Jennie; having to admit it to yourself is what gave it extra numbers.

“I-I’m sorry, y/n. I think that’s my fault.” Jungkook dropped his head.

“No, it’s not your fault, Jungkook. I chose to help tutor you guys, it’s fine.” You boldly shifted your body to rest your head on his shoulder. It was a cold night, so even the littlest body heat felt nice.

It was quiet for a moment and within that moment, you were debating if you wanted to tell him about part two of the argument. He had the right to know, right? At the same time, he wasn’t actually your boyfriend so it technically didn’t matter. But ugh. Why were you feeling so damn guilty?

“Um, there’s more actually.” You said quietly.

“Hm?”

“I think Chanyeol was judging my taste in guys.” You admitted sadly.

“What?” Jungkook adjusted his body and you lifted your head to make eye contact with him.

“Y-Yeah.. he pretty much said I should be dating smarter guys..” Your voice grew softer and slower towards the end of your sentence. “And I’m sorry, but I pretty much stormed out instead of defending you or myself because I was enraged about what he said.”

Jungkook sighed and bit the inside of his cheek. He wrapped his arm around your shoulders and rubbed it. “Don’t apologize, y/n.”

“But still…” you lowered your body to rest your head near the crook of his neck.

You felt horrible. The least you could’ve done was defend Jungkook, boyfriend or not, Chanyeol’s words were hurtful. God, you felt like crying. Nothing was going right today.

“Ugh, I want to crawl under a hole!” You exclaimed.

“I’ll join you, then.” Jungkook said and held you closer. “I know I’m not as smart as you are, but I think I’m getting better, thanks to your tutoring and being on my ass about my classes.”

You laughed knowing he was trying to make you feel better.

It got quiet again, but the silence was comforting in a way. You noticed that your friendship with Jungkook was beginning to grow. 

In the beginning of high school, you could barely say a word to him. Then junior year rolled around and you saw Jungkook sitting in the corner of the classroom with two of his friends. The first thing Jennie said to you was, “look it’s Jungkook, the guy who put that stupid gum in your hair.”

Nowadays, it was easy to breathe in the same room as Jungkook. Texting and talking to him was always a great time, plus you expanded your group of friends by getting acquainted with his own. It was a wild ride so far, but you were beginning to see the good things flourish from it.

“You know, y/n.” Jungkook started off. “It kind of sounds like Chanyeol is jealous.”

You immediately pulled yourself away from Jungkook. “Oh, please don’t say that because Jennie said the same thing.”

There it was again, the stupid jealousy thing.

“It’s true! I mean think about it, Chanyeol is just as smart as you. He’s pretty much saying ‘hey, you should be dating me instead.’” Jungkook nudged you and chuckled. 

You shake your head and facepalmed. The idea of Chanyeol being jealous seemed too out of the ordinary for you and it was even weirder hearing it come from other people. 

“You sure have a lot of guys after you, huh?” Jungkook said.

“Guys? After me? Wha--?” You snorted which turned into a full-hearted laugh. “There are no guys, Jungkook.”

“Sure, y/n--hey, you’re going to your team meeting tomorrow right?” He asked, quickly changing the subject. You nodded your head waiting for him to continue. “Would it be alright if I came too? I won’t bother you guys, I’ll just wear some earphones, sit in the back and do my own work. It’ll be like I’m in study hall or something.”

Having Jungkook in the same room as Chanyeol seemed like a risky idea. You were afraid Jungkook was going to say something to keep up his boyfriend-act and more arguments was the last thing you needed. But Jungkook was asking so nicely and being who you were, you couldn’t say no.

↠↞

“Just text me if you need me for anything. I’ll be able to hear my phone vibrate against the desk.” You set out your history and math notebook in front of Jungkook.

“Alright. Just let me know when you guys are going to clean up soon.” He stuffed his earbuds in his ears and winked at you. “Have fun, babe—oh, hey, Chanyeol. Don’t worry. I’ll just be back here.”

You looked over to the side where Chanyeol was grabbing a few papers from the printer. He pressed his lips together and gave Jungkook a small nod.

Could this be any more awkward?

Thankfully, Jungkook remained calm and collected. He kept his nose in the books and checked his phone a few times; he even sent you a few memes, so you had to stifle your laughter whenever he did. However, you could tell there was obvious tension and you were so sure the rest of your teammates could feel it too.

You thought about wanting to apologize or running out of the classroom as soon as the meeting was done, but apologizing seemed like the best choice. Even if you already said it, maybe it would be best to say it again in a more formal matter.

“Y/n, did I do this right? Because if a problem like this shows up during the competition, it’s going to be over for me I know it—I can feel it in my bones.” Eunha buried her face in the crook of her arm as she handed you her paper.

“Let’s see…” you muttered.

Hmm…she got the square root…okay, she remembered to keep the parentheses...hm?

You looked up from the paper and made eye contact with Jungkook who seemed to be in a daze. His elbow was on top of the desk with his chin settled in his palm. Studying for an hour was probably deep-frying his brain, so you shot him a sweet smile to encourage him to keep going for a little while longer.

Jungkook reflected the same smile and went back to scribbling away in his notebook.

“Ugh. You guys are so cute.” Hani whispered.

“Th-Thanks.” You muttered realizing your cheeks were starting to feel warm.

After a few more exercise problems, Chanyeol called the meeting to a close and added that tomorrow’s meeting will be canceled so everyone can catch up on school work or extracurricular activities. You waltzed over to Jungkook and instructed him to put your guys’ things in his car for the time being because you wanted to print out a few articles for the project.

“Okay, I’ll come back though so we can walk together.” He gathered the bags, but left your binder so you could keep the papers nice and tidy.

You scrolled through social media as you waited for the last of the ten pages to be printed out. It was a good thing the printer sat near the door so you could just turn on your heel and walk out when it’s done printing.

“Alright, that’s it. That is the fifth photo of iced coffee I’ve seen—maybe Jungkook won’t mind going to a coffee shop before dropping me off home.” You muttered to yourself.

“Y/n?” Chanyeol approached you, keeping a two-foot distance.

“Y-Yeah?”

He tugged at the end of his sweater and stared at his toes before looking at you. “I’m uh, I’m really sorry for my behavior yesterday. I shouldn’t have said those things. I don’t know what’s gotten into me lately. I guess I’m exhausted as well.”

“It’s okay, Chanyeol.” You smiled, satisfied that he apologized first. “I’m really sorry too—for not attending any of the meetings lately. I’ll do better.”

Chanyeol smiled back at you and you noticed a light pink hue across his cheeks. He reached out and rested his hand on top of your head. “You’re doing fine, y/n. I know you’ll do great during the competition.”

“Y/n? Are my earphones on the desk?”

Jungkook’s voice came from a short distance and Chanyeol retracted his hand back to his side.

“U-Uh, oh! They’re actually on the floor.” Chanyeol stammered and pointed at the red wire sprawled on the tiles.

“Oh shit, thanks, Chanyeol.” Jungkook crouched down and curled up his earphones to stuff them inside his pocket. “Ready?”

You collected your binder and held Jungkook’s hand, lacing your fingers in between the spaces of his own. “Yeah. Bye Chanyeol!”

Before leaving, Jungkook reached out to fist bump Chanyeol who seemed to be standing awkwardly on the side.

You seemed to be in a much better mood, probably because everything seemed to be alright with Chanyeol. Although the idea of him being jealous still hasn’t left your mind, you decided to not dwell on the thought that much.

“Can we go to a coffee shop before dropping me off home? It seems like everyone has an iced coffee and I feel so left out.” You pouted thinking about the creamy taste of an iced hazelnut latte. Cold weather or not, you were always going to choose an iced coffee over anything else.

“Sure. Is your mom home? We can get her a cup of coffee too.” Jungkook offered as he opened the passenger door for you.

“That’s so sweet, Jungkook. Okay.” You smiled at him as he closed the door.

Since you were free tomorrow after school, you thought it would be the best time for you and Jungkook to finally work on the details of the visual aid of the history project. It was shocking how much eager you were to work with him these days compared to when the project was assigned. It probably had to do with the fact that you were spending more time with him or maybe your willingness to act more like a girlfriend. Either way, it was a positive change.

“Oh yeah, there’s no meeting tomorrow so did you want to work on the poster board for our project tomorrow after school? We can work on it at my house if you’re not busy.” You asked, watching Jungkook fasten his seatbelt.

“Yeah, sounds great.”

“Perfect! Okay. We really need to work our asses off tomorrow.” You fist pumped into the air and you caught a glimpse of Jungkook smiling down at you. There was a small feeling of uneasiness in his smile that you couldn’t ignore. Maybe he was tired from studying for so long?

Hmm..

However, now was not the time to overthink anymore negative feelings because for the first time in a while, you felt as if there was a little more life pumped into your veins. You planned to exercise peace and positive vibes from here on out.

What could go wrong?

-

-

-

♡ rae jagi

[project-ohagi]

Keiji Akaashi x Reader {Haikyuu!!}

The grace with which he had been blessed was astounding, even to his upperclassmen. You always searched for him in the onslaught during break and lunch, hoping against hope that he would gaze your way. His politeness and the blunt way he voiced his opinions were surely going to be your downfall; every time he opened his mouth, your heart began pounding in your chest, and all the blood in your system would surge to your ears and cheeks. The sound of blood swirling around your head almost drowned out your love's magnificent voice. Almost. Once, he caught you zoned-out, on cloud nine, and questioned the intensity of your blush. The handsome setter thought that perhaps you were ill and seeking medical attention. Afterwards, he seemed to make a routine of greeting you every morning, and on the off-chance you happened to meet in the hallways.

Although he never appeared too interested in physical contact, his friend was incredibly touchy-feely. It humoured you for a while, but gradually, the amusement was replaced with fury - that was your man, your gorgeous specimen, and no matter how close those two were, Bokuto was not getting Keiji. You dedicated an entire journal to learning and recording his habits, mannerisms, likes and dislikes, as well as any other helpful bits of information. You wanted to know everything.

Sitting behind him in class had its advantages, because he couldn't tell that you were writing about him, and from your angle, you could garner his mood from the movement of his upper body alone. You didn't need to be an expert at deciphering facial expressions. You were quickly becoming a master on the topic of Keiji Akaashi. Following him also worked in your favour - the way he stood (hands interlocked behind his back) was utterly adorable, so you started copying it. You would try out the things you knew he liked, and also considered joining the girls' volleyball team. However, that way there would be less chance of you seeing his matches up close.

You examined his character in more depth, exploring how he talked to, and acted around, his classmates and team mates. His closest confidante was indeed Bokuto, but you feared that striking up a conversation would lead to some weird places. He was such a loud, rambunctious individual, and you couldn't risk the exposure. Not when you were so near to completing your most daring, yet most exciting plan. It needed perfecting and executing, but that was now only a matter of days. Keiji was quiet, but certainly not shy. Heck, you weren't exactly sure he was capable of reading the mood, but all his little quirks combined to make him so incredibly endearing.

Your Romeo was far more special and charming than anyone else in your life, and you were prepared to go to some insane lengths to keep him caged. Ten foot tall iron bars, and an ivory roof would surely sedate him. He would look so handsome, so perfectly submissive, splayed out amongst your sheets. His hands would turn a hot white as he gripped them, trying to chain himself to reality. The poor thing wouldn't know what to do, lying and trembling beneath you. Nothing would be veiling his perfection from your eyes, so they could feast on what they saw, and it would satisfy them for life.

A sticky white liquid would dribble down his stomach, having been shot out a short while earlier, when your lips closed around his throbbing member, and sultry moans filled the room. Keiji's soft, haggard sounds would be music to your ears - a choir of angels, and your legs would further entrap him. Lining his member up with your aching hole, you would sheathe him inside, relishing in the sudden, pleasure-induced moan that escaped his lips. It would be throaty, in his lustful haze. Leaning forwards, you would forcefully press your lips together, coaxing his tongue out to play. At some point, he might gain control, turning the tide of dominance. Pinning you to the bed, perhaps he would will you to beg, to plead for his glorious sex. He might release you, or he could make you suffer. Maybe he would pull out, so that only the tip remained, or perhaps he would even deny your orgasm, as punishment for screwing with him. Would he do that?

Licking your lips, you imagined all the possibilities, ranging from soft sex to rough sex, to no sex at all. It was entirely plausible that, once he gained the upper hand, he would tie you against the bed, stranding you until morning, or whenever someone decided to walk in and found your naked, or semi-naked body, shaking from the cold, desiring nothing but Keiji Akaashi.

Then again, Fukurōdani would provide the best environment. Plus, it would be much easier to find and lure your prey in a place that he felt comfortable. You might be able to find a jump rope to tie his hands, and maybe the gymnasium's storeroom would be a good spot to launch an attack. However, first came the annoying part: removing Keiji's larger-than-life friend from the picture. You didn't really have to go to the extreme of killing him, but that was always a viable option. No, you could just get someone to help you take his attention off Keiji, and go home by himself. He was constantly hoarding your beloved, never letting you get too close. You could have even sworn he glared at you once, for attempting to limit the space between yourself and the setter. Regardless, he had to go, if only for a few hours.

You crossed your legs, well aware that you were growing too aroused, from your fantasies alone. The object of your (obsessive) affections tilted his head in concentration. You loved this, because it meant that he was working really hard. He was incredibly smart, but never boasted about his grades. You adored his humility. The temperature had risen significantly in the past few minutes, but you hadn't noticed, since you spaced out. However, the heat seemed to affect Keiji, as his blazer was draped gracefully over the back of his chair, and you could see the sweat rolling down his neck. In that moment, all remaining reason flooded out, and you had to stab your hand with a sharpened pencil, just to stop yourself from leaning in and lapping up the substance. Glancing at the clock, you realised that there were less than ten minutes left. You sighed in relief. Keiji's dark eyes flicked to the side, catching a glimpse of your flustered state. He would attest to being concerned. You were a classmate, after all.

He looked back towards the teacher, listening with one ear. The notes in his book were becoming more and more confusing - his focus was wavering, as he tried to disperse it between you and the lesson. He always appeared so cool, so collected, able to dish out the most brutally honest comments without batting an eye, but, a slight panic was building in his stomach. It twisted unnaturally, bringing him to the brink of nausea. Although, no-one would be able to tell, not even if they invaded his personal space, like Bokuto. The extraordinarily beautiful setter often noticed you staring, out of the corner of his eye, but he never said anything. You seemed quite timid, since you scarcely talked to anyone, so he didn't necessarily want to make you uncomfortable. However, while he thought that you kept your head down and got work done, you actually had a very different, very special reason for scribbling in your book, only sparing two or three glances towards the teacher.

Earlier, you had been in the process of writing out, and testing, various methods of torture/execution. You see, Keiji had a bad habit of being friendly around the girls at school. Well, he was an incredibly amiable person anyway, but, much like Aobajōsai's setter, he had a fanclub. They were absolutely obsessed with him.

Although, they could never love Keiji like you did.

Their president was a small-ish, brown-haired female, who compensated for her height by donning these ridiculous, strictly prohibited heels, which gave her a few more inches. She had a horrible, toxic sort of personality, and a smile that could wipe out an entire species. For her, you implemented a very special, very inhumane plan. One day, during lunch, you asked her (privately) about joining the Keiji Akaashi Fanclub. She was thrilled to have yet another member, and she entrusted you with all sorts of written documents, ready and waiting for your signature. The two of you had a clandestine meeting, because you wanted to 'show' her something. You shrugged off all her guesses. There was a spring in your step, and a happy giggle bubbling in your throat. In your bag, an iron contraption sat amongst your school supplies. After placing it (with much force) on her head, and twisting it violently, almost breaking the poor girl's jaw before the fun really started, you hauled her into the furnace.

She had been your first victim.

Proceeding her, were five more members of that detestable, and frankly annoying, club. When they were dealt with, you transitioned into Phase 2, which primarily involved the possible abduction, and definite enchantment, of your love: Keiji Akaashi. So now, you were in class, gazing dreamily at him, and wondering about your plan. It needed a touch more...flavour, so it would, unfortunately, have to wait. At least until tomorrow.

The bell rang, and freedom had never tasted so sweet. Thankfully, your chosen methods of extermination required minimal bloodshed, so nothing was visible on your clothes. Just as you packed away your items, and got out of your chair, a mildly concerned-looking Keiji blocked your view of the door. You recognised a slight imbalance in his stance, indicating that something was troubling him.

"(L/n)-san." He addressed, nonchalantly.

Your response was almost too quick. "Yes, Kei-Akaashi-kun?"

He quirked an eyebrow. "Did you need me for something? You're always staring. It can be confusing."

"Ah..." You guessed he stopped himself from saying 'annoying'. "I can tell you tomorrow, maybe?" You muttered, attempting to stall for time.

Shaking his head, he spoke, "Please tell me now."

This was happening far too suddenly, yet you weren't about to let this opportunity slide. "Um...well, I could tell you on the way back? We go the same way, if I remember correctly."

"Yes, we do. Let's go then." His fingers brushed past yours, causing your skin to prickle.

Right, cool. Just keep this momentum, and everything will go smoothly.

While walking, you spotted him fumbling with his fingers - something he did quite frequently. It wasn't really a sign of anxiety, but you found it adorable. His gunmetal blue eyes were fixated on the road ahead, and his lips had long since been sealed. You desperately needed to take action, otherwise, if your actual strategy did not work, you would completely fail. You couldn't let him go home, but it would seem really strange if you asked him to join you for a cup of tea, or something to that effect. Whilst you were pondering this dilemma, droplets of water dripped down on to your hair and clothes, thoroughly wetting both of you. Since your house was close, and you lived alone, this was the perfect opportunity to invite him inside. Silently, you thanked whatever god was out there, listening to your prayers.

The two of you hurried inside, grabbing some towels and shaking yourselves off. Your (e/c) eyes glimpsed his shirt, now transparent due to exposure to the rain. Gulping, you averted your gaze, attempting not to grow too aroused. Keiji looked around, seeing nothing he didn't expect. Your hallway was pretty barren, to be honest, because everything of personal value was compiled in your room. That is to say, you had lots of...helpful tools.

"Thank you. I figured it might rain, so I gave my umbrella to Bokuto-san." He nodded politely.

Sighing, you stated, "You do so much for him."

"He's our captain. If he loses his cheerful nature, he won't be as good in practise." He clarified, not seeming to understand why you suddenly sounded quite out-of-sorts.

I need some love too, y'know?

You smiled. "I get that. Sorry, I wasn't trying to offend you."

He followed your lead, walking slowly behind you. "It's alright. I should have brought another umbrella, so you didn't get wet."

"It was inevitable."

I'm always wet when you're around, Keiji.

"I apologise anyway." He bowed, halting his movements.

You stopped outside your bedroom door. "Then, how about you make it up to me?"

[zaraquinn]

The Less I Know, The Better

Billy Hargrove - Liking a girl that’s not in his usual area of expertise

Word Count: 1111

Billy Hargrove x Fem!Reader

Requested by: @ytp-fandom

Author's notes:

Y/N - Your Name

L/N - Last Name

Additional Notes: ayye its the first billy hargrove request I got. This is similar to something I’ve read so this is gonna be a piece of cake. Anyway, enjoy.

————

————

Y/N didn’t know why, or even how, but since the weather became hot, and summer started, Billy Hargrove had recently taken a liking in her. It was the weirdest thing to happen to Y/N, as she never had any guys look at her the way Hargrove does. She is his locker neighbour, so it was weird that he had started talking—trying ever since summer heat rolled around. It started on the day the scorching Hawkins weather reached the hottest day, and Y/N decided to wear a cropped striped shirt and a pink tennis skirt instead of her usual pastel sweater and mom jeans. Although it was out of her regular comfort zone, she wasn’t going to die in the heat. It was at that moment, after picking up her books in the hall, Billy started talking to her.

She’s the most polite and reserved person the school knows. She also was what everyone called ‘a nerd’. The stereotype of being good at math, loving science fiction and on top of her classes and the latest news on politics. Plus her interest in reading and movies too. She shared the same chemistry class as Billy, and it baffled her to why he even took the class if he didn’t care about it or even made the effort. People like that Y/N really wanted to stay away from. But, for some reason she couldn’t get away from Billy; there was something about him.

Shutting her locker, she was met with Billy’s leaning figure; dawning his signature smirk and a muscle tee in the regular summer heat in Hawkins. “Hey sweet cheeks,” there goes that smile. Although Y/N knew he was a bad boy and shouldn’t associate herself with him, she couldn’t deny feeling butterflies in her stomach at the nickname. “Billy.” She said and continued walking to chemistry class. This was the fifteenth, no. Sixteenth time. Y/N lost track at this point to remember how many times Billy talked to her. It’s been three weeks and every day, the same thing. Now, with a nickname, she actually liked too. Y/N groaned as Billy followed her down the hall. All she wanted was some space and disassociation. “You’re in such a rush to go to chem class?” He said, swiftly catching up to her. “I don’t want to be late if you don’t mind.” Suddenly Billy had stepped in front of Y/N, blocking her way completely. Y/N just stood there in annoyance as Billy took her path. “Let me walk you. We’re in the same class.” He charmingly said, stepping closer to her. “I don’t want to be tardy to class thank you very much.” Y/N said taking a step back for some space between them, then proceeding to walk past him; almost tripping as he stopped her again. A string of words left Y/N’s mouth, none of them being swear words but mock-cuss words. Billy raised his eyebrows at how innocent Y/N is. “Such words to come out of such a pristine girl.” He said as he helped her from falling over. “I’m not, ‘pristine’.” Y/N said back, pulling her backpack up on her shoulder. “Oh, I think you are Y/N, and hot.” A confused expression painted Y/N’s face but was quickly changed as she heard the bell ring for class. Of course, hanging with the tardy kid gets you tardy. She annoyingly sighed. “Look, now we’re late.” And the two ended up running to class.

“Hargrove. Tardy as usual. And we have miss L/N? That’s very out of character for you.” The teacher had called out as the class erupted in ‘oooooohs’. A pink blush of embarrassment reached Y/N’s face as she quickly made her way to her seat. The class began again, explaining the lesson and the lab project that they had to do. The project resulted in the final grade boost that was worth 30% or their final average and they had to work in partners. The teacher soon paired off everybody and then came Y/N’s name. “Since you and Mr. Hargrove were late to class, why don’t you be partners for this last and important assignment? I’m sure Mr. Hargrove will appreciate you passing for him—erm... being your partner.” The teacher said and continued on the pairings. The class collectively chuckled and giggled as Y/N looked back at Billy, who just gave Y/N his signature smirk and a wink. She looked back to her books, feeling such annoyance but it soon turned into butterflies in her stomach and a small smile appeared on her face.

“So I guess I’m partners with the most innocent girl in Hawkins huh?” Billy prompted, as everyone moved seats to their new partners to start working on their project. “Just, do what I tell you so you can pass and I don’t eff, up. Alright?” She said sassily, opening the textbook in front of them. Billy just smiled, putting his feet off the table and leaning closer to Y/N. “You can’t even say one bad word?” He persuaded her. “Look, why are you all of a sudden talking to me now? Do I benefit you in any way, shape or form? I mean, I’m not the girls you usually have an interest in. Is it because you know you’re failing and you need my help?” She suggested, finally confronting him on this strange normality. “I don’t give one shit about this class. And you’re right. You aren’t the type of girl I would talk to.” He admitted to himself. “Then why all of the sudden are you talking to me?” She asked, serious this time. Billy straightened up, ready to tell her. “Come on, you didn’t know? Do you hide everything under that sweater you always wear? I’d thank the Hawkins heat for that.” Y/N nodded in annoyance as she ignored him. “Look, I just like your company. It’s different than the other girls. Your pristine presence is what I enjoy.” He seriously said, even putting a little humorous emphasis on the word pristine. Y/N suddenly turned her head. “Seriously?” She asked as she turned the page of the book. “Yeah. Plus you're so hot. I don’t know why you hide everything underneath those jeans sweet cheeks.” He chuckled flirtatiously, causing a mad blush to appear on Y/N’s cheeks. “You know, looks aren’t everything. I do have a brain that works Billy.” She frowned in annoyance and embarrassment as Y/N can feel her heated cheeks. “I, love that.” Billy’s voice was sultry and husky; telling her this as he leaned in close to Y/N, feeling her breath ghost is lips. For the first time, Y/N’s smile appeared in Billy’s presence. A genuine one too.

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