#anyway. work bad. dislike. excited for vacation.

[six-of-ravens]

anyway i had a bad day at work today and my boss was definitely Disappointed in me and also Errant PM lowkey threw me under the bus by doing the thing where she says she's dealt with something but hasn't actually done it (and boss just like. expected me to assume she hadn't done it and do it myself. lol. some people should not have the jobs they have jesus chrispy).

so a) was very nice to go out to a play and laugh till I cried (literally, holy shit it's spectacular) and b) i need something Really Really world changing to happen next week so he forgets how upset he was at me and also that he caught me on my phone twice.

[joenotexotic99]

Hey! I love your work so much! Like your writing is actually beautiful! Anyway, I was wondering if you could do some of the Easy Boys if you were to tell them your pregnant? If not that’s totally ok, I completely get it. I just thought it would be kinda cute lol. I was wondering if you could include Bull, Lieb, Gene, and Winters along with whoever you want bc let’s be honest, I’m in love with them all.

A/n hope you liked this anon! <3

Warnings, so much fluff, slight language, probably needs a spell check.

Bull Randleman

You weren't sure of how he'd react, sure you loved each other but you never got to the point of whether or not you were having kids. When you did tell him his face stayed neutral, you almost thought that he was upset at first until a huge grin displayed across his face. He took you into his arms and gave you the biggest hug. He rubbed your back and kissed the top of your head, holding you close. He then let go to kiss your stomach. Telling his future kid that he loves them. When he looked back at you he had the most genuine smile.

“son of a bitch, I'm going to be a father”

“Damn right your are”

Joseph Leibgott

You just made this man stop completely in his tracks, you knew how bad he wanted a family so as soon as you found out you were expecting, you went running to tell him. He had the biggest holy shit face. He immediately ran to you and scooped you up. He started to ramble, thanking you and telling you how much he loves you and how happy and excited he is. He then gives you the sweetest kiss. The whole day he sported the biggest smile, if anyone asked why so joyfully he proudly told them that he was going to be a father. If this was a modern au I would totally see him calling you a milf, respectfully 

“holy shit I love you so much, you're amazing you know that? I'm gonna be a dad, jesus”

“The best”

Eugene roe

Like bull you haven't discussed the possibility of having kids. You had no idea what to expect telling him the news. You honestly expected the worst. But all that fear washed away immediately when you saw the excitement in his eyes and the wide smile on his face. He asked you if this is what you want and when you nodded with yes he went straight to hug you. Gene would be so caring with you. I honestly think that he would find trinkets and toys to give you his kid when he's old enough.  Will be such a great dad.

“Are you sure we're ready for this”

“Probably not but one things for sure is you are going to be a great mom”

Richard winters 

you wanted kids and so did winters, you've talked and discussed it before, even going as far as telling what names you liked and disliked. But it was always something you said you would do later in life, so it came as a surprise when you found out you were pregnant so soon. Telling him was exciting and nauseating at the same time. It took him a second to register what you meant, but he was more than excited. Starting a family has been something he's always wanted and now it's a dream come true. He rapped you in your arms telling you how happy he gets to do this with you.

“I love you, you know that?”

“More than you know”

Ronald Speirs

Honestly children were never really in the question. When you and Speirs talked about your future you would talk about beaches and vacations and buying a big house. Never kids. So you were rightfully terrified to find out you were pregnant. You had no idea if Speirs ever wanted kids. When you told him you half expected for him to walk away. It took at least ten seconds for him to make any face acknowledging to you his feelings. That's when he hugged you. When he pulled away he had tears in his eyes and a smile on his face. 

“were having a kid?”

“We are”

“I love you”

[tameodesza]

💍 Househusband AU: Headcanon 1

masterlist

a/n: Sadly, school, work, and moving has taken over my life. I’m still working on fics with whatever free time I have, but in the meantime, here’s some HC ideas I’ve been collecting (also, I need to clear up some space in my notes, 🫣)

 What do they like most about each other?

💍Shawn really appreciates Bret’s wisdom and patience with him. Admittedly so, he’s a bit of a himbo. Don’t get him wrong. He’s a smart guy, but there are moments where he questions how he even graduated college. But he loves that Bret doesn’t get annoyed with him or make fun of him. Just guides him or explains the situation to Shawn again with more clarity, such as:

“No, Shawn. You should not pour hot water on the windshield just because you don’t want to wait for it to defrost”

“Yes, Shawn. The car battery will keep dying if you keep leaving the lights on”

Or Bret’s favorite silly moment: “Bret, I can’t find my glasses!” “Shawn, it’s on top of your head” “….oh….well, how’d they get there?!”

💍Aside from Shawn’s beauty, Bret loves Shawn’s humor. Shawn’s pretty goofy, more so when he’s purposefully trying to make Bret laugh after a particularly bad day. Bret thinks he’s one of the funniest people he knows, aside from Owen of course.

What do they like the least about each other?

💍This was kind of hinted at in my last post, but Bret strongly dislikes Shawn’s drinking habits. It’s one of the reasons why he doesn’t like being gone too long from home. He sometimes asks his parents or one of his siblings to swing by the house to make sure Shawn’s not indulging too heavily without him there.

💍Shawn doesn’t think it’s a big deal. He knows his limits, but Bret’s seen him inebriated more times than he’d like. It’s one of many reason why Bret dislikes Shawn’s friends. He thinks they are enablers and a bad influence on Shawn

💍Bret also hate’s when Shawn turns down their plans so he can go hang out with Hunter, which is ironic given the amount of times Shawn’s chosen Bret over Hunter, but I digress

💍Shawn hates how stubborn Bret could be sometimes. He knew he could be bratty and stubborn himself, but Bret had him beat by a longshot, oftentimes not budging or not willing to compromise on something he feels strongly about

Who’s the better cook?

💍Shawn, hands down. He wasn’t much of a home cook when he lived in Texas. However, since marrying Bret and having more free time on his hands, he tests out a lot of different recipes with Bret in mind, hoping he can impress the older man with his mad cooking skills. He’s gotten so good over the years that he was sure he could give Julia Child a run for her money.

💍Bret would love to cook more, but he’s on the road too often to hone in on that skill. And Shawn usually kicks him out the kitchen anyway, so he doesn’t have many opportunities to learn.

💍To Bret’s credit, he knows how to make a mean turkey sandwich, and he’s really good at grilling meat (mainly because the grill is doing much of the cooking for him). Anything beyond that and scrambled eggs is beyond him

Common interests?

💍Gardening. It’s one of many random hobbies Shawn picked up while being home alone

💍After being on the road for a couple of months, Bret was surprised to come home and find bundles of daisies and tulips growing in the backyard.

💍During his short vacation from being on the road, he became Shawn’s little helper, carrying the fertilizer, handing Shawn gardening tools, helping Shawn pull up dead weeds. Anything Shawn needed

💍Then it just became something they did together all the time, sometimes Bret seeming more excited about the progress of their flower garden than Shawn

Bonding activities?

💍Aside from gardening, their favorite bonding activity consists of Bret testing out ring moves on Shawn

💍Although Shawn hadn’t wrestled in a while, last time being years ago with Hunter, he still was comfortable getting thrown around, though Bret tried his best not to be too rough because he didn’t want to hurt him

💍That was the least of Shawn’s concern, the blond man often finding himself getting turned on in the midst of the action

💍His favorite move was being in a headlock. He doesn’t know why, but it was something about being trapped between Bret’s chest and biceps that really did it for him 🥵

💍And yes, Bret thought he was weird for that, but Bret still loved him nonetheless

Random Character Quirks

💍Shawn is an avid gum chewer. It’s a nervous habit he picked up from college to help calm his nerves and it just kind of stuck. Bret noticed it a couple weeks into dating, but he doesn’t mind because it makes kissing Shawn all the better

💍Surprising to most, Shawn is actually a neat freak. He always notices if something is out of place. He’s constantly sprucing up the house – sweeping, mopping, dusting, rearranging furniture – especially when Bret’s away. Bret’s learned the hard way that its better to ask Shawn before he decides to move anything in the house

💍Shawn loves booping Bret’s nose because he thinks it’s cute. He does it randomly and Bret never sees it coming, but it never fails to put a smile on his face

💍Bret’s an avid note taker. More often than not, he carries a mini notepad or sticky note and pen, jotting down any ideas that come to mind. It’s more of a stream of consciousness type thing. Whether he’s at the grocery store and gets an idea for a wrestling angle or he’s traveling on the road and sees something he thinks Shawn may like, he’ll quickly make a note of it, afraid he’ll forget something important.

💍Shawn hates coffee with a passion. He doesn’t understand the appeal Bret sees in it. He’s ranted to Bret plenty of times that it tastes like poison, to which Bret brings up a good point that maybe it’s because Shawn didn’t use enough sugar. “Then it’ll taste like sweet poison!” was Shawn’s reply.

💍Shawn loves debating Bret on his “controversial” food takes: 

 Poutine’s not that great? Shawn thought it was a national treasure  and was jealous it wasn’t popular in the States. Bret should get his citizenship revoked for thinking otherwise.

Turkey bacon’s better than pork? Blasphemy. 

Oatmeal raisin cookies are better than chocolate chip? Get out.

Pouring milk before cereal? Are you ok?!

💍Shawn’s not that great of a driver. He’s not awful, but his road rage blinds his ability to make wise decisions. Bret’s had to clutch the armrest for dear life more than a few times due to Shawn’s speeding. Owen downright refuses to carpool if Shawn’s driving. The final straw was when Shawn nearly went on a high-speed chase after some guy who cut them off, threatening to track the man down, jump out the car, and I quote “give him a real country ass whoopin’.” For everyone’s sanity, and the safety of his fellow Canadians, Bret usually drives whenever he’s home or if Shawn’s traveling with him between house shows on the road

💍They both truly changed each other for the better. Shawn helped Bret come out of his shell, often encouraging the older man to engage in his goofy antics, Bret doing so willingly knowing he wouldn’t be judged for Shawn. If anything, the blond would judge Bret for not engaging in his crazy antics. Shawn attributes much of his growth and maturity as a person to Bret. Throughout his time of dating and being married to Bret, Shawn’s become more level headed, patient, less reckless, and thinks things through before he acts (except when it comes to his driving of course lol)

Bonus!

💍Bret refuses to attend another kliq Christmas party after seeing Hunter in a g-string. He didn’t mind seeing Shawn in the same getup of course. In fact, Bret and Shawn had to leave the party early that night 😏.

💍Bret also had the dishonor of taking a picture of both Shawn and Hunter in said g-string, which Shawn thought was hilarious

[inslo]

Hey Friends and Family,

This year has been pretty good, however bad for the wallet.  I spent a lot of money on my house this year, way more than planned.  I had a good time meeting new friends and having new adventures as well as spending time with old friends.

I had so much work done on the house this year, I had glass block windows put in in my basement to replace the rotting wood ones.  I had two windows and two doors replaced that lead from the main part of the house into my 400sq ft three-seasons room.  I had electrical work done to maximize the use of my backup generator during a power outage.  I also had a new furnace installed and my ducts cleaned.  In addition, there were two unplanned major expenses I encountered this year.  The first was a dispute with a hoarding neighbor and storage of their junk which in the end cost me $2300 to put up 32-feet of fence so I no longer have to look at their junk (which the city says is okay where it is)…out of the brand new windows and doors I had installed in the back of my house.  The second just occurred in the last week and I’m still waiting on a bill, which I expect will be $1500+.   The pressure tank on my well system failed the day after Thanksgiving.  The old one was original to the house and was 65 years old. Finally, I regraded the soil on the west half of the north side of my house, which involved moving about +2,000lbs of stone and soil.  The soil I used on that project was bad soil form where I wanted to plant a garden, thus I filled in my garden with fresh top soil and had my first good crop of cucumbers and mini pumpkins since my move to the new house in August 2020.   I spent much of my vacation time from work this year dealing with all of this.  Despite the issues with the house and the neighbor behind me, I am still loving living where I am. 

On the other hand, I had a very exciting new adventure this year when I attended for the first time an adult summer camp.  The first camp I went to was June 29 – July 2.  There were so many fun activities. Yoga, volleyball, a scavenger hunt, Human Battleship, knife and axe throwing, trivia, meditation, bingo, archery and an 80’s themed dance party were just some of the fun activities I did.  It took place at a kid’s camp.  In summary, it was like a kid’s camp, but for adults.  One of my concerns going in for my first camp was alcohol consumption.  There is beer available at all times (and I dislike beer), and a small selection of cocktails in the evening.  I’m not much of a drinker, but knowing the local drinking culture, I was concerned it was just a big drinking fest…but it wasn’t.  Everyone was very responsible.  I only had two glasses of wine during the entire duration of camp and fit right in, and I even met a few people that didn’t even like the taste of alcohol and had nothing the whole time.  Anyways, there were 125+ people in attendance, it was about 80% female, 20% male.  It was a range of ages from about 25 through about 65 or so.  The median age was around 40.  I ended up spending most of my time at the first camp with a group of people who were in their late 20’s early 30’s.  It cost me $500 for the camp, EVERYTHING included, food, lodging, drinks, and all activities.   On the very last day, I woke up in my bunk at about 6:30am, I teared up in sadness because I knew camp was ending and I didn’t want to go home and leave behind all the wonderful new friends I made and the fun times.  In the end, I ended up going a second time Sept 28- Oct 1 and I have already signed up for camp next summer.   Summer Camp is THE highlight of the year for me. 

My dad had a busy year this year as well.  In May he moved from his apartment to a senior living community.  He was feeling a bit lonely at the apartment, and the Senior living community has tons of activities.  I literally have to schedule time with dad now as he’s the social butterfly.  He sort of complains that it takes him more than 30-minutes just to get his mail because he always runs into someone he ends up having a conversation with. 

Relationship wise, I dated someone the first half of the year, unfortunately it did not work out.  At the end of September I met Steph, and we recently became a thing.  I met her on Facebook Dating which is free.  We have a lot in common, including the fact that she’s been to Adult Summer Camp every year except this year.  She works in the media department of a hospital, and previously has been an on-air personality on a local radio station.  We’ll see where it goes. 

Work is going ok, it was quite stressful only having two of us to keep 1000+ computers going, printers, audio visual systems, and other technology.   This affected my annual October vacation in which my supervisor also needed time off for a family wedding he was attending out of state.  However, we hired a third tech about a month or so ago and he’s doing well to start off.  I also received a nice raise beyond the “cost of living” raises which have been dismal, thanks to my supervisor pushing HR on his own accord. 

Sadie is still alive and kicking, with the energy of a puppy at roughly 13-years of age.  I boarded her when I was at my first summer camp and when I went to pick her up, you would have thought I was picking up a 2-year old dog.  The staff had to help me wrangle the dog up so I could get her collar and leash on.  She went on a couple of five mile hikes with me this year too.  However she is starting to show her age in other ways, she no longer jumps up onto her table (after she fell off of it a couple of times) to look out the front window and her legs sometimes quiver a little bit. 

I hope you and your family have the brightest and warmest Christmas and a joyous happy new year!

[clumsyclifford]

OKAY. how about "This wasn’t meant to be a date, but we’ve had such a good time and now it’s 2 a.m. and I should really go home…" with ur teacher alex/ambiguous office job jack? (or any version of jalex) (we just love jalex in this house)

well hello, she said casually, nine months later. thank you for the excellent prompt, sorry it took me so long to get to it, but you can thank yourself for that too considering going to ssf is what inspired me to finally write this one. bellawritess clumsyclifford pictures is proud to present: the tshirt jalex meet-cute :)

read here on ao3

-

Later, Alex learns that the boy at the barricade who’d elbowed Alex in the face trying to snatch the thrown guitar pick out of the air is named Jack.

“I’m so sorry,” Jack says for the millionth time, even though Alex has laughed it off every other time. He laughs it off this time, too.

“Seriously, it’s fine. And hey, you caught it.”

Jack holds up the guitar pick, triumphant. “I did catch it,” he says. The blink-182 logo flashes its dead and frozen smile at Alex. Alex finds himself smiling back, though not so much at the pick.

The leaving crowd parts around the two of them. Headlights flood the night, filling the street before them with light and noise. There’s a line of cars backed up further than Alex cares to imagine. Those at the front must have left the show significantly before the set was over. Quitters.

“What I didn’t catch was your name,” Jack adds. His lips quirk, like he’s proud of such a smooth line.

“Alex,” says Alex. “We should probably get out of everyone’s way. Are you waiting for someone, or…?”

“No, no, I came alone.”

“Yeah, me too. Was supposed to have a friend but he bailed on me last-minute.”

“Seriously? Bailed on a blink concert?”

“I know, right?” Alex grins. “Eh, whatever. If he’d been here you probably never would have elbowed me in the face and then we’d never have met.”

“But I would’ve never elbowed you in the face,” Jack says. “Don’t you think you’d have preferred that?”

“Not if it means we’d have never met.”

Jack’s smile slowly grows. “Fair enough. Did you know there’s a 24-hour diner literally five minutes from here?”

“Oh, man, I like the way you think,” Alex says, shoving his hands into his pockets to protect them from the cool late-night breeze. “I didn’t want to sit in this traffic anyway.”

“And I don’t blame you.”

“Well, lead the way,” Alex says, nodding down the sidewalk, and he falls into step with Jack as they both start to walk.

-

The Tastee Diner is charmingly diner-y — neon lights, stools at the bar, the whole nine yards — and, more attractively, it’s mostly empty at this hour. It’s past midnight, later even than Alex’s usual bedtime, but between the buzz from the concert and Jack the attractive stranger across from him, he’s not really feeling tired. If he’s going to flush his sleep schedule down the drain, a post-concert Friday night seems like the best time to do it.

And Jack is really cute. So that helps.

“Breakfast,” Alex says reverently when they’re seated. “Oh my God, a fucking giant waffle.”

“Wow, everything you say makes me like you more,” Jack says, leaning his elbows on the table. Alex glances over the top of his menu but Jack’s eyes are focused on his own menu on the tabletop. He’s smiling a little. So is Alex.

“It’s a giant waffle, Jack! How the fuck do I say no to that?”

“You don’t. This table is pro-giant waffle. At the exclusion of anything else.”

“You’re damn right it is,” Alex says. “Do we also happen to be pro-chocolate milkshake?”

“We’re pro-vanilla milkshake.”

“Ew, seriously?”

Jack rolls his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, I know, how can I like vanilla when chocolate is right there—”

“Yeah, how can you?” Alex reaches over the table and covers Jack’s hand with his own. Their eyes meet. Very seriously, Alex says, “How do you look at yourself in the mirror, you monster?”

A beat. Jack chews his lip, clearly trying not to smile. “With great difficulty,” he says. He’s humoring Alex, but sincerity sparkles in his deep brown eyes. His earnest gaze holds Alex’s and he doesn’t pull his hand away. After a moment, Alex does.

“Well, if I looked like you I’d never stop looking in the mirror,” he says instead, and brings his gaze back to the menu. A laugh escapes Jack.

“You can’t turn it off, can you?”

“Turn what off?”

“Your flirty brain-to-mouth pipeline?”

“I could,” Alex says breezily. “I choose not to.” It feels like a subtle rejection, a quiet dig, but it’s hard to be sure. Jack’s smirk seems to suggest otherwise.

The waitress comes by to take their orders of two giant waffles and two milkshakes — chocolate for Alex, vanilla for Jack, though Alex is sure to give Jack a judgmental look as he’s ordering. When she goes, Jack laces his fingers together and leans back in the booth. “So,” he says. “Your name is Alex, you’ve got fantastic music taste, and you seem to be more or less my age, but that’s about all I know about you. Are you from around here? What do you do? Likes, dislikes?”

“Are you trying to build me a dating profile?”

“That wouldn’t be very opportunistic of me, would it?” Jack smiles innocently. Alex’s heart gives a little leap. “I’m trying to get to know you. You know, like any normal stranger would if they found themself at a diner with another stranger.”

That’s fair. They are effectively strangers, although Alex can think of a shorter word to describe what they’re doing right now. He glances around at the jukebox-esque machine bolted to the wall next to their booth, at the empty swivel stools at the bar, at the marble tabletop where Jack is absently tapping his fingers. The decor of the diner is very classic, and he and Jack, both dressed in blink merch and black jeans like the perpetual emo teens they’re no doubt trying to emulate, stick out like sore thumbs.

However unintentional, it sure as hell feels like a date to him.

“I’m from Baltimore,” he starts. Jack lights up.

“No shit! Me too.”

“Really? Whereabouts?”

“Well, I work by the harbor.”

“No shit, I work in Highlandtown,” Alex says excitedly. “Highlandtown Middle. I’m a teacher.”

Jack whistles lowly. “That’s fucking awesome. What do you teach?”

“Music,” Alex says, and Jack groans, although he’s smiling as his hands move to cover his face.

“Of course you do,” he says.

Alex tilts his head. “What, are you not a fan of music teachers? That’s insane.”

“No, no, it’s not that, it’s just.” Jack laughs. “Of course the hot guy I meet at a blink-182 concert is a middle school music teacher. I feel like God is punishing me for refusing to play anything but bad drums in middle school band.”

Alex also laughs. Being called a hot guy by a hot guy is making his stomach do gymnastics. He’s too old for his stomach to be doing things like that, but his stomach clearly doesn’t care. “Well, if I’d been your teacher, trust me, you’d have been playing solidly mediocre drums. But I’m sorry you feel that way.”

Jack’s hands fall to his lap. “I’m sure I’ll get over it,” he says with a slanted smile.

Alex swallows and grins. “So did you look up surrounding diners before you came, or are you just…inexplicably familiar with Silver Spring geography?”

“I come to a lot of concerts here,” Jack says, nodding in the general direction of the venue they’d just vacated. “Venue’s awesome.”

“Yeah, it really is. Honestly, I’m still amazed that you caught that pick.”

“I have a lot of practice. From aforementioned many concerts.”

“I can see that.”

“Trust me, it’s a very specific skill. I’ve got awful hand-eye coordination,” Jack says with a chuckle. “My dream of being the youngest Oriole inducted into the Hall of Fame was crushed at a young age.”

Fizzy champagne fills Alex’s chest. He can’t stop smiling. “Fuck yes, you’re an Orioles fan?”

“That’s my team,” Jack says, looking excited. Possibly at the prospect of meeting another person who’s equally interested in both music and baseball. That’s why Alex is excited, anyway.

“It’s my team,” he says enthusiastically. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, they fucking suck—”

“Oh, no, yeah, they’re the worst—”

“But I’d take a bullet for them. I happily go down with ‘em every year.”

“Yeah, they’re my boys,” Jack agrees. “Here’s hoping this season is better than every single other one.”

“Yeah, all my fingers are crossed, but between you and me I don’t have a lot of faith.”

Jack shrugs and nods. “It’s good for my ego to be so loyal to such a bad team. Keeps me humble.”

“That’s the best attitude I’ve ever heard,” Alex says, and Jack’s smile is so radiant Alex could swear he can feel the glare off the shiny marble tabletop.

-

“Between ‘All The Small Things’ and ‘Going Away To College’ how the fuck am I going to choose ‘Small Things’?”

“Yeah, but it’s such a classic! ‘College’ is, like, emo and…emo.”

“No more emo than ‘I Miss You’ —”

“That one is a classic—”

“I’m not saying it’s not, I’m just saying ‘College’ is their best song and it deserves its spotlight.”

“That’s ‘Feeling This’ erasure and you know it.”

“Besides ‘Feeling This,’ but they always play ‘Feeling This.’ I stand by what I said. I’d swap ‘Small Things’ for ‘College.’ Deal with it.” Alex tongues his milkshake straw into his mouth. “Your turn.”

Jack glares at him for another long moment, like he has to properly make his point about it. “Fine,” he finally huffs. His gaze shifts sideways, off into the distance like he’s thinking, and he swirls his own straw around his milkshake cup. Alex can kind of see his reflection in it. While Jack is thinking, Alex quickly checks his phone.

(21:47) Rian Dawson: How’s the concert? Fuckin bummed I couldn’t make it :/

(21:48) Rian Dawson: Hope you’re having a good time anyway. Text me whenever you get home so I know you didn’t die or get trampled by a mosh pit or whatever the case may be.

Alex smiles and turns off his phone again.

“I feel like I can’t choose a song off Enema now that you did,” Jack mumbles.

“You can,” Alex says. “It would just be kind of a lot of Enema.”

“No, but Enema is a legendary album. I’d go to a show that was literally just all of Enema.”

“Why were you complaining about ‘College’ then!”

“I’m not complaining about ‘College’ itself, I just would never trade it for ‘Small Things’!”

Alex scoffs. “They play ‘Small Things’ all the time. I’ve never seen ‘College’ live. I’d literally kill.”

“Oh my God, I know what I’d do,” Jack says. “‘Shut Up’ instead of ‘Down.’ That’s the only thing that could make this set list more perfect.”

“Ohhh,” Alex says, “that would be fucking sick. Imagine two thousand people just shouting ‘shut the fuck up, she said’ at the top of their lungs.”

“I cannot think of anything cooler than that.”

Alex hums thoughtfully. “So you went with Take Off Your Pants instead of Enema in the end.”

“Alright, don’t get it twisted. If I could add the entirety of Enema to the set list, I would. But if I only get one song, it has to be ‘Shut Up.’ More Enema is never a bad thing.”

“Why wouldn’t you trade ‘College’ for ‘Down’ then?”

“Because that was your set list move, and this is mine,” Jack says. He slaps the table. “Yeah. This is the answer. Someone get Mark Hoppus on the line, stat. I have to tell him I’ve figured out the formula for the perfect set list.”

“‘Shut Up’ live would be awesome,” Alex concedes. “Good move.”

“What can I say, I have extremely good taste,” Jack says airily.

Alex snorts. “Okay, Vanilla Milkshake.”

“You’re just afraid to taste it because you know deep down that it will be better than your chocolate one,” Jack says, pointing his straw accusingly at Alex. Drops of milkshake fall onto the table. Alex sweeps a napkin over the mess.

“You had an advantage over me, though,” he observes. “You said your favorite blink song is ‘Feeling This,’ which was already on the set list. My favorite song wasn’t, so my hands were kind of tied.”

“It’s among my favorite blink songs,” Jack says. “I have many. Most of which are set list staples, yeah. But that’s on you for only having one favorite song.”

“Wait, what? You can’t have many favorites, that defeats the whole point of having a favorite.”

“I can have multiple favorites, what the fuck are you talking about?”

“No way, man. You only get to have one favorite. You can have second-favorites or close favorites but there’s always one that’s better than the rest.”

“Sorry to burst you bubble, Al, but I have more than one favorite blink song,” Jack says, shrugging. “I also have more than one favorite color and more than one favorite food and more than one favorite song.”

Alex shakes his head through Jack’s speech. “I reject this out of hand.”

“You can’t.”

“Well, Clearly Enema is your favorite blink album.”

“Tied with Take Off.”

“Seriously?” Alex narrows his eyes. “Come on, there must be one thing you have just one favorite of.”

“Yeah, there is,” Jack says. “My favorite movie is Home Alone. No other movie comes anywhere close.”

Of course it is. Alex grins and inclines his head in accordance. “That…is extremely good taste.”

“Thank you,” Jack says graciously, and slurps loudly from his milkshake.

-

The next time Alex checks his phone, his brain takes a moment to catch up. “Holy shit, it’s already one a.m.?”

“Oh shit,” Jack says, checking his phone as well. “Time flies when you’re having fun.”

That adage has never felt more true. Slowly working through giant waffles and milkshakes while exchanging questions and random conversational topics with Jack has been the most fun Alex has had in a long time. Diners, he muses. There’s something about diners. Time feels frozen within these walls, and Alex kind of wants to stay in the time bubble forever, laughing with Jack until the sun comes up.

He could do it. Tomorrow’s a Saturday. Nobody works on Saturday, not even Jack at his “boring office job” (his words).

But he knows there’s a reason that nothing gold can stay. It wouldn’t be valuable if it lasted forever. The night will crystallize as something special in Alex’s memory, but it can’t do that until it ends. And it has to end eventually.

“We should probably go,” Alex says reluctantly. Jack nods once.

“Yeah,” he says. He signals for the check and looks back at Alex. “My treat.”

“Uh, no way. I’m paying.”

“Nope, not happening. I will elbow you in the face again if I have to. I’m paying this check.”

“Jack—” Alex wavers. Jack looks so insistent, eyebrows raised like he’s daring Alex to argue, and there’s nothing to do but smile. “Okay. If you insist. We’ll call it even for you assaulting me earlier.”

“Exactly,” Jack says, and he happily accepts the check when the waitress hands it to him.

“Did you guys get everything you need?” she asks the two of them.

Alex glances at Jack, but Jack’s scanning the check. “Pretty much, yeah,” he tells the waitress. She leaves them with the check, and they vacate their table to go pay it at the front.

Alex wonders what someone might think if they saw this table. Whether anyone could even begin to illustrate the story of the night using only two empty milkshake cups and two plates that formerly held waffles. It would be impossible. Not even Sherlock Holmes could work this one out.

Alex smiles. They’re a fossil in amber, preserved in memory. Even if it turns out not to be a date, Alex knows he’ll look back on tonight fondly, and he can count on this exact same smile every time he does.

Jack finishes paying and turns to face Alex. One arm outstretched, he says, “Shall we?”

Alex links their arms. “After you, good sir.”

They’re laughing as they leave in a glow of neon light.

-

“This is me,” Alex says, gesturing half-heartedly at his car. They both stop short behind it.

“Ah,” Jack says, nodding. “So I guess this is where I leave you.”

Alex swallows. “I’m glad you elbowed me in the face,” he admits, which sounds strange to say out of the blue. “I had a good time tonight.”

“What, at the concert?”

Jack is obviously teasing, but Alex doesn’t mind being more clear. “Actually, I think I had more fun after the concert,” he says, smiling a little. “You’re good company, JB.”

Jack smiles, and if Alex isn’t mistaken, he’s also blushing. “Same to you,” he says. “Despite your wrong opinions about the set list.”

“I hate sounding like a cliché,” Alex says, ruffling a hand through his hair. Jack cocks his head. “But, um, I’d like to see you again. If that’s okay.”

“So okay,” Jack says. “And totally plausible, considering we apparently live within twenty minutes of each other.”

“True,” Alex says. “The universe really wanted us to meet, I guess.”

“Thank you, Universe, for putting Alex in harm’s way,” Jack says solemnly, looking upwards. Alex laughs. “Can I have your number?”

“Yeah, yes, of course.”

Alex recites his phone number for Jack to enter into his contacts. “I promise I’ll call,” Jack says. His gaze flits around Alex’s face like it can’t find a good place to land. He drags his index finger diagonally over his chest. “Cross my heart and everything.”

“I have to ask,” Alex says, shifting on his feet. “Were you— was this supposed to be a date?” He hesitates; maybe that’s the wrong question. “Was it a date?”

“For the sake of anniversaries, let’s say yes,” Jack says. Immediately his face puckers in regret. “Pretend I didn’t say that. I’m— my brain gets ahead of me.”

“No, it’s all good.” It’s more than good; there’s a horde of butterflies in Alex’s ribcage that won’t fucking quit, not now that he knows Jack is thinking of anniversaries when this is only maybe their first date. A person who is not only anticipating a future for them but preparing to celebrate it. So far, so fucking good. “You’re a practical thinker. I can appreciate that.”

“And I appreciate that you aren’t deleting your number from my phone even after I just said that to you,” Jack says, grinning. His grin melts away when he sighs. “I should go. It’s late.”

“Yeah,” Alex echoes. “Late.”

“Please drive safe,” Jack says seriously. “If I’m the last person to see you before you die, that’ll make me look really bad.”

Alex laughs. He likes that Jack keeps making him laugh. His friends make him laugh, too, but Jack makes him laugh in a different way, like he can’t stop himself. Like the delight refuses to stay trapped.

“I promise to drive safe,” he vows. “I owe you a date. I would hate to lose the chance to impress you.”

“Oh, wait, that reminds me.” Jack reaches into his pocket and presses something into Alex’s hand. It’s the guitar pick, warm from Jack’s pocket. “You’ll probably use it more than me,” Jack explains, ducking his head. “You know, being a music teacher and all.”

“Oh,” Alex breathes, flipping the pick in his palm. “That’s, um…thank you. Thanks. I’m…”

“Yeah,” Jack says, licking his lips. “Of course. Um, okay, now I really should go. But like I said, I’ll call.”

Alex nods, still staring at the guitar pick in his hand. His head snaps up and he breaks from whatever trance he’d fallen into. “I’m counting on it,” he says, stepping closer to Jack. He hears Jack inhale as he leans closer, brushing his lips to Jack’s cheek.

When Jack speaks, it’s a hoarse whisper. “I had a good time too, you know.”

Alex leans away and starts walking backwards to the driver-side door. “Good,” he says, smiling warmly. He’s not really trying to smile so warmly but he can’t help it. “Get home safe, Jack.”

“Yeah,” Jack says. “You too, Alex.”

[strangerays]

Nothing in Particular Update #2

It’s the Nothing and Particular and Everything update part two: the electric booglaloo. This one is long, so strap in.

It’s been a while since I wrote an update for this story. To be honest, this one gave me a lot of stress, but here I am! Writing this story feels like it is going very slow. I keep telling myself I’ve made a lot of progress (which is true, I have) but for some reason it doesn’t feel like I have? This is likely just my own insecurity. To be frank, I can’t believe I’m still writing this story. If you had told me in February that I’d still be writing this when the weather got warm, I would have laughed.

I am SO excited that I will finally be able to focus on writing now that I’m out of school. I’m afraid to speak the rough deadline that I’ve given myself for this story (the end of August-early September) but now that I’ve spoken it into existence, I hope I can finish! (I hope I can stop watching dumb videogame playthroughs and listening to The Magnus Archives and get something done)

Here is a link to the story introduction and previous update!

TAGLIST (ask to be +/-); @wannabeauthorzofija @a-completely-normal-writer @baguettethebooklover​ @corkytheguar @writeherewaiting

STORY CHANGES/THOUGHTS/IDEAS: 

Here is a big one: I’ve been trying to write this story for myself. I started writing Ray’s story from a place that was personal to me, but I feel like, as that part of myself has begun to heal, I’ve started to think about what a reader would want out of the story. I’m realizing that this is my story so it has to be what I want. Drafts are drafts for a reason, so I’m going to try to get better at letting myself explore what is fun to me.

I always thought I was a discovery writer (I still sort of think I am) but as I’ve finished small sections of the story, I am finding that it’s very helpful to do a rough outline of scenes in upcoming chapters. (I also recommend turning to this if something doesn’t work and you need to retrace your steps!) Just helps me feel more organized!

Jude’s character has got to be one of the most difficult personalities I’ve ever written. Putting her beside Ray just makes it harder. Where Ray is secretive and keeps to herself, Jude is ready to unpack her entire life’s story to anyone. I find that I really have to slow down when writing their interactions. I know this is going to be nowhere near perfect in the first draft, but I think it is a main contributor to my slow writing.

I really like this little narrative I’ve created in the background of the main plot with Ray and Lonan. I love writing these scenes because it’s a way for me to use Lonan when he’s not actively with Ray and to show why Ray is predetermined about things at certain points. Also I love their friendship so much <3

CONGRATULATIONS TO ME on starting to read again because I forgot how much of a help reading other people’s stories can be when you’re struggling with your own oml

I now have a set timeline for the story! Takes place ~4-5 months.

I did that thing where you write a letter from the characters’ perspectives and that was kind of fun

Also just for fun I thought I’d add in that I spent an hour and a half last week filling up a page in my sketchbook with diagrams of the plot. It feels good to be a mad scientist

EXCERPTS UNDER THE CUT!

*At this point, I’m only sharing writing that I am really proud of in order not to spoil the story! This is because I am unsure whether I want to publish this story someday. With that said, that does NOT give you permission to steal my ideas!

CHAPTER: NIGHT CRIES

#1

In the last week of summer, I did everything I could to avoid post-vacation blues. I rode my bike along the gravel roads with no destination, wore my dark sunglasses to people-watch, and fed salami to the minnows that floated on the cusps of boulders. Usually, I sat still for so long that my elbows turned a deep shade of red and the blood in my toes buzzed.

New pockets seemed to open up in Point Blink every day. And with them, came new people. Most of them were older – a middle aged woman who caked her lipstick on, an uncle estranged from his brother, a couple who had miscarried. I hadn’t forgotten about the kids at Mothouse. It was impossible not to think about them. It wasn’t just that I’d never seen them before.

#2

The girl’s limp cigarette bled a trail of smoke that seeped into my Vans. My shirt folded like skin over my bed post. Haunted the room – foiled my mauve sheets and teased my locks. Swept the curtains apart and heated the oak floor. Beams of moonlight leapt to my bookcases; highlighted the posters from various podcasts and bands that I listened to. Wind whistled when I was too still. She forced me to look outside, onto the dark cul-de-sac lit by the reflections of forming rain puddles. No matter whether I sat at my desk or burrowed under my sheets, I felt out of place. She made my bedroom louder. She made my bedroom quieter.

I decided it would probably be best if I never saw her again.

To be honest, I don’t remember much about writing this chapter because it was over a month ago (sorry) but I’m still quite happy with the prose! This comes in after Ray sees Jude for the first time at Mothouse. Based on a first impression, decides that she might want be friends with Jude.

CHAPTER: SORRY

#1 

If you spend any long amount of time with someone, you’ll become a thief to their behaviors. If I stared long enough, trees began to replace all of the people we’d ever seen. Oaks had roots that serpentined the ground like children splashing in the bay, pines with needles like spindly old hands, maples with hollows like watchful eyes – all things Lonan had taught me to observe.

CHAPTER: GHOSTS

Then there was the sea – violent and knowing as it romped within bays and alcoves. She had eaten me many times before, both my father and Lonan too. Gulped them as if they were shining plastic wrappings left behind after a meal. I spited her for inviting me once again. I reached up again to grapple with the next rung. It twisted and offered a low whistle.

In these two chapters, Ray is on a photography trip with her class. This is the first time she’s been on this annual trip without Lonan. She left that morning with a goal of being independent and learning to get on with one of the only people she has felt close to. I realize now that the Ghost excerpt sort of sounds like her dad and Lonan have drowned?? Which was not my intention??

CHAPTER: A DIVINE INTERVENTION

#1

“Do you believe in ghosts?” A raspy voice teased from behind me. Cigarette smoke tickled the words, like they were stuck together with jelly inside of her. The question wasn’t particularly calming, but it strengthened my grip on reality. As if the foiled leaves, bark, and dandelions had sprung from the ground and begun to float, they came crashing back down.

I was made of stone.

“I’m not a ghost,” Jude said. “If I was, a ladder would be a pretty counteractive way to outrun me. I could just float up there and haunt you.”

“Maybe you’re a ghost,” she asked, her voice distant.

I shifted my grasp up and down the sides of the ladder. “What?”

“Don’t you believe in ghosts?”

I was reading back some of Ray and Jude’s conversation and there are so many snippets of dialogue that make me laugh because I totally forgot I wrote them... but UGhhH I don’t know if I want to share them because I don’t know whether or not I want to try and publish the story someday. Speaking of that, it’s sort of because it’s so personal to me? I don’t know (this is for future me to pursue) Honestly though, reading these back has made me really happy :)

#2

I wanted to shake her by the shoulders. She acted as though Point Blink could breathe – as though corpses in the cemetery might pull the grass away like dead skin, neighbors would draw blades, and blood-salt would stain her clothes rather than that from the sea. “Trust me, they’ll forgive you. But, I’m just saying, most people around here don’t care nearly as much as you think so. Most of them are way older anyways, so they’re tired of us.”

“Is that you complimenting yourself?” Jude asked.

“Not intentionally,” I said, “but I will take it.”

She laughed. “You shouldn’t be so nice to strangers.”

I wasn’t trying to be. I just didn’t think I wanted her to dislike me.

#3

“I don’t think it’s a bad thing or a good thing,” Jude said. “Being good gets you tucked into a thousand different memories. Being good makes you live a lifetime.”

I almost laughed, but then I wondered what I was to her now. “I don’t talk to lots of people.”

“Sometimes there aren’t many people to talk to. But I thought you would have loads of friends.”

I wasn’t sure what to say to that. “I thought you would too.”

Alarm like grief lit her eyes, but she laughed. I did too.

“You hardly know me,” she said quietly.

Then the girls explore some old newspapers and letters in a fire tower! Spooky fun!

CHAPTER: YOU LET THIS HAPPEN

This isn’t a major spoiler as it’s literally in the blurb I wrote, but Ray and Jude are caught (targeted..??)  in a fire. Ray is brought back to a field where she is questioned.

CHAPTER: NOTHING HAPPENS

He was quiet for several moments while he painted a picture with what little details I had given him, then said, “It’s unfair. I think that’s why it hurts.”

“Because we almost got hurt?”

“No. Because it came true.”

His gentle, ragged voice made me think I could tell him anything. Sometimes, I think that, even then, he knew I left something out.

Ray talks to Lonan after the fire... She’s being a bit dishonest about what actually happened.

CHAPTER: WHY NOT

I remember how the barest amount of red light glared across Lonan’s entire scalp and washed his boyish curls magenta from the roots out. When Jude leaned back on the counter, she melded into the darkness.

This chapter is just part of the narrative that I created with Ray and Lonan’s friendship. There isn’t much I want to spoil from it, but I liked this paragraph!

CHAPTER: INEVITABLE

“We didn’t do anything,” I said.        

“Someone did. Why won’t you believe me?”

 “I think I would remember whether or not someone was there with us,” I said, “even if we didn’t have the picture.”

This was untrue. I hung lots of photos in my room. A long time would pass before I went to a restaurant again, or a specific coven on one of the beaches, or an outfit that I wore, and I would look into one of my pictures and remember it, and then I would be quite angry with myself that I had almost forgotten that thing forever.

“I don’t think you understand what I mean,” Jude said. I didn’t like the way she’d lowered her voice. She sounded different every time I saw her. She reached out her arm so our photos were side by side and our fingers were almost touching. “I don’t think you want to.”

Ray finds herself alone in the school’s dark room with Jude. Based on the contents of one of her photos, she tries to convince Ray that there is more to the fire than what meets the eye.

CHAPTER: (this one is untitled)

I didn’t mind that he followed me everywhere. Even when he was quiet, I didn’t find it strange to be around him. We sat silently through films and went on walks. Once, he had fallen asleep while watching The Iron Giant in my bed. I didn’t know if I should wake him up once it ended. I tried not to stare at him. He’d rolled onto his side and bundled himself in one of my blankets covered in stars up to his shoulders so only his small face poked out like a baby owl’s. His soft breath messed his dirty gold coils. They were at their longest. Except for the ebbing light from a candle on my desk, my house was asleep – Lonan needed to go home.

For the first time, I wondered if anyone cared where he was.

Another small part of the little friendship narrative! (This really is the part of the story where I get nostalgic for my childhood, isn’t it) Ray starts to discover more about Lonan’s home life in this part of the story, but there’s not much that I think I want to reveal about that for now.

CHAPTER: THE CRUX OF IT

Why did I feel so paranoid? I found myself staring out the window, into the film of blue that the late sun shown onto the grass and trying to remember what summer felt like.

My main problem was that I didn’t know how to talk to Jude unless it was about Sugarfell. I ran from the hush of cigarette smoke behind closing doors and heard her loud voice in conversations. Even though there might have still been a part of me that wanted to be friends with her, I didn’t have much to base that feeling off of. I could have spent hours clicking the little pieces of her that I had together, but the crux of it was that I would never know Jude unless I forced myself to.

For some reason, that really scared me.

I spent all week trying to think of what to say to her. By Friday afternoon, I still had nothing.

I left off writing with Ray actively avoiding Jude’s little investigation into the arsonist. Ray doesn’t want to be involved in this because she feels that it will throw her sense of normalcy off course. She really just wants to learn how to adapt to a life without her best friend. (It doesn’t help that she’s got fresh trauma)

What will Ray decide? I don’t know. We shall see. (just kidding I know)

Sorry this update was longer! I think I would like to start updating more often than once a month just because they would be shorter and those of you reading this won’t forget what happened in the last update. There are thousands and thousands of words that didn’t show up in this update because - like I said - I don’t know whether I want to publish this story ever?? I’ll probably talk more about this in a separate update.

Thank you so much to those of you who read about my story! I hope you enjoy it!

:)

p.s. btw I now have a myWriteClub account! You can check it out here and stalk me as I tragically fail my writing goals!

[spooky-ghost-boi]

Vacation

Words: 1892

Tom Nook x Reader

Warnings: Feederism, feeder/feedee dynamic, mentions of smut, fatass Tanuki, bad writing because I’m tired and too annoyed to edit this properly.

Description: Tom thinks he has to lose weight but his job doesn’t really do him well so he chooses to take a vacation but ends up coming back fatter and you love it.

A/N: what this shit, tumblr could you possibly be any slower? Mentally I am beyond Spain without an S, so if any Twitter bitches see this. Fight me.

_

Tom sighed as he sat at his desk at the resident services.

He had been trying out various diets that Isabelle had recommended to him, after trying low-carb and Keto he was trying intermittent fasting and he lost about 5 pounds so far but it was making him extremely hangry most of the time. Considering that Isabelle snacked and ate lunch while being in the same room as him.

It was all alright until that damned Kitsune had the guts to appear at the Island and try to sell some faux painting to the Resident Representative, aka you.

Tom was furious and of course, kicked Redd off the Island but in the heat of his fury he tried to calm himself down but it didn’t work especially since the fucking kitsune teased Tom for his weight, which would’ve been fine, if they were alone but you had to witness that.

As soon as Tom came home he.. Well, let his anger out by binging until he couldn’t move.

He actually liked the feeling of being stuffed but he choose to ignore it although it was quite hard and he realized it was better if he took a break from work to focus on his weight loss.

The reason for his weight loss idea was quite simple; he wanted to impress you, the resident representative, he had a crush on you and told Isabelle who suggested that losing weight could help him in winning your heart.

She couldn’t have been more wrong, but it wasn’t like they both knew your kinks.. Although it was obvious. Haha idiots.

Of course Tom had told Isabelle about his plan and she agreed to do the resident services stuff.

Tom had two months of, well, vacation.

He stayed at his house and the first two days it all went great before he started binging. Constantly. To his dismay he actually enjoyed it. He didn’t know w h y or h o w but he actually disliked that he liked feeling stuffed to the brim.

So the thicc Tanuki visited another island in hopes that it would motivate him to lose weight.

(Spoiler: it didn’t HAHAHA FAT TANUKI)

During his stay at another Island he ended up discovering lots of different foods that made him feel better about the whole Redd situation and since his coping mechanism had always been stress eating he piled on a lot of weight. He was in denial, but that didn’t stop him from trying to rationalize as to why he needed bigger clothes.

Of course you were part of his racing thoughts most of the time and he liked to fantasize about you in several different ways.

So he soon returned home.

His vacation seemed to have ended too fast for him but he also wanted to get back to work so he could see you.

He stepped on the scale the evening before he had to return to work again and was surprised when it had said that he gained 30 pounds in two months, including the 5 pounds he had lost. But that couldn’t be, could it? After pondering about as to why or how he could have gained that much weight over mindlessly eating a box of half a dozen doughnuts and two cheeseburgers. He had come to the conclusion that he was too tired and that the scale must be broken.

After dumping the wrappers into the trash, he held his stuffed gut and walked to his bedroom and got onto his bed which creaked under the weight of the tubby Tanuki. Tom eyed tge stash of mini cakes that he had beside his bed, despite feeling full and heavy he decided to have a few since ‘they couldn’t do much damage, hm?’

He didn’t notice that he dozed off and woke up in the morning, surrounded by wrappers.

Tom sat up and grunted, rubbing his still rather bloated belly that sat in his lap whenever he attempted sitting up. It wasn’t really like he noticed or minded, he didn’t even notice how snug his work shirt was. He noticed the bit of rain and put on his jacket and zipped it up, completely obvious to the belly poking out from under the rain coat.

He just sighed softly, before walking downstairs into the kitchen and having some pancakes with lots of syrup for breakfast. For some reason he felt like this wasn’t exactly enough for him and looked at the clock just to see that it was still early as shit and he had t i m e.

As you can imagine the phat Tanuki had binged to the point of being exhausted by breathing but he did have places to be at so he got up anyway and walked to the resident services.

You were there with the Nooklings and Isabelle, you were excited to see Tom again after the two of you didn’t talk for so long. However nobody told you why he was gone.

Eventually Tom entered the Resident Services and Isabelle was quite surprised.

Timmy and Tommy also were surprised.

You were surprised and horny.

Tom could see the surprise in the faces of everyone. But it also made him horny. Not to mention he was a little surprised and shy to see you there and he was blushing a little.

“Ehm, good morning.” Tom responded, he needed a cigarette or some cake.

Isabelle stayed quiet and you smiled at the Tanuki.

You decided to break the awkward moment and walked towards Tom to give him a hug, because yiu had missed him and you wanted to feel all that chonk pressed against you.

Tom hugged you back instinctively, his big belly did push the two of you a bit apart but it was hot regardless.

“I made you some cake! I thought you would like it.” You said shyly as Tom nodded.

“The thing is, I forgot it at home so if you’d like to come by after work.. You could take it home? I mean.. We could have dinner at my place.” You blurted out the last part, keeping your voice so low you weren’t sure whether he had heard you.

“That’d be splendid, hm.” Tom said, then gently let go of you.

You nodded and the two of you returned to both your respective j o b s.

Tom tried to ignore Isabelle’s comments about his weight, he was sure he lost weight. Which probably was due to his lack of physical awareness.

He had spent his time snacking during work and he comfortably filed out papers and drank his coffee. Some Animals teased him but Tom didn’t really mind, in fact it was almost kinda arousing to him and he didn’t understand why.

Eventually he closed off the shop and got into his car and made his way to your house, he was a little tired and actually quite hungry.

He knocked on your door and you opened it, smiling softly at him as he was a little out of breath.

“Come in! I already made dinner.” You said, then led him to your kitchen.

“You have an eye for interior design, hm?” Tom remarked as he sat on a chair which creaked a little under his weight. He blushed, “oh- uh.”

You noted this and smiled sheepishly at him. “It’s fine! Make yourself comfortable, it’s just you and I afterall..” You said. Maybe it wasn’t the most reassuring thing to say, if you took it out of context it could have been maybe a little weird to say that. Almost sounded like you were trying to fatten up the Tanuki and eat him.. Maybe you were but more like in a sexual way.

(A/N: ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°))

However Tom looked a little more relaxed after you said that.

“Well, how was your day, hm?” Tom asked, as you put some food on his plate.

“It was fine, just the usual things.. I went fishing and helped out some villagers. How about you?” You asked, you had put quite a lot of food onto his plate.

“I’ve had some annoying customers, but that’s just normal.” Tom said, as he ate some of the food you had prepared, “this is really good.” He said.

_

After a few hours of talking the two of you warmed up to each other and you eventually told him how you felt about him and as a surprise, he felt the same way.

At that point Tom had packed away quite a few plates and snacks, the two of you sat on the couch and you straddled his lap.

He cupped your face and kissed you gently, before you fed him a tray of cupcakes. He obediently ate.

A couple snacks ago his shirt button seemed to have popped off and his sweater vest had exposed around half of his pretty chubby belly.

“You’re fat, I mean this in the most loving way possible.” You said and pinched his love handles.

“I’m just bloated-“ he said, jokingly.

“Sure.” You laughed.

“Alright, maybe I am. Happy? Hm?” Tom said as he unbuttoned his too tight pants and pinned you underneath him.

“You’re definitely fatter than before.” You remarked as you patted his overstuffed belly.

“Mhm.. You like it as much as I like it. Am I right?” He smirked.

_

Anyways it was a very delightful evening for the both of you and I ain’t gonna write smut because that’d be awkward as shit so just imagine it, aight?

_

Two ‘fucking’ months later.

You woke up next to Tom, who was still asleep and snoring quite loudly.

He had been eating quite well the past two months making him look pretty chubby, he was waddling now most of the time and his belly was s o f t^2.

You walked downstairs and made him some breakfast.

It didn’t take long for him to wake up because he smelled delicious food, he sighed and waddled his way downstairs and sat on a chair. “Good morning.” He said, smiling a little despite looking still pretty tired.

“Good morning! How’d you sleep?” You asked.

“Pretty well.. Well, until I woke up because I’m starving. I wouldn’t know what I’d do without you, dear.” He said.

“Starve.” You said jokingly. “You have quite the big appetite, I give you that.” You said as you placed a stack of waffles.

“Mhm..” He yawned and ate his breakfast, “I’m still.. So tired, feed it to me? Hm?”

You couldn’t tell whether this was a suggestion or order from him, but you wouldn’t be Y/N if you turned down feeding the lazy Tanuki.

You nodded and fed him, you would straddle his lap.. If you could. Tom’s belly was taking up most of it and he didn’t mind.

He ate all of it and sighed when he felt your hands rub his bloated big belly.

Eventually the two of you got ready for work and he waddled to his car, tried to wiggle into the drivers seat which didn’t work out as his tummy was in the way of the wheel.

“Need help?” You asked.

“I would appreciate it, yes yes!” He blushed as he moved to the passenger seat and you drove the car to the Resident Services.

You had gone to work for the day.

[kerikaaria]

Breaking Down Walls

(Seokjin x Reader) Oneshot, College!AU, Bi!Reader

Genre: (PG15) f2l, generous helping of angst, with a healthy dose of fluff

Warnings: Homophobia (side characters), toxic jealousy, false claims of sexual harassment (non-detailed), mentions of an unhealthy/toxic friendship, semi-mature jokes/references, swearing

WC: 17.8k

Description: Being suddenly outcasted and judged by everyone really forces one to build up walls. Having gotten used to not having friends and dealing with the snide comments, you plan on just keeping your head down until you graduate next year. That is, until someone decides they’re going to tear your walls down.

A/N – Thank you to the lovely @moccahobi and @ditttiii​ for beta-reading for me! I love you guys!

The first few days back at school were always peculiar. Some people were overly excited to start a new year or semester, working hard on their ‘first day back’ outfits and super pumped to do all their work on time (give it a week or two and they’d remember that they loved to procrastinate). There were those who dreaded it, mourning the loss of their vacation and reluctant to pick up their books once again. Others didn’t particularly care either way–just went through the motions, wanting to get through their education in order to reap the supposed rewards at the end of the tunnel.

And then there was me, who didn’t hate the fact that I was coming back to school, but rather hated the fact that I had to deal with my peers in order to do it.

I walked through the hallways, ones familiar to me after spending two full years here, keeping my head down and focusing on nothing but making my way to the next class of the day. So far things had gone as per usual in each of my classes, so when I double-checked my schedule to make sure that I had the right room for the abnormal psychology course before walking through the doorway, I expected the same here as well.

I scanned the room, looking for an ideal seat. Despite many still being open, all of the seats left required sitting next to one of my classmates. Holding back a sigh, I decided to go with the easiest path and picked an empty seat at the end of a row. Barely two seconds after I had sat down the person sitting next to me, along with his friend who was oblivious to the hearts in his eyes, packed up their belongings and looked for different seats to occupy in the class.

Yup, just as expected.

Unfazed, I started emptying my bookbag of the items I needed for the class. After gathering my notebook, pen, and textbook–even though I probably wasn’t going to need it today anyway but hey, I liked to be prepared–I was about to place my bag on the seat next to me, knowing no one was going to want to sit there.

But before I could even turn to look at the chair, it was occupied. By a person. A living, breathing person. 

I glanced around the room, figuring that in the short time it took me to get ready for class, the room must have filled up. But no, there were just as many open seats still left in the room. Looking past the person to the next seat over, I could see that even that one was still empty.

This wasn’t a class freshman could take so unless this person lived under a rock, I couldn’t figure out why they would voluntarily sit next to me. As curious as I was to see who was willing to jeopardize their entire social life over this seat, I avoided making eye contact and placed my bag on the floor.

The mystery student made no effort to get my attention or address me, so I relaxed as we waited for the professor to arrive and class to start.

Other than that, the class went by just as boring and ordinary as possible. The professor took ten hours to go over the syllabus that was almost the same for every class, talked about the attendance policy that was the same for every class, and told us our expectations that was - again - pretty much the same for every class. Basically, I didn’t know why the teachers bothered going over every little detail when they had to know we’d already heard it fifty times. Just tell me my final grade depended on this one big project and if I didn’t do it I was screwed, and that was all I needed to know.

The professor finished going over the monotonous formalities and dismissed our class just on time. I slowly gathered my things, preferring to wait until the majority of the others had already fought their way out of the door first before leaving. It was easier to avoid comments I didn’t want to hear that way.

As I finished getting my stuff together and went to stand up I looked to my left, seeing the rebellious classmate just sitting there, looking like he was waiting for something. A beat later, he turned to me and smiled. He smiled?

“Hello,” he greeted, holding out a hand, presumably for me to shake. “I’m Namjoon.”

I cautiously took his hand in mine. “(Y/n),” I responded while I finally got a good look at him. He had bleached blonde hair slicked to the side to expose his forehead. His features looked somehow simultaneously intimidating and friendly.

“It’s nice to meet you, (Y/n).”

If I didn’t dislike being around my peers so much, I wouldn’t really hate eating in the school cafeteria. Unfortunately, the food was paid for as part of the tuition and if I spent my days eating takeout and fast food, I’d be twice as broke as I already was. So I didn’t have much choice other than to eat most of my meals in a room filled with aforementioned peers. Sometimes it felt like I was a sitting duck in here.

I picked my poison for today’s lunch and scanned the room for an empty table. Luckily, there was one over in a corner where, hopefully, I wouldn’t be bothered. I placed my tray on the table before sitting down and taking my phone out to send a text message to the person I was supposed to meet, letting him know where I was and asking if he was on his way.

While I was preoccupied with my phone, I felt the presence of someone standing next to the table. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see it was definitely not who I was waiting for. I mentally rolled my eyes, waiting to find out if this one was going to be typical or original.

“Is this seat taken?” a sickly-sweet voice asked.

“Yes, it is,” I replied apathetically.

She sat down anyway. I spared a quick glance over my phone at her before resuming to stare at my screen as though glaring at the text was going to force him to reply.

“I hear I’m your type,” the girl announced after a moment of silence. It appeared she was taking the typical approach.

I ignored her presence entirely, pretending that I had something interesting to look at on my phone.

“What? Am I not pretty enough for you to pay attention to?” she asked, pretending to be offended.

I actually rolled my eyes. It has nothing to do with looks, I thought. But instead I said, “Why? Would you be willing to roll around in the hay with me if you were?”

Her eyes widened, clearly not expecting me to put her on the spot like that. While she spluttered away, someone else approached the table.

“Excuse me, that’s my seat,” the newcomer said.

She looked up to see who was interrupting her embarrassment. After registering who it was she smirked and let her eyes wander over his figure, checking him out rather blatantly. 

I had to stop myself from gagging at the scene.

“Oh honey, there’s no point in trying with her,” she said, attempting a sultry, flirty voice. “You’re not her type.” She stood up and brushed her fingertips along his arm. “You could come sit with me though, I’d love to get to know you.”

He smiled while she batted her eyelashes up at him. “I don’t need her to be interested in me,” he said sweetly before swatting her hand away as his expression turned serious. “She’s my sister; I’d appreciate it if you left her alone. And don’t even try, sweetheart. You’re never getting into these pants.”

Her face instantly paled and she hurried away without another word lest she embarrass herself any more.

My brother sat down with a huff while I tried my best  to suppress my laugh. “Sorry I’m late, noona,” he said. “My literature professor apparently doesn’t know how to time manage his classes.”

“It’s alright,” I said. He looked at me concerned, silently asking if I was okay. “I’m fine, Chim. Don’t worry about it, you know I’m used to it by now.” I assured him, finally digging into my meal.

“The only reason people have gotten away with it up until now is because your brother wasn’t here to put them in their place.” He pointed his chopsticks at me. “I’m going to make sure no one treats you like that anymore.”

“Jimin,” I sighed, “you really don’t need to do anything. I appreciate you and your help when you’re with me, but don’t try to be my bodyguard. Try to enjoy your time at school, hmm? Go make some friends!”

“Who said I haven’t made any friends?” he responded defensively. “There’s this interesting kid I got paired up with as my lab partner in biology and we get along pretty well.” His eyes widened and he gasped, excitedly tapping on my hand. “Oh my gosh. Noona, I gotta introduce him to you. He is fine. I don’t swing that way, but holy crap does he make me question if I would for him.”

“Mm, sounds like a great start to a friendship,” I laughed. “So, you’re enjoying school so far?”

Jimin shrugged. “I mean, as much as I can enjoy school I guess. You know me, I don’t even know what I want to do yet.”

While Jimin continued to dig into his food, I more or less just pushed mine around. I did know that, just as well as I knew that our parents wouldn’t have been mad if he wanted to wait to go to school so he could try to figure it out first. And he certainly didn’t need to come to this school of all places.

While I didn’t get bad grades, I wasn’t exactly a star student. I had to work really hard to keep my grades up and even then I was barely above average. But Jimin, he was brilliant. Always class president, always effortlessly intelligent, always amazing in anything he did. Before last year, he was talking about going to schools more prestigious than this one. He didn’t need to be here, and I worried that the only reason he was, was because he felt obligated to me.

“Hey, noona,” Jimin called, waving his hand in front of my face and bringing my mind back to reality. “Instead of looking at your rice like it offended you, why don’t you tell me how your classes are going so far?”

I chuckled at his observation. “Well, they’re going about the same as I expected,” I said, shrugging. “No one bothers me and all the teachers gave us the same exact lecture about the syllabus.” I paused while I finally brought a spoonful of rice to my mouth. “Oh, there was one weird thing though.”

“Weird?” Jimin asked, worried. “What do you mean weird? Did something happen?”

“Oh, no, nothing bad,” I clarified, making him relax. “It’s just, in one of my psych classes yesterday, someone actually voluntarily sat next to me. And not just that, he introduced himself to me after class too. Like he’s trying to be friendly with me?”

“That’s wonderful!” Jimin cheered, smiling so wide his eyes disappeared. “Maybe he’s being friendly because he wants to be your friend.”

“I don’t know, Chim,” I replied, thoughtfully chewing my chicken. “I mean he seemed really nice, but no one has approached me with good intentions ever since… before her.”

“Well, maybe he has some sense and doesn’t give a crap about rumors,” Jimin said around a mouthful of food. “Why don’t you give him a chance, hm? I’ll be your backup in case anything goes wrong.”

I slowly nodded. “I’ll think about it.” We were silent for a few moments until I said, “So, tell me more about this hot friend of yours.”

When I entered the classroom for abnormal psychology the next day, I was a little surprised to see Namjoon sitting in the same seat from two days prior. Despite the fact that he had chosen to sit next to me, and that he was also the one to initiate a conversation (even if it was only introductions), I felt nervous. What if I sat down next to him and he decided he didn’t want anything to do with me?

But then again, if he didn’t, he wouldn’t have sat in the same seat… Right?  Steeling my nerves, I slowly walked toward the chair. I did my best to try not paying him any attention as I sat down and gathered my items for the class. After setting my bag on the floor, I chanced a glance at him and was relieved to see he was still there.

He turned to me and smiled, but before he could initiate any conversation (not that I thought he would want to) the professor entered the room and started his first actual lecture of the year.

“I’d recommend that you all start chatting and getting to know each other because there will be a few partner assignments in this class, and I will let you pick your own partners,” the professor said as the class was coming to an end. “The first one will be assigned next week.” Then he dismissed the class.

“Do you want to work on the assignments together?” Namjoon asked as soon as the professor was done talking.

Shocked, I turned to him with widened eyes. Did he seriously just ask me that? I was too baffled to say or do anything while he began to pack up his belongings.

“Do you have a class after this one?” he asked instead when I didn’t answer.

I blinked, refocusing on the present. “N-no,” I managed to reply.

“Well, if you’re hungry let’s get some lunch together,” he suggested, picking up my bag to start putting away my things for me.

Realizing that I had been standing there like an idiot, and that there were multiple eyes on us, I hastily grabbed the remainder of my things to put away, Namjoon holding the bag open for me. When I was done, I zipped it up and took it from him, slipping it onto my shoulders.

“Are you hungry?” he asked, following up his offer from a moment ago that I realized I hadn’t replied to.

I tentatively nodded and he smiled, leading me out of the classroom with him. I heard students whispering around us but Namjoon seemed to completely ignore them.

As we walked to the cafeteria, I couldn’t help but wonder why he was being nice to me. Jimin told me to give him a chance, but that was far easier said than done. Ever since that post on the school forum last year, I had been more or less alone. To protect myself I had to quickly learn how to build up walls that I never had before. Anyone who talked to me now did it with an ill intent, wanting to tear me down and make me out to be a bad person.

So why was this boy that I had never met before being so nice to me? I couldn’t believe there was no way he didn’t know about what had happened because I had yet to encounter another student who hadn’t heard about how I was such a terrible person. As much as I wanted to listen to Jimin and deep down hoped for the best, I had to keep my walls up. I couldn’t let my guard down because he was probably going to end up being just the same as everyone else.

We made it to the cafeteria, silently collected the food we wanted, and then he led me to a table he seemed comfortable sitting at. I remained quiet while I started to eat my meal, feeling Namjoon’s eyes on me as he did the same.

“So, you never answered my question,” he said after a few minutes had passed.

I looked up from my tray of food and met his eyes. With furrowed brows, I tried to remember what question he was talking about.

Seeing the confusion on my face, Namjoon chuckled. “About if you wanted to be my partner for the assignments?”

“Oh,” I  said quietly. I thought about it for a moment, but really there wasn’t much to think about. Regardless of his possible intentions, chances were no one else would ask me. 

“Yeah, that sounds good.” I answered, my voice staying quiet out of shyness. The only people I’ve had real conversations with in over half a year were my brother and parents, so my social skills were rather out of practice.

“Awesome.” He smiled widely, dimples I hadn’t noticed before on full display. “We should exchange phone numbers then,” he added as he pulled out his phone and presented it to me.

I entered my number into his phone with shaking hands before handing it back to him. He pressed the call button and I felt my own vibrate in my pocket before he ended the call.

“There, now we can keep in touch,” he said, still smiling. His attention, however, was diverted when he caught something out of the corner of his eye.

“Oh, hyung! Over here!” He waved to get the person’s attention. “I hope you don’t mind, my hyung and I agreed to meet for lunch during this time. I thought you two might get along.” I was curious how he came to any conclusion like that when we had just recently met, not having had any substantial conversations to actually get to know each other yet.

I turned to look at who it was Namjoon was calling to and saw a tall and rather handsome man approaching. His hair was a little longer, bangs parted on either side of his face and he had soft-looking thick lips. He was smiling at Namjoon as he walked up to the table, about to greet him back until he noticed me.

Once Namjoon’s friend’s eyes fell on me, his smile faltered and he looked surprised. His gaze hesitantly flitted back and forth between me and Namjoon and he looked unsure of what to do. Realizing that he must have recognized me and probably felt uncomfortable with the idea of sitting with me, I turned back to Namjoon and spoke up.

“Thanks, Namjoon.” I tried to smile but could feel how forced it was. I quickly started to collect my things. “I’ll see you in class.” I picked up my tray, quickly getting up to look for an empty table to sit at before he had time to respond.

Namjoon quietly called for me once and then I heard some rushed whispering as I walked away but I ignored it, not wanting to think too hard about it. This was why I reminded myself to be careful and not become too hopeful. I just needed to stick to my plan of keeping to myself until I graduated next year. It was only for two years. I could do it.

I found an empty table, thankfully a fair distance from where Namjoon was with his friend and sat down to finish my meal alone, in silence. Just like I was used to.

However, the silence only lasted a couple of minutes until someone suddenly sat in front of me. Shocked, my head snapped up to see Namjoon across the table from me, and his friend standing behind him, looking at the ground.

“Sorry about that, (Y/n),” Namjoon apologized, a soft smile on his face. “I could tell that Seokjin hyung made you feel awkward. We didn’t mean to make you feel unwelcome.”

Namjoon’s friend, Seokjin brought his gaze up to meet mine. “I’m sorry if I made you think that,” he said. “I was just surprised to see you there. I wouldn’t mind sitting with you at all , if you are okay with that.”

It took me a moment to process the words. I couldn’t help but feel a little suspicious of how much it seemed Namjoon was determined to be around me, but I decided it was best not to voice my concerns right now. I slowly nodded, Seokjin seeming to relax at the motion and he took a seat next to Namjoon.

“I’m Seokjin,” he said. “I know Joon said my name but I figured it’d be polite to still properly introduce myself.”

“It appears as though you know who I am,” I responded, “but I’ll introduce myself as well. I’m (Y/n). Nice to meet you.” I offered my hand for him to take if he wanted, and he didn’t hesitate to do so. His hand held onto mine gently as he smiled warmly.

“Likewise,” Seokjin said, giving my hand a soft squeeze before letting go.

It was obvious to me that the two were close and seemed to have known each other for a long time. As we sat together, it was mostly Namjoon and Seokjin chatting and every now and then, one of them would address me to bring me into the conversation but I would keep my responses to a minimum. I didn’t want to be rude, but I still remained hesitant to be too open with them.

It didn’t take me long to notice others would look at our table every now and then, and many times my eyes had wandered around to gauge how much attention we were drawing. No doubt they were trying to figure out who was stupid enough to sit with me, and wondering why.

“Hey, (Y/n),” Seokjin said, pulling my attention away from a few tables over where girls were pointing and whispering. “Don’t pay them any attention.”

I suddenly felt self-conscious. Did they notice the attention too? I looked down at my food when I asked, “Does it not bother you that people are watching and whispering?”

“They are stupid,” Namjoon said, scoffing. “It’s none of their business what you or anyone else is doing and they need to learn to keep their noses out of it.” He paused, and I looked up to see him staring right back at me. “And no, it doesn’t bother me. I don’t care for rumors or gossip, so they can say whatever they want about me. It holds no value.”

Seokjin didn’t say much, but he did nod in agreement and gave me a smile. “No one has any right to judge anyway. I like to form my opinions of others based on my own experiences with them, not from what others say.”

Their words made me feel just a little more hopeful that for once, someone didn’t have a hidden motive. That maybe, just maybe, Namjoon and perhaps even his friend Seokjin didn’t want to harm me. I wouldn’t hold onto that quite yet, but I couldn’t remember the last time I felt this light.

Over the past two weeks, Jimin had been telling me a lot about this new friend of his, Taehyung. Basically every time we met up he would start gushing about him. Apparently Taehyung had the best sense of humor and was always making Jimin laugh (to which I reminded him was not difficult to do), was deceivably smart, and a really good listener. Each point that Jimin gave him was another reason for him to tell me how much he thought we would get along.

Which was why I wasn’t opposed to meeting him, especially considering that he was a freshman just like Jimin and may not have heard about what happened last year. From what Jimin told me he did genuinely seem like a nice guy. However, meeting two others as well? That was scary. But Jimin was so sure that it’d be fine and if there was anyone in this world that I trusted, it was my baby brother.

So I made my way to Daydream Café, feeling entirely nervous on the way. It was a place that students here frequented, but it also wasn’t quite yet lunchtime so hopefully most students weren’t out just yet.

A bell rang as I walked through the red-painted door, and immediately I was surrounded by delicious smells from the home-baked treats the little shop sold. I used to come here a lot with my friend up until winter last year, and I hadn’t realized how much I missed the atmosphere. It was genuinely a great place.

“Noona!” I heard Jimin’s voice call out a moment later, and I smiled when I saw where he sat, waving his arm high in the air to get my attention. Sitting next to him was who I assumed to be Taehyung, seeing how comfortable the two of them looked with each other. The other two with them where on the opposite side of the table where I couldn’t quite see them yet.

I approached the table, slightly waving at my brother’s friend when he smiled at me. Jimin got up to come meet me partway, practically dragging me the rest of the way to the table.

“I ordered your favorite for you,” Jimin said, pointing the cup sitting at the seat next to where he was sitting. “And this is Taehyung!” Jimin gestured toward his friend once he stopped pulling on my arm. I had to admit that my brother’s claims about how attractive the boy was were very accurate. I actually had to pause while I took in his seemingly perfect features, highlighted by a big rectangular smile. His bright blue hair reminded me of cotton candy, and it fit him surprisingly well.

Taehyung waved in greeting while Jimin pulled out my chair for me and sat in his own seat. After sitting down myself, I saw the two sitting across from us and my eyes widened in shock, recognizing them instantly.

“These are Tae’s hyungs, Namjoon and Seokjin,” Jimin said. “Well, Seokjin is his actual older brother, Namjoon is their cousin.” The three of them being related certainly made sense with how they each seemed to get the absolute best from the gene pool.

Namjoon and Seokjin also seemed pretty surprised to see me, but their faces both quickly dissolved into smiles. “Actually, we’ve already met,” Namjoon said from his seat next to the wall. “What a coincidence. Nice to see you, (Y/n).”

I smiled in return, having grown a bit more comfortable with them since we first met two weeks ago.

“Oh, really?” Taehyung asked. “How do you know each other?”

“I met Namjoon in my abnormal psych class,” I explained. “We’re doing an assignment together. And I met Seokjin when the three of us ate lunch together during the first week of classes.” I had seen Seokjin a few times after that too, since the two of them shared a dorm and that’s where I would usually meet Namjoon to work on the assignment.

While I was still hesitant to trust anyone other than my brother, I felt more relaxed with the both of them every time I saw them. I couldn’t help but still be scared that it was wishful thinking, but they really did seem like they wanted to be friends.

Jimin beamed. “I told you they were nice! Namjoon hyung must be the one who sat next to you, then.” He looked at Joon, who nodded in confirmation. “See, didn’t I tell you to give him a chance?”

“It’s awesome that your noona is already friends with my hyungs, Jiminie,” Taehyung said.  “This make things so much easier. We should all meet up every day!”

“Every day?” Seokjin asked, raising his eyebrows at his brother. “No way. We all have classes, and to be honest I’m not thrilled with the idea of having to see you every day.”

Taehyung frowned. “But Jinnie hyung, didn’t you miss me? We hardly saw each other the last three years, but now I can see you every day!”

“Seems like you’re the one who missed me,” Seokjin retorted before taking a sip of his coffee.

“Don’t let him fool you, Tae,” Namjoon chimed him. “He definitely missed you.”

Seokjin smacked Namjoon’s arm. “I did not!”

While the cousins were laughing and teasing each other, one of the workers at the café approached our table, untying his apron. “Hey guys!” he said as he plopped down on the seat next to Seokjin, across from me.

“Oh hey, Hoseok,” Seokjin said. “You on break?”

“Yeah, I got fifteen minutes before I need to go back.” He turned to look at me and Jimin, a bright smile on his face. “Do I get to be introduced to your new friends here?” he asked.

“This is my friend, Jimin!” Taehyung said, grabbing onto my brother’s arm. “And that’s his sister, (Y/n). She shares a class with Namjoon hyung too.”

“Nice to meet you both,” Hoseok said as he held out his hand for us to shake. Jimin didn’t hesitate to take it, while I was a little slower to follow. “My name is Hoseok. These two-” he gestured to Namjoon and Seokjin “-are practically glued to my side, so if you plan on sticking around them you’ll probably be seeing a lot of me.”

“Yeah because it’s definitely not the other way around,” Namjoon chuckled.

Jimin easily slid into comfortable conversation with everyone, while I mostly sat back and observed. It was a bit overwhelming, somehow feeling welcome and accepted – or at least not unwelcome – with so many people at once after so long. Taehyung was understandable, probably not knowing about the events from last year yet. But I was still trying to figure out Namjoon and Seokjin, and I knew for a fact Hoseok has been attending the school for a few years, having seen him around.

Feeling like I was almost finding somewhere I might belong, it seemed too good to be true.

Today was really beautiful despite fall starting to settle into the air, the heat barely there and breeze calm enough to keep it from feeling too chilled. Being unable to resist the pull of fresh air while the weather lasted, I found myself sitting against a tree in the school’s park, textbook in my lap.

I had become accustomed to spending most of my time in my dorm when I didn’t have class or need to eat, but it got stuffy always being indoors all the time. Days like today were worth spending outside, and usually I could be absorbed enough in my work that I didn’t pay attention to any looks and no one really bothered me.

It seemed that today was one of my lucky days. I successfully spent two hours here so far and had yet to have any intrusions into the bubble I created for myself.

But while I was in the middle of doing my calculus work, I felt someone sit next to me. Realizing my relaxing afternoon of being left alone was apparently over, I began packing up my stuff without acknowledging whoever wanted to interrupt my peace.

“You’re just going to leave when I stopped by to keep you company?” The very familiar voice said.

I halted my actions, turning to see a smiling Seokjin sitting next to me. I relaxed, placing my things back down. “Sorry, Seokjin. I didn’t think it was you.”

His smile faltered. “You figured I was someone else here to bully you.” It wasn’t a question but rather an observation.

“Yeah,” I responded. “That’s pretty much what I have gotten used to. I’m honestly still not used to the idea of there being people who want to talk to me and not do that.”

“I would never,” Seokjin replied. “But I understand what you mean.”

Having already closed my textbook, I decided I could finish later and put it away in my bag. “So, what brings you over here today, Seokjin?”

“You know, you can just call me Jin if you want.” He cleared his throat and looked at the ground when he mumbled, “Or oppa would work, too.”

“Are you?” I asked. “My oppa I mean.”

“Well, you’re a junior like Namjoon right?” Jin replied. “I’m a senior so yeah, I’m pretty sure I am.”

“Oh, okay.” I said. In the three weeks we had known each other, this was actually mostly new information. “Then I’ll try asking again. What brings you out to the park today, Jin oppa?”

A small smile flashed on his face for a split second before he answered. “I was just out enjoying the weather. I figured when I saw you sitting here, I might as well join you. But you can keep doing your work if you want.”

“Eh, I’ve been at it for about-” I checked my phone to see what time it was “-two and a half hours now. So I’m pretty due for a break I think.”

“Oh, good. Glad I could be of help then,” he smiled.

I nodded before resting my head back against the tree behind me. Namjoon and Seokjin had continued to be friendly with me, even outside of class and the assignment Namjoon and I were working on together. After three weeks it became really hard to still be suspicious that they had some kind of hidden agenda and I found myself growing more and more comfortable with them. But I was still determined to keep my walls up, just in case.

We sat in silence together for a few moments, just enjoying the nice weather of the sunny afternoon. Soon, Jin’s phone vibrated and he took it out from his jean pocket. After reading whatever was on the screen, he started looking around.

“Is something wrong?” I asked.

“Not wrong,” he said. “But Tae sent me a picture of the two of us sitting here. So I’m trying to figure out where he is.”

Then, my phone started vibrating. I looked to see my brother was calling me. Sliding the green button on the screen, I answered. “Hey, Jimin. What’s up?”

I could hear laughing on the other end. “Seokjin hyung looks almost paranoid, looking all around like that.”

I rolled my eyes, turning to Jin. “It seems both our brothers are teaming up on us.” Going back to the phone call, I said, “Where are you two? It’s rude to spy on your older siblings.”

I could hear the notification sound of the call ending. But then, “Oh, you mean it’s rude to spy on your little date?” Jimin’s voice said from nearby.

Jin and I turned to our right to see both of our brothers standing there. Jin spluttered, seeming flustered at the fact that Jimin called whatever this was right now – which was most definitely not a date – a date.

“We’re not having a date,” I said plainly. “We’re just sitting here.”

“Uh huh, sure,” Taehyung said. “Looks like a date to me.”

“Yah!” Jin got up to encase Tae in a headlock. “Then what would you call you and Jimin hanging out all the time huh? If I’m on a date, then so are you.”

Taehyung laughed. “No offense to Jimin because he’s totally attractive, but you know I don’t swing that way, hyung!”

While they were arguing, I gathered all my things and stood up as well. “What were you guys up to, though?” I asked Jimin.

“We were just headed over to Daydream Café,” he answered. “Hobi hyung told Tae he saved a slice of his mom’s strawberry cheesecake for him.”

Oh yeah, that was something we had learned after meeting Hoseok last week, too. His parents actually owned Daydream Café, and his mom was responsible for many of the delicious home-baked treats there.

“Do you guys want to come with us?” Taehyung asked, finally out of his brother’s hold.

“Yeah sure, why not,” Seokjin said. “But I’m not third-wheeling you two. So I’ll go if (Y/n) wants to.”

I looked at Jin, shrugging. “Alright. It’s not like I have anything better to do, right?”

We all started on our way to the café, but before we could get very far I heard my name being called. I tensed up, easily recognizing the voice.

“(Y/n)!” she called again. I closed my eyes, taking in a deep breath before turning around to face her. “I thought that was you. Long time no see,” she said, a smile that I once thought was genuine on her face.

“Hi, Yunhee,” I greeted back, trying to not seem too tense.

Recognizing her as well, Jimin gripped my hand tight and I could almost feel anger radiating off of him despite him now being behind me. “What do you want?” Jimin asked, absolutely no hint of the usual light, playful tone in his voice.

Yunhee took his reaction in stride, ignoring him and instead addressing me again. “I see you’ve managed to make some new friends,” she said, looking at Seokjin and Taehyung.

I remained silent, knowing that whatever I said would only fuel her and once she started going there was no stopping her. I looked next to me, seeing that Seokjin looked deep in thought about something and Taehyung was looking both concerned and confused at what was going on.

“It’s none of your business” Jimin said, still defensive. “We don’t want to talk to you, so please leave us alone while I’m asking nicely.”

I heard a light gasp from Seokjin, his expression lighting up and mouth opening and eyes widening. As quickly as it happened the expression was gone, replaced with a look of absolute disdain aimed right at Yunhee.

“You heard him,” he said, his tone sounding darker than I had ever heard it. There was a spine-chilling authoritativeness to it. “Leave. You’re not welcome here.”

Yunhee merely looked amused, a smirk on her lips and eyebrows raised, but made no move to leave. “You got yourself some pretty defensive friends here, (Y/n).”

Jimin walked around me to stand in front of her, face to face, while he kept a firm hold on my hand. “We told you to leave. You have no right to be talking to my sister.”

She made a sound of realization. “That’s right, you’re little Jimin. I almost didn't recognize you without your chubby little cheeks.” She turned back to me. “I just wanted to have a chat with my old friend. Can’t I do that?”

“You made it very clear last year that you aren’t her friend anymore, you backstabbing bitch,” Seokjin said, moving forward as well. “What don’t you understand about leaving her alone?”

At this point I became aware of just how much of a scene we were causing, many students nearby having stopped to watch the commotion. I tugged on Jimin’s sleeve to get his attention. I gave him a look that I hope told him that I wanted to get out of here, and he luckily seemed to understand.

“I guess we’ll need to leave if you won’t then,” Jimin said. “Come on, noona.” He placed his hand on my elbow, starting to lead me away from her. Seokjin and a still very confused Taehyung followed as well.

Luckily, she didn’t follow or try to say anything more as we walked away. We walked in silence for a little bit while I assumed we were still heading to Daydream Café. Then I remembered something that I heard Seokjin say.

“Jin oppa,” I said to get his attention. He turned to look at me, waiting for me to continue. “You called Yunhee a backstabbing bitch,” I said. “Why did you say that?”

He looked nervous, eyes flitting around and pressing his lips together, so I pushed a little more. “Do you know something?”

His gaze settled on me and he sighed lightly. “If we’re going to talk about that, maybe we should go somewhere more private,” he gently offered.

Now curious of what it was he had to say, I nodded.

“Let’s go back to my dorm?” Seokjin suggested.

“Namjoon will probably be there too, won’t he?” I asked.

“Probably,” Jin replied. “But I think that would honestly be better if he is, if you’re okay with that.”

I thought for a moment before carefully nodding. I assumed that if Seokjin knew something, Namjoon probably did too anyway. “Okay. I guess it won’t make much difference anyway.”

On the way there Taehyung kept looking at me curiously, but he kept any questions to himself for the time being.

Walking through the familiar door to Namjoon and Seokjin’s dorm, I quickly sat on their couch while my nerves started getting the best of me. I had no idea what to expect, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was about to get some answers about why these two didn’t seem to have an aversion to me like everyone else – and whether that was real or not. I looked expectantly at Jin, who had propped himself against his desk, when Namjoon came trudging out of the bathroom, hair damp from a shower.

“Hey guys, what are you all doing here?” he asked, glancing around at the relatively full room.

“We had an encounter with (Y/n)’s ‘friend’ from last year at the park,” Seokjin said. “And I have something I need to talk to her about.” He gave a pointed look to Namjoon, who seemed to understand what he meant and relaxed into the other seat in the room.

“Okay I know you have something to tell her, Jin hyung,” Tae chimed in first, “but I am really confused about what all is going on. I know it’s not technically any of my business, but I just feel like I’m the only one who is in the dark right now.”

I sighed. “Well, I guess basically you are.” I paused, thinking of how to put it. “You know about the school forum right?” I asked, getting a nod from him in return. “Just search for my name on there and you’ll no doubt find it.”

“That’s not right though,” Jin said. “The post on the forum isn’t the truth.”

“How would you know that?” I asked. “Everyone else seems to believe it’s true.” Jimin sat down next to me, wrapping his arms around my stomach.

Seokjin was silent for a few moments, seeming to collect his thoughts. “I knew her. Eunjung.”

The use of the name surprised me. “The post didn’t say her name. How do you…?”

“She was my friend at the time,” Jin continued. “I saw her after that post was made, and she was bragging about what happened. What she and Yunhee had done to you.” The look on his face couldn’t be mistaken for anything other than disgust. “She was proud of herself, thinking she did something good. That you… That there was something wrong with you and she was putting you in your place.”

Jimin’s arms tightened around me. “That’s terrible,” he said. “She was really that smug about slandering someone like that?”

Seokjin nodded. “I never knew she was like that. That was the last time I talked to her. I couldn’t stand even just looking at her after that.”

“And Namjoon?” I asked, turning to him. He seemed surprised that I was addressing him. “Did you know about that?”

“Yeah,” Joon responded. “Yeah, I did. Hyung was so appalled by it that he told me right after he found out.”

Learning that the two of them really did know the post from last year was only based on false events made me feel much more at ease. It was as if I were able to take a breath of fresh air for the first time in a long time, and I realized that while it may not be easy to just yet, I could honestly trust them.

“So is that why you sat next to noona then?” Jimin asked.

Namjoon hesitated for a moment. “I mean, it's one reason why I didn't automatically dislike her. In all honesty, I had entered the classroom right after her and saw that when she sat down the students sitting next to her left. It made me angry, so I just decided on the spot I wanted to sit next to her. But also – I said this before and I'll say it again – I don't care about rumors and gossip in the first place.”

“Okay,” Taehyung interrupted. “So, what I’m gathering is that this Eunjung and Yunhee are royal bitches and made a post on the school forum making you look bad?”

I hummed. “More or less, yeah.”

“So, if what they posted is untrue why don’t you just tell everyone?” Taehyung added, treating it like that was the easiest thing ever.

“You don’t think I tried?” I responded. “I tried, I really did. No one would believe me. I mean, why would they? They didn’t just make fun of me. They made me out to be this really bad person. Someone who, if what they were claiming was true, wouldn’t be entirely undeserving of how I started to be treated.”

“But you’re not,” Jimin said. “You’re nothing like what they said.”

“Can I ask?” Taehyung asked hesitantly. “What did happen?”

“(Y/n),” Yunhee singsonged as she sat next to me.

I hummed in response, barely paying attention to what was going on. Suddenly, she poked me in my side, making me jump and yelp. “Hey! What was that for?”

“You’re not paying attention to me,” my closest friend pouted. “But now that I do have your attention, tell me who it is.” She wiggled her eyebrows.

“What do you mean?” I asked. “Who what is?”

“Oh, come on! I know that look!” She scooted closer to me, grabbing my arm. “You got a crush on someone, don’t you?”

I pursed my lips together as I felt heat rise to my cheeks before answering with a small nod.

Yunhee squealed. “I knew it! Tell me, tell me, tell me!”

“I-It’s no one,” I said, hesitant to admit my secret to her. Despite being friends for five years, I couldn’t help but still be afraid of what she would say.

She whined in disappointment. “Oh! I know, why don’t I try guessing who it is?” She hummed as she thought of her first guess. “Is it that guy who sits next to us in math?”

“Nope.”

“How about the guy-”

“Nope.”

“Is it that boy-”

“No!” I laughed. “It’s not any of them.”

“How do you know?” she pouted again. “You didn’t even hear who I was guessing.”

“Don’t need to, they’re wrong,” I shrugged.

She playfully glared at me. “Well if you won’t let me guess then you can at least just tell me who it is. The suspense is killing me!”

I contemplated it for a moment, wondering if it would really be okay to tell her. Well, five years of friendship couldn’t mean nothing, so maybe it wouldn’t hurt. “It’s um… Someone from my literature class.”

“Ooohhhhh, what’s his name?” she bounced up and down a few times in excitement.

“Um…. H-her name is Eunjung,” I said, feeling nervous now that it was out there and I couldn’t go back.

“Huh?” Yunhee said, suddenly no longer as excited as she was before.

Maybe this was a mistake. “It’s nothing, don’t worry about it.” I started standing up, ready to walk away and just pretend like that never happened, but her grip on my arm kept me from leaving.

She laughed nervously. “No, no, don’t leave!” she said. “I’m sorry, I just… I wasn’t expecting that. I never knew that about you.”

“Well, it’s not exactly something I can just go around telling everyone,” I said, nervously rubbing the back of my neck. “Not that you’re just anyone! It’s just… I wanted to wait to tell you and then it just kind of never came up or was relevant and I somewhat forgot about mentioning it.” I paused, waiting to see if she would say something. When she didn’t, I asked, “Are you weirded out, or-“

“Oh, no! No I’m not,” she smiled at me. “Don’t worry! But anyway, have you talked to her? This Eunjung?”

“Not really,” I replied, relaxing. “I haven’t really had the guts to yet.”

“Well, you should! You can’t exactly ask her on a date if you don’t talk to her first, right?” Yunhee said.

“You think I should talk to her? I don’t know, how am I even supposed to know if I’m her type?”

“Can’t know until you try!” Yunhee singsonged.

With her encouragement, I eventually worked up the courage to strike a conversation with Eunjung, and we ended up getting along really well. Casual conversations about class turned into getting to know each other. Short text conversations turned into staying up late talking for hours. The more I talked to her, the more I found my distant crush turning into real feelings for her.

And the more time we spent together, the more I paid attention to the little things she did. When she would let her hand linger on my arm just a little longer, when I’d look over to her to see her already staring at me, when she’d naturally and casually wrap an arm around my waist while we walked. I was worried the signals I was seeing were all my imagination or that I was exaggerating them, but they started becoming so frequent I figured there was no way they could be. So one day, I worked up the courage to ask.

“Do you want to go to dinner with me?” I rushed out as Eunjung was walking toward my door to leave.

She turned around, tilting her head while she processed my words. “Dinner?”

“Y-yeah,” I replied, suddenly embarrassed.

“You mean… like a date?” Eunjung asked as she slowly walked back in my direction.

I tried to not show my surprise at her clarification. “If- If you want it to be,” I said so quietly I would have been surprised if she heard it.

But she did, and she smiled at me. “Yes. I’d love to go to dinner with you.”

We scheduled a date, and I found a decent enough restaurant that wouldn’t completely break my bank account to take her out to. Despite being super nervous at first, I quickly relaxed when she acted just the same as she always did with me. We had a really nice dinner, followed by a stroll around a park where she took the initiative to hold my hand as we walked side by side. At the end of the date we went back to the dorm building, and I dropped her off at her room first.

“Thank you for tonight,” I said, a big smile on my face. “I had a really nice time.”

“I should be thanking you for planning such a nice date,” Eunjung said, taking my hand in hers.

I felt a blush paint my cheeks. “It was nothing.” I lifted our joined hands, smiling dumbly at the sight and rubbed small circles into the back of her hand.

When I looked back up at her, I barely had time to even see what was happening before she leaned in and placed her lips on mine. It was a short, gentle kiss. But I loved it, nonetheless.

“So, could I take you out again sometime?” I asked as she opened the door to her room

Passing through the doorway, she turned around and hummed before saying, “How about I let you know tomorrow?”

I was so elated that night. I had been on a few dates before, but I had never felt like any of them had gone as well as that. It was crazy and dangerous, how quickly I found myself falling for this girl. The last thing she said played in my mind as a promise that we would continue seeing each other, and I went to sleep so happy and looking forward to what was to come.

But the next day, my elation quickly dissipated when things seemed really off on campus. All over school, people were whispering and I was pretty sure many kept staring at me. I wasn’t one to feel paranoid, but something was weird and I just couldn’t shake off a bad feeling.

It was when I walked into my first classroom and it went deathly silent so quickly that I really knew something was wrong. Having noticed that many people were also glued to their phones, I thought the most likely place for whatever it was that was making everyone act like that would have been the school forum.

Sitting in my seat and logging in, I found the most popular post at the top where my name was prominently placed in the title along with words that I could hardly even believe. I suddenly felt sick, and I hadn’t even read the actual post yet. Without caring what other people would think about it, I picked up my bag and hurried out of the class, heading toward the closest bathroom and locking myself in a stall.

LESBIAN STUDENT PARK (Y/N) SEXUALLY HARASSES PEER

Needing to find out what could have possibly led to that title, I began to read through the words and what I found was unbelievable. The post claimed that after befriending another girl – whose identity wasn’t revealed – I started putting unwanted advances on her, until eventually pressuring her into going on a date.

It continued to claim that I kept being touchy throughout dinner and on our walk, making her continuously feel uncomfortable. And best of all, the post claimed that when I took her back to her room I forced her to kiss me, and tried to force even more on her – things that I would never do and couldn’t even imagine. It said that she managed to get me off of her before she rushed into her room and cried herself to sleep.

The further into the post I got, the more my hands shook and the blurrier my vision became as tears clouded my eyes. I couldn’t believe what I was reading. The whole time I was nothing but respectful and kept my distance until I was sure that it seemed like she was looking for the same thing I was.

She had been sending me hints. She was the one who clarified that when I asked her to dinner it was a date and said she’d ‘love to go’ with me. She held my hand. She kissed me. I let her control the pace, handed the reins to her so she wouldn’t feel uncomfortable. So what was all of this?

After spending who knows how long getting over my initial shock and I was starting to be able to think a little more clearly, I noticed something a bit odd about the post.

There were pictures.

A picture of us eating dinner, of us holding hands in the park, of our kiss outside her room. Her face was blurred in every one, but of course mine was fully visible for anyone to see. How were there pictures? If there were pictures… Someone had to have followed us. I went over anything else I could remember from last night to see if something stood out. Then I remembered our last exchange.

‘So, could I take you out again sometime?’

‘How about I let you know tomorrow?’

It clicked. She planned this. She planned this from the start. She said that because she knew this post would be on the forum and it would be her answer – a blatantly obvious ‘no way in hell.’ But, why? How?

I scrolled all the way back up the page to look at the username of the person posting. Our usernames were assigned by the school and contained our real names, a measure to prevent us from abusing the forums.

I felt sick all over again when I saw the username NYunhee427.

The room was silent after I finished explaining what had happened last year.

Taehyung was the first to break it. “That is… absolutely disgusting.” He said. “Why would anyone do that?”

I shrugged. “To be honest, I’m not sure why. I mean, I guess I just found out why Eunjung did. Leave it to me to get a crush on a girl who’s homophobic,” I laughed humorlessly. “But as for Yunhee? I still don’t know. When I talked to her, she didn’t give me a reason. She just confessed that after I started talking to Eunjung, she told her about my crush and they decided to start this plan. So from the start, Eunjung purposely pretended like she was interested in order to bait me.”

“It still baffles me,” Jin chimed in. “I don’t agree with her point of view, but I disagree even more with the way she did things. If she wasn’t interested, she should have just told you no and walked away. But to purposely fool you, and then tell everyone that you harassed her when that didn’t happen at all?”

“It’s sick,” Jimin said, his voice muffled from where his head was buried in my hair.

“Oh and another star to go into the inaccuracies column,” I added, “is that I’m not a lesbian, I’m bisexual. Yunhee should have known that, but I don’t know. Maybe she thought me talking about boys before was all fake? Or maybe she figured calling me a lesbian would make a bigger impact.”

“She’s such a royal bitch,” Jimin said, pulling himself away from me for the first time since he sat down. “I still can’t stand that she did that to you.”

“Didn’t anyone question why there were pictures?” Taehyung asked out of nowhere. He must have been thinking about it for a bit.

“Oh yeah, some people noticed that was weird,” I said. “But Yunhee just said that Eunjung told her about what I was ‘doing’ to her and asked her to follow us just in case she needed help.”

“Oh yeah because that makes sense,” Taehyung said. “Her going to your supposed friend for help.”

I shrugged. “People didn’t think that far.”

“And people wouldn’t listen,” Seokjin said. “They believed Yunhee and the post because there was ‘photo proof.’ They didn’t care what we said to tell them it wasn’t true.”

I looked over at Seokjin. “We?”

“Well,” Namjoon said, “I’m sure it’s not really a surprise that it was something the students wouldn’t shut up about for a while. People would say stuff to us or around us and we would voice our oppositions, but they didn’t care. They’d say we were blind and stupid. When in reality, that’s exactly what they were.”

“Thank you,” I found myself saying. “For trying.”

Seokjin offered me a small smile. “I’m sorry I never talked to you before. I saw how others would treat you when they did, and I figured you wouldn’t believe that a stranger was on your side so easily.”

I smiled back. “You’re right, I wouldn’t have believed you. To be honest, I still had trouble believing you guys up until today. I wanted to, but I just had too many bad experiences since that day to fully trust anyone other than Chim. I’ve built up walls, and I don’t know if I can just suddenly take them down, but knowing all this now I can at least say that I’m glad I didn’t push you guys away.”

“Well,” Seokjin said, “if you want those walls broken down, we’d be more than happy to help.”

Seokjin really wasn’t joking. Within the last month, the three of them fully absorbed both me and Jimin into their friend group. Rarely did I eat at the cafeteria without at least two others now, and Jin especially seemed really adamant about bringing me out of my shell.

While all of them were very welcoming and nice, there had really been a huge shift with Seokjin in particular. It wasn’t that he hadn’t been friendly with me before, but ever since everything was laid out on the table there hadn’t been a day where he didn’t at least contact me, if not spent some time with me in person.

Today was no different–yet again, I found myself at Daydream Café. The biggest thing that had kept me away from this place within the last year was the fact that Yunhee and I loved to hang out here together. I had found myself here only one time after everything had happened and I felt lonelier than ever, suddenly having no one to share my time with.

But now things were a bit different. I could still feel the weird looks from other students here and there, but I wasn’t alone. I was with my new friends–a term that I was still getting used to thinking. Taking a sip of my drink, I looked across the table at Seokjin who gave me a smile. Next to him were Hoseok and another friend we had been introduced to, Yoongi. And next to me sat Jimin.

“What was up with that girl sitting with you in the cafeteria earlier today?” Hoseok asked, taking a bite of the pumpkin-flavored desert we were all sharing.

I shrugged. “Who knows. Apparently she’s a freshman and somehow heard that I’m into girls but not about what everyone thinks of me. She was pretending to flirt and be interested.”

“Maybe she actually was interested,” Seokjin said, only half serious.

I laughed. “Yeah, right. After how many girls have come up to me saying, ‘I hear I’m your type. Let’s go on a date,’ in the past year, I can tell when they’re full of shit. And trust me, she was.”

“Good thing she didn’t stick around when we got there, then,” Jimin said.

“She was so unbelievably awkward as soon as you sat down, Jimin,” Hoseok laughed.

I observed as Yoongi smiled softly at Hoseok while he laughed. I couldn’t quite put my finger on what it was, but I felt like there was something there that I was missing.

After Hoseok stopped laughing Yoongi looked at me, raising his eyebrows. “Why do you keep staring like that?”

I felt my cheeks heat up, embarrassed at being caught. “S-Sorry, I don’t mean to be rude.”

“Just go ahead and ask,” Yoongi said.

It was my turn to be curious. “What do you mean? Ask what?”

“I see you trying to figure out what’s going on with me and Hoseok,” he answered.

“Oh!” Hoseok said. “I guess we haven’t mentioned it, huh? Sorry, we’re just kinda used to everyone around us knowing.” Hobi lifted his hand from where it was under the table, showing that it was entwined with Yoongi’s. “Yoongi hyung is my boyfriend,” he said.

“Ah, that makes a lot of sense,” Jimin said. “How long have you two been together?”

“Three and a half years,” Yoongi said casually as he pulled their hands back underneath the table. “We’re not usually very obvious about it.”

“Yeah,” Hoseok said, mouth turning downward a little. “Can’t always be sure how people will react.”

“Don’t I know that all too well,” I said, staring at my drink sitting on the table, and Jimin placed a comforting hand on my back. I felt something brush against my free hand on the table and looked up a little to see Jin gently placing his warm hand on top of mine.

“Well, you don’t need to ever worry about that with us,” Seokjin said, giving a soft smile.

“And for the record,” Hoseok said nervously, “Yoongi and I don’t believe what everyone else says about you, either. Just in case we haven’t made that clear already.”

I felt a smile slowly grow on my lips. “Thank you.”

“Well, I should be getting to class,” Yoongi said, finishing his iced americano and pushing his chair back.

“I’ll walk you, hyung,” Hoseok said, standing up with Yoongi. “We’ll see you guys later!”

As they waked away, Hoseok waving goodbye, I could feel Jimin shifting around next to me.

“And I promised Jungkook I’d give him a call,” Jimin said. For some reason, he kept moving his gaze between me and Seokjin as he talked. “So, I’m going to get going now. Bye!”

Before I could blink, he got up and rushed to the door, leaving just me and Seokjin left at the table.

Jin seemed to be as flustered as me by his sudden exit, taking a moment to register what happened. “Alrighty then,” he finally broke the silence before removing his hand from mine and taking a sip of his tea. “Who’s Jungkook?”

“Oh, he’s Jimin’s best friend from back home,” I said. “He’s younger than Jimin, so he’s still in high school.”

“Ah, okay,” Jin replied before we fell into a bit of silence.

With it now just being the two of us and the comfortable quiet that hung in the air, I started to feel more conscious of the other people around us. Particularly of the next table over where a girl was whispering quite loudly with some choice words to describe me with.

I could tell Jin heard it as well, seeing him instantly tense up. “Why don’t we get going?” he offered, acting nonchalant. I just nodded in response before gathering my things and walking outside into the chilly autumn air.

As soon as we were out the door, Jin started striking up a random conversation with me. He was always doing this. Whenever we’d hear people talking about me or someone would say something to me, he made it a habit to start talking about something else as soon as possible.

I knew he did it to keep my mind off of what was said. By this point, there wasn’t really any more emotions for me to get out or work through with the situation–it had been going on for so long. So instead of going the ‘let’s talk about this’ route, Jin would do what he could to keep my mind off of it as much as possible.

But this time, I just found myself thinking about something else, instead. While Jin was rambling on about something–I think I heard him complaining about something to do with his business management course–I was examining his face, trying to will his inner thoughts and feelings to write themselves on his skin so I could understand him and why he did this.

At some point, he had stopped rambling and turned to me, apparently waiting for me to answer a question I hadn’t heard.

I blinked, refocusing my attention to reality. “Sorry, what was that?” I asked.

Jin gently shook his head. “I know you weren’t listening,” he said, but he didn’t sound accusatory, just understanding. “What’s on your mind, (Y/n)?”

Put on the spot, I wasn’t sure how to voice my thoughts. Seokjin waited patiently while I tried to put them together, and then contemplated if I really should say them out loud.

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” Jin assured, noticing my hesitance. “But I want you to know that you can trust me. I hope I’ve done enough to prove that to you.”

“You definitely have,” I said, barely audible. “I just… Sorry, I’m having trouble putting my thoughts together.” Jin nodded in understanding, remaining silent while he waited for me to continue. I took a few moments, looking around at the trees colored in reds and yellows while I figured out how to voice my thoughts. “I guess I’m just trying to figure out why you try so hard.”

Jin stopped in his tracks suddenly, eyeing me curiously. “I don’t understand. What do you mean?”

“You’re just always putting such an effort into trying to make me feel comfortable and welcome,” I elaborated. “Even just now, I know you were only talking about random things to keep my mind off of what other people were saying.”

“Well, that’s what friends do, don’t they?” Jin asked, still clearly confused about why I had to point it out. “We are friends, right?”

“Yes. At least, I hope we are,” I answered bashfully. I looked forward as I continued walking. “But I wonder if you do it because you feel some kind of… obligation to be nice to me. Maybe to try to make up for what I’ve been experiencing.”

“(Y/n),” Seokjin said, placing a hand on my shoulder and turning me toward him, making us stop once again. “Is that what it seems like to you?” His voice was gentle and his expression full of concern.

I shrugged, staring at my feet. “I just worry. I told you it would be hard for me to accept all this for a while.”

“Well, let me put your mind at ease,” Jin said, lifting my chin with his forefinger. “As much as I wish you never had to experience everything you’ve gone through the past year, I don’t feel any obligation toward you. Everything I do for you, I do because I consider you my friend and I care about you. If you need me to back off a bit, I will do that for you. But I can’t tell you how much I’ve been enjoying spending time with you this year so far.”

Jin moved the hand on my shoulder to the middle of my back to gently usher me forward and continue on our way, dropping it away once we were walking again. “Every time I spend time with you, I see that wall of yours slowly come down. A little more of your personality, the part of you that you’ve kept hidden from everyone comes out and it makes me so happy to see, and I realize that I really like who you are a little more each time. I know you haven’t shown us the entire real you yet, but I can’t wait for the day that you do.”

Looking at him, I could see him smiling softly and his eyes full of… something. Care? Adoration? Whatever it was, it made his eyes look like they were sparkling and I found myself both wanting to never look away and too embarrassed to keep looking. I managed to give him a smile before ultimately tearing my gaze away with a blush on my cheeks and feeling my heart race. How seeing him like that made me feel was definitely something I wasn’t going to be examining anytime soon.

“Thank you, Jin oppa,” I said, barely above a whisper. “I don’t think I’ve heard anyone say something that sounded that sincere to me in a long time.

We walked the rest of the way back to the dorms in comfortable silence, while I hoped Jin couldn’t tell the battle going on inside my head to keep thoughts that shouldn’t be there out. If I were honest with myself, it wasn’t the first time those kinds of thoughts surfaced in my mind. But I couldn’t let them take hold at all. I’d found new friends, and I wasn’t going to ruin it by letting my heart run off with fantasies at one of the first people to show me kindness like Jin has.

If only that was as easy to control as I wanted it to be.

Seokjin walked me back to my door first and before I could even think about the words, I asked, “Do you want to come in for a little bit?” I internally grimaced at myself for not being able to control my tongue.

Jin however, seemed pleased with my offer when he smiled and said, “Of course.”

This was the first time I had openly invited any of my new friends into my dorm. Luckily,  I was a relatively clean person so there weren’t any big messes around for me to fix and he wasn’t going to get an accidental look at my underwear selection.

After taking a quick look around, Jin made himself comfortable on the lone couch in the corner. “You keep your room nice and clean,” he commented, seeming to approve. “I wish you could rub that off on Joon. I’m the only reason our room isn’t a disaster.”

I chuckled as I poured us both some water from the kitchenette. “If you couldn’t get him to be more organized after being with each other for your whole lives, I don’t think I can do much.” I handed him his glass as I sat next to him.

Jin threw his head back when he laughed heartily. “That’s very true.”

I was surprised at how easily the two of us settled into conversation, chatting literally about anything. The nervousness I initially felt when I invited him in without thinking was soon long gone and replaced by a comforting warmth, wrapping around me like a blanket that I never wanted to let go of.

“You’re kidding!” I laughed when Jin recounted the story of when Namjoon found out about Hoseok and Yoongi’s relationship.

“I’m serious!” he said. “He walked into the room and saw them kissing, screamed like a little girl and ran down the hallway, tripping and knocking over this jade statue my mom had. He fell flat on his face and started crying.”

I doubled over sideways onto the couch as I couldn’t stop laughing, holding onto my stomach. “Oh my gosh, he must have been mortified.”

“Oh, he was,” Jin said, having a hard time talking between his own fits of laughter. “So were Hobi and Yoongi. They thought he was uncomfortable about them, but it turned out he was just shocked and utterly embarrassed about catching them. And then even more embarrassed by his fall.”

“That is definitely one way for your friends to find out about your relationship,” I mused as I righted myself and calmed down. I turned to look at Jin, whose gaze was already on me with a bright smile.

“There she is,” he said quietly.

I tilted my head, confused. “What do you mean?”

“The you behind that wall.” Jin reached his hand out to brush back some of my hair that had fallen in my face during my laughing fit and rested it on my cheek. “I’m really happy to see the real you come out like that.”

I felt my face flush while I tried to not smile too much. There was that look in his eyes again–the one that made them sparkle. Something about it was so captivating that I couldn’t look away, and Seokjin didn’t seem to want to break the eye contact anytime soon.

“I don’t want to overstep,” Jin started, seeming to think carefully about each word that left his mouth, “but I also want to be honest with you.” He took in a deep breath before continuing. “(Y/n), I-”

My ringtone rang out into the room, interrupting whatever it was Seokjin was about to say and bursting the bubble that was created around us. With a quiet sigh, Jin dropped his hand away from where it still rested against my cheek.

After shaking off the fuzzy feeling that had invaded my mind, I recognized the song playing as the one I set for Jimin. “Hey Chim, what’s up?” I asked when I answered the call.

“Noona, where are you right now?” he responded, sounding out of breath.

There was an urgency in his voice that made me concerned. “I’m in my room. Why? Is something wrong, Chim?”

“Okay, good,” he said. “Just- just stay there, okay? Don’t go anywhere. I’m on my way.”

“Jimin, what is going on?” I asked again, entirely confused.

“I’ll explain when I get there. Just trust me when I ask you to not leave your room, okay? And don’t go on the school forum or Twitter or anything. I’ll be there in five minutes, tops.”

He hung up the call before I had the chance to ask anything else, leaving me an utterly bewildered mess.

I looked at Jin who, being close enough to have heard the call as well, looked just as confused as me.

“What was that about?” he asked, but it wasn’t really directed towards me.

“I have no idea,” I said, trying to revisit the conversation in my head. “He said he’s on his way here and to… not look at the school forum.”

As soon as the words left my mouth Seokjin was on his phone, most likely doing exactly what Jimin asked me not to. It only took a few moments for his fingers to stop in their tracks, his face looking shocked before quickly changing into anger.

“Yeah, don’t check the school forum, alright,” he mumbled. “What the fuck is this girl’s problem?”

With his reaction, I quickly went to take a look myself. When I made it to the forum, I had no trouble finding the post that Jimin obviously didn’t want me to see. It would have almost felt like déjà vu, if my initial reaction this time hadn’t been to laugh incredulously.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I said, scoffing.

Sitting prominently on the first page of the forum was a post titled ‘PARK (Y/N) FINDS ANOTHER VICTIM TO PREY ON,’ posted by Yunhee. Skimming through the post, I saw a picture of me and another girl sitting in the cafeteria. I didn’t really care about the contents because I knew it was full of nothing but lies. But looking closely at the picture, I was able to recognize the other girl even though her face was blurred.

“That’s the girl we were talking about earlier,” I told Jin. “The one who sat with me before Jimin and Hoseok got there.”

“Well, that’s just great,” he said, running a hand through his hair and clearly frustrated.

It wasn’t long before there was a knock at my door and I heard Jimin’s voice calling through to let me know it was him.

I got up to open the door and he hurried in, swiftly closing and locking the door behind him. “Noona, you haven’t looked at the forum, have you?” he rushed out.

I showed him my phone which was still in my hand, and he sighed.

“I told you not to look,” he said, concern lacing his features.

“Well,” Seokjin said, making Jimin jump in surprise since he hadn’t noticed him yet, “if you explicitly say, ‘don’t look on the forum,' it kind of makes us curious about what was on the forum.”

“Hyung! I didn’t know you were here.” My brother relaxed a little. “Well at least you weren’t by yourself when you saw it,” he said, looking at me closely. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Chim,” I answered. “I’m more in disbelief than anything. I don’t get why she’s doing this again.”

“Show me your class schedule,” Jimin said suddenly.

I raised my eyebrows at him. “Why?”

“Because you’re not going anywhere alone,” he said. “I need to know your schedule, and I’m going to talk to our friends and see how we can arrange that.”

I sighed. “Jimin, I told you not to try to be my bodyguard-”

“Yeah, that was before this-” he pointed at his phone, where he had the forum open as well “-happened. Things are a bit different now.”

“How?” I asked. “It’s not like people ever stopped bothering me, and they will keep doing it now.”

“You told me just a few days ago that it’s calmed down a lot since last semester,” Jimin said. “But this post is going to make it worse again, just like when the post last year went up. And I am not letting you go through that alone again.”

Not knowing what to say, I turned to Jin in hopes of some assistance.

“Sorry, (Y/n),” Jin said. “I actually agree with Jimin. That’s probably why she did this. She wants people to start bothering you again. For what reason, I don’t know. But if you think I won’t go out of my way to make sure you have one of us with you as much as possible, then you clearly don’t know how much I care about you.”

I could have sworn I saw a smirk appear on Jimin’s face for a moment, but it was gone so fast I couldn’t tell if I imagined it or not. “Well, that’s settled then. Let’s see if we can get everyone here and come up with a plan.”

I sat down, giving into their insistence. While I had gotten more or less used to everything by now, imagining things going back to being just as bad as they were those first few weeks after the original post made my stomach drop—even more so when I imagined having to go through it on my own again. I knew there wasn’t much I could do, so I figured I should be happy with the fact that I had people to help me this time.

But there was one thing I knew I wanted to do. I needed answers, and I was going to get them one way or another. I needed to talk to Yunhee.

“Noona, I’m not letting you do this alone,” Jimin insisted once again as I walked down the hallway.

“Jimin, I have to,” I responded. “This is something I need to talk to her about on my own. If I bring you in there with me, it’s only going to make it look like I can’t handle it myself.”

It had been four days since Yunhee posted to the forum again and what Jimin expected was exactly what happened. People were so much more vocal about their thoughts about me, not even bothering to whisper their accusations and choice words. Whenever I was alone—which was mostly during classes—it was the worst. But between Jimin, Seokjin, and the others, we were able to work out a way for one of them to walk me between each class and be with me almost all of the time.

Hoseok had also talked his parents into letting me eat at the café for lunch and dinner. They had a private room in the back where they would rest and eat, and his dad was kind enough to make some extra portions for me. They didn’t even need us to explain the situation, having heard gossip from the students who frequented the café. And luckily, they already knew from their son how untrue it all was so they were more than willing to help me out.

I had already known which room in the dorm was Yunhee’s, having visited it many times before, so all I had to do was wait for a time when she was in her room so I could confront her. I knew for sure she was there right now, and I was more than eager to find out what her issue was and try to put a stop to all of this.

I paused in front of her door about to knock, when Jimin grabbed ahold of my arms to stop me again. “Are you sure I can’t come in with you?”

“Please, Chim,” I said. “I want to do this on my own. I need to.”

He sighed and slowly let go of his grip on me. “Alright, fine. But I’m staying right here. You call for me if you need me, understand?”

“I will,” I said, figuring I wouldn’t need him but knew agreeing would put him at ease. “Thank you.” I offered him a smile in gratitude before I took in a breath and finally knocked on her door.

“I know it’s you, (Y/n),” I heard Yunhee call from inside. “I heard you talking.”

“Well, then you know why I’m here,” I said firmly. “And we need to talk. You might want to let me in before I make a scene out here in the hallway.”

There was silence for a few moments before the door clicked as she unlocked it, slowly opening it to allow me in.

After I walked in and she shut the door behind us, Yunhee leaned against it and crossed her arms. “Well?” she asked. “What is it you feel like you need to say.”

I felt anger boiling in my stomach. “You know exactly what I’m here to talk about,” I said, clenching my fists. “You know just as well as I do that everything you posted, the other day and last year, is bullshit.”

Yunhee shrugged. “Well, they’re already out there, so I don’t know what you want me to do.”

“Why would you even post them in the first place?” I asked. “You and Eunjung did enough damage last year, and I know it must have been you who asked that freshman to approach me the other day. Why would you do all of this?!”

Yunhee didn’t answer; she just looked at me with an unreadable expression.

“I haven’t done any of the things that either of those posts claimed, and you damn well know it.” I took in a deep breath to try to calm down a little and gather my thoughts. “I still don’t understand why you started this, Yunhee. I considered you my best friend. When I opened up to you about my orientation, I didn’t think you’d just throw five years-worth of friendship out the window and stab me in the back.”

“Stab you in the back?” Yunhee pushed herself away from the door. “Well, I felt like you stabbed me in the gut. For five whole years you couldn’t tell me that you were into girls?”

“I told you why I didn’t say anything before then. And apparently it was for good reason, seeing how you plotted against me with a homophobe and just tossed me aside when I did!” I rubbed my face with my hands in frustration. “Did I really disgust you that much that you felt all of that was necessary?”

“Disgust?” she asked, walking toward me. “No, (Y/n). You are completely missing the mark here. What happened was that the moment you decided it was appropriate to come out to me, it just had to be when you had found some other random girl—who you hadn’t even talked to at that point, might I add—to fawn over. In all the years I knew you, I never thought that you would have even looked at a girl like that. But you did, and instead of being someone that you knew and who cherished you, it had to be some random chick?!”

“W-What?” I had to run the last sentence she said through my head again to really understand the meaning behind her words. “No way. Were you- were you jealous?”

“Yes, I was jealous!” Yunhee admitted. “Here I was, thinking there was no way you could care about me the way I cared about you, that I was absolutely not your type. But then I found out I was wrong in the same breath that you confessed your crush on some other girl. Of course I'd be jealous!”

Taken aback, I needed a moment to absorb the new information before I could respond. “Well first of all, it's not like you ever told me that you were into girls either-"

“How could I when you were the only girl I had eyes for and I thought it was hopeless?” Yunhee said.

“Okay, I can see your point there,” I said. “But you could have told me after I was open about it! It didn't have to be the same day or even soon after but, Yunhee, there were so many things you could have done instead of letting your jealousy drive me away and make up lies about me!”

“I didn't know what else to do!” She shouted, flailing her arms in the air. “You clearly weren't interested in me like that and I was just so angry.”

“You said you cared about me as more than a friend, but that didn’t stop you from kicking me to the curb and starting all these rumors that not only alienated me but made me look like I was some terrible person when I hadn’t done anything wrong! That doesn’t exactly look like the actions of someone who cares. Did you even feel bad at all?”

“Of course I did,” she almost mumbled. “When I started it, I just wanted you to feel rejected, like how I did. The date and the post were all Eunjung’s idea. I had let Eunjung use my account to post it, and I didn’t know she was going to go that far with it. Once I read through it after it was posted, I felt really bad for what she said about you.”

“Why didn’t you just talk to me, Yunhee?” I asked, finally taking a seat on her couch. “I can understand you feeing jealous, but you didn’t need to let your jealousy govern your actions. I was going to be rejected by Eunjung either way. And I get you wouldn’t have known that, but if you honestly cared about me and considered me your friend, you could have waited. Maybe even opened up about your own preference in the meantime.

“And when I inevitably got hurt by Eunjung, you could have been there for me. Who knows, you might even have been able to get the courage to own up about your own feelings about me too. There are just so many things you could have done better, instead of all of this!”

I took a moment to breathe and collect myself, while Yunhee remained silent. She was still standing in the middle of the room staring at the ground, at least having the decency to look a little ashamed.

“And what about this new post?” I asked. “If what you said is all true it doesn’t make sense why you would do that again.” When she still remained silent, I took the time to think about it. The only encounter I had with her recently was the day in the park, before Seokjin and Namjoon told me what they knew and I told the story to Taehyung. Maybe… “Don’t tell me you got jealous again.” I guessed. “That I had found new friends.”

Yunhee turned away from me, seeming to refuse to answer. But that was all the answer I needed.

“You did!” I said. “What the hell, Yunhee?!”

“What?” she finally responded, whipping back around and anger lighting her expression. “I was supposed to be happy that you found some new people to be friends with? That I didn’t seem to matter to you anymore?”

I scoffed. “Oh, and I was just supposed to forget about everything you had done to me and come crawling back to you saying, ‘Oh Yunhee, I miss you. I forgive you, please be my friend again’? Why the hell would I do that?! You completely betrayed any trust I had in you. I didn’t know that the worst part was all Eunjung’s idea, so I’ll give you that. But what’s even worse is that you let her go along with it, and afterwards you didn’t say anything!

“You didn’t tell me that that part was all her and you didn’t know she’d say that. You never came to me to apologize or try to make amends. I wasn’t the one who needed to reach out here, Yunhee. It was you. I don’t know if you still feel like your reasons justified their actions, but let me tell you as the one who get the shit end of the stick, they didn’t.”

We were both silent for a few moments while she took in my words and I calmed down a bit. When I spoke again, my voice was much more relaxed. “If you were hoping for us to be friends again, you should have apologized. You should have told me everything you did just now, not because I dragged it out of you but in an effort to be honest and ask for a second chance. But if you were looking for one, that chance is now completely blown.”

She lifted her gaze from the floor, all the fire in her eyes gone. “I’m sorry,” she said so quietly I almost didn’t hear her.

“It’s too late to apologize to me now,” I said. “But I hope you will do better in the future. I don’t wish bad things on you, Yunhee. I just can’t forgive you for what you’ve done.” I sighed as I stood up to leave. “Thank you for finally being honest with me at least.”

Yunhee made no move to say anything else or stop me as I opened her door and left. As soon as the door to her room was closed again, Jimin wrapped me in a tight hug. I had no doubt he was able to hear almost everything that was said with how thin the walls here were.

“You did well, noona,” he said, giving me a kiss on the crown of my head. “I’m proud of you.”

The next day was luckily the weekend, and I wasn’t surprised at all to receive a text from Jin asking if he could stop by. Jimin had been the one to let the others know about my conversation with Yunhee, which I really appreciated. I needed some time to recover yesterday after what I had learned.

As for how people were treating me, I was clueless on what to do. As wrong as what she and Eunjung had done was, I wasn’t about to go telling the whole student body Yunhee’s secrets. Her sexual orientation, her personal thoughts and feelings, those were all her own business to tell. That luxury was taken away from me, and I knew that I didn’t want to do the same to anyone else.

Not to mention, I doubted anyone would even believe me anyway.

A light knock on my door sounded while I was eating my cereal. I opened it to let Seokjin in, and he followed me back to the kitchenette.

“How are you doing?” He gently asked.

I shrugged. “I’m fine. To be honest, I’m glad I have answers now. I’m no less upset with her but at least I know why she did it, even if it wasn’t right.”

Seokjin’s gaze when our eyes connected was so soft, it almost made me feel like I could melt. “I can’t imagine how hard all of this has been for you,” he said.

“I just wish she would have thought to react differently,” I said. “None of this would have happened if she just didn’t act on jealousy.” I sighed, briefly imagining how things could have been different. “But then again, I may not have become friends with you guys if none of this happened.”

“I’m sure that’s not true,” Jin said, taking a seat across from me. “Our brothers still would have met and would have inevitably gotten us to mingle.”

“We probably would have just been acquaintances,” I pointed out.

Seokjin chuckled. “Would going through everything the past year really have been worth it, though? Only to become friends with us?”

I honestly thought about the answer to that while I finished my breakfast. I spent a lot of time building up walls, being alienated and ridiculed. It hadn’t been easy at all to get through, and it still wasn’t. But if all of that was a dark tunnel, then the light at the end would’ve had to be the new friendships I made, especially with the man sitting across from me right now.

“Yes,” I decided. My eyes met Seokjin’s, and I could see the bit of surprise in them from my answer. “Even if the only way for me to have become friends with you was to go through that shitshow, I would do it all over again.”

There it was again, that sparkly look in his eyes. A wide smile slowly grew on his face. “You amaze me, (Y/n). Do you know that?”

“There’s nothing ‘amazing’ about me, oppa,” I said.

“You are amazing,” he countered. “Not everyone would have the strength to do what you did yesterday. Or to get through the last year as well as you have. You’re so much more than you give yourself credit for.”

Finding myself blushing at his words, I decided it was a good time to rinse out my bowl so he hopefully wouldn’t notice.

Once I was done I made my way to the couch, Seokjin following behind me. I sat down, but he remained standing close by for a moment, seeming deep in thought.

“Do you remember how I was about to tell you something the other day?” he suddenly asked. “Before Jimin called you.”

I racked my brain, pulling out the memory—mostly about how intensely he had been staring at me and how fast it made my heart beat. I cleared my throat before saying, “Yeah, I remember.”

“I think now it’s even more important for me to be honest with you,” Jin said. “And I think I know you well enough to tell, but I just want to make sure first. You’re not feeling emotionally vulnerable right now, right? I know that yesterday was a lot for you to take in, but you seem to be doing well today.”

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion, wondering what this was about. “I mean, yeah. I’m not like in shock or dazed or feeling particularly vulnerable or anything. Why?”

“Because what I have to tell you is important but I want to be sure that whatever you have to say in response is honest and comes from your heart,” he said.

“Is something wrong?” I asked, becoming worried. “Did I-”

“No, absolutely not,” Jin assured me, gently smiling. “Nothing is wrong.”

I nodded in understanding, but didn’t say anything as I waited for him to continue.

Jin took in a deep breath before sitting next to me and gently taking my hand in his. “I told you the other day about how the more I get to see who you are beyond your wall, the more I realize how much I like you. I wasn’t exaggerating at all, (Y/n). I didn’t realize it at first, but my feelings toward you started to become less and less platonic the more I got to know you. And before I knew it, I started to really like you. Not just as a friend, but as something more.”

I felt my heart pounding in my chest. So that’s what that sparkle in his eyes was—the same one that prominently shined in his earnest gaze now. Butterflies had completely swarmed my stomach, making me almost feel dizzy from his confession. I could hardly believe it. After I had worked so hard to try to keep those same thoughts and feelings from taking root in my own heart, he had felt that way all along?

“I don’t expect you to feel anything more than friendship toward me,” he continued, “but I just feel like I need to be completely honest with you. I can continue to just be your friend, but I don’t want any secre-”

I couldn’t stop myself from closing the distance between us and placing my lips on his. I felt him hesitate, probably shocked at my actions, but he quickly relaxed into it and returned the kiss. Despite not letting go, neither of us made any move to deepen the kiss, keeping it soft and light.

Eventually, I pulled away just slightly and slowly opened my eyes. “You have no idea how I’ve been internally battling myself to not fall for you, oppa.” I spoke barely above a whisper, knowing he’d be able to hear me with how close our faces still were. “I was scared that I was looking too deeply into things and didn’t want to ruin the best thing that had happened to me in so long.”

“Oh, thank god,” Seokjin said, looking relieved. “I was worrying about it so much, especially after learning how Yunhee had kept her feelings a secret and I was scared that if I didn’t tell you and you eventually found out about it later then it’d cause problems between us. But then I was so scared about telling you because we haven’t known each other very long and what if you didn’t feel the same and-”

I cut off his rambling with a peck to his lips before chuckling. “Well now you know you don’t need to worry about any of that.” I pulled away to look at him, feeling practically giddy now that I let myself feel everything I had been holding back before.

He smiled, leaning forward a bit to let our foreheads touch. “I guess I don’t, huh?” he mused.

“Thank you for telling me,” I said. “I mean I’m glad that we were actually on the same page, but even if I somehow managed to not develop feelings for you, I would have really appreciated the honesty.”

“Of course,” he replied as he brushed a strand of hair behind my ear. He leaned in to connect our lips once again and I let myself get lost in the feeling of our mouths moving together, exploring each other for the first time.

Time had fallen away. It felt like only seconds had passed, but at the same time it felt like it could have been years that we spent connected at the lips. Tentative and careful touches started to grow more confident and certain until I was practically sitting in Jin’s lap, feeling lightheaded and out of breath.

And then my phone started ringing. Jin groaned in frustration as he broke our kiss, catching his breath. “That’s Jimin’s ringtone isn’t it?” he asked.

I was still too out of it to use my voice so I just nodded, planning on ignoring it as I trailed my lips from his jaw down his neck, not wanting to separate from him yet.

Seokjin didn’t seem fully opposed to that idea either as I let the phone ring until it went to voicemail. But it was only a few seconds later when it rang once more.

Sighing, Seokjin gently pushed me away from him. “I think you’d better answer that, babe. He probably isn’t going to stop calling.”

Despite what we were just doing, I blushed at how casually he used the pet name with me. Realizing he was probably right, I got up to retrieve my phone from the nightstand, answering just before it would have gone to voicemail.

“Yes, Jimin?” I asked, trying my best to not sound out of breath.

“Noona!” he yelled. “What took you so long to answer?”

I walked back to the couch and Jin wrapped his arms around my waist as I sat down, resting his head on my shoulder. “I was… busy.” I heard Jin snicker next to my ear. “Do you need something?”

“Check the school forum!” Jimin replied.

“The school- but why?” I asked.

“Just trust me,” he said. “There’s something there you need to see. I’ll be at your room in like ten minutes, so please make sure both of you are decent before I get there.”

I spluttered, wondering if he had some secret cameras set up in my room or something. “Wha-what are you talking about?” I managed to get out.

Jimin laughed on the other end of the phone. “I knew Jin hyung was coming to see you, and you were just vaguely and suspiciously saying you took so long to answer the phone because you were busy? Come on, noona, I wasn’t born yesterday.”

“We were not doing anything inappropriate!” I said.

“Yeah, we were just making out,” Jin added cheekily, earning a smack on the arm from me.

My brother laughed even harder. “I knew it!” He took a moment to calm down before saying, “Anyway, I really am going to head over. Check the forum, trust me. I’ll see you soon!” Jimin hung up swiftly.

“Alright, I guess we should check the forum this time,” I said as I navigated my way there on my phone.

The top post today yet again had my name in the title and was posted by Yunhee, but seemed vastly different from the previous ones. I clicked on the post titled ‘THE TRUTH ABOUT PARK (Y/N),’ finding myself completely shocked at what was inside.

Yunhee confessed every lie she told. Everything that was fabricated, even to the point of exposing that it was Eunjung who went on the date with me last year and lied about our interactions. She even admitted her reasoning on why she did it, saying that it wasn’t right for them to expose my sexuality to the whole school like that and that it was only fair that she exposed herself for what they had done.

My jaw dropped to the floor at the text displayed on my phone screen. “I can’t believe this,” I said, voice barely audible. “Did she seriously do this?”

“Unless we’re both hallucinating, she most definitely did,” Seokjin said, tightening his hold on me. When he placed a light kiss on my temple, I could feel the slight smile on his lips. “She may know she can’t take back what she had done and that you won’t forgive her, but she’s trying to make things right for you.”

“Yeah, I guess she is.” I surveyed the comments underneath where students expressed their outrage at Yunhee and how sorry they felt for criminalizing me over false rumors. “But now she’s going to be the one with fingers pointed at her and whispers behind her back.”

“She must have known that,” Jin said. “She knew it would be a price she had to pay for what she had done.”

I locked my screen and settled back into Seokjin’s embrace, feeling like an immense weight had just lifted off of my shoulders. I wouldn’t have to worry about facing my peers anymore. I could go outside, unconcerned of what people would say about me.

And best of all, I had people I cared about and who cared bout me to spend my suddenly new free time with. I had Seokjin.

After a few moments of relishing in the calm silence, Seokjin spoke. “So now that we’ve more than established how we feel about each other, and know that we can hang out without people bothering us, can I take you on a date?”

I smiled up at him before placing a quick peck on his lips. “I would love that.”

A/N - My first one-shot! I originally thought this would be about 10k but I ended up almost doubling that.. oops lol. I enjoyed writing it and I hope you guys like it as much as I do! Let me know what you think!

[tonystarkbingo]

TSB Discord Party 3 Prompt Summary Game

How to play: we all took turns throwing in three prompts, and then everyone turned those prompts into a fanfic blurb or summary.

phone, blanket, "nope" - suggested by @rebelmeg

@fightingforcreativity - "Tony put your phone away," came a sleepy voice from beside Tony. Because Steve wanted, needed to sleep for a few hours now, he finally had given up on being nice to his newly wed spouse. "Nope" 'That is a war declaration!', the blond thought and decided to do the one thing Tony had told him the genius hated. Steve tucked the blankets away and hooked them.

@rebelmeg - The thud of the phone hitting the floor clinched it for Tony. "Nope." Today was going to be a bad day. Curling up further under the blanket, he decided to dedicate his immediate future to a nap, and to hell with everything else. "Nope. No adulting today. Nope."

@jamesbuckystark - "Nope. Can't today." Tony says and hangs up the phone. He crawls back under the blanket fort where Morgan is waiting for him. It's Daddy/Daughter Day

@somesortofitalianroast - Bucky was bundled up in a blanket on the couch with some hot chocolate. He checked his phone, and saw that it was snowing outside. “Nope,” he said to himself, “not going for a walk.”

@darthbloodorange - Steve pulls the blankets further over his head. "No." 

Tony laughs at the images his husband made, wrapped up in their blankets. "Steve, you can't just ignore a call from the Secretary of Defence." He says. 

"Well, I am." comes a grumble from within the blankets. 

"Steve" He wheezes. "That's not very Captain America of you" 

"Don't care. I'm on vacation. Don't want to. Nope."

apples, cats, Science - suggested by @fightingforcreativity

@saganarojanaolt - "Unlike most cats, Alpine was well behaved. Except when there was something in his place by the window. It didn't matter what it was, if it was there it got dropped. Spices for cooking, flowers to liven up the place, apples to ripen, science books to study, didn't matter. It got summarily pushed off. So Alpine could take his rightful place. "

@menatiera - Cats were known to dislike citrus fruit. So Tony wouldn't have been surprised to find out Bucky's cat disliking oranges and such. Instead, Alpine decided that he absolutely hates apples with furious passion. Tony obviously needs Science to answer why. And if he gets to spend some more time with Bucky while conducting experiments with his cats, well, that's just a happy coincidence.

@rebelmeg - Dum-E was very excited. It wasn't every day Ton-E let a Kit-E into the lab, and today there were two Kit-E's. One of them was chewing on Bruc-E's airpods, but Dum-E knew that was okay. Ton-E liked to tease Bruc-E about his bad apples.

@jamesbuckystark - There was a flash, and now instead of Rhodey, Bruce, Peter, and Harley in the lab with him, there are two cats and two apples, all with unimpressed eyes looking at him. "This is not magic! It's science, I swear!" Tony pleads. "I'll fix this!"

@somesortofitalianroast - Tony was working in his lab, cranking out music, when two things happened: Alpine jumped up on his work bench, and Dum-E somehow got a hold of an apple, which he promptly threw at Tony. Hilarious ensues.

@darthbloodorange - Steve looks down at the mess of apples on the lab floor and sighs. He knew better than to ask at this point, but he does anyway. "Why?" "Science!" Tony says, as if it should be obvious. Socrates knocks another apple from down from the shelf, watching as it lends on the floor with a wet crunch. "See!"

dragon, hotel, blue - suggested by @saganarojanaolt

@jamesbuckystark - Rhodey blinks his eyes. In front of him is a hotel with a red dragon standing in front. "Do you have the courage to wear the Blue Tunic of Valor and save the prince?" It rumbles. Rhodey looks up. In the penthouse is Tony, dressed in a beautiful gown.

@menatiera - Being turned into a dragon is generally not a horrible thing. Dragons are cool, majestic and all that. Even if blue is not really Tony's color, he could say at least ten other things from the top of his head to happen to him that would be worse than having his color scheme messed up in a magical animal transformation. Still. Being turned into a dragon in the middle of the hotel lobby on his honeymoon is still rude.

@rebelmeg - "Pepper, there is a dragon in my hotel room. No, you did not mishear me. Yes, Pepper, there is a dragon in my hotel room. NO, I DIDN'T DO IT! ...at least, I don't think I did... Pepper, stop shouting. Pepper. Pepper. Pepper. Oh, for the love-- PEPPER! Hi. Yes, I'm shouting, and so are you! Are too. Are too. Are-- hey! Just because I regularly play with things I shouldn't doesn't mean the gigantic lizard with pretty blue scales is automatically my fault! No, don't call Stephen. Pepper. Pepper, no, he'll just get all uppity like he does, you know how I-- DAMN IT, PEPPER."

@gavilansblog - His room in the Blue Dragon Hotel wasn't blue. It was an off-white beige color. Also, it had no dragons. Well, that was just rude, Tony thought, staring at the nondescript fruit bowl print over the bed. The least a Blue Dragon Hotel could do is have, y'know, a blue dragon. Tony sat down on the bed, then jumped up with a yelp as something nudged the backs of his legs. He turned and looked in completed befuddlement as a blue snout poked out from under the bed, followed by a very definitely draconic little body. Well, that did explain the name.

@somesortofitalianroast - “Pepper. Did you really make reservations at the Blue Dragon Hotel?” 

“Yes, Tony. I did. Why?” 

“Because it’s an RV park, not a 5-star hotel.”

@darthbloodorange - (Iron Man Noir!) Tony sits down on the edge his hotel bed with a huff. He pulls the large, blue scale out of his travel bag, turning over it in his hands. It had been months now, but Tony wasn't about to give up on the search for the dragon that saved his teams life. (Dragon!Steve?)

enlightment, postcard, chocolate - suggested by @menatiera

@jamesbuckystark - Tony got some interesting mail today... from Victor von Doom. He got a postcard and a chocolate heart. BE DOOM'S "Well this is a time of enlightenment," he muses

@menatiera - 'Willy Wonka is behind the dementor attacks because he wants to sell more chocolate.' Well. Postcards are usually not the format for these kind of enlightments to go, especially not postcards without names to them. Tony turns the paper in his hand, deep in thought, then mentally shrugs, because why not? It's not the weirdest thing he's heard. And he can relieve his nerdy days while investigating for clues in a fictional book series for proof or denial of this statement.

@rebelmeg - "riddle me this, jarvis," tony said as he turned over the postcard in his hand. "how precisely did someone manage to make an actual postcard out of chocolate and send it through the mail intact?" 

"perhaps you should bite it and find out." jarvis replied pertly.

with a roll of his eyes, tony had to tell the idiot side of his brain to sit down and shut up. "y'know j, i think you might be spending too much time around harley." 

"blasphemy. i'm a perfectly enlightened being that needs no outside interference to contribute to my sass." 

tony choked on his bite of postcard.

@somesortofitalianroast - It wasn’t any day that Steve got a postcard in the mail. Especially not one that was addressed to him and didn’t get bundled up with the rest of his fan mail. This postcard was completely blank, except what appeared to be a chess move, but he wasn’t sure. The front of the postcard had a picture of a chocolate store in Ukraine with the tagline “find chocolate enlightenment in Kyiv.”

@darthbloodorange - It's no secret that out of all of them Tony was the Chocolate hoarder. While Tony is away on a business trip the Avengers raid Tony's chocolate stores. But while searching for chocolate they find some enlightening postcards, postcards that reveal a more better kept secret between Tony and Steve.

Dreams, Wheel, and Dynamite - suggested by @jamesbuckystark

@rebelmeg - "just think, rhodey. a huge wheel of fireworks and dynamite. it's what dreams are made of!" tony's eyes were wide, sparkling with mania, and rhodey was justifiably concerned. "tony, i don't think you should watch mythbusters anymore."

@somesortofitalianroast - In his dream, he was in a tour bus. He was watching the band, some playing cards, some reading, some sleeping, but no one seemed to notice him. The movement of the wheels of the bus was hypnotic, as was the guitarist gently strumming on an acoustic guitar. The singer, half asleep with a book, started singing along. He couldn’t make out most of the words, but he seemed to be singing about dynamite. Interesting choice for a lullaby, but Steve wasn’t complaining. The singer looked right at him, paused in his singing. “You should wake up now.”

@27dragons - Tony was usually much more careful around dynamite than Pepper gave him credit for. Sure, he sometimes played it fast and loose with safety, but actual dynamite was no laughing matter. So it absolutely was not his fault that the charge blew early, before he had a chance to get back behind the protective barrier, he would like that understood. But regardless of whose fault it was, he had a concussion, a ringing in his ears that wouldn't go away, and every time he drifted off to sleep he was having the most peculiar dreams -- or rather, dream: a single dream, over and over, of a giant wheel covered with beautiful blue-steel eyes that stared at him in shock. "I think," he told Pepper when she came to check him out of the hospital, "that I've met my guardian angel."

@jamesbuckystark - "I had the weirdest dream," Tony rubs his head. "I was a contender on Wheel of Fortune, and Pat Sajek told me I didn't win even though the phrase was 'Made from dynamite and daisies.' And I knew what the phrase was!"

@darthbloodorange - Tony is sure he was having a bad dream when he walks into his lab to find Steve fastening explosives to the wheels of his motorcycle. "Wheels shouldn't need dynamite to turn!" Tony cries, throwing his hands into the air. "I can't believe you're making me say this but Steve, this is too dangerous. That's too much firepower, you're going to be blown into space!"

"Well, I've always dreamt of being an astronaut." Steve says, grinning.

varenyky, U2, dancing - suggested by @somesortofitalianroast

@jamesbuckystark - "Is this what all galas are like?" Bucky asks, eyes wide. "No," Tony examines his nails. "U2 never plays a set for galas. They only dance at the Christmas ones, and I have never seen varenyky on the buffet table."

@rebelmeg - tony wiggled his booty as he danced around the kitchen, singing along to U2 and putting frozen pierogis on a plate.

"shaking what your mama gave you?" nat asked as she came into the room, smiling as he waggled his eyebrows at her. 

"you betcha. want a pierogi?" he rattled the frozen dumplings on the plate. "gonna microwave some." 

natasha's eyes narrowed, then she was storming across the room and seizing the plate. "i am absolutely not letting you eat that." 

tony whined as she dumped them right in the garbage. "my lunch!" 

"if you want varenyky, i will make you some. you will not eat that trash." 

tony was still pouting over the garbage can. "but i'm hungry." 

"come on," natasha grabbed his sleeve and tugged him over. "i'll teach you how and it'll go fast." 

or, how tony and nat bonded over pierogis while dancing to U2

@darthbloodorange - (College AU) It was 4AM. He knew they knew they were probably get into loads of trouble. Any moment now Security would be knocking on their door with a noise complaint. But Tony couldn't care less, he's hasn't been so happy in a long time. He was dancing with Steve in the kitchen to U2, cooking varenyky.

[thebachelordiaries]

Clare seeks HIMBO: ‘The Bachelorette’ cast first impressions

The Covid-19 pandemic has been rough for the entire world, but Bachelor Nation faced some dark days too. Going eight months without a single new episode from The Bachelor franchise is something I would really like to not relive.

Fortunately, those dark days are over. Clare’s season has me sucked back in. 

The quality of this image is atrocious.

Most of these men—presuming they followed CDC’s social distancing guidelines— haven’t seen a woman in months, are touch deprived, possibly unemployed and contemplating moving back to their hometown while stalking the housing market on Zillow. Everyone’s desperate. That makes for some pretty good TV.

This season features men ranging from ages 26 to 41. We’ve got a boy band manager, a grooming specialist, several men who look like they masturbate in front of full length mirrors and even more who probably want me to join their MLM pyramid scheme. 

I’ve never been more ready to roast a bunch of men who have nightmares about going bald. It’s all I’ve wanted to do since March.

Let’s go:

AJ, 28, Software sales

AJ is the kind of guy who writes “Looking for the Pam to my Jim <3″ on his Bumble profile. His bio is generic and probably not reflective of who he is as a person. If I were Clare I’d swipe left.

Ben, 29, Army ranger veteran

“Ben's favorite indulgence is an ice bath.“ Well then.

Alexa, play “Run” by AWOLNATION.

Bennett, 36, Wealth management consultant

Bennett’s profile is the biggest red flag I’ve ever seen. This man says he is the total package but hasn’t always been "this successful and good looking.” But wait, there’s more: “According to Bennett, his high school girlfriend is the only girl he's ever had to work for.“

Can someone tell me what NYC neighborhood he lives in so I can blacklist it?

Blake M1, 31, Male grooming specialist

Blake’s just another stereotypical “29th round draft pick who sat on the bench of the practice team before getting cut, but claims he left the sport due to an injury on his own accord.” 

Blake M2, 29, Wildlife manager

This Blake is an outdoorsy Canadian who seems pretty genuine and cool. Unfortunately, he has the face of someone who’d get sent home on night one. I hope I’m wrong.

Brandon, 28, Real Estate Agent

Just another boring hot person. Nothing to see here.

Brendan, 30, Commercial roofer

Brandan, not to be confused for Brandon, “loves some good true crime, working out and hanging out with his friends.” I can’t even make fun of this man. We have the exact same interests. 

Chasen, 31, IT account executive

The Winklevoss twins are actually triplets and Chasen is their long lost brother. But more seriously, have you ever seen someone who looks more like their name than this man?

Chris, 27, Landscape design salesman

“Chris hopes to find a woman who is sharp and witty but also easygoing.” Chris, sweetheart, have you met Clare? Easygoing...? There’s still time back out of this before it’s too late.

Dale, 31, Former pro football wide receiver

Dale aggressively screams “Bachelor material.” I’d say he’s auditioning for that role but Matt James already scooped it up. Better luck next year, Daley.

Demar, 26, Spin cycling instructor

Demar is a “very popular spin instructor in Scottsdale and says he can get on that bike and spin to any beat thrown his way.” Imagine how many trophy wives Demar has f*cked? 

Eazy, 29, Sports marketing agent

Eazy is very similar to Dale on paper. Except his name is Eazy so he automatically loses that battle.

Ed, 33, Health care salesman

“Ed is looking to find a woman who has natural beauty without looking overly fake.” Ed deserves to die alone.

Garin, 34, Professor of Journalism

Garin’s bio is giving me hubby material vibes. And maybe a little bit of a “gets eliminated on night one” vibe too.

Ivan, 28, Aeronautical Engineer

Ivan, what are you doing here? We’re in a recession. Please go back to your normal job before it’s too late. 

Jason, 31, Former pro football linemen

“He is a former NFL offensive lineman who, after suffering too many concussions on the field, decided to prioritize his health and change the direction of his life.” A big, brawny HIMBO with CTE? I feel like he’s Clare’s type.

Jay, 29, Fitness director

There are too many things about Jay that I dislike and I’m trying to keep this brief. Jay says “it's time to take a break from worrying about others and focus on himself instead.” I am willing to bet money that this man has never made a woman c*m.

Jeremy, 40, Banker

Jeremy is the oldest contestant ever to come on "The Bachelorette,” which may seem like a monuments accomplishment but he’s literally only one year older than Clare. 

He also “hates Instagram models, both male and female,” so he should have a lot of fun here.

Joe, 36, Anesthesiologist

Before I even saw his profession and location, I thought Joe looked like a doctor I’d find on a NYC dating app...and...uh...I probably did see him on there now that I think about it.

Anyway, this man has apparently been through seven stages of hell while on the front lines fighting Covid-19 in NYC so I definitely think he deserves to find love. Someone marry him please.

Jordan C, 26, Software account executive

I can already tell Jordan is going to get the “I’m young but mature” edit which means he’s probably not going to be good TV.

Too bad someone a tad younger (like Tayshia) wasn’t the Bachelorette. I feel like they’d make a cute couple.

Jordan M., 30, Cyber security engineer

I was going to say something mean but Jordan’s into cyber security and I don’t want my blog to be deactivated, so never mind. Cast photos are historically bad so I’m sure he looks much better in real life.

Kenny, 39, Boy band manager

I could go for the obvious drags regarding this man’s profession (or his sh*tty chest tattoo, or his suspiciously boyish face relative to his age), but I like to think I’m more clever than that. 

I’d like to take this time to talk about men, who are obviously difficult people, who rant and rave about how they want an “easygoing” woman. Look into the mirror, bud. No, not the one you use to jerk off to your reflection; the mirror that looks into your soul. Out of respect for the rest of humankind, have some self-awareness. Or maybe just see a therapist.

Mike, 38, Digital media advisor

Mike is seemingly a decent catch, but I can’t help but wonder why he’s still single or how he never (accidentally or on purpose) impregnated a woman in his 38 years of life. 

And now that I’m thinking about it, do any of these men have children? I have yet to see any mention of it in their bios. But there are eight men left to review, so there’s still time.

Page, 37, Chef

I spoke too soon. Page is a father! He also hates football! I’m a fan of this man. I was initially going to drag him for his name and say that Page is not a real name. PAIGE is a real name. PAGE is a piece of paper. I’m allowed to say this because we have the same name except mine is spelled the correct way. Based on my (mostly positive) review of his cast bio, I have decided not to hold his name against him.

Riley, 30, Long Island City

Riley, once married with children, would like to go on a family vacation that consists of touring every single MLB stadium in the country. If i were his wife, I would simply never give this man children.

Robby, 30, Insurance broker

No more Robbys on The Bachelorette. Society has evolved past its need for more Robbys.

This Robby described his dream woman as: “Incredibly athletic and able to throw back a few beers with him after a day of hiking. She has a sweet personality and won't mind that he spends his Sundays on the golf course.”

Someone please give this man a sex doll. He just wants a hole.

Tyler C., 27, Lawyer

“Tyler C. is a badass lawyer who says he is a businessman by day and a cowboy by night.” How does that make him a lawyer? Does this mean he’s into cosplay? I’m confused.

Tyler S., 36, Music manager

Tyler makes an honorable living off riding his brother’s dick success as a country singer. “He just LOVES his job!” Uh yeah, I would too if I had a low-show, high-paying job off the merits of nepotism. It’s the American dream.

Yosef, 30, Medical device salesman

Another dad! He’s totally going to pull the “girl dad” narrative. That saying is kind of sexist to me but the masses generally eat it up, so I’m fairly confident Yosef will get the "sweet guy” edit he’s looking for.

Zac C., 36, Addiction specialist

“He loves Philadelphia sports and dreams of sharing a Philly Cheesesteak with his future wife while watching the Eagles win a Super Bowl.” This man is so South Jersey it hurts. 

On a more serious note, I don’t think anyone in recent history has spoken openly about their personal struggle with addiction on this show, so I hope Zac gets a chance to tell his story. 

Zach J., 37, Cleaning service owner

Zach is seemingly obsessed with Clare already and hopes to introduce her to his mom as his fiancée. Since Zach watched Clare on Juan Pablo’s season, you’d think he’d know that Clare would first meet his mom during the final four hometown dates. Assuming he makes it that far. My prediction is that he won’t.

Final thoughts

After eight long months Bachelor Mondays are back!!!

Uhh....wait.

Actually, we now have the less-exciting Bachelor Tuesdays. Yeah, it definitely doesn’t have the same ring to it. But I’ll take anything at this point.

Here are my final predictions:

First impression rose: Dale. It just looks like he can turn on the bullsh*t charm

Final rose: Jason. Clare wants a HIMBO I just know it.

Bachelor: nobody (Matt James is The Bachelor)

Most likely to get engaged on Bachelor in Paradise: Blake M2

Most likely to get canceled online: Bennett

Most likely to get sent home night one but deserve better: Chris

Who are your favorite men cast on this season?

[akfanficlove]

“What if I remember?” - #SeblaineWeek2020

Written for Seblaine Week 2020 – Hurt/ comfort

Sebastian had proposed. A week later, he was in an accident, Blaine not knowing if he’d make it and remembering the day he went back to Dalton, met Sebastian again and – in the end – fell in love. This hurt so much when I was even just writing it but I love how it turned out.

 He remembers. He knows it happened, yet he can barely believe it. Why is he silently sitting in an uncomfortable chair next to beeping machines when he wants to scream at Sebastian to finally wake up? The hand that’s holding his boyfriend’s for dear life is sweaty. No, wait, not his boyfriend’s – his fiancé’s. It can’t be, it’s only been a week since Sebastian went down on one knee during their vacation in Paris.

Paris, where Sebastian had lived as a child and where he spent six months as an intern in college. Paris, where they wanted to go together after graduation, then after getting their first jobs, then after Blaine’s first show closed on Broadway.

Finally, 2 years after Sebastian had returned home to San Francisco, they finally went there and it was everything Blaine had dreamed about. They were strolling down the Seine late at night, eating crêpes and kissing under the Eiffel Tower, just like Sebastian had promised. And then, on their last night, Sebastian had insisted they’d go to this little restaurant in Montmartre that’s a cute café by day and a funky bar by night, even though they were both tired, so why exactly couldn’t they just order room service and go to bed?

Blaine knew why when Sebastian took his hand, his palms sweaty and shaking a little. “Blaine Anderson”, he said, “you are the most ridiculous person and a pain in my ass. But every day I wake up next to you and for a moment I am so in awe that you are still with me.”

His voice trembled a little and Blaine’s eyes started to fill with tears because, no, he couldn’t mean that, this couldn’t be… “You are stubborn and you drive me insane when I know there’s something bothering you but you brush me off like it’s fine. I hate it when you sing in the shower before I had my morning coffee and hate even more how I could never ever hate it when you’re singing because it’s beautiful. You have this smug smile when you know my arguments are better but your puppy eyes will make me give in anyways and we really need to talk about you not using them for evil purposes like having dinner with your strange public school friends you insist you like.”

Blaine gasps half-mockingly, half self-conscious (Sebastian might have a point about him using that method to get his way).

“All of this should have me running for my life as fast as I can, yet, you are in every way said puppy – one look, one smile and I’m done, Anderson. Actually, thinking about leaving you kind of leaves me shaking with fear because I might be able to survive without you but I would hardly call that living, so I’d really rather not.” Sebastian actually blushed and Blaine was about to yell “yes, I do!” before he even heard the question.

However, Sebastian got down on one knee, holding out a small velvet box with a beautiful simple silver ring with a row of very small black diamonds and asked Blaine to marry him right there in a little restaurant in Paris. It sounds cliché and cheesy but Blaine likes cheesy and he likes Paris and he likes the ring and, hell, yes, he wants to marry Sebastian! For a fraction of a second there’s an image in his head of the boy he used to love, the boy he thought he would marry one day and in another lifetime or universe maybe he would, would have proposed with a big romantic gesture and a moving speech, but here and now, he kissed Sebastian as he slid his finger through the ring.

At home, they threw a little get-together a few days later to break the news to their families and closest friends, both of them still basking in actually doing this, taking this next step together. They wanted to officially tell their fellow ex-Warblers, Blaine’s public school friends Sebastian pretends to dislike (although he knows Sebastian has a soft spot for Marley, likes playing video games with Sam and Sebastian’s relationship with Santana, founded on a deep respect for each other’s wit and snarky banter, Blaine will never understand) and a few other friends on a bigger party next saturday.

 Next saturday seems so far away right now. He doesn’t really know what happened, couldn’t listen to what the doctor told him a few hours ago when he stormed into the hospital after a call that began with “Mr. Blaine Anderson? You are the emergency contact for a Mr. Sebastian Smythe. I’m sorry to inform you that there was an accident…”

Everything is a blur now. He went where they told him to go. He moved when the nurses needed some space to change Sebastian’s IV-drip. He laid his head in the crook between Sebastian’s head and his shoulder, held his hand carefully, unable to say anything but “Please don’t leave me…”. He’s been like that for hours.

 It’s getting late and visiting hours are long over, one of the nurses obviously feels sorry for him, that’s the only explanation he has why he’s still allowed to be here. He really must look as awful as he feels. His whole body hurts when he moves to get up, not wanting to go but not wanting to cause any trouble for the lovely nurse who let him sit with Sebastian a little longer. He kisses Sebastian’s forehead. He knows, Sebastian doesn’t like this, feels like a little kid when he does it, and maybe Blaine does it on purpose to make Sebastian finally wake up. He remembers fragments now, that the doctor said something about “potential brain damage” and “we just need to give him a few hours, maybe a day or two” and Sebastian “being lucky”. He really wants to believe her, has a deep respect for doctors after seeing some of his friends like Wes and Jeff suffer through med school. So, he hopes she’s right and reluctantly let’s go off Sebastian’s hand.

 Turns out, going back to their apartment was not a good idea. Everything around him is Sebastian and when he’s finally in bed, the only thing he can think about is What if?

 What if Sebastian doesn’t wake up tomorrow?

What if he wakes up at night, now knowing where he is, what happened and looking for Blaine?

Or what if he wakes up not even knowing who Blaine is? What if what they had is gone now?

 Something in Blaine’s stomach doesn’t feel right and he needs to get it out one way or the other. He runs towards the bathroom and makes it just in time before he throws up his breakfast and some of the shitty coffee he had at the hospital. For the first time since the call, he allows himself to break down into tears. He sits on the cold tiles of their bathroom floor, grabbing his curls when the sob’s ripple through his body.

What if Blaine goes back tomorrow and they tell him, Seb will never wake up?

What if they ask him to decide to turn off the machines or believe in wonders?

Oh dear god, what if he actually dies?

 Usually, when Blaine is upset, he finds comfort in Seb’s arms and a solution for whatever problem in his analyzing way of thinking. Blaine gets up, washes out his mouth to get rid of the sour taste and makes his way back to the bedroom. He falls down on the mattress and curls up into a ball. He reaches for Sebastian’s pillow and hugs it tight, smelling the faint smell of the cologne he knows Blaine likes, and why? Why did it have to be Seb? Why now? Why doesn’t he wake up already?

Silent tears stream down Blaine’s face, memories flooding his brain: Sebastian laughing because Blaine’s very small mom was hugging him so tight when they told her about the engagement. Sebastian in Paris, the Eiffel Tower, the parks, the ring and his smile. Tears he tries to hide every time they watch “Moulin Rouge” or a Disney classic. Date nights in the park for the 4th July, sitting on a blanket watching the fire works explode over the Golden Gate Bridge. Little moments like them holding hands all the way back to the hotel with their National’s trophy. Their first kiss a few days later when Blaine burned his tongue on scalding hot coffee, Sebastian being there to soothe the ache. All the way back, Blaine’s first day back at Dalton, not officially attending classes yet but in his uniform anyway to try how it would feel. He remembers. He remembers Sebastian starstruck-expression and the hand on his back. He remembers the warmth that was partly because he was so excited to be back and partly because something stirred in his belly he didn’t dare name yet, not back then.

It’s that warmth he craves now. That warmth he wishes he could give Sebastian. He falls asleep with tears drying on his lashes, his body on Sebastian’s side of the bed. He sleeps restlessly but when he does, he dreams about that day at Dalton that changed everything.

 It’s 7 a.m. when he slowly wakes up, feeling even more exhausted than when he fell asleep. He just wants to shower and go back to the hospital. Before getting up, he looks at his phone, a little anxious to see a message from the hospital there telling him bad news although it’s a ridiculous thought. They would’ve called if something was wrong, right? Yeah. But they would’ve also called if Seb had woken up, a bitter voice in his head tells him.

After the shower and getting dressed he dials the hospitals number where they tell him visitors were not allowed sooner than 8:30 which leaves Blaine with one more hour to ki– to spend. What he wanted to say is a bad, bad word. A bad, bad word he purposely doesn’t use, afraid he might jinx something. Blaine huffs. Sebastian would so make fun of this, of how Blaine behaves when the doctor’s prognosis was that he would be fine and Blaine wishes more than anything for Sebastian to come home and make fun of him. He’d gladly take a life full of rolling eyes, half-smiles and shaking heads if it meant that Sebastian would just be fine. He loves this man and no God would be cruel enough to take him from him, right?

 Blaine sits down on the couch, completely ready with his shoes on and watches to clock on the wall on the left side of their TV tick. He unlocks his phone and scrolls through his pictures.

There are a lot from Paris, one of them in front of the Louvre – it didn’t stop raining this whole day. One of Sebastian in a small café with a French newspaper and an espresso. One of him kissing Sebastian’s cheek out of a sudden and Sebastian’s eyes wide in surprise from when they finally made it up the hill to Sacré-Cœur and enjoyed the view.

Then there are other pictures. Sebastian with his arms slung over Hunter’s and Beat’s shoulder on the night of their housewarming party for their offices of the advertisement agency the founded together. Sebastian, Kitty and Marley dancing on Sam’s birthday party last year, his boyfr– his fiancé’s tie undone and probably too many buttons of his shirt open to be appropriate. Yet, they seemed like they didn’t have a care in the world. A picture of Sebastian and him hugging in front of a huge poster of Blaine’s face on Blaine’s opening night on Broadway. It’s the look in Seb’s face, so proud, so in love, so excited that has Blaine’s heart breaking a little and makes tears sting in his eyes. His thumb brushes over their faces. “Seb, you can’t leave me now…”, he whispers although no one’s there that could hear him.

How he made it to the hospital, he has no idea. His whole body aches and it’s getting worse the closer he gets to the room door. When Blaine opens it, he actually stops breathing, only to let it out in a deep sigh when he finds Sebastian in exactly the same position as he was yesterday. “He looks so fragile”, Blaine thinks and he wants to do nothing but hold his boy in his arms. Maybe that’s why he dismisses the chair and lays down next to Sebastian, curled into his body, careful not to accidently pull out the IV-drip. How often he had found himself in almost exactly this position when they were cuddling in bed after an orgasm or when Blaine’s had this awful cold last winter. Blaine cups Sebastian’s cheek and stroked lightly. During the 5 days of the cold when he thought he might actually die, Sebastian kept him company in bed when he could, took a few days off of work to take care of him, brought him soup and water and tea and advil. And he sang to him, Blaine remembers, the memory might be a little fuzzy but he remembers his soft voice in his ear grounding him. So Blaine starts singing softly, if only to help Sebastian ground himself:

 “I still love you

I still want you

I still need you

After all.

For better or worse

Sickness and health

Till death do us part

After all.

Please don’t leave me…”

 It must be hours since Blaine has arrived. His voice is starting to get hoarse, his face is wet from tears Blaine couldn’t stop from falling and he feels exhausted. When the song is over, he burries his face in Sebastian’s neck and breathes in before getting up. He needs to go to the bathroom and even though he’s not hungry, he knows he should get something to eat. Before he turns to leave the room he leaves a lingering kiss against Sebastian’s forehead and mumbles “I’ll be right back…”. He walks towards the door.

“You know I hate it when you do that, B.”

Blaine stops in his tracks. He’s afraid to turn back around. What if his brain is playing tricks on him? What if he’s sleep-deprieved and going crazy?

“Makes me feel like a child.”

Blaine turns. Deep green is looking at him. There’s a crocked smile on a beautiful face and Blaine rushes back to the bed and grabs this handsome face. He doesn’t feel the tears of relief but he feels the chains that suffocated him burst in his chest, suddenly it’s easier to breath again. He doesn’t hear himself whisper his name again and again in awe. But he does feel it when Sebastian turns his head a little and winces but kisses his palms.

“Hey…”

Blaine blinks. “Hi… oh my god, Seb, you scared me so much!” He launches himself into his fiancé’s arms with an “I love you” but scrambles to his feet when he hears him groan in pain. “Shit, I’m sorry, Seb, I’m so, so sorry. Wait, let me get a nurse or a doctor, fuck, you must be in so much pain and I– I’m just so glad, you’re awake…” He wipes tears and snot away with the back of his right hand. Sebastian is awake. He’s awake.

Sebastian just smiles at him. “It’s okay, B, I’m okay, I’m fine. I don’t need a doctor, not right now.” He grab’s Blaine’s hand. “Why don’t you lay down again?” He scoots over and Blaine obliges, raveling in the feeling of Seb’s finger’s lacing through his curls. He’s awake.

“Oh, Blaine?” – “Mhm?” – “We have to postpone the party. I am so not giving Hunter the satisfaction of showing up with bruises on this usually perfect mark of beauty…”

Blaine just rolls his eyes and hugs Sebastian tighter even though he hears him hissing in obvious discomfort. Good. That’ll teach Sebastian to never, ever scare Blaine like that again. “I swear to God, Seb, if you ever scare me like that again, I’ll burn your French vintage-writing desk without batting an eye.”

[revisionaryhistory]

Three Days ~ 58

~*~Sebastian~*~

The video call with Emma's family had been good until the last sentence. I wasn't sure if Andrea was legitimately saying she hoped we'd be together or questioning if we would. From the look on Emma's face, she was going with option two. Now I was slightly suspicious Eli's dislike for them wasn't unfounded.

It wasn't late when Emma called. I put my script on the table and stretched out on the couch before connecting the call. I stopped before a word left my mouth.

Emma said, "Hey."

"This is not the same happy face I saw less than two hours ago." She looked exhausted. While her puffy red eyes could be from the pool, I doubted it was chlorine. She'd been crying. A knot formed in my stomach. I spoke quietly, "What's going on, baby?"

What followed was a strange story of her parents ignoring her to talk to Amy then telling Emma she should pretend her life sucks so her sister won't do drugs. Oversimplified, but accurate.

Dammit, Eli was right.

Emma went back and forth between angry and sad. I honestly don’t know which was worse, but I didn't like either of them. A wave of protectiveness washed over me and I wanted to jump on a plane to go get her. She didn't need saving now any more than she did in the bar after the volleyball tournament. The difference was either I was there just in case she needed me at the bar or possibly my feelings for her were stronger now. Or both.

At the end of the story, she said, "It's not always this bad. Most of the time it's fine, besides the walking on eggshells. I didn't say anything because I try to be optimistic. If I come down here thinking the worst, I’m reading into everything and paranoid about everything I say. It only makes things worse. I’m sorry. Please don’t be mad."

I double blinked, "Mad? I’m not mad at you. I’m pissed as hell at them. Your best friend kind of hates them. Your sister's a heroin addict and your parents signed over custody of you to a rock star who lived on the other side of the country. I never thought this was a vacation. You said I didn't need to worry, but I did anyway. I am going to need Eli's phone number so I can apologize for thinking he was an ass about your parents."

I felt better when she smiled, "He'll enjoy that and never let you forget."

"Never letting you forget stupid shit is the basis of most male friendships." I switched back to serious for a second, "Do you wanna leave? Say the word and I'll book the flight and talk to you until the Uber gets there. Meet you at the airport here and we'll lock ourselves in my apartment until we have to leave Sunday. Hell, you can just stay here and hideout. Maybe rearrange some more of my drawers."

"As wonderful as it sounds, no. Not tonight anyway. Amy and I will have a good time tomorrow. I'd feel bad running off. Sunday there will be family buffers. Monday, I don't know. Mom will be doing exams Tuesday while I'm with the girls." She shook her head, "I already severely limit my time here."

"Em, it's ok to not want to be around people who make you feel bad. Even if they're family. It's shitty, but it's your choice."

"Visit when my guilt about not visiting outweighs the potential bad time when I visit."

"I don't recommend guilt." I looked at her thinking what a shit situation this was.

"I don't want to fight to just be myself. Shouldn't be this difficult. I can understand them wanting to protect Amy, but I feel like they don't want to hear about me."

I couldn't fix this as much as I wanted to. "Last night when you knew I'd been upset did you feel incredibly helpless? Even though talking to me while I could see you was enough."

"Yep." She yawned. "I was out by the lake. I came back where it was light and we could see each other. We have good phone calls."

I agreed. Phone calls, even video calls, can feel distant or impersonal. Not for us. I'm used to keeping friendships going over the phone. If I couldn't have real conversations on the phone, I wouldn't be sane. "You’re tired."

"I don't want to hang up."

"Not going to. What was your favorite bedtime story when you were little?"

She looked at me like I was a little crazy. Not inaccurate. "Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree."

"I want you to go upstairs and get into bed. While you’re doing that, I’m going to find Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree. Then I'm going to read to you until you fall asleep."

“You’re going to read me a bedtime story?”

I most definitely was. I nodded with a smile.

“Best boyfriend ever.”

“Trying.” I could tell she was getting up. “I’m going to be quiet so you can sneak in.”

“My parents are awake in the family room. I have to walk through.”

“Just pretend you're sneaking me to your bedroom after a date. Put me in your pocket.”

She laughed and then the screen went dark. I could hear muffled voices. “I’m going to bed.”

“Amy said to be ready to leave at ten.”

“Sounds good. Night.”

“Sleep well. We love you.”

“Love you, too.”

Hmmm. Her voice didn’t hold the warmth those words should have. Not the way I’d want to hear them.

Less than a minute later I was out of her pocket. “I need the bathroom. I’m going to let you hang out in bed.”  She was quiet, but I could see she was concentrating on something. “Enjoy.”

Emma dropped the phone on the bed and I was staring at the ceiling when my text notification went off. Oh . . . the naked on a pool float picture. Peachless. Also, bikini bottomless. I was still smiling when the real girl came back on camera. “Nice ass.”

She crawled under the covers and propped her phone against the pillow next to her. “Remarkably self-conscious.”

“Then why’d you send it?” From the drinking game, I knew she’d sent nudes to someone before.

“Wasn’t self-conscious until after I sent. At the time it was fun and flirty. I knew you’d like it. After I hit send I thought I should make sure.”

“No, you were right I like it. A lot. Want a picture of my ass?”

“Your naked is ass is online and on film.”

“Bonus for you! Everything will be soon enough.” I still wasn’t sure how I felt about that.

“Really? Full frontal?”

“Not sure how full, but frontal. The movie I shot in Greece. Talk about self-conscious.”

“I tell you what. When your full-frontal comes out, I’ll send you full-frontal. We’ll be even.”

“Now I’m looking forward to the release.”  A dirty smile formed on my face, “Do I get to take it?”

“I don’t know who else would.”

I scrunched up my face because that hurt in all the good ways. I’m supposed to be reading a bedtime story not getting a hard-on. Guess where gonna see if I can do both at the same time. “Time for sleep.”

She smiled and tucked her hands under her pillow. I like seeing her relaxed like this even better than the naked pool picture. “You look so pretty curled up.”

“Did you remember to turn on the screenshot function?”

“I did.” I took one right now. “I’ll go sleep to that.”  

Winnie-the-Pooh sat down at the foot of the tree, put his head between his paws and began to think. First of all he said to himself: “That buzzing-noise means something. You don’t get a buzzing-noise like that, just buzzing and buzzing, without its meaning something. If there’s a buzzing-noise, somebody’s making a buzzing-noise, and the only reason for making a buzzing-noise that I know of is because you’re a bee.”

Then he thought another long time, and said: “And the only reason for being a bee that I know of is making honey.”

And then he got up, and said: “And the only reason for making honey is so as I can eat it.” So he began to climb the tree.

I kept reading until I was sure she was asleep. Instead of hanging up, I hit mute and put my phone on the arm of the chair where I could see her while I worked. I kept watch until she changed positions and knocked the phone onto the screen.

First thing in the morning, before heading to the gym, I sent her one of the pictures I took of her sleeping.

Sebastian ~ Hope your day is as peaceful as you look here.

Emma ~ Thank you. For everything. Listening, talking, bedtime story.

Sebastian ~ Confession. Didn't know Pooh before last night.

Emma ~ We can watch next time we're together.

Sebastian ~ Cuddled up watching Winnie the Pooh sounds good. Have fun today.

Emma ~ Have fun with the guys tonight.

 The next time I checked my phone, after working out, I had half a dozen text messages. All from Evans.

Chris ~ Yo!

Chris ~ Wake up

Chris ~ Lazy fucker

Chris ~ Are you home?

Chris ~ I’m in NYC

Chris ~ Let me know

Sebastian ~ Ass. I was at the gym. Chace is in town too. Meeting for drinks about five. Dinner. More drinks. You should come. I'd love to see you.

Chris ~ Sounds great. Tell me where.

 I sent him the address and was more excited about my night. Will, Chace, and now Chris were doing before dinner drinks then we'd meet up with the others. I'd made a ton of progress with the new role. After my shower I made some more notes, alternating with checking Instagram when I got a notification Emma had posted. A group walking down a dock pulling a couple of coolers was labeled, "Load in." A shot all of them on the boat. Emma was wearing the same bikini from yesterday with a pair of cutoffs. A couple of hours later she posted multiple pictures of them tubing, people sitting around laughing, others in the water, and a couple of them laying out on the deck. None of those had my girl. The next batch did. Same sort of pictures, but with her in.

This was much better than last night. She looked like she was having fun. The last one before I headed to meet the guys was her, Amy, and who I assume was Amy's boyfriend. He was in the middle. Emma's caption read, "Someone is missing."

I commented, "Miss you too."

I ran into Chace right outside the bar. We hugged and gave each other shit about our matching beards. We kept up the teasing and laughing all the way to the table. Will and Chris were already seated and had ordered beers. Chris downed half his beer in one drink, "Seb, man, you stood me up. I mean, I get helping your parents move."

Will laughed. Chace cocked his head to the side and smiled. Chris looked at them before turning his attention back to me, "What have you done?"

I put my beer down slowly. "Yeah, about that. I may have left out a bit. I was helping my parents move, but that's not why I stayed."

Chris put his hand on my shoulder, "You met a girl."

"I met a girl. We'd had a great first date and I wasn't ready to leave. I wanted to get to know her better."

Chris looked up like he was thinking, "I'm good with that." His eyes came back, "Still seeing her?"

I couldn't have stopped my smile if I'd tried. "Yeah. Emma."

Chris smiled, "Nice."

Chace looked at Will, "You knew this and didn't bust him in our group chat?"

Will shrugged, "Trust me, it's more fun this way." He shifted his eyes to me for a second before looking back to Chace with a smirked, "You've met her."

Chace pointed to himself, "I’ve met her?"

Will continued, "At Kirk's wedding she was with the singer from Boone's band and his wife."

I watched him search his memory, "Didn't I hit on her?"

"Why did you say that out loud?

Chace snickered, "To see him make that face."

Not sure what face I was making, but I changed it.

"I thought they were in a throuple."

I rolled my eyes, "Not a throuple."

"How is that even a word?" Chris screwed up his face.

Will handed Chace his phone, "This is her Instagram Emma_plays_90"

Unless Emma had updated the first was another throuple.

"Sister?"

"Twin."

Both smirked, "Nice."

Chace asked, "Which is yours?"

"Polka dot bikini."

They scrolled back in her timeline, turning the phone toward me when they got to the peach one.

Chris raised one eyebrow, "Please, tell me you have the uncensored version."

I nodded. Smiling again.

Chace handed Will his phone back, "You have better on your phone. Hand it over."

I knew this would happen and had left the naked one in my texts. I had to stand up to dig my phone out of my pocket. I had it unlocked and the folder full of her open when I got a text.

Emma ~ Tell Chris hi and nice to meet him.

I looked up. Chris was on his phone. "What did you do?"

Chris did a shit job of pretending to look innocent. "Does Instagram notify someone if you follow them?"

"If their account is set to private and they have to approve you, yes, it does." Another text.

Emma ~ And Chace...

I glared at him. He shrugged, "0oops."

"Now she knows we're talking about her." No idea why I said that. Of course, she knows we're talking about her.

Will looked exasperated, "She already knew."

Chace chuckled, "She DM’d me. Hope your pick-up lines have improved." He sat there saying each word as he replied, "I'd like to say they have, but probably not."

Will smacked the back of Chace's head, "Stop it. You know how he gets."

One of the side effects of insecurity is jealousy. I get jealous. And in an all-time dick move I don't like it when girlfriends get jealous. I think that falls under the topic of commitment issues. I shook my head at Will, "Not jealous. It's this combination of annoyed that I could have met her a year ago and relief I didn't because things would have gone very differently. I was not ready for Emma a year ago."

"How'd you get ready?"

One of the things Chris and I have in common is relationship and commitment issues. I had no trouble answering, "Years of therapy finally came together. I managed to step outside my walls and she ... she has this way of working around my anxiety. Makes it ok."

I handed over my phone, scrolled back to the beginning with the fish.

Chace winked at Chris, "Told ya the good ones were on his phone."

They scrolled through, stopping to look at each other before turning the phone around to me. It was on the deck at her place. She was sitting at the table, her leg pulled up with her foot on the seat, smiling at me. She'd looked beautiful in the fading light. The smile, the look on her face, still made my heart skip a beat. Any man would love to have a woman look at him the way she was looking at me. That was day four. It’s even better now.

Chris turned the phone back toward them, "You should have led with you'd blown me off because you met a beautiful woman who looks at you like you hung the fucking moon."

I shook my head, "I met a very kind and amazing woman who just happens to be beautiful."

Chace asked, "How'd you meet?"

"She thought I was a drug addict getting snacks before checking into the rehab place up the road. She

helped me find chocolate chips for mom to make fudge."

Chris looked surprised then smiled, "That's a good story."

"Nice, but makes questionable choices." Chris grabbed Chace’s hand to turn the phone back around.

Chace kept scrolling, "This hers? She have a kid?"

Not sure why the pictures are out of order. "No, one of her students. She teaches first grade."

Chris started laughing, his hand went to his chest, "This is perfect. I couldn't do this better."

I was lost, "What are you talking about?"

Chris waved his hand around, "Issues aside and knowing you're not always the good guy in the relationship. The Seb I know," He pointed to Chace and Will, “we know, is kind, sensitive, and has a big ole soft heart. Every time you date someone, I get scared. Legit terrified. I’m afraid every girl is going to break you, change you, and you won’t be sweet Seb anymore. When I think of a teacher, especially a first-grade teacher, I think patient, kind, empathetic, flexible but firm. If I was setting you up on a blind date, I'd look for those qualities. This could be perfect."

"Emma is all those things. And accepting. I had a panic attack the other night. She didn't bitch about me not waking her, or ask a million questions, she just asked what I needed to be ok. I needed a run. I came back and she was upside down on my couch and had switched my sock and underwear drawers. She took none of it on, just took care of me."

"Refreshing," Chris said and the others agreed.

"I took care of her after she got to her parents."

Will winced, "Eli right to hate them?"

My eyes went wide, "They ignored her to talk about Amy's boyfriend, and told her to pretend her life sucks so Amy won't do drugs and relapse."

Will grimaced, "Yeah, Eli is right."

I filled in the holes for Chace and Chris.

Chace frowned, "You’re supposed to go to rehab for cocaine?"

Chris put his hand over his mouth and pretended to look surprised, "Oops."

Chace again, "I picture a first-grade teacher as sweet and innocent. No cursing, drinking, and kinda shy with sex."

I lifted an eyebrow. The same side of my mouth curving up. "I get that, but no." I pulled my eyebrows down, pursed my lips, and shook my head. "I do like Monday mornings when she comes down looking like a first-grade teacher."

Chace leaned forward, "Are you in love with her?" He started to smile.

I hesitated and Will spoke up, "If you say anything besides yes you're a worse liar than you are an actor."

"That's harsh." I rubbed my hand over my beard. "Falling in love, yes. Haven't quite been pushed

over the edge."

"How long have you known her?" From Chace.

"Three weeks."

Chris was shaking his head," You don't need months to know what's right for you. Don't overthink it. If she's ticking all your boxes, your heart flutters when you see here, and her smile takes your breath away, it's long enough. Don't waste a second. Falling in love is the best feeling in the world, just fucking enjoy.”

Chace held his hand out, palm up, waving from Chris to me. "For the record, I wasn't going to give you shit. I was just curious."

The conversation changed to what had been going on with them. Chace was doing some anti-superhero Amazon series. Chris was signed on for an Amazon series too. Apparently, the future is Amazon. The beers kept coming and we were lit when Chris asked our servers to take a picture. He texted it to the three of us and we posted it to Instagram at the same time. Complete with a countdown. Because drunk boys.

We wove our way the block to the restaurant. Our group more than doubled in size. Dinner sobered us up. It was a good time. We were loud for no other reason than talking across a long table. Ok, we were a little loud anyway. Next was another bar. We got even louder there. The value of a night out with the guys should never be underrated. Being idiots and taking the piss out of each other was good for the soul, and bad for the liver. We closed the bar down, loading into cabs in groups heading in the same direction.

I barely remember getting home. The next morning, I woke up with a raging headache. First order of the day was Advil and a bottle of water. Second was checking in on Emma. After the bar, the first one, I hadn't checked my phone again. She knew how to reach me if she needed me. I'd figured she was having fun like I was. From the pictures and videos on Instagram plus the ones she'd texted me, I was right. They’d gone back to her parents after the boat and had a pool party.

[beautyiisterror]

10 questions tag 📚

Rules: answer 10 questions and ask 10 new ones. Thanks so much @therefugeofbooks for tagging me in this, i’m so excited!!!!!

1. What's your favorite cold drink?

if we are talking about alcoholic drinks, caipirinhas are the utimate cocktail, do not @ me!!!!! all flavors, are just *chef’s kiss*, but like in general i love orange juice and ice tea.

2. What's the first thing you notice about a person?

i honestly don’t know??? i mean, if they are goodlooking and not a bad person??? those are literally my two criteria. i like people who are smart and have pretty smiles and kind eyes, just not to sound shallow (which i kinda am lol)

3. Do you have any pets? What would you name if you had one (more)?

I DO!!!!!!! i have two pets acctually, a cat and a dog and they are EVERYTHING TO ME!!!! their names are jake (the dog) and belo (the cat). if i had one more, i would like to have a black cat named luna, because i’m a sailor moon trash.

4. What was your favorite TV show growing up?

i don’t really remember, but i used to love all shows with girls doing stuff? like winx club and totally spies. i used to love those!!! i still kinda do actually. 

5. What's your ideal vacation?

i love travelling with friends, and unfortunately, i don’t get to do as often. so i think my ideal vacation would be like travel to a really cool, unexpected place, with the biggest number of my friends that we can gather to such adventure. 

6. Is there any book that you want to read but by any reason you keep avoiding it?

you mean like, 70% of my bookshelf/kindle library????? hahahaha honestly, i buy books faster then i can read them so is always a HUGE tbr pile all around my room, i’m a chaotic reader, and i take no pride in that. but usually the books i keep avoinding are the classics, and the bigger ones. specially because, from a little time now i’m trying to add diversity to the cultural stuff that i consume, and it doesn’t help that most of the books i have here are from dead cishet white dudes. but i will get around reading them, even if is just to complain about it. 

7. What book do you hope will be turned into a movie or TV show one day?

one of the best books i’ve read this year was my sister, the serial killer by  oyinkan braithwaite, honestly, this book has everything that i love in fiction: complex women, sibilings relationships, FAMILY DINAMICS TO DIE FOR, pretty women comiting murder, humor... honestly five out of five stars, and i would love to see a movie adaptation of it. i would also love a kyoshi duology adaptation, even if i’ve only read the first book yet, i just love avatar universe so much, and kyoshi is my favorite avatar (ALSO A BISSEXUAL WOMAN OF COLOR IS JUST EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) it would be awesome to see a show about her. bonus points if it is animation, but honestly, there are so many great asian actresses around, i would love anyways.

8. Are there any books that are really popular but you dislike?

i can’t really remember many of those, even if i’m really picky with my readings, i’m quite easy to please. but a recent reading that was ABSOLUTELLY FRUSTRATING because i really wanted to like the book, was hanya yanagihara’s a little life. once again, the book covered subjects that i usually fell really drawn to, such as coming of age, found family, FRIEND GROUPS THAT DON’T FALL APART AFTER ADULTHOOD, non white writer/main characters, lgbtqia+ characters. honestly, a nox’s favorites textbook premise. AND YET, I HATED IT SO MUCH!!!! all the unecessary pain that some of the characters go to, that at one point through my reading i just rolled my eyes when something terrible happened/was revealed about the past of one of the main characters. and the identity of the non white characters wasn’t really explored as they should? it honestly felt like just more excuses to make those characters go through MORE PAIN. it was honestly hard to finish it up. and the more frustrating thing is that so many people seem to think this is a great representative book, just doesn’t sit well with me. i also think is impotant to say that there are SO MANY POSSIBLE TRIGGERS IN THIS BOOK, AND I DIDN’T SEE ANYONE TALKING ABOUT THIS BEFORE I READ IT!!! so i’ll leave a list of the triggers i was abble to notice throught out my reading, in case anyone is thinking about give it a go:

content warnings for a little life by hanya yanagihara: self harm, suicidal ideation, attempted suicide, disordered eating, physical abuse of a minor, domestic abuse, abuse of character with a disability, loss of a child, drug abuse/addiction, sexual assault/rape, pedophilia, ptsd, forced prostitution of a minor 

9. When did you last visit a library?

wow it has been so long... i think it was sometime in march of this year, that i went to my college library to pick up some class readings that i had to do, and then QUARENTINE HAPPENED, and i still am with the books i picked up lol. thank god that they lifted up the tax for late books or else i would have to sell my soul to pay it hahahaha i really miss going to college...

10. Could you recommend me a book that you think is underrated?

THIS IS SUCH A HARD QUESTION!!!!!!!!!! as i’ve said, i’m trying to do more diverse readings, and in this time i have come in contact with celeste ng’s work, and it’s honestly SUCH GREAT STORIES!!! i also love some contemporary brazilian authors like vitor martins and lucas rocha (both were translated to english recently, and i really recomend that if you are a english speaker you check their work), i also loved laura pohl’s debute novel, the last 8, she is brazillian as well, but her work is published in the us so no excuse not to check out. also, if like me you are a big fan of avatar universe you totally should check the kyoshi’s novels by f.c yee!!!! i also been meaning to pick up the trilogy of the poppy war written by r.f kuang and children of blood and bone by tomi adeyemi, simply because: WOMEN OF COLOR WRITTING FANTASY!!!!! but it’s not really a recomendation, as i have not read those books, but i am definetly doing it in a near future. 

(another author that i can’t go without mention is olivia pilar, she is a black bissexual woman who writes love stories between black women, and some of her short stories are available in english as well, and honestly WHOLESOME CONTENT!!!!!)

— Here are my ten questions, i don’t really know who to tag, but if you see that, and want to answer it i would love to see your answers, so feel free to keep on the tag! i had a lot of fun answering it, and i hope you guys do to!!!

what is your top 5 literature characters, and why?

are you a tea, coffee or hot chocolate kind of person?

what is your favorite/chosen aesthetic?

if you were the final girl in a horror movie, which song would you like to play in the soundtrack when you got away?

who are your favorite relationships in fiction (of any kind)? 

how do you feel about villans?

what is your favorite boyband?

do you prefer physical or digital books?

what is your favorite type of story?

what is your favorite season?

Looking forward to see your answers ✨

[juleshq]

*  𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐠𝐨𝐬  here  and  do  i  have  the  tea  for  you  .  𝐉𝐔𝐋𝐄𝐒 is  back  in  bridgehampton  for  the  summer  ,  living  off  the 𝐃𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐎 family  𝟐.𝟑 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧  net  worth  .  must  be  nice  to  come  back  home  to  the  hamptons  ,  i  wonder  what  her  fellow  class  of  2017  grads  think  of  her  return  .  you  know  ,  she  was  known  around  town  as  the  𝐂𝐎𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐓𝐓𝐄 and  for  bhs  senior  superlatives  pronouns  was  crowned  as  𝐌𝐎𝐒𝐓 𝐋𝐈𝐊𝐄𝐋𝐘 𝐓𝐎 𝐄𝐋𝐎𝐏𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐕𝐄𝐆𝐀𝐒 & 𝐆𝐄𝐓 𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐃 .  i  wonder  if  that  still  holds  true  today  ,  a  lot  can  change  when  you  go  off  to  𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐃 𝐔𝐍𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐈𝐓𝐘 and  study  𝐁𝐈𝐎𝐋𝐎𝐆𝐘  .  either  way  ,  i  bet  she  is  still  very  𝐀𝐅𝐅𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐄 , 𝐃𝐄𝐕𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐃 , 𝐃𝐄𝐂𝐄𝐈𝐓𝐅𝐔𝐋 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐒𝐔𝐁𝐉𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐄  . hopefully  this  time  next  year  the  plans  to  𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐃 𝐌𝐄𝐃 𝐒𝐂𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐋 come  true  .  in  the  meantime  ,  i  look  forward  to  seeing  her  blast  𝐢 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐫 (𝐁𝐔𝐓 𝐈 𝐍𝐄𝐄𝐃 𝐏𝐄𝐀𝐂𝐄) 𝖇𝖞 𝐤𝐚𝐥���� 𝐮𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐬  at  every  hamptons  function  .  it’s  going  to  be  a  wild  summer  home  ,  welcome  back  .

i  don’t  think  i’ve  EVER  been  this  excited  to  plot  and interact with a group of people ,  u  all  seem  like  such  beaut  ppl  &  i’m  in  love  already  but   i’m  a  little  . . .  intimidated  ADFJH .  anyways  ,  i’m  not  going  to  ramble  bc  i’m  ready  to  get  down  to  business  ,  i’m  sammie  &  i  go  by  she  /  her  pronouns  !  under  the  cut  is  a  long  bio  on  jules !  i  will  GLADLY  give  you  a  synopsis  on  this  chaotic  mess  pls  just  ask  ,  HERE  is  her  pinterest  board  please  ignore  the  sudden  amount  of  pins  of  just  her  , also  i’m  down  to  plot  here  or  on  discord  ,  my  discord  is  @ᵘ ᵍᵒᵗ ᵃ ᵈᵒˡˡᵃʳ ?#3246  

* / BASICS

full name: juliana kaia dicaprio

nicknames: jules , julie / juli 

age & dob: twenty-one , august 14th , 1998

place of birth: long island , new york .

sexuality: heterosexual ( that she knows off )

bender: cisfemale

* /  MORE BASIC INFO

languages: english, french, some spanish.

religion: catholic

education: high school , majoring in biology at stanford

occupation: unemployed

drinks, smokes, & drugs: all of the above

* / PERSONALITY

zodiac sign: leo

likes: dark chocolate , tea in the morning , white roses , instigating bad situations , wine , black coffee , the smell of freshly brewed coffee , talking with strangers , long travels , adventures , being called “ angel ” , popcorn , quick tex responders , products made with silk , athletes , crime shows / films , crowded rooms , glitter .

dislikes: fake designer bags , people who don’t know how to lie , f , people who wear pearls regularly , long text messages , voicemails , men who are cheap , people who chew with their mouth open , humming ,  thrift shops , water-poof mascara , the smell of grass , extensive planning , and arrogance & stupidity combined .

bad habits: breaking promises to herself & others , not thinking before doing , fixating with her hair when nervous .

secret talent: juggling

fears: aging terribly , being widowed , drowning , being buried alive .

positive traits: alluring , convincing , affectionate , ambitious / devoted , systematic .

negative traits: manipulative , conniving , deceitful , dishonest , subjective .

* / APPEARANCE

tattoos: dagger on right index finger , “ devil ” on left index finger .

piercings: three in each ear , cartilage .

* / FAMILY INFO.

parent names: claire boucher & david dicaprio .

parent relationship: divorced .

sibling names: annalise , ashton , keller , & wade .

sibling relationship: step siblings & half .

children: none .

pets: 2 family dogs on her moms side.

* / BIOGRAPHY

i’m sorry it got long

             𝐂𝐋𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐄 𝐓𝐘𝐋𝐄𝐑’s entire childhood was spent in the spotlight -- her father was a huge rockstar in the 70's & 80's, and her mother a model . Claire spent her childhood between Florida , California , and New York , attending red carpets , premieres , etc. Claire attended Stanford to obtain a bachelor in science but was in and out of modeling in her teens and early twenties .

            𝐃𝐀𝐕𝐈𝐃 𝐃𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐎  lived an affluent life more under the radar . His grandfather is CEO of JD banking , one of the four largest banks in the world . He attended Princeton as the rest of his family did . He got involved in the company business at a very young age as did his brothers , but went on to become the new CEO after his fathers unfortunate passing in 2002 .

            𝐉𝐔𝐋𝐄𝐒 was and will forever be her parents pride & joy . her parents were high school sweethearts & got married young -- at a twenty-two / twenty-three . they had been trying for two years to start their own family but jules’ mother struggled . thanksgiving in the hamptons , a dicaprio family tradition the day is engraved in her mothers memory , in 1997 , they announced to their family that after years of trying , they were pregnant .

            𝐉𝐔𝐋𝐄𝐒 grew up completely pampered ; bi-weekly trips to the nail salon with her mother and annual father-daughter trips . her mother was her best friend until she began morphing jules into what she thought was perfect . making sure she spoke at least one other language , was active in school , extracurriculars , how she presented herself . her mother cared about image due to her own childhood of growing up in the spotlight . besides the near brainwash to fit her mother’s image of perfect , everything was ideal &  ‘ normal ’ up until the summer before her freshman year of high school . her mother discovered the affair her father had been having for months with a woman he did business with . he claimed it was due to the fact that jules’ mother had returned to some normalcy and wanted to work again , modeling and doing some traveling , therefore he ‘ just missed her around ’ . jules was aware of everything going on  , heard the countless nights they spent arguing in the opposite wing of the house , she picked up on her father being late to family dinner because “ he had work to do ” . her parents tried their best to keep her in the dark for the sake of her sanity , innocence , and view on her father . jules went along with it all , the daddy’s girl in her was in denial for all of the months leading up to their divorce . at the end , her mother got full custody of her .

             𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐈𝐕𝐎𝐑𝐂𝐄 came two “ yes ” parents . everything became a competition between the two , trying to one up the other ; who took jules on the better summer vacation , had the most over the top christmas morning , etc . it  was insanely manipulative & jules there wasn’t a time period where jules felt more alone ; not having a sibling to relate to , she was embarassed to tell her peers the real reason why her parents split , it was so cliché . both parents didn’t take too long to remarry , her father found another stay-at-home wife and her mother lucked out with a lawyer ten years older than she . her step-father had two daughtes & son with whom jules hated in the beginning – it  was a lot to take in and she was used to being the only child . her father went on to have a child with his new wife two years after their marriage . it was all an immense amount of change within seven years .

              𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐄 for jules had been constantly changing since the news of her father’s affair , she’d spend her summers & holiday’s going back & forth between each parents in the hamptons until her father moved to calabasas to be closer to his wife’s family as soon as the baby was born . jules had always been a wild , reckless child at heart and the divorce between her parents only allowed her to push her limits even more . the two-three years her parents spent processing their divorce were her golden years -- she could not get in trouble with her parents and they never got upset with her . she took advantage of it all and abused drinking , hanging out with boys , you name it . she loved the attention she received from any male figure -- it made up for the lack of attention she was getting from her father once he got the boot .

              𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐆𝐄 was where jules found her safe space ; she could be her wild self , far away from home and only a five hour drive from her father that she still rarely sees . she joined a sorority , joined the exec board , was forced to join french club by her mother , all while maintaining a 4.08 gpa .

           *  ` 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐘 𝐖𝐈𝐒𝐄 jules has always been a wild child . she’s always had a desire for attention , all eyes & attention on her , though the B I R T H of her uncontrollable desire for attention from males stemmed after her parents divorce . the lack of attention from her father allowed her to realize her dad wasn’t the only one who could spoil her & every man was basically the same . she’s not super close with either of her dads at the moment and sees her father about three times a year , two of which are holidays & every now and then the spontaneous visit from him in cali .  

          𝐉𝐔𝐋𝐄𝐒 is a h u g e  cry baby in the sense that she hates not getting what she wants . its not on purpose most of the time , it’s the way she was raised and the nature of her parents . she’s never had to ask for anything twice & hates doing so . though she’s a huge cry baby , she will try her best to mask her actual tears . she does a good job of seeming innocent , she’s that one friend that is super sus & lies a lot & keeps secrets but somehow is so good at convincing people other wise ? she’s a huge flirt , even when she’s not doing it on purpose , it’s sort of a weird practice or habit she’s grown into ? she feels empowered in the weirdest way of owning men and being able to form their opinion of her for them , this stems from her newly founded daddy issues  it’s more so due to the fact that her relationship with her father began to diminish once he moved out . she is & has been on her “ fuck love ” rampage .

       𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐋 do whatever she wants and will hide her bad intentions . she lives for chaos , loves enjoys pushing limits & boundaries . she loves a game of cat & mouse / teasing just knowing she has someone in her grip is what helps her sleep at night . she is a bit crazy . . .  the type to watch someone’s snap score go up . def that type to block and unblock someone 238473 timES . she has an underlying need of approval from others and she almost needs to be liked by everyone she meets .

     𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐘 she wants to model & be a playboy bunny BUT her dad would literally disown her if she didn’t follow her family legacy and attend stanford or yale to use her brains for good . she’s in school to be a pediatrician because at the end of the day she loves children and always wanted to seek a job in the healthcare field . she has plans to attend yale’s medical school after her senior year is complete at stanford .

i really based her off of american beauty & angela in the movie ( if you’ve seen it omg ily ) g

[ryqoshay]

Tri-Arame: Braided Delight

Primary Pairing Trio: YuuAyuSetsu Words: ~1.7k Rating: G Time Frame: During their 2nd year in high school Story Arc: Stand Alone

Author’s Note: Mainly just setting up some trends and playing with a few headcanons for future scenes. Hopefully it still works as well as a stand alone scene as I believe it does.

“Ne, Yuu-chan.” Ayumu’s voice caught Setsuna’s attention. “Do you think I should change my hairstyle for our next Live?”

Setsuna turned away from where she was contemplating her hidden cache of manga in the clubroom, deciding what to keep readily available and what to hand over to her friends for safe keeping. The other two girls in the room were sitting at the table, the redhead checking her hair in a mirror and the twintailed girl checking something on her phone.

“If you want.” Yuu replied. “I think your current style is cute as it is, but I’m sure whatever style you choose will be cute as well.”

The small pout on Ayumu’s face probably meant that Yuu hadn’t given her the answer she desired, but she didn’t necessarily dislike it either.

“Setsuna-chan” Ayumu turned to the other occupant in the room. “What do you think?”

Wait, she was asking her advice? Setsuna’s mind blanked on an answer. “I’m sorry, what was the question again?”

“Should I try something other than my normal style for our next performance?” Ayumu repeated, pointing to the braided bun she usually wore.

“Hrm…” Setsuna considered. “Well, alternative hairstyles are a trope many fans enjoy.” She pondered aloud. “However, you’ve only appeared in your introduction video and our first live, so it may be a bit early to start changing things up. Perhaps once you’ve performed in a couple more Lives you might consider something different. Maybe for our first photoshoot as a group?”

Ayumu nodded. “I see. That makes sense.”

“Besides, Yuu-san isn’t the only one who thinks your current style is cute.” Setsuna found herself continuing. “I saw many comments about it on your videos so far. To be honest, I’m a little envious of your styling techniques. I figured out loose braids for when I need to be Nana, but I wasn’t able to get them to hold properly at the base of a bun like you.”

“You tried to make a bun like mine?”

Setsuna nodded. “I thought it was cute and tried to emulate it.” The words she had just spoken registered in her mind and she felt a touch of heat gather in her cheeks.

“You think this style is cute?”

“I do.” Cuter than most of the other girls in the club, even Kasumi-san, Setsuna added silently, though probably only as cute as her… Her gaze shifted momentarily.

“Would you like me to show you how to make it?” Ayumu offered.

“Yes, please.” Setsuna replied, a bit quicker than may have been appropriate.

“Alright, come on over and have a seat.” Ayumu stood and motioned to the chair she had just vacated.

“Ah,” Yuu suddenly spoke, staring at her screen “I’ll meet you two in the practice room.” Without further explanation, she stood, grabbed her bag and all but ran out of the room.

If she hadn’t been paying attention, Setsuna would have missed the flash of disappointment Ayumu displayed before returning to her gentle smile as the raven-haired girl sat down.

“Here, hold this so you can watch what I’m doing.” Ayumu handed over the mirror she had been using earlier.

“Thank you.”

Setsuna felt a bit of excitement building up within her. She couldn’t remember the last time someone had worked with her hair. Obviously, she had gone in for the occasional trim, but she didn’t consider herself close to any of the salon employees. Ayumu was a friend, a close friend, and that made a difference Setsuna felt was worth the anticipation.

As soon as Ayumu’s brush made its first pass through Setsuna’s hair, she knew her feelings had been correct. It felt wonderful. So much different than when she did the exact same thing herself. Setsuna felt her shoulders relax and she let out a content sigh.

A giggle came from behind her.

“Ayumu-san?”

“Sorry, Setsuna-chan, it’s just that your reaction there was kind of cute. Yuu-chan reacts pretty much the same way.”

It was then that Setsuna realized that the girl standing behind her could see her face in the mirror.

“Oh, I, uhm, it just felt good to have someone else work with my hair.”

“I know, right?” Ayumu smiled. “That’s part of why Yuu-chan and I often help each other with our hair.” She giggled again. “That and Yuu-chan is bad at remembering to take proper care of her hair. Oh, speaking of that,” she ran her hand through dark strands, causing a delightful sensation to run down Setsuna’s spine “you two have a similar type, but yours is in much better condition. Do you mind if I ask what products you use?”

“Not at all.” Setsuna proceeded to name the brands and types she preferred to use.

“Thanks, I’ll try to remember those the next time Yuu-chan and I are out shopping. Or if you’re with us, maybe you can recommend them? Between the two of us, perhaps we can convince her to take better care of herself.”

“Is Yuu-san really that bad?” Despite asking the question, Setsuna couldn’t say she was surprised by the information.

“Not all the time,” Ayumu admitted “just when she gets hyper-focused on something, like right now, with idols.”

“Well, I cannot blame here there.” Setsuna grinned. “School idols are amazing.”

“Yes, they are.” Ayumu agreed.

“You know, I’m really glad you and Yuu-san spearheaded the reformation of the club.”

“Kasumi-chan probably did more than either of us.”

“Perhaps, though I’ve already spoken to her and expressed my gratitude. But I haven’t really thanked you two for your efforts; Yuu-san for her support and you… how to put it…” Setsuna paused “for being a worthy rival.”

“Eh? Worthy rival? Me?”

“Very much so.” Setsuna chuckled. “I loved your first Live and look forward to what you bring to the stage next time. The others were great too, but there’s a certain… purity to your performance that the other just don’t have, myself included. You’re helping me realize that there is more to being a school idol than I first thought. A lot more. But it’s a wonderful learning experience.”

Ayumu was quite for a moment, just long enough for Setsuna to start worrying if she had said something wrong. Or said to much, again.

“Thank you.” The redhead finally murmured.

Setsuna could see in the mirror that pink was beginning to dust the other girl’s cheeks. It was a somewhat similar reaction to Yuu’s compliments. And for some reason that made Setsuna feel good.

“Anyway, you’re all set.” Ayumu’s voice returned to normal. “How does that look?”

Wait, she was done already? Setsuna realized she had been so focused on the conversation and how much she was enjoying Ayumu working with her hair that she hadn’t paid attention to the process. She quickly glanced in the mirror at her new style.

“It looks good. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Think you can do it yourself?”

“Oh, uhm…” Quick, think of something “I actually learn best by doing…”

“Do you want me to guide you through doing it on the other side?” Ayumu offered.

“Yes, please.” Thank goodness.

“Ayumu! Setsuna-chan!” Yuu’s attention homed in on the two girls entering the room.

“Senpai, wait!” Kasumi’s call fell on deaf ears as the twin-tailed girl ran over.

“You two look soo~ cute!” Yuu practically squealed. “I love it! Oh, what’s this?” Her hand found the braided tail off one of Setsuna’s buns.

“Since Setsuna-chan has longer hair than I do, I thought we might try to get a little fancy.” Ayumu explained.

“We?”

“Ayumu-san is a good teacher.” Setsuna stated proudly. “While I can’t say I’m completely confident that I could do it perfectly on my own right now, I think I could practice enough with what she’s taught me so far that I could eventually make one as good as hers.”

“Ah, I see.” Yuu laughed. “Or you could just have her do it again for you.”

“Huh?”

“Ayumu taught me how to dye my hair like this.” She brushed at the end of one of her side tails for emphasis. “But I still like it better when she does it.”

“Well,” Ayumu spoke up “there was also the time you…”

“Ayumu~!” Yuu interrupted with a whine. “That’s supposed to be secret!”

“Sorry, sorry.” Ayumu couldn’t help sticking out her tongue a bit as she didn’t feel particularly apologetic. It was fair to turn the tables on the teasing every so often after all.

“Oh, idea!” Yuu quickly returned to her former excitement. “You should teach me how to make that style as well, then I could help you with it!” She bounced on the balls of her feet. “And then if I learn other styles, I could help all of you guys, or anyone that needed help before Lives and photoshoots and stuff.”

For some reason, Ayumu felt a tiny flash of disappointment that Yuu didn’t mention styling her own hair. Granted, her childhood friend had worn twin tails almost the entire time they had known each other, so she was fairly set in her ways. But Ayumu couldn’t help imagining what Yuu might look like wearing different styles.

Setsuna, on the other hand… The raven-haired girl seemed much more open to the idea of different, or alternate as she called them, hairstyles. Perhaps Ayumu could test a few ideas on her…

“That’s a wonderful idea, Yuu-san.” Setsuna’s voice brought Ayumu back to reality. “I love how you’re always looking for new ways to support us.”

“What do you think, Ayumu?” Yuu asked, her gaze not having left the redhead.

Ayumu nodded. “I agree that it’s good idea. And I will help where I can.”

“Awesome!” Yuu cheered. “Now let’s get to practice!” She grabbed the other two girls’ hands and dragged them into the room.

As she and Setsuna followed their energetic friend, Ayumu stole a glance over. She’d done quite a nice job. Twin braided buns suited Setsuna surprisingly well. She watched as several other club members turned their attention to them and offered their commentary. Setsuna was the target of most of the praise, but that was fine; the passionate idol handled such things far better than Ayumu anyway, what with her contagious smile and all.

Even as she deferred the compliments that did make it her way, Ayumu was still happy that something as simple as a couple hair buns could earn such a positive reaction from her friends. Yes, Ayumu was confident that she needed to style Setsuna’s hair again. Soon.

Author’s Notes Continued in Followup Post

[shima-draws]

Remember that one episode in Gravity Falls where Stan loses a bet to Mabel and does that stan-wrong-dance?? Can you write a drabble where Ford finds the footage pls the imagery is so freaking funny lmao

[[Send me a fandom/ship/prompt and I’ll write a drabble for it!]]

I’M SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG BUT I FINALLY FINISHED…I had a total blast writing it tho!!

I kinda took your prompt and went way beyond the original concept anjsakbnda so there’s some angst in here because Stan’s a self-sacrificial idiot and Ford almost loses his shit, but I hope you like it nonetheless :’)

Also this ended up being nearly 4k words so. Yeah. That’s why it took so long LOL but hopefully you got more than what you asked for!

This is also on Archive, if you’d rather read it there!

——————————————————–

Ford is absolutely furious.

Now, he’s no stranger to anger, having fallen victim to it many, many times throughout his life. His bouts of rage usually result in catastrophe if he isn’t careful. A prime example: letting Stan get kicked out of the house forty years ago. Or, when his irritation caused a fight between them that ended up in Stan’s permanently scarred shoulder and his own thirty year trip into the multiverse. It’s never simple and it usually doesn’t end well, especially if Stan happens to be on the other side of the argument.

This time, however, is a bit different.

It’s one thing if his brother has done something to piss him off. It’s another if Stanley does something so unbelievably stupid it scares the absolute shit out of Ford. He doesn’t like being angry. He doesn’t like being angry as a result of him being terrified even more.

And so, he’s taken to pacing in his study, trying to let off some steam. He’d separated himself from Stan after lecturing at him for twenty-five minutes about the very many reasons why Stan shouldn’t have charged right into battle against a particularly violent group of bullasps (an enormous wasp-bull anomaly hybrid, helpfully named by Mabel). Stan had come this close to being pierced by one of their enormous stingers—and if he had, well. The venom they secrete works so quickly Ford doubts he would have been able to do anything about it in time. And that is what had triggered his hysteria.

Mabel sits on one of the oversized chairs in the room, munching on a bag of popcorn. She’d followed him after his frustration had shot through the ceiling, needing to get away before he said anything he’d come to regret. Dipper had stayed behind to admonish Stan further, but not as harshly as Ford originally had.

It’s been almost a year since Ford and Stan left Gravity Falls to travel the world together. They’ve had plenty of arguments and heated late night discussions on board the Stan O’ War II, but they’d never escalated to this level. The two of them hashed out all of their past history and mistakes, and they’ve been attached at the hip ever since—but Stanley’s always had a bit of a reckless steak, and Ford will never admit it, but he’s unbelievably overprotective of his twin, especially after the whole shooting-him-with-a-memory-gun thing. (They try not to talk about that, much, mostly because it makes Ford feel so guilty it brings him to tears, and Stan hates seeing him like that.) This sort of takes the cake for every previous situation where Stan has willingly put himself in danger on their journey out at sea. Ford can’t remember the last time he’s felt so high strung.

“I just can’t believe him,” Ford hisses, his fingers tangled in his hair. His heart is still pounding, fear spiking through his veins and making him as taught as a bowstring. “Out of all the reckless, most monumentally moronic—”

“I know you’re upset, Grunkle Ford, but we took care of it!” Mabel points out, trying to be helpful. She does sound worried, though, if her expression has anything to say about it. “Those things ran right off after I used that cannon to shoot that t-shirt into the woods! Who knew bullasps are actually attracted to red things? I thought regular bulls hated the color red!”

Ford can’t help but smile a bit at her observation. “Actually, regular bulls are red-green colorblind, Mabel. It’s not that they particularly dislike the color red, it’s the action of a matador moving their cape that stimulates hyper aggression in—wait, wait, that’s not the point!” He heaves out a sigh. He turns to her and frowns. “Do you—do you even know why I’m so furious with Stanley right now?”

Mabel makes a funny sound with her mouth, her legs kicking back and forth, and then she answers. “‘Cause he shook his butt at them and told them to shove it where the sun don’t shine?”

Ford groans and pinches the bridge of his nose. Could Stan have any less tact? The children are almost 14 now, but still.

“That’s part of it,” he grumbles. “But it’s his insistence on constantly throwing himself headlong into danger before even considering the consequences of doing so. Stanley is—he’s ridiculously defensive of his family, which isn’t a bad quality to have at all, but…it gets him into unnecessary trouble. A lot.”

Mabel looks truly concerned now, which is good. “Is that why you looked like Dipper in the middle of a Wendy crisis when Grunkle Stan almost got hit by one of those super giant sharp and pointy stingers?”

Ford considers telling her that the venom would have killed Stanley in minutes, but then decides he should probably spare her those morbid details.

“Yes. It would have been…very catastrophic if he’d actually come into contact with one.” Ford slumps, suddenly feeling exhausted. “I’ve come this close to losing him once, I…the mere thought of possibly losing him again, and him ending up somewhere I couldn’t ever possibly reach…”

His throat tightens and he feels pressure building behind his eyelids. Emotion makes his heart feel like it’s being constricted, squeezed tight, and he swallows. He’d gone half his life without his brother and he regrets every single minute he didn’t spend by Stanley’s side. Almost losing him to Bill was a huge wake up call, and Ford’s barely been without him since then.

“So that’s why you’re so frowny,” Mabel chirps. Ford can’t tell if she’s totally oblivious to the seriousness of the situation or if she’s just trying to act upbeat for his sake—but he appreciates it either way. “You were pretty scared for him, huh, Grunkle Ford?”

Ford wipes his eyes and nods wordlessly. In the past he might have brushed her off but he knows better now—his family is the most important thing he has, and confiding in them when times are difficult is usually the best course of action.

The young teen hums thoughtfully, scratching her chin, and then her eyes practically light up.

“Wait, hold on! I have an idea,” she says excitedly. Her smile turns wicked. Oh, no. Ford knows that look. He’s been on the receiving end of it many times before.

“Grunkle Ford, have you seen the Stan Wrong Song?”

Ford tilts his head. “The…what?”

Mabel giggles insanely. “The Stan Wrong Song! It’s a song we forced Grunkle Stan to sing after he lost a bet to me.”

“Stanley lost a bet.”

“Uh-huh!”

“To you.” If Ford didn’t know her so well, he’d think she was lying. It’s extremely hard to believe, knowing how brilliant his twin is in the conning department.

Her grin becomes wider, if that’s even possible. Her braces glint in the dim light. “We bet to see who could make more money—me, taking over Grunkle Stan’s position as a morally ambiguous tour guide, or him on vacation. And I won the bet by a dollar! A dollar, Grunkle Ford!”

“Incredible,” Ford breathes, shaking his head.

“We made him sing it at least thirty-six times,” his nibling tells him. She really could give Stan a run for his money with how mischievous she is.

“Or, wait, maybe it was thirty-eight? Anyway, it was a whole lot! We were all singing it for weeks. The power of catchy made up songs prevailed! Grunkle Stan says he hates it, but I hear him singing it in the bathroom sometimes when he thinks I can’t hear him!”

The older man chuckles at that, amused.

“Anyway,” Mabel sing-songs. “Since Grunkle Stan was a dumb-dumb and almost got speared today and scared the bejeebers out of all of us, I think this is a good opportunity to bust that video out and give him a good ol’ dose of shame!”

“You truly are a peculiar girl, Mabel,” Ford says in wonder.

The brunette beams at this, her smile almost blinding.

“Come on,” she says, grabbing his wrist. Her grip is surprisingly strong, and so is the way she tugs him along with her. “It’s payback time! Revenge tastes sweet, like gummy worms!”

——————————————————–

Ten minutes later they’re seated together in the living room, prepared for the show. Mabel has already plugged her phone into the TV, which can broadcast anything she wants, thanks to a helpful little device Fiddleford had made for the family a while back. (It definitely helped when Ford wanted to show off all the videos he’d taken while he and Stan were out at sea on a larger screen for the whole family to watch.)

Stan is nowhere to be seen—which Ford supposes is a good sign as any. He’d rather not have Stan confiscate Mabel’s phone before Ford even gets to watch whatever the young girl is intent on showing him. Dipper’s probably still keeping watch over Stan, so that’s reassuring. He’s sure that there’s nobody more capable of watching his twin, except maybe Soos.

Mabel is practically vibrating in her seat, posture tense with excitement, and Ford fidgets. He’s honestly not sure what to expect—but when the video finally loads and the first thing he sees is Stan in a neon orange track suit covered with sparkles, Ford blinks in shock. He definitely didn’t expect that.

His twin looks like he’d rather be chased by a horrendous monster of the deep than perform in front of the camera, and the deadpan expression on his face has Ford releasing an amused snort.

Stan glances offscreen, gruff and irritated. “Ugh, l-look, I’m not gonna—”

Mabel’s voice interjects before he can finish protesting. “Do it!”

Stan begins to bounce as a song plays in the background. He looks so goofy doing it that Ford starts to giggle a little, the stress of the day rolling off his shoulders.

“I’m Stan and I was wrong.” Stan sings, dryly, with all the emotion of a desert cactus. “I’m singing the Stan Wrong Song.”

Something in Ford breaks, then—and he’s laughing, incredulously, sort of struck dumb by the whole situation. Mabel sniggers beside him. Stan starts to swing his arms, and Ford wheezes. His brother looks so foolish. Ford is absolutely reveling in it. (He’s so using this for blackmail material later.)

“I shouldn’t have taken that chance. Now here’s my remorseful dance,” Stan finishes, pouty and clearly embarrassed.

“Do the kicks!” Mabel’s voice calls out again, and Stan makes a feeble attempt at performing a kick, to which she demands them to be “Jazzier!”

It’s when Gompers comes in and starts a tug of war match with Stan that’s one for the history books that Ford loses it completely. The entire thing is just so wild and hysterical that he can’t help it, clutching at his side as he laughs and laughs and laughs. The video resets, going back to the beginning, and Ford happily sits through it again.

By the time the video loops for the fifth round Ford is howling with laughter, nearly bowled over by the force of it. His side has a stitch and it hurts and he’s pretty sure he’s crying but he can’t stop, too overwhelmed at the hilarity of his brother in a sparkly suit singing a song clearly meant to humiliate him—and maybe it’s the fact that Stan had had another close brush with death earlier and the built up tension from the incident that has him letting it all out through his chortles. Mabel is giggling madly beside him—whether she’s laughing at Stan or laughing at him laughing at Stan is unclear, but it’s contagious, and Ford can’t stop smiling.

God, how utterly ridiculous this all is. He loves his family.

The video is on its eighth loop and Ford is pretty sure he’s going to pass out from lack of oxygen when Stan bursts into the room, his eyes wide. Dipper follows close behind.

“What’s going on in—Ford?!”

Stan rushes over to him, his face drawn up in concern, and Ford’s heart melts a little. He might still be angry at his twin for scaring him half to death, but really, Stan’s mother hen tendencies never fail to make him smile.

“Ford—Jesus, you’re cryin’, Sixer! What the hell happened?”

Ford giggles and wipes the tears from his eyes, struggling to get his breathing back under control. “I’m—ahaha! I’m fine, Stanley.”

“With all the noise you were making, I thought you were dying,” Stan says with a worried frown. “It sounded like you were in pain or—”

Ford playfully rolls his eyes and nudges him in the shin with his foot.

“Now you know how I feel.”

Once he finally settles down, and when Mabel’s tittering fades, Stan finally registers the video playing behind him. His face immediately goes ash white, his expression quickly morphing into one of utter horror, and if Ford weren’t so wiped out by nearly laughing his ass into unconsciousness he’d probably start doing it again.

Dipper sees what they’re watching and he snorts, covering his mouth to hide any further giggles from coming out.

"Mabel, pumpkin?”

Mabel is the picture of pure innocence, her smile sickly sweet. “Yes, Grunkle Stan?”

“Either I’m having memory issues again or I swear I made you promise me in confidence that you would never ever show this video to Ford,” Stan says, slowly. His grin is wide and almost terrifying. If Ford didn’t know how much Stan loves Mabel he would have thought his twin was seriously considering strangling her. “And what did you do?”

“I showed the video to Ford,” Mabel says, looking shameful. She twirls a piece of long brown hair around her finger. Ford chokes back a bark of laughter at how well she’s pulling this off.

“Don’t be too hard on her, Stan,” Ford soothes in an attempt to curb his brother’s embarrassment. “She was only trying to help.”

Stan simply pouts, and suddenly all Ford can see is a young boy, cheeks bright red from the sun, childishly complaining about having to wear glasses because he thinks it’ll make him look like a nerd. Something warm blooms inside Ford’s chest and he bites his cheek, trying not to get lost in the memory of their childhood.

“How is this helping anything,” Stan mumbles, his cheeks flushing a charming shade of pink.

“It’s teaching you some humility,” Ford states, crossing his arms. “Maybe you should sing it again, Stanley.”

“What?!” His twin barks in outrage.

“He does have a point, Grunkle Stan,” Dipper provides helpfully from where he’s now lounging on the couch with Mabel. The video continues to loop, much to Stan’s chagrin. “You did do something wrong today.”

“Wh—are you still on about that? My god,” Stan groans, throwing his head back. “I was trying to be, ya know, heroic! Live up to my title.”

Ford is tempted to kick him again, but harder. His glare makes the other man wilt slightly.

“You already live up to your title, Stan,” Ford points out. “You don’t have to throw yourself in front of a beast with a toxicity level of 94 percent to prove that.”

“94? Holy crow, that’s high,” Dipper squeaks.

“You’ve already saved the world and paid the price for it once,” Ford continues. He slumps a bit in his chair, the exhaustion of the day finally catching up to him. “Please, Stan, you have to understand—there’s no point in trying to protect us if we lose you in the process. It’s just…just…” And he shakes his head, frustrated that he can’t put it into words properly.

“Okay, alright,” Stan says sheepishly, edging closer to where he’s sitting. “I get it. I didn’t mean to scare ya. It’s just habit for me to be self-sacrificial at this point.”

“That’s a terrible habit!” Mabel accuses.

“She’s right,” Ford mumbles. “If you hadn’t…if that stinger had come into contact, you would have…and then I…I…” He chokes up, his eyes watering. His heart clenches painfully, fear making his body feel like it’s encased in ice. “If I lost you…”

“Hey, easy there on the waterworks, Poindexter,” Stan teases lightly. He holds his hands out in a pacifying gesture. “I’m fine, see? Still in one piece. Mostly.”

“This isn’t funny, Stanley! How can you still refuse to comprehend—ugh!”

Ford is nearly tearing his hair out in frustration now, his teeth grinding together. Seriously, how can his brother still be such an idiot? He thought the lecturing and the clear distress the rest of the family is expressing would be enough to make Stan realize, but—

Stan folds his arms, huffing, and Ford notes that his face is coloring again. Mabel and Dipper gaze at him curiously, and before Ford can question his twin, Stan releases a soft, irritated noise from his throat.

“I’m Stan and I was wrong,” Stan mutters.

Ford blinks in shock.

The other man sighs, a deep-sounding one that slackens his posture. “I’m singing…the Stan Wrong Song.”

Mabel makes a high-pitched keen of excitement, and Dipper grins. Ford almost falls right out of his chair.

He isn’t sure what’s more surprising—Stan willingly putting his pride on the line, or begrudgingly singing about his mistake in front of the family, who he knows are more than capable of holding this against him.

“I shouldn’t have taken that chance…”

Stan edges closer until he’s standing over Ford, his cheeks the color of a ripe apple.

“I’m sorry, okay? Now will you please forgive me already?”

Something lodges itself in Ford’s throat, and his whole body feels as if it’s being flooded with warmth. Even after all this time, Stan still puts his want for Ford’s forgiveness over everything else. His heart glows.

“Stanley…”

“Don’t gimme that look,” Stan grumbles, refusing to meet his eyes.

The older twin beams and launches himself out of his chair, scooping his brother up in a hug.

“Wh—Ford?!”

Ford nuzzles happily into Stan’s hair, grinning wide.

“Thank you, Stanley.”

“What! You cannot leave me out of this family hug action!” Mabel cries, leaping off the couch to run over and throw her arms around her Grunkles’ legs.

“Squeeeeze!” She says, squeezing them tight. Ford laughs jubilantly and Stan rolls his eyes, but there’s a smile that refuses to go away on his face.

Mabel presses her nose into Stan’s leg for a moment, and then she looks over her shoulder at Dipper.

“Come on, Dippin Dots, you know you want in on this!”

Dipper rolls his eyes but slides off the couch nonetheless, coming over to circle them before ending up beside Ford in the group hug.

The young girl starts giggling, a happy, wonderful sound that makes Ford’s heart swell like a balloon. He feels all sorts of fuzzy, the euphoria of being with the people he loves the most—and with his twin, his other half, the person who almost gave his life for him today—making him burst into merry laughter as well. Soon enough Dipper joins them, and finally, Stan is roped into it, their laughter too contagious to ignore.

When they finally all calm down, Ford nudges his head against Stan’s temple. So maybe he’s feeling a bit clingy now, so what?

“Next time you do something like that again I will sneak horrifying body-altering concoctions into your coffee,” Ford tells him way too cheerfully for someone who’s threatening possible disfiguration.

“Yikes, Sixer. What sort of crap did you learn how to do on the other side of that portal?”

“I know how to disembody someone in a total of 103 unique ways,” Ford responds brightly while he rubs his cheek against Stan’s shoulder, hiding a grin into his shirt.

Much to his delight, Stan stiffens beneath him, and Ford almost laughs.

“Remind me not to get on your bad side,” Stan gruffs, patting him on the back. He pauses. “…Again.”

“Hey,” Dipper playfully elbows Stan. “Grunkle Stan, you didn’t finish.”

Mabel’s entire face lights up, and her smile is blinding—and devilish. “Oh, that’s right! You didn’t finish, Grunkle Stan! You have to commit to it all the way!”

Stan looks down at them, puzzled. He tries to squirm out of Ford’s hold but Ford just hums and hugs him tighter, his forehead pressing against the man’s shoulder.

Stan promptly gives up on getting free (because he knows from experience once Ford starts clinging it’s all over). Instead, he addresses the younger twins with an air of confusion.

“What are you gremlins going on about? Finish what?”

“Your song, silly!” Mabel chirps.

Dipper nods, his smirk matching his sister’s. “Yeah, you didn’t sing the entire thing. Or even do the dance! That was a pretty lackluster performance if you ask me.”

Stan’s face draws up in horror. “Oh, no.”

Ford leans back, but doesn’t detach himself from their interwoven limbs. Giving Stan another dose of shame, as Mabel put it, sounds thrilling right about now.

“You know, they do have a point,” he says, pretending to mull it over. He can’t stop grinning. “I’d love to see the most recent rendition of the Stan Wrong Song, from start to finish. Wouldn’t you, kids?”

“Abso-lutely!” Mabel almost screams. “I’ll have to go get my camera!”

Dipper nods, a hand on his chin. “Oh, yes, yes. Gotta have it.”

“You are the worst,” Stan hisses, his entire face matching the color of Ford’s sweater.

Ford laughs for the millionth time that day, his body feeling lighter than air.

——————————————————–

After that, they make him sing it a total of seven times before finally giving mercy. Stan swears he’s never going to do anything super dangerous again until he does two days later. Then the whole process repeats. LMAO

I can never get enough of Pines family fluff it makes me weak in the knees and oh so happy