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evilrubberducke · 5 years ago

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Another IzuMina one shot is here! I was in the middle of working on something else when the idea for this fic smacked me over the head and demanded to be written. I hope you enjoy it!

Read it on AO3!

Title: A Cheerful Heist

Summary: When Mina sends a text she didn't mean to, she and Izuku have only one option; delete the message from their classmate's phones before it can be seen.

Izuku looked up as Mina burst through the door into his room. At first he had jumped whenever this happened, his anxiety prompting fearful scenarios to run rampant. Now, after more than a year of dating the energetic girl, he was used to the sudden interruptions and had come to enjoy them. They usually meant she had come up with some hairbrained scheme or prank she wanted to tell him about. They rarely worked out the way she proposed them, but they were almost always entertaining, if only because spending time with Mina was one of his favorite activities in the world.

This time, however, he was more than a little confused. A quick glance at the clock confirmed that it was approaching two in the morning, a time when any normal Hero in training should have been asleep. Even with it being the weekend, the entire class was wiped out from today’s training, and the dorms were nearly silent. Izuku himself was only up to place an order for a new, limited edition All Might figurine depicting the Hero’s already legendary defeat of All for One.

The other concerning thing was the expression on Mina’s face. It hovered somewhere between guilty and worried, which was downright terrifying. Given her bubbly nature, Mina was quite unflappable. If something had gotten her this worked up, this late at night, it was almost certainly something to be very worried about.

She looked like she had just rolled out of bed. She had her favorite fluffy pink and black striped pajamas, and her favorite alien themed slippers who’s eyestalks were waving furiously after the run to Izuku’s room.

“Midori, we have a problem. A big problem.”

“Mina, what’s going on?”

“So I was texting Toru about this guy she likes, she’s having trouble confessing you know, and I was looking through photos of us, cuz I was thinking if I showed her a photo from our first date it might help her, and I guess I pressed the wrong button or something cuz the next thing I know I sent a picture, but I didn't mean to I swear and-”

“Mina, breathe!” Her face was flushing purple as she talked, growing darker and darker as she rambled without pausing.

She did, long slow breaths visibly calming her down. The flush in her face faded to just being on her cheeks, and her posture relaxing just a bit.

“Feel better?” He asked softly, taking her hand in his. She nodded, and finally brought her eyes up to meet his. Her pupils were still dilated slightly, leaving only a thin band of gold filling the dark pools of her eyes. Izuku had to pull his own eyes away before he got lost in hers, as he was wont to do. “How about you try again. Once you’re done explaining, I’ll help you fix whatever the problem is, ok?” He smiled as reassuringly as he could.

“I was texting Toru, like I said, but I messed up and sent a photo I didn’t mean to send. And it wasn’t just to her. I kind of...sent it to everyone in the class.”

“Well, that’s not too bad. Just send a message apologizing for the mistake.”

Her shoulders drew in as she unconsciously tried to make herself smaller. “It’s...it’s not a photo I want the rest of the class to see.” She looked at him once more, and flushed a deep lilac. “And it’s...not of me…”

Izuku frowned, trying to understand what she was saying. A photo that wasn’t of her, but that she didn’t want the rest of the class to see? Mina was very open, especially with her friends and classmates. He couldn’t imagine her having anything that would get her this worked up.He pulled out his phone, which he had left muted so as not to be distracted. Opening his messages, he finally saw the photo in question and eyes widened as he recognized it. Now he absolutely understood what Mina was talking about. He’d honestly forgotten about the picture, and a part of him wondered exactly why she still had a copy in the first place.

“Oh.” Was all he managed to get out.

“I have a plan.” Mina said. “Toru said she’d help us, so she’ll be here in a minute. With the three of us, we can probably get it done before anyone wakes up.” Her tone grew more confident as she spoke, slipping into the combat mindset they had all developed through all their Hero training.

“Wait, what plan?”

“We’re gonna sneak into everyone’s rooms, find their phones, and delete the photo before they can see it. We don’t have to worry about you, me, or Toru, Kirishima’s phone is still out of commission from when Bakugou blew it up last week, and Bakuguo’s relic can’t get pictures. So we only have to grab 15 phones before dawn. We can do it!" The last was more to herself then to Izuku, who was still reeling slightly.

“That seems like a really terrible plan.” Izuku said.

“Got a better one?” Said a new voice from the door. Izuku turned to see his door had opened seemingly on its own. As Izuku looked closer he could see a pair of bunny slippers standing by the door, though no other clothes accompanied them. Apparently Hagakure was committed to the idea of nabbing their classmates phones while they slept.

“Toru! Did you get it?” Mina asked, bounding forward to interrogate her friend.

“Yep” From seemingly nowhere, the invisible girl produced a large silver key that dangled from a long chain. “Though you totally owe me an explanation on why this was in your desk drawer.”

“What exactly is that?” Izuku asked, apparently the only one outside of the loop.

“Master key for the dorms” Mina answered nonchalantly. Izuku boggled at the answer.

“Why do you have that!?”

Mina placed her hands on his shoulders and looked him dead in the eye. “Izuku, if you care about me, never ask that question again.” With that, she turned back to Toru, leaving Izuku with far more questions than he’d had.

-----

In the end, it was disturbingly easy to break into their friend’s rooms. Hagakure, of course, was a master of stealth and had no trouble slipping in and out of almost every room. They made quick work of the girls side, the only hang ups a brief moment of panic when Yaoyorozu rolled unexpectedly in her sleep and nearly gave them a heart attack, and having to chase Urarka’s phone around the room since it, like much of her bedside furniture had become weightless as the girl slept.

Mina apparently knew all the codes to their phones, a fact which once again made Izuku question what exactly his girlfriend got up to in her free time.

When they reached the boy’s dormitories, things slowed down considerably. Hagakure was far more efficient at stealth than Izuku, but refused to enter several of the boy’s rooms. Her aversion to Mineta’s room was predictable (Izuku himself had to take a break to coat his hands with sanitizer after they had finished that one), but her aversion to Todorki and Ojiro’s rooms was harder to determine. She cited fear of the former’s wrath, but refused to elaborate on the second.

It fell to Izuku to sneak into a few rooms, unplugging Kaminari’s phone from the boy’s nose charger, unsticking Sero’s phone from its tape cocoon, and trying not to wake Tokoyami’s Dark Shadow from its position curled tightly around the boy.

It took them until just before the sun was set to rise, but the three of them managed to delete all of the copies of the photo their classmates had received. Satisfied and immensely tired, they each bid their fellow conspirators a good night, and practically collapsed into their beds once more.

Only to be woken far too soon by the rest of their classmates calling them for breakfast.

-----

“Late night Midoriya?” Kirishima called as Izuku dragged himself into the common room. He’d never been one for coffee, but felt like today he could make an exception. He yawned as he nodded in response to Kirishima’s question, then made his way to the kitchen to get his mug.

Mina was already there, dark bags under her eyes standing out against her bright skin even more than Izuku’s did. Some people joked that Aizawa acted like a father figure to their entire class but today, Izuku thought, they actually looked like his children.

He and Mina sipped quietly at their coffees, trying to pay attention to what their classmates were talking about. Kaminari was excitedly explaining the features of a new phone to Kirishima, who was looking perplexedly at the device. Apparently he had finally gotten the replacement he needed after Bakugou had blasted the device, which had gone off at an inconvenient time and ‘distracted’ the explosive blonde.

They were currently showing off the phone’s ability to project video above it, using cute stock footage of puppies playing in a park. Izuku could see why everyone in the room was enraptured. It didn’t get much more adorable than labrador puppies awkwardly bouncing around, putting their paws in the air like they were cheering.

Which reminded him…

“Mina, I forgot to ask, why did you still have a copy of that picture?”

She looked at him as if he were the biggest dolt in the universe. “Because it was adorable, duh.” She held up her phone, shaking it slightly to emphasize the point. “Besides, with the effort I put into getting it, I wasn’t just going to delete a photo like that. I almost thought about making it my background, but I figured you wouldn’t be a fan of that.”

Izuku flushed slightly at the idea. He would definitely prefer that only Mina saw that photo, given that it had been taken for her after all…

“Wait I can get my old messages on here too? Awesome!” Kirishima called, excited that he wouldn’t miss out on any of the memes his classmates had been swapping while his phone had been out of commission.

Both Mina and Izuku’s eyes widened as a horrific thought occurred to them. They spun in their seats, desperately trying to stop Kirishima before he undid all of their hard work.

Unfortunately for them, they were too late.

The phone projected the most recent image it had received in a holographic display that let the entire common room view it.

A nearly life sized image of Izuku filled the space above the table, dressed in the same cheerleader uniform that Kaminari and Mineta had tricked the girls into wearing for the sports festival. He wasn’t acting like his usual shy self, but was wearing the broad, encouraging smile he had been perfecting, and cocking a hip. One eye was closed in an exaggerated wink, and he was holding a pom pom high above his head. Below him, a caption proudly declared “Cheering 4 you! Do well on your exams! :)”

There was a long moment where no one spoke, trying to process exactly what they were seeing. Izuku could only blush furiously. Mina looked ready to tackle the first person who said anything.

Finally, Aoyama broke the silence. “Très bien Midoriya! You sparkle almost as brilliantly as moi!”

With that, the spell was broken. Several classmates crowded around, congratulating Izuku on his confidence, and his ability to fill out a uniform. They were all very positive. Even Bakugou was...tolerant at least. He stayed well away from Izuku, though he did look a little more red in the face than usual.

In fact, more than a few of his classmates were looking a bit flushed as they complimented him. Even the usually stoic Todoroki had come out of his shell, smiling and placing a hand on Izuku’s shoulder as the taller boy complimented Izuku on filling out the outfit.

It was a strange compliment, but Izuku accepted it all the same. He knew Todoroki was one of the only classmates who could match him in social awkwardness, so seeing him be more open was very gratifying, even if the root cause was something Izuku would have preferred hadn’t happened.

Izuku was surprised to be pulled out of the conversation with his classmates mid-sentence. Once he was free of the crowd, strong arms wrapped around him and pulled him close. As they did, Mina’s familiar scent filled his nose, and he relaxed a bit.

“Mina?” Izuku asked, confused by the interruption. It wasn’t like she was shy with her affection, even in public settings, but she didn’t usually grab him out of the blue like this.

She placed her head on his shoulder, and he got the distinct impression she was glowering at someone. He turned to follow her gaze, but couldn't see anyone doing anything specific. His classmates were still talking about the picture, which no one had bothered to take down, to his ongoing embarrassment.

“I’m just reminding people.” She said, not breaking eye contact with whoever she was watching.

“Reminding who? And of what?”

She turned her head as a devilish smile crossed her face. “I’m reminding everyone that I got there first.” With that, she spun him around and pulled him into a full on kiss.

Izuku felt his heart rate spike in surprise and embarrassment. Part of the reason they were never very affectionate in public was that it made him feel very self conscious, even if it was only something simple like holding each other's hands.

Today though, he found that he didn’t mind it so much. After the initial wave of surprise, he relaxed into the embrace as his nerves faded away. Maybe it was the lack of sleep, or maybe his sense of anxiety was so overloaded that it just gave out. Either way, he wrapped his arms around Mina, holding her just as tightly as she held him, and returned the kiss with just as much enthusiasm.

The two stayed like that for a long moment, lost in each other’s warmth. When they finally did break apart, it was to a completely different atmosphere.

Several of their classmates were blushing furiously at the blatant display of affection. Iida was caught between his desire to look away, and to scold the two for excessive PDA. Hagakure bounced up and down as she held out her phone, which was displaying a thumbs up emoji. Even the usually stoic Todoroki and Asui hadn’t kept it together, though the two of them looked more disappointed than embarrassed. Tokoyami was the only one who seemed indifferent, though Izuku wondered if he would even be able to discern embarrassment on a bird’s face.

Izuku found he didn’t care about their reactions. He was surrounded by good friends, who cared about him. HIs girlfriend was willing to go the whole nine yards for him, even if it was an emergency in name only. For a boy who had grown up being told he was worthless, and that no one would ever care for him, it was more than he had ever dreamed of.

#izumina #mina ashido #midoriya izuku #minadeku #dekumina #mha #mha fanfiction #bnha #bnha fanfiction #fanfiction #my hero academia #fluff #slice of life #accidental texts

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toastscraps · 5 years ago

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The Pink One

Or, “How Link Ended Up in Mario Kart 8″

Written for the Discord Prompt (I don’t even know how to describe it). Since I’m mostly illiterate in meme language, you get this awful thing.

3k+

This is probably the closest thing to pure, unadulterated crack you are ever going to see from me.

Warnings: Irreverent silliness, poor writing; author is bad at humor

Disclaimer: Nintendo owns all Legend of Zelda titles as well as Mario Kart. @jojo56830 created personalities for the Links, and I’m basing this off of the wonderful @linkeduniverse.

Summary: Wild wants the pink one.

It was sudden and it was abrupt, like switching Hyrules usually was. They landed in the middle of a road paved with a substance so flat and shiny that Four could nearly see his face in it. From beside him, Hyrule wrinkled his nose. “Smells like tar.” Strange grey marks marred its surface and bright, green grass grew along the sides of the path. Warriors looked just as bewildered as Four felt, and Wind looked around in wonder.

“Is this Hyrule?”

Suddenly the rumbling roars of monsters came behind them. Four turned with the others, but it was too late.

“Get out of the road, you morons! Do you want to become pancakes?” A rude kid with green… tentacles for hair zoomed past, Time barely dodging out of the way of the raging vehicle. Then there were more people on strange mechanical wagons, approaching them faster than a raging Lynel.

“These obstacles are getting lamer and lamer,” a baby-voiced talking turtle with spikes on its back complained, launching a green missile toward the group. Warriors yelped and leapt out of the way of the… shell, and Twilight narrowly missed becoming minced meat.

“Idiots! What are you doing on the track?” A flash of pink was all they saw before that, too, was gone. Legend had barely avoided a collision, and yelled after his near-killer:

“You woman drivers need to stay off the road!”

“Legend! That wasn’t very nice,” Sky reprimanded. For some reason, he had yet to be targeted by the strange people in the metal machines.

“….I actually have no clue what a driver is, or why I said that,” Legend admitted. “It just came to me.” Four yelped as more mechanical beasts roared toward them, and quickly rolled out of their path. Wild dodged a couple of machines, while Twilight tried to stop one with his bare hands. He only partially succeeded.

To Four’s bewilderment, it looked like a stroller. A tiny human with only a diaper and a red cap on flew out of the contraption and into the air. “I got it!” Hyrule yelled. He ran under the screaming projectile and dove to catch what appeared to be a baby. Quickly, the entire group ran to see if the child was okay. To their astonishment, the infant turned to Twilight with an angry expression on his face.

“What is your problem, man? What, you feel like a big boy stopping a teeny weeny kart? Does it make you feel like a hulk? Well guess what, tough guy? Because of you, I won’t finish the race! You snot– eating cruddy head! Why, I oughtta remove your hands and skewer them on you- ”

The Links were spared a description of exactly what the crass-talking child ought to do when a tired looking… turtle with glasses on a smiling cloud came down with a fishing pole and hooked the baby by the diaper.

“Laikitu! Put me down! I need to fix this guy for messing with me!”

“That’ll be three coins, Baby Mario.”

“Don’t call me that, Four-Eyes!” the infant screamed, but procured three golden disks out of… nowhere.

“You know you’re supposed to be wearing a seatbelt, right?”

“It gives me diaper rash,” Baby Mario growled. “You know that.”

Legend leaned over to Four and whispered, “I’ve seen some bizarre things, but this takes the cake.”

“You think there was something funny in Wild’s stew last night?” Four was beginning to think that either this was a crazy dream, or they were all under some mass hallucination. Either one.

The child was lifted back into the buggy and immediately drove toward them again. “I will have my revenge!” he screamed, his voice disappearing around the bend.

Time walked over and placed a hand on a gob-smacked Twilight’s head. “I don’t think we’re in Hyrule anymore, Toto.”

“…What did you just call me!??”

Inexplicably the world around them began to fade and Four had a sudden sensation of relief. Yes, please. Let them get back home. Back to any kind of normalcy; please, Hylia.

His prayers went unanswered as their surroundings reformed into a large room with a long line of machines on pedestals at rest against the walls. Strange people milled about the area, some haggling with the gold disks called “coins,” while others were seated in machines, wiggling about as if getting accustomed to sitting in their… saddles?

A mustached human in green walked over to them. “Hello, Imma Luigi. You must-a be new unlocked characters! Welcome to-a Mario Kart!”

“I’m uh… excuse me?” Time asked, a bit frazzled. Four couldn’t blame him. He had no idea what the guy was saying, either.

Luigi continued, “And-a which-a one of you issa gonna race today? You must all be versions of-a one another.”

“How did you know?” Warriors asked, suspicious. Just then, an infant like the one they’d met before but dressed in green was dragged past, bawling and hanging onto an exasperated princess’s dress.

“Please let me borrow some coins, Daisy! I’m begging you!”

“No! I’m not contributing to your gambling addiction!”

“Just a little, to pay off some debts! I’ll pay ya back later!”

“That’s probably what you said to the last guy!”

The two voices faded as their owners exited the building.

“…….It-a wassa lucky guess.”

A human-sized undead… turtle?... walked over to them, its bones rattling with every step. “Ah! New racers! You look awake and rarin’ to go! Have your jelly orbs on any of these carts? This is the selection you’re allowed for your character! Follow me!”

“I’mma gonna hand you off-a to de Dry Bones! Good-a Luck!” Luigi walked off to another area of the room, and the Links reluctantly followed.

“Alright boys, this is the selection allowed for your character to drive. Choose your driver!”

“Oooh! Oooh!”

“Yes, Wind?” Time asked patiently.

“I think I know how! These are just like trains, but there’s no tracks! I think I can do it!”

“Wind, it sounds like fun, it really does, but we need to get back home. I’m sorry mister… Bones, but we don’t have time for a race.”

“Of course you do! Everyone has time for a race! Besides, if you don’t race, you don’t leave.”

“…Ooookay, then. I guess you can try then, Wind.”

The kid pumped his fist. “Yesssss!”

Dry Bones turned to Four. “You didn’t want to race, young man?”

Four snorted. “You couldn’t pay me enough coins to get into one of those things.”

Dry Bones shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

Wind got into a silver looking mechanical beast. His face was wrinkled in concentration as the machine roared to life. “I got it started, guys!” he said excitedly. “Now, I think I pull this lever…” The silver cart suddenly jumped off its pedestal and sped across the room. There were screams as people jumped out of the way. A group of little people with spotted hats stood admiring a smaller beast. “Watch out!” Wind screamed, and they barely jumped out of the way before his machine met the other in a spectacular display of light and sound. Wind flew out and landed on his back, groaning. He gingerly picked himself up off the ground and brushed off his clothes. “I’m good, guys!”

The little people in spotted hats recovered quickly and began screaming at him in a gibberish language Four didn’t understand. Suddenly they were flourishing scimitars. Wind let out a yelp and moved quickly to run from their flailing blades as they chased him.

“Well, he obviously can’t drive. Who’s next?” Dry Bones asked. “By the way, that will cost you thirty coins to repair.”

“We don’t have any of these… ‘coins’,” Sky answered.

“…Well, I suppose you can earn them in the next race. Alright, who wants to try now?”

They all looked at one another, reluctant to volunteer.

“I can drive,” Wild said.

“You sure about that, Wild?” Time asked, putting a large hand on his shoulder.

“Yes.” Four couldn’t help but admire the determination that came across his face.

“This is your selection,” the talking skeleton rattled, “Choose wisely!”

“Oh, Wild! How about this one?” Twilight asked, rolling out a two-wheeled machine that was plated with bronze armor and shaped like a small dragon. “This one looks coo- I mean, this looks like the best choice here.”

“No, I want something else.” Four followed his gaze to where a woman in a pink dress was sitting on one of the beasts. He felt annoyance flare in him at once. Now was not the time to be looking at girls, Wild! But Wild didn’t heed his unspoken pleas and began to set off at once for the other stand just a few paces from their own.

“I want that one,” he said, pointing to a pink vehicle that appeared to be made out of pipes.

“That one?” Dry Bones sputtered. “You can’t have that one, that’s Peach’s!”

“I want that one,” Wild insisted again as the girl took off on her two-wheeler to the other side of the building, where she began to show it off to another lady.

“You- you can’t! Look, you have one just like it, see?” Indeed, there was one just like the girl’s, but green.

But Wild refused. “No, I want the pink one,” he insisted.

At that moment a rotund mustached man approached their group, his face twisted in fury. Twilight backed up, thinking he was coming at him, but instead he walked past the shaggy Link and up to Legend.

“You have-a some-a nerve coming here, you shameless plagiarizer!”

“I – uh, what?”

“You-a heard me! You poor imitation of a hero!”

“What!??”

“It-a was-a bad enough that you-a stole the Chain-a Chomps, but did-a you-a really have-a to rename them-a Bow-a Wows? And-a my-a poor-a Goombas! You ripped them straight-a off-a my-a game! And Pokeys too! Have you no-a shame????”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, man.”

“Mmmmmm!” Four watched the man’s visage turn as red as his cap. “Now what-a are you-a doing here? You gonna steal the Toads-a next?” A gloved hand gestured to where the little people with polka-dotted hats were carrying a tied-up Wind over their heads.

“Guys, help me!”

“I seriously have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Toadette-a! Come-a here! This-a is-a the guy-a I was-a telling you about!”

“This is the guy?” A girl with a pink and white-spotted hat with dangles came toward them. She put on her glasses and examined him closely. “Hmmm; you’re right, he does look like a rat.”

“Hey!”

“Look, I know you want the pink one, but that simply isn’t one of your choices.”

“Guys, I think they want to eat me!”

“Toadette; read-a this-a rascal all the complaints!”

“You got it, boss,” she said, pulling a long scroll of paper out of nowhere that bounced when it hit the floor and continued rolling.

“Come on, this green one runs exactly the same!”

“Guys! They look hungry!”

Four put his hands on his ears. This was worse than having people in his head!

“This day, June 14, the year of Nintendo 129, Mario is filing a lawsuit against you – Link – for plagiarizing his ideas and claiming them as your own. The list is as follows:”

“Look, you can’t have this pink kart, okay? How about I slap a Triforce symbol on the green one and we call it good?”

“I know I should probably help him, but my hair is in perfect order today. I really don’t want to mess it up.”

“Eh, he can handle himself. He’s a big boy. I was six when I started bartering.”

“Guyyyyssss!!!!!”

“Oh, wait, were you talking about Wind?”

“C’mon, Wild, do you really need the pink one?” Time asked. “We’re kind of in a hurry.”

“… Piranha Plants, Cheep-Cheeps, ‘Bloobers’…”

“Just choose one of your own!” Dry Bones begged.

Wild shook his head and stubbornly pointed to the vehicle he still wanted. “I am the hero of the Wild, friend of Princess Zelda herself. How many rupees will it take for me to have that car?”

“… Boo Buddies, Hardhat Beetles, ‘Mask Mimics’…”

“…You have RUBIES!??”

“…You sure Wind needs help? It looks like they’re playing Vigilantes and Bandits.”

“They’re tying him up to a stake, Hyrule!”

“Then they’re playing Pilgrims and Witches.”

“They have a real torch! It’s on fire!”

Sigh. “There’s one thing you should learn about life, Sky. Kids will be kids.”

“How many rupees will you take so I can have the pink one?”

“How many do you have?”

“…Spiked Beetle, and Tarin, who is a direct rip-off of Mr. Mario.”

“…Dude, I never met you before in my life.”

“It’s a deal!” Dry Bones exclaimed, laughing wildly and stuffing as many rupees as possible into his ribcage. Wild gave a triumphant smirk as he got into the saddle of the mechanical beast.

Four sighed.

It was a beautiful day. The sun was beaming down on them, the birds were singing and the sky was blue. Wild had complained when he’d found himself at the back of the group, other racers lined up far ahead of him. The tired-looking floating turtle that they’d met earlier explained that he would get a better position depending on how well he did in the race. Wild begrudgingly complied.

“Hey, where’s Wind?” Warriors asked suddenly.

“Probably palling around with his new friends,” Hyrule dismissed.

Warriors opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off as a loud blare tore the air. Wild hunkered down in his cart, ready to go. The sound of engines ripped through the quiet and birds scattered.

When the light turned green, some vehicles stalled and others took off. Wild was one of the former. “Go, Wild, go!” Twilight cheered from beside Four, jumping up and down. They all gasped as Wild’s metal beast rolled forward and the platform moved with it. Four gripped the rail tightly, not wishing to fall.

“Come on Wild, you can do it!” Sky screamed excitedly. Determination was evident in every muscle of Wild’s body, his form leaning into the turns. He actually got ahead of about two thirds of the racers. But then he got hit with a green shell. And then a red one. And then, inexplicably, a blue one.

“He’s not even in first!” Time shrieked. Racers began to pass their companion, the baby-voiced spiked turtle sticking his tongue out at him as he purposely swerved into the pink monstrosity.

“Hey, watch it!” Legend called in support of his friend. Wild swerved a little, but remained on-course. It was all for naught, though. Soon he was in last.

“C’mon, Wild! You can do it!” Warriors cheered. “We believe in you!”

He leaned over to Legend and muttered, “Bet ya fifty rupees he ends up in last.”

“No bet.”

“Go Wild,” Four raised his voice to cheer his friend on. He was slightly annoyed the others had such little faith in their companion.

Wild rode the pink beast straight into a banana and spun out. Four winced. Alright, maybe their lack of support was well-founded.

They could see, even from their position on the platform that Wild was frustrated. He was swerving all over the place, trying to get his kart under control after its contact with the peel. “You’re doing fine, Wild, just calm down!” Time called out. Four could faintly hear a “Don’t tell me what to do,” drift up to them before Wild turned a corner and came into contact with a glowing box. Suddenly something round and golden appeared in his hand.

“Can you tell what he has?” Four asked Twilight, hoping his advanced sight could catch what it was.

“It looks like a shining, golden mushroom.” Sky squinted. “With a face on it.”

“How can you see that far?” Twilight seemed awed. Sky shrugged.

“What does it do?” Four asked.

“It gives him speed boosts,” Time answered, and the others turned to look at him incredulously. He shrugged. “I read the manual.”

Wild reared his arm back as if to throw the ‘Shroom and let out a battle cry, but instead of flying out of his hand like Four expected, it stuck to it and caused the pink wagon to jump forward in a burst of speed. Wild must not have noticed the change in velocity, or else was more concerned about the thing attached to his palm, because he began panicking, waving his limb around frantically. Four couldn’t help the scream that left his mouth when they lurched, hands gripping tightly onto the railing as he held on for dear life. He barely caught sight of Wild heading toward a sharp bend in the road, and beyond that a long drop.

“Wild, watch out!” Hyrule screamed, but it was too late. In a flash of bright pink and gold, the kart shot off the edge of the cliff. The floating fishing turtle lurched toward the speeding Hylian, but he was too fast even for the cloud. Time seemed to slow as the machine arched through the air, the sun glinting off of the smooth metal as it flew toward the track below. The pack of racers approached its impending termination, oblivious to the doom lurking above.

Four held his breath as the vehicle hung suspended on nothing, like a proud eagle resting its wings on the wind. The illusion was shattered when, in an instant, the pink monstrosity dropped, careening toward the road below. Their platform dove after him, and they had a front-row seat to a glorious explosion of fire and twisted metal. Racers slammed into the debris, causing an enormous pile up and even more spectacular outbreaks of explosions and shrapnel all over the roadway.

The exhausted Laikitu hovered awkwardly above the wreckage, muttered something about needing a vacation, and promptly left. Racers began to pile out of their vehicles, spewing obscenities, a few even crying over their destroyed machines. Wild stumbled out of his own ride and upon seeing his friends held up a thumb and a proud smile. “I’m good!” he called. Then their air raft disappeared and Four grunted as he landed on his behind.

“Guys, guys! I got first!” Wild shouted happily.

“I don’t think that’s how that works,” Time cautioned.

Sky put a hand on their leader’s shoulder, shaking his head. “Don’t ruin his dreams, Time.”

Suddenly the angry man in red got out of his position just behind what was left of Wild’s vehicle. His mustache twitched and Four could swear he saw steam coming out of his ears. Instead of confronting Wild, as he’d expected, he approached Legend. “You! You-a and-a your-a people are-a not allowed-a here-a anymore-a!”

“My people!?? I hardly know these guys!”

“Legend!” Warriors placed a betrayed hand over his heart.

“Get-a out!” the man screamed, his face getting redder and redder by the minute. “Get-a out get out get out!”

Suddenly there was a flash of white, and they were once again back in someone’s Hyrule. Four could cry from relief. Finally. Finally things were back to normal.

“Hey guys!” a young voice called to them cheerfully. Four turned to find their almost-fourteen-year-old walking toward them, mostly unscathed but for an eyepatch covering one side of his face, with one of those strange-looking hats on his head. “Look what the Toads gave me!”

“They took away your eye!” Warriors wailed, moving toward the other.

“No, silly.” Wind lifted up the piece to show a cerulean glint. “This is just something cool I found. But look at this neat hat! And they gave me one of their cutlasses! At least, I think it's a cutlass. They made me an honorary Toad after I saved their leader from a toothy, crunchy death!”

Four didn’t even want to know.

Just then the mailman arrived. “This is a letter for Link,” he looked down at the envelope again and read, “’The pantless rat man with the pink hair.’”

Legend rolled his eyes and held out his hand. “That’s me,” he conceded.

The mailman handed him the letter and Legend frowned. “I think it’s from that angry red man.”

He opened the note and began to read as Wind excitedly told the others about his adventure with the Toads.

“I’ve been summoned to court in Mushroom Kingdom’s Castle and… what in Nayru’s name is a plaintiff?”

Meanwhile, Wild had thrown his arms around Twilight and was sobbing as his elder awkwardly patted him on the back.

“I really wanted the pink one!” he choked.

“I know, I know.”

Four sighed.

#linkeduniverse #discord prompt #humor #legend of zelda #mario kart

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keldae · 6 years ago

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Interview Meme

1. Choose an OC.

2. Answer them as that OC.

3. Tag 5 people to do the same.

Thanks for the tag, @greyias! Let’s tag.... @garbonzobeanz66 @andveryginger @lumielles

Xaja’s up for the questions, roughly now in-game (24 ATC).

1. What is your name?

“Xaja Elynnai Taerich.”

2. Do you know why are you named that?

"Taerich is my dad’s surname, and I think Elynnai was a family name from Mum’s side?”

3. Are you single or taken?

*says nothing, just raises her left hand with her wedding ring and smirks*

4. Have any abilities or powers?

"Like telekinesis or telepathy or Force-pouncing on things? No idea what you’re talking about.” *she says, smirking, as a few loose datapads and comlinks start floating in the air around her.*

5. Stop being a Mary Sue.

*smirk goes away, and she flatly stares at the interviewer while raising a single finger at them. And not the wedding-ring-sporting finger.*

6. What’s your eye color?

“Green.”

7. How about your hair color?

“Uhhh... bright red. You’re not so good with the observational skills, are you?”

8. Have any family members?

“Sometimes I’ll admit I’m related to a Sith Lord and a career criminal and the snarkiest spy to come out of the Empire.” *she smiles* “I also married the cleverest spy to come out of the Republic, and we have a son together.”

9. Oh? How about pets?

“Officially, no. Unofficially, don’t get Theron started, he’ll go on for days about the critters I find. For the record, Scritchy the rakghoul adopted me, not the other way around, so he doesn’t count.”

10. That’s cool, I guess. Now tell me something you don’t like?

"Spiders, dumb questions, and people calling me ‘Missy’.”

11. Do you have any activities/hobbies that you like to do?

"I like reading, maybe writing a little bit. I also can play the space equivalent of a Terran violin and like dancing!”

12. Have you ever hurt anyone in any way before?

*slight frown* “... Yes.”

13. Ever… killed anyone before?

*bitter snort* “I lost count a long time ago.”

14. What kind of animal are you?

"Felinx. I’m either the cuddliest person around or I’m a high risk to claw eyes out of the people I greatly dislike. There is no middle ground.”

15. Name your worst habits?

“Uhhh... Going to bed way too late, yelling insults at people I really don’t like -- are you still mad about ‘dear and fluffy emperor’ over the HoloNet to all of Zakuul, Arcann? Yes? Whoops. -- and to hear certain people like my husband tell it, jumping headfirst into dangerous things without looking first.” *she frowns* “Like he can talk...”

16. Do you look up to anyone at all?

*deadpans* “Literally everyone except Blizz and Tee-Seven is taller than me, so...”

17. Are you gay, straight or bisexual?

"I think the most correct term is ‘bi-romantic demisexual’?”

18. Do you go to school?

“Does Jedi training count? Master Allende and Master Orgus trained me well.”

19. Ever want to marry and have kids one day?

"Didn’t I already say I’m married and have a son?”

20. Do you have any fangirls/fanboys?

“Considering I have to get Lana to screen most of my mail and I regularly hear her laughing at some particularly good pieces of ‘fanmail’...”

21. What are you most afraid of?

"Ummm...” *frowns* “Spiders... restraints... having another presence in my brain...”

22. What do you usually wear?

“Depends. Running around Odessen’s base, usually a jacket and tunics. On the battlefield, light armour. In private, a tank top and sweat pants, usually.”

23. What’s one food that tempts you?

“Oooooh. Corellian buckwheat noodles -- but specifically from this one little vendor on Coruscant...”

24. Am I annoying to you?

"Not yet?”

25. Well, it’s still not over!

“Okay, you’re starting to get there now.”

26. What class are you (low/middle/high)?

".... That’s a good one. In terms of traditional Jedi income, I think I’m low-class; but considering I’m frequently rubbing shoulders with and headslapping or telling off the galaxy’s elite -- yes, Arcann, that meant you -- I think that makes me high class?”

27. How many friends do you have?

"Lots of friends, a few very close ones.”

28. What are your thoughts on pie?

“Om nom nom.”

29. Favorite drink?

“Depending on the time of day, caf, stimtea, or whiskey.”

30. What’s your favorite place?

*thinks about it for a minute, smiling softly* “Rishi, I think. I’m fond of Coruscant too... and my old ship.”

31. Are you interested in anyone?

“The guy who put this ring on my finger that you seem to keep forgetting about.”

32. That was a stupid question…

“No, really?”

33. Would you rather swim in a lake or the ocean?

"Ocean!”

34. What’s your type?

“Smart, sarcastic, mysterious, dreamy voice, tall, dark, and handsome.” *she says while smiling at the guy with the matching ring to her own... who, conveniently, has all that criteria.*

35. Any fetishes?

*blushes bright red and mumbles* “That’s private!”

36. Camping or outdoors?

“Outdoors. I’m not a fan of camping if I don’t have to. Wait, isn’t camping outdoors? That question made no sense!”

#thanks for the tag!#Xaja #meme #swtor #you better believe she called Arcann a dear and fluffy Emperor with Zakuul listening in #he was not happy #still better than what she yelled at Malgus

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rinistop · 5 years ago

Text

IF YOU LOVE SOMETHING, SET IT FREE - PART 5

Summary: With Rin leaving for Australia once again, Rin and Sousuke spend their last night together making memories. But all actions have consequences. Written for the Free Kink!meme

Rating: M

Contains: A/B/O, mating, knotting, mpreg, Alpha!Rin, Omega!Sousuke

He ended up with a little less time off than he'd previously thought and spent most of it in Iwatobi with Gou and his mother, feeling guilty that he hadn't done so much before, and dropped in on his underclassmen at Samezuka who were excited about his progress. A whole day was prioritised for Nagisa and Rei as well. He gave himself three days in Tokyo and met Haru and Makoto first. He saw Haru a lot in swim meets and competitions anyway, racing each other more often than not; and they had a group chat that they keep in regular contact with, but he hadn't seen Makoto since the end of school and he missed that sincere and unassuming presence.

Tokyo had been good to Makoto, who had never given himself enough credit for his own strength and ability. But it seemed he'd come to some sort of acceptance of himself, seemed more confident than the last time Rin had seen him and it made him happy to see that.

He met Kisumi next, in a teaming student hang-out that took him an embarrassingly long time to find. Kisumi steered him to the bar immediately, waving away his apologies for being late with a teasing, "Well, I was beginning to think you were standing me up, since you're usually so punctual - but you made it, after all! Now I don't have to go home and nurse a broken heart!"

Rin huffed a laugh, sheepish. "Yeah, well, I may have wandered the wrong way from the station - Tokyo can be kind of confusing and the map on my phone took a while to figure it out."

"Ha! Tell me about it - I spent my first month here glued to my map and only just made it in time for half my lectures. At the risk of sounding like a country bumpkin - coming from Iwatobi, the city can be really…distracting." He waved down someone behind the bar who he seemed to know well enough that he could ask for two sodas with minimal communication.

"Ugh, so distracting - the smell of food is the worst. I really miss Japanese food and everything around here smells like home. They have us on a really strict diet and it's fine most of the time, but sometimes I just crave other food. Nutritionally useless starchy carb food." Rin smacked some notes down on the counter before there could be any quibble over it and Kisumi rolled his eyes at him, but let him pay with a shrug.

"I think I know what you're talking about - Makoto is always complaining to me that Haru is always complaining to him about the strict diet. And every time he does it, I start craving the biggest bowl of ramen - but I've only given in three times, so far! How's that for self control?!"

Rin laughed and looked at him thoughtfully, turning to lean against the bar-top. "Do you meet up with Makoto often then? We try to vid-call every so often, but I have to admit I haven't been that great with that lately."

Kisumi looked uncharacteristically serious then, eyes seeming a little faraway. "Well, it's just…we used to be such good friends, you know. And then with you moving away and us all going to different schools, we all lost touch. But - it's going to sound kind of stupid saying it out loud," he smiled a little bashfully, "it kind of felt like a second chance I shouldn't waste when we ran into each other again, Makoto being my little brother's swimming coach and then the summer fair with you guys. So I try to make it a point to meet up."

And that was something Rin could understand very well - a lesson he'd learned the hard way after all. It was with a wry smile that he agreed, "Yeah, I know that feeling. It doesn't sound stupid at all."

In the ensuing silence he could feel Kisumi's eyes on him, appraising, and braced himself for what he knew was coming.

"You know…I see Sousuke a lot too."

And there it was. But in a roundabout way, Rin had been hoping Kisumi would broach the subject first, because he still felt…conflicted was probably the simplest way to put it. He pulled his backpack around to unzip it and reach inside. It also meant he didn't have to look at Kisumi's face.

"Hey, uh, when you go see him next - would you give him something from me? It's nothing big, just-"

Kisumi's hand over his stopped Rin from pulling his package out. When he looked up, Kisumi's eyes were endlessly kind.

"I'm going to see him tomorrow to drop off some books for entrance exam prep. Come with me." He must have seen the indecision on Rin's face, because he carried on. "You're still friends, right? I don't know what happened between you two, but I know he's missed you."

His fingers clenched once around the package, crinkling the wrapping a little before he let it go and pulled his hand out of his bag.

"Yeah. Yeah, ok."

It wasn't that Rin was unfamiliar with nervousness necessarily, but standing outside the blue front door of Sousuke's home while Kisumi rang the bell had him shuffling awkwardly wondering what he would do when it opened. Their last conversation hadn't exactly left them on the best of terms and they hadn't spoken since. And he'd been mean, which bothered him the most.

He stiffened at the sound of movement from within, the click of the latch an anxious sound to his ears. And then the door opened and that achingly familiar face was revealed, blue eyes widening at the sight of him, and Rin could feel all the thoughts in his head scattering like dust in the wind because. Somehow. Rin always seemed to forget how much the sight of him felt like home.

"Hey."

It wasn't until Kisumi cleared his throat, somewhat awkwardly, that Rin realised they'd been staring: drinking in the sight of each other after months of silence. His eyes dropped then, taking in the curve of Sousuke's belly that made his state obvious. And suddenly it felt painful, a lurch in his chest that Rin swallowed down as Sousuke moved to let them in.

"Uh, sorry, the place is kind of a mess. I've been studying is all so…." Sousuke led them into a cosy living room, couches turned inward toward a coffee table that was littered with textbooks and sheets of notes in his familiar chicken-scratch scrawl. It made Rin think of their dorm, of homework after a long training session with mellow music to accompany the scratch of their pens and their own murmured talk. God, why did that hurt?

Beside him, Kisumi was seated and making himself comfortable, so Rin sat too. When Sousuke took a seat across from him, he found his eyes repeatedly drawn to the bump, involuntarily, and try as he might, words escaped him. He was grateful when Kisumi filled the silence, placing some textbooks on the already full table and cheerfully warning Sousuke of his upcoming trials and which components of the entrance exams he'd found particularly difficult, with grumbles about the pointlessness of some of it in return.

It gave Rin time to compose himself a little before he could start contributing to the conversation, chatting about anything and everything until there was a comfortable lull. Sousuke excuses himself to use the bathroom and wanders further into the building, shuffling through the kitchen to put the kettle on to boil on his way through.

"He's really having a baby." Rin said it with mild surprise, not sure what his surprise was for. "It's really…."

"Hm?" Kisumi turned, with questioning eyes.

"I couldn't imagine having a baby now, you know? I feel way too young. And to tell the truth, it kind of scares me to think about. But Sousuke's going to have a kid - a few months and he's going to be a parent. That's a whole different level and I've got to admit I've been struggling to process it. I didn't even know he wanted that."

"Yeah…I guess I know what you mean. All of that seems a little far off to get to, yeah? Strange to see someone our age jump up the ladder so much already. But I think Sousuke can do it, even it's hard to study and raise a kid at the same time."

"Oh, definitely. Nobody works as hard as Sousuke when he's set his mind on something and he wants to succeed. He'll do great whatever he decides on, I know that. Must be one hell of a guy, though."

"Huhh?"

"Have you met him?"

"Have I met who?"

Sousuke came back in then, holding a carefully balanced tray of drinks and snacks and a look on his face that suggested he was trying to be nonchalant about the fact that he hadn't brought them sooner. He'd never been that good at following ettiquette, but more out of carelessness than because he was rude. He set the tray down, asking, "What are you talking about?"

"I was just wondering - do I get to meet the lucky guy you've chosen to be with? Is he here?" They were best friends, after all - introducing your boyfriend to your best friend was as important as having them meeting your parents, right?

"Uh…no. He's at university at Kyoto still." Sousuke didn't seem to want to look at him, perhaps feeling awkward about the subject.

"Oh. What's his name - you never told me." Rin couldn't help but press. He knew absolutely nothing about the man he'd lost to. And he needed to make it not-awkward.

"Ah, I didn't, did I? His name is Watanabe Ryuu. He was my senior on the swim team - had the smoothest breaststroke I'd ever seen - and he really looked after me when I hurt my shoulder. I didn't fully appreciate it at the time."

He looked a little lost at that, in remembering something painful, and that wasn't what Rin was trying to do. So he left it there. Where before they might have known exactly how to work around the edges of each other's sensitivities (or bulldoze over them, as the case may be), now he wasn't sure what was acceptable. That night had changed their dynamic and then his news had changed it again and Rin felt cautious now. So he turned to rummage in his bag and pull out a slightly awkwardly, but neatly, wrapped package, which he pushed into Sousuke's hands.

"I, uh, didn't know how much stuff you needed or what you already have, so I got you something - it's nothing much. Lori helped me pick it out…."

Russell and Lori were the only ones he'd told about Sousuke. They'd figured out he was upset about something when he'd cancelled on their weekly dinner and insisted, in that gentle but firm way they had, that whatever it was gave no worth to avoiding them. They hadn't pressed him on it though, just waited. He'd been feeling hurt and angry and confused about why he felt that way and also that he had no right to feel that way at all. Without talking to them, he wasn't sure he would have found his way out of that confusing mire of emotion for a while yet. But it had been Russell, straightforward as always, who had reminded him that, at the core of it all, he still cared deeply about Sousuke and didn't want to stop being friends.

Sousuke was careful opening the package, peeling back the tape to reveal the bundle inside: a little hooded towel with an embroidered kangaroo face on the crest and a little quilted cloth toy in the shape of a koala. He picked it up with soft hands, gingerly running his fingers over the soft cloth. His head was down, but his voice was full of something Rin couldn't quite figure out when he spoke.

"Oh, this is really…it means a lot. Thanks, Rin. I'll use it in the hospital."

Which meant it would be the first thing the baby would ever use. And that was one hell of an honour. Rin felt something in him loosen then - like an assurance of…something. Not something he could figure out then and there, but it was bittersweet and comforting all at once. Perhaps a realisation that they held a special place in each other's heart that wasn't capable of being replaced - which was kind of a kicker, if you thought about it, really. But there was not point dwelling on that now, when there was nothing to do about it.

Whatever their relationship was now, they would work it out.

---

When Rin left a little while later, Sousuke thought he could honestly say he felt like a wrung out dishcloth. Emotionally, anyway. He'd had to work hard to keep them under control around Rin, especially when he'd seen the present he'd given. He sagged into the sofa as soon as he'd closed the door, rubbing his hands over his face as he leaned back into the cushions.

"Soooo…Watanabe Ryuu, huh?"

Shit. He forgot that Kisumi was still there, and that he didn't know either. But there was no way he knew who he was talking about. He rolled his head away and bit his lip. "Uh, yeah."

"Does this Watanabe Ryuu happen to have a younger sister - about our age, really tall, voleyball player, named Riko?"

That was strangely specific and also eerily on the mark. Which meant nothing good for Sousuke. He turned to look at Kisumi, sitting a little straighter, mind whirring as he tried to figure out what to say. For his part, Kisumi only stared guilelessly back.

"We're on the same course and we've become pretty good friends." He shrugged, something in the quirk of his lips that Sousuke would poke at later. "And she hasn't said anything about becoming an Aunty, though admittedly it wouldn't be any of my business to tell it to, but…. It's not Watanabe Ryuu, is it?"

Sousuke could only stare at him, lips pressed tight, caught in his lie. Kisumi was smart enough to put the pieces together by himself, and it was looking like he already had.

Kisumi took a deep breath. "It's Rin's, isn't it? And he doesn't know."

"Don't tell him." He clenched his jaw, stubborn, waiting for Kisumi to tell him all the reasons why he should.

"No, I guess I understand why you haven’t told him." Kisumi sounded thoughtful as he said, but the words knocked the wind out Sousuke's sails easily. Just like that, all the fight drained out of him. "It's kind of a sucky situation, though, huh?"

"…Yeah," Sousuke sagged back against the couch once more, head hanging over the back. "But. I don't know…."

"Hey, you know, I had my suspicions for a while, but when you said Ryuu, it just confirmed it. Does he know you're telling people he's the father of your child?"

"No. I don't tell anyone anything about it, if I can help it. Maybe I should just tell everyone it's you from now on."

"Ha! That'd be hilarious. But I'm here for you, ok? If you need a buffer, I'll be it." He rocked sideways to nudge Sousuke with his shoulder, trying to shake the melancholy look off Sousuke's face. But there was something wistful and distant there, that seemed to have caught him.

"Kind of wish it was you, right now. It'd be easier." The words were quietly spoken, a little sad and defeated.

"Sousuke…shall I take that as a love confession?"

And that seemed to have done the trick, his voice deliberately light and teasing to get the reaction he wanted out of Sousuke. Wide eyes, laughter.

"Pfft, you wish!"

---------

I just realised I only posted this on AO3 and not here, so I am rectifying that - I hate an incomplete archive!

#rinsou #rinsuke #sourin #iylssif #sousuke #mine #rin matsuoka #yamazaki sousuke

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raywritesthings · 6 years ago

Note

Lauriver + 2 for the prompt meme please?? I love your writing

Anon, thank you so much! I’m so happy you enjoy my writing that much.

Close My Eyes and Jump

Oliver has been trying to decide what to do since Laurel’s confession in the hospital, and finally works up the courage with a few little pushes. Also can be read on my AO3 page.

The two of them laughed, and Oliver frowned. Not that anyone noticed. He was making sure to keep well back from the others.

It was another team up with the Flash crew that had brought them to Central City. They’d been after a gang that had been moving back and forth between both their territories and decided to combine their efforts. Now with that taken care of, Barry and Iris had made the offer to host everyone for a late lunch at their newly purchased loft.

They’d agreed, and the meal had been fine. Afterwards, everyone settled in the open sitting room, naturally breaking off into smaller conversational groups.

And right now, Laurel was listening to Cisco tell what he assumed had to be the most hilarious story of all time judging by the way her face was lit up in a wide beam.

Maybe because Cisco had had a girlfriend at the time of their last team up, Oliver hadn’t noticed. But the more he watched, the more it became clear that the other man adored Laurel.

And that…made him uncomfortable in a way he didn’t like to admit.

It was wrong. He knew that without needing to be told. Laurel deserved to have friends and people who appreciated her. He knew he’d been a failure at doing so in the past, even if he was trying to make up for it now. So Cisco being his usual friendly, funny self shouldn’t have been a problem, nor should Laurel enjoying his company have been a problem.

But there was also the matter of what they had talked about in the hospital, the night they’d almost lost her. What she had told him about her feelings. Present tense.

Oliver had been left reeling since that night. He had thought any love Laurel had held for him had been snuffed out long ago due to his own mistakes. He had believed it to be a fondly remembered dream. Not still a possibility.

She had left them for a time to recover at her mother’s home in Central City, away from Darhk. During that time, she’d been caught up in STAR Labs’ second particle accelerator explosion along with Wally and Jessie, granting her meta powers that matched the Cry she had used to achieve through technological means.

With this unexpected aid, they had put a stop to Darhk’s plans before he had launched any nuclear missiles, and he now sat in a secure ARGUS facility, his idol smashed beyond recognition. When the dust had settled, Oliver had tried at last to approach her about that conversation in the hospital.

“Oliver, there’s nothing you have to say. I’m fine,” Laurel had told him with one of her soft smiles. He hadn’t been able to help but notice how fragile it had looked. “I knew when I said it that you didn’t feel the same way. I probably shouldn’t have said it at all.” She had shaken her head. “You don’t need to worry about it.”

“What if I am?”

Laurel had taken hold of his shoulders. “Then don’t be. I’m happy just having the team and my family, and someday you and Felicity are going to patch things up and be happy together. That’s what you really want. And I’m telling you it’s okay.”

She had pulled him into a hug, and Oliver had held on as tightly as he dared. He hadn’t wanted to let her go.

A few short months after that conversation, Felicity had begun seeing another man named Billy and seemed much happier for it. Laurel had been coming and going between Star and Central to get in some training of her new metahuman abilities. And Oliver had been doing a lot of thinking.

He still dreamed of her, was the main thing. When he closed his eyes and really thought of the perfect life, it was Laurel at his side, smiling and happy the way she deserved to be. Proud of the man he’d become.

It was her good opinion he valued most, and her censure he had tried to avoid on multiple occasions when he’d known he was doing something wrong. He trusted her to watch the city in his absence and to care for his family. The night she had been stabbed was one of the worst he had had in his life, those few minutes where she had been hovering between life and death. He couldn’t imagine losing her. Every time he thought of her confession, Oliver’s heart both ached and yet felt full. She loved him, and the truth was that despite his own claims he would always love her. If only she knew.

He wanted to be with Laurel, yet she was sincerely convinced he belonged with someone else. How had he made such a mess of things?

Oliver tried not to frown again as Cisco scooted closer on the couch. It wasn’t inappropriate, and it wasn’t his business. His personal feelings didn’t entitle him to deciding who got to be close to her or receive her attention. He needed to accept and respect whatever choices she made in that regard.

What if she had moved on? What if saying it out loud had given her some kind of closure, and she’d decided once and for all to leave that part of her life behind? She’d said he would always be the love of her life, but what if that just wasn’t enough? What if Cisco made her laugh enough that she decided to stay in Central permanently?

“Hey, Earth to Ollie,” Thea spoke up at his elbow, and he gave a start.

“Uh, yeah?”

“Nothing, just checking on you.”

“Okay. Well, I’m fine.”

Thea leaned against the wall and smirked. “Oh, I’m sorry. I hadn’t realized isolating yourself from the group and staring at it like we’re all on the other side of a glass you can’t get through means you’re fine.”

Oliver folded his arms over his chest. “I’m not doing that.”

“Well, you were doing it to Laurel and Cisco for several minutes there.”

He felt the back of his neck heat up and hoped it wasn’t turning a noticeable red as well.

“Wanna talk about it?”

“Not here.” There were way too many people around for him to get into something so personal.

As if to demonstrate his point, there was a brief breeze as Barry suddenly zipped in close on his other side. “Hey guys, everything okay?”

“It’s fine,” Oliver repeated.

“Yeah, Ollie’s just practicing his sad and alone face.”

“Oh, yeah. That used to be me at every party I went to with Iris before we got together. I’m sure things will work out with Felicity in time.”

“That’s okay, Barry. I’m fine with how things are.” Oliver hoped his tone indicated that was to be the end of things.

Of course, it never was with Barry. “Really, how come?”

“Cause he wasn’t looking at Felicity,” Thea said in a small voice. When he turned, his sister was wide-eyed and looked to be preparing to draw in a large breath.

Oliver had to act fast. “Barry, is there somewhere we can talk privately—”

“Uh, bathroom, that way,” his friend said, ushering the two of them from the room.

It was a tight fit for both him and his sister, but necessary when Thea finally shrieked, “Really?”

“Shh!”

“This is crazy!” She was still managing to shout in a whisper as she grabbed at his arms. “I mean when did- how did- what—”

“Thea, calm down. It’s not a big deal.”

“Uh, pretty sure you still being in love with Laurel is a big deal. This is so exciting!”

Oliver bit back what he was originally planning to say and instead asked, “Wait, you’re happy?”

“Of course I’m happy. I mean, as your sister, I obviously want you to be happy with whomever you choose,” Thea with a magnanimous wave of the hand that eerily resembled their mother. “But I’m really excited about this!”

“There’s nothing to get excited about. You don’t even know that she — you did know,” he realized.

“Well, I do live with the woman. I mean, Laurel’s never said, but I’m practically her second sister.” Her smug look shifted as she asked, “But when did she tell you?”

“That night at the hospital. But listen, this isn’t what you’re thinking it is. Laurel and I aren’t getting together.”

He was vividly reminded of the day Thea learned Santa wasn’t real based on her expression alone. “But why?”

“She doesn’t think I feel the same.”

“You haven’t told her?”

“I didn’t know how I felt at first!” He had to remind himself to check his volume before he continued. “My engagement had just ended, and I had no idea Laurel still felt that way. I didn’t know how to answer her at first.”

“Okay, but it’s been a few months now, so,” Thea urged.

“So she’s still convinced I should just wait for things to settle with Felicity.”

“Because you haven’t told her,” Thea stated rather than asked, then let out a groan. “You have got to stop doing this.”

“What? Doing what?”

“Leaving people guessing about how you feel. I know you have every right to hate feeling vulnerable, which is kinda why you’re trying to become a turtle right now instead of talk to me—”

“What?” Oliver straightened out of his hunched posture and uncrossed his arms. “I’m not — you can’t become a turtle, Thea—”

“—but you have to be willing to go out on a limb sometimes for the person you love. Take the jump. Because you’re the only person that can show Laurel you’re ready to give things another try.”

Oliver hung his head. She was right, and he knew it. Laurel had already confessed to her own feelings, and it was on him to meet her halfway. He just didn’t know how to make things work this time. What if he messed up? What if he hurt her?

“If you don’t say anything, then maybe she will move on, and that’s something you’ll always regret,” his sister said. “And that’s the last thing I want for you, Ollie.”

There was a knock on the door. “Somebody in here?”

“Um, be right out,” Thea called back. She reached around Oliver to turn the knob, and John stared at the both of them when the door swung open.

“Am I interrupting something?”

“It’s fine,” Oliver repeated once again, eyes on the ground.

“It will be fine,” Thea corrected. Then she began pushing on him to get him out of the bathroom and down the hall.

Grudgingly, he went. Out in the sitting room, everyone was in about the same places. Felicity was putting on her coat since she was heading back on the train early to meet Billy for drinks, and Barry had rejoined Iris on the sofa though he met Oliver’s eyes with two raised eyebrows.

Cisco was still right there with Laurel. She looked happy.

“Look, now doesn’t seem like a good time,” he muttered to Thea.

“Now is a great time. Besides, if I don’t make you go through with this now, you’re just gonna let it stew for the next five months, and that is never a good look on you.” Thea clapped her hands on his shoulders like she was preparing him for a fight in the ring. “Now go ahead. Straightforward, clear about your intentions. And if you can manage it, maybe a little playful.”

He wanted to argue that her various pieces of advice seemed contradictory, but she’d already given him a little push, and he began walking forward. One foot in front of the other until he had drawn up to the couch and had nowhere else to go.

Laurel glanced up at him with a dazzling smile for just a moment while she listened to Cisco. Oliver’s attempt to clear his throat got stuck, but the other man broke off anyway.

“Oh, Oliver, hey.”

“Uh, hey. What have you two been chatting about?”

“Suit designs at the moment,” Laurel answered. “Cisco has a lot of opinions.”

“Well, he did make a lot of them,” Oliver had to concede. Cisco was a talented guy, after all, and he certainly didn’t hate him by any means. He just sort of wished he could be the one on the couch with Laurel right now instead of awkwardly standing in front of them.

“Yeah. I mean, as far as suits I didn’t have a hand in go, I still have to say Laurel’s is my favorite,” Cisco said, looking to Oliver for a nod of agreement that he readily got. Laurel just smiled and shook her head. He was a natural flatterer, that Cisco. “Basic black doubling as perfect urban camouflage, the functionality, the style. And the detail work! The fishnet pattern on the gloves, I mean, what was the inspiration for that?”

“Well, Laurel’s always looked good in fishnets.”

As soon as the words had left him, Oliver wished he’d never made it off the island. Of all the ways to go about it, to try and let Laurel know he was serious, and he’d picked that?

He wished he had a drink or something in his hands to focus on so he didn’t have to see Laurel’s stunned expression. She couldn’t believe him, clearly.

Cisco’s mouth was hanging open, though he eventually recovered. “Okay!” There was a laugh that Oliver couldn’t decide whether it was forced or not. “That’s, uh, good to know.”

“Mm-hm. Cisco, if you would excuse us for a moment.” Laurel stood and fixed him with a look before marching for the door. Oliver braced himself before turning to follow.

“Good luck, dude,” Cisco said to his retreating back. He appreciated the thought.

She was leaning against a wall with her arms crossed when he stepped out into the hall.

“Okay, That did not come out the way I wanted it to,” he started with.

“Oh? And what way was that supposed to be?”

“A compliment? A- I don’t know.”

She sighed, pushing a hand through her hair, and he watched as it fell back into place around her shoulders. “Well, thank you, but you should maybe stick to compliments that aren’t about my body so Cisco doesn’t get any ideas.”

“Well, maybe I want him to.” His chest had puffed out a little as he said it, but Oliver stood firm even as Laurel looked at him in clear disbelief.

“What does that even mean?”

“It means that I’ve made up my mind, Laurel. That I know what is going to make me happy, and that’s being with you.”

She took a step towards him, her head shaking. “Oliver—”

“Laurel, I know I’ve given you plenty of reasons to doubt me. I know I tried shutting the door on that part of my life. But it didn’t work. It never works.”

“Okay, but that’s not a sign. Your breakup with Felicity had nothing to do with me.”

“No,” he agreed. “But when it happened, you were the one who was there for me, the same way you always have been. I used to take that for granted.” Oliver took his own step and reached for her hands, which Laurel didn’t pull away from. “I’m sorry I took that for granted. You are one of the best people in my life, and it took almost losing you for me to realize just how dark my life would be without you in it.”

Laurel looked down. “That doesn’t mean—”

“Laurel,” he said. He almost wanted to laugh. “I know you’re trying to do what’s best for me the same way you do for everyone, but I’m telling you what that is now. And it’s you. It’s always been you. I’ve been scared of that for so long,” he admitted. “At first I was scared of settling down because I was young and stupid and thought I was invincible. Then I was scared to let myself be happy because I thought it would never last. And worst of all, it got to the point where I was scared of disappointing you again, so I just gave up trying. But in this kind of life, there isn’t time to be scared. It’s not enough to fight other people’s battles and fears. I have to face my own, too.”

He drew in a breath and closed his eyes for a moment, needing one last moment before taking this leap. Laurel’s eyes had a wet shine to them and her grip on his hands was tight.

“Dinah Laurel Lance. I love you. And I’m sorry for all the times I’ve made you doubt that. There’s no one else I’m waiting on or trying to be with except you, even if I’m far less than what you deserve.” His gaze lowered, first to their clasped hands and then to the floor. “So I’ll let you get back in there with Cisco if that’s what you want.”

There was a pause, and then Laurel let out a breath that wasn’t quite a laugh. “Cisco? That’s what this is about?”

“A little,” he muttered, shoulders hunching. “He’s a good guy, and I want you to be happy whatever that means.”

“Well, Cisco is a good guy and a really good friend,” said Laurel. “But I think we both know it’s a bad idea for me to start something with another person when I’m already in love with you.”

He chanced looking up at her, and she was watching him with such warmth in her gaze.

“This is really what you want?”

“Yes,” he replied, not a single second of hesitance. Oliver used the hold he had on her hands to tug her closer, then let go to wrap his arms around her instead. Laurel went willingly, folding into his embrace with that sense of rightness that had always accompanied her. He turned his face into her hair, smiling to himself as her hands slid further down his back.

“You’re sure?” She asked, just a whisper past his ear.

Oliver pressed his lips to her head. “Yes.” Then he pulled back just a little to look her in the eyes. “And I promise to prove that to you every day.”

Laurel’s lips parted, and his eyes drifted to them. He bent forward, just a breath away—

The door to the loft swung open, and Caitlin jumped as she stepped out and spotted them. “Sorry! I just have to take a call. Um, I’ll go in the stairwell.”

“That’s okay, Caitlin,” Laurel said as she turned around in his hold. The other woman was already scurrying through the fire door that led to the steps, however, so she sighed, her head falling back to rest on his shoulder. “I guess you really better be sure now.”

“I am,” he insisted, bringing his arms back around her middle. “I don’t know why you think I should be the one having second thoughts about this, but I am sure.” Any reasonable person should have been running for the hills instead of giving things another shot with him, and that was what had had him so convinced Laurel couldn’t still be in love with him.

Yet as he tilted his head down to look at her, it occurred to him that Laurel wasn’t always the most reasonable person. She was strong-willed and stubborn and went her own way whenever it suited her. Why should her heart be any different?

As if in answer to his thoughts, she gave a half-shrug. “Hey, I know how I feel.”

“Well, you’ll have to trust that I know how I feel. That work?”

“Of course.”

It was that simple, really. Laurel had always believed in him. Now he just needed to believe in himself too, that he could make this work.

She placed her hands over his and lifted them from around her, but kept the fingers of one laced through hers. “Come on, or we’re going to get caught out here again.”

“Right.”

They returned to the loft. Cisco was still on the couch but turned around to chat with Barry and Iris on the sofa, and he scooted over to make room for the both of them. Across the couch in her own chair, Thea grinned widely at him. Oliver looked away from her, as well as John’s questioning stare, and instead focused on rejoining the conversation and the group with Laurel’s hand in his.

He was done holding himself apart.

#lauriver #laurel x oliver #oliver queen #laurel lance #arrow #cisco ramon #thea queen #barry allen #green arrow #black canary #my writing #Anonymous

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kenshi-vakarian7 · 6 years ago

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OC Interview Meme

I was tagged a while ago by @starsandskies

I’ll tag @naromoreau and anyone who wants to do this.

I’ve done this already for Kira Ryder.

1. What’s your name?

Adam James Shepard

2. Do you know why you are named that?

Adam was actually the only name my parents agreed on when they were naming me. James is my father’s name and it’s kind of a family tradition to give the first-born son the middle name that’s the same as his father’s first name.

3. Are you single or taken?

Taken.

4. Have any abilities or powers?

I have extensive knowledge of every weapon in the Alliance. That includes grenades. I’m trained in marine hand-to-hand and Sambo, and have a natural ability to lead and maintain morale.

5. Stop being a Mary Sue.

ಠ_ಠ Seriously?

6. What’s your eye color?

Blue

7. How about your hair color?

Dark Brown.

8. Have any family members?

Yes. There’s my late father James, my mother Hannah, and my twin sister Amy. I also have extended family on my Dad’s side who live on one of the first established human colonies.

9. Oh? How about any pets?

I have a space hamster, but I haven’t named him yet.

10. That’s cool, I guess. Now tell me something you don’t like.

Well... I’d say politics, but that’s a cliche answer.

If anything ...I’m not really a fan of bugs. Just... yeah... I hate bugs. And spiders. Keep them far, far away from me unless I have a blowtorch on hand.

11. Do you have any activities/hobbies that you like to do?

I like practicing martial arts, and I’m currently learning Tai Chi as a way to help me relax. I enjoy watching movies, listening to old music, hiking, and I can play a mean game of Skyllian Five.

12. Have you hurt anyone in any way before?

Only when I don’t have a choice.

13. Ever… killed anyone before?

Unfortunately...

14. What kind of animal are you?

ಠ_ಠ The kind that defends the innocent from criminals and slavers.

15. Name your worst habits?

People say I tend to take on more than I should. I suppose they’re right, but who else is going to get the job done? Certainly not politicians.

16. Do you look up to anyone at all?

Two people; my Dad, and Anderson.

17. Are you gay, straight or bisexual?

Straight.

18. Do you go to school?

I used to. I went to high school in Benning during the time my Dad was posted at an station that orbited around the planet. I took some courses in psychology at the start of my military career, but I never completed it. I graduated as an N7 at ICT, but that was years ago.

19. Ever want to marry and have any kids one day?

Sure, why not?

20. Do you have any fangirls/fanboys?

*Tries not to think about Conrad Verner* Maybe...

21. What are you most afraid of?

Honestly, I’d rather not discuss it, especially if this interview is going public.

22. What do you usually wear?

When I’m not in uniform, I really like to wear something comfortable, like a t-shirt and jeans. Sometimes, I’ll throw on a leather jacket on cooler days.

23. What one food tempts you?

Anything that’s not an MRE, freeze dried, or lab-grown. Real meat and fresh fruits and veggies are considered a luxury in my line of work.

24. Am I annoying you?

...Maybe.

25. Well, it’s still not over!

Yaaay...

26. What class are you (low/middle/high)?

Middle, I guess? They don’t really have that in the military.

27. How many friends do you have?

Enough to cause a riot in a 2-block radius... -especially if this interview doesn’t wrap up soon...-

28. What are your thoughts on pie?

As long as it’s fresh, I’m down for it.

29. Favorite drink?

I like the occasional good quality whiskey. Also coffee.

30. What’s your favorite place?

I spent a long time trying to look for that one planet I could call home after so many years of living in spaceships. Earth is where I was born, but it’s too crowded these days. I enjoy Elysium and have an apartment there, but there are... certain reminders that don’t keep me ground-side for long..

I never expected to call Rannoch home. I know it’s a dextro planet, but the moment I took my first step on that world, I knew this was where I wanted to be, as long as the quarians welcome me, of course. It has everything I like - year-round warm weather, dry climate, amazing beaches and landscape... And no bugs!

Being there with my girl, on her homeworld, is also a nice bonus. :)

31. Are you interested in anyone?

Yes, I am.

32. That was a stupid question…

ಠ_ಠ

33. Would you rather swim in the lake or the ocean?

Doesn’t matter to me... -I’d swim anywhere as long as it’s AWAY from this interview!-

34. What’s your type?

Someone who is sweet, selfless, and brave. -And who doesn’t make me stay at this interview longer than necessary...-

35. Any fetishes?

...That’s... no, I am not answering that. -Aaand I’m done!-

36. Camping indoors or outdoors?

*Looks at non-existing watch and suddenly jumps out of chair* Oh, look at the time! Gotta go, the galaxy can’t save itself!

*runs out the door before the interviewer could get another word in*

#kv7 ocs #mass effect #adam shepard

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confettininjabean · 6 years ago

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Interview Meme

1. Choose an OC.

2. Answer them as that OC.

3. Tag 5 people to do the same.

Thanks for the tag, @keldae! Lets see, since Im a bit late in the game, I’ll tag all of Clan Piranha if yall want to do it again and whoever else wants to do this. :)

Jaydzia gonna answer the questions. Pretty much now, in game (24 ATC).

1. What is your name?

Jaydzia Lynn Rand

2. Do you know why are you named that?

Well Rand is my adoptive surname. I only recently discovered why my birth mother gave me my first name, its apparently a mixture of her own mother’s name, Jayd and her Aunt’s name Eziria. As for my middle name? I have no idea.

3. Are you single or taken?

I happen to be very happily married. *She glances over at the tall, dark and handsome man sitting a few feet away*

4. Have any abilities or powers?

Well, technically yes. I am a Jedi. I’m also a pretty good pilot and a decent shot.

5. Stop being a Mary Sue.

*Frowns at the interveiwer* My name is Jaydzia not Mary, Sue, or anything else.

6. What’s your eye color?

“Green.” *She says with a frown.

7. How about your hair color?

*gestures to her hair* Um, its red.

8. Have any family members?

I have my adoptive parents. My father is a Chiss and my mother a Twi’Lek. They also adopted my brother who is a Mirialan. My brother adopted a little Twi”lek girl, my niece. My biological father still lives and apparently I have a half-brother as well. Then there is my husband of course and child. My Crew, my closest advisers of the Alliance....

9. Oh? How about pets?

*Laughs as she glances at her husband* Several, as a matter of fact. A few since I was a child.

10. That’s cool, I guess. Now tell me something you don’t like?

Spiders. Being trapped... among other things. Oh and titles, I dislike titles.

11. Do you have any activities/hobbies that you like to do?

You mean when I’m not too busy? *chuckles* I like to draw and paint. Singing but that’s more a rare occasion or when I’m singing lullabies to my son.

12. Have you ever hurt anyone in any way before?

*Inhales a deep breath* Yes, I’ve fought in some war or another since I was seventeen.

13. Ever… killed anyone before?

*Irritation runs through her eyes* I’ve been through war....The answer is yes. Can we move on to other questions, now.

14. What kind of animal are you?

“Oh....well that’s an interesting question. I don’t have the faintest clue what animal I am. Something soft, cuddly but fierce when it needs to be?” *Smirks*

15. Name your worst habits?

*Snort* Well, there’s staying up late with a disregard to my sleep schedule. *Starts ticking of her fingers* Then there’s drinking caffa when I really shouldnt, part of the reason my sleep schedule is what it is. *chuckles* Cursing or giving dressing downs to “Higher Ups” when they’re being stupid, though can you really call that a bad habit? Especially if the person is supposed to be leading a government? According to my family, I have a habit of jumping into the fray without regard to myself. And they’re guilty of it too, all of them. *She looks pointedly at her husband*

16. Do you look up to anyone at all?

Well, I am petite so yes but on an inspirational basis? My parents. My mother is who i want to be to as a mother and my father is the best...and it helps that he’s really tall. And... *glances at her husband* My husband, actually, not just because he’s tall.

17. Are you gay, straight or bisexual?

I don’t think that’s any of your business but if you must know, I’m bisexual.

18. Do you go to school?

Well, yes. I was trained as a Jedi and all younglings and padawans study many different subjects, mathematics, galactic history...so on and so forth.

19. Ever want to marry and have kids one day?

*Frowns* I’ve technically already answered this question. I’m already married and have a child. So....perhaps you should pay attention?

20. Do you have any fangirls/fanboys?

Apparently, I do. Its something my husband and Lana like to needle me about. I don’t know why I do but...its a very weird thing to be honest.

21. What are you most afraid of?

Well, spiders for one. Being buried alive.... having an evil horror stuck in my head....

22. What do you usually wear?

In battle or on missions, usually light armor, my lightsabers. On Odessen, i’m usually in some form of casual but still businessy clothing. In my downtime I’ve got a messy bun and lounge wear like sweats and a tank top.

23. What’s one food that tempts you?

*chuckles* Caffa cakes and chocolate.

24. Am I annoying to you?

Well, only when you ask me something that I’ve already answered....

25. Well, it’s still not over!

Well, I figured as much.

26. What class are you (low/middle/high)?

I guess being a Jedi is low class? But i’m from a middle class working family but we all have had many interactions and rubbing shoulders with the elite so...I honestly don’t know. Would knowing a Former Emperor be a status changer? *she smirks*

27. How many friends do you have?

A small circle of very good friends. I have many acquaintances.

28. What are your thoughts on pie?

My mother makes the best pies. *Smiles fondly*

29. Favorite drink?

Caffa, and Whyren’s Reserve.

30. What’s your favorite place?

Well...my parents home on Nar Shadda, My home and the family base of operations on Rishi. My old ship.... Wherever my husband and our son happen to be.

31. Are you interested in anyone?

*Raises her hand with the wedding ring* Um....Happily married remember? So obviously I’m interested in my husband.

32. That was a stupid question…

*Makes a mock gasp* No....honestly i wouldn’t have guessed.

33. Would you rather swim in a lake or the ocean?

An ocean, actually. Oceans tend to remind me of the feel of the Force.

34. What’s your type?

*Laughs and glances at her husband* The tall, dark and handsome Spy-boy type...who have a penchant for getting into trouble.

35. Any fetishes?

*Frowns* That is none of your business. Next question.

36. Camping or outdoors?

Well, considering how camping is outdoors....Both. There’s a glad on Alderaan that’s perfect for camping.

#Tag meme #Interview meme #This was a lot of fun #I might do the other Rands later #Thanks for tagging me!

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maximilliandelirium · 6 years ago

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somebody out there hates you

a/n: hhhh i wrote this in a pre-nanowrimo mania. wanted to post to ao3 but it’s acting weird so i thought i’d throw it up on the blog for now. notice me senpai fills me with joy, so i was inspired to make *~art~* the setting is anime japan so nothing is accurate and the points don’t matter (pssst! support me on ko-fi!)

Summary: Suzuki joins an anti-cafe out of curiosity and begins to re-evaluate his relationship with Yamato. Suzuki/Yamato (Idol Senpai/Rocker Senpai)

Suzuki didn’t go online that evening intending to join an anti-Suzuki fan café. He usually didn’t dwell on his haters at all. But tonight, curiosity got the better of him. He’d been trawling the net after a long practice when he stumbled across a link to the anti-site. (Suzuki liked to Google himself; so what?) When he followed it, he realized he couldn’t read any of the message boards without an account.

That’s a good thing, I guess, he thought. He didn’t really want to see what people were saying about him. He decided to forget about it and do his homework instead.

At least, that was what he tried to do. He kept thinking about it as he struggled over his assigned reading. What did they talk about? Did they make fun of his hair? His personality? Maybe they picked apart his lyrics. The longer he thought about it, the more he wanted to know.

Suzuki tossed his book aside and re-opened his laptop. He hadn’t closed the browser window. The link was still there. Yamato was always telling him to consider his weaknesses so he could improve. This could be beneficial. If Suzuki tried understanding where these people were coming from, he might be able to win them over, or at least get better at what he did.

It didn’t take much to make an account. He had to create a new email—he didn’t want his regular one linked to the site. After that, he spent half an hour trying to come up with a screen name. It was imperative that no one know who he really was. His usual handle—“SuzuStar”—would give him away like a shot. Suzuki was also disappointed to discover that “YamatoFan#1” was taken. Eventually, he settled on “notafan1234.”

Never having been on an anti-site before, Suzuki wasn’t sure what to expect. He was surprised by how plain it was. The header image was just the name of the page in bright red letters, along with a picture of his face with a “no” sign superimposed on it. He scrolled through the list of threads.

Break Suzuki’s new MV!

New Anti-Suzuki Memes

Worst Lyrics Poll (CLOSED)

Suzuki kept scrolling, horrified and fascinated. He found a thread titled “Important question for Yamato fans—should he be friends w/ Suzuki?” He clicked on it. He jumped when he saw the selfie he and Yamato had taken at the school festival. The original poster had written a caption beneath it.

Ugh. I don’t get why Yamato wastes his time with this guy. They don’t have anything in common.

A user named MerryPip added, Lol same. Yamato actually has talent.

Suzuki frowned.

They probably just hang out because they go to the same school, someone else said. Yamato doesn’t want to be mean.

Tbh, SuzuYama shippers make me sick.

Yamato shouldn’t keep feeding them by hanging out with him.

They only do it for fanservice. I bet it’s in their contracts.

Suzuki hadn’t been planning on responding to anyone, but the last comment had sent him over the edge. They had no right to question his friendship with Yamato. They didn’t know anything about him. He typed, Maybe Yamato and Suzuki are friends because they get along and like to hang out.

A response appeared in no time. As if, Lonelygrrl said. Suzuki is too much of a ditz to get along with Yamato. He totally cramps his style. Yamato is just humoring him because the fans like it.

Blood rushed to Yamato’s face. His fingers flew to the keys. That’s not true! How do you know Yamato is just pretending? You don’t have any proof. You’re just making stuff up!

The backlash was swift and immediate. A gallery of photos flooded the thread with red outlines drawn around Yamato’s eyes and mouth, along with whole paragraphs explaining why his smile was faked, or how he couldn’t stand to actually touch Suzuki.

His hand is just hovering here, Lonelygrrl wrote. All their selfies are faked. Their managers get together and tell them where to go. Like playdates.

Suzuki slammed the laptop closed. He sat back, fuming. When his head cooled, Suzuki reached for his phone. He wanted to ask Yamato about this. (Yamato was saved in his contacts as “Yama heart eyes emoji, guitar emoji.”)

Did u know there’s a whole website that hates me? Suzuki texted.

Yamato answered quickly: No, but I’m not surprised. There’s always haters. You find one?

Yeah. I made an account.

WTF why?

I wanted to see what they were saying.

Delete it. That’s a waste of time.

A waste of time. That’s what the anti-fans had said Yamato was doing by being Suzuki’s friend. He wanted to tell Yamato about it. But it had made him nervous. What if they were right? What if Yamato was only pretending to be friends with him? They’d become closer through school performances. Was that the only reason Yamato continued to hang out with him?

Suzuki texted back: Ur right. They’re just mean.

Don’t let it get to you. Some people have to be negative for no reason.

Suzuki put the phone aside. He wouldn’t go back on the site. He’d just forget about it. Yamato was his friend and that was that. It wouldn’t do him any good to second guess it. Suzuki opened the laptop one last time to close the browser. There were a few more replies.

Jesus, when will trolls learn not to come in here? MerryPip complained. Do. Not. Feed. The. Trolls.

I’m not a troll, Suzuki thought, closing the window. He would delete the account tomorrow. Right now, he needed to get back to work.

The next morning was rough. Suzuki hadn’t realized how much time had passed last night while he’d been reading the message boards, and by the time he completed his homework, it was 2AM. He shuffled into class, yawning.

“Late night?” Reiji asked as Suzuki walked past.

“It took me two hours to finish the reading.”

“Me, too!” Takeru said. “And when I finished, it felt like I didn’t understand it at all.” He looked over at Ren. “What did you think?”

Ren lifted his head slightly. “Huh? I didn’t finish. I fell asleep halfway through.”

“You’re kidding. We have a quiz on it today.”

“I can probably get a good enough grade with what I know.”

Suzuki spotted Yamato sitting on the windowsill. He had his guitar balanced in his lap and he was strumming it idly. The things Suzuki had read last night started to seep into his mind. He pushed them away. I’m not going to think about it.

“Yama-kun!” Suzuki called.

Yamato glanced up and smiled. It looked real. Relief washed over Suzuki as he walked over. Yamato continued plucking on the strings.

“Hey,” he said. “You look beat. What’s up?”

“I got distracted by the internet last night and did all my homework late.” Suzuki blushed. Yamato liked to tease him for being irresponsible sometimes. “But I did get it done!”

“Oh yeah. That site you texted me about. I hope you didn’t talk to anyone.”

Suzuki laughed nervously. “No. Why would I?”

“They’re trying to get a rise out of people. Starting an argument is just what they want.”

He laughed again, this time more forced.

Yamato tilted his head to the side. “You okay?”

“Yeah. It’s all good.” Suzuki waved a hand. “Let’s stop talking about it. Do you still want to go shopping today after class?”

“Sure. Just remember to change before we go out. I don’t want to get chased by your crazy fans again.”

“I wouldn’t forget,” Suzuki said. He winked and stuck his tongue out. “Are you sure you don’t like the exercise?”

“I’m sure.”

Yamato met him in front of the school after classes let out. No matter how many times they went out in public together, Yamato never stopped staring at Suzuki’s outfit. Suzuki didn’t understand why he rolled his eyes every time he saw it.

“What’s the matter? This is what I always wear,” he said.

“I know. That’s the problem. We’re getting you some new civilian clothes today.” Yamato grabbed the hem of Suzuki’s t-shirt and gave it a tug. “How many of these do you own?”

“A few.”

“You’re supposed to be in disguise. Why would you wear a shirt with your own face on it?”

“Because,” Suzuki said, lifting his index finger, “no one would ever suspect I’d wear my own merchandise. This face distracts them from looking at mine.”

“If you say so.” Yamato let go.

They walked into town, then took the train to the best shopping district. Though Yamato and Suzuki bought their clothes at different stores, they agreed that this part of the city had the best shops. The only problem was that it was crowded. Just getting off the train was a nightmare. Suzuki almost lost his hat.

“Is it just me or are there more people here today than usual?” he asked, squashing it back on his head.

“I think you’re right. There must be a promotion going on.” Yamato stretched to see over the crowd. “That one you like isn’t as busy. Let’s go to that one first.”

They pressed through the crowd. Suzuki bumped into a woman carrying a dozen bags and made her drop all of them. He spent a few minutes helping her pick them up while bowing and apologizing. She gave him a dirty look. He wondered if she would’ve been as mad if she knew who he was.

Or could she be one of the anti-fans?

Suzuki hadn’t thought about it before, but those names online had real people behind them. They could’ve been from his own school. It was scary to think about. There might be some in this crowd. Suzuki readjusted his mask and sunglasses, making sure his face was completely hidden.

“Suzu—!” Yamato cut himself off as he came jogging over. They’d gotten separated. “I turned around and you weren’t behind me.”

“Sorry. It’s hard to stick together in all this.”

Yamato sighed and looked around. Then he grabbed Suzuki’s hand. “Come on,” he said. “We need to get you a new shirt.”

The changing room was cold. Suzuki quickly pulled on one of the shirts he’d brought in. It was a purple galaxy print. There were three mirrors placed in the corner of the stall, giving him a rounded view. He was pretty satisfied with his appearance. Suzuki had often been told he had a good face. And his rigorous dance practices kept him in good shape. Yet…

Earlier, while Yamato was going through leather jackets, Suzuki had pulled up the anti-café on his phone. He needed to know if they knew where he was. His fans tended to track his movements. His haters might do the same thing.

Though there wasn’t anything about where he physically was, but there was a new thread: “Is Suzuki actually handsome? Yes/No?” He knew he shouldn’t read it. It didn’t matter what a handful of bitter people on the internet thought. But the urge was too strong.

It’s supposed to be his major selling point, but I’m a girl and I think he’s kind of lame.

His hair color looks so fake and not in a good way.

Didn’t he gain weight recently? No one’s gonna stick around if he keeps putting on the pounds XD

Imo he’s kind of short.

I’m 178 centimeters! That’s above average! Suzuki was shorter than Yamato, but that didn’t mean he was tiny. He remembered what Yamato had said about not engaging them. He wanted to set them straight.

The school festival selfie had reappeared. Suzuki had been proud of it at the time. His and Yamato’s costumes were perfectly coordinated, they’d posed in front of the best decorations in the classroom, and they’d gotten a perfect angle. This site didn’t seem to agree.

Look at this lame-ass Star Sailor costume.

I stg Suzuki drags Yamato into his weird interests all the time.

is it supposed to be funny? Who are they trying to appeal to?

It had taken every ounce of Suzuki’s self-control not to go off on them. Star Sailor was one of his great loves. It was one of Yamato’s as well. That was the whole reason they had coordinated their cosplays.

Unable to stomach any more, he had turned off the screen, gathered a few shirts and gone into the dressing room. He examined himself in the mirror. He still looked fine. Suzuki plucked a strand of hair. Was it too yellow?

He took off the galaxy shirt and pinched his stomach. Suzuki wasn’t as muscular as boys like Makoto or Katsuo, but he had a lithe figure. Nothing seemed to have changed. Sometimes Suzuki’s manager warned him not to indulge his sweet tooth too much. Maybe he should start taking that message more to heart. He felt a pang of loss just considering skipping the cakes at the school’s café.

Suzuki shook his head. He was letting the anti-site get to him.

When he emerged from the dressing room, he spotted Yamato coming over, his arms weighed down with jackets and black jeans. He eyed Suzuki’s pile.

“Did you find anything good?” he asked.

“I like this one.” Suzuki pointed at the galaxy shirt. “What do you think?”

Yamato shrugged. “You look good in everything.”

“Aw, Yama-kun, you’re so sweet!” Suzuki said in an over-the-top cutesy voice. He shimmied his shoulders for extra effect.

Yamato rolled his eyes and gave Suzuki a light smack on the arm. He disappeared behind the curtain. Suzuki put away the clothes he didn’t want while he waited. He wondered if Yamato had hate sites, too. It didn’t seem possible. Yamato was so handsome and talented; it was hard to imagine a bunch of people getting together just to make fun of him.

Suzuki pulled out his phone again. He went through his pictures until he found another selfie he’d taken with Yamato. It was from the last time Yamato had hung out at his house. Suzuki hadn’t made it public. He didn’t know why. It was a good picture. There wasn’t anything scandalous or illegal in it.

He supposed he hadn’t wanted to share it because it felt more personal than the others. They were both in sweatshirts and pajama pants, their faces lit up by the blue light from Suzuki’s TV. Suzuki was leaning heavily on Yamato, who was grinning at the camera. Suzuki was smiling fondly up at Yamato.

If those jerks online could see this picture, they’d realize Yamato wasn’t faking his feelings of friendship. Suzuki couldn’t post it, though. This picture was just for him and Yamato, no one else. He sighed and closed the photo gallery.

Yamato came out of the dressing room. “I’m ready if you are,” he said.

“Are you buying anything?” Suzuki asked as he headed for the counter.

Yamato shook his head. “I’m going to shop around a bit more. Do you want to get some bubble tea after the next stop?”

“Only if we go to that one place next to the arcade.”

“Okay, but you’re not dragging me into another DDR competition.”

Suzuki put his arm around Yamato’s shoulders. “Come on, you’re not that bad. You almost beat me last time.”

Yamato shook his head. He copied Suzuki’s gesture, linking them closer together. He gave Suzuki’s back a pat. “I’ll leave the dancing to the trained idol. Some other time. Now go, it’s your turn.” He nudged Suzuki forward.

Suzuki reluctantly let go of Yamato. He brought his shirts to the girl working the cash register. She smiled at him.

“You and your friend are cute,” she said as she rung him up.

“Thanks! I try.”

She giggled. “Have a nice day.”

“Did you flirt your way to a discount?” Yamato asked.

Suzuki’s eyes widened behind his sunglasses. “You can do that?”

“No, idiot.” Yamato took Suzuki’s hand again. “Maybe you could, but I wouldn’t. I hope she didn’t recognize you.”

“She didn’t. If she had, she would’ve asked for an autograph.”

They could never get a seat by the windows, otherwise their combined fans would fill the restaurant. Suzuki was half thankful for the privacy it afforded them, but they had to sit in a dim corner where there wasn’t much space. One of Yamato’s legs rested against one of his own.

“What kind did you get?” Suzuki asked.

Yamato glanced up from his phone. “Honeydew. You wanna try it?”

“Sure.” Suzuki took a sip from Yamato’s bubble tea. They had never worried about germs. The tea was perfectly sweet and mellow. He passed it back, a smile on his lips.

“You know, that’s the first time you smiled this afternoon,” Yamato said. “It feels like you’ve been gloomy ever since we left school.”

“Really?” He hadn’t noticed. “I guess I’m just tired. We’re already talking about the next comeback.”

“They should let you have a break. I’ve been talking to my agency about a vacation.” Yamato lowered his phone and met Suzuki’s eyes. “We could go somewhere. Hawai’i maybe. I’ve always wanted to do a shark tour.”

Suzuki shuddered. “That’s scary!”

“They put you in a cage. It’s not dangerous.”

“You can do that. I want to get a tan.”

Yamato knocked his leg against Suzuki’s. “But you’d want to go? With me?”

“Of course.”

Yamato’s eyes lit up. He smiled. “Awesome. We can get it cleared with your manager. There’s a little while before our next break. We could go then if your team says it’s okay.”

Hawai’I with Yamato. Suzuki imagined what it might be like. Sun, sand, and the ocean. Swimsuits. Sleeping in. Hawai’ian food. He sighed wistfully. Ever since he had first seen travel programs for it on TV, he’d always wanted to go. The best part might be going with Yamato. They could run around together as much as they wanted. They’d have their own hotel room.

“Will you ask your manager about it?” Yamato said, pressing Suzuki’s leg again. He was chewing on the corner of his lip.

“I will. I’ll text her now.” Suzuki fished his phone from his jacket pocket. He braced his leg against Yamato’s. He took comfort in the pressure. Yamato was strong. It felt good to lean on him.

Some of the other guys invited them to karaoke after school that weekend. It was Hajime’s idea apparently, which meant he’d roped in Soujiro, who was bringing the twins, and so on and so on. Things usually turned out this way. If someone mentioned a party, everyone ended up unofficially invited. Ikemen wasn’t a small school, but word spread quickly, and the upperclassmen were all connected by a web of association.

Suzuki didn’t remember who specifically asked him and Yamato if they wanted to tag along. It might’ve been Ai. Anyway, they showed up at the karaoke place after everyone else had already arrived thanks to an unexpected fangirl sighting.

“You guys are late,” Tokiya said.

“We just got chased halfway across the city,” Yamato said, tossing his jacket onto one of the couches. “Give us a break.”

Suzuki removed his mask, sunglasses, and hat. He took stock of the group. Ai had brought Tokiya and Ryuu, but Kurou was nowhere to be seen, meaning there’d be a fight later. (Ryuu and Tokiya always fought.) Soujiro and the twins were there, wearing casual clothes for once. Yuu and Baa had shown up as well. Suzuki would never get over the goat head. Takeru was there, probably having heard about the outing through word of mouth.

“Sorry, we ordered food without you,” he said.

“It’s fine. We can get something later.”

Suzuki settled in beside Yamato. He had asked his manager about the vacation. She hadn’t gotten back to him yet. He was starting to get nervous. Running from their fans earlier had only made Suzuki want it more. After this comeback. If the single does well, then I earned it. She can’t say no.

The other third-years had already lined up a decent list of songs. They must have been feeling nostalgic, since most of the music was from the 80s and 90s. Takeru, being Takeru, shared some of his food with Yamato and Suzuki while Hajime launched into a heart-felt ballad at the top of his lungs.

It was times like these that made Suzuki wish he wasn’t an idol. Being a senior in high school wasn’t easy, but there was so much more freedom. You definitely didn’t get hate comments. You could hang out with whoever you wanted. You didn’t get chased when you went outside. He could never just quit though. He loved music. He loved performing. But it was nice to just be with friends and not on a stage.

Yamato nudged him with his elbow. “Are you going to sing?”

“Obviously!” Suzuki hopped up. “I wonder if they have one of your songs on the machine.”

“Ooh, do it!” Ai said.

Yamato looked embarrassed. “Come on…”

“What?” Suzuki scrolled through the song list. “Are you scared I’m gonna ruin it? I’ll let you cover one of mine?”

“You should do a duet,” Hajime said. “Give us the collab everyone’s been waiting for!”

Takeru nodded in agreement and Ai applauded. “Yeah!” he said. “Do that!”

Yamato got up and walked over to the screen, picking up a microphone for himself. “Pick something we both know. One that’s in my range.”

Suzuki kept scrolling. They had a couple of his songs, as well as a few of Yama’s, but none of them were duets. Then he spotted something. He let out a cry of excitement.

“Yama! The Star Sailor duet! From the musical.” He grabbed Yamato’s upper arm and squeezed it insistently. “Remember? The part where Selena hears Damian join her from offstage, and then he comes down from the ceiling?” He shook Yamato’s arm for emphasis. “Let’s do this one. Please?”

“Wait, you’ve seen the Star Sailor musical?” Ryuu asked with a smirk.

Yamato blushed. “It’s good,” he muttered. To Suzuki, he said, “You really want to do this one? It’s kind of…”

“I know all the words,” Suzuki said proudly. “I could sing it without looking at the screen.”

Yamato still looked hesitant. An upsetting thought reared its ugly head. Suzuki remembered the discussion in the anti-café, about their Star Sailor cosplay. I stg Suzuki drags Yamato into his weird interests all the time. Suzuki’s heart sank. What if Yama really was only going along with it to humor him? Liking a sparkly and romantic mahou shojo wasn’t Yamato’s style. And he probably hadn’t wanted to broadcast any interest in it.

“Um, we don’t have to,” Suzuki said. He reached out to scroll down the list again. “There’s probably another song we can both sing in here.”

“No,” Yamato blurted, color still high in his cheeks. “I want to do this one.”

“Are you sure?”

Yamato nodded. “You can have Selena’s part. The notes are too high for me.”

Relief washed over Suzuki. He might be humoring you again, a mean voice whispered in the back of his head. He tried to ignore it. As long as he got to sing with Yamato, he didn’t really care. He pressed play.

They might have been in a random karaoke room, surrounded by classmates, but Suzuki poured his heart into the performance. He loved the Star Sailor musical. He thought it was hopelessly romantic. Especially the part where Damian appeared. Suzuki started the duet and Yamato jumped in after a few bars. His voice was perfect for the song. It was like he really was Damian.

If Yamato had seemed uncomfortable before, he had shaken it off. He sang with confidence, turning to face Suzuki and holding out his hand. A thrill went through Suzuki as he took it. Yamato even twirled him under his arm. They could have been onstage. Suzuki had no trouble imagining Yamato in the top hat and mask (seeing as he’d worn the costume before). He also had no trouble seeing why Yamato’s fans left strings of hearts in the comments on his selfie posts.

Suzuki was starting to feel lightheaded. It might’ve been because the room was hot, or all his breath was going into the duet, but at the same time, he knew that wasn’t the real reason. Yamato drew him in a step closer. They were reaching the end of the song.

In the musical, Selena and Damian ended their duet by putting their foreheads together, eyes closed. Then, just before the stage lights dimmed, they would kiss. It was cheated, covered by strategic hand placement, but Suzuki squealed every time. Now, as his head came to rest against Yamato’s, he had a crazy idea.

What if Yamato kissed him?

Suzuki’s heart started to pound. Yamato’s face was so close to his. It would take just a tiny movement for their lips to touch. Even though the actors usually closed their eyes, Yamato was looking straight at him, and Suzuki couldn’t tear his gaze away. He’d forgotten everyone in the room. They might as well have been alone.

Then, the last note of the song faded. Yamato stepped back. Suzuki released a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. Yamato’s hand was still in his. Suzuki was shaking. All around them, the other third-years applauded. Someone whistled.

Suzuki came back to himself just in time. He raised his and Yama’s hands between them and swept into a low bow. “Thank you, thank you,” he said. “We’ll be here all week.”

“You guys were great!” Tokiya said. “It was just like seeing the actual musical. Right, Ryuu?”

Ryuu shrugged. “Don’t ask me. I’ve never watched Star Sailor live.”

“Oh really? Then what was that about telling Kurou how much you liked the actress that played Queen Pyrite?”

Ryuu’s mouth opened and shut indignantly. He turned away to hide the blush that had spread across his face. “Shut up, Tokiya.”

Yamato insisted on walking Suzuki home. None of their fans appeared, so it was an uneventful journey, but Suzuki’s heart hadn’t stopped racing. Yamato was at his side, keeping pace and chatting about his plans for a new song. Suzuki only half-registered the words he was saying. The rest of his mind was occupied with the ups and downs of his voice, his smile, the way the streetlights made his hair glow.

Suzuki remembered how Yamato had held his hand earlier and while they were shopping and wished Yamato would do it again. It had felt nice. He was tempted to bridge the distance between them, to reach out and mesh their fingers. Suzuki put his hands in his pockets instead.

Could friends hold hands whenever? He didn’t think there was anything weird about it, but most of the people he saw holding hands were couples. He could ask Yamato, but that seemed awkward. Why was he even getting the urge to hold hands in the first place?

“Suzuki?” Yamato had somehow ended up behind him. His brow was furrowed in concern. “Isn’t this your place?”

Suzuki looked back. He’d kept walking past his house. “Oh,” he said, grinning sheepishly. “Sorry, I was distracted. Thinking about stuff.” He jogged back.

“You’re such an airhead,” Yamato said warmly. He ground his knuckles against the sides of Suzuki’s head, not hard enough to hurt. “What would you do without me?”

Suzuki laughed, swatting Yamato’s hands away. “Mean! That’s it, we’re rivals now.”

Yamato smirked. “I couldn’t be your rival. I’d crush you, and I don’t have the heart to do that. It’d be like kicking a puppy.”

“Woof!” Suzuki’s chest grew arm as Yamato burst into a fit of giggles.

Yamato took off his cap and mussed his hair. “Go on, your mom’s probably worried you got kidnapped by a crazy fan.”

“Text me when you get home,” Suzuki said.

“Will do. See you at school.”

Suzuki watched Yamato go until he vanished around a street corner.

Yamato texted him about twenty minutes later to let him know he’d arrived home safely. Suzuki tried to do his homework, but his thoughts were a jumble. He couldn’t concentrate. After an hour of struggling, he took a bath and changed for bed. If he couldn’t do his homework, he’d go to sleep now and wake up early to finish. And yet…

Suzuki lay on his back, staring at the ceiling. What had happened tonight was different from how things usually went between him and Yamato. He remembered the light, fluttery feeling in his chest when Yamato had held his hand, and how it had doubled when their foreheads were together. He remembered looking into Yamato’s eyes as they’d sung the Star Sailor duet at the karaoke place.

Friends didn’t react that way. Suzuki knew that. A friend didn’t set your heart racing just by touching you. They didn’t spawn butterflies in your stomach. Suzuki was starting to tremble just thinking about it. Heat burned up his neck to his ears.

If he was being honest with himself, he had imagined kissing Yamato before. It was impossible not to. There was a whole legion of fans who thought they should be a couple. Suzuki had never missed an opportunity to please them. He thought it was actually rather sweet. Yamato had laughed at first, but in general had approached the whole thing with good humor. With that sort of thing going on, it was hard not to imagine what it might be like if they actually were together.

Yamato seemed like he’d be a good kisser. He’d probably kissed lots of girls. Had he ever kissed another boy before? Probably not. Suzuki touched his lips. He had faked kisses with girls for MVs, but had never done it seriously. Yamato might laugh at his inexperience.

But he might also smile as he kissed him. He might hold Suzuki to him in a firm embrace, stroking his hair. He might also push Suzuki against a wall and kiss him fiercely, channeling the energy of his music into Suzuki until they were both breathless.

Suzuki opened his eyes. He hadn’t realized he’d closed them. He took a deep breath in, then let it out. His imagination usually didn’t go that far. Suzuki felt a little uncomfortable. It was probably wrong for him to think of Yamato like that, but now that he’d started he couldn’t stop.

He pictured being able to hold hands with Yamato all the time, not just in a crowd, kisses before class, cuddling with each other while they watched movies… His heart surged. The thought of being with Yamato as more than a friend had made him so happy he couldn’t want anything else.

Suzuki wasn’t stupid. Maybe somewhat naive at times, but not stupid. He knew what he was experiencing. He loved Yamato. He had been loving Yamato for a long time now. Why shouldn’t he? Yamato was so artistic and brilliant and kind. It was just now occurring to him that his feelings ran over the edges of platonic affection into something else.

At the same time, Suzuki knew he couldn’t tell him. Yamato couldn’t possibly return his feelings. Even if he did, they couldn’t date without it being plastered over every magazine cover and celebrity news website. He thought of the message boards on the anti-Suzuki site. Those people would riot if Suzuki even hinted at the idea of loving Yamato. They might even go so far as to threaten him. And, worst of all, what if they were right? What if Yamato was only his friend because he had to be?

Suzuki didn’t want to believe it. He refused to. But the seeds of doubt had been sown. If he confessed to Yamato, and what those people online said was true, then he’d just humiliate himself. They’d never be able to hang out again. Suzuki feared that the most. He’d rather hold these feelings inside rather than run the risk of losing Yamato’s friendship.

He rolled over and buried his face in his pillow. If he stayed like this long enough, maybe he would smother himself and never have to think of it again. He lifted his head eventually. It got too uncomfortable.

“I’ll just keep going like everything’s the same,” Suzuki said out loud. “He’ll never find out and we’ll keep being friends. I won’t have to give him up.”

Still, the resolution filled him with pain. He would never have that relationship with Yamato. It wasn’t going to be easy. Yamato would only have to touch him to send ripples of longing through Suzuki. He would have to train himself not to react, not to reciprocate where it wasn’t wanted.

He got up and found his MP3 player in his backpack. He put his earbuds in. Suzuki had every single album Yamato had released. He started with the first one, for nostalgia’s sake. As he listened, he imagined Yamato was singing just for him.

Pretending everything was normal was a lot harder than Suzuki realized. Yamato was everywhere. They were in class together all day, ate together during lunch, and even hung out after school. Suzuki didn’t want to stop hanging out with him; that would just make Yamato suspicious. But it was getting more and more difficult to focus on history and science when they studied together.

They were at Yamato’s apartment that afternoon. Yamato lived alone, which Suzuki used to think was a good thing, since there was no one to bother them if they decided to stay up all night watching anime. Now, he desperately wished there was someone to ward away his thoughts of kissing Yamato.

Yamato ran his fingers through his hair. He looked frustrated. “I’m not getting it,” he said. “What about you?”

Suzuki shook his head. He hadn’t even been trying. The whole study session was turning out to be counterproductive. How do people with crushes survive?

“Do you want to take a break and play Mario Kart?”

Suzuki shoved his notebook aside. “Absolutely.”

Hopefully, a game would keep his mind off of contemplating the feel of Yamato’s lips against his. He settled into Yamato’s couch, controller in hand. They weren’t competitive with each other in any area except Mario Kart. Soon, he’d want to strangle Yamato instead of make-out with him.

The plan worked, for a little while. Suzuki got swept up in the races, he and Yamato resorting to cheating by bumping into each other in real life and trying to wrestle the controllers out of each other’s hands. It was just like how things had been before. Suzuki relaxed.

However, things took a turn when Yamato hit him with a shell, right before Suzuki was about to win Rainbow Road. Bowser dashed across the finish line while Princess Peach was still spinning out. Suzuki threw down his controller and started pummeling Yamato lightly with his fists.

“I hate you! I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!”

“I’m just playing the game,” Yamato laughed.

“That was my win, you cheater!”

“Shells are a part of the game. You hit me with a blue shell a couple tracks ago. How is this any different?” Yamato grabbed Suzuki’s wrists. “You still got second place.”

“I should’ve been first,” Suzuki said. “I did the shortcut and everything.” He struggled against Yamato’s hold. “Let me go. I’m not done beating you up.”

Yamato pushed him backwards, pinning him to the couch. He hovered over Suzuki. “Oh yeah? I’d like to see you try. When you were hitting me, it felt like being stung by a mosquito.”

Suzuki went red. He tried to break free, but Yamato was strong. He went redder as he became more aware of their position. What was this, a scene out of a shojo manga?

“Okay, okay,” he said hastily. “You win. Fair and square. Can you get off me?”

Yamato let go. He leaned back. Suzuki lay there for a second longer, trying to catch his breath. Had he actually been wanting Yamato to kiss him like that? To just lean down and…

Suzuki shook his head. He had to get out of here before he did something stupid. He sat up. “Um, I should probably head home. I promised Mom I’d eat dinner with her tonight. She says she barely gets to see me.”

“Oh.” Yamato sounded disappointed. “It’s still early.”

Suzuki coughed. “Yeah. I said I’d help her cook, too.”

“Alright. I’ll walk you.” Yamato started to get up.

“Ah, no thanks!” Suzuki squeaked. He winced at the sound of his own voice. What was wrong with him? “I can make it on my own. I have my disguise and everything.”

“Are you sure?”

Suzuki nodded. He gathered his notebook and school things as quickly as possible. “I’ll see you at school tomorrow! Good luck on the physics homework.”

Yamato followed him to the door. “Text me when you get home?”

“Sure!” Suzuki chirped (too brightly, he realized). Then, before he could embarrass himself any further, he rushed out the door.

Suzuki made good on his word to help his mother make dinner. She’d been surprised to see him home so early, but glad to spend time with him as well. Suzuki’s schedule was so hectic that they rarely ate dinner together, let alone cooked together. He wasn’t as good as Souma in the kitchen, but he managed.

A part of him wanted to tell her about Yamato. He had a good opportunity to when she asked how he was doing. In the end, he said Yamato was doing fine and left it at that. He didn’t want to bother his mom with that kind of thing. (Truth be told, he was embarrassed to mention having a crush in the first place.)

After dinner, he holed himself up in his room. Suzuki knew it was the last thing he needed right now, but he logged back onto the anti-café. No one had banned him yet. Suzuki hadn’t commented since that first time, so they’d probably forgotten he was there.

It was full of the usual hatred and vitriol. Suzuki picked a thread railing against his and Yamato’s relationship. He scrolled through it for a while, his heart sinking lower and lower until it reached the Earth’s core. They despised the idea of him and Yamato together, whether they were friends or dating.

It can never happen, Suzuki thought. His fans might turn on him.

Suzuki finally closed the thread. Then, because he had no one else to turn to, he texted Jae. Jae was currently in South Korea, visiting family and the other members of his group. Suzuki hoped he wasn’t too busy.

Hey sunbae, Suzuki wrote, do you ever get hate comments?

It didn’t take long for Jae to text back. oh totally. happens all the time.

How do you deal with them?

i try to ignore it. block out the haters

It was good advice. A no-brainer, honestly, if only Suzuki could follow it. have you ever found a whole site that hates you? an anti café?

man don’t tell me you have one of those. you’re a ray of sunshine! how could anyone make a whole anti-café devoted to you?

Idk either. It’s really been getting me down. What should I do?

Jae spent a long time typing. Suzuki watched the little ellipses dance while he waited. Eventually, Jae wrote back, you can always block the site or their comments. it’s nothing to be ashamed of. you don’t owe them anything tbh. if they’re not actually sending you constructive criticism, if all they’re doing is trying to tear you down, then kick ‘em to the curb ㅋㅋㅋ seriously tho, don’t read that stuff. it breaks my heart that anyone could be so mean to my hoobae

T^T you’re the best jae-sunbae, Suzuki replied.

i try 😉 is there anything else i can help with?

Suzuki hesitated. He could trust Jae with anything. But could he trust him with this? Maybe if he was vague, Jae wouldn’t realize who Suzuki was talking about. He took a deep breath and wrote, yeah. Have you ever had a crush on someone who’s like, your friend?

are we talking about yama?

Suzuki nearly dropped his phone. He typed a response with trembling fingers. Haha nooooooo where did you get that idea? I’m talking hypothetically.

sure, ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°), Jae replied. so in this hypothetical situation, is the crusher a j-idol and the crushee a rockstar?

(^◇^；) no…

suzuki literally everyone on the planet thinks you guys are dating. even my mom thinks so.

Suzuki huffed. That doesn’t make it true! he typed. Answer my question: did you ever have a crush on a friend, yes/no?

Again, it took a while for Jae to reply. yep! didn’t work out but hey! it was someone else in the music scene. you know how it is. not that you should get discouraged! you and yamato would be super cute together.

Suzuki blushed. He thought for a while about what he should say. He typed out, do you really think so? what if a lot of people got mad?

you shouldn’t care about what other people think. it’s your personal life.

What if, hypothetically, it’s just one-sided and I ruin our whole friendship?

i doubt it would ruin your friendship, Jae wrote. i’m 99.9% sure yama likes you. have you seen how he looks in your selfies? heart eyes <3

Suzuki’s blush deepened. No way. Jae was just trying to make him feel better. Then again, the duet in the karaoke room gave him a sliver of hope. But that was a performance. They were acting like Damian and Selena.

What about the other 1%? Suzuki wrote.

you doubt my judgment?? look, even if he doesn’t feel that way about you, your friendship won’t tank just because of a little crush. not if it’s real and i think it is.

Okay. Thanks again, sunbae <3 I’ll let you get back to whatever you were doing.

anytime! it’s good to be home, but i miss everyone over there TT take care of yourself!

Suzuki locked his phone screen and lay down. Talking to Jae had helped, but he still couldn’t bring himself to confess to Yamato. He didn’t understand how Jae could be so confident when his own crush hadn’t worked out. He knew just as well as Suzuki how hard it was for idols to date normally.

Even if Yamato liked me back, I’d get flayed alive. Probably by my manager, too. His manager still hadn’t given him the green light on the vacation. Suzuki was starting to think that was her way of saying no. It might be better if he didn’t go. Hawai’i was a romantic place, right? What if Suzuki got carried away and blurted his feelings? It would defeat the purpose of a relaxing getaway.

I should tell Yamato I can’t come with. Suzuki would do it tomorrow, at school. He’d rip the band-aid off, so to speak, and get it over with. Hopefully Yamato wouldn’t be too disappointed.

Suzuki didn’t get a chance to tell Yamato the next day, because Yamato was suddenly super busy. He was on the phone with someone before class started, and he spent every break scribbling in his notebook. He disappeared during lunch before Suzuki could even ask if they were going to eat together. It wasn’t that strange, really. 3-A was full of students with irregular schedules. For example, Takahiro had taken off for some part-time job earlier.

However, Yamato wasn’t there the next day either, so Suzuki couldn’t tell him then, either. And then Suzuki had to skip a day to spend it in a recording studio. He considered texting Yamato about it, but he would rather tell him in person. It seemed a bit too important not to discuss face-to-face.

Suzuki finally got a chance when he and Yamato both arrived late in the school day. He guessed Yamato must have been recording something as well. He was dressed down from his usual leather jacket and had left out a few piercings. He only did that when he had an early morning session.

“Are you free to walk home today, Yama?” Suzuki asked as they jogged up the stairs to 3-A. “There’s something I need to talk to you about.”

“Today’s no good.”

“What about tomorrow morning?”

Yamato shook his head. “Busy. Sorry.”

Suzuki paused. “What’s going on? Are you prepping a new release?”

Yamato didn’t answer. He just kept going. Suzuki stared at his retreating back. What was the big secret? Yamato usually shared any and all details about his projects. He’d been talking about a new song after karaoke. Were the two related, or was this another thing altogether?

What if I made him uncomfortable? Suzuki thought, gripped by terror. Or what if Jae was trying to be helpful and told him I have a crush on him? He knew he was jumping to conclusions. Yamato was busy; that was all. Even so, he felt nervous. Why hadn’t Yamato answered him?

Suzuki investigated Yamato’s fansites. He wasn’t making special appearances anywhere. There were no concert announcements. Not even a rumor of an album release. So what was he doing? He hadn’t walked home with Suzuki or asked him over for a while. They didn’t even have lunch together anymore.

A sick, heavy dread settled in Suzuki’s stomach as he logged onto the anti-café. It got worse. The café was overjoyed.

No suzuyama sightings lately! He finally dropped him!

Heard rumors from school that they’re split up.

Maybe S*zuki will take a hint and stop clinging to Yamato like a puppy

It’d be like kicking a puppy. Suzuki’s mouth went dry. He tossed his phone into his backpack. Did Yamato really see him as a dog, stupidly following him everywhere? He’d played along with the joke that time, but now it stung.

“Romantic troubles?”

Suzuki jumped a foot. Ai was standing right behind him, his quiver slung across his back. He didn’t wait for an invitation to take the empty seat next to Suzuki. Suzuki had thought he’d been alone in this courtyard, but Ai must have had a tracking device implanted in every boy in school.

“I’m not having romantic troubles,” Suzuki lied.

Ai smiled skeptically. “It’s about Yamato, isn’t it?”

Am I really that obvious? Suzuki’s shoulders sagged. “Not you, too.”

“What, is it a secret? Even that nice girl at the café knows.”

Suzuki put his face in his hands. If everyone knew then how could Yamato not? He’s avoiding me, since he realized I’m bad for his image.

Ai patted his knee. “Cheer up! You could do a lot worse than Yamato.”

“Not if he hates me!”

“Why do you think he hates you?”

“He’s been avoiding me,” Suzuki said. “At first, I thought he was working on something, but he wouldn’t tell me anything about it. And don’t say he’s throwing me a surprise party. My birthday isn’t coming up.”

“Hmm, that’s tricky.” Ai rubbed his chin. “He usually shares all his projects with you, right? Maybe he’s seeing someone else?”

Suzuki went cold. He hadn’t considered that possibility. Had Yamato started dating and not told him? No, that couldn’t be. Someone would’ve snapped a picture or started a rumor by now, and the fansites were quiet.

“No.” He shook his head. “He would’ve told me for sure.”

Ai shrugged. “Then he’s probably busy. You shouldn’t get too worked up, Suzuki. Guys like him sometimes have trouble communicating their feelings. He might be focusing so hard that he hasn’t had time to tell you about it. Kurou does the same thing. He gets tunnel-vision when he’s working on a play.”

It made Suzuki feel a little better, but it didn’t inspire confidence. He couldn’t shake the feeling that Yamato was purposefully ducking him.

“Anyway, I’m meeting Sousuke for an archery showdown,” Ai said, standing up. “He’s going to regret challenging me. Are you going to be okay?”

Suzuki nodded. “Thanks for the advice, Ai. Good luck.”

Ai shot him a thumbs-up before he left. Suzuki remained where he was. He didn’t know how long he sat in the courtyard, staring at the flowerbeds. His phone buzzed, snapping him out of it.

It was Yamato. Suzuki had been expecting his manager. His heart thumped rapidly. He opened the message. Hey Suzuki, can you come to the music room?

He was torn. Should he go? Yamato had asked him, but what if it was just to say that they shouldn’t hang out anymore. Or worse, that he didn’t return Suzuki’s feelings, which were apparently so obvious that they could be seen from space? Eventually, Suzuki gathered his courage and went to the music room.

School had finished for the day, so the music room was deserted, except for Yamato and Suzuki. It was quiet. All the clubs were meeting on the other side of Ikemen. Yamato was leaning against the piano, fiddling something. When Suzuki got closer, he realized it was his MP3 player.

“Hey,” Yamato said. He sounded nervous. “Sorry for ghosting you. I was working on an important project.”

A bit of relief crept into Suzuki’s veins. “Really? Why didn’t you just say so?”

Yamato blushed. “Well, uh, it was kind of a surprise. I didn’t know whether it would work out. I, um… here.” He held out the MP3 player. “Listen.”

Suzuki took it. He put an earbud in. There was only one track on the device, untitled. He hit play. A second later, the sound of Yamato’s voice filled his ears. Yamato’s singing voice was wonderful and familiar, but the backing track didn’t sound like his style at all. It sounded more like Suzuki’s music than his, though there was a hint of Yamato there, too. The more Suzuki listened, the more it grew on him. The lyrics were about stars burning bright for centuries, their light stretching across galaxies long after their death, and gazing at the same sky as someone you loved. A lump formed in his throat.

“What do you think?” Yamato asked when Suzuki finished.

“Amazing, like always,” Suzuki said. “Is this going to be on your next album?”

“Actually…” Yamato scuffed the floor. “I was thinking it could be on yours. I wrote it for you to sing, if you want it. I figured it was the least I could do, after you made me that mixtape for my birthday.”

Suzuki couldn’t believe it. Yamato had written him a song. Not just one to listen to, but one to sing. The lump in his throat got bigger. “W-what’s the occasion?” he asked, his voice trembling.

“No reason. I just wanted to do something special, I guess. Do you like it?”

Suzuki nodded vigorously. He couldn’t speak. Before he could stop himself, tears began to flow down his cheeks. I’m so dumb. I thought he was ditching me this whole time, and he was working on a song. For me. He covered his face, but it didn’t stop the noise from escaping. It was like a dam had burst; all of Suzuki’s feelings rushed out in one go.

“What are you crying for?” Yamato asked, gently removing Suzuki’s hands from his face.

Suzuki hiccupped. He was so embarrassed. He hadn’t meant to cry. “I…” he tried to say. “I was afraid you were tired of me.”

Yamato sighed. “I’m not tired of you, Suzu. Have you been paying attention to what those losers online are saying? I told you they’re full of it. Come here.”

He folded Suzuki into his arms. Suzuki let out another involuntary sob. He buried his face in Yamato’s shoulder. It was sturdy and strong. His t-shirt was soft. Yamato alternated between patting his back and rubbing circles.

Eventually, Suzuki cried himself out. He stepped back. Yamato let him go, but he kept his hands on Suzuki’s arms. He was looking at him with concern.

“Are you okay?”

Suzuki nodded and sniffed. “I’ll be fine. I didn’t want it to get to me, but I guess…”

“They’re just bitter and pathetic people who have nothing better to do with their time.” Yamato gathered Suzuki’s hands and held them against his chest. “They’re not real. This is. And any fan of mine who talks that way about you isn’t a real fan. If they can’t love you as much as I do, then that’s their problem.”

Suzuki blinked. He wanted to wipe away a few stray tears, but he didn’t want Yamato to let go of him. “You love me?” he asked, half-stunned.

The realization seemed to come over Yamato at the exact same moment. A blush covered his cheeks. “Did I say that?”

“You did.”

“Well… I mean, of course I do. You’re my best friend.” To Suzuki’s dismay, Yamato dropped his hands. He ran his fingers through his hair, disturbing the spikes. “I thought you already knew that.”

“I do now.” Suzuki smiled, trying to mask his disappointment. I shouldn’t be disappointed at all. Yamato’s friendship is super important to me, too. “I love you, too.”

Yamato blushed deeper. “Alright, alright. Let’s not get carried away.”

Suzuki laughed. This was good. He knew now that Yamato wasn’t going to abandon him. They were still friends. They could continue performing together at school. It would be fun. At least I had a chance to say it to him out loud, even if he doesn’t know how much I really mean it.

Suzuki blocked the anti-café. He had to stop using it to punish himself. Besides, he couldn’t forgive them for leading him to believe Yamato didn’t care about him. He made sure to delete his account too, just in case the urge overpowered him, and he lifted the block.

It’s been fun, he thought. He instantly felt better. Things returned to normal. Suzuki approached his manager with Yamato’s song. He leaned heavily on the idea of marketing it as a collaboration and watched as the yen signs appeared in her eyes. After that, she shocked him by giving him permission to go to Hawai’i.

“If the song does well, we’ll find time for a vacation,” she promised. “I couldn’t answer you before, since there was a lot up in the air, but you deserve some time off.”

“And I can go with Yamato?”

“If your schedules line up, I don’t see why not.”

The next morning, he told Yamato by throwing himself into his arms and shouting, “We’re going to Hawai’i!”

“Your manager said yes?” Yamato said, brightening.

Suzuki nodded. “She said that if the collab works out, then I can go with you. As long as we’re free at the same time. Hawai’i, Yama! Hawai’i!”

Yamato actually swung him around the classroom but stopped short when their homeroom teacher gave them a death-glare. Suzuki let go and jumped back.

“Oops. Sorry, sensei.”

“You’d better concentrate on passing your exams before talking about Hawai’i,” the teacher warned. “And don’t do that again. You could’ve knocked over the desks.”

It didn’t bring Suzuki’s mood down at all. He was walking on air. Later, when his and Yama’s managers called about some kind of music industry party, he agreed to go without hesitation. Yamato was a little more reluctant, but he caved when Suzuki said they could go together.

All in all, life was good. Suzuki still wanted to kiss Yamato. He still wanted to hug him as tightly as possible and tell him how he felt, but he couldn’t bear to mess everything up. Why sabotage a good thing? Yamato clearly only thought of him as a friend.

And that was fine. Everything was fine.

Suzuki enjoyed getting dressed up for public appearances. Yamato didn’t. He always looked uncomfortable in suits. Uncomfortable, yet handsome. Suzuki’s heart felt like it was going to leap out of his chest.

“I hate ties,” Yamato muttered, playing with the end of his.

“Then don’t wear one,” Suzuki said. He stepped forward and undid the knot. “It’s a formal party, but no one will care. See, I think you look just fine without it. Undo a couple buttons, and voila! Rock superstar Yamato is red carpet ready!”

Suzuki might have been mistaken, but Yamato appeared flustered. He turned towards the limousine their managers had arranged to drive them to the event and held open the door for Suzuki.

“After you,” he said.

It was after sunset and traffic was bad. Suzuki checked the time. Unless they learned how to teleport, they were going to be late. Oh well, in that case they’d make an even more striking entrance. Suzuki stretched out, putting his feet up on the seat. They were barely moving.

Yamato, meanwhile, was reading something on his phone. Suzuki didn’t know what it was, but it appeared to be irritating him. He kept frowning. Finally, Yamato tossed the phone into the corner and folded his arms. He huffed, a deep furrow forming between his eyebrows. Suzuki was torn between laughing at his grumpiness and wanting to comfort him.

“What’s up, Yama-kun?” Suzuki asked.

“Oh, it’s…” He stopped, turning pink. “It’s stupid.”

“You did something stupid?” Suzuki knew he sounded a bit too eager, but he couldn’t help it. He was dying to know.

Yamato rolled his eyes. “Yes, actually.”

“Are you going to tell me about it or am I going to have to tickle you for information?” Suzuki wiggled his fingers to demonstrate.

“Don’t!” Yamato pulled his legs up onto the seat, as if to shield himself from Suzuki’s attack. “Jesus, Suzuki we’re in public.”

“No, we’re not. The windows are tinted and the partition’s up. Now tell me what made you so mad.”

Yamato relaxed. He retrieved his phone—which was undamaged—and passed it to Suzuki. Suzuki’s eyes widened. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing: an anti-Yamato fansite. For a few seconds, he just stared at it. Then he began to actually process the words he was looking at.

Yamato’s style totally clashes with Suzuki’s. Don’t know why they’re friends.

Do u remember when he was talking about how “””fake””” Zuzu is? He said in a press conference that ur not a real artist if u don’t write and produce ur own songs. What a snob. Did he ever apologize for that?

Suzuki laughed out loud. He glanced at Yamato. “They have a point. Did you ever apologize to me?”

“It’s not funny.”

“It is!” Suzuki kept scrolling. “This whole time you were telling me not to pay attention to the haters and you didn’t even follow your own advice. Aww, Yama, don’t feel bad. Wait a minute.”

There was a new reply to one of the comments by a user named, “st4rpower826.”

Do you guys ever get tired of talking trash behind the safety of your computer screens? Why don’t you say this stuff to Suzuki’s face and see how he takes it. Last I heard, he and Yamato were still really close. He doesn’t get mad until you insult his friends. If you actually cared about him, you wouldn’t do this.

It had a bunch of negative replies. Suzuki looked at Yamato again. Yamato was chewing on his lip.

“Is this you?” Suzuki asked, pointing at the screen.

“That could be anyone.”

“It’s you! You made an account!” Suzuki grabbed Yamato’s shoulder and shook it. He was laughing uncontrollably now. “You made an account so you could fight with them! Oh my God. That’s my birthday in your username!”

Yamato’s ears were growing steadily redder. “You have to make an account to read the message boards,” he muttered. “You know that. Someone was going to come along and tell them off eventually. Might as well be me.”

“How did you get that username? That’s, like, a prime fandom username. When I went on the anti-Suzuki boards, YamaFan#1 was taken.”

“No one else spelled with a four for the A.”

Suzuki was still giggling. He continued scrolling. “How long did you have this?”

“I went searching for one about me the same night you went on yours. I was curious.” Yamato smiled sheepishly. “I could take all the garbage they spewed about me but when they started throwing you into the mix, I got really upset. So I fought back. Didn’t do much good though.”

“These people say we’re so different, but we actually have lots in common, huh?”

“Yeah…”

“Oh, here’s a familiar one: ‘Suzuki is friends with Yamato for fanservice. Yamato wouldn’t be as popular if people didn’t think he was gay for Suzuki.’ People were saying the same stuff on my anti-site.”

Yamato’s blush had spread down his neck. “They’re crazy.”

“I know.” Suzuki turned the screen off. “You shouldn’t get into fights with people online, even if they are being jerks. We know the truth.”

Yamato nodded. He rubbed the back of his neck. “You know, it was really stupid, but I started to get scared that they might be right. Just for a second. Seeing all that old stuff I said made me wonder if you were still angry with me, and you were pretending not to hate me for the sake of getting along.”

“I don’t hate you, Yama.” Suzuki kneaded Yamato’s shoulder. “I’ve always thought you were cool, even when you were criticizing me. I could never hate you. Do you wanna know why?”

“Sure,” Yamato said, his lips quirking into a smile.

Suzuki kissed him. His heart was pounding a mile a minute, but he had never felt more sure of anything in his life before. The hand on Yamato’s shoulder was steady. When he pulled away, Yamato was staring at him, his eyes huge.

“It’s because I love you,” Suzuki said. And because he couldn’t help it, he winked.

The words were barely out of his mouth before Yamato returned the kiss. It took Suzuki by surprise, almost knocking him backward. He managed to hold himself up by catching hold of Yamato’s other shoulder. The realization that Yamato was kissing him sank in about two seconds later. Suzuki’s imagination had been lacking. Actually kissing Yamato was better than anything he could’ve dreamed up.

Yamato was holding him, one hand braced against the small of Suzuki’s back, the other cupping his chin. His mouth was soft and smooth and warm. Suzuki tasted a hint of lip balm. He leaned into the kiss, following Yamato’s movements. Then, Yamato pulled Suzuki onto his lap. Both hands slid to Suzuki’s hips.

“Suzuki,” Yamato breathed.

“What?”

“I don’t want to go to this party. Do you?”

Suzuki didn’t have to think about it. “No.”

He gave Yamato another lingering kiss as he got off his lap, then went to knock on the partition. It rolled down about halfway. Suzuki held up a hand in apology.

“Sorry,” he said, “but could you take us back to Yamato’s place?”

The next morning was strange. After they’d been dropped off at Yamato’s house, he and Suzuki had spent the rest of the night watching movies and making out. When they were too tired to keep their eyes open a second longer, Yamato let Suzuki borrow a t-shirt and pair of pajama pants, and they had fallen asleep in his room.

Suzuki woke up thinking last night had been a dream. He wasn’t surprised by coming to in Yamato’s room. (They had sleepovers all the time.) What reminded him that it was real was feeling the weight of Yamato’s arm around him. Suzuki bit back a fresh fit of giggles. He couldn’t believe it. He had kissed Yamato last night. Yamato had kissed him back.

Yamato stirred and lifted his head. It seemed to take him a minute as well. Then he smiled. He kissed Suzuki’s cheek. “Good morning,” he said softly.

“Good morning,” Suzuki repeated. He wondered if they could get away with staying in bed all day. Their phones had been blowing up all night, to the point where they’d set them to silent and left them in the living room.

Yamato groped for his alarm clock. “It’s almost noon.”

“My manager is probably going crazy right now because I didn’t show up.” He laughed at that. She was going to kill him later, but there were other things on his mind right now. “Is there anything important going on today?”

“No. There’s just you.” Yamato nestled himself against Suzuki again.

“We can stay in today,” Suzuki suggested. “We’ll play video games and make pancakes.”

“And make out,” Yamato added. He stuck his tongue out and wiggled it around.

Suzuki slapped his hand over Yamato’s mouth, laughing helplessly. “Gross! Don’t do that. You’re not a member of KISS.”

Yamato laughed as well. He let go of Suzuki and rolled out of bed. “Come on. I’ll make you pancakes. I bought blueberries.”

The apartment complex was quiet. Everyone was either sleeping in or out. Suzuki helped Yamato get out the mixing bowl and the skillet. There were, in fact, blueberries in the fridge. (Suzuki may have helped himself to a few before putting some in the batter.) Yamato started a pot of coffee, promising Suzuki that he still had the French vanilla creamer he liked.

While they were waiting to flip the first pancake, Suzuki decided to bring up the question that had been on his mind since he’d gotten out of bed. “So… are we boyfriends now?”

To his credit, Yamato wasn’t caught off-guard, though he did hesitate. “I don’t know. I want to be,” he said. “Things are different for us.”

“I’d be fine dating you in secret. Plenty of celebrities do it.”

“Me too, but I don’t know how long we could keep it up. There’s a lot of stress involved.” Yamato did the flip. It was clean. He passed the spatula to Suzuki. “It would definitely make some of our fans happy.”

Suzuki grinned. “Maybe that’s how we should justify it to our managers.”

“Yikes,” Yamato said. “Honestly, I don’t want to think about it right now. I just want to eat and destroy you at Mario Kart again. We can talk about the serious stuff later.”

“Can’t you go easy on me?” Suzuki whined. “I’m your boyfriend.”

“What makes you think I’d go easy on you just because we’re dating now? I never let you win when we were friends and that’s not going to change now.”

“You’re so mean.” Suzuki pulled his eyelid and stuck out his tongue. “Yama-kun’s a bad boyfriend. I’m gonna tell the whole world, so no one will steal you from me.”

Yamato laughed. He put an arm around Suzuki’s waist and brought him in for a kiss. “No one could steal me from you,” he said when they separated. “I love you.”

Suzuki put his head on Yamato’s shoulder. Life was good. The world might as well be limited to this small kitchen. To him and Yamato, and no one else. “Love you, too.”

#notice me senpai #skillshot labs #fanfic #oneshot #fluff #light angst

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winterridinghood · 7 years ago

Text

Strangers and Coffee (Part 2/3)

Pairing: Tom Holland x Female OC

Word Count: 2,060

Warning: Slight slight angst, First-Degree Burn

Note: This is for @starksparker 4K writing challenge.

Summary: When an frustrated girl with reading glasses causes an accident and gets burn, she ends up meeting a not-so-stranger stranger.

Part 1: http://winterridinghood.tumblr.com/post/174087869117/strangers-and-coffee-part-13

Part 3: http://winterridinghood.tumblr.com/post/174265652003/strangers-and-coffee-33

“Ahhh!” I yelped jumping up from my chair.

“Oh no,” the boy said, quickly standing next to me, “I’m so sorry.” He had an accent, British I think, or possibly even Australian, but that was in the back of my mind. Right now, all I was think was ‘Oh my gosh! This drink was hot!

An employee was at my side before I could register that there were other people around. “Are you alright?” They asked. I wanted to yell “What do you think?” But I did the opposite.

“I, um, I think so.” I couldn’t stop looking at my arm. It was pink and starting to hurt.

“Here let’s take you to the back and see what we can do.” The employee was leading me to the back, but I stopped them.

“Wait,” I took a step back, “I have to get my stuff. My computer’s out and-"

"I’ll take it to you.” The Foreign boy said.

I turned to him and all I could see was a fuzzy person that was wearing, what looked to be, a blue sweatshirt. I still had my glasses on and the guy was by the table where all my stuff was. I don’t know which was worse, having all my possessions out in the open in a shop full of people and me not being around them or knowingly have a stranger put all my stuff in my backpack and trust that he will bring it to me.

The guy must have noticed my silence, “Let me help, it’s the least I can do."

"Um, miss,” the employee said, “we really need to start looking at your arm."

I gulped, not wanting to have my arm be any worse of condition, I said, "Okay,” nodding to the guy and walk behind the counter to the back of the store. The back of the store felt automatically cooler. Probably to keep all their ingredients fresh or something.

The employer stopped by the sink and asked to look at the arm. He examined it for a minute before he sighed in relief. “Oh, thank God!"

"What’s up?” I asked, looking between him and my arm.

He had the smallest of smiles on his face, “Your skin is only red and slightly swollen, and there’s no blistering appearing. That mean it’s only a first degree.” I nodded. “We have to put it under cool water from a few minutes right now, or it will get worse.” I nodded again. “I need your permission to do that."

"Oh, Okay.” I nodded once more, probably more than I needed to. “You have my permission to,” I paused, “do what you gotta do."

The employee huffed a laugh and nodded as he turned on the water from the sink and put his hand under the water. It was that time that the Foreign Boy came in to the back with my backpack in hand. He found us immediately and jogged towards us, passing by another employee who seemed in awe that two costumers were in the back of the shop.

"Hey, are you alright? 'Course you’re not. Don’t know why I asked that.” He stumbled over his words a little. It made me crack a smile. He tried again, “How are you feeling?"

I shrugged, "Alright, I guess.” The employer cleared his throat and looked back and forth between me and the Foreign guy.

“You ready?” He asked.

I took a breath, “As I’ll ever be.” I gave him my arm as he checked the water once more time.

“Does it hurt?” the Foreigner asked.

I tilted my head on one side, “Not as much as I th-HAAAAA-HAA!” I huffed out as the employer put my arm under the water.

“Hey!” Called out the Foreigner.

“Sorry,” said the employer, “It’s still somewhat fresh so it was gonna hurt a little, but the worse of it is over. I’m Zach by the way."

I sucked in a breath, "Nellie,” I turned to acknowledge Zach, because my hand-shanking-arm is currently under a faucet, but he was shaking hands with the guy, who introduced himself as Tom. I looked at my arm again. About three inched of my forearm was red.

“Okay, miss, you’re gonna have to be under there for about 20 minutes. I’m not a doctor, but this is our number one thing we learned when we start training here. The manager is out for the day, so if you need anything, just call for me. I have to write this down to give to her, our manager, I mean.” I tried to turn around without leaving my arm from where I was, but it was very difficult. When he was finished talking, my head was turned at an angle that I could see a fuzzy person speak, but it wouldn’t have been better with my glasses off. So, I just called out an okay and turned back to my arm.

I sighed and scratched my forehead with my free hand. Well isn’t this just lovely. I thought sarcastically.

Foreign Guy walked around me so now he was facing a few feet in front of me. “I am so sorry,” he said looking from my arm to me, “I should’ve watched where I was going. I was so in thought that I wasn’t paying attention. I’m really sorry."

I shook my head, "Don’t be sorry, man.” I adjusted my glasses but figured I didn’t need them for the time being. I began to take the off, and now I’m glad I did. With my free hand, I took my glasses off. “If anything, it’s my fault. I shouldn’t have freaked out like I did.” I tucked the arm of my glasses in my shirt and let it hang there. “I shouldn’t have gotten frustrated over a-a-a, a um,"

It suddenly felt like my mouth was dry. As stated before, I’m a person of the internet. This means I know what memes are, and I know what fandoms I’m in, as well as which Hogwarts House fits me best. But no matter what you read on the internet, it will never prepare you for actually meeting someone that said memes or fandoms are about. The first thing I realized was that they guy in front of me was British. The second: Tom Holland was three feet away from me. The Foreign Guy who I accidently made spill coffee on my arm was right in front of me. I swore, which made me cover my mouth with my right hand, which is supposed to be underwater. I gasped softly as I put my arm back under the faucet.

There was silence between us. I was embarrassed and I didn’t know what Tom feeling. Does he get this often? It felt weird just to think of him as Tom. Should I say Mr. Holland? No. This isn’t one of my high school classes. Damn! He might think I’m some crazy fangirl or something. I have to stay cool and calm.

I made myself focus on the red mark on the arm. "My computer,” I said before I cleared my throat.

“I’m sorry?” He asked. I couldn’t see his face, but I bet it was weary.

I took a deep breath, “I got frustrated over my computer, laptop, or whatever. Um,” I let out a nervous chuckle. I should have left my glasses on.

“Really? What has your laptop done to you?” He asked curiously.

My first thought was what I ended up saying out loud. “What hasn’t my laptop done to me? That’s the real question.” Not the worst thing that could have come out of my mouth, but also not the best. Though hearing a chuckle made me feel more relaxed. Maybe a little too much because I let out an explanation of my computer shutting off and a little about my final project. I mainly kept my eyes on my arm, thinking that if I were to look at Tom Hollands face, I would start stammering again.

“Wait,” he said after I finished with my explanation, “That’s mean you had your laptop on for 30 minutes, but you weren’t doing anything?”

I fought back the need to roll my eyes, “Yes, thank you for the reminder."

He apologized again, "That came out harsh. What I meant was, why do you have the timer on for so long?"

That wasn’t the question I was expecting. I shifted the weight of my legs, "Well, I’m usually doing school work 'til late at night. I start right when I get home, I take a break for dinner, then I go right back before it shuts itself down."

I risked myself a glance at him. He looked confused, ”'School?’ I thought you said you had a profess- ohhhh. I forgot. 'School’ and 'Uni’ are the same in the States.“ He nodded to himself

I chuckled and nodded with him, "Yup. Anywhere with a person teaching something to someone, it’s basically a school.”

“Interesting.” Silence again, for a minute at least, “Can I ask you something?” He sounded cautious.

I replied with the same amount of cautiousness that he had, “Go for it."

He paused, as if he was choosing his words carefully, "You know how I am, don’t you?” He said it like he would be disappointed if I said yes.

“Yeah, I know you,” it came out quieter than I intended too.

He sighed and nodded, “Can I ask why you didn’t act like you did until a few minutes ago? I’m genuinely curious. Unless you didn’t notice until now because you were in pain then and aren’t now. If that, then I complete understand. That sounded weird."

I chuckled at his words. "No, that’s almost right. I just couldn’t really see you with my glasses on.” I was about to adjust the glasses on my head, but when I remember that nothing was there I rolled my eyes and pointed to my shirt. I studied Tom’s face for a second. I found a need to explain myself again, “These glasses are only for reading or computer work. Can’t really see anything more than two feet away from me."

I took off my glasses off from shirt and put them on with one hand. I was harder than I thought, being right handed and having to unfold the arms with my mouth.

I put them on and I held out my arm free arm in front of me. "Everything past my hand just gets fuzzier and fuzzier,” I dropped the arm. “You look like a guy. I see your features and what-not, but I can’t tell any real details.” I took off my glasses and put them back on my shirt, blinking rapidly at the sudden change of my sight quality.

“Yup,” I groaned, “Now you look like 4K Ultra HD."

This made him laughed, "That clears a lot of things up."

"I’m glad.” I just made Tom Holland laugh. My life is complete.

“Can I ask you one more thing?” He took a step closer.

I leaned on the counter, “Ask away. It’s not like I’m going somewhere."

"Right,” He leaned on the counter, “Do you, do you think that,” he paused, “Do you think that if you knew who before you took off your glasses, you would have let me take your stuff to you? If that makes sense. I don’t think it did."

It was my turn to laugh, "You have a thing where you answer your own questions. Did you know that?"

He shrugged, "I’ve may have noticed from time to time.” When I didn’t say anything, he asked again.

I smirked, “No offense Holland, I would have second guessed myself on leaving my stuff with any stranger. Even if it was Beyoncé or someone like that."

"Beyoncé, really?” He mused.

I thought for a moment. “Honestly, with Beyoncé, I think it’s more on the fact that I am not worthy for my stuff to be held by her hands. Which reminders me, you can put my backpack down now."

"Right,” he said and he gently leaned my backpack against the cabinets on the floor. “No one is worthy for Beyoncé.” Tom said in thought. I agreed.

He then quickly snapped back up, making me raise my eyebrow by his sudden movement. “You alright?” I asked.

“You called me 'Holland’."

#kavys4kwc #writing challenge #peter parker #peter parker x reader #tom holland #tom holland x reader #marvel #marvel imagine #fanfiction #tom holland imagine #coffee shop au #coffee #spiderman #spider-man: homecoming #spider-man #tom holland au #my writing #writing

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kaleidopewrites · 7 years ago

Text

Just as Shy as You

Summary: Being the younger sister of Don Saladino had its ups and downs. You were about to experience both, at the same time, when you meet the handsome Sebastian Stan

Pairing: Sebastian Stan x Reader

Word Count: 2910

Warnings: none really, just bits of fluff. the reader is v introverted and talks a little about anxiety and stuff

A/N: Thank you to @elivanah for requesting! This was so cute to write!

Requests are open, feel free to drop an idea/prompt/imagine :)

There were two places in the world you felt oddly safe in; hiding under the covers of your bed, looking up constellations of the night sky and the gym your older brother Don Saladino worked at. You understood the former, but the latter confused you.

You’d always been completely introverted, choosing to speak with actions rather than words. Of course, manners weren’t particularly thrown out the window. You always kept a steady conversation to whomever started it.

Don beamed as he opened the door to the gym, offering you in first. As soon as the smell of overused B.O buster, sweat and testosterone filled your nose, you couldn’t help the soft smile on your face.

It somehow soothed you, being around body builders and fitness trainers gave you a sense of security. Besides, even if you don’t know Don and how much of a cuddle bear he is, you wouldn’t want to get on his bad side.

Don grinned at the few regulars and you waved politely, not knowing really anyone. He mentioned he would be training a few people today and offered to bring you to the gym. You’d been working flat out at your job the last few weeks, so you were grateful for the chance to get away.

Don kept introducing you to people, names you knew you’d forget almost instantly. But you smiled politely, accepting the usual responses people had when they realised you and Don were siblings. Some people just couldn’t see it.

You had to admit, you’d inherited some ancient ancestor’s genes while Don looked like a better mixture of your parents, but you didn’t honestly mind. It said Saladino on your birth certificate and you weren’t going to argue with that.

“We’re gonna lift some weights, first,” Don spoke, surprising you as your mind had been adrift. You nodded your head, mumbling something about going to the treadmills. You weren’t a “lifts” kinda person, you were more running and cycling.

With headphones in your ears and your favourite playlist blaring, you walked up to one of the treadmills and sorted yourself out before starting with a walk, allowing yourself to stretch before you started a jog.

You controlled your breathing as Don had taught you years before as you kept upping the speed on the treadmill, until you were going at a fast-ish pace. You let the music influence your running as you sang the words in your head, getting slightly lost in both the exercise and the songs.

You looked up from your feet – you’d been trying to see if there was a hole in your sneakers without having to stop and take a look – when you saw you were being spied on from across the gym. After being caught, the guy blushed slightly and turned away, rubbing the back of his neck.

But you’d been caught off guard yourself, and you felt your pace go inconsistent. You stumbled a moment before grabbing either side of the console, using your upper body strength to lift you from the treadmill and place your feet either side of the moving tread.

Your heart beat was going at a million miles an hour when the guy slowly approached you, looking a little guilty. You jumped when you saw him appear before you, a hesitant smile on his face. You slowly lowered the earphones from your ears, giving him a very nervous smile.

“Uh, hey,” He grinned as you stepped down from the treadmill after turning it off, realising just how much taller he was. “Hi,” You squeaked. The guy seemed to sense your increasing anxiety and took a step back before clasping his hands behind his back, tilting his head with a soft smile.

“I didn’t mean to be watching you,” He smiled. He was broad shouldered but quite toned with a sharp jawline hidden by a forest of scruff. His hair wasn’t falling to his collar, but it was long enough to have to be swept behind his ears, which he had.

“I didn’t mean to scare you, either,” He added, almost as if it was necessary. “It’s okay,” You managed to mumble out, easing into the conversation a little. He was giving off a very relaxing aura and the smile you had on your face wasn’t forced.

“I’m Sebastian,” He said, offering his hand. You take it gently, feeling his slightly calloused fingers. You wondered briefly what his job was to get his hands like that. But butterflies swam in your stomach at the touch and you wanted his hand holding yours a little longer than a handshake.

“(Y/N),” You offered with another smile, trying to not look disappointed when he retracted his hand. You both stood there a little awkwardly, not too sure on how to continue the conversation without making it weird or creepy.

The way Sebastian was biting his lip, he looked like he was trying to find his words carefully.

“I-uh, I feel like I’ve seen you somewhere before,” You mumbled, trying to remember where you’d seen those cerulean eyes before. You definitely knew him, the forest of facial hair unable to hide his identity.

You could see the blush on his cheeks. Maybe he was a friend of Don’s? “Do you know Don Saladino?” You asked, going with your first guess. Sebastian paused for a moment. “Yeah, he’s, uh, he’s my, well, personal trainer,”

“How do you know him?” He retaliated, the twinkling in his eyes telling you he was being polite, not stalkerish. Now it was your turn to hesitate. “Oh, well, he’s… uh, he’s my older brother,” You mumble, scratching at a non-existent itch on your forearm.

Sebastian’s eyes widened for a moment before he narrowed, deep in thought and evaluating this new information. “(Y/N) Saladino,” He mumbled and it sent shivers up your spine, listening to him recite your name like an exotic painting.

“Oh, yeah,” He mumbled, eyes blowing wide again. “Yeah, I have heard of you. Don talks about you all the time,” He laughed and it was severely contagious, making yourself laugh too. “Uh oh,” You giggle, letting the smile rest on your face as you fiddled with your drink bottle.

“All good things,” Sebastian assured. You giggled again, making his smile brighten for a moment. “Are you looking for Don?” You asked. “Uh, yeah, I was, actually,” He nodded his head, eyes scanning the room again.

“He’s over by the weights, I can walk you, if you want?” You offer. Sebastian smiled and nodded his head, letting you lead the way to Don’s location. You smiled up at him, confidence beaming inside of you at making a brand-new friend, on your own, without much interference from your anxiety.

“Boo!” You cried, jumping on Seb’s back slightly and covering his eyes. Sebastian beamed, rising from the bench he was sitting at before shuffling you further onto his back, giving you a piggyback ride.

“Ah! No!” You squeal, lowering your hands from his eyes, only to clasp them around his neck loosely, so to not choke him but tight enough to hold on. “Don, help! Your gym is haunted!” Seb called dramatically, letting go of your legs long enough to flail his arms about.

Don laughed, along with his other clients that day as Seb shuffled about the gym, you squealing and squeaking at him to put you back down. “You’re both not five! Come on, Seb, just a few more reps to go,” Don encouraged.

Seb laughed as he gently placed you to the ground, sure that you weren’t going to fall over before stepping out of your grasp. You felt your skin tingle and get cold as he separated from you but the smile he gave you banished everything else.

You were crushing on the actor for the few months you’d known him, hard. It wasn’t like you intended it to happen. How could anyone resist his charming smiles, love of pizza and hilarious humour? He was also pretty amazing to look at, don’t deny it.

But the trouble was, he had never shown any sort of romantic interest in you.

Never once had you spotted him staring at you from the corner of his eye, or offer a compliment without some cheesy comment on the side. Your texting included memes, movie updates and the occasional late night philosophical pondering.

You loved every minute of it. Sebastian was the greatest best friend anyone could have hoped for. He supported you and was completely in tune with your anxiety, knowing what to do and when. It was like he had a (Y/N) Stress Radar and the perfect countermeasures.

But, even after all that, you couldn’t help but want more. More time with him, alone. More dates that were actual dates. More lingering glances. More accidental touches. More tight hugs where you hold on for more than necessary. Just, more.

And while you were a little stress balls of anxiety and rainbows, you knew when you weren’t seen that way. So you stuck to grinning and baring it, keeping up the best friend façade until another guy came along and swept you off your feet. This guy needed to get here fast.

“I watched Red Doors the other day,” You smiled as you sat cross legged on the floor next to the bench, watching as Seb lifted the weights with a tight groan and a mixture of exhausted strength on his face.

“Yeah? What did ya think?” He asked, the sentence coming out between huffs as he did he reps Don asked him to do, the action clearly straining him a little bit. “A little odd, but quite enjoyable. You had, like, two lines of dialogue.”

You laugh, slowly joined by Seb who lowered his weights, his chest rising and falling with pants. You watched the sweat stick his hair to his forehead and you had to restrain yourself from pushing his gorgeous locks aside.

Since meeting you, Seb had begun to keep his beard in better condition, usually shaving before he was to meet you. You honestly didn’t mind; bearded or clean-shaven Sebastian looked heavenly. But he had to anyway, for his role in an upcoming movie Logan Lucky.

“How’s the new movie coming?” You ask, rising with him as he moved over to his duffle bag, pulling out his water bottle and towel. “All finished. From what I hear, new movie looks great. Just building up for Infinity War now.”

You squealed, having been a massive fan of the Marvel universe. That was, coincidently, how you originally knew Sebastian. You recognised him as Bucky Barnes, Steve Roger’s best mate. “Ah, I can’t wait for Infinity War! Have you seen the script?”

“Even if I did, cățeluș, I wouldn’t be able to tell you,” You pouted, before his Romanian nickname for you rolled around your head. Puppy. He liked to call you a puppy, but that was Seb. As weird as a pumpkin carving on Christmas.

“Teaser,” You stuck your tongue out at him and he laughed before shaking his head, threatening to dump his water bottle all over you. You yielded, with a promise of revenge. With an ‘aw’, Sebastian stood and walked over to you, pulling you into a headlock.

“Looks who’s acting like the baby sister,” he teased, ruffling your hair a little. With a squeal, you tackled his sides with your fingers, tickling him until he released you. With a booming laugh, Seb backed away as best he could.

As he backed off, he failed to realise that there was a bench behind him. The obstruction knocked his knees, sending him flying with wide eyes over it and landed with a thump on the ground on the other side. With an airy gasp, you race around the bench with worry in your eyes.

You rested on your knees on the floor beside him as he groaned, a hand going under his back. “Are you okay?” You asked, the scene replaying in your head and you bit your lip from laughing. Seb could really be hurt, so it was safer to see if he was okay before laughing.

“Yeah, I’m good,” Seb smiled, his own laughter filled the room before yours joined. You smiled down at him once the laughter died down and admired him. You admired the way his eyes crinkled when he smiled and the light twinkle of blue in his eyes.

And then you realised, he was admiring you, too.

His tongue darted out from his mouth and ran across his bottom lip before trapping it between his teeth, eyes running over your smiling features. It was like a window opened, and you gained this whole new perspective on the way Seb watched you, the way he viewed you.

But, in a flash, the window closed and Sebastian turned his head away, blinking his eyes as if to rid himself of a trance or spell. He lifted himself from the ground, making you wonder if what you saw really was him admiring you.

Seb stuck his hand out towards you, silently offering you a helping hand. You took it, smiling slightly as you let him help you to your feet. He went to retract his hand but I couldn’t help but hold onto it a few moments longer, making him look back down at you.

You moved your eyes elsewhere as you let his hand go, almost ashamed of yourself for letting a piece of your true feelings shine for just a second. Seb was watching you carefully, his features knotted with concern and worry. He went to say something, but Don called him over.

Four pushups seemed to be enough for a few months, you agreed, as you laid motionless on the mat, breath evening out. You had music playing through your headphones as your eyes lazily watched the ceiling.

As soon as Seb was called away, you moved over to a more secluded section of the gym, a nagging feeling of wanting to be alone in the back of your mind. You’d been tempted for some time now to pull out some tape and have a go at the punching bags.

But the music and stillness had won.

So, there you lay, eyes unfocused as you paid more attention to the music than you did to your surroundings. Until a voice cut through them music, calling your name. You furrowed your eyebrows, not remembering your name appearing in the song.

Sebastian called again, and you realised he wasn’t exactly the artist. You turn your head, spotting his shadow and shoes approaching you before you sat up on the mat. “Over here,” You offer, slowly pulling the earphones out, cutting off the music.

Seb rounded the corner, his hair slightly tousled and his eyes desperately searching for something; until they landed on you. “(Y/N),” He smiled, his lips wanting to beam but he appeared to go against the action.

You knitted your eyebrows, confused on what was making him act so strange. You rose, about to ask him what was going on as he approached you, feet set on their destination. “Seb, what’s wro--”

You were immediately surprised by his lips against yours, hands holding you face gently in place. You couldn’t help but melt against his touch, raising your hands to hold onto his as he gently pulled away. You didn’t want him to, you wanted him to stay.

“I don’t think you realise how long I’ve wanted to do that,” He grinned, minty breath fanning across your cheeks. Your own flushed a deep red as his hands ran down your arms, leaving goosebumps in their wake before they held your waist, hold him close to you.

You pressed your hands against his chest, feeling his strong muscles beneath his shirt. “You… wait, d-do you, uh, l-like me?” You asked, unable to stop stuttering after being winded slightly by his breathtakingly soft lips and even gentler kiss.

“Since the first second I saw you.” He grinned, voice slightly low as he watched you. “B-But… why didn’t you ever… you never…” You kept losing your words, unable to believe he was confessing, that he was holding you in his arms.

“Honestly, your brother scared me a little,” he said, his own blush tinting his cheeks. You couldn’t help your laugh, leaning into him a little as you felt your worries begin to pass. You forgot how others can perceive Don as intimidating.

But that didn’t matter. Sebastian liked you back. All your stresses about not being his type, or not being able to jump that hurdle from friendship to relationship just flew away.

“I know I’ve been a bit of twit, but would you consider going on a date with me? To the movies maybe, or a nice dinner?” Sebastian offered, his blush deepening. You smiled moving your arms up his chest to loop around his neck. “Sounds amazing, I’d love to,”

Sebastian grinned before bending down a little, wrapping you up and a beautiful, breathtaking kiss that made all the silent suffering, all the sneaky glances and 2am worries just melt away. “Did Don say he was cool with it?” You wondered for a moment. “Why’d you think he called me away?”

There were three places in the world that you felt the safest.

In your room, under the covers at night, looking up constellations and the like.

The gym, surrounded by body builders and trainers.

And wrapped up in Sebastian Stan’s arms.

#sebastian #sebastian stan #sebastian x reader #sebastian stan x reader #sebastian imagine #sebastian stan imagine #sebastian story #sebastian stan story #don saladino #sebstan #sebstantrash

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singingmyreverie · 7 years ago

Text

College AU! Yoon Jisung

Group Member: Wanna One Yoon Jisung

Type: Fluff fluff actually so much fluff

Style: Bullet

Summary: Friendship with a teacher blooms into something more

you’re one of the piano teachers at the university

one day you receive a letter addressed to yoon jisung

you decide to drop by his classroom since you’re vaguely familiar with his name

he’s a vocal teacher who uses room c

the room is empty though

a sheet music catches your eye and you sing it quietly to yourself

when you finish a voice comes from behind you

“bolder! you have a beautiful voice, you should be more confident!”

you blush

“no, I’m just a regular worker. I’m looking for mr. yoon because his letter got sent to me”

“ah, that would be me. jisung is fine, thank you for delivering it…..?”

he cocks his head and waits for your name

“ (y/n)”

“wow, even your name is beautiful”

jisung why so smooth

you dismiss yourself as you need to get back to your class and he nods

“hope I see you around, and don’t be afraid to sing more!”

and you do

sometimes you’ll be humming while doing your work

in your free time, you secretly enter empty vocal rooms to belt out

the following week you hear a knock behind you in your office

“(y/n)?”

you turn to see a familiar bright smile

“jisung! what brings you here?”

“I have favor to ask of you, I was wondering if I could do it over a meal?”

you agree and the two of you grab lunch together

“I wanted to know if you’d be my partner at the talent show! It’s coming up in two months. anyone is allowed to participate, teachers and workers included. I won’t take no for an answer because your voice needs to be shown!”

your coworker overheard and comes up, “yeah (y/n) you should do it! you’ve been singing in the office a lot more”

with all the buildup of confidence, you figure why not?

and agree to partner up with jisung

in the next couple months, you spend a lot of time with jisung

the two of you decide to sing “if I had a lover” (by g.na and rain)

your coworkers have commented on how much brighter you’ve gotten since singing makes you so happy

but is it only the singing?

when the talent show arrives, you’re incredibly nervous

but jisung does a really good job of soothing you

your stage was so cute and bubbly, jisung being his fun loving self

the crowd went WILD when you guys finished

throughout the next week your students and coworkers would approach you with encouragement

would also ask if you two were together, but you denied it

the hype eventually slowed, leaving you with peace again

you continue hanging out with jisung

one day you two are lying around watching some netflix when he suddenly sits up

“(y/n), the weekend starts tomorrow night, do you have anything planned?”

“I don’t think so?”

“would you be willing to cross some things off my bucketlist with me?”

“it depends, what’s on the list?”

he slyly smiles, “you know the lyrics for what to do if I have a lover, let’s go on a few dates”

blushing, you agree

the next day jisung picks you up from your apartment to go to dinner

“wow you look amazing, (y/n)”

he’s dressed nicely with a black blazer over his white shirt

“thanks. you look handsome I guess,” poking fun

he shakes his head , “not I look handsome. I am.”

then he walks you from the doorsteps to the car, opens the door for you, and closes it when you’re settled

pulls your chair in the restaurant for your to sit in and pushes it in when you do

you’re shook because he’s being a gentleman as opposed to his usual meme self

speaking of the restaurant, it’s a comfortable fancy one with live music

he takes an opportunity to sing on the stage for you

dinner is amazing, and it’s hitting you jisung is really attractive

and you’re blushing because you feel like a princess

later you two take a walk around the city block

he stops in the middle of the street, and you take 2 steps before you notice

you turn, and he’s standing really close to you

jisung grabs your hand and gently pulls you in for a kiss

and he smiles, “the first was a kiss on the street”

you feel yourself heating up

the next day, saturday morning, you wake up early and wait at the train station

“second, catching the early train for Chooncheon,” he said walking up to you

“jisung,” you smile

“but since we don’t have all the time in the world, we’re having a picnic there for the third,” he said holding up a picnic basket

you laugh, “I’m excited for this trip”

throughout the whole trip, you’re feeling an adrenaline

as though it’s just the two of you in the world

the two of you cross off the fourth and fifth ideas

piggy back rides and couple rings from Choocheon

holding hands everywhere

when you get back to your province, the two of you go straight to a movie theater

“the sixth,” the two of you chime unanimously, “go to the late night movies”

throughout the whole movie, jisung has his arm around you, making you feel safe and comfortable

last day of the weekend, sunday

the two of you hit up an amusement park to satisfy the seventh idea

this is more like the jisung you know, being cutesy but also extra

actually so extra the whole time, like his reactions before a scary rollercoaster or playing a competitive game keep you laughing to the point of crying

and you’re having the time of your life while with him

it’s getting late and the two of you enter the ferris wheel

he’s telling some story about the time he got caught in a picture of a friend’s advertisement

until the wheel stops abruptly and you two are at the top

he suddenly becomes serious

“jisung, what’s wrong?”

“(y/n), this whole weekend has felt like a dream to me. I’ve never felt happier in my life and I have something I want to ask you.”

it’s hard to break eye contact with his honest eyes

“look over there,” he pointed out the window

on the roof of one of the nearby buildings you see some bright lights organized into a question

will you be my girlfriend?

“eighth, a surprise event,” he said grinning, “I want to keep going on romantic adventures with you”

you tear up out of happiness, “yes. YES JISUNG,” and jump into his arms

which moves the cabin and terrifies jisung who grips onto the seat in fear for his life

sdjkfjsd

happy couple :)

jisung constantly supports you

has a lot of patience

even though he’s extra like 210% of the time

he knows when to tone it down and care for you

he’s an angel???

I’m just gonna ignore the cost of all this okay

College AU Masterlist

#wanna one #produce 101 #yoon jisung #scenarios #wanna one scenarios #produce 101 scenarios #mine

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echoflowertea · 8 years ago

Note

Ive had this idea on my mind for a while. What if Sans stumbles upon a human that can do magic, and of course he's wary, so he keeps an "eyesocket out for them", but the more he watches them the fonder he grows of them.(turns out they're a huge dork)

better late than never, right?

….right?

(hope you like this, i had so much fun and i kinda got carried away with it)

read me before following!

Pairing: Sans/Reader

Summary: Given the complicated history between monsters and humans, wariness of each other is nothing personal. Well, except between you and Sans. That’s very personal for one big reason: you can use magic.

Aftermoving up to the surface, Sans sort of noticed that he’d been more reservedthan usual.

Hecouldn’t really blame himself for that. Trust…was a hard thing to muster.Especially when he spent most his life watching not only over his brother, buthimself.

Itwasn’t as if the Underground was a harsh place to life. The camaraderie ofmonsters was simply more prevalent than it was on the surface. Humans had somuch to learn. They focused more on what was different between them than whatwas the same. Despite being trapped on a small planet in the middle of nowhere,they still managed to create new wars over old ideologies.

…well.Maybe he shouldn’t have been so harsh on them for that. After all…monsters heldon to a certain kind of hatred for so long that it warped their realities andmorals, too.

Back tothe point: Sans wasn’t as friendly to humans as he was to other monsters. He hidit well with casual banter and whacky jokes. Anything to make peoplecomfortable with his presence. If he could make himself seem safer by puttingon a façade, then he would do it with the fakest smile he could muster.

But…livingon edge all the time was tiring.

Especiallysince nothing had changed. When he was part of the sentry back in Snowdin, hewould watch the world go by and keep his upbeat attitude for his brother.

Now,everyone he interacted with – aside from Papyrus – received the same treatment.Keep the humans away. Make sure your SOUL was locked up tight. And never letyour guard down.

Evenhere, in the park, he couldn’t rest his bones. Seated on the bench, the sunraining down on his bleached skull, there was still a prickle of uncertaintyflitting down his spine. He let his eyelights go dark in his sockets, relishingthe warmth of this heady summer day, and absorbed every shred of stimuli thatswept through him.

Flinch.

“Whoa!Are you okay? I’m so sorry!” you shouted, having nearly mowed down theskeleton.

Thegaggle of dogs continued to sniff and prod at him with wet, slimy noses,snuffling at his clothes and their tails growing stiff from pinpointing thesource of the smell. You had your hands full. Literally. Their leashes weretangled up and around your wrist and fingers.

He hadto admit, for a dogwalker, you were bold. Rollerblades strapped to your feet,wristguards and a helmet to keep you safe. You were already drenched with sweattrying to keep up with them, but luckily the tanktop and shorts were there tohelp you cool off from being worked so hard.

“heya,pups.” Sans reached out and patted one of them on the snout. They immediatelyreared back and barked playfully. “heh, yep. figured you’d get a kick outtame.”

“Sorryabout that,” you repeated, burning from both the weather and sheerembarrassment. “I didn’t even see you here. The park is usually empty this typeof day since it’s during school.”

“yeah,guess both of us don’t have that commitment then, huh?”

“Nope.I’m living the dream, as you can see.” You nodded to the group. “I work atthe…well, it’s a nonprofit organization for rescued dogs. Maybe you’ve heard ofus. ‘Bark Over Bite’?”

Hehadn’t, but nodded anyway. “sure have. doin’ great work out there.” He figuredas much, based on how comfortable the pups were with you.

“Anyway,gotta get back out there. I’m on a tight schedule. Thanks for not scolding me!You wouldn’t believe some of the nasty things old people say when you get intheir personal bubble. I’m guessing you’re a little on the younger side, then.”You smiled politely. “See you!”

Hedidn’t bother saying anything back, already relieved you were gone.

Sans wascontent to spend the rest of the afternoon by himself, like he’d planned, butyou obviously had other plans.

“WHOA!Slow down, guys! Wait!”

Evenfrom this far away, he heard the sheer panic in your voice. Something that sentan unpleasant skittering along his bones. He glanced over and saw how wobblyyour stance was, how your muscles strained as you did your best to come to astop. But the full weight of your horde of dogs was enough to tear you fromthat hope and put you back into a dangerous reality.

Sansfollowed your trajectory and saw where you were headed. There was a small crowdof kids with ice cream cones wrapped in their sticky hands, lapping at thetreats. They spotted the dogs and decided to call them all over with theirafternoon sweet as an incentive. Between the high-pitched cooing and thewhooping and cheering as the dogs zeroed in on the ice cream, Sans saw a recipefor disaster.

“HEEL!SIT! STAY! GUYS, PLEASE!”

By somemiracle, you’d managed to stay upright despite the leashes propelling youforward at breakneck speed. Sans stood on top of the bench to get a betterview, his SOUL flaring to life in the middle of his chest, and his fingersready to snap into action despite how little he really cared.

In asplit second, he felt the CRACK! of magic.

Yourbody turned light blue. So did the dogs. And kids. Their SOULs were drawn outof their chests, so heavy and thick with excess magic that they ran in slowmotion. None of them knew what was happening to their bodies so they allhesitated…just long enough that you passed through each other.

Hecouldn’t believe it.

Sans didn’tdo that.

So whodid?

Hesearched around but couldn’t find any other monster. It was just humans here.

At theend of the path, you had managed to stop long enough to tear the rollerbladesfrom your feet. You’d met a rough stop by crashing into a tree and floppinginto the grass, but the dogs were completely fine. The kids were shocked. Shakenup a bit. Some of them jumped up and down and shook out their limbs as bestthey could, at least not hard enough to have the scoop of ice cream fall fromtheir cones.

Sansscanned the perimeter but for some reason he couldn’t take his eyes off you.

Maybe itwas because…

You werethe one who used the magic.

No.

Way.

Youapproached the kids more calmly this time. The dogs panted and wagged theirtails, licking the fallen ice cream cones and tears from the kids’ faces. Theteacher, who must’ve stepped away for just a minute to help another kid with abloody nose, saw the commotion and rushed over.

“Arethey all trained? Will they bite?”

“Nah.These are our best-behaved dogs. Err, I mean, they’re still learningboundaries, but none of them are aggressive and work closely with kids.”

Sanswatched you check the kids secretly for wounds. And then…

“Hey, Ithink I’ve got a few leaves in my hair.” You approached a child with a slightscrape on their elbow. “Can you help me get it out?”

Shenodded and reached up, pudgy fingers tangled in your locks. You winced from herrough handling, but she managed to grab one. It looked…especially green. Almostlike fresh grass sprouting in the spring after a long, earth-quenching rain. Andafter she took it, it almost…faded away. Her scrape didn’t look so red anymore…wait, where did it go?

If hehad a stomach, it would’ve dropped.

“See youlater, puppy!” one of the kids cried. “Bye bye!”

Youwaved and the dogs followed you, satisfied with their midmorning treat and theoverwhelming affection of the kids.

Sanswasn’t going to ignore this. It was crucial information.

A human.Could use. Magic.

Andmaybe it wasn’t that well developed. Maybe you were just the freak product ofsome ridiculously recessive gene soup. But he knew one thing: humans with magiconce wrought havoc on monsterkind hundreds of years ago. If they had theadvantage now, who knew what kind of selfish, horrible things they couldaccomplish?

“WHEREARE YOU GOING TODAY, SANS?”

“headingover to the animal shelter.”

“OH,EXCELLENT! I HAVE SOME EXTRA CANNED FOOD THEY MIGHT USE. FRISK DROPPED IT OFFBECAUSE TORIEL MADE THEM GIVE BACK THE PUPPY THEY TOOK FROM THE SHELTER. NYEHHEH HEH! IT IS NOT THEIR FAULT, I DON’T THINK…ANIMALS ARE DRAWN TO THEM. ITHINK THEY CAN SENSE WHEN KIDS ARE GOOD. DON’T YOU THINK?”

Sanspoked at his breakfast. The milk in his cereal bowl bubbled at him in response.

“you’reawesome, bro. i’ll make sure to ask if they want it.”

“HOORAY!THEN EAT UP. YOU’LL NEED YOUR STRENGTH. I’LL LOAD THE FOOD IN THE BACK OF YOURMOPED. MAKE SURE THAT THE TRUNK IS LOCKED THIS TIME.”

Papyruswas busy on the surface. Which was good. He had his own business going and madea lot of friends. Sans knew that his brother would flourish so long as he heldon to his boundless optimism and confidence. He met so many cool people in townafter seeking out friends, and Frisk introduced him to the more proper way ofexpanding his social network. By now, he had far more friends than he didstrangers in his life – and Sans was very proud of him for that.

Sans, onthe other hand, mainly kept in contact with old pals through his phone. He andToriel texted often. Alphys tagged him in bad memes on Undernet. And he wasalways typing up bad jokes on the selfies his old buddies took.

Forright now, he worked by himself on some independent science projects. He neverthought he’d jump back into it, but after Undyne bought him that kid’schemistry set as a joke one year, he was determined to create something thatwould knock the big grin off her smug face.

Heparked in front of the place and managed to pull the box full of food out. Hewas sure that the shelter wouldn’t reject the donation.

Theatmosphere inside was…nice. Seemed like a clean and friendly enough place. Therewas a playpen off to the corner where several puppies were barking andwrestling with each other. A cat seated on top of the counter stared at him, slowblinks and all, as it repositioned itself to lean toward the bell at thecounter.

Ring me! it read.

He didas he was told, but not before setting down the box on the ground so hewouldn’t have to deal with it any more.

“Coming!”

Herecognized your voice. He hadn’t expected you to be here today; he thoughtmaybe he’d snoop and try to pick up on some clues. Not that you would actuallyshow up. He really hoped that you didn’t—

“Hey!It’s you!”

—recognizehim.

Yougrinned and leaned over the counter, your hair in disarray. It looked like oneof the animals had gotten sick all over your shirt. That or it was paint. “Niceto see you again. I’m glad you decided to check us out! What can I do for you?”

Sansbent down and brought up the case full of food. “got some donations for ya,courtesy of my bro. he was real touched when i told him about what you do, sothis is from him.”

“Oh man,tell your brother he’s the best!” You reached over and snatched it from himwithout any hesitation. You must’ve been used to hauling dog food back andforth, because you didn’t even flinch from the added weight in your arms. “Hey,he should stop by sometime. The dogs would probably thank him personally. Howdoes he feel about wet puppy smooches?”

That gota smile out of him. “eh. think he’d rather they don’t. he’s got a thing aboutaffection.”

“Ah, noproblem, then. We’ve got some oldies here who don’t wanna do anything butcuddle. Did you want to take a tour?”

“ok.”

Hewasn’t sure why he said it. He meant to do some light spying and then take off.Not interfere with what you were doing. Maybe he was just curious because hewanted to see the extent of your powers.

As faras he knew, you could do two: blue and green magic. That was more than what hehad control over, and it was unheard of for anyone to use more than one. Whatwas your deal?

The restof the building was basic. There were a few acres of land in the back with atall enough fence that the dogs couldn’t jump over it. Lots of worn toys strewneverywhere. Drool around every corner, some pictures of the dogs that some kidsdrew hanging over their beds. It smelled bad, and the place looked like it’dseen better days, but you were trying your best to keep it together.

“crazywhat happened yesterday, huh?”

Youpaused. Finished stacking the cans in the cupboard. “Oh, the kids? You sawthat?”

“yeah.it’s real lucky no one got hurt.”

“I know.I should’ve been more careful.” Your voice was soft now. “Sometimes it’s hardto control…the dogs. You know. And they can be a little…wild, when they’redistracted. I think all they need is…practice? I can help them the best theycan.”

“soundslike you’re stretched thin here.”

“Kindof. One of our supervisors quit. He moved away to retire somewhere warm andtropical with his husband. Not that I blame him. But that means longer nightsfor me! Which, I don’t mind, I practically live here. And overtime pay isgreat. Still kinda lonely though.”

Hestared at your dejected expression.

“But Imean. Anyway. It’s not that big of a deal.” You shoved it all aside. But evenfrom here he could see the uncertain waver to your SOUL. “So, uh, where do youwork, Sans?”

“rightnow i’m takin’ a break. who knows. might end up teaching a few courses down atthe community center. but eh. besides that, don’t really got a plan.”

“Man,that’s so cool. I mean. You seem pretty well put together. I never would’ve guessed.”

“heh.uh, thanks?”

Itstarted to get dark outside. Sans hadn’t learned much about you in terms ofwhat your magical skill was like, save for the very clear uncertainty from yourawkward runaround about yesterday’s near mishap. So this was a bust.

“I gotta get back to painting this new playroom.I’ll see you around, hopefully.”

“yeah.see ya.”

From thecorner of his eye, he watched you stare hard at the blank wall you’d been workingon. Your clothes were a mess, the paintbrushes frayed, and it looked like you’dall but given up on trying to preserve the floor from your wrath. In the middleof it all, you managed to let out a weary sigh and push yourself to finish.

Sansheaded home and found Papyrus already setting the table for dinner.

“SANS!HOW DID IT GO? DID THEY ACCEPT THE FOOD?”

“yep. agirl at the front desk told me to tell you that you’re super cool for thinkin’of them. think you’ve got a new fan.”

“WOWIE!I SHOULD STOP BY AND GIVE HER ONE OF MY GLAMOR SHOTS. IT WOULD HELP SPICE UPTHE BUILDING! EVERY PLACE IN THE CITY NEEDS A PIECE OF PAPYRUS, BUT ONLY THEMOST HONORED WILL RECEIVE IT!”

Beep.

“YOURPHONE IS MAKING NOISES AGAIN. IS IT ALPHYS?”

“thinkso.” He drew the text up to read it and respond before he shoved his phoneaway.

aly aly oxenfree: snas, i found theinfo ur lookin 4!!!

snas: ok, so what’s the deal?

aly aly oxenfree: the organization islegit. right now there are only 3 employees. they pay a little above theminimum wage, but rely on public donations and fundraisers to keep their doorsopen.

snas: and the girl?

aly aly oxenfree: found out where she lives.that’s about it. are u sure that u saw what u said u did?

snas: i’m sure

aly aly oxenfree: & u don’t wannatell toriel???

snas: gotta make sure she’s ok withmonsters before all that.

aly aly oxenfree: she can take care ofherself, oh my god

snas: yeah but she’s too nice sometimes

aly aly oxenfree: & ur not?

snas: g2g

Maybe itwas cowardly to snoop around while you were at work. But he had to know justwho it was that he was dealing with.

Yourapartment wasn’t too far from the shelter. It was probably a ten-minute walk.Not the best neighborhood, but not the worst either. It looked like you livedalone. And you forgot to close the curtains before you left. He was just luckyyou were on the ground floor.

Inside,your place was somewhat of a mess. Wrappers and empty fast food containerspiled up in the kitchen. Your décor was a little…weird. Lots of figurines andcollections from various fandoms. Alphys would’ve gotten a kick out of this ifshe came.

In thecorner of the room, almost indiscernible among the thick layers of dust, was astatue of a figure so familiar it made him sick.

A humanmage.

So thatexplained it. You knew about your magic use. This wasn’t some sort of weirdcoincidence where you were discovering your powers. You had stacks of librarybooks around the statue – maybe references about the history of your talents.Maybe techniques to help you refine your craft.

Whateverthe case, this only furthered his suspicion that you needed to be kept incheck.

Itdidn’t take him long to get to the shelter.

“Hey,it’s you!”

“name’ssans. here for a job.” He planted the flier on the counter. “you still needhelp takin’ care of the animals?”

For themost part, you were always suspicious of people that wanted to work at yourshelter. Mostly because so many people had flaked out before. It wasn’t easyintroducing a lot of traumatized dogs to new people.

But Sansseemed different, in a way. And not because he was a skeleton or a monster. Itwas…more because of his attitude. A little laissez-faire. A little cynical,from what you could tell. Despite all of that, he seemed genuine in his desireto work with all the dogs. It…wasn’t as if you could afford to turn anyone elseaway. Not when the flu was going around and the person covering your days offwas sick to their stomach.

“So…whatmade you wanna apply here?”

Theinterview was incredibly informal since you were the only one who could giveit.

“seemslike a neat place. you’ve got a good thing going. met some of your pups, and ithink all they need is some tlc.”

“Do youhave any experience with pets?”

“coursei do. we got our own dog back home. he mostly sleeps in my room.”

“Aww,cute. So, let’s go through some scenarios…”

Sufficeit to say, Sans passed with flying colors. He was so damn charismatic despiteacting so casual. It was an admirable trait.

“Whencan you start?”

“you gottime to train me today?”

“Sure!Let’s do it!”

You hadalready given him a tour, so some basics wasn’t that bad. Showing him the chartof all the dogs’ diets, where the food and water was kept, the schedules witheveryone’s exercise and play time. Sans approached them carefully and alwaysrespected their boundaries, especially when you included him in the scheduledfun.

Over thenext few weeks, Sans performed way above your expectations, which was alreadyhigh to begin with. But you noticed something…weird.

For one,Sans would barely make eye contact with you. Hey, everyone had their issues andinteracted with the world differently. But it felt like he was so engaging withpossible foster parents and adopters. Not you. Which kind of hurt yourfeelings.

Second,he never wanted to hang out with you after work. Which. Okay. You sort of understoodwhy he wouldn’t, since work and personal lives were easiest when kept separate.But he was so cool with you before, when you first met, so you wondered why histune had changed.

Third,and weirdest of all, Sans was never alone with you. If you needed his help withsomething, he would find another task to do and complete it on his own. Therewas no small talk between you anymore. If anything, it felt like he was keepingyou at arm’s length on purpose. As if he was just around the corner, observing butnever engaging. How weird was that?

“Hey,Sans. You want to grab something to eat?” It was bath day for the dogs, whichmeant you were in no position to cook tonight. Not with your aching body. “Iknow this really cool place down the street.”

“thanksfor the offer, but i’m good. my bro is comin’ to pick me up. we’ve got a dinnerto get to.”

“Oh.Sounds awesome. I hope you have fun.”

You wereputting on your shoes when the door burst open. “SANS! THE CAR IS RUNNINGOUTSIDE AND YOUR FAVORITE SONG IS ON! WE HAVE TO HURRY BEFORE IT’S OVER!”

Whoa!

Who was that?!

Well,obviously it was Sans’ brother. But he was so TALL. He and his brother lookedlike exact opposites. You expected another slouchy monster with a weird senseof humor, definitely not this ridiculously handsome and cool dude who peered atyou like you’d just grown another head.

“YOU!!!”

“Me???”

“YOU!!!I HAVE SOMETHING FOR YOU.” He dug into his pocket and grinned as he handed itto you. An autographed picture of himself. “I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THE PERFECTMOMENT TO GIVE THIS TO YOU.”

“Wait asecond, you’re the brother who donated food to my pups?”

“THATWOULD BE ME, PAPYRUS!!!”

“Whoa.”That was all you could muster before he reached out to shake your hand, whichyou returned warmly. “I’m gonna put this on my list of STAR donors! Is thatokay?”

“A-ABSOLUTELY!”He put his hands up to his chin and you laughed at the faint blush dusting hischeekbones. “I WOULD EXPECT NOTHING LESS, FOR I AM THE MOST GENEROUS OFPEOPLE.”

“Seemslike it. Hey Sans, your brother is just as awesome as you said he was! He’sgetting washed up, I think, we were knee-deep in soapy water all day.”

“YOUHAVE DONE WONDERS WITH HIM. ONCE UPON A TIME HE USED TO FEAST ON CRUMBSIN-BETWEEN COUCH CUSHIONS BECAUSE HE WAS TOO LAZY TO GET A NEW BAG OF CHIPS.”

“Uhhh...”

“INDEED!NOW HE IS ACTIVE AND HELPFUL HERE. I HAVE YOU TO THANK FOR THAT. YOU MUST BE ANINCREDIBLE TEACHER!”

“Ah, I’mokay….”

“I HAVEA SPECTACULAR AND AMAZING IDEA!!! PERHAPS YOU COULD COME WIH US TO DINNERTONIGHT. WE WILL HAVE LOTS OF FUN!”

“bro.”

Papyrusglanced over. Sans stood in the doorway, suspicion written all over his face.

“you’rehere early.”

“YUPPIE!I CAME TO MAKE SURE YOU WERE PRESENTABLE. BUT GIVEN YOUR WORKLOAD TODAY, I’LLGIVE YOU A HARD PASS. OH! I WAS INVITING YOUR COWORKER TO COME WITH US. I’MSURE THE OTHERS WOULD LOVE TO MEET HER!”

“Oh, Idon’t know…” You chewed on your lower lip. “I—I uh, don’t think Sans will wantme there.”

“WHAT?PREPOSTEROUS. YOU TWO ARE COWORKERS. SANS HAS ALWAYS BEEN CLOSE TO THE PEOPLEHE WORKS WITH. IN FACT, HE WAS VOTED ‘FRIENDLIEST SKELETON’ IN SNOWDIN! ONLYBECAUSE I RELINQUISHED MY TROPHY TO HIM, OF COURSE.”

Youcouldn’t believe what you were hearing. Sans? Being nice and amicable with hiscoworkers? Treating them like friends? Seriously?

“SO IT’SSETTLED. WE’LL GO TO THE BAR TOGETHER! I CAN GIVE YOU A RIDE. COME WITH US.”

You knewSans didn’t want you there. But you were starving. And it would be nice to getout of the house. Your couch was going to have buttprints soon with how muchtime you spent there.

“Sure.Thanks, Papyrus!”

“NOPROBLEMO. YOU CAN RIDE IN THE BACKSEAT! LET’S GO!”

Oh. Theair was tense. Sans was souncomfortable the entire ride there. Which…you really didn’t understand. Was heembarrassed of his friends? Of the place? Or…was he embarrassed of you?

The barwas one you’d walked by probably a hundred times. A cozy place that wasn’t toobusy at night, at least not enough that you wouldn’t be able to hear yourselfthink.

“I’LLINTRODUCE YOU. THIS IS ALPHYS AND UNDYNE. THEY ARE VERY MUCH IN LOVE!!! I HAVETO TELL EVERYONE THAT BECAUSE IT EMBARRASSES THEM. TORIEL IS UNABLE TO MAKE ITSINCE FRISK HAS THE STOMACH FLU. HAVE YOU HEARD IT’S GOING AROUND?”

“Yeah,my other coworker caught it not too long ago. She got over it, but now she’staking care of her kids.”

“SKELETONSARE LUCKY THEY’RE SAFE FROM CONTAGIONS. OH. UNDYNE, ALPHYS, THIS IS THE HUMANGIRL THAT SANS WORKS WITH AT THE SHELTER!!!”

It wasawkward at first, sure, but Papyrus did his best to make you feel welcome.Alphys and Sans were texting on their phones all night. You were…likeninety-nine percent sure that it was to each other. Maybe they were in a groupchat with this Toriel person to check up on her. Undyne wasn’t reallyinterested in you very much, since she was watching a swimming competition onthe TV. Papyrus was the one to engage you the most, asking you all sorts ofquestions about working at the shelter.

“ANDWHAT IF THE DOGS ARE RESTLESS? HOW DO YOU HELP THEM?”

“…shesings to ‘em.”

What.

“I—Idefinitely do not,” you laughednervously, taking another long drink. “I just take them for a little walk,that’s all.”

“heh.not really. she’ll sing ‘my only sunshine’ to ‘em and snuggle with them intheir rooms.”

“Idefinitely DON’T do that?”

“yeahyou do. they like her voice. mostly ‘cuz she gets so passionate.”

“PASSIONATEHOW?”

“shedances, too. then they howl with her.”

He wasexposing all your secrets! What the hell! You made sure to only do that kind ofshit when he said he was going on break!

“THISSOUNDS ADORABLE. STOP, I CAN’T TAKE MUCH MORE OF THIS.”

“didn’teven tell ya the best part. she has nicknames for all of ‘em. and she trains‘em to give high fives to people when they take a lot during adoption drives.”

“W-what?”Alphys giggled. “That’s so cool!”

“It’sreally not a big deal…”

Sanscontinued, not bothered in the slightest by your panicked protests. “she makesflower crowns for ‘em, too. most of ‘em let her put it on and then she takesphotos for the website. then she backs out on uploadin’ ‘em because she thinksthe crowns aren’t good enough.”

“It’sbecause they eat most of the flowers in the backyard or they wilt them!”

Sanslocked eyes with you. The suddenness of his eye contact was jarring, to say theleast.

“youcare a lot about those animals. that’s real clear.”

“Oh…um.Thanks.”

“juststatin’ the obvious.”

Aftereating a hearty meal, which Papyrus insisted he pay for in exchange for youdealing with his brother at work, he offered to drive you home. You agreed.

“OH! IWANT TO WASH MY HANDS. IS IT OKAY IF I USE YOUR BATHROOM?”

“Sure.Come on in. Uh, mind the mess. I wasn’t expecting company.”

Theapartment was quiet, too much for your taste. You always needed the TV on tomake it seem less lonely. Sans was lucky – he had a sibling to share his lifewith.

“OKIEDOKIE, BE RIGHT BACK!” Papyrus dashed off after you pointed him in the rightdirection. It was…nice?…to see him so enthusiastic about proper hygiene.

Sansstood in front of your bookshelf. A collection of all sorts of things that youwere interested in. He seemed to fixate specifically on a leather book wedgedbetween several young adult novels, though he wasn’t going to mention anythingto you.

“That’s…um.Well. I borrowed that from the library that closed not too long ago.”

“the precision of magic control, huh?”

“Um.Yeah.”

Awkwardsilence.

“Monstersare really cool. Being able to do magic. It’s normal for you guys. For humans,that sort of thing was debunked a long time ago. Now people are only beginningto understand it. Hopefully we can learn more from you.”

“hopeso.”

Youflinched at the coldness to his tone. “Sans?”

“yeah?”

“Do younot like me?”

Hepaused for a moment, but didn’t even bother looking at you. “what makes you saythat?”

“Just afeeling. It’s okay if you don’t. I’m kind of weird. I talk to animals a lot, Ispend most of my time playing around, and I work my ass off to give away dogsthat I really do love and am attached to. It’s kind of dumb. The two of us havegrown up in different places, so…I can see why you’d have a hard time gettingalong with me.”

Sansreached out and plucked the book from the shelf. There were scribbled notes init.

“why doyou read about this kinda stuff? looks like it’s been here longer than we’velived on the surface.”

Youswallowed. “Well. Actually. Uh. The thing is…I want to learn about itbecause…I…”

A longsilence. Sans waited a few more seconds before he spoke.

“thatday, in the park. saw you use magic.”

“Youdid.” Of course he did. You weren’t exactly subtle. “It was so stupid. But Ididn’t know what else to do.”

“humansdon’t even have that ability any more.”

“Theydon’t. I’m a freak.”

Hewasn’t sure why, but his chest ached at that accusation. “nah.”

“No,really. I am. I’ve had magic for as long as I can remember. I’ve taught myselfso much. But it feels like all I ever do is hurt people with it. Unless I’malone. Then the only person at risk is myself. And it’s not like anyone wouldcare.”

Thatlast bit wasn’t what you meant to say. It just fell out.

But Sansclosed his eyes and stuffed the book back to its rightful place.

“that’swhere yer wrong.”

“I am?”

“yeah.”

Heturned toward you. Hands in his pockets. Eyes locked with yours. That signaturegrin of his fading to more of a grimace.

“Sans?”

“i gottaapologize. i got you all wrong. had this…notion of ya in my head. about whatyou’d be like. what kinda person you were. looks like i’m just…a bonehead.”

“It’sokay, Sans.”

“…”

“Wasthat a pun?”

“heh.”

“Ewww, Iregret this immediately!” you laughed. “I don’t wanna be friends any more.”

“aw,c’mon. throw me a bone here.”

“No???”

Papyruscame out to the both of you laughing. “WHAT IS GOING ON HERE? HAVE I ENTERED APARALLEL UNIVERSE?! OH NO. NOT AGAIN!”

Sansgrinned. “relax, bro. we’re just doin’ what coworkers do. rib each other.”

“Get himout of my house!” you joked.

“OFCOURSE. I DON’T KNOW WHY I EVEN THOUGHT HE COULD BEHAVE HIMSELF!”

“Wait,Papyrus, no! I was kidding!!!” You chased after him as he carted Sans out thedoor over his shoulder, already starting what looked like an hour-long lecture.

It wasfunny how a simple forced hand could be the turning point you were looking for.After that night, Sans seemed…more like himself, if that made any sense. Hejoked more often, smiled more wholeheartedly, and…

Couldn’tleave you alone for a second.

“so howold were you when you first realized you could use magic?”

“Um,maybe four or five? There was this butterfly with a crippled wing. So I healedit with a shower of leaves. I thought I could show it how to fly and it wouldtake off again. Turns out I just used the leaves as a…conduit so I could usehealing magic on it.”

“so youknow green is for healing?”

“Yup. Ido read monster literature, you know. It’s helped me a lot.”

“ok.what about the blue magic?”

“Thatone came a little later. I almost got hit by some creep on one of thosescooters. He was trying to scare me and get me to jump into the lake to avoidhim, but I ended up choking. I just stood there when he came full force. Thenhe passed right through me.”

“neat.”

Youhanded him the fresh bowl of food as he dropped them down one by one. You’dtrained the dogs to all wait their turn eating, and spread the bowls across thelawn so no one would have an issue with you. And some careful redirecting wouldbe in order in case any of them decided to be greedy, but they’d been much morewell-behaved lately.

“So whatare we? Blue buddies?”

“heh.what?”

“Bluebuddies. We both have blue magic.”

“oh mygod.”

“Whaaaat.Don’t laugh at me, Sans! It could be a thing!”

“hey, ican think of something else that could be a thing.”

“Ohyeah? What?”

“you…n’me…” He started to sweat. Was he okay? Could skeletons overheat? “uh…heh…grabbin’those tennis balls we lost over the fence.”

“Shit, Iforgot about that. Let’s go right after the dogs are done.”

Movienights. Dog walks in the park. Touring the city’s restaurants. It was alluphill from there. Sans was always looking for an excuse to hang out, a far cryfrom what you experienced firsthand. He and Papyrus were experts with bluemagic, so a lot of the time you would stop by their place and learn more aboutcontrol and finesse. Papyrus was far more helpful in that sense, since he showedyou how to do things, while Sans just distracted you from the sidelines andtried to make you laugh.

You andSans took overnight shifts waiting for a new litter of puppies to be born. Oneof the strays you took in from the shelter this past week was pregnant andready to burst, but you just knew that the breed of dog was going to be hard toadopt out, so they handed them all over to you.

It wasabout four in the morning when you took the phone call. It was Sans.

“hey,you wanna come down here for this?”

“Yeah,”you mumbled. “I’ll be there.”

Fifteenminutes later, you joined him on the floor, at a comfortable distance from themother as she did her best to deliver her litter. Sans had his back against thewall, knees drawn up, watching the sight in morbid fascination. Probably not atall how monster deliveries worked.

“Youokay?”

“heh.sure.”

Youcould tell something was bothering him. “Are you sure? You seem a little out ofit. I can sort of tell these things now. You have different smiles.”

“do i?”That one was for amusement. “guess you would know. yer gettin’ to be a littletoo perceptive for me to pull one over on ya.”

“I guessI am.” You glanced over at his hand, which twitched against the cool tile ofthe sterile room. “Hey, Sans?”

“what’sup.”

“Beinghere with you is like green magic.”

“uh….”He stammered. “i don’t get it.”

“Feelsgood. Like…the feeling I get when I heal someone. It’s warm in a good way.Starts out in the center of your chest, then goes all the way down to the tipsof your toes…and your fingers.”

Sansnearly choked. He looked down and saw your hand resting on top of his. He couldsee his reflection in your eyes. Scared. Confused. What were you doing?

“And it’skinda weird, but blue magic too. Where you have to stop and take everything in,otherwise you might get hurt. You take your time and wait it out to see whereit goes.”

Oh man.He blushed. Hard. This was not happening. Was it?

“I thinkmaybe I might get experience with orange magic soon. Where you look at the pathahead and just…go for it. Because sometimes you have to be brave to progress.”

He didn’thave a chance to ask you if you were being serious, because you had promptlykissed him just hard enough that yeah,he knew exactly what you meant. Warmth. Hesitation. Excitement. All of itwrapped up in a bundle of static that settled in the center of his chest,sparking outwards and sending every last part of his body on fire.

Youpulled back. Lips swollen from the kiss. He hadn’t even realized this earlier,but your face was flushed too.

“whoa.”

“Whoa…isright. Is it…um…a whoa of approval?”

He couldbarely nod.

Youlaughed and your nose wrinkled, leaning forward to plant another one on him. “Oh.That’s good to know.”

At fivein the morning, eight puppies were born. Sans named them after all the magicaltraits. Of course, you gave them silly nicknames everyone would use around thebuilding.

At sixin the morning, you and Sans left the shelter. Your coworker’s shift startedand she would watch over the new mom and her pups.

At sevenin the morning, you both went out for breakfast. Apparently, there was even afight in the restaurant, but the both of you were so engrossed in each otherthat you hadn’t noticed. Sans picked up the bill and you promised you’d get itnext time.

At eightin the morning, Sans stood outside your apartment as you sealed your newrelationship with another long, ardent kiss. You struggled with the mechanicsof it still, but nothing a few bouts of awkward laughter wouldn’t fix.

Sanswalked on air as he made his way home to share the good news with his brother.Maybe moving to the surface wasn’t a mistake after all.

#sans #undertale #sans x reader #open request saturdays #Anonymous

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