#because the person holding the football would not move towards the camp but the other person could

[tj-crochets]

Hey y'all, weird question time! Do you have any advice for stretches/exercises to improve finger dexterity/range of motion? This question brought to you by a childhood history of being really spectacularly bad at catching footballs, several instruments I'd probably be better at playing with a better range of motion, and also the fact that I can't raise just my middle finger by itself without my other fingers also going up at least a little bit

[mrchiipchrome]

Knight In Shining Armor

W.C.- 800

Request- 'the reader is an introvert and not a hugging person. so, during camp w the lionesses, some players tease reader about it because the reader w Lessi is the opposite. Gf Lessi being protective of the reader?'

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Growing up as introverted as you did had been a challenge for sure, never really being able to open up to people making you feel left out most of the time. Maybe that’s why your parents made sure to put you to training in a teamsport as soon as they possibly could.

Still, you had major problems with getting and keeping friends, well until Alessia came along. 

The young blonde, then brunette, had defended you against some particularly nasty young girls at Charlton. They had pushed you over without any reason, making your newly washed kit all muddy again.

Then like a knight in shining armor, the short girl came over and stood right in front of you, so as to protect you from their nasty words and actions. 

With miraculous strength for a 6 year old, Alessia made sure that the two girls never bothered you again.

Ever since that day, your young heart only beat for her. There was nothing and no one that could come between your unbreakable bond, and with you in the midfield and Alessia up top, there was no better scoring duo than you two.

And at 7, you and Alessia got “married” after football with the trainer officiating. At 10, you and Alessia departed your childhood club in search of something bigger. At 11, you signed for the Arsenal youth academy and Alessia signed for the rival London club.

At 13, you transferred schools to be closer to one of your only friends and at 14, you confessed your obvious feelings for the other, sharing secret kisses between classes. 

At 16, you finally told your families about your relationship, your families who’d always known you’d end up with the other.

At 17, you signed your first pro contract with Arsenal while Alessia got offers to play at UNC. At 18, your heart broke for the first time as you knew how hard it would be to do long distance. At 19, you cried yourself to sleep every night because you were missing your soulmate.

At 21, Alessia returned to England and your introverted heart burst with happiness at your person being back in the same country as you. 

And when you won the euros alongside your love, you realized what a gift it was to have someone like her. Your very own knight in shining armor.

Even after becoming slightly less closed off to the world, there was still one thing you truly couldn’t stand, physical touch.

Whenever someone, excluding Alessia, touched you it felt like your skin was crawling and the feeling always brought tears to the corners of your eyes. 

It was the only non-negotiable thing, no touch. And Alessia had always been like a hawk, making sure to not let anyone touch you longer than deemed necessary.

So, when you once again arrive at camp basically attached to your girlfriend, it doesn’t take long for the other girls to start to tease you.

—-

“Hey Y/n/n, why don’t I get hugs like that?” You hear the unmistakable sound of Lucy Bronze’s voice echo through the lobby. The shell shocked expression on your face only makes Alessia tighten her grip around your waist, nearly putting herself in front of you in a protective stance.

“Yeah Y/n, I also want a nice long hug sometimes, maybe a kiss on the head” Georgia’s next as she sends you a quick wink to accompany her statement. The possessive growl Alessia lets escape her throat might be one of the hottest things you’d ever experienced.

“Come on Y/n, just give me a little hug, it would be nice!” Mary’s loud voice carries all through the lobby as she walks towards you with her arms fully open. 

That’s where Alessia’s had enough, her protective nature coming through in the most noticeable way possible. She moves her body fully in front of you, mostly blocking the three women's view of you as she holds her hand out to stop Mary from moving any closer to you.

“Right, that’s enough. Once is fine, but the two of you continuing when she’s obviously uncomfortable is just going too far. If she wants to give you a hug, then she’ll do it in her own time, are we clear?” Alessia’s booming voice is heard all throughout the lobby, and the three women in front of you nod their heads rapidly in agreement.

With a satisfied smile painting over her face, Alessia moves back to your side, hugging you protectively before leaning up and capturing your lips in a possessive kiss.

For good measure, as Alessia’s leading you towards the elevator, she turns back to the three women still standing in the same place as where she left them and winks. 

Yeah, Alessia was your knight in shining armor.

[xpeachesncream]

it takes two | one shot (myg)

summary: min yoongi was the one who came to understand you and took you for you. but, when boundaries start getting crossed and priorities begin to change, you start to question if your relationship with your bestfriend is strong enough to make it through.

pairing: athlete!reader x athlete!myg

genre: bestfriends to lovers au, basketball au | fluff, angst, smut

words: 12.3k

warnings: cussing, mature language/implied sexual content, protected AND unprotected sex (later on), slight breast play, oral (f. receiving), fingering, multiple orgasms, missionary, riding/straddling, mentions of alcohol consumption, dancing, mention of marijuana, sex on the beach kinda?, some heavy angst, insecurities, crying, injuries (like a cut/ankle sprain), yoongi is just kind of an idiot at one point

note: heavily inspired by the movie love and basketball. unedited for the most part, pls excuse any spelling/grammar errors.

tags: @ggukkieland​ @miinoongi​ @bluesharksandfish​ @unicornbabylover​

⏏︎ now playing: triggered - jhené aiko ; sorry enough - chris brown

First Quarter: 6th Grade

You didn't really have a lot of friends in elementary school. Any, actually. Hell, the girls in your class purposely ignored you because you acted different. Dressed different. Enjoyed the shit boys liked, like playing ball and video games. You couldn't relate to their gel pens, Lisa Frank folders, cute binder stickers and bracelet charms. None of that shit was you. But you didn't care, you were fine by yourself. Nobody to please, nobody to care for.

The only person that came to understand you was Min Yoongi and that's because you played basketball with him and his friends during daycare. At first, it came as a surprise because truthfully, you felt like Yoongi only let you play because he felt bad for you. Which, okay, whatever— so be it. But, after the last round during a game of two versus two, you found yourself on the ground, huge gash on the knee from chasing after the ball before it could go out of bounds.

"Ouch! Crap!" You groaned as you sat up and checked out your knee. Yoongi walks towards you and crouches down, examining the bloody gash.

"Come on." He says, holding out a hand to help lift you up. He swings your arm over his shoulder, already knowing that any sudden movements to your knee can make the wound sting. He takes his time and walks with you as you hop on one leg towards the office, not really saying much. Yoongi wasn't the most talkative in class. He hung out with two or three other boys in your class on the daily, but they were quiet. Weren't much troublemakers, didn't cause ruckus like the other boys did. But, he was still popular among the girls because he was a little cutiepie. You remember walking into the bathroom, hearing Angie and her friends tease her about her crush on Yoongi. Then, the following week, one of her friends also ended up crushing on Yoongi and they bickered [weirdly] in the bathroom about it.

Getting to the office, he sits you down on the bench before approaching the office admin to grab some bandaids and ice for you.

"What can I do for you, Mr. Min?" Mrs. Yao comes over to greet him.

"Y/N's hurt. Can I get a bag of ice and a bandaid for her, please?" Mrs. Yao looks over her shoulder and does a head tilt before sighing. She knew you weren't like the girls in your class, always getting hurt one way or another, being more hardheaded and stubborn than the usual. She grabs a bag of ice and hands the supplies over to Yoongi before placing her hands on her hips.

"You think you can take care of Miss Y/N, or do you need me to help?" He shakes his head.

"I got it, thank you Mrs. Yao." He politely says, giving her a small toothless smile. You silently watch as he walks over, crouching down once again to tend to your wounds. "I don't think this will hurt, but stay still so I can put this bandaid on." He says softly as he spreads the small Neosporin packet across your wound. He wipes his finger down on his pants before removing the back of the bandaid and pressing it against your knee. "There. You should keep the ice on it so it doesn't bruise and stuff." He stands.

"Thank you." He nods as he watches you stand and slightly limp before you adjust your steps to the right pressure. He follows you out, coming back to your side with his hands in his pockets.

"Why don't you act like the other girls?" He asks, cocking an eyebrow at you.

"What? Not liking all the girly stuff that they like?"

"Sure, or you playing basketball. You know girls are usually like cheerleaders and cheer the guys on instead."

"Well, I don't wanna be a cheerleader. I just would rather play. What's wrong with it?"

"Nothing, it's just weird to see."

"You're weird." You snapped back.

"How am I weird?"

"You shoot weird."

"And you don't? I shoot better than you." He furrows his brows.

"No you don't."

"Fine, wanna play one more time? Unless you're a wuss and can't play cause of your knee." You rolled your eyes at the sudden change of events.

"I'll play you, I'm not a wuss. Unless you're afraid to lose to a girl." You taunt him as you both walk back to the court.

"Whatever, I'm not afraid cause I won't lose." He grabs the ball and checks it in. "My ball first."

"Sure, if you think that'll help."

And that's how Yoongi lost to you, busted knee and everything. From there, it was history. You became inseparable, Yoongi becoming a large part of your days and vice versa. His parents eventually became close to yours after the numerous times you both have been dropped off to hang out, or catching rides home after school. Yoongi lived in a nearby neighborhood, only being a good 7 minute walk, to be exact.

Second Quarter: High School, Senior Year

In high school, it became a little different. Yoongi grew up, played varsity basketball and became a fucking jock even though he claimed he would never. Yeah, bullshit. You too, played on the girls varsity basketball team, and surprisingly, you two kept each other close. It was a blessing and a curse though, because you couldn't see your life without Yoongi. He's been there since the 6th grade. However, girls took note of that shit. Trying to use you as their way in to Yoongi's heart, or pants, or both. You made it very clear though that you weren't interested in being a fucking messenger. Girls thought you were mean, but really, they just couldn't handle you. Hence, why you really couldn't relate and be one of them.

Yoongi was still the only person who could understand you and handle you, bad attitude and all. Tomboy habits and all. Not wanting to make friends and all.

"Jesus fucking christ, the day just started." Yoongi says as he watches you toss your duffle bag and backpack aggressively in the back seat of his car. "What's your deal?"

"Nothing, I'm just tired." You slump in his passenger seat after buckling your seat belt.

"Chill, don't start your day like this."

"Whatever, dad." You rolled your eyes, causing him to let out a pathetic chuckle.

"Are you coming to my game later?"

"Yeah, if I'm not too tired from practice."

"Y/N, I always make it to your games even if I'm tired."

"Do you?"

"The fuck? Yes I do. When haven't I?" His tone raises with yours. "Don't try and justify your shit by coming up with lies."

"Yeah, yeah bighead. You'll have plenty of cheerleaders there for you."

"Yeah and?" He smirks. "You're the one I'll be looking for though." He caresses your chin, making you smack his hand away while he laughs loudly.

"You're stupid." You groan as you sink lower in his seat. The rest of the ride to school, you shut your eyes and enjoy the peace before you're having to walk down those annoying, congested hallways.

People rave a lot about senior year, but it honestly hasn't felt special to you. Maybe because you kept the same routine since freshmen year, or maybe you really just didn't care as much as everyone else did about how "special" it was. You've always been locked in to basketball even if your mom wasn't a big fan of it. She wished you were more into cute, girly shit, like makeup, shopping, manis and pedis and dresses and heels, but she came to accept this was the way it was going to be. Especially because your dad was your biggest fan. You came to love basketball, more than just a side hobby. You joined the varsity team and practiced day in and day out. When basketball wasn't in season, you'd play with Yoongi at the park or sign up for camps and tournaments. You just wanted to keep bettering yourself so that you could play in college and get into the league post-grad. Yoongi was the same, and he may or may not have influenced your passion for ball. Either way, he was always supporting you and cheering for you even if the other females hated it.

His ex for sure hated the relationship you had with him even though you really steered clear when she was around. Wasn't your fucking problem or responsibility to take care of her insecurities. Same with his flings.

"Hey, so later, yeah?" He asks in between throwing nods and smiles to girls passing by.

"Mhm." You hum. "You gonna be free for lunch later?"

"I don't know. I know where to find you though if I am."

"Have a good day, punk."

"You too, bub. See you in English." He turns on his heel, walking towards his friends, aka his team members. Aka his jock ass group. Aka the ones females flock to.

Namjoon, Jimin, Eunwoo, Lucas.

They were all pretty boys who knew they were pretty boys and used that to their advantage to make big asshole moves. You hated that Yoonks got pulled in from time to time, but shit, it wasn't your life, you were only a small part of his. Sometimes, they also pulled in the football boys, Jungkook and Seokjin. Even the baseball boys, Hoseok and Taehyung. It was all a huge pretty boy, jock, asshole group in the making outside. A big fucking party for a lot of the girls at school, though.

So even if Yoongi was really the only one in your life, you weren't the only one in his. It is, what it is. As long as he doesn't go switching up on you, then whatever, so be it.

The first half of your classes go by quick, being that you enjoyed your chemistry, french and english classes. You had your english class with Yoongi, Namjoon and Hoseok. You had gotten to know Namjoon and Hoseok a little through it, and it was enough to know that they weren't all that bad. At least in this classroom setting.

"You two going to prom together?" Namjoon asks, making Yoongi snort.

"No, what the hell?" Yoongi responds.

"You guys can have fun at prom." You roll your eyes.

"You're really not gonna go?" Joon bites on the end of his pencil.

"No? The fuck I look like?"

"Y/N, I know it'd be weird as fuck to see you in a dress, but it's senior year. You didn't go last year, did you?" Namjoon asks from Yoongi's other side.

"Really, Namjoon?" You give him a look as if it could state the obvious.

"Well shit, I don't know. I know it's not your thing but can't really say I would have noticed either way." Hoseok laughs, causing you to throw your pen at his head before flicking him off.

"Miss Y/N!" Mrs. Maxwell calls you out mid-movie, eyes wide and in disbelief at how you're acting.

"What?! He started it." You slumped back in your seat and let out a sigh.

"Not another word." She says sternly.

"Not another word." You mock her under your breath.

"Aye, stop. You and that attitude boutta get in some trouble the last weeks of senior year." Yoongi puts his hand on your wrist, causing you to shake your head and click your teeth.

"Anyway, you should go." Hoseok whispers as he leans over on the table to look at you.

"No. Besides, with what date?"

"Take the basketball." Joon snickers.

"You're a complete dumbass, Namjoon. Stop talking." You snap.

"Maybe they're right, bub. It's senior year and it's coming to an end quick. I'd hate for you to regret it." Yoongi turns to you and says lowly.

"You know that won't happen." But really, part of you did feel a little bad. You knew it wasn't your scene, and you really didn't care what people thought of you when it came down to it. However, you always wondered what it would be like if someone liked you. If someone wanted you. Crushed on you so hard that they couldn't keep their hands off of you, couldn't stop thinking of you. Your first love. To feel pleasure, pain. Mixture of emotions simply by being in love. You wondered what it would be like to lose your virginity and have good, good sex. Besides, you were a human with needs. But the only person you have ever been close to was Yoongi. For the most part, you didn't see him that way because you knew he definitely didn't. But, you also couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to take your relationship to that point. If it was anyone, he would be the one you'd have feelings for. He would be your first kiss, your first everything. Because Yoongi was comfort and security for you.

But you valued your friendship more than anything.

"Just saying, think about it." He follows up.

"Think about getting an expensive dress and painful ass heals to wear for one night, just to dance around in 'em and take one professional pic with a date? Maybe get railed if I'm lucky?" You playfully wiggle your eyebrows making Yoongi shake his head.

"Don't be such a party pooper for once."

"Mmm. Great reasoning. Really convincing me here." You laugh it off even though in all honesty, you were thinking about it.

The bell rings and thank god it's finally lunch because you were fucking starving. Appetite and attitude on na-na, no doubt. You silently part ways with Yoongi to stop by your locker and grab your lunch. You make your way to the rowdy ass cafeteria, quickly scanning the room to catch a sight of Yoongi. You see him sitting on top of one of the lunch tables with Hoseok, Namjoon, Jimin and Taehyung sitting around him. Clearly, Yoongi wasn't free today.

"Wassup baby? Wanna trade that ball in for me?" Jimin says as you pass by their table to make your way outside to the bleachers. You flick him off before rolling your eyes and pretending to gag.

"Fuck off, Park." The group laughs except for Yoongi.

"Wonder if she's got that bad attitude in bed, too." Yoongi doesn't hesitate to smack Jimin upside the head because yeah, no matter what, he was gonna protect you as much as possible. "Owwww, I'm just kidding Yoongi."

"Don't let me hear you say that shit around me ever again."

"Fuck, I'm sorry. It was just a joke." Jimin winces as he rubs the back of his head.

"Damn Min Yoonks, why don't you take her ass to prom if it's like that?" Taehyung says, chewed up food coming into full view as he smacks loudly.

"Why don't you learn how to close your mouth first?" Yoongi spits back.

"Y/N is really rubbing off on you."

"It's manners, idiot. You should've been learned that." Namjoon says, laughing.

"But foreel, why won't you take her? You both are close, you've never seen her that way?" Hoseok asks making Yoongi shake his head in response.

"She's my bestfriend. I value her just the way she is, no more no less."

"Ah, you must have thought about it at least once." Yoongi keeps silent. Luckily, the group easily gets distracted and starts paying attention to Seokjin and Jungkook coming over as they talk about the dates they've scored for prom.

Yoongi has thought about it. Still does. Just like he is for you, you're the only one who understands him and takes him for who he is. You know the real him besides basketball player Yoongi. You're the only one who keeps it real. But he would rather keep it this way than ruin things between you and him. He'd hate to fuck up with you because he knows he can fuck up, there's no hiding from it. He'd never forgive himself if he lost you.

Practice is hell today for you and fuck, you really wanna just go home and lay down for the rest of the evening. Coach had you all running suicides and conditioning drills on the courts outside and pulling scrimmages against each other left and right. Let's not forget how coach is always on your ass right before a game too. Hell, she catches an attitude way worse than you before game time and after a loss. You wanted to avoid that at all costs. But, to avoid taking the bus home and instead hitching a ride with Yoongi, you throw on a hoodie and haul your ass to the gym in some nike slippers. You take a seat on a free end at one of the bleachers, holding Spalding in between your legs with your duffle next to you on the floor. The game is off to a start in about 5 minutes, Yoongi catches sight of you on the bleachers and nods. You give him a small smile as a gesture of good luck, which he reciprocates.

The game starts off intensely, both teams scoring closely even with the boys putting straight pressure. Towards the end of the first half, Yoongi and Eunwoo are the leading scorers, putting their team up by 10. Halftime is a bunch of hoo-haa, with cheerleaders in their itty bitty skirts, trying to shake their asses as they cheer for the boys. The boys don't even hide the fact that their ogling, and it's clear as day they all want some pussy. Quite frankly, they walk around thinking they deserve it cause of how hard they try to pull some wins and put the school on the map. Student government comes up for a bit too, pulling some kind of skit to weirdly promote prom. It makes you cringe and in all honesty, it makes you not wanna go even more, but it is your senior year. If you can snag a date, then maybe.

"Hey." Terra [not a cheerleader but still a pretty, popular chick] plops next to you with a smirk on her face. Immediately, you want no part in it because you already know what she's trying to do.

"Hi?"

"I'm just gonna cut straight to it. Do you know if Yoongi is seeing anyone?"

"How the hell would I know, Terra?" You furrow your brows at her.

"Because you're close to him, aren't you?"

"And? Doesn't mean I'm telling people his business. Besides, he's not obligated to tell me everything just cause we're close." She rolls her eyes.

"Whatever. Look, can you do me a favor and give this to him?" She tries handing you a little ass piece of paper folded neatly with a pink heart decorated on the front.

"Why don't you give it to him yourself?"

"That's no fun." You scoff and roll your eyes. Really, miss girl? "Be a doll for once, yeah?" She winks and slips the note in between your wrist and Spalding so it stays put. You take the note and eye it, letting out a deep sigh as you shove it into your pocket. You weren't in the mood to be extra rude today so you'll give it to him later when he drives you home.

The game finally finishes with Yoongi making a final three, the boys keeping their lead up by 10. Everyone cheers and showers the boys with love after the team has finished shaking hands and high-fiving their opponents. You stick around until the crowd dies down, watching Yoongi flirt with Terra as you swing your duffle bag strap onto your shoulder before slowly heading down the bleachers.

"Hey bighead, good game today." You lightly punch him against the chest.

"I knew you'd come."

"Shut up. I'll be at your car."

"For what?"

"Cause you're taking me home, punk."

"No please?"

"Please." He shakes his head and chuckles before you part ways to let him gather his things in the locker room. When you finally catch sight of his teeny head coming towards you from the gym, you hear him unlock his car to let you in while he continues to walk over.

"Fuuuuuck." He says, throwing his things in the back before buckling his seat belt and switching the gear into drive.

"You have fan mail." Yoongi looks over and sees you clutching the note Terra gave you.

"What's that, a condom?"

"You're sick. It's from Terra."

"Who's that again?" You make a face at him.

"You were just telling her sweet nothings earlier after the game?"

"Oh, Terra with the tig o' bitties. Got it." He shakes his head. "I wasn't telling her sweet nothings."

"Right. You're an absolute dipshit, you know?" You prop up a leg on the seat while you unfold the letter.

"Give it!" You move it away from his grasp and begin to read it out loud.

"Yoongi, you're honestly so hot. If you don't have a date for prom, I just want you to know that I'm free, and I promise I'll give you a good time if you take me." You cackle. "Boy, what the fuck is this? Ew."

"Shut up." He blushes before laughing along with you.

"Look at her, writing her coochie out on paper."

"She isn't."

"Oh, really? Pfft." You softly scoff. "So, are you taking her or what?"

"I don't know? Maybe, damn. What about you?"

"What about me, fool? I told you I'd think about it."

"Go with Jimin. He still doesn't have a date." He hates to say it with how much of an asshole Jimin can be, but if it meant you'd be at your senior prom then Yoongi will let it pass. He'll make sure Jimin doesn't try any slick shit.

"Ew, god no."

"Look, I'll make sure he doesn't go overboard. I promise."

"Why do you want me there so badly, Yoongi?"

"Because it's our last year in high school together and I'd really like to celebrate with you somehow." You sigh heavily.

"Fair enough. Let me sit on it."

"Better hurry and stop keeping that seat warm."

"Don't rush me." You punch his arm, causing a groan to erupt from him.

- - -

Really, you'd rather be anywhere than at prom with Park Jimin holding onto your waist the way he is for the pictures you're taking with him, Yoongi and the rest of their group and dates. After all the pictures and fake smiles, you feel him slowly slip his hand down your dress to try and get a grip on your ass, but before you could do so, you're grabbing his wrist with full pressure and making him wince.

"Don't you fucking dare or else I'll cut your dick off and throw it in a blender."

"Aish, ah, fuck! Okay, I'm kidding, let me go!" He whines lowly. You let go of his wrist after one more good squeeze, causing him to wiggle his hand to get the feeling back.

"Get me some punch, will you? My mouth is dry."

"You know, I might know something else that can help." Jimin wiggles his eyebrows as he continues to hold onto his wrist.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me."

"Or not. I'll be back." He accepts defeat by smiling from ear to ear before walking off. You sit off to the side, the heels a huge pain in the ass on top of Jimin already being a huge pain in the ass. You lean over on your knees, completely forgetting you have a short dress on, causing boys passing by to whistle and eye at the easy access.

"The fuck are you looking at? Keep it moving." Yoongi says pushing the guys forward before shooting you a look. "Y/N, really?"

"Shit sorry, I forgot. I'm not used to this." You sit up and adjust your dress before rubbing your arms at how self-conscious you suddenly [and unexpectedly] feel.

"Are you having fun at least?" He sits next to you, manspreading on the seat in the navy suit he has on.

"Mmm, sure." You slightly smile at him. "What about you? You actually took Terra, huh?"

"Yeah, it's pretty fun." He chuckles. "Don't lie, I saw you dancing a bit earlier."

"That's when the alcohol hadn't worn off yet." You snort, remembering Seokjin's older brother giving the group alcohol after all the parents were done taking their pictures of you all. Yoongi laughs along with you before he looks over and simply stares at you, hair all done, makeup done perfectly without it being too much. You in a dress.

"You look beautiful tonight, bub."

"You don't look too bad yourself, bubby." You blush before Jimin interrupts the moment with your cup of punch.

"Here, princess."

"You better not be trying anything slick, punkass." Yoongi says.

"Mm, don't worry. I haven't been able to." You kick his shin as you chug your punch, causing him to cough and choke on his own words. "I'd like to peacefully have this slow dance with you at least, damn." You swallow the last bits of punch before you're taking Jimin's hand to the floor. Yoongi watches as you two make your way to the dance floor for a slow dance, slightly regretting that he didn't just ask you to dance.

"Let's dance, babe." Terra's baby voice comes out as she pulls him up from the seat to find a spot on the dance floor. Yoongi is honestly tired of having to keep up with Terra's energy and her clingy ass, but nonetheless, he was happy you were around for prom.

He was really happy you were around for prom, even though you hated this shit more than anything.

He had you in full view ahead, and so did you. He couldn't help but direct his attention towards you and keep his eyes on you. Fuck, he has never seen anyone so beautiful until you walked through Seokjin's doors with Jimin. Look, let's get this straight. Even though you had your own way of expressing yourself, he always loved your natural beauty, your natural glow. He loved watching you on the court and how happy it made you to play ball. He remembers every accomplishment, every milestone you've reached. How you've grown tremendously as a ball player. He would never admit it to you in person, but he definitely admires how you push yourself and how you always do what you can to improve. Hell, you might just be the better player between the both of you. And when you catch him looking over, he doesn't even try and hide it. He doesn't even care that he's still holding onto Terra and slow dancing with her.

Something within you flips. You feel that shit in the pit of your stomach, at the heat of your core.

But, you brush it off and break eye contact first, even if he doesn't stop staring. This couldn't happen, no. This was your bestfriend. You weren't gonna let the things you felt get in the way of that.

Nope.

Suddenly, the song changes to something more upbeat and twerkable, Jimin taking the opportunity to spin you around and grind on you. You really need a distraction anyway, something to rid you of those god awful thoughts about your bestfriend, so you let him and you have fun with it. Everyone around you is having fun anyway, and fuck, you wouldn't have to do this ever again so fuck it.

"Let me get a dance with my bestfriend." Yoongi says to Jimin.

"Go dance with your date!"

"Shut up and switch for a second!" Yoongi says, pushing him off of you so he could get behind and dance with you.

"Yoonks, what the hell?" You laugh.

"Go with it, bub. It's fucking senior year, we're graduating soon." You go with his movements, having the time of your life with everyone around you as prom quickly comes to a close.

When you get into Jimin's car, you knock off your heels as he continues to talk nonstop about the night. Jimin was a cutie but god, you could not stand his mindset for the life of you. You were grateful he had agreed to take you to prom, but damn. Prom was done and all you wanted was some peace and quiet.

"I hope you had fun with me tonight." You give him a toothless smile before slipping your heels back on.

"I did, thank you for taking me. Really." He smiles from ear to ear before leaning over near your seat.

"Can I get just one good smooch for the night?" You look at him before you smirk and lean over near his lips.

"Sure." You whisper.

"Oh fuck, this is actually happening."

"Close your eyes, I know you don't fucking kiss with your eyes open. What are you doing?"

"Right. Sorry." He closes his eyes and puckers his lips. You lean in a little closer, feeling his breath against your lips.

Then you flick his nose.

"Ouch!"

"Peace out, Park." You throw open his door to step out and shut it behind you to quietly walk into your house.

The lights are off and your parents are already tucked into the room for the night, leaving you a note on the fridge reminding you to make sure all the doors are locked before retreating to your room. You do as you're reminded before quietly shutting your door and tossing your heels to the side. You let the pins down from your hair, ruffling it around a bit and relieving any pressure on your head. Before turning away from your dresser, you notice a letter from the one university you had been waiting on. You had been waiting to hear back from Stanford for the longest time, and quite frankly, you had been upset you hadn't heard especially when their scouts were at your game awhile ago.

You had broken down to your parents, to Yoongi, automatically assuming the worst when you heard that other people had already been accepted and scouted for Stanford. Suddenly, you found yourself working harder and harder because you felt like you were lacking in so many areas. You felt low, and like your dream was running miles and miles away from you. Faster than you could keep up.

You take the letter in your hand, but don't want to open it because you don't feel ballsy enough [surprisingly]. You call up Yoongi, not caring that he could possibly be in the middle of getting his dick wet.

"Sup?"

"Are you busy?"

"I was just about to walk into my house."

"Oh, nevermind."

"Need me to come by?"

"I got a letter from Stanford."

"Shit, I'll be there in 2 mins."

And in 2 minutes, he surely was knocking at your window. You slide it up enough for him to climb in, Yoongi still in his prom get-up as well.

"Here." You instantly hand him the letter.

"What, why me? It should be you."

"I can't, I really can't." He sighs.

"Are you sure you won't regret this?"

"No, bub. Please." You sit on the bed and fiddle with your fingers as you watch him rip the envelope open and tear out the letter. You can't even keep your eyes on him as he reads the letter and starts backing away from you.

"Shit."

"What? What?!" You stand, trying your best to keep your tone low. He covers his mouth, causing you to pinch his bicep at how dramatic he was being. "Just say it!"

"You're not going." Your heart sinks, but before you could process it, Yoongi speaks up again. "To any other college because Stanford wants you."

"I'm going to fucking kill you!" You whisper and shove him.

"Congrats, bubby. Guess we'll be together in college too." Your eyes widen.

"Y-you're going? T-to Stanford?" He smiles and nods.

"Yeah, I am."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Look, I just wanted to give you your space. That's all. I found out before you went all cry baby on me."

"Shut up." You say before laughing and jumping into his arms, throwing your legs around his torso while he swings you around. As he sets you back down onto your bedroom floor, your hands linger around his neck, gently tugging on the hair that rested there. He keeps you close, his hands resting around your waist as your chests are still touching. You honestly have no idea what takes over you— perhaps all the feelings you felt tonight at prom taking over, or feeling overjoyed from finally hearing back from Stanford, you couldn't decide. But you crash your lips against his, immediately pulling back after you realized you've just kissed your bestfriend.

You just had your first fucking kiss through accidental causes.

Well, shit.

Was it accidental or no?

Mind is going off on a tangent.

"Woah. I'm so sorry, Yoonks, I—" He doesn't allow for any space between you two, keeping your body flush against his as his lips crash onto yours again to cut you off. To be quite honest, things are moving fast and the kiss deepens quick. You follow his motions, gaining some rhythm as your tongue dances along with his in the [now] wet, sloppy kiss.

"Wait, Y/N." He pulls away as the moment intensifies. "A-are you sure you wanna keep going? To be honest, I don't know if I'll be able to hold myself back and I know you haven't exactly—" He knows it would be your first time and he wasn't sure how he felt about it. I mean, sure, he loved you. You were special to him. But he wanted to make sure your first time was also special, whether it be him or whoever else.

"Please. I want this. I wanna do this with you."

By the looks of tonight, it seems like it's meant to be him.

You press your lips back onto his with the same intensity and start to unbutton his shirt when you feel his hands hike up your dress. He gently pushes you on the bed, crawling over to you as he kicks off his shoes and finishes ripping off his shirt and tie. He slowly removes the straps of your dress down your shoulders and undoes the zipper on the side before slipping it down and leave you in your panties.

You had no bra on.

Yoongi's eyes widen when he realizes such, your cheeks heating up while you watch him stare down your body. You begin to feel incredibly self-conscious so you cover your chest with an arm. Yoongi senses your uneasiness, your confidence shooting down below zero.

"You're beautiful, bub. Don't." He says, gently tugging your arm away and letting it fall limply to the side. You simply nod and let him take the reigns because you had no idea what the fuck you were doing. So many emotions were flooding your mind— you were nervous, you were scared, you were shy, you felt lost and too innocent under Yoongi, even if he knew you like the back of his hand.

And because of that, he could pick up on it with the way your body continued to tense up. He shook off his pants, leaving on his boxers until you were ready for him. Cause fuck, he was ready for you, but he had to take this slow. He had to take care of you.

He lowers himself onto you after the two of you have climbed under the sheets, lowering his head against your neck to press light, feathery kisses along the surface. You felt the tingles shoot down your spine every time his lips made contact, causing you to softly gasp and arch your back at how sensitive you were already feeling.

"If you ever feel uncomfortable, just tell me to stop okay?" He says lowly. You nod in response, Yoongi taking it as leverage to plant a kiss on your lips before moving down to your breasts. He keeps his eyes on you, making sure you don't seem uncomfortable in the slightest bit. But you don't, and it's indicated in the way you bite your bottom lip and arch your back at the way his tongue wraps around your hardened bud. He does the same on the other breast before peppering kisses down your stomach and abdomen.

"Yoongi." You slightly gasp, shy at how unusually close he is to your lady friend.

"What's wrong? Want me to stop?" His thumbs gently caressed your thighs as his head hovered over your pelvis. You shake your head and nervously swallow before speaking once more.

"I-I'm just scared, what if you don't like—"

"Shh." He shushes you. "You're everything to me, you know that. You don't have to change just so I could enjoy you in bed. I'll take good care of you, bub. I promise."

"O-okay." He nods, placing a kiss over your clothed clit before pulling them down to get lost within your sheets. He swipes a finger down your folds, causing your breathing to hitch slightly. You watch as he slowly inserts the same digit inside of you, biting onto his bottom lip watching your facial expressions turn from uncertainty to straight pleasure. "Another." You moan.

"You sure?"

"Yes, please." He inserts another digit, curling his fingers upward as he starts to finger fuck you at a steady pace.

"Shit, you're so wet Y/N." He says lowly before lowering his mouth onto you to get a taste and tease your clit. You gasp at the overwhelming sensation, feeling the pleasure bubbling in your core and you had no idea how to deal with it. He picks up his pace while tonguing your clit and sucking at the right pressure until suddenly, you short circuit and tremble under his grip. You purse your lips together to prevent yourself from moaning too loud with your parents at the other end of the hall [jesus fucking christ], knuckles turning white as you grip the sheets tightly.

Your first orgasm came and washed over you quick.

"Did you just—" He removes his digits from inside of you, drooling at your cum accumulating all over his fingers.

"Holy fuck." You whisper as you regulate your breathing, twitching when Yoongi places a quick kiss on your pussy before coming back up to you.

"How was that?"

"So good. Wanna feel you." You whine, tugging him down towards you.

"I got you, bubby." He says, kissing your jaw, cheek, nose and lips. He reaches over into his pants on the floor, grabbing a condom out of his pocket. You furrow your brow and chuckle, confused if this was something he always did.

"You just carry that around?"

"The guys and I split on a box and carried one each for tonight. Just in case."

"Total fucking assholes." He chuckles.

"Better safe than not, right?" He rips it open with his teeth, spitting the wrapper out onto the floor before rolling it down his cock. He was perfectly thick and long, and it made you a nervous wreck all over again thinking about how this could feel. "Ready? I'll go slow." You nod. You immediately felt immense pressure when you felt Yoongi dip his body and slowly enter you. You winced, Yoongi immediately pausing until you tapped his arm to continue. And so he does, and you continue to breathe through it until he bottoms out and lets out a soft groan against your neck. "Fuck, you're so tight bub. God, you're gonna make me cum quick." He slowly pumps in and out, steadying his pace when he feels you buck your hips up to go along with his motions.

The pleasure skyrocketed; You shut your eyes, letting yourself be in this moment. Feel this moment.

He picks it up a little faster, careful not to bang your headboard against the wall. His forehead is pressed against yours, watching as you let out soft whimpers against his lips.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck. Yoongi-Yoongi—" You whispered. "You're gonna make me—" It was becoming overwhelming, your clit rubbing against him as he steadied his pace and continued to fuck into you. He nods, pressing a kiss against your forehead.

"Yeah, that's it. Let go. It's okay." And that was enough for you to reach your second orgasm tonight. Quick, but fuck. Yoongi made you feel so good, and you wouldn't want it any other way. You shut your eyes as you hurdled over the edge, mouth open with silent, inaudible moans being released. "So fucking pretty." Yoongi says as he feels himself reaching his high with the way your walls pulsated against his cock.

God. So, so good.

He holds onto the headboard and quickly fucks into you until he's spilling his seed in the condom, muffled moans being released against the crook of your neck. It takes a moment before Yoongi raises his head, your hands running through his black hair while he presses a tender kiss against your lips. He slowly removes himself, wrapping the condom in a tissue before tossing it into your trash can. He plops next to you and welcomes you into his arms, caressing you to soothe you from your first time.

"You okay?"

"More than okay." You say, the both of you trying to savor the moment before trying to navigate where to go from here.

What now?

Third Quarter: College, Junior Year (Present)

You bent down, hands resting against your knees as you tried to catch your breath during the timeout Coach Chu had called with 5.2 seconds literally left on the clock. He laid out the play he wanted you and the team to pull off in order to gain the win over Berkeley.

It had to be executed perfectly. No flaws.

Coach Chu had been riding your ass since you were a freshman. But, over the years, you've learned how to work through his tough love and turn it into positives, bettering yourself on and off the floor. It paid off, and he saw the fire in you, finally moving you up to starting point guard right before the season ended. Some team members hated it at first, but eventually, grew to work with it as well.

The plan was to have you come down into the paint and lay up the ball or take a shot at the very last second to avoid Berkeley from getting another chance at scoring. Sometimes you hated the pressure, but you've also learned that a big part of playing ball was thriving under pressure.

Your team closes up the huddle before you and your teammates are heading back out onto the floor to try and get this win. You shake off the nerves, bouncing the ball out of bounds until you check it in with your teammate. After that— it was like a blur. Shit happened so quick, you couldn't even process it. You passed the ball and dashed over to the other side of the court while your teammate put up a screen. You rose your hand as you ran into the paint, adrenaline rushing through your veins as you awkwardly lay up the ball in the position you were in and stumble onto the ground from losing your footing. You turn your head as the buzzer went off, noticing that the ball had bounced off the rim.

You missed a fucking lay up.

How could you miss a fucking lay up?

"Fuck!" You cry as you sit up and smack the floor.

"Aye, it's all good girl! Ain't a big deal! You win some, you lose some! We still got a ways to go!" Your teammate [roommate, and closest college friend] Clarice said as she helped you up. She was right, but every loss to you was a big loss no matter what. Coach was for sure gonna drill you about this too, and you were already mentally preparing.

"Thanks." You mumble. You look out at the disappointed crowd slowly dispersing, wishing you could still catch a familiar face in the crowd.

But, Yoongi hadn't been to your game in years. So you thought. You never caught him if he ever stepped foot into your game.

Your head hung low as the familiar feeling of pain and loneliness came rushing back while you headed to the locker room. Too bad you didn't see him hiding out on the side of the bleachers with Lucas.

"Y/N, a word." Coach Chu says, leading you into his office.

Fuck, here we go.

You shut the door behind you and stand awkwardly in front of his desk, fiddling with your fingers.

"Look, I just want to say that you put on hell of a show tonight, win or lose. We still have plenty of games left, plenty of opportunities to lock in play-offs. Alright? Don't be upset."

"Thanks Coach." You give him a tiny smile.

"Are you doing okay?"

"Uh, yeah. I think so."

"What's on your mind?"

"Nothing coach, just been a hectic couple of weeks." In which, it was no lie. You crammed for test after test, project after project. You barely had any time to breathe this year.

"Well, my door is always open if you need to chat." You nod. "I'll see you at practice. Enjoy your night."

"Thanks again." You say as you exit his office and get yourself showered and into comfier clothes.

Meanwhile, Yoongi heads back to his dorm room alongside Lucas, hands dug deep into his pockets while his head hung low.

"You ever gonna talk to her?"

"I don't know." He sighs. "Pretty sure I fucked up any chance of that."

"Look, dude. You haven't really been the same since you and Y/N fell out." Yoongi stays silent as they slowly climb the steps up to their room. "Why are you just gonna leave it like this? It's been so long already. Doesn't it bother you?"

"Positive she doesn't want me around." Lucas shakes his head.

"You haven't even tried. You just gave up and that shit is cold, to be honest. I know Y/N always held it down for you, I would have expected you to do the same." The words cut through Yoongi so deep, he doesn't even know how to respond and leaves it at that.

As you heavily dragged your body back to the dorms and took your sweet ol' time, your mind began to wander back to Yoongi as well. After he had taken your virginity that night, things took a turn for the worst.

He treated you differently, created this distance that allowed you to grow farther and farther apart from each other until he was no longer in your grasp and vice versa.

You went from Yoongi being a part of your every day to nothing. And fuck, did it hurt you. You cried and cried, until you were so tired of crying. You had to pick yourself up and keep it moving no matter what. Life waits for nobody.

You reminisce on those days of debating over who could really be considered the greatest. Although, you did pay your respects to the bigs, the greats— Kobe, Magic, MJ, Lebron— you paid respect where it was rightfully due. However, Derrick Rose at his prime? Rajon Rondo? Chris Paul?

Hell, even Baron Davis, Monte Ellis. Rookie Steph Curry? Shiiit. They were it for you, and Yoongi used to dog your ass on how unrealistic you were being.

That was all gone.

He must be having a ball watching Steph climb up those charts now, though. You wonder what he would say to you.

The days of going to basketball games, to each other's basketball games, to ordering hella pizza and creating chaos in either house over the dunk contest during the NBA All Star Week or yelling all around the living room and jumping on couches during the NBA playoff season and championship games— All gone.

If you knew this would drastically change you and Yoongi, you would have never let that night happen. You continued to put on your brave face, your thick, tough skin even though deep down, it took everything in you to suppress the hurt, betrayal and confusion. Even after all these years.

He meant everything to you. Did you not to him? You could never understand until this day. How could he dispose of you so, so quickly?

You see him on campus and quickly break any eye contact, or run the opposite way. You were tired of doing this even though you felt like you needed closure. Some explanation. You deserved it. But you weren't gonna initiate that. Even if Yoongi did, you don't even know if things could ever go back to the way it was. He promised he would never hurt you, but he has. He still is hurting you. The wounds— it cut deep. Deeper than he could ever imagine.

"Hello?" You smile, hearing your dad on the other line.

"Hey dad."

"Hey baby! How was your game? I'm sorry I couldn't catch it tonight, work kept me behind." You sigh.

"Eh, it's probably good you didn't. Didn't turn out so well." He picks up on how your voice cracks ever so slightly, enough to indicate that you were trying your hardest not to break down about your performance. "I missed the winning shot."

"Oh sweetheart, you'll get 'em next time. You always do. You still have a couple of games left don't you?"

"Yeah, but it doesn't change the fact that I played shitty as hell tonight."

"There's always room for improvement, only way to go is up from here right?" He says softly, making you smile. "You'll get 'em next time, I have no doubt. You always know how to better yourself even when I think you've already reached your highest potential."

"Thanks Dad. You always were my number one fan."

"I still am." He chuckles. "How's everything else? School?"

"Fine." He always has to stop himself from asking about Yoongi, even to ask if there's been the slightest change to your relationship.

"You sure?"

"Course." You lie.

"Alright, well you know me and your mom are here for you if you need anything."

"I know."

"I'll let you go and get some rest, alright? Don't be so hard on yourself."

"Mmm, I'll try." You chuckle. "I love you."

"Love you too. And hey, baby?"

"Yeah?"

"Always remember that you deserve everything good in this world. If someone can't handle you at your worse, they sure as hell don't deserve you at your best."

"Thank you." You smile as if your dad can see you through the phone before hanging up and unlocking your dorm door.

"Sigma Nu party going on tonight, wanna come and slide through?" Clarice asks as she watches you toss your duffle aside.

"I'm tired, not in the mood."

"So aren't I, but I think we both need it. Come on girl, just for a little." You sigh. Clarice had also been there by your side since you both were freshmen recruits. One day, she came into the room and found you a crying mess, causing her to wrap her arms around you and craddle you until you calmed down. You had spilled the beans about Min Yoongi, especially when he quickly became the talk of the campus as a ladies man and one of the best freshmen recruits Stanford has ever seen. You hated it, but a part of you still found yourself happy that he was getting the recognition he deserved as a ball player.

He wasn't the tallest, or the biggest, but boy had heart and played every game like it was his last. You had been his number one fan, and even though you hated him, that fact would never change.

Anyways, without Clarice, you weren't sure where you'd be. Definitely not here because you'd be too busy running away from your past and all the issues that came with it.

Yeah, yeah. Go ahead and say it. You would be stupid enough to not go to your first choice just because of a stupid boy.

"Fine, fine. I'm leaving as soon as someone wants to start acting up and getting all crazy though."

"Deal." She chuckles. You've learned how to dress up a little more— and by a little we mean baggy sweats, a crop tight fitting tee and chapstick. No way in hell you'd get dolled up for a party. Out of the years you've already been here, you probably went to two parties. One being the party Coach Chu threw at his house for a record-breaking season. The other was a legit party that you stepped foot in for all of 2 seconds before you figured it was time to head home, especially after seeing Yoongi hugged up with some chick and disgustingly tonguing her down while groping her ass.

Shit, you were never gonna get used to it.

The frat house is fucking packed and wreaks of weed even down the corner. You and Clarice push your way through, greeting people who were acknowledging your presence and waving at your other teammates that were also present.

"More basketball babes have arrived, let's go!" One of the frat guys cheers as you and Clarice make your way to the kitchen where all the alcohol is laid out.

"One shot?" She asks as she already has her hand wrapped around the Svedka handle.

"One and done." You tell her. You shouldn't have let her pour the shot though because now, you're stuck with nasty ass vodka near the halfway mark of the cup. "Clarice, what the fuck is this?"

"It's called savoring our one."

"You're fucked up." You joked as you tap your cup against hers and take the shot in three chugs. "Really fucked up." You wince.

"Come, lets go see what the other girls are up to and hang out for a bit." You follow her lead to the corner of the living room, chatting it up with your team before dancing around in the little corner you all occupied— keeping as far away as possible from sloppy and messy dudes.

You turned to eye the crowd at some point, catching Yoongi coming down the stairs, a female following from behind holding his hand. Then, they disappear to the outside of the house. You swallow the lump in your throat, the room feeling hotter than it already was.

Why he still had this affect on you, you had no idea.

Clarice and your teammates are too busy cracking jokes that they don't realize you've slipped away to get some air. You're finding that the crowd has come bigger in the short amount of time you've been here and navigating through it has become difficult. You're having to bob, weave and shove your way out, letting out a sigh the closer you get to the front of the house. You're also really glad you've been able to steer clear from—

"Shit, my bad." You unintentionally bump into someone making your way to the front from the side of the house due to you keeping your head low.

"Y/N?" You whip your head around to see Yoongi raising a brow, dropping his arm from the same chick's shoulders.

"Hi." You give him a fake, tight-lipped smile and rush your way to the front of the house. Thank god you finally make it because you were starting to feel claustrophobic, even being outside. However, you weren't prepared for Yoongi to come after you and grab your wrist the way he did.

"Wait, I didn't expect you to be here." Out of defense, you quickly snatch your wrist away from his grip and furrow your brows at him.

"Yeah, and now I'm leaving."

"Why, hang out for a bit—"

"And what, Yoongi? Watch you be the life of the party? Watch you walk around all fine and dandy like shit never happened between us?" You feel the tears welling up on your bottom lids, but you promised yourself you would never cry over him again. You refuse to. He had already taken up so much of you that you refuse to give him any more.

"Is that what you really think?" He says, the hurt apparent in his expression. To be frank, no. Yoongi really, really never meant to hurt you. And just like he had mentioned before, he would never forgive himself if he ever hurt you. He hasn't forgiven himself. He hasn't forgiven himself for how he let you slip out of his grasp when it was his own fault for pushing aside his feelings for you. He thought the world of you, the only woman who kept it real with him and stuck by him through the highest of highs, lowest of lows. There was no one as special as you, no one who could ever be as special as you, no matter how many times he tried to sink his dick into other females.

No one was real like you.

But, he was also conflicted because of that. He felt like he couldn't give you the love you rightfully deserved, he didn't think he could love you properly. He had so much to learn and he didn't wanna hurt you in the process. It sounds so fucking stupid [because it is] that he thought distancing himself was better than just being honest. He was a dumbass high schooler, he didn't know any better. But, he never meant to make you feel special for one night, then run from it. You were always special to him. You had always been. You always will be. And these past years hurt like a bitch, but he coudn't find the words to explain. Eventually, he just believed he would do less damage if you both remained distant this way.

Although, he longed for you. He really needed you just as you needed him. He always has, always will.

So when the two of you bump into each other tonight, he felt like maybe, it was a sign. Maybe it was time to stop being childish.

God, he missed your face.

God, he was a fucking asshole.

"No, I'm not doing this shit." You shake your head. "Just— continue to stay away from me, okay? I'm better off without you." The words sting you, but it doesn't sting you as much as it stings Yoongi. You glare at him once more before you turn on your heel and begin walking down the street to head back to your dorm.

"Y/N! Wait up!" Clarice calls for you, eyeing Yoongi as she passes him to catch up with you down the street. "Hey, hey. You okay?" She swings her arm around you when she catches you silently crying to yourself. "What did he do, Y/N?"

"He fucking exists, that's what." You groan. "Ugh, fuck! I'm not supposed to be crying over his dumbass, I'm better than this Clarice— Why the fuck am I crying over it?" You break down, crouching down to your knees, causing Clarice to hover over you and pull you into a hug.

"Maybe you just need to let it out and stop forcing yourself to not feel anything."

"I hate him, I hate him, I hate him." You bawled into your arms. "I hate him so much." She caressed your back. "But he still finds a way to mean so much to me."

"I think it's time for you two to talk."

"I can't. It's just better this way."

"Are you sure? Because look at you, Y/N. You're a mess, and this hasn't even been the first time you broke down about him. As much as you want to believe that you're fine without him, you're not. He was your bestfriend and I think you need him more than you even know yourself."

"He's doing fine without me."

"You don't know that, baby. Dudes are annoying as fuck because they can literally go on about their day and mask that shit well. If he's ready, let him explain. Hear him out. You both may be misunderstanding the entire situation." It takes you a good minute before you can finally gather yourself and make it back to your dorm room with Clarice.

She was right.

But you were so angry more than anything. You were angry and you weren't sure how you could get past it.

He left your side. 

And so the next day, you go about your day in class, staying quieter than usual during practice. For the most part, Coach Chu was always on your ass because of how vocal you were and how much you caught an attitude when things didn’t go the way you'd like it to. So, to see you this quiet, almost sullen even, concerns him. But, he already pressed you once and he wasn't gonna do it again to avoid irritating you any further.

You run the usual conditioning drills, practicing play by play before a final scrimmage game for the night. You push yourself hard like you always do, almost coming out of practice dry heaving from how tired you are. It was your bad habit though, you wouldn't quit until you got it right. Until you felt right. And unfortunately, it's another one of those nights where you feel unsatisfied with your performance. So, you take it upon yourself to continue practicing in the empty gym that was set to close within the next hour. You're tired out of your mind, and you know this is probably a bad idea, but you can't shake off the feeling of dissatisfaction. To you, that was the next worst thing. Right behind Yoongi.

You begin to work on your three pointers, lay ups and shots out of range before you start to play a scrimmage game with yourself.

"I'll play you." You suddenly hear, the sweat beads dripping down your forehead at this point. You watch Yoongi as he drops his water bottle off at the side of the court before walking over to you.

"Go away."

"Afraid you'll lose?"

"No, I just don't wanna play your ass." You shot up the ball, only for it to bounce off the backboard and land in Yoongi's hand.

"Ball up. Let's play till 10."

"Why the hell do you wanna play me, Yoongi? Don't you have a random chick to bone?"

"I'm clearly standing right in front of you aren't I? Quit fucking talking and play." He aggressively passes you the ball to check it in, you following suit, making the ball damn near bounce off of his chest with how hard you pass it back. He knew exactly how to rile you up.

You get into the zone quickly, trying to find some kind of redemption for the way you had been feeling lately. Redemption, validation, way to take the edge off— anything, really. It was only until the first person scored to 10, but Yoongi was putting up one hell of a fight, jet black hair parted down the middle and matted to his forehead from the sweat building up. You take the lead, sitting at 8 while Yoongi sat at a sad 6 points.

"Ball." You call out as you scored a layup, ramming yourself against the padded wall with the force you had put up.

"That's 10."

"Ball, Yoongi." You huffed and puffed.

"Stop, don't overwork yourself. You just got—"

"Suddenly you care? Stop being a pussy and pass me the goddamn ball." He furrows his brows as he passes you the ball, crouching down to meet you at eye level to try and guard you. You run towards the right of the court, pulling a pump fake before you pivot to get away from Yoongi's guard. You pivot hard and drive it up to the basket, only to fall on the wrong footing and twist your ankle on the way down. "Ouch, fuck!"

"Shit, Y/N!" Yoongi comes to your side, hand supporting your back as the other is on your ankle.

"I'm fine, leave me—"

"Stop being so fucking stubborn and let me help you." He says angrily. You don't say anything else while you fix your position on the floor. "Can you wiggle it at least?"

"Y-yeah." You wince as you wiggle your foot and roll it around a couple of times. Phew, at least this shit wasn't gone for good. But Coach Chu still wouldn't be happy to hear you sprained your ankle releasing your anger on Yoongi during a dumb game. Yoongi helps you stand, arm around your waist as he throws your arm around his neck and holds you steady by the wrist.

"Try walking on it."

"I can, but it hurts a little." Yoongi sighs.

"You just sprained it. Let's go get you some ice or something at the nursing center before going back to your dorm." You silently nod as you hang onto Yoongi for extra support, careful not to make the situation any worse than it already is. He has you sit on the chair within the nursing center, the nurse coming over to wrap your ankle nicely before giving you crutches and some instant hot compress to pop onto it. She orders for security to drive you two over to the dorm building in their go-cart so that you wouldn't have to do much walking on your foot while you focused on healing.

Yoongi doesn't leave your side, even after you've walked into your dark, empty dorm room, not really knowing where Clarice is at right now [possibly library]. He shuts your door and sits you on the edge of your bed, setting your crutches near your bed side and your instant hot compress.

"You need anything else?" Your head hangs low as you slightly chuckle and shake your head.

"Why are you doing this?" You ask him lowly before looking back up at him, tears clouding your vision. "Hm? Why, Yoongi?"

"You're hurt, why wouldn't I—"

"Hmm." You hum. "I'm hurt? So where the fuck were you after prom night? When I was hurt then, where the fuck have you been?" You began to cry.

"Y/N." His tongue swipes over his lips before he sighs. "I'm sorry." He says, close to a whisper.

"Are you? Because I don't think you really understand how bad you hurt me." You aggressively wipe away your tears while continuing to look at him, his body language soft and full of regret. "You didn't care about me."

"How could you say that? I cared—" He sighs as his head drops for a second. "I care about you more than you know."

"If you did then why the fuck was it so easy for you to drop me the way you did?!" You yelled. "You just don't do that to the people you care about, especially if it’s your bestfriend."

"Look, you're right. I have no excuse for the way I acted, and if I could turn back time to re-do it, I would. But I can't, and the only thing I can do is apologize and do my best to make it up to you." His bottom lip trembles as he steps closer to you, a small frown forming at the corners of his mouth.

"Yoongi." You cried. "I did everything for you, I stuck by you through everything, even during the times you didn't deserve that shit from me. But I stayed! I stood by you because you meant everything to me and god—" You groaned. "I needed you. I needed you and you weren't there! I fucking hate you for doing this shit to me but part of me will always have love for you no matter how fucked up the situation is. I will always drop everything for you. I will always care about you, and it's so unfair." It broke Yoongi's heart and he didn't know what to say, but he wraps his arms around you anyway, keeping you in a tight hug against his chest. He's surprised that you let him, even more surprised at how he feels your body soften under his touch.

"Fuck, I'm so, so sorry bub." He says lowly as he presses a kiss on top of your head. "I'm so sorry."

"Please don't ever go again." You cry against his chest.

"No, I'm not. I'm gonna be right here." He says hugging you tighter. "You're the only one who's ever understood me, who's ever kept it real with me. I don't deserve you, but I know damn sure I'll work hard to make up for letting you go in the first place." He places another kiss on top of your head. "I'm right here. Not going anywhere. I'm so sorry."

- - -

5.

4.

3.

2.

1.

"THE STANFORD BOYS TAKE THE CHAMPIONSHIP!" The commentator screams into his mic, Yoongi running a lap around the court before he's cheering loudly with his teammates and joining the group hug. You run down the bleachers, dashing straight into Yoongi's arms while he swings you around.

"That's what I'm fucking talking about!" You squeal and giggle as Yoongi places you back down and plants multiple kisses around your face, hands resting on the small of your back.

"Let's get out of here." He whispers in your ear.

"I'll wait at your car, bighead." You wink, causing him to smile that gummy smile of his that you adore more than life itself.

There's obviously a huge party going on tonight to celebrate this huge achievement, but Yoongi says he doesn't wanna join for once. He's happy, yeah. But the way he wants to celebrate is in peace. After so long, he feels like he can finally say he's content with where his life is at and where it's going. He drives over to the nearest beach, backing into a space so the both of you could sit in the back and try catching all the shooting stars up above. Yoongi leans against the side of the trunk, allowing you to lay your head on his lap while you curled up beside him listening to the waves slowly crash against the sand.

"Saw one." He says, looking up at the sky.

"You're a punk, no you didn't."

"What?" He laughs. "How are you about to say that? I caught it with my own two eyes."

"Oop! I saw one!"

"Now that's a lie. I was looking up too."

"Shut up." You laugh, causing Yoongi to tickle you along the sides before he stops and plants a kiss on your lips. It's silent for a minute while the two of you take in the night view— The sky and ocean coming together as one, forming a view that seemed endless.

"Hey."

"Hm?" You hum as Yoongi's fingers gently brush through your hair.

"You know I love you right?"

"Ew with the sappy shit, Min Yoongi." He laughs.

"Seriously."

"I know." You smile up at him. "I love you too."

"Come here." He says softly, tugging you upwards. You sit up, allowing Yoongi to press his lips against yours. He pulls you in by your shirt, having you straddle his lap while he grips onto your hips and immediately grinds against you. You let out a small moan feeling how quickly he hardened, his cock hitting you in the right places as you continue to grind on him. "Fuck, wanna feel you babygirl."

"Here?"

"Yeah." He chuckles and bites onto his bottom lip.

"What, all of a sudden you're scared?"

"Fuck off." You fire back, releasing his hardened member from its confines as you stroke him gently. He tilts his head back in pleasure before tugging your shorts and panties to the side, enough for him to cop a feel of how wet you are.

"Baby's all wet."

"What're you gonna do about it?" You whisper against his lips, biting onto his bottom lip and pulling back slightly. He hisses at the sensation before he moves your hand from his cock and takes control. He pushes you upward, positioning you enough to line up with your entrance.

"Take this shit off."

"Yoongi, we're in public."

"So, you're all talk and no play."

"I hate you."

"Nobody's here." He groans. "Just take off your shorts, pleeease." He begs as he slowly strokes himself. You toss aside your shorts, Yoongi immediately hooking his finger at the bottom of your panties and tugging it aside in order to push himself into you. He does enough before he lets you do the rest of the work and sink down on his length, a gasp leaving your throat as you take all of him in. He grips your hips tightly, setting the pace as he groans into your neck, your fingers tangled in his hair resting at the nape of his neck.

"Shit, babe." You moan as you tilt your head back.

"Fuck, you always ride me so well." He presses light kisses against your neck before he's nipping at the surface.

"Godddd why do you feel so good?" You whimper.

"You like how I feel inside of you?" You nod. "Yeah? Like how my cock fills you up?"

"Never gonna get tired of it." You moan, Yoongi making you pick up the pace aggressively. Besides the waves crashing, the lewd noises of skin slapping against skin fills the car, along with your soft moans and Yoongi's groans. Your clit is constantly rubbing against him, causing the pleasure to build so quickly it becomes overwhelming. You try to hold off as much as you can but—

"My pretty baby. All I fucking need." He almost growls, the words enough to send you over the edge. You let out a loud moan, not even caring for the houses nearby as your orgasm hits hard and ripples throughout your body, sending aftershocks. Yoongi continues to have you ride him fast and hard, the overwhelming sensation causing a hint of pain to mix with more pleasure until  you feel him feel you up. "Fuck, fuck, fuck!" He groans as his nails dig into your skin, giving two good thrusts upwards into you to help ride out his high. You both sit in the position for a minute, trying to come back down from your highs. Yoongi gives you a delicate peck on the lips, smiling into the kiss before he pulls away. "Swear you're all I need."

"See, I don't know if I could say the same." He smacks your ass as you hike up and off of him to put on your shorts.

"Take it back."

"I'm kidding." You blush.

"My ride or die. Are you with me?"

"Always have been. Are you?"

"You know I am."

"Good. You know it takes two." He smiles before pulling you into another hug and pressing a kiss against your temple.

[endlich-allein]

Once again, @iinchicore was very kindly to translate an article for me. This is the interview with Till and Joey in MetalHammer (January 2021). The boys tell about their journey in the Amazon and their future projects together.

A big thank you, lots of kisses and a big hug to @iinchicore ♡

Till Lindemann & Joey Kelly : Friendship Without Limits

MetalHammer: How did the preparations for this journey differ in comparison to your Yukon trip?

Joey Kelly: We took along different equipment. While riding on the Yukon we used sturdy Canadian kayaks, which we couldn't find in Colombia. So we took along our own foldable 15 kilogramme kayak. Due to the climate, our choice of clothing was also different. Besides, the Amazon is much more dangerous than Alaska. There are many dangerous animals, small and big ones. You can find snakes, crocodiles and piranhas, which is why you shouldn't bathe in the river. You have to move differently on the Amazon than on the Yukon, where you only have to keep your distance to bears and elks. Amazonia is a jungle, where only those animals survive who eat the others.

Your first river journey led you to the Yukon, now you travelled on the Amazon. Was there a reason for why you picked that river exactly?

Till Lindemann: We were considering to travel along the Chinese Yangtze or the Lena in Russia, Siberia. Siberia was my favourite, but Joey convinced me to go to the Amazon. We have both been there before and knew a little about how to prepare and what to expect. One thing we knew right away was that, in regard to the nature and people, South America was much more exciting – Siberia looks similar to Alaska. That wouldn't have been all that interesting for our second book. Now the contrast is much greater: Alaska is austere and glum, the Amazon is the exact opposite with an entirely different wildlife and vegetation. Don't forget the wonderful colours of South America!

Any fascinating experiences of nature?

TL: It is really rare to spot an animal in the jungle. You can hear them everywhere, but they hide or are disguised very well. With the help of the local guides we observed snakes, birds, monkeys and a tapir. We saw pink dolphins and watched them do their jumps on the river. Because of their skin-like colour the locals believe they're incarnations of their dead loved ones and worship them.

How did the locals at the river react towards you?

TL: Reluctant, at first. You go to them and, for example, ask whether you can stay the night. They don't really talk much in the beginning, but after a night with a lot of Cachaca they warm up to you. Usually they were interested in our fishing gear. Most of them had never seen something like it, as they were used to fishing with rolled up strings and nets. I was amazed that every village we visited, no matter how remote the location, owned fridges with cold beer, they even had solar energy. Huge satellite dishes to watch football. For three days we visited one particular village. There was a storm, so they allowed us to stay. There was an older guy who had fallen off his stilt house, drunk, and broke his foot. Two young men went to the neighbouring village, a day's journey away, to get the shaman. The man should have belonged to a hospital, but that was entirely out of the question for him. It either heals on its own or it doesn't. We bandaged his foot and supplied him with pain meds. Then we continued drinking.

Did you plan beforehand what you wanted to see during your journey?

TL: Yes, a coca plantation. We knew that they existed there everywhere. At first, it was a lot of back and forth. They were staving us off, but after a lot of endless waiting and our patient agreeing to it, they allowed us to go. Along with two attendants from the village, we paddled down a branch of the Amazon that became narrower over time. A labyrinth of branches we would have never found our way out of. Eventually, we ended up at one of the countless plantations. It wasn't harvest time, however, so the leaves weren't ripe yet. But you could see all the tools for it: mashers, bags, and hundreds of bowls. And a little storage.

Did you try the coca leaves?

TL: Yes. We were on the plantation. They hid the plants below banana trees, so you couldn't see the plantation from the air. I did try a few coca leaves, but there is no sorcery about it. You just stay awake and feel energized. Everybody is chewing on them there, it's like coffee, just ten times stronger.

Did you reach your physical limits during this journey?

TL: The body adjusts to the climate pretty quickly. After three weeks you don't sweat all that much anymore. Even the sun doesn't bother you as much anymore, because you're thoroughly cooked anyway. But the humidity requires getting used to. The people there are handling it very differently. They own to pairs of shorts, two t-shirts and beach slippers, and they walk around like that all day.

JK: The climate there is exhausting, you're sweat-soaked after only three minutes. Personally, I don't mind it, but to people who aren't used to it it's a pain. The route we went on was quite difficult in parts, it was very serpentine. You had to paddle the whole time, you had to steer, then there were shoals or the water became too flat, so we had to relocate the boat.

You didn't capsize though, like it happened to you on the Yukon?

JK: No, the water level during that season was way too low. Later on, when the water comes in from the Andes during the monsoon season, the level rises by 15 metres. It drowns out entire forests.

TL: I was there once during the monsoon season. Back then only the tree tops were peeking out of the water. That's why they build their houses on stilts, so the water doesn't reach them. Many villages are located on mountain tops, as the water level won't rise that high.

Considering the many preparations and daily challenges, did you ever find time to relax during such an extensive journey?

TL: Travelling on the Yukon wasn't stressful, because we were sleeping on the sandbanks. Those experiences made travelling the Amazon even easier. As the sun goes down very early there, our only concern was to make camp before 6PM. Whenever we found a good location we sometimes made camp even earlier than that, instead of travelling on and risking not finding a good spot. That only happened to us once, so we had to sleep in the jungle, which wasn't all that bad either.

With a camp fire and night watch?

TL: A camp fire, yes, but we didn't need a night watch. You have to trust your guide, those guys know what they're doing. Our guide went ahead a couple of metres with a bit of string and, within a few minutes, came back with six piranhas. Then we turned on the grill and ate. Piranhas are really tasty, like giltheads.

Did you gain more respect for nature due to this journey?

TL: I had a great respect for nature before that already. Still, I couldn't hold myself back from taking pictures with snakes. I love snakes, Joey thinks they're scary. (laughs)

What did you learn along the way?

JK: I asked the Indians to teach me how to fish with a cast-net and pulled animals out of the water, which an aquarist would usually pay thousands of euros for. Scalars, discus fish, loricariids, sisorid catfish, catfish in all shapes and sizes.

Here in Europe we read a lot about the fact that these romantic times might be of the past soon, due to the systematic ecocide. Is that what you saw over there?

TL: When you approach Leticia you can make out the slash-and-burn methods used below. We assume that every minute jungle area the size of 1.5 football fields gets cleared, for soy plantations or pasture areas. The search for gold is also devastating for the nature. They use mercury to wash the gold out of rocks and clay. The mercury ends up in the rivers, in the fish, and then inside the people.

JK: The Amazon traverses through the entire continent. It is so broad and deep, there are even bigger ships cruising the river than on our rivers here in Europe. They carry natural resources, mainly wood. You can find a sawmill every couple of kilometres. They carry the tree trunks there and cut them along the length (4m by 1,20m or even 4m). Those planks then get transported either by ship or overland, a systematic deforestation of the Amazon area.

TL: You find a lot of filth in the main stream: huge tree trunks, garbage, bags full of plastic, and a lot of wood waste. It's illegal, but everybody does it. Very obviously, even during the day, nobody cares.

Are the locals not aware of the drastic situation?

JK: The sawmills pay the farmers 250 to 300 euros for one tree trunk. The sawmills sell it for 2.500 euros, and then here in Europe it costs up to 30.000 euros.

TL: As soon as they saw us, the lumbermen turned off their chainsaws and fled into the forest, yelling: “Piss off!” They were afraid that those pictures would be seen by the world. Same thing for the fisheries. Usually, the fish leave the lagoons during the dry season and swim back into the main stream, because the lakes dry out. The law allows it that they cast a net over half of the lake, so that a part of the fish can swim past. Now, the fishermen close off the entire lake, with up to ten nets. No fish can get past that anymore, only the very small ones. They're overexploiting the area high and low. They even steal all the turtle eggs from the clutches. It didn't used to be that way, back then they would leave half of it where it was.

Do you think that could change, if other types of income would replace the exploitation, like tourism?

JK: I don't think that the parts Till and I went to would be suitable for commercial tourism. Let's be honest, the biggest income is ensured by the coca production. You would travel right into a drug area. We could only move around freely there, because the government was taking care of the cartel conflicts at the time. Apparently, the military is now in charge of the coca trade.

TL: Corruption is the order of business. A policeman is earning less than a coca farmer. Thus, bribery and blackmail are commonplace. Almost all of it is illegal: fishing with the many nets, the gold-seeking, the wood clearing and the coca plantation. The areas are huge and hardly controllable. Since president Bolsonaro is in power in Brazil, the clearing business went up by 30 percent. Bolsonaro announced officially that the Amazon is a product, and that's how the people treat it. They expel the indigenous people and allocate them to surrogate areas, their land goes to the gold-seekers and their prospecting rights. The surrogate areas aren't of any use, however, so they don't live in villages anymore, but in small cities. That'll turn out to be very problematic in the future.

Was it a bizarre experience to you to live with indigenous people, even though it is said that there is no room for the white man?

JK: I've seen tourism in parts of the world where I'd have never expected it. An example would be the South Pole. Once I reached by goal there a plane landed, six tourists came out and paid several thousand dollars for a four to six hour long stay. I thought there was a lot less tourism at the Amazon than anywhere else. The only tourists who travel there are either extremely rich Americans or Russians who come in by helicopter, no matter how expensive the journey. As long as they were there once in their life, took a picture with an Indian and a monkey, then they fly back to Bogotá. All in all, you only meet natives here.

TL: You have to differentiate. There are also motor boats and Americans with sun hats on, sleeping in their loggias. But not in the area we were in. There were children there, who pulled at our pants and ran to our kayaks, because they had never seen anything like it. A canoe made of plastic! They only know boats made out of wood. The kids played with our fishing poles, the angling reels, and were amazed by our lures and wobblers. They had never seen something like that before. They only knew of the hooks, where you put a little meat on. There was a lot of curiosity.

Did the journey affect your friendship at all?

TL: Our friendship didn't get any better or worse, it's been a good friendship before. We want our travels to be periodic. Joey and I want to grant us this sort of time off every two, three years. We realized we're getting better at it. We drove down rapids. While travelling on the Yukon we would have peed our pants, but now we're capable of really daring manoeuvres among waves that are 1.5 metres high. You get well attuned over time, become more experienced with the daily routine, the luggage, moving around.

JK: That was one of the reasons why we planned out the next trip right after our Amazon journey. We paddled down the Rhine in August 2020. We decided to do this during the Corona pandemic, because like that we didn't have to travel through so many countries and still got to tell the entire river's history, which led us through Switzerland, Germany, Liechtenstein, Austria, France and the Netherlands.

Do these travels to the Yukon and Amazon satisfy your wish for solitude?

TL: Like we said, we already travelled along the Rhine. The Nile will be next. The Mekong river is also on our list, but with the goal to start at its origin. These journeys are really important to us. We might have published up to six books some time. We still have a couple of goals ahead of us: The Nile, maybe the Mississippi, one Russian river and the Mekong. Like that we would have visited a river in almost each part of the world.

Which seems to be a difficult goal to achieve, considering the current Corona pandemic...

JK: Sadly so. Because even if Germany will be cleared of the virus, that might not be the case for Tanzania, where the Nile originates, or in Egypt, where it ends. There are five countries in between, after all.

Symbolically, what did you take home from this journey?

TL: Humbleness! And gratefulness for what we have. At the same time, however, a sort of incomprehension for how we live here in Europe. With so much waste, lunacy and luxury. The people we met didn't really have anything. Property and wealth don't mean anything. The huts, the boats, tools, even the TV, it all belongs to everyone. You eat and drink together, and most of the work is done as a community. They say people are happier there. I won't be the judge as to whether that's true, but life there is simpler, more manageable, and thus people there live more modestly. In Germany people get up in the morning, rush to the office, are stuck in traffic, sit at the computer all day or manage machines, rush back home in the evening. In comparison, it's very relaxed at the Amazon. The people go to bed early, when they wake up they go fishing, hunt or raise manioc and corn. Life there is structured in a very simple way, it's been reduced to only the bare necessities.

What is the first image you see when you think of Amazonia?

JK: Looking back, I'm always thinking of this one boat ride very early in the morning. It was still foggy when we started paddling. To the left of us I can still barely see riverside, apart from that only fog, I can only see for two, three metres. We are on the Amazon without knowing what's ahead of us. It's quiet, there is no wind, the water is calm... That was a great experience.

[kookie-doughs]

Y/N L/N AND THE HALFBLOODS

Percy Jackson X Reader -Y/N L/N met Percy Jackson and everything was now ruined.

CHAPTER 4: THE DAY I LOST EVERYTHING

We have to loose them Loose who? He'll take them. Who? We can't save them now. But I want to save them. "Y/N! Focus on running!" My dad yelled who was right behind us. I stopped in the middle of my tracks everyone turned to me. D/N was barking loudly, as if telling me to move. Everyone was telling me to move "I will save you don't worry." I said looking at my parents. "What---" As on cue lightning struck them. They aren't gone They aren't gone We will save them someday We will save them Now run My heart felt empty. I knew I was supposed to be sad, but I wasn't. It was like someone was directing me what I should do. Finally getting in on the car they all looked at me worried D/N nuzzled to my lap, Percy and Grover looked at me emphatically. Mrs Jackson was driving but occasionally glancing at the mirror. We tore through the night along dark country roads. Wind slammed against the Camaro. Rain lashed the windshield. Every time there was a flash of lightning, I looked at Percy sitting next to me and I wondered why I chose to be with him and not feel the weight of loosing my parents. I pulled D/N closer and hugged him. I didn't know what to do. Percy then broke the silence, "So, you and my mom... know each other?" Graver's eyes flitted to the rear view mirror, though there were no cars behind us. "Not exactly," he said. "I mean, we've never met in person. But she knew I was watching you." "Watching me?" "Keeping tabs on you. Making sure you were okay. But I wasn't faking being your friend," he added hastily. "I am your friend." "Urn ... what are you, exactly?" "That doesn't matter right now." "It doesn't matter? From the waist down, my best friend is a donkey—" Grover let out a sharp, throaty "Blaa-ha-ha!" and cried, "Goat!" "What?" "I'm a goat from the waist down." "You just said it didn't matter." "Blaa-ha-ha! There are satyrs who would trample you under hoof for such an insult!" "Whoa. Wait. Satyrs. You mean like ... Mr. Brunner's myths?" "Were those old ladies at the fruit stand a myth, Percy? Was Mrs. Dodds a myth?" "So you admit there was a Mrs. Dodds!" "Of course." "Then why—" "The less you knew, the fewer monsters you'd attract," Grover said, like that should be perfectly obvious. "We put Mist over the humans' eyes. We hoped you'd think the Kindly One was a hallucination. But it was no good. You started to realize who you are. And not to mention there turns out to be two of you which is worse than what I thought!" "Who I—wait a minute, what do you mean?" The weird bellowing noise rose up again somewhere behind us, closer than before. Whatever was chasing us was still on our trail. "Percy," my mom said, "there's too much to explain and not enough time. We have to get you to safety. You and Y/N." "Safety from what? Who's after me?" "Oh, nobody much," Grover said, obviously still miffed about the donkey comment. "Just the Lord of the Dead and a few of his blood-thirstiest minions." "Grover!" "Sorry, Mrs. Jackson. Could you drive faster, please?" Don't worry. They won't hurt us. Have you thought of who you want to be your parent? We have plenty of options, I'd prefer if it was either Zeus or Hades but I wouldn't mind to be Ares's or Hephaestus's. I guess Athena isn't so bad as well. Who was your Father and mother's favorite? I want my mom and dad... to remain the same... Don't change them. As you wish. We have to leave soon. The moment you go get in the borders, we will loose connection. Who are we? I lied, we're not you. We're only messengers. We don't know when you'll contact yourself. But it's not anytime soon for sure. Only half of the prophecy has been fulfilled after all. But... you came and... told me to stay with Percy. Maybe you did try to make a connection. I only came to ask who you want parent to be. "Y/N!" "Huh?" "Do you know who your parent is? Do you know what's going on?" "What?" "You were talking about Greek gods..." Percy said. "I-I... was?" I asked looking at D/N as if he'd know the answer. "Where are we going?" Percy asked. "The summer camp I told you about." Percy mother's voice was tight. "The place your father wanted to send you." "The place you didn't want me to go." "Please, dear," his mother begged. "This is hard enough. Try to understand. You're in danger." "Because some old ladies cut yarn." "Those weren't old ladies," Grover said. "Those were the Fates. Do you know what it means—the fact they appeared in front of you? They only do that when you're about to ... when someone's about to die." "Whoa. You said 'you.'" "No I didn't. I said 'someone.'" "You meant 'you.' As in me." "I meant you, like 'someone.' Not you, you." "Boys!" Mrs Jackson said. She pulled the wheel hard to the right, and I got a glimpse of a figure she'd swerved to avoid—a dark fluttering shape now lost behind us in the storm. "What was that?" I asked. "We're almost there," Percy's mother said, ignoring my question. "Another mile. Please. Please. Please." I didn't know where there was, but I found myself anxious to arrive. I gripped Percy's hand as he leaned forward. Outside, nothing but rain and darkness—the kind of empty countryside you get way out on the tip of Long Island. There was a blinding flash, a jaw-rattling boom!, and our car exploded. I remember feeling weightless, like I was being crushed, fried, and hosed down all at the same time. I don't know how but I wasn't hurt... or didn't know until I saw D/N had grown... bigger. Big enough to hide someone. He had cushioned my fall. "I'm okay boy, thanks." He shrunk and barked. He had a confused look as well as I did. "Percy!" I heard someone shouted. "I'm okay..." I tried to check on Percy. "You sure?" "Yeah..." He replied. The car hadn't really exploded. We'd swerved into a ditch. Our driver's-side doors were wedged in the mud. The roof had cracked open like an eggshell and rain was pouring in. Lightning. That was the only explanation. We'd been blasted right off the road. Next to Percy in the backseat was a big motionless lump. "Grover!" He was slumped over, blood trickling from the side of his mouth. Percy shook his furry hip. Then he groaned "Food," and Percy sighed in relief. "Percy," his mother called, "we have to ..." Her voice faltered. I looked back. In a flash of lightning, through the mud-spattered rear windshield, I saw a figure lumbering toward us on the shoulder of the road. The sight of it made my skin crawl. It was a dark silhouette of a huge guy, like a football player. He seemed to be holding a blanket over his head. His top half was bulky and fuzzy. His upraised hands made it look like he had horns. I swallowed hard. "Who is—" "Percy, Y/N," his mother said, deadly serious. "Get out of the car." Mrs Jackson threw herself against the driver's-side door. It was jammed shut in the mud. I tried mine. Stuck too. I looked up desperately at the hole in the roof. It might've been an exit, but the edges were sizzling and smoking. D/N must've read the situation and jumped out through the roof. "D/N!" He started digging on the mud occasionally barking. "There! Climb out the passenger's side!" Percy's mother told us. "Y/.N, Percy—you two have to run. Do you see that big tree?" "What?" Another flash of lightning, and through the smoking hole in the roof I saw the tree she meant: a huge, White House Christmas tree-sized pine at the crest of the nearest hill. "That's the property line," Percy's mom said. "Get over that hill and you'll see a big farmhouse down in the valley. Run and don't look back. Yell for help. Don't stop until you reach the door." "Mom, you're coming too." Her face was pale, her eyes as sad as when she looked at the ocean. "No!" Percy shouted. "You are coming with me and Y/N. Help me carry Grover." "Food!" Grover moaned, a little louder. The man with the blanket on his head kept coming toward us, making his grunting, snorting noises. As he got closer, I realized he couldn't be holding a blanket over his head, because his hands—huge meaty hands—were swinging at his sides. There was no blanket. Meaning the bulky, fuzzy mass that was too big to be his head ... was his head. And the points that looked like horns ... "He doesn't want us," my mother told me. "He wants you. Besides, I can't cross the property line." "But..." "We don't have time, Percy. Go. Please." Percy helped me climbed across Grover and I pushed the door open into the rain. "We're all going together. Come on, Mrs Jackson." "I told you—" "Mom! We are not leaving you. Help me with Grover." He didn't wait for her answer. I scrambled outside, Percy was dragging Grover from the car. Together, with Mrs Jackson they draped Grover's arms over our shoulders and started stumbling uphill through wet waist-high grass. I followed carrying D/N in my arms. Glancing back, I got my first clear look at the monster. He was seven feet tall, easy, his arms and legs like something from the cover of Muscle Man magazine—bulging biceps and triceps and a bunch of other 'ceps, all stuffed like baseballs under vein-webbed skin. He wore no clothes except underwear—I mean, bright white Fruit of the Looms—which would've looked funny, except that the top half of his body was so scary. Coarse brown hair started at about his belly button and got thicker as it reached his shoulders. His neck was a mass of muscle and fur leading up to his enormous head, which had a snout as long as my arm, snotty nostrils with a gleaming brass ring, cruel black eyes, and horns—enormous black-and-white horns with points you just couldn't get from an electric sharpener. I recognized the monster, all right. He had been in one of the first stories my parents talked about. But he couldn't be real. I blinked the rain out of my eyes. "That's—" "Pasiphae's son," Percy's mother said. "I wish I'd known how badly they want to kill you." "But he's the Min—" "Don't say his name," she warned. "Names have power." The pine tree was still way too far—a hundred yards uphill at least. I glanced behind me again. The bull-man hunched over our car, looking in the windows—or not looking, exactly. More like snuffling, nuzzling. I wasn't sure why he bothered, since we were only about fifty feet away. "Food?" Grover moaned. "Shhh," Percy told him. "Mom, what's he doing? Doesn't he see us?" "His sight and hearing are terrible," she said. "He goes by smell. But he'll figure out where we are soon enough." As if on cue, the bull-man bellowed in rage. He picked up Gabe's Camaro by the torn roof, the chassis creaking and groaning. He raised the car over his head and threw it down the road. It slammed into the wet asphalt and skidded in a shower of sparks for about half a mile before coming to a stop. The gas tank exploded. "Percy, Y/N," his mom said. "When he sees us, he'll charge. Wait until the last second, then jump out of the way— directly sideways. He can't change directions very well once he's charging. Do you understand?" "How do you know all this?" "I've been worried about an attack for a long time. I should have expected this. I was selfish, keeping you near me. I'm not like (Father's Name) or (Mother's Name), I can't hide you for good." "Keeping me near you? Hide me? But—" Another bellow of rage, and the bull-man started tromping uphill. He'd smelled us. The pine tree was only a few more yards, but the hill was getting steeper and slicker. I could tell the Jackson's were having a hard time with Grover. The bull-man closed in. Another few seconds and he'd be on top of us. Mrs Jackson must've been exhausted, but she shouldered Grover. "Go, Percy! Y/N! Separate! Remember what I said." I didn't want to split up, but I had the feeling she was right—it was our only chance. I sprinted to the left, Percy went the other way, we turned, and saw the creature bearing down on Percy. His black eyes glowed with hate. He reeked like rotten meat. He lowered his head and charged, those razor-sharp horns aimed straight at his chest. The fear in my stomach made me want to bolt, and help Percy but I knew that wouldn't work. So I held my ground, and at the last moment, he jumped to the side. The bull-man stormed past like a freight train, then bellowed with frustration and turned, but not toward Percy this time, toward Mrs Jackson, who was setting Grover down in the grass. Thankfully its like they never saw me. We'd reached the crest of the hill. Down the other side I could see a valley, just as Percy's mother had said, and the lights of a farmhouse glowing yellow through the rain. But that was half a mile away. We'd never make it. The bull-man grunted, pawing the ground. He kept eyeing Mrs Jackson, who was now retreating slowly downhill, back toward the road, trying to lead the monster away from Grover. "Run, Percy! Y/N" she told me. "I can't go any farther. Run!" But Percy just stood there, frozen in fear, as the monster charged her. She tried to sidestep, as she'd told me to do, but the monster had learned his lesson. His hand shot out and grabbed her by the neck as she tried to get away. He lifted her as she struggled, kicking and pummeling the air. "Mom!" I ran towards Percy to try and hold him back. She caught my eyes, managed to choke out one last word: "Go!" Then, with an angry roar, the monster closed his fists around Mrs Jackson's neck, D/N ran to bite the Minotaur's arm but they both dissolved before our eyes, melting into light, a shimmering golden form, as if they were a holographic projection. A blinding flash, and they was simply ... gone. Both Mrs Jackson and D/N... "No!" The bull-man bore down on Grover, who lay helpless in the grass. The monster hunched over, snuffling him, as if he were about to lift Grover up and make him dissolve too. Percy stripped off his red rain jacket. "Hey!" I screamed, waving the jacket, running to one side of the monster. "Hey, stupid! Ground beef!" "Percy what are you doing?!" He shot a glance at me, "Trust me?" "Yes?" "Bad choice." "Raaaarrrrr!" The monster turned toward us, shaking his meaty fists. "I hagve an idea—a stupid idea, but better than no idea at all." He pushed my back to the big pine tree and waved his red jacket in front of the bull-man, "I'm thinking we jump out of the way at the last moment." But it didn't happen like that. The bull-man charged too fast, his arms out to grab me whichever way we tried to dodge. Time slowed down. My legs tensed. I couldn't jump sideways, only thought running in my mind was Percy's safety. Taking his hand which seemed to surprise him, I leaped straight up carrying his weight lighter than I had thought, kicking off from the creature's head, using it as a springboard, turning in midair, and landing on his neck with Percy in front of me. How did I do that? I didn't have time to figure it out. A millisecond later, the monster's head slammed into the tree and the impact nearly knocked my teeth out. The bull-man staggered around, trying to shake us. I locked my arms around Percy while he went for the horn, to keep us from being thrown. Thunder and lightning were still going strong. The rain was in my eyes. The smell of rotten meat burned my nostrils. The monster shook himself around and bucked like a rodeo bull. He should have just backed up into the tree and smashed me flat, but I was starting to realize that this thing had only one gear: forward. Meanwhile, Grover started groaning in the grass. I wanted to yell at him to shut up, but the way I was getting tossed around, if I opened my mouth I'd bite my own tongue off. "Food!" Grover moaned. The bull-man wheeled toward him, pawed the ground again, and got ready to charge. Percy had hit my shoulder with his head and pulled at the horn. Easing up to a more comfortable position to hold on, I got both hands around one horn and we pulled backward with all our might. The monster tensed, gave a surprised grunt, then—snap! The bull-man screamed and flung me through the air. I landed flat on my back in the grass. My head smacked against a rock. When I sat up, my vision was blurry. Percy was on the other side, with the horn in his hand. The monster charged. Percy rolled to one side and came up kneeling. As the monster barreled past, he drove the broken horn straight into his side, right up under his furry rib cage. The bull-man roared in agony. He flailed, clawing at his chest, then began to disintegrate—not like my mother, in a flash of golden light, but like crumbling sand, blown away in chunks by the wind, the same way Mrs. Dodds had burst apart. The monster was gone. The rain had stopped. The storm still rumbled, but only in the distance. I smelled like livestock and my knees were shaking. My head felt like it was splitting open. I was weak and scared and trembling with grief I'd just lost everyone. I wanted to lie down and cry, but there was Grover and Percy, needing my help. "Percy..." He looked at me weakly and took my hand. "Let's get out of here..." His voice was hoarse. This is where I say goodbye... Don't leave. I need you most now. I am always with you. And you have successfully brought yourself to another world. We will talk once you leave camp. I'm scared. You have Percy Jackson. Hold onto him. And you shall meet another hero. Save Percy. Save Luke. Save all of them. And you won't ever be scared again. Looking down at our linked hand I nodded. Stay with him. Save them all. You've hidden well, but its time for you to show who you are. I will declare who your parent is. I hope they claim us. Okay. We managed to haul him up and stagger down into the valley, toward the lights of the farmhouse. I was crying and so was Percy, calling for his mother, so I held on to him—I wasn't going to let him go. "I'll be here... I won't leave you..." Successfully reaching the top, I could see eyes on us. Percy had lost his consciousness. I was tasked to carry the weight of these two. Seeing two people approach us, I didn't have time to process who, I cried, "Help them. Please." Before collapsing on a wooden porch, looking up at a ceiling fan circling above me, moths flying around a yellow light, and the stern faces of a familiar-looking bearded man and a pretty girl, her blond hair curled like a princess's. They both looked down at me, and the girl said, "It's one of them. They must be." "Silence, Annabeth," the man said. "The girl's still conscious. Bring them inside." "Percy..."

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@gayer-than-the-gayest-gay @the-natureofme @booknerd-3000

[jxmieoleksiaks]

Tell me you love me. T. Seguin

This is for @hockeynetwork​ ‘s winter gift exchange. 

Word count: 2.4K

I was given the amazing @danglesnipecelly​ and..let me tell you. Nothing I’m going to write is going to be like hers. She is an amazing talent, and her fics, are pretty freaking amazing. I re did this about 4 times, changing players in between, and trying to go with themes you liked. I really hope this is okay for you, and from one K to another, I hope this is something you’ll enjoy

💚 🐧

It was a warmer than normal December Saturday night. You had the windows open, and wanted to get out in the fresh air. Your boyfriend was still dealing with an injury, but he was moving better than he was, even if you guys drove around the neighborhood, and grabbed some ice cream it would have been a good date. That sounded nice, but Tyler was once again on his new PS5, playing Call Of Duty with the guys.

You didn’t mind that he was playing, he wasn’t that much of a gamer until an entertainment store in Canada sent him and other players the PS5. Now he was playing all the time. It took his mind off the injury, and everything surrounding it, but he didn’t pay that much attention to you anymore, and it wasn’t due to the game.

After the terrible loss of Tampa Bay, you stayed with him in bed for days. He wasn’t the type to mope about a big loss, but being so close, and wanting to win it for the city that he called home, the city that made him feel beloved, and the city where you resided, hurt more than you could have ever imagined. A month and a half later, he went to New York for his hip surgery, and with the help of you and his mom, you both were nursing him back to health.

Now, a couple weeks until the season was to start again, he was down that he couldn’t join the team just yet. Him and Ben were in the same boat about having a recovery until April, but the fact he wasn’t ever out this long, stung for him too.

You were more than understanding, you knew that was a lot for one person to go through in the last 5 months, but you felt more like a caregiver, or just a helper instead of his girlfriend.

“Are you gonna tell daddy I want some attention?” You asked Cash, who was laying on the couch next to you as you flipped through the channels, not in the mood to watch College Football. You sighed to yourself, feeling kind of dumb that you wanted attention, but even the cuddling at night felt different. Were you not doing it for him anymore?

You got off the couch, Cash not moving from his spot, and you headed upstairs, passing the entertainment room before heading to the bedroom.

“Need anything?” You asked, being too nice for your damn good.

There was no response, all you could hear was him trash talking Stephen.

You walked into the bedroom and slammed the door, before crawling into the king size bed, covers up to your face.You were running out of options, of getting him to listen to you. You had called your Mom asking for advice, and well, she didn’t know either, she told you to be patient, as he’s too good of a guy to do something like that. You had watched him grow mature in the last couple years, especially being shit on by the powers that be of the team, you knew he could prove everyone wrong, and just hoped that you would also be proved wrong.

The sound of hobbling footsteps were coming down the hall, closer to the bedroom. You wanted to act like you were asleep, but it was only 4:30 in the afternoon. Sure, you were tired, but it wasn’t the type of tired that sleep would fix.

“Baby? What’s up?” Tyler asked, adjusting the snapback on his head, his gaze focusing on you under the blankets in the bed.

“Like you would know.” You lashed out. It didn’t mean to come out that way, but there was no way you could hide how you were feeling.

“What the hell are you talking about?!” He asked, sounding confused.

“Shouldn’t you be going back to the game? I’m sure they’re doing more than I am for you.”

Tyler stood still, his head cocking to the side.

“Is it because I’m on the game?” He questioned, never thinking you were the type that would get annoyed with the game.

“I mean, that doesn’t help, but I get it, not much else to do, but…” You said, pulling the covers off of you and sitting up on the bed, him still in the same position.

“Then what is it? Talk to me.” He went to sit on the bed.

“I’ve been trying to! You won’t listen to me!” You sounded almost desperate, but things had to be said. “I know that since you came home, thing’s have sucked and have been tough, I’m understanding of that, but you don’t look at me the way you used to…” You felt defeated.

“What?” Tyler spoke, not sounding rude, but more confused than anything.

“I’ve taken care of you since coming home, mentally and physically, and now all I feel like is a caretaker, like..I’ve been hired to make sure you’re okay. When we’re cuddling it feels different, I know we haven’t had a date night since before you went, and it makes sense, but not even something to show that I still mean a lot to you.”

“Seriously…what’s going on…” He said, his tone was more annoyed.

“Do you not love me anymore? Do you think I’m just someone to help you whoever you need it, and when you don’t you just go talk to the guys? Have you even noticed I’ve stopped caring what I’ve looked like because I can’t remember the last time you told me I was amazing, and that you loved me. I can’t remember the last fucking time you told me you loved me. We’ve had sex once since you came home from the bubble, and yeah the surgery was the big reason, but you won’t even hold me like you used to.”

“So you don’t think I love you because I haven’t fucked you?” He spat out.

“Oh my Fucking God, you don’t even listen to me.” You huffed and got out of the bed.

“You make no sense!” He yelled back.

“I said, you haven’t told me you loved me since August. You haven’t asked anything about me, how I felt, made any notations towards me since you got home. You paid more attention to your mom the week she was here, than you have the two months you’ve been home! I…I don’t know what I’ve done…but if you don’t love me anymore..just tell me…and I’ll leave.” You could feel the tears pool behind your eyes.

You didn’t give him a chance to speak, as you stormed out of the bedroom and down the stairs, not able to look at him in the eyes. You ended up on the back patio, feet dangling in the water of the pool.

Tyler thought for a moment. He had been dealing with a lot, but he never did really say anything that wasn’t about him lately. Sure, the pain killers he was on for the hip didn’t help any, or the physical therapy, being in pain almost for the 4 months, slowly getting better. But you had done so much for him. You even took the week off he came home, as you already were going to in case of the win, to stay home with him. You went to the pharmacy for him, got him almost everything he wanted, and took you for granted.

He felt like a dumbass. He felt like the worst boyfriend in the world, hell, he was the worst. He didn’t think, and yeah, he wasn’t the smartest guy half the time, but he knew how amazing you were, and didn’t want to lose you, in any sense of the word.

He hobbled down the stairs, and looked around the downstairs area for you. Tyler walked outside and saw you looking down at the water in the pool. He could still hear your last sentence in his head. The way your voice cracked, tore his heart in half. He had to make this right, and he had to make sure that you knew you were the most amazing person in his life.

Tyler sat down slowly next to you, looking at you with a softened look.

“Can I talk?” He asked quietly, not wanting you to blow him off.

You didn’t say a word, you didn’t know if you wanted to hear the next words that were about to come out of his mouth.

“Well, I want to, so I’m gonna talk…” He said before taking a deep breath. “I can’t tell you how sorry I am. You’re right, I was oblivious on how much you did for me, how much you gave up for me…”

You looked up at the house, before looking back down at the water.

“I was so focused on what I was feeling, because everything was a lot, but I couldn’t think of anyone else. You were always there for me the last few months, and I just fucking blew you off. I know the pain meds don’t help, but I’ve never been more thankful for you, I’ve never been so in awe of someone before. You’ve done everything you can to take care of me. I’m finally on the mend, but you took care of me emotionally, and physically, and I can’t even begin to tell you how much that meant to me…” He said to you, hoping you would look up at him,

“The game helps, because I can bond with the guys, and it’s hard knowing I can’t go into training camp right now, playing’s all I’ve known for years, and it’s hard knowing I can’t do it. That’s no excuse, I know. But I love you…you may not believe it, but I do, more than you know.”

You finally looked up at Tyler, you could see the hurt and the sorry in his eyes.

“Really?” You said quietly, not wanting to say much, but still wanting to make sure his words were sure.

“Of course, I wouldn’t want anyone with me but you. I know I’ve been a dick in not taking you for granted, but everything you’ve done for me, meant everything to me. You’re someone I can’t imagine my life without. I’m sorry I made you feel unloved, and un-beautiful. You are the most beautiful person in the world, a face of makeup, or bare faced. “

You were about to cry again, but because of his words this time. You felt embarrassed for asking him to say things to you, but you were someone that needed validation. You needed words of love, admiration.

“I know our sex life kind of died, but don’t think I haven’t thought about it all the time. I..I haven’t treated you the way you deserve, and I don’t know how to make it up to you. I’m so, so sorry you felt like this.”

You leaned your face into his shoulder, and he pulled you in close. Your head was in his chest, and you couldn’t help but sob.

“I know you care, and lo…” He shushed you before you could go on.

“No, you had every right to bring this up. I’m not this kind of guy, and the situations haven’t been ideal, but I’m a man of words to you, and I haven’t been showing that. I know I have a lot to make up for, and I promise I will. You just tell me the word, and I’ll do whatever I can for you….within reason.” He said, which coughed you to chuckle lightly.

“I’ll make a list…there’s months to make up for Seguin, but…” You said, you didn’t want to ask for sex right now, could he? But you just missed his touch, you missed in the way he would hold you in those intimate moments.

“But what?” He asked, pushing some hair out of your face.

“I don’t know what the doctor said about sex but…nothing major?” You felt your face get red, as you removed your face from this chest and wiped the remaining tears off your cheeks.

“Ah..well..I don’t know how much I can do, but I’m not letting my lady down.” He smiled before kissing you softly, but with more passion than you had felt in months. “I’d carry you..but I don’t wanna wobble and shit…” He said, feeling bad.

“No I get it, let’s go.” You nodded before he grabbed your hand and held it tightly before walking back into the house, and back up the stairs.

You two re-entered the bedroom and he shut the door.

“I..think to be safe, you need to be on top. And it’s not me wanting to see those tits in my face, it’s…injury reason.” He said, knowing he probably asked the doctors way too much about getting back into sex.

“Mhm…” you playfully rolled your eyes as you removed your clothes, knowing there was a time and place for foreplay, and this wasn’t it.

“I asked, he probably things I’m a freak or something…” He laughed before he was able to slide off his clothes, slower than you did.

You hovered over him, and he pushed the stray piece of hair again back behind your ear. “You really are the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen.” He said before his lips landed on yours.

The way you too connected, felt like the first time. It was something that the both of you had forgotten what it felt like. You went slow, which wasn’t the speed for the two of you, but it was needed, needed more than anything. His hands rested on your hips as you thrusted, and rode him. The moans filled the air, and it felt passionate and raw.

You both came, after not lasting very long. Usually if it didn’t last long, one of you would feel embarrassed, but the face you didn't have sex for quite a long time, made it perfectly fine. You leaned down and rested on his chest, him still inside of you.

“I love you…” You said, placing a kiss on the bare space on his upper chest.

“I love you too, more than anything in this entire world baby girl. I promise.” He kissed the top of your head, finally feeling that the two of you, were slowly on the way up back to your relationship.

[buckybarnesbingo]

BBB Week 6 Roundup!

Little bit late, Mod Meg was on vacay over the weekend.

Title: Cute Quaterbacks Collaborator(s): Tori/samandbucky Link: AO3 Square: B4 - Sharing Clothes Rating: Teen Ship(s): Steve/Tony Major tags/warnings: AU, School, Fake Relationship, Protective!Bucky Summary: Steve and Bucky grew up as childhood best friends and are now roommates in college. Bucky dares Steve to bring a date to one of his upcoming football games after Steve suggests he could date anyone he wanted to. Enter Tony Stark. Word count: 1767

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Title: The Curse Collaborator(s): Tori/samandbucky Link: AO3 Square: K4 - Kiss Rating: Teen Ship(s): Bucky/Clint Major tags/warnings: Fluff, Established Relationship, Magic, Curses Summary: Clint gets hit during an alien attack with some dark magic, Bucky and Steve can't wake him, so they go to the only person they know who can undo the curse: Stephen Strange. Word count: 1364

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Title: A Regular Harry Houdini Collaborator(s): Bird Link: AO3 Square: K4 - Prisoners/Captives Together Rating: Teen Ship(s): Sam/Bucky Major tags/warnings: Minor Episode 5 Spoilers, Post-The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Captured, First Kiss Summary: “You know, if Steve kissed me in the middle of an escape attempt, he would bring it up after,” Sam said. “I thought we weren’t talking about Steve,” Bucky grunted, closing his eyes. “I’m going to take a nap.” “I can’t believe you’re pretending to take a nap right now.” “I’m 106, Sam. I’m allowed to fall asleep whenever I want.” Word count: 1365

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Title: K5 Card B096 Soulbond Collaborator(s): Rufferto Link: Tumblr Square: K5 - High Fantasy, Curses, Shiny Sword Steve Rating: Teen Ship(s): Stucky Major tags/warnings: Fantasy Warrior Bucky, Curses, Art, Sword Steve Summary: When Bucky went off to war Steve was cursed into a sword. Bucky managed to find him because they share a bond but he's cursed. Bucky now carries Steve into battle wherever he goes looking for a way to have Steve at his side again. This was done on Hot Press Water Color Paper with Windsor & Newton and Arteza paints. I don’t much like the scan, there’s something always lost when a watercolor image is scanned but I will try some other time to get a better photo of it. Word count: none it is art.

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Title: Benevolent Overlord Collaborator(s): IndigoNight Link: AO3 Square: K1 - Bucky Bear Rating: Gen Ship(s): Bucky Barnes/Steve Rogers Major tags/warnings: Fluff, PTSD, Codependency, Alpine the Cat Summary: “Hi,” Bucky says, wincing a little at how hoarse and rough his voice sounds from disuse. The kitten just hisses at him again, huge green eyes narrowed into slits. “Yeah, I get it,” he agrees with a grimace and a commiserating nod. Word count: 4921

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Title: I'm James Buchanan Barnes Collaborator(s): e_hytes Link: Tumblr Square: C2 - Art Style: Black and White Rating: Gen Ship(s): No pairing/ship Major tags/warnings: #buckybarnes #wintersoldier #jamesbuchananbarnes #mcu Summary: A drawing of Bucky/Winter Soldier black and white Word count: N/A

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Title: Someone Like You Collaborator(s): Nicnac Link: AO3 Square: C4 - Prison Rating: Mature Ship(s): Bucky/Reader Major tags/warnings: Enemies, Uneasy Allies, Hydra Agent Reader, Negotiations Summary: Taken from their SHIELD prison cell, the reader finds themself alone with The Winter Soldier negotiating for their life. Word count: 2693

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Title: Sambucky Incorrect Quotes Collaborator(s): snowstark Link: Tumblr Square: U2 - Partner-In-Crime Rating: Teen Ship(s): Sam/Bucky Major tags/warnings: Enemies to lovers vibe, Humour Summary: “Bucky, we tried things your way already.” “No we didn’t.” “I did it in my head and it didn’t work.” Word count: N/A

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Title: darling, you’re the one i want in paper rings Collaborator(s): cyanica Link: AO3 Square: C5 - teasing Rating: Gen Ship(s): steve/bucky Major tags/warnings: first time, demisexuality, period-typical homophobia, fluff, friends to lovers Summary: "Okay, I don't know why I’ve never – you know!” Bucky said after a moment, a soft laugh spilling from his lips – something so genuine and bashful, that Steve wasn’t so sure what to make of. “You're just – you're the only one I've ever had eyes for. You're the only one I’ve ever wanted.” Or, whatever deity had constructed the fragmented pieces of their souls together, they were made of the same smithereens, and Steve was sure he had known that as a child, holding Bucky’s slightly larger hand and accepting that they were of the same love, without even knowing what such a concept was. Word count: 1630

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Title: Unexpected Alliances - Chapter 4 Collaborator(s): PoliZ Link: AO3 Square: C5 - Lending a Hand Rating: Mature Ship(s): Stucky Major tags/warnings: Fantasy AU, enemies to friends/lovers, referenced/implied torture Summary: Buckthorn’s refusal to use his fae magic to support his captor’s cause has left him battered and broken; when he is given a dangerous shifter as his cellmate, they overcome their differences to become allies and perhaps something more. Chapter 4: Upon reaching the shifters’ camp, Buckthorn meets another of Stephen’s companions who seems to have a chip on his shoulder when it comes to fae folk. Word count: 1034

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Title: A Story Told in Flesh, Chapter 3: Together In Dreams Collaborator(s): ChrissiHR Link: AO3 Square: B2 - Rocket Racoon Rating: Explicit Ship(s): Bucky x Darcy x Steve Major tags/warnings: Big Swingin’ Dick!Steve, smut, nsfw, dream sex, sex positive Summary: Bucky and Darcy get massages and discuss Aesir medical treatments; Darcy has an erotic dream about Bucky & Steve. Word count: 1270

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Title: Written In The Scars (On My Heart) Collaborator(s): IndigoNight Link: AO3 Square: K5 - Just Do It Rating: Explicit Ship(s): Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes Major tags/warnings: Past Rape/Non-con, In Heat (but not A/B/O) Masturbation, Sex Toys, Mildly Dubious Consent, Body Worship, Self Body Worship, Rimming, Fuck Or Die (sort of), Porn with Feelings, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, PTSD, Inability to Orgasm, Body Image, Reference to Past Medical Experimentation, Self-Lubrication, Touch-Starved, Touch-Averse Summary: He swallows hard, struggling with himself one last time and losing. “I need your help,” he manages to whisper, voice cracking. The air in the room immediately changes. The wound up tension drains out of Steve, his posture and voice going soft. “Sure, Buck,” he says, cautiously moving back toward him. Bucky can’t move, his arms locked tight around his knees, and he can’t lift his gaze higher than Steve’s knees either. Steve pauses when he’s still a few feet away, squatting down and angling his head in an effort to see Bucky’s face through the curtain of his hair. “Anything. What do you need?” It’s everything Bucky can do to hold still, every cell in his body vibrating with the need to throw himself into Steve’s arms. He opens his mouth, but his throat sticks and he has to swallow again before he can force the words out. Slowly, by sheer force of will, he drags his gaze up to meet Steve’s eyes. “I need you to fuck me.” Word count: 41k

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Title: Acceptance is the first part of Healing Collaborator(s): Laevateinn Link: AO3 Square: C4 - Denial Rating: Teen Ship(s): N/A Major tags/warnings: 1e3 : Power Broker, TFATWS coda, TW for : implied sexual abuse/assault, dissociation, PTSD, flashbacks, Angst, hopeful(ish) ending Summary: "You good ?" Wilson asks him, after he fought against eight men. "You okay ?" Wilson asks him, when they get to Sharon’s house. "You hurt ?" Wilson asks him, when they get out of the car. Yes, Wilson. All good. Now if the guy could shut up and carry on, that'd be great. Why would he be "not fine" anyway ? It's not as if anything that happened that day hasn't happened before. Word count: 906

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Title: The Maze Stumbler (Moodboard) Collaborator(s): Turtles Link: Tumblr Square: B3 - Labyrinth Rating: Teen Ship(s): Darcy Lewis & Bucky Barnes & Sam Wilson Major tags/warnings: Bucky Barnes, Sam Wilson, Thor, Cocktail, Labyrinth Summary: Something, something, Thor spikes the punch at the party and they all decide to re enact the Maze Runner… or something like that. Sam and Bucky wake up in the middle of a maze, nothing but Darcy’s voice in their ear giving them directions and critiquing their methodology Word count: N/A

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Title: The Maze Stumbler (Fic) Collaborator(s): Turtles Link: AO3 Square: C1 - Stranded Rating: Teen Ship(s): Darcy Lewis & Bucky Barnes & Sam Wilson Major tags/warnings: Thor's Asgardian Booze, a labyrinth, Dubious Timeline, Everybody Lives, Crack Summary: Don’t drink Thor’s Asgardian booze. Ever. Word count: 1657

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Title: 5 Times Steve Received Plums from Natasha or Sam and the 1 Time Steve Realized the Plums weren’t from Them Collaborator(s): Girl_Back_There Link: AO3 Square: K5 - Bucky/Steve Rating: Teen Ship(s): Bucky/Steve Major tags/warnings: 5 + 1, Bucky and his Plums, Angst and Feels, Steve Rogers Needs a Hug Summary: Steve keeps finding plums in his hotel rooms or his bag. He thinks it is Natasha or Sam trying to be a good friend by making sure he is eating and keeping up his energy in the search for Bucky. Each plum he finds reminds him of Bucky growing up in pre-WWII New York. The times they would give each other a plum as a way of saying “I’m sorry” or “I love you.” Word count: 2998

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Title: Faith and Desire and the Swing of Your Hips Collaborator(s): IndigoNight Link: AO3 Square: U2 - French Kiss Rating: Explicit Ship(s): Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes Major tags/warnings: Crossdressing, Nonbinary Steve Rogers, Oral Sex, Body Dysphoria, Gender Exploration, Supportive Flirting Summary: “You look gorgeous, doll,” he drawls, dragging up as much of old Brooklyn as he can to infuse into the words. Steve startles, even though the doorway and Bucky in it are clearly reflected behind him in the mirror. Steve’s eyes flick to him and away again, his face going pink from the tips of his ears and spreading all the way down to his chest. He fidgets with his skirt, hands smoothing over the folds of it self consciously. “It looks a little silly,” he mutters, chewing on his already chapped lower lip. Word count: 5470

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Title: Stay Collaborator(s): Bird/plutosrose Link: AO3 Square: C3 - Free Square Rating: Explicit Ship(s): Sam/Bucky Major tags/warnings: Post-Canon, First Time Summary: “So, are you keeping the outfit?” Word count: 1919

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Title: It's Not a Miracle You Need Collaborator(s): UisceOneLove Link: AO3 Square: Y3 - At a Crossroads Rating: Teen Ship(s): James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers Major tags/warnings: Post-Endgame, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hopeful Ending Summary: Sitting out on the dock of Tony's lakehouse while the others slept, Steve thought about where he was expected to go from here. It's a good thing Bucky's around to help him see where that can be. Word count: 1584

[mostlycompetentwriter]

i have this request, where haven minho takes y/n out for a weekend car trip as her graduation gift or maybe could be a haven family trip for the youngers graduation, you can choose! love your blog <3

Pairing: Y/N x Lee Minho

Word Count: 3.1K

Genre: Haven AU; Found Families AU

Warnings: So. Much. Fluff.

“You’re gonna make me jealous if you aren’t more careful, baby.”

His tone was teasing, but I still took a moment to open my eyes, groaning because Changbin’s body heat was rather oppressive. “We’re just sleeping,” I grumbled.

“Looks a little too cozy,” Minho insisted, and he opened the door to my bedroom wider, inviting himself inside.

“Changbin’s never here anymore,” I pouted, rousing the man in question from his sleep as he chuckled and allowed the arm wrapped around my waist to hold me even tighter.

“I have a job,” he reminded me.

“And a girlfriend,” Minho added, giving me a knowing look. “You’re giving Changbin a difficult choice: you or his favorite girl.”

“Hey!” I protested, kicking out at him with my foot. “Everyone knows that I’m Changbin’s favorite girl.”

“Mhmm,” Changbin mumbled in response, but he was clearly too tired to give anyone a coherent response, already drifting back to sleep.

“Guess what?” Minho continued, sitting down on the edge of the bed next to me. “I have a surprise for you.”

“Oh?” I asked, feeling a little more alert as my heart gave a happy little flutter. “What is it?”

“You’re graduating Friday,” Minho said, and I smiled at the reminder, the idea of freedom looming in the near-distance. 

So close I could almost feel it!!

“I’m the most excited,” I said. “Seungmin keeps complaining. Apparently, he’s not looking forward to four more years in University.”

“He knows it’s good for him,” Minho remarked, crossing his arms as we both thought about Seungmin’s decision - met with heavy tears from an over-emotional Chan when he found out about Seungmin’s scholarship.

“I’m just going to Felix the situation,” I said, smirking at Minho’s eye-roll. “Get my two-year degree online cuz’ it's cheaper and I won’t have to move away from you.”

“Oh, really?” Minho purred, but he looked rather pleased about the prospect, leaning down to offer me a deep kiss. “I like the sound of that, Y/N. But I also organized something for you and Seungmin. Consider it a graduation present.”

“Present?”

“A camping trip,” Minho said. “We’re going away this weekend. The original nine.”

“The original nine?” I repeated because it sounded so cliche, but the truth of the matter was that it also sounded really nice. Not that I didn’t want Sara and Lisa around, but just having our little family together? It seemed too good to be true.

“I’d say no girlfriends allowed...” Minho trailed off, raising one sultry brow at me that was far more suggestive than necessary.

“Uh-huh, so I’m the exception?” I grinned.

“I’d like to do this for you,” Minho said. “It would mean a lot.”

“And Seungmin too?” I asked, just because it was funny to watch Minho roll his eyes.

“Yes, Seungmin too.”

“Well, then,” I started, reaching out to pull Minho closer for another kiss, ignoring Changbin’s whines of complaint. “I guess I can’t exactly say no.”

It was already crowded in the living room the next morning, and Seungmin and I were both growing increasingly more annoyed with having cameras shoved into our faces. “Look over here!” Chan said, holding up his hand. “You guys look great!”

“It’s just a robe,” Seungmin grumbled, but we both stood shoulder-to-shoulder for yet another photograph.

“Cute,” Hyunjin decided, messing with the settings on his digital camera. “Should we do some shots in front of the house?”

“We’ll be late for the ceremony,” Seungmin said, desperately trying to get us out of the impromptu family photo shoot. 

“Besides, neither of us are looking forward to sitting out in the hot sun for just our names to be called out once,” I added, and Seungmin snorted around a laugh while Chan looked nothing short of affronted.

“This is a big deal,” he insisted, putting down his phone to step forward and mess with Seungmin’s tie.

Again.

“Leave them alone, Chan,” Felix quietly intervened, and I gave him a grateful smile.

“Seriously,” Lisa said, rolling her eyes dramatically. “We can swarm them with pictures later.”

“Just...try and keep this on straight,” Chan told Seungmin, giving his appearance another once-over before nodding in satisfaction.

“The cars are waiting!” Changbin announced from outside, and Seungmin and I were more than willing to force our way through frantic hands and flashing smiles as our roommates proved to be an imposing obstacle.

“They’re just excited,” Sara whispered to me when I finally found reprieve in the sunshine, and I attempted a smile.

“I know,” I agreed, wrapping my arm through hers. 

“They raised you,” she continued. “Let them be a little doting. I think I can understand.”

I nodded, even though I might not understand in the same way, but they were my family, and there weren’t many things I wouldn’t do for them.

The ceremony was hotter than I expected, and at one point, I whispered to Seungmin that he might need to be prepared to carry me off the field.

Thankfully, once our names were called, and we walked across the stage while ignoring the whistles and cheers from our section in the crowd, I was able to unzip my robe and allow some fresh air to soothe my overheated skin. “Could he have talked any longer?” Seungmin complained, referring to our principal's long and meandering speech about the importance of life after high school.

“I think he likes the attention,” I managed to get out, mere seconds before Changbin’s strong arms swept me up into an impossible hug in an attempt to squeeze the actual life from my lungs. “Dying,” I huffed around the last reserves of oxygen, and Sara had the wherewithal to convince Changbin that he probably shouldn’t be doing that on our school’s football field.

“Don’t!” I heard Seungmin whining from next to me, and I looked over just in time to see Hyunjin messing up the meticulous hairstyle he had spent hours perfecting that morning.

Meanwhile, a few of Seungmin’s school friends were watching, trying to call him over. “I’ll be right back,” Seungmin said, but he was immediately stopped by Chan who was cooing and crying at the same time, hugging Seungmin close to him in the same manner that Changbin had done to me.

“Oh, god, you’re embarrassing me,” Seungmin whined, shoving Chan away as he blushed at the sound of his friend’s laughter. 

“Let the kid go,” Lisa said with a laugh, and Seungmin muttered out a quick thanks before practically sprinting over to his friends.

“It’s family time!” Hyunjin protested. 

“He’ll be back,” Lisa said, smirking as she gave Hyunjin a pat on his shoulder. “You’ll all have plenty of time together on your top-secret camping trip.”

“It’s an expedition in the woods,” Jisung retorted. “Get it right.”

I shook my head, looking away from Jisung and Lisa just in time to find Minho with his gaze focused on mine. “Come here,” he said, opening his arms and inviting me into a welcoming embrace, whispering kisses across any surface of my skin he could access. “So proud of you.”

“Thank you,” I said, closing my eyes for a moment as I rested my chin atop his shoulder. “Did I rock that stage or what?”

Minho chuckled, and I could feel his chest vibrating against mine. “I’m mostly impressed that you could walk in those heels.”

“Yeah, me too,” I said, opening my eyes again only to spot a familiar face standing a little further apart from everyone else.

Slowly, I unwound my arms from around Minho, and he followed my gaze to the woman hunching her shoulders uncomfortably as she studied me from afar. “Hey, mom,” I said, and Minho tensed, looking between me and my mother like he was expecting a confrontation. 

It was also at the same time when Chan decided to come over, greeting my mother with a respectful incline of his head. “Hi, Ms. Y/L/N,” he said. 

“Chan, right?” my mother asked, and I swallowed hard because she had done that on purpose. There’s simply no other explanation for someone forgetting the name of the only person who allowed her to have continued involvement in her daughter’s life.

“Nice to see you,” Chan said, and I could tell that it took a lot for him to be so courteous.

“Well,” my mother sighed. “I just wanted to congratulate you, dear. There’s no way I could miss my own daughter’s graduation.”

“Thanks,” I muttered through gritted teeth. “I’m glad you came.”

She nodded her head, suddenly appearing a little more sheepish as more eyes started to notice her presence. “Call me soon,” she requested. “Maybe I can take you out for a proper celebration?”

“Sure,” I lied, watching her closely as she shuffled in place.

“You have my number,” she said, giving me one last considerate look before allowing herself to be swept away with the other parents leaving toward the parking lot.

I shuddered once she was out of sight, leaning more of my weight against Minho who was always more than willing to support me whenever I was at my weakest and most vulnerable.

It was always like that with my mother.

“Jisung stole my french fries!”

“Did not!”

“Really? Then what the hell happened to them? Did they just disappear?”

“I guess so!”

I cracked my eye open at the ridiculous conversation, glancing over to my right to see Changbin mere seconds away from exploding on Jisung and Hyunjin who were arguing so vehemently from the backseat. His fingers were clenched tight around the steering wheel, brows furrowed together, and his mouth twisted into something unpleasant.

“Hyunjin,” he breathed around an exhale. “Jisung.”

“He started it!” Jisung said. 

“That’s not true!” Hyunjin retorted. “He’s just mad because he ordered a medium!”

“How old are the two of you?” Changbin asked, rolling his eyes as he glanced up at the rearview mirror. “Jeongin, I’m sorry you have to put up with this shit.”

I finally cracked a smile, turning around in my seat to look at Jeongin. “How long has this been going on for?”

“Ten minutes,” the youngest informed me with a sober frown. 

“I’m this close to calling Chan and throwing one of your asses into his car,” Changbin said, holding his fingers close together to indicate that he was on the last vestiges of patience. 

“Whatever,” Hyunjin grumbled. “S’ not my fault.”

“Oh, yeah, the picture of innocence,” Changbin muttered, and I resisted the urge to laugh as I reached over to give Changbin’s hand a reassuring squeeze. 

“How far away are we from the campsite?”

“30 minutes,” Changbin said. “Hallelujah.”

I nodded and relaxed further into my seat, enjoying the benefits of winning a competitive game of rock-paper-scissors to determine which of us would get the privilege of riding in the passenger seat. As always, Changbin and Chan became our designated drivers, especially since Minho insisted that he didn’t have the patience to drive and watch over everyone else.

“Can the two of you keep your shit together long enough for us to make it to the campsite without calling Chan?”

“Yeah,” Hyunjin and Jisung echoed together at the same time, and Changbin let out a deep breath, cursing under his breath as I smirked and turned my attention to the passing clouds outside.

“Everyone pair up!” Chan announced once we had all of our supplies together at the campsite, with our bags and equipment scattered around the circle's circumference.

“Me and Y/N,” Minho said, pulling me close with a raised brow. “Obviously.”

“Gross,” Jisung huffed. “I want Felix!”

“No way!” Hyunjin protested. “Felix is my partner!”

“Did Felix even agree to this?” Chan asked, and he looked at the younger one who merely shrugged in response. 

“I’ll decide, then,” Chan intervened. “Minho and Y/N, Seungmin and Jeongin, Changbin and Felix, and Jisung and Hyunjin.”

“Seriously?” Hyunjin sighed. “Chan, that’s like the worst idea you’ve ever had.”

“Seconded!” Jisung agreed.

“Well, you can work on putting aside your differences for one night,” Chan replied. “And I’m getting my own tent because I’m tired of everyone’s bullshit.”

“Seems fair,” Felix nodded.

“Let’s split up,” Chan continued. “We can get everything set up.”

His orders were met by various murmurs of consent, and I giggled when Minho came up behind me to wrap an arm around my waist. “Come on, partner,” he whispered, and I followed him to where he had already scoped out a good spot to pitch our tent.

“How the hell do you even do this?” Hyunjin wondered aloud, glancing between the instructions to the sad pile of rods and fabric situated messily on the ground.

“Give it to me,” Jisung grumbled. “It’s obviously too complicated for you to figure out.”

“Whatever,” Hyunjin retorted, and he sat down in the middle of the circle and pulled out his phone. “No service. Just great.”

“You could use some fresh air outside, Jinnie,” Minho said, and I was more than inclined to let my boyfriend shoulder most of the work.

“Maybe we could go hiking together?” Jeongin suggested.

“Like with bears and shit?” Jisung asked, already disregarding building his tent for something that sounded a whole lot more interesting.

“You know what?” Chan asked. “That sounds like a good idea! Jeongin can take Jisung and Hyunjin somewhere far away for hiking, and anyone else who wants to go can join them.”

“But what about the tent?” Jisung questioned, pointing down to the incomplete lack of progress he had made.

“I’ll handle it,” Chan insisted, and it was with great reluctance that Hyunjin followed an over-eager Jisung, Seungmin, and Jeongin further into the solitude of the woods.

“Thanks for the peace and quiet,” Changbin eventually said, interrupting the solitude to vocalize what everyone else had been thinking.

“Yeah, no problem,” Chan grumbled, but I knew that he wasn’t that upset. After all, his family meant more to him than anything else in the world. 

Later that night, once all the tents were pitched and Changbin and Felix returned with Jeongin and his hiking crew who had apparently forgotten to bring a compass with them, Chan had us all sitting around the fire toasting marshmallows and sharing pleasant conversation about whatever topic struck us at the moment.

In the meantime, I was more than content in Minho’s arms, propped up against his strong chest as his fingers worked themselves through the tangles in my hair. “How about some ground rules for tonight?” Seungmin ventured at one point, gesturing towards me and Minho with a loose hand. “No sex in the tents.”

“What about outside of them?” Minho asked with a suggestive tone.

“I stand by my gross comment from before,” Jisung said, wrinkling his nose in disgust as he stuffed another marshmallow into whatever room remained in his cheeks.

“No sex, period,” Chan said. “Should I even have to say that?”

“Well, we are celebrating,” Minho said, and I tried not to squirm when he dug his fingers into my side.

“No loud music either,” Changbin continued, and I was grateful that he decided to guide the conversation away from me and Minho.

“Who does that?” Jisung asked.

“Felix,” Changbin said, and he gave the younger a look. “I can hear you all the way upstairs at home.”

“I can always change it for you,” Felix said, nonchalant as always as he sipped at his water bottle.

“Let’s just enjoy ourselves,” Chan suggested. “As hard as that may be for some of you.”

“I’m more than capable of relaxing,” Hyunjin said, but then he screeched and quickly stood up from the log he had been sitting on. “Why are there so many beetles?”

“Cuz’ it’s the woods?” Seungmin said, sharing a quick exchange with Jeongin to which the youngest merely nodded in response. 

“This is for Y/N and Seungmin,” Changbin said, and he lifted his marshmallow roasting stick high into the air. “Cheers to them.”

“Uh-huh, sure,” I said, lifting mine as well even though it seemed utterly ridiculous. 

“Hazaa!” Jisung shouted, and he stood up next to Hyunjin as he raised his high above his head, dripping remains of his marshmallows leaking down the handle.

“Are we really doing this?” Seungmin grumbled in complaint, but one by one each of us contributed to our weird display of solidarity.

“Okay, enough before someone comes by and wonders what the hell we’re trying to do,” Chan said. 

“Or before someone pokes an eye out,” Minho added with a grunt, pulling me back against him with a gentle kiss. 

“We can just skip to the speeches instead,” Jisung said, and he clapped his hands together as he indicated between me and Seungmin. “Who goes first.”

“I will, I guess,” Seungmin said, and he reluctantly stood up and waved off the cheers from everyone else. “Thanks for all the support,” he said, pursing his lips in deep concentration as he tried to put something together. “You’re cool. Sometimes.”

“Hell yeah!” Jisung yelled, and I stifled my laughter at Seungmin’s brevity.

“Now, Y/N,” Hyunjin said, and I groaned but unwound Minho’s arms long enough to stand next to the fire.

“Sure,” I said, searching for the right words. “It’s weird to be here because I never really saw any kind of future for myself until I met you guys.” I swallowed hard, nearly choking around the sudden flood of emotion clogging my throat. “You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me, and I can’t wait for whatever might come next.”

“Y/N,” Jeongin sniffled once I sat back down. 

“Such a sweetheart,” Minho whispered into my ear, holding me in close to him in reassurance as Chan roughly wiped away a tear. 

“Alright, enough speeches,” he said, voice breaking once as he tried to regain his composure. “I love this, you know? Just the nine of us.”

“Let’s do it more often,” Felix said, always interrupting at the right moments.

“I agree,” Changbin nodded, and I didn’t even realize he had been crying until I took in the sight of his bloodshot eyes. 

“Binnie,” I whispered, and he shook his head, giving me a warm smile.

“Felix can turn on his shitty music,” Changbin said. “Hyunjin and Jisung can fight to their heart's content.”

“And me and Y/N...” Minho trailed off, but Changbin quickly changed his tone.

“Anything but that,” he grunted.

“I think we should just look at the stars,” Felix said, and he was already lying back on his blanket, hands folded behind his head as he looked up at the night sky loaded so brilliantly with freckles of light.

“Good idea,” Jeongin said, and I only saw him fall backward before Minho was forcing me into a tight embrace, facing one another on our sides as we exchanged gentle puffs of oxygen.

“The stars aren’t as beautiful as you,” he whispered.

“Cheesy.”

“I’m serious,” he said, and his fingers traced over the ridges of my lips. “I love you, Y/N. Everyone here loves you.”

“I know,” I said, and it was all I could manage because the atmosphere was suddenly charged with something heavy.

But Minho understood. He always did. Bringing my head closer to his chest, so I could listen to the calming combination of background conversations about everything and the soothing reverberation of his heart thumping in time to a special melody that only I had the privilege of understanding.

[eujazmine]

all gifs from christianscody !

JAZMINE HARPER - TV TROPES

manipulative bastard

The Manipulative Bastard is the master manipulator of people, in essence, a character who manipulates others through their emotions, perspectives, psychologies and any other way they can get them dancing to their tune. This is the guy or gal who gets off on playing head/mind games—clever and dangerous and lacking comedic overtones (usually). She always has a plan ready, but rather than do any work, the Manipulative Bastard prefers to play on other characters' emotions and mental states and then watch the victims destroy themselves as they waste their energy on fighting against fake dangers or their friends.

are we surprised? with a lack of loyalty to others, including her own family, jazmine will gladly step on others and use their weaknesses to her advantage to get what she wants. she’s been a manipulative bastard since she was a child, ever since she first discovered how much her mist control could control the perceptions of others. observant and resourceful, jazmine has no qualms using her talents to gain unauthorized information about others and using it for her personal gain. she views people as her pawns, and her selfish way of thinking gives her little guilt about physically or mentally forcing others into submission. this is a trait she’s picked up from her own father, which we will delve into in the next trope.

daddy’s little villain

mention of emotional abuse tw

She's the daughter of an Evil Overlord, who shares her parent's ambition, cunning, and cruelty. She could be anything from a simple Spoiled Brat to an Overlord in waiting. She's also likely to be a Princess (since even villainy is improved with that), although she will still prefer wearing black or dark colors over pink. 

jazmine’s mortal father can largely be thanked for the way she is now. from as young as she can remember, he was training jazmine to be a powerful force in both the demigod and mortal world. while he raised her to think she could accomplish anything she worked toward, she was mostly a pawn to satisfy his thirst for power. he didn’t care much for her as a daughter; mostly for what she could do for him. she started to recognize this during her formative middle school years, consequently turning her childhood role model into her worst enemy. when she started rebelling against him and acting out, he sent her away full-time to a camp on the other side of the globe. since then, the issues only progressed, eventually leading to a falling out in which she hasn’t seen or spoken to her mortal family in many years. 

this upbringing has fueled her desire to constantly be the best in her fields of expertise, which is partly why she quested for years in hopes of some type of recognition. with the heavily hidden hope that she could one day rub in his face that she had succeeded without him, all her life she has fought to try to ‘prove her worth’ to others despite being the daughter of a minor goddess (or titan). because her father only loved what she could do for him, she places everyone in two categories: the puppets, and the puppeteers. 

and she will never be the puppet again.

broken ace

He's tall, charming, strikingly good-looking, well-spoken in five languages, and classically trained in even more instruments. But inside, he's an ugly, writhing mass of self-hatred and Parental Issues. Expect him to have at least one bizarre trait or ability that should not be overlooked, as well as an unhealthy attitude about love, life, and humanity in general. He most likely doesn't have anyone that loves or respects him for what he really is. This may be justified. This character is usually male, but not always. Also, he may just be a perfectionist crumbling under his own standards. The chief difference between the Broken Ace and the usually female Stepford Smiler is that the Stepford Smiler wants to appear normal at all costs, often to the point of hurting herself emotionally (or because she's sociopathic). This guy has the same setup, but is more talented and wants to be the best, loved by all, and accepted.

although the timeline wasn’t as accelerated as she had hoped when she was a child, jazmine was making waves in the world of deities before her last quest against zeus had occurred. now, as a semi-retired quester, she is captain of the football team and starting to make a name for herself in the mortal fields of business and sports. despite the air of nonchalant superiority that she constantly tries to present, she is in a constant state of despair. right when she starts to undergo some development in her relationships with others, they leave, and she is constantly failing her own impossibly high standards. she’s crumbling, and at any point she is ready to run away again.

ice queen

Much like a Tomboy, the Ice Queen is a major character archetype which is somewhat hard to define. Her signature characteristic is that she is cold; the ambiguity comes from what "cold" means. She has a cold heart, a frosty demeanor and very often a resting bitch face; she attracts but will never be wooed. The Ice Queen is considered dangerous to love because she will not (or cannot) love back. She's not much for friendship either, preferring to be alone. Situations where an Ice Queen "thaws" and learns to enjoy the company of others are so common that they have their own trope.

she’s cold and takes no shit. she holds people at a distance, even those that could potentially be considered friends. she doesn’t believe in unconditional love, and she believes that most affection direct toward her is generally a ruse to get her guard down. she’s unnecessarily rude to others, almost relishing in the negative reactions at times, but to her, she’s just keeping it real.

the trickster

A trickster is a character who plays tricks or otherwise disobeys normal rules and conventional behavior. The Trickster openly questions and mocks authority, encourages impulse and enthusiasm, seeks out new ideas and experiences, destroys convention and complacency, and promotes chaos and unrest. At the same time, the trickster brings new knowledge, wisdom and many An Aesop. Even when punished horribly for his effrontery, his indomitable spirit (or plain sheer foolishness) keeps him coming back for more. Tricksters can be anything from gods of chaos, bedeviling heroes for a few laughs, to master manipulators who use cruel ploys and sadistic choices. They can also be heroes (or more likely Anti-Heroes) who make up for a lack of strength or bravery with manipulation, planning, or just plain cheating. The trickster is often a Master of Disguise and may have magical or super-powers. They're often found Walking the Earth.

although this description was much more relevant when she was younger, jazmine has a penchant for drama and chaos. she genuinely has fun engaging in pranks and tricks, and she gladly lifts a symbolic middle finger to authority in any chance that she gets. in middle school, she was nearly expelled from a mortal school because of all her tricks, and she spent a sizable portion of her adult years before eonia traveling and engaging in casual mayhem. when she isn’t getting revenge or fulfilling a paid request, she generally has fun toying with others.

deadpan snarker

A character prone to gnomic, sarcastic, sometimes bitter, occasionally whimsical asides. The Deadpan Snarker exists to deflate pomposity, point out the unlikelihood of certain plans, and deliver funny lines. Typically the most cynical supporting character. In most cases, it is implied that the snarker would make a good leader, strategist, or consultant given their ability to instantly see the flaws in a constructed plan. More often than not, their innate snarkiness is the only thing preventing the other characters from comprehending this for themselves. In other cases, the Deadpan Snarker resorts to sarcasm because they're the Only Sane Man. Tends to be shot a Death Glare when they go too far (and probably isn't without one of their own, either). Note that due to the definition evolving, the "Deadpan" part of the title has gradually become The Artifact and a deadpan delivery is no longer a necessary part of the trope.

jazmine is no stranger to delivering biting remarks coupled with foul language. she’s quick to point out flaws, opting for the brutally honest approach more times than not. she’s aware that her language can hurt others, but she finds it easier to escape the frivolities and get to the point. depending on the person, she exaggerates this trope by trying to draw out a bad response from them, mostly for her own entertainment. people already view her as heinous, so why not embrace the reputation, right?

survivor guilt

death mention tw

You might be the Last Of Your Kind or someone else made a Heroic Sacrifice for you or you lived through a Restricted Rescue Operation, but whatever the reason, you're going to feel a massive sense of guilt. 

although the quest with adelphie and celeste was technically a success, with the trident successfully being returned back to poseidon, the team had faced major losses. adelphie had lost her life, and celeste had suffered debilitating injuries. physically, jazmine suffered the least, and it’s a guilt that she continues to carry.

aloof big sister

to the majority of the hecate family, especially @rostameu

He's smarter, stronger, faster, more talented, and more refined than the hero, and — just to add insult to injury — he's probably sexier, too. His only problem seems to be moving his face out of that expression of bored, dignified disdain. And he just happens to be the elder brother of one of the main cast, which often gives them a raging inferiority complex. Will most likely double as the Ineffectual Loner and Noble Demon, thereby running the risk of becoming an Ensemble Darkhorse. May or may not be evil, strictly speaking, but is almost guaranteed to fight against the protagonists at one point, and spout off Cryptic Conversation to prove how much better informed he is. May or may not be a Stealth Mentor and/or consider his younger siblings annoying. Often an integral part of a mysterious organisation, and may be the Enigmatic Minion or even a Hero Antagonist in that case.

OKAY, so the running joke with jazmine is that she dislikes her siblings, which is very true tbh. i’m not going to speak for rostam and say most of that stuff actually applies, but jazmine is very cold toward her younger brother and views herself as much better in every way. with loner tendencies, disdain toward her brother, and shady side hustles, she matches this trope very well, and it was only fitting to add a trope about disliking siblings to jazmine’s task. and yes, she’s technically one of the youngest right now but hush.

[halothenthehorns]

BAGMAN AND CROUCH

As James started, he prayed to Merlin and anything else that this was the Quidditch chapter already, he'd waited long enough for it!

Harry had to unravel himself from Ron and his siblings, then looked around to find himself on the edge of a moor. In front of him were two oddly dressed wizards, one holding a watch, the other a long sheaf of parchment. Both had made an attempt at wearing Muggle garb, though both failed;

Remus already had a grin flickering on him, he loved hearing about wizards poor attempts to dress like Muggles.

The man with the watch wore a tweed suit with thigh-length galoshes;

Remus and Lily collectively snorted with amusement at that mental image, while James and Sirius exchanged curious looks, but decided they didn't really want to know what a galosh was. It sounded like some noise one of Hagrid's pets would make.

his colleague, a kilt and a poncho.

Lily lost it, and had to press her hand firmly to her mouth to suppress her giggles.

Harry and Remus weren't much better, and this time Sirius did ask, "Which one of those is wrong?" He may know a fair bit about Muggle technology and some of their other things through his Muggle Studies class, but they hadn't gone into great detail about dressing. Mostly, they just wore blue jean material but he wasn't certain why.

"Both," Harry managed to choke out, only having managed to restrain himself back then because he and Hermione had been the only ones to get the joke, and they hadn't wanted to make the wizards feel bad.

    Arthur greeted the man with the list by the name of Basil

"Does Arthur just know everybody?" Remus asked, only half intelligible since he was still laughing. "I've yet to see him meet anyone he doesn't know the name of."

"I consider this a good thing," James shrugged back.

while picking up their portkey and handing it over. It was tossed into a bin full of other seeming junk, such as a punctured football.

Basil greeted Arthur back, noting that he wasn't on duty, and how lucky he was. The two of them had been at this post all night, then he ushered that they should move along, they had a huge party coming in next. He consulted his list, found the Weasley name, and told them to go seek out Mr. Robert's for their campsite.

Harry strangely felt a wash of sympathy at the mention of that name, which was puzzling since he had no real feelings towards the actual man. Still put off by the last time he'd dug into a name, he didn't press at it.

The Diggory's were sent in a separate direction, so Harry's group wandered off, coming across a Muggle stationed at the crest of a hill.

Harry's feeling of concern only increased, but it only managed to confuse him all the more. Why would he be worried for a Muggle? Why would he be getting worried at all?

"Oh, I guess he owns the campsite then," Sirius said in surprise.

"That poor thing," Lily sighed.

"Why?" James asked at once, feeling that was a bit harsh, wizards weren't that bad around Muggles.

"I can only imagine how confused he must be, wizards aren't very subtle at hiding themselves," she smirked at her husband, who clearly wanted to argue back, but at a loss as to how, he was aware he was pretty bad and he knew plenty of people, like his wife, who tried to correct him on it all the time.

They greeted each other politely enough, and Arthur told his name and that he'd booked two tents here a few days ago. Mr. Robert's agreed, then asked if they'd be paying for it now? Mr. Weasley agreed, then pulled Harry aside to help him with the Muggle money he'd brought along for this. He correctly identified a ten pound note, then glanced at the next one, saying this was a five? Harry corrected it was a twenty.

"Where did he get a five from?" Remus asked. "There's a twenty on the note, and he got the ten right."

"I guess the pound symbol looks like a five to him," Lily offered with a shrug, not really sure how he could make the mistake herself, as she found Muggle money far easier to understand then the wizard money that had taken her quite some time to work out.*

They returned to Mr. Roberts watching them wearily, asking if they were foreign?

"I'm not surprised that's his first guess," Lily nodded.

Mr. Weasley was confused by the question, so Mr. Roberts elaborated that he wasn't the first person to be confused by the currency, two others had tried to pay him in giant gold coins.

James couldn't help a little smile though, at least he wasn't the only one who'd try to do that first in hopes it would work.

Mr. Robert's continued on in a vague tone now about how strange it was of people pre-booking to come, most just showed up.

"Yes, well, there's a very big event going on this weekend," Sirius said with a completely straight face.

"That's cause for a little oddity." James agreed.

He kept going on about how weird some of these people were, running around in kilt's and ponchos.

Lily, Remus, and Harry began snickering all over again, but this time James just ignored them.

Arthur was getting anxious now as he tried to get his change and leave, but Mr. Robert was still prattling on about how all of these odd people seemed to know each other, like they were all here for some party. Then another wizard in plus-fours apparated right in front of them.

Remus sighed in pity, thinking it was an accidental apparition, and one more thing poor Mr. Robert's would try to analyze. The man's brain would turn to mush by the day's end if this kept up.

He quickly shot the spell Obliviate at Mr. Roberts.

"Or he could do that," Lily yelped in mild surprise.

"He was pretty fast on the draw," Sirius nodded in agreement.

Mr. Robert's face instantly glazed over, an unconcerned smile now floating onto his face, and Harry recognized all of the symptoms of someone who'd recently had their memory modified.

Which gave them all a bit of a dark laugh, for the first time wondering if Lockhart had ever recovered from that mishap, but none of them able to care too much.

Mr. Robert's finally handed over Mr. Weasley's change, along with a map of the camp, and bid them good day. The wizard in plus-fours accompanied them out of earshot, muttering about how that was the tenth time he'd had to do that today.

"Oh dear," Lily squeaked in real fear this time. "That cannot be good for him."

"You'd really think they'd have someone with some muggle knowledge at least around where Mr. Robert's is working, try to keep these people under control at least in front of him so that wouldn't be necessary," Remus agreed with a pitiful frown.

"Would that give him, like permanent brain damage or something?" Harry frowned in sympathy for the poor muggle, deciding those memory charms on him was probably where his memory gap on this man stemmed from.

"I don't think so..." Sirius' tone showed he really didn't even mean that, "But I can't say it's a tested theory either."

"I'm sure he's fine," James couldn't stop a little frown of his own, but he tried to keep up the confidence. "They won't do anything permanent to him." No one could think of anything else to say though, so he decided to keep going and hope this man explaining things would say just that.

Ludo Bagman wasn't helping anyone,

"Ludo Bagman's running around there!" Sirius practically screamed, leaning over like he wanted to snatch the book away from James, who held it tightly to his chest now and glared at his hand like he'd bite if he came closer.

Sirius turned his attention on Harry instead, begging, "Please tell me you meet him! I'll take even a passing glance!"

Harry's shoulders were shaking with suppressed laughter, but what flowed out of his mouth was a pure gut reaction he didn't have to much problems deciphering, "I've got a good feeling at least, yes."

Sirius looked likely to faint from happiness his little pup was meeting a Quidditch star, so Harry neglected telling him another sinking feeling he was getting about Bagman. He decided he didn't really like the man, something about him bothered Harry, but as always he had no clear idea what.

running around screaming about Bludgers and Quaffles, not even bothering with the anti-Muggle security. The man still talking couldn't wait for this whole mess to be over, then he bid good day to Arthur and disapparated.

"I feel so bad for the people who have to work during this," Remus sighed.

"You're right," James nodded along. "This should be a national holiday!"

Lily and Remus snorted at how much he clearly meant that, while James gave an agreeable smirk at Sirius when he agreed before he kept going.

Ginny turned to her dad in surprise, asking since Bagman was head of a department, shouldn't he know better then to be doing that? Arthur defended him by saying that he'd always been a lax man, but you couldn't ask for a more enthusiastic Head. He'd played Quidditch for England and was the best Beater for the Wimbourne Wasps yet.

"I wonder what year he retired," Sirius couldn't seem to stop himself from blurting out, though James in no way looked upset as he grinned at Sirius getting wound up about this. "What do you think his stats were like by then, better and he ended on a high, or slowly going down so he retired early? Who do you-"

"Sirius," Lily cut in, knowing he could go on like this for hours. "Please, you lot can talk about this over dinner and I won't say a word, but let him get through this first."

Sirius stuck his tongue out at her and crossed his arms in a pouting gesture, but bit his tongue as James kept going.

They made their way into the campsite, finding most normal looking tents, but a few standouts, such as one that housed a chimney, or one done up in pure silk with peacocks out front.

'Wonder if the Malfoy's showed up' Remus thought in surprise, knowing that was their preferred animal, and they'd do nothing less than the best even in tent form. He really hoped Harry didn't run across them though, really hoping for just a nice calm Quidditch filled weekend.

One even had three tents stacked on top of each other, complete with a sundial in front.

Lily had been giggling almost none stop for all of those descriptions, remembering her plans of taking the family camping, and just imagining James and Sirius trying to set all of that up as well, oh they were going to have so much fun.

Arthur was smiling as he passed all of this by, saying that it was common when Wizards got together they'd always try to show off.

"That's always true of communities," Sirius muttered, thinking it wasn't always a good thing either.

Then he spotted their place, right on the edge of the woods, with a small picket marking their spots, with the name Weasley misspelled as Weezly.

James couldn't help a little snort of surprise, then spelled out how Weasley had been misspelled, causing the others the same reaction. "How did they screw that up?" Harry demanded with an eye roll. "Mr. Weasley would have given them his name to mark the spot."

"Maybe he has bad handwriting," Sirius shrugged.

"Or it was someone's idea of a joke," Remus offered, thinking of the time he'd convinced most of Gryffindor house to call Sirius and James Brown and Pottam for the day.

Mr. Weasley couldn't be more excited, saying they'd gotten the best spot as the trail leading to the stadium started right next to them. Then he set himself of setting up the tent, with no magic allowed.

"Oh this should be fun," Lily smirked, already thinking of poor Arthur trying to work all of this out, though at least he'd probably get a kick out of it.

Harry had never been camping before, but he and Hermione worked out how the poles and pegs were to be set up. Mr. Weasley was more of a hindrance than a help, but not from lack of trying. He just tended to get overly excited when the time came to use the mallet.

"At least he's enjoying himself," Remus agreed with Lily, thinking of an over enthusiastic James and Sirius acting much the same way.

They finally managed to erect a pair of shabby two-man tents.

"He only brought two?" Harry asked in surprise, thinking that would hardly be enough space after doing a headcount.

James just gave him a knowing smile though, he had a very good idea that Arthur wasn't doing this all Muggle, but kept going to see if he was right.

Arthur ducked into one and called back they'd be a bit cramped, but they'd make it work. Harry exchanged a puzzled look with Hermione before they ducked in and their jaws dropped.

Something Harry did again now as he visibly remembered what he'd walked into, causing the four of them to give affectionate laughs, knowing they'd never get tired of watching him react to magic.

It was a miniature version of an apartment, complete with beds and a stove. Harry found it strangely reminded him of Mrs. Figg's place,

"That's probably just coincidence," Remus shrugged. "The Engorgement Charm placed on them would have reacted to the person who'd placed it. Though it might adapt to the person setting it up," he added on thoughtfully, never having considered the idea, but magic was known to change form.

"I think it's the second," Lily nodded in agreement. "It wouldn't be the first time I've heard magic acting like that."

as it smelled strongly of cats. Mr. Weasley explained he'd borrowed this from Perkins,

"Wasn't that the guy Mr. Weasley works with in his office?" Sirius puzzled. "Guess that means he's not coming to the game."

who used to go camping a lot until his lumbago got to him. Then he spotted an empty kettle, and said they'd need to find a place to collect water. Ron had ducked in behind them, saying he'd seen a spot for that on the map. He showed no reaction whatsoever at the interior being larger inside than out.

"Well of course he isn't," Harry sighed, now feeling slightly foolish for his surprise, of course Mr. Weasley would think ahead like that, though since Hermione had been thinking the same thing at the time at least he wasn't the only one.

Arthur asked Ron and his two friends to go fetch it while they stayed back and cooked up a fire.

"Even more fun," Sirius perked up, "I hope you get to roast some marshmallows!"

Ron asked why they'd need to do that as they had a stove, and Arthur said that they were supposed to be doing things as Muggles, and they cooked over fires at these campsites. The three departed, wandering through the endless sea of tents, and Harry was looking around with interest as it only just began occurring to him how many wizards there were in other countries.

Harry nodded to himself as these thoughts trickled back to him, wondering why he had a feeling his knowledge of the world of magic was fixing to expand quite a lot this year...something about Hogwarts, or maybe it was another wizarding school, did those even exist? Of course they did, he corrected himself, Hogwart's couldn't be the only one.

The camps with small children were already beginning to arouse, toddles seen crawling out of tents. They passed one of about two, who held a wand in his hand and was poking a slug, with each prod it grew larger until it was nearly the size of a loaf of bread.

Sirius gave the baby in his lap an affectionate little cuddle while Lily and James exchanged indulgent smiles, treasuring every moment they had with their toddler, and already trying to picture him when he got to that age.

As they drew level with him, his mother came hurrying out of the tent, telling off the infant, Kevin, for touching daddy's wand, and ending with a squeal of disgust.

"Tell daddy to stop leaving it around," Lily smirked, already picturing herself instead of that mother, Harry instead of little Kevin, James being thoroughly confused, then abundantly pleased, when he found out his son was engorging slugs with his wand.

She'd stepped on the slug, causing it to burst. The sound of her scolding her child faded as they walked past, along with the little boy's delight that his mommy had squashed his slug.

Causing all five of them to laugh merrily, that was a picture perfect moment.

Not too much farther away were two little girls gliding along on miniature brooms that barely rose a foot off the ground.

Sirius' eyes sparked with interest, he had already pre-ordered one of those for Harry for his first birthday, and couldn't wait to see his little pup gliding around this living room carpet on it.

A Ministry official had spotted them and came hurrying past the trio, muttering about how the parents were letting them do that where anyone could see, probably sleeping in.

"They are on vacation," James shrugged. "And I don't see why Mr. Robert's would come wandering into the campsite, give them a bit of a break."

Some adults were starting to come out as well, taking a quick look around, and then shooting a spell to create a fire before anyone could notice. Others were clearly tempted to do this soon, looking at a box of matches as if sure this couldn't be useful.

"Then I hope they all get a real surprise," Remus laughed.

Three African wizards sat in serious conversation,

"Wow, they're even talking about me in Africa," Sirius smirked, happy he was on the opposite side of Harry so none of his friends could take a swing at him.

all of them wearing long white robes and roasting what looked like a rabbit on a bright purple fire,

Harry blinked in surprise at the color, the question bursting out of him before he even had time to process, "Do other countries have to say the same spells in the same language as Hogwarts? Is that why the fire's a different color, because they translate them, or are they universal?"

Lily's eyes brightened as they always did whenever she had the opportunity to look into new things, starting out by voicing, "Well I know for a fact that saying the spell is just a way to channel magic, but the incantations themselves aren't set in stone. After all, accidental magic doesn't require a command word, it's simply your mind using your magic in an uncontrolled way. The wand and spells are designed to help you direct your powers, which makes your magic more focused and powerful." She only paused for a moment, thinking through her answer to make sure of it, before concluding, "So I would have to say no, other countries most likely do have a different system for their spell casting. Most of ours are in Latin, with some exceptions, but I presume these African folk for example have a different spell to create fire then our Incendio, creating the different color through their own phrasing of it."

Harry was watching her with wide eyed fascination, even James and Sirius looked pretty intrigued as they'd never thought too deeply about this, but when Remus made to jump in, that old light in his eyes saying he may even be creating a debate's worth of commentary on the subject, James quickly jumped in saying, "Alright, more fun things to discuss later. Sirius and I can go crazy badgering Harry about Quidditch stats he will hopefully remember, and you two can have a gay old time discussing that." This time Remus stuck his tongue out at his two friends, but didn't protest.

while a group of middle-aged American witches sat gossiping happily beneath a spangled banner stretched between their tents that read: THE SALEM WITCHES' INSTITUTE.

"What's that?" Harry asked quickly, for the first time trying to get information about other wizard schools other than his own, "The American Hogwarts? Salem is in the United States, yes?" He vaguely recalled, either from his History of Magic or perhaps his primary school, he'd never payed attention to either honestly, some terrible movement against witches involving a place called Salem.

"Yes there's a Salem in the United States, but no, there school is called Ilvermorny,"** Remus shrugged. "I think this is some kind of women's organization."

The longer they walked, the more conversations they heard from all languages, but they all held the same tone. Excitement. Then Ron suddenly pointed out that everything had gone green. The trio had wandered into a patch of tents, every inch of which were covered in shamrocks.

Sirius began laughing anew, having known a few Irish supporters in his time at Hogwarts, and they were well known for going all out like this.

As they were walking through, they heard their names shouted from behind, and turned to see a fellow Gryffindor in their year named Seamus Finnigan, his mother, and his best friend Dean Thomas, also of their year and house. Seamus greeted them by asking if they liked the decorations?

"Yes, yes I do," James nodded happily, knowing he wouldn't be much better if his preferred team had made the Cup.

Adding on that the Ministry wasn't happy about it,

"I just can not imagine why," Lily rolled her eyes indulgently.

but Mrs. Finnigan happily said she didn't care, they were proud to show their colors! She also added on it was still better than what the Bulgarians had done, then quickly asked them if they were Ireland supporters?

"Here's hoping Harry has more sense than those two," Remus muttered quietly to Lily, who nodded while she watched James and Sirius smirk. They knew full well they'd love to start a Quidditch fight by supporting the opposite team in the middle of that field, possibly start a riot, it would be plenty of fun.

They all quickly said of course they were, while walking away, Ron adding once they were out of sight that they could hardly say anything else.

"Such a missed opportunity," Sirius sighed, shaking his head tragically, still unable to keep that smile off his face.

Hermione asked what the Bulgarians had done.

"With any luck, Vultures will be circling everywhere," James snickered.

Harry said they could go check, as he spotted their flag waving nearby. When they got there, they found every available tent surface covered in the face of the scowling Seeker, Viktor Krum.

"Ooh, new blood," Remus nodded.

"He must be good, to be the star player on everyone's tent," Lily shrugged.

"Wasn't Charlie talking about him earlier," Sirius mused. "Hadn't he said he was such an excellent Seeker, it would be a tough game just between him and the whole other team?"

"This match is going to be wicked," James looked like that smile was going to be frozen in place very soon, hoping it would come up anytime now!

Hermione's first comment was that he looked grumpy.

Harry gave a funny laugh, though he wasn't sure why. Something about Hermione and Krum though, why would he have a feeling about that?

Ron was flabbergasted that's what she noticed. He was the best Seeker in the world, and so young, only eighteen!

"Wow, and their star player," James was practically bouncing in his seat by this point. "He's got a nice long career ahead of him."

"Or early retirement, assuming a Bludger doesn't knock him stupid," Lily muttered.

They finally reached the water pickup, to find a line had already formed. They got a few paces behind a man in a flowery nightgown,

Lily, Harry, and Remus cracked all over again, even James and Sirius joined in this time as they were certain that even in the muggle world, blokes weren't exactly supposed to be wearing gowns.

arguing with a Ministry wizard holding a pair of pants, and nearly crying from exasperation as he tried to explain to the dressed man named Archie that Muggle men don't wear those. Archie argued back he'd bought what he was wearing in a Muggle shop.

"Well, he's not wrong," Lily managed to get out breathily.

Muggle women, the Ministry wizard corrected, trying to get Archie to take the pants, but the elder man wouldn't hear it, saying he liked what he was wearing, it created a nice healthy breeze around his parts.

Causing the boys to continue melting into the cushions with laughter, tears nearly coming to their own eyes they'd been laughing so much lately. Why couldn't they have just started with this book, it was certainly the most enjoyable yet. Waving aside that pesky first chapter which they had all adamantly put behind them, they were all finally starting to hope this good feeling would last a whole year.

Hermione couldn't stop giggling through the whole exchange, which lasted until it was Archie's turn to collect his water, which he did with dignity, his dress swaying in the breeze as he left. Having to walk more slowly now weighted down with the water, they reversed course and this time through the maze of tents found a few more fellow Hogwarts students, including Oliver Wood, Harry's old Quidditch Captain.

"Ooh, there's going to be a new Quidditch Captain this year," James yelped in remembered excitement, now realizing that Harry wasn't it, and wishing he'd gotten more of an insight into the rest of his team to see who it was. He was upset for his son it wasn't him, but he supposed as a fourth year it would be too soon for him anyways. Surely someone else would graduate and his son would get the chance before he left school though.

He dragged Harry over to his parents while informing him that he'd been assigned on the reserve team of Puddlemere United.

"Congratulations to him," Sirius nodded, really meaning it. They'd all had some irksome moments when it came to Wood's captaining, but the boy was a good player and he did deserve that at least. Hopefully working with professionals would help him with his, ah, team problems.

Then they ran into Ernie Macmillan, a Hufflepuff in their year. Then Cho Chang, a very pretty girl who was a year above them and Seeker for Ravenclaw, gave Harry a wave as he passed.

Both James and Sirius gave Harry not so subtle little nudges, which he still dutifully ignored despite the blush trying to prove otherwise. For some reason whenever he thought of Cho, he didn't get a real feeling for her. Sure she was still pretty even in his memory, and while he was certain he may have liked her at the time, she held no interest to him for any length of time.

Harry sloshed most of the water he was carrying down his front as he waved back.

Causing all of them to smile at him now, and Harry to burrow even deeper into his seat, trying his best to avoid all eyes and brush his bangs onto his forehead with nerves. The exact opposite reaction of what James would have done giving Sirius and Remus an extra shot of delight.

In hopes to change the subject, the next time they passed a group of kids their age but he in no way recognized, Harry asked what school they went to, certainly not Hogwarts. Ron just shrugged and said it was probably some foreign school. His older brother Bill had pen palled with one from Brazil for a while, but when they'd tried to set up an exchange and Bill couldn't afford it, his pen pal had got all offended and sent Bill a cursed hat, which shriveled up his ears.

"Wasn't that one called Castelobruxo?" Sirius asked, finally stopping his smirking at Harry.

"Sounds right," James shrugged, wincing in sympathy for Bill.

Harry was shocked to hear there were more wizarding schools besides his own, but in retrospect he felt stupid as it made sense that there were several nationalities here, and not all of them could be attendance at just one place.

"Not stupid," Lily corrected at once. "It only just now occurred to you of the wider world, all kids come to that moment at some point."

Harry gave her a bright smile back, never growing tired of anyone in the room trying to correct his negative side, always feeling a happy bubble the more he realized he'd never had the experience before, though it only increased the craving every time that he had grown up not knowing all of them.

He gave a quick look at Hermione who was unphased by the news. Surely she'd come across this fact in one of her books.

"Would not surprise me," Remus agreed.

When they got back to their campsite, George complained at them they'd taken forever.

"Well you were taking your time," Sirius chuckled.

Ron just shrugged that they'd met some people along the way, then asked why the fire wasn't going yet? They looked around and saw Arthur was trying with enthusiasm, striking the matches against the box as he should, but several littered attempts around him proved what they saw next, he lit the end then dropped it in surprise.

Giving Lily and Remus another friendly giggle, picturing that all too easily.

Hermione kindly went over to him and helped to show him how to do it without killing it, then they had to wait some time for the fire to get warm enough to cook anything. While they waited, Mr. Weasley kept up a running commentary of everybody who ran by, mostly for Harry and Hermione's benefit as his own kids knew most of this already.

"Well I'm glad for it," Lily's eyes continued to brighten with interest, knowing she'd much rather enjoy the thoroughfare of the Ministry rather than Quidditch.

One man named Gilbert Wimple was hurrying past, he was on the Committee on Experimental Charms, and happened to have some horns sprouting, though according to Arthur they'd been there awhile.

"There's a point of conversation," Sirius smirked.

Then two men passed named Bode and Croaker, who were Unspeakables. Harry asked what that was, and Mr. Weasley explained they worked for the Department of Mysteries, and no one outside that field knew what they got up to.

Harry felt a terrible tightening in his gut at the mention of that place, unconsciously moving closer to Sirius, causing his Godfather to give him a look of surprise, though neither of them said anything, knowing if they did Harry would be the one to pay for it. Still, the motion bothered Sirius, and he was finally distracted from the upcoming game to let his mind wander back and wonder what he was up to, had he gotten Harry's letter yet, and why would that place have any connection to him?

Just as they were setting the kettle on, the rest of the Weasley's appeared, Percy greeting them by saying they'd just got done Apparating.

"Thank you, captain obvious," James snorted. "Here I thought you'd frog marched."

"How did they know where we were?" Harry asked in surprise.

"Remember that little post from where your portkey landed," Remus reminded him. "They would have gotten the same instructions as you from there."

The next person to arrive, Mr. Weasley greeted very warmly, calling him the man of the hour as he greeted Ludo.

Which gave Sirius an instant distraction, Harry's odd moment completely lost in his mind. The Ludo Bagman! "So you do meet him!" he practically screeched in Harry's ear, causing him to quickly reverse course and edge away from him, rubbing at his ear but grinning all the same.

"Guess I was right that time," he agreed easily, though still unable to shake that feeling that he didn't enjoy the man's company long.

Bagman certainly stuck out, even more than Archie in his dress.

"Now that's saying something," Lily smirked.

He was wearing his old Quidditch robes, slightly too tight around his girth, which had thick yellow and black stripes all down it, with a wasp pressed into the chest.

"Thinking someone's being a wee bit nostalgic," Remus snickered.

He had a round, childishly happy face, with large blue eyes, and a squashed nose, which could easily have come from one to many bludgers crushing it.

Sirius was practically quivering with excitement, wondering when that had come up, had it cost them the game, had he persevered through it and Bludgeoned someone off in retaliation!?

He practically bounced to their side, giving them a warm greeting, and walking as if he had springs in his heels.

"As he should be," James nodded along, his tone conveying the exact same feelings.

He greeted Arthur, then began at once talking of the coming match, speaking of the perfect weather and how all the arrangements had turned out perfectly, there was hardly anything Ludo could find to do! Behind him, Harry spotted two Ministry officials gesturing to a large purple plume of smoke that was rising.

"Timing," Remus exclaimed, not even bothering to fight down his laughter much anymore.

"Guess those African's got out of hand," Lily chuckled.

Percy jumped forward at once. Clearly whatever he disliked about the way Bagman ran his department, he still wanted to show a good front.

"Let's see him say that to his face," Sirius sniffed, never liking two faced people.

Arthur introduced first Percy, then Fred, quickly correcting that one was George, and that one was Fred-

"Even the parent's get them backwards," James smirked, still nursing and quite liking the idea if he could somehow have twins in his future.

before continuing along the lot, ending with Harry. Bagman's eyes at once flashed to the scar on Harry's forehead, but then he easily met Harry's eyes and gave him a smile.

"Least he was subtle about it," Lily sniffed, still sore as the rest of them from Mr. Diggory's presence.

"He's an international Quidditch player," Sirius offered. "I'm guessing he's used to fame, and he's being polite enough not to shove on Harry about it."

Then Arthur introduced Ludo Bagman as the one who'd gotten them their tickets! Bagman waved him off, saying it was no big deal, then asked if they'd like to put anything on the match? He gave a bag hanging from his belt a suggestive clinking noise.

Harry's instincts rose even more, his eyes narrowing as he was now sure this had something to do with his own disapproval of Bagman, something about him...and maybe Ron? It was definitely one of the Weasley's...at least he thought so...

He mentioned a few other people who'd already placed money down, and Mr. Weasley agreed he'd give a Galleon for Ireland to win. Bagman was clearly disappointed at those low stakes, but wrote him a slip for it anyways. Then Bagman offered if any of his kids wanted in, and Arthur tried to say they were too young, Molly wouldn't approve-

"Molly's not there," James scoffed. "It's their money, let them be."

Lily narrowed her eyes at her husband, she didn't much approve of gambling and quite agreed with Arthur, and most likely with Molly, that those kids shouldn't be until they were at least of age, but didn't pick an argument for it now.

the twins completely ignored him and offered up a huge sum of money,

Harry's gut went haywire, there it was, it was the twins and Bagman that made him feel so uneasy, but then Remus gave a breathy whistle as he said, "Well they're certainly playing to win," and the feeling was gone at once, to be replaced by a sharp pain for his trying to understand the connection. He just crossed his arms in disappointment and agreed aloud that he hoped it payed off.

that Ireland would win, but Krum got the Snitch.

At once, Harry again felt a pull, something in him saying that he should have a memory about this bet, but considering he'd just dealt with a mental backlash he wasn't going to push it.

Then they threw in one of their fake wands. Percy tried to tell them off for that, saying Bagman wouldn't want to see such rubbish, but Bagman turned out to be delighted when it turned into a rubber chicken, causing him to laugh loudly.

"I'm loving him more and more," Sirius cheered, his own eyes shining with childlike glee. "Any man who can laugh at that has a great sense of humor, oh I really hope those twins win now! Can you imagine them getting in good terms with Bagman! They might even get a sponsorship and-"

"Breathe Sirius," Remus said peaceably, at least trying to reign his friend in. "Let's see if they win the match first." Though privately he was thinking it could work out the way Sirius was picturing even if they didn't win their bet, if Bagman did like their ideas enough there was some great potential room in there.

Bagman happily agreed to the terms. Percy's face looked like he'd been smacked he was so disapproving.

"I still don't care," James happily chirped, like his friends all too pleased at where that could head.

Arthur tried one more time, saying that was their life savings,

"Bagman really should consider that their father is telling them no," Lily sighed, "And back him up. It's rude otherwise."

"They're, what, about a year from turning seventeen?" Sirius shot back. "When's their birthday Harry?" He directed, looking to make his point.

"April first," Harry shrugged.

The boys blinked in surprise, before all four of them cracked up laughing at how perfect these twins had been born on April Fool's day. Sirius quickly collected himself though, continuing like Harry had just made his point for him, "Less than a year then, their father really shouldn't get too much of a say what they do with their money."

Lily sighed, still in disagreement that Bagman wasn't showing proper manners, but before she could say anything else, Harry asked, "You guys got any predictions for the game?"

"Sadly not," James pouted, "as we don't know their stats or anything, otherwise I would put some money down."

but Bagman laughed Arthur off, saying they knew what they were doing. He wrote down their bet and a slip for them, adding on five Galleons to the boy's deed for the fake wand.

"Oh I definitely want to meet this guy in person," James wriggled around in pleasure, more than pleased to meet someone who was giving such vivid support to the twins.

Arthur stopped arguing the point as the twins handed over their money and tucked their slip safely away. Bagman turned back to Mr. Weasley cheerfully and asked if he'd seen Crouch around? He'd just had a run in with the Bulgarian minister, and he needed a translator, and as Crouch spoke over fifty languages he'd be a help.

Harry blinked in surprise, trying to process how you could cram so many languages into your head, but looking around he saw this wasn't new information to the others, which meant Crouch must have made this public knowledge often. He'd probably been at it for years then.

Percy happily jumped back in now, saying his boss knew over two hundred! Beginning to list some, such as Mermish, Troll- but Fred cut him off by pointing out anyone could speak troll, you just point and grunt.

Giving the boys yet another happy round of chuckling, fully agreeing with Fred on that point.

Percy gave his brother a fire shot look.

"Was he really expecting them to be impressed or something?" Lily snorted. "I'm positive Percy's mentioned this a dozen times to them, does he keep expecting a different response?"

"He's fighting a losing battle if so," James agreed.

Arthur then asked of Bagman if there'd been any news of Bertha Jorkins?

Then James gave a deep sigh, wondering why he couldn't go one chapter without that being brought up of late. He just wanted to enjoy the Cup, not keep thinking of that poor dead girl and the return of Voldemort, was that too much to ask for?!

Bagman didn't seem concerned as he brushed that off, saying this wasn't the first time she'd gotten herself lost. She'd probably show up in October still thinking it was July.

Making all five of them wince in sympathy, sadly knowing that not to be true.

Arthur tried to say it was time someone went looking, but Bagman just laughed and said Barty kept saying the same thing, but it really was pointless. As if their talking had summoned him, a new wizard appeared on their sight, making a stark contrast to Bagman. He held himself impeccably, wearing a fine suite and proper tie.

"I can already see why Percy's in love with him," Sirius snorted.

His hair and beard were perfectly groomed, and it was easy to see why Percy thought so much of him. His every demeanor showed he was a rule follower, he'd accorded himself so well to the Muggle clothes he looked like a broker.

"I at least give the others credit for trying," Lily gave yet another smirk as she flashed back to all of those flashy outfits she'd heard about. "Not all the wizards have the means to look into that kind of thing before hand, I'm sure he probably had someone lay the outfit out for him and probably didn't even look into it himself."

Harry doubted even Vernon would have spotted him for what he really was.

"You are not encouraging him to us," Remus sniffed in disdain.

Bagman happily offered him to take a seat with them, but Crouch said he hadn't the time, he'd been looking all over for him. The Bulgarian minister had found him, and was insisting they needed twelve more sets up in the Top Box. Bagman was surprised that's what was going on, he'd thought the chap had been asking for some tweezers.

All of them couldn't help another snort of amusement, picturing that conversation taking place a nice laugh.

Percy reacted at once to Crouch's arrival, giving him a bow then asking if he'd like some tea? Crouch only gave him a half glance, saying that would be nice, then referring to him as Weatherby.

"Ouch," Lily winced in sympathy while the boy's only laughed harder. She felt bad for him, clearly all of his hard work at the office wasn't paying him too much good yet if Crouch didn't even know Percy's name yet.

His siblings choked into their drinks while Percy turned pink and went to work.

"He's not going to correct him?" James asked in surprise.

"I'm sure Crouch could call him Grindelwald and Percy wouldn't correct him," Sirius snorted, not really noticing Harry give an odd start at the name.

Crouch then turned to Arthur, saying he'd needed to speak with him as well.

"That almost feels like a slap in the face to Percy," Remus still had a bemused smile in place even if he was starting to feel a little bad for it. "He's literally talking to Percy's dad, and didn't acknowledge the name mess-up."

"I've got a feeling Crouch would sooner eat his highly polished shoe then correct himself," Lily huffed.

A man named Bashir was demanding that flying carpets be let into the country, and Arthur gave a heavy sigh as he said he'd had this conversation before. Those were classified under Muggle Artifacts by the Registry of Proscribed Charmable Objects! Crouch agreed as much, saying that Bashir was still looking to export here in Britain. Bagman jumped in saying they'd never replace the broom, but Crouch countered that Bashir had the idea they'd become a family mode of transport.

"Well he's got a point there," Lily nodded, her mind spinning curiously. "I suppose if they were charmed to simply look like a cloud or something, Muggle's wouldn't even pay too much attention to them. I really can see how they could work."

"I still don't see those replacing brooms," James shrugged, "plus, it's the same problems with the flying car. You can enchant it all day, but the charms will wear off, and eventually some Muggle will notice. It'll cause more harm than good I'm sure."

A spark of interest was still there in Lily's eyes, she looked fully prepared to actually start a debate with her husband about it, but Sirius groaned and pleaded, "can we do this later, I want to hear about the Cup, and this book's been dragging on it long enough already."

Lily huffed as she muttered "you never let me have any fun," but didn't argue as James happily kept going.

Crouch agreed his grandfather had owned one that could seat a dozen, before they were outlawed of course. His tone making it perfectly clear even his ancestors had abided by every law.

Harry felt a funny feeling about that, like he should laugh at Crouch and something to do with a law? Does he do something illegal? Harry couldn't process it very well, he was too busy watching Sirius pantomiming like he was trying to remove a stick from his arse.

Bagman changed the subject then, asking if he was very busy? Crouch agreed he was, it wasn't easy getting five continents organized. Mr. Weasley asked if they'd both be glad when this was all done, and Bagman was shocked, saying he was enjoying himself! Then again, there was something else to look forward to organizing, giving Crouch a conspiratorial wink.

"Now what's this?" Remus asked in surprise. "Something else that the Head of Sports is also involved in?"

"Clearly not just some dull meeting then," James nodded in curious agreement.

Crouch gave Bagman a stern look which he ignored, as he went on to say that everyone had signed, these kids would want to know! It was happening at Hogwarts-

"What?" All five of them yelped in surprise this time.

"Now what on earth-" Lily began faintly, shooting furtive looks at Harry, a sad but familiar feeling of fear starting to creep into her already. She was being paranoid of course, just because something was going down at the school this year didn't automatically place her son in danger, but she really couldn't beat the feeling away anymore, it had too much practice settling a coldness in her chest.

Harry was blinking spastically, just knowing something was there, this was a part of the echoing feeling he'd held when this was mentioned earlier, but it wasn't complete yet. Nor was it boding well that his first instinct was to not be pleased about it.

Still, none of them had a clue what this could be, so James kept going for now in hopes Bagman would say more.

Crouch cut back in with force this time, saying they needed to see to the Bulgarian's. Just as Percy was done with his tea, he handed it back and thanked him, again calling him Weatherby.

That wasn't as distracting and funny the second time, only Sirius managing a faint laugh at Percy's expense while the others were still wrapped up in curiosity.

Bagman happily agreed they could get going, then promised to see the rest of them tonight. He was commentating up in the Top Box with them.

James actually almost passed out, that distracted him! "Y-you-you're in the t-top-" he was clearly unable of stuttering that out, his eyes likely to fall onto his glasses any second they were getting so wide with excitement.

"You've literally got the best seat in the house," Sirius half screeched, "and they were just given to you! I'd pay my weight in gold for that kind of seat!"

Harry had a wide smile indeed on his face, childishly pleased at the experience he was fixing to get. The only thing that would make it better was having the four of them hear about it with him, so that he could picture all the more easily what it would have been like had they really been up there with him.

James was left a gasping mess before he slapped his brain back into action, already half yelling his excitement as he continued.

Bagman gave one last cheerful wave before they both Disapparated, and Fred at once pounced on his father, demanding to know what was going on at Hogwarts? He just gave a small smile as he said they'd see.

"Now that's just cruel," Lily sighed, though clearly none of the boy's noticed. She seemed the only one left to ponder on the Hogwarts part, the males were all jittering in place for the match to come.

Percy agreed that was classified, Bagman had been foolhardy even mentioning that much. Fred snapped at him to shut up, now referring to him as Weatherby as well.

"That jokes not going away anytime soon," Remus muttered to himself, more excited then he would care to admit to listen to this coming game.

As dusk began to settle, the Ministry gave up. More and more wizards were releasing their pent up excitement, so much so that it was no longer possible to contain.

Lily sighed, already rubbing at her ear in discontent, but still unable to tell off James for being so blatantly excited for what he was reading. He needed this release, Peter's betrayal would most likely return eventually and continue to eat away at him, so she knew she'd let him carry on like this as long as he could.

Salesmen were starting to appear, carts full of memorabilia for both teams, including Bulgarian scarves that roared like lions.

"I'd buy one of those just so I could take it back to Hogwarts," Sirius smirked, "it's a two for deal."

Ron happily told his friends he'd been saving up his pocket money for ages for this, buying a shamrock hat, and a miniature figure of Krum.

"Good to see Ron supporting his team," Remus snickered, now more unclear than ever which side he was rooting for.

Harry spotted something else and darted off to look at brass binoculars, which were covered in knobs and dials.

"Ooh, another good buy," James all but squeed. "Can be more than useful outside of just watching Quidditch games at Hogwarts too. We used them all the time to spy on the other houses, and the teachers, and-"

"Okay," Lily did cut in this time, "I sleep better having less knowledge of what you lot did in your free time in and outside of that castle."

"You know you love our stories," Sirius shot back at once, and his smirk only grew when Lily didn't deny it. Still, James was too pent up for the Cup to let them keep at it.

The sales wizard happily told them they were omnioculars, could be used to show play by plays of the game, reverse footage so you could replay, and only ten Galleons. Ron pouted that he wished he hadn't gotten his hat now, but then Harry bought three pairs for them. Ron tried to protest, always having been embarrassed his family sported so little money.

"Ah they get over it," James said from experience, watching Remus pretend to ignore his friends eyeing him. "You just got to keep at it and wave away the thanks, they repay you back in other ways."

Harry laughed it off, saying he wasn't going to give Ron anything for Christmas for ten years instead.

Causing Sirius to release a bark like laughter as he joked, "that's all you spend on his presents, a galleon? For shame Harry, I think you actually owe him a few more now."

Harry pretended to look offended for a few moments, but he couldn't hold the expression long as he started laughing.

Ron happily agreed now, and Hermione showed back up, thanked Harry and said that she'd gotten them programs.

"Oh yes, I'm so sure that was on their to do list," Remus nodded, feigning a straight face.

"She really saved them some gold by taking that task on," James agreed with a solemn nod, before the chuckling continued.

Their money bags considerably lighter,

"Worth it," Harry smirked.

they went back to find the others also bedecked with souvenirs, except the twins.

"I'm sure they won't regret that if it pays off," Sirius snickered.

Mr. Weasley was just saying how it would happen any minute now, when a gong went off, and lights began coming to life in the forest, glowing red and green lanterns marking a path. Arthur's excitement was as visible as anyone as he told them it was time to go.

James mouth sagged in shock when he realized that his chapter was over, then he turned the wide set eyes to Sirius, before his face turned just as quickly away and he handed over the book.

HPHPHPHP

A lot of this chapter turned out to be Remus and Lily ganging up on James and Sirius, and I'm not sorry for that. It was pretty fun, and the reason I sat those two beside each other.

*I googled what British money looks like, sorry my American is showing, and from what I could tell British have the numbers on their money as well, so that was my best guess at Arthur's confusion. If I'm wrong and there's something else going on, please correct me.

**Childishly happy shout out to the American and all other wizarding schools being revealed after all these years. I got sorted into Horned Serpent, let me know yours.

[svtegg]

constellations (SVT apocalypse!au)

♡ wordcount: 2,7k ♡ chapter 19/?

(ch.1, ch.2, ch.3, ch.4, ch.5, ch.6, ch.7, ch.8 ch.9 ch.10 ch.11 ch.12 ch.13 ch.14 ch.15 ch.16 ch.17 ch.18)

♡ this won’t make any sense if you haven’t read the last part so make sure to catch up on those before reading! they’re all linked above!

♡ rating: PG-13 death/violence, language, gore themes, descriptions and  mentions of murder, voilence, bodily harm and blood, mentions of pregnancy.

♡ warning: this part involves parts of very descriptive violence, mentions of murder, blood, bodily harm, death, sexual themes and vauge hints to planned/atempted assault! be careful and stay safe! love u

♡ pairing: svt (soonyoung) x reader)

Both me and Seungcheol where momentarily blinded by a bright light and as I squinted against the flash, Seungcheol groaned and lifted a hand up to shield his eyes. “Y/n?!” Soonyoung almost barked, both surprise and worry dripping from the way he pronounced my name. I blinked a few times to adjust to the darkness again as both Soonyoung and Jihoon lowered their girthy flashlights towards the dewy grass beneath us. Seungcheol walked over to the only car left and I could hear him talking to Jihoon by the luggage hatch of the car. The grass rustled slightly as Soonyoung strode over to me, a hand quickly reaching out to touch the now dried and coagulated blood that streaked my neck and shoulder. “What happened to you?” the male whispered; his eyebrows furrowed over his worried eyes as his irises flickered between my face and my neck and torn up clothes. 

Even in the darkness I could see how his eyes gleamed with a slight sheen of anger, or maybe it was fierce worry. The want for revenge glinting in his eyes as he looked between the ripped fabric of my shirt to the wound on my neck, the splattered blood along my torso and then eventually back to my eyes. His hand fell from my shoulder to his side as he gave me another once over. “They’re dead, don’t worry about it.” I whispered as I turned to walk over to the car. “Jihoon got one of them in the back of the head and I planted another bullet right between the other guys eyes. Easy.” I chuckled, brushing it off slightly but mostly so he would stop worrying too much. Soonyoung followed right behind me, probably deciding to let it be for a while, and as I got in the car I noticed Vernon sleeping peacefully against the window in the backseat.

The trip back to camp consisted mostly of silence. Soonyoung had gently grasped my hand in the backseat and was slowly running his thumb across the back of my hand while Seungcheol drove. Jihoon had originally took the driver seat but we had to stop halfway because he got sleepy. The other guys had decided to leave with the first half of the group in the first car because they wanted to get the people who where already out back safe. Especially seeing as the young girl was only two years old and needed to be brought to a safe environment. And Jangmi, the lady who was pregnant, had fallen unconscious after they got her out so they had decided it would just be better for everyone to get out of there as quick as possible. I zoned out during Soonyoung and Seungcheol’s casual back and forth as I thought back to the image of Haru, Jihoon had told me that was the young girl’s name. How she had been giggling and laughing while playing with a bunched-up rag, and how she seemed so accustomed to all the horrors of this reality.

It only dawned on me right then how she had never known anything other than this. She had only been alive for two years; how could she fear situations like these if this is all she ever knew. As I sat completely drowned in my own thoughts, I felt a shoulder bump mine gently. I looked over at Soonyoung and only then did I realize I was barely holding back tears. He smiled gently at me before leaning his head into mine and letting me rest against his shoulder. And that is how I fell asleep. It had been an extremely long day, and I finally felt how tired I was, how exhausted and heavy my body felt. My limbs ached, I was in pain and my body had been ravaged by an unusual amount of adrenaline. And as I slowly fell asleep I felt Soonyoung gently envelop my hand with both his and the warmth felt so nice in that moment that if I wasn’t half asleep by then I swear I would have cried.

“Which one’s that?” Junghyun softly asked, a tiny hand pointed up towards the blacked-out sky. It was illuminated by thousands upon thousands of white glowing stars. “That’s orions belt, see how they’re all lined up perfectly?” I answered, my voice barely above a whisper as I looked over at the tiny boy. He continued to stare up at the sky, his eyes blown wide as he discovered more and more stars. I let my fingers drag over the dark blue fleece blanket cushioning the two of us from the hard concrete of the roof we where laying on as I absentmindedly stared off behind Junghyun. Eunju was sleeping a few meters away and Jicheol was sitting against the edge of the roof, leaning over and watching the darkened city. Everything was quiet. So, so quiet and dark. “Look, that one looks like a heart shape!” Junghyun mused, his tiny voice floating through the cold midnight air. I let out a soft chuckle, but it sounded more like a harsh breath. The sound of a few doves landing on a rusted antenna snapped me out of the half asleep state I had lulled myself into and I looked over at Jicheol who was still sitting in the same corner as before, now running his dull pocket knife along the edge of one of his frayed and tattered backpack straps. Everything seemed so still, almost normal for a few seconds and I found myself bittersweetly nostalgic as I remembered a time before all of this and how badly I wished I could have seen Junghyun grow up in the world I had experienced so many years ago.

I thought about how he would have run around, how he would have loved football and how he would have been a boy scout. Exploring nature and learning about space and stars and planets. Learning languages and multiplying and science instead of learning first aid, how to collect water from soil and how to load a gun. I let one of my hands stretch out to move some of the stray black hairs that had now fallen over his closed eyes. He needed a haircut; his hair was getting long. His cheeks where dotted with dirt and tiny scratches that almost looked like the constellations on the sky he adored so much. He looked so peaceful like this, sleeping without a single worry, resting. This was how I wanted to remember him as he grew up, I thought to myself. This is how he’ll live in my mind forever.

“Y/n?” a soft voice said, I could feel someone softly grasp my upper arm but I was so sleepy. I couldn’t tell where the voice came from or who it was, but somehow it didn’t scare me. The comfortable blanket around me and the warmth from Junghyun was way too comfortable. I was so tired too, I just wanted to rest. Just for one second. The doves above cooed, and the slight sound of the gentle wind blowing past the buildings and the rustle nature that was slowly overgrowing the concrete and asphalt of the city just lured me further into sleep.

The next time I opened my eyes there was a low sound of water running. A slow stream. Over me there was a strong light, almost completely white for a few seconds before my eyes could adjust. The sky above was blue, without a single cloud in sight. I could feel the grass sway softly with the breeze all around me. It was warm, but not hot. The wind felt amazing against my skin as it drifted past and lightly danced through my hair, which wasn’t tied up as usual. It flowed down along my shoulders and I could feel the tips of the strands tickle my exposed shoulders. The buzzing of a fly was suddenly audible on the left side of my head and I quickly stood up as I waved my hand around gently to shoo the insect away. I was surrounded by vast woods, tall pine trees and fresh green grass that tickled my shins as I took a few steps away from the position I had woken up in. There was a tiny stream cutting through the middle of the field but other than that there where just woods and mountains all around. I looked down on myself, unsure if I was dreaming or not. Was this real? Where was I? Am I dead? Is this heaven?

I was barefoot, the dampness of the soil beneath pressing against the soles of my feet. And I was wearing a familiar dress. A white one with a tiny blue ribbon tied around the waist. It was the same dress I had worn in my parents wedding when I was four. Except much bigger, and as I realized that fact, I knew I had to be dreaming. Or dead. I quickly looked up again. If I was dead, why was I alone? Where was Junghyun and Eunju? Dahye? My parents? Was I supposed to be alone even after dying? “Hello?” I tried, my voice raspy and hoarse. I cleared it slightly and tried again. No answer. Only the deafening sound of the water, and the occasional fly buzzing past my face. I stood for a few seconds, letting myself stand in the silence. I felt someone take my hand, first the left one and then the right. And just as I was about to turn around to face the person who had so gently held my hands my eyes opened, for real this time.

“Hi. Good morning.” Mingyu gently smiled as I met eyes with him. His large hand was clutching mine, while the other disappeared out of my line of sight towards my neck. I groaned as I felt a slight sting on the skin where his hand was. “Sorry. It’s antiseptic.” He whispered, looking at me with an apologetic smile. I rolled my neck as gently as I could, so I didn’t disturb whatever it was he was doing, and my entire spine cracked one joint after the other. The room was familiar, just like every other of the motel rooms of the camp. It wasn’t the same room as Seokmin had stayed in because the beds where placed differently. There where two beds on each side of the room here, and the identical dresser had been pushed in-between. “How’s everyone?” I asked, looking back at Mingyu as soon as I had oriented myself a little. He glanced between my eyes and my neck, skipping a couple beats before he answered. “Well, you’re the person in second worst shape and I guess that’s a pretty good starting point.” He hoarsely whispered back with a playful smile slightly tugging at the corners of his lips, before focusing completely on bandaging up my neck.

“You got five stitches and a good night’s sleep; you’ll definitely manage. Jangmi has pneumonia and is about 8 months along, Chan also suspects she might have preeclampsia but there is basically no way to be certain of that in this situation. It’s not looking too good.” He solemnly explained, his coffee colored eyes downcast as he put the final bandage over the stitches on my neck. I sighed, turning to look over at the other bed that was placed under the dusty window on the wall diagonal to where my bed was. “That’s Seungkwan.” Mingyu whispered as he got up to put the rest of the supplies away. “He’s just malnourished and tired. Vernon too, he’s in a bit more of a shock and doesn’t really say much but he asked about you. Jeonghan was covered in infected cuts but he’ll manage. Haru was in next to perfect health, but I think we’re seeing some separation anxiety symptoms. It’s not that bad but we’ll have to be proactive about it.” The tall man murmured as he turned his back to the beds to dispose of the used cottonpads and the bandage wrapper. He was wearing a burgundy hoodie that was way to small for him, so he couldn’t zip it up. “I’ll have Wonwoo bring you two some food, Chan will be by to check on your stitches a little later. We have to disinfect it three times a day because according to Jihoon whatever knife those guys used on you, it was rusty and dirtied up pretty badly.” The hoodie clad man moved over to the door, his voice still barely above a whisper as Seungkwan was still completely passed out in the bed beside mine. Mingyu stilled for a while, his hand holding the doorknob but not moving. I could hear faint talking and the sound of footsteps on the gravel outside. Mingyu turned to look over his shoulders, our eyes locking for the first time today. Had we stared at each other in silence for even a split second longer I would have busted out in an awkward laugh but just as I was about to look away, he smiled gently, his dark eyes looking so extremely sincerely apologetic. “Good to have you back, Y/n.”

I had been ordered to stay on bed rest for the day by both Mingyu and Chan, but after about 40 minutes of laying and listening to people go about their day outside and nearly praying that Seungkwan would wake up just so I could have someone to talk to, I took my chances and left the tray of half eaten food Wonwoo had brought earlier on the dresser and walked out onto the porch. The sun was shining, barely a cloud in the sky and I could hear Sun barking and the sound of a child laughing so happily it almost came out as a scream. There was a shadowed figure in the watchtower, and I recognized it as Minghao right away, the way his long hair fell over his eyes and into his face not hiding his identity very well. Not that hiding your identity was necessary right now anyway. The wind blew past, it was a little stronger today and I could feel slight goosebumps rise on my arms as I leaned onto the wooden bannister.

The wind took ahold of the treetops and swayed them gently. The sound of the leaves rustling, and the tall grass being tousled was oddly calming. It was warm for an autumn morning, but not hot. I looked over at the sound of a door opening and was politely greeted by Seokmin and a man I recognized as Jeonghan supporting the latter. “Morning!” Seokmin smiled, staggering slightly as he moved out on the porch. Jeonghan helped Seokmin waddle over to the bannister for support and as the younger boy assumed almost the same position as me, Jeonghan moved to stand in between the two of us. There was a beat of silence, the wind once again taking another hold of the very tops of the pine trees all around the camp. “I don’t think we got to formally introduce ourselves, I’m Jeonghan.” the man smiled, the previous bandages I had seen him with was gone now, replaced by some new, clean ones while some of the smaller cuts on his face had been smeared with ointment. He looked tired and unusually pale, but his smile and eyes read happy, almost thankful. I offered him a smile before gently responding with “Pleased to meet you. I’m Y/n.”

[not-bumbles-guthrie]

When The Beasts Run Wild

A weird choice for a first tumblr post but alas! I must undermine expectation! If you’re unlucky enough to be interested in reading this, here’s a little description:

In a deserted environment, brutalized by nuclear fallout, we find Cherry. She’s a quiet, nihilistic young woman plagued by the knowledge that she has lived her entire life in the remains of a society that no longer exists. The story follows her as her fellow survivors celebrate the Summer Solstice. Unfortunately, more seems to be at hand as it dawns upon Cherry and her lover that the world might be ending soon.

When it came to the explosion, no one imagined it would lead to the downfall of humanity. It would lead us to a return to order, an acoustic version of the world the humans had created. They would no longer be a part of it. It was a strange concept to grow used to as the days passed, and people were eaten at by the radiation. Of course, there were people that ran to the nuclear hostels, the ones hidden deep in the underbelly of Mother Earth. Yet, they talk of those places being overrun. One person says they were there when the President was found, slumped over. She’d also been killed by the radiation from the second blast. The person who told me this would die too in the coming weeks. Her face was bloodied when she took her last breath, shaky and demure. Then, with a flourish, she sucked in one last time, as hard as she could, and breathed out, “Fin!” While she didn’t have the strength for that exclamation point, I like to imagine her enthusiasm behind it is deserving of the emphasis.

Dogs run free now. If I had to take a guess on who ruled the expanse of land Mother left us, it would be them. She seems to have made them impervious to the air, to the invisible killer. Then again, we believe that she made us impervious to the same air. Perhaps we are just lucky, though. The dogs are destined. Eventually, we will die out. I don’t think the same can be said about the puppies, with their floppy ears and jovial smiles that cut through the particles.

I toss a piece of my flatbread to the yappy pup at my ankle. Her name is Annika, after Queenie’s grandmother who survived the first blast only to die because of the second one. She isn’t my dog; unlike most of the people here, I don’t choose dogs. They find me, visit me, and then they drift away either to their human companions or back to the dust and decay. Mother Earth would’ve blessed me with one if She wanted me to tend to a dog. They are Her chosen successors, after all. I’m merely here to die and be eaten by one of them when the time comes for my body to return to Mother through a dog’s shit that will hopefully make this land fertile once more.

Or maybe it won’t. Who fucking cares? It’s not like there’s a 9 a.m. office job to attend or a peewee football game to cheer on my snot-nosed kids at. There’s the dogs, the open sores, the radiation, and Mother Earth. That’s all. Those are the last things a human will ever know.

I used to ponder what the limits of humanity would be. I thought I would see the end of it, and that ending would be magical. We would finally know what the finality of the human brain was, what its capacity was. However, it’s become quickly apparent that in my eighteen years, nothing will ever show me that capacity. This is the capacity. The height of human invention and creativity? Its own destruction. How poetic. And to think, I was a baby and I missed it all.

It’s weird, living in a sarcophagus of time. I know everything about a culture that is dead. A species that is dead. Soon, I will be dead too. I’ve been told, by a doctor who lives in the camp, that most of us will only make it another 15 years. Maybe I’ll make it longer, he said, because I miraculously survived the first two blasts before the age of five. If I didn’t die then, perhaps I’m meant to last long enough to outlive the cancers and the ARS. Personally, I don’t think he was a very smart doctor. Even I know that’s not how radiation works. Put simply, I will be dead. It’s only a matter of when Mother Earth decides to reclaim me.

Father sits in The Temple when I return with Annika. The growth of what few flowers and vegetables can be produced in this climate surround him, billowing at his feet. His toenails were kissed by the vines of the potatoes, which had grown gnarly like his bunions. Father was a sight for sore eyes, with the fallout aging him past his years. He deserved to have a big, great white beard, but alas. All he had to show for his near two decades of turmoil was a small patch of growth on his face. He no longer had a full head of hair, and the sores on his skull near his neck opened daily with each movement. That’s what filled my vision as I walked towards him, as his head was bowed in prayer.

“Father,” came out soft and trembling. I cleared my throat. No need for that.

“Any news? Has Her Graciousness spoken to you?”

He spoke about Mother with a reverence that no one in the group possessed. He worshipped her. My mouth became dry, and its taste made me nauseated. There was nothing to report. Mother Earth had never spoken to me. She never spoke to him, why would that change with me?

“Yes, Father. She has.”

His eyes widened, pupils dilating as he took in more light. Blue rhinestones. “What did She tell you?”

I glared at Annita, nudging my head to snap back and tell her to kindly fuck off. The stupid animal simply sat there and stared at me. I rolled my eyes. “Stupid girl,” I muttered before looking Father in his eyes. “Mother Earth tells me that we will be safe for the coming Solstice.”

We had no idea if the Summer Solstice was close or not, actually. We assumed, based on the markings Monsignor Karl had kept for the past nineteen years since the first blast knocked out the power grid in the eastern hemisphere. He was the original Keeper, passing on the reins to Ingrid after he passed. It was hard to watch him go, as the cancer overtook him. For the last weeks, he did nothing but bleed from his mouth. Thanks to him, we are able to honor Mother. Kind of.

“That’s a good girl. Thank you, Cherry.”

I nodded in response, bowing at Father, before walking away. Annita followed me, yipping as we made our way to Camp. Ingrid acknowledged me with a demure nod as I passed her. She wore an ornate necklace, one that was found through scavenging when the Monsignor was still alive, that held a long-stopped pocket watch as its pendant. It was the Monsignor. It ran for the first few weeks following the Chernobyl incident, before the battery finally died. It was what helped him keep the time in the first days. Now, Ingrid wore it to simply mark herself as a special one. She could study sun patterns and tell you the approximate time of day, which made her invaluable, especially when it came down to times like the Solstices. These days, though, she seemed to be slipping up more and more. It made sense, given she was always awake when I woke up for my nightly leak. She had to be tired after being up half the night.

“Hey,” I called out before plopping myself down in front of her sundial.

“Hey yourself. Your shadow is fucking up my clock.”

That was all I needed before I was brushing myself off and moving away from Gritty. It was no matter; she was routinely not in the mood to fuck around. “Talk to you later, precious. Perhaps I’ll visit you on your nightly ‘stare at the sky’ session?”

“Fuck you,” came from behind me as I walked away. “Go concoct more lies.”

The last part came out quietly, as a small tease. My body froze up at first, with my back to her, but I could hear her chuckling in the annoying way she would. I flipped her off before turning into the tent that held our food. Dinner, it appeared, was served.

The small feast consisted of grains, including sunflower seeds, and bits of wild strawberry. For the group of ten people, it would barely make us feel full, but it was enough to satisfy the Itch. When your stomach lining is eaten away for so long, even a smidge of food does away with the Itch for a few. It would at least let us sleep until the Sun came up, flooding us with the blessings of Mother. Ingrid sat across from me, kicking at my shins when she caught me staring at her plate, which was empty but for a bit of juice stain from the strawberries.

“Perv,” she said with as much menace as love. Her smirk told me everything.

I rolled my eyes, playing with my ponytail, wrapping it around the ends of my finger. Perv. It rang over and over in my mind. So what? Was how I wanted to respond. I didn’t, though. My throat stopped me. My heart stopped me.

“Thank you for this blessed bounty, Mother Earth,” Father’s voice rang out.

“Thank you, Mother,” we whispered in a low baritone. Our heads were bowed over our empty plates.

“We worship you for saving us, Lover. Thank you for blessing us with eternal servitude to you. We will cleanse your Home, Wife,” Father continued with our heads dipping further towards our empty plates. There was a small clang as my glasses hit the edge of the ceramic. Gritty kicked at me again. I almost giggled.

This was my moment. I knew this. I had practiced this countless times. I raised my head to see the crown of Ingrid’s head, and I stopped for a minute. Her dark hair caught the last rays of the sun, and I was blinded. My voice cracked as I started us all in, singing, “Danke- Danke schoen, darling, danke schoen.”

“Thank you for all the joy you bring,” everyone started in on the second line, holding their hands out to each other.

Miss Fieri grabbed my hand. Her painted red nails scratched at my palm, and the old hole in the corner of her lip caught my eye as I faced her. Her face sagged, and her eyeliner was smudged. It was a miracle she had any. To my right, Monsignor Karl’s son, Vlad, sat though I had to reach out to wrap my palm around his amputated wrist. He smiled as he sang the lines, “Save those lies, darling, don’t explain.” It was strange to think about the fact that Mother blessed him with the stupid mustache the twinkled with as we sat there, singing. Yet, he was too stupid to become the next Keeper. That’s why we have Gritty.

Across from me, Gritty winked at me. She nodded at my hand on Vlad’s stump, and I knew what she was doing. Who’s the perv now? I thought. I relinquished my smile, giving her a disappointed nod. “Get your head out of the gutter,” I mouthed while Queenie fucked up the “Auf wiedersehen” despite the fact that her mother is from Germany. Dumbass. Gritty caught my look towards Queenie, smiling. She flipped her hair, impersonating the prima donna. I held in my laughter, smiling at her. I shook my head again, but this time in appreciation.

Then, I saw Father’s gaze. His eyes narrowed, brows furrowed so that the long spindly hairs were more apparent. His scar across his face was terrifying enough without the expression. I avoided looking him in the eye for a reason. My mouth formed a thin line in response. I bowed my head, and we finished the hymnal for Mother. We let go of each other’s hands to our lips, kissing our hands, and shooting the kisses towards the ground. Oppa and Kyle gave small whoops and hollers as the old woman and the young man hugged each other. I watched them closely, noting the miracle of their friendship.

“Thinking about the time you fucked him?”

“Fuck you, Gritty. It was four years ago.”

“We all know how formative that was for you.”

“You fucked him too. Shut up.”

“You know we’re supposed to fuck him again.”

“Yeah,” I whispered as we walked further from the tent. Oppa and Kyle went their separate ways, with the kind old woman heading to her tent, wrapped in her shawl she swears Stevie gave her. Kyle appeared to be more preoccupied with the new girl we picked up. Her name was Cola. Like the soda. She was his new toy. She was only fifteen, but she told Father she hadn’t lost her virginity yet. We were supposed to give her unto Mother soon because of that. I don’t know why she bothered to stay. I suppose the food alone is worth it, maybe the dogs. She’s only been here a week and she already found a little dachshund to be her companion. She’s taken to calling him Nilla. Gritty and I passed them, and I gave Nilla a little pat on the head as he came up to my ankles and pushed his nose against me.

“Do you think they’ll force us to do it when we hold the Ceremony for her?” I asked once we were out of earshot.

“Probably. Father is known for liking convenience,” She responded quietly. Her tone was melancholic.

We found our way out of the light of the camp fires. I scooped her hand into mine. “That’s true. It’s been too long since the last time.”

“I don’t know why we’re supposed to wait until the Solstice.”

“It’s because it’s spring. Fertility and all that shit.”

“Isn’t sex supposed to be sacred? What does the time period have to do with that?”

“I don’t know, man. Stop asking such stupid questions.” I let go of her hand, picking up a stick instead.

She folded her arms across her chest. “Just because you don’t want Mother’s babies doesn’t mean you gotta be a dick because I’m asking questions.”

“It’s not that, and you know it, Grit.”

“Then what is it, Cher?”

I rolled my eyes, facing away from her. “It’s easier to just do this shit than think about why it makes no sense.” It was as close of an answer I could give.

“Yeah, but doesn’t it kill you that Mother Earth says it’s just a sacred act but instead we treat it like this fucking parade that happens once a year. Sometimes twice, if Kyle doesn’t get his jizz in us.” Her head was cocked to the side as she studied me. We stopped at the edge of the woods like we always did. We knew no one could see us all the way out here. They just assumed we were playing in the woods, as we had since kids. Not questioning the basis of our existence. I threw the stick into the woods, hearing a small yelp from some animal. Probably a cat, from the sound. “I just…” I plopped on the ground next to a rock, resting my elbow against it. “It’s easier to not think about it instead of what we can’t do.”

“What is it that you want to do?”

“You know what I want to do,” I fire back.

Her mouth snapped shut. She came and sat down next to me. “You’re the only one stopping that from happening.”

“Existentialism doesn’t work when you live in a nuclear wasteland,” I responded as she put her head on my shoulder. “You’re looking for trouble,” I whisper as her hair tickles my ear.

“Maybe I am.” She shifted so her bicep rubbed mine. “Though, I suppose, you’re looking for it too.”

I stared out ahead of me, looking at the stars that peaked up from the line of mountains. The sun was sinking fast, so only a small blue line spread across the sky, and it only served to continue to illuminate the stars. They were twinkling, like the look in Ingrid’s eye or the way the last rays bounced off her pendant. I wanted to sink into the folds of her essence, even if that was the exact trouble she was getting me into. Her cheekbones were highlighted in the rising moonlight, eyes curled up in a smile. I flicked her black hair behind her shoulder, holding it close to my nose for a brief moment. Beauty incarnate.

“You’re right.” I sighed as I sat back to look her in the eye. “I don’t understand why things got so twisted around here, but they did. Perhaps Mother wants it that way. I can’t tell. She doesn’t speak to me. But you knew that, didn’t you?” I joked, tugging on the braid in her hair.

She smiled, poking my shoulder. “Yes. Perhaps She doesn’t exist at all, have you thought of that?”

My eyes widened, and I almost looked behind me to make sure no one heard her. “That’s not true, and you know it. Why else are we here?”

“Pure chance. Luck. Destiny.” She moved closer to me; her breath fanned over my face. “Have you considered why we’re here?”

I sat back, sitting upright. “No.”

“Maybe you should.”

“Mother exists. Nietzche was right, but Mother isn’t God.”

“I think Father killed her, though.”

“What do you mean?”

“The words have been twisted. The principles have been twisted. Shit, we worship the Earth because of some age old religion that ruled the before times. Wake up, Cherry.”

We weren’t close to each other anymore. We both sat upright, rod straight. Her dark, arched brows captured my attention and I stared at them as she stared at the plains of my face. “It’s not like you and I can do anything to change that. Father rules over us, protects us. At least we have food. At least we’re living in the meantime.”

“I don’t think we’re going to be here for long.”

“I-” I stuttered, stopping. “Grit, what are you on?”

Her eyes were serious. Their brown expanse was narrowed for the first time in a long time. They were hard, determined to be taken for reality. She looked practically possessed. Her dark eyes were almost black. She didn’t speak for a moment. “Ingrid, please, tell me.”

The lost, yet determined, look in her eyes faded and she grabbed my chin, pointing my head towards the sky. “You see all those stars?” I made a noise to affirm yes. “Do you see that green one? Over to the left of the moon?” I made another noise. “That’s a new star. I don’t believe it to be a star, though.”

She let go of me, though her hand held my face still. “Oh,” is all I said. The world came together like a puzzle piece at that moment. That was why she was being so careless as of late. That’s why we were here now.

“You’re going to kiss me before the world ends, right?” I asked in a petite voice that almost broke. It was the only thing I thought of as it occurred to me that my prediction would be coming true sooner than I thought.

It was then that she tucked her hands into the base of my ponytail, anchoring herself to me as she pulled me forward to touch her lips to mine. They tasted of cherry chapstick, something she must have collected when she went out exploring to the local abandoned gas station a few days ago. My tongue instinctively reached out for a better taste, and she let me in. It was then that my hands were all over here, and she kissed me harder.

A week passed, and the Ceremony was upon us. Cola was going to be the star of the show. She was dressed in a red bridesmaid dress we found on one of the group explorations we went on. It fit her perfectly, and coupled with the dandelions in her curly red hair, she was fit to be the Solstice Queen. Kyle was also dressed in his suit that he’d worn for the past two years. Ingrid sat in front of her sun dial, dressed in her normal pair of jeans and a t shirt with holes. She couldn’t be convinced to dress up. I, however, was in a new dress Father had given me. It was a wedding dress like Princess Di’s. It was found in a thrift store, and he had held onto it for this Solstice celebration. It was poofy, and I was forced to wear the headpiece with it. I looked like a sullen bride, with my stained face and ratty hair. Queenie dyed my lips red with leftover strawberry juice. Gritty told me I looked like a pig to slaughter. She was probably right.

“Cherry,” Father called out in his quiet tone. “Come ‘ere.”

I shuffled towards him, passing Kyle and Cola, who stood whispering and touching each other. “Yes, Father?”

The sun was high in the sky, forcing Father to cover his eyes. “Will you get Ingrid in her dress? I know you two are close.” When he saw the light leave my eyes, he continued, “We have to prepare for our Solstice Queen’s first Outing.”

“Yes, Father.”

“I’m sure you can persuade her,” he said with a smirk.

My heart levitated, escaping my ribcage. I looked across the field, over Father’s shoulder, and made eye contact with Gritty. She was looking straight at me with a similar expression to the other night when she revealed to me the nature of the future.

“Yes, Father.”

I passed by Ingrid, nudging her shoulder with mine as I grabbed onto her and forced her to follow me. “Get your fucking dress on,” I mumbled as I led her to her tent.

“He knows, doesn’t he?”

“Probably. He’s acting funny.”

“How would he know?”

“You don’t exactly hide it.”

“Neither do you. You drool in my presence.”

I glared at her. “Bitch.”

“It’s just the truth.”

I rolled my eyes. “Just get dressed. It’s almost twelve. We have to get this show on the road.”

“Wow jeez can’t wait.” Her voice was saccharine.

I didn’t respond. I just waited for her to get into her flowy gown. It was peach colored, and it made her look washed out. Her hair stood out, at least. I played with the ends of it after I helped zip her into the dress. “You look great,” I said in an aimless attempt at flirting.

“Thank you,” she said quietly.

It was a miracle she was here. Ingrid had the magical way of being everything all at once. She made me want to relive the artifacts of the past, to dive into that sarcophagus. It hurt knowing that the world was taking that away. It had taken away so much. Mother had taken away so much. I suppose someone has to pay for the sins of the humans past, but I didn’t imagine it would be me. The visceral part of me, in my heart, felt the pain of this realization. I was the penance for disrespecting Mother. This was my service. This was why we did the Solstice Outings. This was why Kyle, Father, and Vlad and the rest of them could fuck whoever whenever. It was why they called it fucking for them instead of an Outing for us. It felt wrong to call what me and Gritty did fucking. It wasn’t that. It was something sweeter, less one-sided. Then again, what we did is the sin that brought us to this aftermath in the first place.

“Is this the price we pay?” I asked as I braided her hair. “Forever damned to a lack of pleasure and to death?”

“I suppose.” She sighed, looking disjointed though connected to what I was saying. “It doesn’t have to be like this. We choose it to be.”

“There you go with existentialism again.”

“It’s not philosophy, my dear. It’s how things are.”

“I didn’t ask to be left to this world. To be forced into this stupid shit.”

“No, you didn’t. But you worship the people, the men, who made it this way.”

“So do you.”

“Doesn’t make it any less true.”

I let go of her last braid, letting it come undone. “Whatever. Let’s just get this over with.”

“What does being free mean to you, Cherry?”

“What are you? A cheesy sitcom? Let’s go.”

I walked out of the tent without looking back. Whatever. Whatever. Whatever.

The Ceremony lacked the pomp and circumstance that many of past Ceremonies would have had. There weren’t many flowers we cultivated beyond weeds. We made a bed out of hay, grass, and these pesky flowers. Ingrid and I held onto Cola as we walked her into the circle of people, which consisted of our tribe. Father stood at the head of the pack, with Kyle standing next to him and Oppa on the other side. She was the eldest in our bunch, so she got to be on his right hand side while Kyle stood on the left. Everyone hummed the Hymnal, while sometimes people sang a few of the words.

Danke shoen, darling. Danke schoen...

I wore the veil in front of my face while Gritty and Cola bowed their heads. Cola was only fifteen, from the looks of her, and I felt a pang in my heart as I remembered that Kyle was two years older than me. He was twenty. The difference sat in the pit of my stomach, sickening me, as Cola smiled so sweetly at him. We were by the bed of flowers now. The humming had stopped. She was pure, still. She was worth worshipping. That would change once this was over. She’d be expected to work the fields, collect things. She’d become withered and worn like the rest of us. She was no stranger to hard work, I knew that. She had survived for this long on her own when her mother died a few months ago. Her innocence was simply so palatable in this moment. Though, perhaps that was the problem. I boiled her down to this ball of naivety when she probably had seen more shit in her lifetime than I had. She was nomadic, built with “street smarts” as they used to call it. She was human. That was why the disgust laid heavy on me.

Father put his hand on Kyle’s shoulder. He smiled in his robes, which were really just shawls we found and blessed him with. He stood with a glint in his eye as he spoke.  “Thank you, everyone. Mother Earth has blessed us with a new addition, and may we bless her unto the Earth and manifest Her bounty.”

We nodded, some people making a few grunts in affirmation. Gritty stood stoic, unwilling to do anything more than bow her head. I saw out of the corner of my eye a droplet fall from her face to the floor.

“Cola, darling, step away from your sisters and lay yourself upon our Mother.”

The human stepped forward, kneeling before Father, reaching up to touch the top of his toes from a praying position, before she moved to lay on her chest. From there, Kyle stepped forward, bowing to Father, and then he bent down to unzip Cola’s dress. The red peeled back to reveal white. It was like reverse bleeding. Instead of finding the depth of a person, we were finding the outer shell. Perhaps that was how one got through this.

From there, she was stripped. The dress fell from her chest, revealing her budding breasts, before Kyle pulled it down and off of her, revealing her naked body to the rest of us. He touched her breasts, cupping them roughly, before biting at them. She laid there still, waiting for it to be over. Or at least that’s what I presumed. She didn’t act enthused. That wasn’t her job. Her job was to be there, to pleasure him. Everyone started humming, though not the Hymnal. A different song.

I made it through the wilderness,

Somehow I made it through.

Thankfully, we didn’t sing the lyrics. We hummed. We hummed louder when she started to groan in pain. We hummed even louder when he covered her mouth. We hummed louder still when he finished. We stopped when she sat up. She covered herself again, walking to join us again. She had given herself unto the Earth.

“She gave herself unto him,” Gritty whispered.

I didn’t respond. The sun shined in my eyes, blinding me, as we walked away. Kyle wouldn’t be ready again for another five hours or so, leaving us to tend to Cola before it was my turn. Then, we would turn in for the night before it was Ingrid’s turn in the morning.

It was strange, having an appointment for something like this. It made it better, I suppose, than being shocked by it. Cola wiped at her eyes as we went to Ingrid’s tent. I offered her a shoulder, wrapping an arm around her as we all piled onto Gritty’s cot.

When the sun started to set, we were woken from our nap. Father stood at the opening of the tent. His hands rested on his hips, making dual triangles. His face read of disappointment.

“You silly girls,” he said with a jovial smile, the disappointment fading. “You know it’s inappropriate to sleep together.”

“Sorry, Father,” I started as Cola started to wake up next to me.

“Shut up,” his voice came out hard. He softened as he said, “Just don’t do it again, okay?” though he looked to Cola, not me.

“Sorry, Father,” she said quietly.

“Good girl,” he said back before walking away.

Funny how easy it is to become a pet if you let yourself. Though that was what Gritty was talking about. I chose not to judge Cola because of this.

We got up, picking at each other to make each other primed for another Outing. Gritty fixed my hair, sneaking a small kiss on the cheek before the tent door opened and Oppa came in.

“Let’s go, girls. There’s a shooting comet we see coming our way across the sky. We want to watch it when the sun goes down.”

Gritty and I looked towards each other, and she smiled. My Outing was on a schedule. My life was on a schedule. We knew what this meant. I looked Oppa in the eye. “I’m coming!” It came out happy, bright. It was filled with the last squeeze of life from my lemon.

I left the tent in a flourish. This was it. This was the end. I felt the joy buried beneath me come undone. The string has been cut! I am free. I walk quickly, with Cola and Gritty on either side of me.

“You’ve never looked so excited to be fucked like a stuffed pig,” She teased me quietly.

I looked over to her as we walked to the tune of the Hymnal. “It doesn't have to be like this, remember?” I smiled wide, aware that I looked a little unhinged.

“Yes, you’re right,” she whispered before I stepped away and kneeled down. I didn’t bother to touch the toes of Father before I laid down. In fact, I reached behind me and started to work my zipper down. Kyle murmured, “I got it,” but I didn’t listen to him. His hand stood close to mine as the zipper was worked down. The fabric billowed around me, squishy as I worked my way out of it.

“Cherry, this isn’t how the Outing goes,” he whispered quietly as Father stared down at us.

I didn’t respond. I finished my way out of the dress. I stood up, stepped out of it, and looked Gritty in the eyes. I was naked. Exposed. The stars were looking upon me, as was everyone else. I chose this. It was then that a hand pushed me down, hard, onto my knees. I saw Gritty freeze up, and Cola held onto her harder.

“Cherry,” Father’s voice came out cold. “This is not how the Outing is done.” He pushed me back onto the bed of growth. “Have your way, Kyle,” he said as I laid there, spread out like a plate of hors de o’deauvrs. The circle began to sing.

My fear is fading fast

Been saving it all for you

He bit me, ate my skin, before he fucked me. It was a blip in time. I looked towards the green star, the thing that was coming to destroy us. It was beautiful. I saw life in it. I saw the beauty in all things. I forgot that there was a boy fucking me, brutalizing me, making me his meal. His object. I didn’t care. I wasn’t his. I was this star’s. I was death impending. I was free.

When he was done, I didn’t wait. I plopped upright and walked away naked, forgetting the stupid costume. I wrapped an arm around Gritty’s waist before taking her hand and running off into the night. My bare feet pounded across the wasteland’s floor. The star was coming closer. It would be here soon. I knew this chapter was coming to a close. I was going to end it with her.

We made our way to the edge of the forest.

“Can I unzip you?” I asked Ingrid.

She nodded, smiling, as she turned around and pulled her elegant hair towards her front. It twinkled and wrinkled down her breasts. She was elegance, the form of death that I least expected. I pulled her close and kissed her, enveloping myself in her the way I needed to a week ago. I heard the sounds from the camp as the sun disappeared but the star came closer and illuminated the expanse of earth. I paid them no mind as I danced with Ingrid. Eventually, we became dizzy and fell.

Her hand laid on my bicep, and mine on hers. We stared up to the sky as we had a week ago when we kissed for the first time. The green of the meteor shooting towards us blinded me, but I kept my eyes open. I started to sing quietly as Ingrid’s fingers played at my skin, touching me. “Danke schoen, darling, danke schoen. Thank you for walks down Lover's Lane.”

My voice was awkward, and I didn’t sing in tune. Ingrid rolled into me all the same, shielding herself from the green glow. I wrapped her hair around my finger. This was death. It was beautiful. She was beautiful. She was who I wanted to die with.

“This is what free means to me,” I whispered as she continued to hum the song, taking it for her own.

I could see the details of the rock now. The edges were curved, like the indents of her body. My heart left its cage. It floated above me, blocking out the death rock. This was what was coming to claim me. It sung the song of my soul, repeating back to me the song I had just been singing. It was mine. This was my choice.

The green became more intense. She wrapped herself closer to me. My heart sung louder. This was it. Whatever. Whatever. Whatever.

[nachohypno]

Nate and Dave Ch. 10

So… I have a boyfriend now.

My first boyfriend, huh. And he’s a werewolf. And according to him, we’re each other’s soulmate.

Lucky guy I am to have found my soulmate so quickly in my life, huh? And there’s people who say that high school romances won’t last. I mean… Anything could happen but he and I are made for each other or something like that?

Dave did seem a lot more affectionate know that we’re officially dating, and that’s pretty nice. He was driving towards my house, and I thought it would be pretty nice to have him at my place tonight. Our first night together as boyfriends, huh.

Sounds nice to think about it.

The jock couldn’t help but smile each time I looked at him, and again, he took any chance he had to stop the car and look at me with loving eyes.

“What?” I asked, as we were about to arrive at my house.

“N-Nothing, it’s just that…” He stopped talking for a while to concentrate on the road, and take the last turn. “I’m just so happy to be your boyfriend, bro”

Who would think that big mean Dave is actually a piece of cake on the inside? Bah, the soulmate bond made him act like this but I’m not going to complain, he’s still an amazing guy.

He stopped in front of my house and turned the car off. “You really want me to spend the night with you? I can give you space if you want, babe. You don’t have to feel forced to anything—”

“It’s still, I wouldn’t have brought it up if I didn’t want you around” I said, trying to give him my best smile to reassure him.

Dave nodded, and we left the car. He ran around it and stopped next to me, then placed his arm around my shoulder, but this time he managed to control his strength to avoid putting extra pressure on my body.

He was getting better at controlling himself, huh!

We entered my house, and walked straight to my room. House alone again, we had to make the most of our time together.

The puppy boy followed me with a dumb grin, probably waiting for me to say something to him. He came a while ago, but I could tell by his bulge that he was horny and out for another round already.

“What do you wanna do, bruh?” Dave asked, after we entered in my room. I closed the door behind me, for safety reasons, and walked up to him. The jock was incredibly excited, and his eyes darted around with much more energy than he usually seemed to have.

This had become a habit for me by now, with Dave around a lot of the time at my room or myself going with Dave to his place and spending the night. It was a nice thing, and I felt like it wouldn’t get old soon. It would probably be easier at university…

I did have an urge to tell him to strip all his clothes and just stay there for me to admire him. It was weird, but at the same time, it wasn’t? I don’t know how to explain it, it’s like a dominant side of me just appeared lately and I was okay with it.

It’s not like an urge to mistreat Dave or hurt him, but more like use my bond with him for more… close action, if that makes sense?

I did feel a bit bad for using him like that while he declared his love for me, again. But at the time it was like something natural to do. Like it was right for me to play with my puppy boy.

“Uhm… Wanna play for a while?” I said, nervousness returning to my voice.

“Say no more” He grabbed me from the back and the legs and lifted me. Then, Dave carried me over to my bed, and softly left me on the edge. After that, the jock kneeled in front of me and held his hands like a pleading puppy, looking up at me with his tongue lolling out.

“I meant the ps4 but… this’ll work too. Just like when the day we met…” I whispered, looking down at him and softly caressing his face. He looked really cute when he was zoned out like this. “Hey boy, paw” I said, holding my hand out for him.

The jock placed his own hand on top of mine. I grabbed it and pulled him closer “Geez, you’re heavy…!” I mumbled, trying to move him to lay down with me. He seemed to hear me out, because his body suddenly started to be as easy to move as a big rag doll. “Oh… that’s better. Thanks, puppy boy”

“I really gotta have better control of my weight, babe. My mind just gets sorta fogged when we speak and I just want to be your good puppy boy, so that messes me up a bit” He managed to say, before starting to pant with his tongue out. He was really happy, that part was obvious.

“It’s okay, alpha pup. Just relax and rest for a while, alright?” I kissed his forehead before getting up and sitting on the edge of the bed “…And sleep, can you do that for me?”

He nodded with excitement, before quickly dozing off. “Anything for… youu… bruh…”

He’s amazing, I’ll give you that. I’ve never had a boyfriend before and I’m really nervous about this, but at the same time it’s not like I have any choice on the matter. He’s my soulmate, I love him and he loves me too. Yeah, he’s sort of… forced to do it via some weird supernatural thing, but it’s not a bad supernatural thing.

He enjoys it, according to him.

I sighed. ‘This is too much to think about. Werewolves? Real. Soulmates? Also real. A werewolf claiming that I’m his soulmate, and me falling in love with him some days afterwards? Triple real.

I mean, it wasn’t a real game changer. When Dave revealed his werewolf nature, it was a really unexpected thing. How can you ever expect a classmate who has been around for probably a year and a half and never talked to you to declare his love for you, multiple times, after he smells you while passing by?

I looked at Dave, who was snoring as he slept on my bed. The guy is perfect. He’s handsome, has amazing powers, every girl or gay dude would lust after his perfect frame, and a bright future ahead of him if he manages to enter the NFL.

‘I’m doing good so far’ I told myself, reassuring me that being with him was the right thing to do. I loved him, after all. And according to his Mr. Walker, if I broke Dave’s heart it could be devastating for the poor werewolf jock. I didn’t want that to happen, and god bless my head for making me fall over for the alpha puppy.

In reality, Dave was improving a lot with his studies in such a short time. If he keeps going like this, he’ll also get good chances of going to a really nice university.

My grades are good, mostly because I don’t like social reunions to spend the time at, so I either play games all day or study for fun. It’s a nice habit I’ve developed over the years, and always thought it was something nice to have.

My diverse interests in different careers proved it, I had a love for learning and I can’t get enough of it. Let it be enemy attack patterns or strategies for videogames or how to build a bird’s house for the garden, if I don’t feel lazy and have the time to do it, I’ll do it.

My friends seemed to adapt very well to the idea of me and Dave being closer these days, even after meeting less than two weeks ago.

Dave’s friends… Almost all of them, including his ex-girlfriend, seem to be pretty amazing! I still have to personally meet the football team without dying on the inside, but Leslie was a start, right?

“Hey, puppy boy?” I said, softly tapping his shoulder.

He opened his eyes, quickly. Oh, that was faster than I expected. “Yeah, bruh?” He sounded sleepy, but not zoned out at all. He wasn’t in a trance right now. I looked at my phone’s time, he’s been asleep for like 15 minutes now.

“How was that nap?” I asked, and Dave smiled at me.

“Honestly, I would’ve preferred to sleep with you. But being near you is enough for me to be happy, my love” He’s cheesy. He’s not like this normally, just for me.

But I liked it a lot. “Aww, such a cute puppy boy you are” I placed my hand near his ear, and he playfully started to move his head, probably wanting me to scratch his sweet spot again.

I did just that, and he started with that motor-like sound again. His blue eyes looked up at me with such adoration, like a dog looking at his owner. The varsity jacket around his torso made him look way cuter than he credited it.

“You’re simply amazing, bro” He said, then leaned in towards me to give me a quick smooch on the lips. “Something on your mind, or should we just cuddle like we always do?”

“Hmm… I was thinking we could play something on the ps4 but…”

“I mean; I love video games as long as I play with ya. Besides, I love beatin’ your beautiful ass in COD” He proudly interrupted me. Huh, so that’s how it’s going to be?

“But… why don’t we go take a walk instead?” I finished, getting up from the bed and walking over to the closet. I opened it and there was the dog leash, hanging beside a few belts.

After grabbing the leash, Dave got up and went to his school bag, grabbing the bowser collar and then moving over to me. “Where are we going today, babe? Oh, wait. I have to change into wolf form first, right? Gimme a sec”

But I shook my head. “I have something else in mind. It’s still quite early so… why don’t we go to the forest again?” I knew he loved the forest. I didn’t like being outside at night, but it was still sort of sunny outside so… Let’s make the most of the time, right?

The jock nodded, grabbing the leash from my hands and putting it alongside his collar inside his school bag.

I liked he wasn’t completely careless about his werewolf status and thought about hiding those things until we were completely alone at the forest. He’s smarter than he seems.

I went closer and gave him a long, nice kiss, which he seemed to enjoy a lot, before we walked outside of my room and headed to his car.

-----

The forest normally? Cold. Empty and scary. Especially now since it’s almost 6 p.m.

Dave probably loved this, and the god rays going through the leaves of the tall trees and illuminating the path was really nice to see.

I’ve never been a fan of camping, so it would probably be some time until I proposed something like spending the night at the forest with Dave. I felt safe with him though, so I really shouldn’t worry about little stuff like that?

“Arrived, should I change now?” Dave said, stopping the car near the usual spot. The nice part of the forest in fall/almost winter is that it’s actually really empty. People prefer hanging out at the cafeteria, the library or the park.

Staying at home isn’t a really bad idea neither, so it wasn’t weird to see a few of my classmates in social media posting pics while playing games or joking around with their friends.

Staying at home with Dave… It definitely was good, but we only played COD (Where he beats my ass) or cuddle and take long naps together. Not even having sex as a regular thing, since Dave still hadn’t fucked me. I also contemplated the possibility of fucking him too, but I couldn’t tell if he would like that.

At one side, he had to do everything I said without a chance of resisting, so he would be blissful about it. On the other side, Dave has stated that he’s not gay, so I’m really not absolutely sure if he really enjoys being with me, but then goes back to his old ‘I hate fags’ self.

Those little insecurities crossed through my mind multiple times a day, especially when I’m with him around. It’s definitely something I have to work on if I want this to work out for both of us.

I shook my head “Not now. I’ve got an idea, but let’s head to one of your safe spot first, puppy boy”

“A’ight, bruh” Then we left the car. He grabbed his bag, and I took a deep breath. I grew used to being here the last few days we’ve come together.

“Oh, and Dave?” Before he could turn towards me and ask me something, I finished with a “Could you turn into a werewolf?”

Just me ‘asking for it’ was enough, apparently. Dave nodded excitedly as he always does when I ask him for something, then stood still with his eyes zoned out.

I looked around, just to be sure we were alone, as Dave’s body changed drastically to his werewolf form. The snout was back, his eyes were bigger and his ears were on top of his head, like a normal wolf.

His body, now covered in fur, grew a few inches as usual. Curiously, his clothes seemed to be pushed to the limit, but he still seemed able to move freely without tearing them apart. And you could also see the shape of his abs and pecs on his shirt.

His bulge also grew a bit, and I poked it with a finger just to see if that would interrupt his transformation. Luckily, it didn’t, but Dave did let out a deep, little “Huhuhuh…” as the transformation continued.

A tail appeared on top of his butt, wiggling left and right rapidly, and his hands grew the wolf pads and nails once again.

A few seconds later, he blinked a few times, before looking at me with a caring smile that showed off a few of his fangs.

“What was that for, bro?” He asked, his voice way deeper than his usual dreamy jock voice. I liked it, but I preferred the old one, to be honest.

“Nothing important, just wanted to see you transforming again” I said, while caressing the spot now behind his wolf ears. ‘Wonder how the magic works to shift his audition system to the ears of the top after the human ears disappear’.

I would love to learn more about supernatural creatures, but I really doubt that’s a career you can follow once you join a university. It’s not like there’s a sort of Hogwarts out there for supernatural creatures, right? Would be funny if…

Hmm… Now that I think of it, it’s not really that impossible if there are actual supernatural creatures out there.

“Well, now that I’m in wolf form…” He reached out for his bag and grabbed the bowser collar. “Can we please go for a walk? It was really fun the last time!”

He broke me out of my thoughts, but it was alright. I liked last time too, although he wasn’t really in werewolf form. I wanted to see his wolf form in action, but it would

I nodded, and grabbed the collar from his hands as he straightened his neck for me to put it on him. I tried to buckle it on the usual spot so he could move freely without feeling too restrained.

After that was done, he passed me the leash from his bag and I attached it to the collar.

“Want me to carry you? I’d love to do that so you don’t get tired, bro” Aw, such a cute puppy.

“Nah, it’s alright. I should do some exercise too. Besides, I like having the leash of the situation” I said mockingly, as I lifted the hand with the hang of the leash.

The werewolf nodded “Yeah, well joke’s on you. I actually like when you have the leash”

I chuckled “Okay, puppy boy. C’mon, let’s do the walk before it gets dark and cold out here”

Dave didn’t complain, as we started walking away from the car and into the forest.

The only sound breaking the silence was our steps crushing brown leaves under our shoes, and Dave’s werewolf nose sniffing a lot, probably to recognize as many smells as he could?

We kept going like that for a good while, probably 15 minutes or so. It was relaxing, just us, together, walking in the forest like nothing mattered. Like a dog and his owner.

“Y’know, tomorrow’s the big game, bro. I know we’ve talked about this already but i’m not gonna force you to go and cheer me up.” He said, breaking the silence as he stopped walking and turned around to face me “I’d really appreciate it if you were there for me. Like, a lot, bro”

Dave grabbed my hand and moved it towards his chest, waiting for my answer while giving me puppy eyes.

“Pretty please? For me, bro? I’ll do anything you want afterwards, promise!” He insisted.

I smiled “Hey, the team is also sort of expecting me to be there, right?” He nodded “Then, if I want to help you with your plan of slowly coming out, wouldn’t it be easier if I helped you with that, as you originally planned?”

Werewolf Dave seemed mildly confused by the logic. He had a thoughtful expression and rubbed his snout a bit.

I softly pulled from the leash attached to his collar, breaking him from his train of thoughts. “Hey!” I pulled again, and he smirked “Oh, so that’s how it’s gonna be?” Then he got in four legs, clenched his knees, and jumped towards me.

I didn’t have enough time (Nor reaction skill) to avoid him. We fell to the ground, Dave on top of me with a blissful expression on his face. I looked at him, and he took the chance to lick my face just like a few days ago. It was like a big, way stronger than me-dog was trying to give me some love.

“Uh— Dave— Not— again…!” I tried to say, as he covered me with slobber once again. I managed to reach his sweet spot and started scratching it, making him stop licking my face immediately and getting off me, rolling to the side with his arms and legs extended and his tongue lolled out.

I cleaned my face with my sleeve and sat beside him. Then, I started rubbing his belly like I would to a real dog before he could go back to licking my face. “Who’s a good boy? Who’s a good boy, David?” I said with a childish voice.

“I am! I am a good boy, bro!” He responded, panting. “I’m your good boy!” His leg was kicking the air as I rubbed his belly and I honestly found that adorable.

“Oh, really?” He got up and kneeled in front of me, nodding rapidly with his tongue still lolling out, and still panting. “Let’s see… roll!”

He did as I said, his tongue going back inside of his mouth as he laid down on the floor and started rolling like a dog, just like he dared me to do a few days ago. ‘Sweet revenge’ I thought, as I remembered that little moment.

“Talk!” I ordered him, and then Dave stopped rolling and got back on his knees, holding his ‘paws’ out while barking. “Good boy! Now, chase your tail!”

He got in four legs, and looked behind him. He growled at the tail behind him and started barking as he tried to catch it.

His tail, however, didn’t seem amused by Dave’s attempts to catch it. So, the puppy boy was struggling a lot with following that order. But it was alright, he was an amazing puppy boy.

“I was joking! You can stop now!” I said, before he hurt himself or anything.

Dave got back to kneeling in front of me, waiting for any other command. ‘Just one more thing won’t hurt, right?’ I thought, as I grabbed a fallen branch on the ground. I showed it to Dave, and he followed it with his eyes as he panted in excitement. “You want it, boy? Go get it!”

I threw the branch towards a nearby tree with some flowers on its base. The werewolf ran after it with a lot of determination, before stopping on his tracks in front of the tree.

Confused after he kept staring the flowers, I walked up to him and asked “What’s wrong, puppy boy?” wondering what was going on.

“Nothing, bro” He said, still very focused on the flowers. He broke out of the puppy role by now, going back to the big handsome jock. He leaned in and audibly smelled the flowers. “It’s just… Wolfsbane, can’t touch that”

Hmm… I remember hearing about it. But Dave seemed to notice my puzzled face, so he proceeded to explain it to me. “It’s a toxic plant, bro. I’ve seen it a few times, the bitch grows in a lot of places, even when internet claims it only grows in mountains”

He threw a look of hate to the plant, before covering one of his hands with the sleeve of the varsity jacket, and slowly getting closer to it. Then, he grabbed the stick I just threw and passed it to me. “Here. The smell is really bad, so let’s just move away from it and grab another stick, a’ight?”

I was mildly surprised that he found another way of fulfilling my order of ‘Go get the stick’, even when it was surrounded by dangerous plants.

I nodded, throwing the stick away before grabbing the hang of the leash again and walking with him to another part. “Are you alright?” I asked him, as we walked in complete silence. I was sort of hoping him to tell me a dark story about wolfsbane and him but apparently that wasn’t the case.

“Yeah, sorry. Got lost in thoughts there. That shit’s smell is really awful, bro. Makes me wish I didn’t have heightened smell!” He finished with a deep laugh.

“It’s alright, we can keep playing at another place. Would you like that, puppy boy?”

He looked at me, excitement coming back to him. “Yeah! Can’t wait to catch that branch this time! I love you so much for playing with me, bro!” Huh, he really takes any chance he has to tell me he loves me.

Not gonna complain though, I really loved it.

----

It was already after school of the next day, and I was nervous, as always.

Is it weird to say that I’ve never been at a football game during my whole life? I don’t think so.

High school football games aren’t mandatory (Luckily) but our professors encourage us to attend to keep our school spirit as high as possible. And honestly I’ve never noticed how many people were into this thing.

Lots of parents and families walked over to the football field, as the bus from today’s rival team parked near our school.

A bunch of “BOOOOOS” Could be heard from the people as they passed beside the bus.

“Hey nerd” Someone said behind me. I turned around, hoping to see my good playful puppy boy. But instead, I was greeted by Butch’s frown.

I looked around, searching for my knight in shining armor as Butch took a step closer to me. I was surrounded by people, he wouldn’t be so stupid to try something against me in public, right?

“Hey Butch—” I tried to say, but he interrupted me right away.

“Listen, I don’t want any of your shenanigans” What the hell was he talking about? He’s the one who approached me. “I’ve talked with my bro last night, and even if I still think you’ve made some weird fag shit to him, we’ve reached an agreement”

Huh, that was interesting. “What was it about?”

“The game” He explained, looking around and lowering his voice. “You probably have a lot of options for universities, being a nerd and all that. Wouldn’t be surprised if you even clung to that lgbt shit to get free benefits”

That was pretty rude, and I was sort of amazed how he managed to turn his attempt of an explanation to a way of insulting me. “But me and a few mates from my team know that we’ll only get an scholarship if we play like gods during this last year. So, big D and I talked yesterday and teamed up again, like things were before you showed up”

“It’s not like I really did anything, you could just try and chill out a bit” I said, getting a little fed up by his asshole behavior.

He clenched his fist and took another step closer, but then backed again and relaxed “Don’t be so cocky, I ain’t gonna hold back when my bro is done with playing around with ya”

I gulped, then nodded. “If that was all, I think you should head over to the locker room. Your team should be waiting for you” I replied, pretty coldly. He gave me a rough pat on the shoulder before beginning to walk away. “And good luck on the field!” I said, after he took a few steps away, heading to the school.

I couldn’t tell if he heard me or anything, until he gave me the middle finger without looking back. ‘Geez, what a dickhead’ I thought, as someone else patted my shoulder again.

“I hope he wasn’t too aggressive with you, bro. We’ve chatted last night and—” I turned around and found Dave, his hair was a big messier than usually and he had a gym bag. He looked nervous, but also really excited. And I wondered if he ran out of the gym before coming here.

“I know, he told me about it. He was… decent, I guess” I shrugged it off, it’s not like I care about Butch anyway. I forgot how it was being afraid of a jock, probably because of all the time I was spending with the werewolf now.

“Wish I could kiss you right now, for good luck” Dave said, scratching the back of his head. I noticed he was blushing, and looked around a lot.

I grabbed his hand, and ran towards the side of the school’s main building. No one seemed to be around here, so it was a safe place. “Anyone around, puppy boy?”

He looked around, and I noticed he seemed to be pointing his ears as he moved his head to face other parts of the building. “Nope, we’re safe here” but before I could do anything, he was the one who kissed me.

I kissed him back, happy to give him the ‘good luck kiss’ he wanted. He pulled away quickly, probably to avoid drawing attention.

“Thanks, bruh. I’ll do my best to win that game for you, don’t wanna disappoint the love of my life while you’re watching me out there” He said, blushing a bit and looking away nervously. He seemed really worried about this.

I caressed his face, then quickly reminded myself that we’re on public and then patted his shoulder. He seemed confused about this, but I decided to speak before things got more confuse.

“You should go to the locker room too. The rivals just arrived so it’s only a matter of time until the game begins”

Dave seemed a bit disappointed, but agreed with me “Yeah… I was just making time to be around you a bit more. You’re just so handsome that I couldn’t resist, bruh” He said, before looking at the field’s direction.

“It’s okay, I know you’ll do great, big alpha guy” I gave him another pat “C’mon, it’s going to start in any moment and you still don’t have your uniform on”

He nodded, before giving me a quick smooch on the cheek. “Gonna need more luck, but I’m not going to disappoint you, bro!” Then he ran off to the locker room.

I walked back to the front of the school, and noticed Sam standing near the entrance. I walked over to him, wondering if the president had a special seat or something at the bleachers.

----

The game was over, and as I suspected, we won.

The rival team played fair, I guess. I don’t really know how football works, but the local team didn’t seem too mad while they played.

Dave was as amazing as I’ve seen during the practice after we’ve first met. And being in the bleachers, barking like a crazy dog each time our team did something great felt pretty awesome. Again, I couldn’t tell when that happened so Dick had to give me a Football 101 class as the match played out.

He also noted how good my puppy boy was at the game, moving with perfect agility and trying to synchronize himself with his teammates capabilities, rather than them being able to catch up with him. “I really don’t like your friend, but hell if he’s a great player. Looks like the Messi of American football, just dumber and not really likeable”

“He’s been trying to be nicer lately. It was nice when… you know, I stopped being afraid of him. Not being worried about having your head slammed to a table is nice” I said, trying to ease him into the thought of me dating Dave. If that ever happened to come up at the chat.

“I know you and ‘im have been… closer lately. I’m not going to give ya the usual shit of ‘be careful’ and bla bla bla. Just be honest, is somethin’ happenin’ between you two?” Dick looked at me, not with a worried face but more like a curious stare. Like he was trying to figure out what was on my mind.

I nodded slowly as we both got up from our seats and started walking out of the field. “Don’t tell anybody, alright?”

He made a movement like he was zipping his mouth, and said “Your secret is safe, lil’ bruh. He’s your first… thing, right?” I nodded again “Then hell, just enjoy and have a great time. Don’t worry about other fuckers meddling in if he really chose you to explore his sexuality or whatever”

It was nice to hear that from a friend. Although he did sound sort of dismissive, and he disappeared into the crowd before I could answer. That was great though, because I had the intention of going to congratulate my boyfriend.

The football team was still on the field, doing victory dances while the more mature guys chatted with the rival team, saying stuff like ‘It was a good game, you guys rocked out here’, trying to be nice winners.

I honestly preferred Dave’s approach to winning, he was howling to the sky a lot and yelling “HELL YEAH! WE WOOOOOOOON!” but it was probably because I knew that howling was a natural thing for him. The rival team just stared at him with hatred in their eyes, while trying to stablish a chat with the members of the local team that were actually interested in not winning but having fun.

It was clear that Dave never got that lesson from Disney during his childhood.

I waited for him and the team to leave the field, hoping I could catch him before heading home, but he suddenly started sniffing the air and looked in my direction.

I blushed, and remained there. He gave me a wink before making a showing me the palm of his hand, probably telling me to stop here and wait for him.

A few minutes later, the jocks from both teams left the field. The local team went back to the locker room to get changed and shower, while the rival team went to their bus, back to their own town.

Dave approached me before heading to the locker room and quickly said “Did you watch the game, bro? How was I?!”

He probably still had a lot of adrenaline, but he did play amazingly. “Very great job out there, big guy!” I answered him, after checking out we were effectively alone. There were a few parents about to leave the scene so it was me and him all by ourselves.

He seemed proud of my answer, and held his chest out. “Hey, my team wants to go celebrate to a dinner and eat a lot of burgers but…” He placed his big hand on my cheek, softly moving his thumb around. “I’d really rather celebrate just with you, my love”

I smiled “Sure. I actually have an idea for a reward. I didn’t want to say it before, to avoid making you… you know, play harsher with your powers, hah. But why don’t we go to my room again? I think you’ll really like this idea” I whispered, just in case anyone was near enough to hear us.

Dave’s eyes showed more excitement than before, and he nodded frantically. “Give me a few minutes! Gotta return the school’s armor before heading out and I’ll drive us there!”

He waited for me to nod, before running away at an impressive speed. As I said, I waited for him and he came back with his gym bag and his varsity jacket, ready to go.

It looked like the puppy boy wanted to lift me up and run at all speed towards my house, but he tried to contain himself pretty well.

This was going to be amazing.

----

Back at my place, I knew mom would be out for at least one or two hours more.

Dave seemed like a beast doing the best he could to contain himself. He anxiously tapped the car’s wheel every time we reached a traffic light, and he ran out of the car and locked it with his key as soon as I stepped out.

He could perfectly grab me, break my house’s door with a kick, then do a long shot with me to upstairs just so save up more time, but I don’t think the big guy would do that because I could end up hurt.

Once in my room, he almost ripped off all of his clothing. Luckily, almost. I was impressed by this energy boost he was having, even more since we were about to… do the dirty a few days ago, and he didn’t seem nearly as excited as he was now.

Probably because he had an awful day back then? Today must have been a rush because of the football game. Classes were pretty vague already with most of the professors rambling and letting us free class time to do other works or just chill out before the game.

“Ready for action, bro!” He said, striking a pose in all his naked glory. His hard cock was twitching and leaking a bit of pre already.

I took my time and fully undressed in front of him. He followed every movement I did with cautious precision, like a predator looking over for his prey. If he was in werewolf form at the moment, I bet he would stick his tongue out at every moment.

I walked towards him, only separated by a few inches. He leaned in and kissed me in a sort of nice way, as he always did. A few times, he would break the kiss and breath quite heavily. “Uh… I’m really horny now, bro… Do you… do you really want it? I’m not going to force you to—“

“Yeah,” I interrupted him before he started with the usual ‘You’re the boss here’ speech. “Yeah, let’s get on with this”

He nodded, and lifted me up from the floor. The horny werewolf walked over to my bed and gently left me on top of it, facing my mattress. “Never rimmed a guy before” He said, chuckling nervously “Can’t be too different from a chick’s ass”

I let out a little sigh, trying to relax myself, as Dave pushed my butt cheeks and started licking my hole.

It felt weird.

I mean, it felt kind of good, I guess? But also knowing that his tongue was doing that… I think I would have preferred if he just spat on his hand and inserted his fingers, like I saw on some videos. Too late to back out now, right?

Dave was the expert on sex so… he knows how to make it hurt less, I assume.

After a few minutes doing that, the jock got up and walked towards his gym bag. I moved to look at him, and noticed he took out a condom from one of the bag’s pockets. “You always carry condoms around?” I asked, honestly curious.

The werewolf shrugged “I’m always up for having sex, have that in mind” He replied, with a wink.

‘I’ll do, don’t worry’ I thought, as he ripped the condom’s envelope and placed the thing around his cock.

“Now, the important part…” He started in a really serious voice, getting in position behind me. I could feel him aligning his cock to have a clear entrance to my ass “If it hurts, or you’d like to make any request, don’t hold back. I want you to enjoy this as much as I will, and you’re my priority, bro”

Dave leaned in to kiss my back, then went up and kissed my neck softly. “Understood?” He finished, as I felt his cock pressing against my hole.

“Y-Yes, let’s do this already” I answered.

He chuckled, and kept giving me little kisses, probably to distract me. His cock was already sliding in. “God, you’re so tight…” He whispered near my ear “I love it…”.

I won’t lie, it felt good so far. Barely any pain at— OH, SON OF A BITCH!         

‘It’s okay! I can handle it! It just hurts at the beginning!’ I told myself, as Dave finished going all the way in, and started thrusting in and out quite slowly at first.

The pain diminished little by little as he kept fucking my ass. I was worried his cock might be too big for my virgin ass, but it was good so far. I barely felt any pleasure though, it was just like a very weird thing.

And then, Dave touched the sacred spot. I let out a moan, and Dave said “Huh, good to know that”, probably referring that he just found my prostate. After that, it felt like heaven. The werewolf’s movements were perfect, and even if he barely moaned now, I could tell he was enjoying it.

I was tempted to order him to turn into a werewolf, but if his dick grew inside of me like it did when he transformed, I would probably be in a lot more pain that I was a few moments ago. And the condom would probably break too.

After a few more minutes of Dave fucking me, he pulled his cock out. Then, he turned me around with his impressive strength, and lifted me by the butt. I surrounded him with my legs, as he positioned me again on top of his cock and slowly made me go downwards on it.

Now we were facing each other as he fucked me, and we took the chance to make out, only interrupted by our moans from time to time.

This was amazing, he was amazing, everything was amazing.

“I could last all night if you wanted me to, bro…” He whispered, in between pants. Now that he mentioned it, I could feel myself getting closer to blowing a load. “Just tell me when you want me to cum, a’ight?”

I nodded, and he kept making me go up and down on his cock. The pain was long forgotten by now, and I felt it sliding perfectly in my hole.

Then, I came on top of him, as he sat down on my bed still holding on to me.

I was extremely disappointed by how quickly I came, but Dave’s cock still felt good inside of me. But…

“Cum” I told him, and he didn’t waste a second. His eyes unfocused for a bit, as his cock exploded inside of my ass. Afterwards, we both fell on my bed, facing each other.

His cock was still inside of me, and I was sure he would get hard again if I ordered it.

But my first time had been amazing so far, so maybe this was enough for today?

Dave smiled at me, leaning in to give me a kiss. I kissed him back, wondering how could I live so far without this beefcake around. Everything was so different unlike two weeks ago, where I would look forward to senior year ending so I could stop hiding from the mean big jocks.

“I love you…” Dave whispered after the kiss was over, looking at me with adoration in his eyes. “I hope I did good during your first time”

And now, I didn’t want it to end at all. Everything was so perfect right now.

“It was, puppy boy. Thanks for it… and I love you too” I managed to say, glad that my stutter didn’t ruin the moment. And glad that I had a werewolf soulmate.

-----

Chapter 11 isn’t available yet, but feel free to check out my Patreon for the first chapter of my next story!

[somefantasticplace]

MISTER AND MISTER

We asked comedians Vic and Bob the same questions in separate rooms. Then we compared their answers…

HERE for pictures.

What are the rules in your relationship?  Is there a line that you'd never cross?

Vic: We've never needed to have rules - apart from who makes the tea next.  We never speak to each other on the phone unless it's to say, 'I'm not coming in today,' or 'Will you bring some milk in?’ We have completely functional phone calls because we see each other every day.  We live about 10 miles away from each other. We're very medieval in that we do all our writing with a pen and paper.  Bob tends to hold the pen more and write things down more, but that's entirely down to my idleness.  I have to do the drawings because his drawings are indecipherable.

Bob: If we don't want to work, we don't have to and we never make an issue of it.  We never phone up and say, 'I'm really sorry, I've got to do this or that.' We just say, 'I'm not working today.  See you tomorrow.' We're both quite unassertive, so there's no obvious dominance.  It could be [why neither of them is the straight man].  We compromise - it's unspoken. We talk about most stuff, but not sexual things.  I don't know why that is.  You always imagine that everyone else does. If he's been out with a lass, I'll say 'So how did it go?'  I don't really ask anything like, 'Did she have nice tits?'

Tell us a secret about the other.

Vic: He's got an anal dysfunction.  Let's just say there's some kind of angle involved.  He backfires.

Bob: He collects a percentage of his used condoms in a jar and keeps them.  He does!  Last time I saw it was in his house.  So there you are!

What surprises can we expect in the new BBC TV series of Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased)?

Vic: I think the best bit is a very camp psychedelic episode, set in a big toy shop, with giant puppets and evil mannequins. it's got that late-60s Avengers feel.  I fly through the air a lot.  I was hurled down a corridor by a flaming man [no need to swear- ed].  No, he was on fire. It's always good working with Tom Baker.  When we're together we camp it right up.  He even gives me a kiss - it's quite full on and I wasn't expecting it.  He was telling me something really close up and he finished off by grabbing hold of my face and going mwwwwwww. I was pretty startled.  You don't think, 'Oh, he's a good kisser!' You think, 'What's he doing?'

Bob: There's one bit where we're in a jungle and Derek Jacobi is in a wheelchair with his face peeled off; Dervla Kirwan is on a sex machine (a punishment machine that gives women orgasms continually until they hate it); Emilia Fox is having a fight with a huge lady prison officer; and I'm being beaten up by two huge men.  It's a lovely little tableau.

Hopkirk (Vic) is Randall's (Bob's) spectral minder.  Who would you choose as your spirit guide?

Vic: Don Johnson from Miami Vice because he'd be suave.  Or Michael Knight from Knight Rider.  Or Peter Glaze [of Crackrjack].  He was quite short with little round specs and he'd look good if he appeared behind a bush in spectral form.

Bob: it would probably be quite good to have Jim [Vic's real name is Jim Moir].  He'd do anything you asked.  I'd get him to spy on people and report back.  I think he'd Iove it. I don't suppose he could carry a camcorder, but I'd like to see images from D-grade celebrities’ homes and Jim would be up for doing that.  I'd send him to spy on Anthea and Grant.  Could it be true that no one watched Anthea's show?  I take no pleasure in that.  I just couldn't believe her viewing figure was zero.  You'd think Grant would have tuned in, though.

Who has the better sense of style?

Vic: Bob has his own particular sense of style, which I admire. He’s a very clean man, but he wears dirty clothes.  I admire that because he pulls it off.  He sometimes buys unsightly shoes and I'll say, ‘I think we should burn them.' I've burned a lot of clothing and taken photographs of it.  I took a photograph of a pair of old woman's shoes on fire beneath a standing stone with a pool around the bottom.  I had eight copies printed; I'm going to frame them and offer them out at Christmas.

Bob: I have no sense of style and I get a lot of abuse for it.  But I'm beginning to think that I'm the more stylish man because I have no style.  I don't buy anything.  This is all bought for me by my girlfriend [points to his chunky sweater and scuffed jeans].  I hate male perfumes, male jewellers.  I hate walking into a room and the first thing people see is your suit.

Vic/Jim has said: 'People can't seem to understand that Vic is just a character I play.' Are they two different people?

Vic: It just goes back to the fact that not many people can pronounce Moir [rhymes with lawyer]. I changed my name because I was only going to do one night - and I thought it was right for that night.  'Vic' is when I'm on TV.

Bob: I think Vic and Jim are one and the same.

Who would you least like to be chained to a radiator with?

Vic: Terry Waite. Or Donald Duck.  I don't like the way he looks, I don't like the way he speaks.  His attitude is all wrong.  And his nephews!  If they were chained as well I'd slit my throat.  Eat them?  I'm not sure anyone's ever eaten a cartoon yet.

Bob: Bubble from Big Brother.  I'd probably irritate him - it wouldn't be a good mix.  I think Vic would pick Bigfoot out of Bigfoot And 7he Hendersons - that big hairy thing.

You wake up one day to discover you are women.  What kind of women would you be?

Vic: Probably much the same as the men that we are.  Vaguely interesting.  I don't think we'd be smart.  Eclectic.  I'd be wearing Victorian clothing, a high-necked, long, black dress, looking like a widow.  Or Miss Havisham in Great Expectations.  Dusty and dowdy.

Bob: I'd be the same as I am.  I’d be a mummy. I’d be like Nigella Lawson, but anonymous. Jim, he would be like Ulrika.

Complete the following: I’d die if I ever had to… again.

Vic: …live.

Bob: I couldn’t face doing the conveyancing on a house again. I used to do that in another life.

How do you make your kids laugh?

Vic: Stupid walks, fart jokes – they always win. I can’t fart to order, but I can belch to order. Words always make kids laugh. You’ve got to get on their level and sing things like, ‘There’s a woman on a bike, wike, thike, nike, fike, like.’ They love it.

Bob: Repeating a non-word such as ‘uballah’ over and over, very loudly – that seems to get them going. Or walking like a monkey.

What would you never, ever lend the other?

Vic: My car [a Jaguar], as he’s always crashing cars. The interior of his car [a Lexus] is like a council tip. When we were filming, we had a boot sale and put everything from his car on a trestle table. There was cat litter, one shoe, a bra, plants, food, jam – everything you could possibly imagine - stashed away.  He doesn't have his cars long.  I'd say it takes him about an hour and a half to fill one and perhaps two hours to wreck it.

Bob:  My dog and my cats.  He'd be useless.  He'd probably feed them the wrong stuff.

How do you know when he's down and how do you help him snap out of it?

Vic: I ring up Middlesbrough Football Club and tell them to pull their finger out.  He doesn't know I do this.  He gets into a terrible depression if they aren't doing very well, but that's the only time he does get depressed.  He always cheers me up with his cheeky grin.

Bob: I don't bother, he's always down, so there's no worries.

Who has the better body?

Vic: My body is turning into what it was like as a young boy - there's nothing there really.  Bob's is very manly - a big hairy chest, broad and brawny.  I'm in pretty good shape.  I do a lot of walking.  But Bob's in better shape than he's ever been.  He has this secretive world where he does a lot of digging.  He moves gravel around and stuff like that.

Bob: We fluctuate.  You'll see photo of him sixth months before and he'll be as trim as a tuppence.  But at this moment in time, I might be able to top him.  One thing Jim does is put weight on his face.  If he's had a Christmas where he's scoffed and drank for a week, it all goes on his face.

If you could send the other on a course, what would it be?

Vic: Fly-fishing.  I think he's got a secret wish to be a fisherman. We've been fishing about twice in 10 years.  I think it's something he'd be into.  I think he'd also benefit from learning how to draw. I would imagine his children can draw better than him.

Bob:   An assertiveness training weekend.  He came into work yesterday and said, 'The builders are after me for money.' I said, 'Have they done owt?' He says, 'Not that I can see.' So I said, 'It's very difficult, Jim, but when they phone up, if they haven't done the kitchen, the dining room and the bedroom, at least say, "Could you have the kitchen finished by five?" before you give them the cash.' He says  'Yeah, I'll try and get something out of them.' So he phones the builder and says, 'So you want some money? I'll put the cheque in the kitchen drawer.' He couldn't do it!

You’re in a room full of smart, beautiful women.  Who do they gravitate towards?

Vic: Neither of us, I'm convinced. They'd probably turn their backs us. Maybe they'd gather around Bob first because they'd want to mother him and I think that's the first urge of a group of beautiful women in a room.

Bob.  Jim.  He's sassy.  He's a single man and there's an air about him. You wouldn't notice me walking into a room.

Could you order for each other in restaurant?

Vic: Definitely.  He'd have what you consider old person's food  - tongue, potatoes and cabbage, and a steamed pudding with custard, with tea or a lager.  If he chose for me, he'd go for something more obscure. If there was something odd on the menu, I'd try it.

Bob: Jim always has the most bizarre thing on the menu.  He likes to try things.  He'd order me potatoes.

If you were invisible for a day, where would you hang out?

Vic: Can I breathe underwater or be ethereal?  I'd float over the capital and blow down chimneys and through windows at quite high speed.  I wouldn't be that interested in spying on anyone.  I might like to creep into a tiger's cage or maybe get inside an apple.  I wouldn't find anything interesting in being a peeping Tom.  I'd rather spy on a cat than a person.

Bob: I'm tempted to say at Grant and Anthea's again, but the truth, of course, is that I'd hang around wherever in 24 hours you'd see the most nude women.

How far would you go for friendship?  Would you: a) lend him your underpants; b) give him your kidney; c) help him on the toilet?

Vic:  a) I wouldn't want to wear his underpants.  Have you seen the state of them? b) I'd give him my kidney, depending on how many I had spare on my plate.  He'd enjoy it. c) I would help him on the toilet, yes, if I had to.

Bob:   a) Yes, I'm sure I would. b) Can you survive with only one?  I'd think about it. c) Yes, definitely.

What is the other's most irritating habit?

Vic:  He would probably say blowing his nose on his clothing.  But he quite often leaves some marmalade or something on the front seat of his car, so, when you get in, you really need to put a towel down first.

Bob: Not buying drinks.

What's the most endearing thing he's ever done?

Vic: Just being him really.  He always makes me laugh.  We're not present givers.  We ignore Christmases and birthdays.

Bob: There's lots. He bought me a very rare record, which surprised me. It was an original copy of Free Live! He always looks after me. With the odd lives we have, we do have to look out for each other. It's one of the stabilising things about being in a double act. You can't start being poncey because you've got the other person with you. You can help each other out.

What scares you?

Vic: I've got a terrible fear of heights.  Before I pass out, the sky comes in and I start ducking.

Bob: The thought of my children getting hurt.  You see something on the telly and think, 'God, if that were them, I couldn't bear it.'

Do you go on holiday together?

Vic: We do.  We've been off on our own a few times - we've been on motorcycling holidays, we've been camping.  We're probably quite insular.  We act like children.

Bob: On holiday, he's a bit too busy for me.  He can't sit down.  We're in a cafe and I just like watching people.  He'll be saying, 'Have you finished your fag?  Come on!'

If the partnership ended tomorrow, what would you both be good at?

Vic: I'd probably just paint pictures.  I think he'd like being a gardener or maybe do up houses.

Bob: I'd like to be a gardener, if I was financially able to just garden.  I can't act, so I wouldn't go down that line.  Jim does it already, but I suppose he'd like to paint.

What sort of old people will you be?

Vic: I will sit in an old people's home, staring out of the window, listening to a distant Alsatian.  I've often imagined myself sitting on a park bench with a dusty novel.  And a bottle of milk. If they stop putting milk in bottles, I'll be cantankerous and lead the march to Trafalgar Square to reinstate bottles of milk. I'd imagine Bob would be very much the same, but he'd be sitting on a dusty chair with a bottle of milk watching the TV - anything that's on.  He's a channel hopper.

Bob: Quite traditional, really: nice tweed suits, brogues, lonely. Together would be nice. We would probably be... [sighs at the inevitability] in a pub.

Former solicitor Bob Mortimer (42) was born only a few months and a few miles apart from Vic Reeves in Middlesbrough .  They didn't meet until 1986 when Vic was performing at the Goldsmith's Tavern in London.  Vic thought Bob was 'quite quiet' but it transpired he was eating a macaroon and didn't want to talk with his mouth full. Bob lives with his girlfriend Lisa Matthews and their children Harry (4) and Tom (3) in Kent .

Vic Reeves (42, James Roderick Moir to the Inland Revenue] lives in Kent with his wife Sarah (though they are separated) and their children, Alice (8), and Louis (4). It’s just down the road from Bob, at whose house they write every day. The two have had many series on TV including Shooting Stars, Families At War and Bang Bang It’s Reeves & Mortimer. Vic has also published a book of his paintings, sunboiledonions (Michael Joseph, £12.99).

Eve

Nov 2001

[kayliemusing]

33

1. Do you ever doubt the existence of others than you? - If you're talking about aliens or ghosts, yes lol

2. On a scale of 1-5, how afraid of the dark are you? - 3. I can manage but sometimes I get unnerved, especially if I'm alone in the dark outside

3. The person you would never want to meet? - Anyone who could hurt me

4. What is your favorite word? - Wonderstruck. I also like the word 'elegance' bc I like the way it sounds.

5. If you were a type of tree, what would you be? - cherry blossom tree

6. When you looked in the mirror this morning what was the first thing you thought? - 'Ew'

7. What shirt are you wearing? - I'm wearing a blue sweater

8. What do you label yourself as? - A few things: a romantic, writer, daydreamer, perfectionist, etc

9. Bright room or dark room? - Bright

10. What were you doing at midnight last night? - Heading to bed

11. Favorite age you’ve been so far? - I think I liked being seventeen, but I can't really remember

12. Who told you they loved you last? - My mom probably lol

13. Your worst enemy? - My sister's abusive ex

14. What is your current desktop picture? - A forest

15. Do you like someone? - No one in my real life, but I've developed a sudden crush on Evan Peters in the last 24 hrs lmao

16. The last song you listened to? - The Last Great American Dynasty by Taylor Swift, I think

17. You can press a button that will make any one person explode. Who would you blow up? - My sister's ex

18. Who would you really like to just punch in the face? - My sister's ex

19. If anyone could be your slave for a day, who would it be and what would they have to do? - Idk if I'd have a slave tbh lol

20. What is your best physical attribute? (showing said attribute is optional) - My hair, I guess

21. If you were the opposite sex for one day, what would you look like and what would you do? - I'd probably look like myself, but maybe taller and obviously more masculine. I don't know what I'd do. I don't think I'd be a writer, because maybe my experience would be different. So...not sure.

22. Do you have a secret talent? If yes, what is it? - This is weird and if anyone asks me, I'll deny it, but I can make stomach grumbling noises without opening my mouth. Honestly not hard to do, but I think I'm really good at it lmao

23. What is one unique thing you’re afraid of? - I don't really have a unique fear. I think what I'm afraid of is normal. I'm super afraid of failure, loss, and getting older bc I feel like growing old comes with loss. Terrified of spiders and most bugs. Deep water bc I can't swim well. So...Pretty basic I think.

24. You can only have one kind of sandwich. Every sandwich ingredient known to humankind is at your disposal. - A standard PB and J.

25. You just found $100! How are you going to spend it? - I'd probably just take it to the bank and put it in my bank account, which would most likely end up going towards makeup, books, skincare or clothes.

26. You just got a free plane ticket to anywhere in the world, but you have to leave immediately. Where are you going to go? - Maybe NYC? Or totally the opposite and going somewhere super quiet and beautiful, like a countryside in England or France lol.

27. An angel appears out of Heaven and offers you a lifetime supply of the alcoholic beverage of your choice. “Be brand-specific” it says. Man! What are you gonna say about that? Even if you don’t drink booze there’s something you can figure out… so what’s it gonna be? - I feel like an angel wouldn't offer me that, but maybe a dessert wine. I'm not really a fan of alcohol so Idk what else I'd choose lol.

28. You discover a beautiful island upon which you may build your own society. You make the rules. What is the first rule you put into place? - Everyone listens and loves Taylor Swift, if not, you're going to jail

29. What is your favorite expletive? - 'bitch' I think lol

30. Your house is on fire, holy shit! You have just enough time to run in there and grab ONE inanimate object. Don’t worry, your loved ones and pets have already made it out safely. So what’s the one thing you’re going to save from that blazing inferno? - My laptop

31. You can erase any horrible experience from your past. What will it be? - Probably an embarrassing moment. I would want to erase traumas but then I feel like that would actually end up messing everything up. i.e., would lead to confusion or misunderstandings about love, etc.

32. You got kicked out of the country for being a time-traveling heathen who sleeps with celebrities and has super-powers. But check out this cool shit… you can move to anywhere else in the world! - Interesting. I'm not sure what the question is, but if I could move anywhere else in the world, I'd probably move to a big city like NYC, Vancouver, or LA OR I'd go the opposite and move to a super cozy cottage in a countryside somewhere.

33. The Celestial Gates Of Beyond have opened, much to your surprise because you didn’t think such a thing existed. Death appears. As it turns out, Death is actually a pretty cool entity, and happens to be in a fantastic mood. Death offers to return the friend/family-member/person/etc. of your choice to the living world. Who will you bring back? - My dad

34. What was your last dream about? - Last night I had this bizarre dream that I was camping with Matthias from YouTube and he was being super mean to me lmao. Then all of a sudden I was in Calgary with my sister and we were just like wandering around.

35. Are you a good….[insert anything you’d like here]? - I feel like you're asking if I'm a good person, to which, I think yes.

36. Have you ever been admitted to the hospital? - No

37. Have you ever built a snowman? - Yes

38. What is the color of your socks? - I'm not wearing any, but they're usually white or black.

39. What type of music do you like? - Pop, Alternative/alternative pop, folk, country, country-pop, some 80s stuff, acoustic, etc. I span through a few genres, but I think I like something with a catchy melody and good songwriting.

40. Do you prefer sunrises or sunsets? - Sunrises

41. What is your favorite milkshake flavor? - Vanilla, bc i'm basic

42. What football team do you support? (I will answer in terms of American football as well as soccer) -I don't watch football oops

43. Do you have any scars? - A few. Mostly acne scars rip, but also a big scar on my elbow from when I fell off my bike when I was a kid. I have a few chickenpox scars on my forehead that like to peak out every now and again too.

44. What do you want to be when you graduate? - I already graduated High School, but I just applied to college so the plan is to be a Copy Editor and a novelist on the side.

45. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? - That I had a flat stomach

46. Are you reliable? - Tbh no. I think I'm pretty flaky :/

47. If you could ask your future self one question, what would it be? - How did it turn out?

48. Do you hold grudges? - Yes, unfortunately

49. If you could breed two animals together to defy the laws of nature, what new animal would you create? - Maybe like a bird and a chinchilla or a fox or something so it would be like this flying fox thing. Idk. I saw a fantasy drawing on pinterest of a bird/something-else and it was super cute.

50. What is the most unusual conversation you’ve ever had? - I don't know actually lol

51. Are you a good liar? - No, because I get super nervous and can't make eye contact or I start smiling. Even worse, sometimes it's both.

52. How long could you go without talking? - I'm pretty quiet, so a long time. Maybe a day, but not two days lol.

53. What has been you worst haircut/style? - I got a perm when I was in the sixth grade and everyone laughed at me so.

54. Have you ever baked your own cake? - Yes

55. Can you do any accents other than your own? - Not well, but sometimes I like to butcher a British and Australian accent. Usually happens when I'm alone which is worse.

56. What do you like on your toast? - Usually I'll just put margarine on it or jam. If I feel like being fancy, I'll put brown sugar and cinnamon on it.

57. What is the last thing you drew a picture of? - I probably doodled some hearts not too long ago

58. What would be you dream car? - Probably a red 1960-70s chevy convertible.

59. Do you sing in the shower? Or do anything unusual in the shower? Explain. - I talk to myself in the shower a lot which is weird but i'm just kinda processing my thoughts out loud lmao. Sometimes I'll sing or hum to myself.

60. Do you believe in aliens? - That would be a hard no.

61. Do you often read your horoscope? - No, unless it's in a fun meme like the signs as tv shows or something

62. What is your favorite letter of the alphabet? - I have never thought about this before tbh. Maybe S? or R? or C? Idk

63. Which is cooler: dinosaurs or dragons? - Dragons

64. What do you think about babies? - Cute

[thatishogwash]

Friend is the Watchword

BoKuroo Week 2020

April 1st, Wednesday - Affection

Five

“Hey hey hey!”  Bokuto crashed into the room which housed the Nekoma Boys Volleyball Team.  Kuroo already had his futon laid out, his back against the wall as he flicked through the songs on his Ipod.  “What are you listening to?” The over enthusiastic teen sprawled out on Kuroo’s futon, basically half laying on Kuroo.  Kuroo held out one of his earbuds without prompting, lips tilting up in a grin as Bokuto placed it in his ear before laying his head down.

It had become a nightly ritual for them during their many training camps spent together.  Bokuto had a hard time winding down from the day but listening to whatever music Kuroo was interested in the time with the background noise of the other boys getting ready for bed and the soft scritch-scritch of Kuroo’s pencil on paper as he did his work gently lulled him into a relaxed state.  More and more often Bokuto would end up falling asleep like that, the other Fukurodani members would check to make sure Bokuto was there but let him be.

No one had to know Kuroo requested earbuds instead of the headphones he usually used for christmas from his parents.  Just like no one needed to know that Kuroo spent a good chunk of time researching and downloading new music that would be calming and soothing.

He was just being a good friend, that’s all.

Four

They move in together after their first year of college.  It’s a tiny apartment on the fifth floor of a building that has seen other days.  The dorms lost their appeal for Kuroo after month one when he realized no one cared about anyone else's sleep schedule, things regularly went missing, fights were a common occurrence, and the fire alarm had been set off at least once a month.  After that Kuroo can deal with an elevator that doesn’t work and a shower that never quite has hot water.

The apartment only has one tiny bedroom so to save on money and space they only buy one futon, big enough to fit them both comfortably.  Kenma had given Kuroo the blandest look when he said they shared a bed due to economical reasons.

“It’s logical if you think about it Kenma, stop giving me that look.”

Kuroo still thinks it was the best decision but he decides not to tell anyone else about it.  Not because he’s embarrassed or doesn’t think it was the right thing to do but he doesn’t want other people to get the wrong idea.

“We’re just friends Kenma.”

Three

It had been a long day on top of an already long week.  The train was crowded even though it was pretty late at night, which meant Kuroo and Bokuto were standing back in a corner and trying not to infringe on anyone’s personal space.  Kuroo had a hold on the bar above his head and was idly scrolling through his email when suddenly there was more weight added to him.

Kuroo braced his legs better as Bokuto rested his head on his shoulder, letting on a deep sigh that showed he was still partially awake.  He then slipped his phone in his pocket so he could wrap his arm around the other man, just in case he really did fall asleep.

Bokuto was having a difficult time with his new team.  It was just an adjustment period, they would all find their rhythm and grow together but at that moment it felt disconnected.  Bokuto felt like he had taken several huge steps back and while he had made great strides on his mental health journey, he still had a tendency to have his ups and downs.

So if Bokuto needed a shoulder to lean on late on a Thursday night then Kuroo would be that shoulder because that’s what friends do for each other.

Two

“Looking good number 8!”  Kuroo yelled from the stands, earning a disgruntled look from Kenma next to him.  Bokuto turned, spotted Kuroo and gave an energetic wave before being pulled away by a teammate.  Honestly Kuroo couldn’t convince Kenma to come out with him often so when he did he had to make the best of it.

Which usually meant annoying Kenma until he started to threaten to leave.

“I thought that annoying voice sounded familiar.”  Kuroo turned, frown in place before he recognized the three people before him.

“Holy shit Sawamura, did you shrink?”  Kuroo cackled as the two old rivals bickered for a moment before he was reintroduced to Azumane and Sugwara.  Kuroo made room for them to sit down and Kenma looked relieved to not be the center of Kuroo’s ribbing any longer.

“Do you go to all of Bokuto’s games?”  Sugawara asked, smiling sweetly. The way he phrased it made Kuroo suspect there was more to that question than it sounded like.

“I try to make it to as many as I can, our schedules don’t match up a lot.”  Kuroo answered honestly.

“It’s impressive that you two are still together.”  Sugawara said, causing Kenma to snort quietly next to Kuroo.

“Suga, you can’t be so nosy.”  Azumane whispered urgently, earning an elbow from Sugawara and an eye roll from Sawamura.  Kuroo suddenly realized they had it all wrong, that they thought Bokuto and him were together but before he could clear that up the crowd cheered loudly.

Kuroo looked over to see Bokuto’s teammates slapping him on the back.  Bokuto looked up into the stands, beaming widely at Kuroo who gave a loud wolf whistle even though he had missed the play.  He could clear up the misunderstanding later, right now he was there to support Bokuto.

Support him as a friend would.

One

Kuroo would never have thought that large, in the prime of their life athletic men would be such lightweights.  He guessed it made sense, most of these men treated their bodies like a temple. Plus between games and training there wasn’t much time to drink and not worry it would interfere with their job.  But the tournaments had wrapped up, the season was done and everyone was letting go a little.

Never in all of Kuroo’s 25 years of living has he felt smaller than he did now.  He was a respectable 188 centimeters, he towered over the majority of the population and was constantly being asked to get stuff off of the shelves for his co-workers.  Yet here he sat, feeling like a delicate little flower surrounded by powerhouses and mostly enjoying it. He had no idea how Hinata dealt with it since he probably weighed as much as Barns left leg.

Bokuto was pressed up against Kuroo’s back as he explained something in a bastardized version of English and Japanese that was helping absolutely no one.  Meian seemed to be the only one who could understand and didn’t seem too put off by translating both ways, though his responses were getting slower with every sip of his drink he took.

“We should eat something to soak some of this alcohol up.”  Meian, who from what Bokuto had told Kuroo, looked as if he took up not only the reigns of captaincy but the role of the group dad.  Considering he had twin toddlers at home it made sense that he was used to the chaotic energy this one team had.

“Yes!”  Thomas agreed, looking proud that he had understood that much Japanese.  Bokuto cheered happily for him. “Karaage, please?” He looked around, confirming that he had spoken correctly.

“I’ll go get it!”  Bokuto leapt over the booth, surprising everyone with nailing the landing without falling on his face.  Kuroo laughed, wondering if he should let Bokuto wander over the bar without reminding him of something important but he decided to be nice.

“Aren’t you forgetting something?”  Kuroo asked. Bokuto turned and tilted his head, his owl-likeness growing the more inebriated he got.  The only noise was the distant chatter of other patrons and Miya lamenting the lack of Sakusa, even though everyone had begun to ignore his incessant chatter almost the moment they entered the izakaya.

“Oh!”  Bokuto grinned, suddenly remembering and Kuroo laughed, reaching towards his coat when he felt something warm and a little moist against his cheek.  He turned slowly to look up at Bokuto. “I’ll get you sashimi too.” Bokuto went to the bar to place their order.

Kuroo slowly removed his hand from his jacket pocket, where he had stashed Bokuto’s wallet after the man had asked him to hold onto it for him.  He had seen a video on how keeping a wallet in the back pocket could have adverse effects on the spine and considering Kuroo always had a bag or coat on him he usually ended up holding onto Bokuto’s wallet and phone.

Kuroo touched his cheek, which Bokuto definitely had kissed.  No one at the table batted an eyelash, as if that behavior was not only accepted but expected.  Kuroo had laughed when Miya had shouted ‘No spouses!’ as he followed Bokuto into the bar. He had thought it was a joke.

They were just friends after all.

Right?

Zero

“Hey Kouta?”  Kuroo asked into the quiet of their shared bedroom.  They had moved out of their tiny flat from college into a more spacious apartment.  It had two bedrooms but they decided to turn the second one into an office-home gym.  They still shared one bed.

“Hmm?”  Bokuto hummed in response, drowsy from a full day.  During his off season Bokuto usually picked up a job to keep himself occupied in between practices and working out.  He had decided coaching a bunch of overactive 5 year olds on how to play football. Bokuto didn’t know anything about football, which was mostly fine because neither did the kids.

“Are we dating?”  Kuroo asked, fingers running idly through Bokuto’s hair.  He felt the other man shift towards him, it was too dark to make out any expressions but he could feel those nearly golden eyes searching him out.

“Do you want to be?”  Bokuto asked but continued on.  “I wouldn’t mind, but this is good too.”

Kuroo thought about it.  This, what they had, what they’ve been having for many years was good.  They were happy, both of them and healthy. They both found fulfillment in their chosen careers, they were settled, and content.

They were friends, very good friends after all.

But perhaps they were also a little more than that.