#because when I write a character out I can't just say she transferred schools

[ivelle-serenity]

Skateboard 7

Wind breaker

fem bodied reader | smut | action | pwp | jayjo/fml | vinny/fml | wooin/fml | joker/fml | hyuk/fml | owen/fml | enemies to lovers | angsty | the other woman (?) | reverse harem | fluff | SLOW BURN! | all characters featured are 18+

author's note: i need demitra's interaction with sabbath now and write smut. damn it. they're so hot--i just can't.

✧˖° — windbreaker men

✧˖° — mdni, smut, description of not safe for work content.

✧˖° — this is a story not one shot.

"Jay's out of it again," Dom sighed, watching Jay sitting alone on the bench. It was currently our P.E. class, and we were doing our stretches. Jay, on the other hand, seemed oblivious to the world, sitting on the bench reading a book.

"He didn't eat lunch again. I'm really worried about him," Mia said, lowering her head.

"Damn it, I hate seeing him like this. Why doesn't Shelly even message our friend?" Dom said angrily, throwing the ball down in frustration.

I kept staring in Jay's direction. His friends were getting worried about him, but Jay didn't seem to care because of Shelly. I noticed my bag beside Jay; I had left it there so I could go straight home after P.E. without having to go back upstairs.

"I'm going to get some water," I told Mia and Dom. Mia nodded while Yuna tried to calm Dom down.

When I reached the bench, I grabbed my water bottle for a drink. I was surprised to find a sandwich in my bag that I hadn't eaten earlier. I took it out.

"Do you want?" I offered it to Jay. He paused and looked at the sandwich.

"I'm fine," he said.

"I made it myself. It's really good! Promise!" I said, sitting next to him. He glanced at the sandwich again before putting his book down.

"Fine, thanks," he said.

I smiled widely when he accepted it. I felt proud of myself for getting him to eat. As I watched him, I noticed Dom walking towards us.

"The tournament's tomorrow. I still can't believe we have to ride without Shelly," Dom said worriedly as he approached us.

"You guys trained for a reason. I know you can do it," Minu tried to reassure his friends.

"Why do we have to fall apart when we're so close to the end of the competition?" Dom sat down beside Jay, who was now eating the sandwich.

I just listened to their conversation, not wanting to intrude. I was only here to replace Shelly in the competition. I didn't want to assume they saw me as a friend. I knew my place. Besides, I had no intention of officially joining their crew. Wooin didn't want me getting close to the Hummingbirds, so joining was out of the question. I sighed.

"How about you, Demitra?" Mia's question caught me off guard. I forced a laugh.

"I'll just try my best tomorrow. I think you can win even without my help. You guys are amazing."

I could feel Jay's eyes on me. My actions yesterday were too risky. I can't let that happen again. I really need to control my feelings for Jay. It's embarrassing because he probably sees me as just a friend, while I see him in a different light. I also don't want Shelly to know I'm here. If she finds out, I'll probably transfer to another school.

"We still need your help to win the race," Jay said, stopping my thoughts.

"Of course," I said, scratching the back of my neck in embarrassment.

"We got you a wig," Yuna said, holding out a bag. A wig? For what? "So no one notices you're not Shelly."

I was stunned and had no choice but to nod. I couldn't believe I was going to pretend to be Shelly. If Noah were here, she'd probably laugh at me. She knew how much I hated being compared to her. But here I was, agreeing to her friends' plan.

"Got it," I said softly.

After saying that, they started discussing unfamiliar things related to the race. I overheard Sangho's name being mentioned, which made me even more silent. I noticed that it wasn't just Jay who was looking at me; even Yuna seemed to want me out of there, judging by her glances. Since I didn't want to intrude on their privacy, I moved away from the group. I approached some other classmates and grabbed a ball to play with.

Our teacher was absent. From what Dom said, they called him Mr. Nam. I hadn't met him yet, but based on how Jay and the others seemed to respect him, I figured he must be a great teacher.

My brows furrowed as a ball rolled towards the school's entrance, played by some other classmates. I quickly went to retrieve it. As I picked it up, I nearly dropped it when I saw a familiar guy.

"Vinny?" I exclaimed in surprise. He looked blank and pocketed something. He had a bike with him.

"You're studying here too?" he said with almost a tone of disgust. Perhaps he said that because he knew his former friends were studying here.

I nodded. "What brought you here?" I asked, looking down at the bike.

"Wooin wanted you to come to a race tomorrow to watch," he said, almost stopping my heart. "And he also wants you to know that you should be at the club every night at 8 p.m."

"W-What?" I couldn't process what he was saying.

"I can't go tomorrow," I said quickly. I didn't want them to know that I was one of the racers tomorrow! "And why should I go to the club at night?"

His gaze turned colder. "Have you forgotten the deal you made with Wooin?"

Damn it.

"You need to be there every night before the tournament. He needs you for the strategies we'll be planning for the race," he explained, looking irritated.

"O-Oh..." I nodded. "But isn't Sangho there?" I said nervously.

He fell silent. "Why are you so afraid of him?" he asked seriously.

I clenched my fists. "I told you, I got into a fight with some guys who seemed to work for him. And... those men didn't just want me dead. They tried to touch me." It felt pointless to lie. They would find out eventually.

"They what?" His face darkened. His eyes widened.

I looked away. "But I think they won't chase me here. But still... I don't want to see Sangho—"

"They tried to touch you? Fuck."

I smiled bitterly. "Vinny, do you think it's easy being a female rider in the underground? Not everyone we race against wants to compete fairly. Some of them want to..." I couldn't finish my sentence.

We both fell silent. Maybe he realized I didn't want to talk about it anymore. It was a nightmare. That's why I promised myself I'd never bike again.

"You stay close to Dom," he broke the silence. "He can protect you."

I furrowed my brows. "Why him? Don't you think Wooin can protect me?"

He sighed. "Not like that. Like you said, you don't want any connection with Sangho. Wooin has business with that man, so it's better if you stick with Dom for now," he explained, combing his hair.

"He's part of the Yakuza. He can protect you."

The real question is... Why would he protect me? I'm not even his friend! I'm just his classmate. I don't want to approach Dom just to be protected. I'm not that desperate!

"I think I can protect myself very well, Vinny. Thank you for your concern," I said with a smile. His gaze remained serious.

"I'll go talk to him, then."

"What!?" I exclaimed, trying to stop him from entering the school. "Wait! I thought you two weren't friends anymore?"

I blocked his way to stop him from entering. He was so tall that I was having a hard time. There were many eyes on us because of him. He looked like a gangster trying to enter the school.

I tried to block his way, but it was too late. Vinny had stopped and was glaring at something behind me.

"What's going on?" Jay's cold voice made me wince.

"Call Dom. I don't need you," Vinny snapped at Jay. I quickly turned to Jay and shook my head, trying to defuse the tension.

"You can go back. He's just asking me something," I lied, but Jay's gaze remained fixed on me, then shifted to Vinny in a silent challenge.

"I thought you weren't friends with him?" Jay's comment made Vinny pause and look at me with an annoyed expression. Maybe he was irritated because I had told Jay, or perhaps that was just his usual demeanor.

"Why do you even care, jerk?" Vinny retorted, his voice dripping with disdain.

"Hey, stop," I urged Vinny, my brows furrowed. "Can you please just go? You're making a scene." I whispered, glancing around and noticing the growing number of onlookers. The tension was palpable, and I could feel my heart pounding in my chest.

"What the fuck? What's that bastard doing here?" Dom's voice startled me. He approached with a fierce look, positioning himself between Jay and Vinny. I felt a surge of anxiety, fearing they might start a fight. Both of them towered over me, their presence intimidating.

Vinny clenched his fists, his knuckles turning white. "You..." he couldn't finish his sentence, throwing sharp glances at Dom, who tilted his head mockingly.

"Vinny, just go," I said firmly, my voice steady despite the chaos. His gaze dropped to me, and I felt a wave of relief wash over me. He ran a hand through his hair, frustration etched on his face.

"I'm not here to fight, considering I've already beaten you," he sneered. Dom made a move towards him, but Jay held him back with a firm hand on his shoulder.

Vinny continued, "Just protect your new member, will you? You never know who might want to hurt this little one." His tone was mocking, but there was an undercurrent of threat that made my blood run cold.

Dom’s eyes narrowed, his body tensing as he took a step closer. “You think you’re tough? Coming here and making threats?”

Vinny smirked, clearly enjoying the reaction he was provoking. “I don’t need to think. I know.”

“Enough,” Jay said, his voice cutting through the rising tension. “Vinny, leave now.”

Vinny held Jay’s gaze for a long moment before he shrugged, as if bored by the whole confrontation. “Fine. But remember what I said, Dom. Watch your back. And hers.”

With that, he turned and walked away, leaving a heavy silence in his wake. I let out a breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding and looked at Jay and Dom, who were still tense and ready for a fight.

“are you okay?” Jay asked, with a serious look on his face.

I nodded, but my mind was racing. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just… let’s go back to class.”

What the hell was that? Is that his excuse to follow through with his plan to have Dom protect me? I hate him! He doesn't need to do that,.

[ikeuverse]

DON'T BE AFRAID TO SAY — l.heeseung

PAIRING: heeseung x fem!reader  GENRES: fluff, angst  WC: 15.3k+

WARNINGS: mention of betrayal (not between heeseung and y/n), swearing, arguing, drinking alcohol, mention of sex, and i think that's it. let me know if i've forgotten anything, please.

SYNOPSIS: lee heeseung is afraid to say the three famous words out loud, and he knows that because he didn't, he lost you once. and he doesn't want that to happen again.

NOTES: first of all, more than 15k words? maybe i got carried away or idk i was abstaining from writing... this is the longest story I've ever written on this tumblr (so far). i've had this idea for a while and i've also read similar things, but never with heeseung being the one who can't say i love you. i decided to do it the way i imagined it would be, so i hope you like it!

masterlist

Your fingers circled the wine glass as she looked at your flatmate and best friend. The tip of her nose was red from crying and, with a little more wine in her glass, she drank it all in one gulp.

"You're going to get drunk like that" your voice came out low, to warn her, not scolding her.

"That's the point" Hyojin smiled without any humor, pouring some more and showing you that it was over.

One more bottle, she hissed in your direction and you got up to get it from the fridge. Your best friend wasn't kidding when she told you to go to the market and buy six bottles of wine for the evening.

Break-ups are hard, you think, although you've never really experienced them. You just follow your friends and even your favorite movies and characters. But the worst break-up is when the guy swears his love, asks you to marry, and then says he's been offered a job on the other side of the country.

It happened to Hyojin. Her relationship with Seungho was perfect, worthy of a movie script, you'd think. They met in their last year of high school – you met Hyojin in your first year of college, so Seungho came with baggage. And every year on that university campus the two of them stood out because they were so close and loving towards each other.

After graduating, the two moved in together and after a year Seungho asked her to marry him. You still remember Hyojin's eyes shining as brightly as that ring on her finger while your best friend giggled on the sofa in their small apartment.

"I'm getting married" she said, and you agreed. Because of the two of you, she was even more likely to do it because of your long-standing relationship, while you had never been in a relationship. Not even a serious one.

After months of engagement, Seungho said that he had been offered a job on the other side of the country. Hyojin had always encouraged him, so there was no hesitation when she helped him pack for the trip. But not before shedding a few tears over the constant conversations they had when he stayed at the couple's apartment to make the final arrangements.

"Are you sure we'll work out from a distance?" he asked one night, looking deep into Hyojin's eyes as he sighed. Even though she didn't know what he was asking, she only agreed and assured him that she would wait for him, or even try to ask for a transfer from her work to the headquarters less than an hour from where Seungho said he would be staying.

But there was no time. The shock of seeing Seungho going to the other side of the country and getting into a relationship with a woman from the company made Hyojin's stomach turn.

I was being betrayed the whole time, she mumbled through sobs as you tried to calm her down in the middle of the apartment your best friend shared with her - now - ex-fiancé.

How could Hyojin never have suspected? How could you never see that he was capable of this? Was Seungho so fake as to deceive Hyojin's family, her friends and everyone around to show himself to be an honest man while having an affair with a woman from his work?

"Maybe we should go to his new job and set fire to his new office" Sora, another friend of the two of you, suggested while pouring some more chocolate ice cream.

Sneakily, you picked up your phone and stared at your friend.

"I think I'll ask Jake to put our contact in the emergency room in case he needs help" you commented. Jake was Sora's boyfriend and your best friend at college. He had also met Seungho and hated the whole thing, but he had to divide himself between looking after his best friend – with the help of his girlfriend – and Hyojin's brother who was fighting the urge to kill his younger sister's ex-fiancé.

The whole issue itself leads up to the moment in question where, one more night, Hyojin falls into the weakness of feeling sad again. Crying and wondering where she had gone wrong all this time that she hadn't noticed a single sign that she was being betrayed.

All this guilt consumed you all the more for being your best friend for so long that you couldn't even say anything. So your apology was to buy more wine and let your best friend, and now flatmate, drink as much as she wanted.

Asking Hyojin to move in with you after the breakup was the least you could do since she didn't want to stay where she was either. Nothing that reminded of her ex was something to be proud of. So the further away she was, the better off she would be.

"Maybe you need to go to bed now" you said sleepily, yawning and leaving your glass halfway down.

"No, of course not" she was cheerful, even if her whole face looked a bit swollen from the amount of crying she'd done "How about we have a party?"

"Now?" you widened your eyes as you picked up your cell phone to check the time.

One o'clock in the morning.

"Hyojin, let's go to bed" you stood up and tried to take her by the hand, but your friend sidestepped you and took the device from her. Unlocking it and typing a few things "What are you doing?"

Hyojin didn't answer, putting the phone on speaker.

"Hyojin…"

"Hyojin?" the thick, sleepy voice on the other end of the line indicated that it was a boy. Sleepy and a little inebriated, you narrowed your eyes to see the caller ID.

"Hey, brother" she laughed softly and then looked at you, her eyes so small that you could see the effect of so many bottles of wine.

"You're drunk, aren't you?" he said. A rustle on the other end of the line indicated that he was stirring in bed to get up, apparently waking from his peaceful slumber.

"Y/n's fault, she bought me a drink."

"Motherfucker" you whispered.

"Can I talk to y/n?" he asked at the same moment you cursed your best friend.

With a mischievous, cheeky grin, Hyojin agreed without protest and gave you her cell phone. Before he did anything, your gaze followed your friend out of the kitchen as she said needed to go to the bathroom. He then took the handset off the speakerphone.

"Y/n?" he called this time.

"Hi, Heeseung" you didn't know why you'd swallowed, even though you weren't face to face, you could imagine the small smile he gave when you said his name.

"Can you keep her awake for a few minutes until I get there?" he asked. You couldn't see, but Heeseung had the speakerphone on just to get out of his pajamas and into more comfortable clothes, putting on his sneakers and picking up the handset again.

"What? You're coming—"

"I'll be there in fifteen minutes, okay?" there was no denying it since you remembered how protective Heeseung was of Hyojin. So you could only agree with your best friend's older brother "Okay, I'll call you on her cell phone to let you know I've arrived."

And before you could even process that Heeseung had hung up, Hyojin arrived in the kitchen.

"So… Did you miss my brother's voice?" she asked in a mischievous tone, making you roll your eyes.

"You're drunk and delirious" you were holding her cell phone in your hands, laughing as your best friend hugged you by the shoulders "Now let's stay on the couch until Heeseung gets here."

"He's coming over? Did you ask?"

"No" you said simply, ending the conversation at that moment as Hyojin walked into the living room to sit down, waiting for his brother.

While you divided your attention between the device and your best friend, yawning a few times and feeling that the drunkenness was gradually wearing off. At the same time, your heart began to race, and you just wanted to push away the thought that the reason was coming in fifteen minutes.

Heeseung had arrived in fifteen minutes, or even less, you couldn't tell. He talked to you to try to find out how many bottles Hyojin had drunk and if she had done anything other than call him.

No. All the answers were no and Heeseung was relieved to know that you were taking such good care of his sister.

You tried to reassure him that everything was fine and that he could rest, but knowing your overprotection and big-brother instincts, it was nothing new that Heeseung would take Hyojin to bed and sleep there.

Nor would it be news that the next morning you would be sitting on one of the stools facing the kitchen worktop watching Heeseung cook breakfast.

Your sleepy voice made him laugh to himself as he asked you what you liked to eat. Pancakes with extra chocolate icing was a good one, a little blood glucose, and a good strong coffee without sugar to balance out the hangover. It all blended so well in your mouth that you almost let out a compliment louder than: thank you, this is amazing.

It wasn't long before Hyojin woke up, much worse off than you, and joined the bench next to you to eat breakfast.

"What will you have?" Heeseung asked in a low tone, already preparing himself for the next words.

"Don't shout, I've got a headache" Hyojin spoke, he just moved his lips as if imitating her, already knowing exactly what she would say. You laughed, only to be reprimanded by your best friend.

"Okay, strong coffee first" Heeseung whispered and poured some of the strong brown liquid into a cup he had already set aside for her.

While Hyojin drank, you finished your chocolate pancakes and stared at your best friend next to you. But that didn't stop you from feeling the weight of the pair of eyes in front of you. You didn't want to turn and face Heeseung, but you knew he was looking at you.

The three of you remained silent for long minutes until Hyojin had recovered – after three long cups of coffee – opting to go and sit at the table since the kitchen counter wouldn't be as comfortable to hold a conversation staring at each other.

"Well…" Heeseung began, looking at you until he focused on Hyojin "Six bottles? Really?"

A short silence is maintained until she clicks her tongue inside her mouth, bringing the cup halfway to her lips and taking a sip of coffee.

"Last time I managed to outdo myself, it was nine bottles" she laughed to herself, knowing it wasn't funny, but wanting to get rid of the tense atmosphere and the two of them staring at her with concern.

"Did he call you?" he let slip after a while. Hyojin didn't want to appear fragile now, so you just huffed and made a point of getting up. Perhaps this was a private conversation between the brothers and you didn't want to get involved.

"No" Hyojin said as she grabbed your arm, so that answer had a double meaning – both for Heeseung and for your leaving the kitchen, she wanted you to stay.

"Then why do you still insist on drinking because of that asshole and crying about him every night?"

Another moment of silence. You wanted to leave while there was still time, but Hyojin's hand remained on your arm.

"Maybe because it's been more than five years of relationship, including a year of engagement."

The brothers exchanged angry glances with each other, but they weren't angry with each other. Heeseung wasn't mad at Hyojin and Hyojin wasn't mad at him.

You mentioned opening your mouth a few times and shut up when they started arguing with each other. With no intention of stopping so soon, you knew that when the Lee brothers started an argument, it would go on for so long that all you had to do was pick up your friend's cup and drink the coffee for her.

"How was I supposed to know he was cheating on me, Heeseung?" Hyojin snapped, just in time for you to pull on her arm and get out of there quickly.

Dialing Jake's number, the only one who could help you in this whole situation. He didn't need to ask you anything when you just said "come quickly" because he knew what he had to do.

And as quickly as Heeseung arrived last night, Jake was walking through the door of the apartment.

The brothers were still arguing in the kitchen and you had a sad smile on your face.

"How long?" he asked, pulling you into a hug and smelling freshly brewed coffee.

"Since I called you, that's…"

"Twenty minutes" he looked at his cell phone and then at you, linking his arm in yours so that the two of you could go into the kitchen where the discussion was still going on.

None of the Lee brothers realized that you had been gone for so long, and even fewer had noticed Jake's arrival – now with you – in the kitchen. The two of them shouted at each other and Hyojin sometimes banged the table when he noticed how ironic his older brother was being.

"Were you stupid enough to believe that he would wait for you on the other side of the country?" Heeseung shouted this time. The veins were prominent on his neck as he kept his fists clenched on the table, imagining one of his hands meeting Seungho's face.

"I was, Heeseung. I was dumb enough because I loved Seungho" Hyojin shouted back "I've loved him for all these years, but there's no point in arguing about it because you don't know what love is, do you?"

"Hyojin" he called out to his sister, his eyes widening when she mentioned such a thing.

"What? I was stupid enough to be cheated on and we can't bring up the fact that Mr. Perfect doesn't know what real love is?"

"That's enough!" Jake shouted so loudly that it startled all three of them at once.

You cringed next to him, Hyojin shuddered and Heeseung stood up so quickly that he felt his vision go dark for a few seconds before returning to normal.

"Jake?" the Lee brothers asked at the same time.

He cleared his throat, untangling his arm from you to walk over to the two of them who were standing near the dining table.

"What are you doing here?" Heeseung asked.

"Trying to intervene in a silly fight between siblings" he kept his voice loud but didn't shout this time. Looking between Heeseung and Hyojin, he sighed "What the fuck are you two doing?"

Really, what were the two of them doing? Stopping the fight for a while and looking in your direction, you seemed stunned by everything that was happening while Hyojin and Heeseung realized why Jake was there.

You called him. You called Jake so that he would somehow try to stop what you hadn't been able to.

"I'm sorry" Hyojin tried to say, but you just nodded and looked away from the two brothers to go to the counter and get some more coffee.

"I think this whole situation is getting on everyone's nerves, that's for sure" Jake began, signaling to you that he also wanted some coffee. As soon as he took the cup, he thanked you and sat down in the chair next to Hyojin – where you had been sitting before everything started "But we don't have to blame each other for something that's Seungho's fault."

No one doubted Jake's words and how right he was about them, but hearing out loud that it wasn't anyone's fault made Heeseung panic. Because he needed to blame someone, or at least try to get all the anger out since everything happened and he saw his sister cry.

It was different from a scraped knee, for example. Or when Hyojin cried when she was ten because Heeseung wouldn't let her play with his Legos.

It was also different when Heeseung fought with Hyojin for eating the last chocolate from the box of sweets, for example. Or how he yelled – not raged – at her because Hyojin had borrowed one of his perfumes. Without asking. Because she liked the smell of her older brother.

It was all very different, that's for sure.

"Is now the time for an apology?" Hyojin looked at his brother, who had his head down and was staring at his fingers.

You and Jake nodded in agreement, but before she could say anything, Heeseung stood up.

"I'm leaving, Jake and y/n can take care of you from here" and without waiting for anyone else to say anything, he left.

Hyojin wanted to mentally curse herself more than before. More than anything. Looking at her two friends who remained in the kitchen, their vision blurred by tears, she sobbed.

"Your words were hard, you know, aren't they?" she laid her head on Jake's shoulder, as the boy felt her tears soak through his T-shirt. Hyojin sobbed some more, then bit his lower lip.

"I just… I thought…" she couldn't say anything. You knew that, because Jake had known the brothers for a little longer, perhaps the truths – or insults – spoken at that moment carried things you didn't know yet. So you decided to keep quiet and leave the kitchen once again.

You walked into the living room just in time to see Heeseung coming down the stairs from the duplex, fixing his hair and the sweatshirt he'd worn the night before. He turned to you, his eyes watering too, but he didn't say anything. Not even a nod in your direction. Just a sad look, perhaps thanking you for the day's stay and for looking after Hyojin while he got to the apartment.

Leaving quickly, Heeseung had you worried because you knew why Hyojin was crying, but you had no idea why he was shedding those tears.

"Traveling?" Hyojin frowned as you pushed the milkshake glass towards her. Berries for your best friend while you sipped on something with salted caramel.

"A whole month away from all this, what do you think?"

"A whole month?" she widened her eyes "And where would we go?"

Her shoulders rose and fell, shrugging them slowly as she pretended to think. It turned out that you and Jake had talked a lot over the last few weeks after that moment in your apartment with the Lee brothers. All the events were affecting everything around you, the boy had even said that he almost got into a fight with Sora for a silly reason because he was thinking of ways to end Seungho's life.

That man had ruined the mood of everyone in Hyojin's life and none of them wanted it anymore.

"Jake said he missed Grandma Lee's farmhouse" you smiled with your lips around the straw, sipping your milkshake as you listened to your best friend laugh.

"What are you two up to?" she asked, sipping her cold drink and feeling that cozy taste. It was the drink the two of you shared once a week when you wanted to talk outside the house or simply get out of the routine of coffee, wine, or any other drink you had inside your home – the apartment you shared after everything happened.

"Actually" you looked away and stared at the people in the street. Each one with their daily life, average problems or not. Some talk on their cell phones and others enjoy the company of another person, a child, a dog on a leash, and even a food delivery man balancing a few boxes in his hand as he enters an establishment in front of the café. You turned your attention to Hyojin, smiling at her "Jake and I have talked a lot since everything happened and we were just thinking about something we could all do together again. Just like old times."

Like old times, that phrase echoed in Hyojin's head. You all used to go to her grandmother's country house, yes. You, Heeseung, Jake and Sora, and her with Seungho. Spending incredible moments with Grandma Lee, while the siblings recounted everything they'd ever gotten up to on that estate.

Jake has already risked climbing the apple tree that Heeseung almost fell from when he was eight. Or how Seungho gently cut up the vegetables for Grandma Lee while you set the table bathed in yet another nostalgic story about the brothers. Or even of the little lady who loved company.

It was a different place to where you used to go, far from the city, the beach, or any social interaction since you all had plenty of that in the city where you lived.

It was on Grandma Lee's farm that you learned to knit and sew, for example. And it was there that Sora painted a friendship picture on her last vacation that hung in your living room. That place contained a lot of memories of the Lee brothers, but it was also a place where Hyojin was creating a lot of memories with her friends too, along with her brother – she wanted to exclude Seungho completely from these thoughts.

"If I accept this vacation" she began, a smile widening her lips as you listened to your best friend ramble on until she sighed at the end of the sentence "why do we need to stay a month?"

"Because it's enough time for Jake to explore all of your granny's fruit trees" you listed, sipping your cold drink to wet your throat "Or for Heeseung to teach Sora how to ride his grandfather's tractor" you both laughed at the last memory when she almost broke through a fence "Or how your grandmother can keep teaching me how to knit" you shrugged.

It was unfair to list all that with the smell of longing and nostalgia for Hyojin. She knew it had been a long time since she'd seen her grandmother, and long enough since she'd taken a vacation to relax.

"Have you two told Heeseung about this?" she asked.

Perfect, she's considering the idea, you thought as you shook your head in reply.

"Jake's going to talk to him today."

"So this meeting of ours wasn't about drinking?" your friend pretended to be offended when she realized that, at the moment you were talking to her about it, Jake was probably talking to Jake too, wherever you were.

With a guilty smile, you finished your milkshake and smiled at her before grimacing.

"Vacation. A month to miss granny Lee, please?"

With a pout on your lips, you hoped that this would convince Lee Hyojin to go on vacation with you and Jake.

Grandma Lee's hug was so welcoming that you didn't want to leave, feeling her hands smoothing your back as you laid your head on hers.

"How I've missed having you all here" she said after releasing you, going to hug Sora in the same way.

"We missed you too, Grandma" Hyojin had already hugged her, so he sat down on the sofa while he waited for Grandma to get her friends to join her.

"How did you all manage to leave at the same time?" she asked "And the boys, where are they?"

"Coming a bit late" Hyojin said "Heeseung and Jake had to pick someone up, so we wanted to come quickly."

"To get the best guest room" you added.

When they came to Grandma Lee's house, Hyojin used to share a room with Seungho, while you and Sora shared another, next to Heeseung and Jake in the other room. Since it would be kind of weird for you to sleep with your best friend's brother. Or not.

This time the division would be with you sleeping with Hyojin, while Jake and Sora would share the other room, and Heeseung would sleep with his new friend who was arriving. Up went the suitcases and superficially tidied up until they arrived, which didn't take long when Jake's car horn was heard coming down the road before it stopped near the fences of Grandma Lee's property.

You all came out of the house together with the lady to greet the new arrivals who were getting out of the vehicle to unload their bags and supplies.

"Hey, you didn't take long" Sora approached first, being hugged by Jake as he kissed her quickly.

"I thought the two of them were going to roll into the house, but it was kind of quick" he smiled, opening the trunk to grab his things, but before he could pull out the suitcase, Jake shouted, "Granny!"

He ran out towards the lady who was already near the entrance stairs to greet him. Heeseung got out of the car laughing at the typical scene that happened every time they went there. It was as if Jake was more of a grandson than Heeseung himself or even Hyojin. He felt more like part of the family and even had a little argument with you for having been adopted first as Mrs. Lee's grandson.

"How handsome you look, Jake" she said after hugging him, receiving a grateful smile from the boy.

"You look wonderful" Jake complimented "And you know what I brought?"

"Don't tell me you—"

"Jake, if you brought my grandmother a drink…" Hyojin wanted to yell at him when he saw his friend shrug and dodge a slap he could have received on his arm.

You and Sora could only laugh at the whole situation as you watched Heeseung approach a boy. Your eyes narrowed to decipher who it was, without recognizing him until he got close enough and waved to the two of you.

"Grandma" Heeseung didn't want to let go of the lady in his arms, almost lifting her off the ground when he went to hug her. Laughing at the whole thing, Grandma Lee said she missed her eldest grandson before he introduced the boy "Women, this is our friend Sunghoon. Sunghoon, this is my wonderful, perfect granny" the tall, dark-haired boy smiled at the lady, who wasn't shy about hugging him too "This is Sora, Jake's girlfriend" she waved to Sunghoon after he had been hugged by Grandma Lee "And this is y/n, my sister's best friend."

"Oh" Sunghoon raised his eyebrows when he heard her name, and it made his smile falter. Did he know you?

You nodded back, swallowing dryly and putting it out of your mind for a while when Jake returned with Hyojin.

"Have you chosen your rooms yet?" he asked "We've brought so much food that I think we'll have enough for the whole month."

"That's great, I'm going to cook a lot for all of you" while Grandma Lee was talking to the rest of the group, you pulled Jake along before he approached the car with the others to unload everything they had brought. He looked at you with a calm countenance, smiling without showing his teeth and waiting for you to say something.

"Who's Sunghoon?" you asked quietly, afraid that someone would overhear.

Jake bit his lip to keep from laughing, but it still happened. This time he received a slap on the arm from you.

"Come on, why am I getting hit?" he asked, dodging another slap and staying by your side as you started walking to the car "He's a friend of Heeseung's from work, we talk about a lot of things, and... Well, eventually about girls too."

"And why did he… Mhm…" you could feel your cheeks burning at the thought, but you still wanted to ask "And why did he look surprised when he heard my name?"

Jake didn't laugh this time, but he kept a shit-eating grin on his face as he let everyone take their bags into the house, leaving just you and him there to pick up the rest.

"Because I talk about Sora, we talk about Hyojin too" he ran the tip of his tongue between his lips before speaking "And Heeseung has said things about you a few times too."

"Things? About me? But wait… What kind of things?" you asked.

Jake picked up the heavier bags, leaving some light ones for you to carry. When he had taken them, he closed the trunk of the car and activated the alarm to enter Grandma Lee's house with you.

"How about we talk and have a drink tonight after dinner?" Jake whispered, "So you can ask Sunghoon himself."

Jake was a son of a bitch when he wanted to be, and you hated that side of your best friend. But at the same time, you knew how right he was.

You all drank a little after dinner. And after each other, and each other too, making it an almost daily practice after the meal for the next two weeks. Drinking, talking, and laughing, all together. But at no point did you manage to ask Sunghoon anything in particular. And he also didn't seem to mind interacting with you so much after the first time you met.

Sunghoon had been working with Heeseung in the same sector for just over a year and a half, and you realized – along with your two friends – that he was just as playful and fun as the boy and Jake. Putting the three of you together made for a good session of laughter and even adventure within the first two weeks.

You all explored the surroundings, hiking and recognizing places you'd only been to a few times before. Bathing in the waterfall on the nearby property, which was a friend of the Lee family, it wouldn't be a problem for anyone to feel uncomfortable, as Sunghoon said he was afraid of.

You also went into town to buy more drinks because, according to Jake, you needed to inaugurate the pier near the lake where you last barbecued – four days ago – during the night. And that's exactly where you were.

You had eaten enough and sat down on the beach chair they had put there for anyone who wanted one, smiling at Sunghoon who had sat down next to you.

"Would you like one?" he offered a can of beer and you readily accepted, thanking him before opening your can and drinking some of the contents.

Watching your friends laughing and roasting the rest of the meat they had bought, joking with each other, and feeling your chest relax when you saw Hyojin smile. The big reason for this trip was right there, leaning on Jake's shoulder as he laughed at something Sora had said.

"Heeseung told me" Sunghoon snapped you out of your thoughts, making you look at him quickly as you missed the scene where Hyojin was hugging his brother "I felt his anger."

"I don't know who was angrier than Hyojin" you sighed heavily, drinking beer at the same second as Sunghoon, almost as if you were both a reflection of each other.

"He's a piece of shit" the boy muttered "I only met him once when Heeseung took him out to the bar" he chewed his lower lip as he was distracted by the four of them running along the pier, well away from the grill now "It was a bit… Egocentric."

"Disgusting" you added.

Swearing at Seungho was therapeutic for you, and you were grateful to know that Sunghoon shared the same feeling. Well, anyone in their right mind would feel that way because what that idiot had done to your best friend was unimaginable.

"Hey" Jake approached the two of you, picking up a third chair to put on your other side and put you between him and Sunghoon.

"Why did you come here?" the boy asked Jake, seeing that he also had a beer in his hand, and then sighed.

Jake would have answered, but the scene in front of him spoke for itself. Heeseung, Sora, and Hyojin had taken off their shirts and jumped into the lake without warning. He didn't want to risk it as it was getting dark – and he wasn't that brave either – telling the three of them that he would sit down with you and Sunghoon to talk.

"What were you talking about?" he then asked.

"We were cursing Seungho" you said cheerfully, watching Jake smile.

"He's such a asshole!" Jake stretched out, feeling his bones crack in his body after a while. Then he decided to drink some of his beer "I regret holding Heeseung back in college when he wanted to hit him."

"What? Heeseung wanted to hit Seungho?" you were shocked by this information, asking Jake what else the boys were hiding from you.

Talking about college was nostalgic for all the things you all experienced together. They were long years together and every moment counted for a lot and strengthened everything you had built up to that point. This made Sunghoon's mind click, looking at Jake as he finished telling a story he'd experienced with Sora where they'd almost broken up because she hadn't let him skip literature class – it was her favorite subject.

"I know it's none of my business, but can I ask you something?" Sunghoon scratched his head for almost two whole weeks at that. Jake even imagined it, so he stifled a smile as you looked at the boy and nodded slowly, smiling lazily as you felt your mouth start to go numb from the beer.

Jake got up to walk the few steps to the cooler where there were more drinks to grab three more beers for him, you and Sunghoon before turning back quickly, just in time to hear the other ask.

"What did you and Heeseung have in university?"

Your neck could break with the speed at which you turned your head to look at Jake.

"What? I didn't say anything at all" he defended himself, raising his hands after sitting down and opening his drink.

What had happened between you and Heeseung in university? That was a while ago, almost two years to be exact, in the last year. You never thought you'd have to relive that thought, even though it came back to you every time you met him. But you tried very hard not to think about it while the boy was around.

Looking at Sunghoon now, you sighed and paid more attention to the can of beer Jake had handed you as you opened it.

"We kissed once—"

"Several times" Jake interrupted you "For almost a year."

Sunghoon laughed at the astonished look you made, and also because Jake was very airy before he got a load of water on his shorts. You mentally thanked for always having a bottle of water nearby when you drank, and now you didn't mind emptying it on your best friend.

"Shut up."

"Tell Sunghoon the truth, you don't have to lie since there's only the three of us here" Jake wanted to scream because the water was freezing his entire thigh due to the wet fabric in contact with his skin.

You laughed a little, pressing your fingers on the can and then looking at Sunghoon.

"We kissed a few times and… That's it."

There was a little silence, but not much because Jake snorted.

"Can I be honest again? For you?" you rolled your eyes, seeing that sparing details of events wouldn't work very well since your friend would tell you everything himself.

"You don't have to if you two don't want to" Sunghoon laughed, finishing his beer "It's just that he tells me some things, just like I tell him too. And just… He told me about you two in college and I wanted to draw some conclusions."

"Which ones?" you asked.

But there was no answer. His complicit look with Sunghoon indicated that the two of them had already had that conversation, all that was needed were a few answers that they were looking for… But which ones? What were the answers they wanted? Because you had no idea.

Getting involved with Heeseung wasn't something you regretted telling no one about. No, on the contrary. It all happened so suddenly that you didn't know how to say it.

The cliché trope of dating your best friend's brother, getting involved, or falling in love, happened long after you met him. And it was so by chance.

It had been two years since you met Hyojin and, consequently, Heeseung too. You knew he'd had lots of girlfriends, and you'd also had a few affairs here and there, but no one ever insisted on the two of you. Jake didn't joke about it when you all went out together and neither did Hyojin smile mischievously at you or her brother when it was just the two of you at the end of the party to leave, since she went with Seungho and Jake went with Sora.

But one day, after an intense week of tests for you and a troubled break-up with Heeseung, everything came together and contributed to you waking up in his bed. That had been the promise of a single night.

That lasted for months, practically a year of involvement between you and him. But that ended suddenly. Heeseung seemed to be afraid of something and you, worried about what he might feel, decided to give him the space he needed. You were both afraid of breaking up with your group of friends, so getting back to normal was a bit difficult for both of you, but in the last year since you finished college, you and Heeseung had done very well in maintaining a friendship, even if you were now being teased by Hyojin and Jake.

This was something you managed – pretended, to be precise – to avoid at all costs. But it was a big lie when your cheeks got hot or when you smiled awkwardly at anything your friends said. Hiding it may have been easy, but not feeling it was even harder.

"Right" Sunghoon sighed after you told him, with Jake's excited help, about your history with Heeseung "After that I concluded that I was right."

"What did we talk about?" Jake asked, seeing the boy agree with a nod and a victorious smile on his lips.

"Okay, gentlemen conversationalists, what were you talking about? May I ask?"

You might if it weren't for the return of the other three friends, soaking wet and giggling while Heeseung, the most provocative, shook his wet hair over Sunghoon.

"Aren't you going in the water?" Hyojin asked as he looked at you, smiling and almost shaking her chin. You laughed and got up from your chair.

"No, and I think you need to dry off or you'll get sick."

"Sick? I never get sick" Heeseung hugged Sunghoon who had stood up, hearing his friend's shout that he didn't want to get his clothes wet.

You rolled your eyes at him, not caring so much about the two of them teasing as you tried to settle down on the pier as best you could. Trying to forget the conversation you had a few minutes ago, while the reason for it was laughing and joking with Sunghoon, who looked at you now and then with a knowing smile.

Coughing. Tremors and a high fever. That's how Heeseung felt at dawn and throughout the day. He didn't want to get sick on his vacation trip, let alone spoil the outing everyone had planned to the nearby town center, where a spring fair was taking place.

He wanted to go along, getting out of bed a few times and being prevented by his grandmother from leaving. Heeseung could cry with the pain in his body as he sat up in bed after Grandma Lee left the room, giving Sunghoon a way in.

"What's up, man?" he sat on the edge of the bed, pressing his lips together to keep from laughing.

"What? Are you going to make fun of me too?" Heeseung coughed.

"I never get sick" Sunghoon tried to imitate Heeseung's voice, failing and laughing immediately afterwards. The other had nothing to object to.

"Seriously, I don't know what happened. What the fuck?" he whimpered as he threw his head back, the tip of his nose red because he'd lost count of how many times he'd blown.

"You dived into the lake at night, that's what happened," Sunghoon warned.

"I'm going to ruin your outing, aren't I? Fuck!" cursed the boy for a moment.

Sunghoon wanted to say no, maybe they could reschedule the tour for another day when Heeseung was feeling better. Especially since there were still many weeks until the end of their vacation, so everyone could go to the nearby city center afterward for the fair they had arranged. But before Sunghoon could even say anything, Heeseung was getting out of bed. With a lot of effort – and a little bit of crying – he leaned on his friend to stand up.

"Let's go to the living room, I think I can go with you."

Sunghoon rolled his eyes at his friend's stubbornness but wanted to let him walk as far as he could on his own to the living room where the whole group of friends were.

"Heeseung!" Hyojin was surprised when his brother reached the room, struggling to walk while coughing now and then.

"I couldn't keep him in the room" Sunghoon whispered.

"One thing you should learn about him is that he's stubborn as a rock" Sora hummed, receiving a roll of the eyes from Heeseung.

"I don't want you to miss the exit for me. I just—"

He raised his arms to signal something, but he was so weak and off balance that if it weren't for you and your body holding him up, Heeseung might fall. Your arms quickly circled his waist while Heeseung wrapped one of his arms around your shoulder, his face close to yours because of the position he was in.

"Are you okay?" he wasn't at all okay with that closeness, and he knew that the hot sensation on your face was a mixture of the fever and how beautiful you were next to him.

"Okay, how about we go later? Let's stay home and…"

"No way" Heeseung interrupted Jake, looking at him with great effort to look away from you at that moment, "I'll feel guilty if you all miss the tour because of me."

And it was true. Everyone knew that Heeseung wouldn't forgive himself for getting sick and making everyone stay because of him.

"I'll stay" you said without much thought.

"What?" Heeseung was the only one who seemed surprised by your decision because the other four smiled at your answer. Almost as if they had expected it.

"Yeah, I'll stay here with you" your voice was soft, almost a melody to Heeseung. You sat him down on the sofa to straighten his body and turned to his friends "You can all go and… I'll stay with Heeseung."

"Y/n" he called without much strength in his voice, you couldn't hear him. You had heard him, but you preferred to ignore it and focus on your friends and how they made sure they had their phones on and were ready to leave wherever they were and go to you and Heeseung.

It didn't take long for your friends to leave for their late afternoon stroll, which could last into the night and even the early hours of the morning, depending on where they had gone.

You didn't know what had made you stay – maybe you did, you just wanted to fool yourself a bit – so you chose to take care of Heeseung the right way. You went to his room and fetched a blanket, stretched it over your legs, and sat down next to him.

"Do you know what time granny Lee measured your fever?" you asked him, waiting for an answer that came in seconds "All right, I'll set the alarm clock to measure it again in a while" you clicked a few times on your cell phone to set the exact time you should measure the temperature again.

Heeseung picked up the remote control on the coffee table and turned on the television, watching something that might be interesting just so he wouldn't be watching you so much while you leaned back on the sofa.

"Do you want anything?" you asked him, engrossed in the old movie he'd decided to leave on since there wasn't much interesting to watch.

"I do, but will you promise not to fight me if I ask?" your stomach almost rolled over at the thought, and you felt your heart racing.

Heeseung noticed the stiffness in his body, knowing what was going through his head. He was going to ask exactly what you were thinking, but he didn't want to make you uncomfortable and it would be too bold after so long. Maybe the fever was messing with his head too much to think such a thing, so he had to act quickly so as not to get into a weird mood afterward.

"I feel like having some whisky" he whispered, "I haven't had any fever medicine yet, so… Could you get me some? Please?"

"Heeseung" you looked at him, the boy feeling his legs go limp with the intensity of your gaze. That would never change for him.

"Just a little, I promise I'll take the medicine later."

Maybe he would take the medicine after you insisted, or maybe he wouldn't and then you could turn to Hyojin to scold him. Either way, you got up and took the bottle of whisky from Heeseung, leaving it on the coffee table and sitting back down next to him.

This could have yielded a single glass, but he drank three. He measured the temperature – which was still high – and went for the fourth glass, but this time you managed to stop him. You pulled away from him while, under protest, you got up to finish Heeseung's drink.

"What… Did you say… Y/n" he whimpered as he quickly got up, falling onto the sofa and pulling the covers over his face.

Covered to the neck, Heeseung looked like a helpless little animal when you sat down next to him.

"I said one glass" you reprogrammed the clock on your cell phone to wake up for the third time and take your temperature again, hoping it had improved at least a little or you'd have to opt for a cold shower. Since Heeseung was drunk and couldn't take any medicine at the moment.

"It's okay, I exaggerated" he confessed.

I'm glad you know, you thought to yourself and let the television and the program playing play their part. Distracting the two of you while the hour passed.

Or at least it should.

Over time, Heeseung's body relaxed and he slid down the upholstery until he had the side of his thigh pressed against yours. You held your breath for a few seconds at the sudden contact but decided to let it pass since it was the only thing you felt from each other before he adjusted himself to sit up straight.

"Can I ask you something?" his voice was deep, his eyes focused on the crime series that was now on television. Heeseung could see the policemen running off without knowing where because their attention was focused on you sitting next to him.

"You can" you replied, looking at Heeseung's profile and holding back a sigh as you analyzed him. The pointed nose, the plump lips that puckered unconsciously as he thought.

You had already seen it up close and from every possible angle, but it was as if he managed to look even more handsome anyway.

"Have you ever really loved someone?" Heeseung's question made you stand still. If you were standing up or doing anything, you'd surely stop abruptly or drop whatever was in your hand in the same second "I mean really love, not be in a passion. I think they're different things, right?"

He stared at you after asking, and you didn't know you could feel your heart almost bursting out of your mouth with Heeseung's eyes so intensely on you.

"Why are you asking me this?" was the only thing that came out of your mouth without your voice sounding shaky and nervous.

Heeseung smiled awkwardly, looking down at his hands, which had pulled the blanket away from his body and even discarded the fabric on the other side of the sofa.

"Because I once asked Jake how you find out if you love someone" he said, "or what the difference is between infatuation and love. Love, really."

"You're not asking that because of the fight you had with Hyojin that day, are you?" it was your turn to ask, clicking in your mind the last heavy event between the Lee brothers. Hyojin had said something about him never being able to love and now with Heeseung's questions, you were starting to get confused, as well as nervous.

"Maybe" he shrugged, sighing quickly.

"Why? Have you ever really loved someone or did they just say it out of the mouth?"

Heeseung didn't want you to have asked that out loud, because he didn't want all the senses in your body to be like a magnet and for him to have slid down the sofa until he was even more glued to your body.

You don't know how or when the boy in front of you tilted his face towards you until Heeseung's warm breath hit your lips. You also don't know how you stood there, letting him come closer and one of his hands fit perfectly on your cheek.

"I never thought I could really love" he whispered, his warm lips sliding teasingly over yours. You fought fiercely against the urge to rush forward and kiss him, but at the same time you had to hold back as much as you could "I never thought I felt that way until—"

The alarm clock startled you both, causing Heeseung to move away so quickly that he almost threw himself across the sofa.

Recovering, you straightened your hair and clicked your phone so that the alarm would stop immediately. Your heart raced as you got up to get the thermometer and take Heeseung's temperature. He didn't take his eyes off you and remained still, knowing that you would do the same until you had finished checking.

"I think it's gone down" you showed him the numbers, seeing that it was a little better than before.

"Great, so can we pick up where we left off?" he grabbed your hand and pulled you closer to him. You wanted to continue, you wanted to hear more about what he had to say, but again the interruption surrounded you.

And this time by a group of friends who had just arrived from the city center.

The days went by without a hitch, without any uncomfortable interaction or even a tense moment between you and Heeseung. Although his words and gestures remained fresh in your mind, he didn't seem to mind treating you normally in front of his friends and sister.

Or at least that's what he wanted you to think. Because every time he went to the bathroom or walked away, you felt like screaming. Once again Heeseung was cowardly enough not to say anything at all to you. Once again he felt like he was picking up sand with his bare hands when he saw you become distant after that day in the living room of his grandmother's house.

Talking to Jake about his feelings and to Sunghoon about doing the right thing only made him feel even more stupid because he did everything the other way around. It wasn't possible that for his friends it was so simple and with him… It just didn't work.

Heeseung wanted to call you for a real talk, to look you in the eye once more and be able to say what he should have said over a year ago before deciding to walk away out of fear. You would laugh in his face and call him a coward just like Jake did. All right, his best friend had done it to lighten the mood after an almost two-hour lecture on how Heeseung hadn't understood any of the signs of feelings.

Clear signs that he really was in love, finally, with the first person in his life.

A long sigh leaves Heeseung's lips as he looks at the scene in front of him. Back on the pier in front of the lake, he preferred to sit on the beach chair and watch from afar. He couldn't help but notice how close Hyojin had become to Sunghoon over the last few days; perhaps it was the conversation or even something else. Neither of them had said anything, but he wasn't going to interfere either, after all, she was an adult and was going through a bad time. Sunghoon could help her in ways that neither he nor Jake could.

And speaking of Jake, he and Sora were frustrated with the attempts at a knitting class you were giving them. The only boy in that class cursed to the heavens when he missed a stitch and Sora undid everything to start again. But Heeseung's attention was on your laughter. How nice it was to hear it every time you tried to comfort them, saying that you'd been through it all years ago when Grandma Lee taught you to knit.

Heeseung remembers. Every little detail of that day and how he sat next to you to learn too. Or to be near you because the other four had gone out in couples and he didn't want to be the only one watching.

You were calm, you were good with the needle and the stitches Grandma was giving you.

"What design do you want me to knit?" you asked him after a few days, learning the basics and doing small things.

"Hm…" Heeseung seemed to think for a moment, looking ahead and focusing on how Jake was desperately shouting for Hyojin to help him down from the tree. He laughed a little along with you before returning his attention to the previous conversation. Heeseung bit his lip as he stared at you, a smile playing on his face as he thought desperately that he could kiss you at that very moment "How about a heart?"

"You want me to knit you a heart? That's fine" and it was then that you practice on the small knitting square was all done in hearts. At Heeseung's request.

He wouldn't tell you that he'd kept the first one you made in his closet drawer, even though Jake had already seen it and Sunghoon too, the last time they got drunk and he told you everything he felt.

"I don't think it's fair, you learned all this stuff in, I don't know… how long?" Jake was angry with himself for not being able to get a single point right.

"Less than a month" Heeseung let slip, not caring about the surprised looks coming from you and Sora "She knitted some hearts and granny was so proud because neither Hyojin nor I could learn. While y/n did it in such a short time."

Now Jake was surprised by the whole thing. Not with the heart information because he had already seen it, but at how it had all come out so casually from Heeseung's lips.

He remembered so many details that if he told them out loud, it might complicate things. Or not, because then you'd know he'd never forgotten.

"I'm so good now that I can knit a cap, for example" you shrugged as you got up from the pier floor, walking in the direction Heeseung was now with Jake. Sora had gone inside to get a coat.

"Do you have black lines?" Heeseung asked.

You looked for a while at some scraps you had in your hands, but none of them were black threads. Then, smiling awkwardly, you denied it.

"When we get back I can buy some and you can make one for me?"

"Sure" you smiled so beautifully that he clutched the arms of his chair tightly to stop himself from getting up and grabbing you right there.

"Dude, be less obvious" Jake said after you had followed the same path as Sora into the house, probably putting away your knitting things since you didn't need to leave everything there anymore.

"With what?" Heeseung asked.

"I don't know, with all this longing for y/n" he shrugged and then relaxed "If you haven't said anything about how you feel, I guess you could try going slowly."

Heeseung remained quiet, watching as Sunghoon's arm circled Hyojin's shoulders and she snuggled close to him.

"All this time you've been giving me advice and I just can't follow it" he laughed humorlessly, his fingers softening on the arms of the chair and his whole body relaxed against the backrest. Heeseung closed his eyes.

"Because you're a jerk and you're afraid of what you might hear from her" Jake mirrored his friend's actions, laying his head on the back of the chair and closing his eyes "I'll never get tired of repeating that" he whispered, opening one of his eyes to see if either of you were coming back from the house. Taking advantage of the fact that they weren't, he continued: "I almost peed my pants when I confessed my feelings for Sora. My heart raced so fast I thought I was going to have a heart attack."

And that really was it. Jake told that story and wasn't ashamed if it meant he could help Heeseung with how he felt about you. Sometimes he knew that he felt the same way about Jake just by being in his presence, but it seemed as if the words were disappearing from his mouth.

"So she said she felt the same way and look where we are now."

"You're both beautiful, dude" Heeseung said sincerely, he loved his friends.

"And you and y/n too" he said back "I love you both and together with Hyojin I hope every day that this will be resolved soon" Jake straightened up in his chair and turned his face towards his friend, biting his lower lip to suppress a smile "You just have to take the initiative and make it work. You won't lose another year for fear of what might happen."

Lose another year. Heeseung didn't want it to be that long, he didn't think he could bear to be around you for another year without doing anything. Especially after what happened in the living room of his grandmother's house during the vacations.

He had to do something.

Getting back into the routine of work wasn't so bad, even with the day-to-day rush and even some unforeseen events in the sectors where they worked. It wasn't out of the ordinary and was soon resolved.

You were happy when you started seeing Sunghoon more often when he showed up at your apartment saying he wanted to take Hyojin out for coffee. Or even calling you for dinner somewhere because he didn't want to go home yet.

Sunghoon called you a few times too, but you knew it was only out of cordiality and you politely declined invitations to stay in the comfort of your apartment. Texting Jake and telling him about the – again – casual meeting they were having.

Hyojin deserved to be well somehow. And even if it was casual, it was going into the second month in the blink of an eye. Now she was able to show Sunghoon a little more affection in front of her friends and brother, hugging him from behind when he was sitting at the dinner table. Or letting him kiss her forehead in an act of affection when they were standing in line at the amusement park waiting for their ride.

Sora and Heeseung thought it was so cute the way the two of them were treating each other. You and Jake, on the other hand, liked to make fun of her because you heard Hyojin whining that she would never allow herself to sigh for another man. But it turned out that Sunghoon was another man and he was taking very good care of her.

Given the clichéd circumstances, Heeseung sat face to face with Sunghoon one day, listing all the atrocities he would do to his friend if he hurt his sister's heart which was still being mended.

Sunghoon, for the first time, spoke with conviction that he wouldn't do any of those things. Without mentioning the word casual or saying that they were just friends. Sunghoon agreed with everything Heeseung was saying and thanked him for his trust because he knew that, if his friend didn't do such an atrocity, he still had Jake and you to complete the job. Along with Sora who could very well devise an evil plan because he knew what she was capable of.

"She wouldn't do that, would she?" Sunghoon asked the two boys one day when they were all sitting around the dining table in their apartment because Hyojin had decided to cook. She had gone to the bathroom and Sora went over a plan in which she would pluck out every strand of his hair, depending on his mood; with a machine or tweezers.

Heeseung and Jake laughed nervously, denying it immediately.

"It would, and I think it would help in the process" you smiled at him, seeing him wince and try to say something.

But you all knew that Sunghoon wouldn't do anything to harm Hyojin because he started to like her. It was all so natural that the next thing he knew, he was confessing his feelings after four months of being together and she – for all his happiness – was feeling safe to say the same.

Hyojin was still afraid of what had happened to her, but after talking for hours with Heeseung – he ended up confessing how felt about you too – it led to a long time of crying, a huge apology and she encouraging him to talk to you. Then he encouraged she to give herself to Sunghoon little by little and if she was afraid, she could go back.

And that's what she was doing, gradually letting go as the relationship stabilized.

"I think I'm having a dejavú" Hyojin sighed as she filled wine glass, handing it to you and then filling hers too.

"Really? Why?" you drank a little, feeling the bitter taste of the dry wine run down your tongue. You used to prefer mellow, but today it was your best friend who chose it.

"The two of us, glasses of wine, here in the kitchen" she looked around and so did you, laughing as you remembered the six bottles you'd bought last time "Now we're here and I'm happy to be drinking."

"And I want it to always be like this" you confessed.

The smile on your face only showed that you were telling the truth. Not only you, but all your friends wanted Hyojin to be feeling well.

"Oh, it's Sunghoon" she said to you when her cell phone started ringing, asking for a moment before she could answer it. Talking to him for a while, you didn't even pay much attention to the conversation, too focused on your glass and how much the bitterness of the wine was starting to taste.

You even poured a little more and started drinking again.

"So?" you asked when she hung up.

"He and the boys want to go out clubbing" Hyojin drank all of her wine, refilling her glass "They asked us to come along."

"Now?" Hyojin nodded in agreement before going back to drinking.

"I'll stay here if you don't want to go" she shrugged quickly.

You had no business going out, especially since you were starting to get hot from the wine. It would even be more fun to be with the boys, although you also loved Hyojin's company – so much so that you lived together – but with more people, it would always be nice.

So you didn't have long to think about whether or not to go, finish off the bottle of dry wine, and run to your rooms to change.

In record time you and Hyojin were at the door of the nightclub and met Sora waving in the queue, running up to her so that she could hug you both at once.

"Are they inside?" Hyojin asked.

"Yes, I was saving a place for you two in the queue" she smiled, keeping her arm around you while Hyojin touched up her lipstick "They arrived not even twenty minutes ago."

The music was muffled outside, but as soon as you entered, the loudness of the speakers gave you the sensation that every organ in your body was vibrating.

Hyojin exchanged a message with Jake to see where they were and could find them without too much effort. The boy soon replied to the location and the three of you went to meet them.

Sliding past dancing bodies, drunk people, and false advances that Sora was expert at deflecting, either by being very direct and saying no thank you or simply pushing the inconvenient person who was trying at all costs to get into the pants of one of the three of you.

"We're here" Sunghoon waved from the table near the bar where only he and Jake were standing. You didn't even realize it when you approached them.

You and Sora greeted Sunghoon first and you quickly went to hug Jake, so they could greet their girlfriends with more delay than they wanted. Jake and Sora were already a common sight for all of you, but seeing Hyojin kiss Sunghoon right in front of your eyes was something new. Cute, and it couldn't go unnoticed.

You and Jake made fake vomiting noises while you could see Sunghoon's smile against Hyojin's lips before he stopped kissing you.

"You two are horrible" Sora tapped Jake on the shoulder to scold him, then glared at you.

It was then that they realized Heeseung was missing. If the boys had called everyone together, he would have been there. And indeed he was.

But your eyes couldn't believe that his hand was holding a woman's waist while she whispered something in his ear.

Your bile could be felt from your throat and you swore that the dizziness you felt could well have been from the wine earlier, but no. Why did you have to feel this way just now? Just at this moment. You've been out with your friends so many times and Heeseung was there, why did it have to be like this?

The only one to notice your discomfort was Jake, because the others got into such a lively conversation that they didn't even notice you standing there and looking in the direction your best friend was looking. He came closer, slipping one of his arms around yours to entwine them.

"It's not that, y/n" he said.

"I'm seeing it with my own eyes" you said back, pressing your lips together as Jake started to lead you towards the bar.

But before you could get there, Heeseung broke away from the girl and turned around so quickly that he almost crashed into you and Jake.

"Y/n" he ignored his friend's presence completely.

Jake took that warning as a cue to let go of your arm and get drinks, leaving the two of you standing there. He handed you a glass and left with two others, probably for Sora and Hyojin, you didn't even remember if he'd said anything before returning to the table.

Heeseung's eyes were on you the whole time, not saying a word as he alternated between looking at you and your mouth.

"I dismissed her" he said after a while, a little too loudly because of the music playing, afraid that you wouldn't hear him.

You didn't know why he had said it and you didn't know why it had, in a way, relieved your racing heart.

"You…"

"Hand around the waist? Whisper in the ear?" he ran one hand through his hair, easily messing up the strands that were beginning to grow "I held her because she almost fell, and she was whispering about how faithful I was to my girlfriend. That she admired that because she couldn't find a guy like that."

"Your girlfriend?" you frowned and felt like an idiot grimacing because the laugh Heeseung let out at that moment just made you want to disappear.

You had shown jealousy indirectly, and yet he had noticed.

The boy then approached you, took the glass from your hand, and drank some of the drink Jake had chosen for you. He then leaned close enough to brush his lips against yours, which were so cold from the drink that you almost moaned at the contact.

"Not officially yet" he said, sliding his mouth down to kiss the corner of your lips.

Before you could say anything else, Heeseung grabbed your free hand to pull you back to the table. Heading back to his friends to enjoy the rest of the evening.

Heeseung was determined. He couldn't wait any longer to tell you everything he felt for you. The day at the nightclub had made it clear that, at the very least, you felt something for him.

Attraction, passion, love. He didn't know. But there was something inside you that screamed his name somehow, and Heeseung wanted to find out.

Encouraged by Jake and Sunghoon, he finally rushed out of the house. As he stopped by the store to buy the pretext for that conversation, he sent a message to Hyojin.

I'm going out with Sunghoon, the apartment is all yours… Except my room! He laughed as he passed the cashier and paid for everything before getting in his car and driving to where you lived.

This should have happened a while ago, he couldn't have waited that long because the fear was still eating away at him. What if you could have cooled your feelings for him and confused everything? Maybe Heeseung had misunderstood and you only had a little empathy for him. Would empathy be right? Would empathy let him almost kiss you, touch your face, and brush his lips against yours?

No, Heeseung. He didn't want to sabotage himself so soon before he was standing in front of your apartment door.

His trembling fingers rang the doorbell and balanced the bag he was carrying.

Your footsteps could be heard from inside the apartment, followed by I'm coming, which you answered, probably putting something away or straightening up before opening the door.

Heeseung didn't hold back a loud sigh when he saw you. You looked beautiful. Even wearing sweatpants and a blue tank top that he remembered well – the tank top of the friendship between you and Hyojin. It was the color you two shared, by the way.

"Heeseung?" you were surprised to see him, but you still made way for him to enter.

"I thought… Well…" he took a deep breath, thinking about Jake's words.

Try it, man. Say everything you feel.

And then the little lecture Sunghoon gave him two days ago.

If you don't, you'll never know how she feels. And worse, you'll live with the ghost of a relationship that could be working just because you're afraid to acknowledge that, finally, you know what love is.

"I thought you could knit my cap now" he held up the bag, pulling out the black threads he had said a long time ago "Would you mind?"

Your broad smile indicated that, of course, you would never mind doing this for him.

"You've come at a good time, by the way" Heeseung sat down on the sofa while you picked up the bag to look at the things he had brought. Your smile still lingered as he remembered all the sewing details he could buy, even the support – which you had – to put on your thumb so it wouldn't hurt while knitting.

"Have I arrived? Why?" he asked, turning to you as you sat down next to him on the sofa.

"I ordered food" it was Heeseung's turn to smile broadly "Hyojin's out and I didn't want to cook, so I guess I ordered too much. Or enough for both of us."

For both of us. Referring to Heeseung as a collective together with you made his heart race in such a silly way that he swore he was shaking a little. Then he sighed, nodding in agreement when you told him to wait.

Would go upstairs to get your needles and whatever else was missing, which he hadn't remembered to buy so that you could start sewing the knitted cap.

He didn't want to get in the way of your sewing, so he was in charge of doing everything while you started.

It was Heeseung who went downstairs to get the food when you arrived. He was the one who set up the coffee table in the living room with all the utensils for the two of you to eat and he was the one who washed the dishes and got two bottles of beer from the fridge for the two of you to drink after eating.

His eyes met yours a few times while you stopped knitting, paying attention to the movie in front of you or what he had said about something from the day. It wasn't insignificant, but Heeseung couldn't think of much to tell you.

He wanted to talk about how his day at work had gone, but mostly he lamented how he felt like a coward and how Sunghoon cursed at him until it was time to leave. With Jake then? He couldn't tell you that he almost got beaten up by his best friend because Heeseung said he'd give up, let you live in peace, and wouldn't go after you to make you suffer.

So he only told you superficially, how it had been at work, how he almost broke the diffuser he'd won from Sora for a bet they'd made – he'd gotten sick eating four snacks in a row – and how he needed a cap. Heeseung could buy anyone at the store, but having an initial reason to come to your apartment and talk to you seemed more convincing in his mind than simply picking up any ready-made cap.

Not to mention that it would have a whole feeling because it had been made by you. By your hands. The hands he kept looking at while traced stitches and knots, wound the thread, and held the wooden knitting needle tightly.

"Is it okay if it's not ready today?" you asked, catching Heeseung off guard by hearing your voice so suddenly. He knew you had caught him staring at your hands, so all he could do was swallow and go back to watching the TV.

"Yeah" he replied briefly, letting all the air out of his lungs before saying, "Because I came to talk to you, the cap was just a pretext."

You didn't have to be a good reader to know that you had stopped all your sewing to look at him at that moment. Heeseung didn't want to move at all, let alone look at you while he heard his name called a few times.

What do you mean by a pretext? Was he just going to say that and be quiet, without answering any calls of his name?

You got tired of calling his name for the fourth time and decided to get up, dropping the needles and everything else you were holding, deciding to get another drink or anything that would keep you focused other than on the man who was ignoring you.

"Go Heeseung, you can do it" he said to himself as he punched the sofa cushions uselessly before getting up "Jake did it, Sunghoon is doing it… It's your turn!" he uttered those words as he walked to the kitchen in the slowest steps he had ever taken in his life.

Not even a boring college class could make him walk as slowly as he did. Heeseung felt pathetic for that.

Leaning against the doorframe, he could observe you a little more closely. Your fingertips played through your hair while the freshly opened bottle of beer sat on the kitchen counter. You tidied up the strands, loosening them and letting them cascade down your shoulders and back. You now held the beer bottle to your lips and took a long sip, as if it would help you relax while you finished swallowing and turned away.

"Fuck, Heeseung" he laughed, disentangling yourself from the doorframe to take a few slow steps toward him.

He didn't approach slowly, but close enough to get to you.

"I'm sorry, I—" he took a deep breath, alternating his gaze between your lips and your eyes. This didn't go unnoticed by you, but you decided not to say anything and just let him finish speaking "I just want to talk to you and I don't know where to start."

You laughed humorlessly, picking up the beer bottle again and taking another sip.

"How about the beginning?" the lazy smile, the shrug, and the lips pink from the pressure of the bottle made Heeseung sigh. It was now or never.

Then he came close enough to use one hand to grab your waist, pulling you towards him. The other went quite freely to the bottle you were holding so that he could drink, finishing off the contents in just three sips.

It wasn't a time for protest, but he knew you'd swear at him if you had the chance.

With a remnant of courage and his hand still on your waist, Heeseung used what strength he had to pick you up and sit you on the kitchen worktop, being able to stand between your legs and at the perfect height to lean over and get his face close to yours.

"Okay, we started in our last year of university, then" he said, this time staring into your eyes as he began to explain himself.

Heeseung had his first girlfriend when he was fifteen. An elementary school girl he met through some friends and suddenly they were together. Everything was going so well in their relationship until the girl told him she loved him. He could have said it back or even said it wasn't the time to say it back, but instead, Heeseung laughed. He didn't know if it was out of nervousness or because he found it bizarre that one person loved another like that, but he laughed. And that was the first time someone had broken up with him like that.

During high school, he also had other relationships. The brief ones couldn't be counted because there was no intense feeling, but the girls he spent a good few months with could all be considered to have ended the same way.

"I love you, Heeseung" they would say, their gaze not lying. A glow so intense and beautiful, Heeseung was envious because he felt that they all loved him.

"I… I'm sorry" was one of the answers he gave, if he could. Because silence often resulted in a slap or relentless tears that he couldn't get them to stop.

In university, his biggest disappointment was a few months before he had a relationship with you. Heeseung seemed to like his girlfriend, because he introduced her to everyone. Even you knew her, letting the girl join you for lunch a few times just because she wanted to be close to Hyojin.

Heeseung looked smitten in the eyes of all of you, telling you how much he liked her and how special she was. But as soon as those three words came out of his mouth, he froze.

It wasn't possible that a simple I love you could send Heeseung into a panic. This time he was sensible enough to talk to her and tell her that he didn't feel the same way.

At least she didn't slap you, he remembers Sora saying when he was crying in Jake's apartment, a week before he went to that party.

Maybe love wasn't for him and that was okay. All was not lost because Heeseung had managed to live well up to that point and he couldn't let it ruin his last year of university and, consequently, his future. So he decided that he would have fun, be with his friends, and not care about anything until he had to.

Waking up with you in his bed had been a shock because the two of you had known each other since the early days. You were Hyojin's best friend, you always treated him well and you respected Heeseung just as he respected you all the time. Perhaps circumstances led you both to do it and the relief that came when neither of you regretted it was indescribable. Then it happened again. Again and again it became so frequent that the two of you began to relate to each other beyond partying and drinking.

More often than not, you'd wake up in Heeseung's bed and he'd stay at your university apartment for a few days to sleep with you or just hang out.

You two are dating indirectly, Hyojin joked, which neither you nor he denied. So it went on until Heeseung felt strange. He felt an absurd need to be with you, his heart would race just to see you or feel you.

Of course, this was normal when you liked someone, Heeseung had already felt something like this… Hadn't he? No! He'd never felt it at that intensity.

"Jake, I need help" he punched the door to his best friend's room, grateful enough that it was open and he was alone, otherwise it would have been bad to ask Sora to leave because he needed to cry a little in Jake's bed.

"What happened?" the boy asked laughingly, but then began to worry because Heeseung seemed to be short of breath "Shit, dude. Breathe with me, okay?" he shook Heeseung with a notebook that was on his computer desk.

He seemed to be hyperventilating as he tried to breathe, counting in and out as Jake accompanied him. After a while he managed to calm down, sitting down on Jake's bed and watching his friend pick up the gaming chair to sit in front of him, the subject began.

"How do I feel when I love someone?" he asked.

"Heeseung" Jake said "Aren't you confusing feeling with passion again? I told you they're different things—"

"No bro, it's serious" Heeseung's eyes were already watering, not believing what was finally coming out of his mouth "How do I know that what I feel for y/n is love? Because I'm scared…"

Jake smiled broadly, explaining it to him in the next second.

Neurochemically, the brain reacts to the action by changing certain neurotransmitters. We then have an increase in dopamine, as well as rising levels of endorphin and oxytocin, the hormone of love, which increases feelings of attachment, well-being, and security.

Heeseung looked at Jake adoringly, listening to him explain everything he wanted to understand. It was as if he were at a consult with doctor Jake Sim.

There are also some signs, not neurochemically speaking, but which say a lot about how you found love. For example, you both feel comfortable even when you're silent. You make her feel good, in every way. And she does the same with you. You both feel free to be who you are, without fear of judgment or any bad thoughts. You always see her as one of your priorities or she does the same for you. You both admire each other. There's no room for jealousy – at this point, Heeseung sniffled a little – you don't think about what your old relationships were like either. And, most importantly.

That pause made Heeseung freeze, Jake's smile never leaving his face as he slid the gaming chair until he was kneeling next to Heeseung.

"It's the first time you've felt like this."

He knew it was. He knew that, for the first time, he felt like he loved someone.

Because everything happened so naturally. The casual way you treated him, the way you took care of him even though you didn't need to, and how you understood how he felt. It was strange that you cared so much about him like that, or took care of him down to the smallest detail.

Heeseung couldn't tell Jake how it happened when the exact moment was that he started to love you. If it was because you listened to everything he had to say and, even though you didn't understand, you smiled and asked him. You asked him to explain and took an interest in subjects that Heeseung swore no one liked to hear him talk about.

Or he fell in love because you had the best kiss, the best touch, the best sex, the best connection that anyone had with him.

Heeseung didn't know. He could have fallen in love with you when he laid his head on your shoulder in the college library, feeling you stroke his hair while you finished an extremely boring report. But still taking the time to cuddle him without any shame when Sora and Hyojin were sitting right in front of you. Or when you fought with Hyojin not to eat the ramen you'd bought, but as soon as he arrived saying he was hungry, it was the first thing you cooked for him.

Heeseung simply didn't know. It had just happened and he was sure of it.

"So that time I got weird and we drifted apart, it was because I got scared" he played with his fingers on your sweatshirt-covered thigh. You listened intently as you gazed into his eyes, too inviting to look away "I didn't know how to act and I thought it would be better to get away because if I found out what I felt, I didn't want to know if you didn't feel the same or not."

"Why?" he heard your voice for the first time since he started talking.

"Because then I'd be feeling everything those girls felt when they confessed that they loved me, and I know how much that must have hurt" Heeseung pressed his lips together, a little nervously as he lowered his gaze to your mouth, looking into your eyes again "I just wanted to say that I'm sorry."

"For loving me?" you asked.

He denied it quickly, smiling simply as he rested his hands on the bench next to you.

"For running away. For being afraid and being a coward who couldn't bear the weight of loving someone for the first time."

As he spoke, you just nodded at every word he heard. Heeseung started to get even more nervous because nothing came out of your mouth apart from the questions he had asked and that could be interpreted as something negative. At least he had gotten everything out in the open and explained it in time.

"Can you say something? Even if it's to curse me, please" the plea was so cute that you laughed. The same action he did when someone confessed to loving him for the first time. Heeseung was almost peeing his pants like Jake when he talked to Sora, so he was really on the right track, he just needed to control himself a little.

"So can I curse you for taking so long?"

"You can" he said too quickly, mentally cursing himself for it because he sounded so desperate to hear your laugh again.

You didn't want to curse him, in fact, just watch how cute he was when he was nervous. But that would be too much torture and the pout he was making was already too kissable right in front of you.

Raising one hand to find his cheek, smoothing the skin with your thumb, you leaned in close enough to touch your lips to his. Heeseung whimpered in surprise at finally feeling that touch he had been longing for.

His hands grabbed your waist and pulled you tightly against his body at the same moment that the passage was given way and the two of you could intertwine your tongues.

The kiss, although full of longing, contained a slowness and sensuality that only the kiss shared with Heeseung could have. It was as if you were kissing him for the first time and all the flashbacks of all the kisses they had shared were running through your mind and him.

"Y/n…" he whispered against your lips after a while to catch his breath, his hands still on your waist while yours played with your hair and slid down to the nape of your neck.

"Yes?" you whispered back, feeling him brush his red, moist lips against yours once more.

"I love you" that phrase said for the first time to the person he was so sure of his feelings for. He just hadn't counted on it being in the kitchen of your house, of course, but the place was the least of it. As long as you were the one who heard it while he finished kissing you, everything made sense to him.

"Say it again, please" you asked.

Heeseung moved one of his hands up to the back of your neck, sliding his fingertips up to grab a good amount of your hair as gently as he could. He guided you so that he could kiss you again, this time with more intensity and urgency, pressing his lips and tongue together.

That way you knew he wanted to say everything at once. That he loved you, that he missed you, and that he wanted to apologize for the lost time. And you accepted it all because you were there with him.

"I love you, y/n" he said against your lips, panting and smiling as he slid his mouth over yours. "I love you so much" he kissed your skin, making your whole body shiver.

"I love you, Heeseung" you also whispered, feeling him squeeze the hand that remained around your waist and pressing you even tighter against him as if he wanted to merge your bodies into one.

Heeseung brought his face close to yours again, leaning his forehead against yours and smiling.

"You…"

"I love you" you repeated "I really love you."

"Then stay with me" Heeseung kissed your lips "To make up for how stupid I was to let you get away, I don't want it to happen again."

"You were an stupid" he murmured and you laughed against his mouth, watching him pull away enough to look at you. "But I'd be even more of an stupid to deny it."

"So we're together?" he almost shouted with happiness when you agreed, picking you up off the worktop and walking with you through the apartment to your bedroom.

"Yes, we are."

"And we're going to stay that way" he put you down as soon as he entered your room, looking you up and down and licking his lips at the sight "Because I love you and I want to remind you of that every day."

You were sure he would; with words, attitudes, anything that made you feel loved. And of course, you would do the same for him. Because you loved Lee Heeseung, just as he loved you.

© ikeuverse, 2023. do not copy, translate or steal my stories.

[discotenny]

WAIT! You can't love me! - Day 1 Demo

I've spoken about it long ago in my tags- but here it finally is! For Otome Jam 2024- I bring you WAIT! You can't love me!

⋆｡°✩⋆｡°✩ Synopsis⋆｡°✩⋆｡°✩

For all of your academic career, you were always second best to Satoshi Fujihara. And while you seemed to care too much about it, he never seemed to care at all. In your final semester of community college together- he suddenly says he's going to confess to you in four days!

Do you choose to accept his feelings, or is this going to be the one time you can get the upper hand on him? 

⋆｡°✩⋆｡°✩Demo Features⋆｡°✩⋆｡°✩

A completed Day 1 of 7 days of events

13k+ words of playable script - roughly an hour to experience everything

A nameable MC with the ability to pick from she/he/they pronouns

1 cute romanceable sleepyhead 

A variable cast of eccentric side characters

4 "routes" for the Day 1 date

⋆｡°✩⋆｡°✩Characters⋆｡°✩⋆｡°✩

Obnoxiously smart, aloof, hopelessly in love, hella sleepy

Ever since high school he’s had a crush on you, but didn't want to deal with any awkwardness. With the horizon of your transfer looming, Satoshi decides to go out of his way for once and ask you out. Not wanting you to be nervous, he lets you know beforehand that he will be confessing.  

Unfortunately that’s not really how it should go but he doesn’t know that.

Incredibly stubborn, incredibly dense

Throughout high school, you were always labeled as “second best” compared to Satoshi. You have a lot of pent up resentment towards him because he never seemed to care about his successes despite you wanting him to so badly. 

You think his carefree attitude towards his studies is some level of spite towards you. 

Elias Bolkiah - 5'8" - Same age as MC - June 7th - 491/524

Your childhood best friend with an unreasonable amount of hatred towards Satoshi.

Lilit Alighieri - 5'10" - One year older than MC - November 27th - 10/210

Considers themselves in a best friend trio with you and Elias. Questionable whether you feel the same.

Paden Canmore - 5'5" - One year younger than MC - June 1st - 45/120

Couldn’t care less about your love life but feels dragged into it because he likes that Lilit includes him in their gossip.

Yamato Suzuki - 5'9" - 49 - January 17th

Your statistics professor and advisor for the art club. Cares for his students like they're his own children.

⋆｡°✩⋆｡°✩Credits⋆｡°✩⋆｡°✩

Iotenny - Director, programmer, lead writer

kezukaity - Sprite artist

Autumn - CG artist, co-writer

mellonaes - CG artist

itspsyklone - Main theme composer

⋆｡°✩⋆｡°✩Final⋆｡°✩⋆｡°✩

Thanks for reading, and thank you so much more if you choose to play :3 ! I'll be posting some writings revolving around the characters to celebrate the release, thanks once again <3 !

[spyxfamilyanalysis]

Chapter 97 & 98... shock me a lot (Part 1)

Alright, before reading my point of view about the chapters, ...

Thank you all so much because we finally reached 80 followers, we are on the way to 100 followers!!! I couldn't have done this without your support on liking my analysis. Though I may be not the best at analyzing anime or manga, and I probably be inactive quite long (could be because I'm busy studying, and I ran out of ideas), I will do my best giving you guys something to read (?) to entertain, all to the fans of SPY x FAMILY!

And Happy 2nd anniversary for this blog @spyxfamilyanalysis!!!

Now let's get back to the post.

After the ball dance event in chapter 97, we get to see Martha (Becky's butler) and Mr. Henderson (Anya & Becky's housemaster)'s past when they were schoolmates.

Now that I know Martha is 3 years younger than Henderson 😮

And oh boy, how I love this cute "romance" between the both of them :")))

From strangers to familiars, they have a very cute bond between a senpai and a kouhai. Firstly, if you haven't read chapter 97 and 98, read it now! Because this post contains spoilers!

Well, not because you can't read this post duh! I feel like if you read the manga first, you will get what I'm writing, so you can follow the flow of this post better.

(why this pic is so messed up...)

Just kidding really, I know you will keep reading anyway... Ima right??? 😏

Now first, plot of the story:

Chapter 97

(seriously, i dunno what to explain here, since this is the intro for senpai and kouhai's friendship~)

Ok why is the lady has Anya's signature smirk :D

Every since Martha's debut in ballerina show dance, the first ever word Henderson ever spoke was "How elegant!", which to everyone's surprise, from an elite to a transfer student.

And after that day, Martha, and new transfer student, ended up having friends thanks to her talent in ballerina, while Henderson, an Imperial Scholar, lost some because of his strict attitude (?) and his arrogant, was called "Mr. Elegant".

Yet these 2 opposite characters ended up spending time having tea and conversation, and they both enjoying each other's company, as if they are close friends, more than just the relationship between an upperclassman and an underclass-"woman". Personally, I think that is a great start to build relationships with not only just your peers, but also your upperclassmen. I mean, you can ask for the latter's advice, they can support your study, since they know more than you.

Heck, I wish I knew an upperclassman to help me with my studies and exams, too much for an introvert :")) But I guess I don't have time for that anymore... because I AM now the upperclassman. It's my last year in high school already, and 7 days left before my entrance exam for university. My sister is lucky to have me to guide her...

Martha also helped Henderson by protecting and defending him from his bullies, and hell, she was very funny when she was young. This could not get any more silly huh 🤣🤣🤣

And so, after graduation, he decided to become a teacher, probably because of how "unclever(?)" the teacher was, kinda blaming Henderson for boycotting military, and the bullies were the ones at fault.

And finally, ya all know, the prom dance...

Yes, he is not interested at all! Like bruh man >:(

Becky felt so bad for Martha, her butler. I, too, felt bad for her. But uh, I understand that at this young age, "love" is something hard to describe, feel, understand.

Off-topic: I also experienced love at first sight before, and you know, the feeling "love" is very vague. When I saw "him", a friend same class as mine in secondary/ junior high school, but not same class in high school, someone I kinda like, but not truly "love", I couldn't really confess my love to him. I can't say that "I love you" so randomly. Because, like, in my opinion/ definition of "love", you have to understand the other person's true self, and decide whether it is worth enough to confess, and you must stand on your ground of what truly happen, and what it means to love somebody. And I was an amateur of that, so I really am unsure what feeling I am experiencing. Like I had said in one of my "fact post" about me and Liam in my blog @laurenmiki06, I don't experience love before so I'm not sure of my sexuality. Besides, I know in some parts of America, ya care a lot about your sexuality and pronouns, but I'm in Vietnam, so they don't matter to me. I am not being offensive about this. I mean, what if he already has someone in mind that is not me? What if I got rejected, and probably, I couldn't bare the pressure, the pain I have to endure. That's why, in this 12-ish year of studying, I tried to ignore and set the feeling "love someone other than my family" aside, and focus on studying to pass grades, before heading to university And well, what Martha said is very true, you are still young and naive about your surroundings, you need to understand life first, before making decisions, that might affect your future.

And oh well, Henderson did say so himself: I was still so ignorant. So obsessed with pursuing my ideals... so desperate to radically change the world... that I couldn't keep step with those around me... or even spare a thought for the hearts of those even closer.

After two and a half years... she managed to become a Imperial Scholar, as she promised to him when they were still together at their own tea party-break.

And who would have thought that the new teacher they were about to greet was Henderson!?

And that's the end of chapter 97!

P.s.1. Bruh, I wish romance in real life could be like this... Lost and found again, and fall in love. And here I thought it would end up like this (I wish I COULD end up like this) but no, I still single :"))

And we all thought, Martha and Henderson will be on good terms again, like a fellow senpai and his trustworthy kouhai...

Chapter 98

At the start of the chapter, we finally have a reunion of Martha and Henderson (his first name is Henry, but I prefer to call Henderson). And we thought it would stay the same as that, still chatting at tea party... alongside with taking cover for bombs and war outside, of course.

Well, that's not until... this happen.

And there goes her future career in ballet... :"(((

Martha was depressed, but then something unbelievable just happened... Martha decided to join the army.

And what she said is true, they are living in the world where weapons are everything. Either you are saved from being killed or being killed. Survival is everything on the battlefield. Martha has to stand up and fight back, or she will lose everything. She has no choice, after all...

Henderson recalled himself as hard-headed, kinda stubborn, lost in a world of idealistic, where he thought that education can save the world, yet it worth nothing...

He was a history teacher, and you know what they say, let the past be the past.

When Martha heard that his parents were about to look for a wife, she overheard that and shed in tears. She knew that she ran out of time. You know already that I mentioned in chap 97 that she was in love of Henderson. She stood tall and bold, acted strong before the graduation ceremony and the ball dance.

While every ladies dressed in beautiful gowns and dressed, she dressed in an army suit, which surprised Henry.

And holy- their dance is hilarious, first time I saw his flaws in dancing, quite inelegant for a gentleman.

And the hit point, she was trying to confess her love to him... But it feel a bit... sudden and I felt it was missing something...

The English translate: "How much I truly come to-"

But in the Vietnamese translate: "Em thích a-" -> "I love y-" (it's a bit blur)

And that's the end of part 1

Part 2 coming soon...

P.s.2. Tatsuya-san really know how to make us insane.

Why!? It was good all the sudden! I was hyped after reading this, and then I became bored... This is the definition of a cliff-hanger. Well done, Tatsuya-san, you really know how make us drive insane :) Our adrenaline is rising and waiting for your next chapter.

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

The author's few words: Thank you for reading this!!! I've been busy lately, because I'm about to take my entrance exam (abt to die :"))) ), so after this post is posted, I'll be inactive for this blog for a week or so. I need to take a break from the test, it is pressured :")

Any ways, in truth, after chapter 98 was out for a while, I already start working on this. But it is hard for me to find time typing this (or could be I'm lazy), so long that chapter 99 just out a few days ago...

So Part 2 will be about chapter 99 then :)))

[ladythornofrivia]

Endless Reds and Blues

(Here's the link for the synopsis and the chapter list--before you read new chapters, please read chapter 1.) Pair: Kakucho x Reader (Warning: Inappropriate jokes and dialogue that includes bullying, gossiping and other things that aren't appropriate--dark content--for people under 18 (if you're under 18, I'm sorry but you can't read this)(Yes, I have to say it twice XD)

Author’s Note: Thank you so much for reading the series I wrote! It means so much to me that you guys enjoy this story--I nearly cried. I know what it looks like--the romance between Kakucho and reader is slow or non-existent; they haven't properly interact with each other, and it seems that I might give off the wrong impression that another character has been interested in her instead (XD). So please bear with me on the romance part. Let me know if you want me to tag you whenever I write a new chapter (post a new chapter, I mean). I'm so pumped on getting another chapter out, and it's not even done yet. (Note: Report if someone decides to steal the synopsis and my story. And notify me. Thank you) ❤️

Chapter Three: Sinful Men

Previous Chapter Next Chapter

Taking a one hour quiz was a real pain. Your hard work paid off well.

You didn't expect anything your usual results. You have been studying Math most of the nights because it's your least favorite subject. Japanese literature and History class were somewhat hard, but you managed to pull through unlike Mathematics. Whoever created Math must be punished big time. To hell with Math! Why put numbers with letters? What's the point of learning Math or what good it would do when it comes to insurance and taxes?

While obtaining on speaking and reading English, it is at your most advantage, everyone else in the class we're having a difficult time.

When Himiko asked your help regarding simple vocabulary and correcting the sentences, instead of answering her back in verbal communication, you wrote a note down saying that you couldn't tell or explain to her because your classmates will cheat by taking a credit you worked hard for, also taking credit from Himiko under the influence of your guidance.

Needless to say, Himiko respected your reasoning, due to the massive backlash you received in the last couple of weeks from a clash between you and a group of young men who are immensely adored by their faithful fans, and the comments you have been receiving ever since you transferred at your new school.

Each time your classmates come by at your desk, they discussed about studying English with you by giving an extension of invitation, as if the disturbing slanders and manipulative plans on 'taking you out' never happened. But you knew what they meant.

You didn't want anyone using you for a good grade, you didn't want to cry or get hurt again from stealing your hard work for their selfish gain. You wouldn't let it happen again.

So you happened to make an excuses by saying, "Sorry, I have work at this hour I can't be late on" or "My sister is sick and she needed my help, so I have to clean the house and cook food for her."

Whether they know it or not, there's nothing they can do about it but to talk shit behind your back again. And this will happen again every time your class studies for the next quiz regarding to English subject. Though of course the ginormous amount of letters you received in your shoe locker were gone, except you received a letter regarding to your bitchy nature for not helping them in English subject. What else is new? So you threw the letter in the trash and spit on it.

Truth be told, you don't have a job, and you don't have a sibling to begin with. You just wanted to get away from these "civilized" people.

You went back at the school's rooftop during lunchtime with Himiko. This time, you brought your own lunch; you prepped the meal last night. Thanks to cooking tutorials and secret tricks on making a tasty meal, you became a decent cooker while your parents are out at night, working at their new job.

"That looks good," Himiko commented.

"It took a bit long to cook this," you replied, smiling. "Around almost 3 hours."

"What is it? I don't think its Wagyu beef."

"It's Baby back ribs with rice," you explained. "With meat, you can never go wrong putting the baby back ribs with seasoning."

"It smells good," Himiko said.

You ate the first piece into your mouth. Your mouth tingled with delight.

"Drink?" Himiko handed you lychee flavored juice box.

Your hand reached the juice box. "Thank you."

From then on, Himiko accompanied you, whether during class or lunchtime, she doesn't like the idea of leaving you alone unless you ask for a quiet time to yourself. Most of the time, you and Himiko talked about anime and updates regarding to the manga.

"Are you okay?" your friend asked, studying your features.

"I'm doing fine."

"Your sadness is slowly fading--that's good!" Then she noticed you brought your school bag with you. "If you don't mind me asking, why did you bring your bag with you? We usually leave it at our classroom."

"Um...how do I put this in the simple terms? Let's just say that where I come from, we carry our backpacks--our belongings--to lunch."

"Ah, I see."

"But I have another reason for bringing my school bag with me," you added. "It's that dear classmates of ours. They ransacked my shoe locker, so I can't let anyone steal or touch or destroy my belongings."

"I don't blame you. These people are going way too far with everything for defending their so-called kings."

"Aren't you friends with them? I mean, no offense, but, if they hear you say stuff like that...you already saw what happened to me."

"I'm angry at them, too. I ignored them as much as I could. I can see why you're so annoyed by them. Remember that girl who was talking to me when I asked you about that thick book you were holding? Well, she tried to justify everyone's behavior by saying that 'no one deserves to get hurt' and that 'they're in full panic that they have to do something about the mess'."

"What else did she say?"

Himiko bit her lip. "While she tried to justify their behavior on defending their idols, because the guys filled the girls' lives with happiness, and they're forever thankful to them. She also said something about you."

Silence prolonged.

"Go on," you coaxed.

"She said that you're acting too rash, and that you need to get help. She almost called the police in order for you to get arrested and turn you in to a mental facility."

Your body and hands grew cold.

"Talk about harsh statement," you said, covering up with a laugh.

"That's where I broke my composure and started yelling at her on how you were just trying to defend me. I told her, "If I were defending you if you were in trouble, you wouldn't call me those names. Why the hell would you get mad at someone--at someone you barely knew--for trying to defend me?'"

You couldn't pull yourself together; you stopped eating the lunch you made.

"But all she said that the guys are their savior, and that she would never betray them."

Your hands balled into fists.

"I'm so sorry you have to experience this way." Himiko placed her hand on your back. "I talked to the teachers and principal about it, but they didn't care. And I'm sorry for being careless about where I was going. It's that stupid mistake I make that caused you to be put on an unfortunate circumstances."

You nodded. "It isn't too late to fix your mistakes, Himiko. We talked about this. It's your friend that tries to distract you, and you ended up getting hurt because of her."

"But still..."

"Your lunch is getting cold," you reminded, finishing up yours.

"Honestly, I don't blame you. Ever since that English quiz we took, they've been asking you to give them answers, even me, they even asked me if I get any answers from you because you're from a different country. They treated it as if nothing ever happened despite their efforts of trying to make you miserable. Once again, I'm sorry. You're too smart for your own good, (y/n)."

"So who were they?"

"The girls?"

"No, those guys they kept fawning about. I don't see the appeal to them. Not a slight of charm."

"Those guys you confronted with, they're known as what the girls whispered. Bonten. They're the ones who provided the school with best renovation. Thanks to their money, the school is the most wanted school to go to for high school students."

"Are you sure that's it? Because people go to school because they hear how much their handsomeness is exuding the building, and not because of having a 'good education'?"

"I heard this school is once a good one, where there's not much bullying to go around or extreme cases of hurting someone or ransacking personal belongings and slander--it's all about being well-educated for the sake of their futures. But thanks to them, this school was nothing but a playground for the girls, and for Bonten. Rumor has it Bonten is also a group of criminal organization."

You leaned back in shock. "You have got to be fucking kidding."

My parents are going to faint if they hear this...

Himiko shook her head with fear. "I mean, I'm not going to lie. They're good looking, but, I wouldn't date them or play with them just like the rest of the girls here. They would call their names to get attention from either of the boys. How handsome they look, the girls dubbed them as 'Sinful Men'."

"Sorry, I didn't hear a "ha ha" at the end," you said.

"Ha ha?"

"You're joking, right? I think your punch line needs a little bit more of improvement," you said. "Don't worry, we can work on that."

"As much as I want to say that 'it is a joke', I'm afraid that this is reality for us."

*~~*~~*

The house is quiet by the time you get home. Either your parents are watching a movie, or they're doing a quiet cleaning after work. As you stepped into your new household--a complex apartment, more like--you released a long exhale; the burdened nature of your school and classmates has been lifted off of your shoulders--detoxified by somewhere you were glad to see.

When you're at school, you speak Japanese, but at your home, you speak English; your mom often told you that you should never forget where you come from--be loud and be proud, as your mother always said--before and after moving into Japan.

"Mom, I'm back," you said, discarding the shoes and entered the living room, but your mom is nowhere to be found and went into the kitchen, where your mom is concentrating on chopping vegetables and meat.

"Mom," you said once more, your head poking out from the kitchen's entrance.

"Hi, (y/n)," your mom turned her attention at you for a second before concentrating back on her chopping ingredients. "How's school?"

"Great," you said, though you weren't happy.

"Doesn't seem like you're fine," your mom said. "You want to talk about it?"

"Right after you're done cooking," you said. "I'll go wait by the living room."

"Go ahead, no one's stopping you," your mother said, chuckling.

By the living room, your parents decorated almost in a meticulous fashion--everything is minimalistic--aesthetic wise. Though it had a few touches of old patterns like your old house, but improved. Before moving to Japan, your parents sold half off of the items they never used and got extra cash in case of emergencies when moving to another country.

Mostly they kept the most important--and sentimental--items they cherish and decorated it, not a single mistake.

Grabbing your bag, you unzipped your school bag to retrieve the current book you're reading. Your other book hasn't been returned to you since the confrontation between you and Sanzu. You tried to brush it off, taming your inner panic from trying to imagine on what they were doing with the book you last held.

If they somehow return it to you, will there be negotiations involved? If the negotiations are either respecting your classmates who made threats against you or to share your English assignment or quiz answers to them, or somehow becoming as Bonten's servant, you'd rather have expulsion than being polite to people who doesn't respect you and your boundaries.

Unable to read the book, you hid it inside your school bag and turned on the 80-inch television screen, watching your favorite movie, "Titanic". One good look of a 22-year-old Leonardo DiCaprio, and your troubles from school and Bonten have been forgotten.

"You watched Titanic around 10 times, (y/n)," your mom said, putting dinner meal at the table.

"I never get tired of looking at Leonardo DiCaprio," you said with a dreamy sigh. Nothing could ever go wrong when watching Leonardo DiCaprio's well-known movie.

Your mom sat down on the couch beside you. "You mean Jack?"

"I know what I said," you responded, giggling.

Your dad entered the living room, removing his shoes.

"I made dinner," your mom greeted merrily.

"I'm going to sleep for a couple of hours," your dad said, shutting the door.

"Let's eat while watching Titanic," your mom suggested.

"Good plan," you said in return.

While eating dinner, you couldn't help but to think back regarding to Himiko's words on people who harassed you and vital information about Bonten.

"How are your grades?"

"Perfect. I got A's on all of my classes."

"That's great! Keep up the good work."

Little by little, you couldn't insert the food portions in your mouth.

"You haven't been eating for a while, sweetie. What's going on?"

You didn't answer her question; the fork in your hand swirled and poked around the vegetables and the cooked meat.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

You placed the fork down. "I've been bullied."

Your mom drew a sharp intake of breath. "When?"

"Since my transfer on the first day...until now."

"What did they do?"

"They ransacked my shoe locker, they send brutal messages on my desk and they tried to sabotage me in the worst way possible.”

"By what?"

"Taking me out," you said, pulling your phone out, you showed your mom the shoe locker ransacked with threatening letters and school desk. You made sure you took pictures first—when no one is around—before discarding them.

"Good god," your mom said. "What were they doing it for?"

"For the guys who never paid attention to them."

"Are they popular?"

And part of the criminal organization...

"Yes, they defend them to a point one of the girls almost called the cops on me to have me arrested and transfer in the mental facility."

Your mom's eyes narrowed.

"That's not all," you added, pulling the tape recorder out, playing the conversation about the girls' plans on how to take avenge for Sanzu by hitting you with the thick book, before you confronted them with a maniacal acting method to scare them off, and you explained a backstory to her about how guys were bullying Himiko, and that you stood up for her, not to mention how your classmates were trying to use you for a good grade in an English assignment and quiz.

"Do you want to switch schools?" she asked, tossing her red hair to the side.

"No, I just want to go home," you replied, tears falling down on your cheeks; you didn't have the strength to eat anymore.

Your mom stood and walked over to the side of the table to give you a hug. "My sweet baby..." your mom said. Her words made your weep grew stronger.

"What did I do wrong? I thought I did everything right. And yet, I've been accused and harassed by them. I thought I was doing the right thing."

"Nothing, (y/n)," your mom answered. “Nothing’s wrong with you. You're a good person. I'll go contact my lawyer about this."

"No," you said, "I just want to go back to America. I don't see a point of staying here. I don't think I can endure it much longer."

"I'll let my friend know if she has a guest room available, and I'll book a flight for you."

"I hope I'm not a burden to your friend."

"She loves you, sweetie," your mother answered. "In the meantime, you have to send me the photos. I'm going to print pictures on what the bullies did to you. We need the evidence, after all."

"Thanks, mom." The heavy burden in your chest suddenly vanished.

Your mom pressed a kiss at your head. "Don't worry about this, okay? Go watch and read, I don't care. Oh, and since you're doing very well at school, I thought I might give a little something special to cheer you up."

In her hands, she gave you the video game--one that you're waiting for.

"It's a new Tomb Raider game!"

"I thought you would like it. You've been sad for a couple of days. I don't want to see you to get hurt again." Her open palm stroke your red hair.

Instantly, you embraced your mom. "Thanks, mom."

In return, she embraced you once more. "You're welcome. You're the nicest daughter that I ever had. You deserve the world."

You wiped your tears. "Just let me know when I'm going back to America."

Then your mother smiled. "I will. I'll go make some hot chocolate for you. You deserve a break and a reward from protecting your friend."

The rest of the night, your mind was thinking nothing but to return back to your homeland.

*~~*~~*

Voices reeled into your walls the next morning. It was a fine morning for everyone. Until that moment came.

A man and the woman next door were having a screaming contest.

Groaning, you shoved your blankets and walked into the kitchen where your parents watched a movie in a full volume, but no matter how high the volume is, the man and woman from outside your apartment doesn't know the life of learning how to have inside voices.

"How long have they been arguing?" you asked.

"25 minutes," your dad timed on his watch.

"I swear I thought this apartment is supposed to be completely peaceful," your mom said.

"I'll go handle this," you said, marching on the entrance door.

Bursting the door open, you said in English, "Hey! There are neighbors that are trying to have some peace and quiet in the morning. If you can't shut the fuck up, I'm going to have to--"

You felt like your soul died. Because at the scenery in front you, saw the girl with a sheer tank top and a thong and the shirtless young man, with a large scar across his face looked at you with wide eyes.

Oh, no.

You saw him again.

But you didn't expect Kakucho to be there, having a screaming contest with the girl.

At once, you shut the door, and went back into the dining room.

"How did it go, sweetie?" your mom said.

"Fuck," you mumbled.

*~~*~~*

"You sure you need any help from the Math assignment?" Himiko asked, walking with you.

The best part about school is after school. You just couldn't wait to go home. But you waited everyone else to go; you didn't want anyone following you.

"No, I'll be fine," you said, inserting one earphone, playing the music.

"I'm glad you're back to your usual self," Himiko said. "Do you want me to stay here in case the other people are picking a fight with you?"

"No need," you told her.

"See you tomorrow," Himiko waved at you with a smile.

"Bye!" You waved back, pressed the play button.

(this is what the reader's listening to.)

Bopping along the music, not realizing your surroundings.

A long limousine stood at your way, with a large man with weird angular brows stood in front of the vehicle with his hands behind his back, waiting for someone.

Turning, you saw no one behind you.

Whoever this person's waiting on must be really late.

As turn your eyes away, you heard him say, "Miss (y/n)."

Your heart stopped. You wanted to look at the large, buff man, wondering what he’s going to do next.

But instead, you quickly headed to a different direction, but the large man caught up with you with a hand over your shoulder.

"What do you want?" you asked with anger in your eyes.

"You're going to have to come with us," the large man said.

"I have a friend waiting for me," you said, but with regret. You should've asked Himiko to go with you.

"You shouldn't have said to goodbye to her," he said.

"Okay, you creep, if you want to approach me, you could've just use your legs," you shot back, fear drumming into your heart. "Not just standing there in front of the limo menacingly."

The large man did anything but produced chuckles. "You have a hot-temper for a short lady." His eyes checked you out from head to toe.

"Okay, that's it," you said, adjusting the handle of your school bag on your left shoulder. "I'm going now."

He grabbed your right forearm.

"Let go," you seethed. "Now."

"Can't let a pretty face like yours go to waste."

What's that supposed to mean?

"Just come with us," he said.

The strands of your red locks tickled your nose; wind blowing. "Us? Us who?"

"I think you know who, Miss (y/n)."

"Fine, I'll go with you, just let go of my arm first," you said, your voice hardened.

"I'm afraid that's not possible." Then he slung your body over his shoulder.

"I didn't say anything about you carrying me!" you screamed.

Once the man placed you inside the limo, he went at the passenger's seat, telling the driver to start the engine, left you wondering to where you're heading next.

Taglist: @colored-tr-panels & @galactict3a

[synergysilhouette]

Choices review: High School Story

Continuing on with my reviews, I'm doing one of the fan-favorites: High School Story! In the first trilogy, you play a sophomore going to a new school and you have to navigate new friends, new bullies, an evil principal, and a school rivalry. For the second trilogy, captioned "Class Act" you play a freshman who's school life focuses mainly on extracurricular activities, namely drama and helping friends run for class president. Don't worry--it's not as boring/cliché as I make it sound. And I have a habit of listing drawbacks to things rather than positives, so don't assume I hate the book! Make sure to check out my overall feelings at the end of each review.

Book 1 was really great. While the plot didn't intrigue me like other stories and the media's usual portrayal of high school made the relationships in the book feel very PG by comparison, but the characters were probably the best part of the book. Something that kind of annoyed me is how Michael is labeled the "bad boy," even though he really isn't. He's more of a loner who occasionally breaks rules--and I'm glad, considering I'm not big on bad boys. I do think it sucks that you can't pair Emma and Caleb together if you're not romancing them--maybe not in book 1 since Caleb is still processing his breakup, though. I do wish we had more extracurricular options, but I understand this is in the earlier days of the app, and they did well with what they had. I feel like Zoe and Brian's arcs in this series are A MESS, though. Zoe cheated on Caleb since Summer vacation and Brian had some kind of feelings for her, but when Caleb finds out, she tries to go back to him, and it felt very flat. Brian also gave a weak apology, and it looks bad because you decide whether or not Caleb forgives him, which makes it feel like MC allowed room for Caleb to excuse Brian's actions again. I'm just glad the writers didn't make Brian and Caleb become friends again, considering what comes later. Another thing I'd have enjoyed was explaining why MC transferred to Berry High, as well as their relationship with their parents; half of their dialogue with Scott is just "Dad/Daaaaad/Dad!" Overall, it was a good book, even if it didn't immediately have me wanting more.

Book 2 covers how the principal is caught in a scandal and is replaced by the vice principal, who is not only totalitarian, but also scamming the school. In comparison to the previous installment, it felt better and inferior in my opinion; It was too bad that despite us being able to make Emma and Luis a concrete couple in book 1, we don't have the option to lock down a relationship until the end of book 2. I also wish MC got the option to work at the school station during the winter season, and the friction in the school felt unfair towards students like Caleb who didn't think anything bad of Principal Isa's hall monitors. Those who fought against Isa were really insensitive to those who followed her rules like they didn't understand those who were raised to respect authority (even to extremes) and were being abused themselves. And lemme just say: the road trip gave me "The Freshman" vibes and I wish we'd gotten to have more fun like that outside of our "High School Story." And why were Maria's dads the only parents who were suspicious of Isa?

Book 3 was probably the best book in the OG trilogy--and shouldn't the last story in an arc always be the best, from a writing perspective? After a fire burns down the rival school, they come and stay at your school--and rivalries inflame the school. I will say it was kind of weird how deep this rivalry was, given that how you act affects the attitude of the freshman students from your rival high school. Speaking of them, I'm glad we can pair up some of our rejected love interests, though they brought up something I wished we could've discussed more in the series: sexuality and identity. It's rare to discuss sexuality in GOC books with main characters since everyone is playersexual, but Cameron talking about being nonbinary and Emma talking about coming out as bi had me wishing that we'd gotten to address this earlier (especially since many modern genderlocked Choices books try to work sexuality into the mix). For example, if in book 1 you go to homecoming with someone of the same sex, your dad doesn't know it's romantic and you have the option to come out to him in book 2 (honestly I'm surprised Aiden didn't have his own Kaitlyn Liao moment by coming out to his helicopter parents). I also wasn't the fan of the main villains being from the rival school (and how they look like college students, even if some high schoolers look like that). If they had to go that route, make Zoe and Brian the villains, both of them further spiraling after Caleb's disassociation from them--or have Skye be the villain with Brian to give off a Cheryl and Jason Blossom vibe, and after Skye's beat, she becomes the better person we see in book 1 of Class Act. I kinda wish these books were spaced out during several school years rather than one.

Class Act: Book 1 has you play a Freshman character at Berry High, and your original main character makes occasional appearances, with mention to their dating life and extracurricular activities if you choose to import them. The book primarily focuses on how you navigate your crush on your childhood best friend Rory and auditioning for the school play. NGL, it was messed up how we get blamed for our original MC getting hurt while auditioning, and I HATE slow burns, so the crush on Rory and cold shoulder from Ajay was annoying, to say the least. But it was satisfying--but you know what would've been super interesting? If this book kicked it up a notch and focused on investigating how MC got hurt (or maybe a random character is hurt/killed). Though I will admit part of this desire is fueled by wanting Daniele to be punished for her actions. It's mentioned later that she's going to therapy, so maybe that could've been court-mandated? And the twin dating Amber felt kind of out of nowhere; I feel like Amber didn't need to be a factor in this in that the twin could've had their life together better than MC, but that's just me.

Class Act: Book 2 wasn't as fun for me as book 1. It focuses on how MC's twin and Rory are running against each other for class president. It was super icky, especially if you're romancing Rory. Your twin's feelings of betrayal feel (almost) unjustified since they expect you to help them win simply because you're related. It's super ugly and Ajay's issue with his parent's divorce felt like a B-story despite how it affected him. But I do want to praise the fact that we see the characters wear new outfits for the winter season!

Class Act: Book 3 focuses on your spring musical going to an international convention in London! Honestly it's the most fun I've had in the CA trilogy. You also find out that MC and their twin have a biological family member living in London. I don't recall it being mentioned before that they were adopted. Was this addressed in the previous books? Maybe I missed that, but it was fun to get to know more of your character's family--though I do hate how it feels like a missed opportunity to cement MC's ethnicity; oftentimes, MC is customizable but their race is ambiguous. It'd be nice getting to know more of their British culture (along with Asian or African, depending on their race). But a BIG issue I have is with Rory's dad. Throughout the book, he sneaks around with one of MC's teacher, and it's revealed that he's been going through some emotional things that he couldn't bring to his wife...and we all don't dig deeper than that. I won't fault him since it's a "toxic masculinity" topic, but the fact that his wife forgave him so quickly felt a bit off, I guess? And Skye is being manipulated by her parents since they're financing the school play and it's future in London is in their hands. It was a really good arc, though in my alternate idea for "HSS: Book 3," it would've been interesting to see more Brian in the book. Even if he's awful, it'd make more sense. Overall, it was an enjoyable book.

HSS was a long series! Honestly I find "Class Act" more interesting story-wise, but the original trilogy had 5 love interests (not that having the option of Rory being a handsome male theatre nerd completely secure with his masculinity wasn't AMAZING), so in that aspect, it's superior. Both trilogies are replayable and as a franchise, a fun time, though the changeable extracurricular activities and various love interests in the original series makes it somewhat better, imo.

[orbitfalls]

AAAAA HELLO CAN YOU TELL ME ABOUT OUT OF ORDER?!?! 80k is SO exciting

YESSS OFC I WILL LOVE!!! and aaaa yes 80k im so proud of myself!!!! out of order is my first ever fic (still a work in progress but she's grown quite long lately heheh!!) so it has a very special place in my heart<33 i definitely do feel like i've improved a lot since i started writing it, but i think that progress is a good thing yk<3

it's wolfstar- and jily centered, or at least it started out that way, but Pandora and Barty lowkey started taking over the story as i got progressively more and more invested in their characters. The plot itself is still about wolfstar and jily, and they're still the MCs, but half the chapters are just pandora and barty being icons at this point😭 then barty and lily started flirting and i was like, WOW, HOLD ON, WE'RE GETTING WAYY OFF TRACK HERE so i invented ✨east of eden✨ to let my inner demons unfold (and east of eden has now become my favourite to write, unsurprisingly). this is also essentially how i got into shipping bartylily lol<3

oh and look at that, i've already gotten off track in my own rambling again... let me tell you about out of order!!

it's a boarding school AU, and a muggle AU with a modern setting. the concept is that sirius and james are your standard it-boy roommates and have been for the past several years (peter erasure:( didn't much like his character when i started writing it and it's too late to change it now), but the story starts off with remus transferring to their school and being assigned to their dorm, which starts a bunch of drama, because remus is a rather famous influencer. The Thing is, though, that wolfstar used to be very close, but a Big ThingTM happened two years ago which sparked a HUGE conflict between the two of them that no one else knows about, and which would be a huge scandal for Remus' career if it ever got out. the whole thing's very dramatic and tense, and there's a bunch of drama happening on the side lines while the story unfolds. i'm adding a little snippet below that's really not that little because i just can't shut the fuck up. it's set at mary's birthday party, narrated by an ecstasy-tripping remus lol<3

(forever pushing the albino rosier twins agenda btw)

As Remus trips through the tightly packed dance floor, even the familiar of faces distort and disfigure, napes growing fingers that stretch through tinsel-decorated locks of hair and eyes that are too wide, or too round, or just misplaced in general. Mostly, they're brown, or green, or blue. Some are heavy-lidded, some are red around the edges, some have dilated pupils. Pandora's eyes have a sort of reddish purple shade. They're the type of eyes that are round and sort of puppy-like, with a little space of white that droops below her irises as if she's always looking up. She's traced them with eyeliner that stands out against the pale surface of her skin, and when she smiles, gentle creases form under her platinum bottom lashes. "Remus." Her voice sounds like she's speaking through a shallow body of water. Her eyes look like little purple suns. Remus sees them rise and fall over the horizon and imagines how his lifespan shortens by another day every time they move. He imagines how ancient she must be. This is why you shouldn't do ecstasy in the bathroom, he supposes. He blinks. She's looking at him still. He blinks again. "Aren't you supposed to hate me?" "Hate you?" Her head tilts to the side. There's something faintly unsettling about the way her features bend with her emotions, not a cold and motionless face like Regulus' or a vivid display of dramatics like Sirius', but some third and different option entirely. "I don't do that much. Why do you think I should hate you?" Remus shrugs. He's sort of forgotten. "I don't know. Aren't you Regulus' girlfriend?" "Certainly not," she laughs. "Regulus is family. Sure if you'd hurt him, I'd hurt you, but I wouldn't have to hate you to do that." She says it easily, not the trace of a threat in her tone. She's quite a small girl, smaller than both Lily and Regulus - still, Remus' intuition tells him that he'd be in deep trouble if she ever decided she wanted him to be. Remus sways slightly. The song changes and more people press onto the dance floor; he feels the pulse of the wood under his feet. It beats in sync with his own pounding head. Pandora smiles, and Remus watches her eyes crease. She says, "But Regulus isn't the one you damaged, at the end of the day, so I hold nothing against you." She's got a pretty voice, softspoken and a little deep for a girl, with a posh finality to the details of her words. She pronounces them properly, pierced lips moving around each syllable like she's blowing bubbles through a piece of gum: Certainly. Pop. Regulus. Pop. Sure. Pop. "Oh," Remus says. He feels like a tree in the wind. "That's good." Pandora laughs. She reaches out a small hand, fingers heavy with silver rings. There's one on her middle finger, shaped like a snake. It hisses at Remus. "Come, let's go to the others," it says. Pandora's hand is sort of warm, but also sort of cold, like when you put your hand into water so cold it seems to ignite your skin.

[kimkaelyn]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love ❤

Shout out to the amazing @andypantsx3 for the tag! Sending lots of love and happiness your way!

Hmmm, so this is difficult. In my opinion, I haven't published many worth mentioning fics but if I had to choose any, they would be these. 5.) This is for all of the stories that I started to write, but never finished; and all of the stories that were ideas in my head that never got to be played out. I love you and do think about your worlds and stories.

4.) Can I Sing At Your Wedding | Kim Namjoon

I don't have a reason for why I am including this. I just find it hilarious and a big mess that makes me smile every time I read it.

3.) Ditto | Shouto Todoroki

when you transferred to U.A., you didn't anticipate slipping on a pair of chopsticks in the middle of the crowded cafeteria during your first week. however, what took you by surprise was the unexpected fall for the boy who gracefully caught you.

This isn't released yet, but I am having so much fun writing it!!!!!! I'm looking forward to sharing this with you all!

2.) Marinette Claire | Miraculous Ladybug

She made a promise to him. But something happened and she disappeared. What would happen three years later when she returns with secrets you never could imagine?

Soooooo, this is the first fic that I actually ever wrote. I never finished it (at least on paper), but it is special to me. I wrote this all the way back in 2016 when I was twelve or thirteen. At the time, I was trying to navigate my feelings and grief over a classmate's death. And those emotions that I was feeling is reflected in this story. This story is about a boy trying to navigate the death of his best friend and try to figure out how to move on with life.

Basically, I was writing about myself, but speaking through the character of Adrien Agreste (T_T omg i can't believe I just typed that out). This story was my coping mechanism, and it was a light when I was surrounded by so much darkness.

1.) Lost at Sea | Marvel

"Cap! We found her!"

After I woke up, I met this gorgeous woman. Eventually, we got married and had a daughter. We were very happy. I never allowed my work as Captain America to come in between my family and I. Until a sudden mission forced me to leave our family vacation in Italy and catch the next flight to D.C. My wife and daughter were supposed to fly back two days later, but they never made it home...

"Where's my daughter?"

"All we know is that she's not with her mother."

Now I know you guys' are probably racking your memories trying to see if you have read this story before, and the answer to that is probably not. Lost at Sea is the first multiple-chaptered fic that I finished. I wrote it all the way back in 2017-2018 while I was in middle school. This story is my baby, and my OC Mariana... I don't know what to say about her only that she holds a special place in my heart. (Seriously if I have a daughter I am going to name her Mariana.) Maybe because she is the type of person that I wish I was, but regardless, she is my everything.

I wrote Lost at Sea during a very difficult time in my life. I haven't talked about this here on tumblr before, but middle school was hell for me. I was severely bullied over my online presence and I am ashamed to say that they made my old childhood persona die, and they are the reason that I use a pseudonym now. At that time, while being bullied, I was trying to figure out who I was and find a place where I belonged. I, like so many writers and artisans, turned to art as a way to cope and navigate my emotions and changing world. The result of that is Lost at Sea. I poured my everything into that book, and I am so so so proud of it. I have come a long way since it was completed, and I promise one day I will go back and give it the revision it so desperately deserves.

Thank you again Andie for the tag!

no pressure tags: @yoonia @floatingpetals @missrosegold @thecowboykatsuki-anon @vampyrsm @ghostgirl19posts @kpopfanfictrash @jamaisjoons @jeonstudios @riverofmemoriesft

(I apologize if you are already tagged, but please do @ me in your post so I can read about your favorite fics!!)

[bitbybitwrites]

Am I late for the writing game?

5, 18, 44 and pick one you really, really want to answer and no one's asked yet :)

It's never too late! 😉

5.     How much writing do you get done on an average day?

Oh this is embarassing - not very much, to be honest. Its not that I wouldn't want to. But after dealing with work, then family, then chores/ housework, I'm exhausted . . and its late at night when I finally have time to just myself. By that time I'm almost always fighting sleep, so I can get very little done. So most of my writing is done in tiny spurts here and there. Like I can sometimes squeeze in 10-15 minutes in the morning before I run to work . . . maybe I can write something before I pass out for the night. If I'm lucky to take the train into the city or I'm stuck in like a waiting room for awhile, I can get nice big chunks of writing done. I always carry a journal with me to jot things down in, then I transfer it onto my computer when I get a chance. So whenever I preface with "I'm a slow writer", its not only because sometimes it takes forever for me to get the words right. It's literally because I'm so swamped with other things I have little time to focus on writing.

18.  If you could collaborate with anyone, who would it be, and what would you write about?

I'll be honest - I''m not sure collaboration is in my future - I think I'd frustrate the hell out of another writer if they were waiting for me to hand in my portion ( see question above) and I am a little anal retentive when it goes to editing and stuff and wanting writing styles to mesh so it would seem like a seamless transition from one person's work to another, I'm sure that would drive them crazy as well 😂😂😂 But all that aside . . . if none of that mattered . . I don't know. if we're talking published authors - I think Neil Gaiman and Casey McQuiston would be fun to write with. I also love Amy Tan and Kevin Kwan's writing I love too . . also Bill Bryson ( though he's a non fiction writer, not fiction). If we are talking fan fic - god . . too many to count. You all are so damn good I really can't pick one. Though I have to say if we ever wrote anything together, I can imagine the amount of angst ( esp blangst) that would be coming out of those pages. It might drive readers insane 😂

44.  How much research do you do?

It really depends on the story - though I can be prone to going down research rabbit holes if I find something interesting 😂. But that was the part I loved about school - the research, the learning of new things.

 . . .and pick one you really, really want to answer and no one's asked yet :). this was hard to choose, so I'll go with this one:

40.  Share some backstory for one of your characters

I'll share some tidbits about an OC I created for If I Can Make Your Heart My Home that I've noticed a many of my readers like: Lillian Anderson ( Blaine's English grandmother)

Lillian is a talented musician herself (piano and violin).

She met her husband while auditioning for the London Symphony Orchestra. He was concertmaster at the time. She auditioned for 2nd violin chair.

After they married, he became a conductor and they traveled a bit relocating to whatever orchestra her husband worked with at the time, before settling in New York for a bit - where they had their son and raised him.

They returned to England for the most part after their son (Bradford) finished college, and they began a good deal of philanthropic work ( mostly arts based) until their grand children were born. Then they would travel back and forth, so they could spend as much time as they could with Cooper and Blaine.

Fun fact: Blaine's middle name (Devon) was a nod to Lillian's paternal roots - her own family hailing from Devon, England. During the summers Lillian would whisk the grandkids back off to Devon to bond, especially after her husband passed.

Her moody tortoiseshell cat, Schumann is named after composer Robert Schumann

***

Thanks so much for the asks, @heartsmadeofbooks! 💖💖💖💖

Click here to play

[blackbird-brewster]

Hiiiiii Kit I have been thinking more and more about sapphic CM/X-Files crossovers and how much I need some Scully/Lewis in my life. What do you think their ship name would be? And if you were going to write about them, what kind of fic would you write?

Also I’m very glad you came back to writing and that we’ve become such good friends this past year! ❤️❤️❤️

Waaaaaa, I love you Bex!!! Thanks for the ask. I'm so glad we're friends too!!!!

Honestly, ever since you mentioned this the other day I keep thinking about it toooooo. I'm such a slut for old-school OTP ship names vs pormanteau ship names. So might I suggest:

OTP: Two Good Doctors OTP: Tol and Smol (a classic) OTP: Be Gay Solve Crime OTP: Science Lesbians I'm sure we could workshop it. I'd LOVE a crossover where Lewis runs into Scully on the elevator at Quantico and they have a cute chat. Tara asks where Scully works and she's like 'Uhhh, in the basement' (presses basement button on elevator) Tara legit thinks this woman is doing a 'bit', because she's only been at Quantico a short time, and she's fairly sure no one works in the basement. (In this situation, Tara is an FBI psychologist -- non-BAU).

Time goes on, she has an appointment with a pair of agents who can't get along with each other. Honestly, she's s forensic psychologist, yet here she is being a middle-school counceler having to tell trained FBI agents to 'play nice'. And in walks elevator woman and some guy who looks like he hasn't slept in five years. (Remember how CM did the Mulder/Scully joke when the BAU was reassigned during the Barnes arc!?!?!? I've always wanted this fic) Tara learns the woman is name Dana Scully, Dr Dana Scully. The man is Fox Mulder. And turns out, they really do work in the basement.

Tara does her best to help them get through their conflict, apparently Mulder is kind of a loose canon, and Scully seems very level-headed. Tara ultimately asks 'why wouldn't you just transfer or get a new partner?' and Mulder/Scully laugh at the concept. Afterwards, Tara has Scully stay for a minute and she's like 'Look, I won't put it on the report but are you and him....together?" Scully gets instantly defensive about it, says something like, "We always have each other's backs." Tara shakes her head and says, "Yeah, but are you....dating...him??" "Why do you care?" Scully is absolutely missing the point here. "Because, I was hoping you were single...." Tara says. "Oh." "yeah." "Oh, right... well, yes, I'm single," Scully says. (With that cute little half-smile she gives Mulder when she thinks he's being annoyingly endearing) They'd be impossibly cute together with that nine inch height difference. I'd sob. Two very amazing badass FBI women, ugh, my heart!!!!! My two fave characters of all time, this is so overly specific to me.

BONUS MATERIAL: and old Emily/Scully crossover I wrote in 2016 [X]

Ghosts of the Past

When Scully went missing her mom had a head stone made. Which lead me to come up with the best AU/cross over ever…

For shits and gigs, Mulder had the head stone placed in the cemetery . (Because face it, he’s a child) Scully objected at first but secretly goes and visits once a year because it gives her some sort of inner peace.

Fast forward to 2012. Scully is on the metro on the way to visit her head stone for it’s 18th birthday (she brings a pile of scratch offs because it is now old enough to gamble.)

She strikes up conversation to the woman next to her. Scully feels like she’s seen the woman before but can’t quite place where. 

Scully’s stop comes up and she’s surprised when the other woman stands to leave as well. They continue their conversation during the short walk to the cemetery. 

The woman chuckles, “I guess we have more in common than we thought.”

Scully, panics, she definitely doesn’t want to admit to this attractive stranger that she is morbidly visiting her own grave. So she fakes a phone call and waves good bye to the other woman. 

Once the coast is clear, Dana goes to her grave and does her yearly moment of silence to think about how her life has changed in those many years since the X-Files. She’s peacefully reflecting when a hand taps her on the shoulder. 

“Sorry, I’m not follow you…it’s just…I never caught your name.” the smiling woman said.

Scully now had two options, either lie about her name and forgo the potential of getting to know this woman or telling the truth and hoping the woman wouldn’t notice the head stone she was sitting by.

“Dana,” she stuttered. “Dana Scully.”

The woman shook Scully’s hand happily and began to reply when she noticed the headstone. She read it aloud, “Dana Katherine Scully. 1964-1994…”

Scully sighed, expecting the woman to run screaming. (She knew Mulder would get a kick out of the who fiasco when she relayed the event later) But instead, the brunette burst into laughter. 

“Come here,” she chuckled as she pulled Dana off the ground and lead her a few rows over. 

The brunette pointed at the head stone in front of them, while wiping tears from her eyes from laughter. 

“Emily Prentiss?” Dana read from the stone.

Emily held her hand out, “Nice to meet you.”

Emily explained that she worked for the FBI and had faked her own death but had been adamant about keeping the head stone. Scully doubled over with laughter and explained she too, was an FBI agent who had been prematurely marked as dead.

After that day the two became best friends and ended up dating.

[sandersgrey]

Things that queer rep in media doesnt need in order to be actual rep:

On-screen kissing (or, in fact, any romance) between same gender people

Things that queer rep does, in fact, need in order to be actual rep:

On screen acknowledgement of the character's queerness.

The Heartstopper show does this very well with Elle: we dont get to know her deadname (good!) and the term trans woman, as far as I remember, isn't ever actually said- but it doesn't need to be. We get it when its said that she transferred from an all boys school to an all girls school. There is no other reasonable explanation an allocishet viewer could come up with. It's not really subtle, because it can't be.

We are not yet at a point where subtlety can be used in establishing queer characters, because any allocishet person watching a show (and, in fact, many queer people without their queer goggles on!) will assume that characters are cis, allo, and straight, up and until it can no longer be denied.

Sometimes queercoding should remain as queercoding. See the Good Omens show- we can take our nonbinary rep in Pestilence and the flies demon, but you can't say that Crowley and Aziraphale are canonically queer, because they aren't. They are queercoded.

I'm okay with them remaining that way because their story was written by both Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, who based those characters on themselves, and it is completely appropriate for Neilman to not feel comfortable making their queerness explicit now that Terry is dead and can no longer comment.

What I'm not okay with is people making derisive comments about how those two characters are canonically queer. They're not. Because any straight viewer can watch the show and, having no concrete evidence otherwise, come out of it still thinking they're "just" friends.

"Why should we adjust our queer rep standarts to what a straight person deems obvious?" Because otherwise they will keep denying it exists, and we deserve better than that.

We deserve actual, explicit representation we don't have to justify to our straight family members. We deserve to see ourselves represented without having to reach or write essays about in order to prove it's us. We deserve for it to be easy, and simple, and there.

No subtext needed.

It should be text.

[kawaiisano]

Haitani Brother's Little Sister

●notes: reader is haitani brother's little sister who is 10 years old, humor, also ran and rindou being doting brothers and having a soft spot for there little sister.

●(f/n) means friend's name.

The Haitani brothers first made a name when they took over Roppongi themselves, that made people think twice before messing with them. They always have a tough exterior act that make some people fear them, that's why who would have thought they have a hidden soft spot for someone and that someone is you, Ran and Rindou's little sister. Not many people know the Haitani brothers have a little sister and they refer it that way, to prevent you from being in any trouble or harm.

Being a Haitani of course you can fight as well, even at your young age and you also are good looking like your dear brothers, though your attitude is different from them cause Ran and Rindou always thought of you as a kind, helpful, and sweet little sister. That's why they were shocked to know you took after there attitude when they first saw you angry, that actually rarely happen it's usually when "someone" dares to make you mad or annoyed that causes you to be angry and you wouldn't think twice before beating that "someone" up.

They found out about this when a certain incident happened, you were currently sitting in the middle of the couch with your older brothers in each of your side watching a movie, while Ran was squeezing your left cheek and Rindou was squeezing your right cheek, they always thought you have a very puffy cheeks and always wanting to squeeze it but not to hard though, they will always squeeze your cheeks gently not wanting to hurt you. At the final part of the movie you saw the main characters went to get ice cream which made you crave one, when the movie finally ended you took hold of both your older brothers hand moving it away from your cheeks that they were squeezing since the start of the movie, and it caught both of there attention now looking at you who stood up from the couch now in front of them still holding both there hands smiling you then spoke.

Ran-niichan! Rin-niichan! I want ice cream. You said and the excitement was obvious from your voice, which made Ran sigh that caused you and Rindou to focus both of your attention to him.

I'm sorry Y/n-chan but I already told you that no sweets before dinner or going to bed. he said as softly as he can to make you understand and Rindou just agree with him, of course you understand what your older brothers said, you then let go of both their hand, smiling at them.

Okay! you said in your usual soft and jolly tone voice, after this both Ran and Rindou felt guilty that they didn't get you ice cream and instead decline your request, thinking you must be disappointed even though you were literally smiling when your brothers said no it didn't even bother you. They were even thinking of a way to get you ice cream but couldn't do so because even though it was so obvious that both Ran and Rindou are doting and has soft spot for you either of them won't admit it, always finding a way to get you what you want without the other finding out, you can actually tell it was bothering them so much because after dinner and you said good night to both of them cause your going to bed, they would always head back to the couch the three of you were sitting earlier watching the movie, while looking so bothered by something, their plan to get you ice cream was moved to tomorrow, they were actually both planning the same thing, to come get you after school to head over to the dairy store to get you ice cream, while they were heading to your school.

Rindou you really have a soft spot for Y/n-chan I know your trying to get her the ice cream she wanted. Ran said in a teasing tone of voice.

Says the one obviously has a soft spot for Y/n-chan, you even tried to get it for her last night. Rindou said in an annoyed tone of voice.

What are you talking about I was just bored at home that's why I thought of going out. Ran replied in a cocky tone of voice, though it was obvious he was planning to get you ice cream last night without Rindou finding out, because he always tells you before you head to bed that he's going out to buy something or head somewhere because he doesn't want you to worry about where he is or instead tells Rindou to later tell you, this goes to Rindou too if his the one heading out.

After both of them denying things that were already so obvious there finally at your school, though they didn't saw you anywhere that's why they ask your teacher to know where you were they were both shocked and worried when your teacher said that she thought you already went home,  knowing you your brothers know that when they told you that there going to pick you up after school you will patiently wait at your school gate for them to come. So Ran and Rindou started to look for you, they finally saw you in a park a bit far from your school while being surrounded by five boys who are middle school students you seem to be protecting someone because your both spreading your arms to each side, so they looked closely and saw it was your girl classmate and friend F/n who they usually seen with you when they came by your school, though she looks uneasy from the expression she has, reading the situation Ran and Rindou understand what's going on and anger were starting to form inside of them while slowly approaching towards you, thinking on beating those boys up if they ever touch, make you feel uncomfortable and if they saw you cry there literally going to murder them, there dark thoughts were suddenly interrupted when they hear you speak in an unfamiliar tone of voice than your usual soft and jolly tone.

Don't come near F/n-chan! you said half shouting with an annoyed tone of voice, that just caused the four boys to laugh literally looking down on you, that made your older brothers even more angry, one of the five boys who seem to be there leader started to slowly approach you and made your brothers hurried to go you, they suddenly stopped when they heard a loud thud that was caused by the kick you did to the face of the boy who tried to approached you that was now unconsciously laying in the ground that shocked F/n-chan and the remaining four boys, though your older brothers were more shocked when they closely look at you and saw that you were wearing an unfamiliar expression on your face that made them both say,

Y/n-chan is angry? and you can actually hear the shocked in their tone of voice (you can't actually hear it I mean you haven't even noticed your older brothers was near though they didn't say it out loud) , I mean can you actually blame them this is the first time in there life they saw you angry considering you personality, and the doting brothers they are they actually thought your angry expression was cute.

If you try to bother F/n-chan and me ever again I'm going to beat all of you up. you said in a serious tone that caused the four boys shiver in fear cause you literally just made there leader unconscious in one kick the expression the four boys were giving off (they look like there all going to pass out) made Ran and Rindou suddenly burst into laughter that took you, F/n-chan, and the boys by surprise causing you to look where the very familiar laughter was coming from and their you saw both on your brothers laughing so much causing you to put an expression that looks like your questioning what was so funny and when did they got here, you then just smile and transfer your gaze back to the four boys,

And your also going to fell my older brothers wrath. you said in your soft and jolly tone of voice Ran and Rindou know by heart causing them to stop laughing now looking at the four boys with there tough exterior act that made the them shiver even more because of fear taking there unconscious leader and running away like cowards cause they are.

After the commotion F/n thanked you and your brothers for helping her specially you cause you just literally kicked a middle school boy for her but of course you would she is your best friend, when you then stopped waving at her goodbye you felt two hands holding your waist lifting you up and before you know it you were already sitting in Ran's shoulder that made you hold onto him to prevent yourself from falling though he wouldn't let that happen. While walking Rindou suddenly said something that surprised you,

Let's go get ice cream you wanted one right? he said in a calm tone of voice, which made you to directly said yes with excitement in your voice that made your eyes sparkle with amusement looking at Rindou, these cause both of your brothers to giggle,

Rindou I knew it you really have a soft spot for Y/n-chan. Ran said to ruin the mood while Rindou just denied it saying its Ran who has a soft spot for you, while they argue on the way to the dairy store you just listen knowing both of your older brothers cared about you and both has a soft spot for you.

●I really enjoyed writing this it was so much fun 😭😭😭.

[aomine-ryo]

I can't think of a specific scene, but I just want some angst with Tatsuya please!! Thank youu ❤️

Haha it pained me to write this,, I might’ve cried a bit while typing out some of the dialogue lmao idk why I went so hard with the angst 😭 it’s so long as well ajsjsk

Anyways, I hope you like it!! xx

Scenario: Himuro moving away

gender neutral reader

All good things seem to come to an end. All your life, you were painfully aware of this fact. You tried making some exceptions, but they just proved you wrong in the end. So why did you think Himuro was any different?

You and Himuro clicked almost instantly ever since he moved into town and into the house right next to yours. It was your typical cheesy boy next door love story, but it still filled your life with colour.

The two of you began as friends, spending an awful lot of your time together— walking to and from school, study sessions and just plain hanging out. But by far, your favourite thing to do with Himuro was climb up to the roof of your house and stare at the stars together. You’d think that with the sheer frequency of your visits to the roof that either of you would get tired of it, but you never did. The stars never failed to fascinate you. Moreover, you had memories attached to the place. This was where Himuro confessed to you for the first time. You remember it like it was just yesterday.

“... and then I slipped on one of the steps and landed on Atsushi and everyone looked horrified,” Himuro recounted his awful experience that day as you tried to hold back your laughter.

However, the imagery of it only made you laugh even harder, “How are you that clumsy?” you said between laughs, clearly mocking him.

Himuro clicked his tongue in annoyance and slapped your arm lightly. “Stop laughing. I could’ve really gotten hurt, you know,” he said, not taking his eyes off of you for a moment, even after you had simmered down and looked back up at the sky.

“Sorry, sorry. I’m glad you’re okay. But you’re just really stupid sometimes,” you smiled, meaning every word you said.

Himuro just rolled his eyes as a response before a silence fell between you two. It wasn’t awkward nor uncomfortable, the two of you just embraced each other’s presence like it was second nature.

“Hey, Y/N,” Himuro said, breaking a five minute long silence after fighting the nerves by himself.

“Mhmm?” You hummed, looking over at him and realising that he seemed unusually on edge.

“What if I told you that I liked you?”

You felt your heart skip a beat at the sound of those words before your rational thinking came into play. “Well, I wouldn’t be surprised because you’re supposed to like me. You’re my friend, after all.”

Himuro visibly hesitated for a moment before deciding to go for it. “No, I mean more than in a friend type of way.”

You felt yourself freeze up as you tried to process what you had just heard. “Oh,” was the only thing you could muster.

A few seconds of silence passed as Himuro grew more and more nervous. “Should I have not said anything?”

You still didn’t say anything as your mind tried to come to some form of coherent thought. “What if I told you I liked you back?” you finally said, so nervous that you were unsure if he had even heard you.

He certainly did though as his eyes lit up and a gentle smile fell upon his face. He didn’t plan this far ahead. Now that he had gotten his answer, his mind was in a frenzy. “Can I kiss you?” he asked you softly since it was the only thing he could think of to do at that moment.

Without missing a beat, you nodded your head yes. And on that roof, under the stars, was where you and Himuro kissed for the very first time.

Ever since that night, the two of you would be all over each other. Of course, the change in titles was a bit awkward at first, but for the most part, the way you acted around each other wasn’t all that different. You’d still argue over your favourite tv show characters, you’d still laugh at each other’s jokes and you’d still meet up on that roof together. So really, nothing changed except that the two of you would hold hands and kiss every now and again.

It was perfect to you. You both really did love each other to the point where you could barely imagine a world without the other in it. Everything came so naturally with Himuro that it was so incredibly easy. You’d really never felt this way with anyone else before.

No one else around you was surprised when the two of you started dating either. When Himuro told Murasakibara about it a few days after you two got together, he even said, “Oh you two weren’t already a thing? Congrats, I guess.”

A little over a year had passed since you two began dating and things were going smoother than ever. Well, that was until one evening when the two of you were walking home after school.

“Hey Y/N, I kind of have to tell you something,” Himuro said, his voice softer than usual, making you stop swinging his arm playfully out of concern.

“What is it?” You questioned.

“Um, well, it’s kind of hard to say this, but I’m moving,” he said, avoiding eye contact out of nervousness.

Your heart sank as you stopped in your tracks, forcing Himuro to stop too. “Moving? Where?” you asked, bewildered.

“Back to America. My dad got transferred again, so we gotta move,” he explained, hating how pained your expression was.

You felt tears prick your eyes as you processed the fact that this was actually happening. “When are you leaving?” you asked, praying that it was a faraway time like next year.

“Next week.”

You felt everything shatter around you. The wind that blew your way draining the warmth out of you entirely. “But they can’t just move him away so suddenly! Surely there are documents and other processes he needs to sort out,” You argued, trying your best to convince yourself that you could keep Himuro for just a little longer.

“No, it’s all confirmed. Most of the stuff at home is even packed up,” Himuro said, trying to fight back tears of his own as he brushed his hair out of his eyes in frustration.

“Oh,” your voice cracked as tears streamed down your face. “So how long have you known?”

“About a month now. I was just trying to figure out how to tell you—“

“A month?” You exclaimed, raising your voice ever so slightly as you felt a wave of anger flow through you. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

“I didn’t know how. Plus I knew you’d get all sad and I didn’t want our last few days to be spent with you crying,” he explained, reaching his hand out to your face so that he could wipe the tears away.

He was quickly shut down by you swatting his arm away though, making him furrow his brows in confusion.

“How do you think this is any better?” You snapped. “I thought we told everything to each other. Now there’s no fucking time to do anything, do you realise that?”

“I do, but—“

“Save it, Tatsuya,” you cut him off as you wiped your tears away with the back of your hand. “I just need some space.”

Just like that you stormed away, deciding to walk back home alone and leaving Himuro behind, confused and hurt. He knew that you weren’t actually mad at him. He knew that you were just lashing out your frustration onto him because there was nothing else you could blame. He knew that. But why did watching you walk away cause an ache in his chest?

Himuro let you have the rest of the day to yourself. He did send you a few texts asking how you were holding up, but they got no response. In any other situation, he would’ve just walked right over to your house and checked for himself, but something told him that he was the last thing you wanted to see, despite the time crunch.

Himuro didn’t see you nor did he get a reply from you the next day either. By the time the evening rolled around and he had heard nothing from you, he decided that it was enough. If he didn’t do anything now, the last memory he’d have of you would be your anger.

The raven haired boy walked over to your house and knocked on the door. Your mum let him in with a smile, not thinking too much of it since she was so used to having him over. When Himuro entered your room, he found you simply just laying on your bed, staring at the ceiling with a blank expression.

“Y/N, are you just going to ignore me until I leave?” Himuro asked without even greeting you first.

You immediately sat up at the sound of his voice and stared at him from across the room. Now that you had run out of tears, you had slowly come to terms with the fact that he was actually leaving and you couldn’t really blame him. Your anger was uncalled for, but you didn’t want to admit it, not that Himuro was expecting you to anyway.

“I’m sorry,” you mumbled, voice raspy as though you’d just finished crying.

Himuro sighed as he felt his tension simmer down. He came in here expecting to tell you off, but it seemed like he didn’t need to do that after all. “You don’t need to apologise,” he said calmly as he walked over to your bed and took a seat next to you, placing a soft kiss on your forehead. “Would you like to go up to the roof?”

A small smile fell upon your face for the first time in a while at the comforting words as you nodded in response.

Himuro took your hand and held it tight as the two of you headed up to lie down at your usual spot.

There was a full moon that night. Of course, the stars seemed inferior to the sheer brightness of the moon, but the night sky was still as gorgeous as ever. The two of you laid in silence for a moment to fully take in the sight. As you finally felt comfortable again, you noticed that you ended up matching your breathing with Himuro’s without even thinking of it.

“Do you really have to leave?” You said, directing your focus to your boyfriend, who was now more important to you than all the stars in the sky.

“I’m afraid I do,” he answered, squeezing your hand tighter.

“Can’t you just live with me? I’m sure my parents won’t mind. It seems like they love you more than me anyways,” you suggested, tone dead serious.

You watched as Himuro laughed at your idea. You could never get tired of his laugh. It was so soft and lovely that it made you want to capture it in a bottle and keep it all to yourself. “I wish I could, but my parents would kill me if I even tried asking them now. They’re so stressed about the move and I absolutely do not want to interfere,” he said, the moonlight making his dark eyes sparkle.

You took a deep breath as a moment of silence passed you by. Every part of you hurt to be with him, knowing that you weren’t going to see him again. It was a surprise that you could even talk to him normally without bursting into tears.

“Do you think we should call this quits?” You asked him, your fingers fiddling around with his.

“Call what quits?”

“Us. This relationship,” you clarified, looking at him with wide eyes. “There’s no way we can do long distance, especially after being so used to seeing each other every day.”

Himuro went silent for a second as he thought it over. This really fucking hurts. He hated thinking about it but this was the reality. “Yeah, I guess it’s for the best,” he said.

You were fully aware that you were the one that suggested it, but now hearing him say that triggered the tears all over again. “Cool,” you croaked as you did your best to fight back the cries. It was useless though, because you quickly became a sniffling mess next to Himuro.

“Hey, come on, it’ll be okay. We can go back to being friends. I’ll text you,” Himuro paused to wipe away his own tears, “I-I’ll text you every day. And we can call, and play video games, whatever you want.”

Himuro shifted over and rested on his elbow so that his other hand could wipe the tears off of your cheeks. His tender touch sent butterflies to your stomach as you felt your heart ache. His hand moved up to brush through your hair, bringing some form of familiar comfort which slightly calmed you down.

“Promise that you’ll still be my best friend?” you asked him with your shaky voice.

“Of course. Who else is going to tell me that I’m stupid every day?” he joked, making you laugh through the tears.

“Can I ask you for a favour?” You said softly.

“It’s not going to be to stay, is it?”

You giggled once again as you shook your head. “No, it’s not,” you said as you sat up.

“Alright then, shoot.”

“Well, I know we’re back to being friends now, but can you kiss me? Just one last time?”

Both of you hated the finality of those words, but that was simply the reality of the situation. Himuro smiled and nodded, “Of course.”

He leaned in, pressing his familiar soft lips against yours in the softest way possible. He could feel the hot tears trickling down your cheeks. His hand moved to wipe them away as your fingers wandered into his silky dark hair. You didn’t want this moment to ever end. The feel of his lips against yours, the way he held you so carefully, the taste of the chapstick he applies to combat the coldness of your town— you didn’t want to say goodbye to it. You didn’t want to say goodbye to him.

Eventually, he had to pull away, knowing that the longer it went on, the more difficult it would be to end. “Satisfied?” he asked you with a smile, wanting to move away from the seriousness of this situation.

“I suppose I am,” you said with a sigh. “First and last kiss on this roof, huh? How poetic.”

“Hm, I didn’t even think about that,” Himuro said, realising how absolutely bittersweet that kiss was.

Another silence fell between the two of you. You didn’t need to say anything to know that the other was savouring these last moments together.

“Hey Tatsuya,” you said as both of your gazes were fixated on the sky once again.

“Yes, Y/N?”

“I’ll miss this.”

“Me too,” he muttered before the two of you went quiet again.

“Hey Tatsuya,” you spoke again after a few minutes.

“Yes, Y/N?” he replied, your name rolling off his tongue in the same sweet way as it always would.

“I’ll miss you.”

Himuro took a deep breath and ignored the break in his heart. There was nothing else he could do.

“I’ll miss you too, Y/N.”

[nayialovecat]

Hey, I was wondering if you based any of your characters/character traits on real (or not) people?

Oh yes, it happens quite often to me. I am a highly emotional person and I experience many things strongly - and my ability to deal with emotions on my own is to put them on paper in a creative act. When I can't, I usually swear or hit people, he, he. I'm aggressive and anti-social, I know.

However, most often when creating characters, I don't realize that I give them the characteristics of someone I know - I do realize it after some time. For example, as I wrote before, Sammy has a lot of my own characteristics (probably because I like him and he's the main character in the comic), but Bendy is already modeled after my friend the Titatotrix. I haven't been aware of it from beginning, but many of Bendy's features (not all, Tito is not as mean as Bendy is; our relation is also far from SATIM Bendy and Sammy's relation) reflect her behavior and texts. It's really funny 'cause in our SATIM dubbing plans, she is about to play Bendy (like me - Sammy).

The archetype of a cleaner expressed in the form of Cleaner is also a compilation of people I knew: a janitor from my primary school, cleaners with whom I spent time, how my grandmother ran a hotel for students, etc. Once I was writing a novel "Darkness" - one of the characters (I realized this after about a year) became my classmate. To make it funnier - they had almost the same names, and even that didn't tell me that I transferred a person I know to the book.

And another thing about my work is the fact that very often I create a certain pattern of characters: an extremely caring father who, however, for some reason cannot be with his children. Mostly for their sake, 'cause for example he is a criminal (like Giovannish from my Pokemon Parody fiction). Or a father who fathers not his children (like Brody in SATIM). I have wondered for a long time why this is so - and I think it's because my biological father left me when I was little. I am not saying that I am missing something - quite the contrary. The dad who raised me was great, he was (and still is!) a support for me, he taught me not to be afraid of being what I want, not to be ashamed of what I like. So just like Walt Disney who lost his mother - and that's why he created either very bad mothers or dead mothers, I create fathers who are not biological fathers or who have reasons not to be with their children.

So to sum it up: yes, I often take characters or ideas of characters out of the reality around me. More often unconsciously than consciously - but it works. This is how the human brain works and there is nothing to be ashamed of.

[tiphprince]

I have many thoughts and feelings about snape leaving Hogwarts. (I would write it but one I am well lazy and I have this weird internal conflict but yes anyways) I will be signing of as 🤺 (this is so long I am so sorry)

So for scene + background purposes : both the mud blood incident and the werewolf prank happens at the 5th year and I guess eileen leaves him. And snape is in this absolute bedroom depression because rn he can't stand himself, there is no scope and like he knows what possibilities lies in both sides but rn he's craving for fimilarity and the only person who he hates that he's connected to is his father right. They both have this anger that eileen leaves them in spinners end and one of them is free. So he does something he hasn't done ever since he met Lilly : he takes a chance and applies to ilvermony he knows he won't get in he's so sure (until he gets proven wrong). And when he gets that letter that says ACCEPTANCE he somehow empathizes with the women who first introduces magic and the same women who ran away from this horrid place and figures that eileen is a clever witch and she's probably okay of not she'd be back or they would find out that she's dead.

He knows that he's meant to be alone (he does the paper work for a transfer alone, he packs alone and he celebrates alone on his departure by allowing himself to feel something when he buys himself a small plum cake) and he feels incredibly small when he enters the ministry where he meets the headmistress but he's hopeful.

And ilvermony is big and it's grand and it's so much more accepting. On his first day he meets a brown eyed girl who's made him feel absolute concern and exasperation in 14 minutes of meeting her (why do you think that England is a sad place he asks her and she simply looks at him dumbly saying your two weather's are rain and heatstroke, and he can't help but agree with her) but he can't help but feel light. There is no Potter, no black no werewolf and maybe his life is worth something. And he's less alone (he doesn't ever say it out loud because he's scared after all he is someone who's great at ruining friendships) because he makes friends some who understand the guilt and the shame and the anger he is carrying while others (and some really good adults) just know that it's not fair that you should treat your own life like this and now he's able to speak about his regrets his guilt to those closest to him 'what you did was wrong but I also think it's wrong that you have been told that holding on to the guilt is the only way you can forgive yourself, I think you have hurt yourself enough' she says to him and there is an absolute pin drop silence until severus takes all the courage to say i think I need help.

Flash forward it's 2 years later in Hogwarts and a ripple effect occurs.

Regulus black feels at first a great deal of anger towards snape because he managed to escape this. Narcissa and lucius understand but they will never admit it. But snape left their snape this tiny greasy kid from coke worth felt his life was worth more or if not he believed in enough spite to take some direct action. That spite is what drove them to stay effectively neutral and hint on supporting dumbledore despite a war that there in the horizon. James and Lilly are together, the loss of friendship leads to a kinship which lead to a romance while Sirius and Remus are okay but they aren't. And Peter well he's shifty ( some days if not most days they all find it liberating to pretend that snape doesn't exist)

And now they all in this campaign to promote unity are in advanced muggle studies class, regulus black is the only slytherin and its painfully obvious on what's to come. And charity Burbage who is this cheery hufflepuff decides to do her video essay on schools but she has this pen pal who is in ilvermony and who's willing to help to show off her school and the people she loves (do you fucking see where I am going with this?????)

And BAM it's this heartfelt Supercut of her favorite places and the people she loves and meets there are snippets of their endearing conversations. And everything is okay until severus snape the boy who left at 15 is smiling at the one recording the video and is sitting casually at a sofa 'hey sev what do you gotta say about Americans' your tea sucks, and to think you would learn from the Boston tea party incident. And the rest of the video shows more people but it's severus who makes the video so much better and so much worse. Because she records his laughter, his joy but it's them who have this weird gut feeling and Lilly cant help but hold James hand tightly and James can't stop staring at the same boy he hurt.

And Lilly comes into this horrible but truthful realization that she's feeling what her ex best friend feels (the disbelief when she can't understand why can't she see him like this, the same way snape felt when he couldn't understand what Lilly saw in James) because there is so much betrayal she feels when he watches him smile at other people and can't understand why couldn't the snape that they are seeing in this video be the one who went at Hogwarts with them??? and James has to see this version of snape he hasn't seen before and thinks maybe they could be friends. And Lilly at that moment doesn't want to answer the question : he's happier because he's away from this place, the same place you love. Would you ask him to leave earlier knowing he could be happy like this?

The video is over and its regulus black who looks so pensive and has this look of hope that maybe goods thing can happen says in a too quite class because everyone knows : I haven't seen him smile like that at all. The bell rings and they just go on and walk a little bit more heavier because all they can think of Severus snape, the boy who escaped and the one who isn't coming back .

🤺🤺🤺🤺

Okay so... this was a completely unsolicited surprise in my inbox the other day, but damn if I didn’t love every single part of it!

I HAVE SO MANY THOUGHTS ABOUT OUR BOY SAYING FUCK IT AND LEAVING HOGWARTS

For the the other characters it doesn’t change that much, Lily still ends up with James, the Marauders are sad that their favorite target is gone but they get over it quickly, the other Slytherins don’t give a fuck about the poor and dirty halfblood, and the teachers... well, they’re as useless as usual.

But our baby! It’s awful for him at first, the fact that he suddenly finds himself so far away, and so alone, from everything he’d ever known, even the bad. Because at least he knew what to expect at Hogwarts and at home, it was all about the evil you know, and adventure is definitely not his thing.

I’ve always been in love with the “was gone for several years, and came back a changed man” (must be the Naruto fan in me), it’s a bit like anon’s video here, a way to show everyone what they missed, the huge mistake they made in hurting this kid who just wanted to be left alone

I want to see the Marauders praising this dude from America before learning that it’s Snape because he doesn’t look anything like what he used to (meaning he actually looks like a functioning human being).

I want to see Lily, high and mighty with her perfect husband and her son on the way, frown when she recognizes her former best friend laughing and smiling with another girl, looking happier than he’d ever been with her.

I want to see Slughorn in shock when the best potions master of his generation is revealed to be the weird ass teen he’d dismissed on the first day because he didn’t have a powerful family name.

Basically, I want every character who ever underestimated Snape, who ever hurt him, to, if not regret their actions, then at least realize that there was something more to him even back then, that if only he’d been given a chance he could have become that amazing person right here in the UK and not halfway around the world.

Also, I want Snape to not forgive them. Maybe he has to work with them for one reason or another, and he acts just civil enough to not outright provoke and insult them, but he’ll never forgive and he’ll never forget.

[castleofclouds]

7 Days A Week.

Genre ; Fluff, Slice of Life, Humor

Warning ; I'm writing this in the middle of midnight and I'm trying my best to used my last brain cells.

Summary ; A Story About you (fm reader), and your 7 dorks!

Part 1 ; Nostalgia.

Today is a normal day, nothing too different than the yesterday, except the way you started isn't by cliche way in which another character would wake up at exactly 7 AM in the morning to go to class.

Nope, you weren't doing that!

In fact, you are on your bed lying down, actually not really on top of your bed, kinda like a tent that was make with a blanket and pillows build just for the eight of you.

Yup! It's a slumber party! Surprise! How is it? Isn't it great to start it with a slumber party?

Anyway that...

"Can you stop talking?" Jeno said, currently getting irritated by how the narrator never stop telling things.

"Yeah! Like we don't need to hear it just get the spotlight down here!" Renjun remarks.

Those bastard! Anyway since the narrator felt attack I will leave it to you, take care of it.

"This is much more better!" Haechan exclaimed, feeling relief after the narrator leave.

The story telling was just too much for him.

"Anyway, how's you guys been doing?" You asked trying to change the topic.

"We been doing things that you do, except we are doing it our own way." Jisung said, being sarcastic as he should, Jaemin gasped.

"Did this baby just insulted someone?!" He overreacted, trying to tease Jisung.

"Can we stop with the baby joke? It's becoming to boring." Jisung said, even though he doesn't want that to stop, he love getting attention.

Tsundere.

"Shut it!" He shouted to the narrator at the corner of the room.

"We've been playing things like jenga and even that penguin escape." Renjun explains showing all the jenga and the penguin escape game being left alone in the corner of the tent.

"We should play something to take care of our boredom.." Mark sighed, he gets bored sometimes, but sometimes he doesn't understand how he is already 20 still love to make a tent and playing a card game, pretty sure he's just childish.

Seeing his child, Jaemin come up with a solution, it's sound like there's a lamp effect going around on top of his head.

"Aha! I got an idea!" He chirped happily, the 7 pair of eyes are lit by it.

"What is it?" You ask excitement going around your eye, you can't help it.

"Yeah yeah what is it?" Chenle said as excited as you, he hold your hands the both of you waiting for the great idea that Jaemin has.

"How about we talk about our high school life?" He said, thinking that it was the best idea he ever had.

Renjun sparkling eyes losses it's spark, now he's ready to throw some hands.

Poor boy was so happy, and either Chenle, he just want some fun, what should he hope for? It's Jaemin, Jeno best friend pretty sure Jeno teach him how to be a boomer like him.

"Seriously?! Are you being serious now?" Renjun said, getting annoyed.

Jaemin tilted his head, he thought it was a great idea, sadly not much people in here understand his efforts.

"Fine! Then come up with something nice!" He exclaimed, then Haechan start to act as if he's Sherlock from Sherlock's Holmes books series.

"Hmm... How about we talked about embarrassment that we had back in high school!" He shouted, giving his almost the same kinda idea that Jaemin just gave.

Jaemin was ready to complain how his idea sounds just like him but then he heard a lot of agreement going around.

"Not you to Jeno!" He said disbelieved how Jeno was quick to betray him.

He should have thought much before he make a deal with all of this dumbass.

"I'm sorry Jaemin, but Haechan Idea seems very interesting!" Jeno said, Jaemin felt the urge to choked his friend but he try to calm.

He isn't Renjun who are always thirst by blood and will always be the one who ready to pick a fight, he had an image and he need to keep doing it, because it's his Ninja Way! As in Naruto.

"Jaemin everyone can hear you thoughts." Renjun said, which made the boy flustered.

"Sorry, my bad." He said, excusing himself to the toilet feel ashamed.

"You don't need to go, we just start the story." You said, didn't want Jaemin to miss any of the great story that are waiting to unfold.

Jaemin who found out that you cared a lot about him, move pass Haechan who previously sit next to you.

"Hmm.. YN finally give me the attention that I deserved!" He exclaimed exclusively, while cling onto your arm like there's no tomorrow.

You pushed his head a little bit, you don't really like skinship, you are fine with some of them, but sometimes Jaemin way of affection is too much, let alone Jisung who had to endure it everytime he met Jaemin.

"How is it feel?" Jisung asked you, more like a whisper.

"Not fun, thank you." You stated calmly, while still trying to get away from Jaemin, the boy tightens his hold to your arm, his other arm are already at your waist.

Well, you gave up in the end.

"You can't get out mwaahaha!" He shouted while laughing evilly.

"Anyway let me start!" You said, taking all of the attention you get inside the room, even the narrator going closer.

What could be the interesting story you has?

"So.. I knew how all of you were very sensitive about this topic, well not really if you aren't Jaemin." You explained, Jaemin ears perked hearing his name.

"Oohhh.. What is it?" Haechan who heard the summary of your story is very excited.

"Remember how, back when we were an elementary students there are a new substitute teacher for our class?" You continue, everyone nodded their head.

But then by the power of Mark brain cell, he discovered it way faster than the other, when it comes to elementary school there's a lot of embarrassment going around the 8 of you.

And that thing is one them.

"Don't tell me.." He mumble.

"Yup! How can I forgot Miss Kang? That one teacher who made Mark, Jeno and Haechan going berserk, or you can say first love?" You smiling evilly seeing how the three mentioned boy getting shy, their ears turn to red.

"Miss Kang? Ohh yeah yeah! I remember!" Chenle chirped happily, of course he remembered.

"Yeah I knew.." Jisung whispered.

"Wait I forgot how Jisung falling for Miss Kang, it's very cute I swear!" This time you went overboard.

How back in the day, Jisung would always smiling everytime Miss Kang give him a compliment, even Mark who hated math learn it just to get noticed by Miss Kang.

Haechan would always try to point his hand toward the air, just to asked a question, and acting like he doesn't know anything when he's always the first one who knows how to finish math homework, Jeno the typical nerd he is always try to be the best students, just so he can see how Miss Kang proudly talking about him in front of the class.

And Renjun, the one who are being oblivious, that guy would always prepared an apple just for Miss Kang exclusively from his uncle farm.

Chenle in the other hand, doesn't understand a thing back in the day, he just follow everything that his friends doing, pretending like he do have a crush to while in fact he wasn't.

"Omg! Really? they did that?!" Jaemin gasped, and while getting second hand embarrassment when he heard about the story.

"Yeah, sadly you have can't join us to see how cute and naive they were, Jisung is the cutest one, poor boy was so happy because he got 97 in Math Exam to impress Miss Kang, but doesn't know that she's already married at that time." You said, ruffled Jisung hair who looked very gloomy.

"It's not my fault, I don't know that, Mark didn't tell me about it." He protests, Mark eyes turn big.

"What?! It's not my fault, Miss Kang was so beautiful I can't help to fell for her." He said taken aback.

"Anyway that was pretty fun, seeing how naive you guys were." You said finishing your story.

"Wait wait, you guys remember how Jisung literally almost burned down the laboratory?

"Omg yes!" Haechan shout happily, he remember every part of it.

"Yeah, we almost burned it if it weren't because of Jaemin smartass we would already getting sued."

That time, in a chemistry class, Jisung, Renjun, You and Jaemin were partnered to do some experiments but because of Jisung clumsy hands.

The laboratory almost burned to the ground, thankfully Jaemin who are fortunately know how to stop the fire before it become out of hands.

"Yeah yeah, I remember how literally Renjun just watching it while shouting about how he's afraid of the fire, Jisung already crying and Yn is the only one who help Jisung calmed down." Jaemin explains about the situation.

Probably that's why the 8 of you always labeled as the trouble maker back when you were still in elementary school, you know how basically every teacher hope the 8 of you ever getting transferred to another school.

Even how Mr. Ben always try to make you guys got expelled because the man are too tired to babysit, how Mark always chewed a gum on his class, even Jeno who are very obedient sometimes get out of his comfort zone because of how the 7 of you always whispering evil plan to his ears.

Anyway there's still a lot of story being told that night, you stayed up late as always other than Jisung who already falling asleep on top of Jeno shoulder.

"Well I guess we should be sleeping at this hour, Jisung seems very tired." Jeno said, while looking at his left side of shoulder.

"Yeah we should, I want to sleep next to YN jinx!" Chenle exclaimed, you nodded your head, he bopping his head excited.

Not even an hour later, the eight of you are already falling asleep, being in the most comfortable position ever.

Good night!

The narrator leave the room.

Previous / Next.

A/N ;

Okey I found this being one of the cutest thing I ever wrote, anyway, it's already morning.. Actually afternoon but you don't hear it from me, I always love this type of story actually.

Btw this story has a concept of like how the tv series showed? Like episode 1 might not be the same like how episode 2 will be so yeah, there's a whole new story everytime, and I take request.

This has something to do with NTC story, the difference is based on how this is basically a spin off, how they are best friend with you and that's is the main focus of the story.

Prepare for more fluff and humor I try my best to include it, but yeah anyway not everyday is a happy story.

See you next time! 😃 ps. I probably will upload more of 7DAW than NTC because of how I got a little bit confused on NTC.

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