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sparklysung · 4 years ago

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✨ADRENALINE RUSH – n.j.m.✨

pairing – na jaemin x female!reader

genre – smut, slight angst | non-idol!au, school!au

warnings – good boy!virgin!jaemin, bad girl!experienced!reader, corruption kink, unprotected sex (wrap it up guys), breeding kink, slight exhibitionism (library), creampie, marking, overstimulation

word count – 3.416 words

note – i got too much into it lol. it turned out so long, i’m sorry for that. i do hope you like it, i’ve been working on it for a few days now and it’s been rough. i’m hoping there aren’t too many errors, and if there are i apologize in advance, i know they are annoying. either way enjoy!

summary – as the local bad girl, your reputation was rather infamous. jaemin knew this and so he tried his best to stay away from you. but after getting paired up for a genetics project, he didn’t stand a chance against your desire to ruin his innocence.

taglist – @junguwuuu , @prvncejxon, @carelessshootanonymous

part i ; part ii

you were mindlessly playing with your pen, doodling on the margins of your notebook, ignoring completely what your genetics professor was explaining on the board in the front of the classroom.

that’s how class usually was for you; not paying attention to anything, just messing around with your highlighters, drawing more doodles to add to your collection or observing your classmates –not in a creepy way, though–. your professor wasn’t that clueless for you to nap until the end of the class, so you took advantage of whatever could keep you awake.

when your hand started to cramp due to the constant movement, you started looking around the room with a bored expression, letting your thoughts go to anything and everything that seemed the tiniest bit interesting. that was until he caught your eye.

na jaemin. perfect na jaemin. excellent grades, the teacher’s pet, always so polite to everyone. the type of guy every parent would want their daughter to date and the perfect role model.

and you were the opposite. you never really cared about school; getting high scores was useless from your point of view, so you never took it seriously. you were used to sneaking out of your house to attend parties and going home drunk with a different guy each weekend –cause life is short and why not–. your lifestyle earned you a ‘bad girl’ reputation, as well as the protagonism of multiple not-so-nice rumours.

you two were so different from one another, belonged to completely different worlds.

that’s why you were so intrigued by him.

it’s not like this was the first time you notice him, you can’t just not notice him. he was gorgeous, to say the least; perfect face, flawless skin, sparkly round eyes adorned with long eyelashes, pink plush lips, fluffy hair with soft dark locks that fell beautifully on his forehead, framing the soft expression on his face. oh yeah, how could you forget that long neck of his, with a prominent adam’s apple that made your mouth water with the thought of marking it with purplish bites. you’ve wanted to ruin him since the first day you laid eyes on him, make him break under your touch and need you as much as he needs oxygen to breathe.

“so, before the class comes to an end, i’m going to assign you in pairs for the project i was talking to you about a few minutes ago.” groans of annoyance were heard from all around the room, finally making you pay attention.

as the professor began mentioning the pairs, your attention drifted once again towards jaemin. he looked genuinely interested in what was being said; eyebrows furrowed in concentration while waiting for his name to be called.

“kim sohee and lee donghyuck,” your eyes wandered down toward his broad shoulders, strong arms and slender fingers. your teeth nibbled with your bottom lip, nails sinking against the palm of your hand as you felt your panties grow damp by the sole idea of him fingering you.

“na jaemin and y/l y/n,” your head snapped first in the direction of your professor, and then to his, who looked rather nervous sitting down a few desks in front of you, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. indeed, jaemin was nervous, so nervous that he felt like he was about to pass out. he could feel the looks full of pity his friends were throwing at him and it was making him feel even worse. he wasn’t too pleased either with the shot of excitement and anticipation he felt spreading across his body. you looked down at your hands, hair slightly covering your face as you tried to hide your devilish smirk.

you didn’t bother to listen to the rest of the pairs, being already too immersed in thoughts about every possible scenario that could take place while you two worked together on the project.

~.~.~.~

as soon as class ended, you threw your bag over your shoulder, making your way towards jaemin’s table and earning a couple of looks of disapproval from his friends. not letting that affect you, you approached him with a sweet smile plastered on your face. “hey,” his face shot up to look at you, hands still working on getting all his belongings inside his bag. straightening his back, he tried to look unaffected by your presence. he nodded his head shortly as a greeting and decided to get this over with as fast as he could.

“let’s work on the project at the library, right after class,” jaemin said, trying to sound confident, but you could see right through him; he was nervous. he figured that a place full of people was less risky rather than either of your houses, where you’d be alone and the possibility of something happening was a lot higher. you shrugged your shoulders, not really minding the location, “see you later, pretty boy.” you winked at him before making your way out of the room, leaving a flustered jaemin behind.

you were bad news, your name only coming up in conversations about breaking the rules, hookups during parties with lots of alcohol involved and other rumours. he knew he wasn’t supposed to feel like this, all about you screamed ‘danger, beware’. and his friends had warned him, always making sure to constantly remind him not to get closer than needed or he would be doomed. but he couldn’t stop the fast beating of his heart nor the butterflies that erupted in his stomach.

jaemin was certain this wasn’t going to end well, at least not for him.

and he was right.

~.~.~.~

a few hours later, jaemin and you were sat side by side on a slightly secluded table. he decided against sitting close to the entrance, as the internet connexion wasn’t so good and you were required to do internet research. he felt on edge every time your thigh brushed lightly against his, though he wasn’t sure if you knew what you were doing or if you were completely oblivious to the small touches.

but you sure weren’t oblivious of the way his body reacted with each of them, fingers gripping tightly the edges of the book he had opened in front of him. you on the other hand pretended to not notice, intently reading the thesis you had found in google scholars about multifactorial and complex diseases.

at some point, you figured it was time to make your move and shoot your shot. it seemed like he liked your proximity and lingering touches, as he had never –in all the time you’ve spent in the library– made an attempt to pull away or make you stop. also, by the look of the prominent tent forming inside his school pants, he appeared to actually be really fond of it. smiling to yourself, you continued as if nothing happened.

jaemin was internally panicking, he was aware that eventually you were going to notice his little –not so little– problem. he wanted to either bury himself underground or lock himself inside his room and wait until he passed away from inanition, starvation or dehydration, whatever happened first. he tried thinking about disgusting things to make it go away, like strawberries or the time when he was dared to lick his friend donghyuck’s sweaty foot, but nothing seemed to work.

you could make out the outline of his hard dick from the inside of his pants, biting your lips to contain the smirk making its way to your face. your hand snaked up his thigh until it was close to where he most needed you, making him shudder and squirm nervously under your touch. “w-what are you doing?”, he managed to ask, swallowing the lump in his throat. this was the first time a hand that wasn’t his own was touching him. because, of course, he wasn’t that innocent. he had needs like every guy his age, hormones all over the place and making him painfully aware of the pretty girl sitting so close to him. your scent intoxicating and addictive, almost making him lean closer.

you didn’t even care to respond, too fascinated by the feeling of his clothed member against your hand, hot and heavy. “s-stop, this isn’t right, w-we can’t do this here.” the panic present on his voice made a chuckle fall from your lips, making jaemin shrink in his seat.

“someone’s gonna hear us, w-we’ll get caught.” he didn’t know what else to tell you to make you stop, how could he convince you to stop when he didn’t want you to? you ignored his words and kept going, the idea of getting caught causing wetness to gather inside your panties. “then you’ll have to keep quiet,” the moan that slipped from his lips made you rub your thighs together to ease some of the tension.

you freed his member from the confines of his pants and briefs, pulling them down just enough for you to have easy access to it, but not so much to make it too obvious. he was big; thick enough to stretch you out nicely. you hummed in approval, spitting in the palm of your hand, going to grab ahold of his cock and slowly start to pump him. jaemin threw his head back, eyebrows furrowed, eyes closed shut and mouth agape in a silent moan. “does it feel good baby?” he hummed quietly, not trusting his voice. he leaned his body closer to yours, chest against your side while his head rested on your shoulder. “so needy”, you mumbled mockingly, to which his hips bucked slightly.

jaemin felt in cloud 9 having your soft hand wrapped tightly around his sensitive dick. he knew all of this was wrong, but it felt so good. he opened his eyes enough to be able to see you work on his shaft. your thumb flicked against his slit as it spread the leaking precum from the tip to the base. he was trying his best to avoid letting out any sound, afraid of drawing unwanted attention.

you could feel he was getting close by the stuttering of his hips, desperately thrusting back against your fist. and, as much as you wanted to see his face while cumming, you weren’t going to let him just yet. you needed him and you needed him now, your slick arousal starting to run down your inner thighs. you’ve had enough.

your hand stopped its ministrations, making him whine softly at the loss of friction. moving to straddle his thighs, you threw your leg over his until you were comfortably sitting on his lap, skirt riding up from your new position. your thin arms snaked around his neck, one going to tangle in his hair and the other to caress his jaw. his hands positioned themselves instantly in your hips, holding onto you for dear life. his eyes nervously wandered over your shoulder, making sure nobody was paying attention to what you both were doing.

you pulled his chin to get him to look at you, eyes hooded and filled with lust. you looked so hot, face flushed a pretty tone of red, eyes sparkling with mischief. he knew he would be jacking off to the thought of you for the rest of the year, if not for the rest of his life.

his thoughts were interrupted, heavy lids almost closing once again and mind going blank, as he felt you roll your hips against his hard cock, which was standing tall in between your bodies. biting your lip, you leaned in to kiss his, feeling for the first time his plump, soft pink lips against yours. a moan escaped your mouth at the sweet taste of his tongue, fighting against your desperately as if he would never be able to savour you again.

rising from his lap slightly, you used one of your hands to position the tip of his cock against your entrance and the other to push your panties aside. a soft groan left jaemin’s lips as he felt the wetness of your core. as you were about to lower yourself on him, he stopped you, fingers digging against your sides. “i-i have never done anything like this with anyone.” if you were being honest, you found his nervous stutter quite endearing. “then let me ruin you.” that was all it took for him to give in to you.

you pumped him a few more times, making sure to completely coat his shaft with both of your arousals. as you lowered yourself on him, you pulled him in for a heated kiss, swallowing his sounds of pleasure. when you had finally engulfed the entirety of his cock, you began moving your hips in circular motions, waiting for the both of you to get used to the feeling. the friction made him pull you closer, face buried in the crook of your neck while small whimpers left his lips, going straight to your core. your walls clenched around him tightly, drawing a loud groan from his chest, eyes rolling to the back of his head.

you kept kissing him, swallowing his groans and moans. he felt so good filling you up with his hard cock, he fit perfectly inside of you, as if he was made just for you; like a puzzle piece. “you feel so good, baby, stretching me out, so so good,” you praised him sweetly, hand running through his soft locks.

jaemin seemed to be unable to get enough of you. he didn’t want this to end, he wanted to stay with you –preferably inside of you–, be able to feel you so close and know he is the one who is making you feel so good.

“wait, fuck,” he gasped trying to catch his breath, “wait, i’m g-gonna cum if you keep going.” it hadn’t been long, but he was already worked up since you started touching him earlier. “is that so? remember we’re not using a condom, baby. if you cum inside me i could get pregnant.” you hummed, trying to get a reaction to your words out of him. and you got it as a higher pitched moan fell from his lips, feeling his grip on your waist tighten.

“you’d like that, wouldn’t you, huh?” you quirked an eyebrow, smirking to yourself when you felt him twitch inside of you. “yes”, he whimpered, vision blurred, the pleasure overpowering the fear of being caught. he found himself enjoying the thrill more than he should, almost embarrassed with how easily you could make him lose all his self-control. he knew you were playing with his mind, pushing him just enough to make him risk everything; his reputation, his image. exactly how you managed to get him to lose his innocence.

“what a filthy little boy, who would have guessed perfect student na jaemin was so much of a slut”, you whispered in his ear while raking your nails down his chest. jaemin could only buck his hips to meet yours, desperate to feel more, thighs burning from the effort. he was getting restless, unable to keep quiet as moans rolled off of his tongue with every roll of your hips. your mouth attached itself to his neck, biting harshly to leave pretty red marks that were soon to become purple. the sound of pages turning and typing on the library’s computers reminding you of where you were.

“please, i’m so close,” he didn’t even know what he was pleading for anymore, the only thing he knew was that he needed you, all of you, in every way possible; in every way you were willing to let him have you. “wanna cum inside my tight little pussy, baby? wanna fill me up with your hot cum and put your baby inside of me?” with glassy eyes and hot tears threatening to fall down his crimson cheeks from the overwhelming pleasure which was almost making him dizzy, he let out a string of ‘yes, yes, yes’. his hands clutched your hips to bring you closer, digging his nails on the flesh and leaving crescent moon shaped marks. a moan slipped from your lips, only increasing his desperation.

you picked up your pace, your naked thighs slapping lightly against his clothed ones. the both of you could hear the wet mewls your cunt made every time you lowered yourself on him until he was balls deep inside of you. his hips raised to meet yours, hitting your most sensitive spot with the tip of his cock, as he tried to match your fast rhythm.

jaemin didn’t know what to do with himself. he knew he had to be quiet or else someone was going to realize what was going on, but he physically couldn’t hold the sounds in. in fact, he could almost taste the faint taste of copper from biting too harshly on the flesh of his lips. on the other hand, you didn’t seem to have as much trouble to keep your cool, as only a couple of sighs of pleasure left your lips from time to time. little did jaemin know you were struggling to keep your mouth shut. every thrust of his hips causing him to hit deeper, the fucked out look in his face motivating you to go faster.

though you weren’t as close to cumming as he was, you knew this was his first time and it seemed like he was about to combust. it wouldn’t be so nice of you to make him wait longer, would it? “cum for me baby boy,” and that’s all it took for jaemin to reach his high, hips stuttering and hands trembling. feeling his seed paint your velvet walls, your hand went down your body to find your clit, starting to rub circles against your sensitive bud. a wave of pleasure shot through your body and made your hips jerk roughly against him. the sob jaemin let out went straight to your core making your climax approach faster than you would have thought.

taking advantage of the slippery mess he had made of the both of you, you slid up and down on him faster and with more strength. jaemin, seeing as you weren’t going to stop anytime soon, started growing impatient. “t-to much, p–ah, please, it’s too much”, but you didn’t stop, gripping his strong arms and grinding harder against him. “no, no, please, it hurts” he cried out desperately, begging you to stop bouncing on his oversensitive cock. you shook your head and pulled him closer by the collar of his shirt. you smacked your mouths together, diving in for another sloppy kiss that had jaemin weak on the knees and a moaning mess.

when you tore away from him, jaemin brought his fist to his face and bit it hard, trying equally as hard to control himself. his second orgasm of the day was coming closer and oh was it going to be strong. when it finally happened, his eyes rolled to the back, head dropping back. that was the last straw as you felt yourself coming, walls tightening and clenching around him to milk him dry, the movements of your hand becoming sloppy. he felt light-headed, slightly blacking out for a few seconds until he managed to recover his consciousness.

using his shoulders to help yourself off of him, you let him slip out of you. jaemin winced from the oversensitivity, hands quickly tucking himself inside his pants. as you fixed your ruined panties and messy hair, properly tidying up your clothes, you once again threw your bag over your shoulder. he eyed you with a disoriented look in his face, confused as to what you were doing.

he saw you turn around on your heels before walking out of the library, only your panties preventing his cum from running down your thighs. you left him there, without a single word, not even spared him a glance. you walked away from him as if you didn’t just fuck the life out of him, as if he hadn’t just gifted you his virginity, or more like as if you hadn’t just stolen it. as if all the kisses you shared and loving pet names you used on him meant nothing.

and the worst part of it all was the pang of hurt jaemin felt in his heart when realization fell down on him like a bucket of cold water.

to you, that moment meant nothing. because to you, he didn’t mean anything.

–lia:)

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eureka-its-zico · 4 years ago

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Irrevocably Yours Pt. 2

Part 1

Request: hey! can i request a scenario of jungkook being a rich kid who has some of his legs is leg failure , basically can't walk without a cane , And he falls in love with a normal girl , and they end up running away , happy ending plz , also if u can , LIT IT Up with smut ' thank u ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

A/N: So Part 2 is that slow burn build up (with possible cute moments?) and part 3 will be the actual SMUTTY goodness. Hopefully this is something cute and fluffy that is enjoyable and helps progress the story a little more so when a full length next part of a bunch of smut comes it all makes sense. Or idk anymore lol I edited this thing four times and I just really hope you all like it Please enjoy this wordy mess. I wasn’t sure how to properly write it out the end and yeah...I winged it. If it needs to be fixed lmk please!! As always, I hope you all enjoy. Much love, Jenn

P.s. when I wrote this I listened to Lauv’s “I Like Me Better,” and Pink Sweat$ Feat. Kehlani’s “At My Worst,” on repeat like crazy.

Jungkook x Reader

Word count: 15,496 (I know:it’s a hefty boy)

Genre: Fluffy/Smutty, slow burn,

The next day at school you weren’t a hundred percent sure what was going to happen. And sure, maybe you did wake up from a dream replaying that moment in the mud. The ending is a little bit different. This time, dream you didn’t let your chance to kiss him go by. When the opportunity presented itself, and you were both looking at one another like before, you’d leaned forward and kissed him. You weren’t surprised to feel him kissing you back.

You could still feel the ghost of the imagination of him leaning down to press his lips against yours. The way he leaned in; eyes soft with longing as his body leaned deeper in against you. The weight of him pressing you into the mud until you were sure an imprint of this moment would be there forever. This imaginary kiss you’d shared was sweet, chaste, and everything you could’ve hoped for. Deepening at the last second as your alarm blared you back into realty.

It made you want to ring your hands through your hair in frustration.

Your whole walk to school was nothing but foggy images of the dream on repeat. A mixture of yesterday’s events accompanied them with each frame until you weren’t sure which was the actual moments or what your head had created. I mean, you did know he didn’t kiss you, but...the look in his eyes. Maybe Jungkook hadn’t, but there was that moment you swore maybe he felt the painful comedic romance moment of it all too.

All these unanswered what if’s you'd created had built an impossible chasm that seemed to stretch infinitely wider between you in your head. In the end, you were your own bully as your mind stayed up until three that morning playing out every scenario you could think of. Even the ones that ended with you probably reading everything wrong, because what did you know about body language? Or, more specifically, boys built like Jeon Jungkook.

It didn’t matter that you had two tests today and never finished your homework for home period, but what the hell. Nothing like hopelessly daydreaming about the boy who may or may not have flirted with you and harmonized along to songs with a hidden voice of an angel, am I right? And sure, a large part of your night was spent chastising yourself half the time to remind you there was no way in hell Jungkook could feel that way towards you. Even just a little. Your inner monologue of bringing yourself back down to earth, another culprit in the growing list of reasons why none of your assignments were completed.

What can you say? You were a mess.

Your only game plan you’d been able to agree on was just to daydream out the window. Writing out your own hapless love story starring the boy who sat across from you in the home room. With a silent plea to the universe that you weren’t called on to answer any questions.

Your arrival at homeroom was met with barely seconds to spare. The bell rang behind you, and a few other students, as you rushed towards your desk.

“Hurry, hurry to your seats! Or I’ll write you up as late!”

Mr. Choi was all talk. Everyone knew it and his excessive arm movements to rush every body that passed his desk made him look exactly like a conductor. His crazy movements were enough to distract you for a split second from the one person you were desperate to ignore.

“Good morning, class. I hope you are all fully rested and awake for class this morning. Let’s have us open our books to page two hundred and forty-two and continue on with our lesson.”

In unison the sound of backpacks unzipping with students reaching in their backpacks to bring out textbooks filled the class. The only person who didn’t currently have said book was holding his hand up, and seated directly across from you.

“Yes, Jungkook?”

“Seonsaengnim, I’m sorry. I haven’t received my textbooks yet.”

“Ah, that’s alright, Jungkook. You can go ahead and share with Y/N, again.”

You hoped your face wasn’t giving away the panic you felt rising up to match the blush that was streaking across your cheeks. Jungkook’s hand was already on the leg of your desk. His fingers tips grazing across your knee in passing as his hand wrapped around the bar and used it to bring you closer to him. You kept your eyes glued to page two hundred and forty-three and refused to look in his direction. Jungkook seemed to find a way to remedy this; his hand came into view and grabbed hold of the book corner and slid it over to his side. And as if he was the world’s greatest magician, he now had your attention.

Your eyes immediately shoot up to acknowledge his presence, instead of staying on the book. You knew that devilish smirk of his would be there to greet you even before you actually saw it.

“Well, good morning to you too, Y/N.”

His voice practically hummed a tune as he spoke. His eyes heavily searched your face, and you prayed whatever he found wasn’t any lasting signs of rosy cheeks.

“Good morning, Jungkook. I hope you slept well.”

“I slept very well, thank you.”

“That’s good-“

He cut you off fast, his next words a hush of teasing: “Even though some crazy girl tried to smother me in mud yesterday.”

Your world narrowed in on his smug position in his chair, but quickly realized he just wanted your attention. The smile he wore softened around the edges as his eyes tried to look away from you and yet found their way back. You did your best to hide your smile and must have failed miserably for his face noticeably brightened.

“I’m sure if that’s what she was doing - which I doubt - you probably deserved it.”

Jungkook pretended to be wounded and caused you to practically jump out of your seat when his free hand landed on top of yours.

“I can’t believe you think I deserve to be smothered,” he pouted.

You rolled your eyes in a weak attempt to look away from him. Anything to not be swallowed up by how stupidly cute he looked in this exact moment. The fingers that held your pencil lazily tapping on the pages of the math book to bring his focus to something else that wasn’t you.

“We need to pay attention.”

It was the only valuable excuse you could come up with to look away from him. But who were you kidding? You didn’t have to be looking in Jungkook’s direction to be painfully aware that he was there. His own gaze burned straight through you and left a trail of heat everywhere his eyes seemed to land.

Right now, you were aware they were on your lips and stirring every emotion from your dream you tried to suppress. Plus, you weren’t being cute. Unless Jungkook found the sight of you chewing your bottom lip into dust attractive.

It was a terrible nervous habit that seemed to only backfire right this second. You were sure he was ready to make a comment on it. You waited patiently for it to come in between you mindlessly copying equations off the board and the sea of arms flying up to answer whatever it was you’d just written. My gosh, you were trying so damn hard to not pay attention that you were doing nothing but paying attention to him.

Please don’t let him just see I’m doodling.

Mr. Choi was in the middle of showing how to work out a long equation when you decided it was safe to give Jungkook a glance. It was instantaneous how quickly you regretted it.

You jumped back against your seat in a weak attempt to recover some space. You weren’t exactly sure how you’d missed it -missed him- getting so close, but you had. Jungkook’s face was mere inches from yours and it took everything to not show him you weren’t at all bothered.

“Jungkook,” you whispered fiercely. “What.are.you.doing!”

Jungkook ignored your question. His eyes squinting as they looked around the side of your head. The gesture made you increasingly subconscious until you couldn’t keep your hand from going up to brush alongside it.

“What? What is it?”

You were expecting the worst.

“I think I see some mud still stuck inside your ear.”

And like magic your earlier blush reappeared. Your tongue rolled against the bottom of your teeth in a weak attempt to keep yourself from smiling. Unfortunately, you weren’t able to stop it as the urge to give in tugged mercilessly at your lips. The playful glint in his eyes was enough to keep the panic of how incredibly close he still was. Your eyes hopelessly glancing at the pair of lips that plagued your dreams.

Jungkook noticed.

And how did you know this, you might ask?

Jungkook gave it away by the dramatic way his lower lip was drawn in by his teeth. Every movement he made sure was exaggerated and stupidly slow. His eyes watch for your reaction. He didn’t have to wait long; your eyes were glued to them long before his teeth joined the equation. You should’ve felt more embarrassed at your own blunt display - or maybe at his -but, god help you, you weren’t.

You tore your gaze away from him and did your best to pretend whatever part of the lesson you’d missed was interesting. The dirt on your shoes could’ve been more interesting at this moment; anything to keep you from looking back at him.

“I rinsed my hair three times in the shower. Thank you very much.”

“Did you think of me while you were washing yourself clean?”

If what Jungkook was after was seeing your face light up brighter than a tomato he’d succeeded. Your cheeks instantly flushed and felt scolding hot. The only line of defense you could think of to fight the devilish look in his eyes was to give him a smack on his arm. The motion only caused his sinister smile to turn into a full blown grin; a bark of laughter leaving him seconds later.

Jungkook chuckled out an, “Ouch!” His body leaning back, faux wounded, and rays of sunshine pouring out of him in waves.

“I meant when you were getting the mud out of your hair.” His voice carried the singing sweetness of his laughter; airy and light. This boy who you did think of in the shower. All hard edges and softness; sour and sweet. Your very own sour patch kid. “I mean, I thought of you when I tried scrubbing it out from behind my ears.”

Your heart gave a brief jump at his omission. What you wished you would’ve focused on was the fact he’d admitted to thinking of you...in his own shower. But nope! Instead, your mind appeared to focus more on the fact it was while he scrubbed at his ears.

“I scrubbed my ears too.”

Oh. My. God, you inwardly cringed.

Is that really what your magical brain decided to say in return? Jungkook leaned back in, eyes inspecting not just your ear, but your entire space. Recklessly moving in dangerously close, and your heart was ready to beg for mercy. Whether to completely close the space between you or to stop teasing, of which you weren’t sure.

“It appears you didn’t do that good of a job,” he huffed.

A gurgled scream flew into your throat; the sound was utterly ridiculous and Jungkook ate it up. His head flew back in laughter as your hand moved to swat at him again.

The disruption turned the attention of your teacher directly to the two of you, and Mr. Choi was quick to address it.

“Jean Jungkook! Y/L/N, Y/N!”

The both of you rose from your seats in unison. Jungkook’s rise the definition of graceful, while yours in comparison was met with anxiety and your knees colliding with your desk. Your small “Oomph,” of pain sending him into a fit of giggles beside you. The hand you sent in to pinch at his leg only sent him into another fit.

“Y/N!”

Stupid, stupid! Of course he would see.

“Seonsaengnim!”

To appease him, you felt your body respond in a ninety-degree salute. Your face keeping down to stare at your shoes and praying you weren’t about to be sent out of the room.

“Would you mind explaining what Jungkook and you found so interesting that the two of you felt like you didn’t need to be a part of class.”

God, it wasn’t a question. He really wanted you to tell him, and what could you say?

“Oh, he was just asking me if I was in the shower...thinking of him. And he was thinking of me too!”

Which wasn't a lie. Maybe it wasn’t as dirty as he might have intended, but it was enough to make your cheeks flush to life with their usual color these days. Your mind was still racing with an appropriate answer for Mr. Choi. You were taking so long you were ready to blurt out anything he might want to hear.

“Seonsaengnim.” Jungkook gave a respectful bow and lifted his head. His full attention now resting on the impatiently waiting man at the front of the class. “We were discussing the fact that you, respectfully, have written the equation wrong on the board.”

The entire class seized up. A collective air was taken at Jungkook’s bold attempt to correct him. It was awkwardly obvious that he wasn’t happy at the idea of being corrected. However, Jungkook remained unfazed and waited for the right time to speak.

“Is that so?” He snapped. “If it is so wrong, Jeon, then please, come and fix it for me.”

You were sure his order for Jungkook to go to the front would make him back down . No one enjoyed doing class work on the board up front for all to see. But you’d forgotten Jungkook wasn’t like everyone else. He kept his head high and moved to grab his cane; his hand wrapping tightly to its handle. Jungkook stepped out from inside his desk and let his feet carry him forward. He walked with a noticeable lack of a limp and you were willing to bet that strike of pride was costing him.

It wasn’t that you couldn’t believe that Jungkook was able to walk without it. It was just that your memory forced you to recall the pain he was in during the field trip. The flashes of frustration as his eyes threatened to spill over with tears.

Jungkook came to stand beside Mr. Choi. His hand reaching out to take the marker that the older man had held out waiting for him to prove his equation wrong. He plucked it from the older man’s hand and moved the last few inches to stand in front of the board. His eyes scanning the problem quickly. Your breath held tight in your chest as you watched him get permission to grab the eraser. The class transfixed on his every movement.

You wondered how many of the girls in your class focused on him like you were. The same way your eyes ate up every simple movement he made. The notable flex of his back while he stretched to erase the middle and last part of what Mr. Choi had written out.

“You had a good start here, Seonsaengnim.” Jungkook paused to stretch out his hand. Fingers marking underneath the start of the problem. “But you didn’t multiply these after they were divided, and because of this the middle became wrong. With your core of the problem being wrong the solution was never able to end in its final conclusion.”

With every word, Jungkook’s voice became more self-assured. His presence enveloping the room and demanding the attention he’d already received without question. Mr. Choi watched on with his arms crossed; index finger hugging his mouth in concentration as he watched Jungkook work. From the back of the class, you could see students writing down the new formula. Some of them realized the obvious error Mr. Choi had made.

Jungkook looked at the problem over again on repeat. If it’d been you, you would have left it where it was knowing you’d done what no one else did. But Jungkook wanted to know, for himself, that it was correct.

Finally, he stepped back from the whiteboard and handed the marker back to Mr. Choi. Who looked measurably impressed with him. His index finger he’d used for thinking now covered up a timid smile before he dropped it to grab a hold of the marker.

“Go ahead and have a seat, Jungkook.”

Jungkook gave him a passing bow as he made his way back towards the back of the class. Back to you. It took everything you had not to notice how everyone’s view of him seemed to change. Even the honor students; the ones bound for scholarship glory to prestigious colleges now seemed to take new interest in him.

You’d heard stories about Jungkook, like everyone else did. The Boy Wonder. The boy who seemed unfairly good at everything. Before you’d ever met him, a part of you believed there wasn’t a way the universe would seriously do that. And yet, as he moved to sit back down beside you, you suddenly felt the overwhelming sensation of being below average. Your subconscious rose up to stop whatever sunlight you’d felt at his earlier words, and crushed it until it began to dim. All but snuffing it out.

Jungkook fell back into the seat at his desk riding the high of confidence he’d gained from proving he’d know how to fix the answer. Not just know it; teach it. The air around him completely changed. He was the sun and the rest of you were becoming helplessly lost in his orbit. From the backwards glances of the others around you, you were pretty sure they weren’t going to mind one bit.

Either Jungkook was honestly oblivious to all the attention or he just didn’t care. He practically beamed as he leaned himself closer to you completely unaware at how breathless he made you. That smile you’d admired during your field trip showed itself beaming and bright. He was so damn pleased with himself his eyes sparked with joy and you wish you could’ve pouted. Maybe found the strength not to care or to wonder if he could see how he affected you.

You wanted to pout and be in your own bubble, damn it.

“Don’t worry, Y/N. I don’t think he’ll bother us again.”

Us.

Those butterflies you’d sworn to yourself you were not feeling towards him began to come to life. Or were they butterflies? You weren’t sure what to call the feeling Jungkook gave you.

Sure, Jungkook made your heart thunder in your chest like a caged animal. And yea, maybe you swore to yourself there was an attraction there that you couldn’t explain, but that was just your dopamine talking. That didn’t mean the two of you were soulmates or the universe decided to bring you both together by a mess of unseen choices.

But...when Jungkook looked at you this way it was hard to tell your thundering heart anything else.

The two of you continued to look at one another. A heartbeat of time passing between you with Jungkook waiting for your reply. You watched the edges of his smile start to wilt as realization set in that you weren’t planning to reply. No smile or teasing remark was headed his way, and just as fast as he noticed it, determination swiftly replaced the light weighted joy he’d shown moments earlier.

“Hey, you don’t have to worry. I’m positive he will leave us alone the rest of the class. I promise.”

God, why did he have to make things so difficult? When Jungkook spoke the words, “I promise,” they’d been so earnest. He meant them. Here he was trying to turn the tables and be your knight, instead of you being his. It would have worked, but what he didn’t know was that you weren’t worried about Mr. Choi. Not really.

No one could tear you down further than you were able to do to yourself.

He was still waiting for the answer that you would never give. You turned to face forward in your chair and tried to forget the ripple of sadness that moved over his face. The cost of your stubbornness suddenly felt too high. No matter how it made you feel though, you refused to look over in his direction.

An awkward chasm had built between the two of you. Mostly, well, obviously it was all because of you. You figured Jungkook would eventually stop looking at you. You prayed he would stop. Every time he did it your body became painfully aware of his gaze, and the longing it held for you to acknowledge him. And every time you remained facing front. You no longer could pretend to focus, however, and that seemed to be all the signs Jungkook needed to know you were in some way paying attention.

Your notebook that’d been left unattended on the desk became his private art museum. The doodles started off silly and slowly morphed into small faces and objects that held impressive detail. You tried your best to ignore it; his arm practically took up most of the space on your desk. The angle forced him to shoulder into your space to the point that if you did finally turn to look at him you’d run inches away from his cheek.

You were doing your best to pay attention to whatever your teacher was doing at the front. Your eyes watched as a wave of hands went up to answer questions you’d never heard. Yours kept sliding back down to the latest doodle he was making. The latest one he was working on had forced Jungkook to move further inland on your notepad. His forearm getting dangerously close to having to rest in your lap.

It continued like this the remainder of class. For all the effort you’d put in the last half hour of pretending he wasn’t there, Jungkook shattered it within seconds.

He’d repositioned himself with each new doodle he started. His shoulder wedged itself against yours and his forearm had completely taken up what little space was left on your desk. You were trying very hard to not pay attention to how said forearm was dangerously close to your chest. There was no hiding the redness of your cheeks.

Without thinking, you whipped your head to look at him and almost yelled. You knew he was close, but nothing prepared you for this.

“Excuse me,” you whispered, voice incredulous.

Jungkook turned to look at you and...was he pouting? His eyes played up on the childish quality as he turned to you and batted his eyes.

“Can I help you?”

“Ugh, can I help you? Do you need paper or something?”

“I have paper right here. Thanks.”

Jungkook patted the notepad with the end of his pen. Satisfied with his answer he turned his attention back to his latest artistic endeavor.

“You know this is my desk. Right?”

“I like to think of it more like our desk. Sharing a space like we shared music.”

“Ya, Jungkook. You realize you blackmailed me into using my ipod.”

Jungkook feigned shock. His mouth dropping open and his eyes brows going too high up into his hairline. The entire scene was exaggerated and ridiculous. The scene forced you to roll your lips against your teeth to keep from smiling. The effort it took to hide your grin wasn’t unnoticed by Jungkook, and you couldn’t help but wonder if that’d been his goal all along.

“Blackmail sounds so crass. I like to think of it as bargaining.”

“So we agree it’s called blackmail, then.”

The theatrics of his face dropped into a serious stare that left his face completely blank. Void of all emotion except the annoyance that drew a heavy frown from his face. It was stupidly cute and this time you did allow yourself to smile. Your fingers reached out to grab one of his puffed out cheeks and gave it a sweet pinch, like a grandmother, and cooed in his direction.

“Oooooh Jungkookie, don’t frown. We’ve all gotta be wrong sometimes.”

He playfully nipped at your hand to make you snatch it away. It took everything in you not to make a sound at his sudden movement. Your mouth hung open in an awkward smile-shout as you brought your handle against your chest.

“I think you’re misinterpreting the facts here. Maybe you hit your head on a small pebble or something when you fell in the mud.”

“You mean when you pulled me in.”

He shrugged and replied nonchalantly, “I don’t think I recall any force being used yesterday. You just fell on my chest trying to take advantage of me in my time of need.”

Now it was your turn to look deadpanned in his direction. Jungkook didn’t try to hide his wicked smile, however, and the cage of butterflies that were housed in your gut were released all over again.

“Your appa must be a lawyer. It’d explain why you’re so good at bullshitting.”

“CEO, actually. But I would say you’re close. They are also full of shit.”

You weren’t sure what to say to this omission about his father. Underneath the sarcasm felt like a heavy chasm that spoke of the death of a relationship. Your curiosity threatened to get the best of you, but you decided to just throw it away. Filing it away inside a little folder you’d made for little known facts about him.

The bell rang and the mass of bodies in class all began to rise from their seats. All of them eager to rush from the classroom and do whatever plans they’d made to enjoy their little bit of freedom. You were reaching for your bookbag when Jungkook’s hand was just there. A part of you worried he’d decided to play a game of keep away, or something that fit his playful mood, Instead, he placed it down on the desk.

“Oh, thank you, Jungkook.”

God. Why were you staring? Why was he staring?

The room was still filled with the small display of chaotic teenage energy. Most of them had already filed out of the classroom, while some were still putting things away. Honor students were arguing with the teacher about markings he’d left on papers. Small groups of friends chatting happily as they moved in tight clusters through the door. So much was going on around you, and yet the only person you were aware of was him.

“You’re welcome. Have a good lunch, Y/N.”

The playful air that’d been around him had completely disappeared. This boy who stood before you now was more reminiscent of when you’d first met than the boy you’d grown to like. What had made him grow so distant?

“You too, Kookie.”

It slipped out. You couldn’t stop yourself. He’d already started to walk away in his retreat. As soon as his pet name you’d given him hit his ears he completely stopped moving. His head whipped around to glance at you with that devilish grin raised high on his cheeks.

“Kookie? Are you calling me a snack?”

If your eyes could’ve gotten any wider, they would’ve left your skull. The embarrassment was hot on your cheeks and you knew Jungkook would tease you without mercy for the slip up. By the look in his eyes you could tell he was never going to let this go. Not ever. He would be too happy to remind you of this until the day you died. Or until graduation. Whichever came first.

This time you scooped up your bookbag and snatched your book off the desk clutching them to your chest. In your haste to grab them and go, your knee collided with the edge of the desk, but you’d worry about that possible bruise later. You just needed to flee before Jungkook got any closer.

“No, no. It was an accident.”

“You called me a snack by accident?”

You were backing up towards the safety of the open hallway. Your shoulders shrugging too high and your laugh too high-pitched in your attempt to play it cool.

“No snack nicknames here. It was just a slip of the tongue. I must just be hungry, ya know.”

“Are you hungry for me?”

Oh, he was intolerable sometimes. It didn’t matter how flustered he made you. A part of you knew his endless teasing was growing on you. You liked it, and the sane part of you wondered if you’d gone crazy.

“Ya, Jungkook-”

“I think you mean, Kookie,” he cut in.

Jungkook held a single finger up to silence you. He’d stopped moving towards you and let out a laugh as you tried to swat his hand down. He looked so much happier than he did moments ago. That alone made his teasing at your expense worth it.

“No I mean, Jungkook. It’s the name your parents gave you.” You stated, proud that your voice sounded more stable than you felt. “I’m gonna go eat my lunch now. You should do the same and I’ll...see you later.”

You waited for him to argue. To continue to make comments in passing to keep your face rosy and flushed. He surprised you by just standing there in silence. His smile wide on his face and eyes looking at you like you’d held the moon. A look you weren’t used to and made you unsure how to respond.

You started to walk back towards the door and found yourself disappointed when he didn’t follow. You sent him an awkward wave as your arms still held onto your things from your desk. Jungkook showed his amusement by giving you a wave in return.

“See you later, Y/N.”

At his words you turned on your heel and headed out towards the courtyard. No longer eager to eat your lunch that you’d packed. Your mind replayed his words and knew, without a doubt, he would keep his word.

—————-

Lunch went by as quickly as it came. Instead of eating your lunch with friends, you’d opted for sulking in the auditorium. Absentmindedly taking small bits off your food as you considered what had happened between Jungkook and you.

There was flirting there. You may be a little delusional, but you weren’t delusional about this. It was obvious to anyone who witnessed it and yet you tried to deny its existence at every turn. Of course, you knew why.

It just didn’t make logical sense. You were two opposites that shouldn’t be in the least bit interested in the other. Well, that didn’t really seem correct when it came to Jungkook. He was attractive to everyone and probably even inanimate objects. But you...you just couldn’t see yourself that way. You’d only ever had one relationship in your life and it had been short-lived and in the third grade.

Throwing what little was left of your sandwich back inside it’s little brown coffin, you removed yourself from your spot. A huff left you as you reached out to pick up your mess and started to hop back down the steps one-by-one.

You weren’t sure what walking around was going to do. For the hundredth time since this day started, you were lost in your own head. The only thing you knew for certain was that you’d hoped to run into him again. A thought came to you that maybe, just this day, he’d shown up in the school's cafeteria.

You could think of a million excuses for why you’d need to go into the cafeteria and it wouldn’t be weird. Just the thought of not coming off weird, while most certainly being weird, made you beam at your own creativity.

You’d reached the last step and we’re crossing the field when you noticed, on the other side, the very boy you were looking for. He was alone and sitting under the shade of the only tree next to the amphitheater. His back against the bark and a knee drawn up to give his notepad a place to perch. Whatever he was writing, drawing, or formulating held his interest and refused to let him look up.

All your previous bravado deflated in a second. It would be harder to deny you weren’t actively seeking him out if you went to him now. But, who said that you wanted too?

Grabbing the strap of your book bag tight, you started back on your mission. Your legs made quick work across the field. It wasn’t until there was only a few feet left between you that he looked up. His brow still furrowed in tight creases of concentration as he decided if you were a friend or foe. Your feet almost tripped over themselves when he smiled at you.

“Y/N!” He called happily. “What brings you over here?”

“I came looking for my snack.”

The surprise on his face made your bold choice of a response worth it. Jungkook, being who he was, quickly recovered and set his notebook and pencil down beside him. He placed his arms casually on his propped up leg and leaned forward as if he was about to tell you a secret.

“Well, you found me. Why did you come looking for me? Really.”

You tried to think quickly of what to say. The idea of telling him the truth, that you’d just wanted to see him, felt painfully honest and might press him to ask for you to explain. How could you explain that in the short time you’d met him he was both the most interesting and infuriating man you’d ever met. But he was also the most beautiful, and had a delicate softness under his hard exterior that you were growing to love. He was basically the perfect description of the onion from Shrek.

An idea clicked in your head and your hands quickly moved inside your bag and produced another brown bag.

“I wanted to come see if you’d eaten. I had some spare kimchi rice ball’s my omma made.”

You extended the bag out to him. Your eyes locked together as you waited for him to either accept it or deny it. Jungkook surprised you by leaning forward and taking it gently from you. It took some effort, but he crossed his legs -his bad one in an awkward position - and plopped the bag down between his legs.

You moved to sit beside him in the grass and took your book bag off your shoulder and into your lap. You watched as he moved to open the bag and peered cautiously inside.

“It’s not a bomb,” you chided.

“I never know with you.”

You rolled your eyes with a smile spreading like wildfire across your lips. Jungkook was so charismatic it felt inevitable and fighting against it was futile. He took a large bite of the rice ball and practically swooned. His eyes had fallen shut and a ridiculous chanting of endless “Mhm’s” had started rising up around you.

“Should I leave you two alone?”

Jungkook’s eyes snapped open and for a moment you were worried maybe you did pull him out of some weird food ritual. His eyes were blank and then, all at once, he was back to being his usual animated self. The hand that held the rice ball shaking in your direction before shoving what was left inside his mouth.

“This is unbelievably delicious.” He mumbled around his food. “You said your omma made these?”

“Yup!”

You’d said it in English just to dramatically pop the P at the end. Extending out your own kind of dramatics to match Jungkook’s. You leaned your hands back into the grass and noticed Jungkook watch your every move as you did.

“Is your omma married?”

Your face fell into a deadpan stare as you replied, “Seriously? Of course her and my appa are still married, you creep.”

“If you can cook like your omma, Y/N I’m willing to lend you my amazing tutoring services. All for the low price of making things as delicious as this.”

He was already mid-way through shoving the second rice ball in his mouth. His head tilted back to drop it down. A piece of rice must have dislodged itself from its balled shape, because he erupted in a coughing fit. You couldn’t help but laugh as you handed him your water.

“I think I’ll steer clear of rice treats. Just to make sure you don’t kill yourself.”

Jungkook was about to lift the bottle up to his lips and stopped. His eyes falling on you with a playful glare. You held your hands up in mock surrender as you leaned forward. Your hands clap together to get pieces of grass and soil from your hands.

While he drank the water you’d offered up the two of you fell into companionable silence. You didn’t mind waiting and Jungkook was happy that you did. When he’d finished with the bottle, he set it down beside him. His hand moving like a flopping fish in your direction to make you give him something that you’d had no idea he’d asked for.

“Come on. Let’s see your math homework.”

“For what?”

“To start your tutoring. Duh.”

You hated how cute he’d made the word sound. The way his lips smiled around it and left him beaming at you like a little kid on Christmas.

“Can we pass? We just left the class and I hate math. A lot.”

Jungkook tsked you but didn’t look disappointed.

“You can’t get better at something if you give up on it. Luckily for you, you’ve got the best person in the subject to tutor you.”

“For a fee,” you pointed out.

“All the best things come with a price. I’m most definitely one of them. Now. Book.”

His hand movements were more controlled now. His fingers simply waved once -twice- for you to hurry it up and place what he’d asked in his hand. You really didn’t want any part of this. The thought was sweet, but when you said you hated math you meant it. So yeah, maybe you were grumbling a little as you reached inside your book bag and taking a little longer than was necessary to hand it over.

Jungkook took it from you in one smooth motion and had it open to the spot previously in class. All your homework problems you’d left unfinished glaring against the white of the page. His eyes were already scanning over what little problems you’d written down. A clicking noise from his closed mouth reminding you why exactly you hadn’t finished more of it. The reason was sitting right in front of you.

His hand flicked back out and he held it open. His eyes never lifted off the page as he demanded, “Pencil.”

“What the heck? Why am I supplying everything.”

“Cause I’m supplying myself,” he shot back. His hands taking the pencil you handed over to him. “Plus, I also can’t seem to find any in my bag.”

“You didn’t even look.”

Jungkook gave a graceful shrug. His attention was fully engrossed in the problems. You weren’t ready for how cute he looked. How adorable those concentration creases in his forehead made him look, even deadly serious, with his fingers tapping the pencil absentmindedly on the paper. When he figured out what was missing from the equation he quickly erased and reconfigured everything on the page.

You were staring intently at him, both because his angle’s were ridiculously handsome but also, the way the sun fell down on him here, peaking through the trees, felt like magic. It was hard to believe the universe was more than just molecules and that luck was thrown out randomly. If it was, maybe you’d caught some.

Your thoughts were running wild and your concentration was no longer in the safe zone. Maybe that’s why when he finally looked up from the notebook and found you staring he’d smiled. Not his teasing one. Or the condescending either. This smile was soft like a secret, and directed only at you. \

“See something you like?”

His voice was gentle in his playfulness. As if he wanted to take the cautionary approach in case you were spooked.

“Maybe I do.”

A smile of your own spread to match his and Jungkook wasn’t surprised. He was just happy, and it was a lovely sight to see. He looked away from you with his hand moving up to smooth out the hair on the back of his neck. He flicked the pencil down on the notebook and brought it forward for you to see.

“Let’s get back to this. I’ll be honest with you. It’s pretty bad. You missed a whole line on the third problem that left you with an incomplete answer. Not to mention,” he lifted up the notebook and motioned towards the whole page, “Where is all the rest of the homework?”

Jungkook’s voice was filled with the beginnings of laughter. Not specifically towards you, but just the blatant fact you did not care. You gave him your best nonchalant shrug. In reality, you did care. It bothered you it wasn’t finished.

Your fingers were digging in the grass and ripping some of it up and throwing it out into the field.

“I had a hard time concentrating last night. Plus, if I’m being honest math has always been the hardest subject for me.”

“And that is why I’m going to help you.”

“For a fee,” you reminded him.

“I’ll teach you the easiest way I know how to do these and I promise you, you’ll be flying through these problems in no time.”

The sincerity in his voice was evident. Jungkook really believed it and he wanted you to believe it too. You just couldn’t understand why and you found yourself speaking your mind.

“Why are you wanting to help me?”

It was his turn to shrug his shoulders. His face went blank as he looked at you one last time before he looked away. Whatever he was looking at he wasn’t really seeing. He just needed someplace else to look than the person he was talking to you. You did it plenty of times yourself.

Whatever he’d decided on to say had caused his shoulders to square. Determined that whatever he needed to say he would make sure it meant something.

“I like spending time with you.”

The smile you’d worn completely shattered as you stared at him. The butterflies rushed up and up until they trapped themselves in your throat. Jungkook’s admission was basically three words dropped away from just saying he liked you.

This surprising admission should’ve been enough to make yourself not care who you saw walking. Or care when he stopped, his small mob with him, and start gesturing at his imaginary watch. His fingers rubbing together for money owed.

It was worse when Jungkook looked back and took notice. Even worse when he looked back at you with questions swirling in his eyes.

“Everything okay?”

Your eyes looked down to the safety of your hands. The way they were helplessly fidgeting back in the grass and tearing it apart like a miniature tantrum was brewing inside you. You hated that after all this time, you let Lee Kwon upset you by making you feel embarrassed about your dad. That he felt the need to tell everyone the business deal between his father and yours. How every time he told it he’d turned him more and more into a villain of his own misfortune.

Without a reason why you took back your notebook from Jungkook and shoved it inside your bag. You were ready to leave. You didn’t want to explain, but you knew Jungkook wouldn’t let you just leave without one.

He reached out and his hand gently wrapped around your wrist to stop you. There was no force. Nothing that hinted that he would keep you there if you didn’t want to be kept. Looking at him felt harder. His genuine worry almost threatened to let the tears from your frustration spill forward.

“Hey, Y/N, what’s wrong?”

You shook your head. Your vision dragging away from him and back to the retreating back of the sociopath, Lee Kwon.

You didn’t try to shake him off. You actually felt comforted by his worrisome touch. The way he leaned in closer as if he would pull you into his arms at any moment. As much as you wanted that to happen, you knew it wouldn’t happen. A deep sigh had built up in your chest and you released it while you looked back at him.

“Look. Eventually, I know you’re going to hear about it: my dad, I mean.”

“That’s kind of odd high school kids would talk about someone’s appa.”

“You and me both,” you agreed. “But Kwon’s dad is a banker who doesn’t believe in client confidentiality. So he tells his son about his day over dinner and-“

“And he decides to bring it to school to make your life miserable,” Jungkook finished for you.

He understood and didn’t need you to simplify it anymore. His hand left your arm and you suddenly found yourself missing his comforting touch. It was still there, that comfort, in the way his eyes softened and he leaned in intent to listen to whatever you needed to get off your chest. You appreciated his attention, but also hated it at the same time.

“What’s your Appa’s thing?”

God. He did understand. Maybe just a little too well for your liking.

“Gambling. It started when I was in the seventh grade. At first it wasn’t anything too crazy. He’d always been able to even it out. But then he became obsessed with the idea of winning big. Kept betting on things we couldn’t afford to lose. Eventually, he bet too high and ended up losing the business he and my mom built together and our house. They had to pay the bank back.”

“A bank this dude’s Appa works at.”

“Correct. My Appa...he isn’t a bad man. He’s paid his debt and hasn’t gambled since. What good is it for me or anyone else to make him feel bad for the rest of his life?”

“I don’t get it. Why does that have to do with you, though?”

You’d wondered the same exact thing half of your adolescent life. You shrugged and looked at Jungkook wondering if maybe he’d be able to make sense of it better than you could.

“Twelve year old boys enjoy making up stories. First it was that we became so poor we lived with pigs. That's why I smelled.”

You put air quotations around smelled and Jungkook practically howled with laughter. You tried your best to show no emotion, but could feel the corner of your lips threatening to curl into a smile.

“He probably said it because you didn’t know how to wash back then and, judging from earlier, I still don’t think you do.”

You moved to playfully shove at his shoulder. A scoff of laughter leaving you even though you told yourself you wouldn’t. Jungkook was waiting for you to make a move and when you did he easily grabbed a hold of you. The feeling of intimacy, just like yesterday in the mud, was swimming back to the surface.

Your eyes looked up into his with your laughter being met with a wide grin. The way he was looking at you now made you believe in fairytales and left your lips aching to be kissed.

Before either of you could decide what to do next, the bell for the end of lunch sounded. You could hear it going off all around you, but still the two of you stayed holding each other. Your bodies close enough that if he wanted to make a move all Jungkook needed was to lean down. To say your heart dropped a little when he moved away was an understatement.

You focused on getting up from the grass. Your hands patting down your uniform as you struggle to find something not so awkward to say. You wanted to sound confident. You wanted to sound like you weren’t affected by him at all.

“Well, I’ll see you around.”

God, you sounded awkward. You turned to start heading to your next period. You closed your eyes tight and mouthed, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” You’d gotten a few feet away when you heard him call to you.

You turned to look back at him and found him still standing under the tree. His hands in his pockets and his eyes solely on you.

“Would you let me walk you home?”

Did he really have to ask? You’d let him walk you to the edge of a volcano. You didn’t say that, however. You wanted to play it cool, but on the inside you were screaming.

“I’d like that.”

When you turned back around to make your way to class, the memory of how his face had brightened at your reply, stayed with you. You couldn’t wait for the day to end.

_________

True to his word Jungkook waited for you after school. You couldn’t help looking for him over the countless shoulders as you walked with the sea of students towards the entrance. The hole in the pit of your stomach opened back up from the underlying dreadful thought. That he wouldn't show up. You’d be left standing there waiting for him forever. But Jungkook continued to prove your pessimism wrong.

The closer you got to the school’s gate, you were able to spot him instantly. He was leaning coolly against the gate. His bag at his feet and his cane positioned strategically out of view. If anyone just casually walked up, they would’ve never been able to tell he’d needed one. Maybe that was why he’d done it.

He looked to be searching for someone in every face that passed him. It came to an end the minute his roaming eyes found you. No longer did he appear cool and composed. His body became animated with what you could only explain as a giddiness at your oncoming presence.

By the time you reached him, Jungkook was wearing his backpack on his shoulder and his cane in his hand. He was standing and waiting for you. The happiness at being next to you was intoxicating and you could only hope you looked the same.

“It felt like I was waiting forever,” he admitted.

The two of you started in sync out the gate and turned left onto the main road.

“It felt like an eternity just to get to you. I have Mrs. Chun’s chemistry class for the last period. The classroom is pretty far.”

“Mhm, like on a planet far far away.”

Your eyes rolled up to look at him. The affection you found in the warmth of his eyes was startling, but not a surprise.

Your mom used to tell you to always be careful with smiling. It caused laugh lines. It helped make crows feet. That smiling was a woman’s secret enemy she never knew about when it came to aging. She told you over and over to be careful who or what you wasted smiles on. Smiling up at him now, Jungkook was definitely worth it just to see him respond with his own.

“Don’t be so dramatic. It’s only, like, one planet away.”

A soft hush of laughter left him as he looked away. His gaze roaming around the street signs and their multiple names before looking back at you.

“Are we going the right way to your place? I just realized I never even asked for your address.”

“Does it matter? I mean, with your leg and all.” You hated yourself for spoiling the moment by bringing it up. You knew it was a touchy subject when it came to his leg for Jungkook. So you weren’t surprised to see that spark of warmth fade ever so slightly from his face. His smile wilted at the edges of his lips before it all but disappeared. “You know I’m sorry I said anything. I shouldn’t have. I mean obviously you know yourself and your limits. You wouldn’t have asked if you weren’t able to do it.”

You were rambling. You were fidgeting and waving your arms around while you talked, because why not? You were doing everything else besides hyperventilating at this point. All you knew was that you felt like a jerk for even bringing it up. When all you wanted was to know he was okay.

You were so lost in the space inside your head and worrying that you didn’t notice him laughing at you. You were mid-arm swing. Inhaling for another round of mouth babble to start asking for forgiveness when he waved for you to stop. A finger tip landing on your lips to quiet the words in your throat by shocking you into silence.

“You really don’t have to apologize so much, Y/N. It’s alright. I understand why you would ask.”

You were tempted to lick his finger away, but it felt too intimate. But so was a finger on the lips. Before you could decide your next move from your internal dilemma, Jungkook solved it for you. His finger detaching from your lips as quickly as it’d come.

“No, you don’t. I’m just worried about you. I know I should trust you to know yourself better, but-“ you did an over exaggerated shrug as you finished: “I’m a worrier.”

“I’m flattered, I have you to worry over me.”

You knew he was teasing you and you couldn’t have been happier. You preferred it to making him sad. Plus, he was back to looking at you like you controlled the stars and oh, what a wonderful look it was.

“You should be. I’ve only got so much extra space up here.”

You tapped your head for added effect and were rewarded with a soft laugh that was followed up by a smile. God, you could get used to this.

“I guess I need to work harder to take up more space.”

“Please, no. Let’s not do that. I need my sanity.”

You couldn’t believe you were doing so well at flirting. Usually, your sarcasm won out and you resorted to awkward winking, but this was definitely an improvement.

“I’m not sure you have much of that left either,” he joked.

You tried to hide your laughter with a scoff. You knew you were failing miserably at being offended. Your mouth fighting too hard to ward off a smile as you playfully bumped your shoulder into his arm. Jungkook was ready for you with his cane digging into the sidewalk to give him extra stability.

“Ya, if I do finally go crazy it’ll be your fault, specifically.”

“I think you’d have a hard time proving that in court. My counter argument would be pretty persuasive.”

You looked at him in shock.

“Court? Wow...that escalated quickly.”

Jungkook nodded his reply. He stopped in front of a bookstore and pointed at a manga in the window. You weren’t too familiar with the title, but it's a cover you’d seen plenty of.

“It would happen as quickly as an infection from a zombie’s bite. It would seem all slow until suddenly you jumped up and tried to eat me.”

You couldn’t keep the amusement off your face as you glanced at him and back down to the manga. A part of you wondering if it was one he’d read before or just wanted to use to make his point.

“Question: why are we together during a zombie outbreak?”

“Isn’t it obvious? It’s because I’ll be walking you home. I’ll try and save you and while feeling all heroic about it, I won’t even realize you’d been bitten until it’s too late.”

The two of you moved away from the bookstore window and began to walk back down the sidewalk. Your mind trying to dissect what he was trying to say, but all it left you with was imagining a zombie version of you trying to take a bite out of him.

“You must watch too much Walking Dead.”

“It’s a good show,” he shrugged.

“Did you know that there’s actually a fungus out there that’s sort of like a zombie infection. It’s called Ophiocordyceps. It basically infects the host and within nine days of infection it takes control of the host's body movements.”

You were still walking and looking around while you spoke. Your fingers running gently over a row of gardenia’s that were planted in carefully placed pots in front of someone’s home. You were aware Jungkook had left your side by the sudden coldness of his absence. You turned to look for him and found him standing a foot away from you. A mixture of astonishment and amusement etched on his face.

“Why do you know something like that? Actually, how do you know something like that?”

His eyes were dancing with curiosity as he moved to fall back into step beside you.

“Let’s just say I like to read. I like strange things and facts. And science is full of both facts and strange things.”

With each small statement you held up a finger. When you ended on the third and final small fact about yourself, you wiggled all three fingers at him. The motion earned you a giant smile that only seemed to grow wider as his head shook slightly back and forth.

“You are the strangest girl.”

“How am I strange?”

“You just told me about a body snatching fungus,” he chuckled. “What other girl is going to do that?”

Jungkook had a point. A very strong point. For all your new found confidence when it came to him, you couldn’t keep the heat from rushing to your face. Or the back of your hands from trying to hide it.

“I would tell you to stop being embarrassed but it’s cute when you blush.”

The two of you came to a complete stop at the crosswalk. The red light blinking to tell you two it wasn’t safe to cross. It felt like a weird metaphor for this moment in your life.

Stop! Do not keep staring back at him as if he strung every star in the sky. Stop! Don’t continue to entertain the thought that he looked like he wanted to kiss you or that you desperately wanted to kiss him back. Stop! Even though you already knew it was too late.

You had plans. It’d all been strategically mapped out in your head until you could read it forwards and backwards to yourself. Do your best to graduate high enough in the percentage range to get into a decent college. Get a degree for a job, it didn’t matter what it was, that made enough money to help your parents. For all your careful planning, none of it had included him and yet, the universe had you both standing at a stoplight looking at each other like there couldn’t be any other reality where you weren’t meant to end up right here. Standing at this exact light and looking at one another like no one else existed.

Luckily, the light changed signaling for you to begin to cross. The mass of bodies that had accumulated behind you began to push you both forward and, reluctantly, broke your gaze free from him. Your brain was scrambling to pick up a conversation you weren’t sure how to resurrect. Your mind too busy daydreaming all the scenarios you would’ve taken in different realities if you were braver. Clearing your throat, you did your best to wipe the thought clean and focus on your current reality.

“If it makes you feel better,” you started your body turning to consider him as you spoke, “the study was only ever done on the tropical ants that resided in the forest. The actual effects and what it could do to humans has never been studied. Yet. But I’m willing to bet it would take longer than nine days for it to take hold of a grown adult's nervous system and larger batches.”

He was looking at you in inspired mock horror. You weren’t sure whether it was a good thing or a bad thing. Or if your unusual fact telling about zombie fungus had completely killed the mood. You got your answer in an excited hush of, “Holy shit it’s like you’re writing your own super villain backstory.”

A smile erupted on your face as you playfully rolled your eyes away from him. It was hard to miss the mischievous glint in his eyes or the way his whole face still swam with the playfulness that lurked underneath his teasing. Jungkook was so alive. A force that required you to hang on or else you would get swept up in him without even realizing it’d happen.

You wondered if this is what falling in love felt like.

“I would make a terrible villain. I’m too clumsy,” you stated. Your weak attempt at downplaying yourself being met with a stern look.

“How clumsy are we talking?”

“Hmm, I would say, ‘Kronk giving the llama potion to Kuzco,’ kind of clumsy.”

A hiss of air whistled between Jungkook’s teeth. A mock look of worry on his face as his hands moved to reposition his bag.

“Can we call that clumsy, though?”

“What else would it be?” You asked.

You could feel the lines grouping together in your forehead just trying to figure out what he was getting at. Jungkook didn’t seem to be in any rush to answer you. The two of you walking a few feet before he must have decided you’d waited long enough for him to reply.

“I always thought Kronk was stupid throughout the whole movie, but really, he was just a good person. He’s a good guy tasked to do a bad thing and he just wants to make people happy. Even if it means doing the wrong thing.”

You wanted to ask if maybe he was talking more about himself than The Emperor’s New Groove at this point. He faced forward with his brow creased in deep thought and whatever it was that held his thoughts didn’t appear to be anything good.

“Or,” you started, voice light enough to drag him out of his head, “it’s just a kids movie.”

Sure, Jungkook was looking at you, but he didn’t seem to actually see you. Somewhere inside his head, he was reenacting or seeing something that ate up all the sunshine that lived in his bones. It felt silly to feel a sense of panic about something that might not even be true. And yet, you couldn’t stop the awful thought that sadness was trying to make a home inside his soul.

Without giving it another thought you reached up and pretended to wipe away a pretend rogue eyelash from his cheek. The suddenness of your fingers brushing on his skin jolted him from wherever his thoughts had held him hostage and back into the present. His eyes darted around your face and his own hand came up to gently take yours.

“Sorry.” Your words came out breathy as you struggled not to focus on how he was practically holding your hand. “There was an eyelash. The wind must have blown it away.”

The earlier sadness that’d hollowed out his eyes was gone. What replaced it was one of knowing you weren’t telling the truth. His head tilted slightly down to inspect your empty finger of the proof you knew your words didn’t have whose eyes sparked with his usual teasing and something else. Something that left a different kind of heat flooding your cheeks.

“I’m sure there was.”

Reluctantly, you removed your hand from his and continued to walk. It only took him a couple seconds to fall effortlessly into step beside you making you wonder if his leg was as injured as it seemed.

A warm silence swelled around you as you continued to walk. A comfortable pace setting between you as he looked in the windows of every store you passed in between the changing streets. He never once asked if you were getting close to your home or how much farther it might be. It was like the moment on the back of the bus. The two of you enjoyed that the other was there without ever feeling the need to say it.

But you knew it was soon coming to an end. In only a few blocks, you’d be home and your fairytale moment would end. You were struggling on how to break this, more to yourself than Jungkook, when you noticed he pulled a Nikon camera from the side of his bag. He was squinting through the lens and taking photos of something up ahead. Of the landscape or the people and buildings that framed it you weren’t sure.

He must have sensed your silent question as he snapped a few more quick photos before turning to acknowledge you.

“Y/N, I have a serious question for you.”

It was hard to keep the amusement off your face as you both came to a stop. The place felt random, but it was anything but that to Jungkook. Whatever he saw in this space you both inhabited must have felt like magic to him.

“Okay. Shoot.”

“Do you think we have enough time for me to take some photos?”

It felt like such an odd request. Why should anyone have to ask to do something that they loved? Jungkook didn’t fully say he loved doing it, but no one spent that much money on a nice camera if it wasn’t something they enjoyed doing. The look on his face was just an added bonus of proving your answer meant something. One that made you wonder why he felt like he needed your permission at all. And then it hit you: he wanted to stay in your company while he did it.

You considered teasing him, but he looked too vulnerable standing there. You weren’t even sure if he was breathing. A pleading in his eyes that reminded you of a child asking a mother to go on just one more ride before they were forced to go home. You considered giving him the bad news that you had more than homework to do when you arrived home. But that could come another day. On this day, with him, you could spare an hour just to make him happy.

Instead of coming right out and letting him know you’d made up your mind, you decided to play coy. A soft, “Hmm,” hummed around you as you looked everywhere but him. Your index finger tapping on your lips for dramatic flare.

"Ok," You shrugged. "I think I have some free time I could spare."

His eyes squinted in question as you moved to stand in front of him. The movement simply to let a couple go by in peace, but somehow placed you closer in front of him. Jungkook’s gaze was roaming your face to find an answer to a question he hadn’t yet asked.

“You planned on saying yes this whole time, didn’t you. You were just trying to make me suffer waiting for you to answer.”

You gasped in pretend shock and did your best not to smile at his accusations. By the growing smile on his face you knew you were failing miserably.

“Me?! I would never do such a thing.”

“You’re secretly a sadist!”

Jungkook’s smile only widened as a scoff of disbelief passed from your lips. Your own smile grew to match his own when his hands lifted up his camera. Seconds later the sound of the shutter clicked and you felt your soul leave your body. The earlier playfulness was swiftly swept in your own dark cloud and the idea you probably looked hideous in that photo.

“Oh god, Jungkook delete it,” you pleaded.

Your hands were reaching out to grab tightly at this shirt. Your fingers curled in the white fabric until there was a small chance you could tear holes. The camera in question was being held far from your reach. His hand easily held it above his shoulder as he used one hand to steady you against him. You’d invaded his space without even realizing, but you had no time to be embarrassed. Not when he had a picture of you forever saved on that camera.

“Why would I delete it?”

He was his usual amused self you could tell, but he wasn’t egging you on. His question was out of curiosity. His own eyes brimming with it as you considered keeping one hand tightly wound in his shirt and the other to jump up and reach for the camera.

“Because Jungkook I’m not cute. You’ll be lucky if it doesn’t ruin the camera.”

All his earlier playfulness drained from his face and what was left made you instantly feel like you were about to be scolded. His hand that had firmly planted itself on your hip was achingly apparent now as his fingers gripped you closer to him. Your own awareness at how close you actually were to his chest made your lips feel dry. Your tongue flicked out to wet them and god, it took everything in you not to focus on the fact his eyes had followed the movement.

“Y/N, why would you say that? You shouldn’t let anyone talk down about you, and you shouldn’t do it to yourself either. You’re beautiful.”

He spoke like it was a fact. A statement that not just the two of you knew, but the universe did too. And what were you supposed to say back? While you were held captive to the thought he was still looking from you to your lips. The determination for you to understand his words and believe them setting soft lines in his face. You tried to keep looking at him, but under his watchful gaze you couldn’t keep yourself from fidgeting. Your eyes moved down the line of his body until it landed on the tops of your shoes.

You weren’t sure what to say back. Thank you didn’t fit here. It didn’t feel like a moment where he was trying to boost your confidence the way a friend did. This felt more like someone who noticed something in you while you hadn’t been looking.

So instead of saying anything remotely clever back you began to dislodge yourself from him. Your hands releasing their hold on his shirt and forcing his hand off of your hip. Standing there with only inches between you, your body was achingly aware that his hand was gone. It’s weight leaving a burning of longing to have it back forced your hands into your pockets and your body turning away from him. You waited for him to start moving back down the road. The motion forced him to either join you or stay where he was.

“We should get going before we run out of time.”

You hated yourself for dismissing him. For not being bolder like you’d promised yourself earlier in the day. It would’ve been the perfect time to thank him. To tell him how you were pretty sure there wasn’t a soul on earth more attractive than him, but that what made him beautiful is what he refused to let people see. The soft tone of his voice still singing along to the songs on the back of the bus had ended up being an unspoken lullaby when you’d gone to sleep.

A part of you considered turning on your heel and telling him this. To tell him that you saw him; actually saw him for who he was and not who he felt like he needed to be. But you just kept moving forward and weren’t surprised when Jungkook found a steady rhythm back beside you.

The both of you stayed quiet. This time it felt more forced than the easiness of earlier. Like the two of you had so many missed starts at creating a conversation that neither of you could understand why it ended.

You watched him as he focused on the area around him. His camera training on an old couple who sat waiting for the next bus. The husband had clutched his wife’s arm close to his side. In his hands he was peeling what appeared to be an orange and with each freshly peeled slice, he gave one to her and one to himself. No one knew what they were conversing about, but it didn’t matter. To them, they were the only two people there. The wholesomeness of the moment made you wonder what they were like back in their youth.

You listened to the flutter of the shutter click repeatedly. His hand twisting on the lens to bring it in and out of focus, while he himself remained deadly focused on capturing their moment in time. You were curious how the photos would turn out in the end and wished there was a way to show them how their love translated on film.

You were in the middle of watching Jungkook turn his attention to a couple birds inside a cherry blossom when he spoke.

“Thank you for agreeing to walk with me while I do this.”

“You don’t have to thank me, Jungkook.”

A sad smile curled his lips as he dropped his camera down in front of him. His thumb skimmed over the buttons to quickly go through what he’d previously taken. The last one he landed on made his entire face light up and you felt a pang of jealousy at what it could be. How you wish he would look at you like that.

“Maybe, but I feel like I do. Ever since my accident, my appa hasn’t been able to force me into things. For once, I get to just do what I want. Sucks it only had to cost me a friend and a leg to get some freedom.”

Your feet had carried you to the next stop sign. The sudden halt in moving forced you to look at him, really look at Jungkook, like you’d never seen him before.

He wasn’t looking at you now. His ears a screaming red while his fingers danced over every part of the camera. His eyes roaming over its edges and flicking too fast through pictures to actually even be looking at them. For the first time since you’d met him Jungkook was scared to look at you. Scared for what you might see if you did.

Looking at him now, you couldn’t have been happier to indulge him. You’d indulge him for the rest of your life if he’d let you.

“Well, I’m happy to be of service.”

You mentally smacked yourself at your choice of words. Jungkook, however, was backing to his beaming self as he finally glanced in your direction. His eyeing ate up your embarrassment as it was your turn to face forward. Your feet hopping in place as you waited for the light to flash it was okay to walk.

“I’m supposed to be at physical therapy right now.”

“Wait, what?”

The light was flickering finally for you to all move. Your feet moved to carry you forward unintentionally, just to keep with the flow of traffic, as Jungkook gave you a small shrug for an answer.

“Did you say you were supposed to be at physical therapy?”

Another shrug and another long pause with no answer. It seemed he had been waiting for you to round the corner onto a quieter pedestrian free street before he replied, “After school. I have appointments almost everyday and I never go.”

“But why? It’s meant to help you get better, isn’t it?”

“Get better to do what, exactly?” He huffed. Jungkook’s entire body took on a broodier tone. His cane practically dug small holes with each press into the pavement. “Who even says that I can get better?”

“Well, doctors for one,” you pointed out. “I’m sure they wouldn’t have signed you up for it if they didn’t believe you could get better.”

“If I was going to get better it would’ve happened already.”

It felt like walking on eggshells. This side of Jungkook was the boy you’d met on his first day of class. His guarded demeanor up on high alert, as he kept his gaze stoically forward and his chin held high.

“You’re not an idiot, Jungkook. You know injuries take time to heal from. It doesn't just magically happen overnight.”

“Who says that I want to get better?”

The coldness in his words forced your legs to stop working. Your feet were unable to move as he continued to push on ahead of you. His own movements became slower now as the long walk was beginning to take its toll on his leg. He knew you weren’t beside him anymore and still he tried to keep pushing forward, before eventually he had no other choice but to turn around.

The look on his face was as defiant as ever. Underneath that defiance was a sadness so raw you only wanted to reach out and hold him. If just to remind him that he was seen and that his pain mattered.

That’s when the realization hit you.

“Unless you feel like you deserve this.”

The stone façade he’d worked so hard to create in the past few minutes began to chip. His eyes being the first to show by the soft uprising of tears that you were right. Somewhere deep inside Jungkook believed that he deserved what happened to him. That this was punishment for losing a friend at his own hands, even if it wasn’t his fault to begin with.

The tears that threatened to spill never did, but they were there. They floated dangerously at the surface of Jungkook’s control and he refused to let go. The rawness of his pain hit you and all you wanted was to help ease it. You weren’t sure if he would accept any kind of affection, even in a small hug. So your only option was to move closer to him. As close as he would allow without pushing you away.

With each step you could see his jaw clenching tighter; pulsing like he was fighting from saying something wicked to send you skirting back. He was just as afraid of what you were about to do as you were at being the one to do it.

When the tips of your shoes nudged against his you drew your eyes up until they landed on his. A spark of something; fear or uncertainty, flashed in his eyes. Was he expecting you to be cruel? To yell at him to stop being a child and to grow up? How much had he already heard those words shouted by adults? How long had he been standing there like this, in a world full of grief, and no one there to pull him out to breathe before the next wave suffocated him once more.

You weren’t sure if it was you or if what you said would matter, but it was important he heard it. It was important he knew that this was okay too.

“You got to forgive yourself sometime, Jungkook.”

The words themselves were simple. Simple and spoken between you as if there was a secret meant only for the two of you to hear. All you really wanted was for him to feel the sincerity of your words for him to know it was okay. Okay to feel sad, unsure, and helpless at times when all the world felt against you. It was okay to not know your first steps and okay to take those first steps when you were ready. Eventually, we needed to forgive, if only to give ourselves the chance to heal and move on.

His gaze was still misty with unshed tears and still they refused to fall. The pain and defiance that had turned his features harsh began to soften. All that hardness he struggled to keep himself in and others out was beginning to fade and the only thing left was him. All that sunshine that you’d seen lived in his smile and echoed in his laughter that crinkled in the corners of his eyes. The way he cared for others and making them feel cared for. The softness of his singing and the way he eagerly filmed people at their most vulnerable: at their most beautiful.

It was at this moment you felt your universe shift and tip until it realigned itself. With your fingers back to holding the edges of his shirt it took everything in you not to close those final inches and hug him. Jungkook closed that distance for you instead.

His lips crashing down on your cheeks causing a soft squeak of surprise to push free from your lips. A chuckle came as he came back into view and your mind struggled to comprehend what happened.

It wasn’t a kiss on the lips but…

“Did you just kiss my cheek?”

Your hand was up to the aforementioned spot. A wicked smile wiping away all of his sadness until you weren’t sure if it had been real at all or if you’d imagined it.

“I could kiss your lips if you’d like that instead.”

If your cheeks could get any hotter you could’ve fried food on them. You felt a surge of disappointment when Jungkook took a reluctant step back from you as his eyes dropped to check the time on his phone.

“As much as I hate to say this: I have to go.”

“All of the sudden you have to go,” you huffed.

Your words felt brave, but inside your heart was thundering wildly against your chest.

“I could stay if you want?”

Smoother than expected, Jungkook slid his way back to you. His chest bumping against you making you lose your footing just enough that it forced you to grab on to his shirt. Jungkook’s own hand had moved behind your back to steady you and bring you closer to him all at once.

You playfully smacked his chest and earned a soft laugh from him. Unfortunately, you found yourself peeling away from him. Your hands grasping at the strap of your bag to keep them from reaching back out for him.

“Not a chance.”

Your reply earned a playful pout from him as he started walking backwards away from you.

“I’ll remember that, Y/N!”

You rolled your eyes and turned around to start walking the rest of the way home. You didn’t get more than a few feet before he called back to you. Your eyes found him instantly in a crowd of people that continued to pass in front of him.

“I forgot to ask: what’s your number!”

He held up a pen expecting you to come back to him and write it down presumably on his arm or hand. You didn’t see any paper and could only assume. You knew it was all just a ploy to get you to come to him. The knowledge evident by the wicked grin on his face.

“You’re a math wiz, right?” Jungkook was perplexed for a second before you started reciting your number as loud as you were willing to shout it. The wind blew it away as he no doubt struggled to listen.

“Wow! What a way to play dirty.”

“If it’s meant to be you’ll figure it out.”

And maybe that was true. Maybe you both had a chance to write your own love story like from the movies and shows you used to watch with your mom. Like Rose and Jack from Titanic or Ross and Rachel...okay...maybe more like Chandler and Monica. Or maybe you were an idiot and should’ve just gone and wrote it down. It was too late now as he was already on the other side of the street.

You were ready to walk the rest of the way kicking yourself for being so lame when you heard him call your name again. When you turned you didn’t expect him to be trotting across the road. You didn’t expect him to stop in front of you and give you another quick kiss on the cheek, this one gentler than before, with every fiber of your body remembering just how soft his lips felt.

“I could fall in love with you, ya know.”

You watched as in the same breath he hopped back across the street and couldn’t help but think you already had.

————-

Later that night you were snuggled up inside the sheets of your bed. The only thing sticking out was the current book you were reading and the top of your head.

You hadn’t heard from Jungkook the rest of the day. Your heart hammered inside your chest every time your phone chimed with a new message only to deflate when you realized it wasn’t him. You loved your friends and all, but they weren’t who you’d been looking forward to all evening.

Maybe you should’ve just gone to him and written down your number. Like a normal human being would’ve done. You just had to be clever and yell it out like a lunatic. For all you knew, you could end up with a random stranger texting you at all hours.

Your current book that you were supposed to be reading but couldn’t really read because you couldn’t focus was now face planted onto your nose. A soft groan echoing into its pages as you fought not to close it and throw it somewhere in your room. You were a hundred percent sure you’d read the same sentence a few dozen times at this point.

In the morning, you decided, you most definitely were just going to write it down. Like a sane person would’ve done. You closed your book and placed it down beside you. Your eyes roaming up to stare at your ceiling and wondering if you were ever actually going to go to sleep when your phone chimed off.

You weren’t in any hurry to look. It could just be your parents from the restaurant making sure you were in bed. It could be one of your friends asking about making plans this weekend. It was probably still everyone but Jungkook and yet…

Your curiosity got the better of you. You shuffled inside your comforter, reached an arm out to grab your phone from the nightstand, and quickly pulled it back inside. You waited for your facial ID to unlock the screen to see who or what you’d received. Your own mind hyping up the suspense of the moment until it read over a reminder text from your dad about your chores for the upcoming weekends.

You hated you’d let yourself have even a glimmer of hope. It was official. You’d ruined your chances when it came to giving out your number. A groan was creeping its way up your throat as you quickly sent back a text. You knew your chores took over almost every weekend. Even when you’d made plans with friends, you’d ended up never going.

As soon as you’d hit send you were rolling over to put your phone back on your nightstand. The shrill sound of pinging messages stopped you cold. There was no way your dad had learned to text back that fast. You laid yourself flat back against the mattress and brought the phone to hover above your face.

Y/N?

Is this the right number finally?

Hello?!!

If this is the wrong person, I’m sorry. I swear I’m not crazy. Just looking for a girl.

Your heart leapt into your throat. It was beating so hard you were scared it would burst from your chest. Your eyes were still skimming over the line of text messages when another one sounded. You were so caught up in reading the next line you weren’t aware your clammy fingers had let the phone slip and it crash landed down on your face.

“Ooow!”

One hand scrambled to pick it back up off your face, while the other massaged the now swelling brim of your nose.

How many people have you texted before me?

There wasn’t a need to send a hi. To give him a coy response to continue to tease him or make him believe he’d gotten it wrong again. Your curiosity at the desperate way he seemed to have been looking for you was endearing. The thought that he’d spent so much time sending out random messages for a response, no matter how crazy he looked, felt silly but cute too.

Jungkook thought you were worth the trouble.

OH MY GOD IS IT REALLY YOU?! And maybe like... seventeen.

You snuggled deeper into your comforter as a soft giggle joined the growing smile across your face.

I’m sorry I should have just wrote it down when you offered the pen lol

It definitely would’ve made it a lot easier.

You’d asked yourself that question all evening while you’d waited for him. You bit your lips as your fingers hovered over the keyboard. Unsure if you should take the chance and tell him.

“Screw it,” you whispered as you typed.

Took you long enough. I’ve been waiting forever.

Well, I’m sorry to keep you waiting. This girl thought it was a good idea to shout random numbers at me 😅😂.

Your head was shaking as you tried to figure out something witty to say. You couldn’t believe you were here. Inside your comforter cave smiling at your phone like a lunatic and wondering if maybe Jungkook was doing the same. Or what was he even doing? You were getting ready to type out that exact question when your phone pinged to life.

So, ugh, on to more important matters. It read. I was thinking about your love of random facts and I think I got one for you.

Ooooooo kekeke this should be good

Do you want to know it or not?

Okay okay! Lol please tell me Kookie

You could practically feel him screaming through your phone as a sideways glance emoji was sent back in a long lined response. You wondered if you’d completely ruined his fact telling when your phone went off.

I found this article that said the chances of finding your soulmate out of 500,000,000 people was impossible. But, if you just place it to where you are, to your age group, and timing it narrows it down to a 1 in 10,000 chance. What I’m trying to get at is...I think your my 1 in 10,000

You read the message on repeat. Over and over until you were sure you’d practically memorized it front and back. You wanted to ask him for his source material. Where such an article could exist. None of that really mattered to you and how could it?

You must have spaced out because you never sent him a reply. Your thoughts were still spinning in a world all their own as you wondered if he was sitting at his desk doing homework or lying in bed. If he was inside or outside and what had made him so brave to send that message: believing you felt the same.

The vibration of the phone brought you back down to earth. You expected to see question marks or another line of, “Hello?” To have left him on read. Instead, the only thing that greeted you was a simple, Goodnight, Y/N.

This time there was no hesitation from you.

Goodnight, Jungkook

See you in the morning ?

His text felt so hopeful. A silent undertone that if you said no there was a chance you’d break him. You bit your lip as you thought about what this meant. The beginning of small promises that eventually grew into bigger ones.

I’ll meet you at the gate

You both finished up with another round of good night’s that felt like the embarrassing texting equivalent of “no you hang up! No you!” And placed your phone back on your night stand. It took forever for the sandman to finally claim you. Your dreams consisting of the magic of being Jungkook’s 1 in 10,000.

310 notes · View notes

transexualpirate · 4 years ago

Text

“Perfect.”

When he first told Dean, he looked so small and helpless, almost guilty, like he expected Dean to just smack him right in the spot for daring to bring it up. Maybe that's what convinced Dean to participate. Or maybe it was the warmth that painted his cheeks when he imagined Cas smiling brightly at his kid and his... and Dean coming together to make something for him. "Father's Day, huh? Sure. Yeah, why not?" Jack smiled as bright as Cas did in his head.

so uhhhh aparently it’s father’s day in the usa? so i wrote a little something for @dadstielweek i hope this is okay <3 also thank you @creepyeyesandfrogs for the inspiration ur the best!!!

Summary: Dean and Jack have plans for Cas on father’s day. They also have some unresolved issues.

Warnings: Miscommunication, self worth issues, J*hn Winchester, brief mentions of self destructive tendencies (nothing explicit), brief mentions of sexual themes between Dean and Cas (also not explicit), background Saileen.

also, english is not my native language and i mess up sometimes! i’d much appreciate it if you warn me about any possible mistakes.

"Damn, kid, those are some bright colors you used." it was meant as a jab, but Jack only smiled proudly

"Thank you" he replied "I thought I might be using too much yellow, so his name is written in pink. See?"

Dean did. He stared at the card for a few more seconds. It read "Dad: I feel so safe with you! You always took good care of me and you hold me so gently when I can't sleep. Your the best dad ever!" in yellow, with blue doodles of bees and hearts around it, and "I love you, Castiel" in light pink at the bottom. It wasn't a work of art, but he clearly had fun doing it with some old colorful markers he found around the bunker. It was funny to Dean that a 5'8'' man had done it.

Not a man, he corrected himself. A kid. It was easier to see it in days like these.

"Yeah, it's real pretty, alright. But, uh, just a note-" Jack looked up then, his eyes wide. Dean tried not to be offended about how obvious it was that he was waiting for Dean to back down at any moment "You wrote 'your'. As in, 'your bag', 'your drink', 'your pen', you know. It's 'you're'. Like, 'you are'. You're. You're the best dad ever. Okay?"

"Oh." he looked down again. Stayed silent for a few seconds. Dean imagined he was processing this new information. Then he brought up the yellow marker and fixed it. "There. Is that it?"

"Yup. Looks perfect, kid. Cas is gonna love it."

Jack looked like someone had just told him he could eat all the candy he wanted. Dean found himself chuckling softly at him, then turned back to the cake he was decorating. He was pretty anxious himself. He knew he wasn't the best cook out there, and art also wasn't his strong spot, but he figured that writing "Happy Father's Day" wouldn't be so hard. Jack insisted in some skittles on top of it, too, because "Cas loves colorful things and he even ate some of Jack's last week and seemed to like it!". Dean wasn't so sure. He knew Cas had a weird relationship with food. He didn't need it, and hardly found any he genuinely liked. So he might not eat it at all. Or he might eat it just to make Dean feel good.

But there was something else he had in mind. Something he and Jack had picked in town last week. It was sappy and simple and exactly the kind of thing he never though they’d get to experience.

In the kitchen counter, close to the coffee machine, there was a porcelain mug wrapped with a colorful ribbon. And on it was written “BEST DAD EVER”.

Coffee was something that Cas liked. Especially when it had plenty of sugar. The mug was silly, the kind of thing you’d find at the dollar store, but it made Dean smile just thinking about it. Cas could drink from it everyday.

Jack followed his gaze and stared at it with a smile. Then he turned to Dean, and to the cake, and seemed to understand something.

“You know he’ll love it too, right?” Dean smiled, but it wasn’t natural anymore. He wasn’t surprised when Jack didn’t buy it. “No, I’m serious. He likes chantilly. He likes chocolate cake. He likes skittles. He loves you. Why wouldn’t he like it?”

It wasn’t planned at all. It just came out. Easy like that.

He likes all those things. He loves you.

Dean sucked in a breath but before he could reply Jack was staring back at the mug. It seemed like he was already thinking about something else. He was like that, sometimes. Too much energy, a bit like an actual child would have, and not enough place to put it. It wasn’t uncommon for him to lose his train of thought mid sentence. It’s like his own brain was a bit too fast for him.

Dean was like that too, sometimes.

He silently wondered if he should scold him for that, like his own father did to him. But he couldn’t bring himself to do so. Instead, He nudged Jack’s shoulder softly. “Go on. Use plenty of chantilly, ‘kay? You’re right, he likes it.”

Jack didn’t need to be told twice. He hopped to the fridge and got the rest of the chantilly Dean used for the cake. Gently placed the ribbon a little lower on the mug so he could pour something inside it. Turned to the kitchen cabinet and picked up a spoon, and, before Dean, he raised his index finger.

And the coffee machine started working.

Magically.

“Jack!” Dean hissed. He didn’t want to deal with that right now. “Jack, please. Don’t-”

“It’s okay!” he seemed excited “I got it.” he brought a spoonful of chantilly, and the mug floated and stood right in front of him, gravity be damned. “It’s easier this way, I can just-” he held the chantilly container with one hand, the spoon with the other, and the mug was hovering in front of him. There was no way he couldn’t see how that was dangerous.

“Jack, come on,” Dean stopped decorating the cake and reached for the mug “just put it d-”

“Whoa, guys?”

Too many things happened too fast. Sam walked through the kitchen door, rubbing his eyes lazily. Dean flinched. Hard. He thought Cas had discovered them. Jack also flinched, his eyes wide and scared, like he’d been found doing something he shouldn’t be doing. The coffee machine stopped working. The mug fell.

It shattered on the floor, before them.

“Oh, shit.” Sam said, wise as ever.”

“Oh, no, no, no, no, no! Come on! Look at it! Goddammit, kid, why did you have to- Come on!”

“Guys? Uh, sorry-”

“I’m- I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to! I thought- I thought Cas had- I got scared, I’m sorry, Dean, I can fix this, let me just-” he gestured to it, clearly intending to use his powers again, but Dean stopped him, gripping his wrist forcefully with just a little too much strength.

“No. You’ve done enough.” Dean said, his voice cold. He wasn’t sure how exactly things could get worse, but he didn’t want to find out either. Jack struggled to get away from his hold with wobbling lips.

“Dean-” Sam placed a careful hand on his brother’s shoulder “what’s going on?”

“It’s father’s day.” Dean said “We baked a cake and bought Cas a stupid mug but now-” he sighed “the kid used his creepy ass powers and now it’s broken.”

That was like someone had slapped Jack in the face. He finally managed to get his arm free and stepped back like it had burned him. He clutched his wrist, and cried.

“I’m s-sorry...” he managed between sobs.

Dean stared.

He was crying. Outright bawling his eyes out like it was all he knew how to do. If Cas hadn’t slept in Dean’s room (conveniently far away from the kitchen, it was all thought out, that’s definetely the only reason he was there) exhausted from last night’s activities (angels don’t need sleep, per se, but they do benefit from it every now and then if they’re low on grace and already tired from... uh, hunting) he probably would have woken up.

“Oh, shit.” Dean said, for once, somewhat wise.

“I’m sorry, I’m- I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to- I shouldn’t have used th-them. It’s my fault! I didn’t- I didn’t mean-!” he stepped back again, like he was scared anyone would hurt him (or he would hurt anyone).

Dean’s heart dropped to his toes and he wanted to punch himself in the face.

“Shit, kid. No, it’s- Fuck. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have- I shouldn’t have yelled like that. Fuck. Sam, a little help here?”

Sam stared at them for a second, his eyebrows knitted together.

Dean got mad and went a bit too far. That’s happened before.

It happened a lot with John.

But Dean would always chime in and fix John’s messes for him.

Sam turned around, brought a shovel and a broom and in two swift movements cleaned the remains of the mug while Dean stared at him like he’d grown a second head.

And then he left the kitchen.

“What the fuck. Sam, what the- Sam!” but, obviously, Sam didn’t turn around. It wasn’t that he didnt care. He did. So much. He was scared that if he let them there things would only get worse. But he trusted them- he had to.

Dean and Jack needed to have this conversation by themselves.

Jack. The Jack that was pressed up against the wall crying desperately like there’s no tomorrow. Dean wanted to cry too.

“Kid. Jack. Jack, I’m sorry. Hey, listen to me.” he took a careful step but Jack didn’t even seem to notice. He was clutching his own wrist so hard Dean was scared he was going to break the skin.

He raised his hand and slowly reached for his wrist. Jack flinched again and looked up to Dean like he was surprised that he was so close. Slowly, like he was trying to approach a wild animal, Dean held the kid’s hand and opened it, forcing him to let go.

“There we go. Careful, kiddo. You were hurting yourself.”

Jack scoffed, or tried to, but as he hadn’t stopped crying yet it sounded a little like a scared cat. “Right. Like I d-don’t deserve it.”

“No.” Dean’s voice was suddenly rough again “No, you don’t. Kid- Jack, look at me.”

Jack didn’t want to, but Dean reached for his chin softly and, carefully, as if the Nephilim was made of glass, he brought his face up.

“I-I ruined it, Dean. I broke the mug.”

“Yeah.” his voice was soft again “You did. But it’s okay. You didn’t do it on purpose. You got scared. You shouldn’t have been so careless, but you didn’t mean to do it. I know you didn’t. Okay? You just have to be more careful next time. It’s fine. You’re fine, okay? I’m... I’m sorry I yelled. I’m sorry I hurt you.”

Jack stared at him. His lips were slightly parted and his face was still tear stained. Dean ran his thumbs through his cheekbones, drying his tears softly. Jack let him.

“I’m sorry, Dean. I shouldn’t have... Used them. My- my creepy powers.”

“No, Jack, it’s okay. Those powers, they’re not creepy, okay? They’ve helped so many people before. They’ve saved us. And they’re a part of you, and you’re not creepy, okay? You’re not. I’m sorry I said that. I was wrong. And I shouldn’t have- Shouldn’t have yelled. I’m sorry, too. I’m sorry, Jack.”

Jack looked like he was waiting for the punchline. He studied Dean’s face, and eventually he stuttered out “It’s... It’s okay, Dean.”

“We both fucked up, huh?” he chuckled softly, and Jack did so too.

“Yeah. I guess- I guess we did.”

“Well, I’m the adult. I can’t let this happen again. I’m not going to. Okay? I’ll be more careful too. I just- I lost it, Jack. I’m so, so sorry. I hope you know how wrong I was. You’re not bad, Jack. You didn’t do this on purpose. You were just trying to be faster. It’s okay. You made a small mistake. It’s no biggie. I need to keep it cool next time, okay?”

“No! No, there won’t be a next time, Dean. I’ll be more careful, I promise!”

Dean smiled. “I know, Jack, I know you will. But you’re four. You’re gonna make silly mistakes like this. Your job is to try a little more everyday. Okay?”

Jack nodded enthusiastically. “I will. I’ll do my best.”

“I know you will, little guy. I will, too, okay?”

“Okay.”

“I promise, too.” Jack smiled at that. Dean swept his hair from his face, leaned in and kissed the kid’s forehead. He beamed. And then he stopped. Dean glanced at his face.

“But, Dean... It’s, it’s broken, now. We only have the cake and the card.”

“Well, I’m sure he’ll love them, Jack.”

“Yeah, but... It’s... It’s Cas, Dean. He deserves better.”

Dean contemplated for a second. And then he smiled. Jack tilted his head in a very Cas-like fashion.

“I have an idea.”

Cas turned around in Dean’s bed, hoping to find the man laying next to him. He didn’t.

It wasn’t unnexpected, you see, Dean woke up early everyday. Cas wasn’t used to sleeping, but when he did, he slept in late. He only needs his four hours after all. But honestly, Cas couldn’t help but wonder if there was some shame in there.

He glanced around the room and decided it would be best if he got dressed. He got up, groaning softly, then retrieved his underwear and pants from Dean’s desk. His shirt was on the ground. Tie and trenchcoat were perched on a chair. His cellphone was on his pocket. He thought about going out, maybe make Jack some breakfast, but it was still early and the kid was probably asleep. So he decided to go back to bed (without his trenchcoat, mind you, not even he is that formal).

Immediately as he laid down there was a knock on the door. “Come in!” he slurred out, still sleepy.

Whoever was on the other side hesitated. “Are you... Decent?”

Cas couldn’t stop his smile. “Yeah, Dean, I’m decent.”

“No, like... Jack- Jack is here, Cas.”

There was a laugh on the other side. “Dude?” Sam whispered. Cas decided to pretend he didn’t hear him.

“Come in, Dean. Unless you want me to put on my shoes as well.”

The door opened and the first thing Cas noticed is that Dean’s whole face was red as a tomato. The second thing was that he was holding a cake covered in chantilly and skittles and the third is that he was followed by Jack and Sam.

Oh, no, did he forget anyone’s birthday?

But they didn’t sing. Instead, Jack jumped on the bed, holding something colorful. Sam was right behind him, holding a wooden platform and placing it on the bed. It was like a support so nothing would fall. Dean put the cake on the platform and Jack placed something too.

Cas blinked.

“Uh, wh-what’s... Did I... Miss something?”

“It’s Father’s Day!!” Jack beamed. Cas couldn’t help but mirror his smile. But he was still a bit confused.

“O-okay, so...?” Jack leaped at him, involving him in a hug.

“Happy Father’s Day, dad!”

Oh. Oh! “Jack!”

“Kid’s super excited. It’s your first Father’s day without an apocalypse, after all. So, we... Yeah. We did something.” Dean tried to explain. He scratched the back of his head awkwardly. Cas stared at him like he’d personally brought him the moon.

“They did something for you, too, Cas. Look!” Sam pointed at the colorful package at the improvised table. He noticed, then, that it wasn’t a package.

It was a mug involved by a colorful ribbon. The one he usually used. It used to be white and bland. But now, there was a blue tie doodled on it, and in Dean’s unmistakable handwriting it was written “WORLD’S BEST DAD”. It was filled with coffee and chantilly, just the way he likes it.

Cas held it in his hands and couldn’t stop the tears flooding his face.

For a second, Jack panicked. His eyes widened and he looked between Cas and Dean questioningly. Dean reached a hand to his shoulder and whispered “I think he likes it, Champ.”

“But- But he’s crying?”

Cas sniffed loudly, then. He couldn’t explain it. He didn’t expect it. World’s best dad, him? “They’re... T-they’re tears of joy, Jack.”

Sam giggled sofly. He brought his cellphone up and started recording. He was happy he did, because just at that moment, Dean leaned down and kissed him wholeheartedly.

Like, on the lips. Full on romantic kiss. The type they show on TV.

If Jack was surprised, he didn’t show it. But he was happy, that was clear. Sam, however, cheered them on. “Oh, fucking finally!”

Dean showed the camera his middle finger. Jack tilted his head again, and Sam zoomed in on him, mumbling something about “like father, like son”. When they broke apart, their pupils blown and panting softly, Dean cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck. Cas was at loss for words.

Jack seemed to remember something, then, and shoved his card on Cas’ face with no mercy. “Oh, oh! I also made a card! And Dean baked the cake! We painted the mug together. He taught me how to draw a tie. Do you like it?”

“Liked it? Jack, I love it. Look at it! You drew a bee, too! It’s so pretty.” he sighed contented while Dean tried to steal Sam’s phone only to find he had already sent the video to Eileen. Jack stared at him with childlike wonder, and Cas was almost scared for a moment because of how happy he was. But it was okay. He was allowed to be happy. He deserved it. “I love it. Thank you, so much. All of you. It’s perfect- you’re perfect.” he turned to Dean, with Sam’s hand on his shoulder as he cooed childishly. “I love you, Dean.” And then he turned to Jack, the kid smiling in blissful, childish naivety. “And I love you, son.”

“See?” Dean grinned, nudging Jack playfully “I told you he’d love it.”

66 notes · View notes

blu-joons · 4 years ago

Text

DATING BTOB A⇴Z HEADCANON ⇴ Lee Changsub

A ⇴ AFFECTION

Changsub is always incredibly cuddly around him, it’s very much a habit of his to wrap his arms around you whenever you’re in reaching distance, he can’t help but have you as close as he can into him as often as possible.

B ⇴ BEFORE DATING

Your first meeting was all a bit of a misunderstanding, you caught Changsub pulling a funny face, presuming that he was doing it in your direction, pulling one back. It was only when you noticed a guy behind you, you realised it wasn’t actually at you, but Changsub was far too much of a tease to ignore what you’d done.

C ⇴ CONFESSION

It all ended up working in your favour though, and the two of you got to know each other well. Changsub ended up confessing how much he enjoyed getting to know you through a short song that he’d written. Music was his best way of expressing himself, and so he invited you over to his place one day, with plenty of instruments laid out in the living room, inviting you to sit down and listen to what he had to say.

D ⇴ DATES

His love for music often resonated into your dates as well, Changsub loved to take you to live gigs and other events in the city, whether it was music, a film, or even sometimes a comedy event, he loved seeing someone else go through the adrenaline of being on stage as he often experienced. You just tended to trust him and his suggestions on places that the two of you could go to, but they usually turned out to be a pretty good time anyway, with only a few minor hiccups along the way with some acts.

E ⇴ EXPERIENCE

Changsub had some old dating rumours which certainly played on his mind when the two of you began to get together. He was determined to keep you protected out of the vicious cycle that the Korean media could be, and make sure that you were sure that a relationship was something that you definitely wanted before things got too serious between you both. Changsub couldn’t help but worry, and also the last thing he wanted was to deal with the attention of a dating rumour once again.

F ⇴ FIGHTING

If there was one thing you learnt about Changsub quite early on in your relationship, it was that no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t hide whenever he was in a bad mood. It usually ended up working in your favour as you’d know when to steer clear of him and when not to start an argument because he was feeling pretty low. But if you managed to catch him off guard, then the bad mood would very quickly be very obvious to you, and once you’d been caught by his vents of frustrations, it was usually a pretty terrible loophole for you to find your way out of without the two of you arguing with each other first.

G ⇴ GETTING TO KNOW HIS FAMILY

Changsub was incredibly close with his family, which made you incredibly anxious to meet them all. You were terrified, putting off your first meeting for as long as you possibly could, until his sister’s birthday came around, and Changsub promised that you’d be in attendance without even asking you to join him.

H ⇴ HOME

You were quite quick to move into Changsub’s place, he loved having you there and the company that you brought. It was no fun for him to mess around in such a nice apartment all by himself, and so having you there to enjoy it with him was definitely something that he wanted sooner rather than later in your relationship.

I ⇴ “I LOVE YOU”

Changsub ended up being the first of the two of you to say, ‘I love you,’ on a letter that he wrote whilst BTOB were in the middle of a tour. He was far too nervous to ring you or say it in person, so at the end of a lengthy letter about all the adventures he’d been on so far, he signed it off with his name, and his confession too.

J �� JEALOUSY

Just like with his bad moods, it was very apparent to you too when Changsub would be feeling jealous too. His face always managed to give it away, how his eyes would narrow at whoever was making him feel jealous, and how he’d always poke his tongue against the inside of his cheek. Whenever you’d challenge him about it, he’d always vow that he wasn’t jealous, but as soon as you’d imitate the face that you saw him pulling across the room, he’d know the game was up and that he didn’t have a leg to stand on.

K ⇴ KIDS

You certainly felt the pressure from his family to start considering a family of your own quite soon into your relationship. They knew the two of you were great, and it was obvious to them all that the two of you were going to stick together, and with that, their minds instantly looked to kids. Changsub could often only apologise for how forward they were, assuring them it was something you’d think about when the time was right.

L ⇴ LAUGHTER

Changsub had plenty of quirks and weird habits that meant there weren’t many times around him that you didn’t have a smile on your face. You never knew quite what to expect from him next, one minute he’d be serious and an adult, the next minute he’d be running around the place like a kid, trying to get you involved in all sorts of pranks and jokes on the other members. Changsub loved to enjoy himself and was more than happy in expressing himself and how crazy he could be without the fear of what others would think. All that mattered was that you loved and enjoyed the person that he was.

M ⇴ MISSING

Just like with many other stages of emotion, it was very clear to the group when Changsub was missing you on the road too. Of course, as with his jealous, he’d argue that he was fine, but the group hadn’t spent a decade together for no reason, they knew Changsub better than he knew himself sometimes. Eventually they’d manage to wear him down into admitting that he was struggling, but not before he made them all promise that they wouldn’t tell you how low he was feeling, because as he always told them, and you, the last thing he wanted to do was make the tour more difficult for you.

N ⇴ NICKNAMES

Changsub loved to give you cute nicknames that he knew would make you blush. He was always coming up with new ones, sometimes very random, but each one always managed to get him a reaction out of you.

O ⇴ OBSESSION

He was obsessed with your eyes, he could always tell exactly what was going on and how you were feeling, usually just by the way that you looked back at him.

P ⇴ PDA

You could never expect Changsub to be normal with his affection in public, he loved to clown around, and would often play up to any cameras that were around too, knowing that the fans loved to see the two of you too. No matter what, it would always take you by surprise, and leave him scolded when you got home too.

Q ⇴ QUESTIONS

He’ll always make sure to check in and see how you are at various points throughout your day together. Your eyes are always a giveaway, so if you lie, then he’ll just keep asking until he gets the truth out of you.

R ⇴ RANDOM FACTS

You’ll often find yourself falling asleep with your fingers tracing over Changsub’s tattoos, usually with him already fast asleep beside you. You’ll often doodle new ones too, tracing random patterns along his arm or his ribcage. Although he never lets on, the feeling of your fingers trailing along his skin is definitely a feeling that helps him sleep tonight, although he’s far too scared to admit that to you in person.

S ⇴ SEX

For the most part, Changsub is always incredibly loving when it comes to intimacy, he enjoys the moment and the adrenaline rush that comes with it. However, it usually isn’t long before he starts up with his usual antics, when he finds himself falling too deeply, he’ll come out with a joke or make a funny remark to try and make things a little less intense between the two of you, never quite knowing how to cope with the sudden passion.

T ⇴ TEXTS

If he can’t ask you in person how you’re doing, then Changsub will often text you instead. Although he never wholly trusts in your response, the fact that you responded alone is usually a good enough sign for him.

U ⇴ UNIVERSE

More than anything else, Changsub loves that you’re someone who can really appreciate his sense of humour and give him somewhere to be himself. He never has to hide or pretend around you, because you love every part of who he is.

V ⇴ VACATION

It had been quite a while since Changsub got to spend some time with his family, and so when the chance to go away came around, he decided to create a huge trip for you, him, and his family too. It was also the perfect chance for you to get to know them more too, and another event that you couldn’t back out of.

W ⇴ WHINING

There were definitely times that Changsub would whine, whilst he didn’t crave attention, sometimes he just couldn’t help but want your eyes on him.

X ⇴ XXXXX

He would love nothing more than when he was able to tease you with his kisses, he loved to pull away just as you began to deepen a kiss, or tug gently against your bottom lip when you were busy in the hope that it would distract you from what you were doing and put your attention on him. However, if you ever did that to him, you could be guaranteed to be in big trouble with him, unimpressed by your antics.

Y ⇴ YOU

You were his best friends, together you were the best possible team.

Z ⇴ ZZZ

The struggle was definitely real when it came to trying to wake Changsub up in the morning. You’d never known someone sleep as well as he did, often resorting to dangerous tactics to try and wake him up and get him out of bed.

---

Masterlist

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1-800-roflmao · 4 years ago

Text

Wash Day Delight Pt. 4

Rating: General Audiences

WARNINGS: None

Fandom: Undertale (Video Game)

Relationships: Papyrus (Undertale)/Reader, Papyrus (Undertale) & Reader, Papyrus (Underfell) & Reader, Papyrus (FSG) & Reader, Papyrus (Swapfell) & Reader

Characters: Papyrus (Undertale), Reader, Edge (UF Pap), and Mentions of Other AU Skeletons

Additional Tags: Reader Is Not Frisk (Undertale), Reader Is Not Chara (Undertale), reader is poc, Reader has curly hair, Undertale Monsters on the Surface, Friendship, Wholesome, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, I'm Bad At Summaries, Not Beta Read, Romance if you squint, Subtext, Let Papyrus be Sassy, Edge Is The Unwilling Dad Friend, Idiots in Love, Fluff and Humor, Slice of Life, Teasing Edge Is Fun, Papy is Best Boi

*Split this chapter into two. Will be posting both today. Morning thoughts and Papy has a great idea! Tried avoiding using y/n as much as I could, but had to this chapter.

PREVIOUS || FIRST || NEXT

She would say morning came too quickly, but in all honesty, this was technically her second time waking up that morning. Somehow, in spite of the tireless workout she had been put through the night before, she had woken up at the usual time right before her alarm--that was NOT set cause she turned that off with plans to sleep in today--would have gone off. She’d spared a single, groggy glance at her phone’s clock. The notifications lining the screen not even registering in her mind. No, she’d get her well earned sleep in had been and without further adieu, she had put the phone back down, rolled over, and snuggled back in for another few hours of sleep.

That had been earlier. Now, she blinked awake as light from the mid-morning sun sneaked through the slim openings of the curtains just behind her bed. Blearily, her eyes followed the rays path across her form, her bed, and eventually over the floor where it seemed to highlight her shed clothes along with the open bathroom. Right… she had forgotten to brush her teeth in her haste to sleep. Rolling her tongue and opening and closing her mouth, she winced as she felt her cheek move against the now very cold wet spot on her pillow. Well, at least that second round of sleep was apparently heavy and content.

“Eugth…” Not that it made waking up in your drool anymore pleasant. Trying to sit up resulted in even more groans as her muscles protested. Yup, there were those core muscles that had been oddly silent yesterday acting up today. Her arm she had tried to push up on had not been too much trouble, but her shoulder had twinged and she had gone back down. She had managed to at least roll on her back and away from the drool pool though. Positives. Focus on the positives. For a few moments, she just let herself completely relax into the mattress and pillows, just breathing--in and out, slow and even, again and again until all her tension dispersed.

“They really did me in,” she mumbled as she began to roll her wrists, “But I’ve got too much to get done to be lyin’ around here all day feelin’ miserable.” Too much considering her now very awake mind realized she had forgotten to wrap her hair, but thankfully she had splurged on satin sheets and pillowcases, so it shouldn’t be too bad. Maybe it was a blessing in disguise, she didn’t get her wrap sweaty… “Still gonna wash it.” By now, she had started stretching and working her shoulders with careful, slow rolls and reaches. The more she moves, the more she’ll loosen up and actually be able to function. She just couldn’t overdue it.

As she moved onto her legs, she couldn’t stifle a little moan of discomfort as she lifted one limb at time to carefully draw her knee in towards her stomach before extending again. It took time, but eventually she was able to push herself up into a sitting position. Muscles in her back, abdomen, and surprising what felt like her butt that she hadn’t been aware of protested, but a few more deep breathes calmed them. Seeing her phone laying on the sheets near her, she guessed earlier that morning she hadn’t bothered to put the phone back where it went exactly, but current her was very thankful for her sleepy self’s carelessness.

Picking up the device, she decided to take a moment to rest before continuing her war against her body. Besides, she could remember that she had messages to reply to. Tapping the screen, she input her pattern and tapped on the messages app. The first one she opened was Coffee’s. “Oooh,” she cooed as she looked over the drawing once again with fresh eyes. Last night, she remembered thinking the hairstyle was cute, but now she could see the little details he included, like his choice of including a custom undercut design. Could her barber achieve that? She’d have to ask, but for now.

(to JavaBoi)

Flooffie: Good morning!

Flooffie: Sorry about not replying last night

Flooffie: This hairstyle is so cute

Flooffie: And the undercut design is SICK!

Flooffie: In a good way

Flooffie: I’d love to wear it, but I’ll have to check in with my barber about the undercut.

She waited a moment to see if he’d answer, but no little dots popped up so she guessed he was possibly still sleeping or he was busy. Most likely the former. Leaving that conversation, she sent a quick message to her barber asking how complicated a design he would be willing to do on an undercut. She hadn’t expected an answer, but no sooner had she went to click the back button, his answer popped up. His answer surmised that he had done more complicated pieces, but it all depends on the design. “Makes sense…” she mumbled before forwarding the doodle to him. It took him a moment longer to reply this time, but his answer had her beaming: “Sure, just get a better reference. Bigger too.”

(to JavaBoi)

Flooffie: I feel like I’m spamming you. Sorry!

Flooffie: But I got with my barber and he said he could do it

Flooffie: Just he needs a better ref

Flooffie: Could you draw it bigger?

Flooffie: I’ll treat you!

She included some pleading and heart emojis for good measure, even though she was sure he wouldn’t mind one bit. Moving on, she opened up a certain someone’s convo, eager to see how he reacted to her last text. A little laugh bubbled past her smile as she saw his reply, full of exclamation marks and a little pause between two of the replies.

(11:33 PM) Papaya: ….

(11:40 PM) Papaya: !!!!!!!

Papaya: TOUCHE! ALTHOUGH I HAD TO GOOGLE WHAT YOU HAD MEANT

Papaya: MY SKILLS AT PICKING UP THESE IDIOMS IS IMPROVING

Papaya: WHO CAME UP WITH THESE THINGS? WHY? WHY NOT JUST SAY WHAT YOU MEAN?!

(11:45 PM) Papaya: YOUR LACK OF RESPONSE MUST MEAN YOU HAVE FINALLY GONE TO BED

Papaya: GOOD

(12:01 AM) Papaya: SWEET DREAMS, (Y/N)

Her amusement at how Papyrus could continue a conversation with no one there was overshadowed by the warmth the last text brought. It was such a simple little thing. It’s not like he had even called her a pet name, but it still had her flushing and turning her face away from the phone like that would somehow ease the heat. Maybe it was because she could see the timestamp and knew he had taken the time to pick up the phone again after setting it down for a while just to send that message. Was it narcissistic to think she was his last thought before he fell asleep? “It’s too early to be this flustered!” she whined, the fingers of her free hand playing with ends of one of her braids, “All over a text that might not have any deeper meaning…”

After her little grumble, she did her best to ignore the sting the words brought. One more deep breath, she turned back to her phone and the texts, allowing a small smile. There was no sense in making herself miserable. It was still a dear friend thinking of her after all.

(to Papaya)

Flooffie: Morning Papi! Hope you had sweet dreams as well

Before she could start her next message, she saw those little dots pop up and chuckled. Of Course he was up already.

Papaya: GOOD MORNING!

Papaya: I DO NOT REMEMBER MY DREAMS, BUT I’M SURE THEY WERE GREAT!

Flooffie: Just like you, eh?

Papaya: OFCOURSE!

Papaya: UM… HOW ARE YOU FEELING THIS MORNING?

Papaya: NOT TOO SORE I HOPE

She snorted at that before replying.

Floofie: Like I got hit by a 18 wheeler in the fast lane and somehow survived to regret it.

Papaya: ….

Papaya: APOLOGIES

Papaya: BUT ARE YOU COMPARING YOUR PAIN TO GETTING HIT BY A SEMI?!

She could just feel his panic and knew he would start fretting through the text. She felt just a little guilty laughing at his reaction. Thankfully, it wasn’t too difficult to calm him down and assure him she was simply exaggerating. No, he didn’t need to take her to the hospital. No, he had not broken her. At Least as far as she knew he hadn’t.

Throughout, she had slowly worked her way to the edge of the bed and now sat with her legs hanging off. In between texts with Papyrus, he opened a few of the others. One was Edge checking in with a reminder that she shouldn’t over exert herself. She went to send a little thumbs up, but paused and instead juggled between two responses. Which would mess with him more? Biting her bottom lip, she finally settled on one and quickly sent it: “Yes, Daddy~”. Knowing Edge, he was up, but wouldn’t look at the message until he had a moment, so she closed the convo. She could see the damage later.

More puns and jokes which she graced with appropriate responses: groans at the especially bad ones and chuckles at the ones that were actually clever. She of course made her approval known with quick little texts and gifs; the bad ones received the same treatment. None of it was mean and to tell the truth, it only fanned the flames for these gremlins as she had learned. They seemed determined to dig up the worst puns they could manage. By the time, she finished replying, she had made it to the bathroom and was finally taking care of her dental hygiene.

Her phone now dinged instead of buzzing with each new text. Most of which were from Papyrus she assumed. Toothbrush in her mouth, she picked up her phone and opened the texting app again as she resumed brushing with her other hand. She had been correct. A line of texts from her friend popped up on the screen and they ranged from bringing up his question about idioms from last night to checking in that she was actually taking the time to rest. She thanked the stars that her phone wasn’t on the larger side as it allowed her to hold and type with one hand.

Flooffie: Decided to make today wash day since people are INSISTING I rest. Was due for one anyway.

Papaya: WASH DAY? YOU HAVE A DAY DEDICATED TO WASHING?

Papaya: I THOUGHT HUMANS PRUNE IF THEY ARE IN WATER TOO LONG?

She let him get out all his ponderings and ramblings, which took a good minute, before she finally jumped in. Although she’d love to convince him it was a secret, sacred holiday and ritual that humans have to partake in a few days a year for… reasons, she fought down her inner prankster and cursed Cash for his influence on her.

Flooffie: It’s nothing elaborate… kinda?

Flooffie: It’s just that people like me tend to have a lot of hair and it takes time to properly care for it.

Flooffie: So, we make a day of it. Chill and relax, pamper ourselves, etc

She was a bit surprised he hadn’t replied immediately and had actually finished with her dental routine by the time he finally texted back.

Papaya: SO IT IS A DAY DEDICATED TO YOUR HAIR?!

Oh, she hadn’t seen this much enthusiasm from him for her hair in a good bit. As his texts came through, she felt touched he wanted to learn more and she was happy to inform him, best she could over text anyway. There was another long pause in between his text. Just long enough for her to reach for her shower handle as she decided to finally take a shower and get started on her day. Her phone dinged and Papyrus changed all her plans.

Papaya: WHY DON’T YOU HAVE YOUR WASH DAY AT OUR HOUSE?!!

#reader is definitely feeling it the after effects #morning thoughts #fluffy feelings #she needs to be careful playing with Edge #gonna bite her on her butt one day #fluff #papyrus #undertale #undertale au #poc reader #curly haired reader #underfell #fellswap gold #swapfell #papyrus x reader #papyrus x you #papyrus x y/n #ut fanfic #fanfiction

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icequeenoriginal · 5 years ago

Text

The Meaning of FamILY

Note: I am so sorry for this taking centuries to come out, I blame laziness and writer’s block. So here it finally is, @khadij-al-kubra, the fic you requested. Again, I am so so sorry this took so long to get out. Also, this takes place a year after Intimacy and All Its Forms. Also Happy Late One Year Anniversary of this AU’s blog.

Thank you @theromnempire for editing. You’re the best!

Names of side characters belong to @hi-i-love-u-bitch. This AU belongs to @ask-spiderverse-virgil and @sugarglider9603

Trigger Warnings: Deaths mentioned, two past minor character death, crying (Let me know if I missed anything)

Pairings: Prinxiety and Logicality

Roman was ushered into the living room by his older sister. He couldn’t understand why. Normally when his father came home, he would see Roman sitting at the kitchen table, doing his homework and his father would walk over and ask about before changing out of his work clothes.

Maybe it was a celebration! Or maybe a surprise! But…why was Amá crying?

Roman’s mother looked up and locked eyes with her confused, innocent son. It made her burst into more tears and Roman ran to comfort her.

“¿Amá?¿Por qué lloras mami?” Roman asked while tilting his head to the side.

Lupita couldn’t help but smile at Roman, almost forgetting what had just happened. She frowned, and more tears fell as she realized what she had to do now.

“Roman ...mi Valiente chico…tengo algo que decirte...se trata de tu padre…”

Roman woke up with a start like he did every year on this day. It’s always the same memory that would wake him up like clockwork, ending right before his mom said the words that shattered his world forever. Roman’s brain liked to torture him but pretend to forget the worst part.

He decided not to think about it and just dressed.

Roman never noticed how quiet the house actually was on this day. Any other day of the year, even if he was the first to wake up, there was some kind of noise. It could be anything from the humming of the ceiling fan or people rushing to get breakfast ready. But today, nothing. All the sounds of the apartment were swept out as if the family occupying the house needed a reminder of what was happening

Maybe Roman just lost his touch with reality on this day. He was never sure, not that it really mattered. He knew the world did not stop just because he is in a shitty mood. Did that ever make him feel any better? No, but it gave him a false motivation to get up and get ready for school.

He walked to the twins' room, like every day, to get them ready for school. Any other of the 365 days of the year, the twins would already be awake, fully ready to run around and make Roman’s morning even more hectic. Today, both had a blanket over their heads and he could hear his little sister sniffling.

He wished it was because of a cold. It never was.

“Vamos, es hora de levantarse,” Roman said, just loud enough for the twins to hear, worried if his voice went any height they could hear how broke it was.

“NO!” both Jenni and Marco shouted, pulling the blanket simultaneously over their heads. Roman wanted to laugh at the sight, badly.

Instead, he sighed “No no, you guys gotta get up and go to school.”

“NO!” Marco shouted

“It’s a bad day today!” Jenni cries

“I know guys but we can’t miss school,” Roman said softly.

“We’ll go to school tomorrow!”

“Yeah, when it’s not Papi’s death day!”

Roman inhaled sharply, it was the first time of the day someone acknowledged what the 17th of February meant. The house somehow got even muter, if that was possible. His sister and brother burst into tears and Roman felt his face heat up. But he couldn’t cry, he was-

A soft, reassuring hand landed on his shoulder as he took a step forward.

“Amá…” Roman said, his voice strained

Lupita’s eyes were full of storms of sadness, threatening a downpour. “Roman ... ve y desayuna.”

Roman shook his head. He could do it, he had to. His mother had enough on her plate. “Pero Amá--” Lupita cut him off.

“Está bien. No te preocupes por eso”

Roman sighed “Okay.” He was too tired to argue. This day seemed to already take so much out of him and it had hardly had started.

Roman sulked to the kitchen and made himself some toast. Something quick, easy and he was least likely to get sick from. He stared absently, unfortunately making eye contact with his father in an old happy family photo. He sucks in his breath as silent memories began to haunt him like they always do. He hated those more than any amount of his siblings sobbing or screaming in agony. He could tune those out with music, his one constant. These just got louder and louder no matter what he tried.

What snapped him out of the pitiful void was a vibration from his phone. He pulled it out to reveal a text notification from Patton.

Bestie <3: I’ll be on the fire escape in a minute! Alex stole my sweater again :(((

Roman frowned, had he really taken that long to get ready? He hadn’t even made anyone’s lunch or even breakfast. He wasn’t even sure he was ready to talk to anyone today. Much less to get their glances of pity. Constantly hearing “sorry for your loss” got old quick. Besides, he didn’t want to bring anyone down, especially his best friends, just because of what today is. He sighed and texted Patton back:

Romaine Lettuce :): It’s okay. I’m gonna swing over to school today, go on without me.

Roman saw that Patton had read his text but he didn’t reply. Roman didn’t think much of it, he figured he was still chasing Alex around, and just grabbed his toast as soon as it was done in the toaster.

“Amá! I’m heading out to school! I love you! Bye!” Roman didn’t wait for a reply and ran up the stairs that lead to the roof as he put on his costume. Web swinging always seemed to calm his nerves, or more accurately, distracted him. Something about one mistake and you can fall to your death really makes your other problems seem small. As he was about to fire his first web, a voice shouted for him to halt.

Patton ran up to him, also in full costume “Wait for me!”

“Pat?” Roman asked, not trying to hide his confusion. “What are you doing here?”

Although Patton had the mask on, It wasn’t hard to tell he was smiling. “I’m going to swing with you.”

“You don’t have to.”

“I know but I want to head to school with you like I always do.”

Roman felt a mixture of happiness and guilt swirl around in his stomach, creating an unpleasant cocktail make just for him. Not that he knew what a cocktail tasted like.

Roman gave a small smile behind his mask “Okay then Pat, I’ll race you” and took off without another word.

They swung without another word, which relieved Roman. He didn’t want to be asked about how he was doing, the answer was obvious and Roman was tired of being asked it.

Unfortunately, this feeling did not last and Roman quickly returns to his self-pity and dark thoughts. Roman was so lost in his brooding thoughts of the bombardment of sympathy that he would receive through the day that he did not see the tall building in front of him. Thankfully, Patton did and webbed Roman quick enough so that he landed on the roof.

Well...landed is a generous term here. With how fast Roman was going, Patton had to quickly web him and throw him on the roof of the building.

Patton landed gracefully next to him. He placed his hands on his hips and said: “Okay, that’s enough swinging for you, mister!”

“I’m fine Patton, I just wasn’t paying attention this time.”

Patton shook his head, “You’re distracted, understandably so and I know you don’t want to talk about it, even though you should, but I won’t make you. It’s not safe Roman! I can’t let my best friend get hurt again! Not on my watch…”

Roman could see the agony swept into Patton’s eyes. He knew that memories of the year before, bad ones brought nothing but pain, were swarming Patton’s mind. Memories of Roman avoiding him, the fighting, the robot battle, all were tearing Patton down. It was a look far too familiar to him.

Roman ran to Patton as he began to shake. Roman muttered an apology that seemed small to himself but was perfect to Patton. Once Patton was able to calm himself down, he hugged Roman tightly, to show he was never going to let him go.

“Let’s walk to school okay? I know a game we can play. It’s called “Beautiful Things’. As we walk, we point out the beautiful things we see and why we find them beautiful. Alex and Georgie made it up after Frankie…passed…and we played it all the time”

Roman raised his mask just above his lip to show that he was smiling “That sounds great, Patton, I’d love to.”

So they snuck off the roof, changed, and walked. They pointed out birds, children, babies, and music playing from cars. Roman had no idea that such a simple game could bring him so much calm, but it did. He never realized there is so much good in the world, that was what they, as heroes, fought for.

When they got to school, Roman headed to his locker. To an outside viewer, it was nothing out of the ordinary. But for the four, it was breaking the sacred tradition. First, they would meet at Logan’s locker as it was the closest to the entrance. Then they would make their way to their own lockers while catching up with one another. Finally, they would arrive at homeroom to get ready for the school day.

However, as Roman watched Patton saunter over and embrace Logan, his feet didn’t want to go anywhere except towards an island of isolation. He didn’t want to ruin the happy mood, especially after making Patton think of Frankie so early in the morning. What best friend forces you to remember your dead brother?

He opened his locker and slowly pulled out the books he would need until lunch. When that took less than a minute. He stared at the objects he taped onto the door of his locker over the course of the year. At the top was a small mirror that he suddenly did not want to look into. At the bottom is a whiteboard with reminders of tests written by Logan, supportive messages from Patton, and quick doodles by Virgil. He felt the tug of a small smile on his lips, though it went away quickly.

He had only begun scanning the dozens of photographs he had before two arms snaked their way around his waist. He felt warmth in his chest as his boyfriend’s lips were pressed on the space between his shoulder blades.

“Morning” Virgil said, tiredness leaking into his speech.

Roman smiled softly and leaned slightly into the touch. “What leads you to my neck of the woods?” Roman asked as if he did not already know the answer.

“I needed to escape before I drowned in the puppy love.”

It wasn’t the answer he was expecting so he pressed on, “What do you mean?” Roman turned his head slightly to look at Virgil. Virgil, without lifting his cheek off Roman’s back, unfortunately, removed one of his arms from around Roman and gestures to his right.

In distance, Patton has Logan’s shirt held carefully in his fingers, playing with the buttons as he talked to Logan. Logan watched with nothing but love and appreciation in his eyes. Roman couldn’t help but sigh at the couple, he was part of the team that got them together after all. One of his best accomplishments, if he’d say so himself..

“It’s so sweet...disgusting.” Virgil continued. Switching from resting his cheek on Roman’s back to his chin, he looked up and said, “Now give me my good morning kiss.”

Roman chuckled and happily obliged. When they pulled apart, Virgil asks “I’m going to ask you a stupid question.”

“No question is stupid, love, ask away.”

“Are you okay?” “I stand corrected.” Virgil elbowed Roman in the side, both happy for their spider-strength for the opposite reasons.

“I mean it, Ro. I know you hate being asked that question, especially today, but I rather you get annoyed with me than let something happen like last time. So I’ll ask again, are you okay?”

“I am.”

Virgil raises an eyebrow “Am what?”

“Fine.” “I asked you if you were okay”

“Same difference.”

“Big difference, people only say they’re fine when they don’t want to admit they aren’t okay.”

Roman just looked away, having nothing to really say, plus he didn’t want to argue. Virgil sighed and hugged him again. Roman doesn’t push away, the pressure behind his eyes getting more and more unbearable. His emotions were already becoming too much for him to handle. He hugged back, relishing in the warmth of another person. It was stupid, in his mind, since Virgil was just hugging him moments ago.

With a sigh, Roman pulled back. He brushed his knuckles gently against Virgil’s cheek and whispered “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay because I’m sorry too,” Virgil said softly.

“You have nothing to be sorry for.”

Virgil couldn’t help but smile at that. “You know what? You’re right. I don’t. And with that, I’m going to spend this whole day cheering you up.”

“Virge…You don’t have to. Really! There’s no reason to-“

Virgil suddenly poked Roman chest, silencing the boy. “Do you remember the day that marked the anniversary of my grandpa’s death?”

“Of course I do, you were so upset. You didn’t even want to leave your room”

“Yeah, and you know what you did? You broke into my room, like some lunatic by the way, wrapped me up like a burrito-“

“It’s called a blanket burrito for a reason.”

“Don’t interrupt me. You wrapped me up, put on all my favorite movies that I wasn’t even aware you remembered and fed me snacks as we cuddled. Not even Logan had thought of doing that, he would just let me lie under my blankets while he just sat in the room.” Virgil paused to smirk before continuing “And I was never more grateful for you than at that moment.”

Roman’s face began to heat up. He couldn’t help it. No matter how big or small the compliment that Virgil would give him, he would turn into a blushing schoolgirl, ready to throw himself at Virgil and pepper him with kisses.

He opted to just hug Virgil again, a silent thank you. They were in public after all. They had some class.

Virgil embraced him for a few moments before the warning bell went off. “Listen, I’m going to make sure today is not going to be total shit for you.”

Roman chuckled in response, “Thanks, stormcloud.” Roman took a step to walk to his class but stopped when Virgil firmly grabbed his hand, “Huh?”

“What? I can’t hold my boyfriend’s hand as we walk to class?”

Roman chuckled, if there was one thing he knew about Virgil is that despite his boyfriend’s wariness of physical affection, Virgil always saw things through. Roman gently squeezed Virgil’s hand, absorbing the love that came from that simple gesture. Logan told him a few months ago about Love Languages and how physical touch was definitely his. It was a nice bonding moment for him and Logan, and it made Virgil really happy. Roman was rewarded handsomely for it.

Compared to every other year since his dad died, this was actually a pretty good day. Virgil would bring him to every class, even the ones were Virgil’s classes were nowhere near. Virgil had to keep reassuring Roman that it was fine, “I will just use my invisibility and sneak in. It will be funny to see how confused my teachers will be.” It made Roman genuinely laugh, something seemingly unachievable on this day.

The classes he did share with Virgil were the best. Virgil left his non-writing hand resting on Roman’s shoulder, giving him a gentle squeeze whenever he felt Roman quiver, shake or tense up. Which was often since their teacher would not stop shooting Roman sympathetic looks, even after Virgil glared at her. Other classes that Virgil wasn’t in, Virgil would wrap his hoodie around Roman before he headed off to his next class. People would focus on this action and how cute it was that Roman would forget, even for a few minutes.

Around lunch, Roman’s mood changed from melancholy to calm, relatively speaking. He wasn’t walking with his head down, and even partaking. The numb and somewhat painful feeling in his chest was still present, but it was no longer the black pit sucking his emotions into it like usual.

Already seated at the lunch table were Logan and Patton, whispering and smiling at one another. Before Roman could announce his presence to the couple, Virgil tugged him back. He nearly made Roman fall backward in the process, but they both knew it wasn’t intentional. They always forgot how strong their spidey strength actually was.

“Sorry!” Virgil said instinctively though he did start laughing as Roman caught himself.

“What was that for?” Roman asked once he regained his balance.

“I needed to tell you before I forget, I asked Thomas if we could borrow his living room for a movie night and he said yes. Ask your mom if you can stay over.”

Roman smiled, “That sounds great”

Virgil smiled back as the two sat in their normal seats. As soon as the two entered Patton’s vision, his eyes light and he pushed a plate covered in tin foil towards the couple. It wasn’t anything uncommon, Patton using any excuse to make people food, from “Virgil had a headache” cookies to “You saved a bus filled with little kiddos and the city still won’t give you a key!” double chocolate cake. Roman removed the tin foil to reveal donuts. It shocked Roman, he had a bit of an expectation that Patton would make one of Roman’s favorite desserts; like he always did in years past.

Roman looked up at Patton puzzled and Patton reached over the table to squeeze Roman’s arm as it rested on the cafeteria table. “I know you don’t want to make this day all about you, so I made something we all consider a normal snack. Is it okay?”

Patton’s eyes read desperate and Roman, half because he wanted to be a good best friend and half because he did not want Patton to use his Empath powers, smiled, and nodded.

“This is perfect, Pat.”

Patton pulled back so he could properly muffle his squeal of delight since they were still in school and he did not want to get into trouble for “starting a disturbance.”

Logan whispered to Patton “You told me it was because you did not have enough time to make Roman his favorite cake.”

“...I can have multiple reasons” Patton whispered back, glad that Roman and Virgil were too busy bickering about the best Avenger to listen in.

Everyone ate their lunches and donuts, just enjoying the time they had together. Logan commented on how he heard that Roman and Virgil would not join them on patrol and he hoped that they “don’t burn down Thomas’ apartment”. That earned him a look from Roman, a “Logie!’ from Patton and a kick in the shin from Virgil all at the same time.

“It was a simple precaution!” Logan shouted, only to be told to quiet down by the cafeteria monitor.

It would later become a memory they would always look back on, Virgil even including it into his best man speech at Logan and Patton’s wedding, much to Logan’s dismay.

Once lunch was over, Roman snuck into the bathroom and sent off a text to his mom asking if it was possible if he could stay over at Virgil’s, adding that if she needed him to come home then it would be fine. He didn’t want to be selfish.

Roman figured he would get his reply by the end of the day since he knew his mom would be really busy at work and he wasn’t exactly sure when his mom had her lunch break. He put his phone in his pocket only to scare himself when his notification sound went off in the silent password. He pulled it out and his phone and had a new text from his mom.

Amá: Of course you can, Your sister is watching the twins today, go have fun. It’s what Papí would want.

Roman smiled, a single tear fell down his face. His mom was the best.

Roman’s afternoon classes came and went, nothing exciting or saddening happened of note. Though it wouldn’t have mattered, the prospect of cuddles and Disney movies filled him with so much excitement and joy.

As faith would have it, he had no play practice since their show season had just ended and Mr. Bell always gave them a week off so he could tie up any last loose ends and decide the dates for the next auditions. This gave him an extra two hours to spend with his boyfriend, perfect!

Roman ran up to Virgil’s locker and bounced on his toes as his boyfriend got his stuff together so they could head off. Virgil smirked and tilted his head to Roman, “You seem excited.”

Roman smiled and nods “I’m really excited for tonight”

“Oh?” Virgil teased “What’s happening tonight? I can’t remember anything important”

Roman lightly punched him in the arm “You’re so mean, remind me why I love you again?” “It was your choice to get into this relationship, Princey, don’t forget that” Virgil waved his hand as he spoke and Roman, to Virgil’s surprise, quickly snatched Virgil’s hand.

Roman smirked back “I am very aware, and I am so happy to have you.” He then kissed Virgil’s knuckles.

Virgil cursed his cheeks for the blush that always came when Roman did something romantic. He pulled his hand back and nervously giggled “Oh shush, let’s get going already.”

Man, did he love that boy.

After swinging over to Thomas’ apartment with Patton and Logan, Roman and Virgil quickly went to work on their pillow fort as the two other spider children spoke to their spider dad about the details of the patrol.

Once everything was set up, Thomas said “Great. Patton, you and Logan get my snack bag and go to the bodega on the corner, there is money in the bag so don’t worry about using your own money. Meet me on the roof in half an hour.”

Patton and Logan nodded and left to get their favorite snacks.

Thomas turned to Roman “Hey, Ro? Before you guys start, could you come with me to the roof?”

Roman was confused but agreed. He was a bit nervous, he felt like a child about to get yelled at and tried to think of what he could have done wrong recently.

Once they got to the roof, Roman asked, “If this about keeping your apartment clean, I promise Virgil and I will not burn it down. Logan already gave us the rundown.”

Thomas put his hand on Roman’s shoulder and softly smiled “I can feel you stressing out, even without Patton’s power. Don’t worry, I trust you. I just wanted to tell you something. Sit with me” Thomas patted Roman’s head when Roman released a sigh of relief.

The two sat on the edge of the roof, Thomas in his Rainbow Weaver costume with the mask on and Roman in his civilian clothes.

Thomas gazed over the city before saying “I know you are probably expecting me to give you a speech about grief and how to handle it, but I hated those speeches at your age when I got them because of my Aunt Patty. In fact, you remind me a lot of myself when I was younger, and I’m not just talking about being a fellow theatre geek. I never wanted to think about when she died and I would throw myself into helping people, with or without the suit. One thing led to another and I ended up beaten and bloodied in an alley on the anniversary of her death. When Talyn and Joan found me, I swear my Aunt Patty possessed them to yell at me for it. I thought Talyn might kill me themself.”

Roman laughed “I can see them doing that.”

Thomas chuckled and nodded “Oh yes. But what they and Joan did instead was patching me up and we had a FRIENDS marathon, ‘the police will handle crime for now’ Joan said. I broke down after three episodes because I love my friends so much. So before I start crying again at the memories, I just wanted to tell you that your friends--including Joan, Talyn, and I--are always here for you. Don’t make the same mistake I did and forget” Roman threw himself at Thomas for a hug “Never again, I promise.”

Thomas hugged back “Thanks, kid. Now go have fun.”

Virgil looked up from his phone when he heard footsteps coming towards him “What did Thomas want? Hey, are you okay?” Virgil pops out from under the fort and cups Roman’s face to wipe the tears away.

Roman smiles “I’m fine, really. I’m just...thank you, for putting up with me”

Virgil kisses him “It’s not putting up with you, it’s loving you. Ready to start Tangled” “Of course my love”

Tag list (Ask if you want to be added or removed):

@corkeecoderyt @per-seph-o-nee @3milystuff @asymmetricalgarbage8888 @fairytailtwists @sanders-sides-rebloger @mycatshuman @sanderssidesfluffyangst @unikornavenger @0callmevirge0 @gloomingwitch @roxiefox24 @ijustreallylovesanderssides @unisaurioamorfo @nadja-chamack16 @angelic-cali

#sanders sides #thomas sanders #spiderverse au #prinxiety #logicality #roman sanders #logan sanders #virgil sanders #patton sanders #joan #talyn

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bruh-haikyuu · 5 years ago

Text

A/N: It’s finally my birthday month and I am, once again, filling up the Konoha agenda. Today I offer you Konoha propaganda... Tomorrow? Konoha propaganda.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 (Coming Soon!)

ensemble. | konoha akinori

part 2 - poco a poco.

word count: 8618

warnings: MC’s brothers have a heavy... sister-complex; overworking

(n.) little by little

‘Help’ wasn’t an unfamiliar word for you. Helping other people with their homework (to none of their avails), helping your bandmates with lifting the appliances, etcetera, etcetera. Do as much as you can, was what your parents told you as a child, and that was what you did, regardless of who asked.

Therefore, it certainly piqued your interest that Suzuki Ume, captain of the school’s marching band, and the two managers of the Boys’ Volleyball Club had crept their way into the Light Music Club room to ask you for a favor.

“Ooh, a cheering song’s certainly a new genre,” you piped up. “I used to try and convince my club members to switch to another style, but they’re too quick to reject me, y’know? PARANOIA as an idol group wouldn’t be so bad~”

The thought of the ever-stoic Mizushima Reo wearing a frilly idol costume had the Marching Band Club captain stifling a snort. “It would definitely be a sight...”

“I think we can all agree that when it comes to composing music and lyrics, you’re our first choice,” Kaori piped up. “If we can get the message across, then it would be a solid form of motivation for the team—or Bokuto at least, especially with the qualifying tournaments coming up.”

“Plus, Konoha would love it if you made a song for him, no?” Yukie followed, her languid gaze trailing up to your smiling face.

You’d nearly forgotten that Akinori belonged with the Volleyball Club. You were third-years now, both in the last moments of your high school youth. The teachers had started counselling for future prospects, your classmates had started worrying whether or not their current marks would bring them far in life, and as a whole, the third-years have begun to panic. You didn’t mind though—as long as you had your rock-hard conviction and your pragmatic boyfriend, you felt like you could do anything you wanted.

“Ah, I almost forgot that you and Konoha-kun were an item,” Ume said, her eyes twinkling. “So, how’s it? Have you two kissed yet?”

Faking a pout, you crossed your arms in mock offense, “Very scandalous, Umecchi. My virgin lips aren’t ready to be taken away yet, you know...”

“Kidding, kidding~ so, Y/N-san, would you like to do the honors of composing the Fukurodani Volleyball Club anthem for us?”

“No thank you!” you chirped, smiling earnestly.

The faces of your three guests fell.

Seeing their distressed expressions, you laughed, “I was just messing with you~ You guys are too serious. Sure, I’ll make the song. It’ll be fun, right?”

Kaori cleared her throat, reaching into her pocket to hand you a scrap of folded paper. “R-right... Anyway, here’s some ideas we collected to get you started. I’ve also written our numbers at the bottom, if you have any questions.”

“Though something tells me you already have them,” the droopy-eyed manager grinned.

Chuckling, your eyes flitted through the daintily-written notes and doodles scrawled all over the paper, “Yep. These notes are good. I’ll report back to you when I finish my final draft.”

“That’ll be great,” Ume sighed in relief. “But don’t work yourself restless, alright? Mizushima-san told me you’re those types of people who don’t stop until they get it done. We’re all third-years now, so we’ll be happy to lend a hand.”

“Of course,” was the answer you said to them, because it was the right answer. The moral answer. Instead of the more worrying: It’s fine, I might pass out from working too hard, but at least I’ll finish the job.

As the three “left the song in your care”, you escorted them back to the third-year hallways while replaying their entire conversation with you in your head. Oh, they were certainly a curious trio, walking into the lion’s den naked. But from all the curious things they’ve told you, one resounded loudly in your memory.

“Have you two kissed yet?”

Somberly laughing to yourself, you thought that, ah, that might be trouble.

══════ ⋆★⋆ ══════

Akinori’s ears were threatening to fall off their places from the two-hour long lecture about the Tokugawa shogunate. Whose grand idea was it anyway to put Japanese History as last period? He was ready to melt into a weary puddle right on the school’s entrance, but you, on the other hand, seemed even more chipper than usual.

“Geez, what’s up with all the extra energy? You’re like Bokuto...” he groaned. “Didn’t you have Modern Literature as your last subject?”

“Yep, but I’m not allowed to get tired now!” you laughed, exuberantly slapping his back to get him out of his slump. “We’ve got no club activities today, right? Let’s go to that new cafe in Shinjuku, just to get your energy back~”

“Mm... parfait would be nice. But why are you so particularly tireless now?”

“Ooh, I’ve got a new job to do,” you said while grinning impishly. “The marching band and the Volleyball Club asked me this morning.”

Smiling sympathetically, Akinori ruffled your hair. A force of habit. “Bokuto didn’t ask you to do anything weird, right?”

You shook your head, as you paused to stop in the middle of the courtyard to look at him properly. “Your managers asked me. Yuki-chan and Kaorin. They want me to make a cheering song for you for the qualifying tournaments.”

“Whoa, seriously?” he exclaimed, exhaustion replaced with that of wonder. “That’s really cool, Y/N-chan! I can’t wait to see what you’re going to write.”

The blonde’s hand fell from the crown of your head to the slope of your shoulder, the comfort from his palm spreading into your chest. Under the light of the afternoon sun, Akinori seemed much warmer in person. You wondered if you could do that thing Ume was pestering you about earlier. Leaning towards him, a million thoughts whizzed in your head, but you paid them no attention, because as soon as your eyes fluttered close—

HONK! HONK!

“Y/N-chaaaan!”

Lips falling flat, your features darkened. “No way... No way. No way. What the hell is he doing here?”

“Y/N-chan! It’s meee! I’ve come to pick you up~” the man waving by the taxi persistently yelled from you at the gates of the school, attracting the whispers and giggles of passing students.

Concern scrawled all over his face, your boyfriend turned to you, “Y/N-chan... W-who is that?”

“It’s that crazy person again...”

“Crazy person?!”

Grabbing his hand, you tried to ignore the shameless calls from the grown taxi driver who was simply too relentless. “Never mind that. Aki-chan, you can run, right? Let’s run right now. Don’t turn back, okay?”

And without warning, you dragged your boyfriend around a sharp corner, your legs pedaling as much as your glutes could handle. Akinori wished you’d stop and explain everything to him, but if you seemed to be so desperate as to avoid this certain taxi driver, then you probably had a good reason for it.

As much as he’d hoped he didn’t, curiosity overtook the boy and he did the one simple thing, you’d pleaded him not to do. Akinori turned back, and was met with a pair of sinister eyes that swam with murderous intent.

“Y/N-chan, he’s chasing us! Why is he chasing us?! And why is he so fast?!” he cried, the impending fear of the incoming taxi driver feeding adrenaline into his legs.

“This guy was a yankii* in high school. An A-grade delinquent. If he’s fast, then we just have to run faster!”

Did things always have to go so unexpectedly with you? Why couldn’t the two of you just sit down and make plans for the day, like a normal couple? Akinori figured you were lacking of “normal”, but to be chased by a former delinquent through a sidewalk was straight up terrifying—he didn’t even get to decide on what sort of will he was going to write!

“Y/N-chaaan! It’s me, Wataru-nii-chan!” your pursuer wailed from behind you. “Don’t you recognize me?! Is it the mullet?”

Wataru-nii-chan?! Konoha repeated in his mind.

Growling, you roared back at the man. “Go home, Aniki*! I can go back on my own, so stop chasing us before someone calls the police!”

Oh god, Akinori definitely didn’t expect his first encounter with one of your three older brothers to be like this. So much for a good first impression... But it was moderately your fault that you tended to avoid the subject whenever it was brought up. The only thing he’d ever recalled from your descriptions of them was that “they’re all annoying” and that they had all moved out from Tokyo to live elsewhere.

“Not until you let me drive you home!” your brother stubbornly shot back.

You were getting tired now. Running around in circles through the school district. If this race was a way to prove that you had graduated from the mere role of the “baby sister”, then so be it.

Though if it had been any other brother of yours chasing you down the streets, you would’ve been luckier. But this was Wataru for god’s sake. The second child. The idiot whose impulse transcended logic in every way possible—and the worst person to challenge to a foot race.

“Fine!” you groaned, nearly stumbling over your feet as your boyfriend pulled you from your fatigue. Hands slipping on the curve of your knees, you glared at your brother from the low angle. “I’ll go home with you this once. Then you’ll stop coming to my school.”

Ruffling your hair, he grinned, “I knew you’ll come through for your big bro.”

“...Whatever, let’s just go,” you muttered, shying away from the older man’s touch. Looking back at your visibly concerned yet confused boyfriend, you gave him a shrug and weakly waved goodbye as you trailed behind Wataru to his taxi.

Damn, that was way too scary, Akinori breathed. His stomach rumbling, he wondered if he still should stop by that cafe you’d talked about earlier. Probably not.

Resting your chin on the sill of the taxi window, you sighed loudly, enough to catch the attention of your brother on the rearview mirror. Wataru smiled brightly, driving you away from the landscape of Fukurodani Academy.

“Was that your boyfriend with you? That ‘Aki-chan’ Mom and Dad keeps talking about?”

“Bingo,” you retorted plainly, hoping that he’d stop trying to make small talk.

“By the way, I heard there’s a new cafe that just opened up in Shinjuku,” Wataru said, the mention somewhat a déjà vu. “You want to stop by and grab some parfaits?”

Frowning at your own reflection on the glass, you grumbled, “It’s fine. I’m not hungry.”

══════ ⋆★⋆ ══════

What the hell is this, you cursed.

Like they just coincidentally planned to ruin your day, all three of your older brothers—who had mentioned to you that they were going to spend their break at their workplaces—were sitting jovially at your family dining table, as if none of this was a shock.

“Isn’t it a lovely surprise, Y/N?” your mother beamed, scooping a larger spoonful of rice onto your oldest brother’s bowl. “They didn’t even tell us they were coming to visit!”

Of course not, you scowled. If there was one thing you and your brothers had in common was that it was the annoying habit of doing things unexpectedly and expecting the second party to live with it. You wondered if this was what Akinori had felt the day you approached him.

“Y/N-chan’s gotten so big. I wonder if she can still fit on my lap like she used to,” Kensuke, the oldest, cooed, gazing at you with glassy eyes. “You want to sit on Ken-nii-chan’s lap, Y/N-chan? I’ll feed you too if you’d like~”

“No thank you,” you growled through gritted teeth and broccoli.

The third brother Masao chuckled while ruffling your hair endearingly, “Now, now, Y/N-chan. Of course Kensuke’s going to point out that you’ve grown bigger, he’s a pediatrician after all. If you don’t want to be fed by him, how about Masa-nii-chan, eh?”

Pushing your quarter-empty meal to the center of the table, you turned your face away from the college senior’s nostalgic “beef stew airplane”. “I think I’ve lost my appetite.”

“You usually eat things up like it’s nothing. Are you ill? A rebellious phase?” Kensuke muttered, leaning back on his chair to closely observe your darkening mood. “No, it’s something more... Could it be—is it your boyfriend?”

“Or that band of yours, maybe? I can’t believe you’re still in it, you know you can’t get very far with music, right?” Masao sneered, gulping down his glass of water. “All of your friends remind me a lot of Wataru when he was still a high school hooligan.”

Showing no signs of appreciation for the comment, your second brother winked at you from across the table. “Speaking of your boyfriend, I met him today when I picked you up, didn’t I?”

The mention of your ‘infamous’ boyfriend turned the heads of the entire dinner table—you weren’t so sure why your parents looked so surprised as well, you supposed it was just genetics.

“Really? What was he like? I can definitely tell he’s one of those skinny ones.”

“You bet. I was more curious about his hair though...”

“Is it dyed or is it a natural shade?”

“It was too dark to tell, maybe when I encounter him again, I’ll take a small snip of his hair to show everyone~”

Kensuke, who in your memory didn’t fare well with news of any boy approaching a 1-metre radius of you, darkly smiled behind the shade of his spectacles. He hadn’t said anything in response to Wataru’s report, and that itself terrified you to bits.

“Ooh, you’re still with him, Y/N-chan?” at his sappy call of your name, your stomach tightened. The table fell silent at the mercy of the oldest child. “That’s new. You usually get bored of something or someone after a few months or so... Are you sure it’s not much of a burden for you? You’re a third-year too, after all... You shouldn’t take relationships for granted~”

If Wataru was a knuckleheaded ogre and Masao was a devious fox, then Kensuke was definitely the demon to rule them all. It was in their nature, whether they realized it or not; they always made you seem pathetic so that they could take the chance to dote and care for you like they wished for.

“Dinner was delicious,” you blurted out, standing up from your chair abruptly that the tableware shook and clattered. “I’m going to my room.”

Watching you slam the bedroom door, Kensuke shouted after you, “Ehh... You’re not going to tell us about you and your boyfriend? We’re curious!”

You let your brothers’ voices fade out into white noise as you collapsed face-down onto your bed. You hoped that this visit wasn’t going to last long, otherwise, you’d be pulling out every hair from your head until you went bald.

Unfolding the scrap of notes your three patrons had previously collected for you, a weak smile cracked through your face. Don’t mind them, Y/N-chan, you thought as you got up to place your beloved guitar on your lap. Let’s get to work.

══════ ⋆★⋆ ══════

Akinori swore your face was so sour, he tasted lemons in his mouth.

You looked like you didn’t sleep for days. You, who had always brimmed with energy, were quietly cursing your brothers as you ate lunch. Added to your rather beautiful profile, you looked like an phantom waiting to pounce on an unsuspecting victim.

“So, how was your consultation with Yamanouchi-sensei about your future plans?” he cleared his throat, hoping that he could slowly pick away the frosty wall between you.

You only frowned deeper—so deep that your eyebrows were almost parallel. “Future plans... Do I have to decide everything now? My life is only this wonderful because I don’t plan anything. I could be busking in the streets with Reo, Iori-kun and MugiMugi ten years from now and I’d be perfectly fine.”

Akinori laughed. That ‘plan’ definitely smelled very strongly of you.

“What about you?” you nudged his elbow with the side of your chopsticks. “What do you want to be doing in the future, Aki-chan?”

“Hmm... I’ll definitely go to college—otherwise my mom’s brains will leak out of her ears if I don’t. After that, I’m considering setting up a business on my own, maybe in Meguro where it’s a bit cheaper than Ginza or Roppongi. It’d be nice to be your own boss, don’t you think?”

You smiled weakly and nodded. How annoying. Just as you were liberated from your isolation just a year ago, you felt like you were already seeping back into loneliness once more. Everyone had a plan after high school.

Akinori was going to be an ambitious conglomerate with the number one business in Meguro. Gorilla-faced gentle Reo was finally going to set up that ramen shop he’d been dreaming of. Iori, a rebel to mankind and jaywalking laws, was going to “hell with everything” and enter a prestigious art school. And young Tsumugi... well, whatever a sales operator was, you wished him all the best as a good senpai would do.

And thus, you were stuck again. As the prodigy L/N Y/N who could do everything... but could never decide on anything.

“It’s my brothers’ fault I was so sleepy when I filled in that form. They were disturbing my peace of mind and so I got scolded by Yamanouchi-sensei for it,” you reasoned.

“Is that why you look so tired?”

“No, that’s not it,” you sighed, replacing the lid on your emptied bento. “I spent all night finishing up most of the cheering song’s melody.”

Akinori nearly choked on his strawberry milk. “That much already?! Y/N-chan, the tournament isn’t until a week away! Geez, think about yourself more, won’t you? What would you do if you fell sick and collapsed?”

Getting up to pat away the dust resting on your skirt, you gave your boyfriend a cheeky smile. “Then you’ll just have to take care of me until I get better.”

“Ah... You’ll only ask me to do weird stuff. Why can’t your brother do it? Isn’t he a doctor?”

You curtly gave him an unappreciative pout, masking your obvious mirth. “C’mon~ I’m your girlfriend. You’re going to need a punishment for saying that, Aki-chan. Come now, don’t cover up your sides, I’m going to have to tickle you good—!”

Though you were laughing, you were a mess. More than usual, Akinori thought. It was disturbing enough that his first impression of your older siblings was nightmarish at best, but he wondered if your coping methods could’ve been more... amiable. What would he do if you really fell sick and collapsed? Would your brothers even let him visit especially with their overbearing sense of vigilance?

From your little grumbling, it really did seem like they didn’t like him. Or, really, the concept of him. As much as Akinori appreciated your solace, it would be troublesome if they’d thought he was trying to influence you to despising your family. Some sort of soap opera this is.

At least you were smiling now. He thought. And that was all that mattered in that moment, because he knew things were about to go awry one way or another.

══════ ⋆★⋆ ══════

“Y/N-san... I think my ears just ascended to second heaven.”

In the expanse of the Marching Band Club room, Suzuki Ume had her hands clasped together, a content expression resting idly on her face. And it really did look like she’d died happy.

“Right~?” you grinned, setting down Lennon-chan next to the blackboard. “The melody really gets you pumped up, doesn’t it? Especially when it’ll be played by all the trumpets and percussions... I think even I’ll start feeling the adrenaline.”

Brandishing the handwritten sheet music in her hands, Ume smiled at you endearingly. “This song is perfect, Y/N-san. And I’m sure your lyrics will only make it better. If I may propose...”

Repeating the word she’d trailed off, you felt an even bigger smile cracking through the slits of your pearly teeth.

“It would be great if you were there to lead the song for us. That is, only if you agree! I’ve already discussed it with the PTA and the principal and they’re all on board with the idea.”

The room grew still, and the captain spoke again.

“I’m sure Konoha-kun will be excited if you were there cheering for him on... maybe you’ll finally get one of those romantic after-game kisses with him~”

Ume never recalled a moment where you ever blushed. But to see Fukurodani’s infamous “alien” genius so flustered—red from head to toe—was a victory no one could ever seldom. Who could blame you? When thoughts of your untouched lips being swept away by your guileful boyfriend in an enclosed space, so close yet so far from prying eyes were buzzing in your head... Geez, now you really wanted a kiss.

“I’ll lead the song for you—b-but not because I want my boyfriend to do... that!” you quickly reasoned, the red on your face turning darker. “Aki-chan gets all sweaty after a game and being kissed in that condition is gross! Public displays of affection are also pervy, aren’t they? R-right?”

Hoho, Ume giggled. So the Iron Maiden is this type of tsundere~

“Umecchi. That amused look on your face, please erase it.”

It took Suzuki Ume her entire fist in her mouth to pacify her approaching laughter. But eventually, she’d jovially apologized for teasing you, alleviating the pout resting on your face. Reviewing her ideas for the lyrics once more, you drew the conclusion that a) you were still going to have to examine the Volleyball Club first-hand for inspiration and b) writing lyrics for a cheering song was going to be harder than you’d expected. You, who had been used to your own hostile verses in PARANOIA’s songs, were going to have to be forced to avoid the usual... “dirty scums” business.

You were beginning to regret taking the offer, but quickly waved away the thought, thinking that you were starting to sound like your boyfriend. Exiting the Marching Band club room, you pondered on a proper time to visit the Volleyball Club for research. They had today off. Tomorrow, maybe? No, Akinori would complain that you were working too hard—

“Ow!” you yelped, rubbing your forehead from the sudden impact from the wall—Wait, you squinted. There was never a wall here.

And when a pair of arms wrapped around you as a constrictor so eager to devour, all answers were revealed. “Y/N-chaaan! It’s so nice to see you! Aaah, Masa-nii-chan was starting to wonder where you were, you know? Kyuu~”

Scuffling against the third brother’s vice-like embrace, you hissed. “Aniki, let go! You’ll damage my guitar! What are you doing here?! Who in hell would let you in?”

Gently setting you down, Masao watched you with a reprimanding look on his face, amusement dancing in his eyes.

“How cruel of you to say, Y/N-chan. I’m only here to check on my alma mater...” he sulked, focus zeroing in on the piece of paper in your hand. “What’s that? Can I see?”

Before you could express your dissent, Masao had already lunged behind you, snatching the paper into his hands. Reaching for the large wall with your dwarfen arms, you let out a shrill wheeze as his eyes started to skim over the paper and his expression dropped to a million feet.

“Give it back, Aniki!”

“You’re still doing this music thing? Geez, did you even listen to what I said during that one dinner?” he scoffed, turning his back to you to further deride your struggle. “‘You won’t get very far with music’. I bet these scrubs aren’t even paying you.”

Taking up all the strength in your legs, you craned against Masao as much as possible and retrieved the sheet with a disapproving crackle. “I’m not capitalistic like you. And yes, I am still doing this ‘music thing’, but no matter how far I’ll go...”

You paused, drinking in the grave look on your brother’s face.

“I’ll always have people to support me, Aniki.”

At the spur of the moment, like your ancestors were trying to curse you for speaking of the devil, a familiar call of your name had the both of you turning your heads. A mop of blonde and a pair of simple dark eyes that did not match the scene that was playing out before him.

What was Akinori doing here? Why would he call for you seeing that this obnoxious adult was here?! Run away, you begged with your gaze, but the fear that rooted your boyfriend was unrelentingly profuse. No! Don’t succumb!

“Ah! Y/N-chan’s brother!” he bowed, an angle so sharp he almost snapped a muscle. “It’s nice to finally meet you... S-sir.”

“Sir?” Masao drawled, the question pumping acid into the atmosphere. “I’m not even that old yet.”

Despite being younger than the first brother he’d encountered, there was no doubt that this one was more terrifying than the last. At least to your boyfriend he was. Masao, more attractive-looking than Wataru, had a carbon copy of your steely gaze. “He’s a fox! A wily fox who’ll get you to assume things without meaning to!” you’d told him a few days prior, annoyance burning in your tone.

As Masao opened his mouth to speak again, Akinori could only gulp. “You’re much taller than I expected. You’re a regular in the volleyball club, right, Aki-chan?”

“R-right,” he responded. God, now he knew why his term of endearment only sounded right when it came from you.

Circling your boyfriend like a famished vulture, Masao studied him from the tips of his hair to the toes of his shoes. “So stiff~ I would’ve mistaken you for my little sister’s guitar if you weren’t so...” he smiled warmly at the boy, then hissed.

“... Alive.”

Akinori suddenly realized what you meant by him being such a “fox demon”—he supposed you were just trying to remind him of a folk tale that time, you said yourself that whatever you said shouldn’t be taken too much to the heart. Gulping at the imposing brute of the man, your boyfriend made a mental note to listen closely to your fanciful ramblings the next time he wanted to stay “alive”. For good riddance.

Laughing raucously at his expression, Masao slapped his shoulders, worthy of the ossan* at the nearby ramen shop. “I was just messing with you! Geez, you don’t have to take me so seriously~ You’re just like Y/N-chan but less cuter! Damn, exactly the type of guy Kensuke-nii would love and hate at the same time! Hey, tell me, have you two kissed yet? I can tell that my little Y/N-chan would enjoy that kind of stuff. She is the hopeless romantic after all~”

“K-kiss?!”

At the mention of the accursed ‘activity’, you decided that it was time to finally interfere. Fitting yourself in between your paralysed boyfriend and your brother, you spread out your arms in a sign of mock annoyance. Eyes blazing as bright as your face, you begged Masao one last time.

“That’s enough getting to know each other, right, Aniki?” you said, urging him away from the stricken third year. “If you’re really here to look around the school, then you should hurry and go already. I’ll take you to the staircase, come on.”

Casually lounging an arm over your shoulders, your brother bent down towards your ear, “He’s not so bad. I like him.”

You rolled your eyes. “If you’re saying that just to win me over—”

“Geez, would you stop getting all wary with me? I’m not.” Masao muttered. The mischievous glint in his eyes disappeared just as gravity replaced it. “Your Aki-chan seems like a good kid. Not my type, just so you know. But if you care about him that much as to protect the guy from both me and Wataru, then he’s really something, huh? I’m still not in favor of your entire music future ordeal, but if that Konoha guy is your ‘support’, then I’ll rest easy knowing he’s got your back.”

There was another one of those uncomfortable pauses you hated again. Your brothers never lied; it was one of those characteristics that made your family prone to bluntness over everything else. Nevertheless, there was a sense of lightness in your chest after hearing your brother’s approval. You supposed that even if Masao was the slyest sibling known to man, he was indefinitely more tolerable than... Creepy Siscon Kensuke or Stubborn Belittling Wataru.

“Are you going to tell Kensuke and Wataru about this?”

Eyeing your concern, Masao tilted his head. “I won’t. Promise.”

“Thanks,” you smiled, nodding at your brother from atop the staircase, “... Masa-nii-chan.”

The face Masao was enough for you to scrunch up in disgust and regret whatever you just said. “H-Haa... Y-you finally called me Masa-nii-chan again... I’m so happy. So, so happy. W-will you give me a hug, Y/N-chan?”

“No way. Calling you that again was embarrassing enough, Aniki.”

“Not Aniki! Call me Masa-nii-chan! Once more!”

Shaking your head petulantly, you laughed at your brother’s woes leaving him to continue with a tour of his alma mater (unaccompanied by the hug he so desired). You returned to your lingering boyfriend with ease in your heart and found him just as stricken as you had left him.

“He’s gone now, you don’t have to look so tense,” you poked at his rigid expression.

“Your other brother he mentioned...” Akinori bit his lip. “Would he really hate me?”

You let out a breath.

“I can’t say he won’t, but Masao also said he’d love you, right? Don’t worry about it,” you grinned, looping your arm around his to drag him through the third year hallways. “When he’s being serious, you can trust that guy with his words.”

“Even the ones about how you’d enjoy being kissed?”

The spring freezing in your step, you stared at your boyfriend incredulously. Dawning on Akinori’s face was a look of absolute triumph and illuminated by the shadows of the midday sun, it was like you were at an impasse. It was near unheard of, that this was the same boy who’d you manhandled last year to get his feelings straight! And now, he was using that subliminal charm of his—the one you’d developed—in addition to that godforsaken attractive smirk to ensnare you.

What’s up with that, you thought. A mix of sheer arousal, fear and pride pooling in your hammering heart. I created a monster.

“... Except for those words,” you gritted, trying to keep your footing steady with the way Akinori was leaning closer to your body.

He chuckled lowly. “Eeh, we haven’t even kissed yet. Do you actually have experience in this sort of thing?”

You turned to the large windows lining the walls, hoping that you’d play off your deepening blush. “Of course not. And don’t say it like you have any either! If I’d dated someone who’s already had their first kiss... that would be weird on my side.”

Ruffling your hair while laughing heartily, Akinori let his eyes trail towards the outline of your face. You were beautiful, that was obvious. But in a private moment just like this, just you and him, you always seemed like you were glowing. Your curious eyes—overflowing with mischief and mysteries that he swore to uncover with time. Your cheeks, warm against his fingers and always dusted with a faint red whenever he was around. And your lips. Untouched, unkissed. A plump pair he’d only dreamed of wrapping his own around.

Tracing the pads of his fingers on the contours of your lips, charting etches of himself upon it, Akinori wondered what it would feel like. To kiss you. Would you truly enjoy it, like your brother had said?

“Aki-chan...?” your voice. So delicate and seductive; his name came out of your mouth like amber honey dripping on his hand. It was funny, to be so in love with you. Even after moments where he’d regretted he hadn’t.

It didn’t occur to him how his face was already gravitating towards you. Maybe you weren’t just an alien, maybe L/N Y/N was an entire extraterrestrial planet with a pulling force of its own.

And Konoha Akinori would be the first man to set foot on it.

“W-Whoa! Sorry ‘bout that! Am I interrupting something private, Taichou*?”

Setting foot, Akinori thought of registering himself into a mental ward for thinking of such an uncharacteristic analogy. Watching you wave giddily at the prowler who just happened to be your bandmate Iori, he sighed. I just got hit by an entire meteoroid.

══════ ⋆★⋆ ══════

You considered buying yourself a good-luck charm from the nearby shrine. The feeling of being overwhelmed... was something you could never get used to. It was rare for you to feel so swamped, taking into account how you prided yourself over being able to get things done at lightning speed. But the song, college entrance exams, your brothers, your band and... that interrupted chance of a kiss. Everything simply took its chance to slip itself into your head all at once.

And it didn’t help at all that Kensuke had found out about your lazily answered Future Plans form that you had stupidly left lying around on your bedroom desk... under that? The lyrics to the cheering song.

“If you’re going to take your future so lightly, then you’re better off not going to that volleyball match,” he’d said to you coolly, a reflection of your seething face bouncing off his glasses. “Is this why you’ve been up all night on your guitar?”

“It was my choice,” you’d told him repeatedly.

“What uncharacteristic choices!” Kensuke had gasped mockingly, crossing his arms. “I’m simply worried about my cute little sister. What if those choices lead you to your doom? Your future, your band... that boyfriend of yours.”

He had paused to ruffle your hair, in which you’d barely managed to duck away from.

“Why don’t you just give all that up and let your big brothers take care of you, okay, Y/N-chan?”

Of course, you had only scoffed in reply and pretended like you didn’t hear him, but you weren’t going to show Kensuke that his words were actually bothering you, were you?

At the current hour, your brothers didn’t matter. As long as you finished the lyrics, everything would be fine. It’ll be fine, you said to yourself. Your long week of juggling through school, visiting the gym for lyrical inspiration, appointments with teachers, your club, clients and boyfriend, all while avoiding your brothers’ nosy interventions had begun. And there was no more back-pedaling on anything.

On the bright side, the marching band was progressing amicably with practicing the melody with you. You decided that Ume, still inquisitive about the passage of your relationship, wasn’t their captain for nothing. Hence, it would only be fair that you also gave your all during your practices—whether or not you finally felt weary in any parts of your body didn’t matter.

And ultimately, the utmost crescendo of the entire week had finally dawned you. You finished. You finished the lyrics! The song! Just about 3 days before the tournament and you had excitedly jotted down the final lines of the cheer. It was flawless in your mind and you comically considered switching over PARANOIA’s theme into something more flamboyant.

Just as a storm had come, the gods had blessed you with a stroke of good fortune. Your week had finally turned around for the better. The rehearsals, the feeling of a pick between your fingers, the swelling intimacy between you and Akinori. Your future even seemed clearer in your head. The tournament was only two days away and you felt like steel. Nothing could stop you. Nothing—

“39 degrees.”

“H-huh...?”

“You’re sick, Y/N-chan,” Kensuke sighed taking a seat on the stool next to your bed, the thermometer between his fingers flashing the two digits you never once fathomed to unite. “Mom and Dad have called your school and told them you won’t be attending class today.”

Nothing, but a 39-degree fever that made your legs buckle every step you took.

“I can’t be sick!” you suddenly cried out, only to be thrown aback by your own string of coughs. You rasped again, your legs weakly reaching out to the floor, looking for your slippers. “T-The tournament is tomorrow and I have to be there to lead the supporters—!”

As your toes kissed the surface of the hardwood, your knees caved away, crumpling and collapsing you forwards into the anticipating embrace of your three brothers. Cringing, you couldn’t help but to melt away into their warmth. You were cold. So, so cold. And all you wanted to do was wither away.

“Oi, oi! Think about your health first,” Wataru scolded, easing you back down against your plush pillows. “39 degrees won’t just go away like that, y’know? Worst-case scenario is that you won’t feel better until Sunday.”

Bundling your blankets over your shivering form, Masao nodded. “Wataru’s right. We’re sorry, Y/N-chan, but I don’t think you can go to the tourney tomorrow with your current condition.”

With a gentle stroke of his fingers on your sweat-slicked hair, Kensuke was already putting you into a trance that made your eyelids go heavy. “It’s cold, isn’t it? You poor, poor thing... It’ll be alright, Y/N-chan. Doctor Ken-nii-chan is going to take proper care of you~”

And those were the least reassuring words you’d ever heard in your life before you yielded to slumber.

“Y-Y/N-chan, are you alright?!” your boyfriend’s voice blared through your phone. It was already evening, and you didn’t catch how many hours you’d been out like a light until you stirred awake to the ringing of your cell phone. “I didn’t see you all day so I asked Tsuyoshi-san and he said you were down with a fever! Should I visit and bring you some food? W-what do you want? Some miso soup or chicken stock?”

“No, it’s fine,” you wheezed out softly. “You don’t have to come.”

“W-why not?” Akinori murmured, the torment in his voice seeping through your speakers. “You said yourself that if you ever collapsed and fell sick, I’ll be there to take care of you, right? I want to take care of you now, even if you make me do weird things. So, please—”

“Akinori.” You sternly hissed. What were you going to tell him? That he couldn’t come because your iron-willed brother slash doctor was guarding your door like a dog? You didn’t even want to know what Kensuke would do to your boyfriend if he came over. “Don’t. Come. I don’t want you to catch my fever. The match is tomorrow, right?”

“Yes, but—”

“If you love me, don’t visit. Thanks for the concern,” you said flatly and quickly hung up before he could say anything else to pull at your heartstrings. God, you really felt like a loser. Maybe your brothers weren’t so wrong about the ‘weak little sister’ business...

A knock on the door, and the devil had answered to your thoughts. “Hello~? I’m coming in, Y/N-chan. Are you awake? I’ve got your medicine.”

Heat flooding your brain, you were already frustrated enough about the entire ordeal, and your brother’s face was the last thing you wanted to see right now. Turning around to face the wall, you buried yourself into your blankets as the sound of an opening door and a tray being set down filled the room.

“I know you’re awake,” though you couldn’t see him, you were sure Kensuke was grinning playfully behind you. “Turn around so Ken-nii-chan can give you your medicine.”

“I can do it myself, Aniki,” you grumbled from within your cocoon of warmth.

“Not with those shaky hands you’re not,” he said as-a-matter-of-factly. Growling lowly, you shifted beneath the sheets and locked gazes with your smiling brother. Eyeing his every movement as he poured the dark syrup onto a spoon (because who knows what kind of shady things he might put into it!), you rustled.

“Why are you doing this?”

Replacing the cap onto the bottle, the eldest brother’s face broke into a grin. “Because I’m both your brother and a pediatrician. So isn’t it my responsibility to do this sort of stuff? Ah, open wide~”

You quickly enveloped your mouth around the spoon, downing its contents. Your face scrunched repulsively at the artificial tang. Sour. “I suppose it’s your responsibility to make my life a living hell too?”

“That’s a good girl, Y/N-chan. Sorry it’s lemon,” he said, setting down the spoon on your bedside table before turning to you again. “I just want what’s best for you. My little Y/N-chan is different from those other good-for-nothing kids, right? It’s a big world out there and we don’t want you to suffer.”

“Would you stop treating me like a child?” you scowled, hot air spewing out from your nose. “What’s up with you three and doing that? I can function perfectly fine on my own. I’m a third year in high school. It’s so annoying that I could almost hate you. And this is all because you never want to listen to me!”

As the both of you immersed in the deadly silence, you took the time to ogle at your brother’s contorted expression.

Kensuke leaned back on his chair, eyes widened with surprise. “’L-listen’... Y/N-chan, of course we want to listen to you. I-is that not what we’ve been doing the whole time?”

“Listening isn’t the same thing as assuming what I want, Aniki. All you guys do is pile up expectations about the fantasy Y/N living inside your head, and it’s been on my mind the entire week,” you murmured, face growing redder. Though that was just the fever. You were sure of it. “I can’t be the little Y/N-chan I used to be. She’s gone. I’m me now, and the choices I make are the results of my own changes. The choices about what I do, love—”

You took one good, satisfying look at Kensuke’s face, before continuing your sermon. “—and my future. No matter how stupid it looks to you.”

“Oh, Y/N-chan...” he sobbed, striking you dumb top to bottom. Kensuke was crying. Your brother was crying, but what for? Did he catch your fever? God, being sick really did a number on people.

“We didn’t—I didn’t mean to make you feel that way! I was just scared. It was so scary to see you grow up so fast into an adult... then what next? You’ll forget us. You even said you hated me! O-oh God, I’m turning into an overbearing person... I want to commit seppuku*, I’m so sorry...”

Seppuku—Wait, this was your brother you’re talking about here. And with his degree of regret and brashness... he just might do it. How dramatic, you thought, a chuckle threatening to escape your throat.

“Geez, don’t commit seppuku, Aniki,” you sat up on your bed, handing him the pack of tissues next to your pillow. “I said I could almost hate you. But I can’t possibly do that—you’re my brother, right? Even though you three drive me crazy, to fully despise the people who care for you... That’s unfair, isn’t it? Come on, Doctor, don’t cry in front of your patients~”

Blowing his nose loudly into a tissue, he sniffed. “You must really like this guy, huh?”

You made a noise between confusion and shock.

“The old Y/N-chan wouldn’t go so far for anything if it didn’t really interest you... I was worried that he was taking advantage of you or something, to the point where you worked yourself sick. But I couldn’t help but to overhear your phone call from outside and I was relieved that it wasn’t the case.”

You leaned your head on your knees and sighed. “Of course not. Aki-chan is sweet and caring and he knows exactly how to come up with the perfect responses to my weird antics. He used to take advantage of me, and I used to take advantage of him. But that was a long time ago. He made me realize that I didn’t have to understand everything before I felt happy about anything.”

“Does he make you happy?”

“Very. Aki-chan, my band, making this song for the tournament... it all makes me happy, and nothing could be better.”

The air was thick, and Kensuke took it as his cue to leave. Giving you one last smile at the doorframe after he’d flicked the lights off, you felt relief dulling your muscles.

“If you get better by tomorrow, I-I’ll try to figure out a way to get you to that gymnasium,” he said. A promise you knew he was bound to keep. “Your boyfriend is a good person, and I’d hate for him to go through such a grueling match without your support.”

“Ken-nii-chan?” God, it was embarrassing for you to say it, but you were thankful that you were clouded with darkness. “Thanks for listening.”

“G-get some rest, Y/N-chan. Good night.” A shut of a door and muffled crying through the walls.

Good night. You said to yourself and the comforts of your empty room.

══════ ⋆★⋆ ══════

“Has anyone seen Y/N-san?” Suzuke Ume, frantic captain of the Marching Band, scurried through the throngs of students, parents and teachers.

“I don’t think she got on one of the PTA buses either,” Yukie craned her neck upwards to get a better view of the audience. “Did she forget about it?”

“No way! This is Y/N-san we’re talking about. The day she forgets is the day the world collapses in on itself,” Ume gritted. “Gosh, I have to get the marching band ready and everything...”

Down below, on the polished hardwood court, the boys of the Fukurodani Volleyball Club were raving on their own as usual.

“Hey, what’s Suzuki-chan freaking out about? You think everything’s okay?” Komi whispered to the unstirring wing spiker. “Yo, Konoha, you good, man?”

Akinori said nothing. The world seemed so quiet, not even Bokuto’s early-morning racket could shake him out of it. The gymnasium held out like an empty shell to him. Was the world always so silent whenever you weren’t around? What a desolate world he lived in before you.

Lumping a sinewy arm over his shoulder, Bokuto pointed out. “Where’s Y/N-chan? She’s not coming? I heard she was going to lead the crowd.”

“She’s sick,” he finally mouthed, shrugging Bokuto off his back. “She didn’t come to school either yesterday. I’m just worried about her, ‘s all.”

At his words, Komi frantically leapt towards him. “Sick?! The Great Deity is sick? Did you visit her yesterday? How is she?”

“Y/N-chan... didn’t let me visit,” Akinori sighed. “I don’t know if I ticked her off or if she’s finally gotten bored of me... but she told me not to come even if I really really wanted to.”

As the sentence left his mouth, a shrill whistle resounded in the gymnasium, bouncing off the walls in a warning manner. That was that. The tournament you so hoped to attend the entire week, gone in a matter of seconds.

“Waaaait! Sorry I’m late!”

Like seagulls flocking to breadcrumbs, the entirety of the gym turned its head to the northwest entrance. Where a girl donned in a lopsided Fukurodani uniform and a guitar case strapped to her back looked like she just ran a marathon to get here.

Akinori’s face flushed away of its color, but he couldn’t help but to smile. Elegantly poised Ume nearly dropped her baton, and the entire crowd had their jaws scattered all over the floor.

“Let’s get this party started, shall we?”

Coach Yamiji on the sidelines snickered behind his wrinkled hands. This is going to be one interesting cheer.

══════ ⋆★⋆ ══════

There was a small corner in the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, hidden to the eyes, where janitors and staff alike sparsely came by. A little close to the bathrooms, but not too bad considering there was a fragrant lavender air freshener nocked there. And at this hour, it was the perfect time for—I don’t know—perhaps a curious couple to bask themselves in an after-game moment?

Cradling your face in his hands, Akinori scrutinized the little features on your skin, his breath heavy with concern. “Are you still sick? You’re a bit warm.”

Pushing his hands away, you tapped his chest lightly. “How romantic, Aki-chan. You drag your girlfriend away to a private space only to interrogate her. I’m fine, you know~”

“Your cheeks are completely red, you can’t fool me.” He returned his hands on your cheeks, squishing them together. You looked like strawberry mochi. Cute.

“T-That’s for an entirely different reason!” you cried out, averting your gaze. Your fingers curled around your quaint chrysanthemum necklace out of instinct. “I’m really fine. My brother, the doctor, drove me here with Wataru’s taxi. And we both know he wouldn’t be the type of person to let me out of the house if I wasn’t well. And guess what? I think my brothers have finally come to accept you~!”

Sighing, he rested his forehead on your shoulder, hiding his face in your neck. “You’re troublesome, L/N Y/N. You’re lucky the cheering song was so good that we won those first few matches by a landslide. Otherwise, I would be fully scolding you right now.”

“Hehehe~ Congrats for the win.” Tilting your head against his, you let out a soft hum. “I’m sorry for worrying you, Aki-chan. What should I do for you to forgive me?”

Raising his neck to level to yours, Akinori propped his temple up against yours and spoke to you in a husky tone that made you feel feverish again.

“No one’s going to interrupt us, right?”

“Eh? I don’t think so, but what’re you doing so close—”

“Good.”

And with a soft clink of your matching necklaces bumping against each other in the vacant halls, Akinori had stolen your breath away like a phantom thief to a tower’s princess.

Warm, was the first thing he thought of at first contact. Maybe it was the residue of your night-long fight against a high fever. He might fall sick soon, but that wasn’t something to think about during a first kiss. The space between you was nearly spectral and Akinori’s beating heart was faint against your chest. It was fast, expectedly so. As his hands drifted to shyly wrap itself around the tendrils of your stray hairs, you sneakily nibbled his lower lip, erupting the bubbles of laughter from his throat.

“You smell like sweat,” you poked at his jersey, your cheeks burning up. “Don’t just do that without giving me a warning first.”

Tucking a lock of hair behind your ear, Akinori eyed your slightly parted lips, a dash of his saliva molten upon it, “It’s payback for all the nuisances you’ve caused. So take responsibility, Y/N-chan.”

‘Responsibility’. The word seemed so foreign to you, but perhaps being liable wasn’t going to be such a bad thing—even if you were just freely riding the wave. Letting out a raucous laugh, you threw yourself against Akinori, taking as much responsibility as needed. Twice, thrice, and so on.

Bit by bit, the tailwinds of fate pointed north, and the right path for you never seemed clearer.

══════ ⋆★⋆ ══════

Glossary:

yankii - delinquent

aniki - ‘older brother’, but really slang-y (usually seen in pop culture yakuza scenes)

ossan - middle-aged man (an ‘uncle’ of sorts)

taichou - commander/leader

seppuku - japanese ritual of slitting the belly

#haikyuu!!#haikyuu #haikyu #haikyuu x reader #haikyuu imagines #haikyuu scenarios #konoha akinori x reader #konoha akinori #konoha akinori imagine #konoha akinori scenario #konoha x reader #fukuroudani x reader #fukurodani x reader #bruh haikyuu writing #ensemble bruh haikyuu #2K special #sfw

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ariadneah · 4 years ago

Text

self para / the old brag of my heart: I am, I am, I am.

Suddenly, nothing made with her hands could be good enough. The smell of metal, the smirk off Dexter’s face as he left the room, the very fact that she was wearing shoes that would have given her blisters three years ago -- it all made raindrops of sweat form, cold, at the bottom of her back. They had seen her brother -- and she hadn’t grown much over the bones of who Orpheus was three years ago.

She had gone over it, with a pencil in her hand instead of a knife, a million times, doodles everywhere. She could never speak a word of it to anybody, however. It was her own intimate demon to fight. What she chose, instead of dozens of romanticized elaborate plans, was a personal wound more than anything.

She stopped, in front of the doors, knowing she was on borrowed time. A nervous Career is not a Career, and she was shaking. There was no way she would open those doors before her hands calmed down. As the plan reshuffled in her mind, stronger than ever, her heart changed beats. There was nothing to fear. It was the moment she has always dreamed of. After a lifetime of knowing the Hunger Games by heart, the Hunger Games were going to meet her back. Holding her breath, she entered, disheveled and ghostly pale. Never before had a Career been more lost in her own jungle.

But she survived. Despite her heartbeat, she managed to pull a smile, determined to not waste a moment. Her feet were quick to take her to the simulation, where she entered all information as she spoke. “Ariadne Beaurevoir. I’m happy to be here. I’ve always wanted to be here. I’m actually a few years late, but I had to give you time to get bored of one Beaurevoir before getting another.” Her nervous tongue was filling in the gaps as she prepared the field, practical manner of speech as she pushed different buttons with unintentional nonchalance and chose the highest difficulty. Specifically ready to kill.

Ariadne waited in front of the generator for him to show up, made of orange pixels. The single silhouette of a boy of her height and size mirrored her own. He was all pixels, but she knew him by heart, even then. To her, there would never be a bigger threat. He? Dragging a mace. Her? Bare handed. Without warning, she took off, as fast as she could, long legs moving with cheetah ease towards the piles of weapons. He? Already after her, matching speed. How could he not? They were about the same person at this point.

It almost felt like hide-and-seek in a way, except she had been the one constantly bringing up blades in every game they would play in their childhood. It was about time he fought back. She bent too quickly to pick up three knives, left hand clenched on two of them and the right hand throwing the other in his direction, missing and slipping between his knees, despite the hologram constantly moving. She didn’t want to hurt a pixel yet. One of the remaining knives moved hands in an instant. She was careful to push the shelf of weapons all in his way and sprint away.

The hologram didn’t trip, but it did slow him down.

At this point, he was in front of her, swinging the mace with no brotherly mercy. Good. She had never asked for any. The dance was almost ridiculous. She dodged the mace for a minute straight, eyes following every move of the hologram and mirroring it as quickly as reflex. There was no striking back. As if she couldn’t. Instead, she showed her best, most graceful defense, almost choreographic.

After a cat and mouse game where Ariadne simply bent over, moved away, stepped back and jerked her head away from every mace hit, she started running in the other way. As if when he wasn’t expecting an escape. When facing a wall, he was too close to orientate towards a new direction, so she simply plunged the first knife high on the wall, not letting go of it. Then the second. Turning around, she ducked and left the knives there to fight back barehanded. Her two palms grasped the handle of the mace too, fearlessly, surprised to feel it to begin with, and pushed in his direction as a force pushed in hers.

She was nowhere stronger than this version of her brother. But there it was, her special talent. She never fought fair. Ariadne’s foot aimed cruelly for the space between the hologram’s legs. It reacted (though not the way Everett had last year), caught off guard for a moment. That was when she smacked the mace off his hands. It did hurt like metal would have, like a shock, but there was no time for injury.

She turned back to face the wall and jumped, grabbing both knives by the handles and supporting her body as her feet left the sole. Straining her arms to keep hanging, she knew the first pluck out would be the heaviest for her elbow, but she took a knife out, holding only onto the other. It cut her breath away. She stabbed the wall again, higher, trying to climb. It was going to take too long. The hologram tried to drag her down, but her sneakers fought back, hitting the head with a concealed force, not to lose balance. There was nothing to push against for a propulsion, but she continued to climb up, rushing more and more until she reached a fair distance to the sole. She was up and untouchable, but her arms felt like breaking in two. Her palms were sweaty, threatening to let go, already numb.

And besides, this wasn’t a climbing demonstration in the slightest. With strength only made up by adrenaline, she tossed one of the knives down, arrow-like, and struck the hologram’s foot, not strongly enough to pin it to the ground. The other knife she left where it was stuck. When she jumped, it was in a frog position, landing well enough in a squat. Without standing up properly, she dodged the hologram and ran back to the weapons, almost moving with both her legs and arms, like a cat.

She picked up the first sword on sight and glued it against his hologram mace in no time, as defense. Tilting right, she wanted to make the hologram lose its grip, but it seemed close to impossible. She had never fought against steadier hands. When she realized she was never going to beat a hologram of this level in skill, Ariadne sidestepped and struck the ends where the hologram’s hands were supposed to be mercilessly, causing it to drop the weapon, once again. Then, she tossed away her own sword, no longer in need of it.

Instead, she tackled the hologram, throwing her whole body against it as if diving into a lake. The first thing she could feel, from above him, was the sharpest leg in the stomach. Now she was just starting to get mad. Though her ears were flaming red by now, it was time for anger to color them, instead of just effort. She leaned in and bit his face, the portion that should have been his nose. She bit it until her teeth clinked together with a metallic noise. That was the cue for blood, if her opponent were human.

Then she spit on him and jumped to change position, now pressing her sneaker heels against his thighs and pressing hard. Despite the continuous straining, he pushed her back. Her back hit against the cold, hard ground and, in no time, the damned hologram was choking her. Despite the moment, Ariadne laughed out loud. Satisfied, almost. She could hardly breathe, but she moved and shook her body continuously, pushing and hitting with her legs. It was like being possessed.

There was no way out. She was going to die by the unreal hands of a simulation in a pretense fight. She raised her arms in the air and shot up her heaviest elbows in its head, however. Again and again and again as if wanting to squeeze the nonexistent cranium between sharp hits. She did have pointy bones. The release came like a fresh yet hoarse breath of air. Ariadne didn’t waste a second. She didn’t need an oxygenated brain to fight. It was all reflex. She pushed the hologram off of her and reached out for another of the weapons scattered around the floor. A mace. Fitting.

Maces have never been her favorite, but she could work with one. Ariadne swung one over her head for soar and struck as hard as possible. The simulation seemed fresher than ever, having gained his mace back. He blocked it, but she pushed him back. Maces weren’t dueling weapons. They were only a moment away from ending things. She knew that now.

The realization came in late. It’s been her all along. That’s when she stuck the mace in the forehead, full force, going halfway through the skull. The simulation dissipated in seconds, fading sparks in the air. At that point, she could no longer breathe.

“I can make my own mutts,” she spoke through gritted teeth, trying to make herself as audible as possible, despite the position she was in, on her knees. “And I’m not afraid to kill any version of my brother you decide to send my way.” She stood up and straightened her back, placing down the weapon gently by her feet. “I’m here for it. For all of it. Thank you.” With a small bow, she turned on her heels.

#i never posted her skill pres on her blog and i feel like it has to be there #self para #124 #ruleandtask #bits #;a force of fury #the old brag of my heart: i am i am i am #backdated

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shibalen · 4 years ago

Note

Hi! I’m so sorry about the earlier request! I misread the rules (._. ) I’d like to request from Akatsuki No Yona and Haikyuu. I prefer a romantic type of matchup. I’m a Capricorn and infp. I have a fairly large social circle and quite talkative with others. But there are times I prefer my own time and silence. I trust people easily and am loyal to my friends. I’m a left hander. My hobbies are writing, reading and watching anime. I listen to various types of music. It depends on my mood. (😁)

I’m a literature student and love to learn about technology. I have three cats and one dog. I adore animals, even insects but not spiders XD. I like dark colours and dark themed movies and stories. My ideal type of date is chilling inside a cafe or walking along a forest or a silent place talking with each other. I’m into carefree guys who get serious in the time of need. (😁)

The type of a guy who would dance around with me in the kitchen and jam to songs with me in the car and also be there when I have a breakdown. I’m an impatient fellow and tend to lose my focus easily. I’d like to request music box and dark box uwu. That’s it! Thanks! And sorry again for the earlier request! Love your blog! (😁)

♡︎ matchup for 😁anon

heya howdy doodle doo! how're you? i hope you didn't get too tired of waiting and actually see this. hehe. i gave these results lots of thought so i'm happy if you like them too!

akatsuki no yona: i match you with . . .

jae-ha !!

• you guys match so well i can't— your zodiacs, mbti, personality and your type of person are simply pointing at Jae-ha with a big red arrow!

• Jae-ha is chill and social by nature. that paired with your love for talking with people makes you a really social couple. i can easily picture the two of you being the life of most conversations.

• also when there's a crisis or any more serious situation going on you're both usually the ones to calm others down. your presence makes them feel at ease and honestly Jae-ha admires that so much in you ♡︎

• he knows he can trust you with his burdens and count on you to be there for him. he may not always voice them out loud but you know he needs your comfort when he silently lays his head on your shoulder.

• of course this goes both ways and he will never let you be alone during a breakdown. somehow he always finds the right things to say or do to help you find yourself again. his voice is deep and soothing and he will happily put it to use if it makes you feel at ease.

• though he does have a sharper intuition when it comes to strangers and therefore makes sure nobody takes advantage of you. however there was definitely one time where he let you buy something extremely overpriced just to tease you about it later

• the worse the scam the more poisonous the words he speaks to them with that lazy smile. then he escorts you away while waving a hand.

• "you have to be more careful, flower. i don't want some guy eventually making you give your heart away too, " he flirts

• "too late," you respond. "this one green-haired guy with stupid jokes already has it."

• BOOM

• ahem.

• at first you thought he was the worst case of a womanizer, and you preferred your possible partner to reciprocate your loyalty. unfortunately otherwise he was just your type so you couldn't help but be drawn to him.

• Jae-ha was attracted to you too from your smart and fun personality to your hobbies and taste in music. he loved how you stood your ground yet how flexible you were with your likes.

• obviously he didn't give up on you despite your little façade. he proved his loyalty runs deeper than most when he's fallen for the right person. you're his special, dear person and won't let anything or anyone come between that.

• will wear matching dark outfits with you! claims it's not his style but likes it surprisingly a lot. you might do ridiculous poses just to embarrass Hak.

• can be heckin annoying when it comes to your writing though. "are you going to write me into your story? of course you are ;)" "is the main character me?" don't get him wrong, he adores your writing and that's why he gets so excited about it. other times he does it on purpose to get your attention smh

• overall, light-headed teasing is something he will always do just to see you flustered. it's so adorable he can't help it. leaning in extra close to you while you're cooking together, highkey boasting about you to his friends, starting and winking at you, plus all sorts of cheesy one-liners.

• but Jae-ha is smart and knows when to give you space. when you're ready to interact again he's already prepared for a date!

• Jae-ha is romantic even on daily basis, bringing you flowers or small trinkets that he knows you like. just seeing you smile at his loving gestures makes his cheeks warm and heart beat fast (though he tries not to show it)

• please listen to him playing the erhu, he does it especially for you. when you're out on a rooftop on a moonlit night he'll serenade you with his songs.

• your dates include: walks around the outskirts of towns, moongazing, him leaping through the sky with you securely in his arms, dinner at different inns and travens with music and parties or by a bonfine and you two just being silly. also creative activities like pottery and sketching ♡︎

❦︎ ink box

— this happened before your relationship even started, back when Jae-ha first realised his feelings for you.

— you wouldn't expect it, but he struggled with these emotions a lot. this was the first time he had ever felt this way towards anybody, after all. his natural reaction was to distance himself from you because he was scared, whether he admitted it to himself or not.

— he was afraid of being tied down and tying you down. he knew love required commitment and you valued loyalty. he dreaded he wouldn't be good enough for you, instead becoming the source of your pain. you deserved much more than he was, and he was a coward.

— there was also the problem of putting you in danger because of the group's mission. any injury you'd get would be his fault and that was too much a thought to bare.

— he thought he was being smooth avoiding you, preparing for his leave without hurting you. he thought. but you were smarter, you knew Jae-ha was kind. he wouldn't do this to hurt you—not after all those fun memories you'd made together!

— refusing to beat around the bush, you tried confronting him. however, by that time he'd already set out to the next destination. he had left, without a word of goodbye.

— thankfully, Zeno was the quickest to notice Jae-ha's broken demeanor. it was heartbreak which he himself knew too well. he pulled the green dragon aside the next evening as they were gathering wood and stubly hinted Jae-ha shouldn't do anything he would regret for the rest of his life.

— the rest of the gang was quick to join after Kija happened to overhear the conversation. they all (even Ao) swore to take care of you if Jae-ha wouldn't be able to.

— you were halfway up the mountain chasing after him when Jae-ha landed directly in front of you. he was out of breath and dishevelled but the desperate glint in his eye shone brighter than any star in the sky.

— you embraced and shared a sweet kiss under the night sky. he apologised more times than you could count but after almost shattering your heart you didn't let him off the hook that easily. well, he had the rest of his life with you to make it up to you ♡︎

♡︎ runner up: Hak

⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:⠀ *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

haikyuu: i match you with . . .

rintaro suna !!

• Suna is a little different from the previous match but my instincts told me to put you together regardless! i think your personalities balance each other out while sharing the same core basics.

• you're both laid-back and have no problems interacting with people but still like your alone time. as in infp you seek new knowledge and Suna, being the smartass he is, will never bore you. he can be both silent and talkative, whichever you prefer.

• will definitely join you in being social but in a subtle way. he'll stand/sit next to you with an arm around you while you're talking to your friends. really chill but also knows how to hold a conversation and chime in with a clever comment.

• once he notices you becoming tired he casually steers you away from the rest, saying you two have to go now. how is this guy so smooth? really though he just wants to be alone together with you.

• you guys met when your social groups came together. it's that 'friend of a friend of a friend' chain and thus somehow you ended up going to one of his games because a person you knew didn't want to go alone.

• they knew Kita so y'all went to congratulate him on the win later. he then introduced you the team and therefore, of course, Suna.

• you thought he was pretty and you chatted a bit but nothing much happened. it was through these continuous meetings afterward that eventually pshed you two together ♡︎

• you had so much to talk about! stories, technology, hobbies, music, a little gossip. he liked how opinionated you were and how much you knew, then found it amusing how easily distracted you got.

• his advances were really subtle yet continuous and efficient! though some of them were kind of teasing. made sure you were comfortable with your friendship first before stating his exact feelings for you.

• Suna isn't afraid of pda and if you are too, he'll be holding your hand, having you sit on his lap, giving you kisses on your face and hand. yet although others mifht see, it feels as though every touch is a secret language meant for bust the two of you.

• his advice is quite blunt but he does it out of love, plus his actions are much softer and really patient when you're at rock-bottom. i assure you anyone neglecting your feelings is not safe.

• you're both into dark-themed stuff! y'all go to movies, festivals, bookshops and alike looking so hella aesthetic, i swear. what a beautiful couple (☆ω☆)

• your pets love Suna after they've gotten used to him. sometimes when he comes over the cats will come chill around him. it's like he's one of them and it's hilarious. you have a bunch of pictures on your phone of him and your dog.

• you like showing those photos off to his teammates because they're just that good, but instead of getting embarrassed Suna will either just agree or jokingly ask why haven't you made it your background yet.

• overtime he's learnt how to keep your focus from going too astray, though you can't say he's always vigilant himself. he slacks off during boring lectures and would much rather talk to you. the teacher had to seperate you pfft—

• can and will jam to all times of music with you in the kitchen, even if just ironically. one time his little sister caught the two of you vibing to an opera preformance and homeboy just shrugged it off and continued because you both thought it was funny.

• your dates include: going on hikes especially after a stressful period (Suna most definitely did not look up the best places near your home and prepared your favorite snacks), cat cafés, staying at home and cooking a meal cause this boy probably only knows how to pour water over noodles, and long drives and blasting music ♡︎

♫︎ music box

— I Wanna Be Yours by Arctic Monkeys

— Caroline by Crash Adams

— Blinding Lights by The Weekend

— Your Dog Loves You by Colde

— Hey Boy by Sia (what you'd jokingly lip-sync to for him)

♡︎ runner up: Atsumu Miya

thank you so much for requesting and i apologise for the huge delay (ಥ﹏ಥ) still, i hope you enjoyed! have a lovely day and please stay safe ♡︎

#len's matches #matchups #😁anon #haikyuu matchups #akayona matchups

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hotvintagepoll · 1 month ago

Text

Laurel and Hardy (Pack Up Your Troubles, The Devil's Brother)—[Stan Laurel was] 5'8". He's a cute little silly fella. Laurel and Hardy were very good friends IRL! In his comedy shorts made with longtime work partner and close friend Oliver Hardy, when Hardy said his best-known catchphrase, "Well, here's another nice mess you've gotten me into!", "Laurel's frequent, iconic response was to start to cry, pull his hair up, exclaim 'Well, I couldn't help it...', then whimper and speak gibberish." (From the Laurel and Hardy Wikipedia page)

James Cagney (Yankee Doodle Dandy, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Public Enemy, White Heat, The Strawberry Blonde)—Whaddya mean I've gotta SUBMIT Cagney? You look up scrungly in the dictionary and there's a picture of him RIGHT THERE. He IS the scrungle. -SHORT KING 5'4 3/4 (1.65m) I could put him in my pocket -When he rolls down his car window (in Mayor of Hell) sticks his head out and makes some snarky comment (which I didn't hear because I was way too distracted) it's like struck by lightning, let me tell you -His hair is so wavy and sometimes it falls over his forehead and then I die a little -He plays The Public Enemy number one, everyone thinks of this as "the one with the grapefruit scene" but it is SO SO much more than that, it's also the one where he wears little striped pajamas -Multilingual (Yes, I'm the same person who submitted EGR and listed this earlier. Yes, this is a big thing for me.) He spoke Yiddish, guys and you can hear him speak it in a movie (Taxi) AND when the Warner Bros. tried to discuss him without him knowing they used Yiddish not realizing he'd understand everything -He talks so fast. Like. Staccatto. It's so fascinating -Loved animals & owned CHOW CHOWS (that's a very scrungly dog, c'mon) -Plays Bottom in Midsummer Night's Dream, that's the guy who gets turned into a DONKEY, nobody else could've played it like he did -Messed with Warner Bros. all the time, threatened to quit, told them he was going to go be a doctor instead -He does this little nose scrunch thing oh my god -Boy Meets Girl is a supremely underrated screw ball comedy and he has lots of silly little outfits in it and acts ridiculous the entire time -Was fascinated by farming and just puttered around on his tractor, like he's just a little guy! -There's a movie where he has a silly little mustache (I haven't seen it yet though) -They've dressed him up as bellhops, sailorsn cowboys and itty bitty gangsters [in movies] and frankly that should be enough -His first show biz job was a female dancer on the chorus line

This is round 2 of the contest. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. If you're confused on what a scrungle is, or any of the rules of the contest, click here.

[additional submitted propaganda + scrungly videos under the cut]

Laurel and Hardy:

nobody was doing it like them! nobody!!!! weird men rIGHTS

youtube

James Cagney:

youtube

James Cagney is such a scrungler. He could dance, he could sing, he embodied the gangster role, he was a short king, he had curly hair, what more could you possibly want?? Something about his face just feels so Looney Toons to me. He's like a little bug and I'm observing him through my magnifying glass. I'm obsessed with his hair and his scrunging demeanor!!! He's the most guy to me of all time. I tried to draw him once and completely failed. You could crumple him up like a tissue and watch him float away in the breeze.

Fanvid

A second fanvid

A third fanvid

He is the SCRUNGLIEST of gangsters, it’s the role that made him famous, and by god that’s for good reason. He also plays a peculiar little guy in musicals and occasionally westerns, all with a particular flavor of scruffy city rat energy that you can’t help but adore!

youtube

#james cagney #laurel and hardy #hotvintagepoll #scrungly 2 #Youtube

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kingofno-whereville · 5 years ago

Note

I could really use a body swap right about now, and one of them finding some incriminating evidence that the other boy like him, and confronting him, but don't make it a long body swap, let's just sat they swap for like a few days, cause reasntly I read this other one and the body swap went on FOR-EVER

Billy had a rude awakening Wednesday morning but not in the way he was used to. Instead of a banging on his door and a yell to get up, it was the beep of an alarm clock. The last he checked he didn’t have an alarm clock. In his sleepy haze he’d thrown his blankets aside to see skinny legs in a pair of pajama pants. His heart could’ve jumped out of his chest. What the fuck?? He rubbed his eyes, looking around. That’s not his fucking room. He scrambled out of bed, running to the first mirror he saw in the room.

Steve Harrington.

Okay so. This is just a dream. Has to be. He pinched his arm. Nothing. Shit. He wasn’t even going to bother trying to figure out what’s going on, he needed to find his body. What if Steve’s in there? He’s not lending his body to fucking Steve. He opened his drawers, looking for the least preppy outfit he could. Jeans, black button down that probably isn’t meant for casual outings, and a leather jacket he really didn’t expect to find.

The clock read 7:15 am. He definitely had some time to explore the room. Why did Steve even wake up this early? He didn’t think he worked out, he would’ve noticed. He looked through drawers, finding the usual teenager things. Magazines. Lotion. The whole gambit. Yeah maybe he didn’t expect to see a men’s sport magazine under the porn magazine but hey that’s not his business. Billy would do that if he wasn’t so heavily monitored. He shut the drawer of the nightstand and moved onto the little shelf below the nightstand. Not much to see. Some records. A small box. He sat up on the bed(which he took the time to make, your welcome Harrington) and opened up the box. There were several photos of Steve and the kids. Steve and Nancy. Trinkets that probably meant something to Steve. Then alllll the way at the bottom was a picture of him and Steve. He recognized it right away. It was taken after they had won the basketball state championships, there was a crowd of people around them and Billy had hugged him in the excitement of the moment, someone with a camera nearby deciding that was a good moment to capture. He didn’t think Steve would save the photo. He set it back in the box and put the box away, moving onto the desk. He sat down in the chair, opening the first notebook he saw. It was some basic stuff like history notes. He flipped all the way to the end where he found some doodles and little notes.

stupid blond asshole

That had to be him.

I wish he’d stop smirking at me like that.

He smiled, shutting the notebook. Sounds like someone’s a little frustrated. He wasn’t sure if it was just plain old frustration or sexual frustration but it made him pleased because that’s exactly what he was trying to provoke. he stood up and left the little room, shutting the door quietly behind him. The house was completely silent save for the ticking of a clock that got louder as he approached the kitchen. Jesus, where were his parents? He opened the fridge, grabbing out the carton of eggs.

He’d admit, it was kind of nice not having to rush to eat his food. He hated pulling up to school in the fucking Beemer. He had to tear apart the whole car just to find a cigarette just to find out that Steve doesn’t even have Marlboros, he’s got the weak shit. It was nice not getting bombarded by girls and Tommy. He could see the Camaro further up the parking lot so he started to head inside. He tried not to break into a run. He just wanted his body back. Sure enough he saw himself leaning up against his locker awkwardly.

“Hey!” He called out. God he hated sounding like Harrington. He didn’t hate Harrington’s voice per say, but he hated that he had to use it until god knows when. It just doesn’t fit him. He could’ve screamed when he saw the get up Steve had him in. A sweatshirt he never wore, jeans, and his hair up. It looked pretty normal but it’s simply not how he dressed for school. Steve looked about ready to lose it himself, which is fair. Billy had to admit, he thought the outfit he picked out looked pretty hot. He watched Steve walk over before he grabbed Billy’s arm and yanked him into the nearest bathroom.

“What the hell did you do to my hair?” That’s his concern? The hair?

“I made you look hot, you should be thanking me.” Steve just looked at him deadpan. Did his face really look like that? I mean damn Billy would admit he’s got the looks he knew that, but he just had this look settled in his eyes. “Do you have any idea what’s going on?”

“No. If I did I would be trying to undo it instead of going to school.”

“Did you go through my shit?”

“Hardly. There’s no time to do anything in your house.” Billy’s heart practically jumped from his chest when he realized that Steve was actually in his house around his family for an hour at least. “Uh..you’re looking a little pale there man. You good?”

“Yeah.”

“Are you gonna get mad if I ask you a question?”

“Depends.”

“What’s your dad’s problem? The guy’s a complete asshole.” Billy felt like his world was falling apart around him.

“Uhm..he’s just like that.” He’s sure he could brush it off. “So what’re we gonna do until this is..undone or whatever?”

“I don’t know. Just pretend everything’s alright?”

“Okay then you can’t dress my up like that. It looks like I just got home from the artic or some shit.”

“And you can’t flirt with everyone who speaks to you.” Oh great, they’re getting into this part of the conversation.

“I don’t! Do not sleep with anyone.”

“I don’t know that seems out of character for you.” He felt like grabbing and pushing him against a wall but he knows Steve’s got the upper hand here being in Billy’s body.

“You have to do the dishes after dinner every night. Nobodies gonna remind you but you don’t...just don’t forget to do the dishes. I’ll have my schedule written up hour by hour and we can trade homework after school. If I give you my notebooks you better fucking keep up with the notes in class and do NOT dent my c-”

“Billy! Jesus christ I got it. We can write up schedules and rules for each other.”

Steve’s schedule and rules were much shorter than Billy’s. Billy spent at least 20 minutes writing and used 2 pieces of lined paper. Billy read over the schedule in the car, surprised to find that he shouldn’t be expecting Mr. and Mrs. Harrington until Saturday, if it even lasts that long. Steve even included his entire hair routine on the back side of the paper. Suddenly Billy understood why Steve needed an hour in the morning. Billy included a mandatory workout routine so he guessed he could stick to a hair routine. He almost forgot Steve drives kids around whenever they need it. So if some Dustin kid called, Billy had to do whatever he needed and do it nicely. He felt like he was in a nightmare.

He got scared when he saw a car in the driveway of the Harrington house. He checked the rear view mirror, just making sure he looked as Steve as possible, before getting out and heading inside.

“Stephen?” Stephen?? He wanted to burst out in laughter.

“Hello?” He hung his jacket on the hook and made his way towards the voice that had called out to him.

“Did you just get home from school?” This must be his mom. He had nothing to gain from her so he could just be him which was such a relief.

“Uhm..yeah. I thought you were coming home this weekend?”

“I know but I was just so exhausted. I figured we could spend some time together? I know I haven’t really been the best about spending time with you but I’ll be home for a few months so we can make up for lost time!” Billy hated that he wanted to cry. So he just smiled and nodded.

“Alright that sounds good.”

He watched a movie with Mrs. Harrington and she told him about some guy she met who’s supposedly famous. She hugged him goodnight. She’s a good mom. After she went to bed he, went downstairs and called his place. It rang for a minute before he heard his own voice. Thank god.

“This is weird but do you want to meet up at the quarry?” He’d tell him about his mom at the quarry.

“Sure. I’ll meet you there.” He hung up and was out the door so fast.

He had spaced out, laying on the hood of Steve’s car. He was waiting to smoke until he got his cigarettes from the cup holder of the Camaro. Speak of the devil, he heard his car roll up. It’s hard to not know it’s his car. Before he knew it, Steve had sat beside him on the hood of his car.

“Hey.”

“Hey. Your mom’s home.”

“Awesome. She tell you how disappointed she is in me?”

“No? We watched a movie. You have a good mom.”

“My mom is hardly ever around.” Billy was silent. He wanted to tell him that his mom didn’t even call anymore, let alone drop in for visits. He didn’t want to elicit pity or anything.

“How’s my house?” He doesn’t know why he asked. He already knows.

“Your dad yelled at me for putting my elbows on the table and then mocked me for playing the top 40. Max thinks you’re possessed.”

“You played fucking top 40? God you’re so bad at this whole acting thing.” He laughed. He’d laugh a lot more if he wasn’t appalled by the image of his own body dancing to that shit. “I hope this is all over tomorrow.”

“Me too. I did some cleaning in your room by the way.”

“And?”

“Didn’t know you’re into guys Hargrove.” He’s never wanted to jump in front of a moving vehicle so badly.

“If you say anything I will-”

“I don’t mind. It’s not a big deal.” He sat up and looked at him. Did he always have a distant look on his face or is that just Harrington?

“Then I guess you know-”

“I don’t mind that either I think you’re...nice.”

“Nice? Is that all I get?”

“I don’t know, I’m not telling you I think you’re hot.”

“You just did!!!” He laughed. “When we get our bodies back, will you be mad if I kiss you?”

“Not at all.” Steve looked at him, with the most Steve looking grin.

(they woke up in their own bodies Friday morning. they kissed so much.)

#harringrove #billy hargrove #steve harrington #stranger things

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stellar-alley · 4 years ago

Text

Spider Spaghetti

•Chapter 2•

Previous Chapter // Next Chapter

(Summary: Spider Man attempts to decipher a villains final words. He investigates his science teacher’s classroom and gets asked out to homecoming. )

Shout out to my Beta, go find her on Tumblr @scoobydoo-ghoulschool and on ao3 @ theblacklagoon

Also, don’t forget to check out my Instagram Stellar.Cosplays if you want to see more of me and what goes on in my life!

The next day when Eddie approached the main doors of the high school his eyes caught on the massive sign that hung above the entrance. HOMECOMING! Beside it was a countdown, 5 DAYS LEFT. Eddie rolled his eyes so hard they almost stayed that way.

Such overrated bullshi-

“Eddie Spaghetti!” Richie called out from somewhere behind him.

“Dipshit!” Eddie shot back with a half smile.

Richie slid an arm over Eddie’s shoulders. “Oh, come on Spageds! Take it easy on me I had a hard night.” He kept his voice light and joyful but Eddie sensed some more serious undertones.

Eddie turned his head to look at Richie as they entered the school, “What happened?”

“So picture this,” Richie stuck his hand out and slowly moved it across the horizon. “I’m riding home, all is groovy, when this fucking massive breeze kicks in and BAM!” Richie jumped up, away from Eddie “I fell off my bike, scraped my knee, and busted my kickstand- not like I used it, but still!”

Eddie studied the way Richie carried himself, only now that Richie pointed out the fall and the scrape (That was hidden beneath Richie’s jeans) did he notice the smallest limp in Richie’s step. Not so much a limp but more of a hesitation before each step.

Eddie’s eyes went wide in shock before he went off on a tangent, “Holly shit are you alright? Can I see the scrape? How bad is the damage? Did you get any rocks in it? Wait Richie you disinfected it right? You still have the kit I left at your house and you know how bad infections can get especially when-”

Richie stopped in the middle of the hallway and held his hands up in defense, “Yes of course Dr. K! I fixed it up almost as good as you would have,” Richie slid into one of his voices.

Eddie couldn’t help but wonder who else was affected by Twister’s wind storms from the previous night.

Eddie was aimlessly doodling during his free period. He couldn’t shake the feeling that he was missing something. Someone from one of the neighboring tables in the cafeteria laughed way too loudly then someone in a cafeteria should be laughing. Of course, Eddie’s senses made it sound like the fucking joker’s laugh booming around his head. It snapped him out of his thoughts, brought him back to reality.

His eyes fell on the page he’d been doodling on. His eyes went wide at what exactly he’d been doodling.

GET CARTER/GET CARTER/GET CARTER/GET CARTER/GET CARTER/GET CARTER/GET CARTER/GET CARTER/GET CARTER/GET CARTER/GET CARTER/GET CARTER/GET CARTER/GET CARTER/GET CARTER/GET CARTER/GET CARTER/GET CARTER/GET CARTER/GET CARTER/GET CARTER/GET CARTER/GET CARTER/GET CARTER/GET CARTER/GET CARTER/GET CARTER/GET CARTER/GET CARTER/GET CARTER-

“What the-” His eyes scanned the page as he recalled Twister's last words.

Okay, I need to figure this shit out before it drives me all the way to fucking Shaw Shank.

Eddie anxiously ran his hand through his thick brown locks. He tugged on the end and let out a frustrated sigh.

First things first Eddie went over every Carter he knew, which wasn't a lot.

~Eddie’s notebook~

-Carter Anderson from Freese’s/ Works the cash/ Early 20s/ Pretty nice

-Bryce Carter/ senior/ jock/ Asshole, most the time/ Visibly homophic

- Justin Carter/ Science teacher/ Funny/ Easy marker/ late 20s

Math class second period Eddie conveniently sat beside Bryce. Most days he kept his head down and looked the other way whenever he glanced at him. Today was different. After their teacher stopped with the lesson and let them talk freely for the last 10 minutes of class. Eddie inhaled then turned to Bryce.

“You heard about the superheroes going all berserk lately?” Eddie tried to make his voice sound like he wanted to talk to Bryce.

“Duh, Everyone’s heard about it. ‘Some crazy shit going on,” Bryce looked Eddie up and down, surveying him.

“Kinda cool though, right? To have powers, but not to uh- explode” Eddie swallowed the lump in his throat.

“No shit wheezy,” Eddie had to refrain from rolling his eyes. “Everyone wants powers nowadays. It’d be so fucking dope.” He said as if he’d fantasised about it before.

“Yeah really cool, right?'' Eddie faked excitement. “What powers would you want?”.

“Super strength of fucking course, no doubt about it,” Bryce said confidently, he leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Yeah, that does seem pretty cool,” Eddie nodded in (fake) agreement. When Bryce finally lost interest in Eddie’s little talk session the hero turned his head a little and rolled his eyes.

Lunchtime rolled around and Eddie waited patiently behind the door of the boy’s bathroom that was conveniently placed across the hall from Mr. Carter's classroom. The first bell indicating the start of their lunch break had rung about 10 minutes ago. Carter had to leave his classroom within the next 5 minutes if he wanted to go grab some lunch at subway before he had to make it back in time for his shift in the cafeteria to watch the students and make sure they don’t create a rebellion and revolt against the teachers Footloose style (Ben has already thought about it). Eddie was very observant and he noticed these things so he picked up on others schedules.

Two minutes later Eddie heard the sound of Carter’s door creaking open and his teacher’s shoes squeak as they walked down the hallway and away from his classroom. Another two minutes later Eddie crept out of the boy’s room and towards the now empty classroom.

Eddie placed his hand on the doorknob, carefully turned it, then let out a breath of relief when it opened. Before he left homeroom he left a small amount of webbing in the lock’s mechanisms, which would stop the door from properly locking, allowing for Eddie to have an easy time getting into Mr. Carter’s class.

First things first he closed the door behind him and left one of his security camera spiders, her name was Charlotte . He checked his phone to make sure Charlotte was hooked up so he got a live stream of her footage on his phone. It’s good to have her just in case something happens. Eddie checked the door to make sure no one was watching before he continued his search.

Eddie went from desk to desk, even checking Mr. Carter’s desk. He was just about to give up when he reached down towards the final drawer that he still needed to check. He gave the handle a tug but the drawer didn’t budge. The rest of the drawers opened with ease, no locks, so this caused Eddie’s forehead to wrinkle in confusion.

Weird weird, weird. Eddie thought before he gave the drawer a quick superhuman tug, then it opened with ease. He smiled proudly at his work. The smile disappeared as fast as it appeared, at the bottom of the drawered laid a switch. It looked like a light switch, a perfectly normal light switch that sat ominously at the bottom of his possibly evil teacher’s drawer.

Eddie did the only logical thing to do, he flipped the switch. He wasn't sure what he thought would happen. So he was certainly surprised to watch as the tile under the desk opened up from underneath in an almost silent swoop. Eddie simply stared in shock. That sneaky bastard.

Spiderman wasted no time in waiting. He rapidly examined the trap door and noticed that it led down, down, on a ladder. Eddie hopped down, closed the trap door (just in case Carter returned), and began the descent into the unknown.

Eddie’s shock levels were already through the roof. And both of the supervillain deaths, discovering his favorite teacher has a supervillain layer and could very well be a supervillain himself were not helping.

His nerves only continued to skyrocket when he reached the bottom of the ladder. Looking around he saw a massive computer, multiple monitors all displaying various pieces of information. Eddie immediately noticed the two headshots of the deceased villains he recently fought that were displayed on one of the screens. On some of the other desks were various pieces of equipment, some looked like pieces from old super suits, others looked like sciency things.

What really caught his eye was the very suspicious container labeled HOMECOMING. It was big, black, and transparent, unable to see what was inside. He slowly approached the table it sat on, tugging on his spider gloves as he did so. Eddie wanted to make sure he didn’t get any finger prints on anything. He realized it was a bit too late as he already went down the ladder without gloves but it wouldn’t hurt to put them on now.

He approached the desk with caution in fear of disturbing anything that may alert Carter that Eddie had been snooping in his stuff. He reached his arms up towards the bin, pulling it towards him. He carefully popped the lid off.

A gasp subconsciously escaped his lips when he realized what he was looking at. The bin was nearly packed to the brim with little baggies that each contained one single black pill. Eddie swallowed them lump in his throat as he realized what Mr Carter had stashed away in his secret lair, drugs.

Before he left the secret lair Eddie snapped multiple photos of the drugs, bin, equipment, and all that was on the screens for further investigation when he wasn't literally in a villain's hideout.

Just as he was about to begin his climb up the ladder his phone buzzed silently inside his pocket. He fumbled to get it out with how his hands anxiously shook.

“Shit,” he mumbled when he saw the live footage of the classroom and how Mr. Carter was currently entering the classroom. Fuck.Fuck.Fuck.

I can’t just stay down here until he leaves- what if I’m in here all day and- wait is that the trap door opening? I’m so screwed.

Eddie thought as he realized Mr. Carter was indeed making his way down into his usually empty lair. Eddie quickly shot a web up towards the ceiling and leaped up and stuck his feet to the ceiling. He prayed Mr. Carter wasn't one to check for spiders above him.

He heard a deep sigh come from his science teacher as he dropped down the ladder and onto the concrete floor. “Fucking Carol. If she had told me she’d be able to take my shift beforehand, then maybe I could’ve had more time to finish up with my damn order,” He threw his hands into the air in frustration. Carol was the female science teacher who apparently was able to take Carter’s shift in the cafeteria.

He placed his hand over his face, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I don’t even know if I’ll be able to make enough in time for homecoming. Or if they’re even fucking ready yet- can’t have more villains exploding or else they’ll get suspicious,” he monologued.

Eddie suppressed a gasp from where he hung on the ceiling. Carter walked to the far side of the lab. Spiderman hesitated before reaching out with his hand and slowly began crawling over towards him in order to continue his eavesdropping.

Carter picked up one of the discarded clipboards off his desk and began examining the information on its papers. “If I want enough for the students at homecoming I’ve gotta pull at least 2 more all nighters.” He groaned in annoyance, “Cause I need at least 300 more pills.”

Oh, fuck, what’s this psycho planning?

“I need to do another test cause Twister was absolutely useless. I need to make sure this doesn't blow up in my face” he paused and reviewed the words he had just said. “Literally,” he laughed maniacally.

Before Eddie could listen in on any more of Mr. Carter's crazy ass plans, he stealthy crawled back towards the ladder and slithered his way up and out of the secret lair. He immediately fled the classroom in fear of being caught.

The final school bell literally couldn’t come fast enough. The moment he grabbed his stuff from his locker he burst out of the school like a bat out of hell, sprinting home. Eddie had approximately two hours and thirty minutes before his overprotective mother Sonia returned from her work. So he had about two hours to freak out before he would use those last thirty minutes as a time to collect himself and make sure he was ready for when his mother arrived.

“What the hell am I supposed to do!” Eddie paced around his room. “I’m just a friendly neighborhood spiderman. I’m not skilled enough to take down a fucking drug lord!” he exclaimed, flopping down onto his bed. “What did I get myself into…” Eddie’s voice drifted off as he yanked a blanket over his head as if that would hide him from the world and all his responsibilities.

After 20 minutes of muffled whining and complaining, Eddie finally dragged himself off of his bed to sit at his desk where he grabbed his spiderman notebook, which was filled to the brim with notes about villains, powers and tech . He began writing down Mr. Carter’s entire monologue in hopes that writing it down might help Eddie make more sense of what was happening.

“Is he trying to drug everyone at homecoming?” Eddie’s face scrunched up as he analyzed all the information he’s collected so far. “And what does Twister have to do with this?” He questioned.

Eddie has been continuously going back and forth between his written notes and the photos he took on his phone. With Twister’s name in his head, Eddie scrolled to the picture of the monitors that he had taken. He found the one screen that displayed Twister’s headshot and zoomed in on it. Under the headshot, it listed some general facts about the male, real name, age, race, and ethnicity. But the item that was displayed underneath caught his eye.

Super Drug Test: 5

Super Drug? Is this like some Xtreme Cocaine he’s dealing? God, Mr. Carter is really metal… Or maybe he means the other type of super? No, that can’t be. Why would he even want to do that? How would he even do that? Well, he is a fucking supervillain so they can do a lot of things- fuck I’m so screwed.

Eddie groaned, running a hand through his now fluffy hair. When he’s stressed he runs his hand through his hair, and he’s fairly stressed currently so his hair is pretty fluffy.

Then it dawned on him. “Shit- If he wants to drug everyone at homecoming, that means I’m gonna have to bust him at homecoming. So I need to go to fucking homecoming,” he sighed dramatically.

After dinner, and the usual interrogation about his day from his mother, Eddie sat at his desk and continued studying his notes on Carter and his plan.

“This makes no sens-” He was interrupted by the violent vibrations from his phone. “Who the fuck is calling me at this time of night” He grabbed it off his desk before his mother heard and complained. He stole a glance at his alarm clock by his bed, rolling his eyes when he noticed it was only 8 pm on a Thursday.

“Eddie Kaspbrak speaking,” he greeted with about the same enthusiasm as a 50-year-old man.

“Edwardo! Where is thy at this exact moment?” Richie asked in his old English accent.

“Wha- I’m at home why does it matter?” Eddie tried to push his annoyance down and keep his tone light.

He heard Richie let out a small, anxious laugh from the other side of the phone, “Uh- Eds we planned a study date tonight, remember?” He asked sheepishly. He sounded sad and nervous that Eddie forgot about their plans.

Eddie’s eyes shot open, darting to his calendar above his desk. He quickly found today’s date that had Study Date With Asshole circled with a big red sharpie. Fuck my life. Eddie mentally slapped himself.

“Shit- Richie I-I lost track of time.” He vigorously rubbed his forehead, “Can we still meet up? I’ll be there in literally 2 seconds,” Eddie said as he began pulling his jacket on and grabbing his bag.

“Nah Eds, i-it’s okay don’t worr-“

“No, no, I always worry and you know that. so just give me like 2 minutes alright babe?” Eddie was talking so fast, his mind was barely even focusing on the words that leaked out of his mouth.

Wait holy fuck did I just call him BABE? God, I have to keep this fricken crush under control-

Before Richie could get anything else in Eddie blurted, “Be there soon!” then hung up.

Yep. Fuck. My. Life.

After briefly lying to his mother about going to Bill’s to study, since she actually (Kinda) likes Bill, he fled his apartment and made his way up and onto the roof. From there he swung from his apartment to the coffee shop a couple of blocks away. He and Richie dubbed it as ‘theirs’ as they spend a lot of their free time together when they aren’t with the Losers. When the Lucky Seven are all together they usually go to the coffee shop Stan works at which is 2 blocks in the opposite direction of the one Eddie and Richie usually go to.

He landed on the roof of the coffee shop, quickly checked himself to make sure he looked presentable then hopped down into the alleyway behind the shop. He gave a quick glance to his watch and saw it was 8:08 pm, not too bad. He nodded with a little pride before he opened the door, immediately assaulted by the smell of sweets and coffee beans.

He scanned the room and found Richie almost instantly. He smiled as he made his way over to the dark curly haired teen.

Eddie took a step towards the table and immediately started rambling “Richie fuck I’m so sorry-”.

“So I’m ‘babe’ now?” He smirked up at Eddie with his arms crossed over his chest.

“Wha- God Riche” Eddie chuckled nervously, “My mind w-was somewhere else, this book I was reading, then I was talking to you a-and I got all mixed up,” he stuttered under pressure. “Sorry?” He scrunched his eyebrows up apologetically.

“I’m pulling your leg,” Richie’s smile softened, “Take a seat Spaghetti man!” he encouraged as he kicked the chair away from the table for Eddie to sit on.

Eddie briefly glanced away, as if he needed to check the chair he was sitting on to hide his blush. From there he grabbed his main binder from his bag and he two began studying together. They had a test in French in a week and both of them were struggling with it (Eddie a little more than Richie), so they decided that the more practice the better.

After about half an hour of actual studying, Richie released an over dramatic sigh, flopping back into his chair, letting his arms drape behind him. “I feel like my mind is gonna explode,” he groaned.

“Oh Rich, you’re such a drama queen” Eddie mumbled sweetly, slowly shaking his head. “I’m gonna get a drink, do you want anything?” He offered.

Richie’s head immediately snapped up at the offer of anything edible. “You know it Spaghetti man. Just uh- get me my usual and the most chocolate-filled pastry they have,” Richie requested.

Eddie nodded and then he was off, towards the main display/cash. He surveyed the available options, brownies, cupcakes, cannoli, mille-feuille, and- “Cookies!’ Eddie happily whispered under his breath with wide eyes, filled with excitement. They weren’t just any cookies tho, they were chocolate chunk cookies. Richie’s gonna love it. He smiled proudly as he placed their order.

“Here is your crack cocaine equivalent, and your diabetes cookie,” Eddie said jokingly while he placed the contents on Richie’s opened notebooks. It’s not like he was using them. When Eddie approached the table, Richie put down his phone which he had just been scrolling on. He tilted his head up to send up a small smile as Eddie came near.

Richie leaned forward and sipped his warm drink that was loaded with seven shots of espresso. “So, Eds, now that we’re babes-“ He stopped to smile at the wave of (fake) annoyance that passed over Eddie’s face, “-Do you wanna go to homecoming with me?”.

When Eddie had taken his seat again he pushed his cup off to the side and began flipping through his notes, he only stopped momentarily to shoot Richie a fake glare of annoyance at the ‘babe’ comment. He was so busy being fake annoyed and absently flipping through his notes he barley caught what Richie said about homecoming. So he just nodded, smiled warmly, and said “Yeah, sure! That’d be great,” he smiled.

“Wait really? holly shit- That’s amazing,” Richie’s face visibly blushed as he glanced lovingly at Eddie.

That’s when it dawned on the superhero what had just happened.

Holly shit, Richie just asked me out…

The rest of their study… ‘date’ went well, Eddie laughed a little too hard at Richie’s jokes and Richie didn’t poke at Eddie as much as usual. Which made his jokes seem a lot funnier.

Just in general the mood seemed a lot lighter. Eddie caught Richie glancing at him more than once which left both of their ears burning. Maybe accidentally calling him babe, wasn’t such a bad thing after all.

After when Eddie walked Richie home, determined to not have it the other way around as Eddie knew it’d take Richie a lot longer to walk home then it’d take himself. Since, ya know, Eddie could swing home when Richie had to walk.

That night Eddie laid awake with Richie’s playlist booming through his headphones and smiled.

Maybe Homecoming won’t be so bad.

The next morning at school Eddie yawned, his eyes watered as he tried to open his lock. Which hasn’t really been a problem since his whole superpower thing became reality.

Eddie turned around just in time to cause a surprised look to wash over Richie’s face. He paused then greeted “Goodmorning Spagheds” Richie cooed from behind him.

Eddie gave up on complaining about Richie’s crazy nicknames and has just begun embracing the love language. “Hey Richie,” Eddie smiled warmly at the taller boy.

Richie spoke in an old English accent, “And how is my babe, doing on this fine morn’?”

“Tired,” Eddie shrugged, turning back to his locker to retrieve the stuff he needed. He had stayed up a little longer after he got home, busy listening to police scanners, then stayed up even later thinking about how his crush actually asked him out.

Richie smirked and Eddie instantly regretted it, predicting that “What did your mom and I keep you up while we made lov-”

Eddie barked out a laugh, “Shut your Trashmouth!” He exclaimed, playfully slapping Richie’s shoulder. Richie laughed too.

“Anyways,” Richie tried to calm himself down from laughing, “Would you wanna go study at Liberty? Get some time away from home and be with yours truly” He wiggled his eyebrows at Eddie. Liberty was the biggest library in the city, the one that was conveniently just a couple of blocks away. It was older but like a vintage older. So Richie loved it, it was the only library Richie ever voluntarily went to. So that’s where they usually went to study if they weren’t already at the coffee shop.

Eddie rolled his eyes then sighed, “I wish I could but I don’t think my mom would want me out two nights in the row I’m sor-”

Richie waved his hand, “Don’t even think about apologizing, this is not your fault, you know that right?” He shot Eddie a look. One that was rare, but he recognized it. Eddie knew it meant Richie understood and that he was there, now, and whenever he needed it.

With that, Eddie closed his locker, “Can we head to class now?”.

Richie nodded, “We shall!” He declared as he wrapped an arm around Eddie’s shoulders and the two began walking together to class.

Eddie was almost asleep. That’s the keyword, almost. He was in that dark state where you’re going in between the inevitability of sleep and the tired mind of being awake.

That’s the moment when a high pitched voice erupted out of Eddie’s bedside radio. Which was made to be a normal alarm clock radio, but Spiderman rigged it to also pick up the local police radio station.

“Station 44 this is Jackson reporting a fire at Liberty Library. I repeat, there’s a-.

“Fire at Liberty,” Eddie gasped, he jackknifed into a sitting position. He listened for the important details while he fished his suit out from under his bed and slid it on.

He didn’t stay any longer than he needed to. His suit was barely zipped up and he was already out the window and on the roof.

Liberty- That’s where Richie is- there’s a fire and Richie is there

Eddie could barely wrap his mind around the fact that Richie might be in danger. Just the thought of him being in harm’s way made his heart feel like it stopped, his stomach was twisted into a knot and his palms were sweating in his suit.

“I’m coming Rich- Just please, hold on…” Eddie whispered as his eyes began to heat up, on the verge of tears.

Spiderman swung down from the dark sky above, landing on the ground before the burning building. He quickly surveyed his surroundings. The police, firemen, the fire. “How bad is it?” He asked the nearest cop,

“Uh so far it’s only the first floor, there’s still civilians on the high floors tho-“.

“Thanks!’ Eddie shouted as he had already shot a web and swung up towards the nearest window.

With the momentum he built, swinging up to the window the glass broke on impact. He was on the forth flood, the highest floor of the library. The one with the corner Richie always hides out in.

The first thing Eddie noticed was that the fire alarms were not blaring as they should be. Also, the fumes had not reached that floor yet, so if someone hadn’t already heard the sirens then maybe, just maybe they wouldn’t have noticed the fucking fire. Or maybe if you play your music so fucking loud you wouldn’t even notice if the building was burning.

He ran like the wind, past bookshelves, and carts, right up to the corner where he found Richie Tozier, big black headphones and all. Before Eddie even reached Richie he shot a hand out, shooting a web that smacked the headphones right off the teen’s head.

Richie jumped off his seat, surprised “What the-?”

“Get up, there’s a fire,” Spiderman got straight to the point.

“W-What? Spiderman?” His face was filled with confusion and worry, “What’s going on?”.

“Richie we need to go-” but before Eddie could finish his sentence one of the doors closest to them burst open, heat spilling out and onto the fourth floor.

A being emerged from the doorway, “Spiderman, glad you could join the party!”

“Get out,” Eddie hissed at Richie as he took a protective step in front of him.

The being in the doorway wore an all-leather suit, almost like a biker. Well actually pretty similar to a bike cause his helmet looks like the one of a motorcyclist. Slowly they raised a hand into the air, Eddie noticed that it held some sort of small device. A speaker.

Suddenly another voice began speaking from the speaker. It was distorted, obviously using some sort of cover to keep their identity hidden.

“Spiderman I figured you’d be here. Afterall I did find your little spider-cam in my lab today”

Shit I forgot to grab Charlotte the camera from the classroom.

“you’ve been lucky- killed two of my new creations already hm?” The deep voice made Eddie’s heart drop.

The mysterious villain chuckled the speaker, then his tone turned dark, “But not this time,” he paused. “Finally, I have perfected the formula. So I will not be stopped, by you, or anyone,” his voice drifted off as the speaker cut out.

“You know I always wanted powers,” The villain started, their voice female. The biker villain tossed the speaker into the flames that were slowly inching their way up the staircase. “And it’s so unfair, you know? I’ve been through so much fucking shit, so I think I deserve a little something in return,” she growled. “But finally I’m getting what I deserve,” she clenched a fist and the flames roared from behind her.

Eddie quickly glanced behind him and found Richie was still behind him, frozen. He didn’t move, most likely in shock. “Get out!” Spiderman demanded but the human was only able to shake his head slowly.

“I-I can’t,” he choked out.

The villain scoffed, “Well boys this was fun but you’ve got about 2 minutes before this place blows so-” She raised a hand and did a little wave, the flames rising out of the stairwell and spilling onto the fourth floor under the command.

“Arrivederci,” they didn’t have to see her face to know she was smirking behind her helmet.

Now or Never

Spiderman thought before he stuck both hands out and shot off his webs. The first one he released shot out, hit the door and with the pressure behind it, the door slammed shut, momentarily halting the flames.

The other web shot towards Biker, but she was faster. With a wave of her hand, the web caught on flames and fell to the floor in a heap of crispy web fluid. Spiderman’s eyes went wide, so without missing a beat he began shooting rapid-fire small webs at her. How fast can she really be?

She was ready for the attack, immediately jumping into action and snapping her hands to either side, prepared to burn any oncoming webs. With each shot, she moved her hands to shoot down the webs with her flames. The flames reflected off of her helmet making it look like she had a fire inside of there.

Eddie kept one hand shooting at her, trying to aim for her legs or head, but she was faster than that. The other hand though, Eddie pointed it at the door and began shooting webs around the frame and the cracks, as if he wanted to glue it shut with his webs.

Biker caught on quickly to what Spiderman was doing, “Trying to stop the inevitable huh? Well, two can play at that game”. With that, she raised both of her hands up above her head, into the air.

Eddie could feel the temperature of the floor increase as did the flames behind the door. He could literally see the fumes seeping through the webs on the door.

Spiderman straightened his posture, tried to make himself look bigger as he took a step forward. “That all you got you hot head?” he raised his voice in an attempt to get a rise out of her.

She took a small step back, perfectly aligned with the door. “This? This is nothing! I can do so much… more,” her voice sounded sinister as she clenched her fists and without missing a beat the webs snapped off the door, and the door itself blew off the hinges. It flew forward and smashed into her, the flames exploded out onto the fourth floor.

Eddie jumped backward, “We need to go, now” his voice was urgent as he stuck his hand out, wrapping a protective arm around his waist. “Hold on tight alright Rich?” Eddie instructed as he shot a web towards the nearest window. The glass broke as Eddie ran with Richie in his arm towards the window. At the very last second, he tightened his grip on Richie’s hip and leaped out the window. He shot off a web and the two began swinging away just as the fire grew bigger behind them. Various windows blew out behind them, flames flying up the building.

Richie didn’t speak, he didn’t even look, the moment Spiderman jumped out that window with him he squeezed his eyes shut and buried his face into the hero's shoulder. For a split second, he braced himself for the inevitable, death. His heart started beating again once he felt them stop falling and start gliding? He wasn’t too sure cause he did have his eyes closed after all.

“Okay kid you can open your eyes now,” Spiderman nearly chuckled as Richie’s eyes slowly fluttered open. His feet were planted firmly on the roof of some building a block or so away from Liberty.

“A-Are you okay?” The hero’s voice shook anxiously as Richie wasn’t responding.

Spiderman reached a hand out towards Richie but the human shrunk away. “I-uh,” he murmured before he stumbled over to the edge of the building. He put his hands out on the edge of the guard rail and puked up his lunch, all over downtown New York.

When he had emptied his stomach, Richie fumbled away from the rail, bent his knees, and plopped down on the roof. He leaned his head back against the rail, wiped his mouth with the edge of his sweater’s sleeve then let out a deep breath he knew very well that he was holding in.

“Holy shit,” Richie sighed, his eyes finally coming back into focus.

Eddie watched as Richie’s stance relaxed. Slowly he stepped towards him and slid down beside him.

“So you’re okay?” He asked the human.

Richie kept his eyes on the sky, the star above and the moon that shined above, “Nope,” he popped the P, “But I’ll be okay…” His voice drifted off. Richie’s head lulled to the side to look at Spiderman who sat beside him.

“I’m sorry that happened to you,” Spiderman apologized.

“S’not your fault Spidey,” Richie’s lips turned into a small smile.

Eddie was about to respond when a message popped up on the screen inside his suit in front of his eyes.

Ma: Eddie why’s your door locked? Why aren’t you answering me?

Before Eddie left his room he locked the door to his room and told his mom he was going to bed early.

Holly fuck if she opens my door and finds out I’m not there I’m gonna be so fucking screwed. Eddie raised his hand up, he would’ve run his hand through his hair but he forgot he had his suit on him instead he just awkwardly scratched his head. I need to get home ASAP.

“Look Ri-” Shit I need to stop calling him by his real name. “Dude I’ve gotta go I’m sorry-”

“Stop apologizing and just go, I’m okay,” Richie sighed and waved his hand at the hero.

“Okay… Catch you later,” Eddie tried to not sound as sad as he really was. Before he could spill anything else out he shot a web out and jumped off the roof, swinging back to his apartment.

The moment he swung into his room through his window he ripped his mask off and tossed his robe on, just in time- “Eddie Bear what’s all this-?” Sonia Kaspbrak barged into the room, spare key in hand. “What on earth are you doing in your robe at this time of night?” She asked in shock.

“Mom! Hey I-I took a shower then fell asleep in my robe, sorry ma I really didn’t mean to worry you” Eddie broke out his iconic doe eyes. His mom could manipulate people really well, and the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree.

“Oh- erm, I guess that’s alright” She grimaced only slightly, which was a good sign. “I know you like to go to bed clean” She waved her hand as if to dismiss his actions. “Well it’s very late , go to bed Eddie bear,” She instructed. Before Sonia left her son’s room she stepped up towards him, leaned down, and planted a kiss on his forehead (Which he wiped away once she closed his door).

Eddie let out a sigh as he fell backward onto his bed. His entire body ached and he was overheating because he was in a burning building.

“So if Carter’s drug is giving these villains their powers…” Eddie recalled the massive amount of drugs labeled “homecoming”. “He’ll have enough people to create an entire army…”

Word Count: 6022

Chapter two, BAM, DONE! I hope you guys enjoyed and get ready as chapter 3, the final chapter, will be out next monday! I know this fan fic was short but trust me it has a killer ending.

Don’t forget to comment, like and reblog! It shows you guys like my stuff and it inspires me to write more! This will update every monday so get ready! Finally a reason to l o v e mondays.

That’s all from me, until next monday

So Long and Goodnight!

[Taglist]

@richietoaster @s-onora @that-weird-girl-blog @beproudtozier @ghostnebula @gen-s-stuff @bellarosewrites @s-s-georgie @lermanslogan @iamcupcakefrosting @madidraw @gazebobullshit @thoughtfullyyoungduck @aangzukos @ambitiousskychild @reddieonwheels @breadheadscorpius

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kinsbin · 5 years ago

Text

My Life With You

Title: My Life With You Word Count: 4500 Pairing: Star/Kray [si/canon]

Summary: Kray and Star have been dating for a very long time. Kray decides its finally time to take the next step in their relationship, and plans the perfect day to do it.

A/N: Commission for @starscloset! i super duper loved writing this for her and I hope ya’ll enjoy this cute couple *w*

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Star bit her lip as she watched the clock that hung on the edge of her desk, eyes staring into the numbers that ticked by all too slow to be considered a second or a minute in her mind. Her foot tapped on the tile floor beneath her as she tried to focus on her work in front of her but failed when her hand found itself pulling away to trace doodles on the corner of a nearby notepad. Some of them were little stars. There were hearts surrounded by fireworks and butterflies making their ways across the page in a mass migration of curiosity. A sketch of her face aside one of Kray’s littered the top most edges here and there, some scribbled out when she had decided that they were not up to par with what he truly looked like.

Normally she would be hard at work. Normally there would be more appointments that she had to handle and organize. Spreadsheets of company and personal information would be spread about before her like pieces of a battleship game, needing to be adjusted and called out so that each one could be done and sunk in within a few precious moments. Calls would have to be made and orders given to those lower down under the request of business so that the company and all of Kray Foresight’s shareholdings in that company could go smoothly and without fault. It was her job to be the oil in the machine that filled them.

Today, however, was really hard to work.

The first thing Kray had done that morning was announce that the both of them would be getting off early. The order to cancel all of their plans and appointments after 2pm was a startling one to Star, but she obeyed with little resistance as the question left her lips. Brows knit together, she tilted her head at the man before her.

“Can I ask why you need to remove all of these appointments. Some of them are really important, Kray! You have a meeting with the global marketing executives of three neighboring cities at 4:30 and-”

His hand touched her lips, silencing her as she watched him with wide eyes. That same hand moved from her lips to her cheek, cupping it gently as he gazed down at her with that strong, soft looking smile that he always seemed to wear around her. It was a secret look given only to her and every time he gazed it made her heart beat ten times as fast as it normally did. Her cheeks were red as he leaned forward, kissing her forehead carefully before murmuring into her ears:

“Trust me, it’s important.”

She bit her lip one last time before it gave away to an excited smile, nodding her head as he removed his hand from her. With one last final sigh of indignation, Star hit the red ‘cancel’ button on the appointments and prepared for the onslaught of calls that would echo in her phone as to why the client’s meeting with Kray Foresight was so suddenly removed from their busy schedule.

It lead to her contemplation at the desk, picking at the smooth surface as she waited for the clock to strike the appropriate time for her to get off. Star’s mind had not stopped racing with the possibilities of the events that might occur. What was Kray going to do with her after the 2:00 mark? Was it something she should be worried about? No, of course not. They had long since passed the threshold of being worried with one another. Kray had proven time and time again that he was nothing but loyal and caring to her needs, each surprise always startling and exciting her more than the last one he had planned.

She recalled fondly the time that he had taken her to a zoo on her day off, the images of animals and exhibits displaying such rare commodities that barely existed in the world after the Great Blaze was something that set her heart beating at a rapid pace. How strange the world used to be. It was a far away, distant memory of something that was no longer obtainable to humans or burnish. The state of the earth was hot now. Estranged and different in its creation as magma heated up and, with it, burnish revolution.

Star bit back a laugh at the thought. Global warming used to be something people could joke about but now? It was all too real.

The increasingly melancholy emotion that began to settle into her stomach at the thought dissipated as soon as the gentle ring of her intercom echoed through the otherwise empty halls. Picking it up, she hit its speaker button with wide, curious eyes. Leaning in closer, Star spoke with a practiced professionalism to her tone that lent itself to her more out of habit than actual want for its presence.

“Yes, Mr. Foresight!”

“It’s 2:00, Star. Meet me in the lobby, alright?”

“Oh, right! I’ll be down soon, Kray.”

She smiled to herself at the quick change of his name, the shift of his professional title to his casual name always gave her a sense of whiplash. The ease with which it shifted was like something out of a romance movie. The dashing and debonair CEO of a corporation falling for his simple and soft secretary, only for their relationship to blossom into something more than either could have ever expected. The idea made her laugh, the blush evident on her rosy cheek as she gathered up her stuff from her desk,bid farewell to the security guards that monitored just outside of the reception area, and made her way towards the lobby of the Foresight tower.

The lobby was less than bustling. Every worker was still in their quarters, busily going about their duties until the five o’clock bell rang to signal the day was over. There was something surreal about being out so early, Star noted. It was like when you were pulled out of school early as a child, the pride of walking down empty halls unnoticed by everyone but you and the classmates you had left in your wake. It would almost be worth the doctor’s appointment or dentist trip that you would have to go through to manage.

Instead, though, this was a date. At least she assumed it was a date. There was usually few reasons he would cancel so many appointments outside of spending time with her, the knowledge both flattering and worrying Star all at once. Could he afford this? If one of the meetings got too offended with his cancellation they might do something to harm his reputation! The last thing she wanted was to be responsible for something bad happening to either him or his company. Her teeth worried at her bottom lip as the thoughts put her body on autopilot, shifting her movements so that she exited the lobby with ease and stood outside the impressive building with her fingertips pushing against one another in front of her.

A hand on her back startled her into a stick straight position. Kray’s chuckle echoed comfortingly at her side.

“You were thinking.” He noted as she finally looked up at him.

Kray was as handsome as he ever was, the sunlight shining off his golden hair to make it look like he was wearing a halo. The light reflected so beautifully, like an angel who had come from the heavens to greet her, the smile on his lips all the affirmation she needed that she was loved.

Loved… The feeling was a warm and intense heat all throughout her body. It was a hot sensation that only grew the closer she was to Kray. As if there was a string of fate connecting them. A line of important warming up between them as they got to know one another. Star smiled and leaned up despite herself, her lips puckering for a kiss she couldn’t reach due to their height different. Kray watched her for a second, amused at the attempt, before leaning down to allow the kiss to be placed on his cheek. In turn, he moved his mouth so that it covered hers, holding the true kiss for a long and complete moment between them.

“I don’t remember what I was thinking about now.” Star admitted, dazed through the power of the lip-to-lip contact her man had offered her. Kray chuckled and held onto her as he lead her forward.

“That’s fine, we’ll have a lot to think about on our day out. Shall we get started?”

Star skipped forward with an eagerness in her step, head tilting curiously as he made his way with her to the limousine that they traveled often in.

“Just where are you taking me?” Her tone was teasing as she smiled up at him, eyebrows raised in genuine curiosity that made her face look so inquisitive and soft that Kray’s heart nearly burst from his chest. He stared down for one long, quiet moment before clearing his throat and giving her a reassuring smile one last time.

“You’ll see when we get there, it’s a surprise.”

Star fidgeted the entire car trip, her legs crossed and her hands in her lap as she watched her fingers shift from one point to another. Though she was nervous, there was a strong tinge of excitement underneath the layer of anxiety. Underneath that estranged worry she had her soul was layered with a sense of eagerness. Delight to know that, wherever she was going, she would be bringing Kray with her. No, more like he was bringing her with him. They were going together, wherever they were going, of their own volitions. It was that thoughtful memory that made Star excited. That one piece of trivia that made her heart thrum with a renewed excitement for Kray Foresight. It was like she was falling in love with him over and over again.

She couldn’t get enough of it.

Kray’s hand rested on her leg, calming the jostling it had started to take up doing, making Star bit her lip in surprise and look up at the man at her side. HIs smile was kind to her as he held her, thumb brushing over her knee gently. A blush heated up her face as she smiled, her smaller hand reaching out to rest atop his larger one. The two shifted so that their fingers were soon entwined with one another, his grip firm and strong and hers light and gentle. She loved how strong his hands were. How easily they knew how to hold her in just the right way to make her feel safe and secure. To not worry about anything in his presence.

As the car slowed to a halt, the tinted windows blocked her view to the outside world. A soft pout formed on Star’s lips as she tried (and failed) to look out one of them in hopes of being able to see just where they were. When she turned to face Kray to ask what was going on, he only offered her a small bag in return.

“Here,” He smiled, “You may want to change into this.”

Her curious look morphed into surprise as she grabbed at the bag to peer into it, noting the beautiful purple and gold one piece swimsuit within it, completely with a matching skirt cover up and hat. Pulling out the items, it took her mind a moment to connect the dots of their location and the gifts but, when the realization crossed her mind, she gasped.

“Kray are we-.”

“See for yourself.”

He gestured to the door, leaning around her to open it.

Star peered out in shock. The beachside was abandoned besides them, the sand radiated a sweet and comforting warmth from its edges as the water lapped away at it from the safe distance. The ocean glimmered beautifully across the entire horizon, like a blue gem in the nothingness as the sky glittered blues and purples above them. The only other open item on the beach was a single, smooth beachside shack. She imagined it housed changing rooms and showers. LIkely even a small bar to eat from, and her heartbeat elevated in excitement.

“I thought there were no more beaches left anymore?!” She gasped as she hopped out of the limousine. Kray took his time rounding his own corner, running a hand through his hair with a smile down at his awed girlfriend.

“It’s a project we’ve been working on,” Kray admitted with a cheeky hum to his voice, “Terraforming devices were used to build up the landscape and fit this together. Though, I admit its more of a lake than a true ocean. A majority of the water across the bay are reflective holographic panels and the sand ends shortly in a mile in either direction, but to most who would want the feel of a beach day, I’d say it’s sufficient don’t you?”

“It’s more than that!” Star giggled as she ran forward, having taken her heels off she now let her feet be engulfed by the warm sand with an excited smile, “It feels like it’s a real thing! This is amazing, Kray!”

Kray couldn’t hide the smile that broke across his mouth, edge upturned edge lacing with pride as he watched his beloved girlfriend all but scramble out of the parking lot and towards the beach, her new swimsuit in hand as she made it towards the shack to change into it. He followed her lightly in return, the driver of the car dropping his own bag of swimwear into his hands as he went to do so.

It was only a few minutes before both were in their swimsuits. Star rushed towards the water, stopping just along its edge as she watched the waves lap at the edges of the sand. As the tide inched towards her, she squealed when the cold water engulfed her feet, smiling at the feeling of its bite against her ankles as it surrounded the lower half. She stepped around against the softening sand beneath her and felt some of the material give way underneath her movements. A startled trip against an uneven part of the ground made her fall backwards, a shocked yelp leaving her mouth as she all but careened downwards for a brief and terrifying moment.

Strong hands caught her body, a covered chest providing cushioning against the otherwise nasty (and wet) fall she might have taken had Kray not been there. Looking upwards with surprise, Star noted the way Kray’s smile had turned almost smug as he tilted his head towards her.

“I know you fell for me, but you should be more careful.”

“It wasn’t like that, dummy!” She laughed as her blush roared across her cheeks, her hand gently smacking his pectoral in return and causing him to laugh lightly as well.

As she regained her balance, Star kicked up some of the salty water as it returned against their legs with renewed vigor, splashing it against Kray’s legs as he stepped back in surprise. A daring look sparkled against his cheeks and Star new that she had started something she was not sure if she could finish. Still, the grin of excitement upon her lips was genuine as she skittered away across the shoreline, laughing as she was chased by the man behind her, who followed with an almost relaxed ease. His height would have made it easy for him to overtake her, but then the chase would have no true meaning. It was only when they managed to run a decent distance that he picked up his pace, his arms finding Star’s wiast and lifting her up.

Star’s scream echoed into giggles as she was spun around in his grip, her fingertips clinging to his shoulders for dear life as she was brought downwards into a sweet, deep, and salty sort of kiss. The spray of the ocean hit her cheeks as she smiled against his mouth, her hands finding his cheeks and holding him where he was.

It was a long and languid kiss, her body pressing against his torso as he held her up. Her legs popped backwards, the semblance of a foot pop as best she could do above her own center of gravity, and the curve of a smile against her lips was soft as she pulled away from him with a gaze that resonated nothing but the softest of loves.

She always looked at him like that. Like he was the only thing in her world. An intense and caring sort of stare that focused solely on him. Solely on admiring the contents of his soul and his heart and his mind and his body. All of it was an almost overwhelming look, the gaze making Kray’s cheeks heat up as she continued to gaze lovingly at him.

Kray had often forgotten what it was like to be so adored by a singular person. Certainly the masses found him beautiful and creative. The world looked up to him as a pioneer of technology. There was a strange disconnect in the love of an entire group, however. A group mentality of care and cooperation needed for survival. Of course they would look up to him, a man who pushed through all of the survival and created something for himself. It was easier to follow than it was to lead. To look up at him as they did without focusing on what was truly beneath him.

Star, though? She looked at him as Kray. As someone she trusted and adored and… He couldn’t quite figure out why, of all things, this was so different.

Maybe it was because he loved her too.

He kissed her again, sweet and languid as his mind raced with the thoughts of care he didn’t think he could have so much of for one person.

“How about we have dinner in my penthouse? The sunset will be beautiful from the top of the tower.”

Star giggled and pecked at his nose with a nod.

“I’d love nothing more.”

Their trip from the private beach back to the Foresight tower felt shorter than the drive from it. The movements of the car lulled Star into a sense of relaxation. As her dry work clothes rubbed against her chilled, water-kissed skin and created a sweet sense of friction, warming her up as she let her head rest on Kray’s arm. Shutting her eyes, she wasn’t quite sure when she had fallen asleep during the drive before he was gently nudging her to get her awake. Her eyes fluttered open, a yawn stretching her lips as she rubbed the nap away from her bleary vision. Looking up at Kray, he gazed down with a sense of care and admiration that made her feel, suddenly, all too exposed under his eyes.

His gaze always did that. Gave her the sense that she was the most important thing in the world. Gave her the feeling that she was… care for. That she was the only thing under that gaze and nothing in the world, burnish or otherwise, could possibly change that. It was a feeling that made her heart clench up in all the right ways as she gazed up at him, smiling just as he was at her. He was a sun and she could stare at, blinded by the care that seemed to radiate from his entire body all at once and the warmth that it created was something even more sweet than that of a fire or blanket or anything in between.

They exited the vehicle and moved on to the tower, the elevator taking them all the way upwards towards the top of the tower. The sky was beginning to fall with shades of pinks and purples as the setting of the sun beyond the horizon of Promepolis dragged its shadow further against buildings and cars alike. By the time they reached the top of the tower the entirety of it was bathed in that beautiful sunset, the air smelling of something as sweet as the colors were. They swirled in shades of cotton candy and wildflowers. Clouds dotted the sky above the entire sky like pointillism, painting a sense of comfort and beauty in a way that took Star’s breath away the longer she watched it above her.

The wide open area of the rooftop was windy, but not obnoxiously so. The table in the center of the entire area was draped with a white cloth, intricately laced with gold fleur de lis and edges of flowers. The food that rested atop the cloth, however, was the center of attention. Deliciously laid out steaks amongst vegetables roasted in garlic with tall glasses of white wine aligning themselves neatly against the side of pure silver tableware and folded ivory napkins with lacing that matched the edges of the cloth beneath the beautiful white plates. Star wasn’t sure if she was supposed to drool over the food or admire the view of the city beneath them.

Kray’s hand suddenly landed on her shoulder as she inched closer to the edge of the building, staring downwards at the world below them as the people and the cars moved through the grid of the city like small working ants. It was so strange, being so high up like this. So detached from the world around them. As though they were above it all. As though something about the entirety of the world was smaller than them… It was a strange feeling for her. Kray’s hand tightened, as though in fear that she might slip off and fall. If she did… Would she fly?

Probably not.

“Everything is so different from up here,” Star whispered softly to the man at her side, “Like we’re in a world above the one we’re watching…”

“We are,” Kray murmured in return, “In a way. We’re in a world that is for us right now. A world filled with opportunities and changes. Places that we can study and learn the secrets of the world. From up here… It’s as if we have the power of the entirety of the city from here, don’t you think?”

Star laughed, the sound soft in the back of her throat as she thought of just what he was saying. Just what it all meant, being as high up above people like this. It was… strange. Foreign. She wasn’t sure if the word ‘wrong’ was the correct one but something it was almost unusual.

She turned to face Kray all the way, her eyes wide and sparkling with curiosity. Her gaze held his with curiosity as it became… serious. She bit her lip and tilted her head up to him with a wondering expression.

“Is… There a reason that you brought me up here, Kray?”

Another echo of silence. The wind howled around them, sending goosebumps up her side as she watched his face morph from a smile to something serious and then to something… different. Something she hadn’t seen on him before as he cleared his throat and looked away fro a moment, collecting himself. What did he need to collect himself for? Star’s mind raced dramatically through the movements he made as he changed his positions. As he reached downwards for something. Something… What was it?

“Star… For all the time we’ve been dating you’ve made me happy,” Kray admitted with a soft breathiness to his voice, “I never thought it was possible for someone to make me feel the way you have in all of this time we’ve been together. More than a secretary… or friend… or lover. You deserve more. More than the world below us has to offer. So… I will offer it to you. As best as I can, I want you to have everything you deserve and more.”

He got on one knee, his impressive height causing him to simply meet her eye to eye as he stared forward at her. Star tensed up, her breath hitching in her lungs as a hand reached up to cover her lips as they flew open in shock.

“Star…” Kray’s voice was gentle as he smiled at her, his lips gentle as he took her free hand in his own, pulling his other outwards from his pocket to reveal a small, velvet box.

The box opened. Within it a diamond ring sparkled in the low light of the setting sun, the band of gold glinting just right with the reflection of the gems. The middle gem was heart shaped, curling with surrounding gems that layered outwards in smaller rows. They shone like rainbows against the cotton candy skyline, shifting their hues with the movement of the box in Kray’s hand. He looked down for a long moment at the gem and then back up at Star, his patience easygoing as he watched her face morph between awe and shock as tears formed up in the corners of her eyes.

“Will you marry me?”

The question sent the dam bursting, her tears falling down her cheeks as she laughed through her sobs, taking a step back as though the shine of the ring might burn her skin if she got too close. Star felt the ruffle of wind on her hair again, the goosebumps rising from delight rather than cold now, and she couldn’t see through the tears that now fell. Kray felt a blush warm his cheeks at her reaction, the excitement so clear on her perfect lips that it made him stiffen with pride.

“I… Kray I’m…” Star tried to formulate the words. Any words to express her excitement. To display her gratitude. To admit to him just how much she loved him back and how much she wanted this in her life. How much she wanted HIM in her life. To be with him in such an official way for the rest of their lives… The very thought made her head spin with excitement and her chest heave with eager hope.

Instead she simply said the one word that would seal it all at once.

“Y-Yes! Yes. Yes… I accept!”

The words fell from her mouth like a waterfall as she launched herself forward, wrapping her arms around Kray’s shoulders and pushing herself into the most intense hug she could muster through the tears.

Kray gasped and laughed, wrapping her up in a tight hug and heaving her into his arms, their lips colliding into a powerful kiss.

They held their kiss for a long, deep moment. Their bodies held tight together as they shared the moment that was, surely, the echo of their true feelings.

When they pulled away and Star was put back down on the ground, she smiled up at him, the tears stopping but the aftermath of their warm glow on her face still there as she bit her lip. Kray sighed with delight and took the ring from its box, holding up her hand and carefully sliding the piece onto her ring finger. It fit easily, her measurements memorized in both his mind and database enough for it to be perfect on the first try.

“Kray… Are you sure?” Star gasped with a smile.

He kissed her again, his smile evident.

“I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life… I’ve never been more sure of you.”

The air was mellowing out around them, the sun finishing her descent across the sky so the city glowed with its set lighting and beautiful rainbow stars of windows and cars moving below. The world was endless around them, constantly shaping and changing as Star had thought it always would.

But the difference now was that she had Kray Foresight. All of him, for the rest of their lives.

And it was perfect.

#self ship #self insert #self shipping #kinley writes #commission work #kray foresight #promare #promare oc

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