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everlarkficexchange · 3 years

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Like The Stars Hold The Moon

Written By : @katnissmellarkkkk

Prompt 59 : "Katniss dad is a victor, he won his hunger games and is a mentor. Peeta is reaped for the games and Katniss begs her dad to help him win the games. [submitted by anonymous]“

Hi! It feels like there’s so much I need to say here and I can’t remember any of it now! This is obviously–if you read the summary, which I assume you did and that’s why you’re here hahaha–an EFE prompt. It was submitted by an anonymous person, so I don’t know specifically if this is what you wanted but I really hope this is good enough that you’ll be fulfilled?

I don’t think there is much more to say? I hope everyone who reads this has a good day! I wrote plenty of this on Easter so I’d like to thank Jesus for rising again. And I feel like the prompt alone is a sufficient summary but just so you know, this heavily features Katniss, Peeta (obvi), Haymitch and Katniss’ father, Hunter (I named him, that’s not canon, I know).

This fic I likely going to be a three-shot with an opportunity for a sequel three-shot. Oh and also, thank you to the anon who sent the prompt!

Oh and this got really long, so I’m just going to submit the first part on here and then I’ll add a link at the bottom to continue reading on AO3. I’ve never done this before so I don’t know if I’m doing it right?

Okay, if you read all my talking, bye now!

Rated T for the canon violence.

At the reaping for the Forty-Seventh Hunger Games, Matty Knick drew out the names of a ”very special boy“ and ”a very special girl“ from the reaping bowls. She read them off in a bright voice and matched the sentiment with an out of place perky smile. The girl’s name was Heather Branch.

And the boy’s was Hunter Everdeen.

Of course, everyone knows the story of Hunter Everdeen.

Year of the Seventy-Fourth Hunger Games.

"So Hunter,” Caesar Flickerman leans toward the victor, absolutely electrified, and says, “tell us, tell us. How excited are you for the games this year?”

The camera focuses in on gray eyes, the color of a storm cloud or a cleanly polished knife. Dangerous and hard and cunning.

Or protective and frightful and angry.

Or warm and loving and kind.

“I��m about as excited as I always am, Caesar,” he shoots back, not a trace of even so much as a smirk on his face. Not even so much as a lift from the corner of his mouth.

And still, the crowd of Capitol idiots burst out in laughter, as if they just heard the funniest joke in the world, as if this was Hunter’s desired response to the words.

As if the conversation wasn’t about teenagers—and some as young as twelve—killing other teenagers.

“And what about you, Haymitch?” Caesar asks next, segueing from one aggravated man to another.

“I’m looking forward to the free drinks,” Haymitch says while tipping back dark gold colored liquid into his mouth. Almost as an afterthought, he gestures wide and sloppy to the crowd, igniting cacophonous sounds from the population once more. “And of course, the social interaction with all you lovely people.”

No one in the audience recognizes the insult. No one understands the blatant sarcasm at their expense.

Here in District Twelve though, we do. As exemplified by Peeta’s laugh, vibrating against my back. “Shh,” I hush, laser focused on the enormous television screen before us.

“Daddy’s not speaking anymore,” Prim reminds me from the other room, where she’s currently flipping through a magazine our father sent.

“Well, be quiet before he does,” I snap, elbowing Peeta when he rolls his eyes now. “Stop it, I haven’t seen him in weeks,” I complain, fixing him with a fierce glare.

“I know,” he murmurs agreeably, gently kissing my temple. “But he’ll be home in a few days.”

As if they could hear our exchange from inside the television box, Caesar turns his attention back to my father. “Hunter, how excited are you to get home to District Twelve?”

At that, his eyes genuinely light up with ferocity. “I’m counting the minutes,” he replies, but still manages to keep his tone cool. He adamantly refuses to give away his true emotion to even a single soul in the Capitol. It’s his way of withholding power from their greedy, glitter covered hands.

But I see the change in him. Prim, from her position against the doorframe, sees it. I’m positive my mother, who’s watching with our brother from the comfort of our house sees it as well.

Our father’s eyes are now alive again, the permanent frown his mouth resides in on every televised appearance loosens a bit, his brows aren’t knit so closely together any longer.

Caesar Flickerman sees the change too evidently.

“Look at those silver coins!” He bellows, gesturing for the cameras to put my father in a close up now. “They just lit up like the stars when talking about home. Tell me, Hunter Everdeen, how’s the family back in District Twelve?”

At that, my father makes a considerable effort to transform his entire expression into a mask of indifference. “They’re good,” he states evenly, his tone clipped. Making it blatant to even the airheaded Capitol citizens that he refuses to speak publicly about his family.

“Because you’re not property of the Capitol, baby,” he told me once, while on a walk in the woods. “You’re not anyone’s property.”

“What about you and mommy?”

“You’re our responsibility, but not our property.” He’d knelt down to my height, which happened to be the shortest in my second grade class. “Property implies ownership, Katniss. And no one owns you. No one owns you or your sister. Remember that for me. And never let yourself forget it.”

“You’re daughters are both old enough for the reaping, am I right?” Caesar presses further, and my sister and I automatically sigh. Knowing the response that’s bound to come.

“What’s wrong?” Peeta asks, as he still remains completely clueless. I shake my head instead of offering an explanation though, leaning further into his chest.

Peeta won’t understand. He was raised in town by merchants—the owners of the bakery, to be specific. He’s never understood the fierce protectiveness, the instantaneous fury, the irrational tunnel vision, that appears when a victor’s child is mentioned entering the games.

Peeta’s never even met my father. I’m not impatient by any stretch of the imagination to put the two of them in the same room, to watch my father chew my boyfriend up and devour him alive, to abide by his rules and regulations that will surely come with dating.

He doesn’t know Peeta and I have even so much as shaken hands. I’ve never so much as left him even the slightest hint. Not even when I’ve accompanied him to the bakery for the occasional trade with Peeta’s father, the baker himself.

Like both Prim and I predicted, our father is now on edge, his breathing uneven and his nostrils flaring. “Yes. Both my girls are of age,” he says after a long beat, his tone hard and jagged.

Caesar though is either oblivious or is extraordinarily practiced at appearing obtuse. “Well, wouldn’t it be something if either of them were chosen for the games? Am I right?” He directs his questions to the audience. “Don’t we all love a family story?” His words elicit cheers and hollers and a murderous glint in my father’s silver eyes. The camera only catches it for a moment’s time before quickly flitting away, towards the much more enjoyable image of the Captiolites chattering like chipmunks at the very idea.

And suddenly I feel Peeta’s arm tighten around me, the vision of me—the only person in the world he’s certain that he loves—being taken away from our home here in Twelve and tossed into an arena with kids twice her size, too much for even his naïve mind.

“Don’t we all believe in Mr. Everdeen,” the talk show host continues to push and I feel my typical annoyance with the odd man bleed into anger. “I mean, he brought home Mr. Abernathy here.” And with one single hand gesture from Caesar, the entire interview’s focus re-centers on Haymitch.

And unlike my father, he doesn’t even miss a beat before replying.

“Barely,” he mutters with a last swig of his drink, cleaning the glass. “And he was stingy with the gifts.”

Next to him, my father relaxes a bit. Haymitch always brings out a bit of levity in him, even on his worst days.

After all, in my father’s eyes, the paunchy drunk is a symbol of hope.

Haymitch is the only person my father’s ever brought him. He’s the only other living victor inside the confines of Twelve.

Not to mention his closest friend.

And my surrogate uncle, I note, a bit ironically. Haymitch and I have a far different relationship than he has with anyone else in my family but he’s always been there, has known me since the day I was born, often has dinner at our house, rain or shine, no matter how much he annoys my mother, and he’s an irreplaceable member of my family.

The audience is still riled up from Haymitch and howling with laughter—a bit too much, in my opinion—but my father can’t let the subject of his children go before adding one last sentiment.

“Don’t worry, Caesar. If either of my girls are reaped, trust me,” he states, louder and far more pronounced than anything else he’s said the entire interview. “They will be the victor. There’s not a tribute in the arena that would survive against my girl.”

For as long as I can remember, my father had taken me to the woods. He sometimes claims the first time he looked down at me in my mother’s arms, at a mere two days old, he saw a familiar hunger in my eyes.

Not a hunger for food. District Twelve is the smallest and the poorest in the country of Panem, but luckily, my family is one of the richest.

Unlike my schoolmates, I’ve never once had to worry about having enough to eat for lunch. My parents never worried that we’d starve to death or that Prim and I could be taken from their grasp by authorities. They never worried about supplying us with whatever we needed—they gave us more than we ever could have wanted—and they never had to fret that we’d be sent to the mines for work one day.

No, we were far too wealthy and far too famous for any of that.

But my parents had a far different batch of worries to keep them up at night. Not about food or finances or anything remotely common in Twelve.

No, they had to worry about cameras peaking into the privacy of our home and photos being taken without our knowledge and my face or Prim’s face being splashed across every magazine and newspaper in the country.

They worried about the almost insatiable thirst the Capitol seems to have for more family dynamics among the victors.

Especially after the recent back-to-back sibling victories led the hunger games to higher ratings and revenues in the Capitol.

When I was a child, my mother coached me to never go into town without my father by my side. Which sounds easy enough, until my father’s extensive vacations to the Capitol are taken into consideration. For as long as I can remember, my father would leave at random stretches of time, for weeks on end. To go play puppet for a population so dumb, so completely isolated from the rest of the country, that they took his anger for sarcasm. They took his bite as charm. They believed his glare was an act, was part of his appeal, when in reality my father had rebelled against performing for the last twenty-seven years.

When he was gone, our lives became strict. Bedtimes came earlier, curtains remained drawn day in and day out, our mother never wanted to sing or dance or even so much as smile with her husband gone.

But when he was home, sunshine peaked in our windows again. It danced on the floor and it swept us away with its gentle affection.

There was music and laughter and sweets and toys. He never returned from the Capitol empty-handed. He brought back expensive jewels for our mother, he built me and Prim a fancy treehouse in the backyard, put up a large, golden swing-set, went as far as purchasing as many cakes and breads as he could hold from the Mellark Bakery.

Peeta’s parents bakery.

Since I was two, further back than I can even retain, my father would take me out to the woods, would hold my hand and tell me old stories of District Twelve’s past, detail insane urban legends, teach me about plants and berries and trees and the direction of the wind.

And for as long as I can remember, I idolized him. He was so confident and so charismatic and so kind. For as long as I could remember, I wanted to be exactly like him when I grew up. It felt like an honor to me that I received far more his end of the gene line than my mother’s. She was regarded as a beauty in her youth, but he was one of the most magnificent people in the country. Having his coloring and the same silver eyes felt like a special gift, awarded every single time someone marveled at how similar we appear.

But my father was gone often and the unpredictable lengths of his stays in the large, foreign city was one of the only constants my family ever knew. So it really came as no surprise when my mother phoned the cabin only minutes after Caesar’s interview was over.

“I’ll get it,” Prim says flatly after a moment, throwing a sardonic glance at me and Peeta on the couch. Now in a much different entanglement than we had been while watching the talk-show.

“Thanks,” I murmur unintelligibly against Peeta’s mouth, before closing my eyes in pleasure.

“Don’t strain yourselves,” she can’t stop herself from tacking on the end.

“We’ll try not to while you’re still here,” Peeta murmurs cheekily, moving his lips downwards, towards my neck, right onto my pulse point. I let out a somewhat ridiculous squeak in response.

“Hello?” Prim says lightly into the receiver, already knowing it’s our mother. No one else calls this phone, inside this hidden cabin, located in the woods surrounding Twelve.

The woods in which officials fenced off years ago. The woods in which it’s illegal to enter. The woods in which my father has taken me to hunt for families less fortunate than ours since I was a small infant.

It’s not a typical cabin found in the outskirts of Twelve. No, ordinarily a cabin out here—a cabin anywhere in Panem, really—is nothing more than a broken down shack. There’s normally nothing other than an unsteady foundation, a freezing damp floor and an unlit fireplace.

But somewhere along the lines, in the years before I was born, my parents resurrected this place from the depths of despair and expanded it, rebuilt it, refurnished and redecorated and turned it into a vast, warm, safe second home for all of us to run away to when we felt the need.

Prim listens into the receiver for a long moment before she sighs deeply and beckons me. “Katniss, can you?”

Instantly, I break away from Peeta’s embrace, cupping his face and pulling him back from my collarbone.

“What’s wrong?” I ask as I scramble off the couch, my anxiety abruptly spiked. “Did something happen?” I search Prim’s eyes as I take the phone from her but, to my utter relief, all I find there is blatant, unmasked disappointment.

I already know what my mother is going to say before I put the phone to my ear. “Hi?”

“Hi, honey,” she murmurs, her voice both strained and higher than typical. Which indicates she’s trying to put up a front for us right now, when she’d rather be moping in bed. “Your father just called. Evidently Effie Trinket informed him he has more scheduled commitments to fulfill before he can come home.”

I deflate, already prepard, knowing this was coming. Isn’t it always coming inadvertently? My father has never been home when he was scheduled to be in my life. No matter the holiday, the birthday, the emergency or event, the Capitol demands that they comes first to him. Not even my birth could upstage his commitments. He wasn’t allowed to return home to Twelve, to meet his firstborn child, until his press events were done and over with.

It’s no wonder he refuses to put on show for those people.

“Okay,” I mumble after a moment, not even convinced my mother is even still there on the other end.

“It’ll be alright,” she says, as positively as she can. “He’ll be home as soon.”

“Yeah.” I try and fail miserably to match her tone. I inherited my father’s ability to act. Or inability, that is.

There’s the faint sound of crying in the background, and my heart aches a bit. “I’m sorry, honey, I have to go check on Archer,” she apologizes as a way of saying goodbye.

I make my way into the kitchen as soon as we hang up. Prim is standing by the counter, staring at the same magazine our father sent three weeks ago.

Peeta comes up behind me then, his hand rubbing my back in comforting circles. “Your father delayed again?”

I nod silently, as my eyes focused on my little sister now. She’s trying her best to hold back the upset that’s threatening to take over.

And without hesitation, my instincts to protect my family from anything and everything painful kick in. “Prim, it’s okay. It’s probably only going to be another week before he’s back,” I console, stepping closer to her small frame and touching her back.

It’s all the initiation she needs before spinning around into my arms and clinging onto me tight. “He’s never around,” she cries into my neck—I’m not much taller than her—as her shoulders shake with tears.

I feel Peeta’s eyes on me, measuring my reaction to Prim’s words. He’s heard me cry the same thing time and time again, he knows the familiarity of this scene better than anyone should.

“He tries his best, Prim,” I whisper thickly into her long, blonde hair. She’s fair and light, like our mother. Like a merchant or peacekeeper. Looking at my little sister, you’d never consider her to be the daughter of a man from the Seam.

But you’d easily believe that she was a girl raised in Victor’s Village and I suppose that’s what counts. Where we were raised and not where we could have been, if things had gone different.

“He’s never really going to be ours though,” she weeps and I don’t have words to comfort her now. Because she’s right.

Our father will always belong to the Capitol, first and foremost.

And not even his children can upstage that.

Prim leaves not long later, to head home to Victor’s Village and more than likely curl up with our mother for the night. They’ve both always been so alike, so much softer and more hopeful than me. I half expect every trip of our father’s to double in time, if not triple. After a lifetime of disappointments, I can’t help but prepare myself.

It’s not that they’re weak for believing. It’s that I have too much Hunter Everdeen in me. I have too much pessimism crawling inside my bones to ever fully trust that he’s really coming home until he’s already stepped off the train in Twelve.

Too many hours of my childhood were spent, wearing fancy stockings and warm, fur-lined coats, standing at the train station, only to welcome a load of cargo and no father in sight. Too many times were phone calls answered in tears. Too many night spent crying, clinging to my father’s hunting jacket, so disoriented by the hazardous schedule in which our lives were ran, waiting for my father to phone, waiting for him to walk through the front door, waiting for him to sneak up on us in the middle of the night or pull us from class on a school day.

That was the true constant in my life. Waiting for my father to finally come home, knowing every moment we shared was on borrowed time. Knowing that he’d never truly belong to us. Waiting for the other shoe to drop. Waiting to hear my mother’s bedroom door slam and lock, waiting to hear Prim cry or Archer wail, waiting to see that defeated glint in my father’s slate gaze.

I close the cabin door behind my sister now, knowing with confidence that she’ll make it home alright, even with the sun currently setting in the faded blue sky.

Our father never took Prim hunting like he did me, never brought her out to the woods and taught her to shoot a bow and arrow, never showed her how to trap and kill an animal. But even still, the path from the cabin to our home in Victor’s Village is imprinted in our brains, like a birthmark or tattoo. We’d be able to find our way to and from, even if we were sleepwalking.

As would Peeta. Considering this is the place he spends the majority of his time.

Considering this cabin may as well be his permanent address.

And if it weren’t illegal, it very well might be, I think to myself wryly as I walk over to where he’s leaning against the doorframe now.

“Hello,” I greet again, hopping onto my tiptoes and kissing his lips lightly.

He grasps my hips, smiling against my mouth. “Don’t you have to get home too?” He hesitantly asks, his desire to keep me here bleeding through every caress of his fingers, as they trail underneath my loose shirt, sliding upwards and causing an electric current to ripple through the core of my body.

But I just shake my head at his inquiry, moving my mouth from his to kiss down the side of his face, underneath his jawline.

“Mmm,” he moans after a long moment, before suddenly putting a few more inches between us. “Are you sure your mother won’t miss you?”

Peeta’s always been considerate of my mother. Too considerate sometimes, if I do say so myself. Bordering on obsessive.

He is obsessed with keeping her approval, with never crossing any invisible line, with never even so much as mildly exasperating her.

I suppose it’s only natural though. She is the only parental figure he has in his life.

I’ve never been too enthusiastic to introduce him to my father and he’s never pushed the issue too far. Hunter Everdeen is a practical legend around Twelve—and beloved across the entirety of Panem—but he’s the reason, I’ve always privately felt, that I was isolated from all my classmates.

Sure, I’m already not the most friendly person to start with, in anyone’s book. As Haymitch never hesitates to tell me. But there was already very little chance of me making friends in school anyway. Being the victor of the Forty-Seventh Hunger Games’ child dropped the chances of play-dates or sleepovers drastically. My father trusts no one. Not with his children.

And I didn’t mind for the most part. I’m too like him to enjoy people much anyway. This whole notion was much harder on Prim, who adored her fellow classmates and easily endeared herself to them as well. But no matter how darling my little sister may be, nothing changed our father’s mind and when he was set on something, it was practically written in stone.

I can’t even imagine how Peeta must feel, having to live in fear for the entire last year of our little secret being exposed. I may be nervous about how my father will react, but Peeta has to be outright petrified.

“My mother will be fine,” I murmur, rolling my eyes as I lean back against the wall now. “She’s got Prim and Archie to keep her sane until my father’s home.”

Peeta chuckles at me, a mirthful smile in his eyes. “And you got me,” he teases, tapping my nose with his finger.

I giggle in a way I withheld until Prim left. I wasn’t about to give her ammunition to mock me later on. “All to myself,” I add, matching his expression now. “For unlimited hours of the day.”

“That’s my girl, looking on the bright side.”

I snort. “Yeah, that’s me.” I’m the exact opposite of an optimist. I prefer expecting the worse and setting expectations low. Maybe it’s a learned behavior but, at least that way, I’m not crushed like my mother when things don’t pan out the way I want.

Peeta mistakes the look on my face to be one of hidden disappointment. “You’re father will be home soon, sweetheart. They can’t keep him in the Capitol forever.”

“Can’t they?” I mumble, not expecting an answer. Before he can offer one—because Peeta is nothing if not a fixer—I quickly segue to a new topic. “Where do you think you’ll go when my father does come home?”

He just shrugs the question off though, completely unbothered. “Anywhere but home,” he says simply, his stunning blue eyes clear as the sky they remind me of.

“Anywhere but there,” I agree, my smile twisting into a grimace.

A year ago, when I was barely fifteen, President Snow—Panem’s true Gamemaker, my father always said—demanded every victor extend their stay in the Capitol, even after the games ended that year. He gave no outright reason and my father was cagey to speak on the subject, but in the end, the president’s word was law and there was no room for argument. President Snow can demand of us whatever he wishes.

It was a cold, dreary autumn that year, with early snowfall, which was the leading cause to the significant increase in accidents and injuries. My mother, the born healer, had more patients than she could handle, and even while training Prim as her assistant, she required my help. I was to head to town and purchase a list of herbs from the apothecary shop her parents still owned. The people who disowned her, who had little to no interest in her after she married a man from the Seam, victor or not. The people who never cared to meet their own grandchildren, to acknowledge our existence even as we passed right by their shop, in their plain sight.

I was dragging my feet the entire walk there, already with a sour taste in my mouth, when I heard the loudest wail my ears had every registered. When I heard sharp words being screamed out, when the sound of a boy sobbing filled the air.

And my instincts took over, my every sense focused on finding the hurt and helping them, altogether forgoing the trip for my mother’s herbs.

I followed the commotion to the bakery’s backdoor. Right through the open threshold, it was crystal clear, the baker’s wife—the witch, as many of the kids at school referred to her—had beaten her youngest son senselessly.

He’s in my year, I’d realized abruptly, staring with an agape mouth at his bloody face. His eye was swelling and his nose and lip were smeared scarlet and the only thing that crossed my mind at first, was I recognized him as the blonde boy with the colorful notebook, who could never meet my eyes and always wore long sleeves.

Of course, I snapped out of the daze after only a moment. The witch turned and caught sight of me, snapping that no Seam brat was going to get any free handouts from her and to scatter before she called the Peacekeepers.

Something about the unmasked prejudice against the Seam, a place where people in Twelve had next to nothing and were seen as lesser than the merchants, jolted me into action.

“Get your hand off him!” I’d demanded, using my entire body weight, just as my father taught me, to push the door open as she tried to close it in my face. “Let him go or I swear I’ll make you regret it.”

At that, I heard an ugly laugh and the door flew open again, my exerted force throwing it back into the wall.

“I’m serious, child,” she snaps, her blue eyes narrow and her mouth in a snide smirk. “I will call the Peacekeepers to remove you from my shop-”

I didn’t even let her finish. I wasn’t one to be messed with. Not when I just witnessed something awful firsthand, not when I had it in my power to do something.

I knew then I couldn’t bring my father home. He was owned by the president and the Capitol. To an extent, we all were. And I knew I couldn’t stop the games from happening or the possibility of my name being pulled from the reaping bowl. I couldn’t always make my mother come out of her room or even out of her bed, when her illness struck bad. And I couldn’t stop my siblings from crying for our father at night.

But I knew that day in the bakery, I had the power over Mrs. Mellark and I wasn’t going to let her get away with hurting her son anymore.

“Call them,” I dared, not an ounce of insecurity in my voice. “Cray is an old family friend.” He was actually indebted to my father, who’d kept the man’s secrets for too many years to count. But family friend rolled off the tongue more effectively.

“Head Peacekeeper is now making friends in the Seam?” She spat in disbelief. “No wonder this district is so rundown.”

She laughed humorlessly, but my focus was pulled towards the boy. He was covering the left side of his face, as if it hurt too badly to release. As if he was trying to stop his eye from swelling, stop his nose from gushing blood. As if he could hold his now split lip together with nothing more than the palm of his hand.

The sight hurt my heart to see. It burned a fire inside of me that only a true injustice could set alight.

“My father is Hunter Everdeen,” I snapped in the woman’s direction, not even basking in satisfaction when her face drained of all color. The idea that a scrappy little girl with olive skin and dark hair was the child of the most powerful man in all of Twelve struck a cord inside even the witch. “Still wanna make that call?”

The woman’s face was caught between anger and shock when I glanced at her again. And I hated her for it. I hated her and every single person in this district who hurt their kids, who took out their grievances on them, who made them cower and quiver in fear. Who raised them to be afraid of those they loved in a world already so awful.

I know I live a privileged life but, deep in my bones, I know even if things were different, my parents wouldn’t have laid a hand on us. Even if we were so poor I had to take tesserae, even if we were starving to the point of no return, even if we were practically homeless in the Seam, my parents would never hurt us.

“Leave,” the witch spoke then, but her voice was void of all emotion.

“Not without him,” I refused, my eyes planted on the wounded boy in front of me. The boy who was doing everything to avoid looking me in the eye, too busy covering his battered face.

I heard a sound caught between a groan and a shriek, before a cutting board was tossed across the room. “Just go!” She shouted at her son, causing him to flinch severely. “Just go with her!”

On her order, which sounded more distraught than angry, the boy had stormed out the back door and into the chilly evening air, still covering his face desperately, still looking utterly ashamed.

But he waited for me to catch up with him. He waited for me to guide him away from that awful woman he was forced to call his mother.

He didn’t flinch when I touched his arm nor when I took his hand. And when I led him away from the town and towards the village, he followed me without complaint.

Actually, he followed me without a single word.

I realized this just as my house came into view. “You never told me your name?” I whispered, looking up at him gently.

He had tears leaking from his eyes that he was doing his best to ignore, the bleeding on the left side of his face had barely even lightened up, his eye was swelling bigger and bigger, and yet, he chuckled a little at the question. “I’ve been in your class since kindergarten, Katniss.”

I felt my cheeks burn pink, even under the darkening sky. “I know.” But I still peered up at him, curiously waiting for him to tell me.

“It’s Peeta,” he finally answered, maybe a bit satirical.

“Peeta Mellark,” I suddenly recognized.

“Mhmm. Figured you’d pick up the last name.”

“Why’s that?”

“It’s printed across the bakery in huge letters?”

“Oh.” He chuckled at my ignorance, causing my blush to deepen.

And I realized immediately how much I liked the sound of his laugh. How I liked being the reason for the sound.

My stomach did a complete flip at the notion and my ears abruptly felt hot, but I tried to push all this away, needing to get him to my mother.

“Wait,” he halted before I could even reached the front door. “Is your mother in there?”

I shot him a confused look. “Yeah, of course? Who else-”

I didn’t even get a chance to finish though. “I really don’t want anyone else to know about this,” he pleads, his eyes looking as frightened as they did with the witch.

“Peeta-” I start, opening my mouth argue, to convince him to go into the house and let my mother treat his injuries. To let me get him help.

But one look inside his desolated, defeated, terrified eyes and I couldn’t make myself do it. I couldn’t put him through any more than he’d already gone through. Not when he’d eventually have to go face the witch again at home.

“Okay,” I whispered, and I felt him squeeze the hand I didn’t realize I was still clutching. “Let me take you somewhere else. And I’ll try to fix you up myself.”

I wasn’t a healer like my mother and Prim. I was a hunter, just like my father, just like his very name, through and through. But I had witnessed enough of what my mother did—my father had forced me to witness enough of what she did, in case I ever needed the knowledge—and I was confident I had the expertise to help him.

My decision was validated by the relief in Peeta’s eyes, by the visible exhale he expelled from inside. He was ashamed, I realized, of his abuse. He was embarrassed to let anyone know what was happening behind closed doors.

I guided him by the hand outside the village, through the Seam—a place in which he’d never been before—and to the fence line.

“Isn’t it electrified?” He asked, his grip on my palm tightening. I liked the sensation for some reason. I liked the way his big hand felt wrapped around my small one. I liked how he wanted to hold onto me in the darkness.

“Nope,” I say, and let out a proud giggle. Or maybe a nervous one. Whenever I think back to this night, I can never tell.

“How do you know?” His blonde eyebrows knit together, still afraid in a way I’d never had to be. My father had taught me everything there was to know about the woods from a young age.

“Listen,” I urge softly, leaning my ear towards the fence.

He cranes forward too, waiting for the buzz of electricity to fill his ears. Only, just as I knew, it never does. Because it never has. The fence’s electricity was shut off long before we were even born.

I watched as his face registered the silence, as he realized and trusted I was right. And I beamed at him, before showing him the way my father slips beyond the fence and guiding him through the trees, towards the cabin, buried deep inside the woods.

It took an hour to find, not because of the blackened sky, but because Peeta’s face hurt so badly that his gait was slowed. But I remained patient, even though that was never my strong suit either. I waited for him to pick up the pace, to be ready to move, to find our way through the tall green trees. I pulled all the branches I could see out of his path, used the moon as our flashlight and didn’t complain once when he stumbled along the way.

By the time we got to the cabin, it had to be past Archer’s bedtime. My mother would be worried sick for me, but I soothed myself that she had plenty on her plate. I’m her firstborn. The child she understands the least, the one who’s like her husband in body and soul. I knew I was probably near the bottom of her worry list.

The very first thing I did when we entered the cabin was order Peeta to sit down in the dining room. I gathered my mother’s first aid kit from the bathroom, wet a rag in cool water and I got to work cleaning the blood from his face.

“This has to be gross for you,” he murmurs after a long stretch of silence. His eyes betrayed how self-conscious he must have felt.

Trying to alleviate his anxiety, I pretended to shrug it off. “My mother cleans wounds all the time. At our kitchen table, no less.”

Peeta made a noise that indicated he didn’t buy my act of ease. “I heard at school that you run from the sick and injured.”

I raised my eyebrows at the comment. No one at school talked about me. No one knew me well enough to. People stopped trying to get close to any of Hunter Everdeen’s kids years ago.

The longer I stared at Peeta in disbelief, the more he seemed to lose confidence in his statement. “Maybe I didn't hear it,” he finally amended. I brought the damp cloth back up to his face again as a reward, tenderly wiping away the blood, before using the clean side to set against his swelling lid, hoping to offer some pain reduction there as well. “Maybe I saw it,” he added sheepishly.

I furrowed my brows, even more perplexed by the elaboration. “Saw it?”

“When Leaf Barker tripped and broke his knee in Physical Education last year? You were almost green when you bolted out of the gymnasium.”

His words conjured up a vague image. Still though, something about this felt odd to me.

“How do you remember that better than I do?”

At that, Peeta shrugged. “I guess, I notice you sometimes?”

“What do you mean, sometimes?” I pressed, none of his words suddenly making a bit of sense.

“Why did you stick up for me tonight?” He abruptly segued, his expression shifting into something of defense, like he’s trying to deflect.

But I’m not one to be deterred. “I wasn’t going to stand there and watch your mother hurt you,” I stated, my voice remaining firm. “Why?”

He continued to walk around my question. “Is tonight the first night you ever noticed me?”

I pulled my hand and the damp cloth away from his wounded face, reaching in the kit to grab a white cream I’d seen my mother and Prim both use on swelling before. “Yes,” I finally replied, because I don’t know what else to say. That I saw him glance at me sometimes and then watched as his eyes flit away? That I noticed how he doodled in math class, because he found the subject boring? That I’d seen him lift a sack easily over his shoulder at the bakery and watched him beat almost every upperclassmen at wrestling, even while three years their junior?

None of that seems even remotely relevant to mention.

“When was the first time you noticed me?” I shot back, still being careful to apply the cream with only the lightest pressure to his battered eye.

“Kindergarten,” he instantly blurted out, his tone simple and bold.

I stared at him in disbelief for a long moment before chuckling, catching the joke. “Funny.”

“I’m serious,” he refuted, peaking his good eye open, the sky meeting a silver dollar as our gaze locked. And I see that he is serious somehow.

“What?”

“The first day of kindergarten,” he continued, after a long beat of me just staring him. His confidence had wavered once again and he was looking a bit regretful that he’d put this out in the open. “You were wearing a red velvet dress and brown stockings. Your hair was in two braids instead of one and your ribbons matched your dress. The teacher asked during music assembly who knew The Valley Song and your hand shot right up. She put you on a stool and you sang it, clear as day, for everyone to hear. Even the birds outside stopped to listen. And from that moment on… I was a goner.”

I just continued to look at him in disbelief, unable to put the pieces of what he’s said together. Finally, I whispered, “you’re telling the truth?”

“I’ve had a crush on you for forever,” he admitted, his singularly open eye giving away his nerves at the admission. “And I know you probably don’t feel the same way. I know you didn’t even know my name until tonight but I just wanted to say, in case we never have the chance to speak again-”

“Stop,” I cut him off, my mind already about to explode. “Stop, um…” I refused to look at him as I spoke, furiously staring down at my lap. “I need more time to… process this.”

He had a crush on me since the first day of kindergarten? He’d heard me sing and from that day forward he held a hidden candle for me?

And he never once worked up the courage to talk to me?

Dozens of moments suddenly race through my mind.

Cerulean blue eyes finding me in a crowd countless times and then pulling away as soon as I meet them. The time I wanted to play a stupid game at recess and a stocky blonde boy volunteered to be team captain, and then picked me first. The stunning drawing I found in my locker last year on Sweetheart’s Day, that I was convinced was put there by mistake, though it bore a striking resemblance to the doodles on Peeta’s notebook.

And before I could stop it, I felt myself begin to shake with nerves.

“Hey, I’m sorry,” he apologized, seeing my frightened reaction. “I didn’t mean to scare you, I just… I didn’t know if I’d ever get the opportunity to tell you again-”

“Shhh,” I hushed, picking up the damp cloth once more. “Let me take care of your face. And then…” I hesitated again, unsure what to say in this situation. I had exactly zero experiences to compare this to. “Tomorrow we can talk more.”

Peeta nodded amicably, staying silent for the reminder of my ministrations. I felt a terrible pang of guilt for not responding the way he’d probably hoped, but there was still a part of me too stunned to even fully register the confession.

I was an outcast. I’d never fit in with the kids at school, neither town or Seam. I don’t look like the merchants and I’m too rich for the Seam folk. I would have been alone all the time at school if it weren’t for Madge Undersee, the mayor’s daughter who sat with me at lunch and partnered with me in class.

How could anyone have even noticed me to be anything other than strange? I barely spoke, even in classes where I knew all the answers. And I hardly participated in games or gossip. I had a father who insisted most days on picking me up himself from school, not allowing me to walk home alone like the other kids.

But the look in Peeta’s eyes was earnest. He wasn’t playing some elaborate trick on me, he wasn’t trying to coerce me into confessing something as well so he could humiliate me. He was being genuine in every way I could tell. And I had my father’s senses.

The same senses that helped him win his hunger games.

A new thought struck me out of the blue. Peeta seemed too kind and too considerate to have a mother who beat him like this. He doesn’t fit the profile of the kids in the community home, brought there by even less abuse than I witnessed firsthand tonight.

The insane urge to get to know him more, to learn more about this complete stranger who I went out on an impulsive limb for suddenly surges through my brain.

It wouldn’t be a good idea, I told myself. He’s a merchant and I’m the daughter of a victor. Two titles that seem not far apart in theory but are miles away from the other in practice. And I’m not experienced with people the way he is. I don’t know how to make friends or how to maintain them. I don’t know what he expects from me but it’s surely more than I know how to give. I don’t know what to say in a situation like this. Haymitch always tells me I’m as romantic as dirt.

But is that what I want to be? I asked myself as I finished fixing Peeta up. Do I want to be romantic? Do I want to be that girl who holds her boyfriend’s hand in the town square and kisses him under the moonlight? Do I want to put an embroidered ribbon in my hair and wear an expensive dress from the Capitol to go to the Sweetheart’s Dance? Do I want to sneak in through my bedroom window at the crack of dawn so my father won’t know I’ve been out all night?

If I could learn to be romantic, would I want to be?

And naturally, the answer I’ve always known automatically seeps through my brain. No. I’m not like my mother and Prim. I’m practical by nature, rather than fanciful. I’ve never truly obsessed about falling in love or fawned over even the most incredible looking men on the television.

But something held me back now. Something inside me said that answer, the truth I’d always known, is suddenly not entirely accurate anymore.

Because I find that I did want those things I just described. I did want to have someone to hold, someone to laugh with, someone who conjured up that same flip in my stomach as Peeta did earlier when he laughed.

I wanted the same kind of love my parents had. The kind of love that brought them both to life, despite the horrible circumstances they’d both separately endured. I wanted the kind of love that they showed me was possible, even in a world as bleak and as inhumane as Panem felt at times.

I only realized how long I’d been silent, contemplating my inner desires, when Peeta offered a minuscule smile and stood up slowly to leave.

I opened my mouth to speak but when his eyes met mine, every thought in my head was magically wiped away. I had nothing to say, nothing that could be of any sort of consequence, that could mean anything in comparison to his confession.

“I should head back to town,” he murmured, trying to appear nonchalant. “Face my mother. Hope she’s in a better mood now-”

But I couldn’t stand the idea of him returning to the witch, the idea of going to school tomorrow and acting like his words weren’t still spinning around my brain, the idea of even sleeping soundly tonight.

“Peeta,” I called just as he was about to reach the front door. “Wait!”

He turned towards me, looking puzzled by my outburst. “What’s wrong?”

And I don’t know what came over me. I still can’t place what made me—a girl who had never been decisive a day in her life—fling myself across the room and smash my lips onto his.

He didn’t respond at first. I caught him too completely by surprise. His lips hung there, frozen, as mine pushed against his, with too much force and an overload of desperation.

But I felt an incredible stirring in my chest, an odd sensation that felt akin to a giggle amplified.

And when he finally recovered from the shock of it all, his hands both came to rest on either side of my hips, his mouth began to move against mine, his knees bent to reach my height with more success, and the stirring turned to a fiery spark. I know he felt it too, as the kiss was swiftly disturbed by his wide grin.

“Don’t go back home tonight,” I gasped out, looking up at him, wide-eyed and breathless.

His gaze melted as he took me in, he head bobbing in agreement without even needing to consider my request.

“Okay,” he’d whispered with a dazed smile, his blue eyes impossibly wild and sleepy at the same time.

His expression, his spirit somehow, was contagious, and I found myself somewhere stuck between a laugh and a blush when I replied.

“Okay.”

After that night, Peeta rarely went back home. I had called my mother and let her know I was staying at the cabin, but intentionally eluded telling her that the baker’s son was joining me. We’d spent the entire night talking in front of the fire, making each other laugh. The bashfulness I felt from my unexpected kiss stayed in my gut, causing me to bubble up with embarrassed laughter every so often.

But instead of that making things awkward, it cut the tension pretty smoothly. It was only months later did Peeta confess he’d felt just as nervous and just as shy about spending time with me. He was charismatic, I realize even that first night. Ironically funny. He was nice, in a way I rarely have found anyone to be. And, the more time went on, the more my desire grew to stay close to him. The more often I was around him, the more painfully I missed him when we were apart.

It was only a matter of time until my mother found out—not least of all, because my siblings accidentally caught us kissing in back of the school, a month to the day we first spoke.

I always imagined she’d be strict on me, the firstborn, when it came to dating. Especially in the world we lived in. Especially with my father’s position. I truly thought she’d forbid a relationship until I was of age. Maybe I was wrong about her. Or maybe she just saw how I looked at Peeta and understood that I wasn’t just being careless or rebellious. That whatever magnetic connection I felt towards Peeta wasn’t just an ordinary school-aged fling.

To my surprise as well, my mother seemed to take on a very similar stance to me when it came to Peeta and my father. Keeping the news of this entanglement from her husband’s ears was almost her idea.

“What are you thinking about?” Peeta asks me now, bringing me back to the present moment. His fingers tickle my neck as they brush my hair back behind my ear, touching one of the satin green ribbons weaved throughout my loose braids.

“You,” I reply coyly, shooting him a sly glance as I slip past him to head back towards the kitchen.

“Me?” He calls in mock disbelief. He trails up behind me, catching me by the waist and swinging me into his arms without warning.

“Peeta!” I exclaim, automatically wrapping myself around him as I try to steady my balance midair.

“What, baby?”

“Put me down, baby,” I mock, pressing my nose to his now, rubbing them together.

“I like holding you though,” he whispers, like he’s confessing some huge secret.

“Until your arms gets tired-”

“That was one time, Katniss.”

“I’m just reminding you,” I say with an air of superiority. “You don’t always appreciate holding me.”

At that, his demeanor falls a little. “I do when I realize I won’t be seeing you much in a few days.”

I feel my heart sink now too. As excited as I am at the prospect of my father coming home, after weeks apart, I always have to be a little more careful upon his first days back.

He always likes to spend time at the cabin and go for long walks in the woods upon his return. Spend more time in nature than the indoors, stay far away from people outside our family, sleep under the stars by the lake. The Capitol is apparently luxurious, but in my father’s own words, it is void of any true or natural beauty. Everything is artificial, man-made, concocted and orchestrated. There’s nothing that compares in his mind—or mine either—to a cool breeze on a sunny day spent in the meadow where the dandelions grow tall.

“But I’ll still see you in school?” I say, though my voice comes out as more of a plea. Peeta doesn’t always like to attend school these days, not when he knows his parents can easily track him down there.

His father, the baker himself, took the ambiguous loss of his youngest—his favorite—son particularly hard. It was only a matter of weeks after I intercepted his mother beating him that Peeta definitively decided to sever ties with majority of his family.

I’d like to say he made the choice all on his own but that’d be a lie. I watched as the physical bruises on his skin healed, as he began to peel back emotional layer upon layer to me, as he slowly told me what really had been going on in the Mellark’s family home. And I can’t say that I was impartial to his decision to cut the connection to a mother with a bruising fist and a father who closed his eyes and let it happen.

“Delly’s parents usually make me go to school so…” He shrugs it off, like it’s of no consequence, his arms hoisting me higher against his chest.

But I feel a sudden wave of gratitude towards the Cartwrights. They may be a little too jolly for my liking and their daughter, Delly, maybe can’t take a hint to save her life, but at least they always watch out for Peeta’s well-being. At least they cover for him when his mother come sniffing around and they feed him what they can afford and force him to attend class, where I’ll be able to see him.

“Good,” I murmur, at peace now. My father will be home soon and Peeta will be safely tucked away with his best friend.

I lean down and kiss his nose sweetly, reveling in the tender moment. His lips follow my lead and begin to plant themselves across my chin, underneath my jaw, causing me to squirm and squeal at the sensation.

“So,” he murmurs against my throat. “We have the entire place to ourselves, for the whole night, huh?”

His audacious smile elicits my own. “At least.” My father’s delays usually mean a minimum of two days.

Within a minute, Peeta has me on my back, against the softly quilted bed of my upstairs room. He takes his time helping me out of my clothes before I hurriedly shove his off, impatient and hungry.

He, of course, finds time to crack a joke. “Good thing Archie is too young to come here unchaperoned. Or else we’d never get the chance to do this.”

I roll my eyes and shove his mouth off my collarbone, utterly disgusted now. “Talking about my baby brother is one sure way to turn me off, Peeta.”

Archer, my three-old-brother, was an unexpected surprise, to put it lightly. My parents were done with two girls. My father joked him and my mother were both already set with one clone each, but alas, the year of the Seventieth Hunger Games was a year full of shocks.

A few months before the games that year, the coal mines—the industry Twelve is known for—exploded. Right in the middle of the afternoon, as everyone was obliviously going about their day.

It was a close call for many and one more reason my father is beloved around these parts. If he hadn’t been at the right place, at the right time, if he hadn’t volunteered to go with Prim and her class on a field trip down to the mines that day, there was a chance that no one would have noticed the gas leak.

It was too late to do anything by the time my father pointed it out, but his warning and the fact that people in Twelve take his word very seriously, managed to save the lives the inevitable explosion would have otherwise cost.

Through the outpouring of gratitude, and the overwhelming media coverage my whole family was abruptly bombarded with, my parents made the decision to pull me and Prim from school for a while, to hole up in the remodeled cabin, where no one could find us because of its illegal location.

I’ve never ask and I don't ever want to know when my parents conceived Archer. But about nine months after the vacation from the world, my mother gave birth to a little boy who looked identical to me and my father.

“Sorry,” Peeta whispers with a chuckle, collapsing beside me. “I’ll make it up to you.”

He moves to kiss my stomach, to trace circles on my hips like he always does. But I shake my head, a different request—or more like it, demand—on my mind.

“Tell me the story of how you first fell in love with me?”

Peeta rolls his eyes. Very dramatically. “You mean a year ago?”

“I mean in kindergarten,” I say with a smirk and then let out a shriek of surprise when he pounces on me, his lips attacking my neck.

“Aren’t you tired of that story yet?” He asks, his voice edging on exasperated.

“You never tire of a classic.” I give him a pout, knowing he never refuses me anything when I pull that trick.

I’m right, as per usual. “Fine,” he relents, but his eyes tell me that he enjoys telling this tale more than he leads on. “Come here.” He holds open his arms and waits for me to crawl into them, to settle against his chest.

I lay there for a long moment, my pointer finger running up and down the center of his bicep, as my ear rests against his heartbeat, patiently waiting for him to begin.

“It was the very first day of school. You were wearing a red, velvet dress…”

Read the rest on AO3

#katnissmellarkkkk #prompt 59 #Springtime edition 2021 #submission

154 notes · View notes

maknaesdancersrappers · 4 years

Text

the truth about you.

⁕ commission ⁕

warnings » smut (explicit sex scenes; oral, fingering, corruption kink), language (repetitive use of profanities), themes (friends with benefits, underage drinking, pregnancy scare), angst (please have a fluff fic ready to read after this one)

genre » high school!au, fwb!au

word count » 25k

playlist » link

dedicated to » jae ♡ ; thank you so much for commissioning this fic, it was draining to be honest, but i’m happy of how it turned out and i’m glad you enjoyed it.

+ timeline is a bit messy, but hopefully none of you catch it ㄟ( ▔, ▔ )ㄏ

terminology » yakgwa (korean honey cookie), ssireum (korean wrestling)

The library is your safe haven. The soft murmurs, the books, the cold air — all of these brought you peace and was the most ideal studying environment for you. It didn’t matter to you if your schoolmates called you a nerd all your high school life; let’s see who’ll be graduating with honors and, hopefully, a full scholarship to Seoul National University.

The only time you didn’t enjoy the library was when midterm exams were around the corner and students were cramming at the library, rushing to make reviewers, or even learn what they should have already known had they listened during class. This was the breeding ground for one of your pet peeves: people who can’t control the volume of their voices. Why do they even bother whispering if the entire library could hear it? You especially hated those whose voices get gradually louder and louder until they’re already practically exclaiming.

You would have gone to a lesser known cafe but you’d have to pay for a drink to stay there, whereas the library allowed you to bring in your own drinks as long as they were in reusable cups or tumblers. Today, however, you were only dragged here despite it being peak cramming season because your best friend had begged you to tutor him.

“I love you with all my heart, [Y/N].” Jungwoo grabs your hands and brings it to his chest. “Only you could teach me chemistry better than Mrs. Yoon—”

“Okay, okay, I get it.” You had just arrived at the table he was able to reserve and barely put your things down before he started acting dramatic. “Just highlight which topics you don’t get—”

“Everything.” He says in one breath, pulling out the best puppy eyes expression he could muster.

“Everything?” You browsed through your chemistry notes and sighed. This was going to take longer than you expected.

Sensing your apprehension, Jungwoo grabs your hands again, “I’ll buy you lunch for two days, please!”

You sit down beside him after shaking his hands off yours and settling in, “That’s not why I’m having second thoughts, Woo. I need to study for other subjects, too.”

Jungwoo scoffs, crossing his arms and leaning away from you, “Baby, you’re top 1 of the entire batch.”

“No, I’m not.” You scowled, turning around to grab your pencil case from your book bag. As you did so, excited murmurs erupted from the table beside yours and curiously, you followed the gazes of the girls to the door that had just closed. Sitting back up, you huffed, “I would be if he wasn’t around.”

Your best friend moves his attention to the person in question and lets out a sound of acknowledgement.

Jaehyun was never your classmate, but he’d been vying for the top spot against you for years. He was the living proof that God had favorites; blessing him with brains, beauty, and brawns. Aside from being an honor student, he played for the school varsity basketball and was a substitute player for the soccer team. This guy was annoyingly handsome as well; drop dead gorgeous with flawless, fair skin.

“He’s so hot.” Jungwoo sighs, taking a second to realize what he said and looked around to make sure only you had heard. “You know I was classmates with him freshman year, right? After gym, all the guys would shower in the locker room and I could confidently tell you that he’s packing—”

“Jungwoo!” You scolded, raising your voice just loud enough to get hushed by the librarian and everyone turns their heads towards you. You mouthed an apology and bowed your head, feeling your cheeks heat up in embarrassment. Of all the places your eyes could fall onto, it had to be on Jaehyun, who by the looks of it, was amused at what had happened. “I hate you.” You whispered to Jungwoo.

“Sorry. At least everyone’s a lot quieter than earlier.” He gestures to your notebooks, “Let’s get started. You know I can’t fail chemistry.”

Before you could open your notes, Jaehyun is looming over your table and leaning on one arm.

“Hi, Jungwoo.” He greets, flashing that infamous dimpled smile.

“The last time we spoke was during freshman year.” Jungwoo points out, unaware he sounded rude, but Jaehyun didn’t seem fazed by it. In fact, he seemed to agree with the statement.

“Do you need something?” Your peripheral vision catches some jealous frowns from the other table, “We’re kind of busy.”

“[L/N] [Y/N].” Jaehyun cocks his head to the side, “I was just wondering why you’re here during midterm season. You never study in the library during this time.”

“How do you know?” You ask, glancing at Jungwoo. He’s already ignored Jaehyun, reading through his notes.

“I like to keep my eye on the competition.”

Even this makes Jungwoo look back at him, moving his gaze back and forth between the two of you.

You stare up at him, a little dumbfounded, before your brows slowly rise up. “So you keep tabs on me?”

“I was really disappointed in myself when I was top 2, you know. But I gotta admit,” He chuckles, “It’s impressive how you were able to beat me a couple of times.”

There was something in his tone that didn’t sit right with you. It wasn’t just him being conceited about it. Is he taunting you?

“Well, it’s not a difficult feat to beat you.” You shot back.

Jaehyun smirks, clearly enjoying this squabble with you. “So you think you could beat me? There’s only two major exams left for senior year. This week’s midterm and next year’s final exams before graduation. You think you could beat me for both?”

“You can bet on it.”

“[Y/N].” Jungwoo whispers, putting a hand on your arm, “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Bet? You wanna bet on it, [L/N]?” Jaehyun straightens himself up and crosses his arms over his chest, emphasizing how tight his sleeves are on his shoulders and biceps.

You could have been swooning with Jungwoo right now but there was a flame of aggression burning in your chest at the prospect of beating Jaehyun and getting him to do something for you. “We can decide what’s at stake after the exams.”

“Deal?” He puts out one hand towards you, a confident smile plastered on his face.

For the brief second you hesitated, you thought of all the possible things he’d ask for. Bragging rights, definitely. Personal assistant, maybe? He wouldn’t ask you to do something wild like run naked during one of his halftimes, would he?

“Scared?” He pulls you out of your thoughts and you huff at him, grabbing his hand and giving it a firm shake.

“Deal.”

Jaehyun grins at you, repeating the agreement, and bids both of you a good day. Once he leaves and joins the table two rows down. Did he really skip his table just to challenge you?

“Are you crazy?” Jungwoo pulls on your arm and you wince at the pain, “The only reason that guy is an honor student and plays for two sports is because he’s competitive as fuck. Don’t you remember he got benched for the consecutive fouls he got in sophomore year because we were losing by 2 points? 2 points! And it was only the first half of the game!”

You do, in fact, remember that time. You couldn’t stay long too watch the game and ran into him while you were heading out. That was the first time you ever interacted with him, as well as putting a face to the name that stole the top spot of the honor’s list. He was visibly annoyed; silently fuming in front of the vending machine and angrily jabbing his finger at the canned iced coffee button. Curiously, you approached him to ask if it was broken and he apologizes, saying he just didn’t have change on him since he was wearing his uniform. He moves away to let you use the machine and you end up buying him one before catching the bus to your old dorm.

“I remember and so what? Do you think he’s going to cheat? He’d be expelled.” You briefly glance at your notes before glaring back at him, “Do you think I can’t beat him?”

“No.” Jungwoo shakes his head, “But what if he does? We don’t know what he would do to you.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine.” When he opens his mouth to rebut, you quickly ask him, “What’s the atomic number of gold?”

You always entered the classroom during exams with confidence; not an ounce of panic or distress in your system, unlike the rest of the class as they scrambled to check their reviewers a few more times until the teacher came inside.

Today was a little different.

There was a heavy, upsetting feeling in your stomach all because the bet between you and Jaehyun was nagging at you in the back of your mind. You poured in a few more hours a day to review, even during your part time work at the convenience store Jungwoo’s family owns.

Speaking of Jungwoo, he looked a lot more confident than you. He was fiddling with his pencil and murmuring to himself, probably recalling the terms needed for the exam.

The teacher comes in and the whole class falls silent, sitting straight in their seats. Because you were seniors, Mr. Cho took it upon himself to give a small speech about how this exam isn’t something to worry about as he has full confidence in everyone that they’ve studied well. Of course he said this while smiling at you and you’re hoping you didn’t over-study yourself to the point of blanking out when the test papers are in front of you.

Fortunately, when he was done with his little monologue and finally passed the papers, you were able to breeze through the questionnaire once he gave the go signal to start. You were even able to go through your answers thrice until time was up. Your worries start to ebb away as the day continues on and until the last test is submitted in, you finally feel the weight over your shoulders lift.

“That was exhausting.” Jungwoo complains once he walks over to your table with his bag haphazardly hanging off his shoulder. “Why can’t there be two days for exams?”

“We had too many suspensions because of the monsoons.” You reminded him, standing up once you’ve gathered your things. “But at least it’s over. How was chem?”

He groans, hiding his face into his palms, “I messed up a few of the balancing chemical equations, but I think I did pretty well. I mean, I can only thank my wonderful tutor if I get so much as a B- on chem.”

“Aunty said she’d make yakgwa for us for finishing our midterms. Could you save some for me?”

Students were rushing out of the room, meeting their friends in the hallways to express their joy and relief that the exams were over and discussing their answers. You and Jungwoo always waited until the crowd had thinned before heading out yourselves.

“Sure. Where are you heading off to?”

Reaching your lockers, you grabbed a book and slipped it into your bag. Seeing this, Jungwoo bleats at you.

“We just finished midterms and you’re going to start studying already?”

“The next exam we have is CSAT in November. I just want to start refreshing myself since the coverage is what we’ve learned through high school. I’m not pulling an all nighter or anything.” You close your locker and adjust your bag strap on your shoulder. “Do you wanna join me?”

He makes a face at you, stepping away, “No, mom made yakgwa and I’d like to eat them as soon as possible. I’ll leave you one piece, okay?”

You swing an open palm at his arm and he flinches away, retracting his statement and promises to save you no less than 5 pieces. With that, you two part ways down the hall and you head for the library.

The silence was welcoming as you walked through the automatic sliding doors of the library. There’s a few people scattered throughout the first floor tables, maybe passing time or preparing for CSAT like you — you couldn’t possibly be the only one thinking about it, too. For a change, you head up to the second floor and find a nice corner table that was tucked away between the towering bookshelves of the periodical section.

You set your little station up, taking your pencil case, notebook, and your history book out and setting it down in front of you. Opening it up to the first page of the first chapter, you look through the words you’ve already highlighted, remembering each one while mumbling it to yourself.

“Studying already?”

You gasp, whipping your head up to the newcomer and huffing when you recognize his face. “Oh my god, Jaehyun. Can you not sneak up on me?”

He pauses for a moment before his lips grew into a little smirk, “Midterms just finished and you’re burying your nose into a textbook in the library. I feel like I shouldn’t even be surprised.”

“So I want a head start in reviewing for CSAT, what of it?” You watched him take a seat on an empty chair with disdain. “You’re here, too.”

“Yeah, because I saw you go in here after you separated with your boyfriend.”

“Jungwoo’s not my boyfriend. We’re best friends.” You quickly correct him, “So you’re stalking me?”

Jaehyun sighs, leaning his cheek on his knuckles over the table. “I’m just keeping an eye on the enemy.”

“Enemy?” You frown at him, “You think of me as your enemy?”

“Well, we’re both running to be valedictorian, aren’t we? There could be only one.”

You nod at his words, “Yeah, but I don’t think of you as the enemy. I think it’s too strong of a word.”

“Then what am I to you?”

“Some guy,” You shrug your shoulders, “Some guy who’s in my way.”

Your words make his mouth slowly drop open and you can’t figure out if he’s stunned or offended by your statement. Eventually Jaehyun scoffs in disbelief and smiles, “I’m in your way?”

“Yep.” Emphasizing your answer by popping your lips at the ‘p’, “Like you are now.”

“Am I distracting you?” He gestures to himself and items on the table.

“Obviously.”

“Good.”

You closed your eyes and heaved a heavy sigh, pinching the bridge of your nose. Glancing around, you two were practically concealed in the corner and you couldn’t see where you could move to.

“Are you really here just to annoy me?”

Jaehyun purses his lips and you scold yourself for staring at them. How could a boy have such pretty lips? They look naturally pink and plump. Even Jungwoo’s pouty puckers couldn’t come close to his.

“Unless you consider me trying to get to know you a nuisance, then yes, I am most definitely here to annoy you.”

You prop your elbow up on the table and leaned your cheek on your knuckles, “Now why would you waste your time on something like that?”

He mimics your posture, except he cradles his chin on an open palm, “What makes you think it’s a waste of my time?”

The longer he stares at you, smiling softly with his dimples just peeking through his cheeks, the more your heart beats faster. This was only the third time you’ve ever interacted with him and the most you’ve exchanged words.

“Why are you flirting with me—”

“Why not—”

“ — and don’t,” You unconsciously lean away from him and cross your arms in front of you, “answer with a question.”

Jaehyun pouts, jutting his lower lip out, and it makes you wonder how they feel like; against your fingertips, your skin… your own lips.

Unconsciously, you lick your own lips as you divert your attention down to the open book.

“Hm,” He hums, “Have you thought about what you want if you win our little bet?”

“I have.” You rest your intertwined arms on the table and straighten your back, “Are you free every Friday and Saturday nights?”

There was a sleazy grin on his face that immediately tells you he’s misunderstanding your question. He chuckles, “You don’t have to win a bet if you want to go out on a date.”

You giggle, making it sound as real as you can as you fight the urge to roll your eyes, “I’m not asking for a date, Jung.”

It was oddly satisfying to see his face fall and stutter over his mistake, the tips of his ears turning a little pink.

“I just want you to take a few shifts for me at my part-time job.” You explained, “I work at a family convenience store every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday nights, and every morning on the weekends.”

“So let’s say you do win the bet and I take over your shifts,” Jaehyun grabs your pencil case and inspects it. Seeing it in his hands makes you realize just how old and dirty it was; it’s a furry case that was a shining silver when you first got it, as if the fibers were spun out of real silver. Now it was just a light gray with its once soft fur now patchy and rough. He looks at it contemplatively, “What are you going to do on your free nights?”

“Go on dates, duh.” You roll your eyes at him, gesturing with a hand. After a few seconds of silence, you snort, “I’m kidding. I don’t go on dates — never been on one. What I’d do on my free nights is not your business.”

He looks at you like you’ve grown another head, “You’ve never been on a date?”

“N-no...” You clear your throat, “Unless you consider all the times I’ve went out on Jungwoo—”

“Is he your boyfriend?”

“No!” You hissed, “I already told you that we’re only friends.”

“Then it’s not a date.” Jaehyun says in a-matter-of-fact tone, “You go on dates with people you like to get to know them more. Wait.”

His eyes squint at you, but not in a manner of judgement. It's as if he’s trying to rack his brain for the right words to say.

“You’re a virgin, then.”

You feel your heart drop to your stomach and your cheeks burst into flames. It was purely reflex, reeling your hand and swinging an open palm across his cheek before either of you could blink. The snap of your palm on his cheek left a resounding echo in the nearly empty library and thanks to his pale skin, your handprint grows bright red right away.

It takes a second, but you realize what you’ve done and you begin to pack up your things.

“No, wait,” He grabs your wrist, “I deserve that. Don’t leave yet.”

Against your better judgement, you stayed put, although keeping your book bag on your lap.

He breathes in, “I’m sorry. That was none of my business.”

“Did I,” You move your head closer to the imprint on his face, “Did I hit you too hard?”

He raises his fingers to where you’ve slapped him, doing his best not to wince, “I’ve been through worse. You know, you’re the first girl to ever slap me.”

“Are you insinuating that you’ve done things that you should have been slapped for?” You ask in an incredulous tone, “Either way I can’t say I’m proud of it.”

“There’s nothing wrong with being a virgin, by the way. It’s your life.” He licks his lips, “So you want to wait until you’re married?”

You shrug your shoulders, “It’s not that I want to wait until I get married… it’s just… it seems daunting. How do you even know what to do?”

He stifles a chuckle, shaking his head, “It’s human nature. It’s not something you study for.”

“As someone who takes studying seriously, I don’t think I can be put into a situation where I’m expected to do something I have no knowledge on.”

Jaehyun stares at you, considering your words as he slowly nods, “Okay… would you… like to learn?”

You cock your head, thinking you misheard him, “What?”

“I’m asking you if you want to learn… firsthand… about sex.”

When you finally wrap your head around his question after a good minute, you scowl at him, “Is this some ploy for you to get laid?”

“Don’t slap me!” He leans away when you move your arm, “You said you find sex intimidating and I’m telling you it’s not. You think you have to learn to have sex, well then I’ll—”

“Offer to teach me with your extensive knowledge and skills on it?” You deadpan, pulling your lips taut into a tight line. “What makes you think I'd say yes?”

Jaehyun raises his shoulders, “Most girls would have.”

“Oh.” You say, tasting something bitter in your mouth, “So you’ve offered these kinds of services to other people then?”

“No.” He quickly denies, “Just you. Other times, it’s the other way around and before you say anything smart, no, I don’t always say yes.”

Unconsciously, you hug your bag to your chest. You barely know this boy and he’s here offering to teach you about something you have absolutely know nothing about aside from the reproduction aspect. Are you willing to bare yourself to him? You hear the rumors in the girls’ bathroom; how they say he’s good in bed and going as far as calling him a sex god. What does that make you?

“Okay, wait,” Jaehyun starts, “I’m telling you right now so you have time to think it through. I don’t wanna force you so you can say no if you don’t want to and I’ll think of something else. If I win our little bet, let me teach you about sex.”

You internally scream at yourself for even considering his offer. You made a promise that you’ll only focus on school and won’t date to avoid distractions — but what Jaehyun was offering wasn’t even technically dating. What would your parents think about their breadwinner sleeping around with some guy she doesn’t even love? What if the school finds out? How would the girls pining after him, who are undoubtedly prettier than you, treat you, the school nerd?

“I don’t have to think about,” You held your chin up, “Because I’ll be top 1.”

“How tenacious.” He muses, leaning his cheek on his knuckles..

“I can say the same about you.” You mumbled under your breath, checking your phone for the time. “Well, you’ve successfully derailed me from studying.”

He flashes a victorious grin that both gives you butterflies in your stomach and fist clenching in annoyance. “Do you need a ride home?”

“I don’t need you to know where I live.” You snap, “And if you even try to follow me, I promise to get a restraining order against you.”

Jaehyun pouts at you and you feel them again, the butterflies wreaking havoc in your core. “Fine. But I have one more question.”

“And that is?”

“Have you had your first kiss?”

You sneer at him, a little offended, “Yes.”

“Don’t tell me it’s Jungwoo.”

“And if it was?”

He presses his lips together before sighing, “Let me be more specific with that question. Have you ever kissed anyone, not with just your lips, with your mouth — tongue and all.”

You suck your teeth and gaped at him, clearly looking like a deer caught in the headlights. When you had your first kiss with Jungwoo, it was only because both of you were in high school and have yet to kiss anyone. It also served as the reason that neither of you will ever see each other as anything more than friends.

“I’ll take your silence as a no.” Jaehyun hums, “What would you do if I’d kiss you right now?”

“I’d slap you.” You answer immediately, not batting an eyelash to prove how serious you were.

He inhales sharply, “Okay, uhm, what if I asked?”

“Do you always think with your dick?”

“That’s not a no.”

“And you didn’t deny.”

You bite on your lower lip to stop yourself from smiling, looking away when his face breaks into a wide grin. What were you doing? Get a hold of yourself. But…

“I’ll admit there are times I’ve thought with my dick. Just your average hormonal teenager.”

“And I’ll admit,” You pause, “that I can’t say I’m not completely opposed to kissing you right now. Just, you know, your average curious teenager.”

He studies your face for a moment, “Yeah?” He starts scooting closer until he’s right where the corner of the table is.

“T-this doesn’t mean I’m agreeing to sleeping with you. I’m still firm with my decision of declining your offer.” You raise your hand in front of him and he takes hold of it.

“Maybe this would sway you.”

He waits for you to lean towards him, still holding your hand. His hand was soft and warm around yours, his thumb gently moving over your knuckles like it was fragile. He looks different, almost a little serious compared to the flirty, playful persona he had a few seconds ago; his eyes looked considerably darker, watching you study his face. His lips are parted, just as pink and full like always.

You nervously glanced at the opening of the little area, worried the librarian or another student would catch you two, although it was unlikely since no one really bothered going to the periodical sections.

“Don’t worry.” He whispers, “It’s just you and me here.”

“You’re not going to tell others, are you?”

With his free hand, he tucks your hair behind your ear. It was cliche and you would have pulled away or slapped his hand off, but all you could feel were the butterflies fluttering in your stomach for the third time in the past hour.

“I won’t. Whatever is going to happen stays here between the periodical section shelves.” His eyes shift down to your lips and you gulp when his tongue darts out between his.

“I… don’t know…” You’re losing your ability to speak, tuning everything out and focusing on him.

“It’s okay just follow my lead.” He guides you to lean forward, inclining your body over the table corner. His face was a few inches away, with his breath ghosting over your philtrum, but he doesn’t kiss you yet, waiting for your go signal.

When you fervently nod, he closes the gap between your faces. Just as you thought, he had soft lips; like the petals inside of a rosebud. Cupping your face, he runs his thumb over your cheekbones while he tilts his head to the side for better access. You gasp at the sensation of his tongue skimming along your bottom lip and he uses this as a chance to slip the muscle into your mouth.

It felt foreign, but also oddly nice. He tastes like bitter coffee and sweet mint combined. Without meaning to, you sucked his tongue and he let out a soft groan. Whenever you overhear someone saying how hot it is for a boy to moan, you never understood them until this moment and you want to hear more of it.

You push yourself closer to him, moving your tongue against his and fighting for dominance. Your head was spinning as if he was some hard liquor and you’re getting drunk off of him. When you feel his hand disappear from your cheek and find its way by your chest, inching towards your back, you panic and pull away.

He looks surprised and a little disappointed, nonetheless he doesn’t say anything and watches you. You’re breathless, face hot and flustered, unable to meet his gaze.

“I…” You swallowed, still tasting him on your tongue, “I need to go.”

“I…” Jaehyun nods, “Yeah, okay. Are you sure you don’t need a ride?”

“Yeah, thanks anyways…” Your hand twitches and it was only then both of you realize you were still holding hands. You retract yours first, using it to grab your bag by the strap and shrugging it over your shoulder. “Uhm, bye.”

“Y-yeah, uh, take care.” Jaehyun stays glued to his seat as you scurry off away from him. He stares back at the hand that held yours, discerning how cold it was now that you were gone. He groans, lurching forward to rest his head on his folded arms as he wills his little problem away. You looked so pure and innocent, cheeks bright pink and glowing, looking absolutely breathless from the kiss.

Meanwhile as you hurriedly walk out of the library, you swipe your tongue over your lips, still tasting the mix of coffee and mint. That was your first real kiss. Jung Jaehyun gave you your first real kiss - no, you had your first makeout session with him. You could still feel your cheeks burning at the thought, but you’re hoping it’s just your annoyance at him because he was right.

You really were considering his offer.

“Why are you so nervous?” Jungwoo grabs hold of your hand and pulls your fingernails away from your teeth. “I’m sure you’re number 1. And if Jaehyun is, then he couldn’t have betted on something bad, right? He doesn’t seem like the type.”

It’s been more than a week since the exams and the… event… at the library. It took you a day or two to go back and Jaehyun, thankfully, didn’t turn up. You didn’t tell a single soul, not even Jungwoo, who you’ve been confiding every dark secret you had to.

You both woke up early to see the results posted on the schoolyard before the other students flocked the bulletin board and it’ll be a battlefield for a chance to read the results up close.

Walking up the rickety bulletin board, you hold your breath before approaching the list for seniors on the left. You could hear your own heart beat hammering in your chest.

“Hey! I’m 53! Dang, that’s 3 spots from being top 50.” Jungwoo points at his name on the middle section of the board. “Ha! Nakamoto Yuta is 51! I just need to surpass him and these other two for the finals. How about you?”

His face drops when he sees you staring at him, crestfallen. It wasn’t hard to spot your name; there were only two spots possible for you and this time it just had to be below Jung Jaehyun’s. Your mouth feels dry as you respond to him, “I’m second…”

“Oh, [Y/N].” He comforts, pulling you into a hug. “Maybe he’ll ask for something petty?”

“Jungwoo, there’s something I need to tell you. Can we go to your club room?” You look back at the school entrance, seeing a few more students come in. Jaehyun was the few students who already had their license so it should be easy to know if he was arriving or already here.

Jungwoo was part of the board games club. You’ve sat in a few times during their club meetings since they only had a few members and it was always fun playing board games that aren’t monopoly or snakes and ladders. Their club room was one of the extra rooms under the library’s second floor that was only accessible outside, beside the anime club, and was very secluded.

He digs his fingers inside a flower pot on the window sill and fishes out a key that he dusts off before unlocking the door. You enter first while he puts the key back into the soil of the poor, harassed petunia plant.

“Jaehyun said he wants to teach me about sex.” You blurt out once Jungwoo closes the door behind him. His eyes go wide and he pretends to clean his ears.

“Come again?”

“Remember how I went to the library after midterms? He followed me there and we started talking and he kept asking these questions and — and it somehow ended up with him figuring out that I was virgin and I slapped him and then he said if he wins the bet, he’d want to teach me about sex but if I don’t want to then I can say no and he’ll think of something else.” You inhaled deeply once you let it all out like vomit.

Your best friend stares at you, visibly confused, “Wait, that’s a lot to take in… you slapped him and then he offers to teach you sex? And if you can decline it, then why don’t you just say no?”

“We kissed.”

“You what?!” Jungwoo screeches, “You kissed him and you didn’t tell me?!”

“I’m sorry! It’s just,” You shrug your shoulders before defensively crossing your arms in front of you, “you know me, Woo. I’ve never kissed — made out — with anyone before and…”

“You want more?” He finishes for you and you slump down the nearest chair.

Exasperated, you stared up at him, “Tell me I shouldn’t say yes to his offer.”

“I think you should say yes to his offer.”

You sighed in relief, grateful you had someone like him to help you — wait a minute.

“What?!”

He holds his hands up in front of him as you jumped up from your seat, “I mean, if Jung Jaehyun had offered to teach me sex, then I’d definitely say yes. Is it a friends with benefits type of deal?”

“We’re hardly friends. If I say yes, then we’re fuck buddies.” You sit back down and look at the shelves where they kept the board games. “I need time to think about it. Please help me avoid him.”

“[Y/N]...”

You put your hands to your face, “I swear I’m not running away from it. A deal is a deal. I just need a little more time to think about it.”

Out of habit, you bite on your thumb and space out. You’ll handle this situation like how you handle every decision: weigh out the pros and cons.

Pros: you’ll learn something you’ve been very curious about and your “teacher” is quite skilled according to the female populace, so you’re in good hands. It’s not a merit you want, but you can say you’ve slept with the ever popular heartthrob, Jung Jaehyun.

Cons: you could get pregnant regardless of the use of contraception and you’re prone to sexually transmitted diseases. You could get possibly addicted to it to the point it would distract you from school and ruin your chance to get your scholarship.

Where does falling in love with Jaehyun fall under?

You mentally slap yourself; no one is falling in love in this predicament.

The sound of the door opening pulls you out of your thoughts and your eyes meet with sophomore member of the board games club, Mark Lee.

“Oh! No wonder the door is open. What are you two doing here?” He nods at the two of you and you respond with a smile.

“Just needed a private place to talk.” You explain, catching Jungwoo’s gaze. “And you?”

“Oh,” Mark sheepishly scratches the back of his neck, “I was gonna skip my first class to study for recitation on my second one.”

Jungwoo puts a hand on his shoulder, “Don’t worry we all have days for that — unless you’re [Y/N].”

“Hey! I saw that you were top 2! Congrats!” He claps his hands, but eventually stops when he senses neither of you were in a celebratory mood. “Is… something wrong?”

“I was just really… betting on getting top 1. No big deal.” You wave a hand in front of you, “It’s not like being second affects my academic standing.”

“Well, if you won’t celebrate that, then let’s celebrate my birthday! I’m having a party at my place this weekend. Nothing big, just the club and a few other people.” He rubs his hands together, “You don’t even have to give me a gift. Your presence is a gift—”

Mark’s mouth forms into an ‘o’ and he snaps his fingers, “Your presence is a present!”

Maybe Jungwoo laughed out of pity while the younger nearly pissed himself in a fit of giggles, but your mind is thinking about the bet again. What were you going to tell Jaehyun?

By some miracle, Jaehyun didn’t hunt you down for your answer and you wouldn’t say you avoided him since you two never really crossed paths before. Jungwoo’s mom let you and Jungwoo off for your Saturday shifts for Mark’s party and even though he said not to get him anything, you and Jungwoo still got him something.

It was a casual gathering so you didn’t feel the need to get dressed up, however you do enjoy wearing light dresses since it was summer season, throwing a cardigan over your shoulders when the night air gets too cold on the way home. You might be a nerd, but like any other girl, you liked to put on makeup when you felt like it, but today you simply wore strawberry-flavored lip balm.

The two of you were at Mark’s place a little after six and the birthday boy opens the door with a huge grin as you both greet him.

“You’re both here! Come in!” He ushers, stepping to the side. When Jungwoo hands him your gift, he clicks his tongue, “Ay, I said you didn’t have to.”

“We can serve this, you know.” You quip and Mark cocks his head, eyes growing wide when Jungwoo finally drops the gift into his hands.

“Yo! Is this what I think it is?” He exclaims, ripping the lid of the box off to reveal a watermelon.

You’ve never seen anyone get so excited over watermelon before — but maybe that’s what makes Mark loveable. You open your arms to him for a hug and once he returns the gesture, your eyes go down the hallway and see the one person you didn’t expect to see here.

“Uhm,” You push Mark off a little hastily, “I-is that Jaehyun?”

Mark glances back to see the boy in question helping himself to the drinks on the kitchen island, “Yeah. He was my student facilitator during freshman orientation. Do you wanna meet him?”

You scowled, “Oh, we know each other. I didn’t know you two were friends.”

“He’s cool.” Mark shrugs, “Well, let’s go in! I’ll figure how to slice this up.”

“Let me. We don’t want the birthday boy to lose a finger during his birthday, now do we?” You nervously laugh, taking the large fruit away from him. You shot a nervous glance at Jungwoo and it was all he needed to know that you were finally going to talk to Jaehyun.

While Mark and Jungwoo head into the living room, where everyone was gathered, you walk to the kitchen just as Jaehyun was about to return to where everybody was. He stops in his tracks, clearly surprised to see you.

“[Y/N]?”

Hugging the melon to your stomach, hoping it crushes the butterflies before they go wild, you nod, “Hi.”

He was wearing a plain black shirt and some ripped skinny jeans; something so simple but it looked like he walked right out of a photoshoot.

“I didn’t know you know you were friends with Mark.”

“I said the same thing about you to him.” You look around the kitchen for the knives.

His eyes drag down your body and you suddenly feel self-conscious, “What are you holding?”

Finally spotting the knife rack, you smile at him, “Mark’s birthday gift.”

Walking over to the counter, you pick a knife and a chopping board before removing the watermelon from the box.

“Ah, that’s a smart gift.” He comments, appearing beside you all of a sudden that you flinch as you look up at him, “I’ve never seen anyone love watermelon so much.”

“It’s cute.” You shrugged, starting to slice the fruit up. “Congrats, by the way.”

“Hm?”

“Congratulations.” You peek up at him, “Congrats on being top 1… and winning the bet. I’m surprised you didn’t hunt me down.”

Jaehyun leans on the counter and watches you make delicate movements with the knife, “I figured you needed more time to think about it.”

“Yeah, I did.” You quietly admit, putting the knife down and starting to look for a plate to serve it in.

“So?”

Licking your lips, you swallowed, “Yes.”

“What’s your answer?” He asks, not understanding you had already given him an answer.

You spin in your heels and cross your arms, a little annoyed, “That was my answer. Yes.”

You curse yourself for melting at the sight of his lips quirking upwards and eventually growing into a huge grin.

“Really?”

“Do you want me to take it back?”

“No!” He puts a hand out, “I just can’t believe you said yes. Well, okay then. When do you want to start?”

You didn’t think this far ahead. “I have work Friday nights, weekend mornings, 6-12 noon, and Saturday graveyard shifts.”

He frowns, “You have work later?”

“No, someone filled in for me since I said I’d have a party to attend to.” You hesitated; should you tell him that you live with Jungwoo and work at his family’s convenience store? “I think they expected me to get drunk, but I don’t really drink.”

“What time do you end on Fridays?”

“10pm.”

Jaehyun purses his lips and you realize it’s a habit he makes when he’s thinking. “Then Mondays through Thursdays, after school. Whichever day you want. Basketball training doesn’t resume until next month.”

“Okay.” You slowly say, “Uhm… where?”

He blinks at you, “We can’t do it at your place? Don’t you dorm alone?”

“No!” You vehemently shake your head, “N-no, I’m… renting a room at… Jungwoo’s.”

“You live with him? Is that even allowed?”

“It’s a gray area. Don’t tell anyone.” You instinctively reach out and hold on his arm, giving it a soft squeeze. “Please don’t tell anyone.”

“I won’t.” He licks his lips, visibly having an internal debate within himself. “I guess we can do it at my place. My dad is abroad at the moment and my mom works late shifts.”

“Alright.”

Jaehyun turns around and finds two plates for the watermelon slices, arranging the fruit for you. “Great. So—”

“Wait.” You grab his wrist, “Can we keep this a secret?”

He twists his hand so he’s holding yours, “Of course. Whatever you want.” He brings your hand up to his lips and kisses it.

“This is just a,” You stare at the hand holding yours, “physical relationship, right? I mean, how long does it take for someone to learn sex.”

“Oh, baby.” He chuckles, low and slow, “You can’t learn a whole new world in a few nights. You keep learning new things every time. I’ll teach you the basics up until you have your sexual awakening.”

“And if I never have my sexual awakening?”

He leans closer, just like in the library, and his breath is just ghosting over your lips. He lets go of your hand to tip your chin upwards to him, “Then we keep trying until you do or you find someone else, but that’s a blow to my ego.”

“The next person I should be sleeping with is my boyfriend.” You inch away from him and he reluctantly pulls back from you while you pick up one of the plates, “If I ever get one.”

Jaehyun mimics you, picking up a plate and following you out of the kitchen, but stops you before you pass through the door frame. “Let’s be friends, alright? I don’t like pretending not to know someone I’ll be getting intimate with. You won’t either; I’d like to see you try to explain the sexual tension.”

“Okay.” You enunciate each syllable. “Friends, then.”

He gives you a swoon-worthy smile and you try to leave before doing so, but he stops you again. “By the way, you look really good tonight.”

You roll your eyes, the gesture making him chuckle, and continue to head into the living room, “You’re not so bad yourself.”

The rest of night plays out like how it always does when you’re at a party; you and Jungwoo are stuck by the hip, the board game club members make petty problems with each other bigger than they really are and settle it through — you guessed it — board games, non-club members were taught new board games, and it wouldn’t be a birthday party without cake — being smashed into Mark’s face.

It was a fun night. You almost forgot that you made an agreement with one of the attendees to teach you about intercourse, but you can’t deny Jaehyun had made things a lot more interesting during the evening. You caught him multiple times watching you, especially during your little victories in board games, and he’d either give you a little smile or boldly wink at you. You’re thankful no one caught you getting flustered over it, but it took you some time to calm your heartbeat.

Today was the day. You’re embarrassed about actually preparing yourself today ever since Jaehyun sent you a text the day after you exchanged numbers at Mark’s party. You woke up an hour earlier to exfoliate your body and wore the best undergarments you owned. You didn’t want to try too hard that it’ll be too obvious since you still had school.

You told Jungwoo’s mom that you’ll be home later to tutor a classmate and she didn’t find anything suspicious; you’re just hoping she’ll relay the message to your mom whenever she calls to check up on you.

Because you didn’t want anybody in school to know you were going home with Jaehyun, you had him pick you up three blocks away from the school district.

“My mom should probably be gone by now.” Jaehyun checks the watch on his wrist briefly before returning his attention to the road, “Do you wanna eat first?”

“No, I feel like throwing up.” You confessed, holding onto the hem of your school skirt.

“You know you can back out, right?” He shoots you a sympathetic smile, “I don’t wanna force you to do anything you don’t want to.”

“I know. I’m just nervous.”

“I’m not going to jump you the second we get inside. We’ll take it slowly — as slow as you want and need. We don’t even have to go all the way tonight.”

This makes you smile at him. For someone audacious enough to offer sex, one would assume he’d be a jerk, but he’s truly a sweetheart. It was wrong of you in the first place to think he was the stereotypical mean jock in a high school food chain.

“Oh, shit.” He curses under his breath, slowing the car down to a full stop in front of a simple two-story home.

Seeing that he lived in a house in Seoul was enough to tell you that he comes from a rich family, which you should have guessed already since he mentioned his father working abroad. It made you feel uneasy though, knowing you two are from completely different backgrounds.

“My mom’s still home.” Jaehyun checks his watch again, “It’s past 6, she’s late.”

Following his gaze, you see another car in the garage — another indicator of their wealth. 2 cars? Geez.

“The gates are open. She must have forgotten something?”

He doesn’t say anything, driving past the gate and parking it beside the other car. As you both unclipped your seatbelts, you see a door open in your peripheral vision and make eye contact with a young woman.

She looks a little frazzled, but more surprised to see you in the front seat of her son’s car. Getting out of the car, you bowed at her with a smile.

“Jaehyun, I didn’t know you were having someone over. Hello!” She waves at you.

“Hello.” You meekly reply, “I’m [Y/N].”

“What a beautiful name. Welcome! Had I known you were coming, I’d tidy things up more inside and made more dinner.” She frowns, putting a hand on her cheek, “Jaehyun, if the food isn’t enough you can always cook for her, yes? I don’t like having house guests being hungry.”

“I know, mom, I will. Aren’t you late for work?” He gripes, kicking the floor like a child.

She tuts at him, “I thought I left the oven on so I had to turn back around. Don’t worry about me. What are you two going to do?”

Her eyes are looking straight at yours and you answer in the steadiest voice, “Well, Jaehyun and I are the top two students and our teachers asked us to work together to help create reviewers for the upcoming CSAT.”

Jaehyun’s mom gasps, “Already reviewing for CSAT?”

“Well, it would take some time before we figure out the topics we need to focus on, compile everything, have it approved,” Jaehyun drawls, glancing at you, “Mom, aren’t you running late?”

She wags a finger at him, returning her attention to you. “Top 2, you say? My, then you’ve quite got a brain on you. A beautiful face and a beautiful brain; your parents must be so proud of you.”

“Thank you.” You feel your face grow warm, not used to compliments at all. “But I hope you don’t take offense to this, Mrs. Jung, but I have every intention of beating Jaehyun and claim top 1.”

This makes her laugh, “A feisty one! Well in case you do, my Jaehyunnie has his momma to comfort him.”

“Mom.” Jaehyun strains, pointedly looking at her.

“Remember this: he blushes with his ears.” She winks at you and this makes him physically usher her to her car. She waves at you, “It was nice meeting you, [Y/N]! Come by again soon! Make sure you bring her home, Jaehyun.”

“Okay, Mrs. Jung.” You wave back, stifling your giggle as Jaehyun continues to hassle her into her car, but not before she demands to kiss him on his cheek.

When she was finally coerced into leaving and left you two alone, Jaehyun lets you into the house.

“I’m sorry about my mom.” He sighs, removing his shoes and handing you spare house slippers.

“It’s fine. I’m not as nervous as I was on the way here.” You wear the slippers he hands you and put your shoes beside his on the mat. You look around and spot some picture frames on the wall, approaching one family photo. “You’re an only child?”

He stands beside you, “Yeah. That explains why my parents and I act like best friends.”

“Aw,” You coo, moving to a baby picture, “Baby Jaehyunnie is so cute.”

“Okay,” He puts a hand on your shoulder and gently pulls you away from the wall, “That’s enough. Let’s go up to my room.”

On the way up to the second floor, you start to tense up; his arm was still around you like he was a personal escort to your deflowering. From the stairs, his room was the second door to the right.

It was a lot cleaner than you expected, although it had trophies and certificates that proved his achievements growing up. It reminds you of the living room back at home; a shelf full of awards for spelling bees, best in subjects, and honor certificates. You remember the pride and joy in your parents’ eyes every time they put a new one up.

“Are you sure you don’t want anything to drink?” Jaehyun asks, closing the door behind him.

“I’m good.” You walk over to his bed and sit down on the edge, looking everywhere but him. He had a fancy looking computer set-up in the corner of the room by another door that probably leads to his bathroom. “So… what now?”

The space on the bed beside yours dips, “Let’s get you in the mood first. Look at me.” His hand falls on your thigh; most of it still over your skirt but his fingertips touch your skin.

You look down at his hand before meeting his piercing gaze, without meaning to, you lean away from him.

His expression immediately softens, “I’m gonna remind you that you can still back out. I don’t want to force you into doing something you’re not sure about.”

“How do I get into... the mood?”

“Remember how we kissed in the library?” Jaehyun says, “Let’s do that again. This time, I’m gonna touch your body, alright? There’s no table between us now. You can touch me, too.”

Your mouth goes dry at the memory. Ever since you went back to that area in the library, you can’t help but think about kissing him. It makes your face burn, heart rate pick up, and core clench. “Okay.”

His other hand tips your chin upward to make you face him, “You’re so cute, you know? So innocent like a little kitty.”

He kisses you all of a sudden, just pressing his lips over yours. The fingers on your chin move to tuck your hair back behind your ear just like last time and he whispers, “I haven’t stopped thinking about our kiss. If you only knew how excited I am that I get to kiss you again… kiss you and more.”

And more.

There it is again, the action your body never made before; your vagina clenching at his words. Your breath hitches as he slowly moves forward, capturing your lips once more. Just like before, he tastes like coffee and mint. The kiss is gentle and calm, almost tentative, like he’s giving you a chance to stop him. You bring your hands up to his chest and nape, threading your fingers on his soft, thick hair. And when you feel his tongue glide along your lips, you part your lips for him and everything just clicked.

The kiss grew carnal; desperate for more. His hands have moved to hold your midriff, thumbs just barely caressing the bottom of your breasts. It felt too hot — literally. You wanted to take your clothes off, but you don’t know how to feel about him seeing you naked, which was a dumb thought since you had to be naked to have sex.

“I wanted to kiss you so badly at Mark’s party.” He confesses when he pulls away to catch his breath, panting over your mouth, “If you’d have let me, I would’ve taken you upstairs and fucked you there.”

Fucked. You’ve only ever used the word to curse so hearing it from him as something he’d do to you sounds like it would hurt.

“But I want to take my time with you,” He kisses the corner of your lips, trailing down your jaw until he settles on a spot on your neck that simultaneously tickles yet you crave for more, “I’ll show you a whole new world you’ve been missing out on.”

You slide your arm around him, instinctively pulling him closer to you as he finds a new patch of skin on your neck to kiss. You couldn’t help but moan when you feel his teeth lightly biting your flesh.

“You even sound cute.” He muses, working his lips back up your face. “This is lesson number one: foreplay. It can stretch on for hours, but this helps make penetration a lot easier.”

Damn. Penetration is such an ugly word, but the way he said it made it sound hot. When a hand comes over your breast, your entire body freezes and he stops.

“Is this too fast for you?”

“N-no, I’m just not used to it.” You take a deep breath, “Please keep going.”

Jaehyun smiles, “You’re liking it so far?”

You nod, bashfully bowing your head in embarrassment. Other girls must be throwing themselves at him at this moment.

“Can you learn with your head down?” He playfully scolds, “Keep your eyes on me.”

He kisses you again, slipping his tongue into your mouth as his hand tenderly squeezes your chest. He starts to nudge you to fall back against his bed and he tugs your shirt out from being tucked into your skirt to sneak his under. His fingers leave a hot trail in their wake, burning your skin the most satisfying way, reaching for its previous purchase but hindered by the tightness of your school blouse.

He pulls away once more and you whine, chasing after his lips. With a little chuckle, he grants you a quick peck. “Can I take your clothes off or do you want to do it yourself?”

“I’ll do it.” You start to pop the buttons of your shirt when you hesitated, “Wait, what do you prefer?”

“Don’t think about it; this is about you.”

“No, this is about you teaching me about sex and among the few things I know about sex is that it’s all about making each other feel good. So this is about you, too.”

Jaehyun stares at you, considering your words and smiles to himself, “Alright. We can do it together. Unbutton my shirt for me.”

He reaches for the button beneath the last one you had unbuttoned and continues down the line, licking his lips as more of your skin is exposed. Meanwhile, you shakily began to unbutton his.

Sensing your nervousness, Jaehyun ducks his head back to your neck to kiss it. It makes you sigh, losing your grip on the button you’ve working on and when you try to blindly find it, your fingers find the smooth, hard muscle of his chest instead.

He momentarily pulls away to push your blouse off your shoulders, kissing each one before moving to your collarbones. You feel your face heat up as you completely shrug your shirt off and throw it by your feet. His face is right above your chest, kissing down your sternum and just over the swell of your breast.

He tugs on your skirt’s zipper as he does this, jerking the flimsy material off your hips once you lifted yourself up off the bed to help him. He stands up in front of you, pushing you back until you’re lying down on the bed.

“It feels like an honor to see you like this.” He finishes popping the buttons you failed to remove, shrugging the material off his upper body and leaving you to ogle his body. It’s no surprise he’d have such a good physique from all the sports he does.

“Oh, you have an outie.” You pointed out, biting back a giggle. “That’s cute.”

Jaehyun looks down with a slight pout and covers his belly button, “Is that what you’re really looking at?”

“My baby brother has one and it reminded me of him.” You shake your head, almost forgetting you’re nearly naked in front of him, “Sorry.”

He hooks one finger each on your socks and drags them down your legs until they’re completely off and joining the rest of your uniform on the floor. He climbs onto the bed and hovers over you, watching your reaction as he cups your midriff and raises it up to one of your breasts.

His hand was warm and heavy, gently kneading your breast, and focusing his thumb over your nipple. Straddling your hips, he gives your neglected breast the same treatment with his other hand. You’ve never even touched yourself like this, not even when you lather soap on your body, and it felt so good.

“Let’s take this off of you, hm?” He reaches between your back and the mattress, unhooking your bra faster than you could have. Once he slips the straps off your arms, you instinctively cover yourself and he chuckles, “Can I see them please?”

It annoyed you that he spoke to you like a child, but you relent and drop your arms to your side, looking away from him.

“Ah, beautiful.” He murmurs, putting his hands back over each of your breasts. Without warning, he bends down and licks your nipple causing you to gasp and grab his shoulders. He doesn’t say anything, continuing to lick and suck one nipple and rub his thumb over the other until they’ve both hardened and pebbled. He switches between them for a while until he pulls back, satisfied after seeing your flustered face. “Did you like that?”

“It felt weird at first,” You admitted, “But I liked it.”

“That’s good.” He kisses your forehead and moves so he was practically lying beside you, “So you like having your boobs played with.”

You don’t know how to respond to that, but you don’t have to because he kisses you again. A little more confident, you tried to slip your tongue into his mouth and you’re met with a happy, surprised hum. He lets you take over this kiss, welcoming your tongue.

“You’re getting good at kissing.” He comments as soon as you two break for breath of air.

“It’s addicting.”

“You’re addicting.” Jaehyun counters, pressing his lips on your jaw. “So sweet.”

His hand soothingly rubs your side; up and down in a lazy manner while locking lips with you again. He then brings his hand between your legs, making you flinch and gasp into his mouth. Instead of asking if it was okay first, he decides to continue his action, moving three fingers over your panties.

You want to shut your legs close, but his thigh is holding one of them down.

“Do you want me to stop?” He asks when you cover his hand with your own.

“N-no, not really.” You hide your face in the crook of his neck as you press his hand over your clothed mound. “Keep going.”

“Do you like this more than playing with your boobs?”

“I think so.”

Jaehyun stops to slip his hand into your panties and you choke down a moan. “You can be as loud as you want. Let me hear you so I know you feel good.”

His fingers slide along your labia, petting you like a kitten. You’ve never even masturbated before yet here you are having someone else’s fingers touch and please you.

“Ah, there it is.” He chuckles into your ear, making you look up at him, “You’re getting wet.”

“Don’t tell me that!” You scold, shying away from him, but he quickly maneuvers his body so he’s back on top of you.

He starts to push a single finger inside of you, observing the way your mouth drops open at the new sensation. You’re wrapping quite nicely around his finger, sucking the digit in bit by bit the more you clenched your walls. When he starts to move it in and out of you, you whimper, holding him by his shoulders again.

“Does it hurt?”

You shake your head. It didn’t hurt, but it just felt too odd and new for you to like it just yet.

Jaehyun continues his action a little longer until you start getting used to it, even when he adds another finger. This was your first taste of pure, unadulterated sexual pleasure. It was just as addicting as kissing him and the longer he does it the more your toes curl.

You let out a loud moan, a sound neither of you expected. Fueled by your moan, Jaehyun pumps his fingers into you faster. A hybrid of moan and cry falls from your lips as a surge of pleasure pulsates through your veins. You shut your eyes and hold onto his bulging arm for support, curling your upper body towards him. You could hear the wet squelch as he fingered you.

There was something tightening in the pit of your stomach and you can’t decipher if it was good or not, but when Jaehyun removes his hand from your underwear and the feeling disappears, you want to cry.

“Why’d you stop?” You whine, pulling his hand back.

“I don’t want you to come yet. I don’t think it’s best for you to be too sensitive on your first time.” He kisses your forehead before sitting up to put the two fingers he had in you into his mouth. He moans a little, “Sweet.”

He starts to take your underwear off, rolling it off your hips down to your ankles. He chuckles at your attempt to squeeze your thighs together and hide your pussy from him.

“D-do you have a condom?” You stutter, trying to stall him.

“I do. I always have one.” He nods at the drawer by his bed. “But I wasn’t going to do that yet.”

He massages your thighs, silently coaxing you to open your legs for him. Still covering yourself, you obediently part your legs and he makes himself comfortable between them with his face right by your core.

“This is my favorite kind of foreplay. If you don’t mind, I’d like to show it to you.” He kisses your knuckles, “There’s nothing to be shy about, [Y/N].”

You let him pry your fingers off your, watching his eyes light up once they lay their sights on your pussy as if they had discovered gold. With two fingers, he spreads your labia apart and you hold your breath as he veers forward to latch his mouth onto you. You gasp, bucking your hip upward at the sensation of something wet and warm against such a private part.

You could feel his tongue slithering and teeth teasingly nibbling at your lower lips. Again, it felt so foreign and unusual, but so, so, so good. You moaned out his name and he groaned in response, the vibration adding fire to the burning pleasure he’s building up in you.

Like last time, when you start to feel that knot in your stomach, Jaehyun pulls away and you whimper in frustration.

He stands up to walk over to the drawer, fetching the condom you requested for and returns to the foot of the bed. “Scoot up a little.”

After doing so, you watch as he unzips his pants, letting it fall to the floor with his boxers.

“That’s not gonna fit.” You immediately fold your legs close and sit up. Are penises supposed to be this big? It’s entire length is pink and veiny, while the tip was a bit more red. It bobbed up and down as he clambered onto the bed, pointing at you as if it knew you were its prey. Gulping, you repeat, “That’s not gonna fit. I can’t do this.”

“It will. You’ll stretch around it. Give me your hand.” He kneels in front of you, knees apart.

You give your hand to him and he brings it around his cock. It was a lot warmer than his hand. You wrap your fingers around it a tad tighter and he moans, biting his lip. Meekly, you ask, “Do you like that?”

“Sorta. Here.” He moves your hand over his length, all the way to the tip and back to the base. “I like it better this way.”

“Like this?” You followed what he showed you, twisting your wrist a bit.

“Yes, fuck, like that.” Jaehyun closes his eyes, letting you take over. “Just like that.”

With his eyes closed, you feel a little more comfortable studying his body up close. He has such pretty skin, fair and flawless. His muscles were beautifully defined, rippling with every movement, especially the muscles on his abdomen as they flexed with each sharp breath he takes. Your attention is brought to cock in your hand after feeling it twitch a couple of times. The tip started to glisten under the lights of his room. You watched in amazement as a small, translucent white substance emerges from the tiny opening on the top, something akin to a pearl, and it dribbles down to your fingers.

He had your mouth on your genitals and you liked it. Will he like it if you do the same?

You bend forward to taste the thick liquid on the tip of his cock. It was incredibly salty and just as hot as his length as you continued to work your fist around him. Wanting to taste more of him, you bring your lips over his tip.

“What the fuck?!” He exclaims, hands flying to your shoulders, and you immediately pull away.

“I’m sorry.” You retract your hand away from his body.

“No! No, you just caught me off guard.” Jaehyun takes hold of your hands and smirks, “I didn’t expect you to blow me.”

You look away, flustered at his expression, “I was curious.”

“It’s okay. God, you’re so cute.” He cups your cheeks and kisses you, “I’ll teach you some other day, okay? I don’t think I’ll last a second if you use your pretty little mouth on me.”

“O-okay.”

“Now watch, this is how you put a condom on.” He takes the foil square and rips it open. He shows you the condom, pushing the center out a bit to pinch the end, and places the rubber ring on the tip of his cock. He rolls it down about a quarter way until he stops and grabs your hand, “Finish putting it on for me.”

Without another word, you obey him, pushing the ring down until his cock is completely sheathed with minor difficulty.

“Lie down.”

Once again, you silently obey him, maintaining eye contact with him. He adjusts your position in front of him by grabbing your hips and parting your legs to kneel between them. He runs his hands over your thighs, “Are you ready?”

“I think so.”

“I need you to be sure.” He leans down to kiss your belly. “I’m not going to continue if you’re not a hundred percent sure.”

“I am.” You nod, “I’m sure.”

He kisses up to your neck, licking the expanse of skin. “This is going to hurt, okay? You just have to relax. The more you tense up, the more it’ll be difficult for both of us, and the more it’ll hurt for you. Just relax.”

“Okay.”

Jaehyun kisses your lips, flicking his tongue into your mouth for a brief moment. He tasted a little different now. Was it from him giving you oral? Were you tasting yourself on him?

“If the pain is too much, just tell me and I’ll stop.” He sits back up, holding his cock in his hand and positioning it right in front of your entrance. He waits for a while, moving a fist over his length as he studies your face. “I’ll ask you once more, [Y/N]. Do you really want to do this? Not because of the bet, but because you really want to?”

“Yes. I do.” You answer in a firm voice. When you give him a little nod, he runs the tip of his cock over your entrance a few times until he pushes into you.

It definitely hurt. It was like you were trying to put something where it didn’t belong. Although it was bearable, your body’s instinct was to stop it.

“Fuck, [Y/N], baby, please relax, you’re squeezing me.” He grips your thighs with a sense of urgency, “Relax, baby.”

You’re breathing heavily, trying to do as he says. You look down between your bodies and you feel your eyes well up with tears when you see he’s barely halfway in. You don’t know how but you try to accommodate his girth.

When he’s pushed the remaining inches inside you, you choke down a sob. It hurt a lot. You feel stretched out and full; unable to open your eyes as you absorb the pain. But underneath it all, you can’t deny that it felt good in a way.

“Are you okay? Shit,” He starts to pull out and you yelp.

“No! No! Don’t move. Please don’t move. Just,” You hold onto his shoulders, sniffing, “Let me get used to it. You’re… big.”

Jaehyun chuckles, “At least it fits.”

“Barely.” You retort. As you blink, the tears drip from the corner of your eyes. They left a cool trail over your burning face. He kisses each one, lapping the tears up with his tongue.

“Tell me when it’s okay to move, alright? Just don’t… squeeze me too hard or else I’ll come before I get to make you come.” He sees you pout as you move your head to acknowledge him and he can’t help himself but kiss you again.

It helps distract you from the subsiding pain. You try to think of other things as well. Is he always this sweet to the other girls he sleeps with? You hope your first boyfriend would be like him.

A surprised moan escapes you after you try to pull him closer to you and your hips move against his. For a moment, you even forgot he was inside you. He has a wide grin on his face, clearly pleased at hearing this. With a hold on your hips, he slowly pulls out of you and just before the tip is out, he pushes back in. He observes your reaction, slowly gaining speed as your mouth loses its ability to close and is perpetually agape, letting a string of whimpers and mewls escape you.

“Lesson 2 is all about positions, baby.” Jaehyun starts, falling forward and uses one arm to hold himself up above you, “This is the most basic one: missionary. Guy on top.”

You can’t even process his words, mind clouded with lust as your body experiences something it never has before. It felt good… amazing — you couldn’t even explain it.

“How are you feeling, [Y/N]?”

“So,” You gasped, “Good.”

“Yeah?” He moves the hand on your hip up to your chest, giving one of them a hard squeeze. “You feel really good; nice and tight.”

He gives a particularly hard thrust and you gasped, holding onto his shoulders for purchase. “I’m going to go a little faster. Tell me if it’s too much and I’ll slow down.”

Right as he said it, his thrusts grew faster and faster. His movements shook the bed, the headboard bumping into the wall. Your body was burning hot, like he was pumping lava right inside your body, filling you up until you’re melting in his hold.

“Jaehyun.” You moan, arching your back off the mattress. You don’t even know why you’re calling out to him. You just want to chant his name, so you did.

“God, I wish you could see yourself, baby. You’re taking me so well for your first time. Does it still hurt?”

“No.” You mewl, “I feel really good.”

“You’re so pure, [Y/N]. Fucking precious. Now look at you, enjoying your first time at sex. Think of all the other things I can teach you; things that’ll corrupt your innocent little mind.”

You whimper at his words. He sounds like he’s degrading you but why does it sound so hot? You voluntarily clench around him and earn a guttural moan from him.

“And you’re fucking enjoying it, aren’t you?” Jaehyun brings a hand down between you and massages your clit. “Like a fallen angel.”

There it was again; that tightening feeling in the pit of your stomach. You were afraid he’ll notice like the last two times and he’ll stop, but he doesn’t. His hips start to move frantically, gyrating against yours as he enters you deeper.

“Jaehyun.” You cry, “Wait—”

“It’s okay, baby, just let it go.” He hushes you, “I’m going to give you your very first orgasm.”

The fingers on your clit rubbed faster and you try to stop him, “Oh god—”

You feel like your bladder is full and you explode, convulsing beneath his body as his thrusts slowed to a stop. He kisses you, sloppily on the mouth, drowning out all your moans. You feel lightheaded, head spinning as you catch your breath after he moves his lips to your cheek.

“I—” You wheeze, “Wow.”

Jaehyun laughs, pecking your cheeks repeatedly. “Cute.”

His cock is still inside you, hard and throbbing. He sits up and carefully pulls out of you until his cock is freed and bobbing up to hit his abdomen. The sheer latex is shining with your essence. It hits you late, but you’re not a virgin anymore. You didn’t feel any different — well, you felt like you were on cloud nine — but you didn’t feel like anything changed.

You watch Jaehyun as he takes the condom off, tossing it to the floor and begins to touch himself. “What are you doing?”

“Just finishing myself off. You can rest up a bit and we can have dinner.”

“Can’t I help you? Why didn’t you come in me?” You sit up, although your body feels heavy.

“You can help me just by spreading your legs and giving me a nice view of your pussy.” Jaehyun kisses you, “Besides, you’re sensitive after coming. I wouldn’t want to overstimulate you on your first time.”

“I’m not sensitive.”

He raises a brow at you, pushing you back on the bed and ducking his head between your legs. He blows a soft puff of air on your vagina and you flinch, automatically trapping his head between your thighs as you try to close them.

“See? Be a good girl and listen to your teacher.” He teases, turning his attention back to your core.

“Then…” You lick your lips, “How about teaching me how to give a blowjob now?”

Jaehyun looks stunned, “I’m starting to think you’re not a virgin from the get-go…”

“Hey,” You frowned, “Why would I lie about that? I just like to learn.”

“Then you probably have a nympho asleep in you.” He crawls beside you, sitting against his headboard and motions for you to go between his legs.

Once you situate yourself between his legs, you take his dick into your hand and form a fist around it. He’s a lot wetter now, sticky from all the precum that accumulated. “Would it be a good thing if we wake her up?”

“Maybe.” He pets your head while you find a position you’re comfortable in, settling to lie flat on your stomach with his angry, leaking cock just by your face. “I’d love to see her.”

You kiss the tip, tasting the salty substance on your lips. You look up at him as you hesitantly licked him, collecting more of the precum on your tongue. He nods, chewing at his bottom lip. Glancing down at his cock, you lick a strip from the base of his length up until the tip. You do it a few more times until you wrap your lips around the head and gently suck.

“Fuck.” He grips your hair, the action stinging your scalp, “Don’t focus on the tip just yet. Try to take my entire cock in your mouth.”

“The entire thing?” You repeat, “Are you aware how thick this is?”

“Then take as much as you can. I’ve never been deepthroated before.” He sounds a little proud as he tells you this. He adjusts his grip on your hair, combing most of it to hold it back like a ponytail.

“Deepthroat? You mean shoving this thing all the way into the back of my throat? That sounds like torture.”

“I’m not telling you to do it. I’m just saying I’ve never had anyone put my entire cock into their mouth without gagging so badly.” He shrugs, “This is what you do: put as much as you can in your pretty little mouth and hold onto the rest, squeeze me a little, maybe twist your hand a bit. Just don’t bite me.”

You follow his instructions, getting probably a little more than a half of his length into your mouth.

“Now suck.” When he feels your lips wrapping snuggly around him, he pulls your head away from his cock and pushes you back down. “Again.”

You treated him like a salty push-pop, bobbing your head as you continue to suck him. His grip loosens on your hair once you get the hang of it and don’t need his guidance. Although you still look up at him through your lashes to make sure you’re doing okay and from the way his dick twitches in your mouth, he definitely likes it.

Curiosity and greed gets the better of you; is deepthroating him that big of a challenge? You push yourself down on him until your lips are at the base. Both your mouth and throat are squeezing down on him as you still attempt to suck his cock.

“Oh my god.” Jaehyun groans, throwing his head back and re-tightening his grip on your hair. “Fuck, [Y/N].”

You like how he moans your name and you want to hear more of it. Flattening your tongue on the underside of his dick, you dragged your mouth up just before releasing the tip and plunged his length back to your throat.

There was a frustrated grunt from him as he holds your head in place and starts to thrust into your mouth. It was a lot harder to control your gag reflex like this, but you stayed put and let him do as he pleases; it’s getting you excited, too. Tears spring to your eyes as you start to choke, losing your breathing pattern for a moment when his movement became sporadic.

“Oh, fuck.” He stills, plugging your entire mouth with his cock and making it a little hard to breathe. Warmth drips down your throat and once his grip loosens, you pull away. His cock is still twitching, still shooting out the thick liquid in your mouth.

And quite frankly, you hate it.

Out of courtesy, you wait until he’s done, falling slack against his headboard. As he catches his breath, he gives you a sleazy smile, reaching out to you but you bolt away from him.

“[Y/N]?” He worriedly calls out after you as you run into his ensuite bathroom.

Hurriedly, you switch the lights on and knelt down in front of the toilet to spit his load. You’ve never tasted something that foul in your life. It was like you tried to swallow salty battery acid — and you don’t even know what battery acid tastes like.

You feel fingers in your hair as Jaehyun helps you hold your hair back when you end up gagging yourself and emptying the contents of your stomach.

“I don’t want to do that again.” You wheeze, wiping the back of your hand over your mouth before flushing the toilet.

“That’s too bad, but for the record, I didn’t tell you to deepthroat me.” He helps you up and gestures you to the sink.

“I didn’t mean the deepthroating part,” You open the faucet and begin to wash out your mouth of the acidity left over, “I meant swallowing. Do other girls swallow your cum and not complain?”

He looks slightly offended, “Most do, some don’t…”

You pat your lips dry with tissue paper and throw it in the bin, “Then they’re either lying about wanting to swallow or your cum burned their taste buds off.”

Jaehyun huffs, “It can’t be that bad.”

“Then see for yourself.” You’re about to step forward when you feel something drip down between your thighs. The same translucent substance is dribbling down your length and you quickly clean it off with tissue paper.

“Are you hurting though?”

You glance back and you become hyper-aware that you’re still both very naked, and despite being intimate with each other just a few minutes ago, you become shy around him.

He’s quick to take notice of your sudden change in demeanor, trapping your body against the sink. He kisses your shoulder, “We just had sex, what are you getting shy for?”

“I don’t know.” You look at him through the reflection. Is this what it feels like having a boyfriend? You avoid his gaze just before he meets it through the mirror; you shouldn’t have those thoughts while you’re with him.

“Well, that’s our lesson for today. Unless you want to review.” He chuckles, cupping your boobs and kneading them with his palms.

You tear his hands away and laugh, “It’s a school night.”

“Oh, so if it wasn’t, you’d be down to go another round?”

You shrug your shoulders, “I thought you would have already figured out that I like to review things I’ve learned. Repeatedly. Even though I’ve understood the lesson already.”

“Fuck, [Y/N], don’t say things like that. I’ll get hard again.” He tuts, pinching your ass.

You yelp, giggling as you dodge another pinch from him.

“Let’s get dressed and let me feed you before I take you home.” Jaehyun hums with a small smile, cupping your cheeks and kissing your lips.

Your heart flutters; a different kind of warmth floods your senses. It feels like all the holidays you get to go back to your family, greeting your siblings with bear hugs, and scarfing down all the meals your mother made from scratch. You move away from him, blinking your eyes and looking mortified at your realization.

Jaehyun mirrors your expression, pupils shaking as awkward silence surrounds you.

“Uhm,” He clears his throat, “I…”

“Can I,” You say at the same time with him, “use the bathroom?”

“Yeah, sure, I’ll— I’ll, uh, go down to the kitchen and dinner— prep dinner — prepare dinner.” He leaves you in the bathroom and closes the door for you.

You immediately wash your face to cool it down. What the hell was that? It couldn’t be what you thought it was. It should be the last thing on your mind after having sex with him. Falling in love with Jaehyun is out of the question; you want a storybook kind of romance — meet him in a bookstore type of situation. Not making a bet in the library that involves losing your virginity.

You switch the tap off and go out to put your clothes on. You stare at the mattress, the one you just lost your innocence on, and somehow remember Jaehyun’s face after the last kiss. It looks like he didn’t want to be in that kind of relationship with you either. You’re just another girl that he sleeps with and he’s just someone teaching you the ropes of it all. That’s all there is here.

“Wanna take a break?”

You gasp out loud, dragging the tip of the neon green highlighter upwards onto words that didn’t need it. You stare at the jagged line in shock before sending a piercing glare to the reason behind it.

Jaehyun sheepishly apologizes, sitting down on the chair to yours.

“Why aren’t you studying for CSAT?” You cap your highlighter and close your review material.

It’s been a couple months now and Jaehyun still had plenty of things to teach you in terms of sex, but ever since his basketball training started, your meetings turned into something just a twice or thrice a month rather than the usual once every week.

He’d taught you a handful of positions — that you all liked — and learned how to have sex in different places like under the bleachers and at the back of his car. Like in the very secluded corner of the library you two were in right now. He had you bent over the table once and from the looks of it, he wanted to do it a second time.

“I’m done for the day. You should take a break, too, you know.” He moves your materials away from you, “You’re top 2 in school. You don’t need to study that hard for CSAT.”

“Is there something else you want me to study?” Flirting with him got a lot easier, although you still get flustered from time to time, you’re still able to hold a flirty banter with him.

He taps your nose, “Smart girl. What are all the lessons I’ve taught you so far?”

“Foreplay. Positions. Masturbation,” You whisper; the library was full today since everyone was reviewing for the test this weekend. A few weeks back, he gave you “homework” to masturbate while thinking about him but with barely any privacy in your place and feeling awkward to even touch yourself, you failed the very first homework of your entire life. He made you sit between his legs and watch porn, guiding your hands in your panties. Shrugging, you finish answering, “And places. Is there still something you have yet to teach me?”

“Kinks.” Jaehyun slowly drags the tip of his tongue along his bottom lip, staring at your lips.

“Like… fetishes?” You glance at the opening of your secluded area, “You have fetishes?”

“A good number of them.” He hums, “But forget about me. We’re going to see if you have any kinks.”

“Well,” You feel embarrassed to say this out loud, but you’ve actually researched these things already. You wanted to surprise Jaehyun with something, but you never knew when to since he’s always in command of how things go, “I’ve read a couple of things.”

He grins at you, “Oh? Advance reading?”

You roll your eyes, “Shut up.”

“Okay, okay, sorry. So?”

“Your hands.”

“My hands?” He lifts one up in front of his face, “What about them?”

You get distracted just by seeing them, “Uhm, I like it when you touch me with them.”

There’s a growing smirk on his lips, “Touch you where?”

“Anywhere.” You watch as he holds his hand out to you and cup your cheek, “Everywhere.”

“Everywhere?” He repeats, moving his hand down to your neck and wraps it around your throat. “Even here?”

You gasp, your own hands flying to grab his wrist, “Jaehyun.”

“I’m not going to actually hurt you. Choking can be hot; it can increase pleasure during sex.” His gaze flickers down to where he held you, “It brings out this innocent little look on your face that I love.”

You scoff, “I’ve learned that you have a corruption kink.”

“And you’re to blame. God, it’s been months of fucking you but you’re still so innocent.” Jaehyun brings his hand down to your thigh, “Like a tainted angel.”

“I’m hardly an angel now.”

“Oh? Then spread your legs right now.”

You blink at him, “Now? But—”

“See? You’re hesitating.”

“I’m not doing this with you here, not when there are clearly more people in the library compared to the last time.”

He frowns, almost pouting, crossing his arms in front of him like a child put on timeout. He glances around and swiftly moves his chair beside yours.

You warily watch him, confused at his actions until he brings his hand back to your thigh. “What are you doing?”

“No one’s gonna see and if you keep quiet, they’ll never know.” He inches his fingers under your skirt, close to touching your mound but you stop him.

You can’t deny that doing something risky like this in public — in school — gets you excited, although at the end of the day, you had to keep your dignity. You’re glad he’s kept his mouth shut about this arrangement as well, but it was rather odd that his friends don’t wonder where he goes off to when he goes to you.

“You’re already so wet, baby.” His fingers drew lines over your panties that were undeniably wet the moment he came up. It was a natural reaction for your body to want him just by looking at him at this point, craving to be touched like you are now.

Baby. He calls you this so fondly. Of course, it was only during times like these when he does so, but it makes your insides gooey and your heart flutter.

You exhaled slowly, eyes wide and staring at him. He merely smirks, thinking it was from his fingers slipping past your panties. This was the worst possible scenario; being fingered in public while you were reviewing for the CSAT — the test you cared about passing the most — by a boy out of your league and realizing you’re falling for him.

You’ve done so well for the past months to foster such feelings for him. Why now? Why now while you’re in the middle of messing around with him? While you were studying for the single most important test of your entire student life?

He flexes a finger inside of you and you flinch, grabbing his arm and biting down your lip.

“You like that, huh?” He teases, kissing your ear.

It’s not the only thing I like, you scream in your thoughts.

It doesn’t take long for you to come, shaking in his hold as he softly sucks on a patch of skin under your ear. He even fixes your panties for you before pulling his hand away and licking his fingers clean of your essence.

He notices how you’re still distraught, blown out eyes staring up at him and heaving slowly, and asks if you’re okay.

You manage to nod at him, waving his concern off and adjust yourself in your seat.

Jaehyun stands up and puts the chair back in its proper position, “I’ll go now. Good luck this weekend.”

“You, too.” You mutter, watching him leave and your heart drops. You’re not stupid. You know he’s only using you for sex and it wasn’t something you minded because you were benefiting from it too. He doesn’t see being in an actual romantic relationship with you, and you can’t blame him for it. You’ve made it very clear that school is your priority.

The only thing left to do is either tell him about your feelings and face the consequences, bottle it up and will them away, or end things with him and maybe these emotions will leave with him. After CSAT, you promise yourself, you’ll make a decision after this weekend.

“Am I in trouble?” You quietly ask, looking between the principal, Mr. Jang, and the guidance counselor, Ms. Kwon.

Ms. Kwon had run after you as you finished your CSAT, on your way to the front gate to meet up with Jungwoo, and she escorted you to the principal’s office. She’d been of tremendous help for you when you applied for scholarships. Your first thought was someone had caught you and Jaehyun somewhere in school and reported it, but didn’t think that was the case since he wasn’t in the office with you.

“Heavens, no. I would like to personally tell you and congratulate you about your scholarship in SNU.” Mr. Jang reminds you of a typical, jolly grandfather, had silver, combed-over hair, and wore suspenders everyday.

“S-scholarship?” You repeat, thinking you misheard him, “I-I thought… scholarship announcements aren’t made until the end of the school year.”

He grins at you, handing a large white envelope with the university insignia on it, “Yes, but they saw your outstanding school records and gave you approval right away. Congratulations, Ms. [L/N], your application for a full scholarship to SNU has been approved. You’re the first student in my 30 years working here to get one.”

Your mouth is perpetually agape, accepting the envelope and opening it right away. Your eyes scanned through the letter inside a couple times until it finally hit you: you’re going to SNU. “I… but…?”

“Of course, they still have to wait for the results of the CSAT, but it should be no problem for you, given your previous records. And between us three,” He leans forward on his desk, “You should start drafting your graduation speech.”

“My… graduation speech?” You pause, “You mean I’m valedictorian?”

“If you maintain your class standing and stay out of any trouble until finals, then congratulations again Ms. [L/N], you’re this year’s class valedictorian.”

“But… Jung Jaehyun—”

Mr. Jang sighs, “Ah, yes, Mr. Jung. His grades are remarkable, yes, but he has a couple of misdemeanors on his file to even qualify for salutatorian. It’s a shame. Are you friends with Mr. Jung?”

You open your mouth to answer, but you realize you don’t know what the answer is. You’re not exactly going to tell the school principal the exact premise of your relationship. But are you two even friends? “Uhm, we know of each other?”

“Hm, well I would avoid befriending Mr. Jung if I were you, Ms. [L/N]. I’m sure he’s a wonderful person, but he could still be a bad influence on you.”

Your stomach drops as you consider Mr. Jang’s words, nodding to them even though you were still processing it. Was he being a bad influence on you?

As you leave the principal’s office, it finally hits you: you’re going to SNU. You’re going to your dream school with a full scholarship and there’s a high chance you’ll graduate as valedictorian. The slow, steady footsteps you took since stepping out of the office broke into a sprint as you ran towards the school gate to meet Jungwoo and tell him the good news.

As you turn around the corner that led to the lockers, you almost collide into Jaehyun, who was just as surprised to see someone hurtling towards him.

“[Y/N]? Why are you crying?” He closes his locker and steps closer to you, concern etched on his face.

“Crying?” You touch your cheeks, feeling the damp streaks and laughing at it, “Oh. I didn’t know I was crying.”

“What’s wrong?”

You shake your head, “Nothing’s wrong. I’m— I’m just— Jaehyun, my application for a full scholarship to SNU has been accepted. I just need to score high on CSAT—”

“Then you’re definitely in! [Y/N]! Congrats!” He opens his arms to you and by instinct, you just jump into them and let him engulf you into a giant hug. “That’s amazing! You did it, [Y/N].”

“Thank you.” Your voice was muffled from having your face pressed up into his chest. You pull away first, “I can’t believe it.”

He offers you a small smile, “You’ve worked so hard for it. You deserve it. I’m really happy for you.”

A phone chimes just as you were about to thank him once more. You check yours and find an impatient, yet worried text from Jungwoo, who you had completely forgotten about. “I, uh, need to go.”

“Hey, wait.” Jaehyun stops you just as you were about to side step him, “We should celebrate this. There’s a party at Cha Eunwoo’s house tonight. You should come.”

“It’s a Saturday. I have work tonight, remember?”

He looks disappointed, “You’re going to work after taking the most draining exam in our lives?”

You shrug, apologetically, “I need the money. Big crowds aren’t my thing either.”

“Then how about just the two of us? Tomorrow night. I’ll drive you somewhere out of town and we’ll get drive thru.”

Your heart races in excitement at the prospect, but you catch yourself. That sounds like a date although you knew it would end up with the two of you doing it at the back of his car. Nonetheless, you agree to the arrangement and wave at him before leaving.

“But Auntie,” You stand up to take the dishes from her, but she swats your hands away, “I don’t mind working tonight.”

“[Y/N]! You and Jungwoo can have the weekend off! You two have worked so hard. And to think you got the scholarship for SNU!” She tuts, sashaying to the sink, “If I could afford it, you can have the entire week off with paid leave!”

“She’s our valedictorian, too!” Jungwoo pipes up, doing a little shimmy after taking a bite of the cake his parents got the both of you for finishing the exam.

“All the more reason for you not to work.” She pinches your cheek. “Isn’t there a party or two being thrown by your schoolmates? There’s bound to be one, right? There were about 8 during my time. You two should go to one.”

Jungwoo brings his empty plate to the sink and exclaims, “Oh, yeah! Eunwoo invited me to his party. Do you wanna go?”

You stare at him, “Cha Eunwoo? You know him?”

“We were classmates last year. We’re not close, but he’s really nice and friendly.” He claps his hands, “Oh, let’s go, [Y/N]!”

A part of you only agreed because you wanted to see Jaehyun. It would be hard to interact with him since your real relationship with him was still a secret, but you still wanted to see how he’d react to see you there. Perhaps that’s the reason behind the extra effort of getting ready; putting on that same dress you wore to Mark’s party, patting the lightest blush on your cheeks and a soft red tint on the inner parts of your lips, and spritzing perfume on your hair.

“Wow, all this for Jaehyun?” Jungwoo teased, simply changing out of his house clothes into a pair of blue jeans and a raglan shirt.

“Shut up.” You snap, “Wait, is it too much?”

“No.” He shrugs, “I just noticed because I’m not used to it. I bet he’ll appreciate it though. Are you ready?”

After another look in the mirror, you let Jungwoo lead the way to Eunwoo’s house. It was only a short bus ride there and it was the richer side of town, a few streets away from Jaehyun’s. You’ve never met him and you’re pretty sure you’ve never interacted with him either. You just know that he’s one of Jaehyun’s close friends, also part of the basketball team, and just as popular with the girls from school.

It takes no less than half an hour for the two of you to arrive, spotting the other teens walking up to the huge house that had strobe lights and muffled music blasting inside.

“I can tell I’m not gonna like it inside.” You warily watch a rowdy group of boys cheer each other on as a ssireum contest begins in the empty, open garage. “We don’t have to stay long, right?”

“Let’s have a few drinks and leave.” Jungwoo walks up to the house and you follow closely behind him.

Not all the faces were even familiar to you, maybe they’re from other schools. The music gets progressively louder as you walk up to the open door and you can pick out a few voices trying to talk over the bass. Past the door, Jungwoo greets a few people and you offer them all a small smile. They all seem surprised to see you here, obviously knowing this isn’t your kind of scene. Jungwoo holds a conversation with them and you look around some more.

There were people drinking out of red cups, bouncing on the balls of their feet to the fast tempo song, some were brave enough to make out against walls, and others were just blatantly humping each other in lieu of dancing. You make eye contact with a girl who you recognize as Kim Minkyung, twin sister of Kim Mingyu, who was also another close friend of Jaehyun’s. She was notoriously aloof and introverted compared to her social butterfly of a brother.

Minkyung stares at you, eyes just squinting slightly as if to discern if it was really you she was seeing, and you feel both confused and nervous by it. Is it really that weird that you’re at a party? You break eye contact with her to tell Jungwoo you’re heading to the kitchen to grab drinks for the two of you.

It was a big house, bigger than Jaehyun’s, but you think you can guess where the kitchen was from the number of people leaving the room with a drink in hand. You managed to catch Minkyung’s gaze again and her expression this time looked… worried? You ignore it and step into the white room. There were food and drinks lined up on the kitchen island and counters, a large stack of red cups beside a keg. As you approached it to get beer for Jungwoo, a roar of laughter erupts in the next room over. Being naturally curious, you walked over to the opening and peered through other curious people’s shoulders to see what the commotion was about.

It looked like the dining room with a large wooden table in the middle that had been turned into a beer pong arena. You see Kim Mingyu taking a shot beside the house owner, Cha Eunwoo, over to the other side and huffs as he misses his shot. Looking over at their opponent, your chest constricts. It was the soccer team’s MVP, Nakamoto Yuta, who was also your acquaintance as he liked to crash the board games club from time to time to bother Mark, and his partner for the math, the only boy you wanted to see in this party.

Jaehyun had his signature black outfit on; you’ve spied the contents of his closet once and reeled at the sight of it being 80 percent black, 15 percent white, and just a handful of miscellaneous colored clothing articles. His hair was pushed back to prevent the fringes getting into his eyes. But that’s not what you’re focused on, that’s not what made your heart crack. With one hand, he held a ping pong ball, waiting for his turn, while the other held another girl’s hand.

Areum. You think that’s her name. That’s right, Cho Areum. She’s the embodiment of her name; beautiful and stunning from head to toe. Funnily enough, she’s part of the cheer squad. Classic, you think, a cheerleader and a basketball player. A cliche, but perfect pair.

It’s finally Jaehyun’s turn and he gets the ping pong ball right into the farthest cup, and his team rejoices. He gladly turns his head to Areum and your heart falls to the floor, shattering in tiny pieces as your ears ring. You’ve never felt jealous in your entire life, you just weren’t raised that way. You’ve lived your life with people who have so much more than you, but you never wished you were in their shoes until you see Areum. She’s pretty, she’s tall, she’s also top 20, meaning she’s smart, too. She also gets to kiss Jaehyun in public, while you’re just the girl he keeps a secret.

But now you’re just confused. Was he cheating on her with you? And if he was, why would he cheat on her for you?

Your thoughts are interrupted when a hand is placed on your shoulder and you turn to find Minkyung, looking distastefully at the same scene you were witnessing.

“You shouldn’t be here.” She finally turns to you, voice soft and almost sympathetic. “They’re going to make fun of you if they see you, especially with your eyes looking wet. Come on.”

You blink and you realize what she was talking about as your vision blurred. You nod and she leads you away from the party, out to the backyard where there were less people and considerably darker. You sit by each other on a lounge chair and stare at the pool.

“I don’t…” You pause, not knowing what to ask.

“My brother and his friends aren’t nice people.” Minkyung states, looking past the pool and into the window that showed the living room. “They spend a lot of time after school at our house so I know about the things they talk about… all the shit they do.”

“Okay…” You don’t know where she’s going with this but your gut tells you it’s not going to be good.

“At the start of the year, the basketball team was at our house and they were drinking. And I don’t know how it came to be but someone suggested to make a checklist for all the girls they should fuck. From every clique like a girl's sports team to distinguished individuals… like the class valedictorian.” She glances at you, apologetically, as if it was her fault or to apologize on her brother’s behalf. “But I guess yours was a different case.”

“I’m… wait, I don’t understand—”

“Everyone agreed that it would be hard to sleep with you. No one knew you well enough until someone pointed out that you and Jaehyun were always volleying the top 1 spot between each other every semester. But even he didn’t think he could do it, so his friends did the only thing that would make him agree to trying to sleep with you. They made a bet and riled him up because everyone knows how competitive Jung Jaehyun is.”

You let her words sink in, “So he made a bet with me to be top 1 and offer to teach me sex so he could win an entirely different bet.”

“Wait a minute—” Minkyung grabs your wrist, “He said he’d teach you sex? Oh my god, that’s just fucking gold.”

She bolts up to her feet and scornfully laughs, pacing in front of you.

“What?”

“Let me guess,” She spins back to face you, “He’ll teach you lesson by lesson because you can’t learn a whole new world in a couple nights? That lesson 1 is foreplay, 2 is positions, and so on?”

“H-how did you know that?”

“Because he said the same things to me 3 years ago. Jung Jaehyun took my virginity from under the guise that he liked me, too. And guess what? When shit went down, he turned my own brother against me. He turned the person I shared a womb with against me and branded me a slut. Don’t you ever wonder why I don’t run in the same circle as my twin? Mingyu used to be so protective of me; I was off limits to his friends until Jaehyun happened. He joins his friends branding me a slut. Jung Jaehyun ruined my life and he’s going to ruin yours.” Minkyung grabs your shoulders and squeezes them, “Walk away from him now, [Y/N]. Please, I know we’re not friends but I’m telling you the truth. You saw him with your own eyes; was it you he was kissing in there? Because here’s the cold, hard truth, [Y/N]: Jaehyun owns each and everyone of us, but we can never own him for ourselves.”

You expel a harsh breath, unaware you had been holding your breath. You stare into her eyes and it’s glistening under the underwater pool lights. You wanted to give Jaehyun the benefit of the doubt, but you could sense how genuine and concerned Minkyung is.

“Okay.” You mumble, licking your lips. You’re better off without him anyways. Aside from sex, what else has he given you? You stand up and accept the hug Minkyung offers as she holds out her arms for you. “Thanks.”

“I wish I warned you sooner. I’ve tried to warn every girl he was after — or any girl the team was going after — but my reputation makes it hard for them to believe me. If anything, they made it worse.” She pulls away and looks back into the house. “Thanks for believing me.”

You follow her gaze and see Jaehyun, jumping to the beat of the song playing, with Areum in tow. “Does she know he’s cheating on her?”

“Areum? They’re not exclusive, that’s what he claims. She says they’re in an open relationship, so she probably knows about you.”

Knowing that she, as well as his friends, knows about you and Jaehyun sleeping together doesn’t sit well with you. Does he tell them about it every time? They must laugh at how innocent and pathetic you were.

“God,” Minkyung scowls, “What did I even see in him? If he wasn’t at the top of the class, I would have believed he had a dick for a brain.”

You giggle at this, knowing she’s doing her best to lighten the mood.

“I’m surprised he hasn’t gotten anyone pregnant yet.” She laughs, “I wonder how he’d react to that.”

Your laughter falters.

Minkyung watches as you scramble to take your phone out, opening up an app you kept to track your period. You had a normal cycle, this tracker is proof. But the past month has been so hectic that you didn’t even notice.

“I’m… two weeks late.” You look to her for help, fingers shaking in panic. “I’m never late. I—”

“Wait, [Y/N], calm down. Being late for your period doesn’t mean you’re pregnant.”

“I know that!” You exclaim, “But what if I am?”

You think about your scholarship, graduation, your parents — how are you going to tell your parents if you were, in fact, pregnant?

Before you bring yourself into a panic attack, Minkyung shakes your arm, “[Y/N], calm down. Do you want to take a pregnancy test?”

“I can’t take that back home—”

“Then take it back at my place. I’ll buy you the pregnancy test.” She fishes car keys out of her pockets, “Come on. Mingyu can find a ride home himself, I don’t even know why I let him drag me to be his personal driver.”

“Why are you so nice to me?”

Minkyung doesn’t answer immediately until she shrugs her shoulders, “If I were in your position, I’d wish someone would be there who understands and helps out.”

She was right. You don’t even know how Jungwoo would react, let alone do.

“Wait, let me go back inside and tell Jungwoo I’ll be going.”

“Kim Jungwoo? He’s gay, right?”

You gasp, petrified at her question, “How did you— I mean, no!”

She chuckles, “Don’t worry. I understand. It takes one to know one. I’ll go get the car. It’s a red volvo.”

As she leaves, you head back inside to look for Jungwoo and it’s not that hard thanks to his height. You flag him down, grabbing his wrist and dragging so you could talk right into his ear.

“Can I go ahead? I’m not comfortable.”

“Okay, let me say goodbye—”

“No! You’re clearly having fun. It’s not that late, I can go home by myself.” You try to walk away, but he seizes your hand.

“Are you okay? You look like you’re about to cry.”

Bless his heart. Only Jungwoo could read you like a book. But you’re not ready to tell him, not until you’re sure, so you just smile and nod. Fortunately, he lets you go and you quickly make your way through the crowd to reach the front door. Just as you were about to step out, a hand wraps around your wrist and you think it’s Jungwoo.

But of course it wasn’t.

“Hey, you came.” Jaehyun lets go of you once you turn around. “I thought you had a shift?”

“Yeah. I’m heading back over now. I thought I’d drop by with Jungwoo.” You hug yourself, doing your best to meet his eyes so he wouldn’t suspect anything. In your peripheral vision, you see his friends watching from another room. “So, I have to go.”

“Did you try and find me?”

The wording to his question was off, but you shake your head, “The crowd is a little… overwhelming. I don’t think I could have seen you even if I tried… I’m gonna be late for shift change.”

“Do you want me to drive you there? My car’s at the house though—”

“Then no.” You forced a smile, “You don’t have to. I’ll be fine.”

Jaehyun frowns, but relents, stuffing his hands in his pockets, “Okay. Tomorrow then?”

“Tomorrow?”

“Our own little celebration about your scholarship?”

“Oh… yeah, sure.” You try to think of an excuse to back out of it, but you’re too flustered under his gaze to even do so. “S-see you then.”

He cracks a smile, and maybe it’s just your feelings for him, but you swear he seems genuinely excited about it, “Okay. I’ll text you.”

You turn around and start to walk, taking slow steps out the door until you see a red volvo pull up. Minkyung rolls down the window to let you know it was her and you get in. After putting the seatbelt on, she hands you a pack of tissues.

“You can cry. I’m not going to judge you.”

“I know.” You let the initial tears slip down your cheeks. “I should have known something like this was going to happen.”

She rubs your back for a while before starting the car and driving away. It was strange to think you barely talked to her for an hour but still felt closer to her than Jaehyun, who you’ve spent months with. Did she have a pregnancy scare as well? More importantly, did she have someone to confide to?

You finally let yourself break down into a sob. It was dumb and foolish of you to think he had the best intentions for you. You were both in it for the sex and all you asked was for it to be kept secret, but the worst people to find out about it already knew about it. It was stupid of you to even fall for him — no, it was more stupid of you to make a bet with him in the first place. You can’t even believe you walked into that party with the intention of confessing your feelings for him.

“He’s still coming by the store. You should have never told him where you worked.”

You sigh, lathering the washed cabbage heads with the bright red paste your mother had already made. It was the holidays and you went back home to your family like you always did. Being with them brought you so much relief after everything that had happened after CSAT. You excitedly told them about the scholarship, presenting the letter as proof, as well as the high chance of you graduating as valedictorian. You even introduced Minkyung to them through video call as you two had become considerably close. The only thing you left out to your parents was Jaehyun. They didn’t need to know that at all.

You thanked every god and your lucky stars that you weren’t pregnant — the missed weeks probably due to the stress — and the dreaded red week came a few days when you went back home.You had burst into tears of joy at the sight of blood stained sheets and your mother excused it as your hormones acting up.

As for Jaehyun, you didn’t reply back to him when he asked if you were ready to meet up the day after the party. You didn’t pick up his calls. You worked twice as hard, enlisting Jungwoo and Minkyung’s help, to avoid running into him at school. Minkyung had to block his number for you because you didn’t have the heart to do it. You felt bad for doing this to him, but they reminded you of everything he did to you and you just feel just a tiny bit of guilt for ghosting him.

But as Jungwoo had just reported over the group call you had with him and Minkyung, he came by the convenience store almost everyday, hoping to catch you on your shift. When Jungwoo finally snapped and told him you were back at home, he comes in every other day to ask where you lived.

“I would ban him from the store if I were you.” Minkyung suggests.

“You know I would’ve if I could.” Jungwoo gripes, “But you can’t ban people if they’re just annoying you. I can’t even say it’s borderline harassment since he leaves after I shoo him off.”

“I don’t get it.” You huff, stuffing the freshly made kimchi into a large jar. “Min, you said he’d stop after a week. It’s almost the end of Christmas break and he’s still trying to contact me.”

“I’m just as confused as you. Maybe his pride is hurt. He’s the one being dumped for the first time and you know what? Good for you, [Y/N], for being the first to break his heart.”

You smile at them through the camera, but you hope it was believable enough through the screen. You’re still in love with him. You realize this after finding yourself constantly thinking and worrying about him when you’re not occupied with house chores or farm work. You’ll never tell Jungwoo or Minkyung, but a part of you really misses him.

“Oh my god, he’s here at my house.” Minkyung whispers as if he could hear her as she peeks through her blinds. “I’m gonna eavesdrop on them.”

“Kyung.” You warn, wiping your hands on a kitchen towel after you washed them. “You don’t have to.”

“I want to.” She huffs, “What if he’s trash talking you? You’re my friend now and this is my house, I have every right to throw him out.”

“If he’s trash talking me, then I’m gonna want to talk to him. You know,” You put the jars of kimchi you made into the fridge, “For closure.”

“Oh, sweetheart.” Minkyung sighs, “That’s a dangerous plan.”

“I agree.” Jungwoo pipes in, “He was able to convince you to sleep with him. He can definitely do it again. You’re in a vulnerable state, [Y/N], whether he knows that or not. You don’t have any prior knowledge on this while he’s an expert.”

“It’s breaking off a relationship — not even, it was just a deal we made.” You look outside the window to make sure your family is still outside, “How hard could it be?”

“Says the girl who let someone teach her sex after losing a bet.” Minkyung snides, “Your emotions could get the better of you once you face him. I think it’s better to avoid him until he finally accepts the fact that you’re done with him.”

And she was right. Although you really did want to talk to him, at least one last time and face to face, they were right about him possibly coercing you again. You didn’t think you would fall for him this hard even though you know about what he’s done.

Returning to the city a week before the holiday break ends always puts you into a sad mood since you have to leave your family and now it makes you feel anxious because you can’t possibly hide from Jaehyun until graduation. Minkyung tells you that he and his friends will be out of town for a few days and she invites you over to hang out. Jungwoo couldn’t come because he and his parents visited his older sister’s family.

“As promised,” You said after greeting Minkyung as she opened the front gate, “Kimchi made by yours truly using my mom’s pepper paste made from our farm’s chili peppers.”

It was a sizable container, good for a family of 5 for two weeks at most. Minkyung squeals as she accepts it, “Thank you! I’m so excited to try it out. We’re definitely eating this for dinner later.”

Her house had almost the same layout as Mark’s house, but had a more contemporary interior.

“Oh my god,” You gasp, approaching the photo wall and pointing at a portrait of two children as you unwrapped the scarf from your neck, “You’re so cute!”

“Our mother was obsessed with making us match clothes before.” She sighs, stopping beside you.

“Wow, you two looked really identical.”

Minkyung scoffs, “Yeah, thank god we don’t anymore.”

Before she turns to lead you to the kitchen, you swear you caught a frown form on her face.

You two had a baking agenda today ever since you found out she loved to bake with her mother when she was younger but never got to do it again since her mother got busy with work. She still bakes from time to time but doesn’t find it as fun when someone else is around.

The kitchen island had all the ingredients laid out and the oven had preheated. You two only talked about making cookies and cupcakes, but it looked like there were enough to make cake and bread.

Minkyung puts the kimchi inside their fridge and you wait for her in front of the ingredients, “So how do we go about this?”

“Let’s do a headstart on cupcakes first so they can cool down before we get to decorate them.”

It feels like a nice change to be hanging out with another girl. You love Jungwoo, but there are things you can’t say or do with him because it felt too awkward. Also, compared to you, he has other friends he likes to hang out with while you can count all yours with one hand. Minkyung was a lot bubblier once you got to know her. She always kept to herself in school and seemed so chic and mysterious, but was just as eccentric and clumsy as Jungwoo. It was a weird way to start a friendship, sharing the same experiences with Jaehyun, but you’re really glad you’ve become friends with her.

A couple of hours into baking, you took charge of icing the last couple of cupcakes while Minkyung tries a bite of the experimental cookies you made with cinnamon and marshmallows.

“Is it good?” You place the cupcake you finished icing on the cake rack.

She walks over to you to feed you a piece, “Like a starbucks drink. It’s not bad, no?”

It did taste like a starbucks drink made into a cookie, but you liked it. “I think it’s okay. Nothing beats your chocolate chip, though. I can’t wait to go back home and make it for my siblings. Thanks for sharing your recipe. I promise to take it to my grave.”

“Tell me what they think of it.” Both of you pause when you hear the car gates creaking open. She looks at you, clearly confused, “Did my mom come home early?”

You put the piping bag down and went to wash your hands in the sink of stray icing as she bounds towards the foyer. Minkyung talks fondly of her mom and mentions how she wanted to meet you. You dry your hands on the apron before taking it off, placing on the counter and following after her.

Just as you walk out of the kitchen doorway, you hear Minkyung exclaiming, “Why are you here?”

It was a split second realization from the hostile tone of her voice that tells you who was at the front door, however your body reacts a split second too late and you end up stepping into the hallway that led to the foyer.

“[Y/N]?”

You’re frozen in your spot, absolutely mortified to see Jaehyun standing behind Mingyu.

“What are you…?” He steps forward and pauses, connecting the dots in his head. He turns to Minkyung and grabs her arm, “What did you tell her?”

“The truth about you.” She hisses, shaking his hold off. Once she does, she moves away from him and closer to you. “You ruined my life and I’m not going to let you ruin hers.”

“Don’t be so dramatic, sis.” Mingyu puts an arm out between them.

Jaehyun moves around him to walk towards you, but Minkyung blocks him. He scowls at her, “[Y/N], whatever she told you is a lie.”

The Jaehyun in front of you scared you; he looked so angry and hurt… like that time he got benched in sophomore year. His jaw is tight and his nostrils are flaring as he and Minkyung stared each other down.

“No, it’s the truth.” She glances back at you, gaze firm and unwavering.

“Kyung, give it up.” Her brother grabs her hand, “It’s been, what? 2? 3 years? Get over it.”

Minkyung indignantly huffs, slowly turning her head back to them, “Get over it? He took everything from me and you just want me to get over it? He took everything from me.”

Her voice cracks as she begins to sob, shoulders dropping as she faces her brother. “And you let him, Mingyu… You chose him over me, your goddamn twin sister.”

Your heartbreaks at the scene in front of you. Minkyung always made snide remarks about her brother, scowling as she speaks about him, but that frown you caught earlier should have told you that she misses him. You can’t imagine the pain she feels of losing someone she spent her whole life with — her own brother — and be torn apart because of something Jaehyun had said and done.

Minkyung sniffs, snatching her hand away from Mingyu and walks to you, “I’m sorry. We were having so much fun… but I want to be alone right now. I’ll drive you home—”

“No, go ahead. I…” Your eyes flit towards Jaehyun, “I want to talk to him.”

She stares at you, briefly sending a glare over to him, “Are you sure?”

You nod, “I can’t run away from forever. I’ll be fine.”

She gives you a tight hug before heading towards the stairs. Mingyu tries to stop her but she starts to run up the steps.

“I’m gonna talk to her.” Mingyu pats Jaehyun’s arm, spares a glance at you, and goes up after his sister.

You and Jaehyun stood in the foyer, awkwardly waiting for each other to say something.

“Can we talk?” He finally breaks the silence.

“Yeah.” A door being pounded on and shouting was heard above your heads and you smack your lips, “Uhm, somewhere else?”

“Yeah, okay,” He takes his car keys out of his pocket, “I know a place.”

Sensing your hesitation, he quickly follows it up with, “Don’t worry, it’s not my house.”

You decide to trust him, gathering your things and following him out the door to his car. It felt weird to be seated back inside and even weirder to think about the times you’ve spent together in it. He plugs his phone to the aux cord and chooses a random song to play on the softest volume before he begins to drive.

“I thought you guys had an out of town trip?” You quietly ask, seeing the duffel bag on the backseat.

“Yeah.” He clicks his tongue, “We were uninvited. The villa we were going to is owned by Areum’s family and you can say I chose the wrong day to upset her.”

“What did you do?”

Jaehyun sighs, keeping his attention on the road, “You know, when you didn’t respond to my texts, I got worried about you. I thought you got in trouble or something. You wouldn’t pick up my calls, Jungwoo wouldn’t tell me where the fuck you were, and up until I realized you blocked my number, I started to understand the situation.”

You turn your attention to the window, watching the world pass by.

“You saw us, didn’t you? Me and Areum. You saw us that night at the party? Is that why you stopped talking to me?”

“It’s so much more than that.” You cut in, making sure your voice is as steady as you can make it out to be, “Besides, it’s not my business. I’m just the girl you keep a secret—”

You let out a disbelieved laugh, “Wait, I can’t even say I’m the girl you’ve been secretly fucking.”

“What are you talking about?”

Taking a deep breath, you ask him, “Is it true that you and your friends made a — a fuck checklist and I was on it?”

The car was stopped at a red light, it was the only time for him to look at you but he chooses not to.

“Did you agree to a bet with your friends that you could sleep with me? And that was what prompted you to approach me in the library in the first place?”

He finally looks at you, stunned like a deer caught in the headlights, and it was enough to break your heart all over again. He opens his mouth to respond, but the car behind you honks its horn and Jaehyun starts to drive, not noticing the green light.

“All I wanted was for us to be a secret. I wouldn’t care about Areum or any other girl… or so I thought,” You grumble the last part, “I thought you were holding up that end of the deal, but it turns out people already knew. God, Jaehyun! For someone who’s top 2 in school, I’m so fucking stupid to believe you.”

He stops the car and lets out a heavy breath, “I’m sorry.”

“You think that’s enough?” You snap, facing forward and seeing a lakeside picnic area. “Where are we?”

“My parents and I went here during spring when I was younger. I like to come here and just watch the water.” He licks his lips, “I was supposed to take you here that day after the party.”

“Why?”

“I…” He shrugs, “I’m gonna sit outside for awhile. You can join me if you want.”

“It’s nearly 3 degrees outside.”

He opens the door and the cold rush of air makes you hug yourself. He steps out and closes the door behind him, walking up to one of the picnic tables to brush off some of the snow and sit down on it, looking off into the distance of the frozen lake.

You gather up the courage to face the biting, icy air, pulling the hood of your jacket up and going after him. You take a seat on the bench of the table beside his and hide half your face into your scarf. His face was ghastly white, save for the apples of his cheeks, tip of his nose and ears, and his lips that were bright red.

“Do you have plans to freeze to death?”

Jaehyun chuckles, “I like winter.”

“I prefer spring.” You mumble, crossing your arms to preserve your body warmth. Looking back at the lake, you comment, “Must have been a nice view if I had gone with you that day.”

“I personally think it’s a nice view all year round.”

Silence falls over the two of you, along with it was the awkwardness and tension. You feel like you couldn’t breathe despite being in an open area.

“It’s true.” He breaks the silence after a few minutes, “We were all drunk and I don’t even remember who suggested it, but everyone thought it was a great idea — a fuck list. From cheerleaders, to band geeks, to bisexuals… to the valedictorian… one of us will sleep with any of those and it’ll be checked off the list.”

This makes your stomach churn; disgusted and disappointed at the thought. Being drunk isn’t an excuse for the nasty things that go through someone’s head.

“No one was willing to do you. No one had connections to you. Until Eunwoo said we were always switching places as top 1 every semester. They said it would be like an ice breaker between us and they left me to think about how I could get in your pants.” He took in a deep breath, “But believe me, I didn’t want to. I didn’t even think you’d give me the time of day. You didn’t seem interested in anyone and your nose was always stuck between textbooks. So they riled me up and I let them push me into doing it.”

“And then you orchestrated this whole plan of baiting me into making a different bet with you where you try to sleep with me and disguised it as teaching me sex.” You click your tongue, “I was a much easier target than you thought, huh?”

“It was supposed to be a one time thing, but I meant what I said that you can’t just learn sex in one night.”

“Minkyung said you told her the exact same words 3 years ago.” Your heart grows heavy at the thought of her, “Did you even really like her back?”

Jaehyun closes his eyes, hanging his head low and slowly shaking it sideways. “No.”

“How could you turn twins against each other?” You scowl, “I can’t even fathom how you were able to do that!”

“Well, I don’t either! I care about Mingyu, too. I knew he’d kill me if I even dared touch Minkyung, but she practically offered herself up to me.”

“Choose your words carefully, Jung.” You warn, gritting your teeth, “That doesn’t mean you accept it, let alone use that fact against her. She was— was ostracized! By her own brother!”

“That’s on him! I know what I did was shitty and I owe her an apology. I’m not the same boy I was 3 years ago!” He shoots up from his seat and walks closer to the lake, “My high school life is full of regrets, okay? I have vices. I let my dick decide for me. I’m a fucking teenager. I know I’ve hurt people and they probably won’t forgive me so I don’t bother with apologizing to their faces, but I regret my actions, alright?”

“So you regret sleeping with me?”

Jaehyun looks back at you, staring into your eyes with an unreadable expression. After a moment, he inhales, “I regret sleeping with you under those circumstances.”

You frown, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I liked being with you. Aside from the sex or the pillow talk — the small conversations in my car or at the library… I looked forward to those the most.”

“Then why did we always have sex?”

“Because that’s what you were looking forward to.”

“Because that’s the reason why we were meeting up in the first place!” You exclaim, “If you wanted to talk, you could have just told me. We can be actual friends, you know.”

“But what if,” Jaehyun nervously licks his lips, blinking rapidly as the wind picks up a bit, “What if I wanted to be more?”

Your ears are ringing as if they popped. Did you hear him right? He wanted to be more than friends? “But… Areum…”

He immediately denies it, “We’re not even dating. I mean, we act like we are, but all we’re doing is using each other. We have sex and she uses me as a status symbol or something — we got uninvited to her villa because I told her last night that I didn’t want to share a room with her. I didn’t want to do anything with her anymore, to be exact.”

“Why?”

“What do you mean why? I like you!”

You gaped at him like he had grown a second head, “You like me? Jaehyun, you could literally have anyone — anyone — in the whole world!”

“Then why can’t I have you?”

“But…” You shake your head, “Why me?”

Now it was Jaehyun’s turn to look at you bewilderedly, “Why not you?”

“God! You know I hate it when you answer my questions with a question!” You stand up and march towards him, “Why would you choose me over Areum or Minkyung—”

“Stop bringing other people into this,” He interjects, “This is about you and me.”

“You’re better off with them. Or anybody else.” You look down at your feet to avoid his gaze, “I don’t have time to be in a committed relationship. Not when high school is almost done and college is around the corner.”

“I had a feeling you’d say that.” His lips form a forlorn smile, “I wanted to tell you earlier. I wanted to tell you that day we were supposed to come here.”

“You wanted to tell me that day?” You repeat, waiting for him to confirm, “You wanted to tell me that you like me that day when just the night before you were partying with another girl… kissing her and holding her hand… you want me to believe that you like me the entire time you were doing those things with her?”

Jaehyun starts to look flustered, “I-I told you. Areum and I aren’t dating. It’s all for show—”

“Could’ve fooled me.” You say in a higher pitch than your regular voice. “Do you hear yourself? You wanted to tell another girl you liked her after you were with someone else the night prior?”

“[Y/N], just listen to me first—”

“No. You listen to me.” You demand, “I was on cloud nine that day, Jaehyun. My scholarship application for my dream university was accepted, I was told I was graduating as valedictorian... just all the hard work I’ve dedicated my entire school life was paying off. I didn’t mean for you to be the first one to know, but I wanted to celebrate it with you, too — so, so badly, Jaehyun.”

Your sight starts to blur as you pause to take a breath, “I didn’t mean to go to that party, but I wanted to see you again. I spent extra time to fix myself up for you because you always called me nice things when I was naked and I wanted to hear you say those things when I’m clothed. I hate crowds — I hate them so much because I feel so out of place, but I ignored them all. I just wanted to see you. And I did. And I saw her.”

Your throat burns as you do your best to choke down your tears. He watches you, unmoving and unsure, so you continue speaking.

“And— and I-I’ve never… I’ve never felt that, you know? Just pure pain in my chest. I’ve never been jealous of anyone until I saw her. My head hurt with so many questions and if Minkyung hadn’t brought me out, I would have passed out. When she told me her story, my heart ached even more. I couldn’t believe you were capable of doing that to anyone but our stories matched up, word for word, Jaehyun. It made sense and up until on the way here, I would have given you the benefit of the doubt, but you didn’t even deny it.” Unable to hold back, you start to sob, “I wanted to tell you I loved you that night, Jaehyun.”

Saying those words out loud brought both relief and horror to your system; it felt nice to have something you kept to yourself for so long to finally see the light of day, but the last person you wanted to hear them was the person those words were for.

He’s visibly astonished by your confession; eyes wide and misty, and mouth agape, letting you see the soft wisps of his warm breath react to the cold air.

“H-how long have you been…”

You angrily shrug your shoulders, “I don’t know. I had inklings of it every time you were sweet to me, but I ignored them. But I knew I was when I saw you with Areum… because why else would my heart break for someone who isn’t mine.”

“I can be yours.” Jaehyun takes a step forward but you put your hand up to stop him, “It’s not too late, [Y/N].”

“I had a pregnancy scare, Jaehyun.” You softly admit, “I realized I was late, ironically, at the party and Minkyung took me back to her place so I can take a pregnancy test. It came out negative, but until I finally got my period days after I went back home to my parents, I was so fucking scared, Jaehyun.”

“Fuck.” He curses, “Shit, I’m sorry, [Y/N]. I… I should have told you the condom broke.”

Your ears were ringing again. It was as if the entire world decided to stop and the silence was deafening.

“You knew the condom broke and you didn’t tell me…?”

“I panicked, too! It’s the first time it happened—”

“Well, fuck, Jaehyun! Congratulations, you know what to do next time it does!” You start to breathe heavily, remembering the anxiety you felt a few weeks ago. “Do you know how hard it is to look my parents in the eye and tell them everything is fine when in the back of your mind you don’t know if you’re pregnant or not? And if I was, how the fuck am I going to explain our relationship to them? I’m the breadwinner of the family. I had one goal: succeed in school to get a good job in the city. Getting pregnant in high school? That is the easiest way to ruin everything both me and my parents have worked hard for.”

He swallows hard, “Would you have kept… the baby?”

You answer in a broken voice as another sob escapes you, “Yes.”

“I wouldn’t have let you go through that alone, [Y/N].” Jaehyun holds your hands, both frosty from being exposed to the winter weather, “I’m going to take responsibility. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, [Y/N]. I should have told you the moment I found out. I’m sorry you had to go through that alone.”

Your palms started to feel warm now that he held them tightly. This was the first contact you had with him in weeks. You would have thought you would crave more, but you don’t. You liked his hands, you told him this, you liked it that he touched you with them, but now they just felt like any other set of hands.

“You’re as clueless at love as me… just like how I was with sex a few months ago.” You try to crack a smile and force out a chuckle, but you end up streaming new tears down your cheeks. “And it’s easy to say that we can learn this together.”

His eyes light up, hopeful with your words. Only to grow wet as you struggle to say the next words.

“But I can’t.” You choke out, “I can’t be the one to learn this with you.”

You retract your hands from him, slipping them out of his hold, and curling them into fist to keep the warmth in.

“[Y/N].” His voice quivered, looking down at his empty hands, “What do I have to say or do for you to stay?”

It was odd and painful to see him cry; he exuded such a strong image and power with charisma that can be seen and felt for miles. Yet here he was, crumbling in front of you.

“Nothing.” You bit down your lip to keep it from trembling, “It was a mistake to even make that bet with you… but I don’t regret it.”

Jaehyun sniffs, cheeks and nose even redder now. You bravely put a hand on his cheek, wiping his tears with your thumb.

“A part of me will always be with you. It’s a part I’ll never get back and I don’t mind. Even though it was brief, I don’t regret falling in love with you.” You step closer to him, placing your other hand on his chest. He puts his hand over yours on his chest and the other on your waist. You look into each other’s eyes, studying each other for the last time before you push yourself up and kiss him.

It was bittersweet knowing this was the last kiss. Maybe that’s why both of you made the most of it, clinging onto each other like you were each other’s lifeline. There was no fighting for dominance, just moving your mouths against each other in complete sync. You exert every last drop of your emotions for him with this kiss until both of you pull away.

You start crying again, burying your face into his chest. His arms go around you, holding you tight as he starts to quietly sob as well.

“I wish I realized I liked you from the start…” He whispers, “If I had, I wouldn’t be saying I love you as a goodbye.”

His shoulders shake a little harder after he says those words and you hug him tighter. You stand in the freezing air, holding each other in silence until both of you notice the specks of white falling around you.

From an outsider’s point of view, seeing the two of you standing under the snowfall could probably paint a picture perfect scene of winter romance.

“I’m sorry.” You say, “You shouldn’t have brought me here. You had fond memories here.”

Jaehyun follows your gaze to the stretch of ice, the surface scratched up from ice skates. There’s no use in telling you that he still went here that day and witnessed a man go down on his knees in front of a woman. It had him thinking, but even then he knew it was ridiculous.

“And I still do.” He sniffs, returning his gaze to yours. “I’ll come back to this place and remember the times my family had picnics, or the times my dad and I went fishing, or skating, or skipping stones. Other than those, I’ll come back and remember this as the place I was able to tell the very first girl that I love her.”

Your chest constricts once more, but this time it doesn’t hurt. “You can come back here and remember that she loves you too.”

He smiles, although it doesn’t quite reach his eyes, or even bring out his dimples, “Even if she was the one that got away… I love her, nonetheless.”

You had always imagined breaking up would leave you broken beyond repair, sobbing in a crumpled up state on the ground — but then again, this wasn’t a break up. You two were ending things; a toxic relationship that neither of you acknowledged until it was too late. You still want to cry, you’re still hurting, but a part of you tells you it’s going to be okay.

The wind blows again and you gasp, shivering as the icy air seeped through your clothes.

Jaehyun chuckles, “Come on. Let’s get you home.”

You eagerly trek back to his car with him, putting your hands up to the heater once he turns it on. You think you heard him call you cute under his breath, but you don’t let it linger in your thoughts. You wait for him to play a song, but he never does. As he was about to reverse his car out of the parking lot, he pauses to look at you one last time.

He doesn’t say anything, so you don’t either. After a few seconds, he starts to drive and you watch the lake disappear from the side mirror.

» hope you liked it ヽ(✿ﾟ▽ﾟ)ノ let me know your thoughts through here

#nct smut #nct scenarios #jaehyun smut #jaehyun scenarios #commissioned

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amjustagirl · 4 years

Text

The sky of the sky (of the tree called life)

Pairing: Suga x reader

AO3 Link Here:

Summary: She doesn’t take much notice of him at first, not when he’s one of thirty nine faces that greet her with varying degrees of interest when their teacher introduces her to the class.But then he hits her in the face with his friendship and she starts to get to know him - through the smallest things, in the littlest ways.

Author’s Notes: This is the first fic I wrote and initially posted as a lone (AO3 link (was still getting the hang of Tumblr lol). Lifted the title from ‘I carry your heart’ by E.E. Cummings. Anyways - this is my humble attempt at a fic, my love letter to one Sugawara Koushi.

Ume doesn’t take much notice of him at first, not when he’s one of thirty nine faces that greet her with varying degrees of interest when their teacher introduces her to the class. She doesn’t take much notice of anyone really, not when her mind is consumed with thoughts of college prep and exams and chores, so he remains a stranger, even after weeks of sitting next to him in class.

Still, he greets her every morning with a pleasant ‘Ohayo’, and doesn’t take offense when she merely responds with a small smile. He offers up his notes without comment when she asks to check her English notes against his, and even occasionally slips her a banana from the stash he always seems to be carting around. His grades are decent and his homework is always submitted on time so he’s popular with their teachers, even though he seems to spend most of his break time sketching what looks like volleyball plays or buried in heated discussions with Sawamura.

Overall, he seems like a nice boy - if a little obsessed with volleyball.

She looks at her lunch box in dismay. There should be food in it, rice and tamago and fish that she most definitely packed last night, but her lunch box sits on her desk, clean and empty. She groans, glancing at the clock. Five minutes after the lunch bell. She ponders on whether to wait until dinner or be jostled to death by a thousand teenagers, but then her stomach growls, loud enough for Yuna-san in the front row to turn and stare at her, so she supposes there isn’t much of a choice.

As she approaches the canteen, she can hear the usual bustle and sound of too many students trying to feed themselves in too small a space - but then she hears a shrill shout - ‘cream buns for sale’, and the immediate cacophony of excited shouts that follow makes her think that her chances of getting food in the next half hour plummet to precisely zero.

Her assessment is right, but that doesn’t stop her mouth from dropping in horror as the canteen practically descends into a warzone, her schoolmates collectively losing their minds. The girls’ tennis team looks like they’re leading a charge through the left, but they’re being resisted by the concert band. The volleyball boys’ team seems like they’re causing plenty of chaos down the centre. Sawamura-san, engaged in a vigorous shoving match with the basketball captain, and Azumane-san - the large, quiet boy she shares home economics class with, cowering while trying to swim through the crowd with a feral looking boy perched on his back.

She apologises silently to her stomach and turns to head back to class.

‘Imai-san!’ Sugawara waves at her from the back of the crowd. ‘I’ll help you get some buns! What do you want!’

‘Oh – two buns, any flavour?” she calls back, a little dazed. He answers with a cheerful thumbs up.

She watches bemusedly as he expertly weaves his way through the crowd to Azumane-san, gesturing wildly to the little boy on her back, before combining forces with a bald boy to shove Azumane-san bodily through the crowd to the front of the queue. The boys grab armfuls of buns each, elbowing the displeased soccer team in the face.

Sugawara spins around, and there’s a glint in his eye that she can recognise from far away (courtesy of being an older sister to two troublesome younger brothers), but her legs don’t move despite her mind hollering at her danger, danger, Imai Ume, even as he raises his arm to toss the buns to her.

One bun lands neatly in her hands. The other smacks her right between her eyes.

She yelps, hands clapping over her face, checking to ensure her glasses are still in one piece. A curry bun may be relatively light and fluffy, but it still hurts when used as a flying projectile.

She hears footsteps clatter towards her. ‘Oh my god, I’m so sorry - please don’t cry!” Sugawara says, his voice high pitched in worry, hovering next to her awkwardly. “Daichi will never let me get over it if I make a girl cry.’

She snorts despite the sting between her eyes. “It’s fine, Sugawara-san. Thank you for helping get some food’.

‘Are you sure? Maybe we should go to the nurse’s office just in case!’ he fusses, shuffling his weight from one foot to the other nervously, ‘I’m such an idiot, I can’t believe I missed that toss, I should just resign from the volleyball team already - ‘

‘Eh eh eh? Suga - what’s this talk about resigning from volleyball!’ The small, feral boy from earlier leaps onto Sugawara’s back.

‘How can you resign? This is the year we’re making it to Nationals!’ the bald boy rounds up the rear, yelling at Sugawara indignantly.

‘I missed a toss at my classmate, I’m no longer qualified to be a setter.’ Sugawara wails, unfazed by the weight of his two juniors on his back. ‘I should just die now’

‘YOU THINK YOU’RE ASAHI NOW EH, DRAMA QUEEN!’

She takes advantage of their chaos to slip back to class. They don’t get a chance to speak to each other again for the rest of the day, kept busy with classes on calculus and chemistry for the rest of the afternoon. But the next morning he crows a loud ‘Ohayo’ at her, and she smiles at him, wider than she did before.

-----------------------------------

Spring passes into summer surprisingly quickly, and Ume slowly, but surely, gets used to hearing the song of the cicadas in evenings instead of the rumble of cars in the streets, to the uphill bike commute she takes to ferry both herself and Yuji to school and kindergarten respectively.

Becoming accustomed to something doesn’t mean liking it though. She remembers her mother saying that things would be easier when they move to Karasuno from the city. That living with family in a close knit community like Karasuno means more hands on deck to keep their family afloat. For the most part, Ume supposes her mother’s right. Her grandparents are sweet and try their best to help out, if a little too old to chase Yuji around the house or fetch him up and down the mountain to preschool every day. Their neighbours always offer them too much food, and their grandchildren provide Yuji with enough entertainment most evenings for Ume to catch up with schoolwork and revision.

But sometimes, after she’s corralled an unruly Yuji to bed, and shooed a sullen Keiji to sleep, and she herself can’t fall asleep because the cicadas are too damn loud, Ume wonders if her mother uprooted them to Karasuno so she could run away from the fact that she’s stuck raising three children alone, disappearing off on such long business trips that Yuji doesn’t even ask her anymore if their mama’s coming home.

Thankfully, Yuji, with the short memory of a six year old, finds living in the countryside a joy. He joins the neighbour’s children in catching cicadas, and when she tells him that it’s cruel to catch animals for sport – even ones as annoying as cicadas, he laughs and promises that he always lets them go.

Keiji, though, remains quiet and withdrawn, hiding in the bedroom whenever he’s home from school. She tries chatting with him at the dinner table but her efforts are usually met with the surly silence of a thirteen year old. So she doesn’t push him too much, too fast - she already asks too much of him as it is, sharing most of the chores and supervising Yuji so they don’t become a burden to their grandparents.

So it’s a surprise when Keiji asks if they can head to the park for a picnic on a clear summer’s day, but she agrees immediately, swallowing her shock, making sure to pack onigiri and fruit and strapping Yuji to her bike. It’s strange when Keiji drags them all over the park looking for the perfect picnic spot. It’s even stranger when he decides that the playground, full of shrieking children, should be the appropriate spot for a picnic. But there’s a tree for shade and it’s convenient enough for her to watch Yuji while he runs loose in the playground, so she holds her tongue and spreads their picnic mat on the floor.

‘Can I get us some ice cream?’ Keiji asks.

She’s about to tell him to wait til he has proper food in his stomach before moving on to dessert, but catches sight of Keiji staring at the ice cream stand intently, hands in pockets, cheeks flushed pink. She follows his gaze. The ice cream stall looks fairly old, run by an oba-chan and a young girl with short hair and a cheerful smile. Oh.

‘Why don’t you go get an ice cream for yourself? Yuji and I can get some later’, Ume replies, busying herself with the picnic basket to hide her smile.

She settles on the mat, back against the tree, setting her textbook on her lap. The summer air is crisp and cool, and the sunlight shining through the leaves dances on her skin.

‘Hey Imai!’ Suga stops to greet her, hand raised in a friendly wave.

‘Hello!’ she waves back. ‘No volleyball practice today?’

‘No - we have a mandated break on Saturday afternoons’, he walks over to her. ‘Despite what my unruly kouhai think, overtraining causes injuries. Besides, we need time for summer homework’.

She nods, noticing the stack of books under his arm, and before her brain processes her sudden impulse fully, she asks ‘Do you want to join me? We can share the mat’.

He blinks at her, and she cringes internally, expecting him to politely decline. He may chatter at her absentmindedly about his team, and she may share her notes with him when she notices he’s distracted, but it’s not as if they’re friends outside of school. To her surprise though, he agrees easily, kicking off his shoes to join her on the mat. They sit together in silence, absorbed in their respective work. The sun is warm but the breeze is cool and crisp, so it’s comfortable and altogether pleasant.

‘Onee-chan’, Keiji calls, running back over. He raises an eyebrow when he notices Suga and drops into a slight bow before turning to his sister. ‘Can I have my onigiri? I want to pass it to my friend.’

She opens her mouth to nag him to make sure that he has lunch, but promptly shuts it. Instead, she tosses him two onigiris - hers, and his. ‘Make sure you eat, Keiji’, she calls, and he’s off, running with the wind.

‘Hey, Imai, I packed too much food. Share some of it with me?’ Suga offers mildly. She’s about to say no, thank you politely, but her stomach growls - traitor, and he just chuckles at her, snapping his lunchbox open and pressing half his sandwich into her hands. She thanks him, taking a bite and has to stop herself from moaning in delight because it’s full of egg mayo and chicken katsu and it’s so, so good.

‘It’s delicious, right?’ he says, grinning around a mouthful of his half of the sandwich. ‘You can’t study on an empty stomach, that’s against the law’.

She laughs at that and splits her stash of strawberries and watermelon with him.

Later, she shocks herself again when she tells him as he’s about to leave that she’ll probably be at the park again next Saturday - and he’s welcome to join her if he pleases. She wonders if he can see the uncertainty in her eyes, but he shoots her another smile and agrees.

-----------------------------------

She packs two extra onigiris next Saturday, and the Saturday after that. She also starts including peaches from her grandparents’ farm because she learns that he has a weakness for them.

Keiji ignores Suga for the most part, leaving for the ice cream stand as soon as they arrive in the park. Yuji, on the other hand, soon learns he can get Suga to do whatever he wants if he pouts long enough. Suga, for his part, does not help, often buying the little boy far too much mochi and ice cream.

‘Stop it Yuji.’ Ume says wearily. ‘Suga needs to study and you’re distracting him’.

‘But he’s the only one I know who can push me hard enough on the swings’, Yuji whines, scruffing his shoes into the ground.

‘It’s fine, I’ll take it as my break’, Suga says, smiling kindly down at the little boy. ‘Shall we see how high you can fly, Yuji-chan?’

She watches, shaking her head as Yuji cheers, dragging Suga off in the direction of the playground.

‘You seem good with kids’, she remarks when he returns - thankfully after a short while since Yuji, with the typical attention span of a six year old, is quickly distracted by the other kids playing a game of tag.

‘You think so?’ Sugawara responds, turning back to his books. ‘That’s good to know. I’m planning on going to college to train to be a teacher.’

The image of him dressed in a rumpled shirt and tie greeting his class with a cheerful ‘Ohayo’ every morning flashes in her mind. She imagines him smiling wide and indulgent at his student’s pranks, listening patiently to his students’ questions and problems, diligently pouring over his students’ assignments late into the night.

For some reason, her heart clenches. She doesn't know why.

-----------------------------------

‘Tohoku Medical school?’, he asks, eyeing the flyer sticking out of her bag.

‘Mm.’ she mumbles, distracted by the peach juice running down her hands. Then she realises what he’s just said and wrinkles her nose. ‘The entrance exam is hard though. Not a lot of people pass.’

‘Ugh, stop that, your grades are so good- negativity begone!’ He nudges her teasingly with his elbow. She rolls her eyes at him in response.

‘Why, though?’ he asks, before quickly adding. ‘If you don’t mind saying’.

She’s about to rattle off her prepared answer of heeding the noble calling of saving lives and making a difference one person at a time, but for some reason, she doesn’t.

Instead, she jerkily answers - ‘My dad was a doctor’.

She can feel him raise his eyebrows at her use of past tense (and not present tense) and suddenly the peach in her hand doesn’t seem as appetising as it was before.

‘Cancer’, she finds herself saying. ‘Last year’. She looks down at her feet, refusing to see what she expects will be pity in his gaze.

But he doesn’t say anything. He leans his shoulder against hers, and they stay that way for a while.

She doesn’t protest this time when he comes back from the ice cream stall with far too much ice cream, and the tightness in her chest dissipates as she watches him let Yuji flit between his chocolate and vanilla cones like a honeybee, even though she knows she’s going to have a hard time putting the little boy to bed tonight.

-----------------------------------

'I like Suga-san very much.' Yuji declares later as she tucks him into bed.

'So do I', Ume says. So do I’.

The call of the cicadas don’t seem as loud, and she falls asleep easily that night.

-----------------------------------

‘You should be studying’, she reminds him, playfully rapping on his knuckles with her pen.

He scratches the back of his neck sheepishly, looking up from his sketches on volleyball plays. ‘A couple more minutes and I’ll get back to work’.

She shakes her head indulgently at him. ‘You spend far too much time on volleyball as it is’.

‘I suppose I do’, he hums, busy drawing indecipherable pictures in what she’s termed his volleyball notebook.

She’s suddenly reminded of Yamada and Takashi, the two basketball idiots in her class, goading Suga about ‘being a loser for losing his starting position to a first year’. Sawamura usually erupts in anger when he hears them as he’s wont to do whenever he encounters the basketball club, but Suga, for his part, only responds with a serene smile.

��Is it worth it?’ she asks, before she can stop herself. ‘Sorry’ she says frantically, as her brain catches up with her mouth. ‘That was rude of me’.

He breathes a rueful laugh through his nose. ‘It’s fine, I’m not offended’. But he stops his scribbling, and his mouth slants downward in a way that Ume doesn’t quite like.

‘It’s worth it’, he then says, voice quiet but full of conviction. ‘It’s worth it to play with my team. I want us to keep getting stronger, I want us to keep playing together, and I want us to go to Nationals and win’. He gazes into the distance and smiles, bittersweet. ‘And everything else doesn’t matter’.

It’s her turn to lean into him with her shoulder.

‘I’ll bring Yuji to watch you at the finals’, she says. ‘And we’ll watch you at Nationals on our TV’.

He laughs and she smiles, wide and bold and bright.

----------------------------------

Sugawara spends their lunch breaks talking about his team’s latest exploits all the time. She laughs when he tells her about the hijinks that the team constantly gets up to, from setting fire to the Vice Principal’s very obvious toupee, to an all out prank war with the basketball team featuring copious amounts of dead fish and paint bombs. She particularly enjoys Suga’s impression of Nishinoya’s ‘rolling thunder’ war cry, and rather suspects the whole team is intent on driving Sawamura into an early grave.

Despite having a tendency to smile indulgently at his team’s penchant for chaos and hellfire, it’s clear that Suga cares deeply for each and every one of his teammates. He broods about Tsukkishima’s lack of ambition and desire to bond with the team, Yamaguichi’s lack of confidence, Kageyama’s and Hinata’s inability to communicate like regular human beings. Even when he jokes about Ennoshita’s latest attempt to evade Sawamura’s talks about ‘passing on the captainship’, she can sense the undercurrent of worry and concern.

Perhaps that’s why she volunteers to give tutoring Tanaka and Nishinoya a go, after he explains that they’ll end up missing the Tokyo Training Camp that Takeda-sensei went through so much trouble to arrange. She also tells herself that the reason she’s doing it is because Second year Math is covered in the university entrance exams - and absolutely not because Suga practically lights up with relief when she waves his thanks away.

----------------------------------

Tanaka and Nishinoya remind her of Yuji and even Keiji (well, before), rowdy and loud and full of boyish mischief. They fall out of their chairs when they notice Kiyoko-san walk by the classroom deep in conversation with some boy, and she has to rap them on their knuckles with a pen to get them to focus on solving question number two - please and thank you - before they settle back down.

Still, they’re surprisingly attentive and almost respectful even when she’s trying to impress upon them the dryer points of Math, so it’s easy to become fond of them. They get through vectors after she likens the trajectory of vectors to the movement of a volleyball. Statistics were a struggle, but fortunately, volleyball statistics save the day. Calculus seems to be the biggest hurdle, but she’s hopeful they’ll get it, once she finds a way to relate it to volleyball or better yet, convince them that differentiation and integration are very, very manly pursuits.

That said, it doesn’t help that the basketballers in her class seem to have a deep rooted grudge against the volleyball team - though from Suga’s stories, the animosity is probably mutual. Yamada in particular seems to take special pleasure in taunting the two boys.

‘Eh, Baldy! Y’all lose another game yet? I saw you guys crying the other day after school’.

‘They’d probably win more games if chibi-chan here grew a few inches’, Takashi, his fellow basketballer sniggers.

‘Ignore them’, she tells the two growling boys firmly. ‘You don’t need to get kicked out of your team for starting a fight with these guys’.

‘Awww… are you two kouhai hiding behind your female senpai? ’ Yamadai jeers, leering at them. ‘What losers, just like your Suga-senpai. Heard he got turfed out of his starting position by a first year’.

At that, Tanaka and Nishinoya practically levitate out of their seats as one, snarling ‘Huh?!!! You fucking -’

‘Bit rich of you to pick on them, eh Yamada?’ Ume interrupts. ‘I heard Ono-senpai say last week that if you fail your tests one more time, you’re going to get kicked out of the basketball team. Who’s the loser now?’

‘Bitch!’ Yamada growls, hands slapping his desk.

‘Maybe you’d have a better shot at passing your exams if you spent your time studying instead of disturbing others - who unlike you are actually working hard,’ she adds, smiling at him sweetly.

Thankfully, Takashi has some sense of self-preservation and drags Yamada kicking and screaming out of the door. Tanaka and Noya swivel their heads towards her, twin expressions of shock on their faces.

‘Holy shit, that was so manly?!’

‘Imai-senpai, you’re almost as cool as Kiyoko-senpai!’

‘Yeah - almost as good as the time she ignored us when we asked her to marry us.’

‘No - better, but not as good as the time she slapped me’

‘Thank you’, she responds dryly. ‘Can we get back to differentiation, please?

‘Yes, Imai-senpai!’ They snap into a salute.

----------------------------------

‘I hear from Tanaka and Noya that you’re very manly’. His eyes twinkle at her.

‘Psh’, she says airily. ‘They exaggerate’.

But she laughs when he slips her half his sandwich as thanks.

----------------------------------

Noya and Tanaka pass their exams (by some miracle, thank god), and they graduate from her tutoring sessions.

She passes her exams too, tops her cohort even.

Her classmates start to take more notice of her, requesting for copies of her notes and tutoring sessions on topics they don’t really grasp. It's not really that much of a problem to just have an extra set of notes for her classmates to copy (she learnt her lesson when Takashi spills juice all over her precious biology notes - an accident, of course), and extra tutoring sessions are a good way for her to revise what she previously learnt - so she doesn’t really mind.

Of course she knows they think they're picking her brains and hard work, but it's not as if she minds. They're reasonably polite when they approach her, and she can pretend she doesn’t hear them gossip about her behind her back (that her parents are rich enough to send her to not one, but two cram schools, that they must know the principal who leaked the exam topics to her somehow).

Still, she can’t help but feel a spike of irritation when Yamada manages to corner her alone in class one day after school.

‘Oi, Ikai. Can you give me a copy of your math notes? I hear they're pretty good.'

She blinks innocently at him. ‘My notes cover whatever sensei taught in class if you were listening’. Which he probably wasn't, considering he seems to spend most of his time tossing spitballs or bouncing a basketball obnoxiously against the wall.

‘Tch.’ He leans towards her. ‘Come on, don’t be a stingy bitch. Just lend them to me for a bit.’

She narrows her eyes at the audacity of this bugger. 'No.' she says simply.

'Eh?' Yamada glares down at her.

'Did a basketball hit you too hard in the head yesterday? I said no.' She turns her back on him, packing her school bag, keeping her sharpest pencil in her hand, just in case.

He takes a step closer towards her, both hands heavy on her desk. 'But you share your notes with everyone else!’

‘Well, yes - but that’s because they're tolerably polite when they ask, and unlike you, they actually get my name right.’

He slaps her table hard with his hands. ‘Stop being a bitch, just give me your notes already'.

She should just give him what he's asking for or placate him with the promise that she'll give him a copy tomorrow - but she suddenly feels so sick and tired of giving more and more of herself - to her mother, her brothers, her classmates, and now this rude asshole - and she's so done, goddamnit.

'No.' She snaps, lifting her chin defiantly at him. 'What are you going to do about it?'

He snarls, grabbing hold of her wrist. 'Stubborn bitch, just give me the notes already!'

'Let go, pig!', she shouts, trying to wrench her wrist away, mind whirring to calculate the force and speed needed to shove her pencil into his face. His grip tightens, and he digs his nails into the thin skin of her wrist.

He smirks down at her. She tries not to flinch.

'Hey, Imai. Got worried about you when you didn’t turn up at the library.' Suga calls out, loud and clear from the door. Ume exhales a breath she didn’t even know she was holding as he walks deliberately towards them.

‘Yamada-san. I always knew you were an asshole, but I didn’t know you stooped so low you’d bully a girl’.

Yamada takes a half step back, but does not release her hand. 'Piss off, Suga. It’s none of your business'.

‘Perhaps’, he responds, humming diffidently. ‘But I thought I should remind you that if you get just one more strike on your disciplinary record, you’re off the basketball team’. His mouth stretches into a semi feral smile. ‘For good.’

Yamada coils back, looking as if he’d like nothing better than to strike Suga in the face, but then, seemingly thinking the better of it, he drops Ume’s wrist and smirks again. ‘We were just having a friendly discussion, eh Imai?’

‘Remind your thick skull to keep it that way.’ Suga says, meeting Yamada’s glare with an even gaze of his own.

Yamada looks away. 'Tch. I can't be bothered with you dumbasses', he sneers, stalking out of the class.

‘Are you ok?’ Suga asks her immediately, glancing at her once over, stopping short when he spots the red welts ringed around her wrist. ‘Did he do that to you?’ he asks, voice dangerous.

‘I’m fine.’ She follows his gaze and yanks her sleeve down, hiding the marks from view. ‘It’s nothing.’

He opens his mouth, about to insist that it is very much not fine, but she cut him off quickly. ‘Really! It’s my fault he got annoyed with me. He wanted a copy of my notes and I was very rude and didn’t want to give them to him,’ she laughs awkwardly. ‘Besides, it’s a good thing you stepped in when you did, or I’d have gotten into more trouble - because I was about to stab him with my pencil’.

Suga’s mouth drops open. ‘With your what?’

She unfurls her palm to show him her pencil, pink and sharp but altogether unconvincing.

He bursts into cackles, wheezing. ‘Maybe Tanaka should’ve taken his time to get me. I would’ve liked to see you try to fight Yamada with that’.

She snorts. ‘I’m just glad Tanaka showed some self-restraint and didn’t jump Yamada himself.’

‘Well, I’m pretty sure that’s because Ennoshita was there to stop him.’ Suga says wryly. He drops his gaze back to her wrist. ‘But seriously, if I’d known he hurt you, I’d have jumped him too’.

She looks at him sharply. ‘Suga… If any one of you get suspended, you can’t play in the Inter High Preliminaries.’

‘Not if we don’t get caught for it’. He gives her a zen smile as she splutters in shock. ‘Anyway, don’t you usually leave school to pick Yuji-chan up by now?’

‘Oh no, Yuji’s probably waiting for me!’ She cries out in alarm, dashing across the classroom.

At the doorway, she comes to a pause and turns around. ‘Suga!’

‘Mm?’ He tilts his head at her.

She smiles shyly. ‘Thanks’.

He smiles back.

----------------------------------

She ends up preparing a copy of her notes for Yamada anyway. He’s stubborn and stupid, and she figures that Suga’s interference, while welcome in the moment, is only likely to spur him on to pester her again. But when she walked into class the next morning, Yamada is nowhere to be found.

‘Did you hear Yamada-kun got caught with the vice principal’s burnt wig in his locker?’ she hears Yuna whisper to Mizuki before the bell rings.

‘Oh no! Is he in a lot of trouble?’ Mizuki gasps.

‘I don’t know, but I heard from Takashi that he’s been suspended from the basketball team indefinitely!’

‘No! Don’t they have a game next week?’

Ume looks over her shoulder at Suga, sitting with a self-satisfied smirk on his face.

‘I may have mentioned to Noya what happened with Yamada-san. Tanaka, of course, was very happy to help out’, he says simply when she corners him after school.

Yamada does return to class eventually, but he refuses to even look in her direction for the next month. She figures she’d much rather not press for answers she suspects she wouldn’t like. Instead, she spends the night cutting out twelve crow charms from black felt with the help of a very eager Yuji, hand stitching each member’s number in white thread and leaving them in Suga’s bag for him to find.

------------------------------------

She sneaks Yuji with her when the school buses students in for Karasuno’s match with Shiratorizawa.

They all watch with tears in their eyes when the final whistle blows and the boys win.

‘Congratulations, Suga’, she tells him the next day and adds. ‘I think Yuji’s found a new way to fly’.

He grins at her, his eyes burning proud and bright.

------------------------------------

Fall fades into winter. The days start looping, one after another.

Wake up. Get Yuji to kindergarten. School. Homework. Pick Yuji up. Make dinner. Pack leftovers for lunch. Do laundry. Revision. Tuck Yuji into bed. More Revision. Sleep.

Rinse. Repeat. Rinse. Repeat.

She curses when the cock crows every morning, and falls asleep before her head hits the pillow every night, so she wonders how he manages to survive with practices lasting daily into the night. Or maybe he doesn’t, she thinks to herself, watching the shadows beneath his eyes grow, grey and dark.

‘Is it worth it?’ she asks. (Do you ever regret it, she implies.)

‘Yes.’ he says. (At least I hope I don’t, he sighs.)

----------------------------------

She notices immediately when his seat is empty. Sawamura tells her it’s to be expected, Suga always catches a cold in winter.

‘I don’t mind helping to bring his homework to him’, she volunteers. ‘You’re going to be staying late in school for practice anyway’. She avoids Sawamura’s knowing look as she writes Suga’s address down, his homework tucked safely into her bag.

His mother beams, surprised and delighted when she appears at their door. She’s promptly shooed upstairs, and Yuji is lured into the kitchen with promises of mochi and ice cream. She knocks on the open door. He’s crouched on the bed, watching a replay of Karasuno’s finals match against Shiratorizawa.

‘Hey. I brought your homework.’ She frowns, noting the paleness of his face despite the redness of his cheeks. ‘Shouldn’t you be resting?’

‘I’m watching the match to fall asleep!’ he says defensively.

‘The match is at least two hours long! If you’re well enough to watch the match, you’re well enough to do your homework’.

‘Give me a break’. He groans, sneezing into the crook of his elbow. ‘I’m dying here’.

‘I’m pretty sure you can’t die from a common cold’ she says dryly.

‘Says the one who wants to be a doctor’, he playfully responds.

She rolls her eyes. ‘Don’t argue with me. Get some rest. You don’t have much time before you head off to Tokyo for Nationals, and the Center Shinken* is just after that’.

His smile drops, and he suddenly looks troubled. ‘Do you think I’m crazy?’

(For chasing too many dreams?)

She blinks, confused by his change in mood. She glances at the Miyagi University of Education pamphlet pinned to his wall - only one in three applicants get in. She furrows her brow, thinking about him spending every lunch break, every afternoon and night in their rundown school gym, even as everyone else is spending their days buried in schoolwork and revision.

But then she hears the echo of his words - It’s worth it. I want to play with my team, the cries from the huddle of boys, the memory of him holding a trophy under bright lights and her face softens.

‘Where’s all this self-doubt coming from?’ she says lightly. ‘You already achieved your dream of going to Nationals with your team. Now all you have to do is pass one exam.’

‘As if it’s so easy!’

‘Well, it’d be easier if you rest up so you can get back to work faster!’

‘Ugh, spoilsport’, he pouts at her.

‘Onee-chan’, Yuji pipes up, poking his head into the bedroom. 'Obaa-san said it's time for Suga-san to eat his medicine and take a nap.'

‘Hello, Yuji-chan!’ Suga waves at Yuji, who gives him a gap toothed grin in response.

‘You should tuck him in and tell him a bedtime story’. Yuji tells his sister seriously. She chokes and thinks she should have taken the chance to dump him under a bridge when he was a baby.

Suga laughs so hard he wheezes. 'I won't mind a bedtime story' he chokes out.

Both boys turn to look at her expectantly. 'Fine.' she says, relenting. 'I’ll tell you a bedtime story if you promise you'll try your best to go to sleep'.

They grin and settle down, Yuji on his sister’s lap, Suga laying against his nest of pillows.

She begins telling them a story she’s told Yuji many, many times these past months - about a kind-hearted Prince in a kingdom troubled by a yearly winter plague, who set out to find the cure for this illness, flowers that bloom on the highest of mountains in the deepest, darkest winter days. A Prince who tries to scale the mountain to find the cure, year after year, but is thwarted by blizzards and avalanches and snow monsters.

A small smile grows on his lips as she describes the Prince’s companions - the stalwart captain of his guards, the burly woodcutter with a heart of glass, and he stifles a laugh when she recounts how the Prince manages to trick his frosty hearted little brother to join them along the way. His breath evens out when she reaches the end of her tale, when the Prince and his companions scale the mountain and look down on a field of flowers, green and gold.

'And they lived happily ever after?' Suga murmurs, half asleep.

'And they lived happily ever after' Ume agrees.

She pulls his blanket up under his chin as he slips into sleep, hesitating as warmth furls and unfurls in her chest, before brushing her hand tenderly against his cheek.

----------------------------------

Third years are released from school for self-study.

She works alone at home. The winter days grow long and dark and hard.

(Her heart clenches. It starts to ache.)

----------------------------------

They graduate on a spring day, a shower of pink and white petals blessing their way. He catches up to her in the hallway after the graduation ceremony, hand at her sleeve.

‘Congrats on Tohoku’, he tells her, bright eyed. ‘I knew you could do it’.

‘Congrats on MUE’, she responds with a laugh. ‘See - you weren’t crazy after all’.

‘I suppose I’ll be seeing you around Sendai City? Your campus isn’t too far from mine.’

She opens her mouth to tell him not to be silly - Sendai City is nothing like Karasuno town, a million people within its bounds, and the probability of them meeting randomly on the streets is very, very small, but her throat suddenly becomes dry.

‘Suga’ she begins, balling her hands into fists.

‘Mm?’ he beams at her, brighter than the sun, and it’s all she can do to not to look away.

‘Thank you’, she says quietly. ‘For bringing some light into my life’.

‘I should be thanking you’, he replies earnestly. ‘You’ve been a good friend to me this past year. I don’t think I’d have passed my exams without you’.

“No, Suga,’ she says. ‘I mean - I like you’.

‘Oh.’ he breathes. ‘Oh’.

‘I like you’, she repeats, her voice growing stronger. ‘Because you were kind to me when there was no reason to. You bought bread for me, even if you ended up throwing it in my face. You stole and burnt a wig for me, just to put Yamada in his place. You spent your summer days buying Yuji too much ice cream, swinging him so high he thought he could touch the sky.’

‘I like you, Suga,’ she says finally. ‘Not just as a friend - but as a girl likes a boy.’

He stares at her, eyes wide. A few beats of silence pass.

‘I’m sorry’. He grimaces. ‘I don’t know what to say’.

‘It’s fine’, she finds herself saying. ‘It’s ok’.

(Her heart clenches. She wills it not to break.)

----------------------------------

Ume does not look back. Her bag is packed, and she leaves for Sendai City that week.

Her apartment is small, but she shares it with a few other girls. At night, she re-acquaints herself with the sound of cars rumbling on the street. The song of the cicadas haunts her in her sleep.

(Her heart clenches. She does not break.)

----------------------------------

Suga prides himself on being relatively observant and good with things like subtlety and tact and feelings - things that volleyball obsessed idiots like Daichi wouldn’t even notice if it hit him in the face.

He observes people and notices things, the way Kiyoko isn’t as indifferent to Tanaka as she seems, the way Yamaguchi’s serve suddenly improves when Yachi shouts ‘Gambatte’, the way Yui’s vocabulary immediately regresses whenever she’s talking to Daichi - though to be fair, he’s certain the only person in their level to not know about Yui’s crush on Daichi himself, so maybe that doesn’t count.

(‘I like you, Suga,’ he hears her say. ‘Not just as a friend - but as a girl likes a boy.’)

But then his brain short circuits and stutters to a stop, and it’s all he can do to watch dumbly as Ume turns on her heel and walks off, head high, back straight, he wonders if he’s not much better than the rest of them after all.

----------------------------------

‘Imai Ume said she likes me’. He finds himself telling Daichi, as they walk home from school, pork buns in hand, for the very last time.

Daichi grunts something unintelligible through a mouthful of pork bun.

‘Use your words, Daichi’. Suga can’t help but snark. Daichi grumbles and swallows.

‘Yes. I knew that already’. Daichi says simply. He starts on his second pork bun.

‘What?’ Suga retorts. ‘What do you mean you know? How did you know?’

This time, Daichi chews and swallows before he responds. ‘It was obvious to me.’ He turns to look at Suga squarely. ‘So what are you going to do about it?’

----------------------------------

(‘I’m Sugawara Koushi! But everyone just calls me Suga’. // ‘Imai Ume. It’s nice to meet you.’)

To be honest, he didn't think much of her at first when she joined their class. She had a habit of keeping to herself, never lingering in class before or after lessons, eating lunch alone at her desk, nose buried in a book, but he was brought up with good manners - so he kept greeting her every morning until her small nods turn into quiet smiles.

Of course, he just had to embarrass himself by hitting her in the face with a curry bun (Noya and Tanaka will never let him live it down), but in hindsight that probably kickstarted their friendship. And he’s very grateful for it. She's always passing him copies of her notes for lessons he’s missed or summaries of exam topics she thinks might come in useful, all painstakingly handwritten and colour coded - and even gives him the go-ahead to share it with Daichi. She volunteers to tutor Noya and Tanaka, and he’s sure that it’s in no small part due to her effort that they pass and get to attend training camp.

Yet he’s never considered her more than a friend. Right?

Right?

If he analyses the case of how he feels about one Imai Ume carefully, sifting through the puzzle pieces one at a time, he realises that he's not quite right.

There are little things that come to mind. Like his heart skipping a beat when he hears her laugh for the first time. The flush of his cheeks when he finds out she actually brought Yuji to watch their games. The rush of pride and joy when she tells him ‘I think he’s found a new way to fly’.

And maybe there are bigger things. Like the burst of blind panic in his chest when he hears Tanaka shout for him. The burning urge to break Yamada’s jaw and wipe that smirk off his ugly face when he sees red marks marring her skin. The cold satisfaction in his chest when he (and half the volleyball team) strike that bastard exactly where it hurts.

He remembers the sunshine dancing on her skin, the warmth of her shoulder pressed against his. The touch of her hand ghosting against his cheek. The faint memory of a fairytale about a Prince who gave his all and finds everything he set out to seek.

('And they lived happily ever after?' he asks // 'And they lived happily ever after' she agrees.)

The puzzle pieces fit. It finally clicks.

‘Shit,’ he swears, dialing Daichi’s number.

‘It’s midnight’, Daichi mumbles, voice rough with sleep. ‘What could you possibly want from me?’

‘I like Ume’, Suga says - and just saying it feels right. ‘I like her, Daichi’.

He hears an almighty yawn - and then he can almost see Daichi smile.

‘So what are you going to do about it?’

----------------------------------

What is he going to do about it?

Get hold of one Imai Ume and tell her that his mouth moved faster than his brain (and heart), of course.

----------------------------------

But what can he do about it?

Not very much, as it turns out.

For starters, he realises they’ve never exchanged numbers. He never felt the need to, they were classmates, no, seatmates, so she was always there, like the sun and stars in the sky.

He tries to find where she lives by asking around but soon meets a dead end. Karasuno Town isn’t large by any measure, the main shopping street fanning out into a smattering of small rural neighbourhoods. But he knows for a fact that Ume stays with her maternal grandparents, and she’s never once mentioned their surname, so he’s left with little to go on.

‘At least I know she’s moving to Sendai City’, he mopes to Daichi over a steaming bowl of ramen.

Daichi, probably tired of the number of times he’s heard him repeat this, just slurps his noodles noisily.

----------------------------------

He and Daichi rent a flat from a little old lady who pats their chests and pinches their cheeks. It’s halfway between their schools, five minutes from the convenience store, and the rent is pretty cheap.

They soon settle into the rhythm of university life. They cycle to school in the mornings for lectures, struggle with tutorials, and fight over chores. Their social life isn’t too shabby either - they both make plenty of friends and even join volleyball teams.

Still, Suga can’t help feeling like something’s missing. ‘Someone, not something, you dolt’, his inner voice tells him, sounding suspiciously like Daichi.

He starts seeing the ghost of her everywhere.

He stares when he sees the slant of her shoulders in his classmate in the front seat. He crashes into Daichi when he thinks he hears the birdsong of her laughter float down the street. He picks up a habit of doing a double take at almost every girl he meets.

‘Stop it’, Daichi tells him crossly. ‘People are going to think you’re some kind of freak or pervert.’

He tries, he really does. But then months pass, and he starts to think that maybe Sendai City, with its million residents and a million more trees, might have hidden her out of his reach.

----------------------------------

Summer arrives, and he returns home to Karasuno. He and Daichi and Asahi find themselves back in the school gym often, and he finds himself being dragged into practice match after practice match with his unruly kouhai. It’s a good way to spend his holidays, but he can’t help thinking if there isn’t a route he hasn’t explored yet.

‘No, Sugawara-kun, I can’t give you the contact details of our alumni, even if they’re your old classmates’, Takada-sensei says indignantly. ‘And don’t even think about breaking into the staff room at night!’

Eh. At least that was worth a try.

----------------------------------

Tashiro senpai means well, he really does. But Daichi lets it slip that he’s been moping over some girl (‘For months!’, he roars), so on a Friday night, Suga finds himself thrust head first into a party at Tashiro’s apartment, surrounded by way too many people and not enough food. Daichi’s chatting with Yui (Go, Yui!), and he doesn’t know anyone else, so he doesn’t say no when Tashiro pushes cans of beer and cups of cheap spirits into his hands.

He’s a few months short of being able to legally drink, and it’s the first time he’s drinking outside his family home - but well, what Daichi doesn’t know won’t kill him. Soon though, the living room feels far too warm and the music is far too loud, so he figures he may as well seek fresh air and whatever refuge he can get on the cramped balcony beyond the kitchen.

He leans his forehead against the bannister. Gah. His head hurts. His stomach churns.

A raindrop splatters on to the back of his neck, then another, and soon he can hear the gentle patter of rain against the roof. He rights himself with a groan, and begins to head back inside. As he slides the glass door open, he turns and sees the silhouette of a girl emerge into the balcony, two apartments down, clearing her clothes from the laundry rack.

He stops. He can almost hear Daichi roaring at him at the back of his mind, but Suga can’t help but stare and think ‘there’s something awfully familiar about that girl’, but then - hasn’t he thought that about almost every girl he’s bumped into these past few months?

She takes a step forward and her face is lit by cheap fluorescent lights. He can see her clearly now, recognises the tilt of her chin, the curve of her cheeks and - by god, it’s her. His legs move and he lurches to the edge of the balcony, shouting her name like a loon.

Their eyes meet.

She yelps. And promptly drops her laundry basket, scrambling back inside.

He dashes back into Tashiro’s living room and trips into the corridor, ignoring Daichi’s shouts as he slams his fists into her front door. Her door remains stubbornly closed, and he keeps yelling, keeps beating her door. He can hear Daichi follow him, and he’s certain he’s going to get a bollocking tomorrow morning, but he doesn’t care, he’s finally found her in the midst of a million people and a million more trees and nothing else really matters.

The door swings open, and Imai Ume stands in the doorway looking livid. ‘My roommate is this close to calling the police,’ she hisses.

Daichi yanks him back with his shirt and snaps into a low bow. ‘Sorry for the trouble caused’, he says, and adds - that sly dog, ‘He may have drank a bit too much Umeshu’.

‘For God’s sake, Sawamura’, he faintly hears her squawk. ‘Can’t you take care of him a little better? He looks like absolute shit’.

Suga stares at her glassy-eyed. All he wants to do is to take her hand and tell her all the things he’s dreamt of saying these past few months (starting with I’m sorry I was an idiot- and ending with I missed you) - but his mind is suddenly foggy and his ears are ringing and his stomach keeps bloody churning and he suspects his body might have just given up on him completely.

‘I told you’, he manages to say. ‘I told you we’d see each other again’.

He pukes at her feet and promptly passes out.

----------------------------------

When he wakes up, the sun is high in the sky, and he knows because he’s pretty sure it’s trying to stab him between the eyes. He flops over to his side.

What happened last night?

He cracks an eye open. He’s pretty sure he isn’t wearing his own pyjamas. The sweatshirt he has on is a touch too snug, the pants a touch too short - so definitely not Daichi’s either. He can’t be in Tashiro-senpai’s room either, because one, he’s pretty certain floral bedsheets aren’t his thing, and two, if he squints, he can see a pile of medical textbooks in the corner that definitely does not belong to him.

He groans, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed, groping bleary eyed for his phone.

- You have 7 messages! -

[Daichi, 12.48am]: You are a very lucky man [Daichi, 12.48am]: Imai didn’t call the police on you [Daichi, 12.49am]: I had to clean up your puke [Daichi, 12.49am]: Wanted to lug you home but you’re heavier than you look [Daichi, 12.49am]: So she said to leave you and walk Michimiya home [Daichi, 12.50am]: Figure you’ll thank me anyway [Daichi, 12.51am]: Stay safe. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do

‘You have got to be kidding me’, he moans. Fuck. His head still hurts.

Ume pokes her head into the room. ‘Oh, you’re awake. Feeling better?’

He snaps his head up and immediately regrets it. ‘Ow’, he whines, dropping his head in his hands.

‘I guess not’, she says. ‘Here’, she pokes him in the side. ‘Spare toothbrush. Wash up, and I’ll get breakfast ready so you can eat some meds’. She tugs him to his feet and pushes him into the bathroom.

This isn’t how he imagined meeting Ume again would be like. Getting piss drunk, puking at her door, and passing out in her bed? He’d take getting arrested over this any day, he thinks, moping to himself. Not to mention Daichi's probably going to kill him when he gets back. He shudders, then winces as he splashes cold water into his face.

Ume waves him into the kitchen. ‘Sit’, she says, and so he does. She sets a bowl of rice and fish and miso soup in front of him. ‘Eat’ she says, sliding a bottle of aspirin and a cup of hot tea at him. His stomach still hurts, but he's not about to let her effort go to waste.

‘Ittakimasu’, he says, putting his hands together, inclining his head slightly. Ume nods and sits across him, sipping her tea.

‘Thank you’, he says contritely. 'I'm sorry for the trouble I caused last night'.

‘It’s no problem. I managed to convince my roommates you were just a drunk ex-classmate, not some rapist or serial killer so they let you in', she hums, amused.

He groans. ‘I’m so sorry’.

'It's fine', she says, waving him away. 'I think Sawamura was a lot more mad than my roommates, since he had to clear your mess and then wrangle you into clean clothes’.

‘Well I think Daichi got to walk Michimiya home last night, so I don’t think he’ll be too mad’, he says drolly. She laughs at that, turning to clear the dishes into the sink.

‘Hey, Imai’. He takes a gulp of his tea, his throat suddenly dry.

‘Mm?’

‘'I - I missed you - you know, as a friend', he stammers at his hands. 'And I’d like to see you again. Maybe we could catch up over dinner sometime this weekend?'

She stills for a few seconds. 'I don't think it’d be a good idea to do that', she finally says.

His heart clenches. He wonders if he’s too late - if the distance that Sendai city with its million people and a million more trees has put between them is too great, if she no longer remembers their shared smiles and golden summer days. But then he sees the stack of blankets tucked into the corner of the couch, sees the food she must have woken up early to make, and wonders how his past self could have been so blind.

‘Imai’, he says. She keeps her eyes resolutely on the dish sponge in her hands. He exhales, and tells himself that it’s his turn to be brave. He takes a step towards her.

‘Ume’, he repeats, taking her hands into his. ‘Look at me’.

‘Stop it Suga! My hands are soapy’, she cries.

‘Nevermind that’, he says stubbornly. ‘Listen - I’m an idiot - and a coward. I meant it when I said I missed you, but I didn’t mean it as a friend’.

‘Wha-’, she begins to say but he cuts her off.

‘I like you, Imai Ume’, he breathes, bringing her hands close to his face. ‘I really like you - as a boy likes a girl. I want to keep holding your hands. I want to see you again - see you everyday, if you’ll let me'.

Her eyes widen, then she blinks slowly - once, twice, thrice.

‘Do you mean it?’ she asks, her eyes meeting his, and he’s struck by the thought that the stars in her eyes are so bright they can light up the night sky.

‘Why would I lie?’ he answers. ‘I’ve been looking over my shoulder every day for the past six months, hoping desperately to see you again.’

‘Oh', she breathes. ‘Oh’.

She gives him a look so full of affection and warmth - like sunlight breaking through the rain - that he knows he was right to be brave, knows that the past six months of searching and dreaming and longing hadn’t been a waste.

‘So… I take it you want to see me again?’ he asks cheekily.

‘Maybe’, she says, but her voice is teasing and she leans on to her toes to press her lips gently against his cheek.

‘I - I take that as a yes?’ he stutters and hates himself for flushing a bright pink, but refuses to release her hands.

‘Let me wash my hands first. Then - yes’, and she laughs, wide and bold and bright.

----------------------------------

Coda

----------------------------------

He opens the door and smiles at what has become a very familiar sight these past few weeks - Ume fast asleep at the kitchen table next to a half empty pot of tea, head pillowed against her textbooks. Usually, he’d just scoop her up and put her to bed, but they’ve not had much time together this week, what with him running all over the prefecture with his fledgling team for practice matches, and she with work and exams, so he decides to be a little selfish.

‘Ume’, he calls, shaking her shoulder gently. ‘Dearest. Wake Up.’

‘Mmph. Five more minutes. Go away.’ She mumbles, pushing his hand away.

‘Ume. Ummmeee,’ He drags out her name, finding extra syllables where there were previously none until she stirs, grumbling incoherently and he has to stifle a laugh when she swipes her hand across her mouth.

‘Oh! It’s you. Welcome home’, she folds herself upright, rubbing her eyes slowly. ‘Where’s Yuji? How was the match?’

‘Of course it’s me – who else would it be?’ he chuckles. ‘I dropped Yuji off at Kei-kun’s place for a sleepover with the team, they promised not to stay up all night eating junk and watching crappy movies but I don’t believe them. The match was great - we won! Yuji-chan did really well, he earned quite a few points and saved a few balls. You would’ve been proud of him. I know I was.’

‘That’s good, I’m sure he’ll tell me all about it tomorrow when he’s back.’ She nods towards the fridge. ‘I made mapo tofu for dinner – not too spicy though, your stomach will thank me after that long bus ride back.’

He hums a thanks, sliding the plate into the microwave, narrating a play by play of their match today, stopping only when he hears a loud yawn.

‘Go to bed, Ume’, he frowns at the lines of exhaustion on her face. ‘I shouldn’t be keeping you up, you have a morning shift tomorrow.’

‘Mm – I will, later. Was waiting for you. Mm’ not that tired,’ she protests, but then yawns again so widely he’s pretty sure he hears her jaw crack.

‘Bedtime, sleepyhead’, he says teasingly, lifting her into his chest.

It’s a testament to how tired she is when she doesn’t try to swat at him as she usually does, choosing instead to wrap her arms around him, pressing her face into his neck. His breath hitches, and he wants nothing more than to hold her close and hide in bed preferably forever, but reminds himself that they’re adults now (with awful things like jobs and responsibilities and worse, bills to pay), so he settles her onto their bed, tucking the pillow beneath her head, the sheets under her chin.

‘Goodnight, sweetheart. We’ll catch up properly on the weekend’, he whispers, pressing a kiss into her dark hair.

‘Mmph, love you’, she mumbles, half asleep.

‘Love you too’, he shuts the door with a click, a soft smile on his face.

He’s mentioned off-hand to her before that they’re lucky to be this happy.

‘It’s not all luck’, he remembers her replying. ‘Happiness isn’t easy to come by. It’s a choice. It takes effort and hard work to earn that choice, and you need to take the time to build it up, brick by brick, piece by piece.’

He used to wonder what she meant by that - but six years in, and he thinks he finally understands what she means.

She’s meticulous in the way she makes him happy - the way she catalogues his quirks and deals patiently with his follies. How she knows to always leave food in the fridge for him after work so he won’t get cranky. How she tries her best to stay up and listen to him complain about his frustrations with pushy parents or irresponsible kids, how she tries to watch every one of his (and Yuji’s) games should time permit. He can see it even in the way she smiles indulgently when she sends him off with Daichi and Tanaka for izakaya and drinks.

For his part - he wonders if he does enough. He wakes up early most mornings to hitch a ride with her to work so they get a chance to chat about their day. He buys flowers from the florist down the street for her every week, and slips sandwiches and post-it notes in her work bag when he knows she’s had a long shift. He holds her close when she collapses on the couch, boneless and exhausted from a hard day.

He thinks about the life they share - weeknights spent sitting together, him sketching lesson plans and volleyball plays and she reading up for exams and work cases, weekends spent in grocery stores and parks and volleyball games. Six years together - they’re happy, and they show it in the quietest of ways.

They’re driving back to Karasuno this weekend - ostensibly to celebrate Keiji’s birthday and meet a couple of friends. But he’s conspired with Keiji and Yuji so he can sneak her away to the park for a picnic under the tree where they share memories of long, quiet talks and golden summer days. He’s hidden her ring in a picnic box full of homemade onigiri and sandwiches, strawberries and peaches.

He plans to go down on one knee and ask if she’d like to continue working on being happy with him forever.

He hopes she’ll say yes.

(She does.)

#haikyuu #haikyuu fic rec #haikyuu imagines #haikyuu angst #haikyu x reader #sugawara #sugawara fic #sugawara headcanon #sugamama #haikyuu fluff #karasuno #haikyuu fic #sugawara x reader #suga

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starrynite7114 · 4 years

Text

Body Art (Angel Reyes)

A/N: Good morning everyone! This was done last night, but work was insane and I didn’t have a chance to post it. Hope you all enjoy this one. It was one of my requests that I have not had the chance to do. But I finally got to do it! I’m making my way through my request list right now, so hopefully I’ll get everyone’s request done soon.

The request list link is below, please check if your request is there, if it is now, let me know so I can put it in! Still currently taking requests if you all would like to make one.

Art smut with angel Reyes! He asks you to let him do body art on you. All front and you’re wearing panties right and he asks you to take your bralette/ bra off and he’s like woah and yea lol - @cherry-icetea

Sorry it took so long love! Hope you enjoy! <3

Enjoy!

Masterlist

Request List tagged list: @justahopelessssromantic : @ifoundmyhappythought : @iambabyharry : @everyhowlmarksthedead : @briana-mishell24 : @bribri-82 : @briannab1234 : @carlaangel86 : @twistnet : @marvelmaree : @blackmissfrizzle : @thickemadame : @woahitslucyylu : @chibsytelford : @agirllovespasta : @sesamepancakes : @enamoured-x : @encounterthepast : @trulysuccubus : @jadert15 : @elcococruz : @gemini0410 : @cherry-icetea : @claytoncardenasbabymama : @sadeyesgf : @xserenax-13 : @whyisgmora : @samcrobae : @summertimesadnesswithadashofsass : @sheeshgivemeabreak : @lady-pswrld

You and Angel have been quarantined together for a month.

While you two enjoyed the other’s company, the movies and television shows to binge on was slimming down. You both loved nature and craved to be outside. You missed being able to just walk outside without a worry.

But you also knew not to be selfish.

This was for the better and it was going to save lives.

But you both were surprised that you haven’t wanted to kill one another. Surprisingly enough, you two enjoyed one another’s company and gave the other space when needed. You two shared a two bedroom apartment. It was nice to share your apartment with a friend, especially one you met through your ex-schoolmate Ezekiel. You and Ezekiel had become close during your first semester at Stanford and when you found out of his fate, you visited him weekly. He didn’t close you off and you were thankful for that. One time you came and his family was there, you met his big brother, Angel and his father Felipe.

The attraction to Angel was immediate, but you kept everything at bay since you both were in different places.

But somehow, four years after meeting, you found yourself in Santo Padre. While you two texted often, you didn’t hang out with Angel much. When he offered to room with you when you immediately moved to Santo Padre, you were hesitant at first, but you realized that there was no other person you would want to room with besides Angel.

Work brought you to Santo Padre. Currently, you were a teacher at the high school. It was nerve wrecking since teenagers could be little shits, but somehow, they enjoyed your world history facts that you always taught them.

Living with Angel was a delight. He always brought you home food when he could and helped you cook when he could. He did your laundry for you when he was doing his. Always made sure your oil was changed for your car and everything. And it was always a plus to see Angel walking around shirtless. That man was a god and if you just had some guts, you would jump him, but there was always this unspoken thing between you two. EZ was his younger brother and you were EZ’s best friend, you two were just not allowed to be together, for EZ’s sake.

Regardless, that didn’t mean your attraction was nonexistent. Angel was very attracted to you, and he has been for years, but his promise to his brother always trumped his desire for you.

However, with this quarantine in place and the time he spent with you, Angel found it harder to resist you. Walking in those booty shorts of yours that showed off your assets. He was a strong man, but there was just so much he could take.

One of the best things about living with Angel was the artwork. He painted your room, the artwork suited you so well. You loved watching Angel paint. Your favorite thing to do was reading a book while Angel painted on the ground, concentrating on his next masterpiece. If this outlaw biker thing didn’t work, he could totally open up a gallery.

Currently, you both were on the couch, finishing up the Punisher. Angel had his head on your lap, as you watched the show intently, digging the storyline and enjoying the eye candy.

“This show is amazing.” You praised it as the ending credits came on.

Angel clicked his tongue. “Or you mean the guys are hot?”

“Don’t be jealous Ignacio, you’re still the apple of my eye.” You pinched his cheek, causing Angel to push your hand away, but he chuckled, loving the feel of your skin on his. It was pathetic really, but he promised EZ he would never fall for you. He thought that maybe EZ was in love with you, but that didn’t seem to be the case.

“Want to take a break from watching?”

“Sure, what you got in mind? If you say let’s fuck, I’m going to slit your throat.”

“I love it when you threaten me.” Angel chuckled, sitting up. “Want to help me paint?”

“You know I don’t have an ounce of talent for art in my body.” You’ve painted with Angel a few times and he always told you how you were getting better, but you somehow doubted that. Angel was a great teacher, really nice too. Maybe if he didn’t want to do the art gallery, he could definitely be a teacher.

“No, let me paint you.” Angel really enjoyed your presence whenever he was painting, he felt inspired and encouraged whenever you were around.

Angel has never requested to paint you before. Wait, that’s a lie, he has numerous times but you always shut him down and made an excuse to leave. He knew that you wouldn’t be able to make an excuse today. You were stuck at home after all.

“Me? No way.” You shook your head. “I feel like we can FaceTime someone and you can paint them instead.”

“Come on mi dulce, I’ve always wanted to paint you.” He took your hand in his, trying to ignore the butterflies and the spark that just coarse through your body.

“Angel, let me FaceTime Kristin, remember how hot you thought she was?” You were really trying to get out of this as best as you can. You couldn’t keep still and there was no point in painting you.

He recalled making that comment, but he only said it to get a reaction out of you, which obviously didn’t work. “Nope, I want you.” The way he said it, it made the butterflies in your stomach move around even more wildly than before.

“Can you just not paint me and say you did?” You offered.

“You don’t trust me?”

“No, I’m just shy.”

Angel smirked. “Shy? You don’t have to be shy with me.” He stood up, taking your hand and taking you to his room. “Do me a favor mama, strip to your bra and panty.”

“What?!” You crossed your arms over your chest.

“Come on baby girl, you won’t be fully naked.” He tried to ease your shyness.

“Alright fine, but I expect to be compensated for this.” You were comfortable with your body, but this was also Angel who most likely has seen so many beautiful girls naked. And he may have also slept with you before, it was a drunken night which you remembered well however, you weren’t sure if he did. He’s never mentioned it and you didn’t want to be the one to do so.

As you took off your clothing, Angel immediately regretted asking you to be his model. He’s always imagined how you would look in your unmentionables and he was beginning to forget about his promise to EZ and well, he was fucking forgetting EZ.

He’s seen it all before. He was buzzed that night, but he definitely wasn’t drunk. At times, you haunted his dreams, seeing you naked could make any man go crazy and it fucked up Angel. He didn’t even know how to approach the subject and quite frankly, since you didn’t mention it, he didn’t want to. He didn’t want to embarrass you or himself.

That one night three months, two weeks, and five days ago was embedded in his mind. He never told EZ about it knowing it would upset his younger brother. But seeing you before him now, Ezekiel could go fuck himself.

“Angel?” You broke him away from his thoughts, biting your lip nervously.

“Sorry, fuck.” He chuckled. “You look fucking gorgeous, querida.”

God when this man spoke Spanish? Used a term of endearment for you in Spanish? It made your thighs clench together because all you wanted to do since that night maybe 3-4 months ago, was fuck Angel again. But with his relationship with EZ just being repaired again, you didn’t want to have them fighting over this. You understood why EZ was protective of you, you technically just had him, but it was also quite annoying.

“Thanks.” You smiled shyly. “How do you want me?”

“You want to lay down? Just so it’ll be more comfortable.”

“Sure.”

Laying down on the floor, Angel looked at your bralette which was burgundy at the area of the cups with flowers branching up from the sides, the bottom of the bralette was black lace. Angel bit his bottom lip, thinking of how he could connect your bra to your panties. Your panties were burgundy, matching your bralette, with lace at the top of your underwear.

You watched as Angel’s eyes roamed up and down your body. It was comfortable, oddly, not creepy whatsoever, but then again, this was Angel. Even though he had this intimidating presence, he was a fucking teddy bear that loved affection and being spoiled.

“Can you at least give me a pillow?” You requested.

Angel chuckled, handing you a pillow. “Don’t know if I told you yet, but you look absolutely stunning.” He began to feel nervous, unsure if he could actually do this. But he reasoned that of course he could, why wouldn’t he be able to do so? He was an artist, he could push his desire for you to the side while he was touching your body.

Fuck. He was screwed.

Taking out the paint for him to use, he picked burgundy, white, green and a light shade of blue. He had this picture in his mind that he wanted to portray on your body, but all he could picture was having you naked, your sweaty body against his, you breathily moaning, gasping out his name. He shook his head, trying to concentrate. He could paint on you, this was going to be easy.

Angel began to paint on the black lace of your bralette, a giggle escaping your lips. He chuckled, forgetting how ticklish you were. This whole quarantine has been ridiculous, but he never knew how much he would enjoy life just being at home, but that had a lot to do with you. At first you had offered EZ to stay with you two, but EZ insisted on staying with Felipe. Angel didn’t mind, he wanted you all to himself. Even though you two have been roommates, he didn’t know much about you. He barely found out that you were afraid of heights even though you went hiking with him whenever you two had the chance to do so. He also didn’t know you could handle your liquor better than any of the fucking guys, which thoroughly impressed him. He also didn’t know that you have four tattoos, all on your back, that represented major events in your life.

He also didn’t know how much he’s been avoiding his feelings for you till he was stuck at the apartment with you with nowhere to go.

“Is this the set I got you for Christmas?” You asked him as he began his work on you.

“Yeah, it was. I’ve used a majority of the set except for this.” Christmas, it was three days after that you two slept together. Angel woke up and you weren’t in his bed anymore. He was going to bring it up, but it seemed every time he tried, it just never happened. “Do you remember what happened a few days later?”

“When we got plastered and played a prank on EZ?”

It was a few hours before you two slept together. EZ was sleeping so you and Angel had the idea of using a feather and shaving cream, tickling EZ on certain spots on his face till he was fully covered. EZ didn’t wake up till Gilly and Coco busted out in laughter when they walked into EZ covered with shaving cream.

“Oh yeah, good times.” Angel chuckled. You felt his fingers moving across your stomach, spreading the paint. “Why are you so tense?”

“Cause I’m trying not to be ticklish.”

“Or maybe I make you nervous?” You could hear the smugness in his voice.

“Nervous? For what?”

Fuck it.

“I don’t know, you tell me mi dulce.” He moved on your other side, to paint that side. It wasn’t his best work, but he just wanted to touch you. “So do you remember that night?”

“I remember bits and pieces of it.” You were being truthful, but it seemed that Angel was trying to have that long awaited talk. It’s not like you didn’t want to discuss it, you just didn’t know where to start.

‘Hey, remember the time we fucked? Just wanted to let you know that you’re the best fuck I’ve ever had.’

Yeah, that would go over well.

“Do you remember when we had sex?” Angel was playing it nonchalant, painting random patterns on your skin. He wasn’t even sure what he was doing anymore, but he just needed something to distract him, in case you rejected him.

“Yes, I do.”

“Why’d you leave me alone on my bed?”

“Come on Angel, you don’t want to have this conversation.” You didn’t. Angel always seemed forbidden and they were so right that forbidden fruit tasted so much fucking better. You were certain that you and Angel had sex at least four times that night.

“I do, you don’t? I promised Ezekiel that I would never make a move on you, but to be fucking honest, I don’t really give a fuck anymore.” Angel noticed then that he had painted angel wings below the lace of your bralette. He bit his lip, just thinking of how beautiful you would look with something he created tattooed on you.

“What are you talking about?” You slightly sat up, looking over at Angel. He softly pushed you back down so he could continue painting, or whatever the fuck he was doing.

“I like you, I’ve liked you for quite some time but I haven't made a move cause Ezekiel asked me not to.”

You were speechless, unsure of what to reply. You like Angel too, but you were wondering if he just liked you now cause there was no one else to sleep with. But he wouldn’t say those words to you just to get in your pants, it would ruin everything.

“You're kind of making me nervous here.” Saying his feelings aloud made Angel feel vulnerable, made him feel terrified of what the outcome could be.

“I’ve liked you for some time too, but I just figured you didn’t want to cross the line and I could respect that. I left you in bed that morning because I’m not good with rejection. We were both intoxicated and needed some release, I was cool with that.” You truthfully told him. “I think you’re an idiot for listening to Ezekiel.”

The brush strokes stopped and before you knew it, Angel was hovering over you, his lips on yours. His lips were warm, just as you remembered, parting slightly along with yours, his tongue slipping in your mouth. Your hands were on his neck, scratching the back of it. He groaned into your mouth before he pulled away. His eyes roamed down your body, biting his lips as he did.

“Fuck baby, can I take off your clothes?” His voice was so intoxicating, it became deeper. You remembered his voice the most that night. Angel was very vocal, which didn’t surprise you. His mouth made you fucking go insane.

You nodded your head. Angel removed your bralette, licking his lips as his thumb played with your nipple, grazing it softly before rolling it in between two fingers. You bit back a moan, arching into his touch. You’ve slept with a few people after Angel and you were upset how he ruined other men for you. Angel knew your body so well, that one night fucking ruined you and you honestly weren’t even mad about it.

“Are you wet baby girl?” His hand drifted down to your underwear, his art work was slowly being lost with every movement of his fingertips against your skin, but he didn’t care. Your body was art for him, the way you were taking a breathy gasp was music to his ear. He couldn’t wait to hear your moans again. He’s fucked other women after you and he would call out your name, even though the moans, the scent, the feel wasn’t the same.

“Yes,” you answered.

Angel’s fingers slipped underneath your underwear, running a finger up and down your slit. Circling your clit a few times, you moaned out his name, feeling yourself become wetter with every touch. He slipped a finger inside you, pulling it out and adding another when he slipped it back in. Your legs voluntarily widened, accommodating him as he kneeled in front of you. He slipped your underwear down your legs, you were bare in front of him now and he felt his cock twitched as he watched your pussy swallow his fingers.

“Are my fingers stretching you enough baby? Preparing you for my cock?” He kissed your lips, moving down your neck, nibbling, marking you as his. Looking down at his artwork that was smeared by his own fingertips, he had to say that it didn’t look terrible whatsoever, your skin was glistening with sweat. “Can I take a picture of you baby, take on my runs?”

All you could feel was Angel’s fingers working their magic on you. His words registered, but as much as you wanted to fight him about having your nakedness on his phone, it was kind of hot.

“Okay.”

“Yeah baby? Fuck.” Angel got his phone that was on the coffee table, smirking as he opened up the camera app. Your face was covered by your arm, which he didn’t mind. He already had so many pictures of your face, but this was different. He took some pictures before putting his phone away. He felt your pussy clenching as he continued to go in and out, stroking your clit every once in a while. “Oh baby, I feel that. Querida, you cumming?”

“Fuck, yes Angel, holy fuck.” You cried out, back arching as you came.

“For months, I’ve been waiting to see you in this state again, to hear you moaning out my name in a blissful state. Hearing it again, seeing it again, I won’t ever be able to have my fill of you.” He continued to move his finger in and out of you as he said that, helping you through your orgasm.

“I’m feeling it again,” the feeling was building in your stomach, again. You heard Angel chuckle as he took his fingers away, causing you to whine.

He took off his shorts and his shirt, sitting against the couch. He pumped himself as you licked your lips, remembering just how good his cock felt inside of you.

“Like what you see?” Angel held his hand out to you.

You nodded your head, crawling over to him.

“No time for you to suck my dick baby, I need to be inside of you.” He watched as you stood up and slowly squatted in front of him, making him groan. Slowly, you sink down on his cock, stopping every once in a while to adjust to him. He threw his head back, the sensation was incredible. “Look at that pussy stretching to fit my dick.” He rubbed his thumb around your slit, using the wetness to wet it so he could rub your clit.

Throwing your head back, Angel watched the look of pure pleasure on your face, memorizing it. He knew this wouldn’t be the last time he would have you, like he said, he didn’t care what Ezekiel thought. They were adults, you’re a grown ass woman, EZ could suck it up.

You had your hands on Angel’s shoulder, using it as leverage as you moved up and down his cock. The burn, the stretch, everything about it felt amazing. If there was one thing you remembered vividly about that night all those months ago, it was how well you fit with Angel. Maybe it was cliche to say, but you didn’t care, his cock just felt so damn good.

“You feeling good mi dulce, you missed my dick?”

“Do you ever shut up?” You groaned as you felt your movements speeding up, trying to chase that euphoric feeling.

“I could, but I know how much you like my filthy mouth.” Angel pulled you against him, your chest against one another. He wrapped his arms around you, trapping you against him. His hips thrusted upward, hard and fast, and you just took in the onslaught, your eyes rolling to the back of your head as your orgasm hit not a few minutes later. He continued to fuck into you, causing you to scratch his sides, moaning out his name over and over again. He slowed down, letting go of you.

Your head landed on his shoulder, your hand on his stomach. “Give me a minute.”

Angel chuckled. “My dick too much for you baby? Don’t worry, we’re gonna be fucking so much, you’ll learn how to keep up with me.” He kissed your shoulder. “This pussy is mine now, hell, it’s been mine since that night.” He pulled you away from him so that he could kiss you, his tongue entering your mouth. When he pulled away, he rested his forehead against yours, helping you move up and down as his lips touched yours, his breath just hot against your lips. “We sleeping in the same room now baby.”

It wasn’t even a question, it was a statement.

“My room, I don’t like your bed.” You kissed him again. Pulling away, you ran your fingers through your hair.

“Don’t care which room, as long as you’re in my arms.” Angel laid you on your back, bending your knees and holding them at the back. Looking down at where you two were joined, he smirked. “Can’t believe I listened to EZ.”

“Such a good older brother.” You teased Angel. “Shit Angel, go faster.”

“You don’t like this pace baby? You don’t like it when I go slow, taking my time on you?” Angel ran his hands up and down your thighs, moving it down to your stomach as his art was smeared all around. “I wanna design a tattoo for you querida.”

“No, we have time for that later. Fuck me.” Angel chuckled. “If you fuck me good enough then you can design whatever you want for me.”

You saw how Angel’s eyes darkened, he had your legs hanging on his shoulders. He pounded into you, in and out at a fast pace. You slightly regretted challenging Angel, but this felt so fucking good.

“This hard enough for you baby?” He taunted.

You nodded your head. “It feels so good.”

“Yeah you do, you feel fucking amazing querida.” Angel groaned. “You look so beautiful underneath me baby, you’re just gripping my dick baby. This is my pussy, ain’t no one else ever going to see you this way from now on. Fuck those puto’s you took home.”

Taking one of his hands that was beside your head, you took his thumb into your mouth, sucking on it before you directed it towards your clit. Angel immediately followed your order and rubbed it.

“You look so good like this.” Your eyes were closed, toes curled, and lips bitten. You hold onto one of his arms, nails digging into his skin and he fucking loved it.

“Angel!” You cried out as your orgasm finally came. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”

He followed right after you, moaning out your name as well. He pulled out, the emptiness making you whimper. Angel helped you up, his cum dripping down your leg. He smirked as he watched it go down and you rolled your eyes.

“Such a guy.” You playfully pushed him.

He wrapped his arms around you from behind, his cock was already semi-hard.

“You ready for round two, cause we ain’t fucking leaving our bed till at least Monday.”

It was only Thursday.

#angel reyes #angelreyes #angel reyes fanfiction #angel reyes fic #angel reyes fanfic #mayans mc imagine #mayans mc fic #mayans mc fanfic

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jemmahazelnut · 3 years

Text

Classmates

Summary: In this Modern AU Laxus and Freed are classmates but at first, they don't really get along. 5+1 style fic. [Freed/Laxus]

Links: AO3 - Fanfiction

I tried to write about a love born in school. I hope I’ve kept them in character enough even though they are in a different context (and they are younger). I hope you like it :)

Classmates (or 'Five times Freed and Laxus argued at school and the one time they didn't')

1-When Laxus tries to be kind

It had been a while since Laxus had noticed that boy with long green hair and, he had to admit it at least to himself, it intrigued him a little. Perhaps because of that strange color in his hair, so in contrast to his rigid way of behaving, perhaps because he was so different from all his classmates. So, they were all troublemakers while that guy was pretty calm. Okay, Laxus had also noticed his ass, but he would never have said it out loud. In any case, it was precisely because of his attitude that he was intrigued. As if he believed himself superior to anyone, even the professors themselves.

Laxus observed professor Brandish Myu's test the following week and made up his mind, reached out and patted the boy on the shoulder, who turned a little surprised. The blond handed him the paper.

“What’s that?” the green-haired guy asked. Laxus snorted.

“Next week's test. That bitch Myu does it the same every year, because she doesn't want to work. There are all the correct answers there” he replied. The boy looked up at him, and Laxus noticed how peculiar his eyes were. They weren't blue, they were just a deep blue, and the right one had a darker spot. Laxus would have called them beautiful.

"It's called cheating" the boy said dryly, without taking the paper. Laxus arched an eyebrow, and wondered what the fuck was wrong with that guy. Anyone else would have accepted it, at least not to have to study. Maybe he really was one of those nerds who hated cheaters and didn't let anyone copy.

"With that bitch you’ll never get top marks, no matter how hard you study" Laxus warned him then. Maybe that guy didn't know that teacher well yet.

"I'll get top marks and won't cheat" the confident boy said. At that point Laxus gave up. If he wanted to waste time and study, let him do it. He had grown tired of being kind. So, he put the paper on the table.

"As you like, you'll regret it" he muttered.

"No. I won't” the boy retorted and turned back to pay attention to the lesson.

Laxus was right, however, when the teacher gave the grades, Freed -Laxus had found out his name- took B+, while Laxus A. The blonde pointed this out to him, and Freed badly told him that it was that bitchy teacher who didn't understand a shit. The point is that he not only said it to him, but also to the teacher herself and the blonde couldn't help but chuckle seeing how pissed off that guy was.

2-When Laxus underestimates him

In the end, Freed was convinced by his schoolmates that he would join the basketball game. The boys were still choosing how to divide into the team, on the one hand there was Gerard as captain, on the other that idiot Laxus. That guy was nothing but a pain in Freed's ass. He could also admit that he was not very smart to refuse that sheet -to himself, obviously he would never have told a soul- but in any case, it was the professor's fault if his grade was only a B+. His test was perfect, it was the teacher who didn't understand a shit. But of course, that didn't interest Laxus, and every time they saw each other he brought up that story, just to make him nervous.

In any case, at the moment Freed was waiting to figure out which team he should go to.

"Choose Freed, he's good" Bickslow was saying to Laxus, who stared at him skeptically.

"That little guy?" he asked and Freed felt the irritation rise and his cheeks flush with anger. Like hell he was little, Freed would have shown it to him. "He's just a nerd, he's probably never played a team game, I choose Gray" Laxus decided. Freed became even more annoyed, and when Gerard chose him, he was more than happy. He didn't want to be on the team with that windbag anyway, and it would show him how wrong he was to underestimate him.

The game began and Freed wasted no time. His height was actually a limit compared to other guys, especially that blond one, but that certainly didn't stop Freed. He was fast and exuberant, he kept going from one side of the pitch to the other, more than once he had managed -with great satisfaction- to steal the ball from Laxus and take it to the other side to make a basket. He basically played as a playmaker, and when his team won, Freed smiled in satisfaction. It was presumptuous to think it was because of him, but it certainly had made a difference and blowing the balls under Laxus's eyes had been very, very satisfying. That's why Freed turned to Laxus at the end of the game.

"You got beaten up by a shorter nerd than you" he teased. Laxus tensed his jaw, obviously irritated and stung.

"Tsk, thanks to your mates, not yours" he growled nervously.

"Really? Because I counted the baskets, and I scored four more than you. Not to mention the countless times you've gotten the ball stolen from under your nose. If you play like this, I suggest you review your technique” he told him with an air of superiority and a smile that, he was sure, would have made the blonde even more nervous. Laxus could not argue and Freed walked away from him, knowing that he would throw him back for the rest of the year.

3-When Laxus has to endure him

Laxus couldn't believe it. He should have guessed it, he really should have. Who else could the math teacher pair him with? With Freed Justine of course, nerd par excellence with excellent marks in every single subject. And since Laxus absolutely had to catch up on his bad grades, he was forced to put up with that presumptuous little fellow who wasted no time telling him how ignorant he was. And as much as Laxus had tried to be patient until now, he had had enough now.

"You have to go on for a long time, or will you explain to me how the fuck to solve this problem?" he growled irritably. They were just wasting their time because of his chatter. Freed rolled his eyes, as if he were the one who must be exasperated there. It was Laxus who had been putting up with his complaints so far, what the fuck.

“Haven't you figured it out yet? I gave you a lot of things to think about” he snapped.

"Actually, I've only heard complaints" Laxus muttered.

"You weren't listening" Freed reiterated, and re-explained a few passages. Laxus forced himself to listen to him and finally figured out how to fix that damned problem. Satisfied he completed it. A half smile was printed on his face, he had taken less time than expected, now he could go. He started to get up but Freed tapped the pen on his arm.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asked him.

"At home" was the obvious answer.

"Do you realize that we’re only at the beginning? There are a lot of topics you need to catch up on. Sit down and focus” Freed told him. Laxus stared at him in shock. He was joking, right? He had spent twenty minutes listening to him, and another ten minutes solving that exercise. He wouldn't stay there a second longer.

“That will be enough to get a good grade. I understand everything” he said quietly.

"No" Freed persisted in saying "We’re only at the beginning, what if the teacher asks you about trigonometry? Sit down now. If you don't get a good grade, it will weigh on my credits, and I'm not going to make my situation worse because of you” he snapped irritably.

"Fuck it" Laxus snapped, surrendering. He didn't even know what Freed was talking about, he had never been careful in math class. Partly because the subject was boring, and partly because the teacher made it even more boring. "Just stop being an annoying know-it-all" he snapped at Freed, who gave him a dirty look.

"It's not my fault you're ignorant" he retorted right away. Laxus put his hands through his hair, knowing full well he would go mad.

4-When Laxus has to protect him

Freed hated bullies. He especially hated Torafuzar and Tempesta, two moron who thought they could do what they wanted just because they were big and thick. Which was also Laxus, except that Laxus, in contrast to them, was much more handsome, kind and -even if he still made him nervous- Freed almost liked him. In any case, it was really not the time to think about the study partner. No, since those two had now only targeted him because he was gay. Okay, maybe Freed had instigated them a bit, telling them that they were probably impotent and that with violence they were trying to compensate for the fact that they had a tiny dick. He had been an asshole, okay, but Freed felt justified as those two started insulting him for his long, colored hair.

So now Freed found himself between two guys who are taller and much more muscular than him. That didn't stop him from still having the poisonous tongue. He wasn't stupid, he knew the two of them would hit him, but he was confident that they didn't expect to have to deal with someone who had trained in hand-to-hand combat. And that actually helped him, he managed to dodge a punch of Tempestar and thrust one into his stomach. The taller boy doubled over, and Freed quickly turned to the other idiot. What he hadn't foreseen was that he grabbed his wrist and twisted it so much that he let out a moan, and then knocked him to the ground.

Shit, he had underestimated them, and now he found himself dealing with two guys much bigger than him. Before Torafuzar could hit him again, Freed grabbed his leg and dropped him from behind with his ass to the ground. Then he tried to get up but Tempestar punched him in the face. And fuck if it hurted. He felt dizzy and for a moment considered the idea of running away. He really thought that despite his pride, because he wasn't stupid, but he didn't have the time to do it. He saw Tempestar hit his head against the wall, and only after that did, he realize that it was Laxus who hit him.

The blonde looked really pissed off for some reason, and he started hitting the two boys.

"What the fuck do you want?" one of the two moron snapped.

"Beat the living hell out of you, asshole" Laxus growled. Torafuzar grinned.

"And I guess you think you can do it even if there are two of us, Dreyar" he mocked.

"A kid half your height has beat you two a pulp. I don't think I'm going to have any problems" he challenged them. The two glanced at each other as Freed stood up beside him, assessing the situation. He didn't have to think about anything though, because the two boys, after spitting on the ground, walked away. Freed turned to Laxus.

"Kid half your height?" he repeated offended. Laxus stared at him puzzled.

"A ‘thank you’ is enough for me, you know" he told him.

"I don't have to fucking thank you, I'm not as short as you insist on saying, and in any case, I was doing it alone" he retorted. Laxus raised an eyebrow.

"It's unbelievable, not even after get hit you can lower your head" he said in amazement. Freed stared at him in annoyance. He knew that Laxus had helped him, but he was pretty sure he would be able to escape from those two idiots without any problems.

“Thanks” he forced himself to say between his teeth, Laxus widened his eyes but Freed didn't let him speak. “Even though I didn't ask for your help. And let's be clear, they were two against one, it wasn't fair anyway” he specified. Laxus smiled in amusement.

"So, admit you needed help."

"I didn’t say this".

"No, but it's true".

"It’s not…".

“Oh fuck, stop talking, he's bleeding your nose. And go to the infirmary before you mess around” Laxus told him.

"I don't need to…" Freed began to moan but Laxus grabbed him by the arm before he finished the sentence and began dragging him down the hall.

"You are extremely annoying, has anyone ever told you that?" he made rhetoric.

“Many in fact, but…��.

"I'm not surprised".

“Do you want to stop dragging me and interrupting me while I speak? I can walk alone. And anyway, I'm not annoying, it's other people who can't accept reality” Freed pointed out, trying to ignore how hot and strong Laxus's grip on his arm was. He tried to free himself but the wrist Torafuzar had turned before him hurt and he barely stifled a groan. Laxus immediately let go and turned to him, his eyes worried.

"Did I hurt you?" he asked, gently taking his wrist in his hands and approaching. Freed instantly tensed, feeling the strong scent of Laxus flood his nostrils and his fingers gently feel his pulse. A shiver ran down his arm and he felt a blush reach his face. No no no, he couldn't blush in front of Laxus. It didn't matter how handsome and thoughtful the boy was, and how close he was to him, and how deep-down Freed liked that attention. Freed swallowed hard and jerked away before the situation became more embarrassing. He turned around so as not to show his stunned expression.

“Hell no, you can’t hurt me. I just twisted it” he said, hoping his voice didn't sound strange. Fuck. Fuck. Why was he getting so excited? Laxus put a hand on his shoulder and new shivers of excitement ran down Freed's shoulders. No, no. This wasn’t good. Freed pulled away quickly. "And stop it, why don't you mind your own business instead of busting my balls?" he blurted out.

Laxus snorted. “You know what, make do. I’m not surprised that you’ve been beaten with the tongue you have” he told him badly and turned away. Freed sighed in relief, finally starting to breathe normally again. As much as he hated admitting it, he liked Laxus's closeness more than he wanted to admit. He put his hands to his face and realized that his nose still hurt. He really had to go to the infirmary.

5-When Laxus wants to kiss him

"And as if that weren't enough, now I find myself wasting an entire afternoon that I could have used to study the new chapter of history, only to find myself here cleaning a fucking shit room with the most annoying person in school" Freed was saying. Laxus was now used to his background voice, it accompanied him most of the time, since they had been studying together for quite a few months. Freed actually did not speak constantly, on the contrary, there were moments in which Laxus also had fun with him. But when he was angry, he started with those monologues so long that they seemed to have no end.

And that was one of those moments, as they were in punishment together. It was Laxus' fault of course, and the blonde had no problem admitting it. He had dragged Freed into trouble for him because it seemed funny to make him do something forbidden. In particular, the two boys had gone to the roof and Laxus had tried to get Freed to smoke. After listening to a long monologue from his friend -he could now consider it as such- about how bad smoking was and how stupid smoking was, in the end -Laxus still didn't know how- he managed to convince Freed to take a drag. Obviously, the boy immediately coughed, reiterating how stupid it was and that he would never do it again, but Professor Clive had caught them and put them to clean up a classroom in the school.

At one point Freed kicked the garbage can causing it to fall to the ground and scatter papers. Laxus looked at him in shock.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

“I'm sick of being here. You should be here, alone. You dragged me into your follies!" he exclaimed "Now I have a demerit, do you know how much it will weigh?" he asked and Laxus rolled his eyes.

"You decided to follow me" the blond pointed out. "Anyway, if you do that, you only mess up the classroom even more" he commented.

“At least help me. You've been there for twenty minutes doing nothing” Freed snapped.

“Why, you instead? You've been complaining for the same time” Laxus retorted. Freed gave him a dirty look, but then he snorted and began to work. Laxus was lost watching him wondering when they got along more. Sure, they often argued, but they spent just as much time having fun together. It wasn't the first time Freed had followed him to do something stupid, it was fun to have a partner to bullshit with. Especially if that mate was Freed. They enjoyed bullshitting assholes, and now they had even begun to see each other after school.

The last time Laxus had taken his grandfather's moped, and had done a few laps with Freed. His friend had taught him to wheelies, or at least, he had explained the whole theory to him -suffering about the physics of the engine, part that Laxus no longer remembered anyway- and then it was the blond who tried. To make himself cool, he had tilted the scooter more than it should, and eventually they overturned. Luckily, they weren't hurt, but Freed had put all the blame on them. After arguing about that, they found themselves laughing and trying again, with more caution.

Yes, Laxus was having more fun than he had thought with that boy. And, strange and uncomfortable, he found himself all too often watching him. He liked how Freed brushed his hair off his face when he studied, or how he looked curiously at anything he didn't know, the way he nibbled his pen when he was agitated, or the way he smiled with satisfaction when he won a match against him. Indeed, Laxus was in too good a mood around him.

Even now, he was glad that Freed was with him, even though the boy kept muttering softly about how unfair that punishment was, and Laxus was sure, it wouldn't shut him up in any way. When Freed started, there was no way to stop him, by now he knew him. Who knows, maybe if he had kissed him, he would finally close that mouth. The idea didn't seem bad at all. At one point Freed turned to him.

"Are you going to help or not?" he blurted out. Laxus found himself blushing slightly, realizing he'd gazed at him for too long. He shrugged, feigning nonchalance.

“I was hoping you did everything” he said, avoiding looking at his lips. Freed threw a cast on him.

"Work" he ordered.

"And you stop messing up the classroom even more" Laxus retorted, taking the chalk off the ground and approaching the blackboard and, inevitably, to Freed, who always put him in awe with that intense gaze. Damn it in his eyes, they were so peculiar that he took more time to look at them each time. Better than looking at his lips, Laxus thought. Okay, he definitely had to stop thinking about weird things.

“In any case, you should serve most of the punishment, so you will clean most of the room. If you were wondering, from that corner over there to... " Laxus couldn't take it anymore, he pushed himself forward and placed his lips on Freed's, who initially jumped and widened his eyes. Laxus almost feared that he wouldn’t respond to the kiss, but after a few seconds the boy parted his lips and Laxus pushed himself even more towards him. He shook his hands on Freed's hips, pulling him against him and felt his friend's fingers tickle his neck. He was more beautiful than he had expected, a little uncertain on the part of both of them, sweet, and incredibly electrifying.

When they broke apart, Freed was silent for the first time, red-faced and wide-eyed. Laxus would have made fun of him if it had been another moment, but in that instant, he felt the same way. Embarrassed, surprised, excited. Freed had reciprocated. Without thinking twice, he pushed Freed towards the wall and kissed him again, this time more intensely, making their tongues collide and running his hands over his friend's body. Before long he felt too excited, with Freed's hands on his shoulders it was impossible not to be. God, he was freaking out completely. They broke away panting and flushed again and stared at each other for long seconds.

"W-what ...?" Freed stammered. Good heavens, he had managed to silence Freed Justine. Laxus grinned, although he felt high, he liked to see his friend in those states. Especially if it was his fault.

"Finally shut up" he commented. Freed's face became even more red if possible. In a short time, however, he narrowed his gaze again, although he was no longer credible as usual given the blush that colored his cheeks.

“You know, you just kissed me. I think I may be surprised, especially considering…” Laxus kissed him again, not sure whether to shut him up or because he wanted to. Damn, it didn't matter, those kisses were dizzying him and the more he had, the more he wanted. When they broke apart a third time, the blonde didn't stray too far from Freed. That closeness was all too tempting, and having Freed with his back to the wall thrilled him too much.

"We should clean the room" Freed murmured. Laxus raised an eyebrow.

"Are you seriously interested in that now?" he asked him. Freed seemed to think about it for a moment, then placed his hands on Laxus's chest and pushed him back badly, so much so that the blonde felt disappointed. He didn't have time to think about anything however that he found himself with his back against the desk.

"No, I don't care" was Freed's response, who immediately put a hand through the blond's hair and forced him to kiss him. Before long they both forgot the punishment.

1-When Laxus allies himself with him

Freed didn't think Laxus would trust him that much. But he did. Indeed, if Laxus had been caught stealing a moped not his own and voluntarily swiping it against Professor Brandish Myu's car, he didn't know what would happen to him. But he trusted him and Freed had no intention of betraying him. In any case there was little to worry about, Freed had thought of everything so that the blame would fall on those assholes of Torafuzar and Tempestar. Yes, the plan was all his. Well, almost everything. He had to admit that Laxus had contributed, but in any case, Freed was keen to point out that most of the credit went to him.

It all started when Laxus found himself with the scooter completely destroyed. Obviously, it had been those assholes of Torafuzar and Tempestar, who had done little to deny it. Indeed, they had boasted about it like never before. Laxus' first instinct had been to go beat them both, but Freed had stopped him in time, before he got suspended. And so, he had come up with a plan to take revenge. The plan included Professor Brandish Myu only because Freed hated her, and so he would kill two birds with one stone. They would just have to steal the keys of one of the two mopeds and swipe it against the professor's car, then leaving the evidence there. Perfect. Everything was perfect. Freed just had to keep the janitors busy and make sure no one came out, a pretty easy task for someone with his gab. In fact, when he felt the phone vibrate in his pocket and saw the message from Laxus he smiled.

“Laxus <3: Done! ;) "

Yes, Freed had put the little heart next to his name, but the blonde didn't have to know. He greeted the janitors, who in any case adored him for his kind and polite face -all facade, as Laxus said- and went up the stairs, returning to the first floor and opening the security door.

"Those assholes will have a nice surprise" the blond grinned.

"I hope you did a long scratch" Freed commented.

"Oh yes" Laxus smiled. Freed chuckled. He couldn't wait to see the scene.

And the scene came. Laxus and Freed were in the parking lot when the professor approached the car. Freed was quite curious what his car looked like, but he didn't lean over to avoid arousing suspicion, and Laxus just watched the two assholes walking towards Tempestar’s scooter. But when they were there, the professor's scream attracted everyone's attention.

"You stupid degenerate kids!" she exclaimed to the two assholes, who stared at her worried, but also pissed off. Because they knew they were framed. Freed and Laxus enjoyed the scene a few meters away, while all the other students stared too. "If you think you can pass the year, you’re very wrong, I will crush you, right?" the professor threatened them, while she looked at her own car that, in fact, Laxus was really committed to ruining.

The blond glanced at Freed, who was watching the scene strangely in silence. He put a hand on his shoulder and leaned slightly towards his ear, lowering his voice.

"Hey, are you feeling guilty?" he asked him worried. Freed turned to him and giggled.

"Not even a little" he replied without any doubt.

"Then why are you so silent?" Laxus asked puzzled. Freed watched the two boys.

“Oh nothing, I was thinking about how many assholes I have yet to take revenge. So far, I’ve reached seventeen people, but I only have revenge in mind on ten of them. Do you have someone to take revenge on?" he asked him. Laxus smiled in amusement.

"Hell, you're a bastard".

"Is it really a surprise?" Freed asked.

"No, actually no" Laxus said, taking Freed's hand in his and walking towards the bus stop. "So, who’s the first?".

#freed justine #laxus dreyar #fraxus #fairy tail

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superpuppies · 4 years

Text

Hobbit High

Chapter 7: Returning to the scene of the crime

Fandom- The Hobbit

Characters- Ori X Dwalin, Bilbo X Thorin, Fili, Kili, Dori, Nori, Gandalf, Thlandral, Legolas

Rating- PG13

Word count- 5,089

Archive Link- https://archiveofourown.org/works/10027448/chapters/57583708#workskin

Summary- Ori and Bilbo return to school unsure exactly how they are going to handle their new situation or their old bullies. Not to worry the older boys have something in mind that is of course until an old friend of Thorin shows up.

Hey all, here’s the newest from my mind, please keep in mind that I do have dyslexia and I really do try to fix all spelling mistakes but some will always slip through. If you spot some please let me know and I will do my best to correct it. Thank you.

Dwalin woke despite himself at four thirty to a quiet and dark house. He was still tired but just so accustomed to getting up with his father that he failed to fall back asleep. So, he contented himself with lying next to Ori who had turned toward him in the night and the red head looked unreasonably cute with his hair all tufted up from sleep, his mouth dropped open just a bit that allowed a small trail of drool to slid down his chin on the right side. Dwalin held a finger above Ori’s nose for a moment before gently poking it; Ori twitched the tickle away unconsciously. Dwalin smirked and slid his finger over the planes of Ori’s face, mapping it into his memory. He thoroughly enjoyed the wiry feel of Ori’s fledgling beard in contrast with the soft welcoming lips. Dwalin watched then traced the patterns of light across Ori’s face and neck as the sun began to rise.

Dwalin heard Nori rise at five thirty followed shortly by a grumbling Thorin. Within fifteen minutes the grumbling had turned into a down right argument and Dwalin couldn’t decide if he was more irritated by it or impressed that it didn’t seem to have any effect on Ori at all. Dwalin propped up on his elbows deciding that irritation was winning but before he could open his mouth Ori’s bedroom door flew open thudding loudly against the wall. “ORI!” Nori boomed from the doorway, Dwalin glared at him. “GET UP! Morning Dwalin.”

“Are you always this annoying in the morning?”

“Pretty much.” Nori shrugged. “NOW ORI! LET’S GO!”

“Nori” Thorin growled from behind him. “Don’t you have anything clean that fits me?”

“If you were going to be this picky about it why didn’t you just have your mom bring you clothes when you called her last night.”

“It’s not picky to want clean clothes.”

“Oh my God! Just wear what you’re wearing.” Dwalin boomed, Ori shifted slightly, groaning at the noise.

“That’s nasty and I will not.” Thorin rolled his eyes at Dwalin’s suggestion.

“Why? Were you gross at some point yesterday and need a shower? No? Then I don’t see a problem.” Dwalin countered.

“You impromptu crashed here, suck it up, buttercup.” Nori sassed, Ori grumbled halfheartedly.

“Aren’t you supposed to be a morning person? I mean you’re up wicked early all the time.” Thorin asked Dwalin with a sarcastic bite.

“Exactly why I’m not a morning person.” Dwalin grumbled. Ori rolled over on to his left side and shot up with a shout.

“Good, you’re up. Careful of that side it’s gonna hurt like a bitch today.” Nori smirked.

“Ori?” Bilbo squeezed in-between Nori and Thorin, his nightshirt clashing with the pants he wore yesterday. “Do you have a sweater I can borrow? I don’t really want to put mine back on.” Ori took some deep panting breaths to get his breathing back under control glaring at his brother before nodding to his friend. Bilbo wormed his way fully into the room as Ori climbed out of bed with a sidelong glance at Dwalin.

Somehow they all managed to file out the door at six thirty. Dwalin smiled to himself as Ori walked just ahead of him in a slight daze. Bilbo was still trying to take his bag back from Thorin but the older boy simply tightened his hold on the strap with a cocky smirk. Dwalin was glad Ori hadn’t fought him on the bag caring issue, he wasn’t sure he could gently dissuade his red head right now, the lack of sleep was pulling on him pretty hard as was what he was sure was a mess they were about to walk into. The fact that Nori was so quiet wasn’t doing much to settle Dwalin’s nerves either.

As they neared the school Ori pulled away from them, lost in his thoughts while Bilbo stopped unsure if he really wanted to walk back into the building today. Nori and Dwalin turned and watched as Thorin wrapped his arm around the smaller boy’s shoulder and gently coaxed him toward the door. With blush stained cheeks and a small smile Bilbo wrapped his fingers around Thorin’s forearm as he began walking again.

Fili watched Ori separate from his entourage with a dark smirk, smacking his brother’s arm before starting towards the still dazed red head. Dwalin turned back toward Ori to find him much too far ahead of them and the Durin twins closing in from the left side. Not wanting to start a whole new mess outside of the school, Dwalin started after Ori at a brisk walk hoping to cut off the twins before they got to him. With the twins only a few steps away Dwalin managed to catch ahold of the back of Ori’s shirt and pull him back against his chest. “Wait up, Ori.” Dwalin said glaring at the twins as they auto corrected and passed them.

Ori shook his head trying to clear his thoughts; the tug on his shirt had caused tightness around his chest that had helped to bring him back to his surroundings. Though that failed to explain why Dwalin was rather predatorily wrapping his arm over Ori’s shoulder and across his chest. Not that in other circumstances this wouldn’t have felt amazing but right now it just stung.

Ori let out a pained sound, almost a gasp, Dwalin glanced down and saw that his fingers were pressing into where the largest bruise was, he pulled his arm up quickly so that it hovered just above Ori’s chest. “Sorry.” Dwalin breathed past Ori’s ear. He didn’t want to stop touching Ori but he definitely didn’t want to be hurting him either.

Ori closed his eyes against the sensation of Dwalin’s breath, and swallowed. “That’s okay, just a little more central and it shouldn’t be a problem.” Ori could barely believe the quiet words as they left him but he smiled to himself as he felt Dwalin’s arm settle back over his shoulder and down the center of his chest.

Neither of them noticed the confused glances they were getting from their schoolmates. They were lost in their own little world simply enjoying being so close to each other until Nori clapped Dwalin on the shoulder causing them to jump.

“Get him to class well ya, I’ve got to talk to P. Gandalf.”

“Don’t call him that.” Dwalin laughed at Nori as he walked away before noting that his usual morning grumpiness seemed to have passed.

Thorin and Bilbo came to a stop beside Dwalin and Ori. “So” Thorin started. “where are we headed?”

“Oh crap!” Both Ori and Bilbo chimed in unison, panicked.

“What?” Thorin asked almost as panicked.

“I didn’t do any homework.”

“I don’t think I even opened my bag!”

“Oh my God!” Thorin put his hands on his cheeks in mock horror, rolling his eyes. “How can you live with yourselves!”

“You’re more ridiculous then they are, let’s go.” Dwalin said starting to walk Ori forward. “Move, move.”

“Let me make sure I have everything I need.” Ori started to turn toward him.

“Nope, move, let’s go.” Dwalin turned Ori around and pressed him forward.

The group stopped at each one of their lockers and made the appropriate change of books and papers before all four started down the hall to Ori and Bilbo’s math class.

Ori settled uncomfortable into his seat next to Bilbo as Dwalin placed each of their bags on their desks. Thorin had stayed at the front of the room and was quietly speaking with the teacher. Dwalin leaned onto Ori’s desk and locked eyes with him. “You don’t leave this room until one of us is with you. Got it?”

Ori huffed. “We are perfectly capable of walking ourselves…”

“Got it.” Dwalin said again ending the argument. Fili and Kili walked past the desks heading for their own, a snarky little lip quirk plastered on their faces.

“Fine.” Ori whispered looking down at his desk.

“Good.” Dwalin smiled standing and looking over at Bilbo. “Same goes for you.”

“Oh fine. Include me in your little drama.” Bilbo sighed dramatically.

“I will.” Dwalin winked at him before turning and walking toward the door, grabbing Thorin and dragging him out along the way.

Bilbo smirked to himself as he pulled out his book and prepared for class. He wouldn’t say it aloud but he liked what the older boys were doing, it was sweet. Though he knew Ori disagreed with him on this point. Ori had been on high alert ever since they had stopped at his locker and Dwalin made it apparent he wasn’t going to leave Ori unguarded.

Ori let out an aggravated yet relieved sigh as Dwalin finally left the room. This whole exercise was stupid, what did they think they were doing! Fili and Kili had gone after them to stay away from Thorin and Dwalin and now Thorin and Dwalin were practically plastered to them! It was just asking for trouble, and where the hell had Nori run off to, why wasn’t he the one plastered to him like usual. Nori’s absence was making the whole thing even stranger. Setting down his bag Ori winced as he leaned into his bruise. “Damn it” he swore under his breath, he could feel Fili’s eyes on his back witch was just making him more tense and that certainly wasn’t helping him feel any better. Sitting back up he tried to focus on finding a breathing pattern that didn’t hurt. The teacher stood and started class but neither Ori nor Bilbo where paying any attention, sadly for them neither where Fili and Kili. The Durin twins were watching their two victims trying to decide how they were going to finish the lesson they had already started.

Thorin absent-mindedly ran through the German vocabulary with the rest of his class. He hadn’t been able to finish explaining what was happening to Bilbo’s teacher before Dwalin dragged him out of the room, so now he was very anxious to get back to Bilbo before the boy tried to just carry on like it was a normal day. Thorin just knew his cousins were going to try something else especially since he hadn’t had a chance to discuss this issue with them or his father yet.

Dwalin smacked Thorin’s arm to pull him back to class. He could see the anxious tension in his friend, while he was just as anxious about leaving the two younger boys alone, he also knew he had to stay alert or, knowing himself, he would lose track of time. Half way through the period Nori finally joined the class with a quick smile and shrug of his shoulders. From then on, the class just seemed to drag on for an eternity for the three friends.

Five minutes before the bell all three were packed up and perched, ready to sprint for the door. Calling it close enough at a minute of Dwalin stood, swung his bag over his shoulder, heading for the door Thorin and Nori on his heels. As their teacher began to protest the bell screeched out and the boys took off at a run.

Ori looked like he was in severe pain, his eyes were scrunched closed and his breathing was shallow. Bilbo watched his friend discreetly from the corner of his eye with concern. He didn’t like to see Ori in so much pain nor did he like the fact that Fili had been staring Ori down the entire class. The screech of the bell was a mixed blessing; it meant they could escape Fili and Kili for the next period, they just needed to make it to the safety of the chemistry lab. Dwalin had said to wait but as Bilbo leaned over to get his bag he saw the pain shoot through Ori when he tried to do the same. Bilbo wasn’t sure they could wait for the older boys, Fili and Kili were making their casual way toward them and he was sure neither he nor Ori were in any condition to defend themselves.

Nori stopped in front of his brother’s desk, a glare firmly set on his face, directed at the Durin twins as they walked by. Dwalin knelt down next to Ori and frowned at the pain on his face. Thorin weaved through the other students to stand beside Bilbo smiling brightly. “So, how was class?” Thorin asked, Bilbo chuckled softly and glanced back at Ori.

“Are you okay, Ori” Dwalin asked leaning in. Ori startled at how close Dwalin was, his eyes snapping open and locking onto the older boy.

“Yeah.” Ori tried to smile reassuringly and failed at it. “Just sore.” Nori’s back pack hit the desk with a thud as he began to dig through it. Dwalin shook his head at his friend, pulling Ori’s bag out from under his seat. He closed Ori’s note book and Math text and dropped them into the younger boy’s bag.

“Here, this’ll help.” Nori said handing Ori a bottle of ibuprofen. Ori smiled a genuine smile as he grabbed the bottle and downed two pills dry. Standing Ori tried to hand the bottle back to his brother. “No, you should probably hang on to those. Just don’t O.D. on us.”

Dwalin snagged the bottle from Ori’s hand and dropped them in his bag. “All right where to next?”

The younger boys were dropped off at chemistry with the same instructions to wait. The class went smoothly and quietly. When the bell rang the older boys weren’t five minutes behind it, ready to move to the next class. Walking into English both Ori and Bilbo let out a sigh of relief, even though they shared this class with the twins, Professor Thranduil didn’t allow them to get very far with anything.

Nori stopped and spoke quietly with Professor Thranduil as Dwalin and Thorin ushered Ori and Bilbo to their seats. Thranduil glanced worried at his two young students, he would never out right call them his favorites, based on the principle that teachers shouldn’t have favorite students, though they were. Thranduil reassured Nori that he would keep the boys in the room until Nori came to collect them. The older boys left in a much more confident mood, laughing at each other as the Durin twins arrived.

Thranduil acted as if nothing had changed except for the slightly more frequent glances in Ori and Bilbo’s direction. The twins kept their distance through most of the period only toward the end did they start their attack. It started with small balls of paper flicked at their targets meant to and succeeding at annoying the victims.

The bell rang out and Bilbo reluctantly began closing his note books. Neither he nor Ori were looking forward to being jostled around at lunch. “So, what did” Bilbo’s head swung around to find Fili leaning on the desk behind him. “you tell them to convince them to play your bodyguards?” Fili’s smile turned dark as his brother came to settle beside him.

“We didn’t-“

“Fili, Kili, move along.” Thranduil barked from the front of the room.

“We’re just waiting for our friends, Professor.” Kili chimed mockingly bright. Thranduil frowned at the use of his nickname, ever since the students had found out about his previous position at Rivendell College, they had all taken to calling him ‘Professor’. Some like Bilbo and Ori said it with respect but most said it with the mocking tone Kili was currently employing.

“You are anything but. Now move along before I decide I need some extra help after school today.” The silly little threat of having to stay late got the twins moving in the direction he wanted them.

Kili frowned pushing away from the desk and past his brother, who reluctantly fallowed. As the Durin twins exited the room Thranduil started toward Bilbo and Ori, he settled on a desktop in front of his two pupils. “You two,” he paused with a sigh. “you’re both so bright and yet you let, you allow yourselves to be pushed around by those two.” When both Ori and Bilbo simply shifted uncomfortably with guilty down cast eyes, Thranduil continued. “I simply wish that at least one of you had felt comfortable enough to come to me and tell me that they were getting out of hand. Instead of having” he poked Ori’s shoulder gently. “your brother stomping into my class and telling me that you can’t leave without him because things have just gotten ridiculous.” Ori flushed red with embarrassment.

“Nori told you what happened.” Bilbo asked sounding confused.

“Not exactly, just not to let you two leave without him for your safety.”

“Then how?”

“It’s always the twins. They are a … a boisterous pair and no one else would dare go near you two with the way Nori, Thorin and Dwalin fawn over you.”

“I do not ‘fawn’ sir.” Thorin said coming up behind Thranduil. “I admire and protect.”

“Of course.” Thranduil smirked standing. “Now all of you get out of my class. I have work to do.”

Dwalin dropped down into a chair at Bilbo and Ori’s usual lunch table, to the surprise of the two younger boys, while Thorin and Nori went to grab everyone something to eat. “What are you doing?” Ori half glared at Dwalin.

“Having lunch.” Dwalin shrugged the glare off and turned to Bilbo. “Where we heading next?”

Bilbo smirked before starting to answer. “Well, actually I’m”

Ori cut over Bilbo irritated. “Why are you having lunch now?”

“Well, why shouldn’t we have lunch now? You are.”

“It’s my lunch period. Seriously what the hell do you guys think you’re doing?”

“We’re just keeping an eye on you, is all.”

“Stop, you’re just going to make it worse.” Ori huffed sitting down.

Dwalin sighed. “Ori, by the time today is over they won’t have the balls to come near you again.”

Ori let out and exasperated groan. “And how is th”

“And if they do, I will follow you around until they learn to leave you alone.”

“That is probably the stupidest thing I have ever heard you say.” Ori scoffed.

“Yeah? Well I’m sure you’ll hear stupider.” Dwalin smirked.

“Unbelievable.” Ori huffed, gently laying his head on the table; he winced as he compressed his chest then pushed his chair back to straighten out his back.

Bilbo smirked at Ori’s pouting before turning back to Dwalin. “You really shouldn’t be cutting class like this.”

“Well hopefully it’s only for the one day but I think we could manage a few days like this if we had too.” Dwalin shrugged.

“Lunch is served.” Thorin chimed brightly as he and Nori arrived with four heavily laden trays. “The finest delicacies that Moria High has to offer.”

Nori slid a tray in front of Dwalin then dropped down next to Ori and pushed the second tray toward his brother. “You eat something and keep it down and I promise I’ll make you whatever you want for dinner.” Nori whispered. Ori glanced up at him halfheartedly and, Nori just smiled understandingly. Nori knew his baby brother well and when he was in pain Ori lost his appetite, which in turn led him to getting a cold witched made him grumpy witch made everyone around him grumpy. So the key to avoiding all of that was to get some food in him without pestering or forcing it into him because using either of those tactics tended to make everyone grumpy even faster. In all the years he had been doing this bribing had presented itself as the best way to handle an Ori in pain.

Ori sighed and closed his eyes. “Give me the Jell-O.”

Nori smiled lifting two small bowls off the tray. “Cherry or lime?”

“Both” Nori shrugged and placed the two bowls in front of Ori then placed a spoon in his lax fingers before ruffling Ori’s hair lovingly.

“Sometimes I hate you.” Ori grumbled as he stuck a spoon full of Jell-O in his mouth.

“I take what I can get.” Nori smiled biting into his pizza burger.

They finished eating early and decided to head toward the next class before the halls got overly crowded again. Ori had slowed down quite a bit he was getting extremely tired. Every breath was requiring concentration and every step sent up little shock waves of pain. So now Ori was leaning on Nori more then he would ever like to admit to, he had chosen to lean on his brother rather than Dwalin because every time he did Dwalin would wrap his arm around Ori’s shoulder and Ori’s damn heart would speed up and that only made his chest hurt even more. So Nori it was and beside Nori could carry him around for a little while what with how often he has practically carried Nori through these halls. He was sure Nori had missed something in his quick look last night and was wishing Dori was home already.

A pretty blond, thin girl in a Sir Faramir’s Academy uniform, brown pleated skirt with matching jacket over a pristine white button down shirt and a golden tie, walked past them only to stop and throw herself onto Thorin. “Thorin!” She shouted locking her arms around Thorin’s neck with such force that he had to take two staggering steps backward in order to keep from falling over. “Are you feeling better? We were worried when you didn’t show up yesterday, and you didn’t even call me.” She pouted.

“Jesus, Legolas what are you doing here?” Thorin asked finally stabilizing himself.

“I had a half day and Daddy forgot his lunch again so I was bringing it to him.” She smiled brightly.

“Well his room is down there”

“No, no I already gave it to him.” She chuckled then glanced at the others and tilted her head to the side at the distraught look on Bilbo’s face. “Where were you yesterday?” she asked shaking Thorin a little as she turned back to him.

Thorin sighed. “Something came”

“I’m sorry.” Bilbo said quietly before turning and running down the hall.

Thorin glanced about confused. “Wha, Bilbo, wait.”

“You’re an idiot.” Dwalin shook his head as he handed Ori’s bag to Nori. “Straiten this out.” Dwalin gestured at Legolas. “I’ll go get him.” Dwalin wove through the building crowd and rounded the same corner Bilbo had disappeared around.

“What was that about?’ Legolas asked the group in general.

“Straiten what out?”

“I didn’t know you actually had a girlfriend.” Ori said. “I mean I had heard the rumors but you never said anything about it yourself and when you’re not doing stuff for your dad you’re at our place.” Ori glanced sadly after his friend, wincing.

“Ori, what are you talking about, I don’t have a” Thorin moved to lean toward Ori but was stopped by Legolas’s arms around his neck; he looked up at her with an exasperated sigh. “Will you let go of me?"

“Oh sure.” She smiled and took a step back dropping her arms.

Thorin looked back at Ori. “Ori, I don’t have a girlfriend, Legolas is not my girlfriend.”

Ori raised an eyebrow. “Could have fooled me and I think you did, Bilbo.”

“Arge! We just do archery together.” Thorin spun towards Legolas. “How many times have I told you to stop dangling off of me!”

“So that was Bilbo, he’s super cute! Have you asked him out yet?” Legolas asked excited. Thorin glanced away for a moment before begrudgingly answering the question.

“Not exactly.” His tone sharpened. “And if what just happened stops that from happening, I blame you!”

“How would it be my fault that you failed to tell him that you have a friend that just happens to be a girl?”

Nori turned his brother away from the building argument with a heavy sigh. Sometimes he thought Thorin could be such an idiot.

Bilbo weaved and dodged through the hall almost absentmindedly, Thorin had looked so natural and right with that girl wrapped around him. Bilbo had heard the rumors, of course he had they had been going around for a while now, and felt he should have known better but Thorin had kissed him. Why would Thorin kiss him if he had a girlfriend? Bilbo turned to his right and slid between two other students with a soft. “Excuse me.”

“No.” Fili said grabbing Bilbo by his shirt collar and looking around the hall smirking. “What happened to your bodyguards?”

“They get tired of looking after a little pervert?” Kili chuckled. Bilbo stayed quiet, his eyes down cast as he wished he had been strong enough to stay and silently meet Thorin’s girlfriend. Fili pressed him against the lockers. “We just asked you a question.”

“Let go of him.” Dwalin growled behind the twins. Fili and Kili looked over their shoulders and smirked as they realized Dwalin was alone.

“You know, I don’t think I will.” Fili smirked. “He and I have some things to talk about.”

“I think you need to talk to Thorin more then you need to talk to Bilbo. Now, let him go.” Dwalin put his hand on Fili’s shoulder. Kili spun and punched Dwalin hard in the left cheek, Dwalin rocked with the force of the blow. Recovering he tackled Kili into the lockers next to Bilbo. Fili let go of Bilbo to assist his brother; Dwalin pushed backward nocking Fili off balance for a moment. Dwalin used this to grab Bilbo’s arm and began leading him away, Fili recovered quickly and took a swing at Bilbo. Dwalin pulled Bilbo against his chest so that Fili’s fist hit the back of his shoulder. Kili pushed himself off the lockers and launched into the attack on Dwalin and Bilbo. Dwalin wrapped his arms protectively around Bilbo’s small form as he curled his back doming around Bilbo for safety.

“Enough!” Principle Gandalf boomed over the gathering students. Gandalf and Coach Boromir parted the students then had to physically remove Fili and Kili from their victims. “You two in my office, now.” Gandalf growled at the twins, who were then hurried away by Coach Boromir. Dwalin glanced over his shoulder before turning to reveal a startled and spooked Bilbo, Gandalf sighed. “Are you boys alright?”

“Yes sir.” Dwalin answered popping his shoulder; Gandalf raised an eyebrow then looked at Bilbo. Bilbo swallowed under the old man’s scrutiny, tightening his fingers around Dwalin’s bicep before nodding that he was fine.

“Bilbo,” Bilbo glanced up at Principal Gandalf. “I understand this isn’t the first time something like this has happened, this week.” Bilbo nodded again. “I’m going to need to speak to you and your parents tomorrow, alright?”

“Yes sir.” Bilbo squeaked.

“Good.” Principal Gandalf smiled. “Now off to class with you. Dwalin,” Dwalin snapped to attention. “I would like you to go to the nurse and get looked at but I suppose it can wait until after you drop off your young friend were he’s meant to be.”

“Of course.”

“Very good.” Principle Gandalf smiled once again at them both before turning back towards his office.

“I swear, we leave you alone for five minutes and you start world war three in the hall.” Nori chuckled steering Ori over to Dwalin and Bilbo.

“Oh my goodness, are you alright Bilbo?” Legolas asked leaning over to inspect the small brunet as she and Thorin came up behind the Ri brothers. Bilbo looked down with a slight blush as he nodded that he was fine. Legolas smiled at him before turning to Thorin. “How can you let your cousins be such brutes to Bilbo, he’s far too cute to be putting up with this type of behavior.”

“I don’t let them, and who’s fault do you think this is?” Thorin grumbled.

“Well I’m sure I don’t”

“Yours! It’s yours. He would have been fine walking the halls with us, with me, but then you ran him off!”

“That wouldn’t have happened if you had just told him who I am.”

Thorin’s face fell. “Why does it always come back to being my fault?”

“Because it is.” Dwalin added helpfully, Thorin glared at Dwalin.

“He has a point.” Legolas nodded.

“Well you just go home already; you’re not even supposed to be here.”

“Fine. See you later Bilbo.” She waved and turned away from them.

“Just Go!” Thorin yelled after her, Legolas giggled as she disappeared down the hall.

Bilbo dropped his hands from Dwalin’s arm. “Thanks for, um…”

Dwalin smiled. “No problem.”

“Are you sure you’re alright?”

“Yeah, I should be good.” Dwalin ruffled Bilbo’s hair. “And if not, I’ll just send the bill to that idiot.” Dwalin jabbed his thumb at Thorin who huffed.

“Bilbo, you have music next, right?” Thorin asked.

“Theory” Bilbo said quietly.

“What?”

“I have music theory next.”

“Oh right, let’s go get your stuff and-“

“Stalker much?” Nori asked with a smirk, Thorin ignored him.

“get you there. The bells going to ring soon.” Bilbo didn’t move.

“Maybe you should explain what just happened because I think that might be a good place to start.” Dwalin said, moving toward Ori’s locker.

“Thanks Mom.” Thorin quipped taking Bilbo’s shoulder and steering him toward his locker.

“Where we headed now?” Dwalin asked the Nori/Ori morph they had become.

“Ori’s gonna get his art on.” Nori announced turning toward the art room.

“You’re weird.” Dwalin informed him, falling in step beside them.

“It’s why you love me so much.” Nori laughed.

“Sure, let’s go with that.”

Bilbo kept his head down as Thorin steered him through the hall toward his locker. They stopped in front of the small metal door and Bilbo reached out to put in the code, as the latch clicked Thorin spoke. “Look, Bilbo. I know I haven’t done this quite right, but Legolas” Bilbo knitted his eyebrows together in confusion at the name. “That girl who was climbing on me. She’s not my girlfriend, she’s a friend from archery, that’s all.”

Bilbo looked up at Thorin. “She knew my name.”

Thorin blushed slightly and glanced away. “I, um, I would talk to her about you. I won’t anymore if you want.”

Bilbo watched Thorin’s face for a moment and smiled to himself. “No, that’s not necessary, she seems nice.”

Thorin visibly relaxed, “Sure when she’s not trying to smother me to death, she’s great.” Bilbo smiled closing his locker.

#the hobbit #ori #Dori #Nori #dwalin #dwalin x ori #dwori #thorin #thorin x bilbo #Bilbo Baggens #fili #kili #Fanfiction #AU highschool

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furederiko · 7 years

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It took three episodes to build up my interest, and another three to tear it down apart... *sigh*

As usual, my internet has been acting up all day. To the point that I've already postponed this to go up tomorrow (October 21st). But since the internet gets better, and the post is pretty much done, I've decided to just publish it today despite being a few hours late. Just in case my internet goes bad again during the weekend. Here goes...

05 - "My Secret Identity"

- Remember how the preview in episode 4 teased that Souichi could be working for Faust, and became its traitor? Well... that was undoubtedly misleading. - This episode confirmed that Souichi was the astronaut who discovered Pandora's Box, and indeed triggered the Skywall Disaster (but not on his free will? Hmmm) to steal two of its panels. But he wasn't working for Faust! He delivered one of the panel in exchange for Misora, who was held captive. It explained why and how Misora was able to 'purify' the Smash Essence, because she was part of Faust's experiment. Unfortunately, this also blatantly pointed out the writing's flaw. If being a shut-in was because Misora is still being hunted by Faust, then wouldn't apearing as net idol to search for underground information... recklessly gave herself away? I mean, it's not like she's wearing a mask or significant costume that would disguised her in any way. - At the same time, plot-driver Sawa also had an important discovery. Sentou's past! Ooookay, turns out it was NOT that important. Sentou Kiryuu's real name was Tarou Satou, and he was an eccentric band member alongside his equally goofy and sloppy schoolmate Tatsuya Kishida (played by Tarou Pinboke). Their band was called "Lynks", a name as plain as his real one. I know, right? What an underwhelming reveal. Perhaps the show attempted this reveal to be a comedy, but as I've repeatedly said, humour is definitely its weakest link. Meh... - The more important bit of information was the day he disappeared: September 5th. 'Tarou' was going to test out for a new drug, or something, which might explained how he got abducted by Faust. But of course, before Tatsuya was able to tell more, our baddie Blood Stalk (yes, it's 'Stalk' and not 'Stark') showed up and... ended up snatching him away. Looks like Tatsuya's annoyingly bad dental arrangement was a sign of doom all along. Naturally, he ended up as the episode's MotW/Smash. Predictable much? - Oh well, at least the fight between Build and Stalk was neat. Stalk blocked the former's "VORTEX FINISH" (yes, 'Vortex' and not 'Voltech') very easily, and expressed his desire to see Build... grow stronger. Wait, what? I wonder what truly is Faust's goal here? Hmmm. By the way, Gentoku and Utsumi were at it again. Since Stalk was in the same scene, obviously neither of them was its true identity. There's that. - New Full Bottle debuted. Comic Full Bottle? For a supposed science-based Rider, this show really goes beyond science. Comic didn't fit the biological/tech angle, unless... that's never the case from the start? Could it be, it's our fault for expecting or assuming too much too soon? - Once again, Ryuuga (who indeed is sleeping on the SAME bed. Does the show have so little of a budget, it can't afford separate rooms?) pulled off Comic's Best Match... with Ninja. HUH? "Naruto"-inspired? Thankfully, NinninComic form was impressive both in design and action. I loved the color scheme, and the 'Ninjitsu'-style attacks (like duplication and some others) were cool. This is definitely the most useful form so far. The show was about to end in a good note, until... - Sentou was carelessly caught off guard by Ryuuga once again (no kidding! TWICE already), who knocked him down and turned Tatsuya back into a Smash. Yep, I didn't know that's actually possible. Misora was to be blamed, as she's the one who planted this wrong idea to Ryuuga's simpleton's head. Would Sentou react in a hostile way because of this? The answer is in the next episode...

Overall: This was an underwhelming episode. I was kind of hoping for a powerful reveal about Sentou's past, but it wasn't even that important. Instead, the good part came for Souichi and Misora, who unfortunately were brushed off fairly quickly to pave way for Tatsuya's arrival. The butt-head argument between Tatsuya and Ryuuga was nice and all, as they seemed to by vying for Sentou's attention. But overall, this episode wasn't as strong as the previous three that have managed to grab my attention. So to be honest... I'm disappointed.

06 - "In the Belly of the Beast!"

- Let's continue. Unnecessary long 'previous episode' review aside, how would you expect Sentou to react for Ryuuga's action? Well... not as 'fun' nor 'tense' as I had imagined. Perhaps because Sentou had less memory with Tatsuya, and had spent more time with Ryuuga instead? Hmmm. - Ryuuga's plan actually worked. Re-Smash-ed Tatsuya wandered back to Faust secret base! But sadly Build had to come and save his ass again, which led to their bickering scene (with a touch of fist-fight). This was however, an important scene. We got to see that the Build Driver somehow only worked with Sentou, as Ryuuga got electrocuted when he tried to use it. It led Sentou to tinker a sentient gadget called Cross-Z Dragon for Ryuuga, so he could utilize the power of his Dragon Full Bottle. Yep, it's definitely the second step for him to become Kamen Rider Cross-Z (that's the official romanization). For now however, it worked as some sort of pet/babysitter... that has the ability to suck poison from Ryuuga's body. CONVENIENT! - Hazard Level? Night Rogue felt Blood Stalk has been trying to raise Build's level, and didn't seem pleased about it. These Faust duo are definitely toying with Build... and also Ryuuga (Stalk openly used plural for Build) in their own way. But what for? I still couldn't get it. - Hey, Sentou's working at the Institute! Now that's a rare sight. LOL. Seeing his employee hard at work, Gentoku openly shared more information about Takumi Katsuragi, and about the gas emitting from Sky Wall that they branded as Nebula Gas. Utsumi seemed unsure to hand out Katsuragi's research to Sentou, but Gentoku didn't mind. And responded with a... suspicious smile? He's totally up for something here. Could he be secretly leading Sentou to pinpoint the... Faust Lab? That seemed to be the case. Cunning Gentoku totally knew more than he should've. Was he in cahoots with Stalk? - Sentou and Ryuuga discovered the base. It's the lab where they were experimented on! Home sweet home, huh? It's interesting that only halfway through episode 6, and we've already in the enemy's headquarters. This was FAST, so Sentou's identity arc might be wrapped pretty soon. But this show have got to be kidding me! The lab was on the verge of exploding (following Build's berserk against Stalk), and the Faust soldiers were trying to transport the other victims of human experiment... yet Sentou and Ryuuga went into a long emotional private talk instead? YIKES. This show tends to choose bad timing for this kind of scene, and this might be the most ridiculous example. It's like audience was expected to assume that time froze or something like that, until they've done their heart to heart talk... *sigh*. - The episode ended in a more baffling manner. After being rescued, Tatsuya opened up that Sentou could have been the real culprit in Katsuragi's supposed-murder. How so? Because Tatsuya dropped him off at Katsuragi's apartment, precisely an hour before Ryuuga arrived there. It could be an attempt for a cliffhanger, but it felt forced instead. And it got more irritating, as Blood Stalk walked into a brand new Faust lab facility while talking in the phone with... *drumrolls* Gentoku. Nope, that's not where it annoyed me. It's what was shown afterwards in the preview! Because... wait for it, following a commerical break that somehow included the Faust "Trans-Steam Gun" and "Steam Blade" in it (Over-Time's fansub didn't include this, but it was in broadcast), we got to see Gentoku using a Full Bottle, revealing that he is... *sigh*

Overall: Way to go, TOEI! You always ruin the fun of discovery by showing too much on the next episode's preview, and you've done it again with this one. To put it worse, the startlingly problematic second half was just part of other major issues I had with this episode. It felt messy and well, missed out plenty of potentials to actually surprise audience in a positive way. That exaggerated chit-chat scene between Sawa and Misora about boyfriends, extras (those other victims) who ridiculously acted very poorly, and Sentou's supposed emotional explosion that never felt believable? And then that spoilerish preview? What a bummer... *sigh*.

07 - "The True Face of Night Rogue"

- Let's address the biggest, gigantic elephant in the room right away. Gentoku Himuro. The charming Gentoku who sleazily tried to harrass Sawa while spreading suspicious smirks and grunts every now and then, is indeed, totally, undeniably Night Rogue. So basically, this series does the complete obvious, by rehashing the exact same trope of last year (remember Kamen Rider Genm?). This is well... such a let-down, because I admittedly expected it to be different, if not better. Unlike Build's brother show Kyuranger that continues to prove its forte of being enjoyable and unexpectedly surprising over and over again, Build is sequing through the predictable path instead. - Not sure how I feel about it, but this reveal officially made Gentoku's entire movements more and more confusing to follow. Is Night Rogue really the leader of Faust? Then why would he follow Stalk's every order, as if he's the second in command? Before this, we saw him being fascinated with Stalk's action, and then in this episode, they butted heads and got into a disagreement. He claimed to Sentou that he fired Katsuragi for doing illegal human experiments, but he obviously has been doing it himself. What's that about? Does he have dual personality? - I understood that he's aiming to build Kamen Rider for military purposes. But if he has known Sentou is Build from the beginning, why have he and Utsumi been pretending in the Institute that they didn't have a clue? Spilling out details one after another, leaking information to the 'enemy', while in various occasions looked so desperate to capture them (Gentoku's weird reaction in episode 5 in particular, just felt all wrong). Inconsistent much? Hmmm... could he be intentionally toying with Build? Didn't seem so, and that's... pointless anyway. Not to mention, WHY OH WHY? Build kept using new Full Bottles (doesn't take a genius to figure out that he has Misora who can purify them, as well as the Pandora's Panel that Faust is looking for), then why didn't Gentoku just follow him to Cafe Nascita, and scored multiple jackpots? He DID easily follow Sentou and Ryuuga to stop them from going to the dry-soiled Hokuto region, right? Confusing! *sigh* - I guess Gentoku's first transformation sequence and the "MIST MATCH" tagline was meant to look cool, but it sure didn't feel that way and came off as unnecessarily flashy. Interestingly, he outpaced Ryuuga to become the official 2nd rider of the show. A fact that made me speechless. - Also, I'm calling it now. Blood Stalk is none other than Katsuragi. Who else, right? Why on Earth would his actor be promoted into a recurring cast recently. It signaled that he's way more important than just mere cameo (remember Kamen Rider Para-DX?). The way Stalk boldly proclaimed Takumi to be the founder of Faust, was way too suspicious anyway. Just like Gaim and Ex-Aid, looks like everyone who's not comic reliefs might end up becoming a Rider. - Thankfully, Takumi's mother Kyoka Katsuragi (played by Komura Hiro) became a highlight to this episode. Ignoring the odd facts that led Sentou to Hokuto (how would Takumi even bothered to give out obvious hints via his logs, one that would shockingly be deduced as anagram? How is that even scientific? Also, another cosplay joke for Ryuuga... *sigh*), the drama bit between the middle-aged local teacher and Ryuuga was moving. This was the woman who thought of Ryuuga as her son's killer, but had to swallow the bitter pill when she learned who was truly the evil one. - There were other good points. Cross-Z Dragon was the episode's MVP, by aiding in the battle against that child-based Smash. I also digged the fact that the Rocket Full Bottle actually belonged to Stalk, and was not Sentou's to begin with. The switched ownership was neat, and shook things up a little. Ryuuga and his knack for Best Matches was another delight to see. - RocketPanda form however? Not a good looking form that resembled "Kamen Rider Fourze" too much, but in an ugly way. And the show once again broke its own rule, this time through the reversed naming order. Another inconsistency?

Overall: On one hand, the show 'succeeded' in trying to make audience continue guessing whether Gentoku is Rogue or not. On the other hand, the road towards that was shaky, flawed, and the outcome was merely another underwhelming 'Meh' at best. It didn't feel like a surprising twist, simply because the show didn't even try to smartfully plotted it as one. Heck, it was already openly revealed on the preview *sigh*. I developed good faith after seeing how the show evolved from episode 2 to 4, yet it took episode 5 to 7 to burn them all down and left me bitter in disappointment. With poorly handled characters, shift of tones that doesn't flow well, and writings that feel surprisingly sloppy, this show just does not feel enjoyable and promising to me anymore. Many have pointed out that it might be too early to drop a Tokusatsu show around this number of episodes, because things usually gets better and only truly shapes up in the second arc. But I'm not sure I have the patience to go much farther... *sigh. For now, I'll stick around for just another 2 episodes. If my interest isn't picking up by then, I'm definitely shelving this series for good. That's not a threat, by the way. Just an acknowledgement that this show is just... NOT my BEST MATCH. Next Episode: That hedgehog is on FIREEEEE... PS: Eiji & Ankh! Dark-haired Takeru!! Human-Kouta!!! And Gentarou!!!! At least that "Kamen Rider Heisei Generations FINAL" movie looks like an interesting mash-ups...

Episode 05 Score: 7,3 out of 10 Episode 06 Score: 7,1 out of 10 Episode 07 Score: 6,9 out of 10

All images are screencaptured from the series, provided by the FanSubber Over-Time. "Kamen Rider Build" is produced by TOEI, and airs every Sunday on TV-Asahi. Credits and copyrights belong to their respective owners.

#tokusatsu #kamen rider #kamen rider build #review

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hummuskingclyde · 7 years

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Title: Parental Perspective

Fandom: Boku no Hero Academia/My Hero Academia

Characters: Izuku “Deku” Midoriya, Shouto Todoroki , Inko Midoriya, Enji Todoroki (Endeavor)

Pairings: TodoDeku

Genre: Family, Hurt/Comfort

Word Count: +4k

Summary: “ Shouto Todoroki and Izuku Midoriya have been dating for awhile and every Saturday they spend it at Deku's house. Inko is more than happy for the two but when Endeavor finds out about the relationship, Inko invites him over for dinner. “

Link from AO3

Link from FF.net

It wasn’t unusual to find Shouto Todoroki and Izuku “Deku” Midoriya walking together on a Saturday afternoon. They were boyfriends after all; however, if you saw them out in public and didn’t already know them as a classmate or teacher, you wouldn’t really be able to tell. Both boys were too shy to even hold hands. The first time they tried, Deku found himself muttering to himself about how to even hold a person’s hand in a romantic manner and if there were some kind of technique to it. While Shouto wasn’t as vocal, his right hand had become extremely cold and began to freeze over due to nerves. Both boys were fine with not holding hands – they didn’t need to.

Every Saturday after the UA Sports Festival, Shouto would visit his mother in the hospital. It was a comfort to both mother and son, being able to see one another and apologize for what had happened in the past. It was a reassurance for Shouto to be able to get back the lost time of not having a mother figure in his childhood. Not once had Shouto resented his mother for the burn scar that would permanently stain his face. He always knew from a young age that she was his mother not by choice, but by force. The purpose of his being was to be a tool for his father’s ambitions – his endeavors.

The first time Shouto brought Deku to the hospital to meet his mother he did not introduce him as his boyfriend. There wasn’t a need to, as Shouto had introduced him as “someone special” and “someone who saved me.” Of course this led the boy to blush madly and try to be humble about himself. It threw Deku off so much that he began rambling to Shouto’s mother and explaining he was a classmate who thought her son was amazing, both talented in power and skill. She had laughed lovingly. It caught both Deku and Shouto by surprise as she introduced herself and said sweetly that it was a pleasure to meet him and that she was happy that “Shouto has amazing friends.” Shouto was more than surprise as his mother hadn’t laughed any time before with all of his visits. His heart had ached for his mother’s laughter, remember the times she had laughed while he was still a young child.

Deku had kept a pleasant, and almost too exuberant conversation on her family’s quirks history. While he didn’t mean to tread into unknown territory since he knew that the reason she married Endeavor was for her quirk, she was more than happy to talk to him about it. It came as a shock to Shouto, even more of a shock when his sister correctly guessed that Deku was his boyfriend before Shouto could say anything. To see his mother’s happiness spark just by talking to Deku, well, it made him confirm the fact that his boyfriend was really something special.

After that Saturday, Deku would take Shouto back to his house to meet his own mother. The first time Inko Midoriya saw her son bringing in a school “friend” she was overly ecstatic, bringing out the good tea as well as an array of different snacks to serve her guest. When Deku was able to stammer out the word “boyfriend,” Inko nearly tripped over her slippers. She had spluttered out the word in response and began hysterically crying. Both boys moved to action, alarmed by a mother’s tears. Though she was only moved to tears by the mere fact that her son was able to find someone, Inko apologized for her outburst and sat both of them down to talk about relationships. Being both Deku and Shouto’s first time in any sort of romantic relationship, they were very naïve to what relationship could evolve to. Noticing this, the mother had chosen to talk about the birds and the bees another day.

- It was another Saturday evening where both Shouto and Deku had been sitting on the sofa talking about their classmates. They had recalled the time that both of them and Iida had encountered the Hero Killer. The training period they were undergoing before their final was intense, and Deku was concerned for his close friend on how his concentration might waver if he was still thinking about the incident.

“I know Iida, even if he doesn’t say anything I’m sure he’s thinking about it in the back of his head.” Deku sighed gently, rubbing his scarred hand gently. It had been a few weeks since what went down in Hosu. The three of them had all talked in the hospital, but none of them could shake off the feeling of absolute terror when they saw the Hero Killer after killing that Nomu.

“I think he’ll be fine. Even if he’s worried about his brother, he’s definitely going to ace the written part of the final. Since we don’t know what the physical test is going to be, the best we can all do is keep up our training.” Shouto replied, taking another sip of the green tea Deku’s mom had put out for them. Deku could only nod in agreement, but continued to think harder on the idea. He wasn’t able to do more for Iida when he should’ve saw the signs of distress and revenge. If it wasn’t for Todoroki recognizing the grudge Iida had slowly formed, there was no possible way that both he and Deku could’ve gotten out of Hosu alive.

“Izuku! Shouto! I’m making cold soba for dinner is that alright with you both?” Inko had called out from the kitchen. Both Deku and his mother knew it was going to be alright, since he had asked his mom if she could make soba tonight after finding out it was Shouto’s favorite food.

It seemed like Shouto was able to figure that much out, and a small smile crept onto his face.

“Yes, that sounds amazing, thank you very much.” He replied politely, looking to Deku with a questioning eyebrow. “Is that why you asked me what my favorite food was yesterday?” Before Deku could respond there was a sudden – DING!

“What? The door? Haha I should go get that! Mom I’ll get it!” Deku called out, his face flushing with a nervous smile before standing up from the sofa. Shouto could only scoff playfully, standing up and heading towards the kitchen to see if he could help with anything.

Deku hopped over to the door and opened it cautiously, not really wanting to talk to any sales people at the moment when his boyfriend was over and his mom was cooking. Cracking the door open and peeking out, Deku called out.

“Hello--“ Standing before him was none other than Endeavor, the No. 2 Hero in all of Japan. He wasn’t even in his costume but his mustache and beard was aflame and completely intimidating. “E-E-Endeavor?!” Deku stared up at him in both awe and worry. What was he doing here?!

“Oh, it’s you. For some reason I didn’t match your face to the name.” The hero scoffed before trying to look past him into the house. “Where is my son? I was told that he’s usually here on Saturday.” His voice nearly boomed throughout the house, causing Shouto and Inko to peek out of the kitchen. Once Shouto took one look at his father, his face fell into a grimace.

He stormed over to the door, placing a hand on Deku’s shoulder and softly motioned him behind.

“What do you want?” His voice was harsh, cold and slightly irritable.

“Huh. Fuyumi told me you’re usually here but I almost didn’t believe here. Let’s go, I’ve got a new training regimen for you to get you prepared for finals.” The look on Enji Todoroki’s face screamed “annoyed” and “judgmental” as he looked back and forth between his son and the house he was in. “You’re a hero-in-training, you don’t have time to be chummy with schoolmates. Let’s go now.” His voice demanded, booming with arrogance. Both Midoriyas felt a shiver down their spine but Shouto had always defied his father in any way he could.

“No. We can start it tomorrow. I’m going to be staying here for dinner.” Shouto replied, nothing in his voice indicated letting his father get his way. Just as expected, Endeavor’s flames had grown dangerously both in size and heat at his son’s defiance.

Deku held the door open to see both father and son have at it, not really wanting the argument to happen on his front porch with his mother inside the house.

“Uh Todoroki- I mean Shouto, I mean, uh both Todorokis?” He managed to say before Endeavor shot him a dirty look.

“You stay out of this, you’re just his classmate so don’t interfere with family business boy.” The man spat, glaring him down before turning back to his own son.

“He’s not just a classmate, he’s my boyfriend.” A pause. Both Deku and his mother stared at Shouto with their jaws dropped in complete horror. Deku knew that Shouto liked to rile up his father but how would he react to hearing that his son was in a romantic relationship? And with the boy who seemingly represented the No. 1 Hero All Might?

Heat swirled as the flames on Endeavor’s facial hair began to flare up in anger.

“What’s that boy? You got yourself some sort of boyfriend now? Who said you could have one huh? You’re going to be the greatest hero you don’t have time for relationships!” He almost screamed out.

“I can do whatever I want and love whoever I want. I’m not someone who forces people into marriage for their quirks.” Shouto’s jab caused Deku to stutter a form of apology of any kind of sort to Endeavor, though even if it wasn’t his place, it was almost like the two Todorokis were forgetting where they were and if a fight were to break out-

“You little- I gave you life! You should be indebted to me for letting you live this long!”

“I never asked to be born, I never asked to be your son!”

“You belong to me! Now come with me NOW!”

“No!”

“Then I’ll-“

A small voice from behind the boys emerged.

“Excuse me sir, would you, maybe like… to join us for dinner?” Everyone’s eyes turned to the small, mink Inko Midoriya who just invited the No. 2 Hero to eat soba with all of them.

The dinner table was… awkward. That was actually an understatement, it was way more than awkward. The air was thick with tension, and the table wasn’t really big enough to fit 6’5” gigantic, muscular hero like Endeavor. Of course he had extinguished his flames out of respect, and looking at him now, Deku thought he was just a neighborhood father who was still rather intimidating on his own respects. The reason to accepting Inko’s request was lost to everyone including Enji himself. Maybe it was because he forgotten where he was and began arguing inside a stranger’s home and that would look bad in the papers. It would’ve also looked back if he were to drag his son out of a house and have the neighbors notice. The most likely reason might have been the fact that Inko had kindly smiled at him, causing him to remember that he was a hero and being a hero meant helping civilians. If he were to allow his temper take ahold of him, it was more than likely that his son’s so called “boyfriend’s” mother would see him as a villain, the very last thing he wants. Of course many people already call Endeavor a “bad hero” and those rumors had gotten to him over the years. If this woman really was the mother of his son’s boyfriend, then he should at least be… polite.

“It’s cold soba, I hope you’re okay with that?” With one hand Inko was placing bowls and mats and with the other she was navigating floating dishes of food onto the table. Enji only nodded.

“That’s fine.” He huffed gently before staring down his son who sat across him. His eyes meant with equally cold and fierce eyes. The eyes next to him were filled with worry and concern. Deku looked back and forth between Shouto and his father, wondering exactly what his mother was thinking when she gave the offer.

Placing the rest of the dishes down, Inko took her seat next to the No. 2 Hero. The height difference was almost so great that it made the mom look like a toddler next to Endeavor.

“Izuku if you could pass out the chopsticks?” She smiled softly at her son before he nodded.

“R-Right!” Deku stood up and took the utensils and handed everyone a pair. Shouto kept his eyes on his father, ready to strike if he moved out of line but Enji took the chopsticks and nodded as a subtle “thank you.”

“Well let’s eat!” Inko cheered before taking the soba noodles from the giant pot and placed them in her own bowl. Deku nervously did the same after and dipped his noodles in his mixed sauce. (His mom mixed the sauce just the way he likes it beforehand) He was too nervous to take a bite before Shouto slowly began to move his chopsticks to take some of the noodles.

Shouto was angry that his favorite meal was going to be spoiled by his father’s presence. He was mad at him versus being mad at Deku’s mother, knowing that she was only meaning well and being the polite woman she was.

Enji slowly took his own chopsticks and placed noodles into his bowl, staring down at it. The Todoroki family lived in a very Japanese style household and having traditional meals like soba wasn’t uncommon. The difference was that the soba wasn’t as luxurious with multiple toppings or served with other sides. The meal was very… basic. Homemade obviously. It wasn’t really something a pro-hero with a considerable income ate usually.

“Did you want some sauce?” Inko asked the other parent. She offered a small sauce plate with dipping soy sauce to Enji. “There’s also some wasabi over here if you want to mix it. Izuku doesn’t like spicy foods-“ A small sound of protest came from the boy. “But I do have some if you like!”

Enji stared at her for a second before nodding, taking the small dipping plate and then added some wasabi to it. “Thanks…”

Shouto raised an eyebrow at his father before finally taking a bite of the soba Deku’s mom had made for him that day.

- After Enji slurped (loudly) the last remaining noodles he had in his bowl, dinner was finally over. He had given thanks to Inko for the meal, which caught Shouto by a considerable amount of surprise. Deku stood up to put the bowls away but his mother stopped him.

“It’s alright Izuku, we can finish up here.” She smiled at him and Shouto. This caught almost everyone by surprise, including Endeavor who looked at her and the dishes on the table. Again, being from a very noble household, it wasn’t his “duty” to be cleaning after dinner. Since he wasn’t at his house, there wasn’t any excuses he could do unless he wanted to look like a rude asshole, which again, was not want he wanted when trying to be the No. 1 Hero.

“Okay mom… We’ll be in my room then.” It almost sounded uncertain, but she coaxed both of them to go. Deku motioned Shouto to follow him and reluctantly they both left the dining table.

Enji looked to the dishes and slowly began placing bowls on top of bowls as Inko headed towards the kitchen sink, using her quirk to float a few of the plates over to her.

“So Mr. Todoroki, I actually wanted to talk to you in private if you don’t mind.” Inko started as she ran the water. The sudden change of mood caused worry for even the great flame hero. Why would he be scared of some lady? She wasn’t even a pro hero!

“What did you want to say?” He treaded lightly, taking the plate over to the sink.

“Well… First I wanted to say thank you. One, for staying over for dinner.” A small smile lit her face as she turned to look at him. “Another thank you because I heard in Hosu you arrested the Hero Killer and my son was caught up there. I can’t imagine what would’ve happened if you weren’t there.” Her voice lowered in a somber manner.

It wasn’t Endeavor’s place to say that he didn’t really do anything to the Hero Killer, and that it was the three kids there that had done any form of damage. He kept his mouth shut, knowing that the media had portrayed him as the hero of Hosu on that day despite only taking down numerous Nomus. Even though his goal for being in Hosu was to take down the Hero Killer, he felt disgusted that he was getting the credit when really doing nothing to the villain. It wasn’t like he wanted to explain the situation on how her son charged at the Hero Killer and was nearly kidnapped by a flying monster. It would only cause the mother more worry so instead he nodded.

“It was nothing.” The truth.

“Shouto has told me some things. About his family.” Inko started, turning towards Enji with a sponge in one of her hands and a plate in the other. “And I don’t know anything about your family, truly I don’t! And I’m not meant to pry but…” She bit her lip as Endeavor tensed up.

“Don’t you want your son to be happy?”

The question rung in Enji’s ears. Happiness? What a laugh. When becoming a pro hero you can’t think of one’s happiness. No, what Shouto needs was training in order to become the greatest hero there is, one to surpass even All Might. He was about to open his mouth but closed it once she opened her’s first.

“I’m obviously not a pro hero, neither my husband and I are heroes but my son Izuku- he wants to be like All Might, he wants to be the greatest hero there is.” She explained softly. Enji furrowed his eyebrows at the name. All Might, the No. 1 Hero. Everyone wanted to be like him but Endeavor was more powerful than him. Why did everyone idolize that bastard?

“I don’t know if you knew but my son was born quirkless, or so I thought before he, um, manifested his quirk. I knew that being a hero meant tireless nights and countless injuries. At first I was secretly happy that my son didn’t have a quirk. I knew if he followed All Might’s path he would constantly be hurt and he has been coming home with so many injuries, I just… can’t stand to see him in so much pain.” Her lips trembled. Enji could only stand there, silent.

“But, seeing him become the hero he’s always wanted to be, it makes him so happy! And as his mother I know I’ll never stop worry, but knowing that he’s happy makes it all worth it. And because he got accepted to U.A he was able to meet Shouto! And now I’ve never seen him happier!” Inko dropped her sponge and balled up her firsts, her lip quivering and tears welling. “I know I’m not you Mr. Todoroki, I don’t know what you’ve been through, but I know that you’re a father, and our sons are very close. I’m sure you don’t see it, but when Shouto is here I can see him smile at Izuku and that he’s happy. So I’ll ask again, don’t you want your son to be happy?”

Enji stared at her intensely, his hands balling into fists besides him. His mustache, beard and eyebrows began to slowly burn into small flames as he gritted his teeth. This woman was infuriating. This common lady was standing up to Endeavor, the No. 2 Hero and thinking she could butt in on how he raised his child? His creation? His emotions were mixing and fighting with one another. He almost wanted to… wanted to - !

- CLANK - !

“I’m sorry.” Shouto picked up the classic All Might figure he was fiddling with while sitting on Deku’s bed. His nerves were getting the best of him, knowing the fact that someone as sweet as Deku’s mother was alone with his bastard of a father. Deku could only comfort the best way he could – by rambling.

“Don’t worry! Your dad’s still a pro-hero you know and I’m sure they’re just talking about dinner and stuff so you really shouldn’t worry about them you know? It’s not like your dad would do anything bad or anything like that I mean he’s still a hero and heroes are meant to help people and-“ He was cut off by a sudden embrace. Shouto wrapped his arms around Deku’s chest and placed his face onto his shoulder. Anyone could describe Shouto Todoroki as the hot-cold hero but Deku knew that beneath that coldness there was a sense of warmth unlike any flame his father or left side could produce. It was similar to the sun, the feeling when you wake up to the sun rays hitting your face. Similar to a warmth of a blanket on the coldest nights. Similar to how it felt to be loved.

Deku returned the embraced by wrapping his arounds around Shouto, placing a hand on his upper back, rubbing it gently. “Your power is your own, you’re not half of him.”

“I know.”

“And that you’re not just a tool of his.”

“I know.”

“And that I love you.”

“… I know.” Shouto moved out of the embrace to cover his face with a hand, though Deku knew that he was hiding a smile behind his flustered appearance. Deku could only smile before taking his arm gently, leaning in. Both hearts were pumping in sync, quick-paced with excitement and nerves. Moving his hand, Shouto turned to face Deku before leaning closer, meeting his lips gingerly before pulling away. Both boys’ faces were red, flushing from embarrassment and inexperience. They’ve kissed a few times before, but they were always short and quick. The rationality was that Deku felt he wouldn’t know how to properly kiss and Shouto thought he might’ve… burned or frosted his boyfriend’s lips. Both plausible reasoning from two inexperience teenagers.

The sound of deep chuckling from the living room alarmed both of the heroes in training, both stumbling out of their lovers’ daze to exit the bedroom and hurry to the parents. Neither of them knew what to expect and for Deku the idea of Endeavor chuckling was only situational to defeating a villain (probably) so what could be happening? Shouto’s mind went straight to the worst. He had seen his own mother being pushed around and belittled countless of times, so it was a possibility that his father had done some sort of harm to Deku’s mom. The very idea fueled Shouto to arrive first, his right arm freezing to be ready for anything, including fighting his father. His eyes widen suddenly and stopped in his track, causing Deku to run into his back.

“Hey Todoroki-“ Deku turned to see that his mother was sitting next to Endeavor on the sofa, showing a few baby pictures of him she had fished out of her drawer to the pro hero. The chuckling had came from the fact that Enji Todoroki was holding up a baby picture of young, 3-year-old Izuku Midoriya, standing on top of a playground obstacle in a make-shift hero costume.

“He wouldn’t take it off for days! I finally got it off him to wash it and he ran around naked crying!” Inko giggled softly and rummaged through a couple of other infant Izuku photographs.

Shouto and Deku stood there shocked, seeing their parents act like… parents. Seeing both boys out of the corner of his eyes, Endeavor’s face fell to a serious line and he handed the photograph back to Inko.

“I’ll be taking my leave, thank you for dinner.” He bowed gently before heading towards the door. He glanced at Shouto for a second who was still stunned, then walked out of the door. The two boys stood there, absolutely shocked for a few seconds before Deku ran over to his mom on the sofa, asking a million questions a second. She held up a couple of the photographs for him to see.

“I was showing him some of your baby photos!” She smiled cheerfully, which caused for more worry and concern from her son and Shouto. Making his way over, Shouto sat down next to Deku and leaned over.

“Mrs. Midoriya, may I ask what you and my father discussed?” He carefully worded the sentence, but his eyes showed eagerness.

Placing the photos down on the table, Inko rubbed the back of her neck before looking at the two boys. “We were talking about parent things, don’t worry about it sweetie. I think from now on though, things might be a bit different at home.” Her small smile was enough for Shouto to stall, looking from the baby pictures to Deku, then back to her. Before Shouto could move himself, Inko moved towards him to give him a gentle embrace. Emotions ran through everyone in that moment, but the most coming from Shouto with the amount of confusion, relief and love mixing and blending with one another. Deku placed a hand on his shoulder, rubbing it gently. In that moment he truly felt like he knew exactly what a family was supposed to be like, and the family he had right now was his own.

- Endeavor, No. 2 Hero, walked down the street towards the station. He recalled the moment his hands balled into fist and felt his rage overcome him. At that moment he saw a picture behind Inko. A happy, family portrait of her with a young Deku as well as his father. All smiling at the camera, a picture perfect family.

In that very moment, Enji recalled all of the children he had helped given life to and how he had shown no sympathy or compassion to any of them. Why were there no family portraits on the walls of smiling children, of him and his wife? While he didn’t marry for love, his wife was strong. She stood by him and gave birth to all four of their children. She had helped care and nurture every single one of them but the reason everything went wrong was because of him.

In his own childhood all he knew was that he needed to be powerful. His family wanted him to outshine every single hero out there, and his quirk gave him the ability to do that. Did he ever smile once in his childhood? He couldn’t remember ever having a happy moment with his parents. His mother was also submissive to her husband, but he never got a chance to stay with her either, similar to how Shouto was in his childhood. Could his wife have been someone like Inko? Someone who had strength, not just with a quirk, but with the tenderness of a mother and the burning desire to protect her child. These were all concepts that he became blinded by, blinded by aggression and the desire to be the best. The reason why he wasn’t able to see his children as children was because he forgotten what it was like to be a child himself. At such a young age he was forced to grow up and become an adult – a hero.

The conflicting spirits within him was turning his stomach, causing his eyebrows to furrow and his mouth to frown. Seeing those baby pictures led to a realization. He would never be able to have something like that with his children. It was too late. What did happiness mean to him anyways? It was a loaded question that led to many other.

What does happiness mean to me?

Why do I want to be the No. 1 Hero?

What does it mean to be a hero?

Why am I hero?

Questions rolled and rolled into his head, one after the other. He had forgotten that pursuing his goal of being the No. 1 Hero had made him become something else. A father.

What is a father?

What does a father mean to me?

How do you be a father?

More questions rolled into his mind. He had neglected all of his children’s happiness. The pursuit of being the No. 1 Hero had unintentionally afflicted pain on his children.

It would take time for Endeavor to figure out what he needed to do and if he even wanted to do something. Years and years of training had conditioned him to strongly believe what he was doing was right, but being over at the Midoirya’s had given him a perspective he had been lacking for a long time. He felt confused, conflicted with himself and his beliefs but he knew one thing: maybe he should invite Inko and her son over to their place for dinner another time.

#boku no hero academia #bnha #my hero academia #fanfic #fanfics #fanfiction #tododeku #todoroki shouto #midoriya izuku #deku #inko midoriya #endeavor #todoroki enji #fuck just read it on ao3 dammit

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haiiro51-blog · 7 years

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Caption:He is my happiness Pairing:Iwaoi Characters:Iwaizumi Hajime, Tooru Oikawa,Hanamaki Takahiro,Matsukawa Issei Tags:Fluff,Fluff and Angst,Angst with a happy ending,Smut, Iwaizumi Hajime is a good boyfriend Ao3 link: http://archiveofourown.org/works/10599756 Summary: The relationship Iwaizumi had with Oikawa was first and for most friendship, but they didn’t fall short as lovers either. Dating ever since they left high school they’ve stuck together through their university days and are going strong past their graduation. Fic:

The relationship Iwaizumi had with Oikawa was first and for most friendship, but they didn’t fall short as lovers either. Dating ever since they left high school they’ve stuck together through their university days and are going strong past their graduation.

How they got together is somewhat of an embarrassing story Iwaizumi doesn’t like to tell others; on the other side Oikawa loves to brag about it. It was their graduation day, Oikawa being his usual popular self, paid little to no attention to Iwaizumi; this seemingly upsetting the boy. When the crowd around Oikawa decreased to a reasonable amount of people, Iwaizumi pulled Oikawa from them with a “We need to go say goodbye to our club kouhai”; gripping Oikawa’s hand slightly too hard. Oikawa didn’t pay it any notice, he thought his childhood friend was upset because he took too long talking with people when they were busy; that however wasn’t the case. Iwaizumi stopped before entering the clubroom, pushing Oikawa against the wall and literally screaming in his face “Look only at me, Trashykawa” ; Oikawa confused with what he had meant just stared at him, clearly speechless. Iwaizumi’s face flushed and he ran off, he tried to brush the matter of when Oikawa questioned him on their way home, however Oikawa was too persistent; after losing his temper with Oikawa’s why’s and what’s he finally let it slip. He said “I like you. Like more than friends. In the way where I want to kiss you. In the way where I get jealous when you talk to other people too much. In the way where I want you to look only at me” and again, after he realized what he had said, he ran off with a “I’m so sorry”. Iwaizumi spent the night ignoring Oikawa’s calls and texts, too scared what his childhood friend had to say; he was afraid Oikawa would reject him or find him disgusting, so he just lay in bed wondering why he said everything he said; in his mind staying beside Oikawa as a friend was better than losing Oikawa forever. He hardly got any sleep since Oikawa was waking him up first thing in the morning. Iwaizumi startled, jumped back. “You didn’t reply so I got worried and decided to come over. Hi” was the first thing his childhood friend said, Iwaizumi, thinking this was just a thing of his imagination due to lack of sleep just gave a small nod. “You’re really annoying Iwa-chan! You didn’t even give me a chance to reply to your feelings; just assuming I would reject you is terrible!” Oikawa said in his usual whining voice. Iwaizumi, still lost for words just stared blankly at Oikawa, not noticing the other boy was slowly closing the space between them. Oikawa slowly continued “What I’m trying to say is, Iwa-chan, I like you too” and then he placed a kiss on the other boys lips.

Iwaizumi thinking back on it now, knows he should’ve confessed in a more casual way; not trying to run away with the mention of his feelings every time, but that’s the story of how they started dating. After that, they of course went on dates, moved in together when they started going to university; every day was filled with so much happiness for the two boys. They both knew, no matter how late they stayed at university, or how hard the day was, they had someone waiting at home, ready to make it all better. And they were both proud of that fact, they were proud of each other so they used every opportunity to praise each other with their friends. “Oikawa made such good curry last night”; “Iwa-chan’s massage was amazing yesterday!” small things, but things that made them happy.

Oikawa always liked the fact that Iwaizumi would ask him how his day was, he liked that he’d listen to him rant about his schoolmates for hours, he liked how a warm bath was always ready for him when he got home, he loved how Iwaizumi would always stay up until he got home; no matter how late it got. On the other hand Iwaizumi liked everything about Oikawa. The fact that he didn’t hide anything, his cooking, how he was great at housework, how great and calming his hugs were. Of course, like every couple, they had arguments. Never any big ones because they were pretty much used to each other’s behavior even before getting together, but Oikawa would sometimes get mad that Iwaizumi left all the dirty dishes on the table, and Iwaizumi would get upset with how friendly Oikawa was with everyone; he couldn’t deny that he was special to Oikawa but he still felt bothered that someone might be given the wrong impression by Oikawa’s kindness. But, they loved each other, and above all they trusted each other so none of the arguments lasted, and they both thought they never will.

However, change in the lives of people around them brings change to their lives too. Their mutual friend’s wife just gave birth so they decided to go visit them. Iwaizumi was watching Oikawa hold the baby, laughing and quietly talking to it, and then it hit him; Oikawa will never have that if he stays with me. I’m taking his happiness away from him due to my own selfishness.” In that moment, a chill went down Iwaizumi’s back. He suddenly felt cold sweat all over his face; he got dizzy and felt like throwing up. It was hard to breathe. When Oikawa ran to him to see what was the matter, he brushed it off with a laugh and said he just needed some air. Oikawa insisted they go home for the day, apologizing to their friends he rushed Iwaizumi out of the house. They walked back home in silence, Oikawa holding Iwaizumi’s hand; with a seemingly worried expression on his face; he didn’t know what was on Iwaizumi’s mind. “Are you sure you’re okay?” is the first thing Oikawa said to break the silence. Iwaizumi just gave a quiet “Yeah” before falling into thought once more. His train of thought kept getting darker and darker the more he thought. At first, it was I need to ask Oikawa if this is what he really wants but then it escalated to I’m sure I’m not what he wants. In his mind, it’s not like Oikawa had always liked guys, he was fine with both, so it seemed unfair to steal his happiness away, to steal the fact that he could have a family. So he thought I must let him go…; he once again didn’t consider Oikawa’s feelings.

He waited for them to arrive at the apartment. “We need to talk.” “Eh, why so serious Iwa-chan?” “Don’t you want to have a family one day Oikawa?” “What do you mean?” “Looking at you with that child got me thinking; me and you can’t really have a family. And it’s not as if you can’t have a family or don’t want it, right?” “I thought I made myself pretty clear when I accepted your feelings but obviously not. I can’t be with anyone other than you; it’s no good if it’s not you. How do you not understand that?” “I’m taking your happiness away” “What the hell are you saying now after all this time?! My happiness?! That’s you!” Iwaizumi didn’t know what to reply, or rather he didn’t want to reply since Oikawa was crying and he was always weak to his tears. He just stormed out of the apartment, ignoring Oikawa screaming at him to wait.

It was at that moment that Iwa-chan realized he hadn’t grown up at all, there he was, an adult still afraid to accept his feelings and face his problems; so he ran, that was the only thing he could think of. That evening Iwaizumi stayed at a hotel; not getting any sleep he thought about Oikawa. He thought about how he confessed, their first kiss, all their arguments that seemed so meaningless now. And he cried, he cried because he didn’t take Oikawa’s feelings into consideration again, because he stormed out without getting the problem solved, he cried because he was again too scared to even turn his phone on. He kept thinking about Oikawa, about what he was doing now, was he looking for him or was he closed off in their apartment crying; neither of which made him feel any better. He thought about going home, going to Oikawa but every time he stood up he fell back because of fear, the truth was he was too scared to even look Oikawa in the eye.

After he turned his phone on in the middle of the night, his phone was full of missed calls and texts, all of them from Oikawa. The messages varied, from you’re a jerk to come home I’m worried, and the last one he got was sent an hour before he turned his phone on and it read please, don’t leave me; and the second Iwaizumi read that message he jumped from the bed and ran home as fast as he could. However, his running came short when his phone rang, Iwaizumi thinking it’s Oikawa pulled it quickly from his pocket answering it right away failing to notice the number. It was the hospital. They called to inform him that Oikawa had been in an accident and is currently in the hospital, not yet awake. Iwaizumi’s mind fell dark a chill going down his spine with the though this is all my fault…. He couldn’t help but blame himself while running as quickly as possible towards the hospital; his breath quick and shallow, at this point he wasn’t sure if it was because he was running or because of the fear that he was feeling that Oikawa might be very hurt. He kept thinking that none of this would’ve happened if he didn’t argue with Oikawa, or if he’d just stayed home; or if he’d never have confessed in the first place. When he arrived at the hospital he asked the nurses for Oikawa’s room number and then he ran up the stairs, failing to enter the room when he was in front of it. Was Oikawa awake; does he want to see him; will he also blame him; questions similar to these keeping Iwaizumi out. However, when the doctor left Oikawa’s room, he looked at Iwaizumi with a somewhat pained expression.

He asked him to sit down and continued to explain; Oikawa got hit by a car while he was running across the street; Iwaizumi now sure that he was out looking for him failing to notice his surroundings and he couldn’t help the guilt creeping up in his stomach. The doctor proceeded to explain that Oikawa has a brain concussion but that he will wake up and will be okay. He said that his memories might be fuzzy at first but will slowly return to normal if they’re all patient with him. The doctor left and Iwaizumi couldn’t stop the tears falling from his eyes; he felt like screaming and punching a wall or rather himself. Seeing Matsukawa and Hanamaki calmed him down a bit. And then he got a thought. I don’t deserve to stay by Oikawa’s side . So, he asked his friends for a favor. When Oikawa woke up, they’d pretend like Iwaizumi hadn’t been there. They’d pretend they were never together; as far as Oikawa was concerned they’d lost touch after leaving high school. His friends were reluctant, saying it was a bad idea, saying that Oikawa needed him by his side now more than ever. However, Iwaizumi managed to persuade them that Oikawa deserves better, deserves a family, and deserves to be happy.

Not long before they’d agreed Oikawa woke up; Iwaizumi didn’t want to leave before seeing that Oikawa was okay, he stood at the door; when he saw Oikawa smile at Mattsun and Hanamaki he felt his chest throb, he slowly turned around and left. When he got to their apartment, he fell down on his knees, this time not needing to hold his tears and screams in. He didn’t want to leave Oikawa, but it seemed like the only thing he could do, or rather the only thing he should do. He didn’t move from the hallway that night, he didn’t bother to stop his tears either, he neither felt tired nor hungry, he felt nothing but the wish to see Oikawa, to hug him, kiss him, touch him; a very selfish request as far as Iwaizumi is concerned. He went to their bed, it smelled like Oikawa which just made the urge to run back to the hospital even bigger, he kept thinking about what Oikawa was feeling right now, he kept thinking about what Oikawa felt while looking for him, he couldn’t help but continue crying until the late afternoon. He then received a message from Hanamaki, he informed him that Oikawa wasn’t hurt too bad, and that he’d be discharged from the hospital within a week, and that by that time he needs to figure out what he wants to do or it’ll be too late.

Iwaizumi started packing his bags, not able to make Oikawa leave his thoughts. His love for the boy becoming more and more apparent. He kept thinking about his smile, the sparkle in his eyes whenever he complimented his cooking, how he’d brighten up every time he saw Iwaizumi, he remembered how warm his hugs felt, how soft his lips were, and how hot his body heat was, how warm and safe he’d feel by his side. He kept remembering his voice, how happy it sounded when he called out his name, how he cute he looked when he was angry, or how cute he was when he wanted something but couldn’t get it so he’d continue to pout until Iwaizumi gave in. He loved everything about him. From his touch and kisses, to his smile and voice; from his cooking to him lazing around reading manga. He couldn’t help the urge to see him, hear his voice, and feel his touch, his warmth. He got up and ran he ran to Oikawa; he needed to explain everything this time, he needed to talk it out with him, they had to make a decision together this time; Iwaizumi finally realized this wasn’t something he could decide on his own, since this didn’t concern him alone. This time, he didn’t hesitate to enter Oikawa’s room, rather he got into it as quickly as possible, not thinking what to say when he enters; so he just stood there looking at Oikawa who had a blank expression on his face which made all the courage Iwaizumi had mustered up just break down. Oikawa said hey in a plain, expressionless voice. “Uh, hey… How are you feeling?” was all Iwaizumi had managed to mutter out. “How could I possibly feel when the love of my life runs out on me and then tells our friends that he wants to pretend the last seven years never happened?” “You remember everything I take it? And Hanamaki and Mattsun told you everything I told them?” “Mm, something like that, yeah” Oikawa’s voice began to shake and weaken, he put his gaze down before lifting it abruptly and screaming at Iwaizumi, just one word that left chills down Iwaizumi’s back. Why was all Oikawa said. Iwaizumi just ran towards the boy pulling him into his arms. He didn’t say anything just held him like that while they were both crying. After a while Iwaizumi kept apologizing, gripping Oikawa tighter every time. Oikawa pulled Iwaizumi’s face down and kissed him; Iwaizumi returning the kiss more than once. He kissed his lips, his forehead, his cheeks, all the while repeating that he loves him, that he really loves him, stopping only to wipe Oikawa’s tears every once in a while. He couldn’t help but feel somewhat relieved at how gentle Oikawa’s touch was; he couldn’t help but feel happy at the heat that was left on his skin after every touch from Oikawa. After they’d calmed down, Iwaizumi explained what he was thinking, what he was feeling, he told him that it was never his intention to hurt Oikawa but that he did so anyway and that he’s very sorry for it. He said he never wants Oikawa to leave his side but he still forced him to, he said his feelings didn’t change, that he loves Oikawa more than before but he can’t stop the guilt from hurting him, both mentally and physically. Oikawa was silent the whole time while Iwaizumi was talking, listening closely not wanting to interrupt the sudden honesty from his boyfriend. After Iwaizumi stopped talking, his gaze was down, he couldn’t look at Oikawa, but he decided not to run away this time, he couldn’t, they had to talk about everything properly this time. Oikawa just pulled Iwaizumi into another hug, whispering that he loves him, however it was followed with if you do this again I’ll fucking kill you. Don’t leave me alone, that’ll never make me happy, you’re really an idiot. Oikawa kept saying Iwaizumi wasn’t at fault for him getting into an accident, it was of his own accord that he left to search for him, it was his own fault for failing to notice the red light and not hearing the car. After that day, Iwaizumi came by the hospital every day until Oikawa was discharged. He brought him flowers, and his own cooking which Oikawa would always praise but when Iwaizumi tried it, it tasted horrible, when he tried to take it away from Oikawa one day, the other boy got upset saying that he likes it because Iwa-chan worked hard to make this for me, so it makes me suuuper happy!, however, Iwaizumi tried not to bring any cooking one day but that just made Oikawa pout, a pout he didn’t want to remove even after dozens of kisses, so Iwaizumi was forced to go home make something then rush back to the hospital before visiting hours ended. After a week passed Iwaizumi went to pick Oikawa up from the hospital; he waited for the last examination to end, they said Oikawa was free to go back home. While they were walking Oikawa insisted they go home the long way, using the streets not many people use, they held hands and exchanged small kisses when no one was looking. They finally arrived at their apartment, which took much longer than expected since Oikawa wanted to stop by every shop he saw, he wanted to go to the park too and when Iwaizumi kept insisting they go home and that he shouldn’t push it too much the first day Oikawa just said Baka Hajime, it’s a date, a date with the widest grin Iwaizumi had seen the whole week, he felt his heart flutter and his chest lighten. He gripped Oikawa’s hand tighter and pulled him in for a kiss earning a blush from Oikawa; he returned the grin and insisted they go get some ice cream, a date tradition for the two of them since they started dating. When they were inside silence crept in, it wasn’t awkward per say, it was somewhat pleasant mixing with the feeling of home. Just as Iwaizumi thought this place doesn’t feel like home unless Oikawa is there with him. He carried his boyfriend to the living room, placing him on the couch, he lay beside him holding him in his arms, they stayed that way for a while just watching some shows on the TV. Oikawa’s warmth felt nice against Iwaizumi’s body, his skin soft, and his smell strong. Iwaizumi couldn’t fight the urge to touch him anymore. He started slowly, he placed a few kisses against Oikawa’s neck, examining how Oikawa would react but since he gave out a few pleasing moans Iwaizumi concluded it was okay to do more. He bit Oikawa’s neck, continuing to kiss and lick that spot afterwards. He turned Oikawa to face him; he then continued to kiss him, deepening the kiss every time, both of their breathing becoming quicker while their tongues rolled across one another’s. Iwaizumi slid Oikawa’s pants down, placing his hand on Oikawa’s dick, moving his hand up and down while kissing Oikawa, when Oikawa couldn’t hold his moans any longer Iwaizumi continued to move his hand faster, he then felt Oikawa unbuckling his pants so he stopped, Oikawa placed their dicks close and started moving them together; a sensation Iwaizumi felt many times before but still felt nice mixed with Oikawa’s gentle touch that still left a hot sensation every time. Iwaizumi pulled Oikawa into another kiss while the other stroked them together. After they climaxed together, they looked at each other and started to laugh, the warmth still there, their breathing still quick, they moved closer to each other, Oikawa placing kisses on Iwaizumi’s neck. Iwaizumi then lifted Oikawa and carried him to their bed, gently placing him down and getting on top of him. Tomorrow morning, Oikawa woke up in the arms of his boyfriend. He couldn’t help but smile at Iwa-chans sleeping face, he kissed him gently and whispered I really do love you; he quickly learned that Iwaizumi was awake when he pulled him closer kissing his lips and grinning while saying Me too, I really do love you And this was the last big argument the two of them had. The rest of their days were filled with happiness, bickering, kisses and sleepless nights. They continued to brag about each other to their friends, they continued to exchange secret kisses whenever they were in public, and the tradition to eat an ice cream whenever they were on a date continued into the endless future the two shared. The only difference in their happy lives, were the rings they now had, shining brightly ever since Iwaizumi mustered up the courage one night. That is yet another story the two of them share, but this is one both of them tell with pride and at every occasion they find. And it goes something like this, Oikawa had been exhausted for a few days, returning late from college not being able to spend too much time with Iwaizumi which made him feel even more down, and the fact that Iwaizumi was also busy and gone by the time Oikawa was awake didn’t help his insecurity, but on one of those nights, he was awaken by Iwaizumi placing something on his finger proceeding to kiss it. When Oikawa opened his eyes and looked at his hand, the ring was already in place, he looked at his boyfriend in confusion, and the other just smiled and said “Will you stay with me forever? I might be a handful at times, but my love for you is unchanging.” Oikawa’s face fell into a grin with tears of happiness streaming down his cheeks while he screamed out yes jumping into Iwaizumi’s arms; that night was another sleepless one, however they don’t like sharing those details; everything people needed to know was that they now wholly belonged to one another; and that fact stayed that way forever.

#iwaoi #iwaizumi hajime #oikawa tooru #fanfic #fanfiction #mine

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oceniram · 5 years

Text

Secrets Unlocked

Chapter 1 Escape

The earth year 2100

It was a stormy night in the city of Mount Valley. All was quiet, nothing was heard except the thunder and the lighting. A lightning bolt fell and then out of nowhere a hooded figure appeared. The figure moved in the shadows; the figure approached a two-story house the figure laid the basket, it was carrying on the porch the figure rang the doorbell, and left with one thought they'll do better than me.

The door was opened by a man who was muscular build. He had red hair, blue eyes, and some facial hair he was dressed in shorts and a t-shirt. He looked around and found nothing

'Damn kids always playing pran-' his thoughts were interrupted by a sniffle. This caused him to look down, he picked up the basket took it inside. A black sphere flew out, and linked itself to Mark's brain waves showing dangerous thinks to come. Once the message was completely passed he yelled for his wife.

"MARTHA!"

Martha was a beautiful woman had green eyes with red hair; her hair reached down to her shoulders. She was dressed in her pink silk nightie as she reached down the stairs with an annoyed look she told him not so loud. She took notice of the basket "Honestly Mark this freaks you out and here I thought I married the bravest man." "It's not the basket that's freaking me out." Mark hands her the sphere that freaked him out, after she sees what freaked Mark out she's more understanding they promise each other to look after the baby.

Seventeen years have passed and the seniors of Mount Valley high have graduated. "YES it's finally over!" exclaimed a girl with long red hair tied into a ponytail, she was wearing a black skirt and a pink shirt. "I know right." her companion replied. It was another girl this girl had black hair with red highlights and blue eyes. She was wearing a red blouse with blue jeans. "What are the plans for this summer Maria?" asked the girl with highlights. "Well the plan is to have fun Jewel."

Seriously no weird classes or camp? Jewel asked shocked. Maria's parents usually singed her to various types of classes or camp.

"Not that I now about."

"Wait for me." A girly voice screamed she had long red hair blue eyes she wore a little make up and a sun dress. "Hey Melody I thought you be with your friends." said Maria.

Meanwhile in the Moreguerra's house

"Martha we have to tell them."

"Are you sure Mark? After all their just babies."

"1st yes I am' and you know dam well it's up to them and their not babies."

"I... know... I... just get worried." Martha replied she buried her head in her husband chest. Mark embraced her and stroke her back gently "It'll be fine" He repeated every time he stroke her back.

"Mom Dad we're home." Maria yelled out as she let her sister and herself in.

Oh girls we have something to tell you. Mark said in a serious tone he only used when the girls got in trouble.

"What did we do?" Both girls asked in union

"Neither of you is in trouble." Martha entered the conversation. Her tone was that of fear and sadness. Maria being the smart person she is picked up on her parents emotions "Mom dad what's wrong?" she asked slowly.

"Maria Melody we're proud of you both." Mark began

"We love you and do anything to protect you." Martha finished for her husband she went to hug the girls.

"Mommy?" asked Melody as she finally saw the distress her parents were under.

"About 17 years ago we had a visitor of sorts; this person left valuable information about the future concerning you both." Mark told them.

"Oh yeah sure then Santa clause and the tooth fairy will team up." Maria replied sarcastically.

"Maria we're not kidding around." Martha explained.

"You don't seriously expect us to believe that someone came from the future?" Maria used air quotes on the word future.

"Dad Maria is right that sounds weird."

"Thank you."

Their father gave a sigh then he continued to talk. "Girls just promise us that, if anything happens to us you will find your aunt Anna, and let her know it's landed."

The Moreguerra's stared at each other awkwardly until both sisters exclaimed "Oh my God you're serious!" Melody took charge of the situation her reply was "Alright dad, mom we promise."

"There's more you see the visitor left more than information; he/she le-. Before Mark was able to finish the wall collapsed.

A Creature covered in armor entered; the only thing that wasn't cover was her face. Which happened to be a shade of light blue. It had four fingers the ears were boney and spikey her elbows, and knees had spikes. The eyes had no pupil it was all red; her hair was long and green. "Bow down to the mighty Zar and Kasim you pathetic meat bags." The creature said as he prepared to destroy everything, however Mark slid under the creature then he kicked her knocking her of balance. Maria, and Melody were staring in shock and fear as their father did battle with aliens." Girls snap out of it!" Their mother commanded as craft to take his family to safety. Before the parents could get in more of those things showed up. Maria climbed to the driver seat of the hover craft and drove as far away as possible.

"Mom...and...Dad will be okay right Maria?" Melody was wiping tear of her face trying to be as brave as her sister. The sister didn't always get along, however Melody always admire her sister for being brave and independent. Maria looked at her sister face she considered lying to her but lying was never her forte.

Maria took a deep breath "Mel you and I k-"

"Please just say yes."

"Melody mom and dad did what they had to for our sake."

"I know am just worried."

"Mom and dad's sacrifice won't be in vain once we find Aunt Anna we'll kick their behinds. "Maria's expression and tone were out of character for her, however this is understandable considering the fact that the sisters witness the dead of their parents.

"Ah Maria can't this thing go any faster?"

"Yeah."

"Not to rush you but could you SPEED UP!" At first Melody talked calmly then she stared to yell, when she noticed that they were being chased in some type of motor craft. The motor craft looked like a motor cycle the only difference was that it was missing the wheels.

Maria pushed the craft to its limit. She was amazed that she has not caused an accident or that anybody even notice that their being chased.

"Are they gaining on us?" Maria asked a bit worried as she slowed the vehicle.

"No we lost them." Melody replied after she looked behind them.

"Hey Maria what are those things aliens/mutants?"

"I have no freaking idea."

"Maria am sorry for all the things I did to you you're the best big sister."

"Am sorry too, Melody I should've helped you."

"This is the weirdest thing we've done."

"Being nice to each other or running away from freaks."

"Both I guess."

"Point taken."

"Maria why are we stopping?"

Maria did not respond something out their caught her attention. What caught her attention, was the fact that two of her schoolmates were fighting the creature with no weapons, however this creature was different from the last one this one had dark blue skin the eyes where pure black with no weapons. One of the boys was dark skinned he was wearing Green button shirt, he had slacks and boots his hair was nicely comb he had brown eyes. The other boy had red T shirt and blue shorts his hair was spikey, he had blue eyes, and his skin was white. The two high school graduates were holding their own.

"Any ideas Ted?" asked the blue eyed boy.

"Yeah just one, punch with everything you have Keven!" Ted exclaimed, while running and hitting the alien causing the alien to lose balance.

The alien just smiled as he got up. "Bliss impressed that you earthlings managed to throw Bliss of balance." said Bliss in a calm voice then he pointed his elbows at them. The two humans looked at each other, and smiled waiting for the hit to come. The alien fell down and orange liquid came out from his back.

"GET IN!" yelled Maria while still holding the blaster. The two kids ran and enter the hover craft. "Thanks for the save girls. "Said Keven.

"Don't thank us yet." Melody replied.

"Why?" asked Ted.

"We we're running away from an alien we lost her, but it's still alive." Maria replied her voice was harsh.

While driving away they saw an old van by old it was one from 100 years ago drive towards the aliens. Maria couldn't pinpointed, but she had this nagging feeling that she's seen that van various times before.

"Hey Ted I just thought of something." Keven turned towards Ted scratching the back of his head.

"What did you think of?" asked Ted.

"The girls and the kids and why nobody notice all of this besides us?" asked Keven with a mix expression of shocked and fear. Shocked because they forgot about them, and fear for their safety.

"Oh man I forgot about that." Ted showed some concern and slap himself in the face.

"Wait what girls and kids? "Asked Melody as she turn her head around.

My guess on the Girls would be Trina and Brittany, however the kid part has peeked my interest as well. Maria answered her sister's question with concern for her friends, and the kids.

"You see Ted was like getting ready for a date with Trina, and I was like going to go play some game, when Brittney told me she wanted to talk, before we got started we heard kids crying. We decided to check it out. We saw the alien, and the kid's parents lying in a pool of their own blood. We told the girls to take the kids to safe place." Keven finished the story.

"WOW Keven you must be braver than I thought or stupider." Maria exclaimed sarcastically.

"Hey thanks."

"So any idea where they went?" asked Maria

"Not a damn clue." The boys replied in union and anger.

"So let me get this straight we have an alien threat that no one seems to notice and four people missing." Melody replied it was more of a statement than a question.

"First we find Aunt Anna then we look for the others." Maria ordered

"What's your aunt going to do?" asked Ted

"We're not sure but dad always said that if anything bad happens she was our best chance of surviving." Melody answered for her sister.

HEY! Keven yelled out.

"You have an objection to the plan?" Melody asked

"No I just realized Maria insulted me a few minutes ago." Keven responded causing every one laugh including himself and Maria who never laughed.

"Hey you have pretty laugh Maria." Keven commented

"Um...um.... thanks." Maria replied shyly as her face turned red.

The day turned into night they drove in peace, however their peace wouldn't last long. The aliens that they were fighting somehow managed to catch up.

"Guys we have a problem." Maria warren her friends

"Which is?" Keven asked

"Their back." responded Maria

"What do we do? How do we get out of this? We're going to die?" Melody asked panicking her body was shaking in fear she was about to shed tears. That was until her sister started to rub her back, and telling her to calm down like a mother would to her child.

The old van that they saw earlier came back. It looked like the riders from the van are fighting the aliens. The alien's aimed their weapons at the van the driver moved to the left not caring about any laws. The van shoot lasers at the aliens.

"Shields enable." the female alien commanded the alien's body was surrounded by a square once the laser hit they were unharmed. Four men exit the van. The first was a white tall male he had black hair, blue eyes he was wearing a black shirt, and jeans. He introduce himself "Am Jason." The next one was holding Blasters laser blades, he was wearing all camouflage he was bold and ready for action "My Name is Mike." The third one to exit was muscular build, he had on a fighting GI, and his face was emotionless had long hair "Ned is the name fighting is my game." Final the last one to come out was wearing a white lab coat oval glasses and a he held a control. "They call me Tim."

It seem like time had stopped for all involved. The riders and the aliens are in stand of staring at each other intensely. The black haired man stepped forward his gaze increased he asked bitterly "Who are you and what do you want with our planet?"

"Bliss's name be bliss and she be Taria." answered the dark blue alien.

"We are oddills what we want is destruction in the name of Zar and Kasim." Responded the sky blue alien. Once the alien finished her sentence they lounged them self at the riders. The riders split into two groups Jason seemed to be in charge.

Mike pulled out his laser blade out and charged at the female alien. Taria simple blocked the blade with her own. Taria swings her blade to mikes head he ducked, and swing kicked her. She jumped the blade battle raged on their, seem to be no clear winner.

Ned took on Bliss, Ned took a Fighting stance. Bliss looked at Ned in confusion.

"Bliss not understand oh well Bliss kill you know." With that said Bliss and Ned charge at each other with their punches colliding. Ned throws a right hook Bliss tries to kick him the match is in favor of Ned. That until Bliss takes out a weapon, thanks to Ned's marital arts skills and reflexes he was able to dodge the blade. Jason and Tim who had seen the trick rushed in to help their friend.

The fight with Taria and Mike was coming to an end both fighters had received bruises the battle became so brutal that they both fell unconscious. Bliss notice and grabs his partner then they leave.

Maria and her group get out of the craft to check on the heroes. "So it was you after all." Maria stated.

"What are you doing here?" Jason asked in concern and anger tone for Maria and her group.

"Oh just thought I go sightseeing." Maria Replied sarcastically.

"I thought we were escaping from aliens." said Keven in confusion he didn't get that Maria was being sarcastic they ignored his comment

"Don't get smart with me."

"Oh maybe I was trying to escape."

"Then why didn't you flee when we provided the distraction."

"I don't know okay."

"Sorry to interrupt but do you know each other?" Ted asked

"Yeah his one of Jewels elder brothers." Replied Maria

"Anyway let's go to your Aunt's." Keven said

"Follow us we know where she is." Jason ordered.

The riders got in their old van and rest got in the craft. The drove all the way out of the city until they reached an abandoned building. They fallowed the riders inside the building.

"WHAT THE HECK MY PARENTS ASK US TO GO TO MY AUNTS AND YOU TAKES MILES AWAY." a pissed off Maria was yelling on top of her lungs

"Calm down Maria." a strangely familiar voice

"That sounds like Aunt Anna." Melody stated with joy in her voice. She looked around trying to find the voice. Maria was equally shocked.

"You're correct Melody. "The voiced from behind a door it opened to revel a beautiful woman with dark brown hair her eyes were baby blue. Welcome to the H.P.O also known as the Human protection organization.

"So uh is this like a base or lair?" Keven asked fallowing the others.

"It's more like base." Anna replied

"Wait what about the girls?" Ted asked his voice was shaking with a bit of fear.

If your referring to Brittany and Trina their right here. Anna told them they all felt relieved to know their friends were safe.

"Alright the mystery is solved the earth is under alien invasion." Maria concluded

"You're correct."

"Enjoy your stay this you're new home."

Maria was about to reply "Oh no I can't just sit here and let those things destroy the earth I am going to fight. "Keven said with confidence and heading for the exit.

"I can't believe it but he's right I am going to." Ted agreed with Keven.

Melody and Jewel look at Maria for conformation, she nodded. "Then its settle were going." Maria said.

"Okay great idea do you have weapons, fighting experience anything that could help you?" Anna asked already knowing the answers to this. The teens stopped in their tracks and shacked their heads no.

"Thought so." "If you want to protect fine by me all you need is a little training." She wave for the teens to come, later she gave them a tour of the building. The teens split Jewel went with Jason, Brittany with Keven, Ted with Trina, and the sisters stayed together they all wanted to talk.

"I always thought you were a lazy musician and it turns out your saving the world. Does mom dad or our siblings know?" Jewel asked she worries about her brother in a way he was the one that raised her with her parents being on business trips.

"No they don't and I liked to keep it that way." Jason answered his sister flatly.

"So you lied to our siblings, our parents, and you hurt me I always thought you trusted me just like I trust you." Jewel said with a mix of fury, and sadness.

"I wanted to tell you however with the threat and my mission I couldn't, however am going to let you in on secret." Jason approached his sister and whispered in her ear the big secret.

"Keven we need to talk." The blond said facing the wall.

"About what Brittany?" He asked as he moved closer.

"Us and our relationship."

"Okay I'll start let see we began dating when you became head cheerleader and I became captain of the soccer team."

"Our parents forced us, we did have fun together, but I think our time together is up."

"Yeah, we both new our relationship was fake." He turned around and gave her wave as he left.

Maria and Melody were together in their new room. Melody was laughing. "What's so funny?" Her sister asked with a look of confusion

"Oh we spend our lives fighting with each other and we find time to bond at the end of the world."

"Your right, you know that I care about you right."

"Yeah and I care for you in the sisterly kind of way."

With Ted and Trina once they got some privacy they embraced each other in hug "Oh man I'm so glad you're alive." Ted said as he embraced Trina.

"Am very pleased to see that you have survived as well." Said Trina she rested her head on his chest. The world around them stopped they looked deeply in each other's eyes to find love their lips meet both wanting that moment of love to last forever unfortunately they had to break apart for air.

"All members meet me at the main hall in 20 minutes." The voice of Anna came from the speakers. Once every one arrived at the main hall they took their seats. Anna began to speak on what's happening. "Thank you all for coming, I have dire news our planet is being attacked by alien forces. This organization has stopped previous attacks, however their getting more brutal and cunning. We need your help to preserve and protect the planet. I will not lie to you some of you may not make it alive. Any questions?"

Some of the people looked worried, scared, and others looked at each other worried and having second thoughts of joining, the crowd was in panic and desperation to think clearly. "Excuse me folks" Maria tried to get their attention. When Maria failed she went straight to her aunt snatched the microphone "LISTEN YOU SNIBBILING COWARDS!" that yell got her the attention she was looking for. "MY parents sacrificed themselves for my sister and me. Two of my classmates saved little kids. I know going out there to fight aliens is a scary thought but you don't have be in the frontlines provide food and shelter for the ill and injured or the elderly as well for the fighters basically give support and fighting." Once Maria was done with her speech she rejoined her friends.

"That was awesome." Melody complemented her sister as she gave her a hug. You know I'm sticking with you till the end right? Jewel asked her friend.

"Rats and here I thought it would scare you." Maria responded sarcastically.

"We're with you till the end!" exclaimed Keven the others on the group nodded

*Clap* *Clap* the clapping came from the Moreguerra's aunt. "You all will make a great team. AS your aunt and guardian I can't say that I approve however as the leader of the HPO I say welcome aboard your training begins tomorrow."

Chapter 2 Training and missions

"Wake up early tomorrow or the instructor will wake you up. Ah here we are 3 rooms each room has two beds. Ted and Keven take one room. Girls you decide how you want to share. My room is down the hall. Anna told them she then left for her own room. The girls decided that the sisters should share a room and the other three would share the other. As night settle the teens went to blissful sleep since they had an eventful day

"WAKE UP YOU LAZY BRATS!" was heard the teens tried to ignore the lunatic until he somehow got louder. Maria not being a morning person woke up angrily she took one of her boots opened the door and threw it at the man's face with all her might. Maria blinked twice. The man was taller than most people he was well built his eyes were yellow his hair was short like military hair it was brown

"Huh you're still standing."

"WAHAHA YOU THINK A LITTLE GIRLY CAN TAKE ME DOWN THAT'S FUNNY YOU DO HAVE GOOD ARM."

"What's up with all the yelling Melody?" asked while rubbing her eyes.

"Yeah and who's your new friend?" Jewel asked as the others came out to see what all the commotion is about.

"I have no idea he just started to yell like some lunatic." Maria replied

"I AM NOT YELLING! WHY ARE YOU GUYS LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT?"

"First you are yelling and second why are you waking us at four in the morning?" all the teens asked in union.

"DID I FORGET TO INTRUDCE MY SELF AGAIN? SORRY ABOUT THAT."

"WELL I AM KNOWN AS THE MOST POWERFUL KNOWGEBLE AWSOMEST MASTER INSTROCTOR THE GREAT LATOR."

"YOU KIDS GO GET SOMETHING TO EAT AFTER WARDS WELL START YOUR TRAINING." Lator told them. The teens complied with his instructions. Once they finished eating Lator meet them in the halls he guided them to blank room on the other side of the building.

"WELCOME TO HEL... I MEAN WELCOME TO YOU'RE FIST DAY OF TRAINING."

"Great more yelling from the lunatic." said Maria with fake joy as she waved her right index finger.

"I AM NOT YELLING NOW PAY ATTENTION YOU NEED THREE THINGS ONE BRAINS TWO STRENGHT AND THREE SURVIVAL INSTINCTS." FIRST I'LL TEACH YOU HOW TO FIGHT AND GAIN STRENGTH SECOND WILL BE SURVIVAL.

"Wouldn't be better if you teach us brain power first then all the other stuff?" Keven asked

"WHILE I TEACH DIFFERENT FIGHTING STYLES YOU WOULD BE ABLE TO THINK ON YOUR FEET AND REACT MUCH FASTER, ONCE YOU LEARN TO SURVIVE YOU WOULD BE ABLE TO STRATEGIZE FOR ANYTHING."

"I thought we were going to do some cool stuff not sit in the floor." Melody complained

"WE ARE FIRST YOU HAVE TO REMBER SOMETHING YOU'RE NOT FIGHTING FOR THE COUNTRY YOURE FIGHTING FOR THE WORLD YOUR NOT ALONE WE ARE BEHIND YOU UNDERSTOOD."

"Yeah." The teens replied

"GOOD."

With Lator's training the teens were becoming closer friends towards each other braver stronger and smarter. They each understood one another they created the ultimate bond. The training they went through wasn't easy. They still have more to learn.

Deep within a forest in hidden cave. Bliss brought Taria in he gently places her down in their medical bay. Seeing his partner in this state brought pain with in Bliss. He didn't understand why he felt pain. Bliss put on hold his plans and decided to tend to Taria's wounds.

Deep within Taria's mind the battle she had replayed over. She couldn't help but admire the filthy human who took her down back home she's won many battles heck she's the top female warrior. She was studying her opponent's move learning new ways to destroy him completely.

Bliss shall have revenge for Taria. The alien thought as he summed a screen a dark image showed up. "What do you want Bliss? The image asked in anger.

"Bliss called to report sir."

"Fine what do you have to report?"

"Taria got injured in battle with the earthlings, and Bliss believes the humans somehow found out about the invasion, all the places we attacked happened to be abandoned."

"Hmm this is troubling news if weak earthlings can take Taria down, and stupid ones know of our invasion then you two are no longer needed. Find a way to send in the rest of the fleet."

"Sir the teleported broke and this world doesn't have the resources to make one for a fleet."

"If they can travel to space or predict the invasion they have way it's only a matter of time and finding it."

"Yes sir."

"What happened to me and where am I?" She asked herself loudly

"You're in our base and you got creamed by that human." Bliss informed her in disgust. He was relieved that Taria had survived although he won't admitted.

"Bliss wants to know how you got creamed."

"That not important, what's our next move?"

"Bliss has something big planed Taria rest."

"Why should I rest?"

"Taria injured." With that said Bliss walked away to prepare for their next attack leaving a very confused Taria behind. She shrug and went to get some practice to be on top shape for her next mission.

Back at the HPO headquarters we find the teens relaxing. Keven and Ted were playing a video game when, suddenly the door bursts open and a very angry Lator shows up.

"WHAT ARE YOU BRATS DOING?"

"Playing a video game." Keven responded ignoring the anger of his instructor.

"WHATEVER WHERE'S THE REST OF YOUR TEAM YOU GOT A NEW MISSION."

Well Jewel, Trina, and Brittany went with Anna on a top mission, and Melody and Maria are at the gym. Ted replied.

LET ME SEE IF I GOT THIS RIGHT YOU TWO WASTE YOURE TIME WHILE THE GIRLS HAVE BEEN TRAINING. IS THAT RIGHT?

"No sir we're taking a small break." They responded in union with fear to their towering instructor.

"What's the mission asked?" Maria as she and Melody were coming back from training.

"YOUR MISSION IS TO BRING MIKE. WE GOT A CALL ABOUT SPOTING THE ALIEN, WE SEND HIM IN WHEN HE GOT THERE WE LOST ALL CONTACT WITH HIM. WE THINK IT WAS AN AMBUSH. YOUR MISSION IS RESCUE DO NOT ENGAGE, MARIA YOU LEAD UNDER STOOD."

"Sir yes sir." Maria responded, she signal her team to move out then all of a sudden she stop in realization causing the other three to bump into her.

"WHAT'S THE PROBLEM?"

"Sir we need to know his location sir." Maria told the instructor.

"OH RIGHT SORRY ABOUT THAT." Once they got the location they left in the new craft. This wasn't their first mission they have go on other. They were becoming the best of the best in the last 3 months.

"We're almost here." Keven said as he drove the craft.

"Stop here." Maria ordered

"Why?" Ted asked curiously

"We're walking the rest of the way."

"What seriously?" Melody complained."

"Listen we can sneak in by foot if we go b-

"Car they may hear it." Ted interrupted Maria

"Right." With that covered Maria explained her plan to the others they would use the trees as cover. They kept that, up until they came across a small clearing. Bliss was floating in the sky while Mike was being held upside-down with some sort of anti-gravity machine. "This is a problem." Thought Maria "Okay scatter whoever gets a clear shoot take it." Maria ordered. However bliss noticed Maria.

"Bliss sees you kiddies. Bliss will play with you once he deposes of your friend." AAAAAAAAA bliss screamed in agony. "Which brat dared to harm Bliss?" Bliss asked with venom and fury written in his face. He looked around and noticed Ted with the blaster. Bliss took off to Ted's direction. Ted and Bliss began fighting.

Bliss started the fight with a round house kick, Ted dodged then threw a right hook however bliss managed to block. Bliss counter with a jab. While Ted and Bliss where busy beating on each other Maria took advantage of the situation she climbed a tree then she jump from branch to branch until Maria reached Mike. Unfortunately Taria who had been hidden spot it her and intercept Maria.

"I was wondering where you were." Maria said with malice as she glared at her.

"Do you even know what you're doing or why?" Taria asked as she looked into Marias eye.

"Am protecting my planet from people like you." Maria answered.

"Ha you're just a naive child that has no idea what her people are capable of, or what they've done!" Taria exclaimed in anger as she rushed Maria. Maria got out the way which cause Taria to crash into a tree. Ted and Keven were barley hurting Bliss. Bliss attacked Ted with roundhouse kick which made Keven crash into Ted. Ted push Keven to the side and threw himself at Bliss he grabbed the alien in a headlock Keven punched bliss severally times in the stomach.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Bliss yelled at the boys summing all his abilities his elbows and Knees grew spikes.

"Oh we're in trouble." Keven commented

"All we have to do is dodge the spikes." Ted replied

"Its two against one we total got this." Keven stated with enthusiasm, as he rushed the enemy dodging the spikes that came at him.

"Your confident Bliss will destroy you and all of your world." Bliss pulled a bone/spike sword from his back and rushed at the two.

"Hey what happen to the blaster?" Keven asked as he kick Bliss in the face.

"I lost it during the fight." Ted responded.

With both aliens distracted Melody took the opportunity to rescue their alley. She repeated the same process as Maria, once she reached him Melody said "Hang in there."

"Oh you're so funny. Can you get me down now?"

"Am trying this machinery seems to be more complex than our own."

"Just break it." Mike told her

"If you say so." Melody then took out her saber with a mighty swing she destroyed the device. It seem as Mike was falling to his death, however he grabbed a branch and started to climbed back up. Melody help Mike return to the top. Melody and Mike returned to the battle the scene, they found was not a good one. The aliens were winning both Ted, and Keven were on the ground blood surrounding their bodies. The aliens were gaining up on Maria who was on her last strength. As Melody witness her sister being beaten to death she couldn't take it anymore the feeling of uselessness the anger with in her. She couldn't protect her parents, and now she was going to lose her sister. That's when she exploded a blinding light surround her the ground was shaking her eyes turn red, pupils disappeared, her skin turned light blue, and her body grew boney spikes. With unbelievable sped she tor both aliens away from her sister. Melody was out of control she fought Taria in rage. Melody ripped Taria's arm off and use it to beat her.

"MELODY STOP!" Mike ordered Melody turn her attention to Mike she got near him ready to beat him when she saw her reflection in the eyes of her sister who had rushed over to Melody side. "What am I?" Melody questioned herself, as she drop to her knees gripping the ground a look of distress was written all over her face once she realized she killed her enemy savagely and was about to attack her friends. With the little strength Maria had she walked to her sister and gave her a comforting hug.

Chapter 3 Oddills

Bliss escaped from the battle, while Melody was beating on Taria. He limped to his hideout his body was showered in blood. As he reached his distention he couldn't help but to think how he meet her, the love of his live.

His planet was compose of several races there were the red, and light red this were the warriors and guardians of the planet. Then there were the greens, and light greens this was the scientific group. There was the pinks, and light pinks this were held in high respect only because their color represents the planet, and lastly there were the blues and light blues this were the civilians.

The planet was united in some ways we had the warriors on the sky cities just in case of attacks. The intellectuals went to island as to not damage the people, the great and powerful pinks lived in the center of the planet, and the blue's got the underground cities. Don't get me wrong their cities both skies and underground are rich in every resource the planet has to offer. Bliss was born into the blue.

As a child Bliss had dream many people mocked him for it. They said that dreams don't come true, for him it was another story anyway his dream was to be like Oddills first hero his name was Nitram, unfortunately he was a red. Like I mentioned earlier the blues got stuck as civilians. He refused, so snuck into the islands and took any type of book he could. Bliss learned to create and repair just about anything, after four years of fighting Bliss was finally accepted into the academy to learn strategies, and tactics. That's when they meet the most gorgeous light blue, her long green hair those beautiful red eyes. Everything about her was beyond believe. Over time we became friends then teammates. Know she's dead thanks to that hum... no, not human but monster. I BLISS WILL GET MY REVENGE.

"UH excuse me Bliss." A red appear in the back of the cave. The red was taller and more muscular than Bliss, his eyes where yellow, and his hair was purple.

"WHAT?" Bliss asked angrily the red hesitate for a second it was no secret that Bliss loved her.

"Listen Bliss you weren't born a warrior there are thing you don't understand."

"Like what Gleno?"

"Like honor." The man identified as Gleno responded. Bliss simply ignored him and made his way to the control room. Gleno grabbed him by his shoulder causing Bliss to turn around and looked at Gleno's face. Gleno had a serious expression mixed with anger.

"We reds aren't as smart as the greens however we know not to follow a leader blindly." Bliss approached Gleno grabbed him by his shirt "You think am following blindly; they attacked first, then they have the nerve to use one of our own to kill Taria!" Bliss exclaimed angry once he was finished talking he threw Gleno to the ground and continued his path to the control room. The control room was located on the other side of the cave. It had various computers a table with the worlds map some desks. Bliss walked to the monitor in the cave wall. A shadowy figure appeared in the monitor. Bliss bowed to the figure.

"You shall rise my loyal subject and tell me everything." The figure in the monitor commented Bliss stood up as he explained the events that had transpire, when Bliss reached to the human transforming into one of them. "WHAT?" The leader asked angrily.

"Bliss said that a human girl turned into an oddills and not just any oddills she turned into a blue with the abilities of a red."

"I see what did Gleno think?" The figure asked

"Bliss did not tell Gleno anything."

"Good am going to share secret with you Bliss Long ago when our planet was young and our people started to flourish we received a prophecy it goes like this in time of war a foreign oddills shall rise to defend its world. I believe in the prophecy, I also believe its talking about you."

"Me?" Bliss questioned unsure of himself and doubting in his abilities and skills.

"Yes if you recall you changed our planet for the better in only four years normally it takes years you truly are unique Bliss." With that said the figure turned the monitor off.

"Bliss shall make Bliss people proud.

Earth HPO Headquarters

"Doctor how's our new patient doing?" A female voice asked

"A... am... not sure!" The doctor exclaimed "I can't tell if she's dead or in a coma." The only thing that worked was the ex-rays and her insides are different than ours." The doctor explained as he showed her the ex-rays. "This is ridiculous I can't tell were her organs are."

"What, you're a doctor you should know this better than me." The female stated as if it was the most common thing.

"Yes Anna am doctor but am a human doctor my training was for humans not aliens." The doctor explained to her. While they were talking a small sigh sound was heard it went like this sigh... sigh... sigh... sigh. The sound got louder. This caused the doctor and Anna to turn around and see Taria breathing slowly.

"Why... cough... did... you save me?" Taria asked slowly due to the fact that she's still injured from her previous battles.

"I wish I could say it was for a good deed, however that's not the case I need information." Anna told her.

"Why would I give you any info after what you dirty humans did to my home world? Taria questioned as she ran at Anna and threw a punch, Anna than threw a kick. The two women started fighting rapidly. A right hook was thrown by Anna, Taria dodged than she used an upper cut it threw Anna a few feet away. Anna recovered quickly and kick Taria in the stomach. Taria got close enough to knee Anna. Once her knee was connected to Anna's stomach Taria summed her spikes, which penetrated Anna's skin causing her to bleed.

"U... ugh... w... why? Anna asked weakly and spitting out blood.

"You DARE ask me why? Fine, your people attacked us first." Taria explained enraged, as she kick Anna away from her. We oddills were living in peace our king and queen would treat their people with respect and we would treat them the same we prosper we figure ways to live in harmony then one night a star was falling the star hit the planets labs it create it a huge explosion killing millions of people.

"Okay I get why you're mad however that doesn't explain why you're attacking us." The doctor stated.

Taria looked at him with fury in his eyes she simply said "Am getting to that." "Then a man wearing a green pointy hat, a green robe, and green gloves came out of it. You want to know what he did he kept on killing children, women, ill, and elderly every time he destroyed he would exclaim for earth. Our hero Nitram came to face this monster in blink of an eye our hero was gone. Then that monster leaves with a message you oddills are pathetic we will take your world for our self then he destroys the monument that stood for freedom."

"Wait did you say Nitram?" the doctor asked with actual curiosity building inside of him.

"Yeah, what is to you?" Taria asked

"H... He... w... ugh... was a W... WW2... hero." Anna said as she struggled to get up "He saved many lives." The doctor continued for Anna, as he rushed to her side to help her.

"YOU'RE LYING!" Taria exclaimed angrily "It's impossible my people saw him die." Taria continued she shed a few tears as she remembers the onslaught her people suffered.

"D...Do you thing spreading lies about my people is funny?" Taria asked them.

"No, you see the earths had heroes as well he was a member of the Dino (die-no) team earths first heroic team."

"That's impossible the explosion killed millions and Nitram was the first to go!" Taria exclaimed in surprise of this news.

"Did your people ever found a body?" the doctor asked her.

"I wasn't born at the time, but the story goes like this; Nitram the bravest red ever to exit came when he saw chaos fall upon our world he charged at the human valiantly as he looked dead in its eyes his last words were if I die it's for your protection then a blinding light the explosion fallowed quickly."

"Maybe he was teleported to our world in the past." The doctor explained to his company while he was taken care of the women's injuries throughout their fight.

"How can I be sure you're telling the truth? "Tara asked him. "We do keep track of our history." The doctor explained.

Two days after the monstrous battle with bliss Melody felt horrible uncertain with many questions flowing around her head like: what if she loses control? Where did this power come? Why give it to her? Is she half human? What would her friends think of her? Most of her team was knock out with the exception of Maria and Mike. Melody was terrified of this new found power if she learned to control it be amazing.

"Hey their why so glum?" a strong male voice asked from behind her a voice she would never forget.

"Hey Mike just thinking of the events that took place with me and Taria."

"The riders and I were thinking maybe we can help you control it."

"You told them?"

"I had to they are my team, besides Jason wants a report after every mission we take."

"Why would you do that?"

"Listen you have great power within you. We can use that to stop this senseless fighting." Mike explained to the girl. Melody stood in thought if I can control it I can save many my family would not have died in vain.

"Fine you convinced me. When do we start" Melody asked with excitement at thought of being able to help others better than before.

"We start within 2 hours for now enjoy the day." Mike responded as he left. Melody took her leave as well no point in crying over spilt milk. Mike went to visit Taria, for some reason or the other he felt compel to visit her. She is a blue beauty after all. Mike thought as he made his way to the emergency wing ever since they brought her hear he would visit her every day for 2 hours, however this time would be different. Mike entered Taria's prison.

"Well hello, is someone trying to escape?" He asked already knowing the answer to his question since he caught her red handed.

"I may not free myself now but the end is near for you!" Taria exclaimed as she counted from 1-10 in her mind. At that moment the wall blew and a tall red oddills shows up.

"How did he found you? This place is hidden from everyone." Mike asked stated as well his body was trembling.

"We oddills knew that one of us would have to get caught just to find our favorite play things." Taria responded.

"Hold it Taria am not here to fight them only to free you." The red oddills explained to his female companion.

"What kind red are you? Taria asked rhetorically. "You should be all like Ill defeat you evil doers no one will harm her." Taria continued with her rant.

"I don't think their evil, we've been miss led." Gleno stated

"Bliss may like to act tough but he never hurt innocents." Taria replied in anger not believing that their leader would do such a thing.

"Bliss is being miss lead as well."

BY W- Taria was interrupted by Mike "wait what you're saying you're attacking us because some idiot told you to?" Gleno and Taria ignored Mikes question and continued talking among themselves. "By who?" Taria asked him calmly as she left her prison

"Am not sure who's behind all of these however we better get out of here." Gleno told Taria as he grabbed her by her wrist and pulled her to his side.

"Wow I can't just let you leave." Mike told them.

"Very well if you wish to die." Gleno states as he got into battle position, Mike did the same

Gleno threw the first punch which went a lot faster than either Bliss or Taria.

That didn't stop Mike he launched at Gleno however in the last minute the alien dodged his attack and kick Mike a few feet away.

[Rats that guy hits harder than Bliss and he already hits pretty hard not to mention his sped it's incredible.] Mike thought as he rushed Gleno from behind. Gleno just stood there. Mike took the opportunity to kick him in the back. Gleno fell to the ground and as if nothing happened he got back up again.

"Who are you?" Mike asked as he sighed heavily from the small battle.

"My name is Gleno Rett I am from the warrior side of my planet you fought valiantly but sloppy." Gleno stated as he Taria took their leave.

Chapter 4 attack on base

Bliss had fallowed Gleno since he was order to. He took advantage of the situation here was their enemy base so why not destroy it when given the chance. Bliss used the transformation device he recently created and turned into human he walked the grounds looking for information and of course weakness of his enemies. Bliss took the opportunity to plant a few virus in the Main computer he then took his leave without being noticed or so he thought unknown to him a figure had been fallowing him ever since he enter. The mystery man hid behind a wall he reached for his blaster. The man slowly revealed himself to be Keven.

Keven blasted Bliss several times without warning. Once he was sure Bliss was out of commission he walked up to the computer and tried to fix it however it turned out to be too late. Portals all over the sky were opening.

"Attention this is Keven Bliss was here I took him down he did something am not sure what." Keven send a message through the speakers.

"Y... You ... late." Bliss said faintly as he felt his pain and body slip away.

"What did you do?" Keven asked angrily. Once Anna heard the message she order them to evacuate as she didn't want to take any chances than she went for her nieces.

Melody was with the riders training to control her new found abilities whatever she did previously was not coming out. They were far away from the city and base. "Has anyone seen Mike?" Jason the leader of the group asked.

"I was with him a few hours ago he said he'd be here." Melody answered him.

"Thank s for the reply but I need you to stay focus on the mission." Jason ordered.

"Alright Melody you need to revisit your fight with Taria." Tim commented while fixing his device. "How is she going to do that?" Ned asked him.

"The solution is simply she has to remember what she felt." Tim replied to Ned's question.

"What did you feel?" Jason asked Melody

"Well I felt a bunch different stuff first was useless Maria and the others were doing the hard par.t I couldn't free Mike without him telling me what do. Next was sadness my parents past on, because they were trying to save my sister, and me I couldn't avoided their demise. The last was rage I refused to lose all the people that matter to me I was not going to let them go without a fight and something in me snapped." Melody told them.

"So to unlock your hidden abilities we have to resurface those feelings again in that order." Tim explained walking in circles.

"How do we get her to fell it again?" Jason asked

"Well there are three of us and three emotions she needs to fell." Ned told them

"I get it we each amplify one of those emotions." Tim told them. Once they discovered how to unlock her powers they started to get to work. Ned was trying to make her fell useless, Tim was trying to make her sad and, Jason was making her angry. To achieve their goal the riders surround her.

While all this was going on Maria had found Mike injured in the detained facility to her horror Taria had escaped. She saw the whole that was blasted in the wall. Then she saw portals popping out of no were and then there was Keven's voice in the speaker saying'

Attention this is Keven Bliss was here I took him down he did something am not sure what.

Maria took her hologram watch and contacted Keven.

"Kev I have bad news there green holes in the sky it looks like fleet is coming." Once her message was send she pulled Mike to the medical center. Brittany, and Trina spend most of their time in the medical center. They had heeled Maria's group from their battle against the oddills. At the moment Maria entered the room with a knockout Mike.

"He needs help fast, and get my team up here now!" Maria ordered. Jewel, Keven, and Ted arrived a few minutes after the call.

Where's Mel-... Maria was interrupted by a creature crashing through the wall. The creature's eyes were red with no pupils, the skin was light blue, the body was female, and her hair was red and long. Maria and her friends took a glimpse and realized this was Melody. Maria went into leader mode and started to give them orders while she fought her sister "Kev take them to the weaponry take whatever you need and help out their also take the lead."

"What about you?" Keven asked her as he dodged an incoming blow from Melody.

"I'll be fine." Maria stated while she kicked her sister on look into Keven's face told her that he was extremely worried about her. "Oh and once this all over the answer to your question is yes." Maria told him as she blocked a punch. The fight between the sisters was evenly matched which is concerning considering the fact that Maria has no special ability.

Are you sure? Keven asked one more time.

Yeah am sure now go and save the damn planet! Maria exclaimed

"Alright guys you herd her to the weaponry after we get what we need. We'll dived our attention Trina and Brittany you to help the injured get them to safety the rest of us will handle the threat."

"Hey Keven what about Maria and Melody?" Jewel asked as they reached the weaponry. Jewel took two the laser swords, Ted took the hyper blaster and a few energy bombs, Brittany and Trina took medical supplies and blasters, and Keven already had his weapons.

"They'll be fine." The group entered the battle field fighting the army of reds that came their way. Brittany and Trina wear moving the civilians to a safety zone. "Hey Keven I know this is probably a bad time to ask but, what she meant by the answer to your question was yes?" Ted asked as he took down three reds.

"I asked her to marry me after the whole Melody incident." Keven responded as he blasted two reds away.

Huh, no flipping way, really you. His teammates responded at the same time.

"Is it really that shocking that I propose to her?"

"No, it's shocking that she said yes?" Brittany answered trough the ear links

"Yeah, remember how she was when we first met her?" Trina asked

We were on our second year of high school. We had known each other for years, then they came the Moregurra sisters one was so shallow, but sweet and some what kind, while the other was horrifying mean. Didn't care about any one, or at least that what she would have you believe. Until we discover her secret that she was only like that for fear of rejection. Her fear was a bit irrational she thought everyone was out to get her. Jewel told the story.

"Okay enough reminiscing we need to protect the people." Keven ordered as he charged to an army of reds. The oddills warriors came and they were more dangerous then the previous group.

With Maria and Melody. The two girls were fighting with melody on the offensive and Maria on defense. "Come on Mel control the beast." Maria rolled away, all melody could do was roar in response to her sisters pleas. "Am the only thing you got and you're the only thing I have please look me in the eyes." No matter how much Maria talked to her sister everything fell into deaf ears. Melody just kept attacking Maria to almost an inch of her life. Melody was preparing the finishing blow when Anna came to the rescue by kicking Melody on the side "Listen this is not you!" Anna exclaimed she charged at the transformed melody and gave her a hug. The beast was calming down and Melody emerged or at least her mind.

"How would you know?" Melody asked in tears, she was afraid not of the war but of herself seeing what she did to her beloved sister. It was too much for her to bare she burst into tears. Anna reached Melody's ear and whispered "I know because I was there." That stopped her crying. "Are you some kind of stalker?" "What, no you see it's complicated but my name is Maria Anna Moreguerra. Anna told Melody. "My sis is about to die, and you make jokes like that, what kind of aunt are you." Melody asked her in anger. "Melody you're not from this time. I have the same name as your sister because she, and I are the same person and you're our daughter I bought you to the past.

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