#but does that mean they gotta throw one school under the bus for it?

[oakwolves]

I’m almost done with the LoC story quest and honestly it made me dislike Zero more like wdym you kicked Sakura off for speaking up about her mistreatment and let your own teammates harass her and her friends because “they played good” like are you serious?

[janeyseymour]

All I Ask

Loosely based off of two prompts: one where R asks Mel to hold her as more than just a friend the night before Mel goes on a first date, and another where both R and Mel are set up on blind dates (requested by @gwennybriggs)... enjoy.

WC: ~4.15k

One thing about Barbara Howard is that she loves to play match maker.

“All I’m saying, Melissa, is maybe it’s time to get yourself back out there!” Barbara antagonizes her best friend once again during a lunch period. The kindergarten teacher looks to you with a small smirk. She knows of your feelings for a certain redhead sitting in between the two of you, and she’s hoping that the second grade teacher will just take the damned hint. The kindergarten teacher also knows of the feelings that Melissa harbors for you. 

“And all I’m sayin’, Barbara,” Melissa says that name with a pointed tone. “Is that I don’t need no one in my life to ‘complete’ me, or whatever bullshit you wanna tell me being in love does.”

“Melissa, it’s been two years since you broke it off with Gary. Don’t you think it’s time to get yourself back out there? Just maybe?”

“I don’t need nobody- not when I have a happy life as it is.”

That is the end of the conversation for the time being, but then Melissa starts to think it over. Maybe what Barbara is saying is true- it’s been a while. And she does miss having someone to fall asleep with at night. Although… whenever you come over, the two of you end up curled up on the couch together, and occasionally you will spend the night in her bed with her.

It’s platonic. It’s just friends being friends. At least that’s what Melissa tells herself. That’s what you tell yourself too when you lay in bed with her at night and wonder if maybe, just maybe, this is something more. 

So the next time you’re over, Melissa asks you about it.

“What do you think about what Barb was saying the other day at school? About… finding love and all that shit?” the redhead asks you as her head lays in your lap.

You stiffen slightly, not sure if this is your chance to say anything. Green eyes look up to meet your own, trying to figure out your thoughts.

“I mean, I think it might be good for you,” you shrug softly.

“Well,” she says as she sits up to look at you more intensely. “What about for you? Miss eternally single?”

The reason you’ve been single as long as you have been is because of your feelings for the redhead, not that she knows it. You shrug your shoulders ever so slightly, letting her know that you have hesitations in your answer. “I guess maybe I could consider going out on a date or something.”

So the next day at school, during lunch, love lives are the topic of the staff room.

“I was thinking… what if we set you up with someone I know?” Barbara asks. “C’mon, you know I would pick someone good for you.”

Melissa sighs a great breath. “Will it get you off my back if I say yes?” At the kindergarten teacher’s nod, the redhead swallows harshly before, “Fine.”

“Oh, how wonderful. I know just who I should set you up with!”

“You know, Y/N and I were talkin’ last night, and she’s thinkin’ ‘bout getting back into the dating game too. You know of anyone to set her up with, Lowercase?” Melissa asks.

Janine’s eyes brighten, and you can swear you see them almost start to sparkle at the idea of getting to play match maker for you. “I do!”

“Oi,” you roll your eyes and shake your head. You elbow the second grade teacher sitting next to you gently. “Way to throw me under the bus.”

“If I gotta do it, so d’you.”

As you and the redheaded second grade teacher head out a few minutes early to use the restroom before picking up your kids from lunch, Barbara whips around to look at Janine and the rest of the group.

“I’m going to say something, and what I say must be kept between those of us in this room,” the veteran teacher says seriously. “That means nobody will tell Melissa or Y/N.”

“Barb, how am I supposed to not tell them?” Jacob asks incredulously.

Barbara stares him down intensely. “If you cannot vow to not say a word to your roommate about this, then you may leave.”

The social studies teacher’s hands raise in surrender, and he urges her silently to continue.

“You’ve all noticed the way those two are always together, and Y/N has stolen my work wife, yes?”

She’s met with a chorus of affirmations as well as head nods. Jacob puts in that you’re almost always over, and that occasionally you end up spending the night after a glass too many.

“I’ve had about enough of this tiptoeing around that those two love sick fools are doing,” Barbara rolls her eyes. “So, I am going to pretend to send Melissa up with one of my friends. Janine, you will set up Y/N with one of your friends. And we all ensure together that the two of them end up in the same place at the same time without them finding out that they will be showing up to the same date, yes?”

“Oh my god!” Jacob grins and claps his hands together in excitement. “We all get to play match maker!”

“Do you see now why we mustn’t speak a word of this to Melissa or Y/N?” Barbara looks at the excited man pointedly.

He gives a serious nod.

That day, Barbara gives a talking head to the camera men. Janine joins her. 

“When Barbara Howard wants something, Barbara Howard gets that thing,” the kindergarten teacher states. “And what Barbara Howard wants now more than anything is for those two to get their heads out of their asses. The two of them… flirting harder than Janine and Gregory were before they finally pulled their acts together.”

“Hey!” Janine gasps. “Did I only get pulled into this interview to get insulted?”

The veteran teacher just gives her a knowing look and a pat on the shoulder.

The next day, Barbara comes in with a pep in her step as she knows that her plan will soon be put into place.

“What has you in such a chipper mood?” Melissa asks as she pours herself and you a cup of coffee before the kids come in. The redhead places your cup where she knows you’ll end up once you show up for the day.

The kindergarten teacher looks to Janine, who is sitting very quietly (for once), before grinning. “I found the perfect person for you to go out on a date with.”

“Oh?”

“A friend of mine,” is all Barb offers up. “So, you have a date at six tomorrow night at The Dandelion.”

“Tomorrow?”

“Would you rather I change it to tonight?”

A blush creeps into the second grade teacher’s cheeks. “No. No thank you.”

It’s only a few minutes later that you walk into the room, cheeks flushed from the cool air outside. 

“Hey,” Melissa smiles softly at you. She juts her chin out in the direction of your steaming hot cup of coffee. “Made it for you already.”

“You’re a lifesaver,” you grin as you go to put your lunch in the refrigerator. “I think I’m going to need it today.”

“Well,” the second grade teacher chuckles as you sit down next to her. “If you need another cup, you know you can always ask me to grab you another.”

You lay a gentle hand on her knee and squeeze it affectionately. “You’re the best.”

Mr. Johnson smirks at the camera.

Because the group has conspired to set the two of you up unknowingly to you and Melissa, no one speaks of the redhead’s date at lunch- much to her surprise. Melissa will take it though- not having to deal with the crew on her back about it.

“You comin’ back to my place today?” the second grade teacher asks as you’re packing up your lunch.

You nod with a small smile as you nudge her affectionately. “I’ll bring the wine?”

“Should I bring enough for Jacob too?”

“I will be out with a new man, so no need,” the social studies teacher cuts into your conversation. “Hopefully, this one works out.”

So, you and your coworker end up on the couch together after a long day with a delicious meal and a rather full glass of wine in front of each of you.

“So, anything interesting happen at school today for you?” you ask as you lay your head down in the redhead’s lap.

Melissa hums softly before sighing. “Barb is setting me up with her friend. I have a date tomorrow.”

Your eyes widen ever so slightly. “Oh?”

She shrugs, trying to gauge how you feel about that. And thankfully, you’re able to mask your true emotions on the matter. “That’s nice. It seems like everyone is starting to put themselves out there lately.”

“I’m sure Janine will find someone for you soon enough,” the redhead tells you. “You’re a catch, and someone is bound to see that sooner or later.”

You grimace. You’re not so sure about that. And even if you were, you only want one person, and it’s becoming more and more clear to you that you’ll never have your chance with her. So, in that moment, you decide that starting tomorrow maybe you need to start distancing yourself from Melissa in order to get over this silly crush you have on her. You have to get yourself back out there without her constantly lingering in the back of your mind.

“Hun,” she thinks she’s reading you like a book. “C’mon, you’re a great woman. Anyone with eyes can see that you’re beautiful, and then when you let your personality shine through… you’re the real-”

You shake your head as you sit up. “Can we just… not talk about this right now? I just want to enjoy tonight with you… savor our time alone while I can before someone swoops in and steals you from me.”

Green eyes meet yours, filled with a pleading look to just drop the matter of the conversation. It’s clear to you that she wants to continue to try to boost your confidence and build you up, but she relents. “So, did anything interesting happen at school with you today?”

After polishing off the bottle of wine that you brought over, Melissa ends up bringing out a second bottle. You hate to admit that you perhaps have a few too many glasses just because you’re trying to drown out your sorrows about not ever being able to tell the woman next to you how you feel and that this is probably the last night you’ll have with her where things are exactly the way they are now.

“C’mon, hun,” Melissa nudges you gently after your head has hit her shoulder for the fourth time that night. “Let’s just head to bed.”

You nod against her shoulder sleepily, but you make no moves to get up.

“Y/N,” the redhead nudges you again. “C’mon.”

“I’m comfortable here,” you yawn out. “You’re comfortable.”

“I can be comfortable up in my bed too,” Melissa retorts with a small laugh. “I can’t sleep on a couch anymore, so c’mon.”

You let out a small whine but disentangle yourself from her own limbs before looking at her with a pout.

“Trust me,” your coworker sighs as she sets a hand on the small of your back to guide you up the steps. “You being grumpy and getting up for a proper night’s sleep is much better than me being a bitch tomorrow because I woke up sore after a night of sleeping on the couch.”

You nod your head begrudgingly. The two of you crawl into bed as you usually do- both having respective sides. A chill rushes through you as the wine drunkenness begins to wear off and your met with the cool sensation of Melissa’s fan running in her bedroom.

“You cold?” the redhead asks as she lifts an arm for you to scoot under.

You nod as you shimmy into her space with a soft smile. Her arm wraps around you and pulls you even closer.

In a rather bold move, instead of laying your head on her shoulder, you turn to face her with a sad smile.

“What’s wrong?” Melissa asks you. “Are you still cold? Should I get extra blankets?”

You shake your head. “I just… things are going to change if all goes well with you and this man Barb’s setting you up with, and if Janine ever finds someone for me.”

Melissa just hums. She’s not quite sure what to say to you about this. What you’re saying is true, and it’s becoming clear to her that you aren’t necessarily thrilled with that. If she’s being honest with herself, she isn’t too fond of the idea of things changing between the two of you either.

“And… I know it’s dumb, and I know that we aren’t together, but I like what we have,” you mumble.

“I do too, hun,” Melissa squeezes your hand gently.

“Can we just… pretend for tonight?”

“What do you mean?” Green eyes look at you curiously.

“Pretend that we’re not scared of what’s coming next, or scared of having nothing left?” You quote Adele’s lyrics unknowingly. “Like… if this is my last night with you, where everything is how it usually is, can you hold me like I’m more than just a friend?” You know you’re still drunk, or at least somewhat intoxicated. If Melissa shoots you down, you can blame the alcohol. And if she doesn’t, tomorrow you can excuse your question with the alcohol too. What do you really have to lose? Not much, if you’re being honest with yourself.

The way that she pulls you close to her and wraps her arms around your waist simultaneously makes your heart grow three sizes and break. What is happening feels so right, but you know that this is only one time. It won’t ever happen again. You feel warm lips against your neck, and you inhale deeply. Why can’t this dream of yours be a reality?

As the redhead beside you gently nips at your neck, just once, she too has feelings of regret. Why is it that she only wants you right now?

The two of you fall asleep dreaming about the same thing- a life together. 

You wake first, and the feeling of still being in Melissa’s arms has you practically swooning. If anything, throughout the night, she held onto you tighter than she had while awake. It’s warm and domestic, and you can smell the perfume she was wearing last night as it surrounds and intoxicates you.

You lay there in a peaceful bliss until her alarm starts going off. She wakes with a small jolt before her eyes peel open, and you’re met with her sparkling eyes.

“Hey, hun,” Melissa smiles at you. “You sleep off all that wine last night?”

You roll your eyes playfully as you prepare to pull yourself away from her- as much as you don’t want to. “Yeah, I think so.”

“Hungover at all?”

You shake your head, only to sheepishly start nodding before rolling away from her. “My head is pounding.”

“Well, you know where the advil is,” the second grade teacher chuckles as she starts to sit up. “And I’ll make us breakfast and coffee, so hopefully the hangover lessens.”

As you get ready, neither of you speak of the events that happened last night. You quietly note that you’re surprised Jacob didn’t make his way back to the apartment last night, but that’s really all the two of you talk about. And then you’re off to Abbott in your car, while she follows behind in her own.

At school, you don’t settle in next to the redhead like you usually would for the morning news. Instead, you make up a lame excuse about having to do work in your classroom. You don’t even take the offered second cup of coffee from your coworker. You have to start distancing yourself if you’re going to survive working at her while she starts dating again.

During lunch, you make your way into the staff room quietly and grab your meal from the refrigerator before trying to make your way out relatively unnoticed. It doesn’t work. Of course, Melissa wants you to sit with her like you usually do.

“I- I think I need some peace and quiet,” you offer meekly. “But thanks.”

You’re out the door by the time Melissa is huffing about your actions. “Girl damn near lost her mind, I swear.”

It’s towards the end of the day when Janine approaches you.

“Janine, I really can’t today if you’re going to try to rope me into ‘saving the school’ again,” you sigh as you begin to gather your things in your arms. 

“It’s nothing like that,” the energetic woman tells you quickly. “I’ve been trying to get ahold of you all day.”

“Didn’t really look at my phone today,” you grumble.

“Well, I wish you would’ve. I know you have nothing to do after school today, so… my friend got back to me. You have a date tonight.”

“I’m not going on a-”

“Yes, you are,” Janine tells you in a strict, out of character, tone. “Be at The Dandelion at six.”

“Janine,” you groan. “I just want to-”

“You’ll be at The Dandelion, or my friend is going to be really pissed with me. Please.”

“Why should I?”

“Because,” the short woman struggles to come up with an answer on the fly. “Because you’ve been single for so long, and with everyone else getting back out there again… it might be good for you. C’mon, just one date. That’s all my friend is asking for- and then… if you don’t like it, you don’t have to do it again.”

“Fine.”

Janine squeals happily. “My friend will be in a green shirt tonight, so keep an eye out.” The second grade teacher knows what Melissa will be wearing because that was the topic of the staff room today at lunch, which you were not at.

You’re absolutely dreading this. You do not want to be at The Dandelion to go on a date with one of Janine’s friends. And yet, you still find yourself changing into a pair of jeans and a nicer shirt to go to dinner.

Upon your arrival, you survey the area, only to discover that you’re there before your mystery person in green. You find a seat at the bar and sigh, ordering a glass of wine.

About five minutes later, you see someone in green walk in, but they look oddly familiar. It- It’s Melissa. Fuck. She too surveys the area, clearly looking for her date. The redhead has no such luck, but she does lock eyes with you and give a small wave before making her way over.

“What are you doing here?” she asks quietly. “Come to spy on my date?”

You take a sip of your wine. “Actually, Janine set me up on a date, but they aren’t here yet.”

Melissa hums indifferently. “Neither is my date. What do you say we just wait together here?”

Not necessarily knowing how to reject her offer, you nod and pull out the stool next to you for her to sit on. She too orders a glass of wine, and once she’s served, she looks at you.

“So, we gonna talk about why you pulled away from all of us today at school?”

You blow out a breath. “I had some things to do in my classroom.” You can tell those green eyes boring into your soul don’t believe you, so you attempt to change the subject. “How were the kids today for you?”

By 6:25, neither of your dates have shown. The two of you are sitting together quietly nursing your wine and still looking around.

When the time hits 6:30, you sigh. “Do you think they’re going to show?”

The redhead glances down at her watch. “Half an hour late, and still not here? I doubt it.”

“What the fuck?” you groan. “I’m going to kill Janine.”

“Barb ain’t gettin any of my meatballs any time soon,” your coworker grumbles as she pulls out her phone.

You dial Janine, fully intending on giving her a piece of your mind. She picks up after two rings.

“Hey! How’s it going?” she answers as cheerily as she always does.

“Your stupid friend never showed up,” you grit out.

You can practically see the face Janine makes as she gasps out a, “What? No, they did!”

“No they didn’t!” you hiss into the phone. “I’ve been sitting here for the last half an hour waiting for someone in green to show up, and no one has!”

“No, my friend definitely showed up, I know it.”

At the same time, Melissa is on the phone with Barbara.

“Barb, your friend never showed! I’ve been sitting here with Y/N for the last half hour waiting.”

“My friend definitely did show,” Barbara’s voice is calm and steady as always.

It takes the two of you a few seconds to let their words sink in before you realize you’ve been played.

“You set us up,” both you and Melissa hiss into the phones at the same time.

Only then do both of your coworker step out of a booth with smiles on their faces. “Maybe.” They both hang up, wave to you with shit eating grins, and then head out of the restaurant together. 

Slowly, you turn to Melissa with wide eyes. She does the same.

“So, you’re my date?” she asks you.

“You’re mine?” you stammer out. “But I-”

“Those two are going to get it tomorrow.”

You let out a nervous chuckle as you tuck a few locks of hair behind your ear. “Yeah. They are.”

“Well,” the redhead sighs. “I guess we should get a table and have dinner.”

“You- you want to go on this date with me?” you fumble over your words. At her nod, you blush, but the smile that washes over your face is genuine and radiant.

Dinner is nice- it’s… it’s different than the other meals the two of you have shared in the past though. Conversation flows easily between the two of you as it usually does, before she takes a deep breath.

“Y/N, we should… we should talk about this.”

Her tone tells you that she’s not interested in the slightest, and you grimace. “I can just… I can just go.” You go to grab your handbag, but a hand stops you as fingers wrap around your wrist.

“I didn’t mean that,” she rolls her eyes. She tugs you in close, and her lips meet yours softly for the first time.

Your eyes go wide as you realize that the woman of your dreams is sitting here kissing you before you reciprocate. And… wow. 

“Y-you-” you stammer out once you’ve pulled away.

She just chuckles and kisses you again. Mumbled against your lips are the words, “I’m glad you’re my date, and not someone else.”

All you can do is smile. Once you pull away, you tell her, “I am too. I was not looking forward to going out with one of Janine’s friends.”

“I mean,” Melissa nudges you. “You kind of are going out with one of her friend’s right now.”

You shrug. “I guess she didn’t lie when she told me I was meeting her friend. I just… didn’t expect it to be you.”

“I didn’t expect you to be Barb’s friend either, hun,” your coworker teases you.

That night, you end up back at her place, and unlike last night where the two of you were just pretending to hold and be held as more than just a friend, it’s real. You are more than friend’s now- doing what lovers do. It’s soft, it’s sweet, it’s domestic, it’s warm… it’s everything you could’ve dreamed of when it comes to Melissa.

Your hand is laced in hers as you walk into the staff room the next morning, and Barbara and Janine look rather content with the charade that they had pulled off the night before. It’s clear to you that the others are aware of the situation before them, as Jacob can only grin and fist pump somewhat discretely.

“You still ain’t getting my meatballs anytime soon,” Melissa grumbles at her work wife as she makes her way over to the coffee machine.

“Well worth it, Melissa dear,” the kindergarten teacher chuckles into her own mug. “Well worth it if it means that the two of you finally got your heads out of your asses and are together.”

TAGS: (and let me know if you want to be included!): @schemmentis @thesapphictimelady @marvel210 @itisdoctortoyousir @morgana-larkin @doesthatsuggestanythingtoyou @marvels--slut @gwennybriggs @megamultifandomtrashposts @lemz378 @http-sam @melissaschemmentisbranzino @imaginesmultifandoms @sexysapphicshopowner @lilfartbox1 @maybe-a-humanbean @imlike-so-gaydude @a-queen-and-her-throne @notinmyvocab @melanielaufeyson @dvrkhcld @cosmichymns @sasheemo @m1lflov3rrr @ricejucie

[lovemesomeeddiemunson]

Prom Date

Summary: Prom is coming and you want nothing more than to go. A certain metalhead goes above and beyond chivalry. 

F! Reader Insert,  6111 Words

Warnings:  SMUT! Minors DNI. Y/N is over 18. Eddie is scarred from the Upside Down. I took some liberties and decided Vecna was defeated in this. Making out, smoking, cunnilingus, vaginal penetration, cursing, food mentions, protected sex.

Authors Note:  This has been in the works for ages, and I am unleashing it lol. I never went to prom sooooo this is another self indulgent one lol. Also, I am always looking for inspo, so I will absolutely take requests for one-shots, blurbs, and head canons. If you don’t have an idea and just wanna chat, that’s cool too! I promise I won't bite.

The complaint you had been making gets caught in your throat, embarrassment heating your cheeks as the conversation you were having with Steve is halted by the bell above the door to Family Video.

It’s the first time it’s gone off since you’d settled in here after school to hang out with your friends. The place was dead enough that the interruption alone would have garnered your glance, but instead your full attention is quickly commanded by the metalhead entering beneath the bell, already grinning as he takes you in at the counter. “Hey Y/N…Steve…Robin.” He nods at each of you as the lot of you greet him back.

Your simple, “Hi Eddie.” is much more reserved than you feel as you ignore the butterflies he causes by approaching, a stack of video tapes tucked under one of the scarred arms that peeks unapologetically from his Black Sabbath t-shirt.

“What are we talking about?” He asks with a small chuckle, to which Robin immediately throws you under the bus.

“Prom.” She supplies in a pained tone, adding, “Y/N doesn’t have a date.” 

“Robin!” You complain sharply as Steve gives her a stern look. Her eyes widen, having missed the cue that maybe you wouldn’t want Eddie to know that - to open yourself up for his scrutiny on top of your already miserable desires.

Eddie doesn’t mock you though. He takes one look at you, at the apparent mortification on your face that’s now hidden by your hands, and you can only assume he takes pity on you. 

In response to Robin’s words, just loud enough for you to hear, he insists “Go with me.” 

As the words register, you drop your hands, your eyes widening before you can help it.

You let out a small, disbelieving sound at Eddie, cringing at the way it comes out like a mutilated laugh. “Doesn’t prom go against your entire belief system?” You mutter, Eddie smiling like you’ve just paid him a compliment. 

“Oh absolutely it does...But who am I to turn a blind eye to a damsel in distress?”  He gives a small chuckle, before catching the downtrodden look on your face and quickly scrambling.

“That’s not to say that uh, I wouldn’t enjoy myself. I think…I mean, if it’s with you, I think it could be fun.” There’s a slight smile playing around the edge of his lips.

It would be fun. It would be…everything. And you want him to mean it so desperately that it takes you a moment to notice the way that your delay affects Eddie. The way he fidgets with his hands…Shifts from foot to foot…Could he actually be nervous? 

You melt.

“I…I’d really like to go.” You confess, your voice small in the wake of the admittance you hadn’t allowed yourself thus far. Putting yourself out there, only to have Eddie’s answering smile take the breath from your lungs.

“It’s a date then.” He sets his pile of videos on the counter, glancing at your mutual friends. “Take care of this for me, will you Harrington? I gotta go find a tux.”  

Steve pulls the tapes towards himself as Eddie starts to walk backwards toward the door, eyes never leaving you even for a moment. “I’ll see you later?” He asks hopefully. 

You nod far too readily only for him to grin again and wave, rings glinting in the fluorescent lighting, before he heads out.

As the door closes behind him, Robin gives you a wide eyed look, Steve scanning the returns as he lets out a very casual. “Munson, huh? Now that I wasn’t expecting.”

“Me neither.” You reply, already fretting about making sure that things go perfectly as you pinch yourself that Eddie Munson has really just asked you to prom.

Robin starts talking a mile a minute, having garnered acceptance of the situation much more quickly than your still bewildered state, and Steve lovingly reminds you both to breathe. 

It feels far removed from you in that moment and beyond it, as the days leading up to prom seem to accelerate in your anxious state.

Until it’s the night of and finally you head to Steve’s, where his bathroom counter has been taken over by all the beauty products Robin, Robin’s mother, (and Steve,) collectively owned. 

While there you’re given the full glamor treatment - makeup, hair, the works.

It’s a great time. Not only do you enjoy this bit of pampering but as they help you get ready, Steve and Robin reminisce about their own memories of prom to your utter delight.

Steve’s is a classic tale - 85’ prom king, underage drinking, and an after party where he and his date went all the way.

“Gag.” Robin interjected, launching into her own unconventional tale. A prom that involved crashing in 84’ after a spiteful makeover and some light property damage. 

You laugh along with both your friends and think to yourself that both experiences, while wonderful, were nothing compared to what stood before you - an evening with Eddie.

It was tying you up in knots, the anticipation. The nerves that took what was upcoming and loaded it on top of every interaction you two had shared previously. A perfect storm of wondering if things between you two were moving in the direction you hoped for…If this was more than just  chivalry to him. 

You wanted it to be. Cataloging all of the previously stolen glances between you two…the inside jokes…

“Would you stop pacing,” Steve insisted, grabbing you by the shoulders. “It’s gonna be fine! Trust me.”

“Trust you.” You repeated, about to go off on an anxiety-induced spiral of self deprecation before Robin interjected and halted you in your tracks. She said some words - pretty and French. Something about maybe how you looked? Or how Eddie was going to feel when he looked at you? You weren’t sure.

In any case, it helped. You took a deep breath and put a relaxed smile on your face. Robin took the opportunity to snap a Polaroid of the three of you. 

This led to a dozen more photos, Steve and Robin posing with you like the parents sending you off. Robin wiped fake tears from her eyes and Steve started in on a fake lecture about boys and how they were no good, and back in his day...

You were still laughing at that when a knock on the door caused you to freeze, nerves supplanting themselves right back in the pit of your stomach as Steve went to let Eddie in, quickly sidestepping so the pair of you could take each other in.

As your gaze landed on Eddie, you couldn’t help but find him impossibly handsome - clean shaven, shiny brown curls falling past his shoulders where he’d managed to find a relatively nice suit to wear.

You were surprised to see a boutonniere in the same color as your dress - your favorite color - beside his lapel. In his still ringed hands he held a plastic container with a matching corsage. 

You couldn’t help but to go slack-jawed in awe at the sight, touched beyond measure.

Steve clears his throat behind the pair of you. You hadn’t noticed how long you’d been ogling Eddie - or that he’d been struck just as speechless at the sight of you in your prom dress.

“You look beautiful, Y/N.” He pipes up, the both of you meeting halfway. 

“Thank you, Eddie. You look really handsome.” You swear, fondness in your voice.

He beams at you, gingerly holding up the corsage, “Can I?” He asks. 

You offer your wrist, Robin and Steve snapping away with the camera. You stick your tongue out at them after giving them a generous moment to get the shot.

They wave you off, forcing the two of you into all kinds of poses that you complain about but know you’ll cherish - physical remnants of the way Eddie holds you tight and smiles like he’s proud to have you. 

These and a few group shots, the last of which has Eddie making a classic rockstar pose and Steve faux-flexing, and you two are ushered off the lawn and on your way.

“Not too late now!” Steve teases - Robin's arm is around his waist as she waves you off.

You roll your eyes at both of them, addressing him when you say, “I’ll be sure to do that, mom.” And Eddie laughs as they flip you the bird and disappear into the house to hang out.

“You ready?” Eddie asks sweetly, to which you nod, already heading for his van.

When he sees which way you’re going he gently catches you by the arm, shaking his head. “Your chariot for the evening is actually this way my lady.”

Your confused expression turns to one of surprise as Eddie produces a set of keys from his pocket, jingling them in the general direction of Steve’s BMW. 

“Steve said I could borrow her, with some stipulations.” Eddie explained, a bit of a pink tint to the tips of his ears at whatever they were, as he hurried over and opened your door for you before you could ask.

Once you and your dress are situated he shuts you in gently, heading around the front of the vehicle and sliding into the driver’s seat.

“How’d you pull that off?” You ask nonchalantly instead, smoothing your dress down your legs. 

Eddie clears his throat, eyes on your ankle and sounding a touch embarrassed as he explains. “I told him that I didn’t want you to show up to your prom in the old grease bucket, smelling like weed…He took pity on me I think.”

He waves it off, but you frown. Not liking the answer, you call his name gently, reassuring him. “I could have rolled up in half a rotting pumpkin and I would still be happy because I’m there with you.”

Feeling bold, you reach out and squeeze his hand reassuringly. You’re planning to let go but Eddie suddenly squeezes back, lacing your fingers together.

“Is-is this okay?” He nods down at the hand he holds, a timid smile on his face. You smile wide in return, promising him, “It’s perfect.”

Not much more needs to be said. He holds your hand the whole ride to the school, a guitar you recognize playing low in the background. Not Steve’s usual station for sure, and you don’t mind at all.

When the two of you arrive, the parking lot is already full - well, as full as it can be with half the town having moved away overnight…Upperclassmen are all around, running free in their fancy attire, having a blast. Cutting lose in a much needed way after the last year of hell.

Paying them no mind, Eddie takes your hand and leads you through the halls of the school, where you flash your tickets at the entry before heading inside the gym. 

You smile as you take in the packed space, full of colorful balloons and gossamer streamers hanging, winding, and climbing every available surface. 

A cluster of colorfully dressed people jumps, twirls, and writhes in the middle of the floor, creating a cluster of hairspray smell that’s a bit overwhelming.

Eddie takes one look at you under the twinkle lights, and feels his heart skip a beat.

“Hard to believe this is the same room where I’ve spent so much time faking injuries.” You tell him when you meet his gaze, your admittance making him laugh. 

“I wish I would have known, I’m notorious for my nosebleeds. I could have kept you supplied with plenty of fake blood.” He taps the side of said nose in emphasis, and you can’t help but think about how well a kiss would fit right there. “Hm” You muse, slight smile on your lips. “I usually go with ‘sprained ankle.’ Guaranteed reading time for the whole period. Doubt a few drops of blood can get you the same result.” “A few drops? I’ll have you know that I have a very serious vitamin K deficiency.” He answers, smirk on his lips. “A nosebleed from me is a guaranteed bloodbath. Coach can’t get me out of here fast enough.” 

You bark out a laugh. “You’re a little bit evil, Munson.”

“Maybe.” He grins huge, hand to his heart. “I promise you though, no excuses tonight.” Eddie shakes his hair out. “I am but your humble servant, here to dance to your heart’s desires.”

You raise an eyebrow, but he isn’t joking - he drags you to the makeshift dance floor, where scattered couples give you a wide berth, Eddie never showing whether he minds or not. He moves along to the music blaring throughout the gym, encouraging you to join him. You fold way too fast, inspired to abandon your nerves with the way he’s smiling and looking at you like there’s no one else in the room. 

You keep your gaze on him, loving how when he dances it’s in complete confidence - treating each song like a concert he’s putting on for the two of you. It’s silly and uncoordinated and so much fun. 

After a sporadic turn around the dance floor to the pop that Eddie loathes, for what feels like ages, the pair of you suddenly grow nervous at the slow song that cuts through - a soulful angelic voice rife with passion, urging lover’s together.

You're surrounded by peers who’ve already fallen into their dates' arms when Eddie holds a hand out. 

Head up slightly, you place your hand in his and he doesn’t hesitate to pull you in close, swaying the pair of you from side to side.

The song goes on - romantic and full of promise, and changes the atmosphere entirely. When it ends, Eddie doesn’t seem like he can go back to jumping and bopping around to the hits of today.

Instead he unwraps his arms from around your waist without a word, linking his arm with yours and leading you out the double doors of the cafeteria.

By this point in the night the prom is in full swing, so the concession tables lined up outside just beyond the doors in the senior hallway are nearly abandoned.

There’s one bleary eyed chaperone posted out front to guard the punch, halfheartedly asking if you’re having fun as Eddie pours you a generous cup full. 

You nod at her in reply and down the drink, trying not to wince at the taste and give yourself away. Knowing that said chaperone had definitely fallen asleep at the wheel.

The second your back is turned though, you’re pulling a face, and Eddie chuckles at you, tucking a loose strand of hair behind your ear, his hand lingering there a touch too long. It feels more than friendly.

“I’m really glad you asked me to come.” You blurt before you can help it, immediately hiding behind the pretense of taking another sip of your drink.

Eddie’s eyes grow soft at your words. “I’m really glad you said yes.” He admits.

It takes you by surprise. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” He moves in a touch closer, looking like he wants to say something.

He clams up though when there’s an apparent shift change at the punch table. A new teacher is taking the place of the old, this one looking at Eddie entirely disapprovingly. Likely traumatized from having him in class at some point.

And Eddie, for all his confidence, seems to shrink. Looks wholly defeated.

You frown, urging him down the hall and away from disapproving eyes. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” He shakes his head, plastering a smile on his face that doesn’t quite meet his eyes. “Got the best girl in Hawkins all to myself, what could be wrong?”

The compliment almost distracts you. “Eddie,” you complain softly, with a small laugh.

He loves the sound of your laugh. Loves seeing you get all flustered. “Alright alright, so to be fair I don’t ‘got’ you - but I did bring you to the prom. Now you’ll never forget me.” He grins.

You want to tell him that he can have you - take you, you’ll be his, but you're not brave enough to make the offer, and so you tease him about the latter part of his statement, “Forget you?” You ask incredulously. “We’ve fought interdimensional monster’s together, Munson. I’m not likely to forget that any time soon.”

“Ah you say that now. But in fifty years? I would have just been that guy with the tattoos who complained the whole time…Now as your senior prom date...I mean, hell, even Wayne remembers his prom date, and the old man likely couldn’t tell you what I made for dinner last night.” He grimaces more than he laughs.

You frown slightly, although you try hard to keep your words light. “You make it sound like you’re going somewhere.” 

Eddie rubs the back of his neck. “I’m not going anywhere sweetheart...That’s kind of that point. Girls like you go off, change the world…And guys like me get left behind, wondering what might have been.” 

“Eddie.” You frown, not sure where to begin with that. “What are you saying?”

“Just that…I hope you’ll remember me.” He tells you sadly.

“Eddie,” You blurt, a touch too loudly. The other occupant of the hall narrows her eyes, looking like she’s debating intervening. You bite your lip and lower your voice. “Why is it what could have been? Why does…nothing come of it?”

“I didn’t mean to make you upset.” Eddie murmurs quietly. “I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“Oh no, you absolutely should have…because if you’re telling me that you like me…” You shake your head in disbelief. “Eddie, I will never let you go.”

“Y/N…” he protests softly, and he sounds much older than twenty years old. You shake your head, taking his hands in yours, squeezing reassuringly.

“Eddie, I’m not going anywhere, okay? Dr. Brenner asked me to work with him after graduation. Stay in Hawkins where we can try to undo some of the nasty ugly that Vecna unleashed…That being said, wherever I am, stay or go, you do not get to decide that you’re not good enough for me. Not after everything.”

And then, with the backing that Eddie likes you - likes you and for all his doubts wants to be remembered by you, you take a leap. 

You lean in, pressing your lips to his firmly, lingering there even when he’s kissed you back, pulled away so now he’s stammering, lips still brushing yours.

“So I-you’re-” Eddie stutters. You nudge his cute nose with your own, expression soft, nerves worked out by the man’s sincerity. 

“I like you, Eddie.” You tell him, eyes hopeful. “Is it enough?”

“More than enough.” He breathed. He leaned back in for another kiss, and then another. Only stopping when the nosey chaperone behind the two of you cleared her throat loudly. 

He rests his forehead against yours. There’s several comfortable beats of silence as he takes in what’s happened. Then he offers, nervously and quietly, “…you wanna go dance some more?” 

You nod eagerly.

The night wears on with more dancing, laughter, and stolen kisses. 

When hours have passed and the band is wrapping up, you still don’t want to let Eddie go, holding him tight even as the overhead lights come on in the gym, clean up starting in the echoing silence.

Eddie hums softly, face downtrodden. “I guess…I guess I better get you home.”

“Sure or…” You clear your throat, looking at Eddie from beneath your lashes. “I mean, it’s kind of been implied that I’m spending the night at Robin’s…so uh, no one’s waiting up for me or anything…” 

“Oh?” Eddie perks up. “Well uh, Steve is very much back there waiting up for his lady, so…maybe we can get rid of her and spend some more time together?” 

You agree readily, letting out a small laugh. “I’d love that…Now let’s hurry, I absolutely cannot be in these shoes any longer.”

Eddie quickly straightens up, holding out an arm. “Say no more.”

He leads you out of the gym, giving a small jerk where you two maintain contact before you can step into the darkened near-empty parking lot. 

“What is it?” You ask him, only for him to slip his arm out of your hold, both hands landing on your shoulders before he sinks down to one knee in front of you.

“Give me,” He insists, slapping his upper thigh. 

Confused, you raise a foot slowly, only to squeak as he makes quick work of robbing you of the shoe you present him, then the other, the strappy heels held tightly in his hand as he scrambles to his feet.

“Eddie!” You gasp, bare feet on the pavement. 

He looks absolutely diabolical as he coos at you, “Don’t worry baby, I don’t expect you to walk.”

Expected instead to sweep you off your feet, making you let out a loud startled sound as he hoists you up and throws you over his shoulder.

“Eddie!” You squeal in protest, face hot as you protest that you're way too heavy for this, only for Eddie to laugh at you and ignore what you think are perfectly valid concerns.

Eddie’s having none of it, strong and steady as he deposits you in Steve’s car, your offending shoes pressed into your hands.

He jogs giddily around the front of the BMW, sliding into the front seat and firing her up.

“You’re a menace.” You whine, attempting to fix what the night of dancing and being carried around has done to your hair.

Eddie laughs at you, reaching out a hand tentatively. You take it firmly, bringing it up to your lips to press a kiss to it. Eddie’s whole demeanor softens, and you do it again. And again.

Eddie only stops you once you get to Steve’s a few minutes later, where he quickly rushes inside, not wanting your mutual friends to come out and intrude on your evening.

A few minutes later and you’re in the front seat of his van, the engine rumbling beneath you as he mentions that he could go for a smoke, and you readily agree.

Rather than take you back to his and Wayne’s place though - newly  assigned by the government after Vecna’s assault - to your surprise he drives the two of you out to Lover’s Lake.

“I still like to come out here sometimes. It’s mostly peaceful now that the whole town is…well, a ghost town.” He explains, nervous as he pulls out some pre-rolled blunts in a little baggie and a box of camels from his dashboard, holding them both up to you as options. 

You choose the blunts, and he situates the rejects before glancing behind him nervously. “We uh, we can get in the back and open the doors up if you want? There’s more room.”

Trying and failing to hide your smile, you nod and climb back, Eddie quickly following and popping open the doors, the night air wafting in over the slightly rippling water as he lights up.

“Oh wow.” You tilt your head back and take in the stars and moon hanging overhead. “It’s beautiful.”

“Yeah,” Eddie says absentmindedly, taking a long drag. Breathing out a plume of smoke, eyes only for you. “Beautiful.”

You meet his gaze, and he blushes, coughing slightly. Your hand finds his unoccupied one, and you squeeze.

The two of you are out there for a while, sharing the blunt back and forth until relaxation coats your bones, a lazy smile taking over your lips.

“I’m really glad you asked me to prom.” You grin, repeating your words from earlier.

Eddie merely chuckles, remembering. “I’m really glad you said yes…and that I’m going to see more of you,” he says it like a question, and you’re already nodding, taking your hit.

“I told you, there’s no getting rid of me now.” You laugh. Eddie tilts his head to the side at the sound, long curls falling over his shoulder. 

He’s gorgeous like this - in the low light of the moon, with his tie, or rather, his corporate noose of oppression, long since discarded. (He’d kicked it playfully, the big dork.)  

All that and a hint of skin showing beyond the top few undone buttons of his shirt…he was lovelier than anything in this whole town.

“You promise?” Eddie asks playfully, two fingers raising the blunt and inhaling a touch sharply - he blinks his eyes at you coyly, but you know there’s real insecurity behind the question. 

You brush his hand to the side and kiss him in answer. Slow and sweet, but when Eddie scrambles to abandon the blunt altogether, eager to get both his hands on you, all bets are off.

Bunching up your suddenly constricting prom dress in your hands, you struggle to get closer to Eddie, straddling him as you slip your tongue in his mouth.

Minutes go by like this, the atmosphere growing hot and heavy, until your soft sucking on his earlobe makes him jerk harshly up into you.

“Fuck,” he gasps, trying to pull away, eyes darting down to where your dress is bunched up around your thighs. “Sorry!” 

You frown, trying to keep your seat. “Don’t be sorry! …I uh, I was hoping…maybe we could…if you wanted to…”

He groans before shaking out his hair, trying to clear his mind. “Course’ I do, just…we’re in the van.” He emphasized. “S’not how I wanted to do things…”

You plant another kiss on his lips. Tug on his bottom lip with your teeth. “…Please?”

He folds way too fast.

“Fuck, okay. Can’t say no to those eyes.” He shakes his head slightly. Wants to ingrain the smile that takes over your face in his mind forever. 

Especially when you reach out for him again, kissing him passionately. “…Gonna take such good care of you.” He practically growls, and you let out a shudder.

“Promise?” You bat your eyes at him, repeating the words that had started this whole thing.

“Shit, I’d do anything for you. You know that don’t you?” He asks, cradling your face in his hands with the utmost care. A nod from you and he smiles, eyes darting over to the van’s front.

“Gimme a sec,” he instructs, leaving you momentarily to fish around under his seat, producing a blanket that he tosses down, spreading it out.

“There we are.” He offers a sheepish grin as you ease yourself into the padding he’s laid out for you, guiding Eddie to situate himself atop you as you lock lips once again. 

While you kiss, his growing harness pressing eagerly against you, you work his suit jacket off his shoulders, undoing a few more buttons so he can shuck his shirt off after it. 

You're eager to feel any skin you can, sighing contentedly at having him beneath your fingers.

Eddie starts to tense up a bit though, the more that’s revealed, apologies already on his lips.

“Hey, none of that.” You shake your head. “I want you to an embarrassing degree. A few battle scars aren’t going to scare me off.”

“It’s more than a few.” He cleared his throat, offering a tiny smile. “But…okay…”

When you take in the sight of him - bare, scarred, fucking perfect, it’s not at all an exaggeration. And yet you’ve never seen something so beautiful.

The pattern interrupting his porcelain skin exists of of blush pinks and vibrant reds. Reaching across him in some places, splitting in others, every bit of it is a testament to his resilience and heroism.

You hope fate will grant you enough time to memorize them all someday as you tell him, “Very metal.”

“Yeah?” He quirks up a brow, looking a bit more relaxed.

“Hell yeah.” You reply teasingly, and Eddie chuckles before his kiss practically consumes you. 

Lips against yours, firm and eager, his hands roam your back that’s currently covered by silky fabric.

He glances down at where it covers you. “It really is a pretty dress…” he tells you, toying with the zipper. “Mind if I take it off?”

“Please.” You gasp.

“Oh.” He lets out a breath through his nose. “Good girl.”

Your head falls back slightly, eyes widening a fraction as he slips the zipper down and moves the fabric down over your arms, past your waist, your legs and ankles, discarding it off to the side.

Laid out before him in nothing but your strapless bra and lacey panties, he groans a little.

“Fuck,” Eddie gasps. “Fuck...you look so damn sexy. I can’t wait to do this again somewhere I can see you properly…”

You giggle beneath him, and he swallows the sound with his kiss. Pulling back slightly and murmuring, asking if he can see more of you.

When you give him permission his lips graze your shoulder, planting little kisses there while his hands work behind you with the clasps of your bra.

When it comes loose, he pulls back and drinks you in, diving in readily.

You gasp when he first takes one of your nipples into his mouth, sucking softly, eagerly. 

Noises of ecstacy edge him on as he sucks, nibbles, teases, his hands and tongue and teeth lavishing your breasts with attention until you're shaking, hands buried in his hair.

“Feels so good, Eddie,” you whine.

Eddie grins widely down at you, hand tracing a path up your leg, “…want to taste you.” He breathes.

A nod and he’s between your legs, kneeling on marks left by gnashing teeth, grinning devilishly before he’s dragging his tongue up the center of you that’s still clothed for the moment.

You cry out in surprise and pleasure, back arching off the blanket and he grins, wanting your underwear out of the way now that he’s had some fun with you. 

He tugs them down your legs, murmuring all the while how gorgeous you are, his eyes drinking you in once you're finally, completely, naked beneath him. 

Then his words of praise get muffled by your inner thighs as he’s kissing and nipping at them, your legs thrown over his shoulders.

Looking up at you through his hair, he slowly dips his tongue into your slit and flicks up, holding your hips down from jolting against him.

His tongue dives in again and again, stroking you to the edge and lapping up everything you give him, as you tangle your hands in his hair and pull. 

He moans against you, tilting your hips up further, locking his grip and moving his tongue even quicker. 

Eddie can’t help but admire the scene in front of him as he eats you out, tits bouncing as you thrust against his mouth and the fingers he supplies, begging him for more. 

You look so good like this, all fucked-out, downright sobbing as Eddie devoured you. When you finally shatter under the sheer force of your orgasm, he nurses it for all its worth.

Eddie pulls back and swipes his tongue across his bottom lip as you catch your breath, admiring you as you come down. 

“And so pretty when you cum…” he praises you.

In the aftermath you reach for him blindly, and he crawls atop you on all fours, your mouths crashing together messily.

“Eddie,” you’re begging him. “Eddie, please…” pushing his pants and boxers down and off his hips with your feet, eager and uncoordinated, but he gets the message. 

Your eyes take in every inch of him, greedily running over every bit of skin as he kicks the offending fabric away before thinking better of it and turning his pants inside out to try and find his wallet and the condom within it.

There’s relief in his eyes when it turns up, shaking hands slowing him down until he finally just tears into the package with his teeth, unable to take it anymore. 

The sight practically causes your lower stomach to spasm.

Then he’s pinching the tip of the condom and rolling it down his length, breathing a sigh of relief.

“Fuck,” He sighs lightly, spreading your legs and lining himself up with you as you smile so hard your nose scrunches up. And holy hell if you aren’t the most perfect thing he’s ever seen.

Especially when he slips inside you finally, your walls tightening against the intrusion and gripping him so seamlessly.

Eddie groans, releasing his hold on himself so he can press your legs down a little further as he inches in. 

He cries out an array of explicatives as he watches himself disappear inside you, hearing you moan at the feeling of finally being full. 

His hips cant forward, slowly easing in and out until you cry out his name and praises. 

Eddie slams into you, driving in over and over, eyes closed tight against the pleasure of it all.

You’re making it so much better as you cry out beneath him, hands roving his body.

“Want you to fall apart on my cock, sweetheart.” He gasps, thumb working rhythmically against your clit, loving the little screams you let out when he plays with it.

With the way he has you on edge, swiping against that little button while he pounds into you hard and deep, just how you’re begging for it, it doesn’t take long at all.

You’re helpless as your walls bear down on him, his movements faltering under the intensity of your second orgasm as it washes over you. 

Then he picks his pace right back up, fucking into you where you’re still fluttering around him.

“So. Fucking. Pretty.” He accentuates each word with a harsh thrust. “Fucking knew you would be.” There’s sweat beading up on his forehead, his eyes still fixated on the spot where your bodies met. He sounds absolutely wrecked. Desperate.

“Had a damn near out of body experience when you were swinging that oar around. Fell so damn hard and just…fuck…Fucking knew, knew right then that if I was ever lucky enough to get you underneath me it was gonna be fucking transcendent.”

He drives into you a little harder at that point, and you moan loudly, nails digging into his back. 

Eddie hisses slightly, smiling, not a trace of cockiness in his tone as he begs you for reassurance. “Was I wrong, baby?” He asks. 

You give a desperate shake of your head. Choking out. “Right. So right, so good. Fuck! Eddie!”

He groans. “Shit, I’m not gonna last. You’re taking me so well.” 

Eddie pounds against you harder, thrusts sloppy right up until he cums, spilling into the condom with his head thrown back, pure ecstasy on his face.

With his finish he collapses on top of you, exhausted, sweaty, and so, so satisfied. 

You reach up from beneath him, running hands through his long hair, not complaining about his weight at all. Even whining when he quickly realizes and moves to roll off of you.

Eddie chuckles, removing the used condom and discarding it in an empty plastic bag under his passenger seat.

Once that’s back where he found it he settles into the pulling you into his arms, both to appease you, and because he needed it.

He kisses the top of your head as he does so, a laugh shaking his body slightly as he pulls you tighter into him. “Holy fuck.”

You giggle, agreeing wholeheartedly. He leans his forehead against yours. “I can’t believe I got you.” Tasting the way it makes you smile as you murmur the same words back to him. 

After more kisses than you can keep track of, Eddie breaks apart from you to ask, “Hey, are you hungry?”

And when you admit you are, the two of you redress, and he takes you to a 24 hour diner a little outside of Hawkins where the two of you gorge yourselves on breakfast food.

You look a bit more like the girl he first fell for, make up long since discarded like it was in the days following him hiding in the boathouse. A light sheen of sweat lingers from what the two of you did in the back of his van, your prom dress is rumpled, and still the smile you offer him - it makes him feel like everything is gonna be alright. 

He can’t take his eyes off you. He tells you as much, and with his adoration comes promises made between the two of you over hash browns and maple syrup. 

Promises of sticking around, of being enough, and of never forgetting - not because things were unforgettable by proximity - but because how could you, when this was the first of so much to be shared, to be experienced…together.

[bleachbleachbleach]

You've mentioned you Headcanon Yumichika as the one actually keeping squad 11 going behind the scenes as it were, and that him threatening the squad 11 lackies about cleaning properly vs Ikkaku going “lol loser don’t get caught next time” was proof, I totally agree,

And there’s more supporting subtext in the Post-TYBW chapters; like Ikkaku might be the one to bring up that “hey isn’t the ceremony at the 1st not the 13th?” to Kenpachi, but he looks to Yumi for clarification who's like “wtf that’s your job (lieutenant) to know not mine (3rd seat)?” And the joke is that haha Kenpachi STILL gets lost, while also giving time skip exposition (aka the new ranks of the 11th). But it’s also Yumi foolishly thinking his Captain and lieutenant could at least READ an invitation that is addressed to THEM, not him. Also! Notice Squad 11 is the only one there with a +1/non Captain&Lieutenant in attendance (Yumichika) and no one is like hey what are you doing here? (like not even Ichika or Hanataro got an invite to Rukia's big day lol, or at least the Official Biznezz part). Like Yumi is the official 14th lieutenant

(I think it was mentioned in one of the light novels that Lisa's first choice for her lieutenant was Yumichika and she did ask but he said no. Love that he’s the #1 pick for a promotion but is always turning it down haha even without his Shikai powers truly being known! Also, Lisa and Yumi would have been an iconic Captain/Lieutenant duo y/n?)

and in the Hell Chapter, Ikkaku gets the “honey you are going to be late…what do you mean ‘late for what?’?” treatment from Yumichika. Like Yumi has learned from the last time! He’s gonna keep track of all the ceremonies Ikkaku and Kenpachi gotta attend because clearly Ikkaku being promoted changed nothing and he was a fool for taking his eye off the ball last time lol

(Also, can I say I love how Yumichika and Ichika interact here? She calls him Chika-san! That’s so cute! Do you think they are called the “Chikas” when they hang out together? And she immediately tells him he looks very pretty today and he compliments her right back. idk if it’s cuter that 1. she genuinely thinks he’s very pretty and knows he likes to hear it 2. she’s sucking up to her teacher by sucking up to teacher's SO or 3. she’s trying to stay on Chika-san's good side because she’s scared of being on his bad (she could tell a scolding for SOMETHING was about to happen and she wanted no part lol). Also, Yumi looks AMAZING in this chapter <3)

I also vaguely recall there being a filler arc scene/omake where it’s revealed Yumichika got sent on a mission because he was sorting documents while everyone else was fighting/sleeping/training and either Yaruchi or Kenpachi was like, booo boring go have fun fighting something.

A Lisa/Yumichika division would serve so hard the Gotei wouldn't know what to do with itself. But it would also cease to have a functional 11th, so they will never know the majesty. I'm imagining a Paris is Burning division. Then they'd really know the Gotei under Kyouraku was on a different path than previous!

As to your last paragraph I feel like that might've happened to him a FEW times, ahaha. The one I remember is from the Cake Episode, and it's Hitsugaya who throws him under the bus:

[Bleach e134]

Somehow, in all of Bleach--yes, including main plotline Bleach--the thing that most canonizes Hitsugaya's vindictive streak for me is the fact that in this instance, he does not express or act in deference to one single iota of sympathy for the situation Yumichika has found himself in, despite most certainly having experienced it himself.

Also worth noting that the episode right before this one was *Ikkaku terrorizing a high school kendo team* so no one was doing shittttttt lolol

[madamebaggio]

For the Hogwarts Requests: May I ask for a snippet with Darcy Lewis (MCU) and John Constantine (Constantine) where they're students and they're hanging out after doing a naughty school thing, please?

Notes: Here it is ^^

***

“If we get caught, I’m throwing you under the bus.”

“Is that a real bus or a metaphorical one?”

“Get caught and find out.”

John rolled his eyes and chose to ignore Darcy. He put the bottles of firewhiskey on his bag. “Let’s go.”

Darcy didn’t even know how he’d convinced her to do this. It wasn’t like he needed help to retrieve the two bottles. Her only excuse was that she was curious to know how he got them into the school.

She’d gotten no answers. They’d entered the greenhouse and the bottles were already there waiting for them.

“Two bottles isn’t a lot for a party.” She commented as they left the greenhouse.

“I’m not a complete idiot, Lewis.” He told her. “Do you really think I’d provide more than that to a room full of students? Don’t you remember years ago when Thor Odinson got a crate of firewhiskey? It was a clusterfuck and the school was lucky no one died.”

Oh yeah… Thor had somehow gotten a shitload of whiskey into the school (and by somehow she meant it with Loki’s help), gave it all away for a Gryffindor party that ended up being the exact kind of mess one would expect. Drunk witches and wizards running around school, an attempt at drunk quidditch and some alcohol poisoning.

“I heard it was quite the party, though.” She teased him.

“Well, I don’t care if the party is good. I care about getting paid and not getting caught.”

Darcy huffed. “Everything with you is about getting paid.”

“Yes, Lewis, it is.” He said as if it was obvious. “That’s why it’s called a business.”

She rolled her eyes. “Chill out, Capone.”

John snorted. “Not Capone. He was dumb.”

“Right. You’re the smart one.”

“I haven’t gotten caught yet, have I?” He smirked at her.

“You might, if you keep talking loud like this.”

“You’re just scared you’re going to ruin your perfect image as a prefect?”

“It’s a great cover, you gotta admit.” She pointed out. “Then I can get around causing my own mischief.”

John stopped walking and turned around to her. “How come I invited you to come with me and I never get invited to cause mischief if you?”

“Because you didn’t invite me, I invited myself.” Darcy reminded him.

“Does that mean I just need to invite myself to your shenanigans?”

Darcy tilted her chin up and grinned at him. “Good luck finding out about them with enough time to invite yourself over.”

John grinned back at her. “You’re on.”

[study-coffee-chicago]

Stars on your Sleeve (Part 2) [A Jay Halstead Imagine]

A/N: The name of the girl is Y/N (I mostly write my imagines in second person POV...except for the one you guys might see in a few weeks) and cariña is just a nickname/term of endearment in Spanish that means sweetheart. Sorry if anyone got confused about that in part one!

"Dad," you started as you walked into Jay's office after school that day.

It was a Thursday and you had taken the bus from school to the district. It wasn't often that you did this, but you had gotten texts from both your mom and dad telling you that the current case was going to drag on and on tonight, so they wanted you at the district so that you wouldn't be home alone until two or three o'clock in the morning.

"Hi, cariña. How was your day? Learn anything interesting in school?"

"Dad," you groaned. "It's high school, half the stuff they teach me I won't ever use again."

"Well, excuse me for wanting to know about my daughter's day."

"Just can't wait for this week to be over to sleep in."

"You and me both, kid."

"Half the time you work weekends though, Dad," you pointed out.

"Comes with the sergeant title."

"And your sleeping in is like 7:00."

"Point taken. Now, did Mom pack you a few extra snacks or do you need some money for the vending machines?"

"She didn't--"

"Don't even finish that sentence, young lady," Hailey said as she burst into Jay's office. "I packed you a few extra things and you know it. You just want--"

"--Oreos," Jay and Hailey said at the same time.

"Hey, don't blame me! They taste good," you protested. "Anyway, Dad, can I use your laptop to do my homework?"

"Don't you have that school-issued one?"

"That one blocks Netflix."

Jay crossed his arms across his chest. "Homework, huh?"

"I'm just writing a paper. It's not like I'm doing math or reading something."

"What type of paper?" Hailey asked. "Because, I'm pretty sure that if it's a research paper, you need to focus."

"It's a narrative, so I don't need to be constantly focused, Mom."

"Makayla does the same thing," Adam said as he entered the office as well. "Let the kid have the laptop, Jay."

"Thanks, Adam."

"Uh," Jay groaned, "I guess."

"We also have a lead, so you wanna roll out after I give you the info?" Adam asked.

"Yeah. Sorry, Y/N, you need to go into the breakroom now."

"But why can't I stay in here?" you whined. "I want your spinny chair."

"Y/N, this is a case," your mom told you. "You know the rules: no being around the case talk. It's for your own good, we don't want to scar or scare you."

Mom, you know what I've seen, you wanted to tell her, but you knew it would be no use as your parents would never budge on this rule.

"I know, Mom."

Jay pulled his laptop from his desk along with the charger. "Rules?" he probed, holding onto the laptop and charger.

"Dad, I know the rules. Mom, c'mon, tell him."

"It's your dad's laptop, Y/N. I'm not arguing with you or him on this one."

Jay cocked his head to the side. "I'll give you the laptop after you tell me the rules...even though I know you know them."

You sighed. You went through this every time you used his laptop when he was going to be gone. "Only use my account, don't try to login to your account, and do not delete my search history."

"Here you go." He handed you his laptop and charger. "Good luck on your paper. Don't work too hard."

You went into the breakroom and opened the laptop. First, you pulled up Netflix, and then you pulled up your paper. It was your paper for your senior portfolio, which most people were putting off, seeing as you were only a freshman, you didn't need to work on it yet. But, you knew it had to be long, so starting it now would probably be helpful.

The paper was basically a narrative telling a story about each year of school. The stories had to be from two to five pages long, which meant that the paper in its entirety would be between 26 and 65 pages long. But, you didn't mind. It's not like you had to write a boring research paper. You also had to write about your career goals and one wish for your future as well, which would make the paper even longer still.

Seeing as your schooling didn't exactly match up with the American school system until you were around nine and in third grade, you had gotten permission from your teacher to just write about the sections of kindergarten, first, and second grade, as just memories from when you were six, seven, and eight years old.

You'd save the memories of six and seven for later, since you'd have to dig into the part of your brain where you were in the orphanage with your older sister, Illiana.

For now, you just scribbled down a few lines for ideas of when you were eight years old...which was pretty simple since a lot happened in your life that year.

***

"Y/N, we brought you some food if you--"

"Shut up!" Mouse hissed as the rest of the unit clambered up the stairs and into the bullpen. "She's sleeping."

Yes, when Mouse came home he returned to his job as the tech analyst of the Intelligence Unit. And, when Jay became sergeant, he pulled a few strings and got him a huge salary increase.

"I'll pull the car around front," Hailey offered.

"No," Jay whined. "That means I gotta be the bad guy and wake her up."

"Sorry, babe. I call dibs."

"Ew, guys, please keep the lovey-dovey nicknames to home. I don't need to see that," Adam joked.

"Shut up, Ruz."

Hailey swiped the keys from Jay's office and Jay went to wake you up. But, before he did, he saw the laptop, still open to both Netflix and your paper.

There wasn't much in the paper yet, as Jay had expected, only a few bullet points. His name caught his eye below the age 8 section...whatever that meant. He didn't mean to pry (well, really he did), but he closed the laptop without logging you out so that he and Hailey could take a look at it later.

"Y/N, Y/N, wake up."

You were woken up by someone gently shaking your shoulder.

"Quiero dormir, vaya," you whined. That was one thing you always did: reverted back to Spanish when you were tired. At least both Jay and Hailey understood it now because they had learned Spanish...which helped them with parenting because when they were mad at you, they'd talk in Spanish and that's how you know you were in deep shit.

"I know you want to sleep, and I'm not leaving," Jay answered. "But, we're going home so you can sleep in your bed instead of here."

"Mmmm, okay," you mumbled. You rubbed your eyes, but then decided it was too much work to get up, so you just sat up and closed your eyes once again.

"C'mon, cariña. Mom's got the car out front and then all you gotta do is stay awake until we get home, okay?"

"Mmmm," you mumbled and then stood up. He already had your backpack slung over his shoulder and was holding his laptop in the other hand. "Can I skip school tomorrow? I'm tired."

"Not a chance," Jay chuckled. "But, I can drive you to school and we can get you a frappucino on the way there."

"Mom won't be mad?"

"We don't have to tell Mom everything now do we?"

"No, we don't."

***

"What are you doing?" Hailey asked Jay as she slid into bed next to him that night. "Are you seriously checking our daughter's search history this late at night? C'mon Jay, she's a good kid. You won't find anything."

"That's not what I'm looking at. But, now that you mention it, I should probably check that, too."

"Then, what are you reading? Because I know for a fact that your case notes are definitely not as organized as that."

"Wow, Hails, you're so sweet," Jay said sarcastically. "It's Y/N's paper. The rubric was pasted at the top and it looks like she has to write about a memory from each year of her life and her career goals and a wish for the future."

"And you were snooping because...?"

"Because I saw my name. I wanna see what she says about us, Hailey."

"Jay, she loves us, baby. We're her parents. We both know that. You don't need to read her schoolwork to know that."

"Either way, I'm still reading it. Join me if you want, or go to sleep."

"Uh, fine. But if she asks, this was your idea and I will not hesitate to throw you under the bus."

Age 8, they both read to themselves, leaving/running away from orphanage

"God, no matter how many years it's been since she told us what happened, it never fails to break my heart," Hailey said.

Jay wrapped one arm around his wife. "I know, babe. I feel the exact same way."

"Hey, Y/N," the therapist started and you looked up at her. "Do you want to in that room over there and watch some tv while I talk to jay and Hailey? I can even turn on the Spanish movies for you."

"Okay!"

After getting you all set up, she left you in the room with a Spanish children's movie playing while she went to get Jay and Hailey.

"Jay and Hailey?" she asked as she entered the waiting room.

"Dr. Smith," Jay greeted.

"I have something to tell both of you, and Y/N told me it was okay that I tell you. When I asked if she wanted to be the one to tell you this, she said no because she didn't want to make you sad."

They entered the room where you had previously been and Dr. Smith sat in a chair and Jay and Hailey sat on the couch.

"What's this about?" Hailey asked.

"Well, she told me why she ran away from the orphanage."

Jay and Hailey were shocked. You'd been with them for three months and hadn't once mentioned why you ran away and what happened before Jay found you. It wasn't for lack of trying on Hailey and Jay's part, though. They tried. After all, they knew how to talk to child victims. But, they didn't want to push you too hard, and eventually, they just dropped the topic all together because they knew you'd talk about it when you were ready. Apparently, today was the day that you were ready to tell that story.

"And?" Jay pushed. "Why'd she run away?"

"She said that they came for her, the people who you were fighting," Dr. Smith said.

"Los Rebeldes," Jay said, more to Hailey than to anyone else.

"They came for her specifically?" Hailey asked.

"No, they just came to the orphanage. She said that she heard voices--male voices--telling them to get down on the ground and then some shots rang out. Her sister, Illiana, told her to hide and slipped the necklace around her neck. So, she did. She said she closed her eyes really tight and she just laid there, hiding and barely breathing. She said she heard a gunshot and then she heard Illiana scream and she heard squishing noises."

"Oh my God," Hailey gasped.

"You're saying they shot and killed her?" Jay asked, his voice cracking.

"That's what it sounded like, yes."

"How did she get out?"

"She said that she snuck out through a small door in the back of the room. She said it wasn't a real door, but it was a small door that led to the outside, by her description, it sounded about three feet tall and two feet wide."

"The waste doors," Jay muttered.

"The what?" Hailey asked.

"The waste doors...well, that's what we called them on Base anyway. They were these little doors where you could place stuff outside. Sometimes we'd put the packaging of our MRE's there or other crap we didn't need anymore. Not good for the planet, but yeah, that's what we did."

"So, Jay, you're telling me that Y/N essentially snuck out of the orphanage through a trash chute?"

"Well, we used them for waste, which is why we called them waste doors. But, I heard rumors of them being used at orphanages for parents to put their baby in a crib. They'd just open the door and place the baby in the little crib on the other side of the door."

"She moved the crib and snuck out through there?"

"If there was a crib, then she moved it and got out. If not, she just crawled out through there."

"Did she tell you anything about when she left?" Hailey asked Dr. Smith.

"She said that she didn't have much with her, just her teddy bear and that locket. But, she said that she walked for the rest of the day. And, according to her timeline, the soldiers came right after breakfast. She said she was really scared that they were going to find her and so she just kept walking. But then, she found a bit of a forest it sounded like and since it was starting to get dark and cold, she laid down."

"I found her in the middle of the night and she must've been there since sunset. No wonder she was hypothermic."

"We got her her first banana split after that therapy session," Hailey said. "I honestly don't know whether the food was to get her to try something new or to comfort us."

"Yeah, that was a rough night. I didn't even want her to leave my arms," Jay said. "Jay found me and I went home to Chicago," he read aloud. "Man, that night was rough, too. Probably worse than the night where we found out why she left."

"Now, it's crowded here, cariña so stay cerca to us or go mano a mano with me or Hailey, okay?" Jay asked you as the three of you found a parking spot at Navy Pier.

Adam, Kim, Kevin, and Will were all there as well. They had planned to go out and party and go to a bar when Jay returned home, but that changed now that he and Hailey had a kid to take care of, so they had decided to take a trip to Navy Pier.

In the airport, Jay had gotten a huge coffee from Starbucks, seeing as he had barely slept on the way home. Before coming to Navy Pier, you had gone to a place called iHOP where you had gotten some really yummy pancakes, and Adam, Kevin, and Will had made you laugh a lot and Kim spoke Spanish with you.

"What does that word mean?" you asked.

"What word?" Jay asked, looking down at you as he took your hand.

"Cr-crowded," you sounded out slowly.

"Uh, it means there's lots and lots of people."

"Oh, okay. I stay by you."

"So Y/N, what do you like to do?" Will asked you.

"I like reading and play fútbol," you told him.

"Really? Jay loves playing soccer!"

"We played back at the big house in España," you told Will excitedly. "We won and I got lots and lots of goals."

"Looks like you have a pro soccer player on your hands, little brother," Will said to Jay.

"Don't I know it."

"We go on the big thingy you showed me in the little book in the plane?" you asked Jay.

"The Ferris wheel?" You nodded excitedly. "We can do that, but let's walk around first. We might be able to play some games and win you a friend for Osito."

"Really? Osito have a friend?"

"Really," Jay promised.

As you walked down Navy Pier, you were excitedly pointing out every little thing you saw from the ducks and the seagulls to the big yachts floating down the Chicago River.

"Let's go into Garrett's, babe," Hailey suggested when they were inside the big atrium. "Give her a taste of Chicago's world-famous popcorn."

"I think that's a great idea," Jay agreed. "What do you think, cariña? Want to try some popcorn and then we'll get your favorite?"

You tilted your head to the side. "Popcorn? What is that?"

"Palomitas," Kim clarified for you in Spanish. "Hay muchos tipos diferentes de palomitas allí para probar y comprar."

"Oh, okay. Yes, please."

"What did you say to her?" Hailey whispered to Kim.

"Just gave her the Spanish translation of popcorn and then told her that there's a bunch of different types of popcorn that she can try and buy in there. But, you and Jay most definitely have your work cut out for you when it comes to learning Spanish. You're lucky that she's pretty good with English already and that I'm here to help you learn Spanish."

***

"Sleepy, cariña?" Jay asked as he heard you yawn from the backseat.

Hailey was driving and he was holding a big bag of caramel and cheddar popcorn...which Hailey was telling him not to eat all of it because she knew he would. You were in the backseat with your big stuffed bear, whom you had named Osita since she was a girl bear because she had really soft white fur and a pink ribbon tied around her. Jay had won that for you when he played a shooting game. You also had a stuffed duck that Will had won for you when he played a guess the weight game. You named him Pato...which meant duck in Spanish. You had gone on the Ferris wheel and had pointed out all the pretty things in the sky when you were up there. Hailey had never seen Jay so happy as when he was smiling wide at every little thing you pointed out and he tried to explain to you what they were.

"No," you answered as you laid your head against Osita. It was currently 3 pm Chicago time, which made it about 9 pm Spain time.

"Tell you what," Hailey started, "When we get home, we can show you your room, and then we can watch a movie and eat this popcorn. Because, if we don't start eating it soon, Jay will eat it all."

"Jay eat it all if we no eat it too?"

"Jay eats a lot," Hailey joked.

You reached your hand in front of you and towards Jay. "Palomitas please." Jay chuckled and Hailey smiled as he put some popcorn into your little outstretched hand. "Gracias."

"De nada," Jay told you.

"When we watch movie, how I get it?" you asked.

"We get it on the tv," Jay told you.

"No, how I know what they saying?"

Hailey hadn't thought that far ahead when she had suggested watching a movie. "Um," Hailey faltered. "We can make it so it's in Spanish."

"But then you no know what they say," you pointed out.

"We can put words on the bottom of the screen in English for us," Jay suggested. "Then all three of us will know what they're saying. Is that okay?"

"Okay!"

"Hailey," Jay whispered. "What are we gonna watch?"

"She's too old for princesses probably and way too young for action movies...how about Disney Channel movies? We could try High School Musical? That one's pretty good."

"You're kidding Hails. You watched that? Didn't it come out when we were like 20 or 25?"

Hailey held back a laugh. "Yes, it did. But, I babysat a lot of kids in my neighborhood who were around Y/N's age, and we'd always end up watching those Disney Channel originals."

"Okay, whatever you say, babe."

***

"I think I'm gonna bring her to bed," Jay said.

You had fallen asleep halfway through the movie. Before starting it, you had seen your room. It was purple! And, in black letters behind your bed, it said Salon de Y/N, which meant Y/N's room. Jay assumed that Kim had helped Hailey with the spelling and the boys had helped move the furniture into your room. There was also a little basket with a few things they thought you would like, such as a few different colored soccer balls and a bookshelf.

On the bookshelf, Hailey had picked out some books in Spanish that she had found at Barnes and Noble and some short chapter books in English that she used to read as a kid, such as the Nancy Drew series and Little House on the Prairie. She knew that you might need help reading them and might not be able to completely understand them all by yourself yet, but she knew that she and Jay would be there to help you.

"It's 6:00," Hailey protested. "Shouldn't we wake her up and have her stay awake for a few more hours so that her body can adjust?"

"If you're asking an adult like me that, yes, I'd stay awake. But, she's a kid. She needs her sleep. And, I'll probably be up before you anyway, so I can deal with her if she wakes us up at five in the morning."

"Okay super dad," Hailey joked. "Bring her to bed. I'll make us a quick dinner and cover this popcorn so it doesn't get stale. Can't wait for us to go to bed tonight." She winked.

"Hails, as much as I would love to take you up on that, I don't think it's a good idea when it's Y/N's first night. But, I will give you all the cuddles in the world tonight, don't you worry about that."

"As long as you didn't pick up the habit of snoring overseas then I'm all for that, babe."

***

Jay woke up to the sound of soft whimpering. It sounded like it was coming from the hallway but he couldn't be sure. He reached over Hailey and was about to grab her gun from her drawer where he knew that she kept it, but stopped when he remembered that it was probably just you. It wasn't just Jay and Hailey in the house anymore; you were there as well and that's probably where the noise was coming from. And, he didn't want to scare you by holding a gun.

He glanced over at the clock. 3 am. Yeah, sounds about right that you'd be waking up right about now since you'd slept for about nine hours and it was 9 am in Spain right now.

Jay slowly tiptoed out into the hallway, cursing himself that he hadn't left a light on or kept his and Hailey's bedroom door open so you could find them easily.

Jay reached out for the hall light switch and flicked on the lights, causing you to jump. "Hey, hey, it's just me. It's just Jay," he said calmly once he laid eyes on you. You were holding Osito and there were fresh tears running down your cheeks.

Jay never knew the force of an eight-year-old running into him could be so strong as to almost knock him over. You dropped Osito and wrapped your arms around him as if your life depended on it.

"It's okay, it's okay," Jay soothed. "What's wrong, cariña? Can you tell me what's wrong?"

"I-I no know where I was," you mumbled into his shirt. "Was dark. Think you and Hailey left, so I came to find you."

"Oh, sweetie," Jay started. "I'm sorry. I forgot to turn the light on for you in your room so that you'd know where you are. And, me and Hailey would never leave you."

"You promise?"

"I promise." Your stomach grumbled. "Hungry?" you nodded. "Alright, let's get you a sandwich and then get you back to bed."

"You eat too?" you asked.

"You know, I could go for a sandwich."

***

The next morning, Hailey rolled over to see that Jay wasn't in bed next to her and his side of the bed was cold. Then, she remembered you and walked over to your room and slowly opened the door. You looked up from the Spanish book you were reading and put a finger to your lips.

"Jay sleeping," you told Hailey.

Jay was sitting upright in your bed against the headboard, his thumb holding a place in what looked to be a Nancy Drew book.

"Did Jay read to you last night, huh?" Hailey asked as she walked closer to you and Jay.

"Yeah, he told me that Nancy does what you and Jay do with policia. Then, I sleep again and then I wake up and he sleep again, so I started reading in Spanish."

"I think we should let him sleep a little more while we go finish High School Musical and eat palomitas before Jay eats it all. Does that sound good?"

You nodded eagerly and closed your book. Then, you got out of bed and followed Hailey out of your room. And, after hearing that Jay had read to you and seeing him sleeping upright in your bed so that you'd be able to sleep, she had one more reason why she was truly head over heels for the man she married and got to call her husband.

"Look, Jay. She wrote her birthday in here for age 9," Hailey said as she pointed to the laptop screen.

"God, I don't think I'll forget that day for the rest of my life. It was such a good day."

"You are such a sap when it comes to Y/N."

"Hey! let me be sappy about our daughter, Hailey Anne. She's in high school now, high school. That means she'll be going off to college soon."

"Don't get too far ahead of yourself, sergeant," she joked. "Just keep reading this. It was your idea to snoop through her stuff after all."

"Jay, you got the stuff?" Hailey asked as she was sitting cross-legged on their bedroom floor with wrapping paper, tape, and scissors in front of her.

"Jesus, Hails," Jay laughed, "You make it sound like we're doing a drug deal."

"Well sorry if I want her birthday to go really well. Now, did you get them or not?"

"They're in here." He set a plastic bag down on the bed. He took out three framed pictures and laid them out on the bed. Of course, he made sure that the frames were different shades of purple. "Good?"

Hailey stood up and looked at the pictures. "I never know the CPD's sketch software could work miracles like this, so yeah, I'd say we did good."

Over the past month, everyone in Intelligence had told you that they were testing out a new sketch software to use to try to track down criminals. They let you play with it because they said they wanted to see what it would do...even though they knew what it did, how good it was, and it wasn't new. It was just a ploy to make sure they got your birthday gift right. They had told you to try and input someone's face from memory, someone like your older sister, Illiana.

So, when you had to go to the district for the day with Jay and Hailey, you'd ask to play with that software to work on your sketch. Little did you know, they were printing it out on fancy photo paper and putting it in a frame for your birthday. Jay had also swiped your necklace one day when you had taken it off to go swimming and had taken pictures of what your mom and dad looked like. Then, he and Hailey each took one parent and worked on making their faces through the CPD's sketch software.

"Now what the hell is this?" Jay asked as he held up a big board that Hailey had laying out in front of her as well.

"That, Jay, is so we can stick the back of the frames to it so that we don't have to give the three of them to her separately. Then, she can just take them off from it and place them wherever she wants in her room."

"You're smart. Maybe you should've gone to law school."

"Haha, very funny, Halstead. But then I wouldn't have met you."

"Eh, I beg to differ. You'd probably end up being some prosecution or defense attorney and then I'd have to testify, and after getting yelled at by you on the stand, I'd end up making an ass of myself and ask you out for a drink."

"Is that so?"

"That is very much so."

He walked up to her and grabbed her by the waist and she gave him a peck on the lips. "Hails," Jay whined. "Why'd you phone it in?"

"Because we have presents to wrap. Now, sit your ass down on the carpet and help me."

"Yes ma'am. But, damn, you're really going to be the death of me."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

***

"Before we do cake everyone, me and Hailey have one more gift for Y/N," Jay announced by tapping a fork gently against his champagne glass. Yes, the adults were drinking champagne because they were celebrating your first birthday with them as their kid. No, they wouldn't even give you one sip...but you didn't care and you didn't ask.

You had gotten spoiled all day. Will had taken you out for breakfast where you had gotten chocolate chip pancakes with all the toppings. Then, he took you to the sporting goods store where you bought an FC Madrid jersey and to Barnes Noble where you bought a few new books.

Then, when you got home, you were surprised to find everyone from Intelligence there along with some people from Med, and firehouse 51. Emilia, Mouse, and Makayla were there, and your friend, Rosa, whom Emilia had introduced you to earlier in the year at her welcome home party since Rosa was one of Emilia's little cousins.

You had gone outside and played a huge soccer game. And, when you got sick of playing soccer, Emilia busted out a makeup kit she had bought for you. And you, Makayla, Emilia, and Rosa did each other's makeup. While the four of you were doing makeup, a soccer tournament had broken out where Intelligence played Med, and then the winner of that game played Firehouse 51. Intelligence won against Med...mostly due to Jay. But, then they played 51 and they got creamed.

"Here you go, nena," Hailey said as she passed you the gift. Hailey had started calling you nena since Jay had a nickname for you, cariña, which you learned now meant sweetheart in English. So, she decided to call you nena, which meant honey. And, you and Hailey had thought it only fair if you came up with a nickname for Jay. So, the one you decided on was quite fitting in your mind: pecas...which translated to freckles. And, Will, well Will calls you Osa because your favorite animal is a bear. It's probably one of only three words he knows in Spanish next to hola and adios.

The gift was long and hard...like a piece of wood. You slowly opened the gift, wondering what else you could have possibly gotten.

You bit your lip as you finished tearing the paper off and flipped it over. "Mamí, Papí, Illiana," you whispered as you held back tears. "¿Cómo lo hicisteis?" you asked. Seeing as Jay and Hailey had been working very hard on their Spanish for the past nine months, they could understand you and could sometimes explain an English word to you in Spanish if needed.

"We didn't really need to test out the drawing thing," Jay answered. "We just needed a picture of Illiana. And, I got the pictures of your parents from the locket."

At this, you started to cry harder, remembering that day when Jay had to cut your necklace off of you in the back of the Med truck in Spain.

You stood up and hugged both Jay and Hailey at the same time. Now, you had both of your families watching over you: your biological family from in heaven and your parents in the here and now. And, your biological family now had no doubt in their mind up there that you would never, ever forget them.

"You remember what she called us that night?" Hailey asked.

"How could I forget? It was the first night she called us mom and dad. I still remember her exact words when I told her we weren't trying to replace her biological family: Son mi familia en el cielo y en mi corazon, pero vosotros sois mi familia aquí."

"They're my family in heaven and in my heart, but you are my family here."

"Exactly."

"Oh my God!" Hailey laughed. "She wrote sixth-grade: I cheated on a literature test and Mom had to come to pick me up and I got in trouble. And then, Dad went full-on dad-mode."

"No fucking way," Jay laughed as he brought the laptop closer to him and looked for the sixth-grade section. "I can't believe this is what she's going to write about!"

"Well, in her defense, it was the first time we had to ground her and the first time you went full-on, overprotective, my daughter can do no wrong dad-mode."

"Pretty sure the next time I'll do that is when she gets asked to the homecoming dance later this year."

"Jay! You will not! You will not scare the boys away from our daughter!"

"Well, they should be scared!" Jay argued. "We're both cops, babe. We can make their death look like an accident."

"Jay, what you're talking about is murder and I shouldn't have to remind you that that is illegal. If so, I am going to the Ivory Tower tomorrow to get you stripped of your sergeant title."

"Fine, fine. The next time I'll do that is when she gets her driver's license."

"Hey, on the bright side, we wouldn't have to pick her up from the principal's office then," Hailey pointed out. "She could just drive herself home."

"We wouldn't have to figure out which of us should go pick her up like last time?"

"Exactly. And I'm pretty sure she was thankful that it was you and not me who picked her up in sixth grade."

"Miss Halstead," your literature teacher said as she stalked over to you from the other side of the classroom. "Care to tell me what you have under your sleeve?"

"My arm?"

"I don't like being disrespected in my classroom. We both know you have your phone in there. And, lying to me will just make this worse."

"I-I needed it," you stammered, not wanting to have the whole class hear how stupid you were.

"For a test? You know the rules: no cheating. Principal's office, now. Grab your stuff. And, I'll be calling your parents as you walk down there."

You grabbed your backpack and started your walk to the principal's office. It's not like you had a choice...well, you did have a choice. You could've just not used your phone on the test. But, after that last grade you got on that essay and how weirdly worded the questions were, you basically had no choice but to use your phone. It's not like you were using it to look up the answers per se, but you were using it to try and understand the questions because there was no way you were going to ask that teacher.

"Mrs. Halstead, right this way," you heard the office secretary say as they led Hailey to the principal's office. Your phone was sitting on the principal's desk, the tab you had been using to cheat open and you were fiddling with the strings of your hoodie. You had thought about deleting your search history, but knew it wouldn't be of any use because Jay and Hailey would just be able to look it up with whatever police software crap that Intelligence had access to. You knew you'd be in more trouble if you deleted it and they found out that you were lying, so you decided you wouldn't delete it...even though you were regretting that decision as your phone screen stared back at you.

"May I ask why my daughter is in the principal's office when I thought she should be taking a test?" Jay and Hailey knew all about your literature test that day as you had read the book twice to be ready for it.

"That's exactly why she's in here, Mrs. Halstead," the principal told Hailey. "She was trying to cheat on her literature test."

"She wouldn't do that!" Hailey defended you. "She studied so hard!" She looked between both you and the principal, but your gaze stayed trained on the floor.

"Just take a look."

He passed Hailey your phone and she looked at the search history and the timestamps of said history. "Y/N, is this true?"

You nodded. Hailey sighed. "I'm assuming she's suspended?"

"Since this is her first academic infraction, I'm not going to suspend her. She does need to go home for the rest of the school day, though."

"Thank you. C'mon Y/N, let's go."

You hung your head as you left the middle school, Hailey holding your phone and still trying to figure out why you did this. But she knew that one thing was for sure: the minute Jay got home, he would not be happy.

***

"You're kidding me, right?" you heard Jay ask Hailey in the kitchen.

You were currently in your room, but the kitchen was right down the hall, so if you were quiet and focused enough, you could hear their conversation.

"I wish I was, Jay," Hailey said. "Just...here, take a look."

You assumed that Hailey was handing Jay the phone and he was looking at your search history.

Jay took a deep breath and restrained himself from shoving the chair into the kitchen table.

You heard his heavy footsteps coming down the hall and quickly locked your door and then sat back down on your bed.

You heard the doorknob jiggle as Jay tried to open your door.

"Y/N! ¡Abras la puerta inmediatamente!" (Open the door immediately!)

You were in deep shit if he was yelling at you in Spanish.

You didn't move from your bed.

"¡Ábrelo ahora!" (Open it now!)

"¡Estoy viniendo! ¡Calmáse!" (I'm coming! Calm yourself!) You got up from the bed and opened the door.

"Do not ever, ever tell me to calm down ever again! Do you understand me?" Jay asked angrily as he flung open your door after he had unlocked it. You nodded. "Now, I understand that you were caught cheating on a test. Care to explain that to me?"

"Not really," you sighed as you sat on your bed.

"I'm giving you one more chance to explain to me why you chose to cheat. And I suggest you tell me the truth, kid."

You looked up to be met with Hailey standing in the doorway. She nodded to you as if to say you better listen to your dad.

"Well?" he asked as he crossed his arms across his chest.

"I needed to cheat!"

"Nobody needs to cheat!"

"Well, I did!" You dug through your backpack and found the paper you had to write for the class that your teacher failed you on. "Because of this!" You threw the paper on your bed. "And because my teacher is a puta!"

"You do not call your teacher a bitch, young lady!" Jay yelled.

"Jay!" Hailey yelled. "Take the paper, go to our room and read it and calm down!"

"So Mom can tell you to calm down but I can't?"

Jay turned back to you, but Hailey grabbed his arm. "Bedroom Jay. Now." He left the room and Hailey turned to you. "As for you. You're grounded from your phone for the foreseeable future. Sorry, nena. Now, we'll be back to talk to you after we've read whatever it is you threw on your bed."

***

"We read the paper," Jay said as he and Hailey entered your room again fifteen minutes later. "And, I'm sorry for yelling. I know me and your mom are both detectives, but it'd look better if you told us why you cheated instead of leaving us to put the pieces together."

"I'm sorry, I really am. It's just, I failed that paper. And, I worked really hard on it. And, she said it wasn't a real tradition."

The paper topic was to write about a family tradition and you wrote about the Spanish tradition of eating grapes on New Year's Eve. With twelve seconds left of the year, you'd put a grape in your mouth for every second that passed. You'd try to get all twelve grapes in your mouth, but that was really hard. You wrote about the last time you did it with your family and your papí almost got all of them in your mouth while you only got three in your mouth since you were only three years old at the time.

One of the grading criteria for the paper was that it had to be a real tradition.

"She said that it wasn't a real tradition, Dad. She said that because she had never heard of it and that it sounded weird to her, that it wasn't real. So, she failed me. I also put some Spanish words in there, but I put the translations next to it. I thought it would make it more...what's the word? It's kind of like real? Like it'd make it more real to read? You know that word for it?"

"Authentic?" Hailey asked.

"Yeah, that. I thought it'd make it more authentic to read. And, I knew the material of the book. But, the questions were so confusing and I didn't want to ask her to clarify because she's mean."

"So you googled the questions to try to figure out what they were asking?" Hailey asked.

"Yes. I'm sorry. I really am. I just didn't want you to be disappointed in me and think that I've been here for four years and not know English."

"Oh, cariña." Jay crouched in front of you. "We'd never think that. I promise. And I know Mom would never think that either, right?"

"That's right," Hailey agreed.

"Now, I have to go make a phone call."

"You went off on that teacher, Jay! I don't think I've ever heard you that angry when you weren't in interrogation!" Hailey laughed.

"Well yeah! That teacher's logic and grading criteria were seriously flawed. And, you read that paper. It was really good. As Y/N put it that day, she really was a puta."

Hailey rolled her eyes.

"Wish for the future," Jay read aloud. "I wish that I could figure out why Los Rebeldes came to the orphanage and killed Illiana."

"I think that's enough snooping through her stuff for the day, babe," Hailey said, beginning to feel uncomfortable reading this. "Let's just go to bed."

"Yeah, I'm just gonna take a quick shower and I'll be back, okay? I love you." He gave Hailey a quick peck on the lips and made his way to the bathroom to take a shower.

"I love you, too."

But, Jay barely heard her. He was so lost in thought about how to get answers for you, for his daughter. Hell, he wanted those answers just as bad as you. What kind of sick bastard would come into an orphanage heavily armed and just kill innocent civilians and innocent children?

***

"Mouse," Jay said as he entered the bullpen the next morning, "I need your help with something."

"Jeez, Jay, you're late," Ruzek commented. "Where's Hailey?"

"It's her RDO. And, I promised Y/N a frappuccino because she had to wake up early for school and had to go to bed late last night because we were working a case."

"Does Hailey--"

"No, Adam. Hailey does not know that I gave our fourteen-year-old daughter sugar-laced coffee this morning. And, if you so much as say the words frappuccino, Jay, and Y/N in the same sentence, I will bump you back down to patrol so fast you won't know what hit you."

Jay started to walk towards the tech area where he assumed Mouse would be. His voice carried, so he hoped he'd heard him when he'd said he needed his help.

"Whose idea was it to give Jay all this power?" Adam asked rhetorically. "I think it's going to his head."

"I heard that Ruz!"

"You needed something, Jay?" Mouse asked as he turned around from his laptop and took a sip of his coffee.

"Yeah, can you do something off the books for me?"

"You don't even have to ask anymore, man."

"Just need to make sure you don't assign a case number to it."

"I can do that. Now, what do you need?"

Jay pulled out his phone and pulled up a Spanish newspaper article from two weeks ago. He laid the phone in front of Mouse. "This. This is why I need you."

Mouse looked at the phone and back up at Jay with raised eyebrows. "I'm gonna need you to translate that. I don't speak Spanish."

"Says that the guy who killed everyone in the orphanage that Y/N was in is meeting with his lawyer about an appeal. That son of a bitch. And, it's happening on Monday."

"He's meeting with his lawyer on Monday or you'll know if he won the appeal or not on Monday?" Mouse asked.

"He's meeting with his lawyer on Monday."

"And you need me because...?"

"Think you can hack into Spain's maximum-security federal prison system?"

"You cannot be serious."

"I am dead serious, Mouse."

"Why don't you just wait to hear the news?"

Jay sighed and took a seat next to Mouse. "Y/N has to write a paper and was using my laptop. It was this narrative thing for her senior project, so it's due in a few years. But, I'll spare you the details. Y/N had to write what one of her wishes for the future was and she wrote that she wants to know why the guy killed everyone in the orphanage. Not who, because we already know that it was Raúl Rodríguez. She wants to know why."

"That guy's the one who told them to attack the orphanage? The one that killed her sister, right?"

"That's the prick."

"Okay, I'll see what I can do. I'd know that if it was my sister or my kid that I'd want to know."

"Thanks, man."

"Video and audio?"

"Yeah. I'm probably gonna get Emilia in on this too to translate."

"Why? Don't you and Hailey speak Spanish?"

"We do, but they're gonna talk really fast and I probably don't know law lingo except for the word lawyer."

"Fair enough. I'll get to work."

***

"Hails, Hails," Jay shook Hailey awake.

"Jay? Why are you home so late?" she asked as she rolled over and opened her eyes. It was almost 11:30 and she had gone to bed half an hour ago...she thought Jay would've been home by 11:00.

"Paperwork," Jay answered honestly. He instantly regretted his decision of waking Hailey up knowing her history of insomnia. "But, I shouldn't have woke you up. I'm sorry, babe."

"No, I'm awake now. What's up?" She sat up in bed and turned on the lamp to see Jay changing out of his clothes and into his pajama pants and an old t-shirt. "You don't have to sleep with a shirt on you know."

Jay smirked. "You'd like that, wouldn't you? But, don't want our daughter to walk in on me shirtless."

"She's spending the night at Rosa's," Hailey informed him.

"In that case..." Jay trailed off and took off his t-shirt along with his pajama pants so that he was just in his boxers. "Better?"

"Much better."

Jay pulled back the covers on his side of the bed and slid in next to his wife. She cuddled into his side and he wrapped an arm around her.

"What'd you want to tell me?" she asked.

"How do you know I wanted to tell you something?"

"You had that look in your eye, Jay Halstead. Now, tell me."

"So persuasive." He rolled his eyes playfully.

"Shut up."

"You love it, though." He gave her a quick kiss on the lips. "You know how Y/N's biggest wish was to know why Raúl Rodríguez attacked the orphanage?"

"Mhmm," she mumbled.

"Well, I'm gonna find out why."

She pulled away from him. "What? How? You're going to Spain? To interrogate him? You know the CPD doesn't have jurisdiction there even though you were a ranger there, right?"

"Hails, I'm not going overseas to find him. I promise you that."

"Okay." She settled back into his embrace. "Then what are you doing?"

"Having Mouse see if he can hack into the prison system so that I can watch the lawyer talk to him."

"And you're going to be able to understand everything they're saying?"

"No, but Emilia will."

"You called her and told her your plan before you told me?"

"No! The only person who knows is Mouse. I figured I'd call Emilia tomorrow. Like I said, I was just at the district late doing paperwork."

"Okay, I believe you. And, we're not going to have her in the room with us, Y/N that is? We're going to tell her why he did this so she doesn't have to hear it from him?"

"Precisely. Now, am I right in assuming that since Y/N's gone for the night that we can be as loud as we want?"

"You are very much correct in that." Then, he gave her a kiss...and this time, he didn't phone it in at a peck.

***

You were sitting in the breakroom Monday afternoon trying to do some American history homework. There was so much reading involved, but it was okay because you liked history. And, there were pictures in the textbook...it wasn't like you were reading Romeo and Juliet like you had to do in English class.

You knew Emilia was here because she had brought you some fries, much to your mom and dad's dismay since your mom had packed you a few extra snacks. But, Emilia said she had to hold up her reputation as your cool aunt...even if she wasn't related to you whatsoever. And so far, she was holding it up.

You didn't know why she was here, but you assumed it was because Kim was in the field and they needed someone to translate audio. Sometimes Jay would call in Emilia if he knew that she wasn't working to do some translating so he didn't have to deal with calling up a patrolman. You also knew from hearing some of his conversations with Will that Will wanted to ask her out.

And, you hoped she say yes. You wanted Emilia to be your actual aunt. Apparently, she had a thing for doctors according to Jay's side of the phone conversations you'd heard, so you hoped it'd work out if your uncle Will ever got the balls to ask her out.

All of a sudden, Emilia came into Jay's office and he took off running. Hailey saw this and she started following them.

"What?" you asked yourself.

They always would tell you if they had to leave and they'd always be sure to tell you they loved you before they left.

You quietly walked out of the breakroom and towards where you had seen them running to. You assumed they were in the tech area because of the direction they ran in and the fact that whenever Emilia was here, she was most likely in the tech room.

As you got closer, you started hearing Spanish.

Someone talking about an attack...an attack on an orphanage.

A man said it was in the Tabernas Desert.

You peeked your head around the corner to see that on the screen there was a man in a nice suit and someone sitting at a table with handcuffs on.

"Anything we don't already know?" Hailey asked.

"Not that it sounds like right now," Emilia answered. "They're just talking about the orphanage Y/N and Illiana were in and where it was."

So this is the guy who did it. This was the guy--no, the monster--who led the attack that killed your sister.

"The lawyer just asked Rodríguez why he did it," Emilia said.

"And?" Jay asked

"Jay, I need to be able to hear them talk, so shut up."

Jay held his hands up in a sign of surrender.

"The lawyer just asked if it was something personal, something like Rodríguez being an orphan and he didn't have a good experience there so he attacked it, something that would tug at the board of appeals heartstrings essentially." There was a pause as Emilia continued listening. "He said no." She paused again. "Oh my God."

"What?" Jay asked frantically. "Why did that prick kill innocent children?"

"He said he ordered the attack because the orphanage was receiving aid from the US, for things such as food, clothing, and basic necessities."

"Un-fucking-believable." Jay wanted to punch something, but he restrained himself. "So, because our country was helping those who couldn't help themselves, this prick went after them?"

"That's what it sounds like. I'm sorry, Jay."

"Hails, how are we going to tell Y/N?"

"You guys don't have to tell me," you said as you made your presence known. "I heard the whole thing."

Jay sighed. "I'm sorry cariña, really I am. I'm sorry that this happened to you. That you had to find out this way. That this was the reason for what that monster did. I'm sorry."

"Dad read my outline?" you asked, turning to Hailey.

"Yeah, nena, he did. It was just open and you know him, he couldn't stop himself."

"Because he's a detective before he's a sergeant, just like Nancy Drew," you said, bringing it back to the books you'd used to read with your dad every night when you had just come over to the states from Spain and were working on your English.

"This should never have happened," Jay said softly as he walked over to you and brought you into a tight hug. "People that do these kinds of horrific acts shouldn't have the right to be born, much less to live."

"But if that wouldn't have happened you wouldn't have found me. And I wouldn't have found my forever Mom and Dad."

A/N: I wrote over 6.5k words to get this posted today! That's a new personal record for me! Also, my neuroscience class is kicking my butt right now, so if I don't update as frequently, that's why. Hopefully, I'll get one out every week or every two weeks at the latest. Please like/reblog and comment because I love getting feedback and it keeps me motivated to write. If you want to be added to the taglist, just tell me and I’ll add you! 

taglist: @theambracer88 @virtualreader @kelelas-life @celyndavies @brookerz122493 @musicismyescape27 @anotherfan07 @thexplosivegirl @dreamingwithlens @xoxmariaxox @onechicago18 @iamasimpingh0e 

[maddiwrites]

Secrets of the Shore (Chapter10)

Pairing: Pogues x OC, Eventually JJ x OC

Summary: This is just my rewrite of the show Outer Banks with my own twist by adding another main character which also happens to be John B’s twin sister.

Note: Happy Valentines Day y’all! Hope your day was filled with love (even if you’re not in a relationship) Thank you guys for reading! I’m sorry I’m torturing you with the tension between Marleigh and JJ but I gotta keep you on your toes somehow (; 

Word Count: 5.6 k 

Chapter 9

When I drop my things off at Kie's house and invite myself to stay at her house for a few days, she bombards me with questions. Most of them revolve around John B. Where is he? How are we going to find him? How do we know he's okay? Of course I don't have the answers to any of these questions, which only makes the curly brunette more worried.

"Look, he's going to be fine," I tell her as we walk down her long driveway where Pope and JJ are waiting for us. "John B wouldn't let them take him without a fight. Plus, I oddly take the fact that I haven't even gotten one phone call from him as a good sign. If he was at the station, they would probably use him to bait me."

When we get closer to the boys, I bite my lip to hide my smile. The blonde smirks back at me and even throws in a wink. Every nerve in my body ignites with a fire-like spark when I look at his sparkling blue eyes. I can't believe I almost kissed my best friend. I don't know what it would do to our friendship if something were to happen.

The thought terrifies me enough to make my smile falter. I can't lose JJ. I can't fuck up the best thing I have in my life which is my friendship with Kie, Pope, and especially JJ.

JJ tilts his head to look at me questioningly so I plaster a fake grin on my face.

The movie is being projected in an open field on Figure Eight. They have a huge blow up screen and a projector in front of it. There's already about fifty people here and more on the way.

We set up our lawn chairs in the middle of the field. My chest tightens with anxiety when we're surrounded by Kooks and Tourons. Rafe and his friends could be hiding anywhere in the faces around us. I can tell Pope is thinking the same thing. His head is snapping back and froth, left and right, keeping an eye out for the people who want to kill us. JJ tries to calm him down, but nothing settles him.

"Back to OBX life," Kie says as she sits down next to me. She opens the cooler at her feet and hands me a bag of grapes she packed. "You know? Aren't you glad I made you come?"

"Ecstatic," I mutter. My eyes scan the crowd for dudes with slicked back hair and neon shorts.

"My couch was pretty comfy, I'll be honest," JJ says next to me. He reaches into the bag of grapes and steals a few. He throws them in the air, catching them in his mouth.

Kie stands up to grab a couple of sodas from the snack bar. The second she's out of ear shot, Pope whips his head in our direction. His eyes are big with fear as they study every face that walks through the field.

"We're out of the green zone, man," Pope whispers on the other side of JJ.

"Dude, tranqüilo, okay?" JJ says.

"We're in the middle of kooklandia," Pope says. "This is the last place I wanted to be."

"Shut up, Pope," I hiss when I see Kie making her way back to us with three Pepsis in her hand. She has a scowl on her face. That can't be good.

"Just saw Rafe, and he said, and I quote, 'Tell your boy that we know what he did.'" Kie looks between JJ and Pope with raised brows. She doesn't look happy. She looks suspicious and somewhat annoyed that she doesn't know what Rafe is talking about. "What is that?"

Pope snaps his head in the direction of the snack bar. JJ tries to act normal and purses his lips. He avoids Kie's glare by looking at me, immediately throwing me under the bus for knowing their secret too.

Kie turns to look at me with her mouth slightly open. "You know?" I open my mouth to respond but she cuts me off. "Why do you know and I don't? What did you guys do?"

"Where is he?" JJ asks, glancing over his shoulder.

"Right there." Kie points at the snack bar where Rafe, Topper, and Kelce are throwing popcorn at each other. They look up and smirk in our direction.

"Great, the whole death squad," Pope says.

JJ grabs the top of Pope's head and physically turns it back to the screen. "Don't stare, bro."

I feel my hands clench around the arms of my beach chair. I know for a fact that tonight's not going to be as easy as we thought it would be. And I hate that its because of Rafe of all people.

"Just warning you, bro. If they corner me, I'm coming out swinging, okay? Slice and dicin'. I'm on edge right now," JJ says, shaking out his shoulders.

"Yeah, yeah," Pope nods in agreement, which makes both Kie and I look at him incredulously. Pope's a lover, not a fighter.

"If that doesn't work, I got this right here," JJ smacks his backpack that I now know his gun is in.

"Yeah, yeah," Pope continues to nod. He's so deep in fear that he doesn't even realize that JJ just offered to whip a gun out in a sea of people and children.

"So, we just gotta stay in the group," JJ says, officially ignoring Kie's glares. "They can't get us in the group."

"Like a school of fish," Pope agrees. "Stay in the school. Can't leave the school."

I roll my eyes. "Oh my god. We're screwed."

"I'm sorry, JJ," Kie leans over me to get a better look at the blonde boy sitting next to me. "Please tell me that you did not bring a gun here." JJ just stares at her blankly. "JJ, there are kids!"

"No!" JJ snaps. "Kie, I didn't bring the gun. Okay? Everything's fine."

"Wow thank you. That's really convincing. I love that JJ," Kie says sarcastically with a roll of her eyes.

"Welcome to the summer movie series!" A man stands at the front of the field by the screen with a microphone in his hand, addressing the crowd.

"Founding principle you guys," Kie says with a quieter voice. "No secrets amongst Pogues." She looks at me and holds her stare. I swallow the bad memories that threaten to rise to the surface. I know she's implying the secret that she's been keeping for me. The one she wants me to tell the others. And now I'm hiding another secret. From her of all people.  "What is Rafe talking about?"

I open my mouth to try to calm her down, but JJ cuts me off, which only makes matters worse.

"Kie, it might go down tonight."

I groan and roll my eyes.

"What does that mean?" Kie asks. She even slaps me on my shoulder with the back of her hand. If looks could kill...

"Might go down tonight..." Pope says slowly.

"What did y'all do?"

JJ leans closer to Pope and says in his ear, "Deny, deny, deny."

I look at Kie with soft eyes. "Do you trust me?" Kie reluctantly nods and glances between me and the boys. I grab her wrist to make her look at me, my eyes pleading. "Then trust me when I tell you that the less you know, the better."

Kie finally drops the subject and sits back into her seat. She's not happy about not knowing and if I were her, I'd feel the same way. But its best if she doesn't know.

We watch the movie with tension in our shoulders and frowns on our lips. Our relaxing night took a turn for the worst. I can't even focus on the movie or JJ being so close to my side, our shoulders practically against each other. All I can feel is a pair of eyes on the back of my head, burning holes through my skull.

Halfway through the movie I hear Pope lean in closer to JJ. His voice is a whisper but I detach my focus from the movie to listen. "JJ?"

"What?" JJ whispers back.

"Gotta take a piss," Pope says.

I look over my shoulder towards the bathrooms. Like I suspect, the Kooks are gathered around it.

"Hold it," JJ hisses.

"I can't hold it. I drank too much soda."

"It's too exposed. They'll totally see us."

"I gotta go," Pope says more definitively.

JJ looks in the direction I was just looking at. "They're blocking the bathrooms." JJ sighs and looks ahead. "Come here. I know where."

JJ pulls Pope up by his arm and walks in the opposite direction of the bathroom, towards the movie screen.

"Hey, where y'all going?" Kie calls out in a hushed whisper.

"We gotta wring it out," JJ says.

"You gonna hold it for each other?" Kie responds which makes me laugh.

They don't reply. They walk around the screen to the other side. The second they're out of view, Kie turns to look at me with a face that says she wants answers and she wants them now.

"Please don't ask me to tell you."

"You're making me worried," Kie says honestly.

I sigh with guilt, completely understanding the feeling. If the three of them were hiding something from me, my mind would be racking through millions of different thoughts about what it was.

"Does it have to do with the day you got that?" Kie points to the bruise on my face.

I bite my lip and turn towards the movie, trying my best not to let her convince me to tell her. If the cops were to get involved, I want Kie to be as innocent as possible. They would probably never go after her because she lives on Figure Eight, but knowing Kie, she would do whatever she needed to help her best friends.

I look over my shoulder again, making sure the Kooks were still guarding the bathroom, but my heart stops when I don't see them.

"Shit," I stand up and step through the crowd of people, running to where Pope and JJ disappeared.

As I get closer to the screen I can hear the heavy grunts of guys fighting from behind it. Pope and JJ are fighting against Kelce, Rafe, and Topper. I shuffle on my two feet, not sure where to go, who to help first.

Kelce has his arms wrapped around JJ's, holding him against his chest and leaving him open for Rafe's punches . A couple feet away from them, Topper and Pope wrestle on the grass, throwing hands wherever will make contact with skin.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Kie running towards Pope and Topper with JJ's backpack. I run towards Rafe and shove him back by his shoulders. I risk a glance at JJ. His face is red from the Kooks' punches and there's a split in his bottom lip. The sight of him being hurt is enough to make my vision blur to red.

I shove Rafe backwards by his shoulders again. The older boy just laughs at me humorlessly, only fueling the fire to my rage. I narrow my eyes into a glare and take another menacing step towards him.

"Mar, stop!" I hear JJ call behind me but I ignore him.

"Let go of him, Topper!" I hear Kie say a little further away. She's beating him with JJ's backpack and jumping on Topper's back to get him away from Pope.

"I told you I was going to find out who did it," Rafe says.

"And I told you we didn't do shit," I say, keeping my face steady with a scowl. I turn to send daggers in Kelce's direction. "Let him go."

Rafe whistles and keeps the cocky smirk spread across his face. "Would you look at this. I think someone has a little soft spot for the blonde Pogue over here. Don't you think Kelce? I mean princess over here didn't even acknowledge her other friend."

"You know what? I don't think you're worried about who sunk Topper's boat. That would have to mean you actually care about someone other than yourself. I think your problem is with me."

The older boy scoffs, "With you?"

"Yeah," I take another step closer to him. "It must be really frustrating when the guy who gets everything he wants without lifting a perfectly manicured finger can't even get laid by ...oh what was it that you called me? The Cut's biggest whore? Must be pretty pathetic that some whore won't even sleep with you."

The back of Rafe's hand slaps me across the face, snapping my head with the direction of his hand. I hear JJ cry after me but its muffled by my back slamming into the grass with a weight on top of me.

Rafe's hands encircle around my neck and they squeeze tighter than they did the other day when I was in this same position. But this time, I wanted this because it got his attention away from JJ.

"You know, they say Pogues are the one's with the short temper," I chuckle maliciously. My voice is raspy and my throat is on fire, but I'm loving how easy it is to get under Rafe's skin. "But a little taste of reality is all it takes to ignite your fuse."

"Marleigh!" JJ shouts. I hear the sound of fists connecting with skin, followed by grunts and groans. "Rafe I swear to god -"

"Go ahead," I wrap my fingers around Rafe's wrists to try and pull him off of me but he's too strong. "But killing me will only add to your dad's growing list of reasons why you're his biggest disappointment."

Rafe grips my neck tighter, completely cutting off my air supply. The pounding in my ear muffles the cries and shouts from all my friends. From the Kooks. I can barely breathe and my vision sparkles with white specks. I try fighting him, but his rage is now stronger than mine.

Heat flows through my body and sweat bubbles at my hairline. I see orange out of the corner of my eye, but I think that's just my vision blurring together. A second later, I feel the weight of Rafe's body lifted off of me. There's a thump from the ground next to me and more heavy grunts. When I look up, I watch the screen light up in flames. Literally.

I gasp for breath and turn on my side. I can feel the contents of my stomach rising up my throat, leaving my throat in even more burning anguish. I pant for air, inhaling sharply and ignoring the sharp pain from my lungs.

I feel warm hands wrap around my biceps, pulling me up to my feet. My legs and arms feel like rubber, but I muster up enough strength to walk out of here. I'd be damned if I let Rafe see me as some weak link again.

Topper, Kelce, and Pope try pulling JJ off of Rafe who jams his fist against Rafe's face relentlessly. JJ's face is red with anger, his scowl hardening with every hit.

"JJ!" I call out to him. I know this is only going to get him in more trouble. They're Kooks. They never get in trouble. Leaving any kind of mark on Rafe's skin will call for consequences. That's just how it goes around here and we can't be stupid to it. "JJ, stop!" I try breaking out of Kie's grip. "JJ! You're going to kill him!"

JJ's head snaps in my direction. His eyes scan wildly down my body, looking for any source of life threatening injuries. I try to grin assuringly at him, but it's hard to turn my lips upwards.

When JJ is distracted, Pope manages to pull him away. The Kooks grab Rafe by his shoulders and yank him in the opposite direction. If we don't want to be caught, we all have to leave right now. The fire department and probably the police will be here any second to put out the fire.

When we're finally separated, I pull myself away from Kie and run directly into JJ's arms. He wraps himself around my waist and lifts me off the ground to pull me even closer to his body. I snuggle my face into the crook of his neck and hold him tight.

He's okay. He's okay. He's okay. It's all I can manage to say in my head.

~ ~ ~

No one says a word the entire ride home from the movies. But even without it being discussed, we knew none of us wanted to spend the night alone. I can't go back to my house and Kie's parents wouldn't want all of us at her's, so she drives us to Pope's.

Pope didn't get too hurt in the scuffle. In fact he's the one that threw the first punch...well the first head. He head butted Topper before the Kook had a chance to swing. Kie's only injury was a small burn on her finger from when she flicked the lighter to burn down the screen. JJ and I however are bruised and sore.

Kie helps Pope set up his living room for all of us to sleep. Before I can offer to help, JJ tugs on my hand and brings me down the hall towards the bathroom. He locks the door behind me.

I tilt my head and my eyebrows scrunch together in confusion. "Are you okay?"

JJ steps closer to me, basically pinning my body against the door. My breath hitches in my throat as his hands come up to cup my jaw. He's so close I can feel his breath on my face. He pulls my head up and tilts it to the side. He looks down at my neck, looking for bruises and scratches that Rafe might have left me with. My neck is sore and it hurts to swallow, but that's it. Even his backhand didn't leave a mark on my cheek.

"Hey," I say softly. I pull his hands away from my face and intertwine our fingers together. "I'm okay."

"He could have killed you," JJ says through clenched teeth.

"But he didn't."

"But -"

"No buts," I tell him. Unwrapping one hand from his, I pull him further into the bathroom and tap on the sink counter top, motioning for him to hop up and sit so I can take a look at his face which looks worse the mine. "Come on."

JJ reluctantly hops on the counter. I go to the closet and pull out a small face towel and run it under cold water. Standing between his legs, I lightly dab the towel on his bottom lip that's split down the middle. I bite my lip nervously under the scrutiny of his stare. Neither of us say anything, relaxed in the comfort of the other one's presence. I feel safe when I'm with him. There's no Kooks versus Pogues. There's no abusive fathers or DCS. Its just me and him.

I drop the towel next to JJ and slowly touch the hem of his shirt. I look up at him, waiting for him to give me the go-ahead or to stop me. I need to see the damage that can be hidden with clothes.

JJ nods slowly and lets me pull his shirt up. His toned abs are the first thing I notice. I've seen him without a shirt hundreds of times, but something about this moment makes me stare. Maybe it's how close I'm standing next to him, or how I can feel the warmth radiating from his skin onto mine.

His body isn't marked with any discoloration and his ribs are still intact. When I pull his shirt back down and nod to say he's okay, I'm looking deep into his eyes - the eyes that never left mine.

"Are you okay?" He asks. His voice is soft and raspy, sexy even.

I nod my head, grinning, "Yes. I promise. Are you?"

"I swear to god, I'm going to kill him."

"J-"

"He hurt you, Mar!" JJ finally snaps. "He had his hands wrapped around your throat!"

"Shh," I shush him by pressing my index finger against his lips, afraid that he's going to wake up Pope's parents. "It's okay."

"It's not and you know it!" JJ sighs and lets his shoulders relax when I look at him pleadingly. He takes my hand and wraps it around his own. He brings it to his lips, gently kissing the tender skin around my knuckles. Blush creeps up my neck to my cheeks. I lean in closer to him, pressing my hips against the counter and glancing between my hand, his lips, and his eyes.

Every fiber in my being tells me to lean in further and finally press my lips against his. At this moment I don't care about the rules or what it might do to our friendship or what John B might say about it. I just want to feel him, every part of him, against me. I want to forget the rest of the world exists and just be with JJ.

But I don't. Because Kie quietly knocking on the door pulls me out of my thoughts.

"Hey, are you guys okay?" She asks.

The corner of JJ's lips tug upwards into a slanted grin, causing mine to do the same. I take a step backwards and help him down from the counter.

Kie looks between us confused. I grin at her and nod my head to show her that we're both okay. JJ grins to himself and follows me out to the living room where Pope is already passed out on the couch.

I bend down to lay on the makeshift bed on the floor made out of blankets and pillows. I was expecting Kie to lay down next to me, but JJ takes the spot to my left.

Kie trudges to the other couch, too tired to say anything about the fight or JJ and I. I know she'll wanna talk about it later with me. She always does when it involves Rafe.

I keep my eyes trained to the ceiling. My body is exhausted but I'm not tired. I finally feel like I defended myself against Rafe today, a personal accomplishment and a milestone. I don't think my feud with Rafe will ever go away. I think we'll always hate each other until one of us leaves the island for good. But at least he knows I won't put up with his crap anymore. With or without his dad's money.

I don't know how long I've been staring at a blank canvas of nothing. Not even Pope's snores can lullaby me to sleep. I turn my body towards JJ. I wonder if kissing him in the bathroom would have been a mistake or not. Maybe it would disrupt the peace in our friend group, but I can't deny my feelings for him anymore. I know what I want and that's JJ. I would do anything for the blonde lying next to me.

I watch his chest rise up and down slowly. His lips are slightly parted as he sleeps. My fingers delicately play with the shark tooth necklace around his neck. I've always loved this necklace on him, even thought about getting one myself. But I knew Kie would tease me endlessly if I did.

"You know, some people think it's rude to stare," JJ's raspy voice pulls me out of my head. His eyes are still closed and his lips are now turned up into a smirk from catching me in the act.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you," I whisper.

"How come you're not sleeping?"

"My head won't let me," I reply. "Just thinking. Hey, where did you get this?"

JJ slowly opens his eyes and looks down at my thumb that glides over the smooth surface of the shark tooth. "Pretty sure this is from the country club's gift shop."

I shake my head with a grin, expecting nothing less from my klepto friend. "Of course it is."

"Can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"When did Rafe call you a whore?"

I drop my hand from his necklace and lay it flat on his chest. JJ takes his arm and rests it behind his head, sitting up to look at me. I shrug like it's no big deal.

"It was a long time ago."

"Why would he call you that?"

"The Kook doesn't handle rejection very well. It's fine, JJ."

JJ sighs. "You would tell me if someone really hurt you, right?"

This time my eyes flicker back up to meet his. His gaze feels delicate, like if he looked at me any other way, I'd break. I think he knows something but he's not telling me. Maybe that's for the better. After tonight, I never want to tell him what Rafe almost did to me. I don't trust JJ to not run off to actually try to murder the Kook.

"I'm fine."

"You're not answering the question. Please, Mar. I know Pope's hiding something too. Something about you. About the other day."

I swallow thickly and nod my head. "Of course I'd tell you."

Guilt trickles through me at the lie. JJ trusted me enough to tell me about his dad, and I had the same reaction JJ would probably have if I told him about Rafe. Yet, I couldn't bring myself to do it.

JJ nods. I can't tell if he believes me or not but he drops the subject and opens his arms for me to cuddle into him. "Come here."

I snuggle into his side and wrap my arm around his waist. This feels good, this feels normal. For a second, I forget that Kie and Pope are even in the same room as us. JJ's warm. He smells like grass, cologne, and a hint of weed. I match my breathing to his and let my eyes close, finally falling into a deep dreamless slumber.

~ ~ ~

When the four of us wake up, we offer to help Heyward out at his shop as a thank you for letting us stay over. I'm waiting for Kie to say something to me about being wrapped around JJ when we all woke up, but she doesn't say anything. Instead she passes me looks of concern. I can tell she's itching to talk about last night.

Pope's in his head about last night too and he's not giving himself enough credit for fighting Topper back.

"Don't let it get in your head," JJ says. "Three of them and two of us. That's typical Kook shit right there."

"Hell yeah," Kie says, agreeing.

"What was your thought process, using your head?"

Pope shrugs. "I don't know, man. I just kind of acted off instinct. I was a cornered animal."

Heyward walks into the shop and approaches us. I can already tell by his face that he's not about to tell us we can take a souvenir to go. His eyes are trained on his son and he looks worried. "Hey, Pope, someone here to see you."

The three of us look at Pope for some kind of tell as to who might be here for him, but he looks just as confused as the rest of us.

We follow him outside where Officer Shoupe is waiting for him. My heart drops deep into the pit of my stomach. I glance between the officer and Pope, knowing exactly who was to blame for this.

"Morning, officer," Pope says nervously. He looks like he's about to puke.

Shoupe doesn't greet him. Instead he slowly approaches my friend with a paper in his hand. "I have an arrest warrant for felony of destruction of property."

Fucking Topper.

"What?" Heyward says loudly. He looks between Shoupe and Pope, then to us as if we could explain the misunderstanding.

Shoupe moves closer to Pope. "Hands where I can see them." Kie immediately steps in to block the officer's path, saying something about how he can't do this. "Young lady, out of my way. Look at the warrant."

"You're arresting him?" I say, moving next to Pope. I narrow my eyes at the stuck up officer. I know for a fact that the police don't have any evidence that can prove Pope did it. The only witnesses were me and JJ.

"You're just arresting my boy?" Heyward says defensively.

Shoupe ignores both of us and grabs Pope by the arm and forcefully takes him to the car.

"Be careful!" Kie yells at him.

I can't wrap my brain around what is happening. Pope is the last person who should ever go to jail. What happened to Topper's boat is fair game. Okay, yes, maybe illegal, but so is assault which the Kooks did first!

"Shoupe, are you listening?" Heyward yells.

Shoupe ignores us again and starts reading Pope his rights. Our friend looks back at us, specifically at JJ and I, the ones who knew the truth. JJ grips the routes of his hair stressfully as I try to come up with any kind of idea to get him out of it.

"How much did they pay you, man?" JJ says, taking a step closer to the car.

"Stop!" I yell. This time Shoupe turns to look at me. So does everyone else. I do the only thing I can think of. "It wasn't him. It was -"

"It was me!" JJ says quickly.

My head snaps in his direction with an open mouth and wide eyes. He refuses to look at me, keeping his eyes on Shoupe and Pope.

"JJ -"

JJ cuts me off, "He tried to talk me out of it, but I was mad because he'd just been beaten up." The blonde takes another step closer to Shoupe. "I was so sick of those assholes from Figure Eight that I lost my shit." He looks at Pope with a look that tells him to go along with it. A look that tells him why he's doing this. "I can't let you take the blame for something I did. You've got too much to lose."

"JJ, what are you doing?" Pope stares at him with big eyes.

My eyes narrow into a glare as I stare at the back of JJ's head. Fear rises up my chest and tightens around my heart. Why is he doing this? I was going to do it! They're already looking for me anyway to take me to DCS. JJ's bargaining a lot for his friend. The others think he's only going to be arrested, but I know his punishment isn't going to stop there. His dad is going to be pissed. And I know what happens when his dad is pissed.

"I'm telling the truth," JJ says. "For once in my goddamn life, I'm gonna tell the truth." He looks over his shoulder, glancing at me before looking at Heyward. "Stole his old man's boat too."

"What the hell?" Heyward says.

"JJ, come on," Pope pleads.

"Just shut up, Pope!" JJ snaps. "Just shut up." He looks back at Shoupe. "He's a good kid. You know where I'm from."

"Yeah," Shoupe says, agreeing that he wouldn't put this past JJ.

"This was all me."

Shoupe sighs and looks at Pope one more time. "That's the whole truth?"

"Whole truth, swear to god!" JJ says loudly.

"I know what you think, damn it, I'm asking Pope."

I look at Pope with clenched teeth, fighting my tears off with heavy breaths. I don't want Pope to agree, but I can't let him be taken away either. I can only watch as JJ does something so incredibly stupid, I don't know if he'll come back from it.

"Yeah," Pope says hesitantly. "That about covers it."

Shoupe nods and pulls out his handcuffs. Knowing the drill a little too well, JJ turns and lets Shoupe snap the handcuffs around his wrist.

"JJ!" I call out to him. I'm about to run over to him but Kie steps in my way, holding me back from making a mistake. "No, stop!"

JJ looks at me one last time before Shoupe shuts the back door with him inside. He nods once, trying to tell me he's going to be okay. But I know better. No one understands the risk he just took by taking the fall for Pope. For me.

"Ms. Routledge," Shoupe says before getting in the driver's seat. "Have you spoken to your brother?"

I pull away from Kie and glare at the old man, feeling nothing but hatred for him. "No. I haven't seen him."

"I suggest you go home and pack a bag. DCS is looking for the both of you. I'd take you in myself, but I can't without a social worker present."

I don't say anything. I just hold his stare.

When Shoupe drives away, I turn back to my best friend and pull at my hair. I start to hyperventilate, thinking about how JJ's dad is going to react when he hears JJ's been arrested. It doesn't take a lot to rile Luke Maybank up into a rage. I don't even want to think about what he's going to think about this.

Kie holds me to her, the both of us crying into each other's shoulders while Pope tries to come up with an explanation for his father. I let my best friend hold me. I don't care if bystanders are watching us. I don't care how pathetic I look. I can only think of JJ. I can only think about how I'm going to get JJ back.

Tag List: @notyourcupofteax​ @acvross-the-universe​ @realistic-breadstick​ @jjmaybankzz​ @jeeperky​ @urbinoutfiters​ @moniamaybank​ @brebear121​ @x-lulu​ @freddymaybank​ @jjpouggues​ @kkmikayla​ @folkloverr​ @alexa-playafricabytoto​ @lemur46​

[saladbroth]

"hey reggie, just out of curiosity... what on earth are you wearing?" for that first sentence thing 👀

atlas!!! thank you so much, this escalated ahdashdasf i thought i'd write like 300 words maximum but then i didn't i've been talking with about ralexie with @wadewaits and @sunset-bobby so i had to put them in here, and i'm always down for jukebobby, i hope you like it!

(send me a first sentence and i'll write a short fic)

-

“Hey Reggie, just out of curiosity… What on earth are you wearing?”

Reggie looks up from his phone to see Luke leaning in the doorway, curiosity and a good portion of glee written across his face. He’s not entirely sure what Luke wants him to say, since it’s literally just clothes, or why he’s grinning as stupidly as he is, but Reggie doesn’t even get to say anything before Bobby appears behind Luke.

They slide their arms around Luke’s waist and kiss his cheek before focusing on Reggie, a similar grin spreading across their face. “So, Reg. Good night yesterday, huh?"

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Reggie says honestly but they just grin wider, obviously not believing him like the bastards they are. Reggie doesn’t even know why he’s friends with them, they’re awful. Julie appears in the doorway, effectively blocking it completely for any other students who might want to try and get into their classroom before the bell rings to kiss her boyfriends hello, then turns to Reggie.

“Damn dude, good for you.” she grins and Luke cackles, following her inside. Bobby shakes his head at the two of them affectionately but follows them anyway as they take their seats next to Reggie.

“Good morning to you all, I hate you,” Reggie informs them, earning him another laugh. Julie leans over and onto his table, patting his arm. “We knew your date would go well, but this really is something.”

“What?” Reggie looks at her, and then, finally, down at the jacket he grabbed in a hurry while running late for the school bus. It’s not his. It’s not the soft grey zip up hoodie he usually wears, it’s one of the jackets from the guys on the swimming team, and he knows exactly who it belongs to.

(the rest is under the cut i didn't wanna make the post too long

His friends seem to know as well. Reggie groans and lets his head hit the table with a thud. “Fuck.”

“So I take it you had fun yesterday?” Julie asks innocently.

“It was great,” Reggie says. “They’re both really really nice, and I got cold so Alex gave me his jacket but I forgot to bring it back and now this is embarrassing and I’ll have to change schools and flee the country.”

Bobby snorts and pats his shoulder. “You don’t have to flee the country, they both wear each other’s jackets all the time.”

“Yeah but they’re boyfriends!”

“And you aren’t their boyfriend?” Luke is sitting in his chair backwards, dangling his legs and watching Reggie with an eyebrow raised expectantly. Reggie feels heat creep up his neck and into his cheek and buries a little deeper into the jacket.

“I mean. Maybe?”

Julie whoops and Bobby claps him on the back, congratulating him. “Well done bro, it’s about time!”

Reggie can’t help but laugh and then launches into a detailed account of last night, when Alex and Willie went on a date with him, to the cinema and then for food and then they just sat on the beach and talked for hours, and yeah it wasn’t their first date and also by far not their first kisses either but it’d felt different, in a way.

“You’re a goner,” Luke informs him but there’s nothing but affection in his voice, and Reggie grins. He’s happy and his friends are happy for him, and even a double block of history with Mr Johnson can’t ruin that.

He does feel a bit awkward in the hallway later, with the jacket that’s so clearly not his announcing Alex’s last name in embroidery on his back, but the others stay close to him and he only gets a few thumbs up from Flynn and Carrie. Nick whistles after him but smiles and Reggie’s fully prepared to tell him everything at lunch.

They run into Alex and Willie on the way to biology and of course, because they’re all awful friends, Bobby, Luke and Julie abandon Reggie with a wink and knowing smirks.

And okay, he gets it. He’s been crushing on Alex from PE who swims competitively for the school and Willie from art class, who also happens to be the team captain of the volleyball team for years, and he knows he’s been annoying about it but so were the three before getting together.

Willie and Alex are a couple literally everyone in the school knows and they’re great and Reggie’s still not entirely sure how the fuck he managed to talk to them in the first place, let alone end up in a school hallway wearing Alex’s jacket. But here he is. And they’re both smiling at him, speeding up to meet him.

“Hi,” Reggie says. “I’m sorry about your jacket, I know this is a bit weird but I swear I didn’t mean to put it on, I was just in a hurry.”

“Don’t worry, it looks good on you,” Willie says and lets go of Alex’s hand. Reggie stares at them and their pretty smile for a moment. Alex nods. “We share stuff, so don’t worry Reg. Just gotta make sure to let us have some of your stuff too at some point.”

Reggie nods. “Of course- sure, yeah. Uh. Do you guys wanna have lunch with my friends?”

Willie grins and leans in to kiss Reggie on the cheek, before tangling their fingers together. “Sure, it’s about time we fully get to meet them.”

Alex throws his arm over Reggie’s shoulder. “I’ve wanted to for a while, but I wasn’t sure if they’d like me- us.”

Reggie smiles up at him. “Oh they’re going to love you guys, don’t worry.”

[dumbbitchenergy17]

Extra Part 11

U.A. a school for students to learn how to become the best Pro-Hero. When young Y/n Midoriya returns from her traveling to be accepted through recommendation. What awaits her when she meet the explosive blonde Katsuki Bakugo

Words- 4186

Katsuki Bakugo x Midoriya!Reader, Izuku Midoriya x Cousin!Reader

Warning-Spoilers from show and end of Hero license Arc, fighting scenes, and angst.

Series Masterlist

You were outside the exam area getting ready to head back to the dorms in your hands was your license. Taking a picture you send it to your parents excited to get closer to becoming a Pro. You feel your phone buzz and there is a message from each of your parents congratulating you for passing and plans to have a dinner in celebration next time you visit. You heard footsteps coming next to you, 

“Y/NNNN! Look at my license this is soo cool!” Mina squeals shoving the little piece of plastic into your face.

You smile pushing her hand away, “We’ll probably get more work from Aizawa now that we got licenses and want to see more hands on work.” Mina nodded picking up her suitcase holding her hero costume and you followed her grabbing yours as you boarded the bus.

As you sat down in the window seat you watched as you began to make your way back to U.A. Looking back on what you couldn’t change in the first part of the exam and even at the 2nd half of the exam, what kept bugging you was what did you do to Gang Orca? You felt more powerful when it happened and he couldn’t use his quirk, you were the only other person fighting him. What is the full extent of your quirk? How powerful could I be? How dangerous could it be? 

“Mina, I gotta ask you a favor when we get back to the dorms.” She turned her attention to you and nodded deciding not to probe as there were others around. 

When you arrived back at Heights Alliance most of your classmates got ready for bed other lounging around in the common room talking about the end of summer. One by one your classmates headed off to bed until it was just you and Mina.

“So what’s the favor?” Mina asked, you were the only two left in the common rooms sitting on the couches. You got up heading outside to the courtyard. 

Stopping once you were in the middle of the area you turned and faced her, “I want you to fight me.”

“What..um..we just did all that today, and your head are you sure?” Mina tried to talk you out of it.

“I just wanna test a theory, nothing too much, just use your quirk as much as possible.” You said she seemed hesitate before psyching herself up, before rushing towards you sending a wave of acid towards you.

You dodge using your quirk to push her acid away from you sending a kick towards her ribs but she blocked it with her arm. She sent a kick to you and you blocked it with your arms pushing her back sending her stumbling. You and Mina had been fighting for a few minutes now you both getting tired already using most of your energy during the exam.

Mina uses her acid to slide towards you but you grab her arm when she goes to throw a punch flipping her over you body. She does a couple of flips before standing up. Right when acid begins to form on her hands you lift your hands up focusing on the theory you had closing your eyes trying to focus.

“What the hell?” You open them and Mina is covered with a simple red haze light Gang Orca moving her hands around trying to use her quirk but unable to. Your hands are the same bright red as before waves of energy flowing through your hands. “I can’t use my quirk.”

“Holy shit!” You drop your hands and the red haze disappears and Mina goes to use her quirk and is now able to create acid.

“Did you do that?” You flop back sitting on the ground and Mina comes over and sits next to you.

“When I was fighting Gang Orca, when he tried to attack me I was able to stop him from using his quirk.” You look down at your hands letting them glow red energy weaving through your fingers. “I thought I was just going crazy, my quirk I could move things with my mind and all. There was a time when we were learning special moves. I didn’t need to physically see the atoms to disintegrate Ectoplasm’s clone.” You turn to face Mina, “If I keep training, who knows what my quirk could do?”

“This is so cool it’s like having more than one quirk, and once we are Pro and we work harder you could be the next number one.”

You smile, “Only if you’re right there with me.” Mina laughed pulling you into a hug. You both relaxed in the quiet enjoying each other's company unaware of a fight happening on campus. You couldn’t tell how long you were there but you could tell Mina was getting tired, her yawning every so often. “You should head to bed Mina.” You turn to your friend who was nodding off but shot up when you talked to her.

Rubbing her eyes she shook her head, “Nah..I’m..uhhh...fine. I don’t wanna leave you alone.” She gave you a sleepy smile, you shook your head, smiling, getting up to help your half-asleep friend up bringing her to the elevators.

“Crap I forgot my hoodie, you fine with getting to your room.” You turn to your friend who was getting into the elevator.

“Yeah.. yawn..I’ll be good night Y/n.” She waves you off as the doors close. You head back to the courtyard grabbing it, zipping it up. You turn to head out of the courtyard when you see the lights are on inside and two people talking. You hide yourself from their view listening in on the conversation.

“Security bot went off two people at Ground Beta, it’s Midoriya and Bakugo.” You hear Mr. Aizawa and not having to see his face you can tell he is pissed.

“Let me go Aizawa. I’ll bring them back.” You heard All Might as well, how bad is this. Well it is Izuku and Bakugo so it can’t be good.

“Fine you better bring them back.” You hear Mr. Aizawa groan and you hear All Might thank him before you hear them both leave. You walk into the common room after hearing both All Might and Aizawa leave, you hesitated going back to your room. You should just ignore it, they have the situation under control. But Bakugo did seem pretty upset after the exam, you run your hands through your hair deciding on what to do.

‘This is dumb’ You thought trailing after All Might you were far away keeping to the outskirts of the path away from the middle where All Might was. ‘You should have just headed back to your room but here you are stupid’ You mumble following after your teacher.

“So how long are you going to keep trailing after me young Midoriya?” You freeze when he calls out turning to face you.

Your face burned red, embarrassed your teacher had caught you, “I didn’t mean to follow after you it’s just I heard that it was Izuku and Bakugo and just wanted to make sure they were okay, I’m sorry.” You bow looking at your feet hoping he wouldn’t send you back or worst punish you.

“It��s alright you are concerned for your classmate and cousin, come on we shouldn’t delay.” You hear All Might say and you stand straight. You nodded rushing to catch up with him both of you walking side by side. “I heard both you and Midoriya passed your licensing exams, congratulations your parents must be proud.” You nodded

“After everything that has happened something as normal seems as getting my license seems small. I guess the hero life isn’t always smooth sailing.” You said as you both made your way to Ground Beta the sound of fighting getting louder. When you got there both Bakugo and Izuku were rushing to each other. Izuku was sending kicks while Bakugo sends explosion after explosion to his classmate. 

You step forward ready to stop the fight when All Might puts his hand in front “Shouldn’t you stop them All Might?” You questioned.

“These two have both been holding in a lot. It may not seem the best but they need to let the steam out.” He explained as Izuku was flung into some railing barely dodging Bakugo’s blast. You nodded your stomach dropping every time one of the boys was hit or thrown to the ground. Izuku and Bakugo in the air when Bakugo flipped them over so Izuku was closer to the ground sending an explosion that hurtles them to the ground. The strength of the blast sent debris everywhere some heading to you and All Might but you put up a barrier to protect you both. When the smoke cleared Bakugo was sitting over Izuku holding him down, both of them covered in scratches and cuts trying to catch their breaths.

“That’s it… We’re done here- I won this fight.” Bakugo pants pressing Izuku into the ground more making him groan. “You have All Might’s power, but even using his strength, even after making it your own, somehow you still managed to lose to me. Why?” He huffs looking down at his classmate. “How could you lose?” He demands squeezing harder onto Izuku's face and that’s when you had enough. Energy surrounds Bakugo and Izuku’s bodies and you pull them away from each other putting them at a safe distance.

“Stop this right now. Both of you.” All Might says to them. They both look up and see you and All Might Izuku is surprised seeing his mentor and cousin and Bakugo is shocked seeing you. You could barely look at them upset with them and at yourself why did things have to be so difficult. You couldn’t choose sides being pulled into two opposite directions, Izuku being your family and Bakugo being your friend or maybe more. “I’m sorry. But I heard what you’ve said.” All Might apologizes walking towards the two of them you behind him.

“All Might.” Bakugo breathes out glancing over to you.

“When’d you both get here?” Izuku groans

“I didn’t notice before. I should have.” All Might says and Bakugo looks away

“It’s too late now. Why did you pick Deku?” Bakugo asks the three of you to look at the blonde. “It started when the sludge villain came, didn’t it. So why him?” You didn’t know Bakugo’s side of that whole event but when Izuku explained how he got his quirk from All Might that was included as well.

“He was powerless. But still more heroic than anyone else. I knew you were strong. That much was obvious. You were someone who could already fight. So, I decided that he should have the chance to stand in the ring.” All Might explained walking over to stand in front of Bakugo.

“But now you know I’m weak, too.” Bakugo chokes out you could hear him try to hold back tears, “I always wanted to be like you, which meant being as strong as possible. But look what I did to you. Look what I did to Y/n she has those scars because of me. Because I’m not good enough.” You bring your hand up to where your scars are; they were faded but the memories still lie there.

“This is not your fault, Young Bakugo. I was always going to lose my power. You couldn’t do anything to change that. You are strong. But I focused too much on your physical strength and overlooked what was important. This isn’t your burden.” All Might places a hand on a shaky Bakugo pulling him into his chest letting him cry. “I apologize. Sometimes I forget that you’re children.” Bakugo pushes away from All Might, his forehead creased, squeezing his eyes shut so no tears fall. “After being a hero for so many years, you learn a few things. Striving to be the best, like you, Young Bakugo. And caring deeply about people about reducing people like you, young Midoriya.” He looks at Bakugo before turning to Izuku, “Both of those feelings are necessary in a hero. Otherwise, they’ll never truly be able to represent justice. That’s why you admire his strength so much, Young Midoriya. And I know that’s why you’ve always feared his heart and spirit, Young Bakugo. Now that you’ve laid your feelings out on the table, maybe you can understand each other. If you have mutual respect and focus on making one another stronger, I’ve no doubt you’ll become the ultimate heroes, winning and saving people at the same time.”

Both Izuku and Bakugo look at each other. Bakugo looks at the ground and sighs, “Dammit. That’s not what I wanted to hear.” he falls back to sitting on the ground pouting. “You. You had the strongest guy in the world lay the groundwork for you. Don’t you dare lose again.”

Izuku nods “I’ll work harder so that I can beat you.”

“Okay, so talk. Who knows about you two?” Bakugo asks Izuku and All Might. 

“Recovery Girl and Principal Nezu do. As far as students go.. Only you.” All Might says

“Um about that, Izuku told me about this before all this so” You add and Bakugo looks at you shocked that you didn’t tell him and you knew before. “It was after Kamino Ward, he’s my cousin you think I wouldn’t know if he suddenly had a quirk after being quirkless for years.” All Might and Bakugo nodded at your explanation.

“And you don’t want this to get out. ‘Cause that would be bad. Don’t worry your secret’s safe with me. I won’t tell anyone what’s going on. Unlike Deku, I can keep my mouth shut. This will stay between us.”

Izuku looks over to Bakugo “Thanks, Kacchan.”

“I don’t deserve this. I should be down on my hands and knees begging for you to keep this secret for me. Yet here you are, being considerate and helping me out. Thank you.” All Might thanks the two of you.

“I’m not doing it for you. It would be a real pain if this got out and messed stuff up.” Bakugo stands up looking at you both of your faces showing different emotions and what you thought.

“Now that it’s come to this, I can explain what happened between me and Young Midoriya. That’s only fair.” And with that All Might told Bakugo his whole backstory parts of it you knew from when Izuku told you but more details being added into the story. “We all should be heading back, Aizawa probably waiting.” All Might said and the three of you nodded making your way back.

You walked down the main street All Might in front of the three of you Izuku to your right and Bakugo to your left. “If this got out people would be confused and they’d start wondering where the power is. You idiot. What were you thinking when you first told me about it?” Bakugo scoffs at Izuku, making him frown.

“It was my own choice to use up the last of my abilities. I said this earlier, but that was in no way your fault.” All Might said to Bakugo as you all kept walking  

“Yeah sure. It doesn’t change what I have to do.” All Might looks back to the three of you.

“True. You’re right about that.”

“Things aren’t going to be the same, though, Deku. You got that?” Bakugo looks past you to your cousin, “You’ve been watching me and everyone around you, absorbing what you see to get stronger. Well, I can do the exact same thing and keep getting better myself. I’ll go higher than even you, Chosen One.” Bakugo turns his attention to you, “And you just because you don’t have borrowed power doesn’t mean I won’t beat you either, got it.” You and Izuku both nod.

“Right, then I guess I’ll just have  to be better than that.”

“You what?”

“I have to go higher than you.” Izuku brings his hands up, this makes Bakugo upset

“Dammit nerd. I just said I was gonna be the one to surpass you.” He yells at him

“I know! And now I’m saying that I’m gonna go beyond that level.”

“What!?”

“If anything you both should be worried about the person walking between you two, I’m only getting started with expanding how strong my quirk is.” You add your two cents in making the situation worse as Bakugo yells at the two of you, and Izuku tries to prove he will be number 1. The rest of the walk back to height’s alliance was spent with Bakugo and Izuku bickering, and you laughing and adding fuel to the fire. When you got back to the dorms let's say it wasn’t pleasant for the two boys.

“You fought the night you finished the preliminary hero licensing exam?” Aizawa had the two tied up in his capture weapon, and when he looked pissed before you left those two would be dead if looks could kill, “I’m glad to see that you two have so much energy.”

“Aizawa, wait, hold up with those restraints. It’s my fault that they sparred in the first place.”

“You’re fault? And how is that?” Aizawa shoots glares at the two boys. Izuku looks like he is going to pass out and Bakugo is just always angry. You were behind All Might standing against the wall. It was awkward for you to be there like this was their problem. You didn’t want to deal with the wrath of Mr. Aizawa. All Might goes over to Aizawa and whispers something into his ear and then Mr. Aizawa loosens his restraints.

“I understand that they felt they had to break the rules. But this isn’t something I can just ignore. There must be a suitable punishment. Who threw the first punch?” You look over at the two if neither of them said anything, so maybe their punishments wouldn’t be worse.

“I did.” Bakugo rolls his eyes and you facepalm. This idiot is dead.

“I also went pretty hard. It wasn’t just him.” Izuku added.

“You’re both on house arrest. Four days for Bakugo, three for Midoriya. During that time, you’ll clean all the common areas in the dorm, morning and night. Plus I want a written apology,” Aizawa yells at the two bringing back his capture weapon around his neck, “If your injuries need to be checked out, head to the infirmary. But don’t rely on the old Lady’s quirk this time. Figure out a way to heal yourselves.” He finishes his scolding and sighs, “That’s all. Go.” You all nodded thank Aizawa and left. All Might said his goodbyes, leaving the three of you to head to your dorm rooms.

“You both are idiots. Your lucky Mr. Aizawa only gave you house arrest.” You scolded the two as you got in the elevator pressing the second floor and the fourth floor button.

“Yeah whatever.” Bakugo scoffed looking away. The door opened and Izuku walked out saying goodnight the door closing again before moving to your and Bakugo’s floor.

“I’m sorry I never asked how you were feeling.” you said both of you we’re looking forward now that Izuku was gone the atmosphere was weird between the two of you.

“Tch it’s fine.” Bakugo said. The silence was defending, the only sound filling the elevator was the occasional ding. The elevator stops letting you both out, and Bakugo starts to head to his room and you follow after him. He looks back seeing you follow after him. “What are you doing dumbass.” You both are now side to side.

“I’m going to your room.” You said like it was obvious.

“Yeah why.” He walked faster so you were behind him but you picked up your pace to be next to you.

“Cause I’m gonna help you.” You smiled, both of you standing outside his door.

“I don’t need your help. Goodnight.” He huffed closing the door on your face. You frown hearing him lock the door, leaning your head on the door you heard him shuffle around in his room.

“I’m gonna help you Kacchan whether you like it or not.” You heard him chuckle continuing to move around his room.

“Good luck getting in then.” You huffed looking at the door as if it would open with your stare. You sighed leaning your head on the door, come on think. Just let me in...please. You hear the door click and it swings open and you lift your head up. There was Kacchan sitting on his bed with his shirt off mid-cleaning the scratches he received in his fight staring back at you.

You immediately turn around your bright red face and say, “I’m sorry.” You hear him huffed

“Either get in here or leave. I don’t want anyone walking by.” You nod walking in backwards closing the door still keeping your back to him. “Are you gonna stand there the entire time or help like you said.” You smack your hands against your face pulling yourself together, calm down Y/n you’ve already seen him shirtless when at the pool. Same concept. You turn around keeping your eyes away from his chest walking over and sitting next to him on his bed.

“Jeez Izuku did all this to you.” You hiss looking at the cuts on his face and the very bad bruise on both his arms when he blocked one of his kicks.

“Like he isn’t better, couldn’t even beat me.” He hissed when you wiped around one of his cuts with an alcohol wipe.

“Sorry.” You finished cleaning one of his arms wrapping it in bandages moving to his other arm.

“How did you do it.”

You hear him say and you look up at him, “Do what?” He nudges his head to the door

“The door, how did you open it?” You looked at the door, you thought he opened it.

“I thought you opened it.” Your eyes widened, you just stood outside hoping it would open and then it did.

“Probably that freaky quirk of yours, you're like a witch or something.” He looked over you. You were focused on making sure his cuts were clean and the bandages were secure that he really was able to admire you. You were wrapping the bandage around his arm, a look of focus on your face, you looked tired but you stayed awake to help him. The scars littering up your neck were faded, some of the larger ones like the one running up your neck to right below your ear were more noticeable.

Bringing his hand closer he ran his fingers along your scars you froze looking at him and he pulled away, “It’s fine I just wasn’t expecting it.” He nodded, bringing his hand back running his fingers along your neck while you went to clean the scratches on his face, apologizing each time he hissed in pain from the alcohol wipe.

“I’m sorry you didn’t pass your exam.” You mumbled and he scoffed.

“Don’t give me your pity was my own damn fault.” You nodded placing one more bandage on his face pulling away, moving away to put the medical supplies away.

“What happened during your fight with Gang Orca?” You froze your back was to him but he could tell you were nervous.

“Nothing happened. I can’t really remember most of the fight anyway.” You responded placing the first aid kit under his bed.

“Really cause your face when Sero asked about it at the exam and your lack of a response usually means something did happen.” He scoffed, pulling his shirt back on.

“It’s none of your concern what happened anyway.” You turned around to face him.

“You say that but follow after All Might to me and Deku’s fight that wasn’t your concern, but that’s fine you can do what you want.” He says. Both of you getting frustrated at each other.

“Well If you told me what was going on I wouldn’t have to worry about you. That’s how a relationship works” You said.

“I don’t need to tell you shit, it’s not like I ever asked you to be my girlfriend.” Bakugo stated and you felt your heart drop.

“Well I never wanted to be your girlfriend anyway!” You yelled.

“Fine!”

“Great!” You both yelled at each other. You knew what you were saying was a lie but it hurt even more that he was agreeing with you and that made you even more angry. “Whatever have a great night Bakugo.” You hissed, storming out your anger boiling that you didn’t have control of your quirk for a moment.

In that few seconds the door slammed open and then behind you, a few of the items in his room fell off the shelves or his desk. In that moment the last thing Bakugo saw of you before the door closed was you covered in a dark red aura, a completely new energy coming from you.

[bleachluna]

Letters

Ended up skipping day 2 of @hitsukarinweek as I had no ideas for it but here’s my fic for day 3! Also on AO3

Dear Toshiro,

Can you please explain to me how the hell Soul Society managed to copy mobile phones from humans, and even put hollow tracking technology in them, but didn't make them able to send stuff across realms? I know you explained that SS phones in soul society can only contact those in soul society, and when they're here in the human world they can only contact those here, but I only realised how ridiculously stupid that is until after you left. What if there's an emergency and you need to contact someone across realms for whatever reason? Surely you need to get this fixed, I cannot believe if I want to talk to you I'm stuck writing letters like it's the 1800s. I'm even writing more formally than I expected, apparently letter writing brings it out of me and I absolutely hate it. You've gotta fix it. Not to mention I'm not a fan of leaving letters for Urahara to pass on for me, I'm not totally convinced he won't read them.

Anyway, it's been a couple of months since I saw you last. That's probably a good thing, that a captain hasn't been needed here, but I'll admit I wonder about you sometimes, I hope everything is ok on your end! I don't know what it was about turning sixteen but all of a sudden all of this stuff about trying to figure out careers is on me constantly. Yuzu figured out years ago that she wanted to go into healthcare, she took to it way back when we were kids. She was originally planning to go into nursing but her grades have improved a lot recently, she might be a doctor instead, but she's also thinking about midwifery. So there's stuff she's gotta figure out for sure, but at least she knows what area she wants to go into? I don't even have that. I mean how do you figure out what to do with the rest of your life when you're sixteen? I haven't even figured myself out yet. How did you decide to become a shinigami?

Other than that though things are ok. School is a little stressful because grades suddenly feel so much more important, but the work's manageable at least. Hollow level seems to be stable at the minute too which is great, one less thing to worry about! And Urahara improved his reiatsu blocking bracelet thing, I've had this one for almost four months and it hasn't broken so even less chance of getting eaten! Always a plus. But anyway, I hope things are good on your end as well, and that you aren't buried up to your ears in paperwork. Let me know if you ever have any plans to pop up in the human world!

Best Wishes,

Karin

P.S. - I sent this on the 22nd of June, let me know when this gets to you/when you send yours, I wanna know what sort of delivery time we're looking at here.

- - - - -

Dear Karin,

I don't even remotely have the skills or know-how to fix something like that, that's what the Research & Development Team is for. I agree it's a little daft that our mobile phones can't send things across realms, but I'm sure said team knows this and is likely working on it, as you said, it would be unfortunate in an emergency situation. Plus I know Urahara can be a little eccentric, but do you really think he'd read the letters? I'm sure it's fine.

It is a good thing I've not been needed, the last thing Karakura needs is more trouble and destruction. Have they managed to rebuild that major bridge you were talking about yet? Everything is alright here, or at least in my division anyway. I've been kept busy recently, a set of students graduated from the academy last month so I've had 18 new recruits to introduce to squad 10. As for the careers stuff, I honestly assumed from the work you did here and there for the clinic that you were interested in healthcare as well, I take it that's not actually the case then? Do you at least have rough ideas of the sort of thing you'd want to go into? I'm not sure I'll be much help in that respect, I can't wrap my head around half of the jobs that seem to exist in the human world. In some ways I had it easier, the choice was out of my hands. My reiatsu was getting stronger and Hyorinmaru came to me before I even knew what was happening, I needed to go to the academy to make sure my reiatsu didn't become dangerous, therefore I became a shinigami. I never had to wonder what to do with myself in terms of employment.

I'm glad to hear things are going well with you, I'm certainly glad to hear you don't have to worry as much about the bracelet breaking. Is your reiatsu still increasing? If it's stabilising that might be part of why this new bracelet is managing better. I know you're not particularly interested in getting involved with shinigami stuff, which frankly I agree with, but if your reiatsu is still increasing I do think it's worth training you to hide it properly. I am unfortunately always at least a little buried in paperwork, particularly recently with the new recruits, but it's manageable. I don't think I'll be in the human world soon, but I will let you know if I plan to.

Best Wishes,

Toshiro

P.S. - I got your letter on the 2nd of July, I should be handing this letter over to be sent on the 4th, schedule permitting.

- - - - -

Dear Toshiro,

Well I hope you make sure that the research team are working on it, because this really is ridiculous. And you're kidding right? I trust Urahara about as far as I can throw him, which is probably all of three feet.

The bridge is still being rebuilt, but I think they're in the last stages now thank god. All the diversions needed really messed with the traffic, maybe I can finally stop leaving the house half an hour earlier just to get to my soccer club. It's supposed to be twenty minutes max by bus and it's been taking easily twice that. Let me know if you find out which shinigami it was that released their zanpakuto on that bridge, I have some choice words for them.

An entire class of students graduated and you only got 18 newbies at the tenth? Was it a small class or is that the normal kind of numbers you see? I assumed there's like, thousands and thousands of shinigami, is there less than I thought? Is that why I only ever see you and Rukia besides the dude who's currently stationed here? And I don't know about going into healthcare, that's my whole problem! I don't know what I want. Healthcare is fine but I don't feel like it's my life purpose to go into it either so yeah, I don't know. Healthcare would be alright, sports would be cool maybe? But I don't think there's a whole lot of sports careers outside of professional (which is definitely not happening) or teaching, and I'm not convinced I'm the teacher type. I just don't seem to have this strong urge to go in a particular direction like Yuzu does. But wow, I didn't know that, you basically HAD to train to be a shinigami? I didn't know that was a thing that could happen, that your reiatsu can go that far on its own. That kind of sucks though doesn't it? That you had no choice? I hope you enjoy being a shinigami at least.

To be honest I think my reiatsu probably is still going up. I don't think it's as quick as it was before, it's settled a little bit, probably because there hasn't been much danger around recently, but I do think it's still inching up. Is that a huge issue? Obviously it became a huge issue with you so now I'm kinda nervous. I'm not gonna get kidnapped into the shinigami am I? I can train to hide my reiatsu without actually becoming a shinigami right? Frankly I trust you more on this than Urahara. And you better let me know in advance if you can, Yuzu says she wants to make you those dumplings you liked again.

Best Wishes,

Karin

P.S. - I got excited at first thinking that sending these took less than two weeks, that didn't seem that bad considering we're sending them via Urahara whenever someone comes through realms, but then your letter took almost a month to come, it arrived on the 27th :( I'm handing this letter over on the 28th.

- - - - -

Dear Karin,

The Research & Development Team is not under my command, they belong to the twelfth, I cannot make sure that they're working on it, but I shall ask at the next opportunity I get. I think you're selling yourself short, I'm sure you could get at least five feet, but I do see your point, I can't say I fully trust him either, not on an individual basis anyway. I trust him to want the best for everybody, and to work towards that, but I don't think he pays attention to what that means for the individuals in the situation. More of a 'the end justifies the means' sort of person from what I've heard. And I'm afraid I have no idea who it was who damaged the bridge, but given they were fighting a powerful hollow at the time I imagine it was the correct course of action. Better on the bridge than in the middle of town.

I get the impression there is less shinigami than you think. Most squads have just over two hundred or so members, so 18 new recruits is actually a pretty good year. As for why you only really see me or Vice-Captain Kuchiki, it's a combination of needing a strong enough shinigami to deal with the sort of problems that crop up in Karakura, while also needing said shinigami to have a vague clue on how to navigate the human world. Vice-Captain Kuchiki presumably has rather extensive knowledge having lived in the human world for months, and I've been known to visit for years so they know I'm alright with being there as well. I think it's alright to not have an idea of a 'life's purpose' when you're in your second year of high school. Maybe just pick something for now as a sort of in-between while you continue working out what it is you want? Sometimes a job is just a job after all. You could always try a career in sports and see how it goes if it interests you now, and switch later on? I'm sure you'll figure something out. I'll admit I was definitely reluctant to train as a shinigami at first, it was never something I wanted originally, so it was hard to deal with to begin with I suppose, but I don't mind it these days. It's stressful, but at least I'm doing something where I'm trying to keep people safe, that suits me well enough.

Unfortunately yes, in my case my reiatsu continuously going up was an issue, but I don't think it's as serious with you. Firstly, you've not got a zanpakuto knocking on your subconscious as far as I know (the telltale giveaway is weird dreams where someone/something is trying to talk to you and tell you it's name, in case you were worried about that), and the people around you aren't vulnerable. You're unlikely to cause issues with your reiatsu because everyone around you has some degree of spiritual power already. As for the other questions, I certainly hope you won't be kidnapped into the shinigami, and I don't think your brother or even Urahara would let that happen, but it's possible you'll get Soul Society's attention if it keeps going unchecked. Of course with Urahara keeping on eye on it and keeping the reiatsu blocking bracelet on you, I'd argue that it's largely taken care of and shouldn't get other shinigami on you. There isn't much shinigami training you can do without becoming a shinigami, but you can learn to withdraw and hide your reiatsu even as a human so don't worry about that. I would say to ask your brother but he's never been very good at controlling his, Urahara is your other option, or possibly Vice-Captain Kuchiki if she's around. Or if those don't work out and your reiatsu gets to a point where you're truly worried about it let me know, I'll train you in it myself if it comes to it. Also, I appreciate the thought but your sister doesn't need to go to trouble like that for me.

Best Wishes,

Toshiro

P.S. - I got your letter on the 17th of August. I think it's safe to say they take anywhere from over a week to just under a month to arrive each time.

- - - - -

Dear Toshiro,

Let me know what the research team says! If they say they're not working on it please heavily suggest that they do, and if they say they are working on it, please ask how long they think it'll take them. Just think how much easier communicating would be if we could just call each other. The end justifies the means is EXACTLY Urahara's vibe, which is exactly why I don't really trust him. So yeah, it wouldn't even remotely surprise me if he's been reading these the entire time, better to assume the worst and be pleasantly surprised than the other way around. I suppose you have a point about the bridge being a better location than in the middle of a bunch of people, I'll put up with inconvenient travel times over unnecessary death.

Only a little over two hundred per squad? There is less than I thought! That's way less than your average university over here, that's crazy! 18 newbies is good in that case, your squad must be pretty popular. And no wonder I only really ever see you or Rukia, you guys clearly need to work on getting more people up to the speed with the human world or you're gonna end up over-worked! I guess I could just go for sports now and switch later? I don't know, you kinda get it into your head that you've gotta figure out what you want and stick to it, but I guess there's nothing actually stopping me from changing paths later. Once school goes back in I'm gonna get a meeting and talk to the careers lady, see what she says. I'm glad you're alright with being a shinigami now, hopefully it isn't stressful too much of the time.

Well, I'll take your word for it, you know more than me on this but I'm still kinda wary. You're right that there's no zanpakto trying to get my attention so far at least so that's something. If I do get kidnapped by the shinigami I'm trusting you to break me back out, but yeah that is kind of the whole point of the bracelet, that it blocks off my reiatsu from others so hollows can't find me so easily (and shinigami apparently, yeesh) so hopefully this won't actually be an issue. I don't really want to ask Urahara to train me but I will if I have to I guess. Asking Rukia's a good idea though! I'll ask whenever she next pops up, she seems like she'd be good at that sort of thing, maybe that'll solve this whole situation. Or you know, you, if you happen to come sooner, whoever comes to the human world next I guess! I'd feel better knowing that I myself could do the thing the bracelet's doing. Although I do have a question, how do you do it in your sleep? Or is it not possible and you're just vulnerable a third of the time? That seems unfortunate. Also you're kidding right? Cooking is the primary way my sister shows her care and affection, if she wants to cook for you there's no stopping her so you can at least give us notice so we can get ingredients and stuff.

Best Wishes,

Karin

- - - - -

Dear Karin,

I will let you know what the research team says as soon as it actually comes up. I can see your point, I suppose it is better to plan for the worst and be pleasantly surprised otherwise. Good to see you have your priorities in order, is the bridge finally finished though?

I remember being surprised by the size of your high school, I assume universities are even bigger? Must be an administrative nightmare to keep track of all those students, I feel like I can have a hard enough time with the 226 members I have. Squad 10 was surprisingly popular this year, the only other squads who had numbers like that were the sixth and the eleventh, both of which always have high numbers. We did have 'human world' classes at the academy at one point, but they ended up being scrapped a decade or so ago, any information learned was rendered almost completely obsolete within a few years, meaning the stuff the students learned was more or less useless by the time they were actually getting stationed in the human world. These days we just give a brief information pack about the human world before they leave, currently being updated semi-regularly by Vice-Captain Kuchiki. Meeting with a staff member whose job it is to deal with career pathways certainly sounds like a good idea, I hope it goes well if it hasn't already taken place.

Once again, I certainly hope Soul Society would try such a thing, it would be incredibly stupid considering I don't think your brother, who damn near took on the whole of Soul Society and pretty much came out on top, would ever let you get kidnapped in the first place. And I'm fairly sure me, a captain, breaking out someone Soul Society captured is probably considered treason of some kind, but I can promise I'll be in your corner one way or another. Not to mention, I don't think most shinigami would be prepared for you anyway, most are too used to sword combat, I don't think the average shinigami would handle your hand to hand very well. I'm sure you've got nothing to worry about. As for hiding your reiatsu in your sleep, generally speaking you just practice it enough that it becomes second nature, most shinigami do it subconsciously after a while, including in sleep, although nightmares and the like can interfere a little bit. Your sister has met me what, three times? She feels strongly enough to cook for me? It really is unnecessary although I'm sure the thought is kind. I did say I'd give you notice if I came to the human world though, our sensors are showing an increase in hollow activity in Karakura recently. We're currently just monitoring, we're holding off for now as it might be temporary, but if it gets worse I'm coming to monitor the situation properly and to make sure no incidents happen with the hollow increase. Judging from the current rate, if it keeps going as is I'll probably be there in two weeks or so. With any luck this letter will arrive before I do but if not, I'll make sure to meet up with you somewhere.

Best Wishes,

Toshiro

- - - - -

Dear Toshiro,

Your letter got here super quick, less than a week after I sent mine! Looks like there's increased shinigami activity to match the hollow activity, which boy, you're not kidding that its increased. My reiatsu's jumped up again and I couldn't tell you if it was a response to all the hollows around, or that the hollows arrived because of me. I really hope it's the former. Hopefully you'll be here soon! I think I could do with the training sooner rather than later and if I'm being honest I'd feel safer. But anyway, in response to your letter:

The bridge is actually finished! Just in time for the increased hollows to fuck it up again I'm sure! Most universities are like 10,000 to 30,000 easy, and I think some are bigger than that? So yeah, only two hundred or so shinigami per squad is insane to me. I'm pretty sure the universities have whole administrative teams just for the purpose, does your squad have an admin person at all or is it just you? When I first found out about the shinigami I didn't think I'd sit here wondering about the bureaucracy of it all but here I am. Oh wow I would've loved to sit in one of those human world classes, would've been hilarious I bet. At least you give newly stationed people something, I imagine the culture shock must be a bit much, I'm sure Rukia's information is very accurate given how much time she's spent here. And the careers meeting is actually in two days, I kinda nervous about it to be honest, but hopefully it'll be helpful.

Well I suppose when you put it that way Soul Society kidnapping me would very much be poking the bear huh? I'm extremely saddened to hear that you wouldn't commit treason for me though, what kind of friendship is this??? But I suppose I'll take comfort in you being 'in my corner one way or another', whatever that means. Does it mean in the event of soul society kidnapping me and forcing me to be a shinigami you'd immediately put me in your squad? That's the vibe I'm getting. But that's good to know about the hand to hand combat and the reiatsu withdrawing while still asleep, I'll bear those both in mind. As for your potential visit, given hollows seem to be popping up left right and centre I'm assuming you're probably coming in a week or so, I'll look out for your arrival! I get the impression this letter isn't going to get to you before you arrive in the human world but just in case it does I'll let you know, Yuzu added the dumpling ingredients onto her shopping list. That means you've gotta be at our house for at least one dinner! Consider it repayment for the training I'm gonna demand from you.

Hope you get here safe,

Karin

[valeriesrevenge]

Thank you for the stuff you post. I'm thankful you are here.

I've been feeling off lately. I wish I could just reblog radfem on main but people know my tumblr irl.

I'm sorry for the vent but I gotta get this off my chest.

The shit the Trans movement has been pulling has pissed me off. Sometimes I feel bad discovering way too late I'm a lesbian. Seriously why is it so hard for them to accept there are people who are attracted exclusively to the same sex? Like I'll respect pronouns and gender identity but why can't they respect other people who do want cis for cis? Why do we have to tip toe around Trans people and throw actual women's health under the proverbial bus? I hate it that men's health never got reduced to male. Yet women's health became AFAB and even that they want to take away.

To make things more frustrating I remember the the early 2000s in high school and getting hate back then for being pro gay marriage. No trans people were advocating for gay rights. They didn't start speaking until 2015 and then it was talking about themselves... It was gay people, feminists, atheists, and other allies calling out conservative bullshit who helped paved the way to same sex marriage. Now the Trans insist religion is harmless despite the violence done in the name of it. I remember being told as a girl that love was fake and that women just settled for a man they could tolerate. That one day I'll lose my love for other girls because it's normal to find them beautiful as a teen its something to grow out of. It took me a long time to accept I wasn't straight. I even tried to date a man hoping if I could make myself take a dick maybe I was normal. I couldnt do it.

When I learned about trans stuff originally I was happy to learn something new. But now I very much regret talking to trans people especially after seeing all the rights they whittled away at and are now chipping away at anyone discussing cis women's health. Its just not fair. I want to say something positive something hopeful at the end of this but what is there to say? Only thing I can do is advocate for women's spaces and safety in the long term. Even then I get scared its not enough without funding.

Thank you for this, anon. I share a lot of these frustrations, as do a lot of women I know online and irl. I think there's still hope for the women's liberation movement, especially when I see crypto-GC feminists like you and others talking about these issues. So thank you for the support and sharing commiseration <3.

The trans movement and its ideology is fundamentally at odds with gay (lgb) rights and women's rights. It's a men's rights movement. The men's 'right' to take over women's spaces, force lesbians to have hetero sex with men, silence women's voices and redefine what being a woman means using misogynistic stereotypes. I drank the TRA Kool-Aid for many years in neo-liberal university, so I think there's hope for peaking a lot of women once they realize what's really at stake. It's not about 'just let people be themselves', it's about who gets to define material reality and women's experiences in the real world. Wear what you want, but pants don't make a man, nor does a dress make a woman.

Women deserve to define themselves based on sex, to feel proud of their body, to talk about women's health and women's issues without walking on eggshells to accommodate men. We deserve our own sports teams, our own bathrooms, our own seats in Parliament.

Sex is immutable. Same-sex attraction is immutable. No matter what trans activists or men's rights activists say or do, they will never be able to take that away from us.

Take care of yourself. I know it's so draining constantly seeing all kinds of awful things online and irl, so make time for yourself and prioritize your own mental and physical health always. Don't let the bastards get you down.

[chicknparm]

1. "Stay here tonight." + 31. "Calm down." Chaseprice

Uhhhhhh went a bit overboard with this one...it’s quite long and there’s some big big CWs for sex, alcohol, and mentions of abuse and suicide. Only felt right for the first Chaseprice scene I write to be extremely dark and angsty. Also gotta give credit to @chaseprice as the preeminent scholar in this field for letting me bounce ideas off of her and graciously editing.

“There...now get your hands off me.” Chloe says as she pushes Victoria’s arm away from her. 

“Well that’s a new one,” Victoria scoffs back, catching her breath. “Not in the mood to whine about being held this time?”

“Shut the fuck up.” Chloe says coldly.

Victoria watches her walk over to the mini fridge she keeps under the desk. Chloe reaches inside the freezer compartment and pulls out the bottle of Vodka that permanently occupies it. She unscrews the cap and takes a large swig, furrowing her face as she does so.

“What the fuck is your problem, Price? Do you have any idea how expensive Grey Goose is in this dump? Put that shit back right now.” She scolds. Chloe turns back at her.

“What are you going to do about it.” Chloe says, monotone and disinterested.

“Are you fucking kidding me right now? You of all people can’t pull this tough guy shit. What do you think I’m going to want to put you in your place and pounce on you or something? That’s not how this works, you’re not worth my energy. You come over, I cum, you cry, you leave. That’s how this works.”

“You think I want you to touch me right now?” Chloe says, raising her eyebrows. 

Clearly Chloe isn’t expecting, or doesn’t care to listen to, an answer, as she takes another large swig of Victoria’s Vodka and sets it down, still uncapped, on her desk. She grabs her tank top that was tossed over a chair and nonchalantly puts it on. Usually during this stage Victoria can’t help herself but to sneak a couple more glances at Chloe’s chest, but it’s becoming clear this isn’t some ploy to keep her turned on.

Chloe is always moody after sex, but not like this. Normally, she just has a breakdown and embarrasses herself with a flood of tears, and the words never cross either of their lips, but it’s understood who and what she’s crying over. Victoria likes it when Chloe is aggressive, a little angry, that’s kind of the whole deal, but this is different. 

“I think you want someone to touch you.” Victoria says with a cruel smirk, having found her angle.

“Who?”

“Wow, you really are a masochist huh?” Victoria smugly looks at Chloe, if Chloe wants to play with fire let her get burned. “ Rachel. Rachel Amber. Your fucking angel dream girl whatever the fuck. You know, the one who left? The one who disappeared without a word?”

“Yeah. I do. You do too though.” Chloe grabs the vodka again and takes another swig.

“You’re going to be so fucking trashed, Price, you already stank of cheap beer when you got here. If you throw up in my dorm I’ll make sure you never step foot on this campus again. But, anyway, what the fuck are you getting at?”

“You wish she was here too. You miss her touching you too.” Chloe says, starting to raise her voice. Several shots worth of vodka seem to be catching up to her now. “Whole fucking school knows you two hooked up. Whole school knows what you are, Vic.”

“You’re such a cunt.” Victoria bites back. She shouldn’t lose her cool though, she can’t give up control like that. “Well if you know that, then I guess you should also know that she fucks better than you do.”

“I know exactly how she fucks. You think I care about your stupid fuckin, fuckin dick measuring contest?” Chloe sloppily screws the cap back on the Vodka and slams it back into the freezer. She starts fumbling with her pockets. “Where’d I put my keys.”

“No,” Victoria says, much more softly than she intended, “go walk home, you’re not driving anywhere like this except headfirst into traffic.” 

“Put some clothes on, you’re embarrassing yourself.” Chloe says, continuing her search.

Victoria hadn’t even thought about the fact that she was still naked. Duly embarrassed, she grabs some shorts and a tank top of her own as nonchalantly as she can so as not to give Chloe any satisfaction. Vic looks over and sees her still searching around the dorm room, illuminated only by the moonlight through her window. 

Victoria doesn’t care about her. She’s just a sex toy, a dirty one at that, but this still doesn’t feel right.

“Knock it off, Price, seriously, go catch a bus with the rest of the drunks.”

“What the fuck do you care?! Stop acting like you give a shit!” Chloe finally snaps.

This is also new. The way Chloe is looking over at her, looking down at her, is different from all the times she’s hate-fucked her. Usually all it takes is some comments about her being poor, being pathetic, being lonely, that get her to hold Victoria down and be rough with her, just as she likes it. But there’s not an ounce of lust in her eyes tonight. Not an ounce of desire, just hate. Can’t be far from breaking her now. 

“I don’t. Go get turned to paste like your dad for all I care.”

That does the trick. Chloe stomps her way over to Victoria’s bed and screams in her face. “Don’t you ever fucking say a word about him!” She grabs Victoria by the chin, with more force than she’s ever touched her before. “Not one fucking word!”

Victoria doesn’t flinch. She barely blinks. She doesn’t know how to react. Chloe lets go of her face and steps away, her own mouth agape in shock.

“I-I…” Chloe starts, but falls to her knees and starts to sob.

“Calm down…” Victoria tries to maintain her detached tone but it’s not working. Chloe has never snapped like this. Never even come close to getting physical (in a way Victoria didn’t explicitly want). But she’s never hit Chloe below the belt the way she did just now either. Victoria obviously wanted a reaction, but she didn’t want this. Or, maybe she did want it, and what does that say about her? After what happened last semester she’d been trying to save that extra level of cruelty only for herself. But Chloe’s always been the exception. And now she’s seeing the result.

“Price, you’ve gotta...come on just…” Victoria stumbles over her words as Chloe continues to sob on the floor, “Chloe. Don’t do this.”

“I’m a fucking monster!” Chloe cries into her hands.

“You’re not, no, you’re not a monster. You’re a lot of things, but you’re not a monster.” Victoria’s voice is softening, almost against her will. Used to be Victoria could make girls cry without a second thought. Or if she did feel a pang of guilt, she could always drown those feelings later, but this situation is on the verge of danger.

“I am! Get drunk, come over here and hit you, I’m like him...I’m like him and, him and your dad.” Chloe says wiping her face on her arm.

“No. You’re not my dad, and you’re not your step-dad either. They’re the monsters. Neither of them feel anything when they hurt people.”

“I gotta fuckin...gotta…” Chloe slurs, trailing off at the end as she looks across the room and gets up from the floor. She walks over to Victoria’s closet and grabs her jacket from the handle. She fumbles with the pockets but Victoria can hear the jangling of a keychain inside.

“Chloe, no, don’t do this.” Victoria panics, grabbing Chloe by the arm. “Please. Don’t do this, I don’t want you to go out there and kill yourself.” She says through tears of her own.

“Well why didn’t you say that to fuckin Kate Marsh! She didn’t do, fucking anything to you! I deserve this, she didn’t.” Chloe says, looking away from Victoria.

Victoria’s grip tightens on Chloe’s arm. She’s right. Kate didn’t do anything to her. And she kept pushing that girl, and pushing her and pushing her, and now she’s dead. 

“No. Chloe, neither of you deserve to fucking die and I can’t let another person do this. Please, stay here tonight.”

Chloe finally looks at her. A mix of fear, anger, and self-loathing shine through her watery eyes in the moonlight. Victoria never saw Kate this close, but she wonders how many times she had that same look in her eyes. Chloe looks at the ground again and pulls to move away from Victoria, but Victoria doesn’t let go. Chloe tries taking a step forward, maybe thinking she could drag Victoria with her, but she loses her balance and falls to the floor. Victoria still holds onto her arm and kneels down next to Chloe, once again sobbing into the floor. Victoria lets out a sigh and finally lets herself feel just how much she’s been shaking. She will have to push Chloe out of the door as soon as she wakes up. 

Just because Victoria doesn’t have any love for Chloe doesn’t mean she wants to see her dead. Every other night from here on out she’ll be her own problem, but at least she’s safe. For now. Victoria reaches over and pulls a pillow and quilt off of her couch, properly setting Chloe up for the night. She’ll have to get up to get her a bucket soon, just in case. It’s a while before she lets go of her arm.

[speuradair]

After School Lesson | M.N.

(Author’s Note- This is a reupload of a fic I posted a few months ago. I realized that it was deleted at some point? I’m not sure how or why, but here it is again lol)

Word Count: 3.1k

Contains: Death mention, swearing, angst, injury

Requested: by @technolilly​

“Hi! How about a Makoto X Reader where Makoto, Kyoko, and the reader were the three most suspicious people in the Mukuro trial. During the trial, Reader takes the blame off Makoto but at the last second Kyoko throws the reader under the bus, meaning everyone voted for reader so she was executed? Alter ego saves her and then Makoto and Kyoko rescue her from the garbage? Basically just make the first half really angsty and then have a happy reunion? Feel free to change anything you want! Tysm! “

-

“Being optimistic is the only thing I’m good at.” - Makoto Naegi

-

Thousands of horrific incidents happened everyday. People got attacked, things got stolen, accidents happened. It was just a fact of life. Yet somehow, even after hearing news reports of heinous crimes everyday of your almost eighteen years of life, you’re still never prepared for anything horrific to happen to you.

Then again, this kind of thing was recognizably unprecedented. In all of those newscasts you’d heard, both actively and passively, you’d never heard about anything like this. How could you have possibly prepared to be thrown into the midst of a Killing Game? 

Though it was hard to keep track of the days while being secluded away, you were certain you’d been trapped in Hope’s Peak Academy for at least a month. There had been over 730 hours to process this, but it still didn’t feel real. Maybe on some level you were subconsciously clinging onto a false shred of hope that this was just a night terror, or maybe your mind just wasn’t willing to admit that things really were this dire. Regardless of the reasoning, you’d spent your days here in an unlikely mix of dread and apathy. You were both hyper-aware and numb. 

And somehow, even in moments of heightened tension like this one, you found yourself spacing out and losing small chunks of time. You hadn’t even noticed you’d zoned out at first, and you certainly hadn’t intended to, but you realized you’d missed the last minute or so of the Class Trial. In circumstances like this, not catching a minute’s worth of conversation could have been a deadly mistake.

“Without my room key, I couldn’t have possibly put the locker key in there myself.”

Kirigiri was still debating Byakuya’s claim that she must’ve killed Mukuro, as the key to the locker holding the believed murder weapon was found in her room. Thankfully, that meant you couldn’t have missed anything too revolutionary. You took this to be reassuring and allowed your gaze to deviate from the two arguing over to the brown haired boy standing at the podium beside yours. The trial was in full swing and Makoto looked as pensive as everyone in the room did, but he still remembered to keep a tight, reassuring grip on your hand as you stood in the space next to his. While preoccupied with pinning the culprit, there was still a part of his mind focused on comforting you. 

“Does no one have any objections? Do you accept what Kirigiri is saying?” 

After receiving only silence , Byakuya sighed. “I see. We have no choice but to accept it. It wasn’t Kirigiri who put the locker key in her room, but someone else.”

“But.. who is ‘someone else’? Toges, you had Kiri’s key, right?” Hiro questioned. 

“Yes, but I have an alibi. After 10 p.m., I was with you all. It’s not possible for me to have murdered Mukuro Ikusaba or to have put the key in Kirigiri’s room.”

“Then who did put the key in Kiri’s room?” Byakuya was quick to answer Hiro again. “There’s only one reasonable possibility- He had the key with him and pretended as though he found it in Kirigiri’s room.” “You’re talking about... Naegi?” Aoi’s voice cracked a bit as she spoke, a look not unlike betrayal clouding over her soft features. 

“That’s the only explanation.”

“That’s not possible,” You spoke up without a second thought, though your voice was weaker than you had intended, “While we were investigating in the bio lab, Makoto gave me his jacket, and there definitely wasn’t anything in his pockets then. We went straight to the garden so he could meet with Byakuya after that, so he couldn’t have stopped to get it. If it wasn’t in his jacket, where else would he have been able to hide that bulky key without you noticing he had it?”

“Hm, I suppose that is a fair point. It would have been rather difficult to conceal it just beneath his shirt..” Byakuya looked away again in thought, seemingly satisfied with your reasoning.

“He actually took off his jacket? I didn’t think he ever took that thing off...”

“Oh yeah, he totally did! (Name) was still wearing it when they came into the garden! She even had her hands in the pockets,” Aoi confirmed to Yasuhiro, her voice brighter now that her friend didn’t seem like the culprit. 

“You had his jacket, (name)?” Kyouko raised her hand to her chin in thought, “It’s true that Makoto clearly didn’t have the key in his pocket when he gave her his jacket, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t in his pocket when he got it back.”

“Huh?” 

Other than Makoto, Kirigiri was the student you trusted the most. You’d covered for her multiple times, and followed her command even when you didn’t understand her motives or reasoning. You had offered to let her stay in your room with you last night when Byakuya confiscated her key. In a normal high school scenario, you wouldn’t have hesitated to call her one of your best friends. 

She couldn’t possibly be implying what you thought… right? 

“If the key wasn’t in his pocket this morning and he never stopped back at his dorm, he couldn’t have had it when the murder took place. Yet somehow it was in his pocket by the time he needed to plant it in my room,” she spoke with an almost chilling certainty. “There was only one person who would have had the opportunity to pass the key off to him in time.”

She sounded calm, not at all like someone accusing their friend of murder. 

“Hold on-” Makoto raised his hands defensively, unintentionally tugging the one in your grasp away rather harshly. He wasn’t happy when he was under suspicion, but now she was accusing you? 

But Kyouko didn’t yield. 

“Makoto was the only person who could have placed the key in my room, but there’s only one person who could have had it when Mukuro was killed. There’s also only one person that Makoto would be willing to cover for- his girlfriend.”

“What?!” you practically spit out your response. 

“H-hold on a second! That’s not what happened!” Makoto was reeling. “Let’s think things through again! There’s something at work behind the scenes here- there has to be! This whole class trial doesn’t make any sense, don’t you guys agree?! Mukuro Ikusaba, who we’d never seen before, suddenly shows up dead… and there’s a class trial for it?! A- and Kirigiri was saying, too, that this is all a trap set by the Puppetmaster! So it’s gotta be-” 

Monokuma’s shrill voice cut off Makoto’s desperate rambling. “Okay! Time’s up!”

“What?”

“Time’s uuuup! The Class Trial is oooover! So there’s no need to talk about anything else!” 

“W- what the hell? We’re out of time?” Makoto replied first, your reaction trailing quickly after. 

“Hold on, what do you mean? That’s not fair!”

“We’ve never had a time limit!” Suddenly even Kyouko looked panicked, her restraint and conviction having vanished as the trail was definitively ended. There was no going back. 

“All thanks to your tardiness, Kirigiri! ‘Cause of you, we were tight on time! With that said, you guys, it’s Ballot Time! Please cast your ballot using the switch in front of you!”

Makoto’s green eyes met yours as you both turned towards each other at the same time. The look of pure trepidation and disbelief etched onto his features must’ve mirrored yours perfectly. 

“Ballot… time?”

-

“I’m… the culprit?” your voice was soft, almost too quiet for even your boyfriend beside you to hear it. 

“N-no, that’s not right, guys-” Makoto was immediately shaking his head in shock and confusion, his hand reaching out for yours again desperately as he tried to make a last minute plea for them to believe him. Your words cut him off though, the panic fully setting in. 

“That’s not right! I didn’t do it! Th- this doesn’t make any sense!” 

“It’s time for another super exciting, heart-pounding punishment!!”

Your gaze directly snapped to Kirigiri, who looked even paler than usual- as if the weight of what her lies had caused was setting in. You’d had her back this entire time, and she blamed you. She framed you.  “W- why me?”

“I have no illusions for earning your forgiveness, because all of this is my fault..” her response was simple and to the point, just like her answers always were. She was acting like she usually did, except that she’d just betrayed you in the most brutal way possible. 

“Kirigiri, tell them-” Makoto made his own frantic appeal for her to clear this up, to do anything to stop them from ripping you away from him. He moved urgently, throwing his arms around you and clutching you to his chest. They couldn’t just execute you when you weren’t the actual culprit, right? This wasn’t how this game was supposed to be played. 

Yet Monokuma insisted, and you were forcefully dragged away from your boyfriend’s secure embrace. 

“Let’s get the ball rollin’! It’s punishment time!”

You have been found guilty. Time for the punishment! 

The sharp fibers of the ropes around your legs and wrists dug into your skin, dispelling any chance you had at convincing yourself that this was just some bad dream. You could feel the frayed rope stabbing your skin, the sputtering of the conveyor belt below your desk, the shake that spread through the room with every 

Thud 

thud

thud

Of the giant machine pounding into the ground behind you. 

Almost against your own will, you were flailing against the chair, screaming and sobbing, begging for help. No one could help you, no matter how hard you screamed, and flailing only made the sharp rope cut into your skin more than it already was. 

This wasn’t how this was supposed to end. You’d promised Makoto that the two of you would take down the Mastermind and get out of here together, yet somehow, you’d ended up in the execution chair. For a crime you didn’t commit. This was it, this was how you went. You had lost and there was nothing you could do about it. 

You were going to be blackened, and you had to accept it.

Squeezing your eyes shut, you tried to calm yourself, though your chest still shook with sobs. 

You thought of Makoto. You thought of how he’d been so reassuring and supportive during your time here. How he’d pull you into his side when you got too overwhelmed, or hold your hand when you investigated together. How warm he felt when he’d squeeze you into a tight hug, or how nice his jacket smelled when he let you wear it. How he could never tie his uniform tie correctly. How he had looked at you with pure love in his eyes that day while lying together under a sakura tree outside of the school, with the warm sun filtering through the petals onto your skin… when had that happened?

But a sudden new sound startled you and you opened your eyes without thinking. The heavy foot of the machine had frozen, and was now giving off a grating buzzing noise as if it was trying with all its power to still move, to still crush. 

You almost missed it in your surprise, but out of the corner of your eye you caught a familiar face flash onto the screen in front of you. Alter Ego? 

Then you were falling. The foot had stopped, but the conveyor belt had kept going and the desk rolled off of it, sending you flying backwards into the dark. 

Your eyes opened slowly, fogginess swelling in your mind as you tried to remember what happened and where you were.  Unfortunately, it only took a few moments for the violent memories of the trial and execution to come flooding back to you. The crushing block had halted, but then you fell backwards, still tied tight to the old wooden desk. Splintered bits of that desk lied around you, seemingly having shattered on impact. That same impact must've knocked you unconscious, but you were most definitely alive. Alter Ego had stopped the execution. 

You weren’t sure where you had ended up at first; it wasn’t a part of the school you’d seen before. Considering the rancid smell and large piles of garbage, there was really only one place it could be- the bottom of the trash chute. 

Pushing through the pounding headache pulsing from your neck, you stood to your feet to study your surroundings. Did you still have to watch out for Monokuma and the Mastermind, or had they presumed you to be dead? Had they all presumed you to be dead? Naturally your thoughts returned to Makoto- had he assumed you were dead? That thought made you feel even more nauseous than you had been from your probable concussion. There was a chance that everyone had written off trying to help you, even your boyfriend. You wanted to believe that he wouldn’t stop looking for you until he was absolutely certain you were gone, but your frayed nerves coaxed you to dwell on that feeling, that despair, of being totally forgotten. 

Salty tears slipped onto your lips, the sudden taste snapping you back to reality a bit. You hadn’t even realized you were crying at first. What was the point of crying now? That wasn’t going to accomplish anything other than intensifying your dehydration. The only productive thing you could do was to search for food, water or a way out. 

The large door at the front of the room was bolted shut. Of course it was. All of the food was rotten. Of course it was. With no way out and no food to eat, the only thing you could do was to give into the exhaustion- both mental and physical. 

So you slept. You hadn't really slept since this killing game had started, and though this wasn't any less tense of a situation, it was the first time in a while where there wasn't anything to do. There was no investigating to do or people to watch out for. Down here, the only thing you could do was feed that need to sleep. 

A loud thud shook the ground and startled you awake, your eyes immediately scanning the area cautiously. Nothing looked different at first, but you were certain that something heavy had just fallen down. Then you noticed that all too familiar green jacket peeking out of what must have been a new pile of trash bags. 

"M- Makoto?!" 

He groaned for a second, trying to recover from the rough landing, before his green eyes flickered open. They met with yours, and somehow, even in this twisted situation, his gaze still made your heart race. 

"(Name)! You're okay!" The clumsy boy scrambled to his feet as quickly as he could, trying not to slip on the trash he'd fallen down with. He barely wasted a second to steady himself before throwing his arms around you, pulling you into his chest as tightly as he could.  

It almost didn't feel real, like maybe you'd hallucinated him out of desperation and hunger from the last day or so of being down here alone. You hugged him back just as tightly, as if he might slip away if you didn't cling to him. Despite the lingering scent of trash around you, he still smelled as comforting and nice as you remembered. He still ran his fingers through your hair soothingly like he usually did. He still felt like home. 

He was really here, he'd come to save you. 

After a few moments of clinging to each other in silence, he lifted his fingers from your hair, a soft gasp leaving his lips. “Your head was bleeding?”

“I guess I landed wrong,” you tried to joke, though your laugh was breathy and unconvincing. Your dizziness and headache implied a concussion, but you weren’t ready to volunteer that information to him yet. In turn he pulled away to look you over completely

 “You look so much better than I expected though! I kinda thought maybe you wouldn't be..." He didn't dare finish that thought. He'd come entirely too close to losing you too many times for him to even say it out loud anymore. "I was really worried about you." 

"I wasn't sure you'd come after me," you confessed softly, burying your face in his shoulder as you leaned into him again. 

"I'll... always come after you." He pressed an endearing kiss to your messy, splayed hair as a flustered blush set in on his cheeks. Even after going through all of this together and being together like you had, Makoto still got embarrassed from affection and admitting his feelings so blatantly.

“I brought you food and water.”

He didn’t need to tell you twice. You reached out to grab what he was holding immediately. Simple bread and water had never seemed so delicious. 

After waiting for you to finish eating, which admittedly didn’t take very long, he laced his long fingers with yours. “C’mon, we need to get you out of here.”

“How? That door is locked and there’s no way we can climb high enough to go back out through the trash chute..” 

He flashed you that knowing, assured grin that you loved so much. It couldn’t have been more than a few days since you’d seen him, but seeing him smile at you like that again was enough to make you want to cry and cling to him tighter than you ever had before. Had there been no rush to get out of this hole, you would’ve done just that. 

His free hand disappeared into his jacket pocket for just a second before returning into sight with a shiny silver key in its grasp. 

“Kirigiri… gave you the Monokuma key?” After her dedicated attempt to frame you in the last trial, you weren’t too hopeful that she would be helpful in rescuing you. “Why?”

“It’s… a long story, that she wants to tell you herself, but she’s really close to figuring everything out. She’s the one who snuck me into the trash room and down the chute,” he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly with his free hand. “She’s waiting to let us out through the trapdoor there now. On the other side of that door there should be a ladder that leads back up.”

“She’s almost found the Mastermind?”

He nodded earnestly.

“Good. I want to get out of this stupid school. I want us to get out together.”

“Me too,” he promised softly, “But right now we have to get you out of this horrible place.”

[ambivalent-anarchy]

Too Cheesy

Gender: Female

Pairing: Peter Parker x reader

Warnings: Sickening fluff and insanely cheesy pick up lines.

Summary- Ned agrees to stay at Peter's house and help him find the perfect pickup line to ask out his crush with before spring break. But what happens when his crush tags along and also wants to help? ---------------------------------------

"Nah Peter, too corny."

Peter Parker was standing in the middle of his room, his best friend Ned sitting on his bed, cradling their death star in his hands. Peter scrolled down the screen of his phone. "Okay, how about this one?" After reading, Peter looked to the wall and gave a smug smirk, as if he were actually looking at someone. "Hey [Y/N]... are you religious? 'Cause you’re the answer to all my prayers."

Ned cocked his head to the side. "Is she religious?"

"I dunno, I never really asked before," Peter answered, breaking out of his assumed position.

Ned scrunched his nose a bit. "Well, we probably should stay off of religious pick-up lines then."

"Right," Peter agreed, looking back to his phone again. He scrolled a bit more. When satisfied, he looked up at the wall again, raised his eyebrows with an award winning smile before he recited another.

"Life without you would be like a broken pencil… pointless."

"Wow..," Ned said. He pointed and nodded slowly. "I think that's a keeper. Try it again just to make sure though. Oh- and this time, make it more personal."

"Okay," Peter said, going back over the line in his head. He assumed the position and instead of a smug, gave a small smolder.

"Wait," Ned interrupted. "Does this one even make sense? I mean- a pencil still has a point even when it's broken, right? Unless, of course, it's the bottom half, but that would only work if it's a clean break. A-and-"

Suddenly, realizing how completely ridiculous he must look, Peter grimaced. "Ned, why're we doing this again?!"

Ned rolled his eyes. "C'mon Pete. It's because pickup lines always work!"

"A-are you sure? Cuz that doesn't sound right."

"Dude, I'm telling you," Ned defended. "I saw Flash walk right up to Sydney and gave her the perfect pickup line and he immediately got a date! Flash of all people! If he can, you certainly can!"

Peter rolled his eyes. Ned was seriously comparing him to Flash? There were tons of reasons as to how Flash got with Sydney. "But Flash is popular and rich and stuff... I'm just me."

Ned scoffed. "Well..." He looked up with a carefree smile. "If it makes you feel any better, if I were a girl, I'd totally date you."

"..thanks..." Peter said, suddenly feeling incredibly awkward. He looked around the room with a nervous chuckle. Ned, apparently not realizing the awkwardness in the room, hasn't looked away and continued to smile at his friend.

Finding his voice, Peter spoke up. "So, um, what was Flash's line anyway?"

"Uh-uh man," Ned answered. "You gotta find your own! Sydney probably already told the whole school, so you'd just be a copycat. Your line needs to be original."

Peter raised his eyebrows. "We're literally looking this stuff up from the internet, Ned! That's not original!"

"Just trust me. Now read another."

"Okay..." Peter begrudgingly agreed. He was regretting this whole thing more and more each second. He took a deep breath and recited his next one.

"[Y/N], my love for you is like dividing by zero– it can't be defined."

He looked to Ned, who was silently contemplating the words.

"...I kinda like it," Ned finally said.

"I don't know," the scrawny teenager sighed, throwing his phone onto his bed. "It needs to be really good! Not mediocre. Tomorrow is my only chance to tell [Y/N] how I feel before spring break starts. I can't back out!"

"Pete, relax. We'll just add it to the list. Now do another-"

"Peter!!! [Y/N]'s here!!!"

The two teenagers froze. Their eyes widened at his aunt May's voice. They looked to the door, then to each other.

"What is she doing here?!?!," Peter whisper-shouted, two seconds from panicking.

"It's your apartment, you tell me!," Ned whispered back, arms flailing wildly.

"She can't be here!," he yelled to himself, pointing towards the door you could be walking through any second now. "She can NOT be here!"

The two quietly went back and forth as you came closer to his room. Normally, you were always more than welcome. But today, unbeknownst to you, Peter's home was probably the one place you definitely shouldn't be.

You poked your head around the doorframe. "Heyyyy fellas!"

They froze, looking to you with their mouths zipped shut. "Why so tense?," you asked, a small smile playing on your lips.

"No reason!," Peter yelled.

"Hey [Y/N]." Ned gave a wide smile.

You return it with a wider smile that certainly betrayed the rest of your face, that held only confusion. "Uh, what's going on, guys??"

They looked to each other, then to you, then to each other again. Ned broke away first this time. "Peter's trying to find a pick-up line to tell his crush was tomorrow!," he spat out quickly, earning an excited gasp from you.

Peter's jaw stopped to the floor. If he were a computer, he would've definitely been crashing right now. "What the hell, Ned?!," he practically screamed, his voice cracking a bit before he covered his face with his hands.

"So, whose the girl?," you asked, pushing through them and climbing onto the top bunk to sit.

"Uh-"

"DON'T. SAY. ANYTHING!," Peter hissed out through gritted teeth.

It didn't take you too long to realize the tension in the room. "Uh, should I come back another time or something?"

"That would be ideal," Peter mumbled under his breath.

Your eyebrows scrunched together in annoyance. Why were they being so weird and vague?

"Okay, did I do something? Is that why you're acting so weird, Pete? I mean, I was gonna try to help you out so you won't make a complete fool of yourself in front of this girl, but-"

Ned dropped the death star as he excitedly clapped his hands together. "That'd be perfect, actually!!"

Both you and Peter groaned as you looked at the peices on the floor. "Ned!"

"At this point that thing needs to stay at my house cuz when it's at either of yours it always breaks!," you laughed.

"Umm..." Peter looked away and took a deep breath. "[Y/N]?"

At this point, he had no idea nor any control over what was going on and the only words processing in his mind were what the fuck.

His crush was not supposed to be here while he was practicing what to say to his crush tomorrow.

"Yeah, Pete?"

But you were here now, and you didn't seem to be leaving anytime soon.

So what's the worse that could happen?

"C-could you maybe, um, help me with this?"

"With your girl problems? Sure. I mean, if we leave it your hands, the poor girl won't even know what hits her."

Ned bit his lip, attempting (and failing) to hide a fit of laughter. "She sure won't!"

"Dude!," Peter hissed, nudging his shoulder.

"So what've you got so far?," you said, watching Peter expectantly.

"Uhh.." He blew out a heavy breath. Welp, he thought. Guess we're doing this now. He picked up his phone and awkwardly read off the line.

"My love for you is like dividing by zero– it can't be defined.."

He looked back up at you, frozen as statue. That was so embarrassing. You smiled and giggled a little. "That was so cheesy!"

"Oh..," Peter mumbled. He'd actually thought that one was pretty good.

"That's only because he's not doing it like he did a second ago," Ned, ever the oblivious one, noted. "C'mon! Do it the way you did it before [Y/N] came in here."

If looks could kill, Ned would surely have been maimed and then ran over a bus by now.

Peter sighed. He looked up to the wall right above where [Y/N] was sitting and gave his best smolder.

But before he could get a word out, laughter erupted the room. "PETE WHAT THE HECK IS THAT?!," [Y/N] shrieked, practically falling off the the top bunk of the bed with laughter. "Girls' want a genuine smile, not some James Bond wannabe look!"

"Y-you don't think it looks cool?," he asked, cheeks red as beets by now.

"Frickin' goofy is what that looks like!," she responded. "Gimme your phone."

Peter's face fell. Wow, he thought. I'm way off. No way I'm gonna get her now, except...He looked to Ned, who was practically just spectating the whole thing at this point. Their eyes joined, and they could both tell they'd come to the same conclusion.

What better way to find out exactly what to say than by finding out by who you're going to say it to?

[Y/N] scrolled down a few until she found one that she liked. "Ooh, this one's pretty good." She looked up from the phone. "Now, watch me and I'll show you how it's done." She hopped down from the bed and said the line straight to Peter's face, biting her lip and smirking.

"Hey you, apart from being sexy, what do you do for a living?"

Immediately afterwards, she broke out of it. "See?," she asked. "That's how it's done." [Y/N] tossed the phone back into Peter's hands before sitting back down. "Now do that."

Peter sucked in a quick breath, lightly tugging the bottom of his gray shirt. "U-uh, um, yeah okay.."

That was hot, was all he could really think at the moment. She's so frickin hot.

Scatterbrained, he stood and looked back at you. "U-uh.. -oh, here's one..." He shook his head slightly, as if attempting to shake the jitters out. "A-are you a cam-mera? C-cuz.. you sure do make me sm-mile," he stammered, ending with beyond awkward fingers guns.

[Y/N] chuckled, biting back a small smile. "Ya know, you're just too cute sometimes..."

At that, Ned's jaw fell to the floor. Peter's face turned a shade of red you didn't believe was even possible.

"Uh, u-um, ah, heh, thanks..."

"Hey yo, my mom's texting me," Ned suddenly announced. "I gotta get home. See you two tomorrow." He smiled at [Y/N] and then looked Peter square in the face with a shit-eating grin. "And good luck Pete!," he said, earning a middle finger from his best friend.

After the door closed, [Y/N] frowned. "What's up with you two? Are you guys fighting?"

"Nah, Ned's just being..." Peter trailed off, shaking his head slightly. If he were to elaborate, he could risk telling you. Better to play it safe. "So was that one good?"

"I mean, it'd be nice if you could g-g-g-get it out!," you mocked with a smile.

"No stuttering then," he concluded to himself. "Stuttering's a turn off."

"Well, not exactly," you corrected. "I actually think it's kinda cute when you do it." Noticing his intense blushing, you grabbed his hands to give comfort. "Just relax. No stuttering. And keep eye contact. Got it, Pete?"

His cheeks reddened as he looked away, desperately trying to redirect his focus from your turned up lips. "Oh, u-uh um, thanks! That's great, ya know! L-lets, ah, just get back to the th-thing- uh, the line..."

And so you did. You helped him til eleven o'clock at night. You went over about fifty. Until there was no way he couldn't have a perfect one to show the girl.

Until the next morning.

Spoiler alert: he didn't find a line.

When you left the indecisive teenager, he'd looked like he was on the right path. He had an entire list of good choices you'd picked out with him, along with practiced ways to do each one.

But, when he woke up and looked back at the list, each one just felt wrong.

Cheesy.

Overused.

Corny.

Lame.

You wouldn't like it. You'd already heard it. It wouldn't feel special to you if he'd told you something you'd already picked out for yourself, even if you didn't know you had.

You'd reject him. And more? Because you were a nice person, you'd probably still want to be friends.

Which was definitely way, way worse.

"Peter!," May yelled. "Engine's being turned on in five! Be there or you'll have to swing to school!"

-

Perer told you he'd tell his crush the line by the lockers during homeroom.

You couldn't wait. 'This is gonna be so awesome,' you thought, scanning the halls for his curly brown hair and wrinkled jacket.

'Of course, this girl better be worth his time or I'm gonna frickin' tackle her....'

The night before, Peter had told you nearly everything about this mystery girl.

He gushed about how she was perfect. Beautiful. Everything he ever wanted.

And you felt happy for him.

But deep inside, you knew that whoever the girl he'd chosen was, you wouldn't approve. Because deep down, you wished that it would be you.

But you and Peter were friends. Since the sixth grade. If anything was ever gonna happen, it surely already would've.

And It wasn't gonna happen...

And when this girl said yes (it's Peter Parker, why wouldn't you?), you'd have to watch them hug, kiss, give inside jokes, and everything else couples did.

And because he was your best friend, you'd have to just sit there and be happy for him.

"Miss. [Y/L/N]. Come on, get to class!," your homeroom teacher yelled, standing by the door, holding it open for you to walk into the classroom.

"Must be late again...," you mumbled, looking around the halls for Peter one last time before making your way to the door.

"[Y/N]!"

You whipped your head to where the voice was coming from. It was Ned, running down the hallway.

"Yeah?"

"He's gonna do it!," he yelled. "He's about to ask!"

You turned towards your teacher. "Um, can I go to the restroom please?"

"Yeah sure," the teacher replied.

Once the door closed, you ran to meet Ned in the middle of the hall. "Ask? Wait, on a date or to actually be his girlfriend?"

"TO BE HIS GIIIIRRRRRRLLLLLLLFRIEND!!," he yelled, shaking you by your shoulders back and forth frantically.

'Wow,' you thought, eyes wide. 'Peter's actually getting some balls now.'

This was it. And you were gonna hold your tongue and watch it happen.

Ned looked over your shoulder as he practically gasped for air. "He's coming! He's coming!"

You pulled his arm a bit, attempting to pull him to towards the wall. "Don't we need to hide? They don't need an audience!"

Suddenly, using his strength against you, Ned turned you around quickly for you to come face to face with Peter.

"Where's the girl?," you said, looking around curiously. After you were met with silence, your curious smile went away. "Pete, where is she? Where's she at?"

"I-it's...um, [Y/N] it's always been-heh. It's you," he answered, looking into your eyes shyly.

Ned could've bursts from joy right then and there. You could feel his grip on your arms tighten out of excitement.

But you didn't care, because you were sky high yourself. "So all that, yesterday? That was all about-"

"Yeah. You."

You sighed, practically frozen. "Major fucking plot twist, dude.."

He tilted his head. "'Saw' level?"

"More like 'Shutter Island' level," you answered.

"Ooh, that was a big one," Ned added brightly.

You shifted slightly. "So, um, what was the line you chose?"

"Oh!," Peter laughed. "How could I forget? Uh-" He grabbed your hands gently. "Okay." Hey blew out a long breath. "Relaxing. No stuttering. And keeping eye contact," he reminded himself aloud before he slowly and tenderly recited the line he'd chosen.

"[Y/N], ahem, um, If I had a penny for every time I thought about you, I'd have exactly one cent.."

You frowned. "Hold on, I don't get it. That means-"

"-Because you never leave my mind, sweetheart."

Raising your eyebrows, your heart warmed and you covered your hand over your mouth. That was one you hadn't chosen. You'd never even heard it before. He'd found it himself.

Noticing your reaction, Peter tensed. "W-was that too much? I'm sorry if that was too much! The last thing I would want for it to be is too-"

"That was perfect, Peter."

He paused. "It wasn't too cheesy?"

"Just a little cheesy," you said, pinching your fingers together and giving a quick wink.

"On a scale of one to ten?," Ned asked.

"Ned!," Peter scolded, quickly sliding his finger over his neck as a warning. He then looked back to you with a timid smirk.

"So, ah, does this mean you'll be my girlfriend?"

"Hmm, I guess it does, huh?," you giggled and turned to walk away just as the bell rang for first period.

-

"Sooooo, how'd it go?," May asked, poking her head around the doorframe of Peter's room.

When Peter turned towards her from his bed, May knew the answer before he even uttered a word.

He was staring up at ceiling twiddling his fingers and grinning like a madman.

"She said yes, May..I-i didn't think she'd actually say yes!"

May smiled. "Well, that's good!"

"Our first date's tomorrow and- Oh God! I might need to find another line to tell her! I'll use the math one this time since she was so excited about acing that test earlier today. Oh my gosh what if- what if we kiss?! That'd be SO awesome! Right, May? Ooh man, what am I gonna wear?? Ned said to wear a tux. But it's just a movie date, not prom! Jeans and a t-shirt should work, right? What if I get there and I'm underdressed?! Why is this stuff so hard?!"

Aunt May watched as the young boy frantically vented to himself and shook her head. "God bless him..."

She looked down at his desk in the corner of his room. On it was a small journal. It was opened to a page labelled 'Pickup Lines To Tell [Y/N]'

Underneath it were lines separated into sections based on 'coolness,' 'nerdiness,' and 'sexiness.'

May furrowed her eyebrows. "Hon, you know pick-up lines never work, right?

"Well May," Peter sighed, leaning back into his bed. "There's a special girl out there that would beg to differ.."

[auspicious-lilana]

Two Cats, One Heart (Chat Noir x reader)

Summary: Y/n Ross and Adrian Agreste are childhood best friends, they’ve been through thick and thin, including losing their mom, and dad. Since then Y/n’s mom made her live with Adrian at his mansion and forever leaving her life. Watch as their lives Change as they become the new heroes of Paris alongside Ladybug and see how Romance sprouts between the two models.

Part 1 |  Part 2 |  Part 3 | Part 4  | Part 5 

(Make sure to comment! It brings me motivation seeing them!)

{Y/n's POV}

"Have any 2 of hearts?" I asked. We were waiting on Alya's blog live stream that she posted would happen later on while Alpha and I played card games for the meantime.

"Darling, no. I'm the king of games". Alpha cockingly remarked as I scoffed. "Go fish"

"If you're so good, tell me why you lost the last 10 games we played and now I'm here beating your butt in Go fish" I confidently said as I picked up another card from the deck.

"I was only warming up for this game!" Alpha countered. "Any Queen of hearts?"

"You said that 9 games ago, go fish" Alpha picked up a card and placed it on the desktop stand he was using to hold and hide his cards.

"Well this is was my final warm-up"

"Whatever helps you sleep. Any 5 of diamonds?" Alpha huffed as he handed me the card as I smiled placing it in my pile of other matched cards. "Your pile seems awfully short of matchings" I snickered.

"Hush child, I'm just going easy on you" Alpha snapped. "A Kawami treats its owner well. Any Joker?"

"My last card. Here you go" I said happily as he placed it in his matching pile before sighing as he saw the stock empty as I smirked." I won, again"

"There's one thing you can't beat me at". Alpha confidently said.

"What?" I said curiously.

"A bet" I raised my eyebrow, signaling him to explain further. "I bet you, the pretty boy is head over heels with you, and if you ever asked him to a date, he'd say yes" I scoffed and shook my head.

"He's not into me".

"That's what she said" I rolled my eyes.

"Besides, I'm in love with someone else," I said sighing as I looked at my poster wall.

"I know, I know. Mr. I'm the best Cat, Chat Noir."

"Hang on, 'cause we're going for a ride. Freak out! What you got here is no ordinary book, it's a tenth-grade history book. And I should know, 'cause I've got this very same book. Could our very own Ladybug be a high school student, in real life?" Alya said in her live as we seemed to missed a part of it while we were talking. I looked at it in awe.

"Ladybug going to our high school?" I thought about it before I grinned. "What if Chat Noir also goes to our school too?!"

"Don't you think you know him then?" Alpha said as he reached for his brownie and taking a bite. "Why bother yourself with cocky cats  when you could be enjoying this?"

"First of all, Cocky cats last longer than a single brownie, and they are much better looking."

"Your loss"

"My only loss is my appetite right now, you are aware you're eating a week old brownie, right?"

"The older it is, the more flavory." I cringed as Alya went live again.

" OH MY GOSH, Coming to you live, Lady blog viewers, I'm at the scene even before Ladybug, Lady Wolf or Cat Noir! This is insane!" I saw an akumatized person which caught me off guard as I stared at the screen shocked with my jaw dropped.

"Love the face change," Alpha snickered. "Total improvement." I glared at him as I showed my wrist with my miraculous.

"Time to transform," Alpha groaned as he finished the brownie in one gulp. "Alpha, Tails out!"

***

By the time I got there, Chat was also there. We met up in front of the museum as we saw the akumatized victim pull the metal bars from the museum lockdown as we looked at him with a cocky grin.

"Nice of you to hold the door open for us," I said with a confident grin before Chat and I tried to attack him before he dodged and grabbed our legs, throwing us into a coffin, which closed on us.

"Well, this wasn't what I was imagining when I said I wanted us to get some alone time," Chat jokes as I blush while I scoffed.

"What did you imagine?"

"For me to know, and you to never find out." I was pressed to his chest as he placed his hands around my waist to make it less uncomfortable. Soon Ladybug pulled the coffin open as I quickly got out as Chat did too.

"Hiding behind an innocent bystander!" Chat yelled. "You're weak, Pharaoh!" Pharaoh walked through the cage with Alya on his shoulders.

"I'm way more powerful than you are." The Pharaoh used his strength to close the bars and walked away.

"And don't forget! All the latest behind the scenes are on my blog!" I heard Alya exclaim.

"Alya is sure one brave character." I sweatdropped.

"If by brave, you mean bossy, feisty, and bold?" Ladybug asked. "Yup, that's her! Come on, get us out of here, Cat Noir!"

"Cataclysm!" Chat used his power to break the bars. "How are we gonna find them?" He asked as we ran.

"Alya's got a live stream on her blog!" Ladybug said as she and I brought out our yoyo/staff to watch the live stream.

"Hi, everyone! Alya here, live blogging from the shoulder of the terrifying villain! Huge scoop to come, stay tuned!" Chat's ring began to beep constantly.

"You two go ahead." Chat said. "I'll join you guys as soon as my Miraculous is charged up again."

"Hurry," I said. "It's going to take the three of us to defeat him." Chat nodded as we ran separate ways. Chat going back and ladybug and I chasing after Pharaoh to stall.

We watched the live stream to see Alya was going to be used as an offering.

"We better hurry," Ladybug said as I nodded before we ran right into a bubble which slowed us down.

"Oh no," I groaned as Ladybug tried to pound on her. "Can't believe we ran straight into a time bubble,"

"We've got to get out of this!" Ladybug said as I chuckled. I bet we sound and look as slow as a snail in the outside.

"ladybug! Lady Wolf! this is Alya! I just found out I'm the sacrificial offering to the sun god! Please hurry!" Alya said into her live stream.

"Hold on, Alya." Ladybug muttered. "I'm nearly there," Ladybug began to run as I glanced at her bubble and started to chuckle. She looked so funny in slow-motion. I began to run, it was the most we could do before I saw Chat pop her bubble with his baton before popping mines as I stumbled and fell onto his chest as he held me.

"Thanks for waiting around for me," Chat joked as I got up with a grin.

"No problem," I played along.

"Now we need to get to Alya quickly." Ladybug said as we ran outside. We peeked outside to see Mummies blocking the view.

"We can't see the Akuma or the girl!" I exclaimed before we all went up to the roof.

"Over there," Chat pointed as we spotted the Akuma and Alya before we began to watch the live stream from ladybug's yoyo.

"Whoa, back up! Who are those goddess chicks with the black spots and wolf ears! There, on your papyrus!" Alya exclaimed.

"Ladybug and Lady Wolf. My sworn enemies!" The Pharaoh angrily yelled. "My two greatest nemeses may have kept me from carrying out my ritual 5000 years ago, but they will not stop Nefertiti from coming back to me this time! especially that annoying wolf"

"Did you say..." Alya trailed off shocked. "Ladybug and Lady Wolf, 5000 years ago?!"

"Everyone does have a past they can learn from." Ladybug said as I stood surprised. Guess you really do really learn something new every day as a miraculous holder.

"Well," Chat said inspecting me with a grin. "You don't look a day over 3000."

"Now you know why we're so much wiser than you!" Ladybug said with a grin as I frowned.

"I am not annoying!" The Pharaoh began a ritual as a beam shot from the sky as the mummies carried Alya as she struggled.

"Ladybug! Lady Wolf!" She yelled as Ladybug got serious.

"We've gotta save her before he completes the ritual or Alya will be gone, forever!" Ladybug exclaimed.

"What should we do?" Chat asked.

"You hold back the mummies while Lady Wolf and I take on the Pharaoh."

"Why do I have to deal with these freaks while you two get to slip calmly round back?"

"Because Ladybug is the only one who can capture his Akuma, I am the one he hates the most and you're the bravest one out of the three of us," I winked as Chat playfully rolled his eyes.

"Sure," He said before Ladybug swung off. "I know you don't really think that, but I'll pretend you do."

"Don't worry," I said turning around. "I genuinely do," Chat's eyes widened as I smiled before going after Ladybug.

Ladybug and I went around as Chat went to distract the mummies.

"Hey there, you bunch of bandages!" Chat yelled from his spot sitting on the street lamb. "What do you say we wrap this up!" He grinned.

"Chat noir!" Alya exclaimed.

"Seize him!" The Pharaoh yelled as the mummies ran after him.

"Is that really as fast as you can go?" Chat taunted as he leaped from one street lamb to another.

"Wait, this looks... like a trap!" The Pharaoh exclaimed a bit too late as Ladybug swung by and got Alya. "Horus! Give me your wings!" I threw a pole at him which slowed him down as I went up to Ladybug only to have Alya's phone shoved in my face.

"Thanks for saving my butt!" She exclaimed. "You all just witnessed our favorite heroines save yet another citizen."

"Oh, uh, you're welcome. But it's not over yet." I said as Ladybug nodded.

"Not until--"

"Not until Ladybug destroys the pendant containing the akuma, and turns everything back to normal" Alya cut off Ladybug. "I pay attention"

"The Pendant!" The two heroines exclaimed. "Good eye!"

"Ah!" Alya yelled as Pharaoh knocked Ladybug and I off the building as Ladybug used her yoyo to ease her fall as I balanced myself with my staff. Ladybug soon caught Alya's phone as The Pharaoh carried her.

"Help me! Ladybug! Lady Wolf!" She yelled as Ladybug and I were fighting off the mummies as the Pharaoh placed Alya on the light beam. We then saw a car about to be thrown at Chat as Ladybug used her yoyo to pull him out of there.

"Chat Noir!" She yelled. "This way!" Chat Noir followed us as we ran inside the bus, Chat going under as the two of us got out quickly once locking the mummies in the bus as Chat flipped it over with his staff.

"We have to save Alya before she gets to the circle of darkness." Ladybug said as we nodded along as we ran towards the beam only to be stopped my the Pharaoh.

"You will not stop me from bringing Nefertiti back!" He growled. "I'll finish you off! Anubis, bring me mummies!" He began to shoot beams at us as we had to keep dodging it. Ladybug used her yoyo to tight him up for a small distraction as Chat and I used our staffs to leap over him as we began to quickly climb up the glass pyramid with our claws. "Horus, Give me your wings!" Pharaoh began to fly, dragging Ladybug in the air as Chat and I ducked low as he flew up ahead. Ladybug reached to his back as she broke the string of the pendant and threw it down.

"Chat Noir! Lady Wolf! The pendant!" We pounced down as we ran towards the falling pendant as Ladybug already jumped off his back using the yoyo to safely land as all three of us ran for the pendant only for Pharaoh to beat us to it as he stood next to it, stopping us in our trails.

"Sekhmet, give me your strength!" The Pharaoh used his strength to cause a sonic wave which knocked us down as we were soon surrounded by mummies. "It's over," He picked up his pendant.

"Ladybug!" Alya yelled. "Save me!"

"Oh, Ra, god of the sun, accept this humble offering and return the princess to ME!" The Pharaoh chanted.

"Lucky Charm!" Ladybug said as a polka dotted box containing Lady Wolf outfit set was in it. "A Lady Wolf outfit?"

"That's our last hope?" Chat asked. Ladybug used her thinking vision and the bracelet in the costume caught her eyes.

"This offering isn't good enough for Nefertiti!"

"Hey! Thanks a lot!" Alya defensivly yelled.

"Too late, Ladybug!" The Pharoah said. "The ritual has begun!"

"Set Alya free and sacrifice Lady Wolf instead!" Lady Wolf gasped as she stared at her.

"Hey!" Ladybug didn't look at her as she gave her a identical bracelet of her miraculous behind her back as Lady Wolf grinned slightly as she swiped it, swiftly covering her real bracelet with the fake one. "Wouldn't that be the sweetest revenge? 5000 years later! After all, Me and Lady Wolf are the ones who kept Nefertiti from you all these years! And you always said she was the most annoying!"

"It's true that she'd make a much more precious offering than this mortal." Pharaoh took Lady Wolf's hand. "Horus, give me your wings!"

"Seriously?" Alya said as Pharaoh threw her off the beam as Ladybug caught her. "Excuse you, but I make excellent sacrificing material!"

"You win, Pharaoh..." I pretend to take off my bracelet, then tricked the Pharaoh and grabbed his pendent without his knowledge. " You want my miraculous? Go get it!" She threw her fake bracelet. Pharaoh went after it only to find it's fake a bit too late.

"A toy?" The Pharaoh screeched. "You tricked me!" Lady Wolf punched the pendant and threw it down for Ladybug to get the akuma.

"No more evil doing for you, little Akuma! Time to de-evilize!" Ladybug caught the akuma. "Gotcha!" Ladybug purifed the Akuma before releasing it. "Bye, Bye, little butterfly!" She then threw the lucky charm in the air. "Miraculous Ladybug!" Everything began to turn back to normal as Lady Wolf slid down the glass pyramid.

"Thanks, Ladybug! But, uh, I still gotta ask: how old are you, really?"

"Much older than a high school student, that's for sure!" Ladybug swung away.

"Don't you wanna know how old I am?" Chat asked as he smirked.

"Looks like I'll be able to tell for myself." Alya pointed at his ring to show he was about to turn back as he panicked and ran off as Lady Wolf and Alya chuckled.

"Well, that's my cue to leave." I left without another word as I headed back in my room before changing back.

"Man am I tired." Alpha complained as he tiredly flew to the plate of brownies left on her desk.

"How come you never told me you annoyed more people than just me?" I asked.

"What do you mean annoyed?"

"Well, during the fight. there was another Lady Wolf 5000 years ago."

"Oh,"

"Was there really more Lady Wolf's before me?"

"Many,"

"At least now I know I'm not the first to be stuck with you," I playfully sighed.

"What's that supposed to mean!" I chuckled as I sat down on my chair.

"Nothing."

"Y/n!!!"

[lyssismagical]

in my need, you have always been there

Parkner Week Day Ten: “We’re going to frame you for murder” / canon-compliant / villain au

okay i know I’m like eleven days late but I got busy oops but here we are! the last installment of parkner week !! 

 Keeping his family safe was his number one priority as soon as Beck had appeared all over the news, so he made sure Happy was with May, and that MJ was going home with plans to talk to Ned, and then he started running.

He didn’t have time to pack a bag, not with the citizens of New York turning against him. They knew his face, they were staring and jeering and throwing things, there was nowhere for him to hide so close to everything. So he boarded a bus, hood pulled low over his face and eyes downcast, empty-handed aside from his phone and his wallet.

And then he was on the run.

It sounded so dramatic, even in his head, to be on the run. Despite having particularly bad periods with money in the past, Peter had only ever technically been homeless once and it was only for three nights, living out of May’s old car.

Peter doesn’t have a plan. He doesn’t have a passport, he’d lost it somewhere in Europe a few weeks prior. He only has a few dollars on him. His wounds from Beck in Europe still haven’t entirely healed, he’s still limping and his shoulder twinges.

Most people he knows lives in New York, and he definitely can’t stay anywhere near the whole state. He’s only ever even left New York three times. DC for Academic Decathlon, Germany with the Avengers, and the Europe trip for school.

Now, he’s apparently moving out of New York, on his own, with no money.

“Last stop!” the bus driver calls out, looking over at Peter, the last one on the bus. He doesn’t know where he is, where he’s going,  anything. But he gets off the bus, onto a dark, empty street, and watches as the bus peels away from the sidewalk, leaving him.

He made it to New Jersey. Not far enough, not yet. He needs somewhere to hide away for a few weeks, at the very least, until Pepper can figure this whole thing out.

As if on cue, his phone rings.

He’s about to decline it, he doesn’t want to talk to anybody he just left behind. He definitely doesn’t want to talk to May or Ned who will try to change his mind about running away. But it’s not them, it’s an unknown number.

“Hello?” Peter says, voice trembling already. He’s cold and tired and the fear of spending the night somewhere on the streets makes him desperately want to call May, get her to come save him.

“Peter Parker, right?” the voice asks, no tell of who it is beyond the southern lilt to his voice. “We met a couple months ago. At the… At the funeral?”

The hero flinches harder than he’d like to admit at the reminder of who’s not here. If Tony were here, Peter wouldn’t have had to fight Beck on his own, his identity wouldn’t have been leaked, and most of all, he wouldn’t be on his own right now.

Peter doesn’t remember much from the funeral, most of it having blurred away through his grief. He thinks he can remember a pair of bright blue eyes and a hand on his shoulder from who must’ve been the guy on the phone, but he can’t place a name of fill in the missing gaps.

“Sorry, I-”

“Harley Keener,” the boy says, not even phased at being forgotten. “I was the kid who talked about a potato gun? It’s not important. What matters is I just saw you on the news.”

Peter would’ve thought the potato gun idea would’ve sparked some memory, but he really can’t remember anything from that day. He can barely even remember what he said, himself, so it’s a lost cause to remember one Harley Keener.

“Why does it matter?”

Harley lets out a little laugh, the sounds of traffic washing over it. “You’re running away, aren’t you? You have a place to go?”

“No,” Peter admits half-heartedly. He doesn’t have any kind of plan.

“Alright, well, if you need a place to stay, Rose Hill is full of people who don’t care enough to watch the news, and I’ve got a couch with your name on it,” Harley says, voice light and breezy.

Peter frowns, moving closer to the nearest alley to get away from the prying eyes of the last few people wandering the streets. He tucks his arms close to his body, ankle aching with the pressure on it. “Rose Hill?”

“Tennessee, my friend.” Harley laughs again, bright and easy. “You wanna come stay with me while this whole thing blows over?”

“In Tennessee?” Peter’s not exactly sure why he feels like he’s stuck in molasses, unable to comprehend the offer. “With you?”

“Wow, harsh much. Listen, I’m on my way to come pick you up and get you somewhere safe, but it’ll take me a good ten hours to make up the distance, even speeding down backroads. Is there anywhere near where you are you could stay for one night?”

Peter frowns, looking up and down the street at the empty darkness, nobody here would be willing to let a poor kid sleep on their couch, and he certainly doesn’t know anybody living in New Jersey aside from one of May’s old coworkers, Janet, who used to babysit for Peter before she moved. Even then, he has no idea where Janet is, nor does he have anyway to contact her.

“I’ll, uh, yeah, I can figure it out,” he says, though he doesn’t think there’s any options. If he has to, he can spend the night in the alley if it means having somewhere warm and safe when he wakes up. “Thank you, Harley, I don’t know how-”

“Don’t sweat it.” Harley swears a few times under his breath. “I’ve gotta stop for gas in a second. Text me where you are, I’ll be there as soon as I can, yeah? And call me if you need anything.”

Peter nods a few times, looking down his alleyway into the darkness and shivers. “I’ll be waiting.”

“Good.”

Harley doesn’t bother with pleasantries or goodbyes, just hangs up the phone.

Peter slips down the alley, phone tight in his hand, and finds a nice spot between two big dumpsters, wedging himself in and trying to mentally prepare himself for calling it a night. Ten hours. He can do ten hours here.

* He doesn’t manage to do more than drift off, not really sleeping, arms tucked around himself like he’s trying to be his own blanket.

He keeps half his attention on his watch, keeping count of how much time he has left, and leaving his phone off, not wanting to drain the battery.

There’s only three hours left when his phone rings again.

“I’m getting gas and snacks, I’m in Virginia. Just a few more hours until I’m there. Anything you want me to pick you up?”

Peter’s teeth are chattering so hard he can barely get out a few words. “Something warm?”

Harley curses a few times and then there’s the sound of coins hitting a counter. “Are you- Fucking hell, I thought you were going to stay with somebody? Are you outside?”

“Alley,” Peter says, shivers wracking his body. At least that’s a good thing. Through his hazy memory, he thinks shivering’s a good thing. It’ll be bad if he stops shivering.

“Shit, okay, you know it’s fucking freezing out, don’t you? What kind of- Okay, I’ll make it two hours, okay? Can you do two hours? I’ve got a few blankets in the back of my car and I’ll make sure to pick you up a nice hot coffee or something. Is that okay?”

Peter nearly drops his phone, fingers going numb. “Mm, ‘kay. Two hours.”

“Two hours, Peter. Gotta hang on until then, yeah?”

“Yeah… Also,” Peter almost forgets where he’s going with his train of thought. “Also, gummy bears.”

“Gummy bears?” Harley echoes and then he laughs, a touch hysterical. “I can get you gummy bears, Peter. Anything else?”

Peter thinks for a long moment, eyes slipping shut. “A hug?”

There’s a beat of silence followed by more cursing and then a door opening and closing. Harley’s voice is soft, though, when he speaks. “I’ll give you the warmest hug in the world when I get to you, okay?”

“’kay.”

“Good. Two hours, you hear me, Parker?”

“Two hours.”

* Despite already promising two hours for a nearly three hour trip, Harley makes it in an hour and a half.

Peter hears the truck engine and he knows he should get up, meet Harley on the sidewalk, at the very least, pry himself out for between the dumpsters, but his legs are numb, thoughts escaping him, so he stays put, listening for the telltale footsteps.

“Peter?” Harley spots him a second later, face drawing up in worry and fear. “Oh shit, Peter, come on. Let’s get you out of there. Come here.”

Harley seems to understand that Peter’s incapable of getting up on his own, so he does most of the work of pulling Peter up and onto his feet, and then letting Peter lean most of his weight against the southerner’s side.

“T’ank you,” Peter stutters still, shaking from head to toe but feet too numb to do more than drag on the pavement as Harley drags him over to his running truck.

The older boy lifts him into the passenger seat, barely blinking an eye as he tugs off his hoodie and yanks it over Peter’s head. He grabs a thick blanket from the backseat and wraps it around Peter’s shoulders and puts a second one over his legs.

“That good?” Harley asks nervously. He looks over at the steaming coffees waiting for them, but he doesn’t seem to trust Peter’s hands to carry one.

Peter shakes his head, carefully extracting his arms to reach out for the other boy. He’s too tired to feel embarrassed by the silent request, mouth pouting and eyes undoubtedly sad and pleading.

“Oh, come here,” Harley says, voice dripping with sympathy. He wraps Peter up in his arms, pressing a quick kiss to his forehead. Just as promised, it’s the warmest hug in the world. “I would’ve left sooner if I’d known. Pepper only called me after you’d left and then I had to convince Mom to let you crash with us and to let me skip school tomorrow… Anyways, you’re safe now. Nobody’s going to find you in Rose Hill.”

The warmth of Harley’s arms around him, the gentle smell of coffee and gasoline, the promise of safety, it makes Peter feel safe and makes the shivers dissipate.

“Thank you,” he repeats, tucking his head against the crook of Harley’s neck, taking a slow breath.

Harley smiles gently, only pulling back when Peter loosens his grip, as though he’d hold Peter as long as he wanted to.

“I’ll take care of driving, you sleep and eat your gummy bears and drink your coffee. It’s another twelve hours till we get home.”

Peter frowns, enough of a mind to worry about Harley. “You don’t want to take a break? You’ll be driving like twenty-four hours total.”

“It’s cool, don’t you worry about me. I’ll stop if I have to.”

Harley finally slips away from him, closing the door and then climbing into the driver’s seat, gunning the engine and starting off on their journey back to Tennessee.

“I still can’t believe this happened,” Peter admits. His shoulder throbs where the seatbelt digs into his old wound. “I was framed for murder. I was painted as a villain. After everything he did to me, everything he pretended to be… I thought it’d be enough for him to try to kill me and all my friends, to hit me with a fucking train, to betray me like he did, but no. He had to make it public, out my identity, call me a fraud. I just- I don’t know how I’ll ever bounce back from this.”

“You haven’t been on social media, have you?” Peter was expecting it to be a bad thing, but Harley’s smiling. He shakes his head. “It’s trending everywhere. Things like Spider-Man’s-A-Hero or hashtag I-Stand-With-Spidey. People telling stories of everything you did for them, how much you’ve meant to them. There’s always going to be people who don’t like you, but there’s also people who know what you’ve done for New York and the world.”

Peter frowns, looking over at Harley. The angle makes his jaw look strong and sharp, but Peter chides himself for focusing on it. “People are standing with me?”

“Course they are,” Harley says like it’s obvious. He throws a smile in Peter’s direction. “You’ve spent, what? Three years? Working tirelessly to reduce crime, save people’s lives, even last year, you saved the world. Of course they’re standing with you.”

It’s the last piece of reassurance Peter needs to get comfortable in his seat, curling up tightly and pulling his hood up over his head, and finally letting himself fall asleep in the comfort of Harley’s truck.

* By the time they finally reach Rose Hill, it’s night again.

Harley’s yawning, fingers tapping against the wheel as they pull up onto a gravel driveway, engine cutting off.

“Home sweet home,” Harley murmurs, helping Peter unbuckle his seatbelt. “Come on, I’ll show you around real quick, you can get a shower, and then you can sleep, okay?”

Peter nods, hopping out of the car and checking, almost obsessively to make sure his phone and wallet are still tucked in his pockets. He lets Harley wrap his arm around his waist, letting himself fall lax in his grip, following Harley up to the house.

It’s warm in the house too, smelling of laundry and baking. There’s a girl curled up on the couch, watching what looks like an old sitcom on the TV. She looks up when they walk in, face falling into a frown.

“You were gone for over twenty-four hours, Harley,” she says, turning her nose up petulantly. “Mom was worried.”

“She’s been stress-baking?” Harley questions, but he shakes his head before the girl can answer. “Peter, this is my little sister, Abbie. Abbie, this is Peter. He’s staying here for a couple weeks.”

Abbie’s eyes narrow as she looks him over and he’s immediately self-conscious. He probably looks awful, he probably smells like garbage, he’s probably dirty.

But she shrugs and offers a smile. “Welcome to Rose Hill, Peter. Home of douchebags and failures. Good luck ever getting out.”

Harley rolls his eyes but doesn’t argue with her. He tightens his grip on Peter’s waist, leading him out of the living room, up the stairs, and into a bathroom.

Peter showers quickly, not sure how much he trusts his own legs to hold him up. And when he gets out, there’s a pile of Harley’s clothes waiting for him. The hoodie is much too big, falling over his shoulders and down to his thighs, covering his hands, and the pants aren’t much better, barely staying up on his hips, but they’re warm and they smell like Harley, and they make him feel safe.

Harley’s waiting for him in the bedroom across the hall, sprawled out on a bed, looking seconds away from passing out.

“Do you have a pillow?” Peter blurts before he can stop himself. “You said, uh, that I’d be staying on the couch, sorry. Was wondering if-”

“Honestly, I really don’t care if you’d wanna crash here with me,” Harley says, voice slurring with exhaustion. He kicks at a blanket near his foot. “There’s enough space for you. Plus, it gets cold downstairs at night, wouldn’t want you freezing to death again.”

Peter can feel the blush creeping up his neck, but he holds himself together as he silently accepts the invitation, slipping into the space left on the bed. He tugs the blanket up and over his shoulders, letting himself sink into the mattress.

The older boy is like a heater at his side, radiating warmth, eyes already closed, hair like a halo around his tan, freckled face. He peeks open one of his eyes. “Can I help you?”

“Oh, uh, I’m sorry, I wasn’t-”

Harley laughs, unashamedly tossing his arm around Peter’s waist, who immediately relaxes in his hold. “Just teasin’. Go to sleep. Mom will no doubt have me up and ready for school in less than five hours.”

Peter’s not exactly sure how living in Tennessee is going to work out, he doesn’t know how long it’ll take until everything blows over, he doesn’t know how long it’ll be until he can say May and Ned and MJ again.

But he knows one thing.

He really likes staying here with Harley and he knows Harley will keep him safe and happy until he can return to New York.

Taglist: @littlemissagrafina  @spidey-reids-2003 @romeoandjulietyouwish @c-artara @shadedrose01 @likeaphoenix13 @pj-hermes-tonystark-obsessed  @you-get-killed-walk-it-off @kitkatwinchester  @emo-girl10 @justme--emily  @hold-our-destiny @imalivebecauseirondad @spiderman-peterman @dykeragee @maryserrao @heeeyitskay @parknerandirondad @lilacsandlilies4 {Let me know if you wanna be added or removed}