#but it was friends' day and my tiny students were excited to share their space and their class toys

[thevorelock]

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[anarchywoofwoof]

It's funny about the homeschooling thing: I had friends who were homeschooled and I cannot express how badly many of us wish our parents had the means to do so.

I was sick so often (bad immune system, endometriosis before they had a term for it) we had to go to court to defend ourselves for "truancy." I had straight A's. When I was there, I swept the tests. But they want you there in person, or else.

To not have had to wait in the cold or blazing heat without gear because poor and our parents had to be at work at 6am......

I know there are plenty of parents not cut out for it or who weren't trained and would give a subpar education, but wouldn't it be great if as humans we had so much time on our hands that we COULD?

Like every adult had so much time they could educate themselves on at least one or two subjects until a little human comes around and then Get Excited to tell them!! About the thing they learned!! Some adults really like space, some love crochet or woodworking - to see all your teachers (adults in your community) passionate about subjects and to have the freedom to express your own like or dislike or take breaks when you need to without judgement? To work at your own pace?? God I want for that future. Also tech can cut down on infections/flu and illness spreading because idiot schools INSIST on keeping 100's of students locked into tiny rooms with poor ventilation. Our school wouldn't let us open the windows during the heat of summer. Because reasons?? Note, we didn't have air conditioning.

thanks for sharing this.

so here's the thing: although i was homeschooled (really, more "no schooled" than anything), i was able to teach myself on the internet. when i was growing up, the internet was just really taking off (jesus christ i feel old saying that) and it enabled me to really just kind of teach myself whatever i wanted. so as i grew older, i grew more resourceful, more digitally literate and crafted my own education.

now the downside to this is that if you want to go into a highly-skilled field or something like science, mathematics, etc. that kind of thing is hard to pull off in a home setting.

for instance, i had absolutely no science "classes" during my school life because the amount of equipment and knowledge needed is far surpassed what my truck driver father and leasing agent mother could provide

keep in mind, i didn't have tutors. i didn't have in-house teachers. it was my fucking dad teaching me between his time working from 3 PM to 1 AM and my mom checking my homework when she remembered and after she got home from work at 5 PM. most days, i didn't have "school." i slept in and did whatever i wanted throughout the rest of the day. luckily, i was addicted to knowledge regardless, so it all worked out for me.

i'm not opposed to the idea of homeschooling, i should stress this. i won't necessarily go to the extremes of calling it child abuse or something like that. but i do think it's wise to remember that a school has entire staff dedicated to teaching your child and that perhaps it takes some hubris to assume you can fulfill your kids learning needs the same way that a staff of (hopefully) trained professionals can.

i think homeschooling is more possible than ever in the current digital world that we occupy. but my parents definitely didn't have the time, money, patience or any other of the valuable resources that you need to teach a kid from 1st grade to their senior year of high school. especially in the late 90's, early 00's, which is when i grew up.

and the problem is often that most parents don't actually have these resources, but still think that they're more than capable of meeting all of those needs that i mentioned before. unfortunately, this ends up hurting their kid the most when they go out into the world with absolutely no clue how to function in it socially.

[slytherin-2-mychamber]

One Shot: Holding Onto Hope

-Draco x reader, reader x original character

-House: Slytherin

-This turned out a lot longer than I planned, so apologies if there are any spelling mistakes etc.

-Set during GoF: reader and Draco often notice each other from a far, but never really speak, could the romantic interests of a international student in the reader, be the thing that pushes them together.

-Tomir Dimitrov (original character, part of the Durmstrang Institute)

-Poliakoff (Igor Karkaroff’s aide)

-Warnings: underage drinking, swearing, light smut

-Y/H/C (Your Hair Colour), Y/E/C (Your Eye Colour)

-(yes I did blatantly take inspo from Hermione and Ron’s conversation about going to the ball for one (tiny tiny) part of this, forgive me Merlin for I have sinned x)

-6.1K words 🖤

-My Masterlist 🖤

It was the start of a Y/N’s fourth year, she was so excited to be back at Hogwarts, especially because Hogwarts had been chosen as the host school for this years Tri Wizard Tournament, they had been joined by guests from Beauxbatons Academy and Durmstrang Institute. Y/N was too young to participate in the tournament, along with most of her friends, but never the less it was going to be a far from ordinary year at Hogwarts. In the first few weeks of term the students had classes as normal and got to know their new guests, Y/N and her friends became close with multiple Durmstrang boys due to them sharing the Slytherin table in the Great Hall. Then finally on Halloween the champions were chosen, there were usually three but somehow, despite his age, Potter had managed to worm his way into the tournament too, much to the annoyance of Y/N and many of her fellow Slytherin friends.

“Typical Potter, can’t be out of the spotlight for more than a minute, I bet him and Dumbledore planned it, just wait until my Father hears about this” Draco spat, everyone nodded in agreement as the group of friends sat about in the Slytherin common room discussing the evenings events.

“I couldn’t agree more Draco” Pansy hummed, attempting to wrap her arms around him, pouting as he shrugged her off.

Y/N watched them from across the room, cringing at Pansy’s desperation and Draco’s tense frame as he slowly inched away from her. Truthfully Y/N had always liked Draco, but he got so much other female attention, she never dared admit it, so she’d tend to just admire him from a far. Admire his perfect porcelain skin, his piercing blue eyes, the way his face crinkled slightly when he smiled or the way he’d bite his lip when concentrating.

“Apparently the first task is something to do with Dragons, I overheard Poliakoff talking about it at lunch” Blaise said, sending a few gasps through the common room.

“Well let’s pray to Merlin the dragons a good shot, maybe we won’t have to deal with Potter much longer” Y/N chuckled, everyone erupted in laughter even Draco, which was a rare sight. Y/N smiled coyly at him across the group of people, his gaze lingered on her softly. The group of friends stayed up for hours that evening theorising ways the dragon might bring down the golden boy, laughing and joking whilst handing round a bottle of Fire Whiskey someone had snuck in. Slytherins may have not always been very kind to the other houses or even each other for the matter, but over the years the group had really created a special bond.

It was the day of the first task, Y/N rushed down the corridor with Pansy,

“Come on we are going to be late if we don’t hurry” Y/N exclaimed urging her down to the arena which was quickly filling up with students. They finally got inside and began making their way over to their friends.

“Draco, Draco” Pansy shouted across the stands, pushing Y/N down into a tiny gap right between Blaise and a Durmstrang boy “You sit here Y/N, there isn’t enough space over there” she said abruptly, as she continued on, positioning herself right next to Draco. Pansy was an alright friend most of the time, but she was very self centred and would drop everything and say anything for a boy she thought was cute, Y/N glanced over Blaise’s shoulder to where Draco was sat, he was rolling his eyes slightly at something Pansy was whispering to him, wriggling from her grip as swiftly as he could, Y/N wondered if he even liked Pansy, it certainly didn’t seem like he did.

Feeling slightly disheartened, Y/N turned her attention to the boy sat to her right, he had hair as dark as soot, deep green eyes and a cheeky grin.

“Hi, I think we may have met before, but I’m so terrible with names, forgive me, I’m Y/N Y/L/N” she said timidly.

“Ah yes Y/N, I think I have seen you at the table in the Great Hall no? I am Tomir Dimitrov, it is nice to finally talk to you. I have only been able to admire you from a far, I must tell you, you are very beautiful” he responded confidently. Y/N felt her cheeks flush with colour, no boy in Hogwarts had ever been so upfront with her.

“Well thank you very much, I - I, no one has ever said that to me before” Y/N was so flustered, she could barely string a sentence together.

“No one?! Well these Hogwarts boys are dumber than I thought” he exclaimed, Y/N let out a huge roar of laughter catching the attention of the students around her, including Pansy and Draco. Draco winced watching Y/N laughing, he always thought she had the most infectious laughter and the most radiant smile, but he couldn’t stand the fact she was laughing at Tomir. Draco had heard him a few days prior asking some Slytherin boys about Y/N, it was obvious Tomir liked her and Draco didn’t blame him, he just hoped she didn’t feel the same way about Tomir. Draco had always thought Y/N was amazing, so confident, so funny and of course beautiful, maybe it was finally time he told her how he felt.

Pansy noticed Draco watching Y/N, it boiled her blood, she wasn’t sure if she even liked Draco or just the idea of being with “The Slytherin Prince” but she wasn’t about to be second best to Y/N again, every boy they knew was crazy about Y/N and she was apparently completely oblivious, Pansy resented her for it. Pansy decided to reach over and place her hand on Dracos leg in an attempt at affection, but it just caused him to flinch and instinctively slap her away,

“Parkinson do you mind? It’s called personal space” he snapped, returning his attention to Y/N who was still chatting away to Tomir. Pansy sighed, shifting herself left towards Daphne and speaking to her instead.

The first task began with the sounding of a canon, and one by one the champions beat their dragons and collected their golden egg, even Harry Potter much to Y/N’s disappointment. Y/N spent most of the tournament chatting to Tomir, he was unlike any boy she had ever known, he was very clear about his interest in Y/N and had even asked if they may sit together at dinner that evening to continue their conversation. As they got up to leave Tomir took Y/N’s delicate hand into his, raising it to his lips placing a gentle kiss on the edge of her knuckles,

“It was wonderful getting to know you, I hope I will see you later Miss Y/L/N”, once again Y/N felt herself blushing, only able to nod slightly and smile as she watched him walk away. Y/N pushed past Blaise and Draco to join Pansy and Daphne, immediately beginning to gush over how kind Tomir was, for once paying no mind to Draco. Draco however was fixated on Y/N, listening as she described her conversation with Tomir, her grin spanning ear to ear, Draco cursed himself, why hadn’t he been able to sit with her that day, got his chance to run his fingers through hers and..

“Oi Malfoy, come on mate we’re leaving” Blaise shouted towards Draco, snapping him out of his thoughts.

“Coming” he called, before joining his friends and heading back to the castle.

A few weeks had passed since the first task, Y/N had spent a large amount of her free time with Tomir, at first happily, he was so nice and very complimentary, but after a while it felt rather forced, everywhere she went he was there waiting for her, she couldn’t seem to escape him. Y/N thought Tomir was lovely, but he was coming on way too strong and after getting to know him more she knew she only saw him as a friend, so him following her round everywhere was becoming increasingly annoying. Y/N was coming out of Herbology when she saw Tomir waiting for her across the courtyard, panicking she dashed away behind the crowd in the opposite direction before he had chance to see her, running towards the library and rushing towards the furthest corner she could find. Fumbling into a seat she landed with a great thud, causing the boy sat opposite to jump slightly and lift his head,

“Draco” she whispered “Hi”

“Hi Y/N, you okay?” he chuckled, gesturing to her flushed appearance.

“Merlin, yes I think so” she replied, darting her eyes about the room to double check Tomir hadn’t managed to follow her, “Its Tomir, I can’t seem to get a minute to myself”

“Ah yes, you two seem rather - smitten” Draco said begrudgingly, Y/N let out a large laugh and rolled her eyes,

“I don’t know what Tomir has been saying, but I can assure you I am not smitten” she continued chuckling to herself. Draco was shocked, and relieved by her reaction, every time he’d seen the pair over the past week or so they were together, and Tomir had been telling all the boys she was “his girl”, Draco was convinced he had lost his chance with Y/N.

“Well, that is a surprise, I think if Tomir had it his way you’d be transferring to Durmstrang” Draco responded.

“Absolutely not, lovely guy, but he is too full on for me, I prefer someone who’s a bit more - laidback, not professing their love every ten seconds” she giggled, picking a book out of her bag and starting to flick through it. Draco admired her for a moment, her perfect Y/H/C hair scraped back into a bun, a few loose strands falling down the side of her face, her gorgeous Y/E/C eyes meeting his across the table.

“You know I don’t think we have ever sat just us two like this before, weird when you think about how many years we’ve been friends” Draco pondered.

“Yes that’s true I guess, probably because you always have one of your cronies following you, or Pansy hanging off your neck” Y/N retorted, slightly bitterly, the thought Pansy might have a connection with Draco infuriated her.

“Merlin, Parkinson is a nightmare, she’s been after me for years”

“What don’t you like her?” Y/N asked quietly, internally jumping for joy, was it true, had Y/N been reading the signs right, was Draco not interested in Pansy?

“No not at all, well as a friend, but nothing more. I’m like you, I prefer someone more, more” he stumbled searching for a polite way to phrase his thoughts.

“Grounded?” Y/N suggested.

“Yes! Someone who - who is completely perfect in every way, yet completely unaware of it at the same time” he exclaimed, staring deeply into Y/N’s eyes, she felt herself blushing under his gaze, he always had such an affect on her.

“That sounds pretty impossible to find Draco” she giggled, their eyes still locked across the table.

“You’d be surprised” he hummed, throwing her a wink, before returning to his work.

The pair worked in silence for the next thirty minutes, occasionally meeting each others glances across the table and smiling sweetly, then they packed up their belongings and headed their separate ways, both replaying their interaction to themselves for the rest of the day.

Christmas was fast approaching, and as was tradition alongside the Tri Wizard Tournament, it had been announced that Hogwarts were to host the Yule Ball, a dance that was to take place on Christmas Eve. Naturally the entire school was talking about it, most of all who everyone was going with. Y/N had been avoiding Tomir as best she could, she was so worried he’d try to ask her to the dance and she hated having to say no. Sat in Charms class she watched the first snow fall out of the window, the frost spreading slowly over the pane of glass creating a layer of sparkling crystals, reminding her of Dracos eyes as she drifted off into a sweet daydream of him. Draco sat across the room admiring her silently, how the light caught her skin perfectly causing it to glisten, how she ran one finger back and forth along her bottom lip nervously whilst gazing out the window lost in thought. He wondered what she was thinking about, maybe him, he hoped so. Suddenly Crabbe poked him,

“Daphne told me to give you this” he said, handing Draco a small note, Draco glanced over to Daphne who was sat next to Pansy, the girls were whispering to each other and laughing childishly. Rolling his eyes he proceeded to open the note, it said: “You and Pansy = Yule Ball”, accompanied by a small cartoon of a boy and girl dancing around the paper and lots and lots of hearts. Draco cringed at the immaturity, he had tried so hard to let Pansy down gently, she just didn’t get that she wasn’t his type, he needed to come up with a plan, and quick.

It was finally the end of the day and Y/N was making her way out of Potions class, when she saw Tomir waiting for her down the corridor, she scurried into a darkened door way, hoping she could wait there until the crowd had dispersed and Tomir would think he had missed her. Suddenly the door behind her opened slightly, a slender hand reached out grabbing her by the wrist and pulling her inside. She found herself face to face with Draco in a small storage cupboard filled with old potion bottles, insect wings and various other containers of odd looking things.

“Draco!” she shouted whilst hitting him playfully on the chest, he pulled her in close and put his hand over her mouth shushing her,

“Y/L/N, I thought you were trying to avoid Tomir, keep it down” he whispered, Y/N giggled as he removed his hand gently.

“Yes - yes I am, thank you” she mumbled as she noticed Dracos arm still wrapped around her waist, sending butterflies to her stomach. Returning her attention to Draco, she met his eyes staring into her, his warm breath travelling down and hitting her lips, they inched slowly towards one other, Draco’s hand gripping tighter on her, the tension between them increasing rapidly before he abruptly pushed her away and began talking again,

“I mainly dragged you in here - because I have a proposition for you”

“Okay, and what is that?” Y/N asked nervously, feeling extremely flustered from their close encounter.

“So I’m assuming, after our run it at the library, you want to avoid going to the ball with Tomir right?” he started, Y/N nodded gently.

“Well Pansy keeps dropping, not so subtle hints, she’s waiting for me to ask her, which I really don’t want to do” he added

“Yes okay understandable, so what’s the proposition?” she chuckled.

“I thought maybe, if you wanted, we could go together” he suggested timidly, Y/N felt a huge surge of excitement spread through her body,

“As friends of course” he blurted out, regretting it immediately, knowing he saw Y/N as much more than just a friend, but what if she didn’t like him, he didn’t want to make her feel uncomfortable or embarrass himself.

Y/N’s joy quickly faded hearing the word “friends” roll of his tongue, she knew he didn’t like Pansy, but she thought for sure she’d felt something between her and Draco. They stood silently for a moment, Y/N fiddling with the end of her tie.

“We don’t have to, I just thought it gets Tomir off your back and Pansy off mine, if we could just say we have already planned to go together” he said quietly.

“Yes - yes, it’s a great idea Draco” she responded quickly, “as long as you don’t mind sacrificing your night for me” she whispered hastily.

“I would hardly say sacrifice” he chuckled, “We will have a great time, and now you don’t have to spend all day hiding from Tomir, you can just tell him you already have a date” Draco beamed at her looking very pleased with his plan.

“Yes thats true” she giggled “Okay so, we are going to the ball together, wow” she gazed up at him, both of them internally screaming with excitement, but cool as ice on the surface.

“As friends” she added throwing him a wink.

“Shall I pick you up from your dorm?” he asked, before opening the cupboard door slightly and checking the coast was clear.

“Oh, such a gentleman” she teased, Draco laughed, “but yes please that would be perfect”, they both slipped out into the corridor.

“Wonderful, well I’ll see you about Y/N” and he headed off towards the Library, cursing himself again for saying the word “friends”, but still he couldn’t wait for Y/N to be on his arm all night.

Y/N made her way back to the common room and found some of the Slytherin girls sat about the fire, gossiping about the Yule Ball. As she went over to join them Pansy was blabbering away,

“I expect Draco will ask me any day now, my mother says we are a perfect match.” she boasted.

“But what if he doesn’t ask you Pans? It’s only a week until the Ball” Tracey asked apprehensively.

“Why wouldn’t he ask me?” she snapped.

“Oh I don’t know, it was a silly thing for me to say” Tracey said, feeling intimidated by Pansy.

“Yes it was. Besides if Draco doesn’t realise how much he clearly likes me, Theodore Nott has also asked me, so I will just go with him, unlike you Tracey I have plenty of choices” she spat. Tracey looked embarrassed, quickly turning her attention to Daphne and Y/N who had just sat down.

“What about you guys? Got a date yet?” Tracey questioned.

“Yes I’m going with Goyle, just as friends, but I’m excited” Daphne responded, warranting a few “oohs” and nods from the girls.

“Y/N? What about Tomir?” Tracey probed, all eyes were on Y/N, especially Pansy’s, who she knew would be less than pleased Y/N was going with Draco.

“Urm, no I’m not going with Tomir, I-“ she stumbled over her words,

“Your not planning on saying no to him are you Y/N? Poor Tomir, added to the long list of boys you’ve strung along and dropped for fun” Pansy taunted,

“What’s that’s supposed to mean? I didn’t string him a long” she tried to stay calm but her rage grew as Pansy continued,

“Come on you must know no one else is going to ask you, I’m saying this as a friend, don’t miss your only chance to have a good night” she said, smiling at Y/N fakely.

“Believe it or not Pansy, somebody else did already ask me, and I said YES” she retorted, before standing up abruptly and heading up to her dorm triumphantly, knowing in just a week Pansy, her so called “friend”, would have that obnoxious smile wiped from her face when she saw Y/N on the arm of Draco Malfoy.

A few days had passed since Y/N had agreed to go to the ball with Draco, she was making her way through the courtyard, the snow was thick and crisp she was too entranced in how it crunched under her boots to notice Tomir approaching her.

“Y/N” he exclaimed, startling her.

“Sorry I did not mean to scare you, just I have been looking for you for many days now, where have you been?” he asked. Y/N felt slightly guilty for avoiding him, he was a nice guy.

“Oh I’ve just been busy with classes and stuff” she answered swiftly.

“Well anyway, the reason I have wanted to talk to you, was to ask you something” he said excitedly, Y/N didn’t say anything she just stared at him apprehensively knowing what was coming.

“I think you are most beautiful and funny girl, and I was just wondering if you would like to go to the Yule Ball with me?” he proposed. A wave of guilt hit Y/N as she knew she was about to say no, at least she had a good excuse thanks to Draco.

“Oh Tomir, I’m sorry, somebody else has already asked me, and I’ve said I will go with them” she responded quietly. His face dropped as he nodded slowly,

“I should have known, well I hope you have a good time” as he turned to walk away, Y/N suddenly had an idea

“Wait Tomir, I do know someone who would love to go with you though, Tracey!” she suggested. Tomir smiled,

“Really? I like Tracey she is a lovely girl, I will have to ask her then, thank you for the idea” and with that he left across the courtyard. Y/N let out a huge sigh of relief, she did feel slightly bad, but it was all going to work out for the best, plus now Tracey can prove Pansy’s nasty comments wrong by being accompanied by a handsome Durmstrang boy. Y/N stood alone for a moment, allowing the cold air to engulf her body as the snowflakes kissed her cheeks gently, pretending just for a moment it was Dracos lips touching her skin, a warm feeling crept through her and a smile broke out across her face.

“Miss Y/L/N” Professor Sprouts voice broke her out of the trance, she sighed bitterly at being brought back to a reality where Draco only saw her as a friend. “Don’t you have a lesson to be getting to?” she asked, Y/N nodded, heading off to her next class. Unbeknownst to her Draco had been watching her the entire time from a corridor window overlooking the courtyard, appreciating her every move, he found himself constantly devoted to her from a far.

Finally Christmas Eve had arrived, classes had ended two days earlier, and Y/N had spent most of the time catching up on homework and avoiding Pansy, who had been going mad since she heard Draco had asked someone else to the ball, promising to hex whoever it was when she found out their identity. Y/N didn’t really believe her, Pansy tended to be all bark no bite, but Draco and Y/N had agreed to keep their arrangement a secret to avoid the gossip. Which became increasingly difficult once Y/N found herself getting ready for the ball in a room full of the Slytherin girls.

“Oh my goodness Daphne you look beautiful” Tracey gushed, as Daphne stepped out from behind the partition in a form fitting violet gown, twirling slowly.

“Yes you look incredible Daph” Y/N agreed, then Pansy came bursting out of the bathroom in a light pink frilly dress, it was lovely, but very traditional.

“What do we think ladies? Don’t I look amazing” she moved to the mirror to admire herself “this was mothers own dress when she was my age”

“Yes you can tell” Tracey said nonchalantly,

“What does that mean? Don’t you like it?” Pansy snapped.

“Oh yes of course, it’s stunning” she nervously responded, realising what she’d said.

“Yes it’s simply gorgeous Pansy, Theo is very lucky to have you on his arm tonight” Daphne purred, all the girls gathered around Pansy continuing to compliment her.

Y/N slipped out of her dressing gown, and pulled her dress up her body, she had chosen a floor length frosted blue dress, with silver snowflakes stitched delicately along the rim of the bodice. It was slightly more revealing than she had intended, it had a slit up the left leg and was backless meaning she couldn’t wear a bra, but maybe this was her chance to show Draco she could be more than just a friend.

“Tracey will you zip me up?” Y/N asked quietly, all the girls turned their attention to Y/N immediately, gasping as they did.

“Merlin Y/N, you look like a Christmas Angel or something” Daphne exclaimed, Tracey rushed over to help with the zipper.

“You really do look insane Y/N” Tracey said

“I think it’s a little - slutty - for a school ball” Pansy spat, angered the attention had been taken away from her, “I think Tomir would prefer something more classy” she added.

“I already told you, I’m not going with Tomir, so I don’t have to worry about that” Y/N exclaimed.

“I didn’t believe you though, I mean who else would have asked you” she laughed. At that moment there was a knock at the door, Y/N flew across and opened it to find Draco stood in his black velvet dress robes looking more handsome than Y/N had ever seen him.

“Hi” Y/N whispered, Dracos eyes widened as they roamed down her body.

“Wow, Y/N you look” he started to speak, before Pansy interrupted,

“Draco? What are you doing here?” she shouted across the room, all the girls now turning and staring at Draco.

“I’m here to accompany the lovely Miss Y/L/N to the ball” he said confidently.

“What?! You two are going together, I - I” Pansy for once, was speechless.

“Shall we go?” Y/N said proudly turning to Draco,

“Yes let’s my love” he presented his arm, which she took gracefully and headed out the door, throwing a little wave to the girls, who were all stood gawping at the scene in front of them. They made their way down through the common room and up to the Great Hall, Y/N felt so at home walking by Draco, she gazed up at him lovingly, before having to remind herself that they were just attending the ball as friends.

“I never got to finish telling you how incredible you look tonight Y/N” Draco began, “I consider myself very lucky to accompany you” Y/N felt herself blushing.

“Thank you Draco, you look very handsome yourself” she smiled at him, “and your plan worked a treat of course” she added.

“Ah yes my plan” Draco had almost forgotten the premise under which he’d asked Y/N to the ball, wishing now he’d just plucked up the courage and asked her properly instead of having to pretend to have no feelings for her, which had become incredibly difficult given how beautiful she looked this evening.

“I must say it was very satisfying to see the look on Parkinson’s face” he chuckled.

“Yes very” Y/N laughed.

The pair strode into the Great Hall, which was done up marvellously with giant silver tables, ice sculptures, enchanted lights and snow covered trees.

“Shall we start with a drink perhaps?” Draco asked.

“Yes, yes let’s” she exclaimed, Draco picked up two glasses and turned back to face Y/N, “I have a little surprise for you” she said menacingly, reaching down to the side of her leg, pulling back her dress slightly at the slit, to reveal a small flask fastened onto her thigh using a white lace garter, Draco’s eyes lit up. Y/N discreetly poured some of the fire whiskey into their drinks, before returning the flask to her leg, noticing that Draco was unable to tear his gaze away from her as she did. They both guzzled down their drinks, shivering from the after taste of the whiskey, then made their way towards the dance floor, where the Champions Dance had just finished meaning everyone was now free to join in.

Dracos hand slipped around Y/N’s waist, pulling her in close as she delicately placed her hand on his shoulder, they began to dance. Eyes locked they spun in synchronisation, completely blocking out the world around them, Draco would whisper jokes in Y/Ns ear as an excuse to pull her in closer, Y/N slowly moved her hand round the back of his neck, running her fingers through his hair.

“Thank you Draco” Y/N said abruptly.

“Thank you? For what?” Draco laughed.

“For asking me to come with you tonight, for saving my ass from having to be honest with Tomir” she giggled, her eyes still locked with his.

“You know I should be honest” Draco said slightly nervously,

“Honest? What do you mean?” Y/N responded apprehensively.

“I invited you to the ball under false pretences” he paused for a moment, “Yes I wanted to avoid Pansy, and I knew you wanted to avoid Tomir. But I also asked you because I like you as - as more than just a friend” a small smile broke out across his face, he’d finally told her.

“Wow Draco I - I don’t even know what to say, I-“ Y/N spluttered, completely shocked by Draco’s sudden revelation.

“It’s fine I understand if you don’t feel the same, I just wanted you to know” he murmured.

“No no” she rushed to get her words out “I like you too, a lot, I just thought after the other day, when you said we were just friends and stuff” Y/N was overcome with happiness and confusion all at the same time.

“That was stupid, I regretted it the moment I said it, I should have just told you how I felt” he responded.

“Well you have now and I am very glad you have” Y/N nuzzled her head into his neck, breathing in his scent and placing a light kiss on his skin, sending shivers down his spine. Slowly she pulled her face up to his, until they were centimetres from each other, still twirling in time to the music, finally their lips collided in a sweet crescendo, a huge smile breaking out across both of their faces, Draco pecked her again gently, before lifting her up and spinning her round, Y/N threw back her head giggling. They were both so lost in the moment, they didn’t even notice all the eyes on the two of them, especially Pansy’s who was dancing nearby with Theo, eyes glued to Y/N and Draco the whole time, still in disbelief.

The night was flying by like some sort of dream, once the traditional dances were complete a band called the Weird Sisters performed. That’s when everyone started having proper fun, jumping about, letting loose, sneaking off with partners for secret rendezvous in the dark. Draco and Y/N had joined a big group of their friends when the band started playing, catching up on what everyone had been up to, but still staying by each other’s side the whole time, hands interlocked, which didn’t go unnoticed by many of their friends who were still flapping about the kiss they’d seen them share on the dance floor.

“I can’t believe it, you and Draco!” Tracey exclaimed, “you should have seen the look on Pansy’s face when you left, priceless” she added in a hushed tone, aware of Pansy stood not too far away glaring at Y/N still.

“He’s amazing Tracey, I will have so much to fill you in on tomorrow, I’m just as shocked as you are” she giggles “and pissing off Pansy is just an added bonus, she deserves it” Y/N whispered, the two girls laughed together.

“Wait did you say fill me in tomorrow? You not planning on coming back to our dorm tonight?” Tracey teased, winking at Y/N.

“Not if I can help it, have you seen him” she said raising her eyebrows suggestively. Draco overheard their conversation, feeling a surge of excitement from Y/N’s promiscuous comment, images of her in his bed running through his mind causing his grip to tighten around her hand unknowingly, gaining her attention.

“You ok?” she asked, noticing Dracos flushed appearance.

“Urm yeh - yeh shall we go outside for some fresh air?” he asked, she nodded, grinning at him mischievously.

“Bye Tracey, see you later” she called back as Draco began pulling her through the crowd.

“More like see you tomorrow” Tracey shouted, laughing loudly, before turning and continuing to dance with Tomir. Y/N took one last look at the Great Hall before Draco lead her out, what a perfect night, everything had fallen into place, it couldn’t have been more amazing, but yet Y/N knew it was about to be.

They rushed out into the courtyard, the sexual tension building between them more and more each minute, Fire Whiskey flowing through their veins. Draco turned to face Y/N running his hand round the back of her neck, pulling her towards him, beginning to kiss her hungrily. She wrapped her arms around his strong torso, collapsing into his lips, a small whimper escaping between them. Draco slowly pushed her towards a darkened corner, until her bare back was up against the stone cold wall. His soft warm lips still worshipping her, slowly he kissed down her neck and then began peppering kisses on her chest, causing Y/N to let out a light moan, much to Dracos enjoyment. Their lips met again, gliding against each other eagerly, Dracos hand slid down her side and pulled her leg up around him, pushing her further into the wall.

“Merlin I can’t tell you how long I’ve wanted to do this” he hummed, continuing to kiss her.

“Me too” she quickly responded between parted lips. Suddenly across the courtyard they heard Snape’s voice as he caught two other students in a compromising position,

“I’ll be seeing you both in detention tomorrow, inside now” he boomed.

“Shit” Y/N exclaimed panicking, starting to push away from the wall. Draco placed a gentle kiss on her neck, before whispering in her ear,

“Come on, I know where we can be alone” and with that he took her hand and lead her back into the castle, keeping quiet whilst scurrying through the shadows. Y/N knew she recognised the path they were taking, but she was so enamoured by Draco she didn’t even realise at first they had arrived at the Slytherin Dungeons,

“Draco - what are we doing here?” she asked apprehensively, giggling slightly.

“Well I don’t tell many people this, don’t want any rumours of favouritism, which there maybe a tiny bit of, but you know what my fathers like, good friends with Snape and all-“ he blabbered on.

“Draco” Y/N interrupted “what does your father have to do with this, I thought we were going somewhere to be alone” she laughed, moving close to him, coiling her hands around his neck, kissing him longingly, reminding him of what he was missing out on whilst standing here wittering.

“Yes - yes sorry, long story short, I have my own dorm, it’s an old disused prefect dorm” he said, grinning at Y/N and returning her affection.

“Of course you do” Y/N responded jokingly,

“Hey come on, it’s a place to be alone isn’t it?” he asked, reaching down and playfully slapping her ass. They met once more in a passionate embrace, it felt so natural and electric, all either of them could think is why they had waited this long to tell each other how they felt.

“So are you going to show me your swanky dorm or not?” Y/N teased breathlessly in between kisses, winking at him.

“Of course Madame how rude of me” he responded humorously, “May I offer you a ride” he asked, before scooping Y/N into his arms,

“Why thank you Mr Malfoy” she laughed, Draco carried Y/N down into the darkness of the dungeons towards his room, the pair giggling childishly. Y/N nuzzled into Dracos neck, kissing him lovingly, thankful for the fact they’d both been holding onto the hope, that they’d be united one day.

[barbatos-the-loyal-butler]

I saw your lgbtq+ request are open so I'd like to request!Could you make the brothers reacting to MC that's pansexual and fawns over everybody no matter what they are man,woman,queer,demon,angel,bea,etc.

Okay so like... this is just me... I'mma just do me- also please don't let this post flop I struggled to write this cause my brain is so slow Mc is gender neutral.

When first in devildom Mc was surprised at the beauty that surrounded them, every demon, angel and human they met was so attractive they could barely handle it.

They couldn't help but fawn over everyone they saw, Sometime they started to flirt slightly but mostly just admired them from afar.

Of course it became clear all the others how Mc reacted to everyone around them.

Lucifer

He noticed how they tend to fawn over every single person they meet almost immediately. They had just been teleported to Devildom and looking completely distracted.

He tried thought it may have just been the shock of the situation or simply just the confused, so he was very taken off guard when they finally spoke.

"Your all so beautiful! I get to stay here for a year! of course I'll do it"

He wasn't sure how to respond to this, so just simply moved on and finished the rest of the explanation.

Over the first few month he grew used to seeing Mc fawning over every demon they saw, so it wasn't much of a surprise when they explained they where pansexual.

If he is romantically interested in Mc, he may get a tad bit jealous that Mc admires other people besides him but he moves past that once he find them admiring him as well.

If it's just a platonic relationship he would be very supportive, making sure that they don't get to distracted by the beautiful demons or ends up doing something to stupid by flirting with almost every demon they see.

Mammon

When mammon was called to Mc side on their first day in devildom, the human instantly starting complimenting Mammon.

"Ohh! your so handsome! I'm so lucky to have such a pretty demon watching over me!" he was very surprised and flustered, expecting the human to be scared or many indifferent but not this.

It took him while to get used to the constant compliments and fawning, but got extremely jealous when they do so to other people.

If he is in love with Mc he almost always is trying to make them not focus on other people and simply just fawn over him. Of course if this is pointed out he will get very flustered and deny it.

If he isn't romantically in love with Mc he can get a bit annoyed at it, often dragging Mc away from any hot demons that distract them but does join in sometimes.

Leviathan

He doesn't know about this quirk that Mc has for awhile, he did get extremely flustered when they fawned over him but thought it was just him and his brother since he didn't go outside with them often.

He brings them to an anime convention in devildom and then noticed how they fawn over everyone they can see, it gets worse when they dress as a character they like.

Levi get extremely embarrassed but also very jealous, trying to distract Mc from the hot demons surrounding them. It was difficult at times but they were focusing mainly on levi and spending the day with him.

If he has romantic feelings toward Mc he will spend more time with them when they are outside, despite how much he may dislike it he wants to be near them to distract them if they start to fawn over another person.

If Mc is just his friend, he wouldn't mind it to much as long as Mc doesn't draw too much attention to him. They spend most of their time inside and away from other demon, plus they can fawn over fictional characters together.

Satan

He laughs softly at when Mc first came to devildom and surprised Lucifer, already telling that his human would cause many problems for his older brother. Though besides that he didn't care much for them at first.

That was in till he met them again at the library where he found them admiring him from afar and trying to hide behind a book. So he walks up to them and ask what they where doing.

"I'm sorry! I couldn't help it, your just your so beautiful! and I can't help it.. I did come here to study but then you came in and.. I got distracted"

He found a pattern in that, after while he started to help Mc study but found they couldn't do it in a public space or any random demon who walked by. He does try to keep them on topic but it is a failing battle.

if he has romantic feelings towards Mc he would try to find out what things they find most attractive from all the people they fawn over so he could try to make himself more attractive to them. Of course there was little reason to why they fawned over people so he gave up quickly.

If he is simply friends with Mc he tends to be a bit annoyed by them being so distractible, but he finds it amusing. Usually studying where no one else is so they do not.

Asmodeus

He instantly liked the new exchange student once they got distracted by everyone his beauty, Introducing himself to them and quickly getting close to them.

They quickly bonded on the fact they find every demon they run into is attractive and fawn over them. They did still fawn over Asmodeus often, which the demon loved all the attention.

If Asmo has romantic feelings for Mc he would get a tiny bit insecure at times. Though sometimes asking Mc nervously if they were just with him because of his looks, which they quickly denied.

If Asmo and Mc were just friends, they often go out and flirt with demons helping each other pick up dates and admire others.

Beelzebub

He was very confused with Mc at first, he saw them get distracted every few seconds when at Rad but it took him a bit to figure out that they were fawning over the demons that passed.

He was still confused at that, but didn't really think much off it. Occasionally picking up Mc when they get too distracted to carry them to wherever they may need to.

If he's in love with Mc he will get far more flustered when they fawn over him, but still overall doesn't care if they fawn over others. As long as they still spend time with him he's happy.

If he is simply friends with Mc he will constantly ask if they are in love with the people they fawn over. Which does fluster Mc like crazy, but they don't mind.

Belphegor

Belphie can find it irritating at times, but over all doesn't care. When he does spend time with Mc they are both usually alone so it's nice, but when Mc does drag him out of bed and to the outside he gets annoyed if they get distracted and fawn over another demon.

If he is in love with Mc he can get very annoyed by it when they are spending time together outside. He will glare slightly at any demons that pass by, but after Mc teases him about it a few times he stops.

If they are just friend/cuddle buddies he often teasing Mc for getting distracted by anyone who walks by, and fawning over them but the teasing is light hearted.

Lord Diavolo

Lord Diavolo was so excited was not only comfortable around and fawning over the demons that they met, including him. It was surprising to him, it wasn't often someone was brave enough to flirt with him.

He loved all the attention he got from Mc, and joined them when they fawned over other demons mainly lucifer. He was just happy to spend time with them.

If he is in love with Mc he will be a bit pouty at times if they fawn over others when he is there, but that will quickly change whenever they turn their attention back to him.

if he is friend with Mc he was be happy to join in with them when they fawn over everyone, their both are a chaotic pansexuall duo.

Barbatos

Barbatos was taken off guard by Mc at first, When he was working he would often find Mc fawning over him from afar which left him extremely flustered.

He was used to people simply ignore him or just being indifferent towards him. It took him awhile to get used to it, he also made sure that Mc did not get to distracted and miss anything important.

If he fell in love with them, he gets far more flustered when finding them fawning over him. Part of him trying draw their attention to him more, so he can get more of their praise.

If he didn't fall in love with Mc, he is overall neutral to this habit. Though he can find it assuming at times.

Simeon

He was very assumed at this, often asking Mc about why they fawned over basically anyone. Which caused them to go into a long winded rant about beautiful and how everyone is pretty.

He enjoys listening to their train of thought, even if it boils down to people = pretty.

If he is in love with Mc he often finds himself writing small stories based on whoever they are fawning over, sharing them with Mc all the time. He does get a bit flustered when they fawn over him, and does write a few stories about that as well but if far too embarrassed to show Mc.

If he is just friends with Mc, he will encourage them to talk to the people they fawn over more. Occasionally teasing them slightly when they getting distracted.

Solomon

He is the biggest shit about it, constantly teasing them when they get distracted and fawn over everyone they see. Of course he does kinda do the same but just slightly less obvious.

If he is in love with Mc he will tease slightly less but does try to draw their attention away from whoever they are fawning over. Usually by doing something very stupid with magic... Mc will have to make sure he doesn't get himself killed.

If he is simply friends with Mc he will do similar things but do it so that they draw all the attention towards Mc. He will try to get a bunch of demons to flirt with Mc, wanting to see them get flustered.

[sirisuorionblack]

Hey lmao how are you? I was wondering if I could have a Draco x Fem!Reader where someone is having a party on the lake of Hogwarts and the reader usually is really sassy and energetic, but she's really scared of water and doesn't know how to swim?

Best friend

Draco Malfoy x Slytherin!Fem!Reader

Summary - Hufflepuffs, the kindest of all four houses, has hosted a lake-side party for all the houses and the beautiful result out of it is understanding of friendship and perhaps love.

Warnings - Speak of trauma, near-drowning experience (like once) and fear of water. Cursing. And lmk if anything else!

A/N Hello!! I am great. Hope you are having a good day/night! I really hope I stuck to the description of the reader cause I am not sassy and energetic so...the reader wasn't much of those. Anyways, have a happy read!

"Did you know?” Your friend, fretted as she sat down at the Slytherin table for breakfast, “the Hufflepuffs are hosting a “party“ near the black lake. It’s going to be like a day where you just “enjoy“ and do things near the lake? Whole Hogwarts is invited,”

“What is up with you and your finger quotes?” You chuckled, taking a sip of your pumpkin juice.

She rolled her eyes, “Just- are we going?”

“Do you want to go?” You asked her back.

“I mean,” she shrugged and frowned, “If you are going,”

You giggled shaking your head, “Even a frog is more decisive than you,”

”I am not being indecisive, I just have a tough time weighing the pros and cons,” she said and blushed as you burst out laughing, “Oh, shut it,”

“I can’t,” You said among your giggles.

She rolled her eyes and tugged you by the arm, “We are getting late for class, come on. Stand up, you twat!”

You stumbled to your feet and allowed her arm to link around yours. “Now, tell me - are we going?”

“You said the whole Hogwarts is gonna be there,” you said, looking at her pointedly.

She rolled her eyes and slapped your arm, “You know that was an over-exaggeration,”

”Who all are gonna be there?” You asked, “Answer honestly without exaggeration,”

”Fifth year and above in all houses,” She mumbled, monotonously.

“Alright then, you reckon we can go?” you asked again.

“Oh, I don’t know, you say!”

“Fine, fine. Merlin, calm down,” The two of you reached the Potions classroom and took your seat on the opposite ends of the classroom. You, next to Malfoy and your best friend next to Potter.

Draco moved his textbooks that were scattered across your shared table to his side, giving you some space. He then proceeded to lean against his arm and idly flip the pages of his textbook, completely ignoring your presence.

You took a seat next to him. Looking around the classroom you realised, Professor Slughorn was nowhere to be found, “Where is Slughorn?” you asked him.

He shrugged, “How would I know?”

“Right, my bad,” You said through gritted teeth, turning to face the empty blackboard the thought of the party your friend had mentioned surfaced your thoughts. You masked the scare for water as hatred. The trauma those had given you were a bewildering amount, the near-drowning situation you had been in was not something you would like to experience again. The mere thought of water made you shiver in fright and consequently, you had never learnt swimming.

But you had to think of your best friend, she was a lover of water - lake, sea, beach, all of them - and the black lake was her comfort spot and a party right by it was a gift to her and the all houses thing was something she could condemn as heaven.

Letting out a deep breath, you tore a tiny piece of parchment and roughly scribbled ‘Should we attend the party?’ and hissed for Draco’s attention.

Rolling his eyes, he turned to look at you, “What do you want?”

You gritted your teeth to stop yourself from saying anything, “Can you pass this to the girl sitting next to Potter?”

He looked around to spot Harry and after finding he whipped his head to look at you, “You want me to pass a tiny little note to someone across the class?!”

“Use your brain, Malfoy, just pass it, you know,” you motioned with your hand.

He glared at you with a clenched jaw but did it nonetheless. He whispered in a hushed voice to the next girl and you watched as the note reached your friend, who narrowed her eyes at you and then determinedly scribbled something.

She took out her wand and levitated the note to reach you. Draco, who watched the scene intently with crossed arms, scoffed.

“Piss off, Malfoy,” you mumbled, unfolding the note that read We are going and that’s final!

You grimaced, oh shit.

“What are you gonna wear!?” Your friend yelled as she burst into your dorm, startling you.

“Merlin’s underpants!” you yell, clutching your chest and taking deep breaths.

“That’s a weird one to wear,” she scrunched her nose in disgust, “Now tell me what are you gonna wear?”

Fetching the book you were reading that laid open at the foot of your bed, you said, “Is wearing a hoodie a choice?”

“No,” she said, sternly.

You grinned at her, “I am wearing that. Especially that black hoodie with the skull design,”

“I don’t even know why you like it,” she said, taking a seat on the edge of your bed, pushing your legs.

“Because it suits my aesthetic,” you said, flipping your messy hair dramatically.

She scoffed, “You are like a golden retriever that’s high,”

You blinked twice, “I love how you are trying to tell I am cute without telling I am cute but no,”

She rolled her eyes, “I will get you a dress,”

Two days later, your friend never showed you the dress, always smiling cheekily and shaking her head saying “it’s a surprise”. On the day of the party, she rushed to you, with a bag behind her back. She ushered you to stand in front of the floor-length mirror and asked you to close your eyes.

“I trusted your fashion sense so that dress better not be looking weird,” you said, your eyes still closed as you heard some ruffling behind you.

“Open your eyes,” she gushed. You chuckled when you saw the excitement in her eyes as your turned around.

You gasped, “that is so beautiful,” you breathed taking the dress in your hands. It was of a soft yellow colour dress, reaching till shins with floral print all over the dress. It was casual yet so beautiful.

“I know right!” you squealed, “put it on,”

After an hour or so you found yourself walking to the black lake and you had to chuckle as you found the overly energetic teens littered across the area, cups of juices in their hands, some in their swimsuit, some wearing casual cotton clothes such as yourself. 

Your eyes fell on a certain Slytherin, hanging out with his group. Draco had dark green shorts on, a white tee that hung loosely on his body. He wove his fingers into the platinum blonde hair that fell in strands with a wide grin on his face.

“The love of your life,” she said, smirking.

“Enough of watching your prince charming,” your best friend said, tugging on your arm.

You rolled your eyes, “Yeah, my knight in shining armour,”

“Ever heard of something named sarcasm?”

“You ever heard of something named teasing?”

“Yes, and I do not claim to like it much,”

She rolled her eyes.

By the end of the evening, the students were slowly disappearing, the mass of the students at the time of the raging party was completely dissipated with just a few older students standing next to the lake, or sitting against the bark of trees. You, yourself were leaning against one of the trees, the energy you had at the beginning all gone with the laughter and fear. Almost everyone who attended the party jumped into the lake at least once, playing around, splashing water on each other and swimming but you hadn’t even gone near the lake, rather reserved to the ground and entertaining the students who either refused to go in or those who already did.

“Hey,” You heard someone say. Draco sat down next, “Where is your best friend?”

“Somewhere in that mass,” you motioned collectively to one side.

He chuckled, “Ditched you?”

“Excuse you, Malfoy, but not all the best friends are the same,” you said, smirking at him.

He looked at you, an impressed expression on his face and chuckled, shaking his head, “Maybe,”

“Your not wrong,” he stated simply.

You breathed in relief, “You know for a minute I thought you would get that wrong,”

He ran a hand through his hair. This was totally unlike the Draco Malfoy that was usually seen, he looked different like he enjoyed himself instead of the ever stoic he and you found this side of him endearing. You find all of his sides endearing. A voice said, loudly.

“What?” you asked, confused and slightly scared.

“You know, about that best friends. Not all of them are same, indeed,” he said, looking at you by the corner of his eyes. His breath was taken away the moment his eyes landed on you when you arrived in the beautiful dress you had worn, he simply had no words to express how he felt at that moment, how you looked at that moment stunned by your beauty beyond recognition that he could barely form a coherent thought.

“Perhaps, but at times we have best friends who even we don’t know are,” you said, looking at him.

“Is that so?” he asked, turning to look at you.

You hummed, “Now, think about it,” you looked around the lake and found two students, quite blatantly a couple, “See there, that couple. Now, say the girl doesn’t have a friend,” you looked at him, checking if he is listening and continued once he nodded, “So, he consecutively becomes her best friend and boyfriend, and she might not even recognize it.”

“It could be anyone like that?” he asked.

“Anyone - a professor, your mother, father, sibling. At times even pets,” you said, “Sometimes this little thing is what forms love, and it necessarily isn’t romantic,”

“You do give beautiful philosophy lessons, don’t you?” he said, leaning back against the trunk.

You chuckled, shaking your head, “If I really were to give philosophy lessons, you wouldn’t always find me with a group of people,”

Draco grinned and the two of you fell into a comfortable silence before he asked a question, “You never came near the water. Why?”

“You noticed?” you said, looking shocked.

“I mean, yeah,” he shrugged.

“I don’t really like water,” You said, playing with your fingers. Getting on the hint about your discomfort on the topic he remained silent.

“Can someone who neither you nor they know much about be your best friend?” he asked, after staring at the moon for so long.

“What do “they” do to you?” you asked. Draco’s eyes skittered through the water, “Provide some-some sort of comfort at the same time making me feel…weird. Have the effect on me like their smile would make my day and their laugh, its the most beautiful, makes me feel...s-safe,”

“Draco,” you breathed, and chuckled, disregarding the feeling your stomach, “You are in love,”

He whipped his head to look at you, “Love?”

“Yep,” you said, shortly.

“I am?” he said, letting out a sharp breath.

“Seems to be,” you said, “I think it’s about time. I need to leave to my dorm,” you stood up from your place to leave.

“No, wait,” Draco scrambled to his feet, taking hold of your wrist, “Would you-would you like to spend the next Hogsmeade trip with me?”

You were physically taken aback by his question. Why would he want to spend it with you? “Me?”

“Yeah,” he gulped. You had never seen him get nervous.

“Like on a date?”

“If you don’t mind that is,”

“What about that person?”

“Which person?”

“The one you were talking about, you know the one you like,”

“Why, of course,” You said, chuckling, “But I am choosing the location,”

Draco looked at you shocked for a minute before bursting out laughing. He pulled you closer once his laughter started to subside, holding your face between his hands, “It is you,”

”Oh,” your eyes widened. Not allowing you to think or react he once again asked his question, “Would you like to go on a date with me?”

“Nuh huh, already got the dream date set up in my mind,”

“That better not have anything to do with water,” you warned.

“We’ll see about it,” Draco said, chuckling as he pulled you closer by your waist.

“Draco!”

[aeolian-mode]

my grievances with BNHA

(Spoilers below) I’m long-winded today cos I had some Thoughts to get off my chest in regards of how I feel about the storytelling of BNHA.

TL;DR: I don’t think Horikoshi understands the value of ma. Maybe he believes that his target audience would grow impatient, and I have to remind myself that BNHA is a shonen and is made for young people and my storytelling tastes probably aren’t what he’s marketing towards- but I still think there is a lot that could be improved about BNHA if Horikoshi spent a little bit more time in the slow moments, and valuing the emotions and relationships of the characters instead of rushing to the next plot point. He also made way too many characters, which is typical of shonen, but the more characters he has to cover, the harder it is for him to provide content for all the people who have picked a favorite character out of the sprawling cast. Everyone is forced to find satisfaction in table scraps, but if he stuck to a strong core cast, there would be plenty to go around. Long version:

"Ma” is an extremely important storytelling concept. Ma is the Japanese word for 'negative space.' In visual art, negative space is the empty places on the canvas where there's nothing important to look at. After all, if every single square inch of your canvas was filled with something exciting to look at, like character faces or action scenes, your illustration would be very hard to take in at a glance, there'd be no distinction of character silhouettes and nothing would be readable. The same concept applies to storytelling. You need ma to achieve a greater emotional impact when the heavy, loud moments occur.  Let's take a look at how Hayao Miyazaki of Studio Ghibli writes ma. In My Neighbor Totoro, 80% of the film is slow-paced slice of life moments where two sisters explore their new house, and discover supernatural creatures living peacefully beside them. Then, at the end of the movie, something distressing and horrible happens to the two sisters' mother, who has been hospitalized since the beginning of the film. The film's final 20 minutes or so are about them discovering this distressing event, and the emotional climax of the film feels extremely powerful because we were given time to live with these sisters, observe their peaceful daily life, and grow attached to them. Suddenly, something important to them became jeopardized, and we care. 

Miyazaki often uses ma with food. Characters cook for each other, or eat together. The detail of the food in the animation is often exquisite. Miyazaki and the Ghibli animators want us to notice the way light refracts through the glossy surface of an egg on toast, or the lines of fat on bacon sizzling in a pan. He wants us to exist in these quiet moments of daily life.

I can't tell you the last time My Hero Academia actually had an extended scene of ma. Maybe it was the bench scene, where Eraserhead and All Might share a moment. It was a powerful scene in the manga, and it was powerful because it wasn’t about the plot at all. It was about the intimacy between two characters who have grown close over shared adversity, and All Might struggling to find purpose in his hard life. After this scene, however, the story has been one distressing event after another without any breaks to breathe. And, since it has so many characters, it has failed to prioritize the emotions of significant characters. How did Eri feel when Aizawa was maimed? Who is watching her? How did Inko feel when she saw her son mangled, even after All Might promised to protect and raise him? How much raising has All Might actually done in Midoriya’s life? It seems every time the two of them have a conversation, it’s about One for All, not about Midoriya’s growth into manhood or his emotional development as a suffering teen who’s picked the world’s worst profession. Will we get assurance on the safety and wellbeing of favorite heroes like Fatgum and the Big 3?  Will Mic and Aizawa properly grieve Midnight? What about the rest of the UA staff? How does Nezu feel when UA was turned into a safe haven for civilians? How have the parents of all these students processed all this grief? How has Class 1-A handled their painful struggle? The story has been, instead: >heavy, distressing, lengthy action sequences where everyone is hurt >immediately following that, a prison breakout >immediately following that, scattered moments of characters in a hospital with dramatic flashbacks of their lives and burdens, yet none of them fleshed out to their fullest potential because there’s too many injured characters >immediately following that, heavy and intense emotions all focused on the plot of One for All, yet All Might is a mute ghost and has no actual bonding with Midoriya since they don’t even speak to each other >immediately following that, more heavy and intense emotions as Horikoshi rushes to show that Izuku is gone and has slapped together letters about his departure >immediately following that, more villains attacking heroes and civilians because of the prison break. There has been no ma. We haven't had a single quiet moment that isn’t focused on bulldozing into the next plot point or action sequence. What about a scene like Eraserhead sharing a meal with Eri, or talking to her calmly about life? How about the neglected characters like Fatgum and the Big 3 recovering in their own way? How about the moms of all these hurt children actually coming in and getting involved in their lives? How about the students of class 1-A trying to do something fun to diffuse the tension and show how they have grown close as friends or a found family? Sometimes Horikoshi tries to show ma in tiny snapshots rather than entire scenes; for example, there's a snapshot in one of the earlier chapters of Aizawa putting Eri's hair in a hair tie. This is a single panel. It's not enough to have a single panel. What we needed was an entire scene or chapter dedicated to Aizawa and Eri and Friends. Show her with her found family, show her going out in town or playing with a cat or talking to Mirio or Aizawa for an extended period of time. Show us scenes about nothing particularly important. 

When your story is plot, plot, plot, you're deciding that human moments and human interactions aren't important. And at the end of the day, no one watches a show for the plot. They come to be validated as a person, and relate to the characters. I came to MHA because I relate to All Might, his disability, and his desire to be strong and fight through his suffering so he can selflessly help other people. That character resonated with me. I saw myself on the screen. Unfortunately MHA stopped being what I came to see a long time ago. I’m here because I like drawing my favorite characters, and the fandom has introduced me to a lot of wonderful friends, I’m not ready to give it up. But I wish it had more of what I was hoping to get out of it.  I understand that making a manga is extremely difficult. And I understand tons of people enjoy it and have no issues with it whatsoever- all power to you! I just haven’t gotten what I was personally hoping to get, and this is why. :( ANNNND SEASON 5 JUST STARTED AND IT’S AN ENTIRE SEASON OF CHARACTERS I DOOOOON’T CARE ABOUT AT ALLLLL! HEY WE REALLY NEEDED AN ENTIRE SEASON DEDICATED TO CLASS 1-B CHARACTERS THAT ARE COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY IRRELEVANT AFTERWARDS, THEREFORE WASTING SCREEN TIME ON FORGETTABLE UNIMPORTANT SIDE CHARACTERS INSTEAD OF THE CORE CAST THAT WE DESPERATELY NEED CONTENT ABOUT ALSO THANKS FOR FORGETTING ABOUT DADMIGHT HORIKOSHI  

[iwantitiwriteit]

Slow Burn: Book I - Part 7

The Lunch - Small Thank You’s

Pairing: Chris Evans x Famous!Reader

Summary: You and Chris get to know each other better over a flirty friendly lunch.

Warnings: Fluff, spinkle of Angst, Profanity, phonetic spelling of words said in a Boston accent because I needed a laugh

Notes: Hey loves! Hope you all are well! It’s been a while— praying I didn’t forget how to write too bad and y’all enjoy this installment lol. Little FYI: I’m basing the reader’s music off of that of Banks and SZA. Before you dive in, set the mood with the moodboard + music specially curated to go with this part! Read the previous part here.

The GPS said the drive from the museum to the restaurant would be… well, you were distracted from that bit of information. Not that it would matter. Chris keeps making turns against the suggested route, citing that this was “his city” and that he’s a “real Boston boy”.

What you do know is that the talking and laughing with Chris made the car ride seem all too short. Pointing out familiar streets and landmarks, he lit up telling you his childhood stories laced within the city. Pardon, his city. The glint in his eyes and excitement in his voice sent tiny sparks up your spine, but you did your best to ignore it.

Chris tried to guess where you had the two of you going for lunch. You, however, wouldn’t give in to his guesses. Eventually, you arrive at a market of sorts, a culture clash of small businesses and patrons. It’s in an area Chris is familiar with, but he never thought much of coming to.

“I thought we were going to a restaurant?” Chris inquires, not seeing a food establishment from his spot in the driver’s seat.

You puff out your jaw, squint your eyes, and proceed with your best ‘Godfather’-like impersonation as you tell Chris,“I thought you would’ve learned to stop asking me questions by now, hm.”

“That... was horrible.” Chris’ deadpan causes you to giggle in response.

“I know! Now c’mon; I’m starved!” You draw out as you reach to let yourself out of the car.

“Woah, woah, hold on,” Chris stops you with a gentle hand on your arm. You questioningly look over your shoulder at him. He unbuckles his seatbelt and gets out of the car. Settling back into your seat with a huff of delighted shock, you realize what he’s doing.

Chris jogs to your door, the returning drizzle giving him a sense of urgency. He opens the door for you then offers his upturned, open hand for you to choose to take. You hesitate for a millisecond before obliging, delicately placing your smaller hand in his large palm.

You’re unsure of the last time anyone was this... chivalrous to you. Trying not to dwell on it too long, you give him a soft-spoken ‘thank you’. Chris responds with an equally soft ‘of course’. You both find it difficult to meet each other's eyes, missing the shy smile the other is sporting.

“Lead the way,” Chris gently prompts with a hand extended in the market's direction.

Mildly busy, the market is livened by business people, college students, housewives and househusbands alike. Store fronts of small businesses ranging from sustainable fashion to high-end housewares line the long cobble stone path, accented by fairy lights for added whimsy. Chris curiously takes in the sights from beneath a low baseball cap and hoodie. He’s sure to not let his eyes linger too long for fear of locking with anyone.

Meanwhile, you’re walking with purpose, leaving a distracted Chris behind. He catches up when he notices you turn a corner in his periphery. When he follows the path you took, he finds you by a green, white, and red beaded archway.

You pause and look up at Chris, a playful grin on your lips that makes his heart skip a beat. He’s looking down at you, brows raised with utter anticipation. You think this might be your favorite expression on him. You pull back and step through the beaded entrance, Chris following suit closely behind you.

“Woah…” It was almost as if that small act of stepping over the threshold transported you both to Sicily. The faint notes of Italian standards play in the background as Chris gawks at the charming restaurant.

The mostly occupied dining area is quaint, housing about 10 tables max, including a couple of booths. The walls are decorated with floor-to-ceiling built-in shelves of libations from Italy. The alcohol display is interrupted by creeping vert vines that add that little bit of spice to the space.

As a waiter walked by, Chris breathed in deeply, the warm aroma of marinara sauce, freshly baked bread and Italian spices filled his nose and lungs.

“How’d you manage to find the one Italian restaurant in the greater Boston area I’ve never been to, much less heard of?”

“Hmmm… must not be as much of a Boston boy as you think,” you say with a wink, and Chris scoffs through his lopsided smirk.

“There she is!” a bellowing voice familiar to you draws yours and Chris’ attention away from each other. Chris looks on as the short, husky man pulls you in for a cheek-to-cheek kiss. “It’s been too long! Mi sei mancata la faccia!”

“Charlie, you know I have no idea what you’re saying, but I like the way you say it!” You share a laugh with your Uber driver-turned-friend. “And what do you mean ‘it’s been too long’! I was just here last week.”

“5 days ago to be exact. 5 days since you, ya castmates… most importantly ya directah,” Charlie stresses lustfully in his strong Boston accent, “have swarmed Ma’s restaurant. Whassup with that, huh?”

“The real question here is what’s up with your crush on Sonya, huh?” you tease him. Charlie’s smitteness with your director has not gone unnoticed.You can practically see the hearts forming in his eyes at this moment.

“I doan know what ya tawkin about.”

“Uh-huh, sure.”

“Enough abowut it! Let’s get ya seated and you can tell me who’s ya new friend,” Charlie says, motioning to Chris.

When you’re seated in a corner booth by a rainy window, you introduce the two men.“ This is Chris, my, uh…um…” You hadn’t really thought about what to call your relationship with Chris. It’s been… rocky up until this point, and while you’ve been friendly, you’re certainly not friends. Not yet, at least.

Chris notices and understands your hesitance, a small part of him hoping it’s because you don’t want to friend-zone him. “It’s alright, don’t worry your pretty, little head about it,” he teases you, earning him an eye roll. “We’re… acquaintances, right?”

“Right! Acquaintances… I guess?” It didn’t feel right, a little too impersonal, but you’ll roll with it for now.

“‘Acquaintances’?” Charlie sizes Chris up, a comical sight considering the dramatically different statues of the two men. He tilts his head and squints at Chris’ face, his expression melting from intimidation to inquisition. Chris tenses, knowing the look he’s being given all to well. “Been here before, Chris? You look mighty familiah…”

“Umm… no... I don’t… don’t believe so,” Chris answers almost timidly. The avoidant gaze into the plastic covered menu, the heated cheeks that shone the same color as a tomato— you know that look all too well. You decide to do what you hoped someone would do for you.

“He’s just got one of those faces! But um, I’m ready to order if you are?” you try to deflect. Charlie doesn’t think much of it and takes down your meal decisions, but that small act means the world to Chris. He mouths ‘thank you’ from across the booth, and you smile and tip your head in a slight nod, sure he would’ve done the same for you.

You order your usual, spaghetti with vegan meatballs, and a glass of the house white wine. Chris has what you’re having except he’s ordered a “tonic”, which you learned the hard way the other night is Bostonian for soda. Charlie is back promptly with your drinks and breadsticks and ensures that your food will arrive shortly with a small smirk on his face that you don’t think too much of.

It’s quiet at your table for quite some time. Both you and Chris take small sips from your glasses, nibble at the garlic-y bread, look out the window and around the restaurant. As you do so, you run through a list of conversation starters in your head but you’ve deemed them all too dumb, too boring or too invasive. Why the hell do I care so much? You glance up at Chris and wonder if he’s going through the same irrational inner turmoil you are. Maybe he’s not, or maybe he’s overcome his when he finally breaks the silence.

“So, um… how long have you been a vegan?”

“Um… how long have we been shooting this movie? My character— she’s very, uh… power to the people— and plants,” You chuckle out. “Figured it wouldn’t hurt to give it a try myself. Go a little method,” you say with a shrug.

Chris waves his breadstick at you as he asks, “You believe in all that method stuff?”

“I don’t know… I’m really new to this whole acting thing, but I guess I just like the idea of really connecting with this character in every way I can. She reminds me so much of myself at that age.”

“How so?” Chris presses on.

“She’s… sure. She’s sure of herself… of her judgements and decisions. She’s sure of her hand in her own success. And that breeds this really un-fuck-with-able confidence in her that if I had an ounce of, it’d be over for you hoes,” you end with a slow nod and look off into the distance.

Chris laughs at your dramatics, but it dawns on him what you’ve shared. “Wait… you’re telling me that’s not you now? I mean, I know I’ve only known you a short time, but you seem pretty un-fuck-with-ably confident to me.”

“Ha! Guess I’m a better actress than I thought,” you mutter. Chris knows it’s meant to be a joke, but watching as you fiddled with the rings on your finger, his chest tightened. A look of sympathy must’ve shown on his face, because you start to wish you hadn’t said anything at all. Did I just overshare? God, I thought I outgrew that.

To save you from your minor embarrassment is Charlie with the same smirk from earlier. He gently places the order in the center of your table, and you finally understand what his face was trying to give away earlier.

“We’re, uh… runnin’ low on plates...” is Charlie’s half-baked explanation. “Buon appetito!” he offers before hastily leaving.

Sat between you and Chris was the meal you ordered, yes, but on the single largest plate you think you’ve ever seen. One plate of spaghetti for two people— two practical strangers— to share. The embarrassment just won’t stop, will it?

Elbow perched on the table, your hand acts as a visor of sorts on your forehead as you massage away the headache forming at your temple. You can’t see Chris, just hear him chuckling and breathing out an “oh man…” under his breath. His fork comes into view as he twirls the pasta onto it. You peek under your hand up at him.

“What? Not gonna just look at it!” Chris insists. “Now, let’s see what this vegan meatball is about… DAMN! That tastes legit!” You giggled at his enthusiasm and felt your tension melt away.

You began to dig in as well. It was fine, normal even, for a few moments. You could almost forget you’re sharing one big ass plate of pasta with one of Hollywood’s most sought after stars at a hole-in-the-wall Italian restaurant. Yep, very normal. As long as I keep from oversharing the rest of this afternoon, everything should be fine… you thought to yourself.

“Tell me… how are you liking Boston?” Chris asks.

“It’s fine.”

“‘Fine’?! Just fine.”

“It’s great Chris, no need to get your panties in a twist. But, ya know… It’s just not…”

“Home? Yeah, I get that. Where’s home for you?”

“Um… well I guess home has never been a single place for me. It’s with people I love, as cheesy as that sounds. Home is where my heart is…” you trail off as you remember you shouldn’t share too much.

“And your heart is with family, friends… a boyfriend…?” Chris slips in.

“What is this? 20 questions?” You quip as you sip on your white wine.

“Maybe... if you want. You can ask me something.”

“Hmm… Ok…” You ponder over what to ask him as you twirl your pasta around your fork. “What is… mm no. How about… nah, wait.” Chris huffs impatiently as he awaits your first question. “Ok! I got it!”

“Alright, lay it on me.” Your breath hitches at his word choice and you hope doesn’t notice. Why’d he have to say it like that?! You clear your throat and ask your question.

“What’s your favorite song of mine?”

“Really? That’s your question? So conceited…”

You giggle before explaining, “Well, I only ask ‘cos a little Scottie told me he saw you, and I quote, ‘full on rocking out’ to one of my songs. I’m just curious which one it was.” You sip on your straw and peer up at Chris, watching for his reaction.

Chris groans, covering his face while sinking down the booth seat. You can’t hear too much of what he's saying behind his hands and over your laughter, but it sounds like he’s cursing Scott’s name. When he finally restores some gumption, he places his hands on his napkin, eyes fixated on his fingertips picking at the dampened corners. Teeth sunk into your bottom lip, you try your best to bite back your amusement to not further Chris’s obvious embarrassment.

“Ok…” Chris sighs out, “ I’ll admit it! I’m man enough to own up to it,” he shrugs. “Yes, I was ‘full on rocking out’ to your music. You’re amazing at what you do.”

Your face heats up, not expecting the compliment. You don’t know what to say. It’s not like you’ve never heard it before. In fact you’ve heard it a lot the past couple of years, you’d thought you’d become numb to it. Yet, for some reason, sitting across from Chris, his eyes looking tenderly into yours, the compliment you’ve heard a million times before just… hits different. “Thank you.”

“Of course.”

You clear your throat and break eye contact with Chris. “You still haven’t answered my question, though...”

“Right! Hold on…” Chris says as he fishes his phone from his front pocket. He scrolls through his music app to find the playlist he’s made of his favorite songs of yours. Your cheeks burn even more intensely as you watch. “‘Gemini Feed’ is my favorite to dance to; hands down! But I also really love ‘Drew Barrymore’; it’s fun… but sad, ya know? What am I saying; of course you know; it’s your song!”

You giggle in somewhat disbelief of watching Chris motherfucking Evans geek out over your songs!

“Well… this is a rare opportunity I have, to talk to the artist herself, that is. So, I have to ask, how did that song come about? From personal experience, I suppose?”

“Yeah… um, gosh. You want the full or abridged version of the story?”

“Full! Are you kidding me?!”

“Ok, ok! Well, it was right before my album was set to come out, and my boyfriend-at-the-time dumped me,” you laugh lightly at the now-funny memory. “After weeks of heated arguments and projecting his career insecurities on to me, he picked his final fight with me about how I was “acting too famous for him” and just ended things.”

“Damn.”

“Yeah... It completely caught me off guard. I couldn’t think straight in the studio that day, so I ended the session earlier and went to a party, per my best friend-slash-manager’s coercion. She’s a bad influence.”

“I like her style! Did the party help?” Chris asked.

“Well, it was on the higher-end of house parties, and I just wasn’t used to being around such an expensive lifestyle yet. But guess who was there because why wouldn’t he be?,” you exhale and roll your eyes as you reminisce.

Chris leaned in with intrigue. “The Ex?”

“Mm-hm. In my standard walk-in-the-party-scan of the room, I spot him. I should've known because that party was very much his scene, but what I wouldn't have guessed is that he'd be there with some other woman.”

“What?!”

You nod your head as you proceed to spill the tea to Chris. “This dude is there with another woman, after being out of a relationship for all of 8 hours. I think the worst part is that she looked nothing like me. Like, imagine the complete opposite of me to the hottest power, that was who was hanging all over that idiot.”

“He is a total idiot for letting you go.” You don’t know what to say to Chris’ statement and quite honestly forgot where you were, what you were talking about… “What happened next?”

“Right! We locked eyes for a moment and there wasn’t anything from him. No emotion at all. Like, he didn’t care that our relationship just ended. But then I had the thought that maybe we’d been over for a while and I had just been too distracted to realize and accept the party was over.”

“Jimi peeped what was up and got me out of there. I hoped that we could go home so that I could cry on her shoulder all night. Instead, she dragged me to a real house party. I so badly wanted to pity myself, but the energy there was too infectious to not enjoy; it felt like a 90s movie!”

“The next day, I went through my crazy ass camera roll, and I couldn’t help but... smile… and laugh! Then I thought about him, and how stupid he made me feel, and I don’t know… I kinda put all these weird, conflicting emotions into this one song, and felt better afterwards. Like I was turning a page.”

Chris didn’t immediately say anything, taking in the very personal story you shared. The somewhat unfortunate event that fueled his favorite lyrics. He looked at you carefully and quietly. However kind he looked in this moment, it didn't matter much to the creeping thoughts in your mind.

The silence made you self-conscious. You took inventory of your physical, how your face was hot, how your chest felt tight. Your left hand had somehow migrated into Chris’ right hand in the middle of the table. “I, uh— my bad…” you start as you take back your hand.

Chris quickly grabs your hand before it gets too far. “Thank you for sharing that story with me... and your music with the world. Your confidence in your vulnerability is really fucking inspiring. Thank you. Seriously, thank you,” he gives your hand a gentle squeeze for emphasis. He’s looking at you with a boyish smile and tilted head that makes you break down and smile at him, too.

“Thank you,” you return, just barely above a whisper.

——————————————————————————

You and Chris spent the rest of your time at L'amore Della Madre exchanging stories of love lost and life wins, sharing loud laughs and silent signs of admiration. To anyone on the outside looking in, it may have seemed like two had known each other longer than you actually have.

“I gotta say, I don’t like this,” Charlie whispers to you. He pulled you aside for a moment to say your goodbyes, while Chris waited for you outside. “Mostly becahse it was supposed to be my jahb to set you up with a nice Italian boy, but you’ve brought your own,” he says with a smirk.

“Oh, no! It’s not like that! Chris and I aren’t— wait… how’d you know he’s part Italian?“

“I have my sources… which may be the wait staff who are big fans of the guy. Here this is from them,” Charlie hands you a to-go box.”It’s tiramisu… for two,” he winks.

“Oh my god! I told you, we--”

“Will thank me at your wedding!” Charlie says as he waves you out of the door to the sidewalk where Chris is waiting.

“Wedding? Who’s getting married?” Chris asks.

You let out a sigh and shake your head. “Nobody. Want dessert?”

You and Chris small talk and walk and eat tiramisu on your way to the car. It was nice. It was normal. It felt… real. You didn’t realize how much you needed and missed small, yet meaningful moments like this until right now.

The pair of you stop in front of a pet shop window and watch the puppies play together for a moment. You pointed out a pair of snuggled up puppies to Chris. “Hey, they kinda look like us!”

Chris chuckles when he looks, “They do!” A chocolate brown puppy and a tannish-white one lie peacefully in one another’s presence without a care for the world on the other side of the glass. The tannish-white one starts to lick and nudge at the chocolate brown one, eliciting what you made out to be a sleepy smile from the brown pup. You don’t know why, but witnessing such intimacy causes you and Chris to straighten, fidgeting and giggling nervously.

“I had fun today.”

“As did I. You’re better company than I thought you’d be,” you joke.

“Uh… thanks?” He answers reluctantly, causing you to giggle. “Maybe we could… hang out again sometime…?”

“Maybe we could.”

“Cool.”

“Cool.” There’s a beat of silence as you and Chris hold each other’s gaze. “So… you wanna take my number down?” you prompt him.

“Right! Right. Yeah, I should probably do that…” Chris stammers as he pulls out his phone. You take it from him, replacing it with your phone. You put in your number along with taking a silly picture for your contact, and he does the same.

Chris laughs at your shared child-like humor, and you revel in the moment. It was nice. It was normal. It was the first time you’d felt unmistakably connected with someone without feeling anxious of their motives or what the world thought of it in a very long time.

Time moved slowly when you were with Chris, it seemed to good to real life. But just like that, a flash snaps you and Chris out of your daze and back to reality.

You both look in the direction of the camera flash to find a young woman trying to pretend she didn’t just take a picture of the two of you. Chris turns back to you but doesn’t meet your eyes. Instead his head is hung low as he says “I really… hate that shit.”

“Preaching to the choir.” Chris looks up to your face, your gaze steady in the general direction of the perpetrator. “Makes me feel like an animal in a cage.” You say.

This is why Chris doesn’t mind celebrity companionship. You get it. You understand this strange aspect of his life that not many other people truly do. You also get the value of normalcy and privacy… and leaving when the party’s over.

“Let’s get out of here.” You say coldly and walk in the direction of the car.

Chris was baffled, to say the least. This was usually the part where you talk about how “fans” will cross invisible boundaries just because they know your face and name. However, you seemed uninterested in trauma bonding.

You were already buckled in when Chris caught up to you in the car. The energy the entire drive to your sister’s brownstone was… off. Nothing like it was earlier in the day. A simple flash changed your mood, and Chris was aching for it to go back to before. But no joke, or crank of the radio volume seemed to work.

When Chris pulls up to the curb, you immediately hop out, mumbling a final thank you to him.

“Hey,” Chris grabs your wrist gently, halting you, “You get kinda used to it. Ya know... after a while,” he says hoping you’d find comfort in his words.

You look down at where his hand was wrapped around your wrist. “Yeah… that’s what I'm afraid of... but thanks anyway.” Taking back your wrist from Chris, you turn to walk to the front door.

Chris is calling after you. He doesn't want to be emotionally intrusive, but he hopes you'll give him a chance to understand you. Help you. Comfort you. If only she'd turn around. You can't bear to look back at Chris. It will only remind you of everything good today, and why you can't have it.

Part 8 coming soon! What’d you think?

[honeypirate]

Why You Should Never Eavesdrop

AHHH it’s my first ever Naruto fic!! Don’t hate me if it sucks

Kakashi x female reader.

I will soon branch out to write for like Genma and Izumo but I had to make my first fic for Kakashi since he was my first ever crush ever XD. I’m going to write a part two because this is a terrible place to end it. I just got excited and wanted to post this now lol

Naruto Masterlist

Of course you went after him. You wanted to see if everything was okay, he was your friend after all and you cared about him. But when you got lost in the trees looking for him, this was the last thing you expected.

You were a Jonin, masking your chakra was second nature and something you always did, which is why you were able to quietly and accidentally sneak up underneath them. Kakashi with his student, Sauske, in the tree, “you’re a little late to the game” you froze, should you run? Should you speak up? You held your breath so they wouldn’t hear you as you debated what you should do. You didn’t mean to eavesdrop but part of you was glad you were when you heard the words that came out his mouth next “everyone I care about is already dead”

You disappear quick after that, realizing it wasn’t a conversation you should be listening to. Also realizing that he didn’t think you were as close of friends as you did. You know about his past, his history, you know about it all, but you thought, stupidly, as you now realize, that you could be someone to him. “Ridiculous” you nutter to yourself as you take to the trees, running through them as far as you could go, far away from Kakashi.

Far as possible without leaving this village, was to the trees by the gate, it was always nice here, the clouds easier to see because it’s where there was the tallest tree and you loved to sit at the very top. You were disappointed in yourself, you were a shinobi for crying out loud! you never got so invested in your feelings before. You will not let your feelings interfere with your life. You needed to think and this was where you came when you needed space.

Kakashi didn’t even come in to your life until recently, you got back from a mission that lasted a few years, protection of a political family, now you were home after so long and just when you thought you’d be given a little time off, the Hokage told you he wanted you to be a sensei to some new young Genin. That’s what brought Kakashi into your life.

You knew him growing up, had mutual friends in the academy, but you’ve never talked to him directly. Until after one especially long day with your rowdy eleven year olds you decided to go get some ramen and de-stress. The only chair open was next to Kakashi at the bar, who wasn’t even eating anymore, he was reading his icha icha book while Naruto rambled on next to him about Sakura.

He knows when you arrived, felt you sit next to him, but he didn’t show any signs. He had a crush on you in school and when you were in ANBU at the same time, you never looked his way so he didn’t think you even knew about him. That was, until tonight.

You’re so fried right now, bags under your eyes from the missions you’ve been sent on and from teaching, plus, you don’t remember the last time you slept more than three hours a night. Given that, your filter when speaking to people is basically nonexistent.

You wait for your ramen to cool a little before eating it and your eyes wander over to the words on the page you can read over his shoulder. “This part was my favorite” you say “then the part at the end as well. Have you seen the poster for the new movie?” You ask and then turn your tired attention to your ramen, taking slow bites so you could enjoy it.

He’s glad his blush is hidden by his mask, “I’ve seen it” he says and you nod “I thought you would have. You’ve always loved those books” you say and then smile content with your ramen. “It looks like it’s going to be good” you say and he nods.

When you finish your meal you turn in your stool towards him, Naruto has been distracted by someone else he knows and so you’re not interrupting anything, “i liked that book the best” you say and push your empty bowl forward, leaning your elbow on the table and leaning your head on your hand to smile at him. You talked together about icha icha books and the movies, sharing your favorite parts and ways you thought it could be better. You talk so long that by the time you leave Naruto had already left.

He wouldn’t lie about the fact that your smile always made his heart race, no, he wouldn’t lie, but he wouldn’t tell the truth, either, if he was ever asked about it. “Goodnight y/n” he says and does his cute closed eye thing where you can tell he’s smiling. You feel your cheeks warm up in a blush but you don’t look away you place your money on the counter before hopping off from your stool “I’ll see you around Kakashi” you say and shove your hands in the pockets of your pants and walk out of the shop.

He watched you leave, a curious smile on his lips under his mask, you surprised him today and now he’s curious to know more about you. After that you somehow ran in to him every time you had ramen, and you talked every time for sometimes hours, before you knew it you grew close with him. You trusted him and believed he felt similarly to you.

It’s been a year since then, you felt like he was a good friend now and didn’t even consider it wouldn’t be the same for him. You were both called into the Hokage’s office for a mission together, you were hyped, it was going to be easy peasy, you’ll be back in three months and you’ll have more time with Kakashi. You were walking back home when you saw the fight on the roof of the hospital which led you to wanting to find Kakashi since you knew how he felt about his students, which led to you here, now in the tree tops, trying to get over your feelings and hide them like a true shinobi.

“There you are” a voice said behind you, a voice you knew well, “here I am” you said and made your face neutral before you turned around to look at him. “What’s going on?” You ask and meet his eye, tilting your head a little. You wanted to pretend nothing was wrong and act normal but you felt cold. Inside and out.

“We’re supposed to be leaving tonight?” He says and furrows his eyebrows. “Shit. I’m sorry Kakashi I lost track of time. Give me five minutes I just need to grab my pack” you say before disappearing, running back to your house to grab your bag that’s already been prepared, cursing under your breath for being so stupid for a second time today.

You’re glad that he’s never made you feel like you have to talk, you can run though the trees with him in silence and not be awkward. “Did you hear me? Y/n?” You finally realized he was talking to you and you looked over at him “what was that?” You said and he came to a stop, you following suit and stopping next to him. “I said we should stop for the night. We’ve been going for hours now. it’s probably after two am” he says and you nod “sounds good” he knows something is off but doesn’t press it “there should be a cave up ahead we can stay in” he says and takes off, you right behind him.

“I’ll take the first guard shift. Get some rest” you say as you finish setting up your bed, standing up and walking over to the entrance of the cave, the whole time not really even paying attention to Kakashi or anything he’s saying, if he’s even said anything you don’t really know. You sit at the entrance, your back to him as you keep your mind aware of everything out in the woods and unaware of the man behind you who’s staring at your back, the book in his hand forgotten about, as he keeps wondering why you’re acting weird.

After your guard shift is over you quietly make your way over next to where he’s sleeping, you place your hand on his shoulder and he wakes up instantly, his eye looking into yours. His hand reaches up to grab yours that’s still on his shoulder “oh sorry” you say and try to take it away but he doesn’t move his hand. You look back into his eye and raise your eyebrows, wondering what he was thinking, wondering if he’ll ask the question you can see in his eye. He seems to make up his mind when he releases your hand and looks away, he goes to sit up and you clear your throat “like fifteen minutes ago I felt something off over to the east, but I couldn’t see anything with my Kekkei Genkai. It could be nothing but just in case” you say as you lay down on your back in your bed, using your arm to cover your eyes.

You’ve been on the road traveling for about a month now, you almost made it to your destination and once you were there you would deliver your message and then take a package back to the Hokage. You successfully shoved every feeling back into a tiny jar in your heart, now easier to pretend you never had them to begin with, although you acted a lot like you did when you were an ANBU. He’s noticed, of course he’s noticed, he notices everything about you, he has since you punched him once in the Chunin exams when you stole his scroll. He watched you now out of the corner of his eye as you run through the treetops, he missed how you used to laugh so easily with him.

You’re walking now, him a bit ahead of you, the sun has been down for a while “We can rest here since it’s a bit late or keep pushing until we get there, we could stay at an inn and have our meeting in the morning.” He matches your pace before he responds “second one is my choice” he says and you nod “we’re only about an hour out I’d guess” you say “yeah I’d bet you’re right” that was the last thing said for the rest of the walk. The lights of the city coming into view, your stomach growls for the first time in all these weeks when you pass by a ramen shop “come on” Kakashi says and walks through the door, you thanked every deity you could think of in that moment and then followed him in.

“Yummmm” You hummed over your steaming bowl, you felt like this was exactly what you needed. To warm your soul and let the unknown go. So what he doesn’t care about you. He’s just being a good Jonin and shinobi. It was fitting that it was ramen that helped you release your pent up emotions.

Kakashi was sitting across from you in the booth of the nearly empty restaurant, it was probably around 10 pm now and the only people in here other than you both were a few drunk men at a different table. “After we eat let’s get a room and a bath and we’ll meet the Kage in the morning” he says and you nod, your mouth full of noodles and your heart happier than it’s been these past few weeks. You were going to be yourself and be his friend no matter what, because you cared about him and that was all that mattered. ‘Everything will be fine.’ You think to yourself as you finish your bowl and meet his eye, smiling warmly at him. That just confused him even more. He was sitting here the entire time wondering how to talk to you about what’s going wrong and you just turn around and act normal again. What the hell. He’ll talk to you more about it later tonight.

“I’m gonna get a room at the inn down the road and then head to the bathhouse, you eat and we’ll meet up after” you say as you place enough money on the table for both of your meals before slipping out of the booth and out into the chilly night air. ‘Yea’ Kakashi thinks to himself ‘I’ll definitely have to talk to her about this later’

“Lucky you!��� The person at the front desk says “it’s the last room” they hand you over your key and a string of curses go through your mind, you let go of your pent of feelings but that didn’t mean you wanted to be thrown right into intimate moments with him. You couldn’t do much about it now “do you have an extra mattress? I have a friend who needs a room as well and we might have to share” you say and frown, to which they chuckle amusedly at your unhappiness “yes we do! We’ll have one sent to your room” you nod “thank you. Where is the bathhouse?”

The cold night air is calming, you look up at the moon as you walk slowly down the road to the bathhouse, grateful to the inn keeper for the directions. Your hands in your pocket and your footsteps practically silent, just like your thoughts, surprisingly quiet for the first time in weeks. You felt a weight off your shoulders, like physical evidence of your letting go of your hard feelings. Finally coming to terms with your heart. You felt so relieved and you can’t wait to sink into the hot water so your muscles could feel the same kind of relief.

Strings of even more harsher curses run through your head as you read the sign on the bathhouse. It was co-ed. Open to all. Which means you’ll probably have to share a bath with your ninja partner. Just great. You took a deep breath and steeled your nerves before walking into the establishment. Maybe Kakashi would take his time or maybe he’d find another inn and go to bed right away. You sigh, knowing he’ll be here soon.

Luckily the bath was empty as you entered, you lowered your body into the hot water and sighed in happiness. You considered hurrying but now that your body is in the water you know you’ll stay as long as your body wants, no matter who showed up. You laid your head back and took a deep breath, feeling the hot water release the tension you’ve been holding, which was almost immediately replaced with new tension when you heard the door open.

Even though you knew who it was, you raised your left eyebrow, causing your eye to open lazily as you looked through the steam at the silver haired man. He gave you a slight nod before you closed your eye and focused on steadying your breathing. You’ve seen him shirtless before, but you knew if you saw him in this setting you’d have a heart attack and stop breathing. He’d never let you forget that either so you couldn’t let him know the affect he had on you, sure, you’ve accepted you’d never be anything more than work friends but that didn’t mean you were blind.

His body couldn’t relax in the hot water, he had no room and now he had to share a bath with you. How cruel could the universe be? The wet glint off your shoulders that peaked out of the water, your wet hair stuck to your neck, the way you looked so relaxed in the hot water, it all drove him wild. What done him in though, was the way you looked at him when he walked in, ‘sooo cute.’ He thought. This was exactly like a scene from his favorite book, it was everything he could just to keep his boner at bay. So

The sigh that left your lips as ran the warm wet washcloth over your neck, made his heart race, he couldn’t help but watch you. You don’t know what has happened, something in you snapped the longer he watched you wash your chest and shoulders, something compelled you and you didn’t fight it, you embraced it. “You want to help me wash my back or are you just enjoying the show?” You ask, your eyes still on the washcloth as it passes across your skin. His heart beat is hammering in his chest, that was the last thing he expected you to say but he couldn’t resist from moving slowly through the water and over to you, sitting behind you he reaches down and takes the cloth from you, slowly running it up your arm and over your shoulder.

Your heart is pounding in your ears, you sigh softly and your eyes flutter closed, tilting your head to the side as the cloth passes over your shoulder and neck. You pull your hair all to the front of your shoulder so your back was completely open and you hum contentedly as he begins to wash your back slowly, you lean forward when he gets midway so he could go lower if he wanted, your knees up on the side of the seats and your arms wrapped around your knees.

When you’re satisfied with his work you look over your shoulder at him with a smile before turning around to face him, looking into his eye as you take the cloth from him, you run the warm cloth up his arm starting from his wrist, when you get to his shoulder he breaks eye contact to turn around to allow you to wash his back as well. You wash his strong shoulders, leaving the cloth on one of them as you begin to massage his neck, kneading your fingers into his skin, working down his strong shoulders, kneading out knots and smiling every time he lets out of a relaxed, soft, moan. You massage down his back, working the muscles near his spine massaging in small circles with your thumbs to his lower back before running your finger tips up his back and across his ribs before grabbing the cloth and finishing washing him now that you were satisfied with how relaxed he looked. You set the cloth down to the side, softly running your finger tips across his shoulders before placing a feather kiss to the back of his neck. “Thank you for your help ‘Kashi” you whisper, finally breaking the silence, “if you don’t have a room, I’ll get another mattress and you can stay with me. Room 23.”

He was so relaxed he didn’t know you were gone until your words registered, who knows how long it’s really been, he thought he felt you kiss his neck but part of him believes he dreamed it. The longer this mission went the more confused he got.

[marvelfansince08love]

My best friend and my sister

Word count: 3714

Pairing: Tammy x Miller!Reader (Lou’s younger sister)

Prompts requested: 1 “Why didn’t you tell me” 18 “How could you be so irresponsible?” 

A/N: For my sweet Anon, I hope you enjoy x Sorry it’s taking so long to get these out, I’ve been very burnt out recently but I’m back on track now! 

Tags: @waitingfortheendtocome @natasha-danvers @saucy-sapphic @witchxaf @creepingwolfberry​ @chewbacca0805​ @coconutlipss​

Prompts 1 & 18 

You and Lou had always been close growing up. Having such a cool older sister had its perks. Like when you were eight years old and you had pleaded and begged for that toy you had spotted in the window but your parents had shook their heads, not having enough money to afford ‘special gifts’. Those were only reserved for birthdays and Christmas’s. You had walked out of the store devastated with tears in your eyes until Lou walked you around the corner and revealed the toy from the depths of her long coat, a finger to her lips and a wink keeping the secret gift between you both. Lou had been seventeen then and was struggling to find a part time job to help pay some of the family's bills and so she could buy you gifts. 

“Every kid should have a few toys growing up. Including you, Y/N.” She would say. 

Once Lou had reached the sweet old age of twenty-one, an opportunity had presented itself before her, one that she just couldn't refuse. One right where the tall green statue stood proud overlooking the city of dreams. New York City was Lou's chance to make something of herself and, who were you to deny her of that?

"This could be good for us, Y/N! I could make enough money to bring you over and you can live with me!"  She had exclaimed, excitement filling her youthful blue eyes. You had nodded and basked in her excitement, the dreading feeling of abandonment slowly creeping its way through into your chest.

Once you had turned eighteen, Lou had kept to her promise of bringing you over to the big city, flying first class from Australia and leaving your parents down under, ready to start your new life; a better life. 

You had lived with Lou while studying in New York. Your apartment was small, but enough for the two of you. That was, until Lou introduced you to the infamous Deborah Ocean. The woman was beautiful and mysterious, her words carefully calculated, her dark eyes taking in the room before she had even stepped into it. You thought she was pretty badass compared to your older sister, especially when you found out what they did for a living. The ‘jobs’ that they did helped keep you both afloat through your first few years in New York City, especially when the bigger jobs were coming through, which helped you move into a bigger, fancier place that you could call home. 

That was the day you fell in love with the most breath-taking human you had ever laid eyes on. The woman was average height, her blonde hair resting against her breasts in soft curls. The small dark freckle on the corner of her upper lip drawing you in and oh, that wide smile that lit up her whole face making her brown eyes sparkle ever so slightly under the sunlight that seeped into the open living room space where you had stood, staring a little too long at this stunning woman.

"Stop drooling, kid. You're gonna end up needing the mop at this rate and we haven't even put an offer in yet," Debbie had whispered to you, teasing your love sick expression. You had snapped out of your gaze at that remark, stuttering over your words trying to defend yourself. You both stood and watched as Lou and this beautiful blonde discussed the price by the bay window overlooking the busy streets of New York. Tammy was her name, and it was the most beautiful name you had ever heard of, her soft voice showing a tiny hint of a lisp making you swoon just that bit more for her.

She was an old friend of Debbie's who knew just the right places for the best prices around the area, she had also helped with some of the more high profiled jobs when needed, mainly moving various illegal items across borders. You looked at the sweet blonde in awe, wondering how a woman like that could look so innocent and sweet. 

You had never gotten over that first meeting with Tammy but as the years went by and you matured into a strong minded individual, you realised that you'd rather ignore that pining feeling and continue on with your life as if nothing had changed within you that day. As if you hadn't pictured her breathless beneath you while you buried your fingers deep inside her throbbing heat or how good her left hand would look with a diamond ring on her finger letting everyone know she is yours and you are hers.

No, she was a friend of your sister… your older sister, and a good friend at that.

'Still, it doesn't stop you from thinking about how sweet she would sound moaning your name,' You think bitterly to yourself, hating that you still have this pull to her. 

That’s why you totally weren’t stalking her social media page as you entered your shared apartment with your older sister and her best friend. Briefcase in hand and your eyes glued to your phone screen, eyes transfixed on the sweet blonde who’s smile still makes your stomach flutter. 

You were so invested in your scrolling that you had missed the knowing smirk shared between your sister and her best friend. 

“Hey Kid, how was your first day on the job?” Lou asks, hiding her smirk beneath her coffee mug as Debbie lays out the new flooring plans for their next big job. You look up at the sound of her voice, taking in the blue papers on the living room table.

“Yeah, it was good! The students were lovely and eager, which was encouraging.” You gush, the excitement from your first successful day distracting you from the breath-taking photos of your secret crush.

“God, just the thought of college makes me shiver now. Thank god I develop my skills as a con artist.” Debbie jokes, her eyes trained on the carefully mapped out plan. You move to sit next to her, leaning your chin onto her shoulder pointing at an unmarked area on the layout plans. 

“If you place the camera chip by the corner on the east wing here, that should cover up to the left side of the entryway down the hall.” You mumble, before grabbing Debbie’s hot coffee and taking a sip. Lou scoffs from her seat across but you can spot the pride in her eyes. Living with two very intelligent con artists has its perks. Debbie kisses the top of your head with enthusiasm.

“You’re the best, pumpkin. Still think you’re going down the right career path?” She questions, a playful smirk appearing on her lips making you shake your head as you move towards your bedroom. 

“You guys have your thing, I have mine. Besides, I’m far too good for your lil crew, Ocean.” You joke, turning to wink at the brunette before heading into your room. You falter slightly upon closing your door hearing your sister’s voice shout through to you from the other side. 

“The ‘crew’ are coming over later to go through the plan. You wanna join us?!” You bump your head lightly against your wooden door, already feeling the knowing smirks coming from both women. 

“Maybe. I’ll see how I feel later.” You reply against the door, before moving away and removing your work clothes piece by piece, leaving a trail of material towards the en-suite bathroom. 

Placing your phone on the drawer by the bathroom door, you head in for a shower completely missing the new text message from your favourite blonde.

Hey darling! I hope your first day went well. Can’t wait to hear all about it tonight! Tam x

***

Writing up the last few lines for your lesson plans, you look towards the digital clock on your desk as your stomach flutters in anticipation at seeing the blonde. You see, you may have never seeked out your intentions with Tammy but you would be fooling yourself if you thought you were over your silly crush on the woman. 

A loud knock on your door interrupts your thoughts. 

“Y/N! They’ll be here soon, are you joining us or not?” Lou’s deep voice came muffled from the other side of your door.

“Uh, yeah. Let me finish up this lesson plan and I’ll be out.” You reply, distracted by your thoughts. Shaking your head, you refocus back onto the task at hand before you can let your thoughts trail off into a much more filthier place.

You continue to write in your planner making sure that every detail has been looked over at least twice wanting everything to be perfect, completely unaware of the unannounced presence that stands by your doorway leaning heavily against the doorframe, soft eyes gazing lovingly at your hunched over figure. 

“Hey, you.” 

The voice startles you from your productivity, making you gasp and swirl around swiftly at the unexpected voice. Hand on chest, you try to catch your breath as the sweet angelic sound of Tammy’s laughter echoes throughout the bedroom. 

“Oh my god, Tammy! You gotta warn me next time.” You breathe, turning back to rearrange your notepad and planner. Tammy chuckles this time before pushing away from the doorframe and making herself comfortable at the foot of the bed.

“I’m sorry darling, but we’ve been out there for nearly an hour and well.. I missed you. We haven’t hung out with you much lately and we’re missing our most valuable member of the crew.” She confesses, a small smile playing on her lips as she takes in your room. You feel your heart flutter at the thought of her missing you, but you quickly squish down the thought knowing she didn’t mean just her but the rest of the gang. 

“Oh shit! I hadn’t realised the time. You guys haven’t ordered yet, right?” You ask, eyes hopeful and mouth watering at the thought of some delicious greasy pizza. 

“We have..” You pout at her words before watching her smile wide at you. “But don’t worry Y/N, I ordered your favourite.” She informs you with a smug expression. You leap out of your chair and practically leap towards her, placing your arms around her shoulder you press a big kiss to her cheek before moving away just as quickly heading for the living room.

“This is why you’re my favourite, Tam Tam.” You exclaim, already out of the room before she could blink. Within your excitement you missed how the blonde touched her cheek where you had placed the kiss onto her scorching skin, a tint of pink blushing across her cheeks. 

Yeah, you weren’t the only one smitten. 

***

Over the next few days, you had helped your sister and her crew form the perfect plan to take over the new Randervelt Museum and their very expensive art pieces. Debbie had dropped enough hints that you ended up being a part of the plan. 

“We can’t do this without you, Y/n.” 

“The money is good.” 

How could you say no? After all, you were a Miller and the thrill of a heist had always been appealing to you ever since your sister brought you along to your first one when you turned 21. “It’s tradition”, Lou had said. 

During that time, you had noticed Tammy had been awfully quiet around you. Sometimes you would catch her staring just a little too long at you before she would turn away and engage in conversation with one of the others, as if nothing was wrong. You had tried to talk to her about her odd behaviour but every time you got her alone, she would make some kind of excuse to not be around you. 

You’d be lying if you said it didn’t hurt but the plan had gone smoothly with everyone accounted for, all except for well... you. 

“Where is she, Constance?” Tammy raged through her earpiece, getting ready to jump back out of the van and go searching for you herself. 

“She’s got caught up with that big ass guard. I’m going to intervene to see if I can get her out of the way.” Constance replies, far too calm for her liking. 

“What do you mean caught up with the guard?! What’s he saying to her?” 

“I dunno but, uh… it seems like he’s flirting with her.” Tammy gulps slightly at that, feeling her stomach drop. 

“Well, get him to back off before I come in there and do it myself.” She says through gritted teeth.

“Alright girl, chill the F out. I’ll go get your girl.” She mumbles into her ear. Tammy’s eyes widen at the blunt statement as she hears quiet chuckling from the others. 

“Ladies, can we please focus? This is my sister and I swear to god if anything happens to her I- just… Constance, go and get her. Me and Debbie are going to bring round the other truck so we can transfer the paintings over to you, got it?” Lou’s authoritative voice crackles through the earpiece. A collective of sorry's are mumbled across the team as everyone returned back to the task at hand. Tammy holds her breath, waiting for Constance's confirmation of a safe exit with you in toe. 

“Got her. We’re on our way out now, be ready for us.” 

She can finally breathe again.

***

The journey back to the warehouse was quiet and tense. Tammy tried to let go of the pent up frustration and unwanted anger of having you in such a situation in the first place, but she couldn’t seem to drop it. That is, if her knee bouncing rapidly had anything to say about it. 

You kept your eyes fixed on the empty seat across from you, knowing that a certain pair of  brown doe eyes were burning into your skull from the spot across. Once you had all entered the apartment, the team disperses towards the living area bringing in the pieces one by one. 

Tammy is no longer able to keep her thoughts to herself, the words ready to spill from her throat. 

“How could you be so irresponsible?” She scolded, turning towards you. 

Your eyes widen as you gape at her, showing your shock at her blunt words. 

You can hear Lou chastising Tammy quietly in warning from across the room, but from the look on the blonde's face she wasn’t about to listen to her friend.  

“Excuse me?” You exclaim, taking a step closer to her. 

“You could have gotten into some serious trouble back there Y/N, if that guy had caught onto what you were doing.. You need to be more careful.” She lectured, trying to slow down her rapid breathing knowing that secretly, deep down, it wasn’t your fault. 

“Are you being serious right now?!” You question, baffled by her defensive behaviour. 

“I knew it was a bad idea putting you in danger like that. I should have said something.” Tammy mutters to herself, but her words are clear enough for you to hear. 

“What do you mean, Tam? Is that why you’ve been so weird with me? I knew there was something up with you.” You summarize, pointing an accusing finger at the blonde. You notice at the corner of your eye, the other woman silently leaving the room, clearly not wanting to be involved. 

Your eyes catch your sisters, her crystal blue eyes staring back at you with understanding and knowing, baffling you even more before Debbie escorts her reluctant form out of the room, knowing that you are old enough to deal with the problem at hand.

“Okay, fine! I was pissed off, alright? I hated the fact that you were dragged into yet another job, an illegal job might I add. You are doing something good with your life right now, darling. I don’t want you getting mixed up in all of this. You’re too good for this.” She says, indicating towards the stolen art pieces. You frown at just how concerned she is with your involvement.

“Why do you care so much, Tam? I’m just your best friend's kid sister, remember?” You mock, remembering back to the time when you overheard her conversation with Debbie about your odd relationship with the older woman. 

“She’s young, Debs. I’m merely being a friend.”  Those were her words back then and they still stung to this day. 

Tammy drops her gaze, shame evident, remembering how she saw your retreating form from the corner of her eye back when she spoke to Debbie about her confusing feelings towards you.  

“I only said that because I was too scared to admit how I actually felt about you, Y/N.” Her voice soft, faltering slightly under her confession. Her eyes bright with unshed tears, her shoulders dropping as if the weight of her secret love for you has been lifted. You gape at the woman in front of you, overwhelmed with uncertainty and hope.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” You managed to croak out, unable to form further words. 

Tammy shrugs her shoulders in defeat, before slowly meeting your conflicted gaze. You could see the vulnerability in those big brown eyes, making you step towards her. That instant pull between you growing stronger just like it had during that first meeting. 

“What, and tell your sister ‘oh hey, I know I’m one of your closest friends but I’m in love with your younger sister’? I don’t think that would have gone down well back then, do you?” You both chuckle slightly realising how ridiculous this all is. 

“I’m pretty sure she’s known something was going on,” you pause for a minute, thinking carefully about your next words. “Because I dunno if you know this, but I’ve been in love with you since I first laid my eyes on you.” You confess, folding your arms across your chest as if to protect yourself from your own words. 

Before you could apologise or take back your words, scared by the fallen silence that has settled between you both, Tammy walks the last few steps towards you placing her hands gently against your jaw, cupping your face within the palms of her hands. The tenderness within her hold makes you want to cry at just how much love seeps from her one single touch. 

“I would very much like to kiss you.” She whispers, her lips an inch away from your own. You close your eyes basking in the moment before you reply. 

“Then, do it.” Her lips clash with your own at your words, desperate as if they’ve been waiting a million years just to touch your own soft lips. Her tongue traces along your bottom lip making you part your lips ever so slightly but enough for her to trace her tongue along your own, fighting for dominance. Bringing your hands up, you thread your fingers through long blonde locks keeping her close not wanting to break away just yet. You continue with this fight for dominance with your mouths before the distinctive sound of someone gagging makes you break apart. 

Turning your heads to the side, you both see Lou and the others stood by the doorway with stupid grins on their faces. All except for Lou, who was fake gagging next to Debbie who just rolled her eyes at her best friend's antics. 

“Are you guys done sucking each other's faces? Because I wanna order pizza.” Nine says with indifference, before moving into the room and towards the kitchen where the food menus lay scattered on the kitchen island table. 

The others laugh watching as you both fluster at being caught making out like teenagers. You eye up your sister who has been very quiet about the whole exchange, feeling Tammy shift uncomfortably next to you clearly waiting for your sister to react. 

You keep a supportive arm around her waist, silently telling her that no matter what you’re both stronger than the rejection. Lou walks agonizingly slowly towards you both with a stoic face, giving nothing away while Debbie rolls her eyes at her friend's dramatics, once again. 

“My best friend and my sister...” Is all she says, as if trying to piece the information together out loud. 

You gulp once she’s up close to you, standing with her arms crossed as her eyes flicker between you and Tammy. The silent exchange feels like it goes on for a century before she breaks out into a huge smile, showing her pearly white teeth and her arms out wide towards you both.

“My best friend and my sister!” She exclaims excitingly, before pulling you both into a three-way hug. You both lock eyes over your sister’s shoulder, relief evident in those perfect brown eyes making you grin softly. 

“Yeah, me and your sister, Lou.” Tammy says as she laughs at your sister's antics. Lou pulls back, holding your shoulders with her hands eyeing your now clasped hands. 

“Just don’t make it gross, yeah? She’s still my little sister and I will kick your arse if you hurt her, Tam Tam.” Lou threatens, but the tone of her voice clearly shows she’s only half joking. 

You roll your eyes at your sister’s empty threat before she bops you on the nose, which you bat away with your free hand. 

“That goes for you as well, kid. She’s still one of my best friends, you hurt her in any way then me and you will be having words. Got it?” She promises, before winking and walking back towards the kitchen where the others have been not so subtly listening in to the exchange. 

You look at the blonde in front of you, taking in her soft features and perfect smile, overwhelmed with love for this woman in front of you.  Leaning in, you kiss the corner of her mouth softly. 

“I could never hurt you Tam Tam. Who would get my pizza order right, if not you?” You tease, watching the mischievous glint burn within her brown eyes as she playfully shoves you. 

“You, dork.” Grabbing her hand quickly, you place it over your heart and whisper. 

“But I’m your dork,” you smile cheekily at her.

“Yeah, my dork.” She confirms, her adoring eyes gazing into your own thinking to herself. 

Finally.

[songbirdsingingthings]

Beachy Keen - Katsuki Bakugou x Reader

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THESE CHARACTERS, THEY BELONG TO KOHEI HORIKOSHI

When you first met the blonde-haired boy, you never thought that he knew what being relaxed and carefree felt like. He exuded self-confidence and was always fired-up, but you could tell that it came from a deep place of longingness, anger, and insecurity. You knew enough of Midoriya and Bakugou’s past to know that their once friendly childhood became a toxic relationship pretty quickly. You understand where both boys were coming from. Izuku, who hadn’t developed his quirk for the most part of his childhood, was always there to lend a helping hand - especially to Bakugou. Then, years later, all of a sudden Bakugou wasn’t the star of his middle school. And the explosive boy, the pride and joy of all of those around him, all of a sudden did not meet the criteria of “future number one hero”. The years of showered affections, constant praise, and “can I have your autograph for the future?”s all ceased to exist now. However, both boys, at least to you, were nice. Well, Midoriya was nice, Bakugou was just kind of civil - which was a lot to ask for from the hero-in-training.

It was currently your second year at UA and all of the students had a long weekend off due to most of the teachers attending a hero banquet. Momo, being the sweet girl she is, wanted to splurge a bit on her friends and take them all to their family’s beach house on the coast of Okinawa. Everyone was so excited, especially you. You hadn’t had the opportunity to go to the beach in ages and you couldn’t wait to feel the soft sand in between your toes, feel the salty wind on your face, and relish in the yummy seafood. The school graciously allowed your class to take one of the buses and provided you with a cleared driver.

“Alright everyone! Make sure you have your luggage and double check for sunscreen! We do not want any sunburns and make sure to bring sunglasses if you have light eyes - the sun’s rays can be very damaging!” Iida said, listing his final instructions before the students boarded the bus.

“So Y/N, who are you rooming with now that Hagakure’s sick?” Ochaco asked you sweetly, stuffing her big trunk into the bottom of the bus.

“No one, I guess. I think I still get to keep the room,” you say, sticking your suitcase neatly next to hers. You step onto the bus and find a seat that was next to Mina and across from Kirishima and Bakugou.

“Oh, Y/N! Hey!” Mina said cheerily, giving you a smile.

“Hey guys, what’s up?” You ask, setting your carry-on backpack at your feet.

“Oh nothing, just Bakugou sulking as usual!” Mina responds, nudging your elbow and motioning over to the boy across from you. You were kind of confused. No one had done anything recently to get him into this pissed off state.

“Well… what poked the beast?” You said quietly to the pink-haired girl next to you. 

“Kirishima had to pull out of rooming with him because he had forgotten that he promised he would room with Sero, and now he doesn’t have a room.” Mina said, rustling around in her own bag to fish out her phone.

“Huh,” you say. “Have you asked Momo if there’s another room?” You ask, now facing the boys across from you.

“Tch, what do you think? I’m not an idiot,” he says, kind of glaring at you. You knew that there was only one solution to this predicament since you didn’t want Bakugou sleeping on the couch in one of the many living rooms. That would give anyone a bad back, and for Bakugou, an even worse temper.

“U-um, you can room with me since Hagakure can’t make it.” Bakugou looked at you incredulously and Kirishima gave him a wild grin.

“That’s a GREAT idea Y/N! Quick thinking!” Kirishima applauded.

“Have you dumbasses lost your minds?! There’s no way I’m rooming with her!” He exclaims. It kind of hurt you that you could basically see steam coming from his ears due to how mad and opposed to the proposition of the two of you sharing a room. You were about to respond but Mina beat you to the chase.

“Well Bakugou, what other option do you have? Breaking your back and not being able to enjoy anything on this vacation?” The pink-haired girl retorted, sticking up for you. You shoot her a grateful smile and turn back to Bakugou.

“I’m sure that there’ll be two separate beds and we can stagger times in the room if you want.” You assure him, trying to convince him. Bakugou leans his head back, closes his eyes, and sighs.

“Fine. But I swear to god, if there aren’t two beds I’m going to lose my mind.”

Spoiler alert, there weren’t two beds, but a single queen size bed in the newly cleaned room. You drop your bags in shock and slowly turn your head to see Bakugou’s, who was right next to yours. If Bakugou was mad then he was doing a fine job hiding it because all you could see was a blank expression.

“I-I can see if Momo has a blow-up mattress and I can sleep on that.” You say quickly, trying not to make him uncomfortable. Bakugou simply shakes his head as he rolls his suitcase onto the left side of the bed.

“Don’t be stupid. There’s enough space for each of us, and if you think I’m gonna let you suffer after… doing this then you're wrong.” He says bluntly, already starting to unpack his clothes. You should’ve made yourself look away and not be so nosy, because when you caught a glimpse of a pair of grey boxers, you could’ve sworn that your face lit up like a Christmas tree. You tugged your suitcase along with you to the right side and put away all of your clothes into the side dresser but kept out a simple orange bikini set for later that day. After the two of you finished unpacking, you made your way to the main living room to see the rest of the class lounging on the plush sofas. 

“So, who’s ready to hit the beach?” Momo asked, earning cheers from the class.

Their day on the sand covered shore was nothing short of divine. You all played beach volleyball, went swimming, and even tanned for a bit until the sun started to set, and then you all headed back to the beach house. For the first night, you, Sero, Jirou, Koda, and Todoroki were in charge of dinner. You decided to do an easy pasta bar so that everyone got to pick out what they wanted. After promising to be careful, Momo allowed the class to eat while sitting on the couches and watching a movie, which ended up being Clueless, much to Kaminari and Mineta’s protests to instead watch a more mature rated film. You ended up sitting next to Bakugou, but the two of you didn’t talk much - you were much more invested in the movie playing on the flatscreen. The class decided to pause halfway through to get some dessert which were pre-packaged ice cream cones. Out of nowhere, Bakugou called your name and tossed you one. You looked up at him with a raised brow which just caused Bakugou to scoff in response.

“You like (favorite flavor) the best, so I thought you’d want it.” He says plainly, grabbing a vanilla cone for himself. You gave him a smile.

“Thank you Bakugou, that was really kind of you,” you say sweetly as the two of you head back to your spots on the couch.

“Yeah, whatever.”

“YES! FINALLY!” Mina cheered as Cher and Josh kissed on the staircase. The scene even warranted cheers from some of the boys. Josh’s gesture made you melt as you gently sank into the couch. That is, until your shoulders were met with something hard. You turned your head to see Bakugou’s arm which was there, but he retreated it immediately. 

“Sorry,” he murmurs, eyes still facing the screen.

Okay, he is acting weird. First the ice cream and now this? He wouldn’t normally apologize for something like this. You shake the thought from your mind as you help the rest of the class clean up after the movie finished and turn off the lights. You made your way back to your room, only to see Bakugou in nothing but his boxers. The grey boxers. Flustered, you turn around and cover your face with your hands.

“Sorry sorry sorry!” You squeal, voice muffled by your palms. “I’ll wait til you’re changed.”

“I am. This is what I sleep in.” He responds as you hear him lift the covers and let them fall back on his bare chest. Your body temperature must’ve risen by at least 10 degrees because you felt like you were about to faint.

“O-oh.” You force yourself to turn around and grab your pajamas, booking it to the bathroom to change in privacy. You were horrified by what was in your hands. Your pajamas were the only somewhat skimpy set you owned - tiny little shorts with lacy on the bottom and a tank top with lace for the straps. Swallowing the large lump in your throat, you forced yourself into the set and then looked at yourself in the mirror.

If Bakugou can be fine wearing just boxers around me, then I can certainly be fine with wearing a tank top and shorts around him. After giving yourself a reassuring nod, you march yourself back into your room, stuff your clothes from the day in a hamper, and get into bed next to the blonde. You weren’t facing him so you couldn’t see, but his cheeks danced with an ever so slight shade of red. 

“Okay so how is this gonna work,” You ask, looking between him and the space in between the two of you.

“You stay on your side, I’ll stay on mine.” He states, looking into your eyes for approval. Giving a nod, you turn so your back is facing him and turn off your light. You try to make yourself feel comfortable in the silky sheets, but your entire body is freezing. You really should’ve packed better pajamas. A few minutes pass as your body is shaking until Bakugou speaks up.

“Oi, dumbass, what’s wrong with you?” He asks. As rude as his words could’ve been interpreted, you knew they came from a place of caring, so you turned around to face him, only for your noses to be just mere inches away from the other.

“I-I’m just cold I’ll be fine.” You say meekly, trying to avert your eyes and look at anything else in the room.

“Tch, sure.” He says simply, turning away from you this time. An uncomfortable silence graces the two of you until the boy decides to break it again.

“You looked better than usual today. In the orange.” You hear him say softly. Your breath hitched as your brain comprehended the words, making your cheeks turn red. “And your taste in ice cream flavors is at least respectable.” You couldn't help it - you giggled at his words. This made Bakugou whip around to face you as your hand went up to cover your mouth. “What the hell? I’m trying to give you a compliment and be nice and shit dumbass!” He growls, giving you a glare. You manage to calm yourself down but keep a huge grin on your face.

“I know, and it’s really, really sweet but seriously? Ice cream? That’s what makes you say ‘oh yes, that’s the girl I wanna date.’”. You were giggling again, but you were shocked when Bakugou let a little smile grace his face.

“Shut up, I’m new to this whole thing.” He says, smoothly wrapping his arm around your shoulders. You don’t flinch when his hand makes contact with your skin - it’s like it was natural to you.

“Katsuki Bakugou,” you say, a twinkle in your eyes, “I like you too.” 

“I-I didn’t say that!” He protests, slight panic in his eyes.

“You didn’t have to.” You finish, tucking a stray piece of hair away from his face. His response was to pull you close to him which made you panic a little this time.

“Relax,” he says, “you were cold and now you won’t be.” He says matter-of-factly. Your face settles into a dreamy smile as you lay your head against his broad chest. The beat of his heart lulled you into a peaceful sleep and Bakugou followed you shortl with  a stupid smile on his face. Lets just say, that for the rest of the trip, you two didn’t stray too far from each other. And Bakugou made sure to grab you a (favorite flavor) ice cream cone before anyone else could get to it first.

[kalimagik]

Notice

Based off of the song “Notice” by Thomas Rhett

Fred Weasley x Reader

~4,500

Warnings: None – LOTS of Fluff

A/N: This is my first time posting a fic on here and I’m just now deciding to take a stab at sharing them! I write a lot for the HP fandom and then also for the Marvel Fandom and Tom Holland, so be on the look out for fics later. Please like, comment, or reblog if you enjoy this fic so I can decide whether I want to post more of my work! Happy Reading <3 

-

-

Fred’s head had been in the clouds recently. He and George had been focusing so much on their booming business that he hadn’t focused on much else. That being said, his girlfriend was feeling a little left out.

“Fred, can’t we just hang out today? No business stuff?” Y/N asked with big, pleading eyes.

“Y/N/N, this is really important. Everyone is wanting our products and I can’t just leave George to send them out by himself. I’ve got to go!”

“Fred, can I talk to you for five minutes without your mind on business? Can you give me that time?” Y/N conceded.

“I can do 5 minutes,” Fred smirked. He reached out to pull her in, assuming they would spend that 5 minutes snogging. Y/N put a quick stop to it.

“No, Fred. I want to talk to you.”

 “Oh, okay. I’m listening.”

“Are you though? You’re spaced out in every conversation we have. I tell you this almost every year. But, you don’t seem to hear all the words I say, let alone spend time with me and it makes me miss you even when I’m sitting next to you. You’ve been acting so easily distracted. I just wish you could focus. I love you, Fred and I’ll always support you, but it’s been a hard year already without you nowhere around.”

Fred watched her eyes, he wished he could say all the ways he did see her and notice her, but he didn’t know how. He knew having Umbridge around was not easy for anyone, but he hadn’t realized how tough it must’ve been on Y/N while he was trying to lift everyone else’s spirits with that toad around.

“That’s all I have to say. Go help George now.”

Y/N stood up and left Fred’s room. She probably was going to find her friends, Angelina and Alicia. It wasn’t until she shut the door that Fred spoke. “No, wait, don’t go!” She didn’t hear him though.

Fred dropped face down onto his bed. He must’ve been like that for too long because George burst into the room looking for him.

“Oi! Freddie! You were supposed to meet me at the Honeydukes passageway 15 minutes ago! I couldn’t sneak all that contraband in by myself!”

Fred just groaned in response.

“What’s up with you, mate?” George asked.

“Y/N was in here.”

“Don’t you, oh, I don’t know, like her? So her being in here is a good thing?”

“It is. I love her, you know that Georgie.”

“I do know that. I just like to think I’m the only one you love,” George snickered.

“Well, she feels as though I haven’t been paying attention to her. Which now that I think about it, I haven’t. But when I’m with her, there are just all these amazing little things about her.” Fred threw his hands over his face.

“There are little things about Y/N other than just her being Y/N?” George asked in a stupid sarcastic manner.

“Of course there are you, git!” Fred threw a pillow at George.

“Mhmmm, I’m not sure.” George rubbed his chin. “She’s been one of our best friends since childhood. I can’t look at her without thinking about her running around the Burrow with a gnome biting her finger.”

 George’s memory made Fred laugh at the image now in his head.

“You’re blind then. Have you ever noticed how she brushes her hair out of her E/C eyes or the way she blushes when she drinks red wine. Then there’s the way that she smiles whenever she tries to bend the truth. That’s why we never let her make up the lies. She definitely doesn’t think I notice all of those muggle songs she sings underneath her breath and how she tears up whenever we all hide in the Astronomy Tower and watch the sunset. Of course there’s that super cute way at parties when she dances just like she’s the only one in the room. She doesn’t think I see all those beautiful things, but I do.”

“Why don’t you tell her that? Doesn’t seem that hard. It’s not like it’s when you were first trying to ask her out. You’ve already been dating for 3 years,” George pointed out.

“But I already blew her off today and told her I had to help you.”

“You idiot, go find her. I’ll get Lee to help me. He doesn’t have a girlfriend and obviously isn’t doing anything.”

“You sure? I told you I’d help you today,” Fred reminded him.

“Dude. I had to come find you after you left me hanging for 15 minutes. Go get your girl.”

 Fred didn’t need anything else. He bolted from the room and out to find his girlfriend. Unfortunately, it was a nice spring day, so students were all over the castle, inside and outside. Fred checked the courtyard, the library, the Great Hall, near Hagrid’s hut, everywhere. Where the heck were they? Where was she?

 “Angelina! That’s horrible!”

 Fred’s head ripped around towards the sound of Y/N’s voice. Her laugh was so angelic as she giggled at whatever Angelina was doing. That’s when he saw her. Sitting beneath a tree near Black Lake with her two best friends. They had their books, but obviously weren’t studying. She was smart enough though, Fred thought, she didn’t really need to study.

“Fred?” Y/N questioned when she saw him.

He must’ve been standing and staring for a good minute before she noticed him and he started to move towards her.

“I thought you were busy with George today?” Y/N asked as Fred sat next to her.

“He decided he could handle it by himself. What’s going on here?”

As Angelina and Alicia filled Fred in on what they had been talking about, Fred pulled Y/N in next to him. He sat with the conversation and let the other two go on a tangent before whispering into Y/N’s ear.

“You know, babe. I don’t know why I forgot to mention to you, but at that party last night you were looking drop-dead.”

He saw a small flush of pink on her cheeks as she tried to seem still interested in the conversation.

Fred continued, “If I’m being honest, it wasn’t even a contest. You were the center of attention.”

“Don’t you think so too Y/N?” Alicia asked suddenly.

“What? Oh– oh yeah!” She had no idea what she was agreeing too.

“But you know, I’m such a jokester that if I had to say every time you looked amazing, you’d think I was joking.”

Alicia and Angelina both broke out laughing, so Y/N quickly joined in with a flush still across her cheeks at Fred’s words. Fred chuckled too, but not with Angelina and Alicia. He chuckled because Y/N was so cute.

The conversation picked up again and so did Fred’s whispers. “I brag about you when I’m not around you and you don’t even know it. Every time you catch  me staring at you, I was probably just gushing about you, love. Honest.”

Y/N had felt herself getting more antsy the entire time. What could she even say back to this right now!

Angelina stopped Alicia in the middle of her sentence. She then looked over at the cozy Fred and Y/N.

“You seem quite uninterested in our conversation.”

 “I’m sorry, Ang. I can pay attention.”

Angelina and Alicia looked at Y/N with knowing eyes. They knew how distracted Fred had been and how hurt Y/N had been by it.

“No, you two go spend some time together,” Alicia chuckled. “Ang and I are just enough company with each other. Go,” she pushed.

“Why thank you ladies!” Fred smirked as he stood up and offered his hand to Y/N so that she could stand up. Fred took her hand and pulled her away to a different end of Black Lake.

“Okay, sit here. I’m going to be right back!” Fred told her.

“What? You’re leaving me here? We just got away!” Y/N was surprised but still laughing. She always was when it came to Fred.

“Just trust me, okay?” Fred asked gently.

“Okay…But you better come back!”

“I will, love. I couldn’t just leave your beautiful self here!” He leaned down to kiss her lips before walking away.

Fred rushed up to the castle and in through the doors of the Great Hall. He was on a mission for something spontaneous.

He made his way to the entrance of the kitchens and tickled the pear that opened the portrait.

“Hello Hogwarts elves! It’s your favorite Weasley!”

All of the little house elves rushed forward.

“Hello! Master Weasley! How can we help you! Can we get some food for you? What would you like?” The questions were being flown at him and the food was already being prepared.

“I could use some food, but not the usual for Georgie and I! I need a picnic basket and a romantic meal. I’m doing something romantic for my girlfriend and need the best!”

The elves all gave a little squeal of excitement and starting chattering. Dobby walked up to Fred and started speaking in his high voice.

“Mister Fred is a very sweet boyfriend for Miss Y/N. She’s a very nice girl Dobby thinks.”

“Thank you Dobby! She’s the best girl!” the red head grinned, throwing a wink at the elf.

“Here you go, Mister Weasley!” another elf piped up, handing a basket to Fred.

“Thank you very much, tiny elves! As always, it is much appreciated!” Fred waved as he rushed back to the portrait.

Emerging back onto the grounds, Fred looked to the spot where he left Y/N. She sat there, obviously in a day dream. She was sprawled out on the grass, looking at the sky and playing with a flower in her hand.

But, Fred’s footsteps must’ve made some noise because she sat up on her elbows as he made his way over to her.

“I was starting to think you’d left me out here to go help George or something,” she laughed.

He knew she was joking, but her words did feel like a stab for a moment. He forgot that she was feeling unattended to at the moment.

“I could never just leave you hanging like that. And I come bearing gifts!” He was pushing through. He was making this all up to her.

“Whatcha got there stud?” she giggled.

“I brought food. In a picnic basket!” 

“All of this for me?” she threw up her hands in the air as Fred sat down next to her and pulled him close to peck his lips. “How sweet of you!”

“What can I say, the house elves really out did themselves this time! It’s a surprise opening!”

“They really love you down there,” Y/N chuckled as she opened the basket to pull out plates and forks. “They put everything in here!”

“You should have seen them when I told them it was for you. They got all excited and went right to work,” Fred laughed loudly as he pulled out and started to serve food. “I even watched one of my favorite elves put some red wine in there.”

The house elves really out did themselves this time. They put in a tart for dessert. The main meal was a pot pie with broccoli, rolls, and fruit. 

“I’m so full that I could burst!” Y/N stretched out and laid on the grass. “Ohhh! Freddie! Look at the stars! They’re so beautiful!”

Fred smiled widely as he looked over at her before laying down beside her.

“I think I can find something more beautiful,” Fred egged.

Y/N turned to him, a grin large on her face. Her E/C eyes sparkled in the moonlight and Fred was so glad that George convinced him to play hooky today.

“You’re more beautiful than any stars,” Fred said softly.

“Oh shush. There are millions of stars up there and they’ve been burning for years!” Y/N explained.

“I don’t think I will ever understand why you know so much muggle science.”

“It’s interesting! That’s why!” Y/N playfully hit him as she turned on her side.

 “Do you want any more wine, love?” Fred sat up, getting the bottle.

“Yes please! That house elf threw in my favorite,” Y/N smiled, handing him her glass. She really couldn’t stop smiling.

Fred poured a proper amount into the glass. Finally, he was doing what his mother had been teaching him all these years. 

“Y/N/N?” 

“Yes, Freddie?” Y/N giggled, taking a sip. He watched as her cheeks turned slightly pinker while she sipped.

“I’m sorry that I’ve not given you the proper attention for the last few months.”

“It’s okay. I overreacted. You are doing so well and I am so proud of you! You know that right, so proud. I still love all of this though,” she giggled as she motioned over to the leftovers of the picnic.

“You’re blushing,” Fred said softly. He didn’t mean to change the subject. He just couldn’t stop thinking about all those little things. 

“Merlin! It’s this wine. It always does this to me!”

“Each time your H/C hair gets in your E/C eyes, you push it away in this very specific way. You blush every time you drink red wine, you blush. It doesn’t happen with white wine, just red wine. I’ve realized after all these years that you always smile when you try to bend the truth, so you never are the one who can cover for us during a prank. It doesn’t even matter if you were the mastermind. I’ve also noticed all the songs you sing underneath your breath and the fact that you still tear up at the sunset over Black Lake.”

“Freddie? Why are you saying all these things?” 

“Wait, wait. My favorite is definitely how you always dance like you’re the only one in the room. We could have been studying, but if your favorite song comes on, you’re always up dancing. It doesn’t matter who else is there. It’s just you in your own little world. It’s perfect.”

Fred watched as Y/N’s eyes began to water, but she was still smiling and doing that lip biting thing that drove him crazy.

“I see all those things and I keep on falling for you every night, over and over again. It’s all my fault that I don’t remind you every day of your life. You’re perfect to me.”

“I love you, Fred.”

“I love you so, so much, Y/N. So much.” Fred felt the need to whisper so that his words were only for her.

 Fred sat there, feeling content, Y/N’s hand in his own.

“I’m really happy right now,” Y/N said, breaking the silence.

“Let’s do something crazy,” Fred said suddenly. 

“Crazy?”

“Out of this world. No one would see it coming, but it’s just right.”

“What are you talking about Fred? You’re talking nonsense,” Y/N laughed, sitting up to look at the boy straight on.

“We’re almost done at Hogwarts.”

“Yes? Good observation there!”

“We should get married,” Fred said bluntly.

“Married?! Fred, we’re so young. We haven’t even graduated yet!” Y/N blurted.

“We will be soon. George and I’s business is doing well. We have enough money to start a shop, I can get you a ring! We’ll do everything right!”

“That’s crazy!” Y/N couldn’t tell if he was serious or joking.

“That’s the point! It’s spontaneous. It’s what our whole relationship has been! It’s perfect!” Fred argued.

They weren’t fighting, but they weren’t having a calm conversation. Fred’s heart was pounding and Y/N’s head was spinning.

“Think about it. I could get you a ring. We can tell everyone over Easter Break. You’re still coming to my house for Easter Break right?”

“Fred. Slow down. Do you hear yourself? What would our parents say?”

“My mother would expect something like this of me. Plus, she loves you. Always says you are the best thing that could happen to me,” Fred shrugged. “I think it’s a great idea.”

“Of course you do, you’re the crazy one that is suggesting this. Do I have to remind you? We are seventeen?”

“I do know that. Look at you being the smart one. We are seventeen, which means we’re of age and old enough to apparate, so in my opinion, that means we’re old enough to get married! We’re adults,” Fred didn’t even stop to think.

As crazy as this was, Fred knew that it was what he wanted. It’s what he’s wanted for a long time even if he didn’t know it until he said it.

 “Obviously if you don’t want to do it, but I will still be buying a ring. I do have the money for it.”

 Fred watched Y/N’s thinking face form. Her brow creased, her lips were puckered, and her nose was scrunched. It was precious. It only appeared when she was making important decisions. Her studying face was different.

“Okay,” Y/N said finally.

“What?’ Fred wasn’t sure if he heard his ears correctly.

“I said okay. Let’s do it. Let’s be crazy. We already are pretty crazy, but let’s top every other bit of crazy.”

“Really?” Fred still wasn’t sure. She didn’t normally go along with his wilder ideas.

“Do you want me to change my mind?” Y/N chuckled.

“No! Not at all. We’re getting married. We’re getting…married.” Fred was repeating.

 “You still have to ask me when you get a ring though.”

“Of course I will! I would propose to you a million times.” Fred jumped up to one knee.

“You don’t need to propose now, love. Let’s wait until you have that ring you keep talking about,” she winked.

“I love you,” Fred breathed out.

“I love you too, Freddie. We’re going to be crazy together!” Y/N squealed.

Fred couldn’t stop smiling. He picked Y/N up off the grass and brought her into his arms.

“You’re a goon, you know that?” Y/N whispered.

“I’m your goon though!” He laughed as he placed his lips on her. It was pure bliss.

“We’re getting married,” Y/N spoke when she pulled away. 

“We’re getting married.” Fred agreed.

“One condition. Don’t tell anyone until we get truly engaged. Not even George. Can you do that?”

“It’s our secret!” Fred crossed his heart to show his promise.

_______________________________________________________________________

 Three months had passed and Fred was packing his bags for the Burrow. All the Weasleys were going to be there in addition to Harry and Hermione, and of course, Y/N.

 He had ordered Y/N’s ring through owl service a month earlier. He was all secret about getting the catalogue and ordering it. He wanted it to be a surprise. She only wore it sometimes because they hadn’t told too many people. They wanted the families to know first.

George did know however. Fred spilled it nearly 3 days after the couple had decided. When Fred broke the news to Y/N that George knew, George had already made enough hints that Y/N knew that George knew. She figured he would be the first to find out.

“Hey love, you almost ready?” Y/N bounded into the boys’ room without knocking. It had become a habit of hers. She was not afraid of seeing anything.

“I am. Just a few more things for the week.”

“Go get them and I’ll finish with your bag!” Y/N moved over to the bed and picked up Fred’s clothes to place in the bag.

“That’s a shiny rock you got there,” Fred smirked when he caught a look at her finger.

 “Isn’t it pretty?” Y/N beamed. She was so excited about this even though she was so unsure when he had first asked.

“I think your fiancé has pretty good taste if I do say so myself…”

Y/N rolled her eyes at the comment before responding with a sarcastic one of her own. “I think so, but I’m not sure if he picked it out or if his brother did,” she winked.

Fred was soon packed and the group piled as many people as possible into a train car. Y/N put her ring away again, but it was nearby for their arrival. 

When the whole crew arrived at the Burrow, everyone rushed inside. Mrs. Weasley was so excited to have everyone home. She hated having the empty house. Even Charlie and Bill made their way there. Percy didn’t, but that was something the family didn’t talk about.

Y/N and Fred stood outside the door. Fred took Y/N’s hand into his own and squeezed it lightly. “Are you ready for this, love?” 

“I’m more excited to be your wife eventually, but telling the family is a close second.” Y/N took her hand back from Fred’s for just a moment to pull the engagement ring out of her pocket and slip it onto her finger. Fred took her left hand back the moment she was done.

“What is taking you two so long?” Ron called, coming up to the door. “Mum refuses to serve dinner until everyone is at the table and I’m starving!”

“Ready?” Fred asked.

“As I’ll ever be!” Y/N beamed.

The moment they walked in the door, Mrs. Weasley was on the couple.

“Ohhh! Y/N! I’m so happy you’re here! You do not visit us enough!” Mrs. Weasley wrapped the girl in a big hug.

 “It’s not like I’m your son and am coming home for the first time in months too.” Fred rolled his eyes.

“Of course I’m happy to see you too, Fred, but you keep this girl too far from us. We must see her more often.”

“Mum, you have other guests too, not just Y/N.”

“Oh, pish posh. Now, come in your two! Dinner is ready.”

Fred pulled out the chair for Y/N so she could sit next to him. He was truly surprised that no one had noticed the ring yet.

“Now, everyone fill me in on the last few months,” Mr. Weasley stated as everyone began putting food on their plates.

“School is boring. Umbridge is a toad. Nothing totally new.” Ron droned as Harry nodded in agreement.

“Oi, I think Fred and Y/N should go next,” George piped up when Ginny opened her mouth to speak. She immediately shut it.

“What has been new with the two of you?” Mrs. Weasley asked, extremely interested. She was finally sitting down with the rest of them.

“Well, we sort of have an announcement,” Y/N started, glaring at George for bringing it up already. “Fred? Do you want to finish?” Y/N pleaded. She had no idea what she wanted to say and Fred could tell. He didn’t quite know what he was going to say, but he would figure it out.

“We do. Thank you Georgie for that grand introduction. If everyone would just let me finish and not interrupt, this will go smoothly.”

Fred looked around to make sure that everyone nodded in agreement. 

“A few months ago, we decided to do something crazy. It was my idea, the craziest ones usually are, but I decided to marry Y/N and she concurred!”

Y/N bashfully smiled as she lifted her left hand to show off the ring. There were quiet gasps mixed in with the overwhelming silence. Y/N broke the silence effectively.

“We know we’re young. At least I know we’re young,” she giggled, “but, we don’t have to get married now or anytime soon–”

“Hopefully sooner than later,” Fred interrupted. 

“Frrred,” Y/N emphasized, “just thought this was a good idea and I’m apparently crazy enough to happily go along with it!”

“It’s a great idea!” Fred broke in. “What does everyone think?” he asked.

“You mean that you two are engaged?” Ron’s mouth was hung open.

 “You’ve been engaged for over a month?” Charlie followed.

 “How didn’t we know?!” Ginny squealed. At least she was smiling.

“You’re still in school though. Where will you live?” Hermione piped up. She seemed concerned.

“You mean…” Mrs. Weasley began. She was silent for a moment before she continued. Fred felt Y/N grab his hand quickly. She squeezed so hard that he knew she was nervous.

“Mum? Could you finish that thought?” Fred asked.

“Oh, sorry! You mean that Y/N is going to be my daughter? Oh! This is so fantastic!” she yelled. The blur that was Molly Weasley was out of her seat and descending on the couple quicker than anyone else could move.

“It’s good to see who Mum’s favorite child is, even though she didn’t even give birth to Y/N,” George mumbled. Everyone laughed and followed Molly in congratulating the couple.

Easter Break was going to be a great one. Fred could now tell the world he was engaged to the most perfect girl in the world. He got excited when Arthur pulled out the red wine. He’d just to see that cute way that Y/N blushed when she drank it. He noticed it. And now that they were going to get married, he would get to notice even more little things about her.

Looking around at his family and the girl he loved, this moment would be ingrained in his mind forever. It was perfect. He glanced over at her hugging each person in the room and caught her eye. When she smiled, her E/C eyes twinkled. Fred melted inside. That was one more thing to add to the list of the little things about her. Her in all her perfection.

[yunhowhoitiss]

𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐚𝐩

𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫!𝐲𝐮𝐧𝐡𝐨 𝐱 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭!𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 (𝐟𝐞𝐦)

𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 1.4k+

𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: fluff, student au(?), strangers to lovers sorta

𝐬𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬: after a particularly mediocre routine for the past two years, all it took was a sweet, pink haired boy to brighten your day. every day.

𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: a teeny tiny bit of swearing 

𝐚/𝐧: I just hit 100 followers!! I didn’t know how to celebate so here’s a fic I wrote in a couple of hours (-_-;) i hope you enjoy it!

masterlist

You woke up to a room full of sunshine, and the early autumn air left drops of moisture outside your window. Upon hearing your roommate already out and about in the living room, you dragged yourself out of bed, flinching when your toes hit the cold floor tiles. Trudging out of your bedroom, you gravitated towards the apartment kitchenette. You sleepily scanned the living room to find that your roomie had moved all the furniture around to make space.

“Bobbi, I don’t mind you doing yoga every morning, but if you forget to put everything back one more time I’m cutting your mat to pieces,” you muttered as you poured yourself a cup of coffee.

“Well hello sunshine,” she laughed, “I made juice this morning, it’s in the fridge.” You hummed in response.

“Sure. Could you put some in a tumbler? I have to leave in 10 minutes and I’m not even dressed yet. I’ll miss my train if I diddle-daddle.”

“Of course!”

You and Bobbi had been roommates for a little over a year now after you decided to move off-campus. She was a friend of a friend who was looking for a roommate to split the rent, so figured you’d give it a chance. There are plenty of benefits to living off-campus: it saves money, you have more living space, you can gain some life experience, and Bobbi is a sweetheart– even if she refuses to be more than half-dressed around the house and never puts all the furniture back after her morning yoga. Your only issue when you first started renting the cosy two-bedroom apartment was finding a way to class without a car. Your best choice was to buy yourself a metro card and stick to taking the subway. The apartment wasn’t that far from campus, but you could afford to pay for the card and you had little-to-no motivation to walk or cycle to school nearly every day. At this point, you valued your time spent on the train listening to nothing but your favourite playlist as your me-time; every other minute of your day was spent studying, working, or sleeping. Somehow, this year didn’t feel significantly different from your first two years of school except for different classes, even more fees to pay, and an impossibly alluring boy that sat across from you on the subway.

You don’t remember the day the boy started taking the same train, but it wasn’t hard for you to start noticing him. He always sat idly in the seat across from you, backpack in his lap, head gently bouncing to whatever tunes played through his earphones and smiling when a good song came up on shuffle. Cute. When you first spotted him stepping off the platform into the train you couldn’t help but observe his relaxed style, soft features, and an aura that radiated kindness and comfort. On chilly mornings he even had the reddest of ears, matching your own ruby-kissed cheeks; but you weren’t cold at all. It quickly became a habit of yours to throw shy glances at him when he wasn’t looking, hoping that he’d remain oblivious to you very obviously checking him out. Jokes on you, he’d noticed you eyeing him long before you ever noticed yourself doing so.

You were so intrigued by his presence that you even started to consider putting away your headphones and sparking up a conversation, but he just looked so peaceful humming along contently to an unfamiliar song that you couldn’t find it in yourself to interrupt. You found yourself simply exploring his features, your eyes flitting from his slender fingers to the soft slope of his nose, to his chestnut irises who always seemed to sparkle like– wait. His eyes. They’re looking back at me. He’s looking back at me. In a panic, you whipped your head back towards the phone settled in your lap, feeling your cheeks, nose, and ears heat up out of embarrassment. Nice one, y/n. Despite your mortification, a shy smile swept over your face.

After multiple futile attempts to drown out the sound of Bobbi’s horrendous singing blaring from the kitchen, you groaned into your pillow one last time before tiredly swinging your legs over the side of the bed and checking your phone. Your eyes widened almost comically when the screen read 7:30 am.

“I slept through my alarm?” you muttered to yourself and let it sink in, “I slept through my alarm!” You dashed towards your closet, grateful that you’d prepared an outfit the night before. You hopped towards the bathroom while simultaneously wrestling with the zipper of your skirt. After half-assedly brushing your teeth and not even bothering with your hair, you darted through the living room searching for your bookbag. “G'morning, Ms I’ve-been-hit-by-a-tornado!” you winced at your roommate’s unbearably cheerful tone, “Want some eggs?”

“I’m late, Bobs, no time!”

“Well, I have some slightly burnt bacon if you want it,” she suggested, “and a couple of Eggo waffles…”

On your way out of the door, Bobbi stuffed something in your bag and sent you out with a friendly pat on your butt. You couldn’t help but smile at her kindness and made a mental note to repay it. Just a couple minutes later you were already running to your train in hopes you wouldn’t miss it. Reducing your pace to a speed-walk, you dug through every one of your pockets to pull out your phone which read 7:53 am. “Shit, I have two minutes!”

You slammed your card into the scanning machine– not that it helped you go any faster– and scuttled towards the train who’s doors were slowly sliding shut. Sprinting your way to the doors, you managed to slip through just before they closed, and looked around. Every seat was taken, and an abundance of people stood around, leaving nearly no space for you to situate yourself. With a heavy sigh, you tried to make your way through the mess of arms and shoulders, only to find yourself stuck between even more people. You figured you shouldn’t let your chaotic morning ruin your day and some good music would lift your spirits, so you searched your bag for your earphones; to no avail. I must’ve left them in my bedroom. Another defeated sigh escaped your already chapped lips, and you just dropped your gaze to your feet, lazily tracing shapes on the ground. You were unaware of the sympathetic gaze resting on you trying working out what had you so frustrated. You were still watching your feet when a large hand interrupted your focus, holding a white earbud. You lifted your head to be met with gentle eyes and a kind smile. Pretty boy?

“You look- uh, do you- I thought-” he muttered. You struggled to contain an amused smile. He looked like a lost puppy. The boy paused and bit his lip, “you wanna share?” He looked a lot taller from where you stood in front of him, much less than arms-length away. Thoughts of him flooded your mind, and you stared blankly into his eyes. He tilted his head in confusion, and you noticed his hand still holding the earbud in front of you. As you broke out of your daze a swirl of excitement and relief set off butterflies in your chest. You smiled giddily, unconscious to how obvious your excitement was.

“I’d love to!” You blurted loudly. The deep chuckle that followed your exclamation nearly sent your brain into overdrive. The boy lifted his hand and gently settled the earbud in your ear. Your shoulders visibly relaxed as soon as an unfamiliar song played in your ear, and you nearly forgot you were on the subway. The train must’ve stopped at a station because you were suddenly jerked forward and lost your balance; only to be met with a hard chest. You looked up at the pretty boy’s face, and he seemed just as surprised you were. You wanted the ground to swallow you whole, but being in his arms was just so comfortable you didn’t really care anymore. A giggle erupted from his smiling lips. A giggle. You spent so much time thinking about how comfy the boy was that you hadn’t stepped back; you were still resting up against him. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” You took a small step back and bit the inside of your cheek in embarrassment. The young man remained frozen in his spot, and his eyes danced over your features, as if deep in thought. He offered you a boyish half-smile then proceeded to do what you had hoped he would do for months.

“My name’s Yunho, it’s nice to meet you…” he trailed off, realizing he hadn’t asked you for your name.

“Y/n.” You answered.

“Y/n…” he mumbled, “that’s a pretty name.” His half-smile turned even further upwards, forming a comforting grin that turned his eyes to half-moons.

He couldn’t be any more beautiful.

[imaginationintowords]

Folklore [song series]

cardigan

Modern Day AU! Bucky Barnes x OC!Reader; Steve Rogers x OC!Reader

Plot: Inspired by Taylor Swift’s new album Folklore. The story follows the timeline of Bucky and Elizabeth’s life throughout the years.

Word Count: 11672

Warnings: swearing, sexual innuendos, underage drinking

[a/n: sorry it took me awhile to get this part out. But to make up for it this one is a long one! Sorry if it’s a little confusing, I know there’s a lot to it, so I hope it’s easy to follow. Also if you would like to be tagged, just let me know]

Previous Part

Series Masterlist

Age: 19 Year: 2013 Location(s): Stanford, CA & Brooklyn, NY Elizabeth was spending her Friday afternoon packing up the last bit of her things that would be shipped back to Brooklyn tomorrow. She planned it so that if they were shipped tomorrow, they would arrive back home two days after she got there. Enough time for her to unpack the stuff she was taking with her on her flight in a couple of days. Elizabeth had successfully completed her first year of college at the University of Stanford. It was the best year of her life. "Hey Liz!" Her roommate, Wanda greeted her. Last summer, Elizabeth received an email from the school telling her who her dorm mate would be, along with the girl's email address. Wanda Maximoff was originally from Sokovia, but she and her family moved to Boston when she was 8 years-old. Both girls instantly clicked. That summer they were constantly in communication with each other. They both went over their excitement and fears of moving across the country. Wanda, like Elizabeth, had never been away from her family for so long, especially her twin brother. They both eased each other's minds, knowing they weren't alone in this journey. Up until her senior year Elizabeth had every intention of not being alone going into college, but in the end that wasn't the case. Steve ended up going to Berkley, and Bucky ended up at NYU. When they finally both moved into their dorm, it was like they had been life long friends. Wanda was pre-med while Elizabeth was pre-law, so they both knew that one another would take priority in their education over partying. Didn't mean they didn't go out to the occasional party, they both just knew the sacrifices their families were making for them to be at an out of state university. "Hey Wand, what's up?" Elizabeth smiled, while continuing to pack. "Are you going to the party at Loki's house?" Loki Odinson was a junior. He was a legacy student, both his parents were Stanford University alumni. They had a house that was only 15 minutes away from campus, Loki and his friends lived there during the semester, before they all fled back to Los Angeles for the summer.

Even though he was rich beyond means, he wasn't a jerk. He was friendly to everyone around him. Everyone wanted to be his friend, and he wouldn't say no to that. When Elizabeth first met him she thought he was flirting with her, and she kind of welcomed the idea of dating someone like him. But she later found out that Loki wasn't into her, or any other females for that matter. He had a long term boyfriend who was going to USC, they took turns visiting each other every weekend. Normally the weekends Loki wasn't having a party were the ones his boyfriend was visiting. Loki was also a law student, so he helped Elizabeth whenever she needed it. He hosted a weekly meeting in the library for freshman students who were law students, it was a way to help them navigate their first year and the stressors that came with it. He was like their big brother. Elizabeth owes a lot to him this year, because she wasn't sure how she would've made it alive without him. "Yeah, I was planning on it," Elizabeth said taping up the final box for the night, "Last party of the school year. Did you want to go together?" "Yes, please," Wanda said, throwing herself onto her bed. Wanda's side of the room was semi-packed up. Her family was flying in the day Elizabeth was flying out. They were renting a RV and taking a road trip across country. Wanda leaned on her elbow facing Elizabeth, and looking around the room, "Wow, you're almost done packing!" "Yup," she said, getting off of the floor and pressing the palms of her hands to her back to let out the cracks from sitting on the floor for a long period of time, "Movers are picking up my things tomorrow to ship back home. The last things I need to pack our the rest of my clothes I have left, but those are all going in my suitcase to take on the flight with me." "Can't wait til the fall where we don't have to be stuck in these dorms," Wanda stretched out on her tiny bed. Wanda and Elizabeth were planning on getting an apartment next semester at one of the student housing apartment complexes next to the campus. As much as they enjoyed the dorms, having their own privacy would be so much better. Without the constant interruptions from other people on their floor, or from having to share a bathroom with the whole floor. It will be nice to have their own space. They both took on little jobs on campus during the school year, and had planned to also work the entire summer to save up some money. Their parents had agreed to help with the rent, as long as both Wanda and Elizabeth kept up a 3.7 GPA and had jobs to pay for the necessities they would be needing. It was a great deal that they couldn't pass on. "What are you going to wear tonight?" Elizabeth asked Wanda, as she stood in front of her small closet, which now was only half filled. "My lucky red dress," Wanda smiled, "Rumor has it Loki's older brother Thor will be there tonight." Thor was Loki's older brother. He was a senior at Berkley, which was only about an hour drive away. Thor was an Environmental studies major, who was also the captain of the Cal Bears Field Hockey team. He was the complete opposite of Loki when it came to their looks, and taste in genders. He was a bit taller than Loki, had a ton more muscles, long blonde hair, and the times Elizabeth and Wanda had seen him, he had a full grown beard. He looked very intimidating at first glance, but he was actually just a giant bear. Like Loki, he just wanted to be everyone's friend, and just wanted to make sure everyone around him was having a good time. They were clearly both raised by the same parents. Elizabeth laughed out loud, "Wanda, please tell me you're not planning on trying to hook up with him tonight." "Duh, hence my lucky red dress," Wanda got out of bed and grabbed the red dress hanging from her closet, "This dress is magic, okay. It hasn't failed me yet." Wanda's red dress became her "lucky red dress" after she aced her first exam, and hooked up with a cute sophomore she had been eyeing, all on the same day. Whenever she needed luck on her side, she wore the dress. During finals she wore it the entire week, washing it in between each day, they wouldn't be getting their results back for a few more days, but Wanda knew she had done well. Elizabeth didn't bother to try and belittle the lucky dress, because even she might have worn it a few times and had gotten good results. "Plus, seeing as Thor is graduating next week it might be the last time I see him, so go big or go home," Wanda smiled proudly.

_______________________

A few hours later Wanda and Elizabeth found themselves walking up to Loki's house. At night the house might've reminded those in passing of a fraternity house, but in the daylight it was completely not. The yard was always perfectly manicured. The exterior reminded Elizabeth of a house in the Hamptons, while the interior was something straight out of a interior design magazine. It was definitely not a house made for college aged boys.

Wanda was dressed in her lucky red dress, with a pair of black booties, and a leather jacket. Her hair was in loose curls falling down her back. She kept her makeup light, aside from the dark red lip she had on.

Elizabeth was a bit more casual with some ripped at the knee black jeans, a loose grey t-shirt, and a suede burgundy moto jacket. She had straightened her curls that night, but since the weather was getting warmer she put it up in a messy ponytail. Her makeup was a very bare minimum, just some mascara and a nudish pink lipstick that practically matched her lips. She didn't come tonight for a hookup, she just came to spend time with these new friends she made before she headed back home for the summer.

As soon as they walked into the crowded house, they immediately headed to the bar area to grab something to drink.

"Do you see Thor?" Wanda asked Elizabeth as they received their drinks from the bar tender, who Loki paid for the night a lot to overlook the underage drinking.

"No," Elizabeth said speaking a little louder because of the music, "If he were here, I'm sure we would spot him right away. Man is built like a god."

"Damn right he is," Wanda smirked taking a sip from her drink.

Elizabeth let out a laugh at her friend's comment, before going back to scanning the room.

"Let's go out back," she shouted, grabbing Wanda's hand.

They weaved through the loud crowded makeshift dance floor that was the living room.

Once outside they could hear the cheering sounds of a game of beer pong going on.

"Hey girls!" They turned their heads to find Loki walking up to them.

"Hey Loki, no Scott this weekend?" Elizabeth asked, noticing he was sans his boyfriend.

"No, he had to study for finals, he's coming up next week for Thor's graduation though," he says, hugging both girls.

"Speaking of which, where is that brother of your's?" Wanda tried to nonchalantly ask.

"I see you're wearing your lucky red dress," Loki remarks ignoring her question, he had a smirk on his face, knowing exactly what Wanda was up to.

"Oh, am I, I didn't even realize it," she played along, sending him a wink.

"He'll be he-" Loki was immediately cut off by a loud booming voice making it's way through the house and towards the back, "Mention and he shall appear."

The girls peered over their shoulder to see Thor walking in with a group of guys following him. Some of them Elizabeth recognized as his friends from Berkeley.

"Brother," Thor shouts, rushing his way towards Loki, throwing his arms around his younger brother in a bone crushing hug. You'd think they haven't seen each other in months, but they actually saw each other a couple a times a week for dinner.

Elizabeth found it cute the way they were really close. She never had any siblings, she always wanted some but her parents had only wanted one kid. She knew if she had a sibling she would want the same relationship Thor and Loki had.

"Ladies," Thor greets Wanda and Elizabeth, as he finally releases his brother.

"Hi," Elizabeth waved.

"Wanda, nice dress," Thor said throwing his arm over the small red head.

"Oh this old thing," she smiled, as he lead her towards the beer pong table.

"That damn dress," Loki laughed.

"It's lucky for a reason," Elizabeth laughed shaking her head.

"Elizabeth?" Elizabeth turned around thinking she heard her name called but she shrugged it off thinking it was just Wanda from up ahead.

"Elizabeth? Betty?" At the mention of her old nickname she froze, and instantly turned back around to come into eye contact with none other Steve Rogers.

"Steve!?" She exclaimed, completely taken back by seeing him here in the flesh.

He looked a bit different. He definitely had bulked up since the last time she saw him at their high school graduation.

"Oh my gosh, it is you," he shakes his head in disbelief before hugging her.

"Woah, you're huge," she remarked wrapping her hands around him.

"Berkley has a nice student gym," he remarks as they pull apart from each other, still taking each other in.

It felt like they were both looking at strangers. Yes, they still basically looked the same, but there was something different about both of them. Something more mature. Here are two young adults who had spent their childhood and teenage years together, looking at each other in complete amazement.

They hadn't spend much of senior year together. After giving Bucky his letter, Elizabeth had went over to Steve's to apologize in person. He welcomed her with open arms, but there was still something a bit off. What happened between their little group had changed them forever. Their friendship would never be the same again. And maybe that was for the better, Elizabeth had thought at the time.

Now as they stand in front of each other taking it all in, they hadn't realized how much they had missed each other. Missed home.

Loki clears his throat behind them, signaling he was still there.

"Oh, Loki," Elizabeth glanced behind, "this is Steve, we grew up together. Steve this is Loki."

"Hey," Steve reached his hand over for Loki to take, "Thor has told many stories about you."

"God, of course he has," Loki took his hand and rolled his eyes, "I'm sure they were all at my expense."

Elizabeth caught Loki subtly checking Steve out, causing a small blush to form on her cheeks. Guess she wasn't the only one taken by his new stature.

"They weren't all bad," Steve laughed.

"Yeah, I'm sure. I'll leave you two to catch up, I have a red dress to see in action," he says before walking away.

"Red dress?" Steve asked confused.

"It's nothing," she shook her head, realizing the amount of inside jokes she's made that no longer include him.

"So how have you been?" She asks him, as she leads him to a secluded part of the backyard where the music wasn't so loud.

"Good," he smiles one of his famous bright smiles, "Just been busy. You know freshman year not as easy as I had thought it would be."

"You're telling me," she laughs, "I'm glad I encountered Loki because he's been a massive help."

"Are you guys..." he starts to imply.

"Oh no," she quickly interrupts, "Let's just say Loki would be way more into you than me."

"Ah I get the picture," he lets out a loud laugh.

They didn't realize how much time had gone by, before Loki comes running up to them.

"IT WORKED!" He yelled, slightly slurring his words, "That damn red dress is fucking magic."

"Of course it is," Elizabeth smiled, watching Loki shake his head and make his way back to the party.

"What is this red dress?"

"My roommate Wanda, she has this red dress, and it's sorta became a lucky red dress throughout the year. It's magical," she says, but then something comes over herself, causing her to correct herself.

"It's nothing. It's just silliness. I'm sure it's not really magic," she shakes her head, and the idea of still believing in magic.

"Hey, don't do that," he places his hand softly on top of hers that was laid in between them on the bench they were sat at, "If you say it's magic, I believe it. There's nothing wrong with having a little magic in your life. Lord knows I believe, reason I won't use any other pencil when taking my final."

"Ahh Steve Rogers has a lucky pencil?" She playfully mocks.

"Steve Rogers has more than one lucky pencil," he laughs, "I have one for my written finals, and one I use for my drawings."

"Ah your drawings," she beamed, "They were always my favorite. I was so happy for you when I heard you decided to pursue something that allows you to still put your powers into use."

"My powers?" He asked, with a smile on his face.

"Yeah, your drawings were always so powerful," She beamed at him, "You knew how to bring whatever you were drawing to life. Your Brooklyn bridge drawing is still hands down one of my favorites."

"And between us," she lowers her voice, causing both of them to move their heads closer to each other, "It's my lucky totem."

"What? You still have it?" He quietly asked in disbelief.

The drawing was years old. He had drawn it one day during homeroom when they were 14, he didn't like how it came out but Elizabeth wouldn't let him toss it. She ended up taking it from him, to make sure he didn't throw it away. She had told him that one day he's going to want to look back on it and see how far he's come, even though she was positive he couldn't possibly get any better than he already was.

"I always keep it folded up in my pocket when I take a test," she confesses, "Have been since that day four years ago. It's my lucky drawing."

Steve stared at Elizabeth in awe. He didn't know what to say, he had just assumed she had lost it. But hearing that it was her lucky charm made his heartbeat quicken. For the first time in his life he wasn't seeing little innocent Betty, he was seeing Elizabeth. A beautiful, confident, mature young woman. She really blossomed here in college. He had never seen her so happy, so at peace. She was absolutely glowing.

He could feel his hands getting clammy, and his throat getting dry. He caught himself glance down at her lips and then back at her eyes. He tried to swallow the lump down his throat.

"Liz!" He heard someone yell in the background, causing both of them to snap out of their gaze.

They looked over to find Loki, once again. Slightly more drunk than last time.

"She's fucking my brother!" He exclaims in horror, "In my fucking room!"

Elizabeth laughs quietly and shakes her head.

"I better go make sure Loki doesn't drink himself from the horror of it all," she tells Steve, as they both get up.

"Wouldn't want that happening," he says, feeling his cheeks heat up.

"No, I'm going to need him next year," she smiles before walking away.

Elizabeth stopped and turned around, "Hey Steve, when are you flying back home?"

"Sunday morning at 8am, you?"

"Same. Where you flying from?"

"San Francisco International," he tells her.

"Well look at that, we're on the same flight home. Guess I'll see you Sunday morning," she smiled waving good bye.

"See you Sunday," he waved back, a big grin on his face.

After she was gone, Steve was left alone to his thoughts. His mind was racing with so many different thoughts. Was he really thinking about kissing Elizabeth? Bucky's Elizabeth. I mean she technically wasn't Bucky's Elizabeth anymore, but still as Bucky's best friend he shouldn't be having those thoughts of kissing his ex-girlfriend and first love. Hell Bucky was still in love with Elizabeth.

After Bucky had received that letter from Elizabeth, it kind of gave him hope for the future. He had told Steve that he wasn't going to give up on them getting back together. Steve was finding himself hoping that maybe Bucky had moved on from that idea. Maybe being at college has matured him the way it did for him and Elizabeth.

He glanced back at the house to catch Elizabeth pulling a shot away from a drunk Loki, as she tried to make sure he wouldn't cause any harm to himself.

Bucky was an idiot for screwing that up, he found himself thinking.

___________________

Elizabeth spent Saturday finishing up any last minute packing, before the movers arrived to pick up what was being shipped back. She also spent the afternoon hearing all about Wanda's wild night with Thor. Apparently Thor had such a great time he even invited her to his graduation, and she gladly accepted. Elizabeth smiled as her friend continued to talk about Thor, she noticed the way Wanda's eyes lit up. Her friend was falling in love and she didn't even notice.

She and Wanda had a final dinner that night. They had planned on meeting up later in the summer, to discuss apartment details, and see where each other grew up from.

Elizabeth was finding herself wishing for Sundays approach. Not because she was ready to go home, but she wanted to talk more with Steve. When Wanda asked what happened between them Saturday night, Elizabeth told her the truth. Nothing happened. It was simply just two old friends catching up. Wanda didn't believe her, but dropped the subject.

Steve really had grown up since last year. And not just his physical attributes. Elizabeth found herself loving hearing Steve talk all about what was going on with school. And especially when he talked about architecture. He even pointed out things that he would do to make Loki's house a lot nicer. She had never seen Steve so animated before. It really had her thinking if she even truly knew Steve.

They had spent most of their whole lives together, but when she thought back on it, it was never really just them two. It was always her, Bucky, and Steve. And when Bucky wasn't around it was in student council with other classmates around. She and Steve probably hadn't spent time together since they were children. Last night was the first time where they actually had a long conversation, with just them two. A real conversation about their dreams, and not the silly kind you have when you're seven, but the kind where you're actually making them come true.

It also had her thinking back to the moment when she revealed about keeping Steve's drawing of the Brooklyn bridge. It was such an intimate moment when she thinks back to it. While in the moment she was so drawn to him, like a magnet pulling them towards each other. Elizabeth would be lying if she said she didn't find Steve attractive, because anyone with eyes could see that. And she definitely would be lying if she said she hadn't wanted to kiss him.

Because Elizabeth Sanchez really wanted to kiss Steve Rogers last night.

What a mess that would've made. Kissing her ex-boyfriend's best friend. Her former best friend.

But then again, she and Bucky weren't together. They hadn't even talked since she left, and that conversation was a brief one. Bucky had stopped by to say bye and to let Elizabeth know he really appreciated the letter he sent her earlier in the year, and Elizabeth just explained she didn't want any negative feelings following her to college. She wished him well, and gave him a kiss on the cheek before she left.

Wanda walked into their room cutting Elizabeth's thoughts short.

"Ready?" Wanda asked, "Loki is waiting for us downstairs."

"Yup, let's go," Elizabeth said, she grabbed her carry on bag, one suitcase, while Wanda helped with the other one.

"Here we are," Loki says pulling in front of the drop off area at the airport.

"Thanks for the ride and everything this year," Elizabeth leaned over to give Loki a hug over the center console.

"Anytime kid, just make sure you come back to me," he winked, before getting out of the car to grab Elizabeth's bags from the trunk.

Elizabeth and Wanda hugged each other tightly once out of the car.

"It's not an official goodbye, we'll see each other sooner than we think," Elizabeth said into Wanda's hair.

"I know, I just got so used to having you around, what if I do something stupid?"

"I mean lets be real, you would do something stupid whether I'm there or not," she laughed.

"That's true," Wanda laughed along, pulling away from Elizabeth, "see you in a few weeks."

Elizabeth grabbed her things from Loki, and gave the group one final hug, "Love you guys," she said before walking away.

She turned around and gave them one final wave as they drove off.

Elizabeth checked in her bags and headed for her terminal.

Walking up to where her gate was she noticed a familiar blonde head waiting patiently.

"Hey stranger," she walked up to him.

"Hey," he smiled brightly, causing butterflies to flutter in Elizabeth's stomach.

She tried her hardest to ignore the feeling.

"I got you a coffee, it's still hot, I just got here not too long ago," Steve rambled, handing her a Starbucks cup.

"Ah you're a lifesaver, thank you," she smiled sitting down next to Steve, and taking a sip of her coffee.

Just how I like it, she thought.

"Ready to go back home?" He asked her.

"Yes, as much as I loved being here, I miss my bed," she laughed.

"Right," he agreed, "I can't wait to just crash for a few hours."

"I'm sure your mom is getting it all set up for you as we speak."

"Oh, yeah. She just texted me saying she's washing it as we speak," he laughed.

"How is your mom doing?"

"Good. She and dad actually just spent a month traveling around Europe," he tells her, "they finally had an 'empty nest' to do what they've always wanted to do."

"That sounds nice," Elizabeth smiles at the thought, "I hope to have that one day."

"Have you talked to Bucky lately?" Steve asked, taking not only Elizabeth by surprise but himself as well. He had no idea why he even asked that.

"Uh, no, not since I left last summer," she awkwardly said, scratching the back of her neck.

"Have you?" She asked.

Elizabeth didn't know why she asked Steve that question back. Part of her was curious, the other part was saving him from the embarrassment.

"Uh, yeah. Last night," he copied Elizabeth and rubbed the back of his head, "I was reminding him what time my plane landed. He's picking my up from the airport."

"He's been back home for a week now. Perks of going to school in New York."

"Yeah, I bet. No stress about if you're stuff will get lost on it's journey back," she joked, trying to break the awkward tension.

"So Thor told me he invited Wanda to his graduation," Steve changes the subject.

"Yeah! Her parents are flying in the next day, so she's probably going to go," she tell him, "How did you and Thor become friends?"

Elizabeth had been curious how that friendship started since Thor and Steve are not exactly on the same wavelength.

"Met him at the student gym," Steve laughs, "He saw me struggling and offered to help train me."

"As that's cute," she poked his bicep.

"Oh yeah, totally not embarrassing at all," he laughed along, "I was like a newborn deer learning how to walk."

"Well it paid off," she playfully nudged him, causing him to hide the blush forming on his cheeks.

Steve and Elizabeth continued to chat for the next hour, until it was time to board the plane. On the plane they wen their separate ways, they weren't so lucky to be seated close to one another.

Once they landed it was nearly five o'clock at night. They walked off the plane separately as well, once again like strangers.

Elizabeth would be lying if she said she wasn't rushing off in hopes of not running into Bucky. She knew she wouldn't be able to avoid him, she just dind't want to see him right here, right now.

She quickly made her way to baggage claim, where she was greeted by a familiar pair of eyes.

"Dad," she smiled throwing her arms around his neck.

"Elizabeth," he hugged his child tightly, "Welcome home sweetie,"

"Happy to be back," she smiled, pulling away. She caught his eye looking at something or someone behind her.

"Woah, is that Steve Rogers?" He asked.

She turned around to see Steve walking towards them, with is own carry on bags in hand.

"Steve," her father greeted him with his hand stood out.

"Mr. Sanchez, hi," Steve smiled shaking the older gentleman's hand.

"College treated you well," her father remarked.

"Dad," Elizabeth hissed, feeling her cheeks heat up at his comment.

"What? It's just an observation. I"m sure I'm not the only one who noticed," he gestured over to where two young girls are ogling Steve and giggling behind their hands.

"Thanks Mr. Sanchez," Steve blushed.

"Do you need a ride home?" Her dad offered.

"No, sir. Thank-you though," Steve politely declines, "Bucky is picking me up."

"Well don't be a stranger," her father waves goodbye as he heads to the conveyor belt to grab Elizabeth's bags.

"Bye," Elizabeth awkwardly waves.

"Wait," Steve stops her, "Maybe we can meet up some time this summer before we all head back to school."

"We as in you and me. Or as in you, me, and James?" She curiously asks.

"Of course, you, me and Bucky," he lies, "if that's alright with you. Not sure how things are still with you both."

"Things are you know, weird, but sure why not," she shrugged, "text me when and where."

They said their final goodbyes before parting ways.

Of course I meant with Bucky, right? He thought.

"Steven Grant Rogers?" He heard someone yell.

"Buck," he smiled, happy to see his best friend.

"Damn man, you got huge since I last saw you over the holidays," Bucky commented embracing Steve in a hug.

"It's not really much," he tried to brush it off.

"Dude you look like you ate the old you," he laughed.

"You just missed Liz," Steve said as he and Bucky walked to his car.

"Liz?" Bucky asked confused.

"Elizabeth. Sorry everyone calls her Liz at school," Steve says as he stops outside of Bucky's parked car.

"You guys hung out over there?" Bucky asks opening the trunk of his car.

"Just once," he says placing his suitcases in the trunk, "Remember that guy Thor I was telling you about?"

"Yeah, your personnel trainer," Bucky recalls walking over to the driver side, as Steve got in the passenger side.

Something in the passenger door pocket catches his eye.

"Well turns out Elizabeth is friends with his brother," Steve cautiously tells Bucky, "Ran into her at his party on Friday and we also were not he same flight back."

"Is she dating the guy?" Bucky begrudgingly asks, as he pulls away from he airport.

"Thor's brother? No," Steve says, unsure if he should even be telling Bucky about Elizabeth's new life, "I don't think she's dating anyone, she went to the party with her roommate."

"Cool," Bucky says pretending as if he isn't happy to hear that.

After a few moments of silence Steve decided to bring up what he saw, "So when did you start wearing red thongs?" He asked, gently pulling out the under by the tips of his fingers.

"Uh, you know college, all about experimenting," Bucky lied.

"Are you still planning on getting back with Elizabeth?" Steve ignored Bucky's answer.

"Steve, I don't need another lecture from you," Bucky rolled his eyes.

"I'm just asking, you're clearly not lonely."

"I'm single, so is Elizabeth," Bucky says, "If she were doing what I was it'd be perfectly fine."

"Buck, all I was doing was asking a question because if you are planning on getting back together with Elizabeth, you'll need to get rid of any incriminating evidence."

"Yes, okay. I plan on at least trying to see if Elizabeth would be willing to give it another try," he confesses.

"How is she?" Bucky asks.

"Happy," Steve answers truthfully, "I don't think I've ever seen her happier. College really did her well."

Bucky glanced over at Steve, noticing the way his best friend said the last part. He chose to ignore it.

The remainder of the car ride was spent on them catching up.

_____________________

Elizabeth spent the first couple of days unpacking her things and getting back into the rhythm of being home. She had to admit to herself that she truly did miss being home, her parents were even more thrilled. An empty home was not something they liked. They were even talking about getting a pet.

As she was putting away her freshly washed clothes, her phone vibrated. She had assumed it was Wanda freaking out over what to wear to Thor's graduation tomorrow night. She was surprised to see Steve's name across her screen.

It was a text:

Hey, if you're not busy tonight my parents are having a small BBQ. It's a last minute thing, so if you're free you're more than welcome to join. It starts at 6 :) She took a second to think it through. She knew if she went, there was no doubt that Bucky would be there. She had managed not to run into him so far, but she knew it wouldn't last forever. They did still live across the street from each other. So she texted back:

Hey Steve. I'm totally free. I'll be there :D

_____________________

Elizabeth took her time getting ready. As the time got closer, the more nervous she got.

Before she left she decided to call Wanda.

"I'm so nervous," she tells her friend.

"Take a shot," Wanda answered quickly.

"Dude, I"m home. My parents are definitely not going to let me 'take a shot'. Did you forget we are legally not supposed to," Elizabeth rolled her eyes looking around for her purse.

"Well are you wearing something hot, to show that idiot what he's missing."

"The last thing I want is to look 'hot'," Elizabeth stressed, "If anything I want to look as un hot as possible. I don't want him or anyone else here looking at me like that."

"Except for Steve," Wanda smirked over the phone.

"Yeah, except for Ste-" Elizabeth stopped, she was taken by surprise at what Wanda said and her own response, "No. Wait. What?"

"Oh come on Liz. I may have been slightly preoccupied by Thor that night, but Steve was definitely giving you the eyes," Wanda says, "And you were as well."

"The eyes?"

"Yeah, heart eyes," Wanda says as if it's the most obvious thing in the world, "The same way I look at Thor. Or the way Scott and Loki look at each other."

"Wanda, Steve and I weren't looking at each other with heart eyes," Elizabeth denied, "He's one of my longest, closest friends. Plus he's practically Bucky's brother."

"So you thought about it?" Wanda teased.

"I called you to ease my nerves, not make them worse," Elizabeth groaned.

"Sorry," Wanda sincerely apologized, realizing she was being no help to her best friend, "Liz, everything is going to be fine tonight. If anything, all you need to do is be polite to James. Hell, you don't even need to talk to him.

"He's going to want to talk."

"Then keep it cordial, platonic," Wanda reassured her, "You don't have to tell him anything you don't want to. Your life is yours. Not his."

"In the words of Cristina Yang, 'You're the sun. Not him,'" Wanda said quoting one of their favorite shows.

"I'm the sun," Elizabeth repeated, feeling the weight slipping of her shoulders, "Thanks, Wan. I'll call you afterwards."

"Unless you and Steve are getting it on, then you can call me tomorrow."

"Bye," Elizabeth hung up the phone.

____________________

Elizabeth decided to walk the three blocks to the Rogers' household. It was a nice night, and she missed being able to walk everywhere. Something she definitely took for granted once she moved to the west coast.

When she got in front to the Rogers' house, she took one final inhale and exhale, gripping the platter of brownies her mom made as a gift. She the proceeded to walk to the side door, leading to the backyard where everyone was.

She didn't know why she was feeling so nervous. The Rogers weren't strangers. She practically grew up in this house. She knew not just Steve's parents, but his whole family, and they knew her. This would be just like visiting her own family, yet it wasn't. She didn't even really talk to Steve for almost a year.

As soon as she entered the backyard, she couldn't help but feel slightly out of place. She thought she could quickly turn back, no one had even noticed her arrival.

"Oh my gosh," she heard a woman's voice from across the yard, "Is that Elizabeth Sanchez?"

Elizabeth looked over to see Steve's mom, Sarah, rushing over with open arms. She was always so motherly. Elizabeth, welcomed her hug, hugging her back with one hand while the other one still clutched the container of brownies.

"Look at you," Sarah Rogers exclaimed, pulling away but keeping a grasp on Elizabeth's arms, taking her in, "College made such a fine young lady out of you."

Elizabeth couldn't help but to blush, she didn't think she looked that much different. If anything she had gained a few more pounds, and her hair was a bit of a mess, due to the New York humidity.

"Joseph, it's Elizabeth," she called out to her husband who was at the grill with one of Steve's uncles.

"My oh my, well isn't it little Elizabeth Sanchez, all grown up," he proudly smiled, hugging her.

Steve's parents were always so kind to her, like her parents they only had one child. She got the feeling that they saw her as another child, seeing as they were constantly feeding her throughout her youth.

"Your parents didn't come with you?" Joseph asked.

"No, they couldn't make it. They were driving up north to pick up my Grandma. But my mom did send these as an apology," Elizabeth held out the brownies.

"The famous Sanchez brownies," Sarah grabs the container, "Come on in sweetie, make yourself at home."

"Steve, Elizabeth is here," his mother calls into the yard.

Elizabeth looks in the direction his mother yelled into, and spotted Steve, who had a big smile on his face. He wasn't alone, he was with a few people they had went to high school with, and of course in the group was Bucky.

Elizabeth made her way to them all.

"You made it," Steve's smile got bigger, as he went to hug her.

"I told you I would," she said into his shoulder.

"Yeah, well," he pointedly said.

Steve didn't think Elizabeth would really come. He figured since she knew Bucky would be there, she would decide last minute to not go. He was very happy that she decided to not let that stop her. He couldn't help but watch her and she went around the group greeting the familiar faces. Then he felt someone staring at him, and turned to see Bucky watching him watch her.

Steve felt embarrassed when he caught the eyes of Bucky's looking right at him. He quickly played it off.

"Say hi," Steve mouthed to him.

Bucky hesitated for a second glancing back between Steve and Elizabeth. He felt sick. He's been waiting for this moment for awhile, and now all he wanted to do was to run away.

She looked different, the same but different. Steve was right, she seemed genuinely happy. College had brought this new aura to her, she was glowing. Bucky instantly felt guilty for all the pain he's caused her.

He felt a soft nudge to his right side, Steve pointed his head towards the girl that was standing in front of him.

"Uh hi," Bucky nervously said.

"Hi Bucky," she politely smiled.

She called him Bucky. She hadn't called him that since before senior year happened. Steve had mentioned that she had only called him James. He immediately relaxed.

"How have you been?" Elizabeth asked him.

"Good, I've been good," he stumbled over his words, "Yourself?"

"I've been really good," she smiled. This wasn't as bad as Elizabeth thought it's old be.

Before Bucky could respond, they heard a scream. They both turned to see an older Rebecca Barnes running towards them.

Rebecca was now 15 years-old. She came along way from being Bucky's little sister. Elizabeth had always seen Rebecca as the little sister she always wanted. When she and Bucky were dating she would often include Rebecca on their outings. She never wanted Rebecca to feel left out simply because she was the youngest.

After she and Bucky broke up, Elizabeth stopped seeing Rebecca as well. It was just too hard for her. Plus, it took her months to forgive Bucky.

"Rebecca," she laughed, as the young girl threw her arms around the older one.

"You look so good," Rebecca said, pulling away with a giant smile on her face. She no longer had braces, Elizabeth noted.

"Aw thanks, I see those braces finally came off."

"Yeah, just two weeks ago," she smiled even brighter.

Bucky couldn't help but watch the two girls catch up with smiles on their faces.

After they had broken up senior year Rebecca kept asking Bucky went to school in Brooklyn, Rebecca went to a science based school in Queens. She never heard the rumors, but Rebecca was smart and intuitive. When Natasha started coming around more, she put two and two together. She never told Bucky she knew the truth, she figured he was trying to protect her.

"How's California?" Rebecca asked, causing Bucky to tune back into their conversation.

"Amazing," Elizabeth smiled, "Stanford is everything I thought it would be and more. The people there are great as well."

"Any lucky person?"

Leave it to Rebecca to be nosey, Bucky thought.

"Nah," Elizabeth shook her head, "School has been my top priority. Being a pre-law major is a lot of work."

Elizabeth and Rebecca spent some time catching up before Rebecca left to go meet up with some friends in Queens.

"Do you want a drink?" Bucky asks her, holding up an unopened can of soda.

"Thank-you," she grabbed it. She took a look around to see that their group had left and were now mingling with other guests.

It was just her and Bucky in the corner of the yard.

"So," he said shifting on his feet.

"So," she opened the can of soda, causing a loud carbonation sound breaking the awkward silence.

"This is awkward," he nervously laughed.

"Just a little," she agreed.

"Listen-"

"It's all water under the bridge Bucky," Elizabeth interrupted him, "We aren't those people anymore. We're adults now. In college. I meant it when I wrote you that I wanted to move on from all of that. No hard feelings. Think we can do that without mentioning the past?"

"Yeah, I think we're could," he smiled.

"Good," she smiled back, and this time it wasn't a forced one.

"You really do look good," he complimented her, carefully watching her reaction.

"Thank-you," she blushed, looking down at her feet, "So do you. I see you've been following Steve's footsteps about going to the gym."

"Yeah," he blushed, scratching the back of his neck, "It's nothing compared to Steve's. The punk looks like he ate the old Steve. That Thor guy must be one hell of a trainer."

"Oh Thor, he's practically built like a God," Elizabeth giggles, "If you think Steve is big, Thor is a fucking planet."

Bucky laughed along with her.

"So how's school going?" Elizabeth asked him.

"Good actually," Bucky smiled, "I'm going to be taking some summer courses to get a jump start for next year."

"Perks of being so close to campus," she smiled, "Did you have good roommate?"

"Yeah, his name is Sam, he's also in the same Music Technology program as me," Bucky explained, "He's going to be visiting during summer, so hopefully you get a chance to meet him."

Everything was going smoothly throughout the night. Elizabeth found herself having a really great time. She even started to find herself missing Bucky while catching up with him.

She shook off the feeling. It had to be a natural way to feel, she and Bucky had known each other their whole lives, and this was their first time actually talking in over a year.

When the party was starting to dwindle down, Elizabeth felt it was the right time to go home.

"I'm going to get going," she said to Steve, going to hug him goodbye.

"Thanks for coming," he smiled into the hug, "Did you drive here?"

"No, I walked," she informs him, "One thing about the west coast, most things aren't in walking distance."

"Right, I suggested walking somewhere once to my roommate, and he looked at me like I was crazy," Steve laughed.

"Will you be alright walking on your own?" He asked.

"I've done it many times before," she said.

"Hey man, I'm gonna take off," Bucky walks over interrupting their conversation.

"Perfect, Liz was just leaving as well, maybe you can give her a ride," Steve suggested.

"Oh, I actually walked here," Bucky tells him.

"Even better, so did she," Steve smiled proudly.

"You okay with that?" Bucky turns to Elizabeth. He wanted to make sure he wasn't overstepping any invisible boundaries.

"Yeah, I mean we both are heading to practically the same location," she shrugs her shoulders.

Both of them finished saying their goodbyes and began their walk back home. This was the first time they've been alone in way over a year. No party or people to come join in on the conversations. Just Elizabeth and Bucky.

Elizabeth glanced up at the sky, as they walked. Brooklyn was abnormally quiet that night. I was so peaceful, she couldn't help but take it all in.

"I've missed Brooklyn," she says just above a whisper as to not disturb the peacefulness of the night.

"It's missed you," Bucky confesses looking right at her.

Elizabeth was taken back by his response, she glanced to her left to see Bucky staring right at her. She stopped walking. She couldn't pinpoint what she was feeling in that moment.

Bucky panicked, "Sorry, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable," he apologized.

Elizabeth remained quiet. Trying to process it all. Whatever move she mad will have some sort of lasting affect on both of them.

"If you want to walk ahead I understand," he says, "I'll wait here for five minutes before I begin walking again."

Elizabeth stared into those sad blue eyes. The eyes that always found their way back to her. Maybe this time everything would be different, she thought.

"Elizabeth," Bucky quietly calls, carefully placing his hand on her's. She snapped out of her thoughts, and instantly laced her fingers through his.

"It's all good," she smiled giving his hand a reassuring squeeze, "Let's continue walking."

Bucky couldn't fight the smile growing on his face, as they continued to walk hand in hand.

Once they had reached Elizabeth's house, they stopped outside of the the gated yard.

"So," Bucky said as they stood outside the gate, still holding hands.

"So," Elizabeth smiled, subtly biting her lower lip, "Do you want to come inside for a bit? My parents won't be back until tomorrow morning."

Elizabeth had no idea what came over her to invite Bucky inside. She knew it wasn't a harmless invitation. They both knew what would happen once that front door closed.

"God, I'm going to regret this later," Bucky mumbled, causing Elizabeth to be confused.

"As much as I would love to go inside," he carefully began, "and trust me Elizabeth, there's nothing I would love more. I just have to say no."

"Oh," she said feeling utterly rejected. She wasn't expecting that response.

"Please don't take it as a rejection," he quickly said, grabbing her other hand, "I really want to give us another try. And in order for that to work, I think it's best if we don't rush into it. Because we both know once that door closes, taking our time will go right out the window. And I don't want to screw this up, again.

"I love you, Elizabeth. I never stopped. So please, please know I want to prove to you how much I love you by taking our time. Getting to re-know these new versions of ourselves."

Elizabeth was shocked. Not in a bad way. Bucky has really grown up this past year. Everything he was saying made sense. Yet she still couldn't help but feel sort of disappointed.

"Okay," she smiled, "You're right let's take this slow. Start fresh."

"Thank-you for understanding," he smiled, proud of himself for having some willpower, "Can I take you out tomorrow night?"

"Yes, I would like that."

"Does seven work for you?"

"Seven is good," she nodded her head.

"Perfect, I'll see you at seven," he kissed her cheek before dropping her hands and walking across the street to his own house.

Elizabeth went inside and headed to her own bedroom. She flopped down onto her bed, staring up at the ceiling. She pulled out red phone and immediately called Wanda, placing the phone on speaker and putting it next to her head on her pillow.

"You're not getting laid," Wanda greeted.

"Hey, I tried," Wanda defended.

"Wait, really?" Wanda sounded surprised, "You tried having sex with Steve?"

"Not with Steve," she hesitated for a second.

"Please don't tell me," Wanda groaned already knowing who she was talking about.

Elizabeth remained silent.

"Did you try to have sex with James?" Wanda asked needing verbal confirmation.

"Yes," Elizabeth admitted, "Everything went great at Steve's. Bucky and I spent most the night catching up and just talking. It made me realize how much I missed him. Also wan't bad that he somehow got better in the last year. We then walked home together, and when we got to my house, I invited him inside."

"Look at you taking initiative!" Wanda cheered.

"Yeah, well I didn't have the lucky red dress to take it all the way."

"What happened?"

"He turned me down," Elizabeth confessed.

"What?" Wanda yelled, "He turned you down!"

"He actually had a good reasoning for turning me down."

"Which was?"

"He wants to take this slow," Elizabeth tells her, "He said he wants us to get reacquainted with each other. Get to know who we are now, as oppose to who we were. He doesn't want to ruin it."

"I mean it does make sense."

"He also might've said he still loves me," Elizabeth quietly said the last part.

"He still loves you?" Wanda gasped.

"Yeah."

"How do you feel about that?" Wanda curiously asks.

"Honestly," Elizabeth pauses, trying to get her thoughts under control, "It made me happy to hear."

"Do you still love him?"

"Yes?" Elizabeth said unsure, "Based on the way I felt tonight? Yes I still do."

"Based on before tonight?" Elizabeth questioned.

"I always kept Bucky in the farthest corner of my mind. You know," she says, "He had hurt me so bad that after I forgives him, I just kind of wanted to move on from it all.

"I didn't want to take that kind of energy with me to Stanford. But once I was back, here in Brooklyn, all these feelings kept creeping back. And I don't know if it's cause I'm back home, and it's this familiar type of love. Bucky was always my comfort. He played such a big part of my life. The good, and the bad. How does one forget all that?"

"Is it a bad thing to say that I knew he'd come back to me?" Elizabeth expresses.

There was a pause on the other side of the phone.

"No," Wanda finally spoke, "What you two had isn't something that can be easily erased. But..."

"But?"

"I know you've said you've forgive him for cheating on you," Wanda says, "and I do believe that you have. But do yo think you can actually put that behind you once everything starts back up again. Will you be able to look at him as your partner and not second guess whatever he tells you.

"And I don't meat to be harsh here, but I also think it's important to be realistic about it all. Because when summer ends you'll be back here, at Stanford. While Bucky stays there."

Elizabeth takes a moment to think through everything Wanda has said. She knows what she's saying isn't without reasons. Elizabeth had told Wanda everything that had happened, so of course she was only looking out for Elizabeth.

But the Bucky Elizabeth saw tonight was definitely not the Bucky she had left last fall. And it might be naive of her to think, but she knew him. She knew he wasn't a bad person. Even good people make mistakes. She knew she should have to do this for herself, no matter how many people thought it was a bad idea.

"I don't want him to haunt all of my 'what ifs'," she spoke, "This is something that I have to give another shot. Even after everything he's put me through, I do still love him Wanda. I can't just give up this chance at love."

"Like I said before, this is your life," Wanda says, "You gotta do what's best for you and only you know what that is. And you know I will always be here for you. You're stuck with me for life."

Elizabeth had never felt more relieved, she knew she didn't need Wanda's blessing, but to have it was nice.

___________________

Over the next month, Elizabeth and Bucky had been on many dates. This whole getting to know each other again was going really well. They had also both agreed not to be exclusive. It didn't make sense to rush into putting a label on it.

After the first two weeks they both started to get busy. Bucky was taking three fast track classes during the summer, so he was busty during the week, going from school then back home.

Elizabeth had gotten a summer job at a dental office. She was hired to help with scheduling appointments, and filing paperwork. The job paid more than any usual summer job an almost 19 year-old with hardly no experience could get. She had previously tutored for the doctor who owned it kids. So when she heard Elizabeth was looking for a job, she offered it to her on the spot.

She couldn't complain, yes some days were longer than others, but the money was good and she had the weekends off, which now were the only times she and Bucky were able to see each other.

It was another long day of work, and Elizabeth had spent the day dealing with unruly patients. All she wanted to do was take a bath, have pizza, and crash. But she then remembered she and Bucky had a date planned for that evening. She glanced at the clock on the wall. He would be here in an hour.

As much as she wanted to go out, she really didn't have the energy to. Plush, she didn't really want to see anyone.

She pressed the call icon next to Bucky's name on her phone.

"Hey Liz," he greeted. Bucky and everyone else back home had gotten into the habit of calling her by her new 'grown-up' nickname.

"Please don't be upset," she says.

"Why? What's wrong?"

"Is it alright if we reschedule tonight's date," she says, "I just got home from work and I had a long day of dealing with rude people."

"Yeah of course," he tells her, he could hear just how exhausted she was, "Do you want me to bring over some food? We could could always have a night in."

"Thanks Buck, but I really just want to be along for the night," she tells him as she made her way into her room, "Is that okay?"

"Of course," he assured her, "I completely understand. I think Steve has the night off anyways, so think I'll head to his place for the night. Do you want to grab some lunch tomorrow during your lunch break?"

"That sounds perfect," she smiled, "Thanks again Buck."

"No worries. Have a good night."

"You too, tell Steve I said hi," she hung up the phone.

As she went to go put her bag down on her desk, her phone began to ring.

"Hey Wanda," she tiredly greeted her friend.

"Hey, everything okay?" Wanda asked, immediately sensing Elizabeth's mood.

"Just a long day, what's up?" She yawned.

"Just calling to ask you something."

"What's that?"

"You can say no first of all," Wanda clarified, "So I just got off of the phone with Thor and i was telling him about how I will be visiting you next week or the 4th of July, and well he kind of asked if he can come to New York as well."

"Oh," Elizabeth said, not expecting to hear that, "Are you asking for my permission, if your boyfriend can come?"

"Not my boyfriend, yet" Wanda sighs, "But yes. I guess he was also talking to Steve about visiting. He won't need to stay at your place either."

"Wanda, you don't have to ask me," Elizabeth assures her, "If Thor wants to come visit, he's more than welcomed to. I don't mind at all. Plus it'll be nice to see him."

"Oh, thank god," Wanda sighed in relief, "I just didn't want you to think that I don't want to spend time with you, because I do. I just don't want to be one of those girls that sneakily brings her boyfriend on a girl's trip. But don't worry, Thor is going to be doing his own thing with Steve. I am all your's for the weekend.

"Wanda it's okay. I know you aren't one of those girls. If you do become one of them, I'll make sure to save you."

"You're the best Liz," Wanda smiled, "Wait don't you have a date with Bucky tonight?"

"Not anymore, I cancelled," she says, "Too tired, Just want food and sleep."

"Ahh well, I'll let you go, enjoy your food and sleep, and I'll see you next week."

Elizabeth hung up the phone and decided to take advantage of the quiet house and take a bath before her parents got home from work.

As she entered her room, wearing a robe and her hair up in a towel, her phone began to ring.

"So much for a quiet time," she sighed, picking up the phone.

"Hey Steve what's up?"

"Sorry to bother you, I know you've had along day at work, but Bucky just bailed on me, something to do with Rebecca," he tells her, "And I'm outside of his house with a large pizza, and I don't want it to go to waste."

The other line went dead, Steve looked down at his phone to see that Elizabeth had hung up the phone. He hesitated for a second, thinking he should've just went home. As he was about to start his car up again, he heard his name being called. He looked across the street to find Elizabeth standing in her front door, in nothing but a robe.

"It better be a pepperoni pizza," she called out.

He laughed, and got out of his car with the large pizza in hand, "Only the best kind."

She moved out of the way to let him into the house, and lead him into the living room.

"Okay I'm going to head upstairs and put some clothes on," she says, "Make yourself at home, you know where everything is at."

"Sorry again about the drop in," Steve apologized once Elizabeth came back down with a fresh pair of clothes and hair brushed through.

"No worries, sorry Bucky bailed," she said sitting down next to Steve on the couch, "But his loss, is my pizza gain."

They spent the next hour devouring the pizza and watching a movie.

"So I hear Thor is visiting next week," she says, as she places her empty plate inside the empty pizza box, before making herself comfortable on the couch.

"Yeah, actually I wanted to talk to you about that," Steve says adjusting himself to face Elizabeth to his right, "Thor's parents have a house in the Hampton's, and they said we could use it for the 4th of July weekend. Not sure if you and Wanda already had plans, but you guys are more than welcome to join us."

"That sounds like a lot of fun. I'm sure Wanda wouldn't mind either," she smiled, "Plus I have never been to the Hamptons."

"Then it's settled, weekend at the Hamptons," Steve smiled, "I believe Loki and Scott will be joining us as well. Bucky is also inviting his roommate Sam, and I was planning on inviting some of the kids we went to school with."

"Sounds like a party."

____________________

Elizabeth and Wanda drove up to East Hampton together. The boys drove up the night before to get everything set up.

"So how are things between you and Bucky?" Wanda asked lowering down the volume.

"Things have been okay," Elizabeth sighed, as she kept her eyes ahead as she drove.

"Just okay?" Wanda asked, "A month ago you couldn't stop talking about him. What changed?"

"We haven't had much time together the last week or so," Elizabeth says, "and he's been cancelling a lot on me this past week."

"Did you say he was taking summer courses?"

"Yeah," Elizabeth nodded.

"Then he's probably just busy," Wanda reassures her, "Now, look at it this way. You'll have four days to catch up. Plus, you'll have the lucky red dress."

"We're taking it slow, remember?"

"It's been a month and a half. Have you guys even kissed?" Wanda playfully joked.

"He wants to take it slow," Elizabeth quietly repeated.

"Wait!" Wanda yelled startling Elizabeth.

"Geez Wan, I'm driving!"

"You guys haven't even kissed yet!"

"He wants to take it slow!" Elizabeth yelled back.

"There's slow and then there's being a fucking nun. Is he a nun?"

"I don't know what you want me to say. It's not for lack of trying," Elizabeth stressed, "I've tried. Believe me, I've tried."

Wanda remained quiet, causing Elizabeth to get an unsettling feeling in her stomach.

"Why are you so quiet? You're never this quiet. Ever."

"I'm just thinking," Wanda says.

"Well please do share your thoughts."

"You guys haven't even kissed, does that not worry you?"

"Yes," Elizabeth confessed, "Of course it does."

"Do you think," Wanda pauses, "Now don't freak out when I ask this because we don't want to die, and we also don't know what's going on. But do you think he's seeing someone else?"

"I haven't even thought of that," Elizabeth says.

Wanda glances over and notices the far off look in Elizabeth's eyes.

"You know what, that wasn't a logical explanation," Wanda says trying to bring back her spiraling friend, "I'm sure Bucky is just busy."

"Yeah," Elizabeth agreed, but not really believing any of it.

____________________________

The girls arrived to the house an hour later, it was barely going to be noon. The rest of their car ride was no longer filled with talks of relationships, but just spent listening to music, and discussing plans for their new apartment. When they pulled up, they were in awe of the beautiful house. There was already two cars in the driveway, one belonging to Steve, and the other must've been Loki's rental. "How much money do those Odinsons have?" Wanda stated looking up at the house. The house was a white modern looking two-story farmhouse. The two car drive way, looked like a mini version of the house. It looked homey. "You're here!" They heard a booming voice yell, as they exited the car. They looked up to the front door to see Thor fast walking his way over to them. He quickly made his way to Wanda and took both girls by surprise by picking her up and kissing her. At least someone's getting kissed, Elizabeth thought smiling at how happy her best friend looked. "Hello to you too," Wanda smiled, once they pulled apart. "I've missed you," he grinned, placing her down gently, "Hi Elizabeth." "Hi Thor, nice to see you," she greeted him, as she opened the trunk of her car to get the bags out. "Here let me get those," he said, grabbing both suitcases from the trunk, "The boys are out back in the pool." Thor showed both girls to their room first before walking them out to the back to greet the rest of the boys. "Lizzy! Wanda!" Loki shouted, running over to both girls and throwing his arms around them both. "Finally some estrogen to balance out all of this testosterone," he whispered in their ears, causing both girls to giggle. Once they pulled apart they were greeted by Loki's boyfriend Scott Lang. "Hi Scott," both girls greeted, hugging him as well. Elizabeth looked past the patio area to the backyard, where the pool was placed in the middle of nothing but grass. A typical Hamptons backyard. She saw Steve, Bucky, and who she assumed to be Bucky's roommate Sam, emerging from the pool. "Hey, you guys made it," Steve smiled. "All in one piece." "Barely," Wanda whispered to Loki. "This is Wanda, my roommate from Stanford," she introduced, "Not sure if you met back then. Wanda this is Steve, and Bucky, and Sam, right?" "Correct," Sam answered extending his arm out to shake their hands, "Sam Wilson, the person who's had to put up with Bucky for almost a year." Elizabeth laughed, "So sorry you've had to deal with that." "Ha ha funny," Bucky rolled his eyes, shaking Wanda's hand. He looked over at Elizabeth about to go in for a hug, but stopping once he realized he was wet from the pool. He gave her a smile, and she returned it. "Oh, I forgot. Happy birthday Steve," Elizabeth announced, "I would hug you but your wet." "Thanks, Liz," he smiled. Elizabeth glanced over at Wanda who was raising her eyebrows teasingly. Elizabeth shook her head. "So what time is everyone arriving?" She asks. "We told everyone two," Loki said, "the catering staff should be hear soon. "Catering?" Wanda asked. "Our parents insisted, seeing as last time Thor tried to have a barbecue he almost burned down the house," Loki explains to them. "He's pretty and smart, he doesn't have to cook," Wanda defended him, "Also helps that he has a big di-" "Okay," Elizabeth clapped her hands interrupting Wanda from finishing that sentence, "We're going to go get ready." "We'll join you," Loki said, with Scott behind him following the girls upstairs to their shared room. "So that's Bucky?" Loki asked, throwing himself onto one of the beds while Scott closed the door behind them. "Yup." "He's hot," Scott stated. "Don't start fawning over him," Wanda raises her hand, "He hasn't even kissed her yet." "What?" Loki and Scott gasped. "Are you going to be telling everyone that?" Elizabeth asked, heading into the en-suite bathroom. "You brought the red dress right?" Scott asked Wanda, already knowing all about her lucky red dress. "Yes, nobody worry," Wanda says pulling out the red dress, "Our dear sweet Lizzy will be getting at least some action tonight. Even if it's the bare minimum."

__________________________

The party was going great, everyone had invited a mixture of friends. Some were from Elizabeth's high school, some of them had grown up with Thor and Loki. It was a good mix of people. And everyone was having a great time.

In the car ride Elizabeth had been nervous after her conversation with Wanda about Bucky, but all those worries went away once she had made her way back down after getting ready.

Bucky hadn't left her side, since then, and he was being more openly affectionate than before. There was still no kiss, but Elizabeth didn't have a doubt in her mind the night wouldn't be ending without one, maybe even a little more.

Thank you lucky red dress.

It was around eight pm when Thor suggested they start doing the fireworks, everyone in the neighborhood had started to as well. So everyone made their way into the front yard, some in chairs, some on the grass, and some just standing around.

Elizabeth was sitting on the lawn, looking up at the lit up sky. She looked to her right to see Steve admiring all the colors, she softly smiled at him and the way he looked so content and happy.

She looked to her left to find the spot Bucky was just at a minute ago empty. She took a quick look around and couldn't see him, she shrugged it off just assuming he was somewhere nearby or in the house. She knew he had difficulties with large crowds and sometimes he just needed to step away.

After twenty minutes, Bucky still wasn't back.

"Hey Steve, I'll be back, I'm going to go check on Bucky," she tells him before heading back into the house.

The house was quiet, since everyone was outside watching the fireworks. She checked the back and all of downstairs but couldn't find Bucky, even the catering crew were outside watching the fireworks.

Elizabeth headed upstairs, thinking Bucky probably went to find peace in his room. Bucky and Sam were sharing a room for the weekend, it was the first one to the right once you reached the top of the stairs.

As soon as Elizabeth reached the final step, the bedroom door opened up. She smiled thinking Bucky was going to walk out, but the smile dropped when she was greeted by not Bucky but Natasha Romanoff walking out.

Natasha hadn't noticed Elizabeth yet, she was smiling at the person walking out right behind her.

Bucky had a huge grin on his face, his hair was a mess and so was Natasha's. His smiled instantly dropped and his eyes widen once he noticed Elizabeth frozen at the top of the stairs.

So much for a lucky dress...

[impala666]

The One With The Monkey Part One: Marcel The Monkey

Here you go! Ross gets Marcel and Phoebe sings a depressing Christmas song! 

Friends Rewrite (masterlist) Last Part (part four, episode 9)

Four of you were sitting around Monica and Rachel’s kitchen table with a bowl of popcorn and a bowl of cranberries and you, Phoebe, and Joey were helping them make a strand of garland. You had work early in the morning tomorrow and even all day tomorrow, but thankfully all you could think about was Phoebe finally getting to perform holiday songs at Central Perk tomorrow night and all of you were going to watch and support her. “Guys, there’s somebody I’d like you to meet.” Ross who just happened to poke his head through the door like he lived there, but to be fair all of you kind of did that. Your jaw immediately dropped open when Ross entered and the cutest little monkey came in riding in on Ross’s back. 

“Wait, w-wait, what is that?” Monica asked, not sure whether she should step toward it or run away. 

“That would be Marcel.” Ross introduced the furry creature. “Wanna say hi?”

“Yes, please!” You shrieked when you ran around the table to take the monkey from Ross, and Marcel seemed more than happy to crawl down Ross and on to your shoulder. Your smile only grew when Marcel’s tail hung over your other shoulder. 

“He is precious, where did you get him?” Rachel asked as she watched the monkey relaxing on your shoulder. 

“My friend, Bethel, rescued him from some lab.” Ross explained while he took Marcel back from you, but you couldn’t help but shake your head at the fact that the poor little guy had to go through so many experiments and tests that he never had the say of just because of the species that he was. 

“That is so cruel.” You nodded in agreement with what Phoebe said, thinking she was on the right path. But boy, were you wrong. “Why would a parent name their child Bethel?”

“That was not what I expected out of you, Pheebs,” you said a little disappointed in yourself for getting your hopes up. You reached into the popcorn bowl and popped one in your mouth to prevent you from saying anything else. 

“Hey, that monkey’s got a Ross on his ass.” Chandler greeted his friend after he had stepped out of bathroom, and leaned against the back of Joey’s chair. 

“Ross, is he gonna live with you like in your apartment?” Monica couldn't help but ask an actual question out of concern for her older brother.  

“Yeah, it’s been kind of quiet since Carol moved out.” Which seemed like a very logical reason to go out there and get a pet that is completely out of the normal, you could totally understand Ross’s thought process on this one.

“Why not just get a roommate?” Monica asked, yet another great question.

“I think when you reach a certain age, having a roommate is kind of pathet…” After playing with Marcel’s tail, Ross realized the mistake he made when he saw all of you staring at him waiting for him to finish that sentence correctly. “Sorry, that's ‘pathet’ which is sanskrit for ‘really cool way to live.” 

**********

Finally, finally, finally, your day was over with. You toured the school that you were accepted to and have a very long 8 hour shift, so now it was time to kick back and see your weird and beautiful friend sing her set at Central Perk. As you walked into the building you were finally able to unclench once you felt the heat after just walking block after block in the freezing cold snow. “,and one about a snowman.” You heard Phoebe finish as she sat on the arm of the couch with her guitar on her lap. When they all see you enter all of them flashed you a smile in greeting, which you returned once you had hung your coat and scarf on the hooks by the door. After you had ordered your preferred hot drink of the day, you finally walked over to spend time with everyone. But apparently Joey wasn’t there yet. 

“Might want to open with the snowman,” Chandler told her. But you just looked at him confused. “Oh trust me, you don’t want to know.” Chandler promised once he saw the look on your face.

“Oookay,” you mumbled into your cup as you sat down on the couch arm next to Monica. “Hey, Joey,” you smiled once you saw him walking into the shop as he dusted off some of the snow that had fallen on him. Everyone joined in on your greeting him, while greeted everyone else also walking up to you, placing a hand on your waist and pecking you on the lips as your greeting. 

“So, how’d it go?” Monica asked Joey, wondering how his job interview for being Santa Clause went.

“I didn’t get the job,” Joey groaned in disappointment as he took off his coat and sat down in the chair next to you. All of you awed in agreement with his disappointment, while you leaned forward from your spot on the couch to rub his arm in sympathy. It was hard enough for him to get work as an actor, and now he didn't get the one job he got and looked forward to every year. Joey looked up at you with a sad smile while taking your hand while he sat backwards in his seat. 

“How could you not get it? You were Santa last year.” Ross couldn’t help but ask, Joey was really looking forward to that job. 

“I know!” You whined in agreement with Ross, “you were a shoe in, and you were so excited.” Plus he would make a really really hot Mr. Claus, but you decided to keep that piece of information to yourself.

“I don’t know. Some fat guy’s sleeping with the store manager. He’s not even jolly, it’s all political.” Joey added in on the complaining that just seemed unfair.

“I’m sorry, hon.” You rubbed his arm as you got to your feet. “Do you want some coffee?” You offered while giving him a hug and wrapping your arm around his neck. He nodded a yes, and you pecked him on the forehead before turning to the counter and ordering a coffee to cheer him up. 

“So what’re you going to be?” Monica asked. 

“I’m going to be one of his helpers, but it’s just such a slap in the face, you know?” He just couldn’t get past the way that he didn’t get the job that he knew that he was so right for. 

“Hey, do you guys know what you’re doing for New Years?” Rachel asked, causing everyone except you and Joey to groan just at the thought that none of them had dates. “Geez, what is wrong with New Years?” Clearly not liking that way that she was getting attacked. 

“Well nothing for you, you have Paolo. And it’s not a problem for Y/N or Joey either because they have each other. You don’t have to face the horrible pressures of this holiday.” Chandler explained to her as he walked over towards her. “The desperate scramble to find anything with lips just so you have somebody to kiss when the ball drops! Man, I’m talking loud.” He finally just noticed that his voice was dramatically getting louder and louder with each sentence. 

“Well, for your information. Paolo is going to be in Rome this New Years, so I’ll be just as pathetic as the rest of you.” Rachel explained to the rest of you. “Well, except Joey and Y/N,” she grimaced at how lucky you two are while she watched Joey kiss you very sweetly after you brought him the coffee that you bought for him. 

“Yeah, you wish,” Phoebe added in where her comment didn’t really make sense. 

“It’s just that I’m sick of being victim to this Dick Clark holiday.” Chandler wowed. “I say this year, no dates. We make a pact, just the seven of us. Dinner.” Everyone seemed to be in agreement.

“How can it be no couples in the seven of us when two of us are already in a relationship?” You asked him, retaking your spot on the arm of the couch. 

“Just don’t act like one, okay?” Chandler whined as he tried to reason with you and his best friend. “I know which will be hard for you because you two are gross.”

“Well, thank you,” you said taking it as a compliment. 

“Well, you’re welcome.” Chandler played back. “And I was hoping for a little more enthusiasm.” Causing everyone into different forms of celebratory sounds. 

“Phoebe, you’re on.” Rachel warned her as she stepped onto the now stage to introduce her friend. “Ladies and gentlemen, back by popular demand. Miss Phoebe Buffay!” Rachel wooed as she and everyone else in the building applauded and Phoebe took the stage. 

“Hi!” Phoebe said into the mic. “Yeah, hi. I want to start with a song that means a lot to me this time of year.” You smiled watching in wonderment as Chandler leaned against the side of the couch next to you. Phoebe jingled some bells before she officially started her song. “I made a man with eyes of coal and a smile so bewitching.” Phoebe started to sing what sounded like was going to be a nice, cool Christmas song, but you should have know better by now that it would take a drastic and depressing turn. “How was I supposed to know that my mom was dead in the kitchen?” And immediately your smiling face turned into an uncomfortable and disturbed face, which you shared when with Ross and Monica. 

Now the mood in the coffee shop that was once filled with Christmas cheer was now filled with a depressing silence. Phoebe’s song was far from over, making everyone very depressed and just staring off into space. Rachel was sunk down in a chair, Chandler took your spot on the couch arm, and you were sitting on Joey’s knee with your head resting on Joey’s head with the look of deep sadness on your face. “My mother’s ashes, even her eyelashes are resting in a little yellow jar. And sometimes when it’s breezy, or I feel a little sneezy, and now. Excuse me!” Phoebe stopped singing which made you wake up a little tiny bit, and she started yelling at the rude, loud talking men. “Excuse me! Noisy boys? Is it something that you would like to share with the entire group?” She asked them, like a teacher catching a few of her students passing around notes during class. 

“No, no. That’s okay.” The nerdy guy in the flannel told her. 

“Ohhh they’re in trouble.” You whispered with a little smirk on your face. Chandler looked at you with a similar smirk, as well as Joey and Rachel next to you. 

“Well come on, if it’s important enough to discuss while I’m playing then I assume it’s important enough for everyone else to hear.” Phoebe argued back over at Flannel. 

“Well, that guy’s going home with a note.” Chandler told the three of you with a bit of a scared look on his face. 

“Could you speak up please?” Phoebe asked very close to the microphone when the other guy in the sweater started mumbling out his reasoning for interrupting her. 

“Sorry,” the guy in the sweater stood up. “I was saying to my friend that I thought you were the most beautiful woman that I’d ever seen in my life and then he said that you thought that Daryl Hannah was the most beautiful woman that he’d ever seen in his life. And I said, “Yeah I liked her in Splash a lot, but not so much in Wall Street, I thought she had a hard quality. And, um, while Daryl Hannah is beautiful in a conventional way you are luminous with a kind of delicate grace.” The guy paused after realizing he just said in public. “Then that’s when you started yelling.” After he finished the guy in the sweater sat back down in his seat. All of you turned towards Phoebe to see what her reaction was going to be.

“Okay, we’re going to take a short break.” She announced while setting her guitar down on the stand so that she could go talk to that man that said all the nice things about her. 

“That guy’s going home with more than a note.” Joey announced with a sneaky smirk on his face.      

[todoroki-waifu]

ayoo! I saw that requests were open so here I am! Anyways can I requests that there's a fem reader that is best friends with todoroki and he's dating (anyone) and one day when class 1a is chilling in the living room having a movie night and a kid from the future time travel there and everyone is confused asf and sooner or later it comes out that the child was todoroki's and the readers child and everyone's like damn cuz yk he has a whole s/o next to him LMFAOSJJ IM SO SORRY THIS IS SO CONFUSUNG😭😭

I’m so sorry this is so late! 😢 Thank you so much for your request! And it wasn’t confusing. This was an interesting one. If I did misinterpret it wrong, I’m sorry! Lol hope you like it ^^ 

Note:  __(u/s) will stand for unknown/unnamed significant other for Todoroki.

Todoroki x F! Reader (kind of?)

Word Count: 1,987

Genre: Angst, slight fluff, sci-fi, maybe a little fantasy? (whatever time travel would fall under)

Warnings: Female reader and Todoroki with a gender neutral s/o.

----------------

Midoriya, Iida, Todoroki, __(u/s), and Jirou were preparing snacks for class 1a's weekly movie night. Iida, Midoriya, and Jirou were the first to leave the kitchen, bringing with them cups, beverages, napkins, straws, and disposable plates. While Todoroki finishes up placing a variety of chips into different bowls, he looks over at his __(u/s).

He smiles fondly at them, walking over to his partner and wrapping his arms around them.

"Need any help?"

"T-todoroki-kun! You scared me." __(u/s) was concentrated on microwaving the popcorn at the correct temperature, afraid of triggering the fire alarm.

"Really? Am I that frightening?" He pouts slightly.

"Not at all! I guess my mind was elsewhere. I wanted to make sure that I didn't burn the popcorn." __(u/s) laughed sheepishly before pecking his cheek.

Both heads turn towards the kitchen entrance when they hear the sound of steps entering.

"Relax! Just me." You saw their slightly stiffened look. They were a fairly new couple so they were still getting used to showing their affection in front of other people. Todoroki and his partner were only comfortable around you, being that you're his best friend.

You've known him for a while and have been there for almost an entirety of his childhood and up to now. He still has yet to tell his significant other about his past, the poor boy afraid of scaring his current lover. 

Well, he'll tell them some day. Just not right now. But that was how much Todoroki trusted you.

He was also so grateful that __(u/s) was comfortable around you. __(u/s) knew of his and your relationship and although they were a bit weary of you in the beginning, they ended up loving you later on. You proved that you retained no feelings for the half and half student and that you had the same intentions as the rest of class 1a. Which was to be his loyal and supportive friend.

"Didn't mean to interrupt. Mina and Toru wanted some ice cream." You quickly went to the freezing, grabbing two tubs of the frozen dessert along with two huge spoons.

"Don't take too long, bestie. I want to get some cuddles with __(u/s), too." You joked as you walked out to the common area.

------

Midoriya saw you approaching the group and was the first to assist you.

"Here, let me get that." He grabs the two cold containers, placing it on the table. "Who wants which flavors?"

He calls out to the gang while a few responded back and you helped the All Might fanatic. Once you finish passing out the bowls, Todoroki and his partner come out with a few salty snacks to add to the menu.

You sat in between Midoriya and __(u/s) on the floor with a plate full of assorted goods. Todoroki and __(u/s) share a bowl of chips and ice cream, the couple feeding each other occasionally. You smile at your best friend, so happy for him.

Although you were a bit jealous that he found love before you. You felt like a third wheel whenever both of them would ask you to hang out.

Oh well. Romance will come whenever the time is right. Besides, you weren't that focused on relationships nor did you really have anyone in particular that you liked.

Your thoughts refocused on the blaring music coming from the TV, indicating the start of the movie. You excused yourself after a while, heading to the kitchen to grab some more water bottles for yourself and for a few.

When you reach the kitchen door, a small swirl of blue energy blocks your way. You watch as the ball of energy expand and white electrifying rays spread from the center. Before you could react, the energized orb immediately explodes, the blast causing you to fall onto your bottom. Not only did you feel the force push you back, but you felt a sudden weight holding you down.

"__(y/n)! Are you okay?" Midoriya and Bakugou are the first to respond to the blast with Todoroki not too far behind them.

"Y-yeah, I think so?" You replied, carefully sitting up. You look down at the weight on your lap, noticing it to be a small child with ___(hair color) hair and a single streak of white and red. When they peer up, you see dark grey and light blue eyes staring back at you.

"Mommy?" The child blinked up at you then smiled brightly. "Mommy! I found you!"

"M-m-mommy!?" You screeched out, feeling the little one embrace you tightly.

"You're a mother?" Uraraka chimed in.

"I didn't know I was one!"

"Mommy, where did your big belly go? Did my little sister finally come out? Where is she? I want to meet her! I'm so excited to be a big sister!"

"Excuse me!? Little sister?"

"You had another baby?" Hagakure gasps loudly.

"How? I never got pregnant! I don't even have a boyfriend nor am I seeing anyone!" You answered her back then sighed loudly. "H-hey kid, ummm, first off, are you okay?" You wanted to make sure this tiny stranger wasn't injured.

"Yes, mommy! I'm okay."

"Alright, well, I hate to tell you this but I'm not your mom. But maybe I can find her for you?"

"What do you mean? Why do you say that? Of course you're my mom!" Her eyes begin to fill with tears.

"It's just kind of impossible. Listen, you said that I had a big belly and you were waiting for your little sister, but right now, I don't have that big belly. I didn't even know you were having a sibling."

"M-mommy, are you-you j-joking? It's not funny! Waah!" Your future daughter begins to cry loudly and you immediately hug her.

"Don't cry! Everything will be alright! We're going to find your mommy, okay?" You look around the room to your classmates, sending them a pleading look.

"Hey man, that's your brat." Bakugou stuffs his hands into his pocket, about to not involve himself in your little dilemma. He didn't have patience for children at the moment.

"Bakugou!" You scolded him. "She's not a brat. She's just lost and scared.  Take it easy on her. And if you want to be a hero, help me find the kid's parents. Isn't that what a hero is supposed to do?"

"I ain't no babysitter!"

"Dude, that's not manly at all! Let's help them out." Kirishima places a hand on his blonde friend's shoulder.

"Time travel!" Midoriya blurts out of nowhere. Once he receives his classmates' confused gazes, he finally begins to clarify. "I think she's really your daughter, __(y/n). She looks a lot like you and she seems really attached to you. She must've came here from the future when that blast happened. That's the only plausible explanation."

"I'm sorry that everything is confusing and scary right now, but I think I figured out what's going on." Midoriya squats beside you and your daughter, placing his hand on her back. Your daughter sniffles a couple times before looking at the green haired boy.

"Uncle Deku? How... how come you're so small?" She wipes her eyes while he could hear a few snickering in the background.

"Yes, well, I'm sure you're noticing that everyone is different. It's because-"

"Daddy!" Your daughter gasps loudly when she finally sees Todoroki. She jumps out from your arms and rushes to the dual quirk user, holding her tiny arms up to him. Todoroki blinks at the child, unsure of what to do.

"Huh? How come you're not holding mommy's hand?" She notices Todoroki's fingers linked with __(u/s).

"D-daddy?! You mean, Todoroki-kun is the father?" Midoriya shrieks at the reveal.

"W-what?" __(u/s) frowns deeply, slowly slipping their hand away from Todoroki. "You mean, you and __(y/n)? But I thought that... "

"Wait, no, that is impossible. She must have me mistaken for someone else. __(y/n) and I do not harbor any feelings for one another nor do we share any children together. Please believe me." Todoroki attempts to grab __(u/s)'s hands, but they back away quickly.

"Yeah! Shouto's right! We're only best friends. That's it. You know that. How can we have a kid together when we're not even a couple? He likes you; not me. I might be single, but I'm really not interested in anyone at the moment."

"Daddy, what is going on? I thought you love mommy?" Your poor daughter was unknowingly exacerbating the situation.

"I... I gotta go." __(u/s) starts to gather their things.

"Please, wait." Todoroki grabs their arm but they pull back suddenly.

"Don't, Todoroki. This is too much. I don't think I can continue this." He tries to plead with them to stay, but __(u/s) shakes their head. "Just, please leave me alone. And please don't contact me. Either of you." ___(u/s) eyes both you and Todoroki.

Your best friend watches sadly as __(u/s) leaves, the room being weighed down by the silent tension. It was only when Denki utters a word that brought back the noise.

"Damn... " The electric hero feels a sudden, sharp jab to his right side. He looks at the source to find Jirou glaring at him.

"Mommy? Daddy?" The little one blinks at Todoroki and then at you, uncertain of what just transpired. You knew your best friend needed space to himself for now so you decide that you would approach him later. Besides, you felt like you were responsible for his breakup. You felt too embarrassed to face him.

So instead, you focus on your little girl, gently grabbing her hand and pulling her to the side. Midoriya begins to explain to your daughter why things were so different and she slowly begins to understand.

-------

Todoroki walks outside of the dorm building, situating himself on the first few steps. His mind tortures him by replaying the scene where his relationship crumbles. He doesn't understand. What could he have done to preserve his romance with ___(u/s)?

But then his mind directs him to his future daughter. Todoroki was a bit angry, yes, but he couldn't blame the young child seeing that she came from a very different timeline. It honestly wasn't her fault.

Then who's fault was it? His? Yours?

No, it was no one's. If he was truly meant to be with you, why wasn't he jumping for joy? Because at this point in time, he was simply not attracted to you. He honestly didn't understand how you two formed a family together.

Then his mind wanders elsewhere.

Would being around you continue to ruin his future relationships? Would he truly be happy if you ended up being his lifetime partner? According to his future child, you two were going to have another one so that had to mean something.

But he didn't love you. 

Yes, he cared deeply for you and you both knew everything and anything about each other, but you and him had a different kind of bond.

Then the thought of sacrificing his friendship with you for the sake of his future relationships began to hurt his heart. But you'd understand, right? Todoroki wanted to find love eventually. He also did want to work everything out with __(u/s).

But would separating himself from you be the right answer? How would that affect the future? He felt so torn. He has a family with you in the future, but his heart does not yearn for you. And you don't love him back like that either.

Right?

As he thinks on his feelings for you, he goes back to when you two were children and when you first met. He remembers almost everything that you two shared together all the way up to the present. 

The arguments. The late night study sessions. The dangerous villain encounters. The hero internships. The cultural festival. The laughter.

Your warmth. Your kindness. Your smile.

His heart slowly starts to beat faster.

But he didn't love you, right?

[twisted-imagines]

Octavinelle with a mer-shark!MC who's anxious about showing her true appearance.

Hi there! 👋 I'm mod Mel, this is a new writing blog dedicated to Twisted Wonderland by Disney. I'm it's sole moderator and this is my first work on here. It's only Floyd for now, but more boys are sure to come.Please enjoy yourself!❤

Floyd Leech🦈

It should have been just a simple excursion to the Coral Sea, which Floyd unbeknownst to you proclaimed a 'date', but clearly something went very wrong. The first time you came here, more like was thrown right into it, you weren't able to observe and enjoy the brilliance of the underwater world, more so had to flee from human-turned-mermen Leech brothers. Even after Octavinelle boys invited you all to the sea again, you thought, sadly, that it would be the last time you visited it. But apparently Floyd had other ideas, spontaneously dragging you to the teleport and handling you a "breath-in-water" potion along the way. With you barely registering what he was attempting to do, you two were already submerged, the boy beside you swiftly changing his appearance to his "usual" one. Looking at that face, him all giddy and eager to show you around his homeland, you couldn't get angry with him, vice versa you were really happy at the possibility to spend time with him. Maybe your first meeting was quite disastrous, and you clashed a few times after that, resulting in his friend's overblot, but your relationships have improved a lot afterwards. It seemed Floyd got really interested in the new magicless student from the other realm and you in turn... Well, in rare moments at night, when you couldn't fall asleep plagued by your thoughts, you sometimes quietly admitted to yourself, that maybe you had a tiniest crush on the ever smiling, carefree, ambiguous eel twin. You too, were very interested in him, since the day you saw him appear with his brother in all their glory to get in your way. You remember like it was just yesterday, how you didn't want to leave and just gaze at his beautiful form. You were not prepared to see something so familiar in this new world, somebody who had brought your thoughts back home so sweetly and yet so painfully close.

Oh how you wanted to tell him that, to share your own stories and see his face lit up, but you couldn't. The nagging fear of rejection, of what he would think of you didn't allow you to do. Times and times again you told yourself that he of all people would understand and accept you, but every time you tried to start the conversation you ended up closing and opening your mouth like a fish, unable to say anything. And so you kept silent.

With Floyd being so enthusiastic, basically telling your ears off, he didn't require much of your own input at the moment. You were listening attentively, picturing in your mind two young eels and a cecaelia merkids exploring the sea together, their hands entwined. This relaxing, tranquil, as much as it was possible with Floyd, dive was bringing a peace to your mind and body. You felt every sway of water, every little wave that tiny fishes caused swimming past you. The smallest thing, you could feel it reverberate within you.

It was abrupt, a state of total harmony suddenly crushed, disturbing noises filled your ears. It was obvious that Floyd felt it too, for he took a defensive stance right away, moving closer to you. One would say it was already too late, when you saw them - several orca mermaids quickly approaching you two. You were concerned, mostly because of how Floyd had reacted: he looked genuinely distressed.

"Hey, koebi-chan, it's better for you not to leave my side."

He sounded totally serious, unlike his usual cheery self. And so you obeyed, the anxiety in you growing with every second.

One of the newcomers approached you, from what you could judge she was the eldest female of them all. She looked smug and confident, leisurely briefing you about how this was their territory, how unwelcomed you were there, offering you a "deal" since they were so generous today and would gladly let you get away with your "trespassing".While Floyd was fuming with rage he still patiently listened to them. He understood, that was he alone it would not be a big deal to get away, but he could not allow you to be harmed, not on his watch, not his precious koebi-chan. He couldn't make a more displeased face while speaking with them.

"Fine~ What a pain in the ass... What's your conditions?"

Their answer made his blood boil, you could see how agitated he was, in the way he glared daggers at them, the way his fists clenched. Truth to be told, you started to feel angry yourself, their demands being just ridiculous, smirks irritating you to the core. The little skirmish was quickly escalating to a full-blown clash, even though both sides perfectly understood who had the upper hand. And maybe some of them got just a tad bit arrogant because of it.

A younger orca surged at Floyd, being confident that his sheer strength would be enough for the moray eel to cave in. You easily gauged his mistake,and your body acted on it's own.

"Don't touch Floyd, you scum!"

The last thing the orca heard was your chilling growl, before his hand was swiftly chewed off. "No mercy for foes and food", - if any motto deserved the attention of an apex predator it would be this one.

Your changing appearance took by surprise every present creature. You could feel the strain, muscles not accustomed to the process of transformation after a long period of not changing, but you tried not to mind it, the only thought in your mind being protecting the person precious to you.

When the bloody mist from fallen orca finally subdued they could take in your full image. Strong tail, just like their, but much bigger; sharp claws, just like their, but more deadly. In the reflection of their eyes you knew how you looked. Intimidating.

Even the eldest orca gave up her position and shifted back. You could clearly see the gears in her head turning: was it worth sacrificing younglings just for the chance of overpowering you. Since you too were a very "kind" person, rivaled only by your very "generous" opponents, you decided to give her a time out to think her actions over, and hopefully reflect on them.

Knowing that her choices weren't numerous, the leader orca suddenly stirred back to life, giving the group a barking command and hastily retreating with them, hoping that her luck wouldn't let her down, that you wouldn't chase her.

Which you indeed was about to do, when you remembered about your companion, who was still behind you. You felt confidence slowly leaving you, you wanted to turn around before it evaporated into nothing, but you were given no time to spare. Floyd was suddenly before you, pure delight on his face. He had this toothy smile while he was fully taking in your appearance.

"Who would have thought that koebi-chan was actually a same-chan, ahaha!~ Hey hey, how did you manage to hide it, you were so tiny just a moment before! It's super cool, that jerk definitely didn't understand what hit him!"

He definitely was enjoying himself, being very upfront with you, all in your personally space, grabbing you and giggling excitedly. You were happy one moment and totally bawling your eyes out next. You didn't even know you could cry in this gigantic, powerful and terrifying form. Floyd somehow moved even closer to you, taking your face into his hands, caressing your cheeks and fins, tracing marks and lips. Unable to piece together a coherent speech, you just clinged to him.

"Y-you are... not afraid of me, right? Floyd?"

The merman just squeezed you tighter, a light laugh escaped him.

"It's quite easy with sharks. If they want to gobble you up, they do it. Not only I'm in one piece, you actually protected me. And you know, same-chan, when you're like this you're not scary at all."

At this point, you weren't sure if he was mocking or cheering you up with this smug smirk of his. You were just glad that your worst fears happened to be nothing but fears, the Floyd's embrace melting the remains of them.

You were suddenly well aware of your position. Even attempting to pull back would be futile, the clutch of merman's tail around yours was hard.

"Oh, going somewhere, same-chan? I don't think so, you didn't tell me everything, did you? And I'm not in the mood for guessing games right now."

A wicked note entered his voice, was he toying with you?

"Same-chan, do you like me that much to willingly blow up your cover, ahaha?~"

The question he voiced was a crushing force that presses on your gills. You were stunned. You didn't know what to answer, how could you if you never allowed yourself to dwell on it for too long in fear of a very obvious answer being formed. But right now, your mind was freed from your worries, from fear, from intrusive thoughts. A crystal clear answer echoed in it.

You tentatively reached with your hands, hugging the small of boy's back, nestling further in his chest, mumbling those words earnest words more to yourself than to him.

"I do. I do like you, Floyd."

Only silence surrounded you for a moment, before your companion forcefully made you look at him. Were your imagination playing trick on you, or it really was a deep green blush on his face? Merman's heterochromatic eyes were fixated on your face looking for a hint of a joke or a lie, but neither the crease of your brows, nor the tight line of your lips told him anything except for how serious you were.

"A-are you like for real? Ahaha~Ahahahaha! Same-chan, so cute!♡ I like you too~"

You don't see him so happy very often, and mighty sea, was he beautiful. You couldn't help but join his joyous laughing. No matter, what happened prior to this, this day you will remember as the of your happiest ones. Overwhelmed with excitement, Floyd squeezed you even harder, and you were grateful to be in this form, since your chances of surviving this embrace would be close to zero in your human body.

But the feeling of his lithe body against yours, boy's cheery voice feeling your ears and undeniable warmth spreading though you from the realization of the mutual nature of your feelings, all of this was priceless.

"Nee~[Name]-chan? I don't want you to keep silent about your thoughts and feelings from now on, 'kay? They're so entertaining, and you're so impressive, I want to aaalways know you're thinking about. I won't let you leave me now, I want you to stay with me forever! But you feel the same way, right?♡“

• He's definitely telling about it to Jade and Azul!!! Boy is so excited, even if you beg him, he won't be able to contain himself so his twin will definitely know this sooner or later.

• But there's nothing to fear, while initially suspicious, Octavinelle boys are generally positive of this revelation. Somehow, you feel much more comfortable with them now.

• The news about apex predator in their school definitely gets the spotlight when Floyd drags you to his dormitory, and it's not until the later, when Jade questions Floyd's rather strong grip on your hand, that you two remember how much the status of your relationships has changed. Cue you two looking quite embarrassed and Jade with Azul just instantly understanding what is what.

• Jade is definitely supportive of his twin. "Yes, Azul, they can probably swallow the three of us at once, but they didn't." He knows how much their ability to make friends is impaired but their intimidating appearance, he's not the one to hold it against you. Jade is the one that notes, how you hadn't transformed to fight them when they were interfering with your task, but risked it to protect his brother. For that he's very grateful.

• Azul is more apprehensive of you and it's definitely not because he's frightened by the mighty "apex predator" title you have!!! Not a-at all! All it takes is just Jade reasoning with him for a bit for him to start feel ashamed of his initial reaction. It hurts very much when people judge you for your appearance and prejudices they have against you, isn't it so?

• You four are definitely going to Coral Sea together, Floyd really wants them to see your shark form. More likely than not, it was the first time any of them saw a mershark up-close and not trying to eat them. They appreciate a possibility of staying alive after such an encounter, Azul even trying to touch your fins out of sheer curiosity and Floyd quickly swatting away his hand with the most fake, passive-aggressive smile ever.

• Yes, no matter your size, race, actual strength or anything else Floyd will still stay possessive of you. You're his, and his only significant other. All will probably soon figure out that the two of you are dating now, with how much he throws himself at you and hugs you close. The smiles he gifts you are too, nothing alike of those others see.

• Since you are a powerful specie, standing in the food chain much higher than himself, he will relinquish in this, forgetting quite often to control his strength, biting and scratching much more often, and looking so happy while doing it. You'll probably need to have a chat with him about that~

• He actually can't get used to the thought that you're actually way scarier than him. Your demure looks just don't channel it at all, and he still tries to scare or intimidate you from time to time. It doesn't work. Pikachu meme but make it eel boy.

• He would LOVE to learn about your homeland, he's starry-eyed when you tell stories about you world to him. It's so interesting to him, he can't help but wonder how he managed to find such an interesting person, mermaid, fall in love with them and actually date them. He only heard about such stories in his childhood and never thought something like that was possible in reality.