#but to everyone else sara is just a nice smart girl who wants to help so why wouldnt they trust her?

[hecksupremechips]

Just the way Shin Tsukimi’s “mask off” moment is him becoming increasingly frustrated to the point of having a nervous breakdown where all he can do is laugh maniacally because he’s so done with everyone acting so incompetent and not seeing things “as they are” (aka how he sees them) is just. Mwah chefs kiss hes just like me fr 😰

[vanillann]

the 1994 battle of the performers (luke patterson x f.reader)

i might make this a series if yall are interested!! i would write the rest in the readers p.o.v. this would just be a prologue, lmk!!

word count: 2.9k

the 1994 battle of the performers masterlist

Prologue

“Look what I found on the bulletin board!”

Alex looked around his locker, Luke's smiling face next to a piece of paper held tightly in his grip. He closed his locker and pulled the paper out of Luke’s hands, reading over the word.

Battle of the Performers

December 12th, 1994

The Charles Theatre

“What’s this?”

“This, my friend, is our first live gig,” Luke tapped the top of the page.

“A gig?”

Alex and Luke looked up once they heard Reggie’s voice sound from beside them.

“Yep, it's local but it’s something.”

Luke was over the moon about the plan, I mean come on a gig, that’s all that matters, to say the least.

“Perfect timing, my vintage leather jacket just came in,” Reggie nodded his head, just as happy about the news of the gig.

“Hey,” Bobby came up behind Alex, giving him a small pat on the shoulder and waving at the other guys. He looked over Alex's shoulder, reading over the words just as Alex did seconds ago.

“Are we gonna enter?”

“Yes,” Luke was fast to answer, bouncing on his toes at the idea of finally sharing their music with the world. Alex was about to open his mouth to say something about the paper but the sound of the hall going quite caught his attention.

(Y/N) (L/N) held her bag close to her shoulder, smiling at a few people that passed. The once confident girl seemed out of her element as she made her way to her locker.

“I didn’t know she was out of physical therapy yet?” Bobby muttered quietly to the rest of the group. Their eyes trained on the girl as she smiled when others did and accept the sad apologies.

“Did you hear they kicked her from the dance team?” Reggie spoke, overhearing the conversation from his history class yesterday.

Each boy in Sunset Curve felt horrible for the dancer, after the incident with her ACL and her long recovery. They all had just as much of a dream as she did and they’d be wrecked if they lost it all.

As the girl made it closer to the group Luke adjusted himself in front of her, giving a sympathetic smile.

“Hey (Y/N),” his voice was soft, looking around the halls at all the people that watched the two. A quick glare and half the heads in the hall were back to their original conversation.

“Patterson?”

“Just wanted to apologize, you know-”

“It’s fine, wasn’t anyone's fault,” his heart was ripping out as the girl passed him and moved around him. Her head hung low and broken and she opened her locker and rummaged through it. Luke said nothing, moving back with his little group as his eyes watched her a little longer before turning back.

“So the gig?”

“We can’t enter,” Alex closed his own locker, moving the paper for Luke’s eyes. He pointed to the requirements that were printed at the bottom of the page.

MUST HAVE A DANCE NUMBER WITH LIVE PERFORMANCE

“What,” Luke ripped the paper, holding it between his fingers as he read over the words while Bobby helped guide him throughout the halls.

“They can’t do this!”

“They can, it’s their battle,” Alex commented, giving his friend a sympathetic smile. He could tell how excited he was about the idea of a gig, just for it to be ruined by their underprepared band.

Luke sighed, waving Reggie and Bobby bye and they made their way to English and Luke and Alex had Gym.

“This is trash,” Luke pouted as he made his way into the locker room, Alex luckily paying attention to the both of them and held Luke’s gym bag in his hand.

“We’ll find a different gig,” Alex clapped his friends on the shoulder, finding a stall and quickly dipping in before someone else found it. Luke didn’t care enough in the moment to find his own, easily taking off his “school approved” shirt his mother made him wear into his muscle tee.

“Yeah, but this one would’ve shown all of our parents, mine and yours, maybe even Reggie’s,” Luke’s shoulders dropped at that fact. He just wanted Reggie's parents to stop fighting all the time, Alex’s parents get over their old age ways, and his own parents to just understand it’s going to work.

Alex frowned at the thought, knowing everyone had their own reason past the love for music and why they needed a gig.

“She’ll never make it back on the dance team, they’ll have to have try-outs,” a group of “shit-heads” as Bobby would call them came into the locker room. Alex and Luke knew they were talking about (Y/N), which pissed them off and how funny they found the poor girl's pain.

But something else was rattling in Luke’s brain.

Try-outs.

“Alex,” Luke’s infectious smile was back as he grabbed the top of the stall Alex was in, pushing himself up and holding himself there as he watched his friend with a goofy laugh.Alex fell backwards, looking up at Luke with his gym shorts barely on all the way.

“We hold try-outs for the dancers, get our own dance team.”

Alex shook his head, standing back up and pulling the pants up all the way while looking up at his friend.

“We don’t know anything about dance, plus who would try-out for our band,” Alex opened the door of the stall, Luke still keeping his grip and the door swung back.

“The dance team is super picky, anyone not on it will take any opportunity they can get,” Luke jumped down, finally moving to his bag to change into his own gym shorts.

“I don’t know Luke.”

It wasn’t the wrose plan, Alex could agree on that but realistically it would be hard and while they did have time with it being September and all it wasn’t going to be easy to make the whole thing come to life.

Sunset Curve’s music at the moment was good for head bumping but a serious dance routine would take some work from everyone.

“Let’s ask Reggie and Bobby before we decide?”

Alex watched Luke bite his lip and give his best puppy dog eyes.

“I can work with that.”

“I dig it,” Reggie gave a goofy smile and bit into the apple that he was just attempting to juggle seconds ago. Luke jumped in his seat, smiling widely as 1/2 of the group had said they liked the idea.

“What inspired this idea?” Bobby asked, shrugging as he stole a chip from Alex bag, which caused Alex to roll his eyes.

Luke simply turned around, doing his best to hide the fact he was watching (Y/N) as she looked to be in a heated discussion with the dance team captain, Megan Ray, who looked broken about the discussion but standing her ground.

“Someone mentioned they’d have to replace her with try-outs in the locker room,” Luke muttered, watching as the girl jabbed her finger into the table. most likely trying to make her way back on the team.

“I feel so bad for her,” Bobby muttered, trying to imagine a world where he couldn’t rock out with his friends because of a freak accident.

“Me too, she’s really smart too. Basically saved me in Chemistry last year,” Reggie looked away from the girl, someone he’d considered a good person hurting so bad for something no one could fix.

Once the girl stood up from the chair, trying her best not to draw too many eyes, was when Luke went back to the plan.

“It’ll work like a dream,” Luke muttered, already pulling a piece of paper out with his chick scratch and a sad worked out calendar.

“How do you read that?”

Luke stood up and smacked Alex with the paper, easily going back to the plan.

“I talked to Coach Edison and he said the Gym is free this Friday, plenty of time to get the word out,” Luke smiled at the easily done, but still done, the research he had done.

“What will we make them dance to?”

“Now or Never,” Luke spoke with a shrug.

“Sounds well thought out,” Reggie spoke absentmindedly, trying to remember a thought he just had but lost.

“Come on, we gotta show everyone who doubts us we mean something.”

Luke didn’t know if it was that sentence that struck a chord with them but they all seemed to slowly feed into Luke’s words more after that.

“Peter?”

Reggie turned at the call of his last name, smiling once he saw (Y/N) standing behind him at the table.

“(Y/N)!”

Reggie's smile was contagious as he smiled up at the girl, doing his best to avoid talking about the leg injury, he knew if something happened to his finger and he couldn’t play bass again he wouldn’t want to talk about it.

“Do you have the notes of Henderson’s class? He’s making me take all the quizzes I missed this Friday after school,” she muttered, nodding her head to the other boys as they watched her.

“That sucks, I can give them to you last period.” She gave a quick smile as a thank you, smiling to the other boys before heading back to the table she sat at before with a few other girls they had seen her around the halls with.

“Can’t believe Henderson would be that harsh,” Bobby shivered as if scared at the thought of taking that many quizzes in one sitting.

“He hates anyone who doesn’t do classic field, probably blames her for the fall,” Reggie muttered, finally making it to the core of his apple.

“What! It wasn’t her fault,” Luke jumped in, trying his best to keep his voice down.

“We don’t think that, now chill,” Alex waved at the few girls that had looked their way at the outburst.

Once everything died down, Alex and Bobby both nodded to one another, then looking at Luke.

“This Friday it is.”

“This is going horrible,” Reggie whispered to Luke at the girl before they tried to dramatically do a split but ending up awkwardly crawling on the floor.

“Thank you Sara, we’ll get back with you,” Luke spoke as soon as the music stopped, reaching over to press stop on the crappy camera they found deep in Bobby’s studios yesterday.

Luke’s finger slipped and he was too worked up to try and find the button so he simply left the camera one, waving as Sara skipped out from the gym.

“We’ll at least she didn’t puke,” Bobby muttered, still in shock and how easily the one boy had his entire lunch on the gym floor.

“That was a nice touch.”

Luke stood up, slowly walking around the table to stand in front of his other friends.

“This is going horribly! Where are the dancers in this place?”

“Probably on the dance team,” Alex spoke up, smiling sarcastically at Luke.

“How about we go to the vending machine,” Reggie jumped up, easily diffusing the tension from the room as the rest agreed a snack would be nice.

They all made their way from the room, all talking about the different dancers and who they thought might be best.

“Maddie was good, but she couldn’t choreograph an entire team,” Bobby waited as Reggie looked over the different options in the machine.

“I didn’t even think about that,” Luke sighed, slowly becoming more and more annoyed with this whole idea.

“Look-”

Alex was cut off when he heard the faint sound of guitar and drums echoing the halls of the old sad school.

“Does anyone else hear that?”

“What? Reggie’s head turning as he chose between M&M or Hershey's,” Luke felt back, laying on one of the tables in the cafeteria.

“Hey!”

Alex rolled his eyes, following the sound of the music, hearing his own beat and Luke’s voice sing from the gymnasium. He walked slowly, stopping at the double door, looking through the tempered glass at the figure in the room. He heard his friends run from the gym, meeting his side as they all looked in the gym at the same sight.

(Y/N) glided across the floor, her hands held on both sides of her head as she easily slid across the floor in her sweat pants. She moved from that to a split, easily jumping up from that and doing small little kicks to the beat of the music.

“Wow,” Luke watched as the girl threw her head back, eyes closed as she took in the music that the boys knew by heart at this point.

She clapped along with the music, looking as alive with the music as the boys did when they played. Once the beat dropped the girl attempted to spin out, catching her leg the wrong way sending her to the floor.

“Oh no,” Reggie and Alex didn’t waste any time before pushing the double doors open and running to the groaning girls side. Luke and Bobby were hot on their trail, sliding as they all huddled around her.

“Are- are you okay?”

She sat up slightly, holding her knee to her chest with her face showing obviously pain.

“I’m fine- Uhm, does anyone have water?”

Luke didn’t waste time reaching to the “judge” table and taking his own water from the table. He turned back and handed it to her, looking at her with panic in his eye.

“Thank you,” she let out a shaky breath, letting herself calm down while twisting the cap open.

“You really are an amazing dancer,” Bobby commented, thinking now the panic was gone would be a nice time to mention it.

“I was,” she spoke as she looked to her feet, watching her beat up tennis shoes with a clenched jaw.

“Uhm actually he means present tense,” Luke laughed, like the situation was funny. I mean he just watched her glide and smile all with her eyes closed.

She wasn’t even scared of being bad, she knew she was that good.

“Did you miss the fall?”

He knew the attitude wasn’t at him, he knew she had a right to be angry about her whole world changing.

“You were great before the fall,” Reggie spoke in a soft voice, hurt about watching her without permission.

“No, I was better before.” She looked up, taking in the room when her eyes stopped on the video camera that was flashing red light.

“Is that recording?”

Luke looked at the camera, jumping up and stopping the recording. He un- screwed in from the tripod and made his way over to her.

“Watch it,” he held out the video to her but she simply pushed it away.

“No thanks, just delete it,” Luke was shocked, to say the least. She could still dance, like really dance, and she was throwing it away.

“You’re just scared,” he challenged the girl, earning a harsh “Luke” from Alex, warning him not to touch that topic with a ten-foot pole.

“You’d be scared if you went through what I went through,” she spoke hurtfully, righting to say.

Luke thought everything over, he didn’t know much about the injury but that it was a torn muscle in the knee and that was the end of it. But something that tears can technically heal, he just didn’t know how that worked exactly, he hated science class.

“She has a point,” Bobby smiled at the girl, doing his best not to say the wrong thing.

“Well, face your fear!”

“Look what happened when I did,” she motioned for someone to help her up, Reggie giving his shoulder and helping her stand slightly. Her body was obviously still in shock and she was slowly taking his arm.

“We can help you! Join us on the Battle of the Performers,” Luke knew it might come off selfish, but he really wanted to help her fight her fears face first. It must suck not doing what you love, but she had a chance so why not take it?

“Do you know how hard that is to win?” She thought it was funny to say the least. The band was good, she wouldn’t be shocked if she heard them on the radio in a few years with some famous award, but people just as new and good to the scene would come from far and wide for a chance at this competition.

Plus, if they really wanted to win they’d find a dancer who wasn’t broken.

“You’ll find someone better,” she nodded to Reggie and let her leg finally work properly again, thankful she would add.

“Nobody we’ve seen is like you!” He was so close to her face, giving his puppy dog eyes like he would with the others, always getting what he wanted then.

“I’m sorry, but no. Have fun with the scouting.”

She nodded at each boy, slowly making herself excused from the now tender room as Luke felt his dreams walk away.

“She has a right to be scared,” Alex spoke, trying his best to see both sides.

“Yeah, but she needed to punch fear like she wanted to punch the dance team captain,” Luke pouted, looking at the girl who left without another look. He was hoping she’d come back like in those horrible 80′s rom-coms Alex watched so much, but she never came back.

He held the camera in his hand, looking at the tape that sat paused. Her face looked almost scared as she stepped in the gym.

“We’ll find someone Luke,” Bobby set a gentle hand on his friend's shoulder.

“Yeah, but we could have had her.”

so, should i make this a series??

[houseisekai]

House Isekai: Valentine’s Day Special

House Isekai Masterlist

----

[Mezame no Waltz - Gakkou Gurashi OST]

Yuki hummed happily as she stepped through the dorms of Garreg Mach Monastery, boxes of chocolates in her arms.

She finally arrived at the entrance to House Isekai’s classroom and opened the door.

Inside, Byleth, Megumi, Towa, Sharon, Doomguy, Sara, Angelica, and Cocytus turned to look at her.

(Megumi) “Yuki-chan?”

(Angelica) “Oh yikes, that’s a lotta boxes!”

Angelica, Sharon, Doomguy, and Towa walked over to Yuki and helped take some of the boxes.

Each one of them had a box yet Yuki still had a tower in her arms as she sat them down on the table.

(Yuki) “Whew, thank you! That was getting heavy!”

(Sara) “Are these chocolates?”

(Yuki) “Yup! I made these with Mercedes, Ashe, and Dedue! We made it for everyone in House Isekai!”

Yuki excitedly grabbed the boxes and handed them individually to the staff members.

(Byleth) “We appreciate it, but what’s the occasion?”

(Yuki) “Well, Fodlan seems to share the same calendar as most of us, and right now it’s February 14th! Which means its Valentine’s day! Normally these are given to the people you love in our world, so that’s why I’m giving it to everyone!”

(Byleth) “Valen...tine’s?”

(Cocytus) “AH, I BELIEVE I HAVE SOME KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THIS HOLIDAY. LORD AINZ HAS MULTIPLE ITEMS WITH THE NAME OF VALENTINES, RANGING FROM ARMOR TO WEAPONS WITH HEARTS ON THEM.”

(Sara) “...So, when you say hearts you mean-”

(Cocytus) “NOT ACTUAL HEARTS.”

(Sara) “Ok, figured. Just wanted to make sure, we never know with your group-”

(Towa) “A-Anyways! Yuki, thank you so much!”

(Megumi) “You still have a lot of boxes Yuki-chan, do you need our help?”

(Yuki) “Nope! I know you guys are really busy, so leave it all to me!”

(Sharon) “If that is what you wish. Again, thank you very much, Miss Yuki!”

Yuki saluted the staff and walked off with significantly less boxes in her arms.

Doomguy was the first one to open his box of chocolates.

It seemed fairly standard, heart shaped chocolates, but several appeared to be something similar to dog treats. They had the label “For Daisy.”

And more importantly, he had a note specifically for him.

“For Slayer: Thank you for being so nice, even though you can be really scary!”

Doomguy was seen smiling through his helmet as everyone else opened theirs.

“For Towa: Thank you for working so hard!”

“For Angelica: Thank you for not hitting on us!”

“For Cocytus: Thank you for teaching Kurumi how to fight!”

“For Sara: Thank you for looking out for us and Megunee!”

“For Sharon: Thank you for being House Isekai’s retainer!”

“For Byleth: Thank you for everything you’ve done for us!”

“For Megu-nee: Thank you for being the best teacher ever!”

Everyone looked back at the door smiling. Except Angelica.

(Megumi) “Yuki-chan...”

(Sara) “Hah, bet she’ll lighten someone’s day.”

(Angelica) “...Do I really hit on people that much?”

(Everyone) “Yes.”

Rest of House Isekai under the cut!

Abyss, Denizens of Nazarick’s Room

[Oath of Loyalty to the Supreme Being - OVERLORD OST]

After saying hello to Yuri and the other Ashen Wolves, they directed Yuki to where Ainz’s group was.

Ainz knocked on the door politely and waited.

There was no response for a minute before she heard something behind her.

Turning around, Demiurge was right in front of her, looking down.

(Demiurge) “Ah, Miss Takeya. To what do we owe the pleasure?”

(Yuki) “Valentine’s Day! I’m giving everyone some chocolates, including you Mister Demiurge!”

He took a moment to examine one of the boxes and sure enough, there were labels for each member, including Ainz.

Demiurge nodded and opened the door for her.

(Demiurge) “Right this way.���

As she followed Demiurge, she failed to notice that several members were now eyeing her suspiciously.

(Shalltear) “Oh, it’s her.”

(Aura) “Weird, Yuki’s got a lot of boxes.”

Demiurge stopped in front of Ainz, who was in the center of the room with Albedo, overlooking a war table of some sort.

Ainz looked at Demiurge, then at Yuki.

(Ainz) “I see we have a delivery.”

(Demiurge) “So it would seem, my lord.”

(Yuki) “Yup, I got a box for everyone here!”

This made Ainz curious. Yuki making something for them?

(Ainz) “Everyone, to the center of the room.”

Everyone in the room dropped what they were doing and followed Ainz’s instruction, getting on one knee.

Ainz grabbed a box and opened it up.

“For Ainz: Thank you for being a good friend to everyone, despite our differences!”

(Ainz) “Ah, a Valentine’s box.”

(Yuki) “Oh, you know what it is too, Ainz?”

(Ainz) Lots of Valentine’s events happened when I was playing Yggdrasil. Never cared too much about these since I never had a girlfriend or whatever but...eh. Made for fun collectables throughout the years. Why discard this one? “Yes, I do. Thank you very much.”

(Shalltear and Albedo) “WHAT?!”

[Shut up, lower life form - Overlord OST]

Ainz immediately noticed that they were frothing with rage.

(Ainz) Shit! That’s right, they think this is solely romantic! “AHEM! Do you have a problem with this gift, you two?”

(Albedo) “Of course, Lord Ainz! How could the man I love accept a gift so precious and romantic from...FROM HER OF ALL PEOPLE?!”

(Shalltear) “IT’S UNACCEPTABLE!”

(Ainz) You got to be fucking kidding me-

(Yuki) “Romantic? But these are friendship chocolates! I made everyone here friendship chocolates, including you two!”

(Ainz) Oh thank god.

Yuki grabbed their boxes and happily walked over to them.

Albedo and Shalltear looked at each other with an eyebrow raised, then opened the box.

Sure enough:

“For Shalltear: Thank you for protecting us when we’re in the Monastery!”

“For Albedo: Thank you for protecting us when we’re in battles!”

(Albedo & Shalltear) “...Oh.”

Demiurge, Aura, Mare, Sebas, Pandora’s Actor and the Pleiades got their chocolates as well.

“For Demiurge: Thank you for giving us the knowledge of Fodlan!”

“For Aura & Mare: Thank you for being someone the younger students of House Isekai can talk to!”

“For Sebas: Thank you for helping Sharon and the other staff out!”

“For Pandora’s Actor: Thank you for always making us laugh with your fantastic performances!”

“For the Pleiades: Thank you for keeping us safe!”

(Yuki) “Anyways, that’s all I wanted to do! Thank you for your time!”

Yuki bowed and quickly left the room.

Ainz slowly turned to Albedo and Shalltear, who started sweating.

(Ainz) “Of all the people to be skeptical of, you really chose Yuki...?”

S.E.E.S, Dormitory

[Iwatodai Dorm - Persona 3 OST]

(Minako) “Oh, hey Yuki-senpai!”

(Yuki) “Hello! Happy Valentine’s!”

Everyone turned to the door and saw Yuki unloading chocolates.

(Junpei) “Oh, sweet! Chocolates!”

(Yukari) “Jeez, the year flew by so fast!”

As Yuki handed the chocolates out, some of S.E.E.S spoke amongst themselves.

(Akihiko) “Can’t believe she’s the same age as us.”

(Mitsuru) “It is a bit weird, isn’t it?”

(Shinjiro) “Who cares how old she is? She’s more considerate than some people I know here.”

(Akihiko) “Hmph.”

(Koromaru) Bark!

(Aigis) “Yuki-chan, Koromaru wishes to have some chocolates.”

(Yuki) “Oh, sorry! I don’t think you can eat any of these, but don’t worry! We did make a tasty treat for you!”

Koromaru wagged his tail excitedly.

(Ken) “Thanks, Yuki-senpai!”

(Junpei) “I think this is the first time I’ve gotten chocolates from a girl-”

(Yukari) “Jeez, Stupei! Is that ALL you can think of right now?! This is obviously friendship chocolate!”

(Junpei) “Hey, what’s that supposed to mean? I was just makin’ an observation!”

(Fuuka) “A-Anyways, thank you so much!”

(Yuki) “Sure thing!”

(Minato) “...You could at least say thank you before stuffing your face, Minako.”

(Minako) “Huerh?Owhrite!Thamfkyu!”

Minato rolled his eyes and finally noticed the note written to him.

“For Minato: Thank you for being so nice!”

“For Minako: Thank you for helping Yuuri out with her problems!”

“For Fuuka: Thank you for helping me with tech problems!”

“For Junpei: Thank you for helping Kurumi how to fight better!”

“For Yukari: Thank you for teaching Miki how to use a bow!”

“For Mitsuru: Thank you for being smart to help us out in battle!”

“For Akihiko: Thank you for helping Kurumi train!”

“For Shinjiro: Thank you for teaching me how to cook!”

“For Aigis: Thank you for protecting us in battle!”

“For Koromaru: Thank you for playing with me!”

“For Ken: Thank you for your help with studying!”

(Yuki) “Okay, that’s it for this group, I have to go now!”

S.E.E.S waved her off as she left the dormroom.

(Minako) “Hah, being nice? That’s a first-”

(Minato) “Piss off.”

Investigation Team, Dormitory

[Signs of Love - Persona 4 OST]

(Teddie) “Hey, it’s Yuki-chan!”

(Yu) “Hey, what’s with the boxes?”

(Yuki) “Valentine’s!”

(Chie) “Jeez, that’s a lotta boxes! Here, lemme help you with that!”

(Rise) “Oh, that’s so nice of you, Yuki-senpai! Thanks so much!”

(Teddie) “Is...Is this a confession?! I don’t know what to say!”

(Yosuke) “It’s not a confession, idiot! It’s friendship chocolate!”

(Teddie) “Yikes! It was just a joke! Why do you sound so angry? What, do you have firsthand experience on getting nothing but friendship chocolate?”

(Yukiko) SNRK!

(Naoto) “Thank you for your gift, Yuki-senpai.”

(Kanji) “Cool, love chocolate! Thanks man!”

“For Yu: Thanks for always taking the time to help out Yuuri!”

“For Yosuke: Thanks for being like a big brother!”

“For Chie: Thank you for being like a big sister!”

“For Yukiko: Thank you for the gag glasses and making us laugh!”

“For Teddie: Thanks for always making me smile!”

“For Naoto: Thank you for spending time with Miki!”

“For Rise: Thanks for helping us with the Ball concert!”

“For Kanji: Thanks for teaching me how to knit cute animals!”

(Yuki) “Alright, I have a few more stops to make, catch you later!”

Everyone said goodbye as she walked out the room.

(Yosuke) “...Wait a second, when did you give Yuki gag glasses?!”

(Yukiko) “That would ruin the surprise!”

(Chie) “Ugh, great. I thought we got rid of all those by now...”

Phantom Thieves, Dormitory

[No More What Ifs (Instrumental) - Persona 5 Royal]

(Yuki) “Hello, Valentine’s delivery!”

(Akira) “Oh, it’s already Valentine’s?”

(Ann) “I didn’t even know Fodlan had one!”

(Makoto) “They most likely don’t, but they do share our calendar year. I suppose it makes sense for those from our world to celebrate it.”

(Ryuji) “Eff yeah, hand that stuff over!”

(Haru) “Oh, how thoughtful!”

(Yusuke) “Hm, it has been a while since I’ve had any food...”

(Futaba) “Dude, you get FREE food for being a student, how the heck have you not eaten?!”

(Morgana) “Hmph...Wish I could cook chocolate, then I could give mine to lady A-”

(Kasumi) “Thank you, Yuki-senpai!”

(Akechi) “...You know how I am and you’re still giving me chocolate? Ugh, fine whatever, hand it over.”

“For Akira: Thank you for being so fearless in fighting!”

“For Ann: Thank you for all the sweets you’ve shared with me!”

“For Ryuji: Thank you for teaching us how to run and fight better!”

“For Yusuke: Thank you for your wonderful paintings of our class!”

“For Morgana: Thank you for driving us all around Fodlan!”

“For Futaba: Thank you for playing video games with me and Kazuma!”

“For Makoto: Thank you for teaching me how to be a better student!”

“For Haru: Thank you for teaching us how to garden!”

“For Kasumi: Thank you for teaching us how to protect ourselves and jump out the way of danger!”

“For Akechi: Even though you don’t like a lot of us, me included probably, thank you for all that you’ve done for us!”

(Yuki) “Okay, 3 more groups to go, see you all around!”

(Akira) “How sweet of her.”

Akechi stared at his box, then shrugging, making no comment as he ate his chocolate.

Class VII, Dormitory

[Afterschool Hours - The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel OST]

(Emma) “Oh, hello Yuki!”

(Yuki) “Hello, I have Valentine’s chocolate for everyone!”

(Millium) “OOOH, CHOCOLATE! GIMME GIMME!”

(Fie) “Thanks.”

(Elliot) “Oh, thank you, Yuki!”

(Laura) “I believe this is the first time I’ve gotten something like this.”

(Machias) “It is very much appreciated.”

(Jusis) “You have my thanks.”

(Alisa) “Aww, thank you!”

(Gaius) “These don’t look half bad, thanks.”

(Crow) “Hell yeah, hand that good stuff over!”

(Emma) “Thank you!”

(Rean) “If you needed some help passing these out, we would’ve been glad to, you know!”

“For Rean: Thank you for everything that you do for House Isekai, don’t wear yourself out too much!”

“For Alisa: Thank you for teaching me how to use the bow!”

“For Elliot: Thank you for teaching us how to play music for the concert during the ball!”

“For Laura: Thank you for giving Kurumi combat lessons!”

“For Machias: Thank you for teaching Miki how to play chess!”

“For Fie: Thank you for teaching me how to nap anywhere!”

“For Gaius:  Thank you for teaching me how to paint!”

“For Emma: Thank you for teaching me how to be a better student!”

“For Jusis: Thank you for helping us out with the more physical chores!”

“For Millium: Thank you for always making us smile!”

“For Crow: Thank you for teaching me how to gamble!”

(Yuki) “Okay, two more to go! See you later!”

(Rean) “Crow...”

(Crow) “’Sup, Rean-bean?”

(Rean) “When did you teach Yuki-”

(Crow) “GOT TO GO.”

Konosuba Gang, Mess Hall

[You should have many companions - Konosuba OST]

Kazuma sat alone on the docks as he was fishing, Megumin, Darkness, and Aqua not too far behind, speaking to each other.

(Aqua) “Oh, hey Yuki!”

(Kazuma) “Yo.”

(Yuki) “I got chocolate for you four!”

(Megumin) “Oh, sweet!”

(Darkness) “Ah, thank you dear.”

(Kazuma) “Put it over here, yeah?”

Yuki nodded and gave everyone their chocolate.

“For Aqua: Thank you for your water tricks!”

“For Darkness: Thank you for always protecting us!”

“For Megumin: Thank you for casting the coolest explosions ever!”

“For Kazuma: Thank you for always being so nice to me. And to everyone when they really need it. I know you don’t get along with Kurumi well, but it means a lot that you try to.”

(Yuki) “Okay, I got 3 left! See you later guys!”

Kazuma didn’t say anything as he smiled, looking at the box.

He shook his head and continued fishing, putting a chocolate in his mouth.

(Kazuma) “...Being so nice, huh?”

School-Living Club, Dormitory

[Yasashisa ni Fureta Toki - Gakkou Gurashi OST]

(Yuuri) “Welcome back, Yuki-chan.”

(Kurumi) “Busy day, I take it?”

(Miki) “Are those boxes?”

(Yuki) “Yup, handed them out to everyone in House Isekai! I saved the best group for last!”

Yuki gave the final three boxes to them and smiled.

(Yuki) “Happy Valentine’s!”

“For Yuuri: Thank you for getting us through the hard times we had in our world, and for never failing to look out for us, even when it hurts yourself to..”

“For Kurumi: Thank you for protecting the three of us, from last world and even now.”

“For Miki: Thank you for becoming my friend, and for joining the School-Living Club.”

Yuuri put the chocolate down and smiled. She gave Yuki a hug, which Kurumi joined in.

(Kurumi) “Come on, not gonna join in?”

(Miki) “I-I think I’m good, thank you!”

(Kurumi) “GET OVER HERE-”

(Miki) “WAH!?-”

Kurumi reached over and had Miki join in the group hug.

Miki was flustered for a moment before just sighing and embracing her fate.

Yuki had a tear running down her eye as she hugged them back.

(Yuki) “W-Why...am I crying? We’re all together...So...Why...?”

(Everyone) “...”

Yuuri, Kurumi, and Miki hugged each other tighter as sniffles from Yuki were beginning to grow louder.

Megumi looked through the door and wanted to say something, but heard a voice behind her.

(Sara) “...You haven’t told Yuki what happened to you, yet?”

(Megumi) “...No. I’ve been trying to find the right time.”

She smiled at seeing her students safe. Even though she didn’t know Miki all too well, she was glad they had found another survivor.

That means there were still people alive other than them. There had to be.

(Sara) “Well, I won’t tell you when to speak to them but, if you don’t act, then you may lose that chance forever. Not many people get a second chance like you.”

Megumi stared at her arm where the infected’s bite used to be. It was thanks to Aqua that she didn’t turn.

(Megumi) “...Right.”

Sara smiled and hit Megumi’s shoulder.

(Sara) “Come on, let’s grab a drink together. We can complain about our single lives together this Valentine’s.”

(Megumi) “Huh? But that’s never been an issue for me-”

(Sara) “Tonight it will!”

Megumi sighed but smiled, it was going to be a lively night.

Yuki opened the door and saw Megumi walk off with Sara. She wanted to say something to her but instead just smiled.

(Yuki) “I can speak with Megunee later...”

Nodding, she walked through the dorms, humming to herself. Her Valentine’s day plan was a success.

Give something to the friends she loved.

[Harmonize Clover - Gakkou Gurashi OST]

The chit-chat on the way home It's girl's secret, right Even if the 5 o'clock chime rings We talk enough yet, I wonder why?

The small four-leaf clover Fu... swaying in the breeze Hey, of course, yes, of course Hope that tomorrow will be sunny

The road I walked with everyone "The usual place" is the watchword Ah... the sheep cloud that looks like going to be burnt Dazzling Some day, days like these Even if the memories fade Hey... A lot of smile I feel like to give it now

====

Guess this kinda gives away how I feel on Valentine’s, huh? 

To me, Valentine’s is a day where you give appreciation to the people you love. Friends, family, whoever means a lot to you.

So, this is kinda my lame way of saying I appreciate everyone who follows this blog.

If it weren’t for you guys, I wouldn’t have been able to make a blog of this caliber, write something that means so much to me, or even just have fun stupid ideas with ya’ll.

I’ve been writing on tumblr for a long while, but I think this is the first valentine’s where I’ve written something from the heart.

Being able to appreciate House Isekai, something I hold dear to me, with ya’ll.

I hope you all can appreciate this too, with many more posts to come, especially Shadowbringers!

Thanks for your support, love ya guys.

- Chris

[whatisthiswritingthing]

Observation Skills - Part One Lindsey Horan x Reader

I have posted this a few times, but the tags never show up... But let's try again!

Disappointed with her previous season in the NWSL, Lindsey starts training at a new gym  where she meets one of the trainers. 

Lindsey Horan wanted to be the best soccer player in the world and that meant putting in the work. Lindsey was willing to put in that work.

Unfortunately, that work meant being at the gym five A.M., six days a week.  The early wake up was hard, and definitely not enjoyed, but it was all worth it every time she stepped on the pitch, every time a medal was out around her neck. With a loss in the previous 2019 NWSL season, Horan was back in 2020 ready for a win.

This is how Horan found herself at the gym early every morning without complaint. She was back in Portland come January following national team camp, ready to put in the preseason work.

Horan found a new gym and a new trainer, the last thing she expected was to not only see someone else at the gym, but that someone else was always there before she even and her trainer got there. Her trainer, Sean, did not seem as surprised when they started Horans new program. Always giving her a sleepy smile and wave before beginning Lindseys workout.

Lindsey could not seem to be as dismissive of the other girl working out, her curiosity was peaked. Horan couldn’t help but wonder about the dedication of this other woman. The woman athletic, that much was a given based off her physique, she had long blond hair and steel blue eyes that cut through Lindsey every morning.

She was only two weeks into her new program and Lindsey could not understand why this woman was always on her mind, or why she started looking forward to seeing her every morning. They had never even spoken, just always seemingly making eye contact throughout their workouts. The other women always with a look of concentration on her face.

This morning was a little different though, the other blonde wasn’t already working out when Lindsey arrived at the gym.

“Yo! Was starting to think you weren’t showing up” Sean called out with a grin.

Horan glanced up from the start of her deadlift and saw the other blonde walking in the gym, again making eye contact.

“And miss out on seeing you?” the other blonde shot back with a smirk, continuing to a stationary bike to warm up.

Horan continued with her set of deadlifts, dropping the final lift with a grin.

“More weight?” Sean questioned, “I want to max out your deadlifts today.”

“Let’s do it,” Horan replied, grabbing more weight to add to her bar.

Lindsey and her trainer added more weight to other side before getting back into position for her lift.

“You got this Horan,” Sean motivated.

Lindsey took a breath, dropped her hips and started to pull the bar up. The weight raised slightly off the ground, but Lindsey dropped it before she could complete the lift. Lindsey stood with a frustrated sigh. Glancing to the other blonde on the bike, they made eye contact, Lindsey saw the focused looked on her face and quickly looked away.

“I can’t get it,” Lindsey said to her trainer with frustration.

“Go again,” Lindsey looked over to see the other blonde getting off the bike and making her way over.

“You have the strength, we just need to tweak your form a bit,” the blonde said.

“Can I help?” she questioned glancing first to Sean, then making eye contact with Lindsey.

“Of course,” Sean nodded.

Lindsey just nodded and made her way back to the bar.

“Awesome,” the blonde started, “set up like normal, but try with a switch grip.”

Lindsey set up like normal, changing her grip.

“Good, now roll your shoulders back and lock them in,” the blonde described.

Lindsey furrowed her eyebrow in confusion, glancing up.

“That didn’t make any sense, did it?” the blonde asked, while stepping closer, turning and demonstrating what she meant.

At the confused looked still on the midfielders face, the blonde stood and walked to the be beside her.

“Do you mind if I touch you?” the blonde questioned.

At Lindseys nod, the blonde placed a hand on her back, “set back up.”

The blonde guided the midfielder into the position she had described. Lindsey was surprised by the question, not used to trainers looking for consent first. She could feel the strength in the grip, but the gentleness as she was guided into position.

“Keep you back tight, keep your shoulder blades together and engage your lats the whole time,” she finished and stepped back, “try that.”

Lindsey followed the instructions and easily pulled the weight. She dropped the weight with a huge grin directed at the other blonde.

“Good work! Bet you could do even more,” she said with a smile, “I’ll leave you guys to it,”

“That’s why you get paid the big bucks,” Sean said with a smirk.

The blonde just rolled her eyes and turned to walk away.

“Wait, I’m Lindsey,” Horan put her hand out.

“Sara,” the blonde replied, reciprocating the handshake.

“Oh yea, guess I should have introduced you guys,” Sean said, rubbing the back of his neck, “Lindsey, this is Sara, she’s one of the trainers here. Sara, this is Lindsey.”

“Yeah, be better Sean,” Sara said, shoving him gently with a smile, “nice to meet you Lindsey. Let me know if you want a good trainer.”

With a wink Sara was putting her headphones back in and walking away.

“She’s a trainer, I have been trying to figure out who else is crazy enough to be here this early,” Lindsey said with a chuckle.

“Yea, Sara is good shit,” Sean replied, “one of the best trainers I’ve ever met. She trains most of the university teams”

“Should I be taking her up her offer?” Lindsey asked with a laugh.

“Honestly, I would not even be close to offended if you ditched me for her,” Sean agreed, leaving Lindsey surprised, “Sara really is one of the best.”

The trainer remained in the midfielders’ mind, periodically making eye contact throughout the rest of her workout. Now, Lindsey seemed to notice more about the blonde. She noticed the flex of her muscles and how defined her back was. As well as the confident way she walked around, but easily interacted with the other gym regulars, always putting a smile on their face.

By the end of her workout, Lindsey was exhausted and confused. Somehow, she both wanted to avoid Sara, but also wanted feel that confident touch on her back again and have Sara make her smile the way she made everyone else smile.

With a sigh she leaned her head back against the head rest in her car, only to drop her chin down to her chest. She knew what this feeling was, and it had definitely never been directed towards another woman.

Lifting her head, Lindsey put her car into gear and began to drive home. Her mind never stopping the whole time, arriving home before she knew what happened.

Gathering her bag, she made her way into her condo, being greeted by Fergie at the door. With sigh she bent down, picking him up and making her way to the couch. Laying down, with Fergie on her chest, Lindsey pulled her phone and called her best friend to try to attempt to sort her thoughts.

As she listened to it ring, Lindsey tried to figure out how and what she was even going to Emily.

“Linessi!” Emily Sonnett greeted as she picked up.

“I think I have feelings for one of the trainers at my gym,” Lindsey rushed out.

“Woah, slow down, say it again in a speed I can understand,” Sonnett laughed.

“Her name is Sara, she’s one of the trainers at the gym and I think I like her,” Lindsey tried again, slower.

Lindsey became anxious when Emily did not respond right away. But then realized her phone was indicting Emily was trying to switch to FaceTime.

Taking a steadying breath, Lindsey accepted the change to the call. Immediately seeing the face of her best friend.

“So, tell me about Sara,” Emily prompted.

“You’re not going to question that it is a woman?” Lindsey asked, shocked.

“Why would I? It doesn’t matter, all that matters are your feelings Linds. And when I can come back to Portland to meet her,” Emily replied honestly with a wink. As boisterous as Emily was, she knew when to hold off.

“Fuck, I miss you Dasani, that was exactly what I need to hear,” Lindsey let out a breath, feeling the tension leave her shoulders, allowing herself to sink further in the couch, feeling Fergie burrow into her neck.

“Good, I’m glad. Now tell me who has you so smitten,” Emily encouraged with a smile.

Lindsey started describing their interaction that morning, explaining how she thought she just enjoyed working out early but then learned today that she was a trainer.

“That doesn’t tell me anything about her other than she knows how to be a trainer,” Emily said with an eye roll, “tell me why you like her, you obviously noticed her before she helped you today.”

Lindsey blushed; Emily was too smart for her own good sometimes.

“She’s pretty, she has long blonde hair, I don’t know how long it is though, she always has it up when she’s working out. The softest blue eyes, they’re almost grey. And so strong, and she just looks strong, you know? She would put everyone to shame at fitness testing,” Lindsey rambled, unaware of how much she had noticed about the blonde.

“Oh! And she has tattoos, which are awesome, I haven’t gotten to really see them though. She just has a confidence about her too, but not arrogant. She was so casual coming over to help but made sure it was ok with both of us. And explained it so well to Sean without being condescending. She even asked if she could touch me before helping adjust me, who even does that?” Lindsey ended her ramble, looking back at her phone to see Sonnett grinning at her.

“So, you’re going to ask for her number tomorrow, right?” Sonnett asked.

“What? Not a chance, I’ll admire from a far.”

“Why? You seem pretty hooked already. And she works there, so she can’t ask you. At the very least, you need to talk to her in person then.”

“I don’t know how to hit on a girl Sonnett!”

“Just do the opposite as every creepy dude has ever done it to you and you’re golden. “

“You’re making it sound like this is so easy.”

“It is easy Linds, just talk to her, flirt a little, see if she responds and then ask for her number. I’m really sorry, but I have to head to my training now, we will continue this conversation later though”

With that, they said their goodbyes and disconnected the call.

Lindsey set an alarm for Thorns training in a couple, then dropped her phone on the coffee table, closing her eyes and snuggling with Fergie.

With a sigh, Lindsey decided she would attempt to get to know the blonde trainer.

[btsposties]

MATES (2) -M-

―pairings: Jungkook x Reader (this chapter), BTS x Reader

―genre: smut, mature, slight e2l, College!AU, werewolves!AU

―warnings: smut duh, foul language, dirty talk, boys being rough, grinding, choking, fingering, spanking, jealousy, teasing, marking kink, the boys can’t control themselves around you, idk smut.

―summary: The Bangtan boys, a clique of seven extremely good looking, rich, smart boys on campus, quite adored by females, except no one was able to really get close to them and past their brotherhood. You never truly bothered to get to know them, until that one fateful day where you discovered their secret. You tried to avoid them, but alas they could always sniff you out because the boys needed you. 

Let the hunt being.

―part (1)

tags: @ayujaded​ @toddsgirl27​ @mrcleanheichou​ @yeontanie21​ thanks for the support!

----

“Say that again?” the tallest male blinked and tilted his head, listening carefully to what the other male said. The members were all gathered in the living room of their grand house.

“I think we found an Alphas Mate” the owner of the deep voice repeated.

“Taehyung...” the tallest frowned, “You want me to believe that a mere powerless, fragile human is an Alphas Mate” he raised an eyebrow still unable to believe the other.

“For fuck’s sake Namjoon, Jimin almost screwed her brains out on the sofa, he was acting like a damn bitch in heat, no normal female human would get him like that” another male chipped in, “even Jungkook is whipped for her” he pointed at Jungkook who in turn just shrugged his shoulder.

“Yoongi please, this doesn’t make sense, please think logically.” Namjoon insisted. Never in his many years of being with countless females or even werewolves had he felt any raw animalistic urges to mark them as his mate, let alone even considering a human as a potential mate for life.

“But it is true, Namjoon, you have to believe me, I couldn’t control myself when I met her. I know I like flirting and playing around with females but she...” Taehyung paused and rubbed the back of his neck, frustrated that the Alpha wouldn’t believe him, “She was so beautiful. I felt like she was so perfect for us like she would fit right in, so challenging, so wild and free!” he exclaimed, the excitement clearly showing. 

“Calm down there pup, she isn’t yours,” Jungkook said in a firm tone, making Taehyung nervously shift in his seat. Jungkook looked at Namjoon who just sat there pondering at the possibilities of the existence of such humans. A human who could stir up even an Alpha werewolf’s heart.

“I guess I need to meet this Y/N that’s making the pack go wild” Namjoon finally decided that he had to see to believe and that the words of his excited brothers were just not enough proof. “It could just be the moon or the hormones, was she on her period or something?” he turned to Jimin.

The smaller and gentler looking werewolf chuckled, “No, I would’ve noticed on our previous encounter, trust me.”  he giggled at the last part, making the reason too obvious.

“Then I must go pay the little Y/N a visit sometime,” Namjoon murmured to himself.

----

You had been extremely cautious on campus ever since your little incident back at the Bantang household. You dreaded meeting Jimin or Taehyung again, afraid of how you might find yourself tangled in their hands again. You had just accepted the fact that you had learned of their secret- or at least that they weren’t normal humans and that they were surely going to contact you again. Damn, were they going to kidnap you? murder you? prey on you like what the wolf wanted to with Little Red? did they have some magical powers that could erase your memories? “Holy shit, I’m fucked.” you barely whispered out loud.

“Why are you just staring at your lunch? I can always have it if you don’t want any” Jackson, your best friend waved his hand in front of your eyes, hoping you would come back. “What’s gotten into you lately?”

You let out a sigh, “It’s...nothing really, I’m just overthinking things” you took another bite of your peanut butter and jelly sandwich, lately, you just couldn’t find your appetite, mind preoccupied with Bangtan scared that they might show up the next corner you took, “I hope” you sighed again.

And just like that, two whole weeks had passed. Maybe you really were just being way too paranoid. Maybe they decided to leave you alone since you never spilled their secret. An implicit agreement of we won’t kill you if you don’t speak sort of thing. You decided that was most likely what had happened and felt like you should go back to your usual life without worries.

You walked into your most hated course of the semester, not because of the teacher or the subject, after all, it was just an ethics course that almost everyone had to take at some point. All you had to do was sit in class, read and hand in whatever work the teacher wanted you to write about. The reason for your hatred was because although you only had this class once every week, you shared the same room and roof as her - Sara. The annoying bitch that for some reason couldn’t keep her loud self to her side of the room.

“Huh, so it is true,” you heard her say. Great, here we fucking go again... you rolled your eyes and turned the opposite way from the source of the voice, the girl sitting next to you looked at you and shook her head almost taking pity.

You could hear the loud clacking of Sara’s heels, who wore heels every day to class anyway? “What do you want?” you deadpanned wanting this encounter to end as soon as possible.

“You see...” she sing-sang as she approached and stood in front of your seat, putting one of her palms on the desk and flipping her hair with the other hand. “There’s this little birdy that told me that you, Y/N, went to Bangtan’s house alone and fucked one of the guys,” she giggled and looked around the room, trying to catch everyone's attention.

“And where would you get that baseless rumor from?” you raised your voice challenging her, she was known to be a troublemaker, thus not a lot of people really believing the garbage that came out her mouth. Deep inside though, you were shitting bricks, did someone actually see you? the only one that knew was Jackson and no one else, and you knew that boy was loyal.

“Oh Y/N, someone saw you and of course, they told me. And now I’m telling the whole class!” Sara exclaimed and clasped her hands together clearly enjoying this, “So I guess it is true, isn’t it? You went to their house.”

You felt irked, why was she so annoying? You weren’t the type to be stepped on either, so you took a deep breath and readied yourself for chaos.

“Yep, so what of it?” you smiled.

Sara’s eyes widened a bit, not expecting you to admit that publicly, she then smiled, “did they give you their number? call you back? contact you again?”

You shook your head, thankfully.

“Then I guess they didn’t like you huh?” she continued and you raised an eyebrow at her statement because Jimin sure as hell looked like he was enjoying himself back then. “They dumped you just like the other girls, one fuck and forever dumped” she added.

Oh.

Ooooh.

Now everything makes sense. 

As if everything in the puzzle finally fit together, you finally made sense as to why the boys hadn’t shown up since then. That must be it. The rumor was true then, you were just another girl they fucked -or almost- and dumped. You let out a small relieved sigh confusing Sara. You were glad that they weren’t out there plotting to kidnap you for knowing their secret, they were just bored of you and since you had kept your mouth shut, they let you free. Right? 

Right?

Sara pursed her lips together, not liking the way you were ignoring her attempts at ruining your day, “I would feel so bad knowing that I did so badly in bed” she cleared her throat trying to get you to react to her.

“Right.” You hummed.

Sara frowned, she wasn’t satisfied with your reaction. You, on the other hand, could give no shits about childish Sara at the moment, too happy to finally have your mind at true peace. Just as Sara was about to say something else, the professor entered the room and asked everyone to sit down, making the upset Sara cross her arms and stomp back to her seat.

----

You were so preoccupied with texting Jackson and sharing your little feud with Sara as you walked down the halls that you had failed to notice the tall male that stood still staring at you as you approached his way. Face glued on the phone and to no one's surprise, you crashed against the body, the person's solid chest making you smack your phone to your face. Ah- Dammit, not again... you took a step back and rubbed your hurt nose while putting your phone away.

“My bad” you offered a dry smile.

“Y/N” he smiled showing his dimples.

“Hm? Yeah, do I know you?” You analyzed the male in front of you, his hair was combed up and dyed ash silver, sun-kissed skin, around 1,80. He wore very casual clothes: loose gray t-shirt ripped jeans and sneakers. It would be a lie if you didn’t admit that he was very attractive.

“N-, Y-yes? Maybe? I’m not sure...technically no, heh.” He looked down flustered and for a second you could’ve sworn that he was blushing slightly, “I’m Namjoon, nice to finally meet you Y/N” he extended his hand to shake yours.

You took his hand and shook it lightly, shy at first but then slightly confused. It wasn’t too rare for guys to ask you out or try to get your number but something about him seemed different, he spoke to you as if he really knew about you. The man called Namjoon must have sensed your confusing state, so to get things going, he moved to the side gesturing you to keep going on your way.

“So, how have you been?” surprisingly, the male decided to keep walking next to you, slowing down his pace every few steps so he wouldn’t get too ahead of your short steps. Honestly, you couldn’t help but find this cute. “I was wondering perhaps you would like to talk for a bit, somewhere more private?” 

Is he a stalker? am I in danger? You pondered, honestly weirded out at what Namjoon had suggested, you had no reason to go somewhere more “private” with him. “Uh, Namjoon... I don’t know you. Honestly, this is so stranger danger to me.” you said bluntly, cutting the bullshit.

“Huh. Guess I need to hang around a bit more around campus then...” he murmured to himself, you were still unsure on whether or not you should let your guard down in front of the handsome male. Suddenly he let out a laugh, taking you a bit by surprise.

“Okay then, if that’s all then I need to be on my way...” you waved goodbye as you picked up your pace, wanting to get away from him. There was something strange about him that you just weren’t sure what it was, your safest choice was to keep a distance from him.

Namjoon sighed, “I know that you know, Y/N” his voice dropped a few octaves as you slowly registered what he meant, you felt your heart drop and cold sweat breaking as you came to the realization of what he was referring to. You turned around wide eyes. It can’t be...no, I thought this was over.

“W-what do you mean?” you stuttered as you saw how Namjoon’s expression turned from friendly to serious, his stare piercing you, almost too intimidating. The man started to walk towards you, hands tucked in his jean pockets. 

Namjoon towered you, definitely. Eyes looking at you fiercely, one of his hands coming up to caress your cheek with the back of his fingers, “Y/N, the boys told me that they went crazy for you. I mean both Jungkook and Jimin? Taehyung I understand, he’s...easily excitable...” he trailed off and tilted your head slightly to the side exposing your neck, “You smell sweet, I guess that’s different from others...” he mumbled to himself.

Your breath hitched, unsure of what to do. This man, this Namjoon guy knew Jungkook, Jimin, and even Taehyung. He knew that you knew about them, was he one of the Bangtan? You weren’t sure you had seen him around, what did he want? Your mind was all over the place, nervous and yet curious about what was to happen as you listened to Namjoon. Something about him captivated you.

“Let’s go home Y/N,” he said and grabbed your hand, taking you to what you assumed would be the Bangtan household, to what he would call home. “We need to talk, all of us.”

You followed.

----

You weren’t sure why you followed Namjoon, you should’ve run for it, called Jackson, the police, your mom, oh how would she have screamed at you for not listening to your stranger danger radar. Yet here you were, getting out of Namjoon’s expensive Audi who-knows-what model sports car, you weren’t too knowledgable in that area. You were however somewhat familiar with the grand house you were about to enter, your last adventure with Jimin flashing past you as you saw the sofa, this time the house looked clean and organized.

“Y/N!” you heard a male shout as you entered the house, you looked up to find the familiar boxy smile man coming out of his room and greeting you from the second-floor balcony that looked over the living room and entrance. You smiled at him, he must have used his sharp senses and noticed that you were here- 

Oh, right...oh god, you had just willingly entered a house full of non-humans, why do you make such poor choices in life? Is this okay? was this it? Was this how you would die, in the hands of seven beautiful men?

“I need to send my location first” you announced just in time for everyone to hear. The rest of the Bangtan Boys were gathering in the living room some faces familiar, some not. You took your phone out and texted Jackson: I’m at the wolves den. Bangtan boys invited me over, I willingly stepped into this house again...curse their charms and good looks. Pray for me.

You could hear a loud and cheerful laugh coming from a brown-haired male as you sent the text to your friend. You looked up to find him trying to hold back his laughter, “We won’t hurt you, trust me, if any of us did anything to you the Alphas would have their fangs on our throats” he chuckled, you could notice that he had a very loud and bright personality.

“Okay, listen, I’m sorry I found out about your secret, I’m sure you don’t feel safe with me knowing...but I actually came here to say that I won’t tell anyone, I haven’t and I have no need to.” You turned to the unknown faces and smiled, “I don’t have anything to gain from that” you assured.

You were standing in the middle of the room, the seven boys all surrounding you, listening. Their expressions unchanging, as if focusing on something else and not on what you were saying.

“This human is the one?” a small-framed very fair-skinned male asked, “I’m not quite convinced, sure she’s banging from head to toes, she looks like she has personality but an Alpha’s Mate? not too sure about that” he slurred his speech, “didn’t you say you jumped her when you saw her, huh lover boy?” he pointed at Taehyung, your eyes turned to him horrified. Just what had they been talking about without your knowledge?

Taehyung nodded and Jimin came forward, “Now, don’t go all denying the fact that you all don’t smell her” Smell you? did you stink? You were uncomfortable with his remark, “She smells so sweet, I can’t describe it, it makes me go crazy even now” he winked at you and smirked. You rolled your eyes, you hated when they treated you like that, all superficial charms and empty words, you were too used to it.

All eyes were on you, their pupils dark, you felt like hopeless prey in front of them. Looking around the room you decided that you didn’t want to be the center of attention anymore and eyed the empty seat next to Jungkook and went to it, “Okay, you wanted to talk right Namjoon? Let’s talk!” you smiled nervously as you settled next to Jungkook who held his breath and lowered his head.

Namjoon observed the pack’s reaction to your presence, amused at the way Jungkook had just reacted now. He watched how the youngest of them let out a deep breath before leaning back on the sofa and turning to stare at your side profile. Meanwhile, in your seat, your hands slightly brushed against Jungkook’s when you went to push your long hair back behind your ears, a nervous habit of yours. Immediately you felt the strange sensation on your hands once again, it traveled up your arm and made your heart pound. Am I having a stroke or something? You touched your forehead anxiously checking for fever or sweating. Anything really that could explain the tingling.

“Y/N, let me introduce you to the pack as one of the Alpha’s,” Namjoon finally felt like easing the tense atmosphere, “We are a pack of werewolves, nothing too different from your species honestly, just stronger, better looking, faster...you could say that we are more enhanced humans” he explained.

“We also turn into big bad wolves” a male you have yet to be introduced to joked, “think of us as humans that sometimes act like canines who may or may not turn to big dogs when too emotional.”

You sat there trying to take everything in, time flew by as each member tried to chime in and tell you about their species although honestly, this was too much for you to take in. You turned to Namjoon when he loudly clapped two times to gather everyone’s attention.

“Okay okay, so let’s wrap this up it’s getting late for Y/N, I’m sure she has plenty of information she needs to take in,” Nanjoon proceded to point at Jimin and introduced every member to you, “That’s Jimin, you know him. That’s the oldest Jin. Yoongi, he’s a bit snarky but you’ll like him. Taehyung, no need to say anymore. This is Hoseok, he’s quite hyper. Then there’s me Namjoon and finally...” Namjoon looked at the figure next to you. Your body too aware of his presence.

“Jungkook” you breathed out and turned to face the male. His stare was piercing, lips slightly curling into a smirk as he reached out to gently hold a strand of your hair and letting it slip past his fingers.

“Nice to see you again love” Jungkook whispered to you.

“He’s the youngest, a bit tough and hard to read sometimes but deep down he’s a softie” Namjoon teased and received an Aish, Hyung from the younger one. “We have many things to discuss with you but we need time, I just want to make sure however that you know the following things...” the Alpha’s expression turned serious and everyone in the room quieted down.

“One: You cannot and must not tell others about us.” You nodded.

“Two: We are not the only ones of our kind, obviously.” You gulped and nodded, never really having thought about it. Were you hanging out with other werewolves without knowing?

“Three: Bangtan is not like the other packs, we are quite...unusual” you raised an eyebrow curiously, “Do you know what an Alpha is?” he asked you.

You gave it a thought, “Well, I guess it’s the leader? Of the pack? I guess” Namjoon hummed approvingly of your response.

“In a simple way yes. It’s the one that leads a pack, the dominant one.” his eyes slightly shifted to your left, your eyes following the direction of his gaze. “Bangtan...” he sighed, “Bangtan has three Alphas,” he said with slight annoyance in his tone.

“So you mean...Jungkook is an Alpha...” you reached the conclusion since Namjoon didn’t leave the gaze off the younger one even though he was talking to you. He must be referring to him as one of the Alphas, you thought.

Namjoon nodded, “and the third one is our lovely Jimin, though he might not really act like one. Don’t let him fool you.” Namjoon set his sight on you again, “Packs are not supposed to have more than one leader do you know what I mean Y/N?”

“N-not really...”

“We will decide and must decide who the top dog is” you sensed the tension in the air, this must be a sensitive issue for the pack. You weren’t sure why he was telling you this information.

“Y/N, you’ll help us” Jimin’s soft voice filled the room and the contents in your stomach turned, feeling a bit nauseous you frowned at Jimin, almost asking him to rephrase what he had said because your ears couldn’t believe him.

“I think I’ve overstayed” you got up and scrambled to grab your bag and headed towards the door, “This is not my problem, I appreciate that you guys trust me, but this is just too much, I won’t tell anyone but please keep me out of this.” your hands reached for the door handle only to have a large warm hand grab your wrist and stop you.

Your eyes opened wide, still not used to the superpower shenanigans that the boys were capable of doing, you pulled your hand away and looked at the owner of the hand that stopped you. Jungkook. 

“Y/N, let me take you home.” 

“No thanks, I’m fine.” you opened the door and it was dark outside, realization hitting you that Namjoon had been the one to give you a ride and that you were going to have to walk back home alone at dark in a very lonely neighborhood, it was at least half an hour walk. You pressed your lips together and took a deep breath, you had to do this, it’s too late to turn back, you weren’t going to embarrass yourself asking them for another ride after being the one to rush out.

“I wasn’t asking you,” Jungkook said dryly and stepped outside with you, he took out the car key and the same Audi sports car flashed its lights and unlocked itself. “Let’s go” he grabbed your hand and guided you to the car. The hand that Jungkook held felt incredibly hot and tingly, you blushed at the thought of holding his hand and settled in the passenger seat trying to ignore the rise in your body temperature.

“It wouldn’t be too crazy to assume you already know where I live”

“Yep,” Jungkook admitted. Of course they knew, they had probably investigated everything about you by now.

The first few minutes of the car ride was awkward. Pure silence and the sound of the car moving to its destination. Your hands holding tightly onto the seatbelt, unsure of what to. Next to you, Jungkook’s eyes were focused on the road, once in a while, you could hear him sniffle. “You can just leave me on the other side of the road so you don’t have to turn around-”

“Nah” Jungkook responded.

“I just don’t want my neighbors to see me come out of this flashy car, they’ll think I’m with a pimp or something” you almost facepalmed hard at the lame excuse. 

Jungkook turned to you and you could feel he was judging hardcore, “Y/N...” he frowned, “just what kind of reputation do you have with your neighbors? Getting out of a nice car doesn’t mean you pimped yourself out that doesn't make sense.”

You opened your mouth to refute but he was right, you sighed, “I...just feel a bit uncomfortable here, you’re just- you’re impossibly intimidating Jungkook.” you confessed eyes straight on the road.

Jungkook couldn’t help but chuckle, “Am I really?” he turned to you once more, this time his expression different, mischief in his eyes.

“Are you serious? You’re just so quiet, and tall, to me at least. Big and everything I see you wear is black! You also look like you’re ready to break someone's face if you wanted to just for the fun of it.” 

Jungkook looked down at his clothes. Yep, black hoodie, black cargo pants, black boots, black hair. He almost laughed at your comment. “Well damn Y/N, now that you say it, I see what you mean!” he smiled amusingly, corner of his eyes wrinkling a bit. Your heart almost jumped out of your body.

“Plus, you guys don’t exactly have the best reputation around, especially with women” you added, “I’m not sure why you guys want me to help, I really don’t wish to involve myself in any Twilight Jacob werewolf-vampire dispute or whatever problem you guys have.”

Jungkook frowned, “Vampires don’t exist.” 

“Oh, but werewolves do?” you deadpanned.

“Yeah, well- not the types from romance novels, those kind vampires don’t exist.” he rubbed the back of his neck slightly uncomfortable with the topic, “As for werewolves, it’s complicated.”

“Complicated is an understatement,” you rolled your eyes, this conversation was ridiculous. Part of you just couldn’t believe the monsters you thought were fictional were very much real and breathing next to you. The other part of you very much so believed it all, after all, you had personally witnessed the powers. 

“Do you like scratches?”

“Huh?” Jungkook almost stopped driving, unsure if he understood your question, “what do you mean?”

“You’re a dog right?”

“Wolf. Werewolf. Part wolf.” he corrected you as saw a small pout forming on his lips not really liking you comparing his species to a regular household canine.

“Same thing, so do you?” you didn’t know what had gotten into you but your curiosity was getting best of you, you had to know now the answer, you didn’t wait until Jungkook verbally gave you an answer and reached out to him. You put your hands behind his ear, your fingers slightly tangling with a few strands of his hair and gave it a go.

Immediately, Jungkook tilted his head to the side, “stopstopstop” he giggled, “y/n this is dangerous, I’m driving!” he was trying to hold in his laughter. You pulled your hand away satisfied with the confirmation of your thoughts and burst out laughing.

“You can’t tell the others about this” he gave you sheepish smile.

For a second you were lost at the sight of this Jungkook, it was different and new seeing him show a softer side of him. You hadn’t noticed that he actually had very soft yet manly features: big doe eyes that you just discovered now that you had taken a good look at him- they weren’t that intimidating now that he wasn’t looking so serious, thin upper lip, his longish dark hair just reaching below his eyes. He looked very youthful, playful, innocent-like even.

“Stop staring so much, or I can’t promise I’ll control myself before I get you home if you keep this up” his words smacked you right back to reality. You whispered a quiet sorry and wanted to hide, Jungkook had just caught you staring.

“I wasn’t staring. I was just...taking in details of your face” you lied, “not every girl is dying to get in your pants Jeon.” you frowned.

Jungkook smirked slightly unable to hide his enjoyment, he set an arm on the window sill and rubbed his lips, he sucked in a bit of air through his mouth and looked at you sideways tilting his head back a bit, “Am I really just that handsome?” he raised and dropped one eyebrow cockily. 

You couldn’t help but burst out laughing at his silly expression, of all the things that could happen you didn’t picture yourself laughing with Jungkook during the car ride, both of you giggling at his endless exaggerated meme-able expressions showing you how “handsome” he could be. You were laughing uncontrollably the whole time this happened, truly comfortable with the Bangtan member. Maybe they were decent people after all.

“Jesus stop Jungkook! Focus on the road!” you laid your hand on top of Jungkook’s, giggling and his grip on the staring wheel tightened, his eyebrows furrowed and you let out an audible gasp. It was as if there was a spark when your hands touched. You immediately pulled your hand away and held it close to you dumbfounded as tingling started to take over it.

“I-i think I’m showing signs of heart attack or stroke, I don’t know, my hand...” you nervously spoke. Jungkook, on the other hand, slowed down and steered to the side of the road and parked the car on the almost empty street. He sighed before turning to look at you.

“Jungkook, I’m worried. It keeps happening whenever I’m around you guys or I don’t know if it’s a coincidence but i-”

“Calm down Y/N” Jungkook cooed, grabbed both hands and lowered them down, “Please, breathe” he whispered with concerned eyes. He could hear your heart quickly picking up the pace and you panicked, “trust me, it’s not something bad, just breathe, don’t panic.”

You took a deep breath in...and a deep breath out while looking at his lowly dimmed face. His hands felt very warm holding yours and although there was a tingling sensation, there was no pain or any other symptoms, your heartbeat going back to a steady and normal rhythm, your panic most likely the reason for its rapid beating. You somehow managed to calm down while doing breathing exercises with Jungkook, who watched you carefully the whole time.

“Looks like your hearts back to normal” he smiled, “you’re not having any sort of heart attack, you just panicked” his thumbs rubbed calming circular motions on your palm, “this tingling that you feel Y/N, I feel it too.”

“You do?” He nodded.

“It’s a sign,” he whispered lowly almost inaudible, “that we’re meant to be.”

He looked at you with half-lidded eyes, his gaze so soft and sincere that your body started to react to him on its own. Jungkook’s gaze dropped to your lips and he slowly leaned his body in, also acting on instincts. As if you could feel his very warm body heat spread over, you also started to feel the warmness in your cheeks as you could feel his face draw closer and closer. You felt like you were under a spell.

“Jungkook...” you mumbled and he stopped his movement immediately, his eyes traveled to yours as if waiting for permission to continue and you responded by lowering your shy gaze down to his lips, you weren’t sure if this was correct, you weren’t completely registering what was happening as you were mere seconds from kissing Jungkook. And it happened.

His soft lips touched yours lightly, lips slowly exploring yours, almost scared of hurting you or perhaps he was giving you a chance to back away before it was too late. But you gave in, you leaned forward and responded to his kiss by deepening it, intensifying it and Jungkook loved it.

“God you’re driving me mad right now” Jungkook pulled away to look at your expression, your half lid eyes were staring back at him, your lips slightly parted and breathing heavily. Your face truly begging for more and it was costing Jungkook inhumane self-control to not just take you right there. He cupped your cheek and his thumb caressed it as you melted into his touch, he was being so gentle with you that you just didn’t know how to coherently respond to his actions.

“I should get you home now” he whispered and left a kiss on your forehead, you both settled back in your seats, Jungkook once again focused on the road and you on the warmness on your forehead on the place his lips had touched. Your whole face was heating up, you hadn't said a peep, the mind too preoccupied replaying everything that you had failed to notice that you were home.

Jungkook got off along with you and stood next to you as you were a nervous wreck trying to open the door to your home. “Jackson’s not home?” he finally spoke.

You nodded and opened the door, the familiar smell of your house invading you. Coffee and food, mixed in with the lavender smell from the air freshener. “Do you want anything to drink?” you asked as you took off your shoes and settled your bag on the counter.

Jungkook didn’t expect you to invite him in, all he wanted to do was really make sure you were home safely. He looked around the house, it was pretty normal, not too messy yet organized in its own way. It suited you. He took a step in and closed the front door making sure to lock it.

“Water is fine, I’ll stay until Jackson’s back” you hummed as you went over the fridge and passed him a cold bottle of water. You told him to make himself at home, turned on the tv and that you were going to change into something more comfortable.

Oh god, why did I invite him in? It just happened so fast I couldn’t stop myself, he did give me a ride, this is just a small thank you- You spoke to yourself as you quickly put on your usual home clothes. A thin, loose, very worn out t-shirt and pajama shorts. You rushed out of your room not wanting to keep Jungkook awkwardly alone in your living room on his own for too long.

“Y/N”

“Yeah?” 

“Do you usually wear that at home?” Jungkook frowned eyeing you from head to toes and stopping his gaze at your chest. Oh. You froze in the hallway as you were making your way to the living room, and stared back at Jungkook who was sitting on the sofa eyes glued on you.

“I can see your tits poking, y/n” Jungkook was an honest man.

“STOP STARING” you shouted and covered yourself. Out of habit, you had taken your bra off when you had changed, a routine you did every day at the end of the day. As you were about to turn around and head to wear something more proper, you felt something pull you back and stop you on your tracks.

Turning around you realized it was Jungkook, again using his insane speed to get to you. “Does Jackson get to see you walk around the house like this every day?” his tone was low, dark, he almost sounded mad.

“No- Yes- Maybe?...” you stepped back and Jungkook stepped forward. You were clearly trying to put some distance between you now that you felt exposed, but he didn’t quite get the message through. You couldn’t help but blush at the fact that Jungkook was staring at you, knowing that just a flimsy fabric was keeping him from seeing your direct skin. 

It’s not like it was the first time a man admired your body or that you hadn’t been with a man...It’s just the fact that it was the Jeon Jungkook that was the one that was staring you down, he somehow made you feel flustered.

“Stay back. I don’t like it when you guys get too close to me.” He continued stepping forward.

“Why not?” he paused and tilted his head to the side waiting for your answer.

“I- It’s weird, I don’t know, I can’t control myself. YOU guys can’t keep your hands to yourself” Jungkook lips slightly curled up, he found your flustered self cute.

He continued to corner you until your back was facing the end of the corridor, he looked very composed, confident, unlike you. His big innocent doe eyes no longer there when his hand reached to touch your lips. 

“Show me what he sees every day” he whispered leaning down next to your ears.

Your body was on fire, there was something about Jungkook that made you so attracted to him despite barely knowing him. You gulped nervously and lowered the arm that was covering your breasts, you immediately felt your sensitive nipples perk up and rub against the fabric, clearly visible through the shirt.

Jungkook took a deep breath in, “Jesus Y/N, look at yourself” his hand went down to cup your breast and gave the nub a few circles with his thumb, “you should at least be considerate with your roommate, how much self-control do you think humans have?” his hot breath was on your neck, his hand gently fondling your breast before he rested both his hands on your hips. 

He was right, you hadn’t realized how uncomfortable this could’ve been for Jackson, maybe he hadn’t said anything because this was your house after all. You saw him as a really close friend you could trust and he was very respectful of your space so you had never once realized that your comfort could be a discomfort to others.

You gasped when you suddenly felt Jungkooks large hands get under your shirt and grab your breasts harshly, “Don’t go thinking about others when I’m right here Y/N” he warned, “focus on your Alpha” you let out a moan when he pinched your nipple as a form of punishment. You felt your lower region tighten and wetness on your panties, you were so incredibly turned on by the way he was showing his dominance over you, you didn’t know you had this kink.

His lips claimed yours once again, this time the kiss was more intense, both of you desperate and holding onto each other while you paused to take a breath, “Wheres your room?” he asked breath shaking and you pointed to the room to your left. It didn’t take a second for Jungkook to barge right in as he pulled you in along with him.

He held your thighs and lifted you up easily and you wrapped your legs around his waist, kissing him as he walked towards your bed. He dropped you down and stayed above you never once leaving your lips, you moaned into the kiss when you felt him grind his hips right between your legs, you could very much feel his length hard against your clothed core.

“Y/N, tell me if you don’t want this” he mumbled as he lifted your shirt up and left small kisses around your chest, he then took your breast into his mouth and gave your nipple a bite and pulling it with his teeth, you hissed at the mix of pain and pleasure. He continued to devour you, leaving kiss marks all along your breasts and every once in awhile biting down harshly, you were sure you were going to be covered in marks the next day. “Tell me Y/N” he asked again.

“J-Jungkook!” you could only moan in response to his treatment, there was no way you were able to give him a coherent answer and he knew it, he was only having fun with you. Jungkook never gave you a chance to rest or to process anything, his lips, and hand touching you all over never giving you a chance to catch your breath. You felt his weight off you for a second only to be drowned again in pleasure when you felt his slender fingers slide between and over your clothed core.

“You look so beautiful to me right now” Jungkook whispered as his fingers slowly slid up and down, he stopped at your dripping core and slightly pressed in, teasing you, making you wish he had taken your shorts off so you could feel him inside, “God, the faces you make when I touch you like this.”

He added even more pressure and your back arched, hands grabbing onto the bedsheets and moaning out his name. You moved your hips to get more friction, to have his touch all over your pussy, you wanted release, you wanted him inside, you just weren’t sure what you wanted anymore but you needed more of Jungkook.

“Please, please just fuck me already” you finally begged him as you held onto his arm, your hips never stopping as you chased after your orgasm. Jungkook’s breath hitched and he completely pulled away and stood in front of you, admiring the messed estate you were in.

“Take it off and show me your pretty little cunt” he took his shirt off and you could’ve sworn you felt yourself wet even more. Jungkook looked at you in a very erotic and cocky expression, his eyes full of lust. He licked his lips and growled as you took your shorts and panties off together, revealing your wet dripping core to him. You bit your bottom lip and started to slowly, teasingly touch yourself for him, you parted your folds and showed your glistening core to the man before you, showing how your pussy was aching to have something inside.

It took every ounce of self-control for Jungkook to not jump you right then, but he didn’t because he too also enjoyed the teasing game. He slowly pulled his pants down enough to reveal his clothed member. Your eyes followed his every movement, you gulped when you saw how big he looked. “You think your pretty little pussy can take me?” he taunted you palming his cock. 

You nodded and circled your clit with your slender fingers, letting out a small moan trying to seduce him over, you could hear the wet sounds your fingers made as they rubbed against your dripping cunt.

“Fuck yourself, show me,” Jungkook ordered and your body obeyed. You slid two fingers in and arched your back, hissing as you felt a bit of burn, you started to slowly pump your fingers in and out of you while letting out small whimpers. 

“Just look at that cunt taking in those fingers so well, keep going, stretch yourself more or it’ll hurt when I fuck you,” he praised you as he stood there watching, he pulled his boxers down and his thick member pop out, he let out a groan as he started to slowly stroke himself spreading the precum all over his cock.

“God, please come here” you begged as you saw the glorious figure masturbate in front of you, “Jungkook, fuck me” your fingers headed for your clit as you rubbed hard on the nub, raising your hips as you edged near your orgasm, “please, please” you whimpered desperately. 

Jungkook snapped.

He lunged forward and crawled on top of you, lips crashing into yours for a messy kiss, his hands all over you, grabbing your breasts harshly and giving them a slap making your skin go red, you winced at the pain and pulled away from his lips, “I’m so close” you warned him and he pulled your hand off your cunt. You let out a gasp when you felt your orgasm fade away due to the lack of stimulation, “What are you-”

“I’ll have your first orgasm” he whispered hotly in your ear and flipped you on your stomach, he pulled your hips and easily put your ass in the air with his strength, your stomach filled with butterflies as you loved how you were being manhandled. 

“Fuck!” you cursed when his hand suddenly came in contact with your ass. The sound resonating in the whole room, “That hurt-” before you were done saying the sentence, his hand came down on your skin once again.

“I’m punishing you for teasing me so much” his tone was low, he grinned when you told him to not slap your skin so hard, “Can’t you take a bit of pain, my love?” he asked as his hands caressed the now bright red skin, trying to ease the stinging, “Sorry, sometimes I forget humans are so fragile” he went for another slap, this time much gentler. 

“Please stop teasing me” you softly asked with your face to the side pressed on the pillow, “I can’t take it anymore.”

“Impatient aren’t we? I’ll reward you this time.” he kissed your flush ass cheek, “for putting up with my teasing.”

His hands were on your hips again as he flipped you around, he propped your legs open and slid two fingers inside you without warning, your eyes widened and you gasped at the sudden intrusion. His larger fingers filling you up more and reaching in deeper than your own. He started out with a merciless pace, wet sounds filling your room as he helped you reach your high.

His lips roamed your body leaving kiss marks all over until he just like the other Bangtan stopped at your neck, he gave a long sensual lick, sending goosebumps all over your body, you could feel his lips curl into a smile and you heard a small chuckle, he must really be enjoying your reactions to his every touch. He pulled his fingers out and slid his middle and ring finger back in, you held your breath knowing all too well what was about to happen.

Just as you were about to protest that you weren’t going to be able to take it so roughly, you felt his other hand make it’s way to your neck, his long fingers wrapping around your thin neck, getting a good grip around it he tightened his hold. “Jungkook!” you gasped when you felt your airway tighten, his lips traveled to your ears as he filled your head with filthy sweet nothings making you blush harsh as you imagined it all.

“Can my bitch come all over my fingers for me?” he pressed his whole body onto you, trapping you under his hold, he gave your breast a kiss and the other nipple a bite and pulling it, your back arched at the pain, your whole body on sensory overload, the whole time Jungkook pumping his fingers in and out of you.

Jungkook pulled away from your body, letting go of your neck and your eyes lost focus as your body regained its normal breathing. He stayed on his knees, he opened your legs up further and leaned forward, putting his torso between your legs and supporting his weight with his left hand next to your body, his torso preventing your legs from fully closing in. You gulped, you knew what he had in mind. 

Jungkook gave you a wicked smirk as he tilted his head slightly up and looked at you with lustful eyes, “I’m going to make you lose your goddam mind Y/N, you’ll forget what Jimin even tried to do to you” he curled his fingers upwards, searching for that spot, the one that would make you snap and break, “I’ll have you thinking about me and your pussy is going to wet your panties as you remember how I made you cum”.

He found it.

“Jung-!” you barely got his name out as his fingers started to furiously pump in and out of you. He pushed all the way in and moved his hand up and down with his fingers curled inside, the palm of his hand also rubbing deliciously against your sensitive nub. You were seeing stars, you were a moaning mess, body covered in sweat, hair sticking to your forehead, your body was trashing all over the place, 

“Jungkook, I can’t-” you groaned and grabbed the wrist of the hand that was fucking you so well, you couldn’t take the extreme feeling, you felt your whole body lose control, “God I- going to-” you were a loud mess, you held onto his wrists hoping he would slow down a bit but he slapped your hand away and pinned it down with his free hand.

“You are going to take it all” he continued to watch the faces you made, his cock twitching, desperate to be inside your sopping cunt, “I love seeing you like this” he bit his bottom lip and added more force against your clitoris with his palm, hand rubbing up and down, “God Y/N please come all over us both” he urged.

You nodded desperately, your orgasm just a few seconds away, your legs fighting to close together but Jungkook stopped them and made you take it all. 

And then it hit. You screamed out his name.

“Fuck, that’s it,” he whispered as your body tensed, your legs started shaking and his hand slowed down a bit as your orgasm took over, you felt your juices spill, with Jungkooks movements making it sprinkle everywhere, you felt some of it fall on your thighs, most of it dripping down to your ass cheeks, you felt the mattress dampen as you shut your eyes and let it all out.

You heard Jungkook curse as he pulled his fingers out of your sore region, his hands landing softly on your thighs drawing circles helping you come down from your high, he watched as your chest breathed in and out rapidly, he listened to your heart pounding inside trying to calm itself after an intense orgasm. 

“I might have ruined fingering for you,” he suddenly said.

You rolled your eyes and grinned, half agreeing with him and shifted your body to the side to look at him and your breath hitched, you saw how Jungkook was still holding a massive hard-on, his cock standing proudly in between your legs, you honestly for the first time felt worried being with a guy, not too sure you body was going to be able to take him after that.

“What’s wrong love?” he followed your gaze and looked down at himself, smirking, his eyes flipped up and met with your horrified look, “don’t worry love, I had plenty of fun this time” he smiled, the corner of his eyes forming wrinkles. He rubbed your inner thighs lovingly and stepped down the bed, pulling his pants back up and searched for his shirt.

You stared at your ceiling, feeling the soreness creep up and take over your legs, you let them slump down and let out a sigh. Why were the guys so irresistible to you? You normally weren’t so easy to sway. Your thoughts were interrupted when you felt the side of the bed dip as Jungkooks figure sat at the side next to your spent body. 

“How are you feeling?” he pushed a couple locks of your hair away from your face, “I...got a bit carried away, I really was just going to wait until Jackson was back-”

“Y/N?!”

Your eyes widened.

“ARE YOU FUCKING HOME?!” you heard Jackson shout outside in the living room followed by the slam of the front door, “I’m going to murder you for leaving me hanging after you said you were at their house!” he voice grew louder as he was closer to your room.

Your heart was pounding, you jumped up and scrambled to put on your clothes, this time also putting on a bra underneath. The whole time Jungkook stayed seated and watched you panic, a playful smile plastered on his face. You ran to your bathroom to check yourself out and make yourself more presentable. when you stepped out you froze when you saw Jungkook still where you left him, you didn’t know what to do. Your eyes scrambled around the room for solutions and stopped at your window. 

No way, this is the second floor...

“Y/N?” Jackson knocked on your door.

“I’m here!” you shouted back, stared at Jungkook and silently mouthed ‘you need to leave’, “I’m in the bathroom, I’ll be right out!” you told your friend.

“Why didn’t you answer my calls?” Jackson asked through the door.

Shit.

You grabbed your phone and unlocked it, 5 missing calls and 10 messages all from Jackson. You own loud moans and Jungkooks fingers inside you probably made it hard for you to notice anything. You were busy reading the missed messages from your concerned friend that you failed to notice Jungkook had gotten up from where he was.

“Sorry, I-” you were suddenly interrupted as you were pulled into a kiss, his hands cupped your face as his lips met yours so suddenly that you didn’t have time to react when he had already pulled away, “What?...” you whispered.

He rested his forehead against yours, your faces merely inches apart, “I hate when you pay attention to other males when I’m right here” he murmured.

“Y/N?” You turned your head to the door, the voice reminding you that there was another person in the house. 

“Jackson, I’ll be right there” you lied and heard Jungkook chuckle behind you.

By the time you turned back to Jungkook, he was gone from where he previously was and was opening the window. He can’t be serious...you told yourself. 

Oh but he was. 

He took a look outside as if calculating where he would land if he were to jump from there. Thankfully only your empty grassy backyard was waiting but it was still a long way down. A frown suddenly formed when you knew that Jungkook was indeed going to jump down from your window.

“No! what are you thinking? You’ll hurt yourself” you whispered really low as you grabbed his arm and tried to pull him back in, he already had one of his legs dangling outside, “Are you stupid? just wait until he goes into his room, just wait here.”

Jungkook grinned and his youthfulness really showed this time, his playful nature showing when he poked his tongue out, “You really have a lot to learn from our kind, y/n” and with that, you watched as Jungkook’s body slipped out the window and fell down.

You poked your head out the window in time to catch Jungkook landing smoothly on the ground with a squat to soften the fall, kind like how cats would always land on the feet. He got up and looked to see you watching him, he smiled, waved at you and jogged away, you watched him until his frame was out of view and stepped back in your room dumbfounded. 

What the actual fuck was that? How could you not be one bit hurt from that?

You finally stepped out of your room and headed to the living room where Jackson was laying on the sofa eyes busy on his phone.

“Sorry, I was taking a shit”

He looked at you in disgust, “You’re nasty.”

You giggled and went to join your best friend on the sofa, you went to hug him as usual when he suddenly froze and looked at you. You noticed he glanced at your body briefly and frowned, “You stink, go shower you nasty person.”

You tilted your head to the side, he had never said anything like that before, maybe you did smell like sweat after your little session with Jungkook, you blushed as you stood up a bit too conscious and wondering if you did smell, “Yeah, I had a long day. I’m going to take a nice relaxing bath.” 

“Yeah, you better wash that stink off,” You slapped his shoulder playfully at his remark, you smelled your shirt but only picked up the scent of fabric softener and the body cream you always used.

Huh, what smell is he talking about? You wondered.

[7team7]

Have you two met before?

Chapter 6: It's like I'm six years old again

Everyone says Sarada looks just like Sasuke, but when Ino looks at her, all she sees is Sakura.

A/N: we were truly robbed of sarada and ino interactions!! Thanks for all the love on this fic btw <3 Sarada is six here but the whole sharingan awakened at [insert age] sasuke gone blah blah stuff is kind of muddled bc idc about those specifics as much LOL it’s my fanfic I write what I want! Anyway please enjoy

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Being Auntie Ino was more fun than she expected.

It helped that the little girl in front of her was the daughter she would’ve wanted if she didn’t have her precious Inojin. Sakura’s schedule at the hospital got scrambled at the last minute when Sasuke was already out of the village for a mission, so she was beyond relieved when Ino was free to watch over Sarada for the afternoon.

It helped that Sarada adored her Auntie Ino, too.

“I’ll be back to pick her up later this evening,” she said before giving a final kiss to her daughter. “Be good! And thanks again, Ino, I really appreciate you taking her on your day off.” The blonde woman waved her off, it was really her pleasure. Plus, Inojin was out with Sai for the day, so they could enjoy a fun girls day together.

“Come on, Sara-chan. We can get a snack and play together. Do you want to play in the garden?” The six-year-old nodded eagerly and followed Ino into the kitchen. Sarada waited patiently as Ino washed and chopped some fruit for her.

Surprisingly, the July heat wasn’t unbearable and the flowers in the garden looked as lovely as they did in the springtime. “Let’s go over here, we can pick some flowers.” Ino picked some pale pink ones and started making a flower crown for Sarada while Sarada munched on her snack. They would stand out nicely against her dark hair.

And even though Sarada has her father’s hair and eye color, Ino found herself suddenly struck by how much Sarada looks like Sakura: the wide forehead, the innocent eyes, the sweet smile. She’s taken back to the day she first met Sakura, both women so different from who they are now. Working with flowers is like second nature to her, so she allowed herself to be swept up in memories while still deftly weaving flowers together. To think that Sakura used to get bullied made Ino shake her head.

The feeling of Sarada tugging on Ino’s clothes interrupted her thoughts. Ino bent down so Sarada could tuck a blue flower behind her ear. Sarada clasped her hands together, dark eyes sparkling with joy, “Pretty Auntie!”

Ino smiled and right on time, finished the flower crown. She placed it on Sarada’s head and complimented, “You look very beautiful.”

Sarada gently patted her head to feel the flowers resting there, mumbling a shy, “Thank you. Can I try?” At Ino’s nod of approval, she started plucking more flowers to braid together. Clear blue eyes watched fondly.  

As important as training was, Ino also wanted her son and his peers to experience the ease and innocence of childhood. A kunoichi can balance taking care of her appearance with training, no problem! But with Sasuke and Sakura’s genes, she probably wouldn’t have to try very hard to look good...so unfair!  

And as similar to her parents as she may be, Sarada was also somehow this cute little... person who was so unique. She wondered who the girl would fight like, if she would become a medic nin too. Which of the chakra natures would come to her most easily? She certainly had her mother’s smarts and kindness. But the more she thought about it, she was like Sasuke in those aspects, but his positive traits just manifested differently. Ino certainly wasn’t privy to Sasuke’s gentleness the way his wife and daughter were, but it was clear how much his girls adored and admired him.

To be able to grow up alongside Sasuke and Sakura then go on to watch their child develop next to her own son made Ino feel truly lucky. The shinobi world was often unkind, and her generation had lost many loved ones. If only her own father was there to witness it all. Building families in this new more peaceful era was a strong testament to the way things had changed.

Sarada held up a small red blossom and a big purple flower against her glasses, “Look, I’m like Papa!”

Ino smiled at her cute antics, and also cringed on the inside remembering her old crush on Sasuke. He was still handsome, he was still cool, he was still strong. But he wasn’t for her, and she had known and accepted that for a long time. The little schoolgirl inside of her couldn’t help but feel giddy thinking about the long-awaited developments between Sasuke and her best friend. Traveling together for such a long period of time away from prying eyes (like her own)? Ugh, the romance!

All things considered, she was pretty happy things turned out the way they did. Sai was such an unusual person, but he was her match. She wouldn’t want to raise Inojin with anyone else.

At first, she honestly worried that Sasuke wouldn’t be a good partner to Sakura. He had been gone for so long, yet Sakura’s devotion never waned. The two were still like teenagers in love after all this time. It just drove home the point that no one knew Sasuke like Sakura did. Ino shook her head; seriously, it often felt like Sakura was the only one who had any real influence over that man with all his comings and goings and short responses.  

And when they surprised the entire village by coming home with a baby, she wasn’t sure how he would handle fatherhood. Sakura clearly understood him well, but how would all his Sasuke-isms translate to caring for a baby? Those thoughts were quickly swept away when he demonstrated that he was clearly incredibly capable and loving.

In fact, Sasuke was the one who picked Sarada up right after he got back from his mission, earlier than Sakura’s shift ended. Even if she was definitely old enough to walk home on her own, Sasuke couldn’t help but give in when his daughter signaled for him to pick her up. She held on to him tightly, looking content. Even Sasuke seemed to relax more now that he confirmed that his child was safe.

“Where’s Sakura?”

He must have checked in with his wife before arriving because he said, “Still at the hospital,” like it was obvious — and it was. Ino of all people knew about Sakura’s packed schedule. And the way Sarada talked about her papa nonstop, it was obvious how much affection she had for the man holding her.

“Don’t you have to go debrief with the Hokage?” Ino really didn’t mind watching Sarada for a bit longer.

Sasuke glanced at his daughter, “It’ll be quick. And she’ll be asleep soon.” Playing out in the warm sun had worn her out and Sasuke’s shoulder was an awfully comfortable place to rest her head on…  

He nodded at Ino, probably saying thanks or bye, and turned around to leave. He wasn’t quite out of earshot when he looked down at Sarada and asked softly, “Did you have fun today?” She quickly started babbling about her day, all while never letting go of her hold on her papa.

Young Ino saw something special in young Sakura and there was something special about Sarada too. She’s just happy for Sakura, proud of her too. She wished Sasuke could be home more often to complete the family, but protecting that sweet child was worth anything and everything. She knew Sarada’s parents understood this well — their sacrifices were not for nothing. Ino closed the door and smiled to herself. Those Uchihas.

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A/N: I didn’t include Inojin bc I don’t really watch boruto besides for sss moments, so I didn’t think I could capture his character very well + I was most drawn to writing about ino’s thoughts anyway Again, this is one of those stories where I’ll update if I get an idea, but I don’t rlly have plans otherwise :P

[kthstrawberryshortcake]

That Should Be Me - kth drabble

Pairing: Taehyung x Female!Reader, Jin x Female!Reader

Word Count: 3.5k+ Genre: Mostly angst, some fluff Topics: College!AU, Unrequited love Warning: Kinda sad but not TOO sad

No one ever sets out to end up in these sorts of situations, but lo and behold, they do. Are they unbelievably unlucky? Did they commit some unforgivable sin in a past life? Are they just lackluster people? Whatever the explanation, you too found yourself head over heels in love with someone who didn’t love you back. You had been friends since the start of freshman year when a friendly, cheerful boy in one of your classes introduced himself. Ever since then Taehyung had been a huge part of your life. He could make you smile even on what felt like the worst days, and he was one of the most caring people you had ever met. You didn’t realize you were falling until it was much, much too late. No one knew except for your two other closest friends, Jimin and Sara. 

The three of you had been roommates since sophomore year when you decided to live together, despite others’ comments that a guy living with two girls was a bit of a weird situation. It had never felt weird. No, living with them had felt like home right away. You picked each other up when you were down, understood each other better than anyone else, and spent most of your time together, often with some of your other friends as well. Now, in the fall of your senior year, you were much busier than before, but you still made sure to spend time together. Your roommates knew how strongly you felt towards Taehyung and carefully guarded your secret, though Jimin occasionally tried to push you to do something about it. You knew you wouldn’t, though. You were very quiet and shy, as well as a homebody, and confessing was so far outside your comfort zone it was almost comical. So you did nothing, just holding in your feelings, praying they would go away eventually.

Sitting in the floor of Taehyung's dorm room, studying for a class you had in common, it certainly didn’t feel as if you were going to fall out of love any time soon. Sure, it was hard to hang out with him like this when you felt how you did, but you’d rather keep him as a friend than lose him altogether, so you dealt with it. After hours of studying (with several spurts of getting distracted by each other’s silliness and falling into laughing fits), you went to take a break. “Be right back, I’m going to use your bathroom, okay?” You said as you stood, giving him a small smile. He nodded absentmindedly, looking over some of his notes. 

After you’d gone, however, your phone buzzed with new text messages. You’d left it sitting there, he realized, and against his better judgment, he peeked at the screen. It was a text from Sara. “I’m so sorry you have to deal with this. This whole unrequited love BS isn’t for the faint of heart, is it?”, it read, followed by another immediately after. “Btw Jimin’s out right now, you and I can have a movie night when you’re done studying.” Taehyung blinked, carefully sitting the phone back in its place as he processed what he’d read.  You were in love with someone who didn’t feel the same, and Jimin was out? Was it on a date? Wait, you were in love with Jimin! That must be it. He jumped headfirst into the conclusion. He felt bad knowing that his friend was hurting and he hadn’t even noticed. He should really try to be there for you, he thought to himself. 

You returned to the room after that and he gave you a huge grin, which you found a little random. You gave him a questioning look as you sat back down. “You know you’re one of my favorite people, right? I’m just really happy you’re in my life, you’re pretty awesome, you know that?” He said sincerely, and you felt that right in your heart, honestly shocked by his unusual candor. “Thanks, Tae. I’m happy you’re in my life, too.” You replied quietly, smiling despite your confusion, shaking your head before returning to the textbook in front of you. Just for that moment you thought he might not be as far out of reach as you’d always believed.

A couple of weeks later you found yourself totally out of your element at a party your friends had dragged you to. You weren’t much of a party person, in fact you usually avoided them. But you knew Taehyung would be there, plus Sara and Jimin had pestered you into coming with them. You were feeling pretty optimistic as the night began. You looked really nice, if you did say so yourself, and were just the slightest bit hopeful that your feelings weren’t as one sided as you’d believed for so long. You navigated your way through the noisy, crowded house along with Jimin and Sara, who, after all this time, were a newly minted couple, complete with heart eyes for each other and holding hands. You were thrilled, honestly. It had been a long time coming and you were glad they were finally together. 

You scanned the room, hoping to see Taehyung, but as soon as you did, you wished you hadn’t. He was across the room looking as gorgeous as ever, but clinging to his arm was a girl who honestly looked like she could be a model. She was stunning, nearly as tall as he was, slender and with legs for days. You couldn’t help but stare in shock. She was clearly a very outgoing, social person, looking like she was talking constantly and saying hello to almost everyone who passed by, seemingly the social butterfly. And Tae looked happy. You didn’t think you had ever seen him look that happy when he was with you. The fragile hope you’d been carrying was instantly crushed, and it felt as if your heart had been run over by a truck. 

Feeling yourself getting emotional, you quickly fled out the back door. The house was on the edge of a lake and you kept going until you reached the dock before allowing yourself to collapse to your knees, the tears pouring from your eyes against your will. Who had you been kidding? That was the kind of girl he wanted, the kind of girl he deserved. A “hot” girl, a “fun” girl. Not an admittedly cute but short, bookish, shy person who hated large social gatherings. Basically, not you. 

You weren’t sure how long you sat there sobbing, trying to get a hold of your breathing and calm down but failing miserably, before you heard footsteps coming down the hill. You sniffled, hoping it was Sara or Jimin and not someone else. But you were unlucky. 

Taehyung sat down next to you, deep concern etched into his features. “Y/n? What’s wrong?” He asked so sincerely you almost wanted to laugh. When you just shook your head, the tears still coming, he wrapped you in a hug and held you close. “Hey, it’s okay… You’re okay… Tell me what happened.” He said quietly, trying to soothe you. By some miracle you pulled yourself together, calming down even though the tears were still running down your cheeks. You felt like you were going to be sick, pulling away from his hug. “I’m so stupid. I managed to fall in love with someone who’s never going to love me back, and even more foolishly, I thought maybe I had a chance…. Until tonight.” You admitted in a small voice, not making eye contact. 

Taehyung observed you carefully. “He came to the party?” He asked, and you shut your eyes tightly, nodding. “But with somebody else, and it just became so clear it’s never going to happen, and I was dumb to think that it could.” You said in a near-whisper. Taehyung thought over your words. Jimin had showed up with Sara, so clearly in love, and that must be what you were referring to. He really felt for you. He couldn’t imagine how you felt at the moment. “You’re not dumb. There is every reason for someone to love you, you’re wonderful. You’re so kind and so caring, you’re smart, you’re funny… You’re more than good enough for any guy. You’re probably too good for him.” Tae said, and you wanted to just melt into a puddle on the ground and disappear. He had no idea, you thought. 

You sighed deeply, wiping your eyes. “It doesn’t matter. I’m just going to go home. You go enjoy the rest of your night, don’t let me bring down your mood.” You said, forcing a small smile at him. He furrowed his brow in concern. “Do you want me to take you home? Is it a good idea for you to be alone right now?” He asked, trying to be a good friend. You shook your head. “No, no. You should get back to…. oh, I don’t know her name… The girl you came with. Go have fun, don’t worry about me. I’ll go home and go to bed.” Taehyung nodded slowly, accepting your instructions. “Yeah, that’s my girlfriend Kira. You should meet her sometime when you feel better. Get home safe, okay?” He said, patting you on the shoulder before rising to his feet and returning to the party. 

You didn’t want to ruin Jimin and Sara’s first outing as a couple, so you just sent a vague text that you were tired before returning home, burrowing under the covers of your bed as the tears came without stopping. You didn’t sleep much that night. 

Over the next week or so you were even less social than usual, noticeably changed. Your two roommates, now knowing what’d happened, had been taking good care of you and trying to cheer you up a bit. But your other friends and classmates didn’t fail to catch your lack of smiles, how you were even quieter than usual, or how distant you seemed. You couldn’t avoid the class you had with Taehyung, so you just tried to stay extremely focused, ignoring his attempts to start conversation or inquiries about whether you were okay. He definitely noticed how unusual your behavior was, and he sent you texts a couple times a day trying to be supportive or make you feel better. Little did he know that he was only making matters worse. Meanwhile, every time your friends met up for lunch or for game night or anything of that nature, he brought Kira along with him, clearly extremely into her. You weren’t surprised. She had everything you lacked. So over time you stopped going to those gatherings, too. 

Weeks passed and Taehyung was still in his “not leaving you alone in a misguided attempt to be a good friend” routine, refusing to leave you alone no matter how much you pushed him away. He finally showed up at your door one Saturday, smiling and carrying a bag of snacks. “We’re having a movie day, I won’t take no for an answer. You’ve always been there for me when I was down, so I’m going to do the same thing for you. I’m worried about you, you’re so not yourself. So let me cheer you up!” He insisted. The two of you sat down on the couch in the living room, with you trying to breathe deeply as you covered your face, frustrated beyond belief. He babbled on cheerily about how you were a total catch and you shouldn’t be so down on yourself, that everything was going to be totally fine and that he couldn’t let you just retreat into yourself without trying to help. 

Suddenly the pent up feelings bubbled over. “STOP.” You yelled, not looking at him. He was shocked. You were always so soft-spoken, not once had he heard you raise your voice like that. When you finally looked at him, the pain in your eyes was clearly visible to him. “It’s you. I’m in love with YOU. Honestly, I have been for years. I know you have good intentions, but what you’re doing here isn’t helping. I’m trying to get over you but you just won’t let me.” Tears welled up in your eyes, your voice sounding strained. Taehyung was, in short, astounded. Never in a million years would he have anticipated this. “I…. I’m sorry. You’re right, I just don’t feel that way about you. You’re my friend, I don’t…. I’ve never seen you like that.” He said like word vomit. 

You laughed harshly to yourself as a couple tears escaped. “Yeah, because there’s every reason to love me, wasn’t that your phrasing? I’m more than good enough for anybody, you said…. Well, anybody except you, I guess. It’s cruel, really, to hear you say those things knowing the truth of how you feel. You mean well, Tae, and I’m furious that I can’t blame you for this. I can’t blame you for how much this hurts. But you have to stop now. Leave me alone. Stop talking to me, stop sending me motivational texts, don’t even smile at me. Just leave me be, please.” You implored. “Go away so I can learn to let you go.” You said in a whisper, more tears leaking from your eyes. Not sure what else to do and still in shock, Taehyung nodded dumbly, getting up to leave. He paused in the doorway for just a moment, muttering a quiet “I’m sorry” before leaving. And when he was gone you finally broke down again.

He did as you asked, completely cutting off contact and leaving you alone. You did your best to avoid him. He was surprised at how much it hurt every time you avoided eye contact with him or turned to walk in a different direction upon spotting him. He figured it was just the loss of a close friend being painful, so otherwise he continued on as usual. Taehyung spent most of his time with Kira. He found himself bored in most conversations with her, and he found her loud, chatty nature kind of annoying. But everyone said they made the perfect couple, so he must just be feeling this way because of guilt, right? He convinced himself of that, pushing away any thoughts that his relationship wasn’t right. 

Months passed. For a while nobody really saw you aside from Jimin and Sara. If you were shy before, you were antisocial now. If you were a homebody, you were now a recluse. You had all but disappeared from your greater social circle, knowing it was the only way to avoid Taehyung. You focused on your schoolwork. You were visibly sad leading up to winter break, and you knew everyone else was noticing how unlike your usual self you’d been. You were grateful for the reprieve of the break, a chance to live your life for a while without the threat of running into Tae. The time away did you good and you felt like things were finally looking up. 

The glimmer of hope was amplified tenfold when over the break, you met a guy in a bookshop with a radiant smile and a squeaky laugh. Seokjin, as you learned was his name, was a master’s student at your university. You’d struck  up a conversation as he was perusing the cookbooks in the shop you’d met in. He was one of those genuinely nice people who brightened your day without trying. He made you laugh with cheesy jokes and fascinated you with stories of his cooking adventures. 

Before you knew it you were spending most of your time together. You started to feel happy again and for the first time in longer than you could remember, you felt something in your heart other than pain. With him you didn’t feel like you needed to be a “hot girl” or “fun girl”. You didn’t feel like you were missing anything. He thought you were small and cute and loved nothing more than quiet nights in with you, cooking together or watching dramas. You no longer thought about how you wished your legs were longer, or how you wished you were more social, or how you didn’t think you were pretty like other girls. Like the perfect fit of two puzzle pieces, you felt like enough. By the time break was ending you were officially dating. Not that Seokjin wasn’t absolutely lovely, but it wasn’t just him that changed how you saw yourself. The time away from an environment where you saw nothing but flaws had done you good, and as much as he had helped heal you, you’d healed yourself. 

At the start of the new semester, Taehyung caught himself keeping an eye out for you, hoping to see you even from afar. He missed you terribly, if he was honest. To his delight, you had a class in common again. He felt a warmth in his chest when he finally saw you again, settling into a seat in the lecture hall. The light had returned to your eyes. You were smiling again. The relief he felt was immense, having felt awful for hurting you in the first place. 

Without realizing it, he watched you, eventually noticing your focus on the new TA and the looks you were exchanging. It gave him an odd almost nauseous feeling. When the class finally ended, he stopped to read a text before he packed up his things to leave. That’s when he heard you laugh. It occurred to him what a beautiful sound it was and how much he had missed hearing it. Then he looked up. You were standing with the new TA, arms wrapped around each other as you whispered, laughing at something. Taehyung couldn’t remember the last time he saw you smile like that. The TA planted a quick kiss on your forehead before taking your hand, and the two of you walked out of the lecture hall together. Though he couldn’t wrap his head around why, Taehyung felt like he’d been slapped. 

He couldn’t stop thinking about it for the rest of the day, including when he got dinner with Kira that night. “Baaaaaabe! You’re not listening to me!” She whined, pouting. It was true, he had totally zoned out. He was too busy trying to make sense of the overwhelming feelings he was experiencing. It was late that same night that he finally realized what was going on. The realization hit him with both excitement and a sense of horror: he had feelings for you. The horrifying part was how much he’d hurt you, only to discover his feelings after all this time. But you had really loved him, right? The strength and sincerity of your feelings for him had been so apparent. Surely it wasn’t too late.

That’s how he found himself rushing across campus past midnight, hurrying to your apartment, feeling like he was about to burst with all the emotion running through him. He knocked loudly on the door, breathless from the anticipation and his rush to get to you. You were beyond surprised to see him when you opened the door, standing there with messy hair and a blanket wrapped around yourself. You frowned, entirely perplexed at his sudden appearance. “Tae? What are you doing here?” You asked in complete confusion. Taehyung had a big, dumb grin painted on his face. “Y/n, I’m so sorry it took me this long to realize it, I have feelings for you too! I - I think I love you too.” 

You could hear the excitement in his voice. Your confused face morphed into an annoyed frown. “You smug bastard. After all this time now that I’m finally happy you want to bust back in here and drop a confession?! Are you joking?!” Your voice was growing shrill with anger. The blanket you were wrapped in dropped to the floor, forgotten as you angrily gestured at him. “I honestly can’t believe you’re actually this selfish. You don’t get to treat me like I’m disposable, like some toy you can pick up or toss away whenever you get bored.” This was the second time ever he’d heard your voice raised in a near-yell. 

He heard footsteps as he stared at you, finally taking in your appearance. You were dressed in a men’s tee shirt that was much too big for you and a pair of shorts. It was impossible to miss the dark marks on your neck. A taller figure approached from behind you, placing a hand on your shoulder. It was the TA, also messy-haired in a sweatshirt and sweatpants. You turned to look at him and your angry face transformed instantly into a soft, affectionate smile. “Everything okay?” He asked you, and you nodded. “Everything’s fine, Jinnie. Taehyung was just leaving.” You turned back to Taehyung and in an instant your gaze was like ice. 

The pain in his chest and the hollowness he felt was suffocating. Was this how you’d felt for so long whenever you were with him? Tears were welling up in his eyes, but he just nodded and turned away, leaving as you shut the door. He’d been a fool, and he was far too late, he realized, thinking he may have made the biggest mistake of his life. The smiles that had been reserved for him alone for years now belonged to someone else. And though he knew it was selfish, he couldn’t help but be bitter that you had moved on. 

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Okay that one hurt a little bit, huh? A tad angstier than what I normally write. Still, I hope you enjoyed it! I love feedback so please do leave some. <3

[vlindervin7]

“22. basorexia - the overwhelming desire to kiss” for Davenzi.

From this prompt list! Not my best work and also too long to be a drabble but! i hope it’s a little enjoyable at least! 

basorexia - the overwhelming desire to kiss 

The first time David meets Matteo he’s pretty sure he stops breathing for a moment. It’s a windy October afternoon when he goes to meet Leonie at their favorite coffeeshop. His shoulders ache with the weight of his backpack. He’s a bit grumpy, tired from class after class after class, his ears sizzling. He’s excited to see Leonie, though. She’ll hopefully be able to snap him out of his mood and make him laugh. 

When he arrives, he sees a group of boys with their backs to him, but no Leonie, which is weird because she’s never late and it’s already five minutes over the decided time. He’s just about to take his phone to send her a message, when he hears his name being called. There, from behind her hiding spot in front of the boys, Leonie steps and calls his attention. David loves how tiny she is. 

Once he stands next to her and gives her a quick hug, she turns away from him and gestures to the boys in front of her. ‘These are friends I went to school with. I’ve told you about Jonas, my ex.’ She points to a curly-haired boy who offers him a warm, albeit sheepish smile. ‘Carlos, Abdi’, both of which give him a goofy one, ‘and that’s Matteo, Jonas’ best friend.’ And oh. 

The boy, Matteo, is possibly the most beautiful person David has ever seen, and as an artist, he spends most of his time collecting beautiful things. Matteo has messy blond hair that’s blown back by the wind, and eyes that make David want to find a way to press the ocean into a pencil, a cute button nose above a pair of soft-looking pink lips. There’s this one song that plays sometimes at his job at the student’s common room I’ve never seen a mouth that I would kill to kiss and it’s the only thing coming to his mind right now. It’s a sappy thought, and a ridiculous one that would ruin his whole entire tough exterior, so he dismisses it immediately, but it still lingers at the back of his mind. 

He tries to nod at the boys in what he hopes is a collected manner. Matteo gives him a small smile, but so sweet and David can’t handle this. 

‘We were just telling Leonie about the party at Carlos’ place tomorrow’, Jonas says, finally pulling David’s attention away from Matteo. ‘You can totally come too if you want!’ 

David hesitates for a second. He has so much work to do, but he has to admit a party would do him good. He might see Matteo again, too, this way, but that’s definitely not why he answers: ‘Yeah, maybe. That sounds cool, thanks.’ 

Not soon after, the boys go on their way and Leonie and David get that coffee they’ve been wanting since they woke up. 

The next day David dresses nice and heads over to Carlos’ place with Leonie and Sara. They soon get lost in their weird flirting and don’t even notice when David slips away and finds himself in the bathroom with the boys he met yesterday, smoking a joint and trying not to stare at Matteo too much. He has a surprisingly good time, the boys easy company, never making David feel left out. At the end of the night, he leaves the party slightly drunk and still a bit high, having been added to the ok.cool group chat, which he knows will both make him laugh and give him a headache, with four new friends. And maybe a crush, too, but that’s not what is important here. 

***

They all grow very close, very quickly. As swiftly as the boys had added him to their group chat, just as swiftly they’d accepted David as one of their own. They hang out, and meet at one of their apartments to play video games and eat kebabs, to smoke sometimes. They go to more parties, hang out in parks, coming up with crazy ping pong tournaments that last hours. 

He even goes as far as telling them he’s trans when talk of high school comes up one day, and they eventually asked David for input. They take it well. Some stupid question are asked, but all with good intention, and none offensive. 

Sometimes, he hangs out with just Matteo, too, and it definitely does not lessen his attraction. He learns more about him and starts to trust him with secrets of his own. Their conversations are often light, but they always feel important, never feel unnecessary. It turns into one of David’s favorite things to do. 

He finds out Matteo is gay, which his brain is having a field day with, that he studies programming at uni and that he’s crazy smart even though he tends to underestimate himself and downplay it, that he has a complicated relationship with his mother but that he loves her more than anything, and that he’s quite possibly the cutest person David has ever met. 

They’re having a movie night at Matteo’s flatshare, watching some Hollywood blockbuster David could drag through the mud if he were in the right mood. He’s not about to ruin it for everyone, though, and he does m anage to just enjoy himself sometimes. It’s a nice night. Hans and Linn join them after a while, and they bring them more snacks. David’s met them a few times in passing before, but he’s never really spent time with them, but unsurprisingly they turn out to be equally lovely as everyone else he’s met through these people. 

When the movie is over, no one moves, too content to sit there and be stupid. They play some silly drinking games with shitty beer that won’t actually get any of them properly drunk, although David does start to feel slightly tipsy after a while. 

Abdi is just telling some complicated story when David looks to his right, having forced himself to stop stealing glances at Matteo every two seconds as it would soon become glaringly obvious, and notices Matteo has dozed off. He’s laying on the sofa’s headrest, a light blanket covering his legs. He looks so peaceful, much to David’s confusion. He’d never be able to fall asleep that deeply with this much noise around. 

Jonas must see him looking, because he leans closer to David, making his voice clearer over Abdi’s passionate story telling. ‘Luigi can fall asleep everywhere. Once when we were smaller, he’d invited me to one of his cousin’s wedding. I lost him after a while, but then when everyone was dancing in the evening, I found him behind one of the buffet tables, fast asleep. He’d made his suit jacket into a pillow and didn’t seem to mind the party around him in the least.’ 

David laughs imagining a tiny Matteo being fed up with everything and just deciding to make himself a makeshift bed. He must have been even cuter back then, as hard as that is to imagine. ‘I can’t relate.’ 

Jonas looks down at Matteo with an amount of open softness he’s rarely seen, and adjusts the blanket a bit, and with a laugh says: ‘Yeah, me neither. He’ll probably wake up here tomorrow morning wondering what happened.’

Looking at Matteo like this, so peaceful and serene, there’s an undeniable urge building inside David to just reach out and. Comb through his hair, kiss his forehead, cuddle up to him, convinced he’d feel warmer than ever just being close to him.

He shakes those thoughts off, focuses back on Abdi. It’s weird, he tells himself, to think of a friend in that way without their consent. Or maybe it isn’t and David is just too much of a coward to act on his feelings, for fear of rejection and the possibility of losing this group of people, knowing they’d pick Matteo’s side if it came down to it. 

***

They’re at another party, which this time one of Leonie’s friends is throwing. The boys are here, too, but he’d told them he wouldn’t have that much time to hang out this time as he’d be hired as Leonie’s official wingman. Her and Sara are finally starting to get somewhere in their relationship, but it just won’t actually take off and Leonie’s getting frustrated. She’d decided this would be the night she’d finally kiss her and David would help her with it. He wasn’t exactly sure how he was supposed to do so, but he was sure Leonie had some sort of plan so he didn’t question it. 

When the boys had heard about the plan, they’d laughed. David hadn’t understood at first, why everyone but Matteo seemed to be dying of laughter, and Matteo was so red, until they’d explained about him dating Sara before coming out and how it all been very awkward. They were on better terms now, but Matteo still seemed to regret the way he’d strung her along. 

David is standing under the fluorescent lights now, talking to a girl he vaguely knows from school. Leonie had disappeared a while ago. He’s still on the lookout for her, but she’s so tiny he has a hard time finding her. He’s holding a half-empty cup with liquor that’s slowly having an effect on his body and he can’t quite hear everything the girl is saying, but enough to understand he’s not super interested. He’s polite, though, so he keeps listening. 

On the other side of the room, Matteo is talking to Carlos, having a much more interesting conversation it seems, as they keep bursting out in laughter. Every few minutes, Matteo catches David’s eye and offers him a smile, lighting drunken sparks in David’s stomach. 

He’s desperately trying to look at least a little bit interested and not lost in the boy on the other side of the room, but it’s not working very well, he has to say. He’s never felt like this before, never had someone he just wanted to spend all his time looking at, someone that made something burn under his skin, an itch that told David to touch.

He manages to keep himself under control until the music switches and he sees Matteo do the silliest, smallest little dance David has ever had the pleasure to see, and something snaps. Everything inside him is screaming to walk over there and push Matteo against the wall, gently box him in with his arms and -- 

He excuses himself from the conversation, renewing his efforts to find Leonie. He comes across a shots table on his way and does two in quick succession, trying to feel the music only and get lost in it, banishing images of blue eyes and silly smiles out of his head. It doesn’t really work, but at least he has a good time and gets to third wheel Leonie and Sara at the coffee shop now.  

***

Matteo is being annoying. Well David isn’t sure if annoying is necessarily the best word to use as, really, David isn’t actually annoyed, and has never been with Matteo. He’s just being silly, but it’s so endearing David can’t help but smile when he tells him to stop. 

They’re watching a movie, on his bed, just the two of them, which is already reason for David to freak out a litte. He’d picked the movie of course, something he was required to watch for his course, and thought he’d make more interesting by sharing it with Matteo. It works, but while he’s having a better time altogether, he’s also not really paying attention, so it proves a less than effective plan.

Matteo keeps fidgeting first of all, which David doesn’t mind. He can deal with that, and he knows it’s just something Mattoe does sometimes, to concentrate better or because there’s some kind of energy inside him he doesn’t know how to get rid of otherwise. At first, it was just that, but then he’d started poking David and shifting the computer and making very dramatic sighing noises when ‘nothing happened’. He’s clearly bored and wants David to pay him more attention, but David refuses to give in so soon, no matter how hard is whole body is screaming for him to. He needs to keep up some kind of facade. 

It’s not long before he can’t take it anymore, though. Matteo is poking him in the side now, sending stupid sparks through David’s stomach, and okay, he hasn’t heard what’s been said for ten minutes now, there’s no use continuing this. 

He hits the space bar and turns around, trying to feign annoyance. ‘Oh, my God, Matteo, what?’ 

He shakes his head softly when he sees Matteo sitting there with his big eyes and that grin on his face, looking to anyone like a devilish little angel. His hair is a mess and his cheeks are a bit pink, but David is afraid his are, too. His eyes are so blue. ‘I’m bored.’ 

The thing is that David can’t even blame him. He should be able to get all the important nuances in the movie, but even he thinks they could’ve added something to make it more interesting. 

‘What do you want me to do about that?’, he answers, tilting his head and smiling just a little bit because he can’t help it. 

‘Entertain me.’ 

David lifts his eyebrows and looks at Matteo for about ten seconds and then they’re play fighting. It’s not the first time it’s happened, but when he can help it David tends to avoid it because it’s a lot to feel Matteo all over him like that. He can forget about in the midst of the fighting when he gets too competitive. That’s not a problem. He always wins, though, and that is a bit of a problem. 

He has Matteo on his back, hands above his head and hair splayed out around him. There’s a dangerous glint in his eyes, and his cheeks are still pink. Their bodies are pressed together, too much for David to relax. They’re so close David can smell Matteo’s deodorant.

God. 

The things he’d do to him like this if he could. He’d bend down, pressing him deeper into the mattress, before kissing him and --

They’re still staring at each other without saying anything, and the heat is suddenly just on the right side of uncomfortable and David has to get out. 

‘I need to pee.’ 

He scrambles from the bed as fast as he can, and he just has the time to get a glimpse of Matteo’s face, who perhaps looks a little disappointed, but David’s sure that’s just his own feelings being projected. 

He forces himself to calm down in the bathroom before coming back out. When he does Matteo is sitting on the bed. ‘You can continue watching. I’ll be quiet, I promise.’ David normally loves how soft Matteo’s voice is, but he thinks it’s just a little bit too soft right now. It almost sounds a bit sad, and David hates to think he might be the cause of it, acting as shifty as he is. 

He gives him a real smile this time, putting everything in it, no holding back. He climbs back on the bed, putting the laptop in-between the two of them, trying to be subtle about it. ‘Are you sure? We can watch something else, I know it’s not the most interesting.’ 

But Matteo vehemently shakes his head at that suggestion. ‘No, no, watch.’ He takes a look at his phone, before turning back to David. ‘Actually, are you hungry? I could make us some pasta or something?’

David’s heard about his pasta-making skills, from the boy himself, but also from their friends. Even Leonie and Amira had attested to it, which is proof enough for David. ‘Yeah, sure. That would be nice.’ 

‘Okay’, Matteo jumps up, with enthusiasm he doesn’t often show. ‘You watch your movie, I’ll be back.’ 

David settles in, turning the movie back about ten minutes and pays real attention this time. 

When Matteo comes back with two steaming plates, there’s only about twenty minutes left. Matteo settles in next to him and keeps quiet until the very end, all the while looking a mixture of cocky and embarrassed whenever David compliments the pasta. 

This time, David wants to kiss him for another reason entirely.

***

It all comes to a head one night. David should have seen it coming, should’ve known one day he wouldn’t be able to hide it all anymore. 

He used to deal with his problems by running away, and in a way that’s still what he’s doing, except it’s not as effective because there’s something about Matteo that just won’t let him leave all the way. Like an invisible string pulling him back in when he gets too far. 

He doesn’t even want to run from him, is the thing, and he’s not strong enough to force himself to like he usually is. Too scared to jump into the water, too weak to leave the cliff he’s standing on, so now he’s just looking out over the edge into Matteo’s ocean eyes, poisoning the breeze on his skin and in the end not only hurting himself, but hurting Matteo, too, every time he acts distant.  

He’s stuck, though, can’t move, no matter how much he wants to, feels that he’s overstaying his welcome where he is. 

It’s the two of them again, which has been happening more and more the longer their friendship lasts. They’ve come to be referred to as matteoanddavid by their friends, which David doesn’t mind, although it does unfurl something hot in his stomach, that tells him it’s not enough, both what he’s doing and what they are. 

They’re playing video games this time, and Matteo has just taken out the weed. It’s getting worse, is the thing. At first, David would get overwhelmed with the urge to touch when Matteo did something particularly cute, said something sweet, something funny. He was able to ignore it then, mostly, still able to look away when he felt it coming up. He can’t anymore. 

It’s come to the point where everything Matteo does, is reason for David’s insides to riot. He’s not even doing anything, just lighting the joint between his lips and setting up Mario Kart, but David is already panicking. 

It’s too hot, too much, too little. He can’t do this today. 

It feels wrong fishing his phone out of his pocket, pretending to read a message on the screen. Feels awful, painful almost, turning to Matteo and telling him his sister needs him and he needs to go now. He hates lying to him, that sweet boy who’s never hurt David in any way he could control, but whom David keeps pushing away, keeps on being the reason his smile slips and his eyes lose some of their light. 

He’s up before he has the time to take in everything about Matteo’s reaction, and is already in his hat and shoes, with jacket in hand in the hallway when Matteo joins him. 

‘David, wait. Please, wait.’

David inhales, exhales, clutches his jacket tightly between his fingers and turns around to face him. ‘Yeah?’

For a moment, Matteo doesn’t speak, just stands there looking a little bit sad and a lot beautiful. ‘Why are you avoiding me?’ He says, then, finally, and lets out a breath of air right after like just saying those words took a lot out of him. 

David hates that he can’t stop lying. ‘Avoiding you -- Matteo, I really need to go.’ 

‘God, David, I’m not that stupid. I can tell when someone doesn’t want to spend time with me.’ And that’s officially enough to make David break character, at least a little bit because he’ll do anything before he’ll let someone call Matteo stupid, especially he himself.

‘You’re not stupid at all, Matteo.’ 

‘Then why are you acting like I won’t see what you’re doing?’ He doesn’t quite sound choked up, but there’s a thread of breath running through his voice, so fragile David thinks it’ll break if he moves, so he stands very still. 

Matteo’s always been so brave. God, he -- 

He’s too scared to take the plunge and let Matteo know how he’s feeling, because he doesn’t want to lose him, doesn’t want to feel that rejection. He’s been slowly losing him this way, too, though, and suddenly he can’t stand hurting him anymore. He’d rather be hurting himself because Matteo turns him down, which he’ll do gently, he knows this if nothing else, than to have to hurt Matteo cruelly, the only way he knows how to.

So. He hangs the jacket back in its place. He takes a breath. Looks into the gentle waves in Matteo’s eyes. ‘Do you know what basorexia means?’ 

Matteo frowns at that, understandably. David would roll his eyes at himself in his place. ‘What?’ 

‘It means -- ‘ He takes another breath. ‘It means ‘the overwhelming desire to kiss’.’ 

Matteo’s still frowning in confusion, but there’s something else in his eyes now, too, a spark of something lighter, hope or something close enough. ‘Okay?’

David looks just right of Matteo’s face when he says what comes next, like not clearly seeing his reaction might lessen the blow. ‘It means I want to kiss you. It means I like you and sometimes you do things that make me want to kiss you, but I can’t, so I leave because I’m scared and overwhelmed.’

Silence. David dares shifting his eyes a millimeter to the left, just enough to look at Matteo, and then when he sees he looks. Happy? straight at him. He’s blinking rapidly and rubbing his face with one hand. ‘You want to kiss me?’, he asks, and this time a smile is breaking through the clouds of David’s fears. 

David nods.

It’s quiet again for a moment. And then: ‘Why don’t you?’

David can’t have heard that right. ‘What?’ 

‘You heard me.’ 

‘What do you mean?’ Because he has to be sure. 

‘It means I want you to kiss me, you dumbass! I like you, too.’ 

He’s been waiting months for this, holding it all in, so now that he’s allowed, it’s impossible to keep his body from rapidly going to stand right in front of Matteo. They’re both giggling at this point, which doesn’t make for the best circumstances when David puts one hand on Matteo’s cheek and the other on his neck, and kisses him. 

There’s no fireworks or eruption of golden light beneath his eyelids. Matteo’s lips are chapped against his and the giggling hinders them from doing anything serious. But it’s perfect. It’s perfect because it’s them and as simple as it is, it might be the best thing David’s ever experienced. He doesn’t want to ever stop, doesn’t think he can physically get himself to right now. 

He’s still giggling when they pull back, and he buries his face in Matteo’s shoulder, wanting to feel him as close to him as possible. ‘You don’t know how long I’ve been wanting to do that’, he says against it. 

‘I’ve wanted to since Leonie introduced us at that coffee shop. I thought you were the most handsome boy I’d ever met.’ 

David looks up again, not laughing anymore, but overcome with too many feelings to name them all. Matteo had once told him he always feels like his chest is overflowing with emotions and that sometimes it’s easier to just shut it all off by smoking or drinking or sleeping, because sometimes it’s so much he can’t think. David wonders if this is how he feels like then, and it makes him want him even more because it’s been three minutes and David is already at his limit. 

He pulls Matteo in, kissing him again, properly this time, putting it all in that kiss. The ocean water is warm all around him and he doesn’t need to breathe, doesn’t think he’ll ever need to breathe again as long as he has this.

[secretlynestaarcheron]

Chapter Seven + Eight

The Selection AU - acotar 

Tagged:  @justgiu12 @blxckbeaks @justabunchoffandoms @swagbookmaster @my-fan-side @heyitsrhysand @acourtofmarauders

Update: I am trying to upload 2-3 times a week, usually I’ll post the day before I upload so keep an eye out! I am glad everyone has been enjoying this series as much as I have! :)

Chapter Seven: Nesta 

As soon as she finished getting ready for bed and began to read her book she heard the siren echo through halls. She threw off her blankets and moved towards the window, she moved her curtain to the side to witness the chaos below. There was black smoke beyond the palace gates, rebels were climbing over the wall and jumping down below to be met with a line of palace guards. 

 She didn’t waste any time turning around and getting changed, slipping on a pair of pants and tunic, she looked around for her most practical pair of shoes. She could feel her heart hammering in her chest with the thought of every possible outcome. She wondered if they would come to collect them or if they only cared about the safety of the royal family. She could leave and fend for herself. She paced the room, biting her nails as she thinks, she needed to make sure the rest of the girls were safe. 

She pauses in front of her window, pulling the curtain away to get a better look at the scene below her. The rebels had stopped climbing the wall, it must have been a small group, it gave her a small sense of hope. The guards outnumbered the rebels in the courtyard but who knew how many had already made it inside. 

She couldn’t help but let her mind drift to what happened to them to make them risk their lives to do partake in a rebel attack. She knew what it felt to be fueled with rage. She had felt the wanting before, the wanting to watch the world burn. When her sisters weren’t allowed to attend school anymore because of their caste or how she watched their clothes becoming bigger and bigger as they grew thinner and thinner. She felt empathy towards them, they were fighting for their families, for change in this cruel world. 

She blinks the thoughts away, her eye catching one of the rebels, he was standing in the middle of the courtyard as if there wasn’t fighting happening around him. He lifts a hand to remove his mask, winking as she sees his face. A cool creep swept up her spine as her breath caught in her throat. She reaches forward to hold the window frame to steady herself but with a blink of an eye he was gone. 

She shuts the certain quickly, wishing she hadn’t looked at all. She must have imagined him. She was feeling sentimental about home and thought him up. She had to move quickly to make sure the other girl’s were okay. She opened her door, the hall dead quiet, as she made her way across the hall. There wasn’t a palace guard in sight. 

As she knocks on the door, there's a pause and she wonders if the rest of them were able to get to safety but left her. She shakes her head, she couldn’t think like that, “Sara? It's me, Nesta. Are you okay?” she calls out in a hush tone. She glances down the hall to make sure no one heard her. 

The door swings open moments later and Sara pulls her into a hug. “Oh Nesta, I’ve been so scared to leave. I didn’t know what to do,” Sara says, pulling away so Nesta can see her swollen eyes and blotchy cheeks. She had been crying. “Where are the guards?” 

“I am not sure,” Nesta replies, taking her hand and giving it a comforting squeeze. “We have to act fast, help me get the other girls. We will gather them in your room, as far away from the windows and doors. Try to squeeze into your bathroom or closet, alright?” 

Sara looks up at her with wide eyes, sniffling, before nodding. She wraps her robe tightly around herself before moving past Nesta and to the next door. Nesta smiles after her as she moves across the hall to knock on those doors. Sara was obviously scared but she put on a brave face to help Nesta, it was a good quality for a Queen. 

The girls moved quickly, bringing blankets and pillows with them as they squeezed into Sara’s bathroom. It was tight but they huddled together to comfort one another anyways. Nesta couldn’t help but be moved by the sight, just earlier the girls had been in competition with one another but right now they were just scared girls being there for one another. 

Nesta moves to leave, stopping when a hand wraps around her wrist, she looks down to see Sara looking up at her with wide eyes. “Where are you going?” she asks quietly. 

“I need to find guards, I’ll be okay,” Nesta replies with a soft smile. Sara reminded her of her sister Elain, an innocence but with a fueling fire of determination behind her eyes. She moves to stand up but Nesta shakes her head, “No, I need you to stay here. You know the plan, you need to watch over them. Don’t open the door unless the guard says I sent them, okay?” 

Sara nods and Nesta reaches over to squeeze her hand before slipping out of the bathroom and out of Saras room. She moved quickly and as quietly as she could, constantly glancing behind her shoulder every second to make sure she wasn’t found. 

She found it odd that there were no guards in any of the hallways. She wondered what could have gone wrong to leave them to fend for themselves. She slips in the shadow when she hears voices becoming clearer and louder. It was rebels, yelling for the girls, they were taunting them. She just hoped the girl would be safe, glad that she persuaded them all to be together. The watches the three figures move past her towards where her bedroom was, she sends a quick prayer to whatever god was out there that they would be okay before moving out from her hiding spot. 

She falters when she sees the familiar face just inches from where she stood. “Nesta Archeron,” Tomas Mandray sickening sarcastic voice drips with dryness. “I got to say, I didn’t think you would make it. I know you were pretty, for a seven, but who knew you were palace pretty.” 

Nesta snarls, she had to be nice to him at work. He tipped pretty well if you weren’t snippy, but now that she would no longer be a waitress or even a seamstress when she became a three she could punch him right now and have little to no repercussions. He was invading the caste right now, she could be rewarded. 

“Got nothing to say? Good, because I have a lot,” Tomas retorts, grounding himself in his stance as he crosses his arms over his chest. “I am sure you can guess what’s happening, rebel attack. I’ve been a part of giving intel to the rebels for years now.” 

She furrows her brow as she looks at him, “Why are you telling me this?” she asks. 

He chuckles, “Because you’re actually intelligent, at least compared to the other girls here,” he says with a slight shrug before continuing, “I need your help. I need someone on the inside getting secrets for me. I already have a few, but they wouldn’t be as good as you.” 

Her mind races, as she tries to put together the puzzle pieces. “Someone told you to come tonight, why?” Nesta asks, her curiosity getting the best of her. 

He smiles at her and it makes her cringe, “See, I told you you were smart,” he replies, with a nod of approval. “But obviously you need some encouragement, let me give you some clues.” Her eyes widen as he gives her little tidbits of information, her mind racing with the new information. 

“See, now you know why there’s a cause,” Tomas replies, and she feels sick to her stomach. “That’s why you need to join me, Nes. I need you to help me bring them down.” 

Nesta swallows the lump in her throat, he seemed so normal here, someone she would have been friends with. Someone who understands but everytime she thinks about him she remembers how he treated her back home. Nesta turns when there’s a crash at the hall but when she faces back Tomas is gone and Cassian is walking down the hall towards her. 

He pauses mid stride when he sees her but it doesn’t last long, he catches up to her, putting an arm on her back to guide her back towards her room. “What are you doing out? Did you not hear the sirens?” Cassian asks. 

She scoffs, “Yeah, I heard them. However, I was not told what to do when I heard them,” she retorts, she moves away from him, his arm dropping from her back and back down to his side. As soon as it was gone she missed the warmth it gave. “There’s eight of us in that hall, I wasn’t going to let any of them get hurt because there wasn’t a palace guard in sight.” 

He frowns at that and she feels guilty, she wasn’t even sure it was his fault but she was mad. “Where are they now? Did someone come and get them?” he asks, she notices the worry on his face. She can’t help but feel that Tomas was lying to her. 

“They’re all in Sara’s bathroom, at least I hope they are,” Nesta replies, immediately feeling bad that she stopped to talk with Tomas so long, as if she had a chance, but she couldn’t help but feel if she put up a fight she would have run into a guard sooner. She just hopes they are okay. 

“That was smart, I am sure Rhysand will be glad to hear of your role in their safety,” Cassian says. 

That sparks something within Nesta, she can’t help but feel angry towards him and everyone else in this castle. “So it is true,” she snaps, turning towards him, wanting to whip the surprise expression off of his face. “The rebels hijacked a plan already sent into motion by the King? He wanted to scare us, seek out the strong ones and get rid of the weak links.” 

He looks away from her, giving her the answer, it was true. She didn’t know the exact details and didn’t know if she wanted too but the King set them all up, put them all through this for what. She thinks about all the girls crying and sitting in Sara’s bathroom for a ploy done by the King. 

He takes a deep breath and turns back towards her, “That was the King’s plan, that’s why there were no guards anywhere near your rooms,” Cassian explains, she’s grateful for the honesty. She didn’t know why he was telling her any of this, he owed her nothing, but she felt relieved. “I didn’t know it was happening until it was already set into motion.” 

She nods, feeling guilty for blaming it all on him, it wasn’t his fault. He was just in the dark as they were. He clears his throat before saying, “It was a horrible plan thought up by someone that only thinks of what is best for himself,” Cassian replies, she can hear the irritation in his voice. “But you should be proud, you passed his little test, you were the only one that acted.” 

Nesta doesn’t want to think about that, she already talked to Rhysand about their feelings for one another or their lack thereof feelings. “You should know that I knew one of the rebels here tonight,” she retorts, not sure why she’s telling him. This could get her kicked out. She wanted to return his honesty. “Tomas Mandray, he was a patron at a bar I worked at, he tried to recruit me while he was here. He told me there are others giving him intel.” 

He eyes her suspiciously, but she doesn’t care, he could believe or not but she was glad that she told him. “You don’t have to believe me but it's the truth,” she replies, pushing the door open to Sara’s room, pausing slightly to turn back and face him, “It was Sara, she gathered the girls and brought them to her bathroom. She deserved the praise more than I do.” 

The girls were told to stay in their rooms for the rest of the day, the prince was supposed to come before dinner to talk to them individually. Nesta took note of how each guard and maid that spoke to them told them that it would be okay if they wanted to leave, that the prince understood and would have them home before dinner. 

Nesta glances around Sara’s room where the girls were still huddled in small groups, shaken by the events of the day. They had decided to say together, all wanting to be with other people rather than by themselves. “I want to go home,” a voice says from across the room, Nesta turns away from the window to see Caroline. She was short and curvy with dark hair and bright eyes. “I don’t think I could handle this.” 

The girl next to her reaches over and grabs her hand, “I am glad you spoke up, I was thinking the same thing,” she says, reaching up to wipe a stray tear, “My first thought was to get under my covers and cry. I can’t imagine being queen and having to deal with this on a daily basis.” 

The King got what he wanted, Nesta thought to herself as a few more girls came forward with how they were feeling. At least four of the girls wanted to leave and Nesta knew there were probably others on the other wing wanting to leave as well. 

She was feeling discouraged and homesick, she wanted to be with her sisters. Elain would hold her while Feyre tried everything in her power to make her laugh. Maybe she should go home too. There was a sharp knock on the door and the prince walked in. The girls sit up straight, wiping the stray tears and fixing their clothes and hair. 

“I am glad to see you all unharmed,” Rhysand says with a nod as he steps into the room. Cassian walks in behind him glancing over the room of the girls until his eye catches hers. He gives her a slight nod before moving his attention to the prince. “I believe that it is all due to one girl here that showed courage when needed.” 

All the girls look to one another excitedly, as if they didn’t know who he was referring too. 

“Being able to have a clear head in a moment of panic is a good quality to have as a future Queen,” Rhysand glances around before his eyes stop on Sara. Nesta is relieved that Cassian listened to her. “I would like to extend a thank you to Sara, you showed determination and bravery where there were none. I wanted to know if I could speak with you privately,” he says, extending a hand for her. 

Sara opens her mouth, turning to find Nesta in the group, when she does she raises a confused eyebrow before turning to the prince. “Actually-,” she begins, but Nesta stands up drawing the attention towards her. 

“I would also like to graciously thank Sara, we wouldn’t have all been together to comfort one another without her suggestion.” Nesta says, beginning to clap her hands, the other girls being to say thank you as well. Reaching over to silently congratulate her on her time with the prince. 

Sara nods her head towards Nesta in thanks before taking Rhysand’s extended hand and leaving the room. She smiles after them, glad that Sara would get her moment to shine. In the corner of her eye she sees Cassian looking at her but doesn’t get to see why because he brings his attention back to the group. 

“As you know, the King does not want to hold you girls against your will. This was a hard time to go through and the King as well as the prince understand if you would like to be with your families during this hard time,” Cassian replies, making sure to look at every girl besides Nesta. “Your maids will be in your room to help you pack if you decide to leave. I hope you all make the best decision for yourself.” 

Chapter Eight: Cassian 

“Five decided to leave,” Rhysand says, walking into his office that night. He falls into the chair across from Cassian and slouches down, running a hand over his face and groaning. “It could have been worse but that’s five girls that I barely had anytime with.” 

Cassian can’t help but hope that the rebel spy decided to send herself home. “Which girls?” Cassian asks, preparing to take a mental note, he would have to look into where they head to next. 

Rhysand thinks for a minute, “Gloria and Caroline from three, Ava and Mackenzie from two,-,” he pauses, dropping his hands in his lap, “And Sara.” 

Cassian looks up surprised, “Sara, wasn’t she technically your first date of the selection?” he asks, twirling the pen in his hand as he leans back in his chair to look at Rhysand intensely, “Do you really suck at dating that much she pulled herself out of the running?” 

“Ha, ha,” Rhysand replies dryly looking at Cassian unamused. “No, she told me on our date that she wasn’t actually the one that rounded everyone up, that she hadn’t even thought to check on the other girls. She only went along with a plan thought up by Nesta.” 

Cassian hums in thought, he had his suspicions that it was Nesta, why else would she be the one out trying to find a guard. He wondered why she didn’t want the attention or the praise, unless she wasn’t there for the prince at all. That made him want to assign her the role as spy but why would she tell him about her conversation with Tomas. 

“What are you thinking about?” Rhysand asks, leaning forward on his knees to better inspect Cassian. 

Cassian sighs, not wanting to lie to his friend but didn’t feel right in telling him that one or more of the girls were spies, that he was looking into the background of every girl here to make sure they wouldn’t murder him in his sleep. “Just thinking about the rebel attacks, how we need to have more guards stationed around the palace but don’t have enough to handle a job like that,” he replies. 

“Then you should assign a guard to each girl, that way you aren’t wasting the men around the castle,” Rhysand replies easily. Cassian couldn’t help but smile at his friend, the King made it clear to anyone that would listen that Rhysand wasn’t ready to rule and that Rhysand had a lot to learn before obtaining the crown but Cassian thought the complete opposite. 

Cassian also knew that would help keep the spy in check, he could even take a couple rounds to keep a closer eye on the ones he was beginning to grow suspicious of. “That’s a great idea,your majesty,” Cassian replies. “The men could even bring back information about what the ladies are saying about you.” 

“Surely nothing interesting, I’ve barely spoken to any of them and the first televised event is tomorrow. I have to cram in at least ten dates in 24 hours,” Rhysand begins, running a hand through his hair, Cassian could feel the anxiety radiating off of him. 

Cassian looked at his watch, “You have two hours before curfew. Get asking,” Cassian says encouragingly, “I’ll take care of the security measures and the final report about the attack while you enjoy your second date of the day.” 

Rhysand rolls his eyes but stands up, he pauses by the door looking back as he says, “if you were in shoes who would you choose to ask?” 

Cassian rolls his eyes as he chuckles, “You don’t want my opinion,” Cassian retorts, “Mine would be strategic and purposefully, I would not follow my heart.” 

Rhysand stops and turns towards him beckoning him to continue. “Okay, well, Vanserra is a two she’s already been in the public eye and is used to it. You gain publicity if you end up with her. Tara is from New Asia, a marriage with her would result in an alliance. Even picking someone my Cecilia or Molly who are fours would be beneficial, Cecilia's father is a businessman with a lot of money and power and Molly is Prythians sweetheart,” Cassian explains. 

Rhysand nods and Cassian can tell that he hadn’t thought about it like that or tried hard not too. He didn’t have the privilege to do this with his heart. “And someone like Rita? She’s a six, or Nesta?” Rhysand asks. 

Cassian wanted to say forget about her for the obvious reason that she might be a spy but he didn’t know that yet. “I don’t know much about Rita, which means the people probably don’t care about her either. She’ll be seen indifferent in the public’s eye, some may like her some may hate her. She won’t bring anything to the table,” he adds. 

“And Nesta? She did prove herself today,” Rhysand retorts watching Cassian carefully. Cassian wondered why he was so fascinated by her and why he was irritated that he was. 

“She’s a seven, brought here to give the people someone to hope for but they already have the people’s queen with your mother coming from a low caste,” Cassian retorts feeling guilty about the comment, even if she was a traitor she had proven herself to be a strong and intelligent woman. She didn’t deserve to be put into the box of her caste. “You won’t gain anything from a marriage with her.” 

Rhysand gave him a tight smile, a new expression etched in his face that he couldn’t quite understand. “Thank you for your input, I have a lot to think about,” Rhysand says with a short nod before moving to leave. 

Cassian feels bad as the door shuts and his friend is gone. He didn’t want to be the reason he sent any girl, he wanted Rhysand to feel as if he could pick any girl he’d like. It was the only freedom he had in this whole situation. 

~*~

Before meeting up with Rhysand, Cassian had stopped by Amren’s office to see if she would be on board with assigning a few guards to take rotations on each of the girls. 

She didn’t want to waste the men, but she also saw the benefit especially with the attacks targeting the selection process. After obtaining her approval he made his way to Rhysand who was already on his third date of the day. He was really trying to squeeze them in before the live interview tonight. 

He had taken Cecilia on a moonlight walk through the gardens last night, joined Vanserra for breakfast on her balcony, taught Amelia archery, and was now finishing up a horse back riding lesson with Isla. 

Cassian stood by the stairs as Rhysand said goodbye to Isla. She blew him a kiss before turning quickly giggling as she made her way down the hall. “She’s-,” Cassian began, but stops himself quickly, he didn’t want to persuade Rhysand any direction. 

“Immature?” Rhysand interjects, filling in the blank of Cassian's sentence. Cassian nods once in agreement. “She’s the youngest in the competition and it shows, I think I’ll have to let her go next elimination.” 

“How many are you sending home?” Cassian asks curiously as they move down the hallway towards the women’s room. 

Rhysand shrugs, “My father suggests five, but with some sending themselves home I don’t know if that’s too many. It’s only been two days since I’ve truly interacted with them,” he retorts. 

Cassian nods, “Well, you already decided Isla wasn’t a fit, perhaps you’ll find four more on your speed dating that don’t seem to click,” Cassian replies optimistically. Usually Rhysand was the hopeful one while Cassian joked about every possibly bad outcome. It was a weird different to have the roles reversed. 

“I hate to go so quick but I don’t want the girls to have nothing to talk about on the show, how would that look for me? That I am not devoted? That I am boring?” Rhysand rambles. 

Cassian glances at his friend curiously, he hadn’t seen Rhysand spiral like this in a long time. “I don’t think anyone would think you’re boring, you’re a royal. Most find that along very intriguing,” Cassian retorts. 

They stop in front of the women’s room door, Rhysand turns towards Cassian. “You’ve been getting better with your pep talks,” Rhysand replies, straightening his suit coat as he waves down a maid. 

Cassian rolls his eye as the maid comes running up and curtesy. “Would you mind asking the Queen if she could spare Rita? I’d like to ask her to join me for a picnic by the pond,” Rhysand asks. 

The maid nods eagerly as she departs into the room quickly. “Rita, huh?” Cassian replies with a questioning look in his eyes. 

“Just because I asked for your opinion doesn’t mean that I had to take it,” Rhysand retorts with an eye roll. 

Cassian chuckles as he asks, “So does that mean you’re giving the wildcard a chance?” 

Rhysand gives him a dry look, obviously understanding that he was referring to Nesta as the wildcard. “We’ve already been on a date, she was technically my first date if you want to call it that,” Rhysand retorts, “I won't be eliminating her this round.” 

Cassian doesn’t have anything to say to that, he couldn’t think of a single joke without it coming across bitter. Why did he care? These girls were for Rhysand, and him alone. Even if Cassian was feeling something towards one of them, which he wasn’t, he couldn’t act upon any feelings. 

“Nothing to say about that, huh?” Rhysand chuckles, patting Cassian's shoulder as he continues, “it was in the library, it was short but we truly connected.” 

Cassian let’s put a sigh of relief that he doesn’t have to find something to reply with because the door opens and the maid as well as Rita walk out. Rita curtseys, looking only at the prince, as if Cassian wasn’t even there. “You’re majesty,” she says, standing back up looking at him, “You requested to speak with me?” 

Rhysand smiles at her and nods as he says, “Yes, I was hoping you would join me for a picnic by the pond, it should be lovely weather.” 

Cassian wants to snort, it wasn’t Rhysands fault that he was sheltered and not allowed to talk to any girls growing up because he would take part in a selection but it was all too formal for Cassian's liking. The girls didn’t seem to mind, so at least he had that going for him. 

She must have said yes because she loops her arm in his and they move towards the exit. Cassian doesn’t follow, instead standing across from the women’s room on high alert. He had a couple girls in mind that he wanted to watch out for and making sure they all stayed where they were supposed to be would help him narrow down his suspects. 

He doesn’t know how long it’s been until Rhysand comes back up the hall saying something to make Rita laugh out loud. He says his goodbye and she disappears back into the women’s room. “Were you waiting for me?” Rhysand retorts, glancing back at him, as he moves down the hall. Cassian takes that as an invitation to follow him and pushes off the wall to walk next to him. 

“No, actually, I wanted to keep a close eye on the girls. Who knows how they’re all feeling after the attack yesterday,” Cassian lies smoothly, he was worried about their safety but it wasn’t his main concern at the moment. “How did the date go?” 

Rhysand shrugs, “Good conversation, she seems to know what she’s talking about, but I just don’t feel a spark,” he replies. “I was hoping that one of them would come in and I would just have a gut feeling that she was the one.” 

“Well, there are plenty of other girls that you haven’t really talked with, perhaps she is still out there,” Cassian assures, feeling a weight lift off his shoulder as he thinks about the girls he’s already spoken with and lacked a connection with. 

A maid moves down the hallway towards them quickly, getting into a low curtsey before saying, “Your majesty, the King has requested to see you, he would like to discuss the broadcast tonight.” 

Rhysand nods, “Thank you for letting me know, Ann.” Ann bows before hurrying down the hall away from them. “I guess my speed dating has ended, I hope I at least said something interesting that they can bring up.” 

Cassian busies himself the rest of the making a rotation schedule for the guards for they would guard each girl, he made sure to add himself so he would have time watching each of them himself. He didn’t have many guards he trusted to give detailed reports so it was better that he do it himself. 

“Hey, you watching the interviews?” Amren says, popping into his office as he finishes up the report for the rebel attack. She leans against his door frame watching him intently, “Wouldn’t want to miss the Prince acting like a fool in front of his twenty girlfriends.” 

Cassian rolls his eye and retorts, “When are you going to start saying this kind of stuff in front of him, huh?” He stands up nevertheless and puts the folders in his side drawer, locking it, before grabbing his jacket and moving towards Amren. 

“I actually like my job, so I think I’ll pass,” Amren replies with an eye roll as they move down the hall together. “I had to send your request for the extra guards to the King, he wasn’t so happy about it but he signed it.” 

Cassian rolls his eyes, of course he was upset with even though it was to help with the assignment he gave Cassian. “Good, that could give the girls some peace of mind. I wouldn’t want Rhysand to lose anymore because of the rebels.” 

Amren chuckles, shaking her head, “Yeah, I am sure that’s all you care about,” she retorts, eyeing him suspiciously, “I am not really sure what your motive is or if I even want to know, but I know you don’t care that much about Rhysand’s love life.” 

“I am not sure you want to know,” Cassian replies, not wanting to bring her into the mess being associated with the King has brought about. “When I finally get out of this place then I’ll let you in on all of the secrets.”

“Can’t wait,” Amren deadpans, pushing open the door to the ballroom, which had been completely changed to fit the interview. There were chairs lined up for a live audience, camera crew were setting up in front of a makeshift stage that had been built today. Three chairs were off to the side while on the other side there were twenty chairs for the girls to sit. 

Cassian glances across the room where two guards were escorting maids and off duty guards to their seats. They must have wanted to allow a real life audience but with the lock downs didn’t feel like it was safe enough for them. 

He did notice a few journalists weasel their way through the crowd to get front row seats ready to write about any gossip worthy thing that happens throughout the interviews. “How many girls do you think will get stage fright and become a stuttering mess?” Amren asks. 

Cassian shakes his head as the girls begin to come in, some look confident as they make their way to a seat while some are more hesitant as they look around at all the cameras. He spots Nesta moving straight towards the back, wearing a simple green gown compared to the rest of the dresses adored by the other girls. 

She sits down in the far corner but he doesn’t see any worry or fright on her face, she just didn’t want to be in the center of attention. “You’re cruel,” Cassian retorts, as he glances through the girl, “Some of them do look like they could get sick though.” 

“What do you think the King would do if one of them got sick of him? Or on the prince? Would that be an immediate elimination or would they have mercy on the poor girl?” Amren asks, getting up on her toes to look at the girls. “See, that one in the middle, yellow dress.” 

Cassian glances over at her, she looks as green as Nesta’s dress and she bit her nails as she looks around wildly. “Five bucks says she gets up and sees herself out before they even begin filming,” Cassian says, smirking at Amren. She was always up for a challenge. 

Amren ponders, “I wanna give her the benefit of the doubt and say she will push through, but I doubt it.” She pretends to weigh her options, “Okay, fine. As soon as those cameras are rolling I get the five bucks.” 

She extends her hand and he reaches forward the shake on it. 

The lights dimmed and the camera crew got into place. Cassian nudges Amren’s shoulder as the girl in the yellow dress begins to shift in her seat. “She’s going to run,” Cassian whispers in the dark.  

“And we’re live,” someone yells and the crowd claps as the King, Prince, and Host, Varian. 

Varian waves his hand to settle the crowd, as the applause settles, he smiles. “Most of you know me already, but if you’ve been living under a rock, I am Varian the host of Prythian news. I am coming as you live from the ballroom located inside the Palace to give you the inside scoop on all the girls still a part of the selection.” 

Cassian glances at Nesta as her frown deepens, he wasn’t sure if it was just because of Varian personality or his commentary. He catches a glimpse of yellow, glancing over to the girl in the middle row who had stood up. She looks over at the King and prince giving them an apologetic smile, “I am so sorry, I can’t do this,” she says before running off the stage and disappearing out into the hallway. 

Everyone juse watches after him unsure of what to do next. Varian laughs, bringing the attention back to him, “I didn’t realize that my jokes were that bad.” The group laughs and they quickly move on to the interviews. 

Amren looks over at him, “Should I put interest on that five dollars you owe me?” she whispers in between interviews. 

He rolls his eyes, slipping a hand in his pocket before handing over the money. “I always follow up on a deal,” he retorts. The interviews move quickly, the girls who were able to go on dates dished on them while the others made a show of the small moments they have had so far and how they’re excited to get to know him better. 

Before Varian closes off the episode the King stands up to give a final announcement. “With everything going on I think we could do some celebrations, my brother and his wife as well as my nephew Tamlin will be coming to visit. In honor of them coming we will be throwing a ball of sorts to welcome them, completely run by the ladies still in the selection.” 

The girls all look at one another and whisper loudly with one another unsure if they were excited about the dance or worried about having to plan it. He catches Rhysand’s eye who shakes his head, Rhysand obviously didn’t realize his cousin would be coming into town. Cassian wasn’t too thrilled about the reappearance of Tamlin either.

[lasttimeonthenegaverse]

The Life and Times of the Negaverse- part two

Later, when it was just him and Launchpad in bed (it wouldn’t be for long- not only was this the longest Gosalyn’s been kidnapped, it’s also the longest he’s been gone. The brat would appear sooner or later) Negaduck couldn't really sleep. There was something he'd been thinking about for a while now. Though if he was asked to pinpoint when he'd gotten the idea, he wouldn't be able to say.

“Launchpad,” Negaduck elbowed his husband. “ Launchpad .”

“Wha?” Launchpad glared at Negaduck, annoyed to be woken from his first good sleep in weeks.

“I think we should get another caretaker for Gosalyn,” Negaduck said and that woke Launchpad fully.

“What do you mean?” Launchpad asked.

“You can’t spend all your time at home and I’m tired of seeing you moping every time she’s gone for a day,” Negaduck said.

“I don’t mope,” Launchpad said.

“Then I’m tired of seeing you bitch,” Negaduck corrected which earned him a flat look. “We can’t watch Gosalyn twenty four seven. She needs someone who can be around more. Someone who could teach her something she’ll actually learn instead of being a huffy brat. And I happen to have the perfect candidate.”

“Who?” Launchpad was sceptical. Sure, he trusted his husband and the plans he had were usually good. This was their daughter , though. Gosalyn could prove to be as picky as him oftentimes.

“Morgana.”

“Oh hell no,” Launchpad went up on an elbow like he was preparing to fight. “I don't want that bitch in charge of Gos.”

“Neither do I. That's why I'm getting Darkwing’s.” Negaduck smiled at him.

“Didn’t ya say they’re datin’?” Launchpad narrowed his eyes.

Negaduck scoffed. “Puh-lease, it'll be doing them both a favour.”

“Nu-uh,” Launchpad shook his head. There was no way Launchpad would accept Morgana into their house. It didn't matter that she was a different version. His jaw was set, but Negaduck’s was equally set. “No way.”

“You want people to keep kidnapping Gosalyn? How ‘bout I just leave her wherever she ends up next time,” Negaduck said.

“ Morgana ,” Launchpad said with emphasis. “Are ya insane ? I thought ya said the portal broke, anyhow.”

“I did,” Negaduck said. “But I'm sure one of your old friends could help me.”

Launchpad’s eyebrows furrowed as he racked his brain, flipping through every person he'd met that lived. It was a longer list then some might think. Finally, it dawned. “Ya are insane.”

Negaduck smirked. It was clear in the way Launchpad looked at him from the moment he'd mentioned it. From the second Launchpad rose on that elbow to tower slightly above him. He thought this whole thing was a bad idea. Well, too bad. See him come up with something better. Instead of prolonging the argument, Negaduck chose to press a biting kiss to Launchpad’s beak.

“She's sleepin’ in the guest room. I ain't lettin’ someone else in my bed,” Launchpad said, lying back down and turning so his back was to Negaduck. It was a surrender. A begrudging surrender, but a surrender nonetheless.

“Of course.”

  Dr. Sara Bellum was in her lab when he got to S.H.U.S.H. Just as he figured she would be. The good doctor was married to her science. Practically literally. She actually wore a green wedding ring to ward off any potentials. One that could produce one long spike for anyone who didn't understand ‘no’. All in all, she was his kinda person. Even if she'd almost killed Launchpad five times.

He cleared his throat and Dr. Bellum startled before she turned to him. “Oh! Negaduck!” She looked around him excitedly, hands clasped. “Did you bring Launchpad? I have an experiment that I'd love to run on a sturdier victim!”

“Not today, Dr. Bellum.” The doctor visibly wilted at that. “I need you to make me a cross-dimensional portal.”

With that she brightened right back up. Immediately she headed over to a doorway he assumed led to a storage closet. There was a box next to it that she began to mess with. “Where would you like to go? 4308-009? No, probably not. I think that one’s all hats. 4308-070?”

He wasn't sure what the numbers were. Right now, he only wanted one thing. “Remember when that Darkdip came over here? I just need one that goes to his universe.”

“Oh! You want to go to universe 4308-052!” Dr. Bellum said.

Of course, if she was gonna keep speaking in code - “What are you blabbering on about?” Negaduck demanded.

“I've been running tests on my own interdimensional portal since you started your dimension hopping,” Dr. Bellum said. “I've only peeked into most of them but I've spent some time in Darkwing’s dimension. I understand the appeal. The Sara from there is very pleasant.”

That didn't really answer his question. Though at this point, he was used to being at least a little lost while talking to her. He certainly didn't like it, but he was used to it. Dr. Bellum had a nasty habit of taking circles around everyone in the room and he wasn't sure if it was because she didn't notice or because she truly didn't care. But her experiments with the portals hadn't been something he'd known about. Not that he ever paid much attention to Dr. Bellum when he didn't need her. And Launchpad tended to give her a wide berth ever since she’d snuck into his room to conduct experiments on him while he slept during his time at S.H.U.S.H. They both felt it best to just let her do her thing. The good doctor had a tendency toward gadgets Negaduck found useful, anyhow. She was more inclined to let him use them this way. “Does either S.H.U.S.H. know about this?”

“Oh, they tend to stay out of our way ever since we made that death ray together!” Dr. Bellum chirped.

Negaduck raised his eyebrows, impressed. That was something he’d have to look into. But not right now. He couldn’t afford to be distracted. “Just show me the damn portal.”

Dr. Bellum looked at him like she didn’t think he was very smart. Then she pressed a singular button on the box. There was a buzz and a rumble and a shake. Orange light poured out under the door.

So it wasn’t a closet.

Something was held up too close to his face. With a grimace he took a step back so he could actually see it. The object was silver metal. A clockface swung in front of his beak. “ This is to bring you back to our universe, 4308-049. Just press this little button,” and she brought it back close to herself, pointing to the button that would set an alarm. “and it’ll zap you right back here.”

“Alright.” He snatched the watch from her, putting it on his wrist. There was a minute of silence as Negaduck waited for a ‘and this is how you’ll die’. Eventually Dr. Bellum seemed to get bored and turned away, back to what she’d been working on before he got there. The death addendum never came. Apparently she’d gotten all the ‘features’ out of this one.

Before he left he pulled out his phone to call Launchpad. He picked up on the second ring.

“She already had a portal,” Negaduck said in lieu of a greeting.

Launchpad grunted in response. “Ya goin’ through?”

“Yep,” Negaduck said. 

“Ya sure about this?” Launchpad asked once again, just as he did when they woke up. And after their dry cereal breakfast. (Neither had gotten milk yet. Launchpad was supposed to grab groceries while he was out.) And before he’d left.

Negaduck rolled his eyes, but he didn’t vocally respond. He knew Launchpad would be able to sense it. They both knew he wouldn’t change his mind. As he opened the portal door, he could almost see Launchpad’s responding nod. “I’m heading in.”

“Don't seduce her. Ya got lucky with me, doubt ya will with the witch.” With those parting words, Launchpad hung up.

‘Don’t seduce her.’ Pssh. He was Negaduck. He could have anybody he wanted tripping over themselves to please him. A little seduction wouldn’t go awry.

What did Launchpad know? 

  A lot. Launchpad knew a lot and he hated him for it. This was something he'd take to his fucking grave.

Negaduck currently had his back plastered against the kitchen wall right next to the doorway to the living room where Morgana was. She hurled spell after spell toward him. Something she'd been doing since she walked in to him sitting in one of her living room chairs. It had been fine until she turned on the light. He probably shouldn't have mentioned the blood of her enemies. Luckily she hadn't managed to hit him yet.

“Morgana, babe, just hear me out!” Negaduck called.

“I don't want to go on a date with you, nor do I want you to paint me like a French girl, I am very happy with my dear Dark!”

Painting like a French girl. He smiled to himself. No loss there. Negaduck couldn't paint, anyhow. Launchpad on the other hand. They had the proof in the tower of just what Launchpad could do with a body, a canvas, and some acrylics.

“Fine,” Negaduck bit out. “No dates.” That’d annoy Launchpad more than this plan already has anyhow. And Launchpad could get pouty when he was annoyed. He didn’t need his husband to poison Morgana the second he was able to drag her back to the Negaverse with him.

Thankfully, that seemed to do the trick. When he risked a look he wasn’t immediately shot at. Instead Morgana just glared at him. It was a good look on her. “What do you want, Negaduck ?”

He frowned pitifully at her. “Why the distrust, Morgana?” There was no vocal answer, but her gaze hardened. “Still bitter about the way our first date ended?”

“That wasn’t a date,” Morgana said. “You tricked me.”

“Ah, potato pahtato, my sweet. Some of my best dates have been through trickery,” Negaduck said. He’d almost forgotten how nice it was to talk with this Morgana. She was more willing to keep up with his repartee than his own, who figured herself too far above it. It was something satisfying.

“You still haven't told me why you're here,” Morgana said.

“Do I need a reason to visit my favourite witch?”

“I doubt you do anything without a reason.” Morgana crossed her arms.

Negaduck smiled at her. “Look at that. You know me so well already.”

“What do you want, Negaduck?”

“I want you to come with me.”

Her face swapped between emotions like a flip book. Never lingering long enough to really read a single one. The final look was multifaceted. The disdain and distrust were plain. Harder to see was the curiosity. On her it looked morbid. Given that it was curiosity in him , he thought it fit. If anything he'd wear it with pride. “Why?” She asked eventually, careful.

That was the million dollar question, wasn’t it. This was the moment to decide. Would he go for broke and just tell her most of the truth or would he spell out a flat-out lie. In this situation it might be better to just go for the truth. She’d be coming with him no matter what, but he’d like it if she came willingly. From what he knew about her a little girl could do that. Oftentimes the truth was more fun, anyway.

“I need you to help raise and keep an eye on my daughter,” Negaduck told her.

Morgana's expression flipped to a full out glare. Apparently the truth hadn't been the right course of action. “Dark told me what you did to that poor little girl.”

‘Poor little girl’. He wanted to scoff. ‘Little terror’ was more like it. Not that Morgana or Darkwing Dipstick knew that. Barely anyone knew that, which was the whole reason he was here in the first place.

“That dumbass doesn't know anything,” Negaduck growled. “He just jumps to conclusions and sometimes he gets lucky.” 

“You locked that sweet girl up in your house like a prisoner just because she's different from you!” Morgana said, likely words ripped right from Darkwing.

He couldn't deny that conclusion hit the head pretty square on. Though there were more subtle nuances Darkwing wasn't privy to. Which could be the tagline for his whole career. “That was for her own good.”

“Own good?” Morgana repeated and her stare turned molten. “ Own good ? How ever could locking a child up in a house be for her own good? ” She demanded.

Negaduck felt his hackles raise. He didn't like being told how to take care of his own damn kid . Especially by someone who didn't even know anything. “My brat gets kidnapped constantly ,” he spit out. “What else could I do? My husband took her everywhere with him, but she was sick of that and not everyday can be ‘bring your daughter to work day’.” The monologue helped cool him slightly. He rolled his eyes. He wouldn't mention the way Gosalyn would whine when her dress got a little blood on it. Luckily Agent 22 knew how to get blood out of clothes. If she hadn’t gotten that spot out of Gosalyn’s favourite pink dress she wouldn’t have let them hear the end of it. And St. Canard would’ve felt it. But back on track. “Of course the week I order her to stay in the damn house? That numbskull decides to traipse all over my city and hand my fucking kid over to a bunch of heroes! Do you know how fucking worried my husband was? So I had to get someone else- you . I’d get my universe’s version of you but she has a stick so far up her ass I'd be able to use her as a puppet if I had a death wish.” Was he scared of his universe’s Morgana? No. Was he an idiot? Also no.

There were so many statements there. So much to unpack. Morgana’s mind parsed through them, one after the other. At least one thing was mentioned twice. That’s what she latched onto. “You’re married?”

“For ten bloody years,” Negaduck said proudly before his voice turned dark. “Is that a problem?” It wouldn’t be the first time someone’d given him shit for being married. There was something about Launchpad that rubbed people the wrong way. But he always made sure to rub them and make sure everything was okay again. He always found it much harder for them to complain once their body parts were one with the irrigation system.

“No I just,” Morgana frowned. “You don’t seem the type.”

Negaduck shrugged. Before he’d met Launchpad, he hadn’t considered himself the marrying type either. It’s amazing what a fight to the death can do. “Point is, we need you. Someone needs to be able to help us watch her so this doesn’t happen again.”

Her eyes flicked between him and something behind him. There was hesitation in that gaze. That was something he couldn’t have. “We want you there, Morgana.”

“Darkwing would miss me,” Morgana replied, eyes returning to him in a flash like they were magnetized.

“Please,” Negaduck said, beak curling, “that dunce wouldn't even notice you were gone.”

“Of course he would! He loves me,” Morgana protested.

Negaduck shook his head. “You can't honestly tell me he's dating you for anything more than clout.”

“Clout?” Morgana’s voice was subdued. He'd caught her by surprise.

“A superhero turning a super villain good with the power of love? Then dating that ex-villain?” Negaduck raised an eyebrow and tuttered. “You wouldn't have such a thing done to you in my universe.”

Her eyes were hard, ice inside. But there was something there. Something deep. Uncertainty. Doubt . One of her hands twitched. Magic danced at the fingertips, Negaduck could sense it like electricity. “That’s not true. Dark’s not like that.”

“Then why don’t you know his secret identity?”

“I don’t know yours.”

Negaduck waved a hand. “Don’t have one. Haven’t for years.”

“Why are you so certain he has one, then?”

“He’s my counterpart. Who else would know him better? Other than Launchpad,” Negaduck shrugged nonchalantly, But he spoke firmly. “He has one.”

She scrambled for her landline, dialing a number she knew by heart. It wasn't the first time she'd thought about that. In the beginning, when she asked, he'd avoid it. He always avoided it. By the time she truly went to his tower for the first time, she just figured he didn't have one. Seeing the tower seemed to confirm it. So why did it bother her so much right now? When it hadn't bothered her for a year. Somehow, hearing Darkwing’s mirror image mention it drove a stake into her heart. Exposing the question that had bothered her so much. The one she'd felt she'd buried

The phone rang five times. Just as she thought it’d switch to the answering machine, the line clicked and a voice said ‘hello’. “Dark Darling?” Morgana asked into the receiver.

“ Morgana! ” Darkwing responded, sounding surprised.

“Do you…” Morgana swallowed, suddenly unsure of herself. She’d know if he had a secret identity, right? That’s not something he’d keep from her. It wasn’t and she was being silly.

“ Who is it, DW? ” She could just barely make out the words in the background. They had her taking the plunge.

“Do you have a secret identity?”

“ What! ” Darkwing’s voice screeched in her ear and she winced, holding the receiver away. Though Negaduck hadn’t stepped any closer, from the look he had it was obvious he’d heard that shout. Warily she put the phone back at her ear. “ Morgy, what's brought this back? ”

“I’m,” Morgana hesitated. Did she mention that his double was at her house? That he was asking her to his universe? That her answer felt like it hinged on this very conversation, no matter how silly it might seem. “I’m just curious, is all.”

Darkwing chuckled nervously on his side. “ Morgana, Morgana, Morgana. Don’t concern yourself with something so trivial. ”

But it wasn’t trivial. Not to her. Not right now. “Dark dearest, please.”

“ Morgana, ” Darkwing repeated her name again. And she knew right then she wouldn’t get her answer. She never did. “ That’s a… rather personal question. ”

“Dark, you’ve met my family ,” Morgana said. That was personal. Perhaps the most personal Morgana had ever been with anyone since her highschool days.

“ And you've met mine, ” Darkwing replied.

“You're not answering my question,” Morgana said quietly. He never had before. It hadn't felt important that he did those previous times, though. Not like now. With Negaduck looking at her, eyes surprisingly soft. Understanding in a way she wouldn't expect. Like he could hear both sides of the conversation.

There was a sigh. Something clicked in the receiver, like Darkwing had opened his beak to say something before changing his mind. “ I haven’t had a secret identity in years. ”

For a long time Morgana was quiet. She couldn’t tell how she knew that was a lie, after all Negaduck had said those same exact words. But she knew it was. Just as she knew Negaduck had told the truth when he’d told her that. More words came from the phone, but she couldn’t make them out. They felt like white noise. Shakily, she hung up.

“When can we leave?’

Negaduck smiled at her, shark teeth gleaming. There were only a few steps between them and he crossed them quickly. He took her wrist before pressing a button on his watch. Then the world swirled around them in shades of black and purple. Strangely she felt like crying, but she wouldn’t let herself. There was no reason to. It was easy to tell herself it didn’t matter. But it was a lot harder to believe it.

Once her world stopped spinning she was ambushed by a tall goose. She was skinny with glasses and long black hair. And way too close.

“I see it worked,” she said, not seeming to notice when Negaduck shoved her away.

He didn’t answer her. Just brushed past her, hand still wrapped around Morgana’s wrist. She craned her neck to give the stranger an apologetic look, but she didn’t seem to mind. Like it happened all the time.

The whirlwind didn’t stop as she got in the sidecar on Negaduck’s motorcycle. Everything felt too fast. She didn’t feel capable of processing anything as they passed broken building after broken building. All the emotions that had mounted when she’d agreed to go coalesced together and numbed her from the inside as they rode.

Eventually they stopped in front of a two story house she didn’t recognize. She stared at it for a long time. Did Darkwing live somewhere just like that? Or somewhere else? Somewhere with a big backyard for Gosalyn to play in. It felt weird to imagine. The image clashed with the one she knew of the tower. Of the place with the tall computers and the bed and the kitchen where she’d always thought Darkwing had lived.

A door slamming closed brought her out of her head.

“You get her?” A voice asked. It was rough, but she recognized it. It was still a shock when she looked up. Launchpad. Something weird settled in her gut when she saw him. It wasn’t anything she could name, though. That something settled lower when Negaduck swung off the motorcycle and went right to him, Launchpad- his double - leaning down to kiss him.

“Of course I did. You doubt me?” Negaduck asked, arms crossing petulantly. But Launchpad’s double didn’t respond. His eyes had found her. It felt like they were boring into her and Morgana squirmed without meaning to.

She got out of the sidecar as fast as she could without landing on her face. As she stood, his eyes ran up and down her body. There were no words to describe how disconcerting it felt, having someone who looked not-quite just like someone she already knew looking at her like they’d never seen her before. Or how much it looked like he was calculating just how to kill her. “I’m Morgana.” The introduction came on reflex.

“I know who ya are,” Launchpad’s double said. “He try ta seduce ya?”

Negaduck glared up at Launchpad. Damn him .

“He did,” Morgana confirmed, crossing her arms. “Was that your idea?”

Negaduck’s glare switched to Morgana. Damn her! Fuck it. He'd kill both of them. At least Herb would never be right .

Launchpad nodded at Morgana, then went back inside the house. She wasn’t sure what it meant. But Negaduck was ushering her in before any questions could form. Once she was inside the house, she looked around. There was a staircase that lead to the upper floor. A living room to her right that seemed to lead right into the kitchen. And from the kitchen, a door to the outside. From the front it was hard to tell just how big the backyard was, but it hadn’t looked small. There were no outside toys that she could spot, though. But there were a few toys in the living room. A broken doll hung limp off the ratty couch.

“Miss Morgana?” The voice startled Morgana and she looked down. A girl blinked up at her, head tilted to the side. The resemblance between this little girl and the Gosalyn she knew were uncanny. But they were definitely different children. This girl had her red hair in tightly wound curls, surrounding her head like a halo and a pink dress with enough frills to drop her age a good few years. The eyes didn’t stay on her for long, swapping to Negaduck instead. “Daddy, why'd you bring her over? And why’s she look so different ?”

“She's gonna be your new caretaker,” Negaduck said.

“But Miss Morgana doesn't like me,” the girl who looked like Gosalyn frowned deeply. “And I thought you were gonna stay here with me and Papa.” She brushed the toe of her foot against the ground.

Something in Morgana’s heart bled for her immediately. She crouched down. “I like you.”

The girl looked back at her, eyes a little shiny. “You’re lying.”

“Of course not. I'm not that Morgana,” Morgana said seriously.

“But you’re gonna make it so Daddy can leave me again,” she sniffed.

“Gosalyn,” Morgana said. “I'd never.”

That seemed to shock her out of her tears. “How do you know my name?” She asked suspiciously.

“I’m from Darkwing’s world. That’s the name of the little girl you look like,” she said after floundering for just a second.

The girl sized her up and Morgana felt like she’d suddenly been thrust into a vat of cold water. She didn’t know why. “Alright,” the girl said. Her beak opened like she was gonna say more, but Launchpad’s copy picked her up and it cut off whatever further words she had.

“C’mon, I made dinner,” Launchpad’s copy said.

Morgana stood back up as they made their way into the kitchen, Negaduck following after. It was like she was stuck again, just as she’d been outside the house. And once she’d first stepped inside. She’d agreed to watch this girl. For some reason though, it felt like she’d just agreed to a lot more. It occurred to her that she’d just fallen off the precipice of her life and landed in the unknown. With hardly a backward glance. Alice, thrust into the mirror world. She hadn’t even told Darkwing goodbye.

“You better get in here,” Negaduck called toward her and her feet moved without her consent.

[unfortunate-arrow]

Drunken Confessions

Given the opportunity for unbridled vulnerability, what is one thing your MC would say to each of their friends? Maybe over firewhiskey or a pint of something good? By @drinkyoursoupbitch featuring the O’Donnell quadruplets

Bill:

Ryan– “You’re awesome. You’re a much better big brother than our dick brother Cian. You’re like a brother to me. I mean you don’t replace Conor, but you could replace Cian.” 

Cara– “You’re amazing, Billy. I guess being one of seven just makes you a great brother or at least able to put up with our bull. You’re a great role model, too.” 

Sara– “I love you, Bill. Not in a romantic way. That’s gross. Plus you love Fleur, while Barnaby’s my love. I love you the same way that I love Conor and Ryan and Cara. You’re a great brother.” 

Conor– “Thank you for everything. For putting up with me when my spells went haywire because the words got stuck. Thanks. You’re pretty cool.” 

Barnaby:

Ryan– “You’re a nice guy. I really appreciate your friendship, but if you hurt Sara, you’ll have the full wrath of Conor, Cara and me.” 

Cara– “You’re pretty cool. Plus, if Sara loves you, then you can’t be too terrible. You’re great. Your love of creatures is amazing and you’re a great dueler.” 

Sara– “I love you. You’re amazing and kind and sweet and just the best. I love you so damn much. You’re really, really handsome too. I love you. I wanna spend the rest of my life with you. I love you.” 

Conor– “Thank you. For putting up with us, for loving Sara, for understanding the hell we went through. You’re important to me, to us.” 

Talbott:

Ryan– “Dude. I wish I knew you better. You seem great.”  

Cara– “You’re nice. I mean you’re so much like Conor it’s almost freaky. That’s why I broke up with you after our few dates. It was like dating my brother, and that’s not cool in any way shape or form.” 

Sara– “I wish you had let me get to really know you. I know that it was awkward after everything with you and Cara, but I wish we hadn’t let it get very awkward.” 

Conor– “You were a good roommate. I know we never really spent much time together, but you never laughed at me or insinuated that I was less intelligent.” 

Penny:

Ryan– “You’re really pretty and kind and smart and amazing. I love you so much. You know that right? You know I love you? Cause I do. I really do.” 

Cara– “I like you Penny, but if you hurt him, you deal with us.” 

Sara– “You’re one of my best friends. I’m glad that you’re with my brother. Thank you for befriending us in first year, when we were just the weird quadruplet siblings of the infamous Cian.” 

Conor– “Thanks for helping me with potions and for never teasing me about my stutter.” 

Jae:

Ryan– “Dude. You’re awesome. I had so much fun in our dorm. Just try to stay out of trouble. None of us want to see you arrested.” 

Cara– “You’re pretty fun. I agree with Ry, though. Don’t get arrested.”

Sara– “You’re very kind. Detention fifth year was very entertaining and you were able to put up with the four of us bickering. Stay out of trouble. You’re too nice to be arrested.” 

Conor– “You’ve never laughed at me when I stutter. Thanks, man.” 

Charlie:

Ryan– “Dude! You’re like a brother to me, too. You’re awesome. You’re just a goddamn well of knowledge about dragons, which, dude, is amazing!” 

Cara– “Charles, Charles, Charles. You should look beyond dragons, mate. You’re awesome though. I love you. Like a brother.” 

Sara– “You’re nice. You’re so passionate about dragons, that it’s cool. I love that about you. Your eyes just light up when you talk about them. It’s like when Barnaby talks about creatures.” 

Conor– “Man, you never once laughed at me. Thank you.” 

Tonks:

Ryan– “You’re cool. I like you. Thanks for being there for my sisters and always being just a good friend to us.” 

Cara– “You’re funny. I like you a lot. You’re such a badass as well. I think that’s really cool.”

Sara– “I love you. You’re like a sister to me. I have such a love-hate relationship with pranks, but you always yank me into wars with you, Tulip, and Cara. You’re so cool, though.” 

Conor– “Thanks for knowing that my stutter wasn’t something to laugh at.” 

Andre:

Ryan– “Dude. You’re an awesome keeper. Just lay off Conor.”

Cara– “You’re great at quidditch. You’re a very formiddable rival.” 

Sara– “Thank you for always dressing us to the T for events. Your style is pretty cool.” 

Conor– “You’re a brilliant quidditch player, but please stop hiding my clothes. I know my style isn’t up to your code, but it’s mine.” 

Chiara:

Ryan– “You’re so cool. I mean it’s also a plus because you being a werewolf pisses off Uncle Doyle.” 

Cara– “You deserve a hug. You’re really kind and it sucks that you have such a terrible life. You’re also pretty hot.” 

Sara– “You’re amazing. You’re a great friend. You’re also a great roommate. Thank you for getting me that position helping out Madam Pomfrey sixth year.” 

Conor– “You understand what it’s like to be ostracized. I mean it’s different because most people don’t know you’re a werewolf, but everyone knows I stutter.” 

Merula:

Ryan– “You’re complicated. I don’t know what to think of you. You are better than that dick Cian.” 

Cara– “You’re hot, but not my type. Plus you’re very contradictory. Also, you should apologize to Conor for mocking him in first, second, and third year.” 

Sara– “I forgive you. You still should apologize to Conor, too.” 

Conor– “You deserve to be happy despite everything.” 

Ben:

Ryan– “You’re brave, Dude. You don’t need to change yourself to fit someone else’s view. You just be who you are.” 

Cara– “You’re not perfect. You don’t have to be. Just be who you want to be, Ben. I like who you are.” 

Sara– “You’re a good friend. It doesn’t matter how brave you are. You were put into Gryffindor for a reason.” 

Conor– “You’ve never laughed at my stutter. That’s been important to me.” 

Rowan:

Ryan– “You’ve been a great friend since we first met all the back in Diagon Alley all those years ago. I love you the same way I love Sara and Cara. Just don’t hurt Cara or you’ll face our wrath.” 

Cara– “You’re gorgeous. Like really, really gorgeous. You’re really smart, too. I love you. You’re amazing.” 

Sara– “You’re my best friend. You mean as much to me as Barnaby and my siblings do. I love you so much. You deserve the world. I hope you’re happy with Cara.”

Conor– “You’re a really good friend. Thank you.” 

Ash: (male!Rowan) 

Ryan– “You’re one of my best friends. I care about you a lot. You’re like a brother to me. Dude, you’re important to me.” 

Cara– “You’re amazing. You’re a great brother and deserve someone who makes you as happy as Rowan makes me.” 

Sara– “You’re another one of my best friends. You’re much braver than you give yourself credit for. I think you deserve the world.” 

Conor– “You’ve been a great friend. Thank you.” 

Badeea:

Ryan– “You’re really nice. I don’t know you well enough to say anything else.” 

Cara– “You're an amazing artist. You should teach me some of your techniques. I love your paintings.” 

Sara– “You’re nice. I wish that I had gotten to know you better.”’

Conor– “Thank you for making me know that my intelligence isn’t limited by my stutter.” 

BONUS

Ryan:

Cara– “You’re amazing, jerk. I love you.” 

Sara– “You’re great, Ryan. I love you to death. You’re tied for my favorite brother.” 

Conor– “Thanks for always having my back, even if we do fight. Love you.” 

Cara:

Ryan– “You’re great, jerk. Thanks for making me a better chaser. I love you.” 

Sara– “You’re the greatest sister a girl could ask for. I love you so much.” 

Conor– “Thanks for always having my back. Love you.” 

Sara:

Ryan– “You’re awesome. I love singing with you. You’re one of my favorite sisters.” 

Cara– “You’re the best. You’re such a good sister. I wouldn’t ask for another sister. I love you.” 

Conor– “Thanks for always having my back. Love you.” 

Conor:

Ryan– “I’m proud of you! I love you. You’re the best brother a guy could ask for.” 

Cara– “I love you, you idiot. I wish that you would talk to us about things more, though.” 

Sara– “I love you, Conor. You’re awesome and great brother. Thanks for all the help with sports.” 

Ruth Callaghan: (who I don’t do enough with) 

Ryan– “You’re nice. How bad can you be if Conor loves you, though? However, just know that if you hurt him, you will face our wrath.” 

Cara– “Thanks for loving Conor and putting up with us and all our craziness. You’re a great sister-in-law.” 

Sara– “You brought Conor out of his shell. Thank you for loving him and putting up with us and all our baggage.” 

Conor– “Is tú mo ghrá. You are so pretty and smart and kind and supportive, mo grá. Thank you for never laughing when I stutter. Is tú mo ghrá.” 

(Is tú mo ghrá means “you are my love” and mo grá means “my love” in Irish Gaelic. Translation was found here.) 

[diannaphantomfiction]

Karivarry LifeSwap AU Writing Prompts. Prompt 12/♾: Day in the Life

Prompt requested by Anonymous

Kara, Barry and Oliver and their interactions with their teams + how they live their civilian lives

____________

“You can’t be serious.” Kara stared at her manager, sorry former manager, in shock.

“I’m sorry, Kara. The owner didn’t give me a choice. She said the police called. That you lied about your criminal history?”

It had taken Kara weeks to get a job at this stupid theme diner. She hadn’t even wanted it, but she needed the work desperately. So, during the day she stuffed herself into the stupid uniform (A pink dress with a fancy black apron tied around her waist and a pair of kitten heels), plastered a smile on her face, laughed at customers’ bad jokes, and hoped her feet wouldn’t be bleeding at the end of her shift. It wasn’t a good job per say, but they paid her minimum wage before she got her tips and gave her daytime hours.

And Maggie had lied to her boss and cost her it.

“I was never convicted of anything! They let me go every. Single. Time.”

“I’m sorry, Kara. You’re a good worker, but…”

Kara sighed, “You need a job too.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault. I’ll change out of my uniform.”

“Thanks, Kara.”

Kara changed out of her uniform and returned everything, before leaving the building. She shoved down her anger and marched to the nearest bus stop. She was running out of options. Sure, she still had her inheritance, her mother had removed the excess requirements when Kara had come home broken and mentally scared. Cat Grant may have believed in hard work, but she wasn’t a monster. She would never leave her daughter to the streets if her PTSD prevented her from working. So she had a nice apartment, more than enough money to take care of Carter as his guardian, put food on the table, and pay for anything they would need, but she wanted to work. She hated sitting around doing nothing and John had literally pushed her out of the “Arrow Cave” a few times because “being the Arrow 24/7 isn’t healthy”.

Unfortunately, no one wanted to hire a girl with a BA in Anthropology. She supposed she could go back to school somehow, get her Master’s and PhD. But, the idea of field work made her heart race, her organs to chill, and her stomach to flip. She was actually terrified of it now when before it had excited her, and she wasn’t willing to admit that. Kara waved down the bus and rode it until she reached her favorite coffee shop. Apparently it was time to start looking for jobs. Again. So, that’s what she did, applying to everything she came across that she’d be able to do for hours until it was time to go home. She’d be there just long enough to fix dinner and wrangle Carter into homework and sleep before she was due at the Arrow Cave.

“Hey kid.” Kara said, ruffling Carter’s hair as she walked past him on the way to the kitchen. He was working on his Math homework, which would give Kara plenty of time to throw together something mostly healthy for them to eat.

“Hey Kara. I thought you got off work earlier today?”

Kara paused. Damn it, this kid was too smart. “So chicken or fish tonight? I think I have some Cod in the fridge…”

“Did you get fired again?”

Kara turned away just long enough to pull the cod and some vegetables out. “Yeah.”

Carter didn’t say anything for a few minutes, letting Kara work on cooking as he half-focused on a Math problem. As soon as the food was left to simmer, knowing that all Kara had to do was watch it, he spoke up again.

“You know you don’t have to work right? Mom said that if your PTSD was too bad…”

“Oh Car…” she turned to face him, “It’s not that simple. I like working. I like keeping busy. If I don’t work, it will just keep getting worse. Staying busy helps. Besides, what would I do with myself all day if I didn’t have a job?”

Carter shrugged. “I don’t know. I just...I don’t want you to end up getting hurt because you’re not ready for something, Kar.” Kara smiled at the old nickname. It had been a joke from Alex that had stuck. Her baby siblings: Kar and Car. Eventually the two of them had claimed the names for themselves, Carter actually declaring that only Kara was allowed to call him that.

“I’m glad you care, but it’s not your job to worry about me. I’m the big sister and you’re the teenage boy. It’s your job to do stupid shit and make mistakes and learn and it’s my job to worry about you.”

Kara was extremely glad that Carter was old enough to be left alone as she slipped out of the apartment to go to her “second job”. Kara had told Carter it was a managing job at Lena’s club and it was a good cover...for people who didn’t know who was on staff at Lena’s club or what was in it’s basement. So, Carter believed it. He was a smart kid, but he didn’t have all the facts and Kara was going to make sure he didn’t until he was older. Kara walked down to find John and Winn arguing about something lightheartedly, Lena elegantly stuffing her face with french fries, Mike and James arguing about something significantly less lightheartedly, and Kaldur and Artemis sparing.

“Kaldur! Artemis! What have I told you about sparing right before a planned patrol?”

They stopped. Kaldur at least looked reasonably chastised, he released his hard water construct swords, but not back into his water pack or as water vapor. No, he just let it fall to the ground. He then looked more embarrassed and even more chastised, luckily he realized his mistake and touched the puddle with a finger, he made his markings glow and evaporated it into the air.

Artemis on the other hand, just rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. Kara loved Artemis like a little sister, she really did, but that girl had more bitterness in her pinkie toe than the rest of Kara’s team combined. Kara would never blame her for that, no teenager should have to suffer through being raised in the League of Assassins. Unfortunately, it did make it difficult to act as her mentor. Kara had learned that, for the most part, Artemis needed to make her own mistakes and Kara let her as long as the mistakes wouldn’t get her killed. So if it had just been Artemis going some intense training, Kara would have let her, lecturing her after she tried to spin kick someone with a sprained ankle and wouldn’t be able to walk on it for a couple weeks. Kaldur didn’t learn like that though and if he’d pulled a muscle or gotten hit wrong during sparring and injured himself more in the field, it would only serve to put him in a funk and it could take him days to get back to normal.

“I want you two on petty crimes tonight. And remember; back here by 2:30, back home by 3:00.”

“Petty crimes? Again?” Artemis snarled, “We’ve been on petty crimes all week!”

Kaldur bit his lip. He clearly thought something similar, but was thinking up a way to say it more respectfully. “We’re just...concerned you’re going easy on us. How are we supposed to learn if we aren’t challenged.”

Kara’s shoulders slumped. “I know. But...what we’ve been working on...I’m trying to make sure everyone comes out alive. You’re both extremely talented and skilled, but the man we’re fighting won’t hesitate to kill you, even if you are just teenagers. I want you both alive, and if that means keeping you on the sidelines for a while, that’s what I’m going to do.”

Neither teen looked particularly happy about that, but they didn’t argue. Simply nodded and sulked off to do their job.

“That’s probably going to come back to bite you.” Winn said, spinning just a little too hard in his chair and taking a couple extra circles, which almost completely undermined his point.

“They’ll get over it when they’re still alive,” Kara said, walking over to her suit. “So, have we found something more about Ra’s Al Ghul?”

“Nothing more than the usual chatter,” John said.

“You know if Alex was here…” Mike stops as everyone glares at him.

Kara stares him down for a few seconds. “Wildcat. Petty crimes.”

“What?”

“You’re on petty crimes. Mentioning my dead sister is in very poor taste and if you’re not going to provide meaningful contributions I’m going to treat you like one of the teenagers. Petty. Crimes.”

Mike stared at her, but eventually he left to join the teenagers on petty crime duty. Kara turned to the rest of her team and zipped up her leather jacket.

“Alright. Let’s get to work, then.”

----------

Oliver sat at his desk at the courthouse, mindlessly clicking through a form as he waited for his lunch hour. Usually, Oliver was busy. Criminal Psychologists who were willing to work for one city were rare. They were always sending him “insanity defenses” to examine, children to interview, or even sending him to Iron Heights to do prisoner interviews. Today he just had to interview a couple of “unstable” defendants (off his meds and mad because a cop pulled a gun on her ten year old) and fill out some forms. The computer didn’t move at super speed or he’d have been out of here hours ago. It was days like this Oliver hated his job.

“Knock, knock, big brother.”

Oliver looked up from his computer. “Sara? What in the world are you doing here? I’m sure I would have known if Captain Cold was on trial…”

Sara laughed. “Please. I would totally wear my parka to my own trial. I’m just here as a character witness.”

Oliver looked over her tasteful slacks and light blue blouse. “...For who? Are you going to perjure yourself for one of your girls?”

Sara waved her hand dismissively. “I’m not going to tell you. You wouldn’t believe me if I said no and you’d have me arrested if I said yes.”

“Because you would have left me no choice, Sara. Honestly. Do you not understand any of our jobs?”

“Meh.” She shrugged.

Oliver sighed, “Why are you in my office specifically?”

“I’m grabbing you and Laurel for Lunch.”

“...You’re just going to walk into the DA’s office and invite your sister to lunch?”

“Well how else would I do it?”

“Are you forgetting that you are Captain Cold?”

“No one can prove that.”

“You literally don’t wear a mask.”

As it turns out, Sara could just waltz into the DA’s office by changing her body language, speech patterns, and letting her hair down. Gone were the familiar hard lines around her eyes, the sarcastic lift in her voice, the confident swagger, and the tight ponytail. Instead she was walking with more swing in her hips, had pulled her hair down and fluffed it so it looked wavy, wore a smile that just didn’t look right, but did make her look younger and sweeter, and spoke in that way Oliver was sure women only did when they wanted something.

But, it got her past security without anyone questioning her. Somehow.

Laurel barely glanced up from her paperwork as they walked in. “Hey Oliver. Sorry, I can’t talk. I just got assigned a case from Major Crimes and I’m pretty sure they think I’m some sort of miracle worker.”

In an instant, Sara’s body language shifted back to normal. Her smirk and sarcastic lift returned as quickly as she relaxed back into her usual self. “Come on, Laurel. Even ADAs get lunch breaks.”

Laurel froze and looked up suspiciously, already stuffing the paperwork back into files and locking her computer. “Sara? How did you even get in here?”

“She walked. It was the craziest thing I’ve ever seen and I hope I don’t see it again.” Oliver said, completely serious.

“Come on,” Sara said as she tugged Laurel from her seat and out of her office, “If we hurry we can help Roy play hooky. Have a real sibling bonding experience.”

Laurel and Oliver exchanged a glance as they followed her, too familiar with her antics to try to fight her or stop her.

“You know, if you just told her…” Laurel started.

Oliver glared, “Shut up. Why don’t you tell her?”

Neither of the two superheroes had an answer to why they didn’t tell Sara as they followed their super villain sister to lunch.

It took a grand minute and a half for Thea to crash right into a wall and knock herself out. Oliver winced as he slid into a stop next to her. That was a new record. Her mask was off center as well, they’d have to fix that so it wouldn’t slip off or accidentally blind her.

Her eyes flickered open and she tried to shake her hair out of her eyes and failed. “Mr. Queen? Did I win?”

Oliver smiled and sat down beside her. “No. Sorry. Don’t worry, turning is hard at first, you lasted a long time. Well, a long time for a speedster. Come on, sit up. Caitlin will be down soon to force water down your throat and check you for a concussion in a few seconds. And I imagine your father will be freaking out.”

Thea sat up with a groan as she pushed her mask up onto her forehead, messing up her hair even more, which she would definitely complain about once her concussion passed in a couple hours.

Oliver has never expected to have a mentee of his own, not really. He’d seen Kara’s protégées training as she watched, shouting out corrections and encouragement at them. They were brilliant, Kaldur was fast, silent, and smart, Artemis was creative and her aim was nearly as good as Kara’s. Oliver hoped he could be as good a mentor to Thea was Kara was to Kaldur and Artemis.

The air chilled as Caitlin walked into the speed lab, her white waves bouncing and her blue lips pursed in the disappointment Oliver knew all too well from the dozens of times he had hurt himself and she had to patch him up.

Mac was right behind her, his usually blank, hard face was awash with worry and concern. When anyone except Thea was in trouble, he showed his care with anger and frustration. It was strange, but oh so Mac. None of them would have him any other way.

“What happened?!” Mac demanded.

Caitlin rolled her eyes and kneeled down, ignoring Thea’s flinch and hiss as Caitlin’s ice cold hands cupped her chin.

“Thea still hasn’t figured out how to make sharp turns. It takes some time to figure out.” Oliver assured Mac, placing a gentle, comforting hand on Thea’s shoulder.

“Why isn’t it like normal?” She moaned.

“Because we’re really, really fast. It’s like a cheetah. It takes extra thought, extra energy.”

Thea groaned. “Stupid…”

Oliver merely laughed. Yeah. It kind of was.

Caitlin was asking Thea the standard concussion questions and shining a light in her eyes.

“Why are you so cold?” Thea whined, pulling away with a shiver.

“My people are from a frozen planet.” Caitlin said dryly.

“Shouldn’t you have fire powers then?”

“That’s not how we evolved.”

Thea huffed and everyone else shook their heads and chuckled. Caitlin pulled back and nodded. “You’ll be just fine with some rest and some food.”

Mac sighed and scooped his daughter up. “You know, if you’re going to be doing this you're going to have to be more careful.”

“Hmmm...I love you too, Dad, but I’m very very hungry.”

Oliver chuckled as he and Caitlin followed the father and daughter. Now that he thought about it, he was also very, very hungry.

----------

Barry was bored. He was absolutely, positively bored out of his mind. As Dr. Tina McGee’s executive assistant, he was supposed to be paying attention and taking notes. Instead he was unprofessionally trying not to fall asleep in the middle of a board meeting that started at 5:30 and still wasn’t finished after lunch. Barry startled himself awake and adjusted his wire framed glasses as he tried to look like he’d been focused on his tablet. It probably didn’t work considering Dr. McGee gave him a fond look.

“I think that’s enough for today, gentlemen. Clearly we aren’t going to get any further and I think we all need a break.” She rose to her feet and left the room, Barry quickly stumbling to his feet and following after his boss.

Dr. McGee sighed and ran a hand through her hair. “Well, that was a waste of time. How much did they screw up my schedule, Barry?”

“Uh…” Barry clipped on his tablet with his stylus. “Very. The minute it went past eight I set up automatic alerts asking one of the receptionists to reschedule your appointments.”

“Is Wayne Enterprises still on the schedule?”

“Yes ma’am. They’re going to be here in an hour and a half.”

Dr. McGee nodded. “Alright. Well, after that disaster of a meeting I need caffeine and sweets. Would you head down to the nearest Starbucks and get me something? Oh, and get something for yourself too. You looked dead on your feet in there.”

Her smile was kind, clearly making an excuse to give Barry a chance to get some much needed caffeine. What Barry actually needed was sunlight, but he quite liked the idea of a Frappecino. It would be a nice treat. So Barry sped walked down, the balance between “I’m totally a normal human” and “I’m literally not a human being” led to him looking very, very clumsy as made his way to the nearest Starbucks.

Barry ordered two very sweet iced coffees and hopped back upstairs, giving Dr. McGee her drink before returning to his desk to send emails and do other assistant things. It was very, very boring and Barry wished, not for the first time, that his keyboard could withstand super speed. And that he wasn’t in full view of everyone. It would make his life so much easier. Luckily, he only had to make it through that one last meeting and then he’d be able to go to his real job.

“Your patrol route for the day.”

Barry smiled at Len as he took to the tablet. “Hello to you too, Len”

Barry was already in his Superboy suit, having flown over, his hair windswept since he wore his longer than Clark’s and didn’t include a pound of hair products. Len, currently in his human form smirked and rolled his eyes, fondly. Barry’s route was outlined in blue as usual and intersected occasionally with Iris’s (gold) and Ronnie’s (orange). The routes were randomly generated by Cisco every day as a way to avoid a pattern that their enemies could pick up on.

Barry memorized his route quickly and handed to tablet back to Len. “I’m going to check in on everyone first.”

“Go right ahead, Bar.”

Barry smiled at his friend and mentor before running from the room. Bette shooed Barry away from Cisco because apparently they were in the middle of an assignment, but Barry had managed to catch up to Iris and Ronnie as they were getting ready for patrol.

“Rondi! Iris!” Barry called.

They turned. Ronnie Raymond, a Tamaranian whose real name was Rondi’ander, but was better known to the public as Brightfire, smiled at Barry kindly as he came up.

“Bar-El, how was your day?”

“Long and boring. You?”

“Jax got upset and he has set our television room ablaze.”

Barry winced. Jaxin’ander, or simply Jax, was Rondi’s younger brother and he had the same problem all teenagers with dangerous powers seemed to. Namely, control. That was why they had Jax, Wally, and Jessie all training together under whoever was willing to lend a hand. Usually it was Len or Barry, sometimes Bette felt comfortable enough to lend a hand and every once in a while Clark would show up. One time he even brought Diana with him. Barry was pretty sure they like Diana more than the rest of them combined.

“What am I? Chopped liver?” Iris asked. She was already sitting on her motorcycle, but her mask, which usually covered her lower face, was around her neck and her goggles were sitting on her forehead.

“Of course not!” Barry hugged his sister, smiling brightly again. There was a reason people called him a golden retriever. “How was work?”

“Fine. They’re bugging my to get an interview with Guardian.”

“They want you to interview...yourself?”

“You see my problem? Maybe I should ask Clark for advice, he interviews himself all the time.”

“I think he actually has Lois ask the questions.”

“Hm. That’s not a bad idea. Well, I’m good to go if you two are,” Iris said, tugging her mask and placing her goggles on her eyes.

Barry smiled and nodded and the three of them headed out to work.

[asillydreamer-on-a-crazyworld]

OK, now that I’m normal again and my feelings are not all over the place I’m ready to talk rationally about the episode.

I’m gonna start saying that I loved it.

Annie:

I always thought that Annie ended up like the most dysfunctional adult bc Beth was there to clean up her messes.  Beth, as the older sister, took Annie under her protection and I think she was way more like a mom to her rather than a sister. We all can see how every time Annie has a problem she can’t deal with, she goes to Beth. She relies on her.Beth became Annie’s safe place whenever she lost control over things in her life. I understand Beth in these situations but I also think she could have handled her sister better, let her deal with her problems rather than running to her when she called it. I always wondered if this co-dependency she has on her big sis is also one of the reasons Dean doesn’t like Annie much. I can clearly see him arguing with Beth about her always going to her sis while she has a family to take care of.

I loved that Ruby told her what Beth really was for her. How she sacrificed a lot just to be there for her little sis. I think Annie knows it too, but sometimes she is so caught up in her own problems that she takes for granted what Beth does for her. And I’m not saying that to make Annie the bad guy here. She is just human and like I said, she was not the only one responsible for the person she became.

What I loved is that later, she feels it, deep down, Ruby’s words. They were inside her head the whole time she went back home, I bet and that is why we also see her so fragile while talking to Sadie. She is finally facing her own demons bit by bit, she is afraid that she is not being a good mom, a good influence on Sadie... She is afraid because she knows her own faults as an adult and she probably feels ashamed that she can’t even afford the medicine her son needs. I understand and respect her for not wanting to ask for anybody’s money bc she wants to succeed in being a good parent to her kid once in her life.

Also. Finally, the moment when she opens her eyes about what Noah did. People call Annie stupid and naive. I think she is mostly naive. She trusts people too easy sometimes. But she is smart ( I think we can agree that she slips a lot but again, she is just human) and she quickly connected the dots in her head when Ruby asked who could have known about Boland Motors. I don’t know what she is gonna do, but I think she is gonna confront him rather than play some kind of cat/mouse game with Noah.

One thing about Noah tho:

I don’t think he is working for Rio. I’ve seen some theories about it but his reactions yesterday tells me that he was feeling guilty and worried. He likes Annie, and frankly, with her goofy, carefree nature it’s so easy to like her. If he was working secretly for Rio or was his inside man in the FBI, I don’t think there was a reason for him to feel any of those feelings. He would know they wouldn’t end up finding anything and that she and her sis would be safe. And about using her in any way or lying to her about it?  I think if he is catching feelings for her as I think he is, he wouldn’t need to be so worried bc, after all, they are all working for the same guy, right? Noah would feel a bit like a d-bag but I’m pretty sure he��d feel like they could talk it out in a way.

From the synopsis for episode 12, I do think that in the end they both are gonna talk about what Noah did.

Ruby:

OMG RUBY!!! She was perfect, as always. From supporting Stan, to not let her man wallow in self-pity  and also standing up for Beth, this woman again shows us how loyal she is and how far she is willing to go to help those she loves, while also thinking about how this will affect her family in the long run, but she knows there is no way out right now. She needs to keep going bc there is no other option. Stan has no job, they have bills to pay, kids to feed and with her job, Ruby can’t deal with everything financially on her own.

I just love how strong she is despite everything. I really can’t say more about Ruby in this episode bc I see Ruby as the moral compass in the show. And I can’t wait to see how She is gonna deal with the obstacles on her way bc we know they are huge and they will make her go against some of her own values here to help her hubby and her family. I’m dying to see how she handles it.

We know she is afraid and that is why she did what she did on that bus. Throwing the drugs away showed me how desperate she suddenly became and I think that it was because she thought about how Sara treated Stan after he was arrested. She panicked bc she didn’t wanna her daughter to go through that again, watching another parent being arrested in front of her friends. Imagine the humiliation for Sara? Ruby loves her kid and she knows she suffered after seeing what happened to her father. She didn’t wanna ruin her relationship with Sara too. I understand, u, boo. I got u!

I will be here rooting and suffering with her and Stan. 

Beth:

ohh Beth... How beautifully complex u are.U guys know I’m biased when it comes to this woman but she had one of my favorite scenes in the episode.That scene of her in the store... GOD! What a scene. The suspense, the thrill she got for doing something wrong and the possibility of getting caught, the song while everything was happening.. slowing down and down... PERFECT. She was trying so hard being good but this dark thing inside her was awakened and demanded to be fed.

She had a taste of it, of freedom from the dormant life she lead. This is a woman who lived, breathed, for everyone else but not for herself. Beth Boland never got a chance to know who she really is, what she likes to do, what she could be. She was molded into that momma persona and I think it’s natural that she struggles between being just that and the scary possibility of finding out what, who else she can be. 

If u had to start all over again, find out who else u wanted to be, wouldn’t u be afraid too? Yeah, for some ppl it can be exciting as well, but most people will feel fear also.

I think that by the last scene of her, she is feeling just like that: afraid but excited as hell.

When she laughed and said it was fun almost being caught by the feds? CHILLS literally chills !! Beth is flirting with this wild side of her that get’s excited with power and challenges.

This doesn’t make her a villain, in my opinion, just someone more complex and that is embracing this side we all have that makes us wonder: “what would be like to not care at all? For rules, for being nice and polite all the time, sometimes to ppl we hate or don’t care at all? What if I just cheat and lie to get what I want as other people do? They don’t seem to care and they are in a better place in life than me.”

I love when writers let us see how a character struggles between the lines of what we accept as morally right and what we think it’s a no-go for “good people” like us, when we know nobody is perfect or a saint.

Watching her sitting inside that car in the dark and then leaving... Her chair empty...

We saw earlier in the episode when Dean (stupid Dean) asks her if she misses it and she says “would it matter?”.  He says something else about her cookies and she just smiles but then we see the smile leaving her face and I was like:

OMG GIRL. I know.. I know it hurts and it sucks.

Her breaking down? One long time thing coming. She needed that. It also shows us that she might have another breakdown soon but this time with Dean. Beth is so fed up with just being the good momma, the good person... Always doing the right thing. No more. And if Dean keeps pushing her?

 Ohh I don’t wanna be him.

Beth x Rio.

ok Now, on these two. I let my shipper feels get the best of me. 

SUE ME.

I have this hopeless romantic side of me that can’t help but go all in in the feels.LOL

That being said:

DO I think that what Rio said in that promo was like a marriage proposal? OF COURSE NOT. And I am sure a lot of ppl know that. It’s called shipper behavior. We all allow ourselves to be a bit silly about it.

AGAIN. SUE ME. xD

We don’t know how that scene is gonna happen and what will be really said, in addition to what we heard them say but like u, dear follower or person who sees my posts in the tag know, I do believe Rio have personal reasons and way more practical ones to want Beth working for him again.

Some say it is a punishment for the headache she probably caused him when she said she was out. However, I’d argue that it is not that good of punishment because she likes it. She likes to work with him. She likes doing it. But yeah, for a lifetime? Not what I think she has in mind or will want it in the long run in that sense, I agree that it is one but not an effective one or the best way to punish her, RIGHT NOW.

And there is a big IF in what I said bc what if she ends up wanting to do that in the long run? We don’t know what direction Beth’s character will follow in the future.

Now back to the point, yeah it looks like a punishment and I’m sure she will freak out about Boomer’s body and we still don’t know what else Rio is gonna do and their relationship right now?

A mess. An UNHEALTHY, hot mess. Because again he has all the power.

Again Rio is gonna feed on her indecision and fears and he will get what he wants from her in the end bc this man is not playing around.

That is why I don’t think he has softened. Rio is like a snake. He will surprise u and attack when u less expect him to.

He surprised her in the park. He followed her or we can say he knows her well enough now to know exactly where she is. And again Rio showed her he is one step ahead of her ( and of everyone else it seems lol).

I see a man who is a planner, a charmer, a cold killer when he needs to be, a father, a rational, logical, smart man, controlling and who loves power and who also can be an attentive, soft lover if he also wants. He is a man who knows how to read people. But the fact that he reads Beth so well? I don’t think that is because she is weak, but rather that she is too much like him in some aspects.

He respects her. No one can say the contrary.

But he won’t let her ruin things for him, so here he is making sure she doesn’t, she goes to that park and tells her the FBI is going to BM bc if she gets caught? The feds will have info on the little operation they had there!

But they were also partners so, if he lets her go down for this, he only has things to lose. Her included. Because, yeah I believe he sees her as a valuable asset. 

Beth, with her efficiency, intelligence, and courage, secured herself a place in his organization, and people like her, even if a bit dangerous ( and are not all of them like that? the people he deals with on a daily basis?)? They are the kind of people born for what he does and he sure as hell won’t let her go.

And I believe he keeps pulling at the strings he has on her tighter bc he knows she is not sure of what she wants herself, but he won’t let her slip away from his fingers.

That is why I also think he is in way too deep with her. Why he let her under his skin and he is not thinking rationally, not 100%. She probably won’t use the dealership again ( for reasons - the FBI still there and Dean). I don’t know how she is gonna do it but she will go back to launder money for him and I believe he will help her with that.

DOES HE NEED TO?

NO.

She is taking too much of his time already. This woman is soo high maintenance. Too much of a headache.

However, I believe he likes it. He has fun with it. He lets her get away with too much. Oh, you all know I said that A LOT of times before.

I do believe he wants her, like hard still.

He is a man after all, who appreciates good, pretty, not too easy to get kind of things.

Beth Boland is like that. She is interesting.

Do I believe they will drive into the sunset together or that he will turn into a puppy for her?

 LMAO nope.

I’m happy with how the writers are handling things for now.

The only thing I hated was how they didn’t give us the trio comedy that Rio x Ruby x Annie is. But I guess they preferred to spend more time on that scene of the FBI breaking into Boland Motors 

But, yeah, I have faith in the writers and the cast bc they gave us a lot already and if they could make an episode look great even when heavy spoilers were published, oh just imagine what else they can give us.

I think we’ve been well fed compared to other shows ( I said that already but whatever. I still believe we are!)

Balance is not easy to manage and hell, I’m happy I’m not a writer bc damn,  it is not easy to keep everyone in a fandom happy.

( there is no way u can feed everyone, not all the time, right?)

sorry that this became such a monster of a post xD

[browneyedmissy]

The Women of Edenbrook

Summary: Or, an anthology in which Casey Valentine wins over the women at the hospital.

Author's Note: Was watching Legally Blonde the other night and thought about how Elle Woods had positive relationships with all the women in her life and I thought about how it would play out in Edenbrook. This is what resulted!

Playlist: That’s My Girl by Fifth Harmony, Woman by Kesha, Stronger by Kelly Clarkson, Brave by Sara Bareilles, Wings by Little Mix

Sienna Trinh was the first of the girls at Edenbrook Casey Valentine won over.

Her first few hours at the hospital had been… lonely. She had started with an early morning train ride to the hospital. Wayne had worked a long shift at work so she hadn’t seen him since the morning before. It was kinda nice to have time to herself, but she was definitely nervous. It was a new city, new people, and she hadn’t met any people besides Wayne’s coworkers so far.

And the other interns… they were all nice enough, but the reality was that they were all competing against each other. Sienna felt like they were all at job interviews, sizing each other up and it made her uneasy. She wasn’t expecting to really make friends the first day, but getting stuck inside her head was driving her nuts.

She just wanted someone to understand. She wasn’t terribly competitive- and she never had been. She knew that probably didn’t make her a very interesting intern but she wanted to help people.

Honestly, she missed having someone to talk to. She had friends from college, but she stopped seeing them as often when she started dating Wayne and pretty soon, her life got busy and contact between her and her friends became less frequent.

Sienna paused as she heard voices coming from down the hall. One of them sounded disapproving and she spotted the back of Dr. Ramsey’s head talking to what looked like a fellow intern. Sienna glimpsed wavy, shoulder length brown hair. What was her name... Casey?

Whatever it was, Dr. Ramsey didn’t sound too pleased with her at the moment. There were people tiptoeing past the door, not willing to intervene for her and Sienna bit her lip and peaked into the room.

She couldn’t see Ramsey’s face but Sienna could see Casey’s. Casey’s head was held high but Sienna could see her bottom lip trembling, possibly on the verge of tears. Her heart ached for Casey - if this had been part of day, well, Sienna would have already broken down.

And, well, Casey seemed nice. She had a face of someone who was nice.

Sienna made her way into the room and made up an excuse to get Dr. Ramsey out of the room, her heart quickening slightly as she lied. She let out a breath when he cursed under his breath as he left.

When Sienna revealed to Casey that she lied to get Dr. Ramsey out of her hair, Casey flashed her the kindest, most genuine smile she had seen all day.

“Thank you.”

And in that moment, Sienna knew that she was right about the person she thought Casey might be.

After she had left Casey to do the rest of her round, the rest of the day had gone better. The positive interaction had reminded her that people were kind and most of the interns were just nervous and anxious- just like her. She was able to pull some smiles out of her fellow interns and her patients and she felt lighter as the end of her day approached.

Sienna made her way to the cafeteria before the rest of her coworkers got off work and hummed to herself as she observed everyone else beginning to pile in.

“Excuse me, Dr. Trinh?” Sienna looked up to see a nurse with a cup of something in his hands. He had a sweet face and an easy grin and she felt her a heart skip a beat.

“Dr. Valentine gave me money to buy you this.” Sienna took the cup to see some hot chocolate with marshmallows and cinnamon sprinkled on top. She smiled - it was nice to feel appreciated and to know that Casey had arranged this. “She said to say thank you and she was really happy to have met you.”

“That’s very sweet of her, thank you...” She trailed off, realizing she didn’t know the name of the nurse with the sweet face.

“Danny.”

“Danny. Call me Sienna. Or, umm, Doctor Trinh if that’s what you want. Would you like to join me? It’d be nice to have some company.”

“Of course. That was a very thoughtful thing for Dr. Valentine to do.” Danny smiled. “It’s like she’s…”

“A dolphin?” Sienna grinned to herself.

Jackie Varma’s first thought when she saw Casey was damn, that girl’s already covered in blood.

Her second thought was that Casey Valentine knew how to take care of herself.

She knew that Casey was going to be easy to like, just from that first interaction. Bryce was already fond of her after their first meeting- although that might not have been just her personality, judging by the way he had looked at her that first night at Donohue's.

She brought together their ragtag little group, won over them all easily. There was something about Casey Valentine that drew you to her and she was so good at listening.

And she was just so… nice. When the rankings came out, she didn't bat an eye over the fact that she was lower than the rest of her roommates and just resolved to do better.

And it worked. Jackie couldn't help but feel jealousy- between Aurora being the chief's niece and Casey getting more time with Ramsey, she couldn't help but feel like it was unfair. She had started out so far ahead but Casey’s star was rising.

She couldn't help but resent her for it. It was easy to try to hate her if she just let herself stew over the rumors. Some of them were starting to get nasty, too, between Casey toying with Bryce Lahela’s heart and trading sexual favors in exchange for better cases.

Jackie wanted to avoid her, which was difficult when they lived together. Part of her wanted the rumors to be true and hoped Casey was getting an unfair advantage. Because if that were the truth, Jackie could blame the system.

And Jackie knew that was unfair of her. Unfair to Casey.

“I work my ass off and you’re basically as good as a lot of the attendings here.” She grumbled as she set down her shot glass. It was hard to admit that she actually really, really liked Casey. Jackie had felt smug when she had first thought that she could intimidate her in the locker rooms when they first met but Casey shook it off and held her head high.

And it wasn’t just that Casey was a damn good doctor. She cared about her patients. Jackie knew, part of what was holding her- and Landry for that matter, was that Casey cared deeply about her patients. She knew that Casey had stayed all night at the hospital when Dr. Ramsey’s friend delivered her baby. She was able to diagnose some of the patients Jackie was stuck on because she listened. And she took every case that she could and didn’t complain about it because Casey Valentine wanted to make a difference.

"Was it better when you thought you were better than me?"

Her question threw Jackie off guard. Was that what is was? Part of it, yeah. The other part was she was just angry at herself because Casey was just such a good person that she made her feel bad about herself.

"I'm used to being the best. I thought that there was only room for one smart badass bitch but I guess that was pretty ‘I’m not like other girls’ of me." Jackie finally replied. She looked Casey straight in the eye. "The fact that I'm not means I have to figure out how I fit in."

“You know I don't care about any of that."

"I know. I… I guess I'm frustrated because I know you're my rival. You're a badass babe in internal and you shouldn't be my friend. But you're also probably one of the best people I've ever met. I should hate you, but I don’t."

There was a silence before Casey took a sip of her beer and spoke.

“You know, Bryce told me that the first thought that you have is what you’re conditioned to think. The second thought you have is what you actually think.” She said thoughtfully.

“That’s pretty wise of him.” Jackie said begrudgingly.

“Yeah, I think he read it somewhere on the internet. He then tried to show me the drama llama meme afterwards.” Her face broke out into a grin as she said the next words. “Maybe your first thought is that you’re jealous and your second thought is that we’re actually friends?”

No, there was no way Casey Valentine was cheating or getting an unfair advantage. Not when she had fought against entering the competition for so long. Casey cared, Jackie thought. And she was lucky that Casey liked her.

“I guess if I have to have friends… I’m glad you’re one of them.” Jackie finally voiced aloud.

Casey’s face broke into a grin.

“Let it be known folks, that Jackie Varma has admitted that I am her friend! Can I get that on video? Lahela owes me dinner, he lost the bet.”

“Your bet was whether or not we were friends?”

Casey shook her head.

“I knew that we were friends. Our bet was whether you could admit it.”

Aurora Emery couldn’t breathe.

She stared at the three patients in front of her. There was so much blood- she had never seen  that amount before and it paralyzed her. She knew that the possibility of something like this was possible. But it had been something that haunted her nightmares and this- well, this was even worse than she had dreamed.

She couldn’t think. She was not unfamiliar with panic attacks: she had had one when she was studying for medical school, one when she had gotten accepted into the hospital where her world renowned aunt worked, one when she realized how much expectation there was because of her aunt…

She felt a light touch on her arm.

“Aurora, breathe in for four.”

A voice sounded muffled in her ear and Aurora focused on her words and she breathed in, counting for four.

“Now exhale for four.”

Aurora let go of the breath she had been holding. She blinked as Casey Valentine came into better focus.

“You know how to do this, Aurora.” Her rival said steadily, gesturing to the people in front of her. “You were the top intern for a reason and these people need you right now.”

Aurora felt her chest tighten. “But what if I do this wrong? What if I make a mistake? I could kill someone if I call this wrong!”

“You need to believe in yourself. You can do this. Your patients need you.”

She focused on those last words. Your patients need you.

Casey was right. If Aurora hesitated, then more people would die. She had to act fast.

With Casey’s help, Aurora quickly analyzed what her patients needed and got them to the right places. Soon, it got easier and easier to breath- it wasn’t any easier to see the patients coming in as they did, but she just kept repeating Casey’s words in her head.

As the last patients were classified, Aurora Emery let out the breath she had been holding.

She quickly slipped away and found herself in the deserted doctor’s lounge. She needed a second to breath, to not think about the people who had come in screaming, crying into the hospital…

She had done all she could do.

"Aurora? Can I come in?"

Casey was standing in front of her, holding a warm cup of apple cinnamon tea- her favorite. She nodded and Casey set down the mug in front of her before taking a seat on the couch opposite of her.

They sat in silence and Aurora thought about how calm Casey had been during the triage.

"How did you do it?"

“My patients needed me.” Casey said quietly, thoughtfully. Aurora took a sip of the tea and felt her heartbeat finally slowing down. “I’ve hesitated enough times to know that it doesn’t help anything and at some point I just need to figure out how to take action.”

Casey hesitated before speaking the next words. “Did you know, I went into the supply closet and cried my first day here?

Aurora didn’t. Casey Valentine seemed to be so put together so much of the time. She got along with so many of their fellow interns and the patients seemed to adore her. She was popular amongst the hospital staff too because it was obvious she valued her relationships.

They all adored her. Until she had started climbing in the rankings.

Aurora knew how lonely that was. When she had been number one on that first list, she knew had put a target on herself. The attendings had an eye on her from day one because of her aunt which made everything she did have to spectacular. The other interns doubted her because of her pedigree.

The interns doubted Casey because they thought she was sleeping her way to the top with Ramsey.

There was also that rumor about her trash talking the nurses and rumor of sabotage in the locker room. It made her physically ill because Casey Valentine was the last person to speak badly of anyone. It was like she always considered what she wanted and what the group wanted and always chose the later.

"Ethan Ramsey chewed me out for Annie, do you remember that? It made me doubt me being here. Even though I went to medical school for four years, I let him doubt myself." She reminisced. “I cried in there until Bryce Lahela from surgery came in and calmed me down. He’s good at being supportive like that.”

She trailed off and looked back at Aurora.

“If Bryce hadn’t come in to check on me, I would have probably still stayed in the program, but he made me feel better about myself. And he made me realize that I wasn’t alone in my feelings.”

There was silence in the lounge and Aurora felt her loneliness hit her. She had always ignored personal relationships in order to be the most successful but it was moments like this where she longed for someone to talk to.

Aurora steadied her voice and found the next words.

“You helped me during the triage. I know I said thank you, but…”

“I know what anxiety looks like- I- I’m more than familiar with it. There’s a lot of pressure in this program, Aurora.” Casey acknowledged. “You’re still an amazing doctor- your worth isn’t tied to your aunt. And your mistakes don’t define your worth.”

How was she still so kind? How was she able to say the things that people wanted to hear? Whatever the rumors, Casey Valentine was observant and she made conclusions without judgements.

“The fact that you were so certain I didn’t tell about Mrs. Martinez or sabotaged you… I really appreciate it. And I didn’t spread those rumors to the nurses or about you and Dr. Ramsey.” Aurora blurted.

She didn’t know why she said it. She hadn’t needed the approval of anyone in such a long time, not even her aunt. But something about Casey Valentine, in this moment, standing in front of her so sincere- Aurora felt the need for Casey to understand her.

To like her.

Casey blinked at her before the corner of her lips turned up into a smile. “I believe you. You have too much to prove to use dirty tricks or get caught up in that type of behavior.”

A beeper sound came from Casey’s coat broke the second silence and Casey checked it. Her brow furrowed and she looked apologetically at Aurora. “I’ve got a patient right now…”

She made to leave and then hesitated at the door. “Look, Aurora, it doesn’t have to be me, but you should find someone to talk to. It’ll make these next few years easier…” She paused, struggling to find the next words. “I’ll see you later, maybe?”

“Yeah.” Aurora felt herself smile as Casey slipped through the door.

Two weeks later, Casey’s phone pinged and when she checked it, a smile lit across her face.

Do you want to go get drinks with me after work? - Aurora

I’d love to. Donohue’s? - Casey

Harper Emery thought Casey Valentine was both simultaneously one of the most noble and foolish people she had ever met.

Harper sighed as she sat at her desk, sorting through the paperwork. She had a gut feeling that Casey had interfered with Mrs. Martinez’s treatment which was such a shame. She didn’t want to be biased, but Casey Valentine and Bryce Lahela were probably some of the strongest interns out of the program.

Well, aside from her and Ethan, of course.

And now, there was a possibility that Casey Valentine would lose her medical license.

Honestly, she thought that Casey had done the right thing, if not the smartest. Everyone loved Theresa Martinez and knew that those last few weeks were probably the happiest of her life. Even if they had been a few short weeks…

She had to wonder if Ethan knew about what Casey did. She sighed, her fingers twitching towards the phone. She was angry at Ethan for leaving without talking to her first- even though his rash behavior was exactly to be expected. She could remember his anger flaring up especially when they had to deal with people like Declan Nash…

And Naveen. Her heart sank. She knew why Ethan hadn’t trusted her with that. She was his boss, the chief of the hospital now and she was under strict protocols. They both still respected each other, even after their relationship fell apart but as for trust…

Ethan trusted Casey Valentine now.

There was a knock on the door and Harper called her unexpected visitor in.

Speak of the devil.

“I came to tell you that I was the one who gave the drug to Mrs. Martinez.” Casey said bluntly. Harper raised an eyebrow.

This was unexpected.

“I’ve been thinking long about it, and I don’t regret it. Nor do I want it to hang over my head for the rest of my life. I made my decision and I’m owning up to it. I want my chance to defend myself at an ethics trial.”

Harper fought back a smile. This girl was causing hell for the hospital with the investigations but she still fought. No wonder why she was so popular amongst some of the doctors. Sienna Trinh, Jackie Varma, Elijah Greene, Bryce Lahela… They all adored this girl and for good reason.

She wanted Naveen to come and tell her what to do, so badly. In moments like this, the thought of Casey’s fate being left to the board made her ill, especially when she thought of snakes like Declan Nash.

“Casey… if you lose, you might lose your chance to practice medicine.”

“I know. I’m prepared to face those consequences.”

Harper stared at her, but Casey held her gaze unflinchingly.

“Alright, I’ll call one for you and we’ll hold an ethics trial.” Harper sighed. She jotted something down on a piece of paper before looking at Casey again. “Can I ask, why are you willing to risk your career for this?”

Harper watched as Casey pondered the question.

“I think that a lot of what we do at the hospital is to please the people that fund our hospital and to not step on people’s toes. It’s a system that allowed us to help people, but there’s also a lot that is unfair.” She said thoughtfully. “Theresa Martinez… Her case was what we wanted- for her to live more and more years in treatment as opposed to what she wanted - to go and see the world. She knew the risks of the medicine and I think that giving her a choice as opposed to sticking to our system was the right one.”

“And besides… the system isn't always fair either, is it? One of my friends- Dr. Greene, well, he felt like a burden for most of his life because he couldn't get access to what he needed. I don't think it was right that he had to feel like that for his entire life because it was what the system dictated. I came into medicine to help people, Chief Emery and I think this is a hill I’m willing to die on."

There was a silence and Harper Emery finally worked up a smile.

"You know, this is part of the reason why you were first place in the rankings." Harper mused. Casey blinked back, surprised at her.

"It wasn't because I'm basically the only intern that Ethan knows by name?" She blurted. Harper frowned and Casey finally looked away, at the ground. "One of the other interns said that I had preferential treatment because of all of the time I spent with Dr. Ramsey and sabotaged me to level the playing field. I… I wasn't sure if he was right."

Harper studied her carefully. This woman was a wonder to her. She was so good, maybe even better than her niece but she didn't act like she was.

It also made her angry- that someone would purposely jeopardize the health of the patients and because of what? Because Casey Valentine was a better doctor than him/her? That she couldn’t have done it without dirty tricks? She wasn’t oblivious- she knew about the rumors that were whispered about Casey. She saw the way that Ethan’s eyes immediately found her when she walked into a room.

But Ethan was professional, first and foremost and even if he did have feelings for Casey Valentine, it would not affect her rankings.

"Not that it should matter, Casey,” Harper began. “But you came with high praise from both the attendings and the patients. You work hard, you stay after with the patients… you’re exactly like your mentor was when he was an intern. And Ethan Ramsey, for all of his faults, is a great doctor.”

Casey nodded and moved to leave. Right before she closed the door, Harper felt the words burst out of her mouth.

“Dr. Valentine… Good luck.”

[badwolf-in-the-impala]

~Welcome to the Neighborhood -- Ch.2~

Moodboard made by me: @badwolf-in-the-impala. Pics aren’t mine but the editing is.

A/N: Here it is y’all! The second chapter of mine and @jacksonroth‘s SOA collab! I hope everyone enjoyed reading the first Chapter, and that you’re excited to keep following this story! As stated before, we will be alternating chapters, so previous chapter links will be linked below! New chapters will be posted EVERY Monday! Happy reading ^-^ 

Warnings: Shameless flirting

Word count: 4,406

Chapter 1 

--------------------------------------

Within the hour, Harper and Kacey were unpacking the van along with the guys into their garage. When Gemma began asking what rooms the boxes went to, they were quick to shut down her unspoken request. To compensate, Gemma invited the girls over for a little club party she was having at her house the next night. Once they agreed and got rid of Gemma, now they had to face the guys.

“You ladies sure we can’t help out anymore?” Tig asked with a smirk. Juice and Jax exchanged a look and snickered while Opie shook his head and smirked. Harper smirked as she sat on top of her dresser while Kacey stood from setting down the final box. She turned to him and smirked, after tossing a glance back to her sister.

“We’re sure. We can take it from here.” She said, taking a few steps closer, as she added, “But if we need anymore help with any, um, lifting? You’ll be our first call.”

Harper snickered and shook her head as Tig smirked at Kacey while she walked away, going to lean on the dresser next to Harper. “Seriously. We can finish. Thanks for helping us out though.” Harper said, jumping down from her spot and going to Jax as Opie rounded the guys up, back into the van. Jax smiled and slipped an arm around her neck as she and Kacey walked with him to the driver’s side.

“No problem, darlin’. It’s what we do.” He said, removing his arm as he opened the door. “Just think of us as your Friendly Neighborhood Biker Boys.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Harper said, closing the door after Jax got in. She leaned against the door, folding her arms over the window and said, “Let me know about that estimate ASAP? I’m gonna need to find a job quick.”

Jax chuckled and nodded as he started the car, then leaned back in his seat. “Oh, for sure. Don’t worry about it, sweetheart. Just get settled and I’ll give you a call.”

“Or we’ll see you at the club when you have to escape the clutches of Mama Gemma.” Tig said, piping up from the back as he leaned forward between Jax and Opie. Opie pushed him back and chuckled as Kacey giggled.

“Oh, come on. She’s not that bad.” Kacey glanced at her sister with a smirk and said, “We’ve endured worse.”

Harper shook her head and pushed off from the door, taking a step back. “See ya.” She said. Jax smirked as he put the car in gear, offering her a wink and a smile before they took off down the street. Harper sighed and followed Kacey back into the garage, closing it once they were both inside. Once the door shut, both sisters stood in place and looked at each other before sharing a groan, then began to haul boxes in.

“Let’s start with the kitchen.” Harper said, lifting a box labeled ‘Plates-Bowls’. Kacey nodded and grabbed another box, then followed her sister inside. They spent the better part of an hour and a half unpacking their kitchen and living room before they went to Harper’s room. When Kacey set down the last of Harper’s boxes, she stood, sighed, and said, “Do you really think we should be doing this?”

“Unpacking?” Harper asked, pulling out a few framed pictures and setting them on her dresser. She paused a moment, then looked at her sister and said, “Yeah.”

“Piss off.” Kacey said, annoyed, as she opened the box. “I meant with the club. Come on, Harper, you can’t tell me this is a smart thing to do.”

“Kay.” Harper sighed and turned to her, leaning against the dresser and watching as Kacey started hanging clothes in the closet. “I didn't know the Sons ran out of Charming. Nico never said anything about where they were. You know he didn't tell me everything about their business.”

“Yeah, but still.” Kacey sighed, shaking her head. She stood, facing the closet, and ran both her hands through her hair before turning to Harper. “This isn’t a good idea. If Nico and Bastien come looking for us...It won’t end well and we could end up getting everyone killed...Again.”

“That was not our fault!” Harper said, straightening and pointing a finger at her. “That little bitch Sara had it coming. This is her fault not ours. And besides, it was one guy, Kacey. Jesus. Stop being so dramatic.”

Harper turned and bent to open another box of clothes. As she leaned back to sit down and begin folding, Kacey said, “That doesn’t matter! I started the fight and you’re my sister! You retaliated for me and that’s when shit went-”

“Kacey, enough!” Harper shrieked, turning to her and glaring at her. “It happened, it’s over, no one else fucking died. Stop being dramatic about this. If they find out who we are, their feelings of kindness toward us can change real quick. We wanted a fresh start, Kay. This is it. We screw this up, and it’s fucking over.”

Kacey gave a small huff, but knew her sister was right. She finished putting the clothes in the closet and left her sister to her own devices as she stared on her room, slowly.

~

It was late the following morning when Kacey finally managed to drag herself out of bed and into the shower. Finding a note from Harper taped to the mirror letting her know that she had gone into town to start looking for a job, and that she would meet up with her later before the party at Gemma’s. Kacey groaned outwardly as she discarded the note into the trash, knowing she needed to do the same...job hunting easily falling into her category of least favorite things to do. Meaning this day was going to require coffee, and a lot of it. So after plugging her iPod into the living room stereo and cranking some old 80’s tunes, she fired up the coffee pot and jumped in the shower to begin getting ready for the day.

Kacey had just finished applying a little black eyeliner and mascara after throwing on her favorite jeans and a cropped Def Leppard tank-top. She was in the midst of brushing out her hair as she rocked out to ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’, when a sudden banging sound from the front door caught her attention; causing her to nearly jump out of her skin.

She waited a few seconds in hopes that maybe whoever it was would go away, but the knock sounded again; this time a little more aggressively. Her heart began to beat wildly in her chest by that point as she ducked out of the bathroom and into her room; grabbing her Colt .38 Super from under her pillow and making her way to the front door.

Kacey cocked the hammer back gently as she moved to peek through the curtain of the side window next to the door, breathing a small sigh of relief when she found Opie standing patiently on the front porch. His attention turning back to the door when he caught the faint sound of the deadbolt being unlocked, a small grin tugging at his lips as Kacey finally opened the door. His hazel eyes drifting briefly to catch sight of the pistol she still held in her in her left hand.

“Expecting company?” He arched a brow curiously as he nodded to weapon. Watching intently as she uncocked the hammer and clicked the safety back into place before tucking it into the back of her jeans.

“Always.” Kacey smirked, leaning inside to turn down the stereo before she leaned a shoulder against the door frame and crossed her arms over her chest; blue eyes studying him carefully.

“Sorry if I startled you.” He apologized. “Jax and I ran into your sister in town. She said you were still home, and probably in need of a lift.”

“No worries.” Kacey chuckled as she pushed away from the door and stepped aside, gesturing for him to come in. “Coffee?” She asked as they rounded the corner into the kitchen and she began searching for what cabinet they put the mugs in.

“Ain’t it a little late in the day for that?” Opie chuckled as he looked up at the clock above the stove that read 12:30pm.

“Ok, first off; it is never too late in the day for coffee...never.” Kacey replied as she finally found the mugs and pulled down two from the shelf before filling them both and handing one to Opie. “Secondly...you don’t like coffee, we can’t be friends.” She smirked.

“Fair enough.” Opie laughed as he accepted the mug from her and took a sip. Things falling silent between them for a moment before he cleared his throat and asked. “So, you almost ready?”

“Yeah.” Kacey nodded as she picked up her mug and started for the hallway. “Just let me grab my vest real quick. She said, disappearing into her bedroom to grab a red plaid over shirt; tugging it on before putting her black leather vest on over it. Slipping on her rings and leather bracelet before returning to the kitchen and finishing off her coffee, making sure to rinse out the empty mugs. Turning the stereo off and locking all the doors before finally heading out to Opie’s truck that sat in the driveway.

“‘85 Dodge Power Ram. Nice.” Kacey mused as they approached the cream and tan colored pick up truck, Opie stopping to open the door for her, a look of surprise on his face.

“You know trucks too?” He asked as he slid into the driver’s seat behind her, noting the sly smirk on her lips as she slid her aviators onto her face and settled into the middle seat.

“I know a thing or two.” She shrugged.

“I’m startin’ to think you know more than just a thing or two.” Opie chuckled as he turned the key, the engine roaring to life as he shifted it into reverse. Using the opportunity to slip his arm behind her as he turned to look over his shoulder while backing the truck out of the driveway.

“I’m full of surprises.” Kacey replied. “We’ll just leave it at that for now.”

“Alright then, Miss full of surprises; where we headed?” Opie asked as he glanced over at her from the corner of his eye.

“The responsible adult in me says to go look for a job...the not so responsible adult in me on the other hand, says to look for the nearest bar.” Kacey laughed. “But, if I don’t at least try and find a job today, Harper will probably kill me...soooo.”

“Responsibility it is.” Opie chuckled as he turned and headed towards town, where they spent the next couple of hours hitting up every place that had a ‘Help Wanted’ sign up in their window. Kacey finally calling it quits after the Sixth or Seventh place in row that declined before asking her to politely leave.

“No luck?” Opie asked as she climbed back into the truck, noting the redness that tinted her ears and slowly crept its way up her chest onto her neck as she struggled to keep her temper in check. Rolling down the passenger side window as she pulled out a cigarette and lit it, taking a much needed drag and relishing in the rush of nicotine that swept over her; calming her nerves a bit.

“Would you fuckin’ believe it that, ‘apparently’,” She spoke in a mocking tone, making quotation marks with her fingers before ashing her cigarette out the window. “I’m not a people person.”

“You don’t say?” Opie teased, wincing as her fist connected with his arm. “Ow.” He chuckled, rubbing his bicep as she smirked back at him before taking another drag and offering him her pack of smokes as a peace offering.

“Remind me never to piss you off.” He added, passing her smokes back to her. Lighting the cigarette between his lips before backing out of the parking space. Not even attempting to hide his grin as she scooted back across the bench seat into the middle and got comfortable. “So, to the Bar then?” He questioned.

“I thought you’d never ask.” She replied with a fake southern accent, hands flying up over her heart as she feigned a dreamy sigh, tipping her head back onto his shoulder as she batted her lashes up at him; erupting into a fit of giggles at his expression while she pushed her sunglasses back into place and sat up a little.

“Alright Miss Daisy. Calm your shit.” Opie chuckled as he draped his hand over her shoulder. Kacey’s own hand drifting to rest on his thigh in return for the rest of the drive back to the Clubhouse.

~

Things at the Clubhouse were still pretty laid back when Opie and Kacey pulled in. Most of the guys still getting cleaned up and ready for the party later at Gemma’s. But three shots of Jameson and a couple beers later, Kacey found herself behind the bar in a competition to out bartend Half-Sack. The room filled with hoops and hollers as the guys hounded on the poor kid, giving him a ration of shit as he struggled to keep up with her; it obvious that she had more experience behind a bar than he did.

“Oi! It look’s like y’er abou’ ta lose y’er position as Barmaid, there, Sacky mah boy!” Chibs howled with laughter as the rest of the guys following suit, all throwing in their own mix of comments. Kacey shook her head with a chuckle as she shed her plaid overshirt and vest, leaving her in the cropped tank that only gave a glimpse to the number of tattoos she had. Opie having a hard time keeping his gaze off of her as she worked.

“I swear to God, Brother, if you don’t hit that, I’m goin’ to.” Tig stated lowly as he took a seat beside Opie at the bar; blue eyes fixed to Kacey like a vulture that just spotted fresh roadkill. Opie all but shoving Tig off his barstool in return. Tig snickered and stood, straightening his Kutte as he said, “Hey, man. Easy, My Giant. I was only sayin’.”

Tig smirked and offered a playful punch to Opie’s shoulder before he walked away. While the competition continued, outside, Harper rolled into the lot on the back of Jax’s Harley. Harper swung her leg over the bike and removed her helmet as Jax did the same, hanging his off his handlebars before getting off the bike and taking the spare from Harper. She gave him a sweet smile and said, “Thanks for the ride. I did not want to have to get in another taxi.”

Jax chuckled and said, “No problem, darlin’. Your truck should be finished soon. Gemma made us put a rush on it.”

He snickered as Harper rolled her eyes while he slipped an arm around her neck, the both of them walking toward the clubhouse. “Please don’t? I don’t need our only car up and dying on us. We don’t know when our bikes are gonna be here, so we need something.” Harper said as Jax opened the door for her.

“That’s what we told her, but she’s still making it our top priority.” He said. Harper’s next polite decline was cut off as the roar from the guys grew as Kacey raced to stack the beer glasses under the bar, while Half-Sack struggled to pour all his shots before she was done. Kacey damn near broke the last glass as it slammed in place and she cried out, shooting her arms up in the air with a laugh. Cheering erupted from the guys as Half-Sack sighed and leaned against the wall, thankful it was over.

“Oh, dear God.” Harper said, pushing her glasses back into her hair, watching her sister get scooped up and twirled around by Opie before setting her down and the two of them passing out shots. “Tazzy. Sweetie.”

Kacey turned and beamed at her sister, taking a moment to down her shot and Opie’s before bouncing over to her. “Hi! Did you find a job?!” Kacey squeaked, her eyes already tinting red, the reek of whiskey on her breath. Harper scrunched up her nose and took her sister’ arm, leading her to a barstool before she keeled over.

“Jesus, Opie. I said give her a lift not get her lit.” Harper said, with a soft chuckle, as she asked Half-Sack for a glass of water.

“Hey, she said she was good. She’s in good hands here.” Opie said.

“Yeah, yours.” Jax teased. Kacey giggled and said with a hiccup, “Stop worrying, Harps. I’m f-fine.”

“Uh-huh. Did you find a job today?” Harper asked, giving her sister a look and pushing the water toward her as Half-Sack set it down. Chibs descended on the sisters, slipping an arm around Kacey’s neck and said, “Oh, I’m sure Clay woulna mind lettin’ her have a job ‘ere. Natural born barmaid, this one.”

Harper smirked and said, “Natural born? This whore has worked in four different bars. She knows what she’s doing.”

“Hey!...I’m not a whore…” Kacey said, pouting a little. Harper gripped her sister’s chin, lightly, and shook it as she said, “A bar whore. Barbacking for you is like...Well, riding for me. You love it, you’re good at it, and if I were to get paid, I’d make big bucks.”

Harper giggled at her own joke and leaned against the bar. Chibs chuckled and said, “Well, once t’e boss hears about t’is, he’ll probably hire ye on t’e spot.”

“Hey, man, I tried!” Half-Sack called, from down the bar.

“Yeah, and she still creamed ye!” Chibs called, howling in laughter as he joined Juice and Tig at the other end of the bar. Harper held a polite smile and laugh until Chibs was out of earshot, Jax excusing himself to go talk to Opie. Once they were out of earshot, Harper’s smile faded and she leaned closer to Kacey, tugging on her arm and whispering harshly, “Are you fucking insane?!”

Kacey blinked at the sudden movement and looked at her. “What? I got a job.” She said. Harper shook her head.

“At the clubhouse? Are you serious? Did we not just have a discussion last night about the club?!” Harper whispered, glancing around to make sure there were no eavesdroppers. Kacey sighed and leaned her arms on the bar.

“Harper, I’m sorry. But...Harp I was refused at like 10 places today. They took one look at me and then Opie and made up some bullshit excuse about why I wasn’t a good fit.” Kacey said. Harper shook her head and sighed, pushing her hands through her hair in irritation. The last thing they needed was for Kacey to get the job and the club found out about their connections and toss them out on their ass. That was one thing Harper wasn’t willing to risk. “Harper, look. We need the money to pay for the truck and the house. Maybe I can talk to Clay about working on the truck myself that way we don’t have to pay labor, just parts? And I can put in a shit ton of hours here so it compensates.”

“Kace...I-I don’t know about this… What if-” Harper said, her features taking on an extremely worried look. Kacey put a hand on her sisters arm and said, “Harper. You’ve got to trust me. I won’t say anything about Nico and Bastien.”

“Yeah, unless you get too drunk.” Harper said, giving her a look. Kacey gave her one right back and said, “That was once and it was about my embarrassment so can we drop that please?! I’m not gonna fuck up again, Harps! I promise.”

Harper glanced down at Jax and the guys, then back to her sister. “You fuck up and you’re pushing that car, I don’t care how far, if it breaks down again…” She said, giving her a look. Kacey smiled and wrapped her arms around Harper’s neck with a squeal. Harper’s hard exterior cracked and she smiled, hugging her sister back. As they broke apart, Jax came back over to them with a charming smile and said, “Hey, did you girls want a lift back to your place? Me and Opie have to get to Gemma’s a little early to help set up for the party.”

Harper gave him a sweet smile and nodded. “Yeah. Sure, thanks.” She said. Jax smiled and nodded, calling for Opie and telling the girls he’d meet them outside. Kacey grabbed her overshirt and vest from behind the bar and they walked out with Opie to the bikes.

~

Kacey and Harper split off from Jax and Opie as they headed down the street to Gemma’s. Harper quickly jumped in the shower while Kacey changed. Once Harper pulled on her black boots and zipped them up, giving herself a once over in the mirror to make sure everything looked good, she called for Kacey and they both walked down to Gemma’s.

“Just don’t fuckin’ drop the thing, Jackson!” Gemma called as she opened the door. When she turned around and saw the sisters, she smiled and ushered them in. “Hey, you guys made it. How was the first night?”

“Good. I slept good at least.” Harper said with a chuckle. Kacey mimicked her sister, behind her back, and rolled her eyes with a smirk. Harper glanced back at her before turning back to Gemma and said, “Hey, thanks for all the help yesterday. We really appreciate it.”

“Oh, honey. It’s not a problem. If you girls ever run into trouble, just give us a call.” Gemma said, with a smile. “The guys are out back. You girls just make yourselves at home.” Gemma added before disappearing into the kitchen. Leaving the sisters to find their way out to the backyard.

“Aye! Parties ‘ere!” Chibs yelled as the girls stepped out into the backyard, giving it a once over and finding the guys were still in the process of setting up a few things. “C’mere an’ give us a hand, will ye?”

The girls ventured over without a second thought, helping Chibs pull some lawn chairs down from the shed and set them up around the yard and patio area. Kacey reaching up on her tiptoes to grab the last chair, struggling as it was just out of her reach. She was starting to get frustrated when a hand reached over her head and grabbed it. Turning around she found Opie who was smirking down at her, making Kacey glare back playfully in return.

“Don’t.Say.A.Word.” She warned.

“Wee bit sensitive abou’ our height, are we?” Chibs joked from behind him as he took the chair and stepped aside so that they could close up the shed. Kacey glowering at everyone who was now snickering quietly at the joke.

“Easy, Taz.” Harper chuckled as her sister moved passed on her way to the cooler. Muttering under her breath about not being that short as she grabbed a beer and took a seat up on the patio; pouting with a childish look on her face.  

“Hey, why do you call her Taz?” Jax asked, opening his beer as he took a seat across from Kacey. “I noticed you called her that a few times today.”

Harper snickered as she leaned against Jax’s chair. “Are you sure you wanna get into this now?” She asked, glancing down at him before looking to her sister. Jax smirked and took a sip, settling himself for a good story. Kacey rolled her eyes and took a sip before she said, “I get a little crazy when I get mad…”

“A little crazy? Sis, you’re not named after the Tasmanian Devil for fuckin’ nothing.” Harper chuckled. Jax snickered into his beer as he sat up.

“No shit?” He asked, looking from Kacey to Harper. She snickered as well and nodded.

“I believe it almost came to criminal mischief...What? 10 times?” Harper said. Jax laughed and looked at Kacey.

“Shit, how was it only almost? What did you do?” Jax asked.

“Hey, listen, if you don’t want your girlfriend getting a hold of your precious guns and using your precious ‘50’s El Camino, then why keep them in the same place, let alone piss off your girlfriend?” Kacey said, as Opie walked up to them.

“Ouch. Who pissed you off?” Opie said with a wince and a chuckle. Harper chuckled, but gave Kacey a warning look. Kacey shook her head and said, “An ex.”

“Jesus, is the car ok?” Opie joked. Everyone giving off an array of horrified expressions and sounds as Kacey mimicked an explosion with her hands before returning to her beer. Harper smirked and couldn’t help but add a ‘Ba-boom.’

“Guard your keys, boys.” Jax chuckled.

“Maybe just your valuables in general.” Kacey snorted. “And don’t piss off the Devil.” She added, casting a sideways glance and smirk in Opie’s direction as the group had a good laugh. Gemma walked out carrying a bowl of fruit salad, but stopped when she saw everyone gathered around the table.

“Hey. People are gonna start showing up here in a few minutes. I’d like to have this place set up before then?” Gemma said, squeezing between Jax and Harper to set down the bowl. She swiped the beer from Jax’s hand and gave him a look, but taking his beer was enough to get him out of his seat. Jax patted Opie on the back as he turned away to head back over to where Clay and Piney were setting up some more tables. Gemma chuckled and shook her head, taking a sip from the beer before setting it down. Harper took one last sip from her beer as well before setting it down and asking Gemma, “Did you need some help in the kitchen?”

Gemma smiled at her and said, “I’ve got a few of the girls in there. I’m okay.”

“Come on, Gem. We’re good cooks!” Kacey chimed in, standing up and moving to stand next to Harper.

“Gemma, it’s the least we can do.” Harper said with a smile. Gemma chuckled and crooked a finger at them as she started walking back to the house.

---------------------------------------

Taglist: @jacksonroth @stacie-marie-bloom @journeyrose @cole-winchester @spnhollis @omgbullslove @cococruzzzimagines @romanchronicles @captstefanbrandt @courtrae89 @tephi101 @shieldmaiden25 @staystrongsoa @imgoldielikehawn @annakay84 @laketaj24 @penny4yourthot

[lenalvthor]

HELLO I love the lot hsau very very much, you are both wonderful writers. Thank you so much for writing!!! Also are you planning on posting any in-universe mini darhkatom fics/ do you have any headcanons of them?

HELLO 💞 

THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH that is so kind and lovely of you! we are writing it exactly for people like you!! 

okay right so listen. every once in a while, we just kind of …. spiral. into darhkatom obsession. and we kind of don’t know what to do about it. we love them SO much, especially in this au we just have a million & one feelings about them. like, we’ve planned for ages a whole bunch of darhkatom headcanons that fit within the fic universe but obviously don’t fit within the fic bc it’s focused on avalance and we keep!! saying!! we’re gonna write them into one shots but we never have the time so 

i’m gonna give you a whole fucking tonne of au darhkatom headcanons that fit with where the fic is thus far (there’s a Whole Lot more in later parts of the fic) and i very much hope you like them

so like, here’s the thing. nora doesn’t let people in. not since she was 7 and a half and her dad didn’t come home one night and then the next day the cops showed up asking where he was with a warrant for his arrest and then within a year, after moving to 6 different houses, her mom committed suicide and left nora with her aunt. she even tried to push gary and ava away, but both of them dug their heels in and refused to go anywhere, so nora was kind of (thankfully) stuck with them. 

nora carefully built up this persona as the ‘nora darhk’ that she presented to the world. the snarky, cool, uninterested girl who everyone knows of but doesn’t really know anything about. the one who a lot of the pretty brainless but admittedly attractive guys around school want to go out with, and nora lets them and then breaks it off before they get too close. it hurts, but she has gary and nora (and later, lily and kuasa) and she figures that until her dad is behind bars, that’s just gonna have to do 

(without them, nora’s not really sure who she’d become, because they’re the only people in the world she gets to be herself around, gets to be funny and goofy and soft sometimes, gets to roll her eyes and discover her favourite music and tv shows and books, gets to feel kind of human because she spends so long pretending in front of everyone else, trying to be someone her dad won’t try to find. there are times when nora realises that without ava and gary, she probably wouldn’t be here at all, and it’s times like that that she’s very grateful she didn’t succeed in pushing them away all those years ago) 

but somehow, they start hanging out with ray and the legends and she just - forgets to put her walls up. she doesn’t know how, because it’s like second nature to close herself off, but there’s something about ray that just makes her feel safe and comfortable and it takes so much effort and energy to try and not gravitate towards him, soften around him, let him get to know her the way she wants him to 

(her compromise is that she lets herself become friends with him. nothing more, she tells herself. just friends. he’s really smart and he’s been helping her study and her grades have gone up and she needs to get into a good enough school that she can get a scholarship and get the hell out of star city when she graduates so this is just a good friendship to have for all of those reasons. obviously.) 

ray meanwhile, comes from a much more stable household, and he has this adamant belief that he shouldn’t let himself be in any way discontent with his life because of how lucky he has been with circumstances 

(except that ray was in 5th grade when his dad abruptly announced he wanted a divorce and barely a year later married a woman half his age and stopped paying child support and cut himself off from the palmers and moved to the richest part of star city without so little as a goodbye. sandy palmer had twin boys to take care of and suddenly not enough money and sydney had a million and one sports things he was good at and ray had a million and one science things he was good at and for many years, things were very tight in the palmer household.) 

ray’s mom remarries when ray and sydney are just about to start high school. sydney gets along great with their stepfather, who has three kids who move into the palmer house and ray’s home life immediately becomes chaotic. 

it’s not that ray doesn’t like his twin, because he does. he loves him more than anything, but sydney is just so good at everything. and he’s so naturally charming and cool and everyone around school can tell them apart bc sydney just exudes confidence and suave and he’s fit and sporty and he aces school as well and all ray is good at is inventing stuff and adding more dumb science fair trophies to his bookshelf 

(it’s actually what ends up bringing him and sara together in freshman year; both of their feelings of inadequacy as they’re constantly compared to their perfect older siblings) 

ray dates a little bit - his first kiss is with a girl named anna in 7th grade and he’s pretty much in love with her for like, a year and a half afterwards. he dates kendra through freshman and sophomore year, but they break up eventually and kendra ends up dating carter instead, but ray doesn’t really harbour any ill feelings abt that

but then nora darhk comes along, and there’s something about her - something different and quiet and it’s as though there’s this side of her that ray can see flashes of and he just wants to get to know, because sometimes she makes a witty comment or rolls her eyes at ava with a softness on her face that is so uncharacteristically nora, and ray just kinda thinks she’s really pretty and is immediately entranced 

nora asks him for help with physics pretty early on in the year and he’s 100% thrilled to help 

and that’s how it goes for a while. they’re friends, they text a bit, they talk at school, nora opens up just slightly more than she usually would, ray tries to uncover layer by layer all the different sides of nora

and then new years happens. new years, where it’s 2am and nora’s just finished looking after gary and she’s in the kitchen and she feels lighter somehow tonight (and it’s not just the alcohol) because it feels like one of those moments where she’s Safe and her dad can’t get to her and ray’s in the kitchen making nate a sandwich bc he gets hungry when he’s drunk and nora laughs and he laughs too and it’s such a nice laugh and he looks so handsome and sweet with the way he’s looking at her and there’s just this burst of uncontrollable feeling in nora’s chest that she’s never felt before and she doesn’t know what to do with it so she just surges forward and pulls ray down by the collar of his shirt and kisses him 

and there’s this moment where everything’s frozen before ray kisses her back and his hands are so gentle as they settle at her hips and all nora can smell is cologne and she can taste the cranberry juice he’s been drinking all evening on his lips and one of his arms snakes around her waist to hold her close and everything is perfect for this one second before reality comes crashing down to nora and she realises for a sickening second that she really, properly likes ray and if her dad finds out - 

the very thought is enough to make her feel nauseous and she tugs herself away like ray’s burned her, and his eyes are wide with confusion and a kiss-driven daze and nora stomach flips at the barest hint of desire in his pupils and he goes “nora?” in a hoarse voice and all she can manage is “i’m so sorry” before she runs from the room 

obviously you see that she texts him after to apologise, to ask if they can not talk about it and he agrees 

she’s afraid of it being awkward after that but he’s really sweet, does as she asks and doesn’t mention it, just lets things slip back to normal 

and part of her is so fucking relieved but the other part just hates herself because she wants him, she wants to kiss him again, wants to hold his hand and go out with him and be normal with him but the investigation on her father is picking up fast and she’s still so scared of something happening to ava and gary, she can’t even imagine something happening to ray bc her dad wanted to find a way to get to her or blackmail her 

on the 10 year anniversary of nora’s mother death, ava tells the legends why nora’s not at school at lunchtime. as the bell rings for them all to go back to class, for the first time in his life, ray palmer grits his teeth and sneaks out of school and walks all the way to the other side of town to nora’s aunt’s house. he knocks and she opens the door and her jaw drops because raymond carson palmer is standing on her doorstep at 2pm on a tuesday fidgeting nervously and looking like he just power walked here and she’s just like “…hi?” and he shifts his weight a little awkwardly and offers her a small smile and goes “hi. i uh … i wanted to make sure you were okay. ava told us. and like, obviously you’re … you’re not okay, you know, but i just … i don’t know, i just thought maybe i should - if i overstepped then -” and nora shakes her head and her voice is soft and she says “no ray, you didn’t overstep.” and she curls her hand around his wrist and tugs him inside 

when nora has the panic attack after her ex calls her ‘eleanor’, they talk on the phone until 3 in the morning and that’s when, for the first time since middle school, nora tells someone about her life before her dad became a criminal kingpin, tells ray about the christmases together and him teaching her how to ride a bike, about their happily family and the home movies and how idyllic it all was before it came crashing down and it’s then that ray gets what she isn’t saying, gets that she’s not ready for whatever this is between them, at least until her dad is arrested 

after ava & sara fall out, because both ray and nora are so close to each of them respectively, their friendship kind of comes to an abrupt standstill as they try to look after the friend whose ‘side’ they’re on. it’s only nearing the 3rd week that, as you saw, nora reaches out and she and ray start hanging out again, regardless of the lines drawn between their two friendship groups now 

( @legolasunderstoodthatreference do you remember any of the others bc that’s all i can think of lmao) 

aaaaand all other headcanons are set past the current chapter soooo those are spoilers unfortunately 😉 BUT let me know if you do want them bc we have SO MANY and we will be happy to share them considering how useless we are at actually writing them as one shots 🤦🏽‍♀️💛