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duino · 3 years ago

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"PRO-CON" Pairing: Kuroo x Fem!Reader

Rating/Warnings: T for Teen, alcohol and partying

Word Count: 5.4k (remember the good ol' days when I wrote less than 3k?)

Summary: The pros of staying friends with your ex naturally comes with some cons. Pro? You're friends. Con? You're still in love with him.

Note: Angst/Romantic ending. Exes to Lovers. There was a time I wrote coherent story lines but those days are GONE. Nothing but messy word dumps from here on out friends.

Pro of staying friends with your ex? It’s less awkward at college parties. (In theory.)

Con of staying friends with your ex? You have to see him with a new girl at said college parties and pretend it doesn’t phase you, not even a little. Nope, not one bit. No, seriously, you’re fine.

“You’re so not fine with this,” your friend Hina drawls, handing you a red solo cup. It’s filled with a sickly, candy-red liquid and you crinkle your nose before taking a swig.

“This is disgusting,” you say, immediately taking another drink.

“Well drink up, buttercup, ‘cause it’s that or lukewarm beer.”

You consider tossing the drink out, but then a familiar laugh rings through the room, over the noise, into your chest and you look and see a pretty, dark-haired girl squeezing the arm of your (unfairly) pretty, dark-haired ex.

“Fuck it,” you breathe, and take a couple hard swallows. “God, this tastes like cough syrup.”

“We can always leave,” Hina offers, peppy.

“This corner of the house or the party?”

“No, the party.” Your friend grins. “You know I love a dark corner.”

“I promised I’d come,” you remind her.

“Part of being a full adult is you’re allowed to leave at any time,” she says sagely. “You don’t even need to say goodbye. We could just go.”

“You’re an animal,” you say, dry. “Well, I feel about half an adult, so at least let me say hi to Jin before we dip.” If you’re lucky, you might be able to avoid your ex and the introduction to his new…friend.

Jin’s house, which is not really his house at all but shared between five other roommates, is famous —or infamous, depending— for the parties. He had watched one American movie featuring a romanticized high school rager and next thing you knew, there was a giant disco ball being wheeled in via wood slats duct taped onto two skateboards (he’s a drafting and design engineering major). You had helped them hang it and thus been ceremoniously invited to every “semester bash,” in perpetuity.

Despite the bones of the house being spacious, every corner has been filled with bizarre knick-knacks and décor; it’s an amalgamation of all six roommates and their corresponding styles. Movie posters framed next to prints of landscapes next to a gallery of family photos. The couch is brand new, and the rug was dragged through the streets of a flea market. You have to brush past as many houseplants as there are people to make it to the kitchen, where Jin always resides on the throne that is the island countertop.

“Lookie, lookie,” Jin says, voice booming over the music and people. “It’s our Disco Queen!” His nickname for you. People around him cheer, even if most of them don’t get the reference. You curtsey and humbly deny a beer.

“I’m happy with my cold medicine,” you say, swirling around your cup of punch.

“Family recipe,” Jin says, then hops down to give you a hug. “You can thank grandma for your hangover tomorrow.”

You snort and raise your cup, tapping it on his beer bottle. “May she live a long and prosperous life,” you say and you both drink. “Hey, listen Jin, I’m gonna head out.”

“What? But it’s not even midnight.” He is genuinely aghast.

“I’m old.”

“No you’re not.”

“I’m tired.”

“No you’re not.”

“Jin,” you laugh, “I’ve gotta go. It’s so not my night tonight.”

Jin gets contemplative and then grabs your arm suddenly. “Oh no,” he says. “Oh shit, I had no idea Kuroo was going to be here—”

“Jin, it’s fine.”

He shakes his head. “Should I kick him out?” He’s so earnest you have to laugh.

Pro of staying friends with your ex? You can say, “No, we’re good. No bad blood,” and mean it.

Con of staying friends with your ex? Nobody ever seems to believe you.

“Really? You’re good?” He’s squeezing your arm and you can see he’s a moment away from sitting you down in the nearest bathroom and giving you an impromptu, drunk therapy session. “Because I would completely understand if you needed to cry on my shoulder right now.”

You roll your eyes good-naturedly. “Very funny. Seriously, we’re good. I’m good.”

And you know what? You are. It’s been three months since your breakup with Kuroo and the idea of it doesn’t make you sick anymore. Three months, and when you two run into each other on the street or on campus there isn’t that moment where you’re hoping, or pretending you’re cool, or hiding that piece of you that still wants him. Three months, and when you think of him as your friend, he is just that. Mostly. Every day he becomes a little bit less your ex, and a little more your friend who you happened to date. (Never mind that you had been desperately in love. Never mind that you had cried yourself to sleep for a week.)

That does not, however, mean that you’re okay watching him flirt with another girl. Maybe someday, though that someday seems impossible now, at a house party wedged between a very passionate couple, Jin’s dolefully compassionate eyes, and a Ficus.

Still, Jin sees the surety in your eyes and nods, satisfied. “Good. In that case, I have a friend for you.” His eyes go wicked.

“What? No, Jin, I told you, I’m leaving—”

He pretends not to hear you and waves someone over. You’re staring at your friend, alarmed. “For fun,” he says, cajoling. “You need some fun.”

“I do not need fun,” you hiss. “I need —hey,” you break off as the figure approaches. “Hi.”

“Hey,” the stranger says, with an easy smile. “Hey, dude,” he says to Jin. He’s tall, brunette, pretty face. “You must be the Disco Queen Jin keeps telling me about,” he grins and holds out a hand. “I’m Makato.” He has dimples and you immediately forget his name.

“Hey,” you say again. “Yes. Disco Queen. That’s me.” Apparently, after Kuroo, you’ve forgotten how to flirt. Jin elbows you without subtlety. You elbow him back.

Makato —Makato? Yes, Makato— watches the both of you, amused and relaxed. “Wanna grab some air?” he asks you. He does it so easily, so bold in his ease, that it disarms you.

“Sure,” you blurt out, because it feels like the right thing to say when someone is so brazen with you. “Why not.”

You let the tall, handsome man lead you through the people and ignore how unbearably pleased Jin is with himself. Makato says, “I know a place,” with twinkling eyes and you let him think you don’t know every inch of this property like the back of your hand. You’ve spent more than one sophomore night here, too drunk to go home the night before.

“Do you,” you say, despite it all, and the thirty feet you’ve walked has somehow given you your flirtatious edge back. “How mysterious.”

“Gotta keep you guessing, right?” He throws a lopsided grin over his shoulder. You give him a mindless smile back.

You’ve almost made it to the back door when a hand on your arm stops you. Your body recognizes the touch before your mind does; you jerk a little and turn and then jerk again when you realize who it is. “Oh,” you say, “Hi. Hey.”

“Hi,” Kuroo says, smiling softly. “Hey.” His expression is so familiar, so dear in that familiarity that you actually lose composure for a moment. Then he glances behind you at Makato and though his smile remains, it goes distant and a little hard. He looks back at you. “I've been looking for you. Saw you come with Hina.”

“Who’s this?” Makato asks. He’s as warm to Kuroo as he was for you.

“My friend—”

“Her ex—” Kuroo interjects. “We used to date.” You press your lips together tight.

“We’re just friends now,” you say. Makato keeps his easy demeanor. He’s either high or enlightened, you can’t tell.

“That’s cool,” he says, and he really means it. You snort and laugh and give him an appraising look. Your drink is giving you a pleasant buzz and your new friend a pleasant glow.

“I didn’t know you’d be here,” Kuroo says. He seems to be ignoring Makato completely. Your brows pinch. You don’t understand his expression.

“Well, here I am,” you say.

“Here you are,” Kuroo says. He’s tense around the edges. From behind you, Makato places a cautious hand on your shoulder.

“Hey,” Makato says, “if you wanna meet up another time, or…”

“No,” you say, abrupt. A small thread of irritation pierces you. You’ve spent the past few months hurt and healing and trying to manage a new friendship with your ex-boyfriend and now he was —what? What was he doing? You aren’t sure, but it’s something. You know him well enough to know that. “Could you just give me a moment, though? I’ll meet you outside?” You give Makato another sweet, mindless smile and he mirrors it easily, completely unphased.

“Cool,” he says. “Definitely. See you in a bit.”

You watch him go and then turn to Kuroo with raised brows. “You couldn’t have been nicer?”

Your ex’s returned smile is sardonic. “He couldn’t tell the difference either way.”

“You’re a menace.”

“You like when I’m a menace,” he replies. Someone behind him jostles into the both of you and Kuroo grabs your arm and moves you into a quieter corner, half-concealed by a large hanging plant and a giant statue of a globe (you’re pretty sure Jin and his boyfriend had hauled it out of the trash somewhere). “How are you? How’ve you been?” He squeezes your arm. “Feels like I haven’t seen you in forever.”

You narrow your eyes. “We saw each other last week in the hall.”

He shrugs. “Yeah, but we haven’t like, seen, each other.”

You keep your voice dry to stop the strange cocktail of feelings being near him is giving you: irritation, sadness and immediate acceptance, fondness that you think will exist within you forever. Being dry and distant feels easier than any of those things. “Probably because you’ve been busy with your pretty friend over there,” you say. You manage to sound amused, blasé even.

Kuroo looks faintly confused. “My ‘pretty friend’? What?”

“With the dark hair and the glasses?”

Kuroo’s eyes widen. “She’s not—"

“What? Your friend?”

“Well, she’s a friend, but she’s not—”

“It’s okay if she is, Kuroo.” Your use of his last name seems to fluster him. For all his sly smiles and mischievous eyes, you know there’s tentative heart underneath. A pang of guilt shoots through you. You’re being distant with that tentative heart as much as you’re being distant with the parts of him that irritate you. He runs a hand through his hair, sticking it up in every direction.

“I know but, she’s not…y’know…”

He looks to awkward that you take pity and put a hand on his arm. You’re both glad and disappointed at your own gladness; you should be over this by now, you should be okay with seeing him out and with someone else and not feeling smug when he says otherwise. “I’m teasing,” you say. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have.”

“I live for you teasing me,” he says softly, and gives you a wry smile.

You don’t want to feel sad anymore, but you do. Every conversation with Kuroo feels wrought with history and the struggle of moving past it. You want to be happy at the idea of moving on, but you secretly hate it. You want to be friendly but then he says something like I live for you teasing me, and the lines between the both of you are blurred by memory. You want to feel steady and sure of yourself and the decisions you’ve both made, and you are for a bit, and then he looks at you and you aren’t.

You wonder if Kuroo struggles in the same way and then you look at his face, and you know he does. You both search each other, see the mirrored feelings —complex and tangled as they are— and you both share a smile.

Pro of staying friends with your ex? There’s someone who knows you, the secret part of you, and understands. (And loves, but neither one of you will say that word. Not again —not in the same way.)

Con of staying friends with your ex? It makes it twice as hard to move on.

But you have to, that’s the thing. You can’t pine forever. You can’t be standing here with him, in the hidden corner at a college part, doing what? You almost say it. What are we doing? But you don’t really want to know.

Instead, you say, “I should go. Makato’s waiting for me.”

Kuroo’s brows pinch, like you’ve brough him out of a daydream too soon. “Is he —ah, shit. Never mind.” He looks frustrated with himself more than anything. “Of course. Have fun,” he adds, and then winces and you know why.

“You too,” you say, gentle. And then, knowing you have to move past this moment somehow, you say, “It was good to see you, Tetsurō.” It’s not quite the nickname you used to use, but it’s better than the formality of his last name and Kuroo’ll take what he can get.

The two of you don’t hug, but he offers you an awkward fist bump and when you laugh and tap your knuckles on his, he laughs and the tension breaks, if only a little.

“See you around, Tetsurō,” you say.

“Sure,” he says. He’s grinning, he’s sad. “See you around.”

You don’t look back, but you know he’s watching you go.

You hate that you can’t enjoy being kissed right now. Makato’s pressing you against the outside of the house, hand half up your shirt, giving you his best efforts and you can only give him half-hearted kisses in return. You feel too aware of yourself, of him, of your own thoughts.

People pass by and they whistle at the two of you and Makato pulls away. He studies you face.

“I think maybe I’ve misread things,” he says after a moment. He’s got on that easy smile again, and you wonder what its like to be so nonchalant about everything.

You’re a little flustered, a little relieved. “No, you didn’t. I wanted to kiss you, I just…” You make an inarticulate gesture with your hands.

“I get it. Exes are tough. Being friends with an ex is tougher, sometimes.” He’s got kind, regretful eyes.

Your first instinct is to deny him but he’s being so nice. “You’re…very observant.”

He lets out a boisterous laugh. “Psychology major. But I don’t have to be that observant to see you still love him. It’s cool, really. I get it,” he says again. “Went through the same thing last year with my ex. It sucks.”

“I don’t love him,” you rush to say, but even as the words leave you, you realize how untrue they are, how it feels like a betrayal to yourself to even think of saying them. “Or,” you falter, “I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t want to talk about it.” Especially not with a guy you’re supposed to be “having fun” with. You groan. “I’m so sorry.”

Makato chuckles, putting a hand on your shoulder fondly. “Hey, I thought you were cute, and I took a chance. No harm, no foul.”

You pat his hand with yours. “At any other time of my life…”

“Stop beating yourself up about this. Really.”

You look up at him, and for the first time that night, you appreciate the man in front of you truly and genuinely. “You’re a really good guy, Makato.”

He squeezes your shoulder. “And you’re a gem, Disco Queen. That guy back there’s a fool if he didn’t see that.”

You give him a smile with some effort. Kuroo not appreciating you had never been the problem, but you don’t want to think about that anymore, not tonight. You wanted to do what you had originally planned: go home and curl up in a duvet and sleep for a day and a half.

Makato takes a step away from you and then holds out his hand. “Friends?”

You laugh and take his hand gratefully. “Friends.” Then you look at him again. “You know, speaking of. I have a friend. She’s single.”

“Oh?” He raises a brow. “Do tell.”

“Her name’s Hina. She’ll never let you have the last word, and she hates parties, but she’s the best.”

“You know what I think?” Makato says, grinning wide. You have to mirror him.

“What?”

“I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”

You laugh and kiss him on the cheek, right where his dimples are. “You know what? I think you’re right.”

You leave the party without saying goodbye to anyone. Turns out you can just leave. You had texted Hina before, but it turns out she had already left.

Saw you walking out with a total hottie! I’m tired and drunk! Text me!

I’m home! I hope you’re busy making me an aunty right now ;) ;) ;)

Funny story, you text back, but you don’t get a reply so Hina must already be sleeping.

You decide to walk back to your dorm. The night is warm with late spring, the path is short, and you need to clear your head.

There’s a sweet loneliness you feel, walking home alone. The music of Jin’s party starts to fade and so are the two drinks you had. It’s your first time leaving one of his parties early. You’ve walked this way so many times, usually stumbling, usually with friends. Often, with Kuroo. Most of the time you had either still been drunk, or terribly hungover. It’s weird to retrace these familiar steps relatively sober with no one to laugh with and bump your shoulder against. It wasn’t that long ago. It was a lifetime ago. Time is everything and nothing.

It’s senior year now and then, in just a small while, you’ll be graduated. In so many ways, this walk feels like leaving some part of your youth behind. It happens so slowly and then too fast, too sudden. You’re laughing with someone you thought you would love forever and then you’re alone.

You cross your arms over your chest like it’ll protect you from the ache that’s entering you, that’s always been there but you haven’t let yourself feel until now, surrounded by nothing but nighttime quiet.

Damn Kuroo, and damn your heart for reacting like this. I’ve been looking for you all night. I live for you teasing me. His gaze, his regretful smile. There’s a prick of tears at your eyes and you shake your head, fighting them off. You’ve done enough crying. You’ve just gotten over the crying part of things. You try to find, within yourself, the girl who could say I’m good to Jin and mean it.

But maybe you never get over it. Maybe you leave a part of your heart here, under this pavement, and you’ll never be able to walk this way again without it being a little sad.

The tears persist, and soon you’re wiping blindly at your face as you walk. You’re halfway home when you hear someone shout your name from behind you. You startle and turn around, hands raised in defence. Your tears make the figure approaching you into a blur. It doesn’t matter. You’d know the shape of him anywhere. Your shoulders don’t lose their tension.

Kuroo raises a brow when he reaches you. And then he sees your trembling lip, your wide eyes and his steps falter. “Shit, did something happen?” he asks immediately. He wants to reach out for you, you can see it in the stiff lines of his body, but you know if you let him hold you now, you’ll start crying in earnest and that’s not how you want this night to go.

“I’m just a sentimental drunk,” you say, voice thick. Kuroo smiles like I know you are.

“You dork,” he says, but there’s still faint concern on his face. “What are you doing walking home alone?”

“What are you doing following me?” you counter.

“I wanted to know why you were walking home alone.”

“Turns out you can leave a party early, if you want, and you don’t even have to tell anybody.”

Kuroo quirks a smile. “Revolutionary.”

“You can thank Hina for that little nugget of wisdom.”

“Oh man,” he laughs, “I miss her wisdom.” You give him a tense smile; your lives used to be so twined. “Can I walk with you?” he asks, after a moment.

You hesitate and then nod.

Somehow, Kuroo walking next to you makes the bittersweetness of memory even keener. You know he remembers this walk, your time in love together, just as sharply, and every so often you can see a memory come to his face, his smile, and then his slight frown. He doesn’t say anything and you don’t try to say anything either.

Every few steps, the back of his hand brushes against yours.

“What’s that in your hand?” he asks, after a couple blocks.

You unfurl your fist to reveal a piece of paper. Makato had written his number down for you to give to Hina. You had forgotten you’d been holding it.

Kuroo stares at the crinkled paper for a minute before looking away. The urge comes to explain yourself, but you realize you shouldn’t need to. He had showed up with another girl and, after all, the both of you are supposed to be friends.

Another block in tightrope silence.

“Remember when we were leaving Jin’s house and you realized you had a paper due the next morning?” you try. It feels like a safe memory —one from before you guys got together, when it was just friendship.

Kuroo cracks a smile, stuffing his hands in his pockets as he walks. “You stayed up with me all night to help me write it. I remember.” His expression goes wistful.

“And you got a B! You’re welcome.”

“Yeah, yeah, you’re an angel.” He says and you thaw. He sees you thawing and carries on. “Remember when we had to carry Hina home? You, me, that random guy she was supposed to hook up with…”

You chuckle, shaking your head. “We had to take turns piggybacking her. She’s the worst lightweight I’ve ever met.”

“Yeah, except you couldn’t lift her so I ended up doing all the work,” Kuroo jabs you gently with his elbow.

You jab him back, laughing. “It was, like, two in the morning! I was basically passing out myself.”

“Excuses, excuses.”

“Remember when you had to piggyback me home? In, like, a foot of snow?” you laugh and then stop very suddenly. Kuroo’s expression goes flat. This was not a safe memory. Because he had—

“I remember that,” he whispers.

You open your mouth but you have nothing to say. Maybe you could ignore it, bulldoze through with another recollection, something light and easy. His brows are drawn, his face half-shadowed. You look to your feet and then to your fist that’s still holding onto Makato’s number. You slip it into your pants pocket. You really don’t want to start crying again, not in front of him.

“I told you I loved you,” he says. His eyes are far away, trying to see something beyond the streetlights, beyond the buildings. “For the first time.”

The past tense of the word loved nearly does you in. “Kuroo,” you say. His last name again: distance and maybe a warning. This is thin ice.

He stops walking. After a couple steps you do, too. When you turn to face him, his face is drawn tight.

“I hate it when you call me that.”

“Kuroo,” you say again, firmer this time. That firmness feels like the only thing holding up the wall between the both of you right now.

“Fuck, I’m—” he shakes his head, lets out a short, bitter laugh. “I’m an idiot.”

You don’t know what he means. Or rather you do, but you can’t let yourself go there. It’s been three months since the breakup, and you are not undoing all the progress you’ve made. You can’t. “You’re just a sentimental drunk, too,” you say.

He shakes his head but doesn’t say anything. You start walking again and after a moment, you hear his steps follow behind you. Another wordless block passes, more tense than the last.

“I’m not just being drunk,” he says, eventually.

You close your eyes briefly. You will yourself not to say anything.

“I’m not just being drunk,” he repeats, and then time reaches and catches your hand in his, tugging you to a stop again. “Hey, wait. Wait.”

“Wait,” you parrot, the word leaving your mouth in a harsh breath. Kuroo lets go of your hand immediately. “For what, exactly?” He stares at you with desperate eyes. You know those eyes. He looked just like this when he was ending things. “What are we doing?” you ask.

You’ve been so close to this question for months, every time he sort-of flirts with you in a passing hallway, every time his eyes linger on yours for too long. Every time you see him, and want him, and you can see the same wanting on his face. And you’ve been scared of the answer, because what if he says nothing? What if all the both of you are doing is prolonging the inevitable end? Would you stand for your heart being broken twice?

You wait for him to say something and when he doesn’t, you wait some more, and you give him more time and another minute more and more, until tears are in your eyes again, blurring the man in front of you. You’ve always given him more time. You think, if this night hasn’t happened, you might have given him all your days. Waiting, waiting. Absurd as it is, you feel the truth of it.

But then what would you have left to give yourself?

“I think,” you start to say and even though your voice trembles, there is a sureness in you that allows you to face him. You wipe at your eyes to see him clearly. Kuroo looks in pain. “Maybe we need some real distance.”

“What do you mean?” There’s a thread of fear in his voice. You swallow hard.

“I mean, after you ended things…” You take a moment to compose yourself. “After you ended things, we never had any breathing room. I never had any time to get over you. And I don’t think,” you say, trying to smile even now, “that we can be very good ‘just friends’ to each other if I’m still trying to get over you. So, maybe, distance. Distance would be good.”

The dismay is plain on Kuroo’s face. He shakes his head like he’s struggling to understand you. “Wait, no —what? I don’t want distance.”

“Kuroo,” you plead.

“This isn’t —fuck, this isn’t what I wanted. I—”

“Listen—”

“I don’t want distance from you—”

“You can’t have it both ways!” you say, finally. You don’t shout it, but your voice has risen, and there is, suddenly, anger in you. “That’s not fair. You can’t break up with me and then still have me.”

Kuroo takes a step back like he’s been struck. His eyes are wide, hurt like you’ve never seen him. You almost take the words back. Almost.

“I didn’t,” he begins and then stops. “I hadn’t thought,” he tries again. But nothing. He’s fighting back something; you can see it.

“It’s confusing to me,” you say, “when you tell me you don’t want me and then do shit like this.”

His jaw flexes. His eyes are almost black in the night. “I never said I don’t want you.”

Whatever effect he thought he’d achieve with those words, it most certainly is the opposite to the frustration you feel now. “Oh my god, then what do you want, Kuroo?” There’s anger and sorrow both, and they’re rising hard in your chest. “What do you want? Because three months ago, you said you wanted to break up. And now you’re saying —what? That you still want me? After everything. After you blindsided me with a breakup and then asked to be friends and I said yes, of all things, I said yes,” the words are rolling out of you, words you had never said to him, were afraid to say to yourself, “and I didn’t even know why you broke up with me! Not really. You just fucking closed yourself off and then ended it one day and I never knew why, I never knew why, I just respected it, because I loved you —I love you— and you couldn’t even tell me why—”

“I was scared,” he says, harsh. You snap your mouth shut, lips trembling. When he speaks again, his voice is barely over a murmur. “I was scared, okay? Of losing you.” He sounds scraped raw.

There’s a moment where you have to register his words before you make a derisive noise, all the anger you had pushed aside for the sake of a friendship kindling in your stomach. You almost say, you’re losing me anyway, but you don’t because then you’d be lying to yourself as well as him and you don’t have it in yourself to be cruel.

Instead, “Are you serious?” You look away from him, shaking your head. “Of all the ridiculous…I was scared too, Kuroo! But I didn’t run away from it, I didn’t pull away from you—” You look back and your voice fades.

There it is again, his tentative heart. It’s in his eyes, the tight press of his mouth. He looked this way when he first asked you out, when he first said he loved you. When he began pulling away. You can’t divorce one from the other: the man that broke your heart is also the man that loved you for almost three years is also the man who makes you angry is also the man now, afraid, and hurting as you’re hurting.

And you know why he’s scared. He’s told you so many times, stories of himself as a young boy, sneaking downstairs in his parent’s house just to overhear all the awful things he couldn’t understand yet. His mother crying, his father leaving for the night. The cold slam of a door, the engine fading in the distance.

Sometimes I think you’re too good, and you’ll disappear. He’s admitted that to you before, in whispers before dawn. You remember it now and your heart turns, the walls you had built against him softening.

Pro of staying friends with your ex? You love him, after it all, despite it all.

Con of staying friends with your ex? You love him, after it all. Despite it all. Because of it all.

“I’m sorry,” he whispers.

“Me too,” you whisper back. “I didn’t mean to get angry and dramatic.”

He gives you a weak smile. “You weren’t being dramatic. And you’re allowed to be angry.”

You stare at each other a long while, the night around you beginning to cool. It’s a block to your dorm. It’s two steps towards Kuroo. Your heart is somewhere between the two.

You break the livewire silence. “I have to hear you say it.”

Kuroo’s eyes turn alert. “Hear me say it?” There’s uncertain hope in him and it kills you.

You let out a shuddering breath. “Yeah. I have to hear you say what you want. What we’re doing. Because I’m not going be jerked back and forth—”

“I love you,” Kuroo rushes out, desperate. “I love you. I want you. I want you back, I want to earn you back.” His body is aching with the need to hold you, but he stays still and frozen. “And if you don’t feel the same, if I fucked it up then it’s okay. It’s okay. I’ll be okay with that, somehow. But if there’s even a chance…”

Of course there’s a chance. You’ve known that for a long time.

There’s something you don’t want to ask. What if you get scared again? But even as think it you realize that’ll always just be a con of love, no matter who it is. That’s the risk of it. The heart can always be broken.

The pro? You think Kuroo might be worth it.

It’s not the end of the conversation, but it’s the beginning of a new beginning. You smile, and then Kuroo smiles because he sees the beginning there, suspended between the both of you.

You take the first step, and he meets you in the middle.

#kuroo x reader #fem!reader #haikyu x reader #kuroo tetsuro x reader #kuroo testuro #kuroo hcs #kuroo haikyuu #haikyuu scenarios #angst to fluff #kuroo tetsuro fanfiction #haikyuu x reader #haikyuu x y/n #kuroo angst #kuroo fluff

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milkcartonbastard · 5 years ago

Text

Buttercups and Geraniums

Fandoms- My Babysitter's a Vampire (Benny x Reader)

Warnings- Violence. Language warning.

Request- "...could you write something for Benny Weir? Maybe something where they are rivals or something where both aren't really nice to each other and somehow get close and ends fluffy?" Why yes, I can. Thank you for requesting, I hope you enjoy!

~~~

You were epically pissed at Benny Weir. You had been for months, but it had come to a climax recently and you were honestly beginning to loathe him. First, he'd managed to give you a foxtail. You didn't even know he had magic until then, you had believed you were the only witch at school. It was surprising that Benny Weir of all people was since you didn't understand how he'd managed to keep it a secret for so long. Second, one of his spells- yeah, there was going to be a reoccurring theme here- had managed to cause all of your hair to fall out. You had no fucking clue what he was trying to do in the first place, but you were sure that hair removal wasn't it.

You'd been hit by a lot of bad spells over the years, most of them your own, but you'd never once accidentally performed divination. Benny had tried to tell you what he'd been trying to do, but whatever it was never stuck in your mind. Especially, since you had been turned into an actual fox. His grandmother had to reverse that spell. Needless to say, you and Evelyn had not been happy. You'd coughed up fur for a week after that...

So now you were sending passive-aggressive messages to him.

You'd shown up to school about fifteen minutes early. Everyone usually tumbled in at five minutes before the bell, which meant your quick spell wouldn't be seen by anyone. Benny's locker was neat, which was a huge contrast to his personality, and it reeked of cologne. He didn't even wear cologne. You knew that because he always smelled like magic.

Magic had a very distinctive odor, which was mostly like a dewy forest with freshly tilled dirt. You loved magic, the smell, the feeling, the preparation. You were particularly strong, but that wasn't uncommon in the community. You were happy to have your ability, thank you very much.

You mumbled some words, just in case anyone overheard. The four books in his locker shot against the top of the metal container. You tugged against them, but they were attached like they had been welded against the metal. You smiled a little, before placing the flowers and note in his locker. You flipped your middle finger up in the air, so whenever Ethan touched the objects and saw this moment, he'd receive your message for him, too.

You had tied up a small bouquet- buttercups and geraniums- for Benny and his grandma. The message of the flowers was for Benny, but the pretty colors and sprigs of sage were for his grandma. Buttercups meant the receiver was childish and immature. Geraniums meant the receiver was stupid and ignorant. Two flowers that represented Benny Weir very well. The note explained it well, so there wouldn't be any confusion on his side.

You knew he would understand it without the card, though. He was smart enough to decipher the message without your help. He'd always been clever. You shut the locker at the clenching of your stomach. You didn't hate Benny. You couldn't. He was too cute and brave for that.

You mentally gagged.

You had been fighting off your crush on him since seventh grade. Recently, it was getting easier. Especially when he was hitting you with rogue and malfunctioning spells. You groaned and rubbed your temples. You didn't need to worry about a boy, you needed to worry about the Calculus test you had to take in twenty minutes. You sighed and continued toward your class.

~~~

You were sat at your lunch table, nibbling on whatever the lunch ladies had plopped onto your tray. You were engrossed in this new book you had started. It had an odd combination of creatures in it. There were vampire-ish characters called Dark Hunters, demons, mermen, human voodoo dolls, witches, Seraphim, and even pirates. Even with the motley cast of characters, their dynamics were incredible and extremely vivid.

A quick burst of movement tore your attention away from your book. Nobody around you seemed to notice anything weird, so they all just continued with their conversations. Not even a slight difference in the room appeared to any of your classmates. It said a lot for their senses of danger.

Sitting on your lunch table, one you shared with a bunch of other kids who preferred to study and read over socialization, was a humongous, black, bird. It was a raven that towered above the people sitting with you. Its beak was sharp and a glistening black and its eyes were the color of nothing. You tried to contain your gasp when it cocked its head at you.

A deep, guttural, squawk poured from the bird's belly. Just as suddenly as it appeared, a burst of blue flame erupted and enveloped the midnight feathers and nothing eyes of the bird. As the last bit of feathers burned away- you felt your skin boil near your wrist. You jerked your hand away from the table, just in time to see black lettering appear across your wrist. The lettering was a dark, scarlet, red and was facing you. It was a Latin word- you knew that much. You were pretty sure it meant 'claimed', but you could have been wrong.

"Y/n, are you alright?" Malia Harrington, who had sat at the 'nerd' table with you since high-school started, looked up from her book. She was staring at you curiously. One of her hands was hidden beneath her book and she looked close to closing it. She looked concerned, but there was something strange flickering in her whiskey-colored eyes. It was almost like an emotion, but you couldn't tell what it was. You nodded your head and dropped your hand. You let the now tattooed part rest against your thigh, so Malia couldn't see the message.

"Yeah, I just- pinched myself on the table. Just wasn't paying much attention, I suppose!" You forced a shitty laugh out, just waiting for more questions to come towards you. Luckily enough, she seemed to buy it- or just didn't care enough- and went back to her book. You quietly excused yourself from the lunch table and discarded your tray.

You had gotten cursed. A big, fat, ugly, curse had been smacked against your left wrist. You weren't sure what kind of curse yet, but you would figure that out as soon as you got to your spellbook in your locker. You didn't know of anyone who would want to curse you or anyone stupid enough perform such a tedious ritual.

You were slowing down, the floor seeming to sway under your feet. Your skin was beginning to get hot again like you'd been baking in the sun. A fever. You cursed softly, having to steady yourself against a nearby locker. You weren't too far from the water fountain, so you stopped for a quick sip. It seemed to perk you up a little and you continued forward.

Your physical state was wavering, the curse was starting to make you sick. You scanned your brain- running thousands of scenarios through your mind. Most symptoms would explain the type of magic used in the curse- which would also explain the severity. Mirror magic wouldn't be so hard to counteract, candle magic would be a little bit more difficult, but not so bad. You were just pleading with whatever God or Fate-bearer out there that it wouldn't be a difficult curse to remove. The bird that had appeared had died in the spell, which wasn't too comforting. Was that what was going to happen to you?

~~~

Benny was standing at his locker when you managed to drag yourself further through the school. He was wearing a striped shirt that reminded you of a grunge Freddy Kruger. Benny also wore a pair of plain jeans and his stupid crossbody satchel. His head was ducked low and he was talking to Ethan beside his locker. Ethan looked around, like whatever they were talking about was serious. Ethan's eyes met yours and they widened.

Pieces clicked together.

'Who was stupid enough to perform such a tedious ritual?' you had asked. You only knew one idiot and he had a bad reputation of spells backfiring.

In a blink of an eye- you had Benny pinned to his locker and was glaring up at him. He yelped ungraciously and started trying to push you off him. You felt some unnamable emotion in your gut. Why would Benny curse you? Sure, you didn't think he liked you back, but you certainly didn't think he hated you enough to curse you.

"You cursed me?! When are you going to learn to stop fucking-" You cut yourself off. On his wrist, the same dark, crimson, writing was slapped across his pale skin like a label. It was in the same position as yours and you released your grip on him. He was frowning down at you and fixing his now-messy shirt.

"I didn't curse you! We thought you did this to us." You looked at his face, noticing red, blotchy spots on his cheeks and neck. His normally bright eyes were duller now. You felt your stomach curl up. He thought you had cursed them? Who was them?

Your gaze traveled to Ethan, noticing the blotchy patches on his face as well. From the heat rising in your cheeks and neck, you assumed you looked similar. Ethan held his left arm up, and sure enough, a replica of your marking was stamped upon his skin.

"You said curse? Benny was talking about that, too. How bad is it?" Ethan asked. Benny huffed, clearly upset that Ethan was asking you about magic-included situations. You felt a flush settle under your skin.

"Did you guys see the bird, too? Or did you see something else?" A quick description of the raven was given and the boys nodded their heads. They'd had the very same experience. "I'm not sure about the important information. I was on my way to my locker to get my spellbook, but I'm sluggish."

Benny opened his mouth to speak again when something going incredibly fast slammed into the lockers near the three of you. You jumped, trying to keep your scream behind your tongue. Sarah Fox bounced off the lockers and onto the cold floor. She groaned loudly, rolling onto her left side and nursing her right arm. Ethan and you moved to help her up. She wasn't exactly heavy, but her skin was so cold it almost burned. You jerked your hand away, but Ethan's hand had clenched down and he'd stiffened up.

Sarah's fangs lashed out at the empty air in front of her and she clapped her hand over her mouth. She looked worse than the three of you, by far. But it was mostly because of the blood vessels in her face. They were blue and black under her dark skin, creating a spider's web look in her cheeks. Her eyes were gold, unable to change back. She cursed softly but was cut off by another hiss. You grabbed the arm Ethan didn't have ahold of, showing Benny the same marking you all had. He cursed softly and the two of you turned your arms for her to see.

Ethan's white eyes returned to brown, but only for a second. You watched his eyes roll up into the back of his head. His knees buckled and Benny surged forward and grabbed him. Ethan didn't stand back up, but instead, he collapsed in Benny's arms. He was completely unconscious and Benny let him gently rest on the floor.

"What is going on?" Sarah stopped hissing, but she still looked the same. Some students started walking into the hall, so you pulled the hood of her jacket over her head. She tilted her face towards the ground and the other students didn't stop walking. "I saw this freaky bird on my chemistry table and it caught on fire. Then my arm started to burn."

"We've been cursed. We have no idea who or how they did it. We're on our way to Y/n's locker to get her spellbook." Benny kicked Ethan's side gently, but he didn't stir. His breathing didn't change but just stayed steady. Soon enough, two more people rounded the corner. One had a hood over his head and the other left her blonde hair dangling in front of her face. Erica and Rory.

"Guys, I think Rory and Erica got cursed, too. Look, they look like Sarah." You jerked your chin in their direction and they jogged over. Sarah must not have known what she looked like, because her hand shot up to her cheeks and she recoiled.

"What's wrong with Ethan?" Rory asked. His voice sounded stuffy, which meant his fangs were out, too. Something was affecting the vampire's appearance, but Sarah looked the worst of the three. Her inky veins were dark and prominent, the ones on Erica and Rory were faint.

Your gaze flickered back to Ethan. His nose was starting to bleed, but the blood was black instead of red. You gasped and crouched beside Ethan. You were hit with a wave of dizziness, but you shook it off. Nobody else was bleeding, except for Ethan. Why?

He'd used his ability- sure he didn't mean to- but he'd touched Sarah and got a vision from her. And Sarah looked worse than Rory and Erica because she's used her vampire speed to find them, instead of just walking. You swore again and wiped Ethan's black blood away with your sleeve. He gave a soft groan and tried to roll onto his side. Benny started trying to help him stand up, but Ethan wasn't exactly conscious yet.

"Don't use your abilities! No running, no strength, no mind-control, no visions!" Your eyes widened and you looked up to Benny. He looked vulnerable like he was thinking very hard and trying to come up with an idea. His forehead creased slightly when Ethan pushed his hand away from his nose. He started to sit up though, smacking his lips and licking them. He was thirsty and Benny got the message.

Benny held his hand up and was about to snap his fingers when you grabbed his hand. You ignored the warmth of his skin under your palm. "That means no magic. The curse's speed just increases and we get weaker. Don't use your magic, Benny."

Pieces clicked.

The color of the blood. The use of abilities increased damage and speed. Fatigue and fever.

"It's a Death Curse. Someone's used Blood Magic to curse us. They're trying to kill us and using our magic and abilities will speed it up." You stood back up and saw Benny going to grab Ethan again. "Don't touch him!"

Benny pulled his hands away, but he stayed crouched down. You grabbed his arm and hauled him up. He pushed your hand off of him. "We can't risk giving him another vision. We don't know if there's a certain number of times before it kills him."

Benny's eyes widened, his blotchy cheeks making him look younger than he was. He took a step away from his best friend. "You heard Y/n. Nobody touches Ethan!"

"How are we going to get him out of the hallway? The bell rings in eleven minutes. People can't see us like this, guys." Sarah bit back another hiss and started to shift her weight from foot to foot.

"He only has visions when he touches our skin, right? So what if we don't touch his skin?" Rory asked. Benny nodded and started looking around the hallway.

"Madison Fields is in the gardening club, right? Cause I have an idea." Benny walked across the hall to a random locker. He opened it- people without locks on their lockers are just too trusting- and started going through the contents. Soon enough, he pulled two sets of gloves out of a small bag at the bottom of the locker. He pulled a pair of gardening gloves on and hurried over to Ethan.

Benny put the second pair of gloves on his best friend and pulled his sleeves down and over the tips of his fingers. Finally, he tugged Ethan's hood over his head and pulled the strings of his hoodie together and tied them.

"What was the point of that?" Erica asked. She glanced up at the clock and back to the scene before her. You understood, so you hooked one Ethan's arms around your shoulders and helped Benny stand him up.

"We can't touch his skin now, so he can't get a vision. Let's go, I think Grandma can help us."

~~~

Benny's grandma took one look at the six of you and started chanting in Latin. It wasn't exactly a comforting thing to see an Earth Priestess doing as soon as she laid eyes upon you, but you were assuming it was necessary, given the fact black blood was drying on Ethan's upper lip and Sarah looked like a demon.

"Grandma, can you please help us?" The six of you had managed to shove yourself into Sarah's car and get to Benny's house before Ethan had gained much more consciousness. It must have been a Hell of a vision and taken a lot of energy from him for the curse to hit him that hard. Evelyn nodded her head, but she locked the screen door for good measure. Ethan whimpered softly, resting his hood-covered head on your shoulder. You jerked your shoulder and he repositioned his head to rest on Benny's shoulder.

"How long ago did this happen?" Evelyn asked.

"Thirty minutes ago. Sarah and Ethan need help, Grandma. Please?" Benny got a slight pitch to his voice, almost like he was scared she wouldn't help. She eyed him, almost like she was trying to see through him. The screen door opened and she held it open for the six of you to trudge through the door.

"Don't touch anything. I've got just the thing to help!" Evelyn shut and locked the door to her house again. She snapped her fingers and an ornate box with green writing appeared in her hands. She popped the lock on the box and pulled out two bars of soap.

"You're making us wash our hands?" Erica asked. Her fangs lashed out and she clapped her hand over her mouth. Evelyn shook her head before tossing a soap bar to Sarah and Rory. Sarah caught it, but it hit Rory in the face completely.

"Close. I'm making you wash your bodies. There are two showers. Split up into groups of two and make sure you wash your skin good. Pay close attention to behind the ears, the face, and above the heart. Those are the most affected places when it comes to curses. Go on!" Evelyn shooed you, Erica, and Sarah towards the downstairs bathroom and motioned for the three boys to head upstairs.

"Let Sarah go first. She needs it more." You said. Erica nodded and the two of you turned your backs while she got into the shower. The water started and the curtain was pulled shut. Erica sighed and sat on the floor, resting her head against the wall. You joined her on the floor and tried not to pass out. Your head was throbbing and the heat that seemed to raise the hair on the back of your neck seemed to become unbearable. All you needed was to start coughing and this would be the worst case of the flu you'd ever had.

"So how come you're cursed, too? You're not one of the frequents of this little nerd-pack." Erica asked. Her fangs were resting on her bottom lip and her eyes were still glowing. She hissed slightly and rolled her eyes. You could see Sarah's outline in the shower curtain; She was scrubbing her skin vigorously.

"I have no clue. At first, I thought Benny did this to me, but it turns out it's somebody else's fault." You scoffed. Erica looked amused, but she closed her eyes and continued to lean against the wall. "This happens a lot, then?"

Erica nodded drowsily. Steam was filling the bathroom slowly, so you clicked the overhead vent on. You rested against the wall for a while, with your eyes shut and the steady sound of running water lulling you to sleep. Erica hopped into the shower next, so you continued to sit where you were. Sarah's skin had returned to its normal coloring- no black veins or paled features. Her eyes were still a bright gold and her fangs were on display, but she looked healthier.

"Evelyn's magic-soap does the trick. I feel so much better, but I'm so hungry. But not for blood? It's like-" Sarah gripped the sink basin when her legs wobbled underneath her violently. You sat up, watching her regain her balance. "It's like my blood sugar is dropping almost. Like I need real food. Human food."

"You shouldn't ever crave that. Whenever you turn, human food has no taste after that. No appeal to vampires." You stood up and guided Sarah to sit on the lidded toilet. She patted your hand after she settled. "I think it's the curse."

"What the fuck?!" Erica cursed from inside of the shower, the water stopped abruptly and Erica's arm shot out from behind the curtain and she started smacking things off of the top of a shelf. Sarah quickly handed her the towel she was looking for. Erica jerked the curtain back after she secured the towel around herself.

"Erica... what's wrong?" Sarah asked. Erica was squinting hard and her eyes were their normal pale blue. She was gasping softly and holding her hands in front of her eyes.

"My vision- it's blurry. I think-" You watched tears well into her eyes. "I think I need my glasses again."

"You two are becoming human again. It's part of the curse- It's taking your powers!" Your eyes widened and you looked down at your hands. You closed your eyes and focused on the magic coursing through your veins. It was a constant feeling, that of a warm liquid trickling from your core outward. It was a comfort to you, something you always focused on when you were scared or overwhelmed- the strong and powerful feeling of magic inside of your veins.

It was so much weaker. You cursed loudly and started pulling your shirt over your head. Erica handed you the soap and got out of your way. You were undressed and under the spray of water in less than thirty seconds. You rolled the bar in between your hands, making the soap thicken and spill over your skin.

"If truly I am cursed today, let the water wash the hex away. If truly I am cursed today, let the water wash the hex away. IftrulyIamcursedtodayletwaterwashthehexaway. IftrulyIamcursedtodayletwaterwashthehexaway-" You continued to chant the words, each time with more meaning. It was very simple magic, water magic, so you were hoping you weren't increasing the curse's speed while doing it.

"What's going on? What are you doing?" Sarah asked from the other side of the curtain. You growled and continued scrubbing your skin red with the soap bar in your palm. Soap-suds were rising off of the shower floor and swirling around you. You watched your veins flash to black quickly and you stopped automatically. The suds didn't drop to the bottom of the shower again but slowly slid down your body. Your skin returned to normal and your dizziness went away.

"Nothing that worked. I just really hope Evelyn's soap works better than that chant did." You rinsed the soap off and stopped the water. You dried off and got dressed, the two girls turning their backs to give you privacy. You wondered why they stayed with you, but you saw Sarah's quivering legs and realized you needed to help her into the kitchen. You did and returned Evelyn's soap. She had you throw it in the bin, never once going to touch it.

The boys were sitting at the table waiting for the three of you. You helped Sarah sit down and she gave you a grateful smile. Ethan's hand extended across the table before he remembered he wasn't allowed to touch anyone, so he quickly gave her a thumbs up.

"What now?" Rory asked. Evelyn placed a sandwich in front of Sarah and watched as the teen vampire gobbled it down without much hesitation. Benny made a face.

"She's not even supposed to eat human food. What's going on?"

Grandma Weir grabbed something out of a drawer and hid it behind her back. "Hold out your hands. Palms up and in a straight line."

The six of you did what you were told. Pressing the sides of your hands together with your palms facing up. You were about to ask her what the point of this was when a knife slashed across your palms at lightning speed. You bit back a curse, trying to spare your swears from Evelyn's ears.

"Wha- Grandma!" Benny curled his hands to his chest and nursed them. Erica went to lick the blood off of your hands but stopped when she saw the dark grey color. You all shared the same color of blood. It wasn't as dark as Ethan or Sarah's had been earlier, but it wasn't healthy.

"Just like I thought. My magic soap helped some, but the curse is strong. It's draining your life forces. Which means your magic. And your souls..." Evelyn cast a sad look at the vampires. Your eyes snapped to meet hers.

"How do we fix it? Every spell has a reversal. Some curses are the same way." Your jaw clenched and you took a deep breath. You would be damned if you were going to cry. That wasn't going to get you anywhere. "Tell me this is one of them."

"It is, but it's not a pretty one." Evelyn walked to the head of the table while the six of you wrapped your hands in paper towels. She ruffled her grandson's damp hair and avoided eye-contact. Your stomach shriveled, but you kept your brave façade up.

"The six of you will have to work together to find the spell-caster responsible. The curse can only be undone when they are dead. Only then." Evelyn's hand paused in Benny's hair and dropped to the table. She pulled a chair out and sat beside you all.

"That's not bad. We take out bad-guys, like, once a week." Erica scoffed and started to push back from the table. "I'll personally rip their throat out with my teeth- I can't see without my glasses again and I refuse to tell my mom I threw out my inhaler at the beginning of the year."

"It's not that simple. The spell-caster is stealing your life force and adding it to their own. They won't be at their strongest until after you all are dead, but they certainly won't be weak. They're already strong- if the intensity of this spell has anything to say about it." Evelyn pursed her lips before she continued. "I dare to say they'll be unstoppable if they claim your lives. Way beyond anything I can, nor anyone I know, can fix."

"So we have to stop them. It's us or nobody, huh?" The side of Benny's mouth quirked up. Hew had a determined expression on his face, one that you'd never seen his dorky face take on before. The gears behind his eyes were turning and, for once, he didn't look like a dumbass. You fought back the flush that washed over your body. Sarah looked over at you for a second but went back to her sandwich. You tried to play off the blush you knew covered your cheeks, so you directed your attention back to the matter at hand.

"How long do you think we have?"

"Hard to say, but finding and ending this tonight would be my best guess for your survival." Evelyn breathed out raggedly and you looked away. If you saw a single tear in her eyes, you were sure that you would become a sobbing mess.

"Thank you, Benny's Grandma." Rory smiled from the opposite of her and she rolled her eyes playfully. She stood up and left the room, but you could tell by the stoop of her shoulders she was holding in her emotions. Oh, this was that bad then, huh?

"There are tons of people in Whitechapel! How are we supposed to find the one responsible for this?!" Sarah pinched the bridge of her nose, trying not to scream out in frustration.

"Yeah, it's like a needle in a haystack, but we're all blind idiots allergic to hay." Ethan dropped his head against the table but quickly sat back up. "But I guess having a Seer for a friend is a blessing, huh?"

"No! You cannot have another vision! It's too dangerous, Ethan." Benny was shaking his head wildly, sending droplets of water onto the surface of the table. He looked a little bit like an overactive saint bernard puppy after a bath.

"It can't hurt me if I already had the vision! Remember? I had it at school, right before I collapsed!" Ethan scrambled out of his chair but had to steady himself before he could move any farther through the kitchen. He found a piece of paper and a pencil and shut his eyes tightly.

"Well, what did you see?" Rory rose from his seat to get a better look at the piece of paper Ethan was drawing on. Erica grabbed onto his shirt and yanked him back into his seat.

"He's trying to show us. Be patient." Rory lowered his head like a scolded child. The pencil was flying across the paper, without Ethan even looking at the paper. He was done in about a minute and opened his eyes to look at the paper. He nodded his head and smacked the paper down onto the kitchen table you were all sat around.

"This is what the ingredients that were used in the curse was kept in. A backpack, which means the person is a student and goes to our school." Ethan looked at the paper again, but this time his shoulders sagged. "Which means we have to kill one of our classmates."

"I hope it's Milo Miller. He gets on my nerves." Erica reclined in her chair and squinted at the paper. She was far-sighted, but you doubted that she could see the drawing.

It was of a backpack with those decorative pins from shows and movies on it. You saw a Daredevil and Doctor Who pin side by side. There were other pins there, but they were just meanless logos to you. Meanless, but extremely familiar.

"I know that bag! I see it just about every day. It is a dark green color, right?" You demanded. Ethan nodded his head, eyes wide and mouth agape.

"So you know who this person is? You know who cursed us?!" Sarah exclaimed. She went to grab Ethan's arm in excitement, but Benny grabbed her hand before she made contact with the Seer's skin. Ethan pulled his hoodie sleeves over his hand and his hood over his head. He took a step back from everyone as they crowded around you.

"Yeah! Her name's- her name is Malia Harington. She sits with me at lunch every day. She's been in school with us since the fifth grade." You looked down at your hands. Why had she cursed you? You'd never done anything to her. You hadn't interacted with her that much, now that you thought about it. "She was with me today when it happened. She asked me if I was alright after I jumped out of my seat."

"Malia? She's in my chemistry class! She asked to borrow a pencil from me today." Sarah was staring at the sketch of the backpack while she talked. The others looked around in bewilderment.

"She did the same thing to me! She even gave me my pencil back after class, the bitch!" Erica exclaimed. Her fangs snapped at the empty air and she growled in annoyance.

"Me, too!"

"And me!"

"So that's how she cursed us? She made contact with us when we were in class and what? She touched our skin and bam! we're doomed?" Ethan shook his head, lost deep in thought.

"No, she would have to put something on us. Something physical for us to have on our persons. Like a hex bag or-" Benny cut you off while you were gesturing around the room, hoping for another example to pop into your head.

"Like a small string inside of a mechanical pencil!" Benny exclaimed and rushed for his backpack by the entrance of the house. He came back with his lead pencil in hand. He pulled the eraser from the top and dumped the lead onto the table. Three small pieces of lead fell onto the table and one silver threading needle. A dot of red was solidified like wax at the end of the needle, almost like it was going to drop off the tip at any moment. It didn't.

"That sneaky witch."

"Good thing I know she has band practice after school. She's always the last one to leave, even after the teacher." Rory spoke up from the side of the table.

"Why do you know that?"

"Because Vampire Ninja knows all!" Rory waved his hand in front of his face, accidentally hitting himself in one eye. "I need my glasses. My depth perception is off..."

"Guess this means we need to go catch us a witch, huh?" Benny asked. The five of you nodded your heads in response. You worried your bottom lip but stood along with the rest of them.

~~~

You had been taking out bad guys- the weekly big bads as Erica put it- for a while. You usually did it solo and the problem was taken care of quickly. It was a lot easier that way. No one but you could get hurt, you only had to watch out for yourself. You were careful regardless.

Whitechapel High was deserted. The lights in all of the rooms were switched off and the doors were all locked from the outside. You cursed and raised your hand to open it with a little magical assistance when Sarah's hand pushed yours down.

"No magic. Remember?" Sarah tucked your hand into your hoodie pocket. You pulled it back out and crossed your arms.

"How are we supposed to get in then? I doubt anyone here knows how to pick a lock!"

"I can. Give me a minute." Ethan crouched down to the main door and pulled two pieces of metal out of his pocket.

"Where did you learn to pick a lock?" Erica watched in confusion as Ethan wiggled the pick in the lock while keeping the other steady. Benny stood proudly beside his best friend.

"Skyrim."

"There is no way you learned how to pick a lock from Skyrim."

When the statement left your mouth, an audible click resonated from the lock. Ethan pushed on the door and it swung open. Benny and Rory took turns high-fiving his gloved hands. You, Sarah, and Erica watched the three dorks off to the side.

"Let's hurry this up, I've got places to be." Erica sashayed into the school building. You saw her narrowly miss the doorframe and wondered if she was getting dizzy. Your head was starting to hurt again like you needed to eat, but you weren't hungry.

'Like my blood sugar is dropping.' Sarah had felt the same thing. So it was curse still working its dark magic. You nibbled on your bottom lip before following the other five into the school building.

The air inside of the school was cold and stale. The taste of dirt and dust settled on your tongue. It was almost suffocating. It was very dark magic and you clenched your hand around the aluminum baseball bat you had.

Since the six of you could no longer use your abilities, you'd had to turn to other means of defense. You and Ethan had baseball bats, Erica had a six-inch switchblade, Sarah had a crow-bar, Rory had a Batarang, and Benny had a nerf gun with pencils in the darts. You had no idea what the fuck you six were going to do.

It didn't take long to find Malia. She was in the middle of the gym- where the band practiced since Whitechapel didn't have a band room- with candles spread into the five points of a pentagram on the floor with one candle in the middle. Hair and string were tangled into piles and she was sitting with a sewing needle weaving from one hand the other. You knew the making of a voodoo doll when you saw one, and that was definitely it.

"What are we waiting for? Get her." Erica bared her human teeth at the outline if Malia. She surged forward with the switchblade glinting in the low-light of the gymnasium. Malia was humming something low, it was familiar, and continuing to sew the hair and string together.

Ethan and Rory started moving towards her too, but you grabbed their arms. You could feel something electric tangled with the dust and dirt in the air. She was working magic, but it had nothing to do with the doll.

"Erica, wait!" Benny called out. Erica stopped and threw an incredulous look over her shoulder. Malia never moved at the sound of Benny's voice. The song- spell- never stopped. Benny raised the nerf gun and shot Malia in the back. She didn't cry out, but only crumbled into a pile of black smoke. The lights coming from the windows blacked out and the flames on the candles burned brighter.

Malia's laughter began to ring throughout the empty space. You pulled the two boys behind you and started walking forward.

"You cursed us? Why?" You asked. The laughter stopped and a whooshing sound came from in front of you. The gym lights were turned back on and Malia was standing in front of you.

"I'm sick of the vampires in Whitechapel. I'm sick of the monsters coming here because the humans are Meals-On-Wheels for any hungry creature cruising through town." Malia spat the words at you. You took a step back when you saw her face. Her skin was pale and her eyes were bright red. She snarled at you, showing her rotting teeth and forked tongue.

"You're possessed." You whispered the words and she screamed in your face. She was possessed by her own Dark Magic. It was a common occurrence when witches went dark- some of them could handle it, but some of their souls just weren't made for it. Apparently, Malia's wasn't.

"I am empowered! I am free of the veil that hid my eyes." She turned her gaze towards Sarah. "Your kind is a plague to humanity. The curse that the gods put on you should have wiped you out- not make you immortal. I intend to fix that."

"In case you haven't noticed since you lost your veil-" Ethan waved his hands in front of his face, "But not all of us are vampires. Did you just pull names out of a pointy hat?"

"You six are meddling imbecile who make a habit of getting rid of people with plans. I decided to wipe you all out before you got the chance to interfere with me." She scoffed and fluttered the arm of the cloak she was wearing and disappeared. It was like a shitty magic trick with actual magic.

"Then you're too late. Cause we're here and we aren't leaving without a fight." Sarah raised her crow-bar and started forward. Malia cackled again and you were reminded of Jafar from Alladin.

"You and what army?" With that, your weapons were yanked from your hands and shot to the ceiling. They hit with a very heavy clang and stuck there. You rolled your eyes.

"That's my trick." You pouted and started to shuffle forward. In the blink of an eye- Malia was in front of Sarah and grabbing her throat. Sarah grabbed her hand and ripped it off her throat. Sarah kicked Malia in the middle of the chest and sent her soaring across the gym and against the wall on the other side.

"Sarah!" Ethan rushed forward and grabbed Sarah, who was folding like a lawn-chair and collapsing to the ground. The veins in her face that had disappeared came back and throbbed like a heartbeat. You watched Malia stand up from the opposite side of the gym. Her face had the same veins as Sarah. She began to walk forward and stumbled. Your brain tried to grasp for something to do, but whatever idea had come to you vanished.

Malia caught herself and the black of the veins absorbed and she stood up straight. She walked towards Sarah and when she got there, Sarah was kicked back into the wall with the same amount of force Malia had been sent flying with. Srah hit the wall and slid to the ground, groaning.

Erica cursed and grabbed the witch by her hair. She yanked her backward and sent her to the ground. Erica stood above her and flashed her fangs. When she went to tear Malia's throat out, a blast of magic sent her in the same direction as Sarah.

Malia stood and flashed her rotting teeth at Rory, who whimpered and surged forward. Rory threw a punch, but it didn't come close to landing and Malia caught his hand. She crunched the bones in his hand and he began to gasp for breath. Rory trying to get away, but she sent him to the ground. You saw movement out of the corner of your eye and Ethan was beside of her, bringing a book down against her head with surprising force.

Malia screamed out in shock and dropped Rory's hand. Off to the side, Sarah and Erica were getting to their feet. You looked around for something to grab, but the only thing there was the bleachers and you certainly weren't going to be able to pick those up.

"Ethan!"

You turned back to the scene unfolding before you, just in time to see Malia's marble colored hand clasp the side of Ethan's face. Your eyes widened and you surged forward, but Malia lifted her free hand and sent you and the others backward. Ethan gasped hollowly before his body went ramrod straight. His eyes fogged over and black blood began to ooze from his nose.

Benny screamed and tried to run forward, but was thrown against the wall once more. You watched the black blood vessels appear in their faces. Ethan was starting to slouch, but so was Malia. You saw Rory speed towards the two and tackle Malia to the floor. Benny went to grab Ethan, but you stopped him. The idea from earlier had resurfaced and you had a plan.

"I know how to stop her. She's sharing our energy for a second before she takes it. That's why she keeps stumbling before she gets stronger. I think she messed up the spell when she was performing it. She intertwined our life forces and hers too closely. She gets weak before she gets strong!" You exclaimed. Sarah was beside you now, Ethan's unconscious body hidden behind hers.

"Then what do we do?" Sarah asked. She tucked Ethan against the wall and crouch-walked closer.

"She's like Rogue from X-Men! Whatever we throw at her, she can throw back just as hard. So how about we give her something she can't use against us?" Benny motioned to you and him. Sarah furrowed her eyebrows at the lack of her in the plan. "When she gets extremely weak, her magic should fail for a second and the weapons should drop from the ceiling. That's when you need to kill her. She won't be able to defend herself."

You and Benny shot off of the floor and started toward the middle of the gym. You spread your fingers out with your palms toward the floor. You felt the Earth underneath the concrete and started pulling the roots of weeds and flowers to you.

Using your magic felt like you were being drained slowly. Like you were walking in the desert and the sun was slowly starting to fall, taking with it the heat and leaving you in the cold. You saw cracks begin to spiderweb across the shiny floor and greenery start to rise from the darkness. You smiled when you saw Malia try to walk toward you. She stumbled- hard- and almost didn't catch herself.

Benny's hands were palm-up and releasing butterflies into the air. Their iridescent wings fluttered in the rays of sun coming from the small windows at the tops of the gym walls. It looked like a colony of monarchs bobbing around the room. He was getting pale, just like you were.

"You fools! You're just hurting yourselves!" Malia screamed the words, but you could see the amount of effort it was for her to remain standing. After all, you were starting to feel it too. You watched the stems of flowers blossom into full and vibrant geraniums. You bit back a chuckle.

"Geraniums, really? And here, I thought we were friends." You could hear the teasing tone in Benny's voice, which was a strange contrast to the usual stupid one. You felt butterflies in your stomach- had you accidentally eaten one?- and you fought back another flush. You hated Benny. That was the only possible explanation for feeling that way from his words. You scowled in confusion.

"Even if we were, you're still an idiot." You stated. You balled your hands into fists and thought about making something else. You felt your stomach pulling like something had been hooked behind your bellybutton and was reeling you in. You closed your eyes and concentrated.

The wind started to whip around you, causing your hair to hit smack you in the face. You groaned, feeling your legs begin to wobble with the effort of keeping you standing. Your head was throbbing and you felt something trickling from your nose.

You felt your feet leave the ground and the air hold you gently, like a mother cradling her child. You were levitating, which was something you had been working on for a few days now. You felt yourself getting cold and your lungs start to clench up. You tried to focus on the magic flowing through your veins, but the feeling was starting to get so weak. You cracked your eyes open.

The first thing you noticed was the black veins traveling down your arms and into your hands. It looked like ink had replaced your blood. The blood running from your nose had landed on your t-shirt and you made a look of disgust. It looked like sludge.

"I don't- I don't think I've got much more in me!" Benny yelled over the sound of the wind. He was on one knee, his arms outstretched and white light emitting from the tips of his fingers. There was snow falling gently around him, coating the gym floor in a thin powder. You looked at the ceiling. The baseball bats, switchblade, Batarang, and crowbar were still secured to the top of the gym. You could see one of the baseball bats wiggling with the wind. She was giving out and you needed to end this now.

Malia was screaming. Her face was one, big, shitty, art project made by that quiet emo kid every school had. It was a mess of toxic blood, which looked like spiderwebs on her face, and marble pale skin. You felt a scream rising to your own lips, but it was because you felt like your arms were being ripped off. There was no way you were going to be able to keep this up. Another couple seconds and you thought you might die.

The gym lights shattered overhead, sending shards of glass raining down with Benny's snow. The windows to the outside were drenched in the darkness crawling from Malia's presence. She was powerful, but you and Benny were taking a toll on her through the connection of the curse. She screamed again.

"Y/n! Take my hand! Take my hand!" Benny sounded hoarse and weak, but his voice still managed to reach your ears. You watched him stand on his feet, a swaying mess, and he let his hand reach toward yours. You slipped your hand into his and felt his power. It was weak, but it was still there. You pushed your magic into his body and you could feel him doing the same with his. You were sharing the little energy you two had left.

"'Darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can do that.'" Benny mumbled the words out and you felt the connection stir to life. Where had you heard that before? He was quoting something, you just couldn't think of what it was.

Sunlight blossomed between your clasped palms. You couldn't think of anything to conjure up, so you focused on the beam of light connecting you to Benny. It faltered for a second and grew brighter. The light expanded, pushing outward and enveloping the two of you. You could see his face now.

His veins weren't just carrying the black blood, he had it pooled in his cheeks, like sections of his face was rotting off. His cheeks were sunken in and his eyes had deep, dark, circles surrounding them. The pretty blue of his eyes was almost white now and they were bloodshot. Blood was dripping from his nose and ears. You knew you looked the same.

Martin Luther King Jr. That was his quote that Benny had referenced.

You watched as Benny's feet lifted off of the floor and he began to hover beside you. The light was pushing against the outer layer of Malia's darkness. You watched as the light stopped moving. It was like two magnets were pushing against one another. You watched as the loose baseball bat on the ceiling fell to the floor. The others were wiggling too now and you knew what you needed to do.

"'Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that.'" You finished the quote and turned your face towards Benny's. He was very close to you already, almost relying on you to keep him steady while the two of you levitated three feet off of the ground.

You quickly pressed your lips against his. You felt his hand clutch down on yours and his mouth press back. The light between your hands became heat and you felt a surge of energy blast from your body. It knocked you and Benny out of the air and the weapons magically glued to the ceiling were sent crashing to the floor.

"Now!" Rory shouted to Sarah. You wondered when he had been informed about the plan, but your attention was stolen away when the switchblade was swiped off the ground and plunged into Malia's chest. You watched her form flicker before she exploded, sending black goo splattering on the walls and floor.

Everything was still for a second, but then your energy and powers came snapping back into you, like the end of a rubber band being released against a target. Your lungs gasped for a good intake of oxygen and a cloud of fatigue was seemingly lifted from your body.

You watched the correct coloring return to your skin. You wiped the gross goo off your upper lip. The others cheered loudly. You heard Sarah make a quirky catchphrase that summed up the battle, but you couldn't hear it too well. You were exhausted. Curse or not, that amount of magic was draining.

"So, uh, Y/n?" Benny spoke next to you. Your eyes snapped open- when had they closed- and you looked at him. A thin sheen of sweat was at the top of his brow, but his pupils were blown wide. The smell of magic- Benny's smell- was strong and you just wanted to melt into him. So much for getting rid of that crush, huh?

"Yeah?"

Benny ran a hand over the back of his neck while he avoided eye contact with you. You felt yourself shrinking slightly. He nibbled his bottom lip before he dropped his arm and gazed into your eyes. "There's this new movie out at the cinema and I was wondering if you would like to go with me? To watch it."

"Like a date?" Your mouth quirked up at the side. It was his turn to blush and he nodded. You smiled and he returned it.

"Exactly like that." You felt a burst of warmth in your palm and realized you had never let go of his hand. You weren't planning on it now.

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