#can not believe people r like ‘what could curly have done’

[ianthesmells]

mouthwashing is a special experience because not only do you get to watch characters not take responsibility and not expect men in power to do anything to help women in the game, but you also get to watch the same reaction play out in real time in the fandom

[dykedvonte]

Ty for answering my asks! Recently, I saw some fanart of the gender bendered crew and it got me curios, how much would the plot change if Jimmy was a woman. I mean, she would still be emotionally abusive (esp to Fem!Curly), but at lest, I guess, the crash would've never happened (?)

Also, her relationship w/ Anya: if she was assulted still, it prolly would've been dissmissed, since it's between 2 women. Or, if Anya is male in this scenario, he couldn't really be able to talk abt it, since society decided that "women can't r*pe men", so it's not serious and he should suck it up. Man, it's just sucks to be Anya in any scenario my poor girl 😭

What do you think? If you have an opinion on that at all, that is

-💀

I think the scenario's where the gender was flipped or any level of gender based intersectionality is expanded makes it so much more complex.

If this is the scenario with fem!Jimmy, it comes with the territory of questionable internalized homophobia. Does Jimmy brush it off in this scenario because she doesn't think lesbian encounters are real ones? Is she struggling with her identity and taking it out on Anya who may be openly queer compared a fem!Curly who is either straight or just not interested in Jimmy? Perhaps it's a sort of weird entitled that can occur in female dominated spaces "We're both girls, I know what you have, it won't matter." It's still is something I don't see Jimmy denying in this scenario, he never really denies it in canon just talks around it with Curly. Here I can see it's less about the pregnancy and more so about the internalized homophobia. Not seeing Anya as anything but an unwanted aspect of her femineity and the allure of it, there's a lot more objectification of both Curly and Anya in this alteration as I would believe feels better thinking of them in that light if they are just fodder in her mind. Guilty pleasures that no longer bring her such. It's a careful situation because I don't want this to fall into predatory lesbian stereotyping, Jimmy is just a person who does not respect other people or their choice, if it conflict with what he wants or perceived is owed.

The idea of Curly having to report it and outing her not only as a rapist but queer and the denial, especially in the case Anya and Curly are both out as she feels a sort of resentment she can't be secure with herself that way. If it is masc!Curly, there could be the jealousy of him being able to actively pursue relationships he wants while she feels she can't, Anya and Curly playfully flirt, its casual but it's something she longs for in the same way she doesn't. She obsesses over Curly because she wishes she could be Curly in a social sense in both aspect male or female Curly.

If it's fem!Jimmy and masc!Anya? It's a much more delicate situation. In this scenario Jimmy gets pregnant. Maybe Anya does a blood test after the incident and finds out Jimmy is pregnant. It's a very sensitive matter because if it's fem!Curly her first assumption is Anya may have done something. That is just the immediate assumptions in cases like this. I think the fact that Anya is telling her would make Curly think it's not that simple, especially since Jimmy isn't brining it up or really caring but everyone reacts differently. Jimmy is pregnant however, and that's a big deal, she'll figure that out eventually on her own but how will she react? Curly knows it won't be good, Anya knows too.

I think the crash is instigated in this scenerio by fem!Curly actually doing more, refusing to sweep it under the rug because she can conceptualize that fear, likely she and Jimmy are the only girls on board. She trusts everyone, well did trust everyone, but it's just something you live with. She can't just live with that double standard but I feel like she really doesn't know how to address it. How does she bring it up to superiors without implicating Anya? What does she do with Jimmy, it still feels like she's catering to Jimmy but now the concern is primarily focused on the life this baby will be born into. If it is born at all. I don't think Jimmy would try to kill Anya in this concept but try to spin the narrative it was mutual up until she got pregnant. Curly doesn't really buy it but it's a lot of processing, a lot more he said she said but what Jimmy is saying just doesn't make sense. It gives Jimmy too much time to really settle with the fact she's pregnant and likely can't support a kid nor wants to give birth out in space. Jimmy feeling like she's being othered from the only other woman could also be a factor, maybe even starting into her thinking Curly is behaving like a "pick-me" for siding with a guy over her. The crash is more spiteful in terms of having to protect herself alone, due to Curly not outright supporting her delusions.

It really adds a certain horror to Jimmy's pregnancy hallucinations because after the crash they are about her, her symptoms the sign of showing. She doesn't want the child either and considering what being pregnant can do to your mental/physical state, especially some of the more negative symptoms, I doubt she is handling it well. A lot of Anya's struggles are with the stigmas around male victims. His body reacted so did he want it? He's gonna be a father and courts likely will make him pay or care for the baby even if they take Anya's side, their world is just like that. Would the other's blame him for not doing more, he is a man after all? Should he be considered lucky a woman was that into him? It's eating away at him because not only does he not feel safe, he actively blames himself.

In the case Curly is still a cis guy, its that weird feeling guys often get when talking about male victims of assault. I don't think he'd victim blame but he likely asks or thinks about how it could've happened, why wouldn't Anya just overpower Jimmy? Maybe he couldn't? Maybe Anya didn't have it in him to strike a woman. He wouldn't. Now he thinks of what he would have done if Jimmy did something like that to him. SImilary to my trans!Curly post, he's wondering if it could've been him. It's likely one of the first times in his life he has to think of that type of vulnerability in terms of himself and other men and against likely his girl best friend. I think that arm pat right before Jimmy crashes the ship would really make him feel weird, not like he'd have the time to really dig into those feeling but y'know WERE GONNA CRASH!!!.

In terms of Jimmy and Curly's specific relationship, it just gets messier if they aren't both guys or girls. There's a lot of misogny on Jimmy's side with fem!Curly. He often points out she's a woman captain or makes a point of her being one of the few independent woman in her field and how certain men hate that. It's insidious but Curly doesn't think about or like to cause she likes to believe Jimmy isn't one of those guys. He can be a bit antiquated, maybe a bit of a pig but no ones perfect! Here a lot of his resentment is more gear toward a woman having that power over him as Captain/filling the typical male roles he fails at. He can't stand that she's above him in almost aspect and he likely takes it out on other women. Similarly, fem!Jimmy and cis Curly is just as bad. It's a fact of not knowing if she wants to be him, wants him or wants to destroy him. It's obsession without anything positive. She feels entitled to his space and life and time and he has a hard time setting up boundaries cause, well, Jimmy's a girl, his bestfriend and it comes with all the stigmas around boygirl best friends. To him it's a sort of oppressive doting, he feels wrong telling her not to pick and like he's being controlling. That's how she'd spin it whenever he'd try to make boundaries with her.

They are still just friends but most people can't tell even if they can tell it's not healthy, in both cases. Either way I feel like if they were opposite genders to each other there would a specific infatuation Jimmy would have with Curly that would be less hidden but sort of unaddressed because the idea of Curly rejecting them would make them lash out in a way Curly may just leave for their safety. It's also Jimmy wouldn't want to be with Curly specifically but just want what would consistently provide/available.

If they are both girls, its envy. It's that sort of hate that someone fits the standards you don't, wanting them to be picked second or crack. She likes to get into Curly's head, point out flaws and act like it's just her being helpful. She wants Curly to be a girls girl but only for her. There's a sort of possessiveness like purposely jeopardizing relationships because why would a man come first? That girl hates me and is a pick me, why are you friends with her still, Curly? Like this is silly but think about how Regina George treats Gretchen Wieners and that's effectively how fem!Curly and fem!Jimmy would work but technically Curly has the sway of Regina.

I believe the crash would always happen. Jimmy would try to escape responsibility or really thinking about what they did in any world, any gender. It's about facing the consequences, losing things he refuses to let go of or having to deal with responsibilities he's not ready for. The switching of sex or gender really doesn't change those core aspects.

[heymangoart]

LAST MOUTHWASHING POST I SWEAR. SRRY GUYS.

but the way the game shows Jimmy's lack of guilt for anya, INSTEAD caring more about the unborn child. he doesn't want to think about what he did, and no one is left to confront him on it. this is done very nicely visually, for example...

had to use jacksepticeye 4 this srry lol

jimmy is ACTIVELY blocking her out here!!!!! the med bay glitches her out and her face is hidden behind all the other employee IDs. he genuinely doesn't want to think about how much hes hurt her, but is shown to have much more guilt over the other crewmates. I can't get over him thinking more about the unborn child who would've likely died either way, given the lack of food and just the ships conditions overall. not that the child is any less deserving of life but would jimmy actually care for this child if it were born?

he never even listens to anya and constantly dismisses her feelings. when daisuke is injured, he goes and looks for mouthwash, even though anya explains that it wouldn't make a good disinfectant. as the player you might start off thinking that anya may be overreacting, because you don't know how much she's struggling. we then realise that her reactions are perfectly understandable. not to mention how he knew how to make that special cocktail that would MOST DEFINITELY 1. knock someone out and 2. ensure theyd still be fine when they woke back up. if yall r thinking what I'm thinking then this is incredibly fucked up

Also the message "our worst moments don't define us" reappearing is very interesting. esp considering that the player mostly sees anya through jimmys lense, who put her through the worst, and she's either only seen in thst context or ignored completely. jimmy caused the worst moments and yet that's all she'll be known for. not for her kindness or intelligence (notable because. she managed to even keep curly alive which is crazy.) it's likely they'll never ever be found there.

when talking to jimmy, she rephrased this to "I have to believe that our worst moments don't make us monsters, Jim." i wonder if this was her trying to justify that jimmy could be redeemable, or at least someone she can believe in. especially bc he's got so much more power over her

it's very important to acknowledge that what happened to anya was non-consensual — not just a case of jimmy being scared to be a father. anya was constantly being mistreated even before the crash occured. there is far more to that situation than just the pregnancy too, that i think curly was not quick enough at confronting jimmy with. i don't fully blame curly but his character seems like he wants to see the best in people. its interesting because when jimmy is in charge and curly needs help, jimmy is reckless and harsh. he still gets the cryo pod but at what cost???

this is so interesting to me so lmk if anyone actually cares or interpreted some parts differently lol Byebye

[star-lemonade]

School reunion (1/3)

A.C.E Junhee x Reader

Cw: bulling, kinda angsty, Junhee is a sweet heart though

Rating: T (Series R)

Word count: 3.6 k

Summary: You hire someone to accompany you to your school reunion.

I can’t believe I’m actually doing this. The laptop sat on the kitchen table and the page in the browser was taunting you. You stared at the screen from your spot against the kitchen counter. The empty boxes waited for you to fill in your information. Should I really do this?

You sighed and filled some water into the kettle just to delay having to make a decision. The other thing on the kitchen table was not better. It was an invitation to your school reunion. The reunion was scheduled for the Saturday of the following week at your old school. School. Even the address on the paper brought a bad taste to your mouth.

“You’re so ugly, who would ever date you?”

“I dare you to kiss her.”

“Yak not even for money”

You shuddered. No, no, there is no way I will go there alone. You sat down at the table and began to fill in the form. Name, address, phone and age. On the next page they asked about the occasion or event and you typed: school reunion.

Time? about 3 hours. I won’t stay there for too long.

Gender preference? Hmm I don’t actually care. ‘Don’t care’ was not an option, so you chose ‘man preferred’ over the ‘man only’, ‘woman preferred’ and ‘woman only’ options.

Age preferences? 25-35. I can’t show up there with an 18 year old.

Your finger hovered over the enter button. The shadow of your school days was still haunting you and made your hand heavier until you finally clicked check out.

You had officially rented a plus one for your school reunion.

A day after you had filled out the form you received a message from an unknown number.

“Hello, this is Junhee. I will accompany you to your school reunion next week. Would it be okay if I asked some questions so I can prepare?”

“Hi, Junhee. What do you want to know?”

“How should I introduce myself?”

You chewed on your lip. As you typed the next message your face felt warm.

“As my boyfriend.”

It felt so sad to ask this of a total stranger and you prayed he would not judge you for it. Please don’t question this, please don’t question this.

“How long have we been together?”

I guess that is a valid question someone could ask. You thought about it for a moment. It should not be too short but also not too long. The fact that you did know much about each other would make it not believable that you are together for years.

“A few months maybe?”

He asked a few more questions like “where and how did we meet?” (“at work while getting coffee”) and you answered them with whatever struck your mind.

“Okay. I think this is enough for me. Thank you!”

You sighed. This was actually more complicated than you had anticipated. At least now it felt real as opposed to just a scam to get money from people. Three dots appeared on your screen again.

“One last thing. This is also in the terms of service, but we all must remind our customers about this: I am not a hooker and you did not book sexual favours.”

Your face burned when you read that. Surely no one had asked for that before, had they?

“Of cause not, I just don’t want to go alo-”

Before you really thought about it, you had accidently pressed ��send’ instead of backspace. Oh no. OH NO.

“Shit.”

My escort knows how pathetic I am. ‘As if he did not know before’ another part of you interjected. Your phone vibrated again.

“It’s okay, I will do my best to keep you company :)”

You did not know what to answer and just send:

“Thank you.”

As the reunion neared you found yourself thinking about it more. A sort of dread had settled in your chest. After all these years you would finally face your bullies. The people who had belittled you for not been pretty enough and made you believe that you could never find anyone who loved you. The worst thing was it seemed that they were right. You were single and you even had to hire someone… no. No, you would not let them get to you. The past years had been the happiest you had ever been. You had friends, even if they were not many, and you did well at your job. There was nothing not to be proud of. Even if you were single now, that did not mean you were unlovable. It just meant that you had not met a person that fit. You would walk in there, head held high and show those petty bitches you were not afraid of them anymore.

Your mood oscillated between confident and anxious for the whole week. You did not want to give them the satisfaction of knowing you were still so affected by them, that their mere presence could make you stay away. No, you had to go. Like this you killed the time to the day of the reunion.

You had rented a dress from a rental service. It was not too fancy but you simply did not own that many dresses and the ones you had did not seem appropriate. Someone on the organizing committee had decided that nice dresses and suits were what they wanted to see. You had messaged Junhee to wear something appropriate for that dress code.

“In a few hours it’s over.”

Your mirror image was not convinced by this but it was all you could do now. Backing out last minute would make you look bad, even if you really wanted to. All of this seemed like a bad idea. What if they found out that you had hired someone to play your boyfriend? You would be the laughing stock of the whole school and this after you had not been in school for years. For a moment you considered just taking off the dress, putting on some sweaters and sitting down on the couch. Your phone made a noise. A new message had arrived.

“At 5 pm at the station, right?”

Junhee.

“Yes. See you there.”

As if it was mocking you, the sun shone from a bright blue sky. The people on the street smiled more than you had seen in some time. On the other hand it was maybe your imagination. Now that you were walking to what could be the worst night of your recent history, everyone seemed in a better state than you.

You arrived at the station.

“I’m wearing a red dress.”

Maybe the dress was a bit much. It had seemed like a good idea. Wearing red would make you stand out. Now, however, that was the opposite of what you wanted to do. Fading into the background, turning invisible and just straight up going back home was what you really wanted right now. The only thing that was that held you back was the thought of the money you had spent upfront for your plus one.

Two young women stopped next to you. One of them sat her backpack down and tried to stuff a paper bag into it.

“Should I help?”

Her friend watched her struggle with amusement. Despite her offer she did not help backpack girl but looked around instead.

You shifted your attention to your phone. Junhee had seen your message. Good. I hope he will be here soon. So we can get this over with.

“Jeez, I wish my boyfriend looked like that,” the girl said as her friend proclaimed: “I’m done. Let’s go.”

Backpack girl dragged her friend away. At least she had a boyfriend. It was not like you needed a man in your life but it would be nice sometimes. Next week I will try tinder. From past experience that was not likely but the thought alone seemed to pacify your mind for now. Getting a boyfriend was future-you’s problem. Present-you had to worry about that goddamn school reunion.

Someone said your name.

“Hmm?”

You were not sure which part shocked you the most: the crisp black suit that hugged the man’s body perfectly, the curly dark hair that looked straight out of a romcom, the beautiful lips and handsome face, the million dollar smile or the soft voice that said your name. It was hard to choose.

“Ehm?”

“Hi, nice to meet you. I’m Junhee.”

“ID please.”

You showed it to the sour faced student behind the supermarket counter. He nodded and you paid. Buying hard alcohol in broad daylight was highly suspicious but this situation called for it. You definitely could not do this sober. Junhee had sat down on a bench not too far from the supermarket. The black suit and white dress shirt fit him perfectly. It was as if watching a photo shoot for the next wedding catalog. Oh, this is a catastrophe. You unscrewed the bottle and took a good mouthful. The cheap alcohol burned in your mouth and all the way down. No one in their right mind would believe he is my boyfriend. It could not be more obvious that you had hired him. Junhee watched the cars go by. The sun made his hair seem more brown than black and the light breeze moved the soft locks. You took another gulp and stuffed the bottle in your handbag. Did I accidentally book a model? There had not been an option for that of course. I should have asked for a photo. You left the store and walked over to Junhee. Maybe I should just send him home and go drink at a bar.

When he saw you, Junhee stood up. His charming smile filled you with dread. This is a car crash waiting to happen.

“Did you get everything?”

You nodded. Soon the alcohol would hit your brain. Maybe then you would care less about everything. You could not bring yourself to send Junhee away. He had come here, looking sharp and you had paid money for him to be here. Your stinginess won against better judgment, so your only option was the original one: go to your old school.

It felt like there was a black cloud of doom that thickened as you got nearer. The bad experiences from the past made every step you took towards that hell hole more difficult. You wanted to run away.

“Can I take your hand?”

Junhee. You had almost forgotten about him. He had not said anything for the past ten minutes or so. Maybe he felt that now was not a good time to talk. You offered your hand. He interlaced his fingers with yours. It had been some time since you held someone’s hand and it made your heart beat faster. Or maybe it was the liquor.

You turned the corner and there it was. The building looked the same as in your memory. Whoever had the idea of starting the evening here before instead of going to a restaurant directly, did not have your gratitude. Walking through the front door stiffly, you clenched your hands. Your whole body was tense. You were ready to fight or flee at any second.

Voices were coming from the gym. Next to the open door stood a table. On it were pens and stickers. As you approached a woman came through the door and smiled at you. It was the most fake smile you had seen in some time.

“Welcome! Please make a name tag for yourself.”

She made a swiping gesture to the table. You let go of Junhee’s hand and wrote your name on a sticker. The woman watched Junhee as he made a tag for himself. You had never been the jealous type but right then wanted to claw her eyes out.

“Have fun.”

You almost felt her looking as you entered the gym. The hall was filled with bar tables groups had formed and all eyes were on you. At one of the empty tables you stopped.

“I will get something to drink. What do you want?”

You barely heard your own answer over the ringing in your ears. The ceiling had been decorated but it made the hall seem more shabby. As if the paper garlands were only there to hide the cracks in the grey concrete. You looked around.

They looked back at you from the other table, pointed and smirked at each other. Your bullies. They looked old. The ten years since graduation had carved lines into their faces but they tried to hide it by applying too much makeup.

You felt sick.

“Hey.”

A hand landed on your shoulder and you jerked. Junhee pulled back his hand. He studied your face.

“Do you want to leave?”

You looked up. Leave? Leaving meant giving up. They won if you left. No, no you were strong. Your hand strangled your purse. You would not run away from them. Junhee‘s brown eyes watched the tremor in your hand.

“Let’s go,” he whispered and took your hand. Your skin was cold and sweaty against his as Junhee dragged you out. You were so shocked, you did not even say anything until you had left through the front door.

“Stop!”

You ripped your hand free from his grasp.

“You should not stay there any longer.”

“That is not your call to make,” you snapped at him.

His face flushed.

“No, but it is the right one.”

Before you could talk back he continued in a calm tone: “You don’t care about any of those people and they don’t care about you.”

He waved his hands.

“I don't know what happened in the past but you are not here to meet some old friends.”

Your eyes burned. Don’t cry. Don’t cry. It’s humiliating. You tried to blink the tears away but your vision blurred.

“Not here.”

Junhee grabbed your shoulder and led you away. The tears fogged your vision, so you just followed wherever he was going. Your feet moved on their own accord and you were thankful for it. Holding back an undignified sob took up all your mental capacity.

“Sit.”

You collapsed on the bench. There was nothing holding the tears back now. You looked like an idiot in front of everyone. Your bullies had seen you turn up with an escort only to run away the second they looked at you. And now you cried on a bench in front of said escort. How pathetic had your life become? You had not felt this bad since leaving school.

Get a grip. There was nothing to be done here. You did not feel better by telling yourself this, but at least one of these could be fixed. Try to stop crying.

You concentrated on a point on the ground. The concrete was cracked there and something green had started to push its way to the surface. Plants are amazing. They can even exist in these places.

Your eyes still burned and your nose was all clogged up, but you had stopped crying.

“I’m sorry, Junhee.”

You looked up. There was no one around. When did he leave? You sighed and your eyes burnt again. I guess it is just that kind of day. Going home sounded like a good idea but you could not bring yourself to get up. The weight of your sorrows kept you on the bench. You could not even blame Junhee for leaving either. Usually you were very composed and rarely had outbursts of any kind, but today was just not your day.

“Here.”

A bottle of water entered your field of view. Your gaze followed the arm that was holding it up until you met Junhee’s eyes. You took the bottle and almost cried again because he was still here. For better or worse he had not abandoned you on a bench.

The water was cold. It had clearly been in a fridge not too long ago.

“Thank you.”

Junhee sat down next to you and waited while you drank the water. This day, although it was not over, was already a train wreck. Very carefully Junhee asked: “Can we get something to eat?”

You nodded slowly. Food was not a bad idea. You had skipped lunch because you had not been hungry at the time.

“Sure.”

Junhee stood up and looked around, hands on his hips. He turned to you and asked in a hushed tone:

“Where do we have to go?”

There was nothing funny about it but you laughed anyway. Junhee looked like a lost puppy and when he saw you laughing, he pouted. Now this really was funny.

“The station is that way.”

Junhee looked at his phone. He took off his tie and pocketed it.

“Technically I’m free to go now.”

You raised an eyebrow. “We just got here and ordered food and you want to go?” was what you wanted to say but swallowed it. You were still embarrassed and grateful that Junhee was there with you. He had made dumb jokes all the way to your favorite restaurant. It was almost on the other end of town but it was the only place you wanted to be right now.

“So, you wanna leave?”

“Leave? No, no!”

He waved his hands frantically.

“I … meant I’m not here because of work now.”

The soju had painted Junhee’s cheeks a rosy red. It looked good on him.

“What do you do when you don’t do this?”

You gestured vaguely at you and him sitting together in your favorite restaurant. Surely it had to be model or something like that just based on what you had seen so far. Technically you were not supposed to ask personal questions but your contract was done. Technically.

“I’m a student. I study computer science, but I will graduate soon.”

He took a sip from his drink. That rang a bell in the back of your mind. Computer science? Someone was talking to me about that not long ago. Who was it?

The waiter came and set your food on the table. He opened the lid of the barbecue that was mounted in the table.

“Have a good meal.”

“Thank you.”

When you left the restaurant, the sun had set. You felt a little awkward. It had been nice spending time with Junhee even if you had been very distressed earlier. Before you could really think about it, the words fell from your mouth.

“Thank you for spending the day with me. It was nice.”

You did not look at him. It felt unnatural but you meant it and had to say it.

“It was nice for me too.”

Junhee’s hair was not as neat as earlier. The waves had flattened and the way he always combed it left it looking disheveled. His cheeks were flushed from the food and the drinks.

You were not sure what to say. “Goodbye for ever” seemed a bit odd.

“Good luck with your studies. See you around.”

“Goodbye.”

You left Junhee at the restaurant and walked home. It was not too far so you could walk. The night air was refreshing after the stuffy restaurant. It also cleared the dryness of your eyes and nose.

Your apartment was dark and empty. You took a quick shower, put on your pyjamas and went to bed. The day had been emotionally exhausting and you were drifting into the fuzzy precursor to sleep. Your mind drifted through some memories and thoughts but nothing was clear. It hit you. You were wide awake because your brain had found the answer to the question. You grabbed your phone from the nightstand. The light from the screen nearly blinded you.

John, a name he had chosen because none of his overseas clients could pronounce ‘Seungmin’, was the CTO of a company that had their offices in the same building as your company. Without thinking much about it you sent Junhee John’s number.

“He is looking for some computer science people. Maybe that’s something for you. Anyways good luck and best wishes.”

You tried not to think too much about that day. It still felt like a defeat even months later. You had run away from your bullies. They had looked at you and you had folded. It was a bitter memory. The logical part of you noted that it was not worth your time, that you should focus on the tasks at hand and live your life.

You spent time with your friends and on your hobbies. Indeed your spirits lifted slowly. The less time you spent ruminating about the past the more time you could spend on other things.

“Let’s get lunch. I’m starving.”

You agree with your colleague. You grabbed your phone and keys. Your colleague was already at the elevator and held open the door.

Two floors down the elevator stopped and the door opened.

“Hey!”

John and some of his staff entered. You waved and smiled. John was a man in late 40 or early 50s, you had never asked, but he gave off the youthful energy of someone who loved his job. A ‘ding!’ announced the closing of the doors but John jammed his leg and arm between it.

“Hurry up, newbie! We can’t have you starve on the first day!”

Steps echoed in the hallway and the newbie flew into the tight space. The young man had dark hair and wore round glasses. With the dark blue sweater and the jeans he gave off the youthful vibe of a university student. He was very handsome and your face burnt.

Junhee.

[taehyungs-perm]

strawberry girl pt 5

taehyung x reader; college au; childhood best friends to lovers au; jock!fratboy taehyung

genre: fluff; major angst lol

word count: 16k

summary: i can pretend i don’t miss you. i can pretend i dont care. all i want to do is kiss you. what a shame you’re not here.

Part 1 here ; Part 2 here; part 3 here; part 4

playlist vibes

fuck it i love you | lana del ray 

still with you | jk

la vie en rose | edith piaf 

the remedy of a broken heart | xxxtentacion 

cant help falling in love with you | kina grannis 

sweet night | v

cherry hill | russ

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

All of the days had pretty much begun to blend together. There was no difference between morning and night. You just sat in your room, shades drawn, binging TV shows and movies. After the first night, you began to cry in random spurts. It would go a bit something like this: you would be staring at the cereal swirling in the milk and burst into tears because your heart would just seize up in pain; you would focus on the spinning of your ceiling fan before you would realize the tears were spilling out of your eyes; you would tear up as you scrolled through your camera photos just to see his face. Every ounce of your being missed him but there was no way in hell you could face him, not after that night. 

You had blocked his number when he began to text and call you after a week. You had hoped he would never contact you, but that wasn’t the case. 

Tae: hey

Tae: can we talk

Tae: I’m sorry 

Tae: can we stay friends 

Tae: missed call (5)

Tae: why r u ignoring me

Tae: u fucked it up

Tae: not me

Tae: I’m sorry that was uncalled for

Tae: can we talk 

Tae: pls 

Every time his name popped up on your phone screen, you felt like throwing your phone against the wall. It was after a few days of this when you realized you couldn’t take it anymore. You just wanted him out of your life. It became much easier to deal with the pain once you weren’t bombarded by messages from him.

You laid on your bed, with Gossip Girl mindlessly playing in the background, thinking about him. Before the break started, you and Taehyung talked about all of the things you wanted to do since this was the first time in a long time where it would be you two alone at home: have picnics, go ice skating, watch movies all night. All of that, gone to shit. Just cause you fucking had to tell him about your feelings. 

Your mom had enough of you lying in your bed all day and forced you to get out of your room. It just ended up with you lying on the living room couch all day instead. You had just gotten a copy of “Freedom is a Constant Struggle” by Angela Davis but you felt like your brain was mush and couldn't bring yourself to read it. One morning, your parents tried convincing you to come shopping and get some fresh air but you felt like you had no energy to do so. You laid on the couch, face squished on a pillow, curled up in a blanket, completely not comprehending the episode of gossip girl you had switched on. The doorbell rang and you groaned, barely shifting, not wanting to answer the door. The doorbell rang again and you rolled off the couch, annoyed. You tried peering through the side window to see who was at your door bothering you. Then you heard loud rapid knocks. Ugh who the fuck is knocking at my door and why aren’t they leaving? 

You reluctantly opened the door, still wrapped in your blanket, completely prepared to yell at whoever was annoying the shit out of you, but when you saw him standing there, every thought in your head completely disappeared, your heart completely dropping. 

Your voice broke, “Taehyung?”

He looked at you, peering at your eyes behind his shaggy curly strands of hair, shivering in his jacket and sweatpants, “__________”. His voice was shaking, as if he was scared.

You wanted to slam the door on his face, but the way his big brown eyes were staring at you, full of innocence, you knew you couldn’t bring yourself to do that. You couldn’t help but wonder, did he not get the message? And why does he even want to talk to you? 

“What do you want?” you asked, sternly. 

“Can we talk? please?”

“Taehyung, please, leave me alone. please.” You tried to close the door but he stepped forward and held the door open with his hand.

“You blocked my number. I can't even contact you anymore. Can I just have this at least? Can we just talk once more?” he pleaded. His eyes were filled with a sadness that you couldn’t quite understand. You desperately just wanted to reject him just like he did to you, but you couldn’t. He was and always would be your weakness. Seeing him, standing here in front of you, doe eyed and heartbroken because of your actions made you hate yourself even more. You would rather have your heart broken a thousand times than to see him in pain. 

“Okay. we can talk,” you whispered softly. 

You didn't want to let him in though. You just leaned on the doorframe, staring at him as the wind sent shivers up your spine. 

“Why are you ignoring me again? I told you not to do that. Ignoring me doesn’t do anything.”

“I needed space. And I still do.”

“Space from me?” he stepped closer to you. His closeness made you uneasy. You glanced up into his eyes, and there were stone cold seriousness. You hadn’t seen Taehyung like this in a while. For all the talk of you thinking Taehyung was adorable and cute, he could be just as intimidating. The look in his eyes made you almost scared. 

“Yes.” you breathed out, trying to match his serious tone.

“Are you mad at me?”

“I’m not mad at you, just at myself…because I knew this would happen, but I let myself fall in love with you anyways.”

“I'm sorry.”

“There's nothing to be sorry about. It's just I should have known better. It's what happens to people like me. And this is why I don’t let myself fall in love.”

“___________ don't let this ruin you. Don’t let me fuck up everything you believed in. You’ll fall in love again.”

“Taehyung. I’ve been in love with you for years. I just never had the guts to say it. I dunno if I'll fall in love again because my heart belongs to you. I didn’t choose to give it to you and it fucking kills me to admit it,” you felt tears welling up in your eyes. Your voice began to crack, shaking from the tears, “but my heart is yours and you don’t even want it.”

Taehyung had been staring at the ground, scared to make eye contact with you. But once you said those words, he looked up at you, his eyes trembling, “_________ I like you. okay? Please don't forget that. You're my best friend.”

You looked deep into his eyes and shook your head softly, “Taehyung, Stop looking at me like you want me because we both know you don’t. I know you don’t feel the same way, but I wish you did.” 

“_______ I told you, I just don't know right now. I just don't know how I feel about you but maybe if you give me time I could fi-“

You cut him off, not wanting to hear any bullshit, “Don’t fuck with my feelings just because you’re unsure of yours. I didn’t mean to fall in love but I did. And you didn’t mean to hurt me but you did. Try to understand how I feel.”

Taehyung took another step towards you, his hand came up to your face, resting on your cheek as he wiped a falling tear, “Why do you need space from me? Why do you need to cut me off completely?”

You pushed his hand away, feeling annoyed at his words. All of this was bullshit. Taehyung doesn’t care about you. He broke your heart and he was just acting now. He just pretends to care but really he doesn’t give a shit about you. 

You furrowed your eyebrows in anger, “I just want to fucking get over you okay? Like Taehyung, you have no idea what you do to me. The way my heart goes completely erratic. The way that one look from you is all that I need to smile. I can’t think around you. Because all I think about it is you. I don’t think...I’m capable of being just friends with you. At least not for a long time. Maybe that’s selfish but that’s all I’m asking of you. I’m not asking you to love me because I know you can’t do that. So just give me space.”

He was quiet, not saying a single word. You sighed out your last few thoughts, “You don’t love me the way I love you. And I know you never will. And that’s okay. But understand that just being friends with you and seeing you everyday is a reminder that you don’t love me.”

Taehyung scoffed, kicking his foot against the door frame, “Why did you do that? Why did you have to tell me your feelings? Why did you fuck it up?”

Your lip trembled. You already felt like shit, like the biggest idiot on the planet for thinking he could love you back, and now he was just shoving your mistakes right back in your face, “Why did you kiss me? You keep saying I fucked it up! I didn’t, you did! If you just didn’t fucking kiss me, then this wouldn’t have happened. So why the fuck did you kiss me?”

He took a step back, shocked at your outburst. His voice faltered, coming out weak and soft, “I..I..I dunno. I don’t know.” 

You scoffed, “You want me in your life, but I can’t do that. You’re asking too much of me. You’re asking me to pretend these feelings I have for you are insignificant. Something that can be stored away as if they didn’t matter. But it did matter. To me.” You stepped towards him, feeling a bit reckless but fuck it right? you had nothing else to lose. you just wanted the truth from him. You asked, your voice icy, “Do I even matter to you?”

He looked at you, confused, “Of course you matter to me. You're my everything.”

You couldn't help but let out a cold laugh, “The things you say sometimes make me feel like I actually have a chance with you, but then I snap back to reality and realize I never really did.”

Taehyung looked at you with defeated eyes. You looked at him and saw that he knew he had done things and said things that he couldn’t take back. 

His eyes were now puffy and bloodshot. His voice croaked, “So where does this leave us? We go back to ignoring each other? You pretend I don't exist and I do the same to you?”

You sighed as you walked back to your front door. you turned to look at him before you shut the door close, “It's for the best Taehyung.”

You closed the door, not waiting to see if he had left your porch. You sat on the ground, back against the door as tears collected in your eyelashes. You know you really love someone when you don’t hate them for breaking your heart

———————————————————————————————————

You left later than planned, purposefully just so you could avoid traveling with Taehyung or even running into him by accident on campus. When you got back to school, Hana was out with Jungkook so you began to unpack, trying to distract yourself. You had told her a little bit about what happened, that you told him how you felt but he didn't reciprocate. You definitely made it seem you weren’t as torn up about it as you actually were, avoiding her FaceTime calls so she couldn’t see your bloodshot eyes. 

You slumped on your bed, scrolling through an academic paper you were attempting to read for class but you couldn’t focus. His fucking smile, his fucking laugh, his fucking curly hair, it was all swimming in your mind and you couldn’t stop thinking about him. 

You felt your eyes well up with tears and shut your laptop. You laid down on your bed and buried yourself in your blankets. You drifted off to sleep, exhausted from being so emotionally drained. 

You jolted awake when you felt a hand on your shoulder. 

“__________.”

“Whatttt?” You groaned as rolled over and saw Hana sitting on the edge of your bed. You rubbed your eyes and broke out into a smile when you saw your roommate, “Hana!”

She gave you a hug and gave you a concerned look, “How are you?”

You felt your words get caught in your throat, immediately feeling tears well up in your eyes, “I’m okay. Dunno why I can/t stop crying.” 

Hana rubbed your shoulder soothingly, “You just lost one of your best friends. Your heart got completely broken. It’s okay to cry __________.”

“I’m so fucking stupid. I wish I didn't give him this power to hurt me,” you whispered softly.

“Hey, it's okay ___________. I'm so proud of you. You worked up the courage to tell him how you feel. And what you feel matters, so you shouldn’t feel bad about it, okay?”

You shook your head. You couldn’t even explain your heartbreak to Hana. Because she wouldn’t understand. You wouldn’t wish this kind of pain on anyone. Unrequited love doesn’t just make you feel sad. It breaks you down. It preys on your deepest insecurities and leaves you hollow and empty. Because in the end, it was you. You were the problem, you were the reason why it didn’t work out. It's not even that he was in love with someone else. It was simply that he didn't love you. 

Hana spoke cautiously, “What exactly did he say when you told him?”

You tried to recall but your mind was a bit foggy as you tried to mentally block out that day, “Um, well he said he doesn’t love me that way. And that he was confused about his feelings.”

“He said he was confused?”

“Yea,”

“Hmm. it's a weird word choice but…”

“But what?”

“Im sorry ___________. I'm going to be honest with you, just so it doesn’t hurt more later. When a guy says they’re confused, they probably don't have feelings at all and are just trying to be nice. That's the only thing not complicated about them. If a guy likes a girl, he won’t hide it and say he is confused.”

“I’m fucking crazy to think he was into me” you said, tears slowly rolling down your cheeks.

“Do you still love him?” 

“Yea”

“How much?” 

“Why does it matter?” You retorted coldly, staring at your blankets.

She responded in a soft tone, “Why does it not?” 

You met her eyes, “Because he doesn’t love me back” 

“If you still love him, then you can't be around him right now. But you shouldn’t regret your feelings towards him. I know it doesn’t seem like it right now, but you’ll get through this.”

You fiddled with your hands, trying to steady your breathing, “It’s unfathomable. I can’t possibly envision a future with him loving me the way I want him to. But I can't get rid of this feeling, that somewhere deep inside me, I still have hope that he’ll fall for me.  It’s pathetic really, how much I still hope it’s him and me in the end.”

She put her arm around your shoulder, pulling you into her embrace, “It's not pathetic. You love him, its okay to want him. But I promise you, you’ll get through this, and I'll be there for you the entire time. You are such an amazing person, you are kind and smart and if he can’t see that, then fuck him.”

you laughed humorlessly, “Thanks Hana.” You paused and then whispered hoarsely, “I wish love was perfect as love itself.”

“it will be. Once you find the one. It will all feel so easy and natural when you find your actual love.”

It was silent for a few moments and then she looked at your puffy eyes, “Are you feeling better?”

You sniffled and nodded, “I’ll be fine.”

“How do you know that?” she asked seriously. 

You glanced at the window, seeing the rain droplets slide down the window pane, “Because my whole life I’ve been in love with someone who doesn’t love me back. It’s nothing new.”

“Boys are fucking stupid” Hana said, shaking her head.

“So fucking stupid.” 

———————————————————————————————————

Hana did her best to keep you distracted, walking with you to class, eating meals with you, hanging out with you on the weekends, always going to the library with you. Jungkook tagged along most of the time but only after Hana asked you if it was okay. Seeing Jungkook did remind you of Taehyung, but his presence didn't bother you too much since he was always cracking jokes to make you smile. 

You didn't see Taehyung around campus at all. It was like he was a ghost, completely gone from your life. It almost made it worse because then you yearned to see him, just to see his cute smile, to hear his adorable laugh. You missed his annoying headass personality that made your heart flutter, you missed the way you could talk to him about anything and everything because he actually listened, you missed being the person he could trust the most to talk to about his feelings. 

Sometimes you got these heart aches, you could physically feel yourself falling apart at the seams. And it just hurt. It hurt to breathe, to think, to feel. And you didn’t know what hurt the most: The fact that he wasn’t in your life anymore and you won’t ever see his doe eyes and boxy smile again or the fact that you weren’t enough for him and that you’ll never be enough for him. 

 The pain of him just not being in your life was worse than you could ever imagine. Then, that combined with the realization your love was unrequited made you feel like you weren't ever going to get through this. 

You sat on the first floor of the library with Hana, working through some biology worksheets to prepare for class. Hana was talking to you about the new boba place on campus, “They have the best green milk tea.”

“Damn I miss boba. I haven’t had it in so long.”

“Lets go right after this. They have a bunch of flavors.”

You nodded, feeling weirdly excited for just boba. 

“Hi” you heard a voice say.

You looked up and saw Jennie. 

“Hi?” you said, very confused. 

She smoothed out her pink tennis skirt and sat down on the seat next to you, “Can we talk?”

“About?”

“Him.”

You glanced at Hana, who was also clearly uncomfortable. You really didn't want to talk to her about Taehyung but Hana gave you a small nod.

“Fine.”

Jennie looked at Hana uneasily, “Can we talk alone?”

You crossed your arms defensively, “Anything you have to say to me, Hana can hear it too.”

Hana put her hand on your shoulder reassuringly, “It’s okay. You should talk to her alone. I'll be by the vending machines in the back. Come and find me when you're done talking.”

She got up after giving you a smile.

You sighed deeply, facing Jennie, “So what’s up?”

“What happened? With you and Taehyung?”

“That's literally none of your business. Did he tell you something?”

She looked concerned, “No. Well. Kinda. Not really. After we all got back to campus, Taehyung didn't text me or call me. Which is strange because he usually calls or texts around every two weeks or so to hook up. But once we got back, he didn't respond to any of my messages. So I went over to his dorm.”

“And?”

“And he looked like shit. Like he hadn't slept or showered or eaten properly. I tried asking him what happened but he just told me to leave and not to come back. I ran into Jimin on the way out. He said you two had a falling out and Taehyung has been a wreck since. Tae has barely left his room, only for school and soccer and thats with Jimin and his other friends forcing him to.”

What? What was going on with him? Was he really this affected by your friendship? That didn't make any sense you guys had only recently become friends. Surely he could easily just resume his lifestyle to when you guys weren’t close. 

You looked at Jennie, “I told him that I loved him. And he said he didn’t love me. I said we couldn’t be friends, at least not for a while. I guess he didn't take it well.”

You thought Jennie would just laugh in your face or say “I told you so”, but she didn't. She pulled you into a side hug, “Oh honey, I'm so sorry. I’m sorry. I know how it feels.”

“Did you ever tell him how you felt?”

She laughed softly, “I didn’t. I was too scared. I knew he would reject me. I guess I was scared of losing him, even just as a fuck buddy. So I just quietly pined over him from a distance.”

You chuckled, “You and me both.”

“I kinda admire that you had the guts to tell him how you felt. If he didn't have feelings for you, there's no possible way he ever liked me.”

You scoffed, “I'm sure he has feelings for you. You're so beautiful. And nice. And pretty. There's no way he didn't like you.”

“__________, you know you're beautiful too. I was actually always jealous of you.”

You were completely shocked, “Jealous of me?”

“Yes! No matter where we were, you could always get Taehyung's attention without even trying. I had to literally climb on top of him to get him to even think about me. Sorry about that by the way.”

“You don't have to be sorry about that. It's not a big deal. Honestly boys are so fucking stupid. I don't know why we let him use us and hurt us so much.”

“Exactly. I hope...we can be friends. Like for real.”

You nodded, “I'm sorry too. I was kinda a bitch to you.”

“Like you said, it's not a big deal. that's all in the past.” 

Jennie got up and smiled at you. She paused for a moment, looking at you carefully, “By the way, you mean a lot to Taehyung. I know you're upset at him right now but maybe you can consider being friends with him in awhile.”

She stalked away leaving you in your thoughts. It was still too soon. But you felt better. Some of your sadness that you felt for yourself went away, transforming into a sort of anger and annoyance at Taehyung: he used girls like you and Jennie all the time and would play with their feelings just so he could feel good about himself. Fuck boys. 

———————————————————————————————————

You were sitting on the picnic benches near the soccer field like how you used to do, but now Taehyung doesn’t come and sit next to you. The peacefulness of being outdoors allowed you to finally focus on your work without any distractions. As you were studying your statistics homework, you heard someone call your name. You looked up and it was Jimin's smiling face.

“Hey ___________!”

“Hey” you said quietly. You were a bit surprised to see Jimin talking to you. You kinda figured whatever friendship you two had was gone once you and Taehyung stopped talking.

“Are you doing the stats homework?” He said walking over to you, both his backpack and soccer bag slung over his shoulder.

“Um yea,” you said, shifting uneasily. Why was he talking to you? If he was here to talk about Taehyung, you were going to get up and leave. You really weren’t emotionally or mentally prepared to talk about him with one his closest friends.

“I was actually having some trouble with the assignment. Could you help me with it?” He said, dropping his bags on the picnic table.

“Uh sure I guess,” you mumbled out as he sat next to you. Jimin gave you his signature beautiful smile and you felt terrible because all you could offer was your half hearted one. He pulled out his notes and you began to help him with a few of his questions. 

Being around Jimin was actually immensely helpful. He successfully distracted you with his cute jokes and charming personality. After about an hour or so, you realized you should be heading back to your dorm so you stood and began to pack up your things. 

“___________?”

“Yeah?”

“I was wondering...” he looked a bit nervous, giving you a shy smile, “I was wondering if you want to get dinner together tomorrow?”

You blinked. Was Park Jimin asking you out? What? What the fuck was going on?

“You want to get dinner...with me?” You asked, confused.

He laughed, “Yes I want to. Do you want to...with me?”

Was this a prank or something? Did he want something from you? 

“Wait is this like a study dinner thing with a group?” You asked, very unsure.

Jimin chuckled again as he ran his hand through his brown hair, “No _________, this isn’t a study dinner thing with a group. I want to get dinner with just you with no studying involved.”

You fiddled with the end of your hair, trying to process what he was saying, “Is this a date or...” 

“It can be whatever you want. It can be two friends getting food together or it can be something more.”

“Jimin...I dunno. I don’t want anyone to get the wrong idea” you said, thinking of Taehyung.

He put his hand gently on your shoulder, “If you’re upset about Taehyung, I get it. But that’s why I said it can be two friends hanging out.”

You thought about it and pursed your lips. Why do I give a fuck about what Taehyung thinks? He made it clear that we are just friends and that he has no feelings for me. Honestly we aren’t even friends anymore so I don’t give a fuck about what he thinks.

You slung your bag over your shoulder and smiled at Jimin, “You know what? You’re right. We can hang. Just text me later.” 

You wanted to feel confident and happy that you were trying to move on and make plans with people instead of laying in your dorm room bed all day but there was still a nagging feeling of hurt and longing in your heart that didn’t know would ever disappear.

———————————————————————————————————

You wanted to feel the same butterflies you always felt whenever you saw Taehyung, but as you stepped out of your dorm and saw Jimin leaning against his black Audi, wearing sunglasses and a black tee tucked into black skinny jeans, you didn’t feel anything.

He smiled at you, “Hey __________. You look cute.” Again, nothing.

“Thanks. You look pretty good yourself.” You retorted playfully. 

He opened the car door for you and you sat in the car, immediately getting flashbacks to Taehyung's birthday party and how he took you for a joyride in this very car. You smoothed out your black pleated skirt and picked at your leggings hoping you would get distracted and not reminisce over the happiness you felt sitting in this car with Taehyung. 

You and Jimin chatted quietly about your days and your classes before you realized he had parked in front of a small restaurant.

“I actually have been meaning to go here for a while, but never found the time. Or the right person to go with,” Jimin said with a teasing smile as you walked into the restaurant.

Sometimes you would forget that Jimin was just as much as a fuckboi as Taehyung except with more braincells but then he would tease you, just like Taehyung used to, with flirty jokes and seductive smiles and you couldn’t help but roll your eyes at his antics.

As you slurped on your ramen noodles, you found that you and Jimin had more in common than you realized. 

“You watch Gossip Girl?” you said widening your eyes when he lit up at your off hand comment about re binging the show over break.

“Of course! Nate is my literal inspiration!” he exclaimed with a huge smile.

“Nate?” you thought about it for a moment and then continued, “Actually, he’s definitely the least problematic one out of everyone in the show.”

“And…he definitely has the best style.” Jimin added as he sipped his water.

you talked a bit about his winter break and his adventures in europe. 

“So did you go with your family or..” you asked, curious.

“I went with some friends from home. I wanted to get some of the BTS guys to go with me but we decided to go on a group trip for spring break.” 

“Where did you go in Europe?”

“Um, I went to England, then France, then Germany.”

“Oh wow. that's a lot of places,” you commented, a bit surprised since break was only two weeks.

“I dunno. I think traveling is such a great way to relax I guess. Going to new places and experiencing new cultures with friends.”

“That's valid. I guess in my head traveling gives me stress. So did you go sight seeing or just kinda wandered around the city?”

He chuckled, a light blush coming to his cheeks, “Uh, kinda, I guess.”

You wrinkled your eyebrows, not understanding why he was getting flustered, “What? What did you do?”

He ran his hand through his hair, catching a glimpse at how silky his dark brown locks were, “Well, it was like 25 percent sightseeing historical buildings.”

“And the other 75 percent?”

“Sightseeing night clubs” he said laughing.

“So you went to Europe to go to clubs?” you said trying to stifle your laughs.

“In my defense, European clubs are way different so there’s that.”

You raised your eyebrows at him, “And?”

“And what?” he said leaning forward on his arms.

“What about the European girls?”

“Oh fuck off,” Jimin said, averting his eyes and laughing.

“What else should I expect from Park Jimin? European vacation for clubbing and girls.”

“Dude, you make me sound like I'm Chuck Bass,” Jimin countered, his face a complete shade of pink, fully embarrassed at your teasing.

After you two paid for your meals, Jimin walked you over to a cute little cafe next door. You excitedly picked out a slice of strawberry cake, desperately wanting something comforting after feeling alone for the past month while Jimin ordered a coffee. You tried to pay for your own cake but of course Jimin wouldn’t hear of it and paid for it, insisting it was the “gentlemanly” thing to do (you had to roll your eyes at this). 

You two made your way to a picnic table in front of the restaurant, sitting underneath the bright fairy lights hung up outside, giving just enough light in the darkness of the night. He sat across from you, sipping his coffee. You opened up the box that contained the cake and smiled, remembering the good memories you had attached with it. You brushed your hair behind your ear and took a bite.

You offered some to him which he accepted.

“___________, I'm not sure if you want to talk about this yet, but I just wanted to ask how you are doing? Like for real?”

You sighed. You figured he was going to ask you about this at some point tonight, “Okay I guess. I mean not great but i'm going on. It’s whatever I guess” 

“It's not whatever. I'm really sorry that happened to you. It hurts, doesn’t it?”

You nodded softly and whispered out, “It does.” 

You were scared to ask but you knew you couldn’t go home tonight without asking Jimin, “How is he?”

He set his coffee on the table, “Not good. He misses you. A lot.”

Your heart broke at his words. You wished he just told you that Taehyung didn't give a shit. That he was doing great and that he was still fucking Jennie and didnt even notice that you weren’t in his life anymore. 

Part of you didn't believe his words, “Nah. I'm sure he’s fine.”

“No __________ he isn't. He doesn’t go out anymore. He just goes to class and soccer practice. That's it.”

You closed your eyes, processing what Jimin was saying. Why is he so upset? He broke your heart. He made you cry. He made you feel worthless so why is he acting like this? 

“Does he know you’re hanging out with me tonight?”

“Uh no. But I didn't want him to get the wrong idea. You said this was just as friends so there’s no reason for me to tell him and have him get all worked up about it,” Jimin said, shrugging his shoulders. 

You nodded, resting your hands on the picnic table, trying to take deep breaths to calm your nerves.

He stood up and sat next to you, his legs touching yours. He reached over and took your hands in his, “I don't know why he’s so torn up about this whole situation, especially since he broke your heart. I tried telling him that you need space and that it's completely fair of you to not want to be friends for now but he always dodges the conversation. I'll try talking to him again.”

Your voice cracked as you looked at Jimin, Thank you. For being a good friend. For listening to me. For caring about me.”

He put his arm around your shoulder, pulling you into his embrace, “Of course. I just really want you and Taehyung to be okay. Both of you are my friends and I care about you guys a lot.” 

Jimin dropped you off at your dorm and told you to call him if you ever needed anything. You gave him a weak smile and went back to your room, feeling slightly okay.

You laid on your bed and checked Instagram since you hadn’t looked at it in a while. You noticed Jimin had something recently posted which was kinda odd because he rarely posted on his Instagram story and you were just with him. You clicked on his story and your eyes widened when you saw it was a picture of you captioned with a single purple heart. 

It was a photo he took of you sitting across from him at the picnic table. You were smiling at the strawberry cake in front of you. You couldn’t clearly see your face since your hair was somewhat covering it but if anyone knew you, it was very obvious. You were worried for a moment that Taehyung would see it before you remembered you two weren’t on speaking terms anymore. Well, its a cute picture and I had a good time with Jimin tonight so who cares? you thought, shrugging your worries away. 

———————————————————————————————————

The next morning, you woke up feeling better than you had in a long time. The weight that you had been dredging around for the past month or so had felt lighter. You grabbed your baking basket and some strawberries from your fridge, finally feeling the excitement to bake in a long time. You also wanted some time to think; a lot had changed since you came back home from break and you wanted to properly sort out how you were feeling about the whole situation. 

You tied up your hair, and laid out the ingredients to make strawberry muffins. You thought about Jennie as you mixed the flour, baking soda, and salt together. She was hurt too. You never really thought about how she felt in this whole situation, but in her own way, she was dealing with her own personal insecurities. She wanted Taehyung too and you had him in a way she never did. 

You were glad that you two were on friendly terms now because she was a sweet and kind person once you got to actually knowing her. You felt upset at the way Taehyung treated her. He knew her feelings and yet he continued to play with them, just like he played with yours. After hanging out with Jimin, you were also heartbroken to hear that Taehyung’s behavior hadn’t improved. You wanted him to recover just like you were. 

But it seemed like he needed you. And you didn't need him. You wanted him, that was for sure. But you didn’t need him because you were moving on. Each day it was getting easier to breathe and to think clearly. You began to mix the eggs, milk, and vanilla extract into the dry ingredients, slowly stirring as you thought. You paused and realized that you felt empty. Like your heart had finally gone numb. 

As if it were finally exhausted of the roller coaster of emotions you spent with him: anger, jealousy, nervousness, love, happiness. Your heart burned and burned and then suddenly turned to ice. You mixed the chopped up strawberry pieces with flour then added it to the batter. 

It felt nice, not feeling completely overwhelmed with emotions. You thought about what Hana had told you when you came back, that if he couldn’t recognize your worth, then fuck him. And then suddenly you cared even less.  Because the only person’s validation you needed was your own. You evenly divided the batter into 12 equal portions in the muffin tin. You popped the tin into the oven and sat down on the empty chair. 

You didn't need Taehyung's validation, you didn't need his love, to feel complete. You were complete on your own. You still had sadness for him, you still wanted him, but after these past few weeks, you came to the realization that you were enough and that pining and sitting in your room all day, waiting for him wasn’t going to do you any good. You breathed out softly, trying to reassure yourself, “It's going to be fine.”

———————————————————————————————————

“You’ll really come?” Hana asked excitedly.

You were sitting on your bed, relaxing as you attempted to proofread your essay. 

“Ya, I will. I’m not really making any progress with this essay right now. So I'll come.” Hana had been trying to convince you to come to a party all day and you had finally agreed. It had been a while since you went out, especially with the whole situation with Taehyung going on, you rarely left your room. But now, you were feeling much better emotionally and mentally. 

You got ready with Hana, opting for a simple jeans and sweater because it was still cold outside. 

She told you that the party wasn’t at the BTS frat and it calmed your nerves a little. Even though you were feeling better, you didn’t know what you would do if you saw Taehyung. It was still too soon. The wounds he left still hurt. 

“EXO parties are always fucking insane,” Hana raved as you two entered the frat house.

“Why?” you asked curious

“Cuz they rarely have parties but when they do, they go all out.” she said smiling as you looked around. Your eyes widened when you saw a huge tower of beer cans stacked in the middle, a DJ at the front of the house, and several stripper poles.

“What the fuck…” you mumbled as you looked around. 

“Jungkook is here somewhere.” Hana muttered as she led you through the enormous crowd. 

She found Jungkook in the kitchen by drinks, talking with Yoongi and Hobi. The second Jungkook saw Hana he pulled her into a deep kiss. You were really happy for Hana but it stung. Would anyone ever love you like that? You sighed and said hello to Yoongi and Hobi. 

“How is it going _________. Haven’t seen you in awhile.” Hobi said, smiling widely. 

Yoongi elbowed him in the stomach and whispered loudly, “Bro, shut up.”

You laughed awkwardly, “It's okay. I'm fine. just been doing school stuff.”

Yoongi gave you a soft smile, “I'm glad you are doing well. I know it's all complicated but I hope we can all still be friends.”

You nodded, “Of course.”

 Hobi handed you a drink, “Try this.”

You looked in the red solo cup and it was a blue colored drink, “What the fuck is this?”

“There isn’t any alcohol! It's just a blue Hawaiian punch mixed with sprite.”

“That sounds like a heart attack in a cup.” Yoongi said, utterly confused at the combination. 

“I'm telling you, It's good. Try it _________.”

You took a sip and it was very sweet, but not bad tasting. “It's decent. Not terrible,” you said nodding. 

Jungkook came over with Hana wrapped in his hard, “Guys I heard that EXO got strippers for tonight. That’s fucking insane.”

Hana punched his arm and Jungkook exclaimed, “Owww. I never said I was going to do anything about it. Just stating a fact.”

You were laughing at Jungkook’s pure stupidity when someone caught your eye. Your heart stopped. Of course he was here tonight. All his friends were.  You hadn’t seen him since that day on your porch. Then you saw his arm wrapped around her. Then the sadness that was in your heart immediately bloomed into anger. What the fuck? All this fucking talk of not wanting a girlfriend yet he was here with her? 

Hana put a hand on your shoulder, “Do you want to leave? We can go.”

You shook your head, “I'm fine.” 

“I can literally beat his ass right now if you want,” She said aggressively.

Jungkong squeezed Hana’s shoulder, “That's my Hana, lovely and scary.”

You gave her a weak smile, “I'm okay. For real. I just need you to be here for me. Thats all.”

You hadn’t spoken or seen Taehyung since that day on your porch. He looked sad. You could tell. You knew him better than anyone else in your life. He was putting on a mask, pretending like he was happy. But you could see it, the hollowness in his cheeks, the fact that he hadn’t shaved because of all the stubble on his face, his curly hair now long and unruly because he hadn’t gotten a haircut in awhile. He was wearing a simple white shirt tucked into a pair of jeans (unfortunately he still did look hot but you weren’t going to admit that) 

He walked up to you guys with Jennie by his side. He gave you a glance but you didn't meet his eyes, quickly looking away. Jennie gave you a small wave and you returned it. It was kinda ironic because before you would focus on the fact that Jennie was with him but since you guys were friends now, you fixed your annoyance on Taehyung. 

Taehyung and Jennie were talking to the group casually but about five minutes into the conversation, you couldn’t handle it anymore, pretending like everything was fine when it really wasn’t. 

You slowly left the circle and leaned on the drinks table behind your group of friends, exhaling deeply.

Jimin walked over, grinning with his beautiful smile, “Hey”

He leaned against the table, standing right next to you, “Hi”

“Shitty party right?” Jimin said, chuckling.

“It just became shitty” you said, sipping your drink, eyeing Taehyung.

“I don't why he came here with her. He literally hasn’t properly spoken to her or seen her since last semester,” Jimin said sincerely.

“Ya well I don’t give a fuck. He can do whatever he wants. We aren’t even friends anymore,” You said harshly. 

You and Jimin chatted a bit, and you almost forgot your annoyance at Taehyung. Then he walked over, with a stupid smirk on his face, “Excuse me __________ could you move? You’re standing in front of the drinks.”

You glared at him as you sipped your drink cooly, shrugging your shoulders, “Sucks.”

He towered over you, giving you an intimidating stare, slowly biting his lip, “C’mon _______ don’t be a bitch. Just move/”

Jimin stood up straight, “What the fuck did you just say to her?”

Taehyung gave you a cold laugh and raised his eyebrows teasingly, “Wow __________ you really need him to fight your battles?”

You knew that Taehyung was pissed at this point but you wanted to push his buttons further. You spoke in a calm tone, knowing that would make him even more annoyed, “I don’t, but he does have something called manners which is something that you could use.” 

He leaned his face close to yours. You felt his breath tickling your neck as you got a whiff of his cologne, “Aww, I think you’re just salty _________” 

You took a step towards him, not wanting him to get the satisfaction that he could intimidate you, “What could I possibly be salty about?”

Taehyung gave you a cocky smile, “Maybe that I’m here with Jennie. It must sting a little.”

You clenched your jaw. He had stepped over the line now. You knew exactly what he was trying to imply, that he had moved on with her. You were mad because he was once again just using Jennie for his own douchebag reasons. You looked Taehyung directly in the eye and scoffed, “You’re a fucking asshole.” 

He put his hands up defensively, “Calm down _________ no need to make a scene.” 

The amount of anger that flared in you in that moment was unprecedented. You wanted to embarrass him. You wanted to humiliate him. You wanted him to know how you felt right now. 

Then an idea popped in your head. You gave him a small smile and spoke in a sweet, innocent voice, “Oh my gosh you’re right Taehyung. I shouldn’t make a scene.”

Then you dumped your entire blue drink on his white shirt and smiled. Taehyung's eyes widened as he looked at his ruined shirt and Jimin gasped in shock. The second you dropped your drink onto Taehyung, Jennie turned around and laughed at what you did. Taehyung's eyes met yours and you realized you might have gone too far. His eyes were dangerous and dark. But if you were going to be honest, it felt really fucking good to do that. 

You shrugged and said sweetly, “Oops” 

Taehyung growled, “What the fu-“

You crushed the red solo cup you were still clutching against his chest and let it drop to the ground, “Calm down Tae you wouldn’t want to make a scene, right?”

You smirked at him and walked away. You could hear Yoongi and Hobi laughing while Jimin was trying to apologize for your behavior. 

Hana was able to find you on the couch a few minutes later.

She was laughing as she sat down next to you, “___________ that was so fucking hilarious.”

“I knew you would appreciate it.”

“It was good. I thought it was funny.”

You knew something was up because she had a concerned look in her eyes

“But...?” You asked cautiously 

“How long is this going to go on between you and Taehyung?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean you guys used to be best friends. Are you guys just going to hate each other from now on?”

“I’m not the one who needs to make amends. He was an asshole to me.”

“Both of you need to make amends. You guys just need to talk. I’m not saying you guys should be besties again or anything but I think you guys need to learn how to be civil with one another. This shit can’t keep happening every time you see each other.”

“I’m not talking to him Hana.” You said forcefully.

She sighed and got up, defeated. After a few minutes she came back with a huge smile.

“Oh my gosh __________ I need to tell you something!” 

“What?”

“We need to go somewhere private. No one else can hear,” She said tugging you from the couch.

You tried asking her questions as she dragged you but Hana wouldn’t budge.

She opened a door that revealed to be a closet and said, “Perfect. Let’s go in here.”

Hana pushed you in the closet and closed the door behind you two.

“Okay what’s going on Hana?”

She glanced at her phone as if she were waiting for a text or something, “oh um so...Jungkook told me that he loves me.”

“Really? Oh my gosh! Well, how do you feel about it?”

“Oh I told him I loved him back.”

“Did you mean it? Do you actually love him?”

“Of course! He’s kinda stupid but he’s so caring and he loves me so much.”

You wrinkled your eyebrows, confused, “Okay so what’s the problem? Why did you drag me into a closet to tell me this?”

Her phone buzzed, “I’ll be right back __________. Jungkook just texted me. Just stay right here, don’t leave.” She said as she left the closet, leaving you in the darkness.

You tapped your foot impatiently wondering what Hana was up to.

You heard hurried, rushed voices and then the door of the closer swung open. You heard a very familiar deep voice exclaim, “What the fuck Jimin? Why are you pushing me Into this closet?” 

The closet door slammed shut. 

You rolled your eyes, “You have got to be fucking with me.”

“___________?” Taehyung asked from the darkness next to you. 

You banged on the door, “Hana I swear to god let me out right now.”

You heard her muffled voice, “No! You guys need to talk!”

Taehyung pounded on the door next to you, “Jimin I’m not fucking around. Open the door. Now.”

Jimin's voice sounded strained, “I’m sorry guys! But this is good for you! You guys need to figure your shit out.”

You sighed, leaning against the door, “I hate both of you.”

Taehyung whispered out hoarsely, breaking the silence “This is your fucking fault.”

You turned to face him, shocked at his accusation, “My fault? How is this my fault? You were the one being a complete douchebag!” 

“You dumped your drink on me!” Taehyung exclaimed, pulling at his now blue stained shirt. 

You stabbed your finger in his chest,“You were the one who was being rude first!”

“You went out with my best friend!” 

You went quiet. What? Is he talking about Jimin? That was a while ago and even so, he has no right to care about who I go out with!

“Are you talking about Jimin?” You asked, annoyed.

“Who else posted you on their story with heart captions?” he scoffed.

“First of all, it's none of your business who I spend my time with. And second, not that it even matters, Jimin and I are just friends.”

He taunted, “Yea I’ve heard that one before.”

“Why the fuck do you even care Taehyung? We aren’t together, we aren’t even friends.”

He paused, trying to think of an answer, “Whatever. I don’t care. Do whatever you want. I just thought you were better than that.”

“Better than what? I'm so confused. I dont get why you are so angry with me. If anything, I'm the one who has the right to be angry right now.”

“You? Why do you get to be angry?”

“Because you broke my heart! And you're shoving it in my face. You're literally mocking my feelings. First you told me that my first kiss didn't matter, that it was only a kiss and I was making too much of it. And now you're here with Jennie, asking me if I feel jealous of her! Like how the fuck should I respond to that? All of your shitty actions made me realize that you don’t give a fuck about me and my feelings. I’m moving on from you Taehyung. You don’t want my love so I’m trying to move the fuck on. Isn’t this what you want?” You gasped out, holding back the tears forming in your eyes. You just had to let it all out, all of your hurt feelings that had been building up for the past couple of months. 

He wasn’t looking at you, just staring at the wooden floors of the closet, “I dunno. I just never thought you would just start talking to new guys already. I thought you wanted love.”

“I’m not the romantic you think I am. I’m not looking for someone to make me complete or to make me feel like I’m worth something. I am complete on my own and I know my worth. I just want to be with someone who can give me the same amount of love and appreciate I have finally figured out how to give myself.”

He made eye contact with you finally, “So what, we’re just going to cut each other off? Completely? Don’t you want me?”

You breathed out, leaning against the door, “I want you but I want you to want me too. I fucking miss you all day every day and you can’t even imagine how pathetic it makes me feel because I don’t even know if you miss me back.”

His shoulder brushed against yours, his voice hoarse, “I've been a shitty friend. I'm sorry. I am really, really fucking sorry. We shouldn’t have kissed. I shouldn’t have kissed you. I don't regret it but I regret what it did to us. I regret how I acted afterwards. I’m so immature. I don't have feelings for Jennie. The only reason why I came tonight is because she told me you were coming. And I knew I just had to see you. But then when I saw you with Jimin, I just felt so jealous. Because that should have been me, we should have been here tonight, hanging out. But I fucked up. You told me you wanted those moments to be meaningful and I stole it from you. And that can’t be replaced. You deserve better than me, okay? But I want you back. I want us to be friends again. Because I’m fucking falling apart without you. I miss you so much. Please, can you forgive me? Can we be friends again?”

You looked into his huge brown doe eyes and your heart did a flip flop. Fuck I still love him. Even though pretending to not love him was exhausting, completely having him out of your life hurt a thousand times worse. God you were the biggest headass on the planet. 

You cringed at your own words, “Yea Tae, we can be friends.” 

He pulled you into a huge hug and didn't let go. You could feel your heart breaking in your chest, you could never tell him how much he’s hurt you. 

———————————————————————————————————

You felt like you were getting a literal migraine because of the deja vu you were experiencing, again. Pretending to be friends with Taehyung while secretly pining for him. It had been around a month or so since you two had reconciled and agreed to be friends again. 

But you still found yourself staring at him for too long when you sat at the picnic benches to do work, you still found your heart beating too fast whenever he would lean in close to you, you still found yourself in love with him. 

However, it was different this time because there was no ‘what if’ or ‘maybe’. He didn't love you the way you wanted him to. If you were going to be honest, you did appreciate knowing this. It made it easier to try to move on. Taehyung did have one thing wrong: you weren’t talking to new guys. Your method of moving on consisted of trying to remember the hurt things he did to you to stop yourself from falling further in the pit of despair. But for him, you could pretend like you were happy when you were actually sad; for him, you could pretend like you were strong when you were actually hurt. 

You were pretty sure he thought you didn't love him anymore. He acted completely normal around you, going on as if you two hadn’t had the biggest fall out in your friendship. It helped, you guessed, pretending. It was something you were both good at. 

You were sitting on your bed when your phone buzzed. It was a snap from Taehyung. You opened and groaned when you saw his snapchat. Taehyung had the infuriating habit of sending suggestive snaps. It was almost always a blurry selfie, very clearly indicating that he was shirtless (he told you he didn't see a reason to wear a shirt if he was in the comfort of his own room). You couldn’t help but feel your heart skip a beat when you caught a glimpse of his well defined collarbones. It was so on brand of him, to tease you like this. Luckily, he did have something actual to say and it wasn’t just a shirtless snap. 

He added the caption r u busy Saturday.

There was a nagging thought in your head that you had something planned on Saturday but you couldn’t remember. 

You snapped back a picture of your ceiling uhh I don’t think so.

Right away he responded (with another blurry selca) come to the soccer banquet w me

Oh shit. The soccer banquet. You had completely forgotten. Jimin had told you about the banquet last week while you two were waiting for biology class to start. He asked you if you wanted to go with him. You said maybe but Jimin told you that Taehyung was planning on asking you. Going with Jimin immediately sounded like a better option. You really just wanted to maintain some sort of distance from Taehyung, it made it easier to ignore the heartbreak. You ended up agreeing to go with Jimin as friends. 

you typed i kinda forgot but jimin actually asked me to go w him and i said ok.

he sent a clear picture of his face, his curly hair looking very fluffy oh, ok. have fun.

Fuck he was definitely mad. You nervously bit your lip, thinking if you should go with Taehyung and cancel with Jimin. 

You: taehyung just asked me about Saturday. He seemed kinda annoyed that I was going w u

Jimin: ah that makes sense. I just walked into the kitchen and he was eating my leftover dumplings.

You: I don’t want him to be upset. 

You: ugh maybe I just won’t go

Jimin: he just gets pouty sometimes it’s not a big deal

You: what if he shows up w a date? idk if i wanna see that

Jimin: it'll be ok. He might not even go anymore. I’ll tell u if he says anything 

You tried to occupy yourself with homework and studies so you wouldn’t frantic over the banquet. By the time the banquet day rolled around, Jimin heard nothing from Taehyung. He tried to reassure you that there was little chance Taehyung would actually show up since he hadn’t talked to any of the BTS members about it.

Hana also tried to calm your nerves as she helped you get ready but she had to leave you a bit early so she could help Jungkook (apparently the man was incapable of knotting a bowtie). She told you that she would finish her makeup and get dressed at his room so she would see you there.

You stared at yourself in the mirror, trying to think in positive thoughts. You were attempting to follow through on your mindset change and trying not to only focus on your insecurities. You combed through the loose waves in your hair, adjusting your soft pink tulle skirt. Jimin texted you that he was outside so you left your room quickly, just wanting for this night to be over already. 

He flashed his gorgeous smile at you, opening the car door for you, “You look so pretty __________.”

You gave him a weak smile, knowing he was just saying that to be nice, “Thank you Jimin. You look good too. I like your sunglasses.” 

He walked around to the other side of the car and drove to the banquet. Once you got there, you realized this event was insanely fancy. Since the BTS guys won the championship, they were essentially the guests of honor, with a few other teams receiving recognition for their own achievements. Jimin explained to you the different awards that would be presented tonight and told you a bit about the other teams. When he kept on droning on about the different roles of the midfielder position, you glanced around the large hall, a bit bored from Jimin’s monologue when you spotted him. I thought he wasn’t coming! He was alone, hands shoved in his pocket, walking coolly.

You internally groaned when you felt your heart skip a beat when you saw his fluffy hair. He was wearing black slacks, a soft pink collared shirt, and a white coat jacket with a black carnation pinned to it (191029 Taehyung). Once again, your thoughts immediately ran to “oh shit he’s hot.” His eyes met yours for a split second and you pretended not to see him, turning to listen back into Jimin’s lecture on soccer. 

After 15 more minutes of explaining the technicalities of shooting a goal, Jimin patted your shoulder softly, “I’ll go get us some drinks. I’ll be back.” 

You nodded at him and looked for Hana. You saw her sitting at a table with Jungkook so you walked over, not wanting to bump into Taehyung. 

“Hey!” She said giving you a hug. Hana looked stunning as always. She was wearing a deep red, long silk dress with a slit running from Her upper thigh.  You saw that Jungkook's bowtie matched her dress. 

You smiled at her, “How do you get prettier Hana? It’s not fair for the rest of us plebs.”

“Shut up. You look gorgeous. Trying to impress someone tonight?” She said teasingly, looking in the direction of Jimin.

You chuckled “oh no. We’re just friends. He asked me here as friends.”

She looked unconvinced, “Rightt.” 

You heard a voice go “ahem” behind you. You turned around at the sound of the familiar voice and saw Taehyung smirking at you. 

“Hey _________”

“Oh. Hey. “ You said nonchalantly.  

“Where’s Jimin?” Taehyung's eyes sparkled mischievously .

“He went to go get me a drink. He’s such a gentleman.” you said, trying to push his buttons a bit. 

He smiled, playing along with your game, “Of course. Except for the fact that he’s never had a steady relationship. And that he’s even more of a fuckboi than me.”

You rolled your eyes, “Taehyung you should probably go back to your date.”

He leaned in close, his breath tickling your neck and whispered huskily “You’re cute when you're jealous.”

Your face immediately reddened and you got up hastily, “Jimin’s probably waiting for me.” 

He pulled your arm back to face him, “If you must know, I came alone tonight. The only girl who I wanted to go with conveniently already had a date for tonight.”

You retorted back, snarkily, “If you must know, Jimin asked me properly, not the day before and through snapchat.”

You stormed away, infuriated at your own feelings and how you easily could fall for his one liners. You found Jimin talking with Namjoon, his girlfriend, and Yoongi. He smiled when he saw you, “Oh sorry. I just got a bit caught up. I have your drink.” He gave you a clear glass with a pink liquid, “It’s punch. No alcohol. Don’t worry.” 

Namjoon was talking about how he did not want to TA for biology lab next semester since the experience was a bit traumatizing, dealing with frantic and stressed out students at very inconvenient hours (you definitely being one of those students). Yoongi berated him for even signing up for such a draining job along with soccer and studies.

You spotted Taehyung from the corner of your eye, slowly inching into the conversation, first talking to Yoongi then Namjoon and his girlfriend. 

You were trying to focus on what Jimin was saying but you found yourself listening in Taehyung's conversation. 

You overheard him talking casually, “Yea I’m thinking about shaving my head. It’s just my hair has gotten way too long and curly. I can’t manage it” 

Your heart stopped. Not the curly hair. You were literally obsessed with his hair, and he knew it.  

You burst out from across the conversation, “Oh my god don’t touch your hair!”

He smirked and winked at you and you closed your eyes in embarrassment: you gave him exactly what he wanted, your attention.

Yoongi laughed “Damn __________ really likes your hair then Taehyungie. Guess you can’t cut it now.”

You felt your face redden even more when Jimin laughed at Yoongi's comment. 

Ugh Taehyung was pushing all your buttons. You walked away, annoyed at his behavior. You found a spot where there were little to no people and leaned on the cool marble wall, just observing the party from a distance. You saw Jungkook and Hana on the dance floor. Once again, you couldn’t help but feel a tad bit jealous. You wanted that and you wanted it with Taehyung. Hana threw her head back in laughter as Jungkook attempted to dance with her. 

“He’s always been shit at slow dancing,” You heard the voice behind you say. You already knew he would come and find you. He must want something otherwise why else would he be following you around like a lost puppy dog?

You didn't bother to look back at him, “Yea this is like the fourth time he’s stepped on Hana’s toes. I'm surprised she hasn’t kicked him in the shins yet.” 

You felt his shoulder brush against yours, “It's bound to happen at this rate.”

You laughed softly about to say something but you found yourself getting interrupted. 

A pretty girl that you didn't recognize came up to you two, extending her hand out to him, “Taehyung right?” 

He smiled sheepishly, shaking her hand awkwardly, “Uh yea. Sorry I don't know who you are. We didn't hook up right?”

She giggled, “No we didn't. I'm actually from Central University.”

“Ooh the rival school.”

She nodded, “Yep. I just wanted to introduce myself. I’m Yuna. If you're ever at Central for a game, you should totally let me know.”

You rolled your eyes, once again you found yourself in a situation where Taehyung was blatantly flirting in front of you. You blew on a dangling strand of hair that covered your eye. 

“Um sure. I'll let you know.”

She put her hand on her hip, “Great. Just dm me on Instagram.” She then walked away, completely ignoring the fact that you were standing right next to Taehyung the entire time. You couldn't help but feel insecure: why would she expect someone like Taehyung to be with someone like you? It didn't make sense. That's why she thought she could flirt with him and pretend like you were completely irrelevant, because you were. 

He looked at you, “Wow that was kinda weird.”

You crossed your arms, “Was it? I mean she just wanted to flirt with you.”

“She was flirting with me?”

You blew on the strand of hair again, “God you're dense.”

He shrugged, clearly not wanting to get into it, “Wanna dance?”

You shook your head, as you began to watch Jungkook and Hana again, “Not interested.”

“Not interested in dancing? Or not interested in dancing with me?”

“Both I guess.”

“So if Jimin asked you to dance, would you say no?”

“Why does it matter if it's Jimin?”

“It's just a question,” Taehyung said defensively. 

Your tone came out accusatory, “If it's just a question, then why do you care so much about the answer? Why are you following me around? Do you want something from me?”

“I don't want anything. I just want to talk to you. I just don't get why you came here with Jimin and not me. Is he your boyfriend or something like I just don't understand. Why did you choose him over me?” 

You looked over your shoulder and you found him staring at the marble, hands shoved deep in his pockets. You wanted to shout “I did choose you but you didn't want me” but you saw the hurt look on his face and simply sighed deeply, “I didn't choose anyone. He just asked me first.”

“Okay.” He paused for a moment then looked at you, “I'm sorry for being pushy.”

“I’m sorry too. I'm just tired. I didn't really wanna come here tonight. And I guess I feel kinda shitty.”

He looked up, “Why?”

You spoke softly, “I didn’t get to come here with the guy I really wanted to.”

Taehyung’s eyes met yours and the corner of his mouth lifted up in a smirk, “There's my strawberry girl.” 

You rolled your eyes at him, “You're so annoying.”

“Nope. I heard it. You said I was your first choice. You must not really think I'm annoying.”

“I think you are extensively annoying.”

“Hey! At least I didn't throw gatorade all over you.”

“I already said sorry for that! And for your information, it was blue hawaiian punch and sprite. And Hobi made it. So if anything you should be getting mad at him.”

“Alright, next time I see him, I'll throw blue hawaiian punch at him.”

“Go ahead. I will not be stopping you. But I will also not be responsible for him dislocating your shoulder.” 

He winced in pain as he rolled his shoulder, “Ugh, he doesnt need to that since I already dislocated the stupid thing myself.”

You wrinkled your eyebrows in concern, “Why? What happened? What did you do?”

He laughed nervously, “Well, Jimin was trying to teach me how to do like a front roll and I kinda ended up putting too much weight on my right shoulder and it fucking hurts every time I move it.” 

“Did you go to the nurse? Did you ice it? Have you taken tylenol or ibuprofen?”

“Um, no, no, and no”

“What the fuck Taehyung! Why didn't you do anything? Did you not tell anyone?”

“Uhhh, no I didn't tell anyone”

You punched his left arm, “Why not?”

“Ow! Don't dislocate the other one!” he rubbed his arm where you punched him, “Because…I didn't want anyone to worry.”

“Well I'm worrying right now!”

Then he had the audacity to give his boxy smile to you, “I know and it's honestly pretty adorable.”

You crossed your arms and scoffed, “Oh my god, you are insufferable.” 

“It's not a big deal ___________ .I'll be fine.”

You asked, “Are you in pain right now?” 

He massaged his shoulder and winced again, “Eh it's fine. I can manage.”

You pulled his arm, “Cmon lets go. Let me take a look and see if it's actually dislocated and if it's bad we can go to the nurse tomorrow.” 

“Where are we going?” he said trailing behind you.

“Lets just go back to your dorm. It's closer and I'm betting you have more medicine than I have.”

You made your way through the crowd before remembering that you should probably tell Hana you're leaving, “Uh Taehyung, can you get the car and meet me by the front? I just need to say bye to Hana really quick”

He nodded and let go of your hand.

You glanced around the hall and saw Hana by the drinks with Jungkook and some of the other guys. 

You walked over to her, “Hey Hana! Im gonna leave now.”

She looked around and then giggled, “Ooh are you leaving?”

You nodded, not sure what she was trying to imply.

She laughed again, wriggling her eyebrows, “Are you going to leave with him?”

“Um..” You didn't want to tell her that you were leaving with Taehyung because she would not let you do that but you didn't want to lie to her, “Uh um actually I j-“

She cut you off, “Oh my gosh I'm so excited for you. Jimin is so sweet. Have fun!!” 

You thought about clarifying the situation to her but it was whatever now. You would explain in the morning. 

As you walked away, you turned around and saw Hana smiling widely and Jungkook giving you a thumbs up. God this is so embarrassing. But you didnt know what was worse: having them think you were going to have sex with Park Jimin when you really weren’t or having them realize you were going with Taehyung, your unrequited love. 

You walked out of the building and found Taehyung in his car, waiting for you. You quickly got in, not wanting anyone to see you and he drove away. 

He pulled up to the frat house and he led you to his room. For once, you didn't feel anxious. You were only here to see if his shoulder was okay. And then you would leave to go to your dorm. And not think about how much you wanted to kiss him. 

You raided their medicine cabinet and found some Tylenol and some muscle pain reliever cream. 

You re-entered his bedroom and saw him facing his closet, back towards you.

Your mouth went dry when he took off his white coat and began to unbutton his shirt. He removed his shirt to reveal his honey colored skin. 

You quickly looked away when you heard him unzipping his pants. God why is he so comfortable with taking off his clothes in front of me? You tried to distract yourself with your phone but you couldn’t help but peak. He pulled on a plain navy blue short sleeved shirt and remained in his forest green boxers. He walked over, messing with his curly hair, and sat down on the edge of the bed, right next to you. Now you started to feel your heart pound again, his closeness was making it hard for you to stay calm. You hated the effect he had on you. He could make you nervous without even trying. 

Taehyung spoke, chuckling, “Are you okay? Your cheeks are kinda pink.”

“I’m fine. Now let me just see your shoulder.” 

You slowly pressed on his shoulder and he groaned in pain. You bit your lip, thinking about what to do. 

“Can you um take off your shirt? I just want to see if th-“

He excitedly took it off, “You don't have to ask me twice.”

You couldn’t help but roll your eyes. You tried to focus on his shoulder and not get distracted by his really attractive body. You scanned his shoulder and found a huge bruise on the back of his shoulder. 

“Okay so good news I don’t think it's dislocated. There's just a huge bruise here. Which I cannot believe you didn’t notice since it’s the size of my hand.”

“Well your hand is small so..”

“Shut up. Anyways, I think you just have to leave it and let it heal on its own. You can put this cream on and it can help with the pain and also take Tylenol.”

“Can you put the cream on me? Please?” he whined.

“God you're so an-“

“I know I know I'm annoying. Now pleaseee!”

You put some of the cream on your hand and put it on his shoulder. 

“Done.”

“You didn't even rub it in!”

You really were not interested in rubbing your hands all over his chest, “Taehyung, can't you just do it?”

“It's literally on my back I can't reach it! Pleaseee!”

You huffed, annoyed at his puppy dog eyes that could literally convince you to do anything. You slowly rubbed the cream on his shoulder, trying hard not to think how soft his skin felt, how toned his body was, and how his body was literally radiating so much heat, making your entire face flush.

“Your hands are literally so soft __________. I should hire you to do massages for me.”

You chuckled nervously, trying to hide your blushing face, “Well for you it would be $1000.”

You wiped your hands on a napkin, “Anyways, I should go. I'm sure you’ve got someone to meet.” You started to get up, but he pulled you back next to him.

“I have nothing to do. Just sit with me. We never hang out anymore. I mean it's usually never just the two of us.”

Why the fuck does he have to do this? Why is he still acting so flirty? Doesn't he know it hurts me? 

You felt the anxiety building up in your heart, you just really, really fucking wanted to get over him. You sat on the bed, a little too close to him for your taste.

“Can I tell you a secret _________?” he said leaning back on his bed, pulling on his shirt.

“What?”

He gave you his iconic teasing smirk, “You were my first crush.”

He was yours too. Kinda pathetic right? You loved him since 3rd grade and here you are, so many years later, still in love with him.

“I didn't know that,” you said, adjusting your sitting position. You rested your head comfortably against the headboard, crossing your legs.

“Yep, I had a crush on you in second grade. And third grade. and also fourth. Then in 5th grade, all the boys collectively decided girls were gross so I had to pretend I didn't like you.” He said, scooting so his shoulder was pressing against yours.

You chuckled, “I remember that. You told me I had cooties and that we couldn’t hang out anymore.”

“Yea I was kinda stupid then.”

“Just then?” You said teasingly.

He ruffled his hair, “Okay I’m still kinda stupid. But I got better with girls.”

You felt a pang to your heart. He got better with girls and fell out of his crush for you because he probably came to the not so surprising conclusion that there were so many other pretty girls. Obviously his crush on you was because you were just children, nothing that actually meant anything real. His feelings for you were absolutely none existent now. You had to keep reminding yourself of that. 

“Is that why you used to pick flowers from the neighbor’s garden for me?” You said, recalling your younger days with Taehyung

He nodded, laughing “Yea I didn't really know how to impress you but I noticed you would always talk about how pretty their flowers were. And thus the romancing began.”

“I appreciated the flowers for sure, not so much all the teasing.” You were fiddling with your hands, recalling how Taehyung used to pull at your braids or do stupid things like get detention just to get your attention.

Taehyung shrugged, “Don't you know ____________ that's how boys flirt. They tease the girls they like, just so they can see them blush and smile.”

“Hmm I guess. Jungkook did that to Hana a lot, and he honestly still teases her. it's so cute.” 

“Hey! Whenever i tease you, you just punch me or call me fucking annoying.”

“It's different.” 

“How?”

“Cause you're not flirting with me. You're just teasing me cuz we’re friends. So its different.”

“What if I told you that I tease you to see that cute blush on your face?”

This was getting too much. You couldn’t take it. He was doing the same exact shit again. You couldn’t handle being his friend if he was going to act like this. You knew Taehyung was a naturally flirty person but it was different now. You had actual feelings for him and he didn't so all of this teasing and flirting was just shoving your heartbreak back into your face. If this friendship was going to last, you needed to set some boundaries with him. The old you wouldn't have done this. Before, you would have just brushed it off, ignoring all of his flirty comments. But you were going to put yourself and your feelings first now. 

You spoke seriously, “Taehyung, I can't be your friend if you're going to act like this. You can't flirt with me okay? Friends don’t flirt with each other. Friends are just friends and nothing more. This is what you wanted so please make this easier for me.”

The mischievousness and the dangerous flirtiness disappeared replaced with your weakness, his innocent huge doe eyes, “Oh. I'm sorry. I didn't realize.”

You stared at your hands in your lap, “It's okay.”

You looked at him and gave him a reassuring smile. Taehyung slowly bit his lip and leaned his face close to yours, “Do you still like me?”

You were taken aback by his closeness, “Of course I like you, I mean we are still friends.”

He leaned in even closer, his nose touching yours, his breath tickling your neck, “No, I mean do you like me, like me? Are you still in love with me?”

Your heart was beating out of your chest, you felt like you couldn’t breathe, he was so close to your face. You couldn’t lie to him, he would know right away. Looking deep into his eyes, you softly nodded.

He broke into his boxy grin and licked his lips, his gaze dropping to your lips, “Good, because it will make this a lot easier.” 

Then he kissed you. Hard. He pushed you into the pillows on the bed, his legs planted on each side of your hips, his body pressing into yours all while kissing you deeply. Your entire body was electrified, buzzing. It felt so good again, so comforting, so natural. One of his hands traveled to your face, cupping your cheek while the other pressed into the curve of your waist. Your hands immediately twisted into his curls. His lips were warm and soft, just like you remembered. He softly bit your lower lip and you gasped, providing him an opportunity to slip his tongue into your mouth. You couldn’t help but moaned against his mouth when you felt his tongue. Taehyung rasped into your ear, sending shivers through your body, “Fuck you’re beautiful.” He pushed his chest against yours, kissing you deeper as if he was trying to get closer.

You broke the kiss, the flavor of strawberry still tingling on your lips, completely out of breath, your heart hammering. You looked up at him hovering above you, his lips swollen from kissing you, “Tae, what..? I’m confused. I cant be your fuck buddy or something. I have feelings for you and I know you don't lo-“

He stopped your sentence by kissing your lips softly and slowly. He pulled away slowly, his eyes dancing with excitement. He kissed your cheek sweetly. He spoke, his voice deep and melodic, “I love you ____________”

Your eyes widened in disbelief, you laughed nervously as you sat up properly, “No, no, you don't love me Taehyung. You don't have feelings for me. You told me that.”

He settled next to you as he took your hands in his, “I told you that I was confused and that I wasn’t sure. I never said that I didn't have any feelings for you.”

You shook your head, remembering what Hana told you, “Taehyung if you said you were confused, it means you didn't have feelings. People say they are confused when they are trying to be nice. If you had real feelings for me, then you wouldn’t be confused, you would know that.”

His words came out as a whisper, “I know it now. I know I love you. All these years, I grew to be in love with you and I think I fell in love with you but I didn’t realize it until you told me how you felt. I realized once you weren’t in my life anymore, everything felt different. I didn’t realize I loved you until I did. And I don’t love the idea of you. I love you. Your smiles, your laughs, the way you say fuck in every sentence, The way you call me headass. I love you more than you could possibly understand.”

For the first time, you were completely speechless. You looked around and blinked a few times just to make sure that you weren’t in a dream. Actually what would be worse is if he took it all back. Just like how he did with the first kiss. You were literally on cloud 9 and then he broke the reality to you that he didn't have feelings for you.

He spoke again “I don't know if this is too much right now but if you want I can give you space. i can give you time. I can give you all the time in the world because I'll wait for you.  Cause frankly the way that I see it, you and me? We’re Inevitable.”

 Your hand came up to his cheek, “Taehyung, are you being serious? Are you telling me the truth right now? Do you actually love me? I just…I don't know what I would do if you didn't mean every word you just said right now.”

“I'm sorry _________. I was scared of my feelings. That's why I acted the way I did. The way I feel about you is like nothing I’ve felt before, so I was scared. And I was confused. But I do love you. Everything that happens to you matters to me. You're worth everything and more to me. And I want this. I want you. So badly.”

Your heart swelled, you couldn’t think properly not only because he kissed you but also because of his confession that you waited for since high school. You cupped his cheek and whispered hoarsely, “Kiss me…please.” 

Taehyung then rolled on top of you, pinning you underneath him. He gave you a smirk that made your heart skip a beat and pressed his soft lips against yours once again. He went slowly this time as if he were trying to memorize your lips. Your hands wrapped around his neck, trying to bring him closer to you. The hand on your waist traveled to the outside of your thigh and he slowly wrapped your leg around his waist, pushing his body into yours. He pushed his tongue into your mouth eagerly, and his hand on your leg slowly traveled up your body just until his thumb grazed the underside of your breast. You unconsciously arched up into his touch as your breath hitched at the contact, never having been touched there before. He growled softly, “Fuck, you’re such a good girl.” 

You whimpered as you melted against his plushy lips. His lips left yours as he softly kissed your jaw. Your heart began to pound, you knew where this was going but you were scared. You had never done this before and he had dozens of times with much more beautiful girls. Your anxiety began to crawl over your mind and you exhaled uncomfortably. He felt your body tense so he removed his lips from your jaw. 

He spoke softly, “Hey, are you okay? We don't have to do anything. We can just sit on the bed and chill.”

You tried to control your breathing, “No it's not that. I want to but…I'm nervous. i've never done this before. and you have. a lot. with much more pretty girls. I just…I’m scared..I have no idea what I'm doing.”

Taehyung kissed your cheek, then your forehead, then your lips. He looked deep into your eyes, “You’re beautiful, you know that? Like ridiculously stunning. It's honestly not fair. But I also want you to know I love you for you. The way my heart skips a beat when you talk about what you're passionate about, the way you know what exactly to say to me, the way you aren’t afraid of calling people out on their bullshit. You're my dream girl. Also don't worry about not knowing what to do.  Let me take care of you.”

You nodded softly, your heart completely elated at his words. You had never felt like this before, so loved, so wanted, so warm, “Okay.”

 He slowly began to trace his lips along your jaw and neck, sucking and biting softly with the hot and open mouth kisses. Your mind was completely hazy as you sighed deeply, heart racing. You heard him whisper “mine” into your skin in between kisses and soft bites. 

He made his way back to your lips. You uncontrollably moaned into his lips when he licked into your mouth. Taehyung groaned softly, “Fuck you taste so good.” He bit on your lower lip again when his hips pressed into yours. You moaned his name breathlessly, your cheeks completely red, feeling embarrassed at how desperate you sound. 

He stopped kissing you for a moment and you realized you were completely out of breath. You looked up at him, his pupils were completely blown, his curly hair a mess, a glint of adoration in his eyes. You tugged at his shirt, “Can you take this off?”

Taehyung kissed your forehead, “Of course princess.” He pulled off his shirt and looked at you with his sincere eyes, “Whenever you want to stop, we can stop, tonight is about you.”

You nodded, knowing he would immediately pause whenever you started to feel nervous or anxious. Your words tumbled out when you saw his defined golden body, “You're so hot”

He immediately cupped your face, pulling you in for a needy kiss. He broke away for a moment, “I’ve waited so long to hear those words from you.”

You smiled shyly, “I've always thought you were hot. I just never wanted to tell you.”

He kissed you softly, “What else do you like about me? What do you love about me?”

You tried to hide a smile, looking up at him, “um..”

He gave a fake gasp, “Um?!”

Your cheeks twinged red and you began to ramble, “Sorry! I know what I love about you but it's hard for me to pinpoint. I love just everything. Your personality, you're so kind and sweet and gentle and you make me feel like I matter. You listen to me, like actually listen and care. I mean you're the one I think about as I lie awake at night. I also love how yo-“

He cut you off with a kiss and pulled away delicately, “You are so cute.”

You anchored one of your hands in his hair and one around his neck, pressing your lips against his, warmth coursing through your body. Your eyes rolled back as his hips rolled against yours. He whispered, his voice low and husky, “Fuck, you’re so needy for me.” He continued to place open mouth kisses on your lips, his hands remaining your waist, pressing into your body. 

You trembled as you moaned breathlessly when you felt his fingers slip underneath your shirt, skimming  the waistband of your underwear. You couldn’t stop panting into his mouth. you felt his breath tickled your neck, nipping gently, when he praised, “You're being so good for me.”

You were completely intoxicated in his touch, sucking on his bottom lip, responding to his praises with soft moans of his name, with one leg of yours wrapped around his waist.

“Tae.”

“Yes princess?”

“I want you.”

“You have me.”

“No I want you, want you.”

His eyes blinked in realization of what you were saying. He kissed your lips softly again, one hand on your cheek, the other twirling your hair, “Are you sure?”

“Yes”

“Just because you say yes now doesn’t mean you can't say no later. So whenever you want to stop, we stop.”

You nodded, reassuring him you would definitely let him know if you wanted to stop. But you knew you wouldn’t want to. You had wanted this so badly for so long. You trusted him completely, he was your best friend and the only guy you had ever loved. 

Taehyung flashed his boxy smile at you. He tilted your chin as he kissed you deeply. He spoke in his deep voice, sending trembles through your body,  “I can’t wait to fucking wreck you.”

———————————————————————————————————

You tapped your foot impatiently, waiting by the entrance of the building, leaning on the cream colored column. 

He was late. Of course he was late. Even though you reminded him this morning about your plans together. You looked at your phone for the third time in the past ten minutes. No text yet.

You heard the rumblings of thunder, indicating it was going to rain soon. You sighed and stepped into the building, tired of waiting for him. You placed your purse in the x-ray and stepped through the scanner. You walked around and found a bench in front of a large photograph depicting two modestly dressed women looking at each other on beige steps. You stared at the photograph for a few minutes, wishing that the person who would appreciate it the most was here next to you. You felt a tap on your shoulder so you looked to your right and then heard his voice from your left, “Hi.”

You crossed your arms, annoyed, “You're late.”

His curly hair was messy, and he was still breathing heavily as if he just ran all the way here. He sat down next to you and he kissed your cheek, “I know, I know. I'm sorry. I got caught up with Jimin. We were playing smash and then I forgot about the time.”

“Taehyung, I planned this because it was something you were excited about.”

He cupped your cheek, “I know and I thoroughly appreciate it. You're way too good for me.”

You couldn’t help but blush, “Shut the fuck up. I'm mad at you.”

“Aww you're adorable.” he smirked at you, “Nice hickey, by the way,” 

You gasped, clasping your hands over your neck. You felt your face heating up, scandalized by his actions,  “Taehyung! I told you not to make it so visible. This is so embarrassing.”

“Sorry but not really. I like seeing you blush.” He tugged on your arm, lifting you up from the bench, “Now c'mon, lets go look around. It's not everyday I get to walk around a photography museum with my girlfriend.”

After spending a few hours walking through each and every exhibit in the museum, you were thoroughly exhausted. Taehyung held your hand as you walked out of the museum. It was getting dark, with the soft light of the street lamps giving a warm glow. it was sprinkling, giving the air a cool misty tinge. 

Taehyung sat on the wooden bench facing the gardens outside the museum, and pulled you onto his lap. It started to rain harder but the pitter patter of the rain drops on the cobblestone was comforting, reminding you of home. He looked at you with his huge eyes that were sparkling in the dim moonlight. 

You smiled, “What?”

He returned your smile, “Nothing. I just can't believe I get to date my best friend.”

You tried to hide your smile, “You're so mushy.”

He leaned in close to you, “What? I can't say romantic things to my strawberry girl?”

You pressed your lips against his, warmth coursing through your body. He whispered softly, “Your lips are so soft, I could kiss them all day.”

You smiled against his lips, kissing him once more.

“___________”

“Yes?”

“I want you to know, It was always you. You’re my beginning and my end.”

You rested your forehead against his, feeling his hands planted on your hips, “From the moment you called me strawberry girl, I knew it was always you.”

Taehyung looked at you with concern in his eyes, “Are you sure?”

“Sure about what?”

“About loving me.”

You leaned away to study his face, “Of course I’m sure. Why do you ask?”

“I’m scared...that you might love me now but in a few years you might hate me...you might fall out of love with me...that you won’t want me anymore. What happens if you see a side of me that makes you not want me anymore? I can’t help but wonder what I will do if you don’t want me.” 

You cupped his face in your hands, speaking seriously, “I’ll always want you. I’ll always love you. I always have loved you. Even when we fight, even when we say horrible things to each other, we somehow always make our way back to each other. I know you, I’ve seen every side of you good and bad and I want it all.”

He held your hands that were pressed against his face and said gently, “It’s kinda hard for me to put into words but I love you in ways I have never loved anyone else.”

You rested your forehead against his, letting the rain tickle your cheeks as your lips pressed against his.

author’s note: i love the rain aesthetic; its so comforting and romantic (esp the idea of kissing in the rain) anyways thank you to everyone for reading. i really, really never thought anyone would be reading my writing, much less relate and invest in strawberry girl so thank you to everyone who has been following along w the story! i wanted to make the mc as realistic as possible and insecurities is something that we all have to face. bts has been such an important symbol of self love and im so thankful for that bc theyve changed the lives of so many armys! im rambling lol ty for reading and i hope you all enjoyed the final part of strawberry girl. 🥺💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

tags: @fleurmoon @tangledsparkles @chocolatebelievercrusade @brokenobserver @ncitydreamies @soulstaes @bonnyskies @thelilbutifulthings @busansgloss @imluckybitches @xlectrahearts @embrace-themagic @bts-dreamybaby @belshka @trinbin039 @xxlostinseoul @sheislikearock @madjammil @guksflavor @yn-the-reader @kingjvngins @ggukkieland @waves-and-woods @aa-ronpa @agabud @n-dingscene @daydreamersblog @dionysusrage @coolinwbu 

[crispyjenkins]

I dare you to write an Ani5 fix-it fic. I will not be taking criticism and will die on the hill that this is the most powerful ship and could’ve saved the entire clone wars. Bonus points if it features the ship Mace Windu/headaches (bc anakin is a walking mess of shatterpoints and lives to annoy Mace). Codywan to help knock some sense into anakin would also be top tier. I LOVE YOU ZEPH’BUIR

(of course i can’t do a whole fix-it in a quick prompt answer, but i think i’ve set it up for a far happier ending than in canon! support communication and education in relationships (ღ˘⌣˘ღ) and also adhd clones.

fives might be the most i’ve ever struggled with a character (‘cept maybe ahsoka....) so it took a little while to figure out how to write this scene in a way i liked. also, had to go and watch fives clips to try and get my autism brain working, and BOY HOWDY do i actually hate dbb’s take on the clones, especially the accent but everything else too. their character designs make me want to cry. so i’m begging, for me, to imagine this fives like this especially because then we get Tol Anakin and a Smol Clone BF and i think that is a seriously underutilised dynamic.

thank you for the prompt, ad, and for cursing me with this ship in the first place. someday i’ll get around to actually writing them as the battle husbands they are 🧡)

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  Echo's always been good with programming, but Fives is better with the actual building. He's not any good with inventing, maybe, but putting things together? Opening them up and knowing immediately what's wrong? Fives would even say he enjoys it — and being able to talk shop with Skywalker like they're nobody mechanics from the Outer Rim instead of General and Soldier makes the long hyperjumps between missions actually bearable. 

  How that led to him sitting in a rarely used hallway on the Resolute with Skywalker ("Anakin," he keeps insisting with a smile), both leant over a mouse droid in pieces on a drop cloth, Fives isn't really sure. It probably had something to do with Skywalker's excited bounce when he'd come to ask if Fives wanted to help him, the sparkle in his eye reminding Fives just how young the both of them are. How, technically, he's older than Anakin.

  Because, yeah, he is Anakin, not Skywalker, when they're like this. With his growing knight cut a curly untamed cloud around his ears, grease smeared on the underside of his jaw, with Fives stripped down to his blacks from the waist up, with even his blasters set on the floor next to them. 

  With it quickly becoming clear that Anakin doesn't actually need help to rewire the mouse droid, but had asked for Fives to join him anyways.

  They've been at it for a few hours now, their jokes winding down to companionable quiet as they both work on separate parts of the droid. It honestly might have been easier to start from a scrap droid than try to rewire this one correctly, but it's easy work Fives could do blindfolded, and sharing the mutually-focused silence is actually quite nice.

  Anakin is elbow-deep in the outer casing when he finally asks, "Do the clones feel love?"

  And Fives almost gets up and walks away. He knows not every battalion ended up with a good Jedi, that the 212th and the 501st had been so kriffing lucky to end up with "The Team", but sometimes he forgets. Maybe that's the worst part of it: slow, personal moments like this, Fives forgets he's not natborn and bearer of a face shared with millions. Being around his general makes him forget, and maybe he had taken that for granted until now.

  Or maybe it's for that reason that he hesitates from storming off, because Anakin had been the one to name Alpha, to insist on giving them proper leave, to defend them from anyone who talks down at them even if they're a planetary leader. And Rex had said something, once, about Anakin’s brain working in either/ors, being hardwired in some way to only see in black and white and believing that if you're one thing, you can't be another. That what Anakin says isn't always what he means.

  So instead, he asks, "What kind of love are we talkin'?"

  Anakin refuses to raise his head, and Fives can almost see him stressing about how to phrase this.  "Y'know, grand romance and stuff. One-and-onlys and holodrama romcom propaganda and imagining growing old together."

  "'Not quite sure what you're asking, sir." He takes a deep breath. "The short answer is yes, we can and do feel that, but the long answer is I can't speak for every brother, and I would not want to. Some of us don't feel that." Shrugging, he passes Anakin a socket wrench before he can ask for it. "But it's not because we can't, not because of the longnecks. We're bred to be obedient, sir, not emotionless."

  Quiet settles over them again while Anakin processes this, his mouth twisted rather horribly. Fives starts to think he would do a whole awful lot to turn that frown back into a haughty smile. 

  "What do you really want to ask, General?"

  "I'm married to Senator Amidala."

  Now, everyone with eyes knows that. Maybe Torrent knows even better, when they've been covering for their general for over a year now, and clearly the Jedi just aren't doing anything about it — but Fives also knows Anakin has never actually told anyone about this, not even General Kenobi. Rex says Anakin still thinks they've been discreet.

  "If I may be blunt, sir, this is not news."

  And Anakin actually laughs at that, shaking his head as he tosses down his tools to stare at the opposite wall instead. Fives watches his gaze go distant, somewhere far away from the Resolute lost in the middle of space. “I’ve loved her since I was nine years old, Fives. I loved her through not seeing her for a decade, through her assassination attempts and the First Battle of Geonosis and becoming a knight, and I...”

  Fives sighs once. “No one said you had to stay in love, sir.”

  “But that’s just it,” he groans. “I’ve never known how to do anything else, how to be anything else. I don’t... know who I am without it.”

  He has to look away from Anakin, then, because he’s seen brothers go stupid for people they meet on campaigns, or for their Jedi, and Fives isn’t nearly as young as some of the shinies out there, but he knows what it looks like, when they leap in without thinking. He lets out a long, slow breath, his eyes falling on the ‘saber at Anakin’s hip. “Permission to speak freely, sir?”

  Anakin blinks at him, and nods.

  “That’s too young to decide what you want to do for the rest of your life.” Fives raises a brow at his general’s startled expression, which is maybe more amusing (endearing) than it has any business being. “General, you’re barely an adult, just the same as the vode. If my mental timeline is right, you weren’t even twenty standard when you married Amidala, which, frankly, was reckless and unfair on her part.”

  “Padmé would never–”

  “I don’t mean intentionally, sir. The fact of the matter is, no wonder you don’t know who you are without her, because you’ve always had her.” That decade of no contact notwithstanding, considering Anakin didn’t not have her, either. “Senator Amidala knew who and what she was before you, and she’ll know who and what she is without you.”

  “That’s not quite fair,” Anakin grumbles, but his throat is flushed in what Fives hopes is entirely appropriate guilt, or at the very least embarrassment. “It was my idea to get married after Geonosis.”

  Fives snorts. “The idea of a child thrown into war, afraid to lose anything.”

  “You’re being uncharacteristically candid, Fives.”

  “Respectfully, sir, the last thing you need is to be coddled.” His general laughs again, this time good and bright in a way he hasn’t heard before; and then Fives can’t help what he admits next. “We weren’t allowed toys, or anything.”

  Laughter cutting off abruptly, Anakin’s eyes grow haunted instead. There might not be anyone else in the galaxy with quite the same experience as the clones, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t those that understand.

  “Hevy made me and Echo– Well, he said they were mythosaurs like Kal taught us about, but they looked more like sad loth cats. He cut up his own bedsheet to make ‘em, and couldn’t tell the longnecks what he’d done with it, so he just slept on the bare mattress.”

  “Fives...”

  But it’s clear Anakin doesn’t actually know what to say, so Fives pushes on. “Some of Fett’s instructors tried to teach us Mando’a, you know? I think Spar is the only brother that ever got fluent, the rest of us have been making up words and combining them with Basic and Kaminoan and whatever else the Cuy’val Dar spoke that sometimes we don’t even remember what language they are anymore.”

  “I didn’t learn Basic until I was five.” Anakin thunks his head onto the wall behind him with a sigh, the mouse droid forgotten at his feet. “Other padawans always told me I was lucky Master Obi-Wan knew Huttese.” Ahh, kark, his general had been a Hutt salve; at least the spice runners made sure their slaves could communicate with their customers. “I couldn’t read a word of Aurebesh when I first came to the Temple, though to be fair, I couldn’t read anything else, either.”

  “You grow up around other kids?”

  “Yeah, my mom and I lived in the biggest slave slum on Tatooine.”

  Fives doesn’t need to tell him how lucky he was just to have had their own quarters. “I think, sir, that the vode know better than you think, what it’s like always standing on the edge of losing everything.”

  Squeezing his eyes closed, Anakin inhales sharply and clenches his fists over his knees. “What happened? To your mythosaur toys?”

  “One of the longnecks found them while we were in training, ‘threw them out before we got back. I think Hevy was even more upset than we were.”

  The leather glove over his prosthesis creaks as he tightens his grip on his own palms. “Was it easy? To just... forget about them?”

  “Of course not,” Fives snorts and crosses his arms, “we were the equivalent of eight standard at the time, but we honestly didn’t have a choice. As we got a little older, we stopped trying to put meaning in things, because we weren’t allowed things. Our names are our only real possession, even our armor can be taken from us, but we will not, cannot, let anyone take our names.”

  Groaning, Anakin scrubs his hands over his face before pushing himself up to finally look at Fives properly. He still doesn’t speak for a moment, just watching him, then teases flatly, “You’ve been spending too much time with Cody and Obi-Wan, you’re starting to speak in riddles.”

  “They are riddles only to you, sir.” He offers a small smile, and is only slightly disappointed when Anakin doesn’t return it.

  Instead, he lets out a winded breath. “So. You’re saying that it’s not easy to let go of even small things, but we must. And then there are things that we shouldn’t let go of?”

  “Some things aren’t ours to keep.”

  Anakin swallows. “Like Padmé,”

  “Like any person, no matter what sort of love we have for them.”

  Groaning, Anakin pulls his knees back up close and drops his face into his arms. “But I still love her.”

  Knowing that this is not a new problem, that General Kenobi has been trying to teach his general this for as long as they’ve known each other, Fives takes a moment to consider. “You don’t really have to stop loving her.”

  “But you said–”

  “You think I stop loving my brothers when they die?”

  Whether or not it’s healthy to hold onto affections for someone after a romantic relationship is a conversation for another time, Fives decides, and leans over to pick up where Anakin had left off with the droid.

  “General, it sounds to me like you already know all this,” he says, twisting a wire into the grip of his glove to yank it from the motor. “And  that you’re digging your feet in — which is the crux of the problem, isn’t it?”

  “You sound like Obi-Wan,” he groans, but doesn’t deny it.

  “Hmm, well, at least we’re still just kids.”

  Anakin very slowly looks up from his arms, just enough for Fives to see his wide eyes. “What do you...?”

  “Well, we’ve still got time to learn, don’t we?” Fives raises his eyebrow as he fits the new wire into the motor and starts to close all the panels back up. “I still think about Hevy and Droidbait and Cutup, and honestly, I still think about Echo’s and my mythosaurs. That’s not a bad thing, I don’t think, not even the Jedi would think that’s bad. I’m still angry when my vode don’t get funerals and I honestly hold that against the Chancellor and the Jedi both. But I don’t get to go back to Kamino and take my anger out on the longneck that took our toys, and I’m... working on it, not being so angry with the generals. I’m still angry. But I know the Jedi have about as much say in all of this as we do, and I know burying my brothers won’t bring them back. So I’m working on it.”

  “I... don’t have to be good at it all at once.”

  “Great Maker, General, just because you’re the Chosen One doesn’t mean you have to actually be good at absolutely everything from the start. You just have to try, and you still have time to.”

  He looks up and finds Anakin already smiling back. “Fives, I could kiss you.”

  “Considering it sounds like Senator Amidala just divorced you, I think that’s a very bad idea, sir.”

  “Bah, you’re no fun.”

  Fives feigns offense, “This mouse droid we’ve rigged to follow Captain Rex around and scream says differently.”

-

  The night the 501st returns to the Resolute after finally (kriffing finally) leaving Umbara, Fives finds a hand-sewn stuffed mythosaur on his bunk, with a string collar and a dogtag etched with CT-782.

-

Mando’a: Cuy’val Dar — “Those who no longer exist”, group of 75 Mando’ade and 25 others put together by Jango to train the clones vod/e —  “brother/s, comrade/s, sibling/s”, technically gender neutral but used most often in fandom as “brother/s” (*in this context, fives is using brothers as gender neutral as well, because you won’t take trans and nb clones even from my cold dead hands*)

[musecharm-writes]

Bad Influence, Pt 3 (Steve Harrington X Reader)

Summary: A couple of days after your first day at Melvald’s, you tell Joyce about something that’s been bothering you; Steve gets help with his crush from a couple of friends.

Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV

Over the days following your first shift, things get much easier. You’ve almost totally forgotten the exchange with Harrington and his friend. You might be able to completely, if it weren’t for their extremely obvious attempts to spy on you.

You think they’re under the impression that they’re being very sneaky, which means they probably don’t know that you’ve already caught on, but it also makes you feel a little sad that this is the best they can do.

You elect to do your best to ignore it; a nosy jerk and his little pal aren’t gonna get to you, not when things are finally starting to go your way.

“You’re cleaning that counter a little forcefully, there,” Joyce observes, carrying a box past you. When she emerges from storage, she asks, “Something on your mind?”

You consider the question. You stop scrubbing the counter like it’s done something to offend you and lean against it, the rag still under your hand. “Nothing. Just thinking about the meeting with Chief Hopper.”

Joyce walks over to a nearby shelf with an inventory checklist on a clipboard. “Uh huh. Okay. So what’s really bothering you?”

You purse your lips. Putting the rag and lemon scented Pledge you were using to clean under the counter, you follow Joyce over to the shelves, shoving your hands in your pockets.

“Steve Harrington’s friend and some kid have been following me,” you confess softly. “Every time I’ve left to go home for the past three days, I’ve caught them trying to spy on me. They’re probably gonna do it again today.”

Joyce looks genuinely concerned. “Steve’s friend? Who, what’s their name?”

You shrug. “Some girl. She was in here with him the other day, I think he called her Bucky?”

Joyce’s eyebrows shoot up toward her hairline. “ Buckley ? Robin Buckley?” She gestures with one hand to indicate a height of about five and a half feet. “This tall? Short brown hair?”

“Yeah, I guess that’s her.”

Joyce has a look of growing suspicion and confusion on her face. She lowers her clipboard to put one hand on her hip. “What did the kid look like?”

You frown as you try to remember. “Uh… a little shorter than that Robin girl, with curly hair, I think. At least, from what I could tell; he was wearing a hat.”

Joyce nods slowly. “...I think I know who we’re dealing with.” She looks you directly in the eye, and says, “Do you want me to tell them to leave you alone?”

You think about saying yes, just for a second. Then, you shake your head. “I’ll tell them to stop if it really starts to bother me. They haven’t realised it yet, but they suck at spying.”

Joyce laughs. “Okay, but if you change your mind, lemme know, and I’ll rough ‘em up for ya.” She smiles playfully, and you can’t help but laugh at the image of Joyce Byers fighting two children for bothering you.

“...Thank you, Joyce,” you say softly.

She gives you an odd look. “For what?”

“For… I dunno. For not being too hard on me, even though you were the one who caught me… doing what I did.”

She sighs, looking around to double check you’re still the only two in the store. “I won’t get into it too much since we’re still working right now, but… I used to be a bit of a wild child myself. I like to give people the benefit of the doubt. Plus,” she gives you a little nudge with her elbow, “Hop likes you. That counts for something in my book.”

You smile at her. “I guess it does.”

--

“You WHAT?”

Dustin and Robin look pleased with themselves, despite the fact that Steve is filled with a murderous rage.

“We’ve been following your crush to make sure the two of you would be compatible,” Dustin repeats. “To be honest, I don’t think you’re cool enough to land this one, but Robin seems to think you have a chance, so I’m gonna go with it.”

Steve points a finger angrily, about to defend himself and his infinite coolness, and then closes his mouth and folds his arms. “I don’t have to signify that with a response.”

Robin chimes in with, “I think you mean ‘dignify,’ genius,” which really doesn’t help their case with the whole ‘Steve-is-incredibly-angry-at-them’ thing.

He throws his hands up, frustrated. “Whatever, who cares! Why have you been following a person who I have zero chance of ever being in a relationship with to find out if we could date? That’s weird! And probably invasive, I think! Which means it’s also creepy!” He stalls out as he realises the possibility that you may have noticed his dunderhead friends creeping on you. “You haven’t been noticed, right?”

Dustin blows a disbelieving raspberry. “Psh! Please, you’re kidding, right? I think if we were able to successfully spy on a bunch of Russian soldiers without getting caught, we can do this, no problem.”

Robin smiles triumphantly. “Yeah, Harrington. Have a little more faith in our abilities.”

Steve shakes his head, running a hand through his hair. He prays that they’re telling the truth; otherwise, he senses some major embarrassment in his future.

Steve sighs, resigned. “Fine. Fine . I’ll let you two keep playing secret agent on my behalf. But if you get caught, lie your asses off about what you were doing, okay?”

They both promise not to put Steve in any more hot water with you than he already is, but it doesn’t fully lay his fears to rest.

“Oh, hey! You should come with us this time! We can fill you in on everything we’ve learned so far, and then you can watch the wild crush in its natural habitat,” Dustin says.

Steve frowns. “I dunno… Sounds like a bad idea.”

“No, I think it’ll be good. That way, if we do get caught, we can say it was all your idea,” Robin jokes. (Or at least, Steve hopes she’s joking.)

Which is how they all end up hiding behind Steve’s car, across the street from Melvald’s, waiting for your shift to end.

When the time finally comes and you’re walking out the door, they have to communicate via hurried whispers in order to coordinate their movements. Steve thanks their lucky stars that you’d walked to work that day.

They follow you down the street away from downtown. In the moments when it seems you’re about to turn around and catch them or you’re waiting to cross the street, they duck into alleys or alcoves, dive behind cars, or hide behind other people. Steve hates to admit it, even only to himself, but he sort of enjoys the exhilaration of sneaking around. He’d forgotten how much he enjoys it.

At the corner of 12th and Oak, after hiding behind a parked car, Dustin hisses, “Shit.”

Steve immediately snaps to attention. “Shit? What do you mean, shit? What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know where--”

“Hey.”

Robin, Steve, and Dustin all yell in surprise, whirling around to find you standing behind them. You have your hands in your pockets, a rucksack over one shoulder, and a bland expression.

“...Hi,” Dustin says awkwardly. He looks around for a moment, apparently noticing for the first time the ramifications of his and Robin’s actions. “Uh, we can explain--”

You hold up a hand. “Don’t bother,” you point at Steve. “You had them,” you point at Robin and Dustin, “follow me, for who knows why and honestly who fucking cares. Please stop. You’re not great at stalking people.”

Ouch. Okay. Well, there’s a hard truth.

“Sorry,” Dustin says, looking genuinely dejected. Steve isn’t sure whether it’s because he upset you or because you said he’s bad at spying.

Your face twitches, like you’re trying to maintain your vaguely stern expression, and then it crumbles, and you sigh. “It’s okay. I’m not really that mad about it since you guys aren’t really bugging me that much, but just…” You run a hand through your hair. “Look, please stop following me around, okay? It’s weird, and a little creepy. I don’t know why you were doing it, nor do I want to know, nor do I really care. I’m just kind of over the weird shit.”

Robin and Dustin share a look before nodding, and Steve says, “Don’t look at me, I got roped into this at the last minute.”

You look confused, but you nod back. “Okay. Cool. Bye, then.”

You go around them and start to walk away, but before you can make it to the crosswalk, Dustin calls out, “WAIT!”

You turn to look back, one eyebrow raised in a silent question.

Dustin says the last thing Steve wanted to hear him say. “Can Steve get your number?”

Steve’s entire face feels like it’s gonna melt off. He’s absolutely going to run away and change his name; this is just too goddamn embarrassing.

Then, you do something that shocks Steve to his core: you laugh. It’s a full, rich laugh, and it makes his heart pound so hard he thinks for a second he might be having a heart attack -- but, like, for real.

And then , you say, “Damn, kid, you have a lot of guts. Sure,” you swing your bag off your shoulder and root around in one of the pockets before emerging with a pen and a small notebook. You scribble your name and number down before ripping the page off and handing it not to Dustin, but to Steve, who feels like he might combust.

“I get home at one o’clock every day for the next two weeks,” you say, with a crooked smile. “Call me any time after that.”

Steve nods, dumbfounded, and you turn on your heel and saunter away.

“Holy shit,” Robin says, laughing, as soon as you’re out of earshot. “I cannot believe that that somehow worked in your favour. You are either the luckiest guy in the world or more pathetic than I originally thought.”

Steve pays her no mind. Instead, he’s desperately trying to remember if there are any rules about when to call once you get the phone number. Do you wait a day, or call that night? Or maybe you wait longer than a day? Or do you wait for them to call you? Wait, shit, he didn’t give you his number. 

Why didn’t he give you his number?

“Steve, I can practically hear you panicking. Calm down, it’ll be fine,” Dustin says.

Steve’s head whips around. He stares at Robin and Dustin, considering his options, and then realising that his only other options are Nancy and Jonathan.

“I need you guys to help me land a date,” Steve says.

--

You spend a couple of hours at home doing nothing in particular. You read a couple pages of a book you pull at random off the shelf, but you can’t concentrate on it, so you turn on the TV and start channel surfing.

All the while, you’re also trying to pretend you aren’t waiting for the phone to ring.

You gave Steve Harrington your number. If you’re being honest, you think you may be  panicking a little, but you don’t really mind the idea of him calling you so much as you mind the fear that this is some kind of joke.

A part of you is very, very afraid that it’s a joke.

You sigh, putting the remote down and stretching out on the couch. You gave him your number; all there is to do now is wait for him to do the rest. No use stressing over it since it’s out of your hands.

At least, that’s what you keep telling yourself. As the hours tick by -- as you make yourself dinner and put some in the fridge for your mom, as you watch a movie with your feet up on the coffee table and a bowl of ice cream in your lap -- you start to lose hope that Harrington ever planned on calling you at all.

Then the phone rings, and you almost drop your ice cream jumping up to get it.

“Hello?” You say casually, proud of the fact that you don’t sound out of breath from running to the phone.

On the other side, Steve Harrington says your name.

“Y-Yeah,” you say, and then clear your throat. “That’s me!”

“Cool, cool,” he says. “So, hey, uh… I was wondering if you wanted to hang out sometime?”

You chuckle. “Wow. That’s a little forward of you, isn’t it?” You’re thankful that he can’t see you blush through the phone.

“Oh. Is--Is that bad?”

You smile, a little charmed despite yourself. “Nah. I’ll give you brownie points for it, if you want.”

“Oh! Sure. I, uh, I love… brownies,” he finishes on a bit of a low note, so you decide to throw him a line.

“You wanted to hang out, Steve?”

“Y...Yeah. Yeah. Uh, if you want. I just… Wanted to give us the chance to get to know each other. Like, under the right circumstances, y’know?”

You hesitate for a moment. You have a feeling that he’s got more in mind than the arcade; after a bit of thought, you admit to yourself that you’re at least curious about where this goes.

“Sure,” you reply. “What did you have in mind?”

“I’ll meet you at your place at… seven on Friday night? If that’s cool with you, obviously. No pressure, y’know.” He sounds a little nervous, and you can’t help but feel for him a little. Poor guy’s clearly out of his depth.

“Yeah, Steve. That sounds great. I’ll see you then.”

It’s not until after you’ve given him your address and hung up that it hits you: you might, potentially, have a date with Steve Harrington.

Steve Harrington, who saw you get arrested.

Great.

[sassy-starker]

Five Times Stark Industries Employees Saw Peter Parker

(And One Time They All Found Out Who He Was)

Word count: 9128

CW: none

Notes: I promised @tony-is-my-daddy that I would tag them in my fluff fic and that was literally almost 2 weeks ago so I’m really, really sorry. I got caught up with finals and everything, but, I finally present to you, A Self-Indulgent Fic Where Peter and Tony Act Sappy And Confuse Employees

1.

Peter couldn’t focus.  His eyes were bleary and his mind was wandering.  His attention was completely taken up by the hollowness in his chest.  The workshop felt all too empty and quiet, but he knew that background noise wouldn’t help.  He needed someone there.  He needed people— hell, even just a person— to be with him.  His mind felt distant, yet all too aware at the same time and it was driving him insane.  He hated the winter.  He hated seasonal affective disorder.  He hated this.

In a rash decision, before his brain could even think, Peter pulled out his Stark Phone and tapped into messages.  He tapped on his most recent contact and began to type.

Peter: hey, do you think i could go down to the intern labs and just work down there?

Peter: like the ones with the individual workspaces?

Peter: i need to be around people

Tony: Of course! I should be done with my meeting at about 5 so then we can go binge shitty rom-coms and cuddle and eat Chinese food

Tony: Pepper saw me on my phone. Gotta go

Peter: <3

Tony: <3

Peter, now with confirmation, gathered up what he was working on in his backpack and shoved his phone in his pocket before getting up and moving to the elevator.

“Where to, Peter?” FRIDAY asked him.

“Fifty-fourth floor please.”

The elevator moved relatively quickly down the floors, and it wasn’t long until it dinged and the doors opened, revealing rows and rows of worktables with interns scattered around and working on individual projects.  Peter knew that they moved on and off the floor, depending on whether they were working in groups with their department or solo.

People looked over to the unknown young man while he set his stuff down on a table.  He paid no mind, feeling comforted by having people around.  He always felt nice when he knew that he wasn’t all alone, that the world was still there and time was still moving on.  Just as he sat down, though, a lab director from some floor below them walked right up to the desk.

“I’m sorry. I don’t think you’re allowed to be here,” he said in a sickly sweet, obviously fake voice.

“Excuse me?” Peter asked politely, looking up to the man.

“This space is for interns and employees. You don’t appear to be either,” the man elaborated.

“No, I’m allowed to be here,” Peter shot back simply before looking away from the man and reaching for his bag to pull out his project materials.

“Who do you think you are?” the lab director interrogated. “I’ll get you kicked out of this building!”

“I’m Peter-” the young adult started, but was cut off by FRIDAY interrupting.

“No last names, Peter,” the AI warned. “We don’t want anything to happen to you.  I can assure that Peter is allowed to be here.”

Peter simply looked up and gave a shrug to the lab director before continuing to pull out the materials from his bag.  The man looked up to the ceiling fearfully before retreating back to his own workspace.

That was the first time they saw Peter.

2.

The next time Stark Industries employees saw Peter could only be described as chaotic.

The door to the stairs opened and somebody rushed out, weaving their way around people and workstations with practiced ease, all while laughing so hard that there were tears falling from their eyes.

Upon closer inspection, the employees realized that it was, in fact, the mysterious young man from only a week earlier.

Moments after Peter rushed in, the elevator dinged and the doors opened, and out ran the Tony Stark, covered in red and blue glitter. Not to mention that he looked furious, but not the type of furious where he was genuinely angry. It was more like that fond kind of furious, where you’re annoyed and upset, but can’t help but find the situation a bit funny and the person responsible is somebody you care about.

Tony ran out of the elevator, also weaving around his employees and their projects, obviously chasing the young man. By that point, though, the young man was laughing so hard that he had slowed down considerably. Thanks to that fact, Tony caught up and tackled him to the ground. All the employees were frozen in shock and just watching as their boss stood up and rubbed glitter off his skin to get it onto the man he was now standing above.

“No!” shouted the younger, getting up from his spot on the floor and giving the engineer a light shove. Both of them were still smiling and laughing about it though. “This is gonna take forever to wash off!”

“How do you think I feel?” Tony retorted, sprinkling some glitter into the other man’s curly hair. Once again, the younger man gave him a light push.

That’s when the two of them became acutely aware of the attention they had garnered.

“Sorry for disrupting your work,” Peter apologized to the crowd of employees sheepishly.

“We’ll send somebody to clean up the mess we made,” Tony told them, eyeing the trail of glitter he had left on the floor, “but get back to work.”

Hesitantly, they all began to go back to their workstations, but kept their eyes on the two men as they talked quietly and walked back to the elevator. Nobody said a word until the elevator doors had closed, obscuring their view of their boss and the mysterious man.

“Who the fuck is that kid?” Ashley questioned, turning to the coworkers she was in an experimenting group with.

“I have no idea,” Dylan answered, slowly tearing his eyes away from the elevator doors.

“He’s definitely a weird one,” Jenna piped up decisively. “I mean, have you ever even seen a picture of Tony Stark smiling that fondly?”

“And he talked back to him!” Dylan added on. “Like, holy shit, that kid shoved him and Stark only laughed!”

“I’ve seen a lot of strange things while working here,” Ashley told them, sparing a glance at the elevator, “but this is definitely one of the strangest.”

3.

“Please?” Peter begged.

“No,” Tony answered for what felt like the hundredth time. “Gossip spreads across the building quickly and basically every employee is already trying to figure out who you are! I don’t want them finding out and leaking it to the press!”

“But they already know, so what does it matter? It’s not like the rumors will go away if they just don’t see me again!” Peter argued, jumping up from where he was seated in order to stand in front of his boyfriend.

“The rumors will die down if they don’t see you again. They’ll eventually move onto talking about something else,” Tony replied, grabbing Peter’s hand and pulling him close. Peter embraced the man and the two just stood there for a few moments.

“I just want you to be safe,” Tony told him quietly.

“I’ll be fine,” Peter responded, pulling away but still holding onto his boyfriend’s hands. “All your employees sign NDA’s, so even if they did leak something to the press, which I doubt they would, legal would be on their ass and sue them for all they’re worth.”

Tony sighed, realizing that Peter had a good argument that he just couldn’t counter.

“Fine. You can come help me with the presentation.”

Peter pumped his fist in the air and let out a whoop in victory, causing Tony to roll his eyes fondly.

+++

When the employees working in R&D walked into the small auditorium on the 16th floor, they knew Tony Stark was going to be there, but they didn’t expect the infamous mystery man to be there.  On the stage, Peter was talking animatedly about something or other while Tony just listened, a fond smile on his face and his eyes sparkling.

The crowd walked in hesitantly, everybody’s eyes on the two men up front, who still hadn’t acknowledged them.  When everyone was seated and the clock struck the exact time the presentation was supposed to start, the two finally turned to them to get started.

“Hello, R&D department! I hope you’re all doing well!” Tony greeted with his press smile on. “You all know who I am, but I have somebody else here with me today.”

“What’s up? I’m Peter,” the younger man introduced himself, hitting the woah as he said his name.

“Did you just-” Tony started with a sigh before cutting himself off. “You and your fucking tiktok dances.”

“You say that as if you didn’t ask me to teach you the Renegade last week!”

“That was different! That was for the Stark Industries tiktok! I need to be relatable so I stay relevant!” Tony defended.

“And yet you still won’t let me teach you the dance to ‘Say So’ even though it’s iconic!” Peter shot back.

“You and I have different ideas of what counts as iconic,” Tony said dryly before turning back to the crowd of employees. 

“Anyway, today Peter and I will be telling you all about the new prosthetics line that your department will begin developing!”

Despite the importance of the presentation, the employees were only half listening as they were more focused on whispering about the mystery boy.

“Okay but what the actual fuck happened at the beginning of this?” Jenna asked quietly as she leaned over to her coworker on the right of her.

“No fucking clue. I can't believe this dude is just casually talking and joking around with Tony fucking Stark!” Dylan whispered in reply, not taking his eyes off the stage.

“And apparently he taught Stark how to do the Renegade. That’s fucking insane,” Ashley added from Jenna’s left.

The three turned their attention back to the two men on stage, finally listening to what they were saying again.

“Street smarts!” the younger man exclaimed, jumping in about something they were saying before.

“Stay alert out there,” both Peter and Tony quoted with large smiles. As if nothing happened, they jumped right back into the presentation.

“This is the weirdest fucking thing in the world,” Dylan declared quietly.

“I second that,” Ashley muttered.

“I third that,” Jenna added on without taking her eyes off the stage.

The presentation went on a bit longer, but it didn’t drag on.  It helped that the entire time the two men were joking around and making the employees progressively more and more confused.

Peter and Tony wrapped up the presentation soon enough and the R&D employees began to file out, most of them keeping their eyes on the two men talking quietly on stage.  Jenna, Ashley, and Dylan walked out together, some of the last to exit the auditorium, and the three made it to the elevator before Jenna realized she left her jacket behind.  She told her friends that she would catch up to them and way back to the now empty seats.  Not paying attention to the world around her, she looked for where she had sat and made her way through the row until she reached her seat and found her cardigan.

“See, I told you it would be okay,” said a voice from the stage.  Jenna turned around and saw Peter talking to Tony, the men standing close together.

“You know I just get worried,” the billionaire replied, his voice more sincere than Jenna could’ve ever imagined. “I just want to make sure you’re okay.”

“I can take care of myself, Tones. You don’t need to worry so much.”

Jenna felt like she was intruding on a private moment, so she started to make her way out of the rows of seats and back to the door as quickly and quietly as possible.

“Just because I don’t need to worry doesn’t mean I won’t. I care so much about you, Peter. You know I love you.”

Jenna froze in place, right at the end of the row of seats and about to step into the main aisle that led to the doors.  Against her better judgment, she found herself staring up at the two men on the stage, her gaze stuck on them.  She just couldn’t look away.

Peter and Tony were basically right up against each other.  They only were a couple inches apart with both their hands intertwined.  She couldn’t see it earlier, but, now that they were right next to each other, Jenna could tell that Peter was about half a foot shorter than Tony.  The younger man was looking up at the billionaire with a bright smile that was returned.  It was like nothing she could’ve ever imagined; a ball of sunshine and pop culture references right next to a man known to be scuffed up and rough around the edges.  It was like this boy brought out a completely different side of Stark.

“I love you too,” Peter replied softly before leaning up on the balls of his feet to give Tony a soft kiss on the lips.

Jenna, sucked in a breath of air harshly, the sound being enough to alert the men to her presence.  The two men stared at her with wide eyes for a moment and she stared right back.

“Shit.” Tony broke the silence of the room, his voice conveying the concern written across his face.  Peter put a hand on his forearm and schooled his features into a comforting look.  The man looked over at him and tried to take solace in his lover’s gentleness.

“I told you something was gonna go wrong,” the billionaire said with a mix of concern and fear on his face.

“We’re not getting into this argument again,” Peter responded decidedly, his tone making it sound final.

“I- I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize I was walking in on anything. I just came in because I forgot my jacket! I . . . please don’t fire me, Mister Stark,” Jenna stammered once she had broken out of her shocked stupor.

“He’s not going to fire you,” Peter reassured her with a kind tone.

“Well . . .” Tony said, but his tone was a bit humorous.

“You’re not gonna fire her because we decided we couldn’t wait until we got back to the penthouse to be all sappy.” Peter gave the man a stern look and it occurred to Jenna once again that this soft, delicate-appearing brunet clad in pastels had somehow reined in the man who had spent so many years being known as a playboy.

“I’m not going to fire you, but you can’t tell anybody, not even anyone within the company. If you do, my legal team can and will sue you for all you’re worth. Understood?” Tony had a dangerous edge to his voice, letting the girl know that he was completely serious. There was no way that this was an empty threat.

“Understood,” Jenna replied with a curt nod. “But I just have one question.”

“Shoot,” Peter told her.

“How old are you? Because . . . well, you look pretty young.”

Tony started laughing and Peter gave him an annoyed look.

“Stop laughing! You do this every time!” Peter exclaimed, lightly slapping his arm.

“Everybody thinks you’re, like, sixteen! You look barely old enough to have your license!” Tony shot back, his laughter dying down.

“I’m twenty-one,” he told Jenna. “I’m not underage, if you were wondering. Tony may be a bit of a mad scientist, but he doesn’t date people who are underage.”

“Okay, good. I was just worried for a second. Um, thank you for not firing me and I swear I won’t tell anybody. I should get going,” she rushed out with a relieved smile.  Without another word, she made her way out of the auditorium, holding her jacket close to her chest.

When she got back to her floor, Dylan and Ashley bombarded her with questions about what took her so long, but she just told them that it took her a second to find it.  Of course, they weren’t satisfied with that answer, but Jenna didn’t let anything slip.

That was the third time Stark Industries employees saw Peter.

4.

When Jenna walked into work the next morning, early as always, she found an envelope sitting on her designated area of her group desk, which separated into four sections for her project team to sit at. Across the front, it had her first name written out in a neat, cursive scrawl. She furrowed her brows as she looked at it, questions racing through her mind as she wondered who it could’ve been from.

Without another thought, she ripped it open and pulled out the contents. She unfolded the paper that was inside only to find a letter written in the same handwriting.

Dear Jenna,

I wanted to write you a letter, but realized that I never caught your name yesterday. I hope you don’t mind, but I asked FRIDAY who you were. Thinking back on it, that definitely makes me sound like a creep, so I apologize.

I wanted to thank you for not completely flipping out on Tony and I in the auditorium yesterday. I know that the whole thing was definitely crazy and it would’ve made sense if you freaked out. I also wanted to thank you for not immediately telling anybody. Seeing as no news stories have come out and nobody in the building has confronted Tony, I’m assuming you didn’t leak it, which is relieving.

I hope you’re doing well and if you need literally anything, just drop off a letter in the company mailroom in box 106.

As a thank you, there’s a Starbucks gift card also in the envelope! I wasn’t sure if you liked coffee, but seeing as you work in R&D and most of the employees in that department survive off coffee, I’m going to assume you do. Enjoy!

I’ll (hopefully) talk to you soon!

-Peter

P.S. Tony might not say it, but he’s also grateful that you haven’t leaked anything! I can promise that you’re good in his books :)

“What’s that?” Ashley asked, sneaking up behind Jenna and startling the woman.

“It’s nothing,” Jenna replied quickly while shoving the letter back into the envelope and cramming it into her bag. Ashley gave her a suspicious look but let it go, sitting down at her area of the group desk that was beside Jenna’s.

“I have a prediction!” Dylan announced as he entered the almost empty floor and waltzed over to Jenna and Ashley. He collapsed onto his stool and dumped his bag onto the floor beside him.

“This should be good,” Ashley muttered sarcastically, crossing her arms.

Jenna just looked away.

“So, we’ve established that it’s strange that nobody has ever heard of Peter and how, out of nowhere, he shows up!”

“Yeah, that’s kinda why we all think it’s weird,” Jenna shot at him, hoping that it covered up her panic.

“It’s also odd that he’s got a bit of a resemblance to Stark,” Dylan continued, decidedly ignoring her.

“I don’t see it,” Jenna interrupted once more, but the man didn’t stop.

“Maybe, just maybe, Peter is Stark’s son who he didn’t want in the spotlight until he was old enough to handle it!”

Ashley gasped while Jenna glanced away from them with a look of both panic and amusement. 

“Or Peter is Stark’s illegitimate child and he doesn’t want to have a scandal!” Ashley built on the theory with an excited smile and wide eyes.

“What do you think, Jenna?” Dylan asked, and both of Jenna’s teammates had their eyes on her.

“I think you two are full of bullshit,” Jenna told them, trying hard to keep her voice steady. “He’s probably just Stark’s intern. Maybe he’s a super genius or something.”

“Bor-ring!” Ashley replied with a roll of her eyes.

“Yeah, our theory is way better,” Dylan bragged, a bit of humor in his tone.

Jenna stayed oddly quiet for the rest of the morning.

+++

When lunch rolled around, Dylan and Ashley went off to the food court floor of the building, but Jenna decided that she wanted to make use of the Starbucks gift card she’d been given. When she opened the envelope back up to get it, she discovered that it was a two-hundred dollar gift card, which left her in shock for a few moments. Still, she shook herself out of it and went to go get a sandwich and a coffee.

After lunch, she found herself back with her teammates, working on their project, but sipping on a venti white chocolate mocha this time around. Around half an hour after they’d come back from lunch, the elevator doors opened to reveal Peter, wearing a sunny yellow sweater that matched the smile on his face. He walked out of the elevator and seemingly ignored all the eyes on him. He made his way over to a table working on prosthetics and began to help them out, the team there looking a bit surprised but extremely grateful for the assistance.

When Peter looked up and spotted Jenna, he gave her an even brighter smile, which she returned. She shook the coffee cup in her hand a little, bringing his attention to it, and he gave a silent chuckle. Jenna took a sip of her mocha and turned back to her project.

“What the fuck was that?” Ashley asked, drawing both of her teammates away from where they were designing arm prosthetics.

“What?” Dylan and Jenna replied in unison.

“That little interaction you just had with Peter,” the blonde woman elaborated, looking at Jenna accusingly.

“What interaction?” the man piped up before the brunette could respond.

“She and Peter made eye contact and smiled at each other and then Jenna held up her coffee cup and Peter chuckled!”

Dylan gave Ashley an incredulous look before shifting his gaze to Jenna.

“It was nothing,” Jenna defended with a level voice before getting back to work.

“Does this have something to do with the letter from this morning?”

“What letter?” Jenna and Dylan asked in unison.

Ashley sighed. “Jenna, come on, just tell me what’s going on? Is there something you know that we don’t?”

Before the brunette could even respond, Peter passed by their table.

“Hey, Jenna!” the young man greeted cheerily.

“Hey, Peter,” she responded, a smile on her face.

When he was gone, she went right back to her work, ignoring the looks from her teammates.

Jenna knew it was going to be a long rest of her day.

That was the fourth time Stark Industries employees saw Peter.

5.

By the next Friday, the questions from Dylan and Ashley had died down, but the suspicious glances were definitively not stopping, nor becoming anymore secretive. Luckily, though, Jenna was becoming better and better at ignoring the looks from her coworkers.

There were no more appearances from Peter, but Jenna had been enjoying exchanging letters with the brunet. The letters would sometimes be accompanied by pictures, mostly of Peter and Tony, and the woman had fun printing dumb pictures of her own and sending them back. The two would share funny stories and talk about themselves, though Peter still never shared his last name, but the brunette didn’t blame him for that; she knew he wanted to continue to keep himself on the down low. Tony would sometimes put in a few sentences on a letter, mostly a short quip about something his boyfriend wrote, and Jenna couldn’t help but find her boss’s dry wit rather humorous.

As the weekend approached once more, Jenna found herself feeling glad to get away from her teammates’ conspicuous looks and probing questions. When it reached midday, she was beyond happy to escape to the food court, rushing in order to get ahead of Ashley and Dylan. 

When she walked into the food court, she knew there was something going on. The chatter of the floor was quieter than normal, despite the normal amount of people being there. It was less conversation and more pointed whispers. When she followed where everybody’s eyes were looking, she discovered Peter sitting at one of the round tables on his own.

The young man had a couple slices of pizza on a plate in front of him, with one slice in his hand. He had wireless earbuds in and his phone was propped up using a pop socket attached to the back. It was obvious that he was watching some show or another.

Jenna simply shrugged and went to grab her own food, paying no mind to the whispered gossip spreading across the floor. She got a container of Chinese food from one of the stations and looked around to find a place to sit before realizing that she didn’t know where to go. She usually sat with her teammates, but she had been trying to escape them until she had to get back to work, which left her with nobody to eat lunch with.

In a strange and unusual burst of confidence, Jenna walked across the floor and toward Peter’s table, decidedly brushing off the eyes that followed her. She put her food down and sat in the chair across from her boss’s boyfriend, attempting to act casual as the quiet chatter toned down in order to hear what happened next.

Peter looked up when she sat down, seemingly confused that somebody was joining him at his table. When he saw that it was Jenna, however, he cracked a bright smile. He took out his earbuds and put them back into the carrying case before shutting off his phone and setting it face down on the table.

“Hey, Jenna!” His tone was bubbly, an air of familiarity to it. Just hearing him talk made Jenna feel calmer; the boy had a way of doing that.

“Hey, Peter,” she greeted back, less excitedly but still conveying that she was happy to see him again. “What’s up?”

“Not much! Tony’s in a meeting and I decided to come down here for lunch. I didn’t like how quiet it was.”

“I think you mentioned that once. That you don’t like being alone in spaces, I mean.” Jenna paid attention to every word in every letter she received from the young man. She felt like she connected to him in a way that she’d never connected to anybody before; it wasn’t like any friendship she had in the past.

“Yeah. It just feels nice to know that the world is still turning and I’m not completely alone.” He looked sad for a moment, eyes glazed over and distant. It was a somber kind of happiness, a mix of emotions that weren’t supposed to be mixed in case of an explosion, but not a loud one; it was more of a combustion, internal and quiet, soft and powerful. “But, anyways, what’ve you been up to?”

“Not much,” Jenna replied, trying to move on from the delicate moment. “Been working on the prototype for the prosthetics and I think it’s going well. There’s a few bits and pieces that me and my teammates have gotta work out before we send the design to our lab director, but I think we’ll get there soon.”

“That’s really cool! I honestly can’t wait for the prosthetics line to go into production! I think it's really gonna change the game since it’s gonna be a high tech line but also more affordable than the competitors!” Peter’s eyes were shining, the gleam replacing the far off look from only moments earlier.

“I’m excited for it too!” Jenna admitted. “I know it’s gonna help so many people and I can’t wait for it to go on the market!”

Peter opened his mouth to respond, but his phone buzzed before he could speak. He picked it up and read the notification, giving a small chuckle and typing out a response before looking up at Jenna.

“Was that . . .?” Jenna trailed off, unsure of how to finish the sentence but sure that the brunet caught her drift.

“Yeah,” Peter responded easily with a fond, but exasperated, look. “He finished his meeting and asked if I saved him some food from my lunch. I did, but I’m tempted to eat it myself and tell him to go get his own food.”

Jenna snorted.

“I’m not that mean, though, so I’m gonna take him the last two slices.” He slid his phone into his back pocket and his earbuds case into his front one before standing up and grabbing the plate with the two slices of pizza.

“I’ll see you later, Jenna!” he called as he walked away, heading towards the private elevator.

“See you, Peter!” With that, the woman went back to eating her lunch, as if nothing had happened at all.

When two people sat down at the table, Jenna looked up at them, only to find her two teammates, who had bewildered and suspicious looks on their faces. Dylan’s brow was furrowed and Ashley’s eyes were narrowed, the blonde obviously more dubious than him.

“What the actual fuck, Jenna?” she asked, voicing everybody’s thoughts.

“What?” the brunette replied as if she didn’t know.

“Don’t act all innocent! How are you so friendly with him?! This shit doesn’t add up!” Dylan nodded along to Ashley’s words. 

Jenna gave an exasperated sigh.

“Sorry, but that’s confidential information. NDA’s and all that, ya know?” She was trying everything she could to weasel her way out of it, but it was the first time she’d given her teammates a semi-straight answer, even if it wasn’t that revealing.

“Oh, come on, Jenna!” Dylan finally spoke up. “It can’t be anything that serious! Just tell us what’s going on?”

“I’m afraid that Ms. Locke is right, Mr. Hoffman. This is confidential information that Ms. Locke does not have the authority nor the necessity to reveal to you,” FRIDAY interrupted, garnering the attention of the people watching.

Jenna only shrugged under the intense gazes of her coworkers, but it still shut them up about it.

That was the fifth time Stark Industries employees saw Peter.

+1

It was relatively quiet for the next few weeks after the food court incident. While the suspicious glances remained, the questions had died down, though whispers still followed Jenna around as her coworkers spread rumors about how she knew Peter.

Speaking of the brunet, he hadn’t shown up since the incident, but he and Jenna had continued to exchange letters, becoming closer friends as time went on. The next time news about Peter came, it was only news for Jenna, as nobody else had any clue of how the young man was involved.

It had happened when Tony Stark had come to the R&D floor to talk to the employees there about the progress on the prosthetics line. Everybody had been trying extra hard to look busy as the man went around, all of them hoping to seem like they were valuable employees who actually did work.

Jenna’s team was the last that the billionaire came to, but as soon as he started talking to them, the brunette noticed something.

He had an engagement ring on.

The woman mentioned nothing, though she did freeze for a moment when she noticed it. Still, she pushed through and continued with the discussion about the progress they had been making.

When her boss later stepped away to answer a text, she quickly told her coworkers she had to use the restroom, rushing away and going down the hallway that Tony had gone down, which happened to lead to the bathrooms.

When she got there, she found him smiling down at his phone and typing quickly.

“Did you guys get . . .?” Jenna started, but trailed off at the end, startling the man a bit. He looked up at her, eyes a bit wide, but immediately recognized her. He looked confused at the question for a moment before realizing that her eyes were on his ring.

“Yeah, we did,” Tony answered, looking a bit sheepish as a blush painted his cheeks.

“How did it happen?” It was obvious that the girl was excited to find out.

“It’s actually pretty funny. I got down on one knee to propose and he looked so exasperated and I freaked out because I thought he was gonna break up with me or something. Instead, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a ring box. He was planning on proposing that night too.”

“That’s absolutely incredible!” Jenna told him excitedly, but still kept her voice quiet.

“When we told our friends, they all looked so unsurprised that something like that would happen for him and I.”

The two both laughed before the billionaire’s phone buzzed again.

“I’ve got a meeting in, like, five minutes, so I should probably go.”

The two said their goodbyes and he started to walk back out to the main area to head to the private elevator, but stopped and turned around before he could.

“Just do you know, you’re invited to the wedding.”

Without another word, he walked away, leaving Jenna standing there in shock. A million thoughts were racing through her head and her eyes were still trained on the end of the hallway where the man had disappeared from.

“I’m invited to the wedding,” she whispered to herself. Taking a moment, she shook herself out of it and began walking back to her team’s table to get back to work.

Before she could get there, though, Ashley rushed at her and grabbed her arm, pulling her back the way she came. The blonde pulled her into the women’s restroom and checked every stall to make sure they were empty before turning back to her coworker.

“What the fuck it this?!” She held up a letter and  Jenna immediately knew who it was from. She snatched it from her co worker's hand and skimmed through it, praying to Thor that it wasn’t one of the letters that explicitly mentioned Peter dating Tony. She then proceeded to thank Thor when she realized that it was one one of the notes that mentioned a relationship, but not outright who it was with.

“Okay, Peter and I have been talking through letters. So what?” she replied, attempting to keep her voice steady so it sounded like she wasn’t fazed by the whole thing.

“Are you fucking with me?! You’re friends with this mysterious dude who’s all buddy-buddy with Tony fucking Stark and you’re expecting me to just let that go?! You’re out of your mind!” Ashley was obviously worked up about the whole thing and the brunette didn’t know what to say, but, luckily, her coworker started talking again before she could get a word out.

“You’ve been so secretive these past couple months and it’s been annoying as all hell! You’re not telling me anything and it feels like I’m so disconnected from you! Just tell me what’s going on!”

“I can’t! I can’t tell you what’s going on! I’m sorry that I don’t wanna lose my fucking job just so you can know every aspect of my life! Just let it go and leave me and my letters alone!” Jenna blew up, which was something she didn’t do very often.

Unsurprisingly, Ashley looked taken aback, shock written across her face. Jenna immediately regretted it.

“I’m sorry,” she told her friend softly. “I just can’t tell you.”

Jenna turned around and left the bathroom, the letter in her grasp. As soon as she was out, she went to her lab director and asked if she could leave a little early, giving the excuse of feeling sick. Of course, her lab director was understanding as always and let her go. She quickly gathered her stuff, ignoring the looks from Ashley and Dylan, and hightailed it out of there.

+++

“Dylan!” the R&D lab director, Kelsey, called from her office.

The man shot up from his team’s table, where the silence was as dense as molasses and the tension was so thick that you could cut it with a knife.

“Yes?” Dylan asked as he made his way over and placed himself in the open doorway. The director stood up and handed him a couple files.

“I have to go to a meeting, but these files need to be turned in. Could you take them up to the boss’s office for me?”

“You- you want me to take these to Mr. Stark?” His voice was a bit shaky.

“It’s not that big of a deal. You go to floor 89, you find the office with his name on it, you knock on the door, you tell him that I sent you, you give him the files, and you leave. I promise it’s not as stressful as you think it is.” Kelsey’s tone was comforting, but it did little to ease his anxieties.

“Okay,” he muttered, turning around and heading towards the elevator.

When the doors opened and Dylan stepped in, he found himself alone in the elevator. The silence was filled up by his anxious thoughts about what could go wrong. He spent the entire ride up trying to take deep breaths and remember that it was a simple job; just go in, give him the files, and leave.

The elevator stopped and he stepped off onto the eerily quiet office floor. It seemed that nobody was there and it freaked him out; it felt like a horror movie. He crept along the halls until he made it to a door with his boss’s name on it. He raised his hand to knock until he heard voices coming from inside.

“I don’t get why it’s such a big deal.” That was Tony Stark’s voice, and Dylan recognized it immediately.

“It just is!” A voice replied. It took Dylan all of three seconds to realize that it was the mysterious Peter who seemed to show up at the most random of times.

Against his better judgment, Dylan peered through the semi-open blinds that covered the windows of the office. When he did so, he found Peter sitting on the edge of the desk and Tony a couple feet in front of him.

“It doesn’t seem like that hard of a decision. If you don’t like this guy, don’t invite him to the wedding! It’s so simple!” The billionaire looked confused at the dilemma at hand, though Dylan had no clue what they were talking about. He was getting married?

“But it’s not! I don’t want to invite him, but it would be rude if I didn’t!” Peter looked worked up about the whole thing, face slightly flushed and fiddling with his hands.

“It might be rude, but if you don’t want him there, then don’t invite him!”

“It’s not that simple.”

“Except that it is.”

“Maybe for you!” It wasn’t a yell, but it wasn’t quiet. Peter had stopped fiddling with his fingers and was now pulling slightly at his hair.

“What do you mean?” Tony spoke like he could accidentally shatter the young man in front of him if he wasn’t careful.

“I mean that you’re Tony Stark. You’re a famous billionaire that can do whatever you want. If you don’t want to invite somebody, you don’t invite them. You don’t care if it’s rude because you’re Tony fucking Stark and you can do anything you’d like. I’m not like that, I can’t just do whatever I want. I’m Peter Parker, an average guy from Queens, and I’ve always been just that. If I’m rude, there’s consequences and it can actually affect my life. I have to think things like this over, even if you see it as trivial.”

Tony paused for a moment, letting the words sink in.

“Except you’re not just some average guy. You’re Peter fucking Parker. You’re incredible. You’re gonna change the entire world. Maybe I don’t get these kinds of things because I was raised in such a different world than you, but all I want is for you to be happy. Whatever choice you make here, I’ll be fine with, but that isn’t what I care about. I care about you, because you’re the most amazing person on this planet. You’re Peter Parker, the man I fell in love with.”

Dylan’s jaw dropped as he finally found the closure he’d been seeking for months. He knew what Peter’s last name was, he knew what relationship he had to Tony Stark, he knew who Peter was. He had never expected this, though. He cringed as his mind went back to that theory he had about Peter being Tony’s son.

He watched as the two shared a short kiss and finally moved back in front of the door, feeling the need to give his boss the files, run back down to his floor, and tell his teammates everything.

Dylan knocked on the door and he could almost feel the two men inside freeze in shock. It only took a second before the door opened, though, and revealed Peter Parker standing there with Tony Stark slightly behind him, both of them looking worried.

“Uh, I’m from R&D and my lab director, Kelsey, asked me to deliver these files,” Dylan stuttered out, failing at his attempt to remain casual.

“Oh, uh, yeah, yeah, thanks,” Peter replied, seemingly relieved as he took the files.

“I, um, bye, I guess,” Dylan stammered before turning around and booking it out of there. He could feel the two men’s eyes on him as he left.

When Dylan got to the elevator, he pressed on the button a few times, praying for it to arrive faster, and jumped on the moment the doors had opened wide enough to get through. He then adamantly pressed the button for the R&D floor. The elevator ride down felt much longer than the one up.

When Dylan did get to his floor, he raced through the doors and to his teammates, grabbing each of them by the upper arm and dragging them into the men’s restroom. He checked every stall to make sure they were alone before locking the bathroom door and turning back to his teammates.

“You guys aren’t gonna believe this!” Dylan announced. “I found out some crazy shit!”

“Why am I here?” Jenna asked him in a deadpan voice. “Can I leave?”

“Jenna, you’ll actually wanna hear this! I found out who Peter is!”

Ashley and Jenna both froze, but for different reasons.

“You gotta tell us!” Ashley exclaimed excitedly.

“No, you better fucking not!” Jenna said over her.

“What?! Why?!” Dylan looked genuinely confused.

“Because we’re not supposed to know! It’s obvious he wants to keep his identity a secret! You can’t go around telling people! You need to tell him and Stark that you know so they can feel sure that his identity won’t get leaked!”

“God, you’re such a buzzkill, Jenna,” Ashley shot at her.

“No, I’m a good person.”

It made her teammates go silent, the words piercing through them like knives.

“If you wanna go and tell and lose your job, then go ahead, but I want no part of it.” Jenna turned around and started to leave.

“Do you know?” Dylan asked her, making the woman stop in her tracks.

“What?” Jenna slowly turned back to him.

“Do you know?” he repeated, voice cold and serious.

Jenna stayed silent for a few moments, mulling over what she could say.

“Not on purpose . . .”

“And you didn’t tell us?” Ashley questioned, betrayal written across her face.

“Sorry I respect their privacy!” It was obvious that she was very much not sorry.

“Wait . . . did you find out when you went back to get your jacket after the presentation?!” Dylan exclaimed, looking like he had put all the puzzle pieces together. When Jenna stayed quiet, he knew that he had gotten his answer. “Holy shit! What happened?! Did you, like, see them kiss or some shit?!”

“Kiss?!” Ashley shouted.

“Jesus Christ,” Jenna muttered, putting her head in her hands.

“No fucking way! They’re in a relationship?!”

“Yeah!”

“That’s it,” Jenna declared decisively and turned around.

“Where are you going?” Ashley asked her, bewilderment shining in her eyes.

“I’m going to go tell them that Dylan figured it out and that you know,” Jenna told the blonde, voice laced with venom.

Jenna unlocked the door and left, not letting her teammates get another word in, but the two followed her out and watched as she stormed past all her coworkers and to the elevator, disappearing as soon as the doors opened.

“I might lose my job,” Dylan muttered, eyes wide and trained on the now closed elevator doors.

“Is it true?” one of the other employees, Amelia, asked as she walked up to Dylan and Ashley.

“Is what true?” Ashley replied.

“That Peter and Stark are in a relationship? You guys were implying it in there, and you aren’t exactly good at being quiet.”

“I’m definitely gonna lose my job,” Dylan whispered, correcting his earlier statement.

“So it is true!” Eric, another employee, shouted.

Everybody started talking, the floor turning into a storm of chattering.

“We’re so fucked. We’re absolutely, completely, utterly fucked,” Ashley murmured, only loud enough so Dylan could hear, and the man only nodded in agreement.

The two slowly walked forwards, looking around at their gossiping coworkers as they made their way back to their desk. They looked completely horrified, and guilt was quickly eating away at Dylan.

Before they could sit down, the elevator doors opened and Jenna walked out with Tony and Peter in tow. Everybody stopped, staring at the three of them. Peter looked nervous and tears were glistening in his eyes, but Tony just looked furious, his expression mirroring Jenna’s.

“Okay, which of you knows?” Tony asked the room, his voice deadly calm. He didn’t yell or scream, but that steady tone was almost worse than him blowing up at them.

One employee raised their hand, and everybody else followed, the last people to put their hands up being Ashley and Dylan.

“All of you, go to the auditorium. Now. All the other employees will meet you there. Do not say a word of this to them before I get there to talk to them about it. Do I make myself clear?” 

If looks could kill, all of the R&D employees, minus Jenna, would be dead. All of them mumbled their confirmations or nodded and slowly shuffled off to the elevators, heading to the auditorium floor.

Ashley and Dylan had fallen into the back of the crowd and were the last to get onto an elevator, meaning they could see the floor before the door closed. The two watched as Tony turned back to Peter and Jenna, who were looking regretful and heartbroken respectfully. The last thing they saw before the elevator started moving was Peter beginning to cry and burying his face in Tony’s shoulder as the man embraced him and Jenna putting a comforting hand on his back.

By the time the R&D employees reached the auditorium and began to make their way into the seats, other employees were either already there or just getting there. There was chatter, a mix of people confused why they had been called there and those who knew praying that they wouldn’t be fired. The chatter seemed to die down a bit as everybody was seated, all of them waiting in anticipation for whatever was going to happen.

After a few minutes, the doors of one of the entrances to the auditorium, which had been closed, slammed open. Everybody turned, though plenty of them couldn’t see the doors, and watched as Tony Stark stormed down the aisle towards the stage, Jenna Locke behind him and looking slightly less, but still plenty, furious. The two made their way up the three stairs that led up to the stage.

All the employees gazed up at the two standing center stage, and they were glaring back at them with serious faces. After a moment of silence, Tony finally spoke.

“I’m sure the majority of you are wondering why I called everybody to the auditorium. Today, somebody found out something that they shouldn’t have about my private life and, instead of coming and talking to me about it in order to keep it confidential, they went and told somebody, and those people’s department overheard. That person who found out and told will be fired and the person who was first told and was complicit in revealing information about my life will be put on probation.”

In the back of the auditorium, Dylan and Ashley sank down in their seats.

“You may also be wondering why I have one of your coworkers up here with me today. If you weren’t already aware, this is Jenna Locke.”

Jenna gave the audience a curt nod.

“Jenna also found out about this information a couple months ago. Instead of telling anybody, she talked to us and promised to keep it to herself, and she has kept that promise. She was also the one who told me about the information leak.”

The employees, minus the R&D department, were on the edge of their seats, eager to find out the information but scared of their boss and what he could do to them if things got out.

“Seeing as nothing can seem to stay a secret here, I have elected to talk to you all about it. Keep in mind that what happened in terms of this information being revealed was a serious breach of confidentiality and disrespected not just my own privacy. Take this as a warning. If any of you are to tell anybody outside of this company about this, your employment will be terminated and my legal team will sue you to kingdom come. This is not a three strikes you’re out situation. Do not tell a soul about this. Keep in mind the fact that you all signed non-disclosure agreements when you took this job. This counts as a company secret, and you will treat it as one.”

Everybody seemed to nod or give a murmur of confirmation. It wasn’t much, but it appeared to satisfy the man.

“Moving on, I’m sure you’ve all either seen or heard about Peter. Only a select few of you know who he is, though without his consent, and others have seen us interact but never known who we are to each other. This information about our private lives was discovered and we have no choice but to let you all know in fear of rumors and gossip being spread around and taken outside the company. Everybody, please meet my fiancé, Peter Parker.”

The room was shocked into silence, the only sound being the clacking of Peter’s shoes as he softly walked out from the wings and to Tony’s side. None of the employees uttered even a sound as they looked up at the boy, whose eyes were still slightly red and puffy from when he had cried only ten minutes earlier.

“Hey, everybody. I’m Peter. You’ve all probably seen me around,” the young man introduced himself, voice only loud enough to hear. “Like Tony said, we weren’t planning on telling people yet, but we don’t get that choice anymore.”

They were still silent.

“Since this will be your only chance to do so, we’ll be answering questions about this,” Peter continued. Nobody spoke, until one person in the third row raised their hand and the young man motioned to them. “Yes, go ahead.”

“How, uh, how old are you?” the woman asked quietly, looking slightly concerned.

Peter sighed as Tony looked to him with a humorous smile.

“Don’t you fucking dare,” he told the billionaire, who didn’t have a chance to respond before Jenna started laughing a bit. “You too?! I can’t believe you would betray me like this! This happens every fucking time!”

The employee who asked furrowed her eyebrows, seemingly mirroring the confusion of the rest of the audience.

“I’m twenty-one,” Peter told her. “Tony likes to make fun of me because I look like I’m not old enough to drive. Jenna’s laughing because she asked the same question when she found out.”

The woman nodded along with the explanation and everybody went silent again before another person raised their hand and Peter pointed to them.

+++

Eight Months Later

“And this is your team!” Kelsey told the new employees excitedly. “Meet Jenna and Ashley! They’ve been here for a while and are definitely excited to show you the ropes!”

“It’s nice to meet you!” Jenna greeted. “What’s your name?”

“I’m River,” the new guy replied quietly, cheeks flushed.

“I’m glad to have you on the team, River!” Ashley exclaimed.

“I’ll leave you all to it!” Kelsey gave River one last smile and walked off to talk to some teams about their projects.

“We’re finishing up some last touches on the update to the prosthetics line,” Jenna explained to the new recruit as he sat down. He nodded along as she began to explain the project.

Jenna was cut off by the elevator doors opening and Peter walking onto the floor.

“Excuse me for a second,” the woman told her team before jumping up and running over to the brunet.

“Who’s that?” River asked Ashely as he watched Jenna excitedly embrace the man and begin to talk to him.

“Have you signed all your NDAs?”

River nodded.

“Peter!” Ashely called. “Come meet the new kid!”

Peter bounded over eagerly, a large smile on his face as he approached the two employees, Jenna trailing him.

“Uh, hi, I’m River.”

“Nice to meet you, River! I’m Peter Parker. It’s always great to see new faces around here!”

“It’s great to be here,” he replied awkwardly.

Peter nodded and was off again, going around to teams and helping with projects, but, more importantly, just talking to the employees in general.

“Is he a director or something? Everybody seems to know him,” River questioned his team.

“He’s even better than a director,” Ashley told him with a grin. “He’s Tony’s Stark’s fiancé.”

Shock painted itself across River’s face.

“There’s no way that’s real!”

Ashley and Jenna glanced at each other before turning back to River. They didn’t say anything else to him, which was unnerving to the new employee.

As if on cue, the elevator doors opened once more and the Tony Stark walked out, a small smile adorning his face. Peter worked up from where he was helping a team and flitted over to the man happily. The two shared a short kiss before Peter turned back a bit.

“We still on for lunch on Friday, Jenna?”

“Of course!”

Peter shot her a smile and the couple entered the elevator, talking quietly as they disappeared behind the metal doors.

“Okay, so maybe it is real.”

Tag List (Let me know if you would like to be added or removed):

@darkerstarker @dim-ships-johnlock @haylove5

[rieson]

Midnight Espresso

Pairing : Portgas D. Ace ✗ Reader

Characters : Portgas D. Ace, Monkey D. Luffy, Sabo, Makino, Red Haired Shanks, others soon to be added.

Contains : Fluff, Humor, Social Media AU, Cafe AU, College!Ace, YouTuber!Reader, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting (No powers)

Word Count : 1596

─ace stumbles across a youtube channel that he finds absolutely entertaining. he's never realized just how much positive impact you've made on his life just by simply existing and making videos. that is, until you decide to take a small hiatus. though, fate or not, during your break, ace finds you entering the cafe he works at.

chapter zero; prologue.

A break.

That was what you needed.

Let's be real, Being a Youtuber is cool and all. I mean, working from home while still doing whatever the hell you want and making money off of it?? An absolute dream.

But sometimes, It gets really frustrating and overwhelming from all the snarky remarks people leave in your comment section on every single one of your videos they can get their hands on.

Waking up and checking your comments? The first thing you see is a hate comment. Followed by other hate comments under it.

You get a rare comment from a fan that actually comments a heart-warming motivation? The replies under the said comment were harsh. Like, real harsh.

It's just, hate. Hate everywhere.

You don’t even know why they kept coming.

You didn’t do anything wrong nor said anything offensive.

Hence, that's why you decided to take a time off of social media for a bit. (Youtube included)

You uploaded a video explaining that you would be in a small hiatus until the situation calms down a bit.

The comment section was oddly not filled with any hate comments.

Which made you more suspicious.

But you still take a break anyways.

You really needed it.

──────

Unbeknownst to you, somewhere in the world, a certain freckled, raven haired, film major college student was bummed out when he heard you were taking a break.

He loved your videos.

The humor in it was always hilarious that he often rewatches your videos whenever he feels down. In other words, For comfort.

Hell, he even showed his brothers your videos and they ended up liking your content too, leading to a “(Your Channel Name) Saturday Binge watch episode” as Luffy, (his little brother), would call it.

Like the name, Every saturday, the self-proclaimed siblings would binge watch your videos in the living room until midnight. Or in some cases, even way later than that. (Ahem, cue the sibling bonding 101)

But it’s okay.

He understands why you needed to take a break.

Social media can be a bit overwhelming sometimes.

God who knows how many times Ace has gotten into an online verbal fight when he finds hate comments in your videos.

He went all out.

Thanks to his oh so ‘colorful’ vocabulary he learned a while back when he was still in an orphanage that was owned by Curly Dadan, he managed to fire them back with the same sarcasticness that made them shut up.

Ace felt g o o d .

Like, real good.

Though, he needs to watch out for the time though. He slept at 2 AM that day and almost missed his class.

But it was worth it. (Atleast to him)

Ace works at a cafe near his college, as a barista. Nothing too special but hey, he needed to pay for his college funds somehow.

A normal day at work for Ace was always very uneventful.

Hence, that's why he did n o t expect you.

YOU, his favorite youtuber to enter the cafe he was working a shift at.

Hellooo?? Was he dreaming?? Is that really you?? IN THE FLESH?!?@R$*#RY@*

He stood there.

Completely frozen.

Oblivious to everything but you.

Time seemed to freeze for him when you walked inside.

All he could focus on was how your (h/l) (h/c) hair bounced when you walked, your (e/c) orbs glistening under the sunlight that went through the windows, and just how you walked in with a posture that gives off a strict but relaxed vibe.

He could not stop looking at you, yea you were pretty but that was when he saw you on the screen.

He thought a person couldn't get prettier but oh that idea was thrown out the window when you walked in.

How can?? Someone be more gorgeous in the flesh hello??

Was this allowed??

Ace thought he was about to get a heart attack from you.

Oh god just how can one be so pretty??

He doesn't believe in gods but thank heavens to the gods up there that made you, because oh my god you were just a sight for sore eyes for him.

He also probably looked hella creepy just standing there in front of his register, gawking at you.

Ace doesn't notice you already being in front of the register he was standing in before you said something along the lines of :

“━You there━?”

Huh?

Oh.

O H

Ohmygodwhatdohedoyou’rerightthereinfrontofhimandtalking

Wait.

No.

He needed to get himself together.

He knows you hate it when people treat you like some sort of celebrity and you just want your fans to treat you like any other human beings.

So he’s going to do just that.

Ace assumes you’re on your break at the moment so he will not make you feel uncomfortable in any way shape or form.

He’s going to treat you like any other customers.

Just.. with a bit more enthusiasm (I mean c'mon man)

“Ah! Sorry there, pardon me for my rudeness ma’am. Welcome to Ivory Blue Cafe! How may I assist a beautiful lady like you this lovely evening?”

SHIT

HE ACCIDENTALLY FLIRTED WITH YOU

OHMYGODNOOO

Pleasedontthinki’macreeppleasedontthi━

A laugh.

He heard a laugh.

Your laugh to be specific.

“OH!━Pfft━aha━” You cleared your throat.

“S-Sorry about that! I didn't mean to lau━”

“Nonono! It's alright, no need to apologize. Actually, I think I need to thank the heavens for that one because oh boy i’ve been blessed by your laughter” Ace responds, cutting through your apology while he gives you a sheepish smile.

This time, it was your turn to gawk at him.

It wasn't very long til heat makes its way over to your cheeks, lightly blushing at Ace’s words but smoothly brushing it off with a light chuckle.

“━Good lord i did NOT expect that━Pfft!━ Sorry sorry. Why thank you, i’m flattered you think my laughter is a blessing” You responded as a small smile forms on your face.

Ace blushed, making his freckles on his cheeks very visible.

He did not think of anything when he said any of that to you, it was like.. The words just seem to unconsciously escape his mouth.

He was embarrassed, sure, but he made you laugh.

So that was good.

“Well, that aside. What can i get you madam?” Ace smoothly says.

“Ah!━About that, hold on… I haven't decided yet..” You mumbled but it was loud enough for Ace to hear. You unconsciously make a pouting face while you speed-read over the menus above.

God you were so cute.

Ace just wanted to squish your cheeks right there and the━

NO! He needs to be professional for now, Ace cant afford to embarrass himself (as if he didn't already do that) in front of his favorite youtuber.

Shaking his head softly, he patiently waits for your order.

“I’d like an Espresso Macchiato please.” You smiled.

“You got it! Please wait patiently as I make your order!~” Ace says as he prints your receipt, smoothly handing it over to you.

“Here’s your receipt. Please hold on to it til I'm done making your order and call your name.”

“Ah wait, speaking of name’s. May I know yours? I’ll be calling the said name when the drink is done so you can go grab it and pay at the front register.” Ace says as he smiles reassuringly at you.

“...(Y/N). Please note it as (Y/N)!” You smiled back at him.

Oh god he was about to faint right there, but NO. He needs to do this, he's a man. He can handle this.

“Alright Lady (Y/N) please take a seat anywhere and make yourself comfortable as i make your order! I’ll be right back madam”

And with that, Ace ZOOMS to the brewing area, making an attempt to calm his racing heart down but failing miserably.

He watches you from the side of his eyes as you take a seat near one of the windows, waiting patiently for your drink to be done.

Realizing something, Ace forgot to ask whether you want it to go or to drink here.

SHIT

But,,, Judging by your appearance, you’d probably want it to go so he’ll take that chance.

5 minutes go by and he’s done with your drink.

Slowly walking up to the register, Ace says your name.

“Espresso Macchiato for Lady (Y/N)?” He half-yelled.

“Here!━ Thank you so much!” You say as you reached your hand over to grab your drink.

“No problem! Here you go madam”

“Oh! How’d you know I wanted it to go?”

“Instincts i guess, i was right, weren't i?” Ace grinned

“Well then, you have very accurate instincts Mr…”

“Oh! Ace. The name’s Ace.”

“Mr. Ace” You smiled, grabbing your wallet and pulling a 50 dollar bill, handing it over to him to take.

“Wha━ Nono! That's way too much!” Ace widen his eyes

“Take it as a tip for being welcoming and friendly haha!” You chuckle, shoving the bill to his chest and letting it go once you see his hands coming to grab it.

“Have a good evening Ace-san! Thank you for your assistance!” You grinned.

And with that, you were gone.

Out the door like a flash.

Ace stood there, once again shocked.

Not noticing, his face formed a shit eating grin. No. A Wide grin.

He’s going to remember this day for the rest of his life, no doubt about it.

Shaking his head, still smiling, he gathers himself back as he takes the next customer’s orders.

prologue end.

Masterlist

[everyotherworm]

Heyyy! I found your blog shortly after The Arena got its big makeover and I didn’t pay too much attention to the other wizards descriptions, so do you have any info/headcanons on them? (determinedowl23)

!!!! You have no idea I have so many headcanons! First tho if u want info: scroll down to the list of arena npcs and you can click on them to get their old in game appearance, name, title, and description (the descriptions are like 1-2 sentences long.)

As for headcanons I have a bunch in the 'arena wizard blogging tag' on here already (so far I've done a headcanon post for Gina, Cameron, Bannard, Flora, Nick, Lillian, and George, but I also have a bunch of other random headcanons in the tag) but to answer your ask here's a quick long highlight reel of my favorite headcanon(s) about each wizard! Some of these are things I've shared before, but some r about people I've never talked about before :) there are 20 characters and I'm bad at being succinct, so strap in folks

Gina has bad luck, or she tends to end up as the target of every spell or piece of machinery that goes awry and she can't do anything about it because she sucks at magic too much to levitate it away lmao

Crios didn't want to be friends with Cameron, cameron just followed him around until he was worn down and just got used to having him around all the time. Now he's so used to him that despite his constant complaining about cameron, he will be even more annoyed if he doesn't have him there to be annoying and do errands for crios.

Bonus cameron one because he's my favorite: his hair is naturally curly and black, he just dyed it to look more like crios. Funnily enough, crios's hair isn't actually naturally orange either.

Mila tends to hang around young wizards more than the wizards at her level, she thinks they're more open minded (which is kind of because they don't have common sense, but she considers that helpful to 'thinking outside the box') and she has a lot of fun mentoring them.

Benjamyn is best friends with fuschia, because thanks to growing up with sisters he's always gotten along better with the girls at school than the boys. Also that leather apparel is hot as heck, but he doesn't take it off because he's just a cold lad man

Fuschia has an eye for small details and is especially good at judging whether people are kind/genuine or not. Some rumor that her pet mystyyk can sense that she has a pure heart and that that's why it chose her, but in reality it's just because she lured it I with lots of treats :3

I've said this one before but bannard is hard of hearing and has no idea what is going on half the time. He's fairly magically gifted and VERY good at scaring away monsters (it's because he never stops yelling) but he's kind of held back by not getting enough accommodations. He doesn't seem to care tho, he's just here to have a good time :)

I know the reason leena is called the metal head is because she likes rocks not metal music, but you can tear electric guitar playing leena from my cold dead hands <3

Finneas is a terrible influence on everyone he meets, he skips like half his classes lmao </3

The lunar wand was made for a werewolf, is it that farfetched to believe another type of shapeshifter might use it? Why are djinnas pets all fish based instead of ghost based if she's a spirit? Why would someone need to leave back and forth from the academy if they could get all their needs from land? DJINNAS A MERMAID PEOPLE WAKE UP-

Jess has an inferiority complex, seriously dude how's it feel to spend your whole life in the shadow of a twin who's just like you but way better and who's already finished school /lh

Flora sleeps upside down

I'm a Nick = Young Santa Claus truther but that's more of a theory than a headcanon, so other than that I think he's autistic and has a special interest in Christmas and thats why he involves it in a lot of things :) also he gives everyone gifts year round and uses Christmas decorations as fidget/stim toys

Not to do to autistic/special interest headcanons in a row buuut Lillian is also autistic and has a special interest in pets and you can fight me on that. Also Lillian lives with professor scoog (he's her uncle, don't question how that works) and they both loooove rambling about old and new pets to each other

Korathius is one of the only students who's lived on prodigy island his whole life, and him being raised by magic pets is the reason he's in the higher level ranking.

Jen has had several near death experiences.

On George's first day on the island he exploded half his hair and shirt, took apart the wheel of wonder (he tried to put it back together but it ended up falling onto gina when she leaned on it because he did a bad job), and accidentally caused a minor eruption in bonfire spire (he just wanted to see what would happen if you cast spells from underneath the lava, he thought they weren't working so he casted a LOT of light waves.)

Aurora is so mean <3 she will stab u with an icicle if you try to prank you or sneak into her house (which is a small ice castle she built on the iceberg she floated over on.)

I dont have a lot of nova headcanons, shes just a nice gal, u know? She makes really good cookies if its worth anything

Crios is a sore ass loser, he probably decided to start dueling out of spite. Also, he's the one who beat the dark tower the canon where your wizard isn't there.

So yeah! I love them, arena wizards my beloved <33 if u want more headcanons about specific characters or topics feel free to ask, although I'd guess after reading all that you'd be ready for a break LOL. Thanks for the ask!!

[cyberwolfwrites-fanfiction]

a family's bond - chapter three

(https://archiveofourown.org/works/29878746/chapters/73922889)

words: 3735

summary:

"I hate it here," Peter whispered.

"I know," said Harley tiredly. They were curled up on the top bunk of their bunk bed together. They craved genuine physical affection after too many months of being touch-starved or physically hurt—there was no in-between—and being on the top bunk meant that they were harder to reach.

Dan was in his bedroom down the hall snoring off the alcohol. He'd gotten rejected for the promotion he'd been working towards for the past year and he'd drowned his sorrows in a bar somewhere before coming home to take out his frustration on them. He'd been too drunk and uncoordinated to cause any lasting harm—or harm that should have obviously still been there a day later—but the encounter had shaken them, Peter especially.

He'd come from a loving home, but in the matter of minutes both of his remaining family members had bled out in front of him and he'd been tossed in the system. He wasn't used to the harsh cruelties of the world—though he'd gotten a taste of it when he was four and eight, respectively—and it had left him reeling.

"I wish we could just... leave," Peter mumbled.

"Me, too."

The only reason Tony remembered that the internship competition was happening today was because he had been flicking through the Tower's security cameras in boredom and got curious when he saw a bunch of kids roaming around one of the empty intern levels. Friday, when he'd asked her, had helpfully informed him that the competition that he'd agreed to a month back was happening. To be fair, it had been over a month since Pepper had brought up running the internship competition for good press—which Tony, and therefore the company, needed after the plane holding all of the Avengers's items crashed near Coney Island.

(Spider-Man, who had stopped Toomes from stealing his plane, was still swinging around but Tony had yet to find out the man's identity. He'd considered finding him for some extra help in Germany but had been unable to track him down. His curiosity over the vigilante hadn't yet diminished, but had been buried under all of the shit that had happened since then.)

When Pepper had originally brought up the idea of accepting high school interns from the local STEM schools, he'd been reluctant to accept. Stark Industries had only ever taken college interns and there were a number of reasons as to why accepting high schoolers, people between the ages of fourteen and eighteen, wasn't a great idea. There was the fact that they were young, inexperienced, and most likely couldn't keep up with the other high school interns, for example. (Of course, SI could've just had them as assistants, people who got coffee and answered phones, but that would've completely ruined the idea of getting good press by offering high schoolers an opportunity to actually do work for Stark Industries.) But there was also the fact that once the internship ended upon their graduation (as SI was sponsoring the school through their students), they could go to a different tech company and teach them all they learned. And, while this wasn't as important as the other point, there was a chance that the high schoolers weren't intelligent enough to keep up with SI's college interns and the other employees, wasting the company's time and resources and giving them the potential to ruin projects that they needed to get out.

There were, however, as Pepper has so graciously pointed out, also benefits of hiring high school interns that Tony had to consider. Giving a high schooler the opportunity to use SI's labs and research could give the kid a good career in the future, and Tony wasn't one to deny the fact that more minds in the technology field was a good thing. The internship could also set them up to have a paid internship during college, as well as a college scholarship that SI often provided, which often led to most of those interns getting accepted for various job positions after graduation. This could also make them loyal to Stark Industries, which was valued and needed in future employees. Stark Industries was one of the top tier tech companies in the world, and as they developed a lot of revolutionary tech and provided for the military, that meant that they also had a lot of secrets.

But most of all, which Tony often focused on, the internship helped the kid further their intelligence and experience with tech which gave them the possibility of changing the world for the better. It was at that point that Tony signed the form, both out of guilt for what happened to Charlie Spencer, and because it reminded him of the September Foundation, which was a program that wasn't connected to SI that funded schools and prodigies to further education.

Even after all of the thinking that Tony did after signing the form (such as working with others in the company about how the internships would happen, as well as how the kids should get their internships), he still managed to forget about the internship until he came across the kids in the usually empty intern lab and Friday informed him of the competition.

Tony idly watched as the teenagers wandered around the room, some chatting with each other and some focusing on setting up their projects. Happy was standing in the corner, looking decidedly Not Happy, which made him chuckle to himself.

"You think I should visit Happy before he becomes Grumpy?" Tony asked Friday, glancing over his workbench. He'd surprisingly gotten a lot of work done this past month (it was better to bury himself in work rather than drink all day, he hadn't touched alcohol in ages and he didn't intend to break his sobriety anytime soon, he'd only just gotten Pepper back) and so he was fiddling with a project he started ages ago but never completed.

"I believe he would appreciate the distraction," Friday said, something like amusement in her tone, "but he would probably dislike your version of 'distraction', Boss."

Tony smirked at the thought of making a big show of going down there and Happy's reaction to it—though he wasn't going to do something like that as he wasn't in the mood for having a crap ton of eyes on him and he didn't want any of the kids to get distracted—and he stood, saying, "That settles it, then. Let's go see if I can turn that frown upside down." Though Friday didn't say anything, Tony got a sense that she was chuckling. It had been over a year since he'd installed her programming and she was becoming more and more human-like every day, forming a personality that was all her own. She was snarky like him, brazen like Pepper, kind and open to those Tony trusted, but cold and reserved to people he didn't know or like, such as Secretary Ross.

Instead of heading down to the intern lab, Tony headed up to the penthouse to shower and change in something that wasn't an old band t-shirt and a pair of oil-stained jeans. By the time he finished dressing in a pair of slacks, a t-shirt, and a blazer (as well as a pair of glasses, he didn't want to be completely noticeable), all of the specialists and heads from R&D who were "grading" the high schoolers' projects were walking around the room.

Tony lingered outside of the lab that the kids were in, watching as they presented their projects to various senior engineers that SI employed. He'd worked with most of them at one point or another, and he often spoke with some of them during R&D meetings (while he was no longer CEO, he still had a high position in the company as CTO and COB), so he trusted their judgement on the kids' projects.

Quite a few of the projects didn't really resemble anything that Tony felt that Stark Industries was looking for or currently working on. There were some robots and drones, but SI already made drones, and the same was could be said about prostheses. They were mostly arms, though Tony spotted what looked to be a poorer, tinier version of the exoskeleton leg prostheses he made Rhodey. He made a mental note to look at the recordings for those presentations since Pepper had asked him to judge some of the projects, which was one of the real reasons he was down here (though potentially annoying Happy was certainly a plus). While they weren't particularly advanced or impressive, what was impressive was the fact that those students (some appeared to be in pairings) had managed to create prostheses or drones in a month while doing school.

Another glance led his eyes to a corner of the room opposite Happy. There were two kids presenting what looked to be a piece of cloth. The one holding it, the one with dirty-blonde-slash-mousy-brown hair, spun the fabric around to reveal wires. A tablet sat on the workbench they were near and the shorter kid was making exaggerated hand movements much like Tony did when he was explaining something. The other kid, a brunette with curly hair, was gesturing to the tablet and made a chopping motion in the direction of the fabric.

Their project didn't look anything special—in fact, it looked particularly underwhelming compared to all of the drones and robots around them—but that intrigued Tony.

"If you stare any longer someone will notice you, Boss," Friday said, making Tony jump slightly. "Mr Hogan already has."

"Thanks for the warning, Fri," Tony said as his eyes jumped to Happy, who was staring in his direction with a raised brow. Tony nodded to him before slipping into the room, hopefully unnoticed to everyone except Happy. Most kids were too preoccupied presenting their projects or preparing themselves to present their projects to notice someone slipping through the front door.

He made his way around the room, taking in bits of pieces of everyone's presentations. The room was cluttered enough that he went mostly unnoticed and his casual clothes and glasses didn't exactly scream "Tony Stark" to anyone. He walked around with his own StarkPad (an upgraded version, of course) taking notes of the presentations which interested him and the names of those kids. It not only partially hid his face from view and made him look like any other employee, but he was also curious about the projects and he wanted to get an in-person feel for the presentations to give his notes on.

Tony eventually made his way to the two kids he spotted earlier and he lingered a few feet away at an empty table as they finished their presentation. They shook hands with one of the senior employees that Tony recognized and had worked with, a Michael Wilkes whose grandfather had worked with Howard, and Tony walked up to them before anyone else did.

Both were whispering to each other but looked up as Tony approached. They obviously recognized him by the widening of their eyes.

"Hey," Tony said easily, giving them what he hoped to be a reassuring please-don't-yell-that-I'm-here smile.

"Hi," said the blonde one faintly. The brunette's jaw worked like he wanted to say something but he settled on an awkward wave. The older one spoke again. "Uh, sir, not that I'm complaining or anything, but what are you doing here?"

"Thought I'd stop by," Tony said with an easy shrug as he ignored Happy's eyes on him. The man had watched his procession around the room, but now that he was actually speaking to some kids instead of watching their presentations from a distance, he could feel his friend's gaze become more intense. Tony ignored it and nodded towards the kids' project. "Your project caught my eyes when I first came in, I want to hear about it."

"O-Of course, sir," the brunette stuttered slightly and Tony's press-ready smile softened slightly. The kid's nervousness was somewhat endearing. He drew in a breath and gestured to the cloth-like substance that the blonde was holding. "This is our Pressure and Injury Sensing System."

Tony blinked as his mind automatically made an acronym of the name and he smirked slightly. "So, PISS," he joked, hoping to lessen the kid's nervousness.

It worked somewhat. The brunette's face turned bright red and the blonde snickered to himself. "Peter, I told you we should've named it something else."

"Harley, zitto!" the brunette, Peter, hissed to the blonde, Harley, and Tony smiled at the casual use of Italian and in amusement. Peter glanced at Tony and groaned to himself when he spotted his amused smile. "I couldn't think of a different name and no one's commented on it so far!"

"Yeah, you're going to have to change the name if you end up getting an internship here, kid," Tony said. "So, what does your Pressure and Injury Sensing System do?"

Harley looked like he was going to make a deadpan remark, something like "It senses injuries," but he let Peter take the lead as he allowed Tony to examine the cloth they made.

"A-As the name implies, our project senses pressure and injuries. Um, as you can see, the cloth we made is both durable and stretchy, so a simple multimeter wouldn't have worked. Instead, we lined the cloth with wire and programmed an app to detect the differences in pressure via Bluetooth," Peter began to explain, starting off shaky in nervousness before his voice became more confident as he began to make hand gestures between the cloth and the tablet.

Tony peered at the cloth and stretched it slightly. As Peter had said, it was durable and stretchy, easily snapping into place, and he wondered where it had come from since he didn't recognize it. He focused on the wiring, which was exposed in some areas so it was visible to the judges, and followed it up to a little microchip that Tony was pretty sure came out of a Bluetooth mouse or something similar. He glanced at the tablet, which displayed a section of the human arm.

Noticing his gaze, Harley said, "It would've taken too long to code the app to any part of the human body so we only coded it to an average human arm—the ulna and radius, in particular."

"Huh." Tony had similar technology—in fact, he'd originally thought of making something similar when he'd first considered recruiting Spider-Man—and he knew personally how much coding that would take and how difficult the algorithms would be to code. It was pretty impressive for two teenagers to do in a month, at any rate, since they had to start from scratch. "What type of trauma did you code it for? Blunt force?"

"Yes, sir," Peter said before explaining, "We originally came up with the idea for soldiers or policemen, so we wanted to code it for, like, puncture wounds but that would've been too difficult to figure out in a short timespan. It could be a part of their uniform and it would inform whoever has the tablet—or a computer—what types of injuries they're going. That way if soldiers are injured in battle whoever's in charge of emergency medical care could be informed of their injuries ahead of time."

"What about vitals?" Tony asked. He pressed on the fabric a little and a corner of the tablet informed him in newtons how much pressure he was exerting.

"We planned on making a ballistocardiogram sensor but we didn't have the materials for it, sir," Harley said awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. Tony could tell that he felt uncomfortable saying that—based on their clothes, the kids probably came from less-than-fortunate homes—so he didn't prod, just nodded understandably.

"This material," Tony said instead, messing with a swatch of the fabric that had been lying on the table, "who manufactured this? I've never seen it before. It's pretty incredible and looks pretty resistant so far."

Harley jerked a thumb at Peter, who smiled shyly at the praise.

"What's it made of?" Here Peter bit his lip and shrugged, making Tony lift his eyebrow. "Ah, keeping it a secret, I see. Reeling me in and then once you've secured my interest, you leave that little bit dangling to make me want it even more. I get it." Tony smiled to let Peter know that he was joking, but he really was interested in the fabric. He'd never heard of a kid making their own type of spandex or kevlar before, which it kind of resembled.

Peter looked like he was going to say something before his eyes flickered to the side. Tony turned and spotted one of the R&D intern lab directors, John Richards, that he'd often spoken to concerning intern projects.

"Hello, Mr Stark! Decided to see which kids are going to be SI's new interns?" Richards asked.

"Yep," Tony stated plainly before turning Richards's attention to Peter and Harley. "Have you met Peter and Harley, yet? They're interested in making technology for deployed soldiers. They have this little prototype that senses pressure and cross-references it with force to determine an injury someone can acquire. And this tablet here displays the possible injury."

"This prototype was programmed for injuries to the forearm," Harley told Richards, no doubt feeling odd that Tony was explaining their project for them. "The app I coded should display the amount of force in newtons as well as whether or not you're in danger of breaking the bone or not."

"Interesting," Richards murmured, examining the sensor that Tony had left on the table. "Can we test it out?"

"Of course, sir," Peter said, his voice quieter than it had been earlier. Tony blinked at the difference, surprised that the kid was so reserved now that Richards was here. "Just place it so the wires are down and hit it." Richards did as told and struck the sensor. The action made both Peter and Harley flinch away from him, which made Tony frown slightly in concern. It looked like they thought Richards would hit the, but then Tony remembered that a lot of people flinched if someone hit something near them, so it must've been that. He watched as the screen displayed the force of his strike as well as the possible injury, a bruise.

"Hey, Fri, how accurate is this?" Tony said.

Friday's voice came out of his StarkPad speaker, "My resources determine that a strike with that amount of force correlates to a mild bruise. Mr Parker and Mr Keener's sensor pad appears to be fairly accurate."

"Is that an AI?" Peter asked, his eyes lighting up.

"How does she know our last names?" Harley asked, eyebrows furrowing as he looked at Tony's tablet.

"Friday's my AI, she knows everything," Tony said, waving his hand dismissively. "She has access to all of SI's records, including the information you entered onto those participation forms."

"That's kinda creepy, man," Harley commented. "Useful, but creepy."

"Parker and Keener, huh?" Richards asked from where he was messing around with their sensor. "I'll have to write that down, see what the others think of your project. This project could be extremely useful for the military." The man then looked up at Tony with narrowed eyes and said teasingly, "You're not going to steal these two for yourself, are ya', Mr Stark?"

Tony blinked slightly in surprise. He hadn't really considered getting an intern himself since he only ever worked in his private labs. He knew plenty of senior engineers who said that their own interns helped a lot but he'd always thought that they would be in the way. But, he did have a lot of incomplete projects in his workshop and labs_ and_ he'd been oddly bored recently.

"Hmm…" he hummed, looking at both Peter and Harley. Both seemed extremely bright and intelligent—it was clear due to their project; the app, the sensors which looked like they were made out of junk materials (and they probably were), and the fabric itself—and they probably wouldn't have trouble keeping up with some easy projects or grunt work that he needed to be done. Plus, even though he'd just met them, he kind of liked them.

"Maybe, maybe not. I've never really considered it before, I'll have to talk to Pepper about it," Tony said with a shrug. He nodded to them, told Peter and Harley that they had an internship-worthy project, before taking his leave.

As he walked away, he heard a stunned echoed, "What?" that made him hide a smile.

Tony didn't stop at any other projects, though he saw a few more that he liked—individual finger prostheses and a robotic arm that moved with your own movements—and he eventually got to Happy.

"Enjoying babysitting duty?" he said as he approached the man.

Happy snorted. "I can't believe Pepper wants me to stand here for a few hours," he said. "So far all I've seen was a few kids run to the bathroom down the hall sick out of nerves. Friday kept an eye on them for me. What about you? I thought you didn't like this type of stuff."

Tony shrugged. "I was bored and made a promise to Pepper. We only just got back together and I don't want to upset her," he admitted.

"I saw that you stopped at one of the tables," Happy said. "What was that about?"

"These two kids made this really cool injury sensor from scratch. I saw them before I came in and it interested me since they were one of the few kids who didn't make a robot or anything. Turns out that they programmed their own app to detect injuries, probably scrapped the materials they used to make the sensor itself, and the one kid made the material. It's really cool, too. Durable and stuff, doesn't tear when I pull on it. Here, feel," Tony said, taking the swatch of fabric he'd taken from the table. He didn't think he kids would mind, they had a few dozen swatches left.

Happy raised a brow and took it. He tugged on the spandex-like material, twisting it and pulling it. It didn't stretch and bounced back to its original position. "Huh. Feels like spandex or stretchy kevlar. Should I try to cut it?" Happy suggested curiously.

"You got a knife on you?"

Happy responded by pulling a knife out of the inside of his jacket. He did a few cuts on the edge, applying more and more pressure each cut. The first few just dented and only the last two cut. He then cut longways along the face of the fabric which also dented and cut slightly. It was only when Happy tried to stab it did the knife go through completely.

"Wow," said Tony in surprise, taking the fabric back as Happy put his knife away. "That's really durable for something so thin." It wasn't the thinnest fabric since it was around the width of a piece of cereal box cardboard, but it held up pretty well against the knife. He touched the cuts and squinted when he saw that the dents on the edges had smoothed out.

"You said they made that?" Happy asked, looking at the cloth appraisingly.

Tony nodded. "Yeah, but the kid wouldn't tell me how. Think I should run some tests on it?"

"Did he give you permission?"

Tony shrugged. "No, but I might give the kid and his partner an internship with me, so I think it's okay."

It took Happy a few moments to process what he'd said. "Wait, what?"

[tojiswh0re]

hey! congrats on 100<3 can i get a male matchup with each 4 animes if that isn’t too much work aha.

so in a nutshell, i don’t like confrontation but i’m honestly really judgemental lmfao, if i don’t like u, u know cuz i won’t take any energy out to talk to u unless i need to and i’ll probably try and get away from u as soon as possible lolll. i’m stubborn, and i’m pretty crazy around my friends. i try my best to make my friends smile and they mean the world to me. i also think i can get annoyed really easily? people who think they’re better then other people are the worst types of people to me.

she/her, i have red curly hair that goes down to my mid back, i have quite a few freckles, and blue eyes. i’m about 5’4 with a leaner-athletic build ig.

my aesthetic changes a lot but i’d say i’m sweatpants, sneaking out at 3am, trying to learn how to shift to have an interesting life, a girl who’s personality is too big for a small town (does that make sense??) paint covered hands and clothes, sneaking into abandoned houses with my friends, cool artsy jewelry, fairies, flowers, butterflies, plants, and picnics. (chaotic ik)

my hobbies r reading, drawing, painting, appreciating art, and listening to music.

my fav subject in school is art (surprise)

i hope i wasn’t being too extra?? idk i’ve done matchups before and i know the more specific u are the better but ya thanks!!!!!

a/n hiya bae <3 it’s no hassle also you’re not being to extra more info helps me,, and thank you :) im only gonna do three instead so the quality of each one is better because it was taking me wayyy too long lol

your haikyuu matchup is....

𝖍𝖆𝖏𝖎𝖒𝖊 𝖎𝖜𝖆𝖎𝖟𝖚𝖒𝖎

i think iwa would love the fact that you’re so into art and he’d just learn to appreciate it with you. he’d also lowkey judge people as well ngl. he loves going on adventures with you in the middle of the night but is very careful that you guys don’t get in trouble or hurt. he also would enjoy just laying down with you and chilling out to music after a long night of adventures.

the date:

hajime would pick you up at the middle of the night in his dad’s car and text you that he’s there to whisk you away out of your small town. you sprint down (quietly) grabbing what you need and hope into the car. you guys would visit famous graffiti sights and stop at gas stations to grab snacks relax. he’d then take you to the city and you guys would go to any shops that dare to be open that late. i think the car would have a sun roof and he’d let you sit on the roof but would hold your leg to be safe :)

the song:

comfortable - h.e.r

your mha matchup is....

𝖍𝖆𝖓𝖙𝖆 𝖘𝖊𝖗𝖔 

sero would vibe with you so hard. like i could imagine you guys acting like som crazy people and messing around with his tape. or like the image of him trying to stcik you to the ceiling only for you to wriggle about and fall on top of him is what comes to mind lmao. he’d just love to do some crazy shit ngl sometimes borderline unsafe but he wouldn’t let you get hurt.

the date:

sero would would surprise you at your dorm with a ton of paint supplies and just waltz in and drop them on your floor. his face is adorned with a wide smirk because he thinks this is the best idea for a date ever. he proposes to follow a bob ross vid so that’s what you guys do! halfway through he gets bored and decides to cause some mischief, so he grabs his brush with whatever colour paint is already on and paints a stripe down your cheek. you look at him in disbelief and lunge to paint his face but he swivels quickly to pin you down and disarms you. he grabs that brush and paints another stripe then runs away as  quick as he can.

the song: 

summer - the carters

your aot matchup is...

𝖏𝖊𝖆𝖓 𝖐𝖎𝖗𝖘𝖙𝖊𝖎𝖓

jean is just so smitten <3 like you help him look at the positives because he’s gotten just so depressed. when he’s with you his whole mood is elevated and focuses on whatever you’re gonna do next. 

the date:

an art gallery! jean is a classy guy i’d like to believe. so he’d take you to some fancy art gallery that’s just opened. and it’s just absolutely stunning. he’d look down at you whilst you’re admiring some piece and would be genuinely happy in that moment. and just the way your grinning makes him want to grin. then he’d probably take you too a niche bakery so you can get some fancy cake and then to a supermarket to get wine glasses. then boom you can do the wine glass with cake trend on a little park bench :))

the song:

me and my husband - mitski

[bylerboyfriends]

"I heard that movie sucked" for whoever you want💕

“Where have you guys been?”

Mike, Lucas, Will, and Dustin were walking down the steps into the Wheeler basement when the voice of a red head startled them out of their chatter. “How’d you get down here?” Mike asks.

“Your mom let us in hours ago,” Max says, gesturing to El. “Told us you guys were in the basement. Clearly she was wrong.”

All of the boys looked at each other with wide eyes. “You didn’t tell her, did you?”

Max looked Mike up and down, his panicked posture amusing her. After a few tense seconds, Max comforts the boys. “No. Figured I could use it as blackmail later. Now, answer my previous question. Where were you guys?”

Will answered excitedly, “We saw Child’s Play!”

“It was totally awesome! But... rated R. Hence the reason Mike’s mom wouldn’t let us go. Hence the reason we had to sneak out.” Dustin continued.

“I heard that movie sucked.”

Will and Dustin react as if they had been shot. The other two boys just shrugged, seemingly agreeing with the statement.

“It didn’t suck!” Will argues.

“Yeah, it didn’t suck,” Lucas says. “But it wasn’t really that great either. I mean, so many things didn’t make sense. Like why would they sell the doll after a satanic ritual was performed on it?”

“The store blew up! It would be impossible to know which one had been possessed!” Will rebutted, Dustin agreed with a frantic nodding of the head.

“The dude had a bloody hand,” Lucas argued back. “The fabric would have been stained.”

“Well, the doll was being sold by a hobo, he probably found it in the wreckage and cleaned it up a bit to make a quick buck.” Dustin said, as if it was common sense.

“Okay, it was fine!” Mike said, seemingly in hopes of ending the argument.... “Until the doll started making facial expressions and killing people on it’s own. And it bit the mom! Which left unrealistically deep teeth marks.”

Will flopped on the couch beside El, already tired of the disagreement. But Dustin wasn’t finished defending the film.

“It was POSSESSED by a HUMAN! And HUMANS can make facial expressions and BITE PEOPLE!”

“Okay, well the electrocution of that doctor was disgusting and the visual was not needed.”

Will joins the argument once again from his spot on the couch. “Really, Mike? You’ve seen worse.”

“I have! But I don’t want to be reminded of that while I’m trying to watch a movie with my friends!”

“Oh boo hoo. Are you going pansy on me, Wheeler?”

Mike pauses for a second, he didn’t expect Will to get so defensive over what he thought to be a pointless argument. He decided to respond flirtatiously to ease the tension.

“If that’s what ya want, sweetheart.” He winked with a smirk on his face.

“Gross!” Shouted El, who had been silently observing the heated discussion from the middle of the couch.

“Agreed,” said Max, “Disgusting. But also... thank you for changing the subject. Was scared you boys were going to ruin the movie completely.”

“Why does it matter? You said it sucked,” Lucas commented, after silently chuckling at Mike’s bad flirting.

“No, I said I heard it sucked. But now that I’ve seen how riled up it makes you boys, I want to see it for myself to take a side of my own.” Max stands up from the couch and looks back at El. “Wanna come with me?”

“Duh!”

She grabs Max’s hand and they say goodbye to the boys before climbing up the stairs and leaving the Wheeler residence.

Lucas and Dustin glance between the other two boys, look at each other, and come to a silent agreement.

“Well! Dustin and I should head out-“

“I thought we were all gonna sleep here?” Asked Mike.

They both stayed silent for a moment, thinking of an excuse.

“I need to... brush my cat. Like badly.” The curly headed boy responded rashly.

“Oh yea! You did tell me about that, Dustin! Your mom said she’s got this weird condition in her fur that can cause her to inflate if it gets too long, right?”

“Exactly! And yanno, my mom is out with my aunt so... it’s up to me to save my cat’s life.”

“Yes and I’m going to tag along! For-“

“Moral support!”

“Moral support!” Says Lucas, “In case we’re too late and the cat... explodes.”

Dustin nods in agreement. Then both boys dash up the stairs, leaving Mike and Will alone.

Will was still looked upset, which both scared and confused Mike at the same time. He really didn’t think the argument was that serious. He takes a deep breath and sits on the opposite end of the couch.

“Will? What’s wrong? I-I didn’t mean whatever I said. I didn’t know the argument was that serious to you or I would have taken your side! I swear! I just- I just like when you get passionate about things... it’s cute.”

Will stares at his boyfriend for a few long seconds, causing Mike to get redder and redder. Then he laughs.

“It’s not funny...! It’s very unsettling when you and Max do that...”

Once he has settled down, Will attempts to explain his frustration but falls short because of self-doubt. “It’s not... it’s just... never mind. It’s stupid.”

“Will, nothing you say is stupid.” Mike takes the other boy’s hand. “Tell me.”

He takes a deep breath before coming clean, “I just... I really liked the movie because it... the main character reminded me of myself. You know, in the upside down? I mean demagorgans and dolls are two completely different things but. We both had to survive it, you know? It made me feel like I wasn’t alone. I’m not as much of a freak for having a story no one believes. It’s hard to explain-”

“No, I get it,” Mike says. “I’m sorry, Will, I wasn’t even thinking about that.”

“...I’ll forgive you...IF you quit feeling guilty and come cuddle me already because you’re right.”

“Right about what?”

“That electrocution scene! It freaked me out.”

Both boys laughed before tangling their bodies and holding each other close.

***

it’s FINALLY DONE!! thank you so much for the request, Jack!

I’ll finally start on another one, but please be patient if it takes a little while. Online school has started back, I’m working 2 jobs, and I’m rehearsing for a musical so I AM going to do requests in my inbox I’m just vv busy. Thanks!

[saiilorstars]

Falling in Temptation

Previous chapters • Sequel to Stars Dance •  Fairy Tale Memoirs (Companion story)

Ch. 20: Happily Ever Now

Fandom: Doctor Who // Pairing: 11th Doctor x Female OC

Chapter summary: Avalon and the Doctor finally go out on their first date. As happy as they are to be together, they both can't help but think of the future that's coming for them both.

Taglist: @ocfairygodmother @anotherunreadblog @maaaaarveeeeel​ [If you’d like to be added to this specific OC’s stories/edits, send me a message!]

Avalon had just emerged from her bathroom wrapped in a towel after a long, relaxing bath. She could still smell the lavender scented bath bomb she'd used. She just loved the scent so much! She made it to her closet when she heard a small noise from her door. She peered around the closet door and saw a folded, old looking, paper on the floor.

"What?" she crinkled her nose and walked over to pick it up. In doing so, she found a second smaller paper under it.

At first glance she knew the first paper was made to look old. There was a laced purple bow keeping the paper folded and, as beautiful as it was, Avalon pulled it off and opened up the paper that turned out to be a letter.

My dearest Ava,

It has come to my attention that we have not had a first date. It's frankly ridiculous that I have the most amazing woman at my side and I haven't taken her out on date! I would love to spend one whole day with you and no one else . If you agree, then I shall await for you in the console room in one hour.

Yours truly,

The Doctor.

Avalon felt her entire face warm up after reading the letter. She checked the second smaller paper and found it was a P.S. She had to laugh.

P.S. If you accept, dress for heat. Literally. It's going to be like summer.

She looked up at the ceiling with a dreamy smile. "Did you see him write this for me?" It was silent for a few seconds but then Avalon heard a light hum. "Well, my Fairy Tale Man just wins for today." She folded the letter again and brought it to her vanity desk and checked herself in the mirror. "I have a lot of work today, don't I?"

The TARDIS hummed and Avalon would dare to say it was an outraged hum.

She giggled and looked up at the ceiling. "You are far too kind to me, you know? I still don't understand why but I'm happy about it. Now," she turned away from the vanity desk and brought her hands together, "I have one hour to make myself look gorgeous. No wet curls-" she wrapped a stark wet curl around her finger, "-and towels! And I absolutely need stunning clothes! Can we do it!?"

The TARDIS hummed loudly, making Avalon laugh again.

"I'm taking that as a yes! Let's do it!" Avalon determinedly marched for her closet to start searching for those out-of-this-world clothes!

~ 0 ~

The Doctor was making endless rounds at the console trying to wait like he promised. He was sure the TARDIS was laughing at him with all the humming she was doing. "Very lovely dear, absolutely lovely," he scowled at the rotor. "I know you can't help favorite Avalon but do remember I have known you for centuries. I deserve a little encouragement from you." And right now he could use all the encouragement and support he could get. He was about to go on a date with Avalon, their first date, and he had no idea if she would like what he set up for them. He'd covered his basis and made sure that Amy and Rory were nonethewisers about it. They and the Sapling were off at a beach to enjoy their day. Today was going to be all about him and Avalon, just them.

It was nerve-wrecking.

"You are 909 years old, get a hold of yourself," the Doctor berated himself. He would try not to think about the insane age gap between him and Avalon but right now he needed to remember his age. He couldn't be this nervous over a date - he'd done a lot more than just date in the past so why was this one date different?

Because it's Avalon you idiot. The Doctor came to a stop and deeply exhaled. It was Avalon. The girl he was head over heels for. The girl he was in love with and who had no idea about it.

Somebody cleared their throat and since the only people in the TARDIS was him and Avalon, the Doctor quickly spun around to find his ginger.

Don't spin so fast! That's not cool! It was then that the Doctor panicked as he realized that he needed to learn how to be cool, desperately. He always said that he was cool but Avalon tore that to pieces each time she came into a room looking all...well...the way she looked right now.

She really took his suggestion of wearing something for summer. She'd chosen a khaki, tie-front, peekaboo dress with thin spaghetti straps. Its skirt was just a bit flared so it wasn't tight, although the bodice seemed to be just right.

Once the Doctor felt his face heat up he knew it was time to look away, literally anywhere else...but his eyes drifted back to her each time. He caught sight of her legs and suddenly the heat was there to stay.

She'd paired her dress with pink, suede lace up sandals with just a hint of a heel. Her hair was left in its natural curly state with one jeweled rose clip at the back of her hair holding the bump on top of her head. Her curly hair was sometimes her worst enemy.

Avalon slowly made her way up the glass stairs to the console and nervously stopped a few feet from the Doctor. "I got your letter..."

The Doctor took one deep breath in and smelled her lavender scented perfume. Amazing. He was also aware of her soft pink lips were enhanced with a shade of lipstick that...that made him want to forget everything and just kiss her all day. "Yeah..." When he realized that wasn't at all cool, much less suave, he shook his head and started again. "I meant yes, that-that was...that was me."

Dammit. He wasn't getting it right, was he?

Avalon blushed when she remembered the letter's words. "I've never been asked out on a date through a letter..."

"Is that...is that not cool?" the Doctor blinked, panicking all over again. He intended on being different when it came to their relationship and he thought, since Avalon loved everything classical, that an old-fashion letter might be better than him stammering out the question. At the very least it could be more memorable.

Avalon sweetly smiled and leaned forwards to kiss him on the lips. "That was very sweet," she tapped his lips afterwards. "Very romantic."

"That...is what I was going for," the Doctor nodded, slowly finding his voice again. "I will always try to be like that, my princess."

Whether she wanted to or not, Avalon blushed again. It was ridiculous, she knew, to get all these butterflies in her stomach at a word that almost anyone would use on their partner. But, when the Doctor used it, she could almost believe that she was a princess. It didn't sound cliche at all. It had meaning.

He has saved you plenty of times, she reminded herself.

She stepped closer to him and drew her hand over his chest. "And what shall I call you? My knight in shining armor? My prince?"

"I like the first one, makes me sound cool." The Doctor grinned smugly, especially when he remembered that's how Avalon had dreamed of him. "Yeah, I'm your Knight in shining armor."

Avalon chuckled. "Not like you haven't been one in my dreams..."

"Was I? I totally forgot," the Doctor feigned surprise. "Didn't cross my mind one bit..."

"You're too modest but I'm not going to get into that right because somebody, I'm not pointing at anyone..." Except Avalon did just that with her excitement sparkling in her eyes. "But somebody promised me an entire day that'd be all about me."

"W-well that wasn't...I said to us..." the Doctor pointed at himself and Avalon, and though she seemed to nod that she understood...

"Right, about me," she slowly went around the console, brushing her hands over the controls.

The Doctor playfully rolled his eyes at her, figuring he wasn't going to get anywhere with her and honestly...who cared? He wanted to spend the entire day with her so maybe it was just about her. "I've found the perfect place for you, my dear Ava," he went the opposite way around the console, soon meeting her halfway. "And the best part of it is that we won't have any interruptions."

"Oh, and why wouldn't we want any interruptions?" Avalon played innocent so nicely that the Doctor almost believed her, almost. "Are you planning on doing something...?"

The Doctor truly hated how quickly the heat returned to his face but he'd taken one look at her dress again, specifically at the exposed shot he got of her midriff, and it was all downhill from there. She was teasing him so subtly and yet so obviously, he absolutely hated it. So why was his body almost on fire?

"Fairy Tale Man?" Avalon stepped closer to him and brought her hand up his arm 'till it came to rest on his shoulder. "You were saying?"

"R-right, uh...I meant to say..." the Doctor did his best to look only at her eyes but she still somehow made her innocent gaze so flirty. "I want a proper date with you where there's no danger, no aliens...except for me," she chuckled, "And especially, no interruptions from beloved Pond 1, Pond 2 and our dear Sapling."

Avalon swayed her head in agreement. It sounded very nice. "It has been a bit constant, huh?"

"YES!" the Doctor nearly shouted, "I love them, I really love them but every time we're in our little moments...they come in and interrupt us. Like, last night, when we were watching a movie and...we got...distracted," Avalon blushed but remain silent as he continued, "They almost walked in!" the Doctor frowned, "Or how about when we were in the archery room and we were having a little moment...and they almost caught us! Every time I want to kiss you or just be alone with you for a while they come in and I'm tired of it! And the Sapling! He's too innocent to figure out that sometimes we just want to be alone."

Avalon laughed when she remembered the time the Doctor had tried to explain to the Sapling that his Mother and Father wanted to watch a movie by themselves and the Sapling had asked 'why?' which then led to a very comical stammering from the Doctor. But as funny as it had been, Avalon felt like the Doctor was right. Of course it brought out another issue they hadn't yet come up with a solution for.

"We could just decide to tell them, you know," she said and immediately felt the Doctor stiffen under her hand. "What?" she laughed. "Too scared to face Amy and Rory?"

"Well...yes...honestly..."

And she didn't even know the half of it. The Doctor knew that Rory had expressed his support for a relationship between Avalon and him if it ever arose, but it didn't stop the Doctor from being scared that there would still be a part of Rory that would reject the relationship. After all, Avalon was no longer a friend, she was his granddaughter. Of course Rory would want his granddaughter - his only grandchild - to be with somebody safe. And he...was not safe. Which also brought the idea that maybe even Amy would disagree now that she knew Avalon was her granddaughter. It wasn't just them, it also went back to Avalon's father - now uncle - who they would eventually have to tell. How would Ryland react to his only brother's daughter having a relationship with the man who was surely responsible for Oliver's death? He would have every right to be against it. Only River Song would, seemingly, be in his corner but that didn't stop the Doctor from feeling the guilt. River wholeheartedly agreed with it, even pushed him towards her daughter, but he was the reason River was far away from Avalon in the first place. He'd done so much to the Ponds and of course he would choose to go and fall for one of them.

Of course.

"Doctor?" Avalon gently called since he'd fallen deep into his thoughts. "Hey," she noticed his face had gone pale and that couldn't be right, at least not over facing Amy and Rory. "So what if Amy and Rory don't agree? Even if they didn't agree, which I highly doubt to be honest, why would it matter? It's not their relationship, it's ours."

"I know," the Doctor lowered his gaze with a weary sigh. It was all so jumbled up.

"Are you sure it's just about them?" Avalon decided to ask what she'd been suspecting for a few days now. "Or is it that you're not quite sure about me yet? Because...because I'm not like you? A...what did you call it? A Time Lady?"

The Doctor's eyes snapped up to meet her nervous pair. "That is never it, Avalon. Don't you...don't ever think that, alright?" He cupped her face and gave her a gentle kiss on the lips, only parting enough to talk. "You are perfect the way you are. I would never think any less of you because you're different. Hell, I like you more because you're not like me. My people...they weren't the best, least not in the end. You're not a Time Lady, you are better."

"Alright, you don't have to kiss up," Avalon playfully rolled her eyes in an attempt to be casual but the truth was she was close to tearing up. "Actually, you could kiss up if you'd like. Kiss here-" she tapped her lips, "-and here-" she moved her finger to her nose, "-and then over here..." She tapped both of her cheeks.

"As tempting as that sounds - and it's really tempting - I would much rather go on our date. What do you think?"

Avalon nodded her head. "Take me away, Fairy Tale Man!"

"Gladly!" the Doctor grabbed her hand and pulled her to his side.

~ 0 ~

"If I trip, I'm going to kill you," Avalon so romantically warned as the Doctor guided her with his hands over her eyes.

"Don't you trust me?" he planted a kiss on her cheek for good measure.

"Of course but I also trust that you're very clumsy and frankly I'd rather not trip because my idiot of a boyfriend - I mean our relationship that's still yet to be labeled - tripped over his own feet."

"I'm still looking for the right label, don't you worry," he promised and finally stopped them right where he needed her. "Now are you ready?"

"Yes! You're lucky I haven't bitten you!"

"Well, to be honest, biting me isn't really much of a punishment anymore," the Doctor cleared his throat and thanked the stars that Avalon's eyes were closed so she couldn't see his blush.

Avalon smirked. "Duly noted. Now please take your hands off my eyes so I can see!"

"Right, I really hope you like this place." The Doctor took in a deep breath then finally pulled his hands from her eyes.

Avalon was quick to open her eyes but she was initially blinded by the sun. She shielded her eyes until her vision could adjust and when it did, she was mesmerized.

She was standing on a marbleized ground, the 'backyard' of the building behind her. She didn't waste time studying that because what truly took her breath away were the botanical gardens in front of them. She stepped forwards, her eyes landing on the large squared pool - that couldn't be deeper than five feet - in front of them with an aisle down the middle leading to what she imagined were the other gardens. She could see two sets of staircases on either side after crossing the aisle. The green gardens, as well as smaller lakes and pools, seemed like they stretched on forever.

"Where are we?" She turned to the Doctor, her eyes dazzling with excitement at the prospect of everything else she'd yet to see.

"This is the Gardenia Style," the Doctor extended his arms to his side. "A relaxation retreat for anybody who needs it. It's the best one in the Andromeda galaxy."

"A retreat? I don't...I don't really see anyone," Avalon said after taking another scan of the place but it seemed pretty empty.

"That's cos there's nobody here. They owe me one."

Avalon snapped her head in the Doctor's direction, eyes wide. "So they just...they just let you close down the place? What...because you asked?"

"The head of the place is an old friend of mine. I explained the situation and I asked her if it was possible to give me a day."

"And she said 'yes of course I can shut down my very profitable business just for you!'," Avalon folded her arms, her lips curving into a smile that threatened to laugh. "Doctor, you can just get people to do that!?"

"Well, I...yes?" the Doctor scratched the top of his head. It was something that he did get to do at times but he never took advantage of it either. "I helped her a long time ago when she was having an, uh, infestation problem..."

"Oh, so you saved her ass and now she owes you? Typical," Avalon turned away from him to gaze at the beautiful scenery. "My Fairy Tale Man just saves so many people, huh?"

"So do you like it?" the Doctor moved to stand behind her, his arms cautiously slipping around her waist. He thought it was the perfect place for Avalon because of its fairy tale nature. He was anxious to show her a few special places the gardens had to offer, but he wouldn't do any of it if Avalon didn't like it.

"I love it!" Avalon exclaimed and leaned her head against his chest, tilting it up to show him her grin. "You chose perfectly."

"Anything for my Ava," he kissed her on the lips. "My princess."

Avalon felt the dozen butterflies fluttering in her stomach at his new name for her. Yeah, he could keep calling her that for as long as he liked.

"C'mon!" the Doctor unwrapped his arms around her to take her hand.

"What are we going to do?" Avalon laughed as he led them down the small steps towards the pool aisle.

"Anything we want! We have the whole day!"

Indeed they did.

~ 0 ~

Avalon was eager to see everything, but the Doctor was right in that they should start with lunch. And as if to prove her point, her stomach decided to grumble only seconds after the Doctor proposed the idea. So he led her towards the spot where lunch had already been served for them.

Avalon keeled over at the chosen spot. They would be having lunch in a gazebo right in the middle of a beautiful lake. The Doctor led her down the boarded bridge up to the stone gazebo decorated with red poppies, her favorite flower.

"This is amazing," she couldn't keep her mouth from falling each time she looked. She gazed over the lake where flowers lazily floated down their direction. She then turned her attention to the table that was truly set with everything they could possibly eat.

"I'm glad to see you like it," the Doctor's voice pulled her eyes off an odd blue slushy-like content inside a bowl.

She turned around with a wide, soft smile. She walked up to him and looped her arms around his neck then kissed him. "You are wonderful. This entire place, the parts that I've seen is all wonderful. But you know...just because I love fairy tales and I call you my Fairy Tale Man doesn't mean you have to do all this for me. I really would've been just as happy with a picnic or a date in the TARDIS."

The Doctor could see her genuine honesty in her eyes. His hearts swelled knowing that she would be satisfied with something simple so long as they were together, but it didn't mean he could stop himself from enchanting her with everything he could get his hands on. "I just really like impressing you," he said, bringing one of his hands to stroke her cheek. "And I think you deserve only the best."

"You gave me the best thing that happened to my life nearly two years ago when you came back for me. Although, one could say that you only came back for me because Lena asked you to." Avalon casually played with his bowtie while she oh-so-innocently asked her question, "Would you have come back for me if Lena hadn't said anything?"

"Without a doubt," the Doctor had the answer within the second she asked it.

She raised her eyes, dropping her hand from her bowtie. "Really?" There were no more innocent games when she asked again. She had been the last one the Doctor came to pick up after the Atraxi incident, who's to say he wouldn't have changed his mind about her if Lena hadn't needed her. "I was in jail the last the time you saw me. You helped me because Lena asked you to. If she hadn't said anything, would you have still helped me? Would you have come back for me like you came for Amy?"

"Of course I would have," the Doctor once again answered her as soon as she asked. He thought these were rhetorical questions, but River's warning came back to mind. Avalon was a strong girl but every now and then she needed reassurance from people around her. "You helped me when you were seven and you did impress me, Avalon. I have never met another child like you and most certainly another woman like you."

A bright pink blush bloomed across Avalon's face, nothing stopping the big grin on her lips though. "I can say with the utmost certainty that I have never met another man like you."

That was music to the Doctor's ears. He leaned down to kiss her, practically meshing their lips together. Avalon's arms around his neck unwinded slightly to touch his hair. She'd learned fast that the Doctor loved getting his hair touched, stroked and tugged on. Who was she to deny him his bit of pleasure when he was so attentive to her likes? She kissed him fervently and let her fingers stroke through his hair for as long as he wanted because really...who would interrupt them? The flowers in the lake? Nobody. That was the best part of this place. They could kiss for as long as they liked, wherever they'd like.

~0~

"Okay, what is that?" Avalon laughed as the Doctor picked up the odd blue gushy stuff in a bowl.

The Doctor seemed to like it judging by his grin. "Oh, you'll love it!" He scooted his chair closer to hers with the bowl in hand. "Try it."

"Right, but you haven't told me what it is," Avalon pointed out, "And I'd rather not be poisoned."

"Oi, you think I'm poisoning you?" the Doctor made a face.

"Payback for what I did."

Even if it was a joke, the Doctor didn't like it. "I would never," he whispered earnestly. "Because you know I forgive you for everything, not like I had to though." He reached over to her and gently tucked a curl behind her ear, though it kept sticking back out. He smiled at her so kindly that Avalon teared up.

"Oh God I will never forgive myself for it," she shook her head.

"Ava, don't think about that stuff. You're here now and you're okay. I won't let anything happen to you, never again."

Avalon smiled through her tears. "Okay, let's try that gushy stuff then." She tried her best to eat it without letting it spill on her dress. They collectively laughed when she slurped it up. "That's ladylike for sure!"

"What'd you think?" the Doctor handed her a napkin.

"I love it! Kind of like blueberry!"

"Excellent, then I know you'll love Akhaten!"

Avalon shot him a confused smile. "Aka-what?"

"Akhaten, you'll love it! It's a planet with a big ole market place and a beautiful sun."

"I'd love to go there," Avalon's smile widened with excitement.

The Doctor chuckled, "I'll take you one day, I promise."

Avalon beamed. Something about making plans for the future made butterflies appear in her stomach. It also made her want to push away all thoughts about Lake Silencio even harder. She couldn't let that future happen. In fact, now she was thinking about the moment a lot clearer. A lot of the Doctor's behavior was beginning to make sense. He'd been a lot nicer to her than what their relationship back then entailed. He didn't even get mad at her for stealing a Milan fashion dress! That should've been her first clue that he'd been a future Doctor. My Doctor wouldn't get so mad at me right now...

"Hey Doctor, what would you think of going back to Milan again for fashion week?"

"I think I would die of boredom 2 seconds after we get there," the Doctor answered with an honest-to-God straight face.

"Well, how about if I nicked something kind of pretty for me?" she arched an eyebrow. "Maybe something kind of sexy?"

That definitely got his attention. "Uh, well..." He cleared his throat, obviously finding nothing to do with himself in the moment. "I-I would think...they...they probably wouldn't miss one silly little dress..."

Avalon smiled widely. The Lake Silencio Doctor was truly a future version. He'd been this Doctor she had in front of him, the one who cared for her so much that he couldn't find a label to describe just how much he felt for her.

"Ava, what's wrong?" the Doctor reached to clear off a tear rolling down her cheek.

She quickly blinked the rest away. She had teared up without noticing. "N-nothing. I'm happy, I'm very happy right now." She took his hand from her face and held it tightly in hers. "You have no idea how much I care for you, Doctor. I'm almost upset that you haven't come up with a good label for us just so I can use it right now."

"I am trying," he assured her. "I might just have to create a new word for us. That is how much I care for you." Avalon chuckled but there were still tears welling in her eyes. It puzzled the Doctor deeply. "Why are you crying, Ava?"

"These are happy tears," she tried to argue but he had come to know her that well now.

"No," he cleared more tears off her face with his free hand. "They're sad tears. What is making my Ava so sad?"

Avalon felt so stupid for ruining their date, but she couldn't stop the tears. He was right, they were sad tears but they were also fearful tears, and even happy tears. She was an outright mess. "I just..." She sniffed and let go of his hand to dry her face completely.

The Doctor pushed his chair back to stand up but Avalon beat him to it. She got up from her chair and easily slipped onto his lap. She pressed her lips to his for a sweet, long kiss. The Doctor truly had no idea what was going on but he would never refuse the chance to kiss her.

A few minutes later, Avalon pulled away but only slightly. She smiled at him but the Doctor could still see that same sadness in her eyes. He stroked her cheek with the back of his hand.

"Tell me what's wrong, Ava, and I'll make it better. I'll always try to make everything better for you."

"Really? Anything?"

"Anything."

Don't be stupid. Avalon took his hand stroking her face and gave it a kiss. "Can you promise me something?"

"Anything." The Doctor was willing and ready which did, admittedly, give Avalon a teeny-tiny bit of hope that maybe this time they could change the future.

"Promise me that we won't end. Promise me that you'll try to stay at my side...at least until you get tired of me."

The Doctor thought it was silly that she'd want to hear this but...if she needed reassurance he'd give it to her. "I promise. I promise to stay at your side..." Until Time would say otherwise and Time had already spoken, he was just too much of a coward to tell her the truth. He made it a routine to check his biography from the Teselecta every day, reminding himself of what was to come in 200 years. Perhaps he was ridiculous for thinking that he could change the future, but having Avalon with him right now, asking him to stay at her side...it created a powerful drive to make it so.

He couldn't fathom not being with her.

She was still holding onto his hand when he maneuvered his fingers to stroke her skin. "I promise that I will be at your side until I die." That was a promise he could keep.

Avalon took in a shaky breath. 'Until I die'. She had been at his side when he died.

"Why don't we finish lunch and then I can show you the rest of this place, hm?" the Doctor asked. He wanted to rid her of those tears ruining her usual clear blue eyes. He brought her hand to his lips and kissed each of her fingers. He was glad to see her smiling by the time he kissed her pinky.

Avalon ultimately nodded her head. She shouldn't waste such a beautiful day on horrid thoughts. "Okay, but one more thing...do I have to get off?"

The Doctor hook his head, grinning almost immediately. "Not at all. But you might have to help me eat..."

Avalon swayed her head then reached for a few grapes on a nearby bowl. She held one to his mouth and watched him take it off swift and easily. She then dropped one into her own mouth and smirked at him.

How the hell can she make that look so seductive? The Doctor figured he wouldn't get that answer, so the least he could do was take advantage of every moment it happened.

~ 0 ~

After lunch, the Doctor got to lead Avalon through the gardens. He had shown her the smaller pools which, unfortunately, he did not allow her to dip her toes in. She rolled her eyes at his excuse that, while being true, was still annoying.

"So I get a cold, what's the big deal?" she was only letting him hold her hand because if not, there was a good chance she'd get lost in the maze they'd entered.

"The big deal is I don't know how aggressive that cold might get and I don't feel like seeing you get a cold. I am the Doctor, remember? My patient is not getting sick on my watch."

"Patient?" she shot him a side-glance. "Is that all I am?"

"Still working on a label my love."

Avalon's head turned in the opposite direction when she felt a blush cross her face. Whenever the Doctor would say 'my love' to her, her face automatically went all warm. She was choosing to ignore the tingle - as best as she could - that was going down her back.

"Not upset are you?" the Doctor noticed her gaze had become stuck on the bright green bush walls.

"No, course not," Avalon finally gave him a well needed look a few seconds later. "I have to say, I love this maze...one could get lost in it forever, huh?"

"No, not really," the Doctor shook his head. "It's not that big."

"Still, a maze? Gardens? Lakes? Doctor, I really love this place," Avalon turned to him with a smile to match what she felt. "I'm curious to see where you might take me tomorrow, on a normal day?"

"Well, 'normal' isn't exactly the word I'd use for us. But to answer your question, I'd take you anywhere you'd like."

"Really? Anywhere?"

"Anywhere. My only rule is that it has to be exceptional for my Ava." The Doctor took her hands into his, intertwining their fingers together.

"Even if it's outrageous?" Avalon bit her lower lip with anticipation. "Could I ask to see something outrageously exceptional, then?"

"Of course. Name something, I dare you."

Avalon hummed while she thought about such an outrageous place that even he couldn't make it happen. "I got it. Can you take me to, I don't know, Neverland?" That had to be impossible for him to reach.

"I'd make it so," the Doctor gently tugged Avalon to him, smiling at her soft laughter. "I would!"

"It's from a movie, Doctor!"

"Doesn't mean I can't find a piece of it somewhere up there," he tilted her chin up to the sky. "Cos that's the best thing about traveling in the TARDIS, Ava. Somewhere in the galaxies, in one small corner, there might be two little stars and we'd only have to go to the second star on the right."

Avalon stared at him with twinkling eyes. "You would make it so even if you couldn't," she said quietly. The Doctor only gave a light shrug, but it was done almost automatic, like an instinct. He didn't know if he could ever find the place but he would try to find it for her. "Second star to the right," she whispered.

"Those are our plans for tomorrow then," the Doctor swooped down to give her a kiss. "Can't wait to see what we come up with for the day after."

Avalon laughed and allowed him to pull her down the maze. "You're going to get us lost!"

"I will not!" he huffed. He stopped them at an intersection and Avalon swore he looked at each path more than what a person who knew what they were doing had to. "I've been here a bunch of times!"

"Oh, who with?" Avalon raised an eyebrow at him, genuinely curious who had had the privilege of seeing this beautiful place.

"What?" the Doctor registered the question a few seconds after choosing to turn to the left. "Who did I...? Oh! I, uh, I think I showed Donna!"

"You don't remember?" Avalon made a face at him, almost looking offended on behalf of Donna.

"Well, it was such a long time ago!"

"But you said Donna used to be your best friend, how could you forget that you came here with her?"

The Doctor came to a slow stop and looked at her. "I do have 900 years worth of memories, Ava. My head's not that big, despite what you all say. Plus, a good chunk of my memories are with the Sapling."

Avalon rolled her eyes and allowed him to finish their way out of the maze. She gave him his credit for finding the way out in five minutes, although she suspected that Donna had played a huge part in finding the way out because Avalon swore that the Doctor had mumbled some type of mnemonic to help him find the way in the end.

"What a beautiful sight," she remarked once they were on the other side. The maze had led them out on a new grassy terrain with a cliff ledge.

The Doctor brought Avalon towards the edge so she could see the waterfall gushing below into a river. Where that ended, Avalon had no clue, but it all looked amazing. The sun was making the water shine a golden shade that Avalon didn't want to look away anytime soon.

"C'mon Ava," the Doctor had to eventually drag her away from the edge. He was a bit afraid that in her attempt to look further below, she might fall. He'd love to make a dive himself but Avalon didn't know how to swim. That would probably be a problem.

"But I want to keep looking," Avalon complained with an arm gesturing at the scenery.

"We can do that, just not right at the edge!" The Doctor brought them back a decent amount from the cliff and then sat down on the grass. He patted the spot beside him and flashed her a smile. With a roll of her eyes, she sat down. As soon as she'd gotten comfortable, the Doctor moved again.

"Doctor, what are you...?" Avalon laughed when he made himself comfortable with his head over her lap. He shifted far too much, making it a show until he finally found his spot. "Are you good now?" Avalon looked down at him with another laugh.

"Oh yeah," he nodded but a few seconds later Avalon noticed the quick dart his eyes did to the opposite direction.

"What is it?"

"Um, your, uh..." he coughed in an obvious manner of awkwardness. "It is a beautiful dress you're wearing, Ava."

Avalon blushed when she realized he'd gotten a little glimpse through the hole of her dress below her chest. She pressed her dress and cleared her throat. "Sorry. You can look now."

The Doctor suspected she wasn't very sorry, and if he was going to admit silently then he wasn't sorry either. You are way ahead of yourself, Doctor. Calm down.

"I bet your mind just rushed with new thoughts, didn't it?" Avalon smirked.

"Oh, shut up!"

"Alright, alright, I'll let it go because you're doing so good today."

"I am?"

"Mhm," Avalon started stroking his hair, much to his delight.

The Doctor was sure that she had the most gentle fingers. She was a writer so maybe that had to do with it. But there's no explanation for the way she makes me feel when she touches my hair. Several times the Doctor had to swallow a moan. He wasn't sure if Avalon knew what she caused, but either way he couldn't ask her to stop. It felt too good.

"Don't fall asleep on me, Fairy Tale Man," Avalon chuckled when a few minutes had passed by and the Doctor hadn't opened his eyes.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" the Doctor cracked one eye open. "I heard from Amy about your little tricks at your sleepovers. You drew all over her face and you had the audacity to scribble a little 'sincerely Ava' under." If he had, had the slightest doubt that his Ava could pull off something like that, the confirmation was all in Avalon's smirk. "You are one bad girl."

"And yet you don't sound the least bit upset about it," Avalon bopped her nose over his roguish lips.

"I do like myself a bad girl, especially the gingers. They're the feistiest!"

"Are you speaking from experience? Have you dated another ginger like me?" Avalon scrunched her face as soon as she realized what she asked. She placed her finger over his lips before he could answer her. "I'm not sure I can handle the long list you have of significant others." She raised her finger from his lips and sighed. "That doesn't mean I would want you to forget about them, though. I mean...I'm not gonna be one of those people demanding you forget every other relationship you've ever had."

"I thank you for that, and it's the same for you, you know," the Doctor reached up to her face and stroked her plump pink lips. "But that doesn't mean I'd like to hear who else had the privilege of kissing these lips."

Avalon rolled her eyes. "Many have had the fortune but none will have it now but you. I hope you extend me the same courtesy."

"You know it."

"I hope so because I know your track record, mister. Almost every companion has had a piece of you!"

"That was...that's...I didn't do anything!"

"Oh, I'm sure!" Avalon would've bantered more with him if he wasn't reacting so serious. He should know by now that this was just her way of being. "Calm down, Fairy Tale Man. I'm just pulling your leg."

"Well, can you pull my hair instead?" the Doctor didn't hesitate to respond with. He short her a smirk and pointed to his unkempt hair.

"You are so..." Avalon wouldn't be able to find the right word to describe him and she wasn't going to spend all day thinking of one. She let her fingers once again run through his hair and smiled when he saw the satisfaction on the Doctor's face. "Can I ask you something?"

"Always."

"I, uh...you know that I know about your past, perhaps not all of it but a good amount. You don't have to answer if you don't want to, I would really get it..."

"You're rambling, Ava," the Doctor opened his eyes to see her struggling face. "What is it?"

"I know about your last love, your most recent last love." Soon as she started with those words, she felt the Doctor's body stiffen. "There's no resentment, Doctor. Never. I'm only curious about her. Rose Tyler was her name. Kovarian mentioned her a lot. She said that Rose unintentionally helped the Daleks break through the walls of the universe."

"She had no idea what she was doing," the Doctor said quietly. "She wanted to come back to this world..."

"...to find you?" Avalon smiled softly at him, truly bearing no type of anger or resentment like she said. "I can admire that. She broke through parallel walls just to find you. Must have been one hell of a love story."

"It was," the Doctor said after a minute of struggle. He wasn't used to talking about his past with anyone, much less to think about people like Rose, people that had meant a lot to him.

"You can always talk to me, Fairy Tale Man," Avalon whispered and the Doctor wasn't sure if she was doing it on purpose or subconsciously, but her fingers found a gentler way of stroking his hair. "Is there something you want to tell me about Rose Tyler? Let somebody new in on her memory?"

The Doctor smiled. My Ava. "She was sweet, she was young - she was your age when we first met. Nineteen. She worked at a shop and...she didn't really know what she was doing with her life."

"I felt that," Avalon chuckled. She never knew what she was going to do with her life before the Doctor returned to Leadworth.

"Travelling helped her find her way. But then she got pulled into a parallel world. She almost died but she was saved. Being stuck in that parallel world was better than for her to have died in the Void with the Daleks and Cybermen."

Avalon fingers stopped between the Doctor's hair. "The Daleks and Cybermen..." she whispered. She closed her eyes when the memories tried coming back. "Kovarian showed me so many pictures of that battle...I can't...I can't believe it..."

"I'm sorry," the Doctor said, feeling guilty he was bringing back the things she wanted to clearly forget.

"No, no, you're good. I...I wasn't even there, I mean...I wasn't in the eye of the storm where it happened. But you were...you were there when your friend got lost. I'm so sorry it happened."

"It started a lot of things," the Doctor said with a saddened smile. Losing Rose had been one of the most terrible days of his life, but it truly did start different stories afterwards. "I met Martha soon after - actually, I met Donna before and then Martha but then I found Donna again."

"Lucky her," Avalon resumed with her gentle fingers gliding through his hair.

"Yeah...no...no, she wasn't. It was fate. I met her to lose her as well."

"You always say that I remind you of Donna," Avalon said, unable to keep her curiosity hidden. "Why's that? Besides the ginger thing of course. That doesn't automatically make us twins or something."

The Doctor chuckled. "I know. You two shout at me the same way, the only difference is now I can kiss you to shut you up. If I did that with Donna she'd kill me. She made it very clear to on her first day in the TARDIS that she did not want anything to do with me beyond friendship."

"Did she shout it?"

"A possibility."

"Alright Donna," Avalon smiled.

"I wish you could have met her, Avalon. I think out of everyone I met before you and the Ponds, you would've gotten along with Donna the best. She could be reckless and fun when she wanted to be. She grew to become confident, to love who she was. She was brave as hell and so sympathetic to others. She had some very good snaps and comebacks too. She even gave me my own nickname like you did. Spaceman." Just remembering the many times Donna would call him 'spaceman' made him long for the times with his best friend. He'd love to have Donna around so she could meet Avalon and no doubt make fun of him for taking so long to open up about his feelings.

Avalon tilted her head in thought. "Spaceman...I like it. Not as much as Fairy Tale Man but...she had taste." She looked down at him to find him lost in thoughts, no doubt about Donna. "You really miss her, huh?"

"Yeah. If I hadn't had to wipe her memories, I'm sure she would still be here. She would be making endless jokes about the fact we had a cosmic tree child."

Avalon laughed. "You think so?"

"I know so!"

"She sounds great, Doctor, really. She and Rose do. I'm so sorry that you lost them."

The Doctor sobered from his own laugh but when he smiled, it was no longer sad. He gazed up at her and met her lovable sea-blue eyes. He finally sat up and shifted to sit beside her, facing her, with one arm going over her lap to rest on her other side. "I lost them but I have you now. I did love Rose, I won't lie - not that I could - but I lost her a long time ago. And I understood why. She wasn't for me. She wasn't...mine. You are. And Donna's gone, my best friend, but I found new friends. I have Amy, Rory, and my sweet baby sister Lena. I have all of you now."

Avalon's eyes glistened with tears. "Why do you always make me tear up dammit?"

"I'm sorry, dear," the Doctor rubbed his thumb over her cheek.

"They're happy tears, trust me," Avalon said, this time genuinely truthful. "I'm happy that you're happy. Let's me know that I'm doing a good job here."

"Of course you are. No matter what you do I'm happy, so long as you're by my side." He leaned closer to her, purposely pausing just in front of her lips to give her a heads up of what was coming. "Are you happy?"

Avalon felt like that was a ridiculous question to ask, but she humored him. "Very. I wish I could thank Rose and Donna, and everyone else who came before me, for saving your ass so you could be here with me."

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "You just couldn't help yourself, huh?"

"No..." Avalon giggled. "I'm really bad."

"Yeah," the Doctor agreed before kissing her. God knows what else she might say.

~ 0 ~

"Hey Doctor, I just realized, how come you didn't tell me about your other friend, Martha Jones?" Avalon asked once the pair were out of the maze and cliff altogether. They were in front of a rectangle-shaped, 2ft pool. Avalon noticed the stone flower statues lining the middle of the pool.

"Oh, uh, cos I'm saving her for a better moment," the Doctor said, flashing her a mischievous smile.

"What are you up to Fairy Tale Man?"

The Doctor turned to her, letting his mischievous smile widen even more. "Confession time?"

"Always!"

"Back when I was looking for you, I actually had some help from my old friend Martha. I thought we might pop back to see her and you can meet her."

Avalon nodded excitedly. "I'd love that! You think she'd like me?"

"Of course she would," the Doctor said, preferring not to think about how Martha had implied this relationship was coming. He'd just have to suck it up and admit she was right sooner or later. "And, I guess...we could get our mutual old friend...Jack..."

Avalon had heard the name perfectly despite how low the Doctor had muttered it. "Jack!? Oh my God, I'd love to see him again! I haven't seem him in such a long time!"

"Please...try to look excited..." the Doctor's face was completely flat while Avalon practically bounced at the idea of seeing the old immortal man.

"I am!" Avalon laughed, not noticing his expression yet. "I love Jack! He just gets me and my weaponry interests!"

"Oh, well...so long as you're happy, I guess..."

Avalon rolled her eyes when she finally got his disdain. "Oh Fairy Tale Man. He's my friend! I"m allowed to have friends that are men!"

"Yeah, but Jack just loves to flirt with everyone and so do you! I dread to think of what it's gonna be like seeing you flirt with him!"

"Jealous?" a sly smile took Avalon's face. The Doctor huffed and looked away. "I guess I should keep my mouth shut about my actual previous boyfriends, then?"

"Yeah!"

"Did you say no? I heard 'no'!" Avalon turned away with her hands clapped together. "Let's see, oh! How about my very first boyfriend? Ah, Leo. I liked Leo a lot. You know he took me on a date to the ice cream parlor!"

"Gah," the Doctor waved her off. "Pales in comparison to all this!" He flapped his arms to his sides, gesturing to the beautiful gardens around them.

Avalon kept her back to him but was smirking. She was getting a rile out of him and it was the most hilarious thing ever! "I had my first kiss with him too! I was fifteen but, eh, nothing wrong with a late bloomer! Then there was Benjamin. He was such a sweetheart," Avalon brought a hand over her chest. "He wrote poems for me!"

The Doctor let his arms fall to his sides. He was about to shoot her a comeback but he could tell, even when she wasn't facing him, that she'd started to truly reminisce about her past, just like he had. He couldn't be mad at that. "Did he write them well?" he asked suddenly.

Avalon turned sideways and nodded silently. "He uh...he actually asked me if I..." she chuckled, "He asked me to our school dance in a poem. It was such a cheesy poem but I was so excited cos it was my first school dance." She didn't exactly make the best reputation for herself in school so having a guy actually write her a poem just to ask her out to a dance was beyond her. It still warmed her heart. "Mum took me out shopping for a dress, she tried her best to make this-" she grabbed one of her curls, "-decent, and she let me wear her special lip gloss. Benjy...he was one of the sweet guys."

"Benjy..." the Doctor repeated though there was a light laugh that slipped through his lips. "Then I like him for being thoughtful."

"Really?" Avalon set a hand on her hip. "Cos a minute ago you looked ready to yell."

"Well...you deserve some good memories too, and if 'Benjy'-" the Doctor brought his fingers to the air for quotation marks, "-made you happy then I'm happy too."

"He did," Avalon nodded. "And then a year later he had to move to Scotland. I hated Amy so much..." There, the Doctor laughed. "Her stupid country took away my Benjy!"

"Oh, Ava!"

Avalon sighed, waving him off. "That was my first real break up. I was so sad. Took me forever to get over him. But then I dated again, met Jordan. He was a bad guy..." She smirked and the Doctor had to keep himself refrained from moving when she started biting her lip. "He had the black leather jacket...oh! I had some good times with him."

"Really?"

"Mhm. He was a good kisser."

"So what happened to him, then?"

"Dumped me for some other girl," Avalon scowled.

"Oh," the Doctor wasn't expecting that answer, least not yet. "I'm sorry..."

Avalon shrugged. "Wasn't my first, wasn't my last. I had a couple more boyfriends after that but I don't think they were very meaningful."

"No more 'Benjy's'?" the Doctor asked her, a tiny smile quirking across his lips.

"A few but...I don't know, some of the guys were just boring and others wanted things I didn't want. I think only ever liked Benjy. We dated for a year until he moved. My last boyfriend, the one that dumped me the night you came back for me, remember?"

The Doctor nodded. He remembered her face full of tears. Now that guy deserved all his hatred. No one should make his Ava cry.

"He was fine. We were fine but...I wanted to find Lena and he thought I was getting obsessed. He couldn't handle it so he broke up with me." Avalon exhaled deeply, letting her shoulders once again awkwardly shrug. "I didn't have epic love stories like you did..."

"But they're your stories," the Doctor moved up to her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Mm, and I wouldn't change them," Avalon pecked his lips and turned around to watch the pool, resting her back against his chest.

The Doctor couldn't help think about her words for a moment. They were the same ones River had told him back when Avalon had escaped the TARDIS to visit her in Stormcage.

His thoughts were interrupted when the sprinklers of the pool turned on. Avalon yelped when the drizzle of water and mist fell over them. She turned around and buried her face in his chest. "Not my make up!"

The Doctor laughed and hurried them away from the sight. "C'mon, Ava!"

They ran down the gardens, only stopping here and there to admire. One part of the gardens had a field dedicated to statues. There was no pattern nor order, just statues meant to be admired by the guests. They were gorgeous...only Avalon found one that reminded her too much of the Silence, so the Doctor quickly changed venues. But funny thing was, after they left the statues, they forgot all about it.

"Is the sun setting already?" Avalon asked as they began nearing the building where the TARDIS was. The sun was getting covered by clouds and actually...there seemed to be a lot of clouds suddenly.

"I'm afraid so," the Doctor lamented like her that their day was coming to an end.

"Still, our day together was rather nice..." Avalon side-glanced him. "Right?"

"Truly." The Doctor brought her hand to his lips for a kiss. "The first of many." Avalon beamed. She would love to see what else he could come up with. "C'mon," he led her down the pool aisle to return to the front, but Avalon let go of his hand midway. He turned back to see her gazing at the two pools. "Ava?"

"Are these like...sacred pools or something?"

"What? No, no, they're purely here for aesthetic reasons."

"Ah..."

"Why?"

Avalon smirked at the water, giving the Doctor about a second to realize what she was thinking before she actually did it.

"Avalon-"

Avalon hopped into the water, splashing the water around her. The water only reached to her ankles but it was enough for her to have fun wiggling her way through it while splashing.

"Avalon! Get out of there! You'll get sick!" the Doctor called to her in vain.

"Don't be a spoilsport!" She called and kicked some water his way. "I can't swim so this is as close to a pool as I'll ever get! C'mon!" She walked towards him, ignoring his refusals, and splashed some water his way.

"You are childish!" He stepped his boots hard on the ground to get rid of the water they now had.

"And yet you're smiling! C'mon!" She reached down and pushed more water in his way. "We're about to leave anyways! One more shenanigan!"

The Doctor exhaled and finally looked at her. Shenanigans. That was literally what they did most and it was always so much fun and...spontaneous. He couldn't plan around Avalon because even when he did - like this entire place - she always did something out of his plans. And he loved it. She brought him the thrill he didn't know he needed.

"Coming, Fairy Tale Man?" Avalon backed away and twirled about in the water.

The Doctor thought she looked beautiful. She looked happy. It was nothing compared to Berlin, or after. His Ava was happy...and she was calling him to her side, right where he once told River he'd love to be. Almost like he was in a trance, the Doctor hopped into the pool. Avalon was still twirling when the Doctor reached her. He picked her up midspin from behind and heard her laugh as he gave her another spin.

"Gotcha my dear!" He planted her feet back on the ground but kept his arms locked around her waist, only offering her space so she could turn to face him.

"Couldn't resist, could you?" Avalon cheekily smiled at him.

"I could never resist you."

"Smooth," she rolled her eyes. She danced her fingers along his chest until they came to rest over his shoulders. "Is this the end, then? Has our date come to an end?"

"Not quite, there's one more thing we have to do."

"What is i-"

The Doctor swooped down for a surprise kiss then hurried out of the pool. His feet splashed the water all around until he made it to the cement ground. "But you'll need to get out of that pool!" He called back to the ginger still in the pool.

Avalon laughed. "Why? What are you doing?" She watched him dash for the TARDIS and because she was overly curious, she listened to his words and walked out of the pool.

She raised her head to the sky and saw the clouds getting darker. Maybe it was a good thing their date was ending because it looked like there was rain coming. Her thoughts were interrupted by a soft tune that started from the TARDIS. It only took Avalon a few seconds to recognize it. He'd chosen to play Once Upon A Dream for her.

She laughed just as the Doctor came out of the TARDIS. She wouldn't even bother with his smug face - he deserved it this time. "That's my song, our song..."

"Our first dance," the Doctor hurriedly hopped down the steps to join her by the pool.

"How could I forget?" Avalon sighed in content. It'd been the first day she felt genuinely happy with him. He'd taken her to meet Mary Costa and she'd become a singer to the very song now playing.

"Would you like to dance, princess?" the Doctor held a hand out for her.

"There's nothing else I'd like to do, my knight in shining armor," Avalon did the familiar bow of a princess then took his hand.

The Doctor gently pulled her up to him and set his free hand on her waist. Avalon gripped his other hand that held hers and rested her free hand on his shoulder. The two descended into a slow dance. They were so into their moment that they completely ignored - or perhaps they didn't even hear - the thunder cracking in the sky.

"Now it's a perfect date," the Doctor murmured beside Avalon's ear.

She slightly tilted her head in the opposite direction, smiling so widely it could possibly crack her face. "It was a perfect date from the start. I have never had somebody go through this much trouble just for me."

"You deserve everything, Avalon," he pressed a kiss to her cheek.

She doubted that she did. There was no denying that her background involved a lot of running from the law. She liked the running too, the adrenaline. She made some bad choices in the past and it seemed like she would continue doing the same. There was a part of her that feared her bad choices would lead her to Lake Silencio. What if I'm the one in the astronaut suit? What if the Silence weren't done with me? Avalon screwed her eyes shut in terrible fear. She couldn't let that happen. She would rather die than ever become a weapon for them.

"Ava?" the Doctor gently called her name. He didn't know what was running through her head but he figured it couldn't be good if it had her squeezing her eyes shut. "Are you okay?"

Avalon opened her eyes and smiled lightly. "With you? Always."

This time they heard the thunder roar but Avalon gripped the Doctor to their spot. She wasn't ready to leave yet. "I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream. I know you! The gleam in your eyes is so familiar a gleam..."

The Doctor smiled. Of course. They couldn't leave until the princess sang her song. And he loved this princess' voice as much as he loved when she stroked his hair. They danced together as Avalon's melodic voice filled the air.

"Yet I know it's true the visions are seldom all they seem. But if I know you, I know what you'll do..." she laughed when the Doctor dipped her, keeping their faces close together. "You'll love me at once, the way you did once upon a dream..."

The Doctor brought her back up but kissed her midway, unable to help himself even if it caught her song off. Avalon didn't seem to mind. She moved her lips with his for as long as she could, or they could...

Thunder cracked one more time before the rain started. They parted from their kiss only slightly to look at each other.

"But if I know you, I know what you'll do. You'll love me at once, the way you did once upon a dream..." Avalon finished with the biggest smile on her face.

The water was thinning her curls, flattening them to her face and body. She watched the droplets of water drip from the Doctor's strands of hair over his forehead. She reached her hand over and gently moved his hair to the side.

"Singing and dancing in the rain, now we have the perfect ending to the perfect date," she said, laughing when the Doctor gave them another sway of a dance. "I will never forget this day, Fairy Tale Man." She leaned over and kissed him, wrapping her arms around his neck the more they kissed.

A kiss under the rain was truly the last bit they needed before they could leave such an enchanting place.

When the Doctor heard actual lightning strike, he knew it was time to go. Still, he reluctantly pulled away from Avalon but she wasn't letting him go. "Time to go home, princess."

Avalon smiled and nodded. She had dressed for heat, not rain. "Okay." She unwinded her arms from his neck and let the Doctor guide them towards the TARDIS. Neither of them noticed a small, truly minuscule, device had been placed on one of its sides. When the TARDIS dematerialized, the bug device flashed to life.

"The time has come to collect the rest of my memoriesssss." The Scream emerged from the building's back door. He raised a handheld device in his hand, a tracker of his own unique kind, and watched it. "I will follow youuuu Doctor. I know exactly how to take what's miiiiine."

[shannendoherty-fans]

People, September 9th 1991

High School Confidential

By Tom Gliatto and Michael Alexander.

Photos by Mark Sennett.

Beverly Hills, 90210 Gets Its Heat from a Dangerously Cute Cast of TV's Hottest New Stars CONFIDENTIAL MEMO: FROM: The Vice Principal TO: The Faculty, High School U.S.A. I'm sure I don't need to remind you what happened when we didn't prepare for Bart Simpson last fall. The school was flooded with rude, antieducational T-shirts. Some cows were had. Well, as a new school year gets under way, I believe we face another daunting challenge: Brace yourselves for Beverly Hills, 90210. That's the Fox drama about unworldly twin teens Brandon and Brenda Walsh (played by Jason Priestley and Shannen Doherty), recent transferees from Minneapolis to the Hills of Beverly. There they struggle to assimilate into the fast-lane lifestyle of West Beverly Hills High School, where the kids come equipped with BMWs, call waiting and designer surfboards. In the process, the teens examine their emerging identities and the problems that adolescents everywhere face.

The show languished in the Nielsen ratings against Thursday powerhouse Cheers last year. But Fox had no replacement, so it stayed. While we were on summer vacation, new 90210 episodes began airing, and the show landed in the Top 20, becoming the most popular show among teenagers. To some extent, I take responsibility for having ignored 90210. I made the mistake of reading newspaper critics instead of my daughter's diary, and so I believed, as Howard Rosenberg sniffed in the Los Angeles Times, that the show was merely a "ZIP code for stereotypes and stock characters." Little did I know that this show would mesmerize teens by doing emotionally realistic shows that involved adolescent rebellion, alcoholic; parents, a breast-cancer scare and plenty of worrisome teen sex. "Most shows for adolescents," says 90210 creator Darren Star, "seem like they are written by 50-year-olds who think teenagers behave like 7-year-olds."

It also doesn't hurt that the show's male stars, Priestley and Luke Perry (who plays brooding loner Dylan McKay), are "to die for," as my daughter puts it. These two have each been receiving about 1,500 fan letters a week. So be vigilant: Surely some of these will be written by our students...during class! And I'm afraid that 90210 is only going to get bigger with our kids, if producer Aaron Spelling is to be believed. "I thought The Mod Squad and Charlie's Angels got a lot of publicity in their heyday," says Spelling, whose company produced those shows, "but it doesn't compare to this. It's crazy. We have merchandising coming out of our ears"—a complete line of T-shirts, beach towels, notebooks, etc. "And now these actors can't walk down the street!"

Or even streak through malls. You probably saw those alarming news reports about a frenzied mob of 10,000 fans that stampeded Perry when he appeared at a south Florida mall last month. "It's a little scary," says Perry. Scarier is the amount of time students will waste this fall discussing Luke. And Jason. And who is sexier. I provide some information on the two. Jason Priestley, 22, plays Brandon Walsh, a model of thoughtful level-headedness. In real life, however, the brown-haired, blue-eyed star, who started acting in commercials at age 4 and played an orphan on that very nice NBC sitcom Sister Kate, is no Oliver Twist. He likes dirt bikes, bungee jumping and is a chain-smoker (just about the whole cast puffs it up—but not on-camera). Vancouver-born Priestley likes to hang out in Las Vegas. As for his real romantic life, he was reportedly dating actress Robin (Doogie Howser, M.D.) Lively last spring, but it seems likely that now he is too busy for such dalliance;. He must be on the set 14 hours a day, five days a week. To avoid ever-present fans, Priestley says, "I look different from my character when I'm just walking around. I don't shave, I don't dress like Brandon."

On the show, 26-year-old Luke Perry (Brenda Walsh's boyfriend, Dylan) sports a leather jacket, dagger sideburns and a squint that spells t-r-o-u-b-l-e. Although he grew up and graduated from high school in Fredericktown, Ohio, he seems to have attended James Dean wise-guy classes. Perry, who played country-boy Ned Bates on the ABC soap Loving, entertains the 90210 cast by strutting around bare-chested making jokes. Does he have a girlfriend? "No. You know how I can get in touch with Linda Hamilton?" What kind of music does he listen to? "Tom Jones is awesome." Are he and Priestley ever mistaken for each other? "He's mistaken for me on his good days." And 90210, he says, is "the best show on television, except for Jeopardy!" We should act quickly, faculty, when we see any signs that Beverly Hills, 90210 is disrupting normal student activity.

How abnormal might things get? Consider: "It's almost like there are cults," says Brian Austin Green, 18, the North Hollywood High grad who plays the cutely dweeby David Silver. "Girls go to school the day after the show, and they actually become these characters. They say, 'Okay, today I want to be Dylan, you can be Brenda, you can be Brandon.' " Needless to say, students caught pretending to be TV characters should be brought directly to my office for detention. But you know, it might not be a bad thing if our students could show some of the good sense that the 90210ers display in coping with the pressures of fame and fortune. Jennie Garth, 19, who plays the very sexy, very blond, very snotty Kelly Taylor, is particularly admirable. The youngest of seven children, she grew up on a farm near Champaign, Ill., until her schoolteacher parents moved to Phoenix when she was 13. "Living in a small town and coming from a very tight and close family instilled a lot of standards that I need to live up to," says Garth, who just bought a home in Sherman Oaks. She also recently supplied her parents with the down payment for their new home, setting a splendid example for today's youth.

According to a tabloid that someone left in the faculty lounge, Memphis-raised Shannen Doherty, 20, a veteran of such wonderful shows as Little House: A New Beginning, is the only cast member to be accused of behaving like "a spoiled brat" on the set. But she maintains she is no such thing. "I think everybody gets in a bad mood," Shannen says. "You do not work 16-hour days and not start feeling it. But I have never thrown a tantrum. I've gotten upset on the set, but it's never been just to be a bitch. You have to stand up for yourself in this business. That was something I was told when I was 12 years old and working with Michael Landon."

As with about half the cast members, Doherty is in a relationship—in her case, a real-estate developer with whom she's exchanged commitment rings. "You really have to date a while before you decide if this is the person you want to marry," she says with Brenda-like candor. Almost sounds like the relationship could be a future 90210 plot. "The problems of young people have accelerated," says Aaron Spelling, "and so have their feelings and thoughts." The show, he says, has kept pace: Even with their Clearasil-perfect complexions and plump allowances, the students at Beverly Hills have encountered their share of problems. "We had the guts to make Luke Perry be a member of AA," says Spelling. "We had Jason, our star, drinking and driving. That's reality."

And, apparently, the adulatory fan mail often includes a sad dose of that reality. "I got a letter the other day from a girl who mentioned the show we did on parental drug abuse," says Perry in a rare moment of seriousness. "She wrote about catching her father freebasing in the basement. I get letters like that all the time, from people all over the country." Gabrielle Carteris (at age 30, she's 90210's oldest cast-kid), who plays Andrea Zuckerman, the bright student who comes from the wrong side of Rodeo Drive, remembers an encouraging close encounter in a grocery store. "One girl came up to me after we'd done the breast-cancer show," says Carteris. "She said, 'I went home with all my friends and we checked our breasts for lumps.' "

In conclusion: Maybe I didn't need to write this memo. Maybe things won't be that bad, even if every locker in every corridor has a picture of Jason, Luke, Shannen or Jennie in it. Perhaps our dear little school is more like West Beverly Hills High—at least the TV version—than I thought. That's what Ian Ziering, 27, thinks too. "The reality on the show pretty much mirrors the way life is all over, in terms of teenagers," says New Jersey—bred Ziering, who once did Fruit of the Loom underwear ads and now plays 90210's curly-headed jock, Steve Sanders. "There's a mystique about Beverly Hills. But that's not what keeps people tuning in. The show could have been Montana E-I-E-I-O." By the way, should any student pronounce his name "eee-an," correct him or her, please. It's "eye-an."

-- WHEN BEVERLY HILLS, 90210 PREMIERED last October, Highlights, the student newspaper at Beverly Hills High, ran articles mocking the school's TV counterpart, West Beverly Hills High. "They said that the show was a joke," says Jenny Brandt, 14, a sophomore at the 1,900-student school. But as the story lines improved and Jason Priestley and Luke Perry became stars, the jokes stopped, and Brandt found herself, like many of her pals, glued to the set on Thursday nights from 9 to 10 P.M. "No phone calls allowed," says Brandt. "Except during commercials." Hope Levy, a 17-year-old senior, has taken fandom a step further with her friends. "We have little handmade cards," she says, speaking from her mom's car phone. "They say you're a member of Club 90210." While some kids think the show treats them as snobby stereotypes, most agree with sophomore Jordan Rynes when he says, "It's like a soap opera for teens. The shows dealing with drinking and drugs are the most real—adults don't realize how accurate it is."

[oh-so-scenarios]

ᴛʜᴇ sᴇʀᴇɴᴅɪᴘɪᴛʏ ᴏғ ᴛʜɪɴɢs...♠| 04

⤖ ᴡʜᴏ ʜᴀs ᴛɪᴍᴇ ғᴏʀ sᴏᴜʟᴍᴀᴛᴇs? Jᴜɴɢ Hᴏsᴇᴏᴋ ɪs ᴛᴏᴏ ʙᴜsʏ ʙᴇɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ ʜᴇᴀᴅ ᴏғ ʜɪs ᴍᴀғɪᴀ ɴᴇᴛᴡᴏʀᴋ. Hᴇ ᴡᴏɴ'ᴛ ʟᴇᴛ ᴛʜᴇ sᴇʀᴇɴᴅɪᴘɪᴛʏ ᴏғ ʜɪs sᴏᴜʟᴍᴀᴛᴇ ᴍᴏᴠᴇ ʜɪᴍ…ʀɪɢʜᴛ?

⤖ Mᴀғɪᴀ Lᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ Hᴏsᴇᴏᴋ x ᴅᴏᴄᴛᴏʀ Fᴇᴍᴀʟᴇ Rᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ, Aɴɢsᴛ, sᴍᴜᴛ, sᴏᴜʟᴍᴀᴛᴇ!ᴀᴜ,

A/N: Unedited, please ignore any errors (Word Count: 4.27K)

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Y/N:

I typed away at my laptop, the silence of my office seeming to swallow me. The report I was writing up wasn’t where my mind really was. I’d type a whole paragraph only to read over it and realize it was complete rubbish. 

I groan in frustration, hitting save on the word document before closing the laptop a bit harder than necessary. I stare at the white wall of my office, contemplating my next move. Should I say something to the board of the hospital? 

No, that would cause too many problems. Plus, I’ve already promised a cheesing Jungkook that I would keep their “situation” a secret. They would totally reveal the illegal medical practice I’ve done more than once. 

I stand up from my seat, placing my hands on my hips in thought. My foot taps while I run through options in my head. Why does he want a doctor? Why does it have to be me? I’m sure there are black market doctors out there, who would be happy to work for him. 

His confident smirk flashes in my mind, only making my blood boil even more. I waltzed to the door of my office, flinging it open in a child-like manner. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do, but I didn’t want to be stuck in that office of mine.

I was feeling suffocated and needed some air to clear my mind. I don’t have much planned for the rest of the day. Mostly checking on patients post-surgery with some more paperwork and reports. I kept my hands stuffed in the pockets of my white coat. 

I smile and greet patients and fellow nurses as I speed down the hallway. I’m not sure if Hoseok is still here. Looking at the clock on the wall, I’ve only been in my office for 2 hours since our encounter in the hallway. 

He wouldn’t waste his time here just to get under my skin, would he? Just how petty is he?

I turn the corner to see a herd of doctors, which includes Dr. Lee. He spots me right away, gasping as if I was just the person he was waiting for. His reaction prompts the other doctors, being heads of departments, to turn their attention onto me. I almost take a step back at their fiery expressions.

It almost felt like I was the topic of intense conversation they were having before I entered the vacancy. My walking came to a slow stop and my eyes widen at the expecting gazes. I looked behind me, hoping that I was simply obscuring their view of something else. 

However, I was dead wrong. When I look forward again, the gang of doctors with stiff smiles and determined eyes was coming my way.

I shuffled back as they got closer, about 8 people now crowding around me. 5 men and 3 women. I only recognized 3 faces, the others not seeing the need to introduce themselves to the new surgical assistant.

Their fake smiles were already starting to crack, their faces twitching to keep it up. Most of these doctors are rarely seen smiling, always focused on work and the patients. Their forced expressions of joy were causing passing nurses to stop in their tracks for a moment. 

“Yes?” I asked, shifting my eyes from doctor to doctor. 

“Y/n,” Dr. Lee began, “wouldn’t you say that the trauma department, which you are part of, does so much for the hospital?” My brows furrowed at his question, along with the overly enthusiastic tone his voice held.

What the hell is wrong with these people?

“We-” My sentence was cut off by another person. 

“Y/n, I’m sure you know that you’ve heard the Cancer treatment department has made strides in our research and work. Do you have some time? I could discuss further with you.” A woman said. I’m guessing she’s the head of the Cancer department. Words were being thrown my way and I could barely process anything that was being said. It was overwhelming.

“The Kids’ Department is working hard to--”

“People don’t understand the hard work that comes with working in the Burn Unit--”

“ICU is always doing their best to--”

I put my hands up in defense, shaking my head as I tried to sort my thoughts.

“Could all of you shut up for a fucking minute?!” My voice escalates to a shout that echoes throughout the hallways. I try to ignore the distraught looks from patients. It takes the doctors’ a second to process my words. They are all at once talking only stopping a few seconds after my out-burst.

“I don’t know what is going on with all of you, but keep it away from me.” I retort, bumping shoulders with some of the stunned doctors as I walked past them. 

“Well, what’s your relationship with chair Jung?” The head of O.P calls out as I’m walking away. I stop my retreat and spin on my heels to meet the sassy doctor with her poorly bleached hair tied into a bun on her head.

I raise an eyebrow her, watching as she shifts her feet and crosses her arms over her chest. She presses her lips into a flat line waiting for my response. 

I blinked rapidly, tilting my head to the side as if I heard her wrong.

“I’m sorry, what?” 

“What’s your relationship with chairman Jung? Everyone knows something is up and he’s not doing his best to be subtle.”

I paused, trying to figure out where the random questions and interest in me were coming from. What has Hoseok gone and said? He’s running his mouth already? 

“Excuse me?” I am just not clicking it together. What does my relationship with Hoseok have to do with the onslaught of fake kindness I just experienced?

The doctor scoffs in disbelief, getting annoyed with my oblivious attitude to this whole situation. 

“Chairman Jung, Y/n. What is your relationship with Chairman Jung and why did he leave the additional funding decision up to you?”  It felt like I was hit with a sack of rocks. 

My eyes widen, and I turned around as if to walk farther away from the truth. I turned back around opening my mouth to speak only to close it again. I crossed my arms over my chest, mimicking the female doctor’s stance. 

I stepped closer to the cluster of doctors. 

“He did what?” My words are spat out like they were poison. I didn’t need the doctor to repeat her words. My ears were clogged up and whatever the doctor replied went over my head.

The additional funding? The additional funding that is decided by the Board of Directors and Chairmans, given to only 2 departments every 3 quarters...was put on my shoulders? By Hoseok? He is out of his fucking mind? Can he even do that?

I can't help but groan, looking up at the ceiling and letting a child like a whine. 

That’s a target on my back. He put a target on my back, whether good or bad, I’m not yet sure. A chairman gives such responsibility to a mere surgical assistant?  That is going to look so bad!

That’s two targets on my back.

I turn my back to the doctors in time to hear Dr. Lee mutter, “I-is it a romantic r-relationship?” I roll my eyes at him question stomping off down the hallway. 

I’m gonna become the surgical assistant who got her job by fucking a chairman. I can feel the gossip being developed and spread as I waltz down the hall. 

I come to a hallway where I see Jennie reviewing a patient’s clipboard with another doctor. I couldn’t wait to rant to her about the sticky situation I’ve been put in. 

My eyes trained on Jennie who has yet to notice me approaching. I’m picking up pace, giving some patients friendly smiles as I walk down the hall. I’m taken aback when something warm snakes around my waist and whisks me off to the side. A yelp of surprise leaves my lips and I’m pulled into a different room, the door closing behind me. 

I’m pressed against a wall, and my nose is filled with the smell of an addictive cologne, an alluring warmth radiating from the source of the cologne.

I'm staring at the chest of a man and his dress shirt. I recognize the dark green blazer right away and become painfully aware of the hand resting comfortably on my thigh. 

“You should have been a track star with how fast you’re zooming through the hall.” He jeers. I look up at him, noting the close proximity and nervous patter of my heart. My eyes darted around his face, seeing how handsome he is. His curly eyelashes, smooth skin, and his lips turned up at one corner. 

When I finally met his eyes, they were on me. We held eye contact silently and my anger boiling up all over again. I brushed his hand off my waist and put my palm flat on his chest to push him away from me.

Hoseok staggers back and throws a look at Namjoon who watched on in silence. I didn’t realize he was there and took this time to acknowledge the empty patient room I was pulled into. It seems unused so there is no of a patient walking in to find us in here. 

I look back towards Namjoon, managing to show him a small smile. I look back at Hoseok, who stood there watching me with curious eyes. My face scrunches up at him, a glare directed right at him. 

He chuckles as if amused by me. 

“So Namjoon gets a smile, and I get this? Are you not happy to see me doc?” Hoseok teases revealing a toothy grin. 

“What exactly are you trying to do?” I sneer at him. My harsh tone doesn’t phase him. He hums while casually pacing a few steps as if he’s collecting his thoughts.

“I don’t know what you mean do-” 

I cut him off, shaking my head in frustration. I am not going to play this game with him. This back and forth is not going to go anywhere.

“Since when have you been a chairman for Seoul Sky Hospital?” I shot the question out. I watch Hoseok closing, noticing the way corner of his lip twitched slightly, his smirk almost dropping.

“It must be fate because I’ve always been a chairman here. Something to cover other activities.” He pauses, “I also hold responsibility in the upcoming Charity Art Gallery. I am all about giving back.” He said sarcastically. 

“I find that hard to believe. You’re here to see me shaking in my boots. I don’t see any reason for this? We can be done with each other, all you have to do is leave me alone. I haven’t contacted you, so I thought there was nothing to discuss.” I explained, pushing my hands into the pockets of my lab coat.

“You’ve seen my face, along with the rest of the guys. You know our names, who we are and what we do. Did you really think I could just let you go like that? Come on doc, you’ve at least seen the movies. You’d usually be dead right now.” The smirk on Hoseok’s lips becomes sinister as the playful look in his eyes melts away. 

His handsome features only leave me staring at him for some time. This man has no worry in the world. His relaxed posture and confidence were one of a man that had no fears. He wasn’t worried about explaining the reason we’re all in this room together. 

He wasn’t worried about me running to the police and he definitely wasn’t worried about how others in the hospital might interpret our relationship. Is it comforting or alarming that he’s this way? He’s either thought out solutions for every possible scenario or he acts at the moment, not worrying about the minor problem till it’s manifested.

“Why am I not dead yet Hoseok?” I finally asked back at him.

“Because I’ve found a use for you doc,” he steps closer, leaving me trapped against the wall. There was still a good amount of space between us, but the step back I wanted to take was not doable.

“My soulmate isn’t as useless as I thought she’d be.” He says, almost to himself rather than me.

“Be our doctor, be my doctor. Don’t let your bitterness due to reject cloud your judgment.”

“And who said I was rejected?” I snapped, “I never asked anything of you.”

“That disappointed look in your eyes was enough to figure out what you were hoping for. But that’s okay, we don’t need to talk about any of that if you don’t want to.” He paused to glance at the expensive watch on his wrist.

“Don’t even think of me as your soulmate, I’m just giving you an offer. A way to make more money.”

“And if I say no?” My voice comes off as more of a challenge then I wanted.

He nods expectantly, “I simply have to close any loose ends…” He trails off, raising his eyebrows till I caught on. 

“I’m the loose end...so by closing loose ends,” I stop. He’s giving the option of working for him or dying? Is that what I’m seeing?

He smiles knowingly, “Take it how you want it.” He speaks quieter this time.

“I’m taking it as a threat to my life.” I hiss back. Hoseok shrugs, seeing no need to diffuse my assumptions. 

“Wow, so you would really kill me? Is that the type of person you are?” My voice gets a bit louder, leaving me unable to hide the disdain in my voice. 

Hoseok holds his hands behind his back while his eyes grow dark and distasteful. 

He turns to glance at Namjoon while a humorless chuckle leaves his lips. For once I am genuinely afraid.

“You should already know that answer to that..” He takes another step closer, reaching into his blazer’s inner pocket. Panic surges through my body and I opened my mouth in protest. Ready to shout if he was drawing a weapon. 

Hoseok stops his movement, eying me silently. 

“I’m not gonna pull out anything crazy.” He removes his hand from inside his blazer, revealing a slick black business card. The text as written gold and the whole card was matte. I stared as he held out the card to me.

My eyes flickered between his face and the card. I started to reach out for the card, but I wasn’t fast enough for Hoseok. His free hand grabbed my wrist, the contact-making my face grow hot. He, on the other hand, looked unphased. 

He turned my hand palm up and place the card into my hand. His hand that was cradling mine didn't move, nor did he make any effort to release his grasp. Instead, he leaned forward, bringing his lips by my right ear. His breath whisked over my ear and my jaw. His cologne fills my nose and I find myself breathing in deeply. His hand that wasn’t clutching onto mine, starts to miss with one of the buttons of my lab coat. All these actions feel like they should be romantic, but all I feel is a mockery. 

I shivered in reaction, not missing the hum of satisfaction from him.

“And doc, you’re wrong. I don’t want you shaking in your boots, I’d rather have you trembling in that snazzy little coat of yours.” He leans away, aimlessly adjusting the collar of my lab coat. When he looks up to meet my eyes again, that crooked smile of his returns onto his lips.

“I’m giving you two days.” He lets go of my hand, yet the warmth of his touch lingers. Without another glance my way, Hoseok opens the door right beside me, walking out the empty hospital room. 

Namjoon wordlessly follows, however, I don’t miss the apologetic gaze my way as he’s shutting the door behind. I’m left with my thoughts, the only thing comforting me is the rapid beating of my heart against my chest. 

I released a staggered breathe and place my hand over my heart. Why do things always feel so tense with him around? I’m not sure if I want him closer or to run the other way.

My body is still hot, and the place where he stood still lingers with his addicting cologne. I try to collect my thoughts, standing in the empty hospital room for a few more minutes. I slip the business card into my lab coat pocket and slowly make my way out. 

~!~

My fingers drum against my thigh and my gaze flickers down to business card in my hand. My phone lays beside me. I sigh deeply, not knowing what my next move would be. 

Should I just take the job? Well, do I even have the choice? His threat of killing me felt very real. Though I don’t know Hoseok too much, I don’t think I should take his words lightly. 

I let out a shaky breath and grabbed my phone. He could be a reasonable man, right? I could work some type of deal with him? 

I’ll work for him for some time, and hopefully, be cut loose soon? Though I can’t lie, it feels like I’m selling my soul to the devil. Or could I be that I’m giving in too quickly? Would more resistance give me my freedom? 

I turn on my phone, opening it to my messages. I swiftly type the number from the card into the phone, pressing enter to see the send button at the button of my iMessage turn blue.

I type a simple message.

[8:34 PM] Y/n: Hello ...?

I plop my phone face down onto the bed and lay back to now stare at the ceiling. It isn’t long before my phone buzzes, sending my heart flying into my chest. I don’t look at it right away. My mind is racing and I try to figure out what he would say. He’s probably laughing in his head.

[8:40 PM] Hoseok: Be at this address in 20 minutes. 

There showed an address on the further side of town. I gawked at the reply. Right now? I’m not working tomorrow, but that doesn’t mean I want to venture into town to meet this guy. 

[8:43 PM] Y/n: Could we do this tomorrow?

[8:45 PM] Hoseok: You got 15 minutes now.

I scoff in disbelief rising off my bed and scrambling to get ready. I had already taken a shower and hopped into my PJs. I was grateful for an early dismissal from work today but looks like I have two jobs now. 

I walked to my closet and picked out a black long sleeve top with some light washed skinny jeans. They were mildly distressed but I didn’t care. I was just pulling on what I could find. I left my hair in the low ponytail. I slipped on some black sneakers and grabbed my phone to call an uber. 

When I got the uber confirmation, I sighed, setting my hands on my waist. 

Only heaven knows what I am walking into at almost 9:30 at night.

It wasn’t long before I was sitting in the uber, with the male driver who didn’t say much past a simple greeting. I kept my eyes out the window, watching the town zoom by. I saw groups of friends going out to eat, people singing and dancing while others clapped and watched.

The bright lights of clubs, stores, and restaurants shined brightly. I almost wanted to stop the uber and make my way inside to grab something to drink. 

Soon, there were fewer lights. This had only been a 15-minute drive but it was like I was in a totally different part of Korea. There were dimly lit signs for convenience stores, mom & pop restaurants, and other small businesses. 

I was baffled when the uber pulled over and parked the car. He turned around to glance at me, expecting to see me exited his vehicle. 

 I was finally getting a good look at his face. The man couldn't have been any older than 45. He wore a plaid jacket with a black v-neck top. He had an honest and kind face, while a strained smile sat on his thin lips. 

“This is your stop ma’am.” He spoke softly. It was obvious that he was uncomfortable, his eyes shift around to look at the surroundings of the car. I mirrored his actions, also looking around into the dark streets. 

I look down at my phone, checking the address and uber map. I had doubts and was hoping it was a mistake. Before I could reply to the driver, someone knocked on the car window I was just looking out of. 

I jumped back, noticing that the driver did the same. It took a short second for the fear running through my veins to clear my eyes to the beaming gentlemen. Jungkook’s doe eyes peered into the car window, his big open mouth grin all the same. 

“Jungkook?” I breathe out in relief. The driver’s confused gaze between Jungkook and I didn’t go unnoticed. 

“Noona!” Jungkook chimes, and waves his hand eagerly. I thank the uber driver quietly and scoot closer to the door where Jungkook stood. I unlocked it and stepped out, Jungkook closing the door behind me. 

I took in a deep, looking around at the vacant and gloomy streets. The car drove off quickly, leaving just Jungkook and me. 

“Boss told me you were coming so I volunteered to meet you here.” He explained. I took in his appearance. All back from head to toe. Turtleneck with an oversized bomber jacket, joggers and sneakers. 

In spite of his lively smile, Jungkook was fitting to the obscure neighborhood atmosphere. I, on the other hand, stood out. It was clear I haven’t been in this area. I probably seem more like a tourist than I ever have. 

“Follow me noona,” Jungkook says quieter this time. He looks behind us cautiously and starts walking. I keep up with him, watching as he stuffed his hands into his jacket pocket. 

“What made you change your mind?” Jungkook suddenly askes. 

I look forward, biting on my bottom lip to hold back a burst of bitter laughter. We turned a corner, and Jungkook looked at me waiting for an answer.

“I don’t know.” I finally said, “But I hope I won’t regret this.” 

“I’m sure you won’t. Boss keeps his word, he’ll make it worth your while.” 

Jungkook is the only one of the group men I’ve met that is really trying to build a friendship. He already clings onto me like an older sister. 

Makes me wonder where his family is and if they know what he has been up to. I can’t say I’m comfortable enough to ask such a question, so I bit my tongue. We walked for a bit longer, Jungkook going on about some video games he’s been into lately. 

I listened happily, trying to take my mind off of whatever was meeting me at the end of this stroll. A part of me was at ease, already trusting that Jungkook wouldn’t lead me into danger ...knowingly.

Jungkook stops walking in front of a dusty red brick building with about 5 floors. It looked old and near abandoned. The windows were all tinted darkly and the entrance was heavy-looking metal doors.

I see both a number pad and a lock for a key. I keep my distance as Jungkook enters a series of numbers into the number pad. It’s not long after that he takes a key from I don’t know where and opens the door. The door opens and Jungkook holds it open with his hand. 

He turns his head, surprised to see me standing so far off.

His mouth open a bit, eyes wide in confusion, “Aren’t you coming in?”

We stand in silence for some time. Jungkook isn’t rushing me for an answer, but I could tell he was getting tired of waiting. A sharp exhale leaves his lips.

This whole place feels so...sketchy. I start to rub my arms nervously. It’s not too late to rush off and leave...I could just turn around and--

“Don’t think of running off.” A heavy voice cut through the air. Even the crickets that were chirping loudly sounded like they stopped.

I lifted my gaze off the sidewalk to see Hoseok now holding the door open, Jungkook still staring at me. 

Hoseok didn’t look happy to see, he looked rather impatient. He leaned on the unopened door, on hand above his head, and resting on the door. His hair pushed onto his forehead, giving him a soft look. He wore all black, his black t-shirt covered with a leather jacket. 

“Runoff and I’ll find you.” Another threat. Great.

“Wherever you run off to, I’ll come and find you.” His tone was almost monotone, “You’re here, stand firm on your decision.” He rolls his eyes and disappears into the building. 

“You’re a part of this team now noona, no turning back!” Jungkook’s words seemed to crush my spirits slightly. The encouraging smile didn’t match the burdensome hue of his voice.

I close my eyes, attempting to slow down my pounding heart. I opened my eyes and took a shaky step forward, then another one and another. I almost wobble to the door. I walk past Jungkook and step into the decision that is now weighing on me like chains.