#cuz i also have class tomorrow afternoon cuz classes start again tomorrow

[yosh-iro]

once again i have a diploma exam in the morning

and once again i cant sleep :(

[thisgirlnamedblusy]

Heyylo! May I request a Marilyn Thornhill x fem!teacher!reader where reader is very shy and soft-hearted? Soft-hearted and shy but is also clingy when it comes to Marilyn. Just a cute montage of scenes with the two of them and Marilyn being the best gf to reader ever. Maybe Marilyn giving reader a bouquet of flowers and reader cries out of happiness cuz no one’s ever given them flowers!

Thank you sooo much!! <333

Yesss here it is!!! I hope you like it!!! Sorry about the language mistakes

Three reasons to say "I love you"

Pairing: Marilyn Thornhill x Fem, Teacher! Reader

Warnings: Fluff

Word count: 1,679

Summary: You just were thinking about the reasons that made you love her so much

N/A: Requests are open!!! Sorry about the delays, I’m working hard on your requests. I love you all!!!

You were lying on the bed, with your girlfriend resting on your chest. You were young, but still you did not believe that you would find love again. You thought that love was only on fairy tales, as the song said. But not. When you decided to change your scene and move to another state, you were fed up with toxic and malicious relationships. Your parents told you over and over again that you couldn't be so nice to everyone, that you were too trusting. You liked the way you were. You thought that everyone had some kindness on their heart, but you hadn't found proof of it yet.

A job offer at the Nevermore academy seemed tempting to you, and after doing a short interview, you were hired. Leaving your comfort zone was hard for you. You were a shy girl, you were afraid of contact with people, or rather their rejection.

You were comfortable at that school. All its inhabitants had suffered similar things, so it didn't take long for you to be in harmony with all of them. But what you did not expect was that you would fall in love within a few days. Marilyn Thornhill was a shy woman, like you, good, like you, and she had suffered many disappointments in her life. You were like the version of the same person with different ages.

After a few meetings in the corridors, and some conversations in the dining room, you began a friendship that little by little began to be a relationship, the best of your life.

And there you were, lying while you caressed her hair, thinking how it was possible to love a person so much in such a short time. The reasons for this did not take long to appear in your mind. Maybe she was just so...

So loving:

It had only been a week since you decided to start a relationship, after several weeks of unbearable tension. When you finished class you wasted no time, and you went looking for her at the conservatory.

“Hello…” You whispered, leaning timidly through the door. Marilyn raised her head from the tests she was marking and she gave you one of her dazzling smiles.

“(Y/N), what are you doing here? You should be resting, I know that Tuesdays are the worst days for you,” she kindly asked you.

You looked at her blushing. You couldn't help but do it every time she looked at you.

“I just wanted to see you,” you said affectionately, as you approached her. It was still early to dare to hug her on your own and you always let her take the first step, but that day you were happy, and you hugged her from behind, resting your head on her shoulder.

“I'm afraid if you stay you're going to get bored. I have to have this corrected by tomorrow and I don't know if…” Her voice was interrupted when you kissed her cheek. The redhead moved to look at you and she kissed you tenderly. “I suppose it's not in such a hurry either,” You shook your head, smiling.

“Let's go for a walk…Please,” you whispered, not letting her go for a second. She looked at you frowning, but keeping that smile.

“Okay, honey,” she finally said, getting up from her chair.

The afternoon was beautiful, ideal for walking. You were shy, but you couldn't help but grab her hand as you walked, you always had to make contact with her.

Arriving at the jetty, you sat down, your feet dangling from the wood. There was no conversation, or anything that interrupted the time you enjoyed together. Slowly you leaned in, until you rested your head on her lap, enjoying the breeze.

“Larissa is going to kill me. I promised her that I would have those exams for tomorrow,” she said amused, while she gently caressed you. You rolled onto your back and looked at her, feeling a little guilty.

“I'm sorry I distracted you,” you said.

“I prefer to be here with you, I can't find a better place to be right now….”

So nice to you:

“You shouldn't have gotten into the nettles, (Y/N), look what you've done to yourself,” she scolded you, sitting next to you on the bed.

“There was the flower you talked about so much. I couldn't help it,” you said, complaining about the injuries you had on your leg. The redhead sighed and she took the material to heal you.

“You're very stubborn, (Y/N),” she told you amused, delicately healing your wounds. You hissed in pain, pathetically trying to be brave. “Does it hurt, honey?”

You looked at her with teary eyes. That really stung. You nodded, earning a soft pat on your leg.

“Concentrate on my caresses and you'll see how it doesn't hurt so much…” She said softly, while with her other hand she continued to apply the remedy for your wounds.

“Have you ever been poisoned by a plant?” You asked, trying to distract yourself from the pain. Her touch was a good painkiller, but not enough to make the pain go away completely.

“Too many,” she said amused, stopping rubbing the wounds for a moment. “Once I was in a coma for three days because I was pricked by some Amazon flowers.”

“Wow…” You sighed. Marilyn smiled at you and picked up another jar from the table.

“This will relieve you, (Y/N),” she told you, pouring some cream into her hand.

“If my students saw me like this…” you snorted, feeling like a little girl. She laughed and ran her hand over your injured leg again. “Ah, ahh….Ohh. Not bad...” You said feeling a comforting freshness in the marks that nettle made you.

“You are a human being, (Y/N). It is natural to feel pain, and to protest,” she told you, gently massaging you.

“What have I done to deserve someone like you?” You asked, contemplating Marilyn dazedly, and she just smiled.

So amazing...

It was a strange morning. When you woke up she was not by your side. You were in such a rush to teach that you couldn't even stop to think about it. You wrote dozens of messages that got no response. You looked for her all over the school, but she seemed to have vanished from the place. You asked the rest of the teachers, the principal. Nothing, no trace.

It was already lunchtime and you thought about going to the conservatory, which they told you had been empty all morning. No one seemed to care, and that made you burn with rage. Walking with a firm step you headed to the old building. Your mind began to think about the possible mistakes that you could have made. You were very loving, sometimes too clingy, but she never seemed to care. She always accepted all the cuddles you had to give her, whether you were in public or not.

When you reached the building door, you swallowed, beginning to feel like you were short of breath. You hadn't thought about the possibility that she had run away, that she had abandoned you, but you couldn't rule it out. Most of your previous romances did, leaving you heartbroken.

You carefully opened the door, and to your surprise, Marilyn was there. She was surprised to see you and got up from her chair, almost running towards you.

“(Y/N)! No, don't come in,” she told you nervously, covering your eyes with her hand. You shook your head, trying to recover your sight.

“What's wrong?” You asked. “I've been looking for you all day. You had scared me.”

“I'm sorry, (Y/N), but it had to be a surprise,” she told you, without removing her hand from your eyes. Your heart beat again, and much stronger.

“A surprise?”

“Yes, come, let me guide you... It's almost done,” she told you, pulling you.

“Can't I watch?” You protested, feigning a pout.

“No,” She answered, dryly.

Marilyn led you to a stool and she sat you there.

“I'm going to let you go, (Y/N), but if you open your eyes, I'll be mad at you for all eternity,”she warned you.

You nodded and smiled. The temptation was very great but you decided to listen to it.

Silence took over the place. You just heard some kind of scissors cutting something. You moved restlessly on your stool, waiting for that surprise. You called yourself a fool for having doubted.

“Okay… Are you ready?” She told you, attracting your attention. You nodded expectantly. “Okay, open your eyes.”

You obeyed instantly. Your girlfriend was in front of you, carrying a large bouquet of flowers in her hands. It was colorful, magnificent. You gasped.

“Is it, is it for me?” You asked, getting up from your chair.

“Of course it is,” The redhead told you, bringing the bouquet closer to you. You picked it up, contemplating the amazing beauty of those flowers. No one ever had that detail with you, no one gave you a gift, not such a beautiful one.

“No, I have no words,” you said, feeling how the tears began to form in your eyes.

The emotion you felt was too intense to contain it, and you soon began to cry.

“My love, why are you crying? Don't you like it?” Asked the redhead, wiping away your tears.

“I, I love it, Marilyn… It's, it's just that nobody had ever given me anything like this and…. Well, it's new to me…” You stammered, hugging her tightly. She laughed tenderly when she saw you in that state and caressed your hair, rocking you gently. “Thank you, thank you very much…”

“With me you will never lack anything, (Y/N), I promise you thousands of flowers... And my eternal love...” She whispered in your ear.

You smiled remembering those events. You could be giving yourself a million reasons to love her, but it was enough to look at her there, naked on your chest, to know that there will be no one like her, and that you have never been so happy...

[onmywaytofanfic]

Muta x Reina - Chapter 2 - Cracks

Okay...so here it is this short chapter for Muta and Reina. Again Reina having multiple ships and me diving into the AU verse head first. So here is some Reina and Muta continuing what was left before. Also I will clean my tags and like properly tag teh different AUs cuz..chaos.

WARMINGS: Mentions of suicide attempt

WORDS: 3176

Reina sat in the bed, scared, fragile and over all closer to lose her temper and her coolness. It was a hard week, she had been going to all her therapy session, she had also gone to those group chats and even joined the book-club. She had started to get of her shell, as much as she could. Every day closer to seen Muta, seemed to strangle her.

-Gen…Gen…Dr. Yamanaka – she ran towards him

-What’s the matter Reina?

-Can you like cancel the visit? – He was talking with another nurse, looked at her and nodded gently

-Just give me a minute – then he returned his vision and focus on her – Listen Reina

-I can’t do it

-Well, I think you can, and not just that…But I truly think that you need it. He has agreed and you can spend a whole afternoon with someone from the outside, don’t you say that you miss it? If you want to go back there, you need to get used first to what you are going to encounter there, and the first steps, not just for you but for everyone here…Is re-meeting familiar faces. I’m sure you will be okay. You seemed so eager to see him? What’s the problem now?

-I…- a small buzzing filled her ears, her hive anxious – I just…I …

-Reina… tomorrow you will have a great day.

The doctor left and she just started to go back to her room. She did not go to the book-club that evening and decided to do something with her little gift. Her stupid, little gift. She still remembers it clearly, the pain that it meant to him and everyone. It was a very lovely event, a small party to celebrate that Shino and Kagura were back from their honeymoon. At some point a knife left the table and it fell to the floor, near to her foot. She just stood there silently, looking at the knife. Shibi was too and Muta’s father, Atlas. She wanted to scream of happiness, to jump around and rush to Muta’s home and cut…cut a lot. Her hive had given up, it did not try to protect her from the knife. She smiled and, in a flash, she left their garden. The next thing, she decided to look for something sharp. However, it did not cut her.

-You …. dammed you – howled her. A small flock of insects was trying to make her stop from hurting herself. The next thing she remember was Shibi and Atlas breaking in Muta’s bedroom. They tried to make her stand up, but she was a mess of tears. She grabbed the knife once more, but Shibi just needed to grab her wrist firme. Her hive was in danger, their host was the danger. Both have talked many times about it since the day they agreed to Takeo’s proposal. It could be a good choice, she was out of that environment, they would leave the compound, not many Aburames and for that extend people who lived there, seemed to like the duo. They thought they could help her, and her hive to not fall into such places. But it was late. She was broken in so many tiny and minute pieces that nobody seemed to find them anywhere.

-I think it is the only choice…. - muttered Shibi to his younger brother. He nodded. It was time to seek help, outside their nest. She could not be helped by the hive anymore. That was her faint last memory. Apparently Muta was also there, and Torune, Fuu, Shino and Katsura…Everyone seemed to help her pack her things, they said that Katsura helped Muta to clean her. But she couldn’t remember anything… except that when she rushed to Muta’s home to do it…she broke a small pot that he had at the entrance. A silly pot with a small cactus on it, it had the formed of a beetle. She had been going to pottery classes there and she thought that it was time to give something to him, after all he had only gave to her.

-This is stupid – muttered holding the small pot -This is just…-she let the tears flow. She held it tightly, afraid of break it, letting it on the top of her table scared, overwhelmed… She couldn’t face him, not now nor ever. Curled in her bed she fell asleep crying, drinking her salty tears and making a whole mess. She did not want to see him, and yet she was craving his arms around her body, the security that the sweet buzzing of his hive made just for her. She never replied to that chant, her body numb every time he hugged with that tenderness in his heart. Numb, unconscious, unaware of what she was losing by no hugging back, by no closing her eyes and let that subtle rhythm take her pain out of her. She grabbed the sheet of her bed while dreaming of that embrace and wondering how she could have back everything that she spit on it.

She wanted her life back, but she did not know where she left it.

Time fly by and the day of the visit arrived with blazing sun that let the small garden of the ward blind everyone with its colours. They reflect in the tiny room where Reina kept looking at the hand mirror shaking, her hair a mess and her face completely swallowed of all the tears that every day she shed. – A mess…- muttered, they left her there a huge mess and she kept being one. She was mediocre at best. Hiding in the bathroom tried to wash off everything with cold water out of her face, tried her hardest to tame her mane and kept pushing tears back. There was no use, no form to solve what she had become. She gave up, once more, and sat on the floor. The clock kept running and so was Muta back at his home…

He woke up earlier than usual and started to prepare breakfast in a merry mood. His father looked at his energetic son finishing some short of pastries and looked confused. Muta still had troubles adapting to his new limb, and he clearly limp while moving around the kitchen.

-Good morning father – smiled the young sprout. Atlas just gave him a snort and sat on the stools of the counter.

-You go today to see her, don’t you? – his son nodded and kept packaging the pastries in a small blue box. He made biscuits with different shapes and flavour, butter, chocolate, and some with handmade strawberry jam.

-Are you sure of this…. Muta – his father started to pour some hot water into a glass and drink it directly. His son just looked at his sides and nodded once more. Atlas had tried his best to make his son go back into the…” circle” of singles of the village. Looking for a wife for his only son and someone at least stable.

-Muta…you do not need to pity her

-I don’t pity her. I know she is doing alright. She is…progressing. The doctors said so – Atlas sighted and smashed the counter making it shake

-Muta

-Father. I know what I am doing. 

-She just said that but as things are she could just not choose you once she is…fine

-I don’t care. – The young lad looked severe at his father – I don’t care father. I… I just want to see her smile and I don’t mind, care or… I just want to be close to her, just believe me her smile is worthy.

-Is it? Is it worthy for you to lose your time as you do chase some lunatic?

-She is not crazy

-For fuck’s sake she tried to kill herself!

-And you and uncle knew that she was ill and did nothing

-So, did you.

-I tried father! – Shouted – I really tried… - Muta held back his tears – I really tried and only we know how much we tried – mentioned his hive too – We tried father. Everything that came to mind, every single chance that I got I took it. But she was broken, she was shattered. The council let that happen.

-The council had nothing to do with this

-You, old farts, knew what that man was doing right in front of your noses! You all knew and did nothing.

-It is not that easy. Nobody has the right to get into a home’s quarrels.

-Yet the council interferes when sees it fitting, don’t they? Everyone hated them here; you guys saw him selling her daughter as a chance to get rid of those two venoms and yet you have the nerve to say that you did everything you could? She was sold and you saw it as a solution. You, all of you, could have solve this way sooner, and yet you kept it brushing it under the carpet as nothing was happening. She could have died.

-Her hive

-Her hive? What are you going to say, uh? That it protected her. I clearly remember the mess that she was in, she abandoned any substance to feed her body that’s what kept the…knife…out of her…not the hive…- Muta tried to not break in front of his father, once more; bitter memories of the mess that he encountered. Her mind completely gone, into another dimension, place, universe where she was trying to not suffer. Her rigor cadaveric make her look as if she was already dead, but the small warmth that escape her lips kept him secure that life was still beating inside her.

-I have things to do – sentence the conversation the young lad. He finished packaging the small box and took his things with himself. Cursing upon the pain that his lost limb was giving to him. He left the compound and marched towards the ward, where Reina was held. The closer he got, the faster his breath seemed to run out. He was on time, too much in time. They left him waiting until the clock run enough for him to come in.

-Are you ready? – The soft voice startled Reina, Chokako one of the doctor’s there, knocked on her door. She kept trying her hardest to comb her hair the best she could. She really should take a little bit of more care upon her image; it only came to her mind that she should do that when she decided to see Muta. She found that her hair was a mess of knots and tangles, the doctor came by and tried to help her detangled some of it – We do not have much time Reina…try to do a braid it would camouflage it a little bit – Reina sighted. “How you do one of those?” she had never had her hair as long as at that moment. She tried her best twisted her hair trying to make it and it ended up with even a messier hair than before. Another knock on the door, she should be on the hallway now waiting for her visit. She looked at her huge messy braid, her heart racing ashamed of been seen like that. She took the small pot and crunch her hands on it, keeping it firm in her grip. She looked at the small hand mirror, a mess, not what she was expecting to show him; proof that she was better, healthier and lively; instead, her hair was a mess that she was really trying to hide it, she needed to wear those pyjamas however, she put her finest one. She gulped and looked at the doors of the hallway, patients were already greeting their visitors. Among the multitude she saw him, his tall figure towering the rest of patients and visitors. She raised her hand and wave timidly; he waved back and approached her; he had a small box with him and tried to not show his limping as much as possible. He got closer to her and smile, a painful card dangling in his cloths read “Visitor”. She wished that instead of him visiting her it was more of a…date thing. Maybe going shopping, or to have some snacks in a cafeteria…she craved being out there.

-Hi

-Hi – then silence. Reina was trembling, she looked at her feet trying to find something to say.

-I like your braid – said with a small smile Muta and ventured to get near her to touch it

-I…I don’t think so

-What?

-The braid….is a mess I…tried but I couldn’t, and it was already too late, and you were here, and…

-Hey, hey, hey … he got closer – Don’t worry…I like it, really – he let hiss hand rest on her shoulder, he raised his eyebrows and let his smile get wider; she did not flinch nor stepped back. His rosy cheeks were shining to her with such intensity and warmth that he felt a slight headache, as if he was getting some fever.

-What do you want to do? – asked the gal thrilling by the fact that he could rest his hand closer to her without her jumping or fearing him. She looked everywhere, full of doubts, what was she supposed to do?

-Garden… -she finally looked at his face, she was glowing – Let’s go to the garden. It is not as big as the compounds nor as your father’s garden- Muta smiled, his branch oversaw the area secure where the bugs roamed free, his home, or better said his father’s; was at the entrance so the family could check who goes in and out. The lad nodded and followed her to the garden. She suddenly, hold his hand and guide him towards the north area, there some trees stood tall and provide shadow from the heat. She shrugged – Would you like to…sit, here? We …- her hand detangled her fingers out of him and returned to her messy braid she kept playing with it. Muta laid his back towards the tree and let himself go down, he sat with his prothesis completely stretched out. She sat in front of him, closer with her legs folded. He let the box near him, she trembled.

-Would you like me to fix your hair?

-Eh?

-I can fixed it…if you want to -she got closer to him and showed him her back. She got closer sitting between his legs; he took the tied of and started to caress her hair with his fingers. In complete silence he started to detangle her hair with his own fingers, trying to be as smooth and gentle as the knots let him. Sometimes she let a small cry and he apologised, she just smiled back. It felt like heaven. His hive started to sing for her, a gentle buzzing. Some started to move towards his fingers trying to find solace in her hair. She looked at them dancing in front of her – Sorry – muttered the man, ashamed that he couldn’t fully control them, although he did not want too either. She raised her hand and let the bugs dance in the palm of her hand – Hi…- muttered to his bugs. He smiled and kept working on her hair.

-Those are Ma, Me, Mi and Mo – said

-Nice to meet you – Reina let them run free around her fingers, he suddenly felt some unfamiliar steps near his nose. – It is Emerald – said in a whisper – Hi…- greet the gal. She looked at him – I have made some friends here…- He gently caress her scalp while detangling her hair and hearing her. She let her hand touch the grass. Among the bushes some insect seemed to receive the order and started to approach them. Muta looked curious, it was an orchid mantis, with bright pink colours. The insect went to Reina’s hand and there it kind of sat calmly, she let it on Muta’s thigh, and it started to crawl towards his torso -Hi… - he looked at the insect curious – Apparently, she is from the compounds.

-Really? – she nodded

-But… She does not know how she ended here.

- I’ll take her back -ventured Muta before she finished

-Thank you… - Reina looked back at his kikaichu dancing and get them closer to her face. One of them ventured to give her a small kiss in her lips. She let a smirk and kissed the insect back; it did not expect that reaction from her and started to dance almost as if it was drunk around them. Muta looked curious at his insect and called them to his palm, the bug started to tap on his palm confessing what just happened and he laughed, a pure laugh. He kept working on her hair, letting some “brushed” strands of her hair lay in front of her. She kept getting closer to him, needing his buzzing near her, the small chant that his bugs were doing grew louder every time she tried to get closer to him. He started to pick up some notes, some of her notes; something that he had never heard of. It was a blessing. Her song was small and timid, like the small flattering of the wings of a butterfly. He sounded like the roar of a hoard of bees making the sweetest of treats. Half of her hair was already prepared. He ventured to touch her shoulders to get her closer to his torso, she let finally her back rest on his torso.

-Now I can’t work properly – tittered. She separated herself from him, but he kept her closer. Half of her hair completely brushed off was on her right side, her left side need to keep working. He let the hair there – Don’t worry I can do it.

-But…does it bother you?

-It doesn’t – he was thrilled to have her so close to him, and the redness of her cheek confirmed that she also wanted to be closer to him too. 

-How are things going?

-Do you mean…

-Yeah, your father…uncle…cousins everyone, are they okay?

-Hmm

-I…

-Don’t say anything

-Please Muta, apologise for me

-They know that already, Reina. You do not need to send apologies to them…nor me in every letter that you write.

-But…

-Stop Reina – he touched her shoulders and faced her

-You do not need to feel sorry for anything

-But I …I made a huge mess. I treat you and them horrible. Your family just welcomed me greatly and I just mess things out a lot.

-Reina… please stop with that already – He touched both of her shoulders and smile at her

-Really…we are just glad that you are better – She felt her heart twitch and her blood froze in her veins. She got closer to him and cuddle in his torso, he did not know what to do. He felt his heart race furiously, he just wanted to hug her tightly to his chest, close his eyes and forget where they were, what had happened everything…just inhale her sweet aroma and care for her. He just wanted to protect her, from herself.

[sapnoopy]

Second Place. ;; Dream x Reader

genre: angst, soulmate au, enemies to lover au.

Will be split into two parts! ^^

Clay and I would always compete over the smallest thing. Whether who can read a book faster, or who can eat the peas on our plate faster.

As we grew older, it mainly became academics and our athletic skills. But I was always second place. Sure, second place doesn’t sound bad, but I hated how Clay was better than me.

My friends and the girls around talks about if they’ve met their soulmates or what kind of mark was on their arm. It was great listening and all, but I had more stuff to focus.

My ear catches a familiar laugh glancing at the dirty blonde hair sitting on the table, fooling around with his friends. I didn’t get it. I knew I studied more, I practiced sports more, but how is he better than me? Natural selection at its finest I guess.

I peeked at my arm seeing the mark for the 50th time. The mark was a smiley face.

Putting my focus on my notes, The bell rings and everyone goes back to their seats. The teacher enters the class holding a pile of papers.

"Goof afternoon students! Hope you're having a wonderful day. Anyways, I have a announcement for you guys! We will be having a big test in two weeks!"

Groans and the sound of disappointment fills the room.

Sighing, I listen to the teacher explaining how this is a big part in our grades. The teacher ends explaining, and starts with the lesson. Feeling a buzz in my pocket, I check my phone seeing that I got a text from Clay.

Clay: Our parents planned to have dinner together. Its at 7pm.

Me: kk.

Since we live next to each other, our parents get along. Here comes the getting compared time.

Stomach filling with dread, I focus on class while having a familiar pair of eyes on me.

Time passes, I enter my house noticing no ones at home heading straight to my room. Throwing my bag to the corner of my room, I flop onto my bed and groaning in exhaustion.

I hear a light scratches on my window lifting my head of to see Patches, Clay's cat. Putting a smile on my face, I crawl to the window opening it letting the cat come in.

"Hey Patches! How are you doing today?"

Rubbing onto my body I get a meow as a response. A giggle comes out of my mouth patting her.

Patches comes to my room after school sometimes for us to cuddle and take a nap. She basically became my emotional support.

I lay down opening my arms indicating her lay down with me. I check the time seeing it's 4pm thinking I have enough time to take a nap and get ready. Yawning, I gave Patches pats and fell into deep slumber.

Waking up to the cold air hitting my face, I've noticed I forgot to close the window and noticed Patches was gone. Slightly disappointed, I checked my phone noticing the texts from Clay.

Clay: Is Patches at your place?

Clay: We're going to the restaurant together. come out at 6:30.

Clay: I'm coming in in 35 more min.

Checking the time, my eyes widen and I immediately pop out of bed running to the showroom starting the shower and stripping. I have 30 more minutes. Taking a quick shower and popping out wrapping my body in a towel I dash to my closet grabbing a gray dress. Getting changed, doing make up, yada yada all that shit.

I check the time noticed I have 3 more minutes. Grabbing stuff that I need I head downstairs going out making sure the door is locked.

"Nice. You had 14 more seconds." I hear a voice and a car that was started up.

"Shut up." I mutter rolling my eyes heading to his car opening the door and entering into the passenger seat.

Clay does the same, putting on his seatbelt and starts to drive.

Silence fills the car and my eyes are looking outside. I've noticed the same pair of eyes again staring at me making me sigh.

"Can you like, not? Stare at me? Do I look that bad?" I grumbled.

"No no. Quite the opposite. You look stunning as usual."

Heat covers my ears punching his arm getting a small 'ow' from him.

"What's wrong with you?? You ate something weird today?"

"Hey, am I not allowed to compliment or two?"

"It's just weird to get one from you."

"Okay, okay."

Our conversation ends and I look back at the window. The window reflects on Clay making me notice how good he looks. Gasping at the sudden thought of mine, I slapped myself getting a questioning look from him.

"You ok there?" He asks.

"Yeah just thinking of something. Don't mind me."

"Okay. We're almost there by the way."

We pull up at the restaurant, entering the place trying to find our parents who seemed to already be drinking. We head to our parents who finally sees us.

"Good evening Clay and Y/N! Very glad that you join dinner today. Sit down, it'll be rude to stand forever." My father exclaims.

Clay pulls a seat for me to sit in giving him small thanks. He sits down next to me grabbing a menu for us to see. Trying to see the menu more better, I get closer to Clay getting a smell of eucalyptus from him.

Picking a dish from the menu, I called for the waiter telling her what I'm ordering. Clay proceeds to do the same. The waiter leaves our table and my mother coughs getting our attention.

"So Y/N and Clay. How was school today? Anything exciting?" She asks.

"Not much ma'am. Our exams are getting closer so we have to start preparing for it." Clay replies, getting a smile from her. She looks at me suddenly changing of how she stares.

"I wish my daughter was smart as you. Always getting second place, at worst third place, what a shame. I wish you were my son instead." She laughs.

I chew my cheek in discomfort. Clay awkwardly laughs trying to say something but I stop him by lightly bumping my leg at him.

The atmosphere slightly gets awkward but Clay's father starts talking about the economy which really helps. Our food comes and we finish it peacefully without any commotion.

"Clay, we plan to go to a bar after this. Please bring home Y/N safely ok? Don't be up to late and I'll see you tomorrow." His mother pats his shoulder and he nods.

I give my farewell to the adults and head inside the car. Clay starts up the car driving back. Our ride back was very quiet but a nice quiet. We get there and I leave the car thanking Clay.

"Wait." he stops me.

"What's wrong?"

"I- nothing. Good night."

Slightly confused, I give a good night back entering the house heading to my room. I get changed and as soon as I was about to head to bed, I remember what my mother said. Sighing, I go to my desk pulling my notebooks studying for a bit.

going to cut off here cuz its getting too long lmao

ALSO sorry for not posting for awhile ;; will be active again!!

[n00dl3gal]

Like Old Times (Father-Son Bonding AU)

A direct sequel to the “Expiration Date” fic, which I’ll link in a reblog. I’ve also posted all my fics in this AU to AO3!! Thanks again to @thetriggeredhappy for their help and just generally being a cool dude, and the Scoutsune Discord server for indulging my brainrot

No warnings beyond family schmoop!

Less than an hour after the bread monster incident, the Administrator called for a ceasefire. “Only while your base is repaired,” she said over the TV screen. “BLU is quite disappointed in this negligence- as am I. Regardless, you may use these three days as you see fit. Go home, stay here- whatever you do, no more bread monsters.” The screen turned off with a click. 

Scout exhaled through his nose. He was thankful there was no mention of him or Miss Pauling’s woodchipper. 

Spy decloaked behind him. “Less time than I wanted, but c’est la vie.” Scout looked at him over his shoulder. “I’m meeting with an old contact during our break,” Spy said in Italian. “Would you like to come along? It’ll be like old times.” 

Scout’s brow furrowed, but he nodded. At least this way, he’d get out of helping Engie and Heavy with repairs. And possibly meeting Miss Pauling’s woodchipper. 

“Excellent. Our flight is at 7 AM tomorrow.” 

“We’re flying commercial?” Scout asked, also in (more hesitant) Italian. 

“Our destination is continental. We’ll leave the base by 5:30.” Scout groaned as Spy started to leave. But- wait, he hadn’t- 

“Oi, where are we going, anyway?” he called back in English. 

Spy paused to look at him and smile. “Boston.” 

“Why do we always get the ass-crack-of-dawn flights?” Jeremy asked groggily, reclining his seat.

“They are the ones with first-class seats available,” Raphael replied. He took a sip from his mimosa. 

“Yeah, cuz God forbid you fly coach for once.” Jeremy shifted, trying to get comfortable. “Hey. Have I ever been to Boston before?”

Raphael didn’t answer immediately. His lip sucked in, as if in thought. “Yes. When you were very, very young. You wouldn’t remember.” 

Jeremy nodded. He wanted to ask more, there was something Raphael wasn’t saying but… well, he was never a morning person. He fell asleep before the plane even took off. 

. . .

It was mid-afternoon by the time they landed in Boston. Jeremy was never fond of long flights; having his legs cramped like that for extended periods of time was murder. He was half tempted to take a jog around Logan International. Raphael, on the other hand, was ushering them both to the car rental. “Can’t even get a stretch in, huh?”

“Unfortunately, we are expected by 4, and I would hate to keep my contact waiting,” Raphael explained in French, accepting the keys from the girl at the counter. “She’s not a very patient woman, in some regards.” 

Jeremy huffed but didn’t argue. He just followed his father to the rental, tossing his suitcase in the backseat. “Y’know, the girl at the counter-” 

“We will not have time for you to go out on a date, Jeremy.” 

“No! No, it was- her accent’s kinda like mine, it’s weird,” Jeremy said. Raphael started the car. “Cuz I’ve only been here as a baby, and I got mine from TV and shit. It’s just… really strange, is all.” 

Raphael made a quiet noise of agreement. “Some of the shows you watched as a child were filmed here. It’s not as complex as you think it is.” 

“Yeah, probably not…” 

The pair lapsed into silence as Raphael drove. Storefronts and high rises morphed into houses. It had been a while since they were in a residential area. RED, for understandable reasons, kept away from civilians. 

Raphael took the roads with practiced experience. Sure, it had been implied he knew the area. If he had a contact here- one with a house, presumably- he must’ve spent time here. But this- this was far too familiar. A bit suspicious, actually. 

Eventually, Raphael slowed in front of a more rundown Brownstone. Still quite nice, just needed a little work. It felt… welcoming, in a way Jeremy couldn’t name.

“Lotta cars,” he observed as Raphael parallel parked. “Must be a party going on somewhere.” 

“Hmm, perhaps,” Raphael said, turning the car off. “Would you mind ringing the doorbell for me? I need to grab something from the trunk. Ask for Sara Jane.” 

OK, now Jeremy knew something was up. He was never the one to make the first contact, that was always Dad’s job. Jeremy might be a full-grown adult, but there were some things that didn’t change. This was one of them. 

Still, he nodded. He climbed up the front steps and ringed the doorbell. He heard- multiple voices from inside, predominantly male, but they quickly silenced themselves. A TV, perhaps? They really ought to get that flower box on the second story window fixed- 

The woman who opened the door was a bit shorter than him, though not by much. She was wearing a simple dress, hoop earrings, and flats. Her hair was dark, curved to her chin. But her nose and earlobes felt… achingly familiar. Like Jeremy saw them all the time. 

“Um, hi, I’m looking for Sara Jane? My name’s-” The rest of his speech was knocked out of him as the woman launched herself at him. Jeremy braced for an attack, but quickly realized she was… hugging him. 

She was hugging him, sobbing, and choked out the word “Jeremy.” 

Wait. He knew that voice. He had only heard it a few times in his life, few enough he could count them on one hand, but he knew it. “M-Ma?” he whispered. 

The woman- Sara Jane- Ma looked up at him, still crying. Her hands found his face as she observed him. “Y-yeah, sweetie, it’s me, it’s-it’s your ma,” she said. 

“Ma!” he laughed, tears of his own dancing down his cheeks. He hugged her back, practically lifting her off her feet. “Oh my God, Ma! I-I never thought I’d-” 

“Oh Jeremy, sweetie, look how tall you’ve gotten! Last I saw you, you fit in my arms! My baby, my handsome baby,” she spoke over him. She rubbed circles into his back as they embraced. It felt so, so right. 

Jeremy laughed even harder. “Are you kiddin’? I got it from you, you’re beautiful, Ma!” He stared at her, trying to commit every mole and wrinkle and perfect flaw to memory. “I can’t believe- oh my God, I’m actually meeting you!” 

“It was long overdue,” another voice said, as Raphael joined them on the front stoop. “I had put it off for safety reasons, but considering our current, ah, situation… I felt it was worth the risk.” 

Sara Jane squealed, pulling Raphael into the hug as well. “You’ve been taking good care of my boy, you promise me, Raphael?” 

“Don’t worry Ma, he’s the best dad I could ask for, considering,” Jeremy teased. 

“Oh, don’t I know it. Called me up last night and told me to get the whole motley crew together. Even managed to get Melvin to bring his twin daughters, bless his wife’s heart,” she explained. 

Jeremy blinked. “Uh- Melvin? Daughters?”

Sara Jane laughed. It sounded so much like Jeremy’s it practically hurt. This was his mother. Lord, he’s finally seeing her. “Melvin’s your older brother, sweetie. Eh, sixth oldest. Bobby’s the oldest.” 

“I have a brother?”

“Oh honey, you’re the youngest of eight,” Sara Jane said plainly. 

“...fuck,” Jeremy whispered. 

. . .

He didn’t just have seven brothers. He had seven brothers, four of which brought their wives, one who brought his boyfriend, and three who brought their kids. And the kids totaled to an additional six, counting the babies. 

It was… an admittedly tight squeeze in the living room. 

Sara Jane introduced Jeremy. Jeremy had been expecting to be treated like a stranger. He had vanished when he was a baby, after all, and his younger-older brothers probably wouldn’t remember him at all. 

And yet, it was like he knew them all his life. 

They teased him and punched him playfully and acted so friendly, so familial it nearly made Jeremy break down. He was still crying from meeting Ma, but being dogpiled with so much affection was suffocating. In a good way. He had seen on sitcoms the intrinsic bond between family, and while he felt it with Dad, they also risked their lives nearly daily. But it was real, it was here, and it was wrapping him in a warm blanket. 

Despite the chaos and the sheer number of people, Jeremy didn’t feel overwhelmed. He laughed and played along with their jokes, cracking some back when he could get a word in. Scott ragged on his dog tags, he countered by pointing out the hole in his pants. Michael told him he was still a shortass, he replied with “it takes one to know one.” Elliot and Ricky were the closest to actually getting hurt, and that was only because Jeremy elbowed them both so hard they nearly fell over. 

For the first time in 25 years, Jeremy understood what “home” meant. 

The kids were especially curious, eager to meet their uncle and step-grandfather. Within seconds, young Rebecca- only four years old- was challenging Jeremy to a race around the house. “I’m the fastest kid in the world,” she bragged, puffing out her chest. 

“Oh yeah?” Jeremy asked. “That a fact?”

“You wanna test me? I beat Johnny Three-Legs at running, and he’s got three legs!” Jeremy laughed and stood from the couch, letting her lead him outside. “On the count of three, OK?”

“You’re on, pipsqueak,” Jeremy teased.

“Onetwothree GO!” Rebecca yelled, taking off in a sprint. Jeremy knew that, by all accounts, he should beat her. His legs were longer, she didn’t have the proper running stance, and it was his job to be fast. That’s what he got paid to do. But some small voice was telling him to let her win, so he did. “Ha! I told ya!” 

“Ya sure did,” he replied, mock panting. “Look at you, a freaking blur on the green. You’re goin’ to the Olympics, kid.” 

Rebecca beamed and hugged his leg. “Promise, Uncle Jeremy?” He nodded because, after that display, there was no way he could speak without squeaking like a chew toy. 

Rebecca skipped back inside, past Raphael, who was watching on the stoop. “You’re a natural with children,” he observed. “I used to do the same thing when you were that age.” 

“Wait- wait, really? You sure fooled me,” Jeremy said. 

Raphael rolled his eyes. “What’s my job again, mon lapin?”

“Yeah, yeah…” Jeremy leaned against the railing, watching Raphael’s cigarette smoke in the wind. “Hey. Uh… thanks for arranging all of this. You really didn’t need to.”

“But I did. I meant it when I said this was overdue. I’ve been wanting to introduce you to the rest of the family for a while, but have been unable. Then that whole ordeal with the supposed tumors, and-” Raphael exhaled slowly. “It wouldn’t have been fair to you if you died without knowing them. I would’ve never forgiven myself.” 

Jeremy punched his shoulder lightly. “Don’t be so hard on yourself, pops. It all worked out, we’re still kicking, and that roast chicken Ma’s making smells incredible. Everything’s perfect.” 

Raphael finished his cigarette and smiled. “Oui. It is.” 

. . .

While Sara Jane had been able to get the rest of the family here, it was a school night. Kids needed to be tucked in by 9:30, so most of Jeremy’s brothers were gone by 8. Elliot was staying overnight, as was his boyfriend. Otherwise, the house quickly went from bustling to barren. 

It gave Jeremy a chance to explore his would-be childhood home.

He made his way upstairs, pushing open one of the doors. It led- to little surprise- to a bedroom. It was set up like a nursery, with a crib in one corner and a toddler bed in the other. Toys were scattered about across the floor. 

He heard Sara Jane sigh behind him. “This was your room, you know.” Jeremy turned to look at her as she flipped the light switch. “That crib… I had put you to bed the night your father planned to fake his death. I was in on the whole plan, naturally. He wanted to hold you one last time, so I said OK. When I woke up the next morning… you were both gone.” She exhaled slowly, grabbing onto his shoulder. “I wrote both of you off as dead, but I knew what had happened. Honestly, should’ve figured it out before then. You hadn’t woken me up crying,” she joked. Her eyes were watering. 

Jeremy hugged her, pulling her close. “You never took the crib down?” 

“By the time I was ready, Bobby’s wife was pregnant, so I kept it up for my grandbabies. I knew- I knew you were out there, sweetie. Both of you.” She kissed his cheek, squeezing him.

“I-I never got to be a normal kid, really,” he confessed. “I mean, Dad did his best, gave me comic books and board games and stuff, but-but I never went to school or made friends or anything like that. I-I didn’t even know I had a family. It took me forever to even realize I had a Ma. An-and everything I did-” The tears were flowing again, more freely than earlier. “Ya missed me losing my first tooth, and potty trainin’, and all that stuff parents should know about. I-I’m sorry,” he whispered. 

Sara Jane wiped his cheek dry. “Don’t apologize for what your father did, Jeremy. And definitely don’t apologize for me not potty training another kid. Besides… hold on, I’ll be right back.” She made her way down the hallway. Jeremy didn’t follow, instead deciding to examine the crib. This was where he grew up. It was a simple crib, obviously well-used. Not worn-down, mind, just… used. It had a history. A history that Jeremy wanted to decode, but unlike his dad’s ciphers, he didn’t have the key. 

“Took me a second to find it,” Sara Jane said. She handed him what appeared to be a scrapbook. “Raphael- he wrote when he can. Taught me some basic codes, would send out letters whenever you’d leave a town. Never left a return address, but…” Jeremy flipped through the pages, moving to sit on the small bed. The letters were all coded but appeared to be about how much Raphael missed Sara Jane. Updates on Jeremy’s growth. Letters from a father to his lover and son’s mother. 

One page jumped out to him, though. “I remember this,” he said, running his fingers against the paper. It was a simple drawing of a young boy, holding a catcher’s mitt, and a taller man next to him. “I drew this after Dad took me to my first baseball game, for my eighth birthday. I thought I lost the drawing after we skipped town, but- he sent them to you?”

Sara Jane nodded. “And I kept them all. Oh, honey, the day I first heard your voice on the phone- Mikey can tell you, I damn near fell over. You sounded so happy, and even if I couldn’t see you, that’s all a mother wants.” Jeremy leaned against her and she shut the book. “That’s all a mother wants, sweetie. To see her kids be safe and happy.” 

“I am, Ma,” he assured her. “I promise.” 

They sat like that for a while, with Sara Jane commenting on various letters and drawings in the scrapbook. Apparently, Raphael sent her money when he could- more frequently now that Mann Co. paid so well. She also had a rough idea of their current occupations. “I figure, if you and your father are working for the same company- with his skills, there’s gotta be a whole lot of nonsense going on out in that desert.” Jeremy laughed at that because she wasn’t wrong. “But I also figure since he raised you right, he’ll keep the both of you safe.” 

“I keep him safe too, don’t worry,” Jeremy added. “Uh- listen, it’s touching and all you kept the crib, but I don’t have to sleep in it, right?” 

They both had a good chuckle over that. Their laughs were in perfect harmony. 

. . .

The next two days were a mix of learning the family history and exploring Boston. It was the offseason, so there weren’t any games going on at Fenway, but Jeremy still got a picture in front of the park. Sara Jane took the pair to a restaurant that served “the best damn clam chowder in the contiguous United States.” Which, incidentally, led them to discover Jeremy was allergic to clams. Thankfully they didn’t have to go to the hospital- he just sort of immediately got sick before it passed- but it did suck.

It was damn good chowder, though. 

They went down to the harbor where the Boston Tea Party happened. It was crowded with people, resulting in them not staying long. Jeremy was a bit better with crowds than Raphael, but neither was great with them. Came with the job. Getting overpriced memorabilia from a nearby gift shop, though, went over much more smoothly. 

When not out on the town, Sara Jane dug out more scrapbooks and photo albums, catching Raphael up on what his stepsons had been up to. She showed Jeremy pictures from Ricky’s first school play to Scott opening up his butcher shop. Graduation pictures, wedding pictures, baby pictures- it was all there, and Jeremy devoured it. He wanted to know these people. He wanted to know his family. And he did. He learned about Michael’s stint in the Navy, Melvin meeting his wife, how Bobby’s son could dribble a basketball for twenty minutes straight. He learned about how his parents met. How Raphael loved each of Sara Jane’s children, even if they weren’t biologically his. How Jeremy wasn’t planned- few of the kids were - but they were both so, so happy to realize he was coming. 

He also learned that, while diner food would remain the undisputed king, homemade meatloaf came pretty close. 

. . .

The only problem came when it was time to leave. It wasn’t that Jeremy didn’t want to return to work, or leave his Ma behind. Sara Jane wasn’t even torn up over losing her son and lover again. It just felt like there was so much left to say, to do. There was uncertainty as to when they’d be able to return. “We get time off for Smissmas, I know that’s months away but I’ll be here, I promise,” Jeremy swore, hugging Sara Jane for the eighth time. 

“You better,” she said, squeezing him tightly. “You have 25 years worth of gifts to catch up on, not to mention birthday gifts-”

“Ma, you don’t have to go that far,” he whined. He was touched, sure, but the thought of that much luggage was truly frightening. Oh God, he was going to have to get gifts for everybody, wasn’t he? What do kids even want for Smissmas? 

“Hush, let me spoil my baby,” Sara Jane told him, kissing his cheek. “Oh, Jeremy…” 

Jeremy nodded. “I know, but I’ll call. I’ll write, too. Send pictures if I can.” 

“I’ll make sure he does,” Raphael assured her. Sara Jane stood to kiss his lips, with Jeremy looking away pointedly. “You have my word, ma petite chou-fleur.” 

“Alright, alright- now get going, I don’t want you two missing your flight. That boss of yours sounds like she’ll tear you both a new one if you’re late,” Sara Jane said, shooing them away. “Love you boys!” 

“I love you too, Ma!” Jeremy shouted back, for the very first time. 

The drive back to the airport was quiet. Jeremy stared out the window, watching his hometown- he had a hometown- pass by. “Hey, dad?” he asked, still looking outside. Raphael grunted to acknowledge he was listening. “One of these days, our contracts with Mann Co. are gonna expire. We’re gonna have to find new jobs.” 

“Yes, that’s correct,” Raphael said. He tapped a rhythm against the steering wheel. 

“And-and I was thinking when that time comes… maybe we could come back to Boston. Find some gigs out here,” Jeremy suggested. 

Raphael sighed. “Unfortunately, being a spy means that you don’t have the option of retiring, Jeremy. Not until you’re unable to complete your job. At that point, though, you’ve probably died a dozen times over,” he explained. “Even if I could retire, settling down somewhere so close to people I care about- I would still have enemies.” 

“Right. ‘Course,” Jeremy said. “It’s OK.” 

“That being said,” Raphael continued, “you have the luxury of youth and not being tied down to such a career. If you want to find a job in Boston after we finish with RED, there’s nothing stopping you.” 

“But people will still be after me, since I’m your son. And you wouldn’t be around.”

“Every child leaves their parents someday. And you’re strong, Jeremy. You can protect yourself and your family.” Raphael smiled. “I don’t believe Sara Jane needs much protecting, but I do worry.” 

Jeremy laughed. “I mean, did ya see the muscles on Scott and Michael? Guys can probably bench press a tractor!” 

They both chuckled before settling into quietude. Eventually, though, Jeremy had to break the silence. His voice was barely above a whisper. “I love you.” 

“I love you too, mon lapin.”

“...so your nickname for Ma is fucking ‘little cauliflower?’ What the hell, Dad?” 

[lunaekalenda]

Heyo can I get an Armin x fem reader where he’s currently dating Annie and reader is a new student and Armin and reader start to get to know each other more and start to gain feelings for each other and reader doesn’t know he’s dating Annie and shes on pretty good terms with her since Annie sort of envies her cuz she’s sweet and outgoing, so reader asks him out he says yes and things are great for them until Annie starts to realize Armins been distancing himself from her and hanging out with reader a lot and she confronts him about it and he admits that he just fell out of love and started gaining heavy feelings for reader and they break up even though Annie’s hurt she tries to stay happy and accepts reader and armins new found relationship:3 (can it be a modern AU and can it be in 1st POV from either reader or Armin please and thank you)

hiii!! :D omg yes!! i hope you like it! sorry if i took long to write it :’) and i think it’s a little messed up sorry

i hope it is what you’ve asked for! i didn’t want to make it longer, so this is it!

❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁

❁ Private lessons

❁ Armin x female reader

❁ !! : cheating

❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁

"So this is your new classmate, I hope you get along well."

Everybody smiles, specially a blue-eyed girl on the first row. The professor tells me to sit next to her.

"Hi, I'm Historia." She smiles sweetly. I smile back at her. Professor Keith starts his class, and I do my best to follow his explanations.

I used to study in a south zone institute, but my dad was posted north which made me move and switch to this institute. Near to Historia, and looking at her, is a tall girl with brown eyes and a low ponytail. On my other side, there’s a brown-haired boy with freckles, looking nice and smiling. Behind him, a boy with an undercut looks bored. The professor starts talking about history, and Historia passes me a paper.

“I can give you my notes for you to copy” I smile at her and nod. An hour after, the class is finished. 

“Okay, I’ll introduce you to all. This girl here is Ymir.” she points to the tall girl, that is walking towards us. She hugs Historia while talking. 

“I hate history classes, oh, my sweet and beloved Historia, if you...”

“I’ll help you to study this afternoon.” Ymir smiles at her and kisses her cheek in signal of thanks. “Oh, the new one.” I smile at Ymir and she does the same.

Historia points a huge blonde boy, that was sitting behind me. He’s talking with a black-haired tall guy. “Those two are Reiner and Bertholdt. And the blonde girl coming is Annie” A girl with a bun goes to the door, followed by a boy. “And that’s Armin. He’s always with Eren and Eren is always with Mikasa.” They are following Armin. The boy with freckles comes and smiles at me.

“Hi, I’m Marco! I hope we can became friends! He’s Jean, my best friend.” The boy with the undercut waves his hand at me.

“Oh, and the two fighting for cup of ramen are Connie and Sasha. Now, should we eat together?” I nod to Marco and Historia. They pull their tables together and star eating. They tell me how was the first semester and try to know if my institute on the south was giving the same subjects than here, and told me to join their study group. 

“Armin gives us classes. He’s really smart and catches up all the subjects, and he also likes to explain.” They tell me that the next session is going to be tomorrow afternoon on Reiner’s. “We take turns studying at each other's house, so it's not always the same host” Actually that’s a good plan, so I guess someday I’ll have to be a host too. My face darkens as I remember that my house is too small to accommodate more than three people in the same room. Mom and Dad live in a flat that dad's company gave them, but the distance between that apartment and the institute made them decide to rent a one-man flat for me. We keep eating and attending the next classes. 

Faster than I thought, the afternoon of the study group arrived. I took all the books before leaving home, and walked towards the entrance, where Marco, that lives literally next door, was waiting to help me arrive to Reiner’s home. He was dressing casually, not a huge difference between seeing him on the school uniform. 

“Good morning!” Marco says when I left the entrance. I wave my hand at him. “Ready for a studying session?” 

“I think so, but everybody raves about how well Armin explains, so I’m impatient to see it! I think I need a lot of help to pass this course.”

“That’s normal, you arrived in the middle of it! But I’m sure you’ll be okay, your grades on the other institute were pretty high!” Marco, as the class delegate, had to pass my expedient to the new institute, and he looked at my grades to do it. We walk in silence while he explains me some streets or where our classmates lived.

“Reiner’s house is the one furthest from the institute, the rest of us live near it.” 

Once were in Reiner’s house, a lot of classmates were waiting outside. Jean walked towards Marco.

 “I knew you could guide the new girl here without problem!” Jean smiles at me and Historia comes, followed by Ymir.

“Oh, you arrived!” Historia says. Then, Reiner makes us enter his house. We all sit when Armin arrives. He has his blonde hair messy, and his hands are occupied with some papers. 

The studio group is outgoing and nice to me, but when Armin starts to explain history of the north, I’m totally lost. He looks at me with curiosity.

Armin’s eyes were so beautiful, and every time he looks at me my heart flutters. 

“Do you understand it?” I shake my head. The north history is totally new for me, I never studied it. “Don’t worry, are you free tomorrow?” 

“Hm, yes, I am” He smiles before writing something on a paper. “There’s were I live. Come at four and I’ll explain everything to you, with detail.”

He was so sweet I couldn’t say no, so I nod and smile at him. 

Walking back home, Marco explains me where Armin lives.

“Up that street, the last house. He lives in front of Eren and Mikasa.”

Marco invited me to have dinner with him and Jean in a near bar, where, surprisingly, also Connie was having dinner. When I asked him why he was there alone, he told me.

“I took some dinner with me but Sasha ate it, and now I have to have some dinner because I’m about to pass out of hunger.”

“Can we sit here, Conn?” Marco asks and Connie nods. We have dinner between laughs and stories. and everybody leaves once we’re finished.

The next day, I'm in front of Armin's house, waiting for him. He makes me go into his house.

"Sorry if my room is messed up, I just woke up." He says, with his hand on his neck. I laugh.

“Don’t worry. I’m sure your room is more organized than mine.” He lets me pass in front of him to a clear and enormous room. It has a lot of books and a shelf full of seashells. He tells me to take off my jacket and put it on a near chair. We sit on the floor, near to the coffee table he has in the middle of the room. He takes some books with him.

“Okay, so North History.” I nod. He starts to explain me with calm and quiet voice, making sure I understand everything, and looking me in the eyes. 

I can’t concentrate if his ocean eyes are fixed on mine. Once Armin ends explaining me the unit, we agreed in having a little break. He passes me a cup of coffee and a couple cookies. 

“So, do you like the city?” he asks. I nod while swallowing the coffee.

“Yes, it’s pretty cool. In the south we don’t have this big cities like in the north, Is more like a rural place. So at first it was complicated for me to move.” Armin nods, telling me without words that he understands me. 

“Well, I can show you the city. I’m not a talkative person but I know a lot about the history of the place, so I can tell you about some of the famous buildings.”

“That would be amazing...” Thanks to my parents, I was born without the gift of shame. Armin had caught my eye, so why not give it a try? “Something like a date?”

Armin laughs, kinda blushing.

“Yes, something like a date.” he answers.

A couple weeks later, after passing a lot of time with Armin, we decided to go and explore the city. I choose a yellow dress my mum bought me for our date. He was there when I arrived. 

“Hi!” He looks at me when I talk to him. He smiles a bit.

“Hi” answers. We start walking. Where do you want to start?”

“What about the park?” He nods. We walk, and he tells me a lot of curious things about the city. “Did you know this was a prison?” 

The, he invites me, buying me an ice cream. We sit on a cool park, and we eat the ice creams in silence. His phone starts to sound. He looks the name of the person who’s calling, but he puts his phone again on his pocket.

“Sorry, you know how many times a day do telephone companies call.” I nod, totally clueless. He was kinda nervous after that, and it made me think he maybe wasn’t talking with telephone companies.

After the long day out, my feet hurt. Armin laughs and accompanies me home. Once we’re at my door, Armin smiles sweetly. 

“Do you want to enter?” I ask. Armin’s face blushes. “N-No! I wasn’t asking like that?!”

“I know, I know.” he laughs, “Anyway, I should go home. It’s kinda late.” he looks the hour on his phone. I can glimpse a blonde girl on his wallpaper, smiling at the camera.

“Well, thanks for today...” I say, in low voice, He smiles and lends closer to me. His gaze fixed on my mouth.

“See you tomorrow?” I ask. He hums before leaning even closer and he kisses me.

I kiss him back. I was literally hoping for this to happen. His arms are around my waist. When we part, I’m kinda dizzy. He’s an awesome kisser, not gonna lie. 

“Bye, then.”

He’s about to leave, but what kind of boy leaves a girl right after kissing her? I took his hand.

“Does this mean that now we are dating?” I ask. He smiles wide.

“Probably. I’ll wait for you tomorrow.” He kisses me again, lightly, and then he leaves. 

Our relationship grew really fast, but he didn’t want to look that closer at school.

“You know, professors might think we’re not fixed on our studies.”

And he also was really close to Annie. I wasn’t jealous, he spends a lot of time at my house, my mum loves him and we are so in love...

Annie looks at me with anger while we’re in music class. She’s fixed on me. When she comes to talk with me, Armin intercepts her.

“Annie! can we talk outside a bit?” He says. She looks at me, but then nods. I stand up and follow them. They’re talking in the corridor. I tell myself to sit and mind my own business, but her tone makes me stay there, listening,

“You’re really close to her now.” she says. Armin asks her to be quiet.

“Annie, I only love you...”

“You’ve been lying for a fucking month. Stop it already, Armin. Tell me the truth, or I’ll ask her.”

“I...” I can hear Annie’s steps, but it’s late to go back to my seat. Fortunately, Armin calls her. “Wait, Annie! See... I... I don’t love you. It was fast, but I fell in love with her. She’s really sweet and I couldn’t handle it. She studied so close to me... Her lips so close... And admit it, our relationship was about to die.” He says. Annie doesn’t make a sound. 

Were Annie and Armin dating?

Did I break a couple?

Oh, no.

“Well, we...”

“We were sinking, And because of you.” he says. “You wasted a lot of time with Reiner and Bert. You were the one always occupied to see me. The one that never came to our dates. I need someone to be with, Annie, and you weren’t filling that desire, so I started to feel less and less for you. And she loves me. She always asks me to do something with her, either watch a movie or just lay down together. She counts me on her plans. I deserve something like what I give. So, I hope you can be happy with another one.”

“But why you waited so long to break up with me?”

“I thought you knew I was cheating on you. I was kinda obvious.”

Annie keeps being quiet.

“Hope you two be happy then.” she says, before walking to the opposite direction. 

Maybe their relationship was made to sink. Armin enters again, and I look interested to the books on the shelf.

“You’re so cute...” he says. I smile a bit.

The doubt about asking him or not about what just happened dissapears when I feel his lips on mine.

“We don’t have to hide now?” I ask. He shakes his head.

“No more.”

[julemmaes]

Zero pressure cuz I know you’re working on other things but are u still planning on writing the sequel to I Love You with Cal?

I’m Sorry

acotar next gen fan fic

part two for this one shot here

A/N: I won’t be giving any summary cause it’s 1am and I’m crying cause I just want to be able to sleep, I just hope this will satisfy you all and maybe makes you cry a little cause it was hard to finish it. Please if there’s any mistakes don’t point that out to me, I’ll check tomorrow. Enjoy!

Masterlist

Word count: 3,857

Cal had returned home shortly after dinner. His family had already finished eating and he just wanted to get some rest after the long day he'd had with Raina.

They'd stayed up all night the day before because her parents hadn't been home, and during the day he'd found it difficult to focus on his classes, so much that he'd skipped one in order to take a nap in the university gardens. All of this, of course, hadn't stopped him from going straight back to Raina's house to spend more time together, and while they were supposed to be studying for the upcoming exam they were both taking, they had decided to spend the entire afternoon doing the nasty.

Now, lying on his bed, he tried not to laugh too loudly at the memes he was looking at, so as not to disturb Ezra who was studying despite the hour. Unlike him, his brother couldn't afford to fail an exam and his mother would surely hit him repeatedly if he tried to mess that up.

He was about to shut everything off and warn Raina that he was going to sleep, when Ezra sighed too loudly to be casual. Thinking it was just for the studying, Cal didn't give it that much thought and opened up the chat with his girlfriend, starting to type his goodnight.

"Fuck it." muttered Ezra, closing the book, "Cal, man?"

"Hmm?" he hummed from his spot on the bed.

"Yesterday after you left, something happened and I think you should know because it's partially your fault too and the rest of us have all apologized already." he said in a tone that was far too serious for the relaxed situation they were in.

Cal's head snapped towards him for a second as he saw Ezra get up and walk towards his bed, before returning his attention to the screen where Raina was telling him she was going to take a shower - and think about him in the process. An idle grin appeared on his lips and he held his breath when she sent him a picture in front of the mirror wearing only a pair of panties.

"Can you please listen to me without looking at your phone?" asked Ezra a little more pressing.

Cal huffed, running a hand through his hair and turning off the screen. He crossed his hands over his chest, smiling sarcastically at his brother, "You have my full attention."

It wasn't true. If he wanted to sleep that night, he too would have had to take a shower to get rid of that uneasy itch between his legs. The picture Raina had just sent him shone brightly etched into his eyelids, but he wasn't going to risk Ezra grabbing his phone out of his hands and seeing pictures of his half-naked girlfriend.

Not again, at least.

"You're not listening to me," Ezra blurted, his voice low.

"God you sound like mom when she gets pissed," he snorted. He pulled himself up on his elbows, jerking his chin, "What?"

"I caught Celia coming out of the tavern yesterday and she was crying," the other said, slipping off his shirt to put on his pajamas, "Mom and dad have already talked to her and me and the girls have apologized more than once, I slept in there with them last night, but-" he cleared his throat, running a hand over his face.

Cal forgot about Raina in a split second.

If Celia had cried and Ezra had felt the need to tell him, it meant it was something important.

"But?" urged Cal to continue, sitting up and setting the phone down on the nightstand.

Ezra looked him straight in the eye as he took off his jeans as well, then looked away, shaking his head, "Before I tell you, it's not your fault specifically, it was a lot of things that built up that made her break down for a moment-"

Cal interrupted him, "Can you get straight to the point, please? You're worrying me."

"It's not even that important, I just think you need to know."

"Jesus Christ, just tell me," he snapped.

"Celia had a complete nervous breakdown last night," Ezra said in one breath, kneeling on his bed without even looking at him. Cal's heart clenched in his chest. "She said we don't love her like we love the rest of us," he sighed, "that mom and dad never have time for her basically."

Then Ezra's icy eyes pierced into Cal's hazel ones, and he knew that whatever he said next would be the heaviest bit to hear. He tucked into his shoulders, breathing through his nose.

"She also said that Nora hates her. That you hate her."

Cal closed his eyes, bringing a hand to his forehead, "Fuck." he muttered, "She mentioned me and Nora specifically?"

Ezra didn't answer and Cal opened his eyes, seeing him nod with a grimace on his face, "Dad told her that's not true, obviously, but I think it would be good for her to hear it directly from you."

"Fuck." muttered Cal again. He put his feet on the ground, leaning forward and taking his head in his hands as he remembered how he'd dismissed Celia not once, but twice in the space of a few minutes when she had needed him.

To go have sex, of all things.

"Why didn't you call me? Texted me?" asked Cal, looking over his shoulder at Ezra, "I would have come home sooner." he sighed again when he suddenly remembered the conversation that had taken place only a couple of hours earlier with Celia.

They had been sitting on the couch in the living room in silence when Cal had asked her what movie she wanted to watch and she hadn't answered him right away. She hadn't even looked at him when she'd said, "You don't have to be pretend like you like to stay home with me." before getting up from the couch and going upstairs, probably to her room. Cal had been surprised by those words, but hadn't dwelled too much on his sister's tone of voice or her hurt expression, continuing to text Raina.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck." he cursed himself again, thinking about how much that indifference of his had done nothing but prove her fears. He didn't dwell on the image of a distraught Celia crying that appeared in his head too.

Ezra clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth, "Listen, if you go in there like this you're just going to scare her," he told him softly, "Calm down for a moment and take a couple of minutes to think, because it sounds like you've been given the worst news you can get, so breathe, think and if you can't get it all done before eleven maybe you should wait until tomorrow morning."

Cal wanted to tell him that it was one of the worst things anyone could say to him, but looking into his eyes he realised that he must have felt the same way the night before.

"Did you find her crying or..?"

Ezra lifted a shoulder, tucking himself under the covers and folding his arms behind his head, "I told you, she was downstairs and I didn't understand what she was doing there, then dad saw her and she burst into tears." a short pause before he resumed speaking in a lower voice, "I haven't heard her cry like that in a few years.  She has to be holding it all in for so long."

Cal ran a hand over his face, puffing out his cheeks.

His phone screen lit up with a notification from Raina.

He opened the chat without even checking the last picture she had sent him:

'I'll text you later princess, something came up and I'm not really in the mood to send you pictures. Sorry.'

Her reply didn't even take ten seconds to appear, 'No, I'm sorry, I wouldn't have sent anything if I knew something was wrong. You need me to call you?'

Cal smiled slightly at the phone, 'Don't worry, you couldn't have known.'

The message that followed sounded more threatening than anything else, 'Okay, but you didn't answer my question, do you want me to call you? I can be there in five if I have to. Or you can come back here, you know I'm alone.'

As tempting as that invitation was, Cal shook his head, knowing full well that it held no double meaning, just genuine concern. 'It's Celia. She wasn't well last night and no one thought to warn me.'

'Oh, what happened?'

'Can I text you later? I have to take care of this now. It's nothing to worry about, just, I'll tell you later.'

'Alright.' Cal chuckled. It was just like seeing her, biting the inside of her lip, thinking of all the possibilities.

'Love you.'

He didn't wait for her reply and lay back down on the bed, putting himself in the same position as his brother.

"Do you think I was an asshole?" he asked at one point, looking up at the ceiling.

He heard Ezra moving around on the bed and when he turned around, his brother was lying on his side, his head resting on one arm. He looked so much like their mum. "She didn't really elaborate when she said you hate her-"

"Could you stop saying I hate her as if it were true?" interrupted Cal, frowning.

Ezra arched an eyebrow, "Sorry." then looked at him attentively, "I was saying, she didn't say anything in particular, so I wouldn't know. What did you do to sweep her off her feet like that?"

Cal looked at him with a slightly wide mouth, "For someone who says it's not my fault, it sure as hell looks like you don't believe it."

"I'm just fucking with you, though, she said you kicked her out of the room," then grimaced, "Actually, dad and I did that too, so don't worry if it's true."

Cal shook his head, amazed, looking up at the ceiling again, "We're all assholes then."

"What did you tell her?" asked Ezra again.

"I just told her I'd help her with her homework, I guess, and then I left," he replied.

"For?" Cal turned to him with an expression that said it all. Ezra scoffed, "You could have helped her five minutes, before you went off to fuck."

Cal flinched at those words, knowing full well how true they were, "You could have done the same. What were you and dad doing anyway?"

Ezra took a while to answer, "We were supposed to be fixing the bike, but we were actually playing darts."

"Busted." he muttered, "We should scold dad too then." joked Cal, trying to lighten the mood a little.

"I think he's regretted it enough already," the eldest said in a serious tone, "He barely touched his food at dinner yesterday and then went straight to bed."

"Maybe he was just tired," Cal assumed, trying to kill time before the inevitable.

"I don't think so, he pretty much spent all day staring at Celia like she might break at any moment." he ran a hand through his hair, mussing it, "Sometimes I wonder how they manage with five kids. It must be hard."

Cal frowned, looking at his brother, trying to figure out if he was just playing around or not. When he saw Ezra staring at the ceiling with a lost gaze, he realized that no, he was one hundred percent serious.

That he didn't realize the help he gave his parents? It was true, Ezra was only four years older than Cal, but there was no way he shouldn't be considered some sort of third parent. The eldest of the siblings had taken care of all of them from day zero and had never backed down from such duty.

Cal's eyes widened, deciding not to broach that subject that evening.

One thing at a time.

"Do you think you'll talk to her tonight?" asked Ezra, "I only ask because - even if you don't have to tonight - I think you should go say goodnight, tell her you love her before you go to sleep."

"Give me ten more minutes and then I'll go," Cal murmured.

"As long as you need."

***

"The other day when I went out with Iria and we met one of the boys in her class," Nora said with bright eyes, "he asked me to give him my number and I don't think I should tell mom."

Celia giggled, hiding her face against the duvet on her bed, "She'd definitely tell dad and at that point you'd be quicker to jump in front of a train on your own."

Nora burst out laughing, looking up at her from the upside down position she was in, "Iria said the same thing too."

"What's his name?"

Her sister's face lit up, "Zeke. I don't know his last name." then she cackled, "Maybe I should ask him."

"Is he cute?" asked Celia just as the door opened and Cal appeared.

"Who's cute?" asked their brother, just the instant Nora said, "Don't you know how to knock?"

"An actor." replied the younger one, as any sort of excitement vanished inside her.

She didn't want the strange bubble that had been created over the last few hours to burst. She had finally managed to convince Nora to spend some time with her as they hadn't done in months and she hadn't had that much fun in too long.

Cal shifted his gaze from Nora to her, keeping his eyes fixed in hers for a while before turning back to Nora, "You're not telling me the truth."

"Why are you here?" the older one asked, turning on her stomach and looking at her brother standing in the doorway.

Celia felt herself blush for some reason when Cal's eyes settled on her again and said, "Could you come with me for a moment?"

She arched an eyebrow, "Why?"

The boy seemed to hesitate for a few seconds, "I'd like to talk to you."

Nora yawned, not covering her mouth, "The two of us would be talking."

Cal turned to the older of the two of them, "Stop being so bossy."

"I wouldn't have to if you knocked before coming into our room and then claimed to steal Lia from me," Nora replied tensely.

Celia pulled herself up to her seat, rubbing her hands over her face as she tried to suppress a smile.

She knew they weren't really fighting, but they were bickering to win her attention, her time, and she'd be lying if she said it wasn't warming her heart.

"I-" stammered Cal, gesturing to Nora, "What- I'm not trying to steal Cece from you, I just want to talk to her for five minutes."

"What do you want Cal?" she asked trying to figure out what she needed to discuss at this time of the night.

Cal gave her an exasperated look, "Ezra told me what happened last night, I wanted to apologize."

Both she and Nora straightened up, but Celia was the only one who held her breath, blinking a couple of times, hoping to erase any trace of surprise from her expression.

Nora cleared her throat, sitting up, "I think I'll go brush my teeth." she said getting up.

Celia frowned, "You've done that before with-"

"Brush my teeth!" she repeated loudly, closing the bedroom door behind her.

Now only she and Cal stood in the room.

"Cal, you don't-"

He interrupted her before she could say anything else, crossing the room with two wide strides, "I want to apologize."

Celia looked at him, pulling herself up to sit cross-legged as he plopped down on Nora's bed in front of her. She nodded her head to tell him to continue, "You already said that."

"I know," Cal whispered. Then he shifted his gaze outside the window that separated the girls' beds, "I know."

Her eyes fell on his hands and she saw that he was torturing his ring she knew Raina had given him for their first anniversary. A nervous tic that characterised practically every adult in that house. Celia was just waiting for the day when Nora, too, was given a ring and she, too, would start twisting it between the index finger and thumb of her opposite hand.

They were silent for a few seconds and Celia was about to speak, make his task easier by telling him that everything was fine, that it had just been a particularly tiring day, but the words caught in her throat when he looked back at her and in the most serious tone of voice she had ever heard him use, he said, "You know you're my best friend right?"

Celia didn't know how to respond. She wasn't even sure if she was actually breathing. That's why she forced herself to get some air into her lungs. That strained breath must have sounded like a sob or a gasp, because Cal grimaced before resuming.

"I know it's not always like this Cece, but you're my best friend.

"I'm sorry for leaving you like that last night. I was an asshole and I shouldn't have acted like that. I have no excuse for ignoring you and then leaving for Raina's without helping you first, but I want to tell you something." he looked at her with such intensity that she didn't understand how he could speak. She nodded slowly.

"You will always be my sister. You will always be the person I love most in the world. You, Nora, Andra, Ezra." he swallowed noisily, "You are my life and I love you. Understand?"

Celia nodded with slightly wide eyes.

"We're growing up. These years won't be like the ones we had when we were younger, but that doesn't mean I don't love you as much as ever. That I hate you." he shuddered at those words, "Hell, Ce, I could never hate you. Not even if you did me the greatest wrong in the world.

"We'll go back to being close, as close as... as-" he grunted, throwing his hands to the sky, "Like two broad beans in a pod."

Celia chuckled, frowning, "What are you talking about?"

"I don't know, it's not important," he smiled. "What is important is that you understand that no one in this family hates you. No one could ever hate you."

The words were out before she could stop them, "It seems that way sometimes."

Cal contracted his jaw, "I know, I'm sorry," he said in a lower voice, "I can tell you something that will probably make you feel better."

"Alright."

"Ezra and I are essentially five years apart, and," he straightened, running a hand through his hair, "There was a time when I was a senior in middle school, just like you, and when he was a junior in high school at the same time."

"That must have been hard for you," Celia whispered.

Cal nodded, smiling at her reassuringly, "It was one of the worst times of my life, I think. I was sure Ezra wouldn't consider me a friend anymore, just a brother, because he's legally forced to be that, you know." they both chuckled, "But no, Ezra was just growing up and you get to a point where your interests are too different to keep getting involved in everything the other does.

"It definitely happened to Nora with me and it's going to happen to Andra with you," then, seeing the scared look on her face that one day she would make her little sister feel the way her older siblings were making her feel at that moment, he added, "But Cece, that's life. I'm not saying it's easy, but it's not your fault. It happens."

"It still hurts." she pointed out again.

Cal reached out to her, putting both hands on her shoulders, "I know, but I can assure you that the second you get old enough and mom and dad will let you hang out with Nora, you'll completely forget you ever felt that way."

"Was it like that for you and Ezra?"

He nodded, getting up to sit on her bed next to her, "It took me a little longer than it will take you, because of the bigger age gap, but yeah." he nodded, smiling at her, "When Ezra and I started 'playing together' again," he said mimicking the quotes with his fingers, "It was like all the years we were too far apart to actually have fun together faded away. It was like finding an old friend you thought you'd never see again." he put an arm around her shoulders, bringing her against his side, "That's why I'm telling you not to worry."

Celia closed her eyes, muttering, "You were still an asshole, though. And so was Nora. And a little bit Ezra too."

She felt Cal shake while chuckling, "Andra wasn't? At least she's safe."

"Oh, shut up," she said, breaking free from her brother's grasp.

Cal looked down at her, a smile all too similar to their father's on his lips, "I love you, Cece." he said under his breath.

She nodded, feeling her cheeks heat up, "I love you too."

Then Cal laughed, running a hand over his face to stop the giggles and avoid waking their parents.

"What's up?" asked Celia in an amused tone.

"God," Cal breathed, trying not to laugh, "I can't wait until you and Nora are old enough to drink. Ezra and I have to take you to see so many places."

Celia rested her hands on her knees. She still didn't understand all that drinking hype, but she was sure her brothers would give her unforgettable experiences.

Cal let himself fall backwards on the bed, covering his face with an arm, "I'm sorry for acting like that yesterday, I'll try to pay more attention to your needs or whatever you want." he murmured after the laughter was fully subsided.

Celia lay next to him on the mattress, close enough that she could feel the warmth of his body, "It's nothing, I'm fine now."

"It's not nothing," Cal said, firmly, "The fact that you had to reach such a breaking point that you couldn't hold back the crying isn't nothing, don't even think that as a joke."

When she didn't answer, he took it as an invitation to continue.

"And I know dad already told you, but talk to us before you break down like that."

Celia swallowed, trying to chase away the tears, "I will." she finally whispered.

She heard Cal sigh, "Come here," before he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her towards him. Celia closed her eyes, letting her older brother hold her, letting him give her the love they all said they felt for her.

Finally feeling the entirety of that weight being lifted from her shoulders, she fell asleep with Cal's voice promising her incredible adventures and memorable nights in a future Celia never imagined would be so close.

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[mymindwide]

Madness

Pairing: Ashton x Female reader

Word count: 3464

Warning: jealousy, angst, feelings, smut with fingering, male receiving blowjob, riding and fluff. A little from everything.

Summary: You started out as part time lovers, but maybe one of you want more?

Author’s note: The inspiration behind this piece was a part of the lyrics of the song - Escape from LA by The Weeknd.

She pulled up to the studio Nobody's watching She closed the door and then she locked it For me, for me We had sex in the studio Nobody walked in I cut my verse and then she popped it For me, for me

...

She got Chrome Hearts hangin' from her neck And them shits going wild When she ride, she hold tight She gon' ride 'til sweat fall down her spine

My beautiful angel, my nr. 1 supporter, my partner in hoeing @littledrummerangie (aka @littledrummeraussie) asked me/convinced me to post this. If you’ll like it, thank her. Take care and enjoy your read.

*****

“Should we maybe test it together?” his eyes bored into yours leaving no doubt about his intentions.

“Lead the way, handsome…” came the immediate response from you, as you slithered your hand in his leaving no doubt for him about your consent.

The offering referred to the club’s renovated bathroom where the two of you locked yourself up.

That’s how it all started, how you ended up on the counter of the VIP club’s bathroom, your skirt rolled up to your waist, your panties pulled aside, being fucked by a handsome stranger you just met but immediately found a mutual point regarding why you visited the club in the first place.

None of you thought it could be more than a one night stand, but you officially became fuck buddies. Both of you went there to have fun and find someone who could possibly help release the tension and stress that slowly aggregated in you and couldn’t find a quick way out for lack of a partner. You thought you’d just “fallen in love” for that particular night but it was good enough for both of you that you changed numbers and agreed on that you have to repeat it sometime in the future. But your second quickie was followed by another and then another one…

Actually you were surprised how easily and smoothly you came to terms over what you two had – high-class sex, no strings attached. It is what it is, without complications. You enjoyed each other’s company and body and with that you took everything the other could offer. As it turned out on the day of your acquaintance in the club, both of your latest failed relationships taught you enough to not get involved in anything serious, at least for now, and this was good enough for the both of you. The only rule you insisted on was that there are no rules. You called or texted each other whenever you needed each other, but otherwise everyone could go on their separate way, and do whatever they wish with whoever they please.

Over the course of your ongoing fuck buddiness various locations provided a safe place for you to luxuriate your desires - sometimes he invited you to his home, sometimes it was you who had him up to your flat, but if you lost the fight against your eagerness, on several occasions you did it in his car as well – all in the name of mutual agreement of the friends with benefits state, except that you couldn’t even be called friends. You talked, of course, beside the sex, and you know little things about the other, but serious or deep things? Heaven-shattering big secrets? Not so much.

And this is exactly why you were so surprised by your own reaction at finding out that most likely your part time lover has someone else to have fun with. It’s been a pleasant Friday afternoon, you were spending your lunch-break sitting on the terrace of your favorite restaurant at noon having just finished with your lunch, when surfing through the daily news at the tabloid section you found paparazzi pictures of Ashton with a seemingly nice-looking girl while they’re having breakfast and coffee, smiling and laughing. You felt a strange grip in your heart - a painful reminder of something you tried to push back into the depths of your mind, something you didn’t want to acknowledge, something that you realized just recently yourself. That although according to your agreement you’d have had every opportunity and right to meet or date other men, you didn’t. You simply weren’t interested in anyone else, because he was completely enough for you. He takes good care of your physical needs; he is smart, handsome and has a sense of humor that just cannot be competed with. The long and short of it, he’s a decent guy you could imagine more with, if you weren’t so disappointed in your previous affairs or relationships. This was too good with Ashton to ruin it. You needed him in your life. But it looks like you are not enough. Again...

You haven’t seen him in a week cuz they started working in the studio on their upcoming material, so much you know. You missed him, which was already a warning sign for you about your possibly changing feelings, but for this particular reason you wanted to give him even more space than he already has based on your very open and sex oriented relationship. No calls, no texts, no requests for impromptu meetings. You lost all your concentration skills for the rest of the day and you thank god that you have a pretty silent afternoon in the office. Your mind had been clouded with questions like ‘why’ and ‘what can that girl give him that you can’t’? Thoughts and images of your encounters torture you that also can’t give you reassuring answers to your constantly popping up questions.

When you close your eyes you hear yourself chanting his name after your second or third orgasm he gave you…; you hear him praising God while you suck him off; you hear him whispering ‘how much I love fucking your tight little pussy’ in your ear while you’re on all fours in front of him; and you just love him doing exactly that. God, how much you love his dirty mouth, sometimes you think you could just get off simply by hearing him talking dirty, because he’s that good with his words… Sex works perfectly between you two and you understand each other on the little things you share with the other. The unanswered questions riled you up so much that a thought has planted itself in your mind. You’ll show him. If this is the last thing you two will do, you’ll show him what he’ll miss and beg back.

You drove home and picked out your sexiest short mini dress with a very nice cleavage that does justice to your breasts he loves oh so much. ‘They are wonderful, my angel’ Ash’s words echoes in your mind as the image of his lips closing on your hardened nipples runs in front of your mind’s eye. To the picture in your head a familiar ache would start to build in your core but your anger and desperation is stronger now. So the dress is on, lingerie is not… You spray on from his favorite perfume and get in your car again to drive a good twenty minutes to the studio they use and he showed you once.

It’s kinda late now when you arrive, you assume they are about to finish their day and it turns out you’re not wrong as you bump into the other three guys in front of a door that has a red flashing RECORDING sign above. Three very surprised pairs of eyes looked you up and down.

“Hey guys… Is Ashton here?” your eyes have scanned the hallway behind the three men.

“Sweetie, fans are not allowed here. How did you…?” a scruffy faced blond guy questioned you, who you know for a fact is called Michael.

“Oh, I’m not a fan,” you interrupt Mikey immediately, “I mean, I like your music, you are great and all, but I’m really just here to see Ash” you tried to remain as calm as possible seeing their confusion getting bigger.

You’re not surprised the slightest bit that they have no idea who you are. But you’ve been doing this for almost four months now and they are not suspecting anything? Now that amazes you. Ash is very clever at keeping things private, except when it comes to breakfast dates with pretty blond girls. This tiny fact just adds to your growing inner fury.

“Guys, are we gonna leave...” the door has opened and Ash’s words stuck in his throat the second he saw you standing in the hallway with his bandmates.

You can see the surprise in his eyes as he’s still taking your sight in, but you’re not the only one, the other three looked at him and then each other, possibly considering calling the security on you, but fortunately Ash could sense this and with finally opening his mouth he prevented further unwanted complications.

“Y/N…” at least those three worried eyes could see he knows your name, so probably you’re not a random stranger from the street.

“Can we talk?” your voice remained soft, but your eyes mirrored sadness and impatience and he could read that that second.

“It’s okay guys. See ya tomorrow.”

After a ‘Tomorrow’ a ‘See ya’ and a suspicious ‘I’ll call you later’ from each of them, they left you two there not taking the trouble to say a single word to you. If you weren’t in this stormy state of mind you’d let yourself be moved over the fact how cute is that these young adult men are worried about their brother.

The door has been closed behind you and you turned back to turn the lock shut making sure no one can disturb your rendezvous. You walked towards him without saying a word, your eyes refused to leave his, and you saw he probably would have liked to say or rather ask something but his eyes wandered on you - exactly the effect you wanted to go for with that dress.

Tiptoeing you cupped his cheeks in your hands and captured his lips with yours in a feverish manner, and his in response jump automatically onto your hips. Your hands don’t spend too much time on his face as they slide down his chest and reaching between you, you start to unbuckle his belt.

Ashton pulls away just enough to ask ‘What is going on’, which comes out rather breathy, and your hands halts for a second on his zipper while you answer a quick ‘I need you’ back to cut your conversation short, and seeing the desperation in your eyes he decides not to force it for now, just give himself in to whatever you’re about to do – which he has an idea for as your hand slide in his boxer and your warm palm wraps around his still limp member to free it.

No matter how worked up or angry you are, in its weird twisted way what you were about to do turned you on and holding his soft cock in your hand figuratively made your mouth water. You dropped yourself on your knees in front of him and pushed him in your mouth immediately, you wanted to enjoy his softness and that this way he still fits fully and perfectly in, which will change as soon as you’ll start sucking him, so you wanted to lengthen and luxuriate these moments a bit. Especially as this is probably your last opportunity to do this to him, to hear those beautiful and breathy moans. Because if your suspicion proves to be true, no matter what you agreed on at the beginning of your “relationship”, you have changed your mind, and don’t want to share him with anyone. Then that’s it for you, you’re ready to walk away.

You started with slow movements, just suck him in and pull him out as your lips brushing against his shaft until he hardened enough; then you let your tongue play along his velvety skin leaving open mouth kisses on his shaft while palming his balls for the better and quicker effect. When his tip started releasing his pre cum, you happily smeared it on his tip with the circular motions of your tongue while looking straight in his eyes receiving the same admiration and lust you’ve seen every single time you did this to him. The only difference had been that his hands are resting on the mixing desk grabbing onto its edge instead of being buried in your hair guiding your movements and praising your lips wrapping so perfectly around his cock. He really is a clever guy, and respects that for now you are in control, he most likely sees that you are in need of it, and he’ll do whatever you give permission for.

You made this blowjob sloppy for him to slick him up enough and reaching the desired condition you pulled him off of your mouth and standing up quickly you pushed him by his chest until he bumped the couch with the back of his legs and dropped down onto it. You straddled him but before lowering yourself on him he asked something for the first time during your studio invasion.

“Can I touch you?” his voice surprisingly insecure as his hands rested on your bare knees.

You looked him in the eye and just nodded, although for a quick moment you played with the thought of saying no just out of some sort of punishment.

His hands slithered up on your thighs; one reaching and grabbing your round butt, the other one slid between your legs to palm your pussy just to find out you have no panties on. A smirk appeared in the corner of his mouth but didn’t comment on the surprise, just stroked his fingers along your already wet lips making you even wetter as his fingertips circled your entrance. None of you saw what he was doing as the skirt part of your dress has covered both your lower half and his hands, and this just doubled your excitement feeling how skillful he is. By now he more or less knows your own body as well as you do.

Holding onto his shoulders you leaned your forehead against his as he expertly pushed two fingers inside you, starting fingering you slowly. His motions were sensual and you whined and writhed on his hand already regretting that you let him do this to you making you just more aroused, aching for feeling something bigger inside.  

You felt yourself close to cum on his fingers and that reminded you why you are here in the first place. A part of you wanted to go on to chase that first orgasm, but another part of you wanted to fuel your anger that feeds upon your betrayed heart, even if you’re perfectly aware that it’s not Ashton’s fault, he just grabbed the opportunity your agreement provided for him.

Reaching down you got hold of his hand and without explaining yourself, slowly pushed it away while your other hand let go of his shoulder as you slightly rose on your knees to reach behind you and take his cock in your hand, pump it a few times and finally position him right under your entrance. As you slowly and carefully sat yourself back on him, the incomparable feeling of his shaft stretching you engulfed you making you throw your head back with a half-suffocated whine torn out of your throat. He slipped his hands under your dress to grab onto your butt and a low ‘Fuck’ left his mouth when he felt how deep he is inside you as you went all the way down to make him bottom out.

“The way you take me…” escaped his lips and you just bit on your lower lip as you weren’t exactly in a chatty mood, but his compliments and praises always appealed to you.

Your hands found their support on the back of his biceps as you started fucking him with a quick and harsh zest, grinding your hips on his for getting the most friction you can just have. You were bouncing up and down on his cock and he watched your clothed breasts precisely follow the intensity of your movements, your hard nipples darting out the fabric of the dress, sweat fallen down your spine. You could see in the way he looked at your heaving chest that he’s fighting the urge to touch your tits, to get them out of the cruel imprisonment of your dress.

However your own completion wasn’t priority in this current situation yet you got closer and closer to it and listening to Ash’s groans and the way he was taking breath, he was close too and his voice always added to your own pleasure, it could singlehandedly push you over that particular edge. As your moans got louder and more frequent, your arms wrapped around his neck, your temple pushed against his, and you gave yourself in to the feeling; his hands on your butt and his own moans in your ear encouraged you to let go. As your walls started to squeeze around his thick cock, your climax washed over you; closing your eyes, one of your hands slid down to the side of his neck as your lips brushed against his ear. In that moment his fingertips pushed into the soft flesh of your butt, his lips captured your earlobe, teeth slightly scratching the skin as he released his cum inside of you followed by a faint groan.

Your hips slowed down to a full stop and you two spent a few moments in silence to catch your breaths, foreheads touching and only your heavy breathing could be heard in the soundproof room. You rose just enough to pull him out and sat back on his lap.

“Now would you tell me what this was really about?” his index finger reached under your chin to gently tilt your head in order for your eyes to meet his gaze.

“Do you… erm... Are you seeing someone? I mean besides me” you don’t know what he could hear out of your voice but it sounded sad and ashamed even for you.

“No” came the surprised but firm and peremptory response immediately.

“Ash… I know I have absolutely no right…”

“No, I’m not lying to you. I’m not seeing anyone.”

“Then who was that girl you had breakfast with at the Breakfast House this morning?” you left a few seconds time for him to react but he was just staring at you like someone who had been caught, so you continued. “By the way, she’s beautiful, really. And I know I have absolutely no ground to even ask this from you since we agreed on no rules. But… Fuck it, it’s all the same now. A few weeks ago I started just realizing that I think of you more often. I’ve been out and saw something and my first thought was that ‘Ash would like this’. I tried to coerce these thoughts because you and I both hurt enough, but I had to admit, at least to myself, that I want you. I want more of you… not just the sex” you shyly played with the bottom of his t-shirt, but as you looked back up at him, you could see his lips slowly forming into a smile.

“Are you jealous?”

“Maybe I am, yes” your eyes poured out lightnings seeing that reckless and smug smile spreading on his face.

“You know, you’re not wrong. She’s really beautiful, indeed. She grew out to be a gorgeous woman,” his smile just grew bigger as he saw your puzzled expression. “But she’s my sister, Y/N.”

“Lauren Rose?”

“She’s here to visit some friends, and it turned out I could be grateful that she found a few hours in her strict schedule to meet his older brother at all” he chuckled.

“I’m an idiot” you leaned your forehead against his collarbone.

“No you’re not” he reached for your hand and intertwined your fingers. This is the very first time you two did this. And weirdly it feels incredibly intimate now. “Actually… I have no idea how much longer I could have waited to confess the same feelings to you… feelings I also carried for weeks now.”

“Why- why didn’t you say anything?” you asked in awe as your thumb drew soft circles on his hand.

“You seemed so persistent on the no relationship thing that I thought if I bring this up, I’ll lose you. And that was the last thing I wanted to risk…” hearing this confession your hand reached out to caress his face and you leaned in to kiss him gently. “I didn’t want to lose this… whatever we have. What do we have, Y/N?”

“Each other, I guess” you smile at him. “So… can we give this… us a chance?

“I’d like it very much. And you know what else I’d like? To take you out on a date. A real date.”

“I’d be very much into that. After changing into something drier. And cleaner…” hearing that he kisses into your neck smiling.

“Are you free tonight?” he grinned.

“I don’t know… I’ll ask my boyfriend. He’s a famous rockstar, you know…” you cupped his face in your hands and immersed in a gentle kiss that meant a new beginning for both of you.

[blisslilywrites]

Hi! Can I ask fluff about Kirisaki Daichi? Their girl doesn't sleep for several nights because of a school project. Please.

A/N: Hii, sorry this took so long 😅it was actually a little difficult to write too cuz we aren’t really familiar with the kirisaki daiichi boys BUT we tried so we hope you like it UwU

HANAMIYA MAKOTO

You stretched in your seat, letting a yawn escape you. 24 hours until the due date. You groaned as you looked at your laptop. This research project was a disaster and you knew it. But you’ve spent the last few nights working on it, so you couldn’t exactly give up now.

Your boyfriend had offered you some help when you first told him about the project. 

“I just so happen to be an expert at [subject name]”

You refused though. You wanted to finish this project and prove to him you were good enough to do it on your own.

“Just let me help you y/n.” 

“No, it’s fine,” you protested with a yawn. “I’m almost done anyway.”

“Yeah almost done being alive.”

You stifled a yawn and blinked at your computer screen before yawning yet again.

Hanamiya sighed. It was honestly cute to see you try so hard. It stopped being cute when you looked like you were going to collapse from exhaustion. 

Deciding he wasn’t just gonna sit back anymore, he took a blanket from the bed and walked over to you. 

“Mako-chan? What--” before you could finish, he wrapped the blanket around your body.

You protested but could slowly feel your body lean into the warmth and comfort of the blanket. Your eyes snapped shut and you drifted off as Hanamiya picked you up off the chair you were in and carried you to the bed. He gently set you down and gave you a soft smile, one he'd never admit to giving. 

“Don't overwork yourself again, OK?” he mumbled, patting your hair. 

HARA KAZUYA

As every second passed by, you felt somnolence slowly conquering you. You felt lifeless as you forced your eyes wide awake but your body tells otherwise. Beside you in your work station was Kazuya who had just finished the boss battle of a super mario video game, seeing your boyfriend in a carefree state made you feel envious, more stressed and insulted for an unknown reason. You wanted to cry, but your eyes were too tired to even comprehend your surroundings. 

"Okay, 10 down. 15 more." You let out an exhausted sigh. 

"Y/N," You heard Kazuya calling you, but you couldn't just get your attention off your work. You had been working for 8 hours straight, and Hara had called you many times but you just couldn't risk your time for a "meaningless" conversation. 

You heard a sound of applause, knowing that your boyfriend had already defeated another boss level. With him who was finished with his game, went to your side. 

"Y/N, you're already too tired. You should rest." He advised, yet you ignored. 

"Heyyy, let's sleep first. It's bad for your health." You maintained your silence. 

"Y/N, please." And for the last time you just wished he would shut up. You slammed your palm against the lumbers of your work station, turned to him with wobbly eyes and well, cracked. 

"It's easy for you to say! Well, I wish I could also defeat the final level of this project. You were just playing there being carefree while me?! I just want to pass, that's all. So please Kazuya.. just.. just.." Your face shimmered with tears rolling down your cheeks. Your voice desired one thing: to get your project over with. You wiped your tears away with shaky hands whilst your tears kept on flowing.

Hara didn't reply. In fact, he turned and walked away then you heard the sound of a door being shut.

You ate your tears and enervation and continued to do your work.

Hara didn't do anything wrong. In fact, he never did. 

Five minutes had passed and you barely progressed. But also within five minutes, Hara came back. He took a seat then placed it next to you with your work station. He brought your favorite food, his own laptop and a pillow neck. 

"Y/N.. so I'm sorry for earlier.. I know you are stressed and all but your assignment would lose its point if you die. So please, tell me anything you need to do and I'll help."

FURUHASHI KOJIRO

You were sitting in bed next to your boyfriend. A pencil in hand, a notebook on your lap, and a pile of papers scattered around you. It wasn’t exactly your fault your teacher decided to make your week hell by giving you a nearly impossible assignment to complete by Friday. You were extremely annoyed and upset and angry and mad and tired and sleepy.

You shook your head in an attempt to drive the sleepiness away.

“Y/n. Why can’t you forget about your homework and go to sleep?”

“Koji, it’s not just some homework. It’s a quarterly project that’s not supposed to be this hard,” you groaned.

He gave you a small look. You knew what he was trying to say though. And you’re just gonna work yourself to the brink of death over some project?

“Look I need to pass this class ok? So just let me work on this for a few more hours.”

You weren’t sure if you could last a few more hours though. Your eyelids have been heavy all day, and you’ve been yawning non-stop.

Guess there’s no choice but to muscle through, you thought to yourself.

At that moment, you felt his arms wrap around your waist, softly pulling you towards him.

“Y/n”

“I told you just let me work on this for a bit more,” you protested, trying to sound angry.

“We both know you’re not gonna last, so do yourself a favor and get some rest for now. You can continue it in the morning.”

He pulled you closer.

You tried to find an excuse to stay up but your brain was beyond exhausted.

“Ok,” you replied softly.

With that, he wrapped his arms fully around you and hugged you tight to his chest. You fell asleep within minutes. Once he made sure you were asleep, he quietly cleaned up and organized all your work before climbing back into bed with you.

SETO KENTARO

Seto Kentaro always liked your intelligence and the stubbornness that came with it. However, he wasn't liking it very much now when he came over to your house in the morning to find you buried in a pile of papers and notebooks. You had bags under your eyes and a huge thermos of coffee beside you. In all honesty, he could only sit and stare at you in disbelief.

‘No, you did not just spend the entire night working on that stupid project,’ he thought to himself.

“Y/N?”

“Huh? Ken-chan?” you said in a soft voice. You could barely keep your eyes open. “What time is it?”

He let out a deep sigh.

“It's time for you to go to sleep babe.”

“But...I’m not yet done,” you protested weakly. 

“Then I’ll finish it for you.”

“But--”

He lifted you up from the chair and carried a protesting-you over to the bed.

“But what? You already wrote out everything in your notebook right? I just have to type it up for you that’s all.”

He plopped you down and you looked at him with tired eyes.

“I won’t even change that terrible grammar of yours,” he added with a wink.

“Excuse me?”

“Look here, you’re extremely tired and I know how much your studies mean to you. So here I am telling you to shut up and go sleep while I help you finish it. Don’t look at me like that, I’m actually a really nice and helpful guy.”

You snickered. “Yeah right. Go tell that to the guys you play basketball against.”

“Are you gonna accept my help or not?” he said with a serious face.

You sighed in defeat, fatigue and exhaustion slowly taking over your body.

“Thank you Ken-chan,” you muttered, pulling the blanket over your body.

He let out a small smile.

“Goodnight y/n”

YAMAZAKI HIROSHI

You slapped yourself awake for the millionth time. It was well past midnight but you still had a lot to do. That essay wasn’t going to write itself and you weren’t resting until it was finished.

But I guess it's fine if I just close my eyes for one second…

SLAP. Nope I gotta finish this. Just a few paragraphs left.

You stared at your notes thoughtlessly and took another sip of coffee before starting to type. The bedroom door creaked open and you heard the soft footsteps of your boyfriend walking in.

“Still not done?”

You shook your head and continued typing.

What felt like an eternity had passed and you had finished about three-quarters of the paper.

“Y/n,” Yamazaki said in a soft voice.

You hadn’t really been paying much attention to your surroundings and was a little startled by him. You turned around to look at him and saw him holding out a metal flask towards you.

“Some more coffee.”

When he saw the confusion on your face, he added, “This one’s pretty strong. It should keep you up until morning.”

You took it from him with a small smile and quickly went back to work.

After a few more hours, you finally finished it, submitted it, and crawled into bed to get whatever little sleep you could before school started.

When you woke up you realized two things. First, your boyfriend had already left. Second, you were extremely late for school.

You quickly got ready and rushed to school.

In between one of your classes, you ran into Yamazaki in the hallway.

“Hiro-chan, thanks for that coffee last night, but you know, you didn’t have to stay up.”

“Don’t worry about it. I took that class last year so you could say I’ve been through it too...” You could tell he was trying his best to play it off cool. But instead of saying anything, you just gave him a big smile and a quick peck on the cheek before running off to your next class.

MATSUMOTO ITSUKI

The sun had already set when you and Matsumoto left the library. It had been one long afternoon of tedious researching, but now you were confident that you could finish the assignment by tomorrow.

“Y/N, it's getting a little late. Wanna grab something to eat before we go home?” 

“Hmm sure,” you replied absentmindedly, too focused on the notes on your phone.

Once you two were finished eating and arrived home, you immediately went back to work putting your 100% into finishing this assignment. 

About a few hours later, you realized you had left your bag with a lot of important information in the library. You started panicking slightly. There was still so much to do. You couldn't afford to waste time by going all the way back to the library.

Some things can't be helped I guess…

You quickly grabbed a coat and rushed to the front door. Before you reached it though, you felt a strong hand grab your arm.

“Woah y/n, where are you going?”

“The library. I left my bag there and I really need it…”

“Oh, well it's not safe for you to go alone. I'll go with you.”

“OK…” you said hesitantly.

“What? Is there something wrong?” he asked with concerned eyes.

“No, it's just that I still have a lot left to finish and I'm not sure if I can make it through tonight that's all,” you answered softly.

Truth is this assignment has drained you both physically and mentally. At this point, you weren't sure how much longer you would last.

Matsumoto suddenly engulfed you in a tight hug.

“Y/N, if you're feeling too stressed you can just go to sleep. I'll go talk to your teacher tomorrow. Maybe ask if you could submit it later instead.”

You smiled at his words. He really was too sweet. Knowing how much he cared kind of re-lit that drive to finish this project.

“It's fine Tsuki-chan. You don't have to do that for me. I'll finish it.”

He looked at you skeptically. “Then I'll go get your bag and you stay here and continue whatever part of the project you can. Is that OK?”

Your tired eyes met his and you gave him a small smile and a nod.

“Thank you, Tsuki-chan.”

[calpalirwin]

Snapshots and Snapbacks

Summary: It’s easy to flirt with someone when you don’t expect them to call your bluff

A/N: College!Cal

Content: Sexual situations/mentions, mentions of drinking/drugs, my usual bullshit

Word Count: 10.3K

And away, and away we go!

~~~

The first time Brooke saw Calum she almost gasped out loud. There was no way a young man could be that pretty. Then he spoke and her heart raced in her chest.

She spent most of that semester staring at the pretty boy with the prettier handwriting rather than the board.

When the semester ended, she had exchanged only a handful of words with Calum, but that didn’t matter. She hoped their paths would cross again and that she would be braver about pursuing a friendship at the very least.

Two semesters later, having nearly forgotten about the pretty boy who was held her interest a year ago, he strolled into her last class of the day, and her smile broke out in a wide grin. “Cal!” she waved, motioning to the empty desk next to her as all those feelings that had laid dormant bubbled to the surface once more. “Missed ya man!”

“Shit, what up, girl?” he smiled back, bro-slapping her hand in greeting. “Was starting to think you graduated.”

“Nah,” she laughed with a shake of her head, her hand tingling from the feel of his palm against hers. “Last semester, though.”

“Shit, look at you go!” he praised.

“Thank you, thank you,” she continued to laugh, brushing imaginary dirt off her shoulders, grinning when his laugh joined hers.

~~~

Her hand reached into her bag of pretzels at the same time a Vans-clad foot shoved the leg of her desk chair. “Pst!” Calum whispered loudly, giving her desk another nudge. “Pst!”

She turned slightly in her desk to look at him, his eyes crinkling around the edges from the wide grin on his face. She tilted her chin upwards in a silent question of “What?” and stifled a laugh when he held his hand out and pouted. She laughed quietly, shaking her head as she dumped some pretzels in his waiting hand, both of them stifling more laughs as the bag crinkled in the dark and quiet classroom.

That would not be the last class he stole her snacks, thereby deeming himself Cal the Snack Thief. She damn near lost in when she brought Teddy Grahams and he let out the loudest moan stuffing them into his mouth with a “I haven’t had these in FOREVER!”

~~~

“Hey, you stole my shirt,” she joked, pointing between the shirts they were both wearing: a grey NASA tee.

“Nah,” he grinned. “Bet I had mine longer, so technically you stole mine.”

She chuckled as she took her seat. “Fair, very fair.”

“Where’s your hat?” he asked, noticing the blonde streaks in her brown hair for the first time, wondering if she always had them as she always had her hair hidden by a hat.

She pushed a hand through her hair, the blonde more noticeable as her hair flashed under the lights. “Oh, I wore a beanie today cuz it was cold. But I took it off because it made me look like shit.”

“Has it ever occurred to you that it was you making the beanie look like shit, not the other way around?” he asked teasingly.

She reached over to give his shoulder a push. “Shut up, you jerk,” she laughed before swiping the hat he wore on his own head and putting it on her head. “There, now I have my hat,” she said, sticking out her tongue at him.

Calum let out a small gasp of disbelief. Unbeknownst to her, Calum also liked Brooke. He liked that she was quick-witted in every aspect; that she could go from voicing the most complexly profound thoughts to giving the snarkiest of retorts. And he’d be lying if he said that every time she mouthed off didn’t stir his dom side wild. Like now. She continued to smirk at him before turning to face forward in her desk, her hands coming to rest cockily behind her neck, fingers interlacing. He leaned forward and snatched his hat off her head. “Shouldn’t take things that don’t belong to us, Brooke,” he breathed in her ear, getting smug satisfaction at the way she shivered.

But then, that bratty look was on her face as she turned in her seat to fire back with “Says you, snack thief.”

~~~

She heard the footsteps running up behind her before Calum was letting loose a scream behind her. She laughed and pushed his shoulder, laughing more as he stumbled over his feet. “You scared me, you jerk!”

“Yeah?” he asked, his brown eyes shining proudly.

“No,” she admitted, pushing him again. “I heard you, dumbass. If you had grabbed me though, I probably would’ve screamed.”

“Aw, shit. I had my headphones in, forgot you could hear me running.”

“You idiot,” she chuckled, pushing him a third time while he danced away from her, half chuckles falling from his own lips.

“Skip with me,” he directed.

“Skip with you?”

“Yeah! C’mon!” And then he was skipping down the sidewalk. She laughed and followed suit. God, how he could be so cute and dorky while being sexy as hell was beyond her. And totally unfair.

“So, where you headed?” she asked as they stopped skipping and fell into a relaxed walking pace.

His shoulders shrugged as he gripped his backpack straps. “Was gonna play some pool. Did you know we have a game center on campus? It’s fuckin’ sick.”

She rolled her eyes. “You really are an idiot.”

“What?”

“DiD yOu KnOw We HaVe A gAmE cEnTeR oN cAmPuS?” she mocked. “Of course we have a game center.”

“Well, shit, I didn’t know about it until Monday, okay Miss Smartypants? Shit…”

“I’m teasing, you goof. But, pool, huh?”

“Yeah, I’m not very good. But it’s a good way to kill some time.”

“Aw, don’t wanna go home?” she teased.

“Not to 3 dudes, I don’t!”

“Aw, roommates, how cute.”

“Yeah, I’m a broke ass college student. ‘Course I got roommates. You don’t?”

“Nope,” she answered, popping the “p” sound. “I’m a RA so I get a single at a discount.”

“Nice, look at you, baller.”

She shrugged. “It is what it is.”

“You mean you can have sex without anyone bothering you, you mean.”

She gasped in shock, “Calum!”

It was his turn to shrug as he grinned dangerously. “Am I wrong?” he challenged.

“That is none of your business, sir,” Brooke laughed, grateful it was dark out so he couldn’t she the blush in her cheeks.

“Aw, c’mon, we’re friends, aren’t we?”

“That we most definitely are,” she agreed, bypassing his original question. “And this is you,” she added, gesturing to the student center.

“This is me,” he confirmed. “See ya Monday, then?”

“Yeah, see ya in class,” she nodded. “Have fun.” Then, in a moment of bravery, she leaned for a hug.

His arm wrapped around her shoulders and she was slightly taken aback by the warm softness that radiated from such a strong arm. “See ya, girl,” he whispered as they broke apart.

By the time she let herself into her room, she had already sent him a friend request on Instagram and he had accepted.

~~~

Her fingers shook over her keyboard, the message chat open on her phone. She had been too shy to impose herself on his game of pool the other night. But he had said they were friends. Friends could play pool together.

Babbling_Brook: How’d playing pool by yourself go lol?

Calpal_hoodie: Lol! Actually one of the pool sharks in there came up to me and wanted to play some frames. It was a really good time.

Babbling_Brook: Oh shit that’s cool! We should play sometime before class lol. See if I still suck.

Her fingers shook with nerves as she waited for his message.

Calpal_hoodie: Haha down!

She let out a breath of relief. Good. He had agreed. Now to make it happen.

Babbling_Brook: Sick. I’m free before class for like 3 hours.

Calpal_hoodie: I have about an hour before.

Babbling_Brook: Sweet, I’ll be able to practice beforehand so I don’t make a total fool of myself lmao.

Calpal_hoodie: Lol! I’m nothing special, it’s okay

Babbling_Brook: We’ll see on Monday then who sucks more lmao

~~~

It was a slow drag to Monday and the impending date to shoot pool. It seemed to both like an eternity had taken place between Brooke’s last message Friday morning and her message Monday afternoon that included a picture of a pool table set up and waiting.

Babbling_Brook: Let’s go, playa!

Calpal_hoodie: I didn’t do the worksheet for class! After?

Her heart sank a little in her chest, but she wasn’t surprised her friend had procrastinated the idiotic assignment that was due every class.

Babbling_Brook: Do it in class lol

Calpal_hoodie: Lol! Sounds good! He doesn’t collect them until the end of class anyway.

Babbling_Brook: Exactly dude!

Calpal_hoodie: Dude! Did I tell you how I bought a new stick? Won’t be here til tomorrow though…

Babbling_Brook: Nice! Table’s set, btw.

“Oi! Over here!” Brooke called out across the room, recognizing that head of dark curls anywhere.

He broke out in a grin, as he hurried over to her. “What up, girl?” he asked, giving her a one-armed hug.

“Not much,” she said, gesturing to the pool table. “Wanna break?”

“Oh, we’re not playing 9-ball?” he asked, brown eyes scanning the table set up.

“No? Because I don’t know how?”

He nodded, placing the cue ball how he wanted, his pool cue sliding through his fingers. “After this, I’ll teach ya?” he asked, taking his shot, the balls clacking loudly, one sinking into a pocket.

She clicked her tongue in her cheek and nodded. “For sure.” Then, “I thought you were bad at this.”

He chuckled at her as he lined up his next shot. “I am. But I also watch a lot so…”

“Visual learner, nice,” she said, taking out her phone and snapping a picture of him leaning over the table. He missed and she moved around, plotting her own shot. “I learn by doing,” she admitted, taking her shot and missing. “Damn,” she muttered, shaking her head.

“Learn by doing, eh?” he smirked.

“Was about to turn that into a sex joke myself,” she laughed. Again, when he was busying himself with his turn, she snapped more photos of him. He quirked an eyebrow at her in silent question when he caught her on the third go-round. “What?” she asked, her cheeks flushing. “I like taking candids of my friends,” she half-lied, pocketing her phone. “I like capturing people in their element. Not posing for the camera or putting on a show. Just them being a hundred percent themselves.”

“Mhm,” he replied with a note of playful skepticism. Then, to make conversation, “You said you had a girlfriend, yeah?”

She laughed at the bold directness of the question. “What?! No!”

“No? Shit… I could’ve sworn… Aw, I’m so sorry!” he sputtered, his brown eyes wide and worried he had offended her. He was enveloping her in a hug before she knew it, his chest solid against her. “I love you! Don’t hate me!”

She laughed as they pulled apart. “I might have said I want a girlfriend, but I don’t actually have one. I wish.”

“You and me both,” he laughed. “Shit, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to...”

She waved him off. “Seriously man, it’s cool. You’re half right. I’m bi. It’s really fun to piss guys off by saying I’ve made out with more girls than they have. I mean, I’ve only made out with 2 girls. But still. You’d be surprised how many guys haven’t even done that.”

He nodded in appreciation. “Sick. So was it a boyfriend, then, and I just misheard?”

“Well…” she paused to think about it. “I mean, I’m seeing someone.”

He nodded and she detected the way his face fell for a moment. His face fell more when he sunk the 8 ball in the pocket and the cue ball followed. “Shit, good game.”

She laughed. “Thanks! It’s almost like you did all the work for me!”

“It’s cuz I did,” he laughed with her. “Alright, so 9-ball,” he started to explain as he set up the table. “You play with 9 balls.”

“Mmm, kinky,” Brooke snorted. “Continue.”

He rolled his eyes at her joke. “And you go in order. As long as you hit the first number in the sequence first, you’re good.”

Their game made them a few minutes late to their class, both of them giggling as the sped-walked across the room. “No, sit in front of me,” he whispered as she took her regular set in the row beside him.

She rolled her eyes but moved anyway, giggling more before reaching into her backpack to grab her snack. She pushed it to the bottom edge of her desk so he could reach. “More pool after class? Or you got plans?” she whispered, leaning back in her seat.

“Yeah, I’m down for a few games,” he whispered back, his hand reaching into the bag of teddy bear shaped graham crackers. Then, “So, you’ve only ever made out with chicks, but have you…?”

She gasped at the question he left hanging between them. “Yes, I’ve had sex. But only with one dude.”

“The one you’re seeing?”

She nodded. “And your body count?”

He snickered into his hand. “Way more than one.”

She turned, her eyes wide. She shouldn’t be surprised. He was a good looking guy. Too good looking if she could say so herself. Of course he was using it to his benefit.

~~~

“So, the guy?” he questioned, eyes trained on the pool table after class. “Must be good dick if he’s the only one?”

She laughed from her spot on the stool. “I guess? I mean, I wouldn’t know any different.”

“Aw, how cute,” he teased.

“Shut the fuck up,” she laughed at him, then put her hands on top of her head and sighed. “Fuck, I need to get fucked though.”

“Yeah?” he asked, his eyebrows shooting up.

“Yeah. Haven’t seen him in like a week.”

“You seeing him tonight?”

“Yeah.”

“Shit, what are you doing here playing pool with me for? Go get your dick girl!”

She rolled her eyes. “He hasn’t texted me he landed yet. I got time.”

“Long distance?”

She shook her head. “Nah, he was just traveling for work.”

“Nice,” he nodded. “So tits or ass?”

“My preference? As a girl with no ass herself, I’m a tit woman.”

He let out a chuckle of agreement. “No offense, but doesn’t seem like you got much tits either.”

She scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest. “I’ll have you know my tits are huge.”

“Bullshit. What size?”

“Triple D, bitch!” she stated proudly.

“Bull-fuckin-shit! Bet that is the roomiest fuckin bra in the planet.”

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” she smirked. “So, you a dom or a sub?” she asked, keeping the conversation going. If they were talking sex, she was going to get every inch, figuratively speaking.

He let his breathe in a sputtering huff as he thought, he hands raking through his curls. “Depends I guess.”

“Aw, you a switch?” she teased.

“Are you?” he challenged, equally playful.

She shrugged. “I’m a brat. Like I gave this guy the perfect chance to dom me and he flopped. It was kinda sad.”

He laughed. “What did you say?”

“I forget what started it. But I ended up asking what he was gonna do about it. And he just shrugged.”

His eyes went wide and his nose flared slightly at her words. “Oh yeah. Asking what I’m gonna do is gonna get the dom out. Like, excuse me?”

She laughed and shifted in her seat under his gaze. “Yeah! That’s what I expected was going to happen. But nope! What a shame.” She didn’t catch his muttered agreement as her phone buzzed. “Oh, yay! He landed.”

“Gotta go?” he asked, busying himself with taking his shot to hide his deflation.

“Nah,” she waved her hand. “We can finish the game. He’s still gotta get here.”

“Alright, for sure,” he said, perking back up again.

The game didn’t last much longer as Calum remained his innocence that he really wasn’t that good and Brooke proved that she actually wasn’t good. “Alright, I’m out,” she said, setting her pool stick aside. “See ya Wednesday?” she asked, slinging her backpack over her shoulder.

“Yup,” he said, giving her another one armed hug. “Go get that dick.”

She laughed as they let go and walked off calling out, “I fuckin will!”

As she tidied up her room, waiting for her actual date, she sent Calum the pictures she had taken of him earlier. 

Babbling_Brook: Some of the better shots I took

Calpal_hoodie: Nice! Had a great time. Let’s do it again, yeah?

She grinned at her phone before responding. 

Babbling_Brook: Oh for fuckin sure. New after class ritual lol?

Calpal_hoodie: Down

Babbling_Brook: Sweet. We should try the little bowling thing they got. Maybe I can actually win lmao

Calpal_hoodie: You a good bowler?

Babbling_Brook: Nope! But my dude makes mini bowling alleys for a living so I like to think I got a slight advantage lol

Calpal_hoodie: Oh, gotcha! He home yet?

Babbling_Brook: Nah. He’s stopping to get us burgers first. 

Calpal_hoodie: Animal style burger then fuck me animal style lol?

Babbling_Brook: He fuckin better!

Calpal_hoodie: Jesus lmao. Hahaha. Love it.

Babbling_Brook: Look, my hand and vibrator only do so much before a girl just needs a real dick. And THAT’S why I’m only half gay. 

Calpal_hoodie: With the technology y’all have with vibrators… so much pressure is put on the men I’ll have you know. When a vibrator can hit “your spot” a million times without fail… it really sets us up for failure lmao

Babbling_Brook: Well maybe I have a romantic kink then lol. I need human touch more than I need a damn vibrator. 

On the other side of campus, Calum hung his head sadly, wishing more than he cared to admit that he was the one providing her with that human touch she craved.

~~~

On Wednesday, Brooke carefully plotted her outfit. She was a bit bitter that Calum hadn’t believed her about her boob size, and she was determined to make him regret ever having doubted her. 

She admired herself briefly in her tank top before she threw on her hoodie and hat.

~~~

She was leaving the gym and was headed for the game center when her phone pinged. 

Calpal_hoodie: Syllabus doesn’t have a worksheet for today so guess who’s ditching?

Babbling_Brook: Bruh… so pool?

Calpal_hoodie: Yeah I’ll be playing pool until my pussy appointment later tonight. So like til 8 probs.

Her heart sank a little. But she supposed it was her fault for bragging about her own sex life. 

Babbling_Brook: Shit, get it!

Calpal_hoodie: Yeah. So I’ll be playing with some of the pool sharks, but if you wanna swing by, I’ll play a few games with ya. 

She chuckled and took a quick selfie of her with the pool tables behind her. 

Babbling_Brook: “swing by later” bitch get on my level lmao

Calpal_hoodie: Haha! Okay I see you I see you.

Brooke chuckled to herself as she pocketed her phone and watched the door for him. She had shrugged herself free of the hoodie long ago, the Southern California weather providing more warmth than seemed logically possible for the middle of February. She drummed her fingers impatiently against her leg, her mind debating whether to get a table for herself or just to wait. 

She narrowed her eyes when Calum finally did stroll in, and right past her, a man on a mission. Rather than storming over there like she wanted, she took out her phone and snapped more photos of him, enjoying seeing him in his element. Then, she picked up her things and strolled over.

“Just walk right by me, huh?” she greeted teasingly, her hand going to rest on his shoulder.

His brown eyes shined brightly and he grinned as he turned towards her familiar voice. “Hey! Shit, my bad,” he responded, wrapping her in his famous one-armed hug. “Must’ve walked right by you.”

“Yeah, I saw you walk by and was like really?”

“I’m sorry!” he laughed, pouting his lips at her. “Do you have a table?”

“Nah,” she waved her hand. “I’ll watch for a bit. We’ll play ourselves later.”

“Cool, for sure,” he nodded before engaging himself with the small group of guys already playing at the table.

She pretended to busy herself with her phone or studying the table, anything to distract herself from studying him. She had her back turned when his fingers brushing across her bare shoulder made her jump. “Nice tattoo,” he murmured as he retracted his light touch, her skin on fire.

“Thanks,” she mumbled, her cheeks flushing as her own fingers flew up to trace the sunflower his fingers had been tracing mere seconds ago. “I like yours too,” she added, pointing at his arms that held much more ink than her single small shoulder piece.

His soft chuckle tickled her ear as he stayed close behind her. “Also, I owe you an apology,” he said, his eyes darting downwards briefly. “I see it now with the tank top.”

“Told ya,” she smirked over her shoulder at him.

His eyes went wide in realization. “Wait! Did you wear a tank top on purpose?”

She scoffed and averted his gaze. “What? That’s ridiculous. No I- yes I did,” she laughed, not able to keep a straight face. “Did it work?” she asked with a hopeful voice.

He let out another soft chuckle in response, then, “Go set up a table. I’m almost done with this game.”

“Aw shit, are we keeping you from your girl?” one of the guys Calum had been playing with asked.

The two friends jumped apart. “What? No! We’re just friends!” they both blurted before Brooke walked off to the front desk to get a table for her and Calum.

“Sorry about that,” Calum said, a hand rubbing at his neck when she came back.

She waved a hand dismissively. “Don’t worry about it. It’s harmless.”

“Yeah, I suppose you’re right,” he chuckled. “Could you imagine though?” he asked with a raised eyebrow and slight smirk.

She laughed at his bluntness. “I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t,” she answered truthfully.

“Oh yeah?” he questioned, cocking his head to the side.

She shrugged. “You’re a good looking dude. I got a nice rack. I’m also smart as hell. We get along. Wouldn’t be a whole lot different than what we’re doing now.”

“Shit, I suppose you’re right. Too bad we’ll never know.” His shrug mirrored her own, his words meaning different things to each of them. To him, he was referring to her “seeing someone” and to her it was solidification that a guy like him would never go for a girl like her.

“Yup,” she said, just to have something to say as she lined up her shot.

“Here, can I tell you something?” he asked suddenly.

“Yeah, shoot,” she said, straightening up, intrigued.

“You bridge with your thumb,” he told her, pointing at her hand still resting on the pool table. “Which is fine because you can tilt it and such. But lie the rest of your knuckles flat on the table. It’ll give you steadier control.”

“Oh. Like this?” she checked, adjusting her hand slightly so her knuckles were flat against the green felt rather than tilted at an angle.

“Yeah, there you go.”

She bent back over the table to take her shot, fully aware of how heavy his gaze felt on her.

They remained quiet as they went about playing their game, minus the small muttered curses at a missed shot, exchanging soft smiles as they moved about the table and each other. When he won, he high-fived her. “Good game. You almost had me. Play by yourself for a bit and I’ll be back to check on you? I’m gonna go get in on another game with them if I can,” he said, jerking a thumb at the table in front of them.

“I’ll be here,” she smiled at him, feeling the heat rush to her cheeks at his mention of checking up on her. She lost herself in focusing on her own game, but her gaze still fluttered over to him more than she intended. And every time she looked away, he looked over at her.

“You good?” he asked, coming up behind her.

She pushed the strands of hair that were falling in her face out of the way, having discarded her hat a while ago. “Yup. How’s your game?”

“Oh we finished. But the other guy wants to play so here I am. Mind if I?�� He let his gesturing finish his question as his large hand swept over the table.

She took a step back, “Go for it.”

Again, they didn’t say much. This time though, she busied herself with getting lost in the music playing from the speakers around the room, singing softly and moving her hips to the beat. He tried not to stare, but it was hard not to. No matter how hard he tried he just couldn’t get her off his mind. There was something in the way she just felt familiar to him, like he didn’t have to put on a show. He could just be, and she would just accept it, no questions asked.

He drummed his fingers against his thighs after he cleared the table, pondering his next move. “Alright, I’m heading back over there. But, uh…?”

Brooke chuckled. “Go do you. I’m fine.”

She played another two games by herself without Calum coming back. She set up for a third game, and left it there before walking over to where he was. “Hey,” she said, putting her hand on his shoulder, feeling her heart race when he turned and grinned at her.

“Hey!”

“Hi,” she laughed at his happy nature, his eyes rimmed red.

“We’re a little high. Wanna hit?”

“Nah, I’m good, thanks.”

“Don’t smoke?”

“No.”

“Have you ever?”

“Once.”

“Nice! Oh, I’m gonna go get some food. You guys want anything?”

“I won’t say no to a cheese pizza. Since you’re offering.”

The other guy muttered something about how pizza sounded great, pulling out his wallet.

“Nah,” Calum waved his hand. “Don’t worry about it. I offered.”

“Ah, well shit. I’ll get next time then. I don’t like mooching.”

Brooke laughed and touched Calum’s shoulder again. “Oh, I don’t give a fuck about mooching.”

Calum laughed with her, before his eyes got playfully dark. “Venmo me, bitch.”

She laughed more, “Nah, I’ll pay you in other ways, yeah?” she teased , eyes darting to his lap.

The other guy clapped a hand to his mouth as he snorted in laughter. “Damn, you gonna suck his dick right here?”

Brooke ran a hand through her hair, “Cal wishes.”

“Right. You guys aren’t together. But like… would you?”

Brooke shrugged and opted for honesty, “Yeah, I’d fuck him.”

“Nice. And you?” he asked Calum.

“Me what?”

“Would you fuck her?”

“Given a chance? Oh, hell yeah.” He reached into his backpack and took a hit off a vape pen before walking off in search of pizza.

“So are you with someone else or is he?” the guy asked Brooke.

“Uh… little bit of both?” she said skeptically with a shrug as she took a seat on the stool.

He nodded. Then blinked. “Wait, what do you mean by that?”

“Well, I’ve been seeing someone for years. But weren’t not… serious I guess? More of like a super close friendship that involves sex.”

He nodded again, understanding better. “So dating without the label?”

She chuckled. “Yeah, I guess. And not for lack of trying on my part. I mean, I like the dude, obviously. But I’d also like to say I have a boyfriend.”

“Mhm. And that one?” he asked, jerking a thumb towards where Calum had wandered off.

“Oh, Cal’s single. He’s actually going to hook up with a chick later.”

“And that chick isn’t you?”

She shook her head. “Nope.”

“Why not? You just both admitted you’d fuck each other. You guys seem to get along. And he hasn’t stopped checking you out.”

She blushed. “I think I ruined it by telling him I was seeing someone. I think he thinks it’s an actual relationship. And I don’t know how to bring that up. Especially now. ‘Hey Cal, remember how we just said we’d fuck each other given a chance? Well, I’m actually single. Surprise!’? No. He’d think I was just saying it. And I’m not into people thinking I’m using them.”

The guy nodded for a third time. “Fair enough. Fuck, I’m so high right now. Shit, I gotta get to class. How long does it take to get pizza?”

Brooke chuckled as she pushed back her hair. “Want me to go check on him?”

“Would you mind?”

“Nah, not at all,” she said getting up. She would take any excuse to be with Calum.

Calum had a beer in his hand and was sitting at a table, his head down as he looked at the phone in his other hand. She couldn’t stop herself from suppressing the urge to place her hands on those squishy cheeks as she moved towards him but at the last second, her hands placed themselves on either side of his head, giving him a playful shake. “Hey!” he said, brightening up as he realized it was her. “I got a beer,” he added, showing her the beer in his hand. “The pizza should be out soon. I got a medium cuz it was cheaper.”

“Smart move,” she agreed. “I didn’t know you were even old enough to drink.”

He quirked an eyebrow at her. “I’m 22. My birthday was a couple weeks ago.”

“Shit yeah? I turned 22 back in December.”

“Aw, we like birthday buddies almost.”

“Almost yeah. Hey, I didn’t make things awkward when I admitted I’d sleep with you, did I?”

“No,” he said, shaking his head. “I mean, I admitted the same thing. We’re still cool.”

“Cool,” she smiled.

“So what’s up? Come to check on me?”

“Yeah, thought I’d keep you company. Plus the guy’s gotta get to class so he’s getting a bit impatient.”

Calum’s laugh rang out in the pizza shop. “Guess he’s gonna be late to class. But, tell him it shouldn’t be much longer?”

“Yeah, for sure,” she said, patting his shoulder before walking back to the game room.

“Aw, damn, was hoping you’d both come back,” the guy said, seeing only her return.

“Sorry, man. Cal got a medium cuz it was cheaper so he’s gotta wait. Should be done soon though.”

“Alright, no problem,” he had just enough time to respond before Calum was walking to them, a pizza box with plates in one hand and his beer in the other. “Awesome! Wish I didn’t have to grab and leave, but I gotta get going. Got a quiz.”

“No worries man,” Calum told him, handing the other man a plate and opening the box. “Sorry it took so long.”

“Nah, don’t worry about it. Thanks, man,” he said, loading his plate up with slices of pizza. “Catch ya later. Nice meeting you…” his voice faltered as he looked at Brooke.

“Brooke,” she supplied. “Nice meeting you too.”

“Yup. See ya guys.”

“Thanks for the pizza, Cal,” she said, putting a slice on the plate he handed her.

“No problem. Needed to eat something. Aw, he took like all the pepperoni,” he frowned at the box.

She looked at the box with him, her heart fluttering that half of it was cheese for her. “You could’ve gotten it all pepperoni.”

“But you wanted cheese,” he said, taking a sip of his beer.

“You’re cute, you know that?” she asked, being bold and taking a sip of his beer herself, wincing at the taste.

“Hey!” he laughed, snatching his beer back. “Getcha own beer.”

She made a face. “Yuck! You can keep it. Ugh. Nasty!”

“So you don’t drink either?”

She shook her head. “That makes me like the most boring person on the planet huh? College girl who doesn’t drink or smoke.”

“Nah,” he said with a shake of his head. “One of my roommates is the same way. So you just don’t like the taste or you scared?”

“Scared? I’m not scared of anything.”

He laughed. “No! I didn’t mean it like that. Not scared of anything, huh? Should’ve guessed. I just meant… some people don’t drink because they got a family history. So they’re more… aware of the choices they make. Or don’t make, I guess.”

“Is your roommate one of those people?”

“Yeah. Being an alcoholic scares him. Rightfully so. Shit’s scary.”

“You don’t seem scared yourself.”

He shrugged. “I like to think I know my limits. Like this will be the only drink I have.”

She nodded, approvingly. “I’m just not a big fan of the taste. But, I’ll drink every now and then. But even then, it’s barely enough to give me a buzz. I like being in control.”

“Ooo, a dom, eh?” his eyes danced playfully.

“Says the switch!” she laughed. “No. I’m just a brat. Don’t have enough confidence to actually be a dom. I’m all bark and no bite.” Her voice trailed off as they ate their pizza. When she caught him lip syncing to the music playing through the speakers, she spoke up, “Like this music?”

He nodded, a slight red tinge undertoning his tanned cheeks. “Yeah. But I’ll listen to just about anything.”

“Yeah?”

“Well, yeah. I mean, I play and sing, so…”

“Yeah?! That’s awesome. What do you play?”

“Bass, mostly. My roommates and I are actually in a band.”

“No shit?” she asked. “Would love to watch you play sometime then.”

“Yeah? Shit, I’ll tell you next time we practice, then,” he promised, reaching into the pizza box. “Aw, shit, is there any left?”

She nodded. “Should be one more.”

“Yeah? How many did you have?”

“This is my third.”

“That was my fourth. Last one’s yours then.”

She shook her head. “No. You bought it. You take it. I’m good.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. Game?”

“For sure,” he nodded, taking a big bite of the slice.

They played at a slow pace, taking their time. At one point he went back to his pizza slice to take a bite, but held it out to her in offering. She grinned and instead of taking it from his hands like he expected, she leaned down and tore off a piece with her teeth. “Thanks,” she continued to grin around the bite, making him laugh. They loved how easy it felt to be around each other, quirky banter without any sense of awkwardness or trying to impress the other. Just straight up honesty at every turn.

“Ugh!” he muttered in frustration as he missed what seemed like an easy shot even for her. “I’m getting mad!”

She covered her mouth with her hand and giggled so hard she let out a loud squeaky wheezing sound.

“Was that you?” he asked.

She nodded, her body continuing to shake with her laughter. “Sorry. I do that when I laugh too hard. You’re cute when you’re mad, you know that?”

“You know that you’re just cute?” he asked back.

She blushed and busied herself with taking her turn, opting not to respond.

“So what’s your favorite position?” he asked her.

“Shit!” she sputtered, bringing a finger to her lips in thought.

“My bad. You don’t have to answer.”

“Nah, it’s cool. Just a good question. Shit… Uh… well I’m a little romantic at heart, so probably missionary. But I like others too.”

“Yeah? Missionary’s my favorite because I can pull her hair and make her look at me.”

Her eyes went wide. “Ooo, into hair pulling huh? I love pulling and getting my hair pulled.”

His own eyes went wide and his cock twitched in his pants. “Yeah? What other positions do you like? You said there were others.”

Her cheeks flushed. “Yeah,” she stammered. “Well, uh… like most girls I assume, I get off through clit stimulation. So 69 is like a gold mine. Doggy’s also nice.”

He nodded approvingly as his cock twitched more. “Wanna know the nice part of doggy?” he asked, his voice catching a little.

“What?” she laughed, knowing she had him about as flustered as he had her.

“You get to pull her up by her hair and play with her clit,” he winked.

“Ayyyy! That’s exactly why I like it!”

“It’s definitely on the list of positions I like too. Plus I get to choke her a bit. That’s why I like missionary too.”

“Any position you can choke and pull her hair, huh? See, I like doggy because I get both of those and some ass smacking. All my kinks in one position.”

“Aw, you got them soft kinks,” he teased.

“Shut up, so do you!” she laughed.

He sat down in a high-backed chair that rocked slightly with his movements. “Aw, shit, this chair would be perfect to have a girl riding me on,” he acknowledged with a horny look. His teeth sunk into his lower lip as he gripped the armrests and made the chair rock more. “Just, a little this with her hand choking me. Phew… Clutch, lemme tell ya.”

“Annnd, there’s the switch,” she giggled.

“Look, I only like being dommed when she’s riding me. Otherwise, I’m domming.”

“Next you’re gonna tell me you like being called ‘Daddy’,” she scoffed at him.

The way his eyes lit up at the title had her gulping involuntarily. “Fuck yeah. The girl I’m gonna hook up with later- we’ve hooked up in the past- she called me ‘Sir’ once and I corrected her so fuckin’ hard.”

She laughed to hide her arousal. “You’re so weird.”

He smirked at her as he stood up. “Aw, got you a little flustered, do I?” he breathed down at her once he had closed their distance

“Like I don’t have you just as flustered,” she shot back, rubbing her hand against his cheek. “Daddy,” she added with a loud laugh. She pursed her lips in a knowing smirk of her own at the way he looked: his eyes clenched shut, hands curling in a fist, and teeth biting into his lip. “What? I shouldn’t touch you?” she continued to play with him, dropping her hand to draw it down his torso, enjoying the feel of his muscles underneath her fingertips. He radiated strength in a way that made her weak in the knees and wet between her thighs. Thankfully for her, she could hide her arousal better than he could.

“You really shouldn’t,” he said, his lips barely moving, and his brown eyes practically pitch black with lust.

She shrugged and stepped back. “Your shot, by the way,” she told him, gesturing at the pool table.

Right. Pool. He had nearly forgotten what he was originally here to do, his mind full of thoughts that centered around bending her over the pool table and wiping that smirk off her face. Her own mind raced with similar thoughts, wishing he didn’t have a hook up date with another girl.

~~~

Brooke wasn’t expecting to hear from Calum until Monday, so when her phone pinged not even an hour after they had said their goodbyes for the night, she was definitely surprised.

Calpal_hoodie: Wanna hear something annoying?

She perked up so much, she felt a little guilty.

Babbling_Brook: Omg, yes! What happened with your date?

Calpal_hoodie: So, she gets here. We drove around to find a spot. I take out my condoms. She’s ALLERGIC to them! So, I drove to a store to get new ones. I drive back. And she’s like “can you drive me back please?” She was about to break down about her break up with her ex and couldn’t handle it. So dry dick for Cal.

Brooke clapped a hand over her mouth to suppress her giggles. On one hand, she felt bad for him. On the other, she was glad his date had freaked out. The fact that- besides playing venting at her- he had let his date call it quits before it even started only made Brooke feel better about her feelings about Calum.

Babbling_Brook: If it makes you feel any better, this chick I’m never gonna stand a chance with called me a pussy wetter. Which like… no… I’m dorky and awkward. I just have a talent for being smooth as fuck

Calpal_hoodie: Lol. You want me to agree with her, don’t you?

Babbling_Brook: I mean… I gave you the set up…

Calpal_hoodie: Lol! Yes, you definitely have pussy wetting potential.

Babbling_Brook: Potential?! Aw, bubbie…

Calpal_hoodie: Bubbie? Lol

Babbling_Brook: Not into pet names? Cal the Snack Thief is a tad long... And again. “Potential”?! Smh… lowkey offended, bubbie.

Calpal_hoodie: So am I… And no! I didn’t mean it like that, honest… When I use the term “potential” it means you already got it.

Babbling_Brook: 1.) Did you just make a big dick joke? 2.) I’m teasing. I know I’m a smooth talking son of a gun. I can talk the panties off a mannequin.

Calpal_hoodie: Yes, yes I did lol. And note taken. That was smooth right there.

Babbling_Brook: I mean… I made you nice and flustered earlier, yeah?

Calpal_hoodie: Oh yeah… fuck! I just want pussy in my mouth with my cock down someone’s throat… is that too much to ask?!

Babbling_Brook: You and me both, bubbie. Only the opposite. But yeah…

Calpal_hoodie: Wake up that dude of yours by sucking his dick then, lmao. I’m gonna get high as balls.

Babbling_Brook: Nah, I’m probs just gonna go to bed. As for you? Yeah, go get high as balls and maybe you’ll forget it’s your own hand you’re fucking.

Calpal_hoodie: Now you’re just making me feel bad lmao

Babbling_Brook: Just being a brat, like whatchu gonna do?

Calpal_hoodie: Lmao, I think you know what I would do… fuck, I’ll probably end up sending nudes to my chick after I smoke. I always get more comfortable doing that when I’m high as hell.

Babbling_Brook: Makes sense. Being drunk/high tends to lower one’s inhibitions so people are more likely to step outside of their normal comfort zone when under the influence (See, told ya I was smart, too)

Calpal_hoodie: Alright, calm down Plato lol

Babbling_Brook: Lol.

She paused and looked at her phone. Her curiosity was getting the better of her. She had to know.

Babbling_Brook: Now… out of pure curiosity… I’m pretty bratty with you frequently. Given the chance, what would you actually do?

Calpal_hoodie: Look at you all turned on asking me lol

She chuckled at her phone. She wasn’t going to let him see her sweat. She turned up the brat charm.

Babbling_Brook: My curiosity is turned on, sure. As for the rest of me? Dry as your dick, bubbie.

Calpal_hoodie: Oh, damn! Alright… so like… what would I do to you sexually? If I had the chance and you were single?

She frowned at her phone, briefly. Was he only this willing to divulge all this information to her because he thought she was with someone else? Because he could freely flirt with her because he thought all it amounted to was just two friends talking shit? She wondered if now was her chance to come clean. Let him know that he had misinterpreted her words when she said she was seeing someone. But, she was afraid he would balk if she did. That knowing there was no actual boundary would be what pushed their relationship into awkward territory. And as much as she liked him that way, she also really enjoyed the friendship and didn’t want to lose that.

Babbling_Brook: Yeah. We’re both single. We have the relationship we do now. I mouth off like I always do. What do you do?

Calpal_hoodie: Well I’d tell you that if you keep mouthing off, you won’t have any room left in your mouth to speak. And of course you wouldn’t want to stop talking shit then. So I’d prove it and make you get on your knees for me… and if we had that room to ourselves, you’d definitely end up over that pool table taking every inch. But… ya know… lol!

Brooke gulped, reading the message, knowing he wouldn’t have told her that if she told him the truth. It was easy to be bold when you thought nothing could come of it.

Babbling_Brook: Oh, so when you said you were a dom, you meant like a dom dom. Alright… I dig.

Calpal_hoodie: Lol oh yeah. And you? What would you do?

Babbling_Brook: Shit… flip the script, yeah? Alright… Well, I’d definitely be much brattier knowing I could probably get something out of it. Test these dom limits of yours. And then get hella insecure that you saw me as a fling. Because even though I started everything in good fun, I’d be secretly craving a relationship like the romantic ho I am.

Calpal_hoodie: Aw! Least you’re honest. Well, would’ve been fun.

She shook her head sadly at her phone. If only he knew this was all entirely possible.

Babbling_Brook: I try to be lol. Like in all reality, I’d let you fuck me six ways to Sunday and then probably cry about it because I’d get all girly about it. But I’d still be my bratty self to you in person acting all cool and unbothered cuz I don’t want to be clingy and weird. Definitely would’ve been a ride for sure- pun fully intended.

Calpal_hoodie: Aw! That’s like both a lil sad but so honest and genuine. Nice pun, btw lol.

Babbling_Brook: Lol, it’s okay though. Cuz, trust, you’d want a relationship. Like I’m fuckin great! I can be adventurous as fuck or we can chill in bed all day watching movies. And I value my independence so like I’m more than fine with you going off with your boys or whatever cuz I like my alone time. Plus, I’ll remind you of what you got waiting for you later…

Calpal_hoodie: Ayyy! Sounds good to me lmao! Fuck, I still gotta smoke…

Babbling_Brook: Cool, cool. I’m gonna hit the hay. Enjoy that smoke and the thoughts we put in each other’s head lol!

Calpal_hoodie: Lmao, will do!

They both did. They both made a mess of themselves at the idea of giving themselves over to the other one.

~~~

Again, Brooke didn’t expect to hear from Calum until Monday at class. So when her phone pinged on Saturday and the notification said it was from him, her eyebrows pinched together in confusion while her heart raced in excitement.

Calpal_hoodie: Hey, I dunno if you had plans or anything. But my roommates and I are gonna have a rehearsal. So if… No worries if you’re busy. Just thought you’d be interested.

Babbling_Brook: Nah, that sounds great! I’m off today. Where you guys at?”

He messaged her an address to a set of apartments she knew was a few blocks from campus. A twenty minute walk, tops. She looked out the window at the soft warm sunshine. A walk would be perfect.

Babbling_Brook: Cool, be there in twenty. Should I bring anything?

Calpal_hoodie: Nah, just your cute ass

Babbling_Brook: Lmao, you mean my nonexistent ass?

Calpal_hoodie: Lol, it’s okay. You don’t need an ass. You got tits for days.

Babbling_Brook: That I do, lol. See ya in a few then.

The music playing in her headphones got caught off by her phone pinging. Her heart sank, thinking it was Calum cancelling. But it wasn’t. It was Trevor, her not-boyfriend.

Trev: Hey

Brookie: Hey

Trev: You busy?

Brookie: Yeah, I’m actually heading over to a friend’s. Gonna watch his band practice

Trev: His? Like a dude?

Brookie: Is that a problem?

Trev: No. So later then?

Brookie: Maybe… What are we, Trev?

Trev: This again? Brookie…

Brookie: I know. I just…

Trev: You wanna fuck this dude without feeling guilty?

Brookie: Don’t put words in my mouth… I’m not trying to fight.

Trev: I’m not either. Look, we’ve dated other people before. You’re free to do what you want Brookie. I’ll be here whenever you’re done having your fun.

Brookie: Don’t do that. Don’t act like I’m the one stringing you along. You wanted this setup, not me.

Trev: I wasn’t saying that to be mean, Brookie, damn. Seriously, have your fun.

Brookie: I’m sorry, Trev. I didn’t expect to feel this way.

Trev: You don’t have to apologize, Brookie. I’m the idiot who keeps you at arm’s length. I know that comes with the risk of losing you to someone who won’t. But that’s my problem, not yours.

Brookie: I’m still sorry. I don’t like hurting you.

Trev: I know. That’s part of your charm Brookie. You care deeply about everyone around you. Don’t worry about me, okay?

Brookie: Easier said than done, Trev…

Trev: I know. See ya around, Brookie.

She sniffed back the tears that threatened to fall, feeling stupid for mourning a loss that was never hers to lose in the first place. All Trevor and her had been were friends who sometimes had sex. Which is why she had known exactly what to say to Calum about what she would afterwards in the event they ever crossed the line and had sex themselves. It had been a projection of her own relationship with Trevor. She just had to keep faith that maybe her relationship with Calum would have a better ending.

She paused to collect herself before she rapped her knuckles on the door of Calum’s apartment. The door swung open before she had even finished knocking and she was being pulled in the apartment and that one-armed hug she only now fully realized how much she loved. “Hey! You’re here! Guys! This is Brooke. Brooke, these are the guys. Ash, Luke, and Mike.”

3 tall guys nodded as their names were called, first a hazel-eyed brunette with a bright red bandana, then a blue-eyed blonde with a lip ring, and a guy with hair dyed the same shade of green as his eyes.

“Hi,” she squeaked, heat rushing to her cheeks. Of course someone as good looking as Calum would have equally good-looking friends.

“You okay?” Calum asked her, his brown eyes full of concern.

She let out her breath in a huff and shrugged her shoulders. “Eh,” she held her hand flat and gave it a small shake. “It’s fine. So do you guys do covers or write your own stuff?”

“Bit of both,” the blonde told her.

“Cool! What would you classify the stuff you make as? Like genre?”

“Punk!” the green-haired man grinned.

Brooke chuckled as the others sighed, “Mikey…”

“We’re mostly rock oriented,” the brunette explained. “But we experiment with different sounds, so I wouldn’t classify us specifically as a rock band. We just make music we like to make. The genre part is irrelevant.”

“Ash, the word smith,” Calum teased with a roll of his eyes as he moved across the room to pick up the bass he must have set aside when he answered the door. “Have a seat,” he directed at Brooke. “Get comfortable.”

She took a seat on a chair while the men went to various instruments. “2, 3, 4,” the brunette, Ash, counted from a drum kit. Brooke watched his thick thigh work to create a steady fast-paced beat, drumsticks twirling effortlessly before her eyes were glancing back over to Calum who had his eyes closed as he played the beat with Ash before the other two joined in with their the guitars and the blonde started singing.

Brooke watched, mesmerized, her jaw dropping when Calum started singing himself. She quickly closed it when he caught her and shot her a wink. She swayed in her seat, her feet tapping along to the beat as the roommates played their way through some songs she didn’t recognize so she assumed they were theirs, snapping the occasional picture.

~~~

“So, how do you know, Cal?” Ash was asking her an hour later as they both sipped on water. The instruments had been placed aside in favor of game controllers and when Ash made a mention of grabbing some drinks, she had realized how parched she had become.

“Oh, we have a class together.”

He nodded, leaning against the kitchen counter. “College girl meets college boy, huh? Same major?”

She chuckled softly, before shaking her head. “No, I’m a photography major. I think Cal’s English, isn’t he?”

He nodded. “Yeah, Cal’s an English major. He always liked to read. But photography, eh? That explains you taking all those pictures.”

She shrugged. “I like seeing people for who they truly are. Are you guys in college, too?”

He shook his head. “Nah, I graduated last year. And those two barely made it out of high school. Cal and I were the only ones who could stick out school. Which is crazy cuz Luke’s mum’s a teacher.”

She chuckled more. “Mum… what are you, British?”

“Australian, darling. We all are. Cal didn’t tell you?”

She sputtered, choking on her water. “What?! No! No, he didn’t.”

He giggled and a dimple appeared in his cheek. “Yeah. Luke and Mike have dreams of being rockstars. And they’re our boys and it’s our band. So when we graduated high school, we all moved out here. But, Cal wanted a college education. And I had already completed a year myself at that point, so I joined him. And Luke and Mike… well, their talents lie elsewhere. They’ve gotten us a few demos made. We even have our own albums and perform at festivals. Just waiting for Cal to get done so we can make it big time.”

“Sounds to me like that won’t be that hard. You guys got some serious talent.”

“Yeah? You think?”

She nodded. “Yeah. So you’re a year older then?”

It was his turn to nod. “There abouts. I’m 23. Mike and Cal are 22. Then Luke’s the baby. He won’t be 22 until after my 24th birthday. How old are you, if you don’t mind me asking.”

“Oh, I’m 22. I’m about two months older than Cal.”

“Nice. And you have a class together with Cal?”

She nodded. “Yeah. We had a class last year which is how we met. Honestly, I didn't think he noticed me at all. Then, this semester we ended up in another class together, and I guess I made more of an impression than I thought.”

He smiled down at her and she thought she’d drown in that hazel gaze. “Oh, you made the impression alright. Mate doesn’t shut up about you. Always going on about the girl in class with the snacks and snark.”

She laughed loudly, covering her mouth with her hand as she blushed. “Don’t know why he would. I’m really not much. Just a girl who doesn’t know when to shut her mouth.”

“Should see yourself from someone else’s point of view, darling. Cuz, you’re a bombshell, if I can be so bold as to say so.”

She sputtered again. “Oh yeah?”

He leaned down, his gaze heavy on her. “Oh, yeah.”

“Hey!” Calum’s voice snapped darkly and Ash and Brooke jumped apart, Ash giving his friend a sheepish grin, Brooke’s face bright red like she had got caught with her hand in the cookie jar. “The fuck, Ash?”

Ash raised his hands in defense. “My bad. Line crossed. I’ll back off.”

“Yeah, back the fuck up. She’s got a boyfriend.”

“You’re dating?” Ash’s hazel eyes flashed in startled confusion.

Calum’s brown eyes rolled. “No. She’s got a boyfriend.”

Brooke fiddled with her fingers. “Um… actually…” she started, her voice small, both slightly frightened and turned on by Calum’s protective jealousy.

“You don’t have a boyfriend?” Calum’s voice asked, the fierceness replaced by a tone that sounded on the verge of breaking. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I said… and you assumed… and I didn’t… Cal, we said…” Brooke’s hands started to flutter at her sides, her eyes welling up with tears. The girl who normally had more words than she knew what to do with was speechless.

“Whoa… hey,” his voice soothed and then he was pulling her into a hug. But instead of one arm, it was both, and she was about to crack from the soft intimacy. “C’mere,” he said before he was leading her down the hallway and into a bedroom. “Brooke, it astounds me how fucking blunt and honest we are with each other. Like the shit that comes out of your mouth blows me away sometimes. But you really couldn’t feel like you could tell me that you didn't have a boyfriend?”

“I’m sorry…” she whispered. “I… what Trevor and I have is hard to explain. It’s like we’re a couple without the label. And it’s always been confusing for me. And I didn’t want to try and explain that and get us both confused, so it was easier to let you think that he was my boyfriend. And then… well, we admitted what we admitted and… I dunno. I think it was easy for you to say those things when you thought nothing could come from it.”

“You think I said those filthy things to you just to say them?”

She shrugged and bit into her lower lip. “Maybe… Easy to flirt with someone when you can hide behind the fact that nothing will come of it…”

“Is that why you let me believe you had a boyfriend? So you could hide?”

She shook her head. “No! I just… look the relationship I had… have… I dunno… it’s not fully what I want. Yes, we’re friends. Yes, we have sex. But I want more than that. And he doesn’t. And that’s fine. But… I can’t do it with you, too. And I know it’s probably on me for being the proud tomboy who likes to be one of the guys. But I can’t keep being the girl who’s not good enough to be the girlfriend.”

“Jesus…” Calum breathed, running his hands through his curls.

“Don’t,” she said, standing up. “It’s fine. I’m the hopeless romantic living in a hookup culture world. Um, I’m gonna go now. But, I’ll see you Monday? Want teddy grahams or pretzels?”

“You’re doing that thing you said you would do,” he muttered.

“What thing?” she asked, forcing a smile.

“Where you said you would act cool and unbothered to not come off as clingy and desperate.”

“I said weird, not desperate…” she mumbled, staring down at her shoes. “See ya, Cal.”

“On your knees,” his voice barked at her as her back turned and her hand gripped the knob of the bedroom door.

“Excuse me?” she asked, turning back to face him, her face a mix of sad longing and confused anger.

He stalked over to her. “I said,” he spoke, his voice low and raspy as his fingers dug into her shoulders. “On. Your. Knees.”

She looked at him in full confusion but sank to her knees anyway. “Cal… What are you doing?”

“Making good on my word of what I would do to you if I ever got the chance,” he answered darkly. Then his face was inches from hers and it was full of soft concern. “That okay?”

She gulped and nodded. Then, as he went to straighten up, “Wait! Cal?”

“Yeah?” he asked, crouching back down.

“What happens after?”

“You said you’d make a great girlfriend, didn’t you?”

She nodded.

“I’m willing to give that a try if you are.”

She nodded again. Then, “Cal?”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you.”

“You don’t have to thank me, Brooke. I’m a romantic, too. This is about making sure we both get what we want. And I want you.”

“I want you too, Cal.”

“Good,” he smiled before pressing a soft kiss to her lips that made her stomach do flips. “Now, open up that pretty mouth of yours,” he said, tracing his thumbs over her lips to part them as he straightened up once more. “And it’s ‘Daddy’ from here on out,” he added with a smirk before his fingers were undoing his jeans and pushing them down along with his boxers.

“Yes, Sir,” she grinned saucily, her mouth watering at how big he was.

“There’s my brat,” he cooed in a manner that sent shivers down her spine. “Gonna fuck that attitude out of you real fast, sweetheart. You’ll learn.”

“Do your worst,” she taunted.

~~~

They were a breathless mess of tangled limbs and soft kisses in his bed. “Fuck, Ca- Da- Um…” she giggled while her cheeks flushed brick red. “Shit, I dunno what to call you now…”

His chest rumbled beneath her with his chuckle. “You can still call me, ‘Cal,’ sweetheart. ‘Daddy’ is just for bedroom activities. I’m not that kind of dom.”

She nodded. “Fuck, that was amazing.”

“Plenty more where that came from too, sweetheart. This is only the beginning.”

She sprawled across him to reach for her phone that was in her pants. “Can I?” she asked.

He nodded, pulling up the blankets to make them less exposed as she snapped some pictures. “You said you take pictures because you like seeing how people are when they’re fully themselves?”

“Yeah…”

“So what would those snapshots of you look like? If you were able to take candids of yourself.”

She thought for a minute then showed him the pictures she had just taken. “Probably a lot like this. You make me feel… well you make me feel a lot of things. One of which happens to be total relaxation. I feel like I can just be. No act. No bullshit. Just me.”

“Good, cuz I happen to like just you a whole fuckin lot.”

~~~

Tag List (Leave a message at the beep)

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[assless-chapstick]

This is me sending myself an ask… because I am boredt and my teeth hurt and I want to lay in bed….

So I ask myself … how are the Couch AU boys coping with the COVID19 lockdown??? Are they ok??

Tbh I think Charles and John are taking it harder than Arthur and Javi. Like, Arthur and Javier are a little more stable, a little more mentally well/neurotypical, and while everyone is finding it hard, I think Charles and John are struggling more than average.

Charles practically lives at John and Arthurs place, so he’s locked down over there; half his stuff is over there already, and while it might be a little crowded, it’s better than him being alone at his place. He doesn’t have any roommates and he needs to have someone around to help with the anxiety and keep him on a schedule. With Arthur around, he doesn’t sink completely into a depression. Sure, he’s finding it hard to focus and stay motivated and he spends a lot more time on the couch, napping and watching jeopardy and comfort-eating, but he’s not completely vacant and spending all day in bed, forgetting to shower or eat like he might if he was alone.

Arthur has a little gym/studio in the spare bedroom where he draws and does his fuckin bowflex or whatever, and they set Charles up there so he can get some studying done and continue to attend classes online. Charles is just finishing his first year of law school and he’s like, determined not to let this whole situation fuck up his academic career, even if he’s a little worried about it all…

Arthur is going a little stir-crazy; he works at an autobody shop, and they closed for a couple weeks at the beginning so he was out of work for a while. He was all “perfect I can work on my art,” but he’s so used to being super busy working two jobs and going to the gym and shit that having so much free time has been stressful to him. He processes a lot of feelings through anger, so the punching bag on the balcony has taken some pretty rough beatings the past couple weeks…

He’s back at work now, three days a week, so he’s feeling a little better… I think his biggest concern is money, cuz with reduced hours and all the cons he was planning to sell art at being cancelled, his income is reduced, and as a teen/early 20s he struggled a lot so that really scared him… But Dutch and Hosea aren’t too bad off and they’ll help out if he or John are ever in a pinch…

I think Arthur authors/creates a queer cowboy romance webcomic, so he’s been working on that a lot… he’s finally pages ahead and has some updates queued, so if he needs to be can afford to take a break for a week or two! He’s psyched about that. His patreon profits have gone down a little, but he’s got some loyal-ass fans and they’re really helping him thru it, too, I think… and he’s made some new merch for the first time in ages, and has had time to open up more commissions… He and Charles spend a lot of afternoons in the study, listening to Arthur’s vinyls and working together in silence …

So Arthur is doing ok, and Charles is pulling through, but John is having a… really rough go. For someone who seems really chaotic, John really really thrives when he had a routine and a set schedule, and with classes being moved online or canceled, he’s really struggling to keep a routine and as a result, his mental health is suffering. It also doesn’t help that he can’t leave the house and can’t see Javi, a major source of security for him. John runs to get his frustration out, and not feeling like it’s safe to go for a run has him feeling really bad.

He and Javi FaceTime every night, but it’s not the same and John is pretty miserable. He spends a lot of time in his room, music Loud, and he stops sleeping with any sort of regularity. The stress also makes his nightmares worse, I think, so he’s spending a lot more time avoiding sleep, which definitely makes him even bitchier than he would be otherwise. That and the situation have him really snappy, so there’s some Big Fights between him and Arthur; fights over nothing, fighting just to have something to do, to just feel something, because he’s angry with the situation and the feelings and everything… He’d just started to get his life on track and here it is, all out of order again. The uncertainty and instability are really unsettling for him.

I think John’s been seeing his therapist online, but it’s not the same, and he really hates it. In the first few weeks, things were all over the place and he forgot to take his meds and stuff… when Arthur noticed something was wrong, he kind of just started gently helping John remember to do things, just gently coaxing him and reminding him to take his pills, etc…

Like Arthur starts making meal at the same time every day, and cooks for all three of them so John remembers to eat… he makes coffee and sings when he makes breakfast to wake John up, and they watch movies and play boardgames and stuff after dinner, just to keep John on a little bit of a schedule. John usually goes to bed in his own room and climbs into Arthur and Charles’ later in the night, but during this whole thing, he starts going to bed with Arthur and Charles, and that helps too...

I think eventually he gets a little more used to it, once he gets back into a routine and then he’s still having trouble, but he’s doing better…

Javi lives in college dorms, so he’s moved back to living with his mum and his sister, which sucks, but that also means he can borrow his mum’s car… so when John is feeling really bad, one day, Javi throws his guitar in the trunk and goes to John and Arthurs place and stands under the balcony and plays all the dumb joke songs he’s written for John… songs called shit like “im sorry I backwashed in your redbull, flaquita” and “youre a pendejo but I love you anyway” and that cheers them both up…

Also, John makes up little care packages and has Arthur drop them off at Javi’s!! little doodles (John’s been practicing drawing but he’s like, crazy bad, just awful) and poems (marginally better, not great), their favourite snacks, little trinkets from around the house and stuff he picks up on his runs (once he starts going on runs again), and of course, of course, cuz he’s nasty, panties that he MAYBE wore on his run, for Javi to, y’know, do with what he will…

And of course they have a lot of phone sex, especially once John pulls it together a bit… at first he kind of went AWOL and didn’t talk to anyone, let his phone go dead and stuff, but he’s doing better now and now they’re… being quarantine horny …

Javi prefers regular voice phonesex, loves to call John up and tease his girl until John whines for him to stop, ask if John is touching himself when Javi can tell by the hitch of his breath that he is… Javi loves that, but not seeing one another, John insists they do videocalls, even if Javi is a little uncomfortable…

But it leads to some… fun roleplay … John pretends to be an innocent starlet trying to make it big, and Javi is a big-time director that keeps on pushing… “you look so good on camera, babe, but maybe take the bra off, let us see how those little titties of yours look? Don’t be shy, it’s all business, just want to see… grab them for me, that’s it, now show me that ass…”

And they also play like Javi is broadcasting the video to everyone, like all his friends can see what a whore Javi’s girl is, how he can suck that dildo like it was a real cock and how desperate he is for it… they pretend Javi is advertising John as if he’s a thing for sale, like Javi is booking John’s ass by the hour…. All “cmon baby, show them how greedy your pussy is, you’re gonna take so many cocks for me tonight, you’ll be leaking cum by the time they’re done with you, you’ll be so sore but you’ll do it for me, won’t you, flaca? Til you’re rubbed raw and then I’ll slide into your wet, gaping hole…”

And of course, of course, John BIG gets off on watching Javi jerk off into the panties he sends him… Javi maybe even… sniffs them, licks them a little, cuz he misses John so bad and he loves the way John looks in the pale yellow, lacy panties he’s got wrapped around his dick, loves the idea of coming in them and then making John put them back on,…

Aaaand that’s that on that, I think!! So thanks for reading, mister, if you’re still out there somewhere. I have dental surgery tomorrow and I’m more scared than a spider in a shoe factory, so please wish me some luck and send me some non-COVID related asks, iffin you’re feeling it!!

[nataliedanovelist]

GF - Soos and His Girl

For @legendary-defender-of-fandoms. I hope you like it!

~~~~~~~~~~

Soos looked down at his can of Pitt soda kinda gloomy like. He should be really happy right now, and generally he was, but he was also… he couldn’t pinpoint it.

Abuelita was happy in the armchair in front of the TV. She liked the “dusty, dirty” shack that needed a “lady’s touch”, so during the day she kept busy vacuuming everything and tidying up the house, and at night she enjoyed the additional channels Mr. Pines was willing to pay for so he wasn’t stuck with Gravity Falls public-access TV. She was enjoying her afternoon cup of coffee in front of the TV right now, in fact, and Soos should probably go join her, but he was trying to finish an idea for tomorrow’s tours in the gift shop, but his inspiration was gone and the rainy day didn’t help his mood improve.

Soos drained the rest of his can of soda in one gulp and adjusted his tie. He smiled down at his suit-covered body and could feel himself straighten up with pride. Still, he was… lonely. Yeah, that was it. Mr. Pines and Dr. Pines left two days ago, and from what Soos could tell they were both super happy, and Dipper and Mabel were back home in California now. Wendy still hung around some, but school had just started back and classes were kinda busy right now, so it would be a few weeks until things cooled down and even then she wouldn’t be working as much as she did over the summer (which, let’s be honest, it’s not like she worked much to begin with).

While Soos was beyond happy to be running the Mystery Shack, to have his lifelong dream come true, the old cabin was now way too quiet and way too empty. Maybe once tourists came back and the money started to roll in and business kept him busy, he’d be okay. Still, as of today, Soos was just a little sad and lonely, and that was okay.

The gift shop was open, so Soos shouldn’t have been surprised when the door opened with a chime. He looked up and was way more surprised to find a pretty girl with light-brown hair tied back with a scrunchie and a purple rain-jacket standing in his shop. “Hi, Soos!”

“Melody!” Soos gasped and ran to her to hug her. She hugged him back around his neck and he could feel all his sadness just melt away like cheese on a greasy pizza. He let her go to stare at her and make sure she was really here. “What are you doing here?! How are you here?! Someone pinch me, dude, cuz I gotta be dreaming!”

Melody laughed and shook her head. “Nope! I told you I was only in Portland for a few weeks. A few weeks is over.”

“So you’re staying?!” Soos dared to hope.

Melody nodded. “Yup! I’m staying!”

“This is great!” Soos punched the air and gestured for the “employees only” door. “C’mon in, dude. Meet my grandma and have a soda.”

“Sure, I’d love to.” Melody said as she shed her rain-jacket and followed Soos through the house.

“Abuelita, I got someone I’d like you to meet.” Soos called as they went to the living room. “This is Melody.”

“Si, si, you are even more beautiful up close.” The old lady complimented.

“Uh, thanks.” Melody said and shook her hand.

“Sit, niña, and tell me about yourself.”

Soos pulled out a chair for Melody from the card table and sat on the dino-skull end table to listen to Melody talk about herself and what she was doing in Portland.

~~~~~~~~~~

“So… uh, hey.” Soos said as he sat on a park bench next to Melody a few days after she came back to Gravity Falls. “You know I really like Wendy and I’m never gonna fire here, but… but she’s really busy with school and friends and… I thought it’d be a good idea to hire another cashier.”

“I think that’s a great idea.” Melody supported, thinking he just needed a little encouragement that he was making a good business decision.

“Yeah, but… but I don’t just want anyone, you know?” Soos was starting to sweat a little more than normal. “Someone I can trust and think is pretty cool. Someone really pretty and smart and caring and… I dunno, you wouldn’t be interested, would you?”

Melody stared at the cute guy with an anime t-shirt in front of him and a ball cap, blushing adorably with his little awkwardly-growing whiskers. “What? You mean, work at the Mystery Shack? With you?”

“‘Course, I thought you wouldn’t want to, I get it if it’d be awkward for you, and I know you like extreme lunch meats, so…”

“Are you kidding, I’d love to work at the Mystery Shack with you!” Melody said and took his hand with excitement, her eyes twinkling beautifully and her cheeks round and rosy with joy. “It’d be so much fun and I love the Shack! I’d get to where those cute t-shirts and help kids find stuff they like and give out good deals…”

“Not too good deals, though.” Soos said with a smile and pointed out, “Remember, we put the fun in no refunds.”

“I know, but what if we raise the prices a bit.” Melody offered. “We could do it steadily and carefully so no one would notice, but eventually the price would be so high that we could put crazy good deals on them and still make a profit, making the customers think they’re getting a steal.”

Soos stared at her like she was an awesome warrior princess. “You are the smartest girl I know.”

Melody just smiled with pride and happily shook Soos’s extended hand to accept the new job.

~~~~~~~~~~

“DIPPER! Hurry up!”

“Coming!” Dipper ran into their room, plopped down on his beanbag, and Mabel clicked on Soos’ icon on the laptop to start the video-call. It only rang once or twice before the pair of twins were faced with their favorite handyman-turned-business-owner and his newest employee. “SOOS!”

“What’s up, hambones?!” Soos called and waved. 

“Hey, guys, how’s it going?” Melody asked as she wiggled her fingers.

“Great!” Mabel said. “Guess who made it into the Hall of Fame at the art show?”

“That’s amazing, Mabel!” Soos cheered. “We’re both super proud of you.”

“Totally!” Melody agreed.

“Thanks, guys.”

“So, what’s new with you two?” Dipper asked.

The two exchanged looks and then Soos burst with happy news. “We’re officially boyfriend and girlfriend, dudes!”

“Hey, that’s great!” Dipper congratulated.

“ECK!” Mabel squealed. “All of my dreams are coming true! I’m so happy for you guys!”

“Thanks.” Melody giggled. “Soos was so sweet. Had this beautiful picnic set up and asked me to be his girlfriend, honestly I would've said yes a long time ago.”

“Aw, couple goals!” Mabel cooed.

~~~~~~~~~~

Stan and Ford arrived at the Mystery Shack a week before Dipper and Mabel were supposed to come back for the summer. Right off the bat, Melody happy shook both of their hands as Soos introduced her to the famous Mr. Pines and Dr. Pines. They were surprised to find her, not in an employee’s uniform, but a suit and she borrowed the fez and an eight-ball cane. She kissed Soos’ cheek before hurrying off to run a tour.

“Soos, what’s all that about?” Stan asked, pointing at Melody’s get-up.

“Oh, right. Well, I haven’t found a handyman quite right for the job, so sometimes I gotta make repairs instead of giving tours, so on those days Wendy runs the register and Melody runs the tours as the miraculous Mrs. Mystery! She’s a natural!”

“And over to your left you’ll see our amazing Box of Mystery. If you put your credit cards in, they mysteriously disappear.” Melody said and the gullible tourists put their credit cards in the little mail slot.

Stan patted Soos’ shoulder. “Yup. She’s a keeper.”

~~~~~~~~~~

Melody proved to not only be as sweet as sugar and as sharp as a knife, but also as tough as nails when in a pinch. Of course, anyone who saw her beat up creepy animatronic robots at a pizza joint with a chair knew this, but it became even more apparent when she beat eyebats out of the shack with a broom, carried five huge crates full of merchandise by herself, and could hang Dipper from one arm and Mabel from the other arm.

The kids loved her as much as they loved Soos, and though she had her own apartment, she was always over at the Shack. Jokingly, towards the end of that summer, Stan laughed, “Honestly, you’re here so much, you should just move in.”

Soos turned bright red. He had planned on offering Melody to move in with him when everyone left after summer, but when Melody’s cheeks turned bright red and she giggled nervously, he couldn’t help but stutter, “I-I-If y-y-you w-want to, dude, y-y-you c-can.”

Melody smiled and kissed his cheek to try to ease any worry he might have. “I’d really like that.”

No amount of eye-rolling could hide the smile on Stan’s face, which Ford quickly pointed out and teased his twin for.

~~~~~~~~~~

If it was somehow possible, Stan’s hair became a paler gray over the years, but he wasn’t that old yet! Ford’s hair was a little paler, too, but he still had that lighter stripe. Mabel, now a sixteen-year-old, stood in a beautiful maid-of-honor’s dress. Stan tugged at his suit as he watched Soos and Melody dance, their first dance as a married couple, on the dancefloor just outside the Mystery Shack. 

It had been a beautiful summer wedding in the early afternoon. The sun was setting and soon the dangling lanterns and buzzing fireflies would make excellent sources of light. The cake was half-eaten and the party was still going strong, but this one quiet moment was surreal for everyone. Stan just stood there and happily watched his best employee holding someone he loved and swaying to the soft music.

“Aw, Grunkle Stan,” Mabel cooed quietly. “You’re crying.”

Stan blinked and finally noticed that his eyes were a little wet. He scrubbed at his eyes and hissed, “No I’m not.”

“Stanley, you always were a sap for romance.” Ford joined in the picking of his younger brother.

“I said I ain’t crying!” Stan said firmly, but his eyes were soon wet again and all he could do was grumble as he watched the newlyweds dance.

[whats-the-story-tc]

6th of February, 2020

"The One with the Early Bird"

After spending two whole hours last night (from 9:30 to 11:30 cuz I'm actually bloody insane) memorising a poem that was actually due Friday, I was adamant on finding V today and reciting it — so I wouldn't forget it. Of course. Not at all because otherwise I wouldn't get to speak to her. Not me. Never.

My first class is in second period on Thursdays, but this particular Thursday I came in extra early and watched HBO GO in the hallway (it doesn't eat up mobile data for me, so we're cool). I was sat cross-legged on this seat thing, half an earbud in, and facing in a particular direction. The direction V came from last week. Guess we could call it improvise, adapt, overcome. When she showed up and passed me by, I thought Now or never, Specs, no going back. Just say what you rehearsed in your head. I pulled the earbuds out, pocketed the phone, and ran to catch up with her.

"Yeah?" she asks me when she sees me show up on her left, as we start walking down the stairs together.

"I have a question. Not necessarily now, as you need this break, too, but I was wondering when I could come today to recite the poem?"

"How about now?" Shit. Well, I didn't account for that. "Have you read it through?"

"Roughly—" But when we both went quiet, and she was probably waiting for me to start, I realised I couldn't even start it. I wasn't in the right mindset, I was too nervous. "—no. Roughly no. Maybe later?" I asked sheepishly.

"Look, I won't be in for long today, as I'm taking the animal to the vet, so either now or after second period." We stan a woman who lovingly calls her cat 'the animal'. Also, can we talk about the fact that she just attempted to banter with me?

"After second period it is."

"Right. I'll be around here," she pointed towards the teachers' corridor, "but we might meet in the corridor."

"Alright, see you there!" And we both walked away.

I was absolutely, one hundred and ten percent over the moon as I went back to the classroom, and basically clung to my friends, as cheery as I haven't been in a very long time. Debate Friend immediately knew what was up and asked me "Have you met her?" before I even said anything.

"We're having a date after second period" I told her, and refused to call our impending meeting anything but a date. Okay, okay, I think I might have said appointment once, but I mostly called it a date. And all the while I was painting in Geo class, I kept the piece of paper I wrote the poem on beside me. I wanted it to go well, for quite obvious reasons, so I had to prepare. Recitals were never my strongest suit.

After class, when I walked outside with my paper in hand, she was immediately out there, coming my way. I got really scared. No amount of preparation is ever really enough for this, I don't think. She strode up, notebook whipped out, left arm leaning on top of the cabinets, and said "I'm listening." We were in the place again, right beside our classroom door where most of our conversations took place, standing exactly the same way we do almost every time we speak outside of class. No going back.

It actually went pretty well, compared to how nervous I was, and V only had to help a couple times when I got lost. (I just got the notif for the A that I got for it, as I'm typing this. Ever so quick, huh, V?) When she said thank you afterwards, naturally I replied with "Thank you." for dealing with my sorry ass.

"This is what you were so afraid of?" she asked me, and here I was once again, telling her that I'm not afraid, only nervous that I won't remember what's next. Though, to be honest, I shouldn't be. V always helps everyone. And it seems, somehow, in some way, she's always there to catch me when I fall. "I wonder how many people will get this poem over with tomorrow. You were the first." she looked at me, and once again I got a little lost in her eyes as she did. I'm not sure anymore, it was 10 hours ago from right now, but I think she might have even smiled faintly.

After V told Bookworm Friend, who was standing there all along, that she wasn't going to be here for much longer [NOTE: she didn't mention the cat this time. Looks like she reserved the details for me.], and she recited the poem as well, V walked inside our classroom to inform everyone of the deadline set about two weeks ago. I'm already concerned for her, as about half the class is gonna be attacking her, even late in the afternoon. But, to be frank and honest, what she did was really cool. Most people wouldn't have told us to prepare.

Thursday afternoons, I teach English to this boy, but he didn't show today, so I was talking to two boys I've been classmates with since we were seven, and GCSEs/A levels came up. I told them my plans, and one of them said:

"Do you want to be an English teacher? Cuz then you really will be mini-V."

I haven't heard us being compared in a while, not since last year (V actually told me about it in class once when I was nervous, to calm me down. I might tell you about it if I have nothing to talk about). I actually thought it no longer applied for some reason, but here we are. We still have the same aura. And I couldn't be prouder to be even remotely similar to someone like her.

I always knew, long before she started teaching me, that we were equals. I wonder... what does she think about this? I wonder if I'll ever know.

~ S ♡

[Every story I share here, no matter how specific I get with my wording, depicts actual events from my own life.]

[mymariahcarey]

Ready Baby? Will You Be My Man?

**a/n: **It took forever to write this one. Writing Patrick is not nearly as easy as writing David, for me anyway. It’s not beta’d. This is the second part of a series on AO3 called Cuz They Love Lizzo. The first part can be found on my Tumblr or on AO3.

**summary: **While listening to Lizzo, Patrick reflects on how much his life has changed since meeting David.

word count: ~1.9k

rating: T for language

It wasn’t his fault, he swears. He honestly blames Alexis. A few months ago on his morning jog and ran, nearly literally, into Alexis. He was shocked to see any of the Rose’s out of bed before 9 a.m, let alone as early a 7a.m. Apparently every now and then, which Patrick has now learned is at least once a week, Alexis has trouble sleeping and goes for early jogs.

She started joining Patrick on these mornings, and thus Patrick heard Lizzo for the first time. He’s normally more of an Alternative Rock guy. He’s insistent on the fact the 90’s has the best music, but there’s something special about these songs. 

Patrick thinks it has something to do with the sincerity wrapped in fun lyrics and a good beat. It reminds him a lot of his boyfriend. David, though quirky and hilarious, is someone that loves deeply and can be incredibly sincere all wrapped up in one very dramatic man.

So he likes Lizzo, he likes her so much he takes to playing her in the store instead of their normal soft jazz when there aren’t very many customers or when they’re doing inventory after closing. David protested a bit when he first started playing her, saying it didn’t go with the general aesthetic of the store but Patrick knew he liked it too. He would catch David occasionally mouthing the words to the lyrics and shimming his hips during one of the more upbeat songs. 

If asked, Patrick is pretty sure he has a favorite song. It’s the one that, when it plays he can’t help but think about how much his life has changed in the past two years. How much his boyfriend had a hand in that change.

Never been in love before, what the fuck are fucking feelings for?

It isn’t that Patrick would say he’s never been in love. He genuinely loved Rachel, he still does just not in the was she deserves, in the way he felt he was supposed to.

Being with Rachel, and the handful of other girls, had never felt right. At different points in his life Patrick had wondered if maybe he was gay, he definitely spent his fair share of time looking at men, much more than he spent looking at women. He always wrote it off, surely if he was gay he’d have known earlier in life.

Patrick grew up in a rather small town and wasn’t exposed to different walks of life other than middle america middle class until he went off to college. He didn’t really know there were other options.

Patrick rolls his eyes as he places the page turners on his fingers. David tells him constantly they don’t in fact help him turn pages faster but he is still in denial. Surely they serve a purpose.

He looks up and watches his boyfriend as he moves items around on the countertop, turning all the bottles so they’re facing the right direction, moving things to fill in gaps left by sales they’d made earlier in the day.

God Patrick loves this man. It’s a bit surreal. After all the years of wondering all it took was meeting this raven haired, snarky man, and he knew. He just knew. Though doubt was his worst enemy, never completely disappearing until things with David became too real to ignore.

Patrick was so thankful David had taken a risk, kissing him in the car after David’s birthday dinner. He’d wanted to kiss him for weeks at that point. He knew he was attracted to David, but he was worried it would turn into something fleeting, or he’d change his mind, or hell, he’d been wrong about himself.

He came to realize he was just scared. He cared a great deal about his business partner at that point, and was hesitant to do anything to jeopardize that. But when David had kissed him, that was the end of the doubts, and the end worrying about whether getting involved with his business partner was a good idea. It was clearly the best idea he’d ever had.

There was no turning back for Patrick after that. He wanted David. He also wanted to start out slow. While his doubts had faded, his insecurities hadn’t. He was new to this, to being with a man… especially a man as experienced as David seemed to be.

After many conversations and several makeout sessions, Patrick decided maybe the slow approach was overrated. In the rest of his life he was normally very straight forward and confident, he decided not to let the fact he was inexperienced stop him. Now, more often than not he took control of their physical relationship. He got a thrill out of making David weak in the knees. 

Tryna open up a little more, sorry if my heart a little slow.

Patrick could tell David was disappointed when he told him the apartment was just for him. They’d found a pretty great grove for their relationship and Patrick wasn’t sure he was ready to upset it. 

He also wasn’t sure where David stood with that amount of commitment. He knew without a doubt he wanted to spend forever with David, but after everything that had happened with Rachel it seemed so quick to go back to sharing a living space full time with someone.

They’ve also never spoken about the future of their relationship in detail. They make plans for the future as far as whose family they’ll spend holidays with, and a lot of decisions for the business, but neither one of them have brought up the fact there’s more steps their relationship can take.

Patrick wondered if this is why things had become more strained between them since he moved into his apartment. He also knew part of it was certainly to do with the fact that his parents had been calling a bit more regularly. Keeping David a secret was torturous, he so wanted to tell them. The anxiety about their reaction and David’s reaction when they found out caused his temper to be shorter, his decision making to be a little more cloudy than usual.

He knew it had affected David as well, but he stuck by his side through it all. Most importantly through his parents coming to town and him finally having the talk with them.

It’s after that, that Patrick figured out what his next step was. Knowing David was willing to move in with him told him he was ready for the commitment, and now that Patrick’s family knows everything about his new life, he knows he wants to ask David to marry him.

He is going to ask him. Tomorrow.

He’s been planning it ever since and he’s pretty certain he’s figured out the perfect way to do it. He just hopes David cooperates. 

I thought that I didn’t care, I thought I was love impaired.

Patrick looks over at his boyfriend again, seeing his mouth tick up in the corner, revealing the small smile he’s grown to love so much. The smile he’s come to know as the one he sees when David is trying to hide the full extent of his happiness or amusement.

He can’t imagine a world where he’d never come to Schitt’s Creek. A world where David had never kissed him in the car. A world where Patrick had never learned what love really was, what to love someone unconditionally meant. 

Loving David had taught him all the things he’d felt he’s been missing, all the things that made him broken. Sometimes he’d look at David and his felt fit to burst. 

…Now I’m crazy bout to tat your name.

When David chuckles, Patrick realizes he may have been listening to the song a little more closely than it seemed.

“What’s so amusing about healing crystals?” he asks, finally ready to give David part of the details about what he has planned for tomorrow.

Waving his hands in an awkward gesture and then shrugging David replies, “Maybe I was… getting healed. You did leave a bit of a, how would you put it, disgusting bruise on my lower back this morning.”

It’s his turn to chuckle now, unable to control the subtle blush he feels spread across his cheeks.

“Speaking of mornings… I was thinking maybe we could close the store tomorrow. I know it’s a bit last minute but it’s been awhile since we’ve been out. I was hoping to take you on a picnic,” Patrick suggests removing the rubber fingertips.

“Well, you know you don’t have to convince me to close the store. You do however have to convince me to eat outside with bugs and dirt,” David answers, his nose scrunching up like it does when Patrick tries to convince him to do anything that may mess up one of sweaters.

Moving around the counter Patrick makes his way towards his boyfriend and smirks, “alright, how about we leave around 11. Not too early. Maybe I’ll pack some of the fancy cheese,” he finishes, leaning his hip against the counter David has been working at. He reaches his hand out and it lands on David’s wonderful love handle.

“Mmm… I guess maybe that sounds fun,” he breathes. Patrick can see how distracted he’s making David. Not only is he suggesting they do something spontaneous, he also gets a little dazed when Patrick gets handsy at work.

David leans forward, his lips an inch from his, “Make it noon, and you have a deal.”

Closing the distance and kissing his boyfriend softly before retreating, Patrick nods, “then it’s a date.”

But baby, I don’t know what I’m gonna do, I’m crying cuz I love you.

This lyric of course, pops in his head after a very stressful and taxing hike he makes his boyfriend take the next afternoon. Everything that can go wrong is going wrong. He’s ready to turn around and take his boy home. He’s so ready to throw in the towel because surely at this point there’s no way in hell David is going to say yes.

It pops in his head after his boyfriend carries him on his back for the last leg of their journey, after David assures he does indeed want to spend this time with him, no matter how much he may hate the activity.

He’s still not sure he’s going to go ahead with the plans until he sees David standing where he stood on so many mornings. He stood in the spot day after day thinking about this beautiful man he wanted to badly to kiss. 

It pops in his head again as David insists on setting up the picnic despite his protests. So, Patrick tells him where the blanket is, where the cheese is. 

When David pulls the champagne out he’s certain he can hear Lizzo singing that damn line in his head. He can write the champagne off, of course he can, but he doesn’t want to. 

It pops in his head as he slides off the rock he’s perched on and onto one knee. He tells David the story of this spot, he tells him he is the love of his life. Tears stream down his face at the look of shock and then joy on his boyfriend’s handsome face. He’s assures David he’s never been more sure of anything in his life.

He’s certain his heart explodes when he hears David utter the words, “It’s a yes. I love you.”

[girlgrouptrash101]

Dasom (Sistar) - Procrastination

Request: “A scenario where you're friends with Dasom, you have a school project that's due in a couple of days. You end up doing it on the last day cuz both of you ended up watching tv, playing video games, etc for days, the reader has a crush on Dasom but has trouble confessing, only to confess later on.”

Word Count: 1,595 Words

Warnings: None :)

A/N: this entire scenario is based off of me when i try to do projects like i have a history project due on thursday watch me be late af to turn that in

- C

You headed into class the same time you did every morning for the last few years, making a beeline straight for your usual seat next to your best friend, Bora. She gave you a nod, which you returned, still too tired to share actual words.

“Okay class, it’s time to pick project partners!” Your teacher boomed from the top of the class, your brows furrowed as you wondered how she could be so loud and enthusiastic when you had to practically drag yourself out of bed that morning. You were going to just choose Bora until the teacher decided she was picking the partners. Great, you thought.

You ended up being partnered with a friend of yours, her name was Dasom.

You had admired Dawson for quite a while, you had to admit. Maybe it was that sparkle in her beautiful eyes, the way her chestnut brown hair cascaded down her shoulder- No. Focus. You could day dream about Dasom later.

You shifted your school bag over to Dasom’s table, sitting down and giving her a lazy grin as she smiled at you.

“Ahh, out of everyone, I had to get stuck with you?” Dasom joked looking at you sideways as her head rested on her hand. You couldn’t help yourself as your eyes drifted to her soft lips, and how she bit her own bottom lip as she noticed where your gaze had averted to.

“Oh please, you didn’t want to be partnered with anyone else.” You replied pushing her a little on the shoulder, trying to ignore those damn sparks you felt with even the slightest touch. You carried on your playful banter for the rest of the class, barely even paying attention to what the project was on.

You went to your locker at the end of the day, happy with how all your classes had gone that day. Entering your combination, your locker popped open so you could grab the books that you needed to take home that afternoon.

You jumped a little in surprise as someone closed your locker for you. You looked over to see Dasom leaning hints your locker.

“How’s it going sweet cheeks.” She said, ending up bursting into laughter at the disgusted look on your face. You laughed as well, moving to walk towards the exit, if not to only hide the blush creeping onto your cheeks at the sound of Dasom’s laugh. “Let’s go, idiot.” You said, walking away as Dasom sped up behind you to catch up.

You went home with the best of intentions to work on your school project, honestly, you did, but there was a movie that you had been meaning to watch on Netflix, and Dasom was also interested... I mean, why not just watch it?

That’s how you ended up in your pyjamas, Dasom wearing a borrowed pair of shorts and a t-shirt (looking cute as hell), sitting at opposite ends of the couch, trying to throw bits of popcorn into each other’s mouths and failing miserably.

You woke up the next morning, thanking all the gods you knew of that it happened to be a Saturday, you were absolutely wrecked after last night, you and Dasom had been up until all hours giggling and talking about people from school.

Dasom went home after you made pancakes, much to her delight. You promised to meet up on Sunday at a café nearby to start working on the project.

Sunday rolled around soon enough, and you threw on jeans and a hoodie, heading out the door towards the café. Dasom was already sitting there, her head shooting up as a bell sounded above your head when you opened the door. She flashed you an award winning smile as you waved a little, heading over towards the secluded booth she had chosen to sit at.

You pulled out your history books from your school bag putting them on the table and looking over at Dasom.

“I ordered this since you took ages to get here.” She said playfully, pushing a coffee towards you.

“I’m not even late! You’re just annoyingly early.” You replied, sticking your tongue out at her teasingly. You both tried to work a bit, you even opened your books for a whole of five minutes before getting bored again.

“Hey Y/N,” Dasom said, after a few minutes of comfortable silence. You nodded at her as a sign for her to continue talking.

“There’s a fair in town, wanna go check it out?” Dasom asked you, giggling as soon as she saw your eyes light up.

You both ran out of the café, your heart racing as Dasom linked arms with you as you made your way towards the fair. You went on literally as many rides as you could handle, after a few bumpy ones you were feeling a little queasy so Dasom made you sit down while teasing you like crazy of course.

After your stomach had managed to calm down a little, food was the next thing on the list. You headed off to a stall in the fair, getting a portion of chips each (french fries for u americans lol). After eating and talking about school again, you realised that you still hadn’t worked on your projects at all. You agreed to meet up the next day at Dasom’s house after school.

Heading home with a skip in your step and a smile on your face, you went inside and flipped onto your bed. You facetimed Bora, which probably wasn’t the greatest idea.

“Oooh, Y/N’s finally gonna get the girllll,” Bora exclaimed, laughing at the finger you just gave her through the screen. You eventually hung up and fell asleep, thoughts of Dasom in your mind.

The next day went incredibly slowly, just as every Monday went for you. It wasn’t long after the last class though, that Dasom came bounding up to you, grabbing your hand and pulling you out of the school gates towards her house. Much to your enjoyment, and embarrassment, Dasom decided to hold your hand extremely tightly the entire walk home.

She finally let go of your hand once you’d reached her house. You headed straight up to her room, kicking off your shoes and following Dasom as she jumped onto her bed. Once again, you took your books out, but you couldn’t help but notice the shiny new video game on her TV stand. Once you asked her about it, you just had to play it. There goes another day without working on your project.

It eventually came to be Thursday, and as you were walking to school, a realization hit you. Your project was due tomorrow. You sprinted to school, running around to try and find Dasom. You eventually found her getting her books, and you saw the alarm in her eyes as she also remembered the overdue work you guys needed to do as soon as possible.

You both raced to your house after school, out of breath a hunched over in exhaustion by the time you reached your front door. You unlocked it, running up to your room, Dasom in quick persuit. You grabbed the A2 blank poster your teacher had given you the day she assigned the assignment, and as many coloured markers that you could find in your drawer. You printed out a bunch of pictures, writing and learning off as many WWII facts as you could manage in the short amount of time that you had.

It ended up with you falling asleep against the end of your bed, and Dasom falling asleep with her head on your lap.

You woke up first the next morning, Dasom finally opening her eyes about 15 minutes later. She woke up to her head on your lap as you played with her hair. You apologised and moved away as quickly as you could as soon as you noticed she was watching you.

“Y/N, don’t apologise. I liked it.” She said, leaving you with your jaw hanging open as she skipped out the door, your project in her hands.

You followed her down the street, too shy at her previous statement to strike any form of conversation.

Arriving into school barely on time, you were both racing against the clock to get into class. You and Dasom just about made it, but you had earned yourselves a glare from your teacher.

You slipped up a few times while presenting your ‘research’ and poster to the class, and the teacher could definitely tell how last minute the whole ordeal was. That didn’t matter to either of you though, at least you had managed to hand something in on time.

After class, you called Dasom over to a private corner in one of the quieter corridors to talk to her.

“Dasom, I don’t think we should ever work on another project together.” You said, watching as Dasom’s face fell.

“But... Can I maybe take you on a date? I really truly like you, spending time with you recently has been so fun.” You said, Dasom’s face lighting back up with the happiness that had been set in her features previously.

“You idiot, you scared me! But yes, I would love that. This weekend, Deal?” She replied finally, hitting you on the arm before taking you by the hand and walking down the corridor.

“Deal.” You replied, not even fighting the massive smile that had now settled on your face, and stayed there all day long as you tried to wait patiently for the weekend to come.

[the-firebird69]

I met with Biden yesterday with the president of China and in Taiwan and he's going back over there today it'll be after the movie no but the movie starts after it's war of the worlds and at some point in along the line Trump is held in a pit by the Chinese. And he gets back and it comes Batman and he f**** everything up again. And then he proceeds to screw everything up and loses the black ship and the capital is gone and everybody blames him because she he should be blamed he's a piece of garbage and it's almost over with him he's going to be kept out of here shortly and we know that cesario will start up after today as a matter of fact it starts tomorrow and it ends tomorrow the whole episode was tonight his son gets shot and he sees what they're planning and he said it to Sarah in her ear and so there's a courtroom they can hear what you're saying and they're related to the judges and they did and he says you'll be damned I said you'll be dead soon dead your head is going to be exploded regardless of your childish remarks so he says I can't stand it anymore it's after my wife no I'm after your life you're missing it it's not a w it's an l and by the way it comes out as I hear stupid f****** retard that's really weird meaning my people but you're a f****** fruit playing all these idiotic semantics games as an entire life disappears into nothing what a waste of space you are for your people you are complete traitor against them and my testimony would get you killed right now.

Anyways today is war of the worlds it's important I guess you got to something and it's terrible but boy he makes people angry that guy needs to leave and really you know you set the stage for everyone else so don't they don't make people that angry stupid s*** or tolerance is supposed to be higher you see but it's not tolerance that you have grown it's hatred for your kind. And he also says you didn't do it on purpose you bought this f** yeah we got those guys are coming back to you call them both boweevils. Garth and his started up and they're called Bojangles cuz they dangle a little when they walk makes noises. Right back to where they came from. War of the worlds begins today. It's a horrendous show you people are putting on you have no memory no class no act no style might as well go home and pack it in sit here and look at your trash. So what you doing anyways they're on TV they're in front of your yard walking around your house taking stuff out they're in bags it's a horrible mess and we hate you for it you live like idiots you died at grotesque beasts.

And Tom Cruise is going to be up there shortly and it's not a short movie during the day it starts in the early afternoon and they haven't go home because the lightning storms and you look on TV and they're beginning and it's not from ships well it might be other ships that the aliens are taking

Thor Freya

My son says this that's a massive leap all these people don't know it and they've been in the business for years supposedly and he knew about it and you people are stupid what's with all the lightning okay you haven't explained it away then he sees a few shapes in their ships and he knows that's it nothing else he already knows mostly is so stupid you can't believe he knows at all in any way Paul Douglas is completely brainwashed Trump doesn't believe that our son knows anything at all about anything happening he's sitting here sending out orders and telling things to happen making them happen starting new businesses that show up and then f****** a****** doesn't believe word one of what's going on we're going to talk and toss him out of the Stella's building today and he's going to be dead he's going to go around the world it's probably shipping several different pieces because people are trying to stop him from going there.

Thor Freya