#during that first semester my mom told me they had a running joke about them lasting longer than me when the 6 week came around

[herawell]

.

[annab-nana]

Piss Boy Peter - Tom Holland

When you’re best friends, sometimes the lines are blurred and feelings can be confused, but all it takes is one moment for Tom to realize he’s utterly in love with you.

Warnings: some curse words

Word Count: 2.5k+

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

“Hey, Mrs. Nikki! It feels like I haven’t seen you in forever! How have you been?” you gushed as you hugged the woman you would very much consider to be your second mother tightly in your arms. She rolled her eyes playfully at you before chuckling to herself.

“Y/n, you can just call me Nikki now. No need for the other part,” she grinned beautifully before continuing, “I’ve been good, sweetheart. We haven’t seen you in almost three years but we’re all so proud of you for graduating college early. I know how hard you’ve worked but we did miss you. The boys are somewhere around here.” As soon as her words were finished, the familiar pitter-patter of paws clicked against the hardwood flooring as one Tessa Holland came running up to you.

“Hi Tess!” you squealed while you bent down to let the pup show you how much she loved you. “I think you missed me the most, isn’t that right Tess?” you asked her as if she would speak right back to you. Her wide grin and generous licks told you that she did in fact miss you as she hopped into your lap while you petted her.

“Well, I don’t know about that. I think it might’ve been Tom,” Nikki piped up as she walked into the kitchen while the frowning boy appeared from the hallway.

“Mum,” he whined as if you did not already know he missed you the most. His red cheeks could be spotted from a mile away.

“Don’t be embarrassed, Tom. You are my best friend. You’re supposed to miss me the most.” He rolled his eyes and bent down to pet the incredibly happy dog who sat in front of you too.

“Tessa, what am I gonna do? I thought we got rid of her and now she’s back,” the boy joked as he talked to who he called his best girl, but he knew that Tessa was his second-best girl, and you were first.

“Oh, I can go back to The States if you’d like? I’m sure I’m missed over there a lot more than I am over here it seems,” you scoffed in faux annoyance and hurt which caused the boy to snicker. There was a reason he was the actor out of the two of you.

“Get over here, you div,” he told you, wrapping an arm around your shoulders and pulling you into his embrace. However, since you both were on your knees just petting Tessa, you both toppled over onto the floor and Tessa wasted no time in joining the party as she wiggled her way between you and Tom. Your laughter sounded throughout the home as you two shared a tight embrace which was soon interrupted by someone clearing their throat.

“Harry!” you stated excitedly before getting up off Tom to give the boy a hug. You grew up around this family, so you were pretty close to them all and you had seen Tom a couple of times since you’ve come back to London. This was your first time seeing Harry in a year when he and Tom came to visit you during the week between your spring semester ending and your summer classes starting. The curly-headed boy let out a small ‘oof’ when your body collided with his, but he was quick to wrap his arms around you.

“Hey y/n,” he spoke above you as you swayed back and forth before pulling away to see Sam right behind him.

“Oh my God, Sam! Hi!” you shouted and gave him a big, long hug.

It had been three years since you saw the rest of the Holland’s. You got an amazing offer at a college in the US and had to go but that meant being away from your home, your friends, and your best friend, Tom. Tom had endured many phone calls where you were homesick and crying but he always assured you that London and all who inhabit it will be waiting for you when you get done. Thankfully, he came over there a good bit for filming purposes and he would always make sure to schedule a few days before and after and sometimes in between filming to spend time with you. Those days were the ones you treasured and held close to your heart, and you wouldn’t have been able to stay away if they hadn’t happened. And yes, you could’ve come back in the summers, but you decided to get it all done at once, taking summer classes and cutting a year off to graduate in three years instead of four.

“Y/n, how are you?” Sam asked as he pulled you away to look at you, a wide smile plastering his features at the sight. As you two kept up a conversation, Harry nudged Tom with his elbow.

“How long are you gonna stare at her, mate?” his younger brother inquired causing Tom to rip his gaze from you and look elsewhere.

“I just can’t believe she’s back,” he muttered before squatting back down to play with Tess, missing the eye roll and head shake from Harry.

“You losers ready to play some kickball?” Paddy shouted as he trotted down the stairs, stopping when he saw you and then running to give you a hug.

“Well hello to you too Padster,” you giggled while reciprocating the hug from the youngest Holland brother.

“Why didn’t you guys tell me she was coming?” he asked, arms still around you as he looked to his brothers.

“They didn’t know except for your mom who I texted like fifteen minutes before I came, but did you say kickball? You know I’d love to play if you let me,” you questioned and by the way the boy’s eyes lit up and he profusely nodded his head, you took that as a yes before he began to head outside. Sam and Harry followed but Tom hung back. “Are you not coming?”

“I’ll be out there in a bit,” he stated which was kinda weird seeing as he was normally so eager to get out and play with his brothers. Your brows furrowed and the mop of brown curls sighed. “Well, if you’re going to make me say it, I have to take a piss. Would you like to come along?”

“Ew no. Keep all that to yourself,” you grimaced before turning to the dog whose eyes flitted from you to Tom. “Come on Tess. Let’s go play outside,” you told her as you patted your leg to get her to follow. “See you out there in a bit, piss boy!” you yelled, closing the back door behind you.

“Hey piss boy,” he heard the soft voice of his mother snicker when she popped out of the kitchen, beckoning him over with the wave of her hand. He obliged and sat down on the stool across from her as she worked at making some tea for you all. “So, I bet you’re excited now that y/n is back,” she spoke up to start a conversation with her son. She has been talking to Harry a little recently about Tom possibly liking you more than a best friend. Harry confirmed her suspicions that it wasn’t too wild of an accusation so of course, she was going to be a little nosy and try to at least get Tom to hint at it. What a meddler mothers are.

“Well yeah. She’s my best friend and as much fun as she did have over there, she called me all the time crying because she missed London and her family and friends. I hate seeing or hearing her cry,” he spoke as he played with the hem of his shirt.

“So, she had a bit of fun, yeah? Did she meet anyone?” Nikki prodded on.

“She made some new friends that I know she’s gonna miss but she said that some of them are coming over here at the end of the month. Cam and Avery I think were their names. Cam was her freshman year roommate and then they met Avery one night at the library and the three hit it off,” Tom explained what he knew to his mum. He actually met Cam when he visited you, but Avery was never around when he was.

“So, she didn’t meet any new guys or anything?”

“Avery is a guy but they’re just friends as far as I know,” Tom told his mother as his eyes found the window and gazed out it to see you on the ground being attacked with loving licks from Tessa. He just couldn’t help the small smile that crept onto his lips at the view.

“What about you and her?” his mum interjected, effectively interrupting his trance on you.

“Me and her?” he inquired with a furrowed brow while his eyes found his mother once more. He didn’t understand what she was trying to get at.

“Yeah, you and y/n. Are you two together or do you look at all your friends that way?” she grinned to herself while busying herself with the tea. Heat rushed to his cheeks, and he shook his head immediately.

“N-no, we are just friends. Nothing more,” he mumbled as he let his face fall into his hands.

“But you want to be more?” she continued while Tom let out a sigh, his eyes wandering out the window again. You had gotten up now, Tessa right behind you, and you were walking over to where Paddy was with the ball. Your head snapped up to face Harry when he said something apparently funny and you threw your head back in laughter.

You looked so ethereal in that moment. Little pieces of grass in your hair thanks to Tessa rolling you around in it, a wide genuine and shining smile so radiant it was almost blinding, your shirt was kind of wonky since you were on the ground earlier and you had not bothered to fix it yet, but he liked the way it was sitting on your body beautifully. Everything about you and everything you did, the way you did it, was so captivating. You had Tom wrapped around your little finger and didn’t even know it. He had it bad for you and he hadn’t realized until now. His feelings for you, his true feelings that he could deny no longer, hit him like a freight train in that moment.

“Oh my God, Mum, I think I’m in love with her,” Tom whispered in shock as his wide brown eyes met her face which wore a knowing look.

“Darling, I’ve known that for years. I was just waiting for you to realize it.”

“Do you think she’ll like me back?” he pondered while his mother let out a laugh.

“Yes, just as I’ve seen you swooning over her for years, I’ve seen her doing the same for a while now too. Of course, she will like you back,” she reassured her son before looking out the window at her boys playing around. “She’s coming in, so I’ll leave you two.” His mother took off to somewhere else in the house as you walked in.

“What are you doing? I thought you were coming out after the bathroom,” you asked as you sat down on the seat next to his. Right then, you noticed something was off. You could feel it.

“Yeah, Mum and I just got to talking,” he stated, not giving you any sort of clue as to what was going through that brain of his. All you knew is that you wanted to help him.

“Hey,” you spoke softly as your hand reached out for his, “are you okay?”

“Yeah, I- yeah, we were just… uh, can I ask you something?” Now, you were definitely worried. Tom was only a stutterer when he was nervous and why he was nervous in your presence was beyond you.

“Um yeah always. What’s up?” You watched his eyes dart around the room before they landed on his own that rested in his lap, yours held between them.

“This is gonna sound weird, but- Fuck, I’m just going to say it. Do you wanna go out with me?” Hopeful yet cautious brown eyes gazed at you while the breath was knocked out of you.

“Like as your fake girlfriend to get you out of something or for real?” You had to be sure. You could not let your heart go into the fake thing again believing it was real. You did that once and you were heartbroken afterward.

“Something real. Y/n, I like you as more than a friend, more than a best friend. I don’t want to hide it anymore,” he confessed those words you’ve waited to hear for ages while hiding the small grin trying to show on your face before you spoke up again.

“Tom… I don’t know how to say this,” you started, still trying to mask your smile.

“You’re with Avery,” he assumed which you thought was a wild presumption but let it slide.

“Harry asked me out while we were outside.” Tom’s eyes widened and brows shot up. Well, he certainly did not expect that.

“I- uh, what? Really? I had no idea he felt that way,” he tried to play it off. He was never one to impose on his brothers like that and if Harry liked you, then he would for sure back away and let him have his shot with you. Tom would get used to just being your best friend. He’s done it for years so he could continue if need be. Then, you finally let your grin show before you burst into a fit of laughter. His raised brows lowered then furrowed, completely confused with the situation before him as you were doubled over giggling.

“No dumbass, but that’s what you get for making me wait so long,” you breathed out through your chuckles, watching the color return to Tom’s face and a feeble smile show itself on those thin lips you loved so dearly.

“O-oh, sorry,” he laughed nervously along with you before actually processing your words. “Wait, you like me back?”

You nodded your head while rolling your eyes at his stupidity. Wasn’t it painfully obvious? “Yes, I like you back, piss boy, and I will gladly go out with you too. Now, will you come out and play with us?” Well, how could he say no when you asked so nicely?

“Yeah, let’s go.” So, he got up first, you following him out to where the boys were, and you watched as he did a little skip before walking up to Paddy.

“So that’s where Peter Parker gets it from,” you wondered aloud when Sam came up behind you.

“He did the skip, didn’t he?” he asked before you nodded to answer his question.

“So, he made a move, and it went well?” Harry popped up on your other side.

“Yes, he did. He’s a lot more like him than people realize,” you mentioned when Tessa found your side again and watched everyone getting ready to play.

“Maybe, but he is no genius,” Harry quipped, causing laughter to erupt from you and Sam.

“Hey, I heard that!”

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

tag list: @rebelemilu @starrybrock @mxltifandoms06 @mendesblurb @dpaccione @msgorillagripcoochie @dpaccione @marjorie189 @sovereignparker @vintageobx @bibliophilewednesday @seventeen-reaction @drewstarkeysbitchh @tomsirishgirlx

click here to be added to the taglist

[be-ready-when-i-say-go]

Whatever Words Exist

StudentTeacher!Cal x Reader (Gender Neutral). Like mostly fluff. 

Reader and Calum have only met briefly. But when the connection is this magnetic, you don’t press fate. 

Masterlist (semi-hiatus) 

_____________________

Calum readjusts the strap on his backpack, getting the bag hitched back right on his shoulder. Just up the hill he can see a gathering of people, a general human mass but still too far away for him to make out any one person in particular. He knows he’s in the right place for sure. So he continues on and a few folks wave as he approaches. Derrick, former officemate, spots Calum first and waves him closer. 

“Meet Calum--old officemate of mine,” Derrick tells the group surrounding him. First years, Calum assumes and gives them a tiny smile and wave to the group. 

“Yeah, because this jerk decided to apply for a full time instructor position. And then got upgraded,” Calum laughs. 

“Look, gotta pay the bills how I can,” Derrick returns and then goes around the semi circle introducing everyone. 

Calum looks at each one in return and then his gaze lands on yours. As a first year to the program and student teaching, you ran into Calum during the intense two week training. Well, you two didn’t really run into each other. Calum ran a few sessions during the training and you might have purposefully lingered behind on the free range Q&A that he was a part of with a few other experienced student teachers. He seemed to be calm and level headed about all the teaching and you were quite the opposite, so listening to him answer questions gave you a small amount of peace. 

The second reason you lingered until everyone else was gone and asked their questions is because you thought he was attractive. The baggy t-shirt but nice fitting jeans and the way he titled in when he was listening to someone. He seemed to really care and take his time to answer any questions--even when he had other things he needed to attend to as well. “Hey,” he says as his smile brightens around your name. 

“Hi Calum,” you return. “Slumming it with us first years.”

“I would never call it slumming, not in the slightest,” he laughs in return. The conversation steers away from that, talking about the summer and general shared interests. But every so often you and Calum lock eyes, gazes lingering for way longer than you’d like to admit. Mostly because you don’t want to be this into someone so early into the semester. And truth be told, the semester hadn’t even truly started. 

About ten minutes pass before professors start to approach, a couple of them holding boxes of pizza. And while you definitely weren’t sure how to juggle all the responsibilities of teaching, classes, paying rent on time, you were grateful for the lunch of pizza. It also meant that you’d be taking some home if enough people didn’t go in for seconds. And getting a free meal plus an easy dinner was always worth it. 

As the pizzas are lined up, you linger back, not wanting to be the first person to get food, but close enough to the first brave souls. “So, have you done any exploring around town?” Calum asks from behind you. 

You spin to half face him to talk to him. “Not a lot. By the time we get done with training I’m too tired to do anything else. But I need to get my bike looked at, so I probably should get downtown at the very least.”

“What’s up with your bike? You said it was your main mode of transportation.”

“Just double checking tire pressure--nothing major. One of them feels like it’s not as high as the other. But rather be safe than sorry since the semester starts.”

Calum nods and shuffles up as the line moves. “If you need a ride to the shop, I have my car.”

You’re not sure if Calum’s offering just to be nice or if it means more. So you default to telling him he doesn’t have to, but he insists. And even as you’re grabbing a slice of pizza and Calum’s right behind you, you try to tell him that he shouldn’t completely disturb his whole day just for you. 

“I cannot have you blowing a tire on the side of the road. Do you have your bike with you today? We could go after this.”

If there were any way to die right in this moment, you’re wishing for it. “I do,” you answer cautiously, walking towards the metal picnic tables. “But really, I can do by myself. It’s not that big of a deal.”

“Oh, c’mon, this town’s not necessarily the nicest to cyclists and if you got stranded I’d feel like an ass.” Calum settles across from you on the bench, slipping his backpack off his shoulder. You do the same, setting your backpack next you and pulling your water bottle from the side pocket. 

“I don’t know what your plans are. I don’t want to intrude,” you counter, unscrewing the top to your water bottle to take a sip. 

“My plans were to sit in my office and pretend like I was lesson planning.”

“Where’s your office again?”

Calum rattles off the name of the building, before taking his first bite of pizza. And you swear for a moment the universe is fucking with you. It has it out for you. “I’m in the same building,” you state. 

“I’m in room 138.”

Oh, how cruel is the universe. How fucking cruel could it be. “Same,” you state after finishing your bite of pizza. “Haven’t been inside to see it yet though.”

“Oh, it sounds like I’m your personal tour guide today.” And it’s not that he’s being adamant about it. Because you know if you were in the reverse positions, you’d do something similar. But a glint crosses his eyes, his smile is a slight curl of his lips and he’s looking up at you from underneath his lashes. 

Your stomach flutters, and suddenly pizza looks and feels like lead, but you take another bite to do something other than let panic settle. A quiet settles between the two of you as you eat. Though more people are turning up and settling in around you to make up for the silence. A few more minutes pass, even with you tossing away your plate and saying hi to some other people who are also teaching for the first time this year before you hear the professors calling for the group’s attention.

As the group quiets down, you return back to the spot where your bag is and Calum’s still there, laughing at something Derrick is saying. You catch his gaze and you really only think that you should look away. But you do. He’s too fucking handsome not to keep your gaze lingering for a moment longer. The humorous smile changes, becomes more subtle as the two of you continue to gaze at each other. 

You can feel your cheeks getting hot but slowly feel your own smile over taking your face before you cast your gaze down and then flick it back up to who’s speaking. It’s good information to get, as you listen to each professor in turn talk about the program more. You get a good sense of who each person is, and it’s not too much longer before each of the new and old cohort introduces themself. 

It’s a natural break as everyone starts to talk again with the business now out of the way. You mingle with some of the instructors but gravitate towards the snacks that are available. Just as you get a good grasp on one of the oreos, your name is called out. You spin, making sure to keep the Oreos in a tight hold. Calum waves you over to the group he’s in and you walk over. You know you shouldn’t. You know you’re playing with fire. But you do so anyway and he introduces you to some other people in the same year as him. They weren’t at the student teacher training. 

You’re thankful for the introduction but slowly the conversation drifts to the group joking about something that you seem to be missing and you know almost without thinking that Calum’s going to seize this opportunity. You turn to him first. “I like the vibe of this program,” you start. 

He smiles. “I’m glad. It’s all pretty tight knit.” You nod, agreeing with this point, but also not sure if you’re reading the air between you and him correctly either. “Do you wanna duck out now?” he asks quietly. “Get that bike fixed up for the first day of classes.”

“Ye-yeah, that’s cool.”

He nods over to where your belongings are with a smile. And the two of you gather your things. As you lead Calum over to where you locked up your bike you pause. “Wait,” you start, “do you even have a place to strap a bike down?”

“My friends and I bike the trails a lot during the year. My SUV can handle it, I promise,” he returns with a laugh. The two of you walk side by side down the parking lot. “Where do you call home?” he asks. 

You rattle off the answer and in return ask him the same. “Well home home is Australia. But I came to the states with some mates and we’ve sort of always called California a second home.”

“You beat me the longest distance from home,” you laugh. 

“Well, only on a technicality.”

“So like your mom, dad, and siblings--if you have any--are like clear across the world?”

“Mum and Dad are. Sister’s in London.”

“Is she studying too?”

“Singer--she’s over there doing that.”

You hum. “Is singing a family trait?”

Calum laughs and you watch some lights blink from a car and you spy the keys in his hand. “I wouldn’t call it a family trait. But yeah, we all sing. In our own ways. Originally made some moves for music. Career paths changed just a tiny bit.”

“So you and the friends you moved with were in a band?”

“Of sorts. Went well for a while. Then we just needed rest.”

“So your idea of rest is going to school and teaching?” You laugh. Calum opens the trunk first for your bags. And when he closes it, you finally spot the rack to set your bike on. 

“Like I said, career paths took a turn. Rest or new experience--I’ve yet to decide on the name yet.”

With the bike settled and secure, you walk around to the passenger side door. Calum’s quick to turn the air on in the car once he’s inside. His radio starts up immediately and he scrambles to turn it down. “Sorry, don’t wanna blast you out of the car,” he states. 

“No, no worries.”

“Any requests? You can plug your phone in too, if you want.”

“Oh God, I take over the aux and you’re going to get some anime theme song and I’d rather save myself the embarrassment.”

Calum’s chuckle is quick and clear of the click of the seatbelts. He switches over the radio and hands you the white cord. “Now you have to embarrass yourself.”

“That’s what I get for opening my big mouth.” Plugging the cord in, you shuffle for a decent opening song as the truck starts backwards out of the parking spot. 

“So what about you? How did the universe drop you here?”

“Pure determination and spite,” you laugh as the song starts over the speakers. “I finished my undergrad, worked for a couple years and then promptly said this is not what I want to do forever and started looking to go back to school.”

“Pure determination and spite,” Calum repeats. He keeps his attention heavily on the road as he’s driving out of the park and through the neighborhoods. But once he hits a stretch of main road he can glance over to you. And you’re staring out of the front windshield, head slightly tilted. “You look lost in thought?”

“Just admiring the view.”

And Calum hums, a sound of agreement, but the view he’s enjoying isn’t the sight of campus and the surrounding area. The two of you continue on, weaving around some traffic and soon you’re turning down a side street. One that reminds you almost of home. And maybe that’s just the universality of it all. Almost anything could be home if you wanted it to be, because there was always going to be a piece of a place that you could connect too. 

“The guys here are nice and really quick about anything that’s a simple fix,” Calum offers. “Also, your music isn’t that bad.”

Your jaw drops just a little and a small squawk of indignation falls from your lips. “What’s that supposed to mean?” you ask, jumping out of the car. Calum’s already at the back, pulling your bike from the secure rack. 

“It means that having an anime theme song play would’ve made it ten times better.”

You huff, but follow behind him into the shop. The two of you greeted almost immediately and when the guy working on the floor spies the bike, he’s quick to walk over and see what the issue is. You explain that you’ve noticed a difference in tire pressure. In your move your gauge got misplaced and you hadn’t quite yet had time to get someone to look at it until now. 

“Yeah, we can check that for you. No problem. So any other plans for today?” he asks, making small talk. You talk briefly about the weather, though there’s not quite a lot to talk about it. Not too long later, the guy’s able to confirm that one of tires did have something puncturing it and letting out some air. But he’s quick to let you know that they can fix it in just a few minutes if the two of you have it. 

“I’d greatly appreciate it,” you start and then look at Calum, who just shrugs. “Yeah, can you fix it?”

“Sure can. Just give me a few minutes.”

“Thank you.”

You watch Calum browse, trying not to linger on the way his back moves underneath the t-shirt as he reaches up for something along the walls. And it’s like asking to get into trouble. Though there’s nothing wrong with instructors dating. You just had a plan, that's all.The first semester you’d get settled, figure out what this whole student teaching life was all about. And the more you watched Calum, the more you were sure that plan was going to fall apart. 

“Here she is, all fixed up.” You look up from your spot, in the store, having migrated to the opposite end of the door and walk over to the man with your bike. “Just a little puncture. Nothing too bad.” He rattles off the costs and it’s more than you anticipated, but not so much more that you have complaints.

Calum’s quick to take over the bike and walk it back outside, smiling as you hold the door open for him. “Thanks.”

“No, thanks to you. For chauffeuring me around.”

“Oh, it’s nothing,” he returns, getting the bike back onto the rack. “Did you want to explore some nearby shops?”

“Oh, hmm. Maybe later. I haven’t an ounce of lesson plans just yet. So I think I should maybe get my week 2 planned.”

“Well it sounds like you have something of week one planned,” Calum counters. 

“We were forced. Thanks to orientation.”

He laughs. “Yeah, they wanted you to have that down at least.”

In the brief glance around, as you try to tell yourself, you shouldn’t explore, you spy a little coffee shop. It looks intriguing. And you point out the sign. “Have you ever tried them?”

“Yeah--it’s a really good shop.”

You take a small step towards the building, careful though because you’re still in the parking lot and about to head into the street. “Can I tack on just a tiny bit of exploring and grab a cup?”

“Of course.”

“Recommend anything?”

Calum holds the door open as he speaks. “Chai Latte, but you can’t tell anyone that it was me that recommended it.”

“Your secret it safe with me.”

In line, you try not to think about how close Calum is, as he stands behind you. But you can feel him, or maybe you want to feel it, you’re aware of him that it’s like all you’d have to do is fake a clumsy step back to be resting into his chest. You imagine it to be firm, but somehow cozy. And maybe that’s just the worn t-shirt he’s adorned in and the beanie on his head. But his presence feels soft to you. 

Your daydream doesn’t last long as the line shuffles forward and you take the step forward rather than the step backward. The coffee shop is quaint, the wide windows letting in plenty of sunlight. But the tables are dark brown and look worn from your place in line. It feels lived in and you enjoy that even though the outside was painted a hunter green, the inside is a pretty beige accented by the chocolate wood of the tables. 

“It’s like a dream,” you state in a whisper, taking in the lights in the ceiling and the scattered bodies of students with backpacks at their feet and others whom you assume live in town and are most likely trying to enjoy the last bits of quiet before the rest of the students descend onto the campus and town. 

In all your sight exploration, your order is called up and Calum has to get it for you. He smiles though, watching the wonder that fills your eyes. “The offer’s still on the table,” he states, handing over the correct cup t you. “We can explore.”

“Can we raincheck? What does next weekend look like for you?”

He still hadn’t responded to Ashton about the hike. So he doesn’t really have plans. “Free as a bird.”

“Would it be okay? To wait till then?”

“Of course,” he exhales. “I’m not the one still learning with training wheels of teaching. I can do this in my sleep.”

“Oh, so big and tough,” you joke, but head back to the front door. The two of you break back out into the bright sun and it’s warm on your skin. “Just give me a semester. I’ll be able to knock you down a peg.”

And Calum doesn’t doubt that for a second. Not with the way you talked about getting into the program. Inside the truck, you’re handed the aux yet again and this time don’t think twice about plugging it in. “To our office?” he asks. 

“You’re not even going to be doing anything for real.”

“I like the sense of productivity.”

“Ain’t that the truth,” you laugh. The drive back to the campus isn’t as long as you thought it would be. But somehow it comes all too quickly. You’re still not sure what’s happening between you and Calum. It’s easy, natural between the two of you. But your plan--you know it’s all going down the drain. All his jokes make you laugh, and you know one or two shouldn’t. And when you do laugh, Calum turns sheepish. He goes quiet, a tiny smile quivering at his lips. 

Calum parks in the employee parking lot in front of the building with your office. Both of you climb out at the same time. And with backpacks, coffee, keys and phones all in place you two trek up to the door. “I think it’s only three of us in the office this year,” Calum talks, fishing out the right key on the hook. 

“Only three?”

“This used to be an old dorm building. So they can usually stick four of us into the room. But the email we got about office assignments only had three names. There was a fourth, but I don’t know what happened to them. They were in a different English program than us. And I don’t know if they graduated or not.”

“Ah,” you return, stepping through the door behind him. And it doesn’t remind you too much of a dorm, not in the always at least. But when Calum unlocks the door, you can see where it definitely once was an older dorm building thanks to the sink in the corner. “You weren’t kidding, huh?’

“About it being an old dorm? Not in the slightest.” He drops his backpack into the desk on the left side of the room but closest to the window. A couple pictures decorate the desktop. The desk next to him as a blanket and the whiteboard above it, has something written on it. So you assume it’s the third person. The desk on the right, closest to the door has nothing on it. The one closest to the window, across from Calum is also empty. 

You walk into the room some more and Calum pulls out his laptop from his bag and then steps around you. “As a heads up, the door stays locked. So you’ll need your key if you go out and close the door. I got locked out once or maybe twice. And it’s definitely not fun.”

You nod. “Thanks for the heads up.”

He smiles and then slips out of the door and you study the empty desk. It’s stupid, trivial to take the one across from Calum, but you drop your backpack into the office chair. The next time you come, you’ll bring desk decorations. To claim which one is yours. Because right now in the depths of your backpack you don’t have much. Well you do have a book that you don’t really need to keep up with too much. Maybe you can leave that. 

Exhaling, you get mostly settled and just before you can get your laptop out of the sleeve the door opens to Calum walking through again. The beanie’s now in his hands as he strides across the room and you can’t help but stare at the curls falling from his head. You want to curse him for looking so good. But you force yourself to go back to your screen. 

Calum settles back into his chair and watches you, sitting up straighter than he’s ever seen a person sit. And he wishes he wasn’t so chicken shit about it. You fucking asked him to hang out next weekend. But still, it’s like toying the line. Trying to make sure he’s reading the cues right. Maybe not right now, maybe next weekend he can get a better read, make a move. He turns back to his own laptop and finds the syllabus he made from the last semester. He can still use most of it. Though in the spring they had a break and in the fall, now they don’t. So he can delete that week as no class and actually have time for the group project in class that the department requires for them to teach. 

A couple hours go by, silence between the two of you, but the clacking of keys makes a chorus around the room. Calum pauses every so often to look over his shoulder. Sometimes you’re deep into work, pushed up into the seat. And once or twice, he found you slouched, staring out at the window next to both of you. 

Another hour passes and shuffling ensues behind Calum. He looks over and finds you packing up. “Headed home?”

You nod. “Managed to get the first unit mostly planned. We’ll see how it goes.”

He smiles. “I’m sure it’ll go well.” He goes to turn around and then remembers your bike is still attached to the back of his car. “Oh, let me go with you to get your bike,” he says ,shooting up from his chair. It rolls backwards for a split second but then makes a sudden stop. 

“Oof,” you let out, rubbing at your stomach. 

“Oh my god,” he rushes out, stepping in closer. “I’m so sorry. Had no clue you were that close. You okay?”

“Yeah,” you laugh and then look up. And Calum’s eyes are a deeper brown that you initially thought. Now that he's closer to you. “Yeah, I’m okay,” you exhale in a breath. 

“You sure? I think the Campus Health Services is open. Or you know, urgent care?”

“I don’t think you caused internal bleeding. Just caught me off guard.”

He finally brings his gaze up from where you’ve stopped holding your stomach to your eyes. And he shouldn’t. He shouldn’t let his gaze drop below your eyes, because truth be told he already stared too much at your lips during the entirety of orientation. And he already knows just how plump they are. 

It’s silent--almost uncomfortably so. “Can I--I should get your bike,” Calum says, saving himself from sure embarrassment. 

He steps around you and you stretch out, capturing his wrist in your hand. “No, what were you going to ask?” you ask. The question leaves you without much thought and you know you shouldn’t ask. But you just can’t help it. Because you almost stretched up to kiss him. 

“It’s nothing,” he returns. But he doesn’t pull his wrist away. 

“Is it really nothing?”

Calum feels you step in closer. He inhales and lets it slowly. He shouldn’t. He absolutely should not let the question cross his lips. But he turn, and sees you illuminated by the sun from the windows and god, how can he deny an angel standing in front of him. “I was going to ask if I could ask you a question.” And it’s not really what he was going to ask. But it buys him some time. 

“You can ask me.”

“Do you--is this--,” he exhales, for a moment hating that the words are getting caught in his throat. “I don’t know if you’re feeling the same thing I am. But I-I’ve been interested in you, like from the second I saw you at the orientation. And I really, really don’t want to make a fool of myself. But I was hoping, are you interested? In me?”

There it goes--the plan--down the drain in just a few sentences. “If you’re asking if I thought you were attractive, yes. And if you’re asking if I care to see where this goes, the answer is also yes. But it really wasn’t supposed to go down like this.”

The elation covers his face and makes his cheeks push up as he smiles--so much so that the skin around his eyes crinkles. “I’ll gladly interrupt all your plans.”

You scoff at the sentiment, but feel your body heating up. Calum steps in even closer to you. His fingers find yours and thread them together. “So the real question I had was if I could kiss you? But I wasn’t sure if that was too forward.”

“Too forward a minute ago. But not too forward for right now,” you state, already moving in to kiss him. It’s short, longer than a peck, but not quite long enough. Because as you pull away, Calum’s other hand is cupping the back of your head and keeping you closer. His hold is firm but his lips are soft and you melt, knees buckling just for a moment. Thankfully, you manage to recover quickly. It doesn’t stop Calum from chuckling. 

“Are you telling me that I have that kind of effect on you?”

“Shut the fuck up, and kiss me again,” you state breathlessly. He doesn’t need to be asked twice. His lips capture yours again, happy to finally get a small taste of you. And you’re acutely aware that it must look ridiculous--you with your backpack full to the nines pressed up against Calum’s chest, chasing down his lips because his touch is mixing in with the scent of his cologne and all you know for sure is that it’s an intoxicating mixture that you want to be trapped in forever. 

You pull away, needing just a moment to catch your breath and Calum rests his forehead against yours. “Are you sure you want to leave me now?” he teases. 

“I--I’ll be honest. The reason why I was leaving was because I knew this was going to happen.”

“Oh? You knew?”

You laugh, cupping his jaw. “Calum, I know one thing for sure. You’re a dangerous man to be around.”

“Oh you’ve just met me. I should be offended.”

“Should be?” you question. 

“You’re--I don’t know what. But I knew that I wanted to know you. So whatever words that exist for that--that’s what you are.”

“I’m flattered,” you state softly. 

“If you give me 5, I can pack up my stuff and drop you off back at home. Now I’d be an asshole not to drop you off.”

You watch him, pulling back from the closeness. “I can make it home now that my bike’s fixed. Thanks to your insistence.”

“Well, let me insist one more time that I make sure you get home safely.” 

“Fine,” you resign. And he’s quick to pack up. Out in the hallway, he takes your hand, threading your fingers again. And it’s natural, easy between the two of you. You bump shoulders, laughing as you step out in the daylight. 

Inside his car, you slip back into the passenger seat. But when Calum settles into the driver seat and gets buckled in, he rests one hand on your thigh. Not too high up, nothing too suggestive, but not directly on your knee. You try not to let it fluster you, the ease at which he establishes touch, but your heart races just a little. 

You curl your fingers around his palm--it’s something to do with your hands, but also allows you a bit of control. You direct him easily back to your apartment. It’s nearly a straight shot, minus the one left turn needed and when he pulls up into a parking space in front of your building, he squeezes at your fingers just a little. 

You face him with a smile. “Thanks, for everything.”

“Yeah of course,” he returns. “So, next weekend? More exploring?”

“I’d like that.”

“I’ll text you about the date and time for sure. Unless we meet again in the office.”

Unbuckling your seatbelt, you laugh gently stretching across the console. “I have a suspicion we shall meet again in the office.”

“Lovely,” he breathes and you meet his lips, capturing them gently before pulling away and grabbing all your things. Your bike is easy to get down and then you lock it back up on the rack outside, even though Calum does help. He leans up against the door and you spy him watching. 

“Enjoying the show?” you tease shaking your butt at him at the outside door of the building.  

His laughter rings out. “Making sure you get inside safely, actually. But a show is always welcomed.”

[runwithwolvcs]

You Know I'm No Good - four

First Day

Warnings: mentions of drugs and alcohol, mentions of sex

[photo of Tallulah and Lina]

don't call me kid, don't call me baby, look at this godforsaken mess that you made me

Tallulah was the first one awake in the morning, the sunrise just peeking through her blinds as she laid in bed on her side, staring at the wall. She struggled to get back to sleep and tossed and turned, feeling an uncomfortable pit in her stomach that she decided had something to do with it being her first day at La Push Tribal School.

Starting a new school in the second semester of her senior year did not bother her as much as it should have, what concerned her more was that she was walking into a school that never gets new students, let alone mid semester. All eyes were going to be on her, and she was sure that some of them had already conjured up their own preconceived notions of her. Oh the joys of small town gossip, she thought to herself as she climbed out of bed, grabbing her clothes for the day. She told herself that making friends was not a must here, because as soon as she graduates she will be back in Seattle with her old, real friends, living the life that she wants to live. She could let herself be picky, or else she’ll end up with a Josie, who seems trustworthy on the outside, but isn’t in the end. Tallulah rolled her eyes at the thought itself, if that's how she wants to be then so be it.

Tallulah quickly changed into her black tank and oversized flannel shirt, before pulling on her jeans, she tried to tame her hair without ruining her natural waves into a frizzy mess. She wasn't one for much makeup, especially not for school considering the frequent rain on pacific northwest.

Rushing downstairs to the kitchen, the uncomfortable pit curbing her appetite, Tallulah settled on just coffee, as she poured it into her mug she had grabbed from the cupboard, she heard footsteps entering the kitchen. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw Lenna out of the corner of her eye, all dolled up as if she were going to Paris Fashion Week.

“I heard about what Josie did.” Lenna stated as she searched through the fridge, “you’ll get used to it.” This made Tallulah scoff audibly, “get used to being thrown under the bus for doing absolutely nothing wrong beside talking to some guy I’ve never even met before yesterday?” she asked sarcastically, turning to face her younger sister, mug in hand. “No, well, yes. It just means she did something she doesn’t want to get in trouble for, so she throws gasoline on someone else's fire to make it seem bigger than the one she started.” She keeps her eye on the tall, raven-haired girl as she closes the door, “She means well Tally.” I bet, she thought to herself. Maybe this is what sisters do, and she's the one that's being unreasonable. To be fair, she's never had to deal with someone snitching right in front of her face to her mother. At least she had the guts to do it at the dinner table.

She watched as Lenna looked over her outfit, making a face that Tallulah couldn’t quite comprehend, “is there something wrong with my outfit?” she asked, eyebrows raised in challenge. Lenna shook her head, “Nope, not at all. Between that, the tattoos and the nicotine addiction, I’d say you’ll fit right in with a few groups at school. I can point them out if you’d like, I heard dad tossed your vape maybe you can snag one today.” Tallulah shook her head before taking a sip of her cooling coffee, “I can make my own friends, and I’m not addicted” she fought the urge to roll her eyes again as their dad walked into the kitchen, clearly dressed for work. “Tally, Lenny, ready for school? Dakota picked up your sister already this morning, something about a project that's not finished yet” the short laugh that came from Lenna did not go unnoticed by Tallulah, but she said nothing, nodding her head at her fathers question. “I have to go to a tribal meeting tonight with Kira, so it’s going to be pizza for dinner, Lenny can pick it up on her way home from work, right Len?” he asked as he filled his to-go mug with coffee, even though he really wasn't asking, “Tal,” he said, looking directly at his eldest daughter, “I know this has been a big change in just a few days, but you’re doing great kid, but let's keep those rules in mind when making friends today,” clearly referring to something she has no clue about. “So, you mean I can’t skip school and sneak Paul through my window while you’re gone?” she joked half heartedly. She had no intention of ever speaking to him today, but seeing the looks on Lenna and their dad's face was probably the best start to her day she was going to get. She finished off her coffee and placed her mug in the sink, grabbing her book bag from the counter and heading to the front door, yelling ‘kidding!’ over her shoulder as she left, while her dad yelled ‘have fun!’ right back at her.

Tallulah drove in silence to the school, following the directions Josie had shown her during their day out, for once wanting to be early. She wanted to scope out all her classrooms beforehand to minimize the amount of interaction she would have to have with anyone in order to just keep her head down and float by as unnoticed as she could.

As she pulled into the small parking lot there were very few students and teachers mulling around. The school itself was small, only two stories, with a few portables that were quite run down. Nothing like her old school of 5000 students, every hallway crowded and parking lot full every day.

Tallulah parked her car and pulled out her phone from her pocket, checking the few messages she had, despite it only being 8 in the morning. One message was from her mom, wishing her well on her first day, telling her she had shipped the rest of her personal belongings that she may want or need and that she loved her. Tallulah rolled her eyes, she loved her so much she didn’t want to deal with her anymore. She checked some more of her messages and replied to those that warranted them only stopping as the incoming call notification lit up her screen.

A photo of Lina, her best friend, and her graced the screen, she quickly hit accept before placing the phone to her ear, breathing out a quickie ‘hello’. The two haven’t been able to have a conversation in days to discuss the tragedy that had unfolded the night her mom caught her sneaking into her bedroom, the dramatic gasp on the other line made her smile, “You picked up!” Lina all but shouted excitedly, before saying to someone else ‘told you she would’, clearly she wasn’t alone. “Of course I did, Li. Just because I've been shipped off to the middle of nowhere doesn’t mean I dropped out of school.” she said looking at the tiny building, that more students were now filing into. “Besides, I always answer your calls.” she stated, which made Lina laugh into the phone, “Right, right. Well I was just calling to see how you were, Kits here too.” she said and she could hear Kit bid a hello in the background, “and we wanted to invite you to this party that's happening at some club in Port Angeles next Friday. We figured it would give you some time to ask your dad if you can come or plan an escape. He can’t keep you from us forever.” she rambled, clearly excited.

She knew what club she was talking about, they had been planning on going once they had all turned 18. As exciting as it sounded, she knew her dad would never go for it, and sneaking out to Port Angeles and back would be next to impossible. “I don’t know about that, Li, but I'll try. I’m sure I could convince him to let you guys come out here if he doesn’t budge?” she asked absentmindedly, hoping she’d take the bait. Tallulah listened as Lina talked to someone away from the speaker before hearing the phone be passed to someone new, she furrowed her brows at the silence before the new speaker breathed out, “Luie.”

Xander.

The only person on planet earth who was allowed to call her ‘Luie’. The nickname started with him and ended with him. She hated the nickname when he had first started using it, he would say it in such a condescending way. Like he was reprimanding a child, but it grew on her as her relationship with him developed. They had never dated, but everyone assumed they were with how touchy-feely they were with each other. But, they both hated commitment, saying that it was the root of all sadness, and they had enough of that in their life already. As if that stopped them from hurting each other anyways. Xander was all of her firsts, first friend, first kiss, first time drinking alcohol with him, first cigarette, first time sneaking out, and first hookup. It's why she always went back to him after a fight, no matter how bad it was, all her good memories are tied to him.

“Hey, Xan” she said softly, “Are you coming to Port Angeles for the party?” he asked in a nonchalant tone, knowing she could never say no to him. “I want to..” she started, “But no promises. My dads a lot stricter compared to my mom.” Tallulah heard him grunt in acknowledgment. He wasn’t going to beg, or plead her to come like Kit or Lina would, he knew he didn’t have to. “Well, let us know, ya?” he stated, voices in the background signaled that they were most likely getting ready to take the train to school, like she would be in normal circumstances. “Oh, and Luie, have a don’t do anything I wouldn’t do on your first day.” she could practically hear the grin that she knew he had before the line went dead, he wasn’t much for formal goodbyes.

Sighing, she shoved her phone in her pocket before exiting her car, grabbing her bag off of the passenger seat and slinging it over her shoulder. She made sure to lock the car before placing her keys in her bag and grabbing her timetable as she walked towards the entrance of the school. She was too busy trying to figure out what classroom she needed to head to first that she wasn’t paying any attention to any of her surroundings. Hence why she walked head on into someone, dropping the white sheet of paper in the process. Hot hands steadying her by the arms. It felt as if she had walked straight into a brick wall, she would’ve laughed it off if it wasn’t the root of all her problems so far in La Push.

“Are you stalking me?” she asked the older man, everywhere she went, there he was. Paul shook his head with a chuckle, causing the teen to glare up at him. “Well aren’t you a little too old to be hanging around a high school?” she questioned, arms crossing over her body as the heat from his hands had made her realize just how cold it was outside once they were off of her. “Relax, I was just dropping someone off.” he stated, his voice was deeper than it was the day before, like he had just woken up. She averted her eyes from him as she could feel the blush heat to her face at how silly she must have sounded. Of course that's why he's here. She hadn’t realized he had picked up her schedule for her until he read out a name from it, “First period: Miss. Young.You’ll like her, everyone does.” he said while handing her back the slip. She nodded her head, “right, well i should go find her class then.” she mumbled as she took a step back from him, he responded by giving her the directions to the class, which made her want to question how he knew that but Tallulah wasn’t sure if she wanted to know the answer, so instead, she thanked him and walked away heading towards the front doors, each step closer she filled more and more with dread, wanting to turn around and get in her car and drive away as far as she could.

She turned back to where she had left Paul standing to see him still there, only now he was talking on the phone. His whole demeanor had changed, he looked rigid and frustrated. Before she turned to completely walk through the doors, he caught her eye and gave her a small smile, the feeling of dread dissipating in that moment as she entered her new school.

[kyloswarstars]

ROOMMATES • Part 8

Divergent • College AU • Eric x Reader

ROOMMATES masterlist 💫 Divergent masterlist

You escaped your current living situation by moving in with your friend Christina – and five other college students. Little did you know that one of them was the guy who was your ultimate pain in the neck since your first semester. Now, you had to find a way to not strangle him in his sleep out of pure frustration. Also, you had to find a way to get rid of those weird butterfly feelings for him that slowly grew in your stomach.

Words • 2.7k

The enemies to lovers story no one needed.

/////

The day in the zoo was sad and great and irritating and left you with a faint emptiness. Eric kept a physical distance ever since. His hand didn’t brush yours randomly when you met in the hallway. He didn’t stand close to you at the check out when you went grocery shopping together. His feet didn’t accidentally pump into yours under the dining table when you had the roommate gatherings. He didn’t sat down next to you on the balcony, he didn’t bump into you when you got out of the bathroom and he certainly did not press his side to yours anymore. His thigh, his arm, his shoulder wasn’t burning against yours, the magnetising pull just eradicated as if you had never felt it at all.

Your bodies didn’t touch anymore and that made sure that none of all those times, you had wondered if it had been on accident, had been on accident. It had always been on purpose. Eric had wanted to be close and now he didn’t want to anymore. And the weirdest thing of it all was that you still wanted to be close.

The weeks went by. Chicago finally decided that it was time for all the stuffy air to vanish. With one big, biblical doomsday thunderstorm the sky cleared itself with heavy rain and sent all the heat it had held to the future. Stored it for next summer. It was still warm, still summer but it slowly came closer to its end, moving on from the start, moving on from you moving into this apartment.

You stared at the walls in the night. There was still the knocking. Every single night, his knuckles morsed ‚GN‘ and you returned it. That was the closest your hands got – six inches divided by a wall.

While Eric remained this physical distance, his eyes didn’t stop staring at you. And lacking his side pressed against yours in the most random situations, you stared right back. Whenever you sensed his eyes on you, you were drawn to them immediately. As if the magnet had been shoved into them, now that is wasn’t in your thigh anymore.

It’s fine. Everything is fine. A good mantra to repeat when you worked on the study. For a few days you had to repeat it almost every minute to concentrate. But the more time, days and then eventually weeks passed, it got easier. Peter had still been on your mind now and then but he just wasn’t worth it. And, even without Eric stating the obvious back at the zoo, you knew it. It was summer break still, but as soon as the new semester would start, there would be no time to think about a guy anymore. Not about Peter and not about Eric.

With that you fully regained the realistic side of your mind. You concentrated on your beloved constant in life called mathematics. You tidied your room, threw out stuff you didn’t need anymore. You made pizza with Eric for all the roommates, he didn’t press himself next to you at the countertop but instead let you knead the dough on your own. Eric occasionally searched for a conversation and it was all still very sincere, way too friendly for the guy who had argued with you for more than two years in your classes. But no. physical. contact.

Reality. You focused on it and decided it was time to call your brothers. During the summer break your contact always faded a little, giving the fact that Cole had to be at every party, Levi saving his ass and leading a group of volunteers at the sea turtle rescue centre and you being wrapped up in whatever went through your mind.

It surprised you that both of them actually accepted the video call. Instant homesickness greeted you. Especially from Levi’s window. He was sitting in the kitchen, your mom cooking dinner in the background.

„Honey!“ She blurted over the boiling pots. Levi didn’t even have the chance to say hello. Cole, in his window, rolled his eyes. „Didn’t I and your father tell you to at least text once a week? So we know you didn’t fall of the earth’s surface, yet?“

She joked a little but you heard the seriousness in her voice. And it instantly made you feel guilty, knowing very well that a simple one word ‚alive‘ message would be enough for them. And you didn’t know why it was so hard for you to simply do that.

„I pledge improvement.“ You promised and tried to stick to it this time.

„Levi, move! Before dad comes around and threatens Y/N to fly up there every week to make sure she’s okay.“ Cole was laughing and Levi left the kitchen on his order.

„So you are alive,“ Levi stated. With him and Cole it wasn’t that much guilt anymore. Still a little but less than with your parents.

You affirmed and then lead the conversation in a different direction, tricked them into telling you about their summers without having to talk about yours.

Cole got drunk every second day, Levi got his ass home whenever he couldn’t walk straight anymore. No surprise. Levi gave a detailed report about the current numbers of turtle nests and the amount of baby turtles they expected to hatch. It was Levi’s first summer break since he had started college. Instead of freaking out like Cole and running to every beach gathering he could find, he sticked to be the responsible volunteer he was and cared for the turtle protection. It made you proud. Cole, was still on the team too. Only on the afternoons, though. After he had slept off his hangover and before he made sure to get a new one.

Brothers.

At the end of the call your dad fetched Levi’s phone, who sat on the porch by now, and stared at you for a second. He wasn’t as carefree anymore. A few years ago he would just blurb about everything that came to his mind. Now, he thought more about the things he said and what to hold back.

„You need more sleep, honey,“ he said, looked at you with a caring smile and ended the call. I know.

Shortly after the beeping of your phone, indicating the finished call, a knock on your door made you turn to it. By now you could tell apart your roommates by the rhythm of their knocking.

„Are you ready for the store?“ Eric peeked his head in and you wanted to say no but couldn’t. The golden rules of this household were sacred.

„Yes,“ you said instead and followed him outside to his car, parked right in front of the building. A rare parking spot – luck had to be fully on your side to find it free.

Uncomfortable memories of going to the grocery store and the aftermath of it accompanied you once again. This time, nothing would happen, you told yourself. No-one would see you and even if someone did, there was no chance for Peter to reach out to you again. Every possibility had been eliminated by Eric and you.

Eric pushed the cart, you loaded everything in. No blueberry fight, pizza wasn’t on the menu tonight and chocolate pretzels were fully stocked. No repeating of that awful day!

Eric came to stand next to you in front of the snack shelf, within a good distance of course. He grabbed a huge bag of chips, threw it in the cart and waited for you to continue. You stared at the chips in the cart.

„Not on our shopping list,“ you mumbled and almost would’ve returned them to the shelf but Eric grabbed the bag in time to save it from your hands.

„We will need it later,“ he said, his lips pulled in a honest smile.

„Why? What is later?“

He still held the bag of chips with one hand and pushed the cart down the aisle with the other. When he passed you, he dramatically stared at you for a second. „Big time cinema!“

Eric’s silly wide eyes made you laugh – and wish for his arm to actually brush you by accident. Just this one time. It didn’t. He was adamant to not touch you.

/////

With ‚big time cinema’ he meant Toy Story. So it was indeed big time cinema. And big was also the fact that you found yourself watching a movie. With Eric. In his bed. His laptop on his desk played the movie, you laid next to each other, backs propped on a lot of pillows and the bag of chips between you. He didn’t touch you and that gap between you could easily fit Christina if she was there.

At first you shook your head at his suggestion to watch a movie with him in his room. When he went for a good old debate on why you shouldn’t, you surrendered and hoped the dining table full of roommates didn’t make any remarks. No-one did. Christina only wiggled her eyebrows and hid her grin behind a spoon full of veggies.

But now you were here, on Eric’s bed, wearing some joggers and a hoodie and laughed at the screen whenever Rex the tyrannosaur had something to say.

„As a kid I always wondered if my own toys were alive as well when I wasn’t around.“ Eric mumbled with some chips in his mouth.

„Same,“ you whispered. „I wanted them to be real so bad!“

„Right? I wanted my toy cars to be real so they could drive to the kitchen and get me snacks.“ A single chip has fallen down on the way from the bag to his face. You were fast to steal it from the mattress and shove it in your mouth.

Eric turned to you, gasped and whispered in fake consternation: „Don’t you dare!“

You laughed once more. „I remember you saying that we will need this bag of chips. Not only you.“

He was quick to drop it and smiled at you as he placed the bag in the gap between you again. After having a huge bowl of veggies with noodles you still managed to kill the whole bag of chips with Eric. He was a little sad when he stared into the empty bag. He crumpled it up and tossed it into a corner of the room.

The positive side of running out of chips was the newfound silence and therefore finally understanding every word that was spoken in the movie.

„How are you, Y/N?“

There his question was again. In the zoo wasn’t the only and last time he asked. He kept asking whenever he pleased. And he wanted you to answer sincerely, you knew that. And you did, every time. The first time in long that you answered that question in full honesty. And he did as well, whenever you applied the question on him.

It was a lot easier now to answer him. „I feel good.“

„Yeah?“

„Yeah,“ you turned to see his face, the movie still playing in the background but of no importance for the moment. „I feel more like myself again. I understand now that my troubled thoughts about Peter are not worth it. That he’s not worth it but I am. I don’t care about him anymore. Not one tiny bit.“

Your words made his tensed face ease up a little. His lungs let out a breath he must have held. „Good,“ he smiled. He smiled and smiled and smiled. Then he turned to face his laptop again.

„What about you? How are you?“

„I feel more than good now,“ he stated which made you feel even better.

The movie continued playing. Woody and Buzz fought at the gas station. They eventually fell out of the car and were left behind. You were partially concentrating on the scenes, the Pizza Planet truck, when you noticed Eric’s hand moving closer to yours. Your hand, as well as his, was laying flat on the mattress. Out of the corner of your eye you saw it coming closer in ultra slow motion. Did he think you wouldn’t notice? Did he think you would scare away if he moved his hand faster? What did he think?

You took smaller breaths and tried to concentrate only on the movie but Eric’s hand was still getting closer. It was closer than your knuckles at night, when they knocked ‚good night’. Your eyes shifted between the screen, his hand, your hand. All while you didn’t turn your head. This stupid little heart inside of your chest quickened. It activated the butterflies in your stomach, sent them flying through your whole body. Excitement over the almost physical contact was rushing through you.

When his pinky spread out and ever so slightly brushed yours, he waited. For you to draw back, to possibly shout at him for what he was doing. You didn’t. You didn’t look at him, knowing very well that Eric wasn’t looking at the movie on his laptop at all. He kept his finger steady against yours, didn’t dare to move it or to breathe. You didn’t breathe either. Instead you linked your little finger with his, tying them like a knot.

Both of you exhaled at the same time. No one said a word. You still stared at the movie and sensed Eric’s head returning to the screen as well. All the butterflies gathered in your hand and made it tingle. They demanded for more. More than this simple but electrifying knot of your pinkies.

You couldn’t bring yourself to take his full hand, though. A million thoughts were running through your brain and all of them were leading back to this tiny touch. You were scared he would break the physical contact again if you searched for more. Unsure as to why he even had closed the gap and reached out after weeks of adamantly making sure no accidental body contact happened.

You were irritated. And you were… happy. And you stopped breathing once more. Eric stopped your train of thoughts abruptly.

He started to intertwine his fingers with yours. Just the way he had tried to in the furniture store. Back then you had drawn back but this time you didn’t. You welcomed his fingers between yours. When they were perfectly locked in place, you squeezed them shortly, causing Eric to sigh in relief. He grabbed onto your hand and held it tight, not giving you the choice of letting go anymore. Never would you have let go of his big hand entangled with yours. This pure feeling of holding his hand almost made you burst because it silenced the oppressing feeling of homesickness. It captured those butterflies and turned them into a vibrant, positive version of that doomsday thunderstorm from a few days ago. If holding hands could make you feel that way… what would a kiss feel like then?

That thought made your head turn to look at him. You just stared at him as he watched the movie with a grin on his lips. When the closing credits appeared on the screen, reflecting in his eyes, Eric turned to you again.

„I don’t want to leave just yet,“ you said, not really sure why this honest admittance sent heat to your cheeks.

„Okay,“ he whispered and leaned forward to start Toy Story 2 without letting go of your hand. When he pushed himself back into the pillows, he entirely closed the space between your bodies this time. He placed the bundle of hands that wouldn’t let go off each other, on his abdomen and just like that you laid next to each other. His thumb brushed over yours while the second movie unfolded in front of you. A smile was chiseled into your face. You noticed Eric shifting at some point and placing the bundle of hands on his chest. You noticed the movie's noises fainting after a while, your eyelids grew heavy. A wave of Eric’s sent was pushed over, calming you and dragging you into a sheltered sleep.

/////

Taglist • @longlostinanotherworld • @dosentier • @dhunhdchrih • @coryisagee

[matbarzyy]

How about #8 with beau ?

A/N: Don’t ask me how this turned into something so long, it just did, so I hope you’ll like it. The prompt was “I’m crying on the bathroom floor, how do you think I feel?”

Word count: 1897

Warnings: abuse (family, mentioned but not detailed, mostly just yelling)

.

You had always been convinced that Anthony Beauvillier’s niceness had to be fake. There was just something about him that you felt was… different. Something was off with him and you could never get used to having him around.

It was a bit of an issue considering he was always with Mat and Mat just happened to be dating your best friend, Sarah. No matter what you said, they always thought it was great that the two of you could hang out so that you wouldn’t be third wheeling, and at first they even hoped you’d end up together.

After months of bickering between the two of you, it was now obvious that you would never date, but you were still forced to deal with each other. Tito couldn’t be excluded from your best friend’s birthday celebrations, and neither could you.

“I’ll be right back,” you excused yourself from a conversation to go outside.

The noise of the party was too much for you tonight. As hard as you tried, you weren’t having a good time and you were truly glad that Sarah was busy with Mat and some other people for now. You had been with her all day long doing as much as possible for her to enjoy her birthday, but now you really needed a break from everyone.

You had bigger things to worry about, and you knew you were far from done with the worrying when you saw your little brother was calling you.

“Tommy, what’s wrong?” You picked up the phone instantly. You wished you could have answered like a normal person, just saying hello and asking him how he was, but with the way things were at home you knew him calling past ten pm couldn’t be good.

“Jack is yelling again,” the ten years old sniffled.

“Where’s mom?” You asked instinctively though you knew she’d do very little to help.

“He’s yelling at her,” he told you, which only relieved you a little.

“Okay, and where are you?” You continued to assess the situation as calmly as you could despite wanting to break down and cry.

“Under my bed,”

“It’s all going to be okay,” you felt tears sting your eyes despite your best efforts. “You just stay where you are, and stay really quiet, can you do that for me?”

“I’m scared,” he almost whimpered, making you wish you could instantly teleport to his side, or even better, to kick the ass of the person scaring him.

“I know baby,” you wiped your thumbs under your eyes to get rid of the tears. There was nothing you could do in this moment except help him get through it. “I’ll be there in three days, remember? I’ll come home and we can pack your things and you’ll go to this really nice school in New York and make tons of new friends,”

“I want to go now,” the little boy complained.

“I want that too. It’ll be really fast, you won’t even see time go by, okay? I bought you those spiderman bed sheets you told me about, remember those?” You held yourself together and did your best to distract him.

Tommy listened, chiming in every now and then, but you could still tell he was scared from his muffled crying and quiet sniffles. Every little sound made your heart shatter more. You remembered being in his place, scared of a man and hiding in your closet or under your bed when you were even younger than him. You remembered trying to call the police only for your mom to get angry at you after the officers had taken you back home to her. You remembered the helplessness knowing that no one would help you.

It wasn’t Jack, at the time, but the situation was the same. You believed it had stopped when Tommy was born and your mom took you away with him when he was just a baby to get you to a safer apartment. You believed he was safe when you applied to a college so far from him, you believed it would all be okay and you could come visit during holidays.

It took less than a semester for things to turn sour again, for Tom to call you crying in the middle of the night and for your mom to lie to you about her new boyfriend every time you managed to get her on the phone too. Now, the guilt of leaving was eating at you and you would do anything to fix it.

Ever since Tom’s first call, you had been saving up all you could to book a flight to take him to New York with you. Your apartment was small, but you didn’t have a roommate so you wouldn’t bother anyone by letting Tom live with you. You’d only have to sort your schedule out according to his own school times.

You weren’t in the mood to deal with the party anymore when you went back inside, but it was still going full force around you. Mat’s place was big, so there were more people than you could count and you found that far too many were gigantic hockey players as you struggled to push your way through the crowd to the bathroom.

You went straight into Mathew’s bedroom, knowing it was off limits during the party and that his attached bathroom would be quiet and unoccupied. It’s not like you hadn’t been there before, neither he or Sarah would be mad at you for hiding in there once you’d tell them why.

You hadn’t shared your family history with many people, but Sarah was the only person who knew everything about you and you had drunkenly told Mat most of the story one night when you were hanging out with the two of them.

You sobbed your heart out on the floor, splashing cold water on your face when you calmed down only to break down again minutes later and making your eyes go even redder if possible. Your makeup had been washed down the drain by now, and your top was damp from the water that had run down your neck whenever you tried to regain a bit of composure.

It was uncomfortable and you were debating just stealing some of Mat’s clothes and locking yourself in his guest bedroom for the rest of the night.

You were still sitting on the cold tiles when a sound disturbed you. It might have been Mat coming into his room, and maybe with Sarah, so you were about to push yourself up to make yourself known when the door to the bathroom was pushed open.

Anthony stood there with wide eyes when he found you, any snarky comment he could have made dying on his tongue when he saw the way you looked.

“Um, are you feeling okay?” He asked, awkwardly shuffling on his feet.

“I’m crying on the bathroom floor, how do you think I feel?” You glared at him, but you knew you probably just looked like a pathetic mess. “What are you even doing here?”

“There’s a line for the bathroom out there, I didn’t think anyone would be here,” he explained, looking back behind himself to check that no one had followed him into the room.

“Yeah well, guess I’ll remember to lock the door next time.” You scoffed, wiping your face clean of tears again while he remained there completely still. “Are you so amused by the fact that I’m having a horrible night that you’re just going to stand there and watch?”

“I’m not amused.” He shook his head, finally unfrozen. “Can I sit with you?”

“You’re joking, right?” Your voice cracked at the end of your sentence, weak from your crying, and you tried to pass it off as a cough.

“I’m not heartless, I don’t think you deserve to be alone right now.” Anthony gave you a look that told you you weren’t fooling him with your fake coughing. “I’d get Sarah but she’s probably too drunk to be any help,”

“You can sit if it’ll make you shut up,” you eventually grumbled, too tired to spend more time arguing with him.

Tito nodded and closed the door behind himself before he sat down beside you.

He did as you asked and kept his mouth shut. He could have been out there with his friends having a good time, but somehow he chose to remain by your side. You despised him a little less for that. There were better people to bring you comfort, but he was all you could get right now and you were thankful that someone was there to keep you from getting in your head even more.

“You don’t suck as much as I thought you did,” you eventually broke the silence, earning a chuckle from him.

“Thanks… I guess,” he cleared his throat. “Can I ask why you got that impression?”

“Guys that look nice and act nice are always too good to be true,”

“So you hate me because you’re attracted to me?” He turned to look at you and you gave him a disgusted look.

“I’m not attracted to you!” You exclaimed while he scoffed.

“Yeah, right,” Tito rolled his eyes, not buying your lie.

“Did I mention that you’re annoyingly cocky?” You added to prove your point, and he nodded like he had been expecting that answer.

“I guess you have now,” he waited for whatever insult you were going to throw at him next, but you turned quiet instead.

“Sorry,” you whispered after a moment.

“For what?”

“We’re not friends, and you found me crying here and stuck around instead of running away and now I’m being a bitch to you,” you pretended to pick at things in the fabric of your jeans so that you wouldn’t have to look at him.

“Doesn’t change much from the way we usually interact,” he replied and saw the way your shoulders hunched a little further. “Hey, I’m only joking,” he immediately went back on his words. He had only meant to poke you to earn another of your sassy replies.

Instead, he had made you cry again and now he didn’t know what to do. Hesitantly, he lifted his hand and placed it on your back to rub what he hoped would be soothing circles. You didn’t look at him, but you leaned into the touch and it was enough for him to pull you into a hug.

“I’m sorry,” you choked out between sobs, your voice half muffled by the fabric of his shirt.

“It’s okay, everything’s going to be okay,” Tito let you hide against his chest. “You’re the boldest person I’ve ever met, and you’re brilliant. There’s nothing in this world you can’t handle,” he ran his hand up and down your back, feeling you slowly settle against him. “Whatever is going on, I know you’re going to make it all okay eventually,”

“It’s scary,” you admitted through a whisper, and Tito hugged you tighter.

“You’re safe here.”

“I know,” you breathed out, relaxing into his arms and letting your eyes fall shut as you focused on the sound of his heartbeat.

There was a lot left for you to do before things could be okay, but in that moment in Anthony’s arms you were safe, and you knew you would get there.

.

Please reblog and let me know what you thought!!

taglist (let me know if you’d like to be added/removed): @itrocksmysocks @kerwritesthings @pupsandpucks @barzysreputation @whythough1319 @smit41 @glassdanse @fiveholegoal @brokeninsidebutnobodyknows @thefootballfaithfull @calgarycanuck @heatherawoowoo @fallinallincurls

[laventae]

Serendipity

Summary: You accidentally bump into Suna once, then a second time, then a third time.... before it starts seeming like fate has already decided its course for the both of you.

Pairings: Suna Rintaro x F!reader

Genre: Mostly fluff, College/Uni au

Word count: 3.4k words

Part: 1 , (2) , (3) , (TBC)

(A/N: I suck at writing summaries but anyways. This is/was supposed to be part of my [HQ Boys - Pretending to be your boyfriend] series, but I really wanted to make this slightly longer than my usual one-shots. Also, this story will probably have every cheesy trope you know, so, proceed with caution and I’m sorry. I couldn’t help myself.)

THUD

THUD

THUD

THUD

‘Okay, what the fuck is going on?’ you think as you slowly try to open your eyes. 

Looking at your bedside table, you reach for your phone and check the time

7:35 A.M

‘Ugh... it’s too early for this shit...’ you think as you yawn.

You remember your shift at work starts at about 9 a.m., so you decide to sleep for a bit longer.

You place your phone back down on your bedside table, and turn in bed, covering your face with a pillow.

THUD

“Goddammit, what’s going on outside?!” you exclaim, getting out of your bed and heading for the front door.

You open the door hastily, and find your landlord standing in the hallway of your apartment building, then notice multiple moving boxes scattered around, and movers talking some of the boxes into the apartment opposite yours.

You’re both startled when you open the door, but she softens as soon as she notices it was you.

“Good morning, Mrs. Saito. What’s going on?” you ask her sleepily.

“Goodness, I’m sorry they woke you up as well, sweetheart. The new tenant told me they were moving in today but I didn’t know the movers were coming this early and causing this much of a ruckus!” she exclaims, looking like she was just as annoyed by the noise as you were.

“Well, the new tenant certainly didn’t make a good first impression, huh?” you say, trying to lighten the mood.

She chuckles softly, “I guess not. They’re not even here yet, so I’m just going to have to stay here until the movers are done” she sighs.

“Want me to make you a cup of coffee?”

“Oh, that’s alright, sweetheart, you should go back in and try to get some more sleep” she says, waving you back into your apartment.

You try to insist, but you feel too tired. Instead, you just nod and go back in, closing the door behind you.

Sighing, you head to your bedroom again; you figure you should try to get a bit more sleep in before you actually start getting ready for work.

-~-~-

After tossing and turning in bed for a couple of minutes, the noise wouldn’t get any quieter, so you thought you might as well get out of bed and head to your part-time job a bit earlier than usual.

You start getting ready, and make a quick cup of coffee to give Mrs. Saito on your way out. She thanks you and you go on your way.

When you first moved into your apartment about 2 years ago, you were able to find a pretty decent part-time job working as a barista at coffee shop nearby. It was only about two blocks away from where you lived, so it was super convenient; and a plus point, you were never late.

Checking your phone again, you notice the time

8:35 A.M

“It’s still so early...” you yawn as you take out your headphones and play some music to listen to while you walk to the coffee shop, talking your time.

After about 15 minutes of enjoying your morning walk, and window shopping on the stores along the way, you reach your destination and open the front door.

“Goodmorning, y/n!” you hear your boss call out to you as soon as you enter, “Early as usual, I see”

You chuckle as you head in his direction, “Oh, you know me, always excited to get to work!” you joke.

He laughs, “Yesterday was your last day of your second Uni semester, wasn’t it?” he asks you.

“Yeah, made it out in one piece thankfully”

He laughs again, “I’m sure you did well, I've seen how stressed out you’ve been about it but I also know how hard you’ve been studying, don’t worry” he assures you as he points to the chairs in the shop, silently asking you to help him out with setting them up.

“How do you know that?” you sigh, grabbing a few chairs and setting them down.

He stops what he’s doing and looks at you, “You think I didn’t notice the dark circles you kept coming in with, during every shift, for the past couple of weeks?”

“Was it that obvious?” your eyes widen.

“Definitely” he answers and you both laugh.

After setting up the last few chairs, your boss speaks up again, “Alright, why don’t you head in and get ready, I’ll just be out here setting up the register before we open in a couple of minutes”.

You nod and walk back to the staff locker area.

-~-~-

The day goes by slowly, as usual, and after a few hours, you take your break and head to the staff room locker area to relax and have a (late) breakfast.

‘I really need this right now’ you sigh as you take a sip of your coffee, feeling more tired than usual, and blame it on having to wake up super early that morning.

You check your phone and notice a text message.

1 NEW MESSAGE

You open it.

FROM ‘Wifeyy <3’: “Heyy! Call me when you're on your break!”

You smile and shake your head, dialing up her number.

It rings a couple of times before your best friend picks up.

“Hey y/n!!” she yells excitedly

“Hey Hina,” you laugh, “What’s up?”

“Just wanted to remind you that we are going out tonight to celebrate my birthday, you still remember, right?”

“Oh, was that today?” you joke

“Y/N!!!”

“I’m kidding, I'm kidding, you know I'll be there” you shake your head

“Good! I'll also be inviting some of my friends from Uni, but I want us to hangout still. It’s been a while since we’ve actually caught up. And I'm finally gonna be able to come to your city!”

The both of you actually met during your first year in University through mutual friends. Even though you both were in different majors, you hit it off right away. And after that, the both of you always tried to make time to hang out, whether it was between classes, during lunch breaks, or whenever the both of you had the time.

However, it was sometimes hard to meet up during weekends, since she lived in the city next to yours, so whenever she had the chance to come to your city, or you were able to go to hers, you guys would always spend it together.

“Yeah, I guess with exams and all it was hard for us to actually see each other”

“Exactly, anyways I’m excited for tonight!”

“Yeah, me too..!”

“Hey, do you sound more tired than usual, or is it just me?” she asks you, sounding worried.

“Oh, it’s nothing, I just woke up super early today, not willingly though” you sigh, “don't even ask, I'll tell you about it later”

“Alright... if you say so”

“Anyways, I gotta get back to work now, so, I’ll see you tonight, okay?”

“Alright! Dress sexy, okay? You promised we would dress up!”

“Yeah, yeah, I'll try my best” you both laugh before hanging up.

-~-~-

It was about 5 p.m when you finally reach your house, after leaving your part-time job, and finishing up some outdoor chores you had for the day.

You sigh as you get off the elevator to your floor.

You notice the empty hallway as you walk to your apartment; you suppose that the movers were already done and have left at this point.

You glance over to the door opposite yours at the end of the floor’s hallway.

‘I wonder if they're home yet...’ you think before you unlock the door of your apartment and go in.

You sigh as you place your groceries and bag on your kitchen island and start putting everything away.

You were supposed to meet Hina later tonight, at around 7 p.m, to celebrate her birthday. That meant you had a couple more hours to spend at home, so you decide to make some lunch/dinner and watch a movie on Netflix.

-~-~-

“Hey Hina, I’ll just go outside and answer this call real quick alright?” you try to call out to your friend as you get out of your chair, but she looks at you confused, the music playing loudly in the pub and the bustling of the people inside made it hard for her to hear your voice from across the table.

You point to your phone, and as realization hits her, she nods.

You attempt to make your way out of the pub, trying to worm between the people inside and make your way to the door. However, you suddenly run into someone before you reach the door, and accidentally drop their drink.

“I’m so sorry!” you tell them, looking up and noticing it was an old man, long white hair settling over his shoulders.

He looks annoyed at first but then his face relaxes when he sees you.

“I can pay for the drink!” you tell him apologetically.

“Oh, that’s alright, gorgeous, it was just a mistake” he answers you, smiling.

‘Okay...’ you think as you get a weird feeling in your gut.

“Would you like me to buy you-”

“Okay, Bye” you cut him off, smiling awkwardly, feeling uncomfortable with the way he was looking at you; you reach for the door and leave the pub.

It suddenly gets much quieter, and you feel yourself relax, finally being able to breathe.  

Honestly, you didn’t really get a call from anyone, you were just feeling tired, and wanted to take a break from all the noise.

You check the time on your phone,

11:54 P.M

You sigh, ‘I wanna go back home...’

It’s not that you weren’t having fun with Hina and her friends, but you were frankly not that close with them, and even though they are all very nice, having to be social for a long time takes a toll on your mental and physical strength sometimes.

Startled, you turn around when you hear the door of the pub open again behind you.

“Hey,” you hear Hina say as she approaches you, “is everything okay?”

“Yeah sorry, that was just my mom checking up on me” you lie to her, putting your phone back in your bag.

She nods, but you know she's slightly suspicious of your answer as she eyes you carefully

“You tired?” she asks you.

You chuckle nervously, ‘well, that didn’t take long’.

“Yeah, I'm really sorry, it’s getting late and it’s kind of been a long day”

She chuckles, “It’s okay, I thought your battery might have run out by now”

You couldn’t help but chuckle as well. Then you look at her apologetically.

“Yeah, I think I might head home for the night, is that alright with you?” you ask her, feeling bad you couldn’t stay longer.

She laughs and goes in to hug you goodbye, “You know it’s fine, I’m just glad I got to see you today! But, promise me we would hangout together again soon?”

You sigh, relieved, “you know I'd cancel any plans I have, just to see you” you shake your head as you hug her back.

“And promise me you’ll think about that date I wanna set you up on” she giggles as you both let go.

“Yeah, yeah, I'll think about it” you reply, used to her trying to set you up on these blind dates that you don’t necessarily really want to go to.

“Alright. You want me to call you a cab or walk you home?” she asks as you turn around and start leaving.

“No! It’s fine, my house is literally a couple of blocks away, go back! Have fun!” you say assuring her, and waving her to go back and hangout with her friends.

“Are you sure, y/n?”

“Yess! Go!” you tell her, and turn back around, walking away again.

-~-~-

After walking for a few minutes, you notice how quiet it was outside, except for the few open pubs you passed by earlier. I mean, it wasn’t really a huge surprise, it was getting pretty late, and almost all stores in the area were closed at that point. But, because you weren’t usually out that late at night all alone, it somehow made it feel even emptier and quieter.

You look up at the sky as you walk on the sidewalk and notice a few stars scattered along the night sky. It makes you smile and you close your eyes and take a deep breath.

‘I wonder how many of those are actually just satellites...’ you think to yourself as you open your eyes, and you can’t help but let out a small chuckle.

You feel your phone vibrate and notice you got a text message.

1 NEW MESSAGE

You open it.

FROM ‘Wifeyy <3’: “Heyy! Text me when you get home safe!”

You smile as you read the message, but then feel a sudden chill down your spine.

‘Weird...’

You put your phone down and suddenly start hearing faint footsteps behind you.

‘Alright, that’s fine... it’s just someone walking home as well’ you try to assure yourself but can’t help but still feel anxious.

After a few minutes, you still hear the foot steps behind you, slowly getting closer. That, somehow, making you feel more anxious.

‘I’m just overthinking this right?’

You try to increase your pace, to check if they really were following you. Even if they weren’t, you hope to try and lose them all together. It didn’t help that the way to your apartment would be to keep walking straight, and the alleys around the buildings on the way were blocked off at the ends, not making it any safer for you to try and find a way around.

But then you hear the person behind you increase their pace as well.

‘Fuck’ you think, feeling scared and panicked, ‘they're definitely following me, aren’t they?’

You panic as you think of what to do next, then decide to take out your phone and call someone.

‘Who the fuck do I call? Hina? The police? I-’

Your thoughts are interrupted when you hear someone yell something from the sidewalk on the other side of the street you were walking on.

Your head snaps to where the voice came from and you notice a guy running up to you, “Babe?”

You try to back away before the boy reaches you, but, “I’ve been waiting for you, what took you so long?” he asks, pulling you in for a hug.

“I don’t know yo-!”

“Someone’s following you” he whispers in your ear before letting you complete your sentence.

Your heart stops when you hear him say that and you begin to feel your eyes tear up.

He pulls away, looking at you, and you suddenly notice you stopped hearing the footsteps coming from behind you.

You look back and see a man standing in the middle of the street, your eyes widen when you notice his long white hair.

‘That’s the fucking creepy old guy from the pub, I knew he seemed off!’

“My name is Suna. I was just in that supermarket over there, on the other side of the street, when I noticed him following you” he tells you quietly, as he subtly points at a store behind him. You look over his shoulder and notice a small, old looking supermarket, with an ‘Open 24/7′ neon light flickering over it. “Do you want me to walk you back home?” the boy asks you, and your eyes snap back to him.

You’re then able to see him much clearer, his pale, yellow eyes looking into yours. He had a blank expression on his face but you could hear a hint of worry in his voice.

You feel a tear roll down your cheek and you hesitantly nod at him.

“It’s okay, it’s okay, I'm here” you hear him say as he puts an arm around you, pulling you closer, and walks with you in the direction you were originally going in.

After a few moments, you hear the footsteps behind you, again, but this time they started to sound more distant, as if the creepy, old guy was walking away.

Your heart starts calming down a bit as you both walk silently for a few minutes.

You then feel the boy remove his arm from around you and you slightly stumble.

‘Was he supporting me this whole time..?’ you think to yourself as you try to steady yourself back on your own feet.

He turns around, “I’m sure he’s gone by now” he tells you, looking back at you.

You turn around to check as well, and feel yourself finally be able to breathe again when you don’t see anyone behind you. You look back at the boy and nod.

“You live around here?” he asks you and you finally notice where you were.  

Realizing you were only about a block away from your house, you stop.

“What?” the boy asks as he turns around to face you, when he realizes you weren't walking next to him anymore.

“This is me” you answer quickly, pointing to a random building you were standing in front of.

He was nice enough to help you back there, so, it's not that you weren’t thankful, but you were still feeling a bit anxious, and you didn’t want to take any chances.

“Oh,” the boy says, looking up at the building you pointed to, then looks back to you, “I'll watch you go in” he continues, putting his hands in his pockets.

“Oh, uhm, okay..” you nervously say, turning to the building.

‘Shit... I hope the entrance door isn’t locked...’

You reach for the door and push it.

‘Oh, thank god...’ you sigh, relieved.

You quickly turn back to look at him again, and notice his eyes following you.

“Thank you”

He just nods at you, a blank expression still on his face.

You get inside the building and the door closes behind you. You weren’t sure if he was looking so you make your way to the elevators. You pretend you pressed a button, hoping he stopped looking at you through the glass door at that point.

You look behind you and notice he wasn’t there anymore, so you run slowly towards the door and see him walking away.

You place a hand on your heart, and sigh again. You close your eyes and take a few deep breaths.

‘Why does it feel like it’s been a really long night...?’

You decide to wait for a few minutes, making sure he wouldn’t still be around the area when you try to run to where you actually lived. It was probably a couple of buildings away so, if you make a quick run for it, you think, you would definitely make it.

You open the glass door slowly and take a quick peak around the street.

‘Nobody’s here...’

You take a quick breath before you make a run for it.

As you thought, it easily took you a minute or two to get to your building. You quickly push the entrance door and run to elevators.  

As soon as it arrives, you get in and press the floor you lived on.

A few moments pass before the elevator doors open and you can't help but breathe a sigh of relief as you’re welcomed with your usual empty, but now comforting hallway.

You step out and head for your apartment when you notice someone standing at the door opposite yours at the end of that hallway, trying to unlock it.

‘Oh, it’s probably the new tenant...’ you think as you walk to your door.

It was pretty silent so you decide to at least welcome them, hoping it would make the awkward silence less... awkward.

“Hey,” you say turning to face them when you get to your door, “You’re the new tenant, righ-” but you quickly stop and your eyes widen when the person turns around to face you.

‘Wait, isn’t he the guy that just walked me back ‘home’??’

He still carried a blank expression on his face, but you notice his eyes slightly widen when he notices who you were as well.

‘Fuck, Fuck, Fuck... What do I say?’ you panic as you both stand there, looking at each other.

“Oh, you live here?” he breaks the silence, sounding pretty calm.

“Oh, yeah,” you say turning around and quickly unlock your door and go in, “Goodnight!” you yell, panicked. 

You accidentally make eye contact with him one last time before you swiftly close the front door, leaving him there, looking blankly at your apartment door instead.

‘He’s my new neighbor??’

(HQ Masterlist)

[blxetsi]

Hello! I love your blog and writing so much! May I please request modern au dating hcs for Mikasa?

tysm for requesting ilysm 🙈💥

i also went a bit overboard i hope thats okay !!

modern mikasa ackerman dating headcanons

lowercase intended !

college!mikasa ackerman x gn!reader

- eren finds out abt her crush on you. idc idc

- mf may be dense sometimes but he isnt stupid, he KNOWS what mikasa acts like when shes in the presence of her crush,, he would know bc he was one ;)

- anyways, maybe your like, going up to ask mikasa for her notes from last class, or just chatting with them to be friendly

- either way mikasa goes from 😳 to 😐 real quick

- shes very quiet which youre used to so you dont really think too long abt her lack of communication. its literally just you and eren talking at this point

- after you leave to,,, idk sit under a tree ?? erens immediately turning to mikasa being like "okay tell me everything"

- she denies the crush on u 😔💔

- but then eren tells armin.

- and eren has a big mouth so who knows who else he told ??

- so finally, after beating up eren for spilling the beans she tells her two closest friends EVERYTHING

- like from how nice your hair smells to how pretty she finds your eyes. how she loves your sense of style. she just likes everything about you

- erens like "i mean yeah theyre rlly cute but like,,, what do you like about them that isnt physical 😐"

- mikasa starts blushing HARD. and slowly goes to her bedroom in their shared apartment, before slinking back out holding a crinkly folded piece of paper.

- its something you wrote and it says "thanks for studying with me mikasa !! let me treat you to boba as a thanks. youre so sweet, ill see you next class babie"

- erens looking at the note like 😐 mf is this it ??

- armins flipping it back and forth and reading it over and over again

- mikasa just says "theyre kind to everyone. and theyre funny. i just like them a lot."

- erens like 🙄 k but armins all for it

- then they start coming up with a plan to get you to like mikasa back (even though mikasa doesnt want that)

- erens an asshole and says "mikasa i love you and you will always be my number one, HOWEVER. they might just see you as a friend, OR WORSE. an aquaintance. we gotta make u so cool that youre irresistable"

- now mikasa is a bit worried

- HOWEVER. what none of those idiots know is that YOU have had a fat crush on mikasa since you asked her for a pencil at the beginning of the semester 😍 she stared at u like 😐✏️ and u were like "omg thanks 😊" w a little blush on ur cheeks bc mikasa's hot

- i mean,, if you didnt like mikasa WHY would you have invited her out for boba ?? one, who doesnt like boba ?? and two,, doesnt that count as a date ? u didnt know but u just wanted to like ✨subtly✨ shoot your shot

- but that was almost a month ago and she hasnt said yes. so you assume she didnt wanna go

- a few days go by after mikasa tells her friends all about her crush. and like,,, they do nothing ?? what happened to the big plan of making mikasa seem like the coolest person around ?

- it turns out eren doesnt know enough about you to know what you like. and ur dumbass friends aint help either.

- so one day he finds you and mikasa coming out of your shared class, your talking about something and mikasa is just nodding with a blush on her cheeks.

- he runs up to both of you before saying "hey just to let you know mikasa has a big crush on you. and she'd love to go get boba with you 😁👍"

- mikasa gets so red in the face and starts smacking him with her binder. you couldnt stop it even if you tried

- after literally YELLING at them for their attention you just turn to mikasa like "please get boba with me 🥺" and she cant resist

- and then the rest is history 😌✨

- after the boba date you learned so much about her and vice versa. you guys were like,, closer than ever. always going to her apartment or her coming to your dorm

- you guys would have sleepovers very frequently. nothing ever happens but you two like being so close with each other

- and you guys do a lot together when you arent busy with school or work or friends

- mikasa takes you to cool museums and art galleries

- you take her to cool shops downtown and parks

- its so fun

- but you cant help but wonder if youre dating or not ?? like do you have the right to call mikasa your gf ?? you guys havent kissed on the lips but she always kisses your head when you cuddle, and you always take each other out on dates

- on the day you finally bring it up during one of your sleepovers. shes on her back and youre almost on top of her with your arms around her shoulders and your face smushed into her chest

- u just kinda mumble "are you my girlfriend ?"

- and its SILENT.

- u start freaking out bc "omg she doesnt like me 😁👍 im gonna cry"

- until she just quietly says. "yes."

- OFNWIDNKWSMWKKWKALSMQLSME

- ur gonna marry this girl 😐

- her love language ?? definitely acts of service. idc idc.

- when u sleep over shes making you tea without u asking. (u said u liked lavender tea ONCE and this bith got a whole container 😭😭)

- when you have movie nights with her, eren, and armin she always chooses a movie you like ("no we arent watching the florida project again armin cried last time" "yeah but y/n loves it so" "this feels like oppression mikasa" "okay and ?")

- is also very protective. she hears mfs in the halls talking shit about you ?? shes shutting them up with her glare

- also u know how isayama made her goth in his like, highschool thingy ?? yeah 😍

- #gothmikasasupremacy

- she makes her eyeliner and shadow messy on purpose.

- you love just laying her down on her bed and straddling her, just leaning over and doing her makeup for her (jules and anna tease 🙈✨)

- sometimes you guys go to thrift stores and pick out outfits for each other

- one time you found this GORGEOUS floral sundress and she physically shivered from the thought of wearing

- tried it on and looked SO BEAUTIFUL, but it wasnt her style 😐

- also doesnt tell her parents about you ?? not bc shes embarassed or anything but just because she knows her dad is gonna be like "who are they ? what are they like ? where do they live ? whats their major ? where are they from ? whats their zodiac sign ?"

- he doesnt do it to play the "overprotective dad" role but because hes genuinely curious and excited

- she brings you home for the first time and youre so surprised because this tall blond man is her FATHER ?? she looks so much like her mom though its not even funny

- for dinner her mom and dad made traditional japanese food 😭😭 it was so good omfg

- also this has nothing to do with dating headcanons but mikasa used to live off of lunchables as a kid. was literally addicted to the rubber like ham 😍

- her mom is so sweet, and she shows you all of the stuff she's embroidered all these years

- her dad is so extroverted, he loves telling dad jokes. you find them HILARIOUS but mikasa sits there like 😐👍

- he DEMANDS you guys play scrabble. he says it help him figure out who you are as a person. now youre scared 😁👍

- anyways

- you love giving her little kisses on her lips because one, you get some of her moisturizing lip gloss on your lips and two, she blushes SO HARD

- one time you two were on a date and you ran into her ex. whos literally so scary

- her name is annie and shes blonde and muscular and rlly hot but has that same blank stare as mikasa

- you feel kinda weird bc how did she go from being with ANNIE to you ??

- you ask her abt it and shes like "oh yeah we dated in our last year of high school. im much happier with you" and now youre feeling all giggly and happy bc mikasa doesnt lie 😭😭

- u roll around on her bed with your cheeks squished together to hide your blush bc you feel so good that she said that

- she just rolls her eyes before getting on top of you and taking your hands away from your face

- she gives u kisses all over before putting the final one on your lips. its such a soft and sweet moment with just the two of you, you cant help but confirm what youve already thought:

youre gonna marry her one day.

a/n

i REAAALLLLYYYY enjoyed making this oml. i hope u all enjoyed this !! remember: requests r open for anything aot OR u can give me ideas for other fandoms to write for

kk goodbye friends 🤩🤩🤩

[harryspet]

dark peter parker x innocent naive reader (or ofc it doesn’t matter) non-con fic?

CAMP KISSLESS | peter parker

[WARNINGS] dark peter parker x reader (Y/N), virgin reader, noncon sex, outdoor/car sex (public?), peter isn’t very friendly neighborhood spidery in this

A/N: I’ve wanted to do a camp au for a little while so that’s why I chose this setting! This ended up being way longer than I thought it would be. Read at your own risk.

In which your the new camp counselor and you’re excited to start your job but Peter has other plans for your summer.

word count: 2.7k

It was gonna be a great summer. 

It wasn’t your first summer at Camp. No, your parents drove you to upstate New York every summer since you were eight and you stayed at Camp Moonfall for three weeks out of the summer. You always made the best memories there but, now that you were older, you were saving up for college next semester. Now that you were eighteen, you felt responsible enough to get a job and of course, Peter put in a good word for you. 

You remembered the summer before, all the counselors had let you join them around the fire since you were older. That’s when the game of never have I ever happened and that’s when you changed the way you looked at Peter. You always thought he was cute but with him smiling around all his friends, the firelight illuminating his skin, you developed a small crush. He was a year older than you and you remembered saying how you were going to miss him during your Senior Year. 

He smiled at you, of course, and your heart fluttered. 

It was in that game that everyone learned your secret about how you hadn’t even had your first kiss yet. They looked at you, shocked, and you would’ve preferred if they had just teased you rather than pitied you. You didn’t care that you hadn’t had your first kiss because you were waiting for magic. You wanted to settle for nothing less. 

“So who’s first on your list?” Peter had asked you and you raised an eyebrow. He turned his marshmallow over the fire, letting it brown, “Your kiss list? Who’s your dream first kiss?”

“Thor, I think,” You joke to Peter and he only rolled his eyes. 

“Haha, Y/N,” He spoke sarcastically, “But I’m serious, who’s number one?” For a moment, looking in his eyes, you could’ve sworn he wanted you to say him. 

“I don’t have one,” You slouched back in your chair, “Whoever it is, I want them to be the one I marry.”

All of their eyes turned to you, even Peter as if you had said something offensive, “What?” you asked. 

“You should save it for as long as you can, Y/N?” MJ said across from you, easing the tension, “High school boys are Satan's spawn. And I hear college boys aren’t far off.”

+

For the first day of camp, your outfit consisted of a tie-dyed t-shirt and a pair of running shorts. You had dreamed of carrying the clipboard you now possessed. Along with the wooden whistle around your neck, you felt complete.

MJ pointed at a gray minivan parked in a long line of cars where parents were unpacking their kids, “Y/N, can you check them in?” You immediately nodded 

She remembered her training, all eight hours of it, and took a deep breath as she approached the family. The Dad was lugging things out of the trunk and the mom was rustling around with her triplets. 

“Good morning, campers! I’m Y/N” You greeted them with a wide smile, hands tight around your clipboard. The kids didn’t seem to care much about you but you could get used to that, not every child was gonna fall in love with you, “Hope you all are excited for the best three weeks of your year. Can I get the last name?”

“We’re the Nelson’s,” The woman muttered, clearly not excited to hear your chipper voice this early in the morning. She pointed to each child and named them off. 

You looked down the long list of names and easily found the three Nelson’s. You took a look at each boy, knowing you’d have to remember all of them, “There, found ya! Are these all of their things?”

The father nodded, three suitcases and several pool noodles on the ground, “You got a bellhop, Betty?” He spoke, clearly not bothered to know your name. 

You looked down, still trying to smile wide as you crossed off the names, “Uhm, if you carry your things over there, someone will be there to carry their things to their cabin. Someone will also be there to take the boys down by the lake and they can join in the welcome festivities. You guys can say goodbye there and that’s when your vacation begins, Mom and Dad.”

You expected a smile or a nod of approval but you got cold stares, “We want to make sure they get settled in and see where they will be living. You can’t expect us to say goodbye now.”

Your smile fell a little bit but you kept your composure, “Well, here at Camp Moonfall, we want to keep the goodbyes short. When you took the tour, you were able to see the campsite. It’s very safe. We just find it’s easier for kids to adjust without the big, emotional goodbyes. It helps the homesickness when you start the fun right away,” You thought your smile would somehow lift their spirits but it only crushed yours. 

“Could you stop smiling like an idiot? You’re an adult, aren’t you? They must be hiring the mentally incompetent here, Diane,” The father said to the mother. 

Your heart sank and your lips parted to say something but the words didn’t leave, “I’m going to that cabin, sweetheart. Do you know what it’s like to give birth to triplets? I spent nine months with these kids and you aren’t gonna rip them away from me. I was in labor for twenty hours!”

“I-I didn’t mean to upset you. I’m just telling you the camp policy. We just find that it works best-”

The dad interrupted, mimicking your voice, “We just find that it works best. God, Diane, I told you this was a bad idea.”

“My mother said this would be a good experience for them!” The Mom yelled back at the husband, she held her boys closer to her, “The boys are not staying here. It seems like there’s something in the water here anyways …” The woman scowled at you. 

“I-I can g-get my supervisor-”

“And now she’s stuttering,” The father rolled his eyes, starting to grab their things and put them back in trouble, “Get in the car boys.”

How could your first time at this have gone so wrong? You clutched the clipboard to your chest, tears stinging your eyes. 

A second later you felt a hand on your shoulder, “What’s going on, Y/N?” He looked at the family then back at you. 

You just shook your head. He could tell you were about to start bawling, “Hey, hey, it’s okay. Go back to your Cabin and collect yourself,” You nodded and instantly walked away. 

You heard Peter talking to the family, hoping to solve the issue so that the boys didn’t miss out on camp because of their crazy parents.

+

“I did it. I saved the triplets,” Peter entered the girl counselor’s cabin, a soft grin on his face. He saw where you were laying on your twin bed and sat down on the edge, “I might regret it later because the funny looking one with the mo-hawk looks like a biter.” 

You didn’t laugh, just pressed your face further into the pillow. Peter’s hand rested on the small of your back. You felt him start to rub circles there and that level intimacy enticed you as much as it scared you.

“I suck,” You spoke but it came out muffled. 

“You don’t suck,” Peter insisted, “They sucked, hard,” That made you laugh. You turned your body to look at him and his hand moved to your waist, “You’re gonna have a good rest of the day. You’re gonna go swimming, eat hotdogs, and play way too many rounds of hide and seek. It’s gonna be awesome and you’re gonna have to perk up if you want to steal my title as everyone’s favorite counselor.”

You snorted, “Really? I recall Ned being everyone’s favorite last year.”

Peter faked a frown, “The man can make a mean s’ more.” 

Absentmindedly, your hand touched his and you moved it away quickly. Too quickly, “You’re right,” you coughed awkwardly, “Today will be good.”

Something clicked, you could see it in his eyes that something had shifted. 

“Do you want to come on a drive with me tonight, after everyone’s in bed. I have a view I want to show you.”

“Isn’t that not allowed?”

“I’m head counselor, Y/N. Plus, I’m Spiderman. Who’s gonna fire me?” 

You rolled your eyes, “Fine, but we’re back before midnight.”

+

For such a techy guy, Peter’s car was more run down than you expected, “What? She’s a passion project,” He said, touching the dash as if he believed the car was actually a person. 

Peter was right, you had a great day. The kids loved you and you even had one of Ned’s famous s' mores. You had a feeling the night might even get a little better. The way Peter was looking at you was how you’d always wanted to be looked at by someone. 

The car turned on onto a dirt road and it seemed you were on it for ten minutes before suddenly a valley opened up before you. Peter parked the car so the trunk was facing an amazing view. You got out of the rusty truck with your flashlight shining for extra light. You really didn’t need it because the moon was full and the stars were shining so bright.

They illuminated the valley and the beautiful mountain range in front of you, “Wow,” your mouth formed an ‘o’ shape and Peter looked at you as if you were the cutest thing in the world. 

“Just wait,” Peter opened up the back of the pick-up trunk and there laid a bunch of blankets and pillows. He kicked off his shoes, climbing in and setting the lantern down. He patted the spot beside him, “You can see the stars better if you lay down.”

You would’ve thought this idea was the most romantic thing in the world if you didn’t get so terrified at that moment. This was like … a date. At least, to her, these weren’t things normal friends did. Not when they held your waist and looked at you like that. 

You played with your fingernails, “Uhm..” Your voice trailed off. 

Peter had already laid down, expecting you to join him. He sat up on his elbows, “Y/N?”

You could do this. 

You climbed up into the truck, crawling beside him but leaving a few feet in between you. You let the small lantern keep you separated, “D-Did you only bring me here because of what happened earlier, Peter?”

You looked up at the stars and it was breathtaking.

“No,” Peter laughed nervously. “I just … It just made me realize something.”

“Realize what?”

You turned your head and realized he was already looking at you, “That I wanted to get to know you. You were still nice to those people even after they were so rude to you. It made me …” His voice trailed off and his eyes shut as if he didn’t want to admit what was next, “It made me want to protect you.”

Was this it? The magic you always wanted. 

“You don’t … y-you, don’t have to protect me, Peter.”

He laid his hand out and you surprise yourself when you pressed your hands to his, “But I want to,” He said. 

“I don’t know how to do things like this,” You admitted. 

“It’s okay, I can show you,” Peter said quickly, “Not that I’m super experienced either. But, as you can see, I’m pretty good at choosing romantic locations.”

You blushed and he interlaced your fingers. 

You laid there for a while, pointing out constellations and making jokes about the new ones you made up. 

“There, I found it!” Peter pointed up but there were so many stars that you couldn’t tell which one he was looking at. 

“What is it?”

“It’s you, can’t you see it?” You shook your head, leaning closer to him so you could try to see from his perspective. As you moved closer, Peter turned his head towards you, “Take my word for it, it’s as beautiful as you look right now.”

You looked at him too and you stared until Peter leaned in and placed a gentle kiss on your lips. Magic. This was magic. You weren’t sure how to move your lips but you just pressed yourself further into him. 

As you pulled away to catch your breath, you smiled, “Was that good?”

Peter nodded, “Yeah,” and he pressed his lips against yours again, his hand on your waist, “I’ve wanted to do that since last summer.”

You pulled away, “You’ve liked me for that long?” 

He tried to kiss you again, pulling your body into his, “Of course, you’re so beautiful … and innocent.” And naive, you thought. You didn’t want him to think of you as innocent. You didn’t want that to be the reason he liked you. 

You pressed a hand to his chest, trying to create distance, “Peter, maybe we should go back now. What if someone notices we’re gone?” He held you tighter and your heart raced, “Peter, I-I think we’re moving too fast.”

“This is what people who like each other do, Y/N?” He buried his head into your neck and began to kiss the skin there, “You don’t like me?” His breath on your neck sent shivers down your spine. 

“P-Please, please, Peter,” You begged, struggling against him. He soon was on top of you and, as you tried to escape his grasps, he pinned your arms above your head. You screamed for help and Peter only frowned. 

“No one’s gonna hear you,” He sounded annoyed. Who was this boy above you? Was he always a wolf in sheep’s skin? All these years? 

“Peter, you saved me today,” You tried to reason with him, “Don’t do this.”

He held your legs down as he ripped off your shorts with ease, “White panties? I should’ve known,” This was what he wanted. To steal your innocence and to hold that title forever. He spread your legs with his own. 

His eyes hovered above your own, his eyes staring right into, “What do you think people will believe? This story or that an innocent little girl like you wanted to lose her virginity with the boy she’s always had a crush on. Who do you think they’ll believe, you or me?”

You cried out but he shushed you by forcing his lips on you. You bit his lip and he pulled away, fuming and his grip on your wrist tightened, “We’re gonna have fun these three weeks,” He pulled off your panties next, stuffing them into your mouth to muffle your screams, “I’ll be gentle if you stop struggling, Y/N. I know it’s your first time.”

He positioned himself between your legs, pulling down his own shorts before feeling your sex with his fingers. He tested your reaction, watched you flinch as he stimulated that foreign part of your body, “I bet you haven’t even masturbated,” Peter growled, “Jesus.” He could probably finish just with the idea of you being so tight. 

He positioned himself at your entrance and you felt just how hard he was. You closed your eyes tight but they shot open as he slowly entered you. You struggled but that only made it worse. You were still, the pain ripping through your lower region. Tears were spilling out of your eyes. 

He didn’t need to hold you down anymore, his body was pressed against yours now and you felt too helpless to fight it anymore, “You’re gonna be mine, Y/N,” Peter whispered in your ear, tasting your tears with his tongue, “Only mine.”

As he rubbed your sensitive area and moved in and out, you hated that you were getting used to it. You hated that it was starting to feel pleasure. Peter noticed that you were getting wet and that only made him start to thrust his hips faster. 

Something began building in your core and you thought you might explode. Your body convulses and your breathing becomes even more rapid. You tightened around Peter’s member, milking his climax out of him as you did the same but against your will. Peter slammed his hand down beside your head, groaning loudly as he finished inside of you.

You were his for the rest of camp and you were not to tell anyone what happened. 

“This is gonna be such a good summer, Y/N.”

+

Feel free to request some drabbles! If you want more dark peter than check out my masterlist!

[fjoresterthoughts]

It calls me

@fjoresterweek 2021 - Day 4: Modern AU

[AO3]

Jester wakes up to her shoulder being shaken, and all she wants to do is push her face further into the pillow. She can feel the cooler air outside of her warm blankets, and the thought of leaving the cozy warmth is incredibly unappealing.

“Jessie, wake up.” she hears Beau whisper, and Jester finally opens her eyes. The room is surprisingly light, and for a minute she worries she overslept - but the clock beside her bed says it's still very early. 

“What’s up?” she mumbles in response, still incredibly sleepy.

“School’s cancelled. They called a snow day.” Beau says, and Jester shoots up.

“Really??” She exclaims as she runs to the window of their shared bedroom, and sure enough, the snow that started last night had continued heavily all through last night, and had no sign of stopping. The sun wasn’t quite up, but the white of the snow gave everything a soft brightness, including their room. 

Beau grins. “Yeah, I was really hoping they would. I do not want to go to my morning classes in this.”

“Beau, you never want to go to your morning classes.” Jester says, and checks her phone for the cancellation confirmation emails from her professors. 

“True.” Beau confirms as she searches her side of the room for a pair of socks.

Jester pulls her pair of unicorn slippers from underneath her bed. “Let’s go tell Fjord!”

“Shouldn’t we let him just sleep in?”

Jester shakes her head, already heading to the door. “No, he’ll freak out and think he missed his class. Besides, I’m too excited and I wanna tell him.”

Beau and Jester step out the door of their shared room, and walk down the hallway of their apartment to Fjord’s room. They had gotten a two bedroom apartment near campus at the start of the school year, and it had been the best. The three of them met during orientation and had stuck close together ever since. 

Jester knocked gently and pushed the door open to Fjord’s room, who was still fast asleep in bed. His room is much smaller - barely any room for his twin sized bed, his little desk, and a dresser. With Beau and Jester sharing a room and needing space for two beds, they had taken the larger one.

“He looks like a supermodel even when he sleeps, it’s not fair.” Jester whispers to Beau, who just laughs.

This makes Fjord stir, and as he’s slowly opening his eyes, Jester practically jumps on his bed, with Beau following.

“It’s a snow day!! It’s a snow day!!” Jester cheers, and Fjord groans and flops back down after the initial shock.

“For real?”

Beau holds her phone up to Fjord’s face. “Yeah, check it out!”

Fjord looks, and then smirks. “Oh, nice. Also a text from Yasha came down when you were showing me the email.”

Beau pulls her phone back quickly and Jester screeches, trying to wrestle the phone to see.

“Ooooh, what did she say, Beau?”

Beau jumps off the bed. “Fuck off!”

“Fjord! You saw it! What did it say?” Jester asks, still sitting on Fjord’s bed but watching Beau with intent.

Beau turns and walks out of the room. “Fuck you guys, I’m making coffee!”

“Can you make me some too?” Fjord calls out to her, and she affirms but grumbles something about him not deserving it.

Fjord gives a knowing smile to Jester. “I have a feeling that Beau’s not going to spend her snow day with us.”

She grins and wiggles her eyebrows. “She’s gonna spend it with Yasha?”

Fjord makes the same expression back at her, and then starts to get out of his bed. “I’m gonna go use the bathroom before Beau claims it.”

-

Beau does in fact, eagerly take up Yasha’s offer to spend their snow day together, leaving Fjord and Jester in the apartment by themselves with nowhere to be. Jester makes a suggestive joke about her and Yasha staying warm, and when Beau throws one back at her and Fjord, she blushes and is incredibly grateful Fjord is out of earshot.

Jester insists that her and Fjord start their day off by making snow angels and playing in the snow. With them both being west coast kids, neither of them got to do this as children very often. After Jester’s fourth snow angel, she reaches her hands up to ask Fjord to help her up, but instead purposely pulls him down into the snow and their snowfight commences. It mostly consists of snowballs, but tackling is fair game and Jester eventually wins when she makes a running jump onto Fjord’s back, knocking them both to the ground and he falls face first into a snowdrift. Shivering, and with their fair share of snow down their shirts and backs, they finally decide it’s time to go inside and change into warm and dry clothes. 

Breakfast comes next, and it’s the perfect day for pancakes and hot chocolate. Jester would argue that every day is good for pancakes and hot chocolate, but there is something special about a gigantic stack of decked out pancakes and extra marshmallows in your mug on a snow day. 

“Fjord,” Jester starts, biting into the very last of her pancakes, “Do you want to watch a movie?”

“Sure. Can I take a shower first though? I’m still kinda cold from the snow you put down my shirt.” He replies, and takes their dishes and puts them in the sink.

“Of course! I might take one too, I think my hair is a little frozen.”

Fjord interrupts her before she can continue. “Dibs on having a shower first! I don’t want you to steal all the hot water.”

Jester laughs and calls out to him as he walks down the hall. “Think about what movie you want to watch!”

-

After they both have their showers, Jester pulls the duvet from her bed onto the couch and grabs herself a bowl of caramel popcorn, much to Fjord’s dismay.

“Aren’t you still full from breakfast?”

Jester shrugs. “I mean, kinda, but I really wanted popcorn.” She tosses some into her mouth. “I’m assuming you don’t want any, then?”

Fjord shakes his head, and settles onto the couch under the blanket. “Nope! Besides, I wouldn’t have caramel. The original salt and butter is the way to go!” 

“Suit yourself! You’re missing out.”

Fjord turns to her and turns the TV on. “So, what movie do you want to watch?”

“Oh, I’m good with anything. You?”

“Is it weird if I say I want to watch something that takes place somewhere warm?”

Jester laughs. “Of course not!”

Fjord looks a little sheepish. “I just got warm again. I’m not as good against the cold as you.”

“Want to watch Moana?” Jester suggests with a smile. She knows it’s secretly one of Fjord’s favourite movies. 

He grins. “Always.”

They’ve both seen this movie a million times. They sing along to every song, Jester a bit louder than Fjord, and they quote the lines along. Fjord does end up stealing some of Jester’s popcorn, and Jester knows when in the movie to subtly pass tissues over to him because he always ends up getting choked up.

What Fjord doesn’t expect, is that Jester has slowly been inching closer to him. He’s not sure if she is doing it subconsciously or not, but he selfishly likes it. He knows he’s had a crush on Jester for ages, and isn’t entirely sure if she likes him back. Beau has called him out on it, getting tired of the underlying romantic tension, but he’s terrified that if she doesn’t like him back, he’ll ruin the entire house dynamic. He knows he needs to tell her. He’ll tell her at the end of this semester - that way if she doesn’t like him back, she has an easy out if she wants.  

“Fjord?” Jester quietly says, and Fjord forces his attention back to her and the movie.

“Yeah?”

She snuggles in closer to him, resting her head on his shoulder. “I bet it would be fun to go wayfinding. Or even just sailing.”

Fjord raises an eyebrow at her. “Oh yeah?”

Jester hums. “I think it’d be fun. Maybe one day we could go.”

“Well, maybe eventually I can buy or rent a boat and we can sail our cares away. I’ve got some experience, I can show you the ropes.” He replies softly, almost wistfully.

He feels Jester smile against his shoulder. “I hope so. I’d really like that.”

She then pulls herself even closer by casually draping her legs across Fjord’s under the blanket, almost sitting in his lap. He pauses for just a moment before wrapping an arm around her, gently tucking her into his side and she happily melts right into him. His heart is fluttering about in his chest, and any thought of the outside cold is far, far away from his mind.

--

It’s much later in the afternoon when they’re working on their papers and readings in their respective rooms, and Fjord hears Jester bounding down the hallway, calling his name repeatedly and incessantly. Before he can even ask what’s up, she appears in his doorway.

“Fjord! You’re not doing anything for reading week, right?” She asks, almost breathlessly.

“Uhh, no? Probably just ending up being an awkward third wheel to Beau and Yasha when I’m not working, why?”

Jester is practically bouncing. “Wanna fly back home for the week? To the coast?”

“What?!” He says in absolute shock. “What do you mean, I don’t think I can afford-”

Jester interrupts him. “No, no! I was just talking to my dad, and…” She takes a breath. “So, after watching Moana I kinda missed home a bit? Like being by the ocean and beach? I mean this snow has been super fun and I love it, but I kinda miss home a bit, too, you know? So I’m on the phone with my dad and I told him I was maybe wondering about coming home for reading week in a month, and he offered to pay for my ticket! And THEN said I could bring a friend too if I wanted.”

Fjord’s shock has only grown. “That’s expensive! We can’t accept-” 

Jester cuts him off again, trying to calm him down. “It’s ok, it’s ok! One of the tickets is through his like, flying points! And he has to make up for all the birthdays and holidays he missed when he wasn’t around. Do you want to come? We’ll stay with my mom so we don’t have to worry about a place to stay.”

Fjord is truly stunned, still processing. “I mean, if he’s sure… that’s very generous of him.”

Jester jumps up, and throws her arms around his neck, giving him a little kiss on the cheek. “Wonderful! I’ll go let him know!”

Fjord blushes. “Thank you. For inviting me, and tell your dad I sincerely thank him.”

Jester beams, and starts singing “You're welcome!” as she walks down the hall back to her room. 

Fjord leans against his desk and places his head on his hands, still making sense of what just happened and what’s ahead of them. Jester’s (potentially) mob boss father just paid for their plane tickets to go home and they’ll be staying at Jester’s famous actress mother. But more importantly...

He’s going, with his crush, on a week’s trip back home with just the two of them. Who just gave him a kiss on the cheek. 

Surely everything will go just fine.

[ramp-it-up]

Fresh Squeeze, Ch. 5

Pairing: Daveed Diggs x OFC Linden Marshall

Set in 2023, post-pandemic

Warnings: Cursing, Angsty Angst, drug and alcohol use, surprise flights, Anthony Ramos. Lots of Plot.

Word Count: 3.5 K

Plot: Linden Marshall just finished law school at Columbia University in NYC. Daveed Diggs is still creating magic with his platonic life partner Rafael Casal in the form of their Blindspotting musical, Bay Boys. Linden’s boyfriend WAS Mark Monaco, star of the superhero movie series Invincible.  They were together for years, and her trauma and his addictions were toxic. She knows now that wasn’t love. 

A/N: Keep in mind that this the same AU as Arrivals, with Holly Woods, but is BEFORE Rafa and Holly get together. And don’t come for me about Anthony.

Read the Previous Chapter.

===================

NYC, May 2023

Jasmine was blowing up your phone as you were trying to get dressed.  You had to search for it under the pile of clothes on your bed.

You had procrastinated getting ready, trying to finish one of your applications for a summer internship at this law firm in Harlem that you were excited about.  

You wanted to finally relax after finishing Columbia law in the top 10% of your class. You just wanted to relax and enjoy this weekend.

Craig, your mom and your uncle were the only ones to attend your graduation.  They knew you didn’t want any fanfare, so your famous friends didn’t attend, and they had a show to do, but they’d sent you tons of well wishes.

We're coming up, get decent!

You chuckled and shook your head. Anthony usually raided the refrigerator when he came over. This time, you told him to bring his own snacks..

You slipped on what you were wearing for the night.  Craig was in his room getting ready and you had volunteered his place, so you were playing hostess. You were surprised that he was so chill about it, actually. 

“Pika Pika,” you said to yourself in the mirror then ran to answer the doorbell. It was almost 6 pm.

You opened the door for Cookie Monster and Big Bird.  You burst out laughing. But you stopped when you saw Anthony's face. He had like five bags from Whole Foods that he was juggling in his blue arms.

"Jazzy!!!! There's my girl.  Hey Ant! leave the food and your girl. We may run off together."

Anthony came in the door loaded down with bags and kissed you on the cheek.  

“I love you Lindy, but fuck you man.” You punched him on the shoulder. 

“Ow! Time to get this party started!”

Linden heard Jazzy’s Brooklyn accent turn into a London lilt as she started play fighting with Ant. They felt like family at this point.

=================

Ever since the launch party in January, Jasmine had pursued you as a friend persistently. You normally didn’t let anyone in because of the circumstances of your life, but Jas was oblivious to your awkwardness with normal human beings.

“Girl, you are fucking DOPE, and you are NOT gonna deny my love.  I know your life has been a trip, and you don’t have to tell me all of it, but I’m not gonna let you shrivel up and be a little retiring wallflower. Life is to be lived.” 

Jasmine telling you that during a Saturday brunch date in February was the key to your heart. She drew you out, and you didn’t see what value you added to her life.

But she loved you anyway. And you loved her, and of course, Anthony was part of the package.  

He was beautiful, loud, talented, and reckless, but he reminded you too fucking much of Dell to be annoyed with him very long.

Your circle had certainly widened from just Craig. That was one thing for which you could thank Mark. You were working on him being a distant memory.  He hadn’t lasted too long in Bay Boys, quitting soon after the musical opened in March.  

Daveed’s hands and feet had ‘slipped’ one too many times during the scene when he was stomping his ass on stage. Mark cited health reasons, and publicly spiraled a bit. He was currently in rehab. 

Again. 

You had not heard from him and that was absolutely fine with you.

Because Jasmine was in Bay Boys and that was her life, the cast and crew became yours as well. Rafael was the type of chaotic creative genius that fascinated you; you could listen to him talk for hours.  

Things with Daveed were more tricky. Ever since that awkwardness with him after the launch party, you’d kept your distance, but you hung out a lot, so you were trying to be friends.

When you and Jas and Ant and Rafa hung out and talked, Daveed was there, smiling shyly and sneaking glances at you, throwing in pearls of wisdom every so often. 

He was so dope and so talented and intelligent and so freaking hot, but you were trying to get yourself together.  You were convinced that night in January had been a mistake. 

You needed some space. And time.  Law school was no joke, and you were in therapy so entanglements was not what was up.

Daveed sensed your hesitancy and decided to stop pursuing you. But he couldn’t stop how he felt.

You were both a little wasted and keyed up the night of the launch party, and despite the way you were beautiful and intelligent and sexy as fucking hell, he was not going to press you. 

Daveed was sure that you two could be something special if you would give it a chance, but he didn’t want to chase you, but he was so gone for you, that if you just nodded your head at him, he would be at your feet.

The attraction was undeniable. There was a crazy little dance you two did that everyone recognized and respected.  This group seemed to know you were fragile, and that you didn’t need to be pushed too far.

But the more they persisted, the more you came out of your shell.  The more you trusted, the more the old Lindy came back. 

Craig noticed first soon after you started hanging with the crew when you were trying to find a place to live. He went to one showing with you and sat you down for a talk.

“Girl, I love the light in your eyes.  I haven’t seen this Lindy since…well in a long time. Stay with me for as long as you want. I know you need to get through this last semester of school, you don’t need one more thing to think about. I’m proud of the work that you’re doing on yourself, Linden.”

You were grateful to Craig.  His place on the Upper West Side was super convenient to Columbia, and not having to think about finding a place was so clutch.  Third year was kicking your ass.

“Besides, I wouldn’t have this place if it wasn’t for…”

“Hush,  I don’t want to hear that.  Dell would have wanted this. I love you cuzzo.” 

=================

Craig came out in a Sully onesie and immediately dragged Jasmine into a conversation about the Met Gala that had happened a few days ago. 

You approached the kitchen where Ant stood, food all around him on the counter. You were whispering. He smiled a secret smile at you.

“I’m so proud of you doing this for Jasmine.  It’s good for you all to get away. I’m glad that she got a little break. She deserves it all.”

Anthony had arranged for this little get together to be a surprise for Jasmine. This was going to be a kickback weekend.

The show was on a four day hiatus while the set was moved to a bigger theatre.  It was a hit and was destined for a long run.

Ant’s green eyes lit up as you kept talking about Jasmine.

“Yeah, she does. And the woman of the hour deserves all the happiness in the world.” He lifted his beer to you.

They way he said that was weird and you were about to ask him what was up with that when the doorbell started ringing, you went to answer it and were stuck there for a few minutes as people started coming in. 

The food and the drinks were flowing while all kinds of characters came in. 

Now they also had Jack Skellingtom, and a Care Bear in the house to add to Big bird, Cookie Monster, Pikachu and Sully. It was an odd cast of characters who were jamming to 90's rap, eating chicken wings and basically tripping like only friends could do.

Then there was Toni, some tag-along chick who showed up with Rafa.  She had on a plain gray onesie.  What a downer.  

You’d  pegged her for  a star fucker who only hung with Rafa because of who he and his friends were.  The girl was too much in everyone's business. 

"Sooooo. You and Mark ARE broken up for real for real. The tabloids say y’all are back together!  I told my friend Susie you weren’t, but she wouldn't believe me."

You  just smiled and didn't confirm or deny, treating Toni like the paparazzi. The girl was oblivious to your hate and just kept talking.

Daveed rescued you. 

"Hey, Toni, show these folks how you can blow. They're setting up the karaoke machine over there. Show us what you're working with. Someone might hook you up with a gig."

Toni perked up and hurried over to Anthony and Craig, who were setting up the lyrics on the big screen to match the karaoke music. Some Bad Boy joints were up.

Rafa was behind them screaming, "Dylan, Dylan, Dylan!" 

They were a scene.  You  breathed and relaxed a little.

"Don't stress. She's not coming with us  to the island."

You looked up at the tall, fine Grumpy Care Bear who was nursing some of your special 18-year-old Chivas Regal that you had gotten for graduation. His beautiful smile shined out of his brown face and beneath the curls tumbling out of his hood. 

“I’m not pressed. I’m chilling. You can do what you want. With who you want.”

“She’s not with me. Rafa brought her for the ride to the airport. And it’s not entirely true that I can do what I want. With who I want. Because what if who I want to do doesn’t want to do me?”

You knew what he meant. But you eyed his drink instead of looking at him. It wasn’t that you didn’t want him. That was far from the truth. You didn’t want to get lost in him. And you could see that happening.

Daveed saw your wheels turning. You were over analyzing again.  He’d spent three months observing you every chance he got. He felt like he knew your anxieties.  So fucking smart, but here you were thinking too much.

"Hey Genuis Ass. Want some?" Daveed’s voice was softer as he grinned and offered you some of his drink.  “Or, I could go make you something?” For some reason he wanted you to get loose. 

"Nah, I'm good Diggs.”  For some reason you needed to stay in control.  You played it off by changing the subject. 

“I still can’t believe y’all call me that.” 

Daveed just smiled and nodded, chuckling a little. He craned his neck and looked at it, having to dodge a smack upside the head.

“That ass is genius, you know. That’s the one thing He Who Shall Not Be Named was right about. And you’re one of the smartest humans I know.”  

You had to look at him then. The flecks of gold in his eyes tho.  But you could tell from the slight redness that he was a little zooted.  He didn’t get that way around you a lot, but you knew for the stories that he partied occasionally. 

He and Rafa and that Toni chick must have pre-gamed.  You remembered the last time you two were  tipsy together.You cleared your throat and looked away.

“Why did you lie to that girl? She can’t sing.” You were shaking your head, scowling at Toni’s screeching from the karaoke machine.

He winked at you. D was well on his way to getting LIT.

"What? She can blow.”  Daveed sipped his drink and watched her. 

“She’ll suck your soul out and spit it back in your mouth." Daveed was loose. And so was his mouth. But he didn’t care.

Your mouth was hanging open at Daveed as you wondered what Daveed had done with Toni, what Daveed AND Rafa had done with Toni... 

Shit, you were just going to ask.

"How do you know that she..."

"AWWWW SHEEEIIIITTT! THAT'S MY JAM! REMEMBER THIS LINDY??"

“No, I was like, negative 5..”

You raised your voice as he traveled away from you, smiling. He was not slick.

“Well you missed out being tardy to the party…” 

He was backing toward the mic, knocking it out of Anthony’s hand and starting the rap. Rafa joined him, trading verses.

Now as the record spins around, you recognize this sound,

Well, it's the underground,

You know that we're down with wutchyalike

Yeah, with wutchyalike, yeah

And though we're usually on the serious tip, check it out:

Tonight we're gonna flip and trip and let it all hang out tonight,

We're gonna say what we like.

'Cause, yo, yo, we want to know how many people in the flow,

Would like to just let yourselves go

And doowutchyalike,

Yeah, well tonight's your night.

Just eat food, try not to be crude or rude,

Kill the attitude, chill the serious mood,

And doowutchyalike,

Yeah, and doowutchyalike,

Everybody doowutchyalike

Everyone was dancing and Daveed had effectively deflected your question. But you would never forget.

By 8 o’clock, Craig grabbed the mic and motioned for Jasmine to come with him. You had enjoyed some cocktails finally, and just figured they were going to duet Wind Beneath My Wings just like they always did. 

You were actually moving to the music and feeling good.

"Ok guys, whew.  I'm hot.  Is it hot in herrrre?" Craig was fanning himself.

“Whoooo! Nelly!”

You yelled and everyone laughed.

Craig took his hood off and started to unzip his onesie. Jasmine did the same.

You kept dancing nervously, not realizing it, looking around at the others who were also disrobing. You did a double take as D’s abs came into view.  What was going on?

Craig continued.

"Lindy, I just need a minute to talk, can you stop whatever it is you're doing?"  He grinned at you from across the room. "You're still moving Lindy."

You blushed and stopped fidgeting.

"Ummm, Craig, what the..."

One by one people dropped their onesies, all except Toni, who had no clue what was going on. Soon, everyone was standing in Craig’s condo in their swimsuits, looking fine as hell. 

You just looked around, then in your cup wondering if you were too drunk and hallucinating.

“Lindy, you’ve worked real hard, and this past few months have been crazy, so we wanted to do something special for you this weekend, for your graduation, and for your birthday, WHICH IS SUNDAY!!”

Everyone cheered as Jasmine took the mic. “You think this party is for me. Well the joke’s on you bitch, because you have been hosting your own party!”

You opened your mouth, squeaked a little, then spoke,

"But why?.. Everybody?  But what..."

Daveed moved close.

"Damn, you fine," you whispered. 

Your hand flew to your mouth when he smirked in response. Everyone was rolling because turns out, you didn’t whisper.

Daveed cleared his throat. "Thank you. You’re fine yaseif. Anyway, Anthony and Jasmine have a house there, and we’re flying out of JFK tonight.  In about two and a half hours in fact. So we gotta get going.”

You still had only a part of a clue of what was going on. But you couldn't resist all of this.

"Okay? But... I don't have any clothes. And I don’t have a ticket..."

Craig came from the storage room off the kitchen with one of your suitcases. Others started getting their bags as well

"Everybody's shit has been in my house for a week. And girl, you know I got your information. It ain’t nothing but a thang.  Your ticket is ready and waiting. Just sent it to your email.”

Your mouth dropped open and you stared at Craig as everyone pulled their onesies back up and got their bags together.

Your eyes filled with tears that you hurriedly brushed away. Craig came over and hugged you. Then every else joined in for a group hug.

"You deserve, Lindy. Let us celebrate you."

You looked like you didn't quite believe it, but you went along. You laughed, visibly deciding to go with the flow.

"I'm down!"

Toni was nearby. When the hug broke up, she started asking questions.  Your  patience was wearing thin.

"I don’t believe that all these people really roll like this. Y’all wild. Susie won that bet."

You just continued to look at this fool.

"But isn’t this dope?  All these famous, successful men being so fearless with their love and appreciation for Black women, of all people. Who woulda thunk they didn't want white women?"

Toni just kept saying the wrong thing. It was the "of all people" for you.

You stared daggers at your houseguest. Toni caught the look.

"Wait, are you mixed?"

You narrowed your eyes and said, "Black mixed with Black."

Toni clutched her pearls.

"Oh wow. Didn't mean to offend. I just mean everyone knows Jasmine is mixed, with her dad and all, as black as can be. But her white British mom saved her from his skin tone. I mean, she has braids in now, so you can see it, but all she has to do is blow her hair straight and she can pass..."

Toni jumped when Rafa spoke. She didn't know he was there.

"Toni. Not Jas. She's the homie." 

The look in his ice blue eyes could burn. 

"And you are a Black woman, so you know how dope they are. Why would anyone NOT worship at your feet?"

Lindy just sipped her drink as Craig entered the chat. "Amen!"

"Maybe it is time for you to get going, honey. I might call you when I get back."

Rafa  led Toni to the door as she protested.

"But I was going to take you to the air..."

"And I APPRECIATE you Black woman, but we'll get there.  See you later."

Then Rafa shut the door in her face. Linden discovered she loved him eternally at that moment. She was rolling.

No one mourned Toni’s departure as arrangements were made for cars to take everyone to the airport.

"You and Daveed can ride with us, Rafa." Ant to the rescue.

"Yeah, Jasmine loves to look at my profile." Jas pinched him so hard he jumped.

“Fuck!”

Ant  was screaming as he, Jasmine and Rafa went out the door. 

"Peace! See you at airport security.  If you get nabbed by TSA, you on your own!”

Daveed lingered. “I don’t know if all of us and our bags will fit in one car. Can I ride with you and Lindy, Craig?”

Craig smirked at Daveed, but didn’t say anything. “Of course...you good with that Lindy?”

You tried to keep it light. 

“Sure.. no biggie,” you cleared your throat and headed to the bathroom to make sure you had everything you needed.

=================

By the time you got to your Uber, the traffic was horrible. It took over an hour to get to the airport. You felt both anxious about missing the flight and keyed up about sitting next to Daveed in the car.

His thigh and side pressing into yours in the dark in the back of an Uber Black brought back memories of that reckless night. 

When he put his arm up on the seat behind you, “For more room,” he said, in that voice and flashing that megawatt smile, you were enveloped more into his scent and warmth. You had to control yourself not to melt into him.

Craig was sitting on his phone, sneaking glances at you and smirking the entire ride. He’d insisted that you be in the middle because you were so tiny.

The whole world was against you, you thought, as you and Daveed both stared straight ahead, both flashing back to that January night.

You were the last three people to run through the airline gate just at they were about to close it. All your friends in first class cheered when you took their seats, and Rafa popped a bottle of champagne.

"Talk about cutting it close," Ant commented as Rafa gave Daveed a high five.

Daveed looked at you. You shook your head at him. Somehow, you were sitting next to him. You just decided to let it be and have some time.

“Just make sure you don’t molest me under this blanket, Ms. Marshall,” Daveed intoned when you were settled and given amenities for the night.

The flight attendant had to tell y’all to keep quiet as the cat calls went up.

Welp, you thought. This will be the vibe the entire weekend. 

You weren’t mad at it. You loved these people. And you were safe. You just smiled, settled down, and looked out of the window to watch the lights of New York fade away.

=================

Read the next chapter

Thanks for liking, reblogging, and commenting.

Tagging:  @braidedchallah @einfachniemand @sillyteecup @commandersmiley @ohsoverykeri-blog  @theselilwonders @theatrenerd86 @sebastianabucknettastan @imatyoursurrvicesurr @riiyy @ivycomet @lonelydance @jbrizzywrites @id-do-it-for-free-babe

[ayellowcurtain]

Could you write something about Sander being part of a big art exhibit and he invited everyone (girl and boy squads) but something happens and everyone is running late except for Senne and Sander gets excited to see him because it gets him away from all the pretentious art snobs who are there asking questions and talking about shit he doesn’t care about. And Senne is actually interested and supportive of Sanders art and it’s just sort of a sweet brotherly moment before everyone else shows up?

It’s not his first, Sander has done a few of these art exhibitions and Robbe is always the first one to arrive, giving him all the reassuring kisses and more if needed. Sander is not mad because he’s late this time but based on the amount of texts Robbe keeps sending him, Sander knows Robbe feels extremely guilty about it.

He would be a horrible person if he didn't understand when Robbe needs to stay a little longer with his mom to make sure she's okay for a few hours.

He looks around, everyone is busy with someone else so he puts his bottle of water on the tall table and finally texts Robbe back to calm him down.

To Robbe: it's okay, Robbe

There's no rush

I'll go to yours after, okay?

I love you

Sander puts his phone back inside his pocket and takes a sip of his water, never able to fix his dry mouth. Nobody he knows is here yet. His colleagues, okay but not anyone that'll actually keep him company for a little, try to take his mind off of how some of his most intimate drawings are all over these walls. Sander sometimes regrets accepting the offer to participate in this.

He still can't believe Robbe let him use some of their private drawings. Nothing too explicit but still. Some details are very personal and Sander is sure any of their friends would be able to quickly recognize the drawing and the name underneath it.

The group chat Milan created for tonight is constantly with new notifications but Sander stops checking or he would make himself go mad. Everyone freaking out for having unforeseen events right before his show are not helpful to his nerves.

Weirdly, Sander doesn't want to talk about art. Nobody would get his mildly obsession with a certain human and his big, brown, perfect eyes. And Sander doesn't feel like explaining why he draws what he draws and how he does it. They would question anything like whatever he's doing is not big enough or meaningful enough and Sander would have to spend his whole night talking about how that's the most important thing to him so he’ll draw him for how long he feels like it.

People would give him some side eyes and Sander would end up in a terrible mood, questioning everything he draws for the next month or so.

In the ocean of knows-it-all Sander finally finds a familiar face. Senne seems lost, completely out of place and he still gets some eyes staring at him, interested.

If they only knew Senne is almost as difficult to understand as Sander.

He walks up to him even though they never had a private conversation outside of a party, surrounded by drunk and younger people.

“Oh, hey!” Senne tries to sound nice and like they're actually close and Sander is thankful for the failed attempt.

"Hey! I didn't know you were coming alone.”

"Zoe ditched me to get ready with the girls but I guess it's your lucky night because I'm closer and I could get here more or less on time.”

Sander snorts, nodding his head.

"You're not wrong. You're the first one to get here and I'm guessing the only for some time.” Sander looks around one more time in hopes to find his person but Robbe is not there yet. He was home ten minutes ago and the bike ride here is a solid twenty minutes one.

"Where's the little one?” Senne looks around too like Sander's desperate search would miss him in the crowd.

"Had some problems at home but he should be here...in the next hour or so.”

Senne looks at him right away, clearly worried like Sander is.

“Do you want me to go there to check if he needs anything?”

Senne has a rich boy car, that's what Sander heard from the others at least. He could get there in no time. And Robbe would hate him for sending Senne to see whatever is going on with his mom.

Sander shakes his head, “It's fine. He'll be here soon.”

Again, he doesn't feel like explaining his art but they can't wait in silence, staring at each other.

"Robbe told us you have some pieces exposed…”

Sander nods his head again, and finishes his water, putting the empty bottle back on the table, still feeling a little on edge, “Yeah, I do. Do you wanna go for a walk?”

Senne shrugs a little bit, “Yeah, of course, man.”

Sander leads the way, avoiding some people, saying he'll be back later to talk to them.

He stops in front of the first one and coughs, a little embarrassed while Senne takes a step closer to really look.

Robbe's long torso on display, one arm over his sleepy eyes, the drawing ending abruptly with a crooked line going from side to side on the paper where Robbe's messy sheets were casually resting that morning, dangerously low on his hips. Dark scribbles in a failed attempt to replicate the line down Robbe's navel, also ending where the horrible bottom line is. Sander didn't have an actual pen that morning, just a piece of charcoal to improvise with. He bites his cheek not to make a joke about how unrealistic that part is, that the charcoal was just a little too thick to perfectly replicate Robbe's body hair.

“This one is cool.” Senne coughs and Sander rolls his eyes, trying not to smile too smitten.

“Yep.” Sander says, popping the p, trying to move on to the next one. This one is not better, just easier to look at with Robbe's past roomate standing right next to him. They both know the walls of the flat are way too thin, they probably know a little too much about each other's sex routine.

"He really does have some nice eyes.”

Sander snorts, looking down at his feet, "For fuck's sake…”

Senne laughs, stepping closer to look carefully every eyelash Sander made sure to draw one afternoon when Robbe ended up falling asleep on his bed while saying he desperately needed to study so for Sander not to start anything else.

He slept for almost two hours and Sander let him because he knew how worried Robbe gets during the end of every semester and how little he lets himself rest. While he was there, alone, he could only slip down carefully on his bed so he could really see every detail of Robbe's closed eyes and draw them.

After a lot of staring, Senne finally steps back and Sander looks at him, lifting his eyebrows because he can feel Senne is about to ask him something.

"This is a real question: Is there anything in him that you don't like?”

Sander snorts because it doesn't feel like a real question and he doesn't really feel like answering. During their few bad days, yeah, Sander can make a small list with two or three things but most of the time, he genuinely can't find one thing wrong in Robbe. And he really likes keeping everything about them - except the few drawings a bunch of strangers are seeing tonight - as private as possible. Everyone is a nice person until they aren't and Sander doesn't want things about them going around.

"Not really.” He decides for that because it's the closest to the actual truth, “I'm sure in my viewing of the world he and I differ in some opinions and ways to deal with stuff but I really think Robbe is the nicest, most beautiful, most altruistic person I know. If God is a real thing, I would think they tried to make Robbe a perfect person.”

Senne stares at him for a second too long and he laughs, shaking his head, walking away to the next drawing, “Jesus fucking Christ.”

"So I assume there are things in Zoe you don't like?” Sander shouldn't ask. If Robbe were here he would certainly be staring at Sander with deathly eyes for even daring to ask, always enjoying playing with fire a little too much.

"How much time do you have?” Senne doesn't sound as bothered as Sander thought he would get, “No, but seriously. I love her and I don't plan on ever not trying to keep us healthy and together but yeah, Zoe is a lot. I don't mind though, obviously.”

He really doesn't, Sander thinks as he nods his head, walking with Senne, barely looking at the exhibition.

"Love comes in all shapes, so…”

Senne shrugs, looking at him “I think so.”

[baby-grayson]

ahhh girlll i swear we need a concept on college football player bf gray after those gifs 🥴

((the way I made a 4k word fic out of this))

tw: hospitals

//

Vanessa’s week had three highlights: pumping Grayson up before the big game, sitting on the stands and watching him play, and bending over while he exhausted all his remaining energy as she screamed his name into the night. Grayson’s highlights paralleled hers: she was his biggest cheerleader, before, during, and after the game. The game was an integral part of their relationship, being at the center of Grayson’s life and the reason they met in the first place. A year after meeting, Grayson started every game by looking out into the stands, to see her perched under the second overhead light from the left side of the field: cuddled in a fleece blanket and wrapping her fingers around a hot chocolate thermos on the brisk autumn nights. From her seat in the stands, she knew he always looked for her, even though she couldn’t make out his features under the shadow of his helmet, she swore she could see his eyes sparkle when they landed on her before he ran out to the field.

Their Friday nights belonged to football. Grayson’s game was the focal point of the week: birthdays, anniversaries, and vacations were scheduled to best accommodate Grayson’s seasonal schedule. When her friends would ask if it annoyed her, if it made her feel trapped, Vanessa would laugh brightly and tell them that it was the opposite. Seeing Grayson running around that field, tackling, sweating, and chanting gave her surges of pride that she had never felt before. Watching his games brought back Vanessa’s memories of her old high school softball career, of which she was forced to retire early from.

Her memories of being forced to retire from sports turned from nostalgic to traumatic when she watched Grayson’s legs be swiped from under him, sending him hurdling through the air before landing on his back. His head hit the ground with a bounce while his body laid limp.

For a second, her breath hitched watching him.

She exhaled when he picked himself up, first on his knees and then on his feet when Ethan ran over to help him up. Ethan wrapped an arm around Grayson’s shoulders and lead him off of the field, where they both disappeared behind the bench. The weight of the helmet on Grayson’s head made his neck sag as Ethan helped drag him out of sight.

Vanessa lurched forward on the metal bench underneath her. Her fingers tightly gripped her fleece blanket, adorned with the logo for Grayson’s team. Her teeth chattered, the sharp cold finding its way deep into her veins.

The team began to play without Grayson.

She gulped, starting to think the worst as memories of flashing lights and medics flooded her mind. She touched her phone to illuminate a picture of Grayson holding her in a piggyback in front of an apple orchard from a few months earlier. Something about Grayson’s bright, happy smile in the picture triggered her enough to send a text to Ethan to ask what happened.

Vanessa locked her phone and sighed. She tucked her phone under her blanket and tried to wrap the fleece around her shoulders to help fight the cold that was teasing her skin. She earnestly tried to pay attention as the game continued but it was growing less interesting in his absence while his whereabouts were growing more interesting to her.

She reached back into her blanket to check if she had missed her phone vibrate. She hadn’t. No word from Ethan.

Her anxiety only grew as time went on. She frequently looked over her shoulder to check for ambulances before reminding herself that she was being silly. The knots in her stomach grew larger with each passing moment without word from Ethan. She spent so much time locking and unlocking her phone that she barely noticed when the game finished. Her eyes wandered from the players to the people in the stands as she wondered what to do.

According to their normal routine, she would throw out any wrappers from snacks, collect her blanket and thermos in her purse, and walk down the bleachers to meet Grayson at the door to the locker room. She sat paralyzed in place, looking out at the field for any sign of Grayson. She sat until the marching band and fans had cleared the stands: leaving nothing but metal seats and dirty guardrails. Her hands shook when she stood up. She told herself it was from the bite of the cold against her skin, but internally she knew it was triggered by the deep seeded fear that something had happened to Grayson. Tentatively, she stepped down the bleachers.

Vanessa felt some level of relief when she arrived at the locker room at the same time Ethan swung the door open to poke his head out.

“Hey,” she walked a little faster to catch him in the doorway, “What happened?”

Vanessa was used to the tired, sweaty, nervous energy of football players after a game: but something about Ethan emanated more tired and nervous and less sweaty. His eyes seemed darker than normal: both in the skin around them and in the color of his irises.

He sighed before speaking, as if he was slowly releasing an invisible weight with his breath. “He landed on the uh-“ he pointed a finger down the back of his neck, “the base of his head.”

Her eyes opened wide and she did not hide any of her panic, “What?”

Ethan nodded slowly and held a hand out, as if to hold back the proverbial river of emotions that was about to run out of Vanessa before he finished speaking, “He’s fine. Or he’ll be fine. It’s not a bad concussion, just enough to stop him from watching TV for a few days and uh—he probably wont be getting much sleep,” Vanessa’s shoulders relaxed hearing Ethan’s calm tone, “That’s what the doctor said.”

“Doctor?” She tensed back up again.

Ethan nodded and let out a breath while looking around. When he was sure no coaches or referees were in the immediate area, he held the doorway open for her and ushered her in.

“You sure?” She asked. She had waited on the outside of that door for Grayson countless times but had never actually been in the locker room.

“C’mon,” Ethan ushered her in, “He’s in the little room on the left.”

The tiny building smelled like ivory soap and old socks, nearly every surfaced was covered in grass stains. From behind a door on her right side, she could hear the familiar voices of Grayson’s teammates and friends laughing and joking. Something about the flickering light made the tiny structure seem eerie, almost creepy and medical.

She turned into the doorway on the left to see Grayson sitting on a raised bench: his legs swinging underneath as they failed to touch the floor. He was slumped over, with his hands on his knees and his eyes closed tightly shut. She moved quickly to be next to him but stepped back when she saw a man with looking down at her from his glasses.

He didn’t look like a doctor. That is, he wasn’t wearing a long white coat and he didn’t have a stethoscope draped over his shoulders. But something about the distinguished way he carried himself, and the salt and pepper hair, screamed doctor to Vanessa loud enough to make her stop in her tracks.

“Hello,” the man started, “And who might you be?”

At the sound of his voice, Grayson looked up from where he had been hanging his head. His eyes were full of pain but opened wider: so grateful to her face, a beacon of comfort in a night that was nothing but disturbing. “Nessie…” his voice was hopeful, but exhausted.

“I’m his,” she swallowed softly, “girlfriend. Sorry- I was” she pointed at the front door to the building, “Someone told me I could come in here, to see him. Is that okay?”

The doctor nodded his head and gave a small shrug, “Sure, we’re just about done here anyway.”

Vanessa rushed to Grayson’s side, where she quickly took his hand in hers from where he sat and took a moment to inspect the lost look in his eye.  

“He took a hard tumble,” the doctor started, “but he should be alright in a few days or so.”

Vanessa nodded and looked up, “Do—I didn’t know college football teams had doctors.”

The man chuckled, “They don’t.” He closed the folder in his hand and set it down on a counter, “I’m Tucker’s father. I was hoping to see my boy play but” he gestured to Grayson, “duty called.”

“Sorry about that doc,” Grayson groaned and scratched at his head, jostling his hair around.

“It’s quite alright,” with a few words of goodbye the doctor stepped out of the room to leave Grayson and Vanessa alone.

“What happened?” She asked for what felt like the millionth time that night. Everything about her tone and body was laced with worry and fear.

“Some guy got me by the ankle, I landed” Grayson spun a finger in the air, “actually I don’t remember landing, I just remember Ethan dragging me back here.”

“How do you feel?” She braced her words as if they hurt her mouth to speak them.

Grayson shrugged with his slumped shoulders, “The lights hurt my eyes,” he sniffled, “and I’m tired but he said I shouldn’t sleep.”

Vanessa nodded softly. She sighed silently. Grayson looked like a crumpled-up gum wrapper: something with the potential to be shiny and captivating but was too busy being folded in and helpless. She moved a shy hand around his shoulders to gently rub circles onto his back. He moved his eyes up to look at her, fighting the pain that stung from the lights in the room. He winced.

She stood up straighter and stopped her hand from rubbing circles when she said, “You hungry? I think it’s time to go home.”

Vanessa was no nurse. In fact, she was a bit of a baby, herself, when it came to being sick. Last semester, she caught the flu right after midterms and drove home for three days so her mom could take care of her while she sniffled and shoveled chicken soup into her mouth. Grayson tried to make fun of her for it, but he knew he would run to Lisa the minute he so much as sneezed in the wrong direction.

Despite her lack of experience at taking care of anything, she tried her best to make Grayson comfortable in his time of need. She helped him up the stairs to their apartment and let him rest on his bed, with the lights off. Grayson closed his eyes to achieve some mental piece. She rummaged through the cabinets to find a box of pasta and some left-over meat sauce to reheat. While the water boiled, she tiptoed into Grayson’s room. “Gray?” she whispered into the dark, expecting him to be napping.

“Yeah,” his voice was bold enough to startle her.

“Sorry, I thought you’d be sleeping.”

“MnotAllowedTo” he said, his voice muffled by a pillow.

Going to the edge of the bed, she slipped off his socks and shoes. She giggled when the sound of, “mmThankYou” came from his pillow. She moved to lightly take hold of the edge of his Jersey, but Grayson sat up to help her. Together, they stripped him of his jersey, pads, and undershirt until he was in his boxers. He kept his eyes closed through the entire ordeal, not wanting to feel the sting of the few rays straying from the kitchen into his bedroom.

He sat on the edge of the bed and rested his head against Vanesa’s chest. She gently ran one hand through his hair and let it stray to his back, where she started to massage deep circles into his back. She enjoyed the low grunts coming from his mouth as she used the edges of her palms to run along his spine. Normally, she looked forward to their post-game sex. When Grayson lost, she had the opportunity to make the night better for him and remind him of how much of a man he really was. When Grayson won, and he seldom never lost, he would kiss her sloppily as their clothes made a trail from the front door to the bedroom and he would nearly lift her in the air while using all of his pump and energy making love to her. Although there was nothing romantic about that night, Vanessa found something sweetly sexual in massaging Grayson’s back as he leaned into her: he was hardly ever vulnerable, and she welcomed the change of pace.

Their moment was interrupted by the sound of sizzling coming from the kitchen. “The water!” Vanessa ran out to tend to Grayson’s dinner, leaving him sitting on the edge of the bed with his head hanging.

Grayson spent the next week out of classes: armed with a doctor’s note from Tucker’s father about light sensitivity and the mental effects of mild concussions. He spent most of his days sitting in the dark. At first, he would put on podcasts and playlists to listen to but quickly grew bored of them. He tried to open a book under the shyest of lights, but even the idea hurt his eyes.

Vanessa walked home during lunch to eat with Grayson, sitting on the floor of his bedroom with the lights off and curtains drawn. At first, she tried to find something romantic about being in the dark with Grayson. But trying to find the bright side quickly faded when she realized that Grayson wasn’t getting any better.

“Have you thought about going to the hospital?” She suggested on Thursday night, laying with her head on Grayson’s torso.

“Why do I need that?” he asked curiously.

“Well,” she fidgeted from where she laid, “Weren’t you supposed to get better in a few days? It’s almost been a week-“she bit her lip when Grayson started speaking.

“I’ll be fine, it happens all the time.” Grayson said nonchalantly, “Derek was out for two weeks once and he’s fine.”

“Derek’s so dumb he thinks a serial killer is a risk to Cheerios.”

Grayson laughed; the sound made Vanessa smile in the dark. She had been spending too much time worrying about him in the past week, “I’ll be fine babe. Besides, tomorrow’s the start of playoffs- I have to be fine.” She sat up from where she was laying on him, “You’re not actually playing are you?”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“Well- because- because- well Grayson,” she huffed, “You can’t even go to the bathroom without help right now.”

“It’s not my fault I couldn’t see the counter.”

“It’s your fault you couldn’t turn off the lights.”

Grayson sighed, “I’ll be fine, I promise.” He reached out to take her hand, “I’ll be safe.” He thumbed circles into the back of her hand.

 Vanessa could feel something menacing in the air that night. A cold so deep not even her fleece could protect her from it burning against her skin and pressing against her soul. She watched Grayson with a nervous attention, noticing every head turn and movement. He started running in a curved pattern. She wondered if he couldn’t see. She wondered if his head hurt. She wondered if he didn’t know where he was going. At the tail end of that thought, he knocked over a player from the opposing team. She exhaled, wondering if all her worrying was starting to get to her.

It was during the second half of the game; Vanessa finished her hot chocolate and was tapping her fingers against the metal of her thermos. Time stood still. A player ran toward Grayson, something that happened nearly a hundred times every Friday night. But instead of running clear or charging forward to push the guy down, Grayson stood there and absorbed every bit of force as the guy ran into him and knocked him flat onto the field.

Vanessa’s fingers went limp and she dropped the thermos. It hit the bottom of the bleachers with a clang.

Her mouth went dry. Her bottom lip started to quiver.

Nearly a replay of last week, Ethan ran out from the bench to help Grayson. But this time, Grayson didn’t get to his knees so Ethan could help him.

Ethan leaned down. Vanessa wondered what he must have been saying. Grayson didn’t get up. He laid on the grass.

Vanessa didn’t know when she stood up and started running down the bleachers, but she recognized the medics walking onto the field with a stretcher. A far part of her mind wondered if this was her mother’s view at her last softball game. “Where are you taking him?” her voice came out as a cry. Ethan moved forward from the shadows to place a familiar hand on her shoulders, stopping her from running toward the paramedics.

“Mercy General,” one of them said while three men lifted Grayson’s body off of the ground and onto the stretcher. “Only one can ride in the ambulance, I got a note that it was the brother,” he read off of a iPad.

“You can go,” Ethan nearly whispered in her ear.

She looked up at him, feeling tears stinging the corner of her eyes, “What?”

“Go,” Ethan said with more strength, “I’ll meet you there.” Before Vanessa could ask anything else, Ethan started toward the locker room behind her.

The men hoisting the gurney had started bringing Grayson past the field and toward the parking lot, where the ambulance was undoubtedly waiting with sirens blaring. “Are you coming miss,” the medic with the iPad had stayed back to wait for Vanessa. She nodded before following the man.

Tears started to stream down her face as the ambulance rushed toward the other side of town. Grayson stayed unconscious while she took his hand in hers and squeezed it gently, “You’ll be fine, you have to be fine,” she repeated his words from earlier.

The ride flashed, before she knew it the medics were opening up the back the roll Grayson toward the emergency room. Stepping out of the ambulance, she felt stupid for not calling his mom on the way there. She wondered if Ethan had called her, and if Ethan was on her way when one of the medics started asking her questions about insurance and preexisting conditions. She felt guilty for not being more help to Grayson, even in the smallest way, in his time of need.

While Vanessa was questioned about Grayson’s date of birth, height, and weight, a few nurses rolled him behind a curtain to dispose his helmet, pads, and clothes to change him into a hospital gown. Frustrated and scared, Vanessa went to sit by his side when her phone rang. For a second, she wanted to cuss out whatever person wanted to call her in a moment like this. Her attitude shifted when she saw Ethan’s name shine across the screen. “E?”

“Hey, I’m stuck in traffic by I-95,” he groaned, “Mom and Cam are on their way but they’re coming from out of town.” He sounded tired, angry, and everything in between. “Did they tell you anything?”

“Nothing yet,” Vanessa said shyly, “We just got here, haven’t seen a doctor yet.”

Ethan was the calm twin, the levelheaded twin, the rational twin. When Grayson got too overly emotionally invested in a game, Ethan was the voice of reason who would bring him back to Earth. During that phone call, Vanessa heard no trace of Ethan’s collected demeaner when he said, “Alright. Keep me posted.”

The dial tone sounded before Vanessa could respond. She shoved her phone into her pocket and gently pulled the curtain back to see Grayson. He was lying in a hospital bed, wearing a thin cotton robe, and his hair was a sweaty mess. Vanessa’s heart dropped. There was something peaceful about the relaxed way his features sat on his face. She lowered herself into a chair next to him and started to cry. Silently, in a way that none of the nurses and patients around her would notice, she cried stress and fear. She leaned forward to take Grayson’s hand in hers, studying it intricately and dredging what the rest of the night held.  She was slumped over, her head pressed against his hip. She had completely resigned to the emotionally trauma of the night. She perked her head up when Grayson’s hand, that was once limp, started to squeeze hers back. She looked up to see his eyes start to flutter open, confused and dizzied.

“Ness?” he said softly, blinking quicker by the moment.

“Hey,” she sniffled and smiled wide, her tears touched the corners of her mouth.

Grayson squeezed her hand again, “Hey Ness?” She sniffled a few more times, using her free hand to wipe her face and try to collect herself. “Yeah?”

“I loveyou Ness,” his words came out garbled, running over each other, but she heard it nonetheless. And something about the power of his words reassured her soul that they would get through that night, and the many hard ones to come.

[sleepdeprivedheretic]

Price for Flight

Summary: Modern! Au! After a brief accident in bumping into him, reader and Taishiro became friends, then he left to his home country in Osaka, Japan, but not before they exchanged phone numbers and mailing addresses. Cue shared memories, laughs, and pining from an international distance from high school, to college, and after.

Notes: Guess who’s been listening to Sister Christian by NightRanger, and had the idea of international friendship/crushes with each sharing gifts, knowledge, and videos of events from each one’s respective country? Wanted to start off with a fluffy fic for Fluff November.  

Warnings in the fic: a little bit of blood in the beginning, curse words, and there will be a 2nd chapter, but it’ll have smut in it, so if you want just fluff, you can read this chapter as is.

Disclaimer: I have the Big Dumb, and so my writing is used to sculpt real life cities, countries, and traditions for pure fictional purposes. Everything isn't lined to a T with my limited knowledge.

“I’m so sorry!” You found yourself shouting out loud. It was an accident. You had a vase of reddish yellow rose buds that you’ve just recently cut within the school’s garden. Walking down the hallway to place them in your classroom’s window, you tripped. It wasn’t like you planned on tripping, who could have known that tiny rocks could do that?

What made matters worse, you tripped into somebody, spilling water and crushing rose petals onto the poor student who hastily caught you.

“Are you alright?!”

“I’m so sorry!”

Came out from the both of you at the same time. Your face was red with embarrassment, trying your best not to inwardly wail. It was the cute student from Japan, Taishiro Toyomitsu, you recalled. Although you had trouble with pronouncing his name, you tried your best to learn it out of respect.

He was pudgy, and had a Japanese accent mixed in with an odd southern accent, and all around, you couldn’t help but think that he was a little cute. Sure he was new, and your friends found him to be a little weird, but he was always nice and polite, and insisted on everybody call him “Tai-chan”. Now, you were leaning up against him, fingers bloody from the thorns cutting into you, and the both of you fussing over one another.

“You’re bleedin’!”

“There’s blood on your shirt! I’m so sorry!”

The two of you stared at each other, both embarrassed and apologetic.

“Please let me take you to the infirmary?” He broke the silence as the blood from your little cuts smeared into his uniform.

“Okay.” You gave in, tucking your hand into your shirt as you set the vase down out of the way. You’ll make sure to clean it up, later. ……

You honestly felt bad. He had a dirty and wet uniform on, because of your clumsiness. Luckily, the nurse patched up your hand, and he called his mother, speaking fluent Japanese while you stared, impressed. The nurse had the two of you wait while his mom dropped off his clothes, and she telling the janitor and teacher of what happened to you.  

“That’s super cool!” You blurted out truthfully when he was done. His face reddened a bit, as if embarrassed. Of course you knew why. Some of your classmates are jerks, and he stood out like a sitting duck, waiting to get bullied. You didn’t see him get picked on, but you knew that he was. Kids are mean, and gossip spreads.

“Ya think so?” He asked. You nodded without hesitation.

“I’m not the only one, though.” Passing the time, you told him that several students were impressed, and he shouldn’t listen to vulturous children. You were a kid, and unsure on how good your advice was, but he seemed to brighten up. It was too soon for you to leave and go to class, but you had too.

“Ya wanna hang out, after school?”

“Yeah!”

You replied quickly after his outburst, and he couldn’t help but smile sweetly, whilst you felt your heartbeat quicken. ………

      That was how the two of you had met, you remembered it so clearly, the feelings of your teenaged heart were confusing, but you wanted to find every excuse in the book to just be near him. It was a close, endearing friendship, and the two of you had taught each other a lot of things whenever you could.

Your friends began to like him, too, and the bullying lessened as the two of you were basically attached to the hip. They corrupted him, showing him memes, funny videos and such, and he would catch you off guard with outward, dirty jokes, causing the both of your ears and cheeks to flush into a dark shade of pink.  

Although, his stay in your country was only six months until the both of you graduated, the two of you had learned a lot. He taught you Japanese, and you began practicing writing it, you liking the feeling of his hand gripping yours, guiding you to write kanji. When he had to leave, your heart almost broke as you hugged him tightly, him shushing you as he promised that the two of you would share phone numbers and mailing addresses, so that you’ll always keep in touch.

Keep in touch, you did.

“Tai-chan! That’s so pretty!” You gushed. It’s been a year, since he left, and oddly enough, your feelings and thoughts did not waver as you entered your freshman year of college.

“I know, right?” He boomed, holding the phone towards him and the blooming Sakura trees underneath the Osaka castle. It was Hanami, a holiday for flower viewing, and it was so very pretty as the pink petals fluttered around within the wind. Taishiro was in his hometown, Osaka, wearing informal clothes as he popped a dumpling into his mouth as he sat on the blanket with his mom and her new husband. It was almost hard to hear him due to the crowd of people happily chattering among themselves.  

You were entranced, seeing such a vibrant and beautiful scene before your eyes as he grinned at you, smiling warmly whilst his mother waved at you, and you waved back.

“So, how do you like it?” Taishiro asked, diverting your attention, and you smiled.

“Dude, everything’s so pretty and vibrant! I wish I was there with you guys!” You admitted freely, and he grinned.

“Wish ya was here, too! Mom’ll force ya to wear a kimono, though. I got lucky ‘cause they dragged me here right after class!” He admitted.

“Formal dress isn’t so bad, Tai-chan! How’s college?” You changed the subject. He shrugged.

“Not too bad! Classes are pretty easy, I got my own apartment an’ job, now! Little small, but makes the bills easier to pay!” He spoke loud enough to drown out the crowd.

“I’ll talk to ya later, okay? Mom’s getting’ mad that I’m shoutin’.” He admitted sheepishly.

“Okay! Tell her that she looks pretty in her kimono!” You grinned. He nodded as the two of you eventually hung up. It was moments like these that made your day, you smiled to yourself, feeling your heart beating faster as you plopped down onto your comfy pillows. After graduating high school, you followed your dream in getting into college, and getting your own apartment and job. It was tough, but you made it, and as a bonus, Taishiro was pretty happy and proud for you.

  You wish that he didn’t have to leave, but his mother wanted to go back to their country after moving to yours to escape the grief of a rather nasty divorce. You can’t escape from everything, Tai had said to you, and shrugged, saying that he really didn’t care about his father, but he’d support his mother in anyway that he could.  

You felt warm at the memories, trying his mother’s cooking, tasting a different country’s cuisine had excited you, and your pleased face was evident as you slowly chewed the rice ball. Your face went red as Taishiro wiped some of the sticky rice off of your face, and when he noticed that you were staring, he’d blushed too as he wiped it on your shirt, leaving him to snort with laughter at your pathetic attempt at a glare.

Yeah, you missed him. ……..

“Happy Halloween!” You tilted the brim of your witch hat, grinning as you handed the little goblins and ghosts some candy from a bowl.

“We don’t really give out candy, but we do cosplayin’, zombie runs, n’ Disneyland has somethin’ special around this time of year.” Taishiro spoke to you from your phone, which rested neatly in your breast pocket, smiling softly at the kids who gave toothy smiles with thanks behind their masks. To your luck, he and you were always on camera when the two of you spoke, now, seeing how each other changed since last year.

To your surprise, he had two little piercings in his ear lobes, stating that he was a grown man, and that he got them as to treat himself for passing his first semester of college. He didn’t lose any weight, but he had been going to the gym, gaining muscle as he shot up about two feet in height. It didn’t help your increasing heartbeat, or confusing feelings that you thought were just a little girl’s crush in high school.    

You changed, too, and you’ve noticed that he obviously noticed, and pinned every little reaction into your brain, liking the way that you caused him that.

Right now, you had him listen to classic Halloween songs such as Monster Mash, Flying Purple People Eater, and Thriller. He knew the songs, but you liked playing them, anyway to fill in the Halloween spirit. You set the phone down on the kitchen table as the two of you talked while the music playing in the background. Although he didn’t really dress up, he admitted that he liked your costume, and might invest in something next year.

You smiled, basking in the moment. ………

“Time to open yours!” He put the chicken leg from KFC down on his plate, as he and his family gathered around his phone with you on camera, looking at the brightly colored wrapping paper. His family had adopted the more Western customs of gift wrapping and receiving during Christmas, and he was not disappointed when your gift had arrived in the mail. He had sent you one, as well, knowing that it would tickle you pink. He was right.

Although the both of you knew that Christmas Eve was the day to give and receive gifts, it was generally for couples, but you wanted to share the holiday joy with him, and find an excuse to give a gift, and although beet red, he thought that gift giving was a nice thing to do.  

   He wanted you to open yours, first, and so you did, grinning wickedly as you opened the paper slowly, drawing out the suspense on purpose.  

“Hurry up, already!” Taishiro huffed, then jumped when his mother hit him lightly with her shoe, shushing him. You couldn’t hide your smirk at the gesture, but quickened your pace at the playful glare that you were receiving.

You tore open the beautifully wrapped paper, regretting to waste it, but you were curious on what he had gotten you. Finally getting the box opened, you all but squealed with joy.

“What? This is amazing!” You winced on how loud your voice was, but his grin and his family’s warm smiles made it worth it. You pulled out the organized snacks from Japan, eyes twinkling with joy as you realized that you were smiling. Underneath the bags of konpeito, onigiri senbei rice crackers, jagariko, and among other snacks, you pulled out a very pretty snow-globe. It seemed simple, but the fake snow dancing around the dolled up log cabin and the smiling snowman, melted your heart.

“I like it! Thank you, Tai-chan!” You beamed, and he grinned sheepishly as blood rushed to his cheeks.

“I didn’ wanna get anythin’ that was too lame, ya know?”

“Nonsense! It’s very charming and thoughtful, thank you.” You grinned as you shook it gently, watching the glitter swish around the heartwarming scene.

“Alright! My turn!” He changed the subject as his eye twitched at the snickers of his step-dad. He huffed, then grinned as he all but tore open your gift, faster than your slow pace. You grinned wickedly, as to when he opened the box, it revealed another box. He gave you a look.

“Really?”

“It’s in there. Eventually.”

“Yer such a lil’ shit.”

“I know.” You admitted, him glaring at you until he had finally opened the last box, eyes twinkling as he reached inside, admiring the prize.

“Y/n…” He murmured, pulling out a crocheted scarf and hat. It took you a little longer to make them than you’d like to admit, but it was worth it as his face softened while he eyed the bright orange garb.

“I like it, too.” His eyes met yours as he felt something else within the box. You smiled.

“Oh! A new set of earrings?” He grinned, pulling up the small thick hoops, eyeing them as they shined within the light.

“Hypoallergenic, too!” You chirped, eating up his expressions as he began putting on the hat, scarf, and switching out his old jewelry for the new ones.

“Merry Christmas, Tai-chan.” You murmured, and he gave you that infamous toothy, sweet smile of his.

“You too, Y/n.”

………….

“See? It’s not so bad!” You giggled, holding the phone up high.

“Yer a devil, ya know that?” You could hear him grumble. It was spring, again, and the both of you were in your second years. He admittedly lost a tiny bit of weight, due to him going to the gym, and you remained the same, except your feelings for him had grew. Almost three years of friendship, and you felt as if you knew him, forever.

Right now, you were sitting neatly at the small Fair, in the highest seat in which belonged to the Ferris Wheel, holding your phone up high while Taishiro was taking a break from his work to watch you look over the whole Fair grounds.

“Yeah, but you’re best friends with me!” You chirped loudly, giggling at his disgruntled huff. You had to be more careful with your words, you thought, as certain words were on the tip of your tongue.  

 You didn’t know what or how he felt. His face did redden a lot, but your mother said that he was young, and pretty girls did that to young men. You knew her intentions weren’t to drown out your hope, but to let you get a perspective on the situation, and to be careful with your feelings.

 He and you had never dated, anyone. Him complaining that he was too fat, and you arguing that he was fine the way he is, genuinely caring about him as your lovable best friend. Of course your feelings had grown, and each time you went to reflect on them, you couldn’t help the passing negative thoughts.

He was in another country. He could actually have anybody he wanted to. If he was seeing somebody, you knew that you’d had to keep your distance from him, in respect of the relationship that he would be building with somebody else.

“Hey, you alright? You’re kinda silent.” His voice snapped your attention away from your thoughts.

“More than fine! Oh! They have a game in which you could win a live rabbit! It’s a little tough, but the bunnies look so cool!” You admitted, changing the subject, and he let out a bark of laughter.

“Bunnies, huh?”

“Yeah?”

“Nothin’. Hey, I gotta go back to work, see ya later!” He waved, and you waved back, smiling as you ended the call.

As your ride ended, you wondered around the grounds, just looking at the sights, and then something shiny had caught your eyes. It was a little stand selling trinkets, you thought as you walked closer. The shiny thing, were two little friendship bracelets with little clear plastic gummy bears hooked onto them, one orange, and the other was your favorite color. You felt yourself smiling, remembering the nickname that his mom had called him, thus leading to everybody else calling him that.

Of course, he was embarrassed, but the absolute flustered and adorable look that he’d given you as you tried out the name, was memorable. A thoughtful gift wouldn’t hurt, you grinned.

……………

You held up your wrist, grinning at his flustered look as the orange plastic bear twinkled in the sunlight.

“What are we, twelve?” He asked, but he held out the trinket, an evident smile was on his face. It was August the eighth, his birthday, and you’ve decided to surprise him with the thoughtful gift that you’d gotten in spring. Of course the look on his face was priceless, and you just ate it up with a grin as he seemed to think the same thing.

“Pft. Gummybear.” You broke the silence, and he bit his lip, looking away.

“That kinda sounds like a pet-name, when ya think about it.”

“What? It is a nickname.”

“Yeah. Between…well, never mind! Thank you for the gift, Chickadee!” He smiled warmly, tying the little bracelet onto his wrist. You gave him your own smile as he referred to your own nickname from school.   …………

 “Guess what?” You couldn’t help but grin wildly, the pure, cheerful energy was radiating off of you as you poured yourself a glass of tea.

“Hm? What is it, Chickadee?” He asked, smiling as if he could just feel your joy all the way from Osaka.

It’s December, now. The two of you had been friends for almost four years, and you had finally, finally-

“I’ll be graduating this spring!”

“Oh, Hon, that’s amazing!” He couldn’t help but mimic your wild grin.

“Yes!” You chuckled.

 To be honest, because of the both of you being in college and at work, living two separate lives, you hadn’t seen or heard from him in a while. It didn’t stop the two of you from trying to reach out, however. The longest time you remembered not really seeing his face, lasted about a week because the two of you were so busy.

 Imagine his surprise when you started crying with tears of joy, extremely happy to see him as he sent you a little gift in the mail. It was an ornament hair pin from the fair in Osaka, and oddly, it reminded you of him. Although humble, it had specks of amber and yellow, and you couldn’t help but feel touched that you had something significant that reminded you of him.

You wanted to hug him. You wanted to talk, face to face in a decent little cafe as he wore the hat and scarf that you’d made him, as you could hear his laughter that wasn’t sullied by the phone’s filter. Also, you wanted to know where the two of you were heading in life. You knew that you couldn’t hold in these feelings for him, forever, hell, you didn’t even know if you’ll ever see him face-to-face ever again, or when he’ll find a very accepting, lovely person and move on without you.

It did break your heart, a little, you couldn’t help but think as you sipped your tea, looking out from the window as he scribbled down notes in the background.

“Tai-chan.” You said, and something in your voice made his attention snap onto you with a look of worry as he read your face.      

       “Hey, Chickadee, what’s wrong?” He asked. You looked at him.

“When can we ever really see each other, again?” The weight must have been evident in your voice, and his expression furrowed with sympathy.

“That’s what’s gotten ya so upset?” He murmured softly.

“Yeah.”

“Fuuuuck, I wanna see ya, too!” He whined, suddenly, and you looked at him with surprise as he cursed.

“I’m telling your mom.”

“Because I said ‘Fuck’, or because I wanna see ya?”

“Both. She can arrive you in tow with a bar of soap in your mouth.” You felt yourself grinning, and he smiled warmly.

“Don’t be sad, Chickadee. When we’re rich and successful from such good jobs, we’ll go see each other every weekend. Hell, I might even get a soap dispenser so ya can wash out my mouth, yourself.”

“Oh, really?”

“Letcha tie me down.” He winked as you rolled your eyes.  

“Aaaaand that’s when our friendship ends.”

“Pft. Anyways. What if….ugh, never mind. Hey, I gotta go, Chicky. Class starts in an hour, kay?”

“Alright, Gummy. See ya later.”   …………………

 What if, what? Kept playing in your mind for months, now. You’ve landed a very good job, and you were great at balancing time with work, family, and your life, while you and Taishiro had kept your ritual of staying in touch. He was more muscular, but still round, and had his earrings that you’ve gotten him for Christmas, still in tact.

 He looked good, and the both of you knew it. You pushed down the little spike of jealousy and discouragement when he mentioned that he was getting more looks, now, but you were more mature, and you knew that he was an adult and could make his own decisions, despite your own feelings. You cared about him, and if you loved somebody truly, their happiness and growth should make you happy, you concluded.  

It didn’t help the fact that he had still a pink flush to his cheeks, rubbing his head awkwardly as he said that he wasn’t really interested in people that he didn’t know, taking little glances at you.

God, Kami, or what, help you, you bit the inside of your cheek. You were hopeless. …….

“Hey, Chicka-umph!” He couldn’t finish the words. Five years. It took the two of you five years to finally graduate, get jobs, save money, and finally, finally-

“It’s been way too long!” You hugged him, burying your face into his jacket as you couldn’t help but let out the most widest grin in years. You let out a yelp of surprise as he had the gall to pick you up and spun you around, him laughing at your stunned expression as he settled you down after the short spiel, and you let out a giggle.

He was smiling down at you, chuckling as he had hugged you back, swaying you a little side to side as his cheeks flushed.

The two of you were in Osaka, his mother and step-father weren’t there, and you traveled alone, bringing only a small amount of luggage with your passport. He sighed.

“You’re still short.”

“Shut it, you’re just a giraffe.” You playfully stuck out your tongue and he rolled his eyes.

“Damn, it’s so good to see ya. Just think, our friendship started ‘cause of yer clumsy ass.” He couldn’t help but joke with you as he grinned at your pitiful attempt of a glare. He chuckled.

“I’m glad, though.” He murmured, and you hummed in agreement.

 You’ve been waiting for this moment, learning Japanese and studying kanji as you walked alongside him, talking about everything and nothing, noticing that he had never really took out the earrings you’ve gave him, plus he and you opted to wear the gummy bear bracelets. Your smiled softly. It was as if the world spun on and the two of you slowly changed, yet like magnets, pulled closer together.

  Since the day that you’ve discovered your own feelings for him, you had decided that you didn’t want anybody else, for he was showing interest, and your heart had remained unbroken as he unconsciously had taken good care of it. He was worth the hours you’ve put into your work, and the extra savings that you’ve had put back. If you had him as just a close friend forever, you’d be happy, you’ve decided.

  It was a fun day. He had saved up to pay for reservations for the two of you to go to the aquarium, telling you that since you’ve made such an effort to see him, he was the one to treat you in Osaka, drinking in your expressions of wonderment and joy as he explained. He chuckled when you excitedly pointed out the whale shark, letting you rant on about how it was a filter feeder, and the biggest fish in the sea.

“Here. It’s my favorite, an’ I figured ya might like to try “the nation’s kitchen’s” street food.” He grinned, holding up a piece of takoyaki for you to try. After a long day of cooing and buying a bit of souvenirs, he led you outside, opting to let you try something that differed from his mother’s cooking from all those years back. You bit into it while he was still holding the toothpick, causing him to fluster, yet you paid no mind, letting the taste of octopus, onion, and sauce envelope your taste buds.

Your face heated up when you realized that it was actually pretty good.

“Good?” He gave a knowing grin. You nodded, and he chuckled.

“Ya got sauce on your cheek, ya messy thing.” He thumbed your cheek, wiping off the sauce. Much to your utter surprise, he had the gall to lick it, eyeing you with a smirk etched on his face.

“Did you just-”

“Tit for tat.” He winked, and you felt the blood rush up to your cheeks.

You couldn’t stay, long. Your boss had given you a limited amount of vacation days, and you could only stay until the night. He knew it, as well, and so the two of you had tried draw out the remaining day, him showing you all sorts of vending machines, helping you walk the ever busy streets as you felt so tiny compared to the skyscrapers, trying different foods, and briefly meeting his mom and step-dad.

She hugged you, rambling fast in Japanese, as you caught certain phrases. Taishiro let out a laugh.

“She misses ya. We all did.” He smiled, and you let out your own, deciding to comfort the fretting woman.

“She has to leave, ma.” He spoke in his native tongue, and she huffed.

“I haven’t seen her in years! Plus you spent all day with her, you heathen.” She then turned towards you.

“Ah, Honey, you look so tired and happy! Did you have a good day?” She cooed, squishing your cheeks playfully and you laughed a little.

“Of course!”

“I’m glad. Let my boy escort you to the airport, alright?” She hummed, and you nodded. ………

 “Today was the best day I’ve ever had in such a long time.” He told you gently, and your heart hammered as you waited on for your flight in the lobby.    

“Same for me. Makes me regret going back.” You gave out a little laugh, but it felt hallow.

“Yeah.” You focused on his solemn expression, eyebrows furrowed as he looked as if he didn’t really wanted you to go, either.

  “Hey.” He broke the silence with a heavy conviction, and you looked up at him with confusion. He said nothing as he took your hand and placed it on his chest, and you were surprised on how fast it was beating. With his other hand, he cupped your jaw, rather gently, and now it was your turn to feel your heart hammering through your rib cage. You didn’t have time to say anything, as he leaned down and gave a chaste kiss on your mouth.

Time seemed to still to a stop for you, but he broke away too soon, face reddened, but he didn’t look as if he regretted it, and you couldn’t find yourself too, either.

“Please, for the love of Kami, be mine. Doesn’t matter when we’ll see each other again, I’ll save up and move to your country, if I have to-”

You interrupted him with your own little kiss, and he hummed into it, gripping you tighter to him as he broke away, only to lean into your neck.

“I’ve been holding these feelings in for a long time.” You murmured, and he nodded.

“Yeah? Since high school?”

“Yeah.”

“Same for me. When I was away from ya, I kept thinkin’, she’s so lovely, in no time, somebody’s gonna snatch her up. Was she waitin’ for me? Took me a while to figure the last one out, but I did.” He hummed, opting to raise his face and kiss your cheek, smiling.

“So, when’s the wedding?” You broke the silence with a joke, and he huffed.

“Ya know what, ya lil’ shit? Maybe tomorrow.”

“Really? We’re just going to...get married?” You looked at him with wonder, and although blushing furiously, he shrugged.

“We’ve known each other for so long. Been pinin’ and sayin’ nothing. Ugh, we’re both dumbasses.” He sulked a little, and you let out a giggle.

“Alright. We’ll plan for a wedding.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“No dates, or anythin’, just jumpin’ right into it?”

“We’ve been low-key dating. As friends, though. Maybe we could give it another year? See how everything works out as a couple? If we save up, we could get married and one of us move to either Japan or my country.” You explained, his expression softening as he kissed you again, a little firmer, this time.

“Alright. I don’t mind either option, or even if ya wanted your own traditional wedding. Heh. This is happening.”

“Yeah.”

“You’re mine and I’m yours, an’ we’re gonna get married.”

“I’m still a little surprised, but I’d have it no other way.”

“Same here.”

[artificialqueens]

Hold Me Tighter (Even Closer), Chapter 9 (Branjie, Jankie) - Joley

ao3 link

Chapter Summary: We pick back up a few months after Jackie and Jan make their relationship official and Brooke Lynn and Vanessa set their sights on their future daughter. Everything finally falls into place.

Three Months Later

It was nearing the middle of January, in the midst of winter break. Katya, Jan, and Jackie were in Brooke Lynn and Vanessa’s apartment, busily decorating and making sure every little thing was in place according to the couple’s specific instructions. This was the day they had been anticipating for quite some time, after all.

The three of them were setting up for a welcome home party, as while they were doing so, Brooke and Vanessa were on their way home with their daughter. The papers were signed, the documents were made official, they were finally going to officially welcome Ana Sofia into their family.

Although it did feel like they already had her – the moms-to-be had talked about her at length, read them every detail of her biography until they could recite it from memory. She was three years old, half-White and half-Puerto Rican – when the two of them read that on her file, they thought it had to be fate. The story of the girl’s parents wasn’t uncommon, but it was a situation they could feel sympathy towards – a nineteen-year-old girl had been in a relationship with a man nearly twice her age, who left once he found out about her pregnancy, only for the young mother to find out the father was leaving the country. With his wife.

Brooke Lynn and Vanessa had been contacted by the woman while they were in the midst of the adoption process. She was kind and soft-spoken and it was clear she had only wanted the best for her biological child. They had agreed to visit the idea of allowing a relationship between her and Ana Sofia when she was old enough.

“God, she looked so young,” Brooke Lynn had said once they had left the meeting. “Like, shit, she was Jan’s age when she had her… that’s how old you were when we met.”

“Can you imagine if I was pregnant when we met?” Vanessa asked, shaking her head.

“With the number of men you’ve threatened to castrate? No, not really.”

But even though they had gone through all of the preparation, had meticulously completed every step, the day of their new daughter’s arrival felt unreal. After the bedroom had been painted and carpeted, after all sorts of toys and stuffed animals had been purchased, after every inch of the apartment was childproofed, wrapping their heads around finally bringing their little girl home felt hard to do.

It wasn’t the first time they had met her, of course. They’d been having supervised visits for nearly two months. They had bonded with Ana Sofia, they loved her. She’d met the people in their lives – Jan, Jackie, Katya, she even got to meet Brooke’s mother when she visited for Christmas and Vanessa’s when they went there for New Year’s Eve.

“You ready to go inside?” Brooke gently asked the little girl, though she was the most nervous out of the three of them.

Ana Sofia looked up with her big, brown eyes and nodded, one hand holding Brooke’s and the other carrying the bright pink teddy bear they had bought for her. “Yeah!”

Vanessa opened the door to a cheerful greeting of ‘welcome home!’ and looked at the way her new daughter’s eyes lit up with enthusiasm. She carried Ana Sofia’s suitcases into her bedroom, letting the young girl run around and greet everyone. “Go on and make yourself comfy, Sofie,” she encouraged.

It didn’t take long for Sofie to get acclimated to the apartment she had already started to get used to, winding up on the couch with their cat on her lap.

“How are you guys feeling?” Katya asked the new mothers. She was calm in a way that would otherwise be unnerving, but without the normal ulterior motives, it was a welcome change.

“I haven’t been this excited since our wedding day,” Brooke replied with a broad grin, her arm looping around Vanessa’s waist. “It feels like this is what everything was leading up to. Like we’re finally whole.”

Vanessa nodded in agreement. “You shoulda seen her when we picked her up and told her she was coming home for good. You’d think we live in Disneyland or something,” she chuckled.

Katya grinned. “I can’t begin to tell you two how proud I am. You’ve come such a long way from two kids struggling to confront how they felt about each other, I don’t think I’d have ever predicted this.”

“We wouldn’t have been able to without your flagrant disregard for our personal boundaries, so thank you for that,” Brooke teased. “Though I guess we did learn from the best as far as that goes,” she added, cocking her head towards Jan and Jackie.

“They were worse than us, you gotta admit,” Vanessa chimed in.

“Yes,” she conceded, “which isn’t an easy task with what a nightmare you guys were. But I think they’re in it for the long haul too.”

Jan and Jackie were sitting with Ana Sofia on the couch, talking animatedly about all of the fun things they would be able to do, how much they were looking forward to babysitting her.

“We have to take her to a show at some point,” Jan mused, “maybe f-r-o-z-e-n,” she spelled it out, knowing better than to say it in front of a child and set her off in excitement.

Jackie chuckled softly in amusement. “Yeah, maybe for her birthday,” she mused, then looked down, clearing her throat. “Baby… can I talk to you privately for a moment?”

Jan’s brows knitted in concern, but she nodded and got up, following her girlfriend into the guest room. “What’s up?”

“I was gonna wait until later, but I can’t wait any longer,” she replied, rocking back and forth on her feet. She was always so careful with her words, especially with Jan. But she’d also learned from Jan that sometimes it was best to be direct. “I want you to move in with me.”

There was a beat of silence, a surprised Jan needed a moment to process what’s been said. But then a broad grin spread across her lips and she nodded brightly. “Okay,” she threw her arms around Jackie, “I’d love to.”

Jackie’s entire body relaxed as a wave of relief washed over her. “Great. Amazing. Perfect. We can go back to your parents’ place to pack up your things whenever you’re ready. I mean, I don’t wanna rush you or anything, but I think it’d make sense before the semester–”

Jan cut her off by kissing her deeply. “Baby, I love you, but you talk way too fucking much when you’re overthinking,” she chuckled. “My parents will be thrilled to not have to pay for room and board, they’ll happily cover my share of the rent. We can go tomorrow or over the weekend, whatever,” she assured and kissed her again. “Just relax, we’re doing this. Everything is fine.”

“You’re right,” she exhaled, hugging her tightly. “I love you so much.”

Their tender moment was interrupted by a loud banging on the door. “Y’all better not be behaving inappropriately during my baby’s party!” Vanessa yelled.

Jan giggled and opened the door. “We’re not,” she promised, even though Jackie was blushing. “Actually… Jackie just asked me to move in with her.”

Vanessa’s scowl was instantly replaced by a bright grin. “For real? Congrats!” She turned to yell into the main room, “Brooke Lynn! Jan and Jackie are moving in together!” She then dragged the couple back out, holding each of them by the wrist, not that either of them were putting up any resistance. They both knew better than that.

Brooke looked up, chuckling warmly at the enthusiasm her wife had for the couple. “You guys are moving in together? Congrats. We’d offer to help but, you know, very busy with the new child.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll coerce Gigi and Crystal to help us. They can be bribed with weed and snacks,” Jan replied with a shrug and a light laugh.

“Oh, are we finally getting proof that Crystal exists?” Brooke asked with a light laugh. It had become something of an ongoing joke – Gigi talked about her all the time, often relentlessly, but none of them, other than Jan, had ever met Crystal. And even though Jan had, she liked to play along for the sole purpose of annoying her friend.

Jan laughed and nodded. “I promise we’ll FaceTime you when we have her here in the flesh.”

——

Jackie caught her breath as she came back upstairs after taking a pile of boxes to load up in the back of Jan’s father’s van. “I still can’t get over how nice your parents’ house is,” she remarked as the two of them sat on the floor of Jan’s bedroom, folding her clothes to pack into boxes. “I know you said your family was well off, but damn.”

Jan shrugged and awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck. “It’s not something I try to make a big deal about,” she explained, then looked up when the door opened and let out a soft laugh. “There you are. We were starting to worry you two got lost.”

“In our defense,” Gigi said as she and Crystal walked in, “we’ve never made this commute before. And we warned you neither of us have any sense of direction.”

“The Amtrak and I are enemies now. But at least we got Krispy Kreme while we waited,” Crystal added cheerily.

Jackie chuckled lightly. “And you didn’t bring any? Rude,” she clicked her tongue then looked to Jan. “Don’t forget, we promised Brooke and Vanjie we’d call to let Gigi prove Crystal isn’t a figment of her imagination.”

“Can you really prove I’m not?”

Jan and Jackie giggled while Gigi rolled her eyes and waited for Jan to get her phone out, calling up Brooke Lynn on FaceTime.

“Hey hun,” Brooke greeted. She was sitting with Vanessa and Ana Sofia, the sound of cartoons playing in the background. “How’s the big move going?”

Jan pushed herself to her feet. “Can’t complain, we’re not making ourselves crazy considering it’s not too bad of a commute. For us, anyway,” she pointedly looked at Crystal and Gigi at the last part.

“Show us the imaginary girlfriend!” Vanessa interrupted, leaning further into frame. “Katya thinks it’s gonna be Jackie with a wig on.”

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” Gigi muttered under her breath, taking the phone from Jan and holding it up so she and Crystal were in the frame. “Vanjie, Brooke, tiny child, this is my girlfriend, Crystal. Who does exist.”

Crystal laughed softly. “Wow, this really bothered you,” she observed. “Why didn’t you just FaceTime me sooner?”

“Because we woulda called you a hologram,” Vanessa retorted before Gigi could answer, eliciting laughter from Brooke as well as Jan and Jackie.

Gigi pouted and crossed her arms. “I hate all of you,” she muttered, then added, “except for the kid, she’s cool.” And with that, she hung up and handed the phone back to Jan.

Jan chuckled and put her phone away. “You’re so cranky,” she cooed, getting up and grabbing her purse. “Here, let me smoke you out now. It’s the least I could do,” she offered, placing a joint between Gigi’s pouting lips and lighting it, watching her friend relax and smoke in spite of herself.

Jackie watched in mild amusement before glancing down as her phone went off. “Aw, Jaida just got back from Milwaukee and Nicky was waiting for her at the airport,” she read off her phone, then held it up to show the selfie Jaida had taken of the two of them.

“Wonder whatever happened to Nicky’s ‘no dating until graduation’ rule,” Jan mused with a laugh as she went back to folding shirts and packing them away. “Or are they still ‘not putting a label on it’?”

“The latter,” she confirmed. “But I know Jaida, she’s not gonna put up with that forever. She called me out on my bullshit plenty and she’s not the ‘do as I say, not as I do’ type.”

“I just love that Nicky’s role in your life is essentially the girl that fucks the women closest to you. It feels like a metaphor or something. Frankly, I think you need to have sex with her just to bring it all full circle,” Gigi mused, to which Jackie responded by throwing a pair of jeans at her.

“Fuck off,” Jackie laughed. “I’d much rather her fuck my best friend than my girlfriend any day.”

Jan offered her a reassuring smile and nod. “There’s no plans on that happening again, don’t you worry… unless you want a threesome,” she joked.

“Hey Jan,” Crystal interrupted, “when do you hear back from that thing you auditioned for? What was it again?”

The calm smile on Jan’s lips shifted into a nervous one. She stopped folding, instead fiddling with the fabric in her hands. “It’s an official shadow cast production for The Rocky Horror Picture Show, a solid five week stint. The website is posting callbacks on Thursday morning, then they post who made the final cut I think… four days after that.”

Jackie scoffed playfully. “Right, ‘if’. Baby, you know you have that on lock, just like you got Veronica without breaking a sweat.”

“I broke many sweats, but I appreciate the vote of confidence.”

——

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Jan did receive a callback and, four days later, was incessantly refreshing the company’s website waiting for the cast list to be posted. The list was set to go up at nine in the morning, but she had been checking since a quarter to, just in case. “God, what’s taking so fucking long?”

Jackie watched, trying her hardest not to laugh. “Honey, it’s five after. Take a breath before you pop a blood vess–”

“It’s up!”

She rushed to her girlfriend’s side, hand gripping onto the back of the desk chair tight enough to turn her knuckles white. “Well?”

“I got Janet!”

The two of them jumped up in tandem, hugging and squealing in pure elation. “Oh my god!” Jan beamed, “this is so exciting!”

Jackie pressed kisses over Jan’s face, culminating with a tender kiss to the lips. “I knew you would get it. I’m so happy for you.”

“Thank god I’m living with you now,” she mused out loud, “juggling this with classes, as excited as I am, I just know I’d let myself get way too overwhelmed and no one keeps me grounded like you do.” They had learned about this in the last few weeks before Heathers. Jan had been on the brink of a nervous breakdown and only Jackie had been able to talk her down.

“I’m happy to be that anchor for you,” Jackie smiled. “And if this ends up being like Heathers and you need help rehearsing the ‘sexy’ song…”

Jan giggled, hiding her face against the crook of Jackie’s neck. “Yeah? You’re gonna be my Rocky while I work on ‘Touch-a Touch-a Touch Me’? It’s a very different sexual energy than ‘Dead Girl Walking’.”

She tilted her head. “I don’t think they’re that different, but the end goal of using it as foreplay remains the same.”

“I can’t argue with that,” she conceded, sitting down on the bed. “Did you ever think this would be where we would end up after that night? When we thought we’d broken down a big wall by giving in to our unavoidable lust?”

“Not for a second,” Jackie admitted with a laugh, sitting beside her. “I hoped it was the start of something, but falling in love with you was never in the cards.”

Jan smiled and rested her head on Jackie’s shoulder. “Me neither. But I wouldn’t change a thing. The rollercoaster we were on brought us right to where we needed to be.”

“It did,” Jackie took Jan’s hand in her own and squeezed it. “It really did.” She looked up and out the window. “Do you think history will repeat itself again? That a few years down the line we’ll find our own pair of useless lesbians to play dysfunctional cupid with?”

She chuckled softly and shrugged. “I dunno. I remember Vanjie told me how once you’re in love, it’s easier to see it happen to other people. I guess anything is possible.”

[missjanjie]

Hold Me Tighter (Even Closer) | (9/9)

Title: Hold Me Tighter (Even Closer) Summary: A sequel to Hold Me Closer, Tiny Dancer. Brooke Lynn and Vanessa are back at NYU, but with new and improved positions. Brooke’s ready to start her career as a professor when, as fate would have it, she realizes her TA, Jackie, might have the hots for a student named Jan. The couple just might see it as a sign to give two new girls the love story they found in the same place. Word Count: ~2.7k (this chapter) / 26,700 (total) Relationship(s): Branjie (Brooke Lynn Hytes/Vanessa Vanjie Mateo), Jankie (Jan Sport/Jackie Cox) Rating: E

read on ao3 | ko-fi

Chapter Summary: We pick back up a few months after Jackie and Jan make their relationship official and Brooke Lynn and Vanessa set their sights on their future daughter. Everything finally falls into place.

-

Three Months Later

It was nearing the middle of January, in the midst of winter break. Katya, Jan, and Jackie were in Brooke Lynn and Vanessa’s apartment, busily decorating and making sure every little thing was in place according to the couple’s specific instructions. This was the day they had been anticipating for quite some time, after all.

The three of them were setting up for a welcome home party, as while they were doing so, Brooke and Vanessa were on their way home with their daughter. The papers were signed, the documents were made official, they were finally going to officially welcome Ana Sofia into their family.

Although it did feel like they already had her – the moms-to-be had talked about her at length, read them every detail of her biography until they could recite it from memory. She was three years old, half-White and half-Puerto Rican – when the two of them read that on her file, they thought it had to be fate. The story of the girl’s parents wasn’t uncommon, but it was a situation they could feel sympathy towards – a nineteen-year-old girl had been in a relationship with a man nearly twice her age, who left once he found out about her pregnancy, only for the young mother to find out the father was leaving the country. With his wife.

Brooke Lynn and Vanessa had been contacted by the woman while they were in the midst of the adoption process. She was kind and soft-spoken and it was clear she had only wanted the best for her biological child. They had agreed to visit the idea of allowing a relationship between her and Ana Sofia when she was old enough.

“God, she looked so young,” Brooke Lynn had said once they had left the meeting. “Like, shit, she was Jan’s age when she had her… that’s how old you were when we met.”

“Can you imagine if I was pregnant when we met?” Vanessa asked, shaking her head.

“With the number of men you’ve threatened to castrate? No, not really.”

But even though they had gone through all of the preparation, had meticulously completed every step, the day of their new daughter’s arrival felt unreal. After the bedroom had been painted and carpeted, after all sorts of toys and stuffed animals had been purchased, after every inch of the apartment was childproofed, wrapping their heads around finally bringing their little girl home felt hard to do.

It wasn’t the first time they had met her, of course. They’d been having supervised visits for nearly two months. They had bonded with Ana Sofia, they loved her. She’d met the people in their lives – Jan, Jackie, Katya, she even got to meet Brooke’s mother when she visited for Christmas and Vanessa’s when they went there for New Year’s Eve.

“You ready to go inside?” Brooke gently asked the little girl, though she was the most nervous out of the three of them.

Ana Sofia looked up with her big, brown eyes and nodded, one hand holding Brooke’s and the other carrying the bright pink teddy bear they had bought for her. “Yeah!”

Vanessa opened the door to a cheerful greeting of ‘welcome home!’ and looked at the way her new daughter’s eyes lit up with enthusiasm. She carried Ana Sofia’s suitcases into her bedroom, letting the young girl run around and greet everyone. “Go on and make yourself comfy, Sofie,” she encouraged.

It didn’t take long for Sofie to get acclimated to the apartment she had already started to get used to, winding up on the couch with their cat on her lap.

“How are you guys feeling?” Katya asked the new mothers. She was calm in a way that would otherwise be unnerving, but without the normal ulterior motives, it was a welcome change.

“I haven’t been this excited since our wedding day,” Brooke replied with a broad grin, her arm looping around Vanessa’s waist. “It feels like this is what everything was leading up to. Like we’re finally whole.”

Vanessa nodded in agreement. “You shoulda seen her when we picked her up and told her she was coming home for good. You’d think we live in Disneyland or something,” she chuckled.

Katya grinned. “I can’t begin to tell you two how proud I am. You’ve come such a long way from two kids struggling to confront how they felt about each other, I don’t think I’d have ever predicted this.”

“We wouldn’t have been able to without your flagrant disregard for our personal boundaries, so thank you for that,” Brooke teased. “Though I guess we did learn from the best as far as that goes,” she added, cocking her head towards Jan and Jackie.

“They were worse than us, you gotta admit,” Vanessa chimed in.

“Yes,” she conceded, “which isn’t an easy task with what a nightmare you guys were. But I think they’re in it for the long haul too.”

Jan and Jackie were sitting with Ana Sofia on the couch, talking animatedly about all of the fun things they would be able to do, how much they were looking forward to babysitting her.

“We have to take her to a show at some point,” Jan mused, “maybe f-r-o-z-e-n,” she spelled it out, knowing better than to say it in front of a child and set her off in excitement.

Jackie chuckled softly in amusement. “Yeah, maybe for her birthday,” she mused, then looked down, clearing her throat. “Baby… can I talk to you privately for a moment?”

Jan’s brows knitted in concern, but she nodded and got up, following her girlfriend into the guest room. “What’s up?”

“I was gonna wait until later, but I can’t wait any longer,” she replied, rocking back and forth on her feet. She was always so careful with her words, especially with Jan. But she’d also learned from Jan that sometimes it was best to be direct. “I want you to move in with me.”

There was a beat of silence, a surprised Jan needed a moment to process what's been said. But then a broad grin spread across her lips and she nodded brightly. “Okay,” she threw her arms around Jackie, “I’d love to.”

Jackie’s entire body relaxed as a wave of relief washed over her. “Great. Amazing. Perfect. We can go back to your parents’ place to pack up your things whenever you’re ready. I mean, I don’t wanna rush you or anything, but I think it’d make sense before the semester–”

Jan cut her off by kissing her deeply. “Baby, I love you, but you talk way too fucking much when you’re overthinking,” she chuckled. “My parents will be thrilled to not have to pay for room and board, they’ll happily cover my share of the rent. We can go tomorrow or over the weekend, whatever,” she assured and kissed her again. “Just relax, we’re doing this. Everything is fine.”

“You’re right,” she exhaled, hugging her tightly. “I love you so much.”

Their tender moment was interrupted by a loud banging on the door. “Y’all better not be behaving inappropriately during my baby’s party!” Vanessa yelled.

Jan giggled and opened the door. “We’re not,” she promised, even though Jackie was blushing. “Actually… Jackie just asked me to move in with her.”

Vanessa’s scowl was instantly replaced by a bright grin. “For real? Congrats!” She turned to yell into the main room, “Brooke Lynn! Jan and Jackie are moving in together!” She then dragged the couple back out, holding each of them by the wrist, not that either of them were putting up any resistance. They both knew better than that.

Brooke looked up, chuckling warmly at the enthusiasm her wife had for the couple. “You guys are moving in together? Congrats. We’d offer to help but, you know, very busy with the new child.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll coerce Gigi and Crystal to help us. They can be bribed with weed and snacks,” Jan replied with a shrug and a light laugh.

“Oh, are we finally getting proof that Crystal exists?” Brooke asked with a light laugh. It had become something of an ongoing joke – Gigi talked about her all the time, often relentlessly, but none of them, other than Jan, had ever met Crystal. And even though Jan had, she liked to play along for the sole purpose of annoying her friend.

Jan laughed and nodded. “I promise we’ll FaceTime you when we have her here in the flesh.”

------

Jackie caught her breath as she came back upstairs after taking a pile of boxes to load up in the back of Jan’s father’s van. “I still can’t get over how nice your parents’ house is,” she remarked as the two of them sat on the floor of Jan’s bedroom, folding her clothes to pack into boxes. “I know you said your family was well off, but damn.”

Jan shrugged and awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck. “It’s not something I try to make a big deal about,” she explained, then looked up when the door opened and let out a soft laugh. “There you are. We were starting to worry you two got lost.”

“In our defense,” Gigi said as she and Crystal walked in, “we’ve never made this commute before. And we warned you neither of us have any sense of direction.”

“The Amtrak and I are enemies now. But at least we got Krispy Kreme while we waited,” Crystal added cheerily.

Jackie chuckled lightly. “And you didn’t bring any? Rude,” she clicked her tongue then looked to Jan. “Don’t forget, we promised Brooke and Vanjie we’d call to let Gigi prove Crystal isn’t a figment of her imagination.”

“Can you really prove I’m not?”

Jan and Jackie giggled while Gigi rolled her eyes and waited for Jan to get her phone out, calling up Brooke Lynn on FaceTime.

“Hey hun,” Brooke greeted. She was sitting with Vanessa and Ana Sofia, the sound of cartoons playing in the background. “How’s the big move going?”

Jan pushed herself to her feet. “Can’t complain, we’re not making ourselves crazy considering it’s not too bad of a commute. For us, anyway,” she pointedly looked at Crystal and Gigi at the last part.

“Show us the imaginary girlfriend!” Vanessa interrupted, leaning further into frame. “Katya thinks it’s gonna be Jackie with a wig on.”

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” Gigi muttered under her breath, taking the phone from Jan and holding it up so she and Crystal were in the frame. “Vanjie, Brooke, tiny child, this is my girlfriend, Crystal. Who does exist.”

Crystal laughed softly. “Wow, this really bothered you,” she observed. “Why didn’t you just FaceTime me sooner?”

“Because we woulda called you a hologram,” Vanessa retorted before Gigi could answer, eliciting laughter from Brooke as well as Jan and Jackie.

Gigi pouted and crossed her arms. “I hate all of you,” she muttered, then added, “except for the kid, she’s cool.” And with that, she hung up and handed the phone back to Jan.

Jan chuckled and put her phone away. “You’re so cranky,” she cooed, getting up and grabbing her purse. “Here, let me smoke you out now. It’s the least I could do,” she offered, placing a joint between Gigi’s pouting lips and lighting it, watching her friend relax and smoke in spite of herself.

Jackie watched in mild amusement before glancing down as her phone went off. “Aw, Jaida just got back from Milwaukee and Nicky was waiting for her at the airport,” she read off her phone, then held it up to show the selfie Jaida had taken of the two of them.

“Wonder whatever happened to Nicky’s ‘no dating until graduation’ rule,” Jan mused with a laugh as she went back to folding shirts and packing them away. “Or are they still ‘not putting a label on it’?”

“The latter,” she confirmed. “But I know Jaida, she’s not gonna put up with that forever. She called me out on my bullshit plenty and she’s not the ‘do as I say, not as I do’ type.”

“I just love that Nicky’s role in your life is essentially the girl that fucks the women closest to you. It feels like a metaphor or something. Frankly, I think you need to have sex with her just to bring it all full circle,” Gigi mused, to which Jackie responded by throwing a pair of jeans at her.

“Fuck off,” Jackie laughed. “I’d much rather her fuck my best friend than my girlfriend any day.”

Jan offered her a reassuring smile and nod. “There’s no plans on that happening again, don’t you worry… unless you want a threesome,” she joked.

“Hey Jan,” Crystal interrupted, “when do you hear back from that thing you auditioned for? What was it again?”

The calm smile on Jan’s lips shifted into a nervous one. She stopped folding, instead fiddling with the fabric in her hands. “It’s an official shadow cast production for The Rocky Horror Picture Show, a solid five week stint. The website is posting callbacks on Thursday morning, then they post who made the final cut I think… four days after that.”

Jackie scoffed playfully. “Right, ‘if’. Baby, you know you have that on lock, just like you got Veronica without breaking a sweat.”

“I broke many sweats, but I appreciate the vote of confidence.”

------

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Jan did receive a callback and, four days later, was incessantly refreshing the company’s website waiting for the cast list to be posted. The list was set to go up at nine in the morning, but she had been checking since a quarter to, just in case. “God, what’s taking so fucking long?”

Jackie watched, trying her hardest not to laugh. “Honey, it’s five after. Take a breath before you pop a blood vess–”

“It’s up!”

She rushed to her girlfriend’s side, hand gripping onto the back of the desk chair tight enough to turn her knuckles white. “Well?”

“I got Janet!”

The two of them jumped up in tandem, hugging and squealing in pure elation. “Oh my god!” Jan beamed, “this is so exciting!”

Jackie pressed kisses over Jan’s face, culminating with a tender kiss to the lips. “I knew you would get it. I’m so happy for you.”

“Thank god I’m living with you now,” she mused out loud, “juggling this with classes, as excited as I am, I just know I’d let myself get way too overwhelmed and no one keeps me grounded like you do.” They had learned about this in the last few weeks before Heathers. Jan had been on the brink of a nervous breakdown and only Jackie had been able to talk her down.

“I’m happy to be that anchor for you,” Jackie smiled. “And if this ends up being like Heathers and you need help rehearsing the ‘sexy’ song…”

Jan giggled, hiding her face against the crook of Jackie’s neck. “Yeah? You’re gonna be my Rocky while I work on ‘Touch-a Touch-a Touch Me’? It’s a very different sexual energy than ‘Dead Girl Walking’.”

She tilted her head. “I don’t think they’re that different, but the end goal of using it as foreplay remains the same.”

“I can’t argue with that,” she conceded, sitting down on the bed. “Did you ever think this would be where we would end up after that night? When we thought we’d broken down a big wall by giving in to our unavoidable lust?”

“Not for a second,” Jackie admitted with a laugh, sitting beside her. “I hoped it was the start of something, but falling in love with you was never in the cards.”

Jan smiled and rested her head on Jackie’s shoulder. “Me neither. But I wouldn’t change a thing. The rollercoaster we were on brought us right to where we needed to be.”

“It did,” Jackie took Jan’s hand in her own and squeezed it. “It really did.” She looked up and out the window. “Do you think history will repeat itself again? That a few years down the line we’ll find our own pair of useless lesbians to play dysfunctional cupid with?”

She chuckled softly and shrugged. “I dunno. I remember Vanjie told me how once you’re in love, it’s easier to see it happen to other people. I guess anything is possible.”