#for once i dont have to wait for fourth life to come out and drag me out of art block

[evilfarmin]

I love the way your pieces have been looking lately <3

Thank you 😊☺️✈️🫠 honestly I have also been really happy with the way my art has been coming out. Danny Phantom lockdown has been good to me.

[an-emovision]

❞𝕃𝕠𝕧𝕖 𝕃𝕚𝕜𝕖 𝕐𝕠𝕦❞ - 𝕋𝕒𝕞𝕒𝕜𝕚 𝔸𝕞𝕒𝕛𝕚𝕜𝕚

~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀ A/N: Hi! so uhhhh had this in my drafts, im gonna post it and pretend i like it because thats how i roll. I love tamaki so much please. again, art isnt mine, credits to the original artist (idk who it is, if you know then please tell me so i can give credit) neewayz enjoy! Trigger Warnings(s): Fluff(?)  ~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀~̴̡͉̞̈́̀ ❞𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑖'𝑚 𝑛𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝐿𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑎𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑔𝑜 𝑖 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑎𝑑𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑖 𝑤𝑖𝑠ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖 𝑘𝑛𝑒𝑤 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑠 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑖𝑚 𝑠𝑜 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙❞ --------- You were a very outgoing person, very cheery and kind, always willing to talk to people and make friends. The almost exact opposite of Amajiki and yet he just couldn't seem to stop himself from falling for you. Every day he always found himself stealing glances of you in class, occasionally the two would lock eyes. You'd smile that brilliantly bright smile of yours and make Amajikis stomach do back flips and his heart flutter, he would always turn away before any further contact could be made. On one particular day Nejire had asked you to sit with the big three at lunch, to which you happily agreed to. Amajiki almost had a melt down when Nejire had told him, to which Mirio patted him on the back giving him a "you got this dude!" a grin, and a thumbs up. It made the poor boy feel...slightly better but as you approached them in the cafeteria Amajiki tried his best to keep himself together. Why did you have to be so attractive? how dare you, it was unfair really. He just couldn't take his eyes off you, confidence radiated from your form. Mirio once told him that if he waited to long that someone would steal you, Nejire agreed. You were after all one of the most popular students at UA, not only was your quirk amazing and your fighting skills godly but your looks where beyond words, Amajiki was painfully aware of these facts. "Hi guys!" You grinned and Tamaki almost fainted. "Glad you could join us!" Nejire smiled as she took you by the wrist and dragged you to their lunch table, you couldn't help but giggle at her excitement as she asked you a bunch of questions about you and your quirk. Most of the quirk questions she asked she most likely already knew the answer to, you four being in the same class and all. Nejire took a seat next to Mirio, across from you and Amajiki. "Soooo Y/N...Do you have a crush on anybody?" Nejire asked suddenly, making you choke on the tea you where sipping on. "I-I uh-" You tried to avoid looking at Nejires grinning features, she already knew the answer to her question. Of course you did and it was none other then the boy you where sitting next to, you didn't answer her question, simply coughed and continued to sip on your drink. She sucked her teeth, unsatisfied with your answer, if you could even call it that. Mirios eyes wandered to Nejire then to Tamaki who was silently eating his food, his face was beet red at how close you and him were, your shoulders where brushing against each other. Then Mirio looked at you, whos cheeks were dusted with a light shade of pink as you tried to brush off the last conversation topic. He rolled his eyes and had to fight the urge to just blurt out that the two of you should date each other already. Soon the lunch bell rang and it was time to head back to class, Amajiki let out a soft sigh as the four of you started heading to your shared classroom, you and Nejire chatting about a show that she had starting watching recently. Mirio fell behind them a bit so he could walk beside Tamaki. "So, When are you gonna tell them?" He asked, knowing full well that it would take some sort of miracle to get Amajiki to confess to his crush of two years. The shorter gave a small shrug before slipping his hands into his pockets. "I-I don't know...Really i don't think i ever will. " He again let out a gentle, almost sad sigh "I dont think i'm good enough for them, they're so amazing." "Aw come on Tamaki! you're part of the big three!" Mirio gently nudged him with his elbow, to which Tamakjis eyes wandered to the opposite direction. "They think you're awesome" "Well yeah but they're right behind us on the list of top students" Amajiki informed him. It was true, you were almost part of the big three yourself but you ended up failing a test by 6 points and getting knocked to fourth. You didn't mind, you where pretty comfortable in your spot. "What're you guys talkin' about?" Nejire asked, walking backwards and looking at them with the same sweet smile she always had gracing her soft features. "How awesome Y/N is" Mirio patted Amajikis back, making him let out a soft hum. You tilted your head "Oh yeah? im honored." You smiled "You guys are way cooler then i am." Nejire giggled, Tamaki stiffened at her sudden question "So which of our quirks is your favorite, Y/N?" You hummed, tapping your chin for a moment. Tamaki expected you to say Nejires quirk seeing as you two have been friends since you both stepped into class 1-A in your 1st year at UA. "I think Amajikis quirk is the coolest" You smiled to him, Tamaki noticed and then you smiled it was as if your eyes where smiling to, his heart practically exploded, barely able to get out a 'thank you'. You giggled at his shyness, finding it adorable as always. Nejire couldn't help but giggle at the two of you, Mirios grin widened as he two watched you to. "Nice choice Y/N" Nejire smiled as she took you by the hand as you four made it to class, seeing as you and her sat next to each other she lead you to your seats, ready to take on the rest of your day you sat down as class began. As the end of the day rolled around you stretched as you made your way to the front of your dorm building. You had some homework to do as well as some studying, then you thought you could train a bit then- You had bumped into someone, not to hard it just startled you a bit as you where to deep in thought, planning out the rest of your day. You quickly bowed "I'm so sorry I wasn't paying atten-...Amajiki? what're you doing here?" You had bumped into Tamaki, not only that but he was standing in front of your dorm room. "O-Oh I uh- I-I" He stumbled harshly through his words, on top of that he was mumbling. You noticed a small piece of folded paper in his slightly trembling hands and smiled, just as you noticed it he stopped mumbling and actually spoke up a bit. "I-I just- I wanted t-to give this to you" he held out the slip of paper, avoiding eye contact with you at all costs. You gently took the paper from him but before you could get another word out he scurried down the hall and disappeared around the corner. You watched him leave, letting out a small chuckle before unlocking your door and walking in, closing the door behind you with your foot and gently setting your school bag down. The day before, after class Mirio had suggested to Amajiki that he should write you a letter if he couldn't just out right tell you. "Like...A love letter?" Tamaki tilted his head. He didn't know how he felt about that, his writing skills weren't bad he just dreaded having to wait for your response, not only that but even considering rejection as a factor made him wanna puke. "Don't worry, i'm like 90% sure that even if they do reject you they'll be nice about it" Mirio gave a thumbs up as he finally convinced Amajiki to start on the letter that could make or break him. It was a huge deal, you were his first ever crush and he never thought in a million years he would be confessing to you. "They're nice about everything" Tamaki mumbled as he continued to write his letter. Miro chuckled and nodded in agreement. "Exactly, you have nothing to worry about." Tamaki wondered why he was so confident about this, maybe Mirio knew you would turn him down? Thinking about that being a possibility created a pit of nervousness in his stomach. Really it was the opposite, Mirio knew you would say yes, he was just excited to finally see his favorite ship finally become a couple. Back to the present you took a seat on your bed before unfolding the note and beginning to read it. Your eyes where wide as saucers when you finished reading it, the final sentence replaying in your mind at least a hundred times "Will you go out with me?"Butterflies invaded your stomach and your cheeks flushed, you decided to give him your answer tomorrow, wanting it to sink in that the boy you've had a crush on since the dawn of time liked you back. Amajiki was dying in his room as he awaited your answer, Mirio who had come over to study with him was laughing his ass off at the boys struggle. The next day you where standing in front of Amajikis dorm room with both Mirio and Nejire at your side, they had their phones out ready to take pictures of this momentous occasion. You took a deep breath before gently knocking on his door three times, it took him a moment or two before he opened the door, he immanently stiffened as he locked eyes with you. Bracing himself for rejection he waited for it but all he heard were the words he had been wanting to hear for the past two years "I like you to Amajiki" Nejire squealed and clapped as Mirio laughed "finally oh my god" Mirio said crossing his arms. Amajiki stood frozen, having to register what just happened, after coming to the conclusion that the love of his life did indeed just agree to date him he felt a sudden rush of adrenaline and pulled you towards him by the wrist, placing his slightly quivering lips against your silky smooth ones. Nejire practically screamed as she took about a thousand pictures, Mirio looked away jokingly acting disgusted but he couldn't hold back his happiness for his friends, they found love and he was beyond proud of Amajiki for going through with his plan.   Your eyes where wide and your face was crimson by the time Amajiki pulled away. He started to apologize profusely as he realized what he just did, which resulted in you having to tell him it was fine over and over again. The two where walking together hand in hand as you made your way to class, as shy as he may be he still wanted everyone in the world and their mother know that you belonged to him now and nothing walking this Earth was going to change that. 

[jalapeno-princess]

10:34 A.M.

The sunlight was warm against your cheeks as it shone in through the windows; yet, it wasn’t the harsh rays that woke you from your comfortable slumber.

You could feel a tender gaze directed right at you along with a pair of strong arms, your favorite pair of arms to be exact—wrapped protectively around your waist.

Gentle fingers glided softly along your face; almost featherlight to the point where you wouldn’t have even noticed that he was touching you if it weren’t for the callousness of his digits connecting the dots of your scattered freckles and the cool metal on his fourth finger.

You had yet to open your eyes, but you were confident in the idea that your husband was staring at you and you didn’t want to make it known that you were awake just yet.

Honestly, it felt as though you were still in dreamland—everything was just too good to be true. Memories of the most perfect day of your entire life soon came rushing back to your mind and you couldn’t help the small smirk that was now encompassing your face—giving away the fact that you were no longer asleep.

“Good morning Mrs.Tuan.”

Hearing the excitement yet raspiness in his voice along with his last name that was also yours now sent so many emotions to your chest. You were over the moon to say the least. He let out a giggle when you hid your face against his bare chest and placed a sweet kiss on your forehead.

“Good morning Mr.Tuan.”

“Ah, I’m never going to get tired of calling you Mrs.Tuan. I still can’t believe you’re my wife. God, it’s like a dream come true—“

“Took you long enough. I’ve been waiting for over five years for you to propose to me—“

Mark let out a guttural groan at the sound of your playful complaint; dropping his head in between the valley of your breasts and earning himself a shove to his shoulder. A blush was now adorning your cheeks; only then as you felt his warm breath against your nipples did you come to the realization that you were naked. It didn’t bother you though, not like it did when you and Mark first became intimate back in the third week of your relationship.

He was your husband now and the two of you made love to each other numerous times in the duration of your five year relationship that you were no longer shy whenever you’d find yourself naked around him. Actually, Mark was very vocal about how insanely beautiful you were—and devastatingly sexy which led you to lose your timidity and gain a newfound confidence. One that you never knew existed and you owed entirely to your husband.

“Hey, we went over this on multiple occasions baby. I wanted to propose to you only months after we started dating—I knew I was in love with you after only the third date. Trust me, it was extremely difficult for me having to introduce you as my girlfriend and not my wife for these last few years. I don’t know why—I mean sure, getting to call you my girlfriend and getting to be called your boyfriend was all that mattered to me. You’re my soulmate y/n. My person—but something about the titles “wife” and “husband” is more permanent. It solidifies a relationship. But I wanted us to be finished with school and settled in to our actual careers before taking things any further. It worked out though didn’t it? Look at us. We’re both redeemingly successful with our positions at the companies we work at and we share a two story house in our mid twenties. Not that it matters, but we can live comfortably as a married couple unlike a lot of people our age. We’re a whole now. You’re stuck with me and my penis for the rest of your life—“

“Oh God. Just when it was getting so romantic, you just had to throw your dick in there. Well, you’re stuck with me and my pussy—“

“I don’t consider myself stuck at all. Your pussy is so magical—fuck, we’ve had sex at least three hundred times, maybe even more than that and every single time, you never failed to blow my mind—and my dick. But shit, last night had to be the best night of my entire life. Yesterday, was the most incredible day in my twenty-seven years of existence. You are the most beautiful person in the entire world and I’m not just saying that because you’re my wife, it’s true. Not only on the outside; which, honestly, you are a sight for sore eyes. I can never take my eyes off of you and I never want to. I’d stare at you in awe of your beauty all day if time permitted me to. But you have the most kindest and generous hearts and you are just the sweetest soul. I can’t wait to remind you every single day for the rest of our lives just how perfect you are to me.”

He brought his thumb up to the brim of your eyelids and wiped away a tear that you didn’t even know fell. God, this man was really the love of your life. You’d never be able to comprehend exactly what you did to deserve being the lucky girl who loved Mark and got to be loved by him, but you would never take your position in his life as his bride for granted.

Before you could continue to let any more tears fall at his endearing words, he was quick to continue his not so innocent speech about the many naughty thoughts taking up all the space his mind.

“I don’t know if it’s because we’re newlyweds or because you never cease to amaze me each and every time we stumble in to bed together but the sex we had just hours ago in my opinion was the best sex we’ve ever had. I know I complimented you almost the entire day yesterday on how gorgeous you looked in that wedding dress and I’m sure my never ending tears that flowed down my cheeks as you walked down the aisle and my wedding vows that were almost twenty minutes long are enough to prove my undying love for you. But God, seeing you in that dress—that dress was made for you. You looked so fucking ethereal and damn, it looked so much better on the floor once I got you alone. You know, my mind is still a little hazy from sleeping—maybe you could remind me just how amazing it was—if I knew you were this abusive, I would have made you work harder for that ring you’re wearing.”

Both his and your laughter filled the room and you couldn’t stop yourself from rolling your eyes and pinching his cute little butt. Your wedding day was everything you could have ever dreamt of and more. There were countless times in your relationship where you would day dream about what your wedding would be like. It didn’t take you too long to realize that Mark was the person you wanted to settle down and start a family with. Everything within you; your heart, your mind, your body and your soul was his. You were set on Mark Tuan; for life. Since he took his time with asking you to marry him, you developed some insecurities about whether or not he saw himself marrying you. Sure, he may have talked about your future together every now and then, but not once did he ever bring up marriage so you just assumed he had no plans on getting married at all.

It made your engagement all the more special when he did finally get around to proposing to you less than a year ago while the two of you were in vacation in Hawaii. You tried to convince yourself that you would be happy even if Mark were to confess he had no plans on tying the knot. As long as Mark was in your life, you were content with whatever title you held in his. But on that magical night when he got down on one knee and went in to detail about his undying love for you as the two of you watched the sunset go down, you felt wholeheartedly that his proposal was one dreams were made of.

“What are you thinking about?” You looked at him in curiosity and it was in that moment; looking at his blank stare did you realize you were probably mirroring his exact facial expression.

“Nothing. Just that I’m really happy. Really, really happy. You mean everything to me Mark. I don’t know what I would do without you and I dont even want to think about my life before you were in it. It was colorless and dull. Now all I see is so many beautiful colors. Just the mere thought of you along pulls on my heartstrings in such a miraculous way. I love the way you make me feel and I love the effect you’ve had on me. I’m so in love with you and I can’t wait to see what the future has in store for us.”

Your husband gave you his signature gummy smile before smashing his mouth roughly against yours. He licked on your bottom lip and took it in between his sharp teeth, nibbling all but gently while dragging his cold fingertips along your smooth skin.

“You’re my happily ever after y/n. I kind of regret not getting around to marrying you sooner. I just really wanted to give you the ring and the wedding that you’ve always wanted. You deserved the entire universe and more y/n. Truly, there’s so much I want to give you. You are genuinely out of this world; you’re practically a goddess—an otherworldly being and honestly, you deserve so much more than what this world has to offer you. I’m not stupid my love, I’ve picked up on the many wedding magazines you’d scatter throughout the house, I’ve noticed you’ve been watching a couple of episodes from that one Disney weddings show and I overheard you talking to your mom about not knowing how I felt about marriage. I’m sorry that you had to question my feelings for you, but I thought that my constant love confessions and the way I could never stop holding you, kissing you and needing to be around you was enough to prove the fact that you are my home. You own my heart y/n. You always have and you always will forever. The feeling is mutual baby. I don’t care what ends up happening to me. I don’t care where we end up living—if we ever decide to move houses, cities, states or even countries. I don’t care what my job title is, how much money I’ll end up making or what anyone other than you has to think or say about me. Life—life can be rough and there are days that I just want to scream, cry and run away. But then I look at you and I see my purpose—I look at you and see the reason for my existence. You’re the reason why I breathe. You’re the reason why my heartbeat increases—the reason why I wake up with the biggest grin on my face. You are my reason to be happy and I could never thank you enough for all you’ve done for me in the last five years. Now, I can’t wait to continue to relish in our love for many more decades to come.”

[rint4rous]

hogwarts au! oikawa

a/n: wrote this with a bad headache LMAO so if you see mistakes no you didnt <3

yeah help

anyway

oikawa toru

sixth year slytherin

captain of slytherin quidditch team

this one. very popular with the girls.

always gets gifts and confessed to, he turns them all down nicely tho

he flirts with them a little but never goes out with anyone

thanks but no thanks, hes focusing on quidditch

mostly hangs out with hanamaki, matsukawa, and iwaizumi

you, sixth year gryffindor

a chaser for the quidditch team

actually you and oikawa had a bit of a rivalry thing going on

because oikawa was getting good grades AND is good at quidditch

and it doesnt even look like hes trying.

and he lowkey comes off as arrogant sometimes

and youre like i hate geniuses

the two of you met during first year when he tried playfully hitting iwa in the hallway but iwa dodged

and you happen to be speedwalking past and then next thing you know you get slapped???

you stop walking and turn to oikawa

hes like HOLY CRAPDFHJSHJR

“I AM SO SORRY-”

“it’s alright!”

“are you sure??”

“yeah, it was an accident, right? …. unless it wasnt?”

“NO I SWEAR IT WAS AN ACCIDENT”

“i thought so! see you ‘round!”

then you skip away

yeah. yall dont really start competing and shit until you found out your mom and his mom had BEEF??? WHEN THEY WERE IN SCHOOL????

you found that out at the end of first year

“i heard tachibana’s son is in your year. or i guess she’s oikawa now.”

youre like yeah what about it

“my dearest y/n, you’re a smart little girl, okay?”

“so make sure you’re better than that oikawa kid, alright?”

and little innocent you is like “ok”

so start of second year, you study and work extra hard

but here’s perfect little oikawa who always knocks you down to second place

at first youre like. i’ll just work harder!

and he joins quidditch and so do you

so you try hard at that too

you’re not like a sore loser or anything so when slytherin wins you shake his hand with a smile

but by the end of the year you’re just kinda :/ now because you never see him studying or practicing spells so how the fuck is he BETTER THAN YOU AT EVERYTHING!!! ITS NOT FAIR!!!!!

third year you come into school with like not very good feelings abt oikawa

and your mom was on your ass about your grades and you’re like omfggg im TRYING OKAY IM TRYING SO HARD

too bad tho thats when he starts liking you …

middle of third year is when you start expressing those feelings for oikawa out loud

“i hate self-centered geniuses. come back down to earth, will you.”

he heard you say when test results came back

and hes like is she talking abt me? lol nah shes probably talking about stupid ushijima over there

and then he finds out you were in fact talking abt him

hes kinda hurt lol

then when the new term rolls in

and the two of you just start talking shit about each other and start arguing all the time

“what’s the answer, l/n?”

“fairy wings.”

“oh my bad, i didn’t realize she said oikawa, and not l/n.”

“oh sorry, i thought you wouldn’t know the answer so i answered for you! i saved you from embarrassing yourself. you’re welcome~”

your seatmate yaku was holding you down with all his might and HOW IS LITTLE MAN ABLE TO HOLD YOU BACK HIS GRIP IS STRONG BRO

the whole class s ighs here we go AGAIN

the teacher doesnt even bother sending you guys out to hall anymore because this happens so much

you always try to sabotage each other in potions

one time his eyebrows almost burned off after his potion exploded in his face

makki and mattsun like LMFAOWFEHERGUYER

then when the year ends you’re like ranting to your mom like “i hate geniuses. who does he think he is? just because he can beat me at everything?? i’ll show him. i’ll make him eat dirt in the field. i’ll wipe that dumb smirk off his face. i’ll-”

your mom: omg my little baby so full of hate just like her momma

fourth year you’re so determined to beat oikawa at something

he sees you in the library, unprovoked, once and he comes up from behind you like

���aw, is l/n gonna try beating me again this year? you know there’s no point in trying.”

you: hold it in hold it in hold it in YOU’RE MATURE NOW Y/N L/N. YOU SHOULD BE MORE MATURE THAN THIS DIMWIT IN FRONT OF YOU. inhale exhale inhale exhale

“aw, is oikawa gonna try beating ushiwaka in quidditch again this year? you know there’s no point in trying.”

way to be mature

poor oikawa tho you pressed a wrong button so he just leaves silently

you kinda regret it after

so this year goes like the last and so does the next

“arent you tired?? of competing with oikawa all the time??” your friend semi asked you

“kind of”

“then stop?? you dont have to fulfill your mom’s high school revenge lmao”

“ughh eita i know but im too far in”

one time you were out breaking curfew #savage

no but seriously you couldn’t sleep so you thought some fresh air will help, the dorms were super suffocating right now

you were stressed after your mom’s monthly letter

beat oikawa this beat oikawa that

you turn at a corner and you see the man himself, ALSO BREAKING CURFEW

now the both of you are looking at each other like 👁👄👁

“GOD L/N I THOUGHT YOU WERE A TEACHER I NEARLY DIED FROM A HEART ATTACK”

“shush before we both get caught”

“right sorry sorry”

“so what the hell are you doing breaking curfew.”

“what are you doing breaking curfew.”

“i asked you first”

“so?”

“just answer the question, oikawa.”

he looks around, making sure the coast was clear before he motions you over to him and as you walk towards him

you see the door hes standing in front of

he drags you in there and what you see is

a bunch of practice dummies

“yeah i,, practice my spells here at night. contrary to popular belief i’m not a genius like ushiwaka or tobio. i’m flattered you think so, though.”

and youre like he... actually practices?? he is actually human?

“what’s with that look? you wanna join me practice at night?”

“as if-” and then you see the book of spells and you guys aren’t even learning any of this YET. and you are determined not to fall behind oikawa “sure.”

oikawas like pardon?

you: i SAID SURE.

and so now at night you practice spells together

only because you want to beat him as if

the arguing goes down a little because you get caught up in beating each other at who gets to do the spell right first that practice runs super late sometimes and you dont have energy to fight with each other that early

everybodys like ??? huh????

but then you’re back to the usual bs in the afternoon and everybodys like oh okay so the world isnt ending yet

so anyway !! yall are practicing again

you’re pointing your wand at a practice dummy and trying to focus so you dont accidentally do something dumb

"hey why do you hate me so much?”

LITERALLY CATCHES YOU OFF GUARD AND BREAKS YOUR FOCUS

“it’s not because i hit you when we were first years right? it really was an accident i swear-”

“you still remember that?”

“well yeah… because i cant think of any other reason why you don’t like me.”

“um… trying too hard to please my mom, i guess. what about you? why did you try so hard to beat me at everything?” you ask, regaining your focus for the charm

“idk, you never paid attention to me unless i did.”

you scoff, “why? you don’t like me or anything, do you?”

“i do tho??”

he literally said that just before you chanted the spell and you got caught off guard and

“stupefy!”

it almost hits oikawa

oikawa: WHAT DID I DO

you: SHITHEAD DONT SAY THAT WHEN IM ABOUT TO DO SOMETHFIBEFH

“HOW DID THIS EVEN HAPPEN???”

“I DONT KNOW IT WAS FUN COMPETING WITH YOU WHEN WE WERE SECOND YEARS AND IT JUST DID?? I TRIED SO HARD SO I CAN IMPRESS YOU AND I GUESS MY PLAN BACKFIRED BECAUSE I DONT THINK YOU LIKE ME VERY MUCH”

now youre staring at each other and you’re both red

he kinda quiets down “and you’re a better rival than ushijima anyway. i don’t mean any of the stuff i said, i swear. i know you don’t like me but i just needed to let that out or i will go insane.”

and hes just looking down all shy

at this point you actually dont know if you like oikawa or not

i mean??? you spent like 3 years butting heads with this dude

and he liked you the whole time?? hes crazy this man is crazy.

maybe you were just in denial the whole time

because?? you could’ve stopped competing with him at everything

maybe you did enjoy it somehow

he did make your life at school interesting

“let’s go out on a few dates and we’ll see.”

his head just whips up and his eyes like light up and hes so EXCITED

in the time before you officially started dating

you find out from iwaizumi that even tho he smiles at a lot of girls its actually rarely genuine the only girl hes ever seen oikawa smile about genuinely was you

and that his mom actually didnt approve of him playing quidditch at first because he had a bad knee but he pushed for it because he really wanted to

he has like a smug and a flippant demeanor but hes very attentive and super caring !!

hes super passionate and hard working at what he does and

i guess now you finally realize you are falling

it takes five dates until the two of you officially start going out

if you tell third year you that you were dating oikawa she would never believe it but here you are, walking to class with him

when the two of you walked in the classroom talking

like TALKING NORMALLY AND NOT THE USUAL “i will choke you in your sleep” “ooh, kinda k-” “don’t”

it was already sus when the arguing toned down a bit but now that its like. REALLY GONE?? everybody is so confused

LMFAO matsukawa asks like “what happened?? are you guys broken?”

“no???”

“how rude! dearest y/n and i are dating now!”

everybody in this class: see now thats crazy. that is crazy.

makki: maybe we didnt hear him right. say that again oikawa

oikawa: me and y/n are dating.

everybody: oh okay bc we thought you said you and l/n were dat- WAIT SO YOU AND L/N REALLY ARE TOGETHER??? 

you: unfortunately

oikawa: h-hey :((((

everybody: SO WE DONT GOTTA LISTEN TO YALL ARGUE FIRST THING IN THE MORNING??? YOU HAVE TO TREAT THE WHOLE CLASS TO BUTTERBEER I THINK WE DESERVE IT AFTER THESE THREE YEARS OF CONSTANT YELLING

nobody was as SHOCKED as your moms

“y/n, baby, i know i did not just hear you say you’re dating the oikawa kid. repeat that for momma again.”

“i’m dating the oikawa kid.”

like?? MOM THIS WAS TECHNICALLY UR FAULT

“so toru, what did you wanna tell me?”

“i have a girlfriend now! her name is y/n l/n.”

“l/n? surely not THAT l/n’s daughter, right?”

“oh it is that l/n.”

when your families have dinner together for the first time

THE TENSION LMFAO

but they do try hard to get along. they try super hard.

they start getting along because MAN YOU AND OIKAWA WERE SOO CUTE AND THEY WANT YOU TO GET MARRIED AND THEY HAVE TO GET ALONG IF THEY WANT IT TO HAPPEN. THEIR GRANDKIDS ARE GONNA BE SO CUTE!!!

“ma, we haven’t graduated yet-”

your mom, ignoring you: THEYRE GOING TO HAVE THE CUTEST HAIR

oikawa’s mom: AND THEY’RE GOING TO BE SUPER SMART LIKE THEIR PARENTS!

your mom: AND WE’LL BE THE BEST GRANDMAS.

momma oiks: PERIOD!

steals your books from you in the halls so he can carry it for you

you tease each other with pet names and shit???

he’ll try to kiss your cheek in the hall but iwa grabs the back of his robe and pulls him away “you’re gross”

“you’re just jealous iwa!!”

when your houses arent playing each other, he goes to your games and vice versa!

tries to distract you in the field

“hey beautiful”

“toru don’t or i will make iwa knock you off your broom.”

“you're so mean”

so anyways yall r couple goals

"listen well, kindaichi, kunimi, your senior is showing you how to get girls.”

kunimi, without looking up from his book: what are you gonna teach us? accidentally slap the girl and get her to hate you for three years while you secretly pine over her during that time before confessing that you liked her the whole time and you go out on five dates and officially start dating? too much work

oikawa: LISTEN HERE YOU LITTLE SHIT

[giyuwu-san]

spike into water // ushijima wakatoshi

— It’s sports season! Volleyballs and swimming caps are everywhere in this unlikely love story! But can the aspiring swim captain find a way for romance with the stoic volleyball captain Ushijima Wakatoshi?

↱ PAIRING : Ushijima Wakatoshi x Female-Swimmer!Reader

↱ WORD COUNT : 7.6K

↱ WARNINGS : Angst, Pining, Slow-burn

↱ TAGS : @assortedanime​ @tetsukuroos​ (I’m not even sure if you guys remember asking to be tagged LMAO)

↱ ASK :  Hi! I dont know if you are still accepting requests, but if you are can i request for a oneshot of Wakatoshi falling for the (fem) swim captain at Shiratorizawa who also happens to be on the Japan swim team. I dont have a specific scenario for them interacting they could be dating and she shows up to one of games against karasuno(?) (I’ll leave jt up to you anything is fine) 😅. Thank you so much ! ❤️

↱ AUTHOR’S NOTE : It’s finally here! I’m also testing out a new format nyehe tell me what you think! Anyways this fic took me absolute ages and if you were one of the ones that had been with me throughout my writing process you know exactly what I’m talking about LMAO. But it’s finally here, so I hope you guys like it! This is also my first ever playlist fic, so each scene has their own song selected by yours truly! But it’s not mandatory for you to enjoy the fic! It just enhances the experience I think! Anyways, I don’t really know what else to say so I’ll just let you guys read it!

↱ PLAYLIST

------------------------------------------------✈

scene one; i’ll try 

Shiratorizawa!

The pounding of the drums sent a familiar shiver through Ushijima Wakatoshi's spine. Except for the fact that the tingling wasn't usually something he felt because of the cheers. On ordinary days, the piercing screams were nothing but background noise. Something he could unconsciously drown out.

It wasn't that he was ungrateful for the support his fellow schoolmates showed, it was quite the opposite, but with the intensity of the sport he played, the uproars could only be driven back as a mere afterthought, something he would easily forget about, a buzz at the back of his mind. 

Shiratorizawa!

Today, however, a thought was pushing through the forefront of his mind. It was like something was screaming at him to do something, but he couldn't for the life of him figure out what. 

It was currently the fourth set of their game against Karasuno, and as he looked around the sea of white and maroon, as well as the contrasting colors of black and orange, he couldn't help but feel strange. 

Shiratorizawa!

          "Shiratorizawa?" 

Her face dropped as the sudden realization dawned upon her, and Ushijima had no choice but to watch silently. The way her soft eyes tensed into a tight glare, gazing back into his with a look of concealed hurt and betrayal. It pained him, to see the person he cared so much about, shrink back into the weak, vulnerable girl he had met all those years ago.

The ringing of the referee's whistle was what brought him out of his daze, walking briskly to the sidelines as the game was halted by a technical timeout. The cheers of the crowd didn't stop and with the added layer of another school, the overlapping cries were muddling together in what seemed to be a second battle off the court. The rhythmic beating of drums, the frantic clapping of cheer bats, and the deafening screams of the masses. 

School was out for the day as the sun was slowly setting outside, its rays creeping through the windows, casting a golden sheen across the empty hallways. Most of the students had already rushed out as soon as the bell rang. Ushijima, however, being a new student, had to lag behind to settle the remaining paperwork with his new teachers. 

And as he walked down through the empty floors, hands gripping the straps of his backpack, he felt his body halt as the peaceful campus was interrupted by an earsplitting scream.

The scream Ushijima heard resounded throughout the hallways, the sound ripping through his ears as it got dragged out by the constant echoes.

Who could that be? And at this time?

Ushijima didn't know the campus all that well, it was his first day, how could he? Yet as the screams only got worse, his feet started moving towards the sounds plaguing his elementary school's hallways. The cries getting louder as his feet stepped further in rapid succession, every step he took, the louder the screams rang in his ears.

As he crept closer, new sounds started inviting themselves through his senses, the screams were clearer, but now there was something else.

Are those water splashes?

Ushijima couldn't know for sure, but as his feet walked farther, he found himself halting in front of a room. 

Opening the sliding doors, he was greeted by the sight of a girl splashing around in the water, head protruding from the surface every few seconds. And at that moment, it didn't take an adult to realize that the girl in front of him, whose screams were becoming more chocked, wasn't here to swim.

She was drowning.

The timeout had ended and Ushijima was once again standing tall on the court, eyes focused and calculating. Whatever feelings were emerging from within him, the sudden wave of nostalgia that would wash over him, they could be dealt with at another time. He needed to focus, sharpen his senses on the game in front of him, but no matter how hard he tried, there would always be an inkling feeling that lingers at the back of his conscious.

The girl was shivering and clinging onto Ushijima's body. Which now matched hers as the droplets of water fell onto the tile floors beneath them.

He couldn't quite process what exactly just happened. He couldn't understand how he had found himself in this situation, but he understood that the girl was safe. And that was all he needed to understand. 

    ��     "Don't let me go," he heard her say despite her coughs. He heard her, and he listened. Holding onto her form tighter before rushing her to the nurse.

scene two; you’ve got a friend in me

          "Toshiiii!" you said. The joy in your voice making itself known as you trudged further into the small yard with Wakatoshi and his father playing volleyball together. "Let me play too!" you pouted.

The young boy turned to you and nodded promptly, much to your delight. 

          "Y/N-chan! How nice of you to drop by!" said Ushijima's father, a wide smile plastered onto his face as he waved at you. He was always such a kind man, always welcoming you with open arms. And as you ran over to where they were playing, the smile never once left his face.

Knowing this, you could only laugh as you stared at the boy in front of you. Face emotionless and unwavering in comparison. 

It had been a year since that incident in the pool. The memories that still plagued your mind sent your body shivering similarly to how it did back then. But looking at the boy staring back at you, your troubled mind found comfort in his eyes. Eyes that were calm like the grass that surrounded him, swaying softly as the wind brushed its soft fingers through it.

          "Do you know how to play?" he asked you. 

          "N-no," you said meekly. "But if I learn, do you think I can be as good as you?"

And at that moment, the ball that was once in Wakatoshi's hands flew over to your direction. A small yelp escaped you, your arms flying up to protect your face.

          "Maybe," was his only response as you huffed and picked the ball back up.

         "I wasn't ready yet!" you tried acting mad but ended up laughing as the fifth-grader looked at you blankly once more. "Don't think I'm weak just because I'm a third-grader!"

          "But if I thought you were weak wouldn't I have warned you before throwing the ball?" he retorted back.

          "Oh yeah..." you said in sudden realization. 

Ushijima's father, who was watching from the sidelines, couldn't help but laugh.

scene three; i smile

The warm beads of sand tickled your feet. The ocean waves flowing smoothly against the surface as it danced back and forth with the current. And the sun shined brightly above, casting a sheen against all that stood below it, basking everything in sunlight. It was a beautiful day.  

Your family had decided to take a summer trip to the beach. It was the final week of your summer break, and once this was over, you would be coming back to school a fourth-grader. 

You looked towards Ushijima and his father, having had tagged along after you had invited them. The olive-haired boy still wearing the same unwavering expression. You laughed at him despite yourself. You would think someone who was going to be in the sixth-grade, and soon a junior high-schooler would at least try to make himself seem more approachable. 

You bowed to his father in greeting. The man smiling back at you before walking over to your parents for a chat, leaving you alone with Wakatoshi.

You had remained friends ever since the incident at the pool. Only having grown closer throughout the summer break with your frequent visits to his house.

          "Toshi! Let's play beach volleyball!" you piped up at him as he looked at you curiously.

          "Sure," he said.

But you should have known with your volleyball skills not having improved much, that the game was going to end quicker than you thought.

Huffing in frustration, you plopped down onto the sand with your arms crossed. 

          "Why can't I be as good as you?" you asked him. Your eyes peering up at him as a small pout played on your face.

          "Maybe you're just good at something else," he said, shoulders shrugging slightly.

          "Like what?" you asked, only for him to shrug once more. Making an exasperated sigh escape your lips as you laid down on the sand.

          "Why don't you try learning how to swim?" he asked suddenly, making your body jolt up. Your face looking up at his with bewilderment, was he insane?

          "Woah, wait, what brought this up?" you asked him. "You know I can't!"

          "Why not?" was his reply. Of course, that was his reply. "We're at a beach."

          "No," you said.

          "Why?"

          "I might drown." you looked up at him, and his eyes softened ever so slightly. He knew why you were scared, but you couldn't just keep living your life having this one memory hold you back, right? Because even if he didn't say it outright, you were his friend. And friends care about each other and want them to be better.

          "I'll teach you," he said. You looked at him with shock, but with his face looking oddly determined, you agreed begrudgingly.

The water felt cold against your body as you tried to float on top of it. With Toshi supporting you as he held you up, you tried to calm down.

But it wasn't working.

The feeling of having the air blocked out, the feeling of your vision blurring, and your body going into a panic. It kept playing at the back of your mind like he was going to let go and watch you sink deeper and deeper. You felt like shaking, maybe you were, but then suddenly—

          "It's okay," he said, holding you tightly. "I won't let you go." 

He looked at you carefully, attentively.

          "So just breathe."

He was right, it was okay.

You took a deep breath, letting the air fill your lungs, and the ocean breeze brush against your skin. He won't let go.

And soon it felt like you were floating, and you were. Toshi gently moving you around the water as your body continued to float against it. You looked at him, and you smiled. 

It didn't take long until he started teaching you the basics of how to swim, or at least he tried to. You did now know how to float, but you still hadn't gotten over the fear of your head being below the water, and Toshi knew this. 

          "Take a deep breath," he said. And before you knew it, his hands covered your ears as he pushed both of your heads underwater.

It felt like you were entering a different realm. It felt peaceful, serene even. As he looked into your eyes to make sure you were okay, you stared back into his. The gentle hum of the ocean was something you never knew existed, its melody ringing in your covered ears as it almost lulled you to sleep. 

It was because of him that you could hear such a beautiful song, and it was because of him you suddenly felt braver, stronger.

You brought your own hands up towards his ears, cupping them the same way his hands did with yours.

You wanted to stay like this forever, in this dream, with him.

But eventually, you had to come back up for air. Breathing in as the sunlight suddenly evaded your senses, you looked into his eyes, with a new fire evident in your own.

          "One day, I'll definitely be as good as you," you said. And for the first time since meeting him at the pool that day, he smiled.

scene four; i like you

          "Nice receive!" 

The gymnasium watched on carefully at the match playing before their eyes. It was the last day of their elementary school's sports festival and the volleyball game playing on its final set was keeping everyone on edge. It was a close game. The third set seemed never-ending as both teams fought back and forth in a deuce. 

You watched Ushijima as he moved together with his team in what seemed like some sort of spontaneous choreography. They were at match point a few seconds ago, but that was until the spiker from the other team came forward, evening out the score, and bringing both teams' scores into the 30s. 

You were biting your nails, the jacket you wore seeming to be useless against the chills running through your body at the intense match. Miraculously, however, the other team's serve went too far out and placed Ushijima's team back at match point. You gripped the metal bars in front of you, your gaze fixated onto the olive-haired boy. Your head felt like exploding as the internal chanting kept getting louder and louder. And that was probably because the chanting wasn't internal anymore.

          "Ushijima Wakatoshi!" you screamed, catching the attention of both him and everyone else. "Show them how strong you really are!"

His face remained expressionless like it always was, but you could feel the aura around him change. It was almost as if the air started circling him, the air pressure shifting and rotating against all opposing currents. And you knew everyone else could feel the change too. Like everyone was getting sucked into a whirlpool, a vortex.

He jumped into the sky, the setted ball flying towards him as if it knew that was where it was meant to go. 

You saw him bring his hand down, and you saw the ball hit the floor.

You watched as the ball flew back up just as quickly as it had hit the ground. The sound it emitted seemed almost high pitched and scattered as it resounded around the silent gymnasium. The scattered sound, like droplets of water that would be thrown up into the air, punched upwards by something crashing into it. 

The ball was what crashed into it, a spike into water.

The game ended with your school's victory. The court divided in both triumph and failure, but it was a good game nonetheless.

You were walking alongside Ushijima, still as expressionless as ever. You looked at him and couldn't help but chuckle.

          "You just won a hard game," you said, eyes locking on to his profile. "Shouldn't there at least be a tiny little smile?" you chuckled even more as you brought your fingers up to the ends of his mouth and hoisting them up to form a small, makeshift smile. It was good enough.

          "I'm smiling in the inside," he said. You laughed at his attempt at being playful. But he was right. After knowing him for two years, you had grown a strange skill of identifying his moods. You knew he wasn't the type of person to wear his emotions on his face, but you knew more than anyone that he felt emotions just as intensely as anyone, if not more.

You looked at him some more, imagining what kind of smile he was wearing within himself. Would it be a goofy smile? Teeth butting out? Maybe with some gums showing? 

Or would it be the small, proud smile he showed you that day at the beach? When he looked at you like you were the most amazing person in the world. Like you were his pride and joy, the strongest person he knew.

He smiled at you like that, yet whenever you looked at him, you almost felt like crying. To you, he was the most amazing person in the world. Your pride and joy, the strongest person you knew.

You looked at him, and wanted to love him. 

You wanted to love the way his hair would turn darker when damp from sweat. The sweat that showed he had worked hard, that he had grown stronger and will continue to do so. You wanted to love the way he was always there for you when you needed him the most, even when you didn't know he was there. You wanted to love the way he looked at you. Fantasizing that maybe he would look at you, and want to love you too.

You wanted to love him, because you do.

You smiled at him, then looked forward ahead of you. 

          "Come to my game later," you said, determined. Finally having the chance to show him how hard you had worked. You zipped up your club jacket and continued looking ahead. You took a deep breath. Halting your steps, you looked at him. 

          "I'll show you how good I've gotten."

scene five; i’ll remember

The cold air of the pool washed over your entire body, sending a shiver down your spine. You looked around the room, the bright lights that shined from above you, the white walls that surrounded you, and the aquamarine tiles that were below you. You looked at the clear water that flowed calmly within its confinements. 

And then you looked at him, into his eyes.

You smiled at him, a bittersweet smile. It was his last year as an elementary school student. Soon enough, he was going to leave you behind to fulfill greater heights. He was going to leap forward and fly higher and higher.

And so were you.

You were going to show him how far you've come. That you had become someone he could be proud of, someone that you could be proud of. You were both going to become stronger.

Together.

You were both going to go separate ways, towards two different paths. And as you took your position on the stand and the whistle resounded across the room. You leaped forward towards yours.

The water hit your face as your body started moving, hearing the same song you did at the beach, just with a different melody. The tempo was faster, you were faster. It was like your body was moving, dancing, through the water. 

You felt at peace. The water that you used to fight with, the water that you couldn't get along with, had finally accepted you with open arms. Letting you move through it, forming a passage for you to cross. 

There were many setbacks. Times when you receded back into the girl that almost drowned, that was scared of the water taking her. There were times when you would lose your calm and fumble. Times when you would think back to the fear and let it consume you.

You were waiting for that moment to happen, waiting for it to appear and devour you.

But it never came.

Instead what appeared were the memories you had with him. All the times you had been with him, and all the times he had been with you.

          "I won't let you go," he said.

You wanted to thank him for these memories. Memories that helped you get through your hardest days, memories that made you remember that he was always going to be there no matter what, always beside you. 

Even if he was going to graduate soon, and leave you behind. Even if there would come a day when you would have to say goodbye, you would always keep these memories he had given you, and never let them go. Promising to yourself that you would remember.

You would remember these memories, the ones that made you love him even more.

He watched you from the sidelines as your body seemed to move in sync with the water. Watched as your head peeked out momentarily, only to gracefully dive back in. It was as if you were performing a coordinated swing, dancing along to music he could not hear.

He looked at you and saw no trace of the girl drowning in the pool that day. You had come so far, and no words could express how proud he was as he watched you swim further ahead. No fear or hesitation apparent in your form. It was like you were a completely different person.

And then your head jumped out of the water after reaching the end of the pool, and it was as if you were reborn perfectly anew. 

You locked eyes, and showed him the most radiant smile he had ever seen. How could he possibly not smile back?

He looked into your eyes that gleamed brilliantly at him. Eyes that conveyed words that only he could hear, and feelings only he could accept.

          "I told you," his smile grew wider. "I told you I'd be just as good as you." 

scene six; when you love someone

Ushijima was walking alongside you, who was smiling brightly, feet skipping. You were looking at him with the smile he had seen countless times. The smile that was so happy, it hurt him to see you any other way. 

Whenever there were times that your smile would lose its joy, it's brilliance, he wanted to give it back to you. He would do whatever it took just for your smile to stay the same. It made his heart ache thinking about the times you weren't smiling, when you were weak and shaking in his arms.

But as he looked at you now, your hair slightly damp and your eyes shining like the moon that illuminated onto them so beautifully. He looked at you now and felt his heart sing with joy. 

He remembered all those times he wanted to take your pain away. Those times when he would rather have your tears be his own. He almost wanted to curse himself for only being able to be with you, that the only thing he could do to ease the pain was to stand beside you.

He looked at you now and continued to watch you walk— grow. 

Yet again, always beside him. And he felt happy.

His heart ached and soared at the same time. Just the mere thought of you sending shivers down his spine, his young mind was racing with these new feelings he didn't understand. 

          "It was an eventful day today," he said, trying his best at conversation.  

          "It was," you said back, your face turning to look at him and— your smile. 

You're so beautiful.

The sparkle in your eyes, the pink of your cheeks, the curves of your lips, everything, everything was so beautiful.

And then, your smile softened, and soon vanished into a small frown. 

He was distraught.

          "Do you know," you trailed off slightly, your eyes dropping down onto the ground as you kept walking, "why I was drowning that day?"

          "You didn't seem to want to talk about it," Ushijima said carefully.

You chuckled a bit, playing awkwardly with your hands.

          "It wasn't anything serious." You continued, "Actually, it was kinda stupid, ya know?" 

He nodded to you, still listening. 

          "Maybe..." you drifted off once more, "maybe that's why I was so scared to tell you, cause, I thought that you would think that I was really lame."

          "I would never think that," he replied bluntly.

          "Yeah," you looked at him again, a fragment of your smile coming back to your face. "I know."

He was still looking at you expectantly, though not inclined to ask you outright, he couldn't deny that he was curious.

          "It was during swimming classes that my favorite necklace broke and fell into the pool." you laughed at yourself, cheeks heating up slightly. 

          "And so you decided to go back after school to try and get it out?" he asked, which only made you feel even dumber. 

          "Yeah..." you said, before huffing and replying, "but it was my favorite necklace, okay?!"

          "Okay," he replied, looking at you.

You stopped in your tracks and stared at him dumbly.

          "Y-You're not gonna call me dumb?" you said.

          "No," he said. "Do you want me to?" 

          "No!" you coughed. "I mean, no."

          "Okay then," he replied once more before walking again.

          "I just thought—" you sighed. "I thought you would laugh at me."

He looked at you. You were frowning with your eyes focused down onto your shoes, the smile he loved nowhere to be seen. You had just won a competition, why were you so gloomy all of a sudden? 

          "We all did foolish things when we were younger," he tried his best to cheer you up, to have you smiling again. "It's nothing to be ashamed of."

You perked up at him slightly. Almost there.

          "What kind of necklace was it?" Please give me your smile again.

          "It was silver, with a little feather pendant attached to it," you said, your small smile growing ever so lightly. Just a little more.

          "I see," he said, watching you intently. Waiting for your smile to grace him with its presence once more, please let me make you smile.

He stopped dead in his tracks, causing you to do the same. Turning his body towards yours, he looked at your confused face. Your face looked so pretty under the street lamp, the dull lighting draping over your features so casually. But he knew that your smile could outshine the lamp tenfold. So please, just smile, be happy. 

He brought his index fingers to the corners of his mouth, stretching them up and forming a wide makeshift smile. 

You're so beautiful when you're happy.

You started laughing, and his heart was overjoyed. 

He hoped you could hear him, hear his heart beating— singing for you.

And so as you laughed at him, the smile he loved so much making its way back to your face, he promised to do everything he could to make it stay. 

All your struggles, all your pain, he would carry them for you. Because that's what you do; when you love someone.

scene seven; i need somebody

You smiled brightly at the slightly flustered Ushijima, his fingers that were once on the corners of his mouth now falling back down to his sides. You watched him look at you, and the frown that you had earlier made its way back to your face. 

You wanted to prepare yourself— prepare him for what you had to say. No matter how much you thought about it, you couldn't find the right words and rambled instead. But even in your struggles and indecisiveness, you had to tell him.

          "Toshi," you started. Feeling the lump in your throat as you stared into his olive eyes. You eventually turned and looked away. "Where are you going for junior high?" 

A simple, evasive question, it was all you could muster.

He seemed to have thought nothing of it, "Shi—" but that was until he stopped, and stumbled. But even with his momentary uncertainty and falter, he still looked at you.

          "Shiratorizawa," he finally said to you.

          "Shiratorizawa?" 

Your face dropped as the sudden realization dawned upon you, and Ushijima had no choice but to watch silently. You had expected it— knew that this was how it was going to happen, yet the true reality of the situation had only hit you now. After all the desire for improvement and strength had calmed down, all that was left was you and him, standing in front of each other in a dimply lit alley, cursed with the impending fate of a goodbye.

Your soft eyes started to fill with unknowing tears, gazing back into his with a look of hurt and melancholy. It pained him, to see the person he cared so much about, shrink back into the weak, vulnerable girl he had met all those years ago.

But you could still visit each other, he thought. Your houses were still close. Nothing needed to change, right?

          "Oh," you said. "My family and I are moving to Australia." 

          "Oh," he said back. "I see."

          "Yeah..." you fiddled with your fingers, the lights above you flickering.

You thought that it was over, it was done. There was nothing else that was needed to be said. And so you turned and walked away, even when you didn't want to. 

You wanted to turn around and hug him, tell him that you didn't want to go. Cry into his arms and listen to him. Listen to how his heart was beating too fast, listen to him breathing unsteadily. Listen to him as he would mutter a weak invitation to his graduation ceremony, that he wanted you to stay, with him. 

But none of it came, there was no invitation, there were no hugs, and no turning back. 

You wanted to stop and— just stop and not go, to stay. But you didn't.

And he didn't stop you. 

Ushijima spiked the ball hard into the other side of the court. Feeling all the adrenaline rush in with the unwelcome resurgence of memories fogging his mind into an intense haze. 

He suddenly remembered the way your eyes shined in the moonlight that very night. The way your face glowed and your hair cascaded down your shoulders, he remembered you, and your smile.

Why did it have to be now that he would remember you, yearn for you, after all these years of painful acceptance? Why did it have to be now that he would be overwhelmed by the questions of what if?

He couldn't explain it. The thought that was being pushed through the forefront of his mind, the light buzzing and banging. Like something was screaming at him to do something, and getting louder and louder. 

He looked across the crowd, the opposing team having called for a timeout. He looked across the cheer squad and large drums. The banging ringing in his ears louder than ever, maybe he was just going crazy?

But with the sinking feeling that he was getting closer to something, he let the moment of insanity slide for now. He kept looking, scanning every face that came into view. That maybe there was something— someone he needed to see.

And then he saw you. Your eyes shining, face glowing, hair cascading down your shoulders, everything. He saw you, and you saw him. Your mouth coming up and forming that smile he loved so much. You always smiled at him so perfectly, but more than that, you were here, cheering for him. 

He ignored the strange looks his coaches and teammates were giving him. He was aware that they probably thought he was going through it, because maybe he was. He just couldn't believe it. You were right there.

He then heard the familiar whistle blow across the gym. And he was momentarily knocked out of his daze. He sent you one last look, and ignored all his questions, when, why, and how you were here was something he could deal with at another time. Because when he finally stepped back onto the court, he was stepping in for you. 

For all the moments you had, and all the moments you didn't. For all the words that had been said and the words that could have. He stepped in for you, for the girl that stole his heart all those years ago. He stepped in for the two of you and what could have been. 

scene eight; all alone

The gymnasium fell silent as the game came to its end. The court divided with mixed emotions of celebration and loss. Ushijima looked at you from the crowd, smiling reassuringly at him. He felt relieved.

Leaving the gym, Ushijima headed back to where he placed his gym bag. Jogging idly towards it, he picked it up and slung it over his shoulder. 

He sat down inside the bus, utterly exhausted. The match had taken its toll on every player, and Ushijima was no exception to its physical and mental turmoil. He let out a prompt sigh.

The bus was surprisingly quiet, given that Tendou was inside, but he guessed even an eccentric like him had his limits, and he couldn't fault him for that. He instead took this moment of tranquility to organize his feelings. 

He saw you again. After almost three years of distance, you were finally back.

He unzipped his gym bag and found his hands enclosing around a box. He took it out and examined it like he had many times before. Carefully opening it, he stared as the light from outside shined onto the silver of the necklace, from the clasp to the feather pendant that hung upon it. It was still in perfect shape, from all the times Ushijima dreamed of giving it to you one day. And that chance had finally come, three years later. 

He let his mind wander to the moments he wanted to share with you, the words he wanted to say. He wondered what it was like for you all these years if you were happy and experienced precious memories just like he did. There was so much he wanted to know, wanted to ask. 

So much he wanted to make up for. 

He sighed and leaned back into his seat. You didn't even notify him that you were coming back, it was all so sudden. Were you going to attend high school in Japan? Which school? 

He was going to graduate soon, just like three years ago. The term was almost over, and the school was already accepting new students. There was a possibility, but one he was reluctant in letting himself believe in or more or less hope for. He wondered if he was just getting his hopes up. 

He wondered about all the options, all the possibilities. Did you just come back to watch that one game? Did he already miss his shot as soon as he got the chance? 

He massaged his forehead briskly and decided to sleep on it. He was too tired to think too deeply about anything at the moment. If he really wanted to know, he would just have to find you and ask you himself. And maybe then he would be able to tell you he was in love with you.

And find out that you were in love with him too. 

scene nine; you were beautiful

Ushijima walked through the crowd of people occupying the hallway. It was louder than usual, the students already making plans for summer break with the term almost at its end. 

He was on his way to practice, but that was until a figure started walking by his side. He first paid no mind to it and kept walking, only sneaking a glance and seeing— you.

He stopped.

          "Hey," you said to him, smiling. "It's been a while."

          "Yeah," was all he could say.

          "It was a good game," you said. "Yesterday."

          "We lost."

          "Yeah."

There was a long pause.

          "I'm a student here now," you said, looking at him. "Though I came in pretty late."

          "Yeah," he replied as you kept walking.

          "How have you been these past few years?" 

          "Playing volleyball," he replied promptly.

          "I see," you replied.

The tension was killing him. His eyes focused in front of him and refusing to look towards you. He couldn't look at you.

Maybe it was just all the years catching up to him, or the sight of you after so long messing with his brain. He couldn't know. All the memories that flooded him, the feelings that overwhelmed him, it was too much for even him to handle. He couldn't take it.

Back when the dimly lit light flickered above the both of you on that narrow alleyway, the moon high above in the night sky. 

You were so beautiful.

Your eyes that looked at him, your voice that called out to him, your smile that was always directed towards him. Everything, everything about you was everything to him. 

He looked at you finally.

          "Why did you leave?" he asked you. The one question that had been eating at him all this time for the past three years.

All this time of yearning for you to come back, and now that you were finally here, eyes the same color, hair slightly shorter, smile just as bright as it always was. He wanted so many things, but nothing more at the same time. He didn't want anything else but for you to stay in his presence, beside him like how it was always supposed to be. He didn't want anything more.

All his ambitions and questions could be left unrewarded and unanswered. He just wanted back the moments only you could give him. Everything that passed, everything that was missed, he wanted it more than anything. He clenched his fist inside his uniform pocket tightly.

          "My mom got a new job," you said. "I'm sorry I never fully explained."

          "It's okay."

He started walking again, and so did you.

          "Would you like to attend my graduation ceremony?" he asked you.

          "I'd love to," you replied, looking forward.

He didn't cry when you walked away. Back then, when everything so simple suddenly became complicated. 

Back when the tears he saw leave your eyes were turned into anger in his refusal to believe that you had parted on such sad terms. He thought that maybe it would be easier to move on when his last memory of you looked at him in anger. That maybe, he could erase the tears from his mind and have you hate him instead. He realized that it was all just sad foolishness.

He remembered— accepted the fact that what happened was nobody's fault. That both your hearts had shattered, and it was no one's fault. 

You were both making your way closer to the end of the hallway, the crowds of people disappearing slightly, the space feeling less cramped. He could feel you looking at him, your eyes focused on his profile. This was a normal thing between the two of you, but three years had passed, and he had no idea how much he had missed these simple habits. 

He missed all the moments that seemed mundane to him back then, when you would walk beside him, look at him, play volleyball with him, no matter how bad you were. He missed all of it, he missed—.

          "I missed you," you said.

He looked at you and paused.

          "Thank you," he said back.

You smiled.

It was these mundane moments that made you so beautiful. Back then, even when the tears stained your face, you still looked beautiful. When your eyes, for what he thought was the last time, looked at him. When your voice spoke out to him, back then, when no matter how hard he tried, you still seemed to slowly become a movie of the past. No matter the moment, no matter the circumstance, you looked so beautiful.

But it was these mundane moments that made him fall in love with you even more.

He clutched the necklace in his pocket even tighter.

Both of you finally stopped at the end of the long corridor. Both of you on your way to do club work, but in the opposite direction. You both wanted to laugh, it all seemed like some kind of fate, but even then, you decided to smile it away.

He brought out his hand from his pocket, still holding the silver necklace. He hesitated, but looked at you anyway.

He reached his hand out to you, the chain hanging from his fingers. You took one look at it, then looked into his eyes. The eyes you could read so well, looked at you like he wanted to convey so much but nothing else at the same time. 

You hugged him. You hugged him tightly. His hands wrapped around you gently. Enclosing you into his personal bubble, for all the people left in the hallway to see.

          "Thank you," was all you decided to say.

          "I missed you," he said. And it was all he needed to say back.

You parted from him, your hand carefully taking the necklace from his, the light from the window beside the two of you shining on it, making it sparkle. 

He started walking the other way, and so did you. But he stopped and turned around, and so did you. 

He looked at your eyes, the smallest shine playing on his own. 

          "Don't let it break this time," he said.

And you smiled once again.

          "I won't," you said. 

scene ten; i loved you

The hall was loud and happy, filled with celebration and melancholy as the students of Ushijima's batch graduated, some parting ways and some making plans to stay. 

He looked at the audience that clapped for them and saw you. A small smile played on his lips as a bright one was proudly displayed on your own. 

He looked around him and at his teammates, proud that they had come this far together, smiles on their faces like everyone else.  

After thanking each of them one by one, he looked back at you, who smiled and flicked your head towards the exit. He nodded and started following you, leaving the graduation hall. 

          "Where exactly are we going?" he asked.

          "You'll see," you showed him your smile, and he couldn't refuse you.

You grabbed his hand as you started walking faster along the endless hallway, and soon enough, you were both standing in front of the indoor swimming pool. You both made your way inside and turned on the lights.

          "One day, I'm gonna become the captain," you said as you crossed your arms proudly. Ushijima nodded seriously.

          "I'm sure you can," he said, and you smiled at him.

You took his hand and dragged him towards the edge of the pool, eliciting a confused look on Ushijima's face.

          "Can I be a tad bit cheesy?" you asked, looking into his eyes. Your back was facing the pool as you stood on the edge, Ushijima standing in front of you.

          "What do you mean?" he asked, but your arms already made their way around his neck.

You smiled at him cheekily and leaned back into the pool, causing both of you to crash into it. Your bodies started sinking into the pool, Ushijima's eyes slightly wider from shock while you continued to look at him from underwater.

Your heads eventually shot out of the water, clothes wet and hair damp. You started laughing. 

          "I've always wanted to do that!" you laughed louder as you looked at Ushijima's dumbfounded face. He clearly was not expecting what just happened.

Seeing him so unusually expressive made you want to tease him even more, like the Toshi you knew from all those years back.

You swiftly ran your hand across the surface of the water, splashing him in the face as you giggled even more. Toshi looked at you in slight shock, yet a small smile played underneath his stoic features. He brought his hand up and splashed water right back at you, making you squeal and swim backward, laughing.

You didn't know how much time had passed with you splashing water at each other, how long you two had lapped around the pool trying to catch each other, laughing, and enjoying each other's presence. 

You looked at him, who had a rare smile on his face, and realized just how much you yearned for this moment. His eyes that stared back into you, and your heartbeat that started beating faster than before, you realized just how much the memories with him meant to you. You used to be content with looking back at the memories you had created all those years ago, but now it was different. Both of you were different. 

It wasn't enough anymore to reminisce about past memories. You wanted, needed to make more, with him.

Even with the thought that he would once again be swept away by the many opportunities that awaited him, but even then, you still felt happy. He was on his way to accomplishing so many great things that you couldn't help but look at him, his hair wet and uniform ruined, yet he still looked happy, with you in this moment.

You started swimming towards him, eyes never once leaving his. The water around you flowing against your body softly as it almost pushed you towards him. You giggled as you got closer.

You were now in front of him, hands on his shoulders and eyes staring in his. You smiled softly at him.

          "Take a deep breath," you said, and before he knew it, your hands covered his ears as you pushed both of your heads underwater.

The water engulfed the two of you as it's serene hum blinded your senses. You looked into his eyes that stared back at you, and his hands that made its way to cover your own ears. 

It was like you were back in the ocean with him when you were still children, but it was also so different. 

You were both grown now, with feelings that had developed over time, or maybe they were always there. 

You stared into his eyes as he did the same, lips inching closer and closer. You smiled brightly at him one last time before you kissed him gently. You pulled away and rested your forehead against his until Toshi brought his face closer and pecked your lips again. 

You had no idea how long the both of you had held your breaths underwater, but you had no plans to find out. With your lips moving softly against one another, and your bodies held in a tranquil state under the swimming pool water, you couldn't care less.

The two of you in each other's arms, hands covering ears, and hearts falling deeper in love. 

Just the two of you, in that moment, with no other forces pulling you apart.

[squeeneyart]

Breathe in the Salt - Chapter 22

AO3

Beta reader as always is @thesnadger! Go read Something’s Different About You Lately and all her other fics!

Life goes on.

Martin is shaken from his thoughts.

Martin’s footsteps did not ring out against the interior of the lighthouse. The sound did not bounce around and up the spire to return in earnest, filling the hollow space with noise as he walked. Around him the walls absorbed every sound, every scratch of his pen. Or maybe he’d just learned to quiet himself. It was difficult to tell at times.

Whether or not the place had changed didn’t matter. The echoes had become a taunt over the dragging weeks, his own voice hitting the walls and bouncing back to smack him in the face. If there was a ghost in those walls, it wasn’t trying to talk to him.

There had been no sign of Peter since he’d spoken of Martin’s good fortune. Peter had wanted to avoid correspondence, no doubt about that, and the letter had sent him on another boating excursion that very day. If Simon were to send another message, there would be no one to give it to. The satisfaction almost made his mouth twitch. 

The boat trip could’ve been a cover, but Martin liked to entertain the idea of Peter jumping into a row boat and furiously paddling away from the shore just to escape the skinny little man who dared want to speak with him.

He even understood the impulse. It wouldn’t be so bad to sit in a little boat in the middle of the ocean if it meant avoiding the horrible old men in his life. He didn’t have to do that yet, not when he had a perfectly empty spot right where he was. 

The weather had worsened considerably, three days of heavy sleet pushing him home without stopping. If he ducked inside a shop he wouldn’t want to go back out, and he couldn’t hide forever. Therefore, when on that fourth day it was closer to a sprinkle than a torrent, he finally took the time to get groceries.

He recognized some of the faces in the little corner shop, several regulars seizing the opportunity to stock up before worse weather settled in. They walked around diligently, considering their needs for the next week and not risking side conversations that could end long after the rain returned in full force. There was no chitchat or calming music, only the squeak of rubber wheels on the cold tile floor. 

Martin focused on the task in front of him. Frozen foods, mostly. At least there was someone out there pre-packaging things for people like him who came back from work tired and hungry. He'd never had much reason to be ambitious with cooking,  and never terribly good when he did try. No wonder dinners had been such a sad affair, but he was the only remaining judge.

As he selected bags of frozen veggies, it hit him that he’d taken far too much. He stared at the white plastic packaging, frowned, and threw it into his basket. Stocking up on long lasting foods would save him trouble in the long run, and changing the budget would’ve been a pain. 

He continued from aisle to aisle, grabbing what his hands were used to reaching for from the shelves and weaving between people who were too busy browsing to notice him. If someone was blocking him, he could loop back around and let everyone get on with their business.

As he eyed some flavorless oatmeal he heard the tiny bell over the entrance ring. He sighed to himself and wondered how crowded it would get if he stayed too long. The balance between moving quickly and not interrupting fellow shoppers was beginning to grate on his nerves, each go-around making him more and more aware of the ones taking their sweet time. 

He went around again, the same backs turned toward him in different configurations. If he kept circling around other shoppers would take their place while he was gone. If he waited nearby he would look impatient and agitated. If he made the loop again more people might be lined up at the queue when he was finally done and then he’d be stuck standing in line even longer, which could make it even more likely that he’d get stuck in sleet if it returned and he’d spend even more time waiting with everyone else, and if someone started chatting with the woman at the register which was very likely then who knew how long-

Heavy footsteps squeaked in his direction. The person who’d just entered was making a beeline for his aisle. Feeling a tiny jolt in his chest at the approach, he reflexively glanced over to see the older woman from the Fairchild house wearing a sensible coat and some sturdy waterproof boots.

She did live in town, then. Of course she lived in town. The Fairchild house was still part of town. Not that he knew for certain she lived there, but either way she would need to buy food. Someone in that big house had to, right? He’d never seen Simon walking about and couldn’t imagine him running errands. At this point he should’ve expected her to be around town, he thought, as his heart slammed against his ribcage.

He didn’t know her name. Presumably she was a Fairchild, what with the way that family worked, pulling like-minded people into it rather than building outward. Otherwise, she was just a person. Just another someone.

Someone he was openly staring at, and who had finally pinned him with a look of recognition from the other end of the aisle. He gritted his teeth, turned on his heel, and hopped to the aisle over. He had food to buy and no need for more… whatever it was she might do. Really, he’d grabbed enough to last him through the week, so why stay any longer in the stale air?

To his relief the queue was empty. Of course as he walked back to the front with his basket full of microwave meals he recognized the cashier. She was a former classmate’s mother, someone he would chat with on his little trips to the shop. As he placed his items on the counter he recalled that he usually asked after her daughter.

No one really liked small talk, and he was sure there would’ve been no change from whenever it was he’d spoken to this woman last. That was fine. Speech wasn’t going to come easy with the way his lips stuck together. He paid for the groceries, took his paper bag full of food and absconded into the night air. 

It was then that he forced his lips apart to breathe, clutching the bag against his chest and walking down the road. He felt the need to wipe his glasses, but his hands were full.

He had only made it a couple of blocks before he heard a voice from behind. “It’s rude to stare without saying anything.”

He stopped and turned to see the woman a few meters away with her arms crossed. Words failed him, so he said nothing and hoped his confused expression was enough.

“What’s your boss been up to? Slinking around I assume,” she asked.

Holding the groceries closer to his chest, Martin lowered his eyes to the ground.

The woman rubbed her forehead. “Of course. Should’ve expected as much from someone like you.” After a brief pause, she continued, “Look, I’m not sure what your deal is exactly, being so clearly new to all of this, but if you’re this messed up when nothing’s happened yet I suggest you leave.” 

She must’ve seen some twitch or twist in his face, as she said, “Fine, do what you like. He must pay really well to make you stay this long.” Then she shoved her hands into her coat pockets and walked back toward the shop.

He felt like he should’ve yelled something back, let her know exactly how much her unsolicited advice meant to him. Tell her to piss off, or to jump back into the sky or whatever it was her stupid group did. 

But of course he couldn’t say that, not then, not with how he was sure he’d sound. It would have come out cracked and raspy, as if he were a teen trying not to sound petulant. And he knew better than to try and argue with a person like her who knew that she knew more.

Instead, once he’d walked far enough that she couldn’t possibly see him, he considered what little she had said. Was this Simon’s idea, using her to push him in some direction that would agitate Peter? Or was she acting of her own will and giving him what she thought of as useful suggestions from one person working for an evil company to another?

If she really wanted to be helpful she could’ve said something informative instead of being vague and weird about it. Who knew what any of these people were thinking? It wasn’t his fault they all wanted to be cryptic. And no matter what she thought she knew about his situation, there was no leaving for him. He could feel it in his gut, in his throat, as easily as he could feel the ice beginning to pelt him from above. 

Leave, she said. What would leaving look like? Being chased down because he knew too much. An empty stretch of road leading him to rooms full of strangers. Leaving someone behind.

The worst was how she looked at him when she said it. He could list out to her all his reasons for staying, but somehow she would know he was full of shit.

--

Sasha: so there’s a wrench in things that’s taking longer than expected to fix, can’t get into the details but we’re working on it

Tim: should be back on track before you know it! 

Tim: so dont go making things exciting over there without us

Sasha: sorry to be cagey, it’s hard to explain

Martin’s mobile sat on the weathered wood of his front porch, his only light source besides the cracks around the front door. Giving the notifications a once over, he released a slow breath through his nose. It burned less than before, much less now that it had been a few days, and he’d come to an understanding that soon it would stop altogether. His own stubbornness exposed.

She couldn’t say she told him so. That was a sort of blessing.

When the light of his mobile winked out, everything was still but for the waves and the creaking of the old house. His old house. Its joints strained with the high winds and plummeting temperature, but it was built to last through such things. Each evening those noises greeted him when he walked through the front door and went with him to sleep, jolting him awake in the middle of the night with a loud snap as if the building had cracked its spine. The house persisted, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t going to complain about it the whole way.

Tim: in the meantime let us know youre still breathing

Tim: i know i ran out of material weeks ago but that doesnt mean you get out of pretending to think im funny

With a sigh, Martin picked up the mobile.

Martin: im fine

Martin: not much happening still

Tim: think the boredom will get you first?

He considered the message and then set the mobile back down next to him. The meeting with the Fairchild woman had been enough to drain him without him uttering a single syllable. Texting was easier but not by much, and he had nothing in him to keep up with Tim’s lighthearted attempts to engage.

The notebook tucked into his jacket had been the only good receptacle for words recently. His jacket protected the little record of his thoughts from the spray of water that slipped under the porch roof and misted over his glasses and hair and cheeks, blurring his vision and sucking the heat from his skin.

He found himself in a little bubble outside of time where clouds blocked out the sky and any hope of telling time with it. Fog hid the path up and away from his home, no entrance or escape from where he sat but for the wide expanse of salt water ahead. 

When was the last time he’d seen a boat on those waves? The trek down the cliffs would’ve made dragging one to the shore a pain, and there were no other homes left down on the rocky beach. Had they owned a boat when he was younger, some small thing never meant to fit more than one person but forced to fit two and a half? Did he remember something like that happening?

He sighed and pushed the false memory away with her inside of it, but the obstinate thing sailed right back into his mind. He inhaled and then let a sharp breath out through his nose. 

With some effort, he pushed out, “Stupid. She wouldn’t have needed to go out in a boat.” What a grating sound.

It wasn’t as if his house had a place for a boat. There wasn’t even an overhang to drag a dinghy under in a lazy effort to protect it from the elements. 

Had there been one once, though? He couldn’t see much from where he sat, the fog creeping in from the sides and obscuring his view to his right and left. That and his glasses made seeing his stiff hands a miracle.

His mobile lit up the space beside him.

Sasha: it won’t keep us much longer though. it complicates things, but waiting won’t do any good. 

Sasha: so sit tight and we’ll have a plan of action soon

Tim: seriously though even if nothing happens you should still tell us youre fine

Tim: a quick thumbs up or a ‘hey im good’ is fine dont need to start a whole conversation if theres nothing to report

Tim: but saying nothing implies a worst case scenario. i know everythings sort of come to a halt on your end but we dont know when something will happen

Tim: so text us after work

Tim: or at least respond same day

A new lecture, from Tim of all people. He’d forgotten to respond to the others for a couple of boring days in a long string of boring days and he was being told off. His day to day life wasn’t any of their business. He’d needed the time to himself, away from his phone and all that. And they knew he was mostly off on weekends.

At least Tim confirmed that all they needed was proof he wasn’t dead. He could keep that in mind in the future.

He wasn’t being fair to Tim, the one who at this point still attempted to talk with him when he didn’t need to. Of course Martin not responding would look bad- he was lucky they hadn’t broken down his door by day two. But at the end of all things the problem was him. The problem was his. 

Martin: i will

Tim: good

The rain began to pick up a little, splattering the screen and forcing him to pocket his mobile. It was as good an excuse as any to ignore more messages. He’d agreed to not leave them in suspense about his safety. It was all he could give them.

Pushing himself off the front steps, he stood just outside of the porch roof’s reach and inhaled. It did still sting, but that seemed to be the point of the exercise. It opened things up, cleaned him from the inside and washed it all away with an exhale. It was no wonder his mother had been so insistent with how much he found leaving him with every breath. 

He looked up into the sky with eyes squeezed shut for a few moments, then looked one more time at the black water ahead-

A thrashing in the water cut the silence in two, forcing a yelp out of his chest as he caught himself on the porch railing. Past the fog, just barely visible against the dark backdrop of sea and sky, was a figure hunched and formless and slowly shuffling out of the water.

Martin stepped backwards and half-fell back under the porch roof, wiping the rain from his glasses. The fog had grown so thick as to obscure the figure of any distinguishing features, and as he continued to back toward the front door he squinted hard to get a better look at the- the person? The thing? The-

It couldn’t be. No, it wouldn’t- she wouldn’t come back. It wasn’t possible. But if it had come from the sea (where else could it have emerged from so suddenly?), then there wasn’t another explanation.

His throat went taught with panic. He grasped at it, using his other hand to fumble behind him for the doorknob and hold it tight. He wanted to run. Run away, run up the hill, run straight at her and scream until his voice left him entirely. Anything but stand there rigid against the reality creeping toward him. Damn it, when had this fog rolled in so thick? What time was it?

The figure stopped, its crunching footsteps giving way to the sound of waves and pattering droplets. Martin held his breath and waited for something to give, whether it be his mother’s patience or his own two legs.

Then the footsteps resumed, more certain and definitely faster than he’d recalled his mother ever being. Right, she had always needed to be careful of her knees. The sea couldn’t just fix a history of osteoporosis.

This wasn’t a comfort. As the figure grew near and gained definition to its stick legs and shifting, asymmetric middle, Martin could only stand there frozen in terror with his hands gripped tight around the doorknob and his own neck.

An uncertain voice shouted over the drizzle. “Martin? Is that you? This fog is-”

Wait.

No. No that didn’t make any goddamned sense. He didn’t hear that.

And yet, out of the grey shroud, hair sticking to the sides of his face, walked a stiff and mildly embarrassed Jonathan Sims. He stopped just short of the porch steps, and then Martin couldn’t register anything else, his vision narrowing to the thing clutched to Jon's chest.

“Ah. Hi.” Jon adjusted the awkwardly folded seal skin in his arms and cleared his throat. “May I come inside?”

[feeling-uncomfy]

@trademarked-but-not-really and @aestheticallytiredandpathetic I have finished prompt three! I'm working on number 2 and 5 rn so they should be out soon!

In the meantime, enjoy!

Just a note that there will be abuse mentioned in this, relating to the old angsty fic I wrote? Yeah I explain more about the abuse here. Be warned!!

Denki swore as he hit the wrong note again. Jirou snorted as Bakugo yelled, having to restart for the fourth or fifth time that night. Momo came in with a tray of tea, accompanied by cookies.

"Satou made these for us! He made them specifically to each of our tastes as well!" She set the tray down and handed the treats out. Jirou thanked her, and gulped down her water. Tokoyami sat back, his fingers hopping from chord to chord.

Bakugo scoffed. "You still trying to learn that rift off? It's been three weeks, birdie." He said around a mouthful. Tokoyami let his head fall back. "I'm well aware of that, but thank you for pointing it out." He grumbled sarcastically. Bakugo shrugged and messed with his drumsticks.

There was silence as they ate. They got back to work, trying once again to get past a particularly difficult part of the song they were working on. Denki was clearly getting more and more frustrated, and he failed more as a result. Eventually, Jirou tried to call time-out, and Denki snapped.

He threw the guitar down, and it barely missed Tokoyami's head. Bakugo growled at him to watch it. "Sorry, mister perfect! I'm not good at this bullshit!" He yelled, turning away. Momo carefully made her way over. "No one's perfect, but that doesn't mean you can give up! We're all trying to learn this." She attempted to reassure him. Tokoyami nodded in agreement.

This appeared to make Denki angrier. "It's not the music!" He pulled back and faced the door, arms crossed. Jirou looked confused. "Then what is it?" Denki grumbled something. "Speak up, Spark Plug." Bakugo said.

"That! That's what's bothering me!" Denki spun around, tears threatening to fall. "It's the fact that your quirks are so cool, and you're all so talented! And what am I?" He scrunched up, tears falling down his face. "I'm nothing without your help..." The room was quiet after Denki's outburst. Momo's hand retracted.

The silence was deafening. Bakugo spoke up. "You idi— Denki. Look at me." Everyone's head snapped up, clearly taken aback by the correction. Bakugo continued. "No one actually thinks they're any good—" Denki shook his head, not letting him continue. "You say that, but your quirk is awesome! You don't count!" He said stubbornly.

Yamomo spoke up. "He's right. I dont think I'm good enough to be a hero either." Bakugo, Tokoyami and Jirou looked at Momo in shock. Denki buffered. "But, your quirk is amazing—" Momo cut in. "That doesn't matter if I cant put it in action effectively." She spoke calmly, but her hands shook.

Jirou looked away. "You saw me when we talked about music the first time." She said dejectedly. "I didnt think it was useful at all." She chuckles, though there are now tears in her eyes too. "Well, I still dont think that music is useful. Not really." Bakugo looked between them. This clearly wasnt what he was expecting.

Tokoyami shifted his weight from one leg to the other. He felt like he needed to share something. "No one ever really thought I could be a hero." He said quietly. The groups attention was on him. Tokoyami swallowed his nerves. "People always told me I'd be a villain, so after a while I started to believe them..." He stared firmly down at the ground. There goes his 'never cries in front of people' facade.

Bakugo looked between them. This was bullshit. How could they not think—?

Denki sniffed. "People only really used me as a phone charger or a back-up generator in middle school. My brain fried a lot, and people made fun of me." Denki sat down, telling his life story.

Yaomomo followed. "People used me for money, and when they had finished with me, they publicly embarrassed me in front of the school." She explained. Jirou shook her head angrily.

"People never made fun of me because I never told them." Jirou said. "I didnt have a lot of friends, and I got kinda lonely." She shrugged. The group looked up at Tokoyami, who still hadn't sat down. "If we're sharing..." he reluctantly said.

He sat down cross-legged. "People bullied me because of my animal head, and would force me to show Dark Shadow to everyone simply because he was 'different'" He told them, petting Dark Shadow softly. "And because I was so small, they would shove me into the tightest pace imaginable." Tokoyami shivered at the memories.

As the group shared their trauma, Bakugo tried to find a way to fix them. Denki was chatting, and they all gave their opinions, when the question popped up.

"Hey, what're your parents like?" Tokoyami froze. Yaomomo spoke highly about her parents, talking about the fun they had. Tokoyami was confused. Jirou talked about how her parents helped her learn all her instruments, and Tokoyami couldn't help but ask, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"You're parents helped you with that stuff?" The group was stunned to silence. Denki laughed nervously. "Yeah dude, didnt your parents do normal things?" Tokoyami shrugged. "My mom died when I was young, and my father..." Tokoyami didn't wanna think about him.

"What about your father?" Yaomomo asked softly. Tokoyami toyed with the edge of his collar. "Mr. Aziawa told me I'm not supposed to talk to him or any of his associates anymore." And for that Tokoyami was grateful. The group grew concerned.

"Why?" Bakugo asked bluntly. Tokoyami faltered. "It's complicated..." He sighed but decided fuck it. They had shared so much with him.

"My father used to... hit me a lot when I was younger." Tokoyami blurted out. And it was like a dam had opened, he couldn't stop talking. "Sometimes he'd use his fists, and sometimes he'd use something sharp. Either way it hurt. He used to shout. Loudly." Tokoyami hand brought his knees to his chest, breathing going a little haywire.

"He'd lock me in a closet for every rule I broke, and he defiled my mothers grave—" Tokoyami choked on his tears, getting angry. "He let his friends—" he couldn't say it, he couldn't get the words out. "They used to..." Nope, his confidence was gone, and the memories were back.

He fell back, head buried in his arms, shaking. Jirou panicked, and being the closest, threw her arms around him. Tokoyami froze, but when Jirou's hands stayed firmly in one place, he relaxed. Yaomomo joined swiftly, and Denki came from the back. Tokoyami felt oddly warm, and safe. It wasnt a feeling he usually experienced when hugged.

Bakugo stood, and made his way over. Wordlessly, he joined the hug. They stayed like that for a while, until there was a knock. All Might poked his head in. "Sorry, but Aziawa wants you to– oh." He saw them hugging. Bakugo jumped back, and Tokoyami scrubbed his eyes furiously, trying to stem the tear flow.

All Might stood back. "Aziawa, what do I do?" He whispered nervously to the man standing at the door, fuming. "Kick them out, fucking—" he looked in and saw the mess. "Oh." The kids were still kicked out, but no one got in trouble for staying up as late as it was.

The next morning, Tokoyami walked downstairs. He had had a nightmare after the fiasco that was band practice, and instinctively was heading for the closet. He approached the door, and someone blocked him. "Sorry, could I just—" He looked up. "Oh, Bakugo. What—"

Bakugo grabbed his wrist and dragged him towards the bathroom. "Wait, wha– Bakugo, where are we going?!" Bakugo dragged Tokoyami through the common room, and everyone was confused as to what was happening. Kirishima was going to step in, but Denki stopped him, and turned the conversation away from the two.

Bakugo brought them into the bathroom and splashed water on Tokoyami's face. "Wha—?!" Bakugo snapped at him to shut up. "You look like you havent slept, and you were heading for the closet." He muttered. Tokoyami tilted his head, confused. "You always do that after a bad night, right? I didnt know why till last night."

Oh. Right. Tokoyami had completely forgotten he'd said all that. Bakugo continued. "Well, your not doing that shit anymore. You're gonna be a fucking hero, and your stupid dad can shove it." He shouted, gaining the attention of those outside.

"Why's Bakugo yelling at Tokoyami?" Mina asked, spoon still in her mouth. "He better not be starting a fight!" Iida chided loudly. Yaomomo laughed. "Tokoyami looked tired, it must be about that." She said, knowing damn well that wasnt the problem. She, Jirou and Deni had seen their friend going for the closet. They were all grateful to Bakugo for pulling up on it.

They all noticed it. Bakugo was still an ass, but stopped calling Denki stupid, or any variation of the word. He instead told him he 'didnt do as bad a job' and pat his shoulder. Denki's self esteem rocketed upwards quickly. Bakugo thanked Yaomomo more often for using her quirk, and drank her tea when no one else would. Jirou wasnt excluded either, Bakugo got her water after every practice and told her that her music was cool. And everytime Tokoyami seemed too distant for Bakugo's liking, he pulled the bird-headed teen away from the crowd for a little while.

Bakugo did little things to help them. Like staying up to help Tokoyami through another nightmare, or take care of Denki when his brain fried. Small things that meant the world to the rest of the band.

And they returned the gestures, Denki always plugging in the extra controller even though Bakugo said no. Or Yaomomo making a note of what tea Bakugo liked and making it for him on a bad day. Jirou giving him headphones when the noise was too much, and Tokoyami letting Bakugo have one of his extra fluffy blankets whenever he'd have a bad night.

They all helped each other on their own ways. Aziawa noticed, obviously, but found it sweet. Those kids needed each other. Hell, there would come a time when they may have to depend on the other. And Aziawa knew well enough there would be times they would break.

He was glad to know they had each others back.

This one was short and sweet, hope you enjoyed! :D

[impassiveesper]

✿

(Upd8, I have low key republished this over on my art blog and AO3, so dont panic if you see it elsewhere.)

✿ - DECAY - an old memory, from childhood perhaps

We Sink

Word count:  3,844 Summary: 

“Why didn’t you come see me at the hospital?” 

“I wasn’t allowed,” Shigeo said quickly, casting his eyes downward in a feeble attempt to hide his tears in shadow. He wasn’t sure how much his brother could see in the dim light, but the moon against Ritsu’s face revealed a whole mess of things at once. The younger boy’s expression contorted with a mix of emotions, seeming equal parts eager to believe as he was unimpressed with the answer.

“That’s not what mom told me.”

Color in my sheltered mind.  Fill the gap between you and I.

-----

“Let’s leave Shige alone, okay sweetie?”

That was the first thing Shigeo could make out from the voices echoing down the hallway. His mother’s warning was feather light against his ears compared to the thumps and wails that followed.

“But I wanna see him!”

Shigeo could picture this clearly without being there. Ritsu’s little feet plodding heavily against the hard wood, strangely uneven as he ascended the stairs and rushed to his door.  His hand would reach up for the handle, halting only against his mother’s warning. 

“It’s time for bed,” his mother said gently, her reasoning clear without further explanation. “You can see him in the morning.” 

Ritsu didn’t like that answer, though. 

“But I’m tired of being in bed!” 

Ritsu’s voice had grown somewhat softer, if only to avoid triggering his mother’s temper, but the whine in it was clear.  He extended each syllable threefold, feigning a childish agony.  The soft footfalls that approached did not stop, passing by the doorway without a second’s hesitation, their mother likely motioning for Ritsu to follow, ignoring his pleas completely. 

“Mommy!”

He was loud. Unreasonably loud even for livelier hours of the day, and the petulance ringing in his voice seemed to support Shigeo’s theory of events. He imagined his brother’s hand still planted firmly on door the handle just as his mother’s soft footfalls doubled back, heavier than before.

“Ritsu!” he heard his mother whisper sharply, informing him of what time it was before Ritsu’s whines drowned her out completely. He couldn’t tell what happened next. Maybe his mother had picked Ritsu up or maybe she was dragging him away by the hand.  Whatever had happened, they were both headed down the hallway now, though it was clear at least one of them wasn’t happy about it. Ritsu’s aura seemed to have recalled its own curious tendency to wander away from his body, as it slid silently into the room with what Shigeo considered a rather shy disposition compared to its usual energy. It touched Shigeo as it often did, sliding over his skin and mingling with his own aura for a few seconds before receding back down the hallway.  As far as Shigeo had observed, most people without powers rarely ever did much of anything with their auras, and Shigeo was reasonably certain that his brother had no idea of how often he was invading other people’s space with his own. Weird.  Shigeo had often wondered at length why his brother’s aura was so mobile, but he couldn’t find the energy to dwell on it tonight.   For once, he was more than relieved to see it go.

Shigeo took this opportunity to exhale a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding, relief welling in his whole body. He made no attempts to imagine the conversation that followed somewhere down the hallway.  All that mattered was the conversation that didn’t happen here. A long as nobody came in...

Shigeo remained still on the futon for a long while, waiting to be absolutely certain that no other person was still stirring before he sat up and looked around.  The room was an obvious mess, even with only moonlight to go by.  It was so much of a mess in fact, that he wasn’t sure he could clean it all before morning.  Not quietly, anyway. And he absolutely could not use his psychic powers to help. Psychic powers were what had gotten him into this mess in the first place. Still...he couldn’t just leave it like this either. That same terrifying conversation could just as easily happen in the morning.

Carefully, Shigeo stood and plodded over to his desk, switching his study lamp on.  The light was faint, dimmer than the overhead light by a long shot, but it was enough to bathe the walls in orange and cast only minimal signs of life into the hallway. With that, he turned to survey the first of his problems.

His floor had become a colorful sea of books and toys at his last outburst, but now everything surrounded him in a neat circle like some kind of bastardized faerie ring of clutter, more frustrating than magical. Distantly, Shigeo could recall pushing everything to the corners in a panic the second he heard his parents’ car pull into the driveway.  He hadn’t meant to of course. He hadn’t meant to use his powers ever again, in fact, but in his haste to make things look more normal, he had cleared the space without meaning to.  This was perhaps the smallest psychic misstep in recent memory, so he didn’t punish himself too hard for the fluke. At the very least it made room for him to throw his futon onto the floor and pretend to be asleep.  Still, even his correctly placed futon seemed to contribute to the chaos, looking rumpled and crooked against the floorboards.

With a heavy sigh, Shigeo set to work, picking up any books he could see and walking them to the shelf. He set them down in no particular order. The most important thing was that everything be off the floor. What happened to it after that could be problem for later.  

He managed this journey between the desk and shelf a few times with only the most subtle complaint from the floorboards. It wasn’t until his fourth or fifth trip that something stopped him in his path.  His own face stained a sunset by the glow of lamp light.  Tired eyes peered warily at him from the mirror by the window, the reflection seeming almost alien to him with its reddened complexion and puffy eyes.  At some point between the desk and the shelf, he’d become somebody else. He frowned at that.  Or maybe he wasn’t somebody else after all. Maybe he’d been this person all day long, sullen and crying, unwilling to glimpse his own sickly reflection long enough to notice how monstrous he looked. In truth, Shigeo had managed to forget most of his day once aided by the cover of darkness, but now it flowed back to him in the lamplight, flooding his eyes until they were dripping and sore once again.  He was monstrous, after all, whether he looked it or not. For what he did, he was the worst person he could imagine. He stood frozen in the spot, watching a tear slide traitorously down his own cheek.

SLAM 

He let out a gasp as several re-shelved books threw themselves to the floor in protest. A handful of plastic men emerged from a tomb of blocks to cheer and clatter against the wood, seemingly pleased by the paper sacrifice. At once the room was alive, zero gravity permeating his worldly possessions and undoing his last 20 minutes of work in a matter of seconds. Panic began to bubble in Shigeo’s chest. No, no, no, not again. He couldn’t be bad again.

With a wave of his hands, everything that tumbled through the air slammed to the floor in a rush, shaking the house in a way that must have woken somebody, but Shigeo did not move. He held his things down firmly, fearful of letting up. His tears were flowing freely now, breath coming and going in soft hiccups. He wasn’t supposed to use them.  Even now, he wasn’t supposed to. Not to make trouble, not to fix it either. Not ever. Not after--

It was then that a small sound caught his attention. A door opening and closing softly down the hall.  Shigeo pawed at his face hastily and shot to the desk, letting go of the toys and switching off the lamp.  Once finished, he rushed onto his futon just in time to hear a soft knock, which he ignored with anxious optimism.  Go away. Go away, don’t open the door. Go away.

The intrusion did not go away. 

The door’s handle turned with a soft click as Shigeo tried in vain to steady his breathing. He turned his face into the pillow, rubbing his eyes to the fabric and trying his best to muffle any sobs he hadn’t accounted for.

“Nii-san...?”

Shigeo allowed himself to peek over the edge of the comforter to Ritsu’s eyes. Dark as they were, they glinted eagerly in the moonlight from outside, wide with interest and his typical childlike curiosity. From the hallway a dim nightlight lit his back, spilling around his tiny body and over the futon with Shigeo.  Otherwise, he couldn’t see much beyond the shape of his brother and Shigeo hoped inwardly that it wasn’t obvious what sort of state he was in right now, even with the little bit of light to aid their eyes.

“What are you doing?” Ritsu asked after a long moment, and it was clear to Shigeo that he wasn’t feigning sleep very convincingly.

“I’m in bed,” Shigeo mumbled into the pillow as though it were obvious. Because it was obvious, of course.  He tasted salt there on the pillowcase.  Ritsu seemed to have heard him, but made no effort to move.  

“I felt like you were sad.”

Not saw, but felt. Shigeo noted this with slight confusion, but the younger made no effort to follow up on it, so Shigeo did not press. Odd, though, that this was his strategy for tonight. Shigeo could not really place how often Ritsu’s excuses for this sort of intrusion were true, but he made them often enough for Shigeo to know the usual suspects.  Normally his brother might say he had a nightmare or that he knew a secret in order to worm his way under the covers with him. Much simpler excuses that were plain and easily defensible, but Ritsu made no such assertion today. He only stared, lost in some web of thoughts Shigeo could not even remotely begin to intuit.

“You should be in bed,” Shigeo told him after a long moment. “Mom said so.”

He hadn’t heard her say so, but it was a reasonable assumption to make. Still, Ritsu did not move. He did not speak.  His aura stretched around the room, bringing with it a tension decidedly unlike Ritsu. It wasn’t until Shigeo finally sat up to address him that the younger felt emboldened to speak.

“Why didn’t you come see me at the hospital?”

Oh.

Oh.

This was perhaps the last thing that Shigeo had expected to hear, but in retrospect, it made sense.  His parents had offered to take him to the hospital multiple times, and every time, he made up a reason why it would a bad idea for him to go.

Hesitantly, Shigeo turned his body to acknowledge his brother and frowned at the sight of him. Bandages. Loads of them. Bandages up and down his arms, legs. Bandages plastered over his cheeks, covering all the minor scrapes he’d sustained in the chaos. He also noted a liberal amount of gauze wrapped around his head where it had hit the pavement.  The thought of it sickened Shigeo.  The thought of concrete. Of Ritsu and of blood.  

It occurred to Shigeo distantly that his uneven footsteps earlier were likely less a playful eccentricity and more a sign that Ritsu was walking with a limp. A fresh wave of tears stung the corners of his eyes, and Shigeo did his best to suppress them.  It was one thing to suspect he’d hurt Ritsu very badly. It was another to have seen it for certain.  The thought struck him suddenly, like a swift kick in the teeth.  It urged his tears to come more readily.  Shigeo couldn’t say for sure what it was that kept him as far from that hospital as humanly possible, but somewhere in the pit of his stomach he knew this sickly feeling must have been part of it.  This was his fault, after all. And now that he’d seen how bad it was, he couldn’t make any excuses for himself. He couldn’t take any chances with his powers any longer.

But that was...  

He couldn’t let Ritsu know that. Not if Shigeo meant to protect him.

“I wasn’t allowed,” Shigeo said quickly, casting his eyes downward in a feeble attempt to hide his tears in shadow. He wasn’t sure how much  his brother could see in the dim light, but the moon against Ritsu’s face revealed a whole mess of things at once. The younger boy’s expression contorted with a mix of emotions, seeming equal parts eager to believe as he was unimpressed with the answer.

“That’s not what mom told me.”

Shigeo stiffened, frozen in his nest of blankets. He hadn’t expected their mother to just say that, and now that she had, he couldn’t stop that little pang of guilt from bulging monstrously in his chest.  He hurt his brother and then turned down every opportunity to take care of him when it would have been easy to do. Worst of all, now it seemed they both knew as much. In his eight years, Shigeo could scarcely recall things ever feeling any worse. He frowned, wiping at his eyes with his sleeve. They stung fiercely now.

Shigeo remained unresponsive for what he supposed was long enough to make his brother impatient, as the floorboards began to creak and sigh softly under his little feet. Shigeo sat up in a rush to stop him, blankets clutched in his fist all the while as if his meager covering might shield him from Ritsu’s approach. Ritsu didn’t stop until he was mere centimeters from the futon.  

“What else did she tell you?” Shigeo asked suddenly. He was eager to move away from this topic. Eager to say anything that might make Ritsu leave.

“To leave it alone,” Ritsu replied simply, though it was clear he intended to do no such thing.  A beat passed between them, but Ritsu’s dissatisfaction with with the lack of invitation didn’t seem to be encouraging him toward his own bed as Shigeo had hoped.

After a long moment, Shigeo heaved a sigh of defeat.

With a noncommittal sound, Shigeo rolled over onto his face. Ritsu seemed to take this in place of the usual invitation, tunneling eagerly onto the futon now that Shigeo was in no position to stop him. He pressed himself eagerly against Shigeo’s pajamas, and just like that, his aura receded and lightened the air. The tension slid away from Ritsu instantly, relief clear enough to be felt on his skin. Shigeo wished he could say the same for himself.  

“Nii-san...”

Shigeo shifted, turning over so that his back was to Ritsu.  The idea of hugging excited and horrified him in equal measure and he decided that he absolutely would not touch his brother of his own accord right now. And he would stop crying. He would stop crying now that Ritsu was close enough to notice. He would. That part was easier said than done, of course.

But...this was fine, Shigeo told himself. This was usual and routine and it didn’t really matter if it wasn’t what he wanted. Defeat was easy enough if it was for Ritsu. Most things were easy when they were for Ritsu.

Inhale. Exhale.

It would all be just fine. A normal night like any other, sneaking into each other’s rooms in the dark to play and tell secrets and fall asleep. It was all normal except...

Mob felt a fresh wave of tears begin to well in his eyes at the scratch of gauze pressed to his neck. This wasn’t normal. 

It wasn’t normal at all, because they weren’t hugging and they weren’t trading conspiratorial whispers under the covers and Ritsu’s head was bandaged over where it had split and--

No.

No, no, no no. Shigeo balled his fist into the covers and bit his lip hard.  He turned his face down into the pillow once again, missing the familiar plush quality that usually greeted him there. Instead he felt something of a slimy wetness lapping at his cheek.  His pillow had been moistened by his tears several times over by now, sporting a hot sort of wet that clung to his face like--

Little arms wrapped violently around Shigeo as a deafening crack filled the air. The tiniest sound of a gasp hit his ear.  In his periphery Shigeo could see shards of glass catching glints of moonlight at odd angles as they fell to the floor one by one. Evidently, his mirror had grown tired of being just one piece. Meanwhile, the clatter of blocks and little plastic men spoke up just in time for Shigeo to realize he’d been moving them. At some point or another the room had come alive with wind and noise. Without meaning to, he was doing things.

And Ritsu was here. Oh god, how long had he been doing things?

Behind him he could hear the sound of Ritsu’s breath quickening, his grip clawlike against the storm that had begun whirling around them. Shigeo couldn’t think of a single thing, not with his heart racing and his brother’s growing panic in his ears. Nothing. Only Ritsu-- 

Ritsu and blood. Ritsu and blood and glass shattering and bones breaking, the clawing of nails, the gnashing of teeth, the sound of a scream, cars passing, heart pounding, skin bruising, Ritsu, and blood. 

Without thinking, Shigeo tore himself away from his brother and turned around. Ritsu sat up in a hurry, nervous and more than eager to be hugged the usual way.  He scooted close, attempting slot himself into their usual position. Shigeo stopped him with an outstretched hand.

“No.”

A blink, then a frown. The betrayal was clear in his brother’s eyes. At some point he’d begun trembling slightly, the anxious disposition of some pitiful, abandoned thing.

“Why?” 

“You can’t be near me anymore.”

It wasn’t safe. It would never be safe for Ritsu again. Not in this room, not with this brother. And anyway, the more Ritsu looked at him, the more they touched, the more Shigeo could only think of scary things. Of Ritsu and blood.

Ritsu seemed to assess his words with some skepticism, head tilted in a universally recognized display of confusion. He seemed to be trying his absolute hardest to overcome his newfound terror in favor of some sense of normalcy.

“D-did...did mom say that?” he asked, beginning to tentatively scoot closer again.

“No,” Shigeo replied simply.

“Then I can--”

Ritsu’s words died in his throat as Shigeo pushed him away roughly.  He tipped onto his back with a small thud and Shigeo sucked in a sharp breath at the sight of his head bumping the floor.  Any shards of mirror that were still affixed the wall had abruptly decided to migrate to the floor, and they announced themselves as such.  

After a moment Ritsu sat back up, clutching dazedly at his bandaged head. Shigeo took this opportunity to pull as far away as he could go while still remaining on the futon. He made a point to enforce a little extra pressure on those clattering plastic men while he was at it, just in case they had forgotten about gravity.

A long moment passed between them, Ritsu’s eyes wide, his breath caught. It was clear that even after everything that happened, Ritsu hadn’t quite made the leap to considering his brother an aggressor. Not before this moment, at least.

“I...think we should go to sleep,” Shigeo said softly when it finally seemed to him that they might never move. Ritsu nodded without a word, though he didn’t look entirely convinced. His slight tremble had turned to a violent sort of quaking, and Shigeo tried his very hardest not to look at him. Scooting onto his knees, the older boy began to carefully neaten the blankets as though demonstrating.  He settled himself as close to the edge of the futon as possible, waiting for the younger to mimic him or make his escape. Ritsu gave the door a reluctant glance before ultimately laying himself down on the futon as well, his back aligned to the opposite edge. 

With one final glance over his shoulder, Shigeo couldn’t help but notice the way his blanket seemed to sag between them, a chasm forming in just a few short meters. Still, he set himself to his pillow facing the wall and pointedly ignored Ritsu’s eyes on his back.  All he had to do was take deep breaths, just like sleeping, and never, ever let himself think about--

Well, he didn’t need to go so far as remembering what. He wasn’t thinking about it, after all. He wasn’t thinking about anything, and any thought or sound or person that tried to change that would simply be shut out. He could do this. He could. If he just didn’t think, if he just didn’t feel anything, then Ritsu...

Right, he redirected himself. Ritsu was over there now, so he would be safe. The thought made the dull ache in Shigeo’s heart all the more easy to ignore.  In fact most everything seemed suddenly very easy to ignore. If he just kept on like this...

With a careful breath, Shigeo released all the tension he had been holding, carefully lifting the psychic force that held the glass, the blocks, and all of his forgetful little plastic men flush to the floor. To his growing relief, they remained still, no invisible force pushing them to move and clatter. Finally, everything was quiet. Everything was normal.  

It was then that Shigeo realized he had stopped crying.  After hours and hours of tears, he seemed to have run out finally. That, or maybe he simply convinced them to stop through sheer force of will. Did he not want to cry anymore? Or had he just come up short of new cries?  He couldn’t tell, but that didn’t matter. Not feeling was safer than crying. It was safer than anything. Nicer, even. It enveloped him like a warm blanket, blocking out any dark thoughts or teary eyes.

And if any choked little sobs were threatening to break through from the other side of the futon, well...that wouldn’t bother him either, Shigeo decided. That was still better. Still safer.  He hugged himself, the ghost of a frown playing at his lips at every tiny sound that reached him.  Inwardly, he pawed around to find that feeling again--the feeling of not feeling--but suddenly it wasn’t so close anymore.  He didn’t need to look to know his brother was laying there, teary eyed, trembling, and trying very hard not to be heard.  Shigeo could pretend, he supposed. Pretend to sleep. Pretend to feel nothing until all his pretending came true.  He could do that.  If it was for Ritsu, he could do anything. 

He could pretend away all of this and then there would be no chance of his powers hurting anyone ever again.  He could resolve to never hug Ritsu, to never touch him, and never comfort him again.  He could pretend that it was all for the best.

Yes.

And with enough practice, Shigeo supposed he could even pretend that he was okay with that.  

[cosmicbash]

This was something I wrote in chat to my best friend earlier today then spruced up in docs. Because I thought yall might enjoy it too 😉

No proper ending of course cuz I'm lazy af

Concept

Em just straight up buying Kelly from Diddy. Like real world AU. He just buys Kells time for a month, just to prove he can and make the brat squirm when his label manager suddenly comes and tells him he needs to go be Marshall's (slave)  assistant for a full month and if he doesn't then they can't produce his new album

Just Diddy not giving two fucks about his artists except for the money they can earn him and Em rubbing it in Kells face that he's practically a for hire whore if he wants him to be;

Marshall barely acknowledges the blonde for little more than to give him his coffee or fast food order the first few days, just to make him sweat. See how he will react to repeatedly being ignored and treated no better than some random kid hired off the street.

By the 4th day Colson just snaps, and slams the coffee none too politely down on a meeting table to snarl at the older rapper about how he's not some goddamn coffee boy. All because he expected Colson to sit there and stir his cream and sugar in it for him in front of a group of people. 

Of course all that does is lead to everyone staring and Marshall ordering them out of the office. Eyes finally meeting the blondes dead on, glueing his feet to the floor and leaving him terrified.

By the time the brunette has slid the door lock over with a loud click and turned back around to start storming towards him Colson is near shaking in his designer boots. Marshall's stride and face unflinching like a predator closing in on its prey.

The poor boy doesnt know whether his fight or flight wants to kick in because yeah while he's sure he might be able to take the older rapper in a fight solely due to their size difference alone he also doesn't think hitting the guy will bode well for him and his bands careers. So instead he just tenses up and braces for impact. Expecting a fist to the jaw, or gut, hell maybe even a shoe.

The impact he's waiting for never comes, instead the rapper diverts his path last minute and instead settles back into the large cushiony office chair that rests at the head of the table.

The squeak and hiss of air when his weight lands makes Colson's hearing perk up. Focus zeroing in on the man's every movement while his body turns to face him once more.

Then comes the order, a finger crooking itself in a come hither motion that has Colson's feet moving despite himself. "Here. Now."

And before the blonde knows it he's in reaching distance of his rap god and suddenly a hand is fisting itself in his tank top, yanking him down. Forcing him awkwardly across the other man's lap, while another grabs the belt loops of his jeans. Leaving his hands to fly out and press shaking finger tips against the carpeted floor when he finds himself horizontal. And his legs to flail in the air for a moment before they also find purchase. Shoe tips finding zero traction.

The arm of the chair is digging into his chest and thighs painfully, and the fingers Marshall has fisted in the belt loops of his jeans to hoist his ass up and across has electricity radiating out from where a knuckle brushes against bare skin

"If you want to throw a fit and slam things around like a child I can treat you like a child-"

One hard yank later and Colson's whole face lights up like the fourth of july. Cold air conditioned office air tickling his now bare ass, jeans pulled down just enough to flash both cheeks and rest snug beneath the curve.

He knows what's coming before it happens but a startled yelp still escapes his mouth when the first open palm slaps down. A stinging pain shooting up his back from the impact. And em doesn't give him any time to recover, another succession of slaps follow within seconds to the same cheek. Until the skin feels hot and Colson's fingers have dug their way into the thin carpet in front of him.

Gasped grunts and jerks of his legs are all the reaction he's capable of giving. The humiliation of it all placing a tight knot in his throat.

Just when Colson thinks it's over, the older rapper switches his smacking to the opposite cheek. The palm that had been clapping down shifting over to tightly grip his hip, fingers digging in so tightly they inspire a curse.

Now using his right hand to smack. The blonde can't help but literally whimper at the sting added from cold metal rings present. 

"Is this what Diddy needs to be doing to keep you in line? Hm? Should I use our time together to train you into a good little bitch?" 

Colson's whole lower half feels like it's on fire, but somehow his face manages to feel hotter. He wants to retort, curse and scream and tell the older rapper off. All he needs to do is give a good push of his long legs or his arms and he knows he could knock himself free. But his body refuses to listen to him.

Between his legs his cock is steadily filling, thickening up against his thigh where its trapped between tight briefs and the lowered hem of his jeans.

The embarrassment coiling in his stomach triples, shame and arousal joining the cocktail of mixed emotions.

The stinging slaps finally end, even if his quivering doesn't. 

Now the warm palm resting against his ass just smoothes over the sensitive flesh, pressing down and giving almost comforting rubs . "Cat got your tongue Kelly? Or was it really that easy for me to break you?"

Swallowing down the tight lump still present Colson manages to at least shake his head. By now his fingers have turned white against the gray of the carpet and his lip feels swollen from the bite of his own teeth but he does finally get words to leave his mouth.

"F-fuck you."

Far from eloquent. Or the multitude of things rattling around inside his head that he wants to say. But he wont let the asshole assume he's some weak willed little bitch.

Marshall hums thoughtfully above him, the circles being rubbed against his raw ass widening, the press harder. Until it's got him wincing.

"Is that what I should do? Want me to reward you for taking your punishment so patiently by filling your tight little hole?"

A spread to his cheeks is what finally gets Colson's legs kicking back to life. His whole body tumbling to the floor in a heavy heap, ass catching the carpet wrong while he crawls backwards forcing tears to spring up in his eyes. 

Marshall looks amused, head cocked sideways now resting on one palm while he watches him.

Meanwhile Colson's heart is racing in his chest, his own gaze locked on the older rappers. Too afraid to look away while he blindly tries to pull his jeans back up. "D-dont touch me you fucking pervert!"

The smirk on bearded cheeks just grows wider. Until the man is smiling almost shark like at him, a twinkle present behind blue eyes. "Suit yourself-" another hissing squeak of the chair and the brunette is standing back up. Looming over the younger rapper spawled across the carpet while he fishes a couple bills out of his pocket. "The coffees all cold by now anyway, get your clothes back on and go replace the order."

Cash rains down over Colson's lap and he feels like a cheap whore. But the blonde still grits his teeth and crumbles the bills up between his fingers before pushing through the pain and dragging his pants back up over his throbbing ass. 

Counting it up Colson finds double what it cost earlier "This is too much-"

"Your reward. Get one of those too sweet iced coffees for yourself, and a fucking muffin or two." Fingers suddenly thread through his hair, catching him off guard. "Ass is too bony for my taste. Need to fatten you up over the next few weeks." 

[honeyhenry]

A Saga of Sweaters

inspired of course by the incredible knitted sweater chris wears in Knives Out! However this is still a Chris fic, not a Ransom one (as I have yet to see the movie!)

word count: 1.5k+

warnings: a lot of fluff, smut if you squint/nsfw descriptives

enjoy!

the first instance in which you met, was just after Christmastime. it was in the new year where the coldest January on record meant that his thick knitted sweaters were a staple piece of your outings together, once if not twice a week

a new year, a new start with a new love for one man who made you smile for so many reasons

he wore The Sweater, now your favourite, for your first official date

a thick fisherman’s sweater knitted and twisted into various complex patterns that gave it its own character, and matched every expensive coat he had in his wardrobe

it’s a statement piece of his and you wondered, if things were to go further, that one day you’d get to pull it over your own head and wear it yourself. it looked so damn cosy.

he soon became the cosiest, warmest person in your life, giving you that feeling from the top of your head to the tip of your toes, capturing your heart and filling it with joy

if you ever decided to put fashion over common sense in the cold weather, forgoing a proper jacket for the chance to look your best for him, he’d sigh and roll his eyes while grinning at how ridiculous you were

“you know, we’re on the sixth date. you don’t have to freeze to death to keep me around”

he’d give you his coat, insisting that his sweater keeps him warm enough

and after a couple more dates, the sweater ends up on the floor, as he takes you to bed, finding a much better way to warm you up

and you’d get your secret wish finally, as you wear the sweater the following morning, with some soft pyjama shorts

he really likes the sight of you wearing his huge thick sweater, Dodger in your lap as you read a copy of a book he had on his nightstand

it smells of him which you adore

you catch him staring at you from the bathroom and you don’t even look up from the words on the page that you're reading, nor pause stroking Dodger’s fur to say;

“i hope you know you're not getting this back”

“it’s okay” he’d replied “i dont mind the sweater stealing, i love whats underneath”

making you giggle when he rushes to you, his hands reaching to crawl up the inside of the sweater where you’re wearing nothing underneath

he makes plans to buy you one for yourself but it’s no secret that you only love the sweater because it reminds you of him

he wears a different sweater when you go to meet his family

he’s not about to wear a sweater that you’ve recently been wearing along with nothing else

seeing that sweater can now really get him going just thinking about you in it.  it makes him twitch with want for you.

his family adore you, admiring how happy chris is with you, and how cosy and coupley you are, connected and drawn to each other somewhat magnetically

you know that those perceptions are true, however the ‘coupley’ vibes had only been enhanced by chris’ absolute need to bone you the moment you get back to his place

Christmas would come around again, bringing even more sweaters that you realise that he only keeps for the festive season 

it inspires you to buy him one that lights up with the press of a button

its cheesy and he loves it, and wears it for the entirety of Christmas day

it’s hard to ignore, but somehow you manage to when he drags your attention away only to ask if you’ll move in with him

you say yes and it’s definitely too hot in the bedroom to be wearing anything that evening

you move in, halving the amount of space chris has for his clothes, but he installs a closet elsewhere in the house, fit for all his winter wear

as the year bleeds from cold, dark nights, to a warmer spring, then to a humid summer, the sweaters stay put in the drawers and closets

however, nestled between the bottom two rows of sweaters in Chris’ drawer, is an velvet box he’s waiting to give you at just the right time

the right time comes when he finds you at home, dancing to the radio in one of his sweaters and a pair of shorts, making dinner

finally it’s cold enough to wear warmer items of clothing and he loves that its already that time of year again

he also panics slightly because the sweater you're wearing was kept only one or two inches from where the silver engagement ring lay in his drawer

and he realises, whats the point of waiting anyway? he wants you dancing in the kitchen in his clothes while playing with Dodger and making the dinner, forever

and so he waits until after dinner, after all the washing up is done and you finally sit down on the sofa ready to relax with him

that’s when he does it

you’re so shocked but ridiculously overwhelmed with happiness that you cry out your “yes!” and he’s placing the ring on your finger as you press kisses to his face

“i’m sorry it wasn’t fancier-”

“it’s perfect”

the ring glints as you hold up your hand, pulling up the sleeves of the sweater you’re wearing to take a proper look

takes a picture of it and sends it to family with “congratulations” following

and an extra message from Scott: “so she’s still adamant on wearing your clothes huh”

you have your wedding and then honeymoon, and for the latter you wear practically nothing - truly not missing the sweaters in the hot weather that begs for nudity, sweet cocktails, sea-swept hair, and sex on the balcony 

you spend 3 weeks there before flying back and spending autumn and winter in Boston

as newly weds, you have matching rings now, shiny and beautiful and it distracts you so much at one point that you spill coffee all over the sweater of his you're wearing

he calls you a teasing name and all you can reply is “well you married me!”

the sweaters make their return soon enough, and it’s first year of your soon to be traditional Christmas card, nearly 3 years since you first met

you, him and Dodger wear matching sweaters so you can send out a cheesy christmas card ‘with love from, The Evans Family”

it’s taken in your apartment and Dodger has to be bribed with treats for a good picture to be taken of the three of you

you’ve never been happier, your smiles so genuine and warm

a year later and not much has changed except the location of your home

you’ve bought a bigger house in Boston, with a lovely porch and 5 bedrooms to fill

so the second year of your Christmas card picture tradition, you all sit on the gorgeous Christmassy decorated staircase

(Dodger still needs a couple of treats before cooperating)

you take the picture 3 weeks before christmas

it just so happens that it’s 3 weeks later is when you tell Chris that there was actually a fourth person in the picture, a new addition to “The Evans Family” underneath your sweater

you present him with a tiny matching sweater “we’ll have someone around to wear this for next year”

“babe if this is you telling me we should get another dog-”

“it’s not for a dog”

he pauses and looks at you, his eyes full of hope but still slightly doubting

“don’t...really?” 

he’s scared to assume but you finally show him little sonogram pictures

“they’ll be 4 or 5 months old next Christmas”

he kisses you so softly and passionately by the Christmas tree, his hands on your hips, smiling into your lips as you brush away his tears, and then your own

after that, you wearing his sweaters means even more

keeping Baby Evans as your little secret while going out in public, is the most important thing for you, and so to hide any hint, you wear his sweaters

it’s his favourite thing in the world - to see you grow his baby, while you wear his sweaters even in the springtime

they can hide a tiny swell in January, but are unable to cover the bump as you hit 5 months in April

“Hi meatball” he’d smooth his hand over the sweet swell that he’s so drawn to

he puts his hands up inside the sweater, making you giggle

“i told you before,” you murmur “you won’t be getting this back”

“and as i said, i dont mind the sweater stealing, i love whats underneath”

you can bet that next Christmas, he’s got Baby Evans on his lap, wearing their own little Christmas sweater, with drool all over it and the sleeves rolled up twice so you can see their tiny hands

Chris’ hands take up their whole tummy, and Baby gives a little lopsided smile that everyone receiving of a card coos at

(Chris can definitely claim that the smile was gas)

and it had all started with the hope that one day you’d get to be in his life to try on his fisherman sweater

now, you’ve gained a lot more from Chris - love, and warm morning cuddles, safety, and a family

sweater weather would forever be the sweetest time of the year

TAGLIST: 

@katiew1973​ @thevelvetseries​

MASTERLIST / FEEDBACK

[jaewrxtes]

ATEEZ Seonghwa: Werewolf Headcanon!

Note: This is for Mars ( @milkyateez )’s Halloween prompt thing! IDK WHAT TO CALL IT LMAO This is a scenario (how you met werewolf seonghwa) + Headcanon so yeah— BE READY FOR FLUFF AND sorta ANGST! Enjoy!

# of Words: i dont know folks

Warning (s): mention of smol blood (just a stain + scar)

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Seonghwa is a arctic wolf :D

He was going to be the next leader of his family’s pack

But I’ll explain why he isnt going to be the next leader soon

maybe in another scenario thingy or timestamp

He’s pretty resourceful and helps out everyone

unless they mess with his pack or friends

He helps everyone with so many different tasks

Need help grocery shopping? Yeah he’s here

Need to shop for new clothes? Lets go Seonghwa is there to help

Need to get food? Because you forgot to cook lunch/dinner Yes hello Chef Seonghwa has arrived

His family (for this au) consist of him, his mom, his dad and his little brother, Park Seoho not oneus yall

He cares about his little brother more than anything

He was 12 when baby Seoho was born

And when he was born, he vowed to protect him to matter what

His parents cared about Seoho.. But they only cared about Seonghwa becoming a great Leader of the Star Pack.

Seonghwa was honored to be the next leader of his pack

Its just that its a lot of pressure to be the best leader he can be

He had been training for his whole life to be somewhat like his father

but nicer and sweeter!

moving on

Lets move on to the brothers’ relationship :DDDD

Seoho is a innocent lil baby and Seonghwa is his caring and protective older brother

Ever since he was pup he watched over him

He helped him go to his first day of preschool

He helped him choose his first outfit

His first lunchbox

His first backpack

Literally his first everything

He was the only one who spent his first birthday with him

Now (2019) Seonghwa is 21 and Seoho is 9

Lil baby Seoho is starting 4th grade 😱😱😱

Seoho is so excited and he has his outfit ready, his backpack (with his adorable winter themed supplies) and his lunchbox :D

Everything a lil baby needs to survive fourth grade

Seonghwa’s parents, once again won’t be coming with Seoho on his first day

As Seonghwa was preparing his lunch, Seoho tugs on his pants frowning

“Hyung.. Do mommy and daddy not love me?”

Seonghwa froze for a moment before putting down his knife that he was using to cut up apples

He kneeled down and patted his brother’s head

“Seoho, Mom and Dad love you so much” he said

“They’re just really busy”

Seoho continued to frown as he turned away from his brother’s gaze

“Lying isn’t good hyung”

Seonghwa was about to say he wasnt before Seoho continued

“They said they were going to give me away to another pack..”

Seonghwa’s eyes widened and he suddenly hugged his brother

“They won’t give you away.. I promise you.”

“Now come on, we gotta get you to school!”

Seoho jumped in excitement and grabbed his backpack as Seonghwa finished packing up his lunch

okay now at school — WHERE SEONGHWA MEETS YOU

once the two boys arrived at school

teachers were already heading inside to their classrooms

one teacher however was still waiting for her last student

that one teacher was...

YOU

You held your clipboard that had all your student’s names on it

also you’re a new teacher oop-

You kneeled down and asked one of the kids

“Do any of you know Park Seoho?”

The students stayed silent until you heard a voice behind you

“Are you Miss [L/n]?”

You quickly stood up

almost falling but shhhhhhh

And you nodded

“Yes I am”

The man who was in front of you smiled and bowed

“I apologize... It took a while for me to figure out where my brother’s school was..”

You looked behind him and saw a small boy holding a lunchbox that was covered in sticker crystals plus a backpack that was covered with snowflake designs

“Are you Park Seoho’s brother?” You asked

He nodded and pushed his brother forward gently

“I’m Park Seonghwa. Its nice to meet you Miss [L/n].”

Seoho then bowed to you and smiled

“Hi Miss [L/n]! I look forward to being in your class!”

You giggled at the young boy’s cuteness and patted his head

“I look forward to having you in my class Seoho!”

Seonghwa smiled gently and then let go of his brother’s hand

which Seoho was holding onto tightly

“I’ll see you after school, okay bud?”

Seoho smiled up at him and then at you

and then back to Seonghwa

“Okay! Bye hyung!”

You smiled and finally got all of you students in a line

Seoho being in the front

and you all started walking to your classroom

after school

it was a few hours after school and Seoho was still there

Waiting for Seonghwa to come

You were still there

bc you were hanging up the kiddos’s art pieces

and you were about to leave when you saw Seoho

You tried thinking of his brother’s name but you couldnt so

You sat down next to the young boy and asked

“Is your mommy or daddy coming to pick you up?”

Seoho sighed and stared at the ground

“Seonghwa-hyung picks me up...”

“Mommy and daddy never do..”

You frowned and patted his shoulder

“Im sure he’ll be here soon! Don’t worry Seoho”

“I’ll be here to wait for him with you”

Seoho then smiled and hugged you

“Thank you Miss [L/n]!”

You guys just sat there talking for about an hour more before Seonghwa arrived, panting

He also had a smol wound (like a scar) on his cheek and a blood stain on his hand

“I-Im so sorry! I lost track of time!”

“Its fine hyung! Miss [L/n] stayed with me!”

He looked towards you and bowed

“Thank you so much-“

“What happened?”

You suddenly asked

“How did you get that scar?”

Seonghwa then froze before asking

“W-What scar?”

“The scar on your right cheek.”

Seoho then looked up and saw it too

“Hyung! What happened?”

“I-Its nothing Seoho, nothing-“

You kneeled down and smiled at Seoho,

“Can you get your brother to sit down and wait while i get the medicial supplies?”

The little boy nodded then dragged Seonghwa to one of the benches while you grabbed the medicial supplies to at least cover up the smol wound

“Don’t worry Hyung! Miss [L/n] will take good care of you!”

He stared at his brother and sighed

“If you trust her then I do too..”

You then came back out with some medical supplies to help clean up his wound

“This may hurt a bit.. But Seoho can hug you while I clean up the scar right?”

Seoho nodded eagerly

“Yes I can!”

He then wrapped his smol arms around Seonghwa as you cleaned up the wound and put a bandaid on it

“And there we go” You smiled

“All clean and it should heal up soon.”

Seoho then started jumping up and down with joy

“Yey! Hyung is all better!”

Seonghwa chuckled at his brother and ruffled his hair

“Thank you Miss-“

“Just call me [Y/n]”

He smiled

“Thank you [Y/n].”

He then took Seoho’s hand and walked out of the gates

“Bye Miss [L/n]! See you tomorrow!”

“Bye Seoho!”

You then walked to the office and the boys then started walking home

while they are walking

Seoho was skipping alongside his brother

“Seonghwa hyung, do you have a crush on Miss [L/n] already?”

“N-Now how do you know about crushes?” Seonghwa asked

“My classmates were talking about them during lunch!”

“So do you have a crush on her hyung?”

Seonghwa sighed and smiled

“Maybe I do Seoho, Maybe I do.”

[17mounteens]

Itch (Seungkwan)

Request: hi !! could i please request a seungkwan soulmate university AU where ur friends with jeonghan whos met his soulmate, but u only recently got close so he introduces u to his friends and u have to excuse urself w jeonghan bc ur tattoo starts to itch and u dont know whats going on,, ill leave the rest to u tysm !!

» You’re friends with Jeonghan, who’s a year above you at your university. He’s already met his soulmate, and as you continue thinking about yours whom you were yet to meet, he figures that having you meet his friends could cheer you up. Your soulmate tattoo acts up, which leads you to discover your soulmate.

» If you’re using the tumblr app and can’t see the scenario, which is under a “keep reading”, please try opening the post in your phone’s internet browser (or a computer)! 💕

» 4,090 words

Turning seventeen was a turning point for everyone. Until then no one was expected to care about their soulmate, although some were still wary of growing feelings towards anyone with the knowledge that they might not be meant for them. You, on the other hand, had been one of those who didn’t really think about it much and instead followed your heart while living life to the fullest.

However, it wouldn’t last forever, and after you woke up during the night before your seventeenth birthday, nothing had been the same.

You had woken up due a tingling, irritating sensation on the back of your right shoulder, and when you had looked at it from the mirror in the morning, you could only stare at the soulmate tattoo that had formed there, a beautiful depiction of what seemed like two flowers meshed together.

Ever since then you had spent countless sleepless nights just gently tracing the tattoo, wondering what the person who had an identical tattoo on the back of their right shoulder was like.

Would they be your type? Would they have similar values with you? Would you share any interests with them? Would your personalities match?

It kept you awake a lot, really. While it was said that your soulmate would be the person you’re the best match for, by the time you were in your second year of university you knew about several occasions where the match had been everything but made in heaven.

That was yet another day when you had gotten lost in thought, thinking about what-ifs regarding your soulmate, and it had not gone unnoticed by Jeonghan. He was a year above you, but since his part-time job had taken a fair share of his time, he was still doing some second-year courses, where you had also met half a year earlier. You hadn’t really started getting closer until recently, however, after you had worked together on a longer project and realized that you got along very well and had a lot of things in common.

And, since he had already met his soulmate, you felt like he was providing you with some sort of support as you still waited for the day when you’d finally meet yours.

“Y/N,” Jeonghan called from the other side of the table you were seated by in the library, and grinned at you when you jolted. “I don’t think thinking about your soulmate will help you in the exam.”

You pouted at your friend, but nodded in defeat. “I know. It’s just… when will I meet them?”

“When the time is right,” Jeonghan said, half-joking, but you knew well that that was the general answer.

“How did you meet your soulmate?” you asked, your eyes trained on the tattoo on Jeonghan’s inner wrist, and only moved your gaze into his dreamy brown eyes when he hummed.

“They came to the convenience store five minutes before my shift ended,” he said with a snort, and you felt your heart drop at how close it had been that he hadn’t met his soulmate that time. “And, you know, when they paid for their things I saw the inside of their wrist, and I just couldn’t let it go.”

You nodded and slowly drifted back to your daydreams, from which Jeonghan would eventually pull you out of again.

You couldn’t help but wonder how you’d meet your soulmate and when. Would it be a similar close call, and more importantly, had you already missed a chance to meet them?

Days went by and your sense of longing for a person you didn’t even know only remained, and as you and Jeonghan also continued hanging out more and more, he had come up with an attempt to cheer you up a little.

You were studying at a cafe that was surprisingly quiet considering the amount of customers, and after eyeing you for a while, Jeonghan finally spoke up.

“Say, Y/N,” he began thoughtfully and placed his pen between his upper lip and nose, from where it fell when you snorted at the sight and he laughed heartily. Knowing that he had your attention, he continued, looking at you warmly. “We’re pretty close now and all, and I’ve got some friends who want to meet you. Are you up for that?”

“Why do they want to meet me?” you asked incredulously, squinting your eyes a little, and Jeonghan couldn’t help but giggle at how adorable he thought you looked.

“I’ve told them a lot of fun stories and they’re always up for meeting new cool people,” Jeonghan noted, and although your mind immediately jumped to what kind of fun stories he could possibly mean, you also found yourself smiling almost smugly.

“I’m cool now?” you asked while scribbling on your notebook.

“Their words, not mine,” Jeonghan said and laughed when you threw him a quick glare. “But so, are you up for it?”

“Sure,” you hummed, mentally going through all the friends you’d ever heard Jeonghan talk about. “So it’ll be… who?”

Jeonghan listed you the names, and you smiled at the memory rules of a kind he had after each one: you weren’t the only one he enjoyed telling stories about. Mingyu, the accident-prone guy who was still the person to go to for help. Joshua, his best friend who had two very different sides to him. Seokmin, the one you got a fun story about at least once a week. Seungkwan, the one who always livened the atmosphere and took care of everyone. And, as the last person Jeonghan could fit into his apartment, Seungcheol, the only one who could ever drag him out for a workout.

“Sounds like a good crowd,” you hummed and nodded. “When?”

“This Friday,” Jeonghan grinned, excited to have all of you meet, which he hoped would not only cheer you up but also enable him to hang out with all of you at once.

Besides, he had a feeling you’d get along with his friends just fine, and so far he hadn’t met anyone who would’ve said no to discovering new people they enjoyed being with.

You waited for Friday with excitement and anxiety, feeling a sense of pressure about meeting people who, at least according to Jeonghan, wanted to meet you. You couldn’t help but feel like they were expecting you to be somehow cool and amazing, and you weren’t sure if you were what they expected.

All you could do, you supposed, was to calm yourself down and meet them with an open mind and, as difficult as it may feel, be yourself.

And so, that Friday you were headed to Jeonghan’s place. When you were still several meters away from the door leading to the hallway, you saw someone open the door to go in, which made you speed up.

Fortunately you didn’t have to raise your voice to ask them to keep the door open for you, as the dark-haired boy turned around right on time and looked at you, and without a word kept the door open until you could get in, too.

“Thank you,” you said with a small smile when you finally reached the door, and felt a new sensation run through your body when your gaze met the boy’s.

Like electricity.

“No problem,” he said warmly and walked to the elevator, where you followed him. After pressing the button to the fourth floor, he turned to look at you. “What floor are you going to?”

“Ah, the fourth, too,” you said and clutched the strap of the bag you had on one of your shoulders.

It was the first time you were feeling so many things in the company of a stranger, and you were confused, to say the least.

Your heart was beating a bit faster, and while you felt restless you also felt comfortable. You had never met the boy before, but there was something very familiar - reassuring - about him, and that feeling only confused you more.

Once the elevator doors opened on the fourth floor, you walked to Jeonghan’s door, and were all the more surprised when the boy stopped next to you and reached to knock on the door.

This time it was you turning to him, mustering up all of your courage before speaking. “Are you one of Jeonghan’s friends?”

“Yeah,” he smiled and tilted his head a little. “I’m Seungkwan. Unless he’s invited more people, I take it you’re Y/N?”

You nodded with a small smile, and somehow the stories you had heard from Jeonghan, most of them positive, made Seungkwan appear all the more warm and comfortable to you.

Before the two of you were able to get further than saying that you were happy to meet one another, Jeonghan was already opening the door and grinning at the two of you.

“Oh, I see you two have already met,” he snickered and let you in to his apartment, where the others were pretty much gathered around the coffee table, some sitting on the floor and some on the couch. Jeonghan looked at the others and pointed at the two of you, as though showcasing you.  “Y/N and Seungkwan are here.”

Everyone greeted you with bright smiles, and all you could do was scan through the faces, some of which you had seen in photos that Jeonghan had shown you, but you could hardly put a name and face together for any of them.

After you and Seungkwan had gotten your shoes and jackets off and everything, you joined the others by the table that had plenty of snacks and beverages to enjoy. Everyone was excited and eager to introduce themselves to you, and while you were a bit nervous in such a new situation with strangers, their antics made you feel more at ease fairly soon. 

You were sitting next to Seungkwan, who somehow only made you feel more comfortable, and his affectionate bickering with Mingyu made you snort from time to time, which he noted with an amused smile.

Not too long into chatting with everyone, you frowned and reached for your tattoo to rub it. It was starting to get itchy, but for the time being you deemed it to simply be irritation for whatever reason; you never knew.

However, as the evening progressed, the itch got worse and worse, to the point where it took up most of your thoughts. You were uncomfortable, constantly rubbing or scratching or grazing the tattoo with your nails, but it never kept the itch away for more than a few seconds. By then you had moved to the kitchen to try to deal with it while drinking water, and Jeonghan was standing by the wall with Seokmin, who seemed to be telling a story.

Sighing, you figured Jeonghan might be able to help you, and so you placed your hand on your tattoo and walked up to Jeonghan and Seokmin. Jeonghan turned to look at you with surprise written all over his face, and his expression turned more concerned when he saw your puzzled expression that also gave away that you were feeling rather uncomfortable.

“Can I borrow you for a sec?” you asked, and Jeonghan frowned a little, but once he saw where you kept your hand, he immediately nodded and let you drag him into his small bedroom.

“Are you okay?” he asked when you were in the peace of his bedroom, and you nodded while lightly scratching your tattoo.

“I guess, it’s just… my tattoo is itching a lot and I don’t know why, and I thought maybe you could help me a little,” you said through your discomfort, and once you lifted your gaze to Jeonghan’s eyes, you were surprised to see them as big as they were. 

His eyebrows only seemed to rise more and more, and when you quirked your eyebrow, urging him to just spill it, he melted into a playful smile. “Y/N, that’s kind of… that means you’re near your soulmate.”

You processed his words for a moment, and the more of it registered in your brain the faster your heart started beating.

You were near your soulmate. 

Having been at Jeonghan’s place some times before without any itching on your tattoo, you figured that maybe it wasn’t the location but the people, and so you slowly moved your gaze out of the bedroom door, scanning over his friends that you’d just met.

With the widest grin you’d ever seen on his face, Jeonghan turned to look back into the living room, too, scanning over his guests. “I really wonder who it is.”

You could only nod as you looked around as well, your heart beating fast in your chest at the possibility of meeting your soulmate. Your gaze went over everyone again and again, yet you were constantly drawn to a very particular guy with a loud laugh, a bright smile and a habit of fixing his fringe by a shake of his head.

Your breath hitched in your throat when you took note of just how often he was rubbing the back of his right shoulder, always accompanied by a puzzled frown.

Before you were able to finish your thought, Jeonghan turned to look at you with his eyebrows raised. “I think your soulmate might be Seungkwan.”

And as soon as you thought about how you had felt in his company that evening, starting from the very first time your gazes met at the door to the hallway, it all made sense.

How you hadn’t realized to think more of it was beyond you, and you still weren’t sure if your soulmate really would be Seungkwan, but you were itching to find out - quite literally, too, you noted bitterly as you tapped your tattoo with your nails in an attempt to ease the itch a little.

“How did you not realize this before?” you asked Jeonghan with a pout and hit his arm with your hand lightly.

He was still grinning almost uncontrollably, and he looked at you warmly while shrugging. “He’s just really the type to keep his shirt on and while we’ve talked about soulmates, he’s never shown me the tattoo.”

“Okay,” you huffed, and felt your heart flutter the slightest bit when Jeonghan mumbled something about having a feeling about you getting along particularly well with Seungkwan. 

“Alright Y/N, come on, time to get things going,” Jeonghan more or less declared before you were able to ask him to explain himself, and he quickly took your hand into his before dragging you back to the living room, where he brought you to Seungkwan. 

Seeing the two of you approach, Seungkwan turned away from the song cover video Joshua was showing him and instead looked up at Jeonghan with his eyebrows raised.

“Seungkwan, Y/N here has to go home and I think you’re just the person to walk them there. I think you guys have a lot to talk about,” Jeonghan said energetically, and you felt your heart jump to your throat when Seungkwan turned to look at you, right into your eyes.

His eyes dilated a little as soon as his gaze met yours, and you just knew he’d felt the jolt of electricity, too.

“Do you live far?” he asked, and feeling a sudden surge of confusion wash over you, you nodded and shook your head at the same time. Seungkwan snorted, at which you felt your cheeks heat up and shook your head to clear your thoughts.

“Not that far,” you said, and got a playful nod from him.

“It’s fine, I could use a longer walk, too,” he hummed and got up from the couch.

A small smile spread to your lips, and the sight of it made him smile, too, and Jeonghan gently ushered the two of you to the door while the others laughed.

“Are you coming back?” Joshua asked Seungkwan from the couch, and after checking the time on his phone, Seungkwan shook his head.

Jeonghan, too, shook his head knowingly. “He has other things to do.”

Seungkwan threw his friend a confused look, but before he was able to ask Jeonghan what he thought he knew, you were already opening the door. “Alright, it was nice to meet you guys! See you again!”

The others replied with similar words, and after Seungkwan had gotten into the hallway and you were about to close the door, you still got a wink from Jeonghan. “Good luck.”

“Shush,” you groaned in a whisper, already feeling nervous and stressed, and took in a deep breath after closing the door.

You turned around and nearly jolted at the way Seungkwan was staring at you.

“Did you really need me to walk you home?” he asked, playfulness all over his voice and tone, and you found yourself shaking your head with an embarrassed smile on your face. He laughed. “Then why?”

“I’ll tell you when we’re walking,” you blurted, and let out the breath you hadn’t realized you were holding when Seungkwan agreed to wait.

The two of you took the elevator back down in comfortable silence, and as you stepped into the street, he looked at you curiously, waiting for you to say something.

You licked your lips slowly as you built up the courage to bring up the topic of your possibly matching soulmate tattoos, and when you spoke you did it as steadily as you could with your heart hammering in your chest. “So… I noticed you’ve been rubbing your right shoulder a lot.”

He gave you an embarrassed smile and rubbed the spot in question a little. “Yeah, I don’t know what’s happening. My tattoo’s never been like this before.”

“Jeonghan said that it’s related to being near your soulmate,” you blurted, and he stopped in his tracks. When you turned to look at him, you were met with a quirked eyebrow, and it was with a quivering smile that you turned a little and tugged down your jacket and the collar of your shirt to show him your tattoo. “Mine’s been itching a lot tonight, too.”

Seungkwan could only stare at your tattoo in silence. His heart was racing in his chest as he tried to find any differences between your tattoos, but ultimately failed. When he spoke, he sounded dazed. “They’re identical.”

“Do you… want to show me?” you asked quietly, letting go of your collar, and nervously turned back to face him properly and watched him slide his denim jacket down, after which he tugged at his collar, too, to reveal a tattoo identical to yours.

Your feelings could hardly be described with words. Your eyes watered as you stared at the tattoo with a happy smile spreading to your lips, strong waves of disbelief, relief, serenity and gratitude washing over you.

When Seungkwan turned to look into your eyes, you could see his eyes glistening under the street lights, too. “I never thought I’d meet you like this.”

Nodding silently, you bit down on the inside of your lower lip and swallowed your tears when you felt his hand shyly reaching for yours, which only seemed to make you more emotional.

Chuckling softly, Seungkwan gave you an amused look despite being emotional, too. “Do you want a hug, maybe?”

You hadn’t exactly ever hugged someone you’d just met nor had you wanted to, but Seungkwan wasn’t just anyone and you were feeling the most vulnerable you ever had, and so you found yourself nodding, stepping closer and wrapping your arms around him loosely as you hid your face in his shoulder.

He slowly wrapped his arms around you, too, and you felt his nose on the side of your head as he embraced you. You could almost feel how fast his heart was beating, and it made you laugh, after which you sniffled quietly.

The two of you stood there hugging one another for a good two minutes before pulling apart, feeling overwhelmed, to say the least, and Seungkwan smiled at you warmly while you wiped your cheeks with your sleeves. “Do you want to grab something to drink and just… go somewhere more peaceful?”

“I’d love that,” you said, looking into his eyes with a sense of security settling into your heart, and walked with him to the nearest cafe with your knuckles brushing against each other’s every now and then.

Only after you had gotten your drinks and left the cafe did you dare to reach for his hand and hold it, looking at him from the corner of your eye to make sure it was okay. When you saw Seungkwan’s lips curve into a smile you concluded that it probably was, and so you walked to a small park that was pleasantly quiet at that time of the evening.

You found yourselves a bench by the path and settled there comfortably, facing each other with your cups on the bench between the two of you as you started to get to know each other, all the way from the basics - how old you were, where you studied, what your families were like and so forth.

It didn’t take long for both of you to feel like you were hanging out with someone you had known for a while already, and the playful teasing came more or less naturally for both of you.

The past five years you had been thinking about what your soulmate would be like, and now that you had met him, you were over the moon. If not perfect, at least he seemed promising.

He made you laugh, he read you well, he had good manners and seemed to vibe well with you, on top of which you did find him incredibly attractive, to the point where it made you a bit stressed. 

All in all your worries faded away as hours passed and you and Seungkwan talked about everything that came to mind. Neither of you really wanted to part ways, but when you yawned for the fifth time in a short period of time, Seungkwan chuckled softly.

“Should I now walk you home?” he asked playfully and grazed the back of your hand lightly with his finger.

Giving him a tired smile, you nodded and looked into his eyes. “I think that’s a good idea.”

With that the two of you left the park, and after disposing your cups you reached for his hand, which you held onto during the walk to your place. He smiled when he noticed his heart flutter a little at that, and you, in turn, smiled when you felt him squeeze your hand.

You walked while continuing the excited chatter, and once you reached your building, Seungkwan pouted and looked at you, at that point holding your pinky finger with his. “Do you want to meet again at some point?”

“At some point?” you asked with a grin and laughed heartily. “We’re soulmates, I’d love to meet you again, whenever you have time. Preferably soon. I’m free tomorrow.”

He laughed at your obvious excitement and looked at you warmly. “I’ve got nothing tomorrow, either. And you’re sure it’s not too soon?”

“I think we’ve waited enough,” you said softly and took a step closer to him. “Meeting again so soon doesn’t have to mean we won’t take it slow.”

“Alright,” Seungkwan nodded, and after he let go of your pinky finger you felt him place his hand lightly on your back. “So… dinner?”

“Why not lunch?” you asked playfully, knowing full well why, and laughed when he looked at you with that look.

“Well, first of all, we just spent five hours talking in the park, it’s three in the morning and I need my sleep,” he listed and laughed afterwards. Then his gaze softened again. “And I think dinner will take longer, which means we get to talk more.”

“You’ve got a point,” you grinned and nodded and leaned in for a hug, during which you inhaled his scent that already felt comfortable and all kinds of pleasant to you. “I’ll see you tomorrow. And please let me know when you get home.”

“I will,” Seungkwan said quietly and hugged you with a serene smile on his lips.

Soon you were standing in the hallway, watching him walk away as warmth took over your chest. 

A back covered by a denim jacket had never looked so good, and the message you got next made you smile more than most.

”I know you’re still there. Please go up and get comfortable. 😙”

Admin Scooter

[thosesouthparkimagines]

(TweekTweak) I’m Addicted to You

All characters are at least 17 in this, seniors in high school

"And that children, is why Kim Kardashian would make a lovely president" Mr.Garrison says, practically drooling over the picture he has projected onto the board. I don't know who decided to allow him to move up to teach senior year english, but it's an easy pass I guess.

"Hey, (Y/N)! Are you coming over to watch the new Terrance and Phillip special with us?" My best friend, Kyle, asks me as we walk out of the class. At the same time, Craig comes and asks if I was going with them to the coffee shop, where a certain someone, happened to be working.

I was the only one in South Park who got along with both of the "big"  groups. It's been this way since the fourth grade. Kyle being the closest to me, and Tweek. Tweek. The stammering, blonde, adorable, coffee addicted boy that grew up wonderfully. He never did stop stuttering though, or his coffee addiction, if anything, they're worse now that we're all grown up.

"Its Okay (Y/N). Go with them, Ill record it, and we can watch it together some other time" Kyle says, a knowing smile on his face. He knew about my teeeeeeny crush on the coffee loving boy, and even approved of it. I asked him not to tell anyone about it, since knowing Cartman, it would be out in seconds.

"Okay, I'll meet you after class then Craig" I smile  to the darker haired boy, as he walks away, not flipping us  off, miraculously.

"Are you gonna do it? Kyle asks, referring to if I as ever gonna confess, and have my heart crushed by the same guy I've been into since the fourth grade.

"Pshhhh. Bro. I won't ever confess. I'll just  bottle up my love for the guy for the rest of my life until I die so I can escape rejection. " I say, completely straight faced with a hint of sarcasm. Kyle just  rolls his eyes.

"I'll just be there for your funeral then, since you don't have the balls"  He shrugs and I punch his shoulder. "Hey! OWE!"

"H-H-Hi (Y/N)" I hear behind me and turn to see the boy of the hour"

"Tweek! You're here just in time! Save me from this evil person" I say, referring to Kyle as I run behind Tweek and pretend to be afraid. "He's being mean to me" I pout and Tweek takes on a serious face.

"D-Dont be m-mean to her" He says, very sternly to Kyle, barely stuttering. Kyle grows shocked at the outburst "Dude, chill. It was a joke. (Y/N)'s my best friend. I'd never be mean to her" he sas, awkwardly laughing trying to play it off. Tweek didn't seem to be buying it.

"I-I'm warning you. Back off" He growls, once again acting hostile towards Kyle. I come from behind Tweek and in between the boys who were glaring holes into each other.

"Okay boys, we should probably get to class" I sa, pushing Kyle towards our shared class. "Bye Tweek! I'll see you after school, okay?"

He replaces the glare with a smile instantly. "Of course (Y/N)! Can't wait" Tweek says, turning and walking off towards his class and Kyle snickers.

"He totally has the hots for you"

"What the hell does that mean Broflovski?" I ask.

"You didn't notice how protective he got? Or how he didn't stutter as much? He is so into you" I turn bright red at this statement.

"Whatever dude. Don't get my hopes up.But come on. We gotta go to class" I say, dragging him by the wrist to class.

The rest of the day goes by with no interruptions. Like promised, I meet with Craig, Token, Clyde and Tweek after school so we can all walk together to Tweeks coffee shop. Tweek seems to walk really close to me, and looks towards Craig, who is to the right of him. Craig nods, and Tweek kinda gulps. before I can ask  if everything is okay, Tweek quickly grabs my hand, and intertwined our fingers, his face extremely red, and mine about to reach that same shade. Craig, Token and Clyde all look at eachother and smirk, when Tweek finally speaks up, stuttering more than usual.

"G-G-G-Guys. W-We're h-h-here." He gets out, face still bright red. Craig pats his shoulder friendly, and Tweek mometairly lets go of my hand,and I already miss the warmth he provided. He opens the door and leads all five of us in,and we all take a seat at an empty table. "D-Did you guys w-want a coffee? I-I can go m-make it"he stutters out, much calmer than earlier.  The gus give their order, and look towards me.

"I'll have a (Fav coffee) please Tweek" I say with a sweet smile, and he turns bright again.

"O-Okay!" he runs off towards the back of the store, and all three boys remaining turn to me.

"So" Clyde says, smirking "What's going on with you and coffee brain over there" he says,  smirking, and I cough awkwardly.

"Um, we're friends?"  I say.

"On the way here, that didn't look like friendship (Y/N)." Token says.

"If you're single, wanna go out sometime then"Clyde asks, but get slapped upside the head by Craig "Chill bro. It was a joke. I'd never wanna go out with (Y/N) anyways" he says. "Tweek called dibs anyways."

"D-D-Did not" the stuttering boy says, walking back with tray full of coffee, looking like he may have been struggling with the five drinks. I stand up in attempt to help him, but it just spooks him, and he drops the tray, spraying me with half of them. "O-Oh my gosh (Y/N)! Are y-you okay?" freaks out. "Agh! I'm  sorry! I-I  think we have a change of c-clothes in the b-back".He says,  and i follow him to the back of the coffee shop, where he proceeds to hand me a clean shirt that seems to be twice my size. "T-Thats the only s-shirt. I-I hope y-you don't mind. I-I-It's mine" he stutters and I smile.

"Its completely fine Tweek." I smile, and easily strip from my coffee stained shirt, and put his on, without registering he was in the room. I pull the shirt down from my head,and see Tweeks face, brighter red than when we held hands on our way here. There's a small dribble of blood coming from his nose. Damn it. Kyle was right, I  just need to test something. "You got something right there" I point to Tweeks nose and he comes out of his trance, and quickly wipes the blood away.

"I-I-I-I'm s-s-s-sorry" he can't stop stuttering. I smirk.

"Sorry for what Tweek? Watching me change? I didn't mind it" I smirk and walka bit closer to him. If I was wrong, our friendship would be over. He slowly walks backwards until his feet hit a box, and he goes toppling over, taking me with him when he tries to grab me for balance. I end up on top of him, straddling him. Both our faces are bright red as he tries to stutter out yet another apology. I shut him up by slamming my lips onto his. It takes him a few seconds to register it, but slowly he begins to kiss back, wrapping his arms around my waist,sitting up a little bit, as my fingers tangle themselves into his blonde hair, a smirk playing on the edges of my lips. We pull apart, and for once, he's not red.

"W-What was that for"? he asked.

"Thats for the coffee".  I kiss him again. "Thats for being you"

"S-So does this mean you l-like me back"  he asks, nervously. I just chuckle and kiss him again

"Does that answer your question? And I'll answer your next one. Yes. I'll be your girlfriend." He just smiles.

"T-Thank goodness. Y-You're more addicting than coffee. I-I dont know if I could l-let you go"

Bonus:  AT THE TABLE

Craig looks at the other  two boys sitting with him  at the table. "They've been in there 10 minutes. Wanna bail?  Leave the love birds to themselves" All three get up and leave.

'What do you think they're doing in there" Token asks

"Probably screwing. Who knows. But we gotta talk to Kyles group. Who had the day closest to today? It might be me, and I want my money"  Craig says.

[thenixkat]

Hork-Bajir Chronicles notes

Hork Bajir chronicles

Prologue from Tobias instead of from one of the hork bajir

I’d much rather a normal hork-bajir perspective

The elimist is a cheater

Then, below me, I saw a sight that made me glad to be there. A strange creature like nothing Earth has ever given birth to. It was four feet tall. There were razor-sharp blades at its ankles, knees, wrists, and elbows. There were two long, forward-raked horns coming from its head. It had a tail that ended in Stegosaurus spikes.

Huh

Listen I wanna read the adventures of Ket and Jara rescuing their people

I don’t like the animorphs

Fuck off Tobias

Andalite date: year 8561.Z

Yeerk date: Generation 685, mid-cycle

Hork-Bajir date: early-warm

Earth date: 1966

Not like I’m good at time shit

Also Finally moving into the story and its not even a dman hork-bajir narrating the first section

So andalites were specist as fuck towards the yeerks b4 the yeerks got violent

I could not watch anymore. I ran outside, unnoticed by the adults. I ran outside into the Yeerk twilight. The wild green and yellow-streaked sky was turning dark.

The harsh air rasped in my throat. Soon the nightly rain, the acid rain, would fall and I would have to retreat back into the shelter.

To bad no one ever gives a name for the yeerk homeworld

It took 2 years for Aldrea to go from young enough to not be worth notice in a military meeting to almost grown

I’m not like most females. Dear gods

For the most part it looked more like some dead moon than a living planet. Much of the surface was dark gray, sterile rock. I knew from our briefing that there was only a very thin atmosphere. It was cold. Bitterly cold. With air so thin that an Andalite could expect to suffocate and die within thirty minutes.

But around the equator of the planet was a strange sight: huge, deep rifts, interwoven, interconnected. It looked as if someone had stepped on the planet, squashing it like a ripe ooka melon so that the sides had burst open.

In fact, that's exactly what had happened. Millions of years earlier, a massive asteroid had hit the planet's northern pole. The impact had shattered the crust, especially around the equator.

It had opened massive valleys that cut deep, deep into the planet's surface.

Valleys with steep, rugged walls. The valleys were as much as fifty miles deep and held onto a rich nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere. The walls of the valleys were green. The floors of the valleys were a poisonous, eerie blue. Our sensors did not penetrate that blue mist.

Interesting. Father Deep sounds interesting

It takes 2 months to go from the Andalite home world to Father Deep

It took two years for Aldrea’s brother Barafin to be born and decent young kid age

Four crew members began unloading our supplies and equipment. And I stepped out for the first time on the planet that was merely called Sector 5, RG-21578-4. RG meant red giant. That was the type of sun at the center of this system. The dash-four meant this was the fourth planet from that sun.

More info on Father Deep

Finally a damn hork-bajir perspective

Not any of the monsters of the Deep. Not any of the lizards or snakes of the Outside. They had four legs. One, two, three, four. They had a tail, but it was high, not dragging the ground. They had two arms. They had no blades, except one small blade on each of their tails. Their horns were very small. And they moved. And there were eyes on the ends of their horns.

I want to know more about this world. How well have horks explored the Outside?

Dak may be a seer but he lack good old common sense and fear of potential danger, Jagil has to put up with a lot of shit

Oh we get Espilin 9466 viewpoint/backstory too

Older Yeerks spoke of the pools of home. Of their smells and temperatures; of their size and spaciousness; of their traditions that stretched back for hundreds of generations.

I want all the alien backstroies

Huh, most of Espilin’s friends and family don’t like the whole being in a host thing

Yeerks hacked the andalite computers

Back to the damn andalites

Andalites being specist and ableist? Who’da thunk it

"The small, feathered one? It's called a chadoo."

It was no more than two feet long and covered in deep blue feathers. It had four short legs and two elongated arms ending in claws. It moved by racing along branches and then leaping through the air, much as Dak did. But the chadoo had skin flaps that caught the air like an airfoil, so that it could glide.

Wild life on Father Deep

Wait, why is it a hexapod when the horks are tetrapods?

As yes what was that about horks having no culture? b/c that looks like damn culture

With Espilin 9466

Fucking andaliteaboo

Huh, espilin was noticed by his superiors

Epilin is a dick

The other was Akdor 1154. It was Akdor who had led the uprising against the Andalites.

It was Akdor who had first understood the concept of using a host body to act as a predator. It was Akdor who had personally killed four of the Andalite scum.

Akdor 1154 was a damn pioneer

Dak Hamee again

"No," I said, smiling. Aldrea had said that Andalite trees could speak in a way. Guide trees: Gari-bahs. But I was not sure I believed it. Our trees did not speak. "We call it the language of the trees, but it is only what we Hork-Bajir use as our primitive communicators. At night the great sound speaks from across the valley. It is how we speak with our brothers and sisters of the other two tribes in the valley. The sound is made by stretched vines. The vine is soaked in rain. Then it is stretched tight, vertically, between high branches and low branches.

"Three of these vines are strung this way, all in one chosen tree. The tree must be a very old Nawin tree, for Nawin trees become hollow with age. One vine must be ten times the height of a Hork-Bajir. The second must be seven heights. The smallest five heights.

"Two Hork-Bajir climb out on branches and hold a long, straight sapling. This sapling is drawn across the vine, creating a deep sound."

<Resonance,> Aldrea said. <lt's almost a type of music>

"Yes. Sad music tonight," I said. "It is the southern tribe. They tell us that three of their people have been taken to Father Deep." I listened some more to the low, long, sad notes that vibrated around the valley, echoing from the walls.

"They say that Father Deep has created new monsters. They are ... small. That's strange. The monsters of the Deep are always larger than us. Yet these were small. Two legs. . . long arms. . . yellow eyes."

Again hork-bajir have fucking culture, techno0logy

Aldrea fucking tell the horks what they’re in for!

God damn, how ambitious do you have to be for Espilin 9466 to say yer too ambitious

Espilin is a better military strategist than Carger 7901

Aldrea’s family is dead

I don’t think she’s gonna apologize for damaging one of Dak’s blades

Dak comes to realize that people can intentionally choose to hurt each other. He is not ok with this

Yeah, Aldrea is a very angry and plenty spiteful

I really hope Dak isn’t ashamed of his people

I find iyt hard to believe that horks have no concept of parasites, parasites tend to pop up anywhere there’s an opportunity for parasitism

Dak is concerned about the cultural harm this could cause his people as well

Yeah, that sounds very selfish Aldrea

Dak is very insightful

No Dak should not trust Aldrea

Right, there’s a reason that horks stay out of the deep

I don’t like Aldrea

Dak, you could do better

The walls of the chasm were covered in an amazing, intricate filigree: windows, doors, walkways, arches, open spaces cut back into the cliff. All connected vertically by stone stairways.

Thousands of feet below, below all this incredible construction, maybe tens of thousands of feet, was the valley floor. It was not as bright as a sun. But it was bright enough to cast shadows upward from every stair and arch and windowsill.

It glowed red and yellow and seemed to seethe with slow, sluggish movement.

We were looking at the molten heart of the planet.

The world under the deep

Espilin you have too much faith in the andalites

Well, I cant say he doesnt know politics

Dak slept as Hork-Bajir do: He relaxed his legs and slumped down into a sort of sitting position, with legs splayed out in front and thick tail providing a third support. His head fell forward, chin to chest.

He was asleep instantly, as far as I could tell. I was jealous. Sleep isn't always that easy for me. For most Andalites. We are a watchful species. My mother explained it to me once when I found myself unable to sleep for several days.

<We no longer have predators to attack us,> she'd said, <but evolution does not just throw away adaptations that were necessary once. The animals we evolved from were prey for millions of years. They lived in vast herds, always watched by hungry predators. This was before we developed our tail blades and we had no protection but speed. We still feel the need to watch for predators. It may be a million years before we lose that instinct>

Biology!

Damn, Aldrea

The Arn are dicks

I do not feel sorry that they go extinct

Dont be a creeper Espilin

The Jubba-Jubba, like the three-fingered monstrosity that had attacked us.

The Galilash, fourteen feet tall, with green-and-red reptilian flesh and razored tentacles.

The Gorks, only three feet tall but twenty feet across, shuffling, twelve-legged horrors with

snapping, extending mouths on all sides.

There was a monster called a Lerdethak, a bizarre tangle of living vines surrounding a ravening mouth.

And then there were things the Hork-Bajir had never seen long enough to name. Things with mouths that could chew down a tree, things with needle-sharp quills ten feet long, things that squirted acid.

Deep monsters

I will not weep for the fuckin Arn.

Be quiet Aldrea

I will weep for Dak and his people

ANd thus the loss of the innocence of the hork-bajir

The hork-bajir killing helpless yeerks does not count as a war crime b/c they don’t have rules for war

Hork guerilla warfare

It was a dark day. Mother Sky was weeping, sending down tears to soothe Father Deep's anger. It was raining.

Culture

We climbed wearily back up out of the Am wall-city. We rested in the zone once inhabited by monsters and now empty. The wounded Hork-Bajir died. That night we found a tree away from any Yeerk concentrations. We dug a hole at the roots and buried him, in the Hork-Bajirn tradition.

Funeral culture

Of course the andalites take their sweey ass time and have the nerve to be racist fucks

And sexist as hell

Fuck andalites

Dak schooling andalite fuckers is a good

SO how does the timeline between Hork-Bajir chronicles match up with that in the Andalite chronicles

Espilin is good at this

This is still a loosing battle

I feel no pitty for the Arn

Fuck the andalites

Go off Dak, tell that andalite

The Hork-Bajir deserve better, Dak specificly deserved better than what he got

It was so easy morphing Alloran that I barely knew it was happening. There was no mental change. I still had the same Andalite instincts. But now, as I walked ahead of Dak, I felt the increased physical power of being in a male form. When I turned my stalk eyes back, I saw the heavy tail blade of a male. I also felt the slight male clumsiness, the lack of subtle balance that a female Andalite possesses.

Biology

So the andalites and the arn have decided to wipe out the hork-bajir to inconvience the yeerks

Fuck both the andalites and the arn

Good Aldrea finially got her shit together

Aldrea is now ride or die for Dak

Dak is the best character in this damn series

Aldrea is now a nothlit

Damnit!

Poor Gah

The andalites are fucking cowards and I will not weep for the Arn

Poor hork-bajir

Jara Hamee is a very good story teller

Jara and Ket name their daughter Toby after Tobias, Toby is diffrent

I want more stories from the hork perspective

[marshmclaren]

Bad habits ~ Drarry Prompt

Hi guys this prompt was sent to me by the amazingly wonderful @framedfaun!!! I hope you enjoy it! 💗💛⚡️

Draco: lights up a cigarette Harry: ... Draco: "Dont worry I don't smoke, it's just for the aesthetic." takes a drag of the cigarette Harry:...DRACO LUCIUS MALFOY YOU PUT THAT CIGARETTE OUT RIGHT NOW OR IM GON- Draco: blows smoke in Harry's face

Draco stood on the astronomy tower balcony and peered down at the lake below. Everything seemed so serene, almost as if half of the castle wasn't destroyed in his 7th year. He missed this castle though he wouldn't ever admit it out loud to anyone. The last time he had been here he had been about 30 steps from where he currently stood. Draco had been given a choice, kill Dumbledore or let his family be killed. Obviously for any 17 year old the choice was clear, so how could anyone blame Draco for choosing his family?

When the time finally did come to kill the Hogwarts headmaster, Draco couldn't do it, believe it or not. Dumbledore was good to Draco, despite Draco's malicious words to him. Not that Draco would ever tell a living breathing soul this, but he also hadn't been able to kill the headmaster because Dumbledore meant a lot to Harry and he knew if he killed them all possible redemption attempts would be whisked away.

Yes, Draco the snake king and maker of 'Potter stinks' badges had a crush on the golden boy. If choosing who you loved was a choice, Draco would've picked anyone but Harry Potter, unfortunately though for Draco life had never worked like that and never will. So for now Draco was stuck pining over Harry Potter and his perfectly disheveled hair.

He never dreamed of telling anyone about his fondness of Potter. It scared him senseless. He knew his father would disown him if he was to ever find out. And although Lucius and Narcissa had shifted opinions on things after the war, Draco figured 'gay for potter' fell no where on that list.

Since this year had begun, the year of revival for Hogwarts, Draco and Harry had given one another mutual respect. They weren't friends, but neither were they enemies. This, of course, caused Draco's crush to grow because now instead of scowling at him every time they made eye contact, Harry smiles, teeth and all. They wouldn't ever speak more than I rushed 'Hello', but whenever the green eyes of Harry's met Draco's silver ones they would give another a curt nod and a smile if it was a good day.

The loud splash of the lake's giant squid pulled Draco from his thoughts. He brought a cigarette to his lips and Inhaled deep as he watched the squid swim carelessly through the almost black water. He wasn't proud of it, but he had picked up smoking while living in Muggle London for a bit. He found it relieved his tension and make him focus less on the stress of his life, even though the war was over. Draco knew that the cigarettes were deadly, it had been repeated on the television set that sat in the corner of his apartment, but anything to get his mind off the bloody war was his new best friend.

Not a lot of things were able to do so though. Not even coming across Weasley and Granger snogging in the room of requirement fazed Draco long enough to cease his thoughts of the war. In all honesty, it made Draco feel more lonely than he had previously been feeling.

This caused Draco to be more observant of Harry, or rather Harry's lack of a girlfriend these days. Harry often walked to class alone, when Weasley and Granger were busy. He no longer held the hand of Ginny as he traveled class to class. Draco also observed that Ginny now had a fondness of a certain dotty, blonde haired girl named Luna. Harry hadn't even glanced at the girls now, once again, throwing themselves at him, which gave Draco a little spark of hope. Although he knew nothing would ever happen between him and Harry because Harry was oblivious to everything and Draco was a coward.

As Draco slowly lit one cigarette after the other he finally found himself at peace. His head, less congested with intrusive thoughts, began to drift to a less violent place. He thought about the last year. Draco had spent a month in Muggle London right after the war, but began traveling after discovering that staying in a musky apartment begins to eat away at your subconscious and drive you a bit mad. He then traveled to the Americas, then to Tokyo, and Ireland, Scotland, and Norway for a while. He had discovered more about himself on this trip that he would've preferred.

It was the Rolling green hills of Ireland that made Draco think of Harry's striking green eyes, and finally for the first time in his life, Draco came to terms with liking Harry Potter.

He couldn't stop picturing the perfect quite life in those hills, a life he would love to live. For some reason the 'perfect' scene was never complete without Harry in it. He then knew, the boy he was believed to hate actually meant more to him than he thought.

A quick set of footsteps caused Draco to reach for his wand then turn around with it lifted threateningly in the air, in fear it was more 6th years that had come to hex him. Luckily it wasn't them, unfortunately for Draco who had previously cleared his intrusive thoughts, it was Harry Potter who was surely to cause a storm inside his mind. Draco lit another cigarette in an attempt to prepare himself.

Once Harry's eyes landed on the small stick in Draco's hands his eyes widened. Harry was raised from a baby to age 11 in the muggle world, of course he knew of the toxicity of the cigarettes. He knew what it could do to Draco. And that caused his nose to scrunch ever so slightly in disdain. Draco noticed it immediately.

"Don't worry yourself into a fit Potter, it's only for the aesthetic." Draco joked in an attempt to ease the tension that suffocated the room.

Draco was embarrassed of his habit, even more so now that Harry saw. Draco lived through the war, he was a survivor, when more deserving people were dead, many close to Harry. He know threw that away by slowly killing himself with a stupid addiction. He also was embarrassed because of the look of worry that spread over Harry's face like a wild fire, the look that slowly formed into one of disappointment.

But the amount of concern that flashed on Harry's face hardly went unnoticed by Draco and it scared him. He didn't want Harry caring about his wellbeing, no one but Narcissa had cared about him before, so caring was foreign enough to Draco. He clearly remembers the feeling in his stomach when Hagrid, the schools gamekeeper, walked onto the school grounds with Harry's seemingly lifeless body. Draco also remembers the screams that threatened to escape him after the screams of "Harry potter is dead" echoed through the air. If that is what caring felt like Draco hadn't wished anyone to feel that for him, let alone Harry.

But of course, Draco's stubborn personality refused to quit, so naturally he once again brought the cigarette to his mouth and took a long drag.

"DRACO LUCIUS MALFOY, YOU PUT THAT OUT RIGHT NOW OR IM GON-" Harry began to shout.

But in order to get Harry to quit yelling and worrying, Draco took all the smoke held in his mouth and blew it back in Harry's face. This caused the golden boy to cease his yelling immediately.

Once the smoke cleared it revealed a very blushed Harry with a scrunched up face. Draco smirked as he waited for words to finally catch up to Harry. And once they did, he noticed the soft eyes that now stared him down.

"Draco what are you doing?" Harry asked, while searching for any sign or emotion on Draco's face, but Draco kept his face completely neutral, refusing to loosen up.

"I believe I'm doing what I want Potter. And I'm not seeing why it's any of your bloody business." Draco knew he was being rude, but he honestly couldn't help it. He feared that had he not been, his affection for Harry would become evident as the day.

"It became my business when I saved you in the room of requirement, I hadn't been aware that you were going to throw it away."

"I never asked to be saved, Saint Potter." Draco spat, not being able to stop the hurt that soared through his body at the thought of Harry regretting saving him.

Harry let out a frustrated groan and ran his hand harshly through his hair.

"Why do you have to be such a twat? I am trying to help you Draco!"

"I don't want your help! Why can't you get that through your thick skull? Or are you just so heroic that you have to 'save' every person you ever laid eyes on?"

Now they glared at one another faux malice burning in both of their eyes. Both dated one another to look away first, but after awhile both of the big began to see the childishness in their action. It wasn't until Draco started laughing, did the Harry finally break. Draco didn't just give a short laugh, it was a laughter that shook his whole body. At first this action stunned Harry, haven't ever seeing Draco like this but he too soon started laughing and beaming at the blonde boy.

There was a glow that emanated from Draco's body in this moment, one that Harry hadn't seen since their fourth year. A glow that Harry had missed.

Once they had composed themselves once more they turned back to one another. No more malice, no more rivalry between them. They were once again just two boys, not a golden boy and a death eater, just teenage boys.

Harry didn't know what possessed him to speak but he did it anyway.

"You know I never thought a Malfoy was capable of laughter, let alone You."

"Oh piss off Potter. I don't believe friends say that about one another." Draco joked.

"Friends?" Harry had said in a disbelieving tone.

Draco felt himself stiffen. Had he read the situation wrong? Fear consumed him like the night did the day. He shouldn't have ever even opened his mouth. Now Harry was going to spit his words back at him. All hope of things being different between them had been crushed.

Draco's flare for the dramatics had definitely taken over at this point. He should've known that Harry wouldn't ever spit something back at him, especially not now.

"I like that. Draco Malfoy, my friend. Definitely has a better ring to it." Harry smiled.

His words caused Draco's eyes to widen. He soon found himself beaming at the shorter boy. Things really had been changing, and Draco decided that maybe it wasn't so bad. He and Harry were friends now, and that was one step closer from where they had been. Draco felt luckier than any tosser who was running around high on the power of Felix Felicis.

A new title for the boy who lived now occupied Draco's mind, this own currently better than any others. Harry Potter was now his friend.

⚠️* Thank you for reading!!! Let me know if you enjoyed it and if you have any prompts you would like written just drop them in my ask box! 💕💗*⚠️

[sucaritra]

Bāṛi - Chapter 15

Word Count: 1832

Warnings: language, anxiety, Negan

Summary: Negan teams up with some familiar faces

A/N: quick reminder - Lucas is the baby from chapter 11. also, is anyone reading this anymore? i dont get as many readers on here so im not too sure if i should continue posting here

Masterlist

The tension was thick in the cab of the truck as they drove along the road, not even Simon’s shitty country CD was playing to cut through the heavy atmosphere. Taking in a deep breath, Negan watched as the lightening cloud of smoke grew ever closer.

He wasn't worried per se, of course not. Though, he couldn't say he was entirely happy with the situation at hand. The not knowing of what they were walking into was beginning to set his teeth on edge. Not hearing back from the first team that was sent out to investigate wasn't helping matters any either.

The changing seasons could well and truly be felt now, the temperature having dropped low enough to turn the end of his nose red, his Saviors not faring any better. Negan would have much preferred to be lazing around with the wives, engaging in certain activities to bring his body temperature way up. Or better yet, a fidgety little Brit warming up his side, just as she did earlier today.

“No fucking way.”

Removing his gaze from where it was stuck on Lucille in his grip, Negan raised his head to see what had caused his right hand man to sound so incredulous.

“You've gotta be shitting me.”

Keeping his eyes on the man who wasted no time in staring daggers at him, Negan stepped out of the truck and sauntered over towards the group, his men following close behind.

“Well, well, fucking well. Prick! Fancy seeing you here! What the fuck are you doing here?”

Negan’s eyes narrowed dangerously at the man, putting his energy into focusing on Rick, as he couldn't be a hundred percent sure that he would be able to school his features if he let his sight drift to the burning wreckage directly behind Rick. Afterall, he did have an image to uphold.

“Probably the same reason you're here. Haven't found any signs of who did this, but we ain't been here long.”

Negan took great pride in the obvious distaste Rick had in having to answer to him, the control that slips from his grasp oh so quickly, all because Negan had arrived on the scene. Deciding to throw the prick a bone by saving the teasing for another time, Negan does a quick count of everyone that arrived with Rick. Most of the faces he recognises to be from Alexandria: the hot samurai lady; Rick’s redneck guard dog - Darren? Darrell?; the pregnant widow was also, surprisingly, there, along with a few more. The rest of the group was made up of Hilltoppers, with the long-haired pretty boy up front and center.

Where not too long ago Negan was slightly uneasy with bringing as many men as he did from the Sanctuary, now he was somewhat grateful that his men outnumber his employees.

Not wasting any time due to the slowly increasing numbers of walkers in the area, Negan divided the ragtag group in front of him into smaller units, consciously splitting up as many of the Alexandrians and Hilltoppers as possible, or at least the ones that looked like the biggest threats. Not willing to blindly trust Rick’s word, Negan pairs himself with him. If Rick was lying, and he had anything to do with this or his missing men, then he wanted to be close enough to let Lucille work her magic.

Once the teams started to spread out and look for any signs of the perpetrators, the Saviors consciously keeping an eye out for any signs of their missing men, Negan gave in and took a good look at the burning wreckage before him. The damage was so severe that the man had no idea what the building was before it went up, the fire having charred the rubble left behind and the explosion leaving a significant crevice surrounding it, making any attempts to get closer highly risky.

Dragging his eyes towards Rick and Fat Joey, he motioned them to follow as he lead the way towards a convenience store that, like all the buildings in the area, had its windows shattered, no doubt from the explosion.

After taking down a couple of the dead and doing a quick sweep, the trio took their time picking apart the store, searching for any signs of life or of anything valuable.

“Rick,” Negan sing songed, “I couldn't help but notice all yer little friends with you today. I fucking hope you didn't leave my little goldmine you call home with no one to protect it. And that little one-eyed psycho kid of yours doesn't count as protection.”

Clenching his jaw, Rick tried to keep the contempt out of his voice as he replied, “We’ve had an influx of survivors lately, plenty of people to help protect Alexandria while we're away.”

“Is that right? New residents. Huh.”

Letting Rick’s words register in his mind, Negan felt a cold tendril of dread wrap around his heart, something that he hadn't felt in a long fucking time.

“Ya know, Rick, it’s funny you should say that. We've had a whole fucking mob of survivors showing up on our doorstep over the course of a few months.”

Negan watched Rick narrow his eyes in suspicion, before replying, “The Hilltop’s had some new citizens too. That's quite the coincidence.”

Before he could reply, Negan’s walkie went off, informing him that one of the teams had found something. Making sure Rick and Fat Joey were following, Negan made his way towards what appeared to be an indoor carpark with the open spaces in the walls boarded up. Before he could step inside, he was once again interrupted by wis walkie.

“Negan?”

The signal was pretty shitty considering how far away they were from the Sanctuary, but Negan would’ve recognised that accent anywhere, even through all of that static.

“Maria?”

Even Rick managed to pick up on his surprise but it was too unexpected for Negan to try and hide it. Where the fuck did she get a walkie from?!

“You ……back ……-ling them……”

Negan strained to hear her through the crackling of the reception but he had no luck.

“Sweetheart, need you to try that again, you're breakin’ up on me.”

It seemed as though all three men held their breath as they waited for a response, hearing nothing in return.

“Babygirl, can you hear me? You still there?”

Nothing.

Negan didn't leave her with a walkie, meaning she must have gone out of her way to get one just to reach him. That did not bode well for the Sanctuary.

Putting on his mask of confidence to hide his growing worry, Negan resumed making his way into the carpark.

“The fuck are you two waiting for? Let's go, pussies.”

Rick knew all of that swagger was just for show, but he wasn't stupid enough to challenge Negan on it and instead followed behind him after sharing a look with Joey.

The carpark consisted of the ground floor, plus four levels above that. The ground floor was littered with freshly killed walkers, no doubt the work of one of the other teams, and as soon as they made their way up to the first level all three men were on high alert as they saw the first signs of someone making this place home.

Tin cans on wires that must have once been intricately set up as a survivalist alarm system were now laying uselessly on the ground, as well as other knick knacks and homemade devices that would have alerted anyone residing up here of any intruders or stray walkers.

Continuing on their way, the men reached the second floor, taking in the scene before them in shock.

Negan was eerily reminded of the communal living area back at the Sanctuary as he took in the rows upon rows of bedspreads and sleeping bags laid out across the floor. Making his way through, he took note of the things that were left behind, shit no one actually needed anymore. Stepping over books and empty food packets, the trio continued on to the third floor where they met up with Simon and a few Saviors and Alexandrians.

Again, the floor was covered in bedding and personal artifacts.

The group started picking its way through the clutter for anything useful as Simon gestured for Negan to follow him.

“You're gonna wanna see this.”

Simon lead Negan to a small box that was set up near a sleeping bag. Peering into the box, Negan used his gloved hand to grab the only two things in there. The first was a babygrow that was covered in dried blood. Negan breathed a quiet sigh of relief to find that there was no blood on the inside. The second item was a soft, blue, baby blanket. Simon lifted one of the corners and presented it to Negan, looking somewhat disturbed.

The embroidery was not the best work, considering this person stitched it with the dead roaming around just a stone's throw away, however the white was easy enough to read on the blue background - Lucas.

Negan, for once, was speechless as he tried to make sense of all of the random bits of information he received in the span of less than half an hour.

“You guys! You need to see this!”

“Oh what the fuck is it now?!”

Negan didn't know how much more fucked up info, that didn't actually make a lot of sense, he could take, but made his way up to the fourth and final floor anyway, hearing a slight crackle come from his walkie as he does so.

Negan didn't have time to take in the supplies located on this floor, instead, the sight of Rick’s face as he looked over a piece of paper he was just handed made him head directly towards him.

He hadn't seen that look on his face since the night of the lineup when he officially introduced himself and Lucille to Rick and his group.

“Negan?! You there?”

Hearing that sweet voice come through much clearer, Negan reached for his walkie with one hand whilst simultaneously snatching the paper from Rick with the other, almost catching him with Lucille in the process. He brought the walkie to his lips, though words seemed to fail him as he looked at what happened to be a map in his hand.

“Negan? If you can hear thi……to get back right now……I don't know what to do……We need you.”

Negan stared down at the little crosses strategically placed on the map. The little crosses that marked the Sanctuary, Hilltop, Alexandria and even the Kingdom. There were detailed routes on the most efficient ways to get to each community, details on the size of each one and even what types of supplies they had.

“Negan? Please…“

Maria’s broken voice was enough to break Negan away from that troubling map, quickly shoving it into Simon’s hands before replying.

“I'm right here babygirl, don't you worry. We’re coming back darling.”

tagging: @neganisking @backseat-negan