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bbhyeoliskooks · 4 years ago

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❀.’* 𝟕 𝐒𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐬 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐂𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐡 𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐘𝐨𝐮 ❀.’*

Wasn’t spending Christmas Eve with your friends supposed to be special?

.’*/ (ㅇㅅㅇ❀)＼*’..’*/ (ㅇㅅㅇ❀)＼*’.

Pairing: Soobin x Reader (female)

Genre 4 cups of fluff ! And perhaps a cup of angst in there too !

Warnings: Jealousy, a toxic friend who does not care about your feelings, unedited towards the end hehe

(Awe, it’s been quite a while since I wrote for Soobders !! Wanted to do a cute thing for a confession, though it turned out a bit angsty with the jealousy :// but i promise the end is so so cute !! Girlie here snapped on this one, i hope you can see the improvement~~ The fact that I had to do research on this is quite... something.)

.’*/ (ㅇㅅㅇ❀)＼*’..’*/ (ㅇㅅㅇ❀)＼*’.

1. He steals glances at you.

Wasn’t spending Christmas Eve with your friends supposed to be special? Wasn’t it supposed to be warm and all with interesting gifts and sugary sweet smiles decorating the room? Yeonjun sincerely promised that upon inviting you that this specific one wouldn’t flop unlike the last where you felt the need to go. As of this Christmas Eve dinner with all of your friends, it simply didn’t feel like it. If any other feeling than emptiness, the strong monster of envy rattled against your ribs as your eyes dart to your hidden phone underneath the table.

Fingers swiping on one video, you come into contact with a cheesy title, “7 signs your crush likes you.” The creature of curiosity pulled strings in your head, and you clicked the video with a small grin painted on your lips. Memories of being a middle schooler flooded back into your head that you couldn’t help but smile because of it. The one that you decided to watch reminded you of the good old days where you’d play mash with Yeonjun and Soobin. They’d always believe they’d get together with their crush in the future as stated on the paper- and you couldn’t lie though; they were such adorable students back then before high school made them grow up with deep voices and long legs for nothing. Nostalgia was really one hell of a drug.

You were sadly snapped out of your trance when said former boy tugged on the sleeve of your stylish red coat.

“Hey, look,” Yeonjun murmured towards you. You glanced to what he was saying, turning your head over to the direction where he was looking at. When your eyes were met with Soobin’s, you sighed out a breath of relief. Thank gosh he made it. Gratefulness poured out of you as soon as your eyes dawned upon him.

Ah wait a second, Soobin really was here! Finally, you were able to wish him a few seasons greetings! Slowly getting up, you were planning to run up and throw him into one of your tight embraces until Yeonjun dragged you back down by the coat. You were going to yell at him to let you go since that boy can choose to be annoying as heck, but he begged you to stay with him. The needy glint in his eye told you to sit back down. Confusion washed over you in waves, yet once you looked at what he was gazing at, you needed to thank him for saving you to a close mistake.

Your delusions of being with that boy were crushed when you saw a chic girl linger behind him, holding his hand with a luminous ring on her index finger. Yeonjun’s breath hitched in his throat upon seeing her, and you felt sick to your stomach. She was the perfect embodiment of what people called Heather- a pretty smile and a charming aura whichever place she entered. Insecurities you tried your best to conceal inside rose back up again, and you felt the need to throw them up on the empty plate before you. Self doubt like these were the worst, especially when it could play a key role in losing the love of your life.

With that being said, it was safe to say that you hated her already.

It’s just... ugh, that girl gifted you with a weird gut feeling as if you’ve seen her before. Morals and views reminding you not to became a greedy monster, you knew you couldn’t hate her without evidence that she was a terrible person, but seriously, what else could that suffocating feeling be? Why did she seem so familiar to you with that long, platinum blonde hair dancing whenever she swayed and deep, indigo eyes who could capture about anybody there?

Platinum blonde hair... deep, indigo eyes.... a pretty face-

Wait a minute... isn’t she your old best friend from sophomore year?!

As if on cue, you watch as Soobin’s hands trail to the back of the same girl, feeling the world you imagined with your unrequited love to crash down on your weak shoulders, harshly and indefinitely.

A blaring advertisement pops up from your phone, warning you that what you were watching made a grand finish. A soft grunt of frustration left your lips. This night was going to be the worst one yet, you felt it resonate in your bones. And the endearing way he chuckles at whatever she says is enough. The video is stupid; you already have enough information to know that he doesn’t like you.

2. He flirts with other girls but when you aren’t around, he immediately stops.

The night was going... so-so.

At first, you planned to dip and make it up to Yeonjun later, but something in your heart urged you in place whenever you stole a glance at Soobin. Maybe it was the way he sent reassuring looks towards your direction, telling you that he’ll be right there later. Maybe it was the way his doe eyes twinkled if you chose to join in the conversation. Maybe it was how you knew deep down inside that no other girl could compare to you. You felt selfish because of these burdening feelings. It was as if fate was making fun of you, mocking you for falling for Soobin. You watched your old friend and Soobin flirt all dinner, so the last thing you wanted to do was eat.

Your attention instantly snaps to the other side of the table where your friend is grabbing a keen knife. Soobin offered to give his to you since there were none left in sight- perhaps a mistake from the waiter, but you declined with a tense jaw from gritting your teeth for too long. The food had already arrived, although you barely noticed due to the envy. Yeonjun ordered fancy steaks for all of you, and guilt seemed to swallow you up from how much you were visibly hesitant to dive into what the others were eating.

A strange, constrained grunt from your old friend snaps you from out of your thought bubbles. You hurriedly glanced in her direction, surely not disappointed at what she was pulling. You swore you almost burst into laughter at what foolery she was showing. Who knew someone could be this- this stupid?! No matter how much she tried, she couldn’t cut through the steak with the knife given to her, causing her a lot of embarrassment. The tips of her ears turned tomato red as she daintily pressed through the meat with all of her might.

Well, wasn’t this certainly a sight to see.

Unknowingly, the corners of your lips curl up into a smirk. Did she know how much of a fool she looked right now? She couldn’t be that stupid, you remembered how smart she called herself back in high school. What’s wrong with her that she couldn’t even cut a measly steak?

...oh my goodness, what’s wrong with you? Your hand flew up to slap yourself in the forehead, but fortunately no one saw. You were crazy, absolutely crazy. Did you deem yourself as a horrible person for thinking about their downfall? ...yes, but it doesn’t matter!

Soobin saw how much trouble she was going through and like a good person, smiled and lent a helping hand. Literally.

He gently placed his hand on top of theirs, guiding the knife so that it could pierce through the meat. She giggled at his kind efforts, having the audacity to move much closer to him by shuffling her chair. You covered your mouth with your hand so that you wouldn’t audibly gasp. Both you and Yeonjun share a knowing look towards each other after that, eyebrows furrowed and all.

Looking back down at your plate, you forced yourself to eat through the situation. But you weren’t able to at all. It seemed the repulsion at how flirty and good looking both of them were made your stomach do flips. Suddenly, the steak on your plate looked disgusting.

In no time, it seemed that all of the appetite you built up earlier somehow disappeared into thin air. You no longer felt like eating whenever your eyes took a look at that new cute “couple” over there. They could’ve been dating for a while now, and you had no clue, like you always did. It just wasn’t your business. You swam a little bit more into your memories with her. She knew you liked Soobin from long ago, and she still did this? Guess who has no intention to get in new touch with an old friend after this “warm, loving dinner” as stated from Yeonjun’s invitation.

Drawing a heavy sigh from your lips once more, your eyes steadily dart to the food on your plate again. In response, your stomach churned as if you were riding a heightened ferris wheel. The feeling of fear penetrated your throat, pulling out a lump you couldn’t control. You had no clue how you were going to finish so much of this Christmas dinner that you sincerely desired to throw up.

3. He gets protective whenever someone he doesn’t like comes near you.

“Hey, you good, Y/N? You’re basically picking at your plate and not eating any of it,” Yeonjun whispers over to you. You look up from the abandoned green veggies on your plate and plaster on a smile for him. Obviously he would be able to tell right away since he was one of your best friends, but that’s what you wanted him to see. Good thing you were close to him so that nobody would be able to hear what you were saying.

With a shrug of your shoulders you inch closer to him, whispering in his ear as well, “yes, I’m clearly doing fine here. It’s not like jealousy is literally eating me alive because he has a crush on my best friend who knows I like him.”

Yeonjun chuckled a little bit at this before punching your shoulder. “Cheer up, bun! I promise it’ll all be alright in the end. After all, I am one of Soobin’s friends who knows everything about him~~” You only smiled at his supposedly sweet gesture. His words were of course comforting, but it did as little as it could to ease your heart.

Placing your head on his shoulder with a timid frown on your face, you murmured a quick thank you to him. One way or another, you were going to have to pay back your debt to him even if he got you all red in the face. “Yeah, you definitely are, bun. You definitely are.”

Little did you know that Soobin was frowning at how you and Yeonjun suddenly went all buddy-buddy with each other before stuffing a few more pieces of bread into his mouth.

4. He gives you a nickname.

From the corner of your eye, you see Soobin shoot you a worried look. His lips are pursed together into a straight line which only makes you roll your eyes. So he was acting like he cared about you after ignoring you for a rat, huh...

“I can see that you’re not eating, buttercup? Is there something that’s bothering you... on Christmas Eve?” That boy did not just- the word buttercup was really not the word you wanted to fall out of his lips right now. He could’ve called you whatever, heck even your name although it wasn’t a serious situation. Buttercup was a cute nickname he gave to you when you first became friends. You tried to convince yourself that you absolutely hated what he called you, but the quick pace of your heart begged to differ.

Choi Soobin is not the boy you love. Choi Soobin is only your best friend! Choi Soobin does not like you! Choi.. Soobin is who you’ll always love, regardless. Your twisted mind kept tugging you back and forth so briskly that you wanted to throw up from all of those flutters. It was clear that insanity was stretching you as if you were a four year old’s putty judging from the sour expression on your face, but of course nobody seemed to notice.

Furrowing your tense eyebrows at him, all of the anger built up from tonight washed over your body like a dangerous tsunami.

“Aren’t you supposed to be courting my old friend right now? I thought you guys were going to be a couple judging from how stupid you two are acting, so don’t worry about lil’ ol’ buttercup me!,” you deadpan, gradually becoming enraged enough through the sentence to slam your poor phone onto the wooden table. It’s like you couldn’t control yourself anymore. Your face is furiously burning with anger at the sight of them holding hands, and you happen to sigh exasperatedly which makes all of the customers turn their heads from worry. Some of them were raising amused eyebrows at your attitude so much so, that you wanted to disappear from the face of the Earth.

Crap. You should’ve been watching what you said as to not cause a scene. Did it really matter though? You needed to let out your emotions one way or another! Yeonjun helps alleviate your overwhelming emotions by tightening the hold on your hand under the table but you simply couldn’t help it any longer. Why the hell did you have to have a crush on someone who was too oblivious for his own good? He shouldn’t be that dense! You swore that he was a wall; you couldn’t talk to him about what you felt because for sure, he wouldn’t understand.

And as always, Soobin nods his head nonchalantly at your words- causing the hope that he’d know about what you felt inside to eventually shrivel up and die.

5. He stares at you longingly whenever you aren’t looking.

“Woah, take a chill pill, Y/N,” the girl in front of you croaked out after sipping on a little bit of her special red wine.

You shoot a glare at her, and go back to eat what was expected of your steak- which was pretty much 75% of it left. That was the only thing you could be proud of to arise from this night since you didn’t want to throw up whenever you chose to speak. Speaking of which, there was no point in talking anymore when you knew that everyone would stare at you. Which reminds you. You should probably hide your face now since at least ten people are watching this scene go down. Upon realizing this, you shoo them away with your hands and a few of them awkwardly turned back as if they weren’t watching what happened. Yeonjun chuckles hysterically, shaking his arms around like a lunatic so that the attention would be shielded away from the table.

Under your breath, you mutter a few words lowkey wishing that she would hear. A few words couldn’t her, right? With someone who’s personality was bigger than their plastic lips, you were sure it wouldn’t hurt. “I bet he doesn’t even like you since you keep hogging him all night.”

Something told you she heard due to the sour expression written all over her face.

Immediately, the “kind girl” as Soobin called her started insulting you out of the blue once she comprehended your words. Deeper and stabbing into your heart, her voice was as civil as she could put it to be, but the comments she made were totally out of line. You wanted to respond back with something, however she kept interrupting you with that degrading voice.

“God, it’s like you’re trying so hard to stay with these two! Haven’t you gotten the memo that none of them like you? Who would’ve known that lil’ ol’ buttercup here would be such a slut when back in high school, was the prude of the school?”

You were going to say something- anything to retort back to her until she cut you off again. You really had no power compared to that witch at all, she only made you feel smaller as vulnerability surrounded you, overwhelming your thought process. Her words dripped venom while the anger rose in you similar to that as of a bread rising up under the influence of yeast. It was getting difficult by the minute not to slap her since Soobin was right there and easily unknowingly holding you back.

“After all, you don’t want to embarrass yourself like you do every day. I’m surprised your friendships stayed long enough from high school,” her eyes wandered to your reddening cheeks, feeling much satisfaction fill her for clearly hurting your feelings. “And with that ugly Christmas sweater too? Poor girl, I can see why Soobin would reject you even though I know for a fact you hadn’t even confessed your stupid feelings to him.”

Not a sound of Yeonjun’s endearing chuckles echoed beside you, not a clatter from Soobin’s fork crashed against his plate, and not even a customer’s murmuring voice filled the whole restaurant. All of you remained silent- even the staff and chefs to see what happened next, witnessing that of a melodrama. The only thing repeating in your head was... how could she have the audacity to do that in a public restaurant?

It was like she could see all of your insecurities, both inside and out. The boys couldn’t bring themselves to say anything in fear that it would only do more damage compared to their intentions. Soobin was just as shocked as you were that she would say that aloud where anybody could hear you. Yeonjun shut his mouth, not being able to protect you because he knew the girl would only keep him silent with menacing words. Basically, both of them were wimps who chose not to help you, and that hurt you the most.

As if she could read your mind, she laughed off all the attention towards your table. “Acting innocent now, are you? I’m not surprised. Just leave if you’re not going to let anything come out of that big, stupid mouth.”

That was the final straw.

6. He plays hard to get.

“I-I guess I’m not needed here, then.”

You get up from your spot next to Yeonjun, fumbling to grab your phone on the table. Your eyes are practically brimming with tears as you do your best to hide them with the sleeve of the ugly Christmas sweater she was talking about. Both Soobin and Yeonjun are yelling for you to come back, but you no longer have the pride to see the smirk on that insane woman’s face. If she was going to insult you just to raise herself up, then you could leave one night to save you the embarrassment. She just degraded you in front of everybody, and didn’t say an apology if not more, feel sorry for doing so.

You sprint over to the entrance with tears in your eyes, slamming the door against the brick wall of the building. The customers were gossiping about what just happened, but you didn’t care anymore. All of the emotions were pouring out of you while you pathetically let tears out like a love-struck fool. Now you certainly had no reason to stay, even if the boys were waiting back for you. Good thing nobody was there or else you would’ve gotten angry at them for the littlest of things. Kicking the pile of snow that built up over the events of the dinner, you could see that your frustration was barely restrained.

The crystal snowflakes did little to calm you down as some caught onto the tip of your nose. It had been a while since snow waltzed from up above on this very day, but you couldn’t care less.

A clear night sky is what you’re met with before you feel yourself plop onto the wooden bench. A disappointed sigh is undone from your lips due to the fact that Soobin or even Yeonjun hadn’t chased after you. You made a scene for one of the reasons one of them would chase after you so that one person, at least one would come over and give you some form of attention- unlike what happened all night! Of course you wanted Yeonjun to come so that you could rant what occupied your head, but you bothered him more than enough. He was always one to listen and somehow had a couple pieces of advice every time you asked him for a solution.

You felt your eyelashes flutter by themselves in the frosty air before forcing them shut. You were simply disappointed that the dinner was all wasted because of a stupid crush.

This Christmas Eve was supposed to be special with everyone there... if only your toxic friend chose not to stir up some trouble tonight. Why did Soobin have to invite her anyway? He didn’t know what she could do to sabotage anyone there, including you. For the time being though, you chastised yourself for being so stupid months before. It wasn’t the first time that she made a move on Soobin in order to anger you, but that’s for another day. Foolish enough, you thought back then that forgiving and forgetting would be good to salvage the remnants of the warm friendship you once had.

7. He makes it clear that he likes you.

Perhaps 15 minutes passed before you decided to go back inside and apologize to the boys for ruining the dinner with your temper tantrum. It would be so so so awkward with Soobin, considering that she screamed you liked him, but a little bit of acting would cover it up. Perhaps you were a good actor already! He was oblivious to those warm feelings you owned anyway, and maybe after leaving with Yeonjun you would tell him that none of the things she said was true. Apologies and kindness would be able to make up for it, they just had to. Of course you wouldn’t say sorry to that monster, but hey! It’s Christmas Eve and acting civil is the best thing to do in this situation.

Christmas Eve, and yet you were still disheartened nobody showed up.

Dropping your phone into your purse, you get up from your icy spot on the bench and reluctantly took a few steps to the entrance. The death ring of the jingling bell ceases you in place, and you gasp at the boy who was staring at you with soft eyes. They looked much warmer than earlier when you got the guts to yell at him, so you felt guilty for blaming all of your faults on the boy who was only worried for you.

Breathless, he dashed towards you- heels clicking against the pavement and gently intertwined both of your hands.

“Buttercup, I’m so sorry for what she said. Just please don’t cry. I can’t stand seeing you cry.” With the tip of his thumb, he delicately wiped what was left of your tear stains. Then rubbing both of your cheeks in an attempt to warm your face up, he stared down at you obviously worried.

Seeing how much he cared for you made you grin at his endearment. “Soobders, it’s not your fault! She said things that she shouldn’t have, but I know you guys wouldn’t believe it...” your voice trailed off when you glanced at him, afraid that he really did, “r-right?”

Raising an eyebrow, the tall boy seemed to grow taller in front of you, looming over you in disbelief. You gulped that weird lump in your throat that arose from crying earlier and tried to present yourself as not nervous. Surely, he had to believe you! There wasn’t enough preparation you could do to be rejected from a best friend... Scared and creeped out by how that monster remembered, you hoped that you wouldn’t have to tell them for the second time that you actually really liked him.

The way he remained tall in front of you begged to differ.

Bringing his face closer to yours, a deep frown was etched onto his lips each second he stared at your nervous features. You were grinning awkwardly at how close you two were, but he didn’t seem to notice. Instead, he was more focused on the fact that you couldn’t trust him even if he was one of your confidants. Suspicious, he pulled away at the last second when both of your noses were barely touching. “Something’s wrong with you, and you’re hiding it. You tell me everything and I want to know it, so... what’s on your mind tonight?”

Boy, was he persistent. That caused you to roll your eyes. Couldn’t he just act oblivious for this once? You would gladly get on your knees to beg for him not to barge in your business for the meantime. There’s no way you could confess without preparing first since it’d shatter you once the deed was done.

Unbeknownst to you, Soobin only found this gesture to be confusing since you’d never had an attitude once in front of him. He assumed something was seriously wrong because you tried not to let rude words from others affect you... His date back there must’ve hit a nerve, and done a good job at that. One thing he would do tonight was comfort you until both of you could go back to the dinner table together, plus scare off the woman if you allowed him.

“How about we go back to the table? I didn’t mean to cause a commotion.” Soobin shook his head slowly, his black bangs moving to cover his brown, chocolate eyes. “Tell me what’s wrong,” he presses on further while moving closer to you. It was unbearable- everything. From how near he was to feel his breath fan over your lips, from how his dark eyes urged you to tell him what was going on, to you holding your breath, not allowing to suck in a pocket of air for the pounding beat of your heart. You became flustered at how close he is and backed away into the pile of snow you saw earlier.

Stop, stop! You needed to keep composure!

“Like I said, you don’t have to worry about it. I just wanted to get some fresh air because I felt suffocated in that place where everyone was staring at us. I’m so sorry for making you guys feel embarrassed, this is all my fault.”

“But it isn’t your fault! I should’ve dug deeper into her intentions before inviting her over. You know fully well that nobody will replace you so please, buttercup? Tell me what’s bugging you,” he pleaded, “I know everything about you, but you’re hiding something and that’s making me go crazy.”

Well, that little- of course you had to hide it! Was he that dumb?!

“Are you serious?! You know everything about me?! She said that I liked you since I met you- and hell, that’s true! I just- I really really like you! You haven’t been seeing all the signs I send you, no matter how much I try. It’s clear to everyone that I like you, but you don’t know it- the only person I desperately want to know about how I feel! Something in me must’ve snapped when you flirted with them back there, and I couldn’t help myself! The jealousy just slammed me against the ground and-” before you could speak any longer, Soobin shushed you silent with his lips against yours softly.

It was a way to shut you up; you instantly stopped ranting as soon as he brought you in deeper with his intoxicating lips. He tasted as sweet as strawberries, encouraging you to relish in the feeling of finally having someone you pined for so long. Your words fell into his mouth as you kissed him back immediately, bringing him closer to your freezing arms. His chest pushed against yours until your back hit the cold brick walls.

Warm butterflies fluttered in your stomach, shooting out swirls of what you called fuzzies to run through your veins. It was finally what you waited for.

It’s love.

Soobin’s hand lingers to the one you placed on his chest, clutching it as if it was the last time. You chuckled at his eagerness, but that doesn’t mean either of you pulled away! Because seriously, you don’t have to watch a video to know that he likes you for the nth time. It’s the way that he giggles into the soft yet passionate kiss you both share that you finally know- after all this time, your crush really does like you.

.’*/ (ㅇㅅㅇ❀)＼*’..’*/ (ㅇㅅㅇ❀)＼*’.

Posted: 11/18/20- 1:08am

Tags:

@honeijun-writes !! honeibunch, i finished it after a while !! yayaya, thank you for waiting 🥺<33

#txt fluff #txt angst #txt reactions #txt oneshots #txt timestamps #soobin fluff #soobin angst #soobin ff #soobin oneshot #soobin timestamps #soobin imagines #soobin scenarios #txt scenarios

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bbdaydreams · 4 years ago

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Courage My Love// Semi Eita

Pairing: Semi Eita x Reader

Summary: You like Semi and come up with a plan to confess to him, unfortunately it takes a turn. You meet again a couple years later by chance.

Chapter Two: How Do You Feel?

Series Masterlist•<previous•next>

—————

The moment you were allowed to leave the auditorium you made your way back to your dorm. A couple people would stop to congratulate you on your win, some being complete strangers. They were nice and thoughtful but right now you weren’t in the right mindset to interact with others. You held your trophy close to your chest so it wouldn’t get damaged but also draw minimal attention mumbling a quick “thank you” from time to time.

“Y/n!” Tendou called your name when you were made it to the building that your dorm was located. You turned to face him and waited for him to catch up. When he made it to you his first instinct was to wipe your tears. “C’mon, no more tears,” he said softly before opening the door to let you in first.

When you made it to your dorm Tendou made his way to his spot on the edge of your bed while you set the guitar case down and put the award somewhere on your desk. Walking to your bed you immediately threw your covers up before getting under them and cocooning yourself with them.

Tendou met you about halfway through your first years when you interrupted their practice to drop something off for Semi. He didn’t know his friend had such a pretty friend. When you asked for Semi he immediately started his teasing which left you blushing, a look that Tendou found entertaining.

When you started getting closer with Semi, you also became more aquatinted with his friends as he did with yours. At first, you definitely thought Tendou was quite the oddball but you were quick to accept him as he was, it’s just Tendou things.

“Do you wanna talk about it?” the redhead spoke.

“I don’t get it. I thought we were closer than this. I don’t know what I’m more hurt by, the fact that he didn’t ask me to be his date or the fact that I had no idea he was even seeing someone.”

“I didn’t even know. Hell, even Wakatoshi was surprised when it wasn’t you he was asking!”

“God next week is gonna be so embarrassing,” you said now burying your face into your pillow.

“Hm? Why’s that?”

“We have our stupid dance next week! And we have that dumb dinner we all agreed to go to before we went to the stupid dance! Everyone is gonna have a date but me! Reon is going with his girlfriend, Ushijima has his date, Semi has miss mysterious, you have your date-“

“I don’t have anyone,” Tendou quickly cut you off.

You furrowed your eyebrows as you turned to look at him. “Why don’t you have a date?”

He shrugged his shoulders before responding, “I don’t know. I was gonna go by myself. I don’t mind being the odd man out.”

“I’ll be your date.”

Tendou turned and looked at you as if you were crazy. He leaned forward and squinted his eyes before leaning back. “Are you sick or something? Weren’t you crying over Semi and now you’re moving on that quick? I know I’m great but still that’s a little too quick for me doll face.”

You laughed as he spoke. “I am heart broken, but you still deserve to go to our last dance with a date. I don’t mind, I’ll go with you, what are friends for?” Once you realized what you said you where quick to apologize. “I mean, you don’t have to go with me if you don’t want to. I know you can ask someone else and they’ll say yeah, it was kinda selfish of me to just offer myself like that especially with all this going on.”

“I’ll take you up on your offer.”

The next morning you decided to text Izumi about her offer. It was the weekend so classes weren’t a huge focus, especially since the year was about to end.

“Girls! She texted!” Izumi exclaimed, raising her phone in the air with excitement.

“No way,” the girl with the attitude responded.

“That’s a good sign!” the soft spoken girl added. “What did she say?”

“She asked if we could talk more about the band.”

“Invite her over, Izumi!”

“Already did. She should be here soon.”

Walking towards the arts building you kept glancing at your phone every few steps. Why hasn’t he texted you? Does he not care about how hurt you were? Semi kept clouding your mind. You guys text regularly and you assumed he would’ve texted by now asking you if you were okay or even just saying a morning. Maybe you should text him first, you thought but that idea went out the window when you made it your destination. You put your phone away and opened the door to focus on finding the room that Izumi told you they’d be in.

When you found the room you knocked on the door waited for someone to answer. You heard voices on the other side for a bit until the door opened to reveal the bathroom girls.

“Welcome!” Izumi greeted, letting you into the room before closing the door behind you. “Thanks for coming, this is the practice room we managed to snag.”

“Hi,” you greeted her before looking at the other girls and saying hello to them as well.

“We didn’t properly introduce ourselves yesterday, now did we?” the main girl spoke. “I’m Yui.” She put her hand out for you two to shake.

“I’m Haruka,” the timid one spoke.

“It’s nice to meet you all.” You took a second to look around the room. It was a pretty much empty room with some supplies and desks but it was all pushed to one side of the room while the open space they created housed their instruments. “How’d you get this room? Eita usually has to go off campus to practice with his mates.”

“I’m close with the music teacher, so she pulled some strings and managed to do this for us,” Yui answered.

“Is Semi your ex?” Haruka asked innocently which made the girls eyes go wide.

“Haru, you can’t just-“

“It’s okay. And no he’s not my ex, we’re just friends. When you guys found me I was just overwhelmed,” you told them. They looked at each other as if using telepathy to communicate with each other. They must’ve unanimously decided not to press you further with their own curiosity and changed the subject.

“So, what kind of music do you listen to?”

“I listen to a little bit of everything but mainly pop punk I guess. It’s hard to label it. What about you guys?”

“I get that and we’re pretty much the same. Haruka is mostly into metal, but she still vibes with all the other stuff,” Izumi answered.

At this you had to laugh a bit. The most innocent and quiet looking one of the group, enjoyed heavy music. “Haruka, no way,” you told her while looking at her.

She leveled her eyes with yours before giving you a closed eye smile and speaking, “I love the lyrics and head banging. It’s fun.”

“I have to agree. What sound are you guys aiming for with the band?” You asked.

“Honestly anything. I don’t think we really have a sound yet, we kinda just play and mess around until we find something we like or we’ll give a topic and try to match something up with that makes sense. You mind listening for a second?” Yui asked making her way towards the bass.

“I’d love to” you responded before taking a seat on one of the empty desks. Izumi made picked up the electric guitar and Haruka sat on the stool behind the drums which was another surprise for you. Don’t judge a book by its cover, you reminded yourself.

Haruka gave the count down with her drum sticks before leading them into the song. Yui joined in and then Izumi followed after. Watching them was entertaining, Haruka’s hair was going all over the place you had to question how she was able to see. Yui seemed to enjoy swaying side to side while occasionally head banging while Izumi seemed a little stiff but was definitely enjoying themself. They seemed to be in sync with each other it made you worry that if you were to join if you would mess up their flow. When they finished they looked up to you.

“So what do you think?” Yui asked.

“I’d like to join, I just don’t wanna mess you guys up. You guys seem pretty in tune with each other are you sure you want me to join?”

The girls immediately started laughing making you question if you said something wrong.

“You’re funny, y/n,” Haruka giggled.

“We’ve been together for a year now and have been practicing almost daily which is why we’re at the level we are,” Izumi stated.

“Listen, yeah we’re alright but we need that missing piece which is you. And we’re picky. We’ve been looking for six months for a lead so when we saw your performance we knew we had to have you. We want you,” Yui added on.

You slipped off the desk and smiled at them before presenting a notebook you brought along with you. “Then I guess I’m in. This is my lyric book, basically what I have to offer besides my voice.”

Yui took the book and flipped through it while Izumi and Haruka looked over the writing as well. Yui and Izumi looked very concentrated while Haruka’s expression showed amazement.

“You’re good!”

“Dude, you’re definitely in. I can’t wait to perform these live in front of others!”

“Damn girly, you really are full of surprises.”

Blushing at their compliments you accepted your journal back. “Thank you, I’ve been writing since my first year.”

“Can I ask why there were some ripped pages?” Izumi asked.

“Oh, those were some songs I wrote for Eita’s band. I felt like they were more his style so I gave them to him.”

You guys continued chatting until it was around lunch time. They wished you goodbye and reminded you to come back tomorrow to start joining them for practice. You left the practice room with a smile on your face, excited for what the future held in store for your new band.

The week went by fast, you basically spent it writing more lyrics since all your school work was already done.

The school dance was tonight and so was the dinner that you were joining. You got out of the shower and threw on some sweats before making your way back to your dorm so that other girls could go take a shower to get ready.

“Hey, Y/n,” Yui greeted when she was stepping out of her dorm with a towel. “You getting ready?”

“Yeah, you’re going to the dance too right?” You told her, taking a step closer to the wall so others could walk by.

“Yep. I assume I’ll see you there. You’re going to that dinner thing with your friends first right?”

You nodded your head up and down. “Mhmm. I’ll probably part ways with them at the dance and try to find you and the others.”

“Sounds good. Remember, if anything happens, you have us to rely on. I know we barely know each other yet but we’re here for you,” she told you honestly. Yui may come off strong, but she really is a reliable human being. “I’m gonna try to find a shower head, see ya.”

When you made it back into your dorm you noticed a package in front of your door. Picking up and making your way inside you inspected it to make sure it was for you before opening it. The label read your name followed by the sender, Rarity Records. Your breath hitched.

You heard rumors that agencies were going to attend the talent show, but you weren’t sure you believed it. You carefully sliced the top of the package using a pair of scissors to unveil the contents. In the package you discovered a letter along with some snacks, stickers, and merch from artists that belonged to the label.

Dear L/n F/n,

We would like to congratulate you on your win last week! Your performance was beautiful and we believe you have a lot of talent. We’d like to invite you to join our label to help make you shine and prosper. Please contact us at this number. We await your call.

Sincerely,

Rarity Records

A label wants to sign you! Your wildest dream is on the verge of coming true! You had to tell someone!

“Oh my god, I have to text Eita,” you spoke aloud. Unplugging your phone from the charging cord and unlocking it, you quickly tapped on the conversation and typed out your message. You were about to hit send until you remembered the situation you were in.

Semi still hasn’t contacted you and it made you question if that concluded the end of your friendship. You’re well aware that you directly told him not to speak to you but at the end of the day it’s not like you yelled at him and made it into a huge argument. You missed your best friend. You know you should text him, he probably doesn’t even realize what’s wrong but you were hurting too much internally to reach out to him, even if it was exciting news that you know he’d congratulate you on.

You deleted the message and connected your phone back to it’s cord and made your way to your blow dryer. Once you finished drying your hair you went back to your phone to turn on some music to listen to while you get ready.

You sang along to the song and all the songs after that as you were getting ready. The last step was to put on the dress that you had. It was a stunning red dress with some gems and lace here and there but the glam wasn’t overwhelming.

“Knock, knock. Can I come in?” Tendou asked from behind your door.

“It’s locked and I’m getting dressed! give me a second!” you answered. You had the dress on, just couldn’t zip it up completely. Giving up on your attempts you made your way towards the door to let your friend in. “Hey,” you greeted when you opened the door.

Tendou’s back was leaning against your door before so when you opened it he stumbled back a bit but was quick to catch his balance. He pivoted and looked up from his phone only to be welcomed by your beauty. His eyes went wide before opening his mouth to speak. “I- you look, wow.”

You gave a small chuckle before attempting to greet him again. “Hi, Tendou.”

“Hi..” he answered, still mesmerized. “Sorry, you look really beautiful tonight.”

“Thank you. I was nervous about the bright red but it turned out really nice. Oh, do you mind zipping it up and clasping it for me?” You asked as you twirled around to expose your back to him. He raised his hands to do as you asked, careful not to get the zipper caught. When he was done you turned your body once again and closed your door to leave with him. “Let’s go, I’m starving,” you laughed as you grabbed his wrist to pull him towards the parking lot, failing to notice the bush on his face.

Tendou and you arrived a little late to the dinner due to the fact that you were having too much fun chatting in the car that he missed the turn three times, but eventually you arrived to your destination.

“You’re late, Tendou,” Ushijima said when you both arrived to the table.

“Only fifteen minutes. Here you go, Y/n,” Tendou spoke as he pulled out your chair for you.

“Oh, thank you,” you blushed as he helped you settle into the group. The lineup went as Ushijima’s date, Ushijima, Tendou, and you next to him. On the other side was Semi’s date, Semi, Reon, and then Reon’s girlfriend, the girlfriend being across from you.

Throughout the dinner you had a smile on your face. It was definitely awkward at first since it was the first time you were seeing Semi in the past week. You decided to communicate as little as you needed with him, not to make a point, but to be polite. You didn’t need to somehow ruin anyone’s night in any way. You were all together to have fun and enjoy the little time you all had left together in high school.

While you were enjoying yourself and chatting with the other’s, Semi found himself glancing at you every once in a while. He was right to believe you and Tendou had something going on, Tendou wouldn’t stop bringing you up to him during practice. Tendou always had something positive to say about you and now here he was, at dinner with you as his date.

Good for him, Semi thought to himself. Tendou finally made a move on you and got what he wanted. He was happy for his friends, but he felt uneasy. Why hadn’t you ever expressed your thoughts of his friend to him? You always called him your best friend but you never spoke about Tendou to him, only saying he was a nice guy if asked.

It made him question why you were so upset with him when you asked about his girlfriend. It’s not like you told him about Tendou which is why he didn’t see the need to tell you about his girl. He’d been wanting to talk to you about it but knowing how hot headed you both can be he opted to waiting for you to confront him first. He thought giving you time would be the best option.

“Semi, you should eat more before we go,” his date told him, distracting him from his thoughts.

“Oh, you’re right,” he responded before picking up his utensils to continue eating.

Taking one last glance at your form, he had to admit it was the prettiest he’s ever seen you. Your hair was done differently, your dress looked fitting, and the red really made you look hot. Your smile screamed that you were having a good time, a sight he missed seeing.

“The party has arrived!” Tendou spoke when your group entered the main doors of the gymnasium. You laughed at his silliness until Ushijima spoke.

“We should take pictures.”

“Good idea, buddy,” Tendou agreed. You all made your way over to some props and took turns taking pictures. Some were just the guys, the others just the girls, then group, followed by individual. Luck was favoriting you, you didn’t have to take pictures for Semi because him and Reon partnered up. You and Tendou did multiple poses, Tendou claiming you guys needed one from all angles, as Ushijima took pictures.

As you were getting your pictures taken, Semi was taking pictures for Reon. His eyes kept darting between both parties, lingering more on you than the couple directly in front of him. Semi was lucky his girlfriend didn’t notice but his friend sure did. Reon could tell how bad Semi wanted to talk to you and he couldn’t understand why he didn’t. Semi was never one to keep his thoughts to himself unless if it had potential to hurt someone else.

Reon excused himself from his girlfriend and explained what he was doing to which she responded with a nod. “Can we talk?” Reon asked Semi once they decided they were done taking pictures.

“Come on, let’s dance!” Reon’s girlfriend told Semi’s date before grabbing her hand and dragging her to the dance floor.

“What did you wanna talk about?” a confused Semi asked Reon.

“What’s up with you?”

“What do you mean?”

“You have your girlfriend right next to you and you’re paying more attention to your best friend. That’s not okay dude. You’re lucky they haven’t noticed.”

“What are you talking about? I haven’t given Y/n any attention. We haven’t talked since last week,” Semi countered to which Reon sighed.

“Listen, you may not be aware you’re doing this, but since they joined us at dinner, you haven’t stopped looking at them. Why are your eyes wandering so much when you have a girlfriend right there?”

“I noticed too,” Ushijima spoke up.

“Have I been glancing at them that much?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t know what’s going on between you two, but you need to talk it out,” Reon stated. The three boys turned to find you in the sea of people.

“There,” Ushijima spoke while pointing at the red hair that stuck out. “Go.”

With a gentle push from his friends, Semi walked into the crowd, careful not to step on anyone’s feet while saying excuse me to make his way towards you.

“How are you feeling?” Tendou asked you. Both of you were currently swaying back and forth, his hands on your waist as you held his biceps.

“I’m good. Tonight’s been a lot of fun so far,” you smiled at him.

He returned the gesture before removing a hand from your waist to the back of your head to bring you closer to him before putting it back down. “That’s good, but how do you feel?” he asked again, making you realize what he was really asking.

“Hmm.” Taking a deep breath to think you responded. “I still feel hurt, but I can’t find myself to be mad at him. I don’t even care about that girl, I don’t know her and don’t plan to be her friend. I just have to accept that if he wanted me, he would’ve asked me. It’s a tough pill to swallow but it’s the truth. I wish I didn’t hold onto the little hope I had and just opened my eyes to see he clearly wasn’t interested. We were just best friends, erm- friends- we’re just friends.”

Tendou changed his hand placement again. The hand that previously touched your head was back as his other hand rubbed circles between your shoulder blades. You didn’t feel like crying, you already did all of that last week. You had no more tears left in you and you just wanted to move on from the situation.

You and Tendou didn’t speak for a while, just swayed and listened to the song that was playing. “Can I tell you something? Tendou broke the silence.

“Yeah. What is it?” you asked.

“This is probably a bad time to tell you all of this. Semi is a fool, and I’m not saying that just because of his fashion sense. I don’t understand why he didn’t make a move on you because I am about to.”

His last line made you move your head so you were now making eye contact with him. “What?”

“I see your value. You are a treasure. Silly rocker Semi has overlooked what a catch you are. I never interfered because I knew of your feelings for him. I understand I’d just be a second option for you, a rebound if you will, but I’m willing to take any opportunity to get to know you better. I like you, Y/n. Can we get to know each other better?”

You were shocked. You knew Tendou as the friendly sightly crazy middle blocker on the volleyball team. You knew him as a class clown. You knew him as Semi’s friend. You never would’ve expected this moment to ever happen.

Tendou leaned a little closer to you which made you think fast. At the end of the day, you had nothing to lose, you already lost the guy you really loved. Leaning in as well, your lips connected. Unfortunately, it was at that moment Semi reached you both. It was at that moment Semi finally realized how he felt about you, but he didn’t feel like taking away the happiness from his friends for his own selfish feelings.

“Whoa dude, what happened?” Reon asked his teammate when he came back with a scowl on his face.

“I feel like a fucking idiot.”

—————

a/n: damn, this was supposed to be a Semi fic but here I am feeding the Tendou stans. Oopsies. ALSO I DID NOT THINK IT WOULD BE THIS LONG (and poorly edited again so another oopsies)

Tag: @pluviophilefangirl

#haikyu #haikyuu!!#semi eita x reader #semi haikyuu #semi eita #semi x reader #haikyu angst #haikyu x reader

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mimiatmidnight · 4 years ago

Note

Predictions on Baby Girl Sussex?

I’m FREEEEEEEE from finals and ready to chat with you all once again! Thank you all for being so patient, I’m so excited to dive into all your questions and give them the novel-length responses they deserve 😉

I’m assuming you mean name predictions haha, cause the only other thing I can think of to predict would be her birthday (for the record, I’ll go ahead and put my sister’s birthday, June 10th, for no reason other than I predicted my own birthday, April 26th, for Archie!). But I love talking about baby names (as you can see by the length of this post 😅), so let’s get into it.

So I fully expect to be completely taken aback by their pick. Like not even on the same planet as my predictions. Cause that’s just how those two roll lmao. But IF they’re staying in the same theme as Archie’s name, I’m expecting something that’s also short, possibly nickname-y, kind of dusty and vintage, but with a whimsical charm, just like Archie’s. I am still operating with the assumption that she will one day be Princess (whether or not that actually happens, of course, remains to be seen), so I’m trying to keep that title in mind. And also, given that name meanings appear to hold significance to them, I tried to at least somewhat keep meanings in mind. So, in no particular order:

Eloise

“Healthy; wide”

French, English

I am SO charmed by this name. If I hadn’t already decided on Elliott for my future son’s name, this name would be right at the top of my future daughter’s list. I just thinks it’s so delightfully playful yet still timeless and classic. It gives easy and pretty nicknames with Ellie and Ella, or even Lizzy (possibly to honor her great-grandmother?). “Archie and Eloise” sounds so perfect and natural to me, without sounding kitschy or too over the top with the matching. “Princess Eloise” is so deliciously perfect, it just fits together like a puzzle piece.

Eleanor

Unknown meaning

English, French

Eleanor hits almost all the same beats I mentioned above for Eloise, even down to the lovely Ellie/Ella nicknames. It’s even more royal than Eloise, with such heady associations as the legendary Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine (not to mention the American Queen, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt!). Eloise is closer to my heart, but I’d be thrilled with Eleanor as well.

Greta

“Pearl”; diminutive of Margaret

German

This one’s quite old-fashioned, but I think it’s so charming and would make an adorable name on a little girl. And fun fact, the name Meghan comes from a nickname for Margaret, which is why both those names as well as Greta all mean “Pearl.” So this would be a perfect way to honor little girl’s mama in a more subtle way.

Poppy

“Red flower”

Latin, English

Spunky yet sweet. Pays tribute to her mother’s homeland of California, while also sounding very at home in her father’s homeland of the UK. A flower name in honor of her mama’s own mama. This scarlet name would be even more perfect if the Ginger Avenger manages to make himself another little Gingette. And as I said to one of my anons the other day, “Princess Poppy” is so screeching cute I might actually combust if I think about it too much, so let’s move on.

Lea

“Meadow; weary”

English

To be totally honest, this one is mostly just because I’ve been addicted to listening to “Lea” by TOTO on repeat lately. Although “Princess Lea” might be a bit too . . . you know. Stor Wors. Even though the sci-fi princess pronounces her name differently, I think they’ll probably still want to avoid that association. Still, that song is heavenly and the name goes with all my criteria so I’m putting it in anyways.

Hazel

“Hazelnut tree”

English

Another nature name, one that I’m sure our favorite Earth Mama will enjoy ;) It’s newly popular, but in my opinion still retains that distinctive and whimsical uniqueness of a name that’s much further on the fringe than Hazel actually is. I can just picture a little hazel-eyed princess running barefoot around her gorgeous backyard, wild hair all spread out as she lays underneath a hazelnut tree. Ugh, so cute.

Etta

“Estate ruler”; feminine diminutive of Henry

English, Scottish

I suppose in response to Archie’s middle name Harrison, I’ve seen some Squaddies predict Henrietta for his little sister. And um . . . that is not a favorite of mine 😅 But if Harry wants to add his brand to his second little munchkin as well, why not Henrietta’s much more sleek and dynamic offshoot, Etta? It's got that old school feel, with also a spark of liveliness. I also love that it ties to their Black ancestry through one of the most legendary Queens of American Soul Music, Etta James.

Maeve

“She who intoxicates”

Irish

Incredibly endearing with a rich history. For my own personal use, this safer option might actually be called upon for my future daughter if I never manage to work up the courage to use my actual long-time Irish favorite, Saoirse. But for Harry and Meghan, I can’t really see them using this one. Still, I felt like I needed an M name to cover all my bases, and this is one of the few that I like. Some other honorable “M”entions (get it?) include Maisie, Melody, and Madeleine (thank you to my lovely anon for this one!).

Francesca

“From France; free man”; variation of Frances

Italian

I haven’t really mentioned middle names here, mostly because this post is long enough already and middle name combos just add a whole other level of crazy. But given the enormous legacy of her grandmother, I am extremely torn on whether Baby Girl will be getting a name in her honor. If her parents so choose, Diana’s middle name Frances, or even it’s more ornately feminine variation, Francesca, would be lovely honors for the little princess to carry. If they do end up honoring Diana, I’d expect it to be in Baby Girl’s middle name.

Violet

“Purple”

Latin, English

One last flower name for Earth Mama Meghan. Violet was my top pick for Archie when he was still the mysterious Baby Sussex, but though it has since fallen from my top spot, it still is a lovely, classic name of inarguable feminine grace, yet with an underlying core of strength and fortitude. I feel like Violet is a woman who ties her hair back with a soft velvet bow, but then hitches up her skirts, draws her sword, and shows the battlefield who’s boss. I just love the duality of this name, and I think it would be a lovely gift for a little girl.

Alice

“Noble”

German

Vintage, classic, girly, and solidly royal, this name calls to mind white rabbits and looking glasses. Once again, on a personal note, this might be an option for my future daughter if I chicken out on trying to get everyone to pronounce Alicia correctly. I love that name in the Spanish pronunciation, “Ah-lee-see-ah,” but I find the Anglicized “Ah-lee-sha” to be dreadful and I wouldn’t want to burden my girl with a lifetime of corrections. Anyways, Alice is just as elegant, if not quite as ornate, and in any case is much more likely for our British-American princess. Plus, what a stunning pair of name meanings to gift these two siblings: “Brave” Archie and “Noble” Alice. They sound straight out of an Arthurian legend. (Plus, how cute would “Archie and Alice” sound!)

Honorable Mentions Cause I Need To Wrap This Shit Up:

Evie/Edie (both follow all the E names I wrote about above, and Edie in particular is a modern name full of moxie that would be a great nickname for the older, traditional Edith)

Lily (yet another flower name, and I just like the sound of this one)

Spencer (another possible route to honoring Granny Diana, yet maintaining a much more modern and spunky taste than Frances, while also being less direct)

Clara (of Nutcracker fame, adding here mostly because I think I’d melt if I heard this in Harry’s voice and accent)

Lucy (same vibes as Alice and Clara)

Ivy (cute, simple, girly nature name, but unfortunately already in use by the daughter of Meghan’s close friend Jessica Mulroney)

Zoe (I have absolutely no personal connection to this name, but for some reason it just now randomly popped into my head as something they might choose, so here ya go)

So yeah! Sorry this was so long, but it was super fun! Thank you for sending in this great question. I’d love to hear all your guys’ name predictions, dream picks, and wild card guesses!

#meghan markle #prince harry #baby sussex 2.0 #royal fandom #the princess of montecito #baby names #markle & spencer #the munchkins of montecito

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p-artsypants · 4 years ago

Text

Arcadia or Bust (16) Corner of Main and State

"Yeah, so mom…we made it to New Jersey, and we're all safe...but the Heartstone isn't really...impressive. So, we're bringing what we found home. See you soon!" In Which Arcadia welcomes back it's underground citizens, Jim gets used to mundane life as a Troll, and drama seeks them all out like a magnet.

Ao3 | FF.net

I’m rewatching Trollhunters, because it’s been like a year since I watched it, and the more I listen, the less the plot of Wizards makes sense to me. Don’t get me wrong, I loved it, but there’s some lore and continuity issues. That being said, I’ll continue to write this story using Trollhunter’s lore primarily, with a sprinkle of Wizards and 3Below lore as I see fit. :)

—

Jim had been through a lot of trauma in his life. At least since becoming the Trollhunter. But nothing was as jarring as looking down to his chest and seeing his ribcage, muscles, and heart beating.

They had taken the amulet from where it was nestled, and in return, left the gaping hole wide open, oozing with blood, and exposed. Could trolls get infections? Because humans certainly could, and this was just asking for infection.

He had been lying here alone for a few hours now. It was hard to tell exactly how long in the vast passage of time while drenched in pain.

When Colonel Kubritz appeared at his side, he wasn’t even surprised. Had he fallen asleep?

“How do you get this to work?” She bit. In her hand, she held the cleaned amulet, and it glowed, aching to be back with him.

“You can’t. You have to be chosen by it. Even if I die, it will pick someone else. And it might not be you.”

She slapped him for that, but it looked like it hurt her more than him, by the wince on her face. “Don’t give me that crap. Tell me how to work it!”

“Just speak the incantation inscribed.”

“We already tried that.”

He shrugged. “That’s all it is.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Teach me to use it, and I’ll let you go home.”

Jim sighed. It was pointless, but he may as well try.

—

Claire rang the doorbell at the designated house.

A surly man opened the door. “Yeah? What do you want? No solicitors! Unless you’re a girl scout…no, you’re too old. Are you with the tamale lady?”

“Hello sir, I’m not here to sell anything, I actually came to ask about the car you had totaled a few days ago.”

“Are you here to hunt down that devil that flipped my baby?!” He gestured to the smashed in car in the driveway. It looked drivable, but one bump away from death.

“Not quite...I’m actually here to fix it.”

“Fix it? You want to fix that? My mechanic couldn’t even fix it! And you want to! What are you, 15?”

“17, actually.”

“I doubt you have the experience for this, little lady.”

“Oh, I’m not a mechanic, I’m a sorceress.”

“A what now?”

“Sorceress, a witch! Do I have permission to fix your truck?”

“Girlie, if you can fix my truck, I’ll owe you a huge favor.”

“I was hoping you’d say that!” With a little skip, Claire went over to the truck and rested her hands on the hood. “Ad initium redire...” Her hands glowed purple, and pulsed against the metal, making it groan. Then it began to twist and crunch, popping out dents and welding pieces back together.

The old man stood in shock as his beloved truck knit back together, and when she was done, it was in perfect condition.

“How did—where did you—?!” He rounded the car, circling it like a vulture. “It’s perfect! You even took out that bump from years ago! You’re a miracle worker, girlie!”

Claire fell on her butt on the driveway, dizzy and winded. “Glad to help.”

“You alright?”

“Just a little winded. I’m still getting used to using magic, especially without a staff. It’s exhausting.”

“Well why don’t you take a seat up on the porch instead of the road? I’ll get you a beer.”

“I’m seventeen.”

“You’ve earned it!”

Claire chuckled to herself and climbed to her feet. She followed the man up his steps and took a seat on the porch swing while he went inside.

Only a minute later, he returned with beers in hand. “Here you are darlin’. Summertime ale. I’m partial to dark ale myself, but my neighbor got me this pale ale. It’s pretty good! You have a favorite?”

Claire took a sip and tried to hide the grimace. “I don’t really get to drink very often, unless it’s a special occasion.”

“Right right, we’ll keep it our little secret. Now then, I owe you a favor. You just saved me a whole chunk of change and a basket of anxiety. You must have something in mind since you offered?” He suddenly sat up straight. “Oh god, you don’t want my soul do you?”

Claire snorted. “No no, you can keep your soul! Don’t know what I would do with it anyways...You know the boy that damaged your truck in the first place?”

“I only saw a glimpse of him, that blue devil? What about him?”

“He’s actually my boyfriend, and he’s really very sweet and usually not like this. But he was...fed something he shouldn’t have had and it made him go berserk.”

“Crying shame.”

“I’ll say! So the army came in and took him away! They wouldn’t listen to us at all!”

“So what do you want me to do about it?”

“We are going to run a campaign to get him out. Hopefully, if we get enough attention on the issue, they’ll let him go.”

“Oh, I gotcha.”

“So if you could just...spread the truth around town? He’s actually the one that stopped that troll invasion back at the beginning of summer.”

The man looked surprised at that. “No kidding, that was him? Well, he’s a local hero! He’s been talked about a lot since then! Sure I’ll set the record straight! What’s this kid’s name?”

“Jim Lake Jr.”

“Got it! Don’t worry, I’ll bring it up at the lodge, and the rotary, and the chess club...”

—

The phone was ringing, he had been successfully patched through. Strickler sat in his office after hours, wanting to make the call as private as possible.

“Stricklander, I haven’t heard from you since the fall of the Janus order. What reason have you called on me?”

“Can’t I just call an old friend to catch up?”

“You? No.”

Walt cracked a smile. “Fine. I need a favor.”

“Changeling to changeling, or school principal to army general?”

“The latter, actually.”

The man on the other line laughed. “Color me intrigued.”

“You know of the human Trollhunter, correct?”

“Just what you wrote in your dossier, a human male, 16 years old, lives in Arcadia Oaks, California, turned half-troll by the wizard Merlin. Responsible for the death of Bular and Gunmar. Quite a remarkable young soul. Is there anything else to know?”

“He’s been captured by the United States Army.”

The man let out half a chuckle. “Captured? What dumb trouble did he get into?”

“His deadbeat father left out some cocaine for the boy to find, he thought it was trash, and ate it.”

Distantly on the other line, there was laughter, a strong bark of laughter that lasted far too long. When he came back, he was calm. “How unfortunate.”

“He’s a good kid. Why would there be a kilogram of cocaine in the trash anyways? I fail to see the humor in the situation.”

“Of course. So, I assume, he went on a rampage following his meal, and then attracted the attention of some of us?”

“So you haven’t heard about it?”

“Not where I’m stationed. But give me a moment.” The line went silent, only a very distant and quiet tapping of keys on a keyboard being tapped. Then the man returned. “I’m glad you told me about this. This incident hasn’t been reported to our database. That shows evidence of misconduct. Did you get the name of the commanding officer responsible, by chance?”

“Colonel Kubritz, I believe.”

More typing. “Area 49-B.”

“That name was also passed around.”

“Technically not my jurisdiction, and since she didn’t report it, I’m not supposed to know about it.”

“I’m afraid you will officially know about it soon.”

“Oh?”

“His friends and family, myself included, are going to put on a protest for his freedom. Drawing attention to the situation.”

That echoing laughter was back again.

“It wasn’t my idea, in case you were wondering.”

“I know, you wouldn’t come up with something so bold. Regardless, go ahead in through with it. I’ll make sure whatever protest happens gets brought to my superior’s attention, and then I will take it from there.”

“Thanks. I will owe you one.”

“Oh come now, Walter, we Changelings that survived the Fall of the Janus order have to stick together. Besides, I heard rumors that you’re caring for my familiar?”

“He’s still in the cradle stone, and the moment. One baby at a time, for now.”

“Then we’re even. Besides, this is the most interesting thing that’s happened in a while. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

“Your kindness is refreshing. I’m glad Gunmar didn’t eat you.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“We’ll be in touch then, Samuel.”

“Of course, Walter.”

—

“How goes the car repair?” Asked Merlin, as he met up with Toby and Claire in the park.

“Ugh, exhausting. First I stopped at the mechanics, and they’re still backed up with fixing other cars. Apparently, Gunmar’s army did a number and backed them up for months. But they gave me the names of all the clients who got totaled from Jim. I had to hit the scrap yard for four of them, and I just finished another two in driveways.”

“How many does that leave you with?”

“Seven more,” she sighed. “How goes the road work?”

“It goes. Now come along, there’s someone I’d like you to meet.” He didn’t wait for them to follow as he turned and started walking away.

Sharing a dubious look, Toby and Claire quickly caught up with him. He led them to a bookstore, where a young man was sweeping outside.

“Hisirdoux, my faithful and loyal apprentice—“

“You're damn straight I’m loyal!” He shouted. “Where have you been? I’ve been cleaning tables for the last 900 years!”

“Calm yourself boy, I’m here now, aren’t I? And I need your help.”

“Finally! What is it? Just say the word!”

“I need you to go with Miss Claire Nuñez and help her restore recently smashed vehicles.”

“What?”

“Or, you can repair street damage.”

Douxie crossed his arms. “What is this? I saw what happened! There were trolls, and evidence of Morgana! And now you need my help? To clean up, several months later?”

“That is correct.”

“Why didn’t you call for me back then?!”

“I forgot.”

“You forgot? About me?”

“Oh come now, don’t take it personally. I was busy trying to prepare the Trollhunter to fight Gunmar. And get my magic back from Morgana.”

Douxie seemed to become more sympathetic at that. “Morgana stole your magic?”

“Yes, but it’s all in the past now. Everything is fine. Well, not really. Seems that the US Army has declared the Trollhunter as a menace to society. We must get the trust of the city on our side if we are to get them to trust us, and agree that his capture is unjust.”

“Please,” said Claire. “We need all the help we can get.”

Douxie sighed. “Alright. Afterwards, you’re training me again.” He gave Merlin a hard look. “And no amateur magic either. I’ve been doing the same drills for 900 years. I think I’m ready for more advanced work.”

“Oh, you will be. Starting with helping Miss Nuñez field her shadow magic.”

Douxie looked at her, in awe. “You’re practicing shadow magic? Truly?”

“It’s a recent development…”

“She took Morgana’s Skathe-Hrün, and wielded it without any training. Because of that she has a tether to Morgana in the Shadow realm, who has been teaching her ever so slightly. I’m not allowed to train her, but she could use the guidance of a Wizard in the physical realm. Do you understand Hisirdoux?”

“I do, and I’ll be happy to teach her…I’m just…I’ll need a moment or two to digest the sentence you just said.”

“Well, don’t take too long, we have a Trollhunter to rescue!”

—

There was a heavy knock on the door, which was never a good thing. Especially nowadays.

Still, Barbara went to the door.

Standing there was Detective Scott and James Lake Sr.

“Does this belong to you?” Asked the detective.

“I don’t claim him, no.”

Her almost ex-husband smiled at her, pleadingly, “Please Babs?”

“What is he even doing out? You arrested him!”

“About that…” Detective Scott winced. “We don’t have enough to keep him on.”

“What!” She shouted. “He confessed in front of a bunch of people!”

“Which would be helpful if we had a case for a trial. But as it stands, he doesn’t actually have any drugs on him. And we don’t have a confession on tape. So…we’re shit out of luck.”

“Oh come on Louis, you know the cocaine came from him! Where else would Jim have gotten it from?”

“Look, the chief’s not thrilled that we didn’t arrest the guy responsible for trashing the town, but we’re supposed to arrest someone else without evidence?”

Barbara threw her hands up in the air. “With probable cause!”

“That doesn’t work with drug dealers. He’s clean, Barbara. All the blood tests came back clean too.”

“Ugh.”

The house shook slightly, and Barbara felt the floor bow behind her. “Is there a problem, officer?” Asked Draal.

“Nothing you can help with, Draal. Thank you.” Barbara sighed. “James is not being charged.”

“But he is a criminal, this degenerate flesh bag poisoned the Trollhunter! He should face banishment for his crimes!”

James withered a little with the glare Draal gave him.

“Well,” said Officer Scott. “Maybe you can keep an eye on him from now on. If you have evidence that he is dealing, like physical traces of cocaine on the premises, call us. But for now, there’s not much else we can do.”

“This is ludicrous.”

“I know, I’m sorry Barbara. How is Jim?”

She frowned. “You haven’t heard? The army came and collected him from the hospital!”

Louis sputtered. “The army came?!”

“Yes!”

“Where were they when Gunmar was terrorizing us?” He scoffed. “Again, sorry Barbara, I can’t help you here.”

“It’s alright. We’ve got a plan.”

“Love to hear it, but I’ve got to get back to the office. I’m sure Toby will tell Darci, and she’ll tell me. Good luck!” And he left James on the porch.

“Babs, I’m sorry…”

“Save it.” Barbara scoffed, but allowed him in the house.

Draal never took his eyes off the man.

“Well, you’ll be happy to know I have no more supply. And after Rudy found out what happened to my last Kilo, she’s not getting anymore for me. So…”

“I’ll have to thank Jim for keeping a kilogram of Cocaine off the streets of Arcadia. We have a fairly low rate of drug use around here, and we don’t need you to ruin people’s lives.”

James sighed, knowing he had dodged a huge bullet by being let off the hook. He’d rather deal with his wife than with his ex-associates in jail any day. “I think I’ve still ruined people’s lives anyway.” He walked into the living room, only to halt at the signs on the table.

Release Jim Lake Jr.

Justice for Jim

Let Lake Go!

“Babs, what is all this?”

“That’s part of our plan to free Jim! I’m friends with the councilwoman, and she suggested that we campaign for his release. Bringing a lot of unwanted attention onto his capture will stir the government to let him go!”

James jutted out his jaw, a sign of barely concealed rage. An expression Barbara had grown very used to in the last few months. “So, you’re going to put his name—my name in the news? You’re going to broadcast what city we live in?”

“Yes.”

He whirled on her, grabbing her arm. “Babs, people are looking for me! Horrible, mean, and ruthless people! If you put his name out there, they’ll know where to look!”

“All the better! Then they can come take you off my hands!”

“You don’t understand! I owe them a lot of money, and they’ll take it anyway they can! That includes extorting you, Jim, and whoever else they connect with me!”

Draal stepped in, removing his hand from Barbara’s arm. “This house is under my protection. If anyone dare tries to enter, they will be dealt with swiftly.”

“You don’t know what these men are capable of.”

“I assure you, I’ve decimated armies of flesh bags in my day. These men are no different.”

Barbara smiled. “If you’re really that scared, I hear Vermont is lovely this time of year.”

James just narrowed his eyes, before storming out of the room.

—

The first rally took place from 3pm to dusk, starting from after school, and leading up to when Trolls would be able to participate. Granted, it was only a handful of people, but standing in the middle of downtown did garner a lot of attention. More than a dozen people walking past had stopped to ask about the cause. They were then given a short synopsis of the situation, as it pertained to them:

“Jim is a 16 year old student who was chosen by the trolls to be our protector. He willingly gave up his humanity to defeat Gunmar the Black, the monstrous troll that attacked the city at the beginning of the summer. Now, he looks like a troll, and was sabotaged to go into a rage and damage the city. The US army took him away without a trial! He’s a hero to the city, and deserves fair treatment!”

Reactions ranged from:

“Oh, he stopped that thing?”

To:

“Oh my god! He’s just a child!”

Overwhelmingly, there was no negative feedback, at least in person. But it was only day one.

—

“This daylight...is it significant?” The colonel asked, as she circled his table.

“It’s just a name.” Jim lied. “A sword with a name is stronger than one without.”

“Interesting. Interesting indeed. According to my notes, trolls turn to stone in daylight. Any correlation there?”

So she already knew? Then what was the point? Was she just playing with him?

“I’m the Trollhunter, and I fight bad trolls. It would make sense to name my sword after something they’re afraid of.”

She hummed. “And what about you?”

“What about me?”

“Are you afraid of daylight?”

“Why would I be?”

The colonel laughed. “Oh Jim Lake Jr. You’re the worst liar I’ve ever met. You are honest and forthcoming with truths that work in your favor. You freely told me of your transformation, and of your victory against a Troll tyrant. But now that I’m edging on the topic of your weakness, you clam up and give me vague answers. I can do this all day, beast. What does daylight do to you?”

“Nothing. It doesn’t do anything to me.”

“Really? Even as a troll? That’s interesting.”

“It’s fortunate.”

“I would say so. Though, now you’ve got me curious. These burns on your skin…where did they come from?” She dragged her fingernail over one of the dark marks.

Jim winced. “I don’t know. I wasn’t aware in my rage state.”

“Then you won’t mind if I find out for myself?” She crooked a finger towards the shadows. Jim could hear the creak of wheels before a lamp with several fixtures was wheeled forward.

“Oh no…”

“UV lights, all different wattages. Let’s see what works the best, hmm?”

—

ARCADIA TRIBUNE

Justice for Jim

By Nadja Chamack

Who is Jim Lake Jr. anyway? This is a question I asked myself as I drove downtown three days ago. No doubt, you’ve seen the crowd of students and teachers holding signs on the corner of Main and State Street. It’s pretty hard to miss, quite honestly. Among the students, there’s also Councilwoman Nuñez, and resident Troll Mascot, ARRRGH! Signs range from ‘Justice for Jim’ to ‘Free our Lake’.

But who is Jim Lake Jr.? And what happened? A precursory search on my end showed only a scant few facts. Jim is a student at Arcadia Highschool, in his Junior year. He was nominated as Spring Fling King last year, and played the part of Romeo in the school play. His criminal record seemed pretty clean too. A misdemeanor for scratching a rental scooter was all that showed up. But hey, who hasn’t done that?

So I went to the source, his family and friends campaigning for him. On Saturday, the group was downtown, campaigning all day long, so I had the chance to interview each and every person about why they were there.

Turns out, Jim Lake Jr. might be the most amazing person in Arcadia.

From his mother, Dr. Barbara Lake, I learned that Jim is an Arcadia native, born and raised here. He enjoys cooking gourmet food, working on his vespa, and acting.

Oh, and he’s the first human Trollhunter.

What? You’ve never heard of a Trollhunter? Me neither. But Barbara and Blinky, another resident Troll, gave me the scoop.

You all remember that night at the beginning of the summer that we all promised not to talk about? Well, I’m going to talk about it. In fact, I’m here to give you all the answers you’ve been craving.

Many months before that fateful night, a new Trollhunter was chosen, after the previous one had perished. “The Trollhunter is chosen according to his mettle, by the amulet of the Trollhunter, as created by Merlin, the wizard of Arthurian legend. Jim was chosen after the fall of Kanjigar, his predecessor. Jim is the first human to be chosen, also the smallest and weakest. But, he was the first to defeat Bular, son of Gunmar!” Said his mentor, Blinky. None of this made any sense to me at first, though it was said with great enthusiasm.

It turns out, the trolls that we’ve gotten used to seeing around town, mostly ARRRGH, are ‘good’ trolls. The bad trolls, ‘Gum-gums’ are what invaded our town and destroyed my car. The Trollhunter’s whole job is to fight off these bad trolls, and gnomes, and goblins, and everything else that goes bump in the night. And so he did. The Gum-Gums invaded from the ‘Darklands’, being led by a fearsome troll named Gunmar the Black, the Skullcrasher, the Dark Lord…he had a lot of names, and it was obviously a bad dude. Gunmar had plans to invade the whole world by blotting out the sun, a.k.a the eclipse we saw. And he would have gotten away for it too, if it weren’t for those meddling kids!

Mainly Jim Lake Jr. and his friends.

And how does a sixteen year old defeat a couple millennia old, bloodthirsty, all powerful tyrant? With a fancy sword? Close. With some magical armor? Closer. By giving up a part of his humanity and becoming a half-human, half-troll hybrid? Now you’re getting it! Yes, to protect Arcadia, to protect us, Jim Lake Jr. allowed himself to be changed. You may have seen him around town. Blue skin, big horns...okay, I just described most of the trolls that are around here.

“Jim works the night shift at my store,” said Stu Harding, owner of Thrifty Furnishings. “He’s a very hard worker, and always willing to do the heavy lifting that is hard for the other employees to do.”

“Despite his appearance, Jim ultimately decided to attend school,” said Principal Walter Strickler. “After the school found out about why he had missed so many days of school, they were willing to move him onto the next grade to be with his peers. He was a good student before all this, and he fought really hard to keep his grades up regardless. We felt he should still have the opportunity to graduate. We were looking forward to having him on our football team, and in our spring production of Beauty and the Beast.”

So what happened to Jim? And why is there such a big campaign for his freedom?

Well, the truth is that Jim is a victim of unfortunate circumstances. In more ways than one, obviously. Trolls eat our trash. That’s why Arcadia has such a small carbon footprint! (Be sure to thank ARRRGH next time you see him!) And this trait was adopted by Jim too, when he was transformed.

“He just picked a bunch of items out of the trash. Cans, an old sock, and what looked like a VHS wrapped in duct tape,” said Jim’s best friend, Toby Dolmzalski. “It was a normal lunch for him. But right in the middle of gym class, he turned crazy town banana pants and took off! I had never seen Jim act like that! Ever!”

After an 8 hour rage through town, Jim collapsed and was taken to the hospital for evaluation. It turns out what Jim had ingested turned out to be a kilogram of pure cocaine!

At this time, it is unknown where the cocaine came from, or if it was planted purposefully. (Seriously, who throws away a kilogram of cocaine?)

But the damage that Jim caused was extensive enough to catch the attention of the US army, who has taken Jim into captivity from the hospital. No trial, no rights, they even took him while he was unconscious. His friends and family have not heard from him since.

“I’m so worried,” said girlfriend, Claire Nuñez. “He was injured from the battle with Gunmar, and didn’t completely heal. In the hospital, he was covered in burns from the sun. I have no idea if they’re caring for him properly, or dissecting him like some creature. But he deserves so much better than this. He saved our town, he saved my life, and the life of my baby brother. That’s why we won’t rest until he’s home!”

“Not bad,” said ARRRGH, long time friend of Jim. “Good troll have bad days, best trolls have worse days. Jim need some good days.”

Couldn’t have said it better myself, ARRRGH.

Friends and family of Jim are asking everyone share #JusticeforJim on social media, hoping to get the attention of someone in charge. All the damage caused by Jim has been repaired, and there were no casualties from his attack.

Of course, the whole ‘troll’ aspect of this story has to be a local legend. So when sharing it to social media, kindly leave that part out.

—

“C-Bomb!” Mary shouted from the other end of the hall. She came running and almost crashed into Claire and Toby, holding her phone up in the air. “My twitter feed is blowing up, girl! Look at all of this!” She held the screen up so they could see.

“Citizen abducted by the government, is this China or North Korea? Neither! It’s the US! #JusticeforJim”

“Imagine if this was your son. So sad, and so scary! #JusticeforJim”

“This is real life, not science fiction #JusticeforJim”

“Whoa, where did these all come from?” Asked Claire. “What did you post?”

“Did you know Snapper Karr did a report on it!?”

“Snapper Karr? From KTTV in LA?”

“Yes! Thankfully, he left out the whole troll thing. I’ll send you a link. In his story, Jim is just a kid that has a rare genetic disorder that makes him look different, and so the government took him away!”

Claire winced. “This is…kind of spiraling out of control.”

“I don’t know why you’re worrying, Claire,” said Darci. “We want people talking about Jim getting abducted. It doesn’t matter if the world outside Arcadia doesn’t have all the facts. They still know he’s been taken away without a trial, and that’s all that’s important. Besides, Jim doesn’t want the whole world knowing about Trolls, right?”

She nodded. “As long as this works, I’ll be happy.”

“And sensationalist stories like this blow up for like a week, and then they die out and are forgotten. This won’t last.” Mary waved her hand. “It should work long enough to get Jimmy Jam out though.” Then she squealed. “OMG you know what we should do?! We should totally have a welcome home party! Or-or a parade! Like they have for veterans!”

“Mary, I don’t think—“

“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it! You’re not the only one with ties to the city!” And she hurried off, texting frantically.

“What’s up Claire? I would have thought you’d be ecstatic the hashtag went viral.” Asked Toby.

“Don’t get me wrong, I am happy. And I’m happy that Snapper Karr chalked the troll thing up to local legend or superstition…but I can’t help but worry that something bad is going to come out of this.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know. It’s just a gut feeling.” She scoffed and went to her locker. “It’s dumb, don’t worry about it.”

No sooner had she said that, did Strickler appear. “Claire, Toby, come with me.”

“What?”

“I’ve already spoken with your teachers, now come along.”

Claire and Toby shared a look, but followed regardless.

—

They were led to the parking lot, where a black van with tinted windows waited, a huge red flag, if there ever was one.

“Umm…” said Toby.

“Don’t worry.” Strickler assured.

A man in an army uniform stepped out of the driver seat. “Walter, good to see you again.”

“Glad to see you as well, Samuel. And thank you for following through with your promise.”

“As I said, this is the most interesting thing to happen in a while.” He glanced at the two teenagers in attendance. “We’re just waiting for his mother, correct?”

“She should be here soon.”

Toby muttered to Claire, “Who’s Jorgen Von Strangle over here?”

“No idea.”

And just like that, Barbara pulled into the parking lot, haphazardly parked, and ran over to them, still in her scrubs. “I came as soon as I could! We’re going to get Jim?!”

“What?!” Screamed Toby. “We’re rescuing him?!”

“That is the goal,” the man answered. “I’m General Samuel Attila. I’ve been given authorization to intervene in this situation, given that this project, whatever it is, hasn’t been officially recorded. But, bear in mind, you may not like what you see. We may be bringing home Jim, or just his body. I don’t know. So if anyone is uncomfortable with that idea, I suggest you stay behind.”

“I’m going,” Said Toby. “No matter what.”

“Me too,” said Claire. “It’ll hurt, but I want to know what happened to him.”

“Alright, then let’s hurry. The facility is about an hour away.” He ushered everyone into the van, which had two front seats, two benches along the walls, and a gurney in the middle. As soon as everyone was buckled, they headed out.

“Hey, if you know Mr. Strickler, does that mean you’re a…?”

“A what, Toby?” Asked Walt, with a hint of amusement in his tone.

“A…man of culture?”

“Yes, I am a changeling.”

Toby exhaled. “Okay, it’s like super hard to ask that question when you don’t know who knows, you know?”

“I owe the Trollhunter a debt of gratitude for stopping Gunmar. After he ate the entirety of the Janus order, we the few that weren’t present for his return stayed in hiding. Had Gunmar taken over the world, my death as a traitor would have been slow and painful. We were thinking about sending him a thoughtful gift basket, but I think this is more fun. I love to bully those in lower ranks. The fleshbags get a few pretty badges and think they’re invincible. I love watching them cower!”

Toby leaned closer to Claire. “He was so nice and helpful, I was beginning to wonder if he was actually a changeling.”

“Same! But I actually feel better knowing he’s got ulterior motives, and that they have nothing to do with us.”

“Have you heard from Nomura lately?” Samuel asked Walter.

“She was in Arcadia for a while. She helped with the fight with Gunmar. Right now, I believe she’s on her way back from New Jersey.”

“New Jersey? What was she doing out there?”

“After Morgana and Gunmar destroyed the Heartstone, Jim and Blinky went in search of a new one.”

“Oh, yes. I forgot there were rumors of a source in New Jersey. Did they find it?”

“Yep,” said Claire. “But it wasn’t very big, so we brought it back to Arcadia in a truck. The rest of the tribe is making their way back on foot.”

“Ah, that explains it.” Samuel nodded. “You’re both very lucky. Not many Changeling’s are allowed in Trollmarket.”

“Now that Gunmar’s out of the picture, I’m sure you could visit too!” Toby exclaimed, before getting elbowed in the gut by Claire.

“It’d be nice to see it once. I’m sad I didn’t get to see the Heartstone in its glory, but such is life.”

The rest of the ride continued in relative silence. Strickler and Samuel spoke to each other, mostly catching up. But Toby, Claire, and Barbara were far too anxious to keep up with the conversation.

There were no windows in the back of the vehicle, so there was no way of knowing where they were. From the front, they looked to be in a weaving forest trail.

Then there were huge cement walls in front of them.

Samuel pulled in the front gate.

The man at the gate didn’t look up from his computer. “You’re not authorized to be here.”

“Excuse me?”

“I don’t recognize your vehicle, so I know you don’t have clearance.”

Samuel sat up a little straighter, glaring at the soldier at the gate. “How about you scan my badge first, and then tell me if I have clearance, Lieutenant.”

The soldier gave a little shrug and reached out for the badge, his eyes widening as he caught a glance at the four stars on the man’s shoulder. “Oh.”

“Problem?”

“No, sir. I just…I don’t need to scan your badge, you can go in.”

“Thank you. At ease soldier.”

Toby held back a snicker.

“And, let Colonel Kubritz know she has company.”

“Yes sir.”

“As you were.”

The gate rolled open, and they pulled through.

It seemed like Samuel’s message was received pretty quickly, because the woman that had taken Jim was waiting for them, flanked by soldiers with strange weapons.

“Stay in the car.” He told everyone, before getting out.

“I was not aware of any sort of inspection. You are not my commanding general, and therefore not welcome here. This facility holds highly dangerous equipment and confidential projects.”

“Stand down, Colonel. I am here on behalf of general Adele. I’m here to recover Jim Lake Jr. General Adele will be speaking to you about your discharge.”

“What are you talking about?” She demanded.

“You kidnapped a teenage boy from a hospital. Surely you didn’t think that wouldn’t go unnoticed? I have video evidence of you leaving the hospital with him.”

“He’s not a normal boy—“

“I’d say so! His whole town is hailing him as a hero for saving them from an invasion! I thought this facility was for research on protecting Earth from invaders. And you’re punishing a boy for saving a town?”

“He also destroyed it. Don’t give into their little campaign. Jim Lake Jr. may have done something good once, but that doesn’t stop him from being a monster.”

“I was just in Arcadia, Colonel. There is no damage. There’s no lawsuits against Jim Lake Jr. There’s not even any pending arrests.”

“I have video evidence of his destruction!” She barked.

“Then let the local police handle it.”

She growled, then commanded her men to stand down. “Fine. But if he does this again, no one will stop me from taking him.”

“Actually,” he clarified with a smirk. “You’re being discharged. So you won’t have any means to take him again.”

Her mouth opened in shock, as she fought to find an argument.

But he was a general, he was above her.

“Now, Jim Lake Jr.?”

She grumbled something and started off towards a big central building.

Samuel was quick to beckon the others out of the car to follow him, and headed towards the same building as Kubritz.

When Barbara reached them, she spoke, “you didn’t hurt my son, did you?”

Kubritz didn’t even look at her. “I don’t have to share information with civilians.”

Claire clenched her fists in anger, a black haze coming over her hands.

But Toby simply patted her on the back to ground her.

Colonel Kubritz led them through the research facility, ignoring their questions.

They reached the room Jim was being held in, and she entered her code to open the door.

Of course, Jim wasn’t the only thing in the room, being surrounded by specimens of all sorts of living creatures, but he was right in the center, with a spot light right on him.

“Jim!” Claire shouted first as she ran to him.

The poor boy was naked, lying on his back and strapped to the table with thick iron bonds. His wound from Morgana wasn’t the worst on him anymore, as he was covered in blackened burned spots. The spot that had the amulet was now just a hole in his chest, that went right down to the ribs. Claire could see his heart beating, and his lungs moving, thank god.

“Jim...” she cried, seeing the carnage.

“What did you do to him?!” Toby shouted at the Colonel, but she didn’t respond.

“Honey? Jim? Can you hear me?” Barbara asked, as she assessed the damage.

His eyes opened ever so slightly. “Mom? Is that you? Are you...really here?”

“Yeah kiddo,” she wiped some tears from her eyes. “It’s me, I’m here. Toby, Claire, and Walt are here too. We’re going to take you home.”

His smile was just a hint, and he stated, “I’m tired.”

“I’m sure you are. We’re going to get you fixed up!” She turned to the Colonel. “Get me a gurney or a wheelchair!”

She scoffed. “I don’t take orders from civilians.”

Samuel interceded. “Then get me a soldier who isn’t completely incompetent! If you’re going to continue to endanger the life of this young man, then I suggest you get out of my sight before I endanger yours.”

The Colonel didn’t waver, though a tremor went down her spine. “Lieutenant!” She called.

A man hurried into the room, standing at attention.

Kubritz just gave a roll of the eyes. “Follow whatever order the general gives you.”

“But—“

“No, I’m done.” With one last glare to Samuel, she added, “I'll be sending my evidence to General Adele, then we’ll see who’s the one putting the nation in danger.”

“Go ahead, I’ve already given my report.”

She growled at him, turned and left without another word.

The lieutenant just stood at attention in front of Samuel instead. “Orders sir?”

“Get someone to fetch the gurney from the back of our van, and send for the medic! And get someone to get these shackles off this kid!”

“Sir yes sir!”

Meanwhile, Claire stood right by Jim’s side, holding his hand, brushing the bangs away from his face and combing his hair with her fingers. He had a pretty strong fever.

“You’re going to be alright Jim. We’re going to take good care of you.”

“I’m…cold…” He breathed.

Barbara found some vinyl gloves nearby and got to work examining her boy. “I don’t know about the Troll half, but this tissue looks alright. I don’t see any infection yet, or any tissue death. Of course, we need to get this covered immediately.”

“Where’s the amulet?” Asked Walt. “That’s what’s missing.”

“The amulet!” Barbara addressed Samuel. “His amulet, we have to find it!”

He nodded, “we can’t let these psychos have it. They have no idea what magic it possesses, even without being the chosen wielder.”

Only a beat passed before the army medic came with the gurney, and another soldier came with a crowbar to undo the shackles.

“Lieutenant, we’re looking for an amulet that came with Jim. It’s what’s missing from his chest.”

The Lieutenant blanched. “I don’t know anything about it…I can ask the Colonel?”

“She won’t tell.”

The shackles fell free from Jim’s limbs, but he didn’t seem to register it.

“Alright,” said Barbara, “Let’s move him onto the gurney. We can worry about the amulet later.” It took everyone to lift him and carefully slide him over. Then, he was covered up to his stomach with a blanket.

“You’re going home, Jim. Mi amor, you’re safe now.” Claire whispered, kissing his forehead.

“Hmm…” Jim weakly groaned. “…for the…glory…” But before he could finish, he fell back into sleep.

#arcadia or bust #tales of arcadia #Trollhunters #troll jim #jim lake junior #claire nunez #toby domzalski #fanfiction

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dontbesoweirdkira · 5 years ago

Note

Hey, it's me again, I hope you are still open for requests! You said I could ask for Mic content and, if I still can, what about some DadMic headcanons, with his own child and/or an adopted one?! Which one you prefer is fine! I hope you are doing well and thank you for the opportunity you gave me! Take care 💗

A/N: Hey you!! Thank you for requesting, it means a lot that you like my present mic work. And yes, you most definitely can have some DadMic headcanons. If you have any more requests just let me know. I did hours worth of homework and it deleted so i’m kind of like forget school and imma become a professional headcanon writer so honestly hit me up with as much stuff you want :)))))))

(i kind of wrote this like you are in the ages of like 6-10 so just keep that in mind)

-I feel he would have his child out of wedlock, maybe when he was younger out partying things got a little crazy then bam, next thing he knows he has a child with no mom and no idea what to do.

-cAlLs AizAwa

-No but He’s a great Dad honestly, although he's clueless sometimes, he tends to figures things out fairly quickly

- At first it was really hard for him since he had this baby, a new hero career, and the whole world trashing on him, he totally broke down a few times and wanted to give up. BUt aizawa and his other friends helped him through and encouraged him

-You’re his little sunshine and HE LOVeS yoU tO death

-calls you literally any pet name that is very soft and cute and innocent

-He buys evErything for you, i swear! If you just look at something for more than two seconds, it’s in his cart and he’s buying it for you

-”dad you don-”

-”shh pumpkin, let daddy buy it for you.”

-your room is filled with what every girl wants to have

-He learns to do your hair, no matter the texture or thickness or length, he’ll watch youtube videos and figure it out

-he lets you do his hair as well, braiding it, curling it whatever, he’s totally fine with it. JuSt DoNt CUt iT

-New school year and you need new clothes?? Yeah over 1,000 dollars worth of stuff brought.

-speaking of school, sometimes you get comments and stuff from teachers or students because you might not look like him or because you don’t know who your mom is, ect.

-At first when you were younger, it didn’t hurt you, you couldn’t understand that anyways, but as you started to get older it affected you more and more until one day you came home crying to present, and it literally breaks his heart

-”Daddy, why isn’t my skin as light as yours, and my hair isn’t as thin? The other kids make fun of me for it...it really hurts me. And WHere is mom? Does she not love us? You’re really sweet i don’t know why she doesn’t want to be with you…”

-”why are you asking this?”

-”The kids and teachers at school…”

-RAGE MODE ACTIVATED

-He literally storms down to your school and demands that the questions and comments stop or he’s going to press charges

-Never ever was asked about any of those things again...well, more or less, sometimes you hear teachers or students whispering or makings sly comments but you chose to ignore those things

-”DONT YOU EVER TALK TO ME OR MY LITTLE CUTIE PIE EVER AGAIN.”

-HUGs!! He hugs you like all the time everyday when he sees you. Like it’s his way it’s saying i love you although he screams that to you all the time

-”Y/N MY LITTLE GIRL,” *jump hugs* “I LOOOOOOOVveevVVEVVEvevV Ee YOuuUUUUUUOoUUUU”

- PROTECCS YOU AT ALL COSTS

-Like when the world found out that he had a kid, and he was still kind of a kid himself with a just starting a career, he kind of got shitted on a whole lot...by everyone and the press is always writing stories and stuff so when you were old enough to read or understand some stuff he’d often keep TV off or keep you away from the press and media although that became harder when you had to go outside and go to school but as much as he can limit that crazy stuff you see, he’ll do it.

-He makes sure you can defend yourself and as soon as you get your quirk, he’s training you. He will never push mega hard however he makes sure that the training is vigorous enough that when danger comes...you’re ready

-Being a pro hero’s child can mean you’re in a lot of danger, people want to kill or kidnap you to hurt the hero so he’s constantly worries and on you about safety

-If your quirk is similar to his, skskkdnjsk he literally will SCREEEEEEEE, he thinks it’s so awesome you have a quirk like his and he will make sure that the both of you will annoy Aizawa

-As much as Hizashi spoils you, you had to grow up a whole lot quickly. Even though he’s an underground hero and kinda works on his on time, his job is still quite demanding and he has to be gone a lot so that means you need to learn how to cook, clean, do your homework, etc. on your own so if anything happens (god forbid) you know how to take care of yourself. when you were younger tho he’d have a babysitter/nanny to look and take care of you while he’s at work

-Although when he is home he cooks and does all of that stuff. HE'S A REALLY GOOD COOK??????? Like seriously and don’t let me get started on the pastries he makes...mmmm yummm…

-only burnt down the kitchen once...Don’t tell Aizawa plez ;-;

-He actually feels very very bad about leaving you at home a lot with responsibility, he’s all about fun and really just being a kid so he always apologizes to you and plans something super fun when he’s off of work. Like laser tag, going out for ice cream, or just building forts at home. He makes sure you have a balance

-He might’ve brought you a puppy so you would have a friend, you let him name the puppy and now you have a “Mr.Ruffkins” running around your house

-He let’s you have girls night which is basically just you and him and sometimes a friend, and you guys just paint each other nails, put bows in each others hair, all the girly stuff, and just talk about anything.

-It’s his way i guess to make up for the mother-daughter time you don’t have in your life

-Cute picnics at the park with a bunch of snacks and you guys will just feed the little duckies and animals

-Brings you around his agency or to his radio show all the time, like everyone that works there knows and loves you a whole lot. You even have a mini cute pink desk with a name tag on it.

-You have a little segment on his show called “LittleMic and PresentMic” and you guys just talk about crazy weird stuff and reach out to single Dads who are also raising up kids. It’s super cute i swear.

-Aizawa is your tired uncle that says he hates coming over but he comes over like everyday and eats all your food while watching TV on the couch

-He’s the best uncle though but he’s super blunt. So sometimes you go to him for advice or just to talk. He adores you though and checks on you while DadMic is at work or something.

-Aizawa call you “Kiddo” or “littleMic” or just “y/n”

-Present lets you pick out his new tattoos, and one time he let you draw one….now he has a crooked purple butterfly on his arm...it’s all good tho

-Father daughter danceeeeee ya ya ya! You guys bring the moves and the music to the dance floor like get out the mf way swines.

-He picked out your dress and you picked out his suit, he even let you do a little man bun

-sometimes when you guys are just chilling at home, you will play some of your favorite classics, and you will step on his feet and he’ll dance, you guess may have fell like twice.

-speaking of music and dancing, he will turn up all of the pop jams that you love (slipping some of his rock n’ roll faves) THROW candy all through out the house and both of you are dancing in weird costumes while singing

-”I LOOOOOOOOvvEEEE ROcKKK N ROLLLLL SO PUT ANOTHER DIME IN THE JUKE BOX bAE bEEEEEEBHEDB”

-You are very much involved in music and he showed you how to make your own mixtapes, playlists, and how to DJ on your own

-piggy back rideeeesss yuuuuhhhhh. When you’re feeling sad he randomly picks you up, twirls you onto his back and runs around the house yells

-”WOOOOOSSSHHHHHH MEGA JET FLYING A SAD PASSENGER, MOVE OUT OF THE WAY WOOOOOSSHHHSHSH”

-Usually does this until you’re laughing and playing along with him

-”KrrSHH THIS IS FLIGHTER PILOT Y/N WITH MY TRUSTY JET YAMADA ON MY WAY TO DESTROY THE ENEMY PLANE, ANyoNE copPY?”

-one time you like dressed up like him for halloween and it was lit. hair somehow slicked up, black leather jacket and some headphones...wooo child you looked cool

-”PRESENT MIC MAY I GET YOUR AUTOGRAPH???”

-”nO PapArazzi PleAse”

-I feel as though you’d be bilingual, Japanese and English. I feel at home it’ll lean more towards English although there’s a hint of Japanese in there

-He rarely gets mad at you but if he did, it’s probably because you put yourself in danger or something of that sorts

-If you cannot sleep, he’ll let you sleep with him and he’ll have blue clues playing in the bakground to help “sooth you” (he enjoys that show very much”

-”THE CLUE IS RIGHT THERE BLUEEEE”

-”dad? I-”

-Tells you stories about his high school/early life and gives you advice

-”in conclusion do not throw a pumpkin at a security guard or you might get hurt...okay love bug?”

-The sweetest thing ever, like he randomly makes weird faces or says random things to make you laugh

-Forehead kisses or little cheek kisses

-Twirls you around and says “Ah my little princess looks lovely today”

-OMG TICKLE FIGHTS I SWEAR YOU’RE GASPING FOR AIR SOMEONE HELP YOU BUT LIKE ITS FUN

-You help him choose outfits when he’s indecisive

-”take away the scarf and go with the graphic tee and maybe the black boots instead of the red ones”

-”Look at my child, a fashion Icon.”

-He let you decorate the house so now there’s glitter, pink stuff, rainbows and sparkles all around the house but it’s super cute.

-Many cute photos of you guys in macaroni picture frames.

-HE TAKES PICTURES OF EVERYTHING LIKE STACKS OF PHOTOS SMHHH TAKE THE CAMERA AWAAAAYYYYY

-Being Present’s Child would be super cute and mega fun. He’s one of the most interactive loving dads out there, you would never feel lost or lonely for a second. Seriously he is the dad that we all wanted/ needed as a kid lmao.

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welcometoclass1ahell · 4 years ago

Text

Notebook Shocker: Mafia!Kaminari x Quirkless!Fem!Reader

Bruh its like 6am. I started this at 1am. Idk how writers do it. im drained af and probably spelt shit wrong but thats what edits are foooor.

Mafia!Kaminari x Quirkless!Fem!Reader

Warnings: A lil torture, violence, and mafia stuffff

Plot : A certain mobster had caught you stealing

Word Count: 5.8k

“What do you mean….someone took it?” Deku groaned in annoyance, fiddling with a pen behind his desk. His green eyes scanned over Kaminari’s sheepish stance, “That notebook has a lot of intel, if that gets in the wrong hands I won’t know what I’m going to do to you,” Deku continued, a sharp glare adding to the threat.

“I know, I know! Don’t worry about it boss, I’m gonna get it back. I saw who took it,” Kaminari explained, “I just wanted to let you know, I can track her down. How far can a little girly get?” He grinned as he rubbed the back of his neck. He knew he pissed off Deku but in a way he wasn’t too concerned yet. He just had to get that notebook back, and that would mean having a little chase with the girl who he saw last night.

“I don’t care who has it or how you get it back. I want that notebook, and bring her too! I wanna know who’s after it,” Deku ordered before waving his hand to dismiss him.

Giving a small head bow, Kaminari excused himself to go save that notebook. He didn’t know what was in there, but he knew it had to be important to rile up his boss that much. Walking down the halls of the hideout, he quickly made his way to the dinning hall where he knew his friends would be. Not minding the few bodyguards who nodded his way, Kaminiari pushed open the tall doors to the grand room and smiled over to his pals, Kirishima and Mina. “Guys! I may or may not have gotten myself into a bit of a situation,” He chuckled and took a seat at one of the seats across from them.

“What did you get yourself into this time bro?” Kirishima smirked looking up from the playing cards as Mina also took interest in the conversation. “I lost the notebook, the one Deku wanted,” He started which had already caused a worried look onto the duo’s faces across from him.

“Dude not cool, that had all the intel on certain politicians,” Kirishima sat up straighter, “Yeah, wasn’t Deku going to use that to bribe one of them to fund us?” Mina added into which Kaminari froze up.

“Wait, that notebook? Why would he make me in charge of that? Why not Todoroki or Bakugo?” Kaminari whined realizing how much worse this situation was and put his head to the table letting out an annoyed groan.

“Because they aren’t here at the moment! Duh! He sent them to go do something else like a week ago? You’re so daft Kami!” Mina teased but she looked a little worried for her friend who was now toying with the dinning cloth on the table.

“Let’s go, Kaminari, I’ll help you,” Kirishima began, to which Kaminari lifted his head with a relieved grin,”Really? Aw you’re the best,” The blonde responded happily and stood up with hope in his eyes. He did not want to stall much longer knowing Deku would lose it if he was still here and not out looking for that book.

“Good luck guys! Just remember to stay low! Deku doesn’t want any more loud operations! He’s still fixing the last screw up,” She reminded them. The boys simply nodded giving her a quick goodbye before heading out quickly to their cars.

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

Gripping onto the notebook tightly which you had stolen last night, you sat on your couch eyeing the cover of the simple black book. It was a simple job really, but something felt off. It was too simple. You weren’t a rookie when it came to stealing things, petty robbery and pickpocketing being your job after all, but you weren’t a professional. So why did someone like Shigaraki have you do a job for him.

He hadn’t even asked you himself. One of his henchmen had asked you if you were interested in a job.

“It’s a quick and easy task! Just pop right in and grab a notebook, that’s all we need,” The man who introduced himself as Mr. Compress explained. “We just need someone with not much background, someone who doesn’t look suspicious,” He added on when you had asked why they wanted someone like you to do the job when they had many capable people of their own. “We will pay half now, half later,” Was the final deal breaker.

Surely you could have refused something like this but when he had pulled out a few wads of cash, your eyes had grown big at the sight and agreed. He wasn’t lying about it being easy either. You dressed fairly casual that night and went to the location he gave you. It was a small apartment building tucked away at the end of the big city with not many people around either. It was perfect.

You managed to climb up the building’s fire escape and perched yourself carefully onto the railing of the outside door to the apartment number. The lights were out and it was silent as well. Quickly grabbing the lockpicks tool out from your back pocket, you made easy work of the sliding glass door before letting yourself inside the home.

“Whoever must live here must be whack,” Were the first words to leave your lips as you looked around at the decorations and trinkets.It wasn’t fairly messy but there was nothing that matched. It just looked like a collection of things spewed out here and there. Quickly getting to work, you started rummaging through the living room, but only found video games, weed, and instant meal packages here and there. Letting out a huff, you made your way to the bedroom and started pulling out drawers, digging through the closet, and finally lifting the bed sheets and mattress to the side to find a small black notebook tied to a shoebox.

“Found you,” You sighed in relief, “Was about to think you weren’t here,”. Untying it from the shoebox, you straightened yourself out before you heard the keys rattling and the doorknob jiggling from the front room. “Shit!” You cursed and quickly looked to his bedroom window. Rushing over to it, you unlocked it with a click, looking down to see that there was a little balcony below you.

“Hello?” You heard from the front room, a concerned male’s voice as footsteps got closer to the bedroom you didn’t have the time to think or look back as you made the decision to jump down, landing with a bit of a thud against the metal flooring before jumping down from that balcony as well. It was a lie to say it didn’t hurt the soles of your feet.

“Hey! Get back here girly!” Was all you heard from him before you took off running, the sound of something hitting the ground with a zap behind you causing the adrenaline to push you to run faster.

You hadn’t stopped running until you were met with a semi busy street, the nightlife letting you blend in with the crowd. You had managed to get the notebook and yourself out of there in one piece. It’s how you got here, back to your home unaware of the golden eyes that had trailed you back to your street.

Looking down at the notebook, you carefully opened it and skimmed through it, famous names and politicians you recognized with dirty secrets scribbled onto the side of the names. “Wow,” You breathed out before an uneasy feeling settled into your stomach. There was a lot in this book, a lot of information anyone in the deeper side of things would love to have. Yet here you were, something that could change a lot in the public's eye of view, resting in the palms of your hands. What made it worse was you were told to hold onto it till someone named Dabi was going to pick it up from you. Standing up, you looked around your apartment scanning for a place to hide this.

Deciding to put it into a cereal box for now, you went to go take a shower and call it for tonight. You were far too drained to do anything else but that.

The next few days you took it easy, leaving every now and then to get groceries or get a coffee at the nearby cafe, doing your best to keep an eye out on anything that would make you feel unsafe or alerted.

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

“Come on Kami, you have to be sure,” Kirishima muttered as they stayed low in a stolen car, parked outside the apartments in which you lived. “I’m pretty sure that’s her, same hair, same face,” Kaminari eyed the building watching as you returned from the store again,”Clueless little thing huh? I don’t even recognize her from anywhere, she doesn’t even seem like the type to do anything like breaking into houses,” He spewed on watching as you swayed your hips up the stairs to your own little home,”She’s a cutie though,”

“Yeah, but that cutie has something important. You’re right though, I haven’t seen her around, wonder how she knew about the notebook,” Kirishima mused before grabbing his gun, making sure it was loaded just in case before cocking it,”You sure we need that?” Kaminari asked to which Kirishima looked up at the apartments through the window.

“I hope not, but we don’t know her quirk or if she’s even alone up there,” the redhead responded with hesitation. He didn’t want to hurt her, just scare her enough to get what they want. “But you know what you’re gonna have to do. I’m just here for backup, this is your mistake bro,” kaminari only huffed back at his friend but nodded. Getting out of the car, the duo quickly made their way up the stairs and to the door they saw you vanish through. Reaching for the doorknob, Kaminari gave it a small tug and to his disappointment it was locked. Giving a look to Kirishima, the blonde gave a nod before knocking on the door.

Hearing you scuffle behind the door, his chest felt like it was going to explode when he heard the soft and sweet,”Hello?” come from inside. “We got a delivery for you!” He responded. Kirishima nudged his shoulder giving him a questioning, ‘What the fuck?’ look but when they both heard the door unlock, then quickly focused back to it.

Wasting no time, Kaminari rushed in grabbing you by the arm, his other hand flying to your mouth as he gave you a stern warning look as Kirishima followed inside, closing the door behind him with his foot. Drawing the gun just in case, Kirishima eyed the apartment before looking back at you and Kaminari.

The blonde knew you were in shock, your eyes wide as if you were a deer in headlights but tears quickly prickled at the corners of your eyes as he saw you eye the gun. “Hey, hey, shhh don’t cry it’s okay. Don’t scream or struggle, he won’t use it I promise,” Kaminari cooed, keeping a tight hold of you regardless. Little zaps sprung from his fingertips to show you that while he was talking sweet, he wasn’t going to let you try anything. Walking backwards towards your couch, he slowly removed his hand from your mouth,”Please...don’t hurt me,” You whispered out as you looked up at them. Kaminari would’ve felt more bad if it weren’t for the fact that you had stolen the notebook he was supposed to be keeping. He had to admit though, your wide eyes looking up at him like that made him feel something in his chest.

“Won’t have to if you give back that notebook you stole, baby, just tell us where it is and it’ll make this much easier,” He said sweetly to you and pushed you into the couch, having you fall back onto the cushions. Looking down at you as you pushed yourself further into the couch to try and keep some distance from him had him smirk with a bit of pride. He may be relaxed with his friends but man oh man if he didn’t look scary when he wanted to.

“I don’t know what youre talking about,” You tried to play off, to his disliking. He really didn’t want to have to hurt such a pretty woman like you but damn it if you didn’t spill it out he’d be forced to.

“Lying isn’t pretty you know,” Kaminari cooly muttered before lifting his hand up,”Search for it,” He said over his shoulder to which Kirishima started to go through your things. “I saw you taking it from my home, going through a man’s bedroom isn’t nice,” he continued in a teasing tone as he lowered himself so he was perched on his heels so he could look straight at you. Taking his hand he placed it on your leg causing you to tense up with worry. Watching you eye him back with uncertainty, he only smiled back in return as he let a few sparks against your leg.

“What the fuck!” he watched you hiss and try to pull away from his hand to which he only gripped the top of your leg tighter,”Ah uh,” Kaminari chuckled, a twisted tone in his voice, “Come on now, I don’t wanna have to hurt you more. Just give us the notebook,” He pressed on trying to get you to spill it already, “I’ll give you a minute to tell me, if not I might have to fry a few nerves, and we wouldn’t want that would we baby girl?”

“Don’t call me that,” You spit back to his surprise. Fiesty one? Yeah he can dig that. “Don’t be so mean,” Kaminari uttered back in fake hurt as he shocked your leg with a little bit of a higher voltage watching as tears came to your eyes,”If you keep this up I’ll have no choice but to think you like this,” He teased and watched her as she gripped onto his own wrist trying to pry him off,”Let me go!” You cried out in frustration. Watching you struggle against his grip was cute but getting annoying, “Did you find it yet?” He shouted looking over his shoulder to try and find Kirishima who was currently digging around in your bedroom.

“Not yet,” his friend called back. Kaminari was about to reply when he felt something hard smash against his head as well as you crying out in pain at the same time. Letting go of his grip on you, he fell back with a “Oof”. Holding the side of his head, he looked up to see you had headbutted him and were now on your way of getting up towards the door. “Fuck,” Kaminari gritted his teeth and sprung up, being quick to grab you by your wrist and letting out a painful wave of shocks getting you to scream.

“Kaminari! The neighbors will hear!” He heard Kirishima yell at him causing him to grip onto her mouth, tugging her into the wall and pressing her stomach against the cool surface, “You know babe, I don’t usually get mad,” Kaminari whispered sweetly in your ear in a sickening tone, “But you’re really pushing it right now. Give it up or I’m going to show you how much I can really make you scream,”

Feeling you tense up and shake against him had the blonde tilted your head back to see terror in your eyes. If this notebook hadn’t been so important, he would have probably apologized right then and there.

“Cereal box,” He felt you mutter in his hand making him confused instantly. Removing his hand, Kaminari gave you a questioning look. “It’s...It’s in the coco puffs,” You sobbed out and he could tell you were trying to keep yourself calm through this. Looking over to Kirishima from across the room, he watched his friend hurry to the kitchen knowing they had limited time now that they made too much noise here. Digging through your cabinets, he watched his friend pull out a cereal box and spill the contents out, the notebook falling onto the counter, “There it is! Fuck there it is!” Kaminari laughed in relief while holding you between him and the wall,”See that wasn’t so hard? Who would’ve thought cereal was the answer?” He joked trying to lighten the mood.

“I don’t know dude, but we need to get out of here now, the neighbors probably heard her scream,” Kirishima responded but was smiling as well. It was funny seeing that you hid it almost so well in a breakfast box.

“Please...let me go, you have everything you want,” Kaminari looked down to see you with pleading eyes and while he wished he could say they were done with you, he couldn’t. “It’s not that easy baby, you stole...from the mafia no less. That was stupidly brave but our boss isn’t happy,” He explained and when he saw the look on your face of hesitation and fear he tightened his grip on your arm, “Don’t do anything stupid, just cooperate, it’s gonna be fine,” He tried to reassure you but already he could see the defiance building up, “I don’t want to have to knock you out, just relax,”

“Here, blindfold her,” Kirishima reached over, handing over his headband knowing all too well how these things go. “No! I-” You began to try to fight back but Kaminari was quick to shock that out of you. “Kiri, hold her will you,” He muttered, taking the blindfold with one hand before gently pushing her to Kiri who grabbed both of her wrists and kept her sturdy. “Look just be good and we won’t have to hurt you any further,” Kirishima tried to reason with you looking down at your fearful expression before the black headband covered your red puffy eyes.

“One more thing, get her hands behind her back, I don’t trust her to behave in the car,” Kaminari requested and watched as you struggled a bit against his friend who pulled your hands behind your back. Taking off his own belt, he made a makeshift handcuffs and tightened them around your wrists,” Alright let's get going before we get caught, oh and baby, don’t scream when we get out there, I really don’t want to sedate you with my quirk,”

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

After having the two strangers pull you out of the house quickly and get you to the car, you sat quietly in the back of the car, your heart and mind racing with thoughts and emotions. They had you blindfolded and your wrists tied up together making it difficult to calm down but at least they had the decency to buckle you up. “Hey, breathe, don’t hyperventilate,” You heard the blonde one suddenly say in the midst of the silence. That’s when you realized you really were breathing quick. “Fuck you…,” You mumble back and hear them both sigh a little as the car took off. “What’s your name then?” You heard the one named Kaminari speak again to which you only glared into your blindfold,”Gonna shock me if I don’t tell you?” You questioned back bitterly but hushed.

“Just tryna make conversation, make you feel a little better,” You heard him respond with a huff before the radio was turned on. You felt somewhat relieved when the music replaced the awkward silence in the car. ‘You just had to get greedy with the money offered and this is where you ended up’ You furiously thought to yourself. Listening to your kidnappers talk with the music in the background had somewhat calmed you down just a bit to start feeling the aftermath of the shocks. Your leg and arm felt tingly still and a headache started to grow from the headbutt earlier. You’re sure to have a bump there later.

Leaning against the seat of the car more, you shut your eyes and try to zone out to try and get a plan going. You hadn’t realized how much time went by before the car came to a slow and then a halt before hearing a gate screech open and for the car to move slowly forward, the tires sounding like they were on gravel as they stopped again.

“I’ll get here,” You heard Kaminari say to which the other man snorted,”Not like I was gonna. Here take the notebook too. I said I would help, but I’m not going to face Deku. I already got my ass yelled at a few weeks ago and I’m not getting further into this,” He stated.

“Fineee,” was all you heard before the car doors clicked shut and footsteps to your side opened the car. Feeling hands reach in and unbuckle you, you kept silent in fear as well as anger before he picked you up out the car and helped you over his shoulder,”I can walk!” You hissed.

“Yeah, so can I,” Was the only snarky response you got back as you were carried off. As you reached the inside of wherever you were, you could hear small talk here and there as well as doors opening and closing. You started to feel a bit more nervous with how many people you could hear. Your kidnapper remained eerily silent as well as if he himself was nervous himself.

“Bring her in here,” You heard a different voice call out as Kaminari made a sharp turn into a different path following the voice. After a few more seconds you felt colder as you were put down and pushed into a chair. “Hey-” You started but a quick shock silenced you right up as your arms were tugged out from the belt and a cold metallic material was wrapped around your wrists.

“Now come with me,” The new voice spoke again and the footsteps traveled out the room, a door swinging shut with a loud click afterwards. Now you were chained to something, in a cold room, with a blindfold still on.

“Hello?” You called out and after no response you leaned over getting your face close to your hands before tugging off the blindfold. “What the fuck is this,” You muttered out as light brought onto you a cool grey room with nothing but a table to where your hands were chained, the cahir you were currently sitting on, and a chair in front of you. Starring around, the solid blocked out door was the only way out and god knows how many people were on the other side.

“Don’t cry...don’t you dare cry,” You growl to yourself trying to keep composure as you stare at your hands in anger. Breathing in and out as best as you could to keep from crying you wanted to think of a way out of this but there weren’t any ideas popping in. You were just a small time quirkless thief, not some mafia enemy. You didn’t know how to deal with this.

The door clicked back open causing you to turn your head quickly back to it to watch Kaminari walk back in with a folder,”(Y/N)...such a pretty name! You should have told me earlier baby,” He said making you stiffen up in your seat eyeing him with a glare,” But you really should have said something about being quirkless, I would have gone easy on you,” He pouted over to you making you bare your teeth in disgust.

“Why? Being quirkless doesn’t make us weak,” You spit out in malice disgusted by his suggestion,”I stole that notebook from you without one,” You proudly stated in a matter of fact tone. “Mhm, yeah but look where that got you girly,” Kaminari shot back taking a seat across from you before looking through whatever file he had on you. Golden eyes locked back to yours and a chill went down your spine from the grin he had,”So missy, I see you actually have a fair share of robberies in your file. Well, this time you hit big money huh? Wanna share where you got that information on the little notebook?” He started.

Taking a small breathe, you knew you couldn’t give that away. Deep down you knew that wasn’t the best idea even if you were in this situation. If Shigaraki’s crew figured it out you told on them, you were most definitely dead. “Bite me,” You answered glaring back down at your hands not wanting to see what expression the man had.

“Maybe later, but right now I kind of need answers baby girl. See, the boss needs answers and he always gets what he needs,” Kaminari laughed lightly but you could tell he wasn’t too happy with your answer, “So lets try this again. Where did you get the information? Don’t make me shock a quirkless girly like you,”

“I’m not making you do anything, you’re just fucked up enough to be the villain of the situation here,” That line alone made the room feel even colder as you lifted your head to see Kaminari silently put the folder down. He was still smiling and you couldn’t help but want to scoot further away from him. The chair beneath him squeaked against the floor as he got up and made his way behind you. “I told you I’m really slow to anger right?” He muttered lowly without the smile leaving his face and you felt instant regret as he reached over, his chin over your shoulder as his arms trailed up your arm and made their way to your hands. Flipping them over he forced his hands into yours, holding onto them tightly.

“Fuck off,” You huffed trying to shake him off but before you could try to shake him off, a high voltage sparked through both of your hands and through your arms reaching the rest of your body. Screams ripped through your lungs and your back arched off the chair as the tears had flowed down your cheeks. He didn’t let up until he was sure you had learned the message, letting the shocks die down but didn’t move his hands. You went limp against the chair breathing heavily as sobs shook through you.

“Shhh, it’s okay. I’m only hurting you as much as you hurt me with your mean little opinions,” He whispered but something in his voice gave off a small hint of him liking this, “Now, who told you about the notebook?” he asked again his breath close to your ear, “And think hard about what you wanna say. If you wanna act tough, I’ll treat you like you’re tough. You can handle more can’t you babygirl? I’ll make it last longer next time,” He laughed into your ear before he licked the shell causing another shiver to go down your spine.

“You’re...an asshole,” You cried out trying to hold onto the thin string of bravery and confidence to get through this. You heard a dark chuckle from behind you before your mind went blank. A searing pain of shocks went throughout your whole body as your scream filled the room once more, trying to tug your hands away from him but to no luck he remained the stronger of you two. It felt like this would never end and that this pain was going to be with you forever. After what felt like hours, the shocks stopped as your mind went numb. Your eyes closed as they felt heavier and your body felt like it was being pricked over and over again with needles.

“Don’t pass out on me now, come on wake up!” You barely even heard his voice as the blonde squeezed your hands before he helped you sit back up against the chair,”man, I went a little overboard huh?” Chuckled filled the room as he gave light taps to your cheeks causing your eyes to open to look above you, golden honey pools hypnotizing you for a little. “Hey pretty baby, you back from your little high?” He joked before tears pooled down your cheeks again, afraid of what more he could do to you. “Just tell me okay? We don’t wanna be doing this all day and night do we?” He questioned with a smile as he took your hands again making your resolve snap.

“H-He..he told me he would pay me alot...I just wanted to pay bills,” You cried out breaking under the pressure and pain, wanting nothing more than to quit being a thief and just go home to curl up in bed, “Shhh, it’s okay. I get it, you just wanted to survive out in this cold world. Give me a name, I’ll make this all better,” he breathed out, his thumb on your right hand stroking the back of your hand trying to soothe you.

“His n-name is Mr. Compress. I really don’t know his name please...don’t shock me please, that’s all i know! He wanted the notebook and gave me your address that’s all! Please let me go,” You begged wanting nothing more than for this to be over.

“Good girl, there you go. It’s okay, that’s all I wanted,” Kaminari praised before letting go of your hands which you automatically tried to pull back to yourself, your palms red and starting to swell. “I’ll get you some water okay?” He hummed as he gave you a condescending pat to the head before leaving the room. You didn’t care for what he did, you felt so drained and your head just felt so heavy. Closing your eyes you finally gave out and slumped over the table, your breathing uneven.

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

You felt like you were on a cloud surrounded by angels who covered you in their feathers. It felt like you could sink into that pleasurable feeling forever if it weren’t for the pain coursing through your hands. You didn’t want to move, you didn’t want to open your eyes. You didn’t want to be shocked-

You started to remember the moments before you had passed out and panic flung through your chest. You had to get up, assess what’s going on. Managing to open your eyes, you were met with a dimly lit room and soft fleece blankets all around and over you. Carefully sitting up you hissed in pain when your hands ached. Bringing them in front of you, white bandages were wrapped around your palms and fingers. Confusion hit you all at once as you looked up, the only light source coming into the room being from the ajar door. Squinting to try and see better throughout the room, dread filled you as you recognized your surroundings. This is where it all started. The room you took the notebook in.

Being quick to stand up, you felt woozy but the need to leave was greater than the need to sit down. Stumbling to the door, you swung it out and peeked out to see Kaminari sitting lazily on his couch, a ps4 controller in hand as he button mashed away. It was odd not seeing him in a suit, rather in shorts and a simple hoodie. Carefully stepping out, you looked to the front door trying to convince yourself to make a bolt for it. Taking in a small sturdy breath, you launched yourself out the room to try and get to the door but it seemed like your body had other plans. Wobbling forward you managed a few steps before your head pounded causing you to fall to your knees and groan.

“Careful! You’re probably still a little fried,” A voice came from above you and helped stand you up. The same golden eyes that had you crying and being shocked were now looking at you with worry. Dumbfounded by his expression, you let him lead you to his couch and sit you down,”You might want to take it easy for a while, you put up quite a fight in that room,” Kaminari chuckled to which you could only blink at him with confusion as to what was going on with the sudden flip of being nice.

“I want to go home,” Was what you finally managed to say after the two of you had stared at each other in silence. “Yeah...that’s not gonna happen baby girl. It’s a bit more complicated than that,” He responded with a small smile that had a sign of pity in it.

“What do you mean? I really just want to forget everything and go home, please,” You tried to argue to which he shrugged and sunk into the back of the couch getting comfortable again. Not bothering to look at you, he stared at the t.v ahead of him, “Well, there were three options on what to do with you. One, we could have killed you which I really didn’t want to do. Two, we could have released you but that would have left us open for an attack. Shigaraki’s side could have kidnapped you right after and tortured you again and killed you after for information about the book and us. Then this option. I could take you home with me, keep you safe and away from your own crimes and as well as us safe from others taking you for information. I took a liking to you, it would have felt a shame to kill a pretty babe like you,” He explained fully, before looking back at you. You felt horrified, looking back down at your hands to come up with something to say but you didn’t. You drew a blank. All you could think was that if you did leave, you’d have two mafia groups looking for your death/capturement but if you stayed, you would be forever locked away with this man who you know nothing of beside the fact that he works for the mafia.

“Hey, I know that’s a lot to take in, but I’m doing you a favor, keeping you here to stay alive. All you gotta do is listen to me, and we’ll both be happy. You can also call me Denki from now on, ‘Kay?” Kaminari hummed as he got up walking to his room and coming back with the soft blanket you were snuggled into earlier. Dropping it onto your head, he plopped down next to you.

“Denki?” You whispered out his name as you hugged the soft blanket around you for the comfort, “What...what am I supposed to do here?” You asked fearful of the answer looking at him as his eyes had a brighter shine than before.

“Just be a good girly and we will see what you can do,” He answered back and looked back to his game starting it back up, “You’ll make a cute little housewife or something. We’ll figure it out,”

#bnhaxreader #mhaxreader #kaminari x reader #kaminarixreader #stilldontknowwtfimdoingbutayyyyididit #6ampostswoopwoop

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zukofenty · 4 years ago

Text

always be my maybe

➜ Summary: The one where Zuko and Katara could never quite get their timing right. Especially when the universe throws a lost condom, thousands of miles, and a baby in their way.

“I will literally french braid my pubic hairs and never open my pussy to anyone ever again if this condom doesn’t kill me. Please don’t let it kill me.”

➜ Genre: Modern!AU, Celebrity Chef!Katara, Doctor!Zuko, Love, Rosie!AU

AO3 @zutaraweek

“Go a couple rounds, leave Zuko’s dick up in a casket!” Toph screams into the microphone, undeterred by the various guests who stare up at her, mouth open and half-chewed, dry-as-fuck chicken spilling out. It wasn’t her fault, really! As soon as Zuko handed the mic off to her, he basically gave her free reign to spit a Megan Thee Stallion verse in his honor. “Sing with me, bitches! Look up the lyrics on Genius.com, Cheryl!”

“Sit down !” Katara squeezes out from clenched teeth, ripping the device out from the girl’s grip.

“I didn’t even get to the chorus, you fucking whore .” A bridesmaid nervously plucks the mic from their table and avoids eye contact with both of them. “What’s going on with you, bitch?” Toph asks quietly. She could tell Katara’s been doing her fake smile for the last twenty minutes. The girl was practically going to break her face open with how hard she was grinding her teeth.

“Just thinking.” Katara wants to smack herself in the face, pinch a nipple and bring herself to reality. Everything felt too real, and Toph could sense it. She’s the type to somehow sense when Katara shifts in her seat a certain way to covertly satisfy a cooch itch, and then buys her Monistat the same day.

She hates that she could never hide any emotion from her. Toph could always figure out the puzzle pieces that were Katara. One of the few to know the real her, besides Zuko.

Sometimes Katara thinks the younger girl knows her better than him. At least now. Especially now.

“About?” Toph takes an experimental sip from the wine glass, and gags. The juice tasted like Gatorade and cum. “Why the fuck would anyone want a dry wedding? Weddings are the only time you get to see your alcoholic uncle vomit all over the bride’s shoes, and then your closeted aunt has to wipe up the puke and her reputation from the floor while thinking of her secret girlfriend at home watching Tiger King .”

“That example was extremely specific and extremely unnecessary.” Katara brushes a crunchy curl, doused in hairspray, from her eyes.

“Sorry, I got distracted. I had dick on the brain, or whatever Rihanna said,” Toph mumbles, risking a bite of the chicken.

Katara turns to see him at the couple’s table in the center of the extravagant wedding, and sighs. “And for your information, I was just thinking when will he penetrate my esophagus? You know, just girly things.”

Toph has the gall to slap the girl on the cheek.

Katara holds her stinging face, eyes narrowed in an unspoken threat for fucking up the parts of her face she didn’t set with powder (she was going for a dewy look, sue her). “Not fair! You were the one who called my throat the baby chute earlier today!”

“Ok, throat goat. One, he’s getting married. Two, you’re sick.”

“My therapist will most likely cosign that,” Katara sighs. Toph holds Katara’s hand and leans her head on her shoulder as they watch Zuko mingle with guests.

This is the happiest day of his life.

Her best friend of twenty odd years was getting married. He looked so handsome, so happy. A suit that looked like it would cost someone’s rent and a half casually hugging his muscular frame. A blinding smile on his face, cheeks flushed from champagne and excitement.

When he turns her way, his smile grows impossibly wider. Toph clinks on a champagne glass with a fork, breaking it a la Princess Diaries , and Katara could feel the stares of nearly everyone in the room, ready for her speech.

It should be the happiest day of my life, too.

Right?

Katara thinks she wants to cry.

Now, how come none of those Judy Blume, coming-of-age books have a chapter on how to write a Best Woman speech for your best friend getting married to another woman, even when you were struggling with the fact that you might have been in love with him for the past two decades?

Bitch, what the fuck do you even start that Google Doc with?

Does she start at 4 years old? When Katara thinks Zuko is an annoying piece of shit?

But, you know, he’s her piece of shit.

Guys have hepatitis, or cooties, or whatever Sokka said, she couldn’t exactly remember. All she remembered was Zuko sucked. He stole her crayons and made fun of her Hello Kitty backpack on the first day of school. He was the stupid one, not Hello Kitty . Never Hello Kitty . She’d shoved his face into the playground’s wood chips, threatened to cut off his peepee for breathing down her neck with his retainer breath, and even stuck his head in between two slices of white bread and lovingly referring to him as an ‘idiot sandwich’ (Sokka let her watch too many Gordon Ramsey hosted shows while their dad was working late).

Zuko and Katara were practically inseparable ever since.

Or 10, when you were asking for trouble if you fucked with Zuko.

He was a tiny kid, glasses too big for his head. Hair shaggy, clothes too oversized for him (just the way he liked it). His dad had tried beating it into him that it showed weakness by not making waves, not being loud and proud. But, he was quiet by nature. For him, it was just easier.

Not stirring the pot, being the observer, looking in from the outside. He was just Zuko , he liked Wonder Woman comics and figuring out what other words besides BOOBIES he could spell with his calculator instead of actually doing his math homework, because he was bad at math. Bad at everything, really. Everything but band class. Even if he did hate that stupid fucking tsungi horn.

His mom would hide his report cards from his dad, especially the ones noting how shy he was (Mrs. Kim had used the exact words ‘very antisocial, very easy to bully’). Even when Ursa would ask him to try, try to make friends outside of Katara, he was always a stubborn little thing. Something you got from your father , she would say, the smile slipping off her face just the slightest.

It was just more fun being by himself, the only exception he made was Katara. He spent his recess scribbling down a plot for a Love Amongst the Dragons Fanfiction and listening to Katara’s iPod he’d steal from her, just because he could , after she snuck it out from her backpack for the 10 minute break they had. It was the iPod she spent the last two Christmases saving up with Sokka for. Zuko insisted he could master Ludacris’s rap in Usher’s “Yeah!” and practiced the Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays she had custody of the device.

Some days, Katara would sit beside him in her signature puffy blue jacket, struggling to fold herself to fit on the blacktop beside Zuko. The patented jacket her grandmother forced her to wear every single day obstructing her abilities. He snickers, but keeps quiet, content with plotting out a story that he would hopefully get to type out on the school library’s computers if his mom picked him up late again. She usually did, much to the dismay of the ladies at the front office. They typically hissed at him (which made him cry, to which they would have to offer him a cherry Otter pop so they wouldn’t face a lawsuit) and called his mom words he couldn’t repeat without getting in trouble (“Whore”).

Katara would babble on about her day, sometimes thinking of ways for his characters to die a painful death, or cooking up Fanfic plots for Beyoncé and Britney Spears to find love among the chaos of a zombie infestation. She always insisted she brought the creative range to their friendship. Some days though, Katara forgets all about him and plays handball with all the most popular girls in school.

Zuko’s jealous.

(Sometimes.)

She’s my best friend! He wants to scream in their faces. At the end of the day, he thinks he’s going to lose her. The day she realized she was too good, too cool for the likes of him.

“Chan, stop it!” Zuko squeaked, his notebook snatched from underneath his nose. The boy was always picking a fight. Your dad buys you a Motorola flip phone and suddenly you think you’re the shit.

The boy sneers at Zuko, flipping through the pages. “What do we have here? Are you drawing Shrek with boobies? You’re gonna jack off to that later, freak?”

Before Zuko could get a word in and defend his honor, Chan’s entire body was shoved to the ground, a dainty foot cased in a light up, white Skechers sneaker pressing into his face. Zuko couldn’t help his glee as Katara could barely be peeled off and stopped from repeatedly slamming Chan’s face into the hopscotch chalk court. “It’s all ogre now, bitch!”

She made sure to pin her detention slip to her Bratz backpack with pride. Zuko buys two treats that day from the student store before he walks her home.

“You’re my best friend, forever and ever,” Katara declares, head held up high. Zuko saw through it, though. He knows she’s scared of what Hakoda has to say, what Gran Gran has to say. So, he holds her hand tight, trying to relay his gratitude in the touch.

He licks at his Spongebob popsicle. The eyes had melted off and looked more like someone’s worst nightmare than an icy treat. Katara had wanted his cherry Otter pop, and he happily handed it over. “Pinky promise?” He holds out his finger.

Katara hooks her finger around his, dwarfing his tiny digit. Her outstretched smile stained orange. “I’ll break yours if you ever forget.”

At 15, Katara came to the realization that men have the emotional intelligence of a Souplantation crouton (may Souplantation rest in peace).

Growing up, with their dad and grandma always at work at their store, Katara was always in charge of cooking. No matter how many times she’d try to get Sokka to do it, he always insisted he was far too busy with taking out the trash, killing bugs, hating women. So, she was stuck with it, and honest-to-Rihanna, really liked it. Not that she’d ever let Sokka ever get the satisfaction of knowing it. It was her time to be alone, gave her the space to pop in a Cheetah Girls CD and pretend she won Masterchef with the struggle meal straight out of a Spam can she had to pound on a few times to get it to squeeze out from its gelatinous casing, or a whitewashed recipe she tried replicating whenever she catches a Rachael Ray rerun.

Though, Katara’s favorite time was chopping up the green onions under Ursa’s careful eyes, a hand always just there in realign the knife just in case she’d carelessly cut the green onions too big to garnish. Then, Ursa would then take out scissors because nobody had time for that. When his dad wasn’t home, Zuko’s mom opened up their doors across the street to the siblings, rambling about the next big painting she was planning as they scarfed down a home cooked meal.

Zuko was similar to his mom in that regard. They were the type of people who managed to make everyday moments larger-than-life, made it infectious, too. When it’s nighttime and he’s snuck into and snug in Katara’s room, he’d tell her dreams too big for anyone’s comprehension. Sometimes he dreamed he had tits that would leak chunky chicken noodle soup. Sometimes he’d ramble until her eyes are flitting shut and he’s left talking to himself and measuring his hand with hers, securing the leg she instantly throws over his waist. He’d like to think he was her only exception in the Souplantation crouton narrative.

Her bed is starting to smell like him, too. His favorite Costco brand shampoo and conditioner that he leaves in her bathroom, permeating her nostrils when she pulled him close. She even let him put up a Drake poster right next to her plethora of Rihanna ones, but only after he let her draw a penis on both his and Drake’s face. What he didn’t account for was her using a permanent marker, or the fact he couldn’t scrub it away from his cheeks for the next two days.

It was easy like this, just the two of them.

He’s there for all the birthdays and Halloweens and Christmases that left her not quite feeling whole. When things were hard, when things fucking sucked, when she wanted nothing more but to die. He was there, (stupidly) holding out his hand and willing to be the eye to her hurricane.

At 15, Zuko decides Katara feels home.

At 18, Zuko had already been Katara’s many firsts.

He was her first buffet partner, and brought back his Justin Bieber haircut just to pretend he was 12 so they could qualify for children's rates and a complimentary Oreo cheesecake because they were always celebrating his “birthday.”

Her first clubbing partner the second she turned 18, rubbing her back when any Beyoncé song with a Jay-Z feature came on because the second he cheated on Beyoncé, he cheated on everyone in the Beyhive. The first one to have to hold her as she hurled on his shoes, the first one to have to take her to get her stomach pumped.

The first person she tried to roll a joint with.

“I don’t need to learn that.”

Katara purses her lips. “And why not?”

He gestures to his face. “I’m too pretty. Only ugly bitches know how to do that . ”

Sokka thinks he needs to intervene when he hears Zuko’s tsungi horn case being chucked across the room .

The first person she (almost) fucked.

His family life was, for lack of a better word, fucked up. Katara had been witness to the drinking, the drugs, the crying. The nights where she sometimes didn’t know if the person standing in front of her was Zuko. She just wanted one night away from it all, just one night out on the town.

“That was kind of terrible,” Katara admits easily, wincing because she was sure he spilled Papa John’s garlic dipping sauce in his shitty Corolla’s air filter last Tuesday. He tried positioning his arm naturally underneath her head while their half naked bodies were pressed together, but he ended up smacking off her glasses. He even had the audacity to contently sigh as though he accomplished something, rather than just tangle her hair and give her a tension headache.

She felt lied to! Cheated! Bamboozled! Hoodwinked! All the Shrek and Y/N stories on FF.net could not prepare her for the fact that there weren’t any tongues fighting for dominance, or any mouths that tasted like cinnamon or musk or shit like that. It was just retainer to retainer and smelled distinctly of her awkward friend (cheese). It was sweaty and a lot of weird humping and felt like a visit to the gyno.

“Hey! I thought it was pleasantly average.” He clears his throat. “You know, besides the fact you farted mid-insertion and I started crying after 20 seconds.”

“You mean right after you came, right?” She says matter-of-factly.

He glared. “Is it my fault you have a gorilla grip pussy? Is it?”

“Zuko, you’re so fucking — ”

“What happens when you put a hot dog in the microwave for 2 minutes?” He crosses his hands and folds them over his lap like a professor waiting for a volunteer to answer the equation on the board.

“So in this metaphor, are you calling my pussy a microwave?”

But in true Zuko and Katara fashion, it was clumsy and a mess and could be erased with an emergency Burger King outing where they ate in silence and pinky promised never to speak of it again.

She wonders if Zuko should’ve been her first date to prom, too.

She wants to stop feeling so bothered . She couldn’t quite pin it, but lately everything he did frustrated the shit out of her. How he was taller than her now. How he didn’t need her to fight his battles because he goes to the gym now and wears a fake Gucci belt because he’s just so cool (brooding Asian guy is the trend, and Zuko thinks he’s the blueprint). How he said yes to going to prom with Mai, the prettiest girl in their grade.

“Don’t look in there!” Katara yelps, a blush creeping on her cheeks.

“Why?” Zuko questions, taken aback. He was entirely too comfortable in her room.

“Um. Maybe I don’t want a freak going through my dirty underwear pile!” Her eyebrows are halfway done, and she only has one eyelash glued on. She was stressed, scared her dress might not fit with how many of Sokka’s cookies she stress-ate because she just wanted the night to be perfect .

“Relax, what are a few discharge stains going to do to me, huh? If anything, it gives your pussy some much-needed personality.” Zuko wasn’t going to stop until he found his fake Gucci belt in Katara’s closet.

“Zuko!” Katara screams at the top of her lungs.

“Do I have to remind you about the time you broke our friendship bracelet while masturbating and I dug the bead out of your vagina like the good friend I am?”

She shoves him back from the closet, crowding in his space. That belt was going to remain in its rightful place. “Oh, fuck you! I took the fall for you when you opened your laptop in history class and forgot to exit from your “VIBRATING PANTIES” porn tab!” She pushes him before plopping on her bed.

Katara buries her face in her pillow at that point, too entirely embarrassed and body too hot to continue to look at his nonchalant face. He doesn’t quite remember when exactly Katara became so cute .

Pretty? Definitely. Fearless? For sure.

But blushing Katara, embarrassed Katara, cute Katara?

He thinks it’s because they rarely saw each other now, despite his patented place in her bed. His band, Hello Zuko, was aiming for at least a few dive bar performances to build a reputation, especially with their new title track “Tennis Ball.” Katara was a familiar face at their town’s soup kitchens.

“Where are you going?” he would sleepily mumble as he tried taking his midday nap before late night performances.

Katara’s hands are full with ingredients, swaying side to side and eyes red and drowsy. “Trying to temper chocolate. Why? What’s up?”

She never misses a performance, though. Comes to them with a sparkly poster doused in glitter, and t-shirts with his face on them and everything. He never misses a fundraising event, making sure to bring a steaming thermos filled with tea because Katara was never the type to remember to take care of herself, and always buys out her fundraising goodies (even her overbaked brownies.)

He pulls her up by her ponytail, cupping her face in between his hands.

“You look cute.”

“You look like the human equivalent of toeless socks,” Katara mumbles, face squished in between Zuko’s hands. “Why are you giving my clit piercing a kiss kiss right now? What do you want?”

Zuko shakes her head in between his hands. “Pinky promise me you’ll drop all penises to dance with me if they play any Usher song?” It was like he was in fifth grade all over again. “Call me a Nissan because I just want you Altima-self.”

She lets out a cackle, the sound nearly deafening. “Don’t worry, the DJ will get us falling in love again in no time.”

“Do you have to go with Jet?” He asks, pouting. He lays his head in her lap, too entirely preoccupied with picking at her pilling sweatpants to look at her questioning eyes. They promised they were going to be each others’ dates at the beginning of the school year. It was more fun going to dances with Katara. She knew how to do the worm and every lyric to every Rihanna song out there (but she refuses to sing any with Chris Brown parts).

“What? You know I like my men stupid.” She runs her hands through his locks, undoing the crunchy gel job that Iroh had painstakingly spent time on. Zuko didn’t have the heart to tell him it made him look like a youth pastor.

“You do like your communal meat thermometers.” He wants to keep the hurt out of his voice.

She shoves him off her, getting up to put on the dress hanging off her closet’s door handle. “You’re going with Mai, remember?” She yells through the closed closet door.

“But the thing is, I’m not planning to fuck her afterwards at the shitty hotel like it’s some type of CW show with some old bitches playing teenagers!”

“Just say XOXO, Gossip Girl .”

He still resents her for getting him invested in Blair Waldorf’s headband collection. “It’s not my fault Jet looks old. He looks like he’s at least 27 for fuck’s sake!” His face grows more distressed as he spits out each word. He only said yes to going with Mai after finding out Jet asked Katara using some shitty poster that said “my heart is always running when I see you” with a box of Nike outlet sneakers after English class.

“I think you’re just jealous that I emptied my intestines for someone who is about to be in it within the next three hours. When have I ever done that for you?”

Zuko’s about to retort something until Katara slams open the door, flooding his eyes with a dusty blue, curve hugging dress that did weird things to him. Like make his heart beat out of his chest, and his throat all dry when he’s searching for the words to say. Looking for the right words that say he thinks it’s impossible someone’s smile could make sunsets brighter, make the stars twinkle even more, make the unthinkable just a fingertip’s grasp away.

“Can you see the outline of my underwear and/or desperation from the back?” Her spin has him bumbling like an idiot.

He wishes it was Katara that night. Letting him shyly press his sweaty fingers into her waist as Katy Perry’s “E.T.” pierced their eardrums. He knows she would have pinched his nipples as punishment, all things considered. But the fluorescent lights of the disco ball would’ve highlighted how her pretty flush would dust her cheeks, and he would hold her close to his beating heart despite her complaining her foundation would stain his Target dress shirt, and everything would make sense.

“Did you cum?” Jet was absolutely pretty with an oh-so fat horse cock. Too bad he was like the Justin Timberlakes of the world, and always spoke unprovoked.

Katara scoffs. “Yeah, I came to my senses.” She flicked his forehead. “How would I do that? Tell me. How the fuck would a few thrusts and you panting your Sweet and Sour sauce breath in my ear get me off?” She shoves the sweating boy off her. “Can I say jk and will it make me a virgin again?” The hotel room had scratchy sheets and smelled like a waterpark bathroom.

He groaned. “I’m sorry .” He’s completely unremorseful. “Your tits smell like Cinnabon’s cinnamon rolls and I couldn’t help myself!” Katara is about to cut his dick off for breathing in the same vicinity as her, before a gasp stops her entire world.

“Zuko!” she screeches, opening the hotel door with the same devastation as when Britney Spears discovered Ryan Seacrest wasn’t gay painting her features.

“You know what they say.” Zuko’s smirking, entirely ignoring Katara fuming. “Chlamydia is the powerhouse of the cell.”

“You’re. A. Dick!” She says in between smacks to his head. Jet makes a speedy exit, still pantsless and clutching his suit to his chest, while Zuko mouths a ‘ call me’ to Mai, who amusedly waves goodbye to Katara.

“Oh god, this is exactly like the bead incident all over again.”

“ You’re not helping! ”

“Maybe we’ll find Atlantis up there too,” Zuko murmurs, concentrating on positioning the hotel’s mirror under her legs.

“Please, Rihanna. Have mercy on me.” Katara’s hands are in prayer mode as Zuko turns on his phone’s flashlight. “I will literally french braid my pubic hairs and never open my pussy to anyone ever again if this condom doesn’t kill me. Please don’t let it kill me. All those times I took an extra gummy vitamin were a joke . I never wanted to die, I just wanted to feel a little thrill in my life. Please—”

Zuko screams when the squelch of the condom splatters onto the mirror.

“You’re wearing underwear under there right?” He likes the look of his blazer draping over her, buttoned to look like a chic, oversized dress and not because it was the easiest thing to throw over Katara to run and grab Plan B.

“No, because I would obviously let my fat cooter out, cute and bare and vulnerable in a Walmart.”

“A simple yes would have sufficed.”

She’s reaching for the box and wincing at the price when she feels a gentle nudge on her arm. “Ma’am, your entire pussy is out in a Walmart,” the employee breathes out pathetically.

“I am well aware.” She ekes out.

The employee eyes her up and down with a gaze that practically calls her a whore . “Please put her away.” Zuko’s face grows beet red as he tries holding back a laugh.

It was always easy like this. When the world was just Zuko and Katara, holding hands in her driveway while they watched the sun rise in his shitty Corolla. She’s still wrapped up in his blazer, he’s since loosened his cheap tie and his hair is sticking every which way. She likes his smile, especially now that it comes so easy.

He’s smiling a lot more now that his father is gone. Ozai essentially told Azula and Zuko to fuck off , and ran off to some big city to steer a hospital with too many controversies and too many white guys at the helm. Iroh came back from his meditation sabbatical, enthusiastic to take care of the siblings. Zuko seems a lot happier with Iroh around, and even spends nights sleeping in his actual bed. (Katara’s a little hurt, but keeps that to herself).

She wishes she could bottle up these moments with Zuko up and just hold them in her hands. Moments when they were still young and curious and still had time to wait for life to figure itself out. She wants to find a way to make these a permanent fixture, instead of memories that would fade with age. “Let’s get out of here,” he offers up, eyes starry.

“Yeah?” She folds her knees up to her chest, and he taps her under her chin to level their gazes.

“ Republic City . We can make something out of lives. Medical school, culinary school. Get out of this shithole. Get away from our past.” His smile is contagious. “Best friends, forever and ever, right?”

She’s so pretty, her wide eyes sparkling as they take in the rays of sun. She returns his smile. “Best friends, forever and ever.”

Katara remembers how Ursa would say Zuko always dreamt too big, his heart always wanting so, so much .

“It’s a blessing, but more of a curse,” she would note, with the wisdom only mothers are capable of possessing. Sometimes, Katara selfishly thinks the day Ursa left hurt her more than it hurt Zuko. They were impossibly close, to the point where Zuko even had to intervene when Ursa started siding with Katara during their arguments (he knows in his heart his Mother’s Day macaroni portrait of her was better).

She would wonder how the world could let her live like this, dangling something she’s always wanted right in front of her face, only to snatch it away. Wonder if it was easier to die, than live with a hole in her heart that seemingly doubled in size overnight.

“Zuko, please look at me.”

He’s mad, she could tell. With his pout and the way he was forcibly trying to squeeze his eyes in a glare. He’s been sitting in the same spot in her bed, eyes trained on tutorials on how to convincingly persuade your doctor to give you an adderall prescription and “who bit Beyonce” conspiracy videos.

“Well, what if I just wanted you to respect my privacy! For the first time in 15 years! Maybe I needed space!” She yelps after twenty minutes of the silent treatment.

Zuko sends her a look that has her freezing up on the spot. “Katara, you had a whole baby .”

She felt thoroughly scolded, but she was stubborn. “And? What about it?”

“You had an entire one, and didn’t even bother to tell the godfather? When was I supposed to find out?”

Katara didn’t think that one through, to be honest. It was easy to forget, in between diapers that smelled like a fish sauce and an expired Vagisil smoothie, and balancing work. She lays down beside him, thoroughly exhausted after putting her little girl, Yue, down for a nap. “One, who made you the godfather? And two, I guess we’re just not close like that.”

“Look, I literally have your social security number memorized, and have practically given you a Pap smear. You really want to say ‘ we’re not close like that ?” He sends her a look that has her resolve faltering the slightest. “You did your pregnancy announcement like a Sailor Moon transformation sequence with before and after pictures of you being pregnant, and you didn’t think to fucking tell me?”

Katara gasps. “I had you blocked !”

“Azula’s a snitch!” He also got a glimpse of the photo of Katara in her hoe time dress that barely fit over her belly with the caption: how the mighty have fallen . He pauses, sucking in a breath of air for strength. The hurt flashes in his eyes and the only thing she could think to do was wrap him up in a familiar embrace.

At 19, Katara is so incredibly lost, and just wants her best friend by her side.

He’s busy, the summer before everything Republic City. Everytime she tries their house, Azula answers, rolling her eyes while clad in a Harry Styles shirt, because it’s a girl’s rite of passage to go through a One Direction phase and wear badly made merchandise from Hot Topic. He’s usually busy packing, or fucking Mai until she sounds like a car alarm during Fourth of July fireworks.

“Azula, no . You cannot kidnap Mai’s younger brother and trade him in for concert tickets to send a message.”

“Not even for floor ones?” Katara’s glare summed up her answer. “I used to look up to you,” Azula retorts, returning to her stan Twitter.

She waits, waits, waits. The moans keep coming and she just rolls her eyes. Her stomach churns, mainly because she thinks Mai called Zuko’s dick The Pussy Penetrator every time he hit her g spot (you know what, good for her). But also because her scholarship to the university was less than she expected, and Hakoda didn’t want to cosign on a loan. She just wanted her best friend to be there for her.

She feels sick, sick enough to vomit in one of Iroh’s plants, while Azula rubs small circles into her back.

“You should’ve swallowed,” Toph reminds, bundling Katara’s thick hair into a ponytail as the girl hurled up her California roll. She’s so exhausted, she even leans her head against the Walmart toilet bowl, five positive pregnancy tests tossed carelessly beside her.

“Think it’s too late for that,” Katara grits out. “What are you doing?”

The last thing she expected was Toph’s hands gathering together in prayer formation. “Praying to Rihanna your period comes.”

Like many people her age, having a mental breakdown during a pregnancy scare and praying for a miracle in a public restroom was normal. But for the first time in her life, besides the time Rihanna willingly twerked on Drake at the 2011 Grammys, Ms. Robyn Fenty herself failed her.

“Fetus deletus that bitch! Fuck them kids !” She brings herself eye-level to Katara’s stomach. “Read the womb, bitch!”

“Did you just call my unborn baby a bitch?” Katara’s eyes are bleary from the smell of vomit and her future going down the drain.

“You should’ve kept that bitch-baby in the drafts,” Toph sweeps the stray hairs from Katara’s watery eyes. “My cousin saved up for her abortion by running a pyramid scheme. I can get you her number.”

Katara wanted to die. “I think I’m just going to crawl in this toilet and die. Call my brother if I don’t get flushed down all the way.”

“Again, I’m just a Walmart employee,” Toph snickers, helping the girl up. She’s rarely left her side since then. Their friendship just works, a pair of fuckups. The girl with the accident baby, and the Walmart security guard trying to figure out her own shit after running away from home.

“I should’ve been there!” Zuko reminds, tone heavy with betrayal.

Katara remembered the few moments before he boarded the plane to Republic City. She wanted to be selfish. She wanted to tell him to not get on the flight, to keep holding her like he did at the entrance of the gate. She had a kiss ready on her lips that he wasn’t ready to give, backing away when their faces were too close, when she was too close. He just couldn’t bear the thought of leaving with regrets.

“I should’ve been there holding your hand, letting you call me names, and fighting nurses if they breathed too close to this precious angel,” Yue holds his pinky with her little fingers, almost as though it was a natural reaction. His heart simply seizes up at the gesture, and he holds her tighter to his body. She was wailing after waking from her nap, colic crackling her throat for the last three months and causing her middle of the night wakeups to be painful and frequent. But with Zuko, she’s all calm and perfect and polite and beautiful and angelic.

“Didn’t know you liked kids this much,” Katara shrugs. She leans in, and Zuko throws his free arm around her.

“I’ll have you know I am the resident expert in telling children’s stories,” Zuko insists.

“Like?” Katara quirks up her brow.

“Like Rumpleforeskin, the mythical man who can weave majestic golden fleece from the ends of his pubic hair.”

She smacks him upside the head. “You’re disgusting .” She curls in deeper into his embrace. He had that twinkle in his eye that could mean he was going to masturbate to this moment in the shower later, or he was in love. It renders her breathless every time

She hopes when he looks at her he doesn’t see the eye bags, or the titty milk leaking everywhere, or the permanent crease in her brow. She hopes he could still see her, underneath it all. When she was just Katara .

“I guess, not telling you was just my way of keeping our dream alive.” She pauses, stroking Yue’s barely there hair. “I keep thinking that one day I could find the time to go to Republic City, and I don’t know. Get a chance to just be me .”

“Do you regret it?” Zuko’s rubbing circles into her back until she gets sleepy and her heart feels too full.

“I don’t know.” She tries, quiet, almost ashamed. “I don’t know.”

At 21, Katara feels like she��s at the top of the world.

Not only did she get promoted from girl wearing a dumpling costume outside handing out 15% off coupons that only worked if you left a Yelp review, to a server in a shitty dim sum restaurant, she was also accepted in the culinary program at the local university. It wasn’t Republic City per say, but Yue could attend the nearby preschool and go to the university-run childcare program afterwards while Katara was working.

She even got a hold of Jet, who refused to disclose his location or job. But judging by the copious child support mandated by some judge who hated men as much as Katara did, he was doing well. He sometimes Venmos Katara a few extra dollars on Yue’s birthdays.

Sokka and Hakoda, while hesitant to the little girl’s presence early on, spoil her absolutely rotten. When they think Katara’s passed out after her 14 hour days, they’re red in the face, screaming at Zuko over the phone about who was going to get Yue the Peppa Pig Playhouse (complete with flashing lights) she always talks about.

Hakoda even tries at therapy, wanting to be there for the apple of his eye. Sometimes, Katara’s hurt he never tried for her, tried in her childhood. She’s happy for him, nonetheless.

(Mostly) everything was working out.

“How are both my girls doing?” Zuko would always sing-song during his nightly Facetime calls. Yue would scream and snatch the phone from Katara’s hands, delighted at the sound of her one and only Uncle Zuzu. He’s an extravagant gift giver, regularly sending Yue glittery Hello Kitty and Wonder Woman backpacks. He even buys her a whole iPad for her fourth birthday, already coming with child safe settings on and YouTube loaded with her favorites (namely, Barbie: Fairytopia ). He’s guilty he couldn’t come home, but then again, he rarely ever did. Too consumed with work, grad school applications.

Katara can’t help but feel her heart pulse the slightest bit faster during those calls, even if she shuts it down as quickly as it comes.

He’s so good to her .

She used to cherish those moments he used to tell her secrets, dreams, everything in those hours early in the morning before high school would start. With approximately 3,209 miles between the two of them, she wakes up to texts instead.

Zuko: I dreamed that I was being held at gunpoint by one of those thicc caterpillars from A Bug’s Life , and if I didn’t finish the MCAT in approximately 20 minutes, they would shoot me in the face. The dump truck ass of those ants were the bullets

Katara: Please block my number

Zuko: No. <3

He’s all gentle smiles and eyes squeezing into little half moons just like Yue’s after he plays a game of Facetime patty cake and messes up on the beat just to hear the little girl laugh.

The next month, Zuko had decided enough was enough . He missed his girl.

His hospital, for the first time in a year, was letting him have the weekend off. So he books Katara a ticket straight away, because he thinks he’s going to die if he has to be around people who don’t know who Megan Thee Stallion is.

“Boys only speak two languages. English and emotional manipulation,” Toph reprimands, hugging Katara so tight she could barely get in a word. “Please remember that.”

It was her first time leaving her hometown in her life, her first time on an airplane for God’s sake. She’s jittery though, the cushioned seats Toph somehow upgraded her ticket to (after covertly whispering with the gate attendant) doing nothing to alleviate her nerves.

When she jumps in his arms in baggage claim, he breathes in deep. Her hugs have always warmed his insides, and he didn’t realize how much he craved it until he was greedy, pressing into her and refusing to let go despite her many protests.

“Come here often?” he mumbles, smiling into her shoulder.

Her cheeks grew hot at his touch. “Occasionally.” She whispers back.

He decided there and then in front of Gate 3 they needed to make up for lost time as quickly as possible.

The college party is entirely too sticky, entirely too messy for a proper (extremely) late 21st birthday celebration. Her crop top and big earrings and glittery eyeshadow and endless curves has Zuko wondering how much he’s missed in the last few years. When she hugs him close to her and screams out Nicki Minaj lyrics, he doesn’t remember her being so soft and even prettier. Beautiful. Breathtaking, knocking the wind out his lungs if she as so much blinked.

She looks like any 21 year old, without a care in the world, just figuring out their life. He wonders what this version of Zuko and Katara was.

Maybe they got to go to Republic City together. Maybe they work in the same building, and are just letting steam off from work. Maybe they loved each other. It was dangerous though. He feels as though she’s caging him in, that grip on his heart sparking up again without his permission. Her fake lashes he saw her glue on in the airport bathroom flutter about, hands coming up to accentuate her words every time she tries to scream something in his ear over the pulsating music. He just grips her waist harder between his hands, holding her tight.

In a perfect world, all she saw was him. She wishes it was him. She sometimes thinks she sees Zuko’s eyes in Yue. She sees his smile. She sees his heart.

While they’d spent the entire night stumbling through the city, his girlfriend was home. Barefoot, pregnant. Looking like the cover of some women’s lifestyle magazine, stray curls escaping her bun to frame her face in all its angelic glory. Glowy and flawless and every bit beautiful. Different from the girl Katara caught crying in the kitchen. “You can hate me all you want, you can talk shit about me all you want. But I love him,” Jin insists. “I’m his girlfriend , for fuck’s sake.

Katara has to stop herself from recoiling. She had a specific vision of their future. One that included doing taxes together and matching sweaters and teaching him her new macaroon recipe and Yue balanced on his lap.

But one look at Jin, and it becomes glaringly obvious how little she fit in with his new life.

“I don’t hate you, Jin.” It’s every bit sincere, but the girl doesn’t look convinced.

Jin rolls her eyes. A pointed look freezing Katara in her place.

“Ok, I might’ve complained once or twice about your VSCO filter choice.”

“Yeah, Zuko sent a screenshot of your texts to me instead of you by accident.”

“God, you know he always fucking does that? To be fair though, M05 is too orange and is not a good look on anyone. You can do better, I know you can.” The two girls laugh. It was devoid of any genuine emotion, just meant as an attempt to fill the empty space between them. “If I had known. Fuck, if I had just known, I’m sorry, Jin.” She had no idea Zuko had a kid on the way, that they were still living together and determined to co-parent while their relationship was in a weird limbo. If she was Jin, she would’ve kicked someone’s pussy and made a scene and set something on fire. But Jin wasn’t that type of girl. Jin was soft and pretty and looked like she smelled like an interior designer's perfectly bleached asshole.

“Do you love him?” Jin seemed to shrink into herself, small enough Katara might miss her in a blink of an eye.

Katara couldn’t quite decipher the meaning behind the question. She thinks she’s too scared to.

Katara doesn’t know how to respond. She didn’t trust herself to speak. This Zuko wasn’t the Zuko she knew. She loved the Zuko who would steal people’s Netflix passwords off of 4chan, and cosplay as Todoroki at Anime Con to make a few bucks. Not the one who can afford sky rises in the big city.

He didn’t even tell her that his big internship in the city was for his father’s hospital, and he was next in line to running it. “You’re a lawyer with health insurance and your own Netflix account! You’re good for him, Jin.” Katara falters the slightest. “I just want to see Zuko happy.”

“Me too.” Jin says quietly.

“Whatever, fuck Zuko !” She tries at extending the olive branch. “I can’t believe you’re preggers!” She puts a gentle hand on Jin's belly, and her vagina immediately winces. “You know, your vag will never look the same, and you might grow a third boob in your armpit.”

“You’re lying .”

“Yeah, a lump of breast milk can form there, too!” Katara is about to scroll to the photo in her phone when Jin laughter breaks through the night.

“I hope your dick gets bitten off mid-blowjob!” She whisper-screams, struggling with her suitcase until it smacks all at nearly every corner and edge. She was just making noise for the sake of making noise, but it made her feel better.

He didn’t expect waking up to a charge on his card for a flight booked in the last ten minutes, or Katara shoving his good mixer in her suitcase.

“You hate it don’t you?” He always loved it when Katara went into Hulk mode anytime a bully dared test her protective nature. While it was never entirely directed at him, he now understands exactly why Chan peed his pants. Katara was terrifying .

“What?” Zuko’s confused, rubbing an eye booger away.

“You loved it when I’m crying over Jet, crying over something, fucking something up in my life. Being mad at the world. You hate that I’m better, and making something of myself now!” She’s angry and grasping at straws.

Zuko furrows his brows, not sure where to progress from here. “Ok, run that by me again?”

The air vanishes when her stare cools over to absolutely icy. “There’s nothing else I can give. So what the fuck do you want from me?”

He laughs, all hollow and almost mocking . “You know, I was afraid of you coming here.” He lies.

She stops in her tracks. “What the hell do you mean?”

“I thought...I thought you wouldn’t get this new me, because it’s different!” He protests. “See, this is exactly the reason why! You’re mad I can afford real Gucci !”

Katara recoils, looking embarrassed for him. God, were men so fucking stupid, and so proud of it, too. “Are you fucking serious.”

Zuko’s frustrated, running his hands through his hair. “What the fuck are we doing, Katara?”

“You tell me!” She demands. “I’m not that kind of girl, Zuko! I’m not that kind of girl that is going to break up a fucking engagement, or whatever the fuck you weirdos are doing!”

He throws up his hands. “I’m not happy! We’re not happy.”

“What? You think now that you’ve sold your soul to your piece of shit dad and you can buy jewelry that won’t turn your fingers green that I’m going to fuck you?”

“No! I’m not saying that—”

Katara scoffs. “Then what the fuck are you saying? Grow up, Zuko. Grow the fuck up and just leave me the fuck alone .”

“You’re still Katara.” He throws his hands up in the air, trying to stop her. Even if he felt like his entire world was falling apart, there was one thing he would always be certain about. “I’m still Zuko. The same Zuko who loves you .”

Katara turns her head, not willing to give him the satisfaction of seeing her upset. “The thing is, this isn’t you, Zuko.” Katara says with finality. “It isn’t you .”

When she gets home, she spots it right away. On their dining table, white paper folded neatly, Yue was the type of little girl who looked to both sides of the street before crossing, repeating it two more times to be safe. She always took extra care to make everything even, never a wrinkle in sight on her homework.

The Crayola family portrait that brought to life everything she’d imagined and more. Katara doesn’t have the heart to look for longer than a second.

At 27, Katara’s pretending that it’s the happiest day of her life.

She didn’t think he would listen to her, you know, men rarely did anything right. Zuko, though, heeds her warning and only calls exactly two hours before Yue’s bedtime like clockwork. There weren’t any surprise texts to wake up to anymore, no more evidence of Zuko in her life. She doesn’t even find out about Jin’s affair with one of those Axe commercial guys until months later.

When she goes to unblock his number and text him, to try and talk to him, she gasps. She sees those grey iMessage bubbles, and she’s ashamed her heart splutters, awakening a feeling she thought she’s dampened. She puts her phone down for milliseconds, before checking it again and again and again. She finally threw the damn thing across the room when a week passed.

She thinks it’s for the better, especially when she was sure she finally got things right with Jet.

“ We’ll make this shit work together.” Jet reassures, gathering her close to him she could see every little detail of him. “Like Kanye said, ‘you’re a MILF, and I’m a mother-fucker.”

She covers her ears, pushing him into the restaurant’s glass door. “No thank you. No more non consensual reciting of Kanye verses.”

“Yeezy, breezy, beautiful, baby. Get into it.” Jet winks, and Katara feels herself gagging again.

Then again, Katara always had a thing for stupid. And for three easy payments of $Penis.99, he had an all access experience to her pussy and her trauma.

“And he bought me those carrot cake cupcakes I always look at when we go to the supermarket but I never want to chance it because it could have raisins instead of nuts and I think I hate raisins more than I hate white men named Nathaniel.”

Toph jabs Katara in the forehead. “Wow, he spared $5 on some dry pastries, and your pussy was suddenly screaming pick me, pick me !”

“They were gluten free, too,” she points out. “Plus, my pussy doesn’t scream!”

“Oh right, my bad! It whispers!”

“ Toph !”

“Last night I heard it go wash me! Wash me!”

It felt good with him, though. It felt good to see him help Yue with math homework, making dinner in their little kitchen, pressing kisses to her in the morning despite her breath smelling like Khloe Kardashian’s earring backing pussy. Someone to come home to.

“Piece of shit, I’ll fucking kill you!” She was punching him over and over again until her knuckles were ripped raw, sitting straight on his throat. Beating him stupid in the middle of her shift. He thought he could get away with it. With Katara now stuck in the kitchen as one of the head cooks, and the fact he had a reservation in one of the private rooms for him and his secretary to go over...numbers, he didn’t think much of it.

Too bad Toph was too invested, and had a friends-to-lovers storyline to live vicariously through.

“Scram, fuglies!” Toph screamed to other customers who had already started chanting “WorldStar!”

Katara lost her job, lost her mans, lost a section of her eyebrow because Toph accidentally tried helping and swung the wrong direction.

“Catch me outside, how ‘bout that!” She yelps triumphantly, despite the fact Katara was cradling her own bloodied face.

And here she was, about to lose her best friend, too.

She accidentally Facetimed his old number, and spent the last hour mulling over her feelings with an executive of a porn studio who picked up mid-shoot. “Just tell him you love him!” The balding man is exhausted.

“What do I even say? Do I tell him, ‘I think I’ve always loved you?’ Is that too cheesy? You know that feeling when your heart just—Oh my fucking god! Is that Sandy Cheeks from Spongebob ?!” She screams, slamming her hands over her eyes. The squirrel’s melons-for-tits would never be erased from her memory.

He only has fear in his eyes when he looks at her. “You didn’t see anything.” Robert bites out, promptly hanging up.

In her post-Jet purge, she realized she wasn’t the type of ex dead set on destroying his things. After all, she was selling his light-up keyboard to pay for Toph’s birthday boob job. Her residual anger was instead, spent hacking away at the drawer he always kept locked. Until she found it.

A letter from him.

“ I’ve always been afraid that our friendship would’ve spilled over until all I could do is categorize it with four simple letters .” Katara whispers, eyes frantically scanning the paper. “And I’m done being afraid .”

“The four letters he’s talking about is D-U-M-B B-I-C-T-H . Dumb bitch. The ‘bitch’ is silent.” Toph insists. “I can’t believe you let a balding bum, whose credit score tanked because he invested his entire savings in Shake Weight Milkshake making machines, knock you up instead of Zuko.”

“It was innovative at the time,” she whispers.

“Fill the void in your heart, not your pussy.”

She's whipping out her shitty MacBook Air, and praying his email still worked. But when she calls all she sees is her.

“You told me to come to Republic City and find him!” Mai exclaims, holding up her hand where a big ring blinding the fuck out of her.

She feels her heart crumble at the same time she crushes the letter in her hand.

“I did do that, didn’t I?” Katara winces. The time the model stopped by in their hometown, Katara was still happy and getting her pussy pounded regularly and let that shit get to her head. She thought it would be a blessing in disguise, and wanted to help Zuko out, too.

"Fuck."

Their wedding looked ripped out of a 2014 Basic Bitch Pinterest board, and she’s definitely sure she couldn’t be happier.

“Why is her name spelled like ‘Mai’ and pronounced ‘May?’ Like, shouldn’t it be spelled like ‘Mei?’”

“Katara, you’re just being a bitch,” Toph reminds while Katara stares at the sign with their wedding hashtag in front of the photobooth with all the ‘YOLO’ signs and 2013 mustaches.

“I am well aware!” She asserts, chin jutting out.

Mai’s New York Fashion Week ready body was gorgeous, perfect in Zuko’s hold.

Katara wished life was like a rom-com. Where she could burst through the doors, declare her love, piss on him in her ugly, big bridesmaid dress and mark her territory once and for all.

But life wasn’t a movie. Life was just this shitty piece of dumpster fire shit and was always fucking her over like the Target self-checkout line camera.

What could she do? Deliver some long-winded speech about how she would go to realign the stars in the heavens if it meant a chance to rewrite their fate? That she hoped she visits his dreams before his mind could settle into reality, the same way he visited hers and overstayed his welcome every single time? Make everyone uncomfortable and wonder if they boned?

Then again, she was never going to be the one to block her best friend’s blessings. Not on the happiest day of his life.

“I think this is the happiest day of my life.” Katara says seamlessly.

Zuko sees it though, sees right through her and has to stop himself from reaching out to her.

“It wasn’t ever easy being Zuko’s best friend. I mean look at him now, getting married to someone perfect . He’s not even in the same ballpark, league, or hell, stadium porta potty as her!”

Zuko ducks his head with a brief pout that breaks Katara’s heart. Everyone laughs in spite of him, until he joins in, too. “You know, it’s easy to pretend that finding love is easy. You could find love in all the little things in your life. All the people, all the details. It’s easy to say you always, completely, truly love someone. Because that’s what we want love to be, right? At the surface, sure.” She folds the flimsy paper she had on hand, nothing was written on it anyways. “You want it to be perfect.”

“But the love everyone works so hard to get, is the love that’s hard . It’s the love that isn’t safe. The love that challenges, excites you, the love that will never have limits. The love that’s messy and beautiful all at the same time.” She looks at him, truly looks at him for the first time in years and all she could do was smile.

“It’s easy to find love, but it’s near impossible to find a soulmate.” She raises her glass. “Join me in a toast to the bride and groom. I wish you a lifetime of happiness.”

And while everyone is gathered out on the dance floor, she’s sobbing pathetically and smearing the winged eyeliner she worked so hard to perfect on the car ride there. Trying to stop any of the pain from consuming her.

She’s out on the rooftop of the venue, the cold air whipping her face as she tries lighting up a blunt.

“Are you getting high at my wedding !” Zuko is incredulous, and shocks Katara enough to drop the joint off the roof.

“On all things Fenty Beauty, bitch what the fuck?” Katara wipes the tears from the corner of her eyes.

“The flower girl wanted to see her mommy.” But Katara sees right through Yue’s little act. Pretending to sleep so she could be held by Zuko (me too, girl. Me too).

It felt dangerous, the way she could toy with his heart, his own personal defibrillator shocking it back to life. She’s pretty even with red-rimmed eyes, with the fake smiles he knew was trying to appease him to leave her alone. If anything, all it does is make him want to kiss her until her troubles are gone.

He wanted to do a lot of things at that moment. He wanted to feel the warmth of her skin, tell her that above all else, he missed his girl the most. But, he had everything on his plate and then some.

“The chicken was dry as fuck.” He blurts, wiping the sweat from his face. Only Katara could send him back a few decades. “I wish you could’ve catered it.”

“Yeah?” She laughs and wants to call him out for stalking her company’s Facebook page. “Remember you tried my new recipe and you vomited all over the front row at your fourth ever Hello Zuko performance?” She misses his messy hair, when he didn’t look so clean cut and rich bitchy.

“I didn’t know you weren’t done cooking it!”

She shoves his head, and he joins her, dangling his feet precariously off the roof.

When she’s here with him, when he has her in his hold for the first time in years, he sees his whole life with just a glimpse in her eyes. And all he wants to do is build a machine and reverse all the time that’s passed them by.

“I made a mistake.” Zuko breathes out, eyes nervously darting around.

As sure as he was that Nicki Minaj deserved a Grammy, he was sure he loved her.

“W-What?” Katara blinks at him.

“I made a mistake, Katara.” He laughs nervously, scratching the back of his neck, carding his hand through his hair. Looking every bit devastatingly handsome. “I realized something. After the speech, after just, everything.”

“I realized I just can’t have my cake and eat it, too.”

Just like that, just with the way he built her up, it comes tumbling down.

“So what are you saying?” Her heart was on the verge of cracking in half and he didn’t even know it. Because all he could pin her with a look she couldn’t read, and she thinks if he was a smarter man he would’ve at least pretended that it hurt him to hurt her.

But it did.

It broke him, ripped him in half to see her face turn to steel right before his eyes.

“What I’m saying is, after all these years.” He doesn’t have it in him to face her. “I think I have to finally let you go, Katara.”

#Zutara #Zuko #Katara #Zutara Week #atla #zutara fanfiction #avatar the last airbender #zutara week 2020

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splendidshinobi · 4 years ago

Text

FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST 2003 LIVE REACT: EPISODES 21-25

almost halfway done lads how we feelin'

episode 21: the red glow

ah yes barry

"i'm alphonse elric!!!!!" yes u r baby!!!

who just popped over the wall

scar im assuming

"i kill therefore i am".....barry spouting descartes rn

it was scar haha

hi greed

thought i saw you earlier

WHY DID THEY DRAW HIS ARMS THAT LONG

ope he found the chimera crew...

jerry jewell's evil laugh gets me every time lmao he's so great

ed has deep philosophical talks bro

also ed is chaotic but his personal morals are unshakeable

who are these prison guards gonna release

oh hey kimblee

oh hey squad

ed take out ur pokeball

um wth is that

OH MY GOD TUCKER WHAT

I THOUGHT IT WAS A GIANT YODA OR A SWAMP MONSTER

he looks FUCKKEDDDD

bro of all the things i was not expecting him

oof ishval flashbacks

young scar why is your hair brown

why is it white now

WHY IS HE NAKED

whos her

lust 1.0 im assuming

ew omg tucker is literally so fuckin nasty lookin idk

idk why but he's worse than rod reiss titan for me

wait a damn minute

wait a damn fucking minute

goddamnit

what is GOIN ON

i need tucker to stop whispering he sounds like fucking voldemort on the back of quirrells head

jesus

episode 22: created human

hughes' pajamas look like armin's futon from aot junior high

the bad place???? was that greed's prison gluttony was lookin at?

im still shook af over tucker and tbh its been like 24 hours since i watched episode 21

STOP WHISPERING TUCKER

driving me up a wall

my poor son looks so tired :(

those moral principles at it again

bradley.......

ewww the way tucker walks STOP

hi envy!!!!!

so all of those prisoner guys gonna get flattened by some alchemy

hey kimblee!!!

so did greed escape with the homies???? cause i feel like he would have made his presence known already....

i feel like im missing a lot because im a ding dong

musty prison kimblee is kinda...hot....physically speaking..oops..personality wise obviously there's MUCH to work on

so envy knows hohenheim

ED BABY

he won't do it

oh no alphonse

oh god memory implants

al's identity crisis CONTINUES

they wanna become humans??? huh....doesnt really make sense for their characters...(maybe envy but more on that at 11)

is ed gonna kill these guys for al

some1!!!!!! hold!!!!! me!!!! im so stressed

is he pretending to do it and he's got another plan up his sleeve!!!!????

honestly he's so depressed i cant even tell

those unshakable moral principles at work again i see

the red water can turn ed into a god???? wtf ed doesnt want to be a god he wants to punch god

oh theres the greed squad! i found them!!! is kimblee joining up with them

maria girly!!!!!!!

THE HOMUNCULI IN THEIR STUPID UNIFORMS I--

who's the lady. i need 2 know.

episode 23: fullmetal heart

alphonse is destroyed again

poor kid

"edward sir" brosh pls!!!

oh excuse me--- ***Bloch

The Ross Slap™

winry <3

pinako takes no prisoners

ed didnt you JUST tell brosh and ross they might be right that you needed to trust adults with more shit and now youre blowing off hughes

ed's DRAWINGS im-

hi sig hi izumi!!!

al is so sad over there in that corner

poor baby son

sometimes i feel like hughes and mustang are ed and al's divorced dads

the little arakawa avatar cows in the back im CRYING!!!!!!!

“bean”

snappy al

ooffffffff

omg hughes plz

elicia is precious though we love her

"dad's friend the bookworm" omg sheska

awwww gracia made edward a cake!!!!!!!

god catch me cryin in the club

CONGRATULATIONS

"whatever" al im crying he's so sad

AL MADE BROSH OR WHOEVER CARRY HIS DESTROYED ARMOR TO THE ROOF IM ACTUALLY YELLING

"you goof"

yes winry you are correct boy is a goof

sir you are being so dramatic

give that baby a hug

"so called brother"

so we all know that was a knife through the heart for ed

al just jumped off a FUCKING ROOF and ED TRIED TO FOLLOW

so im crying

i liked this better when they HAD A CONVERSATION ABOUT AL'S FEARS AND MADE THE FUCK UP

episode 24: bonding memories

guess we're gonna play w my emotions again

sometimes like....one bit characters talk...like villager b ya know? and im like who are you i know that voice

so the nasty military has come to ruin some lives again

and barry for some reason

aww poor al

youre real you are!!!!!!

i just feel like people would know people that wear sunglasses in the rain would be ishvalan

but what do i know

obviously they dont have the white hair thing in this version

poor ed is so sad

these boys need a hug

let me just *pulls out adoption papers*

well if scar doesnt have queen mei to adopt in 03, he’s got this little toothless boy

dont lie al you do care

ew i dont like her

the drama of this boy

so the nasty military has come to ruin some lives again part 2

apparently they are *mercenaries??? excuse me

i have some questions regarding this kid’s mom

well you know i can see why this kid feels this way about his mom

it does look like she ran off...

al and scar dream team up

HEY ED!!! HEY WINRY!!!

bout time

yall gonna have this talk now????

barry STOPPPPPP

brotherhood barry is the true king there i said it

damn scar you baddie

barry like....you already knew him

anyway

WHAT THE HELL

NO RICKKK!!!!!!

someone save this boy!!!!

oh good his mom “saved” him

ah damn thats pretty tragic

she didnt know they were right in front of her

well my questions were answered

so she attacks with grape fanta. thats one way to do it

ed looks like such an angry gremlin right now this is a heartwarming moment sir please

why are ed and scar being so civil right now this is so weird

bye scar

we’ll see him again

see you later scar

episode 25: words of farewell

maes who let you buy that awful pink suit

gracia please it better not have been you

mustang ew please

dont open the door lookin like that

what the hell are you doing in here

so hughes WASNT in ishval here?

i think that takes a lot away from his character but anyway

bradley hangs around like a creep at every possible instant

why would bradley care about ishvalan refugees like hughes cmon

“unspeakable crimes” BRADLEY YOU LITERALLY CANNOT TALK

juliet douglas is this lady’s name

only took me 1000 episodes to figure that out

ED AND AL??? NOT DEALING WITH DANGEROUS THINGS??????? dont make me laugh assholes theyre lying thru their teeth

izumi time lets go

wow we’re still going to rush valley? wasnt really expecting that tbh

elicia i LOVE you!!!!!

ew kimblee “hi”

how did he lightning himself like that

if i were ishvalan i would not go to the south....yet ANOTHER war torn region of amestris but ok

okay

an amestrian desert biker gang rolled up to wreak havoc

HUGHES AHAHAHA

tbh i wouldnt want to tell roy anything either stupid bitch

anyway

um why do i feel like its hughes’ death episode

he would not be shown tucking elicia in to bed otherwise

please im not ready to be hurt again

oh no

yeah he just learned something about our girl juliet

ive been waiting for this information

he’s gonna die before we learn anything helpful

yupppppp

hey lust figured you’d show up sooner or later

i too wish i could look that sexy pulling a kunai out of my forehead

SLOTH????????

did girly just say SLOTH

i- nothing about her seems particularly slothy but ok

u know what!!!!!!!!!!!!

ENVY HEYYY

DUMBASS ROY JUST HAAAAAD TO LEAVE

haha famous last words

oof it hurts every time

not the FUNERAL scene no!

time for me to go

peace out homies im dead inside

yes my brigadier general

NOT THE RAIN

COME ONNNNNN

hughes is sneezing six feet under

was ed supposed to be looking at hughes’ ghost

um....right

#carol watches fma03 #carol's remaining brain cells #fullmetal alchemist #fma 03 #zoo wee freaking mama #thoughts i have THOUGHTS

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softforcal · 6 years ago

Text

Floral : Tattooist!Cal

Summary: Renowned tattoo artist Calum Hood doesn’t take apprentices often, but when he does, he tackles the challenge like everything else in his life: with the utmost professionalism. Until he meets Lily, a learning artist, and Calum falls head over heels before he can help himself.

Warnings: there’s smut. but its super slow burn.

Cal Mood Board: Lily

Word Count: 13.3k

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

The young, heavily tattooed man sat at the receptionist desk in his parlour. His head was bowed, chiseled jaw set, eyebrows furrowed as he studied the papers scattered in front of him.

Art littered the sheets and after a good, long look, the man would either add the paper to a pile on his left or on his right.

The stack to his left was large and separated in two with a combined paper count of well over three hundred.

The stack to his right was substantially smaller, containing only five or six hand picked sheets.

Buzzing filled the space, one of his workers and friends, a man named Michael, was finishing up the last client of the day. His words didn’t even register to the focused man at the front as Michael wiped off the skin carefully, put a bandage over it and then walked the client to the reception desk. The woman paid and left, leaving the two large aussies to silence.

Michael looked over Calum’s shoulder, hands reaching out to pull at one of the last few sheets yet to be judged, “this is nice.” Michael stated.

Calum cocked his head, taking the paper gingerly from his friend.

He had to admit, there was something interesting to the style.

It was floral, which Calum usually shied away from, but something about this piece just captured his eye. The lines were thin and delicate, precise and deliberate, they caught his attention and drew his gaze along each light, flouncy, petal. It was realism, which was Calum’s specialty. As much as he enjoyed the more cartoony things, Calum had a reputation for making tattoos that seemed to jump out of the skin.

And this piece definitely did that.

He added it to the pile on his right.

Michael helped him decide on the last few and finally he was done, having finished with six sheets of paper that Calum then carefully picked up, “now for the hard part.” he stated.

Michael’s laugh echoed through the tattoo parlour, “those all look sick man, i don’t know how you’re going to choose, glad I don’t have your fucking job.”

“You going home for the day?”

“Might go to a bar, wanna drink?”

“Hmmm.” Calum sighed, “I need to finish this up.”

“Well I’ll tell you one thing, if you don’t choose whoever the fuck did that flower piece, I’m going to break into your application file, find them, and get them to tattoo me. Girly or not, that shit was fire.”

-------

Calum’s dog Duke padded around his feet as Calum walked through his apartment. His fingers held the glass of whiskey loosely by his side as he approached his work desk. Letting out a long sigh, Calum collapsed into his plush, slightly worn, work chair, setting his drink down.

The final six contenders were all in front of him.

Two of them were animal sketches, one was more geometric, and the final three were florals. As much as he tried to give each one the same amount of time and attention, his eyes kept going back to that one floral one.

Calum was very specific about taking on apprentices.

He’d only ever had two, and after he was done with them, they were almost as renowned as he was.

Thinking about the artists brought a smile to his face. His hand absentmindedly rubbed at the triangle on his forearm, just under his horse shoe tattoo.

The idea had been Michael’s originally, and it had been a joke. No one thought Calum would actually do it. So when Calum had allowed his first apprentice to graduate to full tattooist stature by taking a gun and putting whatever he wanted onto Calum’s body, everyone had been shocked.

But, his first apprentice had been kind, opting for a geomorphic animal hybrid tattoo. It was medium sized, a black triangle with a wolf face inside. Calum hadn’t looked the entire process, putting his complete trust in the man he’d just spent over a year training.

Everyone had been shocked. His friends had filmed most of it and it had gone viral.

Calum was known for his tattooing skills but he was also known for his tattoos, he could be very particular about who took a needle to his body so this was the ultimate show of confidence in his teaching abilities.

Whenever Calum found himself retreating into himself he’d look down at the lone wolf tattoo on his forearm to remind himself to open up a little, to enjoy his pack and welcome new members.

New apprenticeship applications had been abundant after that, with Calum getting at least three or four hundred applicants whenever he announced that he would be taking on someone new.

The second apprentice had gotten Calum on his stomach with his shirt off and had began to wipe down a very large expanse of Calum’s practically unmarked back when it was decided that Calum’s apprentices would have to run their final tattoo idea by Calum’s senior artists first.

Michael voted yes to having a massive dragon on Calum’s back but Calum, Ashton and Luke had vetoed that idea.

The dragon had been substantially shrunk down to a red and black little reptilian creature on Calum’s shoulder, its tail wrapped protectively around his upper arm. Whenever Calum wore shirts that showed off the intricate, very real looking piece, Michael would always joke and pretend to talk to the dragon which he had since named “lil Sebastian.” Calum had denied this name but that never stopped Michael.

Calum enjoyed the application process.

He enjoyed looking at all of the art which he insisted be sent in with a coded system that he didn’t know, that way, he had no idea of the age, gender, ethnicity, or background of any of the applying artists. He wanted to make it fair. He wanted to choose the best because their art was the best, not because of any other possible side reasons.

The floral piece made him want to know who had drawn it.

Which was odd. Usually Calum was okay with not knowing. But there was, as Michael had pointed out, something about it.

Calum took a deep breath, picking up the sheet one last time.

He wasn’t the type to ever let his heart make decisions for him, but he knew that this choice was backed by his eyes and his mind as well. Whoever this artist was, they had talent, and Calum wanted to be there to take that talent, which was already spectacular, and somehow make it better.

The decision had been made. Now all that was left was for his receptionist (who for the time being was Ashton since their receptionist was on mat leave) would call the artists.

It was a Friday, and by Monday, if the artist accepted, his parlour would have a new apprentice, and Calum would once again embark on a year to three year teaching mission that at the end he would have a new tattoo and an artist to show for it.

-----------

Lily waited for the coffee. The long sleeves of her oversized denim were perfect for fidgeting and she took full advantage, rolling the worn fabric between her fingers.

A strand of blonde hair had fallen loose from the messy bun atop her head, dangling in front of her face, but Lily was too wired and distracted to even notice.

“Black coffee and a frap for Lily?” the cute barista guy said. Announcing her name was just a formality, the barista had flirted with Lily at the till, he knew who she was and his eyes were bright as he handed her the drinks.

She offered a small smile before rushing from the shop.

She’d had a last minute spur of anxiety about showing up to her apprenticeship the first day without anything. She’d rather be on time with coffee than early and empty handed.

Lily dodged around people on the street, her small frame making it easy, the large black denim flaring out behind her like a flag. She slowed down as she approached the parlour.

Her palms were sweating and she could feel her heart practically beating out of her chest. She took a few deep breaths. When she’d applied to the apprenticeship she didn’t think she’d actually get in.

Lily had always loved drawing and somewhere along the way she’d realized that the doodles in the margins of her textbooks could become something more. She’d been accepted to a pretty high end arts school and one of her teachers had brought up tattooing in a class.

Lily had immersed herself, and a month later, had already given herself a stick and poke but it was nowhere near as pretty as she had wanted it to be.

She’d become addicted to tattoos.

By the time she’d finished at the arts school, she’d had numerous tattoos done, all floral, of course.

Lily had found HoodTats on instagram in her second year and had been following his posts religiously since then. He only ever posted his art which was something she always appreciated, knowing that whenever that notification popped up on her phone, she’d be able to see a new piece from the artist as opposed to pictures non-art related.

When he announced his apprenticeship reopening, Lily had worked her ass off, but had accepted the fact that she wouldn’t be chosen.

When she’d gotten a call on Saturday morning and an aussie accent had told her she’d been chosen, Lily had dropped her phone to scream. Scrambling to grab her cell again, she and the man had exchanged a light hearted chuckle, and he’d given her info on what she needed to do. It had seemed so surreal, Lily was shocked she’d even been of sound mind enough to be able to jot down the information on her drawing pad.

And now there she was, standing in front of the parlour.

She stood there for a moment, just looking at the doors.

“You going in or what?” a voice asked.

Lily jumped, grip tightening on her coffee as she turned to look at the man who was standing next to her. She took in his strong jaw and golden skin, and she wet her lips absentmindedly, “yeah, sorry, I uh… fuck, I’m a little jittery today.”

He hummed, eyes scanning her too, then he reached out and opened the door to the parlour for her. Lily offered a small smile and walked in, the gorgeous man following her inside.

“Hey Cal.” the guy at the main desk said, looking up.

The guy from behind Lily grunted in response, and Lily furrowed her eyebrows, Cal as in-

“Hey!” the happy blonde grinned, drawing her thoughts away.

“Hi.” Lily forced a smile, taking a deep breath, “I’m Lily-”

“Right! The apprentice! You’re early!” the blonde said, “I’m Ashton!” he held out a hand and Lily haphazardly set the coffees down, wiping her hand on her pants to rid of the condensation that had marred her skin from the frappuccino.

She shook Ashton’s hand, making an awkward face, “sorry, my skin is cold.”

“No worries, you brought someone a coffee?” he asked.

“Uh… I figured i should bring something so I bought a frappuccino-”

“You mean the black coffee is for you?” the guy laughed.

“Yeah-”

“Offer Calum the black coffee, trust me.”

Before Lily could respond a new guy came into the parlour from the back room and he walked over with a grin, “who’s this?” he asked.

“Calum’s new apprentice.”

“Lily.” she extended the hand to the pink haired guy.

“No shit?!” the pink haired man grinned, “fuck, your art is amazing! I’m Michael!”

He shook her hand aggressively but the light in his eyes told Lily that he was just excited, genuinely excited, to meet her.

“I saw your florals? Damn, if you ever want a canvas, I have a whole leg that’s free and you can just fuck it up-”

“Michael you’re scaring her.” Ashton tutted, nudging his friend.

Michael looked between Ashton and Lily, “no I’m not! I’m not scaring you am I?”

“You scare everyone.” the gorgeous guy from before had returned, and he leaned his hip against the counter. His leather jacket was gone, revealing a black v neck that was pulled tight against his strong chest. His arms were crossed, biceps bulging, arms littered in tattoos exposed and proud on his beautiful skin.

“This is Lily, she’s your new apprentice.” Ashton stated.

Lily’s eyes met Calum and she nearly swore in front of him… again. She’d just said fuck to him outside. To her new boss. She’d said fuck.

Fuck.

Calum looked her up and down again, taking in the oversized denim that nearly hid her tiny frame. Her jeans were black and ripped at the knees and her blonde hair was in a messy bun on top of her head, one haphazard strand in front of her face. She had high cheekbones and soft looking lips, eyes that were a molten chocolate brown peered up at him and freckles splattered her cute button nose.

“So you’re the floral girl.” he said before he could help himself.

She opened her mouth then shut it, grabbing the black coffee from the counter she held it out for him, “i got this for you.”

Calum looked at it for a moment then accepted it, turning it over in his hands to look at what was written on the side.

“Who’s Greg?” he asked.

“What?”

He showed her the cup. Written on the side was a phone number, a heart, and the name Greg. “fuck.” Lily breathed, her eyes widened, “shit, I mean- fuck, not fuck, shit.”

She hid her face with her hands and all three men grinned at her.

“We don’t fucking care if you swear sweetheart, just as long as you keep it to a minimum in front of clients.” Michael assured her.

“So who is Greg.” Ashton asked.

“He’s the barista I guess. I don’t know, he was flirting with me but I didn’t check the cup.” Lily groaned loudly.

“So… do you want the number?” Calum asked, offering the cup back to her.

Lily grabbed the frappuccino, stepping back as she took a sip, shaking her head, “no fucking thank you.”

Calum tried to stop himself from grinning.

He liked her already.

-------

Calum had to admit, Lily learned fast.

He found that he only had to show her something once, and just like that, she knew what she was doing. The first week had been kind of rocky. Calum was a quiet guy by nature, and he could tell that it was making Lily anxious, although she never said anything.

The first day in particular had been interesting.

Every time she took a sip of her frappuccino, she’d make a face and Calum had found it amusing, until he found out from Ashton after she left that the black coffee that she’d given him had initially been for herself. The poor girl had been so worried about making a good impression that she’d forced down one of those too-sweet coffee monstrosities that Calum, an avid coffee drinker, would not have been caught dead drinking.

Lily got flustered pretty easily which was endearing to him given the whole edgy look she was rocking like it was nobody's business.

Wearing almost strictly black clothing that set off the gold of her hair, Calum may have described Lily as goth, but due to her lack of make up, maybe that was the wrong word. She was tiny, Calum always had to look down to meet her eyes, and she tried to hide behind oversized sweatshirts and jackets. She’d roll up the sleeves into large bunches at her elbows while drawing, and she never seemed to be able to sit like a normal human being.

Even on a stool, she’d find a way to tuck one leg underneath her, or use something nearby to rest a foot on.

Calum had always been the type of guy to be quiet and watch, noticing the small things other people wouldn’t notice. Like the way Lily would focus entirely on a drawing, hands almost as steady as Calum’s, but the moment she was done, her long sleeves would be rolled down again and she’d begin to fidget.

Lily was quiet too. Something Calum appreciated.

She didn’t ask many questions which Calum enjoyed, but it did concern him a little. As her teacher, he wanted to make sure that he was actually teaching.

He found himself asking “did that make sense?” or “do you understand?” more than he ever had in his life, always earning a small “yeah” or curt nod.

He’d also noticed the small dimple, just one, on her left cheek, that would appear rarely but it always made him want to smile back whenever it did.

Michael spent most of his free time talking to Lily, which Calum enjoyed, he was never one for small talk. Through Michael’s chats with Lily, Calum had learned that Lily had actually gone to art school. She’d been doodling all her life. She adored flowers, only partially because of her name (she wasn’t that pretentious.) But, the discussions were usually limited to art and tattoo related things, which Calum was beginning to find quite dry.

He wanted to ask questions, but Calum wasn’t the type to pry. He was never appreciative of people asking him unwanted questions and Calum didn’t fancy himself to be a hypocrite.

Besides, Calum was, in a way (in a lot of ways) her boss. And Calum was never the type to toe the line of professionalism. Which is why, when Michael suggested that Lily grab a drink with them after work, Calum thanked god for his best friend.

Lily had agreed and Calum was sure that it was for Michael’s sake, definitely not his own. After all, Calum hadn’t spoken two words together to the girl that weren’t work related.

Besides, one of Calum’s artists had been traveling for a month and was finally coming home, so it would be a good chance for Lily to meet the guy outside of the parlour.

Michael spent the entire day ranting about Luke and hyping him up to the point that if he wasn’t a six foot four, curly blonde, rockstar looking, douche bag, then Lily would have been very let down.

After closing up the parlour, the three walked down the street to the bar. Calum opened the door for them and as they went inside, all of Lily’s expectations were met.

Luke had already grabbed them a booth, and as they walked in, he leapt to his feet, coming over with open arms. He immediately engulfed Michael in a hug before turning to Lily, “you must be Cal’s new whipping girl!” he grinned, wrapping his arms around her next.

Lily was small next to Michael and Cal but with Luke? She was absolutely miniscule. So Luke had no issue simply picking her up off the ground in a hug.

A small squeal left Lily’s lips and everyone laughed.

“Fuck. You’re not a hugger are you?” Luke asked, setting her back down. His hands went to her shoulders, bending down to meet her eyes as he looked at her with concern.

“Uh… that was a hug?” she asked, laughing awkwardly.

Michael laughed, “don’t mind Luke, he’s just a big teddy bear.”

“Fuck off.” Luke said, shoving at Michael who grinned, throwing his arm over Luke’s shoulders as the two walked back to the table.

“Wow, fuck Calum then.” Lily said, voice quiet.

But Calum heard. And Calum laughed, “Luke can be a bit forgetful.”

“I uh-” Lily flushed red and hid her face with her oversized sleeves, “I didn’t mean for you to hear that.”

“It’s alright.” Calum assured her.

“I just… he didn’t even look at you.” Lily stammered, “god, I would be so worried if one of my friends snubbed me like that-”

“He didn’t snub me.” Calum said a tad too sternly, and it made Lily shut her worried, anxious, stammering mouth. She looked at him with wide eyes and Calum sighed, seeing the hurt in the chocolate brown irises. “Sorry I snapped at you I-”

“No it’s fine.” her eyes had widened and her hands were up and waving, sort of distracting Calum actually, as she ranted about how she always swore too much and needed to learn not to always say what was on her mind, even if she whispered it and didn’t expect anyone to hear, not that Calum was being nosey, he was standing there anyways so he was definitely not being nosey-

“Do you drink?” Calum asked, rubbing the back of his neck uncomfortably as he looked down at Lily.

“Are you offering to buy me a drink?” Lily asked.

Calum stared at her for a moment and that's all it took for Lily to freak out again, getting even redder as she hid her face, “holy fuck! Shit! You see? I have a problem. That was way too flirty. You’re my boss! Wow. I am way too anxious to function, this is such a mess-”

“I’m going to get you a drink.” Calum stated before she could continue, moving past her to the bar and leaving her standing there wanting to die.

“What’s the deal with that?” Luke asked, tilting his chin towards where Lily and Calum had just been standing.

“So the new girl Lily is an anxious little muffin nugget and Cal is…”

“Cal.” Luke finished for him, making them both laugh, “she’s cute.”

“Yeah, and just wait till you see her fucking art!” Michael grinned, “she’s talented, just Calum’s type.”

Lily had managed to contain herself again, walking over to the table where Michael made room for her, “who’s Calum’s type?” she asked.

“No one-” Michael began to say as Luke stated “you.”

Lily’s breath caught in her throat as she looked between the two men sitting in the booth. Michael was gaping at Luke but Luke was grinning, attention deliberately entirely focused on Lily.

“That is very inappropriate Luke.” Michael tutted.

“Why?”

“He’s her boss-”

“Not really.” Luke said.

“Sort of though.” Michael argued.

“Eh, is he really though?” Luke narrowed his eyes at Michael.

Before Michael could answer Calum came back, a Guinness in each hand. He set one down in front of Lily, “hope you like-”

“Guinness!? My favourite!” Lily smiled.

“Yeah, figured you like black coffee-”

“You like black coffee?” Luke made a face at Lily, “wow, you and Cal really are meant to be.”

“Luke!” Michael screamed.

“What?!” Luke threw his hands on the air.

“You left for a month and you have no filter!” Michael shouted.

“I never had a filter!” Luke pointed out.

Michael groaned, “fuck, it’s true, you got me there. Damn it.” he turned to look at Lily, “I’m so sorry, Luke’s not used to being around girls.”

“Yes I am!” Luke insisted, “all the girls love me-”

“Oh yeah? Then why the fuck are you still single?” Michael asked.

Lily and Calum both grabbed their drinks in unison, watching Luke and Michael fight.

“I’m single because a man like me shouldn’t be tied down!” Luke stated.

“Pfff, sure it has nothing to do with the whole ‘oh I don’t believe in love’ thing?” Michael asked.

“If you want to talk not believing in love, go fight Calum!” Luke said, motioning towards the silently sitting artist, “he’s the douchebag who thinks that shit doesn’t exist, not me!”

All eyes went to Calum.

He set down his Guinness, tattooed, ring clad fingers sliding along the condensation covered glass, a moment passed, “so is someone going to ask me something or are you all just going to stare at me?”

“You don’t believe in love?” Lily asked.

“Well when you put it like that-” Calum sighed.

“How else would you put it Cal?” Luke smirked.

He thought about it for a moment then grinned, bringing his drink to his lips, “touche.”

“How about you flower baby, what’s your vibe on that crazy little thing called love?” Luke asked.

“‘Flower baby’ I like it!” Michael grinned, turning his gaze to the only girl there.

“Well that’s a loaded question.” Lily said, shrinking under their gaze.

“You’re single right?” Michael asked.

“Michael.” Calum warned.

“What? I can ask her that sort of thing, I’m not her boss, plus we were all thinking it.” Michael said.

“Michael, this is bordering sexual harassment.” Calum stated, “Lily if you’re uncomfortable-”

“I’m always uncomfortable.” she interjected.

“You don’t have to answer their questions.” he told her.

Lily took a deep breath, “no, I should try to not be so shy all the time.”

“Good for you, cheers to that.” Luke said, lifting the bottle of beer he’d had since before they’d arrived, “so tell us all your secrets.”

“My money’s on single.” Michael stated.

“Why?” Lily laughed.

“Cuz if you had a boyfriend there’s no way in hell he wouldn’t have already come to the shop to check us out and make sure none of us are threats.” Michael answered.

“And then, he’d show up and fight Calum-” Luke continued.

“Can you both leave me out of this?” Calum interjected.

“But Cal-”

“Maybe just stop saying my name how about that?” Calum sighed.

Luke groaned loudly, “you’re lame.”

“So you two are friends right?” Lily asked.

“Yeah, why do you ask?” Luke said, taking a sip of his beer.

Lily grinned and Michael laughed, “they have a very complicated relationship.” he assured her.

“Your mom and I have a complicated relationship.” Luke quipped.

“How long have you been here buddy?” Michael asked.

“A while.”

“How much have you had to drink?”

“A lot.”

Michael groaned, “man, I haven’t even had a beer yet and I’m already going to have to take you home aren’t I?”

“I’m fine.” Luke laughed.

“That’s your awkward ‘I’m totally not fine’ laugh.” Michael sighed, “okay man, lets go.”

“But we can’t leave Cal and the flower child.” Luke groaned.

“I’m sure they’ll be fine.” Michael said, pulling Luke to his feet.

“But I like flower girl.” Luke whined.

“And you’ll see her at work on Monday when you’re sober.” Michael pointed out.

“Promise?” Luke asked.

“Promise.” Michael said, Luke finally allowing himself to be dragged closer to the door, he turned back and looked at Calum and Lily who were both watching him, “tell them to use protection Michael, we don’t need a tattoo parlour baby.”

“I’m sure they’ll be fine.”

Luke was not satisfied with this answer, turning to look at Cal and Lily he screamed “use protection!” and half the bar turned to look at the two still sitting in the booth.

Lily flushed immediately and Calum sighed, “we can just finish our drinks and go.” he suggested.

Lily took a sip of her Guinness, “eager to get rid of me?” she asked.

Calum’s grip tightened on his glass, “look, this was probably a mistake, I’m your teacher and this feels inappropriate, especially with how Michael and Luke have been acting-”

“Have you taken your other apprentices out for drinks before?”

“Yeah-”

“So it’s because I’m a girl.” Lily stated.

Calum groaned. He was not a sexist guy. He wasn’t. Which is why he even did applications blind, so that he wouldn’t treat people differently. And now here he was, treating his apprentice differently because she was a woman. A cute woman. Fuck.

“Shit.” Calum said, “I feel like such a jackass.”

“Is it…” Lily sighed.

“Is it what?”

Lily covered her face in her hands, “fuck, now I’m making this awkward.” she peeked at Calum, “I’m going to just say it and we can pretend it never happened, we should pretend this whole night didn’t happen to be honest, like, I don’t know what the fuck has come over me today but… Luke and Michael are throwing me off big time, and, shit, is it… is it because I’m your type? Is that why you’re being so weird? Like, Michael said you’re a quiet guy but this feels more personal you know?”

“I’m just… i haven't had a female apprentice before and I guess I’m not used to it.” Calum studied her and then realized that he’d pretty much just stated that she wasn’t his type, which was a lie, and if there was one thing Calum Hood wasn’t, it was a liar, “not that you’re not my type, you are, I mean, shit, I’m your boss, sort of, and being professional is kinda my thing-”

“You’re very professional.” Lily assured him.

“I just bought you a beer, probably shouldn’t have done that-”

“I won’t tell the head of the tattooist apprenticeship board or whatever if you don’t.” Lily sighed, “Look. don’t treat me differently. I don’t want this to be so awkward, i want to be friends, after all, when this is all over i will legitimately be putting a tattoo of my choosing on your body so we should be friends don’t you think?”

“I just don’t want to make you uncomfortable-” Calum winced.

“If you do, I’ll tell you, how about that?” she asked.

He considered it, “deal.”

They finished their Guinnesses quickly, standing and walking to the entryway to the bar, “well, how far from here do you live?” Calum asked.

“A little ways away, why?”

“I mean, should I offer to walk you home?” Calum tested.

“Would you offer that to your other apprentices?”

“Probably not.”

“Then no.”

“Okay well uh… get home safe then yeah?”

“Will do. I’m a big girl.” Lily grimaced immediately, “wow that sounded so weird. I’ll uh… I’ll see you at work on Monday.”

“Yeah.”

Calum almost went in for a hug. His brain was so frazzled. Whenever he took a girl out to a bar they were usually on a date and normally, if he wasn’t interested in taking them home, he’d give them a hug just to say ‘goodbye, never gonna call you again.’

Lily also awkwardly looked like she was about to go in for a hug and they both kind of stumbled awkwardly until Lily thrust out her hand and Calum laughed, shaking it, “uh, have a good night.”

“You too.”

As they both turned and went opposite ways down the street they were both cringing. It was very obvious to them that she was his apprentice and they were two weeks into an apprenticeship that could take more than two years.

They were fucked.

-------

On Monday, Lily and Calum showed up to work fully intending to stay true to their agreement to forget the awkwardness of Friday ever happened, and have Calum treat her like every other apprentice he’d had.

After a bit of small talk with Luke, Michael and Ashton, Calum’s first client arrived and he called Lily over to watch. Calum was very focused when he tattooed, staying completely silent as he worked, which left it up to Lily to make conversation with the clients.

Calum enjoyed listening to Lily chat with clients. She was always so anxious around him, but she relaxed a little bit more around other people. She almost seemed easy going, and if Cal didn’t know her, he would have even gone as far to describe her as an extrovert.

She’d make a great tattoo artist. Always calming down and distracting clients.

Calum almost began getting critical of himself because damn, did he not talk enough with clients? No one had ever complained before so Calum pushed the thought aside.

Calum realized that if he simply didn’t look at Lily, he could teach her better, not get distracted by her pretty freckles or her gorgeous brown eyes-

It worked for a week.

But because it worked, Lily got more comfortable.

It had been a full month when Lily finally got so comfortable that she took off her oversized, black denim jacket for the first time.

It was getting hotter outside, summer quickly approaching, and Lily was wearing a black tank top that exposed her arms and shoulders. As she slipped the the denim off and put it on a chair, Calum’s breath caught in his throat. Delicate tattoos littered the skin from elbow to shoulder, two beautiful half sleeves that he had no idea she’d had.

In classic Lily fashion, the tattoos were all black.

As Calum studied them he realized, “wait, did you… did you tattoo some of these onto yourself?” the art was undeniably Lily.

Lily’s skin flushed, “yeah, iI uh… I bought a tattoo gun a while ago and figured I’d test it on myself.”

“So that’s why your lines are so good already, you’ve literally been practicing on yourself.” Calum would have laughed if it wasn’t so hard core.

“Yeah.” Lily laughed, “I mean, I think they turned out alright.” she looked down at the flowers on her left arm, “the ones on this side are better because I’m right handed, I practiced with my left for ages with paper but it just wasn’t the same so only this peony is mine,” she motioned to a small, delicate flower on her right arm, “everything else was done by other artists I’ve been into for a while.”

Calum recognized the artwork on her right arm, “that was done by Cole.” Cole had been his second apprentice.

“Yeah, he managed to convince me to get a full half sleeve from him so this is all his.”

“Sounds like Cole.” Calum grinned, pulling up the sleeve of his shirt to the shoulder to show her the dragon, “he gave me this one, originally he wanted to take up my whole back but I had to draw the line with that one.”

“Yeah, he wanted my whole arm but I told him just above the elbow.”

“Would you ever get your forearms done?”

“Hmm, probably not, but I have an idea for my thigh-” before she could go into more details, Calum’s client arrived and the conversation was cut short.

That day was particularly difficult. Calum just wanted to gawk at her tattoos. She had been a ten before but now? Wow. Calum had a thing for tattoos and the whole thing about Lily tattooing herself was… well, Calum’s pants were getting a bit tight just thinking about it.

It was around one o'clock when Ashton got a cancelation call from one of Calum’s clients. Calum didn’t mind, there was a deposit for half the cost anyways and it meant he had an hour of free time. Calum sent Ashton for lunch which meant he and Lily were manning the reception desk.

Lily was drawing flowers while Calum watched. He didn’t have any floral tattoos and he had been curious from day one what they would look like on his skin. “Do you want to try drawing that on me?” he suggested.

“Uh… are you sure?” Lily asked.

“Yeah, you need practice drawing on people, last time you did, the woman said your hands were cold after.” Calum pointed out.

“Shit.” Lily immediately put down her pencil and began rubbing her palms together to warm them up.

“Here.” Calum handed her a black sharpie.

“Do you want a floral tattoo?”

“I’ve never wanted one before but... I dunno, your flowers are really nice.”

“Thanks.” Lily flushed, “so your forearm?”

Calum arms were pretty tatted as it was but his left was more covered than his right so he offered up the arm, gesturing to medium sized unmarked patch, “yeah, probably here.”

“Any flowers in specific?” she asked.

“What’s your specialty?”

Lily chuckled, looking up at him for a moment as she twirled the sharpie between her fingers, “a lily. But I do a great chrysanthemum or peony.”

“I only know what lilies look like so surprise me with one of the other ones.” Calum said. He liked surprises.

“Well I showed you my peony so-”

“So the other one.”

“A chrysanthemum.”

“Yeah. That.”

Lily took Calum’s offered arm, putting it on the table as she took the top off of the sharpie. “Free handing is okay?” she clarified.

“Go for it.” Calum said, watching as she too the first swipe of black ink over his arm.

“So you mentioned earlier you had an idea for your thigh?”

“Yeah, I was thinking of getting a few big chrysanthemums actually, but I haven’t found anyone who can draw them right.” Lily explained.

“Why don’t you just do it yourself.” Calum teased.

“Cuz it would hurt like a bitch.” Lily answered, “oh, you were joking.”

“A little.”

He watched her drawing the petals, “you know, not to rain on your parade or anything but I feel like I could probably draw a… whatever flower that is.”

“Chrysanthemum.”

“You know maybe if you wrote that down I’d be able to pronounce it.”

Lily grinned. She made it look so easy and Calum studied how she drew each delicate petal. Calum Hood didn’t do flowers, but there was something endearing about how delicate and deliberate each petal was.

After a few minutes she finished, “there. What do you think?”

It did look really good. And again, Calum Hood did not do floral. “yeah.”

He pulled out his art pad and began to try to copy her work and Lily watched, “more curve here and here.” she said, correcting his lines.

Calum grinned, “so the student becomes the teacher.”

Lily flushed, “well, I mean, it’s always been a dream to have you tattoo me, which sounds way awkward saying that out loud but you don’t do floral.”

“I’m doing floral now.” Calum pointed out.

“Still not curved enough.” Lily corrected another petal.

Calum groaned, pulling out another piece of paper to draw a new flower. As he drew, Lily only corrected it twice, and on the third drawing, not at all. Calum held up the paper smugly.

“It looks great.” Lily said.

“So you’ll let me tattoo it on you.”

“Uh…” Lily laughed awkwardly, “I mean, you drew one but I’m going for something a little bigger-”

No one had ever turned down a tattoo from Calum Hood, it was a challenge and Calum liked challenges, “how about this, by the end of the week if I can free hand a bunch of these flowers-”

“Chrysanthemums.”

“If I can freehand a bunch of these cruh-san-the-memes-”

“Nice try.”

Calum groaned loudly, “if I can draw them and you like them you’ll let me tat you.”

“Aren’t I supposed to be the one tatting you when this is all over?” Lily asked.

“Are you seriously going to turn down a tattoo from me?” Calum laughed.

Lily considered it, “fine, but I’m not going to say yes just because you’re you.”

“Fine.”

--------

In secret, Calum spent an embarrassingly copious amount of time looking at pictures of chrysanthemums online. He’d even trained on how to say ‘chrysanthemum.’ He’d drawn so many god damned flowers over the week that it almost annoyed him that he actually enjoyed drawing them.

On Friday morning, Calum showed up to work with with his top three ideas. He was anxious his entire first client, wanting time to show Lily his work and see if she liked them. As soon as the man had paid and left, Calum took out the art to show Lily.

“Okay, what do you think?” he asked.

He was never worried about what people thought of his work.

People always adored his designs. Hell, people flew in from all over the world to let him free hand an original design on their body to be permanently inked forever.

Lily scanned the flowers, “wow, these look super real, did you look them up?”

“No.” Calum said immediately.

Lily smiled and Calum knew that she knew he was lying.

She looked at one of the sketches, “this one is so pretty.”

It was one of the bigger ones but Calum supposed that's what she’d asked for, “so… you’ll let me tattoo you?”

Having Calum tattoo her had been a dream for years so of course Lily knew she was about to say yes. Especially since she had wanted something outside of his comfort zone and it was obvious that he’d put a lot of effort into making something she’d like. It was making Lily’s heart beat faster and she nodded, “you can tattoo me.”

Calum’s eyes lit up, “great, after work?”

“After work?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s kind of sudden isn’t it?”

“Well, I mean, if you want another time-”

“No, after work… works.” Lily said, giggling awkwardly, “I don’t have cash on me-”

Calum’s eyebrows furrowed, “I’m not charging you.”

“You have to charge me.”

“No I don’t.” Calum insisted.

“Cal, I know how much people pay for your tattoos.” Lily sighed.

“It’s on the house.”

Before Lily could argue further, Calum’s next client showed up.

The next six hours were busy, with Lily and Cal speaking barely two words to each other. Lily’s adrenaline was pumping. She always got excited before a tattoo and this was exciting. More exciting than she wanted to admit.

As the clock ticked down to closing, Lily got more and more fidgety.

It was just her and Cal left in the shop, not that she spent much time with the other artists since she stayed glued to Calum’s side, watching him work, all day every day.

After collecting payment from the last client, Cal turned off the open sign, walking back to Lily, “you still want the tat?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, you get ready and I’ll grab the shit.” Calum walked to his work space in the back corner of the shop.

Lily followed, taking a deep breath before she began to unbutton her pants.

“You still sure on the-” Calum turned and his voice trailed off, “placement?” his eyes went to where Lily was unzipping her jeans and pushing them down. Lily felt awkward but when did she not? Plus, Calum had tattooed many people in his life so this wouldn’t be much different.

Calum’s breath was caught in his throat as his eyes traced over the black lacy panties she was wearing.

“So I’m thinking here.” Lily said, motioning to her upper thigh, “I want it to curve in just a little inner.”

“Right.” Cal coughed, “let me draw it on and if you don’t like it we can move it-”

“Calum, I know the drill.”

“Right.” Calum grabbed his sharpie as Lily kicked off her shoes and pants, taking off her jacket and rolling up her shirt a little. Calum returned and got onto his knees, looking up at Lily one last time, “ready?”

“You’re just drawing it, this isn’t even the hard part.”

Calum nodded, “so under the underwear line or-”

Lily flushed, pulling up her panties a little, “just under the hip bone.”

The sharpie pressed against her skin and Lily tried to look anywhere but at the gorgeous tattooed man on his knees between her bare legs.

Calum was right handed and working on her left leg, so to steady her, he had to place his other hand on the inside of her leg, delicately moving the skin a little when necessary. His fingers on her bare flesh was making Lily dizzy.

Calum traced the lines across her thigh, trying to focus all his attention on working and not on how pretty her skin was. And how close he was to-

“So you must see women half naked all the time right?” Lily asked.

“Yeah.” Calum said.

“What’s the nudest you’ve ever done?”

“This one girl wanted something on her pubic bone which I told her was a bad idea but she really wanted it, we were in a back room for privacy and when I came in she was completely naked-”

“Then what happened?”

“Well, I gave her something to cover herself up and she was super awkward the whole time.”

“I can imagine.” Lily laughed.

She could feel his breath on her inner thigh and Lily’s skin involuntarily broke out in goosebumps, “you cold?” Calum asked.

“Yeah but it’s fine.” Lily lied.

Calum hummed and continued working until the drawing was done, “okay, go look in the mirror.” he said, standing up and following Lily to see if she liked it.

Her eyes scanned over it and Calum waited patiently, arms crossed over his chest.

“It’s beautiful.” Lily breathed.

“Chrysanthemums are beautiful.”

“How long did it take for you to figure out how to say chrysanthemums?”

“Too long.” Calum admitted.

“Okay, lets do it. You’ll get the basic lines done today and then shading after work on Monday or something?”

“Do you want to split it up into two parts?” Calum asked.

“Don’t you think this will take a while if you try to do it all today?”

“Yeah.”

“I figured you might have plans tonight-”

“Why?”

“Well, its a Friday night.” Lily pointed out.

“So?”

“So maybe you have a date? I don’t know-”

“Do you have a date?”

“No-”

“Great, so let’s do this all tonight.” Calum stated, “we can order take out half way through or some shit, or after, it's up to you.”

“Take out after sounds good, there’s this place down the street with amazing-”

“Shawarma, fuck, love that place.”

“Me too.” Lily grinned, “okay, I’ll sit down then.”

She got onto the chair and set herself up so Calum could access her inner thigh while Calum pulled on some gloves, sat on his stool, and picked up the tattoo gun.

Lily looked at the ceiling as the sound of buzzing began.

The first feeling of the needle piercing her skin made her sigh and Calum smirked, “you good?”

“I uh… kind of like the pain, that sounds wild, shit, I didn’t mean it in like a sexual way or anything-” Lily began to stammer.

“No, I like it too.” Calum said, cutting her off.

Lily wanted to distract herself from the flush that she knew was creeping over her skin, and It was going to take a while so she pulled out her phone, “can we listen to music?”

“Go for it.” Calum said, focusing on his lines. He didn’t talk during tats anyways so music always helped.

Some old rock music began to play from Lily’s phone and Calum smirked, “nirvana.”

“You like Nirvana?” Lily asked.

“All the old stuff is great.” Calum said.

“Nine inch nails is pretty good, Nirvana, Guns and roses-”

“Where have you been all my life.” Calum teased.

Lily smiled, a tingly feeling in her stomach almost distracting from the needle.

A particularly sensitive spot made Lily grab at the side of the chair and Calum noticed. His jaw clenched. Pain was part of tattooing and he never felt bad about it but there was something about Lily being in pain and him being the direct cause, even though it was his job, that was hurting him.

“Deep breaths sweetheart.” Calum said before he could help himself, the term of endearment slipping out before he could stop it.

Lily sighed, “can you distract me?”

“The music isn’t distracting enough?” he asked.

“Not really.” Lily winced, “shit, why did I think the inner thigh was a good idea? I knew it would hurt like a bitch-”

“It will look great.” Calum assured her.

“It will.” Lily agreed.

She could feel his breath again and she tried to focus on that but as she felt the butterflies in her stomach, she realized maybe that was not the best idea. Having him so close to her, just inches away from where she was positive he could just bury his mouth and send her over the edge in seconds-

“What the fuck?!”

Calum pulled the tattoo gun away, looking at Michael who had just entered the shop, “Michael! Jesus fuck man you can’t just be surprising people who are in the middle of giving tattoos!”

“Shit, sorry,” Michael apologize, “it just… it looked like you two were… well, Calum it looked like you were-”

“Michael. Don’t say it.” Calum warned.

They all knew what he was implying.

“I’m going to continue alright?” Calum asked, drawing Lily’s eyes to his. She nodded.

He started up the gun again and pressed it to her skin, again Lily winced and Michael walked over. “That looks sick already.” he stated.

“Hold her hand.” Calum instructed.

“What?”

“Hold her fucking hand.” Calum said again.

Michael reached out and took Lily’s hand which she immediately squeezed. “So Cal, flowers, since when did you start doing flowers?”

“It’s what she wanted.” Calum answered.

“I just didn’t know you were a fan of flowers.”

“Chrysanthemums are dope Mike.” Calum said.

“You’re wild.” Michael laughed.

Michael pulled up a chair and sat with the two of them for the next three hours, successfully distracting Lily while Calum worked quietly. It was nice to listen to Michael talk because Calum could feel himself straining against his pants and he needed a turn off, like Michael’s voice.

Calum was finishing up when Michael had to go, once again leaving Lily and Calum alone.

“So do you have a skirt or something?” Calum asked.

“No?”

“Oh.”

“Girls don’t just carry around skirts.”

“Right.”

“I mean, you’re going to be really sensitive and your jeans might hurt-”

“Fuck. How come I didn’t think of that? I’m such a shit tattooist.” Lily groaned.

Calum wiped her skin to get the remaining ink away, cleaning the area, “let me put the bandage on then I might have a shirt in the back you can wear as a dress because you’re small.”

Lily stayed quiet as Calum smoothed the see through bandage over her skin. He stood up and went to the back, returning a minute later with a shirt that he handed to Lily, “here.”

She looked at it, “Zeppelin, you have good taste.”

Lily stood up on wonky legs, grabbing the hem of her shirt as she lifted it over her head. Calum looked away but the brief glimpse of a matching black lace bra made his breath catch again.

“Okay, I’m decent.” Lily said in a quiet voice.

Calum looked at the way the shirt hung like a dress down to her mid thigh. She looked adorable slipping on her adidas. She could make any outfit work.

“Still hungry?” she asked.

“Yeah.”

“You’re sure I can’t force you to take money for this?” Lily sighed.

“No way. How do you feel?”

“It hurts a little but you were right about not having the added pressure of jeans.” Lily said, “so… let me grab my stuff then we can get food.”

Calum cleaned up the station while Lily put all her clothes into her bag, taking one look at the tattoo in the mirror and admiring his handy work. She couldn’t wait till she could take off the bandage and see it clearly but she knew it was beautiful.

Calum met her at the front of the shop and locked up. The night was warm, the first breath of summer having swept over the city that day, lingering in the air.

They walked in silence down the street to the shawarma place.

They both ordered the same thing, once again proving how much they had in common. When Calum pulled out his wallet, Lily thrust a twenty at the man at the till, “I’m paying for all of it.” she stated.

“Don’t take her money-” Calum warned the guy.

But Lily glared him down, “sorry man.” the vender said, taking the twenty.

Calum sighed and the two of them waited for their wraps to be made. When handed the warm food, Lily stated: “there’s a park close by and we could sit on a bench and eat or something.”

“Good idea.” Calum said.

They began to eat their wraps as they walked, staying mostly quiet but Lily was oddly okay with that. She usually got fidgety with silence and at first, that had applied to Calum, but sometime in the past little while, the awkwardness that usually came with lack of conversation had disappeared.

They sat on the park bench and ate, chatting a little. Easy conversation about apprenticeships. Calum was confident that Lily wouldn’t need as long as the others had which made Lily’s heart race. “You’re really talented.” he assured her, “wouldn’t surprise me if you’d be good to go in under a year actually.”

“I didn’t realize you could just choose how long the apprenticeship is.”

“Well, I mean, usually there are rules, but I think at the end of the day it’s based on my decision. And I could offer you a job at the parlour so that way, its sort of still like an apprenticeship.”

“You’d hire me? Just like that?” Lily asked.

“You’re really good Lily.” he stated, “I knew it the second I saw your application. And so did Michael.”

They chatted about how he got into tattooing.

They chatted until it began to get cold and Lily began to shiver. She pulled out her large denim jacket and seeing her in two things that were way too large was almost too much for Calum in some odd way.

He tried not to look at her but it was very difficult.

Especially her legs. God, he adored her legs already.

“So I should get going.” Lily said when it got to be around ten.

“Yeah me too.” Calum said as they both stood.

Again, there was an awkward moment of whether or not they should hug.

Calum’s self control disappeared as he wrapped his arms around the smaller artist, pulling her against his chest. She hugged back, cheek pressed against his front for a moment before they both pulled away, “get home safe.” he said, voice low and crackly as he cleared his throat.

“I will.”

They turned and went their separate ways with smiles on their faces.

----

On Monday, Lily walked into the shop with a short little leather skirt that, once again, had Calum’s pants getting insanely tight. She breezed in with a smile and a wave to Ashton and Michael who were gawking at her from the reception desk, walking straight to Calum. “So I took the bandage off!” she grinned.

“Let’s see.” Calum said, scooting forward on his stool with a smile. And then, Lily simply lifted up her skirt, completely flashing him a new, adorable, red and black lace thong that took Calum’s attention a moment too long before he had to force his eyes to the tattoo.

“How’s your aftercare?” he asked.

Lily rolled her eyes, “my aftercare is on point Hood.”

He chuckled, “stop flashing me.”

“Fuck, right.” Lily pulled down her skirt, red spreading over her delicate collar bones.

The first few hours were insanely difficult for Calum. It was like every spare moment, his brain would think about those god damned lacy panties.

Instead of taking a lunch break, Lily went up front with Ashton. Calum’s gaze was on her, watching them chat. He didn’t even notice Luke pull his chair over to be next to Calum as Calum waited for his next client.

“So you shouldn’t be looking because in a way, you’re her boss but I can look for you.” Luke stated.

Calum rolled his eyes but tore his gaze away, knowing Luke was right about some things and unfortunately this was one of them.

He had to be professional.

He had to be.

Another week passed and Calum managed to keep his eyes away from the gorgeous blonde and her little skirts. He was almost too good at keeping it professional and his friends noticed.

Luke, Ashton and Michael were at a bar after work when Michael brought it up, “so we need to do something about Lily and Cal.”

“What do you mean?” Luke asked.

“They need to fuck.” Michael stated, “like, I can’t focus with all the sexual tension.”

“Cal won’t act on it.” Ashton said, and they all knew he was right.

Michael groaned, “fuck, I know, we need to make him act on it.”

“How?” Luke laughed.

And that's how Michael's mission began.

His plans were never good.

He took Lily and Cal to a bar then excused himself to go to the bathroom ten minutes in.

He never came back.

Calum had sighed when it became obvious Michael had dipped out, coming up with the only thing he could think of to talk about, “so… netflix.”

Turned out they were both horror movie fans and they’d sat and chatted and agreed about everything for two hours before Calum finally suggested they head out, it was obvious that the yawning girl in front of him was tired from her long day at work.

Calum caught onto Michael’s plan pretty fast and Michael spent many hours coming up with new ways to get Lily and Cal together outside of work.

It was another month before Michael suggested that he needed a workout buddy.

Calum had cocked an eyebrow at him, “you want to work out?”

“Yeah.” Michael tried to sound excited about it but it lacked conviction, “hey, Lily, do you work out?”

“I go for a run every now and again.” she answered, focusing on her drawing.

“A run! That sounds…” for a moment he looked like he was going to try to be enthusiastic but then he broke, “I mean it sounds like torture but I need one I think.”

“Thats something I’d like to see.” Calum chuckled.

“We should all go for a run.”

“I’m in.” Lily said absentmindedly.

Calum’s gaze flickered to her then to Michael who was waiting expectantly. He knew it was another ploy but he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see Michael in workout gear. “Fine, I’ll come too.”

“Great! Sunday morning?”

----

Michael did not show up on Sunday morning. He sent a text saying he’d meet the pair half way through their run at the park and that they should go without him.

It was a beautiful morning. The day promised to be hot but the morning was cool, sun shining against the morning dew on the grass.

The two began to jog and stayed quiet as they ran.

It wasn’t a surprise when Michael didn’t show up at the halfway mark.

In fact, neither of them even noticed.

As the morning began to get warmer, they were both sweating and Calum finally suggested they stop. LIly collapsed onto a park bench pulling out her water bottle as Calum took off his shirt that was practically soaked.

He groaned at the feel of the air on his newly revealed skin and Lily nearly choked on her water at his gorgeous chest which was covered in tattoos, and perfectly muscular.

“Your tattoos-” she began.

Calum looked down at her, “you like them?”

“They’re beautiful, can… can I-” she began to ask awkwardly.

“Yeah, look as much as you want.” he stepped forward so he could be closer, giving her a better view as she began with the tattoos just under his collar bones.

He explained each one as she went down, watching her focus completely on the black marks that littered his skin.

By the time she got to his abdomen, Lily was surprised she wasn’t drooling. Completely bewitched by each tattoo and the story that came with it.

There was one particular tattoo, just above the waistband of his shorts, and it was so delicately intricate and beautiful, she couldn’t even help herself as she reached out and brushed her fingers against his skin.

His abs immediately flexed, Calum having not expected her prying digits, Lily pulled away immediately, “oh my god I’m so sorry-”

“It’s fine.” Calum assured her, knowing another anxiety ridden stammering rant was coming on, “I just wasn’t expecting that.”

She was already blushing like crazy and Calum was sure it wasn’t from being hot from the run, “hey, would you look at the time!” Lily said, pulling out her phone, “I have places to be.”

“Yeah me too.” Calum lied.

“Well! Nice run!” Lily stood abruptly. There was no awkward move for a hug, they both simply turned opposite ways and ran.

Lily’s heart was racing in her chest. She hadn’t meant to touch him, she just hadn’t been able to help herself. God. He was so fucking hot. She couldn’t even deal with it anymore.

She’d had recurring dreams for over a week of having Calum between her legs like when he was giving her the tattoo, but in her dreams he always had a very different reason for being there.

Likewise, Calum had been so god damned close to letting her explore him with her hands. Her fingers had felt so good. It was insane that her touch had brought electricity coursing through his body like nothing, even the sting of a tattoo gun, had ever done before.

As soon as Calum got home he ran a cold shower, letting the water run over his body but even the shock of the temperature couldn’t distract him. He was in deep already, and he knew it.

----

The others all watched as Lily and Calum interacted the next day.

“The sexual tension is so thick you could cut it with a knife.” Ashton pointed out.

“Do you think anything happened?” Luke asked, taking a bite out of his cucumber.

“I am one hundred percent confident my plan worked.” Michael stated.

“You wanna put money on it?” Luke grinned.

“Fuck yeah, twenty bucks says they fucked.” Michael scoffed.

“Deal.” Luke pushed off of the reception table and walked towards Cal and Lily who were going over the client list for the day. “Cal, I need to ask you something.” he said.

“Go for it.” Calum said, not even looking up.

“Privately.”

Calum sighed, standing and following Luke to the reception desk, “what do you want?”

“We want to know if you finally made a move yesterday.” Luke whispered.

“Fuck are you guys serious?!” Calum groaned, “I am not talking about this.”

He turned and walked back to Lily.

“You owe me twenty.” Luke stated.

“What? No I don’t!” Michael screamed.

“Nothing happened. He’s all wound up still. Nothing happened.”

“He’s got you there.” Ashton pointed out.

“Whose side are you even on you traitor?” Michael glared at Ashton while pulling out his wallet. He handed Luke a twenty.

It had to be, by far, the hardest day for Calum (in more ways than one.)

All he could think about was getting her fingers on his skin again.

He managed to get through most of the day but as the others cleared out until it was just him and Lily, once again, he was in a tough situation.

His last client listened to music with earphones the whole tattoo, leaving Calum and Lily to silence.

He was hyper aware of her as she watched him do the more difficult shading.

He let her wipe away the excess ink and put on the bandage, “you deal with this, I’ll be in the back, there’s a room that needs to be cleaned-”

“The private room? Michael cleaned it after he did that girls tit tattoo.”

“Like I said, it needs to be cleaned a little more.” Calum said.

She watched him go into the back and took the client to the front, taking his payment. The guy left and she locked the front door, turning off the open sign before going to find Calum in the back.

She found him in the private room, standing tall as he wiped down a table. She could only see his back but damn was it a pretty back.

Her heart was thundering in her chest.

She knew what she wanted.

And the logical part of Lily told her that he wanted it too, but the anxious little nugget side wondered ‘what if he doesn’t and you’re about to straight up try to get in your boss’s pants?’

It was a risk.

And Lily did not take risks.

But shit, she couldn’t help herself anymore.

Calum set down the cloth and turned to look at Lily, “you’re done for the day, you can go home.” he said, arms crossing over his broad chest, the tattoos covering his forearms looking absolutely delicious.

“Can I show you my tattoo? Its healed so nicely-”

Calum cocked an eyebrow at her, “go for it.”

He could see the anxiety written all over her face. And she hadn’t tried to show him the tat in a while which he was almost grateful for. Almost. He wondered where this was going to take them.

Lily hesitantly lifted up her skirt and Calum stepped closer to get a better look. Before he could help himself he was on his knees and Lily’s breath caught in her throat.

His fingers brushed over the skin, so lightly that if it wasn’t for the shocks running through her body, she wouldn’t have even been sure if he was making contact.

“Calum, I need to say something.” she said, shocked at her own voice.

He hummed, waiting for her to speak.

“This is going to be the most inappropriate thing I’ve ever said and I’ve said a lot of inappropriate things, fuck, I swear like a trucker half the time, and this is going to fuck me over so bad but I can’t just not say it anymore.” she ranted as Calum stood. At his full height, he towered over her and it distracted her momentarily, loving how he completely dwarfed her. She let out a shaky breath, eyes lingering on his lips momentarily, “fuck.” she cussed.

Calum smirked, “say what you have to say sweetheart.”

The pet name made her heart leap in her chest and she wet her lips subconsciously, “this is so unprofessional.” she groaned.

“Sounds like you have to get it off your chest. And you’re off the clock.” he reminded her.

“Fuck. I really like you.”

That was all he needed.

Calum cupped her face in his hands, pressing his lips to hers. She melted against him, her hands going to the front of his jeans to pull him flush against her. Calum bit down on her lip and Lily moaned loudly into his mouth. Calum was hard in an instant.

His grip went down to her waist as he pushed her back until she hit the tattooing chair, the impact of her bum against the chair made her groan and Calum’s hands moved farther down, grabbing at the fabric of her leather skirt that he dragged up to her hips, exposing the black panties that had been haunting his dreams since he’d first seen them.

His mouth was hot and needy against hers, teeth and tongues clashing in a fiery passion as her fingers went to his hair, grabbing at the thick, dark curls. Calum moaned into her mouth from the small twinge of pain, his grip tightening on her thighs as he lifted her and set her onto the chair.

It was flat, making it easy for him to set her anywhere he liked as he pulled his lips from hers and tore her panties down her legs, shoving them into his back pocket. “Calum.” Lily whimpered, voice needy. His breath wafted over her as he got on his knees on the ground, putting her legs over his shoulders.

Her fingers tangled in his hair as he studied the tattoo for a moment, pressing a soft kiss to the skin that he had marred forever. It was so hot, for both of them, but Lily was anxiously awaiting his mouth as if her life depended on it.

“Please.” she said in the neediest voice Calum had ever heard. He nearly groaned at the sound, turning his attention to where she needed him most.

Calum closed his eyes as he took his first testing lick, wanting to enjoy every moment, every sound, every motion. Calum loved eating girls out, he never got tired of the control, the power, that being between a woman's legs brought him.

Lily shuddered at the first contact of his tongue against her and all of Calum’s self control that he had been so desperately trying to hold onto went out the window. He put his mouth on her fully, hands gripping her thighs as he sucked her clit into his mouth. A loud moan was music to his ears as he focused on the small bundle of nerves, sucking as hard as he thought she could handle.

“Jesus fuck.” Lily moaned, tugging at his hair.

He loved it when she swore.

He loved being the cause of her swearing.

He flicked his tongue against her clit and she cried out louder, both of their grips tightening on each other.

“Fuck Cal I’m gonna-” but she didn’t get to finish her sentence. Calum sucked harder and Lily fell over the edge, moans and whimpers ringing through the small private room as he body convulsed and Calum helped her through it. She was still shuddering when he pulled away, licking his lips as he stood.

She looked so beautiful, skin flushed, just as he liked it.

He gingerly pushed the denim jacket from her shoulders and it slipped to the ground, then his fingers went to the hem of her shirt, pulling that off too. Lily’s eyes were still closed, still in a post orgasm haze as he slowly undressed her, taking his time as his fingers brushed over the tattoos on her arms.

Lily’s eyes fluttered open and Calum enjoyed the beautiful chocolate coloured eyes that looked up at him with lust. Her hands were shaky as she reached out and began to unbuckle his pants.

Calum pressed his lips to hers, reaching around to unclasp her bra. The second the fabric felt away, the slowness was gone, once more replaced by complete passion and lust as Lily pushed Calum’s pants down fully.

She grabbed his hard on and Calum moaned loudly into her mouth as she pumped him a few times, “condoms-” he groaned.

“Birth control.” she stated.

Calum moaned again, “holy fuck.”

He took off his shirt while she continued to work his cock with her hands but as soon as the fabric was gone, he grabbed her fingers, tearing them away and instead putting them on his abdomen, on the skin she’d touched the day before.

He pulled her closer, teasing her entrance with the head of his cock.

“Please.” she whimpered, one of her hands going up to play with the hair at the nape of his neck, pulling his lips to hers.

Lily bit down into Calum’s lip and he smirked at the small spasm of pain coursing through his body. He plunged inside of her and Lily moaned, immediately releasing his lip from between her teeth as she gasped into his mouth.

His hands found her waist, anchoring them both as he began to thrust in and out. His hips were buckling of their own accord, Calum completely enraptured by the small, tattooed, blond sitting on his private tattooing chair.

He moved his lips to her neck, biting down against the skin as her fingers tightened in his hair, her lips near his ear as she whimpered loudly, biting down on his ear lobe.

He sucked at her neck, teeth grazing the skin teasingly.

One of her hands moved to his strong shoulders, nails digging against the skin so hard Calum was sure she would leave marks.

But, as they both knew, they both enjoyed pain.

He was getting too close to the edge and he knew it, pulling out of Lily, she whimpered in protest, only to be harshly dragged from the chair and turned around, hips slamming into the soft leather as his hand went to her back, pushing her front so she was flush against the fabric.

He entered her from behind and they both moaned, the new angle hitting a new spot inside of her that was driving them both insane. His hands on her waist easily moved her body to meet every thrust.

Calum was completely using her, and she was enjoying every moment.

A hand wrapped in her blonde hair, tugging so she was standing, back against his chest. His hand moved from her hair to wrap around her front, briefly grabbing her boob and teasing the nipple. Her back arched and she moaned loudly as his hand moved higher still, tattooed fingers wrapping around Lily’s throat.

Her heart was racing in her chest and with the added pressure on her neck, she was seeing stars. Whiney, high pitched whimpers were leaving her pretty lips and Calum was basking in the noise but fuck, he wanted to engulf them. He wanted to breath her.

But the chair wouldn’t do. It was hot, but it wouldn’t work.

This time when Calum pulled out, he dragged the two of them onto the ground, Lily landing on top. She straddled his waist, wasting no time before she sank down on top of him, her hands finding his tattoos chest to anchor herself as she began to move up and down on him.

His hands went to her waist and he looked up at her in wonder as she found a steady rhythm. Little moans left her mouth as she collapsed forward, lips pressing against Calum’s as one of his hands found her hair.

The hand on her hip tried tried to assist her, urging for her to move faster. It was amazing, but Calum was getting impatient again, wanting all the power. All the control.

He flipped them easily and Lily hissed at the cold of the ground on her back but the feeling was immediately forgotten as Calum picked up the fasted rhythm yet.

Her nails tore into his back and their mouths were close but their lips barely touched as they panted against each other. “Fuck.” Lily said, voice shaky, “I’m gonna cum.”

“Me too.” Calum moaned, pistoning into her like a wild man. They were both on the edge and one more thrust engulfed Lily, her body fluttering and convulsing around him which made Calum reach his high too.

He spasmed a little, giving a few more thrusts as their hands tore at each other, mouths hot and pressed together, tongues clashing.

He slowed down and buried his face in her neck, holding himself over her with his forearms.

Lily’s fingers traced Calum’s strong shoulders, “wow.” she breathed.

Calum chuckled, placing one last kiss to her neck before he pulled out and rolled onto the ground next to her.

They both stared at the ceiling, trying to catch their breaths.

Calum sat up and Lily got a good look at his back. She’d broken the skin in three places but it looked beautiful.

Calum groaned, pulling his jeans on. He stood up and buttoned them. Lily appreciated the beautiful man, clad in jeans, looking gorgeous.

He walked to the sink, grabbing some paper towels. He got on his knees between Lily’s legs and cleaned her up, making sure the tattoo was completely wiped. “Birth control.” he smirked, “fucking love it.”

Lily laughed, hiding her face with her hands.

He tossed out the paper towels and came to lie next to her again, pulling her to his side so he could wrap his arm around her.

“We are so fucked.” Lily groaned.

Calum laughed.

They were.

“So… shawarma?” Lily asked.

Calum laughed again, “that’s what I was thinking.”

“Really?” Lily rolled over, hand going to Calum’s chest as she looked up at him.

“We’re the same person. It’s kind of weird actually.”

“If we’re the same person, then what am I thinking right now?” Lily asked.

“You’re thinking that after the schwarma, you should come back to my place and we can trace each others tattoos, go a little slower, and I can make you cum more than just twice.”

Lily laughed, “We must really be connected.”

----

When Calum and Lily walked into the tattoo parlour the next morning, each with a black, iced coffee, it was obvious what had happened.

She was even wearing one of his shirts, paired with the same skirt she’d worn the day before.

There was a mark on her neck.

“It’s like they’re not even trying to hide it.” Michael mused.

“He’s so whipped.” Ashton giggled.

He was.

The guys waited until they could get Calum alone when Lily went on a lunch break to finally ask Calum what happened.

“So are you two finally dating or what?” Luke asked blatantly.

Calum turned to look at them and a flash of pain marred his face momentarily, “uh-”

“You okay?” Ashton asked with concern.

Calum’s eyes widened a little and Michael laughed, “did she tear up your back mate?!”

“She did!” Luke laughed, “she totally did.”

Calum blushed and everyone's eyes widened.

Calum Hood never blushed.

Ashton smirked, “So when’s the wedding?”

----

They spend almost every waking hour together that whole week.

Then the next.

The third week, cuddled in his bed, Duke tucked against Lily’s side, Calum finally asked the question: “want to be my girlfriend?”

He didn’t do love. But he’d never met a girl like Lily before. The past weeks had made him rethink everything he’d ever known to be true. About love, life, happiness.

Everything had changed.

Lily looked up at Calum, finger tracing one of the tattoos on his chest, “yeah.” she said, a smile spreading across her face.

Calum met her gaze, cupping her face to bring her lips to his.

He smiled against her lips, “Thank god for your fucking florals.”

-----

It was no shock that one month became two and two became three.

Attached at the hip like twins, always together, they were the perfect fit. It got to a point where it was almost like they knew what the other was thinking.

Lily was a year into her apprenticeship when Calum announced that it would be her last week. They’d gone out to celebrate, Calum and Lily had even disappeared to the bathroom to celebrate a little in private, much to the dismay of Ashton and Luke, and the glee of Michael.

Calum didn’t even bother to ask Lily what tattoo she had planned for him. He trusted her completely.

The day finally came and once the shop closed, everyone sat around with booze while they watched Lily and Calum. “Pick the place baby.” he smiled.

Lily took his right arm and chose the spot she’d drawn the first chrysanthemum on all those months ago. Calum didn’t look as she drew the pattern, not wanting to ruin the surprise.

He chatted easily, unflinching, with the guys as the buzz of the gun softly filled the room.

“How’s it looking Mike?” Calum asked.

Michael leaned over, looking at Lily’s marks, “looks sick.” Michael grinned.

A little while longer and Lily was cleaning the skin, “okay, you’re all done.” she stated.

Calum brought her lips to his for a kiss before looking down at the tattoo.

He had accepted it would be floral, in fact, he’d been excited about finally having floral.

And he wasn’t disappointed. In fact, his heart swelled in his chest.

Two beautiful Chrysanthemums and a Lily. A little, perfect bouquet, just for him.

“The chrysanthemums so we match-” she began to explain.

“And the Lily because you’re you.” Calum finished for her. Lily flushed and Calum grinned, “Can’t get rid of you now can I?” he teased, “I love it.”

And he did.

But not as much as he loved the woman who had marked his body forever.

Not as much as he loved his Lily.

#softforcal #5sos #5 seconds of summer #calum hood #calum hood smut #tattoo artist au #tattoo artist 5sos #tattoo artist calum hood #tattoo artist cal #tattooist!calum hood #tattoo artist! Calum Hood #au #smut #5sos smut #5 seconds of summer smut #tattoo artist calum hood smut #oneshot

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chilling-seavey · 5 years ago

Text

Anything But Mine (d.s.) - Chapter Fourteen

A/N My queue wasn’t working last night so I forced myself to wait to upload the next chapter directly. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on this one ;)

Friday, November 29th, 2019

The 25th was Corbyn’s twentieth birthday; so the following Friday night he wanted to go out with his friends to celebrate. Despite Daniel’s protests, Corbyn decided to invite Florence too. She was also his friend and he knew she needed some time to relax, away from her motherly responsibilities. Aidan convinced his parents to take Clementine for the night as he knew Florence wouldn’t come along if no one would watch the baby. A club was not the best place for a ten month old.

At 8pm, the doorbell rang to the boys’ house and Aidan ran to answer it. Florence and Emilio stood on the doorstep hand in hand. One look at the girl in front of him and Aidan’s mouth fell open. She simply smiled at him and walked inside, leaving Emilio to greet a stunned Aidan and follow her towards the living room.

Her black four inch heels clicked over the wood floors, drawing the eyes of the boys who were sat around the living room. As if all at once, they raked their wide eyes down her tight red dress that ended mid-thigh and was cut low down her chest. Her fuller chest finally filled out the top of her favourite old cocktail dress, hugging her soft post-childbirth curves beautifully. Her blonde hair was straightened over her shoulders and thick black eyeliner coated her blue eyes, the look completed with vibrant red lipstick.

“Hey.” Florence said to the boys in the room who still sat in stunned silence. She didn’t seem to notice their gawking. It was still proof of the slight innocence that pumped through her veins.

They all mumbled a greeting. Daniel, who avoided looking at her as she came in, finally looked up, his eyes almost popping out of his head. Sure, he’d seen her dressed up before, but nothing like this. Instinctively, his tongue ran over his lips, a blush rising to his cheeks at only looking at the girl in front of him.

Emilio coming up behind her and wrapping an arm around her waist made Daniel sigh and look back to the ground.

“Ok.” Aidan clapped his hands once to snap the room back to reality. Florence was almost like a sister to him and having his friends next to drooling over her made him slightly uncomfortable.

The boys in the room all started talking innocently, getting up and gathering their few things they needed to take with them. Zach walked up to Florence and held out a small card.

“What’s this?” she took it from him and looked it over. It was his drivers license.

“Jack helped me get it.” Zach pointed to the birthday line which read as if he were 19.

“Oh my God!” Florence gaped. “It looks so real!”

“I know!” Zach beamed, taking the card back from her and smiled down at it proudly.

“If you act so excited about it, they’ll catch on.” Jonah told his friend. “And I’m not bailing anyone out of jail today.”

“No getting arrested on my birthday!” Corbyn said.

“Even though it was four days ago.” Florence chuckled, pulling him in for a hug. “Happy belated birthday.”

“Thanks.” Corbyn smiled.

“Hurry up! The subway will leave without us!” Zach shouted as he walked towards the door.

“Don’t make me put you in one of those kid leashes.” Aidan taunted. Zach frowned up at him. The group filed out of the house and headed towards the subway. Florence and Emilio walked hand in hand behind Aidan and Jonah who led the way. Jack, Zach, and Corbyn talked loudly from behind them, pushing each other over people’s lawns and into the street. Florence looked behind her, past the wild group of three, to where Daniel trailed behind them, alone. His hands were stuffed in the pockets of his denim jacket and he stared at the ground, kicking pebbles in his path. Emilio brought her hand up to his lips and he kissed it softly, making her turn her attention away from Daniel.

“He’s fine.” Emilio whispered. “Just give him time.”

Florence wanted to protest to that statement, wanting to do nothing less than turning and screaming at her so-called best friend to just love her again. She missed his warm presence, his lively smile, and how he was always there for her when she felt her worst. She felt empty without him next to her.

The trip through the subway earned Florence plenty of stares from guys and girls alike. Emilio held her hand proudly, not failing to pull the unaware girl against his chest if an older man stared at her for too long. They were the same height, Florence able to lean her head on his shoulder comfortably. Of course her height and her heels only accentuated her long legs, some of the boys from their group who were sitting on their way trying desperately to look anywhere but at her as she stood in front of them. Daniel was facing away from them, his head against the window. When they arrived into the downtown core, Jonah had to nudge him to get off the subway.

The night was young and the city was bustling, thousand of lights from the skyscrapers lighting up the invisibly starry sky. Their group walked excitedly, Corbyn taking the lead with his birthday-excitement. Daniel found a spot next to him, Corbyn’s bubbly personality easily working on brightening his spirits.

“We’ll get some strong alcohol in your system and music in your ears you’ll forget about everything.” Corbyn whispered to Daniel, draping his arm over his best friend’s shoulders.

Florence heard it from her spot behind them and she frowned, her gaze falling to the sidewalk. Emilio was right there with a comforting squeeze to her hand and a gentle kiss to her cheek.

The club was a hole-in-the-wall joint, past an old, crumbling Toronto brick exterior lead into a revamped and modern interior. The neon sign above the door flashed brightly. Florence stood admits her friends in the line-up, sandwiched against the wall between Emilio and Aidan. They talked excitedly amongst themselves for the duration of the wait, the cool nighttime air starting to send chills over the group. The front of the line came a long 45 minutes later, each member of their party flashing their IDs to the bouncer on their way in and tossing a two dollar coin into the collection box at the entry. Once headed up the stairs, Zach gave a little hoot and took off ahead.

The place was bright and busy, neon lights flashing and the dance floor bustling full of people under bright white strobe lights. The granite top bar lined an entire wall, the black stools mostly filled with patrons awaiting another round. Various couches, chairs, and small dining tables encircled the large dance floor, the dark furniture blending into the background. The raised DJ booth was set up opposite the bar and huge speakers framed it, the man working the table looking small in comparison.

“We got a room upstairs.” Corbyn yelled over the music, gesturing for his friends to follow him. Next to the DJ booth, a curtain was hung over a thin doorway and upon further inspection, it opened to reveal a staircase that was only lit from tiny LED lights along the treads. At the top, the security guard looked at Corbyn’s ID and then down to his clipboard before leading them to a section of the loft. Each room was divided by black walls and had frosted glass doors to enter through. On the inside, the group found a two white leather sectional sofas, a small buffet, a spacious coffee table, and a single black bean bag chair.

“Oh sweet!” Zach cheered, plopping himself down on the bean bag, draping his hands behind his head.

“This is sick.” Aidan smiled, grabbing a few crackers from the buffet table.

“I have some connections.” Corbyn shrugged, sitting down on the couch. The music from the main area of the club pumped through the walls, the sound muffled enough that they could have a conversation but loud enough that it drew them back downstairs.

Shots were poured down the bar and the group clinked glasses to celebrate Corbyn’s birthday before they tossed one back each. After that, the group broke off to do their own thing, most of them finding their way to mingle in the main area of the club.

Daniel stayed at the bar at the stool in the far corner, sipping his drink slowly, his eyes taking in the surroundings of the unfamiliar place.

Florence and Emilio were on the dance floor. He was trying to get her to dance but she insisted she had to drink more before she did any sort of dancing. As if on cue, a server pushed two more shots into their hands before being swallowed back into the crowd.

Zach, his excitement high now diminishing, stood at the side of the room and watched the people around him, trying to figure out what to do next. He finally joined Daniel, the two looking like the most pathetic duo in the building.

“Why aren’t you out there with everyone?” Zach asked, nodding towards Corbyn and Aidan and Jack who were dancing stupidly near the speakers, freshly opened drinks in hand.

“I’m not feeling it tonight.” Daniel shrugged.

“Are you ever feeling it? This is not really our go-to scene.” Zach said.

“Fair point.” Daniel chuckled, looking down at the bar top. He took a sip of his fruity cocktail.

“Nice manly drink there, bro.” Zach snorted. Daniel stuck his tongue out at him.

“Don’t know why Corbyn wanted to come here even.” Zach continued. “We all know he’d rather be at home spewing off space facts to his bedroom ceiling.”

Daniel laughed at that, hiding his face in his hands as if it was wrong of him to have fun.

“What? No one else is gonna listen.” Zach shrugged playfully.

Daniel forced his smile back to a straight line and scuffed the toe of his sneaker against the wall.

“Hey, stop that. Stop whining like a little bitch.” Zach said to his best friend. “Drink more of your girly drink and get out there.”

“You’re one to talk.” Daniel scoffed.

“Then tell me what I should order and lets get a move on.” Zach clapped his hands.

The first hour went by in a blur, drink after drink being downed by the group. As fancy as the loft room was, no one used it; everyone seemed to find their place in the main hub of the building. Jonah had found a girl at the bar who was there with her friends and he put on his usual charmer persona to win her over and they retired to a table in the back to talk and drink. Zach and Jack had found each other and were joking around messily by the huge speakers, barely hearing a word the other was saying but laughing nonetheless. Corbyn’s girlfriend had shown up and they had disappeared into the crowd. Daniel was still at his spot at the bar where Zach had left him after not being able to get him up. Multiple drinks had been had and Daniel was starting to feel wobbly on the bar stool. Now joined by Aidan, the boys spoke in whispers. Florence and Emilio were still on the dance floor, after having a few drink breaks. Emilio never left her side, fearing the worst under the prying stare of other male club-goers. The tight red dress turned to be more of a curse than a blessing as not only did it attract too much attention but Florence found herself having to pull it farther down her legs more often than not. A few drinks in, the slight lightweight of a girl forgot about it which made the dress adjusting more of Emilio’s responsibility. It was getting increasingly difficult as she was stumbling around and clinging onto his neck like a koala and sooner than later both simply let it go.

The later the night got, the closer the two got. Florence couldn’t keep her hands off of the boy in front of her, staining his jaw and neck in red lipstick prints, fingernails digging into his leather jacket to keep him close. She could feel his hands on her hips, holding her against his warm body, each movement sending tingles down her intoxicated limbs. The space between them was almost non-existent, Emilio’s hot breath on her neck making her turn to kiss him. He groaned lowly into her mouth, tugging her in by the limited material at her waist.

Daniel and Aidan could see the smudges of her red dress through the crowd from where they sat at the bar.

“Still think I’m an idiot?” Daniel hiccupped, ruffling a hand through his hair, messing it up.

“Yeah.” Aidan sighed, slapping a hand to his best friend’s shoulder. “But you’re clearly hurt so...I can’t blame you.”

“And I absolutely destroyed her in the process to mask my tiny bit of jealousy.” Daniel frowned, slumping into his arms onto the bar top.

“The DiCaprio twins are a force to be reckoned with, Dan.” Aidan mumbled, taking a long sip of his beer, his old memories of dating Callum back in 12th grade flashing through his mind. “They bring with them nothing but bad luck and fucking heartbreak.”

Daniel hummed in response, watching as Emilio left for the bathroom, leaving Florence to her own devices in the club. Prying eyes from around the room fell to the single girl in the short dress. Daniel looked back to Aidan as he continued,

“They lure you in with their good looks and shy-kid-next-door charm and then destroy every piece of your already fragile heart and leave it to rot after you give them everything you had.” Aidan said through his teeth.

Daniel sat back up straight in his chair and took a deep breath. He rubbed his eye with his fist.

“Either you go chase them down and convince yourself that their broken, money disguised childhood is a solid excuse for their lack of emotional availability or, you do what I did, and watch them leave and try to let it all go to only be met with constant regret and a hole in your chest for the rest of your life.”

Daniel simply blinked at his distraught friend. Aidan sighed, taking a long sip from his can again. The two boys fell into silence.

“Fuck this.” Daniel breathed, downing the last sip of his drink before getting up from the bar. The room spun as soon as he stood up but he forced himself to walk away from Aidan’s depressive spiral.

Florence kept herself swaying to the music during Emilio’s short absence; whether it was from her drunk state or the actual music, it didn’t matter.

The hands sliding around her waist made her smile, leaning back into the familiar touch. In any other state of mind, she would have noticed the difference in body type but she was drunk and full of bliss that it didn’t come to mind. His hair was just as soft to her fingers as her arms raised behind her, finally falling to his wrists as her body moved by itself to the music blasting loudly through the club. The rough denim jacket was no where close to the feeling of Emilio’s high end leather but she was focused on bringing his hands to her hips, pushing back into his body. Florence let the messy beat of the music move her ungracefully, the alcohol in her system pushing his hand to her inner thigh under the material of her short skirt, leaning her head back to his shoulder, her eyes closed. Her hand raised to the side of his face, fingers tangling themselves gently in his soft hair before pulling him in for a messy kiss. The angle was terrible as her back was to his front but the two drunk teenagers kissed like their life depended on it. Her tongue forced its way into his mouth, tasting the bitter taste of alcohol on his breath. It wasn’t until Florence turned around, pulled him into her by the collar of his jacket, and brought his bottom lip between her two that she sensed the difference.

Her eyes opened slowly and she pulled back to be met with Daniel’s stunned gaze, his cheeks pink from the alcohol and his blue eyes filled with desire. For some reason, whether it was the emotion of him even wanting to go near her for the first time in a while, or the serious amount of alcohol in her veins, she grabbed the back of his neck and kissed him hungrily again. Her arms fell around his shoulders, holding him against her. Daniel’s mind could hardly keep up with what was happening, the loud music fuzzy to his ears and the movements of the girl in front of him fast and clumsy. The moment was broken by some stranger stumbling into them, pouring their entire drink over the two. Florence shrieked at the cold liquid hitting her warm skin before bursting into giggles. Daniel gave the guy a shove away before looking down at the mess over the two of them.

Florence grabbed the open edge of Daniel’s denim jacket and pulled him through the crowd. The room spun behind them as the two drunk teenagers stumbled through the crowd to the stairs. Stairs posed a new challenge but they made it to the top unharmed, pushing past the security guard, and into the private room. Daniel was pushed backwards onto one of the couches and Florence fell on top of him, her mouth meeting his again. She sat over his lap, one leg on either side, making her short dress ride up dangerously high.

Sober Daniel was a shy boy, soft spoken and a polite sweetheart. Drunk Daniel, although completely inexperienced of anything they were doing, let his hands rest under the fabric of her dress, pushing it up more. It was clear that her underwear was on show to whoever might have walked in, but neither cared. Florence switched to peppering sloppy drunk kisses down to his neck before sucking a red mark into his milky skin. Daniel’s shaky groan filling the empty room, fingers pressing into the flesh of her lower hips. Florence slid off his lap to sit beside him, one arm around his shoulders and her other hand holding his face close to hers, meeting their lips again. His hands fell to her thighs innocently.

The sound of the door handle turning made the two separate quickly, dropping their hands from each other. The simple action turned their questionable position into simply friendly.

Emilio smiled at them from the doorway, “Are you guys making up finally?”

Florence discreetly wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, smudging her worn lipstick more than it already was. She let out a small giggle.

Daniel’s mind spun dangerously fast, like the room was on an axis. His drunk mind tried to piece together what Emilio’s simple sentence meant, pressing a hand to his temple. He felt his stomach turn and he bent over the side of the couch and vomited onto the carpet.

“Fucking hell.” Emilio sighed, holding himself up against the doorframe. He turned to find someone who could help somehow.

Daniel sat back and wiped his mouth with his hand, the remanence of Florence’s red lipstick transferring to his palm.

“I’m bleeding!” Daniel gasped.

“Shh.” Florence giggled, pointing to her lips. Daniel blinked at her before he burped lightly and bent over to throw up again onto the floor.

“Fuck, Daniel!” Corbyn came bursting into the room, setting his drink on the buffet table before grabbing his best friend by the arm, pulling him to his feet. The boy stumbled, falling weakly against Corbyn, dragging his arm over his mouth again. The boy looked like an absolute mess with the beer stain down the front of his jacket and his hair sticking up in all sorts of random directions.

Zach and Jack came into the room as Corbyn was pulling Daniel out and towards the bathroom. His heaving could be heard down the hall.

“He can never handle his alcohol.” Jack tisked.

“What a loser.” Zach set his hands dramatically on his waist and the two burst into laughter.

Aidan appeared in the doorway too, “We have to go. They’re kicking us out thanks to Daniel.”

“He ruins everything.” Florence slurred, falling backwards onto the couch, her dress still up around her bellybutton.

“Woah!” Zach, Jack, and Aidan smacked their hands over their eyes and turned away.

Emilio, who was sober enough to be aware of their surroundings, walked over to tug her dress back into place and then scooped her up.

The group reassembled on the sidewalk outside the club, all minus Jonah who had gone off with the girl he had met earlier. Daniel was leaning helplessly against Corbyn’s shoulder, barely able to even keep himself upright. It was nearing 1am when their two taxis pulled up to the curb. Florence, Emilio, Zach, and Jack got into one, leaving Aidan and Corbyn to watch Daniel in the other.

Arriving back at the house, Florence and Zach were asleep on Jack’s shoulders, their arms wrapped around his middle. Emilio paid the driver and helped Jack get the two half asleep drunks into the house. Zach laughed to himself the entire way up to the loft, Jack grumbling the entire way behind him. Corbyn and Aidan got Daniel to bed after the boy had thrown up again on the front lawn. Aidan set a glass of water on his nightstand for him when he woke up.

Florence and Emilio were directed to Jonah’s room for the night since he was gone. Florence spread herself out on the queen size bed, mumbling something about Jonah which sounded more like ‘Jehovah’ and sleeping on a cloud. Emilio got her out of her dress and into a t-shirt and pyjama pants that Corbyn lent them before getting her to finally stay on one side of the bed. Emilio passed out fast, gentle snores filling the now quiet house.

Florence, still extremely buzzed, slid out of bed and started down the hallway, the floorboards creaking beneath her feet and her hand gliding over the wall to keep her balanced. She hummed to herself as she opened the door to Daniel’s room and closed it again behind her.

His form was curled up under the sheets at the far side of the bed from the door. Florence climbed up next to him, resting her hands on his arm, making the half asleep boy flinch tiredly. He smelt of old beer and mint toothpaste, wearing only his underwear and the black t-shirt he had on under his jacket.

He blinked his eyes open slowly, his drunk mind trying to focus on the figure beside him just as she leaned down to kiss him.

#daniel seavey #daniel seavey fanfic #daniel seavey fic #daniel seavey imagines #wdw #why dont we #why dont we fanfic #emilio martinez #jonah marais #jack avery #corbyn besson #zach herron #why dont we imagines #college wdw #martinez twins #idbitc #writing #anything but mine

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