#got soda with my sandwich but it got warm in the bag. cooling it down in the fridge. decanting it

[malzanya]

time to do stuff (read webcomics & play games yay) for a couple hours then store time. la la la

[plzu]

heatwave - (Adrian Chase/Vigilante x afab!Reader)

Summary: Adrian finds a way to help cool you down during a brutal heatwave. (aka Adrian Chase is a menace with some ice cubes)

Warnings: MATURE/EXPLICIT 18+ ONLY, no Y/N, temperature play (ice cubes), oral (f receiving), bratty/cranky reader (due to the heat), no gendered terms are used to describe reader but they got thiddies and bagina

A/N: it's been a chilly spring so far so i wrote this up in an attempt to warm me up. also please be advised that i am a clown, and cannot write adrian fic without my clownery seeping in. i... apologize in advance.

Word Count: 3.5k +

It’s one of those hot summer days where the heat is suffocating, clinging heavy to the air. So bad that it still smothers you even once the sun starts to slip low beneath the horizon and leaves behind a chittering and sticky dusk.

It makes you cranky. Adrian picks up Thai for dinner, to placate you. He had suggested sandwiches - a nice turkey and provolone with crisp, cool bites of lettuce and thin tomato slices sounds ideal for the weather, but you begged to differ. 

“Thai is refreshing,” you insisted.

“Hot food that can be spicy,” he countered, “versus a nice cold sandwich with a bag of chips and a chilled bottle of soda? Sorry, but you’re out of your mind. No offense.” 

“Yeah, but the, the coconut milk, Adrian. In the curry.” 

The heat turns your voice petulant. You were whiny, and stubborn, and you don’t usually behave like an overgrown toddler and it’s driving Adrian crazy. You had even stamped your bare foot on the linoleum floor. 

His fists had raised to rest on his hips in disapproval at that.

Having the good grace to at least be embarrassed by your tantrum, you sheepishly added, “...and I really want Thai iced tea.”

And so he relented. Not without a snappish then why don’t you just say that- (he hates snapping at you but the heat is kind of getting to him, too, and you are being unbearable because you normally are more forthright with him, and if you banter it’s usually with laughter creasing your mouth because you enjoy messing with him. Now you were just being a mess.)

That wasn’t even the only argument you had today.

“Please, Adrian, please open the window. It’s so hot.” This exasperated him because you guys had the fan on in the apartment and you had scolded him countless times about rolling down the car window when the AC was on. He even reminded you of this. You sucked your teeth and pouted and he found it, quite frankly, insane how cute you looked whilst driving him up the fucking wall. 

This heatwave is the closest he’s ever felt the itch to murder you.

(You caught him glancing towards the knife block in the kitchen when you were mid-complaint about the stuffiness. “Oh. Oh, I dare you.”

“I didn’t- I didn’t say anything!”)

Dinner is eaten in the living room, take-out containers littering the coffee table while some superhero movie plays on the tv. You usually take the time to savor the Thai iced tea but it’s gone in a few greedy gulps. When you eye Adrian’s, he notices and pushes it further away from your reach. 

“Meanie,” you pout.

“Yeah, well, you’re a tea kettle.”

“...huh?”

“And I’m a pot? Because you’re hot. And the tea kettle boils water for tea, which is also hot. And pots are used to heat up food.”

“Adrian, what the fuck are you saying.”

“I don’t know! I’m saying you’ve been mean to me all day, and I’m not sharing my drink with you.”

You grumble, but the fight has left you. You exerted all your energy into being a needless brat while the day was still bright and smotheringly warm. The evening cools some of your nerves, even if there’s no real reprieve from the climate overall. The food sates you enough, makes you feel almost-content, and when you’re done eating, you stretch out your limbs and press your left foot against Adrian’s bare thigh, where he sits on the opposite end of the small couch.

With a full belly, the veil of annoyance has partially lifted and you’re finally able to admire your pantsless boyfriend. He’s still eating - Adrian’s so careful and patient and doesn’t scarf down food like you do, apparently - and you watch in amusement as he keeps having to push his glasses back up as it slides down the bridge of his nose now and then, and laughs at parts of the movie that don’t look like they were intended to be funny.

He’s wearing nothing but a baggy t-shirt that sticks to wherever he’s sweating, and trunks - teal - because who in their right mind could possibly wear pants on a day like today? His muscled thighs are still pale from work - shorts weren’t allowed at Fennel Fields, and he didn’t exactly have a summer version of the Vigilante suit. You hope you can find time on another day (less scorching than this one, more bearable) to take him to the beach and expose his body to the sun. Let him relax outside, not just train in the woods. 

(God, you want to sink your teeth into the meat of his thighs.) 

He makes comments about the movie. You’re not really listening - too focused on the hair at the nape of his neck curling cutely, tempting you to tug on it. You would, if you weren’t sprawled out, limbs akimbo, with the top half of your body resting sluggishly on your end of the couch. Instead, your eyes continue to trail the juncture of his neck still flushed pink with heat, the way his throat bobs as he swallows, the enticing sheen of sweat that the old, pitiful floor fan is doing a poor job of drying off.

You don’t necessarily want the sweat dried off his neck, now that you think about it. In fact, you maybe, sort of, want to make it worse somehow. With your tongue.

But it’s still too damn hot to move. 

You sigh, disgruntled. Frustrated. The sound draws Adrian’s attention. He puts down his food, decidedly done, and picks up his drink. “Don’t worry. I think I have an idea on how to cool you down,” he reassures.

Adrian hasn’t been anywhere near as bad a crank as you’ve been all day. In fact, he’s been accommodating despite his clear impatience with your surly mood. 

“How are you being so… chill? Excuse the pun, or whatever.”

“What do you mean?” he asks before taking a sip of his drink. “Wow, this is good. Surprises me every time. Good call, babe.”

“You see? That, right there. You’ve been so… impressively calm today. Relatively. How hasn’t the heat gotten to you? You’re usually such a crybaby about discomfort.”

“No, I’m not!” he counters. You raise your eyebrows at his whiny tone. “I mean-” he corrects, deepening his voice- “I’m not a crybaby. I react normally to things. Complaining about the supermarket being out of 2-ply toilet paper is valid, and you know it!” You huff. “And, I don’t know- I guess I’m accustomed to high temperatures ‘cause of the suit.”

“Okay, but you probably don’t have to do your hero thing when it’s hot out,” you point out. “It’s way too hot to commit crime.”

Adrian perks up, green eyes gleaming behind his frames. “Actually, that’s not necessarily true! Sure, on a day like today, who has the energy? But studies show the likelihood of assault actually increases as the weather gets warmer.”

“Huh. That’s weird,” you say, a little disbelievingly.

He starts popping the ice cubes from his drink into his mouth and talking around them. “Is it? I mean, you were kind of fighting me all day. So you tell me.” 

You want to argue. That doesn’t count!, except, doesn’t it? You wanted to throttle his beautiful neck when he ate the last icee from the freezer that afternoon. (“You said you didn’t want any!” “I was saving it for later!” “Why are you crying!?”)

Also, wanting to argue in the first place probably further proves his point. Fuck.

Time ticks by with you sprawled out on the couch, limbs laying languidly away from your own body. The only thing you can stand to touch is Adrian, your foot pressed comfortably into his thigh as he continues chewing his ice. Which is odd, by the way. He’s never been one to chew ice. Says it’s bad for your teeth, or whatever. But you shrug it off, blame it on the heat. This one time exception in an attempt to keep cool. 

Besides, watching his jaw work as he crushes them between his molars is… captivating, to say the least.

“Hey,” he calls to you. Voice breaking the silence in a tone he probably didn’t mean to come out so loud.

You blink at him, meeting his intense gaze. “Yeah?”

“Are you still hot?”

“...yeah?”

His look breaks away from yours to rove down your body in that hungry, appreciative way of his - at your exposed clavicle, at the cami clinging to your breasts, at the way your legs are spread (in a pair of his trunks, by the way- “They’re so airy,” you explained to him when he stumbled over his words at the sight of you in his underwear, “I’m trying to avoid swampass.”) It feels like your body heats up impossibly more under his scrutiny.

Adrian’s tongue darts out to quickly lick his lips, and he grins, snapping his attention back to your warmed face. “Great.”

He stands and goes to the kitchen, but not without tidying up the coffee table first. Neatly stacking the leftovers and throwing away whatever empty containers there are. He’s good that way- organized. Can’t stand to leave things cluttered or left open for too long. Even when he gets distracted, sidetracked, mind going elsewhere, his body automatically continues putting things in their place.

Like when he’s fucking you.

The entire time he’s putting things away in the kitchen, he’s talking very casually about the movie. As if he wasn’t just eye-fucking you on the couch. “Don’t you think that captain or whatever is a clear ripoff of Peacemaker?”

“What?” You glance, frowning, at the star-spangled character on the tv. Adrian made you wet without even touching you and now he’s asking for your opinion on some fictional superhero.

“You know. The helmet? The patriotism? He’s just some watered down version of Peacemaker.” 

Adrian comes back from the kitchen with a cup full of ice. You eye it warily as he places it down carefully on a coaster. He continues prattling with disdain about this inaccurate version of Peacemaker. 

Adrian has disoriented you. Your mind is reeling with arguments about how very unlike Peacemaker this character is, but your pussy is still uncomfortably damp from Adrian’s intense stare down a few moments before. Needing to soothe the pressure below, you start to sit up on the couch, bringing your right foot up from the floor so you can properly and discreetly bring your thighs together- 

Adrian stops mid-sentence, hand darting to your knee to stop your legs from closing. “You gotta keep your legs open for me,” he says, your name on his mouth cementing the demand. His smoldering gaze meets yours, and it makes something blossom pleasurably low in your belly when he tacks on a, “please?”

Your thighs shake- it takes everything in you not to snap your legs close in response to his words, crushing his fingers between your knees. A pathetic little sound vibrates in your throat- his pupils dilate when he hears it. 

Your legs remain where they are- quivering- not closing but unable to fully open again. Adrian situates himself so his right knee presses down into the cushion between your ankles. He presses the flat of his palm - warm, but nothing compared to the blaze of heat of your flesh right now - against your inner right thigh. A firm but gentle demand to spread open for him. Your thighs part slowly and he watches in perverse fascination as the action reveals that lovely secret spot of skin through the trunks, where the flesh meets your outer lips. 

(Adrian can see a sliver of that, too- wants to put his mouth upon it. Consume you. Inhale you. But that just wouldn’t do right now. If he wants to torture you for what a brat you’ve been today, he needs to practice patience.)

“I know you probably think you can get away with being so mean to me because you’re hot,” he starts, smiling cheekily as his head does a delighted little bob from side to side at his double entendre- “and I usually like it! You know I do. But you were extra difficult today.” 

He delicately reaches his fingers into the cup on the coffee table, scooping out a cube of ice that’s already starting to melt.

“And I just don’t think it’s fair,” he continues. “I can’t control the weather. But I can do my best to cool you down.” 

He trails the ice cube against the soft flesh of your inner thigh, achingly close to that crevice near your heat. You hiss- the sudden cold contact against your blazing skin making you jolt. It’s a painful kind of relief. The liquid as it melts trails down until you can’t quite tell if the wet it from the ice or your own quickly dampening cunt.

“You know, you still haven’t apologized.”

His words make you feel guilty but the tone makes excitement course through your veins. Adds to the goose bumps that raise on your skin from the cool touch of ice. You bite back the urge to apologize, though. If only because maybe you aren’t that sorry if being mean to him led to this.

The ice cube finally becomes too small and runny for Adrian to maintain any sort of grip on it. He dips his fingers with the quickly dissolving cube into your underwear, drags it tantalizingly against the hot crease of your folds, making you gasp. “Adrian.”

“Is it working?” 

You slowly bat your eyes at him, lost through the haze of wanting. 

When did your jaw go slack? 

“Do you feel better?”

“Yes- no- I don’t…” 

It’s a struggle to answer. Do you feel better? He’s cooling you down and firing you up all at once. He’s making you wet. Your mouth feels dry. A whisper of a memory of some ancient commercial quickly flits through your mind - Is this how it feels to chew 5 gum - a small puff of air leaves your lips in a breathless chuckle.

Adrian’s lips turn down in a worrying frown, and he tsk’s. “Not enough, huh?” He brings his right hand up to you chest, curling his fingers into the top hem of your cami. The feel of them against your breasts - warmth against warmth - makes your pussy clench. “May I?”

You stare dazedly at his knuckles in your shirt. Your tongue pokes out to wet your lips. Your skin feels hyper-aware of anything and everything that’s touching it- Adrian’s fingers, the cloth of the underwear sticking to your sodden slit, and, distantly, the arm of the couch pressed against your sweaty shoulder blades. Your gaze drags away from his fingers and meets his eager eyes. 

You nod.

In one fluid motion, Adrian yanks down your cami so that your breasts spill out, tits bunching together between the strain of the straps and the fabric framing them.

If the heat and lust weren’t clouding your brain, you’d be impressed with Adrian for withholding from immediately putting a nipple in his mouth. He usually descends upon them as soon as they’re exposed. Like, mid-conversation.

Instead, he takes another ice cube from the glass and circles it around your nipple, mesmerized at the way it immediately pebbles at the contact. Your hips buck- again that bite of cold against balmy flesh.

“Cool,” Adrian all but sighs.

He continues his ministrations, alternating from one breast to the other, giving equal attention to both. Your hips continue to buck, embarrassingly, frustratingly, against nothing- if only his thigh were closer- Fingers curled against the fabric of the couch on either side of you, you try to chase whatever friction you can get until Adrian decides to finally ease some of your suffering.

But only some.

While the ice melts in his right hand as he continues to drag it against your supple flesh, his left hand presses firmly down against your mound, holding you securely to the couch. You whine until you feel his thumb press against your clit through the trunks. 

Between the cool soothing wet on your tits and the hot aching wet in your underwear, you think you might pass out.

Adrian was enjoying teasing you, making you fall apart, but his grin begins to falter as he watches your squirm. He’s hard for you- the self-restraint starts to slip. His hands are busy on your body so the only thing he can do is jut his hips forward- you feel the tent he’s pitching brush against your leg and it makes you lose your mind. 

It all builds to something- makes you go blind with it- but just as your orgasm begins to crest, it all gets ripped away. 

“Whew, that was close,” Adrian breathes. “Sorry, but I’m not ready to let you come just yet. ”

Your chest heaves with exertion. Can feel the melted ice mix with your sweat between your tits. It feels like you’re falling back down before even getting the chance to properly take off.

Perhaps you will give into that earlier urge to strangle him. “Asshole.”

He adjusts himself in his underwear, grinning stupidly at you, before popping another ice cube into his mouth. Absentmindedly shoves his frames back into place as they had slid down again. 

“As good as you look in my underwear, I’m going to need you to take them off now.”

It only takes a second for you to process his request before you hastily begin to wiggle out of the damned things. They were so comfortable before; now they’re just in the way. 

Adrian laughs at your desperation but curses as the ice falls from his mouth and begins to soak a spot into the couch between you both. “Fuck.” 

He’s quick to replace the ice cube as you fucking teehee at him in retribution. 

The thing is, your tits are out and your legs are spread in a silent invitation, cunt weeping, so the insta-karma is short lived. Because Adrian sucks at the ice in his mouth - you can hear the slurp of it behind his teeth - spits the partially dissolved cube back into the glass before his head plunges down, latching his cool lips and tongue around your throbbing clit.

He sucks on the rosy bud, and it punches the air out of your lungs.

Your eyes widen, head thrown back against the armrest, both hands flying out to grip at Adrian’s curls between your thighs. Your pelvis digs into his face to chase the cold, chase the relief, and he hums. Adrian’s hands grip at your hips in an attempt to keep you still, because of course he’s not done being in charge. 

His tongue does what his thumb couldn’t before, touches you directly, and wetly, and so agonizing-

“Ohhh m-m-m-myygodddd-”

You yank at his hair to spur him on- faster..!- but it just makes him moan into you, hips rutting once into the couch before regaining composure. His tongue slides down to dip between your slit and finally lap up at the collection of moisture that’s been gathering there. 

“P-puh-please Adrian, I wan-wannnuh-!”

You try to make eye contact as you beg for him to let you come, but his glasses have fogged up and, quite frankly, it’s kind of hard for you to see through the tears welling up in your eyes.

He comes up for air, but not without dragging his tongue against your folds, and swiftly removes his glasses. “That won’t do. I want to see you,” he needlessly explains, before continuing to go down on you. 

The cold has dissipated from his mouth by now, but neither of you really care. The warm, sticky friction between your legs is intoxicating. Adrian loses himself in it, begins rutting against the couch cushions in earnest now as he makes warbly cries spill from your open mouth. As wet as you are, two of his fingers slip easily into you, and he begins to pump- build upon that pressure that was there before, that had you so close before he rudely tore it away from you. 

His fingers crook perfectly up and into you, and you swear on your life that Adrian Chase was put on this wretched Earth specifically to eat you out-

When you come, it is with a loud, broken wail that bounces off the walls of the apartment. 

Adrian groans as you squirm into his face, fingers still working you as your orgasm ebbs. All that effort to cool you down gone to waste- you’re sweatier than before. 

Quivering, you yank forcefully at his hair again, tearing him away from you. You look down at him between your quaking thighs - take in his flushed face and the soft, brown curls that stick to his sweaty forehead. Looking cherubic despite his pupils eclipsing the green of his eyes- despite making you come with his skilled and ungodly mouth.

He smiles at you through the shiny glean of your juices that coats the lower half of his face. “It’s a good thing we kept the windows closed, huh?”

Rolling your eyes, you grip his hot face between your hands and draw him up into a slippery, sultry kiss- licking into his mouth to taste your aftermath. When the kiss breaks, it breaks wetly, lips linked by a salacious strand of spit.

“Let me suck your dick in the shower?”

“Oh, fuck yeah.”

[scorbussimulator]

scorbus picnic fic reblog for 9 dabloons

albus stared up at the sky, his eyes glowing with the sun's light sparkling against them. it was warm, though a cool breeze flew through the air and ran its gentle fingers through albus' hair. he smiled. it felt nice. it was early summer, which was the best part of summer, in their opinion. it meant warm temperatures, but not warm enough to be unbearable. it was nearly perfect. of course, something was missing.

albus exhaled, bouncing as he continued to walk on his path. they stared at the ground below them, kicking pebbles and dandelions with every step. it felt weird. he felt.. calm. it was a strange feeling. there was no imminent danger, no threat to his life. there was no more school, meaning no more bullies and magical shit he didn't want to deal with. all they had to deal with was scorpius.

they grinned.

there was something about scorpius. he was different. he wasn't like everyone else in hogwarts. he was truly, genuinely kind. albus felt weird around him.

his heart.. ached.

albus felt some sort of unbridled joy at the mere thought of scorpius. some sort of happiness they had never known before meeting him. a sense of belonging. it felt amazing.

he skipped once he approached the park entrance, squinting as they looked around for a familiar blond boy. his search quickly ended upon spotting scorpius. he was knelt down on the ground, laying out stuff for the picnic which albus couldn't quite identify from how far away he was. their eyes brightened, and they waved ecstatically. scorpius noticed almost immediately, shooting up and waving, bouncing up and down as he did so. albus ran to him, a wide smile on their face.

"scorpius!" they exclaimed, arms wide open as they tackled scorpius into a hug. scorpius yelped with surprise, laughing as the two fell to the ground and rolled over in the embrace.

"albus!" scorpius giggled, pushing the brunet off of him. he brushed his clothes off, standing up with a pink tint forming on his cheeks. albus stood as well, smiling as he looked up at scorpius. scorpius made eye contact briefly, looking away.

"hello, albus," scorpius' voice was slightly higher pitched than usual as he tried to hide his excitement. he stood awkwardly, his legs crossed as he rocked back and forth. albus couldn't help but laugh at the sight of him. they'd known each other for so long, but they still couldn't handle themselves around each other.

"hi, scorpius," they responded, their smile infiltrating their speech. "how long have you been waiting?"

"oh, not long at all, don't worry!" scorpius smiled, turning to the picnic blanket he'd set up. it was pale blue with a plaid pattern, and was rather soft to the touch. there were also plates, forks, and blue napkins laid out neatly. "only a few minutes."

"you got a lot done in 'a few minutes'," albus remarked, to which scorpius beamed with pride.

"d'you like it?" scorpius held his hands behind his back, rocking on his heels.

"of course, it looks awesome!" albus added, sitting down on one side of the blanket. scorpius sat on the opposite side, crossing his legs.

"oh," albus suddenly spoke, setting down a bag and unzipping it. "i brought some stuff!" out from the bag, he pulled a carton of strawberries out, along with a few mini sandwiches. they also pulled out a couple of soda cans, and a ton of candy. scorpius' eyes widened, and a small squeal of excitement escaped his mouth.

"albus," he spoke breathily. "you got SKITTLES?"

"of course, i know it's your favorite muggle candy," albus smiled, looking up. "you better be thankful for this, my mum would not be happy if she knew i bought all of this crap." they joked.

"i am more thankful than words can say," scorpius expressed, immediately grabbing a bag of skittles. about to tear it open, he paused, his eyes widening slightly. his face turned pink as he looked up at albus.

"i, um, brought you something!" he said, his face as full of surprise as albus'. it was as if he didn't even know he'd gotten it. from a beige tote bag, he pulled out a bouquet of flowers. the flowers were a beautiful arrangement of purples and blues, the colors melting together harmoniously. scorpius gripped the stems tightly, extending his arm as much as he could as he held out the flowers in front of albus. he looked away, appearing afraid to see albus' reaction.

albus' mouth fell open with shock and glee. "scorpius..!" they exclaimed, smiling as they took the flowers. he turned the bouquet in his hands, admiring each individual flower. "this is so sweet! what's gotten into you?"

"nothing," scorpius mumbled, looking back at albus hesitantly. "do.. you like them?"

"of course, they're beautiful," albus beamed. "thank you scorpius, i love them!"

"whatever," scorpius perked up, grabbing the tote bag again. he pulled out some more food, including a carton of blackberries, a small cake, and some bags of chips. albus chuckled slightly, noticing his embarrassment. scorpius was never any good at showing affection, and albus knew this. it was admirable, to say the least, to see how hard he was trying to break this habit, despite how much of a struggle it was for him. it was nice to see his growth.

"stop looking at me like that," scorpius spoke, snapping albus out of their thoughts.

"sorry," albus laughed. "i like looking at you."

scorpius blushed profusely. "can we just eat??" he asked, his voice cracking. albus laughed.

"yeah, yeah."

they served themselves portions of food, staring down at their plates and realizing how much food they had actually brought.

"scorpius, i don't think we're going to be able to eat all of this," albus remarked.

"we'll eat it, or we'll get sick trying!" scorpius proudly stated, getting a laugh out of albus. it was probably true.

albus grabbed the two cans of soda, holding them out in front of scorpius. not to their surprise, scorpius grabbed the can of sprite, smiling gratefully. this left albus with the can of fanta, which he was also happy about.

“so,” scorpius’ voice was muffled as he chewed, swallowing the strawberry he'd eaten before continuing to speak. “how's your dad?”

“not as annoying as usual,” albus smiled, taking a bite of his sandwich. “he's been a bit clingy, though.”

“he's probably scared of you running away again,” scorpius commented. albus found this funny, despite scorpius’ genuine tone. “or scared of you disappearing in an alternate timeline.”

“eh, he’ll get over it,” albus beamed, continuing to eat. the two talked about nothing important, happy to be in the presence of each other. it had been a while since the last time they'd been able to just talk one one one. it was nice to just be alone for once. albus loved being with scorpius. they felt safe around him. he knew scorpius wouldn't judge him. they could be themself around him, and he wouldn't have to be afraid of being judged or made fun of for things that made him different. scorpius understood what it was like to be different. their experiences weren't the same, yet, they were so similar. they knew what being an outcast was like, so they never really felt so different and alone. it gave albus a sense of security in being insecure.

“how has therapy been?” albus asked, setting down his fork. they had finished most of it at that point, and was starting to feel full.

“oh, it's been alright,” scorpius picked at his food with his fork, unable to finish it all. “kind of awkward. i think my therapist hates me.”

“why's that?” albus laughed.

“sometimes i just sit there quietly while she desperately tries to get answers out of me,” scorpius spoke. “it's weird telling my whole life story to some person i met less than a month ago. it's a bit overwhelming.”

“i'm sure it'll be fine,” albus responded. “you'll open up eventually.”

“i sure hope so!” scorpius laughed absentmindedly, staring down at his plate of food. albus paused, watching him.

“it's okay, you know,” albus began. “if it's hard for you to open up. it's good that you're trying. that's what's important.”

“yeah,” scorpius mumbled, setting his fork down on his plate. “i guess you're right.” his head perked up and he cleared his throat. “anyways, what are your plans for the summer?”

albus furrowed their eyebrows, looking into scorpius’ gray eyes. uncomfortable by the interaction, scorpius looked away. scorpius tended to switch the topic quite often if the conversation was leading towards something he wasn't interested in, and albus didn't want to push any farther.

“not sure,” said albus. “hopefully hanging out with you.”

scorpius lit up, a smile blooming on his face. “i hope so too!”

“i’m sure my dad won't mind,” albus continued, smirking. “if i don't tell him.”

day faded away, and the sunset brought forth an orange hue which warmly lit up the sky and echoed off the blades of grass. the two of them laid themselves down on the blanket, faced up at the stars which slowly became more and more visible.

albus exhaled, turning to face scorpius. he was looking at the sky, his eyes moving and tracing the patterns of the stars. albus smiled. he seemed so at peace. it was nice to see scorpius like that. it was nice to see him.. happy. it felt like he hadn't been for quite some time.

albus watched scorpius closely, their eyes outlining each bit of his complexion and appearance which he loved. it was all so perfect.

“albus?” scorpius turned his head, noticing that albus had been staring.

“..yeah?” albus asked quietly.

“you're staring at me again like a weirdo.”

“i know.”

scorpius frowned, his eyebrows furrowed. “what-”

“you're really beautiful, scorpius,” albus spoke again.

scorpius’ face turned bright red, and he laughed, tugging on his sleeves. “what is wrong with you?”

“nothing!” albus laughed as well. “i just think you're nice to look at.”

“well, you're nice to look at too, albus,” scorpius replied hesitantly, turning away from albus and looking back at the stars.

“really?”

“no.” scorpius giggled, as if he was proud of himself for that.

albus couldn't help but laugh as well.

they turned to look back at the stars, watching as they twinkled and faded in and out. it had gotten significantly darker at this point, and the only light available was that of the moon and the stars. scorpius glanced over at them, and they looked at him as well. scorpius sat up. albus did the same.

“um, albus?” scorpius asked hesitantly.

“yeah?”

“i have to say something weird and you can't make fun of me.”

“i can't promise anything.”

“wh- albus!”

“okay, okay,” albus laughed. “i won't.”

“alright,” scorpius exhaled shakily, staring up at the sky again. “you said it's good for me to try to open up, so i'm going to.”

he paused. his eyes shut.

“i really- i love you, albus, and i'm scared. i didn't realize how happy i am when i'm alone with you. but i'm scared. and i know it's stupid and it's embarrassing to say this but i love you and you're my favorite person ever and i don't know what i'd do without you. every day is scary because i don't know if somethings going to happen to you and then i won't be able to see you again and then i'll be alone. and i don't want to be alone. i want to be with you but- but the world sucks and everything is scary. cus- cus what if something happens again and you get hurt again? like- like with the time turner. or when we got handcuffed and tortured?? remember that? i don't want you-”

his voice cracked, becoming quieter.

“i don't want you getting hurt.”

albus’ face softened. they looked at scorpius, studying him. he was stiff, and his lips were thinned. it looked as if he was trying not to cry. he hugged himself tightly, adjusting his arm position every so often. albus couldn't respond, they didn't know how.

“i'm sorry, i know it's stupid,” scorpius laughed sadly. “anyways-”

“no, it's not,” albus suddenly spoke up. “i'm scared to lose you too, scorpius. i love you. so much it hurts. but- everything in life hurts. i'm gonna get hurt no matter what. but we’ll be there for each other, won't we?”

scorpius nodded quickly.

“you won't be alone,” albus continued. “i promise.”

scorpius sniffed, looking at albus. their eyes met. albus reached their hand forward, wiping the tears from scorpius’ cheeks.

“i won't leave you. ever.” albus said.

“you're gay.” scorpius smiled, breaking into laughter.

albus rolled his eyes, laughing as well. he moved slightly closer to scorpius, their noses nearly touching. they could feel each other’s gentle breaths as they looked into each other’s eyes.

scorpius leaned closer.

their lips met.

albus felt their heart race as their eyes shut. his head buzzed. it felt like the world around him had disappeared, and it was just the two of them.

scorpius was the first to pull away, his face red and breath heavy. he looked into albus’ eyes for a quick second before looking away.

“wow,” scorpius exhaled. albus started laughing, and scorpius did too.

“we are absolute fucking losers,” albus sighed, smiling brightly.

“i like being a loser with you,” scorpius glanced back up at albus.

albus leaned in this time.

the two of them instantly melted into the warmth of one another, their lips intertwining more passionately than before. albus’ hands moved up the back of scorpius’ head, their fingers intertwining with blond locks of hair. scorpius latched onto albus’ waist, pulling him closer as they kissed.

the moment was broken as albus pulled apart, nearly gasping for air. he moved his hands away, resting them awkwardly in his lap. they watched scorpius, who was catching his breath as well. the blond giggled, tugging on the bottom of his sweater.

“wizzo!” scorpius exclaimed, and albus burst into laughter, shoving him playfully.

“what is wrong with you??” albus joked, and scorpius laughed as well, his face red.

albus grabbed scorpius’ hand. scorpius held albus’ hand back.

“i love you, scorpius,” albus said quietly, a gentle smile on their face. “a lot.”

“i love you too, albus,” scorpius smiled, his eyes soft as he looked at albus.

“ew,” albus looked away, making a vomit noise.

“yeah, that was weird,” scorpius shivered. the two laughed.

albus rested their head on scorpius’ shoulder, sighing quietly as the two of them watched the stars dance across the sky. and everything was alright.

[descendantofthesparrow]

Encore - POYW - Harry Hook x reader - Part 24 - Sisters

=

you and Harry woke up to loud knocks on Harry's room door, you had decided to stay the night at the ship since your room was just so damn warm and Harry's room was nice and cool. You glanced at the clock on Harry's wall and sighed, it seemed you had slept in a bit as the clock read 12:30 pm.

Harry sighed and sat up, standing from the bed and walking over to his door, creaking it open and yelping as he was pushed back by a blonde and red blur “Hi CJ” Harry grunted out, CJ laughing as she pushed off of him and skipped over to you, Harriet entering the room a moment later “Harriet, what do yeh want?”

“We’re stealing your fiancé, (y/n) get dressed, CJ keep Harry down” CJ leaped over your body and slammed down onto Harry, trapping him to the mattress.

“Oi!” Harry snapped, ripping his arm out of CJ’s grip and pushing her face, glaring at Harriet as she walked over to you and pulled you out of the bed “No! She's mine! Leave ‘er alone!”

CJ and Harriet shared a dangerous smile and CJ pinned Harry to the bed again “Quick get her dressed so we can escape!” Harry let out a snarl as you quietly laughed, grabbing a red shirt and black jeans. Stepping into your bathroom to quickly get dressed, popping your head back out to grab a bra and socks.

You sluggishly got dressed and stepped back out to the bedroom to put your shoes on, laughing again as Harriet and CJ held Harry down to the floor, CJ sitting on his back and arms as Harriet held down his legs.

“Okay okay, don’t kill him, he is a good pillow, and I’d rather not lose the warmth” Harry pouted at you as his sisters snickered and got off him.

“Oh, no ‘oh please don’t kill Harry, I love him’ or ‘please don’t kill Harry, I'd rather not lose him’ no all I get is ‘I’m a good pillow’? really?” you let out a quiet laugh and finished zipping up your boots, leaning down to kiss Harry's cheek and ruffling his hair.

“Yep, and I’ll be back later, bye!” CJ dragged you out of the room, Harriet closing the door behind her as Harry continued to pout.

-

A few hours later, you sat outside an ice cream parlor, spooning (fav ice cream) into your mouth as CJ sipped at her chocolate and mint shake with Oreos. Harriet walked out of the shop with her fresh waffle cone strawberry cheesecake and sat down next to you, licking her lips slightly.

“You’re welcome” you chuckled, smiling teasingly as Harriet glared at you before she stuck a spoon into the ice cream and shoved it in her mouth, CJ continuing to enjoy her shake. “So other than the reason you gave earlier” that being them just wanting to hang out because they hardly got to hang out with you “Why did you want to hang out with me today?”

“We have to pick up my suit and CJ’s dress from the tailor, thought you might want to see ‘em or something” Harriet muttered, keeping her eyes on her ice cream.

You hummed and nodded, you would like to see them, to make sure they worked with what you had planned. “Sounds fun, what time is pick up?”

Harriet pulled out her phone “at two, it's one now so we got about an hour but the place is pretty far away from here, so-“ Harriet turned to you and raised her brow “-you mind driving us there, after we finish?”

You nodded, spooning the last of your ice cream in your mouth and tossing the cup into the trash “Sure”

-

You couldn’t help the grin on your face as CJ stepped out of the dressing room, she admired herself in the tall mirror, spinning around and her scarlet skirt flaring with her. Her black top was detailed with lace and was separated from her high waisted skirt that stopped just above her knees. “Look’s amazing CJ, I think we picked the perfect one for you” you hummed, laughing as CJ bounded over to you and slammed into your side as she sat next to you.

“I think this is the first time she's worn a dress and actually liked it” Harriet huffed, smirking at you and CJ as CJ discovered the pockets on her skirt. The tailor came out from the back, handing Harriet a maroon and black suit and gesturing to the dressing room.

The tailor gave you and CJ a smile and went back to the front to tend to her other customers. You and CJ talked about the wedding plans as Harriet changed, and a few minutes later Harriet emerged from the dressing room. her suit jacket was maroon and her dress shirt and pants were black. CJ wolf-whistled, standing and bounding over to her sister, grinning up at her “Wow Hettie, you look amazing!”

Harriet gave a shy smile and nodded, looking down at her jacket and pulling down the sleeves “Thanks, I think it turned out good” you grinned and that and stood, walking over to the girls and tugging at the lapels of Harriet's jacket.

“It turned out great, it's perfect…thank you, both of you. I know we don’t really interact much but thank you for trusting me with your brother, I know how protective you both are over him” Harriet and CJ smiled, Harriet pulling you in for a side hug as CJ wrapped her arms around your waist.

“Thank you for taking care of him, I never thought he’d find someone like you, but I’m glad he did. I can't wait to call you our sister” CJ nodded in agreement, and squeezed your waist, pulling back and walking to the dressing room to change back into her clothes.

“Let's go get something to eat! Im starving!” You and Harriet shared a look and shook your heads.

“That’s CJ for ya, always hungry” Harriet laughed, sitting down on the couch and waiting for CJ to be done changing so she could do the same.

“yep…Taco Bell sound good?”

“Hell yeah”

-

Harry started as a cold sensation pressed against his cheek and he quickly sat up, looking behind him to see you, smiling down at him and holding a cup filled with Pepsi “I got Taco Bell for you” Harry grinned and took the soda, drawing his legs in from the couch to let you sit down next to him and taking the paper bag from you as you handed it to him.

“Thank yeh love” Harry purred, taking out the cheese rolls and humming, he hadn’t eaten yet that day so he was very happy to finally have something in his belly.

“You’re welcome~” you sang back, taking (food) out of the bag and unwrapping it, biting down on it and turning to pay attention to the tv, where Harry had turned on Captain America; The First Avenger. “Good choice”

Harry just hummed around his food, pulling you into his side and the two of you settled down to watch the movie.

-

“hard ta believe we’re getting married in twenty days” Harry chuckled, helping you put away the washed dishes from dinner. You stopped, looking up at the calendar on the wall and laughing.

May 2nd, wow it really was only twenty days from today. “Well how bout that” you murmured, closing the dishwasher and starting it, walking over to Harry and wrapping your arms around him, setting your chin on his shoulder “Only twenty days till you’re mine forever” Harry laughed and turned in your grip, pressing a soft kiss to your lips and nose.

“Only twenty days till I can finally call yeh Mrs. Hook” Harry purred back, lifting you off your feet and spinning you around, setting you back down and pressing one last kiss to your nose. “I love yeh” Harry whispered, closing his eyes and pressing his forehead to yours.

“I love you too” you hummed back, kissing his jaw and slipping out of his arms, going over to the fridge grabbing two ice cream sandwiches, and tossing one to Harry, nodding towards the living room “one more movie?” Harry grinned and nodded, walking in and jumping over the couch, bouncing his leg as he waited for you.

“Oh, by the way,” Harry started, curling his arm around your shoulder as you sat next to him and curling into his side “All the invitations got sent out.” You perked up at that and swallowed down the bite of ice cream.

“Awesome! Did you keep one?“ Harry smirked and nodded, standing from the couch and walking into the kitchen, grabbing a card from the counter and walking back over to you, handing you the card and sitting down as you admired the invitation.

“I still love it, I think we picked a good design” Harry nodded in agreement, leaning over your shoulder slightly to look at the invitation.

The top was printed with watercolor waves at sunset, the bottom blocked with gold with white lettering detailing the date, time, and place of your wedding.

 “only twenty days” Harry hummed, picking up the remote and turning on another movie, curling his arm around your shoulder and pulling you into his side, smiling as you cuddled into him and rested your head in the crook of his neck. “twenty days” you echoed, raising your brow slightly as the movie began to play. “Hook?”

“aye…what it’s a good movie!”

-end of part 24-

Note; I was writing this on the 2nd so that’s why the fic says “twenty days” instead of nineteen

24 parts! Woow!!! And the next part will be on the 22nd! The wedding! After the wedding, this series will officially be finished and the OG part of your world will be over! 😊 thank you all so much for coming with me on this journey and sticking with me through my horrible 2018-2019 writing. Again I will be rewriting Part of your world and Reprise because I want to (and rewriting some parts of Encore because the first 10-15 parts are fucking awful) and I’ll be starting on it after I finish encore, but I probably won't start posting until Rewrite(AU) D3 is finished so im not working on a thousand stories at once.

So Part of your world 2.0 will be coming after Finale - Rewrite is concluded so I can focus solely on POYW 2.0 :3 again thank you all so much for reading and soon, Mr. and Mrs. Hook will soon be introduced~!!!

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[13-reasons-ideas]

Once a Serpent? Part 2

The following week, I started school at Liberty. I went to the office for my schedule. There, I was greeted by a very cheerful girl. She had a black bob haircut. She stuck her hand and introduced herself. “Courtney Crimsen.”

“Kennedy Campbell.” I shook her hand awkwardly.

“I’m going to lead your tour.”

“Oh. I gave myself a tour last week?”

“Well, I’ll give you an insider tour.”

“Okay?” I wasn’t sure about her. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but she seemed to be overly nice. I followed her around the school as she pointed out various things. I had passed by most things in the main building the week prior. She pointed out where some of my classes were and then we went outside. She showed me some of the other buildings. My biology class was on the third floor of the science and technology building.

“Thank you for the tour.” I smiled.

“Of course. If you have any questions, I’m around. You’ll see me in the halls. Feel free to ask.”

“I will. Thank you again.” The bell rang. We parted ways and I walked to my locker. It took a couple of tries, but I got it to open on my own. As I was filling it up, I heard someone calling my name. I looked up and turned around. The voice called again. I looked in that direction up the hall and saw Montgomery walking towards me. Yup. Still hot. Even in regular clothes and not sweating. I waved. He stopped when he reached my locker.

“Hey.”

“Hi.” I pulled my algebra textbook

“How’s your first day going?”

“It’s okay. I haven’t had any classes or anything yet. Courtney gave me a tour.”

“That must have been fun. She’s pretty….”

“Cheery?”

“I was going to say uptight.”

“I got that impression, yeah.” I pulled out my schedule. “I should probably get going. Try to find my way to algebra.”

“Okay, I’ll see you around.”

“See you around Montgomery.”

As I was walking away, he called out, “If you want you can sit with me and the guys at lunch.”

“I have bio in room 347. Come find me.”

One nice thing about starting school at the beginning of the school year, was that you didn’t have to do the stupid introductions no one cares about. In algebra, I picked a seat near the back. I did fine in math. This made it easier to blend in. A boy with dirty blonde hair and blue eyes sat down next to me. He was wearing a blue and white varsity jacket. He took out his books and arranged them on his desk. He turned towards me. “Hey, can I borrow a pencil?”

“Sure.” I dug one out of my bag.

“Thanks. I’m Scott.”

“Kennedy.”

“You’re new here?”

“Is it that obvious?”

“Not really. If you ignore the way you’re looking around like you aren’t prepared for this at all.” I sighed.

“Says the kid that asked someone for a pencil on the first day of school.”

“Touché.” I laughed.

Class started. We spent some time going over the syllabus for the semester. I circled some dates and points. When the teacher, Mrs. Smith, started teaching, I started to zone out a bit. Nothing too major. But I did miss a couple of operations. I turned to Scott and nodded towards his paper.  He turned it towards me. I copied it down quickly. “Something the two of you would like to share with the class Mr. Reed?”

“No Ma’am. Just class notes here.”

“Sorry.” I said quietly.

“Keep up you two.”

“Yes Ma’am.” We said. The rest of class passed without incident.

When biology ended, Monty was standing across the hall. “You found me.”

“I did. Lunch?”

“Sure.” We walked to the cafeteria making small talk. I hated small talk, but it was better than being stared at. I followed him through the crowded room to a table occupied by several large jocks. I was right. I’m going to guess and say football.

“Guys, Kennedy. Kennedy, Guys.”

“Hey.” The boys nodded.

“Hey. Hey Scott.”

“Kennedy. How was bio?”

“It’s the first day, so boring.” I laughed. Scott laughed too. I sat next to him and reached into my lunch bag. I pulled out my carrot sticks.

“She’s in my algebra class.” He said to the table. They were watching us.

“He saved my ass when I wasn’t paying attention. I also apologize if anyone hates the sound of crunching. We only bought groceries for a few days.”

“Ah.”

While we were eating, I started getting warm. I wasn’t used to the heat here. I took off my sweater, not even thinking twice about the fact that I was wearing a tank top. While I picked at my wrap, sorry, I mean ‘rolled sandwich’, I could feel someone watching me. I had grown used to the feeling, especially in the last couple of years. “Yes?”

“What’s your tattoo supposed to be?” Scott asked.

“It’s personal. I got it a couple of years ago.” I could feel him examining it. “I’m probably not going to answer your questions.”

“Did it hurt?”

“Not really. It felt more strange than painful.” Someone else was looking at it too. I turned around. I caught a boy staring at me. He was wearing a worn in black leather jacket. Not wanting to cause problems on my first day, I ignored it.

“No tattoo questions. Can we ask general questions?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“Where are you from?” Bryce asked.

“That’s a loaded question.”

“Oh?”

“My dad is a Major in the Army. Which ‘from’ would you like?”

“Lunch isn’t even half over yet.” Montgomery pointed out. It seemed his friends called him Monty. You aren’t his friend.

“Okay, well. I was born on the base in Germany. We lived there until I was three. Then dad got stationed in Denver. Lived there until I was about six. From there, we moved to Chicago. I was about eight when we moved to New York City. We were there until I was about twelve. Then we moved to Riverdale. My dad had requested to move upstate to have a change of pace. He could still commute. And then we moved here like a week or so ago.”

“So where do you consider home?” Charlie asked. He seemed like he was genuinely nice.

“Riverdale. Not just because we were there the longest. I put down roots there. I actually made friends. I dated. Some relationships were less serious than others.” You mean other. “I grew up there. It’s where I became my own person. It’s home.”

“How old are you?”

“Eighteen.”

“Why did you have to move then?”

“I haven’t graduated yet. My parents didn’t want to leave me there alone while I was still going to school.” If I had my way, I wouldn’t be here by now. I could feel someone’s eyes on me again. I looked and caught Monty staring. Maybe here won’t be so bad.

I got a text from Jughead as we were all talking. Hey Kenz. How’s California treating you?

Hot.

You love the heat. :P

I know. It’s the best. :P

Other than that, how’s it going?

It’s going okay. I met some people. My tour guide was… Happy with a capital P.

They made you take a tour?

Yup. And I still got lost looking for my biology class. I chuckled to myself.

“What’s funny?” Bryce asked.

“Nothing.” I put my phone down on the table. That evidently was a bad idea. My phone started buzzing rapidly. I grabbed it quickly and grimaced. “Sorry.” Fangs was texting me. He seemed to be in a great mood for the first day of school.

Kennedy! We have news. Good news. Great news. The best news. Of course, each sentence was a different message.

Oh? What’s happening?

They put soda in the vending machine again. That’s it? That’s the news?

“That’s it?” I asked, out loud.

“What?” A few guys asked.

“Shit. Did I say that out loud?”

“Yes. So now you have to share the reason.” Scott smiled.

“My friend is freaking out because they out soda in the vending machines at my old school.”

“That’s not a bad reason to freak out.” Monty shrugged.

“I don’t need six individual text messages about it.”

“Well. That’s a lot.” I nodded.

After lunch, I had a free period, so I wandered around the school a little more. My tour wasn’t exactly the greatest after all. Once I mapped out a decent route to my classes, I decided to sit outside. It was nice out. It’s California. It’s usually nice out. I couldn’t help myself while I sat. I pulled out my phone and started scrolling through pictures of Sweetpea and I. A lot of them were candid shots one or the other of us had taken. There were some at various gatherings. One of me the first time I put on his old jacket. IT had felt so foreign to me then. Now it felt like something was missing because I didn’t have it.

Approaching footsteps startled me. Instinctively, my hand flew to my front pocket. Then I remembered that my knife wasn’t there. I had left it at home. I didn’t need it here. It was safe. I wasn’t a target anymore. “Hey.” The voice said above me. I already recognized it as Scott.

“Hey.”

“Can I sit?” He motioned to the ground.

“Free country.” I watched him sit on the bench next to me. He left a respectable distance between us.

“How’s your first day going?”

“It’s okay. How’s your first day of senior year?”

“It’s okay. Doesn’t quite feel real yet.”

“It really doesn’t, no.”

“I’m going to apologize for my friends now. They can be a handful sometimes.”

“I know how to work with that. My friends back home were… a handful and half.”

We sat quietly for a few minutes. “Is Miss Smith always so?” I trailed off, unable to find the right word.

“Intense?”

“Yeah.”

“She can be. Usually at exam time. Nothing too out of the ordinary.”

“Good to know.”

“New York, huh?”

“Yeah. I was pretty young when we lived in the city, so I don’t really have a lot of cool stories.”

“But of Riverdale?”

“I have stories.”

“Like?”

“Can’t talk about them with strangers.”

“I don’t have to be a stranger.” I turned to him and raised my brow. “Oh. Oh

no. I didn’t mean. I have a girlfriend.”

“Is that how you asked all your friends to be friends?”

“No.” He didn’t sound very convincing.

“Friends then. I won’t cheat off you in math by the way.”

“That’s probably a good thing. You wouldn’t do great if you did.” We exchanged numbers. “So, since I’m not a stranger anymore, does that mean I can hear some stories?”

“Soon enough.” I smiled. Scott headed off to meet his girlfriend.

I pulled out my phone again and texted Jughead. I made a friend. My thumb hovered over Sweetpea’s text chain. I couldn’t bring myself to delete it or his contact. I had tried several times over the last two weeks. Something inside of me just kept finding reasons not to. My mind trailed off to the other boy who had caught my attention here. There was something about Montgomery that just made me want to know him. I couldn’t put my finger on it.

It didn’t start feeling like school until the second week of classes. Most of the week prior had been a lot of going over course outlines and review of the previous year’s material. Bryce and his friends had taken a liking to me. It was assumed by my third day that I would be a fixture within their group. Scott’s girlfriend, Melissa, was nice. She didn’t seem to see me as a threat. That’s a relief. I would have hated to have my first real friend here, not be able to be friends with me after all.

In the past couple of weeks, I found myself comparing this group of athletes to my friends back home. Bryce seemed to be the closest to Reggie. He-and everyone else for that matter-considered himself the ringleader of this group. Scott was an observer, much like Jughead. It took me a few days, but I realized that Jeff was pretty similar to Archie. People liked him and he was nice. For the sake of being nice. Charlie, now Charlie was quickly becoming a favourite. He was like a human golden retriever. He reminded me so much of Fangs I wanted to cry. Justin reminded me a lot of Toni. The glue in a way. When I thought of Monty-I was considered his friend now, so I could call him that- I only had one other person in mind. Sweetpea. Well, you can’t say I don’t have a type. I hadn’t assigned roles from my hometown to everyone in the group. Zach, for example was hard to pin down.

By mid-September, I started to get comfortable. Not comfortable enough to let my guard down. I had learned my lesson with Sweetpea. I was hanging out with Scott at lunch. We had both decided we could use a break from being surrounded by jocks all the time. “I don’t know Scott.”

“Come on. You said you didn’t share stories with strangers. I’m not a stranger anymore.”

“I know. Let me think.” I stopped to think about what stories I could share. Ones that didn’t involve outing that I dated a gang member. Or that didn’t involve Sweetpea. That didn’t leave a lot of recent stories. Most of my stories from the last two years involved him or the Serpents in one capacity or another.

“Okay I have one. So my friend, we call him Jughead.” Scott looked at me and shook his head, confused. “It’s better than Forsythe Pendleton Jones III.”

“Yes. That is better.”

“Anyway. He was my first real friend when I moved to Riverdale. We must have barely been thirteen at the time. I had spent the night at his place. we decided we wanted to make pancakes in the morning.” I paused and looked up when Monty sat down with us. What was I saying? I noticed a bruise on his cheek that hadn’t been there yesterday. I wonder what that’s from. No Kennedy. Don’t get involved.

“Hey.”

“Hi. Uh,” I paused.

“Did I interrupt?”

“No. Kennedy was just about to tell me a story about Riverdale.”

“Yeah. Uh, what was I saying?”

“Pancakes.”

“Oh yes! We wanted pancakes. We must have used almost every Tupperware dish in his place. It looked like a tornado had torn through the kitchen. His dad walked out, took one look at the kitchen, and shoo’d us out. We were watching tv until he started a fire in the pan.”

“His dad lit breakfast on fire?”

“Yeah. So, he gave up and took us to the diner for breakfast.”

“How did he set the pancakes on fire?” Monty asked.

“Your guess is as good as mine.” I shrugged. Scott didn’t ask for another story.

“What’s Riverdale like?” Monty asked.

“It’s a small town. I feel like it’s pretty standard for a small town.” I didn’t need to mention the Serpents or the Ghoulies or just how separated the North and South sides of town were. “The woods are nice that surround the town.”

“The woods are nice?”

“Yeah. Very… woodsy.”

“Uh huh. Anything else?”

“Pop’s Diner has the best milkshakes I’ve ever had.”

“You haven’t had the milkshakes at Rosie’s yet.” Scott interjected.

“No, I haven’t.”

“They have the best shakes. No argument.”

“I think I’ll be the judge of that, Scott.” I smirked.

[platypanthewriter]

Unless...? Ch.4

Part One | Two | Three

Billy replied every time Steve texted, unless he was working, or asleep, and Steve tried to ration it out—waiting until after practice, or making himself finish his meal, so he didn’t return to work to find out Billy’d been sighing heavily every time his phone chimed.

he’s as glued to his phone as u are, sent Robin, and Steve tried not to grin too widely in triumph.

Don’t know who you’re talking about, he sent back, and she sent an eyeroll emoticon.

“Y’know,” she said later, over video chat, while Steve folded his laundry. She had a straw dangling out of her mouth like a cigarette. “—the last time I saw you texting this much,” she said, pausing so he’d look up, and then slurping at her soda, “—you were dating.” She stared him dead in the eyes.

“What is your problem,” Steve hissed at her, his face flushing. “Quit this Steve and Billy sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G shit, it’s getting old.”

Steve couldn’t help it, he wandered into Victoria’s Secret the next day, and got surrounded by sales associates. “What size,” he got asked, and they seemed unsurprised when he said “I’m not sure.” He finally just grabbed like five pairs of lace panties, his face probably steaming, and ran back out, because Billy had probably—definitely—been kidding.

Steve was feeling more and more sure, the feeling leaden in his stomach, that if he brought the lace thongs up again, he’d get the hardest “No homo” of his life. He got back to the motel and threw the packages in his backpack, stuffing them down to the bottom, and curled up on the bed, remembering how fast things had gone south with Tommy. Tommy’d wanted to jack each other off—as bros, he said, as pals—and Steve had gone along, only to hit weeks of unanswered calls.

Robin had been decidedly unsympathetic—she’d never liked Tommy—but Steve had never really stopped thinking about where he should have drawn the line, before he scared off his best friend. Maybe he could tell I was wondering what it would be like to kiss him, he thought, staring at the ceiling. Maybe I leaned in too close, and grossed him out.

He imagined Billy blanking him at work, as Steve tried to explain he’d just...thought he was doing it right, this time, coloring in the lines. He was always too dumb to know where the lines were, was the problem. He rubbed his eyes, taking a long, shaky breath, and rolled to bury his face in his pillow.

He reminded himself of Billy’s flinch when Steve called him husband, as a joke, and groaned. Slumber party, he told himself. Like kids.

Steve didn’t text Billy for a few days, after that. He didn’t think about the lace thongs, either, and he didn’t order grilled sandwiches anywhere, or doodle butterflies in his notebooks, thinking about Billy’s tattoo flexing just a little as he breathed in his sleep.

Rehearsals were distracting, and Steve practiced hard. In the afternoons, he finished up two separate songs—about loneliness, but in a vague kind of way—and started another one that would never see the light of day, about how it would feel to have just one person on earth as excited about him as he was about half the people he knew. He tried not to even imagine that person as Billy Hargrove, because how weird was that, picturing him wanting to road trip together, or go camping, and lean into each other by the fire. Steve reminded himself, grimly, of what friends did—he’d learned it with Robin, and he could learn it before he creeped Billy out, too.

He was pretty sure one thing friends didn’t do was fantasize. He threw the thongs in the trash, and then fished them out the next morning, and stared at the pile of them, tissue-wrapped and perfumed on his bed. He opened the package, and considered them—one black, one red, one pink—he didn’t know why he’d said yes to white, because white panties weren’t even date night panties, according to Nancy. White and beige were for lounging.

White was for weddings, though, Steve thought, feeling ridiculous, and stuffing them back in the bag. He tried not to think about taking the joke way too far, and buying rings.

respond to yr boy, he keeps checking his phone like a lovesick goon, Robin sent the next day, and Steve clicked over to Billy’s messages and sent a string of hearts without even checking what Billy had said.

Once he actually checked, it was you forget about me, harrington? and Steve wanted to spin around in place, he realized, alone in his hotel room, because Billy Hargrove missed him, and so he did. He shuffled around to the tune in his head with his arms up like his phone was Billy himself, spinning and swaying his hips because nobody was looking, and then he let himself fall face-first on the bed like a Disney character, giggling. He dialed Billy, and curled up on his side, grinning.

“...I guess you do remember who I am, huh,” Billy grouched.

“I miss you,” Steve told him, confident for once, because Billy Hargrove, cool bartender sounded pouty, like a little kid. “Like I’d forget my best guy. My most favorite—”

“Oh my god, stop,” Billy laughed.

“Coolest person I know,” Steve told him, honestly, and Billy snickered harder, his voice going muffled.

“I’m at work, jesus,” he hissed, but he sounded fond.

“I wish I was there,” Steve told him. “I’d just dedicate you a song. Right in the middle of a set, just switch songs. Sorry, y’all, my bartender’s lonely.”

“Jesus,” Billy groaned, but Steve could tell he was smiling. “You say that, but it’d—it’d be something dumb, you’d sing me the Barney Song—”

“‘I love you, you love me,’” Steve sang cheerfully, as Billy said, “Do not. Do not sing it. Steve—”

Steve’s heart pounded, singing love words to Billy, but Billy’d suggested it, so it wasn’t weird, it was a joke. “We’re gonna have a huge weddiiiing,” he crooned, “—with a lacy thong, and kiss from me to you—”

Billy cackled, breathless. “Shut up!” he panted. “Stop, you dipshit, quit it—”

“Won’t you say you love me tooooo?” Steve held the note like a broadway star, and Billy must have died laughing, because all Steve could hear was wheezing.

“Shut up,” he gasped. “Holy shit, fuck you, Harrington—”

“Hey, you thought I wouldn’t do it, practically a dare, Hargrove—”

“Oh my god,” Billy groaned, still giggling, and Steve wished he was there, Billy next to him on the bed, so he could hear it better.

Billy needed to giggle more, Steve thought, trying not to think of Billy’s weight in his arms, warm and solid. He wanted Billy laughing helplessly into his shoulder, he realized, sharply, like a hunger pang. “I don’t think you’ve gotten enough love songs,” Steve told him, his voice a little husky with the stupid surge of emotion over Billy laughing.

“...most people don’t write songs,” he whispered back. “Most people aren’t you, Steve Harrington.”

“I think you need to hear it more,” Steve insisted, stubbornly. “I mean, I know I’m not supposed to talk about—Drunk Night—but—” Billy took a sharp breath, but didn’t say anything, and Steve winced. “I won’t, I won’t, I promise, but—but anybody who doesn’t tell you that—that they—they’re shitty. You’re amazing.”

“I’m really not,” Billy laughed, like Steve was being ridiculous.

“You are, you’re so smart—”

“I’m what now,” Billy interrupted, snorting a laugh that didn’t sound nearly as happy as his giggles while Steve had sung.

“You can remember all that drink stuff, it’s so complicated, and people make these bullshit crazy orders—”

“...that’s just memorizing, Harrington,” Billy sighed.

“I couldn’t do it,” Steve told him, honestly. “You were telling that lady all about, like, the history of France when she ordered something—”

“I told her where cognac was made,” Billy told him, laughing. “I’m not a history professor, jesus—”

“It was really interesting! I fall asleep when most people talk about history,” Steve admitted, grimacing. “I actually went home and looked some of it up! And then I pretended it was in your voice so I could stay awake.”

“Oh my god,” Billy groaned.

“I always find the smart people! I’m like a smartness-sniffer, like a drug sniffer dog,” Steve told him, trying to support his case, as Billy started laughing his ass off again. “I’m serious, like, I dated the smartest girl in highschool, and I ended up friends with the smartest kid in her little brother’s friend group, and look how smart Robin is—”

“Jesus Hobgoblin Christ,” Billy mumbled.

“I’m telling you, you’re smart, don’t mess with me on this, I’ll get Robin and Jonathan backing me up.” Billy made a weird gulping noise, like glugging faucet, and Steve frowned at his phone. “I mean it,” he insisted. “Who the hell told you you weren’t? Bull shit, man.”

“Sure wish I actually was who you think I am,” Billy said softly, and Steve couldn’t take it, he stuck his tongue out and made a loud PTHBBBBBT noise into the phone.

“You’re perfect, shut up,” Steve told him. “You’re great. I—I have receipts, okay, I can—I can present evidence to the court—”

“You’re so fucking weird,” Billy told him, his laughter soft again. “How come you’re way the hell away, I wanna see you, you freak of nature.”

“You’re still coming Friday, right,” Steve asked, again, and Billy laughed.

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll be there.”

“Can’t believe you want to drive all the way out here to see me,” Steve told him, rolling onto his back to beam at the ceiling. “Gonna hug you so hard.”

“Can’t believe you miss me so much you want me to,” Billy said, laughing. “We still doing this motel sleepover thing? You didn’t, uh, you don’t have a better offer?”

“What the hell better offer could there be,” Steve whispered, trying to imagine, and Billy laughed.

“Oh, shit, somebody actually wants a drink,” he said, and Steve laughed.

“See you Friday,” he said, and didn’t hang up.

“...yeah, yeah, see you Friday, Harrington,” Billy said, before the line went dead, and Steve could hear his smile.

He called Robin Thursday, determined not to tell her about the thongs. He’d tried one on, in a panic at two-fifteen in the morning, when he suddenly woke, his heart pounding, to a dream where Billy was willing to marry him if he only wore a thong, but the damn thing didn’t fit.

He yanked it over his feet—it felt like a stretchy, fancy rubber band—and stared at himself in the bathroom mirror, feeling like a moron with the tip of his dick sticking up over the band, the red mark around his waist from his briefs, and his hairy legs. The cheap motel toilet seat lid creaked alarmingly as he sat on it, groaning into his arms, the image of his dream-self chasing around the courthouse naked because his stupid lace thong didn’t fit still stuck in his head.

It was hard not to further imagine the way Tommy’s lip would have curled. Steve had thought—they’d practised kissing on each other, before dates, and after, a couple times, when the dates had been shitty. Tommy’d been the one to undo Steve’s jeans, the day before he stopped returning calls.

The idea of Billy grimacing at the damn thongs had Steve yanking it off again. He actually threw it in the toilet, and stomped out, chanting ‘fuck,’ over and over, before he remembered it’d clog the damn plumbing and some poor motel lady did not get paid enough to fish a thong out of the pipes with Steve’s dick hair still on it. He turned on his heel and ran back in, splashing around in the toilet with his bare hand, glad at least that he hadn’t flushed it down.

He wrapped it in toilet paper, and threw it in the trash, but it soaked through, red and black lace and soggy toilet paper, and he yanked it out again, hissing furiously through his teeth, and disentangled it from the previous night’s dental floss.

When he called Robin, later that morning, with pants on, he considered asking her how the hell to get toilet paper off a wet lacy thong. Would she even know, he wondered, flopping back on the bed. Did she even like that stuff? Maybe only men did, on women, he thought. He suddenly wanted to ask, but Robin was talking about her custom Xena-themed guitar case strap, and he couldn't really think of a way to ask. When she paused, he sighed. “Sounds rad."

"You're barely listening," she told him. "What's up?"

"Remind me not to fuck this up like I did with Tommy,” he told her, dully, staring at the ceiling, and she snorted a laugh.

“Nah,” she said, thoughtfully, “—Tommy was a fuckface. Good job on that one.”

Steve bit his lips, remembering waking after their mutual jaerk-off session, kind of excited to get Tommy over again and see where things went, and Tommy never picking up his calls again. Tommy still called, occasionally, and said things like “I have a fiance now,” before hanging up. Steve still wondered, sometimes, whether he could have been less himself, and still had a best friend. “...yeah, I guess,” he said, sighing.

“Billy’s better,” she told him, and Steve opened his mouth to brag, but she cut him off with “—he actually likes you,” and he deflated. “You gonna get him to the courthouse while he’s in town?” she asked, teasing, and Steve pthbbbbbt’d her.

Steve buzzed around all day Friday, grinning at everyone like Billy was coming from another country, and Steve hadn’t seen him in years. Dalton asked if they were about to meet his new girlfriend, and Steve had to tear himself away from his phone, blushing, to explain Billy was the bartender at work. “He is not my girlfriend,” he emphasized, sighing. “We’re just—”

“...boyfriends?” Dalton asked, and Steve glared at him, wondering how Robin had gotten to his Kool-aid.

“We’re friends!” Steve told him, feeling his cheeks heat further. “Everybody keeps asking me that!” Dalton raised his eyebrows and nodded. “Best friends,” Steve bragged, and Dalton’s eyebrows rose impossibly higher. “Look, I know it’s dumb, I just really like him—”

“Oh, I can see that,” Dalton said, nodding slowly as he tuned his bass. “...everybody can see that.”

The door banged, and Steve was on his feet so fast he almost dropped his coffee, but it was just Javi and Wesley, the guitarist and drummer.

“Oh, hey,” said Steve, sitting back down, and tapping his foot.

“...no need to get so excited to see us,” Wesley said.

“...you’re not his bartender,” Dalton told them, with the significant glance Steve had begun to associate with anyone around he and Billy, and he groaned.

He’d almost forgotten he was waiting for Billy, a couple hours in, when he looked up and saw him standing awkwardly off to the side. Steve sprang up mid-song to jump down off the stage, run over, and throw his arms around him. Billy grunted with shock as Steve lifted him a little off the ground in a hug, and then hugged him back, slowly, tucking his hot face in Steve’s shoulder.

Steve leaned back and swung him a little, relishing his weight, then let go and stepped back. He couldn’t stop smiling. “You’re here,” he said, and Billy laughed, glancing behind Steve.

“You stopped mid-song,” Dalton said—and he didn’t even sound mad, just bewildered.

“Sorry,” Billy told him, grimacing.

“I’m so glad you’re here,” Steve told him, throwing his arm around Billy’s shoulders, and dragging him over to introduce him to the guys. “This is Billy Hargrove!”

“....hi,” Billy said, sounding a little strangled, and side-eyeing Steve.

“He’s my best friend. We’re gonna get friend-married,” Steve announced, and Javi played a weird discordant chord on his guitar. Billy smacked his face with his hand.

“—as soon as he says yes,” Steve amended, and everyone looked even more disbelieving.

“I’m...gonna go sit down,” Billy said, extricating himself and wandering a few feet away to sit on the floor. “Go rehearse,” he muttered. His ears were bright red, and Steve wanted to touch them, but he cleared his throat, and jumped back up on the stage, giddy with the contact high of putting his arms around Billy Hargrove.

“Lemme get this, uh,” Wesley cleared his throat, “—straight,” he muttered. “They’re friends?”

“Friends,” Steve said, nodding. He waggled his eyebrows at Billy and played just enough of the riff from Owner of a Lonely Heart that Billy burst out snickering, and a chorus of ‘Whaaaat’s and ‘Oh my god’ s went up around him.

When they breaked, Steve was off the stage again in a flash.  “So, I was thinking,” he told Billy, dropping next to him on the boards to slide an arm around him, and tug him close enough that Steve got a whiff of Billy’s shampoo, and felt his cheeks heat. He cleared his throat, relaxing a little so they weren’t as tightly pressed together, but he forgot what he was gonna say, watching the flush spread across Billy’s freckled cheeks. Steve reached up and pressed his fingers to the tip of Billy’s reddened ear, feeling the warmth, and snickered.

“What were you thinking?” Billy growled, batting his hand away. “Stop poking me, Harrington—”

“Mmrm,” Steve said, squeezing him close again in a tight side-hug. “God, what’s it been, like, days? I need my Billy fix.” He leaned his head on Billy’s shoulder, sighing contentedly, and Billy groaned, sliding his arm around Steve, and letting his head thump against Steve’s hair.

“You’re so weird,” he whispered.

“You’re weird,” Steve fired back, at lightning speed, like a genius, and Billy started giggling, relaxing against him. Steve remembered how soft Billy’s hair had been on his pillow, when Steve had reached over and drunkenly patted it like a cat. He wished it wouldn’t be totally weird to run his fingers through it. “...we’re playing a set tonight, but there are other bands. I thought we could leave, get dinner, come back and listen?”

“You asking me to the dance, Harrington?” Billy asked, laughing, and Steve nodded.

“Yes, absolutely, we should dance,” he laughed, glad Billy had brought it up first, but Billy stiffened against him in the way he did when Steve was a little too much. Steve winced, and rolled it back. “I-I mean, if you want to. There—there are a couple bands you might like. We don’t have to. You’re probably tired.”

“...I am pretty tired,” Billy admitted, quietly, and Steve lifted his head off Billy’s shoulder, and pulled his arm back, inwardly cursing himself, but Billy squeezed him. “I wanna go. Though. We should go.”

“Okay,” Steve laughed, nodding with relief. “Sorry. I know I can be kind of...a lot.”

“No, don’t—” Billy sighed, slumping against him, and Steve laughed, putting an arm around him again, as Billy’s weight threatened to knock them both sideways. “You’re not—I mean, you—you’re not too much, jesus.”

Steve swallowed back a stinging in his eyes, feeling his cheeks heat further. It felt like a drop of sweat would sizzle away like water in a hot pan, and he laughed into Billy’s hair. “...you can always tell me to back off a little, though. I mean. I won’t get—weird about it, I promise, if you need a break—I was trying to give you a break coming here,” he laughed, grimacing. “—and then I just ended up begging you to come, but I can—I mean, I can hear ‘no’, I promise.”

“...I promise I’ll tell you if you’re ever too much,” Billy said, sighing. “You don’t need to give me breaks.”

“...I kinda wear people out,” Steve told him, grimacing. “I just—I know they don’t…” he paused, trying his words together like puzzle pieces. “Um,” he said finally, “—people try to—to stay, uh, they just get kind of...bored. With me.”

Billy narrowed his eyes. “I literally can’t imagine that happening,” he said, and the unexpected deadpan sarcasm slid into Steve like a really sharp knife, when the cut doesn’t hurt right away, and then wells up red, and drips everywhere.

He swallowed, clenching his jaw, and wondering why Billy had come, if he was already sick of it.

“Hey, hey, I mean that, I’m not gonna get bored,” Billy hissed. “Jesus, you look like a kicked puppy.”

Steve laughed, relaxing a little, because it wasn’t like Billy had known him for all that long. There was probably a while, yet, as long as Steve wasn’t weird about it.

“Will you get up here,” Dalton called over. “Stop mooning over each other for five minutes, maybe?” When Steve stomped back onstage, Dalton raised his eyebrows. “Hey, tonight,” he said, “—there are other bands, you should come early, bring your…” he trailed off, raising his eyebrows.

“Billy,” Steve supplied, annoyed. “His name’s Billy, he’s the new bartender.”

“Is that what they’re calling it now,” Wesley said, with a drum flourish, and Steve hoped to god Billy couldn’t hear them.

“You should bring him. After you take him to dinner.”

Steve opened his mouth, closed it, and then sidled closer. “Where are the good places for dinner, I’ve been getting burgers or whatever,” he whispered, and his old bandmates redeemed themselves, drawing around him to consider the merits of several local restaurants, with ratings for food, atmosphere, and price point.

Part One | Two | Three

[dameronsgalaxygal]

I’ve Been Waiting For You - Chapter 5: Honey, Honey

series masterlist

Pairing: modern!poe x reader

Warnings: mentions of past abusive relationship, mentions of cancer. FLUFF. 

Word Count: 3386

Song Link: Honey, Honey

A/N: I may lag a bit in posting this week, I am getting my wisdom teeth pulled tomorrow and will most likely be spending the week recovering! I’ll try my best to work on the next chapter though in hopes that it'll distract me from the pain. Don’t forget to listen to the song, per usual! Feedback and comments greatly appreciated, and tag list is open!

Summary: You and Poe go to the beach and Poe talks to you about how he feels. 

I’ll pick you up at 11.

That’s so early for just a walk on the beach...

Maybe I have more planned.

You bit your lip to bite back a smile. You thought you would be meeting Poe later in the evening for dinner on the shore and then a walk down the beach, and although you wouldn’t admit it, you were hoping he had planned more. Knowing he had a whole day planned made your stomach flutter.

Is that so?

Maybe

Okay, Dameron. I’ll see you at 11.

You put your phone back in your pocket as you continued to work, organizing books. A group of middle schoolers had come by and basically made a mess of the entire store, leaving books all over the place and putting them on the incorrect shelves. It was your turn to reorganize since Tallie was at the register.

“What are you smiling at?” Leia peeked around the aisle to find you smiling as you dusted off another book, placing it on its appropriate shelf.

You just shook your head, a smile still lingering on your face. “Just thinking”

“About Poe?” She smiled, handing you another book to put away.

Leia could see right through you. She knew how much you liked being around Poe. She would notice your entire face light up every time Poe would visit the store, and she also noticed how much Poe could be himself around you, which was actually quite different from him. He always put on a mask around other girls, but not you. She wouldn’t tell you that, though.

You laughed softly. “Yeah. We have a date tomorrow.”

Leia grinned, “See? I told you that you know what you want.”

With that she walked away, leaving you to continue working with the same smile plastered on your face.

--

The day of your date, you woke up around 9am to shower and get ready. It was pretty warm outside and hardly a cloud in the sky. You wore a similar outfit to the one you wore to the club a couple weeks ago along with your swimsuit underneath. You weren’t sure if you would go in the water, but you wore it just in case.

Poe texted you around 10:30 as you were still getting ready.

Mornin sunshine. Going to starbucks then i'll head to your place. Whatcha want?

Your date hadn’t even started yet and you were already blushing. The fact that Poe had called you sunshine and was going to pick you up breakfast continued to prove the gentleman he really was. You had no doubt he was so kind, it just took you a few weeks and Leia to knock some sense into you that he was nothing like Kyle.

You don’t have to get me anything!

I know I don’t. But i'm gonna anyway. Quick, i'm next in line.

You chuckled to yourself before responding.

I’ll have a java chip frappe with peppermint :)

Got it. Pick you up soon.

You swore your smile hadn’t left your face since work yesterday.

You finished gathering up your things while you waited for Poe to pick you up. You threw a towel, some sunscreen, a change of clothes, a water bottle and some chapstick in your bag. You looked in your desk drawers for your sunglasses when you came across that matte blue notebook.

Hesitantly, you picked it up. You knew you shouldn’t open it right before going on your date. Your memories of Kyle had already messed up one interaction with Poe, you didn’t want them to mess up another.

The notebook had hundreds of pages full of your emotions towards Kyle. Emotions, feelings and thoughts you had never told anyone before. Thoughts that were holding you back. That kept you holding on to New York.

You heard a honk which let you know that Poe was outside. You grabbed your beach bag and the blue notebook, calling out to Rey and Rose to tell them you were leaving.

As you left, you tossed your notebook into the trash bin that sat right by your front door. You let out a sigh of relief as you got into Poe's car. Good riddance.

“Well hello there.” He chuckled, taking a sip of his coffee before handing your frappuccino. He had beautiful eyes, but boy did he look good wearing sunglasses.

“Hi” You laughed, taking it from him. “Thank you. How much do I owe you?”

“Seriously?” You glanced at him in confusion. “We’re on a date. You don’t owe me anything.” He set his cup in the cupholder and pulled out of the apartment complex.

The fact that you felt nervous was silly. You had been spending a lot of time with Poe since you arrived in Florida. He allowed you to be yourself and he was starting to feel like a best friend. Sure, you would go to lunch or hang out, but it was never labeled as a date like today. Poe was giving you butterflies.

The drive to the beach was comfortable. Poe had put the windows down and turned the radio on, turning it up just enough so that you two could sing karaoke with the music. Your hair flew in front of your face as you looked out the window and you pushed it out of the way, even though it continued the entire ride. Poe frequently glanced over at you as he drove, the corner of his lips turning up to a soft smile.

Thirty minutes later and Poe was pulling into a parking garage right across from Fort Lauderdale beach. “Why didn’t we just go to miami beach?” You asked as you sipped the last of your frappuccino.

He shrugged as he turned off the ignition, smiling at you. “I wanted to try something different.”

You both got out of the car, Poe going to open the trunk to grab what looked like a picnic basket along with a beach umbrella. He handed you another bag that had a blanket, towels, and a change of clothes.

“Making me carry your things, are we?” You teased as he closed the trunk, locking the car.

He smirked and headed out of the parking garage without saying a word. This was going to be a long day, and boy were you excited.

You had eventually found a nice spot on the beach far enough away from the crowds of people, but still close enough so it wasn’t like you had the beach to yourself. You wouldn’t mind if you did, though.

You set down the bags and put up the umbrella while Poe laid out the red and white checkered blanket. You took off your shoes, placing them in your beach bag so they wouldn’t get sand in them.

You sat down beside Poe, his tanned skin gleaming perfectly from the sun directly above the two of you.

“So. What do we have planned today?” You watched him place the picnic basket in his lap and he opened it to reveal a display of foods and drinks.

He began to take out small sandwiches, bags of chips, cups of fruit and cookies. You bit your lip to hold back a smile, the thought that he had put this together by himself made your cheeks heat up.

“Well, I figured we would eat first. Then we could go into the water or tan a bit. Walk the shore. If you aren’t too tired maybe we could watch the sunset.” He handed you a can of soda that you cracked open right away.

You took a sip of your soda before placing it in your lap. “I’m cool with staying to watch the sunset.”

He grinned widely. “Cool.”

You smiled back as he handed you a sandwich.

“Did you make these?” You unwrapped the foil it was covered with before taking a bite.

“Sure did.” He paused as though he felt guilty.  “Well, Finn helped me. By helped me I mean that he made them and I wrapped them with foil.”

You covered your mouth as you let out a laugh, trying not to spit out your food.

“Look,” He chuckled, swallowing his bite of the sandwich, “I don’t know how to make sandwiches look...presentable. I wanted them to look nice. Finn has a gift-.”

“In sandwich making?” You took another bite of your sandwich, a smile plastered on your lips.

He rolled his eyes and continued to eat. You admired how Poe was trying so hard. You could care less about how a sandwich looked, especially when you were just having a picnic. But Poe was different. He was going to do everything he could to capture your heart. He was doing a damn good job.

You two talked for what seemed like hours, typical between the two of you. You had only known Poe for about a month and a half, but you felt as though you had known him forever. Even after that incident at the bar and the encounter at the bookstore the next day, you still felt relaxed and comfortable with him. Things weren’t awkward between you two.

About an hour and a half into your conversations, you noticed Poe’s arms starting to redden.

“Did you put sunscreen on?” You asked him concerned. You glared at his bicep, which was only half covered by his t-shirt. You really didn’t know if you were staring at it because it was sunburnt or because it was massive.

He looked at his arms before he swore under his breath, grabbing the sunscreen bottle from his bag.

You let out a small laugh. “That’s gonna leave a wonderful tanline.”

He smirked at you before he pulled off his shirt, tossing it into his bag. You licked your lips unconsciously as you took in the view before you. His chest was toned perfectly and the sun reflected off of it, he looked like a movie star. A silver chain hung from his neck, a ring attached to the end of it.

He ran his hands along his chest and arms to cover himself in sunscreen and you noticed a small tattoo located right above his heart.

“S.B.D?” You asked.

He looked down at the initials carved into his skin before looking back at you. “My mom's initials,” he said, “Shara Bey Dameron”.

Poe had told you about his mom when you went to lunch after you had gotten the job at Solo Reads. You had asked him about his childhood, which brought up the conversation about his parents. His dad had moved away from South Miami after Shara passed. He felt stuck and heartbroken, in need of an escape before it consumed him, a situation similar to yours. Poe decided to stay in Miami to go to flight school and eventually become a commercial airline pilot.

Shara passed away when Poe was eighteen due to breast cancer. From what he had told you, he had been extremely close to her. They nearly seemed inseparable. You weren’t surprised that he had a tattoo in her honor.

“That’s a beautiful name,” you said softly.

“She was a beautiful woman.” He smiled gently at you.

Your eyes shifted from his down to his necklace. He reached up to hold the silver ring between his thumb and index finger, “It was her wedding band. My dad gave it to me after she passed. I didn’t feel like it was doing her justice, so I got the tattoo as well.”

You nodded sadly, looking into your lap. “I’m sorry.”

He shook his head, “Let’s not turn this into a pity party. Let’s have some fun. We’re on a date.” He stood up, reaching his hand out for you to take.

You took it and he pulled you up.

“Let’s go in the water.” He smirked.

You pulled your shirt over your head and pulled down your shorts to leave you in your bikini. If you had been with anyone else, you would have been extremely self-conscious. But being around Poe made you feel like yourself. You weren’t as nervous as you had been a week ago. He was making it clear how much he respected you.

He smiled at you in which your cheeks flushed.

“You’re beautiful.”

Your eyes shot up to meet his, your small smile dropping slightly.

“What?” He noticed your demeanor change.

You gulped, “No one has ever called me beautiful before.”

It was true. Kyle was your first boyfriend and he never called you beautiful. He never called you anything, for that matter. Except sexy, and that’s only when he would try to get you in bed. But he would never call you any terms of endearment, nor would he ever make you feel beautiful.

His smile turned to a frown. “Didn’t you have a boyfriend?”

No, no, no. Don’t bring him up. You were able to shrug it off.

He walked toward you, tilting your chin up to look at him. “Well I’ll tell you a million times. You are beautiful.”

You softly smiled. “Thank you.”

You were falling faster than you would have liked to.

Poe smiled back at you before scooping you up and throwing you over his shoulder, a small scream leaving your lips.

“Poe Dameron, put me down!” You laughed. He was careful. If you really wanted to be put down, he would put you down. He didn’t want to mess up again. But he could tell in your tone that you were being playful.

“No, thanks.” He ran down the sand into the water before setting you down.

You yelped at the change in temperature, the cold waves crashing on your legs.

Poe splashed you, causing you to gasp. You shot him a glare, your jaw hanging open slightly, before you splashed him back. “It’s on”.

You and Poe continued to splash each other as if you were a couple of kids until Poe pulled you to him, wrapping his arms around your waist. You were unsure where to place your hands, but you eventually sat them on his biceps, which he purposefully flexed.

He sighed, his goofy smile turning more serious. “I know you said you just got out of a relationship, and that you couldn’t do this right now, but I like you a lot. I feel like I have known you my entire life. You’re so easy to talk to. You laugh at my jokes, which by the way are terrible, so thank you for that.”

You laughed slightly, looking up at him. You knew where he was going with this, but you already knew your answer. He was making you feel again, something you didn’t think that was possible. At least not this fast. You had thrown away your notebook right before you left this morning. You were ready to completely start fresh. That wasn’t to say that you weren’t still hurt, and some things would be extremely sensitive, but you wanted to try this with Poe. Just like Leia said, you know what you want.

“You’re beautiful, funny, sassy,” You blushed and smiled, running your hands up and down his arms. “I know this is only our first date but, I’d like to make you my girlfriend. It doesn’t have to be today, or even tomorrow. But I want you to know that I’ll give you all the time you need.”

He was willing to wait for you.

“Poe.”

“And I don’t know what you went through in New York, but I would never, ever, hurt you.”

“Poe I-” You tried cutting him off.

“Yes, I know. Since I’m a pilot I am gone a lot, but I would never-” You cut him off by placing your lips on top of his. The kiss was soft, different from the kisses you had shared at the club.

He kissed you back and you felt as though you were floating. His lips were soft and warm, heat shooting through your body even though you were still standing in the cold water.

He cupped your cheek, tilting your head slightly to kiss you deeper. Even though it wasn’t the first kiss you two had shared, it had felt like it.

You pulled away, looking up at him. “I came here to start over. I’m tired of holding myself back. You’ve pulled me out of my shell and I admire you so much for it. I’m not perfect, and I might be a lot to handle sometimes, but if you are up for the challenge, then yes. I’ll be your girlfriend.”

You didn’t think Poes smile could get any wider, but it did. He picked you up and spun you around, and you giggled hysterically.

He sat you down, placing his forehead on top of yours before pecking your lips. “You’re my girlfriend”

You rolled your eyes playfully, walking out of the water.

He chased you, reaching down to grab your hand as you walked back to the blanket. Not even two minutes into being official and the boy was already smitten.

The rest of the date you spent laughing and exchanging occasional kisses. It had seemed as though Poe had so many he was waiting to give you, and he was giving them to you all at once.

Poe had pulled you into his lap, giving soft kisses to your shoulder and cheek and you would giggle and scrunch your face at the tickling sensation.

“Do you have any more food? I’m kind of hungry.” You asked, looking into the picnic basket.

He removed his lips from your shoulder to glance inside. He reached in to pull out a small bag of grapes, handing them to you.

You opened them and popped a few into your mouth before offering some to Poe. He grabbed one, throwing it at a seagull that was a few feet away from where you two had sat.

“Poe!”

“What? It looked hungry.” He raised his shoulders and pointed at the seagull.

“Yeah well now it’s going to alert its fellow seagull buddies and our date is going to have an audience!” You crawled out of his lap as more seagulls landed near your towel.

“Nope, no, I am walking away” You laughed and stood up, trying to walk away from the birds that were now hovering over Poe.

“They just want some food! Here.” Poe threw some more grapes.

You watched as the seagulls got closer to Poe, who was now standing with slight panic on his face. He started to run away from them in hopes that they would eat the grapes and leave, but they only flew after him. You couldn’t help but laugh so hard you nearly cried, Poe running in circles yelling for you to save him.

The birds eventually gave up and flew away, and Poe ran to you, pulling you into him and burying his head in your neck. “They almost killed me”

“You are so overdramatic,” You laughed, pushing him off you gently. “You ready for that walk now?”

He nodded, brushing his hair out of his face. “It’s getting a little chilly, I’m going to change and then we can take our walk down the shore and watch the sunset. It will be very romantic.” He winked.

You giggled again, walking to your bag to grab your clothes. You changed into some sweats and a hoodie, and Poe did the same.

“Ready?” Poe asked, reaching his hand out for you.

You nodded, taking it and intertwining your fingers as you walked along the shore. The water barely caressed your feet as you walked and talked, sharing pecks on the lips every now and then until Poe stopped walking, pulling you to his chest and placing a small kiss on the crown of your head. You rested your head on his chest and let out a tiny sigh.

You were feeling excited, but a part of you was upset with yourself for allowing you to get attached to someone so quickly, let alone hop into another relationship after just getting out of an abusive long-term relationship. You couldn’t help but worry you would end up hurt again, but for now you stood in the arms of Poe, his head on top of yours as you watched a mixture of reds and oranges paint the sky as the sun faded behind the sea.

taglist <open> @twomoonstwosuns @darksideofclarke @damnyoudameron @rewritingstarrs @aidela @softly-sad @fanfiction-trashpile @demigod-dragonrider-schoolidol @lanatheawesome @fantasticcopeaglepasta @the-cry-of-youth @yeeintensifies @itsamedeemoney @yougottakeeponkeepinon @cloud-leader @multifandomlife22 @aroseamongthestars

[uhgoodmoni]

Nothing That Lasts Forever

A BTS fanfiction

Trailer - ch1 - ch2 - ch3 - ch4- ch5 - ch6 - ch7 - ch8 - ch9

Ao3 link - Wattpad link - Soundtrack 

Warnings: Major Character Death, Blood, Demons, Fighting, Verbal and Physical Abuse, Mention of marijuana, Death, Cursing, Fire, Unintentional Self-harm, Gore. Yoongi’s injury

Chapter One: Otsukare 

Yoongi’s POV

I glance down at my phone, a new text from Hoba. ‘5 mins away :p’. I don’t bother responding but instead, give Jungkook a slight shove. His shoulder is digging into mine, dozing off on the couch. Drool comes from his lips to the cushion, luckily not my shirt sleeve. He barely lifts his head as I stand up, heading to the table where our things are packed. I roll my eyes looking over him slumped on the couch. I get it, I’m tired too, but he can rest in the car. 

“Hoseok will be here soon, you better not forget anything,” I lecture, and he nods his head. He isn’t listening and I know it. I shake my head, double-checking my bag for my charger.  I don’t want to forget it, even if I won’t be on my phone that often. Hobi’s charger has been lost and there wasn’t time to get a new one so he’ll want to borrow one of ours on the trip. I glance at my phone, at full charge and it will probably stay that way. 

“No no, I won’t,” he mumbles, groggy still. It is gonna be a long drive, so we had woken early, he’ll likely claim the back seat to crash in. I pout, knowing I won’t be able to rest my eyes. It’s better to drive with an extra pair of eyes on the road. I’m glad that Hoseok volunteered to drive in the first place. Jungkook had agreed to drive on the way home so maybe I can nap in the backseat then.

“Your charger?” I ask, grabbing the bag of food and placing it on the counter. Chips, bread, some soda, mostly sweets but Hobi is bringing the cooler with our sandwich makings. 

“Yeah it’s in there,” he mostly whispers. I shrug, won’t be my problem if he hasn’t packed it. He just won’t have a phone, no biggie since we are meant to be on holiday. Slinging the bag over my shoulder I take up my suitcase, heading to the door.

“Come on, why don’t you help me bring some stuff outside so we can just stick it in the trunk and go.” He gives a short hum as I head out. Whatever, I’ll just make him unpack everything when we get to the cabin. The door slams behind me as I walk down to the elevator. It takes me slowly to the lobby, but I head out the back where I know Hobi would be parking. The air is chill against my cheeks as I push myself out the door. The summer is just at its tail end, making the mornings and evenings quite chilly. Looking around for his car I hug my bag tighter. Hopefully, the weather will warm up for our trip. 

His car pulls in, stopping in the spot ahead of me. As he exits the vehicle, the trunk opens up. Stuffed inside is the cooler and his suitcase.

“Hi hi hiii,” He cheers, a huge grin spread across his face. He jogs over to me, taking the bag of food from my hands. “It’s a good day aye?” He hums, walking me back over to the car. 

“Yeah,” I grin, pulling up the suitcase into the trunk beside his, giving it a push to leave room for Jungkook’s. “Hoping for nicer weather.” I nod up to the cloudy sky, a blinding white, but the sun is still hiding.

“When we get there it’ll get warmer,” He assures, dropping the bag in, and pulling me in for a hug. “Where’s Jungkook?” He says, releasing me and shutting the trunk. 

“He probably fell back asleep upstairs,” I sigh as Hoseok leads the way back inside shrugging. 

With a cheeky smirk, he hops inside the elevator, “Can’t lie I almost fell asleep on the road.” And with my silence, he gives a chuckle.

My elbow finds his side, “Hey drink some coffee next time.” I sigh, “Oh, and don’t text and drive either.” I scold, crossing my arms. He makes a pop with his mouth ignoring what I said. “I’m being serious you could get killed,” I mutter as we walk into the hall back towards the room. 

“You’re right, I won't anymore.” He smiles, opening the door for me. I take a step in, Jungkook looming right over me. I bump into his bag just as he is coming out the door. 

“Ohp sorry Yoongi hyungie.” He laughs, eyes slightly swollen, but awake nevertheless, hair draped over his cheeks.

“You left nothing behind right?”

“Nope,” He shakes his head, “stop worrying so we can have fun,” He huffs. He’s lucky I know he’s teasing. 

“So we are ready to get on the road?” Hobi asks, leading the way back to the elevator. “Good Morning Jungkookie.” they squish right into a hug. “Are you excited?” Jungkook hums an answer, stepping in after him.  

“Where is it exactly that we are going anyway?” He questions, and I’m wondering the same thing.

“Gangwon Province, a little cabin that I rented for us in the woods,” He informs us. “I don't know, I just thought it would be nice for us three to get away for a little.” I nod, it is a good opportunity for us, this weekend we have no upcoming filmings or recordings to do. Namjoon is helping Jimin on his own solo album and Taehyung is going to be with his family. Not sure what Jin hyung’s reason for not attending is. 

“Yes yes, I’m glad that collab got pushed back till next week because I really wanted to join you guys,” Jungkook says, taking the first step out of the elevator as it reaches the lobby. 

I bud in, “I think it will make us think back to when we did In the Soop, don’t ya think?”

“Agreed,” Hobi starts, “I brought some canvas…” 

“Hey hey!” Jin calls out, running over from the stairs. He’s still in his RJ pajamas, hair strewn and eyes half-closed. I grin watching him hobble over to us. 

“Jinnie hyung?” Jungkook smiles, turning back to greet him. He must have come to say goodbye and send us off.  Jin squeezes Jungkook tight, muttering goodbyes. 

“You drive safe now.” He tells Hoseok after releasing him from an embrace. “I hope you all have fun together.” I smile, hugging him tightly as well. “Go fishing for me,” He beams at me, grabbing my ears.

“There aren't any fishing spots.” Hobi frowns.

“Sorry to disappoint,” I say, patting his back. 

“That's the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard,” He scoffs. “Who goes camping and doesn’t fish?” His lip curls up. “Well I only came down here this early to tell you to catch me a fish but I guess I did it for nothing.” 

“Pshhh,” Jungkook rolls his eyes, “Yeah right, you love us and came down to give us all kisses goodbye.” 

“Okay now seriously,” he points at each of us, “be safe, I’m tired and going back to sleep, text us when you get there.”

“Yes, yes, hyung. Don’t worry, got a full tank this morning,” Hobi smiles, giving Jin’s hand a squeeze before he walks away, sending a wave as he heads to the elevator. 

“Too bad he has a meeting on Saturday,” Hobi pouts, as we head out the back door once more. Jungkook squints his eyes as the cool breeze hits him. All of us rushed to get in the car and turn the heat on. I’m not so sure Hoseok is right about it warming up later. 

“Don’t worry,” he says, buckling his seatbelt, me next to him in the passenger like I had figured would happen. “There is full heating and air conditioning at the cabin, so if it stays cold we can just cuddle up indoors.” He turns, facing Jungkook, backing up, and exits the lot.

“That sounds really nice,” Jungkook mutters, leaning his head now covered in his hoodie against the window. I nod with a smile, turning up Hobi’s heat in the car. 

“No matter what I think this will be a healing weekend for us,” I assure, after all, we have been busy filming concepts and the new music video all week. We hadn’t gotten much time to relax but the three of us would at least be able to get some R&R together. Hobi has been especially stressed, he had a pain in his ankle and was trying to not get injured while we learned the new dance. Of course, he was still overexerting himself, but now I’m glad he’ll be able to rest. 

He got on the highway, it will be about an hour drive which isn’t that bad. Maybe another thirty minutes after, to get to our campsite. If it ends up being a bust I suppose we can just go home. 

Hobi had turned on the radio, humming along to what had come on. He’s been looking forward to this since he rented the cabin months ago. If I can help it this will be the best weekend ever.  

It’s been a quiet drive, Jungkook slept the entire ride, but he probably needs the rest. Hobi plays Otsukare as we get off the main road. Playing it from youtube it sounds awful, but I can’t stop myself from laughing. 

“Don’t, don’t.” I plead, shaking my head.

“It’s sope!” He calls, looking to me for a response. I laugh, tossing my eyes to the window. It’s too early for this. I glance at the clock, 9:15 and we haven't eaten breakfast. “We’re sope!” He continues singing.

“Okayyy, let’s go!” I mumble, crossing my arms as Hoseok breaks out into laughter. He continues singing as I hum along, embarrassed. It has been years since I heard this last. It would be fun to perform again with him. Maybe I’ll ask management.

Hoseok makes another turn, the trees taking over both sides of the road. There aren’t any other cars that turned along with us. It isn't a holiday weekend so we’ll likely be the only ones on vacation at this time. Not to mention the weather, it is the same as when we had left earlier. A white cloudy blanket over the whole sky, blocking out the sun but leaving the daylight to light the road. If you look deep into the trees though, there it would be dark. Hopefully, the cabin will be in a clearing so it will be lit up, then there would also be fewer bugs. I smirk, thinking about how Hobi will likely panic once we arrive, upon the amount of bugs. Hopefully, he brought bug spray. I made sure to have mosquito nets so there is that. 

“Pay attention,” He starts again! Hopping up in his chair, still keeping his eyes on the road. I don’t respond so he continues, “Okay, let's smile. It's human relations. There are mountains too” He raises eyebrows to me, turning a dial for the volume.

“There are valleys too,” I sing quietly, licking my lips and reaching for my water. 

“Well, that's just what life is” He grabs my hand, stopping me from reaching for the bottle. “But the earth rotates” He holds my hand back up to my face, making me roll my eyes.

“Your dream will surely come true.”

“You too,” Getting louder.

“Me too,” And louder, producing smiles. 

“Let's do our best, thank you!” We sing together, Hobi turning off onto a dirt road, making the whole car shutter.

“Ayooo, why are you sooo loud,” Jungkook moans, pressing his hands into his eyes. “It’s so early…” 

“Mhmh, not really anymore.” I turn back, patting his leg. “I’m sure we are almost there anyway. Right Hoba?” I flip back up to the front, where he is turning down the volume. Eyes confused, staring off, and slowing the car down to a crawl.

“Right,” He whispers, looking into his mirrors. 

“What's wrong?” Jungkook sits up, looking outside the windows. It’s getting dark under the trees, just the light coming from in between the road shining down on us. It’s deep emerald green, glowing at the treetops from the light attempting to penetrate. At the base of the tall trees though it is hard to see through, getting darker and darker the further you try to look. There aren't any paths on either side and no turn-offs. Is Hoseok lost? I look over to him, but he just stops the car completely. 

“Uh, I thought the turn was around here.” He pouts, pulling up his phone which has the GPS turned on. He sighs, “yeah see.” Flicking the phone in between Jungkook and I. There it is, the turn right in front of us. But there is no road and no sign that there ever has been. 

“The internet connection must be bad out here.” Jungkook bites his inner cheek, sliding down in his seat. “What’s the road called? Or like the company for renting?” 

Hoseok sets his phone in the cup holder, slowly releasing the brake and letting the car continue slowly forward. “It's just like a number marker and then we drive down further to reach a small clearing and hillside where the cabin will be.”

“What number?” I ask, sitting up in my chair. 

“Mhm, 189.” He mutters, mouth screwing up. We sit in silence for a while as he drives down the road. Looking at the clock it is 9:25. 

“It’s been ten minutes,” I announce, and Hobi only shakes his head. He’s getting annoyed. “Maybe we missed it?”

“We are going five miles an hour,” He huffs, squeezing the steering wheel. “Oh well, we could turn back around.” He shrugs, letting out a sigh, but I can tell he is still bothered. Must be stress weighing him down.

“Oh look!” Jungkook’s finger comes in between us, pointing forward to the right. Both our heads turn to look, but I can’t see a damn thing. 

“What where?”

He scoots closer to the center seat. “There there, low to the ground!” He hops up and down, and there it is. A few inches from the ground a small yellow reflective sign marked ‘189’.

“Oh thank goodness.” Hoseok speeds up, reaching the turn-off in no time. 

“Why is there just some random cabin marked ‘189’,” Jungkook complains, sorting through his things. “Where is 1-188” He huffs, making Hobi smile.

“Yeah it is kind of weird,” He responds, taking the turn. It’s a tight road, trees looming overhead and thus enclosing us in the dark. So much so that the car's headlights turn on automatically, the day becoming the evening. Here the road is even bumpier, grass grown in on the path. We all go silent, eyes training over the forest as if there is something in it. But it’s just trees. 

“Hobi where the hell have you booked us?” Jungkook laughs, peering out his window with a huge grin. These kinds of things excite him, exploring and whatnot. 

“You know, this is not what I was expecting. Even I have goosebumps.” Hoseok shivers. His face looks slightly disappointed. He isn’t a fan of spooky things so hopefully, the cabin is much more welcoming than the road to it. 

“It’s okay, you’ve seen the pictures of the cabin and it looked nice you said.” He nods to me, trying to pick up the pace of the car. Another ten minutes later and we are still driving straight down the road. The end not in sight, nor the exit behind us either. Hobi runs a hand through his hair, his whole face dropping into a frown in that familiar disgusted look. The road is so narrow that he won’t be able to turn around, so none of us say anything and he just keeps going. 

“This is really getting weird,” Hobi says, his voice shaky. “I can just back us out if you want.” 

“No, no, no.” I say, “this has to be the right spot.”

“I’m sure we are almost there,” Koo adds. So he does, a sigh of relief from us all as the road begins to widen and trees begin to clear. There is a little picket sign ahead marking that there is a cabin on the left. 

“Finally,” Hobi smiles, pulling around a wide circular clearing, a path to the right, and a short path leading to a small wooden cabin. He pulls around, parking the car in front of where we would be staying. Jungkook is getting giddy in the backseat, opening the door as soon as Hoseok puts us in park. I smile at Hobi who is already seeming a little more relaxed to be at our destination. 

We join Jungkook outside, the air still a bit nipply. Hopefully, neither of them has forgotten to pack warmer clothing. All of us are in hoodies and sweatpants as of right now. Jungkook left his things hopping around the clearing, which at the center is a fire pit and some chairs. The fire will warm us up if we want and would shoo away the bugs. Past that is the path, looking like it would lead up to another clearing and the hills Hobi had mentioned. All around us on the other sides are just trees. Without the clearing, it would be just as dark as the road in. Later tonight we’ll probably be too nervous to go outside to even light the fire. 

“Smores tomorrow?” Jungkook hums, coming back around to the trunk. 

“Let’s get unpacked first and then decide what we are going to do,” I say, taking out my suitcase and the bag of food. Jungkook scoffs, taking his own suitcase along with the cooler. 

“Yeah it’s too cold today, so tomorrow sounds good,” Hobi answers him. “And worst-case scenario we do it on the stove inside.” 

“There’s a stove?” He asks backward, as we head over to the door. 

Hobi gives a little laugh, “It’s a fully functional home. Despite what you would think driving up.” Making me smirk, “Even the door has a key code instead of physical keys.”

“Oh, so it's pretty new.” I nod, as he types in the code making it obvious for us both to see 456782. “Yeah definitely wouldn’t have guessed that.” I look back to the forest, closing in on us as we file in with our things. 

“Wow!” Jungkook’s voice brings me back inside, the lights flickering on in the small living room. 

“Oh yess.” I nod looking around. It’s well furnished, a couch and a tv, blankets, and pillows dotted all around the room. The kitchen to the left, all stainless steel appliances. There’s a hallway to the right, likely leading to the rooms. While it’s freezing, the thermostat is located next to us on the wall. Hobi immediately turns to it, flipping it up as much as he can shivering and exaggerating the cold.

“What a pad.” Jungkook grins, leading the way into the home. The hallway stops at a blank wall and then turns to the right and goes down, four doors, two on each side and a window at the end of the hall. “One floor?”

“One floor,” Hobi answers, turning into one of the rooms. “Oop,” He comes back out, “That's the bathroom,” he announces, heading to the next door across from him. I peer in, a double bed, looking cozy. Hobi turns back to us outside wagging his finger at us. “This one's mine!” Sticking his tongue out. We shrug, moving down to the next rooms. It isn’t fair really since Hobi had likely seen the images online. 

Jungkook took the next room, it was also a double bed, and I curse myself for letting him have it. There is likely a single person bed in the last room and I just knew it. And I was right. I open the door and there it is wrapped in a pink duvet. At least it looked warm and comfy. My room looks the most updated, and their room’s looking dated.

“Aww shit.” I hear Hoseok cry, making me peek my head out into the hall. He doesn’t continue. 

“Hoseok?” I call and it sounds like he had tossed something in the room. 

“I forgot a mosquito net.” He sighs, peering out his own door to see me. I grin, coming well prepared for this. He isn’t even forgetful but it’s always good to have an extra on hand. 

“I got one.” And so I got it for him. While the cabin warms itself we settle into our rooms, helping each other set up our nets. We pack up the fridge and make sure that everything is working properly. The tv doesn’t have any cable signal but there is a DVD player and some random DVD’s in the cabin. At least there will be plenty to do if we can't go outside. 

“I’m so glad we didn’t pull up on some creepy run-down haunted-looking building.” Hobi giggles, taking a seat on the couch. “I got a little nervous there.” He smiles crossing his legs. 

“A little? Pshh.” Jungkook teases, looking around, and finding his reflection in a beautiful gold framed mirror. I join Hobi, pulling out my phone. 

“Aye, none of that.” he makes a click with his tongue, pushing my phone down to my lap. I shake my head, lifting it back up.

“We told Jin that we would text the chat when we got here.” he nods, as I pull up the chat. “Made it safely!” Immediately it returns a failed message. I frown, seeing that there is absolutely not a pinch of service. 

“What’s the wifi?” I turn to Hobi who pulls out his phone as well. 

“Glamping189 is the name, 456782 is the code.” He reads off of a screenshot. But it isn’t there. In fact, there isn’t anything listed under the available networks at all. 

“Ah well, that’s shit.” I groan, turning to Jungkook who just shakes himself from staring at the mirror. Vain much? “Will you look around for a router?” He nods as I get up to help him search. There isn’t one, we search each and every corner but there isn’t one at all.

[darling-dontforgetme]

the whole list

I’m sorry that I took so long, and I’m so boring, but here you go!

1. coffee mugs, teacups, wine glasses, water bottles, or soda cans?

 Coffee mugs

2. chocolate bars or lollipops?

Chocolate bars

3. bubblegum or cotton candy?

Eww, no to both.

4. how did your elementary school teachers describe you?

My mom worked at my elementary school, so I was very much a teacher’s pet.

5. do you prefer to drink soda from soda cans, soda bottles, plastic cups or glass cups?

Plastic cups

6. pastel, boho, tomboy, preppy, goth, grunge, formal or sportswear?

Pastel or boho

7. earbuds or headphones?

Earbuds

8. movies or tv shows?

I really want to say tv shows, but I’m awful at finishing them. I still need to watch the last few episodes of Apocalypse. Don’t at me. 

9. favorite smell in the summer?

Is it weird if I say my cats? It’s weird, I know. They all have different smells, and it’s comforting to be around them when I’m stressed or upset.

10. game you were best at in p.e.?

Nothing, literally nothing. I was that kid who always had their nose in a book, so you can imagine how awkward I was in p.e.

11. what you have for breakfast on an average day?

A peanut butter and jelly sandwich or pancakes

12. name of your favorite playlist?

The only playlist I listen to is my own. I listen to a lot of country, some musicals, and a handful of older songs.

13. lanyard or key ring?

Lanyard

14. favorite non-chocolate candy?

Gummy bears

15. favorite book you read as a school assignment?

The Handmaid’s Tale

16. most comfortable position to sit in?

Why sit when you can lay down? I usually sit with my legs crossed.

17. most frequently worn pair of shoes?

My work pair of tennis shoes

18. ideal weather?

WINTER. All the cold.

19. sleeping position?

On my stomach

20. preferred place to write (i.e., in a note book, on your laptop, sketchpad, post-it notes, etc.)?

Laptop

21. obsession from childhood?

Books. I read so many books as a kid.

22. role model?

I don’t know. My therapist is pretty cool. Sarah Paulson maybe?

23. strange habits?

I eat soup with a fork. I have to put on my right sock and shoe before I can put on the left. I eat pop tarts upside down.

24. favorite crystal?

I don’t know. Rhodochrosites and amethysts are pretty.

25. first song you remember hearing?

Queen of the Silver Dollar

26. favorite activity to do in warm weather?

Stay inside, lol. I play a lot of animal crossing, try to write sometimes. Read.

27. favorite activity to do in cold weather?

Also, stay inside- still playing animal crossing and writing or reading.

28. five songs to describe you?

I honestly have no idea. 

29. best way to bond with you?

Just hang out and talk with me. I like to stay home, or go on simple dates. I love, love, love aquariums.

30. places that you find sacred?

Churches, cemeteries

31. what outfit do you wear to kick ass and take names?

I’m not very confident in myself, so I tend to stick with t-shirts and shorts or leggings.

32. top five favorite vines?

I do not watch vine.

33. most used phrase in your phone?

Sorry or what’s for dinner

34. advertisements you have stuck in your head?

Those lawyer commercials that come on all of the time

35. average time you fall asleep?

Between 11:30 and 2:30

36. what is the first meme you remember ever seeing?

Probably something with SpongeBob

37. suitcase or duffel bag?

Duffel bag

38. lemonade or tea?

Tea

39. lemon cake or lemon meringue pie?

Hear me out, what about no lemon?

40. weirdest thing to ever happen at your school?

These kids started a metal band, and our administrators thought the student body loved it, so they got to perform a lot.

41. last person you texted?

@grilledcheeseandguavajelly

42. jacket pockets or pants pockets?

Pants pockets

43. hoodie, leather jacket, cardigan, jean jacket or bomber jacket?

Hoodie

44. favorite scent for soap?

Some sort of berry

45. which genre: sci-fi, fantasy or superhero?

Fantasy

46. most comfortable outfit to sleep in?

Shorts and a t-shirt (wasn’t kidding when I said I only wear shorts and a t-shirt)

47. favorite type of cheese?

American

48. if you were a fruit, what kind would you be?

@grilledcheeseandguavajelly says "something unique but sweet but with a lot of depth to it, so like a kiwi or a honeydew or a prickly pear.”

49. what saying or quote do you live by?

Do no harm, but take no shit

50. what made you laugh the hardest you ever have?

Probably something my sister has said or done

51. current stresses?

So much. I lost my job recently, and there's just a lot going on in my life right now.

52. favorite font?

Can I pick people’s handwriting as my favorite font? I know it’s dumb.

53. what is the current state of your hands?

Well, I should use more lotion

54. what did you learn from your first job?

That the whole world is going to expect you to know things without you actually ever being taught those things

55. favorite fairy tale?

The Little Mermaid?

56. favorite tradition?

Getting cake for birthdays because I love cake

57. the three biggest struggles you’ve overcome?

Me, myself, and I

58. four talents you’re proud of having?

Writing, caring for others. I don’t know.

59. if you were a video game character, what would your catchphrase be?

Don’t fuck up

60. if you were a character in an anime, what kind of anime would you want it to be?

I don’t really have any anime knowledge

61. favorite line you heard from a book/movie/tv show/etc.?

“You want to tell her that there are between two hundred and four hundred billion stars in the Milky Way, but when you look up, you could only ever see, like, twenty five hundred of them. You are one of the ones that no one can see. She is one of the ones that’s even visible in the city.”

-The Moment by T.C. Anderson

Guys, this is my favorite book. I highly recommend checking it out.

62. seven characters you relate to?

Alice Macray, Maura Isles, Temperance Brennan, Regina Mills, Callie Torres, Olivia Benson, Rachel Stevens

63. five songs that would play in your club?

She’s a Rainbow, Free To Be You and Me, Defying Gravity, Goodbye Earl, Queen of the Silver Dollar.  My club would not be very cool.

64. favorite website from your childhood?

Webkinz

65. any permanent scars?

I cut the side of my thumb off with a pair of scissors once.

66. favorite flower(s)?

Zinnias, Passion flowers, sunflowers

67. good luck charms?

I don’t know that I have any?

68. worst flavor of any food or drink you’ve ever tried?

GRAPE

69. a fun fact that you don’t know how you learned?

I am so bad at thinking up answers on the spot. I’m sorry I suck at this.

70. left or right handed?

Right handed

71. least favorite pattern?

Any sort of animal pattern

72. worst subject?

Science

73. favorite weird flavor combo?

Peanut butter and chocolate on ritz crackers

74. at what pain level out of ten (1 through 10) do you have to be at before you take an advil or ibuprofen?

Depends on the type of pain. Headaches- I usually take it pretty soon, but for other things, I tend to wait.

75. when did you lose your first tooth?

I would assume kindergarten or first grade?

76. what’s your favorite potato food (i.e. tater tots, baked potatoes, fries, chips, etc.)?

fries

77. best plant to grow on a windowsill?

Flowers

78. coffee from a gas station or sushi from a grocery store?

Neither

79. which looks better, your school id photo or your driver’s license photo?

I no longer have a school ID, but that definitely looked better

80. earth tones or jewel tones?

Earth tones

81. fireflies or lightning bugs?

Fireflies sounds so much better, but I say lightning bugs

82. pc or console?

Console

83. writing or drawing?

Writing

84. podcasts or talk radio?

Podcasts

84. barbie or polly pocket?

Barbie

85. fairy tales or mythology?

Fairy tales

86. cookies or cupcakes?

Cupcakes

87. your greatest fear?

I’m going to be single and alone for my entire life 

88. your greatest wish?

To fall in love

89. who would you put before everyone else?

My sister

90. luckiest mistake?

I don’t know

91. boxes or bags?

Boxes

92. lamps, overhead lights, sunlight or fairy lights?

Fairy lights

93. nicknames?

Kat, Kate, Backpack

94. favorite season?

Winter

95. favorite app on your phone?

Tumblr

96. desktop background?

It’s a sunflower drawing

97. how many phone numbers do you have memorized?

Maybe 15-20?

98. favorite historical era?

I don’t know

[noona-clock]

Working On It - Part 5

Genre: Teacher!AU

Pairing: Brian (Day6) x You

By Admin B

Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, Oh, yeah, and I love you, Nothing’s Wrong

You would be lying if you said you slept soundly the night after your first date with Brian.

Not only were you anxious about this... thing you’d started with him, but you were incredibly nervous about telling Sammy. You really hadn’t been able to tell if he’d been okay or not okay with it when he’d brought up the idea of his English teacher liking you...

I mean, he had choked on his soda and said ‘Ew!’ when he’d thought your coffee date was a real date.

So that didn’t bode well.

But he’d also said Brian was “pretty cool.” Or maybe he’d said “kinda cool.” Either way, the word ‘cool’ had definitely left Sammy’s lips when he’d been describing his English teacher.

So that did bode well.

Maybe.

Okay, but let’s rewind and go back to the fact you were almost 100% positive you’d started a thing with Brian.

After just one date, you just had this feeling that things would work out. Maybe not in the long run because the happenings of the last six months had taught you not to plan too far into the future, but Brian was definitely going to become a part of your life. You just knew it, which was kind of strange since you’d never in your life just known something like this.

It should have scared you. And it kind of did, but the thought of being with Brian filled you more with contentment and excitement than it did with dread and anxiety.

When you woke up from your extremely restless sleep, you did what you always did - what everyone always did upon waking - you reached over to your nightstand and checked your phone.

And, lo and behold, there was a six-minute-old message from Brian.

The cheesiest grin pulled at your lips, and you snuggled into your pillow before typing out a reply.

When you saw Brian start typing, you figured he would ask what your plans were for the day. Or maybe he would ask about your second date.

Instead, you got this:

You could feel your cheeks warm instantly, and you pressed your lips together to keep from squealing like a smitten schoolgirl.

A soft chuckle escaped your lips, and you simply sent back a heart emoji before forcing yourself to get out of bed. It was Saturday, after all, and Saturdays were now your cleaning day.

You and Sammy usually vacuumed and picked up your clutter and dusted and did laundry and all that fun kind of stuff. And, normally, you would wait until Sammy got home from his friend’s house to get started because he needed to learn responsibility (but also you just didn’t like cleaning, and you didn’t want to do everything by yourself). But today you figured you would let him off the hook.

Yes, it was because you wanted him to be in a good mood when you told him about you and Brian.

Apparently, you were not above a little bribery when it came to parenting.

By the time Sammy got home, basically the whole apartment was sparkling clean, and you had just gotten started on making lunch.

“Hey, Sammy Sam,” you greeted cheerfully, smiling over at him. “Have a good time?”

“Yeah,” Sam murmured as he closed the front door behind him. His eyes narrowed a bit as he began to go back to his room to put his duffel bag away. “Did you clean already?”

“I did,” you nodded. “I didn’t touch your room or laundry, though. That you have to do yourself.”

“Oh,” Sam replied with just a hint of surprise and happiness. “Thanks.”

He disappeared into his room for a minute, and when he came back out, he asked optimistically, “So, can I play video games for a little?”

“For a little, yes,” you agreed. “And then clean your room and start your laundry after lunch.”

“Thank you!” he beamed, shuffling joyfully over to the couch and hopping over the arm. “What are you making?”

“Grilled cheese --”

“And tomato soup,” Sam finished for you. “Can we have ice cream for dessert?”

“Sure!”

Sam let out a victorious whoop as he turned on his video game, and he glanced over at you curiously. “You’re in a good mood.”

“I am now that you’re back,” you said with a cheesy grin.

Sam simply rolled his eyes and suppressed a little smirk.

You heard the sounds of his video game, and you continued to butter the bread and stir the simmering tomato soup in the pot for a few minutes.

And then you swallowed your nerves and went for it.

“Actually, there is something I want to talk to you about,” you called out, glad to hear your voice wasn’t shaky.

“Hmm?”

“So... as it turns out... you were right.”

“Ha! I knew it,” Sam crowed. And then after a few moments, he added, “Right about what?”

“About... Mr. Kang.”

“What do you mean? That he’s a nerdy, old guy?”

“No!” you laughed. “That he likes me.”

Sam’s brow furrowed, and he paused his video game to look over at you fully. “What?”

“We -- we went out on a date last night,” you informed him, turning down the stove so the grilled cheese and soup wouldn’t burn. “I wasn’t going to tell you in case it didn’t go well, but it did, and now --”

“You’re dating my teacher?” Sam asked, his forehead wrinkling ever deeper. “Seriously?”

“Well, I wouldn’t necessarily call it dating yet. We went on one date, and --”

“You’re going on another, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

You could hear a tinge of anger in his voice, so you tried to stay calm and reasonable, not wanting to escalate the situation.

“Because he’s a really great guy, Sammy,” you said gently. “You know him. And you know I wouldn’t get involved with someone if he wasn’t good for both of us.”

“Mr. Kang is good for me?” he scoffed.

“Yes, he is. He’s the one who talked to your counselor --”

“I don’t want you to date him,” Sam interrupted, his anger now very clear.

“What? Why not?”

“All the kids will make fun of me! They’ll tease me and call me teacher’s pet because you’re dating Mr. Kang. Just like they’re going to call me crazy for seeing the counselor!” he yelled.

...Oh. So that’s what this was really about.

He was mad because of the whole counselor thing.

“Why did he talk to the counselor?!” he spat. “I don’t need to see her, I’m fine.”

“Sammy, he’s trying to help.”

“He doesn’t need to help!”

“He wants to!”

“Yeah, because he wants to get in your pants.”

“Sammy!” you cried, eyes widening. “He talked to the counselor because I asked him to! I’m worried about you, but I --”

“You don’t need to worry about me!” he huffed, standing up and throwing his video game controller down. “Stop messing with my life! Just stay out!”

You opened your mouth to reply, but he was already stomping off to his room.

And right before he shut himself inside, he yelled out, “I hate you!”

The slam of his door echoed through the silence.

You waited a few moments before turning back around and starting to cook your lunch again.

Well, then.

You decided to just eat in your room, leaving the door open a crack in case Sammy decided to show himself. Not that you expected him to talk to you, but you still wanted to make sure he didn’t try to leave or anything.

You only managed to get through about half your sandwich before you lost your appetite, though, and you found yourself picking up your phone.

“Hey,” Brian greeted when he answered your call.

“Hey,” you sighed.

“What’s wrong?”

“I told Sammy, and it ended with him saying he hates me.”

Brian was quiet for a second, and you were starting to feel tears forming in your eyes.

“Has he ever said that before?” he asked softly.

“No.”

“Then I think you’re a bona fide parent now.”

A chuckle bubbled up from your throat. Of course, Brian would manage to make you laugh right now. “Honestly, though, I don’t think he’s actually mad about... us.”

“No?”

“I think he’s mad about seeing the counselor. Like he’s afraid the kids will make fun of him.”

“Ah, yeah... that makes sense.”

“He was angry with you for interfering and said he doesn’t need your help. And then he was angry with me for interfering and told me to stay out of his life.”

“I’m sorry,” he sighed. “That’s rough.”

“Yeah... I’ll try to talk to him later, get him to understand that he really does need to see the counselor. He’ll probably still be mad at me, but...” You shrugged even though Brian couldn’t see it. “Hopefully, I can get him to not be mad at you anymore.”

“Listen, if you want to wait until the school year is over...”

“That’s not for months,” you pointed out. “...You would really do that?”

“Do I want to? No way. But yeah, I would.”

You were still pretty upset about Sammy, but Brian’s words made your heart grow wings and flutter around in your chest.

“I’ll work on it and let you know,” you told him, a bit breathless.

“Good luck,” he murmured. “And if you want me to come over, all you have to do is ask.”

You’d only been truly on your own for a few months - no parents, no grandparents, no older siblings to help you out. But it felt like it had been years. And just hearing someone offer you help like that, say ‘All you have to do is ask,’ was enough to bring tears to your eyes.

Sam barely left his room the rest of the day, though you did hear him in the laundry room a couple of times. So, apparently, he was still doing his chores.

He just wasn’t talking to you. Or looking at you. Or coming near you.

You decided to make pancakes and bacon for breakfast the next morning, knowing the smell of frying bacon would at least lure him out of his room.

Not even five minutes after you started cooking, you heard a door creak open. You heard soft thuds across the floor. You heard him slide into a chair at the kitchen table.

“You don’t have to say anything, Sammy, but I need you to listen. Just for a minute.”

You hadn’t turned around to look at him, figuring he would be more likely to stay if you weren’t face-to-face. And you didn’t hear any movement, so you continued on.

“What you’ve been through... it’s -- it’s horrible. It’s not something a lot of kids go through, and I know it’s hard on you. But you won’t ever talk to me, and that’s fine, but... you do need to talk to someone. You can’t hold everything in. I know you, Sammy. You never got in trouble like this in school before, and now all of a sudden, you’re being rude and disrespectful. That’s not who you are, and that’s why I asked Br -- Mr. Kang to talk to the counselor and see if she could help you. Because I don’t know how to. If I could afford to take you somewhere outside of school, I would, but I -- I just -- I can’t. I’m sorry. You deserve so much more than I can give you, I know that, but --”

You took a deep breath, lifting a hand to wipe away a tear before you flipped one of the pancakes.

“Please, just... just give it a try. Talk to her for a month. And if you really feel like it’s not helping, then you can stop. But try for a month. One month. Okay?”

You still hadn’t turned around, and by now, you were afraid of what you would see if you did. Maybe Sammy had left while you were talking or maybe he had fallen asleep... or maybe he was crying.

But then you heard a soft sigh.

“Okay.”

You squeezed your eyes shut, trying to hold yourself back from cheering or sighing or sobbing with relief. You took a deep breath in and said, “And you don’t have to tell anyone about me and your teacher. He won’t tell anyone, either, and he won’t treat you differently. I won’t show up at your school unless I have to, I won’t do anything to embarrass you. I promise.”

Sammy didn’t respond to that, but when you went over to the kitchen table to put the food down, he slid out of his chair and stepped up to you. He didn’t hug you necessarily, but he did lean into you. He let his forehead drop onto your shoulder, and you brought your arms up and around him.

“Do you know how much I love you?” you asked quietly, emotion straining your voice. “I know I’m not your mom, but I couldn’t love you more if I was.”

Sammy simply nodded, though you felt him shudder a little. He was probably desperately trying not to cry.

“You will always be my priority. No matter who I’m dating, you will always be more important to me. I just want to help you feel okay again.”

And then you could focus on feeling okay again.

He nodded once more. You squeezed your arms around him before pressing your lips against the top of his head. “You want some chocolate milk?” you murmured.

Another nod. And when you stepped away, you saw him quickly lift his arm and wipe his eyes with his sleeve.

He had only said one word that whole time, but hey -- he hadn’t yelled at you or said he hated you! Progress!

Sammy still kind of kept his distance for the rest of the day, but the tension in the atmosphere was barely even noticeable anymore.

Still, you waited until he was getting ready for bed before calling Brian again. 

“Everything okay?” Brian asked in lieu of a greeting.

“Actually... yeah. I think so.”

“Good,” he replied, and you could hear the smile in his voice. It made you want to see his smile in person.

“But I told him nothing will change at school for him. You won’t treat him any differently, and none of his friends will know unless he tells them.”

“Of course. And he’ll keep going to the counselor?”

“Yeah,” you sighed. “At least, he said he would try for a month. And if he really feels like it’s not helping, he doesn’t have to go anymore.”

You heard Brian take a breath, and your brow furrowed slightly as you waited for his response.

“You know you’re doing an amazing job, right?” he asked with a gentle, disbelieving chuckle.

“What do you mean?”

“I can’t imagine what it’s like. Going through what you went through and now having to become a parent? To a pre-teen?”

“Well,” you blushed. “I mean, he’s my nephew. It’s not like I don’t even know him...”

“Yeah, but still. I get the feeling nobody in your life is telling you that you’re doing a great job, so I’m going to. You’re doing a great job, and I feel very lucky to know you. And Samuel may not say it, but I’m sure he thinks he’s lucky to have you, too.”

You bit the inside of your cheek as tears pooled in your eyes, and you had to sniffle before you could speak again.

“Well, you probably know a little more about what twelve-year-olds think, so I’ll trust you,” you said with a watery chuckle. “And... thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” he murmured affectionately. “So... about that second date.”

You moved to sit on your bed, curling up against your pillows and biting back a dreamy, cheesy grin. “I’m listening.”

Part 6

[she-is-tim]

I love hating you | Elu enemies to lovers AU | Ch. 4

Previous Chapters: 1, 2, 3

Lucas is an angry, closeted and frustrated gay teenager, while Eliott is the handsome, smart and popular guy in school. They hate each other… but not forever.

I don’t think I deserve this

Saturday morning was cloudy and cold, but Lucas couldn’t be happier. He started the day by doing his chores that was listed on their chalkboard Mika hanged in the living room. They kept switching the tasks, so no one gets bored of it. Later the day he joined Lisa on the couch, she was watching some weird documentary, but Lucas couldn’t care less, he was on his phone basically all afternoon, chatting with Eliott. Thankfully Mika was working, so he wasn’t asking questions about his happy behavior. 

srodulv Idriss and Sofiane keep trying to peek over when I’m texting you They are being annoying

lucallemant I kinda get them, you should be focused on studying, not texting me Not like I want you to leave

srodulv You would be missing me, and I can’t stand a sad hedgehog

lucallemant Too much confidence you got there, Demaury

srodulv I think I have good reasons to be sure about some things ;) 

lucallemant How do you know the boys, btw?  Idriss is older than us for sure

srodulv I am older than you too I had to repeat first year of high school

lucallemant What? I had no idea

srodulv Things happened in my life, so... It’s not important, but I was going to their school in first year But we are friends since middle school

lucallemant Well, at least now we’re in the same year

srodulv Haha That’s true Okay, I gotta go now, these two are driving me crazy

lucallemant You can do it! Saturday is almost over 

srodulv And I’m missing you so damn much

lucallemant Stop being so cheesy We spent hours together yesterday

srodulv It’s never enough time with you

lucallemant G O   T O   S T U D Y   E L I O T T 

srodulv Yes, ma’am

Lucas smirked at his phone for a few more minutes and put it in his pocket after Eliott didn’t say anything else. He loved to talk to him all day long, but he was with friends and he had to study too, so he couldn’t be selfish, asking him to keep texting. He might not be the smartest kid in school, but he knew that Eliott didn't do much studying all day, since he kept replying to him within seconds. 

Monday came way too slow, Lucas spent his sunday with studying and doing homework. He wasn’t on his phone much, but Eliott was also busy, so it wasn’t a big deal. In the morning he packed up his bag and left for school with Manon. They were planning to meet up in the common room before classes, just to chill and eat breakfast. The girl spent almost an hour in the kitchen this morning to make sandwiches for them, she was carrying it in a basket, while Lucas had two bottles of soda in his hands. 

“Seriously, Manon, It’s just monday, why are we having an indoor picnic?” He asked, his hands were numb from holding the bottles.

“We are halfway done with the common room, this is a little celebration.” she said excitedly and walked into the room, holding the door open for the boy.

They joined the others at the table, it seemed like they had some serious topic to talk about. Lucas put down the bottles and went to the shelves to get plastic cups for everyone. Meanwhile Manon put down paper plates and the basket full of sandwiches. The girls seemed to be really happy and continued their talk while eating. Lucas sat down next to Manon, chewing on a sandwich. Since friday he could only think about Eliott. He kept seeing him when he closed his eyes, he could clearly remember his smell and the feeling of his fingers on his skin. 

When his phone started buzzing, he felt his heart beating faster. Eliott haven’t texted him since sunday and he missed him so much. He was right back then, Lucas was one really sad hedgehog without him. All those feelings he had for this boy were overwhelming. He unlocked his phone, checking the message he got, but it wasn’t from Eliott, it was his mother. 

From Mom For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment; [2 Peter 2:4]

Lucas took a deep breath and inhaled slowly. The girls were too busy talking about some sports event that will be on this friday, so they didn’t notice his reaction. He haven’t recieved a bible verse from his mom since a while now, it usually meant that she is doing bad. He knew that the nurse his father was paying took good care of his mother, but it was still frustrating to think about her feeling bad. He also haven’t seen her since months. Son of the year, clearly.

He excused himself and walked out of the common room. Students were already walking on the halls, so he decided to go to the bathroom and tried to call his mother. He spent there 10 minutes, but she wasn’t answering. Lucas got really worried now. He quickly looked for the number of his mom’s nurse and called her. He was walking around in the bathroom until she picked it up.

“Hello?” her voice was soft, calm. It didn’t seem like anything was wrong.

“Good morning! I am Lucas Lallemant, I wanted to ask about my mom.” he explained, talking a bit too fast, but hoped that the lady understood his words. 

“Oh, Lucas! I haven’t heard from you in a while.” she said softly, this was still not convincing the boy that things were okay. “Your mother is reading right now, we just had breakfast and she took her medications. But why is the sudden call?” 

“Nothing...” Lucas mumbled, feeling bad because panicing over such little stuff, but also because he haven’t met his mother in a while now. “Nothing, I just wanted to know if I can visit her after school.”

“That is a wonderful idea, I think she would like that. She’s feeling much better lately, we talk a lot and she told me a lot of stories about you.” she answered softly, which made Lucas’ heart feel warm. Knowing that his mother was able to talk and tell stories of his childhood meant that she was really doing better. 

“That’s great, I’ll go there around 17:00 after classes.”

“We will be waiting.”

“See you then.” he said and hung up, letting out a relieved sigh. 

He leant to the wall next to the bathroom stalls and looked out the window. Everyone was slowly coming inside from the yard as their classes were about to start. He was looking for one face, one messy hair in the crowd, but he couldn’t find him. Eliott might have already gone to his class. He closed his eyes, leaning his head back. Stop thinking of him, Lucas.

He walked out of the restroom now, ready to start his day. On his way to the lockers, he met Imane, she seemed to be looking for someone. Lucas stepped to her, smiling softly. Imane was a great friend for him and they always studied together for biology. She was sassy and confident, almost the exact opposite of Lucas. 

“Hey! Are you looking for someone?” he asked softly. The girl looked at him, a small smile playing on her face. Okay, this seems suspicious.

“Yeah, I was looking for you actually.” she said and handed him a carefully folded paper. “My brother gave this to me. Eliott asked him to get this to you.” she explained with now a wide smirk. Lucas felt his face burning, stomach turning. He couldn’t find the right words to say both because he didn’t wanted Imane to suspect anything and because he was deeply worried why was Eliott sending him a letter, not a message. 

“It’s not what...”

“Don’t bother.” she said raising her hands. “It’s not my business, I just didn’t know that you are friends with Eliott now.” she said crossing her arms, looking curious. “I mean you were talking shit about him like a month ago.” 

“We were just assigned for a school project.” he mumbled, lies coming out of his mouth without thinking about it. It was so natural for him to cover things in his life to make situations easier. “It’s probably just a note I left at his place.” he shrugged, trying to play cool. 

“Okay then, I was just asking.” she said.

“Why didn’t you gave it to me earlier?” Lucas asked now curiously. They were all in the common room, she could have handed it to him there so she wouldn’t need to look for him.

“I figured it’s something that the girls shouldn’t know.” she said seriously. “I mean... Daphné is still a bit gone for that guy, they wouldn’t let you breathe if they would know that you are close with Eliott.” she said.

“And you also don’t wanna let them know that your brother and him are friends, right?” the boy asked now with a half smirk, while Imane rolled her eyes. “I totally understand. Say thank you to Idriss for me.” he said and walked to his locker now. 

He slowly unfolded the paper, it was a drawing and a note under it, well actually two drawings. One of them was a sad hedgehog, looking at his black phone screen, the other one was a sad raccoon with a suitcase in his hand, waiting at the train station. Lucas felt his stomach turning, looking at the letters under the drawings, slowly reading the sentences.

“Dear Lucas

I am so sorry I haven’t texted you for a whole day, but something happened with my family and I had to leave Paris. Hopefully I won’t be away for long, but I am not gonna be able to use my phone. I’ll let you know when I get back. Damn, I wish I could have say goodbye to you in person, but I really had to leave quickly, I barely had time to make this letter, but I feel like this is what you deserve. Don’t worry too much, okay? I can’t stand a sad hedgehog, you know that. And maybe you can surprise me with something when I come back. I am going to miss you... I am already missing you

Sincerely A very sad raccoon”

His handwriting was beutiful, that is the first thing that got to Lucas’ mind, then he kept re-reading the sentences, trying to take in all that information. So Eliott had to leave urgently, that’s fine. He had no time to contact Lucas, which is also fine. Then he fucking decided to draw and write a letter to him. This guy was far too much into romantic stuff and Lucas was there for it. He put the paper in a safe place inside his bag, making sure he won’t lost it. He smiled as he walked to his first class. Eliott cares about me. 

After his last class, he was packing his stuff from his locker into his backpack. He wanted to reach the first bus to visit his mother. He was preparing himself for that all day. His mind was filled with imagined conversations, fearing that his mother will question him for not visiting her. He was really nervous, but also excited. He wasn’t in a good relationship with his father, but he always loved his mother even when she couldn’t be the mom Lucas wanted. 

As he stepped out of the building, he almost bumped into his friends. Arthur and Yann had to listen to some stupid story Basile was rambling about. He stopped speaking when they saw Lucas. The short boy smiled at them, being frustrated on the inside, because he knew he wont make it to the first bus now, not like he had to wait much for the next. He just really wanted to see his mother.

“Hey, Lulu! Haven’t seen you all day.” Yann said, pulling his friend into a quick hug. Lucas sighed, enjoying the moment of his best friends kindness. 

“Yeah, I was pretty busy with classes and helping the girls in the common room.” he explained, hugging back his friend before he pulled away, Arthur gave him a fist bump.

“You were with the girls?” Basile asked with sudden enthusiasm. “Were Daphné talking about me?” his eyes were wide open, hoping for a positive answer. Lucas totally forgot that his idiot friend is now having a crush on his sweet Daphy. Of course he liked and supported Basile with all heart, but he also wanted the best for his blonde, overexcited friend, which wasn’t being Basile’s girlfriend. 

“About you? No, I don’t think so.” he said honestly.

“See, Daphné doesn’t give a fuck about you, dude.” Arthur said, he was always there to tell the truth to Basile. “You gotta find yourself a girl that can appreciate you.” he said, squeezing his friend’s shoulder. The short boy smiled fondly at them, it was nice to hang out with the boys like this. He haven’t had much time to do this before because he was too afraid they will notice he’s different. 

“We were actually planning to go to my place and order pizza.” Yann said now, looking at his best friend. “You should join us.”

“I would love to, but I am actually going to visit my mom.” he said softly. “I am already a bit late.”

“Oh, did something happen?” Yann asked with a worrying tone in his voice. He was always there when Lucas needed help because of his mother and the boy couldn’t be more grateful for that.

“Nothing in particular. I just haven’t seen her in a while.” he said honestly. “But you guys have fun.” He smiled and fistbumped with them, then walking to the bus stop.

The afternoon with his mom was really nice, she wasn’t lost in her thoughts like she used to. Lucas told her about school, how classes going. He was talking about the common room and how she made friends with the girl group. It was nice to tell all this to someone who had no idea about them, he noticed how much he adores the girls and their friendship. Of course his mom asked if she like liked any of the group, but he said no confidently. They are like my sisters. And his mother seemed to be satisfied with that answer and didn’t ask more questions about her son’s love life. Lucas had no idea how much he needed this mother in his life. A caring, understanding and nice person who he can tell about his days, his friends, his classes. He wished he had the strength to tell her about his sexuality... or more likely his thing with Eliott. Is there actually a thing between us, though? 

It was late, almost 20:30 when he left his mom’s house, getting on the bus. He read Eliott’s letter again, staring at the drawings for long minutes. This heavy feeling in his chest didn’t wanted to go away, he was really worried and missed this handsome guy, his stupid texts, his soft words. He remembered how they almost kissed twice. He got goosebumps just by thinking about it. 

Days went on so slow Lucas felt like he was suffocating. He spent most of his time with studying or helping out the girls, anything that could keep him occupied to not think of Eliott. But when the nights came, everything rushed him at once. It was killing him slowly. He felt like he’s never going to come back. 

Somewhere around wednesday the boys started to talk about a party, then the girls were talking about it too, because Emma was hosting it. Lucas felt like it will be a good way to drink and forget his emotions, so of course he agreed to go with them. Since he haven’t heard from Eliott since 4 days now, all he wanted is to get drunk and not feel anything. He hoped that Arthur brings weed to the party, he was his savior all the time, even if he didn’t know that. 

He tried to put on some nice clothes, dark blue jeans, grey t-shirt and a denim jacket. Usually he would just put on a hoodie or his favorite blue jacket, but he kinda wanted to look good today, no specific reason. He tried to get his hair in some sort of shape, with very less success, so he just dropped the case within ten minutes. When he was ready, he texted the boys and left the flat. Manon was already there, helping Emma all afternoon to set things up.

Lucas was on the bus, checking the group chat with the boys. They were going crazy, because Yann told them that the girl he likes accepted his invitation to the party and they probably gonna meet up tonight. The boy smiled at his phone, congratulating to his best friend. He looked out the window, he was almost at the stop that was the closes to Emma’s house, when he got a message, it wasn’t from the boys, it was an instagram DM. His heart skipped a beat, his lips were dry, his stomach turned in that few seconds when he opened the app to see the message.

srodulv I got off the train, waiting for the bus. Do you wanna meet up? I need you

Lucas was struggling for only a few seconds. Eliott was so direct, no teasing, no playing around, he straight up said he needs Lucas. He got off the bus as soon as it stopped and thankfully could catch the ride to the other direction before it left the stop. He felt so many things at once, not knowing what to think. His hands were shaking, but he had to text back to Eliott, so he won’t be thinking that he left him on read.

lucallemant On my way

He wanted to scream at the driver to go faster. He didn’t know what was going on, but Eliott wasn’t feeling good, he could tell even through text. When he got to the right place, he jumped off the bus, he didn’t see Eliott anywhere, so he checked the time. It usually takes 20-25 minutes with bus to get to the train station from this part of the city. Eliott only texted him 14 minutes ago. The waiting was pure agony, he walked in a few meter radius up and down. His hands were sweating and shaking. He jumped when his phone started buzzing, but it was only the group chat with the boys.

Arthur Hey, Lucas, you should be here by now.  Where are you, dude?

Yann Is everything okay, bro? 

Basile Don’t fuck this up, man! There are hot chicks!

Arthur Lulu?

Yann Can’t you just answer?  I see that you read the messages

Arthur What is wrong with you?

He sighed and closed the chat for now, he couldn’t deal with his friends, not now when he was about to see Eliott. His stomach felt so tiny, he barely could breathe, he kept licking his lips, because they were so dry. He should have sit down, but he couldn’t stop his legs, if he settles, all the emotions will rush at him at once and he either cries or throw up. Not a good way to welcome his handsome... what is Eliott to him exactly? He shook his head.

He was so deep in his thoughts that he only noticed the bus when it left. He stopped his moves and looked at the boy standing in front of him, just a few meters away. Eliott put down his suitcase, he seemed exhausted, so tiny. He was hunched, pale, even more than usual. His eyes were red and the circles around them looked much darker, like he haven’t slept for days. He was looking at Lucas, hands in his pockets, like a scared animal. He opened his mouth, trying to say something, but then closed it, looking down.

Lucas was feeling so many things at once. He felt joy, because he missed this boy so damn much and it was good to have him back. He was worried, since Eliott looked like he have been through hell. He also felt insecure, because he didn’t know what was going on his head. When the tall boy looked at the ground, Lucas made his decision. He looked around, making sure no one was on the streets. It was getting late, friday night and this was a really calm part of the city anyways. He then started walking, almost running, jumping on Eliott, wrapping his arms around the slim body. 

Eliott was shocked first, but then he pulled his hands out of his pockets, sliding them on the short boy’s back, burying his face into his neck. Lucas stroked him gently, enjoying the smell of Eliott he missed so much. They were standing like this for long minutes, then Eliott pulled back just a little, still keeping the small one in his arms. He touched his forehead to Lucas’, looking into those deep blue eyes. 

“I missed you so damn much.” he whispered, voice sounded harsh, like he haven’t drank anything for a long time. Lucas slowly put his hands on his face, caressing his cheeks with his thumbs.

“I’m here now. No more sad raccoon or sad hedgehog, okay?” he said softly. Deep inside he felt like Eliott needed soft, reassuring words right now. 

“Okay.”

“I’ll stay with you.” he whispered, stil stroking the other one’s face.

Eliott looked at him, deep into his eyes. He looked like he was crying not too long ago and that was breaking Lucas’ heart. He couldn’t bare seeing him like this. He looked so small and volunerable now, almost like a lost raccoon. He took a deep breath, slowly reducing the distance between their lips. Eliott noticed this and closed his eyes, holding the boy closer by his waist. 

Their kiss was slow at first, tasting each other, making sure it’s okay for the other to do a bit more. Then they got out of hands, tongues dancing between opened lips, hands going everywhere, not knowing where to grab. It was strong and passionate, full of deep feelings. This long time apart made them crave for the other, wanting more and more. For long minutes it was just them, no one else existed on this world. Everything around them ceased to exist, the buildings, the street, the bus stop, all of it. They were in their little bubble of happiness. Then suddenly rain started pouring, getting them wet. 

They both pulled back, just a little bit to look into each other’s eyes, laugh like kids. Eliott seemed to be better now, his eyes were glowing with excitement. He gave a soft kiss on Lucas’ wet lips. Their hair was dripping, their clothes started to get soaked as the rain was going on more wildly. The tall boy grabbed his suitcase with one hand and Lucas’ wrist with the other, starting to run towards his apartment building. The small boy laughed , trying to keep up with the speed of Eliott. 

The door slammed behind them loudly, Eliott let go of his suitcase, wrapping both of his arms around Lucas, kissing him wildly. The boy giggled into the other’s lips, sliding his fingers into his wet hair, pulling him even closer. Their clothes were sticking to their body, making them feel each other more. They started to slowly dance towards the bedroom, trying not to stumble while still kissing and holding onto each other. Their kisses were sloppy, full of giggles, teeth bumping into teeth. 

Somehow they managed to get into the room, falling on Eliott’s bed after taking off their wet clothes, only leaving on their underwear. Lucas was laying down, Eliott above him, kissing his neck now while his hands were stroking his sides. The boy shivered, letting out a little moan. He had never felt so good with anyone, not like he ever tried this with boys, but he knew that this was special, that Eliott was special. 

Hours passed, now they were just laying in bed, Eliott was resting his head on Lucas’ chest, tracing little circles on his skin with his fingers. They haven’t talked, though the short boy had a lot of questions, he knew that he can’t force him to talk. It was nice to just lay like this, quietly, peacefully. Forgetting about the stupid party, about his friends, focusing himself on this gorgeous man in his arms. He played with Eliott’s hair a little. It was still a bit wet. 

“I thought you are not gonna come.” Eliott mumbled into the silence after a while, Lucas opened his eyes, fingers still playing with the other’s wet hair. 

“I wasn’t thinking... I was worried, you were so serious in that text.” he said slowly, kissing the top of Eliott’s head softly. 

“I don’t think I deserve this...”

“What do you mean?” he asked now concerned. He didn’t like how the tall boy was talking about himself. Usually he was the most confident person Lucas has ever known. He can’t be saying things like this. 

“Laying here, in your arms.” he said, raising his head to look into the boys’ eyes. “I am not good enough for this.” 

Lucas sighed, he put his hand on Eliott’s face, stroking it gently, rubbing his red, puffy lips with his thumb. He had so much to say, but couldn’t really put it into words, so instead he just gave a slow, lustful kiss to him, making sure that he gets what he’s trying to say. You deserve this. We both deserve this. We need each other. 

Eliott gave in after thirty seconds, leaning on Lucas like a hungry predator, grabbing his waist as he deepened the kiss with him. His tongue asked for permission and when he got that, he spent long minutes exploring the other one’s mouth, pressing their body together, skin touching skin. Their bodies fit so well like they were made for each other and in that moment Lucas felt like that was the truth.

They fell asleep like this, legs and arms entangled, Eliott resting on Lucas, wearing only boxers. Both of them were happy and they didn’t wake up until 11:00. Lucas slowly opened his eyes, not being sure first where he was, then he felt the heavy body on himself and started smiling. He buried his face into the messy locks, taking in the smell slowly. It was so unbelieveable that he was waking up in bed with Eliott Demaury. A few weeks ago he didn’t even wanted to hear his name and now he was holding him, smelling him. 

“You really like sniffing me, huh?” Eliott said suddenly, scaring the small boy a little. He looked up, smirking at him. “You are such a curious hedgehog.” 

“And you are one really annoying raccoon.” the boy said, making an angry face that got the other one to laugh.

“You are so adorable.” he said, kissing his lips softly. “I never wanna leave this bed. I wanna stay here with you forever.” he mumbled, caressing Lucas’ cheek gently.

“We can stay here... I don’t wanna leave either.” he said smiling, kissing Eliott’s palm. “I haven’t had such a good sleep in a really long time, actually.”

“Oh yeah?” the tall boy smirked, kissing his neck gently, biting it even. “So only the sleeping part was good?” he asked playfully. Lucas chuckled and run his fingers through Eliott’s hair. 

“You know that is not what I meant.” he said softly, kissing his forehead, then his nose. 

“What did you mean then?” 

“I feel good with you. I can’t really explain this... this week was absolute hell without you... I know that it’s stupid and I tried everything to get over my feelings, but...” 

“No, don’t say that.” Eliott said, suddenly leaning over the small boy, hands resting on the bed, looking at him with those stormy blue eyes. “I don’t want you to get over this. I wanna plunge into it... I don’t care if it’s a bad idea... I don’t care how, I just wanna be with you.” he said seriously, even shaking a little. Lucas wrapped his arms around his neck, pulling him down for a lazy, gentle kiss.

“I want this too. I’m not sure if I am ready for it... especially not in public... but as long as you kiss me, touch me or look at me like this... I don’t want anything else in this world.” Lucas whispered into his lips, looking into his eyes. A bright smile appeared on Eliott’s face, making his dark circles disappear, he looked so young, carefree and happy. The small boy totally loved that smile, he would do anything just to see it again. He pulled him back for a soft kiss. I could get used to this.

[jojo-at-his-computer]

Okay, @joliejolyne, this idea is so adorable!

Mikitaka X Reader: Lovesick

"Hey Miki, wanna stop by the ice cream place?"

Classes had just ended for the day and you met your friend Mikitaka Hazekaru at the lockers. Well he said his real name is Nu Mikitakazo Nshi, he claims he's an alien who came to Earth after he planet got destroyed. You decided it was just easier to call him Miki, a nickname he grew to like. Josuke and Okuyasu still weren't sure if he was an alien or a Stand user who thinks he's an alien, but you reasoned that, hey, if vampires and Stand users exist, there's no reason aliens couldn't too, so you have him the benefit of the doubt and played along. As strange as he is, you loved your alien bud. It was a nice day, now that school is over, the weekend has started, so you thought it would be fun to have a picnic at Morioh Park.

You two left the school and headed to the ice cream shop. But when you get there, the shop was closed due to broken ice cream machine.

"Ah rats!" you exclaimed. "I was hoping to get some ice cream." Mikitaka smiled and opened his bag.

"Don't worry (name)," said Miki. "I brought some of my own just in case." and sure enough he produced two cones of his own. You forgot that sometimes he keeps weird stuff in his bags.

"Oh boy, what flavor?" you ask him.

"I've got two cones of the cream mixed with red Earth berries and covered with a sweet brown syrup that hardened, surrounded by a cone." answered Miki, unsure what the actual flavor was.

"Ooh chocolate covered strawberry! I love it!" you exclaimed as you took the cone. You and Miki opened your cones as you walked to your house to grab the sandwiches you made. You bit of into your cone breaking the chocolate shell. It was delicious! "Wow this is amazing, thank you!" Miki smiled, a slight redness spreading on his cheeks.

"I'm glad the cream of ice was satisfactory." Miki looked a bit troubled for a second.

"What's wrong?" you asked. "Did you get a brain freeze? That can happen when you eat cold foods, but it'll be better in a few seconds." Miki shook his head.

"No, my brain didn't freeze, but I do feel a bit peculiar. Maybe I'm just hungry." he reasoned. You understood and nodded, you felt a bit hungry yourself but didn't realize it until you finished your ice cream cone. The two of you had just arrived at your house.

"I'll be right back, I've got the sandwiches and stuff inside." You gave your friend a hug, which seemed to surprise him. Rushing to the fridge, you grabbed the sandwiches you made the night before, a few soda pops, and a bag of Doritos and stuffed them into a small picnic basket, and ran outside. "Let's go!" you exclaimed, "Off to the park!"

When you arrived to the park, you and your alien friend sat under a shady tree, it was a warm day, but a cool breeze stirred up once in awhile, which felt good under the shade of the tree. You ate your sandwiches, but you noticed Miki had only taken a bite or two from his. He had this troubled look to him as if he was thinking of something.

"Hey Miki, do you not like the sandwich?" you asked. "I can switch it for another flavor. Miki shook his head.

"No no!" he exclaimed, "It tastes amazing, really. But I seem to have lost my appetite."

"Well what's eating ya?" you asked. Mikitaka looked at you with confusion.

"Nothing's eating me." he answered. "I'm still here and not being eatened." Whoops. You forgot he doesn't understand certain expressions.

"Sorry." you quickly apologized, "It's an Earth saying. I asked if something was wrong."

"Oh! I see." he answered smiling a little, "I'm not sure." He suddenly looked serious, "I didn't want to scare you earlier, but I may have picked up an Earth sickness. I've been feeling different for about a few weeks, nothing like I've felt before on my home planet. I thought I was better for awhile today, but sometime around when I gave you the cream, I felt it again. I knew you've been wanting to plan this picnic, so I didn't want to cancel, I'm sorry."

"Well Miki, of you're not feeling well, I don't want to make you feel worse, coming out when you're sick." you said. You were a bit worried for your alien friend. "Here, try telling me what's wrong, maybe it's not so serious."

"Well," he paused, "It's difficult for me to describe clearly, but I'll attempt it. I feel similar feelings to nervousness, but I also feel warm inside. Not the same as when you have a fever, but more like when you eat hot food. Though sometimes it feels like the heat also rises to my cheeks. Sometimes the palms of my hands feel like they're wet and unsteady. A few times I've had trouble sleeping, or eating." he said motioning to his half eaten sandwich. You thought of his symptoms. These sound familiar. Wait a minute.

"Just out of curiosity, when these feelings occur, do you think of a certain specific person?"

"Yes I do," answered Miki.

"And do you feel like you can't get that person out of your mind, does it drive you crazy, but at the same time, you feel weirdly pleasant, like you really like this person so much?

"Why yes, that's right!" answered Miki. You couldn't help it, you ended up bursting out laughing, confusing Mikitaka.

"I don't understand why you're laughing." said Miki "Did I say something that's funny to Earth humans?" you calmed down.

"I'm sorry Miki, I shouldn't have laughed, that was impolite." you said, "See, I was worried you were sick at first, but after what you told me, I have some good news, you're not sick at all, you're perfectly healthy. Miki, you've got a crush! You're falling in love with someone!" Miki looked like he understood.

"So I'm not sick after all!" he realized. "This makes sense. I've never experienced these feelings before."

"Does your species fall on love?" you asked.

"They do sometimes," he answered, "I've just never myself specifically felt this way about anyone. Have you ever felt these feelings?" he asked you. You were a bit nervous to say, but Miki was your crush. An oddball, but you loved the way he looks at things on Earth that are normal to everyone else, finding beauty and interest with even the most mundane items, and he had an odd, handsome, exotic look to him. It was your turn to blush.

"Yes, I've felt this way." you answered. "Sometimes these feelings do feel weird, and it can make you feel like you're sick. Us Earth humans have a nickname for it, love sickness!"

"Love sickness?" said Miki, "It is kinda funny. How do you get these weird feelings to stop?"

"Sometimes it helps to talk about the person you like." you suggested. "You can tell me, I won't tell anyone, I promise."

"Well," Miki began, "the person I feel the love sickness for is," he pauses, "well, it's you!" This took you by surprise.

"Are you for real?" you ask, hoping you heard him right.

"Yes, I am being for the real. You give me the weird feelings." he answered, the blush on his face deepening. "So what do you think of that?" You surprise him enveloping him in a hug.

"I've been wanting to you the same thing!" you shouted. A warm smile appeared on Miki's face.

"I think I feel a lot better now (name)!" said Miki. His appetite invigorated, the two of you continued your picnic.

"Ooops, we're out of sandwiches." you exclaim.

"No we are not!" said Miki, pulling two katsu sandwiches out of his bag. Oh Miki! You tried a bite of the sandwich, it was even better than the katsu sandwiches from St. Gentleman's!

"This is so yummy!!! Does your bag have TARDIS technology or something?" you asked him.

"What's a TARDIS?" asked Miki. You laughed.

"There's a TV show from Britain I like called Doctor Who." you explained, "It's about a time traveler called The Doctor, he's an alien like you are, and his time machine, the TARDIS, is sorta like his spaceship. On the outside it looks like a blue box, but it's really big on the inside. It's an interesting show, maybe we can watch it sometime."

"I'd love to watch the show with you." said Miki. "What do Earth people do when they're in love?" he wondered.

"Well, they do lots of things to spend time together." you answered. "We could go to the movies, or the mall, spend the day at the amusement park, go out to eat for dinner, or," you motion around, "have a picnic like what we're doing now, or even something simple like renting a video and watching it together. There's all sorts of things we can do."

"I'd like to try all those things with you." he said beaming. You wrapped him in a hug and planted a kiss on his lips.

"What's that you just did?" asked Mikitaka.

"Oh, that's a kiss!" you replied, "It's what Earth couples do to express love."

"May we try that again (name)?" asked Miki, "I wasn't prepared for this kiss to happen." You giggled.

"Of course we can." you answered, and you kissed him again, this one ended up being slower and longer. The sun began setting in the distance, wrapping the two of you in the glow of the sunset.

"It's getting darker," said Miki embracing you. "Let's clean up and I can walk you to your house."

"Thank you Miki" you tell him, "I'd like that." After taking a few minutes to clean up, the two of you walk back to your house, the sky almost dark and the first few stars popping out.

"Maybe tomorrow we could go to a place to eat." suggested Miki, "Or we could see that doctor program you mentioned earlier." You giggled.

"Doctor Who." you corrected. "And we can do both of those things since there's no school tomorrow! Maybe even go to the bookstore too. Would noon be okay?"

"That sounds wonderful (name)." answered Miki. He kissed you on the lips and embraced you again. You waved goodbye as you went back into your house.

"See you tomorrow Miki! I love you!"

[sohannabarberaesque]

“Underwater America with Peter Potamus” (episode 16: A river in the Missouri Ozarks)

[For the opening shot of this week's episode, we come to some backwater country store in and close to the Missouri Ozarks, somewhere near the Lake of the Ozarks, where we find our crew restocking on groceries, sundries, white gas, that sort of thing, for the sake of their expedition discovering the joy of diving underwater ...]

PETER POTAMUS, in the role of Your Host and Narrator: The very premise for this week's adventure, you might say, started in this particular country store on a rather muggy early summer's afternoon. As could be expected in these parts, our crew could be heard swapping stories and discussing the divability of Lake of the Ozarks, itself a rather popular paradiso for the boating community--until a certain Punkin Puss came along in the middle of the story session ...

PUNKIN PUSS, picking up the narration: ... and I was suggesting that maybe this here diving crew ought camp out by the river out close to my cabin, which is where I happen to do some occasional dives myself. With a homemade helmet ... and a somewhat basic air compressor, sometimes just spearing a catfish or two for supper ... and sometimes walking along the bottom of the river! Which, I must admit, is pert near six, maybe eight feet, deep from the surface about mid-channel, and is oh so remarkably clear account of the current!

PETER POTAMUS, resuming: Enough for our crew, after quite the fill of smoked ham sandwiches, potato chips and soda, to consider that river by Punkin Puss' place instead of Lake of the Ozarks, which, I had overheard, was somewhat murky in places and crowded a lot with boat traffic. Not the ideal sort of dive spot by any stretch of the imagination ... [Plenty of scenes in which Punkin Puss, in a somewhat God-forsaken pickup, leads the van and trailer of the Underwater America dive company unto Punkin Puss' place and the campsite, even if the final few miles are on rather treacherous gravel roads in the Ozarks backcountry] ... and just be thankful that Punkin Puss was able to direct us to that spot on the river he mentioned, even if the last few miles of road got to be a little rougher than we bargained for...

[The business of setting up camp, essentially some three-person canvas tents which, admittedly, took some while to negotiate. Not to mention Peter Potamus lending his hand in getting the tents set up and a fire pit arranged, with Punkin Puss lending some firewood to get some evening fires going ... and Hokey Wolf's bicycle-based pump for filling the air tanks for later dives. Meanwhile, some interesing narration about the camping experience--]

WALLY GATOR: At least a campout like this is much better than that rather hokey wading pool back at the zoo ... yet I just hope I don't get caught up in claustrophobia just sleeping in a tent on these warm summer nights in the Ozarks! But at any rate, the diving experience is what this gator is awaiting!!

LIPPY THE LION: The way Punkin Puss was explaining the summer weather, being humid and everything well into the night ... it's pretty likely that I'll be sleeping on top of my sleeping bag, rather than in same!

MAGILLA GORILLA, chowing down on another banana: Doesn't this gorilla certainly love the outdoors? Especially with a portable shortwave radio to break the ennui well into the night ...

LOOPY De LOOP: From personal experiences myself, I have to say camping is one of my favourite outdoor sports!

SQUIDDLY DIDDLY: Considering my own situation, Peter felt it might be best for yours truly to sleep in the shallows of the river just so this swinger can stay hydrated, and seriously!

PETER POTAMUS: With three tents, I thought it might be worthwhile to assign each of the three wolves into separate tents; Hokey sleeping with Breezly Bruin and Magilla Gorilla ... Mildew with yours truly and Wally Gator ... and Loopy with Lippy and Hardy. Just be grateful there were no fights over who was assigned which tent.

[The scene shifts to a campfire by the river bank well after sunset.]

Punkin Puss thought it worthwhile to go into a storytellin' session, coming up with a rather interesting underwater story which he started ... and which we were expected to pick up on and add to. The tale, at any rate, involved a rather elusive monster bass which none of the locals could manage to try and capture, even for an evening's rather substantial dinner ... until some rather brave, if somewhat naked, hillbilly boy as was into diving actually managed to spear--with a hay fork, of all things!

PUNKIN PUSS, at the campfire: Which, I must admit, is my preferred way of spearing catfish and other fish underwater!

[You can never guess the laughter ensuing. The next morning, we can see Lippy and Peter bringing down from the cabin of Punkin Puss his rather sorry-looking air compressor, while Punkin Puss gets his diving helmet and air line ... as well as the whole being set up for what could best be called his "dive of the day." Over the whole--]

PETER POTAMUS: Following a breakfast of country ham bacon, eggs and fried potatoes the next morning, Punkin Puss had his air compressor and his diving helmet brought over ... if you could call it a diving helmet. [At any rate, the helmet is fastened onto Punkin Puss' head as Peter starts the compressor; we can see a somewhat bewildered Punkin Puss otherwise wearing a primitive pair of diving trunks made from cutoff jeans, as seems to be the local custom. In time, with the camera of Squiddly Diddly capturing the action, we can see Punkin Puss walk into the river, sensing the feel of the sandy river bottom and the greenish-blue of the river waters while efforts are ensuing to make sure the air line isn't kinked up and air is flowing freely.]

PUNKIN PUSS, narrating over this: Sometimes, swimming seems to be about the best way I know to cool off on these muggy Ozarks days in this here river ... and sometimes, I can't resist swimming underwater; doesn't that feel invigoratin' and all that, especially when you don't have a certain pesky Mushmouse to deal with and risk getting unnerved? But when you're like walking underwater like I am, a slight sandy muck between your toes--now THAT is a sensation I couldn't resist, even if the current is a slight bit strong midstream....

PETER POTAMUS: Impressive as that was ... we saw in the rather muggy afternoon ahead an opportunity for some rather serious SCUBA! So, with a few pointers from Punkin Puss as our genial host, our crew was quick to suit up, get final checks ready, and-- [all make a walking entry into the stream, diving in at roughly chest height water wise. Not as theatrical as previous entrances, but credit Squiddly Diddly's camera to sense the esoterically wonderful display of fresh water fish life residing in the streams of the Ozarks region ... including at least one somewhat ferocious catfish, the sort Lippy the Lion managed to capture with his bared hands and handle for eventual frying-up as supper.

[Breezly Bruin could be discerned spotting a few freshwater clam shells on the stream bottom, opening a couple up to find modest-size freshwater pearls, something not seen much in inland waters otherwise thanks to pollution and past overfishing for clamshells as could be used in button making. The discovery of which attracts Peter's attention as leader of the diving company, and pretty much the whole lot. For safekeeping, Peter puts the pearls into one of the pockets of his safari jacket ... and his narration continues:]

What could be rather interesting than to find in a stream such as this freshwater pearls ... something you don't find all too often nowadays ...

PUNKIN PUSS, summarising his reaction at the find: Now ain't that a stunner, finding freshwater pearls in the river like that ... I wonder if maybe I find a few clams on the river bottom sometime, maybe I could find me a few of them pearls, and maybe I could be rich ...

[But then again, all good things have to end ...]

PETER POTAMUS, wrapping things up: Even if such may not have been right-sized pearls, Breezly agreed that his discovered pearls might want to go to Punkin Puss as a "thank you" for extending such hospitality under the circumstances--which turned out rather fortunate, for not long after we broke up camp ... would you believe a serious thunderstorm broke out from all that humidity, and that we managed to get out with our hides intact as much as our gear? Somehow, diving experiences can get to be good, bad and indifferent ... and yet somehow, Hardy thought that Breezly's finding freshwater pearls might have been enough to provoke the storm, which his companion Lippy the Lion was quick to disprove as exaggerated extrapolation.

Nonetheless, the cool air behind the thunderstorm must've felt as refreshing as all that rain ... especially as our next diving misadventure awaits....  

@warnerarchive​

[the-schwayest-batman-around]

The Wild Years

OOC: This was a belated birthday present for a great friend, @kirameku, who wanted to know my thoughts on Terry during his wild and crazy years. So here is a short drabble for your entertainment.

~ ~ ~

For Terry McGinnis, being sent to his own room was getting easier and easier. He could get himself in trouble, say how he was failing science class or even mention he was cutting classes to be sent upstairs, but he didn’t need to. These days, his folks were arguing more and more and wouldn’t even notice if Terry slid upstairs. They were arguing about anything these days. If his Mom was out with friends, his Dad would begin to ask who she was with. If his Dad came home late from work, his Mom would be arguing that his Dad was avoiding time with the family. When this almost daily event happened, Terry could sneak into his bedroom to play video games, text his friends, or do what he had been up to for the last bit: see his friends.

Everyone at school was always checking on him, seeing how he was or making comments that Terry would be joining the “Split Family Club”. Dana checked in on him and usually wanted to hang, but she brought up Terry’s family situation all the time. He needed to ignore everything and there was one friend he knew he could trust.

Terry had texted his friend earlier today and agreed to meet him down the block. Terry would just have to prepare and make his way there in the next five minutes. He stuffed the bed with pillows and locked the door. Even if his parents could force the lock, they would just see a figure resting in the bed. It was full proof and would do well until Terry could sneak back inside at 2 or 3.

Terry opened the window and poked his head out to check the coast. No one was in the backyard and his baby brother’s room was dark. His Mom wouldn’t be in there to get a break from all the dumb drama going on.

He shimmied onto the window ledge and closed the window shut. This was old hat for him and he could do this in his sleep. Terry braced himself and lept towards the nearby tree branch. The leaves rustled and the branch jerked up and down from the sudden weight. The bark dug into his palms, but Terry held on. He ignored the all too familiar pain before climbing his way towards the trunk. Shimmying himself down, Terry glanced up at the two story McGinnis home one last time. No one was looking out and most of the house lights were off. He was almost home free.

Finally at a comfortable leve, Terry jumped down, his legs taking the fall to the ground with a hard thump. He needed to work on his landing, but he didn’t want to be late. Terry rushed down the sidewalk. Terry and the McGinnis family lived in the 30s of Neo-Gotham and didn’t have to worry about nosy neighbors. It was too late and too dark for anyone to recognize the young teen going down to the end of the block.

He came to the corner, looking around for a moment. Very few people were out and those that were were busy moving. It was Gotham and no one, not even the night owls had time to stop. Terry checked his old phone again to check the time. He didn’t need to wait long as a salvation came in on a loud, beat up black truck.

“Hey there shrimp, you lost or something?” The driver, poking his head out of the window, was sporting the biggest grin on his face. Terry couldn’t help but match his smirk with his own as Charlie ‘Big Time’ Bigelow motioned for Terry to get on in. “You’re right on time Tiny!”

“Like I’d be late, Charlie!” Terry said as he scrambled around the car. Traffic honked but Terry ignored them as he planted himself firmly in the shotgun sheet and slammed the door shut.

He had met Charlie some time ago. He was the cool older kid that everyone insisted was bad. Charlie wasn’t though. If schway could be a person, Terry was certain it would be Charlie. He was free from his parents and was always looking to make a day brighter. Right now, Terry needed it.

Charlie didn’t ask questions. He was the one lone person that was willing to give Terry a break from life and never tried to dig up any of Terry’s life drama. While everyone was asking Terry what was wrong, how he was feeling, and where he was going to go, Charlie instead stole a six pack of beer and gave it over to him when Terry admitted his family life wasn’t doing well. It was the first beer Terry ever had and it tasted god awful. It was like warm gasoline and hot ass mixed together. The young teen had coughed and sputtered and Charlie just laughed, telling him to try again. Terry eventually mastered it and could now handle any beer that was given to him.

“So where are we going?” Terry asked. “Down to the 5th to break some windows? The club?”

“Nah, kid. July’s got a party going on and we need to bring some favors” Charlie said as he swerved around a nice looking car. The driver honked and Charlie held out his finger, twirling his middle finger out with a cocky grin. Terry couldn’t help but laugh, mimicking Charlie. He couldn’t get away with this anywhere and instead of being scolded, Charlie laughed. “That’s the spirit!”

“They deserved it” Terry pipped in. Terry was happy to see Julio though. Julio “July” Jimenez was another friend that ran with Charlie. He could fight just as well as Charlie could, having been raised in the lower levels. He was also the one person who had a place of his own and no family. It meant more often than not, July’s place was where everyone wanted to be.

"We’re gonna get some goods at the gas station” Charlie insisted as he turned onto the highway to start going down the various levels of Gotham. “Snatch and grab. You in?”

~ ~ ~

This wasn’t Terry’s first time with Snatch and Grab. He had seen Charlie and his friends do it plenty of times before. This was just the first time Terry was doing it and he had the harder job. Armed with an empty backpack, Terry was going to focus on the snatching part after Charlie finished pumping gas. They couldn’t go in together and Terry would need to act fast. He’d go to the snack section and began stuffing his backpack with anything good. Chips, dips, drinks, but nothing kiddie like soda. If he could grab extra stuff like any condoms, lighters, even some booze, it would really make the party better.

Charlie had a tough task too. While Terry snatched, Charlie would be distracting the guy at the counter. It made sense since Charlie was of age and could ask for things behind the counter without looking weird. Cigarette packs and even detergent pods were all back there. If Terry pulled this off, he’d even lend Terry one of the magazines in the back as a reward.

Terry would have done it for free, but the idea of getting his own nude magazine was too good to pass up. Besides, if he could sneak out of the house, he could easily do this. Charlie had pulled his truck up and was getting it gassed. Grabbing a dirty Gotham Knight’s ball cap, he stuffed it on Terry’s head. Terry grimaced and swatted Charlie’s hands.

“Be quick, Terry” Charlie insisted. “In and out; no slowing down. Got it?”

“Got it.” Terry fought back the nerves working through his body as he watched as Charlie entered. He wanted to prove himself and this was a great chance to do it. Some of Charlie’s gang, especially some of the girls Charlie was having a thing with, thought Terry was a dreg just following along. Terry wasn’t and was going to show them how he could hang with guys like Charlie and Julio.

A minute passed, the time that Charlie said he needed. Terry tugged his backpack straps and began heading inside. The gas station was run down and not in some kind of retro way. Everything was tiled brown, tan and beige from the floors, the walls and the counters. The few splashes of colors advertised coffee, the pretzel dogs, and a turkey sandwich. No one else was here except for Charlie, thumbing through the magazines and the cashier who was keeping his eyes mostly on Charlie.

Terry didn’t stay still for long. He began moving quickly to the back. Terry had seen Charlie and Julio do this plenty of time, where one of them would loop around the store and begin stocking up on goods. It was plenty of time for Charlie to get whatever he needed before launching the next step in their plan. Terry did his best to be silent, his shoes sticking on the floor from dry soda or dirty mop water before he wrenched them free. He passed the the sizzling hot dogs, the stench drenching the air in heavy meat. Terry gagged, but didn’t stop there, passing by the sandwiches, some cheap truck supplies before spotting what was on the list: beer.

There weren’t any single bottles or cans Terry could grab. Instead, he was going to have to grab a six pack and hope he was strong enough. Opening the door, he felt the cool refrigerator air hit him before glancing back. Terry was in the far back now and from where he was, hidden from the cashier. Darting back to the beer, Terry quickly looked around before grabbing two six packs of Lit Beer. As tempted as he was to get the Buzz Soda, he snapped the door shut and pressed ahead.

“Heeeey, I’m ready to check out.” Charlie’s recognizable voice carried inside the store. Terry could hear him crystal clear and knew it was time to start heading the front. Hoping the residual gunk from his shoes didn’t make too much noise, Terry scampered with the aisle, ignoring the beer weighing down his bag. The cashier had a thick accent, asking Charlie if the magazines was all he wanted and that he’d have to see Charlie’s ID.

“I need some other stuff too. Got any Silk Cuts? The filters if you got ‘em.” Terry was at the snacks now. His heart was racing, the thrill consuming him as he looked back and forth. There was still no sign of anyone and he couldn’t see any cameras. His face was hidden and they’d be long gone by the time anyone saw them. That was what Charlie said anyways.

Terry waited for a moment as Charlie fished out his fake ID. He gave it five seconds before he quickly began grabbing what he needed. Dip was easy to grab and stuff in but chips were noisier. They’d crinkle and alert anyone listening that someone was grabbing them. A little noise was fine but too much and he’d be caught red handed.

Terry worked quickly before grabbing three bags. His backpack was ready to burst and his back was already screaming in agony with the weight. The beer was weighing everything down. Terry just hoped the back would stay together long enough to--

“YoHOOOOOOO!”

A hearty laugh cut through the store. Terry looked around and saw a clown walk in, totting what Terry thought was a laser gun the cops had only been given recently. He looked as old as Charlie and had the same amount of muscle as him, but he looked like a dreg with all the grease paint on him. Terry knew what this was: a Jokerz member.

The clerk and Charlie froze in place, as the Jokerz laughed again. The dreg was clearly happy about this as he aimed the gun right them. “Your ATM wasn’t working outside, so I figured I’d ask for a cash deposit.”

Charlie was bigger and could have decked this guy into next Tuesday, but he wasn’t armed. Instead, he stepped back, arms raised as the cashier began to hurriedly open the cash drawer. Terry didn’t even have to see his face that Charlie was giving this guy the evil look and wanted nothing more than to deck him.

Terry hadn’t been noticed despite taking a quick peek to see what was going on. The snack counter was his cover from anyone in the store. His mind was racing as fast as his heart. His friend was stuck at gunpoint and could be shot. Terry looked around, trying to figure out something. Should he rush out and tackle the guy? No, Terry told himself, he'd get shot. He could try and distract the gunman, but Terry was stuck on the how.

Looking down at his backpack, Terry saw one of the cans of Lit Beer. An idea struck him and with little options left, he hoped it would be enough. Terry dove his hand down into the bag, snapping the can from the plastic rings. The chips rustling from the bag was distracted as the drawer clung open, the dreg saying “In the bag! In the bag now! Come on!” His gun was shifting too and from Charlie and the cashier so neither or them would get any funny ideas.

Terry moved back around, going down one of the aisles until he saw what he was looking for: the sandwich containers. It was filled with all sorts of sandwiches: the only good sandwiches like chicken, turkey, turkducken, fish, and then the not so good ones like the hamburgers that were dry and crumbly and a BLT that had more green and plant life on it than was advertised. It also just so happened to be in the complete opposite direction of the cashier.

Terry took aim and hurled the can of Lit Beer. It spun in the air before crashed into the side of the container with a loud THUNK! The can crashed to the ground, ruptured from the two sudden impacts as the beer splashed out in all directions. It was too far away to hit anyone but the noise was enough for the gunman to spin around. “WHO’S THAT?!” he called out.

Everything happened so fast. Charlie stepped forward and sucker punched the Jokerz thug with a hard right hook. The goon crashed to the ground, the gun clattering to the ground. Terry floored it, now rushing past the beer puddle as Charlie moved forward and kicked the gunman in the gut. The man wretched as Charlie kicked him again, and again. Terry was moving fast, heart pounding in his ears as Charlie lept over the man, scooped something up and rushed forward. All the while, the cashier was grabbing his own gun, aiming the old shotgun right at the Jokerz who was quivering and coughing on the floor.

Terry and Charlie didn’t look back. They didn’t even look to see if anyone else was in the parking lot. They hopped into Charlie’s truck before flooring it. The truck lurched forward, peeling out of the parking lot before another CRASH could be heard. Charlie and Terry were jolted forward but kept driving as quickly as they could. Terry looked back, only to realize they had never pulled the fuel nozzle out of the truck as it flailed behind them, the pump now effectively ruined.

Charlie laughed. It was an adrenaline filled guffaw before he let out a long cry of victory. “TT! That was the schwayest! Did you see that? DID YOU SEE THAT?!”

“Y-YEAH!” Terry was also laughing now. His body was shaking, trembling in his seat as Charlie continued to laugh. That was incredible and they had managed to get away with everything they had. They had done it! They had won!

~ ~ ~

They pulled the pump out a few blocks away. Charlie said that someone would probably want it for scraps and it could be useful. It didn’t even matter though. TT and Big Time had taken down a Jokerz dreg and were riding high off that all the way to Julio’s party. "Wait ‘til I tell everyone what we did! You’re moving up TT. Maybe we’ll do some bigger stuff soon.”

“Bigger?” Terry asked, but was clapped on the shoulder by Charlie. Terry hid the wince so he couldn’t get an arm punch for flinching. “How much bigger?”

“Bigger than you or me kid.” Charlie looked behind the chair and grinned. Terry got a look and noticed the Jokerz’s gun had been lifted instead of the magazines or the cigarettes. “Now come on. Let’s party.”

[missjackil]

Sam Smokes

Sam smokes... Not regularly though. He could go months without it, sometimes a year or longer, but once in a while, when things were bad, and the stress was too heavy on his shoulders, and he couldnt slow his mind down enough to sleep, he would sneak away and light up. It seemed out of character for a guy like him to have such a crutch, what with his healthy diet, morning runs, athletic build, and how he would occasionally nag Dean to take better care of himself;  but this served a few pourposes.  It would force him to take  deep breaths, even if the first couple drags would make him cough, he would soon welcome the feeling of his lungs expanding and contracting, and feeling his heart and hands steadying. It was self destructive... sort of... any ill affects it may have, wouldnt come for years. He suspected he would probably die on a monster hunt, or laying his ife down to save Dean or the world, long before he would ever contract a smoking related illness. Unlike doing drugs that could kill him quickly, or even getting drunk that would give him a hangover, or make him fall and crack his head open. But most of all... he smoked for nostalgia.

Tonight, the stress was bad. it had been for months. He and Dean had been hitting dead end after dead end while trying to find a way to save Mom and Jack. Knowing that people he loved were in great danger, if they were even still alive, was stressful enough as it was, but by adding in the fact that they were somewhere in a whole other reality, was more than even Sam could handle right now. He had been 3 consecutive days with no sleep, so when he and Dean stopped for gas earlier, Sam went in to pay the clerk, and bought himself a fresh new pack of cigarettes,  He and Dean ran themselves into the ground today, trying to find anything that might help them, and when they said their goodnights, 2 hours ago, Sam could see the hope in Dean’s eyes was fading as rapidly as his own After fruitlessly giving sleep the old college try, Sam gave up, He put his slippers on, grabbed his smokes and a lighter, and quietly went outside in just his night clothes. He carefully climbed the hill and went behind the bunker. it was cold, and sitting down on frosty dirt, made him regret not changing into his clothes before he came out, but another distraction was good. He leaned back against the concrete wall and lit up. A few quick coughs escaped his lungs with the first drag, but the next went down smoothly. Maybe he was more used to this than he thought? The thought added a new chill up Sam’s spine. Sam took a long drag and held it a few seconds before he exhaled. That familiar and comforting taste filled his mouth and he closed his eyes and allowed himself to get lost in a memory. June 1995. Sam had just recently turned 12 and John had left him and Dean at Bobby’s for almost the whole summer. The first avaiable hot day, they packed a duffle bag with sandiwches, sodas, and other essentials and hiked out to the lake about a mile into the woods. The water was freezing, they didnt let it stop them from horsing around in it all day. 

As the sun dipped back behind the trees, they dried off with some of Bobby’s flimsy towels and built a fire. Dean reached into the duffle bag, and pulled out sandwiches, and sodas that of course led to a burping contest, which Dean won. He reached back into the bag, and pulled out a flask, and a pack of cigrettes. Dean had a flask nearby since he was 15 but smoking was something new he started just a few months before. Sam thought Dean looked so cool the way he’d grip the filter in his teeth while warming his hands over the fire, and how he seemed to have mastered smoke rings in these few short months.  “Can I get one of those?” Sam asked eagerly. Dean looked at him as if he thought his little brother was kidding

“Im not giving you a cigarette Sammy,. it’ll stunt your growth.You’re puny enough as it is”  Dean took a long drag and blew out three perfect smoke rings.

“It wont stunt my growth, thats just a myth” Sam swiped away the rings as they floated near him.

‘Okay you can have one, but dont go telling Dad or he’ll kill us both” Dean was only half kidding. He pulled out a smoke and lit it for Sam. 

“Now try not to burn down the woods” He handed it to Sam and Sam awkwardly tried to hold it between his fingers and took his first drag.

“You shouldnt try to inhale at first or you’ll....” Dean warned Sam but not before he took in a lung full and began to cough violently. Dean giggled and handed Sam the flask, 

“Here, wash it down with this” Sam took the flask and without even thinking, took a big swallow. It was the first time Sam ever tasted whiskey, and it brought on a fresh new wave of coughs and gags.. 

Dean rolled on his side laughing, while Sam composed himself.  “Dammit Dean, how can you even drink that shit?”  Both the whiskey and the cigarette were making Sam feel nauseous. Dean looked at Sam who now looked  little pale, and sighed. Taking pitty on his brother, he took a big scratchy army blanket out of the duffle bag.

 ‘C’mere Sammy, you’re freezing”  Feeling half embaressed, and half grateful, Sam slid over and let Dean wrap the blanket around them both, and slotted himself under Dean’s arm. Dean took the cigarette out of Sam’s hand and flicked it into the fire.  “You can try again later. That is if you dont ever want to get past five feet tall’ Dean giggled. 

“Im gonna be bigger than you someday’ Sam assured him

‘in your dreams.’ Dean countered.  Sam smiled and layed back against Dean’ side. Dean started talking about a girl he saw  at the Gas N Sip, and Sam fell asleep. 

Sam recalled that day being first day of what would be their last ‘normal’ summer. Just hanging out, being brothers, and being carefree. He did learn how to smoke without coughing, but the more they hunted with Dad, the less time they had to relax and enjoy anything. His eyes were still shut when he took his next drag, so he was startled back to reality when he heard “Can I get one of those?” Dean stood over him wrapped in a blanket from his own bed. 

“Dean! I uhhhh was just....” Sam stuttered while trying to think of an excuse for what he was doing. “Save it” Dean said “light me one”  Still unsure what was going on, Sam lit Dean a cigarette, and passed it to him, as Dean passed him his flask, and took a long sip. Dean took a drag of the smoke, as Sam watched him. cool and smooth like he was all those years ago. When Dean puffed out 2 perfect smoke rings, Sam smiled.  “How did you know where I was?” Sam asked, pretty sure he knew the answer. “How did you think I didnt know? C’mon, you’re freezing. Scoot over.”  Sam slid over and let Dean sit down next to him. Dean wrapped his arm, and the blanket around Sam’s shoulder and Sam slotted himself once again under Dean’s arm. He did eventually get bigger than Dean, but was happy to see, that somehow, he still fit.  Dean took Sam’s cigarette and flicked it onto the dirt. Sam leaned into Dean’s side.  “Did you see the new cashier they got at the Gas N Sip? I think she has the hots for me....” Dean continued to talk... Sam listened.... and fell asleep.  “

[ivadeshin]

Five Soda Maximum (Highschool AU) pt 3

(pts 1 and 2 here!

 As this story goes on, there’s going to be mild issues with anxiety and food, jsyk <3)

The cafeteria exit faces the treeline, so there’s no passing traffic or people walking by. The concrete pathway from the door to the parking lot is only ever really used for fire drills, so when Caleb and Nott round the corner, they’re surprised at how much quieter it is than the south side of the building, with sports and picnic benches.

Beau looks up first, pen pausing over a workbook. Caleb waves, but Beau just looks back down at her book. Caleb feels his stomach turn, and he already regrets the half sandwich he ate at lunch.

“Beau,” Fjord’s saying, using his sneaker to nudge her leg. “I invited them. C’mon.”

“Oh. Fuck.” Beau looks up, waving now. “You’re Caleb Weiss, right?”

“Right,” Caleb confirms, still biting back the dissonance at the last name even after all these weeks. “This is Nott.”

Jester looks up from her phone. “Hiiiii!” She leans back in the grass and smacks the spot next to her several times, moving a heavily adorned backpack behind her to widen up the little circle. “We already know Nott, kind of! Caleb, where are you from?”

“Germany.” He sits down in the new spot, crossing his legs and looking down at his torn up sneakers before making himself lift his head and make some eye contact. When Nott plunks down next to him, he feels a bit better. “And you?”

“Romania, but mostly here.” Her tail curls around her, snaking up to the workbook that Beau’s leaning over again and gently smacking it. Beau makes an annoyed noise but puts it down. “Fjord and Beau are regular Americans. Do you like it here?”

Caleb nods. “Everyone at school is very nice. It is, um. It is strange to see so many non-humans, but it is not, it is not bad, just different. They are all good. I like non-humans. I am friends with Nott.”

A silence begins to settle, and threatens to crush Caleb into a fine paste of shame and regret.

“Caleb’s still learning English,” Nott pipes up. “In school back home he was taking Sylvan and he only knew English from tv and stuff.”

The other three nod, happy to have something new to work with. Fjord gives a thumbs up.

“You’re doin’ great so far,” he compliments. “Fast-talking teachers aside. That’s gotta be hard.”

“He mumbles,” Caleb says, and Fjord and Jester both make pained faces in solemn agreement.

“Enunciate’s a good word,” Beau says thoughtfully. “Kind of long, but. It means to talk clearly.”

“Thank you,” Caleb says, pretending he didn’t already know that word and that people don’t get really thorny when you ask them to do that.

Beau shrugs. “If your homework trips you up, come bring it to us, we’ll help. Well.” She looks over to Nott. “I’m sure you’re already helping him.”

“I can use all the help I can get,” Caleb interjects. “Um. Your history classes are very… focused on America, and I am used to lots of focus on Europe. So a lot of it is quite new. To me.”

Jester is unpacking a small embroidered bag with cosmetics. “Nott, have you tried the new MAC Cool Exotics collection?”

Nott blinks several times. “…no,” she says, clearly not sure what she just responded to.

Jester holds up a small palette of colors from light green to deep purple. The box is sleek and black, and Caleb thinks back to the word expensive. “MAC does the best colors for non-humans. They do warm collections and cool collections, and you are green, so you are ‘cool’, like me.” She leans in and squints. “What is your skin routine?”

Beau makes a pained noise. “Don’t make her do girly stuff with you,” she groans.

Fjord laughs and shakes his head. “You don’t have to,” he tells Nott. “She’s a little makeover obsessed. Blame YouTube.”

“It’s okay,” Nott says quickly, shocking Caleb. “I just, um, is it okay if I don’t know anything?”

“That’s even better because then she gets to teach you.” Beau snorts. “We’re doomed. Caleb, she’s going to have you moisturizing and wearing sunscreen soon.”

He touches his face. “Am I sun scorched?”

“Sunburned,” Nott murmurs under her breath, scooting over to move between Caleb and Jester.

“Sunburned,” Caleb corrects quickly.

“No, she’s just excited to slap BB cream and CC cream and …” Beau shares a look with Fjord. “I don’t know, Korean skincare became a thing and now she’s obsessed.”

“Korean sunscreen is much better for you. They don’t have a lot of the bad chemicals, in it, and also, it doesn’t have that stinky smell.” Jester bites her lip as she pulls out several clips, pinning Nott’s hair away from her face. “Hm. You have an oily complexion.”

“I’m a goblin,” Nott mumbles.

Jester shakes her head. “That’s racist bullshit. Every person has some oil, or dryness, or combination problems. Goblins don’t produce more oils than anybody else. Here.” She pulls out some sort of wet wipe and holds it up to Nott’s face, showing it to her a moment before beginning to wipe her down. Nott makes a face but holds still.

“Can you, um, can you do my eyebrows?”

Caleb can’t hide the look of utter shock at those words, and Nott blushes a little.

“People always think I’m a boy.”

“You should, um. You should,” Caleb gestures to his own face. “You should make your face however you want.”

“I don’t think I would wear makeup every day,” Nott shoots Jester an apologetic glance, but she’s flapping her hand dismissively. “But maybe if. I didn’t feel so greasy. And my eyebrows were a little less messy.”

Beau leans in to Caleb. “You’re trapped here now,” she warns. “You’re a project.”

Caleb looks down at his sneakers. “Oh, no,” he says flatly, and is very, very pleased when his three new friends giggle.

**

They relocate from the bleachers. Caleb learns that if you are rich, you can have a private tutor even though you already go to school. Jester’s is named Mr. Cestovatel and Fjord says, when Jester is not around, that she definitely has a crush on the guy.

And Jester seems to be loaded, not just by Caleb’s standards, but she doesn’t act the way Caleb would expect. She loans Nott some weird looking skincare bottles to try, and doesn’t laugh at him when he admits he can’t give everyone his number because he doesn’t have a cell phone.

Beau is rude, even by American standards, but she isn’t mean. Fjord is usually punching her arm to remind her to thank someone or pay attention and it seems like she’s mostly sort of trying to get better about it. She seems to pay a lot of attention to the news, and she refers to a Twitter account where she ‘retweets’ things about Antifa, which Nott has to explain to Caleb later.

Fjord is… super nice. It’s clear why so many girls have a crush on him, even though he doesn’t have nice clothes or a lot of money, or play sports. (Caleb is delighted to learn that Fjord is going to be in Robotics class with him once it starts, and is not shocked at all to learn that this, also, is not considered cool.) But Fjord’s voice is low and smooth, and he smiles easily.  He doesn’t get in much trouble and he seems to care about people. Beau says he got bullied when he was younger for being chubby and the only half-orc in his elementary school, and ever since he shot up a million feet and started ‘making thicc look good’, as Jester calls it, he’s been the guy that shows up in hallways.

“The foster house popped up a couple years ago,” Beau says quietly one day, when Fjord isn’t there. “A few assholes used to joke that ‘the circus had come to town’, and you’ll never guess who wasn’t standing for that shit.”

“Standing for,” Caleb echoes, frowning.

Beau sits up a little straighter, deepening her voice and trying to do a southern accent. “That’s enough ‘a that shit,” she mimes, pretending to give him a disapproving look. Caleb’s eyebrows fly up and he grins.

**

Caleb doesn’t have a phone but Nott does, and so Nott will read to him from the group chat sometimes.

“Beau wants to know how to say ‘fuck you’ in German,” Nott reports one day.

“It was only a matter of time,” Caleb sighs.

Nott frowns. “You don’t like it when people do this to you,” she guesses quietly.

“No, it is fine.” And it is, somehow, because it’s been three solid days of hanging out with these people and he... doesn’t feel like a side show at all, now that he thinks about it. He really doesn’t mind. “Fick dich.”

“Ha!” Nott giggles delightedly and hovers her thumbs over the tiny keyboard. “How do you spell that?”