#gotta finish this video and see how I feel; I might turn in early and hope that tomorrow is better

[neganium]

drank some milk; that should be good enough to meet the requirement for taking ibuprofen, right? it's optional anyways but recent years/events have me concerned that my stomach is not as healthy as I'd like to think it is. fairly obvious, but still.

here's to hoping it kicks in quickly; constant dull pain really contributes to the whole "my period is currently kicking my ass" sort of thing. I'm fuckin wiped, and also disappointed that I've done nothing of value whatsoever; mostly just a lot of complaining about a lack of customers, and consequently, a lack of money.

[ohbueckers]

HEART OF A WOMAN. i put the blame on me for giving you chance after chance … it’s my mind and my soul versus your pride.

00, PROLOGUE. AND THIS IS JUST THE INTRO.

ju speaks. finished this quicker than expected so thank you to that anon for getting me on it early LOL. find the masterlist link to all parts on my blog. lmk your thoughts! pairing. wnba!paige bueckers x fem!oc. warnings. language, angst, toxicity, cheating, etc … general warning!

flashback, april, 2025.

paige: i love you 3:49am

nailea: ?

i love you too

is everything good?

read 4:02am

paige: yeah i’m good baby

missing you ao baD

paige edited a message: missing you

nailea: i’ll see you so soon

i’m sorry i couldn’t make it today

i’m really proud of you

read 4:09am

you’d think by now i’d be numb to it. that i’d learned the script—memorized the lines, the rhythm of it. but as i sit here, scrolling through her saved chats with her, i don’t feel numb. i feel fucking dumb.

it’s not even the months i spent doubting her, the nights i’d start an argument because i just knew she was lying, only for her to stare at me with those wide, innocent eyes and make me feel like the problem. no. it’s knowing that three nights ago, when she texted me after the game, telling me she loved me, that she missed me—that wasn’t real. that was just her guilt talking, a cheap cover-up. because that night, after winning her precious championship, paige found someone else to help her celebrate. and all because i couldn’t be there.

i don’t even have it in me to appreciate the short time she wasn’t doing anything behind my back. we’d had a conversation, a serious one, and it was enough for a bit. but there’s pictures, videos, a few from that night, and i feel sick.

the door opens behind me, and i barely flinch.

“yo, i forgot my—“ my bloodshot eyes meet hers, still holding onto the faintest trace of a smile. she has to notice i’ve been crying. has to see what she’s done.

it’s only been ten minutes. the breakfast spot’s close, maybe two blocks. she must’ve turned around. guilt? instinct? doesn’t matter now.

“nai.”

i glance down at her open phone, and so does she. i can’t see her reaction, but i’m sure it’s anything but pleasant. “oh, i can’t even fucking look at you,” i spit, letting out a breathy laugh as i push myself to stand, heading towards the door.

before i can even take a step, she’s in full defense mode. paige tosses her keys onto the bed with a clatter, closing the door behind her, planting herself firmly in front of it like she’s ready to block my any attempt to walk out. “you’re not leavin,’ bro. hold on.” she furrows her eyebrows, mumbling more to herself as she pulls me away by my arm. quite effortlessly might i add, i couldn’t really fight it.

“move, paige,” i demand. i just want out. want to be anywhere she isn’t.

“nah, we’re gonna talk. sit your ass down.”

“about what?” i laugh, cold and bitter, as i wipe my face again. she’s stupid for thinking i’ll listen to anything she says now, i know that much. “about how you played in my face, yet again? how you kept telling me to trust you when i knew better? or maybe we’ll talk about how the second i wasn’t here, you went right back to her.”

she wasn’t special. she isn’t. i’m sure paige doesn’t even know her middle name. she was just… there. someone to sex her up the way i couldn’t from across the country. it wasn’t like we didn’t see each other every chance we had, but i’ll be damned to let her live a double life. i wish i wasn’t so in deep.

paige steps forward, her hand reaching for mine, eyes softening in some pathetic attempt at damage control. “look, it was one night, alright? it was a mistake, nai, you gotta chill.”

chill.

i yank my hand back. “how many times does one night happen with you, huh?” i squint. “because this isn’t just one mistake, paige. this is you, every time.” the word tastes sour, and i spit it right back at her.

i’m not a doormat. i’m not one of the girls paige bueckers happened to pick up on her way to the top. i was here from the very beginning, and i couldn’t fathom how that wasn’t enough for her. all you could ever want is to grow into love with someone, but paige and i only go backwards, and i don’t think i’m capable of sitting around and letting that happen anymore.

paige’s mouth twists, some shadow of remorse that’s barely visible as she shifts from foot to foot. her hair’s still tousled from last night, strands falling across her forehead, a disheveled mess that somehow makes her look both beautiful and utterly wrecked. it makes my stomach turn—how i’d been unknowingly in the same spot as another girl just a few days ago, her hands roaming through that same hair, leaving their mark where mine should have been.

“let me get it right this time then.” paige’s head tilts back slightly, her eyes locked onto mine with an intensity that’s almost hypnotic, like she’s daring me to believe her, to give her yet another chance. i hesitate, against all logic, caught up in her. for a second, the anger knots itself up, caught in my throat, tangled in the remnants of whatever feelings she hasn’t managed to destroy.

we just stand there, inches apart, eyes locked, her breath barely steady, mine coming in tight and shallow. her hand lifts again, just slightly, as if she’s about to reach for me again, and i feel that familiar pull—like i’m right on the edge of giving in, of letting her words undo the mess she’s made.

my eyes glance down at her phone in my hand, and i can’t help but think about how sick i am of fucking words.

before i can second-guess myself, my hand jerks forward, and i launch her phone across the room. it skids across the floor, clattering against the wall, and she turns at the sound, head lolling against the door.

paige’s hand slides down her face as she lets out a low, humorless chuckle, her shoulders slumping back. her gaze flicks from her phone again, undamaged but undeniably thrown by an angry girlfriend ex, and then back to me, all narrowed. “you throwin’ my shit now?”

“fetch it. matter fact…” paige’s mouth opens, then closes as she watches me rip her oversized tee off like it’s some dirty rag. the shirt hits her chest and slides down to the floor, and she just stands there, staring at it with her jaw clenched so tight i can practically hear her grinding her teeth. “you can take all your shit back with it. i’m done,” i seethe.

paige looks back up, scoffing. “oh, you’re done?”

i turn on my heel, making my way to my suitcase. paige doesn’t move as i fall to my knees, throwing one of my own shirts over my head. i’m packing my things up frantically, silently, and i can tell it makes her feel unsettled.

“you’re not leaving, nailea.” she doesn’t sound so sure of herself now, and that only makes me move quicker.

i sniffle, even though i’m way past being sad over this. “i’ll stay with az until i can catch a flight. and i’ll ship all your stuff to storrs once i’m back.” i’m declaring my plan out loud, though i’m sure the mounds of her belongings that’ve accumulated in my apartment over the years is the last thing on her mind.

but then she moves, steps around the suitcase, stopping me with a quiet urgency, her fingers reaching toward my face. i pull back instinctively, turning my head, but she follows, her hands slowly cupping my head, steadying me as if i’m the one slipping. “paige, stop.” i mutter, shrugging my shoulders, trying to shake her off. but her fingers tighten, her eyes softer, pleading.

“c’mon…” she whispers. and then, slowly, she sinks down to her knees, meeting me there, her eyes desperately searching mine.

i swallow, hard, stopping my movements. “quit—“

“lemme fix it.” she mumbles, the words laced with something i can’t decipher, something that might’ve been real if it didn’t come too late.

i look up, and for the first time, i see something that almost looks like panic in her eyes. her thumb is focused on tracing the tear streaks on my cheek, and i have to force myself to think about why they’re there in the first place. because of her.

i don’t give her a chance to say another word. “you should’ve thought about that before there was anything to fix,” i say softly.

i turn away, reaching to grip the zipper of my suitcase. the metallic sound rips through the quiet, and it’s the finality of it that makes it feel like the right choice, like i actually just let go.

but with paige, nothing ever stays that simple, that clean.

[lbxbx]

Accidentally Yours 1 | JJK

Pair: Jungkook x reader

Summary: revenge never tasted that good when you decide to get back at the man - who ran you over - with the worst punishment he could ever get, and despite all the grudge, maybe some time after, the grudge will gradually turn into something else..?

Genre: e2l, biker jk, series ( a long one.), smut, fluff, angst.

Warnings: mentions of car accidents, mentions of fractured bone and hospitals, mentions of insecurities, cranky oc, mentions of drugs and money laundering.

Taglist open ‼️

Mood board 1 | Mood board 2

It’s a Tuesday night in October and it’s one of your usual work nights where your beloved routine takes place. It's nothing out of the ordinary really, it’s evening time and you had just finished creating your content and filming it.

You're standing in front of your vanity mirror massaging your face after your skincare routine, your phone buzzing a notification that your food order is ready for pickup so you rush to slip something warm on.

You weren’t someone born with a certain passion or ambitious enough to get a big degree, but you did manage to get a bachelor’s degree in accounting about seven years ago and you did get a job at a local company as a junior accountant, but it just wasn’t enough.

You’d get your paycheck and spend it only on necessities, it was enough money for you to survive, but never enough to get you the life you wanted.

You ran into a couple acquaintances a couple years ago and only three hangouts later, and you’d kill to be in their shoes.

Not only were they living the life you wanted, they owned the house you imagined having in your dreams, owned luxurious cars and hell even traveled places you’ve never even heard of before.

You thought you’d find a part time job and juggle with the one you had back then but it was impossible, and when you did the math, you’ll basically still be in debt.

Instead of taking a step forward you decided to take two steps back and just quit your job, you hated waking up early and hated the fact that you worked under someone, and the money wasn’t even worth it.

One of your friends suggested content creating, and you thought it through, you have nothing to film that people would be interested in seeing, nor that life that’s worth documenting.

“No idiot, I meant onlyfans.”

And it made you feel uneasy at first, but you remember your first night filming your very first video vividly.

You invested your last couple of hundreds of bucks and got a video camera, the shop even handed you a tripod as a “thank you for buying one of our worst cameras” and you ran back home to set it up.

And honestly the whole video was you faking an orgasm and attempting to make sounds that are supposed to get you an audience. And you proceeded to edit it into a short ten minute video and post it.

The app gave you an option on how much you could charge your audience and you chose to charge only five bucks for a subscription, you’re just testing waters.

Gotta say you weren’t really hopeful about it.

You showered that night thinking, what if this was actually it? You might have just changed your life with the stupid few minutes you just filmed of you putting on an act.

Not even 20 minutes later you head out and run back to your phone to find a SMS message from your local bank, oh my god this has to be it.

You hurriedly unlock your phone to read the message, but it was only a confirmation text that you had connected your account to this sketchy website, which made you sulk a little, but really what were you expecting.

Even when this was a little over two years ago you still remember the second you got your first subscription, and it was basically the day after your first video, and it was only 4 subscriptions ( basically twenty bucks. ) but you knew that this was just the beginning, and you knew you had to invest more into it if you were going to live the luxurious life.

And there you are, two years later, you did buy a penthouse in a luxurious neighborhood, you managed to make your first investment and bought a couple apartments that you rent out for college students, you also bought not one, but two freaking cars that are freakishly expensive.

Not to mention you now invite your friends to go hiking or traveling together.

And last but not least, your cat Coco who you adopted right away, every time you came home you look at her with heart eyes when she waits for you by your door, she curls up right by your feet and sometimes she would make failed attempts of jumping right onto you and you find it unbelievably adorable, sometimes she’d even fall asleep right by your keyboard when you’re uploading your content and she is irreplaceable.

Fuck the degree, this is the best decision you’ve ever made.

Back to now, you’re throwing on your pair of sneakers and grabbing your car keys ready to go pick up your fried chicken. “I’ll be right back Coco okay?”

Your stomach was growling you can hear it resonate through the elevator walls, you head out the security and they greet you warmly.

Not only because you’re the most humble out of all the residents, also because you’re the most generous out of them all, treating them for dinners and lunches and sometimes buying gifts for the cleaners, they adore you. Not to mention you were a generous tipper!

You head out the building to watch a young man feeling up your car, a helmet in his hand and his motor bike parked right beside yours, now you usually didn’t mind, until you see him checking out your license plate and taking pictures of your car, his hand is about to touch the door handle before you voice out. “Hey!”

As if his body was prepared, a surge of adrenaline rushes through his system and his heartbeat becomes rapid, he’s fully alert that you’re after him now and as a response for his sense of urgency or fear, he throws on his helmet and right when he’s about to get onto his bike, he bumps into your car accidentally making the alarm go on.

“Get back here.” You are seconds away from running after him but you know you won’t be able to catch up. He manages to gain his balance back onto his motor bike right away and drives it fast enough to disappear out of your sight in seconds. “Idiot.”

You take a quick spin around your car just to check on it before unlocking it and getting in and buckling up, the stupid guy is long forgotten when you hear your stomach growling again, you haven’t had a bite after breakfast this morning, so you rush to pick up your food order and go back home.

-

Being your own boss made a bit careless about weekends, every day was a weekend to you practically, you only waited for the weekends occasionally if you were hanging out with some of your friends.

It’s Friday and the neighborhood you live in gets quite busy on the weekend nights, people who live in this areas usually host cocktail parties and reunions on fridays, some times newlyweds rent out the near by mansions for their honeymoon and it does get a little noisy.

You were never a fan of traffic and you hated having to stay long in the car so you avoided leaving your place unless it was really urgent.

“So are you coming or not?” Your best friend Natty is on the phone, you can hardly hear her when music around her is so loud.

Your friends have decided on hitting the club to celebrate someone’s promotion but with the traffic outside it was impossible for you to leave your place.

Plus you have a schedule you have to follow and you have to post something tomorrow and you haven’t filmed the content yet, so basically you had to work tonight so you’re not going anywhere, or at least that’s what you thought.

“No Nat i’m afraid not, i have some work left to do and i’m waiting for the gate keeper to come over and wash my car.”

You can easily imagine her rolling her eyes when she speaks. “Ugh, i’ll pick you up, work can wait, you’re your own boss.”

“Enjoy your night Natty, i’ll chat about it with you tomorrow.” You hang up right away and open the app on your phone to figure out what’s the meal you’ll devour on once you’re finished.

And honestly Sushi sounds good right now, so with no second thoughts you choose the items you want and add them to your cart, before you get up onto your feet and head to your room.

The room you specifically had designed for this type of content, not like it’s that type of rooms, but accent dark walls and a large bed, with the camera set up prepared all the time on standby along with the lighting ready, and a storage compartment for your “tools” and outfits.

You’ve grown to adore this job, not only do you do it to make money, but you’ve made a great amount of online subscribers that make you love doing it just so you can have a chat with them.

You get changed and right before you hit record you made sure to hit the order button for your sushi, so by the time you’re done you’ll have your food delivered by your door.

It doesn’t take you over 30 minutes to make a clip that you know you’ll have a hard time editing ( which was basically the worst part ever. ) so you get up and make it to your shower to clean up and get into a comfy pair of pants and a sweater, it was freezing cold outside and even with your fireplace on you were still freezing.

A small pop up banner on the top of your phone screen showed notifying you that the order was ready for pickup, which you recall you asked for it to be delivered.

A few clicks and failed attempts to get it delivered it was practically impossible, so you slid on your pair of sneakers and grabbed your car keys. “I’ll be home soon Coco.” You pet her and smother her with kisses before heading out.

Looks like no matter how hard you tried avoiding leaving your house you were eventually coerced to.

The traffic was unbearable, not only was it a friday night, the holiday season was coming up in a month or even less and people couldn’t stay home even when there’s a blizzard outside.

You rush to get into your car and quickly shuffle your fingers over the buttons to heat up the seats and the steering wheel. The sushi place wasn’t that far away but why walk there when you can drive? Specially when snow was expected on the weather forecast tonight. Although walking there would’ve probably been faster.

On regular basis it would’ve been a 15 to 20 minute drive to the place but on maps it was clear enough that this ride will take at least 35 to 40 minutes.

Luckily you didn’t have to worry about the temperature of your food-

Although you tried to be positive about it but you most certainly have driver’s rage and it’s starting to piss you off that the lights turned green and people aren’t driving yet.

You would’ve flashed your lights at the cars if you were patient enough but you’re not, so you honk the horn repeatedly and you couldn’t care less if people judged you for honking this late at night.

It bothers you even more that bikers just manage to slip between the vehicles and just cross the lights that are turning orange by now and soon come to red.

“Will you come on.” You whine before unbuckling your seat belt and turning off your car, and right after you leave your car and close your door, you were seconds away to scolding the driver in front of you when suddenly a searing pain is felt on your lower half, you could quite literally hear something breaking as if your bone is tearing apart, it’s jolting inside your body and it’s hard to ignore.

As if your nervous system was on alert your hand subconsciously moves to your leg, your eyesight even wonders there wondering if you even still have your leg attached to your body, and you immediately feel nauseous and breathless, you’re pretty sure you’re about to pass out.

“Maam are you okay?”

Scratch that. You already did.

The engines of the cars and bikes ( specifically the one that ran over you ) suddenly feel far away and you no longer hear them, your eyelids feel heavy and you immediately lose consciousness.

-

Okay maybe it’s not that reckless of a life, on the verge of being 30 yet feeling like he hadn’t still lived his entire dreams, he insists on doing everything he wanted even if it costed him a fortune.

Of course, he wants to go explore somewhere new? He’d do it, even if he’s in debt, he knows he’d end up starving for the rest of the month, living his best life was a priority and frankly his priorities are severely off.

He wants to drive a boat? He’d do it, even when he’s positive that he’ll never own one but hey, it’ll be a fun experience. He’ll have to give up on a couple of things this month as well

Of course his friends are joining a bikers club, why not join it too? It would be great to own a bike. It took him nights to figure out what to give up next and the only option he has was his car and in his defense it made sense. With the money he can learn how to drive a motor bike and even own the newest yet coolest bike in town.

So? Of course he sells his car and gets the lessons and even owns one of the best remodeled motor bikes ever.

This bike was a legit babe magnet, his good looks helped too but the bike played a bigger role than he did, wherever he went he would get the attention, even when he washed his bike in the nearby gas station he would have girls drooling over him.

Actually one of his latest encounters progressed into having the lady as his backpack on his bike when he drove across the city to show her how fast he can go, of course he ended up in her bed

He’s a little more financially stable now after he settled for his bike, he would end up being in debt because his job doesn’t pay that well, he does photography for fun and it was initially his hobby, he doesn’t have that many costumers but when he does he gets paid well.

His obsession for luxurious expensive cars was endless, he enjoyed visiting luxurious neighborhoods just to check out the cars there, one of the recent cars he saw was the black mercedes suv that was parked in front of a skyscraper in the middle of city and it drew all his attention, and to his shock it was driven by a young lady like you, he panicked that night and quickly rushed to get onto his bike and drove away to avoid getting into trouble.

Your car was custom made to your desire with the options you wanted, so basically it is one of a kind and there are no other cars like yours.

And tonight was one of the numerous friday nights where him and his friends would go bike outside the city and to his luck he was really late, and traffic tonight was insane, so he put his helmet on and drove really fast to catch up with his people, he started gliding through traffic and slicing through the lanes, he can hear people cursing which he was used to at this point but he needed to get there like right now!

He was focused on the narrow gaps being sure to dodge the mirrors and people who were on foot, he was a really excellent driver even when there was barely a breath of space left between his bike and other cars.

His phone let out a familiar chime signaling a new message and it had caught his attention, he was aware that his phone shouldn’t make a distraction while he’s driving but when it’s his friend Taehyung sending him a different location stating that they changed their gathering point, he had to check it out.

“Fuck-“ he muttered and tried hard to focus both on the road and on his phone, when maps loaded and showed him the new spot he pinched the screen to figure out the where the alley was when suddenly he bumped onto something- or someone he wasn’t sure, his phone fell to the floor and he was close enough to fall off his bike, hearing people panicking around him he was pretty positive that he ran over a person.

He cursed on the inside and debated on whether to stop or just run, but he did eventually hit his brakes, the screech of his tires making a deafening sound, his heart sank when he saw an actual person dragged onto the floor, a lady actually.

A look of sheer panic on his face when he realizes that this is an actual accident and it’s making a really big scene amongst this entire traffic. “Ma’am are you okay? Someone call an ambulance!” Someone yells from behind and rushes past Jungkook to offer help.

People were pretty sure they heard the sound of your bones breaking even when the engines were loud but it was unmistakable, Jungkook kneels down to the ground mortified that you could probably be dead!

“Ma’am are you okay?” And to his luck at this point you completely passed out, going totally unaware of your surroundings. Which makes him panic even more.

-

Is it nausea hitting you or what? You’re pretty sure you’re awoken by that, you’re swallowing repeatedly when your eyes flutter open, your pupils stirred, scanning your surroundings abruptly.

Unfamiliar place, unfamiliar faces, the smell is horrific and it’s really noisy and bright around here

Your eyes feel heavy again, you blink several times unsteadily, your mind finding it hard to catch up with your body, are you paralyzed?

Your breath slowly becomes shallow when you start to panic, and you’re pretty sure you’re conscious now but you’re totally disoriented to everything.

“Ma’am, it’s okay you’re safe now, can you tell me your name?”

Your name? It takes you a few moments to piece together what your name was, this was the silliest question yet you are unable to answer.

You can talk, but you can’t remember.

Tears fogged your eyes and right when you’re about to shake your head you realize that you can’t, your neck is stabilized with a brace and something hurts when you try to move. “I don’t remember.”

Someone on the opposite corner of the room who was watching from a far almost passes out when he think he might’ve actually caused permanent damage to you.

Your tears roll down to the corner of your eyes eventually falling to your ears, you hate the fact that you’re unable to wipe your own tears.

You blink repeatedly and your heart drops when you actually see police officers above your head waiting to interrogate you.

You hear the team around you blabbering some medical terms that you find yourself totally ignorant of before you speak again. “What happened?”

“You got hit by a bike, the x ray shows that your leg is fractured and your knee was disloacted, we already put your leg in a cast and you’re likely to be given crutches, but you don’t have to worry at all, everything is going to heal with time and the right treatment, we’ll hand your folder to orthopedics when you’re out of here so you can follow up with them. As for now we need to get an MRI to help us get a clearer look of what’s going on.” He elaborated that it rarely happens when people temporarily experience memory loss but it was just a check up and you wanted to make sure you were fine too, and find out why on earth you can’t remember your own name.

Once the doctors disappear you see a familiar face hovering over your head, long dark hair covering his forehead and eyes that you cannot comprehend the feelings behind, is he someone you know?

“I’m truly sorry, i didn’t see you.” So is he the one that hit you?

“How long have i been unconscious?” You ask, your pupils still scanning his face and your surroundings, he grabs out his phone and takes a glimpse at his screen. “It’s been about four hours.”

A bunch of nurses come by to take you back down to do the scan and you know that the guy with the dark hair is still hovering around because he keeps asking if you’re going to be okay.

Once you’re prepped for the machine with a pair of earplugs the entire team leaves the room and you’re left on your own.

You know the image will take a while so you need to calm yourself down and try and relax, loud rhythmic banging is hear once the machine operates and you shut yours eyes tightly, even when you were never claustrophobic it feels like you are, it’s a little too small for your liking and it feels like you’re suffocating.

Focus on your thoughts, try and think of anything else!

Y/n, that’s right, this was your name. You slowly recall your bedroom and try and imagine what your surroundings were.

What happened and how did you end up here? Your phone, oh no your car, you were driving, something involved sushi of some sort.

Your body relaxes a little and even with the loud thumping that is loud enough to deafen anyone, you’re a little relieved to be finally able to remember something.

The scan took about an hour and it felt a lot longer than it is, you were rolled back on the bed to the emergency room and again you spot the guy with the dark hair.

You’ve seen him once, just dig a little deeper.

“Are you okay?” He asks a little hesitant, his doe eyes monitoring you from head to toe, “the doctors said the scan was perfectly fine.”

“Are you experiencing any pain?” The nurse walks closer with some meds on hand, she injects something into your catheter and moves even closer to take the brace off of your neck. “The scan went well, your neck is okay it’s just that your ribs and ankle are a little bruised, bed rest should help you heal right away.” She flashes a smile before asking. “Any pain?”

“A little, yeah.”

It seems like she injected something to reduce your pain because once you answer her you suddenly feel like you’re floating, your pain feels a little less intense and a little more distant, your breath feels a lot slower and your limbs feel extremely heavy. “I’m fine.”

You haven’t heard yourself talking but it was clear enough that you’re drugged and your thoughts were completely fogged and muddled.

“Ma’am this officer Choi and i’m officer Lee , we’re just here to ask you a couple of questions.”

“Sure.” You’re finally able to move your neck and turn towards the two officers who you believe were four or probably eight, you’re ready to pass out any second now.

They start asking basic questions, your name and how old you were, and what you did for living, and you outdone yourself when you said that you do your job online from home, not mentioning and giving any further details.

“Did you notice the bike approaching you?” He asks, the officer behind him writing his notes down.

“No, i didn’t see him at all.” You look at the guy with the dark hair, your eyebrows pulling together when you try and brainstorm where you saw this guy. And honestly it feels like a workout!

“Mr. Jeon ran you over with his bike and we’re still interrogating him once we hear from you, do you know him?” The officer asks. “A nearby station towed your car and Mr. Jeon gave them your address.”

Of course he did.

He’s the biker you saw checking out your car earlier this week. As if Jungkook can see how you’re processing your thoughts his eyes widen when you speak. “Yes, he’s totally after me, i saw him outside my building the other day.”

���Am not, officer she’s heavily medicated just ignore that.” Jungkook defends himself. “I’ve seen the car she drives a week ago and after i ran her over i realized that it was the same woman and the same car.”

“Mr. Jeon i’m afraid we have to take you down to the police station for further interrogation.” The second police officer puts his notes in his pockets and takes out a pair of handcuffs. “Sir please listen to me, i promise i’m telling the truth, i don’t— I have no idea who she is.”

“Miss do you have anyone you can call? Like family or a friend? Mr. Jeon is the only one around and we need to take him over to the center, we just want to make sure you’ll be doing okay and safe with someone.”

“Do you have my stuff? I can’t see my keys and phone.”

“I have them with me,” Jungkook fishes out your stuff from his pockets and you scoff.

“Of course you do, now he’s stolen my phone and my keys.” You whine. “You broke my leg what else do you want?”

“For the record i was driving on the street like a normal person and you were walking, if you wanted to walk you’d do that at the sidewalk.” He arrogantly speaks while putting down your phone and keys on the stand next to you.

“And for the record, i saw the lights clearly turning red, you should’ve stopped, so not only you ran me over and broke my leg, you also crossed a red light.” You’re drowsy but you still have the power to argue, side eying the officer waiting for him to take note that this “Mr. Jeon” is double as guilty.

“We’ll run over the CCTV and check if what you’re saying is true.” The officer grabs your phone to hand it to you, “Can you call someone to be here with you?”

“Yeah, my friend Natty, she’s the first one on my contact list” you unlock your phone and lazily open the contact list to call her, the officer proceeds to take the phone and talk to your best friend while you lay in bed and struggle to keep your eyes open. Once the officers are a little distracted and their attention is averted away from you, Mr. Jeon takes a step closer with his arms crossed. “Can you please tell them i’m innocent, i’ll do anything you want, i’ll give you money.”

“How exactly are you innocent? I’m here because of you.” Your mouth automatically moves as if it’s the only body part disconnected from your brain,

“How much do you want? I’ll give it to you cash.”

“Hmm, can’t say i’m not intrigued.” You feign thinking before he blurts out. “You’ll take the money and just leave me alone.”

“Will your money fix my leg?”

He pauses for a second trying to think of an answer but you were faster. “Then no.”

“Please, i can’t go to prison, i was never there you can’t be serious.”

“Your friend is on her way here—” the officer walks back and hands you back your phone, an alert look on his face once he realizes that Jungkook was talking to you, a little paranoid thinking he might be offended you. “In the mean time Mr. Jeon we need to have a talk with you.”

-

You’re not sure whether is was a nap or some sort of coma, but your mouth feels dry and you’re a little groggy, you’re entire body feels lethargic and heavy and you’re pretty sure it’s the meds they’ve been pumping inside your veins for this entire night.

You take a glance at your surroundings and you’re still in the hospital this time in a private room, you feel extremely lost since you have no idea what time it is or if it’s day time or night time, once you turn your head to the right you spot a tall man wearing a dark leather jacket and holding a helmet in his right hand and a bouquet of flower in his left hand, his hair covering his eyes and a boxy smile on his smile that widens when you acknowledge his existence finally. “I’m sorry for bothering you- how are you feeling now? Any better?”

You start muttering words that don’t form a sentence before you clear your throat and decide to switch on your brain for once. “I think you’re in the wrong room—“

He flashes you a smile before tilting his head. “Y/n, right? I was told you’re in room 613.” He puts the flowers onto your lap, adjusting them once before picking them back up. “I should probably put those in some water.”

“Do i know you?” You can’t lose your memory again, it didn’t feel very pleasant the last time.

“Actually, i’m here hoping you’d do something awfully generous for me— i know we just met, and you cannot believe how extremely shocking the news were to me, i was really worried over you, but i’m worried more over my friend Jungkook who’s detained in the police station, they think he ran you over intentionally which believe me he wouldn’t hurt a fly, he’s an incredible man who was really worried for your well being the whole time you were knocked out— i mean passed out. However i really wish that you.. uhm..”

“Of course he sent you, listen sir, whatever your name is—“

“Taehyung.” He anxiously bites on his nails when he can sense rejection coming up from the way you’re speaking.

“You seem just as reckless as he is,” you glance at his helmet. “So if your entire biking cult begs me to let him out, i won’t.” You sternly speak, before blinking a couple of times. “Aren’t you guys a little too old for riding bikes?”

“Y/n, please, he’s willing to do anything for you right now.” He begs again, putting his helmet onto the chair behind him and putting the flowers back onto your lap. “He promised he’ll pay your entire hospital bill and even take care of you if he needed to.”

You’re a little intrigued, not the bill’s wise, you could easily afford that. But the idea of having him to serve you and do whatever you needed does sound tempting.

“Let me think about it, i’ll call the police station if i change my mind, but for the mean time i want you to leave please.”

“I appreciate it really, thank you so much, you’re so kind and generous—“

“Just leave Taehyung.”

-

“You did not.” Jungkook runs his tongue against his cheek before clenching his jaw. “I will not do that if it costs me my life!”

“Do you wanna get out of here or not?” Taehyung glares at the younger one before taking a look around them. “You don’t belong here, besides it’s just a couple of months and you’ll be over with.”

Jungkook’s face falls into his palms before he sighs. “i can’t believe you suggested that.”

“I can’t believe you broke the woman’s leg and ran her over.” Taehyung shrugs.

“If it weren’t for your message i wouldn’t be here.”

-

“You owe me.” Concealed anger filling your voice and you’re fighting every cell in your body to just not punch him and break both his legs in return.

He shifts in his spot and scratches the back of his head, trying hard to avoid rolling his eyes. “Look i didn’t mean to—“

“Oh i know.” You feign a smile. “Of course you didn’t, but it doesn’t change the fact that you did.”

You turn to look at the crutches sitting in the corner of the room waiting to be used. “So here’s how things are going to go, you’re going to make this up to me for breaking my leg. Every. Single. Day. Groceries, cleaning, fetching my meds, cooking, you’re going to stay up the night on standby in case i need something. And Who knows, maybe you’ll learn how to be a decent human being along the way.”

“Listen woman—“

“What he meant to say.” Taehyung laughs awkwardly taming his best friend, “he’ll do it.”

Jungkook’s eyebrows shoot up. “You want me to babysit her?”

“Yes.” You answer instead. “Consider this as your punishment, it’s either this or jail, maybe you’ll have your license taken away for life then.”

A defeated sigh escapes Jungkook’s lips before he shuts his eyes, fully surrendered. “Alright i’ll do it.”

“Good.” You smirk, already plotting his next task, the taste of revenge was intoxicatingly good.

[logically-asexual]

One more time with feeling

summary:

Part one of this series is 'I can tell I've rotted in your brain', about Logan being slowly pushed away over the years until one day he is kicked out of Thomas's conscious mind and becomes the orange side.

This is part two, about Logan finally coming back.

Read on AO3

Chapter 2

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words: 1664

Thomas locked his phone and tossed it to the other side of the couch. Virgil and Roman sat next to him, one on each side. He groaned, with his face down in his hands.

“Maybe if you try checking again,” Roman suggested. 

“He checked an hour ago and the video has been up for two weeks, Princey, the number is not magically going up,” Virgil countered. 

“I tried so hard,” Thomas said, muffled by his hands. 

“I know.” Roman reached out to put a hand on his shoulder. 

“This was supposed to be the good one.”

Roman hesitated. “Well, I guess it was not realistic to expect one video to make a difference. But we can keep going and a good pattern will surely change people’s minds and bring those views back!”

Thomas didn’t move. 

Roman turned to Virgil, asking silently for help. 

Virgil shrugged. “That might sound reasonable but, I don’t know, dude, everything just sucks right now.”

“Um… Oh! We also have that call at the end of the week to look forward to! Maybe you got the role!”

Thomas leaned down even further. “I saw John posting on Twitter that he got the role, so I don’t think they’re calling.”

“Oh.” Roman looked down at his feet. “Did we congratulate him?”

“Thomas doesn’t speak to him since we forgot about his graduation ceremony, remember?” 

Thomas’ face was now on his knees. 

“Right…” Roman felt lost. “I’m sorry, Thomas. I should be leading you into success, I… I don’t know what went wrong.”

“I don’t know either,” Thomas sighed. “Everything was going so well.”

“Maybe this is the beginning of the end and we just gotta lay down and embrace it.” Virgil said as he leaned back on the couch. 

“I don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing! Like, how am I supposed to keep up with everything? I’ve been using the calendar on my phone and I still don’t know what day it is.”

“A calendar doesn’t help with the mess we have here, either,” Virgil commented, looking around him at the clothes, food, and electronic devices thrown around. 

“Damn it, I was supposed to clean up here today early so I’d finish in time before going to my parents’. Gosh, what did I even do all day today? I can’t remember.”

“Well, you had oatmeal for breakfast,” Roman said.

“Right.”

“And you’ve been sitting here since.” Virgil looked at the empty bowl right in front of Thomas on the coffee table. 

“And what time is it?”

“Three pm.”

Thomas sighed again. “This was supposed to help me. You know, staying calm, giving inspiration time to strike and then let things flow. That was the idea. It was working!”

“The life of an artist is not easy, Thomas.” 

“If I was a good artist it would be.” Roman frowned. 

“Of course it wouldn’t. Have you read how depressing all painters’ and musicians’ lives are? You think I’m dramatic, you should know there’s a million worse than me,” Virgil argued. “You’re supposed to know that and you still chose to live like this.”

“Because the good moments make everything worth it, emo! That’s what you don’t understand!”

“Good moments? Where? I don’t see any coming any time soon.”

“Okay that’s enough.” Thomas sat up. “This isn’t working.”

Both Sides went silent. 

“It’s getting late, let’s leave already and maybe… my parents will have some advice.”

Roman frowned. 

“Are you okay, Princey?”

“Yes, it’s just that… You shouldn’t need help. I– I mean, we should be able to solve this on our own. It’s our job after all. But… I don’t really see any other option.”

“It’s going to be fine.” Thomas said softly, turning between Roman and Virgil. “They love me and they’re not going to think less of me for struggling.” 

“I guess,” they both mumbled. 

“Come on, we can begin planning the next video on the way.”

Thomas arrived back to his home feeling exhausted and defeated. Talking to his parents didn’t seem to help, with them instead providing him with a never ending list of ways his life was out of control and nothing like what a serious adult should look like. 

Thomas didn’t want to be a serious adult. At least not the picture of one that his parents had in mind. He wanted to have fun while he could, to create, to be with his friends, to interact with the thousands of people around the world that enjoyed the same things he did. 

They were right in some aspects. He needed some amount of control, he couldn’t just take life as it came. 

Thomas didn’t know how to do that, though. Other people seemed to just know when to take the reins and lead themselves and others to success, but what would that look like for him? In school success would mean to get a good grade, in an office job it would mean to request a raise or seek a promotion and then obtain it. 

But his life wasn’t like that. Patton would tell him one can’t measure how “successful” a friendship is; people just change with time and you either stick together or you don’t. Roman would say success in auditions didn’t depend solely on him, since casting choices consider much more than the quality of his acting. 

Success in his YouTube channel, well… He thought he had that one figured out but it was now slipping away, too. It was impossible for his team to churn out fun, high quality productions once a week, and he had learned he couldn’t make promises to his fans without disappointing them, something Virgil wouldn’t forgive.

Then… What was he supposed to do? He wasn’t equipped for this. Nothing made sense. 

Thomas groaned as he laid face-down on his bed. It was only eight, but he didn’t feel like letting this day continue any longer. 

“You’ve wasted this entire day, and now you want to waste the night, too?” 

Thomas could recognize Virgil’s harsh tone even without looking up from his sheets. 

“What do you suggest I do?”

Virgil stayed silent and crossed his arms. 

“That’s what I thought,” Thomas said with his face still on the mattress. 

I know someone who would know what to do, Virgil thought. He couldn’t stop himself from bringing it up any longer, but he tried to choose his words carefully. 

“Thomas,” he called. “You don’t think Roman, Patton or I have any idea on how to solve your issues, right?” 

Thomas thought for a moment. “I don’t know. Maybe you do, but the ideas need more time or… I don’t know.”

“Maybe. Though not every single one of your thoughts and ideas come from us.” 

“What do you mean?” Thomas finally turned to look at the anxious Side. 

“Sometimes… there are thoughts that… seem to have been hidden away and then they… suddenly appear, apparently from nowhere.” Virgil struggled formulating the idea subtly enough, avoiding the best he could to catch Deceit’s attention. Thomas’s memory about having Dark Sides was locked away by denial, which made it impossible for him to just say what he wanted. 

Thomas was making that confused face at him that he always made whenever he wasn’t understanding a single word a Side was saying. 

Virgil inhaled deeply. “I, uh… I think that you do have the solutions you want in you, somewhere within your mind. You just need to… I don’t know… seek deep inside and… summon them.”

“Okay?” Thomas began sitting up. “How do I do that?”

“I don’t know,” Virgil confessed. “You could maybe… think really hard about what you want?”

Thomas still wasn’t convinced, but closed his eyes and tried anyway. “Fine,” he sighed. “Um… I want to be more organized. I want to be more responsible. I want to not disappoint the people around me all the time.” 

Virgil looked around him, waiting for anything to happen, but nothing did. 

Thomas opened his eyes slowly. He looked at Virgil, who nodded at him, encouraging him to keep trying. “I want to… have some stability. I want to feel in control of my life.” Thomas’ eyebrows wrinkled. “I want to keep doing what I want without people judging me all the time.” His fists clenched. “I want to be able to stick to a release deadline without other people interrupting my momentum complaining about inconsequential–”

“Hello!” Patton suddenly showed up with a big smile. “What are you two, kids, doing up so late?”

“It’s only eight, Patton,” Virgil said, willing him to leave and let Thomas keep trying to summon Logan. 

“Oh!” he laughed. “Right! I was just thinking that sometimes…” He looked between Virgil and Thomas, his smile not faltering, “when we have unlucky days we begin having some… not so friendly thoughts at night, and the best solution is to get back into the comfort of our sweet dreams early to feel better in the morning.”

Thomas nodded. “You’re right. I’m sorry, Virge. We weren’t getting anywhere anyway.” He fell back onto the bed. “We’ll think of something else,” he murmured before falling asleep. 

Virgil bit his lip as he sank back out to his bedroom. 

Why didn’t Logan appear when Thomas mentioned responsibility and organization? He couldn’t have received a more explicit call. Did he not want to show up? Could he just decide not to even if he hasn’t ducked out? Did he… duck out?

Maybe Thomas didn’t really believe what he was saying. But that was strange, too, since Virgil thought that Thomas lied when he would insist he didn’t want some stability.  

Nothing made sense. 

However, there was no going around it. Logan was the solution. Thomas couldn’t keep ignoring his entire existence, no matter how hard Anxiety and the other Sides tried to make up for the lack of his role. Virgil would bring Logan back, even if it meant he had to drag him out of the subconscious himself. 

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[scoobydoo-andnancytoo]

Reading Secrets Can Kill but I Share My Every Thought Chapter 14-18

- nancy is at the dance w daryl and i am DYING to know what she told Ned ab this - it's v funny looking up outfits nancy describes. like /this/ is what the v neck dress that ~put a sparkle in daryls eyes~ was prob like - carla bumps into nancy while she's putting lipstick on and messes her up so bess trips her on purpose and her peach colored dress has a big soapy water stain on it now 😱 drama - nancy doesn't see Connie at the dance and thinks to herself "maybe once this case is over Connie will straighten her life out and stop trying so desperately to be someone she's not" and that hurt even MY feelings on her behalf - daryl hints at leaving early and nancy is like "let's stick around a little while longer, if we leave now, everyone will know why" and implied sex?? in my nancy drew book??? i haven't read one in a long time but these seem a tad spicier than i remember? or maybe it's a ND files thing - daryl says this is the best night of his life, oh just u wait buddy 😭 - nancy acts like she's seducing daryl like "ohhh but it could be a whole lot better if we spent some time alone together, couldn't it?" he's gonna be soooo disappointed when she tells him why she rlly got him out there

- nancy has the worst plan for how to confront him ever, she decides oh let's go be alone, in an enclosed car where he could easily lock her in, def in arms reach and she's thinking he might be a killer. she was in a very public place and decided to leave that and go somewhere secluded and hard to escape from. just want to know the thought process here like, you couldn't pull him aside somewhere in the school with your friends waiting nearby? - she kisses him in his car and whispers in his ear "just thought you'd like to know,, i found out why Jake Webb was killed" and he's gotta be thinking this is the worst pillow talk ever - daryl is trying to play it cool and is like "this isn't rlly what i had in mind when i came out here, but if you really want to talk instead of...doing other things 😏" this is so much to deal with - when nancy tells him ab the tape she's like "i call it.....the daryl gray show" she's so dramatic - when she's finished he drags her out of the car and pushes her against it like "if you think I'm a killer, what makes you think I'd stop with Jake Webb?" - nancy DID at least think through to plan for this and the besties turned on their headlights but i still think he could've done some real damage before they realized if he didn't drag her out of the car - Ned is there and came as George's "date" so nancy def explained things but i wonder if she told him it's just for the case 😬 either way her long time bf watched her dance with and kiss this guy and i know it had to be soooo awkward even if they do drift and date other people sometimes - Ned quite literally lept onto daryl and is being quite rough w him - nancy apparently told Ned everything ab the case EXCEPT for nancy and daryls feelings for each other which she was saving for later and she "hoped he hadn't suspect anything" as if he hadn't been watching them canoodle and kiss all night - daryl reacts more to ned referring to nancy as his girlfriend than being called a murderer lmao - mitch dillon is defense plant guy who killed jake and told daryl so that was true to the book - daryl was threatened by mitch to find the tape and it was him in the video lab that day  - nancy is all "how can you celebrate when daryls life is probably ruined" as if this mfer didn't commit treason - they're making daryl help catch mitch which like can't u just tell the cops atp. like honestly - the cops will be there but like why are they letting a bunch of teenagers be the ones to catch the killer then. - ofc mitch says he can't do the set meeting time and is gonna be there in 10 mins so no cops after all - bess's new bf is there and im trying to process the conversations that took place to rope him into this - the murderer stops to feed the ducks before meeting and maybe trying to murder daryl which is so funny to me - something went wrong like a flash from the bushes or smth and mitch is on the move and nancy is going after him  😱 - it was BRENDA!!! she took a flash photo of mitch and daryl and mitch grabbed her, nancy trips over a root and mitch sees her, and he has a gun to Brenda's head - it's prob still being taped by ned or george and nancy thinks one of the others has snuck away from the park and called the cops - nancy got him to admit to killing Jake too - this place is WAY too public for mitch to be holding a gun to someone in broad daylight - daryl hits mitch w Brenda's camera, the gun went off, nancy tackled him, he punched her in the jaw, mitch goes running, then ned and bess's bf tackle his ass - daryl was SHOT in the shoulder but hooray cops come and nancy saved the day - the Russian diplomat left in a hurry once mitch had been captured - nancy feels strongly that "daryl deserves a break" mind you he was committing espionage and treason - hal is retaking the SATS, seemingly no other punishment, walt is benching himself for a while, and connie is getting help for her shoplifting problem (no mention of returning the bracelet) and the cops aren't doing anything ab them - daryl is gonna recover ok - nancy is finally, finally telling ned ab her and daryl - ned kinda suspected but was very chill about it and nancy is all "i love you" - ned asks if it's over. he's about to be in prison and threatened nancy for a min, i doubt nancy is gonna want a prison penpal romance, dude - the end - the game is much better solely because daryl and nancy have little to no actual romance or at least nothing she reciprocates - never recovering from nancy calling daryl sexy or the engine revving

[lumosinlove]

Vaincre

~

Part ii: August

~

For the hope of it all

~

The river was crowded, but the pier was their own.

Happy Birthday Harzy, was spelled out in big balloon letters, turning in the summer breeze, backwards and bumping.

Logan stood at the waterfront and looked at Leo’s—as it was mostly Leo’s—handiwork. Lobster rolls and soft-shell crab buffet, corn bread and iced tea. Chilled white and orange wines. Summer dresses fluttered and crossed each other as people talked, making new patterns, and Logan let himself settle into the laughter. He had a bad habit of taking peace and worrying it away. He didn’t want to do that today. He wanted to watch Finn enjoy himself, his team, his family. Logan had spent every one of Finn’s birthdays with their Harvard team, and then there had been that one, horribly absent year when Finn had been in Gryffindor and he hadn’t—not yet. He wanted to watch the way Leo put his long arms around his friends, in the same way his mother did, warm and strong. Logan wanted to watch without feeling that sharp tug of worry. He couldn’t have even said what he was worrying about. It was vague.

He’d done a lot of watching this summer. He loved it to the point of never wanting to do anything else. Finn and Leo were alike to each other in more ways than Logan would ever be. Whatever rapid-fire conversation they were in the middle of would often quickly leave Logan behind, but Logan didn’t care as long as he got them stumbling and laughing over each other to try and explain it to him—a book, a TV show, some sort of video game. He knew they liked telling him about it, and Logan loved watching them love things—including himself. Logan had never thought of himself as acting as a grounding point before. That had always been Finn or Leo. He always felt too wild in his own head, unsure, reserved. Vague. But Leo had said it to him this summer.

“When me and Finn lived together, we stayed up so late just talking,” Leo had said one early morning on the beach when they had left Finn sleeping. Logan wouldn’t be quick to forget the feeling of just being able to hold Leo’s hand for so long, in such an open space.

Leo had kissed the back of his palm too many times for Logan to think he’d be forgetting it, either.

“And you and I did the same thing, you know?” Leo continued. “On roadies.”

“Playing cards,” Logan smiled. “And our sundaes.”

Leo nodded, and his smile grew a little softer. He stared at his toes digging into the sand. “And I knew how connected you two were. Well, I guess not how connected, but I knew you two were better friends than anyone on the team, even Sirius and James. Even if you didn’t always act like it. I feel like good friends can do that, handle distance and snap back into place.”

“And?” Logan remembered asking playfully. “Which long talks were better?”

Leo just laughed. “No, no. Not better. Finn talking is like…wild. Like wind. Talking to you is stillness. I love both. The point is, that was…that was my connection. To both of you.” He had cleared his throat then, and given Logan’s hand a squeeze. “My mama always says if you can talk to someone forever then—“

“They’re yours forever,” Logan finished. “My maman says the same thing.”

Leo’s answering smile had been blinding.

An arm circled his waist, another pressing right over his heart.

“Nice party,” Finn said softly into his ear, and Logan only had a moment in that warmth before it was gone, wary of prying eyes. It made Logan miss France, and their brief stay at his mother’s family home that summer.

No one had known them there, and Leo had adored the markets, cooking elaborate meals while Finn and Logan had sat on the counter, watching him and loving him. They’d eaten out on the stone patio, overlooking the sea.

Finn looked a little like he had there, cheeks sun-hot. Logan wanted to reach for them, as he had then, cool them with his thumb. Finn smiled, making the sun-kissed skin crease a little.

“What?” he asked.

Logan shook his head. “Remember that picture?” he asked. “The one of us. It was on your wall at Harvard, you were standing behind me, hand on my chest.”

Finn’s mouth quirked, and he nodded. Logan hesitated for a moment, realizing that Finn was wearing his NASA t-shirt, the same one he had worn the day he’d left Harvard for good, leaving Logan behind. Logan stared at the logo, then looked away, back up to his brown eyes. Bambi, the boys at Harvard had called him.

He took a sip of his drink and shrugged. “I don’t know where it went. I know you packed it, took it with you, but I can’t find it. Do you know…”

Logan trailed off, as Finn had taken out his wallet. He set his beer on the pier ledge, flipped the worn leather open, and slipped out a folded piece of paper, thick, and well-loved. He held it out to Logan, biting his lip, and then leaned back against the railing, as if waiting.

Logan let the photo fall open in his fingers, and exhaled a shaky, steadying breath. There was a laugh in it somewhere.

“Oh,” he said.

“Didn’t know you were looking for it,” Finn replied, and trailed his fingers, cold from his beer, over Logan’s wrist, then reached up to fiddle briefly with his necklace.

Logan traced his eyes over the same, gaudy string lights in the photo, their same smiles—the one Logan knew he wore more freely these days.

Logan folded the picture closed again, and slipped it back into its place in Finn’s wallet.

“You want it, Lo?” Finn asked.

Logan shook his head. “I like that you have it.”

Finn stretched out a foot, ankle hooking around Logan’s, pulling him a little closer again, to stand nearly between his legs.

“I had it all that first year,” Finn smiled. “On my own.”

Logan narrowed his eyes. “Don’t.”

Finn grinned, singing off-key. “Pretending he’s beside me—”

Logan groaned, shoving his shoulder a little. “Okay, D’accord, I walked into that.”

Finn laughed loudly, and then swung his arm around Logan’s shoulders. “Let’s go find Le, get more food.”

They strode towards the tables.

“Hey!” Evgeni called out. He was standing with Olli and Jackson, his looming form leaning over the pier. “Ten bucks I jump!”

“Kuns, you don’t want to swim in this river,” Finn said.

“He’s going in whether you pay him or not,” Jackson shook his head. “At some point tonight.” He grinned, the scar that ran down one of his cheeks dimpling when he smiled. “Bet you twenty.”

“Nado,” Evgeni gasped, slapping his arm. “We split. Even.”

“No fucking way.”

Logan let Finn lead him away from their bickering, towards where he could immediately spot Leo, standing with Remus and Thomas. Logan felt everything just—soften.

“Do you ever think you could just find him?” Finn asked softly, the hand around Logan’s shoulders gesturing in Leo’s direction. “I mean, even if you couldn’t see him. You know?”

“Ouais,” Logan said, voice just as soft. “I know.”

Leo was mid-laugh when he spotted them, too.

“I gotta say,” he said as he met them halfway, hand on his hip, sunglasses in his hair. “I did a pretty damn good job.”

Logan huffed out a laugh. “You did. Really good.”

Finn snorted. “Way to take the credit, Nut.”

“He deserves it,” Logan said. “I was just here.”

“Lo’s the gift master,” Leo swung his arm around his shoulders. “And I’m the food master. Sounds about right?”

Logan patted Leo’s chest. “Are you going to jump in?”

Leo raised his eyebrows, squinting out at the water. “Do I want to swim in this water?”

“I’d swim if it was with you two,” Finn said. “I’d risk the murky monsters of the deep.”

“You gotta wait twenty minutes after eating,” Leo said. “And I haven’t tried the soft serve yet. They have swirls, they have mango, I mean, come on. I did so good.”

Finn laughed. “And I’m going to kiss you stupid later.”

“And I’m going to hold you to that,” Leo leaned in a little. “Birthday boy.”

They found Sirius holding a cone out to Remus by the machine, and Remus wrinkling his nose.

“C’est la vanille!” Sirius was laughing. “Quoi? Really? You don’t like vanilla?”

“You do?” Remus shook his head.

“Y’all we’ve caught the couple splashed on the front of every magazine in a, dare I say,” Leo paused, “fight?”

“First it’s pineapple pizza, now it’s vanilla,” Remus reached up, pushing Sirius’ chin length hair out of his eyes. “What did I sign up for?”

“Carrying his hair ties for him, apparently,” Finn reached out and snapped the tie around Remus’ wrist.

Remus rolled his eyes, and Logan thought Sirius might have blushed. When Logan reached up to poke at his cheek, he slapped his hand away and Logan laughed.

Sirius dragged Remus away towards where Julian, Remus’ little brother, was calling them over to the beanbag toss, and, momentarily tucked behind the shade of the soft-serve station, Logan felt Leo pull the both of them closer.

“Pretty good beginning to the end of the summer,” he sighed, licking his own cone.

“It was a damn good summer,” Finn grinned. “Hey, give me.”

Logan watched Leo hold out his cone to Finn, and agreed. It had been more than a good summer. It had been a perfect summer, and something in that made Logan stupidly worried. Sun and salt, and cold wine, and hot bodies pressed together as the moon rose. Logan closed his eyes for a moment, tucked between the two of them, and tried not to ruin this peace by thinking about all the times peace hadn’t been there.

This was Finn’s day. This was their season. Logan tilted his chin up and let the sweet mango of Leo’s ice cream sweeten his thoughts.

~

Noelle wasn’t at Finn’s party, and Thomas could feel it. He fiddled with the new, thin gold hoops she’d gifted him, barely circling away from his ears, the left one with a pearl strung along.

I’m the lucky one who found you, she’d said.

And he’d had to go and ruin it by trying to be funny, even while tears were pressing up as close to him as she was.

What does that make us, oysters?

She’d laughed, looked happy, but Thomas wished he’d said something else. He wished he had gotten something for her. He wished she wasn’t so far away.

I miss you, he tapped out on his phone, and that felt perfectly honest. Simple. Enough.

The three dots popped up and then went away. Thomas tried not to let it mean anything. She deserved to be busy. She worked just as hard—harder—than he did. Still, something like relief flooded through him when a long string of pink hearts answered him.

I miss YOU, T baby. Good party?? Tell Harzy happy bday for me.

Thomas blew out a breath. Will do. Say hi to the girls for me.

“You look like sad sunshine,” Natalie’s voice came, and he looked up to see her walking towards him, taking a sip from a honey colored beer with a lime wedged into it.

“I’m a little sad, Sunshine, like it or not,” Thomas laughed softly, pocketing his phone. “Where are the boys?”

“Canoodling,” Natalie sighed, hopping up onto one of the stools beside him under the umbrella. She had her long blond hair swept up into two french braids. “We’re both getting in our last drops of Alex, I think.”

Thomas nodded. “Hey, I never really asked, Nat. That just…happened this summer, or what?”

Natalie smiled. “Well, when I met Kasey, he hadn’t made it big yet, still on the Rangers farm team, but Alex had been on the Rangers for…maybe about a year? I can’t quite remember. I think Kase had only gotten called up a few times, so they’d met. But anyway, we start dating, two years later he gets a big boy contract with the Rags, and we get to know Alex. I saw him at team dinners only at first.” She smiled. “I was like, cutie, look at those freckles. But I had Kase, you know? I was pretty confused when I started looking a little closer. I mean, I was so happy.”

She pushed her sunglasses into her hair, leaning an elbow on the table and fiddling with a gold necklace at her throat that had the number 30 strung across the leather cord. Thomas wondered if she was going to add a 28 to that, Alex’s number, or if she’d get another one. He wondered if Noelle would want something like that. Maybe they could wear each other’s. He liked the thought.

“Well,” Natalie said. “I was confused until I noticed Kasey looking, but he wasn’t pulling away from me and I thought, hey…maybe this is something?”

“But that was how many years ago?”

Natalie took another drink. “No, yeah, nothing ever happened. Actually, I think they kissed once or twice. Roadies, you know? But Kasey gets traded, and then Finn arrived and we were like, wow, cruel joke.”

Thomas laughed. “I bet. But it meant Alex comes around again.”

She grinned. “That it did.”

Thomas held his drink up for a cheers. “Guess we owe those Cubs a lot.”

She clinked their bottles together. “Life’s weird. But, yeah, it happened this summer officially. Went to the O’Hara Hampton house, and I think we just loved being together. I forgot a little, how wonderful Alexander is. But,” she was smiling wildly again. “I woke up one morning and the boys had gone on a walk, they got back three hours later holding hands, Alex kissed me, and something changed. Maybe they worked through some history of theirs. We’re his now, he’s ours, whatever you want to call it.” She laughed. “Pretty good for a morning’s work.”

“Pretty good,” Thomas repeated.

“I’m worried it’ll be hard, though,” she sighed, chest rising and falling dejectedly. “He’s all the way in Florida and we’re here, together.”

Thomas glanced back down at his phone. “Yeah.”

“I bet that makes me sound like a snob to you,” she reached out and squeezed his hand.

He waved her off. “No, no, I just…we’re new, me and Noelle. Sometimes I worry that we’re too new for…for this.”

Natalie shook her head. “I think distance is distance. And, if it doesn’t work, it isn’t the physical space between two people. It’s a different sort of far away.”

Thomas tapped his fingers against his glass. “You just have something to say for everything, huh, Nat?”

She grinned. “Pretty mouth, gotta use it.”

Thomas snorted. “You’re not wrong.”

“Come on,” she said. “I’m going to whip your ass a ring toss.”

“Yeah fucking right.”

~

“Apparently they closed down a bunch of streets,” Remus was saying, still bleary-eyed and waking up as Sirius made the coffee. “That’s awesome.”

“It’s a parade. Of course,” Sirius said as he pushed the lid of their french press down.

Remus looked up to see him smiling and rolled his eyes, laughing, “Okay, sure, but it’s still crazy. They say it’s going to bigger than the Cup Parade was in June.”

That made Sirius’ eyebrows raise. “Really?”

Remus hummed in agreement, clicking his phone off and popping his back. “Well. I know Pride is in June, but I’m happy we get to do this, too.”

Sirius nodded, sliding onto the stool beside Remus with two waiting mugs. “Captain gets the Cup last. I don’t make the rules.”

Remus just yawned and let his temple fall against Sirius’ shoulder, closing his eyes as Sirius’ warm palm came to brush over his hair and neck.

“September is in two weeks,” Remus mumbled. “How the hell did that happen?”

Sirius poured their coffee and pressed a kiss against Remus’ hair. “You’ll be fine.”

“Hm?”

“I know you’re nervous for training camp. You’ve seen it a million times, though.”

“Yeah,” Remus sighed and sat up pulling his steaming mug close. “Seen it.”

Sirius laughed, going to the refrigerator for the milk. His hair was in dark, glorious tangles, and Remus vaguely wondered how much time they had before they needed to get ready.

“I meant,” Sirius leaned over the island and poured them both milk before capping it again and going for the brown sugar. Remus smiled when he realized that Sirius had picked that up from Remus’ mom, Hope. “I meant that you know it never comes across like…like some insane competition for spots.”

Remus raised an eyebrow. “It is, though. I mean, not for the Sirius Black, but…”

“D’accord,” Sirius nodded. “Okay, okay. But you know what I mean?”

“I’m not worried about the team,” Remus said as Sirius came to sit down again. “I’m worried I’m not going to make the team.”

Sirius shook his head, set his mug down, and all but pulled Remus off of his stool to gather him close. Remus mumbled something about cold coffee, but smiled as he let himself be kissed good morning, kissed calm, kissed loved.

“I’m not worried,” Sirius whispered, and kissed him some more.

Remus had barely shut his car door—having opened it to cheers—before he was getting an armful of his little brother.

“Oof,” Remus grunted, but squeezed him, lifting him off of his feet. “Nice outfit, Jules.”

Julian jumped back, his Lupin Lions Pride jersey actually fitting him for once. “Thanks, dad found it for me.”

“He insisted on wearing it,” Hope Lupin smiled as she walked up. “But you’re going to roast so tell me when you want your t-shirt, baby, it’s in my bag. Hi, Re.”

“Hi, mom,” Remus let her kiss his cheek a few times.

“Salut,” Sirius grinned from beside him. Remus watched them hug, warmed more deeply than by the heat. Hope patted Sirius’ chest where a faded rainbow twelve was printed on his t-shirt. Remus was going to steal that thing as soon as he took it off.

“What a party!” Hope grinned. “Is someone grilling? Thought I smelled it.”

Remus nodded. “Yeah, they got this restaurant downtown to bring BBQ.”

“Is there ice cream?” Julian said, huffing. “I’m hot.”

Sirius plucked at his jersey jokingly. “Mais, ouais, it’s almost ninety!”

Hope laughed, and put a hand on Julian’s back. “I’ll get him cooled off. Your dad’s around here somewhere with Pascal. Meet you on the float in ten. And make sure you’re wearing sunscreen!”

Remus watched his family wind their way through the colorful, crowded streets, felt Sirius’ fingers lace through his own, and smiled.

The sun did beat down hot, but Remus didn’t mind so much, not when they were filed onto the float that was equipped with a red and gold Lions head roaring at the front and rainbow streamers at the back, like an extension of the mane. The Cup sat on a high pedestal between them, strapped in shining.

The crowd was wild. People were hanging out of the tall parking garage that lined one side. The pavement was painted in thick strips of rainbow in some places, and red and gold in others.

Gryffindor loved their Lions. It almost made Remus want to cry, seeing how happy Sirius was. Half of the team was on their float, some of them walking beside. Remus spotted Logan sporting a rainbow brimmed hat walking with Kasey and returned the peace sign Logan sent up.

“Everyone is decked out, man,” James shouted in Remus’ ear from beside him, Harry on his hip. He and Lily had returned in time for Finn’s birthday. He was wearing a Lions Pride shirt, and Harry had a tiny one to match and a sunhat that practically covered his entire body that Lily kept coming over to adjust. James grinned. “Damn. Good Cup Day.”

“It’s not my Cup Day,” Remus laughed. “But I do sort of feel like this is my day.”

James just smiled, pointing at people for Harry to wave at. “Maybe won’t have to make that distinction next year, eh? Look, Har, see the flags? You want one, bud?”

“Re,” Sirius leaned in, and Remus felt his hand on his back. “Want to walk a bit?”

Remus nodded, eyes finding where Leo, Jackson, Evgeni, and Olli were walking together, keeping time with the floats and talking to the crowd. Leo had a rainbow flag painted on one cheek, Natalie’s work.

Remus felt for his own hat, flipping the colorful brim backwards as he hopped down.

“Hey,” Jackson grinned, throwing an arm around Remus’ shoulders. Evgeni had one of Sergei’s daughters in his arms, chatting with the crowd. He wasn’t wearing Jackson’s rainbow-striped shirt, but it looked like one of the kids had stuck two stickers on one of his cheeks that he wasn’t bothering removing. Remus wondered if he was worried, about his family, or his country, like he had told Sirius. It sent a wave of thankfulness through him, the fact that he was here.

“Nado,” Remus hugged Jackson. “Jesus, seriously, what did you do this summer? You look fit, man.”

“You see him,” Evgeni called over, handing a sharpie back to someone wrapped almost entirely in a flag covered with glitter. “Stare in the mirror, in love.”

“I don’t,” Jackson protested.

Evgeni just shrugged, spinning Sergei’s daughter around. “I’m see you.”

“Well, hand some over,” Remus said.

Jackson just gave him a shake. “You’re going to make the team.”

“Maybe,” Remus groaned out a laugh, knocking him away.

“No maybes,” Sirius said, sidling up to Remus’ side and replacing Jackson’s arm.

“Sirius! Cap!” someone called, and Remus felt Sirius tense a little, as he always did in crowds, or media.

The person calling had short brown hair and seemed to have tailored a loose jersey of Sirius’ into a form-fitting dress. The sleeves were cut and hemmed by the twelves on the sleeves.

“Salut!” they said, accent stiff, and laughed. “I tried.”

That seemed to ease Sirius a little, and Remus tugged him to a stop.

“Salut,” Sirius smiled. “Wow, that’s my jersey?”

They nodded, eyes sliding over to Remus. “It is. My girlfriend was hoping to have a Lupin one so we can match, but…”

The girl beside her, black hair tucked up in a bandana, smiled and threw her hands up. “When are they stocking those! I have two hundred bucks I’m ready to drop, I mean, let’s go before I second guess myself!”

Remus laughed. “Oh man, I’ve been there.”

“With my jersey, ouais?” Sirius grinned was teasing as he signed an autograph and Remus blushed.

“Here,” Sirius took out his phone. “You can give me your phone number, if you’re okay with it, and I’ll get you one? Yeah?”

“Oh…are you kidding?” the girl put a hand over her mouth. “Oh my God, I…yes, Cap, you can have my phone number, sure fucking thing.”

They moved along the crowd easily. Sirius grabbed the Cup at one point, walking it along for people to touch just as their entire team had in June. Remus stayed well away.

“No jinxes here,” an older man in a Lions Pride shirt laughed, his arm around his son. He held out his hand. “My entire family’s been Lions fans for generations. Glad to have you on the team.”

His son, the very image of his father, smiled and tentatively held out a sharpie. “Would you sign my shirt? I’ve seen your tapes and everything, I…you’re my favorite. I was thinking about getting out of hockey before you.”

Remus blinked. “I…” he took the sharpie, swallowing around the tightness in his throat. “I’m glad you’re staying. Are you a defenseman?”

He lit up. “How’d you know?”

Remus shrugged, smiling. “You hold yourself like one.”

“I hope that’s a good thing!” Remus heard Olli call from a little ways down.

He laughed. “How did you hear that?”

Remus signed the boy’s shirt, thanked him, and jogged a little to catch up with Sirius.

“I’ll take that,” Jackson grinned, and plucked the Cup from Sirius’ grasp.

“It’s my Cup Day!” Sirius laughed, but wrapped his arm around Remus instead. “Hi.”

“That was my first signature,” Remus said softly, to Sirius only, and Sirius squeezed his shoulders.

“The first of many.”

It was a bit of a blur after that. Natalie brought them ice cream and cold lemonade, which turned Sirius’ kisses even sweeter when they made it back home, out of the heat and stumbling, happy and sun-kissed. Sirius’ entrance hall was dark to Remus’ unadjusted eyes, and he focused on his palms, splayed over Sirius’ broad back. He yelped when a voice rang out from the living room.

“We’re on the couch!” Regulus shouted. “Just so you know!”

Sirius broke the kiss, looking flushed and dazed. “What…why?”

“I live here!” Regulus’ voice called back.

Remus suppressed a smile, and leaned his forehead against Sirius’ chest, trying to calm his breathing and any flush of arousal that had been beginning to stir up.

“Fuck,” Sirius swore. “How did he get home before us?”

“Who’s we?” Remus called out.

“Howdy,” Leo’s voice came.

Sirius sighed. “It’s my Cup Day.”

Remus gave his hip a short pat before walking down the hallway and rounding the corner to find Leo and Regulus slouched on the couch, AC on full blast.

“Right,” Remus nodded. “You’re suppose to be helping Reg pack for school.”

Regulus glanced up from his phone. “There’s twenty different gifs of you jumping down from the float and turning his hat backwards on Twitter.”

Remus blinked. “What?” He didn’t even remember doing that.

Leo nodded, crunching a potato chip. “And we’ve only been looking for ten minutes.”

“Huh,” Sirius said, turning towards the kitchen. He stopped, hesitated for a moment, and turned back. “Let me see.”

Remus huffed out a laugh. “I need water.”

“Donne-moi!” Sirius demanded of Regulus, grabbing for his phone.

“You have your own phone!” Remus made out Regulus’ reply in French.

Remus filled his glass, downed in, and was filling it again when Leo came into the kitchen, rolling his eyes and smiling.

“Thought I’d leave the brothers to fight. Can’t believe I used to be scared of both of them.”

Remus laughed, too. “Right?”

Remus watched Leo grab a glass, spinning his own slowly around on the counter. “Are you…”

Leo glanced up. “Hm?”

Remus took a breath. “Tell me if I’m overstepping, but I know today must’ve been a little…” he took his hat off, the colorful bill bright against the dark stone of the counter.

Leo nodded in understanding, sliding onto a stool. “It wasn’t…hard. It was actually good to see all of the support. I could see it in Finn and Logan, too. Logan is nervous.” He nodded to himself. “More nervous than me and Finn. Understandably. I mean, you know how long he and Finn…” Leo shook his head. “I was happy he got to see that. And Finn was happy, I know, too. Maybe we’ll start making plans. I mean, this summer was just fucking heaven. Just being together. Like, I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy.”

“Me too,” Remus sat on the stool beside him. They smiled at each other, then laughed. “I’m happy for you guys.”

“I am, too,” Leo grinned. “All right, I think me and Reg have to actually put his clothes in suitcases now.”

“Good luck.”

“That boy owns, like, five t-shirts,” Leo drained his glass and put it in the sink. “Shouldn’t be too hard.”

Remus grabbed a third glass and followed Leo back into the living room where they found Sirius leaning over the back of the couch, squinting at Regulus’ phone. He did a double take when he spotted Remus.

“Hey, where’s your hat?”

Remus snorted. “I’m not a twitter gif. C’mon, I need a shower.”

Regulus raised a teasing eyebrow. “And you need him for that?”

Remus stuck out his tongue. “Yeah.”

Sirius flicked the back of Regulus’ head. “Go pack.”

Remus tugged his t-shirt off on their way up the stairs. “That was wonderful, but fuck do I wish it wasn’t a thousand degrees.”

“I don’t know,” came Sirius’ reply from behind him as they entered their bedroom, followed by his hands on Remus’ hips and his lips against his neck. “When it’s hot, your hair sticks to your neck just…” he kissed just by Remus’ ear gently. “Here.”

Remus bit back a smile. “With sweat.”

“It’s handsome, I think.”

Remus laughed, turning in Sirius’ arms. He was summer tan and happy. Remus didn’t think he’d ever get tired of seeing that grin, one that was more and more present lately. Sirius laughed and made small talk with fans who asked for pictures—even today, he had seemed to almost enjoy the crowds and the media. Remus touched his number twelve necklace. He brought it to his lips. “You’re handsome.”

They stepped into the shower together and stood in the peace and quiet of the beating down water, turned cool against their heated skin. Remus rested his head against Sirius’ chest, and smiled when he felt Sirius lace their fingers together. It wasn’t exactly a new thing anymore, but it still felt new. It had been that way when James, Lily, and Harry had first arrived home and Sirius had done it on the table between them at the restaurant, just as it had been early in June, when Sirius had done it while they waiting in line to board their plane.

Remus looked up, squeezing his hand, and Sirius bent to take Remus’ mouth against his own again. It was softer, but Remus felt just as giddy from the day’s events. A parade. A Cup Day.

He wanted one of his own.

“Love you, mon loup,” he smiled. “Thank you for today.”

Remus ran his hand over Sirius’ broad shoulders. “I didn’t do anything.”

“You did everything,” Sirius whispered back. “You are part of me allowing myself things.”

Remus felt his expression soften.

“Heather explained it that way,” Sirius said. “I thought it was well put.”

Heather, the team’s sports psychiatrist. Remus had only actually met her a few times, but Sirius valued her highly, had called her a few times during the off season.

“I like it, too,” he said, and let Sirius pull him close again.

They threw the windows open to let the cooling breeze in once they were back downstairs, and Sirius put steaks on the grill for the two of them.

“Where’d Reg and Nut go?” Sirius asked.

“I think out with some of the boys,” Remus said, and followed as Sirius went back out to the patio. He notched his hip against the door frame. “Hey, do you want to go to the rink tomorrow? All this Cup talk has got me wanting to skate, like, now.”

Sirius tilted his head back and laughed. “With you? Always.”

Remus grinned and padded back over to the counter where the salad was waiting for dressing.

“I’m glad we didn’t end up having everyone over,” Remus said as he tossed it. “As much as I love them.”

Sirius hummed, sliding the screen door of the deck closed. He set the plate and tongs down before wrapping his arms around Remus.

“As much as I love them,” he repeated quietly, lips brushing against Remus’ neck. “I want you all to myself right now.”

Remus leaned back against him. “My thoughts exactly, baby.”

Sirius smiled against his skin. “Glad we’re on the same page. Vanilla hater.”

Remus pinched his arm. “Pineapple hater.”

~

Cole woke up to the smell of bacon and eggs wafting down to his room from the kitchen—and Katie Dumais curled up at the foot of his bed.

He jumped a little, and then sat up slowly. It took him a moment to realize that she wasn’t asleep, but that she was fiddling with a little charm bracelet, her eyes down.

He cleared his throat. “Uh, hi, Katie.”

She looked up, and a grin lit up her face. “Mom says breakfast is ready. I didn’t want to wake you up, even though she told me to.”

He sat up a little more. “How long ago was that?”

Katie wrinkled her nose. “Maybe four hours?”

Cole blinked, and picked up his phone from his nightstand. It was eight-thirty. He glanced back at Katie.

“Can you tell time?” he asked slowly.

“Not really,” she sighed happily, and kept fiddling with her bracelet. “You still have rainbow paint on your face.”

Cole laughed, rubbing a hand over his cheek, where Lily Potter had painted a flag the day before, for the parade. Where the Stanley Cup had been.

It still all felt surreal to say.

“Okay. Um, tell her I’ll be up in a second, okay?”

Katie nodded. “Okay!”

Cole listened to her footsteps scamper all the way up the stairs before he flopped back down on his pillows and chuckled to himself. He gave his teeth a quick brush and followed.

“Bon matin,” Celeste smiled as she flipped a few more pieces of bacon onto a plate. “How did you sleep? I think that heat yesterday tired everyone out.”

Cole slid onto a stool beside Marc and Louis, Katie to his right. “Really good, thanks.”

“The air conditioner isn’t acting up again?” Celeste asked. “Logan was always having trouble with that thing.”

“It didn’t turn on right away, but I fixed it,” Cole smiled when she set a steaming plate of eggs, bacon and fruit in front of him, and then another plate with toast. “My mom’s big with her tool kit, so, I mean, if you ever need anything around the house, I know some stuff. Just so I can…help out. Thank you for letting me stay.”

Celeste beamed. “Oh, sweetheart, we’re not just letting you stay. We’re very happy you’re here. Someone your age shouldn’t be alone, especially with all the pressure that comes with this job. But I will absolutely take you up on that. You wouldn’t know how to build me some planters, would you? Pascal bought the wood ages ago,” she turned back to the sink, waving a spatula. “Always saying he will take care of it, and yet there it sits!”

Cole laughed softly. “Yeah, I can do that. Sounds good.”

“Well, good,” Celeste smiled, pulling her purse over her shoulder. “Now, Pascal is with Sergei for an ice session—which you’re always invited to, he says, by the way—I’m taking Louis to tennis, and Marc to space camp. Layla will be here soon, but do you mind looking after Katie until she gets here? Adele’s up in her room if you have any questions. She’ll know.”

Cole nodded, trying to swallow the eggs quickly. “Of course. No problem.”

Celeste smiled. “She loves you enough already, she’ll be no trouble.”

“She’s always trouble,” Louis mumbled.

Celeste tisked, but kissed his head. “Come on, up. Cole, you have some of the boys’ numbers, too, right?”

“Um,” Cole thought of Sirius Black’s number in his phone from when he called him. “Yes?”

“Good. I know you don’t have a car yet, and you’re always welcomed to ours when it’s available, but if you ever need a ride anywhere, I’m sure any one of them will drive you.”

Cole, for the life of him, didn’t think he would ever be able to bring himself to call Sirius Black up and ask him to drive him to, what, Target? Jesus.

“Right,” Cole tried for a smile and knew it came out nervous. “Thanks.”

Katie did turn out to be a pretty easy kid. Even if she did seem to switch activities at a rapid pace. She drew, and then she watched half of a TV show, and then she was hungry, but she did all of it herself. After less than 30 minutes she had parked both of them on the couch where they were stringing beads for necklaces.

“I’ll make you Lions colors,” she said seriously.

That had been Cole’s best—and only—idea. He glanced at the multi-colored kit. “What colors do you want?”

“Surprise me.”

Cole smiled. “All right. What’s your charm bracelet?” He nodded to the small silver ring around her wrist.

“It’s from Tremzy,” Katie thrust her wrist forward. “He gets me one every one of my birthdays. There’s a hockey stick, because we love hockey, and an ice cream cone, because we love ice cream, and this is a book because we read together, and—”

There was the ding that told Cole that Layla had arrived, coming in from the garage, and Katie was off again.

“Hi,” Cole said, leaning against the kitchen doorframe.

Layla looked up from trying to put her things down and hug Katie at the same time. “Hey, Cole.”

“How’s it going?” Cole asked, feeling decidedly more prepared this time. Layla was in a green tank-top today, but her same shorts and gold rings.

“Busy,” she laughed. “I actually have my first orientation this evening, at the rink.”

Cole nodded. “Nice. I’ve never actually been inside. Well, not yet, I guess.”

Layla straightened at that. “Well…I’m driving over once Celeste gets home, just to see the place first.” She seemed to take a breath. “Do you want to come with?”

~

They didn’t have full gear, but the chilled rink was a relief against the sweat they worked up anyway. Remus borrowed a helmet—his own hadn’t been sent out yet—and used his old, worn in CCM skates.

“I can still beat you in these,” Remus panted as he skated backwards, tapping the puck back and forth and trying to gauge which way Sirius was going to dodge first.

“Oh, I know,” Sirius said, then lifted his right foot and went left.

Remus knocked the puck out of his stick towards the boards, and it sent them both chasing it.

“You use that trick too much!” Remus laughed, it echoing across the empty rink, as he shoved Sirius against the glass, the puck trapped between his skate blade and the foot of the boards.

“What about this one?” Sirius said, and turned to press their mouths together. Remus smiled into it, and it was enough to allow Sirius to steal the puck back.

“No!” Remus laughed as Sirius carried the puck expertly across the blue line, winding his stick up and taking a deadly slap shot, notching it perfectly in the upper left corner of the empty goal.

He dropped to a knee, sliding into a celebration before wrapping around the goal with a final whoop and crashing back into Remus for another kiss.

“Wanna run plays?” Sirius asked. “I’ll be your center if you’ll be my winger.”

Remus smiled as they reset themselves, pushing the used pucks towards the boards. “That might not happen.”

“Maybe I have more pull than you think.”

Remus raised an eyebrow. “Not that much, baby. What’s going to happen is I’ll start on the fourth line, go from there. Anything else and every journalist in the city would go batshit crazy.”

Sirius just scooped another puck into the goal, then hooked his arms over his stick, the body behind his neck. “Wouldn’t be our first time causing that.”

Remus smiled. “True.” He nudged Sirius towards center ice. “Face-off.”

Sirius took his helmet off to push his hair back. “Let’s do it.”

Remus was just tugging off his shirt, smiling as he listened to Sirius rattle of plans for the season, when he heard two voices laughing from the hallway. Sirius’ smile dropped, and he narrowed his eyes at the door.

“Don’t know,” Sirius said. “Hey, where are we meeting the guys for—”

“Should we check out the locker room?” one of the outside voices said—higher. “Do you think it’s open?”

“Non,” Sirius mumbled under his breath, grabbing for the back of his own shirt.

The door opened hesitantly at first, then wider, revealing Layla and Cole.

Cole flushed, and Layla’s mouth opened, then closed.

“Oh my god,” she said. “Sorry, we didn’t think…”

Remus glanced at Sirius, but when he didn’t say anything, just pretending to fiddle grumpily with his bag, he waved them off.

“Hey, we were just swinging by for a quick skate. It’s not our locker room,” he smiled. “Well, not only ours. You guys have the same idea?”

“Not skating, maybe,” Layla replied, twisting one of her braids around her finger. She looked up at Cole, who still looked like he thought he was in the wrong place, and smiled. “But neither of us have really gotten to look around yet, so, we thought we would.”

Remus smiled, using his dirty t-shirt to wipe sweat from his brow. “Nice. Well, maybe Cap and I can give you a tour or something some time.”

Sirius glanced up. “Marls does that.”

Remus tried to send Sirius a look with his eyes, but Sirius just glanced mournfully towards what Remus thought might be the video review room.

“Well…” Remus said hesitantly.

“We’ll keep looking around,” Layla said quickly. “See you guys around.”

Remus watched them to make sure the door was closed, then turned and punched Sirius in the arm.

“Quoi?” Sirius asked.

“Grumpy.”

“I liked it just us,” Sirius mumbled. “I thought we could plan plays or—or watch tape.”

Remus laughed, pressing his forehead to Sirius’ chest. “You’re such a baby.”

One corner of Sirius’ mouth raised. “So?”

“You wanted the rookie to stop making moon eyes at you,” Remus said. “Here’s your chance.”

“D’accord,” Sirius’ grin spread as he gathered Remus closer by his hips. “But will you keep making moon eyes at me?”

Remus leaned up for a gentle kiss. “I’m going to ask them to lunch. Wait here, Captain, you scare the rookie.”

“I don’t,” Sirius sighed, and Remus pushed out the locker room door.

“Hey,” Remus jogged to catch up as Cole and Layla turned at his voice. “Us and some of the other guys are planning to get lunch. How about it? You, too, Layla.”

Layla blinked. “Seriously?”

Remus laughed. “Team lunch isn’t a team lunch without the PT. Or, one of them, at least.”

Layla grinned. “Right. Well, I’d love to.”

Cole nodded quickly. “I—yeah. Yeah, cool. That rooftop place again?”

“You’re already picking up on team favorites, I see.”

Cole smiled sheepishly. “Kuny makes us go there every time.”

“It’s the sushi,” Remus laughed. “He’s a man obsessed. Well, cool. Meet you there in twenty?”

Layla jingled her keys. “See you there.”

“Sushi,” Evgeni all but moaned as he picked up a piece of yellowtail.

“Jesus, Kuns,” Jackson said. “You can’t eat all of that by yourself.”

Evgeni was chewing with his eyes closed. “You don’t know.”

“All right,” Thomas leaned forward, folding his sunglasses into his shirt in the shade of their umbrella. “What do we think this season, boys? Predictions, let me hear them.”

They all looked to Sirius first, who leaned back in his chair, one arm over the back of Remus’. He took a sip of his iced tea.

“Rangers,” he said finally.

“Uh-huh,” James nodded.

“Same,” Layla said, taking a spoonful of her miso soup.

“Caps, maybe,” Sirius continued.

“Definitely,” Remus said.

“I’m feeling Avs?” Thomas offered. “And I don’t want to say Snakes, but…yuck.”

“More like Vegas,” Remus said.

The table paused, and Remus just shook his head.

“It’s true,” he said, glancing at Cole and Layla, trying to decide if they’d noticed the shift in the air. He had to be able to talk about this. About him. "They’re deep this year.”

“Yeah,” Cole said softly. “Greyback’s killer.”

Remus felt the entire table tense and felt immediately guilty. Cole didn’t know what he had said, and Remus all but watched him wonder if he’d said something wrong.

“And us,” Thomas grinned, slapping Cole on the back. “We’ve got Lupin now. We’ve got Reyes.”

Remus rolled his eyes, but laughed. He tried to express his thanks silently, and Thomas winked at him.

This felt different. He had known it would. Team dinners would be his dinners now, not a friendly tag-along invite. Driving to practice with Sirius, they would go through almost the same routine, not split off for his office and the locker room. These were his teammates. He’d win and lose with them, and they with him, in a way they hadn’t before. Sitting there, in the sunshine that was going to turn colder, Remus looked forward to a year of this.

[cherrycocaineee]

13. Dean Winchester - Confession

    Bobby was sitting at his desk flipping through the millions of dusty, old, torn books he had collected over the years when I came down the stairs, carrying my purse along my shoulder. The sound of my small feet thumping against his creaky wooden floors caused him to look at me. He was already drinking scotch this early in the morning and the tired, purple bags under his eyes proved that he had a restless night just like usual. I smiled sympathetically at him as I approached, getting a large whiff of the liquor he was pouring down his throat. I could hardly count the number of times I’ve warned him and the boys about drinking so much, yet they never listened. Though I didn’t really expect them to, considering all of the things they’ve seen in their lifetime.

  “Where are you off to?” He asked, pouring himself another glass of scotch.

 “We’re low on groceries,” I hummed, “so I’m going down to the market to pick some stuff up. I’ll make breakfast when I come back, okay?”

   “I’ll hold ya to that. You need any money?”

 I shook my head and patted the side of my purse before leaving for the market. It wasn’t a long trip, it was literally a block from where Bobby lived. When I arrived at the small, yet vibrant place, I inhaled the sweet scent of freshly picked produce and other aromas. Inside I pushed the basket around and collected everything we needed for the house: fresh produce, meats, bread, eggs, and much more. Considering how much fast food I use while travelling with the boys, I was happy to find a place that sold freshly grown fruits and vegetables, and freshly cut chops of meat, and more. I spent an hour in total at the market before paying for my groceries and heading back to the house.

  While carrying all of the paper bags inside, I could hear talking going on inside. I shook it off as Bobby being on the phone and continued.

  “Bobby, I’m home,” I called, “I’m about to start breakfast, so why don’t you trade that scotch in for a cup of coffee.”

  The voices from the other room quieted down just as I placed the groceries on the kitchen table. I walked out of the kitchen and saw Bobby standing in the middle of the room with none other than Dean and Sam. My eyes widened at the sight of them. The last time I saw Sam was when he jumped into the cage, holding Lucifer in and knocking Michael inside too. And Dean, well, I hadn’t seen him since he went to live with Lisa and Ben. It had hurt a lot when he left too, not wanting to stay with Bobby. Not wanting to stay with me. But I didn’t make a big deal about it despite being madly in love with him. Though I’d never tell him that since he was in love with Lisa.

  “Hey, Persephone,” Sam and Dean said simultaneously, making my eyes water.

  “Hey,” I whispered, a smile forming on my face.

  I walked over to them and embraced them both, feeling their large, muscular arms wrap around my thin frame as they held me close. As I pulled away from the hug, Lisa popped her head around the corner. My chest was tightening as I saw Dean walk over to her. They went off to speak to one another, I cleared my throat and turned my attention to Sam.

  “When did you get back from hell?” I asked.

  From the look on his face and the way he was rubbing the back of his neck with his rough hands, I knew there was something he wasn’t sure he wanted to tell me. Or at least the truth anyway. But he decided that he’d tell me in the end.

 “A year, actually,” he muttered.

  My forest green eyes widened at his words. I spent the next fifteen minutes tearing a new one into both Sam and Bobby, who had been hiding this from me the entire year, then returned to the kitchen to cook breakfast. There was a mix of frustration, betrayal, and other emotions mixing up inside of me as I started scrambling the eggs and cooking the sausage and bacon. Quiet sizzling could be heard throughout the kitchen, masking the sound of my humming while I cooked. As I was moving on to the coffee, I heard footsteps coming from behind me so I swirled around to see Dean walking in. He didn’t look too happy either.

  “Did you just find out that Sam’s been back for a year too?” I questioned, throwing away the old coffee grounds into the trash.

 “Well yes,” he stated, “but that’s not while I’m upset.”

  I had started plating the food by then, starting off with Ben’s since he was here and was probably hungry.

  “What’s going on?”

  I set a cup of coffee down in front of him.

  “Sam needs my help hunting a Djinn,” he answered, “and I’m worried because the things might come after Lisa and Ben.”

  Honestly, I should have seen that coming. Sam, despite being back from hell, wouldn’t have asked Dean for help if it wasn’t life or death. It made me wonder if they’d only come to drop off Dean's family or to ask me to help. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t jealous of Lisa, in fact, I was happy for her and Dean. It just hurt every time I saw them together.

  “So that’s why you brought them to Bobby’s,” I whispered, buttering some fresh French bread, “so we could watch them while you guys hunted the Djinn?”

  “Well actually,” Dean said, placing his cup on the table, “just for Bobby to watch them. You’re coming with us right?”

  A small, sad smile appeared on my face as I lifted up Bobby’s plate while shaking my head.

 “I don’t hunt anymore, Dean. When Sam jumped into that cage and you left to go live with Lisa and Ben, the two of you left me behind. So I just stopped hunting. Now I just clean up and cook while studying.”

  “Studying?”

  “I started going back to school. Granted it’s online but I figured I might as well get an education.”

  It was silent between us, so I just walked away and headed towards Bobby with his breakfast. He was sitting at his desk once again when I arrived and graciously welcomed the warm food. I went back into the kitchen, where Dean was still sitting, and picked up the plate for Ben then headed upstairs to give it to him.

  Lisa was unpacking their overnight bags when I reached the room they were staying in. Ben was sitting on the bed, playing some video game on his gaming device. Tapping on the door, I caught their attention and smiled welcomingly.

  “Hey,” I said, “I’m Persephone, a friend of Sam and Dean’s. I made your son some breakfast if he’d like to eat.”

  A smile appeared on her face in return, “thank you, Persephone. I’m Lisa and this is Ben.”

  I didn’t tell her that I already knew her name, that would be rude. Instead, I shook her hand and placed Ben’s food down on one of the nightstands. He thanked me and started shoveling food inside his mouth fast. It reminded me of how Dean would eat when he was in a rush. Swallowing the forming lump inside my throat, I left the two of them to finish unpacking. Halfway down the stairs, I froze and gripped the railing tight. My heart felt like it was racing, tears were streaming down my cheek as I tried to collect myself. Wiping away the unwanted water leaks, I sighed softly and went downstairs. Sam and Dean were getting ready to leave when I made it to the main room. The two Winchester brother’s faced me when I entered.

  “You sure you don’t want to come, Perse?” Sam inquired.

 I held up my hands and giggled, “no thanks. You guys be safe.”

  I hugged them tightly, almost relaxing when I felt the safety of their embrace. They said a final goodbye to Bobby and I then left for wherever it was they were going to hunt this monster. Bobby returned to his breakfast and I went into the kitchen to pack up the leftovers and clean up. Once the kitchen was tidied up, I headed back upstairs to my room to get some reading done. I had some homework assignments that were in desperate need of doing before midnight tomorrow and I liked to stay ahead of the clock.

  Hours and hours passed before I finally passed out while reading my book. No dreams occupied my slumber while I napped, however, I was eventually awakened by the sound of someone knocking on my door. Stirring around in my covers, both eyes pried themselves open and stared at the dimly lit ceiling before looking to my right and seeing it was well past three o’clock in the morning. Another knock echoed throughout the room and I finally dragged myself out of the comforting quilt and onto the assaulting, cold floor. I rubbed my eyes to wipe the sleep away and pulled the door open. Lisa was standing on the other side, holding a plate in her hand.

  “Bobby said that you were up here studying, and you missed dinner,” she said, “did I wake you?”

 “Yeah,” I groggily whispered, “but it’s okay.”

  I took the plate from her and saw that she had cooked some chicken noodle soup. It smelled great, reminding me of my early years in life when I still lived with my mom. She followed me inside of the room as I sat criss crossed on my bed with the soup in hand, smelling the melted butter on the toast. My eyes met the clock once again and was astonished to see that I had slept and studied for such a long time. It felt like only seconds ago that it was morning and I had just finished cooking breakfast.

 “Persephone,” Lisa said while I slurped the soup up, “I’m sure you’re aware of the things Sam and Dean do, right?”

  “Of course,” I answered before scooping another spoonful of soup in my mouth.

 “How were you okay with it? I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love Dean and I understand that he’s gotta do what he has to, but sometimes I worry that he’ll come home hurt or something will follow him home.”

   Though there was a ping in my chest when she said she loved Dean, I couldn’t help but smile at how worried she was for him. It was something that he definitely needed since he was always worrying about other people. I placed the plate onto the empty nightstand and scooted closer to the edge of the bed, patting the spot next to me. When Lisa sat down, I took her hands into my own.

  “It’s a lot to process,” I whispered, “when I met Sam and Dean, I was so unsure about leaving everything I knew to travel with them and fight all of those monsters. But I know deep down in my heart that they would never let people they love get hurt and they’ll die trying to protect those they consider family. Especially Dean. What you can do for him, is just be there, even if it’s hard. Because at the end of the day, he needs that most of all.”

   The two of us shared a hug before she agreed she would do her best to make Dean feel loved and secure. After saying goodnight to me, she retreated back to her room, closing the door behind her. When she was out of sight, I grabbed my soup again and slowly started slurping it up again. It was comforting knowing that she would be taking care of Dean. Once he came back, I’d persuade him to go back with Lisa, telling him that he deserved to be with someone that made him happy.

   The next day came quickly and I hadn’t fallen back asleep after my conversation with Lisa, so I spent the rest of the entire night reading. Soft, illuminating rays of sunshine burst through the clear, white curtains in my room as I finished throwing on a short-sleeve, white, shirt that only tied close. Running my fingers through my brushed hair, I fixed up any lumps that were visible.

  Bobby was asleep at his desk when I reached downstairs, so I went over to him and wrapped a blanket around his snoring body. Picking up his almost empty bottle of scotch, I carried it back to the kitchen to put it away and make a new pot of coffee. Wanting nothing more than to sit outside with a non-school book and my delicious morning nectar, reading as the sun played against my pale skin. There was no telling when Sam and Dean would be home, along with there being no way of knowing when they would wake up. So I wanted to get in as much peace and quiet as possible before the day began.

  With the coffee cup in my right hand and a good book in the other, I sat on the back of one of Bobby’s rundown cars and started reading. Four chapters in and I was already getting up to make myself a second cup of joe. Just as I slipped off the back of the rusted car, Dean and Sam pulled up. The sun was only just inching towards the middle of the sky when they arrived. Both climbing out of their seats, I noticed that they were not only tired but relieved.

  “How’d it go?” I inquired, “seemed pretty quick.”

 “It went fine,” Sam replied, “except Dean’s got a big slash on his arm. They came right at us.”

   I went over to Dean and saw that he had wrapped his cut in a cloth but the blood was still leaking through. Clicking my tongue, I shook my head while leading the two of them inside. Sam explained on the way that they had figured that the Djinn were targeting both of them, so they went back to Dean’s home and waited there. When Dean noticed that his friends and neighbors were being killed, he ran to help and ended up almost dying. But Sam helped him. The fight raged on but in the end, the Winchester boys came out on top. Sam went to wash up while I started taking care of Dean’s wound.

  With the First Aid Kit laying beside me on the kitchen table, I unwrapped his wound and gulped at the sight of it. Dean chuckled.

  “Makes you miss the old days, huh?” He laughed.

 “Not really,” I giggled, “a lot of it may have been great but watching the two people I cared the most about get injured was never easy.”

  “It was never easy watching you get hurt either.”

 I cleaned up the wound and sprayed some of the cleaning solution on it causing Dean to wince. It made me laugh because of how soft he had become in the last year. After rewrapping the wound in a proper bandage, I threw everything else away and put the first aid kit back in its rightful spot. When I looked back at him, I saw that he was staring at his hands.

  “Are you thinking about leaving Lisa and Ben?” I asked, returning to the table.

  “I’m not sure,” he stated, “if I leave them, more monsters could show up looking for me and hurt them, but if I stay then even more monsters will show up and hurt them to get to me.”

  “But at least you’d be there to protect them.”

 His perfect, bright green eyes met my own darker, emerald ones.

  “If you left Lisa and Ben today, then you would never be able to forgive yourself if they got hurt without you being there. However, I know, and Lisa knows, that you would do anything for the people you love. So maybe you being there is what’s best right now.”

   The words seemed to sink in before he nodded in agreement.

 “Then it’s settled. I’ll be going back with Lisa and Ben when they wake up.”

   I squeezed his shoulder and sat down at the table. Running a shaking hand through my hair as a soft sigh left my lips. I don’t know what came over me, all of a sudden I felt that maybe I should say something to him if this was the last time I’d see him. I had no intention of breaking him and Lisa up but I couldn’t keep it to myself anymore. It was practically tearing me up inside.

  “Dean, there’s something I need to tell you before you go,” I whispered.

 “What is it?” He asked, his eyes never wavering away from me.

  My palms felt sweaty and my throat felt drier than I had ever felt before. Taking a deep breath, I faced him and smiled. I chickened out.

  “I’m going to miss you.”

  I went to go back to my room, but Dean grabbed my wrist stopping me from leaving. I clenched my fist tight and turned around, not ready to face him because I knew he could read my face like a book. He stood there holding my arm, not tight but not lightly so I would stay there.

  “That’s definitely not what you were going to say,” he said, “tell me.”

  With a final deep breath, I nodded my head, “I love you.”

  His eyes widened and he dropped my hand, letting it drop to my side. I felt it sway before coming to a slow stop. Then I held it to defend myself.

  “I’m not saying this to break you and Lisa up,” I said, “I want you to go with her and be there for Ben. But I also wanted to let you know, in case we never saw each other again.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” He croaked, and I thought that I could see tears in his eyes.

 I could only shrug my shoulders, “with everything going on, it just didn’t feel right. And then you wanted to go live with Lisa after Sam was gone so I just never told you.”

   Our conversation was interrupted by Ben and Lisa running into the kitchen, Bobby walking behind them, and embracing Dean. They were happy that he had come home with hardly any injuries. Dean wrapped his arms around them both but he was staring at me. I smiled sweetly, holding my hands in front of me while watching them be reunited. Lisa and Ben were ready to go home with Dean, and even though I knew Dean wanted to stay and talk more about what I had just confessed, I helped push him out the door. If he stayed any longer, I was definitely going to want him to stay forever. But I couldn’t be selfish. Sam, Bobby, and I stood at the front door and waved as the three of them drove off. When they were out of sight, my hand dropped. I felt Bobby place his hand on my shoulder and look at me with understanding.

  I wasn’t sure when the next time I would see Dean again, but I knew that it wasn’t going to be any time soon. And if I was being honest, I didn’t want to see him again. He needed to be with Lisa.

[isthisthingeven0n]

too little too late : j.w

brief summary: after an argument with jeff, you refuse to leave your bedroom and lock him out until he apologises for his actions (1k)

requested: yes by an anon!  warnings: angsty , but a happy ending i promise 

all my links

(everything on my blog is my own writing. if it is shared on another page or website know it hasn’t been approved me unless specified. all rights reserved. - i have to start doing this as I had some shit on my other blog with plagiarism)

DO NOT STEAL MY WORK - IT IS ALL MY OWN WRITING

“I just don’t fucking care! What about that don’t you understand?” Jeff yells, unable to stop the scoff leaving his lips as silence falls between you both.

There had been plenty of times in his life where Jeff knew he took things too far, scraped on the edge of humour into hurt. But he should’ve known looking at you after he raised his voice and saw tears brimming in your eyes he’d definitely taken it too far.

“I’m sorry, Y/n,” Jeff speaks softly as you shake your head, walking toward him.

A sliver of hope lines in Jeff’s heart as you stretch your arms out, resting them on his chest. “Get out.” You mutter and push with all your might causing Jeff to lose the last bit of hope that he hadn’t ruined things.

“Y/n, please,” Jeff tries to talk, but you ignore him until he’s stepping backwards, giving in as you slam the bedroom door in his face, turning the lock to ensure privacy. “fuck.” Resting his head against the door, Jeff sighs as he can hear you crying on the other side of the door, alone.

Turning away in defeat, Jeff walks with his tail between his legs into the living room to see several faces greeting him.

“What?” Jeff asks as Zane sighs whilst Heath and Matt lower their heads. Todd is the only person to look Jeff in the eyes as he shakes his head.

“You really didn’t hold back there.” Jonah comments as he walks into the living room from the kitchen, Nerf following behind him. “We could all hear you from out here.”

“You all heard that?” Jeff questions quietly, shame beginning to cloud his mind as Todd rises to his feet.

Patting Jeff's shoulder, Todd walks toward the spare bedroom as Jeff follows. Once the door is closed, Todd leans against it before turning to face his friend.

“Why would you say all that to Y/n?” Todd doesn’t hesitate to ask as he rests his hands on his hips whilst Jeff sinks into the bed.

“I don’t know,” Jeff starts as he thinks over the argument, how it started as a minor disagreement and escalated to new heights. “she just wouldn’t stop encouraging me with this new series we’re planning.” Jeff mutters, faintly hearing you in his mind telling him how good of an opportunity it’ll be if he just focuses on it.

“How awful, your girlfriend supports and encourages you?” Todd sarcastically remarks. “Are you guys not doing so good, is that it?”

“Not at all.” Jeff quickly responds. “She’s, she’s the perfect girl.” He smiles to himself, knowing it’s true. “It’s just been difficult lately, with us both at home now all the time and our work schedules are never in sync.” He carries on to explain in a calm manner whilst Todd listens.

“You gotta just talk to her, dude. Be calm, and collected. Oh, but apologise first.” Todd states as he sits beside his friend. “Just tell her the truth.” Todd adds.

“I can do that.” Jeff mutters as he and Todd clap their hands together before Jeff walks out of the bedroom and straight towards the locked door.

Standing outside of the door, Jeff raises his fist and knocks three times.

Silence follows until he hears you move around the rooom. “Fuck off, Jeff.” You sternly state as you wipe your eyes, officially tired of crying.

“No, I won’t, baby.” Jeff softly tells you, resting his hand on the door. “I want to talk to you, I owe you an explanation.” He pauses as you scoff loudly.

“Understatement of the century.” You mutter under your breath as you cross your arms.

“What I said earlier, when I yelled at you it was completely out of line and you don’t deserve that, ever.” He continues, leaning against the door now as he glances down to the handle, hoping to see it move. “And I can’t say I have a valid excuse for it, but it’s been hard lately, being here all the time and with our different schedules, I’m just feeling lost.”

You uncross your arms as you listen to him intently, having noticed the signs over the past few weeks. Jeff starts work later in the day and doesn’t finish until the early hours of the morning. Whereas you start at the crack of dawn, finishing not long after he sits down to edit videos.

“I shouldn’t have taken it out on you, and tell you that I don’t care because I do.” Jeff sighs. “I care so fucking much about what you think, about your opinions and advice. Honestly, Y/n, you’re the best person I’ve ever met.” His voice trails off as he inhales deeply. “So please, open the door doll, I wanna tell you the rest in person.”

Hesitantly, you reach down and turn the lock. Jeff can feel his heart rise at the sound of that quiet click, followed by the door handle bending and the door opening.

He watches as you appear behind the door, dried tears lining your cheeks as you smile weakly to him. “Hi.” You mutter, sniffing loudly as you fiddle with the hems of one of his many hoodies you now own.

“Oh Y/n,” Jeff steps closer and wraps his arms tightly around you. “I’m so sorry, truly, I am.” He mumbles into your hair as you bury your face into his chest, holding on with all your might as you force back a sob.

“It’s okay, Jeff.” You tell him as you loosen your grip around his waist, leaning back so you can look at him clearly. “What else did you want to say?” You ask, raising a brow.

“Oh,” Jeff chuckles under his breath before lifting one hand up and cups your cheek. “I love you, Y/n.”

You lift your hand up, resting it on top of his. “And you think I care?” You retort, watching his face fall for a moment before laughing light heartedly. “Baby, I’m kidding!”

Jeff rolls his eyes as you move your hand to the back of his neck.

“I love you too, doofus.” You mutter before closing the space between you both, forgetting the argument ever happened.

[cherryyharryy]

i have an idea for a request (it’s totally ok if you don’t want to do it) like an angst-> fluff where one of harry’s songs accidentally gets leaked bc of y/n like she has something on a flash drive and the song is on another and they get mixed up and obviously he’s really mad at y/n and they have a fight he’s super snappy with her but something happens to her like she gets into a really big accidental or something and he forgives her bc he cares about her more tha the leaked song

WC: 2.7k

***

Damage control wasn’t even an option. 

Y/n sat there, staring at Harry’s laptop, numb to everything except the blaring desire to go back in time just two minutes. Two minutes is all she would need to undo possibly the biggest screwup of her life.

And the worst part is that this mistake ultimately doesn’t affect her. At least not in comparison to how it will affect Harry. And his band. And his team. Basically everyone involved with his career. 

Her mind is equally begging for her to shut down and come up with a plan—an excuse—something, Is there anyway this wasn’t my fault?  

She checks the time, her heart sinking to her stomach when she realizes Harry and his team will be back any minute. Any minute and she’s done for.

They’ve only been together for five months, officially. She’s still new to most everyone. She’s that girl Harry’s dating.

“I told you he played in that movie.” Jeff’s voice echoes outside the studio. Y/n closes the laptop and prays for strength. 

“I have him confused with someone else.” Harry bustles through the door, a small crowd of people filing in behind him, back to the spots they left an hour ago. “Hey darling,” he greets, “finish your paper?”

Y/n’s frozen, morbidly wishing he had found out about his song leaking on his own so she wouldn’t have to tell him. “Uh, almost.”

He kisses the top of her head and hands her a cup of frozen yogurt. “Your favorite.” 

“Thanks.” She sets it on the table she’s sat at while Harry pulls up a chair beside her. “Aren’t you guys still working?”

He waves in the direction of his band, “Mitch’s gotta fix his guitar.” He snickers, and slides his laptop out from under y/n’s hands. “Had a bit of an accident in the car.” 

Y/n’s head tingles with what must be nerve damage, her place in this world, her place in this room, decreasing in value as Harry opens his computer.

“It’s gonna melt.” He nods to her yogurt.

“I’m not hungry.”

He furrows his brow. “You alright?”

“Mhm.” She looks around the room, everyone busy getting back to work, light chatter passing among them. “Uh, actually, I uh, I have to tell you something.” Y/n tries to swallow the lump in her throat with no luck.

“Okay…” He shuts the laptop and gives her his full attention.

“Okay, um—”

“What the fuck!?” The room freezes as everyone turns toward Jeff. “Harry someone’s got a hold of your song!” 

Harry scrambles to his manager, complete shock on his face as they both stare down at Jeff’s phone. “Fuck.” They start to play a video, the sound of a girl screaming, with Harry’s unconsented voice playing in the background, fills the room. “How the hell did this happen?” He’s gritting through his teeth, neck red, veins bulging in his hands as he rips the phone out of Jeff’s hand. “HOW? Someone answer me!”

Y/N considers keeping quiet. Playing innocent. What good will it do to confess anyway? It’s not like it’ll undo what she’s done.

Sarah chimes in from across the room, “It looks like it happened half an hour ago. That’s when this video I’m looking at was posted.”

Y/n’s staring down at her lap, holding her head up with her fingers pressed into her temples when Harry slings himself back into the chair next to her.

“All that work, all that fucking work,” he nearly growls, “for some cunt to spread my unfinished song around for a buck.”

Y/n peers up to the room, a completely different picture compared to five minutes ago. Now there’s talk of lawyers and pressing charges while everyone shuffles around. Jeff slams the door as he steps out with his phone to his ear, and y/n knows she can’t claim denial, it’ll only make things worse.

“Uh, Harry?”

“What is it?” He doesn’t look at her, eyes glaring at his phone while another video plays of a group of people reacting to his song. “Glad they fucking like it.”

“Harry?”

“What, y/n?”

She shrinks under his gaze, mouth dry as she forces her confession out. “I uh, this is all my fault.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m so, so sorry. And I’ll do anything—I know I can’t fix it—but...”

Harry’s tongue presses against the inside of his cheek, his eyes narrowing in on her as a morbid silence forms a little bubble around them. “Go on,” he whispers with grit, “finish what you were gonna say.”

She stutters, desperately trying to figure him out. “I’m just sorry. It was an accident.”

“An accident? How did you even manage to do this?”

“I—”

“Do you have any idea what this accident means, y/n?”

She reluctantly shakes her head no.

“How the fuck did you do this?”

“I—I don’t know...I was taking a break from my paper, and, I don’t know Harry.” She’s in tears now, warm and salty as they spill down her cheeks. Her mouth wobbles around another apology, but no sounds make it out.

“Fix it.”

“What?”

He stands up, yanking his laptop off the table, pausing to glare at her one last time. “I said, to fix it.” With that he storms across the room, slinging the door open just as Jeff reenters.

“Harry, your attorney—”

“Forget it.” He turns around and points his phone towards y/n silently sobbing in the corner. “She’s gonna handle it.” He takes one step out into the hall and stops, spinning on his heels to face the studio. “Don’t speak to me until you do.”

Mitch’s guitar that was fixed and propped against the wall, crashes to the floor when Harry slams the door. 

Chatter passes around the room one more time, only now everyone seems to be in agreeance—that girl never should have been allowed in the studio, and maybe, Harry should break up with her.

***

Early morning rain fell outside Harry’s apartment. It was still dark, street lamps burning through the fog in the city below. His home fills with coffee as he pours his fifth cup; the prior four never offering more than a few sips before he had abandoned them somewhere, the counter, mantle, bookshelf, because he can’t talk without his hands.

Y/n sits on his couch. It’s velvet and pink and too big for one person. She hated it the first time he invited her over. If he breaks up with her, she’s going to tell him how ugly it is.

“I don’t know what you expect me to do.” She’s exhausted. She hadn’t hesitated to drive over when he finally responded to one of her hundreds of texts in the week since the mishap. But now she regrets it. They’ve been going in circles with the same argument for the past four hours. She’s convinced he invited her over just to be mean. She sighs, rubbing her temples. “I said I was sorry. You know that I’m sorry. And you know that I never, ever in a million years, would have done something like this on purpose.”

“I’m allowed to be angry with you. I have every right to be.”

“Do you, though?” She straightens up on his ugly couch and looks at him leaning against the doorframe that leads into the kitchen. “Aren’t you a little tired of hating me? God Harry, everyone else in the whole world has moved on except you.”

“It’s not everyone else’s song, is it? It’s not everyone else’s months and months of hard work. It’s not everyone else’s unfinished art? Nobody else is having to deal with a girlfriend that is so careless, so thoughtless, that she actually managed to leak my song!”

“Stop raising your voice at me!”

“You had no business snooping around my computer anyway! I told you you could work on your fucking paper, not to go prying around my personal shit!”

“You know what,” she scoffs, shooting up off the couch, “this argument is so pointless. You didn’t want me here so we could talk. You just wanted to torture me because you’re mad that people don’t love your stupid song.”

“What the fuck did you say?”

She brushes his shoulder as she passes by him, and a drip of his coffee spills onto his hand. He curses, and follows her into the kitchen where he lays his final cup down on the island.

“You’re being a baby because people aren’t fawning over you like they usually do.” She shrugs and slings her bag over her shoulder. “It’s not your best song, Harry.”

The veins in his neck strain against his flaming skin. His cheeks are sucked in, and if he bites down on the skin any harder he’ll puncture his face. “Get the fuck out.”

“I was already leaving, dumb ass.” She strides by him once more, practically feeling the heat steaming off his body. When she gets to the front door, she pauses with her hand on the knob. “Your couch is hideous, by the way. Just because you’re rich doesn’t mean you have to buy shitty looking stuff.”

When she slams the door behind her, the apartment shakes, and cold coffee spills from each cup.

***

It’s nearing five a.m. when y/n backs out of the complex. Her wipers race across the windshield, but do nothing against the downpour wreaking havoc in the city. She does her best to stay on what she assumes is her side of the road, swerving to the right each time headlights blind her.

“Shit.” Nothing is open, and she can’t even see where it would be safe to pull over to let the rain pass. But her home isn’t that far, and traffic isn’t too bad. 

She comes to a stop at a red light, only to realize she missed a left turn she should’ve made a minute ago. “Damn it. Fucking hell.”

As soon as the light turns green, she spins the wheel to make a U-turn, and if it hadn’t been for the rain, and her own clouded mind, and Harry’s voice echoing in her ears, she might have seen the truck who didn’t even try to avoid her.

***

It’s the headache from hell that wakes her up. And it’s the sterile smell of hospital that jogs her memory. And it’s a nurse not much older than y/n that says something about you’re lucky to be alive. 

She’s poked and prodded and asked a thousand questions before her IV is adjusted and a pill to ease one of the many pains scratching her body is handed to her in a small plastic cup. A police officer repeats half of this process, and somewhere in the mess of her reality, she learns that the other driver was sending a text to his wife when he plowed into her car. He’s at home and she’s here. Lucky to be alive.

She made calls to her mom and friends, and even managed to type out a decent email to her professors for her upcoming absence in class.

When she automatically pulled up Harry’s name on her phone, the last text he sent, the one inviting her over so he could make her more miserable than she already was, sat there in all its taunting glory.

What is she even supposed to say? Hey, I know you hate my existence right now, but I’m lying here in a hospital bed with bandages wrapped around my head. It’d be cool if you stopped by.

It’s not long before the sun pops up and reminds y/n of just how early it is. The clouds part, and it’s like it had never even rained, like it had never even been dark for hours, and if she closes her eyes, y/n can pretend that the past week hadn’t even happened.

***

 “How are you feeling today?” The nurse checks y/n’s IV, humming after her question.

“Just sore. Ready to get out of here.”

“We’ve started the paperwork, so shouldn’t be too long. Who’s coming to get you?”

Y/n blinks, feeling stupid she hadn’t thought this far ahead. She doesn’t even have a car anymore. The nurse looks over the computer monitor, waiting for a response.

“Uh, my friend.”

“Awesome. Dr. Kirby has to come check on you one last time before you leave. I’ll go see if he can stop by now, if you want to let your friend know.”

As soon as the nurse is out the door, y/n scrambles to turn her phone back on, and once it is, her lock screen is filled with missed calls and unanswered texts.

She’ll respond later; gives her something to do in the car to occupy her in front of Harry. 

She can’t call him. Harry’s not a monster, although the past week doesn’t exactly prove her case, but she knows he wouldn’t refuse to come get her. If anything, he’ll be annoyed she didn’t tell him about the accident sooner. But she’s too emotional to deal with hearing his voice.

She types out a text recounting her last 24 hours, along with the name of the hospital. He immediately reads it, and a moment later he’s trying to call.

To: Harry

I’m too tired to talk rn

She lies. And it works.

From: Harry

I’ll be there as fast as i can

***

“Baby?”

Y/n cracks her eyes open, irritated she never quite fell asleep. Confused as to why Harry’s calling her baby. Angry that she cares. And the next words out of his mouth are ones she’d been predicting.

“Why didn’t you call me? I would’ve dropped everything. You’ve been here all alone, shit. Are you okay? What hurts?”

He’s hovering over her, fidgeting, unsure if he can touch her.

“I’m fine now. Just sore. And tired.”

“Fuck I can’t believe this, I—”

“The doctor already said I can go. I’m not allowed to walk out on my own, so, you need to let the nurse know you’re here. She’ll take me down in a wheelchair.”

“Baby I’m so sorry-”

“No, Harry. You would still be busy hating my guts right now—”

“Hate you? I don’t hate you?”

“Well you did a great job this week making me feel otherwise.”

Harry sighs, gripping the bed frame and dropping his chin to his chest. When he looks back up he has tears brimming his eyes. “I’m sorry,” his voice cracks. “I know I’ve been an ass this week. I—you were right. I took out my anger from no one lovin’ the song on you.”

“Well it’s not no one. A lot of people did. And it’s unfinished anyway. You wouldn’t enjoy a meal if it was only cooked halfway.”

He nods, but y/n knows he’s only accepting her words because of the situation.

“You mean so much more to me than a leaked song. I’m sorry I treated you like shit. And that I—I made you think I hated you. You have every right to hate me.”

“You annoy the hell out of me, but I don’t hate you.”

His lips twitch, but a few tears slide down his cheeks. “I’m sorry.”

“I know.” She takes his hand off the rail and smoothes her thumb across his knuckles. “You can make it up to me by getting me out of here.”

“I can do that.” He kisses the top of her head and hits the remote to call for the nurse.

“You can really kiss me, y’know. I’m not gonna break.”

He’s hesitant, but slowly lowers his head to press his lips to hers. He’s timid, and his lips are still damp from tears, but it’s more relieving than either of them would ever admit.

The nurse ends their moment when she pops in the room, pushing a wheelchair in front of her. “Hi, you must be y/n’s friend.”

“Friend?” He peers down at y/n, suggestion lacing the word. “Care to explain?”

“Not really, I’m so tired.”

“Mhm.” He clicks his tongue, supporting her arm as she swings her legs off the bed. Once she’s standing and steady, he tucks her hair behind her ear and bends down so his mouth can graze her lobe. “Since we’re just friends, I guess you’ll have to sleep on my ugly couch.”

[fictionz]

When in doubt, Star Trek

I listen to a lot of podcasts in which the speakers examine works of film, literature, video games, television, etc. and the opening question is always “what’s your history with this particular work?” And let me tell you, listening to someone dive back into their own history in relation to the subject is a real joy. It’s targeted microbiography, part nostalgia and part background for the discussion ahead.

As I’ve been on an ever-revolving tour of everything Star Trek, I’ve listened to many people explain where they began with this sprawling fifty-plus year series. It’s got me thinking about that as well, and since I love a good catalogue of unnecessary information, I’ve decided to explore that. Now I can check this when I need to remember how many times I’ve watched all this.

The beginning: 2012 DS9 #1, TNG #1, movies #1

So I don’t remember the moment I started watching Star Trek, but I know I started because I was browsing Netflix at the time when they were the streaming platform that had all the TV shows. I knew Patrick Stewart and Jonathan Frakes from their other works (X-Men and Fact or Fiction, respectively) and that they were famous for being on that space show that was on the air when I was a kid in the 80s and 90s. I should’ve started there. But instead I came across the Star Trek show featuring a black captain and a big-eared hypercapitalist, and I thought, sure let’s do it. Then, having completed that, I did go and watch the one with Professor X in the lead role. I remember that one being real rough going in the first seasons and wondered whether it was worth finishing, but this was the essential lesson of all Star Trek: ya gotta stick with it because it gets better.

Having watched both Deep Space Nine (DS9) and The Next Generation (TNG), I thought I owed it to the series to see what the big deal was with Kirk and Spock and all those old-timers. I really only understood The Original Series (TOS) as a punchline in shows like The Simpsons and as the material from which Futurama pulled a lot of stories and themes. But also... I just couldn’t see my way to watching an old show like that in its entirety. And hey when there are a bunch of movies featuring those characters, why not just take the shortcut and watch those instead?

Now we get to how I know that this was all circa 2012. Netflix didn’t have the movies but I was living in gloomy SW Portland near to a honest-to-goodness Blockbuster video store. Since I moved away later that year, I think I got a new Blockbuster card just for that one location and just to rent these specific movies. So the image I can recall as my first Star Trek memory is a dark afternoon, a stack of Star Trek movie DVDs on the coffee table, and feeling stunned when that’s what V’ger turns out to be. I also watched the TNG movies afterward for a full-on weekend marathon. This would’ve been the last thing I did before leaving Portland to return to the bay area.

This time in order: 2014 TNG #2, DS9 #2, VOY #1

So that was a lot of Star Trek, but I can’t says it hit. So circa 2014, now living in a stable place in Oakland, I decided to give it another try. I’d already been doing this with other shows for years, so as long as all the shows were still on Netflix, might as well. I dived back into the show starting with TNG this time, then DS9 again for the full confirmation that this was my favorite of these shows, and moving on to my first time watching Voyager (VOY). While the contrast between TNG and DS9 is there but fuzzy, the contrast from these shows to VOY was huge. I’d watched Battlestar Galactica and Firefly years before and that early 00s CG-heavy style of sci-fi has a distinctive air of trying hard to get away from the kinds of goofy (at the time) practical effects seen in shows like Star Trek. DS9 had some of it, but late VOY really leaned into CG bonanzas.

But still no TOS or The Animated Series (TAS). I just wasn’t ready to take it seriously. Then I got to early 2015 when things were, uh... shaky in my personal life.

Alright, fine: 2015 TOS #1, TAS #1, TNG #3, movies #2

But things settled down when I got to Portland again and was ready for more Trek. While I know I finally devoted some time to getting through TOS and TAS, I mostly recall zipping through them in a semi-distracted state in order to get to the more familiar TNG episodes. TOS is just very much of its time and I couldn’t get past some of the outdated notions and production quality, as forward-looking as the show was for its time.

Something about Sisko: 2016 DS9 #3, VOY #2, ENT #1

Having kicked off a complete rewatch from the start the previous year, I went on to DS9 because of course, and then breezed through VOY with little appreciation for it in order to quickly get to Enterprise (ENT).

ENT was... rough. I had naturally developed the innate instinct to stick with it past the first season, but then I had to extend that to season 2, and season 3, and it wasn’t until season 4 that the show seemed to find a good voice and cadence. Naturally, that’s when they decided to cancel it.

Kelvin calls: 2016-2019 Abrams movies #1

I don’t recall or really care exactly when I watched the Kelvin movies. I’m pretty sure I sort of watched them as they released, and I would have definitely watched the third one in the theater as I was all-in on watching stuff at the theater by this point. So let’s say I’d definitely watched them all by this period.

Strangely, I don’t think I was (re)watching the shows at this time, except for a couple of episodes of Discovery (DSC) that I was jazzed to see on Netflix in the UK during a work trip in 2017. DSC was one of those big gets for CBS’s streaming service so it never released anywhere outside of that in the U.S. But after that, I didn’t bother to watch the rest until a few years later...

Covid comfort: 2020 DSC #1, PIC #1, DS9 #4, DS9 #5

2017 to 2019 was strangely bereft of Star Trek, but I came back around in early 2020 as news of Picard (PIC) began to circulate. Since I was signing up to what was then called CBS All-Access to watch that, I decided to go and watch the seasons of DSC that were available then. That was... fine, but it wasn’t quite the same Trek.

So a bunch of us who were watching PIC together hoped that would hit the spot, and while I recall enjoying it, it still wasn’t quite the classic Trek (of the 90s, because what does “classic” even mean for something that’s around for decades?)

And yep, just keeping DS9 on loop by this point. This is when I began to see that there’s something about Garak, someone who I’d really not thought about much in previous watchthroughs. He’s really unlike any other character on this or in any TV show. I glommed onto his attraction to Bashir when before I’d never even glimpsed it. Oh and Nog, gah he’s great too. Rewatch a show enough times and every character starts to really pop.

Oh! And this is when I came across @queerspaceworm‘s HD upscale of the DS9 series, which is really the best way to watch the show now.

Can’t stop won’t stop: 2021 LD #1, DS9 #6, TOS #2, TAS #2, TNG #4 , movies #3, 

I didn’t even realize how much I’d squeezed in last year, but there it is. Lower Decks (LD) was fantastic and scratched that itch for exploration and week-to-week hi-jinks. I also played all the DS9 video games and started reading the DS9 novels because that’s how I do.

Later in the year I dragged myself away from another DS9 rewatch in favor of starting over from TOS, which leads us into the current times.

The neverending frontier: 2022 DS9 #7, VOY #3, ENT #2

This year’s DS9 rewatch led me to buy the EU DVD set so I could rip the episodes with all language dubs intact. It was Spanish this time but the disparity between spoken dialogue and subtitles is awful. Subs are best for non-native speakers to get the gist.

I finished the VOY rewatch just a few days ago and this time it really hit, to the point that I’m now listening to podcasts, reading novels, and playing the video games featuring these characters when I’d previously only done that for DS9. It’s still kind of a mess at times but I just appreciate the time with these characters more.

The upcoming ENT rewatch kicks off next month. Will it finally click the way VOY did? And then on to the Kelvin movies again, and DSC and PIC and LD and Prodigy (PRO) and then, then I can finally watch Strange New Worlds (SNW). Please Paramount no new shows until I’m caught up thanks.

[somestuffbysomebird]

Do me a favour, can your heart rate rise a little? -Leviathan

Inspired by: Would you be so kind? -Dodie

Summary: You like someone, but you have no idea how they feel about you, so using your brilliant deduction skills, you attempt to figure it out. (Too bad you kept missing the signals till they're right in your face.)

Aka: That one time the human tried to find out if a demon liked them

Warning(s): In-game blood mention (only one time, and it's really early), also both of you are in a horror game

Tag(s): Fluff, It's a showdown between two mutual friendzoners, get the popcorn ready, Went a little crazy with game references, so expect a mountain of them (apologies in advance)

(Part of a songfic challenge involving Luci, Mammon and Levi. All three have the same song inspiration, this challenge is pretty light hearted so...yeah :D)

---

Leviathan

Levi has invited you to his room! Do you accept?

->Yes No

As you enter the room, you see the Avatar of Envy by his monitor, he notices you enter, and his face brightens.

"Hey! You're just in time! Get over here, quick! This section requires Co-op for a rare drop!"

The section for this game required both players to present in the game world, so donning on your VR headset, you ventured into the cursed video game. What could go wrong?

You find yourself in...a house? A really big one at that -- paintings on the wall, several bookshelves to the side and...something...red?

"Ah, sorry, I was so excited to start playing that I forgot to mention- this is that new horror game I was talking about! In a recent interview, the developers stated that they were so inspired by human world horror games like **tl*st, Th* W*tch's H**s*and P*rg*t*ry, they thought about incorporating such death-trap elements into VR!"

Um, Levi? Who's that-

"While this is the first time they have dabbled in the horror genre, the developers are one of the best in the VR industry right now! Their graphics are second to none, although I still think their best work is their Inhabitant Sin series, a game where a company is responsible for bringing out a zom- Wha-Hey! I'm not finished yet!"

Unfortunately, the masked giant butcher that was slowly stalking behind Levi wasn't interested in hearing his review, or maybe he didn't like it. Either way, you had to drag him away as fast as your two human legs could carry you both before snake sashimi became a delicacy.

With a roar, the masked monster started his hunt, his footsteps thudding throughout the hallways.

You suddenly feel yourself tugged to the side. The already dim lights seem to be moving above you before you're surrounded by darkness, and, y'know....Levi.

"That was close, thanks, oh, but you might want to keep quiet, the monster could still be nearby."

...Seems like he doesn't notice the proximity yet, and you try to mentally normalise it, just have to not think about how he's pratically pinning you against the wall of a closet. A really small closet, yeah...just gotta...not...think...about it....

Well luckily you don't have much time to ponder that thought, cause as soon as footsteps echoed further away from you both, Levi, whose head was turned away from you, finally spoke up.

"Woooahhhhh, did you see that monster?! That design was definitely inspired by the antagonist from Th* *v*l W*th*n, that game was from the human world too, so you must've heard of it rig-"

As he turned to face you, the realisation of how close he is to your face hits him. He can practically hear your breathing, and his brain is malfunctioning right now.

This...feels like that trope he saw so often online....

Well, apart from the fact that he's now a living statue, you can't really glean his feelings towards you, maybe he's just really conscious about his personal space?

After that particular incident with a blushing (and disappointed?) Levi, the both of you decided to start playing the game, staying close so as to watch each other's backs, but far enough to cover enough ground in the room, things seem to be going pretty well.

That is, as you both are heading towards the final objective in an empty, narrow hallway, a roar from behind can be heard!

"Tsk, dammit, MC! Run!"

As you both sprint towards your goal, the roars are becoming louder. Wait, Levi! Look out for that broom-

"AAAAAA! MC! Quick! Just grab the diamond!"

As the monster reaches for Levi, you manage to get ahold of the yellow diamond...huh?

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

*Masked Monster has appeared!

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

Masked Monster 99/99

You 10/10

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

-> Fight! Skills

Items Run

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

You attacked!

Masked Monster gained 10 damage!

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

Masked Monster 89/99

You 10/10

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

Masked Monster used Cleaver!

It's super effective!

You gained 999 damage!

You're blacking out....

"No-MC!"

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

Levi-chan has joined the battle!

"You bastard, don't worry MC! I'll take care of him!"

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

Masked Monster 89/99

Levi-chan 10/10

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

Levi-chan used a Retaliate!

Masked Monster gained 70 damage!

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

Masked Monster 19/99

Levi-chan 10/10

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

Masked Monster used Cleaver!

Levi-chan gained 5 damage!

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

"Ugh...just...this last attack...and you're going down!"

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

Masked Monster 19/99

Levi-chan 5/10

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

Levi-chan attacked!

Masked Monster gained 20 damage!

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

Masked Monster was defeated!

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

With a last pitiful groan, the masked butcher disintergrated into dust, and as your vision was blacking out, you feel your consciousness in-game fade...

"Ahhhh that game was so fun! Although that twist at the end seemed a little weird, the developers also said they wanted to try different endings for different modes. Like for example, in partner mood, the stronger your feelings for your partner the greater the damage you make! Of course, this only works for the move 'Retaliate', but afterwards, the game increases your stats! Right now the maximum damage for the move is 60 and I thought it wasn't possible at first, since no one could ever get it online, but now I'm the first one to experience it! Thank you MC!"

...Did he just...unknowingly confess to you with a game?

(Well that was anticlimatic...)

No matter, all you need to do now is to confirm your suspicions right?

"U-Urp!!! What are you doing?! Blatantly asking me something like this, b-but that normie tactic of yours won't work on me! You'll never get any information out of me!!!!!"

Whelp, looks like asking him like this won't do much, maybe...if you acted like him back in the closet...?

"WHA-wait, this is a...kabedon?! This is like all the manga I've seen, a way for intimacy without any contact, highlighting the tension between two characters...! Woahh, my heart's beating so fast it feels like it's going to explode...!"

He's looking straight at you now, a hint of longing in those eyes, it's pretty obvious even through those bangs.

He's not pushing you away, but he's definitely holding himself back from launching himself at you.

Your faces are so close, you can practically feel the heat radiating off his face. If either of you just leaned in a little more....

"So this is a kabedon, a true kabedon..."

[tigris-types]

How to fix Barbie: Big City Big Dreams

Give it more screen time.

And I have some ideas how to fill up that screen time, spoilers below.

So this movie was only an hour and I feel the story was trying be similar to Rockn Royals with spotlight solo at the end, but it didn't have as strong of a story as Rockn Royals. More screen time could help with this, but I think changing the conflict a little would work too. Here is how I see my "rewrite" going:

Movie opens up the same with the daydream and meeting Brooklyn. They still arrive a day early, but they don't become best friends right away. They figure out nicknames and start to unpack. They sing about what their goals are for the program. Brooklyn sees this as a stepping stone to Broadway, Malibu sees this as an opportunity to extend her viewership by gaining more skills (continuing the goal from princess adventure). Both want the spotlight solo and know of it beforehand. This song sets up their motivations and our expectations for the plot.

They finish unpacking, still have time left in the day, and even though they are competitors, and Brooklyn has lost friends over competition before (as mentioned in the song), she agrees to show Malibu around New York. They become friendlier towards each others, but idk if I would want to use Before US here or not. (I think I have a better place for it)

The conversation happens on the subway as it does, they make their pact. And Barbie doesn't fall asleep, she is on California time, and shouldn't get tired until after Brooklyn who is on NY time. Brooklyn however mentions jet lag and how her mom is a pilot so she knows if they don't return now, Malibu will regret it the next day.

This is where we get Malibu sleeping in as they attend the first day. They have the announcement for the spotlight solo and the hint that Lee is more than she seems. Malibu is falling behind and they sing Work It. Ken calls, Barbie mentions how she doesn't know how Brooklyn does it, and he suggests she asks her. Ken also says, "I believe you can be anything" because I think it would be a funny way to bring in the tag line for Barbie dolls.

Anyways, she she ends up asking Brooklyn, and even though they are competitors, Malibu says competition is about bringing out the best in each other. So Brooklyn helps, they become better friends and then you have Before Us, but more focused on surviving class than exploring New York.

The song ends with one of the teachers praising Malibu and Brooklyn is just a twinge jealous. As they leave class, they run into Gato and meet Rafa. Now that classes have begun, it makes since he would already have dresses prepared (instead of on the first day, cause that made no sense to me).

Brooklyn and Malibu go the park, try on the dresses, they work with spinning, maybe we should mention this to Rafa. Same as movie.

They return to class and reminders for auditions for the spotlight solo are either heard or seen in posters. Malibu and Brooklyn comment on how they both want it, but it would be even better if they could win it together. (This line is a set up for later)

They meet Lee at the cafeteria and her identity is revealed, same as the movie. And idk, I feel like there should be another song here, maybe about Brooklyn's and Lee's past and how fame isn't all that great. This is a musical, and there could have been more songs.

The day next Lee's dad comes and they have their confrontation. Rafa films class and the accident. Malibu assures Brooklyn it is an accident and while she mostly believes her, Brooklyn does know competition can do crazy things to people. She suspious, but brushes it off.

In this version, I'm not sure how Good Vibes would work. Maybe the lyrics are rewritten and its about lifting each other up instead. It's a call back to how Malibu asked Brooklyn for help, and now Malibu can help Brooklyn. Both girls help Rafa with the spinning-shimmer dresses, and Malibu helps Brooklyn with cruth choreography for the spotlight solo audition.

When they return to school, the Barbies are called into the dean's office. Malibu is expelled for sabotage and is told she will be on the 7pm flight out of New York (idk times, it just needs to be dramatic) Malibu walks out sadly as Brooklyn walks in. Malibu is too sad to say a word to her and walks off screen to her dorm. Rafa tries to call out but doesn't follow. Brooklyn talks to the Dean, and as she leaves the office Lee walks up and says she just saw Malibu packing her things, whats going on? Brooklyn explains and exclaims how she knew it all along that Malibu was out to get her. Rafa and Lee try to comfort her and Lee tries to say how maybe it's like her situation and things aren't what they seem. Brooklyn doesn't want to hear her it and sings Playground of Our Dreams.

Rafa and Lee talk, they remember the video, Rafa goes to the Dean as Lee tries to find Brooklyn (gotta repair that friendship). The Dean is shocked at the video and agrees to reenroll Malibu but her flight is about to take off soon. But luckily, someone knows a pilot!

Brooklyn calls her mom to stall the flight and she meets up with Malibu at the airport. She interrupts a phone call between Malibu and her parents as Malibu tells them the bad news. Brooklyn explains, and then Malibu tells her parents the good news. Her parents also decide to fly out to New York to support both of them in the spotlight solo auditions. (Basically Malibu stays in New York and doesn't return home because that made no sense.)

They return to school, and we see Lee confronting her dad. As it turns out, after Brooklyn went to get Malibu, Lee confronted her dad about it like in the movie. Expect this takes place at night instead during the day. She also now has audio evidence to her dad admitting what he did (a nod to spy tech from Spy Squad but this time its from Rafa).

The next scene is Malibu and Brooklyn practicing for the spotlight solo. It's a montages and they sing See You at the Finish Line. They are competing against on another, but together at the same time. The song ends with them preforming on the audition stage. The Dean commends them on their effort but says only one can have the spotlight and results will be posted tomorrow.

It says Barbie Roberts. But the girls have an idea, since it's both their names, both of them should get the spotlight. Lee says she might be able to make that work and Rafa says he has the perfect costumes for them.

Lee goes to her Dad who is talking with the Dean and is in the process of trying to cancel the spotlight since his daughter didn't get it (or try to change the candidate to someone more worthy, like his daughter! He says as she walks up to him). As Lee walks up,, the Dean gets a call and excuses herself. Lee then threatens to release the audio of her Dad admitting his interference if he doesn't back down. He back downs and then complains about business and how he was "only" trying to help "his little girl shine". The Dean returns and say their MC of the even just got sick and they need a replacement or Lee's Dad might get his wish.

Lee then steps up and says she could MC, she does know Emmie Lee after all. *wink wink nudge nudge*

Lee makes it possible for both Barbies to have the spotlight, and she introduces them like in cannon. This time, it makes sense why she is hosting. They sing Big City Big Dreams, and when the camera pans to both their families it's also makes sense they are there.

Movie ends, curtains draw, and that's how I would fix this movie.

[theres-an-impulstor-among-us]

Heard you’re looking for more writing requests. And that means that I can share more ideas. So... hai! o/

Hermitcraft Among Us, based on the Grian video where he kept getting impostor, and getting voted out immediately, then Scar won without him.

Everyone knows Scar is a wild card impostor, you know you’d only get one or two kills out of him before he was caught. Grian groans, knowing they were probably going to lose the game. But as he watches Scar taking revenge for his fallen comrade, he realizes he was very, very wrong.

*vibrates intensely* GRIAN AND SCAR IMPOSTER DUO!!

Seriously though thank you. I really like this one and I hope you do too!

Summary: Grian and Scar are the imposters. After a stupid mistake early on, Grian is ejected. He is resigned to their loss, knowing the chances of Scar being able to get to the end of the game without him are next to none. But he soon realises that Scar can be very, VERY dangerous when he wants to be.

…

  The first kill was supposed to be easy. And for a single precious minute, it was perfect. Grian walked into navigation and killed Beans with no problems whatsoever, before jumping into the vent. 

  However, it seemed he had chosen the wrong time and place to pop out; when he did, he found himself face to face with Bdubs, Skizzleman and Etho, who had just exited cafeteria and come into weapons. 

  For a second, the two parties just stared at each other.

  Then Skizzleman let out a screech and he and Bdubs dashed back into cafeteria, leaving Etho in the room with Grian to watch him.

  Grian didn’t bother to follow them. There was no point and he knew it.

  Sure enough, at the inevitable emergency meeting, Bdubs and Skizzleman immediately started talking excitedly at the same time about what they had seen. 

  “Whoa, whoa, guys!” interrupted Tango. “Calm down and breathe! What happened?”

  “Grian vented,” Skizzleman panted, clearly out of breath. “We saw him. Three of us saw him.”

  “Bdubs, Skizz, and I just came out of cafeteria into weapons and saw him pop his head out of the vent,” Etho explained more coherently. “He must’ve killed Ren or Beans somewhere and vented, looking for another victim, but we caught him.” 

  All eyes turned to Grian. 

  Grian sighed, knowing that they were all expecting him to deny it. But with THREE eye-witnesses, it would be foolish to make up a story. The only way to protect his partner now was to confess. “It’s true. I killed Beans in navigation and vented out. Poor timing on my part.” 

  “No kidding!” Bdubs snorted. “That was pathetic, Grian. You got caught red-handed!”

  “I know,” Grian growled. 

  “What, you’re not even gonna try to deny it?” Tango asked incredulously.

  “Look, if it was only two of them who saw me, I would’ve at least tried to claim they’re both the imposters and trying to frame me, but THREE witnesses? There’s no way I would’ve gotten away with that.” 

  Grian despondently voted for himself and didn’t put up a fight as he was taken to the airlock after the unanimous vote. 

  Waking up back on the ship as a ghost, he sighed heavily and watched Scar run around the ship. 

  That’s it, he thought. We’re gonna lose. There’s no way Scar can kill FIVE people all by himself without getting caught.

  He set off the reactor from the afterlife and watched everyone converge to fix it. After it had been repaired and everyone else had left, Scar hung behind in reactor and killed Tango as the latter was attempting Simon Says, before running out as if nothing had happened.

  They’re gonna know he was the last one out, Grian groaned in his head. Oh, this is the WORST.

  He followed Scar down through lower engine, past electrical, and out the other side of storage. Scar stood next to Etho at the download screen in communications, before killing him too and immediately hitting the report button.

  Grian gasped. He’s self-reporting! That’s RISKY, considering everyone always gets sus of him when he reports, whether he’s imposter or not!

  “I found Etho in communications,” Scar reported.

  “Oh, and it looks like Tango’s down too,” added Bdubs. “Where did you say Etho is, Scar?”

  “Communications. Next to the download thingy.”

  “Did you see anyone around?” inquired Impulse.

  Scar shook his head. “I didn’t see anyone else after we all left reactor.” 

  “I went off on my own too,” Skizzleman admitted. “I only saw Impulse briefly as I passed admin, but that was a while ago.”

  “Can anyone vouch for anyone?” asked Impulse.

  Everyone shook their heads. 

  “Well, wonderful,” Impulse sighed. “I guess we can’t vote anyone this round.”

  Skizzleman patted his friend on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, there’s six of us left. The last imposter still has to kill four of us before they win.”

  Grian sighed with relief as the meeting ended with everyone voting to skip. He wasn’t sure how Scar had managed to get through another meeting without being labelled sus, but Grian certainly wasn’t going to complain.

  “Hey, Skizzle!” Scar called, trotting to catch up with the blue crewmate, who was heading towards medbay. “What task have you got now?” 

  “I gotta eat fruit,” said Skizzleman, as if that explained everything.

  Scar frowned. “What?”

  “Simon Says,” Skizzleman explained with a grin. “If I say “make sure to eat fruit” while I’m doing the task, it helps me make fewer mistakes.”

  “Oh, I see! Very clever. You mind if I come with? I gotta count to ten.”

  “Sure thing!”

  Grian followed the two over to reactor, knowing what was coming. Sure enough, Scar approached Skizzleman while he was in the middle of Simon Says.

  “This is for Grian,” he said coldly, before shooting Skizzleman in the back. 

  Grian stared at Scar as the latter hurriedly left reactor. He was starting to get the feeling that Scar might actually be able to pull this off. 

  But he didn’t want to get too ahead of himself yet. Scar was only halfway through; he still had to kill three more people. Around this point, Scar’s luck usually ran out. 

  Just as Grian started to sabotage something to help out, the body was reported by Pungence. 

  “Self-report,” Scar declared immediately.

  Grian hid his face in his hands. NO, Scar!

  But to his surprise, nobody immediately turned on his partner. 

  “Well, Bdubs and I were together,” Impulse said. “So it must be either Pungence or Scar.”

  “Pungence,” said Scar.

  “Scar,” said Pungence at the same time.

  “We can’t really afford to not vote someone out, here,” Bdubs said, glancing at Impulse. “I’m voting Scar.”

  Impulse, who had just locked in his own vote, blanched. “Oh, I voted for Pungence.”

  “Oh no!”

  Sure enough, as the votes were revealed, both Scar and Pungence had two votes each. 

  Grian was absolutely dumbfounded. He had been sure that that was the end for Scar, but somehow, his partner had survived. 

  He really might actually do it…!

  “I’m gonna do my task in security,” declared Pungence. “Someone come watch me.”

  “I will,” said Bdubs immediately. 

  After the meeting, Grian followed Scar to the right, watching him as he ran all the way from weapons, down to shields, then across to electrical, clearly looking for a victim. 

  “Two more kills,” murmured Grian, despite knowing Scar couldn’t hear him. “Just two more. Come on.”

  Scar entered security and found Bdubs on the monitors. He turned as Scar came in. “Scar! Don’t kill me!”

  Scar drew his gun.

  A real look of terror appeared on Bdubs’s face as he backed away from Scar as far as he could go. 

  An identical evil smile spread over Grian’s and Scar’s faces as the latter towered over Bdubs.

  “Scar, p-please…!” Bdubs’s eyes were wide with fear. “Please, I-!”

  BANG!

  Grian cheered as Bdubs’s body hit the ground. “Scar! You absolute legend! One more kill and we win!���

  Realising he needed to help keep the remaining crewmembers away from Bdubs’s body, he shut the door to security and stayed there, intending to keep watch. He didn’t need to follow Scar around this time.

  After a few minutes, he glanced up and found both Impulse and Scar on their way down from medbay. He realised that Scar had likely vented into medbay and was now discreetly leading a witness to the body as an alibi.

  So he quickly reopened the doors.

  Impulse walked into security, with Scar right behind him. The two yelped simultaneously at the sight of the body.

  Grian floated over to join the report meeting that Impulse had quickly called. 

  “Bdubs is dead in security,” reported Impulse. “Scar and I found him.” 

  “Impulse,” said Scar slowly, giving the crewmate in question a pointed look. “Didn’t we hear Pungence say he was going to do his task in security?”

  Impulse stared back at him in shock. “Oh… we DID!”

  “YES!” Grian screeched, hardly daring to hope. 

  “No, no, I left security ages ago,” Pungence quickly said. “I was down in communications.”

  Impulse frowned at him. “I didn’t see you that whole time, though. You could have vented to electrical or even just left normally; we don’t know how old the kill is.”

  “What about Scar?” demanded Pungence. “How long were you two together?”

  “A few minutes. Scar watched me scan in medbay, then he stood by me in cafeteria while I finished wires and then we went down to security to do Scar’s last task. He could’ve easily killed me several times but he didn’t.”

  “Okay, first of all, he could have been on cooldown,” Pungence pointed out. “And second, “he could have killed me but he didn’t” means nothing to Scar! He’s a wild card; he kills whenever he feels like it.”

  “Yeah, but even Scar would realise that one more kill would end the game,” argued Impulse. “Why would he purposefully lead me to a body he killed when he could just take me to a random spot on the ship and kill me with no witnesses?”

  Grian couldn’t believe the genius move that Scar was pulling off. Kill in security, “find” the body with a witness, then let Impulse’s penchant for third-impostering take over. Scar didn’t even need to say anything in this meeting; Impulse was doing all the work for him.

  And like Impulse had pointed out, Scar could have just stuck with Impulse until his cooldown was over and then killed him. It would have yielded the same result, and been a lot less risky for him as well. But he hadn’t done that. Why? The answer was clear to Grian:

  Scar wanted the satisfaction of stabbing Impulse in the back. 

  Clearly, Pungence couldn’t believe what he was hearing either. “Impulse, please don’t let him get away with this. He’s playing you for a fool.”

  “I don’t think so,” Impulse retorted. “Scar’s a lot of things but he’s not cunning. He wouldn’t be able to come up with a plan this smart. No offense, Scar.”

  Scar shrugged. “None taken. I totally agree.”

  “Of course you do,” Pungence sighed. “Impulse, please, you have to believe me or we’re gonna lose.”

  “It isn’t me!” Scar protested. “C’mon, Impulse, you know it’s not me. You said so yourself: it wouldn’t make any sense.”

  Grian held his breath as Impulse glanced from Scar to Pungence.

  Finally, he sighed. “You’re right; it wouldn’t. I’m voting Pungence.”

  As Impulse locked in his vote, Grian let out a long, triumphant whoop. “Scar, you LEGEND! You’re absolutely brilliant!” 

  Pungence buried his face in his hands as the votes were revealed. “Nooo…” 

  A grin appeared on Scar’s face as the airlock slowly closed behind Pungence. “Good job, Impulse. You made the right decision.” 

  Impulse registered the expression on his face and visibly sagged. “I-I didn’t, did I?”

  Grian flew around triumphantly as Scar drew his gun. 

  “For me, you absolutely did.”

[tojishugetiddies]

Key: e/d = energy drink, h/l =, hair length, h/c = hair color, e/c = eye color, y/f/v/c = your favorite videogame character

Here's an extra long chapter! I had a lot of fun with this one lol

Link to prologue:

Link to ch.1

Chapter 2

y/n's pov

"Really? Okay that's great! So I'll be meeting him here and show him around the studio. Yeah, of course! No problem! Bye." *click* Well it seems today is my lucky day! I got an applicant for a roomie! Only problem is... it wasn't my potential roommate I talked too.

It was Mr. Shigaraki, the owner of a big corporate conglomerate of hospitals, labs, and warehouses. When I tell you this man is loaded, he is LOADED. Although I heard some rumors that he might be involved in human experimentation. But imagine my surprise when I found out his son would be my roomate if I gave him the okay! I'm actually quite a fan of his son, whenever I have free time I watch his streams. They are pretty entertaining, especially when he, Dabi, Spinner, Twice, and Toga play Overwatch together. I never knew some of those curse words even existed!

Well, I better go to bed early, I have the feeling I'm going to need a good rest. I head to my room and change into a t-shirt and panties, slip into my bed, and I feel Bingus curl up near my feet. And with that I slip into the land of unconsciousness.

 

~Time skip to the next day~

You woke up early and made sure everything was ready. You put on some casual clothes, a baggy black hoodie showing a kitten with a ramen bowl, and some skinny jeans. You cleaned up the apartment, stocked the cabinets with some snacks, got soda and energy drinks in the fridge, and made sure to organize your room. You organized your video games and consoles, and made sure some were charged.

By the time you finished you were kinda tired to you took an energy drink out of the fridge and took a couple of sips. Bingus stalks over and starts to scream at you. "Oh shit! I forgot to feed you! I'm sorry Bingy." You said. As you walked over to get his food he kept screaming at you. When you finally put the food in his bowl and gave him fresh water he finally stopped screaming at you. But not without making a 'mrrt' sound at you and turn around sassily going to his food. "Always gotta be such a drama queen Bingus I swear." You shake your head in amusement.

You check your phone an look at the time, "huh, he should be here in about 5 minutes." You mumble to yourself. You pet Bingus for awhile until you hear a knocking at your door. You are so nervous! 'Okay, be cool y/n, just treat him as a regular person.' You walk towards the door with your heart beating a mile a minute. You open the door and...

Tomura's pov:

Welp, time to meet my potential roomate I guess. I wore a baggy black hoodie, black pants, and my iconic red shoes. Kurogiri warps me in front of the apartment. I feel anxiety course through me. With a deep inhale and breathing out a sigh I put my fist to the wooden door and knock. I hear faint footsteps come closer and as the door opens I look down a bit to see a small female woman.

I examine her discreetly and notice she has shiny h/l h/c hair and she has big round e/c eyes. "Well, are you going to let me in or are you just gonna keep standing there?" I say. I see her jump a bit and she apologizes. "Whatever. You gonna show me the apartment or what?" I say annoyed. She let's me in and the first thing I see is a fluffy calico cat sitting on the island in the kitchen batting what seems to be a can of... e/d? She turns around just as the cat bats the can to the floor spilling the drink. I look at her and she looks both mortified and offended, it's pretty amusing, I smirk a little.

"Bingus! What. The. Fuck?! You little shit!" She says while she approaches the mess, picks the can up an puts it back down near the cat. I can see her give the cat an exasperated look, and when I looked at the cat I swear, if a cat could make a smug face with a shit eating grin, this cat would have it. I chuckle at the interaction, it was certainly not going to be boring here it seemed. The cat looked at me and started...screaming? How the fuck? "Bingus don't be rude to him he might be living here!" You tell the cat. The cat pauses and seems to examine me before screaming again then running away into what I assumed was y/n's room. Well. That was...something.

By the time he snapped out of his thoughts you had already cleaned up the mess and just chug the drink then throw it out. Okay so you definitely weren't like other girls, good, he gained some respect for you, but only a little. "Shall we continue our tour?" I nod my head. She shows me the common room, then the kitchen. We head into the next room and I look around. There's pencils, paint, some canvases, a desk, a lamp on the desk, some erasures, sketchpads, markers, you get the point. It was an art room. I walk towards a painting of a silhouette of a person on a hill sitting beneath a tree looking at the dark night sky with beautiful stars and constellations. "Wow, you made this?" I ask. She blushes embarrassed and says "Yeah... It's an important painting to me, because it's a painting of one of my memories, when I was living in the countryside." She looks off into the distance, seemingly recalling that specific memory.

She snaps out of it and asks "Shall we return to the tour? All I have left to show you are the bathrooms, my room, then what will be your room if you choose to room with me." She smiles softly and I nod my head. She shows me the bathroom in the hall and tells me that that is the only bathroom with a tub and shower, but our rooms have basic toiletries. She shows me to my possible room first. "Here is your room if you wanna be my roomate!" She says. I examine the room; dark red walls with white accents, a wooden floorboard and a basic queen sized bed, a bedside table, a dresser, desk, etc. This might not be so bad after all.

We head to our last stop, to be honest I expected something frillish and girly but to my pleasant surprise she had a pretty cool room. The walls were f/c with accessories such as a neon sign that says 'Fuck You', a poster of CORPSE, and another of y/f/v/c. Then I noticed the game consoles. "Wow you have a Nintendo 64? I haven't seen one of these in years!" I say impressed. That's when I realised that not only will I be rooming with a girl, that same girl is cute as fuck, likes energy drinks, and places video games! I never met a girl who played video games in real life besides Himiko, but she is like 4 years younger than me so I don't really count her. And y/n is pretty nice too. I wonder if she watches my streams? Fuck, that'd be pretty hot. I snap out of my inner thoughts by y/n asking me how the apartment is. I tell her I really like it and would be glad to room with her. She looked so happy when I said that, but blushed and went back to normal. We exchanged numbers and promised to keep in contact and agreed to me moving in here in about 4 days. I act all bored but really I can't wait to move in.

We part ways at the door and when she closed the door I texted Kurogiri to pick me up. Suddenly I'm really tired, having interactions with a stranger, a girl nonetheless really drained me. As I walk into the portal then step out into my room Kurogiri asks how it went. I gave him a short summary and when he was satisfied he left to tell father. I fall onto my bed and sigh. Y/n... huh. You are pretty interesting. I wonder how long it will take until you betray me...no, she wouldn't...right? I mean after all, she was really nice and inviting, she didn't seem to mind my scars, and her eyes lit up when we briefly talked about video games. My betrayal issues rise inside of me, making me anxious and wary. We will see, for now I'm too tired to think anymore. And with that as I get comfortable in my bed I fall asleep, thoughts of y/n swarming my mind.

[yellowmagicalgirl]

Break me w/the Tarron sibs?

Send me characters and a prompt: Leave a “Break Me” in my ask, and I will write an angsty drabble fic.

I've gotta admit, I am very surprised by how the fic requests just keep on coming. Thanks, you know how to make a demigal feel appreciated.

This has major RotT spoilers (sort of. I refuse to watch the movie, and let's just say that Steve's entire subplot doesn't exist) as well as blood and self harm/suicidal imagery (no suicide happens, though). No, seriously, this is Rated M for that sort of stuff on AO3 and FFN. Also, sorry to fellow Jim fans, I hated his decision at the end of the movie so I treat him like trash in this.

Also, fun fact: despite Jim not learning his lesson from Unbecoming, I use a lyric from Starset's "Unbecoming" song for the title on AO3 and FFN.

AO3

FFN

Everyone stared at Jim in disbelief and horror as he finished his explanation.

"Jimbo, just how many times have you lived this day?" Toby asked. How many times have you watched me die was his unspoken question.

How many of us have died in Toby's place, Aja couldn't help but think as well.

"I... I'm not sure," Jim said, and he almost sounded like he had in the group video calls she'd spoken to him in a week ago. Given the looks on their friends faces, Aja could tell that everyone else was thinking the same thing: Jim sounded so much younger, and not like the jaded time traveler who had taken his place. But, just as quickly, the tone of Jim's voice changed back. "I lost count given all the times I reset the timeline early."

Out of the corner of her eye, Aja saw her brother's brow furrow.

"In all honesty, I don't know how or why I managed to end up in the original timeline."

"You don't know what you're doing, do you?" Krel asked with an incredulous tone. No, not just incredulous. There was a venom to his voice, one that Aja only ever remembered him using once on Varvatos. "You don't have a plan, and I bet you're just going to leave us when everything starts to go wrong. That's what you did before, isn't it?"

The look that Jim gave to Krel was a little too kind, no, pitying to be complete and utter disdain for Krel's outburst.

"You're just going to let the..." Krel turned his head in Nari's direction, and his gaze managed to somehow become both softer and more poisonous. Krel slammed all four of his hands on the table. "Let the two of them get tortured, again, in a few horvaths, aren't you?"

Jim stayed silent in what Aja hoped was disbelief and not agreement with Krel's words.

"Fine, then. I guess I have to do everything myself." Krel pushed away from the table, spinning himself to walk away.

"Krel, what are you going to do?" Toby asked right before Krel could walk through the doorway. Krel looked at the rest of them over his shoulder, and there was a manic gleam to his eyes that Aja was uncomfortable with.

"Ask Jim," Krel said, and Aja was really uncomfortable with the way Krel sneered. "If he doesn't know, then this might work."

And then he exited the room, and conversation resumed. Aja wanted to go back after her brother, but she knew him. He wouldn't do anything too drastic; he just needed to work on an engineering project and try to calm down. She was queen, and she had to plan.

~

Being queen was frustrating. There had too many meetings with her extended family and other, lesser royals that had made Aja head to her room and scream into a pillow.

No meeting in the past two keltons had been nearly as exhausting as the one she had just exited. They were barely any closer to having a plan.

Aja walked the halls of one of the floating castle, looking for her brother. Claire had told her where his back-up lab was, but Aja was finding herself questioning if he was really there. There were none of the usual noises of her brother engineering.

Aja tripped, rolled, and looked back to see what she tripped on.

It was a canister, made of Akiridion technology with arcane runes along the rim. It would have been able to contain something powerful, like a highly radioactive substance. A grim feeling wrapped its way around her core, and Aja looked up to see a pair of open doors. She ran through them and stopped upon seeing her brother.

It wasn't that she wanted to stop, of course. Oh, no, she wanted to run to her brother and knock the horrible thing he was holding out of his hands. She couldn't, though. Her horror made it so that she couldn't do anything but remain rooted to her spot, unable to even scream.

What was he thinking? That thing had meant the death of their parents; what was he thinking?

Krel lined up Gaylen's core with his own, so that they were perpendicular to each other.

He closed his eyes as he brought the core away from his chest. His lips moved like he was saying something, but Aja couldn't make out the words.

Krel stabbed Gaylen's core into his chest, gasping as he did so.

Too late, Aja was finally able to scream.

Krel turned to her. Gaylen's core stuck gruesomely out of his chest, cyan blood seeping out of the wound, and there was something wrong with his eyes.

"Aja, what are you -" He coughed up blood that was now a little too azure to be cyan. "What are you doing here?"

"What am I-? What are, what were you thinking?"

"I'm at a location of the castle that isn't integral to the-" Krel coughed again and made a gurgling noise as pale electric purple blood exited his lips. "The structure, so if I become a giant then it, it won't..."

He slumped against the wall, and Aja ran to him. He raised up an arm in front of himself and Aja was thrown away from him by a wall of force. She pulled out her serrator and stopped herself. There was a horrified expression on his face and in his eyes were -

His eyes were -

His eyes were wrong. They were electric purple and neon red in a way that no Akiridion's eyes were, even half-Akiridions had solid colored eyes and the two rings of Krel's eyes were different colors in a way that stabbed dread into Aja's core.

"I... 'm sorry," Krel said, and he sounded so tired. "Didn't want to hurt... not you. Just wanted to save the people I love."

Krel's eyes slipped closed, and along the stab wound his body began to fracture. Aja screamed and ran to him, because she saw this happen to their parents and she wouldn't let this happen to her brother.

Not even if Jim could reset everything again and make it so this never happened.

Before Krel could be reverted to his core, before Aja could make it to her brother, Gaylen's core glowed with red light, and that same red light formed an opaque dome around Krel's body.

Aja banged her fists against it. "You can't have him! You already took my parents; you can't have my brother!"

Aja pressed her forehead against the domed shell keeping her from her brother.

It made sense, she supposed. Akiridions were born from eggs, and so Krel would be reborn from one. But why did he have to be reborn at all? Why did he have to do something drastic? And why hadn't she recognized that he would take a drastic route?

Aja didn't leave her brother's side, not even when Nari started screaming.

[fallingappleshurt]

Bouncing Through The Years

Helllloooooo, this fic is set in @antarctic-bay s fd au! Please keep in mind what I write might not be canon! (Sorry for the tag)

Skeppy and Techno friendship fic!! :DD

There are no real set ages in this fic, it’s just Skeppy and Techno from a young age bonding over Skeppys trampoline and being buddies!

Swearing but you probably already knew that

Hope you enjoy! (:

Techno had just finished the dishes when someone started pounding on their front door, he would have ignored it but he heard;

“Techno! Techno! Open the door!”

Techno dried off his hands and opened the door, Skeppy standing there panting, a hand on his chest.

“Techno- I got- I got a trampoline!” He wheezed.

“Really?”

“Yes! Come on, I wanna show you!” Skeppy grabbed his arm, Techno shook him off.

“Okay hang on,” Techno started pulling on his shoes while Skeppy bounced in the doorway.

“I’m going to Skeppy’s!” He yelled.

“Don’t care!” Tommy yelled back.

“Tell Wilbur, asshole!” He turned and followed Skeppy out of their apartment building and down the street while Skeppy babbled about how he got it.

“My neighbor had it for a few years so we got it second hand.” He explained.

“And it’s a birthday gift?”

“Yeah! An early one so I can still use it before it gets cold.”

They went around the side of Skeppy’s house and tugged the huge white plastic gate open and Techno saw the trampoline. It was huge with a sagging net and ripped foam around the edges but other than that it looked brand new.

They pulled off their shoes and climbed through the opening in the net, Skeppy zipped it back up, and they started bouncing.

“Wait wait wait, I saw this on TV- I can do a flip, back up.” Skeppy nudged Techno away.

“Oh here we go-”

“Shut up and let me do this!” Skeppy shuffled from foot to foot, Techno snorted.

“Are you trying to rev up?”

“No! I’m just hyping myself up!” Skeppy took a deep breath then launched himself forwards, tucking his head close to his chest with an outstretched arm, and actually managed to do a flip.

And also punch a hole in the net.

He had flipped with his arm out and was too close to the edge. Skeppy pulled his arm out and shrieked while Techno cackled.

“Well, you did a flip.” Techno said, biting his tongue through a grin.

“Shut up!” Techno laughed harder.

“Okay, okay it’s fine, this is fine. I can patch that up later- probably.”

“Good job Skeppy.”

“You’re such a jerk!” Skeppy snapped back with no heat, he perked up a minute later. “I know a game we can play!”

“What is it?”

“It’s called popcorn, one person sits in the middle and curls up and the other people bounce around them and just to get the person in the middle to lose their grip and- like open their arms! Like a popcorn kernel!”

Techno nodded, “Sounds interesting enough, who’s going first?”

“I’ll go first,” Skeppy sat down in the middle of the trampoline and crossed his legs then wrapped his arms around them. “Now you jump around me.”

Techno started jumping, even acting like he was going to land on Skeppy a few times just to sike him out, but couldn’t get him to pop.

“You’re bad at this,” Skeppy commented as he flopped onto his side, arms still wrapped tightly around his knees.

“Shut up,” Techno jumped close to his head, Skeppy shrieked.

Techno was about to give up when the back gate cracked open.

“Techno!” Wilbur poked his head through the gate, “Phil says it’s time- what the fuck? Since when did Skeppy have a trampoline?”

“Trampoline?” Wilbur yelped in protest as Tommy squeezed past him to get a better look.

“Perfect timing- come help me pop this bitch.” Techno walked over and unzipped the opening. Tommy didn’t question it and ran over, pulling off his shoes, grabbing Techno’s outstretched hand and was hauled up.

“Tommy Techno wait, Phil sent us to come get you.” Wilbur pointed out, walking over and resting his hands on the metal rim.

“Just this one round?” Tommy asked, “Please Wil?”

Wilbur bit his lip then sighed, “Okay fine, one round.” He took off his shoes and climbed up. “How do we play?”

Techno explained the rules and they started bouncing again this time with much more success, bouncing Skeppy higher and higher until he lost this grip and flopped on the rubber.

“Can I go next?” Tommy asked, already sitting down in the middle.

“We really should be going,” Wilbur trailed off and looked between his siblings. Tommy stared up at him and Techno smiled weakly, in hopes to persuade him, “One more?”

Wilbur bit the inside of his cheek then finally nodded, “One more.” Tommy cheered and they started up again.

One more turned into several more, each person getting a turn to be the kernel. After they got bored of that they started on trying to outdo each other with tricks.

Skeppy did another front flip and managed not to punch a hole in the net and Tommy also tried to but was stopped by Wilbur who ‘didn’t want to see Tommy break his neck’. Techno did help hold up his legs while Tommy tried to do a handstand.

“I bet I could do a backflip,” Skeppy said, Techno rolled his eyes.

“If you managed too you’d probably punch another hole in the net.”

“Shut up that was one time-”

“Like an hour ago!”

“Shut up!” Skeppy shoved his shoulder playfully.

“I’d like to see Skeppy try to do it.” Wilbur said, resting his chin in his palm. Techno laughed, trying to ignore the waxy feeling the trampoline left on his skin.

“Someone believe in me!” Skeppy said, standing up. He kept trying to figure out how he would do it. After multiple attempts of twisting around and bouncing around Tommy groaned.

“Do it already!”

“I was just about to but you messed up my concentration!”

“Yeah, ‘concentration’.” Techno air quoted.

“You’re a jerk!” Skeppy shot back while Techno laughed.

“What the hell is taking you guys so long?” Techno turned and saw Phil standing at the gate, looking annoyed.

“Uh- we got distracted,” Techno offered weakly, “We were trying to watch Skeppy do a backflip but he keeps chickening out.”

“Hey!”

“Uhuh,” Phil nodded, looking exasperated.

“Phil you should do one, you’ve talked about it before.” Wilbur said.

“I can but-” He started only to be interrupted.

“I bet you can’t!” Tommy said, pushing his face against the net.

“I bet he can,” Wilbur shot back.

“He can’t, he's too old!”

“Alright that’s it,” Phil climbed onto the trampoline, “I’m gonna prove you little shits wrong.” He pushed Tommy’s head, “Then we are going home.”

Techno backed up to the edge along with everyone else and watched as Phil jumped up, arms outstretched, then pulled his knees to his chest then landed the flip perfectly.

Tommy gasped while Wilbur clapped, elbowing Tommy.

“I told you he could do it!”

“That was so cool- can you teach me how to do that?” Skeppy asked, leaning forwards on his knees, Tommy jumped up.

“Teach me too!”

“Later, now let's get going, you guys were supposed to be back like an hour ago.”

Techno got off the trampoline and pulled on his shoes, waving bye to Skeppy.

Techno had been hanging out at Skeppy’s house, laying on the basement floor watching random youtube videos with him because it was too damn hot to do anything else.

“I don’t know how those guys do it.” Skeppy commented, pressing his face into the floor.

“It’s ‘cause of the Environmental Johnson Equation.” Techno said simply, Skeppy nodded.

“Which is based off of the Equilibrium Maintenance Feature.”

“Exactly!”

The sun was setting when Skeppy dragged Techno outside since fiery light was no longer trying to melt the Earth. They bounced on his trampoline for a while, taking breaks to look at sunset as it shifted through dripping vibrant orange to soft pink and blue and an inky purple.

Skeppy laid down and Techno laid next to him. The air was humid but dry and there were more stars out then Techno had seen in a long time.

He pointed out different constellations and planets to Skeppy until Phil texted him to come home.

“I’m going to Skeppy’s!” Techno yelled, tying his shoe.

“Take Tommy with you!” Phil called back, Techno’s head snapped up.

“What? No!”

“Yes! I’m going to work soon and Wilbur is out!”

“Can’t he just stay home alone?”

“Not after last time!”

Techno groaned, dragging his hands down his face, “Tommy! Get your shoes!”

They were headed towards Skeppy’s house, kicking a rock between each other, when they were intercepted by Dream.

“Oh hey Techno, I was just coming to see if you wanted to hang out.”

“Big man Dream!” Tommy yelled, Techno slapped a hand on Tommy’s face and pushed him back.

“I gotta watch my little brother and I’m heading to Skeppy’s,” He explained.

“Oh,” Dream paused, “Mind if I come with?”

Techno shrugged, “I don’t mind, you can ask Skeppy when we get there.”

Tommy bugged Dream the rest of the way there.

“Why is your name Dream?”

“Uh-”

“Why are the tips of your hair green?”

“Well I di-”

“Why are you wearing a hoodie? Do you not have elbows?”

“Oh my god, Tommy, leave the poor guy alone,” Techno said as they reached Skeppy’s house. Techno pushed open the front door and took his shoes off.

“Hey Skeppy, I have two nerds with me.”

Skeppy was laying on the couch, “Great, who is it?”

“Tommy and Dream.”

“Oh that should be interesting.”

They argued about what to play before settling on Mario Kart. Techno took every opportunity to attack Skeppy which distracted both of them enough to the point where they were both lagging behind so Dream and Tommy were constantly neck and neck to finish the race. Dream’s whooping cheer drowned out Tommy’s playful yells as he fell back onto the couch dramatically.

“Skeppy can we get on your trampoline?” Tommy asked, rolling over, cheek against the cushion.

“You just wanna do something else cause I beat you!” Dream teased.

“No! I’m just bored with Mario Kart!”

“I mean, we can but you have to be careful because the net is gone.” Skeppy said, standing up. He didn’t bother to put his shoes on as he walked towards the backdoor.

“What do you mean the net is gone? Did you punch too many holes in it?” Techno asked.

“Shut up shut up,” Skeppy bumped Techno, “The whole net was shredded and it was easier to just take it off.”

“Yeah, sure.” Techno teased, bumping Skeppy back.

They went outside and got on the trampoline, Dream grabbed onto one of the poles and started to climb on it, wrapping his legs around.

“Dream this is pretty old, I don’t think you should climb on that,” Techno pointed out.

“It’s fine,” Dream twisted around on the pole, “probably.” He continued to twist around, pulling off his hoodie and throwing it aside. Tommy gasped loudly.

“Oh my god Dream is stripping?”

Techno snorted and Skeppy burst out laughing. Dream wheezed, he would’ve fell off the trampoline if Techno didn’t grab him.

“Tommy- Tommy- you can’t just- you can’t just yell that,” Techno covered his eyes with his hands, “Where did you even learn that?”

Skeppy ignored them, “Dream is this your new career path?”

Dream twirled around again, “Yes, this is my new goal in life!”

“I wanna be there when you tell the career counselor!” Techno butted in.

Techno was laying on the couch reading when his phone started to buzz non stop. When he checked it he found multiple texts from Skeppy.

“HELPPPPPPP”

“HOW DO U BAKE?!??!”

“TECHNNNOOOOOOO”

“PLEASE THERE IS FLOUR EVERYWHERE”

“DUDE”

“ANSWER ME PLEASE I NEED HELP”

Techno sighed and texted back “What?”

“U KNOW HOW TO BAKE RIGHT?? I NEED UR HELP!!!”

Techno texted back, “Alright” and after telling Phil where he was going he headed towards Skeppy’s.

What he didn’t realize was that he was completely unprepared to see Skeppy standing in the middle of his kitchen with batter all over his shirt and oven, broken egg shells littering the floor along with the aforementioned flour.

He stood there, trying to take everything in. “What the fuck?”

Skeppy looked at him sheepishly, “I don’t know what I’m doing, I keep spilling and dropping everything!”

Techno sighed, taking off his glasses, “That’s it, I’m not wearing my glasses anymore, I’ve seen enough.”

“Techno!”

“Alright alright,” He put his glasses back on, “What are you trying to do?”

“I’m trying to make a cake for my sister's birthday and it’s not going too well,” He trailed off, Techno nodded.

“I see. Show me the recipe.”

Skeppy texted him the recipe, it looked pretty easy, just a two layer lemon cake. Techno rolled up his sleeves and preheated the oven then turned to the mess of a kitchen, sighing.

“You’ve lost cooking rights.”

Skeppy changed and they both started to clean up the kitchen, sweeping up flour and scrubbing down counters.

“How the hell did you get flour on top of the fridge?”

“I don’t know!”

After they finished cleaning up they started on the cake.

“Why do you have brown sugar out? We don’t need it.”

“We don’t?”

“Oh my god you’re so bad,”

Skeppy measured out most of the ingredients while Techno mixed them together. They divided the mix and put in different pans then put it in the oven.

“Okay so for the frosting we need a lot of butter,” Techno said, scrolling through the recipe.

“How much butter?” Skeppy asked, opening the fridge.

“Like three sticks.”

They creamed the butter together with sugar and milk while waiting for the cakes to bake.

Once Skeppy pulled them out and tested to make sure they were cooked all the way through they went set them out to cool then watched TV while they waited.

Frosting the cake was a whole new idea.

The frosting was good but kept ripping at the cake even though it was cool. They combated this by dumping the frosting in big globs on the cake, this had the side effect of getting it all over their hands.

“Oh Technoooo,” Techno looked over to see Skeppy holding a glob of frosting, a familiar glint in his eyes.

“Is this really a fight you wanna start?”

“Nope nope nope nevermind.”

They soon finished and examined their work.

“It’s not the prettiest cake but as long as it tastes good,” Techno shrugged, wiping frosting from his hands.

“Yeah, thanks for helping me out with it.”

“Of course nerd.”

Skeppy rocked back and forth on his feet.

“Do you wanna go out on the trampoline?”

“Eh, why not.”

So they went out and laid on the trampoline, talking about anything and everything. Techno talked about how he didn’t want to go back to school, how everything stressed him out. Skeppy talked about how he felt like the expectations were going to crush him.

They were in the middle of their conversation when a loud crackle pierced the air. Both boys jumped, looking around Techno spotted a gold streak against the deep blue sky then an explosion of orange and yellow.

“What the-”

“What the hell is wrong with my neighbor? It isn’t even July yet!” Skeppy squinted through the trees and over the fence.

“They’re just trying to be festive!”

“Yeah- ‘festive’!”

Techno was two seconds away from ripping his hair out, he was going to lose his mind. Every teacher had decided to dump extra work on him and by third period he already had at least 2 hours worth of homework. Everything was too loud and the crowds and hallways were smearing together like paint.

He had a nervous twitch in his hand again and every noise grated against his skull. He was just trying to make it through the day and almost had when he noticed it was raining. He'd have to walk home by himself since Wilbur was taking the car to work and Tommy had practice.

It wasn’t that he didn’t like the rain he just didn’t like the rain while he was carrying all of his school supplies.

“Hey Techno,” He heard Skeppy bounce up behind him, “Wanna hang out after school today?”

“Can’t, I have too much work.”

“Do you wanna come over and work on it together?”

Techno sighed, “Sure, why not?” He let himself get dragged over to Skeppy’s house, hoping they’d actually be able to get some work done. He climbed into the front seat Skeppy’s rickety old car and watched the raindrops slide down the window.

They made it to Skeppy’s house and sat in his basement, softly playing music in the background while they worked on history questions. They divided the work and actually managed to do it faster, giving each other answers and working together before splitting off to different assignments.

After a while Skeppy poked him with his pencil, “Do you wanna go on the trampoline?”

“Isn’t it still raining?” Techno didn’t look up from his math sheet.

“Probably, but that’s what’ll make it fun!”

“Can’t, still gotta finish-”

“Shut up, we have been working for like hours, just take a little break, calm down, and have fun in the rain!” Skeppy grabbed his hand before Techno could protest “The worksheets will still be there when we get back,” Then he dragged him up the stairs.

The rain was chilly, not cold but enough to wake Techno up. They left their shoes in the kitchen then went out and on the trampoline, which looked to be skin and bones, the foam ring and net being completely gone and the metal springs rusting.

Jumping in the rain was exhilarating, the rain soaked his hair and clothes and splattered against his glasses. Skeppy would push him and Techno would grab him and drag them both down, landing on the wet, waxy mat.

His chest felt looser, his body felt cold but his heart was alive and pounding. They had started trying to jump in sync, to see if it would bounce them higher.

“You know, even though I don’t use this as much as I used too, I’m glad I still have it.” Skeppy said, Techno nodded.

“Yeah this is pretty nice especially since it hasn’t broken yet.” Techno agreed.

“Yeah it-” Skeppy was cut off when the mat ripped under his feet and both he and Techno fell through. Techno slid on the dampened ground and landed on his back.

Techno looked up at the sky through the tear, Skeppy’s shouts seemed muffled as he watched the rain fall and dot the earth. Then he started chuckling which evolved into full laughter as he laid under a broken trampoline in the rain with his best friend.

“What are you laughing at?” Skeppy asked, sitting up, grinning faintly.

“I- it’s just that-” Techno broke off laughing, he couldn’t explain why because it really wasn’t that funny, it was just the fact that they were talking about how much they liked the trampoline and how long it held out only for it to break.

Skeppy laughed along with him, shaking his head, shifting to lay next to him.

They stayed there, looking up and watching the rain fall.