#had a supply teacher. girl was helping w names and saying who was here or not.

[squill79]

The Gay Kid

None of the other kids like me. They always make fun of me for being gay. I’m sure there are other gay kids in my school, but I’m THE gay kid. The only one who’s actually out. My name is Hunter, but most of the other kids refer to me with one of their endless supply of homophobic slurs. I thought by now we’d be over this, gay people exist, who cares? Guess my school still lives in the stone age. I haven’t told any school faculty. I don’t want them telling my parents. Plus, I’ve kinda gotten used to it by now. It’s more annoying than anything else. This morning I went to get my Spanish books. There was a penis drawing in my locker again. Hilarious. Suddenly, I felt something hit the back of my neck. “Ow!”, I yelled. I turned around and saw none other than Brandon Wallace. Brandon used to be my friend, or at least I thought he was. I thought I could trust him. He’s the only person I ever told I was gay, and he spread it around quicker than I could blink.  

“What’s up, hada?” He said to me.  

“What?” 

“Hada, that’s Spanish for fairy.” 

“Oh, did you look that up because you were thinking about me?” 

“Pfft, you wish, queer.” 

Brandon’s such a jackass. He has this obnoxious clique of annoying straight guys. Well, them and his girlfriend, he’s the only one to actually have one. She’s just as much of a bimbo as he is, laughing along with his squad about his “sick burns”.  

“You’re so funny, babe!”, she always says that. 

“Funny enough to take to the winter dance?”, real smooth. 

“Oh babe, of course!”, bleh. They then made out for like... an entire uninterrupted minute. Gross.  

“Get a room!”, I yelled. They ignored me. 

After they finally stopped, Brandon turned over to me and said, “See Hunter, this is what you can’t have!” 

“Why would I want that?”, I asked. He couldn’t answer since they went back to making out. 

I eventually got to Spanish class. I sit in the front row of the class. I don’t like being in the middle of all the other kids. “Hola class.”, my teacher, Professor Stevenson said as class began. “We have a new estudiante today!”, a kid in the back got up and walked to the front of the class. “¿Cómo te llamas?” 

“M-me llama Tyler.”, he responded. He seemed nervous. He was shaking and had a bit of a stutter. Kinda felt bad for him. Must be tough being a new kid, especially in senior year. “I’m uh... eighteen y-years old and I umm... w-well I just wanna learn.”, how inspired.  

“Well that’s great, Tyler. Muy bien.”, Professor Stevenson said as Tyler went back to his desk. He proceeded to teach the class as normal. 

I bumped into someone when exiting class that day. “Oops, I-I'm sorry.”, he said.  

“It’s no big deal.”, I replied. I then realized that the person I bumped into was Tyler. 

“Oh, it’s you from S-spanish class!” 

“My name is Hunter.” 

‘Right... you’re uh...” 

“Hunter.” 

“The gay kid?" 

“That’s what they call me.” 

“I umm... I know you d-don’t know me and that I’m new but uh... w-would you want to go to the winter dance with me? I... I’m sorry I sh-shouldn’t have asked. It’s just that all the other kids kept telling me that you’re gay and I-” 

I pondered his question as he kept on rambling. He’s a little awkward and I don’t really know him all too well, but he’s kinda cute. Plus, there are barely any other queer kids in my school, so my options are kinda limited. “Sure.”, I answered him. “Why not?” 

“Oh... oh w-wow thanks. Ok umm... we can m-meet here outside the school. Sorry I can’t pick you up, I don’t have a car.” 

“No worries, I don’t either. I’ll see you this Saturday.” 

“Yeah I-I’ll see you then.”, he said as he awkwardly skuttled away. For the first time in a while, I was actually a little excited for something.  

Saturday night, my parents were helping me get ready for the dance. “You look so good, sweetie!”, my mom told me. “This girl is gonna be so happy to see you, what’s her name again?”  

“It’s... Taylor. And thank you.” 

“Are you sure we don’t need to pick her up? Does she have a ride?”, my dad asked. 

“She has a ride, but thanks dad.” 

“Alright, good luck tonight, champ. Remember to be polite to her... but also be yourself.” 

“I don’t think I can be both of those things at the same time.” Both of my parents chuckled. 

“Make sure to call if you need anything.”, my mom told me. 

“I will, thanks mom.”  

My parents left the room so I could finish preparing. I walked downstairs to go to the bathroom when I overheard a conversation between them. “I’m so glad he finally has someone to go to a dance with.”, my mom said. “He’s such an outcast, I was worried he’d never find a girlfriend.” 

“Well, it must be hard for him.”, my dad replied. “He’s not interested in sports like most of the other boys probably are. He’s into books and anime and whatever. It’s hard for a boy like him to find the right crowd.” Gee thanks you guys. It’s great knowing that me having a “girlfriend” is so important to them. 

My dad drops me off at the school. I arrived before Tyler, so I had to wait outside for a few minutes for him to show up. He eventually arrives wearing a T shirt with sweatpants. And to think I dressed up in a fancy suit just for him. I didn’t tell him this though. Like my parents said, I didn’t want to be rude. “S-sorry I’m late.”, he said as he walked up to me. 

“No worries.”, I told him. We walked inside and I instantly felt butterflies in my stomach. Not really because of Tyler, at least not him specifically. This is the first time I’ve been seen with another guy in a semi-romantic setting. “I hope nobody stares at us.”, I said to Tyler. I was already bullied for being gay, I didn’t want it to get any worse. 

“Oh... I’m sure it won’t be that bad.”, Tyler replied. Odd that he didn’t seem so nervous about that. I guess it must be easier when you’re not the only one. It is nice to be hanging with another gay kid. I’ve been getting sick and tired of being surrounded by a bunch of heteros.  

We enter the cafeteria where the dance takes place. Me and Tyler walk in holding hands. I caught a couple of people giving us awkward looks but it wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been. “Let’s get some snacks and then we can dance.”, I told Tyler. 

“Sure... l-let's do that.” 

We both ate for a few and drank some punch. We didn’t really talk much in that time. A few kids walked past us whispering homophobic slurs. Nothing I’d never heard before, I just ignored them. After a little while I asked Tyler if he wanted to dance. “Let me ju-just go to the bathroom first.”, he answered. I waited about a minute for him to come back. 

“You ready now?”, I asked when he got back.  

“Y-yeah, I am.”, he responded.  

We began to slow dance to a soft romantic song. It was nice, actually. He’s not a bad dancer. We swayed for a few minutes. Eventually, however, I saw Brandon and his dumb clique behind Tyler. They were staring at us and laughing menacingly. I really didn’t feel like dealing with them. “Hey Tyler, we should lea-” Before I could finish my sentence, Tyler shoved be into the punch bowl. I was soaking wet and the juice got in my eyes. I eventually opened them to find everyone in the room staring at me, with Brandon and his gang front and center, along with Tyler. “What the hell?” 

“D-did I do good?”, Tyler asked Brandon.  

“You did great man, that was hilarious.”, Brandon answered. He then turned and pointed to me. “That’s what you get for being mildly snarky to me!” 

I looked at Tyler with contempt. “Why? Why would you do that?”  

“H-hey, I just wanted to get in with the c-cool kids. It’s nothing personal.” 

“You don’t have to be nice to him, Tyler.”, Brandon said to him. “Queers like him are always emotional.”  

I stood up and punched him right in the face, much to everyone’s surprise. “Queers like me will always bring more to this world than jackasses like you. You may have your little gang following you around and worshipping you now, but once high school is over, you’ll be nobody. Your existence will be a blip in all of our lives, best case scenario. So have fun with that.” I then left the room. He didn’t say anything, I think he was still in shock from me punching him. I went outside and called my dad to ask him to pick me up.  

“Everything alright?”, he asked. I think he could tell by my voice that it didn’t turn out well. 

“Yeah... I’m fine dad.” 

“Did she break your heart, son?” 

I began to answer. “She-”, I then paused for a moment. “He broke my heart, dad.” 

“He?” 

“Yeah... I’m sorry I never told you I was jus-” 

“It’s alright son, it really is.” 

“Yeah?” 

“Yeah. It’s ok.”  

I shed a tear as I looked up to the night sky. “Thanks dad.” 

[faerociousbeast]

i think im actually completing my goal of being a background charafter this year

[delu-jean]

Erwin x reader based on attack on caste, could you make reader like one of his crew worker friend tysm 💌

𝐌𝐫. 𝐒𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐡

(Erwin x fem!/reader) -> fluff -> 1.9k

Request: Erwin x reader based on attack on caste, could you make reader like one of his crew worker friend tysm 💌

Notes: I haven't read it, but saw a brief summary on the separate au! Since I had quite the freedom, this is a confession scenario and the reader is a teacher! Thanks for the request, and hope it's to your liking. ^^

Erwin was the History teacher. That being said, you were the English teacher, only two rooms away from his. Levi and Hange had always known you had quite the crush on him. Hange would constantly tease you about it, and surprisingly, Levi would use it as blackmail (he used it only when you refused to buy him new cleaning supplies). That being said, your bank account was not doing the best. He had you constantly on your toes since you didn’t want Erwin knowing about how you felt...well...not yet at least. You wanted to do things when you felt it was right, although...you never knew if that time would come.

English was something you liked teaching, and since Erwin had a liking for literature (and history of course), you’d take advantage of that every now and then. You see, Erwin wouldn’t approach you, rather, you did with books and all different types of topics. Hoping that you could extend your time together. Your conversations were rather...interesting. He took his pride and joy into your talks, expressing how much he loved your variety. And you would constantly talk about how extraordinary his taste was.

Each time you brought a new book and obtained his praise, it made you blush. You couldn’t help but feel so smitten for someone like Erwin. Perfect in every aspect, your co-worker, and a very kind person in general. Though you thought that, it seemed others thought differently.

“Miss. L/n, why do you even like Mr. Smith? I mean, he’s so generic and boring in my opinion. Wouldn’t you rather go out with a guy like me?” Jean snickered as you shook your head.

“Jean, that’s none of your business. Plus, who said I had such inappropriate feelings for Mr. Smith?”

“Miss, sorry to inform you, but Jean does have a point-” you then looked at Eren in a defensive way.

“Not in that way...it’s just that, it’s obvious you like him,” Jean then followed after Eren spoke:

“Yeah, you’re constantly approaching him and well...he kind of doesn’t-”

“Shut up Jean!” Annie threw her bag at him.

“You don’t have to be such an ass. None of the girls think it’s cute”

“Shut up Annie!”

“H-hey, let’s calm down-”

“Armin, you too! Be quiet!”

“Enough. All of you in your seats right now,” you hallared and the students did as told. Though you hated to admit, those little kids did have a point. You always came after Erwin, and he, never after you. He probably saw you as a friend if anything. Just someone he could casually talk to when it came to english...nothing else. Though Hange had thought differently, if Levi didn’t say anything...your hunch was probably right. Speaking of Heichou, he surprisingly flung the door after all of the commotion.

“Oi, shut up brats.”

“Janitor Levi!” They all sat in silence since they were scared of him (given the intimidating look).

“You know what, I’m sick and tired of this. I’ve been waiting for one of you idiots to actually do something.”

“Mr. Ackerman, that’s absurd-”

“No it’s not. Let’s go, all of us now. If he rejects you, then too bad. And if he accepts you...well that’ll be disgusting but it’ll get out of my way.”

“I’m still in the middle of receding Shakspere-”

Hange would come in with her lab coat drenched in some kind of liquid. You wouldn’t question though, since it was probably something harmful. You didn’t need her to lose her job, plus, you enjoyed her company quite a lot.

“C’mon Y/n! He totally likes you-” Jean would snort, causing Eren to punch his shoulder.

“Well...as I was saying, he obviously does! Come on! Do you really want to be that one depressed English teacher who’s single till her 70’s?”

“And what if I do?” you questioned.

“ Well I know you don’t, so let’s get going!”

Hange would drag you to Erwin. The students followed, and Levi trailed behind. He made sure that most of the crowd was under control, and that he could see the deed was done himself (from afar of course). You guys looked like a kindergarten line awaiting to go outside. Jean and Eren fought here and there, but other than that, everyone else was quiet. Waiting for what was yet to come.

Hange smacked open the door and yelled

“ERWINNNNNNNNN! I’VE GOT A SPECIAL SURPRISE FOR YOU!”

“Hange...please don’t-”

“Oh, what is it Y/n?” The philosopher was putting a book away. He looked very handsome while doing so, and Hange could tell that’s how you were thinking.

“Oh, that’s right”

Hange then pushed you into the classroom, and forced everyone away as you sat utterly speechless. She smirked, winked, and did almost every teasing gesture she could. Erwin sat fixated on you, wondering what surprise was going to be given...and ohoho, was he really in for one.

Erwin then walked closer to you and put a hand on your shoulder. You jumped a bit at the sudden motion, but tried keeping calm. Your heart raced as he then said:

“Hange, what is the matter at hand about? I have to prepare for my next class, and quite frankly, this is time consuming.”

‘Time consuming?...’ you sulked a bit disappointed.

“Okay okay, so I won’t be delivering it...but instead Y/n will!! You two have fun, and I’ll come check up on the both of you later!” she then slammed the door and he removed his hand from you.

“I’m sorry Miss. L/n, I didn’t realize it was you who had something to show me.”

“N-no, don’t be. Mr. Smith, if you’re busy I won’t bother you and will be on my way-”

“I’m not busy…” he muttered as he leaned on his desk.

“I’m sorry, what did you say?” you asked, trying to see if what you heard was right. He then approached closer, now both of you face to face (with a gap because of your height difference). He crossed his arms, and you watched as his eyes darted at yours.

He seemed to be genuine with what he said, and you could tell by the way his eyes had softened. He looked very gentle and cautious. Maybe this had to do with the fact that you were such a doubtful/uncertain person...or that he didn’t want to hurt your feelings? You weren’t sure what to conclude, and because of that, asked:

“But then, what you said to Miss. Hange-”

“I meant what I said to her. I’m too busy to deal with whatever nonsense she has to show me. Though she does show interesting things, as of right now, I really do have a class to prepare for,” you then bit your cheek, looking away as he continued.

“But, I’m never too busy for you. If you have another novel to share, I’d love to hear about it. I’ve always got time to make for you, and even if I don’t in the moment, I will try my best afterwards,” your cheeks flushed as he smiled. Such an earnest gentleman giving you such gestures, made you melt. You then watched as he grabbed your hand, making you immediately look at him.

“Haha, I was hoping that would work. Now, what is it that you wanted to tell me, Miss. L/n?”

“That I...I um...that that…” you inhaled deeply trying to think straight. It was now or never, and if he rejected you, at least you would be able to move on. Though it might’ve been awkward, at least he would’ve been honest, and you as well.

“Mr. Smith...no, I mean...Erwin Smith,” he seemed shocked as you called his name. You’ve never said it infront of him which he found quite alluring. Though he thought that, seeing his sudden change in reaction, you thought you stepped over a boundary.

“Oh, I’m sorry-”

“No no, you’re more than welcome to call me that. So continue, Y/n.”

“Oh, okay. Erwin...I, I like you. I’ve liked you for a while now and have wanted to tell you...but I was a little scared.”

“What were you scared of?”

“Well...that things would get awkward for us as co-workers-”

“Why would things get awkward?” his tone was sharp as he asked you, seeming as if you were in the middle of an interrogation.

“W-well, since you would’ve rejected me-”

“Who said I would?” he locked his gaze into yours, noticing how fearful you seemed. He then straightened himself, and then squeezed your palm. Ever so soft did the notion feel, as he then stated:

“Y/n...I like you a lot as well. From the first moment I saw you, I was dazed by your presence. You were just so...beautiful...both physically, and well...in general,” you looked at him, now feeling as if he was surprising you. Though Erwin had such a way with words, you never thought he would express them this way...especially to you.

“The way you lit up any room, how you adorably approached me with good taste in texts, and how you’ve made sure to make your students the best they can be. Those few factors made me really look up to you. You give yourself less credit than you deserve, and I hope that after hearing that...well...you try differently,” he then intertwined his hand with yours. His fingers laced tightly, as yours dangeld gently.

“But...why did you never approach me?...If you felt like this, why didn’t you do things first?”

“One being that we need to act professional during school hours. Though I felt like this, I still needed to set some boundaries being that you are also my co-worker, and fellow teacher. Two being that I wanted to see you try yourself. Though you do seem to let yourself down, watching as you approached me, and did your best when doing so...made me glad that you were pushing yourself to keep on going.”

“Also...I got to know a lot about you during our conversations...and secretly wanted to keep on enjoying them without the pressure of my feelings.”

“I see…” you then watched as he pecked your hand, it almost felt as if the motion had come out of a fairy tale, one you’d never think you’d be in. The scene in front of you had you thinking about a happily ever after, one that you would like. Though you wouldn’t know how it would end, you did however know how it would start. This just being the beginning.

“Y/n...would you like to go out to dinner with me?”

“Yes, of course...Erwin,” you’d grin to then hear a commotion swarm into the classroom.

“HAHA THEY DID IT! SEE Y/N, WHAT DID I SAY!?”

“Oi, shut up four eyes. I got the train moving, so where’s my credit?”

“Wait, she actually went for him?-”

“Shut up horse face, no one cares about your opinion-”

“Eren you son of a-”

“Students, I know what you’ve just watched might’ve been...not shocking but rather, nice? Regardless, it’s time for you to get ready for history. Get your materials ready, and we can start.”

“Yes Mr. Smith,” they said in unison heading towards your class (to collect their materials). He then swooped you in, and planted a kiss on your forehead.

“See you later, don’t spend too much time reciting books.”

“I won’t Mr. Smith,” he then eyed for you to chuckle as his reaction.

“You are the history teacher, no?”

“Yes but...I’m Erwin to you, Erwin Smith,” he grinned as you stepped out the door.

“Alright alright, I’ll see you later...Erwin.”

[quirkless-and-proud]

Vigilante Au

Mido finds aizawa in the middle of a fight in an alley and then there’s a gunshot and eraser is down and the villains escape,

when mido approaches him he assumes he’s another vigilante and cuts his hand on the approach, a sign from one vigilante to another that they are not pros, (willing to make one’s self vulnerable to gain trust from someone already hurt and bring yourself to that level)

when he gets close enough, he sees the goggles and realizes this is a pro, and before eraser passes out he grabs him by the arm and says he can’t be taken to a hospital - there is a mole in the police force

when eraser next wakes up he’s in an apartment, completely bare with dressings on his gunshot wound as well as the other damage he sustained

now that he’s more lucid, eraser realizes he’s hooked up to an iv and he can’t feel the gunshot as well as he’d be able to if he wasn’t on some sort of pain meds

conversation is stilted and mido asks what is going to happen next, since he won’t be on his feet for another 2 weeks without quirk healing

eraser asks about the bullet and the kid shrugs and says it’s not the first time he’s had to deal with one and as for the medical equipment, he has some friends who are willing to supply medium grade med supplies on the down low

eraser wants to ask where they are, where the kids parents are and a multitude of other things but realizes that he’s going to have to rely on this kid until he’s on his feet

over the course of those two weeks eraser notices two distinct things, one, that other vigilantes drop in with information, food, money, or a multitude of other things and receive medical care in return

and two, that children or other random adults with serious injuries turn up for medical care as well, the children usually crying and the adults not, they all wear the same shoes as mido tho, so he wonders how they’re all connected

essentially, the sludge villian incident was at the end of mido’s 2nd year of middle school and he was told off by all might, then over the summer he decided to become a vigilante, taking summer courses at a dojo that helped quirk less kids, his mom died at the beginning of the last year of middle school and between her life insurance and his dad’s payments for the apt, mido realized that he could keep the apt to himself so long as someone signed for him, so one of the vigilantes registered as his big brother and the two of them lived together until 2 months before eraser turned up because he died (way more emotional and spontaneous)

this was decided by a meeting of the vigilante “council” which is 15 different people who showed up at mido’s house after he took over for the brother that died before he met eraser it’s similar to pirates of the caribbean where it’s passed down verbally and with a token from the original 15

aizawa doesn’t want him putting himself in danger and mido flaps him off as best he can but also points out that he needs his help, he doesn’t have many choices and he is getting everyone personally

3 members of the council approach eraser w/out mido and tell eraser in no uncertain terms that if mido is hurt in any way he will be held personally responsible and that vigilantes rely on him for intel/analysis of villains and hero’s alike to avoid/help/capture and he has saved their lives both with the hospital and also with his mind. building up a network of safety took time and eraser has to realize how many lives he will put in danger if he tries to dismantle the network.

one of the 3 stays back and tells eraser she was mido’s brother’s first contact and longest friend, and that he asked her to watch after mido. she tells eraser she thinks mido could be a pro, that he might be the key to ending vigilantism but that he could revolutionize pro-hero work. the kid is wicked smart but she doesn’t want to see him become bitter and jaded.

this is something eraser has been thinking about non stop the whole time he’s been holed up here.

eraser asks her for a knife. it is the single request all vigilantes must obey, a sign of trust.

he cuts his palm and says he swears to try his best to take care of mido, as much as the boy will let him and that he will do everything in his power not to jeopardize or hurt him. “a vigilante adoption if you will”

and mido, this whole time. well. he’s still mido and there’s a lot of hero worship of eraser who fights essentially quirkless and has been respectful and kind to the quirkless kids and who has relied on and trusted him

and so 5 of the 15 vigilante council, including mido are to do a recon op of the police station and try to incriminate the mole based on plans eraser helped them lay out

it goes alright except mido breaks 2 ribs fighting someone and when he gets back eraser is able to stand and takes over his care as best he can and mido tells him he can go back to the police, the mole has been caught

eraser asks mido why he isn’t trying to become a pro

mido laughs and makes a broken noise and says a very reliable source told him he couldn’t be

and eraser says whoever it was was out of their goddamned mind, that they must have been blind and deaf to miss what was in front of their faces, he points out the illogic and that he fights quirkless and he points to everything mido had done in a little over a year, how fast and capable he is and the connections he has already and just, if eraser knew the kids from his classes would be half as good as mido eraser could retire because crime wouldn’t be a problem

and mido is crying and eraser asks him if he would go to ua, if he would let eraser work out a deal for him and recommend him

and mido says his money must go to the hospital, he can’t leave this place and he doesn’t have money to really go to school and his grades aren’t great (half on purpose lol)

and eraser says what he does with his money is his business as long as eraser can’t prove it and that getting a hero license would help him protect vigilantes and there would be some rules, like he wouldn’t be able to live on his own like this, but there are places eraser is willing to look away in the short term until they can figure out a real long term plan

and mido says he wouldn’t have anywhere to live that isn’t the hospital and eraser says kid if you think i’d do this for just a student, i mean i’d be a hell of a teacher but i’m only a decent one, that i already declared a vigilante adoption in front of that girl, unprompted, and that his husband and he had always considered fostering/adopting

and mido blurts out something that means he knows it’s present mic despite no formal paperwork saying that anywhere and eraser just fucking loses it and starts laughing like a madman because of course mido figured it out the kid is a genius

and yes, hizashi and i would fucking love you kid, like you deserve and you wouldn’t have to do all of this alone, and you wouldn’t have all this responsibility, you could give it to me and then, slowly as you become an adult we add it back without overwhelming you

and mido says to let him go to ground for 2 weeks - that eraser has to give him time to sort a few things out, largely to protect everyone at the hospital and get word out to the quirkless kids and eraser says okay

and in 2 weeks eraser has talked to nezu and they have a plan and a police deal and mido walks up to the gates of ua all by himself with a backpack that has notebooks and clothes but nothing else (he ran everyone to ground, moved the hospital and sorted out the money problem with that girl) and now he’s standing in front of eraserhead turning himself in

my name is midoriya izuku, you know me as mido and i am here to turn myself in

nezu regards him with a glint in his eyes and eraser just rolls his eyes and hugs the kid telling him he has done a good job and that he’ll take it from here

———

this is a really lost outline for a fic that i would love if someone else wrote lol

sorry about caps and stuff, this is really just for the notes section on my phone so hope you like it

[blue-fidelity]

~ “Smile In The Face of Tragedy”

Chapter One: Beer Run

Pairings: Billy Hargrove x Henderson!reader, Steve Harrington x best friend! reader

Chapter Summary:

(Y/N) reminisces the events of the summer before senior year. It’s her last year of High School, and she wants to start fresh, the pretty newcomer with shiny blue eyes is willing to help with that.

Warnings: Fluff, angst, abuse (could be trigger warning, reader has a hard past)

The year of 1984 had come into full swing, and (Y/N) had tried to make the rest of her junior year somewhat enjoyable. After the incident with the demogorgon around Christmas, she wanted to focus on the lighter side of life. Which was mainly dicking around with her best friend, and crush, Steve Harrington. Things were going great, till the summer. 

‘Summer of ‘84. She dubbed it, “The Summer of Steve & Nancy”. Months usually consisted of Steve and Nancy trying to fix the shattered fragment of what their relationship was, whilst (Y/N) and Jonathan watched on the sidelines. Steve would come to (Y/N)’s house at ungodly hours of the night, usually sneaking through her window. 

She’s just been so distant, I don’t know what I’m doing wrong- he’d whimper, laying his head on her lap. She tried to contain her tears, for him. If only she could tell Steve that there was someone better for him, someone that could make him happy. There was one problem with that, though. Steve loved Nancy. It’s not like (Y/N) could change that, and it killed her. Seeing her best friend in this state though, it was another level. She wanted to scream at Nancy, scream at her for stringing Steve on a loose thread that she could’ve easily cut. Instead Nancy hid her feelings for Jonathan and carried on this dance with Steve. 

It just wasn’t fair, though, nothing really seemed fair at this point. Everything would eventually come crashing down and it’d leave a trail of broken hearts in the process, but atlast, (Y/N) would keep her head up high. She’d try her best not to fall into the deep end of emotions she wasn’t able to handle. If anything turned down hill, she knew she’d have one thing. Her brother, Dustin. 

Dustin was the ray of happiness that (Y/N) projected off of, to his charismatic personality and bright smile, she was like him in many ways. Moments spent with her brother we’re always great, they had a surprisingly better relationship then most siblings did. It was probably because (Y/N) was secretly a nerd, and even though she wouldn’t admit it, she probably liked D&D even more than her brother did. That’s why she absolutely loved joining Dustin and his friends on their sessions. 

This made the party worship her in a way, and she couldn’t help but find it adorable. It’s not everyday you get a bunch of middle schoolers fawn after you. So despite the never ending months of trying to mend Steve’s broken heart, the summer wasn’t a total bust. In fact, she loved the days she spent with those boys (even though it was a little hard to carpool when she drove a Harley Davidson, Mike was always willing to lend his family’s station wagon). 

Now, she was nearly two months into her senior year, and she decided to make it count. After all, it was her last year of high school before college. It was the day before Halloween, and she couldn’t be more excited. Dustin and the rest of the party were pretty hyped about spending their first night trick or treating unchaperoned, if  (Y/N) remembered correctly he stated, “(Y/N)! We are 13, practically men! As men we fetch our own candy”. To this she giggled, ruffling her brother’s curls, “Well young man, you must save your sister some Kit-Kats”.

- 

(Y/N) knew Tina, the only popular girl that really tolerated her was going to throw a party at her place. She had called her last night all excited about her, “Halloween Bash”, and how she wanted (Y/N) to help plan it. “The guys at the liquor store won’t say no to a hot chic on a motorcycle!”, of course Tina wanted her to get the beer. (Y/N) didn’t even drink that much! Only on occasions, but Tina was her friend. So after school today, she was going to head to ‘Hawkins local liquor store, and PRAY TO GOD she could hide the kegs from her mother. It was moments like these she wished she had a car to stash things in.

She pulled up into Hawkins High’s parking lot, “Toys in The Attic”  by Aerosmith playing loudly on her stereo. Spending a whole summer with middle schooler’s kind of made her forget about her social status. If it made sense, (Y/N) wasn’t in the “popular clique”, being Steve’s best friend just gave her a title. Those who didn’t like her called her, “Steve’s Wannabe Queen”, which was partially true, whilst others who liked her didn’t name her anything. She was just, “(Y/N) Henderson”. A face that simply stood out in the crowd because of sheer confidence, kindness, and a vibe that screamed cool. Guys wanted to fuck her, girls wanted to be her. It was a classic High School cliché.

Tina waved at her as she parked her ‘Harley beside her car. She was with Carol and another girl who she couldn’t name. “Hey (Y/N/N), I was just telling the ladies you’ll be supplying the beer for tomorrow?”, she said, to which (Y/N) rolled her eyes. “Only because you know the creeps down there won’t turn me down, come on Tina I feel used”, she fake pouted. The girls all laughed, continuing to talk about the party. 

As the girls continued their conversation, (Y/N)’s Aerosmith seemed to be drowned out by the familiar sound of The Scorpions, “Rock You Like A Hurricane”. A fellow metal head such as herself in Hawkins Indiana? ‘This couldn’t be possible. About everyone in this town had shitty taste in music, besides her and Jonathan. She turned down her stereo and directed her view to the sound, eyes being met with an ocean blue Camaro, with a California license plate. How fitting. Whoever the driver was, had sped into the parking spot beside hers. 

The group of girls behind her stared eagerly to see who this suspicious newcomer was, and if (Y/N) was being honest, she was kind of curious as well. The driver door swung open, and the driver’s combat boots grounded him to the concrete. That’s when she saw him, and he saw her, too. 

Something radiated off him, almost a confidence higher than hers. It was cockiness, and at first glance, she could see right through him. Denim jacket, cuffed jeans, and a cigarette hanging loosely from his lips. That was her first impression, and damn was he definitely good looking. For a moment, Steve had been wiped from her brain. Replaced with blonde curls and pretty blue eyes that bore into hers. “Whatcha looking at, princess?”, he smirked- eyeing her up and down like an animal staring down its prey. (Y/N) tried to contain herself, she wasn’t about to be wooed by the new playboy. 

“I’m simply looking at your car, 1979 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28, right?”, her car knowledge would get her out of this one. “Right you are sweetheart, pleasure to see one of the girls in this town has common sense”, he grinned, showing his pearly whites. “Well if you're ‘lookin for that trait in the rest of the girls here, I think you’d sadly be disappointed”, she smiled, gesturing to her “friends”. Tina and the other’s let out gasps. The newcomer shook his head, plucking his cigarette from his lips. “Well I guess I’ll see you and your senseless friends around then, huh?”, “I guess so”. He strutted to the school. 

“You whore! Way to throw us under the bus like that”, Tina scowled, slapping (Y/N) on the shoulder. She only laughed, “Well, couldn’t lie to the guy now could I?”. Well wasn’t (Y/N) feeling pretty proud about herself right now? She could really be a sarcastic fuck sometimes, huh? 

-

In a way, (Y/N) loved school. Her place made her feel validated, and she got pretty good grades. What was there not to love? As she was at her locker, her peachy attitude soon turned to discomfort. The happy squeals of Nancy could be heard from a few lockers away as Steve spun her around. She smiled at the couple, yet it still made her heart ache. (Y/N) couldn’t help but notice Jonathan awkwardly walking away from them, passing by her. Steve looked at his girlfriend with sparkles in his eyes. He genuinely seemed joyful, and in a way she was happy for him. Still, that aching feeling was there, and at this point it seemed nothing could replace it. 

Later that day, during art class (which was last period), she found out the new guy's name was Billy Hargrove.  Fresh out from sunny California a week ago. She questioned why someone like him would choose art out of all things for his creative credit, but, maybe he’d surprise her. The class was filled with a very “out of the box”, group of people. They might’ve been (Y/N)’s favorite out of the student body. The art room was a space for open opinions, and creativity. Everyone was interesting in their own individual way, but somehow, Billy managed to stand out. 

When he entered the class, everyone was already working on their current pieces. Mr. Axworthy, who insisted everyone called him “Mr. Ax”, had assigned a new project about a week ago. Every year he gave students an assignment to represent themselves, this year it was painting your favorite album cover. Though (Y/N) had many favorites, she chose The Clash’s “London Calling”, and was currently working on the shading. She was calmly sitting at her easel when she heard the teacher speak, “Mr. Hargrove! Pleasure to have you in our art class, there’s a free spot beside Mrs. Henderson, she’ll explain the current project to you!”. (Y/N) gave “Mr. Hargrove” a slight smile as he walked towards her.

“So, Henderson, huh? Got a first name?”, he questioned, showing that cocky smirk. “It’s, (Y/N), yours?”, “Billy. Billy Hargrove”.  Now she knew his name- and it somehow added to his intoxicating aura. Call it fascination- but, Billy’s presence overwhelmed her in a way, and she didn’t even know him that well! It’s not like her feelings for Steve disappeared, just anytime those shimmering blue eyes glanced her way, her heart raced. Maybe Billy was the void waiting to fill that aching feeling, and she just hadn’t realized it yet. Everyone was telling her to move on, that it wasn’t worth it, but- to her, Steve was worth it. The one thing that wasn’t worth it though, was chasing a dream that wasn’t going to come true. 

As (Y/N) was explaining the project to Billy, she was surprised by how attentive he was. If he could get excited about one thing, it was music. “So how are your art skills?”, she asked, “A little rusty, but nothing you can’t show me”, he grinned, taking one of his paint brushes and dipping it into some red paint. (Y/N) thought he’d go for the canvas, but he surprisingly smeared the paint onto her cheeks. She stared at him in shock- “Wha-what the hell did you do that for?!”, she exclaimed. “Just thought I could add to the flush on your cheeks!”, he laughed, of course he’d notice her blushing.  Two could play at this game. “Well, you know what I think your face could use?”, “Oh yeah? What’s that?”, “Some green!”, she shouted, painting a big green line on his face. Before their paint war could continue, Mr. Axworthy had noticed.

“I hate to interrupt, but shouldn’t the paint go on your canvas?”, he motioned to our easels. “Well of course Mr. Ax, but when it comes to the concept of art, isn’t everything a canvas?” she giggled, leaving Mr. Axworthy speechless. “Well, yes- but I’d prefer you’d not interrupt the class and actually help Billy start his project”, he states. “Definitely, he had just finished telling me he wanted to do Metallica’s ‘Kill ‘em All, isn’t that correct, Mr. Hargrove?”, “Yes that is correct!”. “Well then, carry on, you can wash the paint off your faces at the end of class”. 

By the time class finished, Billy had at least finished the base coat of his painting whilst (Y/N) had time to finish her shading. Now, they needed to step into the halls with paint all over their faces-how embarrassing. It was as if Mr. Axworthy wanted them to be publicly humiliated! In a way, (Y/N) didn’t blame him, it was a good form of punishment. When the pair walked the halls, they received awkward glances. Billy simply rolled his eyes, who were they to judge him? He wrapped an arm around (Y/N)’s shoulders, giving her a reassuring smile, “Let them stare, I know you got rep around this joint, they have no reason to give you dirty looks, aight?”. It was nice to have reassurance from Billy, but from getting to know him, he generally had that ‘don’t give a fuck attitude’. She wasn’t worried about the paint. She was worried what people would think if they saw her, the girl who had been pining for Steve forever, under another guy's arms. The new hotshot nonetheless. 

Luckily Billy was called over by Tommy, of course he had already been recruited by that group. Despite her very much fun art class with him, she was feeling uneasy with all the looks she was getting from people, and to make matters worse, Steve was standing at her locker. He waved her over with a smile, to which she headed over to him. 

“Hey Stevie”, she beamed at him. Damn she still couldn’t resist that adorable face. “Hiya (Y/N/N), saw you walking with ‘Hargrove”, he smirked. “Oh yeah, that- we just have art together, nothing big”, she blushed, I guess Billy really was getting to her. “That explains the paint on your cheeks?”, he pointed at the red coated on her face. “Just a small mishap I guess”, she chuckled. “So what brings Steve ‘The Hair’ Harrington to my locker?” she inquired. “Just wanted to see my bestie, it’s been a while”, he smiled softly, poking her side. It really had been a while, (Y/N) really couldn’t remember the last time Steve looked at her happily. It gave her a sense of comfort to see him so cheerful. “It really has- I’d hate to cut this short, but I really have to get some errands done, but I’ll see you at the party tomorrow?”, “Definitely! I’ll see you then”, he bid her goodbye, kissing her on the cheek. Her hands grazed her cheek, touching where he just kissed. “Oh and Henderson! Let’s hangout sometime, yeah?”, he shouted to her, “That’d be great!”. 

Before heading to the parking lot, she stopped at the bathroom to wash the paint off. She checked to see if anyone was there, luckily there wasn’t. The girl really didn’t need anymore dirty looks. She grabbed some paper towels, running them under warm water. While she whipped the paper towel over her face, she took the time to look at herself. What was she doing? Was she really going to let Steve slip away that easily?  Billy had just entered her life, and had obviously taken an interest in her. What was the risk of jumping into things too quickly? She couldn’t wait forever. That’s when she decided. (Y/N) was going to allow herself to get lost in the new overwhelming feeling of Billy Hargrove. 

-

(Y/N) drove down the quiet back roads of Hawkins, making her way to the liquor store. If the town wasn’t sketchy enough, having the liquor store away from civilization made it even sketchier. She really didn’t like coming here, the last time (Y/N) came here was for another one of Tina’s parties. It was for the end of the summer, at Lover’s Lake. It was quite the blowout, till Hopper came to shut it down. Fortunately she didn’t get caught that night, her mother would’ve killed her, and she wasn’t about to spend the night in jail. 

Now, (Y/N) wanted to give the cashier an offer he couldn’t refuse. The process was simple, bat her eyelashes, show plenty of cleavage, talk innocently, and then figure out how to put two fucking kegs in the side car of her motorcycle! She glanced down at the outfit she was wearing, a simple low-cut red t-shirt with some high rise acid wash jeans, and a leather jacket. The leather jacket could go. She strutted to the counter of the store, knowing they held the kegs in the back storage, it was time to turn on the charm. Borris, the regular cashier, was in his late 60’s, and she absolutely hated the way he looked at her. It made her feel grose, but she wasn’t about to let Tina down. 

Boris contentedly stared her down, obviously checking her out. On the inside, she shivered, but she kept on a smile. “Anything I can do for you pretty lady?”, he asked, grinning. “Yes, I was wondering if you can hook me up with a few kegs? ‘You see I got this party tomorrow, up in Indianapolis! It’s a big college thing, ‘can’t have a good time without alcohol”, that oughta convince him. “Sure thing sweets, I’ll grab some for you, how many shall it be?”. He didn’t even ask her for her ID! “Two will be just fine! Thank you so much!”. He brought them up to the counter, shit those look heavy, she thought. “How much does it come to?”, (Y/N) asked. “Oh, on the house, anything for a pretty girl looking to have a good time”, score! He almost offered to help bring them out- till a familiar voice cut in. 

“It’s no problem Boris, I’ll help her out, just grab me a pack of cigs mhm?”, Billy Hargrove, of course. “Your usual William?”, questioned Boris. “That’ll be just fine”. (Y/N) was stunned. Did it just happen to be a coincidence that he walked through the door? More like a sign. He took hold of one of the kegs, while she grabbed the other. They both headed outside. 

“Stalking me, Hargrove?”, she smirked. “Absolutely not! I just happened to need more cigarettes, and I noticed a familiar Harley Davidson, don’t flatter yourself”, he placed the keg down, lighting a cigarette. “Sure...and you deliberately wanted to help me with the kegs?”, “The guys a creep! I’m sure you didn’t want to be around him any longer”, he huffed, blowing smoke from his lips. “Aww, you protecting me Hargrove? That’s cute!”, she giggled.

Even though Billy hated to admit it, he loved when she laughed. She ignited this glow that was hard to describe- though, it made him feel warm. It made him feel good. When he arrived here, his goal was to sleep with nearly every girl who made eyes at him, he’d make a list, and then he’d check it off one by one. That all changed when he saw her. She was different, she had this spark that came with her quick wit that left him wanting more. Was he going to tell her that? No, not yet, but it seems his “friendship” with her was growing quicker than he expected. 

“I’m not protecting you..just-shut up”, why was he getting so flustered? This was so unlike him. “Whatever Hargrove, just help me load these into my sidecar will yah?”, she struggled to hold the keg. “Sweetheart, are you sure those will fit in there?’, he questions, looking at her struggling. “You got any better ideas?”,  she groaned impatiently. In fact- Hargrove did have an idea, whether she’d agree, he really didn’t know. 

“Here me out- you and I both know those aren’t going to hold in there, and I know why you need them, so why don’t I stash them in the Camaro, and you and I can go to the party together?”, he offered, waiting eagerly for her response. She hesitantly looked down at the kegs, and then back up at him. “Billy- are you sure? I don’t want you going through all that trouble, what if your parent’s found them?”, she questioned worriedly, biting her lip. “My parents won’t notice a damn thing, if they even touch my car- it’s their dead body on my hands”, he laughed, though she could see his shoulders tense up, the question had obviously bothered him. “Well alright then...let’s load them into your trunk”. 

Once the kegs were in, Billy closed his car trunk tightly. Smiling at (Y/N) he took another puff of his cigarette, leaning against the back of his car. “So what are you going as?”, he wondered, staring at her. (Y/N) had spaced out, not really getting what he meant. “What do you mean?”, she asked. “For the Halloween party, what’s your costume?”, “Oh! I'm going as Sarah Connor from the new Terminator movie?”, she explained, wondering if he’d heard of it. “Nice, I was told that movie was supposed to be good”. Why did this conversation feel so awkward? “It really was, I went to go see it with my little brother”, she grinned. 

“You got a little sibling- me too, well step sister, but that doesn’t matter”, he muttered the last bit, inhaling more of his cigarette. “Do you two get along?”, she questioned, “No-not really-just, can we change the subject?!”, he raised his voice slightly, startling her a bit. He really didn’t want to talk about his family. ‘I’m sorry, I really didn’t mean to pry- I should go-”, she whispered, heading back to her motorcycle. (Y/N) turned on her heel, flinching when she felt Billy take a slight hold on her wrist. “Wait- I didn’t mean- I didn’t mean to startle you”, his words were shaky, as he kept his grip on her wrist. She slipped his hand off her wrist, staring at him blankly. (Y/N) wasn’t exactly sure what she was supposed to say at this moment. “It’s just- when I moved here, I wanted to start fresh and the idea of my family just-it makes it hard”, he says sharply. “I just don’t like talking about it”. 

(Y/N) nodded her head slightly, she didn’t really know what Billy went through when he moved to Hawkins, and whatever it was, seemed to trigger him. In a way, (Y/N) knew what it felt like. She and her family moved to Indiana in 1979, when she just started middle school. It was hard to adjust, and Hawkins was a lot different from her last home. They left because her father had walked out on them. Though it was traumatic, it wasn’t like he was a very good dad. He’d come home late from work, usually drunk and angry. (Y/N) still had scars from when he beat her. It made her insides twitch, shivering at the thought of the still present stitches on her back. The night she got them, her father had been particularly cheesed off,  luckily her mom and Dustin weren’t home. Her mother was having a well deserved ‘ladies night’ while her brother was at a sleepover. 

The night started off calmly, (Y/N) had been contently listening to records in her room while her father was watching football down the hall. She knew he had been drinking, she never saw him without alcohol in his hands. That’s why she didn’t drink that much, she’d hate to turn out like him. Her door was locked, to make sure he wouldn’t come in. She cringed when she heard glass shatter in the other room, footsteps slowly approaching her door. She hopped out of her bed, muttering ‘fuck-fuck-fuck’, under her breath. At this point she had gotten scared. Her dad knocked harshly on her door, “(Y/N), you better fucking open this door, or I’ll knock it down myself”- he yelled, voice booming. That’s when she realized. I’ll go out the window. (Y/N) quietly opened the window latch, slipping through the frame. Luckily her house was only one story, so there was no risk of falling. 

She thought she had been safe, till her father noticed she escaped from the window. (Y/N) barely had a chance to leave the driveway till her father spotted her, tackling her to the ground. Her chest hit the cold pavement, groaning in pain as her father pinned her wrists to the asphalt. Not getting a chance to notice the kitchen knife in his left hand, he unexpectedly slashed the blade against her back. She wailed as the knife dented her skin, begging for her dad to stop as tears filled her eyes. By chance her mother had entered the driveway before her father could do anymore damage.  (Y/N) never understood why her mom didn’t call 9-1-1, just simply drove her to the hospital to get stitches. It was probably out of fear, and it was only a few nights after the incident that he disappeared. When Dustin found out what happened, even with only being eight years old at the time, she swore he was ready to kill him. 

- 

When she stared back at him, she had a sympathetic look in her eyes.  “It’s okay B, just- if you ever need anyone to talk to, I’m here”.  He smiled slightly at the small nickname, looking at her softly, “Thanks, no one’s really offered that before”. He scratched his neck nervously, lighting out his cigarette. “Hug it out?”, she extended her arms out cheekily. Hug it out? Billy Hargrove didn’t hug it out- but she seemed so sincere-  he pulled her into his arms, kissing her forehead. He couldn’t resist smelling her hair, it smelled almost tropical- like the salty scent of the ocean breeze that reminded him of home. For the first time, Billy felt at peace in this new town. He knew that if she stocked around, he could bring himself to be happy, and as luck would have it, she was planning to. 

Next Chapter: smile-in-the-face-of-tragedy

Authors Note: The time has come and the first chapter is here! I hope you guys enjoyed, feedback is greatly appreciated 😊! If anyone else wants to be in the tag-list, feel free to comment below!

Tag-list: @holychocopie

[nobodyfamousposts]

Miraculous Ladybug Fic: Other Friends

For @lenoreofraven​

Alya hadn’t meant her to find out this way.

She had never meant for Marinette to find out this way.

“So that’s it then.”

“It’s not what you think!”

She had just been trying to keep the peace. Whenever Marinette and Lila were together, there was just so much tension that anyone could feel it. This party was something everyone had been looking forward to. But while those two were at odds, they all knew there was going to be some conflict that would bring the mood down.

Lila had bemoaned the fact she’d missed the previous class picnic. And Marinette was always busy anyway and could use the extra time. So she and the other girls made the choice to tell Marinette they were having it a different day.

It wasn’t a lie. Lila said that sometimes it was necessary to tell a little fib. Little white lies were no big deal, after all. Especially if it was to help others.

It was just a fib. That was okay, right? Just a little fib here and there? Just a little fib to keep the party upbeat?

She hadn’t meant to hurt her.

She just…

Hadn’t expected Marinette to catch them.

The now very hurt, very angry Marinette. Who was glaring at her in a way she’d never seen Marinette glare at anyone save Chloe at her worst. Or Lila on a particularly bad day.

“So you didn’t lie to me that the party was cancelled and everyone just happened to meet up here with the food and supplies they had agreed to bring.”

Alya winced.

“Marinette, we didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“But you didn’t try to not hurt me, either.”

“Mari—”

“Don’t.” She cut her off. “You didn’t care about my feelings before. Don’t try to pretend you do now.”

With that, Marinette walked away. Alya wouldn’t see how it took everything she had to not break into tears right there. But she wouldn’t give Lila the satisfaction. Nor would she try to make anyone pity her.

Alya could only watch. Wanting to speak. Wanting to say something.

But what could she possibly say?

It was strange...seeing Marinette be the one to turn her back on them for once.

Such pain. Such heartache. This betrayal would have made her a perfect target to become an akuma.

It was probably fortunate then that someone else already had.

__________________________

Her name was Sofia.

She was a good person with a good life.

She had a good family.

And the best part was that she had amazing friends.

They were her best friends and she could tell them anything.

Noemi, Marie, and Irene.

And then one day, she added a new name to that number.

Lila.

She was amazing! And so personable and outgoing and sweet!

But personable didn’t mean friend.

Outgoing didn’t mean honest.

And sweet didn’t mean good.

It had been Irene who didn’t trust her from the beginning. But Irene was the brash sort. Stubborn and opinionated. Bossy even. When Lila started coming up with more ideas, Irene was always against them. It stopped being fun having her around and eventually, their invites to her felt less out of any real enjoyment of her company and more out of obligation. It was less stressful the days she didn’t come...or didn’t get the invite. But Irene apparently caught on, too, as one day she’d thrown up her hands in frustration and left, telling them they were on their own. Really, they had been better off.

Or so Lila told them.

It had been Marie who tried to support everyone and mend fences. When Irene and Lila would butt heads, Marie would be the one to step in and mediate. She was positive and friendly, highly well liked by everyone in the school. She was just clumsy. Forgetful. Losing things. And it just kept happening more and more often, no matter how much she tried to protest it.

She was unreliable. And clearly they didn’t mean that much to her if she couldn’t remember their hangouts and was always late for their plans because she had the wrong time despite how many times Lila reminded her. Then it all came to a head when the funds collected for a school fundraiser went missing while she was supposed to be watching it.

The teachers were furious. Why wasn’t she more responsible?

The students were even moreso. She probably spent the money herself.

Nobody trusted her after that.

Eventually, she moved schools.

Really, they were better off.

Or so Lila told them.

Noemi was dependable though. She was smart and funny. She always knew the right things to say to cheer anyone up. She was positive and upbeat. She was strong and always there for her.

Until she wasn’t.

Until she said she couldn’t deal with it anymore.

That their friendship was too much stress. Too much mess. Too much distress. And that she was sorry, but she just had enough.

And she was gone.

And...they were better off, right?

Or so Lila told her.

Then it was just her and Lila.

Until it wasn’t even that anymore.

Lila was gone. Without a word or even so much as a look back.

And suddenly, Sofia was all alone.

Her supports were gone. Her friends were gone. The one friend she had left—the only one who she could count on had left without a trace.

And Sofia found herself having to pick up the tattered pieces of her once good life.

That should have been the end of it.

Except it wasn’t.

Suddenly there was a field trip to Paris France.

Suddenly there were superheroes to learn about.

Suddenly there was a blog about them to check out.

Suddenly there was an interview to see.

And Sofia saw. For the first time, she REALLY SAW.

There was Lila, smiling like nothing had ever happened. Talking to someone she barely knew like she was telling long-hidden secrets. Telling stories about a hero that she never met—couldn’t have met. The dates were wrong. Talking about Ladybug in the same way she had once talked about THEM.

It was only when she was finally seeing it for the first time, on the outside looking in, that she finally realized the truth.

Irene wasn’t unreasonable.

Marie wasn’t unreliable.

Noemi wasn’t cruel.

It was Lila.

It had always been Lila.

And because of her, Sofia has lost all of her closest friends.

They had all lost each other.

When Sofia went to Paris with the rest of her class, it was with a mission.

While other students were chatting, she was searching for every mention or picture or online history.

While they were discussing places they wanted to see, she was working out a location.

And while they talked about hopes and desires for what the trip would bring, she only had a singular goal.

Lila.

She had wanted to see her one last time, to confront her. To ask her “Why?”

She didn’t know if that would satisfy the emptiness inside of her, but it would at least be more than she’d had. She could at least make the next step from there.

But then she saw those two girls arguing. A party in the distance. A party they had intentionally left someone out of.

Two girls. One hurt and betrayed. The other guilty and being played.

And there was Lila. In the background watching it all.

And smiling.

An all too familiar scene.

Sofia was a good person.

She had a good life she hadn’t appreciated enough. A good family more burdened than they should have been. And good friends she should have held on harder to.

She wanted her friends back.

She wanted her life back.

She wanted Lila to know what it was like to be used and thrown away like an old doll. To be manipulated and played with like a puppet.

And when a voice told her she could have that?

How could she say no?

__________________________

“Alya, it’ll be okay.” Rose said, trying to cheer up her friend. “I’m sure you can work it out.”

Mylene rested a hand on her back. “Yeah, we can make it up to her another day. She’s pretty understanding.”

“I don’t know.” Kim said, breaking in. “I don’t feel right about having a party when Marinette was left out like this.”

“Yeah. She didn’t do that to any of us.” Nathaniel agreed.

“I’m sure you had your reasons.” Nino told her, but didn’t look nearly as sure as he said.

“But no good reason to not at least talk to her about it.” Adrien said, sounding so disappointed that Alya wanted to shrink in on herself. “Marinette didn’t deserve to be lied to like that, especially not to leave her out of something. She had put just as much effort into this as all of us.”

“But…” Alya murmured, unable to really argue but feeling obligated to all the same.

And then Lila chimed in. “Alya was only trying to keep the peace, Adrien. It’s not her fault Marinette is trying to force people to pick sides.”

Alya snapped up at that.

Lila sounded like she was trying to make her feel better.

Except...Marinette never really tried to make her choose between them, had she? She’d kept her dislike to herself and never told Alya she couldn’t hang out with Lila. It had been Lila who had expressed feeling uncomfortable with Marinette around.

That had been why Alya had fibbed to her best friend.

Something about this felt wrong.

Alya hesitated.

Adrien frowned at Lila, looking angrier than any of them had ever seen him. He opened his mouth to respond when something slammed into the ground only a few yards away, making everyone spin to see it.

An akuma.

It looked like a china doll with a cracked face. One of its eyes was a bright blue color while the other—the one where the crack covered, was completely closed. Its mask was white while its cheeks were painted rosy, which made the cracks all the more apparent. Her suit was a black bodysuit with white and black stripes on her forearms and lower legs. There were three white buttons on her chest. And her sleeves were long, going past her arms and covering her hands.

“What is that?” Alix asked, sarcastically. “A mime?”

“Alix, maybe you shouldn’t insult the akuma.” Nathaniel hissed.

The akuma simply glanced around at the party participants with a calculating eye.

“Well. Well, well, well, well! Let me get a look at the menagerie!”

Her gaze fell on Adrien.

“You must be Adrien Agreste!”

It turned to Nino, who backed away with Alya in his arms.

“And you must be Nino Lahiffe!”

His attempts did nothing to hide Alya from the akuma’s sight.

“And the Ladyblogger herself! Well, she’s kept you with her, isn’t that just swell?”

Alya gaped at the akuma in horror. “No...girl, what happened to you?”

The other classmates jumped at that, startled at the idea that their everyday Ladybug could be akumatized—or even become such a...terrifying akuma.

“A gift!” The akuma said with a twirl. “I got a new style! And a few new toys that are going to put an END to this party once and for all!”

She grinned.

“The name is Marionette. And I’ll be more than happy to be the one playing with you!”

Before anyone had the chance to run, she threw out her arms and a number of strings emerged from her sleeves. Quicker than expected, they shot out aiming for Alya and Nino. Nino, however, saw them coming and pushed Alya out of the way before being hit himself. Nathaniel was unfortunately nearby and was struck himself. Both were immediately overwhelmed and wrapped up in the strings, the ends of which attached to their very bodies.

Realizing the implications, Nino gasped, jerking and trying to dislodge the damn threads.

“This isn’t cool! I’m not a puppet!”

“You are now!” Marionette chimed, and with a small snip of her nails—which did exist and were actually much sharper than they realized, the strings were no longer connected to her hands. Instead, they floated for a moment, seeming completely listless until a pair of old fashioned marionette bar controllers appeared in the formerly empty space, now attached to the strings.

“What do you think?” She asked, smugly. “You’re all little more than puppets to her anyway. We might as well make it official!”

Alya gasped in horror. “Nino!”

“Alya, RUN!” He shouted back, helpless but to follow the direction the control bar pulled him as it jerked him away.

Cackling, the akuma sent another set of strings at the other members of the class.

“GET OUT OF HERE!” Kim shouted, pushing Adrien forward just before the strings grabbed him, at least sparing the model his fate.

Alix tried to run to get help, but didn’t make it much further herself before the akuma caught up to her, leaving Alix trussed up and cursing in her wake.

Adrien kept going though, promising to himself he would be back with help soon. Help of the “Miraculous” kind. He managed to duck around a corner and out of sight before the threads could get him.

“Darn.” The akuma cursed. “I was hoping to get her little boytoy for the performance.”

“Marinette, please!” Alya cried out, coming out from where she had been ducking for cover with Lila. “This isn’t you!”

The akuma froze at that, eyes wide in...shock? Recognition? The class as a whole held their collective breaths, hoping that maybe Alya had gotten through to her.

Except...

“Ma...ri...?”

The akuma started shaking, head bowed. Alya reached out in concern, an inch away from contact.

But then Marionette snapped up, her eyes alight. Alya jumped back in shock. Other classmates screamed or tried to duck out of sight.

The akuma hadn’t been shaking in pain.

It was unbridled FURY.

She spun on Lila in a rage, tightening the strings on everyone else in the process and making them cry out in pain.

“It wasn’t bad enough you were doing it all again, but the same name no less? After everything? What, wasn’t Marie enough for you?”

Alya blinked in confusion. “Wait, Marie?”

Who was Marie?

Marinette didn’t know a Marie as far as Alya knew.

That meant...

It wasn’t Marinette.

It...it wasn’t…

That shouldn’t have relieved her as much as it did. There was still an akuma that was still right there and clearly targeting them. But Alya couldn’t help but be glad it wasn’t Marinette.

Or because of what she’d done to her.

Lila’s eyes widened at that, finally seeming to realize something.

“You’re...!”

“I thought I’d never see you again. But here you are, claiming to know the biggest names and schmoozing up to another group of broken hearts and tattered friendships waiting to happen!”

“Wait, what is she talking about?” Kim asked, confused.

“It’s an akuma. You know you can’t trust what they say.” Lila quickly replied.

The akuma laughed. “Oh, that’s RICH coming from you! The Lady of Lies! The Queen of Deceit! You haven’t learned a thing, have you?”

Her eye narrowed and features shifted into a glare.

“I have.”

Lila backed away uncertainly, eyes glancing around for the best avenues of escape.

Unaware of this, Alya stepped forward, getting the akuma’s attention.

“In case you haven’t heard, Lila is best friends with Ladybug! She’s gonna let her know what’s going on and she’ll come to save us!” Alya insisted.

The akuma just laughed again.

“Oh, I heard! I’ve had your little interview ON LOOP!”

“Alya, maybe you shouldn’t have mentioned that.” Alix stated flatly from where she floated.

“I just LOVED that part! Where Lila-Lying Rossi lived the rest of her ‘happily ever after’ as a darling of Paris with a bunch of PUPPETS!”

Eyes widened. “Uh oh.”

“That's right I heard the story over and over again!”

Alya dodged back behind cover to avoid another whip of the strings.

“Gee, it's swell to finally meet her other friends!”

Marionette was distracted from her trapped prey when she caught sight of Ivan trying to shield Mylene as they attempted to make a run for it.

“That's right I heard the story, don't really like how it ends!”

They didn’t get very far before they were both tripped up by strings, tied to different controller bars, and pulled into different directions while trying to reach out to each other. The akuma gave a falsely sweet smile and patted a fearful and shaking Mylene on the cheek.

“Gee, it's swell to finally meet her other friends!”

Juleka didn’t see the almost living collection of strings converge on her hiding place until she was dragged out upside down to face the very angry akuma.

“What did she say about me? What did she say?” The akuma demanded. The normally quiet girl cringed in the hold and gave a shout of surprise as a controller bar suddenly appeared, controlling the strings that were now attached to her hands and pulling her along.

Rose gasped in horror, but this only attracted the akuma’s attention to her.

“What did you do without me? What did you do?” Marionette asked in a childish voice as she physically grabbed Rose—showing she did in fact have hands under those sleeves, which she used to spin her around, leaving the poor blonde dizzy and now tied up with strings and a controller above her as well.

She spun around as if alerted to another presence, finding Max, who realized he had been discovered and attempted to duck back out of sight. But she was in front of him before he could make any real distance.

“Did you play games without me? What did you play?” She asked, glaring. Max simpered, but was caught and trussed up as well.

She went back to where Alya and Lila had previously hidden, intent on rounding up the final targets, who also happened to be the main two on her “List”.

“Did you think all this time that I wouldn't find out about you~?”

But they were gone.

“Oh, that's right I heard the story over and over again!”

She looked around in annoyance, strings writhing. She’d find them soon enough.

“Gee, it's swell to finally meet her other friends!”

Both Alya and Lila had taken advantage of the distraction to sneak around, trying to remain as low and out of sight as possible. This was difficult with the akuma and moving around everywhere and the so many strings that were not only hard to see, but gave her a strange sensory ability to be able to detect them if they happened to touch any of them.

“Lila, who is this girl?” Alya demanded.

“Um...” Lila leaned back, nervous.

“And why does she have it out for you?”

Suddenly, Alya was jerked forward—realizing too late the strings had caught her and wound around her wrists, dragging her out to the akuma who further grabbed her by the cuff of her shirt and pulled her closer to the point they were almost nose to nose.

“Who am I! WHO AM I?!” She raged. “What are you even SAYING?”

She shoved Alya away, strings now fully attached to her newest victim.

“I’m the loser of the game you didn’t know you were playing!”

Lila took advantage of this opportunity to duck and scamper away from the akuma.

She grinned sinisterly as she righted the strings on the classmates and the control bars attached to each student began to rise into the air, pulling their individual victims with them.

“Let’s play another game! This time I get to win~!”

Holding her hand out, a weapon formed. It initially looked like a scythe, but the blade was much more reminiscent of cutting shears. And with a blade just as sharp.

“Lives on the line!”

Adrien kept running.

“Winner takes all!”

Marinette stopped and looked back, feeling something wasn’t right.

“Ready or not, LET’S BEGIN!”

She slammed the butt of her scythe onto the ground.

“Oh, that's right I heard the story over and over again!”

At her command, the control bars floated towards the akuma, arranging themselves and their respective students in a circle around her.

“Gee, it’s swell to finally beat her other friends!”

Several of the students cried out in shock and fear, trying to pull back or fight against the control as they were forcibly flown or dragged over to the akuma. But there was nothing they could do but flail helplessly.

“Oh, that's right I heard the story, don't really like how it ends!”

Looking around frantically, Alya saw Lila merely standing to the side, watching from the safety of her new hiding place but making no move to respond to their plight. Not to get help. Not even to try and call Ladybug.

“Gee, it's swell to finally beat her other~”

Marionette twisted her body, holding the blade out. Alya realized she was going to slice all of them at once.

“Lila!”

“Other~!”

The rest of the captives realized this as well and struggled to try and get free, shouting and crying out for help.

“LILA!”

“O~ther~!”

She swung the blade in a wide circle around her, cutting through each and every one of the classmates held in place by the strings. Each of them barely had time to scream when they were hit before they were suddenly silenced.

Strings loosened, now holding nothing.

“Friends!”

And ten little dolls fell lifelessly to the ground around her.

[artxyra]

Another DC TA Marinette | #2

*So I’m still not good at fighting sequences, so if the fight scene towards the end seems off and not quite right, I’m sorry. Also if you asked to be tagged and don’t see your name please tell (DM) me so that I can add you to the next part. I’m aiming for at least 5 parts for this version, so we shall see how this will go. 

Part 1 | Part 2 (here) | 

Part 2: Dupont Meet Gotham 

Caline was very, very sorry for her class. They haven’t been in Gotham for a single day and Lila’s already causing trouble. The trouble that cannot be fixed if something goes wrong here. There was no Hawkmoth to save her or to validate her emotions. It was no secret that Caline has Marinette on speed dial, but she knew how much the graduate loves her time away from this class. Maybe it was best to bring Marinette in and give the class a shock, but it may be too late for that. 

“No, no, I’m Damian Wayne’s girlfriend, there must be a special or something for your boss’ heir.” Lila tries to spin her web of lies to the barista as the class gathers around at a nearby cafe. 

The barista stares boringly at the Italian native waiting for her to make up her mind and order already. 

“Look girly, you’re holding up the line. We don’t do specials for Wayne’s here, and if you’re truly Damian Wayne’s girlfriend then you would know that.” The barista states gesturing to the long line full of Dupont’s students and actual customers.  

Lila’s eyes began to get teary-eyed, “I will have you know…”

“Lady, if you don’t order something in the next five seconds, you will be kick outta here.” The barista firmly states glaring at Lila with no room for negotiations. 

Lila scoffs and runs into Alya’s waiting arms, crying her eyes out. Alya glares at the barista, who gave zero fucks about what just happened and takes the order of the next person. 

“Shh...everything will be okay, Lila. Besides, don’t you have that date tonight with your boo?” 

Lila sniffles a laugh and nods. Oh, how she has them deeply entangled in her web. “Then let this one incident go and let’s go out the strip, you can spend some of my earning for ice cream or something.” 

Caline along with everyone (meaning two people, maybe four people) in the Marinette protection squad could do is either roll their eyes or shake their heads. 

Chloe with her coffee in hand scoffs at the scene in front of her and looks over to Adrien. “At least she’s not hanging onto you every second of the day.” She jokes remembering the times when Lila’s lies were small and surrounding around the Agreste name. 

Adrien softly groans, “Don’t remind me. For she had to be my date to one of my father’s fashion shows which were quite weird considering that I was already with Luka when it happened.”

“Yeesh,” Chloe grimace at the thought of that situation. Her phone buzz signaling an incoming message. It’s from Marinette. 

“Bug is texting. I’m surprised she didn’t send it to the group chat.” Chloe states before taking a sip of her drink and opening the message. 

Multi-Bug: Hey did you get to Gotham, alright?

Melitta Bee: Yea, y weren’t u w/ us?

Multi-Bug: You’ll see why soon ;)

Multi-Bug: Anywho, how’s the class goin?

Melitta Bee: Gettin worse by the min

Multi-Bug: It will be good soon 

Chloe scoffs at the message and shakes her head. “Bug will be the death of me., literally.” She groans opting to not reply to the message. 

“What did she say?” Adrien asks keeping a firm eye on Lilia, looking to see if she does anything stupid to get them killed. 

“You know how cryptic she can be. All I got from that was that everything will be fine. Like how she’s going to get here? Seriously, this trip is utterly ridiculous, ridiculous.” Chloe vents to the model. 

Adrien nods, but then quickly nudges Chloe seeing that Lila is heading there way. 

“Oh look, trouble.” Chloe jokes as Lila stands very close to the two blondes. 

“Do you always complain about stuff, Chloe. I only came here to befriend you seeing that Mari isn't here to corrupt you.” And there goes the dramatics. 

“The only thing that is corrupted is you and this fucking class.” Chloe turns around, grabbing Adrien’s hand, and walk out of the cafe. 

Chloe B. @queenbeeyellow Hey, wish @mdcfashion is here with us. It’s boring here w/ only @adrienagreste

Attach is an image of Chloe and Adrien in front of the cate wearing sunglass and making funny hand gestures towards the camera. It was clear that it was a selfie. 

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

Marinette smiles at the tweet before returning her attention back to the Headmaster of Gotham Academy, Mr. Collingwood . 

“Miss Dupain-Cheng, where are your key cards for access to the building of both here and to your class’s residential stay. Will you be joining them at the hotel or be staying with Mr. Wayne?” 

“I’ll be staying with Mr. Wayne, Mr. Collingwood .” She answers with a soft smile. 

The headmaster nods and leans back into his chair. 

“I’m I required to participate in class sessions as a student or am I just there to observe?” It was an honest question seeing that she is the teacher assistant rather than a student.

“That would depend on your class’ homeroom teacher. It is most likely that you and that teacher’s T.A. would work together and demonstrate whatever projects are and hand out paperwork.” He answers clasping his hands together as his focus remains on Marinette. 

Marinette nods and takes the small stack of supplies into her arms.   

Marinette: I have gotten everything ready

Marinette: Everything should be set for Monday. I’ll see you then. 

Mme. Bustier: Oh thank you, Marinette. 

Mme. Bustier: Your classmates will be ecstatic to know that you’ll be here. 

 Marinette: I doubt that.  

Caline Bustier closes her messenger app and turns to the class and gasps. The core Lila group is missing. No longer in the cafe, just great, great. They barely know their surrounding area despite what Lila said about being here, but if that was true it wasn’t recently. Places change and Gotham is no different. 

“Chloe, Adrien, do you know where the core group went?” Caline asks, turning her attention to the two blondes drinking, perhaps coffee, maybe even tea. 

Chloe shrugs while Adrien shakes his head unsure how to answer. It was no secret that the dislike the Lila group. 

“First day here and I’ve already lost some teens.” Caline huffs and walks out of the cafe to find her so-called perfect students. 

“Did she look panic to you?” Adrien asks setting his drink down. 

Chloe nods, “Should we go help?” 

“It’ll lessen her panic attack later.” Adrien agrees as the two of them get up and follow their teacher. 

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

Tina @thepinkmistress  #anotherdayingotham so apparently Two-Face has a bunch of foreigners held at gunpoint. They’re officially now apart of Gotham

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

With Lila and her small crew of loyal followers, they were just stirring up trouble. It all started when Alya offered to take Lila out to the strip for shopping not realizing how dangerous it was to be. Well, it’s not like they cared. To them, this was a vacation with added on classes. 

“Oh, I can’t believe my Damibear texted me saying that he was excited that I was back in town. We can finally rekindle that long lost love we had.” Lila gossips about as the two were entering a nearby storefront. 

“Girl, you’ve waited long enough, let’s go prep you for your man,” Alya exclaims dragging the twin tail girl further into the store. Nino unsure why he is with them just sighs and looks for something to give to Alya as he wasn’t able to for their anniversary. 

“What do you mean, he doesn’t have a discount here?” Oh great, here we go again.

“Look, lady, Damian Wayne may be a big name here, but we don’t do discounts for people like him.” The store attendant spoke up about rubbing her hands against her face. 

“Surely, he would have a tab open or something. He knows this is one of my favorite stores to shop in when I’m in town.”  

“Uh...we just opened our stores, like, two years ago. That and we’re strictly located here and in Metropolis.” 

Lila pouts and begins to throw a fit. If only, Hawkmoth was here. 

“Girl. I sure this is some kind of mishap. I’ll pay for the clothes and then we can go sightseeing in this part of town.” Alya offers, showing her a credit card in her hand. 

Lila squeals and jumps into Alya’s arms. Little did she know that it was actually Nino’s credit card instead of Alya’s. Alya’s parents were very concern about their daughter’s spending habits and put a cap on it that she clearly maxed out before the trip. 

Ivan walks over to Nino seeing as the poor DJ was lonely and that Mylene was trapped in the web of lies, well he is too, but he hides it well under the impression that it’s to make Mylene happy. 

“You okay?” Ivan asks catching the Dj’s attention. 

Nino grunts and shakes his headphones off. “No--yes-maybe, I don’t know.” He admits staring off to the empty space that was his girlfriend and her best friend. 

Before Ivan could answer, a loud scream can be heard from outside the store. 

“Shit, do not leave this place.” The store attendant gasps, only to be ignored by the remaining students of Dupont. The store attendant sighs and ducks behind the desk. 

“Lila!” Alya screeches. 

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

Miraculously Safe GC:

Melitta: How quickly can you lose a spider?

Ryouko: Quick why? 

Musical Viper: That depends, when did you see the spider? How big was it? 

Melitta: Mme. B lost the spider and her trapees 

Multi-Bug: WHAT!!!

PunNoir: Yeah, she lost them so now we’re out searching for them. 

Melitta: It’s not like they went that far?

Multi-Bug: You’re in Gotham, crime central, and she lost some students!!! 

Ryouko: I’m sure everything will be fine, Bee. 

Musical Viper: Keep your eyes open, Punn, if things do go wrong we’re only a plane ticket away.

Melitta: SHIT!! Lila started up another mess. 

Muli-Bug: WHAT!!!

Chloe and Adrien quickly hide their phones and disappear behind a building, hoping that the shadows cover them from the watchful eyes of Two-Face and his minions. 

Mme. Bustier apparently didn’t get that message and wounded up wrapped into the mess her students have caused. 

Two-Faced stares menacing at the teens as his men surround the group all at gunpoint. 

Lila being the idiot she is started crying how her Damibear would pay him, save her even. The man was not swayed.  

“Clean, we shut the girl up; scarred, we kill her right here and now.” He murmurs drawing out his lucky coin to do his bidding. “However, we don’t have much time. That bats would be here any minute.” 

As Two-Face explains his plan to his men, one of the guns goes off. Everyone shrieks in terror. Alya stares, frozen as her phone lays died with a bullet hole on the ground. Blood seeps through her hands. 

“Boss, she was filming us.” One of the henchmen explains with steam oozing out of his gun. 

“Dumb girl, did she really think it was smart to film right in front of us. At least be like every citizen here and do it in secret.” Two-Face groans, gesturing for the men to fire a new round. 

Everything freeze, while Lila screams her head off naming off every possible hero she could think of. 

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

Marinette runs through the city at a hasty pace. She’s maneuvering her way through the large crowd of citizens all trying to get away from the lastest villain attack down near the shopping strip. Marinette comes to a barreling stop. 

She could hear the cries of Lila Rossi from a block away and it was painful to hear. Her naming every hero only to get knocked upside the head by one of the henchmen. This will not look good for the exchange program in the future. Mme. Bustier tries—and fails—to negotiate with Two-Face.

Two-Face keeps playing with his coin deciding what misery he shall put these foreigners through just to grab the Bat’s attention. Then again would he even care, that just means new toys for him and his men. 

Marinette looks around searching for a distraction. Nothing comes up. She needs to think fast seeing as the Batfam and they are currently being held up. Not that the public needs to know that. She got it. Getting closer to the range. She then pulls out her traveling yoyo and readies a swing. 

Just as Two-Face flips his coin, Marinette throws the yoyo. 

The yoyo knocks the coin away, just as the string wraps around it as she pulls back. The Parisians students look up hoping to see a familiar hero in red and black. They saw no one. 

“Find my coin you fools and kill however took the dang thing.” Two-Face shouts out in a fit of rage. 

Marinette yelps and disappears around the corner. She finds Chloe and Adrien hiding spot not far from her. Unwrapping the coin from the string, she tosses it up into the sky and takes off before gunshots are heard near her way. 

“Thank god you guys are okay.” She pants out, scaring Chloe in the process as the Bee miraculous holder shrieks out and attempts to roundhouse kick the graduate. “Chloe! It’s me.” 

“Multi?” Chloe gasps out in shock as she finally takes in the appearance of her leader. Marinette wasn’t in her usual Paris getup but instead in a pair of black leggings, an over-the-shoulder tee with all the Batfamily emblems. Ankle boot thick heels, good for running. The biggest difference being her hair as it’s half up and half down with pink lowlights covering the once fully black, nearly blue hair. “Damn, hun, you look fine.”

Marinette chuckles, “I’m sure ‘Gami would love to hear you say that.” 

Chloe shrugs as Adrien comes out of his shocked stance. “Mari, what? How? When?” 

“At ease Chaton, I’ve been here in Gotham for the past few weeks. However, that is not our issue right now. The class is being held hostage by Two-Face, a villain with a mess-up sense of justice. An excellent attorney but he has a few loose screws. I bought the class time from being publicly executed for the Bats to get here. I just hope that they do it quickly. 

From the corner of her eye, Marinette could spot the familiar colors, that she very much hate but haven’t gotten the time to screech at them for, appearing on the rooftops of a nearby building. 

“Thank kwami, they’re here.” 

“Who’s here?” Adrien and Chloe chimes together. Marinette smiles at the two with a twinkle in her eyes. 

“Two-Face let the students go?” Batman demands, appearing on the scenes with little to no room for negotiations.   

“And where’s the fun in that, Batman?” Two-Face asks as a new coin is placed into his hand. It may not be the one that Marinette stole but it will do. “Clean says I leave, but scarred says I will kill every one of them.” He tosses the coin up. 

The coin lands in his hand, lifting his hand up it shows the scarred face of the coin. “Oh look at that, they’re dead anyway.” 

Immediately, the henchman readies there guns only for bat-a-rangs to knock them out of the out of their hands. 

“They never come alone do they?” Two-Face mutters as Robin and Nightwing jumps down into the scene. 

Robin with no hesitation attacks and disarm whoever comes his way. Batman could only facepalm seeing his son basically ignore the plan. Nightwing shrugs and joins in. This only left the big Bat and Two-Face at a stand-off. Two-Face readies his own gun and shoots a couple of rounds at the dark knight. 

It wasn’t long before the fight ends and the paramedics come in to help the injured students. Marinette motions for Chloe and Adrien to follow. She walks over to Robin with her arms folded against her chest. 

“You shouldn’t be here.” He whispers to her when she was in earshot. Marinette huffs and rolls her eyes before playing the average Batfamily fangirl. 

“Oh my god, Batman, you saved my class!” She squeals. Her voice catches the attention of her conscious classmates. 

“Marinette?!” They shout in disbelief as Mme. Bustier smiles in relief.  

The paramedics gave Mme. Bustier a slip as the class minus Aly and Lilia, both who are still in custody of the paramedics, run over to their missing classmate. 

Marinette quickly gives Robin a knowing look before focusing her attention on the class. 

It wasn’t long before she’s surrounded by an overwhelming amount of questions. So, now they care about her.. Yikes. Marinette turns to Chloe and Adrien for help. Chloe scoffs and shoves through the class. 

“Leave the girl alone, besides you just went through something most people would consider traumatizing but knowing us this is nothing compare to dealing with akumas.” 

Marinette smiles at Chloe.

The class disperses. 

“Maybe it’s time for us to head back to the hotel.” Mme. Bustier pipes up knowing full well that she’ll have to report this incident to the board under the predicament that it was due to Lila’s compulsive lying that put them through struggle. 

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

At the Dupont’s homestay--well it was more of a hotel than anything, Lila and Alya were ushered to their rooms while the rest of the class goes to comfort the two in the best way possible. While that was going on. Marinette decided to have a meeting with Caline about the issue. 

“She can’t be alone in this city.” 

“I know that, Marinette.”

“On a different note, I’ll be attending your class session at the academy.”

“That’s good, isn’t it? “I suppose, but it’ll be slightly harder to keep my status as a lycee graduate under wraps.” 

“You’re what!” The familiar sound of Chloe’s shrill voice echos in the room. 

“Hi Chloe,” Marinette meekly greets one of her best friends. 

“Don’t hey Chloe, me missy. When were you going to tell us that you graduate?” 

Caline took this moment to exit the room leaving the two teens to their demise. 

“Do you want the real answer or the answer that will satisfy you?” 

Chloe glares down at the teacher assistant. 

Marinette sighs, “I’ve been done with lycee since last quarter. Instead of making a big deal of graduating early, I volunteered to be a teacher assistant for the rest of the year while I start my university courses online.” 

Chloe looks down before hugging Marinette. “Thank you,” She whispers into the graduate’s neck. “You could have left Adrien and me to the spider but you chose not to. Thank you, Multi for everything.” 

Marinette blinks the tear away and returns the hug. 

Marinette left the hotel with the promise of catching up tomorrow when they have class. The only thing good that came through was that she didn’t have to deal with Alya or Lila that night, the next day, she wasn’t so sure yet. 

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

“That was really stupid of you, Angel, to get involve like that,” Damian states bringing his girlfriend into his arms when she’s safely located in his bedroom. 

Marinette giggles and kisses his cheek. “It wasn’t like I was directly involved., my Prince.” She whispers into his ear. A faint pink blush against Damian’s cheeks. 

“If it wasn’t for Robin and the rest, you could have been killed if Two-Face found out that it was you that took his coin.” 

“You know I’m stronger than what I look. Besides, I have better things to worry about than a villain that isn’t my foe.” 

Damian groans, “Angel, you will be the death of me.”

Instead of speaking, Marinette kisses him, allowing him to pull them onto the bed. 

“Use protection!” One of his brothers shout out, it was most likely Jason. 

“Kill him in the morning, when I’m not around.” Marinette murmurs before preceding with their original plan. 

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

The next morning, the Dupont class along with Marinette stands outside the booming gates of Gotham Academy. 

“I wonder if my Damibear is here, too. The last I heard he was overseas on a family vacation.” Lila blissfully wonders to get the reassurance from her loyal friends. 

Marinette rolls her eyes and looks to the person walking towards the gate. 

Manette @gothamsfashionsense  Hanging out in GA for the next couple of days. Does anyone want to join?

In the image attached is a photo of a coffee cup in one hand with the gates of Gotham Academy in the background. 

As of 12/9/19, the Tag List is CLOSED

Any asks before that will still be added. After that, I’m sorry but can follow my fic tags. 

Tag List: @virgil-is-a-cutie | @thejustmesimplyme | @mewwitch | @tamoni112 | @goggles-mcgee | @bb-basbusa | @mochinek0 | @schrodingers25 | @zalladane | @jessigurl-design | @constancetruggle | @tog84 | @shamefullove| @mindfulmagics | @scribblinggraveyard | @clumsy-owl-4178 | @captainmac6| @vivilakitty | @sonif50 | @mystery-5-5 | @emjrabbitwolf | @northernbluetongue | @crazylittlemunchkin | @kanamexzeroyaoifangirl | |@zebrabaker | @kuroko26 | @readinganawfullot | @thebananathatwrites | @urbanpineapplefarmer | @hypnosharkrebeldreamer | @zerotosiki | @poshplumcot | @luciferge | @mariae2900 | @minightrose | @theatreandcomicfreak | @thequestionablyhuman | @thepeacetea | @never-neverland | @sassydepression | @multishipper1needshalp | @actual-disaster-human | @queencommonsense | @novicevoice | @vgirl-10123 | @lunar-wolf-warrior | @dahjokester | @ur-average-reader | @dast218 | @gimme-more-caffeine | @reaperfeels | @interobanginyourmom | @elspethshadow | @my-name-is-michell | @redscarlet95 | @razzledazzle247 | @casual-darkness | @romanoff-queen | @7-sage-7 | @lily-codie19 | @two-faced-biatch

[iwriteforthetincanman]

Mandoctober Day 14: Helmet

A/N: brought to you by angst, depression, a small hot chocolate, the tense feeling in my shoulders as I’m typing this and of course the source of almost all of my writing: the mixture of insomnia and a f**ked up sleep schedule.

p.s. I am trying to take care of myself, October is just a tough time of the year for me and Mandoctober is helping me cope. I refuse to give up any possibly writings/drawings at this point.

Also this is loosely based off of headcannons from @dindjarindiaries​ blog and this is for @leo-moon​ ‘s Mandoctober!

TW: mentions of abuse (both descriptive, non-descriptive, mental, emotional and physical but only for a two, three paragraphs) Refusal to eat or sleep (Din refuses to do these things for two seconds and Reader isn’t granted them) minor character death, themes of slavery (NOT RACE SPECIFIED) (not a trigger warning) pronouns of a gender neutral partner and of course, lastly, hurt/comfort and fluff. (Also personally because I wrote this and I can shout it into the void, I’m gender fluid with she/her pronouns so I’d like to imagine reader is too, BUT THAT’S JUST ME SO IMAGINE THIS HOWEVER YOU WANT, once again requests are open for any sexuality/gender, as long as you give me brief description of what you want, nothing NSFW)

Time. Aboard the Razor Crest with no specific moon, sun or stars to guide you, time easily became irrelevant. What you learned very quickly was that with this discovery, you realized Din knew that too. 

Or it had gotten to a point where he learnt it a long time ago and just...forgot all about it.

Sometimes he would just sit there in the pilot’s seat, without even doing anything and he would just stare into oblivion. You wondered if his eyesight was okay. Now that you think about it...when was the last time he ate something? Does he ever take that helmet off?

“Din? Are you okay?” For a moment you thought he might be asleep. 

“Sorry...did you say something?” Okay, now you knew he at least needed some sleep. 

“Come on tin can. You need some brain food and maybe even an ‘extended nap’.” You joked.

“Isn’t that just called sleeping?” You couldn’t tell if he was being serious or not...or if that helmet was squeezing his brain too.

“Come on!” Grabbing his hand unexpectedly, Din flinched a little before you dragged him to his feet. 

“I-I can’t.” This admission had you stopping in your tracks as you reached the hull. 

“Is...everything okay?” You were concerned before but now you were starting to think he was hiding a wound from you. He’s done it before. Waiting until you were asleep to tend to it so you wouldn’t worry. Little did he know you had been wide awake with worry for a while and could hear him hurting himself with that blasted cauterizer. 

It was understandable that as a Mandalorian medical supplies weren’t cheap. Even with all the bounties Din brought in, currency rates were going up around the universe. It was difficult to keep up with. Which is why you never broached the subject with him.

It wasn’t your place to pry. 

Not with him anyway...he was silent, reserved, it was like he didn’t trust you. Yet you of all people understood that, you understood that it took you a long time to trust him. Like really trust him with your life...rather than just your role to him as the child’s ‘caretaker’.

It blind sided you when you realized how deeply you cared for him...Mando. 

Gods, you didn’t even know his own name.

“My creed. I can’t...eat in front of other people.” This was a touchy subject. You knew that. But you underestimated how stressed out he really was. He wasn’t wounded...he was just bone tired.

“Well, I can make some food-”

“DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND? I DON’T NEED YOUR HELP!”

“...ok.”

He hadn’t seethed the words out from his teeth as loud as you had heard them.

But...the look on your face as your eyes met the floor, undoubtedly filling with tears.

It cut Din deeper than any vibroblade could.

---

“I don’t know what to do Ad’ika. I can’t sleep, I can’t eat, I can’t dream without thinking of her. And now...now I’ve gone and done the worst thing I could ever do to her...I hurt her without even touching her.” 

The sigh was small before it reached a crescendo out of his lungs, erupting out of his head like it was a volcano. That was what it felt like to breath again. When he was alone Mando had the freedom to take his helmet off on the Crest as much as he wanted. As long as he was in space, his privacy was unlimited. 

But that all changed when he met the child and then eventually...you. 

“I just wish...I knew more about her. Knew her likes and dislikes. Knew what her favorite food was. What makes her laugh...her favorite kind of music…I’ve gone and ruined everything haven’t I? Not just for me but for you too. I can’t just let her go...and if she does leave I can’t just hire someone new. She’s...really burrowed her way into my heart, little one.” 

Din’s soliloquy fell into the little creature’s ears like a fly trap. The child knew his father was hurting, he could feel it, not just in the force but in his tiny little heart. It was the kind of hurt he couldn’t fix with his own hands...he had to find another way. He had to make his buir feel whole again. 

Determined, the little creature climbed onto his father’s chest as his breathing started to relax. 

“Ad’ika, I’m not in the mood for games right now…” The dark circles under Din’s eyes became more and more pronounced as the hours dragged on. The good thing about being a father now meant that he had someone to talk to at any time if the baby was also struggling to sleep. 

Din never thought he would become a father. He thought a lot of things wouldn’t happen before he died a warrior’s death. He definitely thought he wasn’t going to fall in love too...but that happened before he could even think about it. 

Multiple chirps and coos echoed from the child’s lips as Din continued to massage his temples. 

“Ad’ika did you not hear me?”

Opening his eyes, Din found himself utterly and completely alone. 

“Ad’ika!” Startling upwards, he launched himself onto his bear feet as he searched the dark air around him for either you or the child. 

“Y/N!” Screaming your name into the void he began to run, not caring about his bare feet, his sleep wear or the fact his helmet was completely missing. 

A fact that had not gone unnoticed by the child.

---

Abruptly, Din was launched into the scorching blazes of a desert sun. 

The sand hurt as he fell down the dune he wasn’t gonna lie. 

But in some weird, twisted way, it felt good to feel the sand under his skin. 

“Girl! You get back here! Wretched creature!!” The sudden yelling came from a small village not too far away from where Din stood. Flinching, he hid behind the sand. He felt naked without the beskar. It was almost embarrassing how scared he was right now.

Peering over the sandy hill, he saw a young child with Y/H/C hair, rosy cheeks and bare feet run straight towards him. Not considering the strange events that had occurred before this, Din, although he’d never admit it, attempted to run away from her. Except, when she caught up to him, she ran right through him.

Din couldn’t decide whether this was some wicked form of a dream or that he had died and was now wandering the nearest planet.

Oh Maker, what if he was dead? There was no way you could pilot the Crest on your own...and what about Ad’ika.

That was when he heard it, the baby cooing in his head. 

“Ad’ika?”

That’s when it clicked. He wasn’t in some hellish figment of his imagination or dead…the child had used his powers to do this since he wasn’t wearing his helmet. But then again...where the hell was he?

“Y/N! YOU UGLY THING! IF YOU DON’T GET BACK HERE I WILL THROTTLE YOU!”

Whipping around to face you, all Din was met with was the familiar sight of you hunched over yourself, right near his feet. Crying. This had happened before but…not like this.

Was this...one of your memories? 

Oh no...Din was in your head. Somehow, the baby had managed it.

“I DON’T WANT TO GO BACK THERE! AND YOU CAN’T MAKE ME!” Din turned back to face the furious woman, she looked like a cursed school teacher, her hair flying all over the place. But what stood out to him were the nail marks on her cheek. 

He couldn’t picture it but somehow this woman had distressed you so much you had decided to hit her. The next thing that happened confirmed it…

SLAP!

“YOU EVER HIT ME LIKE THAT AGAIN GIRL I WON’T BE AS CONSIDERATE TO KEEP YOU!”

Keep you? Oh...you weren’t a school child.

You were a slave.

That’s why when you had first met you had been so skittish, so fearful...and yet so brave. 

Somehow it all made sense.

Din couldn’t help reaching out for you as your head sagged on your shoulders, a purple and pink mark blossoming across the side of your face as the evil woman clawed her hand around your wrist. 

“You will make my children their supper and you will go straight into the cellar with no dinner. Do you understand me child?” She spoke with a gentle tone...yet the venom dripped from it with the force of a thousand sandcrawlers. 

“...Yes Ma’am.” 

Your submission startled Din. Then again, you were only a child, and if Din hadn’t been taken in by the Mandalorians at your age...who knows what could’ve happened to him. From what little he had heard about of slaves...they didn’t often make it to see their teenage years. 

Yet, somehow you did. 

Din couldn’t help being grateful that, from what he could see of you, those were the only things that cruel woman had done to you. 

---

Stumbling into a new landscape, Din shook his head in an attempt to gain his bearings. 

“Look Y/N, it’ll be a quick job, all you have to do is listen to what I say and we’ll be gone as soon as you can say ‘bantha fodder’.” 

This was a new voice. A teenager from what Din could guess. They spoke in a kind tone but at the sound of the way they said your name he couldn’t help the feeling of jealousy welling up in him. 

Shaking his head once again, he looking around the jungle planet to spot you and this person.

“Iarren...I don’t know about this. I know we’ve done stuff like this before but we’re not resistance fighters. Those are imperial troops. What if...what if one of us doesn’t come back from this?” 

A much older version of you appeared like a vision from behind the leaves. You were much older now, Din could only guess that you had only just recently come of age. You had grown into your features well. He could see more of the fierce woman he had come to know. 

“Babe, you worry too much. Imps are stupid, plus what we are after is right next to the door practically. If you’re so concerned you can cover me from here and I’ll be right back to kiss your worries away...alright?” Din could tell just by the way you shared a glance that you were absolutely taken with this person. 

In a way Din respected them...but in the back of his mind he knew there was a reason he was seeing this particular memory. Bracing himself, he could only watch as you shared a tender kiss with your lover. It shocked him how passionate you were with them. Gripping them like a vice as if you knew what was about to happen. 

Din’s heart broke for you as he watched you sob over their corpse later that very night. 

---

“Cyare?” 

Din thought he had finally made it back to you just by looking upon your face. Much older now, age similar to the one when he met you. Looking around, he realized...this was that exact moment. 

“Excuse me.” 

Now Din knew for certain he wasn’t dreaming...there was no way he could dream about himself in this much detail. It was like having an out of body experience...in a way he was.

“Can I help you?” The first thing Din noticed about you was that you were too kind to have been on a planet as rough as Andos. Imps were everywhere nowadays and it was the one time Din had to wear a proper cloak so no one could spot him. 

“I need to hire someone to help me with a child. I was wondering if you could help me find a person that is trustworthy?” Being a Mandalorian was so difficult that day. Meeting you made him realize that you were kind enough to suggest yourself, admitting that you were tired of the constant trail of dead bodies this planet had shown you. He flinched when you mentioned the blood you found leaking through your front door one morning. 

He accepted your offer immediately. Offering payment for a job you had been doing for years without none. 

Din had no clue he had saved you from slavery for the second time in your life. 

---

Waking up in a cold sweat, Din knew this was reality. 

All your memories, it felt like a dream. 

That’s when he felt his son sag against his chest, heaving long tired breaths. 

Din was scared he had over exerted himself. 

“Ad’ika...why did you do that?” 

All the child could do was reach for his father’s face, bringing it towards his own. 

“Da.” This one, simple word, brought Din’s walls crumbling to the ground as he began to cry. 

“Thank you...Ni kar’tayli gar darasuum Ad’ika.”

The overwhelming joy he felt caused his thoughts about you to skyrocket. He knew he had to share this information with you. 

Startling from his bed, Din shot out of his room with the sleepy child tucked against his vest clad chest. 

“Y/N! Cyare come quick!” 

The sound of his unmodulated voice scared you more than anything else he had said to you that night. What you didn’t expect when you opened the door was to find a complete stranger shouting your name. 

“WHO ARE YOU? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH DIN?!” You practically screamed, ready to throw hands with this strange practically half naked man that had appeared before you.

That’s what you spotted the child in his arms, half asleep and staring admiringly up at the man. 

“...He called me da. I...had to share that with you Cyare...I didn’t even think twice about my creed.” The watery smile he gave you was enough to convince you that the man before you was none other than Din Djarin himself. 

“...just like that? You...you threw away your creed, being a Mandalorian...just so you could tell me he spoke his first word?” Din thought you were upset, in a way you were. 

When he turned to find your eyes filled with the happiest of tears he had ever seen, the overwhelming urge to kiss you kept slamming into his head, bleeding through his heart. 

“Cyare...Father’s always share the first word their child speaks with their Mother.” 

When you began to sob, Din refused to hold himself back as he curled his fingers through your hair, cradling your son between the two of you as he tilted your head back. 

As his lips brushed against yours for the first time…

You both had never felt so free.

[otter-love-asl]

Hailey’s Letter

So, this is what I have for the beginning so far. It is subject to change though. This is kind of what’s been taking over my thoughts since May- I wanted to get this little snippet out before it goes on the back burner just until I can get some of my WIPs and other projects I’ve been working on wrapped up.

I promise I’m going back to my other stories now.

This is going to be a One Chicago AU of the characters in Hogwarts. There are going to be characters from Fire, PD, Med, and Justice.

Sorry if that was a bit scatter-brained 😬

Note: I need to figure out how to address the letter

Here it is:

Eleven-year-old Hailey Upton holds the pillow tightly over her ears, hoping to drown out the shouting coming from downstairs where her parents were– or more accurately, the shouts coming from her father while her mother is trying to calm him down.

Since they moved at the start of summer vacation, a month and a half ago, Hailey has not gotten much of a break from home. Her two older brothers, being in high school and able to drive back to Lake Forest, where they moved from, to get away from the abuse happening at home and taking refuge at friends’ homes. But Hailey can't; too young to be that far from their new home for extended periods of time and having no new local friends since they moved after the school year, her only refuge from home is the diner her family now owns, but behind closed doors, it is still just as violent as at home.

Listening to the shouting, which is probably coming from the kitchen judging by the sound of shattering glass, Hailey tries to imagine herself anywhere but here. She doesn’t know how much time has passed, but hears the shouting stop. Hailey picks her head up. Did her father knock out her mother and now has no one to be screaming at? Hailey lifts her head up further when she hears a knock at the door. Had someone heard the arguing and called the cops?

Hailey quietly sneaks out of her room to see what is happening. Peeking down the steps, she sees a tall slender woman with gray hair. She was wearing what appeared to be a blue cloak.

“My daughter is not a witch,” Hailey hears her dad, Stephen, say. “They’re evil.”

“So you know about our kind?”

“My daughter is not going,” Stephen repeats.

“Stephen, maybe we should hear her out,” Hailey’s mom, Thalia, quietly speaks up.

It’s like the strange woman could feel Hailey watching her because the next thing Hailey knows, soft brown eyes are meeting her blue ones. “You must be Hailey,” she addresses her.

Hailey slowly nods while cautiously walking down the stairs.

“My name is Professor Trudy Platt. And I’m a teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardly.”

Hailey remains silent, used to not speaking to adults- a behavior encouraged by her father.

Platt continues, “This is for you,” she pulls out an envelope from her cloak and holds it out to the young girl.

Hailey timidly reaches for the envelope. On the front, in green ink, it reads:

Miss H Upton The Smallest Bedroom 727 W Madison St. Greektown Chicago, Illinois Cook

She turns the envelope over to see a crest and the envelope sealed with what looks like red wax with an H in it. Hailey looks to Platt.

“You’re a witch, Hailey.”

“What?”

“You’re a witch. And Hogwarts is a school where you will learn to control and use your powers.”

“No she won’t. We won’t allow it,” Stephen interrupts.

“She can,” Thalia softly tells Platt.

“Thalia,” Stephen lowly barks his wife’s name. A tone that the Upton women know far too well.

“Are you sure mom?” Hailey’s blue eyes filled with worry.

“I’m sure, baby.”

“And where are you going to get the money for this?”

“Hogwarts has a small fund set aside for students who need finical aid. You may need to get some of your things second hand,” Platt answers.

“That’s fine. Thank you,” Thalia answers.

“We will talk about this later,” Stephen fumes before going to the kitchen, most likely for another beer.

“Well, I think it’s time we take Hailey to get her school supplies,” Platt announces, aware of the tension in the room.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t go,” Thalia tells the witch.

“Someone is going to need to know how to help Hailey. She has six more years ahead of her.”

“I appreciate your concern, but we’ll figure it out. We always do.”

“Mom, are you sure? What about you and Alex and Gabe?”

“We’ll be fine.”

[hayleyarts]

Broken Without You (Jasper Hale x OC) | chapter 1

Author’s note: Hello! i don’t normally post that many stories or much on here but I’ve been working on a Jasper Hale fan-fiction to try and redeem him and show my favourite cowboy vamp some love. Anyways, this story contains swears and will have some graphic scenes referring to mental health and past trauma. I’ll give more specific warnings where they apply. Also, each chapter is inspired by some music; so if you want to listen to that particular song while you read, you can but you don’t necessarily have to :)

Summary: Eleanor Rae lives in a town where there are seemingly no secrets, but what happens when a certain vampire takes an interest in her. She’ll soon find out she’s not the only one with secrets. Will he be able to put her broken pieces back together? Can she fix him in return?

Word count: 2334

Read Part 2 Here 

Track 01 - Eleanor Rigby by Alice Cooper

Forks, Washington; the rainiest town in the United States. The benefits of living in a rainy town is the fact that the forests nearby are some of the greenest you’ll ever see. The cons of living in a rainy town as small as this one is how there are no secrets; everyone knows everyone for the most part. Therefore, when people see me: Eleanor Rae, they immediately know my back story. Of course, you’re not from Forks, so how would you know who the hell I am, or what my story is. 

The Rae family, also known as my mother Cecilia and myself, lives in a small cottage on the edge of town. Our small, 2-bedroom place is just close enough to town to be considered still in Forks, but with the town being so small, you’re simply ten minutes from all needed amenities. One such amenity is the hospital that my mother works at and the high school I’ve been attending for 2 years. At school I’m known as the strange girl with headphones glued to their head. Everyone has stopped trying to talk with me and try to become my friend, because I’m just ‘too weird’. Outcasts in small towns are rare; no secrets are allowed. Thus, why I envied the Cullen family. 

The Cullen’s were a family that became the talk of the town since freshman year of high school mostly because they broke the unwritten rule of small towns; they had secrets. No one knew what these secrets were, but everyone knew there was something they were hiding. The patriarch was the best doctor Forks has ever seen; Dr. Carlisle Cullen. He and his wife manage to take care of six adopted teenage kids; who in their right mind would do that to themselves? Their kids are a completely different anomaly. Even though they are all adoptive siblings, they happen to look extremely similar; blemish free complexion, model-like beauty, and this sense of grace that normal teenagers definitely don’t have. The thing that bothers me the most is that after a year or so, everyone stopped paying close attention to the strange family, but I didn’t. I mean, it’s hard not to when they’re all so beautiful, especially the brother with the wavy golden hair that frames his face perfectly. He was the one I was the most drawn to, and I don’t really know why. There was something about his presence that calmed me; God I wanted to talk to him. But how does one speak to someone as gorgeous as Jasper Cullen? 

I climb out of my Jeep, my feet planting on the cement of the parking lot. I look up at the building, sighing softly to myself; Junior Year of high school. A lot of people tend to stress about senior year, but to me, junior year is the one that matters. You need to figure yourself out because next year you’re applying for colleges. If you don’t have yourself figured out before senior year, then you’re royally fucked. I take my time to cross the lot before entering the school; the white tiled floor already scuffed from the various footwear. The lockers remained the same, even some of the posters on the walls were the same. The only thing that really seems to change is the people; some with different haircuts or new clothing. Different people smiling and laughing with new friend groups, some people missing because they moved during the summer. Growth spurts from the now sophomores, and then the completely new group of people that no one from the older grades recognized; the new freshmen. The one thing that stayed the same among the students, is no matter how much they laughed and joked with their friends; at the end of the day, we’re all lonely people. 

I follow the flow of people as I make my way to my first class of the day: history. I always dreaded history class because of the teachers that usually instruct the class. Why is it that every boring and/or almost ready to retire man teaches history class? If someone exciting taught the class, I might actually like it more. I arrive to the room, flags of various countries littered over the open door and students were already finding their seats. Luckily the seat in the far back corner by the window was vacant; that’s where I always try to sit. I like that seat because its far enough back that if you doze off in class no one really notices, and if you want to zone out rather than listen to the teacher, then you have the window to stare out of. 

Once I sit down, I take the time to pull my supplies out of my bag. All I tend to use is a notebook and pens while everyone else pulls out tablets and laptops; call me old-fashioned. I flip to a fresh page in the notebook when a voice pulls me away from my task. The accent clearly southern and extremely polite.

“Excuse me ma’am, is anyone sitting here?” I look up and I’m immediately met with the eyes that resemble the most expensive topaz gems; glittering underneath the fluorescent lights. He raises a brow as he gestures to the desk adjacent to me, “Ma’am?”

“Yeah… sorry,” I blush, snapping out of my daze, “There’s no one sitting there, go ahead.” He smiles at my answer as he makes himself comfortable, or well, as comfortable you can on a plastic chair. He pulls out his own notebook and pens, preparing for the class that’s about to begin. I couldn’t help myself from admiring his movements. His pale hands move with more grace than I could ever; placing the pens gently down on the wood of the desk, making sure they were ready when needed to take notes. My eyes didn’t stop there; they wandered from his hands to his choice of clothing. It’s not every day you get to sit this close to a member of the Cullen family, I plan on taking advantage of this rare moment. His clothing was simple but coordinated; his grey sweater with brown buttons matching the brown colouring of his dress pants. The one thing that stood out was his choice of footwear: cowboy boots. They were legitimate brown and black leather cowboy boots, and damn did they look worn in. 

I snap my eyes away from him before he could notice my staring, paying my attention back to the rain falling outside. Its then when Mr. Henderson stomps in the room and slams his folder down on his desk. He seemed about as thrilled about the first day of school as everyone else in this room. He began his lecture the same as every other first day lecture; the expectations of the class, the policies and rules and what he expects from us as students in his class. This isn’t what I dislike about the first day of school, what I hate are the icebreaker activities that the teachers force you to partake in.

“Okay class, for the rest of the period I’m going to have you and someone next to you discuss the answers to these various questions.” His monotone voice explains while handing out a worksheet covered in various questions. Students quickly pair off, some actually participating in the exercise while others begin discussing what they did during the summer. 

“Would you like to be my partner?”

I raise a brow at the southern voice breaking my observations, “What?”

“For the exercise?” He mimics my expression.

“Right… sure.” I blush, chuckling awkwardly.

“I’m Jasper, by the way. Jasper Hale.” He smiles politely.

“Hale?”

He chuckles, “Yeah, my sister Rosalie and I kept our last names.” 

I nod, taking in the new information. I had no idea that he had a different last name. I always assumed that because they were adopted by Dr. Cullen, they all had the same last name. 

“I’m Eleanor… Eleanor Rae.” I smile, turning to face him, “But my mom calls me Ellie.”

“What do your friends call you?” He raises a brow.

“Um… I guess Ellie?” I shrug, “I don’t really have any friends.” I look down at the worksheet, reading through the questions. Most of them were related to history class, some were about life goals, and school related questions. 

“You don’t have friends?” I glance up at him as he asks his question, his brows furrowed. 

“Not really. I like to be in my own little world I guess.” I shrug, “Kind-of similar to your family in that way.”

“How is that similar to my family?” 

“Well, you and your family keep to themselves, so do I.” 

He chuckles, shrugging, “I suppose,” He looks down at the questions, reading the first one off, “What are your goals for after school?”

“Um…” I furrow my brows thinking about the question. What are my plans? I haven’t really started thinking about where exactly I’ll be in roughly two years; after graduation and when I’m supposed to have my life figured out. I hope one of my goals for after I graduate would to attend college and take classes in psychology or philosophy; wanting to learn more about myself in the process. Another goal I eventually want to accomplish is leaving this small town; starting a new life in a new town where no one knows who I am, maybe take some time off and travel the world. Of course, I don’t say any of this to him, instead I respond with, “Probably go to college or something. Get good grades, you know?”

He nods, “That’s what the teachers want us to say.” His face slowly forms a smirk, “I feel like there’s more you want to say.”

I roll my eyes, my own face phasing into a smirk, “Maybe,” I lean closer to him, “But I’d like to hear your answer first.”

He chuckles, “Well, one of my goals is to settle down eventually. Find someone who understands me.”

I blink, “How romantic.” I reply sarcastically with a chuckle. 

“Don’t judge darlin’.” He chuckles along with me. His pet-name catches me off guard, the southern drawl dripping from the word, “Now, give me your real answer.”

“Well I’d love to travel, and maybe start a new life somewhere.” I shrug, “Some place where no one knows everyone else.” I lean back in my chair, crossing my arms over my chest. 

“And you judged my answer.” He raises a brow playfully as I blush. 

“Well, both of our answers were cheesy,” I glance back down to the paper with a sigh, “These questions are also lame and cheesy.”

“Then let’s make our own questions.” He retorts, “What…” he pauses to think then continues his question, “What is your favourite movie?”

“Really?”

Jasper laughs, “It’s a valid question. Mine is Pride and Prejudice. Either that or The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.”

I chuckle, thinking about his answers. They’re both older movies, and one an even older novel. To be honest, those movies seem to match him perfectly. He seems like a gentleman kind of guy, and extremely old fashioned in his mannerisms and in the way he speaks. Not only that, but the western matches his god-awful cowboy boots. 

“Well, probably Jaws or The Breakfast Club.” I shrug, “I’ve seen both of them too many times to count so they’re probably my favourites.”

He nods at my response, “Both excellent movies. Very different though.”

I blink, “Well, your mood changes therefore the things you enjoy watching or listening to at any given moment doesn’t necessarily stay the same.” 

He narrows his eyes at my words. It was like he was surprised by my answer, and that he knew something I didn’t know. He didn’t say anything to my answer, but I could tell he wanted to. He fell silent as the class continues to have their various discussions; his golden eyes shifting from group to group. 

“What’s your favourite colour?” His eyes snap back to me at my question.

“It changes all the time.” He smirks, his answer mimicking mine from previously.

“Well what is it today?” I smirk back, raising a brow. I watch as his eyes look around the room, as if to find the answer throughout the room.

After what feels like hours, his eyes finally land on my own, “Probably green.” I blush, looking away from him, letting my dark hair fall in front of my green hued eyes. I didn’t know why he was trying to flirt with me, I mean… I’m me. Why on earth would Jasper Cull–Hale want anything to do with me? “What’s your favourite?” He tries to get me to look back at him. 

“Red or burgundy.” I mumble, glancing up at the clock; only five more minutes of class left, and, in this moment, I wasn’t sure if I wanted these last five minutes to last forever, or be finished in seconds. Jasper makes me feel differently and I’m not sure if I can pin-point why. 

“Why those?” He raises a brow. I’ve never pondered why I liked the warm colour before. Maybe it was because it symbolized various emotions like passion, love or anger. Maybe I liked the colour red because when I wear red garments of clothing, it complements my pale complexion well. Or maybe it’s because it reminds me of the red flowers in my mother’s garden outside our cottage home; roses, dahlias, and peonies planted in various patterns.  

When the bell rang, signalling the end of class, I only then realized that I didn’t answer the question; thinking of an answer quickly as I gather my supplies so I could move to my next class in my schedule, “Probably because it’s familiar.” I mumble as I leave the class. I only take a moment to glance back at him momentarily; seeing his confused expression before I join the sea of other students in the hallway.

[lavenderlattaes]

txt as high school au tropes

⇒ summary: txt in a high school au setting.

⇒ [ high school! au ]

⇒ pairing: txt x reader

⇒ word count: 2.5k words

⇒ genre: fluff

⇒ warnings: cursing, mentions of fighting, parties, making out

⇒ note: hello,, yeonjun’s cover got me so emo last night that i knew i just HAD to finish this so i can finish the bad boy au i had started writing for him sksks. Also i only had a bad boy fic planned for yeonjun, but if you guys think i should write for the other members too, please send me an ask! ignore mistakes bc im a bit of a blind bat and enjoy!  ＼ʕ •ᴥ•ʔ／

choi yeonjun:

↳ the bad boy

YES.

C’mon guys, this is badboy!!!! Yeonjun!!!!

okay, so yeonjun’s definitely the leather jacket wearing, motorcycle riding kind of badboy

the one that gets into all the fights (ง’̀-‘́)ง

the one that smokes and drinks and punches his way around bc he cannot, for the life of him, control his emotions and feelings ‾͟͟͞(((ꎤˋ⁻̫ˊ)—��͟͞͞o

he’s also hardly at school

but on the rare days that he’s actually at school, he’s always punching someone or he’s all bloodied and bruised

like,,, dude do you wanna die N O W???

the first time you met was at the nurse’s office

oh wow i wasn’t expecting that

the nurse wasn’t around but you volunteered there frequently, so you were the only one there

the door opens and you’re surprised to see someone you’re not familiar with??

he wasn’t wearing your school’s uniform,,,

who is this dude and why is he heRE

but he looked like shit and like he was gonna die

so even if he may be part of some sketchy gang

you had no choice but to patch him up pspspsps

he was covered in scratches and bruises and his lip and eyebrow were bleeding

ffs man

you told him to go sit on a bed while you went around looking for all the supplies you needed

yeonjun was being a lil shit too, bc he wouldn’t cooperate right away but eventually after threatening him that he might die if he was being choosy about who’s gonna patch him he gave in

so you started to patch him up and he was just

s t a r i n g 

like 

⊙﹏⊙

D U D E

he’s really attractive if he just wasn’t into fighting all the time y’know

girls still occasionally wanna try “breaking his badboy rep” 

all that cliché stuff

you get really conscious under his gaze and then he asks for your name and you ask him what happened instead psksks

he goes (◕︵◕)

so you give him your name fAM AND HE SAYS, “I’m Choi Yeonjun”

pspspspp

and then he tells you that he’s friends with two other choi dudes who are also really well known in your school

and then it hits you

HE’S THE BADBOY EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT

damn y/n you’re so lost fam 

lmao so he does go to your school but you’ve never seen him before????

you finally finish patching him up and you wrap his knuckles in a gauze and his arm as well

hIS ARM HAD A HUGE ASS CUT btw

“what kind of fight did you even get into?” (´･(´･(´･(´･(´･(´･д･`) ･`)･`)･`)･`)･`)

“the kind where I almost die???” (￣ω￣;)

eye-

after getting him all patched up, you take a good look at him and whew he’s all better now

he doesn’t look like he’d die any minute 

then you smile at him like (✿◠‿◠)

AND HE SAYS 

“I like your smile, can I call you sunshine?”

PSPSPSPSPSPSP

yeonjun’s about to leave when you’re still bothered by the large cut on his eyebrow

“Wait!”

you pull out a cute rubber ducky cartoon band-aid from your pocket and place it on top of the cut sKSKSKKS

after he finally leaves and says goodbye, yeonjun suddenly can’t stop thinking about you

and maybe, just maybe, you can’t stop thinking about him too.

choi soobin:

↳ the rich kid

okAY so remember how badboy! yeonjun was friends with 2 other chois

Well duh who would those other two be (●´ω｀●)

so soobin’s the riCH KID!!

like, he be drippin in finesse yo

(okay that was bad)

he wears gucci, channel, louis vuitton, armani, all that shit

tO SCHOOL

jk you guys had uniforms

but there’s always something expensive on him

whether it be his shoes, or his bag, or maybe a ring

AND EVERYONE LIVED FOR RICH KID CHOI SOOBIN WEARING HIS ROLEX 乂❤‿❤乂

but he isn’t exactly the friendly type (๑◕︵◕๑)

he’s the quiet one out of the three of them and he always keeps a straight face

＼| ￣ヘ￣|／

Like that ^^^^

despite having literally no emotion on his face whatsoever, his lips always seem to be upturned in a pout ksskskksks

and despite his cold personality, that doesn’t stop the girls from swooning over him lol

so,, y/n you’re a pretty clumsy simpleton

dID I JUST USE SIMPLETON

and you somehow,,, idk 

the world hates u

you accidentally bump into him like really hard when he was adjusting his precious Rolex on his wrist and the collision caused his Rolex...to...fly…

basically you broke his watch.

sKSKSKSKSKSKKSKS DUDE

Y/N YOU BETTER RUN AWAY NOW FAM

and everyone that was there was like :000

And soobin is just ( •̀ω•́ )σ

And you’re ಥ_ಥ

but he just sighs, picks up his broken watch and slips it into his pocket and walks away as if nothing happened

HNGGGGG o(╥﹏╥)o

you’re so guilty that you started to come up to him everyday asking how you could repay him and if you could,,, you know,, pay for it in six months time or some shit

and after a few days soobin’s had enough of you following him around

and (￣ｰ￣)ﾉ

“can you stop annoying me? It’s an expensive watch, you can’t possibly pay for it”

wOW OKAY :///

“But i feel really bad for breaking it...( ˃̣̣̥ω˂̣̣̥ )”

so soobin decides to make you his “servant”

and you know it’s stupid ,,, just bc he’s rich as hell doesn’t mean he can treat you like that

but he wasn’t giving you any options so you had no choice

you followed him around now and well, somehow

you got to know the real choi soobin hiding under all that expensive clothing and jewelry

the choi soobin that built his walls up so high that no one saw except his other two friends

and now, you.

choi beomgyu:

↳ the heartbreaker

YES CHILDREN

THIS BOY

steals hearts left and right

or: also known as the fuckboy

skskskksksks

he slept around and girls always fell victim to his charms

aside from the fact that he was just really really good looking and handsome and gorgeous and-

he was also really friendly and funny

you’d see him at parties all the time, and sometimes with soobin and yeonjun too 

there’s always a random girl on his arm too lmao

beomgyu’s never brought a girl to bed more than once before

it’s always just making out for like hours and one night stands here n there

and flings here and there

never had a serious relationship ever

and all the girls at school are fighting to be the one he decides to “do” more than once

(・_・ヾ

i mean,, who wouldn’t want to be the first girl choi beomgyu ever fucks more than ONCE 

but you just can’t seem to share the same sentiment with the other girls at school

shouldn’t they be fighting over who gets to be his first serious girlfriend or sumth? the girls in your school r weird tbh

besides,, you’re too busy looking for new memes or something and aren’t fuckboys supposed to be the type to do one night stands anyway???

but you know, you’re the mc in this world y/n

and you caught beomgyu’s eye bc he’s always noticed you on your phone laughing at something or bopping your head to some cool new song

he can’t stop smiling every time he sees you do that

BC YOU’RE JUST SO CUTE AND OMFG IS CHOI BEOMGYU CATCHING ACTUAL FEELINGS

and get this,,, beomgyu’s never been the type to be all shy and flustered bc that’s just so not him

but then you get partnered up for a project and suddenly you’re approaching his desk with a bright smile on your face and 

sKSKSK heLP HIM SOMEONE P L E ASE

“hi! I’m y/n!” you extend your hand out for him and he just

ฅ(*°ω°*ฅ)

seeing beomgyu all flustered makes you giggle and he breaks out of his trance and goes back to his old self

“Hey, y/n. Let’s have a great time together(づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ”

so that’s how you and beomgyu become friends

even after the project ended you still hung out and you even became somewhat friends with yeonjun and soobin

you sometimes went to parties with him too

and whilst beomgyu fell deeper for you

you remained clueless as ever

you just thought it was him being friendly and stuff bc that’s what he does

what you did notice though

beomgyu hardly made out or slept with anyone at parties now

he hung out with you and played games with you and with soobin and yeonjun

and he didn’t usually go to parties now if you couldn’t make it!!!

and everyone can clearly see how much he LIKES?? LOVES?? you 

so yeah, maybe beomgyu’s gotten rid of his fuckboy ways bc of you.

kang taehyun:

↳ the valedictorian

name a smarter guy in your school than kang taehyun. Go

jk never gonna happen HE’S the smartest

literally breezes through his subjects like it’s nothing

idk how it works for you guys but in my school, we don’t have GPAs and stuff but anyway

he has like, an average grade of 99 (*•̀ᴗ•́*)و ̑̑ (and that’s a 4.0 GPA right????) 

PSPSPPS WHAT THE HECKITY HECK

and all the teachers love him ofc

he doesn’t have to sit in front to be THIS smart

he can sit at the back row and be all emo with choi yeonjun if he wanted to and he’d still ace a test

h o w ⊂•⊃_⊂•⊃

and not only that

he’s got a really good voice?? he’s in choir omg

no,,

he has the voice of an angel ★~(◡‿◡✿)

he hits high notes like how he breezes through his subjects

he’s the type of guy you bring home to meet your parents after one (1) date bc they’ll love him anyway

aND if he could get any more perfect,,,, he’s captain of your football team AND class president

AND I SAY WHAT

yUP

kang taehyun best boy _へ__(‾◡◝ )>

and you?

HAH

you guys are a match made in heaven

you’re his vice president, and while he’s in choir, you’re part of your school’s journalism club

plus, you’re smart enough to go against him but you like slacking off lmao

also

“you have all the glory in high school tae, i’ll kick your ass in college” PSSPPS

And if taehyun’s the captain of the football team, you’re captain of the volleyball team just bc

goals? I think so too (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

but sigh,,, yunno

as smart as taehyun is, he’s a bit dumb when it comes to matters of the heart

THIS IS THE ONLY TIME WE CAN CALL KANG TAEHYUN DUMB!! BECAUSE!! HE!! CAN’T!! SEE!! HOW!! MUCH!! YOU!! LOVE!! HIM!! (;¬_¬)

you’ve always loved him, but you realized it only when you guys won the science quiz bee the year before ⊂( ◜◒◝ )⊃

basically, you’ve loved him for more than a year now,, sigh

and you’re just trying to find the right opportunity to confess

wHEN BOOM you suddenly remembered you’re on the school paper!!!! ⌒°(❛ᴗ❛)°⌒

v-day is right around the corner and since you’re editor in chief, you decided that it would be nice to have a lil fun in preparation for the event

so you got the whole school dropping anonymous love notes for their crush!!

and the club went around pasting them on lockers for the students so they don’t risk the chance of getting caught pspsps

totally smart idea huh !(•̀ᴗ•́)و ̑̑

all for the sake of confessing your feelings for your best friend.

hueningkai:

↳ the popular guy 

this boi

loved by everybody

and i mean everybody

even yeonjun and soobin who seem like they don’t give two flying fucks about anything

like literally everybody wants to be his friend !!!

there’s nothing people have to hate him for honestly

he’s in choir with taehyun 

he follows no crowd bC THE CROWD FOLLOWS HIM SKSKS

“hey, kai!”

“ey, wassup! I like your top!”

(▰˘◡˘▰)

he’s a cute babie too oomf

the girls that aren’t swooning over yeonjun or beomgyu or soobin are definitely swooning over him

(with taehyun they’ve lost all hope bc they know his best friend’s the only one that’s supposed!! to!! stand!! next!! to!! him!!)

kai’s also really sweet and nice to everybody,, and i mean everybody

he talks to everyone, even those emo kids who sit at the back row

and even they can’t resist smiling :) 

he’s that kind of popular guy that’s really preppy and fun to be around

he’s the type to help girls carry their books, or help guys plan on how to ask their crushes out

everyone knows a lot about him bc he doesn’t hesitate to share and talk about his life bc he literally has no trust issues whatsoever

not in a bad way, tho!! he’s just really honest n stuff

but

the one thing that everyone doesn’t know about him is that he can play piano sksk ♫꒰･◡･๑꒱

they know he can sing, but they didn’t know he played piano like???

he’s never brought it up before

but one time you find him playing the piano in the music room

you’re in the art club and you guys usually stayed behind after school to work on your paintings and stuff when you were feeling like it

and it just so happened that you were staying behind bc you entered into an art competition and you had only two weeks left to complete your painting

but lately you’ve been running out of inspiration and decided to clear your thoughts first before going back to your painting

what’s that beautiful melody??? 

【・_・?】

and it led you to him and you were surprised to see mr. popular in the room

(*ﾟﾛﾟ)

and you didn’t mean to, but the door was ajar and you push it open even further to hear the song better

DUMB MOVE

a chair was resting behind the door and it screeched on the floor spsps

Kai turned around and saw you

“oh! Hey y/n”

he stopped playing and you could see a faint blush on his cheeks ≧◡≦

“you play piano? i never knew” you decided to just step inside bc he wouldn’t mind right? rIGHT???

yeah,, if he didn't have such a big PHAT CRUSH ON YOU

“uh yeah, it helps me to clear my mind sometimes”

“i was taking a break too, i couldn’t finish my painting”

sKSKSK AND KAI FOUND THAT PERF OPPORTUNITY TO SPEND TIME W YOU BY OFFERING YOU HIS COMPANY TO GO AROUND

he’s always liked you, ever since you were lab partners for an entire year,,

you occasionally talked, but since he was on the more popular side and you had a smaller group of friends it was hard for him to find proper alone time with you

but life’s good to this baby and he finally got to spend his time with you.

[theultimatefanficwriter]

Kiyotaka Ishimaru x Mondo Oowada-Dead Boy Walking

Slight NSFW Content

Kiyotaka Ishimaru was happy. He was the star pupil of Class 78 and the designated Hall Monitor. He was set to go very far after graduating from Hope's Peak Academy. What more could he ask for?

"Ow!"

The Ultimate Moral Compass turned at the quiet exclamation. He noticed his close friend Chihiro Fujisaki rubbing the back of his head. Taka noticed a balled up piece of paper come to a stop next to Makoto Naegi's feet. The strict rule follower narrowed his eyes as he looked behind the Ultimate Programmer. He noticed Junko Enoshima covering her mouth, a hint of a smirk peaking over her hand. Makoto looked down as the ball hit his foot. He raised a brow and picked the object up.

Kiyotaka reached across the aisle and held his hand out. "Makoto Neagi, would you please hand that over to me so I could dispose of it?" He commanded in his normal booming voice.

Maokoto jumped a bit and nodded, handing it over. "Y-yeah! Of course, Taka." Taka all but snatched it out of the Ultimate Lucky Student's hand and immediately unfolded it, giving it a read.

Chihiro Fujisaki, the Ultimate Programmer, makes a very pretty girl, doesn't he? Maybe he should stop lying to his classmates and reveal what he really is.

Taka stiffened, his eyes shooting over to Chihiro, his friend continuing on his work with a downtrodden look on his face. Kiyotaka was the only one Chihiro ever told his secret to. How could Junko have known?

The boy in white looked over to the Ultimate Fashionista, who was staring at him with a smug grin. She gave him a finger wave before turning away from him. Taka narrowed his eyes before standing up quickly, causing the desk and chair to screech across the floor.

"Teacher!" He called. "It has come to my attention the Junko Enoshima was bullying Chihiro Fujisaki by throwing this at her!" Taka held the ball between his fingers. His small friend looked up at him, a grateful smile on his face.

"I was just trying to get "her" to stop lying, Teacher!" Junko said innocently as she stood, placing a hand over her heart. Taka glanced back and gave her a look of warning. He noticed that the Ultimate Biker Gang Leader, Mondo Oowada, did as well. Junko ignored both of them as she made her way to Chihiro's seat. "Chihiro here has a dirty little secret." She said in a sing songy voice. She pat the boy on the head, causing him to stiffen up. "Dontcha, Fujisaki?" She gave the programmer a knowing smile.

"Junko that is enough!" Kiyotaka exclaimed, point his finger at her. "Leave Chihiro alone!"

Junko smirked, turning to Taka. "Aw, you're only stopping me 'cause you already know the secret, tattletale." The fashionista pouted. "Why don't you share with the rest of the class?" She held her hand out to everyone, who look extremely uncomfortable.

Kiyotaka glanced over at the teacher, who stood with crossed arms. "Miss Enoshima, that is quite enough." He said with narrowed eyes. "Apologize to Miss Fujisaki and sit down or I must send you to the Headmaster."

The pigtailed girl smirked. "'Miss' Fujisaki? Don't you mean-"

Taka's eyes widened and he dashed over to try to stop Junko somehow. But someone was faster.

Before he could even blink, Kiyotaka saw Mondo standing beside Junko, his hand over her mouth as he glared down at her. "I don't like laying my hands on chicks." He growled. "But if ya would kindly shut the fuck up and sit down?"

Junko looked up at Mondo, her eyebrows narrowed angrily. She moved away from him and went back to her desk. The biker huffed and popped his collar before sitting back down as well. The hall monitor blinked, still stunned, before he shook his head. He pocketed the paper ball, not wanting someone to fish it out of the trash, and sat back down as well.

The class eventually ended, and like usual Kiyotaka sat patiently at his desk for everyone else to leave. And like usual, Chihiro waited with him. Also like usual, Junko stuck her tongue out at him and called him some rude name. But unlike usual, Mondo was still in the classroom, leaning against the back wall.

When it was just the three of them, Chihiro ran over to Taka excitedly. "Thank you so much, Taka!" He chirped. "I was way too scared to stand up to Junko."

The star pupil smiled down at his friend brightly. "But you're getting more confident!" He pointed out. "Don't think I haven't noticed!" He placed a hand on the boy's shoulder. "I am very proud."

Chihiro smiled and looked over his shoulder to Mondo. He gestured for him to come over, so the biker leader pushed off the wall and made his way there. "That's actually thanks to Mondo!" Chihiro informed the Ultimate Moral Compass. "He's been training me!"

Taka's gaze went from Chihiro to the muscular man approaching the two. He crossed his arms and looked him up and down. "Why did you ask this...rule breaker to train you and not me, Chihiro?" Kiyotaka asked, giving the man before him an unimpressed look.

The man with the pompadour scowled. "Maybe because he wanted help with getting stronger, not learning how to be a kiss ass." Mondo retorted.

Chihiro looked between the two nervously. "I...I thought the two of you would be friends..." He said quietly.

The men looked down at him, before returning to glaring at each other.

"I'm sorry, Chihiro, but I've seen Mondo Oowada's record." Taka said bluntly. "He is only trouble and has no regard for safety."

"Yeah, sorry buddy. No way I can be friends with a guy who has an entire pole stuck up his ass." Mondo spat.

Kiyotaka's eyes narrowed angrily at that insult, much to Mondo's amusement. "Why on Earth did you tell this...this delinquent your secret?!" The rule abider exclaimed, turning his head to Chihiro.

The Ultimate Programmer swallowed, clearly uncomfortable. "W-we saw each ot-other at the-" He tried to explain.

Seeing his friend was having difficulties, Mondo placed a gentle hand on his head and gave him a smile. "Calm down. I got this." He soothed. The young boy nodded, taking a breath. Mondo turned back to Taka. "We ran into each other at the gym. I noticed he was having trouble, so I offered to spot him. He mentioned he was trying to get stronger, I offered to train him, and after a few training sessions he felt close enough to me to tell me the truth." He grinned at his friend. "And I'm honored." Chihiro giggled softly.

Kiyotaka analyzed their interaction. Mondo seemed to genuinely care about Chihiro, and vise versa. He did stop Junko from spilling his secret. But how could sweet, kind Chihiro ever become friends with such a thug? He's the type of person Taka would want to protect his close friend from. So it makes no sense.

"I'm still not sure if you should be hanging around him." The role model thought aloud, putting a finger to his chin.

Mondo narrowed his eyes and took a step towards him. "I don't think that's your decision to make, asshole." He growled, shoving a finger into Taka's chest.

The man stumbled backwards slightly. He glowered at the biker and brushed his uniform off. "It was merely a suggestion, but if your way of becoming stronger is to always resort to violence, than perhaps I should try to enforce it."

Mondo's face turned red and he reeled his fist back.

"Stop! Please!"

The man stopped and turned, seeing his small friend with an outstretched hand looking terrified.

"Please don't hurt each other!" Chihiro begged. "I'm sorry I made you two meet. I thought you'd be friends but I was wrong!" He looked to be on the verge of tears.

Mondo looked at him for a moment before turning back to Kiyotaka, who was looking past him at the programmer. Mondo scoffed and backed away. He spat on the ground in front of Taka before heading out the door. "See you at training, Chihiro." He called as he left.

"Are you alright, Taka?" The small highschooler questioned, running up to him.

The hall monitor nodded, glaring at the puddle of spit on the ground and stepping around it. "Excuse me for saying this, but your new friend is a brute." Taka said bluntly, looking to his friend.

Chihiro sighed. "He can be like that, yeah."

The man in uniform smiled and rolled his shoulders. "No matter. You should go to your dorm. I have to clean up the mess he left behind. I'll see you later!" The two waved, and Chihiro left the room.

Taka grabbed the cleaning supplies and cleaned up the spit Mondo had left on the floor. His thoughts kept going back to him. He obviously knew of him before this. He'd heard his name during role call, he'd seen and heard him during class, but most prominently, he'd seen his record when helping the headmaster. It was a sight. So many rules broken, both small and large. Graffiti, littering, fighting. He was dangerous. However, his actions still fit his Ultimate title so...he stayed. Kiyotaka sighed in annoyance. Why did there have to be an Ultimate Biker Gang Leader anyway? Or any other criminal Ultimate? Why is the school encouraging crime? He didn't understand it.

Taka stood, finally finished cleaning. He dusted off his uniform again as he made his way out of the classroom, making sure to turn the lights off and lock the door. He made his way down the hall, keeping an eye out for any rule breakers on his way to his room. He didn't see any, but he did see a particular rule break leaning against his door. He came to a stop in front of him with crossed arms. "Waiting for me in front of my door?" Kiyotaka said, shaking his head. "Do you really want to fight me so badly?"

Mondo sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "I...actually wanted to apologize." He muttered.

This caught the man in white off guard. "Wait...what?"

"Yeah..." The biker muttered. "I thought about it on the way to my room. Since we're both Chihiro's friends, we should at least attempt to get along, right? Instead of instantly going at each others throats."

Kiyotaka looked to the side as he gave it a thought. He nodded slowly. "I suppose that makes sense." He agreed.

Mondo nodded as well. "Good, good. We're in agreement then." There was an awkward silence for a moment. "So...what should we do to...get to know each other?"

Taka thought for a moment. "The best way would probably to do what we both enjoy. Participate in each other's interests."

Mondo groaned. "Ugh. I don't want to grade papers or stand in the hall yelling at people." He muttered.

Taka laughed. "Is that what you think I do for fun?" He laughed with a smirk.

Mondo returned it and shrugged. "I don't fucking know, man. Probably."

The hall monitor shook his head with a smile. "Well I can assure you, I have an activity in mind the both of us will enjoy."

"Dude, you fucking box?" Mondo gaped at the gloves Kiyotaka was currently putting on.

The man in white chuckled and nodded. "You aren't the only one that likes to stay in shape." He replied as he tightened the strap of the glove and went on to the next. "The other pair is over there." He gestured with his head.

The Ultimate Biker Gang Leader still looked surprised, but he made his way over to Kiyotaka's dresser and grabbed his second pair of gloves. "I usually prefer to just use wrappings." He told his sparring partner. "But since we're being all buddy buddy and shit, sure. I'll use these."

Taka spat out the strap after finishing tightening the second glove. "You spar with only bandaged hands?" He asked, moving into the area they had cleared out for their sparring match.

Mondo nodded as he hit his now gloved fists together. "Usually, yeah. I like the feeling of fist to face." He chuckled. "But I guess I don't want to actually hurt ya, so this makes sense."

Taka smirked and took an offensive stance. "Well if that's the case then we are getting somewhere." He stated. "However, I don't know if you even could hurt me."

The gang leader barked out a laugh, copying the role model's stance. "You serious? Dude, I would've pulverized you if Chihiro hadn't stopped me."

The Ultimate Moral Compass threw a punch, which Mondo blocked with his fist. "I had plenty of space to avoid you. I was simply giving you the illusion of control." Kiyotaka said cockily, moving around his opponent.

The taller of the two raised a brow, clearly amused. "Uh huh. I'm sure." He shot his left fist out at the man in front of him, which was easily blocked. "You know, when you aren't busting me for walking too quickly down the hall, you're pretty alright." Another blow was thrown.

This struck Taka in the arm, causing him to stumble backwards. He powered through it and shot the one who had hit him a grin. "Nice hit. And yeah. When you aren't littering the halls, you're pretty fun." As he finished speaking, he lunged to the side before throwing a punch.

This caught Mondo off guard enough for the hit to land on his shoulder. The biker chuckled and rubbed the spot. "Fuck. That actually hurt a bit. You're stronger than I thought."

The two continued exchanging blows for nearly an hour, until the two were tired and sweaty. They threw the gloves to the side, and Kiyotaka went into his bathroom to grab them both towels. He returned and threw one to Mondo. "I think this was a success." He said with a smile. "I can safely call you...a friend."

Mondo chuckled and wiped the sweat off of himself. "Yeah. At the very least we ain't tryin' to kill each other."

Taka nodded in agreement and threw his towel into his bathroom, intending to send both the one he and Mondo used to the laundry soon. "I wouldn't mind spending more time with you in the future." He told the biker. He approached him with a wide grin and held out his hand.

Mondo looked down at him with a strange look. He looked...conflicted? Confused? He seemed to snap out of it and smile at Taka, shaking his hand. "Yeah, same here." He tossed his towel into the bathroom as well. "This was actually fun, Taka. I'll be seein' you around." He made his way to the door, the two waving goodbye.

The next day in class was uneventful. Junko was quiet the entire time, which admittedly worried Kiyotaka more than her causing trouble. Regardless, class came and went, and everyone left as usual. Taka and Chihiro stayed, Junko called the hall monitor a slur, the ropes. But like the day before, Mondo had stayed behind. When the young programmer noticed this, he got worried. He put himself between the two as Mondo approached.

The biker smiled down at him and pat his head. "Hey, don't worry buddy." He assured his friend. "Taka and I worked everything out, right, dude?" He looked up at the rule follower with a warm smile.

The man in question nodded and smiled down to Chihiro as well, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Yeah, don't worry, Chihiro. Mondo and I are friends now!" He said in his usual booming tone.

The young boy looked up, surprised. "Wait, really?" He asked. When the two nodded, he smiled happily and jumped in place. "That's great! So we can hang out together?!" He looked between the two men excitedly. They both chuckled and nodded at him. The programmer clapped happily, before letting out a gasp. "Oh! We could train together!" He exclaimed. He looked up to Mondo. "Is that alright?"

The biker looked up to Taka, who nodded at him, a grin on his face. The man with the pompadour ruffled Chihiro's hair. "'Course it is, kiddo." He chuckled. The small boy looked ecstatic and grabbed the newly befriended men's hands, rushing out the door to the gym.

"So we're going to go on to twenty pounds, alright, buddy?" Mondo said to Chihiro as the programmer set his gym bag next to the bench press he had chosen to use. He had already gone into the changing room and put on his blue tracksuit.

The determined young man nodded as he took his place on the press. "Yeah! That sounds good!" He took a deep breath and looked between his friends with a smile. "You'll both spot me, right?"

The two nodded. "Of course, Chihiro." Taka replied, giving him a thumbs up. The prize pupil was wearing a red tracksuit and had a towel draped over his arm. Chihiro giggled carefully lifted the weight from where it rested, beginning his reps.

Mondo looked over at Taka, the rebel in a black tracksuit. He smirked at the towel. "You got one this early? You haven't even worked out yet." He teased.

The black haired boy rolled his eyes. "Funny." He replied, giving his new friend a grin. "I got it for Chihiro." As he spoke his friend's name he glanced down at him, making sure he wasn't having trouble. Seeing as he was doing fine, he glanced back up to Mondo. The biker was looking him up and down.

"You really are surprisingly fit for someone so...stuck up." The man in black mumbled.

Taka looked at him surprised. "That was...a bit insulting." He said quietly, rubbing his arm and looking down. "I thought we were getting along."

Mondo's eyes widened and he placed a hand on Taka's shoulder. "Oh, no, dude! Fuck, I didn't mean it like that. I just meant that I always saw you as a teacher's pet. I didn't know you were so...tough." He punched the other man's arm, a grin on his face.

A smile returned to the hall monitor's face. "Ah! That's what you meant." He shrugged. "As I told you, I enjoy keeping in shape."

Mondo laughed softly, carefully leaning on the bench press. "You are much cooler than I thought, bro." He held his fist out for Taka.

The man stared at Mondo. "Did you just call me...bro?" He asked.

The biker's face fell slightly, and his fist dropped. "Well, yeah. I thought since we were getting closer..."

Taka held his hands up and shook his head. "No, no, no! You misunderstood me this time." He chuckled. "I'm...honored. I don't have a lot of friends." He smiled brightly and held his fist out for Mondo.

The gang leader returned the grin and bumped his fist against the Ultimate Moral Compass'.

The two laughed as they smiled at each other, bringing their arms down to their sides.

"O-ok. I think I'm done for now." Chihiro panted bringing the weights back up. Both Taka and Mondo rushed forward to grab it, and their hands touched as they did so. They glanced at each other and laughed it off as they helped their small friend. Chihiro threw his legs over the side of the bench as Kiyotaka handed him the towel. He wiped his face and took a long sip of the water bottle he had brought with him.

"You did really good today, Chihiro!" Mondo congratulated him. "You're getting better every day."

"Only because of you, Mondo." The programmer beamed up at his muscular friend.

Taka watched this with a smile on his face. He can't believe he had thought so poorly about Mondo. He's been helping Chihiro so much. The once self conscious boy has become so much more confident. He's become stronger, mentally and psychically. All thanks to Mondo. He's really sweet to him as well. He's actually a really kind guy after all and-

Kiyotaka stood up straight. He glanced over at Mondo and saw him carrying Chihiro on his bicep, the two of them laughing. He gulped and rubbed the back of his neck. Mondo glanced over at him and raised a brow. He placed the young boy down and went over to his newly acquired friend. "Hey, you good, bro?" He asked, placing a hand on Taka's shoulder.

The star student smiled at him and gave him a thumbs up. "O-of course bro! Just fantastic!" He exclaimed.

Mondo chuckled. "Cool. Well, Chihiro wanted to go back to his room and work on his little project. We could go back to my dorm and hang out if you wanted?"

Taka nodded. "Sure, of course. We could do something to get to know each other even more."

"You read my mind, bro." The biker chuckled as the trip left the gym.

Mondo and Kiyotaka said their goodbyes to Chihiro as he went into his room. The two then went into Mondo's. Taka sat on the gang leader's bed as said man locked the door. "So, what are we going to do?" The role model asked as Mondo sat beside him.

The rebel rubbed his neck and looked to the side. "Well...I know this is gonna sound dumb 'n cheesy but...I thought we could just...talk."

Kiyotaka blinked at him.

Mondo sighed. "Goddamn it." He ran his hand over his face. "Look, boxing and shit is fun and all, but if we really wanna be 'bros' and all, which I actually do, we should get to know each other for real. For instance." Mondo cleared his throat. "I had a pet dog named Chuck." The Ultimate Biker Gang Leader coughed into his hand and turned away, shielding his face from Taka. "He...he died...a while ago. I miss him."

Kiyotaka nodded slowly. "I am very sorry to hear that." He comforted his friend, patting him on the back.

Mondo just shrugged and rolled his shoulders before turning to the star pupil. "So what about you?" He asked. "I noticed Junko always gives you a hard time. She keeps calling you curses and shit. What's that about?"

Taka frowned and rubbed his arm. "I don't actually know." He admitted. "She seems to have some extreme hatred for me, but I haven't the slightest why." He sighed as he looked up to Mondo. "I think she's angry at me for always getting her in trouble for constantly bullying other students."

The biker narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms. "Well I can get being pissed at you for gettin' them in trouble." He began. "But not if it was for bullying someone. That shit's not cool at all, especially if the person isn't strong enough to defend themselves." The man growled and gripped at his jacket.

Kiyotaka looked at him, a soft smile forming on his lips. "You...have a caring heart for someone that comes off so tough." He said quietly.

Mondo smirked at him and chuckled. "Don't fucking tell anybody." He warned teasingly. "I have a reputation to keep." The two shared a laughed for a moment. As it died down, Mondo looked back to his friend. "So she's just being really petty?" He questioned, bringing his original question back up.

The hall monitor looked down at the floor. "It's more than just that." He muttered. "I...I think she's trying to sabotage me."

The gang leader raised an eyebrow. "And why do you say that?" He asked.

Taka sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "She's been doing things that would hurt me." He explained. His eyes looked away. "I...think what happened with Chihiro yesterday was because of me."

Mondo furrowed his brow. "And how the hell is that the case?" The Ultimate Biker Gang Leader asked, grabbing the black haired boy's shoulder and turning him to face him.

The boy in white looked looked at the taller man sadly. "I don't know how she learned of Chihiro's secret, but she knows I'm close to him. By revealing it to everyone it would not only hurt Chihiro, it would hurt me, because she knows I care about my friends dearly."

Mondo nodded along. "Yeah, I've noticed that." He smiled at the ruler aibider warmly. "You looked about ready to tear into her just for getting close to Chihiro."

"Well, he's my closest friend." The hall monitor admitted. "One of...my only friends."

The rebel watched the man in white as he scratched his arm sadly. He felt a sharp pain in his chest he couldn't explain as the shorter boy looked so dejected. Mondo watched the other closely.

"Junko has also been...spreading rumors around about me." Kiyotaka continued, scratching his head. "In an attempt to ruin my reputation, I believe."

Mondo narrowed his eyes as he tried to remember any rumors he had heard about the boy. Junko spread rumors all the times, but Taka was such a teacher's pet with such a clean record that any rumors were sure to stick out. And sure enough, one popped to the front of his memory. "Oh yeah, I remember." He began, turning to Kiyotaka. "She started tellin' everyone you were gay."

The star pupil stiffened and nodded. "Yes. She did." He confirmed quietly.

Mondo rubbed the back of his neck. "I know it's none of my business, but...are ya?" He questioned, glancing slightly over at his friend. "'Cause there's nothin' wrong with it if you are."

Taka sighed loudly and stood up. "I should get going." He said, heading towards the door. "It was...really good to get to know you some more, Mondo."

The biker frowned and stood up, following him. "Bro, did I upset you?" He asked worriedly.

Taka shook his head as he continued towards the door. "No, of course not. I just noticed how late it had gotten. I will see you in class tomorrow."

Mondo watched as the black haired man placed his hand on the door handle. He bit his lip as he argued with himself on what to do. Finally giving in, he sighed. "It's fine if you're gay, Taka. 'Cause I am."

The man at the door froze.

He slowly turned around and stared at Mondo with wide eyes. "...What?" He whispered.

The gang leader shrugged, rubbing the back of his neck. "Since we're getting to know each other and shit, thought you should know." He mumbled under his breath.

Kiyotaka looked Mondo up and down. "You...you are..." He blinked. "How are you so open about it?"

Mondo shrugged again. "I just learned not to give a shit about what other people think." He informed the other. "I know it throws a lot of people off. They think someone like me would be off fucking chicks, but nah. I get a lot of shit about it, but it doesn't bother me at this point."

Taka looked up at him in awe. "You just...throw everyone's expectations away without a thought?"

The biker nodded. "Yeah. Fuck what other people think. It only matters what I think about myself, right? And I think I'm pretty fucking cool." He looked down at the moral compass. "So...yeah. Just thought you should know."

Kiyotaka felt a smile form on his lips. "I...thank you for telling me." He said sincerely. "I can see how you've helped Chihiro so much."

Mondo shrugged. "S'no big deal." He muttered, turning his face away from the boy. He was attempting to hide a blush that had appeared on his face.

Taka took a deep breath. "In lieu of this information." He bit his lip and nodded. "I do believe I am gay, yes."

Mondo looked over at this, a smile on his face. "That's awesome, bro!"

His friend shook his head. "But it isn't. Not everyone is accepting of people like us, Mondo. And if I want to become Prime Minister one day..." He trailed off, though fear was beginning to take hold on his face.

Mondo walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. When the shorter man looked up, he saw Mondo had a comforting smile on his face. "Hey. I know that there are some fucking dicks out there. But you're amazing, Taka. You can get anywhere you want in life, and being who you are won't stop you." He smirked. "And if anyone tries anything," He hit his fists together. "I'll fuck 'em up."

Kiyotaka chuckled softly and smiled up at the taller man, the fear in him disappearing. "I...appreciate that, Mondo." He replied quietly. "I'm very glad we became friends."

Mondo nodded in agreement, the comforting smile back on his face. "Me too, bro." The two stood like that for a while, just a few feet apart. Mondo bit his lip and rubbed the back of his neck. "I...fucking hell." He cursed.

Taka looked up at him, confused. "Is everything alright?" He asked.

Mondo ran his hand through his hair. "I...shit. I kinda wanna kiss you." He rushed out.

The man in white looked up in surprise. "Y-you want to kiss me?!" He exclaimed.

Mondo nodded, the blush returning to his face in full force. "I mean I've always thought you were kinda cute. And you look good in that uniform. And this time we've spent together...I think I've grown a fucking crush on you." He looked away and shook his head. "But you're still battling your feelings and trying to understand everything. So just forget it." He turned to walk away, but was stopped by a hand on his bicep.

When he looked back, he noticed Taka's face was completely red. The boy let go of the other's arm and folded his hands together, fiddling with his fingers. "No, it's alright." He stammered. "You...you can kiss me."

Mondo turned back completely to the boy in white and swallowed. "You sure?"

Kiyotaka nodded shyly. "I may still be coming to terms with accepting who I am but...you are the first person to show me it is alright to be...myself. That I shouldn't be afraid of another's opinions. And I can't lie and say that I haven't felt myself become...attracted to you recently."

Mondo's face brightened a bit as he took as step closer to the man in front of him. He slowly leaned down to Taka's height and tilted his head to the side as he ghosted over the black haired boy's lips. The shorter man's eyes flickered between the biker's own lavender eyes and his lips. He swallowed nervously as Mondo smiled softly and finally pressed their lips together.

Kiyotaka's eyes fluttered shut as his hands gripped at the gang leader's undershirt. Mondo placed his hands gently on both of Taka's hips, pulling him closer to his chest. He rubbed the red eyed boy's sides comfortingly as he deepened the kiss.

It was all a lot gentler than Taka was expecting from Mondo. It was a very pleasant surprise. The star pupil smiled into the kiss as Mondo slowly pulled away. "How was that?" The biker asked quietly. He brought a hand up to Kiyotaka's face and cupped it.

The moral compass gave a small smile, a tinge of blush on his cheeks. "I enjoyed that." He replied. "A lot."

Mondo nodded in agreement, running his other hand through Taka's hair. "I did, too."

Taka bit his lip as his face grew even redder, a very school inappropriate thought crossing his mind. "I...would kind of like to do more...with you...?" He said meekly, glancing up at the violet eyed boy.

Mondo looked surprised. "Are...are you sure?"

The boy in white nodded. "Yes. I...really like you." He held tightly onto the muscular man's jacket. "You make me feel...safe."

A smile formed on Mondo's lips. He placed his thumb under the shorter boy's chin and tilted his head up as he planted another kiss on his lips. Kiyotaka placed his arms around the gang leader's shoulders as his eyes closed once more. The brown haired boy slowly walked forward until his partner's back was pressed against the wall near the door. His hands went back on Taka's hips as Mondo's mouth left the red eyed boy's lips and traveled down to his neck. He kissed it softly before giving it a gentle bite. Taka let out a quiet gasp as he grasped the back of Mondo's jacket. The biker chuckled and kissed his neck again. "Did you like that?" He whispered into the black haired boy's ear.

Taka nodded. "Yes." He murmured back. "...Do it again."

Mondo smirked and obliged, biting down on the moral compass' neck once more with a little more force this time. He let out another gasp, which turned into a whimper as Mondo sucked on his skin. The biker gave Taka's hips a small jerk, pulling the boy in front of him flush against him. He pulled away from Kiyotaka's neck to look into his eyes. He couldn't help but smile when he noticed they innocent boy's eyes were shut, a happy smile on his face. Mondo cupped Taka's face, causing him to open his eyes. The gang leader gave him a serious look. "I need to know." He said in a low tone. "Are you serious about this?"

Kiyotaka swallowed and nodded. "I-I am." He stammered. "Unless you don't want to-"

"Oh fuck no!" Mondo interrupted him, grabbing both of the boy's sleeves and yanking them behind himself, causing the black haired boy to stumble into him. Mondo placed one hand on Taka's back and another on his hip. "I wanna fuck you so bad." He growled. Taka shivered, causing the man in front of him to chuckle. "I just wanted to make sure you really wanted this. I'm guessing this is your first time."

Kiyotaka nodded. "It...it is." He confirmed. "I'm a bit concerned, if I'm being honest." He smiled lovingly at Mondo. "But I trust you. And I want this."

Mondo said nothing else. He had heard all he needed. With a smirk he grabbed Taka by the wrist and led him to the bed, once they had reached it, he gave the smaller man a light push, making him fall backwards onto it. He began to strip his clothes eagerly. Looking over, he noticed Kiyotaka unbuttoning his uniform hastily. The two locked eyes and gave each other a loving smile as Mondo made his way over to help his partner out of his clothes.

"You sure you have to go?" Mondo asked, the covers lazily covering his bottom half.

Kiyotaka nodded as he slipped on his uniform pants. "Unfortunately I have to walk the halls later." He sighed, putting on his shoes now.

Mondo rolled his eyes. "Can't you just skip that? Stay with me." He laid his hand out on the bed.

Taka looked at it and smiled. He placed his own in it and gave it a squeeze. "You know I can't do that." He told his lover sadly. "I promise when I'm finished I'll come back."

Mondo brightened up. "I'll fucking hold you to that. That's a promise between men." He said, tugging on Taka's hand. The smaller boy was pulled forward, landing awkwardly in Mondo's naked but blanket covered lap.

Kiyotaka chuckled and nodded. He leaned up and gave Mondo a kiss. The biker placed a hand on the back of the black haired man's head and pulled him in, deepening the kiss. After finally pulling apart, Taka finished getting dressed and turned to go. "I really enjoyed everything tonight, Mondo." He said sincerely. "Thank you."

Mondo smiled and nodded. "So did I, Taka. I'll see you later."

Taka left the biker's room with a love stricken smile on his face.

Kiyotaka was still buttoning and straightening his uniform as he closed Mondo's door behind him.

"Well, well, well! What do we have here!"

Taka froze at the all too familiar voice. He whirled around and felt his stomach drop at the sight of Junko. The fashionista was smirking and making her approach to the boy in white. "Disheveled appearance, unbuttoned uniform." She gave Taka a sniff as she stopped in front of him. "Smell of sweat." Her smirk widened as she chuckled evilly. "You're fucking that psycho gang leader kid? Seriously, Ishimaru?" She barked out a laugh and shook her head, the evil grin still present. "You are finished now. Wait until the entire school finds out that perfect record Kiyotaka Ishimaru is actually a filthy little slut." As she finished speaking, Junko was mere feet from the frightened boy, her smug face not far from his own.

Taka clenched his fists as he felt tears form in his eyes. "Why...why are you so determined to ruin my life?!" He screamed, clenching his still not completely buttoned jacket.

Junko didn't answer. She just gave him a finger wave before she turned on her heel and walked away. Taka watched for a moment before he turned around and reentered Mondo's room.

The Ultimate Biker Gang Leader was beginning to get redressed when his door suddenly opened and closed. He spun around and saw Kiyotaka, tears pouring down his face. Mondo's eyes widened and rushed over to him, not caring that he only had pants on. He pulled his lover into a protective embrace. "What happened, Taka?" He asked, stroking his back comfortingly.

"That fucking bitch." Mondo growled as Kiyotaka finished explaining the situation to him. The two had moved to the bed, where Mondo was still rubbing Taka's back.

"I don't regret doing it." The moral compass said quietly, looking up at Mondo. "But my reputation is ruined now."

Mondo sighed in annoyance. "I don't see why it's anyone's fucking business." He said. "You're gay. So what? We fucked. So what? It doesn't change a God damn thing. Anyone who isn't a complete fucking asshole will agree."

Taka shook his head. "But I'm not supposed to do such...activities." The Ultimate Moral Compass pointed out. "I'm supposed to encourage and show case school appropriate behavior."

The biker narrowed his eyes. "Even in your free time? Even when you aren't at school?" He took the distressed boy's head in his hands and gave him a warm smile. "Taka, you need to stop worrying about other people's bullshit. What they think about you doesn't matter. Even if your reputation does get ruined, you can rebuild it easily." He placed a kiss on Taka's lips. "And I'll be here to protect you from anything, you got that?"

The red eyed man smiled despite himself. He felt his worries disappear, and he nodded. "Alright, Mondo. I'll try." He placed his arms around Mondo's strong shoulders. "Thank you so much."

The gang leader smirked and grabbed Taka's hips. He placed the shorter boy so that he's straddling the brown haired man. He leaned down and kissed Kiyotaka, placing a hand on his back and pressing him close to his chest. "I'll always be here for you, Taka." He assured him. "Always."  

There was silence for a moment before Taka spoke. "So...are we boyfriends, now?"

Mondo laughed loudly and nodded. "I'd sure fucking hope so after earlier." He gave the boy a smirk. "You're an amazing fuck."

Taka's face became beet red as he buried it in Mondo's chest. The biker chuckled and ran his fingers through the boy's hair. "Of course it's not just that. You're amazing at everything. You're kind and smart. I'm lucky you want someone like me as your boyfriend."

Taka looked up, the red in his face dying down. "You're amazing as well." He told the purpled eyed boy. "You're really strong, and you've got a very kind heart. You care about others a lot."

Mondo smiled softly and kissed his boyfriend's forehead. "Guess we make a pretty good match, huh?"

Taka nodded, laying his head on the other's chest.

The next day in class, the two walked in together. They were holding hands at the behest of Mondo. He thought it would be best for them to oust their relationship before Junko could.

But it seemed they might have been too late.

For when they entered the classroom, everyone's eyes shot to them. Or more specifically, them holding hands. Junko crossed her arms smugly. "I told you all it was true." She said, pointing at the couple. "I saw Kiyotaka coming out of Mondo's room right after they fucked!"

Taka's grip on Mondo's hand tightened, and the biker gave his boyfriend's hand a gentle squeeze. "It'll be fine." He whispered.

"Is this true, Taka?" Chihiro asked, looking between the two. "Are the two of you really...dating?"

Kiyotaka took a deep breath before answering. He glanced at Mondo, who smiled, encouraging him. The moral compass nodded. "Yes, we are!" He said enthusiastically, attempting to keep up his usual booming tone.

The whole class was silent for a while. Taka was beginning to get nervous until a chorus of "congratulations'" and "I'm so happy for the both of you" and "you two look adorable together" rang out. Both Taka and Junko looked surprised at this reaction, though the former quickly smiled brightly as he looked up at Mondo, who flashed his boyfriend an "I told you so" smirk. The latter, meanwhile, grit her teeth in annoyance and flopped down in her seat.

The chatter quickly died down as everyone went back to their work. Taka and Mondo smiled at each other lovingly as they gave one another a kiss before heading to their seats.  

Kiyotaka Ishimaru was very happy. He was the star pupil of Class 78 and the designated Hall Monitor. He was set to go very far after graduating from Hope's Peak Academy, and he had a strong, loving and protective boyfriend who accepted him for him.

What more could he ask for?

[connieswriting]

High School// Richie Tozier

Pairing: Richie Tozier x Reader

A/N: I’m sorry for my lack of posts, once again, school started once again and already the teachers have been slamming us with work, projects, tests and such. I wrote this when I was supposed to be studying lmao, I hope you enjoy it, and I’m already working on the requests, it might take some time but I WILL post everything!

Richie heard the bell ring, the freshmen already pushing through, trying not be late. He laughed slightly at the though of his friends doing the same thing, years ago, as he made his way to his locker, where Ben, Bill and Bev were already blissfully chatting. They seemed to be conversing about a new student who had just transferred.

"Is she hot?" Richie chuckled, opening his locker. "Maybe she can have a taste of my-"

"Nice to see you too" Beverly interrupted, swatting his arm. "I don't know why anyone would come to this cul-de-sac of a place, specially on their senior year, but I heard her mom got transferred quite recently here."

Richie closed his locker, taking his needed books. "But the year already started a few weeks ago, why would she move now?" he heard Ben question. "She lost a lot of material already."

Bill rolled his eyes before chuckling. "H-how about w-we wo-wor-worry about getting to cl-class instead of the new girl?" Although he still stuttered from time to time, he was definitely improving drastically. 

He started pushing his friends towards their classroom when Richie stopped dead on his tracks. "Is that the new girl?" He questioned, pointing to the furthest desk in the room, back row, next to the wall, away from everyone. "I would definitely like her bent over-" before he could continue, Beverly slugged him in the head.

"I swear if one more word comes out of your mouth-" she threatened, sitting down in her seat. "The girl looks like she's ready to bolt out at any moment, don't make it any harder for her."

In fact it was true, you were quickly averting your sight from place to place, your hands holding the desk with such strength, your knuckles had turned white. ‘She does not look keen on socialising’ Richie thought to himself as he sat in front of you.

The classes seemed to pass rather rapidly and before he knew, Richie was standing with a tray filled with food, trying to look for a table so him and his friends could stay. Instead he saw you, sitting all alone, your eyes glued to a book, your headphones on your head. ‘She's probably into weird songs.’ he thought to himself as he analysed you. You looked rather off-putting, alone with your book in a table for four. He took another glance at you before turning to his friends and telling them he would be eating with someone else that day.

He set the tray in front of you, trying to attract some attention towards him, unfortunately he just nearly missed the table, resulting in his plate of food dropping in the ground. You looked up from your book slightly, trying to see what all the commotion had been for, before looking right back at it, blush forming on your cheeks. This was not what you had bargained for. You had always been a loner, an outcast, no one seemed to want to talk you, and you were more than happy with that. Not having any friends meant no disappointments, no fake friends, nothing but time to do whatever you pleased without having to leave your house against your own will. You just wanted to be left alone, was that too much to ask?

"I'm Richie" the boy smiled holding his hand up. "And you are?"

"In fear of becoming a huge cliché, I'm leaving" you pursed her lips, putting your book down and picking up your tray. "And you should probably clean that up, seeing it's your fault after all." You pointed to the food on the floor.

"You're not even going to tell me your name?" Richie laughed, setting a hand on your arm. "Come on, I made a fool of myself for you." He smiled sweetly at you.

"No one asked you to." You shook his hand away. "Besides, I hate being someone's pity case" You looked at him once more, the smirk on his lips taunting you. "I don't know what you thought, but I'm quite content with being alone, it doesn't bother me, in fact I prefer it."

Richie took his hand away, putting them up in defeat. "I just asked for a name, sweet cakes. Although I can think of some other things I could call you." His smirk seemed to grow as he winked at you.

"And I can think of some rather unpleasant things I wish I could do to you right now." You half smiled before starting to walk away.

"So you're really not gonna give me a name, darling?" Richie called after you.

You looked at him up and down before setting your tray on your hip, looking at him accusingly. "No offense, but I would rather hit myself in the ankle with a scooter 10 times than have you call me 'darling' ever again."

As you walked away, Eddie went up to his friend, a broom in his hand. "That went well." He laughed handing Richie the cleaning supply. "I don't think that girl was really up to befriend you."

"Oh mark my words, Eddie," Richie smiled, taking the broom from his friend's hand "she will be going to Alladin with me, this is not the end!”

————————————————————

As the weeks passed, Richie continued his quest to make acquaintances with you, (Y/N), as he had discovered during one of your shared classes. The more you pushed him away, insisting you were better off alone, the more intrigued he was by you, the more he wanted to be around you. During lunch breaks he would always sit at your table, and while at the beginning you used to get up whenever he seemed to be walking your way, as time passed you let him sit with you, provided you didn't mutter a single word and just listened to your music while reading your trusted book, away in your own little world, too lazy to continue switching tables when the boy wanted to be with you. To Richie, on the other hand, it was progress: it meant you didn't despise him as much as you did in the beginning.

One lunch break, Richie seemed to be extra annoying and kept pushing all your buttons, calling your name thousands of times, asking a millions questions about anything and everything, pushing your book down so you couldn't possibly read, poking your arm endlessly, amongst other things.

"Can you stop?" you screamed, slamming your book down as Richie's annoying smirk seemed to have fallen on his face again. "Why can't you just leave alone, dude, I mean it, I don't want friends, and I certainly don't want you." You looked at Richie, a disgusted look on your face, as you picked up your tray to leave. "I don't know what you're trying to pull, but honestly I couldn't care less. I mean it. Leave. Me. Alone. Got it? I don't care about you, I don't care about your plans, I don’t give a damn if you just really ‘want to be my friend’ or not. You're just some childish, class prankster, who uses jokes as a coping mechanism to help with his own internalised issues and sadness. Because that's who you are, some sad loser who keeps bugging a girl even after she has told you thousands of times to leave her alone." 

As you left, you took another quick glance at Richie, the look on his face alone was enough to make you feel bad. You shouldn't have been so aggressive, you shouldn't have been so mean, after all he wasn't doing anything wrong, he was just trying to help you with your supposed loneliness. You shook your head, walking faster away from Richie. No, he had annoyed you, pushed you, followed you from class to class, insisting on becoming friends even after you had rejected him countless times. Had you been rude? Sure, but you did what had to be done to avoid any more conflicts with the Tozier guy, it was like the didn’t know what ‘no’ meant. He was always making sexual jokes, pulling pranks, just being overall disgusting.

However, if you were being true to yourself, you had grown to quite enjoyed them, they made you laugh, they made your classes more interesting. And even if you didn't mean to ever say it to yourself, deep down you always looked forward to lunch breaks, when you could see Richie. Deep down you knew he was a nice boy, who had the best interests at heart, even when they didn’t seem to show at first, you just... knew.

You sighed remorsefully leaving the cafeteria, part of you saying you had just made a mistake, telling you to go back and apologise, say you didn't mean to say that, tell him the truth, how you were just afraid to let someone in your life, afraid that they were gonna leave you, afraid they were going to hurt you. 

You made your way to the bathroom, quickly closing the door as you entered one of the stalls, your breathing starting to become heavy. You felt your chest close, your palms started to sweat. Oh how you hated the attention you had received, it felt like the first day of school once again, when everyone was looking at you, trying to get a good look at the ‘new girl’, only this time the attention you has received was due to your rudeness towards teh one and only Richie ‘Trashmouth’ Tozier. 'No!' you thought to yourself, trying to shake off the feeling of regret and sadness that seemed to be clinging onto your chest 'No! I have nothing to apologise for, I didn't do anything wrong!' you tried to grab the walls around you, closing your fists as you pressed them harder against the walls. 'Did I?'

As you tried to calm yourself down, you heard the bathroom door open, two pairs of shoes coming in. You knew those shoes, he always wore the same pair everyday. "They're sneakers and don't smell, what more could I possibly find in another pair of shoes?" You had heard Richie tell Stanley Uris one day. What could he want now, hadn't he done enough already, hadn’t you done enough already?

"Hey, uhm, I know you probably don't want to talk to me right now, which I totally get, really I mean, I was way out of line, I shouldn't have done all those things but uhm, I guess I just wanted to apologise?"

You opened the stall door slightly, looking at the tall, curly haired boy. One strand had fallen over his glasses and you felt the odd urge to move it away from his eyes. "No, no, don't apologise. You- you were just trying to be nice. I was rude and inconsiderate, I shouldn't have said those things."

"Babe, trust me, your words might've hurt, yeah I mean, they came from you," you blushed slightly at the comment, looking away from him. "but it's not like Bowers hasn't called me anything worse, it's not like my friends haven't called me anything worse. Hell, it's not like I haven't called myself anything worse!" He took your hand in his, before quickly dropping it again. "I'm sorry for everything, I promise I won't disturb you again." He put a hand over his heart. "Scouts honor!"

You giggled, taking his hand back in yours and giving it a little squeeze. "Are you even a scout?" he shook his head, his eyes stuck on your hands, intertwined. "You have nothing to apologize for, I just don't like when people take pity on me, and well, it's my choice to alone, trusting people is hard and I don't feel like getting hurt anytime soon." You sighed, scratching the back of your head, your gaze falling to the ground. "Idowanttobeyourfriend" you breathed silently hoping he hadn't heard you. Much to your despair, he had heard you clearly, as you could guess from the silly grin on his face.

"You do?" he choked, his smile growing even larger. "Why?"

"I- I honestly don't know" You laughed, pulling on your ears, a nervous habit you had picked up at a very young age. "You seemed to be the only person who has ever shown interest in me and I would be kidding myself if I said I didn’t envy you, you know, with all your friends to spend time with, to go to the cinema with, to just relax with. I guess maybe I should give this whole friendship thingy a shot." You smiled brightly at him, as he pulled you in for a hug. 

"You know, we could just skip this 'whole friendship thingy' and go straight to dating" He winked as you pulled away from him, swatting his arm, playfully.

"If you keep making those jokes I will seriously end you." Even though your words were serious, there was a smile on your face. "I guess I should properly introduce myself first, right? I don't know the whole protocole here..." you looked at the ground, embarrassed.

"Did you just say you didn't know the 'protocole' of a friendship?" Richie repeated, his hands immediately hugging his belly as he laughed at the epitome of introvert that stood before his eyes. "I'm Richie." He smiled once he had calmed down. "Richie Tozier"

"I'm (Y/N). It's really nice to meet you Richie."

[unlockthelore]

The First Meeting

Chapter 1 of From the Far Shore, With Love. For more updates, follow the from the far shore tag. 

Yashiro sighed heavily, her hands swinging at her sides as she shuffled through the hall. Attempting to delay her inevitable return to the bathroom for and her Cinderella-esque tale would only result in more heartbreak. Though she wasn’t sure why Hanako wouldn’t just give her a little time off.

She’d earned it after all that they went through lately, hadn’t she? A pout tugging at her lips as she set it in mind to try and ask him for a day where she could go home and relax. Even if that meant that she wouldn’t get to see his face for a little while, distance made the heart grow fonder, didn’t it?

Her steps slowed with a light tap as her foot fell and she stared forward in a daze. W-What was that thought?! Pressing her hands to the sides of her heads, Yashiro shook her head vehemently, trying to dispel the thoughts before they sank deep into her mind.

Her barrettes pressing uncomfortably against her palms as she mused up her hair. Of course, she was trying to do this to honor her deal with Hanako and if not she might turn into a mermaid but why didn’t that feel like a solid excuse anymore?

What’s going on?

Pressing her back to the wall, she sank down and tucked her knees close to her chest with her arms resting atop of them, her cheek pillowed against her forearm. The evening sunlight slanted through the windows painted the floors and walls of the old building in a honey gold, and Yashiro was sure that the sky was beautiful.

It would be even prettier from the girls’ bathroom where the mosaic would catch the lighting just right making all the colors in the stained glass shine. And he would be sitting there as he usually did.

It’s been so strange around him lately.

Ever since they returned from that fake world, she felt it. This shift between them. His downcast expression and trembling voice, the chill from his hands on her skin, and it was simply —

Heartbreaking.

But something changed there. The length that he would go for her and the assurance that he was doing it for her. She wanted to say that he was wrong, that he was just doing what she had, but she was wrong. Her life was dwindling day after day, and they didn’t know what to do to stop it.

So doesn’t that mean I should spend every day with him?

Regardless of what these feelings were?

Yashiro’s head bounced off the wall as she tipped it back and she sighed, burying her face against her arms. All she needed was a few minutes to gather her thoughts before she went to see him. Then everything would be as it normally was, and they would talk as they usually did. That’s all there was to it.

Absolutely.

She wasn’t sure how long she sat there but the sound of shuffling feet and a humming marching tune caught her attention. Slowly lifting her head, she blinked up at the sight of a line of Mokke being led down the hall with candy between their ear(s) and humming that tune in time.

The ones leading them, a boy with his fist pumped in the air as he called out another marching tune. Stopping short when he crossed in front of her, staring down at her with rose-gold eyes.

Yashiro stared up at him and he returned the gaze with wide eyes, a hand clutching his sleeve as another boy leant forward at his side. They looked identical down from their hair to the clothes that they were, collared shirts with black overalls, and long white socks. Unruly dark hair shy of their shoulders, and rose-gold eyes, sun-kissed skin dotted with freckles across their noses and the cutest faces she’d seen since Mitsuba.

Blinking away her confusion, she frowned and tilted her head. They seemed to be around elementary school age. What were they doing here by themselves? Maybe their parents were near by?

“Uhm…” Yashiro muttered, glancing back at the procession of Mokke who seemed confused that their leaders stopped. Peering around the boys with a long stare and hum at her. “… Are you two lost?”

Both boys looked at one another as if for confirmation of whether or not they were lost then down at her before shaking their heads.

“I see…” Yashiro slowly stood to her feet, feeling a bit embarrassed at being caught sulking by kids of all people. Their eyes followed her and she tried to tell them apart at a glance. There was the one clinging to the other’s shirt, and the one in front. And it was difficult to put her finger on what set them apart.

“… What’s your names? I-I’m Yashiro Nene, I go to school here.”

The boy standing in front glanced to the one hiding behind him then looked up at her.

“Hikari,” he shouted, punching his fist in the air.

The Mokke cheered from behind and Hikari grinned, rubbing the back of his neck, his sleeve falling giving Yashiro a few of the dark pattern of freckles on his wrist.

Looking toward the other boy, he tensed up and shuffled behind Hikari, peeking out from over his shoulder.

“It’s okay,” Yashiro said, crouching with her hand on her knee, the other resting against her chest. “I won’t hurt you.”

Hikari glanced back at his twin and tilted his head, his hair obscuring his left eye as he tried to get a look at him from where he hid. Although he didn’t say anything, Yashiro couldn’t help but think they were having a conversation in their own way. The boy tip toeing from behind his brother, Hikari’s sleeve pinched between his forefinger and thumb while his other hand was fisted in the fabric of his shorts.

“… Tsukiko,” he uttered so softly that Yashiro nearly missed it. The sunlight’s honey gold washed over them, illuminating them both and his cheeks, stained with a scarlet red, reminded her of Hanako when he was blushing.

Wait, Hanako-kun!

“Ah! I totally forgot!” Yashiro shouted, startling both boys and the Mokke. She waved her hands frantically. “I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you but I really have to go uhm… Make sure that you find your way home safely, okay? A-And if you get lost, just tell someone to call me and I’ll come, okay?”

She started running down the hall, lamenting the lecture that she might get once she stepped into the bathroom.

“Miss!”

Yashiro glanced over her shoulder, seeing Tsukiko waving to her while Hikari led the Mokke down the other hall.

“Good luck!”

She smiled and waved back to him. “Thank you!”

The smile he gave her was warm and he hurried after his brother, Yashiro turning around and running off. Prepping herself with an apology as she pushed the door open, the last thing she expected was Tsuchigomori sitting on the sill with Hanako. The two of them looking at her when she came in.

Ah, well this was good timing to ask and possibly save herself from one of Hanako’s rants.

“Tsuchigomori-sensei, did some of the teachers bring their children to school with them today?” She asked, going to pick up her tenugui and tie it on her head.

“There’s no other teachers on the grounds but myself,” Tsuchigomori said, and Yashiro froze up. What? “And the custodians… None of them have family they brought to the school grounds today.”

“A-Are you sure, Tsuchigomori-sensei?”

“Mm.” Tsuchigomori glanced at Hanako before tapping his pipe out on an ashtray sitting between them. “Often when an older figure brings their child here, they speak about them potentially going to school here.”

He waved his hand, smoke curling lazily in the air and though the scent could be a little overpowering, Yashiro was overcome by the looming dread and realization of what she saw.

“Lofty expectations but it starts hope and the child is prone to exploring,” Tsuchigomori glanced down at the Mokke making their way from beneath one of the stalls. “The Mokke would have told if there was a child, they’re taken to them because of their appearance.”

“I-I see..” Yashiro shivered, walking over to grab the cleaning supplies that Kou must have left the time before. Her hand gripping the mop tighter than necessary but her stomach was turning and her legs trembling.

“What’s wrong, Yashiro?” Hanako asked, a cold chill racing down her spine. He must have been close because it almost sounded like he was talking directly in her ear. “You look pale.”

“I think I saw…” Yashiro swallowed thickly, peeking up at him. “A ghost.”

The concern in Hanako’s eyes shifted to a narrowed-eyed stare. “Yashiro, you remember that I’m—“

“N-Not like that, Hanako-kun!” She interjected before he could finish those words. It still pained her that he is dead. She didn’t need him reminding her of it. “They’re two ghosts that I’ve never seen before!”

Hanako blinked at her owlishly then glanced back at Tsuchigomori. The latter humming thoughtfully, his shoulders hiking in a half-hearted shrug.

“Well, it is getting to be about that time where the gap between the Far Shore and the Near Shore is at its shortest,” he pointed out, and Hanako nodded in agreement.

Looking back at her, despite his easy-going smile, his eyes were sharp with attention and almost cold. “Were they causing any trouble?” Hanako asked in that sweet unassuming voice.

Thinking back to Hikari and Tsukiko, the reassurements, their cheer, how small they were and their laughter — Yashiro shook her head vehemently.

“No… but…”

They were so young. Maybe, they were just kids that wandered onto the school grounds and decided to play around. But if they weren’t —

Did they die when they were that young?

“Yashiro,” Hanako called, easing her from her thoughts with a hand against her cheek. “Are you sure you’re okay..?”

She cupped the back of his hand, the chill from his fingers and palm making goosebumps rise on her arms but she held onto him nonetheless. Somehow, the feeling that something was wrong wouldn’t leave her be.

“Mm, I’m fine.”

[pertinax--loculos]

‘Dash’

So, for funsies I went through @yourocsbackstory to try to get myself in the writing mood again. This is what happened. I stopped at ‘Skills’ cuz I’ve already spoiled enough if you read close enough haha.

Come meet Dash.

Introduction

My name is Dash.

Or, well, it’s not really. That’s what everyone calls me. It circumvents the pain that comes with my first name, the questions that come from my last.

The knowledge that comes from my second.

I thought my life was pretty much mapped out from here. There was the beginning, that I barely remember. The next chapter, that I wish I could forget. The third, the honeymoon. And then now; not the best, far from the worst, an existence I was fairly certain I’d be able to bear, at least until the drugs or the alcohol overwhelmed me and my body gave out and I’d be buried in an unmarked plot under a false name with maybe three people to mourn me. If I was lucky.

Then that idiot fundie wandered into my life.

The Church is a fucking blight on society, the worst thing that’s happened since organised religion first got a foothold within civilised communities. It’s like they took all of the parts that made people unwilling to admit they were Christian in intelligent company and emphasised their importance until they were the only things that mattered.

To say nothing of what they think of the brainbent.

But unfortunately, what the old movies and books used to say is accurate. Give people a common enemy and they’ll unite under almost any flag.

The brainbent weren’t an enemy. But you consider the prospect of the barista at your local coffee place potentially being able to tell the future, or to read fucking minds, and tell me you would’ve stood against the Church.

I’m sure you will.

You’re lying.

Which is why Raleigh was such a surprise.

The Partners focus on the commoners, on people who know what the Church is about but haven’t been indoctrinated since birth. Members are basically written off as a lost cause. Even if, somehow, that person would’ve been a supporter if they’d been born in the right place, it’s not worth trying to convince them after years and years of brainwashing. They learn to suppress any thoughts, any opinions, that don’t jive with the company line. Trying to tell them otherwise is useless.

Which is why I don’t.

And still he came back.

I mean, Alec is probably right. He normally is. Odds are I’m being an idiot by even considering that this guy may be open-minded enough to accept that people exist that don’t believe the same as he does.

(And that’s not even going into all the other fucked-up facets of my existence.)

But for some reason, I’m willing to take that chance.

Even if it kills me.

Family I

There was always the memory of the Others.

It wasn’t a clear comparison; it wasn’t like he could look at Now and realise that it was different to Then. It was more like some weird false memory from early childhood buried deep within someone; a recollection of a room full of glass when apparently it had been an open-air market. A jar filled with blue that no one else remembered.

A loving mother and father. A melody without words.

There were other hints, of course. They never raised a hand at the child they insisted was his brother. They refused to acknowledge his grasp of genetics and never gave an explanation for the colour of his eyes. When he woke screaming for a mother he knew he no longer had the false one pretended, but she never offered the glass of milk, never pulled him onto her lap and stroked his hair and sung that song until he drifted off into gentler dreams.

Things got worse and worse as he got older. The more he could articulate the problems he had with the narrative they fed him the worse the punishments got. The first time he’d mentioned having another, a different, father they’d been too taken aback to respond; the reaction the second time had ensured he’d never bought it up again.

Every achievement, every failure, always framed within what he wasn’t and what he’d lost, what he lacked and how he disappointed.

One day, teenaged and trying to squirm his way into their good graces, he’d heard his brother mentioning the girl in class. He’d piped up as well, after seeing their indulgent responses, letting them know that there was someone in his class too, a boy who’d caught his eye. He’d been banned from school for a week after that.

His father told him people would ask questions about the bruises.

 Friends

He’d assumed that the confession that the intimacy bought him no pleasure would be enough to make her disappear. He’d lost acquaintances for less, many times before.

So when she turned up on his doorstep three days later he stopped, stunned, with the door open.

She raised her eyebrows at him. “Letting in the cold?”

It was nearly a hundred degrees outside, and he was already sweating through the long-sleeved shirt he’d pulled on to open the door. He stepped back to let her in, still speechless, and followed her as she walked confidently through the rooms to his favourite.

He swallowed a few pills just for something to do. It was a stupid idea, his supply was already running low, but he hoped the kick would help him through whatever conversation was to follow.

She watched, her brows pulled together in disapproval, but didn’t break the silence.

“What do you want?” he said finally, his voice too rough, too apprehensive. He’d told her he couldn’t do it anymore, but he knew deep within himself that if she offered enough…

She shrugged, her face clearing. “I’m of the opinion that no one should be alone, today of all days.”

Dash just stared at her, utterly uncomprehending.

“Y’know,” she said, and then raised her eyebrows a little when his expression made it clear he didn’t, “Christmas?”

Oh, fuck, of course. He’d known the date was approaching but it meant less than nothing to him, except for the fact that most of the shops were closed. He really shouldn’t have had those pills, not if he was gonna have to last another two days before he could restock.

She kicked her legs out in front of her as she leaned back against the wall, eyes roving the spartan room. “So you got a tv or what?”

Which was how they ended up sprawled on his bed, fully clothed and above the covers, picking at the leftovers of a pizza he’d had in the fridge while a tiny voice in the back of his head insisted that this was what friends actually were.

 Education

He accepted the envelope with a sinking feeling. He knew what the letter inside was going to say.

Miss Phillips gave him an encouraging smile all the same.

“I know you struggle in some classes,” she said kindly. “But you really do excel in others. And really, all you need is a little extra help in English and I think you’ll be doing fine. I’ve explained that to your parents in your report.”

Like that’s gonna fucking help, Dash thought, but all he did was smile and nod. It wasn’t her fault he was stupid. It was his. He’d been told that many times.

He walked to his locker and gathered his things slowly. He could already hear his brother crowing in his ear, with his perfect scores and better comments. If he didn’t know better he’d think that the teachers were aware of the identify of their father and tailored their comments to suit.

But if that was the case why did they still throw him under the bus?

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to learn. He did, and he loved the stories, loved listening to what happened and even analysing why the author might have put certain characters and phrases in certain parts and why. But expressing that through writing was beyond him. Understanding why or where a comma went or why through was spelled o-u-g-h but throw was spelled o-w sent his head into a spin and there was nothing he could do about it. Nothing his teachers could do about it either, as they spent their time with those that were better, those who had a right to their last names instead of a tenuous and fluctuating claim.

Mr Carr, in the workshop, was astonished by him. Said he was among the best students he’d ever had, was amazed by his ability with electronics and the way he could take apart and put together components without ever glancing at the instructions. He said he was a natural, that if he wanted he could certainly go places, because there was always a need for someone to fix those things that were broken.

But his parents assured him that he was what was broken, and the grades sent him into the dark. They never even read Mr Carr’s report.

 Family II

Family had always been a dirty word.

He was caught in a weird sort of limbo; there was that which he remembered that he wasn’t supposed to bring up, and then that which was current but which he was not really a part of. Intellectually, academically, he knew what a family was. Hell, even from observation he knew what a family was. If he took a step back, removed himself from the equation and simply watched Father and Mother and Brother interact, then he knew what a family was supposed to be.

But try to impose himself upon that and he was reprimanded, reminded that he was not a part of it, that the family he might’ve been a part of no longer existed, that he was Other, that he was Alien and unwanted and his duty was only to disappear and to cause no more problems than he already had.

So when he met his family he was overwhelmed.

They walked through the door and were suffocated in affection, enough that Dash had to get out of there; he found him later, hidden in the garden, his face concerned.

“We were wondering where you’d got to,” he said, quietly, gently, as he always did.

“They don’t need me there,” Dash replied.

His eyebrows tugged together in the beginning of a frown. “Maybe not, but we want you there.”

Dash’s laugh was bitter, a little too manic. “No you don’t.”

It took a while – way too long, he should’ve been back with his family – to coax Dash out of the greenery and into the bulk of the backyard. Waiting there was an elderly woman, older than anyone Dash had had reason to interact with.

“This him?” she’d said, but before either of them could react she’d grabbed Dash’s hand and yanked him forward.

Dash couldn’t help but flinch. It didn’t appear to affect her. Her eyes, bright and the same colour as his, searched his face.

“Ah, yes, very good,” she said. Dash glanced around wildly but he was just standing there, something that might’ve been embarrassment pinking his cheeks.

“Are you satisfied now?” he said.

The old woman grinned at him over Dash’s shoulder.

“Yes,” she said. Dash felt his fingers on his elbow; just before he towed Dash back into the anonymity of the rest of the garden they heard her speak again.

“I see what you say about his eyes.”

 Rivals

Fuck.

Dash had managed to avoid this dick for nigh on two months. Why the hell he was encountering him now, just as the oxy started to kick and make him loose and easy and happy, was anyone’s guess.

Probably the Members would say it was god’s work. Dash was pretty sure it was a punishment.

The guy stalked up to him, characteristic scowl twisting his features. He had to be six inches taller than Dash, but he didn’t back down.

“What the hell are you doing here?” he growled.

Dash stared into his dark eyes, tossing up a number of responses. Sarcastic, sardonic, flippant, honest; none of them seemed quite right.

He went with combative, in the end.

“I heard you’d be here,” he said, conversational. “Figured I might take the chance to learn your name.”

The guy’s eyes narrowed. They were close enough that Dash could feel his breath on his face.

“What the hell would you need that for?” he said. “Seeing as you’re not supposed to be here, and all.”

Dash twitched his shoulders in a shrug. “Yeah, well. Sorry, but I’m not really good at taking orders.”

Something flickered behind the guy’s eyes, something that might have been amusement. “I get the feeling that you’re more likely to do the opposite of what the orders might suggest.”

Dash caught his eyes again and raised an eyebrow. “Wow. It’s almost like you know me.”

Pause. The guy’s breathing had evened out, but he hadn’t moved away.

“Are we having, like, a civil conversation right now?” he said.

Dash quirked his eyebrow again. “Certainly seems that way.”

Another couple of beats. “Is it just me, or does there seem to be an extraordinary amount of sexual tension involved?”

Dash couldn’t stop the grin from tugging at his lips, even as he leaned in closer.

“Oh,” he said quietly. “It’s not just you.”

 First Love

Despite the mistake of telling Father about him, Dash kept watching him.

Over the week it took for the bruises to fade he thought about him. When he first returned to school, his was the first face he looked for.

He didn’t seriously think it would lead to anything. How could it, given what everyone believed? But Connor was new to the city, and he wasn’t involved with the Church. That much Dash had figured out through rumour and innuendo. And he was left alone, during recess and lunch, all of the Members turning their noses up at him, to the point where Dash wondered why on earth his parents had sent him to this private school. After all, there were schools for commoners. They weren’t as good, but that was the sacrifice people made.

Not Connor’s parents, apparently.

And he was the only one who didn’t conceal his staring at Dash’s fading bruises.

He’d been staring beforehand, of course. That was what had made Dash first mention him to Father, the mistake that had led to him realising that he wasn’t the same as his brother and never would be. But it was he alone that continued to stare even after Dash’s absence. The others seemed to have been told not to.

Not Connor.

Dash cornered him after school one day, halfway across the green in the front of the school. Connor looked surprised but not alarmed, moving easily backwards as Dash stalked towards him. His ease crackled against Dash’s already strained nerves and he had to viciously curb the instinct to lash out, his learned impulse to beat down anything that stood against what he was trying to do.

They stopped when Connor’s back hit the wall of the gym. Dash was mere inches from his face, trying his best to channel the disgust and rage he’d seen so often on Father’s face.

“Why do you keep staring at me?” he demanded.

Connor hadn’t flinched like Dash would’ve under the violence of the question.

“I’m worried,” was all he said.

That threw Dash for a loop. Why the fuck would anybody be worried about him?

“You’re lying,” he said, suspiciously.

Connor raised his eyebrows. “Why would I do that?”

Dash hesitated for a couple of seconds, made his voice even more strident to make up for it. “Because you’re trying to get me to admit it!”

“Admit what?”

Connor’s voice was still gentle, questioning without prying, and Dash found himself whirling away from him, knotting his fingers in his hair and pulling, focusing on the burn on his scalp and not on Connor’s placid, knowing words.

The touch on his elbow was foreign in its gentleness. “Whatever they’ve told you,” he murmured, barely audible over the shouts reverberating in Dash’s ears, “They’re wrong.”

When Dash’s fingers found his he felt like he was home for the first time he could remember.

[ask-stjerne-and-logan]

BaFS Fanfiction Chapter 9: The Holidays (part 1)

The Holidays were around the Corner at Beacon Academy, along with Ceremonies for the graduating Fourth years. The Teachers were struggling to get the last few weeks before Graduation ready. In the middle of it all, Stjerne was watching the three members of the faculty, frantically trying to get ready for the last day. As of today, Stjerne was looking out the window, watching more snow fall. As of right now, there were 3 inches of snow on the ground.

"Glynda! Have you seen the papers I graded for the exam?!" Peach panicked in the lounge.

"They're on top of the fridge." Glynda answered, trying to help Peach and Port get themselves in order. Ozpin was in his office finishing his work and Oobleck was off who knows where.

"Got 'em Thanks Glynda!" Peach began looking through her folder.

"Where are my dust rounds? I need them for next class!" Port frantically searched the lounge.

"They're on the shelf next to the Hot chocolate!" Stjerne pointed up to the shelf, where some small boxes sat, next to Ozpin's supply.

"Ah. Thanks Stjerne." Port grabbed the boxes off the indicated shelf.

"Sure thing!" Stjerne grinned.

"Whoooh. We still have a lot to worry about it." Peach sighed, wiping her brow.

"I know. I just hope Oz takes this seriously." Glynda rolled her eyes.

"I know. Anyway, Stjerne, if you're bored, you can go play outside. Just stay near the flagpole." Peach said as she left the room, "And be sure to bundle up."

"Yes Peach!" Stjerne jumped off the box she had been standing on. She ran back to her room and grabbed her winter gear. Clockwork meowed excitedly as she watched Stjerne get ready to go out. She wore a green winter coat, a brown scarf with mitts and a pair of grey winter boots. Once she had finished bundling up, Stjerne ran out of her room and down the stairs to outside. The flakes was still falling as Stjerne started playing in the snow. Clockwork was with her, frolicking in the snow. Suddenly, Stjerne froze as she heard the bell ring.

"It's probably students switching classes." She said. Suddenly, a group of students came outside and started playing. Stjerne quickly hid behind some bushes, hoping students wouldn't see her. Groups of students began chatting outside, while other students began having a snowball fight.

"Ah! Feels good to take a break!"

"I know right! Port is super boring."

"Eh. He's not as bad as Oobleck. He seriously moves at the speed of light."

"At least Dust class isn't so bad. Peach is really fun."

And so the conversation continued. Stjerne stayed hidden, waiting for the students to move on so that she can run back to the teachers building unnoticed.

"Uh oh. I think they're at it again." A group of students started walking towards to flagpole where two students are standing and fighting over something. Letting curiosity get the better of her, Stjerne snuck over to the flag pole, taking care not to be seen by any students. Soon she reached a few bushes nearby and watched the scenario unfold.

"I keep telling you. It really works!" One student said.

"Tch. You're full of games and so's your team." The other student laughed.

"Oh yeah?!"

"Yeah!"

"Says who?"

"Says me!"

"Oh yeah?!"

"Yeah!"

"Well then I double dare you!" Everybody froze at the word "double dare."

"Ha! You kidding me?! Sticking my tongue to this flag pole?! That's dumb." The second student laughed.

"That's only because you know it'll stick!" The first retorted.

"You're full of it!"

"Oh yeah?!"

"Yeah!"

"Then I Double Grimm Dare you!" Everybody stared at the second student expectantly.

"Heh. No way." He laughed nervously, shaking his head.

"I Triple Grimm Dare you!" The First student shot back. Everybody began whispering amongst themselves.

"Alright, alright, move aside." The second student gave in and walked up to the flag pole, eyeing it nervously. He looked ready to back out, but couldn't.

"Go on you Smart alec!" The first student urged.

"I'm going, I'm going. Sheesh." The second student protested. He reluctnantly stuck his tongue on the pole.

"This Is Nuts..." He tried pulling it off, only to find it stuck. "Stuck, stuck STUCK!!!! Holy Crap, Help!!!!" The student started freaking out like a 4th grader, scaring everyone around him.

"Whoa! It actually works!" The first student exclaimed. The other student started freaking out and trying frantically to pull his tongue off without injuring it in any way. Suddenly, the bell rang again and students scattered, running towards their classes. The first student started running off

"Don't leave me?! Please, don't!!!" The second student begged like a kicked dog. Stjerne just stood there in shocked silence.

"The bell rang!" The first student protested.

"What are you gonna do?!" The other student freaked out.

"I dunno? The bell rang!" The student off, leaving her friend to suffer. Unable to leave the student to freeze, Stjerne jumped out and tugged on the Student's jacket.

"What the- Who the heck are you?" The student looked down, surprised.

"I'm Stjerne! Are you alright?!" She asked worried.

"No. All because some crazy gal dared me to do this crap." The student grunted, trying to get his tongue free.

"Wh-what do I do?!" Stjerne began panicking.

"I dunno?! Get help or something?!" The student panicked as well.

"Um.....I....um...." Stjerne looked both scared and confused. She glanced around, looking for someone to help.

"What's going on here?" The two snapped at the new voice. A tall man, with purple hair and eyes walked towards the pole. He was wearing a black coat and brown trousers with boots.

"P-professor Tyrian!" The student stuttered.

"How'd you get yourself in this scenario?" The professor laughed.

"Stupid......classmate.....triple grimm dared me....." The student could only stutter.

"Ah, I see. And you must be Stjerne. Peach told me a lot about you." Tyrian directed his attention to Stjerne, who was still standing there.

"Y-yes sir." She nodded.

"I need you to get Oobleck. This could take a while and I might need his assistance." He directed.

"W-where is he?" Stjerne asked, still a bit uncertain of the newcomer.

"He should be in his classroom, teaching a class." Tyrian answered, "Just run inside and down the hall. His classroom isn't that hard to spot." Stjerne nodded as she ran towards the halls. Once inside, she ran down the halls, looking for Oobleck's classroom. Students were surprised to see a small student running through the halls of Beacon and murmered amongst themselves.

"Wh-where is it?!" Stjerne panted, stopping to take a breather.

"Are you alright? What's a girl like you doing in the halls of Beacon?" A female student asked kindly, kneeling down to her level. She had a short light hair with short trimmed bangs, and brown eyes with glasses.

"Um....do you know where Doctor Oobleck is?" Stjerne stammered.

"Yeah. Follow me. Are you his niece or something?" The student asked.

"No, Peach is my Aunt." Stjerne said as she shook her head.

"Ah, I see. Why do you need to see Oobleck then?" The student stood up.

"Because somebody named Tyrian sent me to get him." Stjerne answered.

"Ah, Professor Pearl must have sent you. Alrighty then. Come on. I'm Mauve Kelt by the way." The student held out her hand. Stjerne grabbed on and allowed Mauve to lead her down the hall. Soon they reached Oobleck's classroom, where Mauve knocked on the door. Oobleck answered it a few seconds later.

"Hey, Professor!" Mauve waved awkwardly.

"Its Doctor, Miss Kelt." Oobleck corrected.

"Right, sorry. Anyway, I have someone who needs to see you." Mauve scratched her head awkwardly.

"Oobleck! Somebody named Tyrian needs you!" Stjerne jumped forward.

"Stjerne?! What are you doing out here?" Oobleck asked, surprised that Stjerne was even with a student.

"I was playing outside when something happened. Now Tyrian needs you!" Stjerne pulled on Oobleck's hand, refusing to let go.

"Ah, Professor Pearl. Okay, give me a second to grab my coat. Miss Kelt, will you watch my class while I'm gone?" Oobleck nodded.

"Sure." Mauve nodded, steeping inside. After a few minutes, Oobleck emerged, wearing his coat.

"Good luck professor." Mauve called.

"For the last time Miss Kelt, It's Doctor. And if I have to correct you one more time, you'll be landed in detention!" Oobleck said sternly.

"I keep forgetting! Sorry!" Mauve protested as she went back inside.

"Alright. Now, where is professor Pearl?" Oobleck asked.

"He's outside. Near the flag pole." Stjerne answered. Oobleck picked Stjerne up and dashed off at a high speed until he reached the flag pole.

"About time you showed up Barty." Tyrian rolled his eyes.

"Well forgive me, but I had to hand my class off to a senior. What happened here?" Oobleck put Stjerne down.

"This scene needs no words." Tyrian gestured at the student, who still had his tongue stuck.

"Mr Crocket..... I hope you got a good explanation for this." Oobleck shook his head, pulling out his thermos and activated the flamethrower.

"Eek!" Stjerne jumped back, hiding behind Tyrian.

"Uh....professor....." The student shrunk back in fear.

"Don't worry Mr Crocket, I'm just warming up the pole. Tyrian, when it's warm enough, pull." Oobleck instructed. Tyrian nodded and gripped the student's shoulders. Oobleck began warming the pipe, gradually heating it. Stjerne covered her eyes, too afraid to look.

"Alright.....now!" Oobleck signalled and Tyrian gave the student a good yank, pulling his tongue free from the pole.

"OWWW!!!" He yelped, holding his tongue.

"Is it over?" Stjerne asked, peeking.

"It's over. Don't worry." Tyrian answered.

"Ow ow ow ow!" The student held his tongue.

"How bad is it?" Oobleck asked. Tyrian carefully examined the injury done.

"He just got the top part stuck. It's bleeding a little, but should heal two days from now." Tyrian answered.

"Eh?!" Stjerne looked scared.

"Don't worry, he's gonna be fine." Tyrian summed it up.

"Well, I'm sure to enjoy hearing about this scenario later in detention. Because that's where you're going after classes today."

"Yessir." The student moaned.

"Stjerne, why don't we head back inside. Tyrian, could you take the boy to the Infirmary?" Oobleck asked.

"Sure thing. See ya around." Tyrian waved as he led the student off.

"Who was that?" Stjerne asked as Oobleck led her back to the lounge.

"That was David Crocket. He's a third year here at the academy. And a reckless daredevil by the looks of it."Oobleck answered.

"Okay. What about the other guy. The guy named Tyrian?"

"Oh, that was Professor Tyrian Pearl. He teaches Aura and Semblance enhancement. He's been here at the Academy for 17 years, his mentor having died two years before that."

"Oh, okay. Is Mauve a senior?"

"Oh, Miss Kelt? Yes, she is a senior here, meaning she is a 4th year. She's going to be graduating soon."

"Really? When?"

"About two days from now."

"Okay. Will I be able to see the ceremony?" Stjerne asked excitedly.

"Maybe. Depends on what Ozpin says" Oobleck answered thoughtfully.

-------(Time skip (dinner time))----------

"So you're saying Crocket literally stuck his tongue to the flag pole on a dare?" Peach laughed.

"That's what it looked like." Oobleck answered.

"And by the looks of it, I see you met Professor Pearl." Ozpin looked at Stjerne.

"Yeah." Stjerne nodded. She still felt guilty for being spotted by the students, "I'm sorry I got spotted. But I wanted to help...."

"Its alright Stjerne. We all knew the secret would get out sooner or later. At least you were able to help Professors Pearl and Oobleck with Mr Crocket." Glynda reassured her.

"How many times must I say it?! IT'S DOCTOR!!!" Oobleck fumed.

"Sheesh, blowing your top at Miss Kelt and now here." Port grumbled.

"And how do you know about that?!"

"Because she was late to my class and she told me."

"Oh."

"Whatever the case, at least Graduation is coming up." Peach broke up the fight.

"Thank heavens for that. That means a well deserved break." Glynda sighed.

"Ozpin, how come I never see Professor Pearl?" Stjerne looked at Ozpin, confused.

"Well, Tyrian Pearl, as his name is, likes to spend most of his time in the tower, where his office is. His office is a few levels below mine." Ozpin explained.

"He's basically Beacon Academy's owl." Peach shrugged.

"Don't you mean literally?" Oobleck asked.

"Huh?!" Stjerne looked back and forth between the two professors.

"Tyrian may not look it, but he's a Horned Owl Faunus." Peach explained.

"Really? But what are his faunus traits? He didn't have any wings." Stjerne asked.

"That's because Faunus wings are a rare trait. Tyrian has wider eyes then the rest of us, and he has feathers mixed in his hair. They're the same color of course, so it's hard to tell." Peach answered.

"On top of that, he can rotate his head 360°" Port said.

"You're kidding with me, right?!" Stjerne looked a bit scared at the last part.

"Don't worry. The rest of us were freaked too, but it's normal." Peach waved her hands, reassuring her.

"Ozpin, on an unrelated note, did you plan the Ceremony?" Glynda asked, changing the subject.

"Yes. It's the same as last year's." Ozpin nodded.

"Give the students their diplomas and licenses and kick them out?" Peach asked. Ozpin nodded.

"You know you have been doing that the past few years as headmaster, right?" Oobleck asked.

"I simply see no reason to detain students at the Academy for longer then needed. Once they graduated, they have to leave in order to save the world. Plus Barty, you know I was never one for speeches." Ozpin sipped from his mug.

"Lier. You're great at making speeches. You just don't feel like talking in front of a crowd." Peach rolled her eyes.

"I can confirm that." Glynda nodded.

"Hey Ozpin, can I see the ceremony? Please?" Stjerne gave Ozpin a pleading look.

"Well, if you want? There isn't much to see though." Ozpin answered.

"Just stick close to me. Okay?" Peach nodded.

"Yes Peach." Stjerne nodded, giving herself a silent victory punch under the table.

"Besides the ceremony, what else do we need to worry about?" Port asked.

"Well, as usual, I'll be planning the faculty party." Peach answered, giving them all a devious smirk.

"Oh boy."

"Here we go again." Groans erected around the table.

"What?! What's wrong with my parties?" Peach glared at everyone.

"No offense Peach, but your parties tend to be a bit too....wild." Glynda answered.

"I sense disdain in your voice Glynda. If you think you can do a better job, then you throw it." Peach argued.

"I can't! I have my work to finish." Glynda protested.

"I think our point here, Peach, is that maybe you can tone it down this year? Nothing too wild." Ozpin interfered.

"Fine. But I still want to do something special." Peach slumped against her seat.

"Hmm. What if you planned some subtle party games." Oobleck suggested.

"Okay. I'll see what I can do. Hey Oz, are we getting any visitors?" Peach asked.

"Hmmm. Well Qrow did say that he was going to drop by. And Tai also said he was interested in joining us this year." Ozpin said thoughtfully.

"Huh? Who's Tai?" Stjerne looked at everyone.

"Tai Xiao Long. He's a teacher of Signal Academy and a friend of ours." Peach explained.

"Anyway. Peach, just do your best not to go too wild." Ozpin stood up.

"Yessir." Peach nodded. Stjerne just sat back and sighed. This was gonna be a long week......

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

I know it's not really the holidays anymore, but still. I know u all want more. So here ya go.

PS: Tyrian Pearl is introduced in this chapter! Hope I got the details right.

@tyrian-pearl, @cinnamon-pineforest, @phoenix-no, @saiyoyuutsume