#he feels a lot less bad after they embarrass him in front of Mike

[artiststarme]

In a surprising turn of events, it was Will that got Steve and Eddie together. He’d noticed their blushing gazes, stilted flirting, and lingering touches. He knew they must’ve been dating in secret from their friends, perhaps because they weren’t comfortable enough to tell anyone. So, he pulled them aside at one of Steve’s pool days and gave them some advice.

“Hey guys, I um. Look, I know you’re dating each other.” They looked at each other in panic but Will continued. “It’s fine, I didn’t tell anyone. But you can tell us when you’re comfortable. The whole Party will be supportive and it’s really inspiring to see the love you two have for each other. So uh, thanks. I’m happy for you guys.”

Will ignored their shocked pallor and pulled them each into a quick hug. He gave them one last smile and darted back outside to the pool party feeling good that he was able to congratulate his friends for something so important. 

Unknowingly to him, he left Steve and Eddie inside to deal with impromptu coming-outs, small crises, and plans for first dates. Because before that conversation, neither Steve nor Eddie realized the other was interested. 

So Will got them together and he was proud when he found out about it… until they did the same thing to him and Mike. Then his joy about the situation became horror (although the method did work once again).

[kuumara]

I'm the moth you're the light

Everything's quiet, and so so dark. They're sleeping. Everyone but him. He can't, every time he closes his eyes it's like he's opening the door for him. The door into his head. He has to always be on alert. But his eyes are heavy, they're shutting on their own. He has to do something.

He sits up on the foldable bed. Good, he's still in the Wheeler's house. Everyone is sleeping either in the kitchen or the living room, they don't want to risk someone being alone if a demodog breaks in, it's happened before and it was bad.

It's dark as hell. Literally no light, not even the moonlight. They've boarded up the windows, and even if they were open there still wouldn't be moonlight. The ash clouds are too thick.

It's dark as hell, except for the wiggling candlelight lightly shining through the bottom of the front door. They've made a sort of wall around the Wheeler's house, so whenever someone is guarding while the others are sleeping they're safe. Well, safer than they would be if there were no wall.

He gets up from the uncomfortable bed, making his way to the front door, careful to not step on someone's arm or head. He quietly opens the door.

Mike is sitting there, on the porch surrounded by scrap metal, giving at least some protection and making it harder for monsters to spot the candle light.

Mike looks at him for a second, with tired eyes. "Will,"

Will comes to sit next to him on the wooden bench, making sure to put some distance between them. But Mike scoots closer the second he sits down.

He leans down, even closer to him, whispering. "You alright?"

Will doesn't know how to really answer that. So he just shrugs.

"Had another nightmare?"

Will shakes his head.

"Well, that's good then. Right?"

Will shakes his head, again. "No, I can't even sleep anymore because of them. I don't want to give them a chance to happen," he sighs. His vision is already blurry from the first tears.

They sit there in silence for a little bit, Mike looking at him and Will doing his best to not meet his gaze.

Will starts again. "I wish I didn't leave your house that night I went missing. Maybe if I cycled faster, I wouldn't encounter the demogorgon. Maybe if I-"

"Well, it is what it is. Don't blame yourself, alright? Because it's not your fault. It never was," Mike's arm is now hugging his shoulders, and the other one is holding his wrist. They're even closer now, and Will wants to cry. But he won't, he's sick of crying.

But when Mike rubs his shoulder and brings him closer, he can't help it and starts sobbing. He doesn't even know why he's crying- because Mike hasn't been affectionate with him in a while, or because he's so tired of this apocalypse.

Mike freezes for a moment. Am I making him uncomfortable? Will wants to shut up already and pull away, but instead of that his head falls on Mike's shoulder and he's immediately being encased in Mike's arms.

He sobs into his shoulder for a while, not even remembering when his hands came to rest around Mike's neck. I'm probably staining his jacket right now, he probably thinks it's gross and is only doing this because it would be awkward if he had just pulled away...

Will isn't sure if he believes his thoughts, though, because what they're telling him and what Mike's doing are complete opposites. Mike isn't showing any signs of disgust or annoyance, he is instead pulling Will to his chest, one comforting hand on his upper back and one on his thigh, leaning down to whisper comforting phrases in Will's ear.

Having Mike this close comforts Will a lot, and he couldn't care less about Vecna in this moment. The downside is, he's always been emotional and is still crying, although now because of happiness.

After he cries his soul out on Mike's jacket, he feels embarrassed and can't bring himself to look at Mike. Because he probably looks like a mess, yes, but also because they're still very close and Mike definitely wouldn't believe that all the redness on Will's face was caused by crying. And because he kind of doesn't want Mike to let him go.

"Will? You awake?" Mike says with his soft voice.

Will nods into Mike's shoulder and pulls away enough to look into Mike's eyes. He's smiling fondly, cheeks red, and Will smiles back.

"Uhm- Thank you... For that," he says, his voice wet. Mike smiles shyly, and Will blushes even more.

"Of course, Will. Anything for y- I mean-" Mike nervously tries to come up with something less incriminating to say while Will's stomach almost explodes from the amount of butterflies in it.

He didn't mean it like that, he then thinks, and his face falls. Except Mike notices it, and pulls Will closer again. And all that Will can think about from that point on is the feeling of Mike's lips on his.

--

ggrrrrr i have no doubt smth like this will happen in early s5 lets go s2 parallels (exceot mayb the kiss but everything else will trust im one of the writers)

and im very proud of the title👏👏 ty ty

[thestarrynightslover]

I'll Make It Okay for You - Part 1

Pairing: Harvey Specter x Reader

Word count: 3,666

Warnings: Discussion, yelling, some angst, mentions of drugs, and drug abuse. 

Summary: What happens when (y/n) (y/l/n), Harvey’s secret crush and a junior partner at his firm, openly defies him in front of everyone?

You can find Part 2 here.

Disclaimer: I don’t own the show Suits, or its characters, also not associated with it in any way or know anyone involved with it.

A/N: So, this is my first Harvey Specter fic and I’m obviously quite unsure about it, lol. This might’ve ended up like one big mess, cause I tried to combine a bunch of Harveys I wanted to see. The perfect recipe for disaster, right? Anyways, I hope it doesn’t suck too bad and, please, feel free to give me feedback, cause I’m also here to learn!!

(y/n) = (your name) (y/l/n) = (your last name) (y/n/n) = (your nickname)

| masterlist |

You’d barely stepped out of the elevator when you were met by your secretary that morning. That couldn’t mean anything good.

“Morning, (y/n/n). You’ve got an emergency meeting with Jessica today. Gonna give you the schedule on the way there.” Lucy stated, leading you on the opposite way to Jessica’s office.

“Oh, I got the memo; company’s under attack again. She wants me on the frontlines this time. Louis is probably running around saying ‘We’re at war, people, war!!!’, or something like that. But why aren’t we headed towards the boss’ office?”

“Apparently, uh, she wants y’all to convey at Harvey’s office.” She said hesitantly, as if afraid of your reaction.

“Are you kidding me? It’s the first hour of the morning and she wants me to go see that smug face of his?” You pouted childishly.

“Smug and hot, you mean.” Lucy corrected you, getting an outraged look from you in response, as she usually would by saying anything positive about Specter.

“Shush,” You said, motioning for her to stop talking, “ one shall not praise Harvey Annoying Specter around me.” You stated full of obstination, but the younger woman just laughed you off and said:

“Well, here we are. I guess I’ll just have to send you an e-mail with your schedule, since, once again, we spent our schedule minutes of the day talking about “the enemy”.” She mocked with gestures and everything this time. That Lucy really was a piece of work, she timed the whole thing perfectly, in a way that you couldn’t even repudiate her insinuations because you were already standing in front of Specter’s office door.

Not long after you had entered and Jessica had officially started the strategy-meeting, though, all eyes in the room turned to you, as your phone started ringing in your back pocket. "Shit! I'm- I'm so sorry, guys, I guess I-"

"Can you please take your job seriously for once in your life, (y/l/n)?" You heard Harvey Pain-In-The-Ass Specter rudely remark, as you tried to swallow your embarrassment.

“Well, like I was trying to say, I’m sorry. Gonna turn it off right now, won’t happen again.” You said, directing your apologetic look to Jessica.

“You should just go ahead and answer it, could be something important.” She calmly told you.

“Especially now that you’ve already interrupted our work.” Specter chipped in again, which just gave you more fuel to answer the goddamn phone.

“Hello, yeah this is her.” You confirmed to the man on the phone, while taking a few steps towards the corner of the room. “What??? Are you sure? Oh my God! O- okay, just tell me which one and I’ll be there as soon as possible! Right, thank you.” Everyone’s eyes were on you, trying to understand what made you look so distressed. Except his, of course.

“Wait a second. Are you leaving right now?” He asked with a mix of annoyance and irritation in his voice.

“Yes, I am. I’m sorry, Jessica, but this is a family emergency. I have to go.”

“Well, I just hope you know that this doesn’t look good for you, (y/n).” She said, voice inexpressive.

“I do and, honestly? I couldn’t care less about that right now.” You firmly told her, while hoping your career wasn’t over by the next morning.

“I hope everything goes well for you and your family, (y/n). If you need anything, and I mean anything, just let me know.” Louis told you with that childish smile of his. Jesus, even in a moment like this, he tried to flirt with you.

“Thank you, Louis. That’s very kind.” You faked a tiny smile.

“Unbelievable.” 

“What?” You asked, turning back to face Harvey.

“Your firm is under attack and you’re leaving because of some stupid family crap?” Was he even serious?

“Precisely. And I don’t really care what your thoughts are on it. Our priorities are clearly very different.” Who the hell did he think he was to say anything about your family’s issues?

“Well, that shouldn’t matter because, the minute you walk in here, through those elevators out there, you’re supposed to leave all things personal behind.”

“Oh, right. I’m so sorry that I’m not some heartless lawyer like you, who’s just in it for the petty fights in the name of money-making.” Shit. You needed to get the hell out of there before you said something else to make Specter wanna kick you out himself. So you did. Stormed out like there was no tomorrow, leaving nothing but the very shocked Donna, Jessica, Louis, Mike, and Rachel behind. Oh, yeah, and a very pissed-off Harvey Specter.

Okay, maybe you were a little too harsh, but given the place you needed to go, to do what you needed to do, you didn't care about Harvey, your job, or anything else.

---

It was much later on that same day, around dinner time, that you heard a soft knock on your door. But how could someone be at your door, if the doorman downstairs hadn't announced any visitors? Were you dreaming? Well, the day had been so tiring that that wasn't exactly impossible… Nonetheless, you made your way to the door, whilst holding your very needy three-year-old nephew in your arms. Not that you could blame Henry after the day he’d had.

Since you weren’t expecting anyone, it was reasonable to believe that, whoever it was, was going to be a surprise. But not in a million years would have you ever guessed that Harvey Specter was the one knocking at your door. Especially considering what had happened at the firm earlier. How did he even know your address?

“Hi, (y/l/n). I didn’t know you had a kid.” He stated with a bit of surprise of his own, pointing to the little boy you were carrying.

“No, uh, I don’t have any.” You managed to say, trying to control your shocked expression. “This is my nephew.” You clarified again, a little more at ease this time.

“My name’s Henry. What’s yours?” You heard your nephew ask with his cute child-voice.

“Harvey. It’s, uh, it’s very nice to meet you, Henry.” Harvey told the boy, holding out his hand for him to shake, as a sweet smile came to his lips.

“Is he your friend, auntie (y/n/n)?” Henry asked you hesitantly, before making a move. The Don’t Talk to Strangers Rule must’ve kicked in his mind. 

Before answering him, you hesitated a little bit yourself, though. Was Harvey your friend? Obviously not, but if he came to your apartment in the middle of the night like this, it was probably because of something important. Work-related, of course. Which meant you’d have to let him in, so you settled for what would be the easiest classification for a three-year-old.

“Yeah, bud, he is my friend from work.” Hearing that, something in Specter’s eyes changed, you didn’t really know what, though.

“Well, then, can he come play with us?” He gave you such a cute look, that you almost said yes right on cue. But you obviously couldn’t. 

“You’d have to ask him, but I’m sure he has a lot of other, more important, things to do now.” You tried to explain to the little boy, giving Harvey a look. But you didn’t get too far, as the lawyer quickly said:

“Of course I wanna go play with you! That is if your auntie’s okay with that…” Now he was mocking you, that was the only explanation.

“Can we play with him, then, auntie (y/n/n)? Please, please, please?” God, what horrible thing could’ve you possibly done to deserve this particular punishment?

“Um, I guess... If he really has nothing better to do-” Harvey didn’t even let you finish your sentence.

“I really don’t.” He said, shooting you and Henry a bright smile that you’d never seen before.

“Okay, then, come in. Please disregard the mess, I got this stuff to make dinner, but someone just won’t detach, right, mister?” You asked your nephew with fake annoyance in your voice, as you tickled his sides a little bit. He just laughed at you. Though what really caught your attention was the fact that Harvey, too, was chuckling lightly at the scene, as he started picking up your groceries’ bags from the floor. “What are you doing?”

“Helping you, what else?” You gave him a weird look because, well, it was a weird situation. Maybe he noticed your discomfort because he added: “You look tired, so I’ll help you by making dinner and putting the rest of these away.”

“You’re kidding, right?” There was no way in hell that the All-Mighty Harvey Specter was gonna get domestic for you, of all people. Since he didn’t bother to answer, you went on: “First of all, what was it that you really came here to do, hum? And, second, I don’t need your help with anything.” Normally you tried to be kind to everyone, but, then again, Specter wasn’t exactly your normal kind of guy.

“Well, first of all,” he started in a tone of mockery, “that was rude! Look at the example you’re setting for little Henry!” Oh God, as much as you hated to admit it, he was kinda right, because you had completely forgotten about the little boy still cradled in your arms. “Second, we can talk about the reason why I came here later,” after your nephew’s asleep, was implicit in his speech, “third, it looks like you do need some help. And, for your luck, I happen to be a very good cook when I want to.”

“But-” You could barely begin your sentence, as Harvey sharply cut you off:

“You see, buddy,” he started, motioning to Henry this time, “the quicker we get your auntie on board with the game plan, the quicker we’ll get to eat and go play together!” Son of a bitch! Using a child to get to you…

“Can we please, auntie? Please?” How could you not crack after that pleading?

“Fine, but I swear I’ll make you pay if we wake up with food poisoning tomorrow, Specter.” You told him playfully, trying to lighten the mood after all of your bluntness.

“Oh, trust me, (y/l/n), you won’t. This will be the best meal you and the young man here will ever have in your entire lives.” He said cockily, but without the usual arrogance level, if that even makes sense.

A few hours and a really great dinner later, you and Henry couldn’t help but snicker shamelessly at Harvey’s ridiculous faces, as the three of you played a game on your living room’s floor. Trying to catch your breath from your giggles, you glanced up at the clock and realized that it was way too late for your nephew to be out of bed like that. So you broke up the game, announcing:

“It’s bedtime for you, Mr. Henry.” You watched the faces of the pair turn into ones of pure disappointment, as they prepared to pout.

“Just a little longer, auntie (y/n/n)! please!” The little boy started.

“Yeah, auntie, just a little longer! Please?” This time it was the grown man, one of the toughest Wall Street lawyers.

“As moved as I am by your synchrony, guys, the answer is a big no. C’mon, bud, let’s go brush your teeth. And then straight to bed. So say bye to Harvey, and thank him for being so nice to us tonight.” He looked between you and Specter as if still hoping for a hail Mary of some sort.

“Bye, Harvey.” He sounded so sad, but then he smiled brightly again, as he repeated what you’d told him to say word by word: “And thank you for being so nice to us tonight.” Hearing that, both you and Harvey chuckled lightly at the young boy, who quickly added: “Will you come see us tomorrow too?”

“Uh, we’ll, uh, we’ll see about that, okay, little man?” He tried to let Henry down slowly but, watching the boy’s expression become a sad one instantly, he added: “It’s just because both your auntie and I have a lot of work ahead of us tomorrow, but I’ll do my best, okay?” That was definitely a side of Harvey you’d never seen before, he had even bent down to be on your nephew’s level.

“Okay.” Henry said quietly, seeming to be a little happier, too.

“Okay, then let’s just go upstairs already.” You took the boy’s hand to guide him towards the spare bedroom’s bathroom, all the while shooting Specter a look that told him to wait for you a little longer.

“I’ll wait for you down here.” He said, proving he understood what your eyes tried to transmit.

So you headed upstairs with your nephew and, after a good fifteen minutes of brushing Henry’s teeth, helping him into his PJs, and tucking him in, you finally managed to come back to the living room, where you found Harvey looking through some of your photos displayed on the sideboard. For a minute or two, you just watched him. It wasn’t that you liked what you saw or anything. It wasn’t. It was more like postponing the weird conversation you two were bound to have, because, after all that had happened in those few hours, the atmosphere was, at very least, a strange one. But, almost as if he’d felt your gaze on his back, the lawyer in him was switched on, and he interrupted your thoughts by saying:

“Ah, you’re back. Good, because we need to talk.” You just motioned for him to follow you into your home office. But both you and Harvey looked so informal to be in that kind of environment, that you just indicated the small couch on the wall opposite to your desk for you to take your seats in.

“So, uh, before you even say anything, I wanna thank you for being so kind tonight,” a small smile came to your lips, as you remembered, not only the evening but how your nephew had used almost those exact same words, already imitating you, a little earlier. Specter smiled too, you noticed. “and I also wanna apologize. If you came here to talk to me… I must’ve made you waste a lot of time, huh?” You tried with a half-smile this time, as embarrassment started taking over you.

“What? No, of course not! I'm pretty sure that I told you I didn't have anything better to do, didn't I?" He calmly asked with a smile.

"Yeah, but I'm not buying it. You're Harvey Specter, isn't that what you're always saying? And Harvey Specter always has something better to do, isn't that right?" You shot back in a mockery tone, regaining your confidence.

"Well, maybe. But, not today. So don't apologize, and don't thank me. I'm the one who should be thanking you, I had a really good time tonight." Okay, now you were shocked. He had a good time?

"Uh, okay, um, so... What was so urgent that you had to come here in the middle of the night?" You nervously ranted, while tugging your hair behind your ears. He just stared at you, so much so that you almost repeated your question.

"Um, yeah, about this morning… That's why I came here…" You were already guessing that that would come up eventually, but it was the topic of your conversation? "I know that you and I always had our differences, and maybe even some rivalry-"

"Some rivalry? Dude, I'm just a junior partner, and ever since I started on that firm you've been persecuting me-"

"I wouldn't say persecuting…"

"Oh, you wouldn't?"

"Not since you made junior partner anyways. Now it's just a healthy rivalry between work friends…" He tried to use what you’d told your nephew earlier. 

"Oh, so you do admit you were persecuting me when I was an associate, huh?"

"Shit." He muttered quietly, as you watched him with a victory smile on your lips. "You know what? Hell yeah, I did persecute you when you were an associate." Hearing that blunt admission of guilt, you just couldn't find anything to say. “You wanna know why? I did that because, from the first time I saw you doing your job, I saw this very thing that I see now: you kicking ass, you think I wanted to admit this to you? I’ll answer it myself: no, I didn’t. The only reason why it happened is that you led me to it.” He blurted out, completely knocking you off your socks.

“So, um, you treated, you treat me like shit because, um, because I’m good?” You asked, still unsure of what to think about his confession.

“Well, that was part of it, sure. So, you see, I could understand it when you weren’t particularly thrilled at the perspective of working with me. But, this morning, you said that I’m a heartless guy who only cares about money… Is that really what you think of me?” This time he sounded genuinely sad? When Harvey said that he’d come to your apartment to talk about that morning, you thought he was gonna reprimand the shit out of you for disrespecting him ⎯ your sort of boss, a senior partner ⎯, but, apparently, he was asking about it on a more personal level. A level you’d never really thought played a part in your relationship with him.

“Oh, Harvey…”

“Be honest, please. I don’t want your pity. You don’t even know me all that well, so don’t try to minimize anything. I can take it.”

“That’s not what I was gonna do. And, trust me, you’re probably the last person in the world I’d pity.” You told him with a sly smile. “You’re right. I don’t know you all that well. Or, at least, I didn’t this morning. But I do know that you’re not heartless. Also, I was really out of line then, I’ve seen you fighting tooth and nail for a lot more than just money in that firm. You’re loyal to your firm and friends like no one else and, tonight, I watched you sitting on the floor and playing with a little boy. And, trust me, that meant more to him than you’d ever know, especially after today… Anyways, what I’m really trying to say is that I was so damn wrong and that I’m sorry. I’d gotten some pretty nerve-racking news beforehand, not that that’s an excuse but...” You told him, meaning every word and trying hard to show how much you regretted your previous actions.

“Wait, what news?”

“Ah, it’s nothing for you to worry about, really.” You tried to brush him off.

“Oh, c’mon! You said all those nice things about me, but when it comes to your life and your problems you still don’t trust me, isn’t that right?” His tone was sharply inexpressive, but his eyes showed he was actually hurt.

“What are you talking about? Oh my God, Harvey! I’ve relied on you for a number of cases that I really cared about! I let you in on my apartment! I let you spend an entire night around my nephew! Of course, I trust you!”

“Then what the hell is the problem? You think I’m not gonna give a damn about your family issues? Is that it? Because I am literally begging you to tell me about them!”

“I don’t wanna tell you because I don’t want you, or anyone else on the firm, to think that I’m some pathetic little girl who uses her family issues as an excuse to get out of a tough fight.” You confessed in a lower tone, slightly embarrassed, just hoping he would understand and stop poking. “Things are very different when you’re a woman, you know…”

“I would never think that about you. Family is important. Especially if it’s made of people like Henry…” He said, reassuring you, even though there was a hint of sadness in his voice. “Besides, you said you trust me, so you need to trust me when I say that I wouldn’t betray you by telling people about your problems. I’m not here as your boss, (y/n). I just wanna help you.” He sounded so sincere and, if you were being honest with yourself, you kinda really needed to vent.

“Okay, um, where to start? I have two sisters: Henry’s mother, Kat, and a fifteen-year-old, Lisa. I’m the older one of all three of us. Lisa’s sick, like very sick, so my parents, who are both retired, are with her at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, to try and get her better. In the meantime, Kat was supposed to go to college, as well as care for her son, between my parents and me, she wouldn’t even need to provide for them or anything. But, a while ago, she overdosed for the first time. That’s when we found out about her addiction. We’ve already tried a million different things but nothing works. So, my parents and I threatened to make her lose her parental rights over Henry, hoping that it’d be a wake-up call for her, but it backfired. She just took the boy and disappeared, then today I get that call, from the police department, saying that she was in custody for drug distribution and endangering the well-fare of a minor. They asked me to go pick my nephew and, maybe, get Kat a lawyer.” And, just like that, you’d told Harvey Specter, of all people, everything. Tears rolling down your cheeks and him pulling you into a hug.

If anyone had told you that that was how your night was gonna go, you would have definitely laughed them out of the room. But now, just sitting there, being held and caressed by Harvey, as you let your armor down, it was finally beginning to look like things were gonna be okay. 

[leviiattacks]

hi hi hi i really really really loved your jealous headcanon of levi and your teacher levi!!! i was wondering if i could maybe request something where you kinda mix the two(?) so like theres this event going on in school and the reader is very occupied and busy because shes paying attention to her students and then maybe she talks to some teachers about the event and then levi is just there secretly sulking cause he wants her attention too?? or idk you do you because your works are always soooooooo good thank you<3333

author note :: i did not stick to the prompt which was honestly an accident?/£/):7 but there is jealous levi and reader so i hope it workssss, it’s not that great and isn’t edited...but i hope you enjoy it :-( also thank you for the request you were very kind <3

for this to make more sense you’ll probably have to read my first ever teacher levi post which you can find here !!!!!

requests are always open :-)

word count :: 4.3k ???? longer than i expected ???? 

levi groans at the mention of sports day before turning to look at you dead in the eyes

he knows this is your doing, you’ve always been big on getting the children into sport and other extracurriculars

now see, he has no actual issue with sports day?? he’s pretty fit if he says so himself!!!

it’s just that he frankly does not have the effort to participate.

another part of him also feels frustrated seeing mike flock around you like an annoying bee

he’s asking all sorts of questions

“are we doing the three legged race again this year?”

“how about javelin?”

“HAHA...mike...”

levi takes one look at you and knows you’re trying to let him down softly, it is his favourite event after all.

“since last year’s fiasco and the way you nearly hit one of the sixth graders i think not.” you awkwardly chuckle patting his shoulder as if it’s any consolation

mike loves sports day, he’s competitive in all of the teacher only events and last year he even tripped you and levi up ON PURPOSE might you add

either way he still lost the teacher’s three legged race last year and ever since he’s been out to gain his title back.

levi remembers, he’s unsure if you do but he remembers vividly having to carry you on his back because you had sprained your ankle pretty badly after your collision with mike.

back then you and levi were still in the middle of your little math vs english debate meaning the whole walk to the infirmary was filled with bickering.

and when levi had placed you onto one of the beds you insisted you could treat yourself when you really couldn’t

the way that scenario ended had been with levi forcing you to place your foot onto his knee as he iced and tended to it

this year levi is not having any repeats of that. yes, he quite liked having some alone time with you, in fact it was one of the first times he stopped to wonder if he liked you.

BUT!!!! having you limp around the corridors wasn’t the best either and you were highly irritable until you were fully healed

“why don’t you actually try this year?” hange stifles a laugh, they’re stood to levi’s left and upon hearing their voice his shoulders sag. he knows he’s in for one hell of an earful

“i do try–”

“yeah whatever. anyway, you want a cupcake?” hange’s gesturing to the haphazardly iced buns in the four plastic containers in their hands

“these are for the bake sale!!” they add in enthusiastically.

levi’s about to shake his head, he’s already donated to the bake sale’s charity fund without paying for any of the baked goods. yes it is purely because he doesn’t trust hange to feed him anything edible

“they’re y/n’s batch :-)” hange’s wickedly grinning knowing they’ve hit their colleagues weakness

without another thought levi’s right hand dives into one of his pockets, fishing his wallet out. he places a few spare coins into hange’s palm

“wOAH, you’re pretty eager aren’t ya??”

their remark flies over levi’s head as he tries to pick out two of the most presentable cupcakes

“you’re so fond of y/n, why not try a little harder like i said?” hange’s thrown the bait in the river and levi completely falls for it. he turns ninety degrees completely forgetting about the cupcakes.

“i’m talking about sport’s day if it isn’t obvious.”

he faces hange directly. he scowls twisted in fake disgust and confusion all at once

“and why would i care about that?” he shoots back

“after walking in on the both of you touching each other up in the janitor’s closet i’m really surprised you’re — mMMPH—” levi’s shoved one of the cupcakes into hange’s mouth

“you’re gonna have to pay for that–”

levi smacks some more money into their palm to appease the issue

“when did you see that and have you told anyone else?” he’s seething right now, there’s no way he or you were unable to notice someone as loud as hange prance into the storage cupboard accidentally

“i haven’t told anyone but it has only been three days since i saw so who knowsss...”

“i’ll do anything for you to keep your mouth shut.” levi’s practically begging at this point

“i think you should buy a whole box of cupcakes as compensation. my eyes will never be the same again.”

levi hands over more than enough money, he’s probably handed over enough for two boxes just for extra measure

it’s not that he’s embarrassed of you or anything no, no, not at all. he just, this sounds so stupid but he isn’t sure what the two of you are????

you’ve kissed, A LOT but the only problem is that there’s never actually been confirmation of... something more? than that?

he’s simply horrible at asking, and seeing the way you’re talking to mike it’s almost getting to the stage of borderline flirting

he’s currently flexing one of his muscles and levi’s unsure if you’re actually gawking at them or feigning interest so mike can get bored and leave sooner

his bets are on you pretending for the sake of mike leaving until you reach out to squeeze his arm appreciatively

...

what is this feeling??

insecurity?? a low self esteem??? levi isn’t entirely sure what the emotion that surges through him at that moment is

but hange sure does, grinning at the scene playing out they shove moblit with their elbow

well, well, well levi getting jealous is certainly something new.

when levi knocks on the door of your classroom you assume he’s come to bother you and ask for the spreadsheet with grade averages and all that technical stuff

english and math grades need to be compared side by side and even though it’s your job to help with the data analysis you’re pretty bad at it so levi’s the one who USUALLY picks up the pieces and does it for the two of you

occasionally mike steps in and helps when levi’s got other stuff in the way

“oh levi!! mike told me he’d be doing this month’s spreadsheet?” you’ve poked your head out of the door to talk to him

levi’s eyes narrow at that because he hasn’t asked mike for help at all.

“i didn’t come here for the spreadsheet but i haven’t even told mike to assist me this month... i wonder why he’s so passionate.” he mumbles the last part under his breath

opening the door up you wave for him to come inside “what you here for then?” you ask, oOoh maybe he’s finished reading an inspector calls?? finally you can talk to someone about the twist at the end

“i’m taking part in sports day properly.” the statement is unexpected and ?? levi ?? take anything other than math seriously ??

“woah... i’m proud of you?? i’m glad you’re seeing it’s important to show the children physical activity is fun.” your smile brightens up the entire room and he begins to feel a little more confident

peering up at him your curiosity doesn’t go unnoticed and he clears his throat, he knows you’re expecting him to say something else

ok, ok, ok. he thinks he’s built enough courage up to ask you

“i’ve never got the chance to ask but would you like to go on a date?” on reflex levi screws his eyes shut, suddenly he’s convinced you’ll say no and reject him. why would you accept??

“sure!”

his eyes flutter open and he feels you grip at the sleeve of his shirt.

well? that went better than he expected?

“where do you want to go?” you ask

“doesn’t matter, but let’s go somewhere after sports day finishes up.”

“are you barely going to try like last year?” you’re munching away at a granola bar - it’s rather bland and makes your throat feel kinda scratchy

you’re midway through drinking some water to deal with the dryness but you nearly spit it out when levi responds

“no. i plan on winning every single teacher event.”

HE WANTS TO??? beat???? everyone???

“you’re planning on beating mike too?” you tilt your head to the side incredulously

levi purses his lips at the mention of his name

“why does that sound so absurd to you?”

“he’s um, very good at sport that’s all.”

“i am too.” levi’s adamant to prove his point to you

“fine, here’s a deal. win at least one teacher event and i’ll try and solve one of your funny math problems or whatever.”

“what kind of deal is that??”

“you’ll be able to see me struggle with numbers, for free!!”

“no. i have something better in mind.” levi bites his smile back, he can’t let you know the idea makes him feel

“and that would be?”

he takes a step forward decreasing the space between the two of you.

“how about you kiss me in front of everyone?”

your mouth falls open because oh wow....? you have no actual problem with the task you’re simply surprised that levi is willing to put the both of you out there like that. the spectacle is bound to raise some eyebrows

“deal?” he holds his hand out for you to shake

you nod your head. “it’s a pleasure doing business with you.”

and so your deal is sealed with a firm handshake.

the big day has ARRIVED!!!

all of the students are flooding in through the gates. some carry footballs, other basketballs. you’ve been here for less than ten minutes and had to save a ball from crashing right into an expensive window.

everyone’s wearing active gear, udo walks in with a ski mask on?? which is peculiar but it’s humorous so you don’t tell him off for it

you’ve chosen a comfortable olive green tracksuit, you don’t think you’re in the mood for ski masks like udo is

coincidentally levi happens to show up in the EXACT same type of tracksuit?? everything’s the same to the colour. you both stare at each other for a moment trying to figure out how exactly you managed that but give up, you guess you have similar tastes

the accidental coordinated outfits have a few of your students pointing and chuckling together

gabi and falco are laughing heartily and whispering god knows what about the two of you

“three legged race partner?” levi asks as he fills up some water bottles for the water stand

“oh? mike asked me to be his partner.”

levi doesn’t make it obvious that he’s jealous about it because what adult would be jealous over a three legged race??

but even if you can’t tell levi is pissed mike sure can

he’s walking past the two of you, hands shoved into his pockets when he spots you a few meters away. his eyes sparkle when he sees you. it’s at that moment he senses the dark piercing glare coming from your right.

you’ve yet to notice mike but levi’s seen him approaching from a mile away and he isn’t particularly happy about it.

the good thing about mike is that he knows not to mess with levi.

the two have known each other for years and by now mike knows messing with levi is a death wish in itself.

so when the poor physical ed teacher notices the way levi glowers at him he calls out your name to get your attention - he’s much too afraid to get anywhere near you

“Y/N!!”

whipping your head around you wave at your race partner, why does it look like he’s seen a ghost?? you shove that thought to the back of your mind, he’s probably just tired

“petra doesn’t have a partner and uhh... i think levi’s free. could you work with him instead?”

levi turns away to smile to himself. ah how the tables have turned!!!

“but i want to work with you? it’s always y/n and levi do this. y/n and levi do that!! i wanna try with someone else.”

what you’ve said is a lie. honestly you’d just like to see levi get worked up again

but levi doesn’t get the memo at all. it flies over his head and he huffs thinking if that’s what you want he doesn’t mind. he’ll just show you how he feels.

“it’s okay. i’ll go with petra.” levi nonchalantly salutes at both you and mike as he walks backwards before turning around to locate the ginger in question

WHY DID HE GIVE IN SO EASILY???? YOU WERE JOKING?????

with your mouth open wide mike looks at you once and puts the pieces together

“guessing you wanted him to stick around?” you suddenly hear and god, you feel kinda bad

“oh no!!! i would love to be your partner.” looping your arm with his you smile up at him

whether or not mike believes you isn’t clear but he does return your smile.

there’s a few minutes till the three legged race starts, everyone’s running around. erwin’s knelt down to tie yours and mike’s legs together

as he’s doing so you can’t help but hear a high pitched windshieldy giggle leave petra and you visibly seem annoyed. that’s if your arms crossed over your chest and clenched jaw are anything to go by

levi hasn’t even said anything notably funny ???? what is she laughing at ????

he’s quite literally just standing there making awkward small talk with her

it goes something like this

“have you marked your exams yet?”

levi doesn’t realise she’s said anything till she taps his shoulder and he asks for her to repeat her question

“oh.” he thinks for a while. “no not yet. i’ve got better shit to do. i don’t see them till next week either way.”

and then she just starts laughing so hard that she has to hold her knees and when that isn’t enough she holds onto a nearby pole for support

you see where this is going

when her breathing gets even more uneven she reaches out to grab levi’s upper arm

YUP. you knew it. you can’t be mad at her really. no one knows you and levi are sort of a thing.

a thing? is that the term? well, whatever late night calls discussing books and a few heated kisses in private mean that’s what you are

levi stares at the hold she has on his arm and you expect him to shrug her off. instead he sees you look, smirks a little and waves all the while letting her hand stay there

and the icing on the cake is petra waving at you too and her eyes are much more expressive than she thinks they are

she’s internally laughing at you for sure.

ok, not a big deal, NOT a big deal!!!

this is just him getting back at you for before.

flipping your head back your sad expression probably catches mike’s attention because he seems to cave in

“want to make him jealous back?”

his suggestion is interesting but you catch yourself second guessing

“he’s doing that because he’s jealous.” you mumble shaking your leg to test the strength of erwin’s knot

“and? don’t let him win.” he glances at his shoulder gesturing for you to make the next move

nodding your head vigorously you throw your arm over mike’s shoulder but find he’s too tall to make that work so instead you settle on holding him by the side

it takes you a little to adjust to the close proximity but in the time it takes you to do that mike informs you of levi glaring at the two of you

“mind if i hold onto you here? we can coordinate our moves faster!!!” petra doesn’t even wait for levi to agree to what she says. she just flings one of her arms around his torso

again, he lets her just as last time.

this game of cat and mouse is getting tiring, maybe you should have kept your mouth shut when mike approached you.

“ON YOUR MARKS.”

your senses snap back to where you are. your grip on mike’s torso firms and he turns to nod at you.

you nod back.

you’ll win this.

“GET SET.”

“AND GO!”

okay, SO.

something in your game plan must have gone wrong but mike’s strength is something you’ve clearly underestimated. his first step is so powerful you don’t even have the time to start moving

you assume that’s how you collapse to the ground behind him and scrape your hands onto the cement of the track

so much for winning. all you’re doing is bleeding and hissing trying to cope with the stinging sensation

“mike?!?? not again??” hange groans and jogs over to the two of you untying the ropes at your legs.

“do we have to ban you from another event??? you’re too reckless sometimes.” hange smacks his chest and then hurriedly whispers “levi’s coming this way if you value your life you better bolt and use the first aid kit as an excuse.”

mike doesn’t even debate with himself, that’s his best bet at staying alive and so he dashes away as if he’s left the shower on at home for five hours unattended

some students are murmuring under their breaths and luckily for you the forever reliable gabi and falco have come to your rescue with bandages

“show me your hands.” levi’s hard voice interrupts all discussion. petra’s stood peering over his shoulder and you swear you catch her muffling a laugh

levi frowns. “you good?” he asks. you assume this answer will be the deciding factor regarding whether or not he makes this an issue with mike

“i’m great – trust me!! just a few scrapes.”

levi doesn’t look convinced but he let’s it go.

he helps you get up and takes the bandages from gabi thanking her.

“i’ll patch y/n up.” he tells hange pointedly and they agree. moblit at that moment happens to run over with a megaphone in hand.

“SHOWS OVER FOLKS!! WE’LL MOVE ON TO THE JUMP ROPE EVENT FOR NOW!!!”

“i’ll make him lose the one hundred meter sprint so badly he won’t know what hit him.” levi’s been grumbling the entire time he’s sat down to bandage your hands.

now that you’re both sat close to each other again murmurs of “matching tracksuits??” are back

“you don’t have to it was a mistake levi.”

levi shrugs eyes scanning his handiwork. “i want to. i’ve got to earn my kiss in front of a crowd anyway.”

gently letting go of your hand he looks out onto the track waiting to be called.

you’ve never seen levi give his full effort into sports day but even then you’re unsure if he’ll ever be able to beat mike.

honestly mike sure is fast and you recall one of the children referring to him with the nickname lightening bolt

and speak of the devil. a group of children walk past and are talking about the teacher’s race

“mr bolt’s gonna win for sure. you seen him run?? he could be an olympian!!!!” zofia’s gushing about him, she happens to be a big fan

the only nickname you’ve ever heard for levi is ursula – “ursula sure is evil for giving us that much work >:(” you had heard udo say once during class but after the earful he got from gabi he never used the name again, neither did anyone else

a few more minutes pass in a comfortable silence and levi’s called over to his lane. you’ve accepted the fact that there’s no changing his mind and he’s bound to compete now

“wait for me by the finish line.” he instructs and so you do. you go your separate paths. he to his lane (he’s in the lane two) and you to the finish line

petra’s already standing there waiting. her elbows are propped onto the railing peering out towards the contestants.

making your way to stand with her you see her sigh dreamily at levi in the distance

“hey, i know you don’t like levi a whole lot. you know your fued and all but do you think he’d say yes if i asked him out?”

well.

that sure is unexpected.

you fight the urge to scoff because you know you and levi are starting to drop more hints. is this her way of finding out the truth?

“me and levi don’t hate each other actually.”

“oh, well dislike.”

“we don’t dislike each other.”

“tolerate?” she takes her bottom lip in between her teeth trying to control her frustration

“petra. i like levi.” your confession knocks the wind out of her. you both silently exchange looks. she’s very clearly in disbelief.

the next time she speaks the previous playful lilt in her voice is long gone

“as soon as you noticed i liked him you just had to decide you liked him too. people like you make my skin crawl.”

?????????

why is she so bitter?.)/&£:

you can’t help liking levi and he likes you too,, so what now??

“he likes me back petra. can we be civil about this? i don’t like workplace drama. i had no idea you were into him.” you’re hoping that this will happen to shut her up but NO!!! it doesn’t she’s only more mouthy now

“prove it.” she points one of her manicured fingers into your chest and demands evidence she doesn’t even deserve to see

“what???”

“if he likes you back so much he should be able to show it.”

you know, if it were any day, any other time or any other person asking you this you would have out right refused, but given the circumstances and levi already waiting on you to kiss him in front of the entirety of the school you see no issue with having the last laugh in this argument

“fair enough.” you mutter and lean over to see hange announce the countdown

“ON YOUR MARKS.”

“GET SET.”

“AND GO!!!”

you swear you blink because GOD what on EARTH????? you don’t understand why previous to this levi balked at the thought of participating because he’s made it look so easy.

he’s not bolted he may as well have TELEPORTED to the finish line. mike is breaking out in a sweat far behind him and the boyish grin on levi’s face is enough to tell how he feels

gasps and applause can be heard from the children. zofia and udo are passionately arguing about some bet they’ve made - you make a mental note to tell them that making deals is fun as long as they don’t bet large amounts of money

levi’s jogging up to you completely ignoring petra’s presence

“told you i’d do it. i avenged you didn’t i?” you don’t think you’ve ever seen him smile so confidently in public 

you acknowledge what he’s said with a cartoon like thumbs up and then you’re staring at him unable to locate your courage

oh fuck it

you lean in hurriedly and steal a peck from him. he blinks and then scowls much to petra’s amusement. she has to think he’s about to curse you out but unbeknownst to her she’s read the situation wrong

“is that your idea of a kiss??”

and then he takes matters into his own hands – no literally into his own hands. he cups your face in his palms and captures your lips with his own. as you reciprocate petra can be heard choking on her saliva.

“OH well who would’ve guessed the english and math department had an alliance????? not me???” next is hange, they’re feigning shock even though they’ve known what the two of you have been up to this entire time

the whispers have now become full on shouts

“i KNEW it they were dating?!?!”

“MAN??? I HAD A CRUSH ON MR ACKERMAN WHAT NOW???”

gabi and falco are audibly cheering, you’re quite sure they realised what was up long ago

“DON’T BE UPSET BUT I THINK THIS IS WAYYY BETTER THAN PRIDE AND PREJUDICE!!!!” falco’s comment makes your heart rise in your chest

and you know what? you think so too.

as levi’s hand travels to the back of your neck pressing you further into him you come to the conclusion that maybe just maybe this is far better than pride and prejudice ever will be :-)

[biggest-stupidhead]

Bad Timing (Levi x reader) Part 2

Summary: How do you explain to your friends that you’re falling for your big brother’s best friend? 

word count: 6.3K 

__

You followed Levi down the stairs, keeping a bit of distance between you as to not invade his space and risk a sharp pinch or shove. Yeah no definitely not getting any closer, he'd demonstrated his distaste for your closeness early on in your relationship. Memories from when you were in 6th grade and Erwin and Levi were 8th graders flooded your mind. It had been the year that the pair became partners in crime, Erwin had Levi over frequently and you would often find yourself being chased around the house by the boys. One time in particular, your mother was out working and the boys were having a sleepover, not just the two of them but with two other friends of Erwin's as well,Nile and Mike were there as well. You remembered being in the kitchen when they emerged from the basement after a particularly long video game session, and asking them innocently if you could join. Erwin scoffed and told you to go back to your room or else. You responded with: "make me." and they did. Levi was closest and you recalled being dragged across the kitchen floor and up the stairs, giving you an awful carpet burn, and then being promptly tossed into your room. The boys laughed at the display as Mike slammed your door behind you and held the knob so you couldn't escape. You recalled the embarrassment burning on your cheeks as you inspected the rug burn on your side and back, and to your horror you realized that meant your shirt had ridden up and all those boys had seen your stomach. You shook your head at the memory, despite all the torment somehow you couldn't bring yourself to despise Levi, his presence was simultaneously unnerving and calming to a degree.

By the time you had pulled yourself out of your reverie you and Levi were already in the parking lot, you still remained a couple steps behind Levi who was focused on spinning his keys around his index finger.

"On a scale of one to ten how fucked up do you think shitty-glasses is going to get tonight?" Levi broke the silence, sparing you a glance over his shoulder. Slightly taken aback by his initiation of conversation you took a moment to collect your thoughts before responding.

"Hm, probably a solid six, she seemed pretty excited." you said thoughtfully as Levi unlocked his car and climbed into the front. A moment of hesitation passed over you before opening the back passenger side door, you had never ridden in a car alone with Levi before.

"What are you doing?" he asked, gripping the headrest of the passenger seat as he turned to look back at you.

"Oh, um I wasn't sure if you wanted me to.." you said awkwardly as you sat halfway in the car.

"Sit up front." he said, his grey eyes cold and unnerving as ever. You nodded quickly climbing into the front before he changed his mind. He turned his keys in the ignition and the car roared to life. You couldn't help but notice that his hand remained on the back of your headrest as he turned around to check behind the vehicle before backing out. You leaned back in the seat as you lifted your hips to get into your back pocket for your phone. Levi finally removed his hand to shift the gear into drive. You had to admit, he had nice hands, his fingernails were usually painted black, but sometimes he would switch up the color even if they would end up chipped in a couple days. He also always made sure to wear rings on at least one of his hands. You let your eyes wander up his right forearm which happened to have his one and only tattoo on it, a snake that wrapped around his forearm, head beginning at his wrist and ending at his elbow. 

Levi pretended not to notice the way your gaze lingered on his tattoo, he wondered if you liked tattoos, he knew you liked piercings, your ears were covered with them. He flexed his arm as he shifted his gear when he pulled out of the campus. His music as always was too loud to allow conversation so you just leaned back and closed your eyes. You were just starting to relax when your nose was assaulted by the strong odor of a fruity scent. Cracking an eye open you looked over to see the remains of Levi's smoke blow out his cracked window. Once again he held his juul out to you. You pursed your lips in thought, no you usually didn't vape, but this was one of the rare moments that Levi seemed to acknowledge your existence so you accepted. You inhaled the vapor with less of a struggle this time and managed to blow the smoke out of your own window. Levi didn't hold his hand out for his juul back so you awkwardly dangled the e cigarette over the cup holders with a loose grip.

"Just set it on my lap." Levi grunted as he focused on shifting gears again. You blinked, momentarily taken aback before you dropped the device onto his lap. He nodded his thanks, keeping his silver eyes on the road. Levi was driving a bit slower than he normally does, because of how dark the night had become, suddenly his phone rang without a second thought he answered the phone.

"Hello...Yeah, I can send you the location once I get there.... just bring the chasers.....yep." and with that he hung up, your curious (e/c) eyes watched him as he tightened his grip on the wheel. He hated how you stared,

"You've got a staring problem." he mumbled as he turned into your drive way. You huffed, crossing your arms across your chest as you leaned back, making a point to face the road.

"I do not...Who were you on the phone with?" you asked as he pulled into his usual space.

"Not that it's any of your business but...Petra." he said as he turned the keys, the car sputtered off, plunging your drive way into darkness.

"I think it becomes my business when you invite people over to my house." you replied cooly, gathering your purse and keys before climbing out into the dark. You walked briskly to the front door and quickly unlocked it, kicking off the vans and nudging them on the small rug that you'd had for years. Levi closed the door behind him before doing the same as you, pausing after he finished removing his shoes to watch you disappear around the corner into the kitchen. He frowned after you when he noticed your purse on the ground under neath the hooks where it usually hung. Sometimes you really were hopeless, he stooped down to rehang the bag. He heard you washing dishes and cupboards opening and closing. Finally you peeked your head around the corner to see if he was there.

"Well, are you going to come in?" you asked, eyebrows pinching as you watched him spare a quick glance over his shoulder.

"Sorry I was too busy cleaning up after you." he hissed as he padded into the kitchen and dropped onto a stool. You frowned at him as you wiped your hands on a hand towel, "I'm going to go change." you stated as you dropped the towel onto the counter carelessly. Levi wrinkled his nose in disgust at the sight of the dirty towel, he watched you stalk up the stairs, your phone in your face. Just as he sat down the door bell rang, with a small sigh he stood up and answered the door. Petra Ral stood on the other side, two grocery bags in her hands, being the gentleman he was Levi took one of the bags as she walked in.

"Oh thank you Levi!" she smiled up at him, being one of the few people shorter than he was. He grunted and led her into the kitchen where they began setting out the chasers. You tensed, pausing at the sound of Petra Ral and Levi exchanging pleasantries in your kitchen. It wasn't that you hated Petra, you just weren't in the same circle. She was nice enough, being only a year older than you, she was a junior this year, one of the most popular ones at that. The few interactions the both of you had shared were painfully awkward and clumsy to say the least. She often ended up at the same gatherings as you and often tried to talk to you. You finished pulling on the pair of fuzzy socks and gathered your courage. Walking slowly down the stairs you found Levi and Petra in the kitchen setting out solo cups and handles of liquor alongside the chasers. They hadn't seen you yet, too busy unpacking the goods to notice you at the bottom of the stairs. Just when you thought you'd escape unscathed, your phone rang as you stood at the top of the basement stairs. The feeling of two pairs of eyes burned a hole into your back as you answered.

"Erwin hey! Boy am I glad to hear from you! How was the game?" you asked, loud enough for the pair to hear as you turned around and made a beeline for the front door.

"Uhhhh, I can call back if you were waiting to hear from Erwin..." Jean said awkwardly.

"No no things are fine here!" you said loudly as you slammed the front door shut behind you.

"okay...." the poor boy said quietly.

"Hey sorry about that, Levi was in the kitchen and he's in a shitty mood, doesn't want me having people over or some bull shit." you said, popping a hip out to prop yourself against the side of the house.

"Uh, isn't the party at your house?" Jean asked.

"Yeah but Erwin is in charge and since Erwin isn't here my mom put Levi in charge so here we are." you sighed as you knocked your head back against the siding.

"Oh, you want to come around mine then? We could just drink some of my mom's wine and watch The Office or some shit." Jean purposed hopefully. You shook your head, even though he couldn't see it.

"Can't. I already told Mikasa, Armin, and Eren they could come over." you responded.

"Oh gottcha. Well what time should I come over then?" he asked eagerly.

"Now, please come over now before Levi and Petra start making out in my kitchen." you begged, a small chuckle escaping your lips. He laughed with you, a clear image of his smile in your mind at the sound of his hearty laugh.

"Okay I'll be there in 5." he said, and with that you hung up. You hurried back inside, the cold was beginning to seep into your bones. Levi and Petra remained in the kitchen, Petra was dumping a bag of chex mix into a large bowl as you entered the room. Levi was leaned against the counter, his hips facing Petra as they spoke about school.

"-Yeah I know! The SAT was a lot harder than I expected, I'm glad you helped me study for it!" she spoke in a sweet tone. Levi just grunted and turned to face you,

"Who was that?" he asked bluntly. You licked your lips and blinked rapidly.

"Wha-what do you mean? It was Erwin." you said, your brows pinching together as you squirmed under Levi's acidic gaze.

"Erwin my ass, he never calls you." he huffed, turning his attention back to Petra.

"He's my brother of course he calls me." you snapped, turning to get a cup out of the cupboard for some water.

"Yeah right." he said, unamused.

"Besides why do you want to know who's calling me?" you asked, a triumphant grin curling onto your lips. Petra raised a brow and looked between you and Levi. Honestly this was the first time she had seen you both interact and she was very confused what the dynamic was here.

"I don't." he huffed, his own face screwing up in annoyance as he watched a smug expression settle onto your features.

"Good, then keep your head out of my ass." you said as you walked back into the front of the house, just as Levi noticed a pair of headlights sweeping up the drive. His face fell further into a scowl at the sight of a second pair close behind the first. Before he could go ask you who was here the front door opened to reveal Jean. Peering around Jean, Levi could recognize the other trio of brats from earlier walking into the house. You welcomed them inside and after they had removed their shoes, ushered them through the front room, where they all stood in the kitchen as you scurried to collect the drinks and snacks they brought.

"So what movie?" you asked as Mikasa began working on opening the wine.

"I was thinking Halloween." Armin said, those bright baby blues sparkling even in the fluorescent lighting.

"Sounds good." you answered as you began pouring wine into red solo cups and handing them out. Levi watched with hard eyes as you finished off the bottle, handing the last cup to Jean.

"What are you drinking?" Jean asked as you tossed the bottle into the recycling.

"Oh I'm going to have a rum and coke." you said as you moved to open the handle of Captain Morgan . Jean nodded, pleased with your answer. As you busied yourself with mixing your drink you motioned for the bunch to retreat into the basement, to which they happily obliged. Once all the kids were out of ear shot Levi whirled on you.

"Too fucking many brat." he snarled, Petra winced and pretended to busy herself in the living room.

"My fucking house old man." you hissed back as you shoved past him with your drink. Levi's gaze burned holes into your back as you retreated to the basement and out of his sight. Once Petra was sure you were gone she returned to the kitchen.

"I mean as long as they stay in the basement I'm sure everything will be fine." she said soothingly, her hand daring to rest on his elbow. His gaze was fixed on the door to the stairs, the lights shut off and the sound of chatter floated up the stairs. He turned to face Petra now, having to slightly look down, not something he got to do often.

"You're right, let's finish getting ready." he said, trying his best to return the girl's soft gaze. Maybe if he played this right he could get laid. The thought crossed his mind as he watched Petra turn back to filling up snack bowls. Nah, not tonight, not when all those shits were in the house. He let his mind wander back to the crowd and remembered the sight of Mikasa, they didn't get along, not at all. In fact just the sight of her reminded him of what a solid uppercut she had. The memory of her fist connecting with his jaw as he tried to pull you away from those brats made his cheek pulse. He opened and closed his mouth subconsciously at the memory. Just as he was about to continue wiping down the counters, the front door opened and in came Nanaba and Hange. Longtime best friends, closely followed by Moblit, a junior who was starry-eyed for Hange despite her relationship with Erwin. Mike and Erwin would come together from the game, and hopefully that would be it. Just when Levi was about to warn Hange about all the brats in the basement, you came running up the stairs. Your phone was pressed to your ear as you made a dash for the front door. Levi barely heard your conversation but what he did hear was more than enough.

"-NO Erwin please God no, they're so mean, I swear to God if you bring those brutes here I'll..." you cut yourself off as you slammed the front door closed again.

"Woah, someone is on edge." Nanaba ribbed Hange as the pair came into the kitchen, again with Moblit close behind, just happy to be in Hange's presence. Hange was focused on the door with narrowed eyes, her glasses had been pushed back on top of her head. Petra was talking to Moblit, the pair being the same age seemed to get along quite well, Nanaba favored being by Hange, but unlike the redhead, her attention was fixed on the basement door. A loud thump from the basement made Levi's blood pressure spike.

"Who all is down there?" Nanaba asked, gesturing towards the basement as another yelp carried up the stairs closely followed by yet another thump.

"There's four people down there." Petra answered, a sweet smile glued onto her face.

"Not people, messy inconsiderate brats." Levi hissed as he moved to go give those idiots a stern talking to. Before he could make it very far Hange stuck an arm out and caught him, her head still turned to the front door where you stood with your back to the growing crowd, speaking in a hushed tone. He paused to take in the rigidness of your posture, your white knuckled grip on the phone was a bit concerning.

"I'll go see what's up." Hange said before dropping her arm and turning to approach you. The first attempt was futile, you waved her off and took a few steps away from her. But when Hange reached out and caught your shoulder, you turned and looked up at her with wide, almost angry eyes. He watched you hang up and then exchange a few hushed words with Hange. Your shoulder sagged and you nodded as Hange spoke. Probably yet another one of your tantrums, they had been happening more frequently in the past year or so. Erwin mentioned how you suddenly would lash out at him or other family members, although your mother seemed to be untouched as of the last time he had heard. Finally Levi watched you disappear down the stairs, Hange slid up alongside him as he allowed the chatter to fall into the back of his mind.

"Reiner is coming, along with Bertoldt." she spoke like the problem was obvious. But Levi had no clue why this was such a big issue. You had gotten along with the boys in the past, even having Reiner over a couple times. He would remember because he took it as an opportunity to embarrass you. He turned and furrowed his brows at the brunette. She sighed, rolling her eyes,

"Her ex boyfriend, and if Bertoldt is coming I'm almost certain Annie will be here too." Hange said, Levi blinked and held up his open palm to halt Hange's impeding rant.

"I'm sorry her what now?" he asked his eyes scanning Hange's face in search for any signs of bull shit.

"How did you not know?" she asked incredulously as she turned to face him full on. He mirrored her stance, their hips propped against the counter as they engaged in conversation. He rolled his eyes and shook his head, eyes dropping to the floor. Reiner Braun, a fucking air head football player, a meathead, a jock, an absolute asshole. Hange watched with raised brows as Levi stewed in this new information, she had known that deep down Levi cared about you in some degree. She also knew that you cared for Levi, even if all the boy did was torment you. The sound of the front door prevent Hange from speaking, the excitement of Erwin's arrival taking precedence. She peeked around the corner into the front room where the boys were kicking off shoes to add to the pile.

"You boys can put your stuff down stairs, to my understanding that's where all the other kids are." Erwin's voice sounded strained as he spoke to the younger boys. Eld, Gunther, Oluo, and Mike crowded into the kitchen, whooping and cheering. Erwin trailed in behind Bertoldt and Reiner who veered towards the basement, Levi's nose wrinkled when he watched Bertoldt duck his head as the pair descended into the basement. Moments later the noise levels skyrocketed in the basement. The kitchen quieted momentarily at the sound of yelling, finally after about two minutes of yelling Jean exploded out of the basement with his face completely red, you followed close on his heels. Both of you stopped dead in your tracks at the sight of all the older kids staring at you. Your own face flushed as you grabbed Jean's hand and tugged him towards the stairs that lead to the second floor, aka where your room was. Hange again discreetly grabbed Levi's wrist and sent him a pointed look.

"Don't, I'm sure Erwin will find time to fix this." Hange whispered, not doing much to calm Levi's fiery emotions. Erwin sighed loudly and dropped his plastic bag on the counter before quickly climbing the stairs. The chatter slowly resumed, especially once the kids from the basement emerged for more drinks. Reiner and Bertoldt were clearly being shunned, the only brat that was speaking to them was Armin, who still seemed hesitant. Finally Eld figured out the bluetooth speaker and connected to the device, filling the house with music and the din of friendly banter. But all Levi could think about was what was occurring upstairs. You had been up there with Erwin and Jean for about fifteen minutes. He would know, he'd been watching the green numbers on the microwave slowly change as Petra practically clung to his bicep. Finally Levi watched Jean creep down the stairs, his shoulders weren't nearly as taught as they had been when he went up stairs, Armin made a beeline to the boy and immediately the pair descended down stairs, Mikasa and Eren followed close behind, while Reiner and Bertoldt hung back dejectedly. As soon as the group was gone the front door opened, revealing a short blonde girl with cold blue eyes, a brunette with wide brown eyes and a lanky almost awkward stance, a large bag of food in her grasp. Behind the tall girl was a bald boy with a wide grin on his lips, his hazel eyes were busy taking in the scenery.

They blindly followed the blond in and began setting up the food. Levi narrowed his eyes at the kids as they made their way to Reiner and Bertoldt. The blond stayed with the pair while the other two quickly ducked into the basement. Way too fucking many kids were here right now. Definitely not one of the biggest parties that had been thrown here but definitely approaching Levi's comfort thresholds. He glanced at Hange to see her occupied with Oluo, who was making a stink about some science shit. Now was his chance, when Petra released her death grip on him he slid away, and ran up the stairs two at a time. He paused outside of your door, it was hard to hear what was going inside the room due to the loudness of the crowd downstairs. Finally he brought his fist up to the door and gently knocked. This was stupid, he should go back down stairs and let you sort yourself out.

"Come in." Erwin. Levi slowly opened the door, you were perched on your bed, eyes not leaving Erwin who couldn't look less bothered.

"Ah Levi thank God you're here, tell (Y/n) that she is being unreasonable." Erwin said, dropping his hand into his lap as he spun in your desk chair. Levi stood awkwardly, unsure of where to sit, the bed or that awful circle chair in the corner of your room? The appropriate choice would be the chair, but he chose the bed. He dropped onto the end of the bed without looking at you, he felt you shift as you turned to prop yourself up against the head board.

"No, Levi tell Erwin he's the unreasonable one." you hissed, your eyes still trained on your big brother. Levi sighed, a wave of relief crashed over him and he allowed his shoulders to sag a bit.

"Is that really what you two have been doing up here all this time?" he asked, a small chuckle escaping his lips. Erwin smiled at the way Levi relaxed, his arms sliding backwards to prop himself up as he stretched his torso out. You curled further in on yourself as you watched Levi take up most of the space on your bed.

"You're missing your party, in your house." Levi scoffed as he let his gaze flit between the two of you.

"So now it's my house?" you whispered, a small smile curving onto your lips as you glanced up at Levi. Erwin let out a booming laugh as he watched his best friend and his little sister finally get along. Erwin stood up and walked over to you, resting a hand heavily on your shoulder,

"Don't worry, I'm sure that since you and Jean are finally getting serious Reiner will respect your space. But if not...." he trailed off and squeezed your shoulder. Levi furrowed his brow at those words, 'since you and Jean are finally getting serious' very concerning.

"Hold up, Jean?" Levi sneered, his noes wrinkling in disgust. You mimicked his face, screwing your eyes shut and poking your tongue out.

"Yeah. And what about it?" you jeered playfully, honestly Levi was just relieved that you weren't a sobbing wreck. So he decided to let this one slide. He shook his head, dark locks falling in front of his smokey eyes. Erwin squeezed your shoulder again, "Let's just go back down stairs." he said, turning to leave. Levi slid off the bed, and followed Erwin out the door, pausing over the threshold to watch you slide off the bed. You brushed past him, careful not to touch him. Levi pulled your door closed and followed you down the stairs. When you emerged into the kitchen you were surprised to find it nearly empty. Hange was the only person that remained, a beer bottle hanging loosely from her fingers. Erwin pulled her into his side, his head tilting down to kiss the crown of her head. Hange leaned into his touch and your heart squeezed painfully in your chest. You could still feel Levi's presence behind you so you made a point of stepping away from the stairs in case you were in his way.

"Gross." Levi clicked his tongue before sliding past you. A nervous chuckle escaped your lips as Levi stalked into the living room where the upperclassmen were setting up Cards Against Humanity.

"Hey." you whirled around, the sight of Jean's chest filled your vision.

"Hey." you breathed back, a relieved sigh escaped your lips as you let Jean grip your shoulders and steer you towards the basement.

"I'm sorry things started off rocky. It was all Eren's fault anyway." Jean said, his arm thrown casually over your shoulder as you paused at the top of the stairs.

"It's okay. In a way I liked watching Eren go bonkers on them." You said leaning into his warmth. He squeezed your shoulder and scoffed.

"Yeah he's a real hothead." Jean said, his eyes wandered over to Hange and Erwin, who quickly averted their eyes when he glanced their way.

"How about another drink?" Jean said, slipping away from you and walking back towards the kitchen. You nodded and followed him back into the quiet kitchen, where your brother and Hange were cleaning up some spillage. Jean grabbed a Smirnoff ice from the cooler on the ground and popped the cap off before passing it to you. You smiled and accepted the cold drink, the sweet alcohol slid easily down your throat, a warm feeling settling into your gut. And suddenly Jean looked like one of those ancient greek gods or some shit. Yes sadly you were a light weight, and normally you preferred to not drink at these functions. You liked watching your peers do stupid things while they were drunk, not the other way around.

The great thing about your house was the open floor plan. Levi purposefully sat on the side of your couch that faced the kitchen, he was aware of Petra's thigh pressing against his. And the stiff arm of the couch digging into his ribs as he tried to hide his deck of cards. His eyes narrowed at the sight of you cracking open yet another Smirnoff. He shifted as he watched Hange grab your cheeks and you laughed loudly, leaning into her grasp. Jean and Erwin were watching you both with amused expressions as Hange finally released your face and switched to squeezing your sides.

"Your turn Levi." Petra giggled, those sweet hazel eyes watching him expectantly. He forced himself to turn his attention back onto the game at hand, throwing a random card into the pile. Satisfied, Petra picked up the pile of cards and shuffled them, Levi was only half listening as she began reading the cards, causing the group to break out in boisterous laughter. But Levi's eyes had wandered back into the kitchen, now you were sat on the counter, gross. His eyes narrowed at the sight of Jean standing right next to you, his hand resting on your thigh as he and Hange engaged in playful banter. Erwin seemed unbothered, his pupils relaxed as he flicked his eyes between Hange and Jean as their volume increased.

"Noooo you're wrong for that!" Hange yelled, the game paused in favor of listening to the heated conversation.

"What noooo, it's perfectly logical to put peanut butter on a hamburger!" Jean matched Hange's energy, his hand squeezing your thigh tighter as he and Hange continued to bicker.

"Jean" you pawed at his jean jacket in hopes of getting his attention. You frowned as he continued to debate with Hange, this would go on forever. You looked to Erwin, who only half heartedly pulled Hange back.

"Hange why don't we go sit with our friends and let them go to theirs." Erwin said, Hange sighed and shot Jean a look that said: I'm not finished with you yet, and then set off into the living room. You hopped off the counter and tugged Jean out of the kitchen and down the stairs. Levi winced when Hange plopped down on the arm of the couch. He clutched his cards close to his chest as Hange draped an arm across the back of the couch and leaned back. Erwin was settling on the floor beneath the both of them. Hange gripped his wrist and tugged, Levi snarled and pulled his cards closer, "What the fuck? Mind your businesses shitty glasses." he knew that it was near impossible to restrain Hange when she was tipsy, let alone drunk. She was unusually strong.

"I don't wanna see your cards I wanna talk to you! In private" she hissed the last part. The group was too busy playing the game to notice their trivial spat.

"What? No." he snapped, still resisting the brunette as she got onto her feet and attempted to pull him onto his feet.

"It's important please Levi." she whimpered, almost pathetically. He spared a glance to Erwin who remained unconcerned, not even looking back as the young woman hauled him onto his feet. Petra yelped at the unexpected loss of Levi's support, she caught herself and looked up a momentary flash of annoyance crossing her open face.

"Sorry I'll return him short-hiccup-ly" Hange apologized, as she pulled Levi through the kitchen and into the front room. Levi finally managed to free his wrist from her iron grip and glared at Hange.

"What?"

"Are you going to ask Petra out?" her question caught him off guard, his scowl dropping, his mouth opening to form a tiny 'o'.

"Again, what?" he hissed, Hange had a tendency to meddle with Levi's life. He should have known better, it had been too long between Hange's meddling.

"Are you-"

"No... I don't know." Levi threw his hands up in defeat. Hange's glasses caught the light, casting an eerie shadow across her face.

"I don't want to hear it." Levi sighed, holding a hand up to stop her rant before it began.

"Oh? Good because I wasn't going to tell you just yet." she giggled, slipping past him and skipping back into the living room and snatched his spot.

"Levi go make sure that their hands are above the blankets down there!" Erwin called, holding up his beer bottle. Levi grumbled to himself as he lumbered loudly down the stairs, and knocking loudly. A chorus of groans startled him and then the drone of the movie stopped abruptly.

"What?" your voice called into the silence. Levi pushed the door open and scowled at the sight. You had a nice basement, with a nice tv and a large L shaped leather couch. Said couch was crowded, starting on the end closest to him was innocent Armin, close by him was Eren, then Mikasa, (who were obviously holding hands). Followed by Reiner, Bertoldt, Annie, Connie, and Sasha, a bag of chips crunched loudly somewhere. Levi stalked so that he could stand in front of the tv and to his horror he saw you sliding off of Jean's lap and wedging yourself between him and Connie. As if he was stupid enough to miss this detail, "Keep it PG down here." he scolded, grey eyes locked on you as he spoke.

"Sorry dad." you slurred, holding your hands up as you leaned on Jean. Connie sniggered and ribbed you as he pushed you further onto Jean. Sasha giggled and chomped loudly on a potato chip. Levi glared at you as you held your hands up in mock innocence. He scoffed, casting one last glance at your legs, they were tangled with Jeans. As he turned to leave, out of the corner of his eye he saw Jean haul you onto his lap, your sweatshirt riding up. He turned around to see you leaning back into Jean and resting your head on his. The movie began to play again and the kids all settled back in to watch the movie. Levi's mood soured, his grey eyes narrowing as he stalked loudly back up the stairs. Fuck, for some reason seeing you all over horse face left a bad taste in his mouth. He hated the way his hands spread over the exposed skin of your stomach and how you basked in his doting. He dropped back onto the sofa with a huff, picking up his cards again, he grimaced when he realized that the cards were damp and sticky from sitting on the alcohol covered table top.

"Disgusting, who spilled?" he snapped, tossing the cards back onto the table. Gunther laughed and took a swig of his screwdriver.

"I think that one was Hange." he said, pointing a finger at Hange who was seated on Erwin's lap. Her brown eyes widened at the accusation.

"Was not! I think it was Eld!" she said nodding her head furiously. Eld said nothing in his defense, as he took a swig of his beer.

"No it was probably Nanaba with her butterfingers!" Mike said, ribbing Nanaba who was trying to take a sip of her drink, the sudden jarring motion sloshing the liquid all across her white shirt.

"Mike!" She yelped, standing up and pulling the wet fabric off her chest. Mike also stood up, holding his hands up in surrender.

"I didn't mean-"

"Ugh. Just help me clean it up please" she huffed, stalking out of the room and towards the bathroom. Mike paused for a moment, all the guys nodded and gestured wildly for him to follow.

"Now's your chance big man!" Hange whisper yelled across the room as she held up her cup in a cheers motion. Mike took big long strides after the young woman, his cheeks already blushing from the attention.

"Attaboy" Oluo jeered after him, all the other guys laughed and made comments on the odd pair.

"I hope they get together! Nanaba really liked Mike." Petra sighed as she shuffled her cards in her lap.

"Hm" Levi hummed in response as she settled back into his side.

"So, where those guys downstairs keeping it PG" she asked, mimicking Erwin's tone.

"No of course not, and I'm sure as hell they aren't now either." He sighed, leaning forward to grab his rum and coke. Petra nodded, Levi noticed how her face seemed a bit lax, her pupils dilated, and cheeks flushed. She was a bit tipsy, her hand landed on his thigh as she threw her head back when she laughed at something Gunther said. He tensed at her feather light touch, but didn't oppose the contact. Petra was nice, a good girl, she didn't party often and when she did she was usually the sober person present. Levi fished into his pocket and pulled out his vape, taking a hit and turning his head away from Petra's strawberry blond head, instead blowing the vapor into Hange's face. Her nostrils flared and her brown eyes grew so wide he thought they might pop out of her head.

"Now listen here short stack." Hange hiss as she turned to pull Levi into a choke hold. Predicable. Levi easily dodged her slow drunken attack, leaning both him and Petra out of Hange's grasp. Petra squealed when Levi threw his arm across her shoulders and ducked his head against her to avoid Hange. The brunette snorted when she saw Levi tighten his grip on the younger girl and lean further away from her, he was a crafty one, she'd give him that. Levi raised a thin brow in challenge and was satisfied when Hange opted to get up and stalk into the kitchen. Petra practically melted into his side as she sprawled out on the couch, swinging her legs up onto the sofa and leaning back into his side. He looked down at her upturned face and allowed his lips to curve up ever so slightly, a soft dopey grin on her face.Hm, this wasn't so bad he could get used to this.

[writingtoforgetreality]

Saturday Night Special (Jensen Ackles x Reader)

[Actors-Masterlist]

Summary: Tonight would be your first time singing on stage. And if it were not enough, you wanted to dedicate your song to a special someone. Expressing your feelings was not one of your strengths but putting them into a song? That worked quite well.

Words: 2,339

Warnings: best friend!Rob, fluff, just a cute story with a lot of fluff, so much fluff, language, in this story you wrote “Song On Fire”, (Y/L/N) = your last name

Song used: “Song On Fire” by Nickelback

If you like my work & wanna support me: a coffee would be highly appreciated ❤

Another Convention weekend. Another Saturday. Which meant that the concert would be tonight. And you had asked the Swain boys if they could squeeze you into their set list. Wanting it to be a surprise, you begged them to keep quiet for now. Practicing was done in a room separate from where the others were.

“You wrote that?” Rob asked after you handed each of them a page with the notes & lyrics.

“Yeah?” suddenly, you were unsure. “Is it bad?” now growing concerned that maybe whatever you wrote was absolute crap.

“No, oh my God, not at all. This is perfect.” he was still eyeing the words closely. “We got this, right guys?” turning around to shoot a look at the rest of the band, you saw all of them nodding. Releasing a breath you did not know you were holding, you took a seat next to them & started explaining what you had in mind for your performance.

“So, I thought that you could maybe do some backing vocals, Robbie? I think I’d be less nervous if you did.”

“Of course, no problem.” immediately being on board, the two of you arranged who would sing what. Billy, Mike & Stephen were already onto practicing the notes & from what you had heard so far, it sounded great.

“I hope I won’t mess up.” chuckling quietly, you prayed that tonight would turn out to be fine. Suddenly, Rob’s eyes shot up to yours, shock written all over his features. “What?” you asked him when he did nothing but stare at you.

“This is about Jensen, isn’t it?” he hit the nail right on the head with his assumption. Rob had been one of your closest friends & it was hard to keep something from him. A while ago, he picked up on the fact that you liked Jensen. A lot. Of course he teased the living shit out of you, but he always made sure that he was serious about one thing. That you should tell him how you felt. Every time, you had reasoned that he could never like you back. Besides, you were horrible when it came to talking about your feelings. Obviously, Rob was aware of that. But the lyrics in front of him were proof enough.

“It doesn’t matter.” looking back down to your lap to focus your gaze on something else than Rob’s face.

“Yeah, it does.” he started. “’Cause he’ll realize it’s about him.” stating casually.

“And why is that?” furrowing your eyebrows & snapping your head back up again. The man in front of you simply rolled his eyes at your question.

“I’ve told you a million times that he likes you, too.” before you had time to disagree with him, he kept going. “And Jensen knows about you liking him.”

“Wait. How?” eyes growing wide at Rob’s statement, you believed that someone had spilled the beans to him. Not a lot of people knew about your crush. And if Rob told Jensen, he would not be alive much longer to experience tonight’s concert.

“You’re not really being subtle about it, you know?”

“Am I really that obvious?” sighing loudly, you put your face in your hands. Great, you had been embarrassing yourself for the longest time & nobody had mentioned it to you.

“Only if you pay close attention. Which Jensen does.” Rob’s eyes showed sincerity. Maybe he was right. And if he was not then Jensen would not understand the song. Win-win situation, right?

~at the concert~

The last notes of the song were played & you knew that it was your turn to hop on stage in a second. Nobody of the cast had a clue about you singing tonight. Now, being backstage, your nervousness was awful. Your hands were trembling & you were scared that you would forget the words. What if you embarrassed yourself in front of such a huge audience? Yes, Louden Swain was there to back you up but still. You were the one who had to deliver perfectly.

“Thanks guys. Actually, we have a little surprise tonight. Well, it’s not so little. You guys know that a lot of the cast joins us on stage every now & then. For this concert, we’ll have a debut. Someone who has never sung in front of people before. But we know that you love her a lot. (Y/N) (Y/L/N) everyone!” Rob yelled into the microphone & when he finished, the crowd broke out into cheers. The applause was insane. Nobody knew that you were that much into music.

Taking a deep breath, you started taking the steps to the stage. The curtain opened enough for you to walk through & immediately, you were blinded by the bright lights that illuminated the stage. Yet, your smile was wide. Risking a look to the side, you saw the rest of the cast with shocked faces, all watching you. Jensen was in front & for a second, your eyes locked. In this moment, the cheering of the crowd died down & you remembered who you were doing this for. Him. His smile was enough for you. Billy nudged you slightly & handed you a guitar. Thanking him quietly, you walked over to the microphone Rob had already prepared for you. His nod calmed you down. He knew you would be just fine.

“Um, hi guys. This is weird.” chuckling, the audience soon followed. “Like, I know I’m confident when it comes to panels & all…but standing here, knowing that I’m about to sing. Well, let’s just say I’m a little nervous.” your voice was shaking a little & your fans knew that it was not normal for you. Usually, you were the one to crack a joke, to throw in a sarcastic comment. Right now, though, you were stiff. “Anyway, enough of that crap.” laughing shortly. “Y’all wanna listen to some music, right?” the audience agreed loudly, whistles & cheers could be heard all across the room. “You haven’t heard this song yet. It’s an original, I wrote it not too long ago & I hope you’ll like it. This is called “Song On Fire”.” waiting for Stephen’s sign, you started off the song together. Playing the guitar quietly. And while you shakingly made your way through the first few words, you gathered yourself enough to sing the rest perfectly.

The first words that come out

And I can see this song will be about you

I can’t believe that I can breathe without you

But all I need to do is carry on

The next line I write down

And there’s a tear that falls between the pages

I know that pain’s supposed to heal in stages

But it depends which one I’m standing on

 I write lines down, then rip them up

Describing love can’t be this tough

 I could set this song on fire, send it up in smoke

I could throw it in the river and watch it sink in slowly

Tie the pages to a plane and send it to the moon

Play it for the world, but it won’t mean much

Unless I sing this song to you

 When you sang these words, you made sure to look in Jensen’s direction & again, your eyes locked. This time for a lot longer. It was as if you two were the only ones in this room. Just you & him. Pouring your heart & soul into this one song. Hoping he would realize what you really felt for him.

 I’m dying to show you

This could end happily ever after

There doesn’t ever have to be disaster

And all you have to do is sing along

 I write lines down, then rip them up

Impossible describing love

 I could set this song on fire, send it up in smoke

I could throw it in the river and watch it sink in slowly

Tie the pages to a plane and send it to the moon

Play it for the world, but it won’t mean much

Unless I sing this song to you

 Rob’s & your voice blended together seamlessly & the band managed to make this song sound like it had been one of theirs. Like you had played it together a million times before.

 I could set this song on fire

Sing this song to you

I could set this song on fire

 Light this old guitar on fire, I’d still hear the notes

Drown the melody in water, I’d still hear its ghost

Sing it with somebody else, but we’d be out of tune

Play it for the world, but it won’t mean much

 I could set this song on fire, send it up in smoke

I could throw it in the river and watch it sink in slowly

Tie the pages to a plane and send it to the moon

Play it for the world, but it won’t mean much

Unless I sing this song to you

 I could set this song on fire

Unless I sing this song to you

I could set this, I could set this

I want to sing this song to you

I could set this song on fire

Sing this song to you

I could set this, I could set this

 The last part, Rob let you sing alone & as you belted out the last words, your eyes closed briefly. Only after hearing the cheers & the clapping did you open them again. Immediately, Rob went over & took you in for a quick hug. Whispering in your ear how proud he was of your performance. That you nailed it.

“Wow, guys. Thank you.” you were overwhelmed by the response of the fans. But your adrenaline washed away when you noticed Jensen no longer watching you from the side of the stage. Still, you had a smile on your face. There was no way you could let the people see that something was wrong.

“That was (Y/N) (Y/L/N) with “Song On Fire”. Let her hear you guys!” Rob urged the audience on & again, the room erupted into loud cheers. Waving before leaving the stage, your smile fell the moment the curtain closed behind you.

“(Y/N)?” there was not even time for you to drown in self pity when a voice yelled for you. Turning around, you were shocked to see Jensen jogging up to you. His hands went to cup your cheeks. Pulling your face closer to his, your eyes closed as his lips pressed softly onto yours. Was this really happening right now? Melting into his touch, you could feel yourself getting lost in the moment. Fireworks were going off inside of you. No matter how many times you had imagined this exact moment, nothing could compare to what you were feeling right this instance. When the two of you needed to pull away for air, you found yourself staring straight into his beautiful eyes.

“God, I hope this song was about me or I just embarrassed myself.” he whispered, afraid that someone else might listen in on your conversation even though you were completely alone backstage. A sheepish smile spread across your face & you interrupted his rambling by kissing him again. If you had known that a song was all it took for the two of you to take that next step then you would have performed on stage way sooner. His hands were at your waist, yours around his neck. Standing close to each other, scared, that you might lose each other. Which would never happen. Not that you finally found to each other.

“I’m sorry.” you started apologizing to which Jensen only furrowed his eyebrows.

“What for?” he had no clue why you felt like you had to say sorry.

“I’m really not good at this entire feelings stuff.” giggling at how stupid you sounded, your eyes shot to the floor.

“I don’t know, that was pretty damn romantic.” he joked & made you laugh with his words. True. Dedicating a song to someone was probably one of the most romantic things one could do.

“Jensen?” your forehead pressed against his chest. Arms tightening around you, he enjoyed having you this close to him. Rob had told him that you liked him & after paying more attention to it, he could see it, too. Yet, he was too much of a coward to do anything about it. Because he got incredibly shy whenever you were around. You could feel him humming so you continued. “I’m actually planning on recording the song. In the studio & all. Jason offered to help me.”

“That’s gre-“ you did not even let him finish because you had another idea in your head.

“And I wanted to ask you to be a part of it.” pulling away slightly to catch his reaction, you were surprised to find a shocked face. “Of course only if you want to. I get it if you don-“

“I’d love to.” his look changed into pure adoration for you. You swore that this man took your breath away by simply looking at you. All of a sudden, Jensen started laughing.

“What?”

“This is gonna be such a cliché story to tell at upcoming Conventions.” he was right. Honestly, it would make a good plot for a movie. Shaking your head at him, you hugged him tighter again. No way in hell would you ever let him go. It took you a lot of courage to take that step & you were more than happy that your plan was successful. You were glad that Louden Swain supported your idea. You thanked Rob for being a great best friend. Finally, Jensen & you had each other. And as much as you loved the idea of it, you were sure that the fans would freak out even more. They had been shipping you for ages. After all, you guys had a connection nobody else shared but everybody else noticed. You guys were bound to end up together from the very beginning.

Published (05/06/2021) by Cathy

✨MY Ko-fi PAGE✨

Tags: @peachescream06 (thanks for your support <3)

[letsgetusaghostfriend]

A Green Day concert, a bloody nose and a coming out – Sunset Curve & Green Day I

Summary: Luke and Bobby got them tickets for the Green Day show in LA on November 2nd 1994, also known as the night Billie Joe punched a homophobe and Alex came out to the guys.

Friendship fic, super Alex & Bobby centred, Luke and Reggie are not straight but don’t know that yet. Also, I know most people think Alex came out way earlier, but he has to not be out for this story to work.

((warnings: homophobia, homophobic language (not fully written out except in the band name of the opening act), slight violence, mentioned: alcohol, underage drinking (I am german, so for me it’s not underage drinking but yeah), in general: swearing))

word count: 4.9k, read here on AO3 x

~

Luke and Bobby got four tickets for the Green Day show in LA on November 2nd in 1994, it was one of Green Day’s bigger shows at that time. The boys previously have been to other concerts of the band, but the last one was in a small club in ’92, of course, all four of them being way too young for that place. Luke and Reggie were the first ones out of their group to get fake ID’s, mainly to go to gigs and play gigs. In the beginning, Alex thought he would never do the same, too scared of possible consequences, but then Luke used his stupid puppy eyes. (They still work even after Alex crush died, dead and buried). And if he was being honest, it was really helpful for playing clubs if the owners can at least pretend that they believe the four boys are old enough to be there.

Alex was aware that Green Day’s opening act, Pansy Division, was an all-gay band. And he was excited and scared at the same time. He found out because this one kid in his English class, Josh, went to the San Diego show earlier that week and told one of his friends that he shouldn’t go to the LA show as Green Day was just a bunch of “f*g lovers” and not worth their time. So Alex was scared: what if his friends would say the same thing?

They arrive late and the line is massive, Alex anxiety pitches in and reminds him that if it takes too long for them to get inside, he might miss Pansy Divisions performance. Logically he knows that they wouldn’t start letting people in so late that the opening band already starts when most people are not inside yet, but his anxiety is not that into logical thinking. He can’t help being fidgety, at one point Luke noticed and asks him if the crowd is making him uncomfortable. “Yeah, a little bit” Alex responds, not wanting further questions about why he was so anxious. The boys keep close to the bar, staying in the back first, not too excited to get into the crowd just yet. Alex knows the others would be inside the first mosh pit if it wasn’t for his anxiety, but not once did they show any signs of annoyance about his hesitancy. They just patiently wait for Alex to get used to the crowd and atmosphere, never angry when he has a bad day and he never signals that it is okay for them to go into the more crowded areas. Sometimes, especially when Luke doesn’t know where to put his energy he and Reggie go, but they always make sure that at least one person stays with Alex. He probably should tell them how thankful he is for this more often (the others would disagree here since they feel like Alex thanks them too much).

When Pansy Division started playing Alex didn’t expect them to actually sing about hooking up with guys at rock concerts, loving men, having real, deep and meaningful relationships and just, in general, doing normal daily life stuff, living with a boyfriend and how it feels after a breakup. He feels so excited, almost jumping up and down to the beat, not able to put his excited energy out on the drums like he would if it was their own concert. Alex completely forgets to check the guys for any reactions, too involved in the music. He doesn’t see that the other three boys enjoy Pansy Divisions music just as much as he does. He doesn’t see Bobby eyeing him from the side, a knowing glint in his eye.

Alex doesn’t know that Bobby saw the way Alex would look at Luke when they were 14, at Brian from History when they were 15, and how he sometimes looks at pictures from Billie Joe Armstrong in magazines. Bobby also didn’t miss Alex’ obsession with the song Coming Clean. The other boys sometimes forget about how Bobby’s parents are genuine open-minded people, who introduce him to a lot more diverse people than his friends’ parents do. So yes, maybe Alex was discreet enough for Mr Luke Oblivious Patterson and Captain Reg Oblivious Peters, and his parents who anyway only see what they want to see, but not for Bobby. Bobby, who might from an outsider’s perspective looks like he is standing a bit outside this friendship group due to him being less loud and sociable than his friends, but Bobby who loves his friends with all his heart, Bobby who truly sees his friends and knows that this is where he belongs. Seeing the absolute bliss, happiness and excitement streaming from Alex like waves is contagious.

After Pansy Division finished their set and there was a short break before Green Day would start theirs, Bobby slips from their group, mumbling that he would get another beer. Instead, he goes to buy Pansy Divisions EP, because the band was genuinely good but mostly because he knows Alex wouldn’t buy it, but he will definitely want it. On his way to the little corner where they sell the Green Day merch as well as Pansy Division stuff, Bobby realises that it was actually packed, but he soon saw that it was just a long long line for the Green Day merch. Actually, there are so many people he can’t even see the Green Day merch salesperson. He manages to get to the guy who took care of the Pansy Division stuff, he greets him with a head nod and a short “hey”, while scrambling his money out of his pant pockets to count it. He’ll have to nick a bit off of Luke’s beer later, not having enough money left to buy another one. When he reaches out to hand out the money for the CD somebody joins the guy who cared for the merch. Bobby recognises that it’s the singer of Pansy Division and he smiles at him. “Great performance, really enjoyed you guys’ music!”. The singer grins at that and holds out his left hand, which Bobby finds a bit strange, but takes it nonetheless.

“Jon, nice to meet you.”

“Bobby, pleasure is all mine.”

“Ah, you’re a musician yourself!” Jon says while checking out Bobby as if he could tell whether the kid in front of him was any good based on his appearance. It took the guitarist a second to realise that Jon must’ve felt his calloused fingers from playing the guitar during the handshake. “Yeah, I’m actually here with my bandmates.” A voice in his head, that sounds suspiciously like Reggie tunes in with “We’re Sunset Curve, tell your friends.” But Bobby pretty much felt like a child trying to play in the adults’ league, so he doesn’t say anything else. Jon grabs the CD he was about to buy and opens it while asking “So Bobby, is the CD for you or someone else?” Taken aback by that question Bobby tells him without thinking “We kind of always share records. Em, so maybe Sunset Curve?” Jon who was about to sign the inside of the CD case, pauses and looks up again “You’re in Sunset Curve?”

“Yeah, rhythm guitar.” He answers without much of a thought, it takes him two seconds then he adds: “You’ve heard of us?” Jon chuckles at Bobby’s shocked tone.

“Saw you play a few months ago. Didn’t remember your name till Mike mentioned one of your songs, always called you “the band with the cute drummer” actually.” Jon casually explained to a still shell-shocked Bobby. The comment about Alex makes him choke on his own spit though. Jon smirks, but before he can say more Bobby’s mouth starts talking before his brain gave its okay: “You saw us well enough to say that Alex is cute, but you didn’t recognise me?” After the words left his mouth, he feels his face heat up.

‘Way to embarrass yourself by having too much of an ego, Robert, great job’, he thought to himself. But Jon again laughs it off, as if he made a funny joke, smirks and asks if Alex was here tonight.

“He is,” Bobby says, voice cold, “he is also sixteen.”

Now it was Jon’s time to look embarrassed. “Oh shit, never mind then.” He pauses. “Sixteen is a bit young to play that club you played, isn’t it?” He pauses again. “You guys take this whole music thing seriously, I like that!”

More at ease again after Jon’s reaction to Alex’ age, Bobby’s brain finally catches up with everything Jon said before he called Alex cute.

“Wait, Mike as in Mike Dirnt? As in Mike Dirnt mentioned one of our songs?” he asks astounded. Jon laughs at the utter bewilderment that the younger one’s face was showing. But before he could say something about it a loud voice behind Bobby sneers: “Oh look at that, Bobby the f*g lover.” He turns around and sees Andrew from his math class. “Always knew at least one of you would be a shirt lifter!”

Bobby tries to take a deep breath before he answers but Jon beats him to it. “I would really think people were clever enough to listen to lyrics, but you still find the poser ones at these concerts, especially since Dookie got Green Day so popular outside of the scene!” Bobby needed a few seconds to realise that Jon wasn’t even talking to Andrew but instead just talked about him to Bobby and the guy selling the merch.

“Don’t you dare talk to me like that you fucking fairy!” Andrew sneers, stepping closer to Jon. As soon as Andrews anger is directed towards Jon and not Bobby anymore, the guitarists fight instinct kicks in.

“Fairy? Really?” he asks Andrew with a snigger in his voice, “Didn’t know we live in the 50s, Andrew. Learned all these terms from your daddy?” Bobby tries to make his voice sound as degrading as possible. For a second it seems like Andrew might shut up and leave but then Jon starts laughing loudly about Bobby’s comments and before anyone can react Andrew takes a swing and hits Jon right on the mouth. Without thinking, Bobby copies his action and the next thing he knows is that his hand hurts and Andrew has a red square on the side of his face. He glares at the guitarist and strikes again. This time the fist hits Bobby’s nose and he sees black stars in front of his eyes for a few seconds. After that, all hell is breaking loose and Bobby is being pushed around for what feels like a few minutes before he gets pulled aside and finds himself behind the selling booth with Jon by his side who has a busted lip that is still bleeding. Jon has a hand on the teen's shoulder and looks worried at him. “Fuck your nose does not look too good!” he says. Hearing the words Bobby brings his hand up to his nose and winces when he feels a sharp pain as soon as his fingers touch his nose. “Fuuuuuuuuck, Alex is going to kill me!” he groans at the thought of how the blond will react to seeing Bobby like this.

“Hey man, good punch you got on the dickhead there!” an excited voice states beside Bobby, which makes him turn his head probably a bit too quick, considering he just got punched in the face a few minutes before. But the guitarists' instincts were right: standing beside him was no other than Green Days’ singer, Billie Joe Armstrong. The blond (with fading blue in his hair) is smiling at Bobby and continues with “but I think mine was even better” while pointing at something behind Bobby, who turns around just in time to see security carrying a half-conscious Andrew out of the venue.

“You know that guy?”

“He goes to my school!” Bobby answers, still in awe looking after Andrew.

“Oh, you need to tell me about how he looks tomorrow, man I don’t miss high school but I’d love to go to school just to see that!” Billie Joe tells him and Jon, still sounding way too excited. When Bobby turns around again to look at the two musicians in front of him, he catches Jon telling Billie Joe that Bobby is part of the band they talked about the other day. Somehow getting even more excited by the news he fully turns back to Bobby. “Love that! We need more good people in this scene so we can make sure the music stays clean of dudes like that! Well, it was lovely punching homophobes with you Bobby, but I actually have a concert to play!”

And with that Billie Joe is gone through the door leading to the backstage area and Bobby looks at Jon hoping that he can find answers with him (like is he hallucinating?) but he just chuckles at the teenagers in awe face and takes the CD Bobby wanted to buy all along, as well as the money he had already paid and hands both back at the teen with the words “I think you paid enough for this already, thanks for sticking up for me!” And adding, when Bobby tries to give the money back again, “You better go so your bandmates don’t worry and you don’t miss the Green Day show!” Bobby thanks him and with a smile he makes his way back to the other boys while putting the money and the CD into his pockets.

When Alex finally sees Bobby come back to them, he feels relief washing over him. Alex always hates it when they split especially if one of them is on their own and Bobby has been gone for way too long. The first thing Alex notices is that Bobby doesn’t carry any beer or anything else that he could’ve brought from a bar, the second thing is that Bobby’s nose is bleeding. The easing relief is instantly replaced by worry as Alex's brain catches up with his eyes. As soon as the guitarist reaches them Alex starts searching his fanny pack for tissues and anything else that can help with a bloody nose, all while berating Bobby about getting into a fight. Reggie and Luke excitedly ask Bobby about it, but when their bleeding bandmate tries to tell them about what happened Alex just shushes him and gestures for him to look up so that he can take a better look at his nose. While Alex is still cleaning up Bobby’s face the crowd starts cheering and Alex turns around quickly to confirm his suspicion that the main act finally made it on stage. He keeps on cleaning his friends face from now slightly dried blood when he hears Billie Joe's voice over the speakers.

“Sorry guys, I know we’re late, but I had to punch a homophobe…” The rest of the sentence does not reach Alex’ brain as he looks at one of his best friends, whose nose was bleeding after obviously being punched and all he can hear is white noise, while the realisation, that Bobby being the homophobe who was just punched by Green Days’ singer, sets in. He feels a sharp sting in his chest all while feeling overwhelmed by fear, cold naked fear. And his thoughts race through his brain, too fast to actually make any sense, all he knows is that his worst nightmare seems to be coming true: the people he trusts the most will eventually leave him. They will hate him. They will think he is disgusting, and they will leave him. Unconsciously he takes a step back from Bobby, taking both his hands off his friends face but before he can totally spiral into his thoughts, he is caught by Bobby who holds the drummer by his wrists and looks at him like Alex offended him deeply.

“Seriously?” Bobby’s voice comes out sharper than he probably intended, softening his tone as he sees Alex flinch at him, “You actually think I am homophobic? Fuck Alex do you really think that poorly of me?” The guitarists' words and face are both filled with what Alex can only describe as hurt. Bobby attempts to say more but he is cut off by Billie Joe's voice coming over the speakers saying his name.

“A special thanks to Bobby from Sunset Curve! Make sure you check them out they’re a local band that’ll make it big one day, I’ll promise you! I swear, give them less than a year and they’ll be playing here on this very stage! Thanks, Bobby, for helping me punch a dickhead!” And with that they start into their first song, leaving the boys standing completely mind blown in the back, each one trying to comprehend what just happened. After a few seconds, Reggie, Luke and Alex all turn to Bobby with questioning faces, but Bobby concentrates on Alex’ face. “Do you believe me now?” When Alex nods the, still bleeding, guitarist feels relief wash over him. “Good! Because I already have your Christmas present and I literally know no one else who has the same taste that you have!” He actually manages to make Alex smile with his stupid comment, feeling like they might be okay again, he holds onto Alex’ sleeve, needing something to ground him, knowing that Alex is uncomfortable with public affection. He turns to Luke and Reggie who as soon as they have his attention try to bombard him with questions, but he stops them and promises to tell them later.

___

After the concert:

When they leave the venue, a wave of, for L.A. unusually cold air, hits Bobby’s face and clears his head a little, making it easier to think about everything that had happened. As he was the first one out of the four to step out in the cold air, he takes a deep breath before turning around to see the other three boys walk up to him. He notices that Alex pulls his jean jacket tighter around his body, clearly not enjoying the cold air as Bobby does. He smiles at Bobby and then follows Reg and Luke who started walking towards the side street where they parked the van before the concert. The two boys talk animatedly about the Green Days show, analysing every detail. Seeing one of their favourite bands live did distract the two enough for them to not ask any further questions, right now. Alex smile tells Bobby that the same did not count for the blonde boy. Bobby jogs up to Alex to walk beside him, but when he tries to initiate a conversation with his bandmate, the blonde just shakes his head and mumbles, that he has things to think, but as if to calm Bobby down, Alex takes his hand and squeezes it before they reach their van. The van they brought because they actually started to be able to book enough gigs to pay for it (and to actually need it), they all paid for it, even though they don’t talk about the fact that Bobby paid the biggest part, with him having the only parents who actually support the band.

Bobby is driving, with Alex in the passenger seat lost in his thoughts and Luke and Reggie in the back, trying to get Bobby to finally tell them about what happened at the venue. The guitarist promises to tell them as soon as they arrive at the garage, but despite the impatience from Luke and Reggie to find out about everything they still have a quick stop at a small diner on their way home to get their after-concert food.

Alex, Reggie and Luke all go straight for the couch while bobby prefers sitting on the floor, facing them. For a few seconds they all munch happily but soon Luke starts bugging Bobby about what happened at the club, so he puts his sandwich aside and takes a short breath. He doesn’t know where to start, he kind of wants Alex to know that he got the CD for him, but he doesn’t want to put any pressure on Alex, nor does he want the other two to find out about Alex liking boys before Alex wants them to.

“So,” Bobby starts, “we all really liked Pansy Division, right?” he asks with a nervous laugh tinting his words. He looks at the three boys on the couch for confirmation and gets it from two of the boys while Alex looks like he gets scared by the simple indication that he might have really liked the queer band they all saw tonight. Bobby acts like he didn’t see it while deciding, that he won’t tell the blond that Jon was hitting on him. That might be a bit much information for one night. “Well, I thought,” he continues while pulling out the CD he brought earlier “I’ll get us their CD.” He waves the CD then places it on the table in front of the couch so the guys can look at it.

“And that’s where I met one of the band members, Jon, he is the singer.” He looks up at his friends who all stare at him with a mixture of shock and curiosity on their faces, even Alex nervousness seems replaced. ‘I didn’t even get to the really shocking parts yet’, Bobby thought to himself.

“Okay, so we got talking, he found out I play in a band and when he asks for a name to use to sign the CD I just said Sunset Curve, because we always share records, like I mean I don’t even know who owns what anymore!” Luke looks dead serious while nodding his head, Alex starts smiling slightly and Reggie looks like he is trying really hard to separate their shared music collection in his head.

“Anyway, it turns out he saw one of our shows earlier this year and apparently, he was talking about one of our songs with Mike, but before you get too excited, I couldn’t ask him about it because that dick Andrew from my math class interrupted us. He called me a – eh, never mind” he stops himself, giving Alex a short glance – “he started calling me and Jon names and I kind of started making fun of him for using really outdated terms and when Jon laughed about that, Andrew hit him and then I hit Andrew and he hit me back and suddenly everything got crazy. Next thing I know is that I am behind the merch booth with Jon and Billie Joe Armstrong, and Andrew is being carried outside by security.” He tries to rush the words out fast enough so that Luke doesn’t stop him because of the band being recognised and Alex doesn’t stop him because he hit someone.

“And then Billie Joe finds out I am in Sunset Curve and he says something about it being good that more good people will keep the scene going or something and then he pretty much left to play the show and Jon gave me the CD and I went back to you guys so you wouldn’t worry too much.” When he finally finishes his story, he is staring at three really shocked looking faces.

“Mike Dirnt and Billie Joe both know of Sunset Curve?”

“Who knew Bobby is such a badass!”

“You hit Andrew?”

All three started talking at the same time, but then Alex stands up and he looks real mad and everyone else shuts up. Bobby looks at him. “Alex, I didn’t plan to, it just happened. I got so mad when he started calling Jon these awful names and when he hit him, I just snapped.”

“What about our no fighting rule, huh?”

“So, when someone is being super homophobic, I am just supposed to do nothing?”

At that moment Bobby realises that Alex didn’t process until now that Andrew was using homophobic slurs against Bobby and Jon. He sees Alex anger vanish from him in mere seconds, replaced by fear and sadness settling in his eyes. Lips pressed into a thin line Alex sits down on the couch again. It breaks Bobby’s heart to see his friend like this. They all stay silent for a while.

“What did he say?” Alex asks with a voice so quiet Bobby almost misses it.

“Alex,” he sighs, “I am pretty sure you don’t want to know!”

With that Alex's eyes, which were glued to his hands before, snap up and meet Bobby’s. “You know, don’t you?” Alex asks Bobby, seemingly completely forgetting that the other boys are in the room.

Bobby does not know what to answer, not wanting to make Alex come out because he feels like he has to, or because Bobby figured it out already. “I only know what you want me to know, everything else is just a hunch.” He finally settles on.

Alex laughs. “So, you definitely know, and I actually thought I was being subtle.”

“I still love you, you know that, right?” Bobby just needs Alex to know that. Even if this is a weird one, Bobby wants this to be the reaction Alex gets for his first coming out.

It takes Alex a few seconds but finally, he looks up again, searching Bobby’s face for any trace of him lying. As Alex realises that the boy in front of him means what he said he feels like the biggest wave of relief washes over him. This, black-haired, awkward and quiet boy in front of him, who buys CD’s from queer bands, punches one of his classmates because he was being a homophobic bigot to a complete stranger and whose first reaction to Alex half-assed coming out is to tell him that he still loves him. This boy, who is so uncomfortable with most people touching him, who still wants to hold all of their hands all the time, calling them grounding. This boy, who would probably punch more people to protect them because he gets crazy protective about the people he cares about. And suddenly it’s difficult not to start crying and Alex feels like his voice will break if he tries to talk so he just nods.

And in that second, knowing he has Bobby on his side for this, he decides that he wants them all to know. So, he gets up from the couch and “gets on the runway” as Luke likes to call Alex’ nervous walking occasionally. After walking up and down three times, he suddenly stops, turns to Luke and Reg who look super confused by what is happening and he blurts out “Iamgay” so fast that there was no way that any of the guys could’ve understood a single word. So, he takes a deep breath and repeats: “I am gay” while standing there, eyes closed, and breath held.

“Oh, that…” Luke starts, but he gets interrupted by Reggie who says: “That makes so much sense, that is why you were staring at Brian so much last year! That really confused me, man!”

“I was... I was not staring at Brian Denver!” Alex sputters embarrassment creeping in his cheeks.

“You totally were, you even knew who Reg was talking about right away!” Luke laughs and gets up to pull Alex in a big hug, squeezing him tight. Reggie gets a hold of them and pulls them down on the couch where he squeezes between them, and wooshes through Alex’ hair affectionately. Alex, now half sitting on the couch and half lying on Reggie looks up to Bobby, who stands awkwardly in front of the couch. As the other two notice Bobby as well they all kind of freeze in their cuddle pile. Even as Bobby was more comfortable touching his bandmates than he was with touching his parents, or literally anyone else, he still never expressed any interest in being part of a cuddle pile before. Seeing how all of his friends stopped as he approached, the guitarist started taking a step back, but Alex stopped him by holding out his hand for Bobby to take. It takes him a few seconds but finally, he lets himself being pulled on top of Alex into the cuddle pile and even though it feels strange at first he likes the feeling of Alex’ soft t-shirt under his cheek, Reggie’s arm around his waist and the smell of Luke’s cologne.

Later that night Bobby snatches a picture of his best friends still cuddling on the couch hours later, now all fast asleep. He hasn’t shown that picture to anyone except for his daughter when she finds out about the band 25 years later and he decides to tell her about the loves of his life, even if most people wouldn’t recognise them as it since it was purely platonic love. And even though he got married, he never loved anyone as much, with the exception of his daughter, as he loved the three boys who left him when he was just 17 years old.

The next day Bobby snatches a picture of Andrews black eye. He shows that picture to Billie Joe, backstage at an event he attempts without his best friends after the man recognises him as the kid with whom he punched a homophobe. After that Bobby leaves the event early, not being able to hold up the image of Trevor, too consumed by grieve and guilt. Guilt over not being able to protect them. Guilt over not dying with them. Guilt over using their songs.

[aboysbestfriendishismum]

Chapter 58 - The deal, the name and the prince (Part Two)

In the previous chapter: Angie has a weird nightmare about her future, where she becomes the author of fantasy-themed chick-flick novels, and she’s awakened by a phone call by Eddie. He reminds her it’s finally Friday, that is the day they’ll finally tell their friends about their relationship. Ater disappearing for some time, to think about what Grace had told him, Stone shows up at her workplace to and they talk things out. Angie and Eddie kiss in he streets outside her condo and they believe Jeff, Mike and Dave, who were in the van waiting for them to go to the Ok Hotel for their show, saw them and now are surely talking about them. Once they get to the van though, they find out they’re discussing the latest episode of Twin Peaks.

***

Pink. They're turning pink. My purple highlights are slowly but inevitably waning into sad off-brand bubble-gum pink, whereas the blue dye is fading out completely to my old boring dark brown. I'm here, squatting over the toilet, examining the locks of hair falling in front of my face, lightedy by the buzzing light of the Ok Hotel's restroom. I flush the toilet and pull up my pants and then I can hear the sound of the club's music going up and down straight away, followed by chattering and laughing sounds of female voices. Somebody else got in so I'll just stay here some more. I don't know why but I don't like meeting other people when I get out of the bathroom, it makes me nervous. I have nothing against going to the bathroom in three, five, ten girls all together, but if I have to pee, I'm the one who always goes last and tells the others to go first and that she'll meet them later outside. I can't use this system with strangers, especially in public toilet rooms in clubs with never ending queues outside the door. What do I do then? Either I hold my pee or I give up, trying to avoid eye contact with the girl getting in after me, who surely doesn't give a damn about me and just wants to fuckin' pee. This time though, it's early, the show has yet to start and the restroom was empty, at least until these people got in. Who knows how many are they? From the voices they seem three, I won't have to wait for that long. I just hope none of them will start wondering why the door of my stall is locked.

“Have you already heard these Pearl Jam guys play?” my ears don't miss the question asked by one of them since I'm focusing on their conversation, until now only to understand when they'd leave, but now even more interested.

“Not yet, but Emma did, right?” another voice, a little higher-pitched than the previous one, replies.

“Yeah, and the singer is so fuckin' hot!” the third voice has a vague Boston accent, I can't decide if it's a real accent the girl's trying to hide or a fake one she's putting up on purpose, I don't know why. And the accent is the first thing that catches my attention, more than what she actually says.

“Well, you don't need to hear him sing to say that, you just need eyes to look” the first voice chuckles.

“Yeah, he looks fine if you just see him around but on a stage? He's much sexier. You'll see and you'll agree with me”

“He's not bad but I'm more oriented towards the bass player” voice number two chimes in again but her friends immediately drown it out.

“We know, we know!”

“You've been oriented like that since Green River, maybe it's time to change your orientation since you've been getting no chance in hell, what do you think?”

“He'll be single once again sooner or later, won't he? He won't marry Miss Perfection, I mean...” the harmless, and after all kind of flattering, nickname these chicks just gave my friend bothers me a little, unlike their appreciation of Eddie. Actually I'm almost... pleased? By what they say? Yes, pleased. Am I normal or what?

“Aim for the accessible single ones in the band, trust me” Emma-maybe-Boston tries to discourage her friend from her crush on Jeff.

“That is the guitar player only”

“Who? Stone? Hasn't he recovered from his fucked up relationship with Psycho Valerie yet? Or you mean the other one?”

“The other one. Stone has a girlfriend, he must have found a new trust in women”

“Or he's just keeping this girl at a safe distance from his guitars hehehe”

Ok who's Valerie? I must remember to ask Meg.

“So the only ones left are the lead guitar and the singer. You're taking the guitar player”

“The singer isn't single”

“Isn't he?” “Really?” the other two ask at the same time.

“No, he has a girlfriend back home waiting for him or who's about to come and move out here with him, it depends on how it goes with the band”

“Where is he from?”

“California, don't know where exactly”

“Los Angeles”

“Shut up. Do you believe someone who wants to make music for a living would leave LA, which is like the center of the world where everything happens, and come to fuckin' Seattle? I've heard he's from near San Francisco”

“NO, SAN DIEGO” in the heat of the moment I almost can't understand who the fourth voice belongs to, then here comes the realization: it's me, coming out of the stall, basically screaming.

“And you... how do you know? Who are you?” now that I look at the trio I see they're nothing like I imagined. Voice number one, who's sort of the gang leader to me, is as tall as me, skinny and all eyes, big beautiful green eyes, dark hair pulled up in a tight high ponytail, giant loop earrings. Boston girl looks like she just came out from an episode of Baywatch, blonde, blue eyes, body of a model squeezed in a black mini-dress. Jeff's fan with the high pitched voice is the tallest one, a swimmer's body with broad shoulders highlighted by a strapless tube top, dark eyes, hook nose that gives and exotic and charming air.

“I know because I know him” I shrug as I bend over the sink to wash my hands, focusing my whole attention on the fuckin' pink strands in my hair in the mirror.

“Wait... yeah, I think I saw you with Stone and Jeff's friend, the blond chick who works at Roxy's... how is she called?”

“Meg, she's my roommate” I answer to the boss looking at her through the mirror.

“Do you know Jeff? Does he still have a girlfriend?”

“Hehe yes, I'm sorry”

“See, I told you!”

“I'll fall back on the singer then, his girlfriend is in San Diego, it's an out-of-sight-out-of-mind situation, she'll never know”

“He's not with that girl anymore, they broke up when he moved here” I stop here before adding any more intimate and unrequested details, although I have a senseless and sudden will to give them all out to these girls.

“SEE? HE'S SINGLE THEN!”

“I knew that”

“Actually... he's dating another girl, a girl here in Seattle” and that would be me and it's like I'm desperate to tell them, but why? What's happening to me? Am I becoming jealous? I told Eddie his jealousy towards Jerry made no sense but at least that had some factual basis. After all Jerry's my ex, he came over looking for me and we spent some time alone in a small enclosed space. These are just some random girls who've only said Eddie's cute. Thanks a lot. He is. It's only natural they like him. Why am I talking then?

“And who's she?”

“Well, dating someone is not like putting a ring on their finger”

“What's his name anyway?”

“Yeah, right, what's his name?”

“Eddie”

“And what's Eddie like? I mean, as a guy, is he nice?”

“He's...” he's sweet, sexy, funny, shy, crazy, romantic, goofy, protective, quiet, clumsy, smart, passionate, practical, loyal, honest, reliable and other 800 adjectives more, which come to my mind and I keep to myself”... he's ok, he doesn't talk much, but he's cool”

“A hot guy who doesn't speak much: the perfect man” the blond girl states and all three of them laugh.

In the meantime I keep on washing my hands and if I go on like this I'll get webbed fingers soon. I turn off the tap and shake the water off my hands in the sink before heading up to the dryer hanging on the wall next to the door, feeling three pairs of eyes on me.

“Can you introduce us to him?” the beanpole asks me when I already have one hand on the door handle and I'm about to leave.

“Sure!” I smile at them and I'm still trying to decipher my behaviour when I get out of the bathroom, followed by the gang of three, and who do I find standing right there, one hand in his pocket and the other one holding a full glass?

“Hey, there you are finally! I was getting worried. Was there a queue?” he asks, noticing I'm not the only one coming out of the restroom. I walk up to him, my hands are still kind of wet so I rub them on the legs of my jeans, I'm conscious I have the trio's eyes still on me and then I do something honestly uncomprehensible: I throw my arms around Eddie's neck and kiss him like I had last kissed him last month and not twenty minutes ago, backstage, trying to get some kind of reaction out of Stone and Dave, who right at that moment were not looking at us though. What's wrong with me? Have I become a showoff?

“I was chatting with the girls” I back up from his lips, steal the beer from his hands and take a sip, then I turn around to face the trio of dropped jaws behind my back.

“He doesn't talk much but makes himself clear” the leader is the one who breaks the ice and makes her friends, and me I must admit, giggle.

“Very clear, I see” the tall girl adds.

“Haha come on, let's go. Bye Eddie, good luck with the show!” Boston vamp takes the other two by the hands and they all say bye and leave.

“Bye Eddie!”

“God, we made fuckin' fools of ourselves”

“Why? We said nothing bad after all”

“It was embarrassing though...”

I follow their conversation as long as I can and when the girls are out of my radar, I turn back around and find Eddie's perplexed eyes staring at me.

“Do you know them?”

“More or less. Come on, let's go, you're up next soon”

Eddie and I part ways after a kiss right in front of the stage, after we noticed Meg coming our way. Anyway when we end the kiss we see she's more focused on cursing against a guy, who's guilty of bumping into her and almost spilling his drink on her new t-shirt, rather than looking at us and noticing our public display of affection. Eddie shrugs, nods at Meg and goes backstage to get ready for the concert.

“You can stop pretending you know nothing about Eddie and I now”

“Really? Ok but that jerk really wasn't even looking where he was going!” she searches for the stranger in the crowd but he's already gone and disappeared.

“Yeah, we decided to tell everybody. I mean, to let people know. Stop hiding, you know”

“Uh! So is that why you're randomly making out all around the club?”

“Shut up!”

“Right, maybe you didn't stick your tongue into his throat right under the mixer station. And not even in front of the restrooms”

“Hahaha stop it! Anyway, ehm, it actually happened in front of the restrooms, also”

“HA!”

“Talking about that... I need counselling... with Dr Meg”

“Uhm”

“You know I don't like to take advantage of your psychology studies”

“Very poor studies”

“And of your great and not academic only enthusiasm for the subject but... I'm weird and I need you to tell me why I'm weird”

“Ok so, first of all thank you for your surely mistaken trust in me, because it must be huge if you think what I know is enough to solve the Angelina Pacifico's enigma”

“I'm being serious”

“And I'm also flattered, 'cause usually it's me intruding your private life trying to analyze you and make you reason BUT this time it's you asking me spontaneously. I feel tears coming out of my eyes”

“I acted strange earlier and I can't say why”

“Ok, shoot”

I ignore her sarcasm, even though I appreciate it, and tell her everything about the three girls I met at the bathroom, while she listens to me in unnatural silence. Unnatural both for her, 'cause honestly I don't think I've ever heard her keeping her mouth shut for so long, and for the place, a crowded bar full of people, voices and sounds, I mean, pure chaos.

“So? What's wrong with me? Am I jealous like Eddie? Is jealousy contagious? Or have I just become a bitch?”

“Is Eddie jealous?”

“Yep. Well, yeah, a little” I don't wanna talk about this right now, maybe next time.

“Healthy amount of jealousy”

“Healthy... I mean, what's healthy? Jealousy is not healthy, it's stupid. And it looks I'm getting stupid too”

“I don't completely agree with you about that. Anyway your scene has got nothing to do with jealousy, my dear”

“No?”

“OH no, that's not jealousy, I'll tell you what it is. It's three things”

“Three?”

“Number one: you're pedantic”

“Romantic?” I can't hear shit in the noisy crowd with the loud music on.

“I said PEDANTIC! You're pedantic, you can't help it. If someone says a wrong thing you gotta correct them, nothing can hold you back, not even your pathological shyness. Had it been a matter of jealousy, you'd have jumped out immediately, insulting them and telling those three to keep their hands off your man. Instead you just stayed there, locked inside that stinky stall listening to those girls drooling after your boyfriend until they've started churning out incorrect facts. That's when you lost it, you had to speak up and give them the truth”

“So I put myself at the center of the attention only to lecture them?”

“Not just that but also for that. In this you and Stone are the fuckin' same, let me tell you. You're scarily the same”

“Shut up, you give me the creeps!”

“Number two: you're seeking approval”

“Approval?”

“Everybody wants to be liked, but someone wants it more than others, especially those with a wobbly self-esteem”

“What's self-esteem?”

“If you were jealous, you'd describe those three like sluts or ugly monsters of both, but you didn't. It almost seems like you liked them”

“Because I did, I liked them”

“Exactly. Three nice funny girls who shared a common interest with you, without knowing. You told them you knew Eddie because deep inside you wanted them to accept you and approve you”

“Oh”

“Number three... well, number three is my favourite”

“Oh really?”

“Yeah. Because, Angie, my friend, I'm glad to tell you that at the venerable age of 18”

“And a half”

“Eighteen and a half...” she corrects herself rolling her eyes “... after all this time, you finally learned one of the main concept of life, as well as one of the most pleasurable feelings”

“That is?”

“Hahahaha showing off, of course”

“Showing off? I've never shown off anything in my whole life!” maybe just a couple of seconds, that infamous unlucky night, with the waitress of Canlis restaurant, waiting for Jerry. And see what happened next.

“That's why I said it took you a few years to get cocky...”

“Getting cocky for what then?”

“Because Eddie's your boyfriend!”

“And what's with me? It's not like I did anything, it's not a merit, it's not something one merits and shows off like a medal!”

“That's what yo say but your subconscious thinks differently. Think about it, you found approval from your new friends and when you saw Eddie you could have just introduce them to him briefly and just leave with him, but you didn't. You aimed right at Vedder and kissed him right in front of them, knowing exactly you'd have made their jaw drop. And don't even try to tell me it just came out like that and you didn't think for a second about their reaction because I won't fuckin' believe you”

“Well, actually, ok, yeah, I thought of it, a little...”

“You're with the guy they all liked, that's the ultimate approval, almost a consacration”

“I show off for no valid reason, what have I become”

“Don't overreact now, please!”

“I'm a horrible person!”

“Angie-drama starting in 3, 2, 1...” Meg counts down with her fingers inches from ny nose.

“Can't you understand? It means I treated Eddie like an object, like a bargaining chip”

“You're with a cute guy and you rubbed it in those girls' faces a little, it's not like anyone died or something!”

“A trophy to nurture my self-confidence”

“You're making it worse and bigger than it actually is. That is, as you always do”

“A decent guy gives a fuck about me and my head gets big all of a sudden?”

“A decent guy gives a fuck about you, you're a couple and you don't have to hide for any reason. When was the last time it happened to you?”

“Err... quite some time?” a normal relationship? I'd say it's been years. Anyway, have I ever had a normal relationship at all?

“You're with the singer of a fucking cool band everybody's talking about in town, I'd scream it at the face of everyone I meet. Listen to me: aren't you proud of Eddie and what he's doing with the band?”

“Yeah”

“So you're proud and your showing, like you showed those three”

“Sucking face with Eddie right in front of them?”

“Exactly. By the way, considering you're sucking face with him in every corner of this place, they'd have seen you anyway sooner or later”

“Not necessarily, especially if they're as watchful as our friends, who haven't noticed yet”

“Or maybe they noticed but just want to be discreet”

“Discretion? Stone?”

“Well, thinking about it...”

“Talking about Stone; who's Valerie?”

“OH MY GOD, VALERIE?? WHERE IS SHE?!”

***************************************************************************************************************************************************

“It's so weird to me that everybody hates the Kingdome. I mean, that's your stadium!” since I came here in Seattle I've never met a single sports fan who hasn't complained about the stadium or easily dismissed it as a simple location that's not so much loved by the citizens. Jerry is no exception, as we talk at the bar waiting for our drinks.

“It's not like we hate it, it's just it could be better, you know? Surely it doesn't suck as much for footbal as for baseball. Or maybe it's just a matter of different point of views: if the Mariners didn't play like shit, it would be the place of the heart, like Wrigley Field for Chicago hehe”

“Sacrilege! I've never been there yet, I gotta go and see” I playfully push him away and grab the glass the barman has just given to me. Cantrell does the same and says thanks with a nod since I buyed him the drink and keeps on talking.

“I walked into the field, actually I ran on it! Six years ago, no, seven, when the Seahawks beat Raiders 13 to 7 at the Wild Card Game and the supporters stormed the field at the end. The following week we'd fuck it all up and Miami would destroy us but in that moment we believed we could make it! Anyway the people is what makes the Kingdome good”

“The twelfth man, right?” I nod and as I look around I casually make eye contact with Angie, who's not so far.

“Yep, other than that and the adrenaline, the field itelf sucks, it seemed to walk on concrete covered with green carpet”

“Wrigley though, I'd sleep on that field...” I look the same direction as before but I can't see my girlfriend anymore “On the bleachers too”

“At the Kingdome you can sleep well too, the roof protects you when it rains. Some parts of it might break and fall onto your head but how bad can it be?” Jerry chuckles and sips his whiskey but he almost chokes on it, and I do too, when someone casually appears between us from out of nowhere and basically yells into our ears.

“HI GUYS! ARE YOU HAVING FUN??”

“Jesus! Hey Angie, uhm yeah, sure” Jerry gives her a perplexed look whereas I instinctively put my arm around her shoulders.

“WHY?”

“What do you mean why?”

“I mean, uhm, you know, what for? What are you talking about?”

“Baseball” I answer probably with star-shaped eyes, just like every time I think about my favourite sport.

“And football” Cantrell adds then drinks up his whiskey with one last sip.

“Sports uh? A typical conversation between male friends...”

“Not necessarily betwe-” I'm about to argue with the idea sport is an exclusively male interest when my colleague interrupts me.

“Now I think I gotta go and find Sean. I saw Layne with Demri before so I think they made up and he'll go to her place so I probably have to go home with my drummer. See ya!”

“See you!” I say bye as he leaves with his hands in his pockets and Angie does the same but in a louder voice.

“BYE! Ok, what's going on? What's wrong?” she addresses me right away with an extremely serious expression on her face.

“What's going on? Nothing's wrong”

“What were you talking about for real?”

“What do you mean? Sports, we told you”

“Sure. And I'm Doris Sams” she folds her arms and gives me a side look.

“Are you a secret baseball player as well by any chance?” I let go of her, I fold my arms too and look at her suspiciously.

“No”

“I can't believe it! We gotta go out and throw a ball sometimes”

“I can't play! But I know the game and I know a couple of history facts, I remind you my dad is a fan of basically all the sports”

“I don't know... you're very good at pretending not to be able to do things, aren't you?”

“And you and your friend are very good at pretending nothing's happening and changing the topic of the conversation at the right time, aren't you?”

“My friend?”

“Jerry... well, friend, sort of...”

“We were really talking about the Kingdome”

“Sure. And the debate was so animated you even shoved him”

“Haha I gave him a little nudge, as a joke”

“Oh you were just kidding, of course”

“Angie, I don't know what's going on in your head and I don't know what you saw but really, we were just making small talk”

“Small talk?”

“Yes”

“You and Jerry talk?”

“Yeah. As you know, human beings are social animals, they interact with each other and-”

“Cut the crap! You know what I mean...”

“It's not like we're best friends or something but we know each other so we happen to have a chat from time to time” I shrug and on one hand I find it funny that Angie came here running, fearing for an upcoming duel between me and her ex, on the other hand I think he'd actually deserve a couple of punches after all.

“And you didn't talk about anything else?”

“No, what would we talk about?”

“I don't know, maybe you told him something about the other night...”

“Why would I?” I thought Angie would tell me to fuck off after that fuckin' scene I made but we made up the next day instead, problem solved. Why would I rock the boat?

“Well, I don't know, maybe because you threw a fit at me!” she retorts and suddenly she almost looks disappointed.

“That's different, I'm with you, not with him...”

“Ok but you almost ate me alive on the phone. And with him? Nothing? He just gets away with it like that? A chat at the bar like two old friends?”

“Sorry Angie, I don't understand. One second ago you were all alarmed because you thought I had told him something and now you're offended because I didn't. Is it that I'm limited and I just don't get it or does it make like no fuckin' sense at all?”

She opens her mouth as if she's about to answer, then she shuts up and looks around like she's looking for the right words through the crowd. In the end she admits, almost mortified: “It doesn't make fuckin' sense at all, I don't even know what I mean honestly”

“Hey, it's alright, ok? Jerry and I are on normal decent terms as two colleagues. And who gives a fuck about Jerry anyway” I take her face between my hands so she's forced to look at me as I smile to reassure her and let her know she's getting worried for nothing.

“Ok. But how do you do it? I mean, like, when you talk about me”

“Easy: we don't talk about you. Do you want something to drink?” I answer straight, turn back towards the bar to get the bartender's attention and order another round for me only, since Angie shakes her head no.

“Ok, right, but what if it happens?”

“It doesn't happen. Not even coke? Or juice?”

“No, thanks. But how can you be sure? What if my names comes up during a conversation, what do you do?”

“We don't do anything because that can't be, Angie... Windbreaker?”

“Wrong answer. Anyway the fact it hasn't happened so far doesn't mean it can't happen in the future” Angie smiles at my casual attempt at guessing her second name but doesn't let go on the topi.

“I'm 100% sure it can't happen. Jerry and I don't talk about you, we just don't”

“Never?”

“Never. We have a deal” the last bit slips out of my mouth and I regret it one second later, as soon as I see Angie's face as she registers this piece of information.

“You have... WHAT??”

“We made a non-aggression agreement that satisfies both parties” ok, I'm not 100% satisfied, and Jerry neither for sure, but it's working now.

“You made a deal with Cantrell? About me? And when?” after every questions she takes a small break that lasts a couple of seconds, in which I shake my head yes. But the third question requires a more articulated answer.

“In San Diego” kind of articulated.

“SAN DIEGO? You told Jerry about us when I left?”

“Actually, before that...”

“BEFORE??”

“And it wasn't me telling him anyway, it was the other way round” Angie doesn't look convinced or maybe she's just confused. So I tell her about the little quarrel Jerry and I had at the Yates Club, about how Jerry had figured it all out and got mad at me for not telling him.

“Wait, correct me if I'm wrong: you mean he did everything he wanted when he was with me but he had the nerve to get angry because you hadn't let him know on advance that you were interested in his ex girlfriend? The ex girlfriend he treated like shit? Why would you show him this courtesy? And how did he understand we liked each other anyway?”

“Maybe he's a good observer.” or maybe I just suck at hiding what I feel but I don't say that because she sucks as much at understanding other people's feelings and I don't wanna hurt her “Anyway he was right to some extent, we were on tour together and from time to time he asked me about you and confided in me and I could have told him or just talk about something else. Instead I just stayed there listening to him. So I was kind of an asshole too”

“He confided with you?”

“Yes”

“And what did he say about me?”

“Why do you care? Is it important? And then, well, can't you imagine?” if I got so jealous the other night is also because I know he's still into her.

“No, but I'm curious to know: 1) how he's still alive, 2) how you held back throughout the tour”

“I don't know, maybe it's just because of a certain promise I made to a certain special person about not kicking the ass of a certain ex and keeping a certain secret and not starting any trouble in general”

“Wow, you're a man of his word then”

“I'm someone you can trust”

“Will you make a deal with me too then?”

“Sure, anything you want princess”

“The deal is... we won't talk about Jerry anymore”

“Uh”

“Like never, ok?”

“Well, I mean...”

“I won't mention him to you and you won't mention him to me. It's not like we can erase him from our lives, we simply won't actively have any more conversations about him, what do you think?”

“It's not that simple...”

“Well, if you can make an agreement with him, I can't see why you can't make the same kind of deal with me, since I'm also your girlfriend” she folds her arms once again and from the look she's giving me I know I won't get out of this alive if I don't accept this fuckin' agreement. The only thing I can do is trying to get the most out of it.

“In fact I can do it. I'm in...” I hold out my hand for her to shake it “on one condition”

“What is it?” she lets go of my hand and looks suspicious, I think she really don't know where I'm getting at.

“That you finally tell me your second name” she rolls her eyes and barely hides her smile, maybe she was expecting something worse.

“Ok, agreed” she shakes my hand again and I'm all ears.

“So?”

“You know I'm giving you the most powerful weapon, right? You'll make fun of me as long as I live for this”

“I bet it's a beautiful name, I can't wait to know, I'm super psyched”

“Just like my parents when they chose my second name, like I'm pretty sure they were literally under the influence of psychedelics when they decided to call me like that”

“Call you what?”

“Angelina... Something Wind Pacifico”

“But if you're a W. it can't be-”

“The other half of the word starts with a W too”

“Whirlwind!” I say straight off and for an immediate word association the lyrics of Like a hurricane by Neil Young start running in my head and I can already picture her as the perfect main character of that masterpiece of a song.

“No, it's all together but actually it would be a separated word”

“Oh” are you sure? Because that name was pretty perfect.

“It's an adjective” she points out while, in my daydream, I leave the hazy bar and close the door behind my back.

“Windy Wind?”

“Hahaha fuck you, Eddie!”

“Ok, I'm serious now. Warm wind?” I think about the warmth of her hugs and her presence in general but she shakes her head no.

“My mother was... is a fan of Nina Simone. So?”

“Uhm...”

“Maybe I can help you a little more if I tell you Station to station by David Bowie”

I mentally run through the album's tracklist until I get to maybe one of Bowie's best vocal performances ever, right at the end of the record.

Wild is the wind

“Angelina Wildwind Pacifico”

“Guilty as charged”

“It's fucking cool!”

“Ok but... wild wind? Me? Can you picture me with a name like that?” she blushes and shakes her head and hides her face behind her hands.

“Actually it suits you perfectly”

“Sure, it suits to the most boring and average person on the planet”

“No, it suits to the strongest and most unpredictable and most breathtakingly beautiful person in the world. At least, in the part of world that I know, which by the way is the only part I care about because you're there” Angie removes her hands from her face and looks straight into my eyes without opening her mouth and for a minute there I get the illusion I managed to leave her speechless or, at least, in the condition of being forced to take a fucking compliment for once.

“Hahaha well, it really is a shitty world!” she cracks up all of a sudden and hugs me, so tight.

“How fuckin' stupid are you from 0 to 10?” I hold tighter.

“I don't know but I'd say we have a deal now, right?” she looks up and gets free from my embrace just to stretch her hand towards me and seal this agreement for good.

“Right, deal done” I shake her hand, then pull her back to me to kiss her and seal this pact my way.

***************************************************************************************************************************

Time to take a ride, time to take it in a midnight eye

And if you want to go, get on below

“Ok, where the hell are those two now? Dave and I have to unwrap our presents!” we all more or less managed to bunch up around a couple of tables at the Ok Hotel. I tap Krusen on the shoulder and he suddenly awakes. He zoned out completely when the Sonic Youth's song started. Or maybe when the whole evening started.

“I kind of saw them earlier at the bar” it's the drummer's wild guess and considering he basically spent the whole time at the bar, before and after the show, he could have seen Angie and Eddie any time. They could as well be in Mexico by now.

“They're not at the bar anymore, that's where we're coming from” McCready and Staley join us with two fresh beers in their hands, talking of people who should tone it down a little.

“Huh they must be tongue-kissing around here somewhere” Stone is sitting right in front of me, keeping one hand on Grace's shoulder and waving the other hand in the air while he speaks, as to brush it off like an unimportant thought.

“Who? Eddie and Smurfette?” Cornell Gazette from the other end of the table couldn't miss the breaking news and both Stone and Grace nod.

“They've been doing nothing else all night, they're on the edge of public indecency” Mike enriches the gossip story some more, followed by Ben and Kim, who put up a show and got us all bent in laughter.

“I've never seen anything like that”

“At some point we timed them”

“We were bored”

“Twelve minutes and a half of tongue”

“Contjnuous, uninterrupted tongue. I mean, with no breaks whatsoever”

“They looked like two fuckin' 14-year-olds”

“Well, Angie's still a teenager after all, it makes sense”

“Ok but what about Eddie? And how... just on a practical level, I mean, I don't get how they could fuckin' breathe through all that”

“They must have gills, fuck if I know”

“Hahahaha you're such assholes!” my girlfriend scolds us all but only slaps me on the nape.

“Well they're just making up for lost time and you're just jealous” Meg joins her in defending the two lovebirds.

“I get it but TWELVE MINUTES AND THIRTY SECONDS” Kim repeats punctuating every single word about the record timing.

“Jealous and peeping Toms!” Graces chimes in too.

“They were on top of the stairs, it was impossible not to see them” the guitarist shrugs and his bass player nods.

“From every view point and corner”

“Twelve minutes and a half on the stairs?” I playfully add fuel to the fire, the two musicians look at me and their arms flap out.

“Yes!”

“Then the record is that Angie didn't fall down the stairs on anybody, given her history” Chris snickers under his moustache.

“God you love that story so much!” Layne almost chokes on his beer then laughs at Cornell's face.

“Ok ok, anyway, you're shit guys, this all mess for some P.D.A.s? Just because they loosened up a bit, it doesn't mean they're living 24/7 connected at the mouth li- Oh wait, yeah, there they are, they're kissing next to the door” Meg abruptly interrupts her speech and it's kind of comic because we all turn around together at the exact same moment and among those in the back there's someone standing up, getting closer or stretching their neck to give a better look at the not-so-new couple. Even strangers passing by turn the same direction to see what the fuck we're looking at.

We don't know if it's been more than twelve minutes and a half since the beginning of their laters make out session, but those two break away from their kiss and Eddie looks right towards us. We turn the other way around and in a second we're back at talking, well, pretending to talk as if nothing happened, as if he hadn't caught us red handed. Out of the corner of my eye I see them coming over and I casually lift up my voice.

“Alright, I love Goo too, it's a hell of a record, it goes without saying. What I meant is that putting it on in a club and just playing it front to back for two or three times, letting it go, it just gives me a sense of... sloppiness? That's how you call it, right? I'm not saying you have to pay a dj or some fucking guy just to put records on and select music, but they could at least take some time to make a fuckin' mix tape or something and put that on, even on repeat, it doesn't seem so difficult to me. Oh hey guys, where have you been?” I address Stone and Dave first, who look at me weirdly, then to Andie and Eddie walking up to the table.

“Round here. Have you already opened your presents? There's mine left!” Angie rummages into her bag looking for something, then picks out a not so small package.

“Cool, a new brush set, thank you!” I cheer as I unwrap it.

“A little bird told me you needed new ones...” Angie looks up playing dumb, exactly like the bird I know very well who's standing beside her. These two fuckers belong together.

“Oh and this is mine” the little bird sticks his hands into his girl's bag and takes out another package, which turns out to be Subway art, a photobook about graffiti art I've been wanting to buy for ever.

I can say this was a lucky birthday for me, with strings, cords, tool kits, acryic paint set, a couple of gift cards for Easy Street Records, which I loved quite as much as the supermarket voucher Meg gave to me. All useful presents but I loved the (apparently) less useful ones too, like the Marshall jack rack key holder with four plug key chains: thanks to the Alice guys!

During the whole presents and wishes exchange, Eddie and Angie are sitting in a corner and basically being the special observed ones, since everybody watches them like you watch a documentary about animals during the mating season. The couple takes part to the conversation and just ignore the rest, yet they whisper something to each other from time to time.

“By the way, Angie's got something to tell you” Eddie comes out of nowhere with this, in a moment we were all silent, catching our breath after a joke by Stone, who suggested Touch me, I'm Dick as the title of the stand out song of our fake band in Cameron Crowe's movie. By the way, who knows if Chris has already wrote something for the songs of Cliff's solo demo? I gotta remember to ask him.

“What?” Meg asks first, since nobody's speaking, not even Angie, who first gave Eddie a nasty look, then turned pale as she looked at us one by one.

“Is it about the movie?” Layne asks.

“No, it's not about the movie”

“Are you quitting college?” Dave tries.

“No! Why should I?” Angie denies it firmly.

“Is it personal?” if I didn't know him, I'd say Stone is trying to put Angie at ease and help her spit it all out. But since I know him too well, I can say without a shadow of doubt he's just enjoying himself playing with the poor girl.

“Well, yeah, but... mmm... it's not just about me, you know”

“Who else then?” I inquire.

“Eddie” “Me” the two lovebirds reply at the same time.

“Oh fuck, are you pregnant?” McCready stands out as usual for his caution and sensitiveness.

“OH MY GOD, NO! WHAT THE HELL, MIKE?” Angie stands up in shock while Eddie simply laughs.

“So? What's the news?” Cornell is all ears and right now I'm picturing him armed with a pen and notepad as an old-time reporter.

“What Angie's trying to say is that-” Eddie wipes his eyes with he sleeve of his shirt and tries to give an answer but the girl is faster.

“We're together”

“...”

“Eddie and I, we're together”

“...”

“We've been for a while”

“Almost a month” he suggests to her in a low voice.

“Almost a month” she repeats and she looks into our eyes searching for something she can't find and apparently she's just concluded the best thing to do is to keep adding details or to repeat the same concept with different words until she'll find it. Or until any of us opens their mouth.

“...”

“Something more than three weeks”

“...”

“We're basically a couple”

“...”

“I mean, he's my boyfriend and I-”

“And she's my girlfriend” Eddie ended the sentence for her.

“Wow, what a coincidence!” Stone can't hold back and I hide my face between my hands not to show I'm laughing.

“What do you mean?”

“Ok. You're together... and?” Mike tries to investigate some more and if he asks her if she's pregnant once again I swear I'm gonna laugh so hard that I'll fall out of my fuckin' chair.

“And nothing, that's it” Angie replies and sits back down.

“And that'd be great news?” Kim asks keeping a straight face.

“Why? What's wrong with it? Is it because you think I'm too young for him? Look, I know, we know. We talked about it actually, I understand tha-” Angie's about to launch herself into a hornet's nest with no way out but her roommate stops her and we all finally crack up.

“Totally unmotivated Angie-drama in 3, 2, 1...”

We all, but Angie of course.

“Why are you laughing? Is ther something I don't know?”

“What you don't know is that now everybody knows that what you believed none of us knew was actually well known by everyone” Stone answers in his style and Mike's face tells me he didn't understand shit.

“Huh?” exactly.

“He means we're laughing because we already knew what the news were about” I explain and the lightbulb in his head lights up.

“Uh!”

“You saw us then, I mean, tonight? Because, well, you didn't say anything...”

“Who do you think we are? We're discreet people!” Cornell states and it almost looks like he believes it.

“We knew before tonight anyway” Ben adds without thinking.

“You knew before? How? MEG?? You told them, right??” Angie stands back up and roars against her friend.

“How could she tell if she didn't know?” Eddie asks puzzled his now official girlfriend.

“No! Right! She didn't know! But... I don't know, maybe she figured it out. DID YOU FIGURE IT OUT?”

“I figured it out” Meg confesses.

“THAT'S IT!”

“But I didn't tell anyone, I swear” she holds up her hands, Angie believes her and looks at us one by one, before aiming straight at her boyfriend.

“YOU TOLD THEM!”

“No, I can assure you I kept my mouth shut, as you asked me”

“How did you know then?”

“Stone told me” McCready's voice of innocence out of nowhere.

“Stone told me too, because I was there as well that night. And Dave too” I confess and the drummer nods.

“Stone told us too, but it was some other time, at least I think so” Chris looks at Kim and Ben who shake their heads yes.

“For obvious reasons, he told me too” Grace raises her hand and shyly admits.

“Jeff told me because Stone told him” Laura chimes in.

“Is there someone Stone didn't tell anything to?” Angie blurts out.

“Me! I figured it all out by myself! I'm a genius!” Layne raises his hand and waves it around, as happy as the winner of a tv quiz.

“And you, how did you know, genius?” Angie turns to Gossard snarling at him but he answers calmly.

“I believe I knew even before you that you'd end up together, Smurfette”

“What do you mean?”

“That you both suck at playing the oblivious lovers. You're made for each other” I translate it all in Jeff-language and everybody nods in agreement, Eddie included.

“Were we so obvious?”

“Noooo”

“Not that much”

“It's not that”

“It's just Stone's a very good observer”

“It's just Stone doesn't mind his own fuckin' business”

These are just some of the answers we give in no particular order just not to make her feel little Angie like shit.

“Come on, it was clear from the beginning they had a connection. Since the first time they met at the Off Ramp, I realized it at my own expense since I had bet on it, do you remember Mikey?” I like the fact that Stone, just like me, remembers old memories based on bets we placed.

“Right! I lost ten bucks too because I thought you wouldn't talk to each other, yet you got along immediately, it looked like you already knew each other”

“I'm gonna ignore the umpteenth bet you made over your friend's head but... actually we already knew each other somehow” Angie reveals and the alarm goes off in my head.

“WHAT? REALLY? HOW?”

“Jeff?” Stone calls me immediately as I keep on trying to disguise the truth clumsily.

“HOW DID YOU KNOW EACH OTHER? THAT'S SOME NEWS!”

“I had met him at Roxy's the previous night, he came over to eat”

“NEWS AS IN IT'S A NEW THING, A NEW FACT I'VE NEVER HEARD OF BEFORE”

“So you didn't know about it Jeff?” Stone doesn't let go and by now it's obvious I got caught, I'm fucked.

My shit show at least has one merit: the following little bickering between Stone, Mike and I about the twenty dollars, which they think I owe them back, moves the attention away from Angie. Now she's finally free from the awkwardness and can sit back and enjoy the show of our friends kicking my ass, holding hands with her new boyfriend.

[numbaoneflaya]

Can I get a list of all ur ocs?

Well anon youve done it, you made me make a list of all my major OCS in one place. I hope your happy with yourself. Under the cut for obvious reasons, may link in my blog desc later.

Modern/BTD verse!!

Jilly- Ferret beastkin little creature, was recently turned into a werewolf by vincent as well so she's running around on full moons in a wereferret wolf hybrid creature form. Chaotic and friendly and wants to be everyone's bestie. She has the most energy in the world and is very kind hearted. Banned from most Claires for stealing and from one Home Depot for climbing the shelves. Prone to living life with rose colored glasses on and seeing the best in everything/everything even when there's nothing there. Socialization is a must for her and is why being basemented/kidnapped broke her psych so quickly and developed severe stockholm. Sometimes overly talkative/enthusiastic and can scare people off. Even if she sees someone shes decided shes friends with be noticeably 'evil', will convince herself it must be for some reason/her fault and ignore it.

Ciggy- Undead punk still learning to harness his powers to interact with the world as a ghost. Was sacrificed by a cult he joined for free concert tickets and to get laid. Likes to cause problems on purpose both pre and prior death and he's not above possessing someone once he learns how to. Was called Rooster in high school before he dropped out because he's loud, obnoxious and always screaming. And also has bright red dyed hair. Looking 4 ways to become less ghosty bcs he wants to be able to help raise his infant daughter, whom he died before he could meet. Bit annoying and in your face, likes poking at bruises, his or others. Kind of a sad heart seeking attention through volume and persistence.

Mike: Vampire loser! Sells drugs and lives at raves. Was turned when she was attacked by a coked out vampire (whom she supplied the product to) and has major scarring on her face and chest. Needs a somewhat constant influx of blood so shell sometimes take victims back to her place and chain them up, slowly draining them over time. Feels bad (ish) about it tho so it is possible to survive her if you are nice and or interesting enough. Kind of desperate for a friend and for love. Is a stalker. If she likes you enough/finds you interesting, she might just appear in your house one night and start rummaging through your fridge like nothing is wrong and youve been besties for years. Its best to indulge her and be friendly, otherwise she could turn violent quickly if her feelings are hurt.

Kilaine- Regular human woman, but fucked up. Born and raised by an elite waspy society she had an interest in the human body and pain tolerance since she was young. Quickly learned that these traits were socially unacceptable in most professions, so she became a doctor. The only family she cared about was her younger sister who she lost in a car accident, where they were flipped over and trapped inside while it was afire. While her sister burned up in front of her Kilaine only lost her left arm and had major burns on her body. This tipped her descent into sadism and she is now madly obsessed with bringing her sister back no matter the cost. Rude and offstandish, clinical.

Dragon age verse!

Thurwen- My main Hero of Ferelden with a bad temper and a heart of gold. City elf from the Denerim Alienage, 18 at the start of origins. She's a reaver warrior with a lot of pent up rage which sometimes scares others when she lets it out in battle. Over the years she's grown less moody as she's had to take the role of Commander. Crude sense of humor and violent impulses, very sensitive to the plights of others and tries often to help. Never seen crying in public but only cries to herself at night- major martyr and hanged man complex.

Caz- My circle mage elf inquisitor who was an apostate before the conclave. Blood magic, but make it sneaky. Wary of strangers and new faces, always dealing with the impulse to flee/find a high vantage point. Endless curiosity about the unknown/ the forbidden/ naughty, was supposed to be made tranquil for it but she escaped. Kind of a little creature as well, lived on her own for a while as an apostate in the woods, filed her teeth down to sharp ends to make herself look more intimidating (shes 5 ft tall) and less cute (her elf ears are huge and expressive, which shes embarrassed about)

Dag and Thagna- Carta twins! Professional lyrium smugglers since birth pretty much. Raised casteless in dust town and had to work their way up the chain of command by themselves. Dag is the brother, Thagna the sister. Their father traded them to the carta for drinking money and their mom died in childbirth so they have somewhat of a codependent relationship. Both charismatic and calculating, friendly and agreeable but won't hesitate to put a dagger in your back. Hard to pin down morally or physically, squirrelly bastards.

Reila: Dalish elf who works for the inquisition/ is the inquisitor in some aus. She has an extreme fixation on elvhen history and rebuilding what they have lost. Not a people person, prefers solitude. Takes some time to warm up to shemhlen as she has a hard history with them. Good friends with Caz, who recruited her in the first place. Doesn't understand very many social cues and finds societal expectations limiting and frustrating. Fondness for halla and hooved animals, which she finds graceful.

Elder scrolls verse!

Valkya: Near seven foot nord woman whos over a thousand years old by the events of skyrim. Tall and buff, two handed warrior and compulsive hero there to bask in the spotlight save the day. She was killed at the start of the events of Elder scrolls online and had her soul ripped out and sent to coldharbor and she's just been a pain in the ass about it since then. Her body can physically die and will not regrow pieces. Her soul however will escape and teleport to the nearest source of power where her body will regrow from an aetherial plasm until its whole again. Loud and brash, friendly and jovial. Actually pretty keen especially after centuries of life but prefers to play dumb as it makes people underestimate her. Plus, she really does enjoy mud wrestling and drinking contests and acting generally like a rambunctious frat boy. Ha developed a bit of a substance problem and a problem with acting out, as after being alive so long she would turn to anything to dull the ache inside of her that never goes away.

Espira- My Dragonborn! Redguard from Hammerfell who was briefly in the Ash’abah due to killing undead while protecting her parents water farm as a child. Ran away from them after years and went to Cyrodille, then to Skyrim and was caught crossing the border. Reserved, kind and soft spoken, she's a sword and shield warrior who's committed herself to doing good in the world by helping others. Dislikes killing and anything messy but believes it is often necessary in order to protect the weak. She blacksmiths often to save money on the upkeep of her own equipment, and takes up metal jewelry working as a hobby with the excess material. Prone to trusting others too much and giving too many second chances, as shes always looking for ways to make even the most hardened criminal a second look at life.

Riley- Espiras little brother who she locked in the wardrobe during the event of the water farm attack. In preventing him from doing violence against the undead she kept him from being conscripted into the Ash’abah. He's way more chaotic than his sister, and suffers from a case of little sibling syndrome in which he will often pester/poke at people just to get a rise out of them. Still kind hearted as his sister, he tries to hide it because he believes that the world is a cruel place and the cruel survive. Despite that belief he is often still unable to force himself to be cruel/careless, only making a show of it so that others leave him alone and don't see that he's very sensitive and emotional. Deaf in one ear due to a magic mishap in his youth, he trained and enchanted his most beloved rats to live for years and sit on his shoulder, alerting him to noises he would not otherwise notice.

Felria: Evil vamp :/ chaotic evil dunmer necromancer. Small and devilish and likes dead bodies too much. Manipulative and cunning, she loves acting. She's a trained assassin for the dark brotherhood and is the speaker. Likes dressing up for missions and wearing disguises like its all a play. Loves toying with people more than she loves killing them, will act in ways that cause as much trauma as possible for other people just for fun and she finds the reactions interesting. Considers herself too far removed from most people's perception of morality and of her so it's hard for her to trust someone or see them as worthy of knowing her. Finds the psychology of grief and fear to be interesting and wants to study them first hand. The hero of kvatch.

Herren: Fifty something year old rat woman looking for something to keep her going. Ran away from her wealthy family in her youth when they wanted her to take charge of the household, instead became an infamous jewel thief and swashbuckler. Spent most of her life traveling and stealing and double dealing. She's smarmy and sarcastic, a serial romancer of the highest caliber. Bit of a show off and a hedonist, always looking for the next good party or new product to snort. Her family died off due to the hard times she wasn't there for and she keeps looking for bigger and bigger heists to fill her appetite as she's chronically bored and lonely, though wont accept intimacy and will scoff at it out of the belief she doesn't deserve it. Irresponsible and selfish, lonely and terrified of any sort of commitment. Fun to party with though!

[molzies-fanfics]

Cruisin’

A/N: I’m really glad for my first Leo one shot that someone gave me the basic plot points because honestly writing for Leo is gonna go one of two ways for me, I’m either going to write him super out of character (or base him off of OOTS which might not be the best idea in my opinion) or it will be in character for this type of fic and you guys will like it. But I promise I’ll get better at writing for Leo either way. 

Updated A/N: I ended up writing so much for this but I’m so happy with what I wrote even if it is a little out of character. (2979 words)

Leo x female!reader

Requested by: @iamcheese13​

Leo had made a habit of trying to leave without anybody noticing and hoping to god they just assumed he was in his room, meditating. But Donnie had knocked on his door and opened it to see if he was there to only come up empty three times this week. THREE TIMES. It was incredibly unlike the fearless leader to just vanish without telling the rest of his team, his brothers, where he was going. Raph knew how brutal he was whenever he came back from a trip to the surface by himself, it was like Leo was the mother hen but no one knew who would tell him off. Splinter? Yeah but it wasn’t like Leo was actually doing anything wrong.

 Going up to the surface for a breath of fresh air wasn’t against the rules or whatever. It was the part about not telling his family that stuck out. Eventually even April and Casey started to notice that they saw less and less of the blue banded turtle. Suspicions were starting to grow and it just got to the point where they knew they had to follow him. If he was going out almost five times a week? Something was definitely up.

 Following him down to the docks? It was a bit unexpected but it wasn’t like they knew where he was going. Stalking a ninja without being noticed was the hard part, with all the falling behind they did (especially with April and Casey) it was surprising that they hadn’t lost Leo at some point. Watching him walk into an abandoned warehouse was even more sketchy than they thought, so his brothers assumed that he was either being black mailed or he was dealing with crime directly…by himself.

 A couple minutes passed and they saw a young girl, around their age, jump down from a boat and make her way into the warehouse with a bright smile on her face. Raph was having none of it, “What if she’s working for the foot?” he whisper shouted to his accomplices. It was a reasonable question, but as far as the brothers knew, Leo was alone with that girl in there.

 *Leo’s POV*

 I had been meeting up with her for a couple months now, meeting her by accident when I was out by myself one night near the docks. I liked to stare at the water to help me calm down and this was after a particularly nasty fight with Raphael. Next thing I knew, the wooden roof underneath me had gave way and I blacked out. When I woke up she was there, hovering over me and tending to what little wounds I had. She had somehow managed to carry me to her boat and had me resting on her sofa bed.

The way she looked at me wasn’t with fear or hatred, but concern and dare I say kindness. I learnt that her name was Y/N and she had loved the water all her life, when she was a kid she’d tell grown ups she wanted to be a mermaid when she was older. She loves all marine life, she told me turtles were her favorites, which (almost embarrassingly) made me blush. Hopefully I don’t think she noticed.

We became friends and for some reason I wanted to keep her friendship to myself. Which led to the sneaking out, not telling my brothers or my father where I was going, who I was meeting and why I went I meet them so often. You see, Y/N lived by herself, she didn’t have many friends in the city and all she had was her boat and everything on it. I barely fit under the deck so we ended up meeting in a warehouse nearby, it was warmer and had a lot more space.

Seeing her almost every day helped me regain my belief, that what we were doing for the city was worth it. That even when the people we saved ran away screaming, it was okay because they were safe and not everybody was going to be accepting to who we are or what we do. Even if all we did was help from the shadows, at the end of the day it was better than nobody helping at all.

But tonight? I wasn’t expecting things to go differently. I was expecting an easy going conversation with a girl that I considered as my friend…and nothing else! Nope. But no, my family had to step in at some point. I just wasn’t expecting it to be so…awkward.

“So I told her that yes I do live on a boat but that it’s also none of her business!” Y/N was rambling about how her day had went, especially since she’d ran into someone she had known from high school. She had only graduated last year but nonetheless she wasn’t comfortable with people judging how she lived her life. “Good for you.” I chuckled warmly. Watching Y/N talk had slowly became one of my favorite things, maybe it was the way she described things or how she moved as she reenacted scenes but all I did know was that she looked beautiful. Wait, what?

A sharp tone sounded from Y/N’s bag, taking the irritating device out she answered it. “Oh! Hi Mom.” She blushed as she turned to face me, indicating the door she mouthed to me ‘Is it okay if I take this?’. I nodded, as if she had to ask, I knew she didn’t talk to her parents that often so who was I to say she couldn’t take a phone call?

Shooting me a bright smile before she scooted out the door, she gave me a small wave. I was still waving back even after she had closed the door. What was I doing? All we ever did was talk but I found myself wanting…more? God, just having her as my friend was enough and I was grateful for that but it felt like I had known for a long time that I was looking for a lot more than friendship. Maybe this was why I had kept her away from the others?

*Third person POV*

Crawling through one of the many warehouse windows, the others gazed down at Leo. He was alone and looked a bit…sad? Raph couldn’t help but feel like he was right, maybe the girl was working for the foot and had only just revealed it to Leo after he had given her all the information. On the other hand he should probably check in with his brother before jumping the gun, like he had ever done that before? There was something about how Leo was holding himself that made Raph think twice.

Jumping down, the others followed, with Casey falling into a pile of boxes becoming a clear indicator to Leo that he was no longer alone. Shooting up from his makeshift chair (a crate) Leo skittishly met the eyes of his brothers. “Oh-Hey! Hey guys…what’s up?” Blushing all kinds of shades of green, Leonardo internally face palmed at how he handled their arrival.

“What’s up? What’s up! You have been leaving the lair without telling us for months Leo! Months! We’re worried! That’s what’s up!” Raph yelled. He may not have jumped the gun but he still had a right to be angry. “I’ve…I’ve been busy Raph.” He mumbled pathetically, embarrassed. “Busy? How can you be busy? You haven’t got many hobbies besides taking down the foot! So unless you’ve been doing missions by yourself I want to know exactly what you’re doing?! No excuses!” Raph questioned harshly, Donnie and Mikey just looked disappointed with April and Casey awkwardly standing there witness the family argue. Well, one-sidely argue.

“I…met someone.” The leader muttered, hoping it wouldn’t go as badly as it had so far. “Oh you mean that girl? Who is she? Do you even know Leo? She could be working for the bad guys did that even cross your mind?!” The ran banded turtle accused. “She’s my friend and she saved me! If she was our enemy she would have left me! Or she would’ve hurt me by now, she wouldn’t have let it go on for this long!!” He finally snapped, not wanting Raph to turn his anger to Y/N. She didn’t deserve it after all she had done.

“Look bro just because you got a girlfriend doesn’t give you the right to just flake out on us and not tell us.” Mikey rubbed his arm, sad that all of the lying had to lead to this (but realistically how else was it going to turn out). “Mike I never meant for-wait you think she’s my girlfriend?” Leo’s blush returned in full force. The fact that other people saw it too made him think he wasn’t going crazy? “Well she is. Isn’t she?” April perked up.

“Uhhh-” Before Leo had a chance to explain the warehouse door creaked open. “Hey sorry that took so long my mom wanted to tell me about…macarons?” You seemed to question yourself as your eyes met the three other turtle men and two people. “Um…Hi?” You waved awkwardly, making your way over to Leo. “You didn’t tell me there were others like you?” You laid your doe eyes on him and all of a sudden it felt like his legs were made of jelly.

“Um, I didn’t know when to bring it up?” His voice squeaked as he smiled uneasily. “Well anyway, I’m Y/N. It’s nice to meet you!” You beamed as you looked back at the turtles, making eye contact with the one that seemed to be glaring at you. “Huh, I’m sure you’d love for him to tell you everything wouldn’t you?” Raph snarked “Raph don’t.” Donnie finally spoke up. “No, maybe I should because nobody else will, not even Leo! Who’s supposed to be our fearless leader. It’s ridiculous! He’s so distracted he has no idea if she’s gonna stab him in the back or not.” Donatello glared at his brother as he made his argument right in front of you.

“Wait, you think I’m going to betray your trust?” Turning back to Leo, you needed to know if this was true. “My brothers do. I don’t think you would.” You could tell he was being sincere by how he was looking into your eyes. It made you want to melt. “Hey! Don’t group us into Raph’s spiel! We don’t even know her yet. Besides I don’t see why this is so different from when we met April and Casey.” Mikey reasoned. “Mike’s right. I’m April by the way.” She shook your hand, smiling warmly. “I’m Casey.” He introduced by waving behind the reporter.

“And I’m Michelangelo! Leo’s younger brother and the best looking of the group!” He winked as he slung an arm around you. Jealousy flared up in him for a moment, he shoved him off of you. “Sorry about him, he doesn’t know personal space is a thing!” He growled at the orange banded brother. You laughed at the interaction, “I didn’t know they were your brothers! That’s so cool!” Placing a hand on Leo’s arm you watched him calm down at your touch.

“Anyway I’m Donatello, some would say I’m the brains either way I’m far more intelligent than these knuckleheads.” The purple banded turtle quipped before Raph could throw a punch at him. You were still a bit nervous about him, he clearly didn’t trust you and was very protective of Leo and his family. “Don’t worry, if the others are okay, Raph will be too. He just needs time.” It was as if Leo could read your mind. With the amount of time you two had spending together lately, you wouldn’t be surprised if he had picked up on your mannerisms.

*a couple hours later*

“I mean…it wouldn’t be all that bad if Leo brought you by the lair sometime. Maybe even meet master Splinter.” Raph admitted. You’d thought it would take a couple of days, months maybe to earn even a shred of trust. Although the way you treated and held yourself around his brothers convinced him that you didn’t have a malicious bone in your body.

“Thanks Raphael.” You smiled politely, trying your best to not show how tired you really were. The others had called it quits for the night after hanging out for a bit, dawn was almost here and the turtles couldn’t be seen in daylight hours. “I’ll see you all soon, alright?” Patting down your pockets, you started to back away, double checking you hadn’t forgotten anything. “Aw hell yeah! Next time we see you, we’re playing Mario kart ‘kay?” Mikey pointed finger guns at you before bounding away. “Sure!” you giggled.

Donnie nodded, bowing slightly before walking alongside April and Casey who were yawning, leaning against each other. “I’ll walk you back to the boat.” Leo offered, giving you that smile with all the warm feelings behind it. “Thanks.” You grinned back, kicking the snow in your path into the frigid water below. Living at the docks was usually cold, but with Leo around it made you forget how alone you were, how cold reality was. You wish he was around more often but after tonight you realized how much he had given up just to come and see you. Even though what he did was wrong it made you feel…special, like you were special to him.

“Is it true you snuck away from your family just to see me?” Curiosity boiled over, the look on Leo’s face confirmed it. He felt guilty, you know that, but had it been worth it? “Yeah…it’s true. I just, didn’t know how to tell them…how to tell you, I can’t even imagine what master splinter would say if he found out I got knocked out so easily and was rescued by…you.” It seemed a bit back handed the way he had phrased it, like his father wouldn’t like you, but the way he had said it was completely different. His whole demeanor had turned soft and a short walk felt like it lasted an eternity.

When you reached the boat, facing him before saying goodbye, searching for the words you knew you had to say. Leo beat you to it. “I don’t want to make anything awkward between us after tonight. I hope you know that the last couple of months have been really…special, to me. I just want to know if they’ve been special to you too.” He admitted albeit sheepishly. “Of course they have Leonardo. I don’t think I could ever be awkward around you, if anything you calm me down. Even that night when I found you out cold in the shed, I knew I should have been panicking but knowing you needed help, my help, calmed me right down. Somehow I found the strength to get you back.” You let a little laugh, feelings bubbling beneath your words. You just wondered if he felt it too.

“I’m happy to have you in my life and I knew that meant introducing you to my family eventually. I just wasn’t expecting it to be in the form of an interrogation.” You both burst out laughing at that one. Starting to see color in your peripheral vision, you knew the sun was waking up. “Leo tonight was awesome, I don’t mind that you kept your family a secret, for whatever reason. Besides I look forward to beating Mikey at Mario kart.” Chuckling uneasily, you didn’t want to say goodbye, even if you were going to see him the next night. It had become less and less easy as your feelings towards him had grown. He gave you a half smile before stepping forward, the beginnings of sunlight glinting in his eyes. Your heart rate picked up as you realized you were practically chest to chest. “I’ll see you tonight.” He breathed. You could…you wanted to, but was it the right moment? Of course it was, but you could tell he was nervous underneath. His eyes were searching every other part of your fave besides your eyes and…lips. “See you.” You whispered slowly, dragging out the moment.

That was when his eyes met your lips, his head tilted slightly, sun rays creeping dangerously up his skin. All it took was breaking down the last of your resolve and trusting your toes to carry you the rest of the way. It was a brief brushing of lips, eyes meeting before he wrapped his arm around your back, his other hand cupping your cheek. He was surprisingly warm, each kiss told you that, even with your eyes closed you could tell he was smiling. He was buzzing with such happy energy. Wrapping your arms around his head in a prom-esque kind of way, you leaned into him, soaking in all the warmth before he pulled away for air. 

You could see the sun rising in the blue, but you knew he was staring at you. “I really wish I didn’t have to go right now. I wish I could stay.” Leaning his forehead on yours, his hands on your hips now. All you could do was smile up at him. “Just think of it as something to look forward to tonight.” You smirked. “Heh, I tried to tell Mikey that I wasn’t ‘cruising’ or whatever but I realized tonight I kind of was.” He flirted back, kind of. “You tell yourself that honor boy, I’m the one who found you in the shed.” You laughed before giving him a gentle push.

“See you.” He pecked your lips again before finally separating from you. “See you then.” Beaming, you stepped onto the boat, watching him jog away with a wide grin on his face. Before you knew it he was out of sight and you were doing a little victory dance.

[astraeass]

[3] start once again;

[cross-posted in ao3 • fem reader]

Previous chapter

pairing: levi ackerman/reader

warnings: cursing, mentions of death

words: 2379

Summary:

you are finally able to choose regiment, but were you actually ready for what it awaits you?

"Yes! Another down, I’m in a fever streak!" Nile cheered with a big proud green adorning his sharp features that you wished you could rip it off his face. While he was celebrating his 5th deep cut in a wood titan dummy's nape you stood behind him, standing on a wide tree branch burning holes on his back and apparently he felt it, because he turned instantly, searching for the person who was practically planning for his death and after a while, he met your deadly gaze. His serious scowl turned into a smirk

"What happens [L/N]? Are you mad that you aren’t fast enough? The girl that had natural talent with the 3DMG is falling behind isn’t it?" You exactly knew what is he trying to do by bickering like that, and you didn’t want to fall for it, but your short-tempered behavior didn’t help at all in this situation "Shut the fuck up, Dok" You said lowly, and decided to move on. Aiming your grapple hooks to the next tree and firing when you saw that the hook gripped it well, then you activated your gas mechanism to reel forward and repeat the motion with nearby trees and branches till you found an uncommonly titan dummy without it's nape ripped of.

With determination replacing your fumed expression, you aimed towards the neck, unleashing your sharp blades from the stealths of the boxes that were situated in your tights, firing the hooks and activating the gas, making you to move towards where you aimed, you tightened the already hard grip in your blades positioning them in you to hands in a way that with a simple push of your arms plus some strength would cut the foam nape with easy, and that’s how you did. After that, you aimed and fired into a tree near you and landed with grace onto the tree's branch "Nice, that’s my 7th today" you murmured, thinking that no one would hear you, but the clapping you hear not far away make you turn around we’re you thought you heard the sound instantly.

"Good work [Y/N], you’re improving so fast!" When you turned around, you weren’t surprised seeing Erwin standing there with a proud smile in his lips, he was the origin of the claps, still your eyes widened. Not because of the older blond witnessing what could be your best 'titan kill' so far, but noticing that not far behind him, was Instructor Duvalier with an unreadable expression "That wasn’t bad, [L/N-" he said with his usual monotone both, but pride bubbled in your chest, trying to stop the grin forming in your own lips. Claude being aware of this, scoffed and crossed his arms "But don’t let your pride get you, the real shit is much different form that fucked and overused wood"

"Uh... um, yeah sure! Thank you so much, sir" you stuttered and bowed in front of him as a thank, but you weren’t aware of your closeness to the border and when you bowed, you lost your equilibrium making you fall meters down "Shit!" you rapidly reacted, turning around while falling and aimed at the bottom of the branch you stood seconds ago and fired just in time, because you felt the soft grass barely touching your back "[Y/N], are you okay?!" You heard Erwin shouting and not after towering your floating form. You were sure he could see your widened eyes and heavy panting "Yeah..."

Instructor Duvalier came soon and deeply sighed when seeing your state "Still as dumb fuck as ever, [L/N], if it weren’t for your surprisingly sharp reflects, I’m pretty sure that would have left a nasty as fuck wound" he said, his tone angry, but you could clearly see how hard he was trying to contain his laugh when seeing your condition and you got flustered and blushed hard in embarrassment, unleashing the hooks and falling back into the grass, letting a quiet "oof" and closing your eyes while sighing "You worried me there, [Y/N]... we’re choosing out regiment in a few months and you can’t make those silly mistakes in the half of your training with the scouts!"

Erwin scolded you, and you sat in the grass, palms plain in the ground, resting your body on them and looking everywhere but him, the scene was even more hilarious for Claude. It looked exactly like a big brother angry for his little sister safety after she tripped herself with a little rock at the side of the read because she wasn’t been watching where she was running and the whole situation warmed Claude's heart making he shake his head in disbelief with himself, these kids - adult kids - were making his cold behavior melt and that annoyed him "C'mon cadets, training will be over soon and both of you worked hard already" your little discussion with Erwin ended up as soon as you both heard Claude's rough voice and obeyed his order immediately "Yes, sir!"

;;

"Hands upon your hearts!"

"Yes, sir!"

Weeks turned into months, those months into exactly three years and now you stood with your fellow companions in front of various superiors of the military regiment, today’s is the day you’ll be choosing your military branch, and you are totally sure of which one you will be ending up joining to. Quiet murmur started to form around you, talking about how not long ago your instructor announced the top 10 graduates in your division, making your chest swell in pride unconsciously remembering your high position.

"For every trainee graduating today, three paths now open before you" said Duvalier, positioning himself in front of you all, the same way he did for the first day you all joined the training corps, it has a nostalgic feeling and for an unknown reason you don’t want to discover at all, it made you really nervous "The Garrison Regiment, charged with reinforcing the Walls and protecting the territory within them" This path was the usual for anyone who didn’t reach a position on the top ten trainees, you didn’t risk you life like a suicidal, through yourself outside the walls for an assured and cruel death, eaten by horrendous monsters.

Such a dumb idea for crazy people, just like you "The Scout Regiment, those who venture beyond the Safety of the walls into Titan territory" you noticed how everyone around went stiff after hearing the name of scout regiment, even some of them making comments about what you were thinking about just mere seconds ago, and that made you deeply sigh, but it didn’t matter, right know, your goal is your main mission "Most of you hope for the relative comfort of the Military Police Regiment, but only the top ten graduates are given luxury to choose serving the King by controlling the crowds and protecting order"

You didn’t know a lot about the Military Police Regiment, you only saw them doing their duty when you were younger, but for what you just heard, it sounds like the most boring shit ever, however, that place of comfort and security didn’t sound that bad "I will now announce the top ten graduates..." Oh, that sounds interesting, your vision was turning blurry, almost falling sleep while stood the only thing keeping you up was that memory from when you actually fell asleep in front of Claude while he was explaining, you grimaced when remembering the punishment ‘not again' "Step forward when your name is called"

"Number ten, Anna Schulz" A tall brunette girl with short hair and bright emerald orbs stepped forward, she seemed surprised, pupils widening and a big grin covering her face "Number nine, Elias Meyer" the next stepped out with hesitation, his expression showing confusion, like not even knowing why he deserved the ninth place, but he closed his hazel eyes tightly and gulped "Number eight, Leon Schulz" a boy - that actually looked way older than you - cheered lowly, but that didn’t stop Duvalier to send him a deadly glare, making the redhead instantly stop and bow as an apology.

Minutes passed, nothing interesting happened anymore and you started to get sleepy once again, that was until you heard your name being shouted out loud making you jump and direct your gaze at the person who did so "A-Ah... yes, sir?" Focusing your gaze to everyone around you again, you could see their different types of emotions they were sending to you, some of them were about to burst out of laughter - one of them Mike - some others with looks of pity and worry for yourself and another people uninterested.

"Cadet [L/N], one of these days you’ll die assassinated and not by a titan..." You heard Instructor Duvalier murmuring, but you were not too far away, he then glared at you with a letal glaze that made you pale and gulp in an instant "You’re the fifth cadet in the top ten trainees you dumbass" You blinked for a second, that turned into more seconds, jaw wide open, but composing yourself, you took a step forward and nodded in affirmation "M-My apologies, sir! I was a tad.. distracted" Duvalier just clicked his tongue and preferred to ignore your still sleepy status, walking back to his place.

Wait.

I... I made it to the top 10?

In sudden realization your eyes went widened in surprise just seconds after Instructor Duvalier walked away, you were beyond joyful, you thought you barely even grazed Anna, the tenth graduate. Unfortunately, you couldn’t demonstrate your happy self since everyone is in silence and tense waiting if their names are going to be mentioned, also if you started to jump and scream of excitement Claude wouldn’t take that well at all, less after he saw you almost sleeping - again - you barely payed attention to the next name, Marie, the only thought coming to your mind about the name was that girl Nile and Erwin had a crush on, or was that you guessed.

"Number three, Nile Dok" Your content stopped immediately ready to hit Nile if he planned to say anything stupid about how he stronger than you and shit like that. But it never came. Instead he looked kind of mad and about to snap, confusing you but then you remembered his rank and also his usual competition with a certain bright blond and connects all of the pieces. As far as you know, Erwin's name hasn’t been said, you couldn’t comment about it though since you were barely conscious of your surroundings mere minutes ago, however Nile's rea-

"Number two, Erwin Smith" Ah... there he is. The hour golden boy and reason why Nile is sending an infuriating look towards Erwin, the sigh is pretty amusing to you and would burst out of laugh if it wasn’t that Instructor Duvalier was glaring all of you like a hawk right now. So you just limited yourself to hold your chuckle down instead of risking your body to be used as titan bait while waiting for Claude to finish, you pretty much knew who left thought.

"And our top-ranking graduate, Mike Zacharias!" The dirty blond limited and only sent a smirk, like he knew he would reach up this point and step towards where everyone mentioned else were standing, you couldn’t do more but wait until Instructor Duvalier finished "That is the top ten. However, these results are based on scores during training..." Claude continued and started to approach all of us, more specifically between me and the sixth graduate that you noticed as the beautiful cold-headed Mary Suhc.

"Whether you can put your skills to use in an actual battle is another matter altogether. Those of you who didn’t rank should think long and hard..." Your instructor continued to walk towards, now meeting the glares of the rest of cadets that couldn’t make it to the top ten and you sighed in comfort, finally free of his deadly look "What can you do? What should you try to achieve?" Claude turned back to his spot in front of all of us, facing the large group with determination filling and hope filling his eyes.

"Tomorrow you’ll be asked which regiment you'd like to be assigned to!"

;;

You totally expected this.

Barely a small fraction of your division stood with you, in front of the Survey Corps Commander, Keith Shadis who just finished his discourse that was full of how dread, literally how few of us will survive our first expedition and that small amount wouldn’t probably last long neither, you also expected this type of warm welcome that you’ll forget after the first days of even harder training. The Commander had a look of understanding when most of the graduates walked away, but you couldn’t miss the slight ambience of disappointment surrounding him.

Other thing you did not miss was the light hope he had on his eyes, looking at how five of the ten top graduates decided to stay and recomposed himself, coughing with the intention of continuing "I welcome everyone here to the Survey Corps, this is a true salute. Offer up your hearts!" Keith said out loud with passion adorning his rough voice, sending a salute to all of you. Coping his gesture, the rest standing with saluted back shouting the familiar words as an answer, all of this made the Commander puff out his chest in proudness, not letting it show at all though.

"All of you have my utterly respect, let’s fight for humanity all together!"

Yes, this scenario was exactly what you recreated in your mind yesterday when you decided to join the scouts.

But you weren’t ready for what it came next.

You weren’t ready to see the Titans that close up in your first expedition, their hungry glare and awful aspect that almost made you stop in your tracks.

You weren’t ready to be the one last to see Mary alive, and stare at how her small body was devoured by these creatures without doing anything, you weren’t able to help, glued on your spot thanks to the fear running through your veins.

You weren’t ready to be one of the few people who remained alive of your assigned squad.

So this was survivors guilt, huh?

Next Chapter

[louisapennyfeather2021]

Can you do a newsies JoJo x reader where JoJo was self conscious bc all the other boys thought he was a pushover, so the reader comforts him

I did it! I finished this before Friday! Successfully, I think!

Anyway, here is a nice little Jojo x reader fic!

Reader is referred to in They/Them pronouns.

Warning: just the Newsies doing something really dumb.

A/N: I wrote this in about an hour because I have not a lot of school work(unless we're talking about updating Welcome to Camp. Then I have tok much school work and very little inspiration)

***

"Betcha won't do it!"

"C'mon, Jo, ain't gonna be that bad!"

"You ain't scared, are ya?"

"'Course I'm not!" Jojo huffs, briefly narrowing his eyes at Ike as he silently mocks Jojo before him and the others start cackling again.

"I can give ya a pass out, but it'd cost ya." Race jabs his elbow into one of the other fellas, keeping up a cool exposure. While the others keep on laughing, Race gives Jojo a look. It's the look Race always gives him whenever the other guys try to get Jojo to do something. Race is no stranger to antagonizing and teasing, but it's no secret that he's willing to keep his really close friends from doing something that makes them too uncomfortable. No Newsie purposefully oversteps boundaries, but there are a few like the twins who just don't know where the boundary line is.

"It's just a bet, 'less you're too scared you'll get stuck!" Mike grins. Of course, his outlandish bet has something to do with climbing a fire escape and then jumping to try and swing on a lamp post.

"I told ya, I ain't scared!" Jojo snaps, clenching his jaw before stalking towards the fire escape. He climbs it, focusing on the fellas cheering and laughing still as a distraction. Jojo gets to the platform level with the top of a lamp post and he clenches his fists. It's just one of the posts outside the lodge, but for some reason it seems miles away.

"Don't chicken out now, Jo!" One of the guys yells from below. Jojo, despite the feeling in his stomach telling him to stop, squares his feet, takes a deep breath, and launches himself at the lamp post.

***

"Of all the idiotic, no brain things ya could'a done, it had to be jumpin' off a fire escape?" Jack shakes his head and crosses his arms.

"Keep your pants on, Kelly. Jo was just tryin' ta get the fellas to shut up." From next to Jojo's bunk, the one and only Y/N of the Manhattan Newsies uses a damp rag to wipe at Jojo's scrapes. They use a cleaner rag to wipe around the huge bump on Jojo's forehead, making the newsie flinch and wince.

"That ain't no excuse, Y/N! He jumped from a freakin' fire escape. The Newsies of Manhattan are many things, but fire escape jumpers ain't one'a them!" Jack paces back and forth, throwing his hands up. Jack mutters to himself while Y/N shares an exasperated look with Jojo. This goes on until Y/N had a bandage around the knot on Jojo's head. Well, it's more like torn fabric from old bed sheets and not a bandage, but it does the job. Jack comes to a stop with his hands on his hips. "They make ya do it?"

"No one made me do anythin'." Jojo mumbles, his head bowed in what can only be assumed as embarrassment. Jack raises an eyebrow at Jojo and stares at him until the boy looks up and huffs. "They bet me, but have me a way out b'fore I did anythin'. S'my fault it happened. Just let it go Jack."

"Uh-uh, no way. I'm gonna go have a chat with the fellas about not makin' each other do dumb stuff that gets ya hurt." Jack storms out of the bunk room and Jojo groans in annoyance. Y/N has to bite back a laugh when Jojo starts trying to rub his forehead and he flinches when he hits his bump.

"Maybe take Race up on his offer on an out next time." Y/N offers with a tight smile. Jojo sends them an unamused look. This isn't the first time Y/N has had to deal with the aftermath of a bet gone wrong with the fellas, specifically Jojo. It just so happens that Jack somehow found out and is now mother bearing out on everyone.

"I ain't gonna look like a baby in front'a the fellas. S'ides, I've been through worse." Jojo mutters. Y/N silently wonders why Jojo keeps putting himself through so much, specifically when it comes to taking bets. Maybe he thinks he's being brave or something. Suddenly Jojo's standing and moving towards the door to the bunk room. "M'gonna go get Jack b'fore he gets too upset 'bout it." Jojo calls over his shoulder. Y/N follows, knowing from experience that Jojo could get dizzy and fall on his face from the hit to his head. Y/N can't figure out how he was so alert when Race brought Jojo into the bunk room. When Race told Y/N what height Jojo jumped from on a bet, Y/N had a panicky feeling that maybe Jojo's head had taken too much damage.

"Slow down b'fore you make yourself sick!" Y/N calls after Jojo. The boy keeps walking, briefly rolling his eyes. Y/N has always tried mothering the rest of the Newsies, although their habit tends to be heightened with their more frequently hurt newsies. To put it simply, Y/N sees a lot of Jojo.

"M'not gonna get sick, i-" Jojo stops at the door of the lodging house. It's cracked open with the warm evening breeze of July giving some relief to the heat of the day.

"- you fellas gotta stop with the bets, someone's gonna get seriously hurt." Jack scolds from outside. He's not too far from the door, but he's not right in front of it.

"Hey, it ain't our fault Jo's such a pushover!"

"Yeah, this wouldn't be a problem if he'd just grow a pair 'nd tell us t' stop!"

"It ain't got nothin' t' do with that. What it does gotta do with is that you guys don't know when t' stop." Jack goes on to scold the fellas even more, but Y/N is more focused on Jojo's deep frown and the way his eyebrows turn up.

He turns quickly and hurries through the lodging house towards the stairs. He skips steps to the top and disappears behind one of the walls. Y/N doesn't follow him, being more focused on the other side of the door. They don't hesitate to grab the metal handle and pull the door open. Jack stops mid-sentence and all eyes turn to Y/N.

"I hope you fellas are happy. Blamin' Jojo instead of yourselves 'cause ya don't wanna take responsibility for your friend gettin' hurt. It ain't his fault you guys tease him 'till he gives in. And don't pretend like this is the first time this has happened." Y/N snaps. They wait long enough to see everyone's bowed heads before they turn around and hurry back inside. They hear Jack make some weird noises before his voice gets louder, asking about how this isn't the first time this has happened. Y/N just shakes their head and hurries up the steps after Jojo.

They don't find him in the narrow hallway, but they do notice one of the windows leading to the fire escape is open. Y/N sighs and hurries over to the window. They peek out of the window before squeezing out of the window. Jojo sits near the railing with his knees pulled up and his arms resting on top of them. He's looking down the alleyway with his cheek on one arm.

"Ya ain't gonna jump again, are ya?" Y/N asks. Jojo jumps and his head whips around to Y/N. He huffs and rolls his eyes before looking at the wall of the building on the other side of the alley.

"Wouldn't dream of it, don't wanna be a pushover, right?" Jojo scoffs and starts picking at his pant leg where his knee bends. Y/N sighs and walks closer to Jojo. They slide down the brick wall of the lodging house until they're sitting next to Jojo, mimicking his position. Y/N picks at their nails as both newsies sit in silence, Jack's voice from occasionally echoing from the front of the building. Y/N snorts a laugh, shaking their head.

"Jack's gonna go nuts once everyone fesses up to all the dumb bets you fellas do." Y/N smiles at the wall across the street. Jojo scoffs quietly, making Y/N sigh. "Ya know, we've told you a lot that you don't listen to the fellas. They just say what comes into their heads and don't think about it."

"Hard t' ignore when they're right." Jojo mumbles.

"They ain't right 'nd you know it. The guys tease at folks 'nd don't stop 'til they get what they want. 'Nd if you don't do it, they tease you more. No crime to tryin' t' get a newsie t' shut up." Y/N briefly leans over to bump their shoulder against Jojo's. Jojo glances over at Y/N and seems to ponder the thought. Y/N huffs and quickly shrugs. "You tryin' tell me it's easy t' get newsies t' shut up."

"We both know that ain't true." Jojo snorts a laugh and Y/N starts laughing. The two laugh for a few seconds before taking deep breaths and relaxing into temporary silence.

"Listen, the fellas don't mean t' be the way the are 'nd we both know it. Just gotta ignore 'em, y'know?" Y/N reaches over and gently shoves Jojo's shoulder. They stand up and straighten their pants before looking down at Jojo. "I'm gonna go do damage control with Jack. Don't stay out here too long, don't need the fellas findin' you and gettin' anymore dumb ideas."

"Will do." Jojo mock salutes Y/N, receiving a half-hearted glare. "'Nd thanks, Y/N."

"S'no problem." Y/N grins before turning to the window and squeezing back inside.

[immortalled]

Some highlights and trivia from the Misfits series 1 scripts that no one asked for (extremely long post ahead):

Episode 1

- Jeremy feels somewhat more manipulative and selfish. It’s nothing new that he’s the reason Louise kicked Nathan out, but there’s a deleted scene where he comes in immediately after Louise has booted Nathan, Louise is crying, and he just tells her “You’re doing the right thing. We need this.” And I dunno. I get it, but somehow seeing it just makes the whole situation feel scummier. I could be biased.

- After getting her powers and losing her fiancé, Kelly cries all night. Again, no surprise, but it hurts getting confirmation. :(

Episode 2

- The old woman Nathan pushes in a wheelchair does in fact roll out the door when he lets go. RIP Joan. Some say that if you listen carefully, you can hear her still rollin’ to this day.

- The old “SHE’S STEALING YOUR PENSION” war vet is named Stan. Stan has some serious PTSD. Please protect Stan.

- Alisha thinks Sally is lesbian. 

- Simon’s wardrobe is inspired by Joy Division’s Ian Curtis. I’ve never seen Curtis dance, but apparently Rheon incorporated some of Curtis’ dance moves into Simon’s character.

- There’s a deleted scene where the gang finds Nathan in the community centre, staring sadly at a photo of Ruth which has been put up in her memory. Robert really keeps playing the same characters, doesn’t he?

Episode 3

- When Kelly and Jodi are fighting, Socha accidentally headbutts Mojekwu for real. Whoops.

Episode 4

- The athletic segments are filmed at the Crystal Palace Athletics Stadium. 

- In a deleted scene, Kelly calls Simon a “good-looking bloke” and tells him he should get a girlfriend. She also says that “loads of girls like sweet, quiet guys”. Simon is touched by this and immediately asks if she’s single.

- Nathan was only supposed to kiss the bowling ball. Of course Sheehan had to be weird and lick it instead. Disgusting.

- Simon’s jerk friend, Matt, sounds a little less like a jerk in the script. He’s actually guilty and feels more sympathetic. Doesn’t make him embarrassing Simon in front of everyone any better, though. 

- The original plan was for Simon to turn against the main cast and evolve into a supervillain by the end of season 1, which is one reason why Simon is so horribly creepy in S1 (namely perving on the girls). 

- Confirmation that Simon is excited by vulnerable / unconscious girls. #yikes

- Nathan’s dad, Mike, is named “Gareth” in the script. “Gareth” canonically thinks Nathan is an “inconvenience”. 

- Tony’s surname was originally “Warren” instead of “Morecombe”.

Episode 5

- There’s a note in the script that says “Curtis’ rap during his self-assessment therapy with Sally is the only improvised dialogue in the whole of Series 1“ and I’m not entirely sure, but I think that’s probably a typo. Either we missed out on Curtis’ special hidden talent for rapping, or that should say “Nathan” and Sheehan adlibbed the Ruff In The Jungle Business. I think the latter is more likely. 

- Sally tells Simon in a deleted scene that she was teased as a child for being fat. 

- Simon, while talking to Sally at the pub about trying to burn Matt’s house down, has a wave of guilt about peeking up Kelly’s skirt outside the club in the last episode. 

- Confirmation that Sally begins to have genuine feelings of attraction toward Simon. #yikes yikes

- The scene with Nathan picking up the baby took over half a day to shoot because the babies kept crying.

- Kelly originally snaps Nathan out of Finn’s hypnotism by pushing herself into his thoughts. Which I think is fascinating because I don’t remember her telepathically communicating with characters before.

- The BMX footage that Simon shows Sally is supposed to be Superhoodie. Hello, plot-holes and paradoxes.

- In a deleted scene, Nathan says he’s jealous that Kelly has “two powers”; being able to hear other people’s thoughts and talk to people telepathically. Seriously sad that this ability was removed in the final cut.

- In another deleted scene, Simon suggests that maybe their powers are changing. Kelly seems to agree. Rachel and a lot of Virtue symbolism also appear early; the gang unknowingly disrespect Rachel by sloshing water on one of her Virtue banners and walking over/on it as they pass.

- Yikes. Deleted scene that alludes to Nathan’s possible alcohol problem with a shot of the community centre’s kitchen and all the empty bottles. 

- In another deleted scene, after Kelly questions Nathan about his dad, Nathan complains (revealingly) about Kelly getting in his head. Things get a little flirty, Kelly teases him and serves potato letters with the chicken nuggets. She spells “PRICK” out on Nathan’s plate. It’s really cute.

- Not only was Simon supposed to be the supervillain, but he was supposed to die at the end of season 1.

Episode 6

- “Virtue” was originally called “Respect”, but had to be changed because a political party used the same name. 

- The girl in the opening scene, the one Alisha knew from school, is Ellie. Presumably the same Ellie Alisha mentions in episode 1. 

- The two other Virtue members that pass the gang are named Danny and Lucy.

- This deleted scene was too good not to write out. Simon, Kelly, and Nathan are discussing how to solve their Virtue problem and save Curtis and Alisha:

NATHAN relents, thinks a moment, has an idea...

NATHAN: Okay. How about we spike them?

KELLY’s exasperated.

NATHAN: We get them off their tits on acid. They’re hallucinating so bad they puke. When they come down, maybe they’re back to normal.

SIMON: D’you think that’ll work...?

NATHAN: Hands up who has a better idea.

Neither SIMON nor KELLY put their hand up. 

NATHAN: Then I’ll call my dealer...

NATHAN whips out his phone.

Cutting to a character that was revealed in another deleted scene that I didn’t list, Chewy. Massive stoner, surrounded by a variety of pills, yada yada. Chewy’s phone rings, he answers.

NATHAN: Chewy? It’s Nathan. Can you sort us out with some trips?

CHEWY: I don’t deal drugs any more.

We now see that CHEWY is using his other hand to comb his previously unruly hair into a neat side parting, which looks utterly ridiculous...

CHEWY: Nathan, mate. I’m telling you, drugs are bad news.They lead to a life of crime, mental illness and prostitution. 

NATHAN’s horrified by the response. He quickly ends the call, looks at KELLY, who can see there’s something badly wrong...

NATHAN: (appalled) They’ve got to him... Chewy... That boy’s been stoned every day since he was twelve. (angry, jabbing a finger) She’s gone too far this time. She has crossed the line.

- When Simon and Nathan are being surrounded by Virtue, Simon was supposed to punch Nathan instead of push him away.

- In the original script, when Simon was supposed to be evil, he kicked Nathan to the ground then battered him bloody with a baseball bat. In the storyboards, it looks like Simon intends to kill him. Nathan barely manages to escape thanks to Simon being interrupted by Virtue. 

- Superhoodie was originally introduced in a series of short online films recorded by Simon.

- In a deleted scene, Nathan takes refuge from Virtue in a place called Bar X. The scene was meant to be set up as a reference to The Shining. It’s empty. Nathan gets drunk and starts to reminisce with the bartender, James, about underage drinking, pulling girls, and how many times he’s gotten sick in the toilets there. There’s some odd tension in this scene between Nathan and James and I’m not sure what it is, but it’s amusing. 

- Nathan’s scene with Kelly in her flat is longer. There were some funny lines about her track suit and a lot more awkward fumbling as he tries to compliment the chav look. 

- There was supposed to be a Vegas Baby-esque montage of Nathan “arming” himself and getting dressed to infiltrate Virtue. We were ROBBED. 

- Kelly was supposed to stroke Nathan’s hand affectionately after putting his iPod in the coffin with him. R O B B E D .

- The graveyard scenes were filmed at Kensal Green Cemertary.

- Many of the people in the club after the funeral are Virtue members. 

[anxiouslymalicious]

Losers Club Plus One  Part 2

Richie Tozier x daughter!reader series. Read part 1 here!

A/N: Thank you so much for all the positive feedback! Here comes part 2! It’s almost 4,000 words so you might want to take some time to read through this. As mentioned in the previous part, trigger warnings apply, this is IT so shit might not be too easy for some people and I’m trying to be as close to the movie as possible, but some things might be closer to the book and stuff. 

I hope you enjoy!

Y/N was rather quiet on the ride to the restaurant. Richie, in his nervous manners, tried to tease her into talking to him, told her where he got beat up by the Bowers again ‘because they were intimidated by my dashing appearance’ he told his daughter with a grin, but she was lost in her thoughts. Not only lost, Richie thought, she looks like she is drowning in her own mind. He didn’t blame Y/N though. He couldn’t. Not when he remembered how shaken he was after his first encounter with IT. How much he tried to deny that what he had seen was real and true, how often he told himself that the encounter with the Paul Bunyan stature was nothing but a dream and how scared he was after Bill, Big Bill, had almost been killed by a picture.

“Listen, what you saw there- “

“Is that why you didn’t want me here, dad? That… Thing? Whatever that was?” Y/N interrupted her father mid-sentence, her voice hoarse and thick with unshed tears. After the whole encounter with IT, the young girl showered faster than she ever had before in hopes of getting rid of the dirty feeling all over her skin, the goo that seeped out of the thing she stabbed and the blood. Not only the blood that covered the man’s arms, but also her own blood. Richie had tended to the wound on her forehead and cleaned the other smaller scratches that IT had left on her body. It hurt him, physically hurt him, to see his daughter like that, he cursed himself for taking her with him but what choice did he have? She was left on his doorsteps as a baby, with only a card, telling him the little girl’s name and that she was the result of a one-night stand Richie couldn’t remember, a result the mother didn’t want to deal with, but no name of the mother. And, although most of the neighbourhood was nice, Richie didn’t consider any of them an option for her, after all, he didn’t talk to them much. He didn’t even know their names. His manager might have been an option, having spent countless hours with Y/N as she grew up, but he was already pissed off at Richie’s sudden departure, surely, he wouldn’t do the pair another favour. Leaving Y/N alone at home was the last option, but what kind of option was that? Richie wasn’t even sure that he would get out of there alive, did he really want to leave her alone like that, probably with nothing more than a call by Mike telling her that her father wouldn’t return? Just the thought made Richie’s heart ache beyond what he thought was possible.

“We called it IT. I’m sure the other losers can help me explain. Because, fuck, I don’t know how to explain this shit to you. I don’t even know if I understand any of this.” Richie replied. Ever since they arrived in Derry, he had been strangely serious, noticed Y/N.

“It’s alright.” She mumbled before leaning against the car window. The cold was very welcome, the steady hum of the car helping her ground herself. She still couldn’t grasp what had happened not long ago, but she was sure there would be a logical explanation. Right?

Her thumb flew up to her face and the girl nervously bit down on the nail, careful not to bite it off, but trying to find something to take her mind off. She could have played some stupid game on her phone or tell one of her friends what had happened, but she didn’t feel like either of them. Especially not when she knew that her friends would get a room ready for her at the local nuthouse.

“It’s not, we both know that. That stupid clown is lucky I wasn’t in the room. Would have done the job myself and ripped his head off for going near my baby.” Richie fell back into an angry grumble. His hands tightened around the steering wheel and the car sped up a little. Y/N lifted her head from the window to look at her father. After his eyes started burning again short before leaving for the lunch, Y/N managed to convince him to take out his contact lenses and wear his glasses instead. He reluctantly agreed, although he hated how big his eyes looked behind the thick lenses. It reminded him of his childhood. How the other kids made fun of his coke-bottle glasses. How often Bowers broke his glasses and Richie shamefully had to tell his parents that he would need a new pair. The glasses made Richie feel self conscious and insecure in his appearance. 

Richie’s eyes, although they appeared huge behind the thick glasses, were narrowed. He looked like he had been through hell already and Y/N was sure that they hadn’t seen the worst yet.

“Dad?” Y/N asked desperately. Richie hummed in reply, not taking his eyes off the street and the passing cars as he drove through the familiar yet unfamiliar streets, passing buildings he tried to remember. It was hard though. Richie often wasn’t sure whether a house had a few exterior changes done, was still the same as it had been when he left, or if it hadn’t existed altogether when he was a child.

“I love you.” She continued in a soft voice, searching his face for a reaction. Immediately, his face softened, he looked more at ease after hearing those words, like he hadn’t failed completely at his job as a father in those last hours. His body relaxed lightly, leaning back into the seat, his hands less cramped around the steering wheel.

“I love you too. And I know that I don’t tell you often, but I’m actually very happy that you were the fastest swimmer and your mother didn’t swallow.” Richie replied with a grin, taking his eyes off the road for a second to watch her face, knowing that his words would earn him at least a small smile from you. And, lo and behold, the girl scoffed, a grin on her lips as she punched her father’s shoulder gently, in a playful manner that he knew too well.

“You’re disgusting.”

“If I am, then so are you. I made you, remember?”

“How am I supposed to remember when you can’t remember shit?”

“Low blow, shitface, low blow.” Richie laughed. The first of many hearty laughs of the night, but they didn’t know. The atmosphere shifted. Somehow, the duo felt as though they finally had some air to breathe, the car didn’t seem to suffocate them anymore. Y/N felt relaxed, like whatever the thing was that attacked her earlier couldn’t get to her. Not right now. She was safe with her father. And her father was safe with her.

It wasn’t long until they arrived at the restaurant, parked the car, but didn’t get out.

“Why aren’t you moving?” Richie asked his daughter, not daring to look at her and opting to look straight ahead, watching the leaves of the bushes and trees in front of them move with the wind. Occasionally, he heard a car moving behind him to park, followed by a muffled babble of voices growing quieter as they walked away from their car. Y/N mimicked her father’s actions.

“Why aren’t you?” she asked in return. Richie pushed her lightly before taking a deep breath and stepping out into the unfamiliar air around him. Nothing in this street was like it had been when he left his hometown, Mike had obviously chosen neutral ground, something that wasn’t connected to bad nor good memories. Something that wouldn’t make them feel like they were forcing themselves to, once more, become the young, mismatched, dorky group of losers when they really were middle-aged losers with rather average and boring lives. Lives that they enjoyed, but boring for the most part.

A light breeze. Chirping birds. Everything around them seemed strangely alive for a town in which people are murdered every day, Richie thought as he watched his daughter get out of the car before he locked it, taking her inside.

As soon as they entered the restaurant, they could feel the air buzzing with excitement. Wild chattering, children squealing, the clattering of plates and cutlery echoed to their ears as their noses were filled with the overwhelming smell of food. Y/N felt her stomach growl aggressively, her hand shot up to cover her stomach as her cheeks heated up in embarrassment.

“Time to feed the monster.” Richie told her, his hand resting on her back as he led her further into the restaurant. Mike was quick to spot his old friend, walked towards him and greeted the man with a hug.

“Richie. Good to see you.” Mike told him honestly, feeling the smaller man hug him a little tighter in return. “You too, Mike.” Richie replied with just as much honesty before he pulled out of the hug.

“This is Y/N, my daughter. Couldn’t leave her behind all on her own. Too much of a baby.” Richie introduced his daughter, who interrupted him with a surprised ‘hey’ before shaking Mike’s hand, ever so polite. He chuckled, although the surprise was clear on his face.

“I didn’t think someone so polite could be related to Richie Tozier. It’s nice to meet you, Y/N. I’m Mike Hanlon, an old friend of Richie.” Mike told the girl as he opened his arms to engulf her in a hug. She accepted the hug. Mike’s heart felt warm as he held the girl for a short moment, feeling like he had just become an uncle. Maybe he had. Maybe it had been an unspoken rule that people who used to be so close, shared a trauma like the losers had, grew to be uncles and aunts of each other’s children, but they hadn’t talked in 27 years. Were they still close enough to share a bond of such kind?

Richie grinned, his hands in his pockets as he watched proudly how his own flesh and blood bonded with one of his best friends, just like he had ages ago. It was like he was watching a younger version of himself although Richie thought that Y/N looked a lot more like her mother than him. He still couldn’t remember the woman, how she looked, what she was like, but in his mind, he built a version of her with all the unfamiliar features in Y/N’s face and her behaviour, her likes and dislikes.

“Is everyone else already here?” Richie suddenly asked, pulling himself out of his daydreams. He pushed his glasses back up his nose, it had slid down the bridge of his slightly sweaty nose, then looked towards the man whose face showed tiredness and exhaustion, overpowered by sheer happiness. Mike looked just like he did when he was a kid, Richie thought, just a little older.

“Everyone except Stan. But I’m sure he’ll join us later.” Mike explained, pointing towards a little room, exclusively reserved for the Losers Club, plus one who no one knew was coming yet. The duo followed Mike, Richie first, then Y/N. She felt like she should stay back for a bit, let them enjoy the moment together. So, as the men entered the much quieter room, she stayed at the door, moving behind it a little to watch the men and the woman hug each other, vividly talking about the things they just started remembering after Mike called. Once her father reached a slightly smaller man, she could see something else in his eyes. A smirk grew on her lips as she watched a banter ensue that he had never seen before. Her father was acting different than with all those women she had seen him with at afterparties or other events.The women he flirted with but never took home. There was something about the way he carefully, but tightly embraced the man, the way Richie’s eyes looked, how his smile reached his eyes, how he focused solely on teasing the smaller man.

Y/N giggled, deciding to keep an eye on the two men for the rest of their trip to Derry as her eyes travelled over the other people. A woman with vibrant red hair talked to a tall man, his hands cramped into his jeans pocket. He had dark hair, a goatee and looked rather attractive. But, as he was talking to the smaller woman, who seemed like she was aware of Y/N standing in the doorway, although her eyes were fixed on the man in front of her, a shy smile on her lips, he looked nervous. More nervous than Y/N would expect. And she wondered what caused it. Was it the fact that he was back in Derry? As she understood, all the losers hadn’t seen each other in decades, and it would be understandable if all of them were jittery to meet each other again. Or was it maybe the woman who made him so nervous that he had to rub his sweaty palms on his jeans every other minute? 

Y/N’s eyes wandered further. Another man was talking to Mike. He looked a bit more relaxed, but tense nonetheless. His hair was brown, like the other men’s. It was a lighter shade though, and, besides what Y/N thought might be a reddish tone in his hair, she noticed a few grey hairs. She locked eyes with said stranger who waved at her with a shy smile. Y/N felt like a little kid once more, desperately looking for her father as she felt an anxious tingle on her skin. He, however, was still busy teasing the man who looked exasperated, but happy.

“Hey, uh, Richie? I think you might have a fan.” The man said, nodding towards Y/N. Her eyes widened as her father grinned at her, motioning for her to come over and join them.

“As much as I hope that she is a fan of my work, she also is one of my better jokes. This is my daughter, Y/N.” Richie proudly stated, taking in the shocked faces of his friends. As he spoke, Y/N followed his motions, stepping into the room with quick steps until she reached her father’s side. Richie wrapped his arm around the jumpy girl’s shoulder, in hopes that he would calm her just a little. Despite the way he was acting, Richie was just as tense as everyone else about the situation. He thought that deep down all of them knew why they were here, but they were blissfully ignoring the real reason. 

“Don’t act like this is such a surprise now. Women could never resist my charm.” Richie was now grinning as his daughter giggled lightly next to him.

“We’re just surprised someone like you would ever have children. I pity your wife, but mostly the kid. She had to spend her whole life with you, assbag.” the man Richie had been bickering with replied before directing his attention to Y/N. “I’m Eddie and I’m so sorry you had to grow up with Richie as a father. I bet he’s just as bad as he was when I had to spent time with him.” He continued to introduce himself, sending her a wink at the last part. Y/N laughed shortly, nodding in agreement, before the two broke out in an awkward movement, not sure whether to shake hands or hug. Y/N finally settled for hugging him shortly before moving on, introducing herself to the other figures in the room.

Soon, the laughter died down and the Losers plus one settled down at the table. Y/N was sitting on one side of her father, Eddie on the other. The bickering went on, new memories resurfaced every few minutes and Y/N felt herself being pushed into the background. She didn’t mind, but she had to admit that she felt uncomfortably out of place with all the adults. Not because they were so much older, she thought as she watched them interact, no. The people at the table were all children. She just felt strange as everyone kept glancing at her seat, expecting someone else to sit there for a split second before remembering that he wasn’t there. 

After a more than satisfying dinner, the waitress brought fortune cookies into the room. Everyone excitedly grabbed one, opening them eagerly in hopes of making fun of whatever the cookie was going to tell them, but Richie dropped his own just as quickly as he had taken it. Disappointment was clear on his face.

“Either fortune isn’t on my side or these people are shit at making fortune cookies. Mine just says ‘could’.” Richie said, leaning back in his chair. Confusion erupted in the room as the other losers opened theirs, finding single words in each of theirs. That was the last calm moment before everyone was trying to make a sentence out of the words. The strangest combinations came to be. But there were still a few fortune cookies left unopened.

“Y/N have a cookie. What does yours say?” Richie asked as he passed his daughter one while Bill was busying himself opening the last one. But before Bill could read out what it said, which admittedly made his heart drop to the pit of his stomach, all eyes were on Y/N. As she had cracked the cookie open, warm red liquid sprayed out of it, staining her shirt and skin. She could feel a queasy sensation in her stomach which worsened to before unknown levels as she read the message inside the cookie.

“You’ll float too, just like Stanley.” She read out loud before rushing out of the room, out into the street, doubling over and throwing up near the sewer drain. Hot tears stung in her eyes as her knees grew weak and she finally had to kneel near her own vomit. Two warm hands placed themselves on her shoulder, before pulling the girl into a warm body behind her. Y/N struggled at first, not knowing who exactly was hugging her, squirming against the body until she heard her father’s raspy voice.

“Shh. That bitch won’t get you. It’s alright.” Richie mumbled into Y/N’s hair as she let loose, crying desperately into her father’s shirt, painful sobs wracking through her body.

“This is why we have to go down there again and kill IT. IT will kill each one of us if we don’t fight it. Don’t you want your daughter to be safe?” Mike argued while Eddie kneeled down next to the pair, passing the girl a tissue who gratefully took it. She mustered up the best smile she could before croaking out a ‘thank you’. Eddie just shook his head with a sad smile, patting her shoulder lightly. Richie had to fight back his own tears.

“Yes. I want to keep her safe more than anything. That’s why we’re going back to that fucked up hotel, pack our shit and fly the fuck home. I’m not going to let her stay here with that psycho clown running around, attacking and threatening my baby.” Richie yelled back, holding her shaky body closer to his own equally shaky body.

“He’s right, Mikey. I thought this was going to be a fun meeting. You should have told us why we were actually coming back.” Eddie joined in on the discussion, helping Richie and Y/N to their feet. Meanwhile, Beverly had called Stan’s number that Mike had given her, curious to find out whether IT’s threat, Guess Stanley Could Not Cut It, was true, what he meant exactly. It was only when she heard a painful sob at the other end of the phone that she realised that it wasn’t just an empty threat. Beverly felt her blood run cold, like it was actively freezing in her veins, as the other losers stopped talking, trying to listen in on the conversation between Bev and Mrs. Uris.

“We’re all very sorry, Patty.” Beverly said before the line went dead and the remaining losers were left in tears, with heavy hearts and thick tears that they tried to blink away. An angry exchange ensued with Richie suggesting to ‘undo’ the promise before storming off with his daughter under his arm, Eddie by his side.

 Beverly and Ben left next, not nearly as angry, but mainly heartbroken at finding out about the suicide of someone they loved. Bill and Mike were the only ones left at the Jade of the Orient.

Bill felt shaken up. Stan was dead. And Y/N was just a kid. Admittedly, she was older than they had been when they faced IT for the first time, but she shouldn’t have to face those things at all. No kid, no person should ever face IT. After Richie had lashed out at them, he felt even worse about her being in Derry than he did when he first spotted her. She was actively threatened, and Bill was aware that, for the time she spent in the small town, even if it wouldn’t be for long, she would need to be protected at all times by each of the losers. She was the only losers’ child, as Mike had pointed out throughout lunch, which was strange. After all, Bill and Audra had wanted a child and somewhat challenged their luck until their current project started, Eddie, Stan and Bev were all married so surely something could have happened, but somehow nothing did.

Bill shook off that thought. His eyes travelled back to the sewer where Y/N and Richie had been sitting just a few moments ago. And, as his gaze rested on the devilish thing, he was sure that his ears caught a children’s laughter.

“Please, just let me show you something. Afterwards, you can still decide if you want to leave. But I need you, Big Bill. Please, please stay. People are dying.” Mike pleaded. If there was one person who could get the losers to stay, it was Big Bill. The guy they all had looked up to as some sort of a leader, now as much as they had as children. The roles hadn’t changed over the past 27 years and they wouldn’t change in the next 27 years.

Bill reluctantly agreed, well aware that he would stay with Mike, no matter what he was about to show him.

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

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[chickenscript]

affection and hanging out (rottmnt x reader headcannons)

A/N: had a major block but managed to get this done! i hope it doesn’t read too similarly to anything i’ve posted in the past. it’s been a while since i’ve looked through any of my old stuff (^^;)

and since rise is back in full swing, i really wanted to post something for it. i’ve missed the boys (〃▽〃)

hope you enjoy!

                                                         ----------

Don:

- he's always been a bit detached, and has his own way of expressing his feelings

- affection comes in a few forms with him. As you’ve learned from more than one sleepy time cuddle

- with time, he’s warmed up to you and is able to let loose when you’re hanging out. For the most part. He’s a bit less biting when he has one on one time with you and much more talkative (mainly because you’re the only one so far who actually really listens to him), and that’s usually when you catch glimpses of affection. 

- but, it’s pretty random and the only time you’re certain you’ll see any is when he's hit a slump and all you can think to do is distract him from it

- when you sit with him in his lab during the wee hours, he unconsciously drifts closer to you if you're sitting on or at his desk and he’s milling around, hard at work with some project

- usually, night time is when you hang out the most. Donnie has always been the resident night owl, finding it easier to get things done when his brothers are asleep, and you've also always found yourself able to function better at that time of day too 

- your favorite spot in his room was the mound of bean bag chairs he had set up in front of a massive TV where you would often take full advantage of his gaming systems. If you’re both sitting together, you’re either leaning against the other, or he’ll sometimes drapes himself over you or hold you close in an almost possessive embrace

- often he likes to pull you into his lap, gangly but strong arms wrapped around your middle to hold you there. Giving you the occasional squeeze

- you've noticed he tends to make small, rumbley noises of content in moments like that. He'll sometimes even nuzzle into the side of your neck, maybe nip at you, or bury his snout in your hair, and you can hear more of the purr like warbles. If it’s not purring he’s up to, he’s humming the tune of some song he likes

- you discovered that you can also entice happy rumbles when you gently run finger pads down the sensitive, spinal knobs on the back of his bare shell (the texture of his shell half reminded you of what it felt like to touch a stingray)

- though he'll deny it like everything else- you think this behavior of his is cat like almost. Not to mention really cute

Leo:

- he really enjoys showing you little places around the city that you might not have known about (like cafes or shops he’s been too scared to go in because of his appearance) and sometimes, you’ll both go for a night stroll. His turtle-ness hidden under clothes

- but, if you’re just hanging at the lair, sometimes he's like a pampered, high energy lap dog

- he’s tent times more open about wanting affection than Donatello 

- if you're situated on the couch, he'll zoom over to hop onto the beat up cushions, squeeze in next to you, and get all up in your business

- he’s way more into social media than the rest of the brothers and he’s always trying to coax you onto more platforms. He also does a lot of channel surfing when you’re watching TV and it’s a battle to get the remote from him

- when you’re not at war trying to figure out what to watch (you like to cheat and just pull up Netflix and grab something for you to binge), he takes to nuzzling and purring away unabashedly at you

- the moment you reciprocate however, he admittedly gets flustered. Not that it stops him for long 

- he likes to lay his head on your lap so you can pet his head or play with his mask tails. He also likes to peck the inside of your wrist or your palm

- he's one for carapace scritches as well and that gets him purring like a speed boat

- he also really just likes to listen to you talk. He’ll play with your hand while he’s lounging on your lap and you’re going on some tangent about whatever topic you’ve gotten settled on

- you’ll of course get embarrassed and stop talking once you realize it’s only you who’s been going on and on for a substantial time, but he’ll insist you continue. And it’s one of the few times he actually sounds honest and not teasing or playful. It always manages to shock you

- and when you mention that, he becomes a squirmy, blushy lump that you could just eat right up

Mikey:

- he's affectionate with everyone and doesn't really have an off button

- but you love him for it because he's always there when you need a pick me up snuggle

- he's your go to when the other boys are busy or if you're feeling particularly down, or just plain out of it

- he's perfect cuddle size and loves to just wraps his arms around your middle and rest his head on your shoulder, nuzzling the side of your face. It was like if a teddy bear came to life, full of warmth and bottled up sunshine

- though, he especially likes to lay his head on your sternum when you're both laid out on the couch. Twisting your hair into loops with his finger

- he loves playing with your hair actually, and gives plenty of pecks to your cheeks. When you peck his, he gives the cutest giggles and sometimes chirps in glee

- sometimes you’ll just hold his round little face in your hands (the only thing you could compare it to was what holding the whole world felt like) and he’ll stop come to a stop for once, meeting your eyes with a blisteringly wide stare

- then you’ll boop his nose with yours and he’s off to giggling again

- and when you’re just sitting around without much to do, he asks if he can draw on you. You’ve become a human canvas more times than you can count and you love every piece he’s scrawled on whatever patch of skin your clothes hasn’t covered up 

- he get a really fixed look in his eye while he’s painting, a focus you can compare to Donnie when he’s working on a project. Sure, his tongue doesn’t stick out like his older brother’s, but that concentrated glint showed just how much care and passion he put into what he drew

- you could especially see that in the designs yourself when he was done. And every compliment you’d give was enough for him to spring a hug on you with rosy cheeks

- he was such a baby

Raph:

- you think he just likes the body heat

- of course, being the largest of his brothers, he does needs more of it

- he's always basking the longest under the heating lamp in the morning (on the occasions that you're there at that time, you've seen him laid out for an entire hour or so longer than his more streamlined brothers)

- he's always happy for a hug or something of the sort. And you've noticed that, sometimes, after a long day- he's particularly tuckered out

- so if you sit him down to watch something, odds are he'll nod off. Curled around you like an abbey cat. Or well, a big cat. And, if you’re lucky and get him laughing while he’s drowsy, it sounds more like a chuff rattling deep in his chest that you can feel reverberating in your bones

- you don’t mind being stuck as his personal heat pad at times. You know just where to recline between the spikey terrain on his skin so you’ll be comfortable

- on the flip side, you always like to nap on his wide plastron when you’ve had a long day and get the chance to lounge around with him

- he was the perfect lazy enabler. Not to mention the perfect, turtle shaped bean bag

- when you’re not being two, lethargic losers; you’re either sparring or baking. Two very polar opposites, but Raph loved them both

- you started trying your hand at martial arts when the brothers offered to teach you. They each spar with you, and Raph does the most. Of course, he still has the habit of going easy on you (because of his sheer size and strength), but you always like to show him that he shouldn’t entirely underestimate you

- you’ve got a lot of confidence now that you can fend for yourself in a scuffle, even with the Foot

- while you’re comfortable with your skill, Raph on the other hand is still struggling with his baking

- his main past time, aside from sparring, is knitting. And, as much as he loves it, he wanted to take up baking too. So you and Mike (whom is definitely the cook of the lair), have been helping him get better at it. And get better he has- you already were notorious for floating around the kitchenette to nab samples of Mikey’s food while he’s cooking, but now you’re just as bad when Raph is baking

- you can’t really help it though, you’ve always had a sweet tooth

[kindofcashton]

𝕕𝕚𝕤𝕔𝕠𝕟𝕟𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕖𝕕  •  chapter 1  (Calum Hood AU)

RAIN SLID DOWN the windows of the taxi in iridescent gray droplets. Outside, the sky was a silken silver, the occasional peak of sunlight threatening to break through the clouds. Blanketed over everything, from the treetops to the sidewalks, was a cool dampness that left a chill in the air.

My breath began fogging up the glass, and I wiped a hand across the window to clear my view. I always loved rain, and the way it seemed to soak the whole world. It was calming in a way, almost an excuse to slow down and just breathe.

In the seat next to me, Hannah clearly wasn't as big a fan of the dismal day as I was. Her sighs whooshed through the small cabin like gale force winds. The crossing of her arms and scowl on her lips was another indication of her utter displeasure.

"I promise you it's not like this all the time," she told me, irritation edging her tone. She glanced up at the driver, and threw her hands in the air. "Could you pick it up a little please? I'd like to get there sometime this week."

A small smile twitched at my lips. Hannah was quite the character, but in the 7 months I'd known her she'd become one of my best friends. Living together in a cramped dorm would sort of force you to become at least sort of friends, and luckily the two of us hit it off immediately. We had very different approaches to college life, but it was actually nice having someone so unlike me around. When differences would normally push people apart, they brought us closer together.

"I don't mind the weather, actually," I commented. "I used to love the rain as a kid."

Hannah snorted good naturedly. "Of course the philosophical scholar would love rain." I chuckled at her joke, and turned my attention back to the window.

As well as being serene, the rain was also a great distraction. A thousand thoughts were swirling through my mind, but I let the raindrops wash them away until my brain was empty. I promised myself I wouldn't worry over things anymore; everything was totally out of my control.

"Finally," Hannah exclaimed as we turned down a neighborhood road. I watched the houses blur by, all of them quaint and colorful. Hannah was right; this area was amazing.

"I hope the guys are all home," she voiced, frowning. "Ash texted and said he was over." Hannah's demeanor visibly brightened when she mentioned her boyfriend. Ashton had been a staple in her life ever since I'd known her. The two of them started dating in high school, and even when she went off to college and he stayed back they never broke up. Their relationship wasn't all sunshine, though; I'd heard her scream at him through voicemail more times than I could count, and he often blew up her phone with texts for hours on end. But they were madly in love, and I doubted they'd ever split.

The other guys were a mystery to me. From what Hannah had told me briefly before we left, Luke, Michael, and Calum lived together while Ashton had his own apartment. Her boyfriend had a pretty well established job apparently, but the other three were still figuring things out. Michael was described as "colorful in more ways than one", which confused me to no end. Luke was the "pierced puppy", a rugged exterior with a sweet personality. And Calum was the quiet one, always in the room but never in the conversation. Hannah insisted he wasn't a creep though, and that she actually really liked him despite his lack of participation.

I hoped the guys were as great as she described, seeing as I'd be spending a lot of time with them in the near future. Hannah had basically forced me to come back with her when we both left uni, and even though she lived with Ashton when she wasn't at school she offered to stay at the house with me so we could all be together.

Seeing as I didn't have many more options, I agreed. That's the thing about being stone-cold broke; you take what you can get.

"Here you go," the driver said tiredly. Hannah threw him a wad of cash, and he looked at me in the rear view mirror. My cheeks flushed crimson, and I forced a sheepish smile before getting out of the car.

"I feel like I'm drowning!" Hannah yelled over the pouring rain, pulling her suitcases out of the trunk. I squinted against the onslaught of rain, fumbling to get my own bags and praying I didn't forget anything. I heard someone's voice call out from the porch of the house, and Hannah cheered in response. She ran up the driveway, suitcases swinging, then flung them down on the wet grass without hesitation so she could jump into the arms of whoever was waiting. Ashton, I assumed.

The cab backed out of the driveway, and I struggled to lift all of my bags which were slick with rain. A figure appeared in front of me, clad in jeans and a damp hoodie.

"Need some help?" I caught the subtle glint of a lip ring, and guessed this was Luke. Breaking into a grateful smile, I nodded.

"Beautiful day, isn't it?" I said, handing him a suitcase. He laughed, head ducked to avoid getting rain in his eyes.

"Makes me want to stay outside, soak up the sun," he replied, leading me up toward the front door.

Once inside, I dropped the bags in my hands and pushed my sopping wet hair out of my face. A quick once-over of the house showed me a living room to my left, what looked like a kitchen extending off of that, and staircases winding to an upstairs that had half a dozen closed doors.

Hannah was still attached to Ashton, but tore her lips from his long enough to say, "What do you think, Scar?"

Luke's blue eyes looked at me quizzically. "'Scar?'"

I extended a hand. "Scarlett." He shook it with a jovial smile, and I gave Hannah a questioning look. "You didn't tell them my name?"

She shrugged, giggling as Ashton kissed the side of her head. "Guess I forgot."

Embarrassment sizzled through me, no doubt making my skin flush. The last thing I wanted was to be a nuisance to the guys who were so graciously letting me stay. I mean, a random girl barging into their lives, living in their house, without them knowing so much as her name? It was a miracle they didn't hate me off the bat.

"Are you sure you have to stay here?" Ashton asked Hannah, hands looped around her waist as she tousled his hair. "I want you with me."

"Sorry Ash, but I'm here for my girl. You can stay too, if you want. We can share the bed, even if it does get a little cramped." She poked his chest suggestively, and Luke rolled his eyes at the two of them.

"Alright, hormone monsters, dismount before I go blind from watching you," he reprimanded, shooting me a smirk. I liked Luke; he was so easy-going, and I'd only known him for less than five minutes.

"Ashton, I don't really care if you stick around. Hannah'll be staying in the basement with the futon couch, so you're welcome to share."

Hannah wrinkled her nose. "You stuck me in the basement? Where is Scarlett staying?"

"Michael's room. He offered to take the couch."

I instantly spoke up. "He doesn't have to do that, I'll gladly sleep down here—"

"Not happening," a voice interrupted from upstairs. I looked up to see someone leaning against the railing, watching us from above. He had fire engine red hair arranged in haphazard spikes fringed across his forehead, and what looked like a piercing through his eyebrow.

I guessed it was Michael, judging by the red hair which must have been what Hannah meant by "colorful."

"You couldn't drag me back to my room if you tried. You're sleeping in it whether you like it or not."

I huffed disbelievingly, slightly confused why he was being so generous. A small fear that Hannah told them a bit too much information about me and my life crept into my brain, and I fought to ignore it.

"I really don't want to intrude, it's your house after all," I responded as Michael made his way down the stairs to join us.  I wasn't one to accept charity easily, even though I knew I had to right now. He was just being kind, but I didn't want to make the impression that I was selfish.

"If you really feel that bad about it we can switch off every other week."  His goofy smile told me he was joking, but I appreciated the effort even still.  I just shrugged in defeat, and shot him a warm smile.

Michael clasped his fingers together, a grin stretching his lips. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm starved. Pizza?"

Luke groaned. "How many times are we gonna order pizza, Mike? Some of us get sick of it, you know."

Michael flipped his middle finger up at Luke, and I resisted a grin. Maybe staying with these guys wouldn't be so hard.  Judging from our first interactions, we'd get along great.

The only one I hadn't met yet was Calum, and when I asked Hannah where he was she merely rolled her eyes.

"Who even knows?  He'll roll in at around midnight and be gone by noon the next day."

Frowning, I followed the others to the living room as Michael went to order in the pizza.  Why would they all want to be friends with someone like Calum?  He didn't sound very nice at all.  But even so, Hannah spoke about him with a certain forgiving tone, and I think she truly did care about him. The five of us gathered on the big couches, Hannah laying across Ashton of course, and turned on some action movie that Luke and Michael got overly excited about.

"This is the best scene, watch," Luke said to me, pointing as the hero and the villain began fist-fighting in a series of jumpy, jarring cuts.  I raised my eyebrows doubtfully, and when he glanced over to see my reaction I laughed.

"It's really good, I swear.  After this, he's gonna go blow up that building and—"

All of a sudden, the front door opened with a bang, announcing a new arrival.  Michael shot up from the sofa, and called out a greeting.

Hannah jutted her head toward the foyer.  "Let's go."  We all followed Michael toward the front door, and saw someone holding a few boxes of pizza loosely in his arms.

His dark hair was wet and plastered across his forehead, looking curled and disheveled.  A black leather jacket shone with raindrops, the band tee shirt underneath spattered with water.  Black jeans tucked into dark boots, and a scowl to match the overall dreary aesthetic was painted across his face.

I knew it was Calum without even asking.

"Look who finally showed up!" Luke accused, arms folded with a smirk.

Calum used one hand to push his wet hair back, the other holding the pizza.  "You seriously ordered pizza again?  The delivery guy practically threw these at me because he was so sick of seeing Michael every other day."

Michael snorted, and happily took the pizzas from Calum into the kitchen.  He then turned his freezing gaze into me, and his brown eyes were entirely unreadable as he scanned my appearance.

I felt hot and self-conscious under his close stare, and tried to muster a smile.  "I'm Scarlett, nice to meet you."  I extended my hand, expecting him to at least shake it.  But Calum simply watched me, a blank expression on his face, and I jerked my hand back in embarrassment.

"Way to be friendly, Cal," Hannah scolded, sighing.  "Can't you be civil for like, two minutes?"

"Who shakes hands in this century?" he rebutted, the scathing look he sent my way burning into my skin.  "Whatever, I'm starving."  He started to make his way toward the kitchen, completely ignoring me as his shoulder bumped into mine.

Hannah shouted after him, "Yeah, that's what happens when all you have is beer all day."  Ashton turned and said something into her ear, and Hannah stamped her foot in response as she hissed something back.

Taken aback by Calum's chilly greeting, I began to feel less comfortable about living here.  Why couldn't he be as easy-going as the others?  He was just making things difficult by being so cold.  I knew it wasn't an opportune situation, but we all had to make the best of it.  But something told me Calum would stubbornly oppose this idea.

"Cheese or pepperoni?" Michael asked me as I handed him my plate.

"Plain is fine," I responded, and forced myself to ignore Calum's snort.  What was so wrong with liking plain pizza?  Don't let him get to you like this, Scar.  

We all gathered around the table and chowed down, and I realized this was my first real meal of the day, seeing as I'd only had a granola bar before leaving for the airport that morning.  Everything happened so fast, I felt like I'd just been in my dorm five minutes ago.  How quickly things could change.

"So, how long are you two gonna be here?  Till the next semester?"  Luke bit into the last bit of crust on his pizza, glancing between Hannah and me.

"Not sure," she answered for us, and the look we exchanged was enough communication for her to continue.  "We're pretty flexible right now, just trying to keep ourselves open for new opportunities."

"I'm hoping to take some summer courses," I added.  "Keep up with my class load."

"But it isn't even summer.  University is still in session."  Calum's voice was searing, and I winced at his words.  I was well aware of this fact, as was my empty bank account.

Hannah glared at him from across the table.  "Our schedules weren't the same as everyone else's, so we're home now.  Is that a problem?"  It was hard to believe the two of them were best friends, what with Hannah's curt tone and Calum's glower.

"No, just wondering."  I didn't expect a longer reply from him, and after he said this Calum scooted out from the table and left, without so much as clearing his empty plate.

A defeated breath whooshed out of my lips, and I slumped back in my chair as I rubbed my temples.  My first day here hadn't even ended, and already I wasn't sure how long I would last.