#he wrote me a college graduation card too

[tangledinink]

Chapter Fifteen of I'm Sorry, Teenage Mutant What Now? is now live. Please read it on ao3 or below the cut.

[ prev ]

My Dear Children,

The other day I saw a story on TV about a man who's friend had died at a young age. He decided to create what he called a 'life list'.  What many refer to as a ‘bucket list’ he turned on its head, instead making a list of things to do with his life. He's become something of a celebrity as he posts videos of himself accomplishing his numbered goals. He's spent a week on a deserted island, he's helped a stranger, he's gotten married to a person he met that day in Las Vegas, etc.

So as I watched the story it struck me - if everyone made videos of their ‘life list’ there would be hundreds of thousands of videos and no one with enough time to watch them all.  Plus, many of life's more important accomplishments don't really translate well onto video.

So I decided to work on my own life list which I am sure will never get a lot of you-tube play, but I think is kind of important nonetheless:

1)  Give some very worthwhile children a chance to see if they can make it in the world and achieve their own sort of happiness

2)  Find people honest and kind and who love you for who are - despite your failings and flaws

3)  Be kind to your world and treat it as if it's important and needed by those who will come after you are gone

4)  Be a good and respectful neighbor for all and treat those you meet with kindness and helpfulness

There are probably tons of other stuff that should be here, but these four are at the top. Call it my Mt. Rushmore of life achievements.

I love you all,

Dad

[ next ]

[m00nl1ghts1vt]

City of Love - Matt Sturniolo

Requested by anon Part Two. Part three Pairings - Matt Sturniolo x fem!Reader Warnings - strong language & a lil fluff 😇 W/c - 2536 Summary - You move back to your hometown, Boston, after a bad breakup. When your takeout gets dropped off next door, your neighbor comes by to give you your food, already paid for. A/n - Thank you for requesting ❤️ I had a lot fun with this one!! Kinda gave me some inspiration so I might do a mini series about it?? Let me know what you guys thinks!! I wrote this off my phone but edited most of it on my computer so hopefully there’s no typos 🤦🏻‍♀️ Requests are always open! Check out my masterlist for my most recents!! Also dividers & photos are not mine - all credits to owners. Update - edited. Thank you for reading!!

"Over there is fine," you point to the mover you had hired. After ending things with your high school sweetheart, nearly four months ago, you decided to make the move to one of your favorite cities. The only romantic relationship you've ever known was gone, it left you feeling lonely. Instead of dwelling on the situation, you decided to make light of it, accepting a new job, and moving across the country. Call it crazy, but you couldn't bear living in the same town as the man who broke your heart.

It was a proximity thing - no matter how many times your brain told you to stay away, your heart wouldn't allow it. So, the only way to finally wash your hands of your shitty ex, was to get the fuck away from him. And that's exactly what you did.

Boston has always held a special place in your heart. Your parents were born and raised here. They graduated, meeting after college, and having you a couple years later. Unfortunately, your family moved to Seattle before you hit age 12, due to your dad's busy work life, but you always made it a point to come back.

Your parents referred to Boston as the 'city of love', being that's where their relationship began to really flourish. The love they had for each other inspired you. It was nothing you had ever witnessed, or experienced, before. To this day, they still act like teenagers in love. One of your main goals in life was to find a love like theirs. It was raw and real.

"Okay, looks like that's the last of it," your head snaps to the man standing in the doorway of your new home. You shake your head, almost like you're trying to push the thoughts out of it.

Clearing your throat, "thank you so much, Tony," walking over to your purse, and scavenging through it. You pull out a fresh hundred-dollar bill, holding it in front of you, "I appreciate you guys so much!"

Tony's eyebrows raise and a confused, yet surprised look takes over his face, "you already paid by card, Ms. y/l/n."

You shake your head at him, "it's a tip. I had a lot of stuff to move, and you guys were available last minute. Here, Christmas is coming up soon." Knowing Tony had three young children at home, it was the least you could do. He had only talked about them the whole time he was moving all your belongings in. He ran a small moving business with his brother and father-in-law, and honestly you called all over the city, trying to find a moving company who would accept your proposition last minute. Tony was the only company with the availability, and that you were grateful for.

Knowing money was never a problem for you, you went out of your way to help others in need, whether it be giving a homeless man a hot meal or volunteering at the local food drive. It warmed your heart every time you did a good deed, hoping your act of kindness would go a long way for somebody, someday. Tony gives you an appreciative nod, taking the tip, and goes on his way.

─ ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ──── ♡ ─── ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ──

It was almost seven o'clock at night. You decided unpacking was too much of a bother, so you ordered Chinese take-out instead. There you were, sprawled out on the floor of your empty living room, waiting on your dinner. You were still in the process of furnishing your newly bought home. A bit of a perfectionist, you'd sit on the floor for months until you found exactly what you wanted. Even though your financial state was never a problem, your parents still taught you the value of a dollar, which you were thankful for. Along with your father's amazing money management skills, you were set for life at the ripe age of twenty.

A loud knock on the door brings you back to reality. You knew your ring doorbell wasn't set up yet, so not being able to see who was knocking on your door made you feel uneasy, until you remembered your Chinese take-out. Not caring that the delivery man was going to see you in your superman pajama pants and a cropped tank top, you make your way over to the door, slinging it open. You don't make eye contact with him, instead you reach for your purse, fishing for cash again. Once you pull out a twenty-dollar bill and hand it to him, your eyes finally meet.

What a fine delivery man.

"I already paid for it," he croaks out, his voice getting stuck in his throat for a second. A confused look makes its way across your face as you and the strange delivery man, who apparently pays for people's food, look each other up and down. He clears his throat, "it got delivered to my house. Delivery guy seemed like he was in a rush,” he states, letting his eyes wonder around to the atrocious setting behind you.

“Oh shit, here,” you tell him shoving the twenty-dollar bill towards him, “thank you,” with one hand on the door, ready to grab your food, and close the door in his face. You didn’t care how handsome he was. You wanted to be by yourself, and also save yourself the embarrassment of your cute neighbor seeing you this rough looking. Spiderman pajama, c'mon.

“I was actually gonna eat it,” you watch as his face twists in amusement, “kidding. I’m Matt,” he introduces himself and holds out the brown paper bag your food is in.

“Y/n,” you tell him before taking the bag. Thankfully, it looked untouched. You didn’t know what it was but there was definitely something about this strange, adorable man, joking with you like he knew you already. It brought comfort to your night.

“I like that,” he shoots out, almost like word vomit. Before you can say anything, a cringe-like look spreads across his face, “I mean, it suits you.”

“Thanks,” you let out a giggle. A sudden wave of silence takes over both you, so you awkwardly come up with something to say, “I just moved in.”

“Yeah?” He asks, but it was obvious he already figured that part out. Considering that fact his eyes kept drifting to the empty living room behind you. Matt lets his eyes drift once again, but they finally fall on yours, locking you in. The two of you stay stuck in a trance for a moment, not saying a word.

A blush creeps up, heating your cheeks up a dark shade of red. You let your eyes fall to the floor and back up at him, only to see that his face matches yours. You clear your throat, “come in?” It’s a suggestion, but it comes out as a question.

Matt sucks in a sharp breath, nodding, as you step aside to let him walk in. You turn around and make your way to the kitchen, knowing the only furniture you have is the barstools, your bed, and a couple miscellaneous items. Setting the brown paper bag on the island, “sorry for the mess. It’s been a long day,” taking out two plates out of a box nearby. The only thing you had the energy to unpack earlier was your silverware drawer, so you open it and fetch two forks. Spinning around, and making you way to Matt, little did you know he was already watching your every move.

“I don’t have my furniture yet so we’re eating in here like real adults,” you joke, trying to break the ice. You quickly open the takeout containers of chicken lo mien and general tso’s chicken.

“I was just kidding,” he tells you, eyeballing the food like a starved man. “You eat,” he looks up at you. Those blue eyes had you drawn to him for some odd reason.

“Well, that’s the only reason I invited you in. You said you’re hungry, now eat,” you playfully order. He starts to say something, but his mind decides against it. He gives you a warm smile and nods, “thanks.”

“Any time,” you return the warm smile and take a seat next to him. “One minute,” you hold up a finger at him before running to the living room to retrieve your laptop.

Taking your spot next to Matt and setting your laptop in front of you. Big Mouth plays on the screen, but you don’t bother to change it. Probably the worst decision you made all night because the show was extremely perverted. You and your new neighbor sit in a comfortable silence while the tv show plays in the background.

“So,” he stretches out, “you’re from Boston?”

You shake your head, making sure to swallow your food before speaking, “well, yeah. I was born here but I’ve lived in Seattle since I was 12.”

“What made you move back?” The tone in his voice made you wonder if he was being genuine or just nosey. It was melancholy, that’s the best way to describe it. Like something was missing in his life, like he didn’t have anything to live for.

Taking a deep breath, you had to brace yourself every time he spoke. You didn’t know what it was or why it was happening, but Matt had a certain vibe to him, a vibe that you couldn’t quite pinpoint. All you knew is that you needed to figure out.

“It’s the city of love,” the words rolling off your tongue before you even realize you said them aloud. Matt looks at you for a moment, like he’s trying to read you. You match his energy, staring him down like he was doing to you, making Matt blinks a few times, attempting to look away but his mind won’t let hm.

“You really want to get your tongue underneath hers, too. Yeah, you want to get in there like a Claritin to just dissolve,” one the characters from Big Mouth sounds thru the kitchen, a bit too loud. Matt’s head snaps towards to screen, his face heats up dark red as he looks from the screen to you, basically snitching on himself.

For the millionth time tonight, your face matches his - red and flustered.

You and Matt chat for a while, making small talk about the love you both shared for Boston. He vowed to take you out to get more familiar with the city since you hadn't visited in years. Small talk turned into an hour's long conversations about everything under the sun, moon, and stars. You felt like you were catching up with somebody you had known for years. Eventually, Matt's eyes fall to his phone. 10:53 pm. He watches as you yawn, your elbow still propped on the table, and your head resting on it lightly. Big Mouth still plays across your computer screen, the perverted animation wasn't such a bad thing, you had forgot it was even playing. Matt gets up, taking your dishes over to the sink to rinse them off. The small act of kindness impresses you, taking him for the gentleman he truly is.

“Thanks for hanging out with me. I don’t know a lot of people here,” you tell him. In the beginning of the night, you wanted to stay in your solitude. It was an overwhelming day for you, and you weren’t expecting company. When Matt showed up at your door, you had no intentions of eating dinner with him, but you’re glad you did. His company gave you some type of comfort. Even though there wasn’t a lot said between you two, besides random chit-chat, you were grateful he interrupted your night.

Matt leans against the counter, “thanks for having me. I’m right next door so if you ever want to hang out,” he trails on, indicating he had a good night too.

“It’s the least I can do,” you tell him, “especially since you paid for it. Thanks again, by the way.” You weren’t used to having anyone, except your dad, pay for things. Even when you were with your ex, it was a routine you always paid for everything. It didn’t matter if it was dinner and a movie or something more expensive. Hell, you even got his car out of impound before, and that was easily seven hundred dollars. It all went unnoticed with him.

“Well, I seen you moving in earlier. I wanted to come over, but I didn’t want to be a bother,” he tells you, honesty lace through his voice. You walk over to him, leaning your body against the opposite counter. Superman pajamas pants and your cropped tank, you fold your arms over your chest to cover yourself from exposure. Not having a bra on made matters very noticeable.

Matt’s eyes trail over your body, taking in every inch of you. “So, you just wanted a reason to talk me?” your whisper-like tone sends chills down his spine, peppering his arms in goosebumps. He clears his throats and nods. A flirtatious smirk pulls at your lips, “I’m glad you did.”

“Yeah, me too,” the mood becomes softer, and he searches your face with his eyes.

Courage sparks through your core, and you decide to test the waters, “you want to kiss me, don’t you?”

Your questions take him by surprise, and you watch as Matt fixes his posture, fiddling with the sleeve of his jacket. He makes sure to keep his eyes locked on yours, “only if you want me to.”

You press your lips together, “do you think I do?” Being a tease was one of your many talents, you were best at it.

Matt’s eyebrows furrow together, and he thinks for a split second. “Y-yea, I think so,” he stutters over his words. It obvious you have a certain effect on him that makes him nervous. Or maybe it was the moment.

“Then what are you waiting for?”

That’s all you have to ask him before his hands shoot out, finding your waist, and pulling you towards him. Your face is inches away from his, and he leans in for a quick, yet hesitant, kiss. It only lasts a split second before Matt pulls away. His soft lips made you want more, so you smash your lips into his, a little rougher than anticipated. Matt snakes a hand around your waist, and the other travels up to cup for cheek.

Your lips move against his like two waves that had been separated for a lifetime. You make a fist of his shirt, trying to pull him in closer to you. This was the closest you had been to someone romantically since your ex. The kiss was something you had never experienced before, being with your ex for so long made the spark die out. You hadn’t been kissed like this in years and you were loving every minute of it, but you knew it had to end soon. You were running out of breath and trying to breathe through your nose with his face so close to yours was sucking it right out of you.

Matt is the one to break the heated kiss, finally pulling to look at you. “Woah," he's absolutely flustered, and you loved to see it.

[wambsgansshoelaces]

hii! i heart ur headcanons sm, so i was gonna ask if u could right some sibling headcanons (especially with roman) of growing up and getting a chronic illness so we end up unable to work like they do so logan treats us like were useless a lot of the time. sorry if that's too angsty or u don't want to, but if you do thanks you! i have a chronic illness and it would be cool to have comfort characters so comforting and stuff but thanks again! 🫶🏻 have a good day!

(can i become raccoon anon?) - 🦝

anon, I literally love you so much!! and of course you can be THE raccoon lol 🦝

I just want to let you know that if you ever, EVER need support, my ask box and pms are open to you always. I’m here for you, I will be your best friend, whatever it is you need 🫶🏽

thank you so much for requesting, and hopefully I can make this a series for you so that you have representation - if that’s something you want, just let me know xx I will literally write whatever you want me to <3 enjoy 🩷

chronic illness (sib!roys)

ᝰ you’re a difficult to thing to talk about for the roys

ᝰ shiv is the only one who’s ever really defended you to your father

ᝰ kendall and roman still supported you, but were just too afraid of logan to do anything

ᝰ early childhood, connor made sure you took all your meds exactly when you were supppsed to, every single day

ᝰ roman would make up games that you could play that didn’t require you to run or exert yourself to the point where you got hurt

ᝰ you and shiv would read the harry potter picture books together

ᝰ kendall, in secret, would do all of your homework if you weren’t feeling well

ᝰ which was a lot

ᝰ shiv would always convince your dad to let you sleep in or stay home from school certain days

ᝰ roman would physically fight kids who bullied you or were rude at school/on the playground

ᝰ in high school, kendall wrote a five page letter to the principal and got one repeat bully of yours expelled

ᝰ shiv campaigned hard to make school more accessible for you

ᝰ roman still fought people that looked at you funny

ᝰ he tells you one night after getting a bloody lip that he’ll never stop fighting for you

ᝰ it was tradition that if you were bed bound or in the hospital, shiv, roman, and kendall would bring a deck of cards to you so you could all play

ᝰ but as you got older, you all drifted apart

ᝰ first ken moving away for college, the other two following slowly after

ᝰ they kept in contact, sure, but now you’re in this massive house, all by yourself with no one to talk to

ᝰ you did college online

ᝰ and even then, you don’t ever think you’ll really be able to work

ᝰ you avoid your father as much as physically possible

ᝰ he’s always thought you weren’t worth anything

ᝰ you’ve learned not to let it get to you

ᝰ after kendall graduates and comes back to new york to work for waystar, he visits more

ᝰ connor’s been long gone, so now it’s him staying on top of your meds

ᝰ even though you can do it yourself, you let him

ᝰ you know he feels bad for you

ᝰ some dystopian pity

ᝰ you didn’t want to talk about it with him, ever, so you just let him do it

ᝰ things only change after roman graduates

ᝰ even though he’s arguably the most afraid of your father, he came back to new york and made you move in with him

ᝰ “you don’t even take care of yourself, ro,” you tell him one day

ᝰ “so? you’re more important to me. i’m not going to let you fucking be in danger because dad’s a jackass.”

ᝰ he makes sure his fridge and pantry are stocked with solely food you can eat

ᝰ your dad never asks after you

ᝰ but oh well

ᝰ you only ever talk to roman anymore

ᝰ it changes after a particularly bad scare with your health

ᝰ and it’s just like ten years ago, the four of you cramped together on one hospital bed, playing cards

ᝰ shiv and ken never lose touch with you again

ᝰ you walk ken down the aisle at his wedding

ᝰ and at every wedding you attend for your siblings, you’re their person of honor, standing, sitting, whatever you can, right behind them

[breannasfluff]

Imagine there was a law once a year you had to kill someone else to survive and not be able to be killed that year. As a problem to overpopulation.

I hate the "Is the cup half full or half empty" thing. It doesn't help to see if I'm pessimistic or optimistic. Seeing as my view depends on how the glass was set up. If the water was poured first, it is half full. If the glass was filled completely with water, then half of it got dumped out, it is half empty. How can you say "Oh it's half empty" or "oh it's half full". Also both of those are technically correct, so why is this even a thing? You literally can't tell anything from this and I hate it.

I don't think anyone is dumb. Everyone learns differently. Just because the person is not understanding the concept, doesn't mean they are stupid or slow. That means it is not being taught in their learning style. There are like 7 different learning styles, and I know for a fact there are almost no schools that try to teach people using all of them. It's not your fault for not understanding something, sometimes it's not even the person teaching you fault. Sometimes the wording is just confusing in your brain or you need longer to process and make connections. I just hate whenever someone uses dumb as an insult. It doesn't make sense and yes there are some topics I would be "Dumb" to, but that's just because I haven't tried to learn them.

Silent letters in English are so dumb. Or words that are just not spelled like they are pronounced. Like what's the point? It just makes everything more confusing for everyone. And also the different spelling for every day thing from like British English to American English to Australian English. Like Gray? I honestly don't know how to spell it correctly where I'm from. I change the spelling every time I spell Grey. It's so dumb.

Did you know ADHD meds don't work if you have certain foods after or before you take them. Mostly foods or things with vitamin C. Just a thought.

I have no clue why I wrote this. I had ten thousand other things I could be doing. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed my random thoughts and I'm sure glad for the ask anonymously feature in tumbler!

According to all known laws of aviation, there is no way a bee should be able to fly. Its wings are too small to get its fat little body off the ground. The bee, of course, flies anyway because bees don't care what humans think is impossible. Yellow, black. Yellow, black. Yellow, black. Yellow, black. Ooh, black and yellow! Let's shake it up a little. Barry! Breakfast is ready! Ooming! Hang on a second. Hello? - Barry? - Adam? - Oan you believe this is happening? - I can't. I'll pick you up. Looking sharp. Use the stairs. Your father paid good money for those. Sorry. I'm excited. Here's the graduate. We're very proud of you, son. A perfect report card, all B's. Very proud. Ma! I got a thing going here. - You got lint on your fuzz. - Ow! That's me! - Wave to us! We'll be in row 118,000. - Bye! Barry, I told you, stop flying in the house! - Hey, Adam. - Hey, Barry. - Is that fuzz gel? - A little. Special day, graduation. Never thought I'd make it. Three days grade school, three days high school. Those were awkward. Three days college. I'm glad I took a day and hitchhiked around the hive. You did come back different. - Hi, Barry. - Artie, growing a mustache? Looks good. - Hear about Frankie? - Yeah. - You going to the funeral? - No, I'm not going. Everybody knows, sting someone, you die. Don't waste it on a squirrel. Such a hothead. I guess he could have just gotten out of the way. I love this incorporating an amusement park into our day. That's why we don't need vacations. Boy, quite a bit of pomp... under the circumstances. - Well, Adam, today we are men. - We are! - Bee-men. - Amen! Hallelujah! Students, faculty, distinguished bees, please welcome Dean Buzzwell. Welcome, New Hive Oity graduating class of... ...9:15. That concludes our ceremonies. And begins your career at Honex Industries! Will we pick ourjob today? I heard it's just orientation. Heads up! Here we go. Keep your hands and antennas inside the tram at all times. - Wonder what it'll be like? - A little scary. Welcome to Honex, a division of Honesco and a part of the Hexagon Group. This is it! Wow. Wow. We know that you, as a bee, have worked your whole life to get to the point where you can work for your whole life. Honey begins when our valiant Pollen Jocks bring the nectar to the hive. Our top-secret formula is automatically color-corrected, scent-adjusted and bubble-contoured into this soothing sweet syrup with its distinctive golden glow you know as... Honey! - That girl was hot. - She's my cousin! - She is? - Yes, we're all cousins. - Right. You're right. - At Honex, we constantly strive to improve every aspect of bee existence. These bees are stress-testing a new helmet technology. - What do you think he makes? - Not enough. Here we have our latest advancement, the Krelman. - What does that do? - Oatches that little strand of honey that hangs after you pour it. Saves us millions. Oan anyone work on the Krelman? Of course. Most bee jobs are small ones. But bees know that every small job, if it's done well, means a lot. But choose carefully because you'll stay in the job you pick for the rest of your life. The same job the rest of your life? I didn't know that. What's the difference? You'll be happy to know that bees, as a species, haven't had one day off in 27 million years. So you'll just work us to death? We'll sure try. Wow! That blew my mind! "What's the difference?" How can you say that? One job forever? That's an insane choice to have to make. I'm relieved. Now we only have to make one decision in life. But, Adam, how could they never have told us that? Why would you question anything? We're bees.

Gray with an A is how you spell it in the USA. It has the A for America. Grey is the British spelling.

[gutsybitsies]

because of this post

OP: u/cerealisbadactually

Context, me (27M) and my roommate (29M) have been splitting rent on a bachelor's pad since he graduated college (I'm homeschooled and run one of my dad's business branches).

For the past five years, we've gone to my family's place for Thanksgiving dinner. This is because we have some friends who only live where my family lives, and also because I have a better relationship with my father and stepmother than he does with his father and stepmother.

Last year, our friends who live there moved on and so we won't be able to see them at my family's place anymore. My roommate said that we should take this chance to have Thanksgiving dinner somewhere else. I thought this meant that we are either hosting our own Friendsgiving at our place, or that we're joining a Friendsgiving with our mutual friends.

No. He's invited to Thanksgiving with his side of the family. I hate his father and stepmother. He frankly doesn't like his dad and has a complicated relationship with his stepmother (she both babies him too much and also puts undue pressure on him because "he's her favorite son", despite having sons of her own). She has messed with every one of our friends and we all hate her, including my roommate's exgirlfriend.

His parents are essentially very high status and are "big wigs" and no one can visit their place on a whim. This year, they decided they want to hold a feast and have "deigned to invite" my roommate and also another one of our friends.

I don't think we should go, I'm thinking of telling my roommate that we should say fuck you (politely) to his parents and do our own thing.

He thinks that things have changed (it hasn't) and it would be a good show of diplomacy for us to go. I think it's unnecessary and that his parents would just have to deal with not having a closer relationship with him. If we refuse, then we can't go to my family's Thanksgiving either or else it'd turn into a whole Thing, but we can do something else. WBTA if I convince him that we should just do Thanksgiving on our own?

Replies:

u/terminator367: YWBTA, your roommate can decide whether or not he wants to have a close relationship with his family. You're really overstepping as a roommate.

u/biglongdiiiiiinner: OP why are you so insistent on having Thanksgiving with your roommate?

u/cerealisbadactually replied: Because it's our thing, we do holidays together since we live together.

u/applejackpony replied: soft YBTA, sounds like OP's family kind of adopted his roommate and he's also like a brother. i also wouldn't want someone i'm close to and care about dealing with toxic family members. however this is your friend's choice and all you can do is be supportive of him.

u/cerealisbadactually replied: but i really, really don't want to go.

u/applejackpony replied: you don't have to go????? just don't stop your friend from going?

u/cereialsibadactually replied: like doing our separate things for thanksgiving?

u/applejackpony replied: Yes, that sounds like the only option.

u/whatthefxxxxxxkkkk replied: are you the one that posted in r/rants about having to sign a thank you card your boyfriend wrote to your stepmother because she ignored everything on your housewarming registry and bought you guys a cereal subscription? you sound like an ungrateful asshole and your roommate is too good for you.

u/cerealisbadactually replied: that was my roommate not my boyfriend, and my stepmother knows i hate cereal. we had simple and cheap items on our registry like blankets, table covers, and chair protectors, and she went and spent $2000 on five years' worth of cereal subscription. forgive me for being annoyed at having to sign a thankyou note for that.

u/helloitsmeadele replied: OP why did you and your roommate have a housewarming registry.

u/cerealisbadactually replied: UPDATE. I spoke with my roommate. He's given me more information on why he thinks we should go, namely because his parents wants to do an acknowledgement of the people who have worked for them (our friends and I have all done a lot of jobs for them over the years). They "forgot" to invite me and some other people, and only invited their favorites. But there was more communication and now a lot more people are going together. I'm still not happy about going but it'd be a bit more bearable if my sister and her fiance are also going to be there.

u/helloitsmeadele replied: OP you didn't answer, why do you and your roommate have a housewarming registry together?

[sunlightwoo]

dangerous

pairing: mingi x g.n reader, some of unknown ateez member x reader

genre: angst | warnings: mentions of the bar, alcohol | rating: pg-16 | wc: 830

plot: you wondered what made him change his mind; why did he have to go away so quickly and so easily? was it because it was you?

a/n: idk what this was,,, and it’s been a while since i last wrote, but hopefully you guys like it!! 

song ib: dangerous - madison beer

It’s too loud. 

The familiar setting of you coming to this exact bar at least twice a week hits a little too close to home this time around, and the eerie feeling in your gut cannot pinpoint why it does. You had received a text from a friend of yours that you haven’t talked to in a while, unsure as to why he had texted you out of the blue. It wasn’t like he was obligated to still talk to you, when it was you that had broken things off with his best friend; he should’ve cut you off in the first place. 

Yunho, however, was a man of wild cards as he had called you on his cell phone, incoherently asking you to pick him up and drop him off at his apartment in exchange for a coffee outing in the morning. You think you shouldn’t decline it in the first place, knowing that it’s the last stretch of final exams for the fall semester, and that you were just one semester away from graduating college. 

But you hated this scene. 

You currently stand out in the middle of the bar, looking for the tall man that had called you previously in hopes that you could just grab him and go, but nothing could ever prepare you for the sight that you were graced with. 

In the corner of the bar you see him, the person that you once thought that you were going to have everything with. 

Song Mingi was someone that came into your life almost unexpectedly, gracing his presence into your life at the same time that you had met Yunho. The two had almost come together as a package duo, and the you from years ago would’ve laughed at the idea of you being the one to break things off with the latter. However it was the idea of the future that had scared both you and Mingi that you had finally made a choice for the two of you; to go your separate ways before you can hurt the other. 

The breakup was still fresh in your mind, as it had only been three weeks since you had seen them both and the rest of your mutual friend group. You thought that it would’ve been best to distance yourself from them all so that you could take the time to heal and love yourself better, but standing in the middle of this bar made you feel anything but that. 

There was someone else in his lap, making out with him and he had been holding them closer to him more than you would’ve liked. 

“Are you okay?” 

The three words were said from behind you, and for some reason it comforts you in the worst ways possible. You turn to face an old flame of yours, one that you knew was also a victim in this case because from what you heard, he had recently gotten out of a relationship as well. The girl that he used to be with was someone that he told you not to worry about, but in this moment you realize that it was now him who was on your end of the stick. 

You wanted to laugh in his face at his question, but you also knew that he once knew you on the back of his hand. He knew that you had been hurting inside, because this was quite possibly your last straw with falling in love with someone; and he had known you were dating for the long run, rather than just in the moment.  

“Was it really that easy to let me go?” You whispered harshly, more towards yourself as you looked between Mingi who was now no longer in the spot that you had seen him in, and the person beside you. 

The look of pity mixed in with guilt had said everything that you needed to, and maybe tonight was not the night where you could’ve easily picked up the pieces. Maybe you needed more time to heal, and to be away from them because now that you remember it, they were all in one friend group. 

One was bound to tell the other sooner or later. 

“Y/N…”

“Y/N, there you are!” You hear Yunho say from behind you, and for a moment you think that you were saved by his timing to get you out of the suffocating place, “Are you still okay with driving me back?” 

You looked up at the latter with a fake smile, tugging on his sleeve to guide him out carefully as you left your past behind with all the unspoken words between you both. Maybe if you weren’t in such conditions, you could step forward and hear about all the things that had gone wrong between you two. 

But for now, you think that it’s better to love yourself first, before you find it even more dangerous to fall in love with someone new.

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[holyrgbatman]

Jerry Robinson and the Joker

NY Times

In 1939 Bob Kane came a cross a young man playing tennis with a jacket covered in cartoon drawings. The artwork was really good and so Kane, needing help on his new feature, went to ask the man where he got it. As it turned out it was the young man who drew on it and Kane was impressed enough to offer the man, Jerry Robinson, a job. Robinson needed money to get through college for journalism and got into cartooning, and selling ice cream, to achieve that. After checking in on his Columbia application to see if it was still good, and joined Kane's team. Robinson said in an interview with David Armstrong that he actually wasn't impressed with the first, and only at the time, issue but he needed the cash. Jerry Robinson would balance college and cartooning for the first few years before dropping out to fully pursue drawing.

Robinson attempted to match the approach of Bob Kane's more simpler style but ultimately kept to his own style and fortunately not much issue came up. Soon, he would move to directly working for DC around 1941 after DC offered him and Bill Finger a position to keep working at Batman when they got wind of other publishers asking for them.

The move to working for DC rather than for Kane wouldn't be the only big event. In the Batman series, starting in 1940, Robinson would create the Joker and also name the boy wonder, Robin for Detective Comics #38. When Batman (1940) came into the scene, the creative team was meet with greater work than before---3 13pg stories and 1 12pg story for the quarterly Batman series and a 13pg story for Detective Comics. Plus there was Worlds Finest. All that workload was too much for Finger and Robinson volunteered his help for Finger, maybe get paid and have it serve as a writing credit. Robinson decided to start off with the villain to to a high level of interest for the antagonists, finding them "inherently more interesting than heroes". He wanted to create a villain that could really match up to Batman, someone that was larger than life and memorable in a way the crooks and hijackers of earlier stories wasn't.

Finding it more interesting to make a contradicting villain with a sense of humor. Robinson associated that humor with the Joker card, due to a family that was very good at and loved card playing (one of his older brother's graduated on a scholarship from a Bridge tournament).

While Jerry was suppose to be the one writing the story, as he described the idea of a villain messing around with Batman, Kane and Finger loved the idea so much that they felt that the writing of the story should go to Bill, being the best and because Jerry hadn't wrote a story before. And while he was sad that he couldn't write the first Joker story, Robinson had to admit that it would be best for Bill to do it and unsurprisingly but fortunately still, the story was great.

Though Kane would dispute this "Bill Finger and I created the Joker. Bill was the writer. Jerry Robinson came to me with a playing card of the Joker. That's the way I sum it up. [The Joker] looks like Conrad Veidt — you know, the actor in The Man Who Laughs... Bill Finger had a book with a photograph of Conrad Veidt and showed it to me and said, 'Here's the Joker.' Jerry Robinson had absolutely nothing to do with it. But he'll always say he created it till he dies. He brought in a playing card, which we used for a couple of issues for him [the Joker] to use as his playing card." Bill Finger isn't entirely sure who came up with the idea first, "apparently Jerry Robinson or Bob, I don't recall who, looked at the card and they had an idea for a character".

After about seven years Robinson would leave Batman, wanting to do his own thing, a run down and a bit done with his name not being on any of the work---Robinson would sign it as Kane's name. For many years Jerry would do political cartoons, though he did still do comics as well with Mort Meskin, joe Simon and Jack Kirby.

He was a teacher starting in the 50s, bringing in professionals, and even calling publishers about promising students. Robinson was also president of the National Cartoonists Society for 3 years, president of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists for 2 years, and founded Cartoonists & Writers Syndicate in 1978. In 1984, a branch CartoonArts International was made to represent political cartoonists, freelancers, and humor panel cartoonists. The organization would team up with Hallmark, an arm of the New York Times, and the United Nations.

Jerry Robinson alongside artist/comic rights advocate Neal Adams as a supporter of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster against DC to win full recognition and compensation as the creators of Superman. And won in the mid 1970s.

Jerry created a manga, Astra, in 1999 with various Japanese's artist.

[sissytobitch10seconds]

An Announcement of Numbers

Fandom: The Umbrella Academy Summary: Allison sent him a birth announcement for his niece, Claire, almost a year ago. At the time he thought it was tacky and unneeded, but he kind of understands it now. Warnings: Mentions of child abuse, pregnancy, trans-male pregnancy, and addiction Word Count: 7,143 Ship(s): Allison Hargreeves & Diego Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves & Viktor Hargreeves

Archive link!

A/N: So I wrote this a very long time ago, before I had ever watched S3. I put it on hold because I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with it but eventually I decided to edit out Viktor's deadname and replace everything. If there are any missed pronouns or names please let me know so that I can edit it! Stay sissy and bitchy everyone &lt;3

Viktor didn't like announcement cards very much. He thought that they were tacky and classist, a complete waste of time. He had things that he wanted to announce to his siblings before, but he had always been too poor to afford them so just hand wrote them notes. They seemed to respond better to those than they had the announcement cards they got from others back when they were all living together in the Academy. He sent them his little notes when he had graduated from college, and then again when he had performed at his first concert. Of course, none of his siblings had been able to attend either one of them, but they had written him letters in reply.

The Hargreeves siblings wanted no reminders of their time back in the Academy, other than Luther who had stayed there long after the rest of them left, but they did want to stay in contact with each other. Allison had almost immediately run away to LA so that she could be a famous movie star. Diego had stuck around in the city to become a police officer and continue the crime fighting like he had as a child. Klaus had run away in the city, always chasing after his next fix. Klaus and Diego saw each other more than any of the other siblings did, especially with the two brother's conflicted career paths.

They chose to stay in contact with each other by sending letters back and forth. Diego's letters were always short and direct. Sometimes he would include a message from Klaus, scrawled in his own messy handwriting, letting them know that he was still breathing despite his best efforts. Allison loved to send them care packages full of things that she had gathered while in LA. Viktor would send them long letters telling them all about his orchestra and the kids that he taught. He even sent them his book after he had gotten the requested copies from his publisher.

He hadn't gotten the response that he had been expecting from that, though. He had partially been expecting them to not pay it any mind, like they did most of his accomplishments, or to encourage him to speak out about the abuse they faced as children. Instead, he had gotten an angry call from each of them. Diego had yelled at him about springing this on him when Klaus was in rehab after an overdose and he had just failed the police academy. Allison had lectured him for similar reasons, asking if her brother was purposefully threatening her brand new marriage and sparkling career. After that, he had gotten absolutely no word from either of them. Their messages had been pretty clear, they wanted nothing to do with him.

That made it all the more surprising when he found a crisp green envelope buried in the junk mail and bills he usually got. Allison used to send all of her packages and letters in wrappings similar to that, and her handwriting was scrawled on the front. Viktor had, of course, immediately opened it despite running a little late in his routine. Inside he had found a birth announcement for his niece. It had a picture of a newborn baby swaddled in a blanket with the Umbrella Academy logo in small print all over it. On the bottom in a beautiful gray print was the baby's name and the day that she was born.

A mix of emotions had gone through him once he received the announcement. He knew that Allison loved little announcements like this, as she had sent her siblings ones for her marriage and several of her movie premiers even if none of them could attend. Because he knew his sister, Viktor also knew that there had been a pregnancy announcement that he hadn't gotten. The only reason that he got this one was most likely because Allison and her husband Patrick had been too worn out by their new arrival to remember their grudge. Viktor was angry about the fact that his sister hadn't told him that she was pregnant. He also understood why Allison hadn't, which came with a bit of grief and guilt. He was relieved that he had gotten news about his niece at all. The main feeling that he got was a resurgence in his feelings about how tacky announcement cards were.

His feelings changed when he had a child of his own. 

Viktor had never expected to be a parent at any point in his entire life. His most serious relationship was the one that ended up getting him pregnant, and they broke up at least twice a month. Still, when he was holding the little black and white picture confirming that he was growing a child, he resolved himself to keeping them despite the dysphoria it would cause him. The process was long and hard, especially since he was doing it alone, but the nurses and doctor working with him through the pregnancy had been wonderful. They were supportive and kind towards his needs and desires during his sixteen hour long labor, all of which he had spent in the hospital since she had pre-eclampsia, even snapping a few pictures of key moments. 

One of such moments was right after his little one had been born. She had quite literally just slid out into the world, the doctor placing her onto her father’s chest. Viktor’s face was visible in the picture and showed nothing but love and adoration for the little one in his arms. He looked exhausted, with huge dark circles under his eyes from barely sleeping at night since his third trimester started, and he was pale from the pre-eclampsia, but he had never seen himself look happier. After seeing that image, he decided that he had to share his joy with others.

---

Klaus had been crashing on Diego’s couch for almost three days when he got the envelope in the mail. It had been thrown into the back room of the gym that he worked and lived at, along with some junk mail with his name on it. The aforementioned man had stolen it right out of his hands before he got the chance to open it and did it himself. Diego was only able to steal back the envelope so that he could see the return address had Viktor’s new name above it.

"Woah," Klaus whispered. "I'm either too high or not high enough."

"What? What could he want to say?" he asked, spitting the pronoun out like it was burning him. He stalked over to his brother, replacing the little postcard that Klaus was holding with the envelope like he was a child. Klaus seemed perfectly happy to play with the edges of it while Diego processed what was in his hands. "No fucking way, man," he whispered. 

"Please welcome the newest member of our family: Annika Grace Hargreeves," Klaus recited from memory as he chucked the envelope vaguely in the direction of his coffee table. 

Diego walked over to his brother. He slapped Klaus' legs away until he was forced to sit properly and give room for the other man. "Look at this," he said, forcing the postcard back into his hands.

"It's a baby," the addict replied blankly.

"It's a baby that our brother, our brother that wrote a stupid b-book about us is cl-claiming is his," the anger that was already boiling in his gut reached an explosion point when he started stuttering. It had been so long since he had a stuttering episode, he had specifically been avoiding situations that would make him too emotional so that he could speak clearly, that he had forgotten any other emotion for a moment. The volatile ex-hero reached to the coffee table where he had a handful of knives and shot two at the wall behind them.

Klaus let out a small screech as he moved away from the assault just in time to avoid being hit. "Why are you like this?" he hissed, kicking at him.

Now that he had a bit of his emotion worked through, he grabbed the postcard again. Diego studied the picture on the front, right above the words explaining what the newborn's name was and when she had been born. It was a picture of a quite literally brand new baby, still red and slightly lopsided. She had a tiny hand clenched tightly into a fist up by the side of her face with a lock of familiar brown hair in between her fingers. He could make out the very edge of Viktor’s face, which held the brightest smile that he had ever seen him wear.

"Our brother had a baby," he whispered as it really began to sink in. Despite all of the resentment that had built up over the years at the book Viktor had published airing all of their dirty laundry during an already terrible time in his life, he regretted the fact that he hadn't felt safe telling him that he was pregnant. 

"Annika and Claire are going to be around the same age, aren't they?" Klaus hummed. He snatched the postcard from Diego and looked it over again. "He looks happy. Doesn't say who the other father is though. Maybe V doesn't want us to meet him."

Diego folded his arms over his chest. "Get sober for a couple of days, I want to go and meet the guy that knocked up our baby brother."

"You want to go meet our niece," Klaus looked off to the side like someone else was talking to him. His smile softened for a little bit, as did the tenseness in his shoulders. "I guess I can go without anything for a couple of days if it means getting to see V smile like this in person."

---

Allison got a lot of mail. So much that her manager, a lovely woman named Debbie, made her sit down once a month and go through it all. They would skim through a lot of the letters, shredding any that had come from stalkers or poorly concealed paparazzi. Everything else she would reply to with the best of her abilities. Some of the standard 'I love your work' fanmail got an automated printed response that was still in her handwriting but that she didn't have to answer by hand. She liked it when she got mail from little kids that were looking up to her and wanted to know actual, genuine questions.

Today was one of those days. She had her daughter on her lap as she opened each letter and tossed it into the proper pile. Her manager was doing the same, turning every now and again to make a cooing noise at the six-month-old.

"What's this?" Patrick asked as he walked over. He moved so that he was sitting down behind his wife with his hand on her hip. He grabbed a letter that he had spotted out of the pile that looked different than the rest. He turned it over a couple of times before Claire giggled and reached for his nose with her little hand. His attention immediately moved away from the letter and to their daughter, "Hey there, cutie. Are you helping Mommy with her work? Yeah, I bet you are."

The actress removed the letter from his hand so that she was holding it. She allowed her husband to entertain their baby while she tried to figure out who had sent her the letter. "It's from Viktor," Allison interrupted after she finally had time to process. The envelope itself was a lovely pink color, very soft and quiet. Her brother’s loopy scrawl covered the front, giving Allison's address and her own return address.

"Viktor?" both Debbie and Patrick perked up at that.

"As in the brother that sent you the book that almost ruined your movie deal?" her manager asked, raising a perfectly plucked brow. "I'd just throw it out. What would you want to do with him after what he did to you?"

The married couple glanced at each other before they focused back down at the letter. "Do you think that he wants to talk to you about Claire? We did send him a birth announcement, so it's not like he doesn't know he's an uncle."

"You sent him a birth announcement? After everything that he did to you?" Debbie questioned, her voice a scoffing scorn.

"He's still my brother. We didn't tell the media about Claire's birth, I at least wanted to tell everyone in my family," Allison replied. She turned the letter in her hand over again before she sliced it open with her fingernail. She removed the postcard inside and then felt a jolt of emotion that she couldn't quite name. It was similar to the announcement that they had sent the other Academy members just six months ago. The material that the card was made out of was a lot cheaper than what they had been able to afford. It was clear that Viktor had several of the photos printed at a print shop for the cheapest yet nicest material that he could get. The pictures weren't professional, they didn't even look like they had been taken with a camera, more like they had been taken on someone's phone.

And yet, Allison couldn't help the way that her heart melted. The picture brought back memories of her own delivery with Claire. Viktor and his newborn were having their second skin-to-skin moment that most new parents got in the hospital. The baby had been cleaned off and had her hospital band around her little wrist. Her hand was grasped tightly around a lock of her father’s hair while pressed to the side of her face. She was mid-yawn, with just the smallest sliver of blue iris visible in the slit of her eye. Viktor’s face was mostly out of frame, but Allison could see the brightest smile resting on his features. He looked tired, but like he had never loved more before in his life.

"I can't believe that he had a baby," she murmured when the information finally began to sink in. "He was pregnant when I sent him Claire's birth announcement. The two of us could have talked! Why didn't he tell me?"

"Baby, did you ever consider that it was because of the call where you screamed at him for publishing a book talking about your childhoods?" Patrick asked carefully as he rubbed his hand on the small of her back.

"I… suppose," she clicked her tongue. She glanced up at her manager, "Do you think that I'd be able to go back and visit my siblings before the shoot of the next movie?"

Debbie sighed as she set the couple of letters in her hand down on the table. She stood up, already pulling her phone from her pocket, "I'll see what I can do. You're only going to be able to stay a couple of days, and I wouldn't bring Claire. Especially if you don't want the paparazzi swarming her before she's even a year old."

"I'll stay with her," Patrick said quickly. "You can go out and meet your brother’s baby-"

"Annika," Allison said quickly.

"Right, you can go and see Annika. When both of the girls are old enough we can introduce them to each other. I think they're a little small for a cross country field trip at the moment," he chuckled. "Especially Annika."

Allison turned so that she could press her lips to her husband's. He chuckled but then happily kissed her back. "Thank you, my love," she whispered as she placed her forehead against his in another act of affection. Claire was beginning to get a bit rowdy in her lap, wiggling around in discontent. "Oh, lovely. How are you going to survive without all eyes on you while Mommy is visiting Uncle Viktor, huh?" she asked softly.

"We'll make due," Patrick replied. He gave his wife another swift kiss. He gathered their daughter up in his arms as he got up and left her to her work. Allison's flight was scheduled out to the East Coast after just a few hours.

---

Almost as soon as her flight touched down, Allison was digging through her contacts to find her brother's number. She had nearly dialed the last rehab facility that Klaus had been forced to attend before she found Diego's actual number. She was walking through the airport with her hair tied back in a bun and a large pair of sunglasses to cover her face in the hopes that it would stop her from being recognized. She much preferred being back in the smaller parts of their hometown, where everyone recognized them from their superhero days and didn't care about them anymore. Relief flooded through her when she finally got to her cab and Diego answered one of the numerous calls she had now burdened his phone with.

"What?" he snapped immediately upon their lines being connected.

"Viktor had a baby," she said smartly. She had been up with Claire almost the entire night before, so she had slept while on the flight. That meant that her brain was five steps behind the rest of her.

"I'm well aware. I got the same announcement I assume you did," he replied.

"Why didn't you tell me? You live in the same city as him, you had to get it a week before I did at least," she snapped.

Her brother let out a small huff. There was a lot of background noise on the call, including a voice that Allison thought she recognized. "I did. I've been helping Klaus get sober so that we can go and visit our niece."

"You two are going to see the baby too?"

"What do you mean 'too'?" Klaus' voice spoke into the phone.

Allison rolled her eyes and waited the several long minutes it took for her two brothers to stop squabbling like they were six again before she answered, "I flew out here as soon as I could. I mean, we've both been pregnant and we have kids around the same age. I thought that Viktor could use his sister. I want to meet the father too."

"I guess we'll come and pick you up at the airport then," Diego replied. "No point in the both of us going to disrupt a new parent at different times."

"Yeah, because I'm sure that Vik-Vik will love to have us all crammed in his apartment with his newborn after not talking with us for years," Klaus said, sarcastically, and loudly.

"I'm actually going to the hotel I'll be staying in while I'm here. I think that it's a good idea for us to all go at once. That way he can kick us all out at the same time if he doesn't want us there. He doesn't have to tell us separately," Allison replied. She remembered how awful it had been having different waves of Patrick's family and their friends come and visit them when Claire had been born. Everyone thought that it was helping to sit around and coo at the baby while the new parents had to do work around the house instead of doing the chores themselves.

"We'll pick you up at the hotel, just give us the address. And don't worry, Klaus is totally sober and under supervision," Diego replied. 

Allison provided him with the information that he needed and he promptly hung up. She rolled her eyes fondly at that. The rest of the cab ride was spent with nervous anticipation. She was still in contact with her brothers, but they had just been sending letters back and forth since she had left for Los Angeles, so she hadn't seen them in person since their Academy days. She dumped her bags into her room as quickly as she could after checking in. As soon as everything was securely locked away to be dealt with after she had her little family reunion, she rushed back down to the lobby. 

Diego and Klaus already stood there, waiting for her. A bright grin split her face as she rushed over to them. Klaus opened his arms and immediately wrapped her up in a hug, though Diego took a step away from them both to avoid physical contact. "It's so good to see you both. I know that we talked on the phone and sent letters, but it almost didn't feel real. I'm glad that you're both alive and standing."

"For the most part," Klaus chuckled when he removed himself from her arms. The actress felt a stab in her heart when she realized how badly life had been treating him. He was as thin as he could be without his bones literally poking out of his skin, and his appearance had this sour yellow undertone to it where he used to be rosy-hued and tan. His eyes were sunk back into his head and ringed by gray and black, one from eyeliner and one from lack of sleep. His smile never quite reached those secretive green eyes of his. He was wearing a pair of jeans and a crop top, the former obviously taken from Diego's closet. 

She grasped his hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. "Are we ready to go see Viktor?"

"Mm," their brother replied instead of giving them an actual answer. He turned on his heel and walked out of the hotel, expecting them to follow. Allison rolled her eyes but hurried after him. Klaus wound his arms easily around her waist to keep her close to him. Even as children they had both been pretty physical with each other when Diego had been distant. He didn't like receiving hugs or kisses, even from their mother, like the rest of them did. They had grown up with it so they were more than used to it.

The group of three quickly piled into his car with Klaus in the back, Diego driving, and Allison sitting shotgun. The drive over was filled with talking from two of the three inhabitants as Allison shared what her life was like. Diego and Luther had made it to her wedding, but Klaus hadn't, so she had the opportunity to gush about her husband to someone who had never met him before. Diego was quiet for the most part while they drove, but Allison had known him long enough to know that he was thinking a million miles a minute. Every street that they turned down was being analyzed in his head like he was trying to place crimes they had stopped as children and he had stopped as an adult in each location. To his credit, the further that they drove, the less nice the neighborhoods looked. When they finally stopped in front of the apartment building that their sister lived in, all three of them were a little concerned. It wasn't a bad place to live, but it certainly wasn't what any of them had been expecting Viktor to be raising his baby in. 

The three siblings got out of the car and entered the apartment building. They walked up a couple flights of stairs until they reached the apartment that the man in the front room where the mailboxes were had said Viktor lived. Allison turned to address her brothers before they went any further, "Okay, before we go in there, I want to make a couple of things clear. As a mother myself I can say that there is nothing more annoying than people saying that they're helping by holding your baby for you. All you want to do is hold your baby and having to do chores stops you from doing that. Be nice to him, don't comment on his appearance, and if he cries don't comment on that either."

"We know how to be people, Allison," Klaus rolled his eyes. He pushed past his siblings so that he was the one standing at the door, but right before his knuckles were about to make contact with the wood he paused. All three of them went quiet as they heard the melancholic sound of a violin playing, a sound that had haunted the halls of their home all throughout childhood. "He still plays," the addict smiled softly, this time it reached his eyes.

"Are you really surprised? Violin was his passion even when we were eleven," Diego snarked. He leaned past his brother so that he could knock on the door instead.

The lullaby sound of the instrument stopped as soon as the knocking rang through the hallway and apartment. It was only a second later before the door opened to reveal a tired version of their brother, not that Viktor had ever been really awake in their childhood. He always looked rundown and withdrawn, but now it was a different kind of tiredness. Like he was exhausted but someone had replaced the joy in his eyes. "What can I do… what are you guys doing here?" Viktor asked when he finally realized who was standing in front of him. He turned and glanced back behind him before he looked back at them. "Uh…"

"You're the one that notified us about your bundle of joy, brother of mine," Klaus smiled widely. He reached forward so that he had the short man almost completely wrapped up in a hug. It took a second for him to get over his shock before he responded by returning it.

He buried his head in Klaus’ shoulder and let out a wet sob. Allison looked meaningfully at Diego, who placed his hands up in a mock-surrender. Viktor released him and then began to wipe at his face with the edge of his sweater, "It's been so long since I've heard from you. I try to check around with the rehab places in the city to make sure that you're okay but they rarely give out any information. I'm really glad that you're okay, Klaus."

He rubbed his brother’s shoulder affectionately before he backed away. "Come in, if you want," he motioned to his apartment.

Diego walked past Klaus as he decided that his brother was taking too long. The other two hurried in, and Viktor shut the door behind them. "I hope that you didn't think I was sending you that announcement thing as a way of manipulating you. I just… I kind of wanted someone else to know."

Diego made a sound like he was unsure he believed him as he began to walk around the apartment. He was inspecting the wallpaper peeling up at the top of the wall where it met the ceiling for a moment before he moved to looking at the door. Allison shot him a look that silenced any other noises he might make, but she let him continue on his examination of their brother’s house.

She turned her attention back to the smaller ex-Academy member. She could hear the coo of a baby in the next room over, which she assumed was either Viktor’s bedroom or the nursery. "Can we meet her?" Allison asked, squeezing her hands in front of her like she always did when she was trying to hold herself back.

"Oh, yeah, of course," Viktor hit his hand lightly on his forehead. "Sorry, I've been really scatterbrained recently. I think it's the hormones and lack of sleep, not that I would trade it for anything," he let out a little laugh that made all three siblings stop. They had never, not even as toddlers, heard their brother sound that genuinely happy. He quickly hurried to the next room, and when he returned he had the softest expression of utter adoration resting on his features.

Diego was the closest to him now as he had moved over to the windows, fiddling with the latch that kept them closed from the inside. "She's so small," he commented, blinking down at the bundle.

"Well, if you hadn't noticed, I'm kind of a small person too," Viktor chuckled. "Guys, meet Annika, my daughter." The pride that shown on his features and in his eyes was indescribable.

"Wow," Klaus whispered, moving to peak over the edge of the blanket down at his niece. "You made this all by yourself, Vik-Vik?"

He laughed, shifting his daughter so that the newborn was facing a little bit more towards them and less towards himself. "That is kind of how it works, Klaus."

"Here, come sit down. You have to be exhausted," Allison gently reached out and helped her brother over to the couch. Viktor opened his mouth to object, but just moved with the woman. Allison took that moment to peak over the swaddle herself and get a good look at the little one. She was wearing a blue and green onesie while wrapped in a lovely yellow blanket to try and keep out the March chill that still hung in the air. "How are you feeling? I know you're not even a month postpartum and I remember how awful that was."

"Everyone I talked to said that the hard part would be after the baby was born, but I think this is a lot easier than pregnancy," Viktor chuckled lightly. He tore his eyes away from the gurgling face of his daughter to look to his sister, "Do you want to hold her?"

"I would love to, but you don't have to pass up on time with her if you don't want to. When Claire was born I barely ever wanted to let her out of my sight, even just to sleep," Allison smiled. She had expected things to be a little more awkward, seeing as this was their first face-to-face and voice-to-voice interaction in years, as well as their first interaction since the publishing of that book. 

"Yeah, the first night I had her all I did was watch her breathe through the bassinet. The nurse had to come and take her to the nursery so that I would actually sleep," Viktor laughed. He moved so that he was facing towards his sister, and then gently passed the three-week-old baby over to her. 

Allison had been passed enough baby in her time as a mother that she was able to easily move to hold her. "Hi there," she cooed down at the bundle in her arms. "Hi Annika, I'm your Aunt Allison. I'm so glad that I got to meet you."

Klaus moved so that he was standing behind the couch and looking over Allison's shoulder at the little one in her arms. "She's so small. I mean, I've seen babies before but I never realized how little they were when they were born."

"You can hold her after Allison, if you want," Viktor said before his brows furrowed. "Actually, are you, um, are you-"

Klaus cut him off before Viktor could continue floundering for the right words. "I've been sober since we got your little announcement in the mail, Vik. Diego wasn't about to let me come and see our niece while pumped full of heroin."

As if hearing that someone was speaking about him, the aforementioned vigilante called out to Viktor from the other side of the living room, "You don't have locks on your window. Do you now easy these little latches can be jimmied?"

"I live on the second floor," Viktor replied, his brows furrowing together in confusion.

"Rapists can climb," he said bluntly. "I'll bring some over after work tomorrow."

The smaller of his two siblings stared at him for a moment. Tears rose in Viktor’s tired brown eyes, though he quickly reached a hand up to wipe them away. "Thank you, Diego. I didn't think that you would come at all, so it means a lot to me that you even care about my safety."

"I think you're kind of a bitch for airing our family's dirty laundry without our permission. I don't want you or that little girl to get stabbed to death in the night just because her father is as shit as ours," he replied, huffing slightly. 

Viktor hummed as he turned to look at his daughter again. Annika fussed, squirming in her blanket as the new person holding her felt unfamiliar. "Alright, alright, моя маленькая любовь," he murmured as he reached over and gathered his daughter in his arms again.

"I haven't heard you speak Russian since you learned it as a kid," Klaus said thoughtfully. They had all learned different languages when they were a kid. Mandarin, Spanish, French, Ancient Greek, but some of them had been taught special languages pertaining back to where they had been purchased from. Klaus himself had learned Pennsylvania Dutch, though he wasn't very good at it because he much preferred to learn Korean with Ben.

"I thought that it would be good for her to grow up hearing it. I know my pronunciation isn't perfect since English was my first language, but I… I wanted her to have a bit of her grandmother's history," Viktor shrugged. "Now come here," he patted the couch on the other side of him.

"Hey, when was the last time you ate?" Allison asked. "I can make you something, if you want. I guess, is what I'm offering," she laughed a little awkwardly. The visit had been going smoothly, but there were still some awkward feelings and tension between the siblings.

"I ate this morning, I haven't had time to make anything else," he replied with a shrug. "Annika woke up and demanded that I pay attention to only her. I'm trying to get my whole fill in before I have to go back to work."

"I'll make you something, then. Do you still like your eggs with pepper?" Allison asked, already pushing herself off of the couch towards the kitchen.

"Yeah, but since I got pregnant I've been eating them with cheese too," Viktor nodded. He had expected all of the cravings that he had to go away as soon as his little bundle of joy was above his heart instead of under it, but he found that he still liked a lot of the things he had only tried while carrying.

The other Hargreeves gave her a nod of understanding and then drifted over to the kitchen. Viktor turned back to the brother that was sitting next to him. "You good to hold her?"

"He- heck yeah," Klaus stopped himself from swearing despite the baby not being able to understand him yet. "She's gotta meet the cool uncle first so that I can set her expectations too high."

Viktor laughed. He carefully guided his brother's hands so that he was cradling the infant against his chest with her head firmly resting in his tattooed palm. "Wow," he whispered as soon as her downy hairs were resting against his calloused fingers. "I know everyone says this about babies but this time I mean it, she's beautiful. I can't believe you made her, V."

"Yeah, well, I had some spare parts lying around," he chuckled. "That and a lot of time and effort."

"She's going to grow into an amazing woman with you as her father, no matter what her other parent is like," Diego commented as he leaned on the back of the couch. 

"Come sit," Viktor mumbled, tugging on his arm. Diego did so hesitantly, moving around the couch so that he was carefully seated on the edge. He kept his eyes on Annika the entire time, as if something horrible would happen should he look away even for an instant. Viktor couldn't imagine what he'd be like with his own kids if he was treating his niece like this.

Klaus looked up from the baby in his arms to his brother, "Hey, that's a good point. Where is the father? I haven't seen hide nor hair of him since we showed up."

"And I haven't seen or heard anything from him since I told him I was pregnant. It's just me and Annika against the world." Viktor looked up from where he had been watching his daughter's little hand grasp uselessly at Klaus' fluffy curls to see that his siblings were all staring at him like he had just said someone murdered his dog. "What? Plenty of people are single parents, it's fine. I can do this."

"He left you after he knocked you up? Oh his ass is begging for a beating," Diego scowled. 

Viktor noticed that Diego’s hand drifted to his left hip, where he normally kept a few of the larger knives when in uniform, but there was nothing there. "We didn't really have a great relationship. We had half a dozen breakups in the whole four months that they were together. The longest that we were broken up was two days before we got back together. Honestly, I'm glad Annika won't have to grow up with a parent like that," Viktor shrugged. He removed an elastic band from his hair and then redid the bun on the back of his head to stop the few loose hairs from escaping.

"You don't need two parents anyway, you have a wonderful papa," Klaus informed the newborn in his arms.

"What was your pregnancy like?" Allison asked, a little horrified at the mere idea of having to go through such a life-changing adventure without the help of another person. She walked over with the plate of eggs and bit of toast that she had prepared for her brother, handing them over.

Viktor ate a little bit, turning to look at Annika as she giggled in Klaus' arms. She let out a big yawn as her baby blue eyes began to flutter shut. "Here," he set the plate to the side and then settled his daughter in his lap before he picked it back up. He then finally answered the question, "It wasn't that bad. I had preeclampsia so I had to go to the doctor a lot. But my team was really great, and I had someone with me the entire time I was in labor. They had to watch Annika's heartbeat to make sure it wasn't dropping with every contraction. And that my blood pressure wasn't getting too high. Other than that everything was normal. I didn't even realize that I was pregnant until I got your announcement in the mail and realized that I hadn't had my cycle in a while. The only real pregnancy thing that happened was water retention."

"I wish my pregnancy with Claire had been that easy," Allison sighed. "The beginning was the worst part for me. I was still trying to act but I felt like I had to throw up every time I said something wrong. The second and third trimesters were easier."

"So I guess if you put our pregnancies together one of us would have been in Hell and the other would have barely been able to tell that they were pregnant," Viktor chuckled. They continued chatting back and forth as the new parent finished eating. 

Diego barely settled the entire time. He was staring down at Annika like he could barely believe that she was real. Viktor knew that they all had a very small amount of experience when it came to children younger than three, but he had to have been around kids more than he was letting on. "Do you want to hold her?" he asked after he had finished eating and the conversation petered out.

"I don't know if that's such a good idea," he replied with a small shake of his head.

"Why? Because she's a baby or because she's my baby?" Viktor asked, raising a brow at his brother.

Diego scowled as he folded his arms over his chest. He looked like a pouting toddler. "I don't know how to hold a k-kid," he replied. "And I forgive you. I know that you were the most neglected out of all of us. I still wish that you would have given us a heads up or something before though. But I'm not going to hold a grudge on you. Not when you're raising a kid alone because some asshole couldn't learn to wrap his dick properly."

"Don't be so vulgar, there are tiny ears here," Klaus gasped, pointing to where Annika was beginning to wake up from her little nap. All of the commotion around her meant that she wasn't staying asleep for as long as she normally was, but she also wasn't waking up to have her needs met.

Viktor rolled his eyes at his brother's antics. "You don't have to hold her if you don't want to, Diego. I just thought that you might like to hold her since you've been staring at her the entire time you've been sitting next to me."

"Sorry," he snapped, instinctually. "I just… You're both so defenseless. I know Dad didn't even teach you anything about self defense. And you're living out here without anyone else in the apartment, just a tiny baby."

"We'll be okay. Everyone thinks that the last name Hargreeves is just a weird coincidence now," he shrugged. "No one really gives a shit about my book or the Umbrella Academy anymore."

"I'm well aware," Diego replied. He glanced around the apartment again before he sighed. "Okay, I'll hold her."

Viktor’s proud beam returned to his face. He carefully maneuvered his daughter so that she was resting in her uncle's arms, giving him the same instructions that he had Klaus. Diego looked down at the tiny face staring up at him, wonder and confusion sparkling in her little eyes. "You-you're so small," he whispered. The longer that the weight of the newborn was resting against his chest and along his right arm the more he relaxed. "I'm going to protect you. I'll make sure that no one hurts you the way that our dad hurt us. Your papa can do the hard part, but I'll kick anyone's ass if they even look at you funny."

Viktor laughed again. He had a rocky relationship with his siblings, he knew that. But Annika had been the best thing that had come out of his toxic relationship with his ex-boyfriend. The little blessing didn't stop there, as she had apparently brought her aunt and uncles back into her father’s life in a healthier way. Viktor wished that Ben and Five could have been there, as well as Luther, but it was a lot more likely for the latter to show up and meet his niece eventually. He was surrounded by his family with the little one that he loved more than anything in the world. Even though things still felt a little off and he was battling depression like he had when he was a young child, things were getting better.

[retrouvailleschronicles]

Retrouvailles, after we left 1.3

Retrouvailles, After We Left a fan sequel to Before We Go

Ten years after meeting in Manhattan, Brooke seeks Nick out, with a terrible secret. ​ Act one, scene three. Providence.

The back door closed behind them as they stepped into the late sun.

"Just a little warmer than the last time I saw you," Nick chuckled.

"Le ciel san!" Brooke raised her hands to the sky, dropping Nick's arm.

"La sill san?" Nick repeated.

Brooke laughed. "The cloudless sky," she grinned. (1)

Nick laughed. (2)  "Guess I haven't learned any more French since Manhattan." 

Brooke laughed too. "Anyways, when are the reservations?" Brooke smiled.

"Seven, we've got some time." Nick relaxed, and his pace slowed.

Brooke slowed to match Nick's pace.

Brooke spoke first. "It looks like life has been good to you! Things have changed a lot since Manhattan."

Nick returned the grin. "It's nice having working credit cards. But yeah, I can't complain. Hopefully, you saw the end of the show. I like to end with 'Retrouvailles'," his face beamed. (3)

Brooke frowned. "No, I got here late." (4)

"You did?" Nick tilted his head.

Brooke gave a blank look.

"Thought I saw you. Well, I guess I've thought I'd seen you at other shows," he mumbled.(5)

"Haven't seen you live," Brooke gave a half-smile. "But I bought your album," she brightened. "And maybe I can catch a show in the future."

Nick grinned. "Well, night shows are better anyways. More intense. Danny can get you a ticket."(6)

Brooke gave a bemused smile. "Guess I'm old. I don't go out at night much anymore." She paused. "And I like recordings better anyway." (7)

"That's true," Nick mused. "No mistakes. When we record for the album, the song is as clean as we can make it."

"The guitar is a nice touch. Though I miss your trumpet," Brooke teased.

Nick grinned. "That happened after Hannah and I got married. Danny pushed me into it, you know. I was already writing lyrics. All I needed was an instrument that let me sing."

"Makes sense," Brooke agreed. "Can’t sing with the trumpet. I could tell you wrote the lyrics."

"It's me believing," Nick sang.

"My believing," Brooke corrected.  "Believing is a gerund, a type of noun, so it should be 'my believing,' " Brooke chewed a strand of hair.

"Wow," Nick feigned shock. "Correcting my grammar again?"(8)

"Again?" Brooke asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, you know," Nick looked at Brooke, smiling. "Like when we were in New York."

Brooke gave a blank look in response. "Never mind," Nick mumbled. "I know how to use a gerund. But Hannah said the songs don't play as well, and the focus groups agreed."

Brooke searched for something to say, but nothing came out. (9)

"You know, I invited you to our wedding. Hannah would have liked to meet you," Nick continued.

"Didn't want to make her jealous," Brooke breezed. (10)

They paused again, unsure of what to say.

Nick looked at his phone. "Let's see which way we go," he said.

"It's this way. We'll walk through the Quad," Brooke motioned.

"Looks like you know your way around Providence," Nick observed.

"Guess that night we hung out in New York, it never came up," Brooke mused.

Nick raised an eyebrow.

Brooke laughed. "I went to college in Providence. I graduated from Brown. It was a big change for an Arizona girl. They called me the Desert Rose," she laughed again.

"And you came back to Providence to sell me some art?" (11)

"What? Oh, no. I'm back to my original job, art restoration."

Nick chewed his lip thoughtfully. "Art restoration. That sounds so..."

"Nerdy?" Brooke finished. They snickered, and Brooke continued.

"Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed selling art. But I really prefer the restoration. It took me back to France, and I travel a bit to different museums. Michael didn't like it," she frowned. (12) But she quickly smiled. "But it keeps me busy. I guess it's one of the reasons I haven't been back to Providence since graduation. I used to live there, in Metcalf," she pointed.

"How is Michael?" Nick studied Brooke.

"He's good.  We're good!  Coming up on our 15th anniversaire."  Brooke watched a bird fly by.

Nick nodded.  Then he smiled.  "Glad to hear, things are going well for you."

"Thank you," Brooke turned back.  She looked about the campus.  "It's too bad he's not here, he would have loved see Brown."

"So you haven't been to Providence in a while," Nick changed the subject.  "Why haven't you been back?" Nick queried.

"Now that," Brooke reflected, "is a good question."

"You didn't like it here?"

"I love Brown. I even consider Providence my hometown. I had all the freedom in the world. Brown encouraged us to pursue our passions, and I ended up with Chemistry and Art History."

"And that's how you ended up with art restoration," Nick mused. "Is it good being back?" Nick grinned again. (13)\

"I'm getting too old to dream of going back to my college days," Brooke's voice tinkled. (14)

"Guess we can't go back again," Nick agreed. "But we can miss it."

"Exactly! Young and full of passion. Eager, easy to make changes," Brooke reflected.

"You should talk to Danny," Nick remarked.

"How so?"

"You remember that Danny majored in philosophy?"

"Not really, but go on," Brooke encouraged.

Nick's eyes fell. "He went to law school afterwards. He was working as an attorney at a big firm."

"I take it he didn't like it," Brooke observed.

"Called it dying slowly every day," Nick gave a wry look.

"Was it hard for him to make changes?"

"Yeah, definitely. Sometimes it's easier to go with the devil you know." (15)

"And now he works with you. So you saved him," Brooke glowed.

"We saved each other. He needed a change, and I needed someone I could trust."

"I imagine it's hard in your business, people always wanting something," Brooke sympathized. (16)

"You have no idea," Nick snorted. "You never know what angle people may be playing. Luckily, I had Hannah and Danny from before my first hit." Nick exhaled slowly. "Hannah, Danny, his wife Claire, we were too poor to go on expensive vacations. So we'd all go camping. Make wishes as the fire died. I think it was by the campfire that Danny convinced me to start singing," Nick remembered.

"The deepest wishes come out at night," Brooke agreed. "So how did Danny meet his wife?" Brooke deflected. (17)

"He and Claire have been friends since high school. They had a pact to get married by 35 if they were still single."

"Settle down, have kids?"

"Well, I wouldn't call it settling. Maybe they have the best marriage of all of us," Nick looked back at Brooke.

"Why didn't they get married earlier?" Brooke wondered.

"Guess they were worried about ruining their friendship. But like all things, in retrospect, they should have known better," Nick looked down the hill. "In any case, I'm glad you're here. I wasn't relishing eating alone. With you here, I won't have to make small talk." (18)

"Don't you like your fans?" Brooke tilted her head.

"Love my fans. But sometimes it's weird. People know a lot about me, but I can't know much about them."

Brooke looked at Nick from the side. "You could just cancel your reservation."

"Maybe, but Danny told me the maitre d is a fan. I've got to get out in the public eye, Danny says."

"Have you eaten there before?" Brooke asked.

"This is not exactly the place Hannah would frequent," Nick guffawed.

Brooke looked down. "How so?" she stammered.

"She's... kinda a health nut.  No carbs.  I was surprised she agreed to come initially." (19)

Brooke smiled. "Well, you're in for a treat. I haven't eaten here since graduation, but it's fantastic!"

Nick's eyes narrowed. "Is this the kind of restaurant you and Michael would go to?"

Brooke tilted her head.  "He'll come to restaurants like this for me.  But I'll eat like this alone.  I often do, when I travel."

Nick looked back.  "Alone?"

Brooke laughed.  "Alone!  I appreciate the food better by myself.  Here we go," she pointed to the Capriccio.

Click here to go to act one, scene four: Behind the Window. Click here to go to blog commentary for act one, scene three: How the Sausage Gets Made.

Authors notes and spoilers here:

Title for the next movie!  Le Ciel San, the Cloudless Sky.  

Fakegreat!  When you see someone you haven’t seen in a while, pretend everything is great, even when it’s not.

Callback to first movie, when Nick doesn't have any working credit cards.

Brooke will spend this chapter denying both to Nick and herself how she feels about Nick.  Similar to Before Sunset.

Not subtle!  Nick has been thinking of Brooke.

Setup, Nick will bring up Danny getting tickets again in 3.4.

Subtext.  By saying she prefers the recording to a live show she is saying that the memory of Manhattan is good enough, and there’s no need to bring their relationship to the present.

More denial.  Like Before Sunset.  By forgetting details Brooke is saying that night 10 years ago wasn’t so important that she remembers everything.

Brooke should be uncomfortable every time Nick brings up Hannah.

Lesson from the Dark Knight.  The reason Brooke didn’t go to the wedding should change every time, until the real answer in 3.4.

Nick should be trying to figure out why Brooke has come back to see him.  

A slip.  Hints at the problems Brooke and Michael have.  But quickly should pivot back to Fakegreat.

More subtext.  Really Nick is asking if Brooke is glad to see him again.

Brooke’s theme of growing old.

 Bring back this idea in 3.2., the Devil you Know.

Nick’s theme of loneliness and isolation.

Brooke changes the subject away from Hannah.

Back to Nick’s theme of loneliness and isolation.

A stand in for the problems in Nick and Hannah's relationship.

[veronicawritesstuff]

Runaway Baby (Sweet Pea x reader)

A/N: This is written in first person point of view. This fic also discusses running away so reader be aware. I wrote this to release so emotions that have been building up. Please enjoy. :) Runaway Baby by Bruno Mars was stuck in my head as I was writing. 

"I, Y/N L/N, have come to realize I hate modern society and don't want to live in it. I have also come to realize the only reason I am depressed is because of modern society. It's so superficial and meticulous. Step out of line for one second and you're not worth the air you breathe. Have a different view of the world than someone else, you're weird. I'm tired of it. This isn't a good bye. I just can't be here right now. I don't want to go to college then slave away at a 9-5 job for the rest of my life. That sounds so fucking dreadful. I'm going to take the time and find myself. Please don't come looking for me. You won't find me."

The last words I will give to my mother are written down on the paper I hold in my hand. I can't believe I'm actually doing this. After so many years of being stuck, I'm finally leaving. I wonder if Sweet Pea will be going with. Writing the note to my mother was easy, that conversation with Pea was not. 

*Flashback (2 weeks)*

Sweet Pea and I are lying in his bed after having a tickle fight. As my laughter dies down and we’re both panting. I turn to see him already looking at me. It was early and the sun was shining right on Sweets through the curtains. “God you look so beautiful,” Sweets says to me. Blushing, I shrug and respond, “You too, handsome.” The next words I say stun the Serpent. “We should run away,” I say gazing into his chocolate brown eyes, “We should just leave Riverdale.” He was shocked, so shocked that he didn’t respond. I didn’t take offense to it since it was a lot to take in. “Just think about it,” I say and I close my eyes and bathe in the light of the sun. 

Sweet Pea had not said anything in about 2 hours. I was so sure he was truly thinking about it boy I was wrong. Peaceful one second, screaming the next. “Why,” Pea’s voice startled me out of my peaceful reverend, “would you ask me that? Like we don’t already have enough problems here to sort out.” Serpent tension with Ghoulies had only amped up since graduating high school 2 years ago. They have a lot of free time to enact revenge or whatever. “It was just a thought,” I reasoned unphased about the tone in his voice, “Nothing more. Nothing less.” 

“Didn’t seem like just a thought when you were talking about it,” his voice got more intense and loud. I brushed off the whole conversation by saying, “Cool, fine, forget about it. It was a stupid idea anyway.” I don't think he liked that because he got up, shot me one last glare and stormed out of his trailer. 

*3 days later*

Sweets hasn't talked to me for 3 days. I started to gather the stuff I would need to run away. I am leaving with or without him. I really hope it’s with him. I’m praying to all the Gods to convince his stubborn ass to come with. I have a list of ways to properly vanish. 

Delete yourself from the internet (Includes all social media platforms.)

Leave for long periods at a time (One day you can leave and not go back, it would be less suspicious.)

Gather essential items needed for survival (Self explanatory, though I could live without the boxes for books. I am not leaving my books behind.)

Plan an escape (I don’t want to alarm my mother by packing my car with my stuff while she is at home. I pack when she is at work (too easy).)

In case Step 2 fails, leave a note. (You have already read the note.)

Leave. Vanish. Hasta la vista.

Was it perfect? No.

Would it work? Yes. 

*End of flashback*

The day Sweet Pea made his decision, my car was packed and ready to go. I should have left my car behind but I’m not too worried about it. I did go the extra mile and removed my sim card from my phone and smashed it to pieces. My old life is gone and I couldn’t be happier. Sweet Pea walked up the length of my driveway right and I loaded the last box full of my books. I have everything I need; entertainment, money, food, and clothes. I really needed wanted Sweet Pea. 

“Wow,” Sweet Pea said, “you weren’t kidding.” I could not turn around, in case I saw he wasn’t coming with me. “Yeah,” the air was tense, this may very well be the last time I see his beautiful face. I turn to look at the man I want to spend my life with. “I wish you were coming with me,” I say, “My car still has room. I made sure of it.” Sweet Pea’s heart strings tugged, “You did? What if I really didn’t want to come,” I perked up a bit, “Then tough for me.” He smiled when I said that he knew was serious about leaving the second I brought it up and commended me for not trying to force him to go with me. He respected my willpower and knew what he wanted. “Soo, where should I put these?” He asks pulling his bags from the bushes. He was teasing me this whole time, he was truly coming with. I could not contain the scream and jumped into his arms. “Oh my god, Thank. You. Thank. You. Thank. You,” I say, kissing him in between each word. 

Finally our lips met with such intensity that it knocked the wind right out of us. We pulled away panting. The wind around us started to pick up, it was almost as if Mother Nature knew what was happening. Once my feet hit the ground I grabbed Pea’s bags and threw them into the backseat. We both got into my car; with one final look at each other, a wide smile, I was pulling out my driveaway and heading to nowhere. With my ride or die by my side.

[bunny-the-bunny]

(Slight spoilers in side rant)

Oh yeah did I mention that I have a hyper fixation over Yu-Gi-Oh GX and the main character, Jaden Yuki?

Yeah I love this dude whether he’s hyperactive, serious, immature, goofy, being a jokester, intelligent at card games, gay for Jesse or Chazz and whatever.

For a dude that’s been through a lot, I love him so much because he relates to me too much.

No other Yu-Gi-Oh protagonist can relate to me as a person.

I’m calm and collected like Jaden after going through my own trauma/character development in my life.

There’s no other person that can relate and he’ll always be my favorite in the show.

Side rant:

I’m almost done with Yu-Gi-Oh GX season 4.

I’m being for real this time. I got two more episodes left and I’m gonna finish them while I’m in college now.

I paused last time I watched it because it got f*cking emotional cause it’s like they’re graduating (Jaden and his friends) omg!

I felt like I only knew them for a year or something and they’re already graduating?!

It was even more emotional cause I had graduated high school four months ago.

So I could relate to Dr. Crowler for a moment when he got emotional af during the graduation ceremony.

I cried too much that I couldn’t continue.

This was back at the beginning of September.

Another emotional hiatus oh lord.

But I love this show so much that I’m committed to finishing it and I plan to watch the whole thing in sub, all seasons.

Or before I do that, I could watch my favorite Yu-Gi-Oh movie of all time, Bonds Beyond Time after a few years of not watching it.

I will mainly watch it for the Jaden parts I swear.

But I feel like I need to evaluate the movie and take notes on it like I’m a f*cking film critic to see how well it’s aged or not and rating the dub’s dialogue all while getting nostalgic over my favorite scenes of that movie.

So yeah that’s where I’m at, plus I’ll continue to write more stories for my Yu-Gi-Oh GX au.

I just wrote one on Wednesday night about Jaden and Jesse before I had to get up on Thursday for move-in.

It’s the second chapter about them. I don’t have much stories about them yet but I’m planning them out as I go.

It’s mostly chapters about Jaden (Season 4) and Jay (Season 1-3 Jaden) cause they’re the main characters plus Jesse and Haou.

If you’re confused by what I’m saying, don’t worry I’m gonna make a post soon about my au to introduce it.

But first I need a name for it and y’all can vote on it.

Of course I’m gonna keep writing more chapters about it as I daydream about them immediately as soon as I listen to a song.

But first off my au isn’t completely canon to the show. It’s more non canon as it only has some slight canon elements and it’s based on the events after Season 3 and Season 4 of Yu-Gi-Oh GX.

I swear I’ll make a intro post for this au.

Anyways I don’t wanna spoil anything else about it.

P.s. The poll for the name of my Yu-Gi-Oh GX au will be up for a week.

I WILL FOREVER LOVE THIS MAN.

Judai/Jaden Nation rise up 🫡

[ratherbefangirling]

In too deep

Summary: Reconnecting with Jungkook you realise you never really knew him.

Pairing: Jungkook x Reader

Warning ⚠️: Yandere behaviour

His eyes were so pretty why would anyone blame you for falling but nobody told you his love was a maze with no escape

He stared at you with those precious doe eyes.

"Little Dove."

Your last memory of Jungkook has been of this shy kind boy who was so easily flustered that it was comical that was two years ago.

"Jungkook." You breathe out his name.

"You sound so sexy when you say my name dove."

You blush. You had no idea he could be like this.

Fiery intimidating but so in control.

You are dressed in your favourite sexy red outfit. You watch him as he checks you out shamelessly.He is dressed in a red shirt with way too many buttons open and skinny black ripped jeans.

He catches you looking at him and smirks.

How you had landed in this situation was a bit complicated.

Your younger sister was getting married. Your mother had asked you about your partner. Promising to set you up herself if you had denied. You had told her you were seeing someone but it was too early to meet the parents.Your sister had suggested meeting them on a double date.

Searching for a convincing guy proved harder than you had thought possible so after your sister had sent you the date for the date. Your fear became real.

Hurrying from work one fateful day you crashed into Jungkook transferring the cream of your cupcake into his shirt. You and Jungkook studied at the same University. He was the famous prodigy of the computer science department. Even though you joined at the same time he was completing his PhD when you graduated. You had met him at the lamb skewers shop located near your college.

"I'm sorry...Ju... jeon Jungkook., I'm y/n remember .. we went to the same uni we used to meet at the lamb skewers shop."

"Hi y/n. I remember" He replies.

"I'm so sorry I'm in a hurry please take my buisness card.. call me or text me your account for cleaning." You say giving him your card and leaving for work.

He called you later asking you to treat him to coffee instead and you obliged.

It was then you spilled the fact you needed a fake boyfriend.

"I could be one." He offered.

" You sure. Like 100%...Like definitely."

"I am."

"Remember when in college you never dated because you were an IU fanboy." You teased.

"Come on I never called you out for listening Mono on repeat." He countered.

"Wait when did I tell you I listen to Mono."

"You've put it on your story so many times."

"Oh OK fair enough. But you have to admit Kim freaking Namjoon. Like I totally get stanning IU like I love her fashion you're lucky she does dramas. But I'd hate it if they made RM the second lead which reminds me of Jin oh my god like talk about underrated just like I can listen to him for hours."

For the next hour or so you talked about your favourite artists.When it was time to leave you realised how much you actually enjoyed his company.

Jungkook didn't have the heart to tell you he no longer liked IU. That one day he'd seen you eating those lamb skewers without abandon and couldn't forget that sated look on your face.

Slowly he'd gotten obsessed over you. It had started innocent enough. Checking your social media. Liking your pictures. Walking the places where you'd likely be.

You saying hello to him always made his day. Then graduation came and you left for work and he still had time to finish his degree so he hacked your social media. Then your email. Read up all the things you wrote or saved. Saved all your pictures. Sometimes even watching the cctv infront of your house. He even hacked into servers so that you could shop your hearts content at very discounted rates.

He turned himself into the man you'd dream of. And then as if it were fate you came right into his arms. He himself couldn't have planned it better. Of course it would happen after all both of you were fated to be together.

He could see how you were slowly opening upto him as he continued spendingtime with you. He had the perfect excuse to cling to you and he couldn'tbe happier.

"Let me save your picture as my wall paper." He told you.

You were momentarily stunned at his request.

"So when your sister spots it she believes you." He explains.

"Omg you're a genius Jungkook." You blink in realisation and your lips upturn. You felt like an excited conman.

"That's why you chose me love." He returns smoothly.

He loved the flustered look on you.

He drives you to the meeting place in his car. Its a sleek jeep car.

"Nice car." You compliment.

He grins at you pleased. As if luck was against you you drop the perfume bottle in his car.

"I'm sorry. " You apologise sincerely. Ofcourse you had to end up doing something you'd never done before. You only meant to take out your compact to use one last time before exiting the car.

Oh god. This scent your scent was going to drive him crazy.

"Don't move or you'll hurt yourself let me help you out." Jungkook says regaining himself.

You nod in agreement. He opens the door.

You had decided to wear sandals which complimented your dress but had no heels. If you stepped on the glass you were going to injure yourself.

He removed big pieces using a tissue.

"Lean on me and get out." He instructed.

You carefully look down it was dark in the parking area so you couldn't see clearly. Suddenly you felt Jungkook's strong sturdy arms lift you up. You let out a strangled groan in fright. Clinging to him tightly. You didn't want to accidentally fall.

For a while he held you there. He so wanted to slam your back against the car door and kiss you senseless. But that would have to wait. He couldn't scare you away. Not when things were going so well it was only a matter of time afterall.

Hand in hand you enter the restaurant to find your sister and her fiance sitting waiting for you. She looks shocked.

"Oh my god you really must like him." She says without preamble.

"What?"

"Like look at the lipstick mark on his neck. Sis."

You look like a deer caught in head lights. True to your sisters words there is a lipstick mark on his neck.

"Won't you introduce us." Your sister prompts.

"Oh yes of course. Guys this is Jungkook. Kook this is my sister and her fiance, they're getting married in 6 months.."

"It's nice meeting you " He says shaking hands with your brother in law.

Your sister decides to give you space or give her attention to her fiance more precisely. For which you are grateful.

When the food arrives Jungkook takes it upon himself to feed you never the one to miss an opportunity. He charms both your sister and her fiance and makes your cheeks heat up with attention. His arm stays wrapped around your waist the whole time. When you and your sister go to the washroom together she gushes about how happy she was for you and that Jungkook literally couldn't take eyes of you. You count your scheme a success.

You feel a twinge of sadness that it was fake which you carry as Jungkook walks you to your door.

"Are you not feeling well?"

"I'm just tired." You tell him.

"Alright I will leave it to you then. Goodnight."

"Goodnight Kookie." You say and turn to open your door suppressing a yawn.

A warm jacket lands on your shoulders. You feel Jungkook's breath on your neck his lips almost touching your ear and arms on your shoulders as he makes adjusts the jacket.

"You know that this doesn't have to be goodbye. You.Can.Still.Call.Me .. if you miss me even if its 1am." His voice lowers " Sweet Dreams baby."

But why do you feel that sleep has left you for the night.

Slowly Jungkook creeps into your life. It's not obvious but the transition from fake boyfriend to real boyfriend occurs smoothly.

He's the perfect boyfriend. It's almost like he's out of your make a boy list. He brings you flowers and gifts. Treats you like a princess. Even your family is in love with him. Complementing you for finding such a gem of a person.

Maybe that's why you ignore the red flags because in your rosy world everything is red.

He hates when you ditch him for your friends even though your meetings are almost always preplanned. Always waiting for you, sometimes you find him sleeping on the couch of your living room with the TV on othertimes he disappears for days with no reply to your messages and calls. It often ends up in either of you in tears. Spontaneous meets are impossible he always finds something reasonable to stay for.

"Let's live together." Jungkook says one night as he cooks for you.

He recieves no reply, he turns to find you busy on your phone playing the game you've become addicted too.

"Love." He says.

"Yes Kookie." You say he frowns.

"I said let's live together."

"Aren't we already both of us almost always sleepover anyway."

"It's not the same." he pouts.

" Aw baby won't you get tired of me. I'm so messy I don't think I want to risk it yet." You say closing your phone to look up at him.

"I would never tire of you." He says.

You take a bite of the food he's cooking almost burn your tongue in the process too.

"Ah hot.. so tasty." You complement.

He rushes to offer you a glass of cool water. You were so careless how could he let you live by yourself. You miss the dangerous glint in your eyes.

A few weeks later out of seemingly nowhere your apartment burns down, you move in with Jungkook.

"Atleast we get to live together." Jungkook cheers you up. You nod and let him hold you.

In the morning you find yourself thirsty from all the crying and Jungkook is in the shower when you wake up. There's no water in the bedroom. You trudge to the kitchen. You are turning the cap of the water bottle when Jungkook's voice stops you.

"Don't drink that's kerosene." He warns and swears under his breath.

"Why do you have Kerosene kookie." You ask confused and turn to find him shirtless and hair wet. You let out a sound that sounds something like a squeak and put your hands on your eyes.

"Wear a shirt Jungkook."

He laughs and its a lovely sound. "As you say Dove."

"You want to have a barbecue night this weekend." He asks you as he wears his shirt and you look away so as to not choke.

"It's fine but I'd be in the ER if you didn't come on time."

"Maybe I should reward you for stating safe then huh?" He asks a devilish glint in his eyes.

"Are you trying to kill me with your good looks Jeon Jungkook."

"Ha I was trying to be a good boyfriend and reward you if you continue being a bad girl I might have to punish you." You scoff.

He's near you before you notice and picks you and pins you to the bed and starts tickling you until you are in tears.

You look so beautiful his crying pretty baby.

Your life continues down hill as if your apartment burning wasn't bad enough your company makes cuts and you are left jobless.

"It's fine jagi you have me." Jungkook consoles.

"I don't know what I'd do without you."

"We were fated jagi there's no world in which your heart isn't mine. Don't worryI will take care of you."

He back hugs you as you cry yourself to sleep.

He feels sorry that you are so distraught but he has to take precautions for the sake of your relationship. A little hacking goes a long way.

After all everything is fair in love and war.

Soon you rely completely on him so when Jungkook proposes on your parents anniversary party. The proposal includes a song , a bouquet of your favourite foods, a pair of flower crown and a ring.

"I want you, body heart soul and I want your every thought to be mine, every breath to be mine; I want to consume you and be consumed by you. Will you be mine?"

You say yes. And something about the exchange of flower crowns is so intimate that it seems like matrimony and it scares you.

Later with the ring on your finger and everyone congratulating you there's a part of yours that still feels unsettled.

"I just lost my job Jungkook, I can't afford a wedding." Yountell your fiance as you look at your bank statements.

"I have enough money love." He assures you.

"Its your money, I am not a gold digger." You complain.

Jungkook's eyes take on a dangerous glint.

"So anything you want is necessary and if I ask for something of my money then it's a waste of money."

"I didn't mean that Jungkook."

"I don't know.. I love you but if you really dont want to marry then what can I do.. if you hate me then I deserve to die becauseif the person I love most hates me there's no point of living is there.."

"What no Jungkook no of course not..."

He picks up the knife he was using to cut apples to feed you and hands it to you.

"Jungk.."

He brings your hand to his neck the knife nicking it , red blooms against his pale skin and a drop of blood escapes.

"If you decide to leave you might as well kill me."

He says and for the first time you are truly afraid of the man. You throw the knife away.

He falls to his knees infront of you covers his face and starts sobbing. Your heart hurts how could you say anything to hurt this man after all he's done for you.

"I'm sorry baby .. so sorry .. I never meant it like that. I wanna marry you.. and stay with you always. Don't be sad please." You console him wiping his tears.

"Y-you pr-promise?" He asks innocence dripping from his doe eyes.

"Of course baby. I love you. I just hate being a burden." You tell him.

"You're never a burden." He assures you.

"Hmm.... let's go out for dinner.. tomorrow we can start checking out halls for the ceremony then."

Your wedding goes smoothly even if you were worried that Jungkook got cold feet because he started spending a lot more time away then ever before. Jungkook enjoyed the desperation that colored your eyes as they searched for him. He had been busy taking care of all inconveniences after all. This was a pleasant side effect.

You are basking in the glow of Jungkook's warm body as the haze of your honeymoon fades. Tomorrow you'd be home.

"Love." Jungkook's husky voice sends delicious shivers down your spine.

"Could you move please?" You request.

"Are you hungry or do you want to go to the bathroom."

"I think I need to stretch my limbs."

"No." He says his hold tightening.

You stay silent for a while letting your husband get his way.

"I almost don't want to go back you confess."

"We aren't." He replies.

You frown.

"What do you mean Jungkook."

"Call me yeobo."

"Jungkook." He stays silent.

"Yeobo. Please explain yourself."

"I got a transfer here"

"Why didn't you tell me." You ask frowning.

"I'm sorry, it was very sudden and I didn't want to stress you. "

Jungkook spends the rest of the evening showering you with his love and you have no choice but to agree.

Two more obstacles he thinks. One making you forgive him after you realise your educational qualification won't land you a job here not that he'd let you work and the other sealing your fate with a child. Though he would enjoy the latter for now Jungkook has to cut of the Internet. Afterall you didn't need anyone but him and he you.

It was a rainy day, a few months after you're phone was malfunctioning as usual. You decide to check Jungkook's computer for a weather update.

It's an honest mistake when you enter your birthday instead of your wedding date as password. The content on the screen confuses you until realisation dawns upon you.

The door opens to reveal Jungkook who's face hardens as he sees your expression.

"It's nice you know I was tired of hiding how much I loved you, after all there should be no secrets between me and you."

He comes behind you using your hand on the mouse to shut it off.

"It's late baby let's go to bed shall we." He says voice low husky seductive as it is every night as if the events of last few minutes didn't happen.

The last part might be rushed because tumblr posted instead of saving might edit later or maybe I'll let it be who knows. Yeah so this was chilling in my drafts and I finally decided to write it. Enjoy don't forget to comment and reblog. Drop your love. Tell me what you think. Any other ideas please feel free to send. Have a lovely day.

Taglist: @mwitsmejk ; @captainsjoongs ; @sweetwolfcupcake ; @manchuria ; @ynaught ; @minshookie29 ; @douknowbts

[dollslayer]

By Its Cover

Dark!Librarian!Steve Rogers x Shy!Reader, College AU

Summary: Your late nights at the university library spark a chain of events. Will they lead to your undoing? To anyone else's?

W/C: 8,890 (oops, sorry)

Warnings: DARK themes, NO MINORS, stalking, murder, minor character death, smut, angst, unprotected sex, oral sex, alcohol consumption, swearing

A/N: FINALLY, I wrote this for @darkficsyouneveraskedfor's 2 Years of Darkness challenge! This fic kicked my ass but after some months I'm so excited about it! This is my first truly dark fic so please don't read if any of these topics upset you but I do want to make a note that the sex is consensual. If I missed any warnings please DM me immediately and I will add them. Reblog/comment if you liked it! Maybe even check out some of my other fics 👀 Cheers!

Main Masterlist

You stumbled slightly on the uneven pavement as you made the final steps towards the graduate school library. It was always so much quieter than the undergrad library and at this hour there’d be a good chance it was just you and the poor person stuck working the overnight help desk. You didn’t mind that though, you were never an overly sociable person and you preferred to work alone anyways.

You swiped your student ID through the sensor and the little green light granted you entry as you opened the door. Looking around there wasn’t even someone at the desk, just the sound of the always-on A/C rattling the leaves of the fake plants in the lobby.

You moved to put your ID away when it slipped from your fingers and plapped onto the floor, your own face staring back up to you from the plastic. You sighed and swung your bag further back over your shoulder as you bent to pick it up when a pair of legs edged their way into your vision. Caught off guard by the man attached to them, you watched him bend to pick up the piece of plastic.

You both straightened back up to your full heights and you found yourself looking up at him. He had clear blue eyes and sandy blond hair that was swept back. He looked like he could be a model, he was so handsome and you felt like a deer in headlights.

You realized that he had your ID in his hand and was waiting patiently for you to take it. You smiled awkwardly and took it from him. He looked back to your card and read your name out loud and snapped you out of your thoughts.

“Thank you” you said more in surprise than gratitude “Sorry, I just, I could’ve sworn no one was here you came out of nowhere” You laughed nervously, hoping to hide your embarrassment. You were never good with talking to people and once a situation got awkward you just got yourself deeper in it.

“I was just coming around the corner when I noticed you dropped your ID. I actually work the late shift at the desk. Serves me right for applying last minute for work through the university, right?” He asked with a small laugh.

“Late night cram session? You look like your back’s about to snap from holding all those books” He pointed to your bag, the stitches of it’s straps were frayed and had been sewn over a couple of times.

“Yeah, I like coming here late, hardly anyone’s here, I don’t have to deal with people and I can just focus” You explained

“Right, well, sorry to keep you. If you need anything I’m Steve, and I’ll be bored out of my mind at the desk” he smirked and walked back towards reception.

You turned down the hall and thought how strange it was that you’d never seen him here before. It was the middle of the semester so he couldn’t have just started but you were in here all the time and you’d never run into him once. You brushed the thought off and continued on your way.

____

Over the next few weeks you and Steve developed a routine. You’d come in around 10 or 11, you’d stop at the desk and chat a bit and then you’d head up to your spot on the second floor to study. Occasionally Steve would see you when he returned books and you’d joke around a bit before he’d leave you to your work. You were building a good rapport with each other and he was pleased.

Sometimes he’d been too shy to approach you. It made him feel like the scrawny, helpless kid he was before the growth spurt. Beautiful girls like you never looked twice at him but he knows that you’re different, he knows that if you had met him then that you’d never treat him like those girls did. He knows that in time you two could really have something special.

Steve understood that building a relationship with you would take time and balance. He didn’t want to seem too eager but ever since he saw you he knew he’d do anything to just talk to you.

It started some months ago when he was visiting Bucky on campus. They had been hanging out in the quad right by a group of buildings when you tripped on the pavement and your books fell at his feet. He helped you up and even collected your books for you but you were too flustered and embarrassed to meet his eye. You eked out a thank you and scurried into the graduate library.

That moment sparked a blooming obsession within him. The following night he was still in town but he went out without Bucky and staked out where he’d been the previous night and watched you go to the library at the same time you had. The next two nights he did this and quickly pieced together your nightly routine.

Within a month's time he was set to transfer for the next semester and when he did he got a job working night shifts at the library. Bucky had asked him why on Earth he’d want that and Steve had shrugged him off, claiming that he wanted to be paid and didn’t want to deal with anyone. Seemed like a good enough reason to anyone else.

And so that’s how Steve found himself invading your personal space to hand you your ID. He enjoyed the way you trembled slightly in surprise. You looked so small next to him, looking up at him. He nearly forgot what he was going to say, feeling suddenly shy himself. You were so close to him and you were just as beautiful as he remembered.

Take it slow, he reminded himself.

____

Your apartment door slammed behind you as you stormed out of the building. You left in only what you were wearing which was a light hoodie and some leggings. You had thought to grab your book bag before you left and it kept knocking into your side with each angry step you took. Tears streaked your face but you tried your best to brush them off and continued on your brisk walk to the library.

You and your boyfriend had gotten into a fight and things got heated pretty fast, they always did with Sean. You had confronted Sean about being gone so often and so late, you’d missed him and wanted to spend time with you. That’s when he started getting defensive and turning your late nights at the library right around on you.

Things escalated to shouting and Sean had gotten so angry that he’d knocked over a pile of your books from the table. It had scared you and that’s when you left. You knew that you’d be getting nowhere with him when he was so angry. You wanted to be alone and needed a distraction so you grabbed your bag and headed for the library.

You secretly hoped Steve was working, it’d be nice to see a friendly face. You’d be lying if you said you didn’t have the tiniest crush on him. He’s handsome and funny and kind and he always knows when to give you space. You wish you’d met him at a different point in your life, you could really see yourself with him in another timeline. Maybe it was just easier to think that having just had a fight with Sean.

You swiped your card and waited patiently for the door to open. You could tell Steve had already spotted you and was looking at you as you passed through the glass doors. He was smiling his same boyish charm smile that made you feel even shier than you already were. You must’ve looked a mess but it was comforting to see him there waiting for you.

“There she is,” Steve said with a smile as he got up from his chair to greet you. His face immediately fell though as he took in the tracks of your tears and your puffy eyes.

“What’s wrong?” Steve looked upset and angry for you. You were touched, but you’d rather leave it.

“I’d rather not talk about it, if it’s okay. It’s nice to see you though, Steve. How’s your night?”

Steve’s jaw ticked but he swallowed and nodded and you were grateful he didn’t push it further.

“Uneventful as usual, it’s good to see you too, doll.”

You felt your cheeks heat at the nickname. If you were on better terms with Sean you’d feel bad but you couldn’t find it in yourself to do anything but giggle.

You said your goodbye to Steve and made your way to the second floor to study.

Hours passed and you had your nose buried in a book when you felt a sudden presence. You looked up slowly behind you and shrieked when you found Steve just inches from you. He held his hands out defensively and tried to catch your breathing.

“Steve, oh my God, I didn’t see you there, you scared me!” You laughed as you caught your breath.

“Yeah, sorry, I uh, have a habit of doing that.” He said as he ducked his head sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck. Was he blushing? Why did he look nervous?

“I, um. I was uh, I was hoping to maybe ah, ask you something, actually.” Steve swallowed thickly. He is nervous. You smiled at him and motioned for him to go on.

“I was thinking… maybe, when you’re free if um, would you maybe want to go to dinner? With me?” He stammered out.

You smiled and felt heat flood your cheeks all over again, Steve was gorgeous and you were flattered that someone like him would want to go out with you. Just as quickly as that flattery came dread had instantly replaced it. You had a boyfriend, you couldn’t do that to Sean. Oh God, now I have to turn him down. What if he hates me?

“Wow… I uh, Steve,” you started, “I’m. You’re so sweet, I don’t know what to say. But, I have a boyfriend, I’m really sorry”

“But- but don’t think I wouldn’t say yes, if I could. You’re such a nice guy and I’m really happy for our friendship. I hope this doesn’t make things weird between us, I’m. I’m sorry,” You quickly led up with. You felt so awkward and bad that you had to turn him down.

Steve’s jaw ticked and he looked away. A blush of embarrassment had made its way up his neck and into his cheeks. His fists clenched at his sides and he took a deep breath.

“It’s… It’s fine, I’m sorry, I didn’t know. I don’t want things to be weird between us either. You know what? Why don’t we just forget the whole thing? Sorry again.” He finished with a tight lipped smile

You sent an uneasy smile back and nodded.

“Of course, no damage done, Steve.”

With that he left you and you went back to your book. You tried not to overthink the entire situation but couldn’t help but feel slightly uncomfortable.

____

“Boyfriend” the word echoed in his head on a never ending loop with deafening reverb. He nodded curtly at you and smiled. You had your awkward exchange of apologies and excuses. Wordlessly, he made his way back to the information desk. He felt angry but also humiliated, he had spent at least a week building himself up to say something to you and you just turned him down so wholly?

He saw the way you looked at him, the way you laughed at his jokes. Steve knew that he meant more to you than you were letting on. There was attraction there, you were just in denial because you had a boyfriend.

Who even was this schmuck? You couldn’t have liked him that much because if you did then you would’ve mentioned him before but you hadn’t. If you really loved your boyfriend then you wouldn’t have smiled at Steve the way you did or stopped to say hello every night. He needed to see for himself whom exactly it was that was so undeserving of your attention.

Steve checked the cameras and saw that you were packing up your things. He had maybe a few minutes to gather his own things and wait for you. There was someone else coming to cover the library in 20 minutes, it would be fine if he left it alone until then. He decided to make himself scarce from the desk so you wouldn’t have to see him again before you left and you wouldn’t notice he’d be following you.

Waiting for the sound of the double doors to click shut he turned the corner and waited for just a minute. He slunk down the mainways of campus towards the student apartments and stopped just 20 yards away from you up against a wall. You looked so cold all alone in the dark as you buzzed in one of the numbers.

“1B, what the fuck could you possibly want at this hour?” a gruff voice answered over the comm.

“Baby, it’s me, sorry I forgot my keys but you weren’t responding to my texts so” You trailed off as you shivered in the night. No reply came, just the buzzer sounding off. You hurried inside and Steve tried his best to scope out external windows.

Finally the light came on in one of them and to his luck the blinds were mostly open. Through the vertical slats he could make out your entrance and an impeding figure from the hall. It was him, the boyfriend. The guy that was apparently so much better than Steve.

He saw your body language was tense and you opened your mouth to speak but before you could get a word in, your boyfriend was grabbing your face in his hands and kissing you. You looked surprised maybe, but you just let him grab you like that. You just fucking let him.

He watched from his spot against a pillar from the building across the walkway. He clenched his jaw and tried to control his breathing watching this guy, this boy manhandle you like you weren’t something special, something precious. He was disgusted but he couldn’t look away as your clothes were shirked off and you two fucked right there on the couch.

He couldn’t bring himself to watch anymore and stormed off. As he walked back to his place a plan began to form in the back of his mind.

____

Things with Sean were smoothed over. You didn’t really talk, so much as he just fucked you before you could even talk about it. He had kissed you on the cheek after and said he was sorry. So you figured that he was. You didn’t really feel like pushing it anyways.

You made for the library once again, anticipating a long night ahead of you with midterms around the corner.

You let out a shriek as you realized someone was standing over you. Steve was hovering right above you, looking even taller than he already was. You pushed your chair back to get some distance between yourself and him while you caught your breath from the momentary scare.

“Steve, I uh, sorry I didn’t hear you coming, again.”

He leaned himself against the edge of the table and crossed his arms. How had you not realized he was so muscular before? You flushed and scolded yourself for thinking about him like that. You had a boyfriend and Steve was just the nice guy at the library.

He ducked his head shyly and waved your apology off.

“Sorry, guess I’m just sneaky.” He chuckled in amusement but the feeling wasn’t mutual, “I was just up here returning some books when I realized I missed you coming in, thought I’d come say hi.”

“Right,” you replied, “Guess we just missed each other. How’s the desk tonight?”

“Bored to tears as usual, just glad you’re here tonight”

Steve winked at you and you felt your cheeks get hot again and you looked away with a small laugh.

“You always know just what to say, don’t you?”

“Ah that’s not true.” He paused, “I get nervous all the time around pretty girls like you”

You were really in it now. Your cheeks heated instantly and you had to look away from him again. For someone that just got rejected he doesn’t stay down for long. How the hell were you going to talk your way out of this one? He knows you have a boyfriend, why would he say that?

“Anyway, I’ll leave you to it.” Oh, thank God.

He begins to walk back to his cart before spinning on his heel one last time.

“Hey, I forgot to ask. You’re pretty good with art history, right?”

You nod cautiously, afraid that you know where this is going.

“Well, as of right now I’ve got a C. I was wondering if you’d be willing to meet on one of my nights off here and help me out?”

“O-oh. Yeah, of course. No problem. I’m sure Sean wouldn’t mind.”

You were too nice for your own good, saying yes before really thinking it all through. You only realized you had after the words left your mouth so you mentioned Sean to save yourself a bit.

Steve’s eyes crinkled in the corners as he smiled at you.

“Awesome, you’re the best. Maybe we can get together at that cafe on 3rd next Tuesday around noon?”

“Of course, I’ll be there” You confirm.

____

Tuesday couldn’t come soon enough for Steve. He didn’t need any help in art history, he was averaging about an 87, actually. But when you turned him down he knew he had to find another way to get closer to you and he knew that you’d say yes out of pressure.

All in all things were going pretty well for Steve. Despite your shy nature he’d managed to get closer to you much quicker than he expected. He loved watching you get flustered whenever he was close, finding it hard not to get flustered himself. He was impatient for things to move forward but he knew it would all pan out. There was only one wrench in the plan; your boyfriend Sean.

The other night when Steve had followed you home and witnessed Sean manhandle you in your apartment he began thinking of how to remove him from the picture. Steve did his research on Sean and found it suspicious he couldn’t find anything on him. Usually after a little digging you can find something off about anyone, but not him. Steve knew it would take a little more effort, but for you he’d make it.

So that’s how Steve wound up spending his night off in the corner of the dive bar that was just off campus. Off campus enough that you’d need to drive there. He had tailed Sean’s Jeep there after his club soccer game in hopes of finding something he could actually use to justify getting rid of him for you. He groused as he pulled into the parking garage across the street and pocketed his parking stub. He waited a few beats and watched Sean leave his car.

He slinked in the door and grabbed a dimly lit corner booth. The residue of whatever cleaner this place used was causing his forearms to stick to the table at his booth and the air stunk of vape smoke. He was surrounded by other 20-somethings, awkward Tinder hookups and frat bros meeting up to blow off steam.

On the opposite side of the room he spotted Sean, watched him as he approached the bar for another pint. He’d followed him here in hopes of getting some sort of information on him that he could use. After an hour of nursing one beer and absolutely nothing happening with Sean Steve had been ready to give up.

Just as he was getting ready to down the rest of his drink the door had opened and in walked a girl around his age. She looked nervous but excited as she looked around the place. She nearly squealed as she rushed over when she found who she was looking for. A smile slowly crawled across Steve’s face as the girl rushed into Sean’s arms and embraced him with a kiss. This is exactly what Steve needed to get him out of the picture.

Steve discreetly took out his phone and snapped a few photos, even got a video of them kissing again. He figured this would be enough to blackmail Sean into leaving you. Getting what he needed, he grabbed his jacket and left the bar. He felt light as a feather walking home, his plan was finally setting into motion and it wouldn’t be long until you were together.

Tuesday had finally come and Steve’s good mood only carried over. He practically skipped to the coffee shop you two had agreed to meet at. He grabbed a table and waited for you. When he saw you open the door he was grinning ear to ear but his expression quickly changed taking in your appearance. You looked exhausted, like you’d been crying again. This wouldn’t do.

“What’s wrong? Is it your boyfriend again?” Steve asked.

You nodded silently and set down your bag with a huff.

“He’s just been out really late lately, I feel like he’s never home. Then again I’m always out late.”

“Well I’m glad you’re a night owl, otherwise we wouldn’t have met” Steve tried to turn the conversation back to them and to keep it positive.

“I guess you’re right. You didn’t order anything?” You frowned, noticing his empty hands.

“I was waiting for you, it’s my treat.” You opened your mouth to protest but Steve was quick to add, “Don’t even try to argue with me on this one.”

You sighed but ultimately relented, following him to the counter. He let you order first.

“Um, just a small hot chocolate please, thank you so much”

Steve thought it was cute that you didn’t drink caffeine, he knew hot chocolate was your drink of choice. He knew this of course from hours of pouring over every profile of yours he could find on the internet. He even found your tumblr you were just sure nobody knew about. Turns out you’ve got quite the dirty mind. But that was a thought for another day. Steve turned back to the counter and ordered black coffee and paid the bill.

With drinks in hand you made your way back to your table and settled in for an afternoon of art history. It went smoothly overall and Steve even got you to laugh a few times. He’d perfectly played his balance of pretending not to know about the subject while seeming to be learning what you were teaching. He could tell you felt proud of yourself for accomplishing something and he was happy he could make you feel that way. He was sure he was the only one that could.

You called it a day and said your goodbyes, you went in for an awkward hug which Steve accepted wholeheartedly. He’d even managed to finally snag your number so you two could work out more study times. Maybe you were coming around much easier than he anticipated. He smiled to himself and on the walk home began to devise a plan to get rid of Sean. It’d only be a matter of days if everything went accordingly.

____

You were basking in the rare day off, taking every moment to enjoy doing absolutely nothing. You’d felt drained lately from your class workload, late nights at the library, and your elevating fights with Sean. He was at work today followed by an evening class so you had uninterrupted alone time. Around 10pm it took every ounce of your free will to get off the couch and get the mail.

You milled over to your box and jammed the key in. Pulling the mail out your head titled in curiosity at the large unmarked manila folder. No return address written, only yours but there was nothing indicating whether it was for you or Sean. You’d open it when you got back upstairs.

Finally back to your spot on the couch your fingers slowly undid the folder’s metal clasp and you reached inside for its contents. Out came several photos and a hastily written note. You held the grainy photos closer to your face to make out what they were. When you did your heart plummeted and you went into emotional shock.

Though the photos were grainy it was very clear what they were of. Shots of Sean and some mystery brunette making out in a bar. Sean with his arm around her waist, Sean with his hand on her ass. All the photos were timestamped for only a few days ago when he claimed his soccer game was running late. You dropped them instantly and they scattered to the floor.

Your heart was hammering in your ears, you didn’t know what to think. Sean was the only boyfriend you’d ever really had, Sean loved you, you loved him. Somewhere in the back of your mind you remembered there was a note. You searched for it and tried to read it through the tears that were beginning to blur your vision.

‘I know what you did. You tell her or I will. You have three days’

You didn’t recognize the handwriting. Who would send this? Why would they send it? You and Sean didn’t have many friends and you couldn’t picture them doing this. Maybe this is some prank? Maybe the timestamp is wrong and this is before you were together.

Sean was all you’d ever known and you shared an apartment, it’s not like you’d have anywhere to go or anyone to turn to. Should you confront him with these? It’s not like you two were exactly good at solving your problems. Would he leave you if you showed him these? What then?

Your mind was spinning, unsure of what to do with this new information. Maybe you could keep quiet about this, try to spend some more time with Sean, make him see what the two of you have. Maybe you can ask him to be home more, maybe you could be home more too.

You took a deep breath and wiped your tears before you gathered the photos and put them back into the envelope. You decided you’d hold onto them for now, tucking them away in your drawer of the dresser. Deciding you’d just work yourself up if you stayed up you shot Sean a text goodnight and went to bed.

Morning came and he was snuggled into your side, the comfort you felt had you feeling like everything might be okay for a moment. You stayed in bed just a little longer and turned so he could hold you in his arms. Your heart felt so unsure and scared, but you didn’t know what else you could do.

The week passed by and you decided to shift more of your energy towards your relationship with Sean, pushing your nights at the library to the backburner. You still hadn’t told him about the envelope but you did tell him you missed him and wished he was home more. He relented and was home four nights this week instead of his usual two.

The time together was uncomfortable but you kept telling yourself that things were getting a little better over time, even if your studies were suffering for it. As the week went on you were able to suppress your doubts about your relationship a bit more. Sean loved you and you loved him.

You couldn’t ignore the oncoming threat of midterms forever, though. The last thing you wanted was to be alone because you knew that your thoughts would just spiral but you needed to do well this semester so you grabbed your bag and headed out.

You swipe through the doors, almost looking forward to seeing Steve. You’d blown off your study session with a profuse apology so you could be with Sean. You were eager to apologize in person but found the reference desk to be completely abandoned. You frowned, maybe Steve was putting away books or something. You’d see him eventually though, for now you had an essay to write.

Hours could have gone by and you wouldn’t have known. You were getting so much done though, it felt good to be focused on something other than your own thoughts.

“Where’ve you been?”

You jump in your seat. You turn around to find Steve emerging from the shelves that were just out of your view. He wore a neutral expression but you could cut the tension with a knife. He stepped forward and you debated on what to say.

“Sorry, I had to cancel with you this week. How are you getting along?”

“Nothing another tutoring session couldn’t fix, I’m sure. Were you sick? I feel like you haven’t been here in forever. The nights get awful lonely without ya here”

Why did Steve keep making statements like that when he knew you had a boyfriend? It was driving you insane and getting harder to ignore them.

“Um, no, I was with Sean, actually. But y’know, can’t avoid midterms forever” You gave a half-hearted laugh hoping to lighten things up.

Steve’s neutral expression is slipping, but you can’t tell if he’s angry or not. But his face broke out into a small smile, putting you at ease instantly. He clapped you on the shoulder and took a step back.

“Yeah, guess you’re right. We still on for Tuesday?”

You gave him an easy smile and nodded.

“I’ll be counting the days” With that Steve disappeared back between the shelves.

____

The moment Steve placed the envelope in the mail he felt a confidence he hadn’t felt before. All he had to do was wait for you to open the envelope and everything would take its course. He knew Sean was at work and you’d be the one to get the mail that day. From his spot he’d peered in your windows all those weeks ago he watched you open the photos. You dropped them to the ground and held a hand to your mouth to cover what looked like a sob. Steve smiled to himself, now all you had to do was leave him.

The week went on and Steve figured you might need a little time to break it off and he’d be there at the library, waiting to comfort you. It’s not like you had any other friends in your life to turn to. But then you cancelled your study session with no explanation. Steve figured maybe you were still in shock, needed to cry it out alone. Then two days turned to four turned to seven.

Steve was confused, he was infuriated even. Why hadn’t you come to the library yet? Why hadn’t you texted him? There’s no way that you were actually going to stay with him after you saw him with another woman. Except that’s exactly what he did.

Looking back on it Steve recognized his mistakes. He knew you were shy and meek, sweet, it’s what he loved about you. But he should’ve accounted for this to happen. You were too sweet for your own good, wanting to make it work with Sean. It was an obstacle he hadn’t seen but this is just a slight bump in the plan. He can work around it.

When he saw you coming up the steps on the security camera he made himself scarce, not ready to face you just yet. He gave you some hours to study before he made himself known to you. He could tell just by the way you talked that you were in complete denial about what was happening. You weren’t strong enough to leave him but that’s okay, Steve is strong enough for the both of you right now, he’ll help you get there.

____

Just when you thought things were getting better Sean was back to becoming distant, going out with his teammates and coming home still a little drunk. The more you thought about those photos and thought about how he slipped back into old habits so easily the more you were working up the courage to confront him. You weren’t sure if you’d leave him, but maybe it would make him change.

Then the second envelope came. More photos of them kissing and leaving the bar together. They were time stamped just two nights ago. Your heart fell through the floor as you tried to make sense of things. How much of this could you put up with? When was enough? You needed to confront him when he got home.

You texted him to try to come home early tonight, saying it was important. You spent the rest of the evening planning out your words and trying to quell the oncoming panic attacks. Time passed by in a blur and before you knew it it was midnight and you still had no word from Sean. You couldn’t spend one more minute alone, you needed to get out. You needed a friend.

Your body was on autopilot as your feet carried you up the steps of the library. Steve wasn’t at the desk and you felt almost distressed. You knew he’d be a good third party to talk all this out to and you didn’t know what to think when he wasn’t there. You decided to shoot him a text.

‘Hey, I know you usually work Thursdays, I’ll be at my usual spot, I could really use a friend if you’re not too busy’ Did that sound too desperate? At this point you didn’t care.

You sunk down into your chair on the second floor with a huff. You hadn’t brought your bag so it’s not like you could study to distract yourself. As it turned out you didn’t need to.

“I’m never too busy for you, doll. ‘Specially not at this job” Steve’s voice carried as he rounded a corner into your sight.

You felt instantly better before you realized you were crying. It was hard to be vulnerable but if you could trust anyone with this it was Steve. You gave him a weak smile as he pulled up a chair beside you.

“What’s wrong? Do you need tissues?”

“No, sorry, I just.” You were struggling to find the words. “Sean is cheating on me”

Steve’s hands clenched into fists, he looked absolutely furious for you.

“Are you serious? That bastard! Doll, I’m so sorry. Have you confronted him?” His hand reached for yours and his thumb rubbed light circles.

“I-I, I haven’t said...anything. I just. He loves me y’know? Why would he do that? He’s all I have? What happens if he leaves me where will I stay I’ll be completely alone, I’ll-”

You had worked yourself into a panic attack as you desperately tried to take gulps of air while tears streamed down your face. You were losing touch with your surroundings and spiraling into a place you couldn’t get yourself out of. Steve moved his chair closer to you and brought you into his lap. He held your back to his chest and wrapped his arms around you. You could just make out what he was saying.

“Doll, it’s okay, I need you to breathe with me, can you do that? Take a deep breath in with me. Hold it and count to five with me,” You do but you’re still struggling. “Now exhale, count again for me. You’re doing so well, you can do this.”

Eventually Steve is able to bring you back down to Earth and you slumped back into his arms. You don’t care that Steve is holding you, it feels safe. You shifted so you could lean your head against his chest and let out a heavy sigh. He holds you to himself and lets you sit there for a while.

You don’t know how much time passes but you sit up slowly and he’s reluctant to let you go. You wipe your eyes as you go back to your own chair.

“Sorry, I’m keeping you from your job. Sorry I just totally came here and freaked out” You were starting to feel embarrassed, oversharing your life and emotions with him. You really liked him, you didn’t want to think you’d ruined the friendship.

“Don’t even apologize. You can always come to me.” He gave you a warm smile and you felt reassured. “So what are you going to do about Sean?”

Another hour had gone by with Steve and you could see the sun starting to come through the windows. You had decided you would confront him and go from there. You weren’t ready to fully commit to leaving him but this needed to end one way or another. For the first time in two weeks you felt like things were maybe going to be okay. The next time you saw Sean you were going to confront him.

____

Clearly seeing that you weren’t going to do anything after he sent the photos, he had to go to plan B. Steve waited outside the practice field and followed him to the parking structure once again. He jammed the parking stub in his jacket pocket along with the others and repeated his previous trips here. It was astounding how unaware Sean was of his surroundings, Steve had followed him and that girl from the bar back to her place at least twice now.

Getting what he needed he put another envelope in the mail the next day, this time with no note but the photos were more upsetting. It hurt Steve to hurt you but it’s what needed to be done. You were never going to confront him with things as they were so he had to push the envelope, literally and metaphorically. The hurt would be worth it though, because you came crying to him just like he’d hoped you would. Seeing your text warmed his heart, you needed him and he’d be there. Every time.

He knew he’d be comforting you but he didn’t think that he’d get to hold you. He was hiding his smile as he wrapped his arms around you and brought you down from your panic attack. You did so well listening to him and calming down. He was convinced he was the only one that could help you, you just needed to see that.

Steve abandoned his cart of books that needed to be shelved but he couldn’t care less. He’d stay up all night with you every night if that’s what it took. As dawn broke the two of you devised a plan and he built you up to say something. You weren’t committed to leaving him, which Steve wasn’t happy about, but you were committed to confronting him, if only you’d get the chance.

Based on what Steve knew of both yours and Sean's schedules you’d just miss each other between classes during the day and Sean had a game tonight, which would inevitably lead to a night at the bar. All Steve had to do was wait. He had to contain his excitement, things were finally finally falling right into place, they just needed a final push.

Nightfall came and this time Steve beat Sean to the structure. Steve parked on the top level and stuck the parking stub in his pocket. He didn’t feel like he was taking a risk by counting on Sean to follow routine, he was a good boy, he’d park in his same spot he always did and proceed to get wasted across the street.

A slow smile creeped across Steve’s face as Sean and his teammates stumbled into the bar, probably already drunk from pre-gaming. Sean’s sidepiece wouldn’t come to the bar tonight, her sorority having some dumb mixer or another. Steve reminded himself of his mantra to wait. His phone buzzed and he saw it was a text from you. You two had been texting after you came to him in the library.

‘He’s not responding to my texts. I know he had a game tonight but I really thought he’d be here’

He’d have to text you back another time, Steve needed to be on his toes tonight. He sat at what was becoming his usual booth for nearly two hours, barely touching his pint. Finally Sean paid his tab and said goodnight to his friends. Steve pulled down the brim of his hat and pursued him towards the parking structure. Drunken and fumbling up through the stairwell, Steve entered behind him quietly while taking out a knife he’d stolen from Bucky. He always knew his friend’s strange obsession with them would come in handy someday.

Just as Sean was about to take the final step Steve grabbed him from behind. Sean’s reactions may have been slowed but it hadn’t stopped him trying to thrash out of the grip. His efforts stopped immediately as Steve held the blade to his throat. He spoke clearly and in a low voice.

“Keep walking up the stairs or I will slit your fucking throat, do you hear me?” He brought the knife closer to his neck to drive home the threat.

“E-easy man, please, please don’t do this”

“Keep moving. Up.”

Steve pushed him all the way towards his car at the edge of the top level. He flipped Sean around so his back was to the ledge, the knife still trained closely on him. Pleads for mercy fell on deaf ears.

“What do you wan’!? You wan’ money!? Take, take my wallet man I don’t need it, jus’ please don’t kill me please!”

Steve pushed him slightly, though his grip on him remained tight. Sean struggled against him as his body weight wavered over the ledge. He must have realised how far up they were because he started crying at this point, begging even harder as he teetered and trying desperately to get his bearings against the wall.

“Why are you doing this!?” He wailed, “I’ll do anything, please! Please, I have a girlfriend, I have a family”

That was all that it took. Steve was feeling a high like he’d never felt. He knew at this moment he was doing the right thing for both of you. With a rush of adrenaline and in a flash of certainty he pushed Sean’s body over the edge. He didn’t watch him fall the seven stories down to the ground, but he did wait to hear the sickening crack and thud of his body hitting the ground. There was no way he’d survived.

Blood rushing through his ears, he felt euphoric, so powerful, so in love with you. He climbed back into his car and headed for his apartment. His plan wasn’t quite complete yet though, but everything he needed to do was done. He could watch the rest unfold from the sidelines. He knows you’ll be heartbroken all over again when you find out, but he’ll be there to pick up the pieces.

____

You’d been in mourning for nearly two months. The shock you’d felt wasn’t comparable to any other feeling you’d felt. The police ultimately ruled his death an accident, they performed an autopsy and found dangerous amounts of alcohol in his system. They weren’t able to pinpoint an exact time of death but estimated 2-3 AM, as he’d been found in the morning. They figured he’d just gotten piss drunk and came too close to the edge. And he was gone just like that.

His death weighed heavy on you, you blamed yourself for a long time. He wouldn’t have stayed out if you hadn’t pushed him so far away from you. The last thing you ever said to him was nagging and whiny, no wonder he didn’t want to come home. To think that you were possibly going to leave him. You felt so much self-contempt but slowly you were learning to forgive yourself.

You don’t know what you’d have done without Steve by your side. He was there for you every step of the way. He held you at the funeral, he helped you pack up Sean’s things in the apartment, he took your late night phone calls and came over at the drop of a hat to help you through your grief. You were eternally grateful for his selflessness and his willingness to help you heal.

Guilt loomed over you once again as the old feelings you’d had for Steve in the early days of your friendship started to flare up again. It felt natural to feel them, with him being closer to you than he ever was, but it didn’t stop you from feeling shame over it. You had to remind yourself that you weren’t culpable for anything that happened, that Sean himself was interested in someone else when he’d died. You had to forgive yourself for these feelings for Steve. Maybe even pursue them.

‘Can you come over tonight? I think we should talk’ Your nerves were on fire from the rush you got sending him that text.

‘How about you come to my place? 7? We can go for something to eat if you want.’ Your heart was fluttering, was this a date?

‘Sounds good :)’

Checking the time you saw it was 4, you spent the next few hours obsessing over what to say. No matter what you were determined to tell him your feelings for him. You were debating whether or not you should kiss him. Would he even want you back? What if he only sees you as a friend now? The hours whiled away and you took a deep breath before setting out.

You’d been to Steve’s apartment only once before, you knew he lived alone but he’d managed to make the place feel homey. You were buzzed in and before you had the chance to knock on the door Steve had it open and was waiting for you. His smile was all teeth and it was contagious, you smiled back looking up at him and he let you in.

You sat down on the couch and waited for Steve. No turning back now. Deep breath. He sat down and turned to face you.

“What did you want to talk about?”

No words were coming to you. Your mouth opened but you could only sputter. Oh God, where were the words? Do something!

So you did. Before you could think about it you put a shaky hand up to Steve’s jaw and pulled him in for a kiss. You didn’t know what you were feeling, you were just waiting for Steve to respond. You began to pull back but before you could he took your face in his hands and kissed you back tenderly but with purpose. Your arms were around him and he pulled you closer into his lap to kiss you more passionately.

You finally pulled apart to catch your breath. You snuck a look up to his face and you were nervous but you felt like you were floating.

“You have… no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that” He said between breaths.

You two smiled like idiots and he brought his lips to yours again. The kiss deepened and a moan slipped from your mouth. This seemed to spark something in Steve and his hands shakily moved over your body. He was feeling every curve of you and you ground down into his lap and his hips bucked up in response. You have no idea where this confidence came from but you’d never felt more sure of yourself. You broke apart again and Steve was breathing heavily.

“Is this what you want?” He asked. You could only nod before he was on you again. He pulled you up from the couch and led you to his bed. This time he laid you back and was hovering over you, slowly undoing the buttons of your jeans. You helped him get yourself out of them and pulled your shirt over your head, leaving you in just your bra and panties. How was this happening? Who cares?

He sat back and took the sight of you in, he was looking at you like you were the most precious thing. He slowly removed his clothes and moved back over you, kissing his way up your thighs before pulling your panties down your legs. He continued laving away at your skin, making you nervous but excited. His fingers brushed your core and he brought them up to his face.

“Sweetheart, you are dripping.” Your cheeks heated instantly as he chuckled. Not giving you the chance to respond he dove right in. Two fingers entered you and you arched your back, his tongue lapped up your wetness and then at your clit. You’d really never known pleasure like this, no one had ever done this for you before. His fingers pumped in and out of you and your hands flew to his hair and pulled. He continued on and curved his fingers just slightly and you clenched down around him, you were so close.

“Please, I’m so close” you whimpered.

Steve doubled his efforts and before you knew it the tension he had been building up was released in a white hot flash of ecstasy. You writhed against his fingers as he kept pumping them into you. Finally he relented, pulling them out and licking them clean. You’d never seen something that made you feel so filthy but so so good.

He took off his boxers and encased you in his arms. He kissed your neck and you moaned again at the feeling. You spread yourself for him and he lined himself up and groaned. The stretch was something you weren’t ready for. It burned almost, you cried out as he put his whole length in you. He waited all of two seconds before he began thrusting into you. You weren’t ready but you were adjusting quickly with the way his cock hit that spot inside of you over and over.

You were holding onto his shoulders, nails digging in deep as he started to go harder and faster.

“I’m close” He panted into your ear.

Reaching down his fingers found your clit and started moving back and forth quickly, trying to match his thrusts. The tension was building again to a breaking point and you were getting close again. He worked you even harder until you broke, cumming for a second time. Your eyes were screwed shut in ecstasy as you cried again.

“Steve!”

That was all it took before he slammed into you a final time, you could feel his release and you’d never felt closer to him. His movements stopped and your noses touched. He kissed you hard before rolling off of you.

“That was… oh my god” you breathed.

“I know, me too” Steve chuckled. “So can I take you to dinner?”

“Nothing would make me happier,” You grinned wide and nodded.

You cleaned yourself up and redressed. You were taking in Steve’s room and found yourself smiling at the photos of him and Bucky, little knick-knacks on his dresser. You found a sticky note on the calendar at his desk. You squinted. Had you seen his handwriting before?

You shrugged and flopped yourself back on the bed. You checked the weather on your phone and frowned at the temperature, you let out a small groan.

“What is it?” Steve called from the bathroom as he cleaned up.

“It’s so coooold and I forgot my jacket” You pouted.

“Just take mine, it’s the brown leather one hanging in the living room” He was so sweet.

Gingerly, you made your way into the living room and found the jacket, slipping it on. You don’t know what was taking Steve so long but you shoved your hands in the pockets and waited for him. You felt something in the right pocket. Is this trash? You pulled out little wadded up pieces of paper and unfolded them.

They were parking stubs. They were from the same structure that Sean had fallen from. Your heart was pounding, upset just thinking of him. Looking closer one of them was stamped for 2:15 AM, 2/1, the night that he died. Okay...

1 AM 1/15, 11:57PM 1/28, They matched the timestamp on the photos that had been sent to you. Two others were from nights when Sean had games and had stayed out late. Your heart was in your throat and tears were forming in your eyes, trying to find some explanation. You thought again of the first time you’d received an envelope, those photos, that note. It had dawned on you why the note looked so familiar… The handwriting! Oh, God... Your whole world slowed down as you heard footsteps bound into the room. Slowly you turned, the stubs still in your shaking hands.

“Oh, Sweetheart,” Steve took a step further, “You weren’t supposed to see those.”

[serosluv2]

after college maki was lost. he graduated, got a degree in pre law and had a job at some law firm that payed him to read legal papers and make sure they were ok or wtv. it paid ok, his apartment was ok, his life was ok. except the fact that he hated it.

his job, the people he worked with, his neighbors, he hated it all. makki is NOT a boring person by far yet his life was so… boring.

his saving grace was saturday nights where him, matsukawa and either matsu’s new gf of the week or iwa/oikawa (depending on if either were in town) would join them at a bar for drinks. maki loved it. the owner was this guy who had been here since the dawn of time, there was usually either stand up, karaoke or some band playing at the stage. it was an environment he felt he belonged in. despite every surface being a little sticky and the overall stench of the place consisting of beer and cheap perfume.

however, one saturday maki was alone. matsun was out of town and neither oikawa nor iwazumi were in japan at the time but he still went to the bar that night. a little drunk and a little pissed off at his co-workers, makki wrote his name on a price of paper and dropping it in the hat to be picked out of. tonight was stand up and if he was being honest, maki knew he was naturally a funny guy. he could make any situation hilarious, just the way he told stories and roasted ppl made them funny as hell.

“NEXT UP ISSsss- hanamaki!”

oh shit, now i actually have to go up there. he thought. he wasn’t nervous though, more just annoyed even though he volunteered for this. the crowd was already a bit dead and he was too mad at his life and drunk to care if he bombed or not. he started going on about his boss, stuff like how could a man in such a high position be so stupid. he went on about his co workers and his neighbors and his childhood. how growing up in single mother household with two older sisters was the definition of heaven and hell. (mostly hell) he glanced at the timer by his feet. 10 seconds. “wow only 10 seconds left? well thank you guys for laughing with me about my life. i’m Maki. y’all have a great night.” he closed off with a small roar of applause and stepped down ready to head out.

as he was collecting his things from his place at the bar, a man comes up to him slugging his arm around Maki suddenly. “you were pretty good up there y’know. you do stand up anywhere eles ‘round town?” he asked with an itialinan or brooklyn accent which makki found particularly unusual as they were in japan. “oh. nah man. that was my first time.” he replied casually whilst brushing the man’s arm off him to pull on his coat. “mm well i thought you were definitely something up there.” the man reaches into his front pocket of his trousers to pull out a card with matalic writting SI Alley on it. “i run a comedy club a little ways down, you shoukd really come by.” and the man slipped away.

little did he know that that one interaction changed Maki’s poor boring life into something much more exciting.

( a/n: uh basically he never showed up for his office job ever again. didn’t formally quit. no email. just didn’t show up monday. and now makes his living off doing stand up gigs and bartends at the SI Alley. BUTTT he becomes famous in tiktok and gets to become the host of a comedy show (Haikyuu ver of SNL but funnier) )

[tbzhours]

love notes

sunwoo x you, fluff 

[summary] sunwoo realizes he loves you [warning] mention of sex [words] 1.7k [a/n] happy birthday to sunwoo♡! who’s still crying over berry? :’)

You just got home after a long day with Sunwoo, going on a hike for a picnic on the hills and spending time at his place afterwards. Your heart was full, thinking back at how he let you know you were his first during the walk, despite sleeping together a few times already. He wasn’t used to touching you all the time but whenever he touched your shoulder or held your waist, he confessed about how it was turning him on. So he stopped touching you and just followed along the trail with you until you both found a good spot for the picnic. 

You weren’t much of a person who feeds others but when Sunwoo reached his fork over to you, you couldn’t help to do the same back at him. Everything he did made your heart flutter and you really love how open he was. He was understanding of your time because he knew you had things to do outside of your dates. He adored that you’re a considerate person as well, being mindful of his study time since he was graduating this year. It was just a matter of weeks before he graduates from college. 

Sunwoo was already accepted into law school, a dream of his since young. You could tell because his eyes shined whenever he randomly referenced laws in your conversations. Not that you mind. Passion always flows in the way he is, like the cooking book he brought to the picnic. It was about cooking for two (aka you and him). You found it cute, considering that he was into cooking and that he recently moved out of his friends’ shared apartment to live by himself. 

He was excited not only because he could finally have some quiet time to study, but also because you could spend time with him without making too much arrangement around his friends’ time. Despite only dating for two months, this just meant he could explore more things with you, especially your shared interests and of course, in the bedroom. 

You knew him from a year ago when you both were working at the same recreation center, monitoring workout rooms together but after you graduated, you hadn’t seen him since. Meeting him again almost a year later at a different building and finally exchanging phone numbers, you didn’t expect him to be interested in you too. 

sunwoo: hey i dropped something in your bag before you left 😗

You tilted your head and remembered seeing something unfamiliar in your bag when you left Sunwoo’s place. You set your phone down, haven’t cleaned out the bento boxes from the picnic and pulled out the folded paper from your bag. You sat down on your couch and opened the paper. A card, seeming from a game, slipped out between the folds. 

What do you love about your partner? 

You looked at the written paper, noticing Sunwoo’s handwriting as your face flushed. 

I love their smile, the way they listen to me as I talk.  I love how considerate they are, giving me time to do other things that I need to do. I love how open they are when we have sex. I love it when they hold my hand. I love it when they share their world with me, though I might not understand it entirely. I love their good night texts knowing I sleep early. I also love their random 2am texts because it makes me smile when I read them in the morning.  I love the pet names they use to call me as. I love many things about them, and their random kisses.

You couldn’t sleep all night, wondering if you had to write one back to him. He was such an old-fashioned type of person. You wondered where he got it from because he likes calling you through the phone, asking permission for things, writing poem-like texts, and just being upfront about what he likes and doesn't like. Again, everything he does made your heart race. 

You closed your eyes to calm it. But wait, you hadn’t replied back to him since you read the letter and showered. You rambled off your bed to find your phone. As you checked the time after picking it up from the couch, it wasn’t too late yet. You sighed and finally wrote back. 

you: i didn’t even see you put it in my bag! how did you do that? sunwoo: it’s a secret 😚 you: sneaky 😒 you: but ngl it made me smile… i just have a lot of thoughts running through me even though i was blushing too much over your cute handwriting and message sunwoo: thank you, i’m glad i did. that means you’re probably thinking about me you: i am sunwoo: i think about you too you: you sweet thing you: you sleeping soon?  sunwoo: yes, as i’m thinking about our next date ❤️ you: i’m excited too~ you: good night, my love ❤️ sunwoo: good night ❤️

“Hey, you’re here.” Sunwoo greeted you when you knocked on his apartment door. 

You rushed to his place right after work since your shifts didn’t overlap today. You smiled and greeted him with a hug. You hummed along, smelling his scent. “You changed your cologne.” 

“You noticed?” He was surprised, chuckling when you pulled away. You really like his smell and seeing the smile on your face, he figured you might like this one too. 

“Yeah.” Your nose crunched close to his in a tease. “I like it.” 

“Good.” His smile stayed. “And I missed you.” 

You gave Sunwoo a peck before he shut the door and led you into his house. You looked around, as if you hadn’t been here before then you set your things down beside the couch. You followed him into the kitchen and found the cooking book opened with ingredients around it. He was standing in front of you between the counter with his arms angling down to hold the edges of it. His black tee showed his body line, matching along with his curly hair. You couldn’t help to look at those pretty arms. Maybe you should have written that in your letter too. 

“So, what’s the chosen menu for tonight?” You asked. 

Sunwoo hummed, thinking even though you both had chosen it together through text. He sent pictures of some pages until you both picked a menu. He got all of the ingredients and your request for wine, and when he smiled with those thick lips, he answered, “A menu for two.” 

So dinner was made with much laughter from following the steps. The kitchen was a bit messy from your little dances since he had music on. He turned it down when you both settled down to eat and chat about whatever came to mind. He suddenly thought of the time you mentioned about working at a ski resort for the season and suggested that you both go when it gets cold again. You wouldn’t mind teaching him how to ski too, even though you’re still a beginner since being a staff for rentals. He himself was getting into playing the guitar from a friend that he wouldn’t mind teaching you the basics he knew of too. That was something you both had in common: you both love learning. 

As your laughs calm through the wine, you remembered keeping his written letter in your bag with yours and wanted to return one back to him. So you stood up after taking too many sips of wine. 

“So Sunwoo, you know how you left your letter in my bag last time?” You started. He looked up and hummed, You shyly smiled, “Well, I wrote one back.” 

“You did?” Sunwoo was surprised, watching you get up and came back to sit. You slipped the paper to him over the table. He opened it and started to read it. You could see how his eyes shined as they moved from word to word. His breath was calm and his smile was softly formed below those flowery cheeks of his. Once he was done, his breath was heard through his nose. It was hard to look at you when he finished reading your love notes. “Wow, this is so sweet. Thank you for writing back.” 

“Do you feel the way I was feeling? Nervous? Blushing like crazy?” You chuckled, your face burning up from his big smile. 

“Totally.” He set your paper down, eyes still lingering there as he thought back to his.

“There's one that stayed in my mind since I read it.” You confessed, still smiling as you could see written in your head. 

“What is it?” He asked with anticipation. 

You didn’t keep him waiting. “Sharing my world with you.” 

He smiled, grinning actually. “When I wrote mine, I thought about how much--we haven’t said this to each other before but--how much I love you, and I really do. I love you, a lot.” 

Sunwoo said your name after as your fingers fiddled over your thigh. 

“I love you too, Sunwoo.” You confessed, then you sighed softly. “And I’ve been thinking about us- you know, like going to the next level from where we’re at.” 

“Like being in a serious relationship?”

“Yeah.” You chuckled. 

“It’s alright. I want that too.” He shyly smiled down, a soft chuckle following. 

You were surprised because you both had only been dating for 2 months and you didn’t expect him to want the same. You both have had conversations about it before but as each day went by, his feelings for you grew and he wanted to love you more. You bloomed a touching smile. “Oh, Sunwoo.” 

“We know a lot of things about each other and we know what we want.” He paused. “I would love to be more serious with you.” 

“Me too.” You locked your fingers together and held them at your chest in excitement. “I can finally call you my boyfriend, wow.” 

“You’re funny.” Sunwoo giggled then he smiled after a deep breath. “So day one, officially?” 

“You bet.” You grinned from over the table. 

“Bet on who’s going to clean these up?” He tilted his head, face pretending a confused look. 

You shook your head with a laugh. “No, we’re doing it together.” 

Sunwoo hummed and winked after. “Yep, later. Together.”

[librarianandguardian]

Just a feeling- Saul Silva x Female!Reader

Pairing : Saul Silva x Female!Reader

Word Count : ~2300

Warnings : Fluff, brief mention of drug use and burns

Music : Un homme - Jérémy Frerot

Author’s note : Getting pretty stressed because of a huge project at school, so I wrote this to blow off some steam ! I also wanted to say that I do not agree with the way some characters are written and treated in this show. I hope I did not perpetuate these errors, and that I got Silva’s personality a bit right at least. Feedback is appreciated, may it be on the story telling or even the grammar. English isn’t my first language. Flahs-backs in italics. Enjoy ! :D

GIF ‘s not mine, and I can’t find the creator.

French First World songs resonate in the Great Hall, she is dancing. Wild and free. Her loosened hairs fly through the wind. She has traded her Specialist armour for a long flowing dress. Her feet are hammering the ground in rhythm. The crowd carries her all over the dancefloor; she twirls and claps her hands following the music.

From an ignored fairy bloodline, her parents considered her a Specialist Legacy. When her mind fairies powers woke up, everything went wrong ; she was always an overwhelmed child. No one could help her everytime she lost control. Nothing but medication: earrings to contain, and pills to attenuate. It wasn't bad. She lived like that her entire life.

Silva is sitting on a plastic chair, leaning on the table by his side, his gaze lingering. She is an exceptional fighter; dance must be a piece of cake and fun judging from her large smile. To be fair, he barely remembered her from their time at Alfea. Farah told him she was three years younger than him and seemed to have a few memories.

« (Y/N) travelled a lot to the First World prior to college. Her parents were emissaries and brought back souvenirs. Rumours said that her room resembled a cave of wonders.

-Ever went there ?»

His friend chuckled.

« Once. It was full of trinkets, books, movies, postal cards too. Ben caught interest in it, especially the giant botanic encyclopaedia throning on her bookshelf. We both agreed after a while that she might be the ray of sunshine of her Specialist promotion. But I guess she was discreet, if you've never heard of her.»

It took some memory searching, but he indeed remembered one thing. A conversation between a bunch of 1st years talking about a secret party displaying famous First World movies. A few hours later, on the training field, (Y/N) battled fiercely. It caught the attention of many students, who gathered around the platform. Curiosity taking the best of him, he had followed the crowd.

« What's that First World song that I love to describe you with ?

-By the light Clairo, is it really necessary ? »

Her opponent mocked her. She rolled her eyes, wielding her sword before choosing her fight stance.

« You son of... Maneater from Nelly Furtado. Now let's fight please.

-Alright doll, eat me up. »

(Y/N) huffed in annoyance. Clairo was a good fighter, but a little bit too flirty. He launched himself at her. The young woman stayed incredibly calm. Dodging to the right, she left him to stumble before hitting his back with the wooden weapon. He fell to the ground with a grunt. A shy smile spread on her features.

Now that he thinks about it, her earring had intrigued him : an ear chain hanging from the top of the cartilage of her ear to her lobe. Each end was composed of a lavendish round lilac crystal. When she lost control recently, those crystals lit up with a blinding light and burned her skin.

« I change the earring every five year. Every year If any several big crises occurred.

-What about your burns ? How did they clean them up ? »

Her left hand ghosted over her intact lobe, while Harvey healed the bruised flesh. Her eyes stared at the floor of the greenhouse. Saul was holding her other hand.

« They... I stuffed myself with pills. Sometimes enough to sleep through an entire day. Within the Solarian force, it was the only way for them to treat me. None of their mind fairies could calm me down. I don't think you realize how much this, she lifted her intertwined hand, helps.»

The soldier chuckles at the memory. His eyes examined his fingers, remembering how she locked hers, as she found an anchor in his mind.

« My best guess ? Your training forged your head to have a certain mindset in crisis.

-Loads of Solarian troupers could have given you that.

-Yeah. I can't really explain it, she laughed shyly, maybe because you're a teacher, that two of your long time friends are fairies or just because you're good with people.»

Their gazes crossed. The air thickened. Truth to be told, (Y/N) was so lost upon why he managed to calm her down. Farah tried to guide her, but even then, nothing positive came out. Her youth as a student at Alfea only consisted in shared side glances with him in hallways. She sure as hell found the man attractive, but she had other stuff to think about.

A loud giggle snaps him back to reality. (Y/N) falls on his laps while trying to take off her high heels. Her eyes are opened wide and a little glassy. She's definitely drunk.

« Oh by the light, I'm sorry Silva. Aimed at the table ! »

The atmosphere becomes lighter. He catches her when she nearly trips off by trying to get up, one of his arms snaking around to help. Steadying herself on his laps, she catches her breath slowly, though some giggles erupt as she looks around.

« How can you still dance, uh ?»

With a guilty smile, she leans slightly against the table.

« Alcohol ! It's the only thing keeping me up, baby !»

Instant regret shoots through her veins. Some red creeps up on her cheeks, as her hands cover her mouth. The soldier chuckles, enamoured by her adorableness. One thing that strucked him when they met was her lightness. Out of all the solarian troupers out there, or even all the specialists he ever crossed paths with, she was one of the few who stayed so bright and playful. Subconsciously, his fingers dig slightly in her hips.

« It's alright, (Y/L/N).»

She giggles a bit, but thanks him. Farah watches from a far, joined by Ben. (Y/N)(Y/L/N) has been teaching at Alfea for a year now. The entire school seemed to have transformed into a much more joyous place : students got along better, the shyest opened a tad and the roughest softened. Ben's daughter Terra found a supporter of her personal projects and a confidant. Ben himself benefited from her return. Mostly in books and knowledge but that meant already so much to him. Farah gained a daughter ; (Y/N)'s powers were a mess for her advanced age, helping felt natural. But what she loved the most was how confused Saul got with the new Specialist. Their bond strengthened with time, however the first few days rocked the Headmaster all over the place.

«(Y/L/N), what did you do to our office ? Did you... Are these books classified by alphabetic order and colour ?! »

His colleague shrugged, trying to see if he was mad or just surprised. It happened a few days after her arrival. Their shared office went under few renovations.

« (Y/L/N), why dancing classes ? »

She shot up, put her hands on his desk and took twenty minutes to explain how it would make their movements more flexible, strengthen teamwork and be a tool for future mission on the job. Astonished could not describe Silva's feeling.

An admirable change that proved beneficial to the students. These two grew very fond of each other. A lot more than they thought. Words in the hallways started to spread about their growing fondness.

« Okay, I got a question for you, soldier boy.»

Saul tilted his head to the side.

« Are you having fun ?

-Of course I am.»

(Y/N) looks disappointed. Turning around, she pours some water in her cup and chugs it down.

« Really ? 'Cause the only thing I've seen you do is sit in a corner all night. »

He lowers his head, searching for the right words. How does he say that he just loves watching her run around the dancefloor ? How she bounds with students but also keeps their respect ? The fact that she's so organised that she could plan a First World themed party and keep her teacher skills to their best ? The shortest way for that would be admitting his feelings. He zones out long enough for her to talk again.

« It's okay. »

His eyes lock with hers. How did she sober up so quickly ?

« I know you have a reputation as a serious and frowny teacher to keep. And this is a graduation party, so. »

Never mind, she did not. The woman gets up, only to kneel under the tablecloth. He panics briefly.

« (Y/N), what on Earth are you doing ?»

She mumbles before appearing back outside. Her hands are holding a package. Another bright smile shines on her face. Silva knows what's coming, and he has mixed feelings about it; between fear, excitement and confusion.

« Happy Birthday Saul. »

His heart nearly stops. Few people know about his birthday, she is now a part of them. He frankly does not mind, even wished for it for a while now. His hands gently take the package to open it. Before his eyes lies a hard covered sketchbook and a wooden box full of high-quality pencils. The cover has a crow flying in a pearly sky with a red sun. The box is made of ebony and his name carved in silver. She knows an another of his secret. He tears up. The woman worries when he starts to sniffle. Much to her surprise, the soldier puts the gifts on the table before hugging her with all his might. Thank God the students are dancing or already out of the hall to smoke. (Y/N) answers his embrace, reassured.

« Thank you so much dear. »

It's her turn to have glossy eyes. She buries her face in his shoulder. This man is constantly under pressure and she has always wondered what he does during his free time : Does he train more ? He probably reads, right ? The answer came on a regular afternoon.

Silva knocked on her quarters' door. He heard shuffling before (Y/N) opened. She was wearing a bathrobe and a towel around her hair.

« Hi Saul ! Sorry hum. I woke up late and did not expect you so soon so, hum. »

The woman looked around, making her towel fall. Picking it up, she invited him in. He indulged, though a bit surprised.

« I'll be back in a jiffy, you know, putting some clothes on and all. Okay.»

She disappeared in her bathroom, leaving him to explore her room. Many watercolour paintings covered the walls, some abstract and others from the Realms of the Otherworld. However, a few landscapes felt unknown to him. On her desk lied sketches with a horde of different pencils. He discovered portraits of Farah, Ben, Terra, Sky, Riven and finally him. The lines were thin, some shadows sharp for the warriors and smoother for the fairies. A hint of jealousy took over him, quickly brushed away by shyness. The fact that she took the time to draw him was flattering. His fingers grazed over the pencils, wondering if he had time to prepare a little surprise. He puts down the file he came to discuss. A few minutes later, (Y/N) came out, dressed but her hair still wet on the edges. Silva was leaning against her desk, file in hand, a small smile on his features. She mirrored it before asking about the important matter at hand. Twenty minutes later, he left. Her eye caught a change in her drawing material : the portrait of Farah and Ben switched positions. She shuffled them, making sure everything was here, only to find an unknown piece. A cute fox was smiling, a little bubble under him stating :

« Nice Work (Y/L/N). Nice pencils too. Wish I had your talent.»

That last sentence made her wonder if he indeed had an artistic side. Needless to say that his quarters gave her answer. Same reason as his when he came, she knocked on his door one night. Though he did not fully invite her in, her eyes caught glimpses of nice sketches lying on a table, some rudimental equipment next to it.

They stay like this for a few seconds. The headmistress and Professor Harvey look at each other. No words, no need. Terra is chatting with a second year in a corner, bur her eyes catch them. She smiles, looking away shyly, but happy Sky sees the scene too, thanks to Riven who taps on his shoulder. They can't help the smile growing on their faces. Sky's father figure finding support is definitely going to be one of the highlights of their first year. (Y/N) and Saul part. One of her hands pats his arm.

« Wanna dance ? »

He closes his eyes, sighing. There is no lack of desire but the fear of what the students will say.

« I wish but... I don't know.

-I get it. But one day, you will ! That's a promise. »

With one last smile, she strolls back to the dancefloor, leaving him sheepish. He takes the sketchbook and a pencil. He might not dance tonight, but he'll make up to it.