#hey no rush but much longer on whatever aux?

[lilgynt]

i will not call out no matter how much i want to (self affirmation) ((not working))

[foreingersgod]

what if like you did a CC x reader fic with Good luck, babe! And like reader is like Caitlins gay awakening and stuff…

Good Luck, Babe! . CC

pairing: caitlin clark x reader

synopsis: Good luck, babe! by Chappell roan

A/N: i’m aware that in a good chunk of my cc fics that it starts with reader and cait “just hooking up” or something like that, so i swear this will be the last time i do that 😭😭

It's fine, it's cool

You can say that we are nothing, but you know the truth

the sun peaked through your linen curtains, making your eyes flutter open. you glanced over at your phone, 8:30, and over to the left side of your bed where she laid. she was sleeping peacefully, sheets pulled up to her collarbone, hair spewed in different directions against one of your pillows. she looked so beautiful like this. having her naked, in your bed, was truly a blessed sight to see so you cherished it whenever you could.

as she snored softly, still deep in a dream, you turned over on your side to look at her properly. you let your fingers run across the prominence of her collarbone, toying with the hem of your sheets that hid the rest of her gorgeous body. you watched as her lips parted with each breathe, how her nose twitched, and how her faint freckles danced across her cheeks. she was a sight for sore eyes.

not much later, her eyes fluttered just like yours had moments ago, yawning as she stretched for the first time this morning. she looked over, noticing you had been staring for who knows how long.

“take a picture, it’ll last longer” she laughed, leaning over and kissing your forehead before shuffling out of bed and starting to get dressed.

“no picture could beat the real thing” you grinned back. she looked over, smiling back at you, grabbing her keys.

“hey i gotta go, connor’s got this weird brunch thing that he needs me for, but um” she made her way to the door “i’ll text you”

“wait!” you stopped her before she could leave. she let you of the handle to your bedroom and turned to face you, giving you full attention. suddenly you felt vulnerable, still naked and barely covered by your sheets, laid right in front of her “would you want to grab dinner sometime this week? i know we meet up on fridays, but…i don’t know i thought it’d be nice to see you sooner”

“um…yea…you know i’ll have to text you or something” she shuffled around, avoiding eye contact. “it’s just that me and connor…he’s still my boyfriend…”

you fought the urge to roll your eyes “yea, yea i know”

“well i can’t just go out with you all the time like we’re girlfriends. me and connor are still together”

“even if you’re in my bed every weekend?” you scoffed “whatever, caitlin, i get it”

she just stared at you, not wanting to pick a fight. instead she opted for a sigh and left your apartment, leaving you alone and wanting.

you wished she didn’t have to pretend. you wished the two of you ended up differently.

And guess I'm the fool

With her arms out like an angel through the car sunroof

you shouldn’t have let yourself get this attached to someone you knew you’d never be able to have. you intentionally put yourself in situations with caitlin, hoping that, in some magical fantasy in your head, she’d fall for you. but you knew her. you knew about connor and you knew that being ‘gay’ was no where near something she was willing to accept, wether you were in the picture or not.

you found yourself constantly thinking back on all the times you’d realized that you were in love other her.

when she fell asleep on your shoulder during a movie night with your mutual friends.

when you and caitlin decided to road trip to tennessee to visit a close friend who was graduating. you let her have the aux and watched as she hung out the window. sunset illuminating her face, wind rushing through her long hair, singing the lyrics completely wrong but she didn’t care. she was the sun itself, in your eyes.

when she came to your crying for the first time, sobbing about something connor had done. how she so angry at him and needed a friend to spend the night with.

when she came over a second time, completely distraught again. something about how she didn’t feel right, that her head was messing with her. she was having thoughts. thoughts about you, about women, and that she was having a crisis about her sexuality.

when she came over a third and fourth and however many amount of times, when she opened up about those thoughts with you. asking you if you would help her. asked if you would take her to bed, to relive some of her thoughts. make her feel good, worship her like connor could never do.

but your crush never went past that. taking her to bed and waking up with her already gone most mornings, shooting you a ‘thank you’ text and saying she’d see you next friday.

I don't wanna call it off

But you don't wanna call it love

You only wanna be the one that I call baby

“caitlin, can i talk to you for a second” you asked, moving her hands away from the waistband of your shorts.

“yea, baby” she said, calling you that like she didn’t know it destroyed you on the inside to hear it “what’s up?”

you bit your lip, nervous to pester her with this again, but you don’t think you can handle it much longer. this secret sleeping around situation was taking a toll on you and you don’t want to be waiting around for someone that will never come.

“i love the time i get with you so so much” you began “but i don’t think i can keep doing this”

“i’m sorry, what?”

“i just don’t feel like being something you keep on the side. or like being a secret for that matter. i’ve had feelings for you for a very long time and it’s very clear that you don’t feel the same, so i think we need to call this off if that’s the case.”

“oh my- are you serious?” she furrowed her eyebrows, voice raising “i don’t get the privilege to just come out and tell everyone i like girls, YN. and regardless, like i’ve told you countless times, me and connor are still together”

“but why, caitlin?” you matched her tone “do you even love the guy? cause last time i checked, you don’t even spend time with him anymore. why? cause you’re always here with me playing fucking house! i don’t care if you don’t want to come publicly out, but…but i don’t think it’s fair that you treat me as some play thing for when you want to play pretend!”

she tugged at her hair in annoyance “jesus fucking christ, YN. whatever this is between me and you…it’s not love, alright? i thought you wanted this?! you’ve been more than willing to fuck me every time. so i’m not really understanding why you’re so upset!”

you felt sick, like you were genuinely going to puke. she was a mess and you’re not going to be her experiment for when she’s having trouble with her sexuality.

“just fucking leave, clark” you shook your head “i’m not doing this with you anymore. come back when you’re ready to figure yourself out.”

You can kiss a hundred boys in bars

Shoot another shot, try to stop the feeling

after that night, caitlin was a disaster. she was choosing to ignore what you said; about being in love, about connor, about everything. just because you fucked on the side didn’t mean she was gay…right?

she hadn’t been herself at all. she was screwing up at practices, forgetting about events and team dinners she needed to attend. she was starting to fall behind in classes, every part of her life was crumbling.

even when she laid in bed, inched over to the very edge of the mattress, connor snoring obnoxiously loud from the other end, she couldn’t stop thinking about the last time she saw you. things were never right with connor, she had always known that subconsciously, but it was becoming very clear how loveless this relationship truly was. but she brushed it off, tricking her mind into thinking that this was how things were meant to be.

she had been with men all her life, taught that this was what girls were supposed to do. so to imagine a life in which she ended up with you was just some silly dream that was meant to stay only as an unattainable desire.

for the nights that she couldn’t sleep, she would spend in the gym practicing, trying to shake off the truth that gnawed at the back of her head endlessly. this was good, she thought, basketball always made her feel better. it was her safe place. here she could leave her worries at the door and find comfort in the game, not even thinking about you.

but no matter how many shots she took, how many baskets she made, no matter how many drills she ran to make herself forget, she found herself coming back to the thought of you.

You can say it's just the way you are

Make a new excuse, another stupid reason

after about a month without you, caitlin had started to realize how much she was fucking up.

“caitlin, are you good?” kate had approached her after practice one day “you’ve been way off. and no offense, but your shots have been awful. what’s going on?”

“nothing” she plastered a fake grin on her face “nothing really, just been having a rough patch with connor, but we’re chill. just gotta lock in” she tried to joke.

kate laughed along, but she knew caitlin too well. there was definitely something up with her. but again, knowing caitlin, she needed to let her deal with it on her own.

caitlin had numerous people approach her about this. about her behavior and how she seemed to be struggling recently. but she brushed it off every single time, probably giving a dozen different excuses as to why she was acting in such a manner. she hoped that she would eventually believe them herself.

Good luck, babe!

You'd have to stop the world just to stop the feeling

you truly hoped that she was doing ok. you hadn’t heard from her in quite some time, not bothering to reach out to her in fear that you’d poke the bear and make it worse. all you wanted was for her to realize what she truly felt. wether it be in love with you or that she had never loved connor at all the begin with, it didn’t matter, you just wanted her to finally see how beautiful life was when someone found their true self.

you had been in her position before: unforgiving parents, no one to trust, you’d even had the remorseless religion to add on to all of the reasons why you felt like you couldn’t be yourself. and you knew what i took to get to where you are now.

caitlin believed that most things could be fixed by either ignoring it, or fixing it right away and never looking back. but this wouldn’t be the case now, you already knew, she would have to come to terms with it eventually.

And when you wake up next to him in the middle of the night

With your head in your hands, you're nothing more than his wife

caitlin shot up out of bed, gasping for air, clawing at the sheets that seemed to be glued to her skin. another nightmare, she’d been having those recently. she looked over, squinting her eyes in the dark, making sure connor was still asleep. letting a sigh of relief go when she realized he was out cold.

her hands found their way to her hair, hands scratching at her scalp, elbows balanced on her knees. she was losing her god damn mind. she couldn’t stand him, she no longer held love for connor (not there was any in the beginning). with each passing day that she had spent with him, she found that her heart beat more and more for you each time.

And when you think about me, all of those years ago

You're standing face to face with "I told you so"

the idea of loving you was tormenting her every single day for the last few months. you were the reason she woke up every morning, the reason she worked so hard to win each game, and the reason she woke up the next morning and dumped connor. she was finally able to see clearly now, finally able to understand that she was madly fucking in love with you.

she realized that no matter how many times she fought the feeling or no matter how many times she tried to convince herself otherwise, that you were the one thing she breathed and lived for.

You know I hate to say it, I told you so

she didn’t even know what she was doing or what she was going to say, but she found herself making her way out of her apartment and into her car. she had to see you and tell you how wrong she was this whole time. that she was so in love with you that her body shook with it.

her heart pounded as she turned onto your street, immediately singling out your building and noticing your apartment lights were still on. her whole body must’ve been shaking with the way that she could barely put the car in park and unbuckle her seat belt. but she managed to make it up every flight of stairs and to your door where the shiny gold ‘103’ sat, practically antagonizing her.

her mind was on autopilot, not even realizing she had already knocked three times until she heard your footsteps approach the door. and suddenly there you were in all your glory, as beautiful as ever.

you were dressed in your comfy clothes, fuzzy cow slippers on your feet, hair messed up, and your necklace backwards. but she thought you were the most gorgeous woman she had ever seen.

“caitlin?” you rubbed your eyes in astonishment “what-um-what are you doing here?”

“hi” she breathed “i know it’s late, im sorry, really. but i just need to see you”

“caitlin i don’t want to do this again. it’s been months and you show up at more door suddenly at what? 12:40 in the morning? i thought i told you i was done with the whole charade.” you stated firmly, about to shut the door on her, but she wedged her foot between the space of the door before you could close it.

“no, no. it’s not…it’s not like that. i meant that i need to come clean to you”

still skeptical, you let her in, watching as she politely hung up her jacket. you ushered her to the couch, grabbing her a glass of water and preparing yourself for whatever she was about to confess.

“when you ended things with me,” she broke the silence “i thought i’d eventually get over it because i didn’t think what we had was all that serious. i was scared to admit that i didn’t love connor…and most importantly that…that i like girls.”

you looked at her solemnly, you knew how hard this was for her.

“and i guess is till don’t know exactly what i am, but…but what i do know is that i took you for granted and i treated you unfairly. you didn’t deserve any of it and for that i apologize”

“hey it’s…it’s ok now. yea i was upset with how things were going, but i’m proud of you now that you’ve recognized what you’ve done and you’re working on yourself.” you tried to reassure her.

“i really am trying” she stated “because i want to. for you.”

you watched as her eyes twinkled under the glow of your lamp, tears rimming her lash line. you noticed the way her nose twitched like how it did that one morning she woke up in your bed. and how she looked just as flawless as she did when you had met her.

“YN, im in love with you.” she blurted “i know i have no right to come here and say that. especially after i completely disregarded your feelings for me. i don’t expect you to take me back and try and love me again, but i just need to you to know that i have spent every day regretting what i’ve done”

there was another heavy silence again, filling the room instantly, encapsulating that words that rolled off of her tongue. you were honestly at a lost for words. of course you were still in love her, you never stopped, but now things were real. you were watching your deepest dreams unravel to you right in front of your eyes.

“You know…I hate to say it but” you said, watching as caitlin braced herself for what she assumed was rejection “…I told you so” you couldn’t hold back your grin, immediately falling into playful laughter as you scooted closer to her on the couch.

“i’m in love with you too” you finally admitted out loud for the first time in months.

her shoulders finally relaxed, exhaling after holding her breathe waiting for your response. she laughed with you, just glad to here you say those words.

“don’t scare me like that” she said, face inching slowing towards you “i don’t think i would’ve been able to handle the rejection”

“don’t worry, i don’t think i ever could’ve stopped loving you if i tried” you whispered, finally closing the gap between you. you’d kissed her many times before, but this would be the first kiss that actually mattered. “but i really did tell you so” 

༶•┈┈୨♡୧┈┈•༶

A/N: yayyy!! happy ending!! <3

[milkybonya]

awkward confession

Warnings: food mentions

Pairing: college senior!Jinhwan x shy (gender neutral) reader

Summary: over reading week, you invite Jinhwan to your home and as he looks around your childhood room, he stumbles across a journal of yours.

Word count: idk but i think it’s over 1k? it’s a longer one :o

[a/n]: after playing superstar yg, i’ve been feeling soft for Jinhwan? i know, even i’m surprised by the correlation LOL but enjoy this~

- prologue

You first met Jinhwan in your freshman year at a party, dragged there by your newfound friends who claimed that it would be fun, but you just wanted to go home. 

After an hour, you decided you couldn’t take it anymore. Saying goodbye to your friends, you grabbed your jacket and stepped outside, clueless about how to get back to campus and to your dorm.

Opening google maps on your phone, you tapped your foot impatiently, waiting for it to load. Your phone was at 1%, but maybe if you could just get a glimpse-

It died.

Throwing it into your pocket, you sighed and stared up at the black sky.

“Heading home?” someone asked you.

You turned your head to the side and saw Jinhwan standing next to you, with his hands in the pockets of his jean jacket. 

“Yeah, but my phone just died,” you said, pressing your lips together to contain your anger.

“Want me to drive you?” he asked, waving his car keys around. “My car is new but I’ve had my license for a long time, so no need to worry.”

You laughed at his comment and decided to accept the offer, since you knew he was your senior and you could trust him. The week before classes started, you had been told about a few of the seniors in your program at orientation, and Jinhwan had been one of them. Apparently, he was very kind and laid-back.

Before you entered his car, he formally introduced himself and you did the same. When you were inside, he passed you the aux cord but then stopped.

“Right! Your phone is dead. Here, take mine! Just search through Spotify and play whatever you like.”

“I’m not sure if you’ll like it, though..” you said, hesitating. Sharing your music with someone else was always a bit embarrassing for you.

“As long as it’s not Kids Bop, then I’m sure I won’t mind,” he said, starting to drive.

“What if I play death metal?” you said.

“Fine by me,” he said.

You found an artist that you liked and started playing their songs. Jinhwan smiled and nodded his head along to the beat, making you feel more comfortable.

“Oh, you might as well save your number in there while you’re at it, or save my number. If you ever need help with anything, you can contact me!”

You added yourself to his contacts and sent yourself a message from his phone so you would also have his number. In his phone, you saved your name as ‘[y/n] :)’.

“Which dorm are you in?” he asked.

“The one behind the library,” you said.

“Ah, that’s the worst spot. Hey, we actually have a free spot in our student home if you ever want to join us. Although I don’t want to make you live with your scary seniors if it makes you uncomfortable,” Jinhwan said, jokingly.

“Thanks for the offer, but I don’t want to intrude.”

“It wouldn’t be intruding, don’t worry! But just do whatever is most comfortable for you. You can always crash at our place when you get tired of your dorm.”

As you passed an ice cream shop that was near campus, you found yourself sighing. Some late night ice cream would really hit the spot right now...

When Jinhwan asked why you were sighing, you confided your thoughts and without any hesitation, he turned the car around and stopped right in front of the ice cream place.

“I’ll get you whatever you like, my treat!” he said, hopping out.

When you chose the ice cream you wanted, Jinhwan also chose one for himself and paid for both of you. You grabbed a seat by the window right next to the glass door. There was arcade music echoing throughout the tiny place, since there were a few arcade machines behind you.

“This is so good!” you said, eating your ice cream.

“Have you never been here before?” Jinhwan asked you, smiling. This whole time he had not stopped smiling at you, and it made you feel warm inside.

“I’ve always wanted to, but this first month of classes has been super stressful.”

“I hear you, but it’s important to take breaks! If you’re ever stressed, you can let me know and we can come back here,” he said.

Jinhwan had been nothing but unusually nice to you, but you didn’t think much of it. A lot of the seniors were nice to the freshman and juniors anyway.

After you finished your ice cream, Jinhwan dropped you off at your dorm. Even though he watched you walk in, he still texted you right as you reached your room.

hello ‘[y/n] :)’ did you get in safely?

yes, thank u! you literally watched me walk in lol

that’s right, but who knows what can happen on your way to your room from the front doors of the dorm

i appreciate you :)

do you like smiley faces? u even saved ur name as ‘[y/n] :)’

ah, i guess i do like them ><

that’s cute~

Your heart fluttered seeing this message, and you had to take a few deep breaths to calm down. He’s just my senior, you told yourself. He’s just being nice.

-

A few days later, you saw Jinhwan in the library, studying. You thought that you should say hello out of courtesy, but you didn’t want to bother him, so you continued to walk along the shelves in search of the book you needed.

Getting distracted, you ended up with five big textbooks in your arms. You couldn’t help it, they were all so interesting...

Trying to reach for a book while your hands were still full, suddenly everything fell. The sound of the books falling to the ground echoed throughout the library, and you apologized under your breath as you struggled to pick everything up. You felt so embarrassed that you wanted to disappear.

Looking up amidst your struggle, you saw Jinhwan looking at you from his spot. When he recognized you, he immediately rushed over.

Did this happen to me because I didn’t say hi to him, you thought. Is this karma?

“[y/n], it’s you? Are you okay? Let me help you,” he said, taking some of the books from your arms.

“These are really heavy, you should get a cart for them.” Jinhwan moved his head around to search for one.

“No, it’s fine! I grabbed too many anyway! I’ll just put them back-” you said, not wanting to bother Jinhwan anymore. But he firmly held onto your books until he found a cart.

“I know where some better books on this topic are. Do you want me to show them to you?” Jinhwan asked you, placing the books on the cart.

“No, really, it’s fine! You’re busy studying-”

“I need a break anyway~” he quietly sang, walking towards the spot that he told you about. Forced to follow him, you trailed along. He had a skip in his step, and it made you smile.

“I’m really sorry, I know midterms must be starting for you-”

He stopped and turned around.

“[y/n], it’s really fine! I wouldn’t help you if I didn’t want to,” he said.

After he showed you the books that he was talking about, he invited you to join him at his spot to study.

“Ah, right! You treated me for ice cream last time. Do you want anything to drink? I can buy you something!” you said.

Jinhwan chuckled. 

“There’s no need for that! I already have a coffee here,” he said, pointing to the coffee next to him.

“What about a muffin! A cookie?” you asked.

He laughed, again.

“Okay, you can get me something if you really want to. But the muffins here are terrible, so go for a cookie instead!” he told you.

When you returned with some chocolate chip cookies, he took them from you with a wink. He let you have some too, claiming that you needed fuel to study.

While you were deep into one of the books you were reading and taking notes on a sticky note, you finally looked down to write something and found a smiley face on the corner of your sticky note. Not remembering drawing that, you looked up at Jinhwan, but he was also busy studying. It had to be him, you thought.

You picked up your pen and finding a free spot in the margin of his notebook, doodled a fox carefully.

A few minutes after you returned to your own work, he asked, “well I wonder where this fox came from?”

“Well I wonder where this smiley face came from?” you asked him, pointing to the smiley face on your sticky note. The two of you laughed quietly.

-

Some time after that, your roommate declared that they wanted to start getting fit.

“You’re literally saying that as you’re finishing a whole tub of ice cream,” you said, laughing.

Your roommate dropped the tub and stood up with their fist raised.

“We are going to the gym, right now!”

With no escape, you followed your friend to the campus gym and signed up for a membership. As you were doing so, you heard a familiar voice.

“I don’t want to! Why do we all have to sign up? This is so annoying.”

Jinhwan?

As you turned around, your suspicions were confirmed. He was being pushed by his roommates, your other program seniors, towards the front desk which you were stood at, and he was whining loudly like a baby.

“Oh, it’s [y/n]!” one of the seniors, named Junhoe, who was pushing him said. Upon hearing your name, Jinhwan stood up straight and laughed awkwardly, waving hello.

“[y/n], we all promised we would sign up for the gym since our program’s marathon is coming up and this fool,” Hanbin, another senior, said while pointing to Jinhwan, “signed us up for it. But now he doesn’t want to work out with us!”

You laughed. How cute, you thought.

Jinhwan stood there, scratching the back of his head.

“Actually, my roommate is making me sign up, too. So I guess we’re in the same boat!”

“See, if [y/n] can do it then so can you!” Bobby, another senior, said.

With both of you being forced to sign up, you made your way into the gym. Your roommate dragged you aside for a second.

“Who’s Jinhwan and how do you know him and-”

“He’s my senior,” you said, cutting your roommate off before they asked too many questions.

“That’s it?”

“That’s it.”

Your roommate analyzed your face.

“Are you sure?” they asked, narrowing their eyes.

“Yes!” you screamed. Jinhwan and his friends all looked at you and you pressed your lips together out of embarrassment.

“Look what you made me do!” you said to your roommate, who was walking ahead while laughing loudly.

-

When the marathon that only the upper years were supposed to participate in finally rolled around, you stood at the finish line, handing out water to everyone who finished. The marathon was to raise money for your program, since it was not funded so well.

You cheered all of your seniors on under the hot sun, fanning yourself to try to cool down. I could just... take one water bottle... no! It’s for the seniors and we don’t have enough!

As you struggled to decide between drinking one of the waters secretly or leaving them for your seniors, a sweaty Jinhwan finally crossed the finish line.

He looked extremely tired, so you grabbed a bottle of water and a towel before running up to him.

“You did it! Good job!” you said, handing him the supplies that you had grabbed.

He was bent over with his hands on his knees, but straightened up to take the water from your hands. But he hesitated before handing it back to you.

“It’s fine, you should drink it,” he panted. He reached for a hat that he had managed to tie to his waist, and handed that to you, too.

“You should wear a hat in this weather! Be careful,” he said, placing the cap on your head before walking away. Confused, you trailed back to the water station that you were stood at.

“Didn’t he give you the water? Drink it then! And give me some too!” your friend, who was also manning the water station with you, said.

You watched Jinhwan as he lay sprawled out in the grass.

This won’t do.

Handing the bottle to your friend, you ran towards the closest building in search of a vending machine. Finding one, you bought a water and ran back to hand it to Jinhwan, who was still sprawled out in the grass.

Panting, you crashed on the grass next to him and handed him the bottle. He sat up, eyeing it,

“But I just gave my water to you-”

“Drink it!” you said breathlessly before lying down in the grass next to him.

You heard him taking big gulps before he also laid down next to you and right then in that moment, you asked yourself why you ran for ten minutes just to buy bottled water for Jinhwan.

When you looked up at him and watched the sun light up his face, showing his skin sticky with sweat and his hair a mess, you felt like something was welling up inside you.

You liked Jinhwan.

-

During finals week, you vowed that you were going to sit in the same library cubicle for the entire week to study. No leaving. No getting distracted. You would only leave to use the washroom, wash your face, take a shower, eat or brush your teeth. Otherwise, you were sleeping in there.

Intense, but you needed to do what you had to do to study.

Your exams were later than everyone else’s, so while everyone else was enjoying their Winter break, you were still studying.

Thud.

You looked up after you had buried your head in your books to find your favourite vending machine drink sitting next to your laptop. Confused and wondering if this was a hallucination, you looked around for who might have left it there.

“Boo!” Jinhwan said from the cubicle next to you.

You jumped up in fright, yelling at him for scaring you.

Then you got scolded by a librarian and Jinhwan laughed.

“Seriously, I’m doing some major studying right now! No distractions!” you told Jinhwan.

“Is that your way of saying thanks?”

“Thank you,” you groaned.

“You’re really something. I’ve never studied this hard for my exams,” Jinhwan said.

“Well that’s your problem, not mine!” you said, sticking out your tongue at him.

Since your first encounter, you had been seeing Jinhwan more often around campus and felt a lot more comfortable around him.

“What? Is that how you treat your senior?” Jinhwan joked. “Anyway, I’m here to wish you good luck! And remind you to take breaks. Speaking of which, do you wanna go grab ice cream? Go for a walk?”

“Go for a walk? Am I your dog?” you scoffed.

Jinhwan sighed.

“You know what I mean!”

You ended up leaving your cubicle for an hour to walk through campus with Jinhwan. The night air was cold but refreshing, and there was something calming about the empty campus with the few streetlights lighting the way. You almost tripped and fell onto Jinhwan a few times because it was so dark, but each time he caught you and giggled softly in a way that made you want to squeal because he was so. damn. cute.

-

A year later

-

“IT’S READING WEEK!” your roommate yelled as they packed their suit case.

“Yay,” you said, quietly.

“Yay? We’re going home! What is this sad reaction?”

“Going home means a week without Jinhwan...”

Your roommate groaned.

“Are you kidding me? You went a whole summer break without him, what is this?

“Yeah, and it was terrible!” you said.

“You two need to stop beating around the bush and start dating already.”

“WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?” you yelled.

“WHAT ARE YOU SAYING? It’s been two years of you liking each other! Just kiss, jeez!”

“This is a sad unrequited love and you cannot convince me otherwise.”

“[y/n]... I’m not even gonna bother. I’m done. I’m not gonna say anything!” your roommate said, walking to the bathroom.

Two seconds later, they walked back in.

“DO YOU NOT SEE the way this man looks at you? He’s always so nice to you and for what? You’re not a freshman anymore!”

“We’re friends!”

“This is pathetic! I’m gonna have to get the ball rolling myself,” your friend said, grabbing your phone.

Their grip was too strong, so you only got a hold of your phone after they let go. Your messages app was open. Your chat with Jinhwan was open. Oh no.

Jinhwan! do u want to stay at my house for reading week? :)

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!” you yelled, throwing a pillow at your roommate who laughed in response.

“I’m doing God’s work!”

Your phone vibrated and your heart raced.

really? i’d love to! my family wanted me to help out with home renovations T.T and i’d rather spend reading week with u~

“He agreed,” you said, surprised. “HE AGREED!”

-

“And this is my house,” you said, opening the door and letting Jinhwan enter first.

“Woah,” he said, looking around.

“There isn’t much, really...”

“I wanna see your room,” Jinhwan said, kicking off his shoes and immediately walking upstairs.

“Wait!” you said, running after him.

“I can really tell which one is yours,” he said, chuckling as he found your room.

As he looked around, you felt super embarrassed, so you told him that you would be downstairs unpacking.

A few minutes later, Jinhwan walked up to you downstairs, holding something in his hand. His face was red and there was a smile on his face.

“[y/n], please explain this,” he said, handing you what he was holding.

It was your journal.

And it was opened to a page where you had written about your feeling for Jinhwan.

You had forgotten all about this.

Oh no.

You had written all about your first encounter and the late night ice cream, the time he helped you find books at the library, the time you awkwardly met at the gym, the time you ran for 10 minutes just to buy water for him from a vending machine and how you realized your feelings for him then, and the time he came to visit while you were studying.

The last sentence was: He’s literally the most perfect human alive and honestly I’m so glad I’ve even met him; I like him a lot.

When you finished reading it, you closed it and walked away from where you had been standing in the living room to the kitchen, trying to process everything.

With your back turned, you said, “Jinhwan, just forget you ever read that, I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. Let’s just be friends still, okay? Please just forget about that...”

You were close to crying with how embarrassed you felt. You didn’t want your friendship to be ruined because of this.

“Are you sure you want me to forget about it?” Jinhwan asked you.

“Yes, please.”

“Even when I feel the same way?”

Now there was something that you did not expect. You could not have predicted this.

“What?” you asked, turning around to face him out of shock.

“I like you too, [y/n]. Do you want to forget about it?” he said, smiling the same smile he did on that first day when you were eating ice cream together at midnight.

“No, I... need time to process this...”

“Am I allowed to hug you, though?” Jinhwan asked, opening his arms. When you nodded, he moved towards you and wrapped his arms around you, placing his head into your shoulder. It was a hug that was so full of love, you felt like you were melting on the spot.

“You know I did all of those things because I like you, right? Helping you at the library and checking on you when you studied.. I didn’t know at the time, but I found out later... that I like you.”

[emeraldbabygirl]

Brave Girls reaction to you liking their new song

Minyoung: Minyoung came home to see you on the couch watching yet another performance of Chi Mat Ba Ram. She chuckled to herself before plopping down on the couch next to you. “You’re watching this again?” she asked snuggling into your side. “It’s a new performance, I haven’t seen this one yet.” Minyoung turned to you before looking at the tv again. “Just last night you were watching this performance with the white dresses.” Minyoung pointed at the tv before reaching for your mug on the table taking a sip of your drink. You smiled, “that was blue last night Min.I can’t help it..I really really like this song.” Saying the last sentence in a barely audible whisper. However Minyoung had good ears and she turned to you kissing your cheek. “I’m happy you like it so much.” she said. You two sat on the couch intertwining your fingers while you watched the rest of the performance. 

Yujeong: You and Yujeong were going for a drive as it was a nice sunny day. Yujeong hinted that you were going to the beach but you were pretty sure you took a wrong turn at the last exit. You plugged your phone into the aux cord and scroll through your playlist til you found it. Turning the volume on you started singing a long and jamming out to Chi Mat Ba Ram. Yujeong broke out laughing, one of those laughs that could cure depression, a healing kind. Those were the best from Yujeong and it made you laugh too. “Why did I figure you would play this one?” she asked. “Cause you know how much I like it.” you said a huge smile on your face.

Eunji: You date consisted of meeting Eunji after her practice and then going out to eat and seeing the town at night but you changed your mind without telling Eunji. You rushed into the practice room just in time to see her gathering her things up. “Eunji!” you called smiling as you quickly approached her. “Hey I wasn’t expecting you to come in. Are you ready to go?” Eunji asked. You hesitated a bit but you were too much in a good mood to back out of this. “Um, I decided that I want to stay here a little longer. I was hoping, well I wanted you to teach me the dance to Chi Mat Ba Ram. Um..I thought we could hang out here tonight. If that’s okay with you.” You waited for Eunji to respond wringing your hands. Normally she said yes to anything and everything when it came to you as she was head over heels in love with you but you worred that maybe you upset her with the change of plans. You sighed in relief when Eunji nodded her head smiling. “Hell yes I would love to teach you, I know how much you love that song. Come on.” Eunji grabbed your hand and stood next to you in front of the mirror and started walking you through the choreo. Inside Eunji was internally screaming because she’s always wanted to teach you to dance and here she was. It turned out to be a better date night then both of you expected

Yuna: you practically dragged Yuna through the doorway giving her no time to take her shoes off while you dragged her to the living room. Yuna was a little confused but used to your random surprises and she figured whatever it was you needed her to see was important. So she sat on the couch and watched as you began dancing to Chi Mat Ba Ram. She was in awe as the song was only released a few days ago and you had the choreo down flawlessy. She was so excited she stood up and started dancing with you. Your smile brightened as the two of you just danced together in the apartment. You were so happy your heart was practically bursting out of your chest. Yuna was so cute in every way and you couldn’t help but stop and watch her jump around and laugh and enjoy herself with you.

HELLO HELLO I SPENT A GOOD PORTION WRITING THIS WHILE SMILING CAUSE I COULDN’T STOP HAHAHA I love this song so much ugh and I just really wanted to write a Brave Girls thing I’m loving this era so much and so have this thing! I think it’s cute but I hope someone will like it. Also also I love that there are some Brave Girls gifs I think it’s funny that all the gifs I picked look like they’re from the same performance lmao

[ahtohallan-calling]

chapter 3 of don’t read the last page is here!

[kristanna / m / multichap / modern au with actress!anna and vetstudent!kristoff]

4

“Seriously, though,” Sven asked around a mouthful of rice, “what happened?”

“I, um, ran into someone.”

“Like a girl someone?”

“Um. Yeah.”

“And?”

There was no use hiding it. Sven would drag it out of him someday, and anyway, despite being kind of the worst sometimes, he was also the best friend Kristoff had had since– well, since Anna– and sometimes, he even managed to give pretty decent advice.

“Well, uh, it was Anna.”

chapter 3: no onions

“It smells like fried rice in here. Kris, I swear to god you better not have ordered Chinese food without me again because–”

Kristoff didn’t bother to look up from his hands even when Sven abruptly stopped talking. He’d been sitting on the sofa, unmoving, face buried in his palms ever since Anna had left trying to figure out what the hell he’d done wrong.

“There’s still some left if you want it,” he mumbled.

A low whistle came from across the room. “I mean, gonna be real with you, I do, but shit, man, what happened? Is it something with work?”

“No.”

“School?”

“No.”

“Family?”

“No.”

“Dick dry up and fall off?”

“Remind me again why I still live with you.”

“Because no one else will put up with the weird shit you sing in the shower.”

“Ah, right, that was it,” he muttered as Sven sat down beside him and they both sank a little deeper into the bowels of the world’s least valuable sofa.

“Seriously, though,” Sven asked around a mouthful of rice, “what happened?”

“I, um, ran into someone.”

“Like a girl someone?”

“Um. Yeah.”

“And?”

There was no use hiding it. Sven would drag it out of him someday, and anyway, despite being kind of the worst sometimes, he was also the best friend Kristoff had had since– well, since Anna– and sometimes, he even managed to give pretty decent advice.

“Well, uh, it was Anna.”

“No fucking way. The Anna you like, drove all the way home to see that one weekend freshman year and then you got there and saw her with her boyfriend and you were like ‘oh, sh–”

“Yes, that Anna.”

His voice came out sounding tighter than he meant it to, and suddenly the teasing note in Sven’s voice was gone. “Shit. What happened?”

He explained his whole insane day from the beginning, and for once Sven was quiet through the whole thing, except when he called a quick time-out to look up the tampon commercial and confirm that Kristoff really wasn’t kidding about that. He’d thought that maybe getting the whole story out would make him feel better, but it somehow made it all worse to see Sven looking as confused as he did. Kristoff groaned and headed into the kitchen for a beer; he really needed one right now.

Sven followed behind him, still trying to puzzle his way through the story. “So like, to be clear, she was definitely the one who initiated the kissing?”

“Um. Considering she told me I could kiss her back, yeah.”

“Wait, you didn’t immediately just–”

“I don’t know! She’s so…so…” He threw his hands up in frustration. “God. She’s just Anna, and she’s always been Anna, and I’ve always been me, and it’s like…why the hell would someone like her even look at me twice? I mean, it was like she walked into the store, and I just immediately was right back to where I was freshman year, just like…”

He couldn’t come up with the words and took a swig of beer instead. Sven patted his shoulder sympathetically. “I’m sorry, man. It doesn’t make sense to me, either. Had to’ve been something else going on. Or maybe she thought you weren’t into her.”

“Thanks, but it probably is just…” He waved a hand, feeling futile. “Probably just that she really was just curious and that was all.”

“I’m gonna be honest, from what you’ve told me about her, I don’t think that’s it. Didn’t you say she used to skip school when you were sick and bring over soup and DVDs?”

“I mean, yeah, but…I don’t know. She didn’t like school that much.”

“I don’t think someone who does that shit would do this shit. Not without a reason, anyway.”

“A lot can change after high school.”

“You’re telling me,” Sven mumbled, opening a beer of his own. “You seen my hairline lately?”

In spite of himself, Kristoff let out a snort of laughter. So maybe tonight hadn’t gone where he’d been hoping, but hey– he’d lived the last seven years without Anna. He’d get used to it again.

—-

He’d spent so much time over the last week hoping she’d come back in that when she actually did, he blinked several times before realizing she wasn’t going to fade away. She was looking at him as she walked up to the counter, but the moment their eyes met her gaze flew away so she could stare a little bit too hard at the menu.

Two could play at that game; he started wiping down the counters even though he’d just done that five minutes ago and no one had come in since. He watched her from the corner of his eye, wondering why, exactly, she’d come all the way back over here when she’d said she lived nearly on the other side of the city.

“A mocha, please, with cinnamon syrup,” she ordered, sounding almost timid. 

“Do you want whip?”

“Yes, please. To go.”

She handed the cashier a twenty and stuffed a five in the tip jar when she got her change, and then ever so slowly she drifted down to his end of the counter. He kept his eyes on the coffee as he started to make her drink, but he still said quietly, “I’m serious, you really don’t have to order a drink to talk to me.”

“I’m sorry,” she said in a small voice.

This time he did look up at her. Her eyes were downcast as she leaned against the counter, drumming her fingers against it. “For what?” he asked, starting to steam the milk.

“For, um…the other night.”

“It’s okay, seriously, if you’re not interested it’s–”

“It’s not that, Kristoff,” she said, and finally she looked up at him, and his heart broke a little when he realized she looked somehow afraid.

“Tell me, Anna.”

She chewed on her bottom lip. “I just. Um. I don’t know if you really want to hear the whole thing. Kind of a ‘do you want the long version or the longer version’ thing. But, um…sorry, again. And thank you. I got a callback.”

Kristoff nearly dropped her cup. “I– hang on, let me finish this and then– just hang on.”

He finished making her coffee and set it on the counter before picking up the whipped cream canister. “Tell me when.”

Her mouth quirked up in the barest hint of a smile, and he couldn’t help but feel relieved; that had been one of their dozens of stupid inside jokes back in the day, that when one of them had a bad day and needed to just pile up in front of a movie with snacks, he’d always go for Pringles, and she’d want a massive ice cream sundae with so much whipped cream you couldn’t even see the ice cream part.

She waited until there were a solid two inches of whipped cream before saying, “When,” and he slid the cup over to her with a little smile of his own.

“Okay. You were saying? About the part, I mean.”

“I, um…the audition went really well. And so I got a callback, and that went well too, and so I wanted to come and thank you because I seriously couldn’t have done it without you. I mean, actually, I wanted to call you, but I didn’t know if your number had changed or not, and I don’t think you ever got on Facebook or Twitter or anything so I couldn’t get a hold of you there and–”

The bell over the door jangled, and he glanced up to see a group of women coming in wearing yoga pants and chatting animatedly about the new tea flavors. “Anna– sorry, I just–”

“Oh, no, no, I’m the one who’s sorry, I’ll just get out of your way, just–”

“No, not that, just– I have to do this but I get off in half an hour so just–”

Her eyes looked suddenly hopeful, and there was that old familiar pang in his chest. “Just– wait here, okay? And you can tell me the long version of everything.”

Already paper cups were sliding his way, but he kept his eyes locked on hers until she nodded and sat down at a nearby table. The rest of his shift flew by in a rush of skinny lattes and double-caramel frapps, but through it all he kept glancing up at Anna. Most of the time she was tapping on her phone or fidgeting with her hair or picking at her nails, but whenever their eyes met, he would give her another tiny smile and get one in return.

And then, finally, he was done and slid into the chair across from her. “Do you wanna do this here? Or we can go to my apartment again if you want, my roommate won’t be home for a while. Or we can go to yours if you’d rather.”

Anna’s finger tapping sped up. “Um, my sister’s probably home by now, and she’d probably listen in, so–”

“My place it is, then,” he said, and his stomach growled loudly. He winced. “Um, we can do takeout again if you want, or you don’t have to stay long enough to eat, but I’m kind of starving so–”

“We can do pizza,” she said quickly. “My treat.”

“You don’t have to, seriously–”

“I want to.”

Her fingers were still drumming insistently on the table. Without really thinking, Kristoff reached over and cupped her hands between his own, stilling them. He heard her suck in a breath.

“Anna,” he said, looking steadily at her. “I promise, whatever it is you have to say to me, it’s going to be okay.”

“That’s a big promise.”

“I mean it.”

“You can change your mind,” she said softly. “If you decide it isn’t okay. I know I fucked up.”

“Just– let’s actually talk first before you start worrying about what I’ll think, okay? One thing at a time.”

For some reason, her eyes started to fill with tears, and he hastily got to his feet, which only seemed to make it worse. “I– okay, I don’t know what I said, but– c’mon, I’m parked out back.” 

He took her hand again, more on instinct than anything, and led her through a side door out to his beat-up old sedan. He opened the door for her, and she managed a sniffly “thank you” as she buckled up. 

“You can put on the radio if you want,” he said as he pulled out. “Or the aux cord is somewhere in here, remember how we used to argue over who got control of it? Because you’d always want to play show tunes, and I’d want to play Green Day or something?”

He glanced over to see Anna swiping at her eyes with the back of her hand. “And then we found out that they’d made that musical based on their songs, and all we listened to was that cast recording for like a month before we finally admitted that neither of us actually liked it that much.”

“Yeah. But we pretended all that time anyway because we didn’t want to let the other person down.”

She was quiet for a long time after that, until just after he turned onto his street. “Why didn’t we do a better job of keeping in touch with each other, Kris?”

It was his turn to be silent. He knew the answer, but that didn’t make it any easier to say. He parked the car, turned it off, unfastened his seatbelt; still, neither of them made a move to get out of the car. He turned to meet her gaze. She wasn’t crying anymore, but her eyes were still puffy. Her hair was thrown up in a loose bun; she was in an oversized t-shirt and leggings, and still she was the most beautiful girl he’d ever seen.

“I don’t know,” he lied, finally opening his door. “I guess it just happens sometimes.”

She followed him silently into the building, tapping on her phone as they got into the elevator. “You still like veggie, right?”

“What?” he asked; all of his focus had been on the way her eyes still looked red and whether she’d let him give her a cold washcloth or something because Jesus, that was killing him.

“Pizza.”

“Oh– yeah. But no–”

“Onions, I remember. Me too.”

They were quiet again until the door to his apartment shut behind them. Kristoff cleared his throat. “Um– unfortunately nothing’s changed in the last week, so the floor’s kind of still our best option.”

“That’s fine. I feel floors are usually the best for, um, this sort of thing. Kind of…cathartic to just…be there.”

He nodded and awkwardly sat down in front of the sofa again, letting his long legs sprawl under the table; she slid down next to him, keeping a healthy distance between them as she tucked her knees up to her chest. “So– anyway, like I kind of said earlier, um…I’m just…really sorry.”

She was tugging at the ends of her hair, twisting it in her hands as she spoke. “Because it was, like, really fucked up of me to say that to you. That kissing you was just…getting something out of the way. That was…just really, really shitty. And not why I did it.”

He hadn’t really known what to expect, but this hadn’t been it. “Um. So why did…um…”

“I really did want to kiss you, not just….because I was curious. Or because I’ve always wanted to. Which I have,” she added, and he glanced over to see her cheeks had turned a little pink. “But, um…I guess I just…I do this thing where I, like, think something is going to be inevitable, and so then I’m like ‘well let’s just get the waiting over with and do it’, and then I just jump in headfirst and it never actually, like, goes well.”

“What do you mean, inevitable?” “Like, well…like I just, you know, walked into this coffee shop and suddenly the boy I was in love with for like four years is there making my coffee, which is crazy because neither of us is from L.A., and then I didn’t even recognize you at first because…well, okay, I’m already being honest so I’ll just say that like…college was definitely kind to you, and so then I was like ‘holy shit, this is like a movie or something and it’s meant to be’ and then you called me pretty and then we were just talking and it felt like– like…really good. But then I kissed you and you were so nervous and then like, a really good kisser and then it just hit me that you’re– you’re Kristoff, and I’m, like, this huge fucking mess, and whenever I just jump into shit I always fuck it up or it fucks me up, and I’d already lost you once and now I’d just found you and how shitty would it be if I just, like, ruined it or like, hurt your feelings or something, and then I was like ‘okay well just play this off Anna’ and then– then I just lied and acted like it didn’t matter which is like, the opposite of the truth, because it did matter, and you matter, and I just hurt you anyway which is what I didn’t want to do, and I’m really really sorry that I’m such a fuckup and that I’m crying on your living room floor again and I’ll go home now if you want.”

He’d held back as she spoke, knowing that she needed to just get it all out, but he couldn’t stand it any longer; he reached over and pulled her into a hug, holding her tight as she cried into the front of his t-shirt. “And now I’m getting your shirt all soggy,” she said, muffled against his chest, and he let out a weak chuckle.

“Anna, it’s okay. I’m– I’m not mad.”

“But you could be, if you wanted to. I’m really sorry that I hurt you.”

“No, you didn’t, seriously, it’s–”

She sat up and looked him dead in the eye, though he still didn’t drop his arms from her shoulders. “Don’t do that, Kris.”

“Do what?”

“Just– bottle your shit up. You always used to do that, and it would drive me crazy. You’re allowed to have feelings.”

He looked at her for a long moment. She wasn’t the only person who had ever told him that, but she’d been the first. He’d never really listened, and that had ended at least one of his relationships, but– maybe it was time.

He took a deep breath. “Okay. Yeah. I, um, I was really sad after you left.”

“You were sad while I was still there. I could tell.”

“…yeah.”

She studied him for a long moment, a few stray tears still rolling down her cheeks. “I’m seriously so, so sorry, Kristoff.”

“I’ll forgive you. On one condition.”

“Anything.”

“Let’s…start over. Like…like, pretend you just came into my coffee shop. What would you

actually want to say?”

She pondered it for a moment, then a familiar sparkle came back into her eyes; he felt a little twinge in his heart at the sight. “I’d say, ‘Damn, Bjorgman, where have you been all my life?’ And then you’d say something, like, super you–”

“Like, ‘behind this counter, waiting for you to hurry up and take your coffee’.”

Anna let out a little laugh, and his heart soared. “And then I’d tell you that I’d really missed you, and that I wanted to take you out so we could catch up, and that if it was a date that would be really nice.”

“And I’d say ‘more than nice, Anna, it would be amazing’.”

“Really?”

He nodded, leaning his forehead against hers. “I kinda…I think I felt the inevitable thing, too.”

Her hand drifted up to his cheek. “We could be wrong, you know.”

“Yeah.”

“We could just both be like, really horny. I know for me it’s been like, way too long, but you’re kind of super hot now, so–”

“No, it’s been like…since my last girlfriend. Which ended last fall, so–”

“Oh, shit, that’s probably it–”

“No,” he said softly, “I don’t think it is.”

She bit her lip. “Maybe we still shouldn’t kiss just yet. Just to be sure.”

“Okay.”

“And like, maybe it feels inevitable because we’re still thinking of each other as our high school selves. So maybe we should just…re-get to know each other.”

“Okay.”

“So like, definitely no kissing. Or touching. So we can rule the horniness out.”

“Like touching only in a sexy way, or is this–”

“No, no, this is good. Hugs are good. We can cuddle, like, all day long. Like–”

She turned a little, swinging her legs over his lap and nestling her head against his shoulder. “Like this feels really nice. Is this okay?”

“Almost.”

He tugged her a little closer, wrapping his arms around her waist and leaning his chin on the top of her head. “Okay. Now we’re good.”

They were quiet for a long moment; Anna nestled closer to him, letting her hand drift absentmindedly across his chest, drawing tiny shapes. “Also,” he said, feeling his cheeks start to burn, “I forgot to mention this, but you’re super hot now, too. I kinda always thought you were, though.”

“Even though I’m like, the girl in the tampon commercial?”

“Especially then. The little string just really does it for me.”

She giggled and buried her face in his neck, her arms wrapping around him. “You’re the woooorst, Kris, I–”

The doorbell rang, and they groaned in unison. “I’ve never been so pissed off about pizza,” Anna mumbled, scrambling to her feet and towards the door.

From the floor, Kristoff tried not to laugh as he heard the pizza guy say, “Oh my god, you’re–”

“I swear to god I will tip you double if you shut up right now and never, ever tell anyone about this. Or use the cartwheel GIF.”

“The one where your–”

“You know the one I mean.”

There was only silence and the shuffling of bills after that until the door slammed shut and she sailed back over to him. “Don’t say a word, Bjorgman.”

He mimed zipping his lips as she opened the box, then said quickly– “Oh– let me get plates– and you want something to drink? It’s, uh, I think it’s pretty much water or beer or soymilk, but you can have any of that.”

“Beer is good.”

“Yeah? Okay, great."

Once they were settled, they ate in companionable silence, occasionally meeting each other’s eyes over their plates and looking away quickly with reddened cheeks. Anna let out a sudden burp, and Kristoff snorted with laughter. “How are you still pretty when you do that?”

“Shut up,” she laughed, leaning over to gently push his chest, and then she didn’t pull away and their eyes locked and maybe they both definitely had garlic breath and had said no kissing but they were leaning towards each other anyway and then there was a rattle of keys in the door and they flew apart.

“Goddammit Kristoff, now it smells like pizza and I told you to stop ordering in without me and– holy shit that’s a girl.”

Anna waved at him. “Sorry. But there’s still a piece left if you want it. Saves us from arguing over it.”

Sven’s eyes darted between the two of them, trying to make sense of it all. At last, he seemed to give up and plopped onto the floor between them, snagging the piece and taking a big bite. “So did you guys, like, figure your shit out?”

“Um…” Anna said, looking over at Kristoff. 

He shrugged. “I’d say so.”

“Sweet, because I went to Gamestop on the way home and got a copy of Wii Mario Kart, and you know I still have that Wii in the top of my closet so if you could make yourself useful for once, Bjorgman, and grab that for us, we could definitely do some split-screen.”

Anna ended up staying three hours more, even managing to hold her own against Sven until he insisted on playing Rainbow Road three times in a row “because that’s where true warriors are found”. After fifteen minutes of spending more time off the track than on it while Kristoff, who had surrendered five races ago, laughed, she dropped the controller and held up her hands. “I surrender! Okay, you’re the undisputed champion.”

Sven nodded his head, looking astonishingly dignified for someone with a piece of popcorn clinging to his hair– a remnant of an earlier battle over who got to be Peach. 

(Anna had won that one, at least.)

She glanced at her phone and winced. “Oh, shit, it’s almost ten. I told Elsa I’d probably call her to pick me up at like, six. She’s got work in the morning, I–”

“Don’t even have to ask,” Kristoff said, getting to his feet. “C’mon.”

“It’s like, half an hour from here, are you sure? I’ll give you gas money if–”

“Don’t worry about it. Seriously.”

Sven flopped onto the sofa, letting his lanky legs dangle over the end, and waved as they headed out. “Don’t have too much fun without me. Come back next week, and we’ll do Super Smash Bros, yeah?”

“Sounds like a plan.”

There were a million questions he wanted to ask Anna on the drive to her apartment; how she’d ended up in L.A., what her sister had been up to, whether she still held such strong opinions over the best place to get a Sprite (always McDonald’s, though Kristoff would pretend he liked bottled better just to see her fume)– but as soon as she’d plugged her address into his phone, she started drifting off.

The roads were mostly clear on the way to her apartment, so after a few minutes Kristoff hesitantly set his right hand on her knee, still hardly daring to believe that this was real, that she was really right there beside him. She yawned and pressed her own hand over it; at the next stoplight, he glanced over and saw that she’d dozed off, a little smile on her face.

She blinked blearily awake as he pulled up to her building. “Morning, sleepyhead,” he said softly, squeezing her hand.

Anna leaned over and pressed a soft kiss against his cheek. “Thanks for the ride. And the forgiveness.”

“Anytime. Tell Elsa I said hey, yeah?”

“Will do. Oh– I didn’t actually get your number, did I?”

He handed over his phone, and she quickly typed hers in. “Text me when you get home, okay?”

“Okay.”

She kissed his cheek again, and then she was gone, nearly skipping up the sidewalk. He waited until she was indoors and a light had come on up on the sixth floor before pulling away, a ridiculous smile on his face.

—

He didn’t have work the next day and always slept in, so when his phone started buzzing on his bedside table anyway, he ignored it for a moment before realizing it was a call, not an alarm. He reached blindly for it and tapped the green button.

“Whozit?”

“Kristoff?”

“Anna? What’s up? Is everything okay?”

“Yeah– it’s– it’s great, actually.”

It didn’t sound like it was great. It sounded like she was out of breath and had either been laughing or crying. “Um– are you sure?”

“I, um, I got the part.”

He sat straight up, suddenly wide awake. “Holy shit, that’s awesome.”

“I know. And they want me to go ahead and– and fly out in a few days.”

“Fly out? What do you mean?”

“It’s, um, they’re doing rehearsals and shooting and everything on location and stuff. Well, not all of it, just– a lot of it.”

“On location…where?”

“Um…Romania. For six weeks.”

[poignantpulchritude]

Silly Pleasures-Chapter 4

“Hey! I thought we agreed, switch off each song? You’re taking advantage of the aux,” Dallas grumbled down by my side.

“Just one more, I need to hear High Horse again to lift my spirits,” I responded, snarling at the dull pain on my hip. I heard Dallas’s mumbled complaints, but he allowed me to play the Kacey Musgraves song to completion. When he heard the beginnings of a Jimi Hendrix guitar riff, I could practically feel his shoulders relax. “You’re so annoying,” I griped. 

“If you’re not careful this tiger will end up looking like the outline of Brazil.” I rolled my eyes and gritted my teeth at his words. Though the pain was subtler than the burning I felt when getting my foot tattooed, the tiger (Cecelia) that was getting inked on my skin was quadruple its size. I could only take the constant pain for so long before I started getting snippy. 

“The outline is done, so I’ll head out for a smoke, and then we’ll finish this baby,” Dallas told me fifteen minutes later, finishing the last few lines as he spoke. To signal break time, he slapped me hard on my thigh, near my burning hip.

“I fucking hate you,” I shuddered, looking straight into his eyes. Dallas laughed and made his way around the bed to his cigarettes resting on the counter.

“You still not smoking?” he asked, his Texan drawl coming through.

“Nope, not letting these Europeans have their way with me yet.”

“Be back here in fifteen,” he replied, ignoring my last statement to walk out the back door of the tattoo parlor. I shimmied off the bed, moving slow, making sure not aggravate my hip. The t-shirt dress I was wearing was long enough to leave the shop in and not look like I was only half dressed. I slipped on my yellow checkered vans, looking suspiciously like a girl from a Metro Station music video, and hobbled my way out the front of the shop. Union Jack was a small parlor, nestled between a barber shop and a conveyor belt sushi restaurant in the middle of Shoreditch. Beyond the incredible curry found in the area, the neighborhood also had my favorite assortment of sex shops whenever I needed to pick up some new accessories for work. 

I made my way inside the little sushi house, ordered my simple spicy tuna roll, devoured it in minutes, and trekked a whole 10 meters to get back inside Union Jack. It was a new personal record. Despite how short the journey was to me, it seemed that, in my absence, the entire atmosphere of the shop had changed. Dallas’s co-worker, Angie, was speaking excitedly to two young men facing away from me as I walked in. I identified one of them instantly. 

The shorter of the duo turned around to see who entered, giving me a polite smile before turning around to Angie again. While I attempted to maneuver around to Dallas’s alcove without alerting Harry, the back door slammed forcefully. The slam was followed by a typical Dallas yell. “Jeanne baby get your ass back in here, let’s demolish this tiger!” 

I felt my neck heat up and chest flush red. As soon as Dallas rounded the corner to the main room, he paused, looking both alarmed and confused. “Oh, hey,” he started. “Mates,” I closed my eyes in irritation. “Sorry about the noise,” he chuckled awkwardly, considerably quieter than moments before. To make things even worse, he attempted to motion to me, covertly, to return to his side. Being subtle, however, was never Dallas’s strong suit. 

“No worries, good to know the place is so lively,” Harry’s friend spoke, looking strangely like the lovechild of Ed Sheeran and Chris from series three of Love Island. It was at this point that Harry decided to turn around to look and see who Dallas was motioning to. He found me. I could see the usual, polite smile start to form on his face and then the shift happened. Once he grasped who he was looking at, his smile went from that of a man sitting in a press conference to a straight line-not from anger, but from confusion. And then again, another second passed and it changed, his eyebrows rose and a genuine smile appeared on his face. I scurried towards Dallas before I could see anymore. 

“Hey!” Harry exclaimed, halting me right before I could fully get to Dallas’s room. I did not mean to be rude, but considering my overly flirtatious last meeting with him, I felt incredibly awkward.

“Hi,” I turned around, pretending that I did not notice it was him before I tried to run away. “It’s nice to see you again,” I said, clenching my teeth tightly to form an uncomfortable smile. I silently cursed myself at my assumption, as well, not sure if he wanted to pretend like we had not met previously. 

“Fantastic to see you,” he smiled. I just stood in front of Dallas as silence started to creep over the room. “Are you getting a tattoo?” Harry asked to break the stillness, though I got the feeling that I was the only one who found the silence difficult.

“In the process, would you like to see the style?” Dallas quickly asked, taking over the conversation. He turned me to the side and lifted the bottom of my shirt to reveal the giant tiger on the side of my left hip. Basically, my butt. Out. In front of Harry Styles.

A startled yelp left my throat along with a, “What the fuck,” I whisper sharply to Dallas. I hesitated, deciding not to shove down my shirt again in case that made the entire situation even more uncomfortable.

“You see, I usually do traditional style, but she’s one of my favorite clients to test out new stuff on so I went a bit into east Asia for line inspiration,” Dallas spouted out. I could see instantly what he was doing, using this time to try to sell his tattoo skills to Harry. Hoping, no doubt, for a famous client to bring in more money and visitors. 

“Amazing,” Harry responded, not really looking at my tattoo and instead attempting to make eye contact with me. My brown eyes were looking in every direction except his. “So, how are you? I haven’t seen you around much.” I wanted to respond sarcastically, asking in what universe would he just ‘casually’ see me around, but I held it in. Dallas also took this time to let go of my shirt, catching on that Harry was not really interested in his technical skills.

“Well, London is a big town.”

“Really? I find it rather small,” Harry retorted sweetly. I gave him a tight-lipped smile, not really sure what else to do. It had been two weeks since the incident at Paradise and with the aid of my friends, I was unable to shake the embarrassment. Though, I still could not figure out if I was more mortified at my drunken behavior or upset that I did not end up hanging around him for longer. That could have been my chance to hook up with a pop star. In my current state, I’m sure he found that possibility quite far-fetched. 

“I’m Eliot,” Harry’s friend spoke after another moment of silence.

“Oh ha, sorry, I’m Jeanne. Nice to meet you.” My words were rushed and I decided to put my right hand forward to shake his. Eliot gave me an odd look before agreeing to the gesture. To ensure my follow through, I then decided to shake Harry’s hand. I saw his amused expression behind the words, “Hello Jeanne.” A strange feeling coursed through me when he spoke my name for the first time, his lips forming around the word delicately. It was only after I pulled away from his grasp that I realized how wet and sweaty my hands felt. I discretely whipped my hand on my shirt and I cleared my throat, finally saying, “Well lads, lovely to make your acquaintance, but we must return to the work at hand.” I gave a mini salute before I turned towards Dallas and pushed him into the room, crawling back on the bed and lifting my shirt.

After a few moments of silence as Dallas set up his equipment, he asked, “Did you realize that you just put on an English accent for those departing, lovely words?” He giggled like a prepubescent boy. Embarrassment washed over me yet again.

“Oh, fuck me dude!” I exclaimed and slapped my hand to my forehead. 

“I’m sure he thought that was super cool. You’re not like other girls, ya know?” Dallas responded sarcastically. I rolled my eyes and instead of responding, I reached for my phone and put on Kacey Musgraves once more. “Okay, not cool,” Dallas complained, starting up the needle and continuing my ink.

*

An hour and fifteen plays of High Horse later, my tiger was complete. I was always drawn to aggression in art and that displayed perfectly on my hip. A Bengal tiger prowled down my side as if it were a large branch in the jungle. 

“Thanks man,” I breathed out, glad for the constant burn to be absent. 

“I always take care of my girl,” Dallas smiled, showing off his big gap between his two front teeth. I ruffled his blond, shaggy hair and moved to stand up to be wrapped. “You know the aftercare drill obviously, but I do want to remind you that this is not the time to try out a new whip on your thigh for your daddies.”

“Um okay, you are never calling them that in front of me ever again,” I recoiled. He finished the wrapping and headed towards the main room so he could process my credit card.

“Whatever, you know what I mean,” he said, now behind the main counter, “Leave the whips and chains alone for a bit.”

“Whips and chains?” I heard an amused voice ask from across the room. I felt like I was going into cardiac arrest. For some reason, I assumed that whatever brought Harry and Eliot into the shop would have ended long before I left, leaving me free to exit without their presence. I was wrong.

“She works with horses,” Dallas told him quickly. I shot him an angry look.

“Oh really, that’s exciting. Do you play polo or…?” I was shocked again that Harry attempted to make actual conversation with me, especially after my accent blunder earlier.

“Oh, no I don’t work with horses, he’s just being an asshole.” Harry looked confused so I felt compelled to answer him myself. “I’m a…model…of the sort.”

Harry looked attempted to look impressed, but I could really see that my answer only muddled him further. Though I didn’t know his entire life story, I knew enough about Harry to know that his previous girlfriends were almost all thin models above 5’9. My short stature and thick thighs did not really fit into that stereotype. 

As I gave my card to Dallas, Harry stood by silently, almost begging through his body language for me to initiate conversation. I conceded. “So, come here often?” Not the smoothest, but it was passable. 

“No actually, my mate is getting his sleeve worked on. I usually go to a spot up in North London.” I just nodded, examining the smattering of tattoos visible on his arms.

“Cool mermaid,” gesturing to the ink on near his elbow, “I thought about getting one, but was not really sure if I wanted her to be coy or murderous so I gave up.” I wasn’t really thinking as I spoke. I found it easier to have my routine, weird conversations when I was not looking directly into his eyes. I chose, instead, to focus extensively on the topless sea creature on his arm. 

“Huh, interesting. I think this one does both. She kills with her beauty,” he replied, looking down at his tattoo. I nodded silently, not realizing until it was too late that I was tracing the line work with my black fingernail. Harry didn’t seem to mind that I was touching him relatively intimately, but I decided to pull away anyways. I turned back to Dallas who had a puzzled expression on his face, looking at me like I was an alien from another galaxy. He slowly handed me my card back as I widened my eyes at him in an effort to stop his behavior. 

“Thanks Dally boy,” I said sharply to him, roughly placing my tip for him in his hands before turning back to Harry again. I was not too sure how to end the conversation and leave unscathed. “Well, nice seeing you again.”

“Yea! How’s the tat?” Of course, he wanted to continue on. 

“Oh, Cecelia is doing swell.”

“Who?” 

“My tiger.”

I heard Dallas snort behind the counter. I struggled, forcing myself to not glare at him, before continuing. “I named her,” I said finally.

He smiled back. “Sick. I hope I can see Cecelia some time.” My eyebrows immediately rose at the statement, shock overtaking my entire being. “Oh no, no, not like that. Ha, I don’t know what I meant really, ignore that!” Harry followed up quickly, turning beet red. It was slightly comical to listen to his thick accent stutter over his words.

In an effort to make him feel less uncomfortable and dig myself into a deeper hole, I replied to his statement with, “That’ll be 50 pounds!”

For a moment, I thought it was funny. 

It slipped out so fast, I did not even comprehend that I not only passed myself off as a prostitute, but that I priced myself way to cheaply. I shook my hair into my face, to hide my mortified expression. Of course, my statement definitely made him feel better about his own declaration, his quiet laughter coming through. “I’ll be going now. Bye Harry,” I rushed out, speaking mostly to the floor as I turned to leave, jacket in hand. 

“Wait!” Harry followed quickly behind me. I turned to see his excited face and phone in hand. Large hands. I gulped. “Could I get your number? Maybe we could get a drink or something, you were a good laugh a few weeks ago.” I wanted to remind him that we met for a total of five minutes two weeks ago, but I was in too much shock to respond. Instead, and shockingly I might add, I grabbed his phone and entered my number, leaving a tiger emoji next to my name. When I looked up again, he was smiling brightly, putting his big dimple on display. It was truly hard not to smile back. 

“See you later Harry,” I breathed out. As I turned to head out of the door, pulling on my black jacket, I realized that my statement invited him to reach out to me. I wasn’t mad about it. I was terrified though.  

[dreamingoffairys]

Teardrops & Coffee Chapter 8 (Stingue)

Okay, okay, I know, I know. You're all screaming at me. I'm aware I've sucked at keeping an update schedule. I'm totally awful I'm sooo sorry. The good news is I got a lot of new ideas now, so updates will be faster by a lot! (HUUUGE THANK YOU TO @little-miss-heartfillia WHO HELPED ME GET INSPIRED! THIS CHAPTER IS DEDICATED TO YOU!)

In case you forgot what happened last time, Rogue asked Sting out for dinner, so this is going to be their... "date", if you can call it that, heehee...

Speaking of the previous chapters! PLEASE RE-READ CHAPTER 6 UNLESS THIS IS YOUR FIRST TIME READING THROUGH THIS FIC! I edited a bunch of stuff there because before it was far too dramatic and over-the-top for a mutual pining college au fanfic.

Okay I'm done babbling now! I hope you enjoy this long awaited chapter, and I realllly hope it was worth the wait (it's over 4k words just for you guys!). 

Please reblog with nice tags, leave a reply, shoot me an ask, or message me! I’d love to hear what you think, it’s your kindness that keeps me going and keeps me inspired, and that’s why I came back to this fic at all.❤️❤️

AO3 LINK HERE

Sting's hands won’t stop sweating. He adjusts the collar of his dress shirt for the fifth time, still wondering if it is a bad idea to wear pink. He is also wearing eyeliner, which makes his deep blue irises pop, however gives him an edge. The gel in his hair is a bit shiny, which ends up also being a cause for concern. In fact, everything in Sting’s outfit is stressing him out. He has to look perfect for his first date with the guy of his dreams… Well, first not-date-that-is-probably-a-date. But that’s close enough for Sting. He is willing to take whatever he can get with Rogue.

He nearly jumps out of his skin at the sound of a knock on his door, adjusting his collar one final time before dashing to get it. He throws open the door, beaming and trying to hide his extreme nerves. “H-Hi Rogue! R-Right on time, I see!” Sting laughs nervously, hoping that Rogue didn’t notice Sting isn’t ready.

Rogue smiles back politely. He is dressed in a black collared shirt with a gray sweater vest over it, his hair tied back into a neat ponytail. Sting’s knees were ready to melt from underneath him: Rogue really does dress like one of those stereotypical hot nerds.

Rogue looks at Sting with kind eyes, “You look really nice.”

“Th-Thanks,” Sting laughs, rubbing the back of his neck. “I was worried the pink would be a little bit...much...but uh...I did it anyways.” Why can’t I ever stop talking around him? I keep making a fool of myself!

“I think it suits you,” Rogue compliments Sting with ease. Sting has to replay Rogue’s words three times in his head before comprehending him, nodding quickly as a hot blush spreads across his cheeks. However, the soaring movement his heart made drops when Rogue speaks up again, “However...where are your shoes?”

Sting looks down at his feet and finds only the cuff of his crisp skinny jeans and one white sock. The shy blush turns to embarrassment, holding in a yelp as he rushes back into the dorm room, “Ah! Sorry! I somehow...forgot! Be right back!” Dying of shame, Sting pulls on his shoes and left sock and rushes back out to meet Rogue. “S-Sorry.”

Rogue laughs, “Not a problem.” He takes a step back, “After you.”

Sting exits his dorm room and shuts the door, shaking slightly with every step. They walk in silence for a long moment, the hallways filled with tiny bits of noise that keep it from being too awkward. However, once they reach the elevator and the doors close, the quiet is no longer acceptable. Sting knows he has to make his move. “So, where exactly are we going?”

“It’s a surprise,” Rogue replies with a smug smile, wanting to keep Sting in the dark for as long as possible.

“Oh, okay, cool,” Sting nods, heart sinking. Shit. There goes my conversation topic. What do I do now? Quick! Think of something! “Uhm...you look really uhm…” Fuck… “...fantastic.” Does that sound too gay? Shit! I should’ve said uh...no...that wouldn’t have been much better either.

Rogue laughs, smiling with his teeth, “Thanks. You do too. I really like the eyeliner. It makes your eyes really stand out.”

“That’s what I was going for,” Sting says hastily, trying to hide another round of blushing. He runs his fingers through his gelled hair, hopefully not messing it up. The door to the elevator finally opens with a loud DING, and Sting watches as Rogue exits without fault. Sting tries to copy him, but instead stumbles over his own feet. He laughs to himself out of nerves, hoping Rogue didn’t see. Thankfully, he didn’t...either that, or he just pretended not to notice for Sting’s pride’s sake.

Rogue leads Sting out to his car, climbing into the driver’s seat, then waiting with a smile as Sting sits shotgun. “Music, Sting?” Rogue asks, reaching for the stereo. “I’ve got mostly classical, but if you’d like something else, I’ve got an AUX cord for your phone…”

“N-No, classical is fine!” Sting stammers, despite not liking classical much. His music taste is pop that good for dancing to or scream singing at the top of his lungs. Not very attractive. So instead, he leans back against the seat and listens to a song with some string instruments as Rogue drove them down the road to wherever they were going. The car ride is awkwardly silent, but Rogue didn’t seem to mind, smiling and listening to the music with a small smile.

Finally, Rogue pulls up in front of an Italian restaurant, one known for being nice without being too expensive. Rogue parks, turning to Sting with that cute little smile again. “This okay?”

“It’s perfect!” Sting says in a rush, starting to unbuckle his seatbelt. “I’ve never been here but I’ve heard good things about it.”

Rogue steps out of the car, then moves to Sting’s door. He offers Sting his hand, and the blond takes it, blushing brightly. “I’m glad then that I get to take you for the first time.”

The two of them approach the double glass doors of the restaurant, Rogue holding the door for Sting yet again, making Sting feel kind of like a dick. Rogue is being quite the gentleman, and what’d he done? Showed up to the door with no shoes, tripped over himself, didn’t make very good conversation…he really didn’t deserve Rogue.

“Table for two?” asks the hostess, grabbing two menus.

“Yes, please,” Rogue replies, smiling at Sting. Sting’s heart skips a beat. He’s so handsome.

The hostess nods, “Right this way.” She leads them through the restaurant, giving Sting a moment to take in their surroundings. The smooth marble floor, etched wood walls, lots of flowers, soft jazzy piano music, candle-like lighting…it felt very romantic. This had to be a date…right?

They reach a polished table with two plush red booths on either side, the table tucked in a corner away from most of the noise. The hostess sets down the menus on the table, and Sting and Rogue slide into the booth across from each other. “Your server will be with you shortly.”

“Thank you,” says Sting, trying to be polite since so far he’s been nothing but an annoyance.

Once she leaves, Rogue’s attention turns to Sting. He doesn’t even open his menu, watching as Sting opens his and starts to scour the specials. “Sting?”

“Hm?” Sting hums, eyeing a fancy-sounding sandwich. Grilled tomato, chèvre, thyme baguette… What the hell is chèvre? How do you even pronounce that? Is there even meat in this damn thing?

“Are you willing to let me surprise you with something?” Rogue drums his fingers on the polished table. “There’s something here I really enjoy, and I think you’d like it too.”

Sting looks over the menu, giving up on the stupid chèvre thing, and meets Rogue’s eyes. “Oh yeah? What is it?”

“Like I said, it’s a surprise.” Rogue’s eyes twinkle playfully. “Do you trust me? I promise it’s not gross.”

Sting bites his lip in thought. Rogue didn’t know his food preferences all that well, so maybe it wouldn’t be something Sting would like… But on the flipside, if this is a date, and getting something together would be really romantic. “Uhhhh…”

Rogue chuckles softly, “Is that a yes?”

“You know what, what the hell,” Sting says, closing his menu and dropping it onto the table, cringing at the sound. “Might as well take a risk.”

“Great,” Rogue smiles. “You don’t have any allergies, right?”

“Just bees,” Sting says immediately without thinking. He watches as a smug smile starts to spread across Rogue’s face as he tries to hold back laughter. “What?!”

“Your name is Sting, and you’re allergic to bees?” Rogue snickers.

“Trust me, I’m aware of the irony,” Sting rolls his eyes. “I prefer to associate my name with like…the sword from Lord of the Rings, or the band from the guy that used to be with The Police.”

“You keep surprising me more and more,” Rogue rests his chin on the palm of his hand. “I’m glad you and I are both nerdy people. I don’t know if I’d be able to stand you if you hated Lord of the Rings.”

“To be totally honest, I haven’t read the books,” Sting admits. “I started reading Fellowship and then there was like 60 fucking pages about the Sackville Bagginses or whatever and I got so bored and confused.”

Rogue laughs, “Yeah, the beginning of Fellowship is a real headache. Although the book does have some things the movies don’t that are fascinating.”

A young woman with purple hair walks up to them, holding a notepad. “Hi, my name is Laki, and I’ll be your waitress for tonight. Can I start you off with some drinks?”

“Hey, Laki,” Rogue smiles. “I’ll take an iced tea.”

“Uhh…” Sting feels himself flush. He hadn’t gotten a chance to look at the drink menu, since Rogue had said he is going to order for both of them. “Err..what kind of drinks do you have?”

Laki smiles, but Sting still feels bad for asking. “Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, Lemonade, Iced Tea, Raspberry Iced Tea-”

“I’ll just take a Coke,” Sting says hastily, not wanting to put the poor waitress through any more. “Thank you.”

Rogue looks at her, “Is it alright if we place our order now too? We’ll do the the Double Special.”

“Of course,” she smiles, jotting that down. “All set. I’ll be back with those drinks.” She turns and walks away, her heels clicking on the floor.

Sting flushes. A nice restaurant, alone with Rogue, sharing a meal… He had to ask, he had to know, he couldn’t sit here in confusion for any longer… He’s going to tell Rogue that he-

“So, Sting,” Rogue asks, cutting into Sting’s thoughts, not noticing Sting’s mental turmoil. “I was wondering something. You, of course, told me about your mom...but what about your dad? Do you get along with him?”

Sting starts for a moment, not prepared for Rogue to say anything. For a moment he mentally screams at himself for not speaking quickly enough, but then he registers the question in his head and feels a lot better. ‘This I can do! I love talking about my dad…’ Sting grins at Rogue happily, “Yeah! My dad’s the best. He’s super supportive of me, and he’s always been so much fun. We’ve played card games together since I was old enough to understand them, he taught me sports and a lot of stuff about computers, and we used to fix up the house together.” Sting feels a nostalgic smile cross his face. “Yeah...I love him a lot. Without him, I’d be so lost...he’s always been there for me, no matter what bullshit I was dealing with, you know?”

Rogue’s cheeks are lightly dusted with pink, eyes glued on Sting’s face. “That’s really wonderful. What kind of card games did you play?”

Sting rubs the back of his neck and looks away, embarrassed. “Errrr...well I mean, this was when I was a kid, but…I was...really into Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh.”

Rogue chuckles softly, “No need to be shy about it. Gajeel loved Pokemon too, though he’ll never admit it.” Rogue shrugs, “I read books more than I played games, but I played a little Pokemon with him. My favorite was always...I think its name is Umbreon?”

“The Dark Type Eeveelution,” Sting blurts out, then turns redder. “Uhm...b-but yeah, that’s right.” He looks down at his lap, his ears burning. Oh, damn. Now I look like a child.

Rogue laughs a bit louder, “Yeah, that one. Which one was your favorite?”

Sting shifts in his seat, anxiety clawing at his throat. Why is this making him so nervous? “Dratini… It’s so cute, and so is Dragonair, and then Dragonite is really strong…” He blushes darker. “Yeah…”

“Here’s your drinks,” Laki walks up to the table and sets down their drinks and their waters. “Your food will be out shortly. Anything else you need?”

Courage. The ability to flirt. Some answers. “Err, nope!” Sting laughs. “I’m all good.”

“I’m fine, thank you,” Rogue smiles at her, and she nods and walks away.

Sting’s chest feels tight. Here’s another chance. “S-So…” he manages to say, then shuts his mouth as the panic sets in. ‘I...I can’t do it. I can’t ask. If he says no it’ll be so embarrassing...especially with everything he’s told me…!’

“So?” Rogue replies, that smile still on his face, but this time the look is more than just polite. There’s admiration in his eyes, warm and kind, enjoying himself in Sting’s presence.

Sting studies Rogue’s face. Fuck. His one visible shining red eye, his silky black hair, that warm smile… Rogue almost seems like he’s glowing. Sting had to ask him. He had to tell Rogue how he felt. He couldn’t afford to lose this...Rogue is too special.

And so….he takes a deep breath, and blurts out, “Rogue, is this a date?”

Sting’s heart leaps into his throat. He actually said it! After all this time of nerves and shit, and he’d just blurted it out effortlessly! Why had he been so afraid before?

He watches as Rogue’s mouth curls into a wider smile, a blush on his cheeks. He still looks like he’s glowing...how beautiful . “Of course it is. I really have fallen for you, Sting. You’re my everything. I’d love to date you.”

“You would?” Sting squeaks, his heart pounding. ‘Ohgod it’s happening-!’

“Huh?” Rogue looks at Sting in confusion, his voice sounding different all of a sudden, the glow completely gone, “I would what?”

It is then that Sting realized he’d completely imagined that scenario. Thanks to his nerves, he’d started daydreaming about what he wished could happen. He sighs, feeling ashamed and deflated. “Nevermind…” he mumbles, reaching up for his drink and sipping it. The bubbles tickle his tongue, and the sweetness is almost overpowering.

When Rogue frowns, Sting feels like his heart shatters. “Are you sure..? It seemed like what you wanted to say was important…”

“Forget it,” Sting takes another sip of his drink, then forces a smile. “I just forgot what I was gonna say. It’s not a big deal.”

Rogue drinks a bit of iced tea, then sighs softly. “If you say so…”

Sting bites his lip, but before he can try and make up something to ease Rogue’s worries (or at least thank him for being concerned), Laki walks over with a covered tray. She smiles at them both, setting the platter onto the table and uncovering it, revealing a huge bowl of pasta accompanied by two pieces of garlic bread. “Carbonara for two?”

Sting has no idea what the heck carbonara is, but it looks tasty, and the smell makes his stomach growl. He pushes aside the fact that they’re splitting a bowl just like in the romantic movies for a moment and instead leans forward to smell it.

Rogue smiles up at Laki, still looking at Sting out of the corner of his eye. “Thank you so much.”

“Enjoy,” Laki replies, then walks away, her heels clicking on the fancy floor.

“Sooo...what exactly is it?” Sting asks, grabbing his garlic bread first. “I mean, besides pasta, obviously.”

Rogue grabs his fork and twirls it. “Carbonara is a pasta dish with egg, pecorino romano cheese, pork, and pepper.” He lifts it up towards his mouth and grins. “And it’s one of my favorites.”

Sting makes a mental note of that as Rogue takes a bite: spaghetti, egg, some cheese, pepper, and pork...okay! He takes a big bite of his garlic bread, then sits it back down on the plate. “Sounds delicious.” He grabs his own fork and twirls it the way Rogue did (or at least, attempts to, as he has do it a couple times before getting it right) and then lifts it to his mouth and takes a huge bite. He feels like his taste buds are exploding as a wonderful flavor touches his tongue. “Mmmm…oh man, that’s-” Suddenly realizing he is talking with his mouth full, he blushes and swallows hard. “Ahem. It’s really good.”

Rogue laughs, and Sting realizes he isn’t grossed out by his bad manners. “Isn’t it? It’s fairly easy to make, too. There’s some really easy recipes online. I’ve made it a couple of times just in the dorm kitchen. I always ended up splitting it with people because they all loved it so much, haha.”

I would love to try yours… Sting thinks dreamily. If there is one thing that he loved more than attractive guys, it is attractive guys who could cook. Instead of voicing that thought, he shoves more of the pasta into his mouth, relieved that he now had an excuse to be quiet. He’d already chickened out twice on asking Rogue if this is a date...maybe a little bit of silence to think would help.

Rogue twists the pasta around his fork slowly, that same endearing smile still on his lips. “I’m glad you like it. I was a bit worried you wouldn’t care for it and then wouldn’t have a good time. A risk I’m glad I took, I suppose.”

But why did you take it? Sting wonders silently. Is it because it’s a date and you wanted to be romantic? Or were you trying to impress me or something? Because you don’t have to...I was impressed the moment I laid eyes on you. In comparison, I’m kind of a nobody… If anything, I should be working on impressing you.

For a moment, Sting could’ve sworn he saw Rogue blush, but it fades as soon as it appeared. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to keep talking at you while you were trying to eat.”

Sting swallows and finally finds his voice right as Rogue takes another bite. “Rogue, you’re fine. I like hearing what you have to say. You’re interesting, and funny.” Wow, that was stupid.

Rogue coughs slightly, then swallows his pasta. “You think so?” Sting nods quickly in response, and Rogue reaches for his iced tea. “Thanks, Sting. I appreciate it.”

Sting blushes again. “Mhm!” he manages to say with a mouth full of pasta, then scarfs more down.

The two of them are then silent until the plate is completely clear, both of them having ate their fill on pasta and bread. Their drinks are almost empty as well, as they are both broke college students and don’t like being wasteful.

Eventually, Laki comes with the check. “Here’s your bill,” she says, placing it on the edge of the table. “Thank you so much for dining with us tonight.”

As she walks away, Rogue reaches for the check holder, and Sting has to scramble, “W-Wait, shouldn’t we split the bill?”

Rogue looks Sting right in the eyes, “Well...I thought I’d pay, since I invited you…”

Sting’s heart skips a beat. He isn’t quite sure how the whole stupid, heteronormative “the man pays to be a gentleman on the first date” thing works for gay couples, but to him this seemed like Rogue is implying it is a date. Should I ask…? Say that if he considers it a date he can pay? Or would it be nice to offer to pay for myself? What do I do?

“Uhhhhmmm…” is all Sting can bring himself to say, his palms starting to sweat. He watches helplessly as Rogue reads the bill, then slips their debit card into the check holder and places it back on the edge of the table. Too late now…

He finds that he feels guilty about it when Laki picks it back up to swipe the card, so he mumbles out, “I can pay you back…”

“No,” Rogue leans forward a bit. “There’s no need, Sting. It’s my treat.”

What does that MEAN? Sting screams mentally, but has no time to ask because Laki returns at that exact moment. Damn! It seemed like the whole damn world is against him getting to speak his mind.

Rogue retrieves his debit card, then stands up and looks at Sting. “Ready to go?”

“Where?” Sting asks, joining Rogue on his feet. Realizing that was a stupid question (aka, one that implied they were going somewhere other than back to the dorms), Sting quickly tacks on, “A-Ah, sorry, I’m tired.”

“Actually, I was thinking we could take a walk in the nearby park?” Rogue suggests as they walk out of the restaurant together. “It’s a nice night, and I wanted to talk to you for a little bit longer.”

“About…?” Sting asks, having trouble breathing. The world felt like it was spinning underneath his feet, and he swore Rogue could hear his heart beating.

Instead of answering, Rogue leads Sting down the block to a nice park with a sparkling water fountain, beautiful rose bushes, carved wooden benches, and a few tall oak trees. The ground underneath their feet is brown and red patterned stone, but nearby are numerous patches of soft green grass dotted with wildflowers starting to close for the night. The cool night air blows Sting and Rogue’s hair in front of their faces, and the light of the setting sun bathes them in a soft gold glow. The water of the fountain reflects the pink, orange sky streaked with thin white clouds, almost like something out of a painting.

All of Sting’s nerves vanish. There is nothing to interrupt them now. The moment is so...perfect. It feels like something out of a romance movie...a love confession at sunset in front of a fountain, surrounded by roses...yes. He felt certain now that this is a date, and that any moment now, Rogue is going to confess his feelings for Sting. Finally, the uncertainty, the fear, the nerves, the anxiety...it will all come to an end.

“Sting.” Rogue’s hair blows away from his face, showing off both of his narrow, shining red eyes, looking at Sting with admiration. “I wanted to tell you something.”

Sting’s heart beats a mile a minute, and he’s sure there’s a stupid, lovesick grin on his face. “Y-Yeah...what is it?”

Rogue opens his mouth when suddenly his phone buzzes in his pocket. Rogue groans and digs his hand into his pocket, “Dammit, hold on a second.” Frowning, Rogue pulls his phone out and looks at it. Sting watches as Rogue’s face goes from annoyed to shocked, then texts something quickly. “Shit. Shit shit shit !” He looks up at Sting, concern written all over his face. “I…I’m so sorry, I have to go. Right now. Thanks for coming, I had fun, I’ll see you soon!”

With that, Rogue shoves his phone into his pocket and takes off down the sidewalk.

Sting’s heart shatters. “W-WAIT, ROGUE, HOLD ON-! YOU DROVE ME HERE!” he screams, starting to chase after him. He suddenly realizes he has no idea where Rogue went, and by the time he remembers what street they came from, it’s too late… Rogue’s car speeds by the sidewalk, way over the speed limit, and disappears around the corner.

Tears fill Sting’s eyes as emotions flood through him all at once. Heartbreak, anger, desperation...until it all finally resolves in pure, unrestrained hysteria. “FUCK YOU, ROGUE!” he screams, stomping his foot like a child throwing a tantrum. “YOU’RE A FUCKING ASSHOLE! I CAN’T BELIEVE THIS!”

Sobbing uncontrollably, Sting storms back over towards the fountain, his legs too weak to stand for much longer. As he collapses onto a bench, he realizes everything around him that once seemed so perfect and beautiful looks absolutely sickening now. The roses slowly closing seem to taunt him, as if reminding him that all good things must eventually come to an end. The sound of the sparkling water fountain as it bubbles and spills into the basin sounds like his tears splashing down his cheeks. The tall oak trees bend and creak in the wind, as if mocking his own fragile state. Even the sunset, once romantic and hopeful, now fades into black.

Defeated and drowning, Sting puts his head in his hands and curls into himself. He sits there too broken to move until the final beam of sunlight disappears from the sky, then picks himself up and takes the long walk of shame home, swallowed up by the night.