#i am just texting his other masters student. not only did she get comments HOURS ago (their meeting was at 4)

[exopelagic]

hdbxbndhdhHbdhdhdhaHSHZHDH fuck this guy

[justthehiddleswrites]

Accidently Married | Tom Hiddleston x OFC | Chapter 1 |  Living Well is the Best Revenge or Just Trip Her on the Red Carpet

A/N:  Tom makes certain comments about an ex (who is unnamed).  It is a fictional girlfriend, take from it what you will.  Keep your hate to yourself.  

SERIES MASTERLIST HERE

Pairing: Tom Hiddleston x OFC (Molly Bishop)

Summary: Tom is stuck in a news cycle from hell; Molly is stuck in the dead end job of bartending with a pile of student and credit debt.  Tom has an idea to solve all their problems.  Get married, get the paparazzi off his back, divorce after a year and Tom pays off Molly’s debts.  Tom has everything figured out, that is until he sees Molly as more than a just a friend and so does someone else.  In this vying for affections who will win, the handsome Brit or the boy from Boston?

This Chapter: Tom is in Vegas to present at a music awards ceremony and what do you know his high profile ex girlfriend is nominated for two awards.  And the press are having a field day.  Molly Bishop is grateful for the awards show because it means extra tips and getting her closer to paying off her student debt.  An offhand comment by Luke coupled with an encounter with his old girlfriend has Tom’s mental wheels turning.  Perhaps he and Molly can solve each other’s problem.  All they have to do is get married.

Warnings: fake marriage, smut (vaginal sex), mentions of:  child abuse/neglect, foster care, substance abuse, cheating.

TAGLIST IS OPEN! PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU WANT TO BE TAGGED!  THANK YOU FOR READING!

--

Tom dreaded turning his phone back on when the plane landed at McCarran airport. He knew what waited for him on the other side. Tom wondered if his publicist would buy the story he left his phone back at the bar in Heathrow. Probably not, he had tried that earlier in the year and Luke went ballistic until he came clean. He did not want a repeat of the earful he got back then. With a sigh, Tom switched on his mobile and shoved it into the front pocket of his jeans, vibrating as messages and emails came in.

Tom never imagined the relationship would end like this. He thought he was in love. He thought she was in love. But it had all been what were the words she used “escape hatch”. Tom had been a means to an end. And the punishment for his naivete was a news cycle that would not die. And that photo.

He waited until he was in the car on his way to the Bellagio before checking his messages. There were a series of several text messages from Luke.

Call me when you get to your hotel room.

Don’t read the papers.

Don’t talk to any reporters.

Don’t do anything until you talk to me.

Tom pinched the bridge of his nose underneath his sunglasses.

“Fuck!” he hissed under his breath.

This meant only one thing. Another story. Maybe more pictures. He shouldn’t have been surprised. After all, she was attending the same awards show. It ventured to guess the papers would play that up. Tom slumped against the car seat for the rest of the ride.

Check in went fine at the VIP check in. One perk of not only being a celebrity, but a presenter at the awards show. The bellhop delivered Tom’s luggage and garment bag. He pulled the outfit for tomorrow and hung it up, just like Illaria told him to. It was only when he flopped onto the sectional couch, Tom called Luke.

“I’ve been waiting for your phone call.” Luke deadpanned. “I started to worry you would pull that ‘I left my phone at the airport bar’ story.”

“I did cross my mind.” Tom let his head hit the back of the sofa. “Do I want to know?”

“Not really.” Luke winced. “They used the photo again.”

“Of course they fucking did!” Tom punched a nearby pillow. “I look like a twat. Luke, I need this to stop.”

Luke sighed. “Until something comes along that is better than this, expect it to hang around for a while. Unless you are planning on getting married in the next two days.”

Tom chuckled darkly. “Not bloody likely.” He sighed again. “Thanks for everything Luke.”

“It’s my job, mate. But you’re welcome.”

After Tom hung up, he stared first at the phone in his hand and then at the ceiling. He wasn’t sure how he got here, and he sure as hell didn’t know how to get out. Tom decided instead to wallow in self-pity and eat a ridiculously expensive room service steak.

-

Weekends were always busy when there were special events over at the MGM arena. This weekend was no exception. And while it may not be good for Molly’s back, her bank account greeted every penny with a smile. Vegas may be a cheap place to live, but it still costs money. And her college did not accept IOUs for student loans. She shoved more tips into the jar behind the bar and helped the next person.

“What’ll be?”

“Whatever you have that is strong and on tap.” Tom’s smooth voice cut over the din of slot machines and video poker machines.

“Coming right up.” Molly poured him a beer, and he signed the receipt with his room number before sliding to the end of the bar.

Three hours later, Tom still sat at the end of the bar, nursing the same beer. Most of the crowd dissipated at this point. Celebrities needed their beauty sleep. Or at least most of them.

“Would you like to switch that one out for a cold one?” She leaned over, smiling. “On the house.”

“Sorry.” Tom blinked and glanced around, looking for a clock Molly imagined.

“No clocks.” she commented. “Or windows.”

Tom’s brow furrowed. “Really?”

“The whole point of casinos is to keep people inside. Clocks and windows help people realize how much time has passed.” Molly replaced his beer. “The whole place is set up like a maze.”

Tom took a long draw of the fresh beer. “You seem to know an awful lot about casinos for a bartender.”

“You seem awfully forward for a movie star.” she snapped back. Tom’s eyes met yours. She shrugged her shoulders. “I have a friend who works at Regal Cinema, they let me in for free.”

“I’m having a bad day.” Tom muttered back. “You still didn’t answer the question.” He took another long draw, leaving the glass half empty.

“Oh, so we are adding pushy to your resume. I thought Brits were supposed to be charming. If you must know, I have a Bachelor’s and Master’s in Tourism from Arizona State.”

Tom opened his mouth to comment, but Molly cut him off.

“Funny thing about the tourism industry. You need experience to get a job, but you can’t get experience without having a job. Classic catch-22. Which does not pay my bills. So I bartend until I get hired somewhere.”

Tom felt like a prize idiot moping about his problems. He cleared his throat. “Apologies for my earlier behavior. I have been in a poor mood for the last several weeks and it has made me a terrible companion and customer.”

Molly smiled at him. The first truly friendly face in a while. “It’s fine. And you are entitled to a bad day.” She filled up his glass. “Once or twice. Share your troubles with me. Unless it is about which supermodel you should date next, then I don’t want to hear it.” she joked. Tom’s face fell. “Oh shit, I’m so sorry. I didn’t…”

Tom held up a hand. “Please don’t apologize. I take it you don’t read the magazines.”

“As a matter of course, no I don’t.” Suddenly a lightbulb went off. “Oh…”

Tom twisted his face into an exaggerated expression. “‘Oh’ is right. Usually followed by the words ‘shit’ or ‘fuck’.”

“And is she…”

Tom drained the glass. “Yep. Nominated for two awards.”

“Yikes! Well, if there is anything I can do, I am here all weekend.”

Tom stood up and left several twenty-dollar bills. “I might take you up on that. Thank you again for the conversation… I didn’t catch your name.”

“Molly Bishop”. she said, clearing his glass.

Tom offered his hand, and she shook it. “Tom.”

“I know.” she leaned in, her dark brown hair falling to the sides of her face. “Remember, you’re a movie star.”

Tom laughed. A real belly laugh. So loud that it jolted the old man at the other end of the bar awake. “I needed that. Thank you again. Have a good evening, day, morning.”

“It’s evening. Goodnight, Tom. Sleep well.”

Tom headed back towards the bank of elevators. He glanced over his shoulder to watch Molly wipe down where he had been sitting, shove the twenties into a tip jar, while tucking her hair behind her ears and help an obviously drunk couple. Tom made a mental note to find her again before he flew back and leave an even bigger tip.

-

Tom woke up the next morning and headed down to the gym to run on the treadmill. He would have preferred running outside but wanted to avoid people. After running five miles, he switched the machine off, wiped it and him down and headed upstairs to shower and change for the day. Tom wandered back downstairs in search of Molly, but the bartender on duty, a guy named Seth, mentioned she wouldn’t be back until the evening. Tom thanked him and headed back upstairs.

He was restless until it was time to get ready. After dressing, he took a selfie in the mirror and sent it to Illaria who confirmed he did it right. Now came the waiting game. Tom wanted to time it to avoid having to see her at all. Finally deciding he had wanted long enough, Tom called for the car and headed downstairs. What Tom forgot to account for was his incredible bad luck.

He arrived right after her and was forced to walk the red carpet, watching her out of the corner of his eye, with her arm linked around whatever man, boy, prey she ensnared for the evening. Tom plastered a killer smile on his face and continued to repeat the mantra in his head “Living well is the best revenge” when all he wanted to do is either trip her or return to his hotel room and eat an inordinate amount of chocolate cake.

The rest of the awards show blurred together into moments of white hot rage masked by a cool exterior and numbness. Thank god for the teleprompter or else Tom wondered if he would have made it through his presentation. But he did and thought he made it through the entire event without running into her and then…

“Tom!” her voice called out.

Tom froze and stiffened. What a difference a few weeks can make.

“Darling!” He spun on his heel to face her, smile firmly in place. He leaned forward and kissed her cheeks. “It’s good to see you. You look good.” he lied through his teeth.

“You too. I thought I might miss you. I just wanted to say—”

Tom waved her off. “Water under the bridge.” Another lie. Perhaps he missed his calling as a barrister or even a publicist. “Your date seems nice.”

She smiled. That smile that once melted his heart. “Thanks. He is. Where’s your—”

“Back at the hotel.” He checked his watch. “Which reminds me, I should head back. Big plans for the night.”

She blinked, and stutter stepped back. “Oh. Right.” She composed herself. “Well, it was nice to see you again. I hope we can be friends.” She held her arms open.

Fucking friends! Tom howled inside his mind. What was she playing at? More fodder for her songs? Tom seethed on the inside. He stepped forward to awkwardly hug her, praying there was no one around to snap a photo. Knowing her, though, she probably had someone in the balcony with a zoom lens.

“Of course, love.” He squeezed her a little too tight until she let loose a small yelp of pain. Tom allowed a genuine smile to come across his face. “I won’t keep you any longer. Enjoy the after party.” He walked away before she could continue on the conversation.

He waited until he was well out of earshot. “Bitch.”

-

The crowd started waning around 9:30 as the awards show let out. Molly figured most of the attendees would hit the after parties and things would pick up around 1 or 2 a.m. Until then, it would just be the regulars. She turned around to arrange the glasses she just cleaned when a now familiar voice rang out.

“Marry me.” Tom asked, his tie loosened.

“I don’t know you.” Molly teased back. “Now what will you have?”

“You as my wife.” Tom repeated, his palm flattened against the bar.

“Be serious.”

“I am serious.”

“Are you drunk?”

Tom shook his head. “Stone cold sober. Hear me out.”

She glanced around, seeing no plausible escape. “I’m listening. But if another customer comes up, I’m walking away.”

“I need something to move the paparazzi off this current news cycle with me.”

Molly smirked. “You ran into the ex. Did she have a new boy toy on her arm?”

“Yes, but that is beside the point.”

“It is entirely the point.”

Tom slammed his hand against the bar, rattling the container of nuts nearby. “Can I continue or are you going to keep interrupting?”

Molly crossed her arms. “Go on.”

“I need something to move the press off this story. You need money. We are the solution to each other’s problems.”

“You may be gorgeous, but if you think I am sleeping with you for money…”

“I never said sex. I said marriage. The last I checked, they could be mutually exclusive.” Tom’s expression softened. “Listen, you are clearly unhappy here. I am unhappy too. If us being together could alleviate a bit of that unhappiness, why wouldn’t we seize the opportunity? We get married. Get the paparazzi off my back. I would pay off your student loans and credit cards. And then after a year of living together, we quietly divorce. No sex. Just a business relationship.”

Molly chewed over what Tom said, while chewing on her bottom lip. He wasn’t wrong, she was unhappy. Vegas was supposed to be a brand new start, but it was more of the same. Dead end job and no career prospects on the horizon.”

“Did you say live together?”

“In London, yes. I have plenty of room. Your own space. You have a passport.”

“Yes.”

Tom’s face broke out in a wide grin. He couldn’t believe this was happening. The blood pounded in his ears and adrenaline coursed through his veins. He looked up at her with his bright blue eyes.

“Will you marry me, Molly Bishop?”

“Yes.” she smiled back.

Tom leaned over and kissed her cheek. “Then let’s get going, because the licensing bureau closes at midnight.”

Molly headed over to the manager, Nick.

“I quit.” she shoved her apron at him.

“What? You can’t quit, Molly. The big rush is coming.”

“You heard the lady.” Tom called. “She quits.”

“And who the hell are you?”

“Her fiancé. Come on, darling.” Tom held out his hand. She lifted up the bar at the entrance and took his hand.

-

The two of you were full of nervous energy the entire cab ride to the licensing bureau, fitting right in with the other couples waiting to get a license. While you waited in line, Tom made some calls to several chapels until he found one open and able to squeeze the two of you in.

“Now all we need is to get you a dress and some rings.”

“Oh!” Molly dug through her purse. “My friend’s kid gave these to me.” She pulled out two plastic rings. “I think these will do in a pinch.”

Tom closed his hand over hers. “I’ll buy us proper rings tomorrow. Now a dress.”

“There’s a mall on the way. I can grab something on the way.” Tom kissed Molly’s forehead.

“You are brilliant.”

“Thank you.”

Within an hour, Molly was wearing a simple white slip dress, Tom still in his suit from the awards show, although he did straighten up the tie. She smiled like a fool, holding onto a fake bouquet and Tom’s wedding ring, complete with a plastic spider in her hand.

Tom slipped on the plastic gem ring when the minister told him to, and she did the same with the spider ring. Tom giggled and so did Molly .

“I now pronounce husband and wife, you may kiss the bride.”

Tom leaned in and pressed a chaste kiss to her lips. His lips were warm and soft. It was… nice. Under other circumstances, she imagined Tom would be an excellent kisser.

Tom gazed down at her. “Hello, Mrs. Hiddleston.”

“Hello, Mr. Hiddleston.”

[pandas-pandemonium]

Blood Ties (Part 1) - Yandere! Thomas Andre x GN!Reader x Yandere! Baek Yoon-ho

A/N: It’s here! The first part of the yandere solo leveling fic! Both the mens’ endings have yet to be written, but enjoy this open ended part first.

Note: Only hints of yandere is shown here and nothing too extreme yet

Summary: [Name] is an A-Rank mage in the Scavengers Guild. When an offer to join the White Tiger Guild in South Korea is given, [Name] has to question where their loyalties lie. To their years in the Scavenger guild, or to their childhood friend? 

2pm,  Wednesday – Thomas Andre’s Office, Somewhere in the United States

“Sir, Hunter [Name] is here for their scheduled meeting,” the voice of Thomas's secretary announced, looking over to her boss who was busy with some paperwork, while the TV blared in the background. Immediately, he lifted his head up, his eyes bright and his grin brighter than ever.

“Oh? Then send them in! What are you even doing? Don’t make them wait,” he said, leaning back in his seat. Despite his cheerful grin, Laura had worked long enough to pick up his slight shifts in mood. She was glad she hadn’t waited any longer, or she might have lost her job right then and there.

“Understood. I’ll let them in,” she replied. It sure was a wonder though, how this A-rank Mage caught Scavenger's Guild Master's attention and interest. After all, the guild had a bunch of S-rank hunters from all over the world. For a mere A-rank to catch the eye of a man who believed in strength more than anything else, she wondered if this person was a false ranker at first, until she checked their guild registry.

[Name] [Surname], an A-rank magic user who favoured the wind element above the more destructive fire or ice elements. They had been in the guild for the past three years, and it was just a year after they joined that Thomas Andre started asking about them. They were even personally asked on a number of occasions, to join the guild master on several raids.

As these thoughts ran through the secretary's mind, Laura quietly watched as the figure made their way to Thomas's desk.

“You wanted to see me, boss?” they asked, looking up at the large man seated at his desk.

Thomas’s eyes softened as he leaned his body towards them, “Yep. Say, we haven’t talked for a while, eh? Something about you going on several overseas business trips?”

[Name] swallowed as they nodded. “It was urgent sir… I’ve had a lot to do abroad lately,” they explained. Thomas only hummed in acknowledgement as he leaned back against the leather chair.

“And tell me, what are these trips for? Last I recall, a guild in England had to hire you about two months ago. Other than that… I don’t think you’ve had any overseas raids,” he said, a large hand stroking his goatee absent-mindedly.

“Uh… personal matters, sir. Nothing concerning the guild, really.”

Just then, out of the corner of the hunter’s eye, they spotted the news channel that was on, featuring a very familiar face, Baek Yoon-ho. Immediately, their eyes widened.

“Wait, Yoon-ie’s a guild leader?!” they exclaimed, almost forgetting about the giant in the room.

“Yoonie?” he repeated. [Name] immediately felt the blood rush to their face as they cleared their throat awkwardly.

“Um, yeah. I used to study abroad in South Korea… Yoonie is just what I called Baek Yoon-ho when were students,” they explained, looking down at their feet bashfully while cursing themselves internally.

“Hm, that’s new. So your little highschool buddy’s a full-fledged guild leader… and a rather famous one at that,” he commented, dark red eyes silently observing the smaller figure in front of him.

“Y-yeah, time sure flies,” they replied. “You don’t have to worry though! He’s a friend, but it’s not like I’ll leave the States for the White Tiger guild!”

Thomas’s face darkened as a threatening smile loomed over his gaunt features, “You’d better not, [Nickname]. I don’t take kindly to my guild members trying to leave, remember that.”

[Name]’s face blanched, and they nodded nervously, “R-right. Of course, sir. So, um… what was it that you called me here for?”

“Ah yes. I did call you here for something…now what was it…” he pondered to himself as he gazed up at the ceiling. “Right! I wanted to invite you for dinner! To catch up with you, talk a little, get to know each other better, ya know?”

[Name] raised an eyebrow, “Well, I don’t have any plans tonight…but this is quite sudden, sir.”

“Think of it as a little ‘Welcome back home’ party for you. All expenses will be handled by me. We can even go on a date afterwards,” Thomas said, his signature smile on his face.

“A-A date, sir?”

“If you have a problem with calling it a date, it can just be an outing. No titles, just us two hunters. What d’ ya say, [Name]?”

[Name] pressed their lips in a thin line as they thought over the offer. Free dinner sounded great, but they didn’t know if they could stand the pressure of being next to such an intimidating figure. Hell, even right now he looked the part.

Taking deep breaths, [Name] weighed their options in their mind, in the end settling to accept. If they rejected him, [Name] didn’t want to think of what could come next. Thomas Andre was a powerful man after all, with status and prestige to his name, and with it, he could do many things with little to no consequences.

“I’ll go. As long as we consider this as just a friendly outing though! I don’t want people to misunderstand,” they said. Thomas’s eyes softened and he reached over to stroke [Name]’s head.

“Good to know. I’ll text you the restaurant’s name and location in a few. You can go now,” he said, dismissing them from his room, much to their relief.

Upon exiting the office, [Name] let out the breath they had been holding throughout the whole meeting. It was so sudden. Two days after they arrived back from Japan on a family trip, the guild master suddenly informs them that he wants to speak with them the next day when he’s free. At first, they had thought he was going to reprimand them, but his awfully cheery demeanour and dinner invite had them second guessing his intentions. What the hell was going on? Then again, Thomas Andre had been like this ever since they met face-to-face, at least a year ago. [Name] could remember one too many incidents when their own raid got cancelled only to be suddenly slotted into some A rank gate to “accompany” the guild master. It really wasn’t like he needed the support though, being a National Level Hunter and all. [Name] sighed, perhaps this dinner would be a good chance to ask why their guild master was so interested in them.

~*~*~

Unfortunately, that dinner never came as [Name] suddenly had to cancel, receiving a phone call from their cousin, telling them that they were awakened and that a recruiter from the White Tiger guild wanted to meet her in two days. Said cousin also asked that [Name] accompany her and that she’ll pay for her ticket to South Korea. Normally, [Name] would have protested, but they had to admit, they were curious. It was also due to the fact that [Cousin’s Name] was someone who [Name] was very close to, and denying her request made [Name] feel guilty. After all, [Cousin’s Name] was there for them when they were awakened. It was only right that they do the same.

That night, [Name] had to make a very difficult phone call to Thomas Andre that they couldn’t make it for their dinner, much to his (not very well-hidden) dismay. When prompted, [Name] could only give the truth, saying that their cousin who was studying in South Korea had called for a last-minute reunion. It wasn’t too big of a deal for [Name], as they were used to having to pack suddenly due to emergency calls for a raid or (as with their previous job as a medical intern working in the ER), urgent calls for assistance.

Thomas, despite his initial disappointment, sounded quite understanding, ushering them to quickly pack for tonight, and that he’ll mark them as unavailable for raids for the next three days or so. Thanking him profusely, [Name] immediately started to pack for the 10am flight the next morning.

~~~~~

Thomas Andre was not happy, his mood worsened by [Name]’s dinner cancellation followed by some small guild leader asking for assistance with an A-class gate somewhere in South America. He shot them down quickly as he went off to have his own solo dinner at the same restaurant he was supposed to go with [Name] that night. How frustrating. Just when he had a clear schedule, the universe decided to screw him over by making other people preoccupied. At this point, he won’t be able to have a proper talk with his little [Name] and it left a bad taste in his mouth.

His bad mood continued until the next morning and well into the night, causing everyone around him to be on edge. It was not until around 1am that day, that he received a phone call from the one person who indirectly caused his moodiness, [Name] [Surname].

“Darlin’! Great to hear from you, are you already in Korea?” he greeted, his loud booming voice echoing in his bedroom, unable to contain his excitement.

“Uh, yes I am. I just reached about two hours ago. Anyways sir, I needed to call you to ask for permission about something.”

Oh, he loved hearing their voice. “Go ahead.”

“Okay, well this is quite last minute, but I need to ask for formal permission to participate in another guild’s raid. More specifically, the White Tigers.”

Thomas almost broke his phone in half.

“And may I ask why you’re joining another guild’s raid?”

“See, it just so happened that I ran into Baek Yoonho when I was accompanying my cousin to the guild. One thing led to another, and they just so happened to receive news of a gate opening in Seoul. It’s a small one, just a B-class. Yoonho and I, along with my cousin and a couple other members will be going.”

“And why have you agreed? You are a member of the Scavengers, you know.”

Silence on the other end.

“Uh…how do I say this… Yoonho might be interested in recruiting me.”

The line went dead, as did Thomas’s phone.

[Name] was sweating bullets. Thomas Andre hung up without a word. He was mad, really mad. Nervously, they looked up at their childhood friend who was with them. His amber eyes looking down at them softly.

“No good?” he asked. [Name] sighed and shrugged.

“I don’t know. He didn’t give me an answer. I just know that he is very, very mad. I don’t know, Yoon-ie, I don’t think this is a good idea…” they said.

Baek Yoonho furrowed his eyebrows. This was upsetting… he meets his childhood friend (and first love) after so many years for only a couple days and then they head back immediately? That was horrible! He had so many things he wanted to talk about, they haven’t even had the chance to properly show them around Seoul and show them how much the city has changed!

“You don’t have to join us… Think of this as just accompanying your cousin on her first dungeon raid,” he said, hoping to reason with them. As [Name] frowned and thought over his words, their message tone rang.

“Oh, it’s Thomas!” they exclaimed, hurriedly opening his text message. As soon as they read it, their face paled and their eyes widened.

“No way…” they muttered.

“What did he say?” he asked leaning over to look at their phone. [Name] shakily showed the text to the other man.

“He says he’ll let me go, but he’ll be flying here by tomorrow night to make sure nothing happens to me…”

Baek Yoonho almost let out a snarl. So, this was how a National Level hunter played huh. Very well then, he’ll agree to the Scavenger guild master’s conditions.

“Tell him he has my word. He can be certain that I’ll protect you to my very best ability.”

~*~*~

The next afternoon, the group of hunters had gathered in front of the department store where a gate had opened. It was astonishing to see an S-Class hunter in front of a B-Class gate, and that fact alone was enough to draw hordes of reporters to the scene, hungry for a scoop. Despite the shouting of questions and demands for answers, the group remained unaffected…for the most part. [Name]’s cousin was observing the whole situation wide-eyed while clinging on to her cousin’s cloak, a signature garment for mages.

[Name] looked over to their cousin with a smile, squeezing her shoulder to comfort her. (They were also trying to ignore the fact that they too, were incredibly nervous).

“It’s the usual crowd, [Cousin’s Name]. Don’t worry too much about it. Once you’re in there, all you need to do is focus on fighting the monsters in the dungeon, and you’ll come out a hero,” they said with a sympathetic smile. [Cousin’s Name] looked at them worriedly.

“You sure, [Nickname]?” she asked.

[Name] nodded, “Very.”

It was then that the clock finally hit 1pm and Baek Yoonho shouted, “Everyone! Get ready to go in!” getting the attention of the remaining crew. Some of which were wondering why they were even here. With an S-Class hunter leading the group, were they really needed? Without a doubt, Baek Yoonho would slaughter every single one of the monsters. He was an S-Rank after all. As if he read their minds, Baek Yoonho turned to the back.

“Remember, I’ll only be assisting you when you’re in a pinch. Other than that, you all will be doing most of the work. Got it?” he said. The three B-Rank hunters swallowed and stood up straight.

“Yes, sir!” they shouted.

With that, the six hunters entered the gate.

The moment they entered, a swarm of bug-like creatures flew out of their hiding place, responding to the intruders. Immediately with a wave of their hand and a shout, [Name] put up a wind barrier, slicing the insects that were trying to get in clean in half. Those that were already in the barrier had to be dealt with by the three melee hunters, one of which was [Cousin’s Name].

Understandably, [Cousin’s Name] was lost, swinging her spear haphazardly. [Name], who was focusing on keeping up the wind barrier, could only shout instructions to her. Thankfully, the other two hunters dealt with the swarm quickly, allowing a brief moment of downtime as they ventured further in.

Soon enough, they came across a giant wasp nest, much to [Name]’s chagrin. Aside from the massive dirt ball in the middle of the cavern, red glowing eyes accompanied with the occasional yellow and green watched from the holes. Quietly, they whispered into their cousin’s ear.

“Remember, watch their movements and then strike. You can do this.”

[Cousin’s Name] smiled back at them, “Thanks, [Nickname].”

The group took in a deep breath and watched the insects who remained hidden in their home. The air was tense as neither side made a move until Baek Yoonho raised his hand, and lowered it, signalling the attack. Immediately, the two melee hunters dashed forward, running up the walls of the hive and stabbing a knife into the nearest wasp. In response, the bugs flew out, poised to kill the intruders.

[Name] inhaled, summoning the energy between their palms, slowly gathering a strong wind. Just as a wasp turned towards them, it was slashed in half by a wind blade along with its comrades. [Cousin’s Name] on the other hand, was thankfully getting a hang of fighting the fast-moving insects, her spear piercing through several at a time. Her footwork was clumsy, but with practice, she would be a great fighter, [Name] acknowledged.

At least ten minutes passed before the soldiers of the hive were cleared out, leaving only the generals and the Queen Wasp. She had finally shown herself, her large insectoid body hovering above the hive. Baek Yoonho’s eyes glowed for a second before his expression morphed into one of shock.

“You’re telling me this is a B-Rank boss?!” he exclaimed, immediately stepping out into the forefront. [Name]’s eyes darted over to their friend in shock.

“What do you mean, Yoon-ho?!”  

“This queen can’t be a B-Rank, it’s at least an A-Rank or higher,” he said, his hands curled as his claws slowly formed. “Either way, it’s not something you all can defeat singlehandedly. I suggest the rest of you deal with the generals, I’ll take care of the boss myself.”

[Name] swallowed and nodded. How was this possible? An A-Rank boss in a B-Rank dungeon was unheard of! Alas, they had no time to think over this anomaly, as they were immediately engaged in battle with a general. The general was huge, at least 4 feet tall and [Name] realised quickly that their wind blades barely dealt a scratch against its hard exoskeleton. It didn’t help that it was incredibly fast, and within seconds, [Name] was forced into the defensive, putting up a weak wind shield around themselves as they tried to create some distance from the attacking wasp.

[Name] was huffing, sweat dripping down their cheeks as they continuously threw out wind blade after wind blade. Their mana was dangerously low, and if the wasp continued its onslaught, their shield would break in no time. It was then [Name] made the mistake of letting their eyes wander, and they landed on their cousin, to find them cornered by another wasp. They watched in shock as the wasp whacked away the spear [Cousin’s Name] was wielding and raised a sharp arm to attack.

‘[Cousin’s Name]!!” they yelled out as they summoned a strong gale storm in their cousin’s direction, effectively knocking the wasp away, but leaving themselves open for their enemy to attack. In horror, Baek Yoonho tore his eyes away from the queen and leaped towards the mage, transforming mid-jump and tearing through the general, but not before it managed to stab through [Name]’s arm.

“Damn it! Are you okay?!” Baek Yoonho cried out, dashing to the fallen [Name], who was wincing in pain from the deep wound. [Name] gritted their teeth in pain before nodding.

“It’s just a stab wound. I’ll get the healer to tend to it. You need to get back to the Queen, Yoon-ie,” they said through deep breaths. [Name] was right, the queen was already on her way down, attacking anyone who tried to stop her. If Baek Yoon-ho wasted anymore time, [Name] wouldn’t be the only badly injured one.

Yoon-ho clicked his tongue and got back up, this time in half-transformed state. In two slashes of his claws, he tore through the already weakened Queen, successfully clearing the dungeon. [Name] thankfully, received almost immediate attention from the healer, but unfortunately the healer was only a B-Rank and thus could only stop the bleeding, as they had to reserve mana for the other injured hunters. Aside from that, [Name] received a nicely wrapped bandage around their arm, keeping the wound safe from infections. They could only hope Thomas won’t make a huge fuss about the whole injury, especially after he had made Baek Yoon-ho swear to not let anything happen to them.

As the group moved out of the dungeon to allow the clean-up crew to enter, Yoon-ho looked over to his friend worriedly.

“You sure you’re okay?” he asked, a gentle hand on their shoulder as he walked beside them. [Cousin’s Name] had sneakily withdrawn to the back of the group to “allow the two some alone time”.

“I already said I am! Don’t worry so much, Yoon-ie. The healer stopped the bleeding, and all that’s left is for the wound to properly close and I’ll be fine in a couple days,” they said, patting their friend on his back. Yoon-ho could only give a half smile as his gaze remained fixated on their arm.

Gosh, he was an idiot. He should have finished up the boss fight quicker instead of letting [Name] try to handle an elite monster by themselves! If he hadn’t saved them in time… he didn’t dare think of how badly hurt [Name] could’ve been. He didn’t care about Thomas Andre’s conditions, he only cared that [Name] was hurt under his supervision.

As soon as the group exited the portal, they were once again bombarded by the press. He groaned. Right, he completely forgot about this nuisance that he had to deal with. With deep breaths, he steeled himself and forced a confident yet reassuring smile on his face. In a calm voice, he explained that there was an unexpected occurrence, but it was dealt with swiftly and that there was nothing to worry about. He was relieved that the press left after that, allowing the group to return the White Tiger Guild headquarters to recuperate.

However, Baek Yoon-ho did not expect Thomas Andre to be greeting him in his own office, seated right behind his own table, much to his annoyance.

~*~*~

Thomas Andre grinned the moment Baek Yoon-ho and [Name] walked in and he stood up to greet the two.

“Hello! You’re Baek Yoon-ho, right?” he asked, in broken (and admittedly rude) Korean, but understandable, nonetheless. Baek Yoon-ho had to hold back a scowl as he muttered to an assistant to get a translator in the room.

“Yes. What brings you here, Mr. Andre?” he replied. He was silently grateful to [Name] for teaching him some English. A man soon rushed in, introducing himself in fluent English as an interpreter.

“I’m here to check in on [Name], like I said I would,” he replied, this time in English. His red eyes then fell onto the bandage [Name] was wearing. “And it appears, you have broken your promise.” The aura around him changed, his face morphed into one of anger. The poor man translating was quaking in his shoes.

“It appears I have. But aside from that, they say they’re completely fine. As you can see, they’re still well and healthy, and I intend to have another guild healer attend to their remaining wounds as soon as possible,” Baek Yoon-ho replied, standing closer to the tall blonde American, his chest held high.

“That is true! Sir, you really don’t have to make a fuss. See! I’m a-okay!” [Name] chimed in, unwrapping the bandage to reveal the slight scab that had formed over the wound.

Thomas hummed to himself as he glanced over [Name]’s injury. “But you still got hurt despite Mr. Baek’s claims that nothing would happen to you.”

“That was entirely my fault. I took my eyes off the monster for a second, and Yoon-ho dove in to save me. Really! If it wasn’t for him, I would have been much worse off!” they tried to explain.

“So, you’re saying you do want to be with the White Tiger guild then, since you’re defending the guild master so much.”

[Name]’s eyes widened, hurriedly protesting against his words. “That’s not what I was saying! I just- Yoonho is my friend and I don’t want you thinking he’s guilty of anything!”

Yoon-ho felt his face warm up, baffled by [Name]’s bluntness. It would make it even better if he wasn’t just a friend to them, but he was glad that he meant so much to them.

Thomas stared the brown-haired man down as he stroked his goatee.

“If you say so, babe. Anyways, I have a proposition for you, Mr. Baek. How about, we decide who’s the stronger one of us here? That way, we’d have a better way to gauge who’ll be more suited to protect them, no?”

[Name]’s jaw dropped. “Hello? I can decide for myself!”

Baek Yoon-ho sighed, “Exactly what they say, Mr. Andre. They can decide for themselves, so if they choose to join the White Tiger guild to be closer with their cousin, then so be it. America is awfully far from their family after all, no?”

Thomas let out a mirthless laugh, “Sure. But it is unfortunate that little [Name] here has wavering loyalties. Think of this fight as more of a…” he thought for a while. “Warning.”

Baek Yoon-ho’s eyes darkened. “A warning, you say?”

“Yes. You see, I don’t like that you attempted to steal one of my guildmates and so by defeating you, I’ll be showing you why you shouldn’t take things that aren’t yours.”

Yoon-ho chuckled, “Very well then, Mr. Andre. I’ll see you downstairs in the Hunter Association’s gym.”

[Name] could only watch in bafflement as the two men made their way out of the office, a bloodthirsty aura hanging around them. Whichever one wins, [Name] knew it wasn’t going to end well.

 Choose your winner:

Thomas Andre or Baek Yoon-ho

[neurodihuegent]

[Weird Sisters AU] "in tenebris magicae: a story's beginning"

Words: 2,495

Chapters: 1/17

Characters: Lena Sabrewing, Webby Vanderquack, May Duck, June Duck, Violet Sabrewing, Black Heron

Summary: Following the tragic loss of her mother, Lena finds herself returning to the Magical Realm to piece together the truth behind the fall of her mother. However, the deeper Lena digs, the worse things become.

(Text Under 'Read More').

Do it for her.

Because she certainly didn't want to do it for herself: If it were up to her, she wouldn't even be here. But the stakes were high, and her next move relied on her being here.

If anything sucked the most, it was that she didn't have her own room anymore: Her roommate, a human named Violet Sabrewing, had woken her up at 5 A.M with the blaring sound of her alarm.

"I like to start early when I study throughout the day," she said.

Lena had managed to get some sleep after being rudely awakened, but not much: It was 7 A.M., and now she had to be awake.

Dragging her legs out of the bed, Lena sat up and stared out of the window for a good five seconds: Everything about this place felt like Earth, but it also didn't. The Sun still rised and shined the way it did on Earth. It was a bit comforting to Lena.

"Late start?" Lena took this as some kind of a joke, but considering what had happened merely two hours prior, she didn't find it any funny. She flashed a glare at Violet before trudging out of the room into the bathroom in the hallway.

Five months ago, Lena felt like she had everything, that the life she had on Earth made her not even want to come here and find out about her roots. Now, she had virtually nothing, and that predicament forced her to be here.

Lena's eyes became fixated on her feet as she neared the bathroom day, replaying the past five months of her life over and over again in her head. The day it happened, the feelings of panic and hopelessness that swallowed her body, how lifeless she looked. It was hard to forget, it was an image that would be burned into her brain for the rest of her life.

Caught up in her mind, Lena didn't notice that there was someone leaving the bathroom as she was walking to enter it. Her body collided with another girl's, sending them both to the ground.

"Hey, watch where you're-" The girl cut herself off once she got a better view of Lena on the ground, "Wait, you're one of the new girls right? Don't tell me you're that human."

Word seemed to spread fast around here.

"You're thinking of Violet," Lena half-smiled, extending a helping hand to the girl once she pulled herself off of the ground, "I'm Lena. Nice to-"

The girl swatted Lena's hand away, glaring at her as she found her composure and stood up on her own. "Either way, watch it." Before Lena could respond to that remark, May stormed off.

Rolling her eyes, Lena pushed the bathroom door open and began her morning routine for the day. Great, Lena thought to herself, I've been here for less than 5 minutes and I already have a target on my head.

--

Lena could feel the eyes burning the back of her head as she took her seat for her first class. From the looks of it, Violet didn't seem to mind to curious and judgmental stares, but Lena hated it. Part of Lena wanted to tell them to find something else to stare at, but another part of Lena just wanted to sit in silence to not make her already rough start, any rougher.

The teacher hadn't entered the class yet, but Lena was sure that they'd ask her and Violet to stand up and introduce themselves, so Lena spent the down time she had now mentally preparing for it. Lena wasn't really a nervous person, but these stares she was getting from classmates whose names she didn't know yet, were enough to melt her into a puddle of timdity.

"Hi, I'm Webby!" Lena hadn't even noticed that this girl had walked up to her, but the piercing shriek she let out was enough to make Lena jumped out of her skin. "Lena." Lena responded sheepishly, looking over Webby's shoulder to notice the girl from the bathroom was shooting daggers at either her, Webby, or the both of them.

They looked exactly alike, so Lena assumed they were sisters.

"You're from the Earth, right? Oh, I have so many questions! What is it like on Earth? What are the animals like? Ooh, what is the foo-"

"Webby, enough," The girl from the bathroom cut her off, and Lena was somewhat grateful for it even though she knew a condescending comment would be following this, "I doubt it's anything interesting compared to what we have here. You don't need to drown her with your questions."

"May, you're no fun." Webby pouted, crossing her arms. She turned back to Lena, saying "It was nice meeting you though!", before she scurried back to her seat next to May and... another girl that looked exactly like them. Triplets?

Her attention on them being triplets was shortened when she went back to thinking about how off putting this May girl had been acting towards her. It soured her mood a bit, thinking about how this girl, for whatever reason, had to make it known that she thought she was better than Lena.

"So you're the human." May seemed to turn her attention to Violet, who just silently nodded in response. Lena felt no connection to this Violet girl, not enough to just mindlessly defend her anyways, but she wasn't opposed to kicking May off of her high horse in defense of her.

"What brings you here?" The other sister, whose name Lena had yet to catch, asked seemingly with innocent intent, "Do you have any powers?"

"Um....no... at least not yet," Violet murmured, fiddling with her hair, "I was actually recruited through the school." Webby and this other sister gave Violet looks of approval, but Lena couldn't help but notice the scowl on May's face.

"Not yet? What do you mean not yet? Either you're born with it, or you're not." May snickered, gaining questioning looks from both of her sisters, not that she seemed to particularly care. Violet bowed her head in embarassment, and that's when Lena decided that she had finally had enough of this May girl's attitude.

"What's your issue? This pretentious little mean girl role you're trying to live up to right now, really isn't a good look, you know." Judging from May's reaction, Lena could tell that this girl never had anyone stand up to her before, and that was just pathetic.

"Well thank god I'm not trying to look good for the likes of you." May hissed, and before Lena could get another jab in, the entire classroom was silenced by the arrival of the teacher.

"Welcome to the first day of the new semester." The professor looked like a character straight out of the kinds of old movies Lena's mom used to watch, her hair having flipped ends, and her red dress resembling the style of a Go-Go dress. The professor's prothestic arm, which seemed to be made completely from metal, caught Lena's eye, but it wasn't something she paid too much attention to. Her eyes drifted over to the sister, the one that wasn't May and Webby, and noticed how her entire demeanor changed once this professor entered the room.

"It seems like we have two new students here, Violet Sabrewing, and Lena Duckwell. Nice to meet you two, I am Professor Heron." Lena could've sworn she saw a smirk when the professor had read her name, but she was too busy feeling shocked that she didn't make them stand up and introduce themselves.

Lena's mother always told her that if she were to come back here, if she were to start a new life here, she'd have to conceal her identity. "Duckwell" wasn't the most creative fake last name, but something told her she couldn't exactly waltz in here with the last name "DeSpell". She never knew why she needed to keep her identity a secret, but she wasn't exactly trying to figure out, either.

"Students, you know that I am expecting nothing but the best work from you this semester, especially knowing what's ahead. Now, open your books to page 14..."

--

Lena went to school on Earth, so she knew how dreadful and boring the school days could be, but this first day really drained her of any energy she had left. She had almost ran out of the classroom as soon as Professor Heron dismissed them, and she waited for nobody.

"Hey!" Lena felt a tap on her shoulder, turning around to reveal none other than the other sister whose name she hadn't caught yet.

"Hey."

"My name is June, nice to meet you!" She extended her hand for a handshake, and Lena took it. This June girl seemed much nicer compared to May.

"Nice to meet you," Now that she was here, maybe Lena could get some clarity of the things from class she was still confused about.

"What did the Professor mean when she said something important was ahead? Is it a test?"

"I guess you could say that," June explained, "But really, it's the total eclipse. You know what that is right?" Lena shot her a look that said 'I'm not dumb.' Was it that obvious that she hadn't been touching up on her magic?

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you. I just didn't know if it's ritual on Earth like it is here!"

"So what do you do for it?"

"On Earth, the Total Eclipse only happens every 100 years, but here, it actually happens every 10 years. During the Total Eclipse, all magical forms at their highest level of power. So, the ritual is kind of made to celebrate that, but also to show off that power. But it's not any time soon, actually it's exactly three months away."

Three months? There was no way Lena could master the power that she did, in three months. She didn't even know what she was fully capable of, because on Earth, both her and her mom stressed her living a normal "human" life, and not using any magic. And the rare times that she did use magic, ended up in haywire. Surely, three months was not enough time for Lena to perfect her craft.

"Hmm, sounds like fun...."

"I wouldn't know, this is the first time I've actually been old enough to attend and participate in one!" June flashed a bright, friendly smile, and in a way, it sort of put Lena at ease. After all, she was the first person here that Lena was able to maintain a normal conversation with.

"Oh, and sorry about my sister earlier, she can be a bit.... overbearing," June said, her cheery tone of voice shifting into a more serious one, "But if it makes you feel any better, I'd take it as a compliment. It means she sees you as a threat." Lena sent her a halfhearted smile in response.

"Oh, thank you. That's... great." The last thing Lena wanted, was some onesided rivalry with a girl she barely knew and barely cared to compete with, especially given said person had the advantage.

Lena and June had reached the end of the corridor, preparing to part ways with each other.

"Well, it was nice talking to you! I'll try to... talk my sister down from whatever pedal stool she's on right now, but I can't guarantee it'll work!"

"As long as you try."

Lena did like this June girl: She seemed to be the middle man of her sisters, the overly hyper Webby and the overly confident May, and Lena thought it was nice. She was definitely the kind of person Lena would be friends with back home, if Lena allowed herself to have friends back home.

But based on the 15 second interaction she had with Webby, she didn't have any negative feelings towards her either: She just had a lot of energy that Lena hadn't dealt with before, and Lena wasn't all to sure she was willing to deal with that energy level now.

Lena had finally made it to the door of her and Violet's dorm room, unlocking the door. Violet was nowhere in near sight, probably utilizing the last couple of hours the library was still open for.

"Well, at least I have some alone time, for now." Lena sighed, flopping onto her bed.

She allowed herself to get lost in her thoughts, reflecting both on the events of today and what happened five months ago. Maybe this total eclipse was exactly what would give her the answers she needed. But for five months, she began seeking answers, trying to piece together what happened and who could've possibly done it. It was caused by Magic, and to her recollection, besides a family residing in Finland, her and her mother were the only magical beings on Earth. But nothing was adding up, and it was starting to look like she would have to figure everything out with the help of someone else.

Lena remembered staying temporarily with the family in Finland after everything had happened: They were familiar with her mother, but knew next to nothing about her. But they offered her shelter, food, and some support whenever Lena wasn't pushing them away, and that felt good enough until it started to feel like time was closing in on her. Until what happened to her mom, would happen to her. So she, with the help of the family, devised a plan to return to the Magical realm during the beginning of the new school year, to get more practice with her magic, and to find the culprit. She didn't know what she was expecting, but she felt a weight of disappointment that she had been here for all of three days, and not even the slightest new discovery appeared.

Suddenly, she heard the door unlock, and knew that Violet was back from her study trip.

"Back so soon?"

"No, I'm actually going back. I just forgot a book."

Lena hummed in response, turning her attention to her phone. There wasn't anything eventful going on social media wise, but it was better than the awkward and forced conversations she and Violet had so far.

"Also... Thank you. For sticking up for me today."

"Don't mention it." Lena sent a grin in Violet's direction, waving goodbye as she left the room again to return to her studies. Maybe Violet was the kind of person she needed on this case: She had no magical powers, at least to both of their knowledge, but she did seem to know an awful lot about the magical realm, especially compared to Lena herself.

It had only been 3 days since she was here, but she was already feeling the weight of the stakes: Lena had to do to whatever it took to avenge her late mother, even if it meant facing the culprit head on.

[the-blind-assassin-12]

Let’s Face the Music & Dance

Part One: There May be Trouble Ahead 

A/N: Alright. Here. We. Go. Got your dancin’ shoes? John is makin’ moves. (Quote in bold taken from Much Ado About Nothing) 

*read the intro here*

Warning: um... narrowly avoided vehicular manslaughter? 

Word Count: 3,492

The air rushed past his face chilling the skin of his cheeks beneath the leather trimmed goggles that he wore as he sped down the open country roads. His carefully slicked back hair had blown free only a few kilometers into the trip, loose strands trailing down and back over his ears. I can’t believe that… He tightened his grasp on the handles, pushing the limit on the speed as he pushed the thought from his mind. The truth was that he could believe, he did believe that his mother thought so little of him. She’d made it quite clear where she placed blame and where she placed expectations. And the former far outweighs the latter, so… He sniffed, his nose red from the cold air and from the way Veronica’s cold comments stung at his eyes. So this is how it has to be. 

He hadn’t planned to make the trip down to Oxford all in one go, nor had he planned to leave home that day. But I couldn’t stay, not after… Trees blurred into countryside, rolling hills and pastures full of sheep flying by as John left everything he knew behind him in hopes that he could make something new of himself; something successful and worthy of rehabilitating the Whittaker name. Worthy of showing everyone that they were wrong about me. He tucked away as much of the hurt that his mother’s words and decisions had caused him as he could, stuffing it into the emptiness that the dissolution of his marriage had left him feeling. It won’t do any good to dwell...to continue to...to wallow. 

After Larita and his father absconded from the estate in a flurry of shattered statuary and broken hearts, John hadn’t come down from his room for nearly a week. He’d quickly realized that while he did love her, and he was sure that she had loved him- at least while we were together in Monaco- the two were about as unlikely to last as ice cream on an August afternoon. There were too many differences, too many areas of their lives that were complete and utter mismatches. But still, the fact that he’d taken her hand and taken the leap only to end up on the ground alone was… lonely, I felt...I felt alone. He’d thought that being married, having a wife, being her husband, would mean that he’d never have to feel that way, and certainly not so soon after taking that leap did he expect to crash. It wasn’t that he missed Larita. It was that he felt as though he had failed himself by grabbing the wrong hand. 

But shortly after he’d realized that it wasn’t her absence that was causing the ache in his chest but the connotations of that absence, John started to come back to himself. His mother, it seemed, had already gotten past the pain of her own crash, likely before she’d even hit the ground, and he was hurt all over again by the fact that he was alone in feeling alone. The truth, as he’d learned, was that not only had Veronica made peace with the fact that her marriage hadn’t been what it once was for a very long time, she’d also made peace with selling even more of their property to a banker named Harold Roberts, and marrying Hilda off to his son Walter. It was an attempt to keep what little they had left, but it was an attempt that excluded John completely. While Marion seemed content to be overlooked, believing, as Veronica had always said, that marriage would never be the route that she went down, John on the other hand, felt as though the rug had been pulled from beneath him. 

It was no use fighting with his mother once she made her calculating mind up, though, and so he chose to go on with his plan regardless of the other that was hatching. Phillip Hurst, in his own attempt to try to make something meaningful of his life, had decided to attend Oxford University, and John had decided to join him. He wasn’t quite sure what he’d study, or where it might take him, but he knew that it was a much better plan than waiting around to make another dangerous leap. He spent the rest of the trip from Nottinghamshire ruminating on what courses he might take, on what knowledge he might gain. Phillip had chosen to study Literature, which to John made sense, as his friend had always had a flair for the dramatics, but sitting still and reading for hours on end was not something that John could see for himself. Still, Phillip had been supportive of John’s choice to enroll in University, quoting Shakespeare in a telegram that John supposed was meant to be comforting. “Everyone can master grief but he that has it… so leave it behind and join me!” 

Four hours since leaving the home he wasn’t sure he’d ever get to call his again, John Whittaker arrived in Oxford, England. He pushed the goggles up onto his forehead to get a better view of the city and of the buildings that constituted the University. Feeling better, if only for the moment, he took a deep breath and allowed himself to feel hope for the first time since he watched his wife and father exit his life. This is… I’m really… 

But before he could fully enjoy the feeling or the moment, a young woman was shouting as she leapt out of the way of his bike. Taking his eyes off the road to appreciate his new situation had caused him to veer slightly off course, sending him careening towards the walkways. Oh! Quickly turning the handles, he narrowly avoided crashing into the woman, though he hadn’t avoided the bush right beside her, ending up halfway into the greenery before he could stop. Right. Well. I’m here. 

“Would you watch where you are going? You nearly knocked me over there with your carelessness! Who even…” You’d dropped your books when you’d had to jump from his path, your skirt twisting around and your top askew. 

What? I...Oh, I… “I’m sorry, I’m so…” He pulled the motorbike out of the bush and bent down to pick up one of your dropped texts, handing it back to you as a page fluttered out onto the ground. “Are you alri-” You snatched it back from him with one hand, the other pulling at your clothing to fix it back into place. 

“No, I am not alright! As I said, sir-” 

“It’s John, actually, John Whittaker, and I’m very-” 

“As I said, John, you nearly knocked me over with your,” you gestured at his motorbike with the book, “your ridiculous cycle here, and I-” 

“But you aren’t hurt, are you?” He asked as he stepped towards you, the sincerity in his eyes clearer than the embarrassment. He looked you over quickly scanning your elbows, your face, the small amount of skin that was visible beneath the hem of your skirt. She’s not bleeding, I don’t see any-

You blew out a breath in a huff and shook your head. “No, I’m not hurt, but you should… You need to be more cautious.” 

Nodding profusely, he agreed. “You’re right, I should be more careful, it was foolish of me not to pay more attention.” You seemed to be expecting him to disagree and were caught off guard by the lack of fight he put up, your sharp eyes softening the smallest amount. “Can I… do you need any help or… can I walk you to wherever it is you were going?” The soft look vanished as one eyebrow shot up, but before you could open your mouth to protest his forwardness, he continued. “I don’t mean to be forward, I only want to make sure that you’re truly not hurt. It seems the least that I can do after, well after,” he tilted his head towards the motorbike, a broken branch of leaves sticking in the spokes of the front wheel. “After I almost ran you down, Miss..?” 

You narrowed your eyes at him as you tried to decide what his intentions might be. I only want to make sure that I don’t leave my mark on your life like I do everywhere I go. Blowing out another breath through your nose as you fixed your sleeve, you told him your name, which he repeated in his mind immediately, not ignoring the fact that he liked the way it sounded. No, don’t start that now, that’s not why you’re here. “Um… no, I, er…” you nodded curtly. “I’m alright, John, and I need to be going now or I’ll be late to my study group. Just...just be more careful, and keep your tires on the road, will you?” With that, you turned and kept walking down the path you’d been on before he’d disrupted your day. 

“Excellent first impression on Oxford, Whittaker!” Phillip’s voice called from across the street, and John turned to see his friend ambling towards him with a laugh lifting his cheeks and lighting his face. “If you’re done running down students, why don’t you pull that heap of rubbish out of that bush and follow me, I’ll show you to the dormitories. 

..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  

A few days after moving into the dormitory hall, John decided to use the last remaining days before formal instruction began to familiarize himself with his new surroundings, striding out into the early autumn sunshine and strolling the paths. Not two minutes into his walk, he found you, walking the same path he’d run his vehicle up onto the day before. What are the odds? Wanting to ensure that you were still alright after what had happened, he crossed the road, waving one arm as he called your name. 

You turned, an unsure look on your face as your name hit your ear that vanished the second you saw him, replaced with a slightly exasperated expression. “Oh, it’s you, the motorbike man.” 

The motorbike man? He shook his head. Not important. “H-how are you? Are you still...are you alright?” He blinked as he looked you over, suddenly aware of the way that you were looking at him. Oh, she’s… 

“Yes, I’m alright.” You raised one hand towards the road. “No one has tried to run me down yet today, and since you’re here and your cycle is not, I presume that I’m safe. For now.” You nodded. “Now, If you’ll excuse me, I do have an appointment with my advisor and so-”

Oh! She’s a student? She- “So you… you study here then? You’re a student?” John’s eyes flicked from your face to the imposing structure that you were walking towards, its chimneys looming above the brick building. 

“Well aren’t you brilliant?” Your teasing answer came from the corner of your lips as you continued to walk along as though John wasn’t trying to have a conversation with you. 

Brilliant? That’s the last- “Brilliant? Oh, no, I think that-”  

“No?” Turning to face him, you brushed your hair back behind your ear, and John couldn’t help but notice the way that the skin at the corner of your eye scrunched as you looked over at him.  “You aren’t brilliant then?” 

Not if you ask- “Well, not if you ask-”   

Cutting him off, you adjusted the small stack of books that you were carrying. “I’m asking you, Jack, is it?” 

“It’s,” he gestured to himself. “It’s John, actually.” 

“Yes,” you winked at him. “That’s right. John. John Whittaker.” Yes, that’s me, she remem- “John Whittaker, the man who nearly knocked me off my feet with his motorbike just the other day.” You’d stopped walking, pausing at the corner to wait for a baker’s delivery truck to trundle slowly through the intersection. 

The smell of still warm, freshly baked loaves wafted through the air, reminding John that it had been nearly a full day since he’d eaten anything. His empty stomach rumbled loudly to confirm that, par for the course, nothing since he’d left home the previous day had gone as he had hoped it might. The echo of his mother’s words tumbled in his ear, but he shook his head to empty it, returning his attention to you. “That was...well it was…” The truck passed through the intersection, turning a corner, and you promptly began crossing the road. He stepped off of the curb, crossing just behind you. A cool breeze swept some leaves about your feet and ruffled the hem of your skirt, adding to the clipped click of your heels on the hard road. The image of you sprawled across the street, books strewn about and your elbows scraped flashed quickly through his mind, but he blinked it away. That’s not what happened, only what could have happened. A small frown pulled his lips downward as he thought about the trouble he’d almost caused with his carelessness. Catching up to you, he stepped onto the sidewalk at the same instant that you did, speaking your name with such earnest apology in his tone that you actually faced him with a hint of sympathy in your eyes. “I’m sorry. What happened yesterday was boorish of me and, well, well I only wanted to say that I’m glad that you weren’t hurt. And if there’s anything that-” 

“John.” You pressed your rouged lips together before letting them slide into a slight smile. It wasn’t a joyous expression, or one of surprised excitement, but it changed the light in your eyes, softened the hard outer shell that he suspected was necessary as a female student at Oxford. He wasn’t prepared, though, for the way that it felt to hear you speak his name and know that after it had left your lips, they curved into that small smile. A small breath escaped his lungs, and suddenly he felt much warmer than the autumn temperature should allow. “I was only teasing you. I know you didn’t mean to barrel through that crosswalk on that...thing of yours.” A short burst of air from your nose served as an amused little laugh and you shook your head, John watching as your lips curved upwards a little more. “You have nothing to apologize for.” You held up one finger, shifting your books in your arms. “Yet.” The smile turned smirkish as you turned and continued walking.

Instantly, the phantom guilt from what almost happened dissipated, and where he first felt uncertainty about where he stood with you, he was invigorated with new hope. For what? I’m not… I didn’t come all this way just to… It was even hard to think it, but he forced himself to, if for no other reason than that he deserved to give himself a fair chance at this endeavor, and not allow himself to fall quickly into something that would derail that chance. I didn’t come all this way just to replace Lari. Having passed, the thought that seemed difficult proved itself to be unnecessary as he realized that even though he’d not known you more than a collective twenty minutes, you were nothing like his ex-wife. “Well, I hope to continue that streak of having no need for apologies then.” 

“Is that so?” He nodded. “To what end?” 

“To what..? To what end? Well, to the end of…” Think, Whittaker, and fast. “Well perhaps to the end of studying together some time.” It sounded like a suggestion or a line and he knew it thought it truly wasn’t, but luckily your temporary suspension of teasing remained in place. 

“You want to study with me, John?” You raised an eyebrow as you began walking again. 

“Well, yes. I mean, that is to say, if you don’t-” 

“Do you even have any idea what courses I am here to study?” The smirk still hadn’t left your face and he was beginning to forget the way your tight frown looked in favor of this more relaxed demeanor. “Do you even have any idea of what courses you’re here to study?” 

“Well, of course I know what I’m here to study,” he answered quickly without actually answering. He confidently imagined you seated at a piano, and could almost hear the comments you would make on The Mona Lisa. Yes, Arts & Music, I’m almost certain. “And if I were to guess, I’d say that you are enrolled in the-”   

“Philosophy, actually,” you tossed your correction of his assumption over your shoulder, where it bounced with your curls and hit him smack in the face. His eyes grew even wider, mouth dropping open as yours scrunched to the side in a failed attempt to contain your burst of laughter. “Not at all what you were expecting, I presume.”  

John quickly shook his head, closing his gaping mouth and hurrying toward the sign post, grabbing onto it and swinging himself around so that he was next to you once more. “Not, not what I was expecting.” He pushed the loose strands of hair that had fallen in front of his face back over the crown of his head. “It's only that,” letting go of the sign post, he stuck both hands in his pockets and focused on keeping stride with you down the sidewalk. Since I can’t seem to keep stride with the conversation. 

You turned, raising one eyebrow and tilting your chin. “It’s only that?” Pausing long enough to make him sweat but not long enough to let him answer, you continued. “It’s only that women don’t-”  What? No, I… “It’s only that we should only be allowed to study certain-“ 

Once again, John scrambled ahead of you, his head shaking furiously from side to side. “No.” He gestured with his hands, crossing them in front of his body before sweeping them out to his sides, and while you had let out an exasperated breath, your eyes rolling as you did, he was glad to see the hint of a smile pulling at your lips again. That’s a relief. Come now, don’t mess it all up, John. “It’s only that Philosophy… well it sounds so,” Your smile turned slightly more amused as it climbed up into your cheeks as you started walking again. John followed closely at your heels. “Well It’s only that Philosophy sounds so dull.” He could tell that it was the wrong thing to say, yet nonetheless there the words hung in the crisp air.  

But before he could worry that he’d offended you yet again, you laughed, the sound light and clear. “Dull?” You asked, “tell me, sir,” it’s John, you know my name is J- “What is dull about learning how to think intelligently about the world in which we live?” 

I hadn’t thought of it that way. “I only meant-“ that you aren’t dull...you aren’t dull at all and-

“You only meant that-“ 

“I only meant,” John stepped around in front of you again, standing directly in your path. “That you don’t seem to be the type of person who likes to be told how to think.” 

You regarded him for a few seconds longer than you had yet to, and he could feel your eyes weighing his. “That is the first correct assumption that you’ve made about me so far, John Whittaker, and it is precisely why I choose to study the classics, the great thinkers.” John cocked his head to the side, brow wrinkling questioningly, not quite following your reasoning. “I want to know how others have looked at the world, so that I can look and form my own opinions. I want to…” You blew out a breath, shaking your head and finally breaking eye contact to stare at the buckle of your shoe as you scuffed the sole across the cobbled walkway. 

“You want to...what?” He dipped his chin to find your eyes again, bringing them back up with his own. 

“I,” But the rest of your sentence was drowned out by the tolling of enormous bells, announcing the hour. You gave a startled gasp, eyes widening. “I have to go, John or I’ll be late to meet with my advisor.” Chewing your lip, you hesitated before spinning away from him. “If you…” If I? You inhaled quickly and finished the rest with that breath. “If you’d really like to study together, meet me in the library tomorrow at two o’clock.” John felt his whole face lift as he nodded. “And John?” You started walking backwards, still looking at him but heading towards the building that he presumed your meeting was in. 

“Yes?” 

“Don’t be late.” With that, you shook your head and laughed quietly, turning and picking up your pace, steps widening and quickening almost into a run. He stood on the cobbled pathway, students and other pedestrians milling about that he hadn’t noticed before, and watched as you disappeared through the brick archway. I won’t be. 

.

.

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Please let me know if you would like to be added or removed from the taglist for this story, and as always, THANK YOU for reading! 

@something-tofightfor​ @its-my-little-dumpster-fire​ @malionnes​ @gollyderek​ @suchatinyinfinity​ @fific7​ @alraedesigns​ @pheedraws​ @valkblue​ @commanderlola​ @thesumofmychoices​

[corpsesareoffline]

A Friend in Need

000

MASTER LIST

Pairing: Corpse Husband x Reader

Summary: From strangers to business partners, to friends, to roommates.

A/N: Welcome aboard to the Corpse Husband’s rabbit hole, where you are most likely discovered him from his blew up Among Us game play! Or that you have known him through his previous horror story narration. Never the less, enjoy!

Word Count: 1.1k

🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀

It all started with your passion and ambition, to hopefully be an influencing writer. You still have not decided what to focus on back then, even now, since the wondrous world of writing includes a lot. Perhaps you would become a novel writer, or an editor for an online media company, or maybe a game story script writer, the possibility are endless. You were still in college, over thinking might not be the best case to start your career. So you took every chance to submit commissions in hopes for early exposure to make life easier after you finished schooling.

One day, watching random YouTube videos due to lack of motivation to work on anything, you stumbled upon Creepy Pasta. Then there it is, you found it.

Horror story narration.

To think about it, it is weird, actually, how people would love to read bone-chilling stories with blood and glory. The thrill, maybe, since not many would experience true horror in their actual lives.

You dug deeper, you listened to more, you read more. The amount of views were not a joke... You could send them your work if they accept commissions!

Your (e/c) eyes twinkled in excitement. You might not get paid, but it was what you wanted to do at the moment. You grabbed your nearest notepad and pen, starting to scribble.

It took you two days. Supernatural related you avoided since it was your first take to write a horror story, so elements that are down-to-earth would be ideal. One time you scraped the whole story and re-write it, two times you edited it to perfect it, three times you read it to ensure everything is right. With a story in hand, all you have to choose is a narrator.

You dug through the videos again searching for a voice best fit to your story. More than twenty voices you heard, but they were either a little bit off... You could be a bit picky at times. You shan’t be discouraged! One shall seek success through determination!

Horrifying Deep Web Story “The Day I Hired a Hitman” ? Curiosity took over you, and you clicked on the an hour clip.

... Wow.

Fuck.

Shit!

You grinned like a child receiving their Christmas gift. You just hit the jackpot. There was no way you would let this chance slip away from your fingertips. His voice was not particularly deep, but the gruff and raspiness made him the perfect candidate for horror story narrations.

He replied your email. He actually did replied and read yours in the coming YouTube video. He even credited your name in the story source! You are much honored from the comments that the story you wrote is captivating and They wished for more from the both of you. Coincidently, Corpse Husband had the idea of reading more of yours if you could write more pieces since you did helped his channel grew a bit more. He felt anxious on reaching you out for that reason, but it felt like the right thing to do. Short emails were exchanged, and eventually you exchanged phone numbers to make communication better.

The messages started from a bit awkwardly formal to casual as both of you were starting to get used to each other. Both of you started to open up to each other when you mentioned to him you were a college student. Turns out you were only a year apart. No wonder you got along easier as the days go by.

I might have just kicked my roommate out. You hit sent in the middle of the night. The sleep-driven Corpse would probably reply, since he seldom sleeps early. You have searched remedies with him in hopes of having him sleep better, but nothing works. He might have just be a night owl, but the fact the he could not sleep in the morning too, then it was out of the question.

How? He replied not after a minute. You rubbed your eyes, had a disagreement. She trashed a party and the neighbors complained. Then she said she wanted neighbors that could accept parties.

Wtf? You could imagine is brows furrow in disbelief. You groaned. You need another roommate to help pay the bills. You chose to move out once you were in college. Your parents were not rich nor poor, buy their earning barely could afford their bills and your daily expenses. You had thought moving out would be the best choice to minimize their pressure. Balancing between schooling, writing stories and having a part time job, it was a miracle you had not collapsed in exhaustion. Though this was not something you would tell him. He did not have to know your financial issues. Wanna hear a story idea?

All ears.

Without a roommate, you had to work twice as hard on everything, and sacrifice some time of sleeping. You were not working on stories on your free time anymore, but rather desperate on finding another roommate.

Corpse knew something was wrong. There was no messages from you for a while two weeks. Even during the finals, you would at least text something complaining the large amount of work. 

(Y/n)? A day went by, you have not even read the message. More than usual. Something was wrong. Maybe you would answer his call. He called your number, it rang all they way until he got sent to voice message. He called again, and you finally picked it up.

“Hello?” Your voice was hoarse. He had not known your voice at all considering it was the first time having a phone call. He replied, “are you okay?”

You hesitated. You wanted to refrain yourself from telling him your situation, but he probably would figure it out in time... You did not really have friends close enough to help you or understand in anyway. He was so far the closest one to you. “I am... financially challenged.”

Desperate in need of income, he interpreted. “So uh... do you... wanna live with me?”

“...Huh?” He shocked you, as if all depression and stress were forgotten at the moment. “Are you sure? Like, really sure? I don’t want to be a burden to you! I mean, I know you don’t usually socialize with others unless their friends or you really have to. I mean we are friends! At least what I see both of us are. I will pay for the bills too. If you’re really really really uncomfortable with it you don’t have to...”

“(Y/n),” you stopped your ramblings. He sounded so sincere. “I’m okay with it. And I insist.

“I just wanted you to be okay.”

You sniffed. How lucky you were to have met this sweet man. You kept in mind you would repay him soon.

I was not until later you learned both of you lived in California.

======

A/N: It’s been a while since I’ve written a fanfic. Hope you enjoy it! I’m planning on writing more including Among Us in the future. UWU

[elseaa]

Stop to lying to me, fanfic Nedport chapter one.

Pairing: Nedport

Timeline: Humain Au

Word: 2477

All the students entered the classroom when the ringing of the university bells. Marianne had already joined Rosa, chatty together as usual, they sat next to each other. A few minutes after the beginning of the course, the door opened slowly, João entered the room step by step of wolves, the teacher did not pay even attention to him. Marianne then moved from a seat to let him sit between them.

-Is that your calendar delay this week? Is she giggling.

-Get used to it! It won’t change, there is a way I have a date tonight." He explained by putting his notebook on the desk.

-Still a blond, I suppose? Did she casually question him?

Joao nodded and showed to the girls the pictures of a blond with brown eyes, very beautiful of course, however, they did not seem really approved for that. Towards the end of the first hour of class, Marianne gave a little nudge to her Portuguese friend.

-The handsome guy is still looking at you!

-I have already told you that he is not my type.

-You seem to be his, he is handsome, though said the brunette, touching his ponytail.

-Don’t touch my hair! You know I don’t like it…

-eheheh if I were a handsome boy I’m sure you wouldn’t mind.

-João, you have been single for so long.... You should think about finding someone.

-And I’m fine to be single !

João then cast a discreet glance at the boy sitting behind him, their looks crossed again in the space of a short second, just like last week and the week before.

-Give him a chance. He’s tall and blond, it’s perfect, isn’t it? Argue the blonde.

-I am. not. interested. by him. You know that my last relationship wasn’t very happy so…. Did he reply dry while being cut off by the professor?

-SILENCE the three of you!! I would like to be able to continue giving my lesson ! If you are not interested in attending then go out !

The two companions rose up in surprise, stopped bothering their friend and finally decided to follow the course while giggling a little, no question of abandoning their mission to finally couple their beloved João. As for him, he put his things in his backpack, annoyed as much by the class as by the girls' words.

-Will you give me the notes? Asked Joao

-Yes, yes ! they answered together

-Rosa, since you write badly, you will give her yours. 

-but…

The professor sighed, even if he would have preferred that all three come out, at least the silence had returned.

-For this second hour of class, I will explain the tasks of the work to be done in pairs for next week.

At these words, the two girls looked at each other, each smiling on their face, their friend’s partner was already chosen!

The rest of the hour went on without a hitch, Abel then approached the two pretty girls, pretending to strike them with his eyes.

-I would like to know where João is?

-Oh. Euuuh, of course. I will give you his number. Said Marianne.

This surprise left Marianne empty-handed, who then tore a small piece of paper from her pad of paper to write a number she handed to Abel. He took him in hand without saying a word and encoded him in his phone, his strict look prevented anyone from knowing what he was thinking.

-Normally, when it dries it hangs out in the Cambre wood or the bars of the Cemetery of Ixelles.

-Thank you. He answered dry.

He then moved away from the two girls by crunching the piece of paper in his pants and went to look for her from his partner.

-Ouuuuf! I thought he was angry that they put him with João!" exclaimed Marianne, finally reassured.

-Thanks God! I am still alive !

-Do you think it was right to pair them?

-I wonder… Maybe nothing will happen. Confia Rosa. 

-Ah… But it’s not really our problem anymore ! All he had to do was be present at the class, but I say that I said nothing, right, Rosa?

-It’s for work!

-They will only do it once at the cottage, not need to make a cheese ! I am really looking forward to knowing what will happen, we will know everything tomorrow

Finally, Joao had not gone far, he was staying on campus to eat a little and reread his courses in peace and in the sun. Although Abel had sent him a text, he received no reply when he suddenly saw him about twenty meters away accompanied by a blond with smooth hair of about his size who did not seem to act in a very pleasant way, Probably complaining about him and raising his voice angry while Joao didn’t seem to be comfortable with the boy, trying to escape. Abel, who was unable to understand their conversations from so far away quickly approached them, no question of letting his partner run away when suddenly he grabbed his ponytail to intimidate him, Joao then violently pushed him away, getting himself snatched some hair on the way.

-Let go of me! I hate being touched by my hair!

-Tsss.. I’m out of here. 

At these words, João was finally relieved of a burden, he then turned, feeling a presence very close to him who had seen the whole scene, which disturbed him a little.

-I need you

-What do I need? He asks, on the defense.

Abel then handed him the explanatory sheets of the work with their two first names.

-The teacher has given us a job to do and your friends have decided that you will do it with me."

-What? » But I never wanted to do it with you !

-I don’t give a shit so you follow me that we finish this story quickly. Abel insisted.

-What doesn’t make you say I have other plans for tonight?

-Don’t you have one that just canceled right now? The sooner we finish, the less time you’ll have to rub shoulders with me

Abel was right and even though he was still angry, João followed him without saying a word. Abel simply warned him that they would first pick up his little brother at school before going to his house.

———

They arrived in front of Abel’s little brother’s school, when the end of school was rung, a lot of children rushed to their parents or caregivers, many of them had drawings or crafts in their hands. It was then that an little blond head dressed in white and blue and with a big smile came out of the crowd while directing towards Abel and João, presenting a very colorful drawing.

-Big Brother !! Look I drew Pelze!

-This is a very beautiful drawing, we will put it in the living room, give me your satchel

Abel crouched down to took his satchel and drawing in hand while stroking his head.

-It is that you draw very little man ! said Joao

-Merciii, Pelze is my dog ​​and this is the big brother's rabbit, are you a friend of my big brother? Your name is comment He asked smiling.

-Hmm ... well, yes ?… I’m João

-Nice to meet you, my name’s Mickael! And look, I  won 5 euros at school ! Look !

-It's the third week that you bring back 5 euros, where do you get them from? Asked his big brother again.

Little Mickael, nine years old and proudly showed his five-euro note that only god knows how he got there, so he explained about his day on the tram journey, getting along very well with João while Abel was much calmer while remaining very attentive. Joao then sighed in listening to him speak.

-If only my little brother was so cute

-Antonio?

-Do you know my brother?

-I have Spanish lessons with his boyfriend, believe me towards the end of each lesson, he is always the same idiot who beckons him at the window

-No mistake it's him !! He said, giggling.

-We see that you are brother, you look very similar

Abel began to stare at João who, following these words, had just offered him an expression full of self-confidence.

-Certain but I remain more beautiful than him! He affirmed by quibbling one of her locks of hair

-It is true. Said Abel

Joao stopped short at Abel's unexpected words but little Mickael was too busy telling his day for him to speak more, he contented himself with a discreet glance at Abel who vaguely gave him the time to a few seconds.

——-

About ten minutes later, arriving from Watermael-Boisfort, not far from the forest, they finally got off the tram. Lots of nature was present in the neighborhood where they lived, close to a large lake and two large green spaces, it was very quiet during the day, you could hear some birds, all the houses were very large, pretty and well decorated . Arriving in front of one of the houses, Abel then passed the very flowery front yard, in particular with tulips and poppies and took his keys from his pocket to open the door. Michael ran into the house as quickly as possible.

-Pelze !!

The young puppy who was waiting for him wisely in front of the door jumped into the open arm of his young master, happy with his return.

-We are back !

At these words, the pretty African who took advantage of the sunbeams in their garden returned to the house to welcome them with a big smile.

-I was waiting for you my loves ! How was your day ?

She then noticed that her sons were accompanied by João, the surprise could be see on her face, Abel brought friends so rarely to the house that her mother did not even remember the last one !

-Why didn't you tell me you were bringing a friend ?! She exclaimed.

-It's for group work, it was done today and ...

He didn't even have time to finish his sentence as the African woman, named Fatoumata, headed for the stairs, climbing a few steps.

-My darling !! Come see ! Abel brought a friend!

-Really ?!!!

—-

Some footsteps echoed on the stairs, an adorable little blonde with very long hair came to greet João, both were very cheerful with his presence and assailed him with questions and did not stop complimenting the fact that he was a very handsome boy. Abel knew very well that they shouldn't be disturbed at the time, it was the same for every new friend of their children. João then answered the questions kindly, also thanking them for the welcome and said that he ate everything. Michael took care of putting his harness on to his dog, really looking forward to going for a walk in the park. Abel then went into the kitchen and opened the fridge, without wasting time, a large ball of fur passed the garden door, he handed a celery stick to his rabbit, which rose on its hind legs trying to catch the vegetable, when he finally had it between his teeth, he took it like a trophy like a dog would have its bone in its mouth to bring it on the outside courtyard leading to the garden and ate in front of the sun. Abel then looked more closely at the kitchen worktop, something was missing!

-Sophie! Where are my waffles ?!

-Oh, Bella took them on the way home, it's for her friends. Responded her mother. 

-I told her to leave me two or at least one! Complained Abel

-According to her they were missing, so you already took them this morning ! Said Sophie.

-Sorry ? But it was the same last week! Whenever we make cakes or waffles, I ask her to leave some, then she takes everything and accuses me of accusing her of stealing everything !!

-But I can't help it! Look, she's in the midst of a teenage crisis so you're getting on with her

-But…

-There is no but ! With that, we're going to walk the dog and do some shopping for tonight

The blonde then dressed in her jacket, following her wife taking her hand as for Mickael was already outside with Pelze's leash, still full of energy.

-And see you later boys ! Said the second mother.

——

The house was finally quiet, João stared at Abel for several seconds.

-You don't call them moms?

-I .. not often, I consider them as my mothers however, they adopted me with my sister and my brother when I was 11 years old then ...

Abel paused his explanation, unable to look the Portuguese in the face, so he touched the scar he had on his eyebrow.

-So when I call them moms, I always have the face of my biological mother and father in my mind ... These are some bad memories. Explained Abel. 

-Oh .. Excuse me for asking

-You shouldn't worry, we're very happy now, I really love my mothers. Abel said smiling.

Joao blushed at his smile, it was the first time he saw him with such an expression on his face, contrary to the first idea he had made of him, he was actually quite handsome.

Abel then grabbed a few snacks and a drink and went up to his room with Joao. They both opened their macbooks on his large desk. His room was quite large, decorated with travel souvenirs and some pictures where he didn't really smile as usual. The windows in the room were large and the room very bright, Abel closed his curtains to avoid having the sun in their eyes.

Before starting the work, Abel took the time to explain the course to him but when they started to write the text, João seemed to have writing difficulties of which Abel complained however, he was much better than him to find the documents most relevant. Two hours passed, the task was much longer than he thought. João then got out of the office chair to collapse in the big green beanbag that was used for Abel's video game and reading.

-I can't take it anymore ! I need a break !

-I don't mind, we've already made enough progress

Calm had set in when João noticed the look Abel was giving him, he then sported a sly smile, Abel approached him, disturbing by that little smile.

-What makes you laugh ? Asked Abel.

-And therefore I am more beautiful than my brother? He finally asked

-That ?! It's nothing more than a fact, he looks like an idiot while you are ... well ...

-Why are you embarrassed? Stop lying to me, I see it at each class that you devour my eyes.

He then rested his hand on his thigh and grabbed him by the collar to put his lips on hims while Abel ran his hand through his soft hair to undo his ponytail.

[unicyclehippo]

beau + caleb “People are staring.” “Just trust me.”

In a world a step to the left of the one we know, Caleb was never swept into the work of his Master Ikithon, and Beauregard Lionette—eldest child of Thoreau Lionette—was sent not to the Cobalt Reserve but northwards, to the capital. In some ways, the world they inhabit is very similar. In other ways, it is entirely changed.

//

Beauregard—Beau, as she insists on—wears her age awkwardly, all knobbled knees and elbows and neck, like one of those wobbly just-born horses who insist on walking and running and racing an hour after they are born, just because they can. She’s like that too—always running, not walking.

‘Guten morgen, Beau. Did you do your readings?’ he asks her, as he always does. He appreciates the stability of their routine, even if he doesn’t appreciate her answer.

‘Nope.’

‘You must do your readings if you wish to progress in your lessons,’ he says, putting no effort toward convincing her. If she has resisted this long—four tutors, him being the fifth—and a half dozen months, then she has plans of her own that he isn’t privy to, and doesn’t need to be. ‘We can begin in Duroski’s Theories of Combustion, chapter four—if you do not wish to do that, please say it, don’t throw your book at my head.’

‘If I threw it at your head it would’ve hit you,’ she tells him. ‘I threw it over your head.’

Bren lifts his head from its duck. ‘Is there something else you wish to do?’

‘Do you ever get tired of being boring?’

‘No.’

Beau throws her head back. Groans.

Bren doesn’t know who she is, beyond resolutely being the least capable student in Master Vollod’s class, and he doesn’t need to. He is paid whether she learns or not. She turns up to each session, and sits and waits, and sometimes he is sure that he sees a gleam of interest in some of the subjects, and yet she never makes a move to take notes or complete her essays or attempt the magic.

‘Chapter Four,’ he reads aloud, since she makes no move to collect her own text. ‘Combustion—or burning—is a high-temperature exothermic redox chemical reaction between a fuel, called the reductant, and an oxidant—‘

Beau slumps lower in her seat and lets her eyes glaze over as she stares at the ceiling, unseeing and not hearing Bren’s words. It isn’t long before Bren begins to scrawl his own notes into his book, drawing from this basic textbook for his own essay on advanced evocation methods, and if he forgets to read aloud, Beau doesn’t point it out.

//

She doesn’t like magic, he learns after an embarrassingly long time of tutoring her. It isn’t even from a question he has asked her, or a conclusion he came to on his own, but one that he overhears as he makes his way to their table in the Reading Room of Soltryce’s smallest library.

‘—would make some sort of attempt -‘

‘No.’

‘You have the potential to be great!’

‘I have no intention of being great at this shit!’

‘Your family isn’t paying for you to waste your life, your potential,’

‘That’s exactly what he’s doing. I don’t give a fuck what he’s paying—I am never writing so much as a single fucking rune,’ Beau hisses with so much acid on her tongue Bren expects the assistant to melt with it.

‘You’re being a child. He only wants what is best for you,’

Beau laughs, a bitter little laugh. There’s a shift of movement and then a gasp and Bren peeks around the stacks to find Master Vollod’s assistant, Torok—Tammy—T-something—with her hand on Beau, gripping her arm tight. They’re close together, the assistant hissing into Beau’s ear, and the younger girl’s face goes carefully blank.

Bren has talent with fire. He knows how it works, feels a connection to it that he does not feel to the other elements. Adores—in a way, a depth, he does not feel for many things—the warmth of it, adores its constant shift and change, the way it refuses to settle to one space or another. It is wild and grand. Powerful, dangerous, immensely helpful. It is magic, Bren believes. He has studied it in depth for years, and so he does not believe himself mistaken in seeing Beau’s eyes burn at whatever the assistant says to her.

‘Call me that again,’ she says, ‘and I’ll break your face.’ She wrenches her arm from the assistants pinching grip. Takes one step and then another back, before she turns on her heel and walks unerringly to Bren.

He has a moment to wonder if he should pretend he had only now come across her, but Beau looks entirely too knowing so he just says,

‘Guten morgen, Beau.’

‘Ermendrud.’

‘Have you done your—‘

‘No.’

Bren rocks back on his heels, clicks his mind to his next comment since she has moved their pace up. ‘You must do your—‘

‘Can we go outside?’

Bren blinks. That is outside of his experience with Beau, but he also doesn’t see a problem with it. He also doesn’t like the way Beau has grown tense, hands making fists at her sides. He also doesn’t like the way the assistant is watching them.

‘Ja. Ja, of course.’ He sets the textbook into his book bag. Steps out of her way. ‘Lead the way.’

//

‘I do not think this is permissible,’

‘It’s fine, dude, I’ve done it hundreds of times.’

‘That does not mean it is permissible,’ he points out. ‘People are looking—they are staring at you, Beau—‘

‘Trust me. I won’t let you get in trouble, man.’

Despite the way worry scratches at his spine, Bren looks up at her face, her tension slowly relaxing into an expression he doesn’t know of her, and his body moves before his brain can decide to. Bren follows her up onto the crate and the roof of the stable from there, and up onto the sloping tiled roof of the Resident Hall.

‘This is-‘ he pants, clinging to the roof as a slick tile makes one foot slip from beneath him, ‘terrifying.’

She laughs.

Bren thinks it is the first time he has heard her laugh with happiness. It is not pretty the way the court ladies laugh, breathy little things, coy, hidden behind soft hands and fans and other feminine instruments Bren does not understand. Beau’s laughter is harsh and too-loud. Bren doesn’t mind.

‘It’s fun.’

‘Your concept of fun and mine are - oh boy - markedly dissimilar,’ he says a little shakily, still climbing higher to join her, and then a brown hand reaches down for him and another grasps the scruff of his collar and yanks him up to more stable footing. Helps him to sit on the ridge of the roof, red tiles sun-warmed. When he finally feels stable—or at least as though he is not about to fall—he looks across at his student.

‘You do not like magic,’ he says. He’s been thinking about it for the entirety of the climb and before, since overhearing the conversation.

‘...No.’

‘Why are you at the Academy if you do not care for it?’

‘Parents want me here,’ she tells him dully. Her expression is closing down again, and it sends a pang of upset through him.

‘Ah. What - if you wish to tell me - what would you...prefer to be doing?’

Beau squints sideways at him. ‘Why?’

‘I am a curious man.’

‘You’re a weird man.’

Bren frowns. ‘Hey.’

‘What? You’re saying you aren’t?’

He considers his hobbies and passions and the whispers he has heard of others opinions of him. ‘Mm. I think I am.’

‘You definitely are.’

‘I think you are as well. Strange. Not a man.’

Beau flips him off. He thinks about returning the gesture but both hands are solidly placed on the roof and there they shall remain.

‘May I ask another question?’ He waits for her to shrug. ‘If you do not care for magic, why do you continue to attend our sessions?’

‘Had to. Tori threatened to tell my dad if I ditched another tutor.’

Bren feels a frown crumple his own brow. ‘Oh.’

Beau’s eyes cut over to her. She’s very young, still, and hasn’t learned how her face works as the youth strips away from it and she grows into her heavy brows and thin lips and stately nose. Try as she might to hide her sudden apprehension, it still bleeds through.

‘Plus,’ she says, nonchalant, ‘you’re fine. Cool, or whatever.’

‘You just called me weird.’

‘Yeah, but it’s fine. It’s whatever. You’re fine.’

Bren parses it out. Nods. ‘We are friends.’

‘I did not say that.’

[cornholio4]

Down with the Miracle Queen

author’s note: A comment by Gryphinwyrm7 on my End of the Queen’s Reign inspired me to do this. Consider this a spiritual sequel to that story even if it’s not the same universe. I have only seen a  bit of the episode online but I have read about it and working with what I have. Haven’t seen the first part of the finale yet (though read about it online of course) with episodes still yet to air, not because of some controversial content but because the show has the most bizarre air schedule I have ever seen for a show. I have seen episodes aired out of order before but usually they don’t do it for the season finale. In here Lukanette gets together and stays together. What does it say when I don't want a redemption for Chloe and Lila and yet I am a She Ra: Princesses of Power fan who does want one for Catra? Plus as a fan of Once Upon a Time I was rooting for Rumpel to get his redemption? But I didn't want one for Starlight Glimmer and still don't?

Marinette Dupain-Cheng had just been declared the new Guardian of the Miraculous and her mentor Master Fu was now retired. Plus while Chloe as Miracle Queen had the Miraculous box (including her own one) taken from her, she would now have to retire her temporary Miraculous holder allies since Hawk Moth now knew who they were.

It was bittersweet and Chloe losing her idol worship of Ladybug didn’t really sting, she did truly hope that Chloe would learn how to better herself. Even despite having been bullied by her for years and everything else she had done but it seemed that for Chloe, she would always go back to doing only what was best for her own self interests.

She was about to bug out when she noticed a video camera on a stand and curiously she went to inspect it and saw it was still rolling. It was at a position where it would catch what just happened.

Then a man came up to her and told her “sorry Ladybug, I forgot about it. I was doing a blog video about Paris but then everything happened and I went to hide. I can delete the footage if you want.....”

Marinette then thought about an idea and wondered if she should pull through with it. It seemed a bit mean and a bit unfair but she realised and remembered it was thanks to Chloe, Hawk Moth had so many victims from her school.

It was thanks to Chloe she had to save her parents’ life from a train accident. Just now it was thanks to Chloe that Hawk Moth was so close to winning.

“Actually, do you think I can please have that footage and I will make sure you will be credited for it.” Marinette asked and the man was happy to comply with the request from one of Paris’ superheroes. He gave his name and Marinette thanked him for it after getting the footage.

She needed to take the video footage to Alya for her plan, just because she will now have to retire Rena Rouge doesn’t mean that Alya can’t help her.

Chloe was beyond furious upon getting home to the hotel and learning that her parents were now lovey dovey with eachother. After all she had done for Paris and Ladybug herself, she does this? Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous!

She will make sure Ladybug rues the day and she will find a way to get her Miraculous back one way or another and then she will make sure that Queen Bee will go down as Paris’ best superhero.

After taking a few hours to vent by punching her Ladybug stuff, she decided to text Sabrina about how unfair everything was. However she had seen that Sabrina texted her already. She looked at it and was wide eyed:

Sorry Chloe but we can’t be friends, you becoming obsessed with Ladybug was one thing but this....

Chloe blinked and then furiously wondered how that brat got off texting her like this and for what reason? Whatever, she will come crawling back just like the last time she had done this and tried to replace her with Dupain-Cheng.

She went on the computer and saw that something posted a quarter of an hour ago on Cesaire’s Ladyblog was gaining traction. She sneered and knew it would be congratulating Ladybug and Chat Noir for what happened but clicked on it.

It was titled “Direct Message from Ladybug” and there was a video with her talking to the camera:

“Greetings ladies and gentleman of Paris, I am Ladybug and I am sorry to say that today Hawk Moth came the closest he had ever come to actually winning. I am sorry to say that the secret identities of my allies except for Chat Noir have been compromised. Hawk Moth knows who they are and I can’t risk their saftey but relying on them again, I trust them but I refuse to put the saftey of them and their loved ones in jeopardy. It is all thanks to a betrayal by one of our own. Chloe Bourgeois who you know as Queen Bee betrayed us and sided with Hawk Moth.”

The video then showed the footage of what happened but anything that could reveal the identities of the other Heroes were edited out along with a caption crediting who caught the footage. It clearly showed Queen Bee continuing to fight against Ladybug and Chat Noir even without the Akuma. The audio managed to be heard as well.

Chloe fumed thinking that Ladybug was truly dead to her at last.

“I am sorry that I feel I had no choice but to post this message but you must know this. Chloe Bourgeois sided with Hawk Moth due to the fact that I didn’t want to jeopardise her saftey or her loved ones by letting her to continue being Queen Bee. I can no longer trust her and I am afraid that my previous trust in her was misplaced. I am sorry about all this: Bug out!”

The video ended and Chloe went back on her tantrum, deciding she needed air she went to her balcony only to have her ears filled with furious shouting. She looked down and saw the hotel was swarmed with an angry mob.

The video imploded with views and shares, easily becoming the most viewed and popular anything on the Ladyblog in its history. It easily eclipsed any interview with Lila Rossi.

Chloe had to stay inside for the foreseeable future for her saftey, the mob caused several VIP customers to check out in no time. The Media were in frenzy with this but then came the interviews:

Several parents of students at Francois Dupont talked about how Chloe bullied just about everyone without consequences thanks to her father’s status as the Mayor. Several parents who were in that Parents day relayed the story of how the Mayor wanted to arrest her daughter’s most bullied victim for stealing based on no evidence and fired the police officer when he refused to do so.

The interviews of the students themselves told similar stories and the most popular one came from Aurore Beaureal:

“She had directly told me that once a villain was always a villain, yet at the time I was only akumatized once and she had been akumatized twice before. I guess she was right though.”

Her father had to tell her that the school was suspending her indefinitely while this was going on. Principal Damocles had most parents refusing to let their children attend school with not only a huge spoilt bully but a willing accomplice of Hawk Moth.

But then the interviews of the ones who were on the train she caused to be out of control come out and then things really picked up more than they did before if possible:

It turns out her father had to bribe them into staying quiet about it and not seek legal charges against her. Her father had told them it was a juvenile mistake that will not be repeated and they begrudgingly agreed for the moment, especially since Queen Bee was helping the Superheroes afterwards. They were now going forward with it saying they now regret not doing it before.

Plus the fact that a couple of those passengers were the parents of Marinette Dupain-Cheng, who was Chloe’s most bullied victim.

Her father resigned from office, he knew his days were numbered and felt better to do it gracefully than be forced out.

Then came the authorities from the French Government who were seeking on trying Chloe on top of the yet to be filled cases against her.

It turned out they were watching Paris intensely and were waiting for a sign of anyone working for Hawk Moth of their own free will. The Government and City Council had issued a law saying someone couldn’t be prosecuted for actions not done of their own free will while being Akumatized. But if they had done so of their own free will and out of being Akumatized........

Chloe eavesdropped on conversations her parents had with their lawyers and knew how much of a hopeless case everything seemed for their end. There were talk that they didn’t know if they could get her out of having to attend a juvenile facility and going to an adult prison when she was of age.

She tried to call her two friends Sabrina and Adrien but Sabrina had blocked her number and Adrien didn’t respond except for one message:

Sorry Chloe. I will always treasure my friendship with you.

Even her oldest friend had turned against her it seemed.

She just sat waiting for Hawk Moth to use her feelings to Akumatize her, which never came. He was angry at how close he was to winning and while he could Akumatize her now, if she failed then she would be no use to her anymore.

With her in custody he can no longer rely on her making new victims for him to Akumatize anymore. She was no use to him anymore and so was discarded as an ally. The same thing he will do so without a second thought to Lila Rossi if he saw her no longer useful.

DDDD

Marinette still couldn’t help but feel sorry for Chloe throughout it all, but deep down knew that Chloe had brought this on herself.

Things were hectic to her and not just her new responsibilities as the Guardian of the Miraculous. She had stopped going after Adrien thinking he would be happy with Kagami and now started a relationship with Luka.

She was feeling guilty that it felt like he was a backup choice but told her not to worry about it, the directions of music changes at a whim he had told her.

She admitted that she was now happy with Luka and felt the good thing about having to retire with Viperion was that she realised it could have impacted their teamwork with him being her boyfriend.

Nadja Chamack told her parents that she was fighting pressure and requests from studios executives to try and get Marinette to be her guest on Face to Face. They thought it would bring in the ratings to interview Queen Bee’s most bullied target and knew Nadja was friends with her parents. She felt that Marinette didn’t need this attention and the Dupain-Chengs were grateful.

On the bright side along with having a boyfriend, she had gotten her website set up and there were no shortages of a demand of the Ladybug and Chat Noir dolls she was selling.

After school she had Sabrina nervously walked up to her and she greeted Sabrina, Sabrina didn’t say anything but she could tell that Sabrina had quit ties with Chloe. She was always looking down and silent when Chloe was brought up and made no effort to defend her.

“Marinette, after Chloe......... I realised I don’t really have any other close friends and our partnership plus everything that happened.......... I don’t know if you want to give being friends another shot?” Sabrina asked softly and Marinette smiled in response. She may regret giving Chloe her second chance but she was confident she will not do the same with Sabrina.

After seeing the answer Sabrina jumped with joy and told her “so I am guessing you don’t want your homework done but anything you want done instead? I could help you with your website or help make everything, since we’re friends now you don’t have to pay me! I hear you babysit so I could do it for you and I hear you are going out with Luka, I could spy on him to learn all his likes for you!”

Alya and Marinette’s other friends were fighting back laughs looking at them while Marinette was exasperated. She then started their new friendship by starting a long explanation of what friends actually do and don’t do for eachother.

[workofmark]

when your bestfriend only sees you as a friend - mark lee

[a/n: hiii this is my first sort of angst back so i hope it doesn’t suck too much. please let me know what you think of it!] [a/n pt 2: hey fari, remember when you cussed at me in our dms? this ones for you! @zhengtongue]/ master list

We’ve been friends for years, her and I. It was just a typical friendship when it started out. We had the same math class in middle school and the two of us just sort of...clicked. And though I wasn’t worthy of her time, she gave me all of the time in the world.

We continued to be friends all throughout middle school. We hung out often. Her parents even invited me to go with them on a week long trip to a farm that her grandparents’ had owned. That summer, our lips were stained red from strawberries, hair as wild as the wind, doubled over every second of the day with laughter, sleeping with the fireflies, sun kissed, happy. It’s a summer I’ll never forget. A summer neither of us will. A summer that frequents our late night conversations with questions like “Mark, remember when you tried to milk that cow and totally cried?” or “Mark, remember when we swam in the pond all day long and were shriveled up like raisins for days afterwards?” or “Mark, remember when we spent the entire night counting the stars?”

But there’s one question that has never made it into our late night conversations. A question that keeps me up until the crack of dawn.

“YN, remember when I was pushing you on that old tire swing and you stopped, leaned out and kissed me?”

No. She’ll never bring that up again. And I won’t either.

Because that’s what happens when your best friend only sees you a friend.

The summer ends as quickly as ice cream melts on a long day. We enter high school that year. We start to find out more about ourselves that year.

She joins the volleyball team, I join the music club. She goes to all of my recitals, I go to all of her games. We’re each other’s biggest fans. She and I...we’re best friends and everybody knows that.

But we have our own friends too.

I have Haechan from music club, she has Jisoo from volleyball. I have Johnny from forth period, she has Jieqiong from seventh period. I have Jaehyun from the youth center that I play basketball at afterschool and she has...

She has Lee Taeyong.

And I see that way she looks at him.

Lee Taeyong is our student body president - a junior. He’s tall, smart and handsome. He sometimes oversees the music club when our president, Ten, is out. He’s part of the mathletes, a teacher’s favorite, does the morning announcements, best friends with the principal, number one in class rankings from his year, captain of our dance team and volunteers at the animal shelter on the weekend.

His parents must be so proud of him.

That’s why it’s no surprise to see the way her eyes light up when they accidentally crash into each other in the hall, sending her papers flying like some cliché high school drama. I help out too, of course, but all of her attention seems to be on him. I watch her cheeks flush bright pink and the way she stumbles over her words like she always does when she’s nervous. She pushes her hair back behind her ear and apologizes once more.

“Hey, don’t worry about it,” Taeyong says, smiling gently at her. His persona now is completely different than when he’s on the stage. His eyes are softer, more welcoming. Nothing like the hard glare he gets when he dances. “You’re YN. Right?” I can see her eyes flash with confusion. How does Lee Taeyong know my name? she’s asking herself. He helps her to her feet (while I push myself up off the ground) and says, “You’re friends with Jisoo. She talks about you to me.”

She makes a noise - a squeak almost. “What does she say?”

Taeyong chuckles. “All good things,” he says. “She says that you’re really into movies.”

And that was the first time I lost her.

Her and Taeyong start to date a little over a month after that incident. They’re the talk of the town. She’s known for how well she plays volleyball, she’s known for how kind hearted she is, she’s knows for her intelligence, she’s known for being the perfect match for Taeyong.

I see her less and less. I assure her that it’s okay. I tell her that if I were in a relationship, I would be doing the same thing and would hope she were as understanding as I was. But one too many times, she blows me off for Taeyong and I’m at Johnny’s house, crying over a tub of ice cream.

“Well Mark,” he says, “if you were going to be this heartbroken over her, then you should’ve just asked her out in the first place. You fumbled the ball there, bud. Now there’s nothing left you can do.”

It hurts. I know Johnny is coming from a good place but it still hurts.

It hurts because it’s true. I did fumble the ball. I could’ve asked her out so many times. I could’ve asked why she kissed me that summer so many times. I could’ve done so much but I was so scared of losing my best friend that I decided to just shove my feelings down my throat and let them stop the words from leaving my mouth.

It’s my own fault. And I know that.

But even if I am hurting, I’m still her best friend. I still should help her pick out her outfits for her next date with Taeyong and I should still help her try to find the perfect gift for him for Christmas and I should still be there for her when she lets me. Because even though I may not be her person, she’s still mine.

Yes. She’s still my person.

It’s a little after Taeyong’s graduation when she tells me of their decision.

“We’re breaking up.“ Her eyes are solemn as she says that, kicking the gravel under her feet as she rocks back and forth on the swing at our neighborhood playground. “He’s going to the states to study and doesn’t want me to stay here and wait for him. It’s for the better.”

And just like that, their two years together are down the drain and she’s here with me again.

We spend another summer together that year. This time, we take the long way home. We’re still kids and we’ll be entering our senior year that next year so we decide to spend this summer to our fullest.

“You’re never gonna know what’ll happen next summer. This is the last summer we’re gonna have together before college, Mark. I want to spend it with you.”

Of course the words make me as sad as they do happy. She’s right. Even though we are both applying for the same college, you never do know what will happen after high school ends.

So we spend the entire summer at pools and at the old park we used to play at when we were young. We go bowling and to the movies and blow our allowances on arcade games and photo booths. We spend almost every day together. Our parents don’t see us all day long and come back late at night. They know not to look for us. We always find our way back home.

We always find our way back to each other.

“If it’s meant to be, then it’ll be Mark,” Jungwoo, my next door neighbor, tells me one night after dinner. I had accidentally ranted about my feelings for her after he commented on our framed picture on my nightstand. “Don’t worry too much about it, yeah?”

And then we chow down on snacks and play video games - content.

Because if it’s meant to be, then it’ll be.

And then, before I know it, we’re both on the road, off to college.

College brings stress.

With that, college brings outlets to relieve stress. While college brought me a new guitar and hours in the studio, college brought her Lucas.

Lucas Huang.

He’s a barista at the coffee shop she really seems to like (but now I’m not sure if she liked it for the coffee or because of him).

Lucas is kind, from what my classmate, Jaemin, tells me. He’s a freshman, like us. He’s kind of an airhead but his heart is in the right place. He’s on a basketball scholarship. He comes from a poor family but was blessed with amazing athletic abilities that lead him to receive a full ride to the college we attended. He’s humble. He’s nice.

He makes YN’s heart pound.

They have math class together and he asks her to tutor him.

“But you suck at math,” I laugh as she glares at me over her drink.

“Yeah but Yukhei doesn’t know that,” she snorts.

“Yukhei?” I repeat.

She sighs, as if she’s offended that I didn’t know who the hell Yukhei was. “Lucas,” she grumbles. “Now if you excuse me, I’m late for tutoring.”

“Whatever,” I roll my eyes as she gets up from the table and leaves to the library.

And then it’s like...all she can ever talk about to me is Yukhei. Yukhei this or Yukhei that. Yukhei, Yukhei, Yukhei.

Yukhei who is sooo good at basketball. Yukhei who smells sooo good. Yukhei who is sooo cool. Yukhei who is sooo funny. Yukhei, Yukhei, Yukhei-

“Enough already, dammit!” I snap at her. Maybe I was irritated because I hadn’t slept in two days. Maybe I was annoyed because I had a raging headache from downing coffee after coffee to keep me from falling asleep. Maybe I was hurt because my person was once more, falling for someone who wasn’t me. “I don’t give a damn about Wong Yukhei, YN! And if that’s all you came here to discuss with me then go back to your stupid dorm! I invited you here to make sure you eat! Not to hear about how head over heels you are for that- that- that airhead!”

She huffs, standing up so abruptly that I almost spill my takeout. “I don’t know what your problem is Mark but you had no right to snap at me like that,” she crosses her arms.

“If you knew my problem, you’d understand why I’m acting this way,” I mutter under my breath.

“I’m leaving,” she says, gathering her things from around me just as I notice little raindrops beginning to pelt against the window.

“Hey,” I stop her at the door. “You forgot this.” I throw my umbrella her way and see the way her face softens just a bit.

“Text me when you’re done throwing your fit,” she tells me.

“Don’t count on it,” I reply as I lazily shut the door.

Doyoung, my roommate, laughs as I throw myself down on the bed.

“It truly pains me to watch you, Mark. It truly does,” he says.

“I’m going to sleep. Enjoy your food, hyung. Don’t wake me up until she’s done with her Yukhei phase.”

And I fall asleep.

The next time I wake up, it’s to a body squishing itself between me and the wall. I open my eyes and see a familiar head of hair. I turn to see if Doyoung is home but he isn’t - probably out for the night with his friends like always.

“YN?” I push her hair back. “What’s wrong?”

”I’m an idiot,” she mutters, face flush against my chest. “He has a girlfriend back in China, Mark. A whole ass girlfriend who he’s very loyal to and who he calls all the time and who he loves. And he only told me that after I confessed. What the fuck! I’m a big idiot.”

“Hey, don’t say that. You didn’t know,” I soothe her, sitting up. I reach over and grab the water bottle off the nightstand, thrusting it her way. “If it’s meant to be, then it’ll be.”

She takes a sip after sitting up herself before screwing the cap back on, and leans against the wall. “Yeah. I guess.”

“What?” I know that look. I’ve seen it plenty of times. That look when she wants to say something but isn’t sure if she wants to say it. “YN, just say it.”

“It’s just...what you said to me,” she shrugs.

“What about it?”

“Well,” she says. “What if there’s something that you want, something that you want so badly that you feel like it’s meant to be but in the end, it isn’t? Then what?”

I shrug, too choked up by everything to say anything. It’s suddenly too hot in here and I can’t breathe.

“Like, haven’t you ever liked someone so much and swore you were meant for that person but in the end, you weren’t meant for them?” she asks. I swear she’s doing this on purpose. My palms begin to sweat the more she speaks. “Like...isn’t that just sad? Loving someone who you know wouldn’t ever love you back in that way?”

“Yeah, sucks.” Those are the only words I can manage, my throat too dry for much else. I take the water from her and gulp down half of the bottle in a single take.

“Mark? You okay?” she asks.

“What? Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine.”

“You sure?”

I nod. “Yeah, let’s just go to bed. I haven’t slept in days,” I remind her before throwing myself down onto the pillow.

She resumes her previous position of having her head on my chest and plays with one of the strings on my hoodie. If she can feel my heart pounding, she doesn’t mention it. Instead, she sighs and says, “Thanks for this, Mark. You’re gonna make somebody very lucky someday, you know?”

I bite my lip. “YN?” She hums in response. “Can I ask you something?” Her eyes flutter up at me, expectantly waiting for me to continue. “Do you think...do you think that it’s okay for two best friends to date?”

“Like how close is their friendship?” she replies. “Why? Are you in love with Jaemin?” she gasps.

“What?! No! Jaemin is not my best friend, by the way. It’s-“ I stop before I say her name. “Just...tell me.”

“Well,” she begins. “If they’re best friends like that and the feeling is mutual then why not?”

“Best friends like that?”

“Yeah. Like...best friends who have always had heart eyes for each other. Not best friends like us.”

“Like us?” I frown.

“Yeah. We’ve never felt that way about each other! That’s why we’re so close and there’s so much trust. No looking so see if there are other intentions or anything like that. It’s just...you and I. Ride or die. Besties for the resties! Right?”

And she breaks my heart for the millionth time.

“Right,” I reply.

Because even if I see her in that light, even if I love her in that way, even if I want to give her the world, I can’t be selfish enough to tell her that. Not when she’s still in the dark, not when she’s already got her hands full with another person’s adoration.

My best friend will always see me as just her best friend.

But I love her so much that I’d rather have that than not have her at all.

Because that’s what happens when your best friend only sees you a friend.

the end.

[starker-stories]

The Cold, Chapter 6 - The Messages Series

This chapter on AO3

By @thestarkerisobvious​ and @starker-stories​​

New chapters in the series post every Thursday.

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Tags: Tony Stark Feels, Peter Parker Feels, College Student Peter Parker, Established Relationship, Anal Sex, Oral Sex, Tony Stark Still Has Arc Reactor, Arc Reactor Kink, Peter Parker is a Mess, Spider-Man powers, Communication, They Finally Communicate!, And Fuck Of Course Look at Who It’s Written By Of Course They Fuck, Avengers Compound

The entire Messages Series.  All links are to AO3.

Messages Unsent  (complete & posted)

Nothing More Than A Machine  (complete & posted)

Tomorrow  (complete & posted)

My Virgin (Revisited)  (completely & posted)

The Cold  (completely written) posts every Thursday  

The Opposite of Cold  ( in progress )

Untitled Book 7  ( in progress )

Chapter 6: Batman and Robin

In the shower afterwards they held each other, whispering endearments and words of affection, laying out their plans for the next day. Peter had been exhausted a half-hour before, but became more animated as he listed the equipment he wanted to utilize and why, talking about it even after they had snuggled into bed for the night.

“I need to know how much I can bench press, and I want to clock my speed on the track. I honestly have no idea how fast I run because it’s faster traveling in New York by web. And what was that laser-grid room that Nat and Clint trained in? I always heard stories about it but never saw it. And the training room course? With those weird short hurdles where all those turrets are trying to kill you? When Fury had me train there I got across in 3.57 minutes — and I’ve got to admit, I was fencing left-handed that day. Everyone was looking at me weird and it made me nervous. I know I could break records in there. Oh! Oh! And the Evaluation Room?! The one Cap called ‘The Grinder?’ I have got to have another go at that one. The first day they put me in there I tripped over my own two feet because Nat told me you were on the observation deck. Added a whole forty seconds to my time. You don’t make me nervous anymore.”

“Those things are all still here. There’s data for what others scored on them to provide a baseline for you. And then, Dr. Cho has instruments that can objectively test your physical abilities.” Tony settled Peter in close, the way they usually slept, big spoon little spoon. He kissed the soft curls at the back of Peter’s neck. “You’ll get your answers, Pete.”

They were both pretending to fall asleep. Eventually it would come, but they were both restless and worried. Peter about the increase of his abilities, Tony about keeping that increase secret. Other than Peter, he trusted no one. And while he did trust Peter, he also recognized the kid was still incredibly naive.

He was getting less so, but he was no match for the duplicitousness that lived within the Avengers and SHIELD and those adjacent. Protecting Peter was Tony’s first, and only, priority. And he was already planning the steps he would need to take to do that. In the morning, while Peter was in the shower, getting ready for the day’s trials, he would set his own surveillance and blocks to anyone else’s. Scrub the servers of anything they collected since the helicopter landed… Tony was still running possibilities when sleep finally came.

The next day Peter was up and dressed before Tony. He was too nervous for breakfast. While they waited for Dr. Cho to become available, Tony took him for a tour of the prismatic accelerator that he used to create his new element. Alone in the vast, long room Peter raced up and down the length of the accelerator on his hands.

Tony saw Peter nearly vibrating with nervous excitement. “Why don’t you take a run through the tunnel? It goes underneath the buildings, underneath the fields. Big circular thing. Like running a really long lap. I should time you.”

Peter insisted on running it once at an easy pace (he called it the I’m-late-for-the-bus speed) and then again while ‘pushing it’. The lap around the entirety of the accelerator was seventeen miles. After his second run, he was keen to know if he had matched the running speed of Captain America. And frustrated to know that Tony didn’t have the information.

“But… wasn’t he Stark Tech? Don’t you have ALL that information? Nevermind, I can google it on my phone. There’s sixteen Old-Cap wikis at least.”

“That was Howard’s work, not mine. And Cap was never allowed down here.” It came out with more heat than he’d intended. “No one was, except Bruce. He helped with the calibration.

“You need to stop comparing yourself to Rogers,” he said, annoyed. “Arm wrestling with him, running his laps… Barnes’ metal arm is stronger than Cap ever was, and you’ve already stopped his punch. Running? It’s not good to compare yourself, an enhanced person, with someone created out of a test tube.”

“My spider was created out of a test tube. It’s not fair anyway, I know Cap trained in running. He was famous for it. And I use my leg muscles like, never. I’m a webswinger.

“And Tony?

“Can we run Nat’s laser-course thingy without staff?

“Yeah, that’s doable. Clint’s kept it active. He’s been training someone,” Tony said with a shrug, not impressed with Legolas’ attempt to replace himself now that he’d retired.

Tony went with Peter as he worked through the training exercises that were still active. Monitors were shut off, no one else allowed into the rooms, much less the entire levels they were using. He didn’t want anyone to have records of the things Peter was tested. But he kept them. Noting times and success/error ratios on his secured-by-FRIDAY phone.

Just by the numbers, the kid was scarily agile. Easily put Clint’s and even Nat’s scores to shame. Fast, he was faster than the current (non-enhanced) hundred meter record holder, but Tony expected that. He was surprised that he didn’t hit the mark for Cap’s hundred meter time. But then Cap was always good at running away.

They spent the most time inside “Nat’s laser-course thingy” where Peter insisted on running the same course repeatedly.His time was good, but kept insisting on a chance to do it better. “Just one more time,” he asked after each completion. They kept ‘one more timing’ it until well past lunch. Peter only took a break because Dr. Cho had finally texted Tony that she was free from her lab. His endless suggestions dried up as he nervously followed Tony toward her office. She met them in the courtyard, accompanied by an assistant.

“Helen, this is Peter Parker,” Tony said once they’d arrived in Helen’s office. He put his arm around Peter’s shoulders. “Peter is also the Amazing Spider-Man,” he said, teasing Peter with the name the tabloids gave him. “We have some questions. Medical. Enhanced Individual medical.”

“Wait… the Spider-Man?” she said, her face lighting up. “Oh I’ve read so much about you. Oh, I have a million questions… but…” she said, changing course suddenly when Tony raised an eyebrow. “Peter, allow me to introduce my associate Mr. Nguyen. He just completed his Masters in Biomedical Science at Columbia. You probably have a lot in common…”

Peter took the hint and shook hands with the good looking Vietnamese man. Shooting a nervous look at Tony, he followed the man back to the courtyard, leaving Tony and Dr. Cho in her office to talk.

“Spider-Man?” she whispered the moment Peter left. “You didn’t warn me that this was about Spider-Man, Tony,” she hissed. “Why didn’t you tell me? I could have been free hours sooner.”

“Telling you would’ve been a risk. The reason we’re here, as opposed to elsewhere, is because Peter’s not the first enhanced individual you’ve worked with.

“Only I’m going to need assurance that what gets discussed goes no farther than you. No records can be kept. Otherwise this can’t happen. And Pete needs for this to happen. There’s a sizable grant in it for you if you can keep an even more stringent standard than your basic doctor/patient confidentiality.”

Helen’s smile disappeared. “There isn’t a ‘more stringent’ standard than the basic doctor/patient confidentiality, Tony. And SHIELD is already paying me handsomely to be the team doctor. You don’t have to bribe me to do my job.”

“SHIELD paying your salary is exactly what I am worried about. There can be no divided loyalties. This isn’t for SHIELD. It isn’t for the Avengers. This is for me. And for Peter. No one else.” Tony paused. “Not even you.”

He paced nervously. It was one thing to trust Helen with his life, which he had done absolutely after his ‘death’, but it was another entirely to trust her with Peter’s life.

“Lately, Peter’s abilities have been changing. That has him worried. What he brought me here for, what I suppose he’s looking for, is a metric for his abilities. He has other questions as well. That might require DNA samples, blood work, things like that. He’s mentioned having an objective analysis of what his enhancement is doing to him.

“Whatever samples or blood work you take to determine that, there can be no holding anything back for your own experimentation. Privacy. Absolute. Without that, I’ll figure out another way to get Peter the data he needs. But honestly, I’d rather trust you with this. If I can trust you.”

“Excuse me? Tony? I’m a doctor. The moment I take on Mr. Parker as my patient everything we talk about falls under doctor/patient privilege. Even if it wasn’t a legal issue, it’s my job. No one will have access to what Mr. Parker and I talk about,” she said firmly.

She turned away, looking into the courtyard through her office’s large window where Peter was talking to her assistant. “Including you.”

“Look, I know Fury doesn’t give a damn about what standards the world outside his own little kingdom has. Not telling me? I…”

He was taken aback. He hadn’t considered that he wouldn’t be informed about everything to do with Peter. He was used to having total access to Peter’s life. Okay, it was mostly non-consensual total access, but not knowing something so important about the most important person in his life?

“I’m sorry, was he made your legal ward, Batman?” she asked. Then she shrugged. “Even in that case, it doesn’t matter. Robin is an adult now. What you want to know you’ll have to ask him. As he’s your partner, I’ll certainly I’m prepared to discuss with both of you whatever he wants me to share. But understand, I’m going to be his doctor…”

Tony smiled at the ‘ward’ comment, but he was impressed. If she was willing to exclude him, she’d be willing to exclude any of the people he was worried about. “I can live with that,” he finally said.

“You’ll be pressured to break those standards. I don’t know who will apply the pressure, but it will come.” Tony knew he was sounding paranoid. But he also knew his paranoia had a firm basis in history. “Keeping these secrets? That’s not covered by any professional standards. That’s covered by your word.”

“Tony,” Helen said quietly, taking a step closer to him until they were face to face. “Your murder-bot tried to kill me, and memebers of my staff. That scared me. Fury? Fury doesn’t scare me.”

“Still haven’t heard your word.”

“Do billionaires carry folding money in their wallets?” she asked casually, moving toward the door. Peter and her assistant were chatting amiably, but Peter had begun heading toward her office again.

Tony laughed. “Not really. Billionaires use electronic transfers.”

She opened the door to her office. “Peter?” she called out cheerfully. He entered and gladly pulled out his wallet when she asked him if he had any cash. Reaching into the billfold she pulled out a five and pocketed it.

“Congratulations, as of this moment I am your personal doctor,” she said cheerfully, shaking his hand. “Because of my profession I am under oath…” She turned and looked at Tony pointedly, “to prioritize your needs, and privacy, over any and all outside parties. As long as you don’t directly describe any crimes to me that you plan on committing in the future, neither wild horses nor the Supreme Court could get a word out of me. Are you familiar with HIPAA?”

[liljungie]

Classroom 11 | Kim Namjoon

Pairing: Namjoon × reader

Word count: 4170

Warning: none

Summery: your 2 year of university takes a turn when the guy who helped with your essay in the library turns out to be your teacher.

[A/N : if you guys like this I'll make a part 2 please excuse any mistakes you find I'm so sorry I didn't want to leave you with nothing to read this week so I thought I'd post this and let me know if you're okay with me writing for TXT as well]

Masterlist

_

You were a university student who was rushing in a crowd to get to the nearest library, you had an essay to write and you forgot all about it, frat parties never did you good and you always regretted it the next morning because you had to go back to studying but you loved the rush you felt when you let yourself get lost in the music while you dance with your friends.

"Excuse me...sorry" you kept muttering as you make your way through the busy streets, did everyone have an essay to write on the same day as yours?! It drove you a bit insane but you tried your hardest not to lash out on anyone.

You were holding papers and books in one arm and the other was holding the strap of your bag so you don't lose it in the crowd

you felt your phone vibrate meaning you got a text your heart started to flutter at the thought of him it made you giddy and excited, you have been crushing on him since you got into university but he never noticed you until this semester which was your second year Soobin was everything you wanted in a guy, sweet, kind , witty how in the heavens wouldn't you crush on him?! you reached in your pocket which was hard because you also kept walking to get to the library

[Wanna grab breakfast?]

You groan in annoyance, you wanted to see him so bad but you couldn't, this grade is important because it was your sink or sail class and you really need that A or something close to it

You started to type a reply, your eyes only focusing on your phone not noticing that the girl infront of held the library door open for you, if she didn't it would slam shut in your face when you walked past her still imuresd in your phone she let go of the handle and went on with her day

[Hey I'm sorry I can't I have-]

You bumped into someone which caused you to lose your composure and knock everything you were holding down when you looked up frantic you saw a guy lay on the floor and books were scattered all around him.

'Crap' you mentally whined "I am so sorry oh god" you spoke reaching for his hand to help the poor guy you knocked off the ladder up, he chuckled and everything around you stopped when you saw his dimples

"it's okay... I thought no one is as clumsy as me, it happens" he told you as he took your hand and you helped him up he smiled down at you and boy he was tall "I'm really sorry I didn't even notice that I was inside.." you glance around finally realizing you got inside the library he shakes his head "don't worry about it.." you smiled sadly at him "are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?" You ask looking around for a blood stain or a bruise anywhere on his face or body but you found nothing "I'm okay really I was at the bottom of the ladder so it didn't hurt" he nodded your lips were in a line obviously you felt awful about it

"I'm sorry again this essay is just-" you groan and kneel down to pick up your things you feel him kneel as well, he gathers your papers and the book you were carrying "life through the decades?" He reads the title outloud you turn your head to him and nod "are you studying the exact same thing?" You asked he shakes his head "I graduated a year ago and no I studied marketing but I love reading"  he smiles while telling you "oh really? Lucky you I can't wait until I graduate" you sigh he gives you the papers and the book back and you thank him "I can help you with the essay if you want" he says after it was silent "oh no I don't want to be a bother" you smile "thank you so much though!" You add smiling at him he shakes his head "I insist besides you need all the help you can get" he smiles

truth to be told; you had no idea what to write in that essay because you never opened this book and only attended the classes so you wouldn't fail the class because of your attendance but you also barely went to that class and you had no idea what was the professor was babbling about when you did go, So yes you needed his help

"well...I do really need the help..are you sure it's not a bother?" His stare lingers on you, it feels a bit intense but then he tells you it would be his pleasure you both make your way to a table in the far back you told him your name and he told you that his name was Namjoon, Kim Namjoon, you recognized his name because everyone praised him for his intelligence and you always wondered how he looks like, the professors all over the university praised him, now that you were in his presence you could feel the knowledge pour from the guy

You didn't want to lie and say that it didn't turn you on in the slightest, because God he was charming and charismatic he spoke in way that made you get lost in him, it almost forced you to focus on him and what he's saying even if he was talking gibberish

You told honestly that you had no idea about what to write you didn't even read the book he chuckled "I struggled a lot with this subject as well no worries" he says "so ______ how about you read the book and I'll write your essay for you and we can add to it together after you know a bit about it does that sound okay?" He asks fixing his glasses

You were in a trance but quickly snapped out of it and nodded furiously he giggled and started to write away on the paper

You were a sucker for guys with dimples because soobin has them too, soobin!! You quickly grabbed the phone and saw a few messages from him

[_____?]

[You have been typing for an hour]

[Okay I'm getting worried]

[Cat got your tongue?]

You roll your eyes at his snarky comments and continue to type the reply you left not complete

[Hey I'm sorry I can't I have to write an essay I'll text you later]

You hit send and felt namjoon's eyes on you you turned to look at him to find him glaring at you "I told you to read not text.." you giggled "sorry boss I'm on it!"

He snickered and continued writing away on the paper

You had no idea how he 'struggled' in this subject at all he looks like he ate the book and all the information was digested and printed in his mind

You opened the book and started reading it you saw your phone light up your heart was bubbling, you wanted namjoon to write the essay for you and you could excuse yourself and go with soobin to get breakfast you would hit two birds in one stone; getting the boy you liked and your essay, but that would be an awful thing to do, soobin and the feelings you have for him can wait for now

Namjoon noticed you looking at your phone then back at him and he heard your phone vibrate against the wooden table he didn't take his eyes off the paper he was writing on "don't even think about it missy go on read the next line" he scolds you you huffed and continued reading

From that moment he knew that he is in for a lot with you he can't lie and say he wasn't excited.

_

Namjoon took you out to grab a snack and so you can take a break from reading, he saw how much you were struggling trying to process all of the information in the book and he felt bad for you

He took you to the bakery across the street but a bit further down away from the library, you both sat down on a table for two after you ordered coffee and muffins.

You were rubbing your forehead a headache was just settling in and it was hurting you slightly

He had a pout on his face seeing you like this, he wanted to send you off to do whatever you wanted and he'd call you after he's done with the paper so you can come and take it, all ready and done but he wanted to get to know you and spend more time with you

He was genuinely intrigued by you and he couldn't give up the chance of getting to know you

"You okay ______?" You heard him softly ask, you smiled at him "I'm okay, just a little headache" he frowns and reaches in his pocket and hands you two small pills, pain killers, you noticed them "I get headaches from working in the library there's a lot of things I'm responsible for there and it wears me down so I keep them in my pockets just incase I get one" he explains smiling "they're not drugs?" You playfully ask he threw his head down laughing while shaking his head "I would never drug you in public" he winked a playful smirk made it's way onto his face

You took them and swallowed them down right away, he was shocked to say the least he had the water bottle open for you and was going to hand it to you but when he saw you swallow the pills down without water it baffled him slightly

"You get drunk often?" He asks, you raise your eyebrow at the question but you nod "yeah why?" He nods "Hangovers taught you how to swallow pills without water it seems" you couldn't help but laugh a little "yeah I guess swallowing pills without water is a bit weird" you say resting you head in your palms.

"I can't remember the last time I got drunk..." he laughs "really?" You ask a bit shocked at his words he nods "I like being in control of my actions and the thought of not being sober or not being in control over my own self terrifies me" he told you "but life is pretty boring without drinking at least once a week" you say "I leaned to survive without it" he says and then the waiter places the tray with the food and the coffee you ordered and then both of you dig into the delicious muffins, both of you were starving

As the both of you ate you asked him why he worked for the library if he studied marketing you learned that he was counting his masters degree to pass time he decided to work for the library and to have fun while he was studying.

You admire him more and more talking to him came naturally you didn't feel awkward or uncomfortable around him it's like you knew each other from a long time after you both finished eating you both had an argument about who is going to pay and why it should be you because you bumped into him but he insisted that it should be him because he was the one who suggested to go out.

After a while he won and paid for the both of you, you thanked him but made a mental note to ask him one day in this week out for lunch or something.

_

Night rolled over pretty quick, your essay was done, you and namjoon were pretty close, you didn't know him well but you knew enough about him for you both to be good friends or so you would say that you were

He walked you to your dorm, you swooned inside he was such a gentle man he didn't want you to walk all the way back to the dorms by yourself at night, it even was a bit windy he took off his jacket and made you wear it

His secent was intoxicating and strong, you nuzzled in his jacket it was so soft and cozy...and definitely was too big for you

He smiled, seeing you in his jacket made him feel some type of way, it was so nice he didn't know why but suddenly he felt like he had to be there for you whenever you needed him he wanted to be there for you to protect you and help you whenever

It upset him slightly that you had to go home but he couldn't be more grateful for this chance

Both of you stood in front of your dorm door, the moonlight was shining on both of you illuminating the hallway

"Thank you namjoon for everything...I wouldn't have got it done without you" you tell him smiling softly adjusting your bag on your shoulder, you felt an odd feeling of nervousness taking over but you didn't know why...

He gave you a warm smile "I didn't do much..I was just trying to help" you smiled at him "you helped me so much I seriously don't know how to thank you"

The wheels turned in your head and you thought of a way to think him you just hope that he doesn't deny you

"How about umm.." you start to say looking away from his eyes for a brief moment trying to not trip on your words "we go out again...for lunch?" You say closing one eye unsure of how he'll react

He smirks as his stare pierce through you

"Are you asking me out on a date ____?"

Red hue covers your cheek 'ah God why did I say it like that' you mentally groaned but saw him chuckle "I'd love to go out with you again" he says quite gently

you could still hear the words loud and clear in your head so you lean closer to him and kiss him on the cheek your eyes fluttering shut

Your kiss lingering for awhile then you pulled away from him opening your eyes again "night Namjoon" you send him a playful smirk closing the door after you

You left him stunned he just stood there not believing that you did what you did, girls never found him attractive they always thought he was a nerd or a geek, surely he slept with girls before but never dated anyone thinking that there was something wrong with him.

Nothing is ever complete, human beings should lack in something but he kinda wished he had a bit of luck when it came to love

He walked home with the biggest smile on his face, could it be you? the one who is going to love him for who he is The geeky nerdy man? he kept thinking about you and your smile and your eyes that made him melt they were so inviting and pretty he could stare at you all day and night and never get tired

That night the both of you slept with smiles on your faces and you couldn't wait for Tomorrow to come, surely you had classes but you were going to see namjoon again at lunch and that made you fall asleep quickly so the morning comes faster.

_

Loud ringing woke up Namjoon he was startled by the sudden noise but he grabbed the phone and answered it.

"Hello?"

"Kim Namjoon I'm the head teacher of VXU I'm sorry for the disturbance"

Namjoon sat up in his bed recognizing his head teacher's voice "no sir it's okay, how can I help?" He replied

"I need you to fill in for professor Joshua he went to the ER yesterday and I can't find someone qualified enough to give the classes until he recovers and the students are about to have their midterms"

Namjoon was nodding but he just remembered that his head teacher can't see him, clearly he was still sleepy "I see, sir,when do you want me to start?"

"Today! your first class starts at 8:30 and it ends at 10:30 you can come by my office to get everything you need" he informs

"But sir I still don't know what class I'm gonna be teaching" namjoon spoke a bit frustrated because while he carried on with the phone call he started to get ready it was 7 am he barely had time to get there

"you'll be teaching 2nd year students life through the years as you're the only one of his students that got A+!"

Namjoon mentally groaned about teaching history, not his favourite subject if he's honest and he's going to teach students around his age and younger so that's going to be fun...not, he remembers how students made fun of young upcoming teachers and never took them seriously

"I'll be there in a few sir" Namjoon said ending the call then he took a deep breath, dredging the thought of being a teacher until God knows when.

_

Your alarm went off at least ten times before you finally woke up it was 8 and you started to rush to get ready so you can be there on time for your lecture that starts at 8:30

No matter how much you make promises with yourself that you'll get up early so you don't tire yourself rushing you never learn you keep going to bed late and regret it when you hear that haunting alarm sound

You mutter apologies as you run through the crowds afraid of being late then you remember that you barely went to this so you pull out your timetable from your back pocket to see what class you're supposed to walk to

Classroom 11 where your first lecture was at, you whined at the thought of taking history class this early it was almost impossible for you to pass it, not only did you go to it out of breath and on the verge of dying because you were always late but you barely understood the book yesterday, sure Namjoon was a great tutor but your brain couldn't take all of his explanation in.

You cursed yourself for getting distracted by his looks and the way he talked, you pray and hope to God that your professor talks about what namjoon explained yesterday because you were not in the mood for a new lesson about how life was before you were born.

_

Namjoon reads his schedule for the day, 'history this early in the morning?!' He mentally groaned it was even more tiring for him as a teacher now, he was new to all of this and to give him such a subject like history as a start was overwhelming for a guy in his twenties who graduated not four months ago

He manged to scan through the lesson he was going to give,silently thanking the heavens that you bumped into him yesterday and refreshed his mind, he almost was starting to forget this subject and what it contains but since he explained it to you yesterday he had a pretty good idea of what he's in for,he felt excited and confident and started to make his way to the classroom to give his very first lecture 'I hope you're proud mama' he mentally snickered at the thought of him being a teacher

You made it on time and luckily your professor wasn't in the classroom yet you almost cried of happiness that you actually made it and that you weren't going to be yelled at infront of...well many students..

The classroom was full of students since all majors had history and that was the only class you met people who were studying something different from you, it was the perfect opportunity to make friends since you were outgoing it wasn't that hard to make new friendships and getting to know people just means more parties in the future

You heard girls gossip about your professor but you didn't pay it much attention, some girls would do anything for an A+ and they always had eyes for older men which rubbed you off in the wrong way but again their life their choice but you swore across your heart you won't ever suck dick for a grade or have one night stands for a benefit

That was just not you and not your thing,

Not to mention if anyone from the university authorities knew about a professor sleeping with a student or even another professor they'll be facing a major lawsuit the university was very strict when it came to that subject and they were brutal

It happened before the art teacher fell in love with the music teacher and were dating when they were off campus but as soon as the head master found out about their relationship both of them got fired and because the authorities made it look like they broke the law the other universities couldn't hire them because if they broke a simple rule like that they couldn't imagine what other rules they'll take lightly which was very unfair and brutal, all they did was love each other!

Everyone accepted that and knew that they shouldn't question it they learned when to stop arguing when it came down to that stupid rule,you didn't want to know to what happens if a student and a teacher was caught together

"Morning class" a stern deep voice spoke the whole of the class fell silent, you looked up raising your eyebrows questionly..that wasn't professor Joshua voice. you're used to your professor coughing his lungs out when he entered

You lift your head up to be met with the same guy you bumped into yesterday, the same guy that helped you write your essay the one and only Namjoon, the dimpled librarian.

There's no way he's going to be teaching you and everyone else history?! He is a marketing graduate! What does he know about teaching?! You were puzzled and your mind was swirling with thoughts

"My name is teacher Namjoon...I'll be the substitute teacher until professor Josha returns" he smiles showing his dimples,your heart fell you felt it shatter..you were starting to like him but now that he's your..teacher you can't..

You felt angry how could he not tell you? You spent all day yesterday together he had plenty of time to say that he was going to be your teacher he didn't even reject the date! How can he do that? It was practically illegal what would happen if they saw you and him together? You didn't know why you even thought of that the whole thing was pissing you off you wanted to get up and leave

You didn't care anymore, you were starting to like him 'damn it!' You thought then his eyes met yours and the world around you paused you can see the shock fall down on him you saw his eyes get wider and his mouth was slightly open with disbelief

he felt like a mutant he wanted to rewind time and politely decline he didn't care how amazing this would be for his resime that means he can't be with you for the time being and who knows if professor Joshua will ever recover?

Namjoon filling in for him might take years because well.. all of you know that professor Joshua was on the edge of his death and that his trip to the ER yesterday could be fatal which made Namjoon want to tire his hair out, he can't afford losing the chance of being with you for a job like this.

Yes, he will get paid better than working for the library, yes this job would be perfect in his CV but that potentially could mean that he'll kiss his dreams of being with you goodbye

Your heart was hammering against your ribcage you felt so..betrayed that he just let you fall for him and in the end you'll never have him because he was your teacher.

You can't even be friends with him anymore because that would definitely raise one too many questions and you didn't want to be targeted by anyone nor did you want to be kicked out of uni

You saw him shake his head "I apologize I lost my train of thought.." he laughed nervously and every girl swooned over him which made your blood boil "ah let's see today we're talking about the midevils.. please open your notebooks and follow me through because I won't repeat myself.." he gave them a fake smile and nodded turning his frame and began writing on the white bored.

You roll your eyes and open the book nonetheless this is going to be one hell of a rest of semester...

[whatevenismyaestheticidk]

Things I’ve heard high schoolers say pt 3

Person: it’s to early for me to be alive right now

Teacher: who invented math? Student: Lincoln.

Teacher: You feel as if you get low marks on this 5 paragraph essay you’ll end up poor and homeless and addicted to drugs. Student 1: Yes. Student 2: That’s exactly how it works. Student 3: I mean… you’re not wrong.

Student: It’s called panic and I do it well. I do it very well.

Student 1: I need to get glasses. Student 2: I need to get a will to live.

Student: Physics eats brains for lunch and sucks ass for dinner.

Student: Fuck you Perry the platypus!!

Student: he’s an Asian white supremisist. How does that even happen.

Teacher: After treating him like dirt for 7 years what is he to me? Student 1: Friends? Student 2: Lovers?

Teachers: We can’t have poor people running the place, that’s stupid.

Teachers: It was illegal to be alone because when you are alone you commit a sin.

Student: They play with your intestines? Like jumprope???

Student 1: you make me want to kill myself Student 2: Bitch please! I’ve been making myself want to kill myself for years.

Teacher: If you’re in my class don’t be acting the fool

Student: that’s it! You’ve lost your titty privileges

Student: I have the bladder of an octopus please let me go to the bathroom

Teacher: America broke up with Britain through text and by telling all of their friends but not actually telling Britain.

Student: my peripheral vision up is about as good as a fucking snail’s.

Student: I am allergic to myself.

Student: she brought my coconut juice. I’m going to cry.

Student: my name is Bitch.

Student: my elevator is literally a vsco girl

Student 1: what do you think? Student 2: I think I’m a fucking slut.

Student 1: I look like a lightbulb Student 2: A cute lightbulb. 10/10 would screw you (in)

Teacher: No one likes Axe, but its your friend.

Student: I am a flaming homosexual and that is why I want to dye my hair pink in honor of the women that I love so much

Student: oh my god it’s Michael fucking Jackson! *screams*

Student: Im 16 but not even very much 16.

Teacher: Theres a reason my cousin Neil trades three shifts of paramedic work so he doesn’t have to work on the night of the full moon.

Student: I know it sounds scary running from the police but it’s actually just leisurely walking away from them.

Student: I was washing my hands after lunch and this guy just started bleeding out next to me.

Student: I’m just saying, I would wear a full out prom dress to school and no one could stop me.

Student: I have the strength of a roasted peanut.

Student 1: Avacodo’s are thicc though. If there was a sexiest food event then avocado would win hands down. Student 2: what about peaches Student1: I would 100% fuck an avocado.

Student: chicken nuggets re the dad bod of the food world.

Student: in conclusion: gay.

Student: Hey Mr (Teacher) can you please elaborate on your outfit choice today?

Teacher: Dueling? You know the 10 paces fire? The thing that Hamilton is known for but he was a lot better at?

Teacher: Dreams are kinda wack Student: But this is another level of wack.

Student 1: Im just saying you could totally suck a dick by mistake. Student 2: How? Student 1: Like if you’re watching a movie and he’s holding a soda bottle between his legs and you want a sip but it’s dark you could totally accidentally suck a dick.

Student 1: hurry the fuck up Student 2: that is not how you treat people, you need to have some respect. You say PLEASE hurry the fuck up.

Student: You know, Stockholm syndromes. Like when someone is kidnapped and then catches feelings for their master, daddy kinks, that kinda shit.

Student: IF I were to eat Donalt Trump’s ass it would be so white I’d get retinal cancer just from looking at it.

Student: You were texting her which made us loose the quizlet live game! She is a whore!

Teacher: you’re a dirty old man, you read the script

Student: you’re my hwb. Homies with benefits.

Student 1: I’m a shell 2: I’m a crab. 3: what do crabs do to shells 2: I’m going to go live and eat inside you then eventually leave you for another

Student: Ayyyy!! We’re getting mono!!

Student: Stop catching feelings you dumb emotionally suicidal bitch!!!!

Teacher: *Student’s name* you need to find friends who love you.

Student: Is that a kneecap? *fake cough* Slut. *fake cough*

Teacher: Yah Buccanan was our first gay president. Student: But he was a Democrat! Teacher:… you DO know that people can be gay and a democrat.

Student: This whole book was just a giant KFC commercial.

Student: he other day I tried to zoom in on a book.

Student: every time I head an Indian person talk it’s like they’re raping me but in a good way.

Student: You canned corn of a human.

Student: you look like a broken piano

Student: There’s no room for Jesus! I don’t want to see him!

Student 1: Tiger sharks are the goats of the ocean. Student 2: Wrong. I’m the goat of the ocean.

Student: Florida is the Bermuda Triangle of stupid shit.

Student: Jesus has a plan for me, and I don’t think it’s in his textbook of an agenda.

Student: did you talk to her? Because I’m pretty sure blowing up a school is frowned upon.

Student: and that’s on period no tampon.

Student 1: what would your stripper name be? Student 2: Ruby. Teacher who over heard: Excuse me. Teacher here, stripper conversation over there. Please move the inappropriate conversation somewhere where I can’t hear it. Vanilla Pudding. (the thing about this one, was she was telling us that in the past, her stripper name was Vanilla Pudding)

Student: (Different student’s name), if I told you that I was possessed last night would you believe me?

Student: (Teacher) I was possessed last night, is there, like, biology to support that?

Student: Could I theoretically live forever if I drank infinite 5 hour energies.

Teacher: I have more glue sticks I just don’t put them out because the freshman eat them.

Student: drinking chocolate milk isn’t good for you it just like tragic.

Student: who do people even get stds, I can’t even get dms

Student: Tell me you’re kidding. Tell me you did not find my house by looking at snap maps. YOU HAVE MY ADDRESS!!!

Student: Hey you lived in Africa right? Does that mean you can say the n word?

Student: Someone threatened to open up my chest, piss in it, and close it back up.

Student: For how good I am at catching feelings, you’d think I’d be better at sports.

Student 1: I’m a Taurus. Student 2: I thought you were gay.

Student: So if I ate a tide pod then ate a t-shirt what would happen?

Student: Buddhism is just a series of vibe checks until eventually one works.

Student: why does bugs bunny have so much cleavage??

Student: Don’t underestimate snoopy you fucking heathen.

Teacher: So what you’re saying is when the okay boomer generation dies we won’t be racist anymore?

Student: Venus is in retrograde and that’s why Im not dealing with your bullshit.

Student: What is wrong with you. No sincerely. What made you think that eating a green banana is okay.

Teacher: You know Up? In the movie there’s this dog and when he’s talking then he’ll turn and say squirrel. That’s like me. I think I have adhd.

Student: you absolute tea drinking taxes liberal.

Student 1: if you see my cat run. She’s psycho. Student 2: Can I run her over with my tires?

Student 1: I will drive us through the gates of Shaw and into the water. Student 2: I hope we blow up underwater.

Student 1: Juxpositioning my rain boots with my lingerie. Student 2: those rhyme. Wait no they don’t!

Student: when he says he has a tenor recorder, but really we all know he only has a soprano recorder.

Student 1: you’re shoelaces are untied Student 2: I know. I hope I trip on it and die. Student 3:I felt that

Student: Every time I see a 9/11 ad I always pretend to have a panic attack.

Students chanting: Eat the rich. Eat the rich. Student 2: Rich, more like Bitch.

Student 1: UWU I’m going to lock you in my gas chamber Student 2: Primes flame thrower UWU

Student: I’m not Like other girls. I die on command

Studrnt1: Turkey bitch Student 2: she just called you a turkey bitch Student 1: yes you specifically are a Turkey bitch

Student: I will eat a bitches dick. Gobble gobble motherfucker.

Student 1: he opens my snaps in 10 seconds Student 2: that’s love

Student 1: My for you page is almost exclusively gays, theatre, and Percy Jackson at this point. Student 2: Those are all the same thing basically.

Student: I would have kicked so much ass freshman year if I wasn’t depressed.

Student: Navy blue is the white kid who thinks he can say the n word of the color world. He thinks that he’s black.

Student: Your nose hairs look fragrant. Would you mind if I took a taste?

Student: Boxed water tastes like what I imagine trader joes to taste like as a water.

Student: The water from Moana would be a gentle lover.

Student: we feast tonight brother. I found this in the trash can.

Student: Okay, but I cry myself to sleep BETTER than you.

Student: Can you Venmo me some titties please?

Girl holding hands with another girl: It’s a good thing we’re dating otherwise this’d be pretty gay.

Student 1: I just wanted to know if you knew Lincoln personally. Teacher: What? Student 2: We think you’re a time traveler.

Student 1: Sweetie, you’re having a breakdown over rocks. Student 2: I really hate that class!!!

Student: I love being the joker when we play chess

Student: are you saying that you finger fuck your eurethra?

Student 1: Honestly sometimes I just go onto that lofi hip hop radio, beats to relax/study to thing and just get into a fight with someone in the comment section. It’s fantastic. Student 2: Sometimes they do give good advice though, once I asked if I should ask out this guy and they responded with “No, guys ain’t shit” and I was like “aight you right, you right” Student 3: Sometimes it gets weird though, like once I went on and everyone was talking about how sex and money have become the new gods of our time, and how someday a future generation will die without ever seeing the light of the sun. Student 1: Okay but are they wrong though?

Student: It doesn’t matter if you’re a boy or a girl or something in between or something else entirely. A bitch is a bitch, and you sir, are a bitch.

Student 1: so last night I killed and area few of your kids, I hope you don’t mind. Student 2: nah I don’t really care.

Student: what size pussy your phone got?

Student 1: I listen to songs about Greek gods and being polyamorous Student 2: I listen to songs about... smashing.

Student: Motzarella cheese is the pastel pink of the cheese world.

Student: Someone who can bench press 200 has nothing on someone that can just double fist eat Costco sized pound blocks of cheddar cheese.

Student: I will drag you down to hell and make the devil give you therapy so help me. Student: You see, we don’t conjugate words in English, much less math.

Students: well the thing about gamers is, you know they’re good with their hands.

Student: Oka first of all, we’re all on the same planet, so that’s already real small. Then, what are the chances that we were born the same species, like I could have been born a platypus. I could have been a mealworm. Then the chances that we’re in the same country then the same state then the same school like damn. Imma just vibe now.

Student 1: You’re built like a baked bean Student 2: IDK why that hurt me so much but it did.

Student: If I don’t get a hug in the next 10 minus, I’m going directly to the pentagon to tell Trump to suck my dick.

[itrytowrite-things]

Welcome to Buzzfeed high

Summary: Reader works at Buzzfeed and is filming ‘Following a High School Schedule for 24 Hours’ video with Jazzmyne and Lindsay. Can shane and Y/N keep it professional when Shane is suppose to be her teacher? This fic is based off of this video. 

A/N: Hey guys, so how this is going to work is normal text is the actual scene and bold represents the interview scenes. I couldn’t think of a better way to distinguish between the two if you guys have any ideas please let me know. Sidenote: thanks to @fuckhead-writer for helping me edit this fic 

The small board room erupted with laughter, everyone staring down at the “school” schedule that had just been handed out. Y/N shook her head at the silly thing, already knowing that she would hate almost every second of the day tomorrow.

“Okay here is how the day is going to go,” Allsup said breaking the laughter from the head of the table. He goes into the spiel about how Buzzfeed will be running the video. The three women were prompted to vlog during any moments of the day when a camera was not set up for them. Allsup then started listing how the classes where going to be run. 

“So your going to my teacher huh?” Y/N leaned over whispering into Shane’s ear, bored of Allsup’s rant. Shane tipped back in his chair, smirking slightly. They both found the newest project extremely funny. The list of teacher/student taboo jokes would write themselves tomorrow; making the episode better.

“Okay Shane,” all the attention was turned towards the lanky man as Allsup addressed him directly. “Do you have a lesson plan for tomorrow?” The question hung in the air before Shane cracked a joke. 

“Oh yes! These women better be ready for the rigorous lesson I have planned, really going to make them work.” The group laughed at the comment before Allsup moved on to the next “teacher” asking about their lesson plans. That’s how it went the employees telling their boss that they did have a lesson plan that they were excited for, until it was Janna turns to talk about her lesson. She stood up passing out a paper to the three women that would be portraying the students. 

“I actually have a homework assignment for my students, they will be responsible for reading Act 1 scene 2 of Romeo and Juliet and writing an analysis paper on it.” Y/N’s heart started to beat a little faster. She had been great at English back in high school, but she hadn’t written a paper in ten years. Not to mention her hatred for anything Shakespeare. 

Y/N glanced down at the paper, taking in all the details of the assignment. Settling back down, she noticed the paper only had to be one page; double spaced. How hard could that be? After all the details were written up, the meeting was adjourned with the reminder that the school bus would be picking them up outside of Jazz’s house at 6:50 am. 

Y/N sat in between Jazzmyne and Lindsay, light shining down on the three of them. They were filming the intro before leaving to officially start the challenge with their homework tonight.

“Hi I’m Jazzmyne.” The woman to Y/N’s left introduced herself. 

“I’m Y/N.”

“And I am Lindsay.”

“And we are following a highschool schedule for 24 hours.” The three said at the same time, slightly out of unison. Y/N flashed the schedule to the camera giving a glimpse of what the viewers had to look forward to. 

“We have a set of rules, you disobey the rules you get a strike. Three strikes you get sent to detention.” Jazz explained. 

“The rules are simple: no skipping class, no foul language, no phones out in class without permission, no bad behavior, hall passes are required, follow the dress code, and lastly do not be tardy.” Lindsay said reading from the list they were given. 

“So what I am hearing is, all of us are going to end up in detention by the end of the day?” Y/N joked laughing. The other women soon joined in. Jazzymne stated what rules she would have a problem with before announcing their homework assignment.

“We have to write an essay on Romeo and Juliet. It has to be a page analyzing act 1 scene 2.”

“It’s double spaced right?” Lindsay asked, giving a worried face to the camera. 

“My significant other, K8, is a 9th grade english teacher who teaches Romeo and Juliet.” Jazz mentioned, leaving both of the other women mouth’s in a pout. 

“Well, that’s just not fair.” Y/N stated.  

Y/N sat on the floor with her legs crossed, knees pressed up against the coffee table. Her laptop sat open to an empty word doc, the paper describing her assignment sat next to it. She quickly pulled out the small black camera Buzzfeed had supplied her for vlogging. 

“Okay guys so It’s 9 o’clock at night. I have read the act, understood almost nothing, and now I am going to attempt to write my paper.” The woman talked to the camera before switching it around showing her blank doc. “Shane refuses to help me.” Y/N turned the device again showing her boyfriend slumped on the couch above her, typing on his phone.

“Sorry, have to do it on your own.” He says unapologetically, shrugging his shoulders dramatically for the camera. She shut the viewfinder and placed the camera on the table. Y/N scanned over the requirements of the assignment once again before typing in the doc.

So wrapped up in her work, Y/N didn’t even notice Shane slide off the couch onto the floor. Him reading over her shoulder. He placed a quick kiss to her arm startling her out of her work flow.

“It’s good sweetheart, really good.” Shane wraps his extremely long arms around the small woman, smiling as she continues typing.

“Thanks bub.” She said taking her left hand off of the keys, and nessiling it in his floppy brown hair. He smiled happily pushing his head into her hand. Kissing at her neck, a laugh escaped her diaphragm. 

“Shane. Stop. Have to. Finish my paper.” She let out in between giggles. 

“Mmh or you could blow it off like a real high school student.” He suggests looking down at the clock on her laptop. It flashed 10:39 in the lower right hand corner. Y/N turned her head, looking into his golden brown eyes. The puppy dog look that was displayed on them melted her heart. Causing a smile to appear on her face, she pressed her lips against Shane’s for a short kiss. She was reluctant to pull away. 

“I am almost done babe, go play some video games or something. I promise ten more minutes and I will be finished.” Shane let out a pout, kissing her again before standing up. His long legs unfolded as he stands, them cracking slightly, producing another laugh from Y/N. 

She was a woman of her word. Less than ten minutes later, she closed her laptop, happy with her paper. Y/N looked up at Shane, he had changed into a pair of plaid pajama bottoms and a white tee. He looked comfortable. his thumbs lazily moving across the Xbox controller. She stood in front of him, smiling down at him. Shane raised his head to peer up at her, pausing his game. She crawled into his lap, watching as he returned her smile with one equally as kind. 

“So Mr. Madej, what will you be teaching me in class tomorrow?” She asked in a teasing tone, hands wrapped around his neck. He placed a hand on her back, the other to her hip as his thumb rubbed her hipbone like the controller, lazy and soft.

“Mmh can’t tell you that princess, now can I? That’s just not fair to my other students.” His voice was a soft whisper as he spoke. She stuck her tongue out at him, giving him a kiss before laying her head in the crock of his neck, feeling suddenly tired in his warm embrace.   

 “Well let’s get you to bed little lady. Big day tomorrow, first day of school.” Shane stood up, as Y/N clung to his body sleepily. Legs wrapping around his slender waist as he carried her to bed. 

Her arm shot out immediatly, shutting off the stupid alarm. One of the perks of working at Buzzfeed, is they normally have pretty slack business hours. Which meant the women normally strolled in at 10, but not today. Her alarm was set for 5:50 last night and it did not disappoint, going off at 5:50 am on the dot. Y/N  tugged on the string of her lamp. Rolling over, she was met with Shane’s bareback. She moved closer to him, craving his warmth. As soon as her body was press against his, Shane was turning around. 

“Got to get up sweetheart, suppose to be vlogging.” Sitting up, he kissed her on the forehead before getting out of bed and walking into the master bathroom they share. As much as she hated to admit it, he was right. 

The vlog camera was held above her as she laid back down into the bed, head resting on her pillow. 

“It’s currently 5:58,” she said and held up her phone showing the time “This freaking sucks, I don’t want to get out of bed.” She snuggled closer into her pillow before switching the camera off and getting out of bed.  

“It was the worst part.” Y/N claimed, pouting at the camera. Jazz and Lindsay nodded in agreement 

“Like I remember pulling all nighters or staying up until 4 am doing school work in highschool and waking up at 6. I have no idea how I did that, I only stayed up until like 11:30 the night before and it took everything out of me to get out of bed in the morning.” Y/N explained herself. 

“Exactly! Damn teenageers are ruthless.” Jazzmyne added. 

“Yeah, I certainly don’t miss that part of school.” Lindsay said making the final statement. 

It wasn’t until 6:48 when Y/N pulled out the camera again. She was in her car outside of Jazzmyne’s house. She huffed lightly, straightening out her baby blue jean jacket. It was over a black band tee paired with black ripped jeans. She decided to dress like she did in highschool going back to her edgy roots. 

“So It’s 6:48. The bus gets here at 6:50 and I am just now arriving at Jazz’s house, so that’s my morning. Oh there’s Lindsay. Glad we all don’t have our shit together.” She turned the camera showing Lindsay pointing her camera at Y/N. They both gave an unenthusiastic wave to the other person’s camera. Before stepping out of her car, Y/N turned her camera off shuffling over towards Lindsay to get in the frame of her camera. 

“So running late as well?” Lindsay poses the question with a laugh, Y/N just nodded her head laughing as well. 

“If we are running behind, I can’t imagine what Jazz is like.” Y/N said adding fuel to their laughter. 

“The bus was suppose to leave at 6:51. I didn’t walk out of my house until 6:53.” Jazz rolled her head with statement, her black frame sunglasses sliding down her face. 

“Thankfully the bus was still there. Normally that would not happen.” Lindsey butted in.  

“Actually I made really good friends with my bus drivers, they would have waited for me.” The woman on the left clapped back.  

“Of course you did. I can see it now, ‘Oh Jazzmyne, I love her let me just give a little honk’.” Y/N pushed her palm against the air to stimulate a horn. The three women busted out laughing knowing that’s exactly what happened. 

Allsup was standing outside of the office in a suit, his hands held behind his back looking strikingly like a real principal. Y/N so desperately want to laugh at the man pacing in front of the door. The three women dropped their heads as they passed him on their way into the building, each mumbling their own version of ‘Hello Principal Allsup’.

Buzzfeed had went all out for this video, even going as far as making a little hallway lined with lockers with posters hanging around them promoting fake clubs and plays. Each woman chose a locker and placed their gym clothes in it along with anything extra they didn’t need. The women stared at each other after they closed their lockers.

“Okay well I have to go do morning announcements.” The blonde said sipping what Y/N assumed was water through a pink straw. 

“Okay, see you in first hour.” Jazz said throwing her backpack over her shoulder and heading towards stage 8 for their first class of the day. Y/N gave a small wave to Lindsay before following behind Jazz. 

“Our schedule starts with history with Mr. Madej.” Lindsay points out while waving the schedule back and forth in front of the camera. She turned to wiggle her eyebrows at Y/N. Y/N felt a small blush heat up her face. 

“We know that will be your favorite class.” Jazz said and bumped shoulders with the woman teasingly. 

“What can I say, I like history.” She retaliated, shrugging her shoulders. 

First hour was with Shane, and Y/N couldn’t help but be excited to see him. They typically get to commute to work together. She missed that time they normally got to share together, so she was eager to see him.

“This is so cute.” Jazz said gesturing to the tiny classroom that Buzzfeed had set up in stage 8. It truly was cute, a little chalkboard was set up in front of the room, a world map drawn on it in chalk. There was a table with three red chairs in front of the board. A small circular table sat next to the board, a water bottle and book placed on it. Then there was Shane. He leaned over the tiny table reading the book. 

That’s what Y/N eyes trained on, she couldn’t focus on anything else. Shane was dressed professionally, wearing a white and navy blue striped button down paired with a red tie. It made his torso look long and lean. His lengthy legs were covered by black skinny jeans held up by a brown belt. He looked so handsome. Her eyes couldn’t focus on anything else, her mouth felt dry looking at him. 

“Good morning.” Shane Mr. Madej said as the two women entered the room. He nodded softly, watching as they took their seats next to each other. Jazz sat in the middle seat as Y/N took the one closest to the wall. 

“You look spiffy.” Jazz said from her seat.

“Oh thank you.” Shane replied looking down at his outfit, tugging at his tie. Y/N nodded her head in agreement. Words not really working out for her at the moment. They sat in silence for a moment before the speaker crackled from somewhere in the room. Allsup’s voice filled the room. 

“Goodmorning Buzzfeed High! Hope you all have a fun day, but remember to have fun, you have to follow the rules.” Shane pointed up in the air at the word ‘follow’ and back to the two women at the word ‘rules’. Y/N and Jazz laughed pointing a finger back at him. There was silence as the mic was passed to Lindsay. 

“Please stand for the pledge of Allegiance.” Her voice boomed. 

“Here we go I was waiting for that.” Shane smiled pointing towards the small American flag that he had taped up on a bookshelf. Y/N smiled at his pride for the tiny flag. The announcements carried on with Lindsay stumbling through the lunch menu. 

“What the hell? These announcements suck.” Jazz laughed. The mic was passed back to principle Allsup. 

“Let’s go corgi’s, go get them, woof woof!” And that was the end of morning announcements. 

Lindsay soon joined the other two women in history, taking her seat next to Jazz. She placed her bag on the floor getting comfortable for the lesson. 

“How’s everyone doing this morning?” Mr.Madej asked clapping his large hands together. 

“Well you know, it’s early.” Jazzmyne mumbled back at him. 

“I am gonna see if I can switch this board around.” He pushed the board forward trying to flip it to the other side. He unfortunately didn’t pull it forward enough, causing it to smack against the wall. The sound echoed throughout the room. She tried to hold it in, she really did, but Y/N couldn’t fight back the bubbling laughter that flowed out of her. Shane’s head snapped back to the woman, a smirk plastered on his face. 

“You think that’s funny Miss.Y/L/N?” 

“Yes.” She gasped, barely getting it out among the fits of laughter. Shane stared her down, trying to be serious but he couldn’t help but laugh back. Everything about Y/N was contagious, so it wasn’t a surprise when only laughter filled the room. 

“Mr. Madej was a cool teacher.” Jazz stated, Lindsay nodding her head in agreement. 

“It was a nice way to start off the day.” The blonde said. 

“He was hot.” Y/N said dryly, like him being hot was a fact not a statement. The other woman burst out laughing. 

“He just had a great way of connecting with us, having fun.” Lindsay added trying to get the conversation back on topic, but failed as the next thing out of Y/N mouth was:

“I really wish I could have connected with him a little more if you know what I mean” She gave a wink to the camera and a smirk to go along with it. 

Y/N blanked out as Shane started his lesson. Her focus was on the way Shane moved around the chalkboard, scribbling his messy handwriting in orange chalk. She watched his lips move, he was talking about something history related she was sure of that, but she didn’t exactly know what. 

“Miss. Y/L/N are you okay?” His voice snapped her out of her trance. 

“Yes sorry just a bit distracted.” 

“And what is distracting you?”

“You are, with those tight jeans and perfect lips.” She teased back at him, Lindsay snickered at the comment.

“That’s highly inappropriate Miss. Y/L/N.”

“I believe that falls under bad behavior Mr. Madej.” Jazz points out smirking at Y/N. Her eyes widening back at the short haired woman. 

“I am afraid I have to agree, sorry that’s a strike.” Y/N’s face was priceless as her mouth hung open, her eyes so wide they might explode out from her. 

Jazz tried to talk, but the laughter was too much. She and Lindsay both hunched over with their laughter. Y/N on the other hand, sat in the middle, fake fuming for the sake of good entertainment. 

“Okay sorry,” Jazzmyne said finally calming herself down “So Y/N got a strike for flirting with a teacher.” 

“I really thought it would be Jazz to get a strike for being inappropriate, but here comes Y/N talking about Mr. Madej’s tight jeans and perfect lips.” Both women laughed at the reintroduction of Y/N words. 

“He really should have been filtered.” She crossed her arms over her chest a pout coming out on her lips. 

“But the best part was a second later she got another strike because she flicked him off when she thought he wasn’t looking.” The women were almost on the floor at that point. 

The bell rang dismissing the women to the next class which was Englsih with Ms.Macatangay. The women underestimated the time they had to get to this class, causing them to have to run up the stairs nearly dying on the way. They luckily made it just in the nick of time. They were forced to read their homework assignments in class, which made Y/N feel like she was actually back in highschool, anxiety racing through her. However, she recited it without a hitch.

Before the women knew it, it was time for P.E. They had survived physics and Spanish and they were on their way to grab their gym clothes out of their lockers. Buzzfeed had made cute little gym shirt they were black and read “Buzzfeed 2019 highschool athletic department” in white. The women were also granted other classmates in this class. Of course among those classmates was the famous Ryan Bergara. Through the two years of dating Shane, Y/N and Ryan had became somewhat close. Bonding over their shared love for the tall boy like man. So it was natural when he dropped down next to her on the floor.

“Ten minutes into P.E and Jazz gets called out for talking.” Lindsay says. 

“All I said was she was thick.” She defended herself. 

“Which I think is unfair that I got a strike for that.” Y/N chimed in. 

“That was different, I didn’t tell her to her face that she had perfect lips.” Y/N face heated up as she smirked. 

The dodgeball game started with a whistle. It was Y/N and Jazzmyne on one team and Lindsay and Ryan on the other. Y/N’s team lost the first game prompting Ryan to trash talk to her about her crappy throwing skills. Which was not a good idea because now she was out of blood. She waited for the whistle, foot touching the back wall, staring daggers at Ryan. She used her foot to push off as soon as the whistle sounded. Y/N quickly grabbed a blue ball, aiming it straight at Ryan.

“This is for trying to steal my boyfriend Bergara!” She shouted, ball flying out of her hand hitting Ryan right in the gut. He played up the pain for the camera hobbling over towards the sidelines grumbling about how Shane was his first. Her team ended up winning the second and third game. 

Lunch was the worst, the food was cold. It also didn’t help that everyone else in the office was eating chipotle. Y/N was over the day at that point. She was hungry, tired, and her brain ached from all the knowledge that had been thrown at her. She grumbled her way back up the stairs for 6th hour which was math.

“I walked in thinking it was pre-cal, but it was trig I never took that class in highschool.” Lindsay complained. 

“Same.” 

“I took it, but I didn’t remember anything.” Y/N stated, her enthusiasm slipping. 

Y/N sat through the class, head in her hands trying to understand what Mr. St.Juste was writing on the board. She might have been the only one to take the class in highschool, but it didn’t make the subject any less alien to her. Luckily they all passed and were on their way to their last class, home ec with Mrs. Mcclenny. They were making Tamagoyaki, a japanese style omelette. It was delicious which was amazing because Y/N was starving. A huge sigh left all three women lips as the final bell rang. 

“It was exhausting and I never want to do it again.” Y/N stated bluntly. 

“Yeah, teenagers deal with a lot of shit and we should appreciate them more.” Lindsay said. 

“Exactly, well that was following a highschool schedule. We are going to go home and sleep for five years.” Jazz said. 

“Bye!” All three said in unison waving at the camera. 

Y/N was slowly grabbing things out of her locker when Shane creeped up and leant against the locker next to hers. Looking like a stereotypical jock from a teen movie. He smiled, watching as her slumped body packed up her things. 

“Need help with that beautiful?” She smiled as his voice put some energy back into her. 

“Do you flirt with all your students Mr.Madej?” She asked walking away from him. He followed after her, a cheeky smirk played on his face. They dropped the subject on their walk to the car. 

“I am so tired Shane, today was fun but awful.” She groaned resting her hand against the handle of the car. 

“Well, let me take you home and make it better princess.” A smug grin crossed his face. 

“I don’t think so asshole, you gave me two strikes.” She held up two fingers before sliding into the car, Shanes grin fell as he too got in the car 

“You’re joking right?” He asked hopefully. 

“I don’t know, get me home and we’ll see.” The grin returned as he started the car. I guess sleep could wait a little longer. 

[purplesurveys]

694

What song are you listening to right now? I’m not listening to anything but the last song I played was Violet by Daniel Caesar; I don’t actually know the song but it was part of a playlist on Spotify. Admit it -- you want a Snuggie. What design/color? I don’t even know what that is, but if it came in pink I’d want one. Do you prefer movies at home or movies at the theatre? Home is cozier and costs much less, haha. How many songs does your iTunes have? Ooh, I haven’t used my iTunes in like half a decade buuuut I think it peaked with around 400-500 songs? Idk, I didn’t explore much as a kid and I liked to stick with my favorite singers/bands. Do you take a shower in the morning or the night before? When I’m off school I like to shower at night - much more comfy that way, and I fall asleep faster. But when I have to leave the house whether to go to school, the mall, to crash at someone’s place, etc. I always bathe a few hours before. Always. I hateeeeee not feeling fresh when I go outside.

What's your academic niche? (History, math, science, etc.) History for sure, but there are some science topics I’m also okay in. Who's your youngest teacher? They’re all already pretty seasoned lol I can’t actually tell. I think it’s Ma’am Cai; welp, at least among my current professors, she’s the one that acts the youngest. Have you ever had the samples people offer you at Costco? I’ve never been in a Costco but I typically don’t get samples from our local groceries because idk, they just look nasty :/ The only samples I get are the free ones they hand over at Starbucks and Coffee Bean, haha. If you had to name your kid after a food, what would his/her name be? I’d take olives and turn it to Olivia, which was always my choice for a girl anyway. But if it really had to be food-inspired I’d go with... Brie for a girl, or Sage for a boy. Miley Cyrus: Inspirational role model or a ho? Get with the times, 2009 survey. This question won’t get away with that word today. Anyway, Miley is a badass. I never changed my mind about her, maybe except for that time she did that performance with Robin Thicke. Are you stressed about anything? Right now no. I’m on a six-week break, I wanna enjoy it without thinking about the stuff that would typically stress me out. When's the last time you had a rock, paper, scissors match? It’s been a few months. What's your favorite anime? I don’t watch anime... the only show I got into was Pokemon. Did you cry when Ash let his Butterfree go with the other Butterfrees? I vaguely remember that but I probably got sad over it when I was younger. Don't you hate it when Facebook auto-corrects your smiley faces and hearts? I don’t mind it. Skinny, flared, ripped, or faded jeans? Ugh I hate all of these. I have a lot of skinny jeans in my closet but they’re always a last resort - my go-to these days is mom jeans. What are you excited for? Meh, nothing in particular. I wanna say my birthday? but who knows what the world is gonna come to be by then. Are you part of the Farmville cult? No I never played. I wasn’t allowed to make a Facebook account at the time when games like that and Petville and Plants vs. Zombies were big. What were you for Halloween? Last year I went as Dora. AND IT WAS SO ANNOYING because the party we were invited to prohibited shorts??? And 1) Dora wore shorts and 2) I searched far and wide for a pair of orange shorts? It was the first time I heard of a dress code that strict for a college party lmao I couldn’t believe it. Thankfully Rita had just bought a pair of orange jeans so she let me borrow those. Have you ever had braces? Back in high school. What year of high school are you in? I am not. What's your favorite flower? Peonies. Would you ever bleach your hair? Probably not. My hair has faced enough damage. Have you ever stood on a frozen solid body of water? No. That sounds scary though. I’ve heard and watched people fall through ice :/ Would you ever take up smoking or drinking? I’m already doing both. Thanks, college and peer pressure! Do those girls with 1,000 friends on Facebook REALLY have that many? I dunno, who knows? It’s always possible. I have a bigger problem with the fact that this question just singled out girls lmao. What holiday is your birthday closest to? Uhh Earth Hour, if it counts? If not, we have Araw ng Kagitingan on April 9 which commemorates the Fall of Bataan during WWII. Are you cyberdyslexic? Is this even a thing? I’ve never heard of this until today. Are you regular dyslexic? No. Is there irregular dyslexia? :((( What would your name be if you were a boy? I don’t know. My parents didn’t think about this either I think. Which person from way back when would you love to hang out with? My great grandpa. Either him or his cousin who wrote a book on history. What color are your eyes? Dark brownnnnnnn ugh this will FOREVER be in surveys won’t it. The forever on-going question: Is Twilight stupid or actually brilliant? It’s so stupid. BUT I LOVE IT ok.  Did you carve pumpkins for Halloween this year? No. We don’t do that here. Does your family use a real pine tree or a plastic one for Christmas? I think most households here use artificial trees. I was already a little old when I found out other countries would use real trees. Do you know anyone with a play-on name? (Chris P. Bacon, Justin Case, etc.) Not personally but super recently someone named their kid COVID BRYANT and it was all over social media for a few days. Covid Bryant. Let that shit sink in. Only Filipinos, man. Do you have any foreign exchange students at your school? Yeah, mostly Koreans and Japanese people. If you had a week to live, what would you do? I don’t have much of a choice, do I... I’m gonna be stuck at home and do the stuff I’ve already been doing in the last three weeks, and just hope I had fun.

Are you good at brain teasers? Some, but I don’t enjoy doing them in general. Is your handwriting nice? I can handle a pen pretty well, if I do say so myself. I have a neater penmanship than most people I know. What's your second language? English.  Is it uncomfortable for you to take showers in glass stalls w/out curtains? Not really but the door has to be locked. Finish the sentence: Remember, remember... The fifth of November? I dunno why I know about that though. Did you understand Shakespeare? No. I always bought the No Fear Shakespeare editions cos I had absolutely no patience to try and understand the original text. What do you want to be when you're older? Rich. What's your favorite dog breed? Golden retriever or pitbull. Are you one of those people who take like, 50 Facebook quizzes at a time? I’ve never taken a Facebook quiz. What was the last shot you got? It was at the roof of my mouth, back when I had a tooth extraction. Ever gotten cavities? A few times. Can you differentiate between the words "your" and "you're?" Yes. Do you use hair ties as bracelets? Lmao always. Don’t most girls do this? What was the last school project you did that you couldn't wait to turn in? My book report for my business journalism class. After I proofread it like 6 times and triple-checked the word count, I couldn’t waitttt to get rid of it. Have you ever graded papers? Sure. I’ve said it in past surveys, but my org hosts journalism workshops to interested schools, whether they’re in elementary, high school, or college. At the end of the day they have to come up with their own articles, and then we check each of them, correct the mistakes, grade them, and give it back to them with our comments. What was your favorite year of school up to this point? Third year of high school. I don’t really have a favorite year of college... I had lows in each of them. What's the latest you've ever woken up? 11 AM. Can you recite the alphabet backwards? For a time I did cos Angela taught me. Then I just never sang it again so I ended up forgetting. If you could master one language in thirty minutes, what would it be? Korean. Are you a sucker for foreign accents? No. Sometimes I find it hard to understand. Where were you born? Is it the same place you live currently? I was born somewhere in Manila, and I live faaar away from there now. How often do you remember your dreams? What did you last dream about? Only if I note them down on my phone. The last dream I remember having was too lengthy for me to want to type it all down, but it involved me and Gabie being exes, and she had her own kid hahaha. When did you learn the ninja turtles were named after Renaissance artists? Pretty early, I guess. I’ve never seen the show though. Do you do yoga? Nope.

[essaysbyciara]

Thy Neighbor II: Lovin’ The Crew [Chapters 3 + 4!]

[Prologue] [Chapters 1 + 2] 

Shhh...[TOP SECRET] is revealed! 

THANK YOU TONS for the comments and likes! Taglist is always open, so let me know and I’ll add you! Peace & Love! 

CHAPTER THREE 

What changed from one-ish in the morning when he wrapped a blanket around her mentally exhausted body to now, who knows. All Ciara knows --and feels -- is that she finds herself building a new level of exhaustion at the hands -- and other appendages -- of Trevante. There will be no 5 AM workout at the gym this morning. Trevante gets it right here as Ciara receives multiples of what was denied to her last night, what Mahalia clowned Trevante for not being able to produce. As Trevante gives Ciara's body a workout before sunrise breaks, Y'lan is also breaking a sweat of his own making in the early AM as well. 

“We just ordered 60 cartons of milk? That’s it?” Y’lan flips over  the delivery sheet, looking for an answer he knows he won’t be able to find. 

“I just deliver the orders, chief,” the delivery driver says as he hops into the driver seat of his truck. Sixty cartons of milk would have been fine for the breakfast program during the summer but with school back in session, he’s seen close to eighty kids every morning. A lot to handle on his own. 

He’s been on his own a lot lately since midterms time hit all the local colleges. His normal set of volunteers keep dropping like flies, burning the midnight oil only to text Y’lan at the last minute that they won’t be able to make it. He’s been hanging on by a string, the lovely older ladies at his church helping out when they can. They all had a crush on Y’lan -- and a daughter they so desperately wanted for him to meet. 

Y’lan keeps thinking about his lack of a meeting with Ciara the other night. He texted her phone to ask what time he should come over for dinner but received no response. Though he was proud that his peace offering worked at Archie’s, he hated that Ciara did what she’d been doing since they ran into each other at that Proverbs event: ignore him.

Ciara and Y’lan would often cross paths at local church events across the city. Ciara kept it “church cute”, acknowledging his presence if they ended up in group conversations but avoiding any one-on-ones. Y’lan friend requested her on Facebook and she ignored it. Ciara was still in disbelief that Y’lan and Trevante were friends but then she wasn’t: birds of a male ho feather flock together. But she always wondered what woman at these events was Y’lan’s wife. Her pride wanted to meet the woman who killed her dream. 

“These kids waste a lot of food, man.” Winston says as he tosses another full tray of breakfast food into the trash. 

“I know.” Y’lan says. “And then they complain about being hungry once they get to school. I think they’re so happy to see their friends, man. That’s all.” Y’lan appreciates Winston’s friendship more than a little bit. After lamenting to Winston that he needed help at Proverbs in the mornings, Winston quickly volunteered to help -- even as he worked through his PhD at the University of Pennsylvania. 

Winston and Y’lan met at their church’s young adult men’s retreat before the summer. Winston just moved to Philadelphia from Harlem, settling in the Germantown section of the city. When he opened up at the retreat about his divorce and his perceived failure as a husband, Y’lan instantly admired his transparency. They talked for hours that night, striking up a bond both men needed. They could hold each other accountable, something Y’lan needed more than ever now that he is single. 

Winston is single too -- although he tried to change that. When he crossed paths with Ciara that one day in front of her apartment, he vowed to never forget her, thinking she possessed the cutest nose he’d ever seen. So when his university mentor told him to find a student to tour him around campus, it felt divine. He found Ciara on Facebook and sent her a message. She responded within minutes. 

As Ciara walked him around Penn’s campus and later took him to have lunch with other masters, MDiv and PhD students, he felt butterflies which eluded him since his divorce. Though it had been over three years since his marriage ended, Winston was absolutely terrified to date. He didn’t want to fail another woman, he thought. He was scared to disappoint. His lack of dating life kept him celibate as well. He knows Ciara’s plight better than anyone. 

Once he heard Ciara speak in a group discussion in class, he thought to take a leap of faith. So as their group dispersed, Winston found himself alone with Ciara. With a deep breath and a quick prayer, he asked Ciara if she wanted to meet up sometime for coffee. Ciara regretted that she had to tell him ‘no’. Trevante wasn’t exclusive but Ciara sure was. Since that day, Winston kept his distance. Ciara sometimes caught him looking at her from afar. 

“I appreciate you helping me, Winston. You’ve been a lifesaver.”

“Anytime, man. Glad to help. I’ll see you Thursday at bible study.” Y’lan and Winston dap each other as Hampton Scott, Y’lan’s boss,  walks into the cafeteria. “You got a minute, Y’lan,” he says as he points to the hallway.

“I’m checking in on you, Y’lan. You look exhausted.”

“I am, Mr. Scott. These volunteers keep dropping on me. I’m afraid to see what finals time will be like.”

“Have you reached out to Protestant Placements at all?  I’m sure they can help us in the meantime.”  Pride absolutely kept Y’lan from making that call to Ciara’s organization. Y'lan breaks his pride because he’s out of all of his energy -- and because he wants answers as to what happened the other night. 

Meanwhile, Ciara is also out of energy--- in all the right ways. 

“Call out of work for me…”

4

Ciara didn’t heed Trevante’s request. As she sits at her work desk, her phone vibrates from Trevante’s texts. He’s giving a play-by-play review of their early morning together and she’d be lying if she said she didn’t like it. 

Ciara had no regrets about getting into his bed. She was too cold from sleeping on his living room couch, the supposedly wool blanket too thin to keep her body warm. Trevante turned around to hold her once he felt her creep under his covers. This time, she responded to his grasp. That’s all it took. 

Come straight to my apartment after work…

What about the gym, Tre? 

Fuck a gym, I got you…😉

Trevante unfollowed gym manager on Instagram as soon as he sat down at his desk that morning. His moment with Ciara felt so right, so perfect … so how their first night together should have been. He got to play with Ciara’s braids that morning as the sunlight beamed off of her back, her drifting in and out of sleep. He didn’t want her to leave. He tried not to wake her sleeping body draped over his as he drafted up an email to his boss. He wanted to take up an offer to work from home --  hoping that Ciara would say “yes” to his request  to call off from work. When she denied him, his heart flatlined. He deleted the email. 

“Mr. Rhodes, here’s your mail!” Trevante looks up from his phone to see Meganne, the fall intern, looming over his desk with a very wide smile on her face. Her green eyes and 3C hair straight out of a Shea Moisture advertisement caught Trevante’s attention when she was introduced to the agency’s staff a few months ago. When Trevante saw Meganne waiting for a SEPTA bus after a marketing event, he offered to ride her home. Her sorority sisters couldn’t believe the “fine as fuck” man dropping off their soror in front of their house that night. When Meganne -- and all of her sorors -- followed Trevante on Instagram, he returned the favor. 

After that, Trevante and Meganne would grab lunch together often. Though it made Trevante uneasy, he felt it all to be innocent. Meganne didn’t see it that way. This 31-year-old modelesque marketing executive with the body of a Marvel superhero bought her lunch and liked her pictures on Instagram? Oh, he’s interested.  So when Meganne was looking for a place to celebrate her 21st birthday, she asked Trevante for suggestions with hopes that he’d join the fun. 

Trevante bought her and all of her sorors drinks at Bar XXI, the hottest lounge in the city. He even secured them a table on a night that Meek Mill  was hosting his after party. Meganne got so drunk that she went full steam ahead and sent texts -- and pictures--  to Trevante. Although it made Trevante feel super awkward, he never mentioned it to her. He just decided to keep some distance. The lunches and Instagram love stopped and Meganne grew worried. Her grown-ass-man didn’t want her anymore. 

“Appreciate it, Meganne. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome!” Meganne walks out with an extra switch in her walk which Trevante fails to ignore. Trevante grows weary as Ciara starts to ignore his texts. He really wants to play house with Ciara tonight. 

But as the minutes of silence turn into hours, Trevante’s mind starts to wander. Though this morning felt amazing, he didn’t know how long it’ll last, if Ciara would change her mind and go back to the original plan. He doesn’t want another “I can’t always do it” from her. Feeling the fear of neglect, albeit manufactured, he refollows the gym manager on Instagram and goes on a liking spree. He needs attention from someone. 

Ciara is ignoring Trevante’s texts because of an unexpected email that graced the presence of her inbox. 

Ciara,

I wanted to meet up with you to discuss using your crew for Proverbs. We've been losing bodies thanks to midterms. Hoping you can be of assistance to us. I can be reached at 617-555-3450 ext. 250.

Thanks,

Y'lan

(I also wanted to check in on you. I know we were supposed to meet up for dinner but I guess something happened? Just making sure you're good.)

Shit. SHIT. SHIT! 

Ciara completely forgot about her revenge move with Y’lan. Staring at his email, she has no idea of what to do. She wants to ignore it but it’s work-related. She wants to curl up in a ball and hide for seemingly inviting Y’lan back into her life but she also wants to make it up to Y’lan for using him as a part of a childish game called her coping mechanisms. He didn’t deserve that --- even if he broke her heart. 

Hey, Ylan! 

Would love to meet with you to talk about partnering with Proverbs. If it’s not last minute, can we meet up at U City Coffee tonight at 7? 

Thanks! 

Ciara 

She doesn’t mention the other night’s misstep -- on purpose. 

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