#i even bought a notebook for that purpose

[nicepersondisorder]

therapy tomorrow and im stuck on "how do i write a list of priorities and what needs to be talked about first". because brain for some reason is convinced it needs to be perfectly formatted and pretty. sufferer

[catssluvr]

dating nerdy/loser natalie scatorccio <3

⭑.ᐟ Straight up just obsessed with your existence, Nat’s blindly in love with you and would do anything to make you happy - probably loves you tons more than playing video games and that’s a compliment.

⭑.ᐟ Makes you watch all of her favorite movies, not so subtly looking over to catch your reactions to her favorite parts and also yapping about little details that no one else notices.

⭑.ᐟ Takes the gameboy she bought on second hand everywhere with her, pulling out in public whenever she’s on a line or even at school when she’s bored. She plays the games you find most interesting so you’re also entertained.

⭑.ᐟ Drags you to the arcade and makes you play the duo games with her, then plays the other ones while you sit close to her eating some snacks she got from a vending machine.

⭑.ᐟ Tank tops and pajama checkered pants are her go to outfit - not that you could ever complain. Also likes graphic tees with a long sleeved under them and sometimes the infamous leather jacket she wears just for you.

⭑.ᐟ Absolutely tears up whenever you give her flowers or anything of the sort, mostly just overwhelmed with how nice she thinks you are to her.

“Baby, are you crying?”

“What- no! I just had hot cheetos and they were extra spicy.” Meanwhile pouting with trembling lips.

⭑.ᐟ Talking of pouting, it’s probably Nat’s top one reaction to you being mad at her. She’d never make you feel anger towards her on purpose so most of all it makes her panic right there. Tries to solve it as quickly as possible because all she wants is to see your frown dissolve into a sweet smile so she can finally hug your bones out.

⭑.ᐟ Loves to sleep in and will not let go of you until she’s fully ready to get up, nuzzling into your neck and practically whining when you make move to take off the covers.

⭑.ᐟ The biggest cuddle bug and particularly adores being the little spoon. Have her lay her head on your chest while playing with her hair and she’ll be purring like a cat in seconds.

⭑.ᐟ Is an absolute tease who wants your attention 24/7, will pinch your cheeks and arms until you finally look at her.

⭑.ᐟ This girl gets the zoomies randomly, giggling about stupid things and jumping on top of you to tickle your life out and cover your pretty face in wet & very sloppy pecks.

⭑.ᐟ Never having to be scared of her cheating cause realistically she’s a big loser who can barely talk to a girl without stuttering and wears shirts that say ‘i love my gf’ every other day.

⭑.ᐟ Is so freaking clumsy, keeps on hitting her toes on wall corners and breaking cups because she trips on literal air. It’s all worth it for her though because she gets to have you as her personal nurse, putting a band aid over where she’s hurt before placing a kiss over it.

⭑.ᐟ Paints your nails while you tell her about the latest gossip going on, listening attentively and gasping dramatically when she thinks something is particularly shocking.

“He did what!? :0”

⭑.ᐟ Genuinely leaves hickeys on you sometimes without even noticing. She’ll be kissing your neck without any second intentions and before she can stop herself there will be a whole bruise on it.

⭑.ᐟ Has a lego collection with spaceships from star wars and some geeky video games. Gets sooo giddy when you buy her new ones and prepares a whole date night for you to build it with her.

⭑.ᐟ When you’re sitting together in class she draws silly doodles on your notebook, making very bad drawings of both of you holding hands with hearts around you.

“Look, that’s us :)”

⭑.ᐟ Sometimes gets a bit insecure and doesn’t understand what you see in her, it’s hard to believe you actually love her for who she is. But once you call her over when you’re with your friends in public and literally show her off she knows there was never a reason to doubt it.

[visbacktatto]

viktor x assistant!reader

you were always too worried about viktor. you couldn't help it, not when he seemed so passionate about ruining himself for the sake of his research on hextech. someone had to take care of him, if not himself, you.

in the beginning it was difficult, when jayce brought you to the lab viktor gave you a studying look, sizing you up, deciding almost immediately they didn't need help, not yours, not from anyone.

but jayce had it known it was a non negotiable decision, he was getting more and more busy with the council work and viktor was surely exhausting himself with the research, he needed the help and you would be perfect for the part.

and you were, actually, slowly you proved your worth, being quite a genius on tech yourself, it wasn't hard to figure out the little instabilities with the hextech and help with the infinite calculations that came with the job.

and so, viktor started warming up to you, he started with asking for help in little things, like correcting an equation he couldn't seem to crack, checking some new invention that was malfunctioning every time he tried to start it, and every time he had to hide his surprised expression when you actually solved the problem.

so he started respecting you, and then, actually talking to you, letting you know a thing or two about him. how he liked his coffee, how organized he was with the notes on the notebook that he usually showed no one but now he's showing you, how passionate he actually was about giving people access to magic, about providing real change and comfort to the people in need and how far he was willing to go for it.

and you didn't even realize you were falling in love with him until one of those late, late nights in the laboratory, just the two of you working on some new tool together.

viktor was sleepy, clearly, you could see it in his tired eyes, but he was too stubborn to leave the work unfinished, leaned on a desk, being swallowed by the infinite papers with prototypes, he didn't even feel it when he fell asleep, his head resting on the cold surface above his notebook.

but you noticed.

it wasn't rare for him to sleep in the lab, he'd told you that before, you'd seen him early in the morning when you came to start working and he was already there. but it was the first time you saw it happening.

and he looked so beautiful, exhausted, the bags under his eyes profound, but undeniably beautiful. almost ethereal in that brief moment his body relaxed.

and you don't know why, but you reached his hair, your fingers featherlight when they brushed the brown strands, a surprisingly smooth sensation, his hair was soft.

and, yet unconsciously, he leaned into your hand, making you give into your sudden impulse and actually caress his scalp, gentle, caring.

later, when he woke up, he thought it was just a dream.

and from that day on you felt your heart beating fast almost whenever you were together. sitting side by side discussing something, his breath close to your face, his hand brushing yours when reaching for a pen, his knee touching yours under the desk when he was too focused on a new invention to move away, to keep his distant and cool demeanor, he was warmer now.

you continued doing little things for him, bringing him food when he forgot to eat and brushing it off as “i just bought too much for myself, do you want some?”, of course he knows you did it on purpose but he wouldn't point it. besides, he almost found it... endearing.

and on a particularly quiet night in the lab, the only sounds being of viktor's pen on paper and the soft hum of the machines surrounding you, you fell asleep there, for the first time.

the thing is, you were sat beside him, studying some pieces of a tool you've broken down to fix, and the moment you fell asleep your head was drooping to the side.

viktor thought it would give you a sore neck lately. of course it was the only reason he brought you closer to rest on his shoulder... it's not like he felt like he needed you close and couldn't resist seeing you so unapologetically adorable by his side... of course not.

he continued writing, but he was unfocused, the gentle weight of you resting on him occupying his thoughts. he didn't realize he was even moving before he brought you a little closer, his hand securing your waist, all in the name of making sure you were comfortable, he justified to himself.

you stirred, slowly waking up, your senses registering his scent before your eyes opened, he smelled good, like coffee, faint perfume and something indistinctly him. then you felt his hand resting on your waist, his warmth seeping through your clothes. and you could swear your face was warming up.

you opened your eyes, confirming your suspicion, you were resting on him, god you felt so embarrassed. “viktor? i'm sorry, i-” you mumbled sleepily, but he quickly brushed it off with a ��no need to apologize, it's okay, you are tired”, his hand dropping from your waist out of surprise to see you awake, “maybe you should wrap it up for the day” he suggests.

you nod, slowly distancing your body from his, and he almost misses it. “maybe i should” you murmur, rubbing your eyes with your hand, trying to shake half of that sleepy haze away.

and you don't even notice that viktor is watching you. his eyes focused on your face, your cheeks looking a bit puffy, cute, even if he'd never mention it. his hand moved without his intent, holding your wrist, “you're feeling well?” he asked, sounding gentle, his accent thick, making your sleepiness almost dissipate by how fast he put your heart to race.

and he was feeling it, by holding your wrist he could feel your pulse picking up. not that he would mention.

“i'm fine i just... couldn't sleep tonight and i got a bit exhausted, i guess” you answered honestly, trying to not focus on his hold on your wrist.

he finally noticed he was holding your wrist so he dropped it. a little embarrassed himself by his actions. why was he acting like that? and before he could think it through he offered, “you can... continue, to sleep here... if it helps” what meant sleeping on him. but he didn't bring himself to say it out loud.

you looked at him a bit confused, and you were confused. what did he mean by that? sleeping in the lab? that was always uncomfortable, even if you couldn't seem to get some real sleep in your bedroom.

but before you could question further he gently pulled you closer, giving you the chance to put some distance between you again if you wanted to. he rested your head on his shoulder again, not saying anything about it, though.

you didn't know what to say either, your heart beating on your ears, loud, so loud that you could bet viktor was hearing it too.

and just when you thought you couldn't get more flustered, he searched for your wrist again, looking right at your eyes, searching for consent. that you understood the meaning. and you just nodded.

he entwined your fingers, a small, faint smile resting on his lips.

and you smiled too, and everything seemed right in the world in that stolen moment of peace.

[na0koz]

Moving in with jinx hcs? Like imagine how fucking insane she’d be getting to be around you 24/7 365

mention of name carving (sh)

lmfaooo omg she’d be like triple crazy.

toxic!jinx masterlist

- jinx following you would tone down a bit. every time you go out she’d just come with you. but if it was something she couldn’t tag along to, like meeting a friend or work or something, she’d still follow you. she’d just make sure to be home before you so you don’t get suspicious.

- the first few days weeks of you moving in with her she was just so excited to have you with her. literally clinging to you the whole time, trailing after you everywhere.

- you peeling her off you before you go to the bathroom. jinx whining outside the door about how she misses you until you come out.

- when you first arrived, her kitchen was coincidentally stocked with every single one of your favourite foods, only a few of which you’d actually told her about. jinx acts like they’re her favourites too to explain why she has them but the truth is, she can’t stomach most of them and she’s the most picky eater there is.

- she’ll literally buy you a new house if you don’t like a single aspect of hers. if you find her bed uncomfortable she’ll buy a new mattress, whatever. she wants you to want to stay.

- gets you gifts like every week. could have bought you something nice or made you something, even just a nice shaped rock that she thought you’d like.

- sometimes jinx thinks she’s dreamt your entire relationship. she can’t really believe she’s managed to bag someone like you and sometimes you catch her pinching or slapping herself, trying to see if this is all real or not.

- in all honesty i think she’s carved your name into her skin at least once. she really makes an effort for you not to see and it’s basically the only time she’s not clinging to you, because she knows you will definitely figure out how crazy she is if you do see.

- i’m pretty sure she has bpd? (like in the show) so she will freak the fuck out if you say something or act in a way that makes her think you’re mad at her or don’t like her anymore. locks herself in the bathroom for hours until you coax her out.

- she’s grateful for you being there to look after her when she gets depressed too. before you lived together, she would sometimes disappear for days at a time but now you’re there to help her feel better.

- sometimes jinx lets you choose what she wears that day. she wants to look as pretty as she can be and she thinks you’ll find her prettier if you choose her outfit (you find her pretty either way but you won’t tell her that).

- sleeps with her make up on. one time you cleaned it off for her, wiping the smudged purple and black shadow off her eyes. she was awake but she let you do it. now she sleeps with her eye makeup still on on purpose so you’ll clean it off. no matter how many times you tell her not to.

- has a piece of your hair in a jar that she cut off in your sleep. maybe even has it braided with a lock of her own hair she cut off especially.

- watches you sleep most nights. she barely sleeps yet is somehow full of energy all the time. no one knows how she does it. you catch her ‘resting her eyes’ sometimes but you’ve only seen her actually sleeping in bed at night like once or twice.

- is a bit weird about laundry. she’s volunteered for it to be her job to “take it off your hands” but behind the kind act, you fail to notice that a couple of items of your clothing take a little longer to return. panties (obviously), shirts, anything. anything with your smell on she’ll take and do whatever with while you’re out of the house.

- she has a lot of jewellery and lets you wear it as another way of claiming you.

- the only problem with you living with her is that she has to hide all of the stuff she’s taken from you in the past, the pictures of you and the notebooks filled with your every move to somewhere you definitely won’t find them. she absolutely cannot have you finding them. maybe she keeps them in your old apartment using the key she made for it. hopefully you don’t have a reason to go back there.

- all in all i think she’d be good to live with. she knows everything you like and will literally do anything for you.

[struwberrii]

haikyuu!! at an american high school ദ്ദി ˉ͈̀꒳ˉ͈́ )✧

here are my silly headcanons on how i think the karasuno first years would act if they were american high school students teehee

pt.2 pt.3

ヽ(^◇^*)/

hinata

probably runs to lunch

one of those dorky try hards in gym

wears matching neon nike shorts and tops

literally cries if he ever gets in trouble in class

water bottle flips randomly (he never lands it)

his mom drops him off at school every morning

jumps to touch the top of every doorframe

everyone judges him and thinks hes weird but hes gen the sweetest guy if you ever talk to him

he has a phone he just cant bring it to school guys

offers to do stuff first when the teacher asks (like brings attendance to the office or asks other teachers for dry erase markers)

middle school humor (hes kinda funny sometimes tho lol)

kageyama

lets you copy his homework because he knows its all wrong (or gives you wrong answers on purpose)

wears hoodies everyday even during summer

scared to put lip balm on in public because someone once asked if he was gay because of how he applied it

friends with hinata but is kind of embarrassed of him

girls actually like him but dont talk to him because hes so quiet

probably talks to girls from different schools

plays roblox with the others when they have breaks during practice (he hasnt updated his avatar since 2016)

still reads strictly picture books

also a try hard in gym

still does streaks on snapchat

tsukishima

refuses to acknowledge hinata and kageyama outside of volleyball club (he thinks theyre embarrassing)

constantly gets in trouble for having airbuds in or being on his phone

tries putting girls onto his niche music taste then its just cigarettes after sex

if you arent one of his friends or a pretty person hes probably gonna be rlly mean to you im sorry

has hot topic pins on his bag (yamaguchi forces him to shop there with him and tsuki always ends up walking out with a new pin)

dresses very basic but still nice

bros a bully

tries to correct teachers and make the teacher look dumb

if he can tell he actually hurt your feelings he'll say it was just a joke and gaslight you

him and yamaguchi just talk shit all lunch and study period

walks to like mcdonalds for lunch sometimes

yamaguchi

bully on the DL

the only reason people know hes mean is because tsuki is his best friend

always has fruit for lunch

probably in band and plays literally the biggest instrument in the world

he always smells weirdly minty

has the silliest stickers on everything, his notebooks, laptop, headphones

bought sonny angels for him and tsuki

everyone thinks hes gay

him and yachi are art class buddies

brings his switch to school sometimes

rides his bike to school

lowkey stuck in his 2020 indie phase

yachi

has the cutest stationary

takes all her notes on her ipad and has that paper texture screen protector

ali express warrior

shes the sweetest girl in school

probably a closeted lebanese

already has her drivers permit (probably gonna be the first person in her grade with a license)

packs her own lunches everyday in bento boxes

has a private instagram account with like 20 followers and declines everyone she doesnt know personally

always has lotion, gum, perfume, medicine, chargers, everything. she is not taking any chaces

shes like if the 2019 soft girl pinterest aethetic became a person

reminds teachers about the homework

secretly watches youtube during class

she does NOT play about her art projects

her and yamaguchi trade stickers

probably still uses that 2019 kanken vsco bookbag

⋆｡‧˚ʚɞ˚‧｡⋆

sorry guys half of this list is just me being an extreme hater and projecting

[berrywvs]

let me be your fool ఇ jean kirschtein x fem!reader!

summary: one summer, jean learns that some love stories are meant to be painted, even if they can't last forever.

words: 11k

tags: fluff!!, strangers to lovers, mutual pinning!, summer romance, historical au, painter!jean, the notebook inspired! (without the toxicity).

warnings: suggestive content (implied intimacy), brief nudity (for artistic purposes), period-typical gender roles, overbearing parents, arranged marriage, no use of y/n.

note: hiii :3 this is my first time publishing my work on tumblr and i'm really excited!!, english is not my first language (sorry for my mistakes, please be kind). I know this is pretty long and i'm apologize for that :( i didn't think it would end up that long, sorry jejeje.

The summer of 1943 was an unforgettable experience.

At least for Jean Kirschtein, it was.

The season started calm. Hot wind kissed the leaves of the trees every second it passed. 

The sun burned his face while he was painting the outside walls of a new house his family's company had built.

He wanted to paint the house another color. Given the location, which was near the countryside next to a lake, he thought of a baby blue color, so it could contrast with the vibe. But the client specifically asked for it to be painted yellow, so… what the client asks.

At least he was getting a good pay out of this.

He started thinking of what he would do with the new income he was going to receive. 

God, he could even buy new pastels or a set of watercolors for his new paintings.

Then he suddenly heard the motor of a car stopping nearby.

It was a family.

Maybe they were interested in the house. But sadly, it was already sold.

“Good morning, sir. Can I help you?” Jean asked, dropping his paintbrush on the paint can.

“Good morning. We just wanted to see the house,” an older man replied politely.

He was stoic at first glance, but very elegant.

He seemed like an upper-class man from a big city, perhaps he wanted a country house like that one to stay on vacation.

Many people liked to visit Trost in the summertime, especially to distract their minds from big cities like Stohess, which was described as beautiful, but nothing could compare to the beauty of his hometown.

“Sorry, sir, but the house is already sold,” Jean announced, a little harsh.

“I know. It was me who bought it, young man,” the man revealed.

Jean’s face suddenly changed a bit. He was embarrassed by the simple thought of the man being anyone but the owner.

“Sorry, sir, I should not have made assumptions so quickly.” He walked up to him. “Let me introduce myself. I’m Jean Kirschtein.”

He stretched his hand for a handshake, which was accepted by the man in front of him.

The older man introduced himself too. “You must be the son of the landlord.”

“Yes, sir,” Jean nodded. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Likewise, Kirschtein,” he said. “Do you mind if we take a look inside the house? We need to see it first so that when we start decorating it we make sure everything it's in place.”

“No, sir. Let me open the door for you.” Jean walked to the porch and unlocked the door.

When he turned around, he swore he felt his heart flutter.

He saw the most majestic and beautiful girl his eyes had ever seen.

Her vibe was classy, of course, she must be the daughter of the owner. But her face still conveyed the cheeky attitude she might possess.

He abruptly locked eyes with her, and for a moment, he could feel the world stop.

She had just caught him staring, which made him look in another direction.

The whole tour around the house, he continued to subtly stare at her. 

He got caught on the way her brows frowned when her father told her about the color of the inside of the house.

“It has to be light blue… and white,” she said. “It suits the vibe.”

“I think yellow suits the interior best,” the man expressed. “Your mother agrees with me as well.”

She crossed her arms around her chest. “I don’t think that would look nice. You need to extend the color palette of the house. It would look boring with just one plain color.”

She faced Jean, who was trying not to look like a snitch. “Sir, what do you think?”

Jean looked like a deer in headlights. He felt like he got caught (again) by her. But he quickly composed himself and tried to look nonchalant.

“I think your idea sounds nice, ma’am. It would really make the interior look more elegant,” he said with honesty.

She smiled at him. “Finally! Someone with good taste. I guess that’s why you’re the painter, you get to catch it at first glance.”

“Thanks, ma’am.” Jean’s ears got a little red just from seeing her smile in his direction.

He thought she had a really beautiful smile.

“Sweetie, we already decided the color,” her mother pointed out. “Yellow it will be, Mr. Kirschtein,” the woman said to Jean.

He nodded, taking her order in mind.

While the couple’s daughter just attempted to roll her eyes and continued to ignore the chatting of her parents, considering it useless.

Jean noticed it.

She had an attitude. And he really liked that.

When it was time for the family to leave, they all said their goodbyes to him.

“Thank you for the tour, Mr. Kirschtein. I hope this is not the last time we see each other,” the old man said to him.

“I really hope that too…” Jean said to him.

He wasn’t really focusing on the man in front of him, when behind the man he could see the brief image of his daughter getting back into the car.

The man went back to the car and returned to wherever he was from, taking his family with him too.

Since that day, Jean couldn’t get his head off the image of her. Not even if he tried (he tried, but failed. He was relieved by the falling, actually).

He tried to recall the way her voice sounded when she spoke to him, or the way her smile shone in his direction.

She was utterly beautiful. Not a common beauty at all, more like a woman you see currently in paintings.

The type of girl you only see one time in your life, and never again.

He was saddened by the fact that he might not see her again, but he truly prayed that the day he'd met her wasn’t the last time he’d have the opportunity to see her.

He couldn’t sleep either that night, overthinking the whole interaction, which was very short but enough for him to memorize her face.

He sat down on his bed and grabbed his sketchbook from his nightstand. And with shaky hands (from all the adrenaline), he started to draw her, trying to remember exquisite tiny details of her face she might have had.

That was the first day that Jean drew her.

And not the last time he did.

…

The country fair in Trost was a big event. Everybody in town came to it to spend some time with family, on the machine games or to gamble on contests like which fruit was bigger or which pie was more delicious.

Jean was helping her mother by carrying a pot of her famous stew that she was planning to sell when he spotted her. 

Walking arm intertwined with the daughter of the town mayor: Historia Reiss.

His face brightened up at the sight of her. 

She was wearing a gorgeous dress that suited her so well, it made her skin color stand out against the contrasting color of the fabric.

She looked genuinely happy to be there, he could see it in her eyes.

He quickly finished the assignment his mother gave him and went straight to one of his friends.

“Connie,”Jean called out.

“Hey man! what’s up?" Connie greeted him with a smile. 

Jean leaned closer to him. “Do you see that girl next to Historia?”

“Yeah, she’s a cutie, what about her?” his friend asked.

“She’s the girl I told you about,” Jean revealed, a little excited to be honest. “The daughter of one of my father’s clients”.

“The one who bought the country house you’re painting?” Jean nodded in response. 

“Well she’s totally a bae, she seems like she got some expensive taste.” 

“I want to ask her out on a date,” Jean said firmly.

His friend nearly choked on his own saliva when he said that so disposed. 

“You? The ladies man? The guy who rejects every single girl who has intentions on seeing you again? The ‘I have more important things to do than rather go out with a chick'?” he asked incredulously and scoffed “Are we talking about the same Jean we all know?”.

Jean’s jaw clenched at the teasing of his friend. “Connie, seriously, stop. You’re saying out loud, she can hear you!”.

“Since when do you care about being loud, man?” 

“Shut up” he snapped out. 

Connie continued to laugh at him and his clearly flustered sigh. “Grow some balls and go talk to her, horseface. She seems to be alone watching the pies of the contest”

Jean got angry at the nickname but Connie was right, she was alone on the pie stand, carefully admiring the works of the contestants.

“I’ll catch you later man” Jean patted his friend's shoulder and he nodded.

“Good luck loverboy!, you might need it” Connie yelled at him.

Jean ignored his friend's recall and as a nervous act he started to flick his hands, so he preferred to use them to arrange his hair.

He tried so hard to comb it, but a little rebel strand of hair didn’t want to stay in place.

He quickly got up to her spot and as an attempt to act “cool” he leaned his arm up to one of the wood pillars next to him, flexing his bicep a little.

She felt a strange presence interrupting her peaceful view of the pastries.

A little annoyed, she turned around her head to face it. Only to catch the image of the same guy who was painting her future house staring at her (again).

“Can I help you with something?” she spoke, raising one of her eyebrows, clearly uncomfortable at him staring so hard at her as if he wanted to see her soul or something.

Jean suddenly felt like a loss of words at having her so near to him. All the words he rehearsed in his mind a minute before were completely gone.

“Depends… does admiring you count as needing help?” he tried to say it in a nonchalant way, and he succeeded.

“Wow. That was… smooth. But next time, maybe, start with a ‘hi’ instead” she answered him with a fake smile, to later continue to walk and see the rest of the pies.

Jean stayed frozen for a moment, seeing how she was getting away, later he shaked his head as if he wanted to tell himself “I'm not going to look like an idiot, not in front of her” and went after her.

He reached her near one of the cherry pie tables.

“Okay, hi. Starting with that this time like you said” he tried to sound as calm and smooth as possible but his voice shaked a little. 

She raised her sight shortly after he spoke, taken aback that he didn’t surrender easily.

“So… do you come here often?” he asked.

“Do I look like I come here often?” she gave him a confused look. 

Jean wanted to hit himself, he was embarrassing himself in front of her.

“Look, I know I’m not exactly killin’ it in the smooth department today, but… would you maybe…wanna go out sometime?” he smiled.

“No thanks, I'll pass,” she replied, focusing again on the sweets.

His smile faded at her response, he wasn’t expecting that. Well actually he was, it was a clear probability, but it was one in a hundred.

A moment later he could spot the mayor's daughter calling her name and waving at her to catch her attention to go with her and her friends.

She gave her a sign that she was on her way to her. She turned around again to leave, but Jean spoke again. 

“Guess I'll have to earn that ‘yes’ huh?”

She looked back over her shoulder and remarked. “In your wildest dreams” to later scoff a little laugh.

Jean smirked watching her go away. 

That girl was going to be the death of him.

…

Jean continued to paint the house for her family until the day they moved in. They decorated the house interior in a pretty elegant and minimalistic style.

He had learned from his mother that the family came from Mitras, a big city like he supposed, and that they planned to spend the summer in Trost while the patriarch of the family did business with Mayor Reiss.

She was a city girl, rich and way out of his league. But that thought didn’t stop him at night when he tried to capture her portrait in one of his many canvases, but fell at the attempts.

He was frustrated at the fact that no matter what he draws or paints, nothing could come close to the beauty his eyes saw when he looked at her

Jean sadly stopped trying. 

He was taking a break from it, he said to himself.

Until one day he had the opportunity to catch her view again. 

She was laughing and blushing at something another of Historia’s friends joked about. 

He didn’t remember Hitch Dreyse being so funny at some point. But that didn’t matter at all. Not when her joke got the most beautiful girl that had ever crossed his sight got all shy by it.

The way she looked in that moment was so endearing that everyone who saw her could tell she was posing, but in reality she was not.

With her head shyly hiding in her arm, hair caressing her skin gently, flushed cheeks and a cheeky grin her face kept. It was impossible for Jean to not sketch that beautiful image in his notebook.

He liked that sketch, and days later, he turned it into a full painting.

It was beautiful, but it couldn't compare to the divinity itself of the muse in real life.

…

The farmer’s Market was a tradition in the town. Every Friday, the market took place downtown.

People could sell whatever they wanted on it, from fresh vegetables and juicy fruits to home decor or even clothes.

It was like a huge opportunity every week for the merchants to sell or even buy goods for their personal or professional needs.

And there she was, walking, arm intertwined with one of Historia’s rich friends.

Reiner Braun.

They had met a few days ago. He was a foreign young man from a nearby country named Marley. She had heard about it before but never really visited it.

They were pleasantly talking while eyeing the beautiful decorations the merchants were selling.

Reiner was showing off his abilities on football and his dreams of getting to college.

“What about you?” he asked her. 

Her smile faded a little but she returned it.

“Don’t judge me, but I don't really know," she expressed shyly. “It’s not my choice anyway”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t have a voice in my decision of my own future. My parents actually do” she sighed. “I bet they are going to make me end up as a trophy wife or something like that.” 

The conversation turned uncomfortable after she spoke about her point of view. Neither Reiner nor her wanted to speak anymore, in a matter of seconds their arms loosen.

She thought that perhaps that’s what he saw on her the first time they met.

A Trophy ready to be won.

What a shame.

She could recognize Hitch calling her name while walking up to her quickly, like she was in a hurry.

“I need you to come with me" Hitch grabbed her hand gently and pulled her out of Reiner’s side.

“Where are we going?" she asked, confused.

Her friend didn’t tell her, they just continued walking until they reached an art stand near the park.

Many people were gathering around something, she couldn’t see with clarity, awakening her confusion.

Hitch guided her up til the front row of the bunch of people. She saw Historia with wide eyes admiring a painting.

“Oh my, it looks just like you,” the blonde girl said, placing her hand on her heart, as if it could touch it.

In a few seconds she saw the painting. And what she saw left her mouth open, flabbergasted. 

It was a portrait of what she could tell was herself, but it was different, very different.

She looked dazzling in it, nearly angelic.

That was impossible, she could not look that wonderful in a painting when she was not even like that in person. 

The painter was a total liar. And she needed to find out who he was.

Angrily she went to the merchant to ask him.

"Good afternoon, did you paint this?" she pointed at the portrait on exhibition.

The black haired guy denied. “Sadly no, ma’am. I’m only the distributor” he revealed, seeing her face drop a little. “But a dear friend of mine actually did”.

“Do you know where I can find him?”.

“He must be helping her mother in her stand, it’s a few blocks from here" he indicated. “His name is Jean Kirschtein”.

Wait. 

She had heard that name before… but where?

She tried to remember where she recognized that name, it sounded so familiar.

Wait a minute.

Jean Kirschtein… The house painter.

OH MY GOD JEAN THE HOUSE PAINTER.

She nearly freaked out at that moment.

Why in the name of god was Jean Kirschtein painting her a portrait?

Oh, he definitely was going to hear her.

“I want to buy the portrait" she exclaimed suddenly searching for some money in her bag. 

“It’s on the house ma’am” he smiled, “He actually would kill me, if he knew his muse paid for her own portrait”.

His muse? This must be wrong.

“Thank you” she fake grinned at him and took the canvas out of the display.

The bunch of people sighed by the early departure of it but she didn’t care. Her top priority was to confront the liar of Jean Kirschtein.

She followed the black-haired guy’s instructions of where the pastry stand was. She was furious to be honest, gripping with all her strength the portrait of herself with anger.

Jean was calmly helping her mother, recommending some customers the best pie flavors in existence in the stand. When he saw her coming, quickly, short heels clicking the concrete with desperation.

He smiled, remembering her love for pastries just as pies back then at the fair. But when his eyes saw the object she had in her hand, he knew it was over to him. 

He didn’t remember putting that on sale or even putting it on Connie's truck.

Then what was she doing with it? It was not even ready to be shown to the world.

He recalled the night before.

He was at his house helping Connie and Marco to load the canvas to the truck, being so careful with them and scolding Connie about not being gentle enough.

And Marco? 

Marco was nowhere to be seen, he literally disappeared from the face of earth for a while.

Jean was too zoomed on to notice his departure, he was arguing with Connie when his freckled friend came back with another canvas he didn’t even know what it had painted on it and loaded in the truck.

He was definitely going to kill Marco.

He rushed to get outside the stand and walked up to explain himself. He was embarrassed and ashamed by it, most of its guilt came by the look on her face… she was furious.

“Ma’am, I apologize sincerely, I didn't know they were putting it on display. If I had  known before I wouldn't let them” he explained, surrounded by all the shame it could possibly exist in the world.

“You are a liar” she exclaimed, gaining a more hurt look on Jean's face. 

“I apologize deeply ma’am, the last thing i wanted to do to you was to make you uncomforta–” she interrupted his apology.

“Is this how you really view me?” she asked, looking directly in his light brown eyes. As if it was searching for the answer in them.

“No” he replied, watching how the eyebrows of the girl in front of him frowned. “Not even a portrait can compare to the actual sight of the true beauty you emanate”.

His chest was about to explode, just by pronouncing those words his head was getting hazy and his cheeks tinted pink.

She blushed too, deeply red.  

She turned her head to the side and looked away shyly, avoiding his sight.

Both of them were embarrassed and ashamed now.

He was, for making her that kind of confession without any type of warning and for the portrait incident.

She was, for believing he was a liar when the only thing he had ever done is telling her the truth.

Very foolish of both.

Suddenly all her anger and her doubt transformed into amusement. 

This man was crazy. And he was totally going to drive her crazy too.

This accident of his might be the first attempt to really catch her attention completely. Neither his first impression, nor the time he asked her out. 

This one was different.

Her heart pounded really fast when she looked at the portrait again and when she looked back at him, finding him blushing.

She recognized him for the first time. Noticing his brownish eyes, the sharp features he maintained, his ashy brown hair with that cute haircut. 

He looked… really cute. 

He was really cute.

And the way he spoke about her? she was on cloud nine nearly. 

"I wanna go out with you" she muttered, still avoiding his gaze.

"What?” 

"I said that I wanna go out with you!” she insisted, louder this time.

Jean smiled, truly smiled this time.

He got nervous instantly, his hands started trembling slightly and he preferred to pass them through his hair.

"So… where do you want to go?” he asked.

"You don’t ask a girl that!” she gasped, offended. 

He laughed at her reaction and apologized.

"Then I'll see you tomorrow. I’ll pick you up at 6 pm”.

…

He stood up in front of her house attempting to comb his hair by pure instinct. With a bouquet of flowers his mother helped him to choose in one of his hands, he tried to remember the conversation he had planned in front of the mirror to say during the date.

He was five minutes early; he was really invested in making a good impression on her.

He knocked on the door and waited “patiently” until one of the servants opened it for him.

“Good afternoon young man, can I help you?” the maid asked him.

“Good afternoon, i’m actually here looking f–” 

“If it’s the famous Jean Kirschtein” her father came to talk to him, excitedly almost. “How are you son? How’s your family?” 

“We are doing good sir, thanks for asking. My father has been busy with some more upcoming projects and I'm helping him with them, so we are doing pretty well” he explained.

“Why are you still outside son? come in” the old man invited him and patted his shoulder in a homecoming way.

Jean thanked him, and got inside the house. 

His hands were shaking now, from nerves and anxiety.

He was never like that with a girl before. She was the first girl who had such a strong effect on him to the point he actually desired to see her again every day. 

It was as if she got him trapped on a spell, a lovely and strongish spell.

“I assume you must be looking for my daughter?” he sat on an armchair in the living room, and pointed with his hand to the couch for Jean to take a seat.

“Yes sir. I promise I’ll have her back home by nine o'clock. No kissing, no touching, sir. I have good intentions with her” he explained, showing her father he was a good catch for her daughter.

Her father laughed a little. “You seem like a good man son, you even remind me a little bit of me” 

“Really?”

“Yes. When I was your age, I was just exactly like you. A hardworking man that one summer fell deeply in love with a girl. She was breathtaking… every single cent i received was spent on her, and it was worth it… so worth it”  the man sighed at the thought . 

“The girl… perhaps is your wife?” Jean questioned.

The man smirked and shook his head. “I wish. The girl I told you was promised to marry back home. So when she came back to her city, I never got to see her again anymore.”

Jean could see how the initial stoic vibe of the man was melting, revealing his true self.

A melancholic, full of nostalgia man.

“That is why I am glad you decided to ask my daughter out. You had the bravery to do it, because she can be a little… eccentric.”

Jean chuckled, nodding. “She’s really something else.”

Steps were heard coming closer to the living room where they were talking comfortably. 

“Who’s something?” She got into the conversation. “What are you talking about?”

Jean faced her, she looked dazzling. Suddenly he felt a loss of words, this girl was gonna drive him insane, in a good way.

He cleared his throat and handed her the bouquet of flowers. “For you”

She took them and eyed them in awe. She loved lilies, more if they were more of a reddish color. 

“How did you know that I liked lilies?” her eyelashes fluttered.

“I just… had a feeling you would like them,” he smiled. “My mother helped me choose them. She thought you would like burgundy one’s”.

“Well then send your mother my congratulations because she nailed it with the bouquet” she said excitedly. 

“I’ll make sure she receives them,” he added. 

The eye contact they made was sacred, it felt right, how both of them connected their eyes like they were the only one in the room.

“Time’s wasting and you both must be eager to go on your date” her father recalled. Interrupting the moment. 

He took the bouquet of flowers out of his daughter's hands and grabbed it on his own.

“I’ll place this on the dining table”.

She nodded in response, eyes never leaving jean’s.

He was smitten, completely. Her eyes could melt him on the spot if she continued to stare like that. So sweet, but so enchanting at the same time.

He cleared his throat. Again.

“Ready ma’am?”

“Yes” she smirked before walking up to the entrance door to finally leave the house with him.

…

Both of them were sitting in a café near the downtown park. 

He thought that maybe she would like the cozy and refined vibe of the place. And she totally did, but sadly she didn’t like coffee, but after Jean wished to smack himself, she ordered a cup of tea.

Peppermint tea specifically. 

He ordered a latte for himself, with a pinch of cinnamon.

The silence between them was pretty awkward. Both of them didn’t even know how to start a conversation without sounding foolish. They were such a nervous wreck.

When the waitress brought them their order. She sighed out loud.

“Is there something wrong?” Jean asked her.

“Oh, no. Not at all, don’t worry” she took two sugar cubes with the sugar tong that was near the container. “It just that, I don’t really like sugar in my tea”

“You prefer honey then?" she nodded in response to his question. 

“Niche, but I really like tea with honey instead of sugar. It makes it so light to drink and not too sweet, it balances the flavor”.

She giggled a bit after. 

“What else do you like?” he asked, interested.

“Huh?” she raised an eyebrow. “You mean like, my preferences?”

Jean nodded. He wanted to know everything.

“Well…” she stopped, thinking for a moment. “I like pastries, cherry pie, especially. I have a huge sweet tooth. What else…" she started to ramble about her likings, literally for fifteen minutes without stopping. 

He was completely mesmerized. And when she started to talk about her liking of gardening, all he could see was the way her eyes lit up with excitement. 

He nodded at every piece of information she gave to him. Even if he did not understand it. 

He wasn't into gardening. But god, he swore he could even become a gardener just to get her smiling at some lovely plants. 

She cleared her throat, ashamed by all her talking. “Sorry, i got caught too deep in my rambling”.

“I don’t mind. I wanna know more about orchids” he said softly, winning a slight blush from her cheeks.

“You don’t find it a bit… annoying?” 

“Am I supposed to be annoyed by the beautiful, intelligent botanist who talks about flowers like they’re little people?” he shrugged, his eyes softened. “Cause I’m not. I’m just trying to keep up.”

She got quiet, feeling the warm blood rushing through her cheeks. She hated how obvious it must be, her gaze flickering away from his for just a second.

“Your flirting isn’t exactly subtle, you know”

Jean chuckled under his breath, rubbing the back of his neck in that boyish, guilty way of his.

“Yeah, well… you don’t exactly make it easy to be subtle” He paused. “You talk about flowers and it’s like… everything else fades out. I’d be an idiot not to look at you.”

She swallowed hard, blinking down at her cup of tea. 

And just like that, the air between them shifts. It became quiet, delicate, and full of something she wasn't even ready to name yet.

The date continued perfectly. Better than both of them expected to be. 

They were walking side by side near the benches, the light of the lanterns flickered in their faces.

“What do you like to paint the most?” she asked him, both of them were eager to get to know the little thing about each other.

“It depends on my mood,” he shrugged. “But I really enjoy painting houses” 

She rolled her eyes, scoffing at the dumb joke, even though it made the corner of her mouth twitch upward.

“I'm being serious Jean!”

“I mean it. I could be serious if you want”. he offered. “I could be whatever you want. I could be fun, if you want.”.

She furrowed her brows, a little confused. 

What is this guy talking about?

“Pensive… uh, smart” he chuckled. 

Her confusion turned into a shy smile at his flirting. She was having a good time. 

She kept her eyes on the pavement, trying to hide her smile.

“Superstitious” he continued. “Brave. I can be light on my feet” he started to tap his feet on the ground in an attempt to dance. He had a strange technique but just enough to make her giggle at him. 

“I could be whatever you want” he repeated “You just tell me what you want and i'll be that for you”

“You're a fool” she smiled.

“I could be that too” 

Her smile widened and she just continued walking, trying to calm the way her heart was beating so fast that she could hear it rumble in her head.

Jean wasn’t the exception.

Poor boy, he was so nervous that his hands were dripping in sweat. That was literally the first time a girl has gotten that way. 

“I bet you are this way with all the girls” she stated. 

He denied with his head. “No. No ma’am. I can swear by my mother’s secret omelet recipe that I'm not.” and chuckled. “You could even ask my friends and they would tell you that i'm never like this”.

“Really?” she asked incredulously, squinting her eyes a little bit in a sense to find a lie on his face. 

But nothing came through it.

“Yes ma’am”

Suddenly they passed near a bunch of people. 

They were dancing along, guiding their bodies to the sound of the sweet melodies of the street band. It was a current activity there in Trost, to dance all the way along in the middle of the park.

The atmosphere right there was beautiful. 

Nighttime with a thin breeze of cold air but not too much to make you shake. Lanterns illuminating the place and the sound of the music mixed with the crickets was a marvelous combination.

“It’s beautiful…” she murmured, totally enchanted.

He looked back to her, gazing at her softly. “It is”.

There was a little silence between them. She, admiring the whole scenario, meanwhile, he was just admiring her. 

“Would you… want to dance?” she suddenly asked, taking him aback.

“I’m not really good at it…” he revealed, embarrassed. 

She grabbed his hand, making him jump a bit for the unexpected contact. 

“Just follow me” and she pulled him to where the band and the people were.

She guided his hand; one to her waist and the other one intertwined with her hand. She found one of her hands taking place on his shoulder.

“Your hands are sweating” she looked at him. 

Jean’s cheeks blushed with embarrassment. 

“Sorry ma’am”.

“Don’t apologize… it’s kinda cute, actually.” she expressed. “Let’s just follow the rhythm. Try to focus on my movements the whole time, if you don’t, you could end up stepping on me”

He nodded and followed her instructions.

He was a bit rigid at first but with the passing of the minutes and by hearing the soft music, he finally let himself go.

“Don’t call me ‘ma’am’ anymore, please” she said, taking him by surprise. “We don’t need formalities. Not when we are in this type of position”

He nodded again. Too lost in her eyes, her lovely and doed eyes.

They swayed all along. Not batting an eye on the people around them. Both of them caught on deep in the way their eyes connected.

But sadly the night was coming to an end. 

The whole trajectory to her house was full field with laughter and inevitable blushes.

And when they finally arrived at the hour Jean promised her father to bring her back home, they said goodbye to each other.

“I had fun…I hope we can see each other again sometime… if you want that”

“Y-yeah!” he stuttered. “I’d love to take you out again. Are you free next tuesday?” 

She nodded “Tuesday sounds good”. 

She gave him a last smile. But right after she could open his car door, she quickly planted a sweet tender kiss on his cheek.

“Sweet dreams… Jean”.

He was too stunned to speak. His brain was malfunctioning and his vision was getting blurry.

He definitely had good dreams that night.

“Goodnight…” was the only word he could pronounce when she stepped out the vehicle. 

That night he drove back to his house, smiling like a complete idiot. 

He was totally going to thank Marco for his “accidental slip”.

…

The dates continued. And instead of seeing each other every week, they opted that wasn’t enough, so they saw each other every day.

She came out to look for him at his workplace only because she couldn’t bear the thought of not having his arms wrapped all around her.

So when he saw her running up to him, he greeted her with a tight embrace, lifting her up in the air and turling around as they kissed.

“I’ve missed you so much,” he murmured, breaking the kiss. They pressed their foreheads together, not wanting to tear apart.

“Me too,” she admitted. “I know we saw each other yesterday, but I needed to see you, Jean…” she kissed him again, “Father let me use the car to come here”

“You drove? But you don’t even know how to,” he asked confusedly.

“It was an emergency…” 

He smiled and gently set her back down to the ground.

“Are you alone?” she asked.

“Yeah, my father had some things to do, so he just let me stay in charge of this whole place” his arms signalled the house he was painting.

“Well…I’m glad I came here to bring you some company” 

“You’re the best company a man could ever wish for” he whispered in her ear.

“easy… boy, easy” she warned him, taking her distance between them. He laughed in response.

“I don't like this house,” she confessed. “It just feels so… bland”

“My father built this house for some accountants from Mitras that came from vacation. Just like you”

“Well, they really have bad taste in houses” she giggled.

“I don’t think it’s that bad…” he lied. 

It was obviously pretty bad.

“Really?” she arched her eyebrows “just look at the color palette they gave you to paint. Who in the name of god combines white walls with a white roof? it’s too much white.”

He chuckled and crossed his arms, “Then what do you want? What is your dream house?”

“Why? Are you gonna build it for me or something?” 

“If that's what you want, I'll do it for you.” 

“I want a light blue house, with white shutters. And a big porch so we can drink tea or coffee while we watch the sunset” she expressed without hesitation.

“Anything else?” he smiled.

“Yes” she giggled, “I want a room overlooking the river, so you can have it as a studio and paint in there”.

His eyes softened while hearing her. She was considering him in this project for her dream house. 

But something was missing.

“Aren’t you missing something?” he leaned closer to her.

“Not that I remember” she got that confused look on her face. 

“It’s the most important part of it, come on,” he continued.

After not hearing any answer from her and by her expressions, he finally revealed the answer.

“The garden” he grabbed her hands in his. “I’ll build you a big one, so you can grow everything you desire in it”

Her eyes glimmered by the idea.

Her own personal garden… she liked how it sounds pretty much.

“Even orchids?” she asked.

“Especially the orchids” he kissed her knuckles with adoration.

God, they were so in love.

The next few weeks they continued spending it together, living each day as if it were the last.

They had an official relationship, finally.

Jean asked her if she would like to be his girlfriend under the pale moonlight, with a picnic, of course featuring her favorite pie.

She accepted it immediately, mostly because she wanted a piece of that cherry pie Jean’s mother had baked for the occasion. That statement, of course, was a lie…because she prayed every night for Jean to ask her that question.

They met their families in a formal sense, days later, announcing that they were officially dating.

Jean’s family nearly burst into tears at the notice, they welcomed her in the warmest way possible as if she had always been part of the family.

His father congratulated him for bringing a girl for the first time to their house, because he knew his son had a little bit of a “don juan” attitude around the girls in town. 

He was really proud of his son.

Meanwhile his mother was the sweetest ever, telling her how happy she was that his “Jeanboy” found love with a lovely girl like she was.

His mother adored her daughter-in-law.

She told her stories of Jean when he was a baby, even mentioned the “embarrassing” parts, and revealed her infamous pie crust recipe to her.

She was on cloud nine the whole evening, feeling like part of something she’d always dreamed of.

However, when they visited her parents, they received different opinions from them. Plus, the dinner was a complete mess.

To start, the food wasn’t what her mother had specifically requested. The chef served lasagna instead of steak with mashed potatoes. 

Later, the woman saw how her precious and well-mannered daughter acted around Jean, and when they announced they were dating, she nearly passed out at that table.

Her mother did not wanted to accept it.

But when her father gave them his approval. The young couple knew they already had won the lottery.

That evening after dinner finished, the couple went for a peaceful walk, both of them needed to clear their minds and ease their nerves after that encounter.

They walked hand in hand through the sidewalks, giggling.

“Is it me or your mother didn’t like me at all?” Jean asked her, trying to sound calm when he really was not.

“She doesn’t like anything if it’s not designer clothes” she scoffed and gazed at him. “Don’t worry about her. My father liked you, that’s the important part” 

She cupped his cheek, caressing it gently. 

“I love you… Jean”

He kissed the palm of her hand. 

“I love you too…”

…

Summer was slipping through their fingers. They didn’t even realize at that time.

They just continued to enjoy the hot summer nights they spent in each other’s arms in the middle of July.

Jean was cuddling her, his big hard-working arms embracing her softly. She was just reading out loud a book, of many, he gifted her about different plants and herbs.

He did not protest on spending every single dime he got from work on her, he just wanted to spoil her as much as he could. Seeing her sweet smile over and over again because of the books he got her was his favorite part of the day.

“Listen to this! They say orchids can live up to 100 years!” she pointed excitedly. “Isn’t that amazing?”

“Impressive i would say” he kissed the top of her head. “They are similar to the cockroaches in lifetime”.

“Hey! don't disrespect orchids like that, comparing them with those dirty and awful insects” she replied offended.

“I was joking,” he laughed, trying to act all innocent.

She narrowed her eyes at him, but her smile betrayed her.

They stayed quiet for a while after that, comfortable in the silence, the kind of silence that only happens when two people are completely at ease with each other. 

The book rested open on her lap. Jean absentmindedly traced shapes on her arm with his fingers.

After a moment, he spoke.

“Wanna go somewhere?” he asked, against her temple.

“Right now?” she replied, tilting her head.

He nodded.

“It’s a bit of a secret. I haven’t shown it to anyone. But… I think you’ll like it.”

Her eyes lit up with curiosity. “Lead the way then”.

Jean grabbed his bicycle and she already knew she had to sit down on the front part of it. It was a habit, a pretty dangerous one, of both of them.

The first time it happened, she hesitated, obviously worried by the thought that he might not see the way he was following, but at the end, Jean managed to convince her, reassuring her that he would be fine.

It was a short way from his house, a valley nearby. Fifteen minutes of the pure sound of the crickets chirping and how the air was getting colder every time the sun set down.

They ended up in front of an old house, a hidden one in all of the trees around them. It had dusty windows and ivy gathering in the walls.

It looked abandoned, but not at all.

Once you stepped inside, it just felt different…

The inside was filled with scattered canvases, sketchbooks, paint stains on the floor, old coffee cups still holding dry brushes and others filled with water.

It wasn’t tidy, but it wasn’t messy either.

It was lived in.

“This… is yours?” she asked, walking in slowly, eyes wide.

“Yeah,” he said, suddenly shy. “It used to be my grandfather’s. Now it’s kinda… my spot. My studio, I guess.”

She smiled. Her fingers grazed the edge of a canvas. One of the orchids he had drawn from memory, because she wouldn’t stop talking about them.

“This is beautiful…” she muttered in awe. “You’re so talented Jean”

“Thank you, dear” 

She continued to explore the place, very curious about what he had drawn in every single sketchbook on his desk.

He lit some candles, because the dark of the night was nearly catching them up.

In mere curiosity and definitely not trying to be nosy, she opened one of his sketchbooks. It was the reddish brown one with beige paper.

What she found out made her breath caught. 

It was her. 

Multiple drawings of her filled every single page. And every single one of them had a messy handwritten note with it.

‘She doesn’t know it but she looks so beautiful when she speaks’

‘I wish i knew what she was thinking in this one’

‘Her hands are always moving, i like that’

‘Tried to capture her laugh. Failed again’

‘God, i’m so gone for her’

She blinked, biting her lip.

Every little moment was captured in that sketchbook without her even realizing it.

She flipped the pages but stopped on one.

It was the first sketch of the portrait he made of her. Lines of graphite blended by fingers were everything she could find. 

How could he do all of this? she hadn’t even posed for him to draw, not a single time.

Did he… draw her from memory?

“You weren’t supposed to see that” Jean’s voice captured her attention. He was a few meters behind her, ashamed by the whole situation.

“Jean…” she whispered, “Did you draw this from memory?”

“Yeah… I know. It’s too much” He rubbed the back of his neck avoiding looking her in the eyes.

“No,” she answered. “This is everything…”

Her fingertips traced the corners of the book nervously. 

She wanted to cry out of happiness. Nobody never had ever done anything like that before for her, not until Jean came up to her life. 

She never felt relevant enough to be seen as more of the “superficial city girl” people saw her like.

But Jean was different, he saw her as a genuine person. One that deserved to be cared for and loved. He showed her how her wishes and dreams mattered and encouraged her to follow them.

Ever since she was a little girl, she had to mentalize herself that the idea of love was like her parents' marriage, which wasn’t the best example at all. 

Jean really changed her world, he showed her how real and pure love felt.

She walked up to him to kiss him, taking him by surprise. He later grabbed her by the waist to bring her closer to him.

The kiss started slowly, lips melting into one another, feeling like they alway meant to be connected with each other. Her hands were on his neck, caressing the back of it.

The soft touches of their hands. The sound of the clicks of their lips. Low moans and whimpers. The lights of the candles.

Everything set their bodies on fire, making them grow hotter and needier.

The kiss obviously scaletted, his hands were dangerously moving down to her bottom. On other occasions he would try to contain himself, but that night he couldn’t.

And for shortness of breath, she had to break the kiss. Pulling up Jean from his daydream state. He gave her that puppy eye look, he was pleading her for more.

“Jean” she smiled and kissed the corner of his mouth, teasing him.

He froze at the contact, hands still on her. Her lips lingered on there, and then slowly moved back to his.

And this time, the kiss wasn’t shy. This time, it was full of everything they hadn’t spoken out loud.

She pressed her body closer to him and her fingers started to play with the top buttons of his not-so white shirt. 

He didn’t stop her when she finally got them successfully undone, he wouldn’t even if the world was ending outside of that house.

“Are you sure?” he whispered.

He needed to ask her first, because he wouldn’t do anything she didn’t want to.

She nodded, heat rushing through all her body.

“I’ve never been more sure of anything in my whole life”.

He gasped in response, and his trembling hands climbed up to the zipper of her dress in her back, he pulled it down slowly while he started to attack her neck with sloppy kisses.

She panted by the sudden contact of his lips.

She was definitely not as vocal as she thought she would be, she only trembled beneath his touch.

Their clothes ended up discarded on the floor, and Jean stopped to bring out some blankets he already had in store, because sometimes time caught him and he preferred to stay and sleep in there.

The rest happened between passionate and slow kisses, in the way their fingers traced each other's bodies like paint brushes painting on a canva. And the sound of them enjoying each other's embrace while the candlelight illuminated their skins.

They didn’t want to let each other go, they wanted that moment to last forever. But like everything in life, it was ephemeral.

Their bodies ended up tangled with one another, cuddling while trying to catch a breath. 

Her head was on his chest listening to the soft rhythm of his heart trying to slow down. Jean’s hand moved up and down her back, caressing her like waves on a shore.

“You okay?” he whispered, looking down at her.

She lifted her head just enough to meet his eyes.

“More than okay, I would say” he chuckled and removed a lock of her hair behind her ear to have a better look at her face. 

She kissed his shoulder, in a grateful act.

They stayed glued to each other for a few minutes in silence, until she sat up a little, the blanket slit down slightly, revealing just enough skin to make him froze again. But she didn’t even seem to notice.

Or maybe she did.

Her eyes gazed up to the canvas, from the empty pieces of paper he already got on his desk to the charcoal pencils he stored on a cup.

“Jean, I want you to draw me,” she looked back at him.

He blinked, taken aback from her request. “What?”

“I’ll pose for you like this” she added, “Draw me, the way you see me right now”

He let out a breathy laugh in disbelief thinking it might be a joke, but he could see on her face it clearly wasn’t. 

“Wait. Y-you’re serious?”

“Completely” she leaned to plant a short peck on his lips. “I want to know how i look in your eyes in this state”

“You look beautiful. You always look so beautiful” he grabbed her chin gently guiding her to his mouth.

Later he got up to grab his sketchbook and a pencil to start on the drawing.

He indicated how she had to pose, laying on her side with her arm crossing her torso, slightly wrapped around the blanket.

He took the book with trembling hands and sat down in front of her.

His eyes narrowed her whole figure, his eyes had that serious look in them, because for him it was not only the task to draw her, if not the fact of remembering that moment forever.

He wanted to remember her flushed cheeks, her messy hair, every mole, every freckle.

He sketched her slowly, melting in the silence, too afraid of tracing a single wrong line that could ruin the whole drawing. 

He was too focused on not trying to mess it up. But nothing could. 

She was his favorite drawing, long before he ever captured her on paper.

Even if he’d drawn her a hundred times, none of those sketches came close to the way he felt looking at her that night.

…

Hours later she got back to her house, trying to calm down her bliss from what she had done with Jean. 

With her hands she tried to smooth out the wrinkles on her dress as a nervous tic. And tried to comb her messy hair to make it appear normal.

She got inside and the first thing she saw was her mother’s face full of anger.

“You are late,” the woman said, “Where were you?”

“I was with Jean.” she replied, “Sorry… we got caught in time”

“All you ever talk about is about that filthy boy. Jean this, Jean that. I’m tired of listening to you!”

“Don’t you dare to call him that way in front of me!” she got closer to her mother. She was pretty angry too.

“You know very well that boy is a waste of your time. But you still wanted to go after him” she pointed. “Your little charity work is over young lady, because i have news for you. We’re heading back to Mitras in a few days, and when we get back you would get married to Doctor Jaeger’s son, you hear me!”

Her face dropped immediately. “What!? ¡No! you cannot do that to me. I don’t want to get married to Eren. ¡He's my friend!”

“Well you have to. Your father and I already talked to Mrs Jaeger and she agreed with this plan”

“What about Eren? What did he say about this?” she tried to find an escape from that situation.

“It doesn’t matter what you or Eren think about this. We already arranged this, so you better end whatever you got with that Jean boy and prepare to be the new Mrs Jaeger”.

“What the hell?!” she cried. “I won’t do that! I don’t want it. He’s the love of my life!”

“Watch your tone young lady! We are doing this for you! to have a better future”

“I won’t have a better future if i’m married to someone i don’t love” she pointed “Where's dad? He has to disagree with this” 

“He is not home yet”

She sighed in between cries and exited the house quickly, taking with her the keys of the family car.

She was frustrated and hurt. Now everything she had built in the town, all her memories with her friends, with Jean. Everything would be thrown away just because she had to come back to her city.

And she knew once she got back, she would never put her feet on Trost again.

“Come back!” She could hear her mother screaming at her, but instead of obeying her, she opened the car door to get inside and start the engine.

She drove her way to Jean’s house and cried disconsolately the whole trajectory.

Jean was on his porch helping her father carry some vegetables for her mother, when he recognized the car parking on his lot.

He dropped the bag of vegetables when he saw her getting out of the car crying, he apologized to his father and hurried to check on her.

“Hey, what is it?” he asked, grabbing her face gently, “What's wrong?”

“Everything Jean” she whispered. “I’m getting married.”

His face dropped. “W-what? What do you mean?”

“When I get back to Mitras, I'll have to marry one of the family friends.” she sobbed “I’m so sorry Jean… I’m sorry…”

He stared at her, fingers trying to wipe away her tears. He stepped forward and pulled her right into his arms.

She didn’t resist, her fingers clung to the fabric of his shirt, wetting it with her tears. 

He held her tighter. But she couldn’t stop crying and murmuring apologizes through her breaths. 

His finger ran through her hair gently, and tried telling her she didn’t have the fault of this situation, in a way to soothe her from her breakdown.

Minutes later she pulled away just slightly, her eyes were puffy and red from all the crying.

“They are taking me away, Jean…” her voice was trembling. “And, I-I don’t want to go. I want to say here. With you.”

He looked at her for a long second. His heart was crumbling by seeing her this sad.

Then his jaw clenched, he got an idea.

“Then let me marry you” 

She froze. “What?”

He took a step back just enough to make some distance to grab her face again in his hands. His thumbs brushed her cheeks, wiping away the tears, as if she were the most delicate thing he had ever held. 

"I know I don't have money. I don't have a fancy title in society or some degree hanging on my wall. But I'd work every day of my life if it means giving you a future that's actually yours."

He swallowed, “‘Marry me”.

She shook her head, stepping back from him.

“Jean, stop, don’t say things you don’t mean”

“I do mean them. Every single one of them” he replied, his voice was soft but steady at the same time.

“This isn’t fair to you. None of what i did this whole summer was fair to you” her voice cracked.

“Don’t say that” he said.

She looked away ashamed. 

“You were never a mistake. Even if i had to do it all again knowing how it would end, i would still choose you”

He pressed his palm to his chest 

“Everything I have? it’s yours. Every hour I work, every sketch I make, every breath I've taken this whole damn summer has been for you. And only you”.

“Jean…”

“I know you are scared, and I am too. But you don’t have to fight this alone. Let me fight with you, for us”

She stood in silence, the sound of her shaky breath was the only thing that resonated.

“I don’t want to marry you to fix anything. I want to marry you because I can't imagine a life where I don't have you by my side” he added. “I know it’s not gonna be easy. It’s going to be really hard. And we’re gonna have to work at this everyday, but I want to do that because I want you.”

She bit her lip trying to retain her eyes from watering again.

“I want all of you, forever. You and me, everyday.” he took a step closer to her. 

For a moment, she just pictured her life married to him.

She would continue to study plants, and have her own garden like he promised her. Meanwhile, Jean tried hard everyday to afford their life, and she perhaps could help him with the bills by selling pies in the farmer’s market. 

It sounded like a hard life, but she would be happier. 

Waking every day in the sweet embrace of the man she truly loves. Living in the little dream house he built for her with his two hands. Them surrounded by the smell of pie crust and old paint... 

She looked up to him, cheeks wet from all the tears and eyes wide open.

“Okay, let’s do it then” she whispered, with a trembling smile. “Let’s get married”.

He didn’t wait another second before pulling her into a tight desperate hug. He kissed her forehead, her hair, her cheeks, her lips, like she couldn’t believe she was real.

They stood there for a while. 

“I’ll ask your father for your hand, right now” he muttered. …

“What is the reason for your visit, son?” her father asked him.

Jean's hands were shaking from the nerves. Poor boy, he wanted to throw up right away in that man’s office.

The old man was sitting in front of him, smoking a pipe which he already offered Jean a puff, but he politely declined.

He was not a smoker.

“I came here to ask for your daughter's hand, sir” he stated.

There was a long silence.

The man leaned against his leather chair, blowing a slow cloud of smoke. “Is that so?”

He swallowed.

“Yes, sir. I know that I don't have much. I don’t come from a family with status or money. But the only thing I know is that I love her. I love her more than anything, and I want to build a life with her. One she chooses, not the one that’s already been chosen for her.”

The man didn’t speak for a moment.

Instead he looked at the boy sitting in front of him, noticing the way his leg bounced under the table, his jaw tensed and the conviction in his eyes.

He took another drag of the pipe, then smiled, not cruelly, but almost… knowingly.

“You remind me of myself,” he finally said. “Do you remember the girl I mentioned to you before?” 

“Yes, sir,” Jean nodded.

“I remember how I asked her father the same question” he started, “He hated me. Though I was reckless, trashy, and not nearly good enough for his little girl” he let out a bittersweet chuckle.

“Loving someone is the easiest part, son. It’s the rest of it that would test you. Marriage is not easy.” he took another puff from the pipe and let out the smoke. 

“I know sir, but I swear I'll do more than my best to have your daughter happy. Even if we start from nothing, we’ll make it something”.

Her father watched him for a second, and then he stood up.

“If she's truly chosen you… then you better take care of her like your life depends on it, because in many ways it will”

Jean stood too. His heart was pounding in his chest.

“You have my blessing”

Jean’s eyes widened with disbelief. “Really?”

“You think I would let anyone sit on that chair and ask me that?” he pointed his pipe at him. “I’ve always knew you were a good catch, son”

The man walked around the desk and placed his hand on Jean’s shoulders patting it. 

“Just don’t waste this opportunity, son. Girls like her don’t come around twice in your life”

Jean smiled through his surprise, and offered his hand. 

“Thank you, sir. I promise, I’ll protect her with everything I’ve got.”

The old man shook his hand firmly.

“You better. And if you ever hurt her…”

“Sir, I won't,” he replied quickly.

“Good. Now go tell her the news, she must be stressing out in the living room” the man chuckled, taking another puff out of his pipe.

And in fact, she was.

She was pacing in the living room, wringing her hands anxiously. Trying to ignore every single word that was coming from her mother’s mouth about how her father wouldn’t accept Jean.

The silence of the office was driving her crazy. 

She definitely imagined the worst scenarios; yelling, harsh rejection, her father lecturing him about only a “boy with paint stained hands and no future”. 

But she did not find any of that.

When she heard the doors creak open, she turned around quickly. And her mother did too.

Jean stepped out, looking a little pale.

His chest was rising and falling from all the adrenaline and the nerves he got before and during the whole conversation with her father.

“Well?” she asked, barely breathing.

He took a second to respond. It was too much to process, even for himself.

“He said yes,” he finally said.

She gasped.

Her mother let out a loud cry and angrily went to her husband's office, to storm out at him for his “stupid decisions”.

“He gave us his blessing”

She ran to him without thinking, throwing her arms to his neck. He caught her instantly, holding her tight with his hands on her waist.

“You did it…” she whispered into his shoulder.

“We did it” he grabbed her by the cheeks gently, making her face him. Her eyes wanted to tear out of happiness.

Then he kissed her, tenderly.

Their lips connected with the pure love and adoration, they could feel the devotion they had for each other in it.

Right there, in the middle of the living room, beneath the glow of an expensive chandelier, they knew, without a single doubt, that they were meant to spend the rest of their lives together.

ᝰ

“And I could paint a landscape of a valley on the walls. Or maybe a pattern of flowers…” Jean started to ramble, looking up to their light blue walls.

Three years had passed since they said “I do” on the altar.

Three years of pure bliss and love.

“Darling, don’t you think it’s too sudden for planning the nursery?” she said from the couch where she was sitting, holding a plate of cherry pie she baked earlier that morning.

“Huh? it’s never too early when we have a baby on board, dear” he pointed. “We should start saving for their college tuition. We would definitely send them to college”

“Jean, I'm only seven weeks pregnant! they’re only the size of a blueberry, or at least that’s what Doctor Jaeger said.” she put the plate aside and held his hand on hers. “Relax… you’re literally more anxious than I am”.

He let out a nervous laugh and he plopped down next to her on the couch, putting his arm behind her lower back making her closer to him. 

“Okay, okay, maybe I’m overthinking it” he excused, his hands rubbing her newly grown belly.

“Maybe?” she raised an eyebrow.

“Fine. I’m definitely overthinking it” he admitted, kissing her cheek. “But I can't help it… I want everything to go perfect because I love you. I love both of you”

She smiled, putting her hand above his “Me too”.

The air smelled like vanilla, from the vanilla orchids he helped her to plant months ago. 

“What would you do if the baby is allergic to pollen?” he suddenly asked, taking her by surprise.

There was a smirk on his face.

That damn smirk he always had when he wanted to tease her.

“Don’t say that!” she smacked him on the chest. “Don’t wish such a bad thing like an allergy to our baby!”.

Jean laughed.

“Sorry” he pecked her cheek again. And then he lowered her head to her belly. “I can’t wait to meet you soon,” he said to the baby. 

And so, with orchids on the porch and paint on the walls… They lived the life they promised each other one summer night.

with love... ana <3

[yanfluffery]

Platonic Yan!Older brother!Izuku + Shoto (separate) with Kid sibling!Reader

Order placed by : Anon :]

I had a little trouble because this is my first time writing for Shoto, which surprised me, but I think I did a good job! Hope you enjoy!!

IZUKU MIDORIYA / DEKU

☆ He was so excited when he first learned he was going to have a younger sibling. Even more so when you actually came home. Holding you gently in his arms just like he’d had practice. And when he looked into your eyes it was set, he wasn’t going to let anything happen to you. Ever.

☆ He never likes seeing you hanging out by yourself, he wants to make sure you don't feel like an outcast like he did growing up. But if you start seeing your friends more than him he starts to get a little jealous.

☆ He didn’t like it whenever you hung around Katsuki especially. But was too afraid to say anything about it. Though he would try his hardest to keep you away from him.

☆ Keeps every single thing you make and whatever you give him in a special box. It’s all precious to him, he even brought it with him when he moved into the dorms. When they were doing the dorm competition he was guarding his closet like a hawk. Almost snapped at Hagakure for trying to look inside.

☆ Speaking of the dorms, Izuku was very reluctant about moving out. He didn’t want to just leave you behind! He made you promise to call him everyday and update him on everything. Was literally in tears when you forgot to call him one night because you fell asleep.

☆ No matter how big you get he’ll always find an excuse to carry you around. You’re safest when you’re in his arms. One of his main motivations when training is to be able to lift you with ease.

☆ If you come to him with a problem he’ll always be ready to listen. If it’s a problem with another person, like someone’s picking on you, he’s already planning all the different ways he could take care of them while you rant to him. He has a notebook where he writes down all the violent thoughts whenever it comes to that. Just to get it out of his system so he doesn’t do anything too crazy.

“Hey, [name], I was worried you weren’t going to answer! You’ve been eating well right, drinking enough water? Good… don’t scare me like that again, ok? I care about you a lot.”

SHOTO TODOROKI / SHOTO

☆ When he heard that you were joining the family he didn’t know how to react. But he knew one thing, he didn’t want you to go through what he had. Doing everything in his power to keep you away from Enji.

☆ Whenever he could, Shoto would sneak away from Enji to hang out with you. Even if he couldn’t hang out with his other siblings he would make time for you. You were just a baby, an adorable one at that.

☆ Since you both were the youngest members of the family you went to the same school most of your life. Meaning you got to walk home together each day, which Shoto loved. It got to be just you two for a while! Yes, he purposely led you both down a longer path away from the rest of your siblings. He just wants to spend time with you.

☆ He does things so that you would make him your favorite sibling. Buying you gifts for no reason, helping you with your homework, if you ever need anything he’s there. He wants to be the one you look up to the most.

☆ Called you after the sports festival to hear what you thought. Your opinion matters most to him really. He also made sure to reassure you that he was ok after he passed out. He never wants you to worry, especially not about him.

☆ Shoto would never ever lay a hand on you, not even in a playful manner. You could playfully hit him all day long but he’d never fight back.

☆ He promises himself to give you a better life than the one you both grew up with. His plan for the future when he becomes a pro hero is to live with you and spoil you rotten. Keep you safe and away from the danger outside. And he won’t take no for an answer.

“I bought you that figure that you were talking about a few days ago. Hm? Yeah I know that it was expensive, don’t worry about it. I just wanna make you happy.”

[who1ssheesh]

No one will believe you anyway

Xanxus is so gentle with you that no one believes you. Ever.

Warnings: Xanxus is so sweet it is disgusting.

A/N: hey, listen, i WANT to write for other characters too, but i love my boy so much, he lives rent-free in me head, ok? My ask is opened btw, i want some stupid ideas, thank you.

♡ He keeps one of your hair ties around his wrist, tucked under the sleeve of his jacket. You left it on a nightstand once, and he has never given it back.

♡ He speaks softly to you. Not quiet. Raspy, low murmur like you're so fragile and breakable. It stuns you so much, especially when it follows after he has been barking orders at his subordinates.

♡ He strokes your hair when you fall asleep on him. Threads his fingers delicately - as much as someone like him can be delicate - not to wake you.

♡ He doesn't anyone touch your gifts. If you give something - even small - it goes to his personal quarters, untouched and guarded like a treasure vault. You think you can gift him a bead bracelet and he still would treat it like a jewelry.

♡ He doesn't say your name often. But when he does, when they are alone with their naked souls - it sounds low and thick with unspoken emotion and reverence. Spoken like a prayer on a broken man's lips.

♡ He once brought you flowers. This was a special once - the first time he actually gifted you flowers personally, with one rose being burnt a little. He found and you've pressed it in a book. One day you found it laminated between glass. It's somewhere lying between his work papers all the time.

♡ He doesn't ask questions, when she's having a bad day. He sits beside you like a silent guard, offering a mute companionship. You will speak when you want to, he can wait.

♡ He memorizes little things you do and like. He never makes a shot out of it, but he has that trait of observing everything. He remembers your favorite song and the way you take your tea. It doesn't have any practical purpose - he just...does that.

♡ One day you have found a plush keychain on your bag, looking like a dissatisfied lion with a little crown.

♡ He never forgets to say goodnight. Even when apart, he finds a couple of seconds for you. You always get a gruff, "Sleep well, woman" through a phone call before he crashes.

♡ He brushes a kiss over your forehead when he thinks you are asleep.

♡ He has your photo somewhere there. There is your polaroid in his work notebook attached to paper by a clip.

♡ He secretly panics when you're hurt. It's so simple with others to deal with - he just doesn't - but he never knows what to do with you. His voice is sharper than usual, "Show me where. Now."

♡ Xanxus wasn't like that in the beginning, and these relationship had some ups and downs. He never said it out loud, but deep down he wants to be better than the Ninth - not because he wants forgiveness, but because he refuses the history repeat; because you've convinced he deserves to be happy and you've shown him that. If he's going to have someone love him. he wants to be worth that love.

♡ He doesn't know how to soft with himself, but he is learning how to be soft with you. He started to let you hold his hand without pulling away. Even if he's hesitant and stiff, he still allows that. Maybe he cannot be soft with himself, but you can do that for both of you.

♡ One day he realizes that. Nothing happened, and it wasn't a special day. It was just you among his guardians, the most casual evening one could think of. But that's when it clicks - this is what it feels to be loved without having to fight for it. And it terrifies him.

♡ ...He bought you a house. A real one, not the soulless estates with empty luxury he used to have for the sake of owning them. It is the one someone can call home. A place where one could live away from the bloodshed. You couldn't believe him until he threw you the key and mumbled, "Don't expect flowers." He gifts you flowers.

♡ One day you have been playing truth or dare. Lussuria bombarded you with a bunch of personal questions, where you revealed that Xanxys often kissed your knuckles. Everyone considered that the funniest joke of the evening, and Squalo's throat was sore from all the laughing. No one believed it to the point they all thought is was a very good mockery. Xanxus does love your hands though. Small, soft and delicate but hardworking with some small scratches and calluses - just the way he sees you. He loves your touch, and yes. He leaves kisses in your knuckles all the time. After that truth or dare game you always giggle when he does that, and Xanxus is still puzzled to what has happened.

♡ When you leave small and stupid sticky notes, he doesn't throw away some of them. There is an old one in his wallet with a short "I think of you", that you have written him in the very beginning of your relationship.

♡ He has never been good with words. He told you, "I don't know how to do this shit, but I want it to be real. I want you" like it was the most difficult thing in the world. And you kissed him like is was the easiest thing in the world.

♡ He finds himself smiling at your laugh, the way you tease him, and has a hard time controlling it. Like he is not Xanxus of all the people. Like he is not terrifying. It's so stupid. It's so good.

♡ You once said, "You do not have to be angry to be strong." It's so idiotic in his eyes, but for you - only for you - he tries to believe this.

♡ He wants you. He wants morning with you. Dinners with you. Stupid arguments those dumb couples have. A future that isn't build or revenge. His life has always been scripted, everything has been decided for him, and he went with that. But now he is confident he wants something that is born of choice. His choice.

[kinda-indecisive]

｡･:*:･ﾟ Your Journal ﾟ･:*:･｡

How I imagine the reactions of the LaDS guys when they accidentally find a notebook you (MC) decorated the cover of with their name.

Part 2: The Xavier and Sylus Edition!

.•*¨`*•.•*¨`*•.☆.•*¨`*•.•*¨`*•.☆.•*¨`*•.•*¨`*•.•*¨`*•.☆.•*¨`*•.•*¨`*•.☆.

Xavier

~ ~ There’s nothing weird about it at all ~ ~

You found yourself spending time with Xavier on your days off lately, so naturally you’d grown used to his frequent cat naps during your time spent together. That’s why you didn’t mind when he'd dozed off at the table in the bookstore, leaving your backpack with him to use as a pillow as you browsed the shelves for your next book to share.

You also didn’t think much of the hazy little smile on his face when you’d returned to him, his expression still sleepy and content.

As you went from the bookstore to the restaurant for lunch you did start to grow suspicious by the excessive amount of pats he was giving you. Timid little pets on the top of the head that you first accepted with delight, slowly turning your cheeks hot with embarrassment after the thousandth pat within the hour.

Having stopped at the park to enjoy the sun’s warmth for a little while, you finally mention it.

“You’ve been extremely touchy today.”

“Does it bother you?” he inquires, a hint of concern around his eyes. You quickly reassure him that it doesn’t bother you so much as it embarrasses you. You typically enjoyed when he showed his affectionate side, but today it had all seemed a little excessive.

Hearing this admission, he falls silent, his chin resting on his palm as he looks out at the grass, watching the people in the park with a casual interest.

Though he doesn’t seem hurt, you worry he might have misconstrued what you said.

“What are you thinking about, Xavier?”

He hums softly, continuing to enjoy the sounds of the park. When he finally decides to answer, he turns toward you with his eyes averted and a sheepish look on his face.

“Honestly? I saw your journal today. In the bookshop. I was sneaking some stickers I bought you into the pocket when I noticed your little doodle of a shooting star and a fluffy little bunny. It was cute, so I pulled it out to take a picture of it and saw my name written all over it.”

Your face grows warmer and warmer the more he talks and, by the time he meets your gaze, you look away, covering your face in humiliation.

“You weren’t supposed to see that! That’s so embarrassing!”

You’re surprised when you feel his fingers slide between your palm and your face, gently pulling your hand away so he can see your face, “Embarrassing? What’s so embarrassing about it? We’re friends, aren’t we?”

Stunned for a moment, you shake off your surprise and nod, “Of course we are.”

“Then I don’t think it’s weird at all that we think about each other when we’re apart,” he says, his voice a resolute hum as he turns away again, a sleepy smile returning to his face as he watches a bumblebee buzz by.  

.•*¨`*•.•*¨`*•.☆.•*¨`*•.•*¨`*•.☆.•*¨`*•.•*¨`*•.•*¨`*•.☆.•*¨`*•.•*¨`*•.☆.

Sylus

~ ~ Of course he’s going to tease, even if his cheeks are also flushed with a silly sense of satisfaction ~ ~

You arrived at his place looking disheveled and flustered, a look he typically enjoyed on you, though obviously concerning in tonight’s situation. You had somehow managed to shake off Mephisto’s watch and ventured somewhere on your own. Knowing you, he doesn’t like to imagine where you might have gone. And your flustered expression as you walked through his doorway and tossed your duffel bag to the floor left him concerned and in want of an explanation.

An explanation you were stubbornly unwilling to give him.

Instead, you insisted you needed a shower. Like most things, he found it hard to deny you that right. You could tell he was bothered, however, by the way he waved you away without looking at you.

Still, you had the gall to keep him waiting.

Certain that you were testing his patience on purpose, he takes matters into his own hands. He’s holding your duffel bag in his lap with a bored expression when you return.

“Excuse me? What are you doing with my things?”

“You continue to poke around the N109 zone without a care in the world despite witnessing the dangers firsthand. You could at least allow me the reassurance of Mephisto’s watch. Yet you refuse and act coy about it when I ask nicely. You’ve given me no choice but to take matters into my own hands.”

With a bored expression, he reaches into your bag.

You call his bluff.

“Fine. Search all you like, you won’t find anything in there.”

His searching hand pauses for a moment as he gives you a dangerous look. Then, with an exasperated sigh, he removes his hand from the bag and tosses it back to the floor.

Feeling guilty, you suddenly have the urge to tell him a bit of the truth. However, his sudden change in posture as he lowers himself back toward the bag surprises you.

Heat fills your face immediately when you catch sight of what has caught his attention. Of what he so delicately lifts between his fingers and hangs in the air between the two of you.

“My my… what is this, kitten?” he asks, his voice a low rumble and a chuckle.

You dive toward him, but your bathrobe prevents you from performing any other rapid or complex movements. Besides, it’s not easy to take anything from Sylus’s hands in the first place.

“It’s nothing.”

“It definitely looks like something,” he persists, “Tell me, is that supposed to be Mephisto in the right hand corner? He’ll be delighted to see his likeness.”

“Sylus, hand it over. I’m not kidding.”

He allows you to snatch the notebook away from him and you clutch it close to your chest, obstinately stepping away from him and turning your back on him as you leave the room.

You return to the room a moment later to find him sitting where you left him, a smug smile on his face when you enter. You intend to scold him, but are surprised when you see the flush in his own cheeks that he quickly hides by clearing his throat into his hand.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Previous Post ←(･ ᗜ ･)ﾉ ╰( ･ ᗜ ･ )➝ Next Post

MASTERLIST LINK

I randomly had this thought a few months ago when I first started playing, but I hadn't really met Sylus in game yet, so I had to wait until I knew him better to share these. Hope you enjoyed and thank you for reading!

[brookaboo]

Little detective

Dabi x fem!reader

a/n: reader is quirkless and a detective

warnings: language, violence, talks of death, alcohol, grief, no use of y/n

summary: A detective who once worked alongside pro heroes finds herself questioning everything after a tragedy exposes the cracks in the hero system. Drowning in grief and betrayal, she meets a mysterious man at a bar who offers her a new purpose — one that leads her down a darker path where justice looks very different

You used to believe in heroes. You worked with them. Shoulder to shoulder. Side by side. Your badge may not have been as flashy as their quirks, but your mind — sharp, calculating, methodical — made you an asset. You were the human piece of the puzzle they relied on for intel, investigations, connecting dots.

And you were good at it. You were proud of it. Until the day it all burned.

It was a Tuesday — you remember that. You were reviewing reports at your precinct desk, sipping on bitter coffee and sorting through the latest string of villain sightings. The TV mounted in the corner of the office, normally background noise, suddenly blared louder with a red “BREAKING NEWS” banner flashing.

“Villain attack near Midori Middle School — heroes on the scene!”

You froze. Your heart dropped. Your sister went to Midori Middle School.

Your baby sister — the one you'd raised since you were 18 and she was 3. The one who watched All Might specials like they were gospel. Who painted little stars on her notebooks and dreamed of becoming a hero despite being born quirkless — just like you.

You stood up so fast your chair fell backward. All you could do was stare at the screen, breath caught in your throat.

There he was — the villain, cornered, beaten, restrained by Pro Heroes. Blood on his face, but defiant as he screamed:

“There’s a bomb! In the school! Get those kids out of there!”

And they just...ignored him.

You saw Endeavor scoff, All might mutter something to the media, and mount lady crack her knuckles like it was just another day on the job.

The cameras panned to the arrest.

Not to the school.

Not to the scared children.

Not to your sister.

And when the explosion came — loud and final, shaking the frame — the screen went black for a moment before cutting back to the chaos. Screams. Smoke. Rubble.

But no rush. No panic from the heroes. Only reporters scrambling for coverage.

No one ran to the debris. No one even looked back.

And in that moment, something inside you shattered.

It had been six months since the explosion.

The apartment was a mausoleum of memories — her shoes still by the door, that damn all night bag you bought her still slung over the chair. You couldn’t bring yourself to touch them. You barely went home anymore.

Most nights, you found yourself at Jagged Glass, a dingy bar near the train station that didn’t ask questions and didn’t cut you off. It was easier to drink here than sit in silence with her ghost.

That night had started the same way — a corner stool, a half-empty glass, and the ever-growing ache in your chest. Until he sat down next to you. Again.

“I think I should buy you a drink, huh what do ya say to that little detective,” a low, amused voice murmured.

You didn’t even look up. “Fuck off.”

“You’ve got such a charming way with words.” He tapped the counter. “Same thing she’s having, bartender.”

You glanced sideways, finally catching a good look at him — dark coat, ink-black hair, and those pale blue eyes like glacier fire. He was a regular now. You’d noticed him around. He noticed you more.

“I’ve seen you here almost every night,” he said casually. “Three weeks, maybe longer. You always order the same thing. Always sit right here. Ever think of trying a new place?”

“Ever think of minding your own business?”

He chuckled. “Touché.”

You stared into your glass. “Better here than alone in a house that used to be full of laughter.”

His voice quieted. “Used to?”

You hesitated. Something about him was...sharp, like a blade, but not pointed at you. And maybe the liquor made you careless. Or maybe grief just wanted to speak.

“My sister died in that school explosion six months ago. The one on Midori Street.” You took a shaky sip. “She was thirteen. Quirkless. Still wanted to be a hero. Idolized them. Thought they could do no wrong.”

He didn’t say anything. Just let you talk.

“I watched the whole thing on live TV,” you continued, your voice cracking. “Watched the bastard who did it warn them. Watched them ignore it. And I watched the school blow up like it was nothing.” You swallowed hard. “They didn’t care. They were too busy posing for damn cameras.”

Silence.

Then: “They don’t care. They never have.”

You turned to him. “You talk like you know.”

He met your gaze, something dark and honest in his expression. “Because I do.”

You stared for a moment. “Who the hell even are you?”

He smirked. “Name’s Dabi. I’m with the League. And I’ve got a proposition.”

Your eyes narrowed. “You think I’m just going to join the villains because I’m grieving?”

“I think,” he said slowly, “you’re a smart woman who knows exactly how broken the hero system is. And you’re sitting here every night wasting your mind and your badge because you’ve got no outlet for the fury burning you alive inside.”

You didn’t respond.

“All I’m asking,” he said, leaning in just enough, “is for you to meet me. Once a night. Tell me what the heroes are planning. That’s it. No flashy villain gig. No mask. Just eyes and ears.” He paused. “And a little revenge.”

You bit your lip. “You’re using me.”

“Sure,” he said, smiling. “But I’m not lying to you about it. That’s more than the heroes ever gave you.”

You looked down.

Revenge.

Justice.

Truth.

They were all the same thing now.

“Fine,” you whispered. “I’m in.”

It started like he promised — quiet meetings, whispered updates, plans passed under the table. You fed him everything you heard — patrol rotations, strategy briefings, hero movements. You were invisible to them. Quirkless, harmless.

But not to him.

And over time, something changed in your relationship and something changed in you

You smiled again. You laughed again.

And one night, when the bar was nearly empty on one of your regular meetings your fingers brushed his, he leaned in and murmured:

“You’re not so little to me detective.”

And he kissed you.

The flames didn’t scare you. They never would.

Not when he was the first one to see your broken soul and say, I get it.

Not when he called you a weapon instead of a weakling. Not when the villains treated you like a partner — not a prop.

The heroes had turned their backs on you.

But Dabi? He offered you purpose.

And you were going to burn the hero system down from the inside. For her.

[khristie16]

The Fast and Forbidden

Charles is a famous F1 driver with everything one could want: fame, fortune, and fans. But he is missing one thing. Being his new personal assistant changes everything for both of them.

— chapter 3 An unspoken connection builds up and seeing you half naked gives a top to it, right after your date with another guy

warnings: sexual tension, invading privacy (not the intention), charles is chuckling the charles out of him

.........................................................................

I haven't seen Charles for two days. We haven't even spoken. Right after our shared time behind the piano, his brothers came to his apartment to pick him up for the squash that was apparently delayed. I snapped from my sitting position and awkwardly disappeared, resulting in forgetting about the clothes I wanted to laundry. I felt weird. Torn apart. What the hell happened there? I was still overthinking the whole scenery, me and him playing together. Me and my feelings and him and his words. What the hell was he talking about that I am his boat in whatever ocean it was. My frustration grew extremely and I was mad about everything and I did not know where it came from.

After ruminating on the sofa I had bought two days ago at this new and absolutely with nothing in apartment, I had to buy at least few decent things to it. It is not like I care about it much, I'm not gonna stay here for most of the time and I definitely don't call it home. One thing came to my conclusion. I will go on a date. I don't know how or when yet, but I need to go on a date instead of thinking about the weirdfest that is happening between the two of us. What I didn't know though was the fact that Charles ignored me on purpose. He was cursing himself for saying what he said and he didn't know why he said it. It was like that day, that moment he was someone else. He doesn't do these sweet nothings. He isn't like that. And so he ignored YN as much as he could.

On the way to Japan, the ride was quiet. Charles had his AirPods all the time and all I could do was draw some stuff in my notebook. This is actually the only time where my mind doesn't lead. I don't think and that is when I like it the most. That is when I remembered I wanted to go on a date. I decided I will install these trendy apps that are viral nowadays.

''There you have my keys, we are still in separated rooms, but still.''

He nodded in agreement of hoping that I have some common sense and I know what he implies. As I am grabbing the keys from his hands on the corridor in this fancy hotel in Japan, I don't bother to say anything to him. As I turned around to walk to my apartment he said ''I don't need you for today, you have a free time''

I took a deep breath and encouraged myself to go even faster.

Give me your name and I will give you my last name

These guys hereeee. Ugh. Now I remember why I stopped finding my 'match' on these apps. These guys are cringe asf and the only thing they care about is the color of your panties, not your name. I chuckle as I scroll some more on the sofa in the luxurious living room that I roll my eyes at. Anything that reminds me of Charles is annoying. Luxurious cars, clothes and even hotels are annoying because of him. I fumed and threw the phone next to my lying side. My vision goes blur and black as put my hands over my eyes and try to just breathe. Just when I get into the moment, I receive a notification.

It is some guy called Patrick. I looked at his profile and I have to say I was slightly amused. A nice handsome guy, who is appearing normal. I accepted his offer and in one minute I receive his message.

When I saw your face I could not look away:)

I'm not gonna lie, it did flatter me.

Good for you you didn't:)

I'm Patrick. Not from here, as i see you are not from here either I'm YN. I'm just visiting for few days. Better to make it rememberable

I don't know what this guy was but he intrigued me and I accepted to go on a date with him. I put myself together very nicely and went on a date with him. He picked me up in a luxurious car (Charles) and greeted me with a beautiful smile. I had to give him credits for how handsome he is IRL. ''Hello you''

I have to chuckle as I make my finish line to him. ''Well nice to see you too''

I smirk at him and look him in the eyes. Brown eyes. Simple. Nothing complex. Not like Charles's eyes. *(internal grunt)*

''What's wrong?''

He asks me genuinely with frown on his face. I shrug it off with a mild smile that it is nothing, just that I am cold. He raises his eyebrows but don't comment it. Instead he opens the doors for me and I sit down, ready for the adventure of what this date will bring.

The date itself was very nice, a simple dinner with a beautiful view on the city underneath us. Patrick is very casual and calm guy, well mannered and well spoken. There was nothing wrong with him, yet, I felt shallow. I did not feel alive. I thought to it it is because of my shitty mood from earlier. More of someone specific. I checked my phone to see if I am not needed but nothing came.

''I see there is something bothering you''

I lift my gaze and look at Patrick. I give him apologetic smile and take my phone away.

''Just work''

He gives me a knowing smile but he doesn't know it is not the job itself but the person behind it. And I hate myself for letting that happen. I don't want to feel like that, especially with a decent man in front of me. We go back to our conversation and as the time goes by, I finally managed to forget about Charles.

Patrick talked to me about his life, how he started and how it lead him to be where he is now. I genuinely liked to listen to him and it was certain that his guy know what he is doing in life. He has a goal and it appears no struggle take him from it. Unlike me.

When he asks me about my life, I keep it very simple. I don't want to tell him how I lost everything I could, everything I had for the last twenty years known to my life. And there are few things that I am passionate about. one of them are chocolate desserts and so I call for one, to keep the attention from me and my 'old' life.

On our way back to a hotel I stay silent and let my mind wander wherever it wants. Patrick from time to time asked me about something but it looked like he respects my quiet time I need for myself. It is hard to talk when my body is met with so much food to process!

''I know I enjoyed it, I hope you did as well YN''

I smile at him and I cannot lie that it wasn't enjoyable. I give him a light nod with a smile.

He helps me out of the car and then we stand facing each other.

''Can I see you again?''

I look up to his warm brown eyes and melt for a second. They remind me of all those people in my life that I love so much. They are so welcoming. It makes me so vulnerable that I say yes.

I slightly chuckle and keep smiling more to myself than to him. He takes a strand of hair from my face and put it behind my ears.

I see someone familiar on the left and my eyes wander there to see Joris with some other men. My body immediately goes tense and I search for him. But he is not there. Weird.

''You know them?''

I forgot about Patrick at all and my eyes widen at his sudden presence. ''Oh, uhm, yes, they are from work.''

I go back to look at Joris who is watching me closely as well.

''Oh, I see.''

I put my focus back to Patrick and give him a smile. ''Thank you for the date, I enjoyed it.''

He just nodded and kissed my hand with a promising look of a second date.

Right after I left the place in front of the hotel building, I lost track of time and focus on outer world that I just blankly stared on the wall in front of me. As the wall split in a half and opened for me, I blinked from the intrusion and get out from the elevator. I blindly walked to my apartment and opened the doors.

Darkness. Weird, I swear I left the lamp on. As I shrug it off, on my way to the bedroom I semi half get off the dress that were suffocating me the whole time after I ate the delicious chocolate dessert. That is why I get from having a sweet tooth. As I groan with the zipper in my lower back a light hits my senses. I blink many times in order to adjust to the surrounding and when the blurry lines make a form I see Charles staring at me expressionless. I stood there like a thief caught red handed and what gets me moving is his eyes lingering on my exposed chest and stomach.

I immediately cover myself and run to my right, even though I don't know what is there.

''Oh my god, i'm sor-'' ''-I'm sorry, I'm sorry!''

As I lay my back on the wall behind me I struggle to breath as my breathing became shallow. ''I-I thought this is my appartment. I'm so sorry''

All I hear is a chuckle and I frown at the reason for him to chuckle at all! I swear this guy just pisses me off.

''It's okay. What about I give you some space and wait in the corridor?''

I hum back in approval and get back in the dress so I don't walk half naked! With a grunt and victim mindset I get out the bathroom and straight to the door where is Charles waiting. There is a hint of amusement in his eyes and small smirk forming on his lips.

''It's not funny''

He chuckles even more and make few steps to me.

''I have to admit that I am glad I gave you my keys''

I stay watching him closely, with a smirk on his face, with my mouth parted a little at his sudden words and my eyebrows lift up. When I become aware there is silence between us I shut my mouth back again and roll my shoulders back.

''It's not gonna happen again''

I said it more with a threatening undertone and reached for the knob to leave this place. His place.

All I hear on my way out is ''What a shame''

[penguinmerchant]

"Pet" Binding (with a twist)

This binding is a little different than what I've done so far! This is "Pet" by C.S.Pacat, but with notes from @lucky-clover-gazette. The notes on this read along were SO funny and I knew I wanted to feature them in a bound work, but they wouldn't really make sense without the context of the original work. And so I mushed both the original work and the notes together!

So the idea here was to make it look like a composition notebook, complete with stickers on the front and (as we'll soon see...) drawings and scrawled notes on the inside. "Sam Reads CaPri" is the tag that Lucky Clover uses for her read along notes, and so I used it here just to make it clear this wasn't just the canon work. I used black and silver marbled paper to complete the look of the composition notebook, and more direct-to-film transfers for the "stickers" on the cover. I think it turned out fantastically!

More pics and a LOT of notes under the cut.

So I thought this was a really interesting project because I wanted to use the original work but add to it. I...acquired a PDF of Pet (let me have this one, I bought 2 official english copies of the short stories AND a Polish one I can't even read!) and messed with the margins a bit to make more room for Lucky Clover's notes. Here's what it looks like inside.

This whole thing was done in Libre Office, by the way. I'm sure there's a better program out there that would have done this WAY easier but I didn't want to have to learn how to use Adobe (or pay for it, honestly). But so the little notes are added with textboxes and placed next to their respective quotes, and the quotes themselves are highlighted with highlighters used for bibles, which is apparently a whole subset of office supplies I never knew about! I needed those highlighters specifically because I wanted to have archival color (no idea if regular highlighters are, these are just the only things that came up from a quick search) AND they're really good because they are made not to bleed through really thin bible paper. So on regular paper you can barely see them through the other side at all. They're great! Thanks bible highlighters, I know you thought you would be used for more holy purposes but really there's no better writer than Pacat, so you're in good hands!

So the other problem was that some of the notes were too long to shove into the margins, even after I had made them bigger than normal. That meant post-it notes! Now these aren't actual post-it notes, obviously (I can't imagine how terrible it would be to line those up in the printer) but I used colored printer paper and cut them to size, and it worked out. I used a bit of glue to get them down, and made it so that all of them fold away from the text so that everything is still readable. And then I made some of them poke out the top and sides, because I liked the way it looked.

There are little doodles throughout, some of which I colored in with a highlighter, and I the first word in each section is in a scribbly font, which I thought was funny. All of the notes are likewise in a handwritten font (Amanda Rose) and slightly rotated so that they're not in line with the text.

I also did not trim any of the sides of this textblock, so it's kind of uneven (deckled edges are common on the long side of the textblock, not so much on the top and bottom) but I kind of needed all the space. No endbands in this one either, I wanted to keep it more notebooky and the uneven pages meant it would have been impossible to do anyway. Everything else was bound normally, so aside from the two thousand years it took me to typeset this it was a pretty easy bind.

Oh, and last but not least, the endpapers:

Plain brown butcher paper, in honor of Berenger.

[roosterforme]

Adult Education Part 8 | Hangman x OC

Summary: Plans for the fraternity alumni fundraiser that Jessica is in charge of are starting to take shape. And things with Jake are starting to heat up. But even after she tries her best to take care of her students in her own way, she feels like she will never be successful at this college.

Warnings: Fluff, angst, swearing, smutty thigh riding, 18+

Length: 5200 words

Pairing: Jake "Hangman" Seresin x Female OC

This story is part of the Beer Boy and Sugar universe but can be read on its own! Adult Education masterlist

Seriously, who let Jake on my masterlist!? Banner by @mak-32

Jessica settled down in the spare seat in her friend's office with her slightly stale peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a notebook. "Wait, say that again. Beer pong with micro brewed beer? Come on, Advanced Calculus. Doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose of the frat boy vibe?" she asked with her pencil poised over the paper. 

The other woman laughed as she ate the turkey and avocado roll ups that her husband packed for her gorgeous looking lunch. Jessica would have had some of Jake's chili to bring except that she finished all of it on Sunday and Monday while she texted him about how good it was. 

"It would be an elevated frat boy vibe. I spent the weekend asking my husband what he would want out of an alumni event with his fraternity, and he came up with some pretty compelling ideas."

Jessica bit into her sandwich with a frown and chewed. "But depending on the turnout, a few kegs of fancy beer could be very expensive."

She shook her head and offered Jessica some mixed berries and a honey dipping sauce which she immediately accepted. "No, because Bradley knows a guy who owns a brewery in Solana Beach. He said he'd ask for a favor if you wanted him to."

Jessica perked up immediately. She had a friend. A friend who had a nice husband who was offering to help her out. As much as she wanted to dream big and believe she could get tenure if this thing was successful, she was afraid to hope too hard. 

But she couldn't help herself. "Solana Beach isn't that far away. You think this guy would really cut me some sort of deal? My budget from the school is pretty tiny."

She shrugged. "He was in Bradley's fraternity at UVA. He's actually a really nice guy, so I wouldn't be too surprised."

Jessica only had to think about it for another second. "Okay yes. I am very interested in this idea." Then she ate a few more berries and jotted down some other ideas they came up with. hors d'oeuvres from the culinary school

frat boys in tuxedos

sparkling wine

silent auction

As she was finishing the last item, the other woman asked, "How was your weekend with Jake?"

When Jessica met her eyes, she could tell she was blushing. But she laughed softly and said, "I think he's my boyfriend?"

"Really?" she asked, nearly dropping her turkey roll up on her lap. "I'm sorry, but are you serious? You and Jake are exclusive?"

"Yes," Jessica whispered. Right? Hadn't he made it clear he wasn't seeing anyone else and didn't want to? Oh shit. It had been so long since she'd done this, maybe she wasn't even doing it correctly. "Is that okay?"

"Oh my god! He just... I don't think... I don't ever remember mention of him having a girlfriend. Usually he just-" She cut herself off with a wince.

"Picks girls up for the night?" Jessica supplied. She sensed that about him and the way he'd told her some things about himself. But he also bought a new truck so he could make sure he was on time to see her. There was a lot to unpack here.

"Well. Yeah. But I'm not saying I'm surprised that he's into you! You're great! I'm just surprised in general."

"Same." She just hoped she wasn't about to make a fool of herself when Jake stopped by later during her office hours. When she uncrossed and recrossed her legs, she could feel the pull of the green lace against her skin underneath her cute pleated skirt, and her sheer stockings felt like silk. 

"Aside from the fact that he once called me Dr. Tits when he was belligerently drunk at my house, Jake is, and I say this a bit begrudgingly, actually really sweet. And kind. He dropped off two tickets for a Grateful Dead cover band last night since Bradley drove him around a few times after his truck broke down."

"I'm sorry.... did you say he called you Dr. Tits? Please, I'm going to need you to elaborate on that."

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

Jake spent Monday night making the most perfect lasagna of his life and waiting until it cooled down to pack some individual containers for Jessica. Then when he left for work on Tuesday, he left them all lined up in his refrigerator so he could grab them on his way to her office hours. 

There was a guest speaker today, and Jake grabbed the empty seat next to Bradley who was trying to discreetly text his wife under the table before the lecture started. 

"What's Dr. Tits up to?" he drawled, earning an eye roll. 

"Text her yourself if you want to know," came the raspy response. "I'm going right to campus after work today to keep her company while she's on a phone conference," he added with a smirk. "Might stop by and talk to your girlfriend about her fundraiser while I'm there."

"That fraternity thing she has to do?" 

"Yeah," Bradley replied, finally putting his phone away. "Sugar asked me to be nice to her, so I'm going to try to save her some money on beer from Beta Brewing."

"Isn't that the place that ages the beer in bourbon barrels and sells it for an outrageous price?"

"Yeah," Bradley said with a laugh. "A guy who was in my fraternity owns it. I haven't seen him in a bit, but I was kind enough to text him on behalf of Jessica. Now will you please stop calling my wife Dr. Tits?"

"No," Jake replied smoothly as Maverick called everyone to attention. 

Bradley just grunted in response.

When they were released from the lecture, Jessica's office hours had already begun. Jake hadn't texted her much since he knew Tuesdays were busy for her. He just needed to get there before 7:00, because somehow if he arrived during her office hours, it made him feel like her student. And that made everything feel a little dirty. And he really fucking liked that. Plus she told him she was going to wear something sexy, and he'd been dying to find out what that meant.

He swung by his place and picked up the containers of lasagna and packed them in a cooler, and then he was off in his new truck. He could count on one hand the number of times he'd visited this part of the city before he met Jessica, but now he was constantly searching the side streets along campus for a parking spot. Tonight he found one on the same block as a familiar, blue Bronco.

Of course he got some looks from the college girls as he strolled toward the math and science building in his khaki uniform, but he was met with a glare from a man a little older than him with salt and pepper hair when he walked inside. 

"Evening," Jake drawled as the other man silently examined his uniform. He could feel eyes on him as he walked toward the elevators. It wasn't like he was forbidden to be here, so he just ignored him. This ride up to her floor and the walk down the hallway had become familiar to Jake. But when he raised his hand to knock, he heard the doorknob turn from the inside along with Jessica's muffled voice. So he leaned back against the opposite wall as the door cracked open. 

"Luca, there's no way I'm going to try out your skateboard."

"Come on, Dr. Reed. Just for a minute? It'll be really fun. But you probably shouldn't wear high heels."

She sighed and pulled her door open further, but she didn't notice Jake yet. "Fine. I'll try your skateboard on Thursday only after you show up on time and give me a full hour of your best effort."

"Sweet!" Luca said, giving her a high five. But now she was distracted by Jake as he smiled at her. 

"Not in the hallway!" Jessica shouted after Luca who set his board down and promptly picked it back up again. 

"My bad, Dr. Reed!"

Jessica was already wrapped up in Jake's arm, her lips ghosting over his. "Hey, Reedy," he whispered, and then he was being jerked away from the wall as she led him inside and closed the door, leaning back against it.

"Hi," she whispered back. Jake let his eyes drift down over her petite form and back up again, every inch of clothing and everything that was bare to him was making him salivate. She had on a rather short pleated skirt with sheer stockings and black heels. Plus he could see the telltale green strap peeking out from the white camisole as her cardigan slipped down her bare shoulder.

He swallowed hard. "You look nice, Baby. You having a good day?"

"Yes!" she gushed, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him harder this time. "My faculty meeting was blessedly canceled this morning, and I ate lunch with Advanced Calculus." 

Jake set the cooler down on her desk in the tiny office so he could have better access to her body. "That's great. You call her Advanced Calculus? That's actually so cute," he said as his hands came to rest on her hips. 

Jessica laughed, and he felt warm all over. "Yes, and she calls me Advanced Physics. And she's helping me plan that fraternity fundraiser along with her husband. Bradley actually stopped by a little while ago, before Luca was here. He's just the best. Advanced Calculus is so lucky."

"He's the best?" Jake asked, one eyebrow raised as he leaned down and kissed her bare shoulder making her shiver. "She's so lucky?"

When he ran his nose along that pretty green bra strap, she gasped. "Not as lucky as me."

Jake chuckled and murmured, "That's my smart girl." He brushed her hair aside and kissed his way from her shoulder up her neck to her ear while she clung to him. 

She cleared her throat and asked, "How was your day?" as she tried to pull away from him. But Jake kept her right where she was. 

"Better now," he promised. "Had to sit through a talk about the updates coming to my jet this summer. A new mechanical override and an updated comms system among other things."

"Ohhh," she sighed. "Did they give you a new spec sheet?" Her eyes were curious behind her glasses, and Jake was grinning.

"Sure did. You wanna see it?"

"Yes!"

"Well, that's classified, Baby."

She pouted and said, "Come on, Jake. I won't tell anyone. Can't you sneak one home with you or something?"

He ran his big hands up and down her back. "You want to work out some of the calculations, don't you?"

"Of course I do," she replied softly, and Jake was getting a little hot just thinking about her sitting in his kitchen with a pencil and a calculator. He trailed his hand down to her ass, and she was kissing him again as she touched his pins.

"If you really want to see them," he said between kisses, "I'll sneak them out." She giggled as she kissed his neck, and then his nose was buried in her hair. "God, you look so sexy, and you smell so sweet."

Her glasses bumped his cheek when she kissed his ear and raked her fingers through his hair. Every inch of the front of her body was pressed to his, and Jake just knew there was no coming back from this right now. Jessica had dressed like this with him in mind, and while her outfit was totally work appropriate, it was also a thing of fantasies. Skirts and heels and green lingerie and stockings. 

"I can't seem to stop thinking about you," she said in the sweetest voice before she sucked on his lip. He wondered if her stockings were the kind that ended at her thighs or the ones that went all the way up to her waist. He needed to know. She didn't make him wait for an answer. Jessica guided him to the chair behind her desk, and he sat down a little hard. She was standing right in front of him with her gaze fixed on his pants, and when Jake glanced down, he could see the outline of his cock as he stood at attention for her. 

"I'm sorry," he grunted, "but you turn me on so much."

"Don't apologize," she breathed, and he was treated to the sight of her sliding that cardigan down her arms. When she turned slightly and dropped it onto her desk, her skirt rode up her leg. Jake could see the lace trimmed top of her stocking hugging her thigh, and he groaned so loudly, her gaze snapped back to his. 

"Jessica." His voice was a needy whine, and for some reason this was so much worse than when he almost fucked her on his couch. Because she was his girl now, and he wanted every inch of her well acquainted with every inch of him. "Come here." When he patted his right thigh, she obeyed him immediately, coming to stand with his knee between her legs. 

Then she hesitated, and Jake didn't want to push anything. When he was just about to tell her that nothing sexual needed to happen here, he watched her reach up underneath her skirt and bend a little at the waist. His gaze shifted so rapidly from her pretty eyes to the lacy tops of her sheer stockings, he thought he might pass out. And then she started to slide that green thong down her hips to her thighs, and Jake caught the briefest glimpse of her pussy before her underwear was down her legs and her skirt fell into place once more.

"Fuck. Jessica." He was a panting mess as she stepped out of her thong and handed it to him. It was wet, and when he pressed it to his nose, it smelled incredible. And she was once again positioning herself with her legs straddling his right one before she came to rest with her pussy on his khaki covered thigh.

"Is this okay?" she whispered as her right knee nudged his cock, and his head tipped back slightly. She bit her lip and ran one gentle finger along his name tag, spelling out SERESIN while she looked him in the eye. 

"Yeah," he groaned. "God. It's more than okay." She kissed him with her palm planted on his chest, and Jake was living for the way her hips rocked forward. 

Her glasses and hair were tickling his face as she brought her other hand up to his neck, and then Jessica rocked her hips back and forward once again along his thigh. There was a smile on her lips as she kissed him and whispered, "You can set that down, you know." 

Jake was still gripping her thong in his hand, and he pressed it to his mouth and lips one more time before stuffing it in his breast pocket. The fact that she was rubbing her bare ass and pussy on his uniform had him painfully hard, but he didn't want her to stop. This was a thousand times better than any lap dance he'd ever had before. 

"You excited to see me today, Baby?" he asked, squeezing both of her knees with his hands and then guiding them up to her skirt. "This is a very warm welcome."

Her cheeks were flushed as Jake pushed her skirt up a few inches to play with the lace stockings. When he ran his thumbs along the soft, bare skin of her inner thighs, she whined his name. "Jake!" 

"Fuck," he grunted, squeezing her with both hands as she rode his thigh, now gripping both of his shoulders. She was kind of jerking her hips along as her glasses slid down her nose. Jake leaned in to kiss her neck and chest as he whispered, "You gonna get off like this?" She squeaked as his fingers toyed with her stockings before he brushed her wet slit with his thumb. 

"I never did before," she said, eyes a little wild now. Every time she rolled her hips back so she was sitting on her ass, she grunted a soft little sound that almost sent him through the roof. 

"Baby, you can't tell me things like that and make those perfect little sounds okay?" he whispered. "Because now I need to get you off." He guided one hand around to palm her bare ass and tipped her chin up with the other. "Okay?" he asked, running his thumb along her lips. She nodded and kissed his thumbprint before he reached down and lifted up her skirt. "Holy hell," he moaned. Her pussy looked exquisite, and there was a wet spot the size of her palm on his service khakis from her slick.

While he was absolutely aching to get his cock inside her, he knew there would be time for that later. This weekend, perhaps. But right now, he thought she was close to coming on his fucking uniform. In her goddamn office. On the college campus. And he needed to make it a reality, because he could feel her wetness on his leg as she ground down against him. 

So he kept his left hand on her ass, guiding her movements just a little slower as he took one more look at her pink pussy spread open for him, and he stroked her clit with his right thumb. And then Jessica was shaking almost instantly as she kissed his lips and muttered something incoherent. 

"Come on baby. You're so close," he whispered between kisses. "This is so hot." Every time her knee bumped his cock, he thought he might cum in his pants, but he kept her going. 

"Oh. My. God!" she whined suddenly before sucking in a deep breath and arching her back. Jake rubbed his face across her tits, nipples peaked through the fabric of her bra and camisole. And then she was coming and keening, and he eased up the pressure of his thumb and enjoyed every sound she made for him.

Jessica collapsed against his chest, lips pressed to his ear and cheek as she combed her fingers through his hair and rode out the little aftershocks. He ran his hand along her ass, stroking her until she stopped rocking gently against him. As she kissed her way to his lips, her fingers found his insignia pins just like always. Their kisses were soft and leisurely like she'd really worn herself out, and when she shifted, he grunted as her knee nudged his cock again.

She looked at him with wide eyes as she brought her hand down to his pants. "I'm so sorry," she gasped with a soft laugh. "I'm in such a daze, I wasn't even thinking. Let me take care of you."

Jake was shaking his head and immediately reaching for her hand. "Absolutely not." He would cum in an instant if she touched his bare dick with any part of her pretty body, and that was not something he was interested in at the moment. 

"Why not?" she asked, looking thoroughly upset now as she pulled away from him to stand. Jake had to bite his knuckle at the sight of the mess she left on his khakis, and his cock jumped painfully in his pants. 

"Baby, look what you did," he crooned, gesturing at his thigh. "It's gorgeous." But when he met her eyes, she was blushing and reaching for her cardigan. "Jessica, I can't have you taking care of this for me right now. I'm too worked up, and I'd rather have blue balls than cum as soon as you look at me, okay?"

She laughed as she pulled her sweater on, and she let Jake kiss her. "Okay," she replied softly as she looked down at his wet pants. "I can't believe I did that."

"Listen," he whispered, boxing her in between his body and her desk. "I think you should come spend the weekend at my place. Pack an overnight back and some more journals... the real sexy ones on the top shelf over there." He jerked his chin toward her bookshelf. "And I'll steal you a top secret spec sheet that could cost me some of my pins that you like touching so much."

"I could do that," she replied with a smile. "I need to go up to Beta Brewing with Bradley on Saturday morning, but after that, I'm free."

Jake kissed her as he pulled her green thong out of his pocket. "Sounds perfect. And I'm going to need you to wear this again on Saturday, okay? I didn't even get to see the bra yet."

She balled it up in her hand like she was suddenly embarrassed by it. "Alright." But he tipped her chin up again so she was looking at him.

"I can't get enough of you."

Then the sweet kisses returned before she took him by the hand and selected a small stack of journals for him to take him. "Here's a spicy one from the top shelf," she told him with a smile that made him feel weak. Then he said he would walk her and the cooler of food to her car. And she tried to hide her face against his pins when that same guy was walking through the lobby again, because Jake still had a wet spot on his pants from her pussy. 

"You think I care?" he whispered to her before he nodded at the guy with salt and pepper hair. "I got my girl with me, and she got off on me."

"Jake," she gasped with a laugh, pulling him outside quickly. "He's the head of the chemistry department. And he already hates me."

"Who in their right mind could hate you?" His mind drifted for a moment to all the supposed rumors about her that were floating around. "Wait, is he the guy who got permanently banned from Chippy's?" He dug his feet in and there was no way she could pull him anywhere. "Why doesn't he like you?"

Jake was turning back to look into the building, ready to give this asshole a piece of his mind, but Jessica was still pulling on him. "Don't worry about it. Walk me to my car so we can make out." But he was going to worry about it. And yeah, he made out with her next to her car until he was starting to get hard again, which was honestly very painful now. And he was still thinking about it when he watched her pull away. He headed home to jerk off and start to consider what he could cook this weekend, but it still really irritated him that someone found something to dislike about the first woman he ever thought he could be serious with. Because in his mind, she was perfect. 

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

"Luca, focus on the math, or I'm not going to embarrass myself on your skateboard."

"Sorry, Dr. Reed."

Jessica had to keep drawing her failing student's attention back to the problem sheet in front of him, but that threat really seemed to do the trick. For some reason, this kid really wanted to see her eat asphalt. And now he was solving all of the problems correctly. "Yes! Keep going." She watched him write out the long equation for the last question, and she murmured, "One just like that will be on the exam next week."

"Sweet," he replied with a smile. "I'll study this weekend. Weather is supposed to be shitty for surfing."

She rolled her eyes but collected his paper when he was finished. "This is all correct," she said as she stood up on the other side of the desk in her sneakers and pantsuit. "You just always rush instead of taking your time. I know you can pass my classes. You need them to graduate on time."

"I know," he whined and sat back in the other chair. "I'll keep coming to your office hours."

"Just keep trying and keep studying. I know it's not as hard as you think it is."

Then he stood and picked up his skateboard, and Jessica groaned. "Okay, but only for a minute."

"You say that now, but I think you're going to love it," Luca said as she followed him out of her office and down the hallway. "You're at least fifty years younger than everyone else who works here. You might think skateboarding is fun."

Jessica had to stifle a snort as they walked past Dr. Leeland's open door where he was napping in his chair. "That's not polite, Luca," she managed to say.

"Yeah, but it's still true."

On the ride down the elevator, she listened to him explain how to keep yourself balanced while riding. "Don't make any sudden movements. And don't lean backwards. Actually, don't lean forward either."

Jessica sighed. At least she could spend about a half second on this skateboard and then excuse herself back up to her office to pack up. Then she could call Jake on her way home and hear his sexy voice and talk about the weekend.

Once they were outside on the deserted sidewalk which was lit up by the dying sunset and campus security lights, Luca set the skateboard down with a huge grin on his face. "You're the coolest, Professor Reed. Now step up with your right foot."

She tried it and shook her head before planting both feet back on the ground. "Nope. It's already rolling away!"

"Here. I'll stand on the front so it won't move so much while you get on it."

With a deep sigh, she tried it again, but she started wobbling from side to side this time. "Luca!" she gasped, reaching for his outstretched hand. "This is not fun!"

He was laughing as he said, "It takes practice. Just hold my hand for a second and push off with your left foot." When he removed his foot from the board, she pushed off and went gliding forward as she screeched and held onto his hand with a death grip. "Yeah! That's it!" 

She jumped off, looked at him, and said, "Can I do it again?" 

Five minutes later, she was laughing as she tried pushing off with her right foot. "I can recommend a great skate shop for you!" Luca said as she slowly skated away from him and down the sidewalk. Damn, this was kind of addicting. She jumped down and skated back toward him as she cackled.

"You better move. I'm coming in hot!" she said, rolling so slowly it was laughable. Then she looked up into the icy blue eyes of Brian Conley who was scowling at her. She jumped awkwardly off of the skateboard, and it continued to roll to Luca who picked it up.

"What the hell are you doing, Dr. Reed?" Brian practically yelled even though she was right in front of him. She hated that she immediately felt tears stinging behind her eyes. "Can't you be professional for even just ten minutes?"

"I was just-" she started, but then Luca cut in when she really wished he wouldn't.

"It was my idea, Dr. Conley. Dr. Reed just finished tutoring me, and I thought it would be fun."

Brian just shook his head and sighed. "That's enough fun for one day I think."

"I'm sorry, Dr. Reed," Luca muttered as he hoisted his backpack on and started skating away. And then Jessica really wished she could vanish, because Jake was heading up the sidewalk at a blistering pace, a scowl on his handsome features while Brian went off.

"It's not your job to be messing around with your students. It is your job to be teaching them. I know for a fact that you have several students failing your classes, and I don't think skateboarding with them is quite the correct answer here, do you? If you think you're even close to being qualified for tenure, you are out of your mind!"

All she could picture was Leeland asleep during his office hours. All she wanted to do was relate to Luca a little bit to keep him interested in things. She was just upholding her end of the bargain since he did so great with the practice problems.

"You're such an asshole," she whispered as her vision blurred with unshed tears. 

When Brian took a step closer so that he was almost touching her, Jessica heard Jake's voice call out in a loud bark. "Hey! Why is she crying?"

"I'm okay," she said softly which just made her want to cry even more. She pushed Brian away from herself and walked the rest of the way toward Jake who had his hands in fists and fire in his eyes. "I'm okay." She had to plant both palms on his chest to get him to look at her instead of Brian. 

"Why are you crying?" he asked, gentler this time as Brian stormed back inside the building. "Should I be going after him?"

"No," she said as she hiccuped, and Jake pulled her against his chest so her glasses got smashed at a weird angle. But she immediately felt better. "What are you doing here?"

He rubbed her back and said, "I missed you and thought maybe you'd want to go to Chippy's after your office hours. I know you were supposed to help that kid Luca, but I figured you might feel like getting a Sam Adams with me. Didn't know I'd potentially have to kick that guy's ass."

Jessica felt like she was going to say something she had no business telling him yet. So she tamped down the words and instead said, "You don't need to kick Brian Conley's ass. He's not even worth it. And I would absolutely love to go to Chippy's with you."

She kissed Jake long and hard on the lips before leading him inside and back up to her office to pack up her things and lock the door. Then they walked across the street, hand in hand. Jake held the door for her, and he finally looked a little calmer now as he walked into Chippy's right behind her. 

"I'm just waiting for him to glare at me," Jake said as he wrapped his arm around her waist. "I really need to take you to the Hard Deck one night, because honestly, Penny could give him a run for his money."

"I'd love to see that," she said with her first smile since she was on the skateboard. She laced her fingers with Jake's and led him to an empty table.

"Reedy," Chippy called out, and sure enough, there was a special glare reserved for Jake. Jessica was beaming by the time he pulled out a stool for her and kissed her. 

"I'll be right back. Hopefully," Jake said with a look of extreme fear as he headed to the bar. This was her peaceful space away from Brian. And she felt safe with Jake and Chippy. And Jake was completely right; a beer and some peanuts were exactly what she needed right now. 

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

Can't wait to check in with Beer Boy's former frat brother. And can't wait for Reedy to spend some more time at Jake's place. Thanks @mak-32 and @beyondthesefourwalls

PART 9

@blahehblah

@sotalife

@desert-fern

@furiouspiespytaco

@rosiahills22

@daggerspare-standingby

@je-suis-prest-rachel

@callsign-joyride

@theharddeck

@withakindheartx

@roosterscockpit

@whatislovevavy

@hangmanbrainrot

@neferpatra

@sehnsuchts-trunken

@averyhotchner

@thedroneranger

@cherrycola27

@mygyn

@hoyaharper

@tallyovie

@gennyanydots

@callsign-magnolia

@whisperofsong

@seriouslyseresin

@double-j

@bradshawsbitch

@sugarcoated-lame

@katiebby04

@anotherr-fine-mess

@supernaturaldawning

@chassy21

@tylerjones98

@captainjaspenor

@gigisimsonmars

@fanboyswhore9

@angel-w0nderland

@abaker74

@idontcare-11

@isaebellaa

@bringnattolife

@xoxabs88xox

@djs8891

@hufflepufftruffle

@cottagecori

[o2studies]

22:00 || ༻`` 1 June 25 — Sunday

57 days of productivity, 39/57

Big jump from the last update being day 12 😅 And honestly, not sure what to start with now....

I have finished 4 exams so far and I've got 3 left (the next one being Math U.2 on Wednesday) and I feel alright about them. For each one I could've done a lot more work, but I was still pretty much as prepared I could be. I also revised the MOST I have EVER revised last week, being just short of 26 HOURS which is CRAZY. And my brain has been moooore than fried because of it... (I am miscounting days and times and I don't know what's going on anymore 😭😭😭😭)

But within all the bedrotting and bad habits and becoming a study-hermit, I have really begun getting my life together again! (once again screwing over Notion for an app that can do mostly similar things despite it not being it's primary purpose ;-;) I have created a sort of masterlist on google docs consisting of a mood board, different goals, Habitica challenges I'm in, tasks I've to get sorted and habits I want to implement — and I'm so so proud of how it looks!!! This is 100% something I'm going to keep adding to and making use of long term!

So recently I've been (among studying still ofc) cleaning a lot, reading even (I started Powerless by Lauren Roberts over a month ago and I'm finally picking it up again and it's so good!!), planning some more art projects (and I'm soooo excited for Art Fight to begin!), and done more smaller organisations.

For having not updated in so long I planned to write about so much more but that pretty much sums it up... :/ So I'll leave youse off with some pictures and the fact that the next TSJ entry will be uploaded tomorrow!

Oh and I also had my school leavers party!!! (img. 1) Been to 1 if my last violin lessons as I hadn't realised I'd be having so many exams on the days of them 😓 (img. 3) I've tried a reverse To Do list and it's working wonders!!! (img. 5) and I was invited on a family road trip with K and her family one of the days which was really lovely 😊 (img. 6)

Also! I bought myself a new, pretty notebook into which I'll add the likes of less important passwords (like for tumblr, AF etc.) and a savings plan for when me and K start work and properly begin looking for a place to rent together. But that's as far as I've gotten with ideas for it. I want the notebook to have more of those important, adult-y things, not for it to be another journal.

Any ideas for what else it could have?

Day / I decided to stop the counter during my exams and given the reason why, I think it was a reasonable choice

Day 0

Floor time ☑️ // 🍊

[serenadeonacanoe]

Honestly, I'd piss him off on purpose. Chapter 2:

Pairing: Namjoon x Original Female Character

Genre/Warnings: Smut, Angst, Fluff, too tired to beta

Tags: Artist!Namjoon, Yoongi and Tae are the best flatmates, Enemies to Lovers I guess… more like brats to making out in the storage unit, OFC is an idiot.

More chapters on AO3

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

Even the sound of my own nails rhythmically tapping on the counter was annoying me. To be fair, it didn’t take much today to blow my fuse, which had never been particularly long in the first place. But after a week of being belittled by old white men and working endless hours of unpaid overtime, I’d about had it.

Welcome to the art world. You know well before you enter that the hours are brutal and the job market is more than frustrating, but you love art. You’ve got good organizational skills, you’re resilient, charming when it counts, and you tend to romanticize things even when you know you shouldn’t. It’s too late to turn back now.

"That’s why I don’t use an agenda or notebook. If something’s important enough for me to attend, I simply won’t forget. I know you youngsters are all about bullet journaling and expressing yourselves by mapping out your lives, but really it’s just another way to procrastinate instead of getting to actual work."

For a second, I considered throwing my damn notebook in the buyer’s face, but that probably wouldn’t have helped my CV or the new job I’d have to look for starting tomorrow. At the very least, I should’ve screamed at him a little. Mainly that I didn’t care. That I had PMS. That my shitty shower in the shitty apartment I shared had broken and no dry shampoo in the world had fixed my hair this morning. That goddamn it, how the hell was I supposed to remember every phone number, every call my boss had to take, every art handling transport I’d organized if I couldn’t write it down somewhere.

Instead, I smiled. Died a little inside. Complimented him on the gift of his exceptional memory and asked whether he’d like another cup of coffee.

“What a dick.” Samantha murmured, more to herself than to me, once the guy had finally left. It made me snort under my breath. She usually didn’t say much, but when she did, it was straight to the point.

In the end, it didn’t matter that he was a dick. Didn’t matter that everyone at the gallery thought the art he’d bought from us over the last few months had been neither smart nor impressive purchases. Just expensive. And flashy.

“Doesn’t matter now.” I said with a sigh, glancing at the clock. It was Friday night and we were about to close. Since it was my birthday on Monday, I’d taken two days off, the longest break I’d had all year, and I was looking forward to being the lazy slob for a few days I was maybe always meant to be.

In silence, we answered a few last emails, tidied up the desks and counters so that potential buyers coming in over the weekend wouldn’t suspect anyone had actually been working here. A white desk. A huge iMac on it. That was all they needed to see. Folders, pens, and apparently especially agendas had to be hidden away in drawers.

At five to eight, I threw on my coat and Samantha gave me a tired smile. Probably happy for me. Just exhausted.

“Have fun then? Don’t get too wasted?”

“Oh…” I grinned, smug. “You have no idea. Gonna take a bottle of Moët with me from the bar and drink it in my bathtub after eating a huge pepperoni pizza by myself and dancing to only the finest of '90s Euro Trash.”

I couldn’t help it, I felt it necessary to give Sam a little demonstration, waving my arms up and down while swaying my hips in a way I probably wouldn’t have if I hadn’t had even a small audience. Or maybe two?

A quiet scoff behind me made me turn around fast, slowly lowering my arms. Sam bit her lower lip, and there I was, standing like an idiot in front of HIM, of all people.

Men didn’t have to be old to annoy me. Or white. Yes, those were usually the ones that pissed me off most, but no one had managed to do so quite like Kim Namjoon lately.

And now he was standing there, looking me up and down, stopping at my hair. The crazy, too-much-dry-shampoo-because-the-shower-broke hair.

“Nice.” he said, then looked over at Sam.

“I’d like to take a last look before Sunday’s opening, if that’s okay?”

I stood there, shoulders dropping, completely ignored.

“Uhm, actually, my babysitter has to leave in about an hour and I’ll need to be home by then.” Samantha replied, impressively calm.

“Of course.” Namjoon said with a slight smile. “Anyone else still around? Chris, maybe?”

Of course, Chris hadn’t been in today. It was Friday, and unless important guests had announced themselves, the gallery owner didn’t come in on Fridays.

“I’m afraid not. But maybe Charlotte has a few minutes?”

Well. Thanks. Thanks a lot. I felt a little betrayed.

“Wouldn’t want to keep anyone from their important Moët-Pizza-Dance Party plans.” Namjoon said before I could get a word in. His voice dropped to that hushed, deep disapproval, and he shoved his hands into the pockets of his rather expensive-looking coat. Silence. Then he just walked off toward the room where his exhibition had been set up all week, showing without saying it that I’d be staying, whether I liked it or not.

“Well, thank you for pushing me under the bus like that. Really appreciate it.”

“I’m so sorry. But I was serious. I can’t lose this sitter. She got Jamie to eat vegetables. Vegetables!”

Samantha was suddenly in a rush, grabbing her jacket and purse, showering me with promises to make it up to me. We both knew that wouldn’t happen and it wasn’t necessary. Staying late was normal. I just hated that it had to be today. And because of him.

I heard the door close behind Sam and stood there for a second before putting my bag down again. Usually, I would’ve followed the artist, asked if I could help somehow, but nah… My ego was bruised up enough already - especially remembering the little dance. I closed my eyes.

Fucking hated the guy. Always had. Well, not quite.

I’d thought he was cool for about five minutes when he first came in. We’d heard about him for a few months before. I think I’d even seen pictures of him at some point, but those were nothing compared to seeing him in real life.

He came in all cheekbones and an all-gray outfit, quick pace, observant gaze. Incredibly hot. He also completely ignored me.

That's how it started - a bruised ego. He couldn't know that it was my weak spot.

I had studied art and its management, but often felt more like a glorified secretary. My colleagues and I were doing all the behind-the-scenes work while Chris strolled in for a few hours, reaped all the money, and got the recognition. I knew this wasn’t unique to the art world, but it still got under my skin... I’d imagined life in my late twenties to be a bit more glamorous than living in a tiny apartment on the outskirts of the city... spending Friday night waiting for some rude artist dude to finally leave so I could lock up.

But what I probably hated most about him was that I admired him. Purely for his art. Really. Even the way he acted like I didn’t exist every time he came in didn’t stop me from admitting that - at least to myself. The stories behind his massive collages were clever, well thought-out. And even without knowing the context, the aesthetics alone were stunning. His work reached into something deep, and standing in front of it, I always had a hundred questions. Whenever he brought in a new piece, I was the first to sneak a peek in the back before it got hung.

"I don't get why you have such a problem with him. He’s just... quiet. I think he might even be shy. Stop being so sensitive and just ask him out already." I had almost strangled Sam for that comment a couple of weeks ago. Stop being so sensitive. What did that even mean? Words like that made me want to cry and scream at the same time, which would, of course, be perceived as even more sensitive. But when had being numb become something to aim for? I didn’t say anything because I liked Sam, and I knew what she meant. At least I thought I did. That maybe I wouldn’t care so much if I wasn’t actually attracted to Namjoon. I’d never said it, but she knew. She knew that if I didn’t care about something, I didn’t waste my time on it. But if something pissed me off? Yeah, there was usually more to it. I hated that she could read me that easily. Still, he was a dick. And I still just wanted to go home.

He took his sweet time. After an hour, I walked up to him, a little speech prepared about how he could come back first thing tomorrow. But when he turned around, he just lifted a hand between us like a barrier and turned away again. I hadn’t seen he was on the phone. "No, it’s nothing. Just one of the gallery employees." he said. And okay... if I wasn’t about to explode before, I definitely was now. I stood there for a moment, fuming, then walked back to the office area. My hand shook as I began switching off the gallery lights one by one. It wasn’t quite as satisfying as I’d hoped, but still felt good. Two minutes later, only the light above my head and the one by the door were left on. I figured I’d at least show him which way to go - he clearly needed help.

When Namjoon stepped out from one of the darker corners, he looked even more annoyed than usual. He squinted at me, his tongue pushing against the inside of his cheek. "Seriously?" he shouted, nearly walking into one of the flyer shelves. Not the first time I’d seen him do that, so maybe it wasn’t the lighting’s fault.

I felt oddly triumphant. By the time I had my coat on and turned off the last two lights, ready to finally lock up, Namjoon had just about made his way to the door. He was still on the phone, standing right in the open entrance. I gave a little groan when he didn’t even notice me standing behind him... or maybe he did and just didn’t care. Instead of clearing my throat or trying to squeeze past him, I just placed my hands on his back and gently pushed until his feet hit the pavement and he turned around. For a second, he looked like he was about to push back. Or trample me.

"Okay, what the hell is your problem, Charlotte?" His voice was hoarse, his eyes dark. God, he was hot. I hated him so much. "You." I replied, deadpan. Then I turned back to lock the two bolts on the door and punched in the alarm code. I couldn’t help but feel smug - apparently, he knew my name. I pictured him staring at the back of my head, flustered. Couldn’t be sure though. All I knew was that when I turned around, he was still there, arms crossed over his chest, mouth set in a straight line, watching me.

"Do you always act like that at work, around people who could get you in trouble?" He had a point. He could get me in trouble. But I was too fired up, my heart racing. "Is that a threat?" "An observation." "Only around the ones I don’t like." "Cool." "Great." "Enjoy the dance party. Sounds shit."

And with that, he turned around and walked off, coat flying open in the wind. Unfortunately, it made him look cool. I ABSOLUTELY HATED HIM. I didn’t say another word, just walked off in the opposite direction - only to realize minutes later that my car was the other way. Still, I kept walking for a bit before turning back. It took a while to calm down. Only cuddling up with my cat in front of some trash TV finally did the job. But by then, I’d realized something I wasn’t sure I liked. Yeah, I thought he was a prick. And yeah, I should’ve just played it cool. That would’ve been smarter in a lot of ways. But I’d also kind of... enjoyed myself. In the most fucked up way.

Seeing that stern look, that intense way he loomed over me... yeah, I’d piss him off on purpose. Literally.

[gerry-the-archivist]

(a tape recorder clicks on, a deep voice filled with intention speaking.)

is this thing on? Oh, ah, yes, there we go. Ahem…

Jurghan Litiner’s death has fortunately not hindered the study of the book-based artifacts he’s created. This man… he’s done something incredible. The ability to harness and utilize the Fears themselves, to take a bit of their power and trap it within the pages of a story… it’s something not even the esteemed Jonah Magnus could seem to achieve.

but they’re not perfect. These creations… they’re hard to use, they’re finicky. Jurghan Litiner only managed to harness one or two fears at a time, and even then… it proved unstable. It was certainly a stride in the right direction, but it ended in a stumble.

I know we can utilize the Fears better.

I’ve bought myself a set of 60 or so notebooks, each with an express purpose. Obviously there’s going to be some failed experiments, but in the long run, I feel that this little… addition to Jurghan Litiner’s work will have an excellent payoff.

-🎙️⏰, signing off.

(as soon as the tape is done playing, a small notebook appears on the desk, labeled #24, Fears Harnessed; Vast and Spiral.)

(Opening it causes severe dizziness, and moments later, Jon Gerry opens his eyes to see he’s no taller than the mug he had been drinking tea out of only a few minutes prior.)

(the inside of the book is labeled Size Manipulation. Well… that would’ve been nice to know before opening up the damn book. Why wasn’t that on the title?!)

…shit.