#i gotta practice for my next test on sunday

[lemon-wedges]

....

[msschemmenti]

girl next door 🏠 - 8

The following morning Tina, while slightly hungover, was kind enough to escort Y/n back to her car. With a smile, Y/n leaned against her open drivers side door to address the older actress. “So what night are ya getting me a ticket to your show?”

Tina shook her head in amusement, “When will you be able to pull yourself away from your cul-de-sac orgy? I wouldn’t want to disrupt your usual weekend plans.”

“Oh you think you’re so funny, huh? How about closing matinee on Sunday? Even the devil’s gotta rest sometime.”

“If your morning is free, why don’t you just come hang with me at the theater? I’ll come pick you up and buy you breakfast.” Tina suggested.

“You can just say you miss me, you know?” Y/n laughed watching Tina’s cheeks redden as she rolled her eyes. “But sure. I’ll send you my address sometime before then. And call me if you need me, alright?” Tina nodded and threw a thumbs up awkwardly and Y/n just chuckled pulling her into a hug. “Too awkward for your own good. I’ll see you Sunday honey.”

-

Y/n stood at the front of her final class of the day and watched as their eyes glazed over a bit. “Oh come on y’all, it’s not that bad. I just want ya to watch a musical from the golden age and write a reflection.” At the groans she shook her head and placed a hand over her heart, “Bless your hearts, have it to me by next class. Get outta here.” The students hurried out and Y/n gathered her things and made her way to her office. She had to start grading her most recent music lit test tonight since she’d already signed her Sundau away. And if the previous weekends were anything to go by– Emily and JJ would probably have her other evenings tied up as well. Securing the tests in her bag she was ready to go– until she watched her department chair pop her head through her open door.

“Professor Y/n! Glad I caught you. Do you have a minute?” The Flutist beamed. The tall lanky woman was known to take much longer than a minute but Y/n knew she had to stop.

“Of course, Dr. Kelley. What can I do you for?”

“I just love your little Southern sayings. I just came by to see if you’d decided on your pieces for the faculty showcase in November. I know we’ve still got a couple days left of September– but we like to give the accompanist as much time as possible to learn the music.”

Y/n nodded her understanding and moved to her repertoire cabinet. They’d een mentioning this showcase since the first staff meeting back in August and it was slated to be a pretty big deal around campus. It was volunteer based in the department and every professor participating would need to prepare three selections to be presented during the college’s parents week. As much as she’d tried to get out of it– she was very heavily encouraged to participate. “I have. Would it help to have the sheet music now?”

“Yes! That’s be excellent. That way when we start rehearsing they’ll already have it.” The woman accepted the pages with an eager smile and practically skipped down the hall onto the next office. Y/n shook her head as she watched her go but was quick out of the door herself– more than ready to get into something comfortable for the evening.

After spending most of her afternoon grading, Y/n tore herself away from her desk and wandered through the house in an effort to stretch her aching muscles. Cooking dinner was the last thing on her mind right now so ordering out was the plan. A pizza was ordered and when it arrived she met the teen at her gate to exchange the pizza for the payment. And as she wished him a goodnight, she caught sight of her favorite neighbors climbing out of their car.

“Hi,” Y/n smiled and waved over the fences and yards separating their houses. JJ and Emily closed their doors and walked the short distance to the younger woman.

“Surprised to see you home.” JJ replied pointedly. Emily eyed her wearily and nudged her side as they came to stand outside of the gate.

Y/n quirked a brow at the older woman’s words curiously, “What do you mean?”

“JJ mentioned you have a friend in town, and we noticed you weren’t around last night so we figured you’d be with her again.” Emily jumped in.

“Oh, that. We had a little too much to drink in town and Tina was kind enough to let me sleepover. But sorry I wasn’t around— I didn’t realize you’d notice.” Emily and JJ both shrug in response. Y/n studied the women curiously, fairly confused by their behavior. The last time they’d hung out everything seemed fine and friendly but now there was some weird tension she wasn’t understanding. “Well I don’t know what your weekend plans are but if you’re looking for me Sunday, I’ll be in town.”

“With your friend.” Emily supplied.

Y/n nodded slowly, “With Tina yes. I’m seeing her show. If you’re around when she comes to pick me up, I’ll introduce you.”

“Sure. Definitely if we’re here.” JJ nodded noncommittally. At JJ’s response Y/n looked between both women and really couldn’t ignore the clear tension in the air.

“Right… are y’all good? You both seem a little— perturbed honestly.”

“Us? We’re fine, a little tired. You know with work and stuff. Nothing we can’t handle. Nothing to be concerned about.” JJ waved off.

“Oh okay,” Y/n nodded, checking her watch. “Well don’t let me keep you. Just wanted to say hello. And Goodnight, I guess.”

“Goodnight. Oh and have a nice weekend.” JJ called as they parted ways.

-

“Guess you guys waited too long.” Garcia sighed as she walked into the bullpen. JJ was leaning against Emily’s desk, case file in hand. Both women eyed Penelope curiously as she tapped at her phone and made her way over to them.

“Waited too long for what? What are you talking about?” Emily asked turning her chair to face Garcia.

“I’m talking about this hot blonde your neighbors been with all week. I thought you gals were gonna lock that down. What happened?” Garcia shook her head.

“Tina is a hot blonde?” JJ questioned, reaching for Garcia’s phone quickly. The tech analyst’s eyes widened at her best friend’s eager hands and passed her the phone in surrender. Emily was quick to rise from her chair and peer over JJ’s shoulder. The phone screen was paused on an instagram story of their neighbor– wrapped around a (unfortunately) hot blonde who’s face was partially buried in the younger woman’s neck. Her bright blue eyes were trained on Y/n and it was clear how smitten she was with the younger woman.

“Who’s Tina? And again, what happened to you guys making the moves on her? I was positive after girls night that you would’ve–” Garcia rambled, but stopped at the looks on JJ’s and Emily’s faces. “Wait, maybe I read this wrong. And you aren’t too late at all.”

JJ and Emily finally pulled their eyes from the phone and glared at Garcia. “Do you really think this is bullpen appropriate conversation, Pen?” JJ warned.

“When have I ever participated in bullpen appropriate conversation— I’ve been deemed a walking HR violation. And it’s clear to me you’re just trying to deflect from whatever is going on with this. Which is only making me want to know more. So spill.”

“Y/n’s ex, Tina is in town for a show and she’s been spending a bit of time with her this week.” JJ shrugged, turning her eyes back to the picture of their neighbor.

“Right okay, so why do you both look like you’re trying to kill this Tina with your eyes?”

“We are not.” Both women adamantly denied it.

“Uh huh sure. My guess is you’ve bed her but not exclusively and now her ex is here and you’re both being super weird. And

bonus points to me because I just showed you how hot her ex is.” At the women’s silence, Garcia groaned. “Oh come on, I love you girls I really do— but you’re ridiculous. You, jealousy riddled women, didn’t think any of this through?”

“Well it’s not like we expected her hot ex to pop up and keep her out all night.” Emily shrugged.

“I personally didn’t expect her ex to be this hot.” JJ chimed in.

“Oh my god. What have you been doing since then? Being weirdly jealous and catty?”

“I wouldn’t describe it as catty…” JJ answered sheepishly.

“I can’t believe this. Obviously there’s a conversation you both need to have with each other and Y/n. About the nature of your arrangement. If you’re both too chicken shit to discuss it fully, at least lay down the ground rules. So you’re not treating her oddly every time she’s out past her curfew.” Garcia chastised, poking at both women’s crossed arms. Their faces were set in frowns and they could only roll their eyes at the tech analysts words. Obviously they knew she was right— still didn’t make it easier to hear.

-

“And that’s the house, what do you think?” Y/n asked as she brought Tina back to the main floor. Playing the hospitable host, a tour was a must.

“You always did have a way of making any space feel like home. I think the whole townhouse suits you though. White picket fence and the yard. I’m surprised you haven’t gotten a dog already.”

“It’s on my to-do list. But I’m glad you like it, next time you visit you can book a stay at Hotel Y/n.” Y/n teased with a wink. “Come on let’s head out. I’m hungry and was promised breakfast.”

“Yes of course.” Tina laughed, stepping down the porch steps as Y/n locked her door. She turned to head for the rental she’d been using this week and caught sight of a pair of joggers down the sidewalk. Well jogging was obviously what they intended to look like they were doing but their eyes were trained on Y/n’s house and the brunette seemed to actually be walking. “I’m gonna assume these are your mistresses coming in hot.” Tina whistled as Y/n joined in the yard.

Y/n snickered as she waved at the women with a smile, “You’d be right. Come on I’ll introduce you.” She grabbed Tina’s wrist and pulled her over to the driveway where Emily and JJ were stretching. “Morning ladies. Getting some exercise in?”

JJ stood up straight and placed her hands on her hips with a smile, “Yeah, I got this one out here with me for once.”

“Gotta get those steps in.” Emily threw in as convincingly as possible.

Y/n chuckled and turned her eyes to Tina, “This is Tina, my friend from New York. T, these are my neighbors JJ and Emily.” Tina extended her hand toward both women with a knowing smile.

“Nice to meet you both, I’ve heard wonderful things about you both.”

“Oh, wonderful things you say?” Emily replied.

“Oh yeah, she’s told me all about how satisfying DC has been for her.” Tina answered, emphasizing the word ‘satisfying’ with the same knowing smile.

JJ and Emily’s eye move to Y/n curiously and when the younger woman shrugged they chuckled. “She wanted to know who was handling my business here.”

“Just making sure she’s being taken care of.” Tina shrugged.

“Glad to be of service.” JJ offered, studying the women briefly. This was weirdly platonic and she wasn’t sure what she expected but it wasn’t to basically be praised for fucking someone’s ex. While Tina was objectively attractive and clearly comfortable with Y/n— they sure weren’t acting like reunited ex lovers.

“Y/n mentioned you both have high pressure jobs but didn’t mention what.”

“FBI. And you’re an actress?” JJ asked, fighting the challenging edge in her voice.

Tina either ignoring the edge or missing it completely answered, “Oh cool! And yes, I teach from time to time but right now I’m touring.”

“Oh that’s really nice.” Emily nodded, watching as Y/n’s eyes shifted between the three of them. As concerned and jealous as they had been over this whole thing— seeing Y/n’s eyes shift from her chest to lock on JJ’s exposed midriff really made her wonder what exactly they’d been worried about to begin with. It had been JJ’s idea to do the whole morning run bit but if this was anything to go by, Y/n was not thinking about Tina (In that way at least).

After some intentional attempts at focusing and a playful nudge from Tina, Y/n spoke up with a smile. “Well don’t let us keep you from your run. There’s a waffle somewhere with my name on it and I’m ready to eat. I’ll see y’all later.”All the women bid each other farewell and parted ways. Emily and JJ watched as Y/n and Tina climbed into the car and peeled away from the neighborhood. And as soon as they were out of sight, Emily turned to head back to their townhouse.

“Glad that’s over, for a moment I thought I’d actually have to play the part.”

-

“Okay, so we both know they’re not sleeping together, right? And we were just being weird and jealous for no reason.” Emily sighed as she closed their front door behind her.

“I wouldn’t say for no reason…” JJ tried but stopped at Emily’s rolled eyes. “Okay, maybe for no reason. But what else were we supposed to do at the prospect of her sleeping with someone else?”

“Nothing actually. Because we’re not in a relationship with her. It’s not as if we’ve set parameters for anything that we’re doing with her. And I don’t think us being weird is gonna help anything. Like come on, you didn’t even have to be a profiler to see they’re no longer fucking.”

“I know I know. It’s silly to feel possessive over someone we’re not exclusively attached to. But we both fell into it a little too easily. Maybe this is a sign that we should consider a more established situation with her, Em.”

“I mean I don’t know if you’ve realized but we’ve unconsciously become pretty exclusive for the last few weeks. And that wasn’t even on purpose. I think the only person who may not know that— maybe Y/n.”

“and maybe instead of being jealous weirdos we should at the very least show her we’re not sleeping with anyone else but her.”

“Yeah,” Emily sighed. “I hate when Garcia is right.”

“Ditto.” JJ rolled her eyes with a grumble. They sat in silence for a moment, mulling over the decision they’d just made. If they were this jealous over after only a few weeks it was obviously something worth discussing. After sometime they turned to face each other eagerly.

“I must say— it was nice seeing her struggle to look us in the eyes.” Emily grinned.

“Her eyes couldn’t figure out who they wanted to look at first. I told you the workout gear would work. With the way she was undressing us with her eyes right there in front of Tina? Very satisfying, very affirming for sure.”

“I do have to give you props for that one. It was worth the two seconds of leisurely exercising I did.”

[nolita-fairytale]

burn your life down | chef luca x fem!reader | chapter nine

summary: you catch up with an old friend and luca makes you dinner.

warnings: fluff, eventual angst not use of y/n, conversations about divorce, slow burn, baby, second person pov, swearing, danish inaccuracies, very little connection to the storyline of the bear.

word count: 3.3k

listen to: the official 'burn your life down' playlist (songs mentioned in chapter are in this playlist!)

a/n: i've always pictured mathilde & jesper as the chalamet siblings AND astrid is in fact played by rina sawayama i don't make the rules (i do). thank you for all comments, reblogs, and screaming at me because we are all obsessed. seriously, it's an honor and i'm just so excited that you all are just as excited as me. let me know if you'd like to be added or removed from the taglist.

chapter eight | masterlist | chapter ten

You spend your first Sunday afternoon without Luca, for the first time in a few weeks, deep cleaning your home. Between your new relationship and your work at the restaurant, you’d found yourself falling behind on chores. But he’d worked the late shift last night, filling in for a cook who called out, which is how you’d ended up with a night and morning of divine alone time. 

With your headphones on, it’s easy to multitask, simultaneously folding clothes while you catch up with your friend, formerly-sister-in-law, over the phone. 

“Anyways, work’s kept me so damn busy that I’ve barely had a moment in my own home but… we are all doing quite alright over here,” she explains, after detailing her travels all across Europe. 

Being a buyer for Nordstrom UK keeps her on the road, or rather, in the sky, at a frequent rate. 

“Well I’m glad you called. It’s good to hear from you. And It’s really good to catch up, Astrid,” you say, smiling to yourself as you finish folding a pile of t-shirts. 

“Well, just because you and Joe didn’t work out doesn’t change anything. You’re still my sister,” she replies, with a small laugh. “We’re family, regardless of the fact that he couldn’t keep a good thing around.”

“Astrid! You know it wasn’t like that,” you protest, though you know it’s all in jest.

“I know,” she sighs, and you can practically hear her rolling her eyes from all the way to England. “Selfishly, I’m just feeling a bit contrary about it, is all. But enough about me. How are you? How’s everything at the restaurant?”

“It’s been great. I… can’t believe that I have a restaurant,” you answer as you shake your head in disbelief.

“God, I’ve gotta get out there soon. I haven’t stopped thinking about that lumache from my last visit – what was it – last November? Yeah, it’s been too long,” Astrid recalls lightheartedly. 

“Yeah, it really has. Just let me know. You know I’m always up for hosting you,” you agree, hopeful that she’ll come visit soon. 

“Besides work, what else’s new? And don’t tell me you’re still just burying yourself in the restaurant because I don’t want to hear it,” she asks, a curious tone in her voice as she segways from work to 

“Well um…” you trail off, treading lightly over the delicate subject. 

The thing you want to tell her about is Luca, because he is what’s new in your life. His presence in your life is evident – it’s in the pair of sweatpants he tossed in with your laundry that you’re folding now, the spare toothbrush you ‘lent’ him that sits right next to yours, and the way that thinking of him makes your heart race. 

You don’t want to lie to her… but you’re also not sure what the etiquette is either. 

It’s not like this is included in the divorcee handbook you never got in the first place. 

“I’m… sort of seeing someone,” you admit, hesitantly. 

“What?!” she gasps, instantly giddy with excitement. “Yeah, we uh…” you hesitate, testing the waters since she seems excited about it. “We’ve been dating for about a month now, maybe.”

“Shut up! That’s mega! How’d you meet? Tell me everything,” she gushes. 

“Well, he actually came into the restaurant. Kind of became a regular and uh…” you explain, and she can hear the smile in your voice as you do. “He’s great. You’ll love this story, actually. He’s also a chef – a pastry chef. One night after coming in, he left a box of croissants for my staff and a handwritten note inviting me to come to the restaurant he works at. It was very….”

“Romantic. Wow…” Astrid adds, too excited for you as she listens. “And a bold move. Knows what he wants. I like him already.”

“Yeah, he’s… he’s really incredible. I swear. He has the patience of a saint, especially as I’ve uh… you know, I’ve been trying to figure this whole… dating after you end your marriage kinda thing,” you continue, chuckling in response to the awkwardness of it all. 

“We were friends actually, for a while. Just friends, which, I know you’ll yell at me about when you see what he looks like. But I think it was good for us, for me, really – to be friends first.”

“Well, now you have to send me a picture,” she requests, even more intrigued as you fiddle with your phone, pulling up a photo you took of Luca the other day. 

You wait a beat. Then another, seeing that the photo has been delivered as Astrid shrieks in your ear. 

“Are you fuckin’ kidding me, mate?!” she practically screams. 

“I know,” you squeal. 

“You are absolutely unbelievable,” she shakes her head, staring at the gorgeous blonde on her screen. “How did you not jump right into bed?!”

“Trust me,” you reply, the room suddenly feeling 5 degrees hotter. “After we agreed to start seeing each other, we didn’t wait very long.”

”Sounds like you have a boyfriend,” Astrid comments smugly, as she waits for your reaction. You have expect yourself to panic, but you don’t as you the words tumble out of your mouth. 

“I… it does sound that way, doesn’t it?” you ask her, your voice soft as you reply. 

“Absolutely, my darling,” Astrid replies, before changing the subject. “Okay, so how’s the sex?!”

“Astrid!” you protest with a laugh. “Do you really want to-?”

“Of fucking bloody course I do! Now spill!” she demands. 

You pause, grinning as your cheeks blush. 

“It’s fucking incredible,” you admit, eliciting a giggle from your friend. 

“Shit, babe,” she sighs, contently. “I’m happy for you.”

“Thanks,” you say back, because you’re pretty damn happy too. “Astrid, will you keep this between us? It’s just that it’s all still so new and….” 

You pause. 

“I just don’t want Joe to hear it from anyone but me.” 

“Of course,” she replies, compassionately, in deep understanding.

“What else are sisters for?”

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

You showed up to Luca’s flat uncertain of what to expect, but then he’d pulled you into his home and kissed you like you’d been on his mind all day – and in his defense, you really had. 

“Why don’t you come over Sunday night, then? Let me cook you dinner for a change,” he had suggested as you were figuring out your schedules for the week. 

“You sure you’ll be up for that after working overtime this week?” you’d asked in response. 

“I’ll be alright, love,” he’d answered, like he had unlimited energy when it came to you. 

And even though you’d asked him if you should bring dessert – only to be met with a cheeky comment about you being dessert – you showed up anyway with a matcha basque cheesecake in hand and a deli container filled with a yuzu scented whipped cream to top it with. 

So this is how you find yourself perched on top of Luca’s kitchen island countertop, after having watched his exceptional knife skills for the last thirty. You spend your evening snacking on sliced sourdough bread you’re not sure how he had the time to make, and sip on your glass of red wine while watching him prepare a coq au vin. You swear you’ve got hearts in your eyes when you look at him, watching his muscular, inked forearms flex with how he grips his chef’s knife. As music plays softly in the background, a playlist you can only imagine is the entirety of Luca’s music library put on shuffle, you busy yourself, refilling your wine glass for your second glass of the night. 

“Want another, babe?” you ask him, noticing that he’s on his way to empty as well. 

“Sure. Thank you, my love,” he replies, scooping a handful of chopped carrots up from his cutting board with a bench scraper, depositing them into a small bowl. You watch as Luca picks up his glass of wine and makes his way over to you. 

He hands you the glass, then places a gentle kiss against your lips, a smile spreading across his lips. Luca takes a few steps away so that you can fill his glass again, making a few swift movements to turn the heat down on the gas burner. 

“How was your day?” he asks, while still moving around his kitchen. 

You fill him in on your productive day of chores and catching up with an old friend while Luca listens, busy with removing the pieces of chicken out from the heavy, enameled, cast-iron pot and onto a plate. By the time Luca’s added hot oil to the pot, followed by the chopped carrots and peeled, halved cipollini onions, you’ve caught him up on the long version of Jesper’s latest love-life updates, since he and Claudio have now decided to make it official. 

“So you used to make this with your mom?” you ask curiously, changing the subject as you watch Luca scrape the browned bits off the bottom of the pot. 

He nods in response, stealing a glance your way, his lips turned up into a half smile. 

“Yeah. Most coq au vins can take up to three to four hours, but my mum didn’t have the time,” Luca explains, as you watch him remove the pieces of chicken from out of the heavy, enameled, cast-iron pot and onto a plate. “But it was important for her… to cook for me… to share that ritual with me when she could.” 

The sound of the wine and cognac mixture hitting the hot pan sizzles throughout Luca’s home, your nose filling with the smell of deglazed caramelized bits. 

“And I spent a lot of time as a kid watching the cooking channel, so while we didn’t exactly spend all Sunday cooking a classic French coq au vin, Jamie Oliver’s did the job quite well,” Luca recalls, sharing a piece of his relationship with food with you. 

“Well, it smells incredible,” you say, as he approaches you once more, this time with a full glass of wine in your hands, ready for him. 

As Luca leans in again, the way he kisses you is much more languid, slow, like time is limitless. You breathe him in, completely enamored with the man that’s kissing you, and before anything too wild can happen, he pulls away, leaving you wanting more. Luca smirks, and you swear he knows the effect he has on you. He presses a quick peck to your lips this time, before taking the glass of wine from your hands and heading back to his post in front of the stovetop. 

“This all goes back in,” he continues, using tongs to add the chicken and pancetta bits back into the simmering pot. “Then we braise it in the oven for about… thirty, forty minutes maybe.” 

You raise your glass of wine to your lips, taking a quick sip of the beaujolais you’re using both for the coq au vin and to unwind, listening as the song changes in the background, instantly recognizing the drum pattern. The corners of your lips turn up into a smile as you close your eyes, enjoying the familiarity of the song as you say:

“God, I love this song.”

Luca smiles, “It’s a classic. Great song.” 

Show me, show me, show me how you do that trick

The one that makes me scream, she said

The one that makes me laugh, she said

Threw her arms around my neck

“You know, I saw them when I was in my early 20s. It was just me and a bunch of somebody’s dads,” you grin, in reference to The Cure. 

Luca chuckles at your comment, before asking, “Did you really?” 

“Yes. And when they came out on stage, smoke machine and all, I wept because it was the fulfillment of a childhood dream – to see them. I… was a bit of an angsty teen,” you answer, raising your wine glass to your lips once more. 

“Think we all had an angsty phase, more or less. Mine was less pining to The Cure and more stirrin’ up trouble,” Luca admits, lightheartedly. 

“Again, and I’m holding you to it. You promised me pictures,” you remind him with aplomb. 

“I did, yeah,” he chuckles, shyly, with a sigh of resignation. 

You focus on enjoying one of your favorite songs and sipping on your glass of wine, as you watch Luca put the enameled cast-iron plot, full of the ready-to-braise coq au vin, into the oven. 

Comfortable silences between you and Luca have become more frequent. There are days that all you want to do is stay up till the early hours of the morning talking and kissing and fucking, and there are others that you love leaning into the quiet intimacy that seems to be developing between you. It’s almost as if you’ve forgotten what this feels like – the excitement of something new where you’re learning so much about each other and everything feels like the first time. 

It’s thrilling and it’s also safe. 

Luca makes you feel safe, and you can’t imagine doing this with anyone else but him. 

For a first time relationship, post-divorce, you really hit the jackpot, you think to yourself. 

Luca continues moving around the kitchen, drinking his wine in between clean up tasks, as if he’s at work, hell bent on keeping his station clean. He’s much better than you are at that, you observe, as he does a few dishes that he’s used up, instead of leaving them in the sink for tomorrow. 

As he dries his hands on a dish towel, the song changes, and the opening notes of Beyonce’s Love On Top begin playing. You smile as you hear the undeniable: 

Bring the beat in!

“Alright, mate. Hear me out,” Luca proposes, spinning around with excitement. “And I don’t say this lightly. But this. This is one of the greatest songs of all time.” 

“I-I’m sorry,” you giggle as you watch Luca dance to the song in his kitchen with a smoothness that’s somehow simultaneously a little silly. 

“What? You don’t agree?” he asks, shooting you a look as he ball changes towards you, earning another laugh from you. 

“No, I do. I love this song,” you grin from ear to ear. “I’m just so tickled by the fact that you love this song.”

“It’s Beyonce,” he defends, in his best ‘well-duh’ kind of tone, gesturing wildly. “C’mon. Let’s dance.” 

“Wh-,” you begin to say, before Luca’s practically pulling you off of the counter to join him. “Luca!!”

But he’s not having any of your protests as he wraps his arms around you. You hang onto him, holding him close as he leads you in a silly uptempo kind of dance, spinning and turning you with him in a way that has you in a fit of giggles. The two of you stumble from his kitchen into the living space area as you move together, embracing how goofy and ridiculous you both feel. 

Luca sings along softly, something you get a better listen to as soon as he’s pulling you close to him. 

“What the fuck!” you practically shriek, your jaw practically on the floor. 

“Hmm?” he hums in response, unphased by your outburst. 

“You’re unfuckingreal,” you balk, as you listen to him hum along to the Beyonce song. “I mean. You-, like, you look like this, you’re great in bed, and you have a nice singing voice? How-, how’s a girl ever supposed to stand a chance?” 

He chuckles, his lips ghosting over the shell of your ear, sending chills down your spine as he coos, teasingly, “I’m great in the sack, hmm?” 

Your heart skips a beat as you pull back, just enough to look into the eyes of your lover as you say, “Oh fuck off.”

He laughs again, this time, leaving a soft kiss against your ear, hugging you closer to him as you slow your dance down as the song begins to end. There’s a pause between this and the next song, providing the perfect opportunity for Luca to answer your earlier question. 

“You weren’t,” Luca replies, his voice quiet but sure. Supposed to stand a chance, he means. “I think we were supposed to meet. Supposed to be here.”

Supposed to fall in love. 

He leans down to kiss you as the next song begins, transitioning into a much bluesier sound. The crooning sounds of Etta James blast from Luca’s living room speakers, as you smile into the kiss. You groan, your heart aching in the best way as kiss him to:

I want a Sunday kind of love

A love to last past Saturday night

And I'd like to know it's more than love at first sight

And I want a Sunday kind of love, oh yeah, yeah

“My God. I think tonight’s shuffle is proof that you may just have the most versatile taste in music history,” you mumble, pulling away for a moment from the kiss. 

As you open your eyes, Luca’s just admiring you, an awestruck look on his face that steals your breath. No longer able to deflect with humor or anything else really, you lay your head on his chest, settling into the soft swaying motion of the dance that you and Luca have fallen into. Your arms go around his neck once more as Luca holds you close to him, making a mental note to remember this forever. 

“How did you know?” you ask Luca, softly. 

“What’s that, love?” he asks back. 

“You said that you thought we might be good at this. At… at an ‘us.’ When we talked about starting to see each other,” you begin, choosing your words carefully, underscored by the violins of the song. 

Luca takes a deep breath admitting that, “I didn’t.” 

“What do you mean?” you ask, looking up at him, your eyes full of adoration for the man that’s captured your heart.

“Babe, I-,” he starts, letting out a small laugh. “I knew we got on well. And that I liked you. And I thought… if we got on this well as friends and you felt the same, that we could give it a go. See what happens.” He takes a beat, choosing his words, before continuing with: 

“But, my love, I can’t predict the future. It could work out in the long run, it could not. But I wanted-, I want to see how far we can take it.”

You take a deep breath, because this conversation is deep-breath worthy. 

Notorious for wanting to read the last page of a book first, you know he’s right, that you can’t predict the future, and you, now just as much as he does, would like to see how far this could go. 

“Yeah it-, that makes complete sense,” you stammer, feeling incredibly vulnerable all of a sudden. You rest your head against his chest again, settling back into your slow sway to the beat. 

Like clockwork, the song ends, something a little more upbeat trickling in through the speakers. You and Luca remain in each others’ arms, content to stay here forever. You’re amazed at his confidence, at his fearlessness to take a chance on love, and you think to yourself, he might be teaching you some of that too. 

“Let’s take a trip together,” Luca suggests, the low resonance of his voice cutting through the quiet. “Maybe end of the month or something. An end of summer trip.” He chuckles, a hand coming up to stroke your hair as you enjoy the way his voice vibrates in his chest. 

“Fuck it. I could care less if we make it in time for the end of summer. Let’s just get out of the city together.” 

“That sounds spectacular,” you answer. 

And it’s there, in Luca’s arms after a dance party for two, that you think to yourself, you couldn’t be happier.

[itsthecherryontop]

Adrenaline Rush - Chapter 48

Pairing: Billy Hargrove x OC (Halle Henderson)

Chapters Posted: 47/55

CHAPTER 48 WILL BE POSTED TOMORROW

UPDATED EVERY SUNDAY!

Word Count: 328,774

Picking out a dining room table was quick along with the chairs. Billy didn’t seem to have much preference. If anything he asked me what I thought, like I knew anything about furnishing a home. There were a few things I firmly insisted were terrible purchases, like the yellow TV stand he jokingly suggested. 

Evelyn split off from us in search of a dresser for Daphne’s room as Billy and I wandered over to the bed frames. Now he was apparently picky. I watched confused as he shook a metal frame. When the frame loudly creaked he moved to the next one repeating the motion. I had sat down on one of the beds waiting for him. When the second frame didn’t make much noise he nodded as it passed his test. 

He looked up to see me watching him with furrowed brows. He smirked, leaning against the bed frame. 

“What do you think, Princess?” He asked. 

“It’s a bed frame. I don’t really care, so whatever one you want,” I shrugged. 

Once again he shook the frame, this time a little harder. He patted the wood after it gained his approval, “As long as it is sturdy and quiet I don’t care, so this one will work. Don’t want to keep the neighbors up all night.”

Instantly, I knew what he had been doing, “Jesus Christ, your mother is here.” We hadn’t even had sex and he was already planning on it happening often enough to bother the neighbors. Unbelievable and completely Billy.

He made his way to me with a mischievous smile, “What? Should I be ashamed about the fact that I take care of my girl? I mean if she ever wants grandkids, we gotta know what we’re doing. Nothing wrong with a little practice…or a lot.” 

He stood in front of me as I shook my head with a breathy laugh, “Shameless.”

“No, it would be a shame to have a beautiful girl and not make the most of it,” he murmured, lowering his face close to mine. 

“Doesn’t mean anyone else needs to know,” I explained. “Hence the need for a sturdy bed frame,” he retorted, placing a short kiss on my lips.

To Continue Reading: archiveofourown.org

[helliontherapscallion]

(Y/n) and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week: Monday

Tuesday     Wednesday     Thursday (Part 1)     Thursday (Part 2)     Friday     Saturday     Sunday

Spotify Playlist (collaborative)

Pairing: SBI x sister!reader (she/her pronouns)

Warnings: swearing, toxic friends, panic spirals/attacks, injury, taking pills for pain

Summary: you have a very bad week, how will you manage? (Characters are fully human, but based on their DSMP characters. High school AU)

Word count: 4,818

(A/N): I’ve never played volleyball or watched Haikyuu before, so I’m not 100% certain how games work. Also, I probs should’ve split this into two parts, but eh.

“(Y/n) love, you look homeless in that sweater, it’s literally so fucking ugly.”

“Haha, yeah it is. I guess I just wasn’t really trying today.”

Adrian snorted, scanning your body with his cold eyes. “Today? You don’t try at all. You always look like trash.”

“More than trash, you always look like you just rolled in dog shit.” Sammy threw her head back and cackled at her own joke.

Your friends around you erupted in laughter as you four walked down the hallways of the hell that was your public high school. You awkwardly chuckled alongside them, you didn’t really find it funny, but you didn’t want to draw more attention towards yourself. 

“Seriously, (y/n), I really don’t know why we still hang out around you anymore. You really let yourself go.”

“Yeah, now that I think about it, you did gain like five pounds in the past week.”

“Really not a good look on you, love. Then again, nothing you do can make you look good anymore.”

You tried to not let their comments get to you, you really did, but sometimes their comments just rooted themselves deep into your subconscious. You didn’t try looking good anymore, you couldn’t wear anything without them criticising it. You could never win. 

“Awe,” Adrien poked your cheeks, “stop looking so sad. We’re just trying to give you advice. You really need it.”

“Yeah, (y/n). You’re so sensitive, get a grip.”

“Guys look, I think she’s gonna cry!” 

You wiped at your welling eyes with the sleeves of your sweater. “I’m not. I just got allergies.”

Annie rolled her eyes. “Uh-huh. Anyways, what are our plans for Halloween? We should totally dress up like sexy angels! I think that’d be so cool. Like, Clint’s party won’t be ready for us.”

“Oh, about that Annie…”

“God, what now (y/n)?”

“I was actually planning on spending Halloween night taking Tommy and Tubbo trick-or-treating with my brothers and dad. I won’t be able to go with you guys, I’m sorry.”

The group groaned loudly. “C’mon (y/n), you never hang out with us anymore.”

“Oh my god (y/n) you still go trick-or-treating? We’re juniors.”

“I’m sorry, I’ve just been busy with my AP classes and studying for the SAT. My team captain’s really been pushing the team hard with volleyball practice. State finals are soon and we want first this year.”

“No matter how much studying you do, you’re gonna fail. You’re stupid, so why try? Just give up and hang out with uuussss.”

“Yeah (y/n),” Adrien looked at you suspiciously, “you’ve been ignoring us lately. I thought we were friends. Do you even wanna be friends anymore?”

You felt a flare of panic flare up in your gut. “I do! I-I just have so much going on right now. It’s starting to get hard to juggle everything.”

“We’re starting to think that you don’t like us anymore, we want our (y/n) back!” Sammy whined. The others agreed with her, making you feel guilty. You were ignoring them, it was selfish in your opinion. You supposed that you could skip out on taking Tommy and Tubbo trick-or-treating, there’ll be other years you could take them. 

“I guess I can take Tommy and Tubbo another year. They’d just have to go without me this year.”

They cheered, giving you praise. You beamed at that, they seemed down lately and you loved it when they’d give you compliments. They didn’t do that much, so that made their praise more special to you. You strived to get compliments.

You four went off to your separate first classes for the day. Yours was statistics, a class you’ve been struggling in lately. You didn’t know anybody in there except for your oldest brother Techno, so you tried to stick with him. Unfortunately, the teacher’s seating chart placed you both on opposite ends of the room, probably because of your last names indicating that you’re siblings. You placed your stuff down on the table and plopped down into your seat, already drained. You had a long day ahead of you; you had a major AP world history test in your next class, you had to give a presentation in your AP english class that was worth a quarter of your final grade, and you had a semifinals volleyball match that would last until late in the night. If your team won, you would be going to state finals, so it was a lot of pressure on your shoulders. You were the main setter, so you had to really focus tonight if you were going to score your team points. 

“Alright class, pull out your homework!”

Fuck, you had homework? You looked in your folder, only to see the unfinished sheet full of equations you didn’t understand staring back at you tauntingly. Mr. Mullins walked over to your desk, took one look at your blank homework, and just walked right past you. Another big fat zero in the gradebook for you, just what you needed. At least he wasn’t in the mood to berate you today. You didn’t need any more stress piled onto your shoulders. 

The lesson felt like it dragged on forever with you frantically trying to copy down the notes on the board and trying to understand the content at the same time. Overtime, he would call students up to the board. Hopefully, he would skip over you today. “Ms. Minecraft.” Goddamn it, you spoke too soon.

Your head perked up and you looked at him. “Yes sir?”

“Come up to the board and solve this.”

Gulping, you felt panic rise up in you and stood up with shaky knees. On the board was part of the newer content he was just teaching. Something that you understood only a little bit better than the rest, and that’s not saying much. You still didn’t understand the content completely. Your writing was shaky as you wrote what you thought was right on the board. Finding the answer, you circled it and looked at Mr. Mullins. He looked disappointed. 

“That’s wrong, Ms. Minecraft. Please sit down.”

You felt like your face was on fire as you saw the entire class burning holes into you with their eyes. Though they looked dead inside, as per usual with any morning class full of tired teenagers, their effects still took hold on you. You wanted to crawl into a dark hole and die. You sat back down and stared at your note packet, you couldn’t focus on the lecture anymore. Your attention was fully on your surroundings, you were hyper aware of every little whisper and bouncing leg in your peripheral vision. You could feel yourself spiraling, usually that wouldn’t happen until after your third class. Today was going to be rough. 

The loud chime of the bell startled you out of your thoughts. You shakily put your papers back into your binder and put the binder back into your backpack. Right as you were about to walk through the door, you heard Techno catch up to you. “Hey, you good?”

“Yeah Tech, I’m just peachy.”

“Are you su-”

“Technoblade. I’m fine. Now if you excuse me, I have to get to my next class. I have an important presentation I’ve gotta prepare for.”

Without giving him any room to argue, you rushed off to your english class. You had Adrian and Annie in your class. For your presentation, you were paired up with people that you hardly knew. At least they did their part in the project, you were certain you were going to die if you got paired up with Adrian and Annie again. You loved them, but they never did any part of their portion of work. They left it to you to finish at midnight the day the project was due. To be fair, they both told you they had family emergencies, so you covered for them just that once. 

You pulled out your flashcards only to have them knocked out of your hand when someone bumped into you. You quickly crouched to pick them up so you could have them in order by time class started. “Oops, sorry love.”

It was Annie. She and Adrian towered over your crouched form smirking at you. Looking back down to rearrange your cards, you murmured “it’s ok.”

“Are you ready for this presentation, I know I am.”

You smiled a little. “Actually, I think I’m going to ace this. English is my best subject.”

“Yeah (y/n), I wasn’t asking you. I was talking to Annie. Besides, you’re probably going to fail this.” Adrian scoffed. 

“Thank you for asking, Adrian,” Annie shot a pointed look at you, “at least someone cares.”

The bell rang, signifying the start of your second block. You felt like you had a lump in your throat blocking your breathing. If Adrian, one of the smartest kids in your english class, said that you were going to fail, then you probably were going to fail. That would take a huge hit on your grade, this project was worth a quarter of your final grade after all. You were zoned out for the entirety of your classmate’s presentations putting yourself into a spiral. You jumped when Mr. Todd, your teacher, called your group up to present.

You stood stiffly in the middle of your two groupmates and clutched your flashcards with clammy hands. Luckily, your part of the presentation was not first. When it came to your part, you were stuttering and tumbling over your words. You even dropped your flashcards in front of everybody, causing half the class to snicker. Your face burned as you hurried to pick them up and your other groupmate took this as a signal to continue the presentation. You still had an important point to make that was integral for the set up to your other groupmate’s part of her presentation. You stared at your flashcards for the rest of the presentation. 

When the bell rang, you made a mad dash out of the classroom. You didn’t want to talk to anybody, especially not Adrian or Annie. It was a relief that you had your lunch period at the moment. You could hide yourself in the bathroom nobody used and let your panic attack ride itself out. 

You ducked inside a stall and sat on the toilet, bringing your knees up to bury your face in them. The tears and panic you were holding in all day let itself out with explosive effects. You started to hyperventilate as you muffled your sobs with your knee. Your chest painfully clenched so you couldn’t breathe. Your limbs felt like they weighed two tons each and they were shaking intensely. You didn’t hear the end of the lunch bell ring. By the time you calmed down slightly, you were five minutes late to AP world history. 

You packed your stuff up in a hurry, power walking through the halls. You probably looked like shit, but you didn’t care, you had a class to get to and a test that you probably wouldn’t be able to finish now. You lost ten minutes of your test time. When you tried to open the closed door, you found that it was locked. You had to knock if you wanted to get in. You raised a shaking hand to knock, but the door was opened by a less-than-impressed Ms. Osborne. She ushered you to your desk and gave you your unit test. 

You couldn’t focus. The multiple choice section was usually a breeze to you, but you couldn’t comprehend any of the questions. When you could comprehend them, you couldn’t concentrate on choosing an answer. You did your best to find the correct answers, but you were almost positive that at least half of them were wrong. Your handwriting was nearly incomprehensible and your essay topic was something you didn’t study for. When you were done with half of the body paragraphs, the bell rang and you had to turn in your unfinished test. 

You had your independent online psychology course next in the library. You usually worked alone secluded in a corner deep inside the library where nobody went. You would get some solace in being alone. Maybe you’d calm down enough so that you could ride home with your brothers and not go for a long walk so you could avoid them. 

You settled down in the comfortable chair and pulled out your laptop to get started. Psychology was your favorite class. It was easy for you to understand, it didn’t have much of a workload attached to it, and it was fun to learn about. It always calmed you down reading about the intricate workings of the brain. 

By time the day was over, you got most of your psychology work done and you were on your way to the car you shared with Technoblade and Wilbur. You took out your spare keys and slumped against the window in the backseat. You were absolutely drained after your terrible day and you still felt panic swirling deep within you, waiting for the right moment to strike. 

You stretched out your legs across the seat and leaned your back against the door. For the first time that day, you felt peaceful. You still had at least fifteen minutes to yourself until your brothers would start to make your way to the car. You felt the panic subside slightly and you fully relaxed. You closed your eyes and let yourself drift off into a light sleep. You needed your energy for tonight’s match. 

The door you were leaning on swung open and you tumbled backwards smacking the back of your head against the metal frame of the car and reverse scorpioning onto the pavement. Your entire upper back and the back of your head exploded in pain and your lower back hurt slightly from having your back bent uncomfortably. You heard laughter above you as you felt tears of pain start to slip out of your eyes. Your legs swung out from their place above your face and landed on the ground with a painful thump. 

You saw three blurry figures above you laughing at your pain. You reached up with a shaky hand to wipe at your tears and saw Adrian, Sammy, and Annie. They were cackling as you shakily stood up and sat on the comfortable seats of the car. You waited patiently for them to calm down. 

Eventually, Sammy calmed down enough to explain what happened to you through chuckles. “I’m sorry (y/n), it was just too good to resist. You should’ve seen your face.”

She and the others broke back into uncontrolled laughter as they remembered your embarrassing fall. You were used to their antics, and quite frankly it felt good to make your friends laugh, even if it were at your own expense. Just as they were calming down once again, you saw Wilbur and Techno walk out the front doors of the school laughing at something the other said. Annie and Sammy heard their laughter and quickly turned around to watch them. They had massive crushes on both of your brothers, many in the school did. 

Your brothers made their way to your shared car and stopped to look at you in slight confusion. “(Y/n), were you crying? What happened?” Wilbur asked worriedly. 

“Yea-”

“Oh Wilbur, it was terrible, (y/n) fell out of the car. I don’t think she closed the door before she leaned on it.” Annie interrupted you with a faked concerned tone, a complete contradiction to her reaction before your brothers came.

Techno hastily made his way to the driver’s side door. “Well, if she’s hurt we better get going, right Wilbur?”

“Yes! We better get going, please excuse us.” He sat in the passenger seat and closed the door without hearing Sammy and Annie’s desperate attempts to stop them so they could talk to them. Your brothers thought Sammy and Annie were annoying. They absolutely hated being around them. 

Waving apologetically at your friends, you pulled yourself into the car and closed the door. Annie and Sammy looked offended that you had let Wilbur and Techno get away from them. Avoiding their eyes, you looked down at your tightly clasped hands. They were shaking slightly. 

After pulling out of the parking lot, Techno glanced at you from the rearview mirror. “You ok (y/n)?”

“Yeah, my back just hurts and I have a headache.”

“Well, do you wanna go and get some ice cream? We still have some time left before we have to pick up Tommy and Tubbo. Dad doesn’t have to know,” Wilbur asked you.

You sighed, you wanted nothing other than to take a nap before your match. “Sorry, but I need to watch what I eat today. We have semifinals tonight and I can’t have anything sugary. I just wanna go home and take a nap.”

Your brothers were quiet for the rest of the car ride until you reached your driveway. Techno twisted his body around in his seat to look at you after he put the car in park. “Did you actually fall out of the car?”

Shit, should you tell him the truth? If you did, they would almost certainly get mad at your friends. Sammy and Annie would never forgive you if you turned your brothers against them. You decided that you would take one for the team again. “Yeah, I wasn’t paying attention.” 

Techno snorted. “Well, that was stupid,” he jokingly said. “Next time you’re gonna get run over by a parked car.”

You knew that he meant that as a joke, but it still stung. Stamping your emotions down, you laughed with him and Wilbur. It was stupid of you to do, you shouldn’t have let your guard down if you weren’t at home. 

You winced as you slung your bag on your back and walked the best you could back into your house. Your upper back was killing you. You made a beeline to the bathroom and rummaged through the medicine cabinet looking for some pain relief pills. You took some and shambled off to your room to take your well earned nap. You set your alarm’s setting to its loudest volume and passed out. 

You jolted up and gasped when you felt a wave of pain hit your upper back. You blearily looked at the time. You had a little under two hours before you had to get back to the school for your match. You groaned when you pulled yourself up, your head pounding with every turn. You pulled yourself out of bed and once again took some pain pills. You went downstairs to grab an apple or something to eat. Your dad was at the stove stirring something around in a pot. 

He turned to look at you with an excited smile. “You ready for your match tonight? You’re gonna kill it!” 

You only nodded halfheartedly and plopped yourself down at the table with your apple. Philza frowned at your lack of enthusiasm, but he figured that it was just because you just woke up from a nap. You’d bounce back eventually. 

“Wilbur told me that you fell out of the car? How’d you do that?”

You shrugged, wincing slightly as it moved your back slightly. “Dunno, must’ve not closed the door.”

Philza was at your side in a hurry, his hands hovering over your shoulders. “Did you get hurt? Show me where it hurts.”

“My back and the back of my head.”

“Can I move your shirt so I could look?”

“Sure, go ahead.”

You felt him gently pull the neck of your t-shirt away from your body to peek at your back. You heard his breath hitch as he looked. Was it that bad? “Good god (y/n),” he breathed out.

“What, is it bad?”

“Don’t you feel how bad it is? Your entire back is bruised. I think there’s some blood too.”

“Damn.”

“First, language. Second, that’s all you have to say? Aren’t you in pain?”

“Yeah, but the pain pills are gonna kick in soon. I’ll be fine.”

“Would you be able to play tonight? I really think you should sit this one out.”

“No, I’m playing tonight Dad.”

“(Y/n),” oh no, he was using his stern dad voice. “It’s not a good idea to play tonight. You’re hurt, I’m sure they’ll understand if you sit this one out.”

You felt frustration rise up in you. “We’re in the semifinals. They need me, I’m the main setter. They’d lose without me playing.”

“(Y/n), I’m serious. You’re not playing today.”

“Dad, I am playing today. Look, I’ll talk to Coach Williams to see if I could be rotated out more often. I know she’d let me.”

He stared at you for a while before sighing. He knew there was no convincing you. “...Fine. But you better talk to Coach Williams about sitting out for a bit if your back hurts too much or I swear I’ll drag you off the court myself.”

You smiled a little at the small victory. “Thank you! I promise I’ll sit out if needed.”

He quirked an eyebrow at you. “If needed?”

You sighed, “when needed.”

He walked over to the pot, stirring the contents slightly. “That’s better. Dinner’s almost ready, I made some pasta.”

“It smells good, but I think I’m skipping out on it for today. I already ate this apple and if I eat any more I’ll probably hurl on the court.”

He made a displeased noise in the back of his throat, “fine, but you’re eating something when we get home tonight.”

He walked off to go get your brothers and Tubbo for dinner. You could hear their booming steps racing down the stairs towards the kitchen. They raced into the kitchen and almost crashed into the back of your chair. You stood up and looked at the two excitable fifth graders. “Careful boys, don’t want you getting hurt.”

“You’re no fun (y/n),” Tommy whined.

“Sure, sorry bout that,” Tubbo beamed at you.

You chuckled, making your way upstairs to get ready for your match. You took off your clothes with great difficulty and slipped on your jersey and your spandex shorts. They were way too short for your tastes, but you couldn’t wear longer ones, they’d just get in the way. You fondly remembered how your dad flipped out when he first saw you in them, he hated them with a burning passion. He still hates how short they are.

When you were struggling with pulling your hair back into a tight, sleek ponytail, the back of your head throbbed continuously with pain. You most likely bruised your scalp. 

You slipped on your shoes that were made specifically for playing volleyball and headed downstairs. You were met with Tommy and Tubbo jumping in excitement seeing you in your uniform. They loved going to your matches, even if they would always pass out in the car after them because matches usually ended late at night. You grabbed your dad’s keys and headed to his car. Before you could lead the boys out the door, Philza’s voice stopped you.

“(Y/n), coat.”

You huffed, grabbing your coat and putting it on before tossing him his keys. You four got into the car and set out for the high school. The short drive was filled with Tommy and Tubbo asking you questions about volleyball and encouraging you. “(Y/n), you’re gonna kick their butts!”

“Yeah!” Tubbo cheered 

Despite their voices causing a spike of pain to shoot throughout your head, you laughed at their enthusiasm. It was always nice to hear your little brother and pseudo brother in the stands cheering you on, they were your and your team’s personal cheerleaders. 

Not long after you got to the school, you were stretching with your team on the gym’s floor. Your posse found their way into the stands, sitting in the front row. The away team watched your team like a hawk, analysing every single player for any weakness. It was because of them that you tried to not show any pain when you moved your back. You talked to Coach Williams before the team stretch and she was obviously sympathetic with your situation. She agreed to switching you out with the standby setter every few rotations. 

The echo of the whistles caused pain to ring in your head every time someone scored or a foul was called. Your team captain, Haley, was constantly, yet discreetly checking on you throughout the game since she was always next to you. She was the team’s main spiker after all. 

The game droned on and on before you realized that the opposing team was targeting you when they were offensive. They probably realized that you were injured a round ago. You tried your best to block every ball that was sent your way, but a few managed to slip past you when you couldn’t move fast enough. This team was good, but your team was better. 

The score during the final round was tied and the clock was on it’s last ten seconds as the ball soared your way. You dove to hit it, landing on your shoulder on the hard floor and hitting it up high enough for Haley to spike the ball down. The crowd went wild as the ball bounced off from the opposite end of the court almost simultaneously with the screeching of the referee’s whistle, signifying the end of the game and your team’s victory.

You laid on the floor in pain, you thought you must’ve pulled your tender muscles in your back and shoulder. It hurt to move it. You felt one of your teammates grab your hand to yank you up into a giant full team group hug. You yelped slightly in pain as you felt arms press against your back and hands firmly patting your bruised shoulders. You were whisked away into the locker room to change into the pajamas you brought with you. 

“(Y/n), are you alright? That was a pretty hard fall.” Haley’s soft voice asked you. You felt your heart sing in your chest. 

“Yeah Hales, I’m fine. I just pulled a few muscles.”

Her perfectly shaped eyebrows furrowed together, “are you sure? As your team captain and your friend, I’m worried about you.”

You couldn’t help the smile that spread across your face. You felt warm knowing that she cared about you. “I’m sure, worrywart.”

She rolled her eyes playfully and breathed out a soft laugh. “Sorry for asking, grump.” Her laugh sounded like music to your ears. 

Your phone vibrated in your pajama pocket, alerting you of your family waiting for you in the car and for you to hurry up. You sighed, “sorry Hales, I gotta go. Dad’s getting impatient.” 

She gave you a small smile. “Oh, well, tell your family I said hi! Good work on the court today, I wouldn’t ask for a different setter.”

You felt your cheeks warm up and you watched with wide eyes as she left the locker room. Your phone vibrated again, your dad was really starting to get impatient. 

You walked out of the school as fast as you could to find your dad’s car waiting for you up front. Jumping in and softly closing the passenger side door, you slumped against the window. “(Y/n),” Tommy’s tired voice slurred. “That. Was. Pog…”

You glanced back to see him and Tubbo snoring away in their seats. Your match was more exciting than usual, so that must’ve really tired them out. You chuckled, turning back around to lean against the window. You took care not to put any weight on your shoulder or back. 

“(Y/n), you were amazing out there, but why did you dive for that ball? That fall looked like it hurt.”

You hummed tiredly, “thanks Dad. I just did what I thought would win us the game. We’re going to finals!” You quietly sang. 

“Did you hurt your shoulder?”

“I actually don’t know, but I think I might’ve pulled a few muscles. Nothing too bad.”

“...I scheduled a doctor’s appointment for you tomorrow morning during your first and second blocks. I want you to get your back, shoulder, and head looked at. You looked miserable the entire match.”

You sighed, too tired to argue, “mmk.”

He chuckled before the car fell into a comfortable silence. The gentle bouncing of the car and the subtle hum of the engine was lulling you to sleep. Your eyelids were drooping by the time you pulled into your driveway. 

You drug yourself out of the car and into the house, leaving Philza with the sleeping boys. You walked straight to your room and plopped down on your bed, passing out instantly for the second time that day.

Series taglist (comment if you want to be added):

[how-evergreen]

The Worst Professor/The Best Girlfriend

Summary: Finals are coming up, and you're running yourself down to avoid the proverbial foot aimed right at your ass. Luckily, your best friend and your girlfriend step in just in time.

A/N: this might be my favorite one ive written so far! im thinking of making a part two - would anyone be interested in that? thanks for the request, @themagnificentmx! this was definitely a fun one to write.

Warnings: Cursing, school-related stress, exhaustion, and as is typical of me, lots of fluff.

"You sure you don't need anything before I go?" Sam asked, looking down at you with worried eyes. You shook your head, forcing a smile.

"All set," you said, pushing him lightly. "Go. Have fun with your TA or whoever."

"She's not my TA, she's my tutor," Sam muttered. "And I will. We're going to that Italian place just off campus."

"The good one or the bad one?"

"Good one." Sam grinned. "I'm not an idiot, I know how to treat a lady."

"Sure thing." You rolled your eyes, focusing back on your textbooks. "Go get 'em, Falcon."

You heard Sam snort at the old nickname originating from his drunken leap off the roof of the Alpha Kappa Phi fraternity house. 

"I'll bring you leftovers?" he offered. 

"I'm good." You glanced at Sam, who was looking at you dubiously. "Dude. I'm fine. Go, you're gonna be late for Brittany."

"Samantha."

"Sam and Samantha?"

"Okay, I'm leaving you now."

"Finally." You laughed as Sam flipped you off over his shoulder. "See you in biochem!"

Sam said nothing, only walking out of the library. You allowed yourself a brief moment to watch him go before turning back to your books, shaking your head.

It was probably eight in the evening, and you'd been in the library since six that morning – just as you had been for the past several days. Finals were fast approaching, and your sadistic Stats professor had even assigned a pre-finals test for the next day that would be worth ten percent of your grade. He'd announced it at the previous class two days ago, leaving you hardly any time to study. Fucker.

The stress was definitely weighing down on you as you attempted to read the textbook on the table. Unfortunately, your body was working against you, vision blurring as the words began to swim.

Frustrated, you dropped your head onto the textbook.

"Fuck," you groaned, before picking your head up quickly to make sure you hadn't disturbed anyone. Luckily, there were no students in your immediate vicinity, and the ones you could see seemed to still be focused. 

"Back to it," you whispered, squinting down at the textbook again. This time, the words remained steady, and though you had to reread the same sentence twice in order for your brain to properly process what it said, you managed to keep going.

After another forty-odd years of trying to finish the same page, you saw someone approaching out of your peripheral vision. When you were able to make out who it was, you felt something inside you grow lighter.

Natasha's hair, pulled back into a neat bun, and the leotard visible beneath her unzipped jacket and jeans both indicated that she had come straight from dance class. She smiled at you as she approached, though it slipped a bit as she met your eyes.

"Nat." You grinned up at her, holding your arms out for a hug. "I missed you."

"You too." Nat pursed her lips but leaned down to hug you regardless, kissing your cheek before taking the seat beside you. "Sam texted me."

"Oh. Oh! Shit." You frowned. "Violation of trust."

"He said you've practically been living here for a week." Despite your relationship still being fairly new, you could see that beneath Natasha's irritated exterior was a whole lot of worry. "Something about a Calculus professor from hell?"

"Stats," you corrected absently. "Pre-finals quiz. He told us Monday, and it's happening tomorrow. Worth ten percent of our grade."

"Pre-finals... what?" Nat's eyebrow twitched. "I see what the 'from hell' part meant."

You puffed out an exhausted sigh. "Yeah."

"So you've spent all day every day in here?" Nat asked, gazing over the notebooks and textbooks scattered across the table.

"Well, no. I went to my classes. And to my dorm when the library closed."

"When's the last time you ate?" Nat asked suspiciously.

"Lunch. Sam brought me the grilled cheese from the cafeteria and a bottle of water."

"Oh." Natasha looked faintly surprised. "Good. And you've slept?"

You didn't say anything to that, looking away. 

"Hey." You felt fingers softly grasp your chin, turning your head to face Natasha. She examined you, eyes soft. "When's the last time you slept? And I mean actually slept, not passed out for an hour."

You sighed, glancing away. "Sunday night."

"Jesus," Nat hissed, letting go of your hand to rub your leg soothingly. "How are you even functioning?"

"Autopilot," you said, shrugging and turning back to your textbook. "I'm okay. Just gotta finish this chapter before the library closes."

"Uh, no." A hand dropped onto the pages, blocking your view and forcing you to look at Natasha. "You're not gonna wear yourself down any more than you already have."

"But the test is tomorrow, and I'm still a little shaky on –"

"No more studying," Nat said gently. "At least for a while. What time is your test tomorrow?"

"Three," you muttered.

"And is this the only concept you're still uncertain about?" You could practically see the gears turning in Natasha's head.

"Yeah, I think so."

"Perfect." She closed the textbook softly. "You're going to take the night off. We're gonna go back to my apartment and order Chinese food and watch that show you like, the one with that one guy, and then we're going to get a full night's sleep."

"But –" you protested.

"And then," Nat said over you, "tomorrow morning, I'm gonna make you breakfast, and you're gonna read this chapter with a fresh mind. Then I'm going to quiz you on the stuff you feel least certain about, and then you're gonna go to your Stats class and ace that quiz. And I'm gonna murder your professor. Does that sound good?"

You laughed a little despite yourself. "Yeah. Yeah, that sounds good."

"Good." Natasha kissed your forehead as she stood, collecting your notebook. "Oh, and you should probably tell Sam that you're coming with me. The guy worries."

You grinned, standing up and helping her collect your stuff. "He does. How did I get so lucky to have both the best best friend and the best girlfriend?"

Natasha glanced up at you for a moment before looking away, face going pink. 

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I'm amazing." She grinned, sliding the notebooks into your backpack and handing it over. "Come on. Let's get you home."

"Yes, ma'am." You saluted her, reveling in her laughter as you walked together into the night.

[ofhouseadama]

Thoughts don't come to completion in my brain very well, but maybe when Lorraine first finds out she's pregnant? How happy but also scared she is (cause you know she's gotta be) and then her telling ed and how happy and scared he is as well? 😅😅

Like I said idk how to form complete thoughts about a lot of things 😅😅

In hindsight, she knew the moment she conceived. Laying there in the darkness, she felt the moment a piece of Ed joined with a piece of her. It wasn’t even that she didn’t recognize it for what it was, but that she couldn’t believe it. Wouldn’t believe it. In the eight years they have been married, her cycle had never been so much as a day late, arriving like clockwork every twenty-eight days. Textbook, really.

When it didn’t come, she held her breath. After eight years, she’s become a master at refusing to get her hopes up. She remembers the ambivalence she felt, the morning she realized she had gotten her monthly courses after their honeymoon and she was back at her parents’ house and Ed, back on a ship in the Pacific. She’d been relieved then.

In the years that followed, after buying a four bedroom home they’d hoped to fill up with babies, relief had turned to confusion, then to frustration, then to grief. And it became tolerable, with time and prayer and faith, but oh how she yearned, and yearned, and yearned.

And learned to fill up the space that she wanted to fill with her and Ed’s children with ghosts.

Lorraine Warren finds herself bouncing her leg on the linoleum floor of the doctor’s office on her lunch break, two weeks after the first missed period of her life. And she knows, some heady mixture of mother’s intuition and all her other gifts from God. She knows with a painful kind of clarity that she carries a life inside her. She wonders if Ed’s noticed that she never drew her little red dots on the calendar, hasn’t complained about cramps and bloating, hasn’t brought home a box of Motrin and menstrual products. He rarely misses anything about her, but it’s just been Christmas and they’ve just had a case, a real one. The kind that drives him to distraction.

She pees in a cup and the nurse, in her starch white uniform and impeccably clean shoes, tells her that the results will take at least three days and possibly up to a week to come back, that it will depend on how busy the lab is. The nurse smiles conspiratorially, like she’s gotten a tidbit of insider trade knowledge, and tells her that she thinks she’ll know by New Year’s Eve whether or not she’s going to be a mother.

Lorraine vomits in a bush on her way back to her car.

---

New Year's Eve is a Sunday, in 1961, and Lorraine’s last day of work before the holiday is that Friday, when the nurse from the doctor’s office calls her desk. It is almost, exactly to the hour, four days since her appointment.

Somewhere between, “Congratulations, Mrs. Warren,” and “we’ll need to schedule you for a follow-up appointment in the next four to six weeks,” her vision blurs, and her legs drop out from under her. Clumsily, she manages to catch herself on the edge of her desk, lowering herself gently down onto her chair.

“Yes, yes, I can make the week of January 29th work,” she says, furiously wiping away tears as she flips through her planner, frantically reaching for a pencil. “Yes. One in the afternoon is fine. Thank you.”

Slowly, she hangs up the phone.

Lorraine makes it another twenty minutes at her desk, thumbing through the Diocese of Bridgeport finances, mindlessly sorting purchase orders and invoices. Before slowly, then all at once, it hits her. Pressing the back of her hand against her mouth, she swallows down a sob.

They’re going to be parents.

---

They had just given up. Because of course they had.

But God had other plans.

---

She drives home in a daze, glad that it’s the middle of the afternoon. She’s not sure how she would have made it from Bridgeport to Monroe if she had waited until five o’clock. It feels as though she’s experiencing the world from underwater, from the inside of an upturned snowglobe.

You’re expecting, Mrs. Warren. The test came back positive.

How is she going to tell Ed? She never thought this far. Not since they were newlyweds and she was dreaming of the little clothes she had sewn for her trousseau. She had plans back then, of cooking him dinner and sitting him down over candlelight and a nice meal, and telling him with a silver rattle tucked into tissue paper in a box, or with a silver spoon, a baby’s hair brush. Now she has half a mind to just drive straight for where she knows he’s teaching art classes at the VA, march inside, and drag him into his office like a madwoman and tell him straightaway.

Damn ceremony, they’ve waited long enough.

Pulling into the driveway, she turns off the engine and sits there for a long moment, fighting back tears. She’s going to walk into their home, and she’s going to know which room they’re going to clear out to turn into a nursery.

She’s known which room they were going to turn into a nursery since the first time they walked into the house with the realtor.

After a moment, the tears win.

---

In the end, it goes like this:

Lorraine makes lasagna, because it’s hard to screw up and she’s having trouble concentrating on anything for more than a few minutes at a time. She knows how to make sauce, cook noodles, and assemble layers. Ed likes lasagna. Ed does not like lasagna so much that he will be immediately suspicious when he comes home to find her making lasagna. She’s usually home before him anyway on Thursdays, the only day of the week he has a four o’clock class.

Ed comes home a little before six, his forearms speckled with paint.

He talks enough for the both of them, and if he notices anything’s off about her, he’s kind enough to wait until after dinner to bring it up. Kissing her cheek sweetly, he loops his arms around her waist and pulls her close.

“I missed you today.”

Then he’s pulling away again, taking down plates and cups from the cabinet and pulling out silverware to lay the table.

Then, despite all the ways she’s been practicing all afternoon, Lorraine turns from the stove to look at him folding napkins at the kitchen table and feels such a warm burst of affection in her chest that she can’t not say it.

“I’m pregnant,” she blurts out, holding onto the counter for support. “The doctor’s office confirmed it today. I’m -- I’m pregnant. Like really, really pregnant. And I’m a little terrified, because it doesn’t feel real, but it apparently is real.”

The red napkin he’s been folding into a triangle falls from his fingertips, face freezing with shock.

“Wait--”

“We’re having a baby,” she says, realizing that she’s rambling, but unable to stop herself.

His brow furrows, confused. “Lorraine? Are you telling me--”

Biting her lip, she nods. “Yes.”

“Really?”

Crossing the room to her, she can see comprehension dawning on his features. This isn’t a dream. They’re both awake. It’s not a joke. Lorraine wonders if she should have driven by the doctor’s office to get a physical copy of the test results. Ed’s always liked being able to see things on paper.

“Really,” she says, as a smile splits his face and he reaches her, sweeping her up into his arms and lifting her off her feet, spinning her. “We’re gonna have a baby.”

She’s so happy, she’s lightheaded.

And she wants to kiss him, so she does, framing his dear face with her hands.

“I love you,” he murmurs against her lips.

---

With a look of reverence on his face that drives her back to tears, Ed drops to his knees right there in the kitchen, pushing up the hem of her blouse.

“Hi,” he says, pressing his lips to her stomach. “Hi baby.”

Wiping the tears from Ed’s face, Lorraine thinks she might never stop laughing, might never stop crying.

---

In the end, they eat their lasagna on the kitchen floor, right out of the pan. She’s half in his lap, and there’s not a candle in sight.

It’s perfect.

[settersloveletters]

NO. 1 FAN

• part nineteen; call me daddy coach

prev | masterlist | next

⤷ y/n will always go out of her way for her family, especially for her 7 year old niece, who happens to be kageyama tobio’s number one fan. what happens when the charming sweetheart, y/n, meets the emotionally null, kageyama tobio? and what happens when those two fall in love at first sight?

a/n: we’ve converted to the moon icon for kags. just to keep it consistent hahah. anyways, this is 90% shameless smut and 10% sum serious shit :)) ALSO i removed the cut for both parts cuz tumblr is being fucky wucky rn. will add them back when its normal

[!] below this is lots of smut. BOLDED TEXT IS IMPORTANT TO THE STORY [!]

➳ word count: 3k

➳ warnings: smut!!! coach-kink??? raw sex, creampie, the slightest amount of pregnancy kink and size kink.

“Hey, are you alright, baby? What’s up with that text you sent?” You greet Kageyama right when you open the door for him. Wrapping your arms around him, you give a gentle kiss on his cheek. Shutting the door behind him, he sighs as he sets his bags down and removes his shoes. “It’s nothing,” placing a kiss on your head before pulling you into the living room.

“Hm.. okay. What did you want to do today? Since, we’re all alone,” you push Kageyama onto the couch, grabbing his face and getting a good look into his eyes. Maybe it’s your mind playing games and overthinking, but he’s very tired; a distant emptiness in him.

“Anything you want, Y/n,” breaking eye contact with you to instead pull you into his embrace. Feeling your small warmth press against him eases all the stresses, tensions, doubts in his heart. You’re the medicine that heals him of all his pains.

“Sal’s not here. So you aren’t gonna get your Sunday workout..”

“Yes, and what about it?”

“How about,” clasping your hands in his, you pull him off the cushions of the couch and slowly lead him towards your bedroom, “you be my coach today?” His typical stern expression almost cracks at your words. Before he can even interject, you’ve guided him into your bedroom which is dimly lit regardless of the peak sunlight outside. Counting your frequent excursions and chill hangouts, Kageyama is very familiar with this room. The smell, the look, the plush sheets and what can be found where. It’s comfortable.

“I’m your coach for today? What are we practicing today though?” he teasingly asks, well knowing what you want. He stands in front of your bed as you lay yourself down, admiring the Adonis in the room. Far bigger, taller and stronger than you, he always has you weak at the legs and embarrassingly sore the next day. He’s also so stubborn; when he has a goal and motive, he’ll accomplish it even if it means spending that extra hour.

“Endurance training, of course,” you chuckle while copying his exact words from that first time, waiting for him to bed you. “You think this is funny?” He’s quickly making his way to the bed, finding his spot right on top of you, looking down at you with slight agitation. The more you two have fun, the bolder you two get. You’ve learned the pleasures of provoking Kageyama, teasing him, convincing him he can’t do something, just for him to come back with ten times more passion and aggression. And he’s learned how far you like being pushed, held, edged, tortured even. You have aligned perfectly with each other.

“Yes, it’s so funny, Kags,” you laugh at him again while wrapping your arms around his neck, pulling him in to kiss you. He doesn’t budge though, instead choosing to place a firm hand on your jaw, so close to gripping your neck in the softest of squeezes. “I don’t think that’s how you address your coach.” He’s almost there.

“Oh, you liked that idea? Me calling you coach? How perverted, Kageyama,” you smirk, knowing exactly what to do to change the calm stoic boy into a man who only shows himself to you alone. And all he wants to do is to unravel you like he plans.

Kageyama doesn’t miss a beat, swiftly unbuttoning the front of your too tight top, watching the way he unwraps you like a birthday gift. “You don’t get to talk to me like that, pretty girl,” he says, low and steadily, before using both hands to rub along your body. His touch trails your exposed skin, stopping at your breasts which are hidden beneath your bra, tempting him to just strip you bare and take you right there. “Coach, take it off me.”

“You just don’t know your place today, huh?” feeling no remorse, Kageyama roughly flips you over, laying you on your stomach and wasting no time in ripping all the clothes off your body. First, that stupid bra that is the exact shade of blue he loves seeing on you, then those poor excuse of shorts that do no good at hiding that cute little behind of yours. He leaves you trembling there in his presence, and in the soaked matching red thong that hugs your hips so well.

Palming his large hands on the flesh of your ass, Kageyama lands an experimental tap, sending fiery jolts across your skin and a yelp out your lips. “Baby, I’ll give you a second chance. But if you choose to test me again,” rubbing your reddening cheek softly, “you’re not going to get your needy pussy fucked, okay?”

You would have never expected such a dork like Kageyama to have such a filthy mouth. He never fails to surprise you. Grinding back against his touch, you give him a nod in response. Face flush flat into the pillows, you have no clue what he’s doing, what his face looks like, what he’s thinking. It isn’t until both his hands grab the sides of your hip, pulling you so your ass is up, back arched.

“Well, since I’m your coach today, I think we should start with basic stretches. Sounds good?”

“Mhm, things have been feeling too tight lately, coach..”

“Don’t worry, doll. I’ll help you out with that,” he stifles a laugh while reassuring his cute student. Peeling back the panties that hug your ass, removing them completely, Kageyama sits back to revel in the sight of your glistening cunt. You shiver at the feeling of the room’s draft against your exposed pussy, pulsing around nothing, much to his enjoyment. Using his thumbs, he pulls the skin of your lips apart, collecting the honey and massaging it into your sensitive skin.

“Hm, this is a tough job. I’m not sure if you’ll stretch too well. Your cunt looks too tight, doll,” Kageyama chides, giving another playful spank on your ass. You whine against the pillow, too frustrated to express your feelings through words. All you can manage to do is turn your head back, looking at him, eyes borderline glossy with tears and arousal which sends a tang straight to his heart.

“Fuck, if you look at me like that.. might just have to force it to open up. Is that what you want?” You eagerly nod in approval, slightly swaying your hips left and right to entice him all the more. The twisted thought of Kageyama, a man that towers over you, has a cock far too big for your pussy, and can physically do whatever he pleases with you, excites you two to no end.

You watch in anticipation as he gets off the bed, never breaking eye contact with each other as he tugs his shirt off. You’ve seen it more than a handful of times now, but the built structure of his body, toned muscles and all, has your mouth agape and legs shaking. He begins undoing the drawstring of his sweatpants, allowing them to drop onto the ground, leaving him in only his boxers. A visible tent already pinching the fabric at a point. He’s lowering the waistband and revealing the girth underneath, tossing the fabric aside. You never fail to rile him up, and that’s what he loves so much.

“Baby, I don’t know how many times I have to say it. But, why are you so hot?”

“I don’t know, doll. I’ll ask you the same,” he gives you the softest of smiles.

Getting on the bed again, Kageyama leans in against you, trailing warm kissing on the surface of your back, along your spine and stopping at your sensitive neck.

“We haven’t kissed at all today, did you notice?” claiming a long kiss on the nape of your neck, leaving a light bruise that has you getting chills across your skin. He slightly bucks his hips against yours, loving the way his cock brushes against your soothing touch.

“‘Course I noticed. I tried, but you wouldn’t let me..” you respond in a meek tone, which has him flipping you around, face to face once again. Looking into your hazed gaze, Kageyama inches closer before locking his lips with yours. Gentle lips that kiss him back, and tongues connecting sensually. Occasionally gasping for air, you two engage in kisses, both kind and devilish, for what seems to be a full lifetime.

Without even realizing it, Kageyama begins rubbing his fingers along your slit, lips muffling your sudden squeak. His cold digits collect your love juices, before using a single finger to probe your entrance. Your hips involuntarily grind against him, voice humming for more, for him to give you more.

“Doll, gotta take things slow. I don’t want to hurt you, okay?” he asserts, using his non-dominant hand to pet your hair in comforting strokes. Steadily moving his finger in and out of your pussy, he indulges in quiet flutters of your walls around him, the way you tighten whenever he looks into your eyes, or breaths against your tender skin. “Coach, another, please?”

“I call the shots here. I’ll know when you’re ready.”

“Hm, but your fingers always feel so good in me. I can’t handle it anymore,” you praise, hitting those happy nerves in his brain.

“Fine. Don’t complain to me after for being sore,” he spits before forcing another cold finger into you, pushing satisfyingly deep. “Yes, coach. Won’t complain,” you gasp through the thrusts of his fingers. Your blissed face has Kageyama growing painfully hard and in need for your heat to finally engulf him. His two fingers turn into three, make audible noises as he scissors and pulls in and out, stretching you just like your coach promised.

Kageyama’s aching for your touch at this point, so without question, he removes his digits, inspecting the honey-like accumulation of love that coats his fingers. “Nice and wet for him, huh?” he teasingly comments, and all you can do is squint your eyes back at him, with your typical bratty attitude. He firmly grabs at your jaw again as a warning, knowing he’s given far too many chances for your insolent behaviour, but can never fully bear torturing or punishing you because his love is just that strong.

“Okay, get up. You’re doing glute workouts now that you’re properly stretched.”

“W-what?” you stutter, genuinely believing he was serious. You wouldn’t be surprised if he was going to make you follow through. Kageyama moves your body aside, only to take your spot and sit up against your bed’s headboard. Tilting his head to look at you with those piercing eyes, “C’mon, it’s no time for a break. Ride me.”

“Ka- coach..” you lugg yourself up so you can seat yourself in his lap, arms wrapping around his neck to support yourself in the new position. Seeing you breathless without even putting it in you has Kageyama flustered and his heart beating. You grab his girth and rub it against your entrance, not yet putting it in. “You’re okay with doing it raw today?” he grabs onto your waist, before you can lower yourself any further, reassuring you were okay with this. This vulnerable feeling, this closeness both you and him share, you were fine with doing anything as long as it’s with him.

Weaving your fingers through his dark locks, you look Kageyama in the eyes, “Yes, my love. It’s a safe day, so let’s have some fun, yeah?” Engaging in one last kiss, he allows you to lower down onto the head of cock, the stinging stretch of your walls around him. The feeling of your bare pussy squeezing against his cock has Kageyama bucking his hips, in desperation to feel more.

“Hey there, you gotta start moving. This is still part of our training,” urging you to take him deeper, to which you do. Inch by inch, you relax yourself onto his length, down down down until all eight inches are buried within you. Kageyama grunts, wallowings in the tightness of your heat wrapped graciously around his cock. You whine loudly against his neck, too overwhelmed over the intrusive size inside you.

“C-coach, why is your cock so big?” moaning as you raise your hips slowly, allowing him to feel every rib of your walls hug his shaft. His face grows redder at your words, and you swear he grows just a tiny bit harder too. “Don’t say those types of things to m-”

“Fuck, it reaches so damn deep, baby. Feels so fucking good, oh my god,” interrupting him, you continue your obscensent sighs and praise as your hips build a steady rhythm. Rolling your hips, you grind against all the good parts while continuing to give him the steady satisfying friction for his cock. Kageyama’s given up on trying to talk to you, or scold you, instead leaking quiet whines and less than quiet moans. “Why don’t you try fucking me now, huh? I’m getting tir-” A firm strike to your ass cuts you off mid sentence as Kageyama firmly grabs onto your hips, setting his own pace now.

“How does it feel to be interrupted, huh?” he mocks you, before slamming his hips into yours, in a quickening pace the room begins filling with the sounds of wet thrusts and skin on skin. You squeak when he lays another spank across your ass, cheek burning up from the impact. He’s a pro athlete with extremely toned arms, so those harsh love taps are bound to leave marks.

“I’m sorry. Didn’t mean to int-”

“S’okay, doll,” right after cutting you off once more, he looks down at you with the most condescending look and thrusts his cock, perfectly hitting your sweet spot. Repeatedly targeting that spot has you becoming a babbling mess. His hold on your hips prevents you from moving, as he thrusts up into your cunt like you’re some doll. You love the way he has you seeing fireworks, the way his cock stretches you out so well, and the way he reaches insanely deep, up against your cervix. You love it so much actually, to the point where you start saying things you didn’t mean to say… Well, not yet at least.

“Baby, I love you so much, oh gosh. Can’t.. Your cock feels so good, ahhh.”

“(Y/n), did y-”

“Fuck, please, please, please. Cum inside me, please? I wanna feel ya up against my womb when you c-”

“What the fuck are you saying, (Y/n)?” Regardless of his presumably concerned words, Kageyama quickens the speed of his hips, chasing this desired high and forbidden idea of cumming inside the love of his life.

“Mmm, you know exactly what I’m saying. I know you aren’t that dumb,” you brain is too fried to know when to stop with your words. “I’m not the fucking dumb one when you are the one who’s basically begging to be knocked up. Is that what you want, doll?” he leans up close to your ear and hums those tempting words as he stops his rapid thrusts, instead grinding his cock against the deepest parts of your sopping cunt.

“‘Course, baby. Want your cum right inside here,” you whine again as you pull his hand, placing it on the surface of your tummy, reveling in the way he moans loudly. There was something about what you said that had Kageyama in a loss for thoughts, heart skipping every other beat. Even if this was all in the heat of the moment, heat of lust and desire, what he felt far surpassed mere infatuation.

“Gonna cum..” he whispers, groaning at the way you swivel your hips in his lap, bringing you both closer and closer. He wraps his arms around you in a tight embrace, tipping you over the edge. He loves you. His cock twitches, once, twice, three times, feeling the warmth seep through your core as he paints your walls white. You’re left breathless as Kageyama basks in the event of his high.

“I can’t believe I actually c.. inside you..”

“Felt nice though, right?” you coo into his ear. His face and ears burning up as you lift yourself off his lap, releasing the softening cock from your insides. The mix of your juices and his cum slowly drips out, which has him groaning at the sight. With a soft kiss on the lips, Kageyama lays you on the bed again before getting up to prepare a warm towel.

Patting you clean of all the grime of the dirty encounter, he takes one good look at your body, face, eyes and sighs. For a man with no true understanding of his own emotions, you’ve learned to read and interpret them in lieu of that. But right now, for the first time, you don’t know what he’s thinking, what he’s feeling.

“Was it bad, or something..? We can talk about it,” you pull him in to rest and lay beside you, face to face. Those deep blue eyes say so many things, intense love and desire, but also, grief and sadness, all at the same time. He doesn’t respond to you. “Are you feeling okay? What’s wrong?” You grab onto his hand, feeling the slight tremble and shake beneath his skin.

He can't leave you when you look at him with such love, or hold his hands with such care, or speak to him with such concern. He just can’t.

“I’m leaving, Y/n.. I got an offer for Team Italy.”

- TAGLIST -

@anhphunnnn | @adamarvv | @asahiswaifu | @fangirling-25-8 | @kei-kui | @lilacshouko | @smol-enbybackup | @gyubit17 | @renee1414 | @denkiwenki | @xanaxdeity | @cuddlesslut | @nikkipea | @lovemesomehwa | @muiyuuuu | @oikawalmart-hq | @mirdy47707 | @lumiriai | @notamazinglizzy | @starwrite-er | @dearkags | @hamsterfan17 | @sugawsites | @anime-simp | @singleandlonely | @levisackerwoman | @cactuski6 | @kingkagss | @gentlechainsaws | @h0wab0utw3d0ntd0that | @prettymuchboo | @highlyanxiousintroverted | @anna-pcy21 | @sweetlysugawara | @yqshirov | @kingkags | @marifujioka | @luna-barnes14 | @musekala | @thechaosoflonging | @oikawasphlatass | @tremendousglitterthing | @kathya420 | @daninaninani | @maii-flowers | @akakuzumo | @tycrackculture | @gaychemicalwater | @mariachiii | @kiyoomile | @jaxneedshelp | @xs-hoodie | @preparingtofall |

(taglist continues in the replies!!)

[vanilla107]

Five Minutes of Sunset

Before the Curse of Sarah Fier series

Summary:

 “We meeting after? Same spot? Sam gonna be there?” she asked, and Deena nodded.

“Simon too. He said he got us discounted food!” Kate said excitedly.

“I hope you know that means that the food is about to expire,” Deena said, deadpanned.

“Whatever! Food is food and I’m not going to turn down chicken wings and all the candy bars I can eat.” ~~~ Four friends get together on a Friday afternoon to talk shit about Sunnyvale and watch the sunset. 

Also titled as: I JUST WANT TO WRITE FICS WHERE EVERYONE LIVES AND ARE HAPPY LIKE FUCK THEM DYING. GIMME MY FAVS BACK.

Read on AO3

It was a usual overcast Friday afternoon in Shadyside and Deena stretched her arms over her head as she headed towards the Shadyside High girl's locker room. The potent smell of floral body spray made her sneeze as she entered the room, high pitched voices bouncing off the walls and she winced before making a beeline down the corridor towards the toilets.

Her breath caught in her throat though, when she saw Samantha Fraser walking away from the toilets and towards her, and the grin that Sam gave her was enough to make her stomach knot.

Sam’s blonde hair glimmered under the crappy fluorescent lights and usually, Deena would have questioned that because the lighting was really shit but she didn’t care. Sam had already changed into her Shadyside cheerleader uniform, the blue and black standing out against her skin and her toned legs on display. Deena realised that she was shamelessly checking Sam out but before she could look away, Sam’s hand gently brushed against hers.

“I’ll see you later? The Spot?” she whispered, and Deena gave her a small nod before they walked past each other.

Deena’s heart could’ve exploded but she contained herself before turning left to the cubicles. There were two other band girls, Krystal and Lili, at the sinks chatting about some test they had earlier that day and Deena gave them a nod before walking to the end of the room where Kate, her best friend, was checking her hair. Kate grinned when she spotted Deena and gave her a hug. With black hair in a neat ponytail, a spotless record and dark eyes that could pick up the smallest detail, Kate was a good friend to have.

"How was AP English?" Deena asked and Kate rolled her eyes.

"Insufferable as always. Gary was a prick and decided to argue with me on every point I made while discussing Macbeth. I get that he doesn't like me, but fuck can he just give it a rest?” she groaned as she rolled her shoulders back.

“You do realise that he probably likes you, right? C’mon Kate, that’s the oldest trick in the book. He’s probably being an asshole to get your attention.”

“It’s stupid and if he thinks that it’s some form of flirting, then he’s dead wrong,” Kate huffed before looking at Deena’s gym bag.

“You getting ready for band?”

Deena heard Krystal and Lili take turns at the hand dryer before walking down the corridor, their retreating steps and voices echoing.

“Yep. And you have cheer practice,” Deena sighed, and Kate looked around, as if to check that no one was listening to them, before giving her a smirk and lowering her voice.

“Don’t worry. I won’t hog your girlfriend for too long. Besides, I’m there to yell and be on top of the pyramid.”

They both knew that was a lie. Despite Kate’s dismissive attitude towards cheerleading and all her other societies, she took it all seriously so that she could ‘Get the hell out of Shittyside’. She planned choreographies, sold extra drugs to raise money for cheer uniform upgrades and more. Deena felt that Kate did too much for a town that seemed against them with their nickname ‘Murder Capital USA’, but she knew that between the two of them, Kate deserved to get out.

“Oh please. We both know you do more than that,” Deena scoffed, and Kate shrugged her shoulders.

“We meeting after? Same spot? Sam gonna be there?” she asked, and Deena nodded.

“Simon too. He said he got us discounted food!” Kate said excitedly.

“I hope you know that means that the food is about to expire,” Deena said, deadpanned.

“Whatever! Food is food and I’m not going to turn down chicken wings and all the candy bars I can eat.”

“I gotta get changed and you should get going. Don’t want to be late for practice,” Deena said with a smile and Kate flipped her off before leaving her to get changed in one of the cubicles.  

Deena listened Kates’s footsteps retreat, and she undressed and changed into her band uniform. She wasn’t self-conscious of her body and didn’t mind changing in front of other people, but the girl’s locker room didn’t leave much to look at. The last thing she wanted was for a girl to point at her for staring and then the whole school would think she’s gay (which she was but that’s wasn’t the point).

Kate had managed to spin a rumour that Deena had a scar on her lower abdomen that she had gotten in an accident and was still ‘healing from the trauma’. While her eyes wouldn’t wander around the change room now that she only had eyes for Sam, it was easier to keep the rumour going and have privacy.

That was another reason Deena loved Kate. Kate could lie flawlessly, and because she was a good student, no one would think twice.

Deena opened the cubicle and adjusted her hat before heading out the locker room and to practice.

~~~

She sighed in relief as she took off her hat and threw it into her bag and changing out of her clothes and changing into a fresh set of clothing.

Most of the band kids had left soon after practice, uniform and all but Deena was headed straight to The Spot as soon she could, so avoiding a trip back home would be beneficial.

Kate and Sam had ended practice earlier and both had gone home to shower and freshen up. Deena didn’t blame them. The showers in the locker room were gross and she was sure she saw mold on the ceiling.

She shuddered before throwing on a t-shirt and jeans and heading out of the locker rooms. She waved bye to Krystal and Lili, who somehow always ended being the last ones getting changed and left the locker room.

Deena thought about the homework she had to do as she walked past the pep rally posters and the banner reading, ‘Let’s Bring It Home, Witches!’. Deena was aware that the biannual football game against Sunnyvale and Shadyside was next Friday and despite Shadyside High having a good football team, Sunnyvale almost always beat them.

It was like a joke. Every single game, a Shadyside football player got injured or a Sunnyvaler would score miraculously, and Deena didn’t mean any offence, but what was the banner supposed to mean?

What where they bringing home?

The last shreds of their dignity?

It was so embarrassing but with Sunnyvale being the only city close enough to them, Shadyside didn’t have a choice.

Deena took a deep breath in before exhaling her feelings of the rivalry between Shadyside and Sunnyvale. This last week had been exhausting but she was happy it was over, and she could spend her weekend unwinding. She didn’t need to think about Shadyside and Sunnyvale.

All she wanted to think about was her, Sam, Kate and Simon hanging out on a late Friday afternoon.

She walked out of the school and a breeze lifted a few of her curls and inwardly thanked that she had packed blankets for them. She thought about the homework she’d have to do on Sunday and the three-page assignment for English, before shaking her head and taking out her Walkman from her backpack and drowning out her thoughts.

~~~

Simon was waiting for her, at least 6 shopping bags with him on the ground and he grinned mischievously as she gestured to all the bags.

"Look if we're starting this weekend off with a bang, we're doing it right. I got mini pies, meatballs, weird little vegetable sticks, donuts with that thick icing Kate loves so much, fries with enough oil to clog up our arteries-"

"Did not need that image Simon," Deena interrupted with a shudder.

"-sugar cookies, three different types of Oreos, cupcakes and... a little magic juice," Simon said, wiggling his eyebrows as he opened one of the bags that had a brown paper bag it cheap white wine.

Deena winced at the beverage and Simon straightened up and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, you don't have to have. I got it because I thought we could all loosen up a little. It’s not heavy shit either but no worries if you don't want, Dee."

His tone was sincere, and she gave him a small smile. Only Kate, Sam and Simon knew about her dad’s drinking problem, and they had been over to her house enough times to see some of the empty beer cans in the bin. While Deena knew that it was her dad’s fault for drinking too much and being passed out on the couch, she couldn’t help but wonder if alcoholism ran in her family.

That last thing she wanted was to be like him.

"Thanks Simon. Now let's carry this to the spot,” she said, and he smiled dopily at her.

They grabbed three bags each and they began to walk away from the supermarket.

"I'm surprised you got off so early. Don't you usually close the store on Fridays after school?"

"Yeah, but my manager loves me so much that when I asked him and flashed my beautiful doe eyes, he told Kristen to do it instead. She looked furious," he giggled, and Deena snorted.

Simon frequently complained about Kristen Jenkins, his other co-worker, who was a nightmare. She did all her work but was always trying to one up him to get employee of the month. While Simon didn't care for the title, he liked seeing his picture on the wall and knew it would only piss if Kristen more of he was overly sweet to her.

"You know she might kill you some day," Deena laughed.

"Not if I get to her first," he said suggestively, and Deena hit him playfully.

"Pervert," she said, and he danced forward, the bags swaying in his hands.

"Nah, just a law-abiding citizen your honour!" he yelled.

They discussed their homework and their other plans for the weekend (Simon was working as usual and Deena knew she would be stuck at home with homework and looking after her brother, Josh). They walked past familiar streets and soon the gravel under their shoes became a steep rocky path as they exited their town. Deena hated this part of the walk, but their destination would be worth it. They took a left into the forest and continued their walk in a comfortable silence.

The path got steeper, and Deena gritted her teeth as she made her last step up, revealing a little patch of grass with the best view of Shadyside. She could see the grocery store, her school and even the Sheriff’s office in the distance.

It was a hidden gem that she had found one night after her dad got home drunk and in a fit of rage, left the house with no idea where to go.

She didn't want to go to any of her friend's houses and at that point, Sam wasn’t her girlfriend yet and she didn’t want to scare her away (even though Sam reassured her a few months later after Deena had confessed that her dad was hardly around). Instead, she ran. Ran to the point where her lungs were burning for air and her shirt stuck to her back with sweat. It was so dark, and she realised she had no idea where she was going. She took lefts and rights before realizing she was in the forest outside of town but eventually saw a light source and kept following it until she got to the small patch of grass that overlooked Shadyside. Deena had stayed there till sunrise, watching the world go from dark to bright and a feeling of calm passed over her as she soaked in the first rays of the day. She had made her way home to find her dad passed out on the couch and Josh still asleep, both unaware that she had been gone for nearly four hours.

She had collapsed onto her bed and slept, her anger seeping away from her bones, but the memory of the sunrise embedded in her memories. She had shown Kate and Simon that spot a week later, and it became a regular hang out for the three of them until Deena started dating Sam a few months later.

Sam had been hesitant at first to go to ‘The Spot’ as Simon had called it but then again, Sam was hesitant with almost everything concerning her budding relationship with Deena.

Deena was hoping that Sam would loosen up over time, but she knew how her mom was…strict, had high expectations and a tight grip on who was in Sam’s social life. Deena hadn’t messed up yet but knowing that Sam could disappear from her life purely because of Sam’s mother was another kind of fear. Deena had met Sam’s mom, who seemed nice enough but hearing about a fight between Sam’s mom and dad, it sounded like her mom was slightly more vicious.

“Deena? You good?” Simon asked and she blinked as she snapped out of her daydream.

“Yeah…sorry. Oh…you set up everything,” she said, raising an eyebrow at the beautiful scene in front of her.

“When you leave a retail employee alone with food that needs to be organized, you can’t expect him to not do anything. I assumed that the two fluffy blankets were for cuddles later and the other was for this picnic, so I took it out. That okay?”

Deena nodded and made herself comfortable and grabbed a mini pizza.

“Perfect Simon. So…how expired are these?” she asked, taking a sniff and Simon stared at her.

“Do you not trust me, Deena?” he gasped dramatically and before she could answer, a familiar voice from behind them yelled.

“If she did, I would be worried!”

Deena grinned as she put down the pizza and stood up to see Kate and Sam walking together. Kate was holding two bottles of apple juice and Sam had a box of cookies in her hand. Sam’s hair was damp from her shower earlier and Kate’s cheeks were a rosy red. They were both in comfy clothes and Deena hugged Kate first before hugging Sam.

“Glad you could make it, Sam,” Deena whispered, and she felt Sam hold her a little tighter.

“Me too. Snuck out the house and everything,” she giggled into her ear, and Deena’s jaw dropped.

“Wait what? Seriously? Damn Samantha sneaking out-?” Deena teased, and Sam grinned.

“Won’t your parents notice you’re gone?” Simon asked as he popped a grape into his mouth before frowning and inspecting the container. “Okay…the grapes might not be good.”

Kate raised an eyebrow and she swiped a grape before her face scrunched in disgust, “Ew no. Oh that’s disgusting. Take it away.”

Simon laughed before taking the grapes and throwing them away into one of the empty carrier bags.

“Uh…not tonight. They both have work and stuff,” Sam said, and Deena detected the hesitance in her voice. She pushed down the urge to ask what the real answer was and sighed in relief when Kate let out a squeal from behind her.

“You are fucking brilliant Simon Kalivoda!” Kate said as she held up a donut with white icing on the top.

Simon gave Deena a triumphant look as Kate bit into the donut and signed in happiness while Deena took Sam’s hand and lead her to the food. The sat down and soon, conversation filled the air in between bites of food.

“Shadyside versus Sunnyvale next week. Yay,” Kate grumbled in between bites of her donut, and Simon looked at her with sympathy.

“At least their cheerleading routines aren’t as good,” he said and at those words, Kate visibly perked up and Deena hid her laugh.

“Damn right,” Kate said, before grabbing a meatball and popping the whole thing into her mouth.

“Okay so here’s what I’m thinking…we graffiti Sunnyvale’s bus!” Simon smiled evilly and Kate smacked him on his head.

“We’re trying to avoid conflict Simon. Not give them a reason to retaliate plus knowing them, they’ll get lawyers involved and all that crap.”

“But they win almost every time!” Simon moaned in frustration, “What’s the point of even having the matches if we already know the outcome?”

Deena heard Sam giggle next to her and she smiled as their conversation continued.

“Does no one think it’s a little weird that their team’s name is the ‘Sunnyvale Devils’?” Sam asked and Deena turned to look at her in surprise.

“Care to elaborate?” Kate asked and Sam sat up a little straighter.

“Well Sunnyvale has all these good things happen to them and it only seems that Shadyside suffers right? Economically and all that.”

As Sam spoke, she opened up the plastic container of cookies and she offered to everyone. Simon bit into one and Deena swore his eyes rolled to the back of his head as he let out a moan of pleasure.

"Stop being so sexual, weirdo!" Kate said and Simon ignored her as he turned to face Kate.

"These are incredible. Did you make them?" he asked and Sam smiled brightly before nodding. "You must give me the recipe, holy shit. It's like there's cocaine in here!"

Everyone laughed before Sam continued.

"It's just strange that between two towns not too far apart from each other, one is thriving economically and the other is suffering."

“Except we have the murders! What's that nickname...'Murder Capital USA'? Yeah that!” Simon chipped in and Kate rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, but that hasn’t happened recently,” Kate argued.

“Not yet!” Simon said lowering his voice eerily and Kate turned back to look at Sam.

“Ignore him. You were saying?”

“Well, it’s strange that they’re the Sunnyvale Devils. Why would they name their team after the devil since they clearly have a blessing from God to thrive,” Sam said snarkily, and Deena grinned, happy that her girlfriend, who usually said things to please everyone else, was allowing herself to loosen up a little.

“I don’t know but they suck and maybe they deserve to have a mascot who is the literal devil,” Kate said proudly.

“A toast to Shadyside!” Simon yelled and Deena gave him a look of confusion.

“How about a toast to friends?” Kate suggested before looking over to Simon. “Y’know, since we have a ninety-nine percent change of losing next week’s game?”

“There’s still the one percent,” Sam said softly, and Deena squeezed her hand.

She loved how optimistic Sam was, even in the shittiest situations. Deena felt like sometimes, Sam was too bright and sunny for her, and that Sam deserved a person just as bright and sunny as her, but Sam eased her worries instantly with a kiss and words of comfort.

Simon took out the cheap wine and raised an eyebrow at Deena, who shook her head.

“You not drinking?” Sam asked and Deena gave her a small nod.

“Okay, so it’s just me, Kate and…Sam, you in?” Simon asked as he lifted an empty cup and Sam smiled at him.

“No thanks. My mom can smell any sort of alcohol a mile away, even if it’s the cheap stuff.”  

“Suit yourself!” Simon said with a shrug, and he held up a bottle of apple juice that Kate had bought. “Would you prefer this?” he asked, and the couple nodded.

The sky was a haze of orange and gold clouds as the sunset and while Deena had witnessed the sunset at The Spot for the last couple months, she never got sick of it. The sun lit up the town and for once, Shadyside’s beauty seemed to nearly be on par with Sunnyvale. Sure, they didn’t have three story mansions or newly painted tennis courts and country clubs, but the weirdly homey feeling of the town was what Deena appreciated. The sunset made her feel like Shadyside wasn’t all bad and that things could get better for her and her family. The feeling that she could come out with Sam as her girlfriend and her dad would stop drinking so much. It made her fantasize of travelling and experiencing life with Sam at her side but knowing that Shadyside was her home.

It gave her five minutes of hope that she needed.

“Cheers to friends!” Kate announced, holding her cup high and they all cheered before downing their drinks.

Simon decided to pretend being drunk as he stumbled around the grass and made dirty jokes while Kate pulled his arm to go explore a part of the forest. Deena knew this was Kate’s way of giving her and Sam some alone time and she inwardly thanked her friend before turning to face Sam, who was glowing from the golden rays of sun on her skin.

“Wow…” Deena whispered, and Sam looked up, a frosted cookie in her mouth.

“Hmm? Did I miss something?” she asked, as she chewed and swallowed.

“No…it’s nothing,” Deena said, before leaning back on her hands. “So…you want to tell me what’s going on with your parents?”

“Ugh, nothing gets past you!” Sam groaned before closing her eyes and turning to face Deena, nibbling on the cookie as she started to speak.

“I think they might be getting a divorce. The fights have gotten worse, and they argue almost every day. It’s like a relief when I wake up to them not fighting. I think they went to see attorneys this evening after work which is why I could sneak out. I…I don’t want to be home waiting for them to tell me that type of news right now.”

Deena winced as Sam's voice broke and Sam buried her head into her hands, silent tears dripping down her cheeks.

“I don’t know what to do, Deena. I saw this coming, but I don’t know what’s going to happen to me if they go through with the divorce. My mom mentioned something about Sunnyvale to my aunt on the phone a few days ago and…and what if I move and if I don't move and stay with my dad...I don't know...what if I have to choose between my parents-?”

Sam broke off and began sobbing and Deena took her into her arms smoothing down her hair. Sam relaxed into Deena's arms and after a few minutes Deena spoke up.

“I’m so sorry, Sam. You still got me, and Simon and Kate and…I’ll do everything I can to help you through this. I promise.”

“You mean that?”

“Yes, every word. I know it's going to be hard but you will always have me.”

Sam sniffed before lifting her head and wiping away her tears.

“Thank you, Deena. That means everything to me,” Sam said before cupping the side of Deena’s face and closing the gap between them.

Deena could feel the butterflies in her stomach and taste the strawberry icing from the biscuit Sam had eaten. She could feel Sam’s growing smile against her lips, and she melted into Sam’s arms.

How had she gotten so lucky?

Deena wasn’t sure how long they kissed but after they came up for air, there was a wolf whistle from behind them and Sam nearly screamed before realizing it was Simon, grinning manically with Kate by his side, a similar grin on her face, holding a polaroid camera.

“God, you scared the daylights out of us!” Deena yelled and Sam chuckled before clearing her voice.

“You guys find anything cool?” she asked, and Kate shook her head.

“Nah. Simon saw a skunk and wanted to chase after it, but I dragged him away before things could get…gross. But…we did get these!”

Kate bounded up to them before presenting them with two polaroid pictures and Deena let out a gasp. It was of the two of them, the Shadyside sunset in the backdrop while their silhouettes were nose to nose. Deena knew that the photo was discreet enough for them to not be recognizable, with her hoodie hiding her hair, but Deena knew that made it even more special to Sam, who couldn't afford her mom finding out that it was two girls close enough to kiss.

Sam was frozen in shock as she stared at her picture before jumping up and hugging Kate and repeating ‘thank you’ repeatedly while Kate just laughed.

Simon sat back down and grabbed a handful of cheesy puffs before smiling at Deena.

“You still think Shadyside is going to lose next week?” she asked, and he hummed before winking at her.

“Who knows? I’m feeling kinda lucky this evening,” he said as she smiled as Sam sat down and wrapped her arms around her, so that her back was against Sam’s chest.

Kate sat down next to Simon, who pouted and glanced in her direction, before rolling her eyes and giving him a quick kiss on the cheek.

“There. That’s all the love I’m feeling tonight,” she said nonchalantly, and Simon only grinned before tackling her, kissing her cheeks and she squealed.

Deena snorted and Sam gasped in surprise before asking, “They’re not together, right? You told me that they weren’t?”

“No, but Simon is overly affectionate, and Kate tolerates it. He’s kissed my cheek a few times before I told him I was lesbian, and he’s backed off ever since to respect my boundaries. Kate describes it as friendly connections, but Simon is convinced that she’s madly in love with him,” Deena explained, and Kate glared at her from the ground as she pushed Simon’s face away from hers.

“Simon! Get off! And no Deena, I’m not madly in love with him!”

“But I have so much love to give Kate!” he complained, his words slightly slurred from Kate's hand being against his cheek.

“Then date one of the cheerleaders I’ve told you about! Or one the football players!” she yelled.

Simon have her a goofy smile before smiling mischievously.

“Nah, none of them would be able to tolerate me the way you do and don’t act like I haven’t caught you staring during cheer practice. You crush on the cheerleaders and football players too!”

Kate’s face flushed and Simon smirked at her before she ruffled his hair.

“Shut up Si-money. You know we’re platonic soulmates.”

That answer seemed to satisfy Simon as he helped her sit up right and he gave her a shit-eating grin.

“Hell yeah! Platonic soulmates! Now that’s something I can do,” he hummed happily, and she rolled her eyes, but her smile was undeniable.

The four of them watched the sky turn lilac with streaks of pink and orange and slowly but surely, the deep navy started to set in. The wind picked up, and soon the blankets were brought out and wrapped around shoulders. Deena and Sam cuddled together, their body heat more than enough, and Simon tried to cuddle with Kate before she scolded him.

“I already let you kiss me, Simon. Don’t push your luck with any skinship!”

“I just don’t want you to catch a cold! It’s called ‘being considerate’ Kate!” he argued back.

Deena tried to keep her laughter in when she looked over to them a few minutes later, with Kate looking grumpy because she was shivering, and watched as Simon wrapped his jacket around her as well as the blanket around them.

“This changes nothing, Simon,” she grumbled.

“Wasn’t planning on changing a thing,” he said, and that answer seemed to make her rest her back against his chest.

The stars came out and the sound of crickets echoed through the air. Deena wanted this moment to last forever. Everything was perfect.

“You going back home tonight?” Deena whispered into Sam’s ear, and she nodded.

“Yeah. Gotta get back before the parents but thankfully dinner is in the fridge, and I can avoid them for the evening by locking myself in my room.”

“You could always come back to my place.”

“You have a project to do plus even if you didn’t, I can’t. I’m visiting my grandparents tomorrow for breakfast and the parents would definitely notice my absence,” she said apologetically.

“You’re right. I should focus on school,” Deena said sarcastically, and Sam rested her chin on Deena’s head.

“I know you’ll create an amazing project.”

“You always have so much faith in me.”

“Why shouldn’t I? You’re Deena Johnson, my sarcastic, moody, intelligent girlfriend and I know you can do it.”

Deena’s heart swelled at the word.

Girlfriend.

She cuddled closer to Sam and watched the sky turn fully to deep navy, the lights from the town the only reason it wasn’t pitch black.

Deena knew they’d have to leave in a few minutes so that Sam could be home before her parents. Kate had mentioned she was babysitting that seven which automatically meant Simon would be accompanying her. Deena knew that Josh would probably be at home under a sheet and doing whatever dorky shit he did online, which left her alone to do work in her room.

She shook away those thoughts and decided to focus on how she was in Sam’s arms, feeling warm and with Simon and Kate, who made her stomach ache from laughter. She chose to focus on the sweetness from Sam's kiss on her tongue and the last glimpse of pale yellow before it vanished under the navy sky. She chose to look at the stars and close her eyes to make a wish, and even though she had grown out of the habit that wishes couldn’t come true no matter how hard you believed, she took the chance.

She could choose happiness now and that was all that mattered to her.

~~~

Thank you so much for reading!

These events take place before Sam's parents get divorced (and all the shit hits the fan) and she moves to Sunnyvale hence the Shadyside cheerleading uniform and all of them attending the same high school.

Kate and Simon are 100% my favourite characters and I adore how goofy Simon is. I definitely headcanon Kate as bi and Simon as pan (literally everyone in Fear Street is queer you cannot argue with me on this!) and I adore their friendship throughout Part One hence PLATONIC SOULMATES EVERYONE. Simon seemed to love hugging people and throwing his arm around other people's shoulders so I made in overly affectionate with Kate in this fic.

Not going to lie, I would love to write a part two for this where Deena is reflecting on this moment while visiting Simon and Kate's graves but that might make me sad soooooo...let me know if you guys would want to read some angst lol.

I also really love Ruby Lane and I might write a whole fic about her because she was definitely my favourite killer in the trilogy! Also Alice and Cindy because those girls were gay as hell and I really did think they were going to kiss at one point.

Anyway, thanks for reading and if you liked it, reblogs and likes are appreciated!

Stay safe, vanilla107 xoxo

[bard-of-worlds]

The Law is the Law chapter 8

@susiej1118

@elmokingkong

@silvergold-swirl

@id-dance-with-draco

@eridanuswave

@iwritelikeimrunningoutoftime

@zotinha456

@feliciakainzofspades

@miraculous-simmer7

@raisuke06

@heyitsbugette

@glasswolff

@abrx2002

@ livelifeauthorstyle

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Sorry this was a day late, i skipped a weakend in the story so sorry.  here it is and i hope that i will have the next chapter out faster then this one

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Alya slipped out of her room and stopped at her sister’s room, opening the door and looking it, smiling as she saw them sleep as she looked into the room.  I am never letting those two hang around Lila if I can ever again, I mean I trust her to look after them and she probably told them nothing but lies about herself.  And I can’t believe that Adrien thought we wouldn’t believe him, but I can see why he was thinking that.  I let both of them down and I let my sisters down!  Her thoughts died as she felt a hand on her shoulder that caused her to turn to Nora’s smiling face and she sighed, now or never.

 “Come sis, it won’t be that bad.”  Nora said as Alya smiled and sighed.

 “I dropped the ball so bad sis, so bad.” Alya said as she walked towards the kitchen, keeping her hand closed as she walked, mentally preparing to exposed everything that she hadn’t done, sure that her parents would be ashamed of her. As she came into the room she saw her father Otis seating at the table as her mother Marlena put the last of the leftovers away in the fridge and Alya coughed and they both looked up at her and Nora.

 “So what’s wrong Alya?” Otis asked as Alya and Nora sat down at the table as Marlena walked over and sat down next to him.  No one noticed Alya slipped something onto the underside of the table and Alya took a deep breath before she started.

 “I messed up, I…… to start with about two days ago a liar that I trusted framed and got Marinette expelled.” Alya began and Otis looked shocked as Marlena gasped as Nora scowled.

 “Marinette, your friend Marinette?  Why?” Marlena asked and Alya looked down. “Alya?”

 “They found the answer sheet for a practice test in her bag, then the liar said that Marinette pushed her down the stairs while they were walking to the principal’s office and then a necklace belonging to the liar was in Marinette’s locker.” Alya said as

 “Wait the lockers, but they don’t have locks!  And why didn’t the teacher see what happened when she was ‘pushed’?” Otis demanded as he stood up from the chair, a scowl on his face and Alya looked away.

 “She stayed in the class room, they were alone when they went to the principal’s office.  Then the lieing bitch took us to our locker room and her necklace was in Marinette’s locker.”

 “She, the liar just walked after falling down the stairs to the courtyard?  After a fall like that you’d get some wounds.  And the nurse just let her?” Nora asked with a growl and Alya looked shocked before she started to look sick.  “What is it sis?”

 “Lila didn’t even go to the nurse’s office, she just led us to Marinette’s locker.” Alya said and at this Marlena gasped.

 “Wait, don’t your lockers not have locks!”  Marlena said and Otis looked shocked.

 “They what?!  What kind of school is this?!”  Otis demanded and Alya looked down.  “Alya?”

 “That’s not the worst of it. I missed it when I investigated the school…… about five years ago a student almost drove another student to take their own life.” Alya said and her parents paled as Nora started to growl.  

 “How the heck did you miss that Alya?!” Nora asked angerly and Alya looked down and Nora winced. “Sorry sis, I mean……”

 “It was kept quiet, I….. it was part of a settlement to spare the school and to try and make it better.”  Alya said and looked up at her parents.  “My friends…..Marinette’s family is going to sue the school about this, how he said she was expelled and well everything, there’s going to be an expulsion hearing last I heard and no matter how it came out she’s……They were talking about going homeschool definitely.”

 “And you want to join them Alya?” Marlena asked as she reached over and grabbed her husband’s hands as he looked thoughtful.

 “Homeschooling?  Are you sure about it little sis?”  Nora asked and Alya nodded.  

 “The way they were talking, they might close the school to go over everything and if that happens well they might send us off to any-school in the city no matter what we want or what kind of school it is, this way we’ll be ahead of the curve and all.” Alya said with a nod.   “I’m setting up a private blog so that the other students can look over all the programs tomorrow.”

 “You’re setting up the blog because you want to make up for not believe Marinette right sis?” Nora cut in, causing their parents to look from her to Alya as they tried to understand what Nora had said.

 “Not believe her her……why?” Marlena asked and Alya looked down ashamed.

 “I thought it was like what happened with Daisy and me mom; I just saw what I did in her actions.” Alya said and Otis looked at his daughter and released a sigh as Nora shook her head.

 “Oh Alya.” Otis said with a look of self-hatred that almost broke Alya’s heart.

 “Dad, it wasn’t your fault. And you were right about me and Daisy.” Alya said as she looked at him with a smile.

  “Sis, you gotta let it go. The way it came out, the both of you were having a bad day and you acted like that for about a month before dad talked to you.” Nora said as she smirked.  “And he only knew what to say to you because he had a bad first encounter too right?”

 “Okay, I’ll admit to that. But homeschooling……… how are we going to not have the twins know about it?” Otis said and then he chuckled at Alya’s confused expression.   “What, are you thinking that they’ll not have problems with them doing it too?”

 “Fair point…… Alya are you going to the hearing?”  Marlena asked and Alya nodded.  “Then Nora will be going with you, she’ll ask for a copy of the minutes so the two of us can look it over and then we’ll talk about it, how the other hand how about looking into school around here that might be a good place to transfer to.”

 “Okay, okay.” Alya said and sighed.  Nora walked over and hugged her.  “Sis?”

 “Look Alya you made a call based on what happened to you.  Yeah it was the wrong call but everything that you knew said it was the right one to make.”  Nora said as she drew away.  “This isn’t gonna be the last time, and that you know it was the wrong call will help you a lot latter in life, trust me.”

 “Thanks.” Alya said as her parents got up and hugged her as well.

 “So, homework done, anything else that you need to do to get ready for tomorrow, anything we can do to help out?” Otis asked and Alya looked down and thought about it for a few seconds.

 “First, I need to talk to someone without Lila knowing, Nora can you watch the twins tomorrow, I need to track down a few people.” Alya said and Nora nodded.

 “Sure little sis, I’ll be glad to, but I’ve got something I need to do on Sunday.” Nora said and she shared a look with her parents.  “You head off to bed, I’ll be on twin patrol tomorrow.”

 “Thanks sis, I think I take a shower and hit the sack, is that okay?” Alya said and the other three stayed where they were until they heard the shower being turned on.

 “You’re going to talk to Marinette about this, aren’t you?  And nothing we say will stop you right?” Otis asked and Nora nodded.

 “Yep.”  Nora said and Marlena sighed.

 “Make sure you grab some of their cookies when you leave then, need some money for that?”  Marlena asked and Nora shook her head.

 “Why talk to her?” Otis asked and Nora sighed.

 “I think there might be something off with the story Alya told us, that she left something out on purpose.”  Nora said with a shake of her head.  “I figured that the little girl won’t.”

 “She is honest.” Otis said as he got up, never noticing a microphone on the underside of the table that Alya had slipped there when no one had noticed.

 As Alya got into the shower she removed an earbud as she turned off an app on her phone.  So glad I got that tech piece form Max, glad I commissioned it from him.  I gota send a message to Marinette about this, I mean I can’t not tell her, I mean I never told them about the ‘Akuma Attack’ attack that fizzled out, nothing happened and the butterfly never even got me!  But if Lila is working with Hawkmoth then I don’t know why she didn’t try and grab one during………..because if anyone of us saw it then she would have been exposed!  That lying rat, I will do everything that I can to take her down! Alya thought as she gritted her teeth and finished undressing before she got into the shower and let the water flow over her.  “Something else to deal with latter.”

  Later on as she walked into her room drying off her hair she grabbed her phone and got onto her bed before she activated a texting App.

 Reporterox; Hey girl able to talk or are you talking with your guest?

 BakeDesign; Alya!! It’s not like that!

 Reporterox; Sure it’s not, not yet anyway.  Anyhow, my sis is going to come over on Sunday, I told them about the liar but not the swarm.

 BakeDesign; You didn’t you tell them about the red bugs that attacked?

 Reporterox;  No….. I should have but I don’t want them to worry to much, say do you know where the weather girls will be tomorrow?

 BakeDesign; Alya. Fine I’ll try and not say anything, I can keep secrets you know.  And I think Nadia said she saw them at the station sometimes on the weekends before lunch once.

“Don’t I know it girl, don’t I know it.” Alya said with a smirk as she typed another replay.

 Reporterox;  Yeah, I know you can girl.  I guess I don’t want to make more waves now then we need, I mean my dad when he gets bit by bugs is one thing but my mom, let’s just say Nora inherited her temper.

 BakeDesign; Ouch.  

 Reporterox;  Don’t get me wrong, we’ve all got problems but well, mom once turned the air blue when someone insulted dad.

 BakeDesign; Okay I would do the same thing if someone insulted my mother or father.

 Reporterox;  Yeah, well tomorrow I’m planning to talk to Aurora about what you told me, find a way to get the information you got me to the others in the school.

 BakeDesign; Make sure that you do it safely, if Lila figures out anything that might then you’ll be her next target.

 Alya looked at the text and a tear escaped from her eyes and she shook her head.  After everything that happened you’re still putting others ahead of yourself, girl you are too good for this world. And that bitch is going to be driven out of here on a rail if I have anything to

 Reporterox; Don’t worry, Lila said she’ll be gone for the weekend so I’ll head to the station early to talk to Aurora.

 BakeDesign;  Good, I’ve gotten in contact with him and he wants to meet you all tomorrow so after lunch then, you see Manon is coming over tomorrow for me to watch so we’ll have to go see him after I let her go, so after lunch if nothing happens.

 Alya went still and released a deep breath and looked around her room before smiling that at least she might say goodbye to Trixx.  This is bigger than you Alya, this is about Paris. The best thing that could happen is that Mari and Adrien can keep theirs and keep fighting Hawkbutt, if I have to loose Trixx then so be it. Alya thought as she got her emotions back under control.

 Reporterox;  Good girl, then I’ll talk to Aurora and swing around to help with Manon after, maybe a play date at the park before she’s picked up…… no the twins are staying home for the day……. Long story okay and I don’t want to talk about.  So I’ll see you tomorrow and tell you about it all, have a nice night because I’m sure my dad will be here any minute.

 “Lights out Alya! You’ve got a big day tomorrow so make sure you have a good sleep!”  Otis said from the other side of her door and Alya looked up from her bed and smiled and sent off one last text as she got under her covers.

 Reporterox;  he just gave me the bell, see you.

 OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 Max sighed as he put away his dishes and finished cleaning up his dinner as he looked around his home as Markov recharged behind him.  I can’t believe that I was so wrong about them. I’m usually better but then that napkin thing was proof that I don’t always think things through. Max thought as he finished.  

 “Come on Max, I mean you couldn’t have known.  With all the data it stood to reason that we were right.”  Markov said and Max sighed as he walked out of the kitchen towards the living room as Markov took off and flew after him.  “You can’t blame yourself too much.”

 “I know Markov, but I guess with what happened I was too sure of what we found to think we were wrong.   That’s a problem I have I guess.” Max sighed and shook his head.  “But what really gets me is what they told us about the school.”

 “I suppose that the Principal wanted to protect the school’s reputation.  But you would think that they would have tried to keep that from happening again.” Markov said and Max sighed as he sat down and grabbed a controller as he turned the tv and game system on, quickly starting one of his creations.

  “I guess…… but still.” Max said as he leaned back against the couch and sighed.

 “I believe this is another reason your mother said that you need to talk to people more Max, at least Chloe wasn’t involved.” Markov said and Max looked at his robot as he hovered there.  “I predict that she would have, what’s the term, blogged about it right away.”

 “Maybe not right away, but maybe.” Max said with a laugh.  I mean, maybe the old Chloe.  She has become a lot better, but then I did see her mother and I can guess where how she acted came from but man, I don’t know who’s at fault.  I never thought the fact that my father is dead would be a good thing, I can only know him from the stories mom told me, I can never know if how he would thing about how I’m more brains then brawn.  Max thought as he called up a save file.  “I think maybe she’s trying to be a better person, but I can kind of see where and why Chloe became who she is.”

 “That is still beyond me Max, I am getting closer to that level of thinking is still beyond me.” Markov said with a sad ‘face’ and Max smiled at him as he paused his game.

 “I know you are Markov, that’s something else I’m proud about you, and then there’s the face that you showed the inactive to investigate Lila on your own, I’m so happy.” Max said and Markov ‘blushed’.

 “From the interactions with Marinette I knew that she wouldn’t do something so out of character. I first went through the easiest thing I could figure out, Lila’s fall.  I calculated with a seventy percent chance that Marinette tripped is the only reason Lila could have been pushed at all, but even that is suspect because of how Lila was able to walk away with the supposed fall.”  Markov said and then hovered to the left.  “Of course then there is the necklace found in Marinette’s locker, that was very suspect, how could Lila have known the stolen necklace was there?  How could Marinette have known about it since Lila never mentioned it before?”

 “A few things to mention to Marinette when I talk to her then.” Max managed as he realized all the unanswered questions that the principle hadn’t even thought of because of the chaos of the event.  “I can’t believe we missed all that!”

 “Don’t be too sad Max, nobody notice it even me; it was only after I looked over my files did I think of those questions.” Markov said and Max looked at him and his mouth dropped open in total shock.  “Max?”

 “Why didn’t the principle or Miss. Buister call for the nurse, why didn’t she come?” Max asked shakily and Markov looked at him and a question mark appeared on his face as he landed, a sign that he was trying to find out the answer in his data banks.

 “I don’t know…. I can’t create a possible idea.” Markov said and Max went still as he thought of one reason but there was no way.  “Max?”

 “Nothing Markov, I just can’t think of anything myself.” Max said before a ringing came from the phone. “Markov?”

 “There’s a video call coming in Max, shall I put it on the tv?” Markov asked and Max nodded.

 “Do it Markov.” Max said as he put down his controller.  A few moments later a woman with dark skin, brown eyes and short brown hair a low bun wearing a orange uniform with a patch of a moon before a yellow star.

 “Mom! You’re back on earth already?” Max asked with a smile

 “Hey baby, Markov how are you two?” Claudie asked as she stood before a camera with

 “Quite fine Claudie, a few problems here and there but everything is fine.” Markov said and Max looked at him as his mother gasped.

 “Are they serious Max?” Claudie asked and Max looked at Max and then sighed.

 “When are you able to come home?” Max asked and Claudie looked at him and he hoped that she didn’t read into more then he wanted as he tried to keep his face expressionless.

 “I should be home in a few days but if you need me to come I could see if I can get bumped up.” Claudie said and Max shook his head.  “Are you sure Max?”

 “No mom, it can stay as it is for now.  When you get back we will have to talk but what happened didn’t happen to me.” Max said with a smile and she looked at and sighed.

 “Okay, okay I’ll still try and get my post mission work done first, but I will let it take the normal course.”  Claudie said and looked at them with a smile.  “So anything else, any new Akuma’s that push the understanding of science?”

 “The last one was yesterday, I think it was someone who either loved dogs or worked with them, he could control dogs and rode a giant one.” Max said and Claudie looked at him and shook her head as an old horror that he knew all too well came over her.

 “You were safe right Max?” Claudie asked and Max grinned

 “When the attack started I was in my room, and I he didn’t come over here at all, I think he might have been defeated near the stadium according to what Chloe posted.” Max said and Claudie looked at him and sighed.

 “With what’s happening in Paris that’s the best that I can expect then.  I’ll be back in a few days and we’ll talk about everything then.”

 “Thanks mom, be safe and have a good day.” Max said and Claudie laughed a little.

 “Have a great night’s sleep baby.” Claudie said as she closed the video chat.  Max smiled and got back to his game was soon lost in the action.

 “That was better than I predicted Max, I was sure she would have tried to get here faster.” Markov said and Max nodded.

 “Mom promised me that if I said it was okay, she’d not rush home.  And this way I have a few days to look over the data and give a good presentation to her about it.” Max said with a smile. This is perfect, this way I don’t have to bother mom on the station and we can talk about what I learned and then work from there!  I just hope that those programs that Chloe found for Marinette are right for all of us.  I know mom fought against me doing that before but after what happened this might be for the best.  Max thought as he played his game, his mind trying to relax when a beeping from his phone caused him to look down and saw a message from Marinette.  “This is perfect, Marinette is going to take me to

 “I think I’ll stay home Max, if someone hacks into me then Hawkmoth could have the other Miraculous!” Markov said as he hovered around the room.   “One stray Akuma and he’ll know!”

 “Then I guess we’ll have to work on your security programs Markov.” Max said before a bit of music from the tv caused him to frown.  “After tomorrow.”

 OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Nathalie walked into the mansion and stopped before Gabriel’s office, sighing as she did so. He’s not going to like this at all.  But the plan I made is the best thing for everyone involved.  She thought as she gathered her courage to knock on the door when a voice came from within.

 “Come in Nathalie.” Gabriel said from within the office and Nathalie swallowed and opened the door. “Have you found my son?”

 “I think so, after checking his friend Nino’s place I then went to the next likely place he could be, the Hotel.” Nathalie said as she looked at Gabriel as he sat behind his desk looking at his computer.  “Once there I found evidence that isn’t a definite it is the best lead we have.”

 “And what did you find that told you that?” Gabriel asked and Nathalie smirked a little.

 “I overheard the Bourgeois girl talking to a staffer about a special guest, something about how he hasn’t had to leave the suite.”   Nathalie said with a small smile.  “Given how she feels about him I’m positive that he’s there.”

 “Good, once you can talk to him about this then it can all be fixed.” Gabriel said as he looked up and frowned at something before nodding.   “Yes, that should work.”

 “What should?” Nathalie asked and Gabriel smirked a little.

 “The secondary Lila problem.   I’ve scheduled a shoot for her tomorrow while you were gone, got back a reply and have just received another report from a special photographer who will be covering the shoot.” Gabriel said with a smirk that caused Nathalie to raise an eyebrow.

 “And with everything that’s happening you think pandering to Lila is a good idea?”

 “With this photographer, yes.  She will give me a perfect report on just what kind of model Lila is.” Gabriel said and looked down with a smile at another email that he opened and read the contests of.  “And he’s gotten to the last school she’s been in, I should have a very revealing report on her by sometime in the next few days.”

 “When did you send an investigator to look into Lila?”

 “After she was in the mansion the first time Miss Nathalie.”  A voice form above caused Nathalie to look up and see Nooro hovering there with a scared look on its face.  “I begged Master to do that, she doesn’t feel right.”

 Nathalie looked at Nooroo for a few moments before turning to Gabriel with a frown.  “And you decicded to work with her after an empath told you she wasn’t right?”

 “Again yes, but if it had worked out perfectly then we would have finally had what we.  Why the Dunpain girl alone might have won us the day!” Gabriel said with a scowl.  “But of course that girl Lila couldn’t even do that right!”

 “The mass attack didn’t fail because of her, it was because I was week.” Nathalie said and Gabriel sighed and shook his head.  

 “She planned the expulsion with my help, but it was her idea. We just tried to make it……larger.” Gabriel said as he looked up.  “Perhaps the next attack should be someone with a grudge against the  Bourgeois, someone who will cause enough chaos that it will let you get to the floor he’s on and get him out.  If you can talk to him about it, then maybe this nightmare will end without too much damage.”

 “What about Lila?” Nathalie asked and Gabriel smirked.

 “I expect that I will have all I need to fire her within the next few days.  I will of course have to explain to Adrien why I did it…… I plan on telling him that I did it because I didn’t trust both Adrien and the school to tell me about what has happened there.” Gabriel said and Nathalie looked down at her tablet before looking up at Gabriel.  

 “Are you sure that’s a good thing Gabriel?” Nathalie asked and Gabriel looked up before looking down and sighing.

 “No, it’s not.  But that is the only way I can go and still have a chance not to destroy my relationship with my son.  And when will she get back from those negotations with our overseas distributers?” Gabriel asked and Nathalie looked confused before she realized who he ment.

 “Oh, her?  A few days if the airport does their jobs right.” Nathalie said as she looked up

 “Good, once she’s here I want her to talk about the lawsuit about Adrien.  I want her to go over everything that the courier gave to us.” Gabriel said and sighed and looked down.  “Nothing is going to be the same no matter what happens, will it?”

 “No, I’m sorry Gabriel but I have said before you need to make more time with him.”  Nathalie said and Gabriel sighed and shook his head. “Gabriel.”

 “My Miraculous gave me empathic abilities that I haven’t been able to turn off, even working here I still get traces of Adrien’s feelings about her absences and it magnifies my own.  The way I’ve been has been the only way I was able to stay partly sane and still be able to function.”  Gabriel reminded Nathalie who looked down.  “And remember what happened when you used it?  You were unconscious for the entire day when they overwhelmed you.”

 “I know, I remember Gabriel. But there had to be a better way to do this that didn’t sacrifice your relationship with him.” Nathalie said going over an old argument and Gabriel sighed and Nooroo floated lower, a look of sadness on his face.

 “I’m sorry master, but all my holders always have had this problem with others emotions when others have feelings based around the same pain.” Nooroo confessed and Nathalie looked at Gabriel who only looked down, this old argument the three of them had was something that had been said many times during his campaign as Hawkmoth.

 “On another note, the Pack Leader was something else sir.  Shale I put it into the possible returns file?”  Nathalie asked and Gabriel looked up at her and sighed before nodding. “Of course sir.”

 “Oh, make sure you that you are notified the moment the paperwork about Miss Dupain-Cheng is underway, if the Lila situation is brought up I will of course deny everything.  The modeling contract was just to get Lila help in keeping an eye on Adrien, a mistake that I am paying for.” Gabriel said and turned to look at his wife’s portrait.  I know that you will hate what I have become, but I only did this to get you back, once Adrien knows why I did this he will understand, I’m sure of it!   I know it will take a long time to heal what I’ve done, but I know we can fix this! Gabriel thought as he looked away from Nathalie as she shared a look of long suffering with Nooroo.

 “Of course sir…….. but could he have gone to her house to hide?” Nathalie said and Gabriel shook his head as he understood what she was saying.

 “No, from what I know she’s just a school mate that is friends with that Nino boy’s girlfriend, beside being classmates they have no interactions.” Gabriel said and looked at her and held up a hand.  “The reason that Adrien did that to Lila is because she was used by Lila because of something about him, no more than that, from what Chloe has said the two girls aren’t friends, Adrien would not risk his oldest friendship by befriending her.”

 “I will look into the school; something is bothering me about what has happened.” Nathalie said and looked at Gabriel.  “If this plan fails and we can’t find him before Miss Dupain-Cheng hearing I’ll head there, if she has one then I’ll head there and take away a copy of the minutes.”

 OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Alya walked out of her building and sighed.  At least I was able to slip out before they woke up, now Aurora should be at the station so all I need to do is head there and my Ladyblog should let me into the station and talk to her, I hope.  Alya thought as she walked through Paris, keeping an eye out for any sigh of Lila.  For this to work she had to make it to the station without Lila having seen her, and given that she had said that she would be taking a weekend trip to help out a charity auction she had to hope that meant that Lila would be staying in, but given that she didn’t know where Lila lived she had to keep on her toes, she couldn’t mess this up.

 As she moved through the streets she kept an eye out for anything that might hide Lila the false fox and within moments she had left the area and got on a bus, never noticing that Sabrine and her dad had been driving by, nor that Sabrina had noticed Alya.

 “So you want to be homeschooled Sabrina?” Rodger asked and Sabrina tore her eyes away from the bus and nodded at her father.  “If something’s wrong with the class you can always transfer.”

 “It’s more that I discovered something about the school itself dad, its bad.” Sabrina said and sighed. This is so not the place for the conversation but dad had to pull a late night and then this time was the earliest we could talk. And I don’t want to talk while we’re moving.  Sabrina kept an eye out and notice that they were almost to the Seine where Chloe was waiting for her.  “It’s complicated and I’d rather we not talk about it in a moving car.”

 “That bad then?” Rodger asked and cursed himself when he saw Sabrina nod.  “Okay, then lets talk about it tonight when I get home, but what sparked you finding out about it?”

 Sabrina stayed silent until Rodger stopped the car and she looked at him with a hard stare before replying. “Marinette was framed and expelled.”

 Before Rodger could react Sabrina got out and ran towards Chloe and the two walked off, Rodger staying still for a few more moemnts before he drove off, a scowl on his face from what he was told.  

 Sabrina walked on and kept her face blank and Chloe looked at her before sighing.  “So you just told him about what happened?”

 “Just the results, not the nitty gritty Chloe, he stayed out late.” Sabrina said and Chloe sighed.  

 “Once the report crosses Daddy’s desk I’m homeschooled no matter what, the only thing I can hope for is that I’ll be pick the program.” Chloe said as they started to hear music that grew louder as they walked closer to it.  “Sometimes I don’t know if being a mega bitch is worth it.”

 “I know why you’ll the way you are, you might not think like a lot of people our age but the core results of it is worth it Chloe, you just need to learn to……show it more like other people.” Sabrina said and Chloe sighed.  

 “Well, no more tears or jeers!  Let’s enjoy the morning and then lunch out, my treat Rina!” Chloe said and Sabrina laughed as they walked closer to the music.

  Alya got off the bus outside the TVi building and took a deep breath before she prepared herself and walked in.  she moved towards the front desk and smiled at the receptionist.

 “Hi, I was wondering if Aurora, the Kidz weather girl came in yet today?” Alya asked and the receptionist looked at her and then at the computer.

 “Yes, she and Mirelle are due to record a segment today, but they haven’t made it in yet……. And there they are.” The receptionist said looking over her shoulder and saw Aurora and Mirelle walk into the building talking.

 “…..so I was thinking, maybe we should get some new dresses for that party next moneth from Marinette if she can slip us in.  I mean I love her work and a nice dress my size…. What is it Mirelle?” Aurora trailed off at how Mirelle’s face fell when she saw Alya and when Aurora turned she scowled at Alya as soon as she saw her.  “Oh it’s you.  What do you want Alya?”

 Alya winced, for the last few weeks Aurora had been a little short with her and Alya could figure out why now, she didn’t believe Lila and with how Alya had put the interview on her blog she deserved it and more.  “Aurora I need to talk to you, please.”

 “About your new friend Lila, oh she wants to broadcast her recent activities?” Aurora asked and Alya glared back.

 “I wouldn’t help that liar if she was on fire!  This is about the school and Marinette!” Alya said forcefully and Aurora took a step back and Mirelle spoke up.

 “So what happened finally made you realize she’s a liar then?” Mirelle said and Aurora looked around and Alya did as well and noticed the people in the lobby were watching them and Aurora grabbed Alya’s arm.

 “Come on, we’re a good hour early and we can talk in one of the unused dressing rooms.” Aurora said as she Mirelle led the way to an elevator and soon they were going upwards. “I’m sorry what happened to Marinette was what it took to have you see the light Alya.”

 “Me too.” Alya said and stayed quiet until they reached a room with Aurora and Mirelle’s names on it. Stepping inside Mirelle grabbed a paper cup of water and gave it to Alya with a smile.

 “Here, you look like you need it.” Mirelle said with a smile and took a deep sip of it and smiled at her.

 “Thanks, I did.  I can’t believe that lying bitch tricked me so bad.  I can’t believe that I didn’t believe Marinette.” Alya said and Aurora scoffed and shook her head.  “What is it?”

 “Look Alya….. Marinette is a great judge of character, a really great judge.” Mirelle said and looked down before taking a deep breath.  “A year ago she didn’t like a sub, and he was caught trying to steal the proceeds of a school function.”

 “Yeah.” Aurora said as Alya gasped.  “If Marinette doesn’t like someone that’s a big red flag right there.”

 “But Chloe….. I mean she and Marinette are getting along better.” Alya said and Aurora shrugged and Mirelle giggled. “What?”

 “Marinette hates what Chloe does not Chloe the person.” Mirelle said and shrugged.  “I know it’s weird but Marinette said it herself and well she’s trusting her instants about people.”

 “That’s our girl but let’s not talk any more about our favorite designer and let’s talk about what you want to.” Aurora said and looked at Alya who sighed and looked down. “It can’t be that bad.”

 “What if I told you that a few years ago a girl was driven to attempt suicide at our school by a bitch like Lila, that the reason more people don’t know is because a deal was made that got rid of the principle who shield the bully?” Alya asked and looked up at Aurora who stared at her stormily and Mirelle who had paled in horror.

 “Then I’d say that if the school did that and expelled Marinette then I wouldn’t trust our current principle.” Aurora said and Mirelle looked at her and Aurora sighed and shook her head.  “Of course when he didn’t even react to the fact what happened to Marinette, that he did, was illegal but of course he didn’t.”  

 “Yeah, Kim sent me a text about that.” Alya said and then she looked at the two girls before her.  “But I’m here because I got a lot of information about home schooling programs from Mari, and I knew I had to get them to the other students at school and I knew you would be the best person to go to for help with that.”

A knocking at the door caused them to turn and Theo wearing a headset and with his eyes closed pocked his head in.  “One hour ladies, the makeup artist will be by in about ten minutes so finish up and get ready for work!”

 “Thanks Theo, see you in a bit.” Aurora said and smirked as Theo left.  “Good that he’s still doing that think after the last staffer was fired for accidently peeping.”

 “Yeah. And no Alya we won’t say any more about that, and don’t spread it around okay?” Mirelle said and Alya nodded and looked around and threw her cup into the trash.

 “Well thanks, I’ll send you the address for the website I’ll put the information onto and you’ll get it to everyone who needs it?” Alya said as she stretched and smiled at them.  “I’ve got to go, I promised that I’d help Mari watch Manon today.”

 “Nadia’s whirlpool, ouch.” Aurora said and even Mirelle cringed.

 “Don’t worry.” Alya said as she left.  “I’ve got a lot of experience keeping track of kids like her.”

[rocksandrobots]

Of Rocks and Robots Ch. 35 - Wrestlers, Boxers, and Ninjas, Oh My (Part 2)

Honey Lemon leaned in close to Varian's ear, a tempting smile playing across her lips, as she conspiratorially whispered, "Do you wanna go to tonight's wrestling match with me?"

Varian tried to stifle a laugh as he feigned a half hearted protest, "I thought we're supposed to be studying for finals?"

They were inside the studio apartment that Honey Lemon shared with Gogo; textbooks splayed out upon the table. Though small by most standards, the residency did occupy a sleeping loft, a fully equipped kitchen, and had a full bath complete with tub, which made it functionally larger than the dorms that Varian had lived in previously with Wasabi. There was no sofa though, nor any other leisurely dedicated space as Honey Lemon's own bed, which was positioned below the loft that Gogo slept in, took up the non-kitchen area. So there would be no more impromptu naps here as Varian had to either sit in one of the dining room chairs or on the floor, much to his disappointment; not that he would ever say so out loud.

But oh how she made it hard to focus even without a couch to cuddle on. She wasn't trying to distract him, he knew, but she just wouldn't stay still. First she ran about the apartment trying to do some last minute tidying up as he arrived. Next she tried to play the good hostess, asking if he wanted anything while she rummaged around the kitchen. Then even after finally getting her to sit down and open a text book, her free hand would constantly pick up her phone to read some notification or reply to a text, often sparking a random conversation that had nothing to do with the physics test he was trying to prepare for. Now here she was asking him to abandon the study session all together and he couldn't even get annoyed at her for it.

Everything she did was mesmerizing. Her voice was a siren's call that he could not ignore. She could have requested that he travel with her to the opposite side of the globe and he'd already be halfway finished packing a bag. But most frustrating of all was the fact that she was clearly oblivious to the effect that she had on him. She held him in her sway and didn't even know it.

"So do you wanna go?" She timidly asked again. "I mean finals aren't even for another whole week and I just managed to scalp two tickets off of Ticketwatch." She held up her phone so Varian could read the screen that confirmed her purchase.

Varian had to chuckle at the ridiculousness of Honey Lemon treating such an innocuous request as some sort of naughty affair that he had to be persuaded into doing, lest he refuse to succumb to temptation and take the dutiful high road of being a good and diligent student. Did she not know who she was talking to?

Still Varian wasn't going to let her win so easily. "I helped you with midterms, so it's only fair you gotta help me out with finals. And unlike some people, I like being prepared beforehand so I'm not over worked." He teased, thoroughly amused.

Honey Lemon gave an exaggerated pout at this lighthearted jab at her scheduling abilities and Varian nearly lost it in a fit of laughter. She was so earnest in everything that it was comical. But he couldn't stand to see her sad, even if only in jest, and willfully caved into her demands.

"Okay, okay, I guess we can do this on Sunday instead." He dramatically sighed.

He was rewarded for his compliance by her jumping out of her seat with a huge grin and flinging herself at him to wrap him in a tight hug.

"But on one condition," he said as he held her close, "we stop and get food first cause those prices at the concession stands are criminal."

"Alright," she agreed as she pulled away, "Just let me grab my purse."

Varian watched her as she ran over to the other side of the room and bent down to grope under the bed for the wayward purse; still in complete awe of her. Though he still tried to play things cool as they prepared to head out the door.  

"Are you wanting to call Fred and see if he wants to come too?"

"Ah well, I could only find two tickets. They're sold out for the night." Honey Lemon answered guilty. "But he can come another time." She assured as she closed the door and locked it.

Varian chose not to press the matter, but he couldn't help but smile to himself knowing that she had thought to ask him first; even if it was only because he was the one who happened to be around at the time.

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

Joe's Diner was right across the street from Honey Lemon's apartment. The retro style restaurant had seen better days, what with its rusty sign and peeling paint, but it was clean and the food was good which made it a favorite hang out for the locals.

Varian had eaten there before with the rest of his friends, yet a new sight greeted his eyes as he walked through the door. Sitting at one of the tables was a purple gelatinous blob with eyes and a mouth. It excitedly waved one of its long jelly like appendages in the air upon seeing Honey Lemon and himself enter.

"Hi Globby!" Honey Lemon answered back and the blob stood up to meet them.

"Oh Honey Lemon I'm so glad you're here. I wanted you to meet someone." 'Globby', as the thing was called, said.

"Oh I'd like you to meet someone too. This is my friend Varian. Varian, this is Globby; he's Carl's boyfriend." She explained as if this answers all of his questions.

Yes he knew Carl had a boyfriend, and that said boyfriend was a superhero, but no one had bothered to mention that he wasn't human.

"Oh Varian," Globby's eyes lit up in recognition, "Yeah, you're in Carl's boxing class. He told me so much about you. Nice to finally meet ya!" He shook Varian's hand vigorously, which covered his arm in the same purple gloop of whatever it was Globby was made of.

"Uh, nice to meet you too." Varian replied back as politely as he could as he tried to wipe his hand clean on his pants.

"Globby here helps us sometimes with the 'you know what'." Honey Lemon whispered.

"Yes, not to brag, but what ya might call the I'm the protector of San Fansokyo! But I wasn't always so. Once I was a humble thief, and then this happened to me," Globby pointed at his right arm as it dripped goop on the floor, "and then I became a super villain. But once I discovered that the city was in danger I lept into action to save the day! With a little help from my fellow crime fighters Big Hero Six. But seriously, I'm a hero now! Can you believe it! Me!? And I owe it all thanks to Honey Lemon here."

"Oh, no," Honey Lemon blushed, "You did it yourself."

"No HL, I won't hear any false modesty from you." Globby protested. "You believed in me when nobody else did. Even when I didn't believe in myself. That matters a lot. So thank you. Plus you also kind of gave me superpowers."

"How did she do that?" Varian asked.

"Oh well it was kind of an accident." Honey Lemon said.

"I stole her a chim-purse." Globby explained. "Then I used it to break into Krei Tech to steal a neurotransmitter device. And then I kind of tripped and fell while wearing it and the chim-purse kinda exploded and now here I am!" He spread his arms wide at this last sentence, a huge grin on his face.

"Globby is a polymorph." Honey Lemon clarified. "He can change his molecular make up to be whatever he wants it to be."

"No way." Varian breathed in awe. "You mean to tell me you can charge and discharge photons and electrons on cellular level at will?"

"Uuuuuuh, I don't know about that? But I can turn myself into chocolate!" And with that Globby's hand transformed into what looked like a giant chocolate bar, of which he bit into and with mouth still full said, "Ooh nutty!"

Varian watched with a mixer of amazement, horror, and nausea, as Honey Lemon stood by silently; unsure of what to say. The awkwardness however, was dispelled by the sound of raucous laughter coming from the booth Glooby had been sitting at.

"That is a neat trick mi amigo."

A large man, wearing a trench coat and a mismatched luchador mask turned around in his seat to look at them. Varian recognized him from the wrestling ring.

"Hey you're…"

"El Fuego" Honey Lemon whispered in dread.

"Not anymore, now I am El Agua!" The wrestler proudly proclaimed; oblivious to Honey Lemon's discomfort. "It's a bit of a rebranding thing."

"Oh yeah, we saw you at the match last week." Varian excitedly jumped in, also not catching onto Honey Lemon's disquiet demeanor, "You were great! I especially liked how you threw The Sandman out of the ring with only one arm. That was cool."

"Oh hey, a fan!" El Fuego, or Agua as he now was called, enthused. "Always happy to meet fans. Would you like an autograph?"

"I sure would!"

The wrestling champ chuckled in delight as he pulled out a pen and began to sign his name upon a napkin.

"This is who I wanted you to meet," Globby explained. "Salinas here reached out to me for help. He's trying to go straight and is working really hard to get his life turned around."

"Yup, no more life of crime for me." El Agua confirmed as he handed the autograph to Varian. "I'm a changed man."

"How nice." Honey Lemon said with a strained smile on her face.

"Yeah I know, right!? I told him how much of a positive influence you were when I first started out superheroing." Globby continued. "I'm glad you stopped by, so that you two could finally meet. Wanna join us?"

He gestured to the booth and Honey Lemon looked like he had just asked her to dive into lava.

Varian was going to take up the offer but she answered before he could.

"Oh no, we only came here for… for… some… uh, ice!"

"Ice?"

"I thought we came here for fo-"

"Ice... ice cream that is." She nervously laughed. "Yup, we're just going to get some ice cream... to go. Wouldn't want to be late to… where we're going."

She wore a plastered grin as she turned to the counter to order. "Two vanilla ice cream cones please."

Varian and the others watched on in confusion as she took the two cones from Joe and then hurried back. She practically slammed one of the cones into Varian's chest as she hastily handed it to him, and before he could process what was happening, she grabbed the end of his sleeve and started to drag him out the door.

"Bye!" She yelled and Varian awkwardly attempted to wave before the glass door slammed shut behind them.

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

"Uh… Honey Lemon?" Varian asked after they were a few yards away from the diner.

"Hmmm?" Honey Lemon barely answered back as she strode forward, determined to put as much distance between her and the conversation they had just left.

Varian pressed on. "Ice cream is nice and all, but I thought we were going to go get, um, real food."

Honey Lemon finally slowed and turned to meet him, taking a guilty bite from the frozen treat. "We will, I just… I thought we could go get pizza instead!"

Varian turned back to look at the sign hanging from the restaurant window. Pizza was advertised alongside the menu's other assortment of food. He raised an eyebrow and Honey Lemon wilted under his skeptic gaze. She took another bite of her ice cream and suddenly found the toes of her shoes very interesting.

"Honey Lemon."

She looked up but still didn't answer.

"Honey, you're very sweet," Varian coaxed, "but you're a terrible liar. You know that right?"

Honey Lemon sighed and rolled her eyes in a rare display of frustration. "Look I just... didn't want to get caught up in eating dinner with them. We got on stuff to do."

"You mean stuff like going to the same wrestling match that El Agua was no doubt going to later?" Varian asked incredulously. "I figured you'd jump at the chance to hang out with an actual wrestling star. Maybe he could have gotten us backstage passes or something, I don't know?"

"Well, I don't." Honey Lemon said flatly.

Varian paused and looked at her in surprise. He couldn't remember ever seeing her being so cold or evasive.

"What 's wrong?"

Honey Lemon bit her lower lip, "I just.. I just don't trust El Fuego. That 's all."

"Why? What did he do? Did he hurt you?"

"No, no. It's just he's a super villain and we've fought him before…"

"But didn't Globby just say he used to be a super villain too?"

"Well yeah, but that's different."

"How so?"

"Well, Globby's nice and he tries really, really hard. He doesn't mean any harm, even back when he was a thief."

"Oh so, this other guy did something really bad then; something even worse than theft."

Varian thought he had hit upon the problem, but Honey Lemon's response was not one he expected.

"Weeeelll… Sort of…"

"What did he do then?"

"He- Well he.. He's a bully."

Varian tilted his head in confusion; not understanding Honey Lemon's point.

"I mean he called Baymax a bunch of names and tried to challenge him and Hiro to a fight." Honey Lemon explained.

Varian waited to see if she would list any other transgressions and when she didn't, all he could do was give her a look of utter bafflement.

"That's it!?"

She nodded her head timidly.

"Is- is that even a crime?" He asked with a hint of exasperation.

"Well, not exactly…" She admitted. "But it 's mean."

"So what?"

Now it was Honey Lemon's turn to act surprised, yet Varian didn't give her a chance to continue.

"You can't just lock people up for not being nice."

"Well we didn't," Honey Lemon defended, "but neither do I have to be friendly to someone who isn't."

Varian had to admit she had a point.

"Ok, fair enough. No one said you had to like the guy."

"Thank you."

"But he still deserves a second chance, surly."

"Well sure, and if he does become a nicer person that's great, and I wish him the best. But I don't wanna hang out with him."

Varian sighed and shook his head. "'Nice' has nothing to do with it, but of course if you don't feel comfortable being around him we can go somewhere else to eat." He pulled out his cell phone. "I'll call ahead and order us a pizza."

He continued walking towards the bus stop but Honey Lemon stood rooted to the spot in confusion.

"What do you mean 'nice has nothing to do with it'?  She eventually asked.

'Well you can't tell how good or bad some is by how polite they are."

"I know that. What matters is how they treat people."

"Yeah, but sometimes it's more complicated than that. Doing one bad thing, doesn't mean they're a bad person. You don't know what El Agua's life is like. You don't know why he did what he did."

"El Fugeo," Honey Lemon corrected. "And I know he tried to pick a fight with my friends; Your friends."

"Yeah, and from the looks of things he didn't actually hurt anybody. Hiro's never even mentioned him before."

Honey Lemon gave him an offended pout, and Varian tried to once more defuse the situation.

"Look, I just.. I know of people who've done far, far worse, and plenty of 'nice' people who'd stab you in the back. Anyways would you like the cheese pizza or the veggie supreme."

He pointed at his phone as he tried to change the topic, but Honey Lemon

wasn't ready to let the conversation go just yet.

"This isn't Corona." She said quietly.

"And thank goodness for that." Varian agreed, though his voice was tight with pained sarcasm.

"You think I'm being mean, by blowing El Fue- El Agua off?" She asked.

Varian immediately looked up from his phone. "No. Oh no, of course not; you're the kindest person I know. If you think the guy is bad news then you're probably right."

She searched his eyes for reassurance.

"Look,' he soothed, "let's just forget the whole thing and have a fun evening. We can get a five dollar pizza at Luigi's, then head on to the match and we'll see who's better at heckling. Loser has to buy the next tickets."

Honey Lemon snorted with laughter.  "Who decides that?"

"We do. Whoever makes the other laugh more wins."

"Oh you're on." She challenged; right when the bus pulled up.

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

Varian and Honey Lemon stepped out into crisp night air as they exited the arena. Crowds of people pushed past them also trying to leave the event and so Honey Lemon hooked her arm around Varian's so as not to get separated.

If there was one thing Varian knew about Honey Lemon, it was that she was a very tactile person. She showered everyone with physical affection; hugs, hand holding, cuddles, and pecks on the cheek, even people she just met would be subjected to her glomping them as if she'd known them her whole life. Therefore Varian tried not to look any deeper into such innocent action, but it still made his heart skip a beat to have his crush so close. Nothing could wipe the grin off his face as they hurried down the sidewalk to the bus stop.

"So why do you always root for the bad guy?" Honey Lemon asked as they went along.

She was referring to the wrestlers. Her and Varian always seemed to favor opposing teams. While she cheered on the heroes of the play, he always gravitated towards the heels that opposed them.

Varian shrugged. "I guess I just like the underdog. The villains tend to be more interesting in my opinion."

"But they're mean; at least in the story, I'm sure they're perfectly nice people in real life." Honey Lemon hastily added.

"All except that Vanguard guy you like. He's a jerk on stage."

Honey Lemon playfully sighed and rolled her eyes. "I don't see it that way. He's written to be like a knight in shining armor."

"Yeah and he's infuriatingly smug while doing it. He goes on and on about 'justice' this and 'honor' that, but what is he really fighting for? His own glory, that's what. It's a game and he wants to win it. At least the 'bad guys', as you put it, are more honest about why they're there."

"But it's all made up." Honey exasperated, "No one is more 'honest' than anyone else because it's scripted. If the story says someone is good or bad you just accept it. It's all a part of playing along and having fun with it."

"Oh sure, but I personally find the villains more fun because nothing is really at stake. Heroes in stories are always too perfect, too pure. Who can relate to that? Who's never wanted to lash out when angry or fight against the status quo? It's easy to be 'good' when you've never had to struggle for anything."

Honey Lemon studied Varian intently as she mulled over his words, and Varian could sense that he'd exposed a nerve; whether it was Honey Lemon's or his own, he wasn't sure.

He was just about to laugh it off and change the subject in order to ease the tension, when suddenly a very large and intimidating figure stepped out of the shadows. Varian instinctively moved to place himself between Honey Lemon and this new threat. Which was silly, he knew. She was an actual superhero. She didn't need him to shield her.

However the 'threat' was not a threat at all. The large man before them burst out into a very familiar boisterous roar.

"Oh I'm sorry mi amigos. I did not mean to startle you. You must not recognize me without my mask." El Feugo laughed.

He was out of costume, and dressed in the trench coat that they had seen him in earlier at the diner. Only this time the luchador's mask was off revealing a man in his late twenties with short black hair and a small scar running across his nose, indicating where it had been broken in a previous fight.

"You should have told me you were coming to see the show tonight." He continued on. "I would have gotten you better seats."

The wrestler's face beamed with an infectious grin and Varian was tempted to make polite conversation. He was always ready to make friends with just about anyone who wanted to, but Honey Lemon's grip tightened around his arm as she tensed up. He spared a quick glance back to see her still huddled behind him, looking like a deer caught in headlights.

"Uh, yeah, well we didn't want to trouble you." Varian answered.

"Oh no trouble at all. Any friends of Globby, is a friend of mine. Hey I know, I can get you tickets to tomorrow's match." He dug into his pants pocket and pulled out two tickets before either of them could protest. "We players always get a couple of free tickets for family or what not. I haven't got anybody else to give them to, so you might as well use them if you can."

Varian tried to politely turn him down "Oh no thank you. I don't know if we can make it. Finals are coming up and all that."

"I insist. They're good till the end of the month and they come with backstage passes too."

Without any other excuses to give, Varian took the tickets and said thank you, though he could feel Honey Lemon's disapproval radiating off of her as he did so. Still she neither said nothing, nor made any moves to stop him.

"Well I guess we better be going." Varian said, trying to exit the awkward situation, "We don't want to miss the bus."

"Oh me neither." El Fuego agreed as he walked with them to the bus stop. "Wrestling is my passion, but it doesn't always pay enough to hire a chauffeur to drive you around in a sports car." Then he doubled over laughing at his own joke and not unkindly nudged Varian with his elbow, "Not unless you get a promotional deal, am I right?"

Varian gave a fake laugh, "I wouldn't know. I never wrestled before."

"Oh that's right, Globby, said you were taking boxing lessons instead. Ever thought of getting the ring?"

"Oh no, my aunt would never allow that."

El Fuego titled his head in confusion. "I thought you two were in college? You still let your aunt tell you what you can and can't do? You stand up and be your own man."

Varian noticed Honey Lemon's lips tighten at that and she squeezed Varian's arm tighter. It was slightly unnerving to see the normally cheerful and carefree girl so clearly annoyed.

"Yeah, well she's the one paying for the classes." Varian explained and El Fuego nodded his head and then launched into another topic of conversation as the bus arrived.

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

And so it went the whole ride back to the apartment. El Fuego carrying on, freely talking about everything and anything, clearly oblivious to the fact that his company wasn't wanted. Varian trying to politely keep up his end of the conversation while ignoring the vice like grip Honey Lemon held his arm in. He was sure it had fallen asleep from lack circulation by the time they arrived at their destination. All while Honey Lemon, herself, kept deathly silent the whole way. She wouldn't budge from the Varian side, nor look away from wrestler sitting across from them; as if El Fuego had been a poisonous snake rather than just a man with a poor perception of social cues.  

What Varian couldn't figure out was why she wouldn't voice her displeasure. It was her evasiveness that threw him off kilter more so than El Fuego's chatter.

Yet he didn't have to wait long to find out, for as soon as they said goodbye to the man and made it back into the apartment, Honey Lemon let out a frustrated scream.

"Arrugh!"

"Have fun?" Gogo asked deadpan. She was sitting at the table eating a bowl of cereal when they had entered.

Honey Lemon's answer was another rage filled scream before flopping face down on the bed.

"Dude, what did you do?" Gogo asked of Varian.

Varian was offended "Why automatically assume it's my fault?"

"We met El Fuego." Honey Lemon said before an argument could break out.

"Where?"

"He was with Globby at Joe's and later he rode the bus home with us on the way back from the wrestling arena." She tiredly explained. "He says he's trying to 'go straight.'" She flung her hands up in exasperation before flopping back down on the bed, curling up with a pillow while continuing to pout.

Gogo gave the same bewildered look that Varian did earlier that day. "Oookaay annnd…?"

Honey Lemon scrunched up her face and revulsion. "Aaaand, he gave us free tickets to the next match, can you believe him?"

Gogo and Varian exchanged confused looks.

"Oooh how horrible" She sarcastically replied.

This really set Honey Lemon off. "You don't understand. He's just pretending to be nice to try and get us to trust him."

"And why would he do that?" Gogo asked.

"Well to...to... I don't know, to get to Hiro maybe."

"Does he even know who Hiro is? Cause all he ever cared about was fighting "Big Hero Six" and to him that just means Baymax."

"Then...he must be after Baymax then."

"Does he know that Baymax or any of us are in Big Hero Six?"

"I..I don't know. I don't think Globby would tell our secret. He didn't mention it when we met him." Honey Lemon starred out into the middle distance trying to recall their past conversation.

"Well, even then, it's not like he can actually hurt Baymax. I mean he's a robot." Varian added.

This only rewarded him with a narrow glare from Honey Lemon. Varian would have backpedaled away had he not been so shocked.

"You took the tickets from him!" She yelled.

"What else was I supposed to do? He insisted. It's not like we have to use them or anything."

Gogo ignored their spat as she texted on her phone. The reply dinged back; drawing everyone's attention.  "Okay, I just texted Globby. He says he hasn't told El Fuego anything about Big Hero Six other than that he works with us sometimes."

Honey Lemon pouted in confusion. "Then what is he after?"

"I don't know, friends maybe?" Gogo shrugged. "Whatever it is, it's nothing to do with us or superheroing."

"But...but, but he…" Honey Lemon stuttered over her words as she desperately tried to come up with another justification. "He… he was acting really creepy; alright!? Jumping out of shadows… laughing at.. at… well everything…"

"He was walking to the bus stop already and just happened to run into us." Varian clarified for Gogo. This made him the victim of another angry stare from Honey Lemon. "What!? It's true."

"Well, I don't trust him. I think he's up to something." Honey Lemon sulked, hugging her pillow tighter.

"Ooor maybe you just don't like him." Gogo said. "You're allowed to just not like people. You know that right?"

Honey Lemon looked surprised by this revelation. She opened and closed her mouth several times to form a response but the words just wouldn't come.

"Yeah and if anyone knows about not liking people, it's Gogo." Varian teased. "She doesn't like anybody."

This earned him a light punch on the arm. He just couldn't win today.

"Look, it's fine." She said, returning her attention to her roommate. "I know you're a little ray of sunshine, who's friends with the whole world, but not everybody gets along and that's ok. I'm sure even Varian here knows people he dislikes, and he's Mr. Congeniality."

Varian gave a look of offended confusion. He didn't know if 'congeniality' was a jab at his expense or a compliment. Either way he was sure the descriptor didn't fit him.

"Is there anybody you don't like?" Honey Lemon asked him.

"Who me? Yeah, I got a whole country's worth of people I hate."

"See?" Gogo confirmed, not catching on to the deeper meaning behind his words.

Honey Lemon pouted again, but didn't argue back as she mulled over her friend's advice.

Varian stepped in with a peace offering. "Look, would like for me to throw away the tickets?"

"No." Honey lemon sighed. "Ask Fred to go with you, since he didn't get to come this time."

"You sure?"

She nodded yes and gave him a small reassuring smile.

"So, are you still mad at me?"

"Oh, I was never mad at you."

"Really? Cause it sure seemed that way when you yelled at me just then."

"I'm sorry." She whispered sheepishly.

"Don't worry about it. I'm sorry too. Next time we won't take the bus, how's that?"

She agreed and Varian made ready to leave.

"Do you want me to drive you home?" Gogo asked.

"Naw, It's alright. It's only 10:30. Besides, the bus is less drafty than the motorcycle." He joked.

"Well ok, just be safe and text one of us when you get back."

Varian rolled his eyes "Okay 'mom', See you Sunday."

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

They said their goodbyes and Varian walked back to the bus stop. He called Aunt Cass to let her know he was on his way home, and then proceeded to text Fred about the tickets while waiting on the bus to arrive.

Just then someone grabbed him from behind and placed their hand over his mouth. He dropped his phone in surprise and tried to break free of the person's grip. But no matter how he kicked and squirmed he couldn't escape their grasp.

Yet still even more frightening was the fact that he could feel his limbs grow heavy and his vision swam. They held a damp cloth in the hand that covered his mouth and whatever chemical itwas dipped in was making him lose consciousness. He listed the possible combinations in his mind as darkness rushed up to meet him; chloroform? no, morphine? probably not, fentay-.....

"Got him boss. We're on our way now." A man said over the intercom in his ear. He then picked up the unconscious teen and carried him off into the night.

[bokunoheroanalysisforthefuture]

Chapter three! I already skimmed through it and just. Holy fuck I’m falling in love with this series all over again, and this is just the opening arc, how the hell is this so good??? I’m genuinely just in awe and fuck is it making it hard to decide where to have a cut-off point for this chapter. I suppose we’ll just have to see what fate decides.

(Also, the temptation to just paste in all of the last three pages of the chapter is so incredibly strong, you don’t understand.)

[No. 3 - Entrance Exam]

We start off with some exposition: UA’s hero course is designed to give students all they need to go pro, and is the toughest and most popular hero course in the country, with only a 1 in 300 acceptance rate. Discounting the four slots that are recommendation students, that’s 36 slots a year, which is about…

Yeah. That’s a lotta applications, and that’s just for the hero course! 

Several alumni are mentioned: All Might, who declined the people’s choice award; Endeavor, who’s stopped more crimes than anyone else in recorded history; and Best Jeanist, who’s won the Best Jeanist award eight years running. (One of these things is not like the other~ One of these things just doesn’t belong~) The exposition suggests that graduating from UA is basically a requirement for becoming a great hero - something which we’ll learn soon enough isn’t quite true.

But yeah, Endeavor with the record for crime handling, even above All Might. Quite the impressive hero, though that face…

Not precisely reassuring.

So yeah, Izuku here mentions the date of the exam - February 26th. I figure that this has to be a Sunday, for the simple fact that Japan has a slightly different school schedule than us. Most notably: Japanese schools (some of them, anyways) have 5.5 day school weeks. Yes, that means the first half of Saturday can still be a school day. 

While I couldn’t confirm for sure whether this is more common among the higher end schools, I feel like a school like UA, with its ‘Plus Ultra’ motto, would definitely be a school to have a half-day (or even a full day) on Saturdays, and since they also have to accomodate for middle schools that have Saturday morning classes, I figure that it would make the most sense for UA to schedule this exam on a Sunday. 

The benefits of this, as we’ve already seen, is that we can then narrow down the timeline for the rest of the series, just based on that single, confirmed date. We know from the last chapter that the Sludge Villain had to happen on a Thursday or Friday of the first week of school (April 14th/15th), with the first training session two days later (the 16th/17th). But what this also gives us is when Izuku’s first year of UA starts, AND the possible years it could start on. 

Since we see the glowing baby is in a modern hospital, we can assume that’s correlated to about our times. Give it a few generations, and we can guess that we’re in the 2200s or 2300s for the current era. Based on that assumption, we get the following years that have February 26th on a Sunday:

23rd century potential years: 2204, 2209, 2215, 2226, 2232, 2237, 2243, 2254, 2260, 2265, 2271, 2282, 2288, 2293, 2299

24th century potential years: 2310, 2316, 2321, 2327, 2338, 2344, 2349, 2355, 2366, 2372, 2377, 2383, 2394, 2400

As a side note, when I got into the series, my brain weirdly latched onto the idea that this had to all be happening in the year 2317. I don’t know why I decided on that number, but that’s what I rolled with, and hilariously I could be RIGHT about the year the current manga arc is happening in, provided Izuku’s first year is in 2316. Sometimes you just know, ya know? I know at least one other friend made these calcs independently of me and chose to run with 2237, which is totally valid! Probably makes more sense to be in the 2200s, but there’s room depending on how much time one thinks has passed.

As for when Izuku’s high school school year starts, we know that Japanese schools start on the second Monday of April. Since we don’t know if this is a leap year or not, we’ll end up with two dates, but that’s fine!

Feb 26 (Sun) -> Feb 27 (Mon) -> March (6/5, 13/12, 20/19, 27/26) -> April (3/2, 10/9)

Therefore, Izuku’s first day of classes (not counting the orientation, which I’ve seen a few other timelines assume is on the Sunday before classes start) is April 10th (or the 9th if a leap year)! I know this is all in the future from this chapter, but still, I wanted to share this at some point and figured now was as good a time as always.

Math!

Sorry, I’ve just wanted to share this math I did for a while now, I put a lot of work into it and I am very proud of it. Let’s get back to the chapter.

So Izuku lives a 40 minute train ride away from UA, and has made it just in time for the exam. Apparently, this is only the practical portion? Or well, that’s the part that gets focused on in this chapter, with no mention of the paper exam. I would imagine they’d be the same day, though? But I suppose one can do whatever they like with it.

He’s standing there looking at the school, thinking about how he didn’t have a chance to test the power, while the other students head in-

Excuse me, Toga?? I know that hairstyle is just a bit off, but… ???

...right, anyways. Izuku is wondering whether the hair really did anything (also, it was apparently sour, which, ew.) Katsuki comes up behind him and tells him to move aside.

Truly a flattering image. Izuku panics a bit and greets him, but Katsuki just walks by without another word or gesture, leaving Izuku confused as he watches him head on into the building. The narrative notes that since the villain incident, Katsuki hadn’t bothered Izuku, while the unnamed characters in the background apparently recognize Katsuki from the ‘sludge’ incident (well, not shocked how the fandom held onto that name). 

Izuku notes that he’s gotta stop flinching instinctively, and then tries to hype himself up, noting that it’s not like before, and think about the past ten months while taking a wobbly step forward- and then tripping over himself.

I’m sorry Izuku just has so many fantastic faces in this chapter I am crying trying to limit myself to just a few. But yeah, that little derp as he realizes what’s happening is adorable, especially while Ochako gently sets him back on his feet. She mentions that it’s her quirk, and apologizes for using it, but that it’s a bad omen to trip and fall. (I wonder if that gets played with again during later parts of the series… will have to check to see.)

While Izuku freaks out over talking to a girl, Ochako notes that the exam is nerve-wracking, and then heads off while wishing both of them luck as Izuku stares after. 

This fucking kid. I love him so much. His flustered excitement gets him some weird looks from the others still outside.

We transition to a new character (Present Mic) who immediately shows off his performative side by calling for a ‘hey!’ which… is met with silence from the crowd. He doesn’t let this throw him off, instead letting them know that he’ll present the guidelines for the practical, followed with a ‘YEAH!’ that gets met with an even heavier silence.

Izuku and Katsuki are seated next to each other, with Izuku descending right into excited muttering over Present Mic and how he listens to his radio show every week. Also with the assumption that all the UA teachers are pro heroes, which I mean, true, but still. Katsuki tells Izuku to shut up.

Present Mic explains the test: ten minute long ‘mock cityscape maneuvers’, with the applicants split among seven arenas, labelled ‘A’ through ‘G’. With more than 10k applicants total, that’s about…

Yeah, more than 1500 per arena. Fucking hell, no wonder the robots deplete so quickly in only a few minutes. Also of interest:

“Bring along whatever you want.” So technically, if Izuku were able to procure the tech and training to handle the robots, there would be nothing keeping him from getting into UA quirkless… though I imagine any kid who gets in mostly on tech probably gets side-eyed… though if said kid made their OWN tech, they might also get an offer from the Support department.

(AU where Mei accidentally took the heroics exam and got a shitload of points, but she ended up taking the offer for Support instead despite setting the record for most points in said exam. Katsuki forever wants to fight her. Izuku and her are good friends.)

Also, another thing I love is how Katsuki just told Izuku to shut up a moment ago, and then:

He’s the one to initiate conversation on the details of the test, basically agreeing on the reasoning behind dividing up the students between arenas. Katsuki is annoyed at not being able to crush Izuku, which has Izuku awkwardly silent. 

Also mini-Mic.

Poor, poor Mic. He just wants audience participation. Anyways, he continues on to explain the points system, with the help of cute little Mario-themed silhouettes. There are three kinds of faux villains, with different points awarded for defeating each based on their difficulty levels. Also, attacking other examinees is prohibited!

A student (cough Tenya) raises their hand to ask a question, going on to note that the handout sheet appears to have four varieties of villain, and that such a blatant error (if it is one) reflects poorly on Japan’s top academy. He then spins around and points at Izuku, calling him out for his muttering and how distracting he’s been, and that ‘if this is some sort of game to you, then please leave immediately!’ 

Is that… Mineta seated behind Izuku? I can’t find another panel that disproves that theory, so. Whelp. If you ever for some reason want to have Izuku accidentally deal with the grape early, he’s right there. 

Anyways, Present Mic brings the convo back to the initial question/comment, noting that the fourth villain is worth zero points, and is more of an obstacle. He then brings up Super Mario Brothers, the old retro game, and compares the Zero Pointer to a thwomp. There’s one per site, serving as a gimmick that’ll rampage in close quarters. Tenya thanks Mic and apologizes for the interruption. 

And so we get our final words from Present Mic:

??? either he's referencing the original guy (which I think would be a misquote because I doubt OG Nap ever noted anything like that) or some French hero or the like who took on the name.

Discord offered this to me while putting together the post:

So there you have it. Tentatively confirmed.

Those EYES man, dude’s got the Rinnegan going on.

Honestly, I have to end on this panel just because of that last line from Present Mic. Like, look me in the eyes and tell me this isn’t the exact point to end on. 

The discord’s takeaway from this:

[freyjasamael]

Musicals and the Avengers (Avengers x Stark!Reader) (Teen!Reader)

Summary: After the death of your mom, Tony Stark has taken you into his arms. He doesn´t have a clue about your upcoming musical, in which you play a leading role. Maybe it hits too close to home.

A/N: So this is my very first fanfiction. I had this idea and just decided to write it. And I was happy with the outcome, so I thought why not share it? Please leave criticism! I hope you enjoy it! 

Word count: 3.8 K

-

Tony Stark isn’t a family man. No one tried to deny this. But he certainly tries very hard. 

You didn’t know Tony long. Hell, you didn’t even know he was your father till 6 months ago! No one knew. Your mom died back then. It all felt like a weird nightmare. Shocked couldn’t describe your state after you found out. You were like a zombie. The only answers you gave were a bold “yes” or “no”. 

You first thought that you would go to an orphanage but after some research from some officers they found out that your father was your next guardian. You never met him.

-

The loud riff of an AC/DC song could be heard all over the lab. If you were to walk around you wouldn’t even hear your footsteps. You probably wouldn’t even hear an explosion over the noise. But suddenly it was just some harsh notes in the background as it went almost quiet. 

“FRIDAY what did I tell you about turning my music down?”

“Sir, you have an incoming call from the NYPD. It seemed urgent enough to turn your music down." 

The loud click of the wrench Tony was holding accompanied the sight that was leaving his mouth. With frowning sleep-deprived eyes he looked at the ceiling. "Okay put them through" 

"Mr. Stark?" 

"This better be important officer? Detective?" 

”-Officer Hernandez Sir.“ 

"Yeah right be quick." 

"You are the next guardian of Y/F/N Y/M/N Y/L/N. Her mom died and she entered your information as the father of the kid. I suggest you come and ugh- take your kid?" 

"mY WHAT NOW? FRIDAY check that please” Confusion couldn’t describe Tony´s face. 

“Sir, the information provided is real”

-

With your eyes cast down, you walk through the halls of hell. School. 

“Hey Y/N you have Biology next right?” Peter looks as tired as you feel. He was behind a history essay and had to pull an all-nighter. 

“Yeah why are you asking? You are in the same biology class?” A visibly confused look washes over your face. 

“Well about that-” He suddenly scratches the back of his neck. He always does that when he wants to ask a favor. 

“You can copy my homework-" 

"Oh really thanks Y/N! You are an ANGEL!” His mood shifts instantly. You are used to it. Peter is your only friend to whom you feel comfortable talking and just because he copy´s your homework sometimes doesn’t mean he´s a bad friend. Everyone has their problems. 

He knows that you always have your homework done. Tony was very strict about school. It is annoying -yes- but after you moved in with Tony it also gave you a feeling of stability after the incident with your mom. He kept you busy -and still does-. 

“No problem Peter. You probably would have done your homework if it weren’t for the history essay.” A quiet chuckle escaped your mouth. “But you know you could have asked Mr. Rogers or Mr. Barnes, I mean… They liv-" 

"They lived in that time yeah I know okay? But I wanted to finish the death star with ned and I just couldn’t wait okay?" 

"Are you saying that Lego is more important than school?” MJ appears out of thin air behind Peter. Like always Peter shrieks like a girl but then shuts up very quickly. 

“JEEZ- MJ what did I say about sneaking up on me?” Peter is clutching his heart with a slightly panicked but amused expression. 

“What? you don’t have your diapers on?” Now both you and MJ laughed full on. 

“Ha ha just because I wanted to try something ONE TIME!” MJ is still laughing as Peter tries to explain himself. 

“We should probably get going right, Peter?” Peter shoots you a glare which doesn’t last long because he instantly warms up again. 

“Okay you lead the way Mrs. Deetz” He bowed and made room for you to walk. 

“Really funny. Just because I have a leading role doesn’t mean I´m automatically arrogant Peter… Anyway, bye MJ see you later!" 

"See ya!” With a now neutral face, MJ turned around and started walking to her class. 

“Uhm Y/N I know I shouldn’t care but, uhmmm when are you… you know?” And here it comes. Peter asks you about this since you got the leading role. 

“Going to tell Tony that I´m playing in the school musical? Nuh-uh Peter not gonna happen.” Peter suddenly looks at you with a pitiful expression. 

You know that he just wants to help. But you don’t want Tony to find out. You know that he´s going to be disappointed because you lied to him. All Tony knows is that you stay longer at school because you are in the robotic´s club. 

And you don’t want him to know that you’ve been lying to him. He probably wouldn’t have approved of your club activities if you said that you wanted to join the theater club. Well, you don’t know Tony that long anyway. So you weren’t sure what his reaction would be. 

You try to keep a low profile at the tower and around the others. It’s not like you don’t like the other avengers. But it seems weird. It doesn’t feel right either. Since the beginning, you always had your doubts about why they were so nice to you. Why would they want to befriend a teenage girl? You kept your distance. Sometimes you asked homework questions, which they were always happy to answer, but you never had a long-lasting conversation that wasn’t about homework. 

Tony always tried to talk to you. He was annoying sometimes. But you don’t want to blame him for that. He tries his best, which is certainly not very helpful but he tries. One day he bought you a brand new custom made Mercedes. It was a nice gesture but he didn’t even know that you didn´t have a driver’s license. 

After you’ve crushed his bubble he -of course- sent you away to get your driver’s license. You have to admit it though, the test drives with Sam and Bucky had been very amusing. If you ignored the fact that you almost crashed the car while they were arguing who of them should instruct you. 

After that, you went to practice your driving with Steve. He was much calmer. Which also calmed you. The practice drive was also very soothing because Steve told you stories about his old life. You were probably not focused on the road but it helped you relax. 

You suddenly snapped out of your thoughts and look at Peter. “No. And it stays that way. Just stop Parker okay” The sudden shift in your mood isn’t unnoticed by Peter, so he just goes quiet and sits down.

-

After a long day of rehearsals, you just want to go to sleep. Especially because it was Monday. Monday sucks. 

Urgh I still have homework Your mood is suddenly more on edge because you still have to do your homework. You just want to go to sleep. 

The school musical is next week and you have to be in perfect form for it, as you don’t want to disappoint your teachers. You still have to come up with an excuse as to why you are going to be home late on the weekend. The school has 3 shows planned on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. But you have a plan. 

“How was school?” Steve asks you with a friendly smile as you pass him in the hallway. 

Your steps fasten but you grumble out a quiet “okay” before closing your door loudly. 

Sam, who was now also standing in the hallway just chuckled “She doesn’t seem very happy" 

"When does she?” Steve´s mood suddenly shifts. He would never understand why you just don’t want to talk to any of them. But he does understand that you need your time, especially after the incident with your mom. 

The day you came to the tower you were very pissed. He remembers that day very clearly (for a man of his age).

 Your eyes were all red and puffy. But there was something that was crushing his heart. The way you looked at everyone, even if it was just for a split second. It was dumb, but you reminded him of Bucky. Not in a nostalgic way but in a pitiful way. 

“Man you just gotta give her Time. She opens up when she wants to. If we push her she just pushes us away further.” Sam is quite enthusiastic at that point. But it doesn’t surprise Steve. Sam helped him too. 

“I know… I know.” Steve goes into the kitchen/common room with Sam on his tails. 

The kitchen is a sight to behold. It has beautiful Italian marble counters with modern white cupboards. It looks modern and sleek. The Oven is something completely different. For Steve, it looks like Alien technology. He is lucky that he could even figure out the coffee machine. (Which took a couple of weeks) 

Clint is standing at the coffee machine with his pot (Yes he has a whole pot. Because he always said that the mugs in the kitchen were ´like espresso cups´ to him.) while Wanda is sitting at one of the barstools opposite of him with her phone in one hand. 

“All I´m saying is that Nat wouldn’t even question it." 

"What’s going on here? Are you onto something Clint?” Sam is always one for pranks. 

“Nooo why?” Clint raises his brows as he takes a sip from his Pot. Steve just gives him a questioning look in return. 

“Anyway, what’s for dinner?” Steve is always hungry. As is Bucky. Supersoldiers just don’t seem to get full enough. 

The sound of talking could be heard from the kitchen. Tony and Bruce are talking about some science stuff again. 

“Anyway, I´m hungry what about you guys?” Tony is clapping in his hands as he turns to the rest of the Avengers like a teacher would turn to his class. 

“I don´t know I wondered the same actually.” Wanda is now engrossed in her phone as she responds. A thought crosses Tony’s mind because you can actually see when he has an idea. 

“Okay, how bout´ chinese? If that´s healthy enough for capsicle of course.” Tony doesn’t shy away to roll his eyes. 

“If you keep rolling your eyes they will get stuck, Tony. I don´t mind chinese.” The sentence was faster out of Steve’s mouth than he anticipated. He just hopes Tony doesn’t leave another sarcastic remark. But Tony never grows tired of making fun of his age. Tony opens his mouth slowly while looking at Steve. 

Here we go, Steve, thinks. 

“Chinese it is then! FRIDAY the usual order please." 

"Oh wow, I really thought you were gonna say something different to Steve” Sam snorts in amusement. Tonys’ eyes get a glimmer. 

“Nah I guess I´m too hungry to make fun of Mr. Rappin´-with-Cap” Tony is quick with his remark. 

Clint is quick to move over the sink as he spits out the coffee he was just taking a sip of. The common room was hollering with laughter. Sam was clutching his stomach as Steve just rolls his eyes. 

“iF yOU kEeP ROlLinG yoUr EyeS tHeY WiLL gEt StUCk” Tony always has to top it off. Steve was used to his banter, especially because Tony isn’t the nicest if he doesn’t sleep 

“Yeah yeah whatever makes you happy Tony”

-

Dinner is always awkward. Since you´ve come here they always tried to talk to you. Whether it was about school or friends you weren’t really talkative. 

After two weeks they eventually stopped. They talk about missions and funny stories. Sometimes they would still ask you stuff, just so you wouldn’t feel like an outcast. 

You never said anything on your own, so when you asked something they all went quiet and looked at each other as if they just saw a ghost. 

“So uhm Tony I wanted to ask you if I could go to a sleepover this weekend? It would be from Friday evening to Monday. I´ll take my school stuff with me so that I can go straight to school.” Your quiet voice cut through the conversation. Every set of eyes were set on Tony. 

His fork is still halfway in his mouth. He slowly sets it down and looks at you with a questioning look. He can be strict but you never asked him something like that. He is quite perplexed before he just slides in his relaxed demeanor. 

“Uh sure if you have your homework all done.” He ignores the sharp glares from his teammates. 

Oh Fuck You thought. If you have to finish your homework you would be sitting till 9 PM. You always finish your homework at around 9 PM. 

“Come on Tony she never asked for something before be more chill” Natasha was being the cool aunt as always. You like her even more now. She just looks at you and gives you a quick wink. 

Thank God someone with common sense The table seemed to grow out of its frozen spell. Now everyone was eating like before. 

“Yeah Tony let the girl go out. School sucks anyways” Sam is now happily supporting you. 

Tony looks a little sad but quickly changes into his strict persona 

“Nuh-Uh no homework done no sleepover Y/N.” You just look at him for a second and then get up. 

You mutter a quick “Fine” before disappearing into the hallway. The whole table just looks at Tony as he eats. 

“What?" 

"Really, Tony? She asks for one thing and then you are still being like this?” Steve just shakes his head. 

Bucky nods and says “Even my ma´ let me go to friends. Even though I was failing English.”

 Sam is quietly laughing and just pushes out “When was that 1930?” before he can’t hold himself from laughing. Tony chuckles along. 

“Ugh shut up birdbrain” Bucky grumbles under his breath. Natasha just looks at Tony with a fierce stare. 

“Okay, okay she can go to the sleepover.” He just stands up and starts walking to your room. “Why must I live with assassins?”

-

As you are working on your homework you hear a knock at your door. You can think of who is on the other side of the door. Either Natasha or Steve to cheer you up. They always try to make you feel better when Tony had another strict parent moment. 

“Come in” Without looking up from your homework you hear the door open and close. Normally they would try to talk to you, and then give up after 5 minutes. 

“You can go to the sleepover even if you haven’t done your homework” The voice of Tony surprised you. So you slowly start to turn around to face him. Confusion is written all over your face. 

“I´m sorry that uhm… I´m so strict… Yeah… I guess that’s it." 

Wait he actually apologizes? What is happening? It seems that your face grew even more confused because now he is grinning. He slowly starts to walk towards your door. 

Am I supposed to say something? I mean it can’t hurt, right? A small "thank you” can be heard as he is halfway through the door. He just smiles and closes the door. 

Wow okay, I guess he isn’t too bad… And you return to finish the last page of your English homework for today.

-

Thursday. You actually like Thursday the most. It´s your most relaxed day of the week. But today you don’t like Thursday. 

Everyone is panicking and no one is relaxed. Of course, they are stressed, tomorrow is the first day of the show. You are surprisingly relaxed even though you never sang in front of an audience. The rehearsals were again taking all day. You normally come to the Tower around 6 to 7 PM. But right now it was 7 PM and you won’t finish up until 10 PM. You take your phone out and text Peter that rehearsal takes longer. He was always at the tower on Thursday. He had to keep the ´intern´ play up and real. Peter always had your back. But Peter had a plan.

The dining table was stocked with all types of superheroes sitting at it. The stew is being brought in by Vision. There are eyes ogling it. 

“Has anyone seen Y/N?” Vision asks as he puts down the stew.

 A couple of no´s can be heard around the table. Vision looks around and his eyes set on Peter who is visibly uncomfortable while looking at his phone. 

“Peter?” He asks the boy. 

“Huh?” Not even acknowledging Vision’s first questions he looks engrossed in his phone. 

“Have you seen Y/N today, Peter?” Vision is asking him again, louder this time. Now he has Peter´s attention because he hurriedly puts away his phone and looks around the table. 

“Uh her robotic´s club takes longer she said it´ll be around 10 PM until she comes home." 

"What?” A frowning Tony now looks at him “Why would a robotic´s club take till´ 10 PM?!" 

Peter´s eyes widen and he starts to panic. "I- Mr. Stark I don’t know I- I´m just- She just- Urgh" 

"Peter calm down, why are you so nervous?” Clint is now paying attention. 

“I- I´m not nervous Mr. Eye- Mr. Clint I- Okay… Uhmmm….” Peter is thinking. Hard. Everyone could see that he wants to say something. 

Sam is getting impatient. He just wants to eat "Just spit it out juice boy" The whole table is now looking at him. 

“I- Okay I can’t say much.” Tony´s brows shoot upwards. “Okay then tell us what you can" 

"You should see this for yourself I don’t want to be a snitch. Just come to the school tomorrow at 8 PM. Please don´t ask.” Peter calms down but they know that he won´t give any more information. 

“Okay, I guess we can do that. Right folks?” Tony just looked around at the table. 

They all look confused but eventually, Wanda said “It´s like a team excursion” Sam and Bucky both groan at the same time. Steve just shoots them a glare 

“Yeah but I hope some people can get their shit together." 

The whole table shouts "Language!” without skipping a beat. 

“So can we eat now?” Sam has his hands on the stew already.

-

You look at yourself in the mirror. The makeup is on point and the costume is looking good. The black dress and black wig let you look gothy and emo. Your heart rate goes up as you hear your teacher shout “5 MINUTES GUYS!" 

You try a calming method that Bruce once taught you. It always helps, no matter how stressed you are. 

Why wouldn’t it work? He literally turns into a green angry thing if he doesn’t calm down. Breathe Y/N just breathe. It´s gonna be okay. 

On the other side of the curtain, the Avengers sit in their chairs. All visibly confused under their ´disguises´. Peter sits next to Tony. Tony just looks confused at him. 

"I swear its gonna make sense.” Peter seemed nervous. 

But why? Tony thought. 

The principal is at the microphone “Good evening everyone. Thank you for coming to our yearly school musical show. This musical was put together by talented our theater club and the members of our school band. I proudly present ´Beetlejuice: The Musical´" 

 Everyone was visibly confused. 

Steve, who sat next to Tony, just turned and said "So this still is about Y/N right?” Tony just looked at Steve and shrugged as the first notes of the Show are starting. 

The scene of a casket and black-dressed people are moving. The kid who plays the pastor speaks. 

 “In times like these, we have no words. We have only each other. 

Today we come together to mourn the passing of Emily Deetz; 

devoted wife of Charles, beloved mother to Lydia. Scripture tells 

us, “Sorrow not, for we do not walk alone.”

 Wait Tony is looking closely at one of the black-dressed people on the stage. 

“You’re invisible when you’re sad" 

If you have good ears you can even hear some of the gasps of the Avengers. You don’t have good ears. 

"Clocks tick and phones still ring 

The world carries on like mad 

But nobody sees a thing” 

For the first time ever, Tony was genuinely surprised. His daughter could sing? And so good too? Why had you never talked about your show? 

“Whispering behind their hands" 

Tony is proud. So proud. 

"Lost for kind words to say 

Nobody understands 

And everyone goes away" 

And it hits him. He listens. And he is proud to listen.

Grownups wanna fix things 

When they can’t it only fills them with shame" 

Has he done something wrong? 

"So they just look away 

Is it being greedy to need somebody to see me 

And say my name?" 

Oh, Fuck He thought

It’s going good You thought after the prologue. You hadn’t even acknowledged the audience. Now your part is coming up again. 

"Hey Mom, dead Mom”

 It´s going great Y/N just keep going. You can do this. 

“Dead Mom 

I’m tired of tryin’ to iron out my creases 

I’m a bunch of broken pieces 

It was you who made me whole 

Every day Dad’s starin’ at me 

Like all, "Hurry up, get happy 

Move along 

Forget about your mom" 

You suddenly sense all eyes on you. It´s coming down like you were shot. But you keep going. But you keep yourself together for the rest of the solo. 

"Whatever it takes to make him say your name 

Dead Mom" 

Now you look around the audience. Nothing too weird. 

Wait a damn minute You think you saw someone, but you quickly brush it off as you go off the stage. 

While you were starting to sing your duet with Beetlejuice the Avengers are in trance by your voice. No one heard you sing before. They are absolutely smitten by your performance. 

"You’re so smart 

A stand-up bro" 

But they can see that your face falls for a second. You calmly scan their row and look at all of them while still singing. You continue your performance. 

"Teach dad a lesson 

He’s gonna freak when we possess him" 

You were grinning a little as your favorite part comes up. But you quickly go back into character. The part comes and you look at Tony. He looks surprised, which doesn’t affect your calmness. 

"So, he wants the perfect daughter 

I’ll lead that lamb to slaughter" 

A fire goes off in your eyes as you sing the lyrics while directly staring at Tony. He just gulps as you end the song. 

Steve just looks at Tony and straight-up says "Good luck pal." 

Maybe I´m too harsh… 

As you go up the stage again you promise yourself not to be so hard on Tony. 

At least he tries. You think

----

Thank you so much for reading! Please leave criticism or any comments!

[atlafan]

Take it Slow - Part Sixty-Eight

a/n: okay this is my first shot at a harry:y/n fic, and it will be multiple parts. y/n had a bad experience with an ex over a year ago, and finally accepts her coworker and good friend Niall’s invitation to go on a blind date with his friend Harry.

Warnings: FLUFF SO MUCH FLUFF, and a wee bit of smut. 

Masterpost (all previous parts can be found in the masterpost)

The next day you and Harry drive out to a Lowe’s to check out their outdoor section. Your balcony wasn’t huge, but it was large enough to fit a small table a few chairs, with room to fit a grill.

“These chairs are comfy.” You say sitting down on one of them. “Come sit, tell me what you think.” Harry shrugs and takes a seat in your lap, and you start laughing.

“Rather comfortable I’d say.” He moves his butt from side to side. “Could really see myself sittin’ on this outside.”

“Harry!” You squeal. “Get your big butt off of me, we’re in public!” You giggle. He turns to look at you.

“Oh, so when we’re in public you don’t want this ass, but at home-“

“Harry!” Your face goes beat red, and he stands up. You stand up and shake your head at him. “Please, just sit in the chair.”

“Geeze, didn’t think you’d get all flustered.” He sits down. “This genuinely is a nice chair, I think we should get a few.” He stands up and takes your hand. “What do you think of a glass table, this round one looks nice?”

“Good eye, I agree.” He kisses your temple, and then you go to look at the grills.

“We don’t need a huge one right now, just somethin’ to get the job done.”

“I don’t even know how often we’d use it, we don’t eat meat.”

“Yeah, but we could throw veggie burgers on it, or just regular veggies. Corn, god, I love corn on the cob in the summer.”

“Me too, actually.”

You both pick one out that you like, and find an associate to order everything up. The gift card your dad gave you was a big help. They said they’d be able to deliver everything by the middle of the week. Harry walks over to the paint section to show you some of the colors he’s thinking for his office.

“Lou called me yesterday, forgot to tell you.” Harry says on your drive home.

“Oh? Everything okay?”

“Oh yeah, everything’s fine. They’ve just pushed the date off a little later. El wants to wait until the baby’s born. Said she didn’t want to be pregnant in all of her photos.”

“Don’t blame her for that.”

“Neither does he. Plus it just gives them more time to save up for everything.”

“How’s she doing?”

“Oh, she’s good, about to start her second trimester. Lou said you can actually see her bump. He’s been enjoying actually gettin’ to be a part of things this time. He didn’t get to do any of the pre-baby stuff with his ex, other than a few doctor’s appointments. He said every night he rests his head her stomach and like talks to the baby.”

“That is the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“I’d do the same thing, you know?”

“I’m sure you would. You’d have a stack of bedtime stories ready to go too.”

“Mhm, and I’d sing to it.”

“Harry…you don’t sing now.”

“I do sometimes.”

“Only if the volume’s turned all the way up.”

“Maybe I get a little self-conscious because you’re such a good singer.”

“I am not, stop it.”

“You’re more confident.”

“Doesn’t mean I sound good. Although, when I can actually hear you, I have to say, you have a lovely voice.” He blushes and takes your hand to kiss it.

You get home and start up a few chores. Your sheets were in desperate need of a wash. Harry scrubs down the kitchen while you take care of the living room.

“We can go to the grocery store tomorrow right? I don’t really feel like goin’ back out.” He says.

“Of course, no rush with that. Just wanted to get some of the cleaning done today.” Harry’s phone goes off, and he answers it.

“Hello?” He furrows his brows and then his face softens. “Oh hey! Yeah, no, just took me a second, how are you?” He walks away from you. You shrug and sit on the sofa, turning the TV on. About twenty minutes later he comes over to sit down next to you.

“Who was that?”

“Old friend from uni who lives up in Vermont.”

“Oh?”

“He, uh, breeds labradoodles. Two of ‘em just had a fresh littler.”

“How often do you talk to this friend?” You raise an eyebrow at him.

“Once in a while. Anyways, I know your allergies get bad, but labradoodles-“

“Are you asking me if I want a dog?”

“A puppy.” He corrects you. “And for free at that.”

“Dogs are like three thousand dollars, he’s just going to give you one for free?”

“He owes me a favor.”

“For what?”

“None of your business.”

“Harry Edward Styles.” You gasp.

“Y/F/N Y/M/N Y/L/N.” He crosses his arms. “Do you want have a dog with me or not?”

“Do you think now’s the right time? We’re both always so busy.”

“I could bring it to the studio with me, it’ll be like havin’ a shop dog.”

“That’s true.”

“And I know a dog is a lot different than havin’ a kid, but I think it would help with the baby fever.”

“You’re just saying that.”

“I mean it! Please, please can we get the puppy? He sent me some pictures, this one would be ours.” He shoves his phone in your face, and you see the cutest little brown haired puppy you’ve ever seen.

“Harry, can we even afford a dog with everything going on right now?”

“Think we could manage it. Buy the food in bulk. It’s the vet visits at the beginning, and then it shouldn’t be too bad.”

“Is this a boy or a girl? Not that it really matters…”

“Think it’s a boy.”

“What would we name him?” Harry’s grin grows.

“Are you saying we can get the dog?”

“Obviously! Look at how cute he is!” Harry takes you in his arms and practically squeals.

“We can name him, uh, whatever you want, lemme call my friend back.” He gets up and makes the call. He comes back a few minutes later, very excited. “Said the pup’ll be at eight weeks this week, so we can pick him up next weekend if we want.”

“Next weekend?! We have to get so much stuff. Food, bowls, a collar, a tag. We’ll have to register him at town hall.” Harry grabs your face and kisses you.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.” You sigh. “Now, what should we name him, let me see the picture again.” He hands you his phone. ‘What names do you like?”

“Max?” You look at him and scrunch your face.

“That’s so generic. What about Peter?”

“Peter?!”

“Yeah, we could call him Pete.”

“We are not namin’ our dog Peter.” Harry gasps and snaps his fingers. “I’ve got it.”

“What?”

“Winston.”

“Winston?”

“How fuckin’ cute would that be?”

“Winston Styles?”

“Oh, so the dog would have my last name?”

“Duh, he’s going to be our baby isn’t he?” You think for a second. “What about Buster?”

“Buster Styles…that could work.” You both look at the picture again. “He looks like a Buster.” He throws his arm around you.

“Yeah, he does.”

//

“You’re gettin’ a dog?!” Niall says in the car Monday morning.

“Yup, his name is going to be Buster. He’s so cute Niall.”

“That’s a huge step.”

“Oh, and being on the same lease together isn’t?” You joke.

“No, it’s just…like if something happened…now a dog is in the middle of it.”

“Something as in us breaking up? Are you stupid?” He makes a face at you. “Niall, Harry and I are happier than we’ve ever been, why would you even say something like that?”

“I don’t know…just gotta think about those things sometimes. So, like, hypothetically speaking, you truly plan to marry Harry some day?”

“It’s not even a hypothetical, Niall. That’s the plan.” He smiles at you.

“Can’t wait for you two to fight over which weddin’ party I’ll be in.”

“Mine of course.” You scoff. “Fuck him.” You both laugh.  

//

Harry and your dad finish all of the major renovations by Wednesday, which leaves him to start painting on Thursday. He told Rachel he’d prime everything. She came in after her school day was over to help him finish it up.

“I’ll be able to come after work tomorrow to start Mariah’s office. It looks so great in here.”

“Yeah, we did pretty good right?”

“Harry, can I ask you something?” He puts the paint roller down and looks at her. Rachel looked cute today, she had these white painters’ overalls on with splashes of old paint all over them. Harry just had old jeans he didn’t care about on and a t-shirt.

“Course.”

“We never really get alone time to talk. I guess, I just wanna know…um, I really care about Y/N, she’s one of my best friends…and I know you both love each other, but you’d never do anything to hurt her right?”

“Oh my god, no, of course not.”

“I care about her a lot, and I’ve never really liked any of the guys she’s dated. I like you, obviously, but I’ll be honest, it took me some time to warm up to you.”

“Really? Why didn’t you ever say anything to me?”

“I don’t know.” She shrugs. “I was honestly shocked when she told me you wanted to set me up with someone, I didn’t know you cared that much. Mariah makes me really happy, so I’m sort of grateful for you.” She laughs.

“I felt terrible when all that stuff with Lora happened.” He sighs. “I’m really happy things are working out so well with you and Mariah.” You both grab the paint rollers and continue to prime the walls. “I want you to know…I’m in it for the long haul with Y/N.” She looks at you.

“What does that mean exactly? I know you two are getting a dog soon…”

“Yup, his name is gonna be Buster.” He smiles. “We’re drivin’ up to Vermont early Saturday morning. We’re gonna spend the night in the Burlington area, and then get the puppy Sunday.”

“That’ll be nice…what comes after the dog though?”

“What do you mean?”

“Like, okay, you’re living together, and now you’re getting this dog with her…it’s all so…grown up.” Harry starts laughing.

“You make it sound like I’m this thirty-year-old dude sweepin’ her off from her life.”

“It’s just…last time a friend settled down we never saw her anymore, and you know how the rest of it went. Getting a dog with someone is like the test to see how you’d be as a parent. I feel like all of a sudden you two are gonna be in the suburbs with two kids and we’ll never see her anymore. Practically lost her once after the whole thing with Jake, I can’t lose her again.” Rachel feels tears prick at her eyes.

“Hey, woah, I’m not takin’ her away from anyone. And she’s told me she doesn’t exactly want to move out of the city yet either. There’s no rush for anything.”

“But you two talk about having babies all the time.”

“Not all the time.”

“Harry.”

“Well, it’s important to talk about don’t you think? Be on the same page with your partner.”

“You wanna marry her?”

“At some point, yeah.” She smiles and nods.

“You know, I had a huge crush on her when we first met.” She chuckles. “When we became really good friends, I eventually told her. I think we both cried. She told me she felt terrible that she couldn’t return my feelings. Like she was genuinely torn about it. I think it made us closer. I got over it of course, but that feeling of just wanting what’s best for her will always linger. When we got to spend that semester in California together it made me realize that she’s so special, you know? She deserves the world.”

“And I wanna give it to her.” He puts everything down. “Would it be alright if we hugged?” He had tears in his eyes too. She puts everything down and opens her arms up. They share a nice embrace. You and Mariah walk in with dinner. Mariah coughs loudly to get their attention.

“We just had to go and date the two biggest blubber bags out there, didn’t we?” She says to you and you start laughing.

“What the hell are we gonna do with you two, what happened?”

“We were having a nice moment until you two ruined it.” Rachel says sticking her tongue out at you. You stick yours out back. “What you bring for dinner?” She asks excitedly, walking over to Mariah to give her a kiss.

“Sushi.” She smiles.

“Got some foldin’ chairs in the back, hold on.” Harry says and goes to get them. He stops short, turns around to kiss you, and then goes to get them.

“He’s cute.” Rachel says.

“Yeah, he is.” You smile.

Harry comes back with four folding chairs so you all can sit and eat.

“Harry, if you leave me the keys I can come in this weekend to paint while you’re gone.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I don’t mind. I can get Mariah’s office and the kitchen done easily. Then when you get back we can do the rest.”

“Then it’s just the furniture right?” Mariah asks.

“Yeah, we’re going to have a waiting area over there.” Harry points. “Two small love seats, and then Isaac’s desk should be here any day. Got him one that he can stand up at too like he’s been wantin’. And then our desks will be here in a couple of weeks along with our chairs. We can start bringing the equipment in once the painting is done.”

“I’m so excited, I can’t wait to put my two weeks in. It’s been insufferable without you there.”

“Right, because my attitude just brightened the whole place up.” He says sarcastically, making you all laugh.

“I swear I thought Julia was going to kill herself when she saw your office all cleared out after you left. Luckily, her and Dana are done in two weeks. We might actually hire Dana for the summer. Paige really enjoyed her help.” Harry nods. The mention of Julia’s name makes you cringe.

“You didn’t tell any of them where I went did you?”

“No, but everyone hounded me. I just told them you wanted to focus on your freelance work. Not like it was a lie.” She shrugs.

“I just don’t want any of them findin’ me. Isaac’s kept quiet?”

“Mhm, he’s just excited to get out of there too.”

The four of you finish eating, and you tell Harry you’ll see him at home while him and Rachel finish up. You’re in your pj’s, cuddled up on the sofa watching TV when he gets in. He strips all of his clothes off, besides his boxers, and plops down next to you.

“Harry…”

“Didn’t wanna get paint anywhere.” He yawns. “How’s my baby?” He kisses your cheek.

“Good.” You giggle.

“Just imagine, you’ll have a little pup all cuddled up with you on these later nights.”

“Mhm, it’ll be nice.” You yawn. “I need to set up the little bed inside the crate for him. I mean it, he’s not sleeping in the bed with us.”

“I never disagreed with you, but if he starts cryin’ you can be the one to comfort him.”

“He won’t cry because he won’t know any different. We just need to make the crate a safe space, not a punishment, then he’ll have no problem sleeping in it. Then when he gets a little older we can take the bed out of the crate and he’ll know that’s his bed.”

“You know I’m kind of looking forward to being away for the night.”

“Me too, I’m glad we’re making a weekend of it. I’ve never been to the Ben and Jerry’s factory, I’m so excited.”

“There’s a cider mill right down the road from there too that we should check out.”

“I’ve never been to Burlington either. I think I’ve been to Vermont like once in my life.” You laugh. “We never really had a reason to go.”

“The lads and I would head up there to buy weed on the cheap.” He says nonchalantly. “You know, before it was legal here.”

“Hm, interesting.”

“Alright, miss straight edge.”

“I’m not judging.”

“Mhm, yeah. There’s worse drugs out there, you know?”

“Yeah, like mushrooms.”

“Should’ve never told you that.” He shakes his head.

“Well, you did.” You crawl into his lap and he lays back so you can lay on him. “Hi.” You nuzzle into his chest.

“Hi baby.”

“What were you and Rachel doing earlier, when we walked in?”

“We just had a moment is all.” He strokes your hair and rubs your scalp. “She…really cares about you.”

“Yeah.” You look up at him. “She’s the best.” You smile and lean in to kiss him. “So are you.” You nuzzle your nose to his. “I love you so much, I’m really happy.”

“I love you too, darlin’. I’m happy too.” You kiss for a while on the couch before you both start to feel sleepy. Then it’s off to bed.

//

You both get up early Saturday to get to Vermont. It would be along, and annoying drive. You took some pills to help you not get carsick. Harry was an excellent driver, but you knew there would be a lot of back roads involved at some point.

You put on some cuffed jeans and a white short sleeve crop top. You pair it with a blue cardigan and your white tennis shoes. Harry has a loose pair of jeans on and a band t-shirt.

“I’m so happy it’s gettin’ warmer out.”

“Me too.” You look around. “Everything’s all set up for him.”

“Yup.” He kisses you and grabs the overnight bags. “Let’s go.”

Harry lets you put a playlist on. A mix of old and new songs. You gasp when a particular song comes on. You’ve Made Me So Very Happy by Blood Sweat & Tears.

“Oh my god I love this song!” You turn the volume up and sing along. “Have you heard this before?”

“Yeah, I thought a woman sang it.”

“There are a ton of covers. I think I like this one the best.”

You continue to sing while Harry listens to the lyrics. Every word perfectly describes how he feels about you.

I chose you for the one. Now I'm having so much fun… You treated me so kind, I'm about to lose my mind…You made me so very happy. I'm so glad you came into my life…

Harry makes a mental note of the song for future use, especially when he sees how much you love it. You hold his hand while you sing. You must resonate with the lyrics too.

You eventually make to the Ben and Jerry’s ice cream factory. You couldn’t wait to stretch your legs. You practically run inside.

“I need to pee so bad!” Harry laughs at you while you find a bathroom.

“Tour’s only five bucks a person, I got us two tickets.” He says when you come back. You thank him and wait to be called in with the rest of the group.

A short movie is shown, and then you all are brought in to see how the ice cream is packaged and produced. Next you’re brought downstairs where they give you a sample to try.

“Mm, oh my fucking god.” You can help but moan when you lick at the chocolate malt ice cream. Harry looks at you. “You have to at least try it.”

“I don’t like chocolate ice cream. And you better be careful that’s gonna upset your stomach.”

“No it won’t it’s only a little, and it’s soooo good.” You lick at it again and smile. “That’s some good shit, wow.”

When you’re done you take a picture together outside in front of the sign. You drive down the street to the cider mill. You go inside and see all of the things that can be made with cider and or syrup.

“Look Harry, a maple syrup hot sauce, this could be fun to try.”

“Sure.” He smiles.

“Are you feeling tired? I could drive the rest of the way to the hotel.”

“Would you mind? It would be nice to close my eyes for a bit.”

“Of course.” You kiss him on the cheek, pay for your things and head to the car.

You kept the music volume low while he slept. You pulled into the parking lot of the small hotel. It was really more like an inn.

“Baby, we’re here.”

“Hm? Oh, okay.” He stretches and gets out of the car. He grabs your bags and you both go in to check in.

You get into the room and put everything down. You both wash up and head back down to the car. You drive into Burlington and pay to park near Church Street.

“Look at all the shopping! And the lake! Who knew there was such a populated area?” You laugh.

“Well, UVM is like right over there.” He nudges you.

“Shut up.” You nudge him back.

You both do a little shopping before finding a nice vegetarian place to eat at. After dinner you head down to walk along the peer near the lake.

“I can’t wait to see Buster tomorrow, Harry.”

“Me too, baby.” He holds your hand as you walk.

“Do you think he’ll like us?”

“Of course!” He laughs. “We’ll be the best parents ever.”

You drive back to the hotel and you both get settled in for the night. You both do your nightly routines and get into bed. You face each other, limbs getting tangled in each other. Harry’s leg slides between yours, and he cups your cheeks in his hand. He pulls your face closer to his and your lips connect. You grind slightly against his lig, and he pushes it against you harder. A small moan leaves your lips. You tug at his shoulder to pull him on top of you.

He runs his fingers over your folds and fingers you for a bit to get you ready for him. You wrap your legs around him as he enters you and he kisses you. He buries his head in your neck while he rocks in and out of you. You grab one of his hands you lace your fingers together.

“Harry.” You moan. “Feels so good.” You look up at him and he’s already looking down at you. You kiss each other, and you pull him closer with your legs.

“Y/N.” He moans into your ear. “Love you so much.”

“I, ngh, love you too.”

He rocks in and out of your faster, and then with a sharp thrust, he gets in really deep and stays there. You grind against him as your tongue finds his.

“Oh my god, shit, shit, shit, Harry!” You release around his cock. You squeeze his hand tightly.

He picks up the pace again, chasing his own high. He pants and groans, and with another moan of your name he comes inside of you. He collapses next to you. You both kiss again, not leaving anytime to your breaths. He bites your bottom lip and sucks it into his mouth.

“I’m getting hard again.” He says against your lips.

“Want me to suck on it?”

“Please.”

He lays on his back and you get between his legs. Sure enough he was hard again. You don’t waste anytime getting your mouth on him.

“Fuck.” He groans. He thrusts up and you take him deeper down your throat. You swallow against him and cradle his balls. He grips at your hair and you start bobbing up and down him. “Shit, I’m gonna come.”

You give him a thumbs up as you keep your mouth on him. His come shoots into your mouth, and you take all of it. You come off him and swallow.

“Thank you.” He says, out of breath.

“Mm, my pleasure.”

You get up, use the toilet, and rinse your mouth out. You crawl back into bed, and he wraps himself around you. He kisses the back of your neck a few times before completely settling in.

//

The next morning you both get everything together, and head out to where Harry’s friend lives. It was only about thirty minutes later.

“Adam!” Harry says when he sees his friend coming out to greet him. “Hey, mate!”

“Harry!” The hug each other. “It’s been ages!” Another Brit, how interesting.

“Adam, this is my girlfriend, Y/N.”

“Hey, greet to meet yeh!”

“Same to you.” You shake his hand.

“Pup’s in the barn, follow me.”

You take Harry’s hand and follow Adam around to the barn. You hang back while he goes over to the pen they’re in.

“What’s wrong?” Harry asks.

“I don’t want to watch him take him away from his mumma.”

“Oh, sweetie…”

Adam comes over cradling the puppy, and you burst into tears when he hands Buster to you. Harry and Adam look at each other and then look at you.

“He’s so beautiful, thank you.” The puppy yips, gives you a lick on the chin, and nestles into your arms. “Harry, he’s so cute.” You say through tears and a high pitched voice. “Here, you take him.”

He smiles and takes him from you. He holds him up in the air at first and then cradles him.

“He’s perfect.”

After chatting with Adam a bit longer, you take Buster out to the car. You had a car-seat for him, but you decide to hold him instead. You just didn’t wanna let him go. Harry would occasionally reach over and scratch his little head. He slept for most of the ride. You stopped a couple of times to give him some water and let him pee.

When you finally get home you let him scamper and sniff around. When it looks like he’s about to pee you pick him up and put him on a piddle pad.

“It’ll be easy enough to let him out for a wee, can just bring him to the balcony.”

“What and have our plants and new furniture smell like piss? No, no, we’ll be taking him out. The piddle pads will work for now. We’ll have to take him out every hour so he gets used to it. C’mon baby, are you hungry?”

“Actually, yeah, I a-“

“Harry, I was talking to Buster.” You shake your head at him and laugh. You whistle to Buster and he follows you. You scoop out some dog food and put it into his bowl. You stick your fingers into the dry food while he eats.

“What are you doin’?”

“I read about this. It helps the dog know not to bite you if you feed it treats and stuff. It needs to know it shouldn’t be rough with you.” Buster eats what he wants and then laps at his water bowl. “He’s just so tiny, I can’t get over it.” You pat the top of his head. “Okay, in like fifteen minutes we should take him out. I’m working from home tomorrow so I can help house train him.”

“Sounds good.” He smiles. “So…can we eat dinner then/”

“Sure, if you feel like whipping something up. I’ll have to take him to get registered with the city tomorrow. I’ll call the vet too to set up a check up like Adam said.”

“Thank you.” He kisses you and goes into the kitchen. Buster follows him in and so do you.

You take buster out to do his business every hour like you said. You ring a little bell each time you take him out too. Eventually the three of you get snuggled up on the couch together.

“Oh, let’s take a selfie, then all our friends can help welcome him.” You take your phone out and sit between Harry’s legs, facing away from him. You hold Buster up to your chest so you can get him in the picture. Harry kisses your temple right as you snap the shot. “God, I’m gonna cry again.”

“I couldn’t believe how emotional you got, usually I’m the mess.”

“I know!” The dog huffs. “Sorry baby, mumma didn’t mean to be so loud.” You coo as you strokes his hair.

Harry was so at peace. Hearing yourself refer to yourself as mumma thrilled him. When it was time for sleep, you put Buster inside his crate with his cozy bed. You stuck the crate in the hall outside your bedroom. You didn’t want to put it in the bedroom since he would wanna get on the bed with you. You start getting teary eyed when you get into bed.

“What is it, love?”

“I just feel bad leaving him out there all alone, I don’t want him to wake up scared.”

“Do you want to bring him in here with us?”

“No, we need to be stern about this. He needs to know our bed is for us, and his bed is for him. I’ll be okay.” You wipe your eyes.

“C’mere.” You lay your head on his chest and sigh.

Luckily, Buster didn’t make much of a peep throughout the night, and you and Harry were able to sleep just fine. Your little life with Harry was growing, and you couldn’t be happier. You weren’t sure if you were ready for the responsibility of having a dog, but somehow you ended up being a natural, and Harry took note right away.

[emelywrites]

Hi👋🏻 Diego Hargreeves request! Maybe a little weird... but a Hogwarts au where he is a Gryffindor or Slytherin and he has a girlfriend who is a Ravenclaw, and he is all soft with her and cute, which surprises his siblings?😂 Some fluff for our hearts❤️

Okay I think we opened up a big prompt for discussion here. In my head, Luther, Diego and Ben are Gryffindors; Klaus and Vanya are Hufflepuffs; Alison is a Ravenclaw and Five is a Slytherin, but please discuss in the comments!

Warnings: Language, (hints at incest maybe cause of Luther and Alison, but not really), I think that’s it, tell me if you find something else please

Umbrella Academy meets Hogwarts

„This one’s really bad, Y/L/N, where’s Madam Pomfrey?“, Professor McGonagall asked when they laid Diego onto one of the many free beds in the hospital wing.

This game had apparently turned out to be a rather peaceful one. Hufflepuff against Gryffindor. You rarely went to Quidditch games, specifically because you helped out in the hospital wing quite a bit. You normally would have gone to a game when your boyfriend or your own house were playing but today you had to stay in the hospital wing to make sure no one would die. And with most of the Hargreeves siblings being on their respective Quidditch teams your assistance was required a lot.

„Madam Pomfrey went out to get some more ointment. Last week, when Vanya accidentally blew up the potions classroom we had to use it all up“, you explained with a look to your boyfriend.

Diego and you had been dating on the down low since your fourth year when his sister, Alison, who was a Ravenclaw like you, had introduced you, rather unintentionally.

There was a big test coming up in History of Magic and you and Alison had been sitting in the library all day trying to learn everything you hadn’t been paying attention to in class. And with Professor Binns even putting himself to sleep sometimes with his talking it was quite a lot that you had to recover yourselves. History of Magic was one of the classes you had with the Gryffindors and even though Alison’s brothers Luther, Diego and Ben were in that house you had never really been paying attention to them.

„Help!“, a boy yelled across the library, earning a death stare from Madam Pince though he didn’t seem to notice.

He ran towards you both and fell onto the free chair.

„Diego, what the fuck?“, Alison said.

So that was Diego. You had always known who Alison’s brothers were though you had never quite bothered learning which one was which.

„I have no idea what I’m doing. You gotta help me, sis. Please. We’re team zero, remember?“

„You mean History of Magic?“, she asked.

„For one, but there’s also this potions essay that I have to write until Friday and that Divination quiz on Thursday“, he sighed, slumping his head onto the table.

„Mister Hargreeves, how is ist that every time you enter this library you become a nuisance without fail?“, Madam Pince whisper-yelled at him, „You are banned from the library until the end of the year, let that be a lesson. If you need a book, maybe one of your siblings will be kind enough to get it for you.“

She pulled him up by his arm and dragged him out of the library. You looked after them but Alison had gone back to studying and you needed this study session with her just as much so you joined her. That evening you coincidentally found Diego sitting by a window and you spent all night in a secret passageway where you tried to teach him about the first Wizarding War. He got an Acceptable and excitedly came to you to thank you. Ever since that day, you’d been spending a lot of time together.

Now you were tending to your boyfriend who had fallen asleep after a healing potion and a Sleeping Draught to help him recover. You had put his sprained wrist into a cast and fixed his broken ankle with a whisper of „Episkey“ and then went to cleaning up around him. When Madam Pomfrey got back to the Hospital Wing she sent you to your dorm since it had gotten quite late. You quickly spared a glance to see if she was looking and when she didn’t you placed a quick kiss onto your sleeping boyfriend’s forehead before you left.

The next morning, a Sunday, you quickly took some food from the Great Hall and then went to the Hospital Wing to have breakfast with Diego. You didn’t notice that Alison was eyeing you suspiciously. You arrived by his bedside to see him wide awake toying with some ball, probably much to Madam Pomfrey and the other two patients’ annoyance. You caught the ball mid-air, set the food onto his bedside table and closed the curtains around his bed.

„Y/N, my hero, accept my snuggles as a thank you for saving my life“, he said a little loudly.

You giggled and sat down on his bed. He scooted up and pulled you into him with his healthy arm. You spent the day eating the food you had brought and talking about everything and nothing. He told you about the game in all possible detail while you were snuggled into his side. When he was done with his grand story about how many points he scored and how heroic it was of him to take the Bludger (that as far as you could tell he hadn’t even noticed but it would have hit one of the other chasers if not him but you let him have his moment) he pulled you even closer and pressed a kiss to your head. You both just enjoyed being in each other’s arms and drifted off to sleep for a short nap until Madam Pomfrey woke you up to alert you both that Diego could go now.

You parted ways in front of the Great Hall, but not before he pulled you close by your hand again, which he kissed before pressing another one to your lips. You sat down in front of Alison at the Ravenclaw table. She was smirking at you.

„What?“, you asked, narrowing your eyes at her.

„How the fuck is he so fucking soft for you?“

„I have no idea what on earth you’re on about“, you simply answered loading some lasagna onto your plate.

„Yeah, sure you don’t. I just hear all types of rumors“, she smirked, „You aren’t very discreet when you’re kissing right in front of the hall, you know?“

„Jealous I am with the attractive one of your brothers and you’re stuck with Luther?“, you grinned.

„Haha, you know that’s not true, we never even kissed.“

She dropped the topic.

Over the next few days it became quite apparent that all of Diego’s siblings and probably most people at school had found out about you two so you weren’t even trying to hide anymore and just started holding hands on your ways through the halls. He always pressed a kiss to your head and you always pressed a kiss to his cheek before you parted ways in front of a classroom or your common room. Speaking of which, he was always walking you places now and often coming late to his own classes because of it. Much to the annoyance of some of his siblings who had to follow sometimes out of practicality. 

On a snowy Saturday afternoon you were sitting in the Three Broomsticks just enjoying your butterbeers sitting very close to one another, his arm around you. HIs siblings were with you guys, just sitting at the same table as you two because it was so full.

„Aw, you two are too sweet!“, Klaus exclaimed.

„Oh yeah? When I put my arm around Alison it’s weird but they’re cute“, Luther said, crossing his arms.

„Maybe the simple reason for that is that they’re not related“, Five responded, uninterested.

„We’re not biological“, Alison said.

„Yeah, but what would you say if I kissed Vanya?“, Klaus mused.

„I’d say ‚Gross, get off, weirdo‘“, Vanya replied, her face showing disgust.

„We never even kissed“, Alison downed the rest of her butterbeer and got up, „You’re paying“, she demanded from no one in particular and left.

„Diego Hargreeves, the big softie“, Ben smirked.

Diego shifted in his seat and looked down at you. He smiled.

„Whatever, I guess I’m a softie then, you guys are just jealous“, he drank his own butterbeer, then the rest of yours and then he got up and pulled you along, „you’re paying“, he repeated his sister’s actions and then pulled you out of the place.

When you were out on the street he pulled you close and kissed you. 

„My softie“, you smiled.

[ace--writes]

Darius Bensen

Corin, leaving the cockpit: Yeah, so I'll be right back- 

BY: sitting in a mess when he was supposed to be asleep 

Corin: ... 

BY: ... 

Corin: .... 

BY: ..... 

Corin: .... You know I can See You, right? 

BY: using his Jedi Mind Tricks no you can't!

---

Moff Gideon, with Corin on Trial: For sunsession sir, are you talking Loyalty to The Empire? 

Corin: Uh, no? 

Moff Gideon: Then I don't wanna talk, jury do you find the defendent guilty, or nah? 

Death Troopers: Guilty. 

Moff Gideon: Death Penalty! 

Corin: ObJEcTiON?!

---

When you realise your boyfriend Dumb 

Corin: How'd you go with that Covid-19 test? 

Din: Yeah, it came back negative 

Corin: well, maybe you should study next time 

Din: ..... I....

---

~Corin and Din in a shoot out~

Corin, when his blaster acts up: Kriff! It's broken! tosses it 

Din: WhY WoULd YoU ToSS tHe BlASteR!? 

Corin: Saw it on the Matrix! Neo did it! 

Din: HE HAD ANOTHER BLASTER!!!

---

Paz: Hey man, can I have a fortune cookie? 

Corin: Sure hands one over 

Paz: eats it 

Corin: :O 

Paz: ? What? 

Corin: I... nothing

---

Raga: Hey, how tall are you? 

Paz: 6'4 

Raga: shudders 

Paz: maybe 6'5...? 

Raga: Shudders even worse 

Paz: WHat's wrong? 

Raga: Nothing. I'm just scared of heights

---

Paz: Why did the chicken cross the road? 

Armorer: BeCAuSe HE ToOK ThE IniTiatiVE, MaDE a MOVE and DEciDED tO DO SOMETHING WiTH HiS LiFe, so you should be More Like that Chicken 

Paz: Shook

---

When You Realise She Crazy 

Liita: WhO ToOK My ToASteR OuT ThE ReFRiDGerATOR??? 

Corin: ............. .............????????

---

Corin: Heyy! About to go to the party! You coming? 

Din: Nah, I don't wanna go. 

Corin: But I want you to come! 

Din: What did you say? 

Corin: I want you to come! 

Din: What did you say? 

Corin: I want you to- ..... DIN SO HELP ME

---

Corin's internal hatred: STUPID! 

Corin, trying to practice Self Love: Bet you won't say it to my face. 

Corin's internal hatred teleporting him to a mirror: STUPID! 

Corin, being strong: Bet you won't say it in the shower 

Corin's internal hatred, when he's in the shower: STUPID 

Corin, trying to keep going: Bet you won't say it in mando'a. 

Corin's internal hatred: DI'KUTLA 

Corin: Aight.

---

Paz: Hey! What do you call a dog magician? 

Din, polishing his blaster: What? 

Paz: A labra-kadabra-dor 

Din, holding up blaster: Oh, look what I found, a blaster, why don't you DIE?

---

Paz @ baby: You know what's The Worse Thing about being tall? 

Paz: Points to shower head at his shoulder 

Paz: This dumb shit. Look at it. points to head covered in bubbles how am I supposed to rinse this out?

Baby: Squeals in delight at his misfortune

---

Paz: Hey man! Guess what! 

Din: sigh what? 

Paz: chicken butt. 

Din, drawing his blaster: Get out. Right now.

---

Corin: This is what happens every time people see me in the mandalorian armor outside of the Razor Crest 

Corin, imitating some rando: "Oh! You're a mandalorian!" 

Corin: points to face No. Uh uh. Not me.

Alternatively

Corin: This is what happens every time people see me in the mandalorian armor outside of the Razor Crest 

Corin, initiating some rando: “Oh! You’re the husband of that mandalorian!”

Corin: points to face No. Uh uh. Not me.

---

Covert Medic: Alright son, just gotta ask some questions. 

Din: Shoot. 

Covert Medic: Nice, ok. Alright, do you drink? 

Din: No 

Medic: Do you smoke? 

Din: No 

Medic: Are you sexually active 

Din: ... 

Paz: glaring 

Din: .... no 

Paz, pointing at Corin: ARE YOU SURE ABOUT THAT 

Din, choked up: yes

---

LadyIrina: Alright, so I'm not saying you only have a few days to live... but you should get the most out of the rest of this Sunday. Looks at chapter outline Cause this might not be your week. 

Corin: .... uneasy

---

Corin: DId you spill juice on the ship? 

BY: Yes. 

Corin: Are you going to clean it up? 

BY: NO! 

Corin: .... This boi!

---

DIn: Alright, I'm going to head out 

Armorer: Hold up. Let me give you some protection. 

Din: Protection? 

Armorer: Protection, cool shit, Beskar, new armor. 

Din: ..... thanks? 

Armorer: flips visor down like a boss I make it rain

---

Child Paz and Din: hanging in the forge while Armorer is getting lunch 

Paz, breaks some tongs: Kriff! 

Din: ooooooh!! 

Paz: Don't tell Her. 

Din: ok 

Paz: Promise Me! 

Din: Fine! 

Armorer: Who broke those tongs? 

Din: He did it! 

Paz: UGH!!!

---

Corin: sad 

Din: What's wrong? 

Corin: Nothing I'm fine. 

Din: ok 

Corin: has a mental breakdown 

Din: Are You Really Fine? 

Corin: .... no

Din: Then don't say you're fine!