#i have. two (2) exams tomorrow. none of which i have started to study for yet . mmmmmm

[kisiselintihar]

Ok yearly walter file rewatch is over i will now Study because i am so slaycore studypilled unwell lite boying . ok?

[writtingsomestuff]

hi love could you maybe write something with jamal musiala x girlfriend reader where she's 2 years older than him and has older male Friends and jamal sees a instagram Story of reader and them at a Club he's so jelous and calls her so many times and comes to take her home with him💃❤

Hello! I wrote the best I could. Hope you enjoy it xx

Cinderella and Prince Charming

Jamal Musiala x fem!reader Warnings: None, I think

He thought that with time he would understand it, accept it and move on, but he did not. You were two years older than him, it was not a lot, to be honest, but he knew that you were more mature and had your ideas ordered in life, not like him. You just finished a degree and planned to study a master on September; You even sent a CV to work in a company specialized on your career, currently waiting for an answer. However, he was a kid in front of the world, even in front of his teammates, but could he blame them? Not really. He played football, yes, and he was living his dream, but football, as F1, or basketball and any sport, the day of tomorrow was uncertain; one day you are at the top of the world, and the next, no one knew about you any more. That was his biggest insecurity, that you were around people similar to you, ordered, mature and responsible, and that if you ever left him for one of your old friends, it could be justified.

He was leaving the locker room, after a tough session with his club, when he heard the notification sound from his phone. The message he didn't want to read appeared before his eyes, “Sorryyy! Tonight I’m going to the club with my uni friends. What about tomorrow evening? Ily x” he asked you to meet after a long time apart from each other; he was travelling and playing the last matches of the Bundesliga, while you were finishing the last exams of the degree, however, you had another plans and he was jealous. Yes, jealous. Not so much about you going to club, that was the least of the matters, he also went to clubs, but jealous of all these college friends, who shared their life ideas with you, hobbies and could actually understand you when you speak about your subjects and exams, something that Jamal could not.

After some hours, he had dinner, played some video games and even started a novel that you left the last time you stayed. He was waiting for a last message from you that could assure him that you were at home, fine and safe. To “kill time”, he entered Instagram, a place where you could spend hours that felt like minutes, just like TikTok or Twitter. He made a mistake; the first user that appeared was yours, he opened the video and there was a video you “re-uploaded”: you were there with your, he would say: "amazing, black dress," and you were smiling next to Robert, one of those uni friends. Robert was tall and had black hair that highlighted his green eyes – he was the one who Jamal hated the most, to be honest. Both of you were laughing out loud about something Mary, at the other said, told you. "That Robert” as he called him sometimes, had his arm around your shoulders, while you drunk from your glass.

It was 2 AM, and he started to assume that he would have to drink three cups of coffee before going to the training session, a heart attack was better than an angry Tuchel. He started to worry as you were never this late from clubbing; you enjoyed it, but you would quickly get out as the environment, the strong smell of alcohol and specially your heels would stress you and send you home in three hours. Jamal started calling you, no answer received.

After 17? 18? or 20? – he lost the counting – calls, he went to his bedroom to get changed. He knew which club you frequented, since he picked you up more than once. On his way, he prayed to God that you would be there, and most importantly, that you would be fine.

He entered the club; the ambient was anxious to him, and he understood why he enjoyed these places only when he was wasted and laughing at any of Müller’s jokes. He quickly localized you and your friends, and he felt relieved when Robert was not here, or that Robert. He called your name and your friends to catch all the group’s attention.

“Jamal!” You shouted as you saw his familiar figure walking towards you, “I am so glad you are here” you hugged him, or rather threw yourself on him

“Oh Lord!” He quickly caught you, “Are you drunk?” A silly question, really, your face said more than enough

“Only a bit” You let out a small laugh

“Alright, now” He held you better, trying to put your arms on his waist and his on your shoulders, but you weren’t helping “y/n please help me, so we can go out, okay?” He pleaded, you nodded, but you didn’t help.

Both of you left that and ambient and you finally smiled when you felt the cool air outside

“You’re my príncipe” You smiled at him

“Príncipe?” He tried to repeat with a Spanish accent

“Maya said it means prince, so you are my prince because you came and saved me from that place”

“Why didn’t you answer? I called you a hundred times” He asked you as you he made your way towards the car

“You did?” You asked confused and took your phone from your purse, “Let me see… oh! It doesn’t work Jamal” You gave him your phone as you pouted

“I think it just doesn’t have battery” He gave you the phone back and smiled as he saw the car closer, but then he heard you sobbing “No y/n! Why are you crying, what happened?”

“My heels are killing me, I might bleed and lose a lot of blood” You let out as he opened the car’s door

“But don’t cry, look we’re here already” He helped you to sit down, “now we remove this heels, and we go home to rest, alright?” He cleaned your tears and left a small kiss in your check, before kneeling in front of you to take off those heels.

“I am Cinderella” You said as he gave you small smile

“I would be your Prince Charming any day”

Once at home, he gave an aspirin and a big glass of water, he changed your clothes to a comfortable big shirt of his that, and a Bayern sweatpants, he may appear murdered in the morning because you were a Borussia Dortmund fan, but he didn’t have anything else.

For Jamal, it was enough that you would spend the night between his arms.

Not Musiala scoring that last minute gol! (imagine the scenario in this context) Not a Bundesliga fan but my heart breaks for Reus.

About F1: Praying for Alonso's 33 and finally!! they are in my city, Sainz and Fernando are home, looking forward for a beautiful race

I hope you guys enjoyed it x. Any comments about my writing are welcome. Thanks for reading! and, btw I couldn't think about a better title.

[ramzawrites]

Dream World - A Sibling!Mutant!Reader Story - Part 1

Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5

GEN

Pairings: None

Characters included: Leonardo

Warnings: swearing

Series: Yes!

Summary: Y/N just your average human being who goes to university. Meeting up with her friend to study only to procrastinate to watch movies with her. So when Y/N falls asleep in their living room, next to their best friend only to wake up somewhere else. And when suddenly a weird green monster appears in front of them they can’t help but panic and be mighty confused.

Word count: 3212

Authors Note: I wanna write some sibling stuff plus I enjoy mutant reader stories but there aren’t a lot. This idea just grabbed me and didn’t let me go so I will try to work on it every now and again but it will be probably be slow updates. That said I actually took the time to map out the story for once, so I’m hoping to actually finish this one. I just really need a project to work on at the moment.

Y/N knew immediately that something was wrong when they woke up and felt eerily peaceful.

Normally their mornings were stressed and hectic, them rushing around their own flat to freshen up and get dressed all while battling their sleepiness that was still deep in their bones.

Today though they woke up and it was nice and quiet. A stray sunbeam managed to fall through their window, bathing their face in a soft and warm light. This must be what has woken them up, but Y/N didn’t mind since for the first time in a long time they felt somewhat rested. Sure, their usual fatigue was still there but it wasn’t the sleepy haze that pulled at them, beckoning to return to the warmth of their bed, back into a dreamless void.

Yeah, today was surprisingly peaceful.

And this unnerved them.

There was no possible way that this would be the start for their day. Something must have been off, something forgotten.

But what?

Y/N absentmindedly pulled on their blanket, pulling it further against their face as they pondered what on earth could they be forgetting?

Almost as if the universe wanted to help out, their phone rang and when Y/N read the name on the screen they let out a panicked shriek. With this sudden spike of panic, that truly seemed to wake them up, they grabbed the phone and pressed on accept.

Lurching forward, pushing their blanket away from them only to kick it to the end of their bed, they yelled out “Oh my god! May! I’m so sorry! I just woke up!”

May’s laugh filled their ear “I fucking knew it! Honestly, I expected you to be late, but it’s been an hour now!”

Y/N pressed their hand against their forehead, sighing a deep painful sigh “I’m so sorry. I’ll be over there as soon as possible, and I owe you definitely a coffee and a snack. Give me like twenty minutes!”

“I mean I was about to say I waited an hour for you I can squeeze in a few minutes more, but free food does sound fantastic. Don’t stress yourself but get your butt moving!”

Yelling out a hasty goodbye and a few confessions of appreciation and love towards her good nature and patience, Y/N basically threw the phone back on the bed to sprint into the bathroom.

They knew they shouldn’t have hung out with both of their sisters till like 3 a.m. but they couldn’t help themself! Nowadays it’s difficult to get the whole family together since it seemed like they all managed to choose universities or colleges that have been too far away from each other which meant that it wasn’t a thing of casually meeting up anymore.

Both sisters had managed to visit Y/N during their free time, spending a few days at their place. Sadly, both drove back home at around 3 a.m. since they too had plans tomorrow.

Hence why Y/N is here an hour late even though they promised May that both would meet up to study for their graduation exams. It was the last two semesters and since time liked to fly past them, they offered May that the two begin slowly preparing. It was something a few teachers and professors said as advice. Y/N already knew this would mostly just be preparing for the immediate next exams and not the graduation exams, which was fine by them.

After all, Y/N liked to be busy and prepared. May would always roll her eyes at that but still go along with it. It’s also the reason why May called them Bee for a nickname. Y/N is a busy bee indeed.

That didn’t mean though they didn’t oversleep… every now and again. Or often.

After getting dressed and ready, Y/N threw their hands into the bowl that held their keys and fished them out with an annoyed sigh. Taking one more look in the mirror they decided that they looked presentable enough which meant they could finally leave their apartment.

It only took a few minutes until they arrived at their local library since they lived pretty close to campus. It was an incredibly lucky find and they were still praising whatever higher being was out there that allowed them to find a cheap flat close to their university. It even had a living room! It wasn’t just bedroom, kitchen and bathroom but also it had a god damn living room! Having a living room while only working part time jobs due to university was something special, alright?

It wasn’t difficult to spot May. It never was. She loved wearing brightly colored dresses that seemed to shine even brighter against her black skin. May also had a penchant to put little decorative clips into her black curls. And if that wasn’t enough, she also had the most warm and brightest smile Y/N has ever seen on a human. Being in the same room as May always seemed to cheer them up no matter what.

Today May wore a nice yellow dress with orange flowers printed all over it. She had her hair simply pushed back by a yellow hairband that was adorned by orange plastic flowers.

Y/N softly placed the coffee cup they bought on the way to the library and pushed it into May’s view, since she was still busy reading some sort of textbook.

Her eyes first landed on the coffee cup quizzically before her gaze followed Y/N’s hand and arm to finally look into their eyes.

“Y/N! You are finally here! And with an apology as well!” she happily exclaimed as she grabbed the cup without question and took a hasty sip from it only to immediately choke on the hot drink.

Setting down their bag on the table to sit down next to their best friend Y/N began cackling at May’s behavior “You damn well know it’s from the café outside, I really thought I didn’t have to warn you that it’s hot!” They were also holding onto their own hot drink, though clearly not taking a sip just yet.

It took a few more coughs until May could finally respond “Well, you should have. I was just so happy about a free macchiato that I lived briefly in a world where drinks were at the perfect temperature and not too cold or, if you can believe it, too hot.”

“Well, I hope your tongue isn’t too destroyed from a clearly hot beverage that you had your hands wrapped around because I also brought us this” A grin spread on Y/N’s face as they moved their hand that was hiding beneath the table to show that they were holding on to a little package.

May gasped excitedly “Cookies! I love it when you come too late, Y/N.”

“I don’t” Y/N deadpanned only to break out into laughter alongside May.

Fishing out their laptop Y/N placed it in front of them “Welp, time for the not so fun part. Might as well get this over with and then maybe we can do something actually fun.”

“Alright. Let’s get the show on the road then.”

It didn’t take long for more books to cover their table as they begun studying. It wasn’t going horrible, but both were groaning every now and again when they reached a new block in the road.

Luckily since the two had the same major they could help each other out or work together to find a possible solution.

While they took quick breaks in between they decided at one point to grab a salad or a pastry from the café outside. Since they have been cooped up inside the library for hours now, they decided to sit outside of the café with their newly acquired food.

May happily dug into her salad “So, why exactly did you oversleep this time?”

“Oh! My sisters visited me, and we hung out and talked for hours on end. It was nice seeing them both after weeks of just talking via phone.”

As Y/N continued to tell May all about what has happened in the lives of their sisters, May just kept smiling happily. Every now and again throwing some remarks in to keep the conversation going but she mostly kept on listening to Y/N’s happy rambling.

At some point Y/N became aware of this and faltered for a moment, feeling it rude to gush about their sisters to their friend while the two were hanging out but May immediately asked them to give her the details as to why the youngest decided to leave her part time job for another.

May was great like that. She knew how much the two meant to Y/N and she was always happy to hear about them. Their sisters met her a few times as well over the years, so it wasn’t at least Y/N rambling about strangers to May. Even then she probably wouldn’t have minded.

It made Y/N remember that May was also patient whenever they ranted about their current hyperfixation.

Y/N stopped talking as they took another sip of their drink, eyeing May as their thoughts kept swirling about “I’m glad I know you, May.”

Instead of just laughing it off or exclaiming that this was weird to say May’s smile just widened “Aww! I’m glad as well!”

She went quiet for a second. Both just happily basking in the little moment before she spoke up again, changing the topic “Well, if your reason for being too late are your sisters, I would have even forgiven you even without the coffee. Happy I still got it though.”

She stuck her tongue out towards Y/N for a second before taking a sip from her new coffee as if to almost make a point, even though this time she paid for her drink herself.

“Since I kept talking about my family, how about you tell me how your mom and brother are doing! Your mom doing better?”

May nodded energetically “Yes! The flu has finally decided to leave her alone! Good for Derek honestly because he was stuck with having to take care of her. Try telling my mom to go lay down and rest when she is all like ‘It’s just the dishes’! I’m surrounded by workaholics, for real!” She made sure to also narrow her eyes at Y/N accusingly.

Y/N’s eye lit up “That reminds me! We should definitely head back and continue working. But sorry, continue on.”

“You can’t be real, Bee! Just a little bit more! You can’t tell me that your brain isn’t still smoking as well! In fact, how about we head to your place and put on a few movies. I’ll even buy some snacks for us. You know as a way to strengthen us so we can deal with all the studying that will be upon us in the weeks coming.” May had the edges of the table in a death grip as she slightly leaned forward. Surprising even Y/N who is pretty much used to May’s mannerisms.

With a pained expression Y/N mulled this over. Studying is important but movie day with May and snacks sounds amazing indeed. Free snacks at that.

And to Y/N’s chagrin there was May, widening her eyes and pouting. The puppy dog eyes. Y/N’s kryptonite.

“No, we can’t… There are exams coming up…”

May leaned even closer, somehow her brown eyes seemed bigger and shinier.

“I won’t fall for it, May. I’m so much stronger since last time you pulled this.”

“Please?” May asked. Her voice wavered even a bit. Putting every ounce of emotion into this little word.

Staring another few seconds into May’s shining eyes they sighed, visibly slumping down in their chair “Alright. You win. Movie day it is.”

May pumped her fists into the air “Yes! Yes! No one can withstand the May puppy dog eyes!”

“I feel like at this point I should unionize with your mom and Derek so we all can work towards breaking this win streak of yours.”

“You may try but you all will fail either way. I would only need to break one of you for all you to fall like a house of cards.” She stood up to grab Y/N’s hand so she could start tugging them along. It reminded Y/N of a child that wanted to show their parent something amazing.

Y/N stood up and begun following May back to their apartment “You are evil Miss May Wellis.”

“And yet you love me!”

“Just barely.”

“Hey!”

After going to the local corner store to grab some snacks, the two finally reached Y/N’s apartment. May was bouncing on her feet the whole way. Rambling off all the movies she really wanted to watch.

Once Y/N opened the front door of their apartment May brushed past them to make her way into the little but comfy living room. May loved hanging out at their place and honestly half of the decoration in the apartment was from her. She loved to make the small place as comfortable as possible.

Honestly if there was enough space Y/N would have offered for them to move in together already since May was lowkey already living here anyway, but alas multiple things got in the way.

The living room had a huge fluffy rug in front of the sofa which in return was covered in a ton of pillows and blankets. Courtesy of May, of course.

Y/N grabbed some drinks out of their fridge and went back into the living room to sit down on the rug next to May who was already making a bit of a nest using all the blankets and pillows. The snacks were on the ground ready to be taking and snacked upon.

“So, what do you wanna watch?” Y/N asked as they settled on the ground against the sofa.

May scooted over towards them to lay a blanket across the two “How about we rewatch The Mitchells vs the machines?”

This made Y/N chuckle “You really love that movie.”

“I do!” May exclaimed, throwing her arms into the air to accentuate her point.

With the remote in Y/N’s hand they just nodded along as May counted off all her favorite things about the movie “Alright, alright! I choose the next movie though!”

Opening up Netflix, Y/N looked through for the movie and started it.

Almost as if to show off how often May did watch the movie she began voicing along a few lines whenever she could which made Y/N just laugh along happily.

The movie ended way too soon for May’s liking, but this gave Y/N the chance to choose a movie. Choosing one of their own favorites. The second movie soon moved unto a third movie which led to a fourth, fifth and even sixth one.

Y/N and May chatted while they watched. Mostly about their essays and exams but also more about their families. Both had perpetual smiles on their faces as they casually cuddled together how they usually did during movie nights.

May’s head at some pointed landed on Y/N’s lab and when they absentmindedly begun playing with her hair, she let out a big yawn.

Minutes later May was fast asleep in their lab and it didn’t take long for Y/N to follow along as well. Falling into a dreamless sleep, holding on to their best friend. Their last thought being of how serene and happy the day was.

When Y/N woke up again, they once again felt unnerved.

Their eyelids felt like led and it took a lot of patience and concentration just trying to open them. Were they that deep in their sleep?

Yet as their eyes opened it seemed their gut feeling wasn’t for nothing.

They expected a lot when they woke up. Either they would have woken up and saw that they somehow managed to sleep sitting up, which would probably end up with a painful neck. Maybe they would have fallen down on the ground next to May to sleep. Maybe the two would have woken up just to properly get into their own beds.

But when they opened their eyes, they were met with a concrete ceiling.

Their flat did not have a concrete ceiling!

As panic rose in them, they shot up, only to be overwhelmed as their head began to pound. It felt like their skull was being split in two and they couldn’t help to curse as they clenched their eyes shut to get through this sudden pain that wrought havoc through their head. It seemed like every pound coincided with their panic ridden heartbeat.

Trying to get through their pain Y/N took deep and slow breaths. Everything was wrong but right now they needed to clam down and get through this. They needed to find out what exactly had happened.

There was a sudden gasp next to them. Fear struck like lightning through them. Their head immediately snapping to the sound.

A panicked and hoarse shriek left Y/N’s mouth as they saw something they could only describe as a monster.

It was a person? A green person. A hard surface, maybe a plastron, across his chest and something like a shell on his back. A blue bandana across his wide eyes. Two red crescents marked his face across his eyes. He was clearly in the middle of just casually walking into the room as he spotted Y/N awake. It looked like he literally froze up in the middle of his movement.

Y/N realized they were on a stretcher and moved back against the wall. It felt wrong. Everything felt wrong. Everything is wrong!

The weird person monster thing suddenly seemed to realize that he must have frozen up because he shook his head to get out of his stupor, his shocked expression now changed out for a big smile.

He immediately strode closer to Y/N who tried their best to meld into the stone wall behind them.

“You are awake! Oh my- You are awake! How are you feeling?”

Y/N tried to say something, but panic seized up their vocal cords.

Blue, they decided to call him after his bandana color, seemed to notice their panic because his happy expression changed back into that of worry.

He softly put his hand on their shoulder in an almost familiar fashion, definitely noticing them trying to flinch away “Hey, hey. It’s alright. You are fine! You are safe!”

Are they though?

As they finally spoke, they noticed how hoarse their voice truly sounded “What… What is going on? Who- What? Who are you? What do you want from me?”

They didn’t think it’s possible, but Blue’s green skin seemed to pale. His mouth falling open as he took a step back.

“Y/N? You don’t remember… me?”

Y/N frantically shook their head. Should they? How? When? He did know their name though but there could be plenty of ways to find that out.

He just stared at them, probably trying to read their expression. His hands flew towards the top of his chest, his finger tapping against himself “I’m… Come on. This is not funny Y/N.”

But when Y/N didn’t relax he must have realized that they were very much honest with him.

“It’s me! Leo! Leonardo! Leon Neon! You know… your brother!”

[study-with-aura]

Friday, February 23, 2024

I am posting this on Saturday because H's mom needed to drop her off early since something came up on her end, so I never got the chance to post my Friday update. We had fun though. I still had my piano practice to do, so while I practiced, she worked on a few things that she needed to finish. On the other hand, she did say that my playing was beautiful, and I was elated to hear.

H also plays, but she goes back and forth between enjoying it and doing it because she wants to be done with it and her mom wants her to at least complete Level 10 and then if she wants to stop, she at least knows how to play extremely well in case she ever wants to come back to it in the future. I told H a while back when that was decided that I agreed with her Mom. It was good to at least have the knowledge as she didn't know what she would want in her future, so she plays often when she's in the mood and not often enough when she has no motivation. It works for her, so who am I to say anything?

I plan on doing ARCT and then I'll feel like I've mastered to where I want to be. I'm a completionist, and I actually do enjoy playing. It's why I'm trying to find more time. I want to finish by the time I finish my HS studies, but I also heard that I need ample time for the ARCT since it's a whole other level. If I pass my Level 9 exams, then I can start Level 10 and plan on completing that by the end 10th grade and then I would have two years to prepare for the ARCT exam. That's my plan anyway. My parents don't really care what I do as long I continue to enjoy playing. It's merely hard to find the time to practice! I can only do it by cutting short my supplemental study time, which I have done, but I don't really need a full 2-3 hours for that since I cut my reading down to only one extra book at a time instead of a supplemental book and a fun book along with assigned readings.

Am I doing too much? Sometimes I feel like I'm not doing enough at all.

It's time to practice again. I'll try to update about today (Saturday) a bit later.

Tasks Completed:

Geometry - Reviewed solving systems of equations graphically + reviewed equations of parallel and perpendicular lines + learned to find the distance between a point and a line + learned to find the shortest distance between two parallel lines + practice + honors work

Lit and Comp II - Reviewed Unit 16-18 vocabulary + read second part of chapter 26 of Emma by Jane Austen + read about understanding poetry + read about how to analyze poetry + read poems and marked figurative language identified + wrote a short poem using figurative language describing a scene from a photograph

Spanish 2 - Copied new vocabulary

Bible I - Read Joshua 17-18

World History - Watched lecture videos on what and why on the origins of WWI + started writing an essay describing how Balkan nationalism, entangling alliances, and militarism led to WWI (due Monday)

Biology with Lab - Finished my human impact presentation + presented to dad

PE/Health I - Read an article about resources for teen depression and stress

Foundations - Read the definition of resourcefulness + completed one minute creativity exercise + identified fallacies in stories and arguments

Piano - Practiced for two hours in one hour split sessions

Khan Academy - Completed World History Unit 6: Lesson 1 (parts 6-7) + completed High School Geometry Unit 6: Lesson 4 (parts 1-3) + Unit 6: Lesson 5 (some was assigned)

CLEP - None today

Duolingo - Studied for 15 minutes (Spanish, French, Chinese) + completed daily quests

Reading - Read pages 220-259 of My Dear Henry: A Jekyll & Hyde Remix by Kalynn Bayron and finished the book

Chores - Dusted my bedroom, my bathroom, and the study + laundered my bedding

Activities of the Day:

Personal Bible Study (Matthew 28)

Ballet

Pointe

Journal/Mindfulness

-

What I’m Grateful for Today:

I am grateful to have my friends over again tonight for a sleepover to get ready for our second to last cookie booth tomorrow.

Quote of the Day:

Never underestimate the power of dreams and the influence of the human spirit. We are all the same in this notion: The potential for greatness lives within each of us.

-Wilma Rudolph

🎧Symphony Op. 11 No. 1 in D major (Overture; 'L'amant anonyme') 1. Allegro - Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges

[maniacalgenius]

heyyyyy!!!

so it's been a while. since saturday before last i think -_- anyways quick recap!!

last saturday was the day after my exam and none of the new material was published so i just chilled and hung out w my best friend watching my favorite show and we also moved some stuff from my old apt back to my house. also she explained to me her system for eating skittles 😂

last sunday, i went to church in the morning and then spent the afternoon running errands with another friend who is going to be one of my roommates this fall. we moved some of her stuff to my mom’s house to store and she bought me a snowball because i hunted down a package for her when she was out of town the other day 😋 she is my (unofficial) adopted big sister and i love her <3 then i picked up groceries and made dinner - found a new recipe that i like! (those are few and far between bc i have so many food issues lol)

my memory is currently blanking on what i did last monday-wednesday except go to class and spend time w big sister/future roomie. i tried to get a lot of studying done bc one of my "littles" in a student org came to town to do something on campus friday and she stayed at my house thursday-sunday. we watched a lot of Harry Potter (one through almost the end of four!) and went dancing which was… not the best time i’ve ever had dancing but it was still fun 😂 and then she left after church yesterday. then i did some more note taking and hung out with big sister again, studying and doing errands and taking her stuff to my house.

today i slept in, went to class, went to office hours and got problem set 3 done, (problem sets 3 and 4 are on exam 2) and then had Bible study w my mentor who i know through the same student org. then future roomie and i moved the rest of her stuff to my house (she leaves tomorrow) and got ice cream and i'm now making quizlets at her apt while listening to harry potter and the order of the phoenix.

basically for this exam here are the things i’ve got done:

✅ made quizlet 6

✅ written out objectives for part 7 and part 8

✅ problem set 3

✅ made quizlet 7

✅ started a knitting project for my friend (baby blanket for her friend)

so… not great 😂 but it will be fine bc i’ve found lots of new songs to vibe to as i make quizlets!!

however! my best friend’s birthday is approaching and one of my presents for her is that i am painting a little collage of inside jokes we have and stuff that represents our friendship. i’m almost done w the first item, which is the character “oh” voiced by jim parsons from the movie home, because the character has a line where he says “what is the meaning of your face?” and my friend and i quote that to each other all the time. so here is my little oh!!! very happy with how he came out. (yes i’m aware he looks terrifying without pupils, i’m going to add them i swear, it’s just that i had to do so many layers of white for it to actually show up and haven’t gone back to add the pupils yet hehe 😋) i'm going to take a fine tip black marker and write "what is the meaning of your face?" either next to him or across him.

pls don't sue me for copyright infringement, dreamworks <3

also i am verrrrry excited to be getting rid of two rather large balls of yarn making the baby blanket for my friend. they have been sitting in my knitting basket for literally two years (since we moved to this house) and i don't even remember why i had them in the first place. yay for purging myself of useless things without being wasteful!!

☙ song on loop: “haven’t had enough” by marianas trench 🫶🏻 (this was on repeat yesterday at home after church while i was writing out my objectives 7 and 8)

☙ current book: still rereading sorcerer’s stone on my phone when i’m eepy. but almost done!

i have allergy testing tomorrow morning before class :[ not looking forward to it. but i haven't been tested since i was little and i'm hoping to get my allergies under control to improve my quality of life. and i think this appointment has been in the works since... november??? so a long time coming. i'll be glad to get it over with!

hopefully the next update will be quicker than this one… and with lots more stuff done 🫶🏻

xx

[amor-immortalem]

Everything Undesired chapter 5

A/N: this went in a completely different direction than the original comic did but I think its better this way. More angstier.

Chapter 4

The glow of blue fire emanates from the Witches’ house. As the three brothers watched, the child tucked safely into Lucifer’s arm, the mood was solemn.

“So, it’s over? What happens now?” Beel asked.

“We go home,” The Avatar of Pride replies, “And we help Mammon do his best to move past this...” He turns to look at his brothers, the glow from the fire casting a dark shadow over his face. “We’re finished here. Let’s go.”

A portal was opened as the eldest walked through followed by the others. On the other side, he found Levi and Belphegor trying to move Satan’s old crib from the attic down to Arella’s old room.

“Come on, Levi, put your back into it!” Belphie said as they moved down the stairs carefully. “I’m practically carrying this thing on my own here.”

“I'm trying! A shut in like me isn’t meant to be moving something so heavy.” Levi groaned as he hefted the crib up further.

Lucifer only cleared his throat as the seventh and third-born brothers looked his way. “Where’s Mammon?”

“I used my powers to put him back to sleep so he could rest up before the kid got here.” The Avatar of Sloth replied. “He doesn’t need to be over-tired and dealing with an infant at the same time. It’s a recipe for disaster, if you ask me. ”

At the commotion, Arella came out of the kitchen where she was washing out all of the old baby bottles they would need. “Oh, you’re back. I can take him now. Beel, would you help them with the crib please? It’ll be going in my old room for the time being, and Satan, would you finish drying the bottles for me, please?”

Both brothers nodded with Beel stepping forth to take the crib from his brothers and Satan headed to the kitchen. Levi and Belphie let out exhausted sighs as they headed off to their rooms and the only two left now in the entrance hall were Lucifer and Arella. She held her arms out for the little one and Lucifer was all too happy to oblige her.

With a small cry of discontentment, the baby settled into her arms quickly as she shushed him. She rocked him gently until he was back to sleep. Seeing her step so readily into the role of motherhood left the demon impressed.

“He’s already had a diaper change around two hours ago and he ate around an hour ago so he should be fine for a little bit.”

”Alright, he is frightfully thin though which worries me, but he’s in good hands now.”

“Why are you doing this, Arella? You know you don’t have to and yet here you are, embracing a child that’s not even yours.”

“Do I need a reason?” She smiles as she looked up at him. “I don’t think I do. I suppose if I have to have a reason it would be that I just want to help Mammon. He can’t do this alone. Don’t you think that’s enough?”

The Avatar of Pride only nodded. “You humans never cease to amaze me with your generosity. Has he thought of a name yet?”

“He threw a couple names out there but ultimately he couldn’t decide so he asked me to choose the name from the ones he suggested.”

“And?”

“I chose the name Cyrus, from the Latin meaning sun. Right now, it’s a very dark time in our lives, but I hope one day he’ll be bright like a little ray of sunshine.”

“Very thoughtful of you,” The demon hums. “But are you sure you’ll be alright tonight? You’ve been up nearly all night. You have to be exhausted by now.”

“I’ll be alright. This isn’t the first time I’ve pulled an all-nighter. When I graduated from Cambridge a couple years back, I earned myself a degree in biochemical engineering. I can’t tell you the number of sleepless nights I had cramming in last minute reviews. This won’t be anything compared to those. I’m obviously not planning to go to RAD tomorrow, so I can just sleep when Cyrus sleeps.”

“You can take online courses then. We’re going to try to pass him off as your child for that to work you’ll need to be absent from RAD for an extended period of time. If word gets out that my brother was assaulted, the mockery he’ll face will be absolutely ridiculous. It’ll be easy since demons don’t know much about human anatomy. We can always say it was a surprise pregnancy and you never showed.”

Arella only nodded at that. “Thank you,” she turned and headed to her old room for the night to settle the baby.

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

Mammon slept for a full eight hours before waking up with a start. While he felt rested, there was also an odd sense of worry flowing through him. He looked around frantically and then realized what was missing. Arella wasn’t with him. He got out of bed and made his way around the house looking for his mate. She would be in the last place he looked- in her room. He shrunk back at the sight of his child resting against her chest, as a soft purring noise filled the room. The sight reminded him just how much he wanted them to have a child of their own together.

The demon stood there, mesmerized by the sight in front of him until his human noticed him. She motioned for him to join her on the bed, a bright smile enveloped her features as he did just that.

“He’s beautiful, love.” She said as she leaned her head against his shoulder. “Do you want to try to hold him?”

He shook his head as he rested his cheek against her. “I don’t know if I can right now...” The Avatar of Greed only frowned. He wanted to hold Cyrus but he still felt like none of this was real. “It feels like a bad dream... Like I’ll wake up any second now.”

“That’s alright. If it helps, you could pretend that he was always our son to begin with. It might help you in the long run.”

“Do ya think... maybe I can trick myself like that?” He reached out and stroked the child’s cheek. “’Rella, I don’t get it... How can somethin’ so beautiful be born from somethin’ so horrible?”

“Sometimes the best things come from tragedy, Love. I’m so proud of you for being strong enough to take him in, do you know that?”

Mammon would only nod in response as a tiny hand came to wrap around his finger. For a moment all the air was stolen out of his chest as he recoiled from the contact slightly. The feeling of a crushing weight on his chest that he had only felt in his worst nightmares had returned. Suddenly, he wondered if he made the right decision as the realization set in that he was a father now. What if he was never able to love his son? What kind of damage would that do to his child? Could he do this?

“Mammon?”

“I-I’m fine. Don’t worry,” he takes a few deep breaths and he’s able to calm himself. “I'll take him now. Hafta get past this at some point. I hafta be the parent he needs.”

“You will be. I have faith in you.” Arella kissed his cheek before carefully transferring Cyrus to his father. “I know you’ll be a fantastic father once you’re able to see him separately from what his mother and aunts did to you.”

He only nodded as Arella cards her fingers through his hair. He thought this would be a monumental challenge at first, and it still was but as long as she was here, he thought maybe things would go smoother.

—————————————————————

The crying was the worst part for Mammon and Cyrus was unfortunately a fussy baby. Over the past few weeks since he’d been brought home, there were multiple times where the white-haired demon had to leave the room whenever his child cried or pass him off to his adoptive mother, feeling too physically sick to listen to or even look at the child.

The end of the spring term was nearly upon them and since exams would be coming up. Mammon took every chance he could to stay late at RAD for some extra studying with Satan and Asmodeus, knowing he had to get his grades back up. But the guilt was eating away at him. Arella was at home all day, typically alone, with his child. Any good father- any good mate- would be rushing home to give his partner a break to take time for herself and Mammon knows this but even when he doesn’t stay late at school he finds himself dragging his feet to get home.

He stared and stared at the work book in front of him. It was curses and hexes, one of his most hated subjects and arguably his worst grade. Eventually, he just shut the work book, taking of his glasses and just rubbing his eyes as he leaned back in his chair. This caught the attention of his younger brothers.

”You alright, Mams?” Asmo asked as he set his pen down.

”Am I a bad father?” The white-haired demon countered with his own question.

”No, of course not.” Satan frowned. “Given everything that happened, I’d say you’re doing great.”

”It doesn’t feel like it,” he frowned. “This is my kid and yet it feels like Arella’s doin’ all the work. Takin’ care of him all the time, stayin’ home with him all the time… It should be me doin’ all the work not her! I’m the one who said I’d keep him and yet I can’t bring myself to do anything for him. A-And its not like I don’t know how to take care of a baby. I’ve done it before.”

The Avatar of Greed ran a hand through his hair in frustration before packing up his things.

”Where are you going?” Satan yelled after his brother before being shushed by the librarian.

”Home! To apologize to my mate and force myself to take care of my child.”

If you want to be tagged for updates, let me know

Next

Masterlist 2

[junko-and-riri-domain]

❦ 11 pm 2/14/2X | l.hs

❦ genre: lee heeseung x reader, valentine’s day fic, fluff

❦ warnings: none

❦  note:

semi-established relationship in that heeseung & reader have met/known each other before iland & enhypen’s debut which is why the storyline starts in the year 201X

this is one of 7 vday fics

the other members vday fics will be linked at the bottom 

[12.24.201X]

As you let out a sigh while staring at the screen of your laptop, you checked the time on the upper right corner to see that it was nearing the closing time of BH Cafe, the cafe you frequented practically daily. Just a few hours earlier you were surrounded by people who were on dates or spending time with their family. Now, you were left sitting alone and the only other person was Heeseung. Heeseung was a barista who worked at BH Cafe, the reason you liked being here on the days that he worked was because he never told you to leave when closing time was nearing. Instead, he’d start cleaning while singing a song or while dancing. You usually needed a comfortable place to study for exams or just do your homework which was what BH Cafe became for you ever since you found out of its existence. Heeseung let you stay past closing time and since you weren’t with anyone during the Christmas season, you were glad to have a place of comfort. You shut your laptop and packed up everything getting ready to leave when,

“Y/n,” you heard from a slight distance behind you. You were met with Heeseung who had a to-go cup in one hand and a bag in the other.

“Hey,” you answered. He handed you the cup and the bag,

“Take it,” he said.

“What’s it for?” you asked, unsure as to why he was giving you whatever it was that was in the bag and the cup.

“For you.” Well obviously if you’re handing it to me, you wanted to say with a roll of your eyes but instead,

“Thanks?” It was more of a question than a statement if anything but you weren’t exactly going to refuse a gift from someone. With a smile,

“Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas,” you replied as you made your way outside. On your way home, you took a sip of the drink Heeseung gave you and realized that it was your favorite drink. When you got home, the bag had a box full of BH Cafe desserts which you knew wasn’t exactly cheap. Smiling to yourself without realizing it, you took a bite of one of the cupcakes which surprisingly stayed undamaged. Now you had to get Heeseung a gift in return as a thank you.

[1.03.201X]

Since Christmas Eve, you hadn’t returned to BH Cafe because you visited your family for the New Year. While at your family’s place, you and a few of your cousins went to the mall to hangout. There, you bought a tie-dye shirt you thought would look good on Heeseung. Once you got to the cafe, Heeseung was at the register and greeted you with a smile.

“Your usual, y/n?” he asked.

“Mhm, also this is for you,” you said as you set the bag on the register.

“What’s it for?”

“For you,” you replied earning a light chuckle from him.

Throughout the rest of the year, you and Heeseung’s relationship of only knowing each other’s names turned into a friendship where the two of you would sometimes pull all-nighter’s at BH Cafe. Some days, he’d help you study for an upcoming test while other days you watched him perform for you. You could tell that Heeseung’s dream of becoming an idol was one he was completely serious about and you gladly voiced your support for him. When March came along, you noticed a slight shift in Heeseung.

[3.05.1X]

“You ok?” you asked, taking a sip of your drink as you glanced over to Heeseung who was sitting across from you. It was currently 1 am but you probably weren’t leaving anytime soon.

“I should be happy for my friends but if I’m being honest, I’m jealous,” he said.

“About what?”

“I’ve been training with a group that debuted today, well, yesterday technically,” he answered. You had heard of a group debuting, tomorrow x together, and their new songs were playing just earlier.

“You’ll get there, Heeseung. I know you will because you have the talent and drive.” To yourself, you made a note that you’d support him for however long the two of you would know each other.

[5.21.2X]

Since tomorrow x together’s debut, Heeseung only pushed himself harder when training and started performing in front of you more often. The late am air while Heeseung sang and you listened while studying with your favorite drink became moments that the two of you shared with feelings that couldn’t be replicated with anyone else. You and Heeseung weren’t exactly a thing but one thing started becoming clear.

You were starting to catch feelings, or maybe you already caught feelings but it was now that you realized it. You were at the cafe one day during lunch and Heeseung was on his lunch break so he sat with you.

“Y/n,” he said with a smile, unable to contain his excitement.

“What’s up?” you asked.  

“I think I’ll debut soon, I’m gonna be part of a show called i-land.”

“I-land?” you question. He explained everything about it, how it was a survival group where 7 guys would debut after global votes. You were excited for him, of course you were, but at the same time, you knew that this was probably one of the last few times that you’d see Heeseung before his entire life changed.

And you were right.

Before Heeseung embarked on his journey to i-land, the two of you continued your late nights up together but you were mentally preparing yourself for his absence in your life. When you watched Heeseung’s appearance on i-land, his outfit was one you didn’t expect. He was wearing the tie-dye shirt you gifted him on 1/03/1X. You supported him throughout the course of i-land and voted at him innumerable times when global voting came around. Surprisingly, he didn’t forget you and texted you while he could and wearing the shirt that had gotten a label as his “one outfit.” 

[2.14.2X]

It was the first Valentine’s Day after enhypen’s debut and you were at BH Cafe, going over notes for an upcoming test. You were surrounded by couples who were out on a date and found yourself missing Heeseung despite how the two of you weren’t a thing, it wasn’t wrong to miss someone’s presence was it? It was getting late, and was around 11 pm when people started clearing out of the cafe, and you were left to yourself. “Let Me In” started playing through the speakers and you were humming along when suddenly,

“Neeemo,” you heard someone sing. Looking up wide-eyed, you were met with Heeseung standing there with a smile. 

“Heeseung?” you asked despite his obvious presence. 

“I was hoping you’d be here.”

“You were, why?” 

“I know it’s kind of late, but it’s still technically Valentine’s Day so will you be my Valentine?” You sat there, blinking trying to process Heeseung’s words. At 11 pm on 2/14/2X, Lee Heeseung was asking you out?

“How would that even work, how would we even go on a date? Are you crazy?”“This, right here, is our date,” he said as he sat across from you. 

“You’re seriously saying that right now I’m on a Valentine’s date with Lee Heeseung?”

“Only if you want to be.” The two of you spent the rest of the night at BH Cafe, catching up with each other while settling back into the comfortable space that only Heeseung could give you and comfort you with.  

|❦ end of story, written by riri ❦|

other vday fics:

|jay| |jake| |sunghoon| |sunoo| |jungwon| |ni-ki|

other links:

|blog m.list| |just another fan (heeseung angst)| |im just a fan (heeseung angst)|

[levi-lover]

New Light Part: 2

College Levi x Reader(Modern AU)

W/C: 5.2k 

T/W: None

A/N: Levi is a moody English major who spends his free time reading at the local cafe. I’m having a lot of fun writing this ! (pic from pinterest)

I’ve put all the parts in one list here:  New Light Masterlist

Levi’s POV

Levi and Erwin sat in silence on their drive home. The blinker would occasionally fill the car with a strong click. Levi counted the lit up rooms in the passing apartments. Five, Six, Seven… He wanted to keep his mind off of you, the way your hair framed your face, your hand caressing the mug, the way you pressed your lips together when you listened someone speak. 

“So, how long have you known (Y/N)?” Erwin asked as if he knew Levi was thinking about you.

“A couple of months,” he responded. 

“Do you like her?” Erwin prodded. 

“She’s nice,” Levi said. 

Erwin nodded, he knew better than to ask further. 

This was how their conversions normally went, Erwin would begin with a blunt statement and Levi would respond in a short manner. From an outsider’s perspective, it might have seemed like the two men weren’t friends but this dynamic worked for them. Erwin was straightforward with what he wanted and Levi didn’t like talking about personal subjects, even with one of his closest friends. 

When they arrived to their shared apartment, they said their goodnights and went into their rooms. Erwin had to be up early tomorrow for a debate meeting and Levi wanted to be alone. After they moved out of the dorms they decided to keep living together because it was the most cost effective option and plus Levi liked that Erwin was as neat as him, almost as neat. They lived in an old, walk-up apartment ten minutes away from Wall Rose University in a quiet neighborhood. They’ve been living there for three years now and had no plans to move out anytime soon. 

Levi opened the window slightly to let the cool air in, raindrops fell from the gutter and filled the dark bedroom with gentle taps.. He laid down on the bed and breathed in the smell of the city and old books in his room. He closed his eyes and let his body melt into the bedsheets, he used the same lavender fabric softener his mom loved. Mmm, I should give her a call tomorrow, he thought. He felt his thoughts bounce around in his head but he was too tired to unravel them. Levi focused on his breathing and eventually his thoughts subdued into lenient bystanders. 

There was silence around him when suddenly, you popped up in his thoughts. Levi let out a small sigh. Fuck, what are the odds of her knowing Hange. Hange of all people,the one person who doesn’t know how to shut up, Levi thought. Frustration began to fill his chest. He wanted you to meet his friends and he wanted to know more about you but he didn’t want it to happen like this. Levi wanted to do it right with you. He knew wasn’t the most charismatic or hospitable person and romance wasn’t his forte. Romance, Levi thought and chuckled. He remembered Erwin’s earlier question. Do I like her? 

He sat up and pinched the bridge of his nose with his index and forefinger. He didn’t have a ton of experience with romance. His only relationship with Petra ended in a disaster, she broke up with him after feeling neglected for months. That was never Levi’s intent, he loved her but he didn’t know how to express it. Whenever he saw her on campus she would always give him a smile and wave which Levi would reciprocate. He regretted the way everything ended but he was thankful she didn’t hold a vengeance against him. He was 18 and foolish but he was older now and slightly less foolish. 

Levi looked out the window and started to form a plan in his head. It was evident he had some sort of feelings for you, you were funny, pretty, easy to talk to and you cared about what he had to say. He smiled as he remembered how earnestly you looked at him while he explained the latest book he was reading, he started reading books he thought you might like. Shitballs, maybe I do like her. There was nothing he could do now, he didn’t want to do anything until he had a better understanding about what you were thinking. He nodded his head, proud of his plan. 

The hardwood floor creaked as Erwin walked over to the bathroom. Outside of the window, the sky was beginning to glow with a soft orange hue. Levi closed the curtain, pulled off his clothes and tucked himself into bed. He curled his body around a pillow and slowly began to drift off, eager to wake up to begin his plan. 

The crisp autumn hit your face as you opened the doors to the lecture hall. You felt light and airy after finishing your genetics midterm. It was one of the hardest tests you’ve taken but you felt okay about it. Hange had helped you study for the past week and their enthusiasm and studying techniques helped you out immensely. I owe them big time, you thought. Your phone buzzed in your pocket, it was Hange.

Hange: U FREAKING DID IT!!! IM SO PROUD XD

You: thank uuu, i feel good about it! 

Hange: YAY! We’re out in the park blocks! Join us!

You: ok !

You stared at the screen and re-read the conversation. Join us...they must mean Levi and Erwin. You scoffed the tip of your boot into the pavement, the familiar feeling of nerves began to dance in your stomach. Slowly, you made your way to the park blocks, the on-campus park where students would have picnics and study sessions. Students began to pour out of lecture halls and other buildings, eager to celebrate the end of midterms week. There was an undeniable feeling of excitement as they cheered and laughed. 

You stood at the edge of the park looking for the trio. Levi waved his hand from a picnic bench and smiled at you. Your heart momentarily stopped and you realized you’ve never seen him outside of the cafe. He was wearing a hunter green sweater and his black overcoat. The wind feebly moved through his hair but even from farway you could see the deep circles around his eyes. You made your way to the trio and gave out a half-hearted hello.

“(Y/N)! How do you feel?!” Hange shouted.

“Fucking relieved,” You said. Levi smiled. 

“I’m proud of you, (Y/N). Hange told us about all the hours you studied for the exam.” Erwin gave you a thumbs up. 

“Thanks, dude. How were your midterms?” You asked as you sat down next to Erwin. 

“They went well! I think I got an A on my Political Theory exam but we’ll find out soon enough.” 

“Erwin, you clown, you know you aced that test.” Hange rolled their eyes. “But thanks to the lovely Levi, I know I got an A on my essay.”

Levi frowned. “Tsk, I was surprised you even knew how to spell.”

Hange hit Levi’s shoulders and he swiped back. 

“Hey, stop it you two,” Erwin scolded. “I swear, they’re like children.” 

You laughed and nodded. The Levi you knew was always stoic and calm but Hange brought out a different side of him. He looked happier even when he was annoyed. You grabbed a dead leaf from the table and started to pull it apart, rubbing the dead plant bits between your fingers. 

“Are you good?” Levi’s voice broke your concentration. You looked up and met his gray-blue eyes.

“Yep, all good here.” You smiled at him and he returned one back. 

“That’s fantastic! So tonight. Ymir’s Bar at eight. Got it?” Hange ordered. 

Erwin and Levi nodded in response and looked at you. Your eyes darted between the three of them.

“Uh, I would love but I’m hanging out with a few people tonight.”

“Please, join us! Your friends are more than welcome to come, the more the merrier,” Hange begged.

“I beg to differ…” Levi mumbled.

“Shut up, grumps.” Hange elbowed Levi and returned their gaze back to you. “It’ll be fun, I’ll buy you a shot.”

You rolled your eyes, “fine, but I’m buying you a shot. I owe you, Hange.”

Hange squealed and clapped their hands. “Yay! My friend, Moblit will tag along too. You haven’t met him yet but he’s great and such a talented artist. You’ll love him.”

“Sweet, I’m excited, can you send me the address?” You responded. Hange nodded. 

“Who are you hanging out with?” Erwin asked.

“Oh, uh. My boyfriend and some of our friends,” You muttered. 

“I didn’t know you had a boyfriend. (Y/N) why didn’t you tell me?” Hange asked, heartbroken. 

Erwin glanced at Levi. He was looking at the grains in the table, his heart sank but he knew better than to let his friends know. 

“I don’t know. It didn’t seem like the most important thing to talk about during our study sessions.” You were unsure why but you felt defensive over Hange’s comment. 

Hange looked hurt at your response, you felt a pang of regret. You didn’t mean to keep your relationship a secret but your life didn’t revolve around your relationship so it felt pointless to bring him up. The air around the table was tense and cold. The sun was setting and the four of you were on the brink of being enveloped by the shadow of a large lecture hall. 

“Regardless, I’m eager to meet your boyfriend and friends,” Erwin said in a strained voice. 

“Yeah, I’m excited for all of you to meet. I think I’m going to go home and get ready.” 

“Of course, we’ll see you soon,” Erwin said in a quiet tone. 

You waved goodbye to all of them, the trio waved back and you made your way to the bus station. As you waited for the bus, you sent your boyfriend a message to meet your new friends at Ymir’s. He sent back a simple thumbs up emoji as a response. You pulled out a pair of headphones and blasted music to drown out your thoughts. Yet Levi’s face kept on appearing in your head, the way the sunlight caressed the hard lines of his face, his honest smile when he was with his friends, the way his eyes lost their glow when you announced you had a boyfriend. We never did anything. Hell, I didn’t even know his name until last week so why should I care what he thinks. We’re just coffee shop friends, that’s it. The bus pulled to the stop, you waited for everyone to exit before entering and made your way to the back window seat. The glass was cold on your forehead but it felt nice. You sighed, preparing yourself for a night out with your new friends and your boyfriend.

Levi’s POV

After you left, Hange and Erwin looked at Levi with concern in their eyes. Levi noticed their stares and glanced up at them.

“The fuck you looking at,” he growled.

“Levi, I’m sorry,” Hange whispered.

“About what?” He scoffed.

Erwin was about to speak but Levi abruptly got up and buttoned his coat. “I’m going home. I’ll see you both at Ymir’s.”

Erwin and Hange exchanged a look and nodded. When Levi made up his mind there was no stopping him. They watched him walk away, his head was slightly lower than usual. Levi walked over to the bike rack and unhooked his black low handle bicycle. In one smooth motion, he drapped his leg over the seat and began to peddle home. The wind hurt his face and burned his lungs but he pushed harder and harder on the pedals. Crouching down on the seat as he biked up the hills, hoping to ride away from the bench to run away from his disillusion that you could love him.

A few hours later, Erwin, Hange and Moblit entered the apartment. Hange called out to Levi.

“Hey, Mr. Grumps! We have something for yoooou!!” They called out.

Levi moaned and rolled out of bed, his bare feet hit the cold ground as he dragged himself to the living.

“What is it, Four Eyes? Hey, take off your disgusting shoes,” he scolded. “Oh, hey, Moblit.”

Moblit raised his head slightly as a hello. He wasn’t a man of many words. Hange held up a bottle of whiskey and grinned. “So we could pre-game. Take this as a thank you present for helping me write my essay.”

Levi rolled his eyes and smiled. He was touched by Hange’s generosity but he would never dare show it to them.

“I’ll grab us some mugs,” Erwin said and began to walk towards the kitchen.

“No, Erwin! Tonight’s a shot type of night,” Hange said deviously.

The three men looked at them and hesitantly nodded. They wanted to relax and unwind but a  night out led by Hange always ended up with someone’s head in the toilet. Still, they each filled a shot glass, cheered and downed the alcohol. They drank for a while, everyone’s faces were glowing. Hange was blasting music and dancing. Moblit watched them with admiration. Erwin and Levi were giggling over something stupid Erwin said.

Erwin looked at the clock, it was closing in on 8. “Shit, we should get going.”

“Hey, man watch your mouth. And maybe we should stay in. It’s cheaper,” Levi said.

“Levi, noooo. We can’t do that. We told (Y/N)  that we would meet her at Ymir’s!” The alcohol was already getting to Hange.

“Who’s (Y/N)?” Mobit asked.

“My friend from genetics! And Levi’s too,” Hange proclaimed.

Levi rolled his eyes. “Tsk, she’s not my friend. I hardly know her.”

“Mmm, if you say so.”

“Whatever, let’s go,” Levi said curtly.

The four of them grabbed their coats and headed to Ymir’s. It was only a ten minute walk from their place. Hange let everyone know that you had already arrived and saved a table on the back patio. As they walked, they talked about their finals and plans for the upcoming break.  When they arrived at Ymir’s, they pushed open the door and entered the humid room. The bar was full of people celebrating the weekend, a couple was making out in one of the booths and people were lined around the bar. They ordered their drinks and walked through the back doors.

Levi’s hands began to sweat and he felt a lump in his throat when he saw you. You looked beautiful under the glow of the patio lights, you were smiling and had a beer glass on your lips and you were laughing. Erwin stood in place and Hange stopped their chatter.

“Oh, so that’s what they’re doing now,” Hange spouted.

They were referring to Zeke who had their arm around you and to Porco and Pieck who were sitting across from you and your boyfriend.

You saw the group at the back entrance and waved. Your nerves from earlier were completely forgotten after your second beer. Zeke rubbed his thumb against your shoulder and you smiled out of habit. You made eye contact with Levi and gave him a toothy grin, his eyes darted away. Your friends looked at the party headed towards them and stopped talking but you didn’t notice.

“Hey, I was wondering if y’all forgot where the bar is,” you joked but no one laughed.

“Erwin. Levi. It’s been a while,” Zeke stated.

You looked at him confused. “What? You know them?”

Zeke chuckled, “yeah, I guess I do.”

“Zeke, it’s nice to see you again. Same to you Porco and Pieck,” Erwin stated.

Porco and Pieck looked at each other and smiled. “It’s nice to see you too, Erwin,” Pieck said in a sweet voice.

Levi glared at the way Zeke’s arm was draped across your shoulder. He gritted his teeth. Hange noticed how tense he was getting and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“What a small world! I’m glad everyone knows each other. Guys, sit down!” You motioned at the empty seats at the table, completely misreading the space.

Hange was the first to sit and the rest followed. The table was quiet for a few minutes, everyone sipped on their drinks.

“Levi, I like your scarf,” You pointed to the black scarf draped across his body.

“Thanks.”

“Yeah, it’s such a nice scarf,” Zeke repeated.

Levi gave Zeke a dirty look. Hange looked at him nervously and Moblit put a hand on their knee to calm them. You took another sip of your beer.

“Yeah, Zeke, it is a nice scarf. That’s why I complimented it. Anyways, how do you all know each other?” Confidence surged through your veins thanks to the alcohol.

“We were floormates freshman year,” Levi’s dry voice said.

“Wait-oh, I see,” You said.

Erwin began to make casual conversation with everyone while Levi stared at the bottom of his glass. Hange and Moblit joined Erwin and conversed with the other two at the table. Wait, is Zeke the one that called Erwin’s kickback lame? That’s the only possibility, right? Your head was dizzy from the alcohol but the puzzle pieces were starting to fall into place.

“Hey, (Y/N),” Porco called out.

“Huh?”

“You good? It looks like we lost you there for a second.”

“Yeah, Porco. I’m fine,” You said sarcastically.

“Zeke, you and (Y/N) make a good couple,” Erwin said.

Zeke chuckled and squeezed you closer to his toned body, “I know but thank you.”

You kept your head down unsure about what to do. It was evident that Zeke had an issue with Erwin and Levi but you didn’t fully understand why. From what you heard, Zeke was the one who was mean to the other two but Zeke was your boyfriend so you should be on his side, right? You took another swig of your beer.

“Levi, are you still with Petra?” Pieck asked.

Petra? Who the fuck is that, you thought, anger coursed through your veins.

“No,” Levi said.

“Oh, that’s too bad. She was such a lovely girl,” Pieck sighed.

“Who’s Petra?” You asked.

No one answered your question. You looked at Pieck but she kept her eyes down. What the fuck is up?

“She’s a girl I dated freshman year,” Levi explained.

“Oh.”

Hange broke the tension by shouting, “(Y/N), I promised you a shot! Who else wants one?”

Pieck, Moblit and Erwin raised their hands. Hange called over a server and asked for a round of shots for everyone. A few minutes later, they brought tequila shots for the table. Everyone grabbed their lime and raised their glass.

“To finishing finals!” Hange exclaimed.

The table repeated what Hange said and took their shot. You and Porco laughed at Pieck’s face and she stuck her tongue out at you. Zeke kissed your cheek and you leaned into his warm body. For a second, it felt like it did at the beginning of your relationship. You felt safe and hopeful but those feelings disappeared when you caught Levi looking at you and Zeke. Immediately, you pulled away and Zeke frowned. You weren’t one for PDA but after a few drinks you didn’t mind showing your man some love but under Levi’s eye it felt wrong.

“Let’s do another shot!” Hange shouted.

“Hange!! Let me buy you a shot!!” You shouted back.

“(Y/N), you’re the best!!” Hange exclaimed, their cheeks glowing under the lights.

Everyone took another shot and the mood around the table began to lighten as everyone got drunker. Porco made a few jokes that made Erwin laugh. Zeke talked to Hange about their senior thesis. Everything seemed to be falling into place except for Levi. He didn’t make an effort to hold a conversation with anyone. He stared at the empty shot glasses and occasionally smiled at whatever Erwin said.

The patio lights shadows made Levi look heavenly, the soft glow bounced off his pale skin and you tried not to stare but you couldn’t, he looked so pretty.

Zeke could sense that your thoughts were taking you elsewhere so he gave you a kiss on the check. You gave him a smile in return.

The bar was packed and everyone at the table was talking after a new round of drinks. It should be a perfect night, all of your friends seemed to be getting alone but something didn’t feel right. In that moment, you wished it could have been Levi holding your body. Stop, Levi is just a friend, that’s it. I love Zeke. You repeated in your head over and over.

As the night dragged on, you slowly began to lose touch with reality, everything became a happy, surreal blur. Throughout the night, Zeke kept his hands on your body. Before that would have kept you grounded but now it felt off, you weren’t sure if it was the alcohol but you didn’t want him to touch you. You kept on smiling and talking to everyone until the bartender called for final orders.

“This was nice but I think we should get going now,” Erwin declared.

“Yeah, I think you’re right,” Pieck said.

Everyone gathered their belongings and started to walk towards the front door. Zeke walked ahead with Porco and Pieck but you stayed behind with the others. Erwin, Hange and Moblit left you and Levi together alone. Hange’s arm was wrapped around Moblit’s shoulder. They leaned against their body and continued talking.  

“Hey, I had a good time tonight,” You said to Levi who barely acknowledged your existence.

“It was okay,” He stated.

The two of you followed the others.

“But what are the odds of us forming a friendship in this way, right?” You said.

“Tsk, a friendship? We hardly know each other, I wouldn't push it,” Levi responded.

“I guess you’re right,” You muttered.

Levi felt bad about his harsh tone but he didn’t know what to do. He still had the same warm feeling in his chest from before but watching Zeke touch you hurt him. All of you had exited the bar and you walked over to Zeke and he placed his jacket over your shoulders.

“Well, it was, uh, nice to catch up with all of you. Hange thank you for helping my girl study. Get home safe,” Zeke said. You smiled and everyone and waved.

“Zeke, the same to you too. Glad to know you’re doing well. (Y/N) congrats on finishing midterms. See you later,” Erwin said.

“I love yoouuu! I love all of you!” Hange shouted. Moblit still had his arm around Hange to stabilize them.

“Love you too, Hange!” You blew them a kiss.

They all turned and began to walk home. Porco and Pieck had already left in their Uber. You looked at Zeke and he gave you a smile and you smiled back out of habit.

Zeke made conversation on your way back to his place. You wrapped your arms around your body and counted the steps in between each street light. The air around you was dry and your breath fell to the ground in a transparent cloud. Eventually, you made it to Zeke’s apartment, it was highrise close to downtown. When you entered the apartment your attention immediately went to the large windows. They faced the city skyline and the lights poured into the living room and gently outlined the minimal furniture in the room. Zeke led you to the bedroom and began to kiss the back of your neck. His beard tickled your neck and left goosebumps on your skin. You rolled your shoulders and stepped away.

“Come on,” Zeke groaned.

“No, not tonight. I’m really tired,” You said.

You made your way to the bathroom and turned on the harsh lights. The lights bounced off the white tiles and highlighted the bags under your eyes. You stared at yourself for a while, the longer you stared, the faster your thoughts swirled in your head. Is Levi made at me? You splashed cold water on your face and tried to wash off the awkwardness from tonight but no matter how hard you scrubbed, you couldn’t get the image of Levi staring at the empty glasses out of your head.

When you walked back into the bedroom you saw Zeke passed on the bed. You smiled at him and placed a blanket over his body and brushed his hair away from his forehead. You curled up on the opposite side of the bed and wrapped a blanket around yourself. Zeke’s soft snores filled the room, normally that was enough to lull you to sleep but lately it was becoming more of a nuisance. Why am I feeling like this? I love Zeke and he loves me back, that should be enough. So why do I feel so unsure? Zeke wasn’t your first partner but he was your first proper love. Everything beforehand had felt like practice for this.

The two of you had met in the spring term of sophomore year. The sun was shining and you we’re sitting on a blanket with Rico bouncing off ideas for research projects. You kept an eye on the baseball team who were practicing near the two of you. Rico was in the middle of explaining her ideas when a baseball flew in your direction.

“Heads up!” shouted a deep voice.

Both of you covered your heads as the ball flew over your blanket. The footsteps of one of the players was nearing your spot.

“Hey, I’m sorry about that.”

You tried to look up but the sun was blinding your eyes. You were able to make out the outline of a tall, man with broad shoulders and wavy blonde hair. He flashed a charismatic smile and said,“the name’s Jaeger. Zeke Jaeger.”

You introduced yourself and Zeke knelt down so his head was at your level.

“Nice to meet you. I feel about almost hitting you. Not sure what happened, normally I have perfect aim.” He winked at you. “Let me make it up by taking you out for a drink, your friend is more than welcomed to come.”

You blushed and thanked him and began to decline your offer when Rico interrupted you.

“She, I mean, we would love that. Here’s her number and mine, too.”

“Thanks, I’ll shoot y’all a text.”

Zeke stood up, grabbed the ball and gave you a wave before running back to his team. From that point on, the two of you had been inseparable.

You drifted off thinking about those first memories, the sweetness of his touch, the excitement of loving Zeke, the hopefulness you had. If you kept on thinking about those moments then maybe they would manifest back into your life. You wanted back that stability in your love so much it hurt your chest.

The next day you rolled over to an empty bed. Your hand traced the cold sheets and you kept your hands in the sunlight, the warmth felt good compared to the draft in Zeke’s bedroom. He preferred a colder bedroom, he said it was better for the body. The front door opened and you pretended to be asleep. Zeke’s footsteps got closer to the bed and you felt him press a kiss to your cheek, he smelled of sweat and musk. Who goes on a run after a night out? You thought. The showerhead turned on and you heard Zeke sing.

You got up and rummaged through Zeke’s drawer and pulled out a navy cardigan. You wrapped the fabric over your body and padded your way to the kitchen. The kitchen was colder than the bedroom.

“Fuck, who lives like this?”

You poured yourself water and stared at the tiles on the walls. Re-playing Levi’s comment in your head. Tsk, a friendship? We hardly know each other, I wouldn't push it. You didn’t blame Levi for his harshness but his comment hurt. There was no denying that you two shared a kinship that was a bit deeper than friendship. Romance wasn’t the word for it either. The relationship you had formed with him felt safe, you felt understood and respected in a way you haven’t really before. Your concentration was broken when you heard Zeke enter the kitchen.

“Hey, babe. Good morning.” He pressed a kiss to your temple. “I bought you a smoothie.”

“Thanks, Zeke,” you responded.

He grabbed the smoothie from the fridge and smiled at you. You sat on the counter and began to sip on the drink. Zeke hummed to himself and began to pull out a pan from the cupboard.

“Whatcha thinking about?” you asked.

“Life.”

“Like, the gameboard?” You joked.

He rolled his eyes. “Honestly, I’m thinking about last night. I never thought I was going to see those guys ever again.”

“Mmm, why did something happen?” You said nonchalantly.

Zeke chuckled, “stupid freshman things. We were all young and dumb.”

He stayed silent afterwards as he went on to fry some eggs. The eggs sizzled in the pan and he whistled quietly. You knew him well enough to know he wanted to say something else.

“I mean, I did dumb stuff when I was freshman so how bad can it actually be?” You prodded.

Zeke stared at you with a series expression. “Look (Y/N), I don’t really want to hash out what happened but-” he hesitated as he looked for the right words to say, “-be careful around Levi. There’s something off about that guy.”

“Oh,” you muttered.

You continued drinking the smoothie, the smell of the egg was making you nauseous and you started to feel the hanging over. You went back into the bedroom and laid down. Your phone buzzed and saw a text from Hange.

Hange: OMG i’m so hungover, i don’t remember getting home

You: Hange, WTF that’s not good lol but I know you were in good hands ;)

Hange: wut does that mean??

You: Moblit lol he was so nice and caring

Hange: … no comment but what are you doing

You: nothing really, why?

Hange: do you want to get brunch?

Hange: it’ll just be the two of us :)

You: yeah, i would love that, send me the address !

The smell of egg had entered the bedroom and you gagged. You hated the smell but Zeke insisted that it was the best way to get protein in the morning. You grabbed your belongings and walked to the kitchen again. Zeke was sitting at the counter eating the eggs and drinking his smoothie while reading the paper.

“Hey, I think I’m gonna head out!”

“Really? I thought we could spend the day together before I leave,” Zeke responded.

“You’re leaving?” You paused while putting on your shoes.

“I thought I told you. My internship is taking me on a trip for the next three days and then I’m heading home for the break,” Zeke said in between bites of food.

“Shit. You didn’t tell me. How about we hang out later today?”

“Yeah, I guess that sounds good to me. I’ll see you later,” he said.

“See ya.”

You went back to your apartment to freshen up and hurried to the diner Hange was it. You stepped through the doors and immediately saw Hange’s smiling face. They were waving you to their table. You greeted them with equal excitement and walked to them. For the past few weeks, some of your favorite moments have been hanging out with them. They always brightened your mood with their cheerful banter and love for life. You were excited to eat brunch with them and question them more about the history between the trio and your boyfriend.

[excelsi-or]

your type (pt. 1)

Hello friends! I have retuuuuurned. I decided we’d go with the ‘dating you because of a date’ trope story (mostly because I’ve suddenly started OVERHAULING the shit out of the other story I’d proposed to you). It’s a decent-lengthen fic, a little more story-based than snapshot like my past two series. 

w.c. 2.6k (LOL, enjoy the set up. We hit the ground running pretty quick after this one.)

pt. 2

note 1: I’ve tried to make all the characters/idols in this one, so if you see a name and recognize it, yeah, it’s probably the idol you’re thinking of. I haven’t done this in my last two fics because I usually prefer not to, but I needed so many side characters to bring this story to life and I doubted you guys would be interested in me creating a bunch of random names and people you didn’t know. 

note 2: I don’t ship any of the idols that are ‘together’ in this fic or wind up ‘together’ in this fic.

When love is a game on a university campus, the question is always how many people can you get into your bed?

Her girls are all about this game. Between studying for exams, hobbies, volunteering and hanging out; they are swiping left and right, going on dates, meeting new boys on campus that they’ve never interacted with before.

To be systematic about it—because these are science majors—they’ve been working through varying departments. And they’ve left a specific department for their last year at school: the music department. For two reasons.

1)    The hottest boys come out of the music department.

2)    The fuck boys come from the music department.

If her girls are all about meeting and bedding various men, the boys in the music department are playing the same game. And she has heard various stories about girls trying to change these music department fuck boys.

She’s dabbled in the dating scene, but has quickly learned that the boys on campus just tend not to be her cup of tea.

“Party at Jackson’s tonight,” Jihyo tells her as she slips into the seat across from her at their dining room table.

“And who are you chasing after tonight?” she asks simply, erasing the subscript 2 she’d put down next to her carbon.

“Do you know Choi Seungcheol?”

She snorts. “I wasn’t born yesterday.”

“We’ve been flirting a little.”

Before she can respond properly, the answer to her chemistry question suddenly comes to her. She grumbles under her breath as she proceeds to erase half a page of work. “Did you go for your testing this morning?”

“Still clean,” Jihyo hums. The woman takes the chemistry homework distraction and uses it to her advantage. “How was that boy you met last week?”

“Eh.” She slowly starts over. “He was whatever. Little too handsy, little too spitty. Kinda boring.”

Jihyo laughs. “I still don’t think you’re giving these boys a chance.”

“Boy’s gotta meet my standard or fuck off,” she chuckles. She tosses her pencil into her notebook and closes it. She props her chin in her hands. “I’m guessing since you’re going to distract me from homework until I say I’m going to get ready that you have someone you want me to meet tonight.”

Jihyo shrugs. “No promises, but Cheol did say to bring my friends tonight so we can play card games at Jackson’s tonight.”

She gets to her feet. “We can do that at someone’s house and not at Jackson’s party.” She heads to her bedroom. “But fine. I’m always down to beat new people at cards.”

Having dabbled in a few music classes, she does actually recognize a few of Seungcheol’s friends. Seungkwan and Hansol come as a pair and don’t date around as much as the others do, likely why she’d taken a liking to them. When Jihyo drags her through the crowd at Jackson’s front door and into the living room, those two boys tackle her first.

She winds up on Hansol’s knee, his hand at her waist to balance her there. “How are you? We haven’t seen you since theory class.”

“I’ve been in the research lab,” she laughs. “You said you’d come visit me.”

“Not all of us are graduating, noona,” Seungkwan argues. “You’re done this year, but we have two years left.”

She ruffles his hair. “Excuses, excuses.”

“Have you met everyone else before?” Seungkwan asks when one of his friends returns with a few beers in his hands.

“Briefly.” She shakes her head when Hansol offers the beer.

Proper introductions are made, and conversation is easy. Jihyo is already in Seungcheol’s lap. His hand strokes her bare legs, likely ‘warming’ them. That excuse always makes her laugh.

Momo walks into the room, a little tipsy already, and scans the room. When the taller woman’s eyes land on her, she breaks out into a smile. “I need you to meet someone.” Without a response, Momo grabs her hand and lifts her off Hansol’s knee, pulling her back through the house.

“You good?” she asks Momo once they’re out of the room and entangled in the sea of people.

Suddenly, Momo stops them before an older looking man who looks incredible uncomfortable to be surrounded by university students. 

She stares up at this man and looks between him and Momo. “Who is this?”

“My boyfriend, Heechul.”

Her eyes widen. Momo had been going on about some older man she’d met at a café nearby. And Momo has been asking her to meet Heechul for a while, mostly for approval. Her girls think since she’s picky that she knows how to judge good men. She can’t confirm or deny that.

She holds a hand out. “Nice to MEET YOU!” She has to start yelling, because the music has picked up now that the party’s in full swing.

“Oppa was just dropping Sana and me off and Jihyo said that you were going to be here!” Momo gives her a little push towards Heechul. “Talk to him!”

She tilts her head. “Where are you going?”

“To find Sana and Jihyo!”

Momo pecks Heechul on the cheek and tells him that someone will call to be picked up.

Once his girlfriend wanders off, Heechul looks down at her. She motions towards the door. The man seems confused as to why a little girl is bossing him around, but he leads the way out of the house.

She stands on the front porch, leaning against the beam near the steps. “How old are you?”

“36.”

She almost chokes on her tongue. That is a very apparent 13-year age difference. “Right. Momo said you met in a café.”

“I spilled my drink on her by accident.” Heechul seems hesitant to say more. He leans up and squints at her. “Who are you again?”

“My name doesn’t matter, but I know I have some weight as to whether you and Momo continue to date.” She tilts her head. “Why Momo?”

“Why not Momo? She’s gorgeous, sweet, adorable.”

“What is Momo studying?”

“Something in science, but she’s a dancer at heart.”

She mulls that thought over in her mind. “And what do you do?”

The name is technical, which suggests that his job isn’t CEO. But it sounds stable.

“Kids?”

“None.”

“Married?”

“Never.”

She nods her head and then smiles sweetly. “Nice to meet you.”

Heechul doesn’t call after her like the other boys tend to do when she abruptly ends her weird interview, which reflects his age. But she knows he’s definitely confused by the way he lingers in the walkway.

Inside, her ears need to readjust to the volume. She weaves her way back through the house, the bass trying to alter her heartbeat in her chest. Just as she’s about to join her friends in the living room, she gets stopped by Jeon Jungkook. They’d dated for nearly a year during her second year of university. He’s dating his roommate now, but they’re still close. Jungkook picks her up around the waist and spins her.

“I haven’t seen you in ages! Why does it feel like you disappeared off the face of the planet?” Jungkook demands.

“I’m in hiding!”

“Hiding?”

“Don’t want you to suddenly fall back in love with me and leave Taehyung!” she teases. “Where is he anyway?”

Jungkook pecks her cheek. “Somewhere here! I had to drag him out from under his chemistry thesis!” Kim Taehyung wound up joining the chemistry graduate program at the university. His brain is legendary in the chemistry department.

“Tell him I say hi!”

“Where you going?”

She points to the living room over his shoulder. Jungkook’s brows rise, impressed. When they used to come to parties, they’d spend most of the time in whatever game room existed. Many of the houses they visited owned a pool table, and if people weren’t having sex on it, she, Jungkook, and a few of their friends would play rounds of pool until everyone else was too drunk to shoot straight.

“Aren’t Mingyu and his friends in there?”

She rolls her eyes, a smirk on her face. “Wish me luck!”

Jungkook laughs. “You don’t need it! Those guys would be insane to tangle with you!” He gives her a quick kiss on the forehead and pats her lower back. “I would know!”

They promise to meet up for a late lunch the following day after he’s nursed his hangover, and she rejoins her friends in the living room. Momo drags her to the floor. “What did you think of Heechulie?”

She gauges Momo’s expression. Her eyes are out of focus, which suggests intoxication thus suggesting more emotional responses. “Let’s talk about it tomorrow.”

“Yo.” She looks over at Hansol’s voice and catches the Coke can he tosses at her. The boys all ‘oh’ loudly, and she furrows her brow at the overreaction.

Suddenly, someone is leaning towards her and whispering, “He promised that one of you would be sober.”

She turns and finds herself face-to-face with Mingyu. “Okay…”

“It makes Stress a little more challenging,” Mingyu clarifies.

Stress is a speed-based card game, one that Jihyo had taught her last week. Now that she knows the boys love to play it, she understands where Jihyo learned it. When the woman had taught it to her, Jihyo had said, “I can’t wait until you get to play them!”

It had been such an odd comment at the time, but now that there’s a Stress tourney happening in the living room with 8 decks of cards, she gets it.

And here she is, after three rounds of Stress with various people, sat across from a man she only met properly about ten minutes ago: Jihoon. He’s flushed in the face from the heat of the party, the alcohol, or the anxiety of all the people who have been cycling through the room to watch.

“How drunk are you?” she asks as she shuffles.

Jihoon tips his head both ways. “I’ve had two.”

“Shots? Or beers?”

“Shots.”

She nods her head as she begins dealing.

“Noona, it’s not fair!” Chan whines, leaning into her. They’d played each other in the first round, and even with her going slow, she’d still won. “You’re not as drunk as us.”

Gently, she eases him into Seokmin. “I don’t drink. You guys wanted to play, so we’re playing.” She catches Jihoon’s gaze. “Do you care?”

Jihoon shakes his head. “Nah. Easy win regardless.”

Jihyo’s laugh is short and loud to prove a point. “Even if you were sober, Jihoon, she’d smoke you.”

Jihoon gives his head another shake as Seungcheol shouts go.

And she wins.

She has to squirm out of all the grabby hands that try to toss her into the air in victory. “I’ll be back.” She gets up and starts towards the kitchen. She feels someone following her and finds Jihoon there.

“You shouldn’t go alone,” he states.

She doesn’t question it. It is a house party. Guys she doesn’t know will try anything. She ducks around arms and around hands that try to grab her when they call out to her in greeting. She, however, pounces on Min Yoongi who is standing in the kitchen talking with someone.

“Hey kid,” Yoongi says once he gets over the surprise. “Haven’t seen you in eons.”

She digs around in one of the coolers for a Coke. Her drink had spilled four minutes into the tournament when Seokmin had lost and flailed his arms around, promptly knocking her drink off the table. “Jungkookie and I are going for lunch tomorrow. You should come if you aren’t busy.”

Yoongi hums. “Sure, kid.” He glances at someone over shoulder. “I can move some stuff around.”

She gives his arm a squeeze before venturing back through the mass of humans. When someone bumps into her, causing her to topple backwards, she falls back into Jihoon. His cool hands and broad chest keep her steady and guide her back to the living room. He releases her and returns to his spot at the opposite end of the room.

A beer she hadn’t noticed Jihoon take is passed off to Jeonghan. The boys all have someone in their lap or someone trying to get into it, and a few of her girls have disappeared.

She glances at the clock. Jihyo catches her doing this. “You can go,” Jihyo mouths.

She juts her chin their direction. “You going home with Cheol?” she mouths back.

Jihyo glances down at Seungcheol who is talking to Joshua, and then meets her eye again with a nod.

Immediately, she gets to her feet again and begins saying her goodbyes.

“You heading out?” Jihoon asks from his spot on the floor next to two girls and Wonwoo.

“Yeah. Music’s making my head pound.” She squeezes Wonwoo’s outstretched hand and runs a hand through Seungkwan’s hair as she passes.

Once again, when she glances over her shoulder, she finds Jihoon behind her.

“What?”

“Walking you home.” He’s already grabbing his jacket from the overstuffed hall closet. Some people’s jackets have landed on the floor.

She smirks. “You don’t have to do that.”

“You’re gonna walk home alone at night?” He shrugs his jacket on.

“You’re tipsy,” she snorts. “You should stay here.” She slips past him to find her own coat. It’s tangled in the back. Jihoon nudges her out of the way to grab it. He helps her into it.

“Are you going to say goodbye to say bye to Jackson first?” he asks.

“I don’t actually know him.” She zips up her coat and meets his eye. “You go say bye.”

“Come on.” Jihoon motions with his head for her to follow.

“No, I’m good.”

Jihoon somehow knows that if he leaves her for a second, she’ll be out the door without him. “Let’s go then.”

She doesn’t question him. As they walk back to her apartment, she pops open the Coke can still in her hand. “Just so you know, the walk is twenty minutes.”

“You were going to walk twenty minutes on your own?” Jihoon demands.

She glances over at him. “I didn’t realize you were so chivalrous.”

“And I didn’t realize you were an idiot.”

She snorts. “The walk’s well-lit and I find it’s more comfortable than taking the bus or a taxi.”

“Any walk is nice until it’s not.”

Instead, this walk is almost awkward. With anyone else, it definitely would have been. They say next to nothing the entire twenty minutes, though he does sip the soft drink when offered. At her lobby door, she turns and smiles. “It was nice to meet you. Thanks for walking me home.”

Jihoon studies her for a while. She wonders if this is one of his moves. She’s heard of Jihoon’s reputation through the grapevine. And if this is one of his moves, does this really get the ladies going?

Eventually, the scrutinizing goes on for so long that she slowly backs towards the door to go inside.

“Do you want to go for breakfast?” he calls after her.

“Breakfast?”

“I heard you say you were busy at lunch. How about breakfast?” Jihoon asks.

She glances over her shoulder as she unlocks the door. She lets herself into the apartment and stands half in and half out. “Sure. Goodnight.”

“What? You’re not going to give me a number to call you? You could just say no.”

She lifts an eyebrow. “Not as drunk as I thought. 9 AM here then.”

His brow furrows. “You want me to pick you up?”

She glances up towards the lights above the doorway that name her building. “You know where I live. 9 AM.”

Jihoon nods. “Okay.”

pt. 2

[simpsiren]

sticky notes: the story

mark lee x reader

introduction 

main masterlist

description. you use sticky notes to get into contact with your soulmate.

genre. soulmate au, high school au, strangers to lovers au

warnings. nonee

a/n. so some people requested for a full story of this so here it is! i really liked making this because the concept is just so cute cudndn oh and i did include the same idea as what i did in my previous post but i had to change it a little so that it would fit the plot. this is a really really long ff since its a slow burn typa thing so please try to stick with me on this one HAHA anyways enjoyy! :D

“you actually believe that?”

you lift your head up from your notes to look at soyoung. she nods her head and hum eagerly. you rub your temples from seeing her respond. “i do believe soulmates exist. but sticky notes to talk to them? what’s social media for then? and how is it even scientifically possible?” you question soyoung, bringing your eyes down as you continue to do your homework.

“that’s the beauty of soulmates, ray!” soyoung whines. you shake your head. “you’re dumb to believe it without confirming the information with other relevant sources.” you mutter out bluntly. you hear soyoung letting out a ‘tsk’. “here you go again being a history student. i swear im glad i never took it.” you scoff and slam your pen on the table gently.

“excuse me, woman! at least i dont have to memorise the whole textbook and only having 5 pages of content coming out in the exam.” you stick your tongue out playfully to tease soyoung. “i cant get over the fact that valcanos didn’t come out eventhough i memorised so much for it.”

the both of you laugh, knowing that the two of you can never stop debating on whether history or geography is the better subject.

“ray complete your homework at home. we cant stay in the classroom for long you know?” soyoung stands up to get to her seat, which is 2 rows down yours since you were sitting right at the back. you liked sitting at the back. it allowed you to always be able to use your phone in case you get bored in class. you still cant believe that your teachers think you’re a good and obedient student. you figured they only assumed that due to your high grades.

you sigh “that’s true.” you turn around to grab your back that was hanging in your chair and start packing your materials. once you were done, you grab the class key and walk over to soyoung’s seat, waiting for her to finish packing. you notice soyoung has finish packing and went to switch off the lights. you allow soyoung to step out first before you close the door behind you and lock the classroom door.

you and soyoung walked down the hallway silently, you were looking out the window to watch the sunset while soyoung had her eyes on her feet. only your footsteps could be heard as almost everyone has left the school grounds except for some teachers who were working late. the school normally closes at 7pm and you’re walking out at 6:50. to break the silence, soyoung opens her mouth to start a conversation.

“okay if you dont believe me why dont you try it yourself? like write a simple introduction to your soulmate.” you raise an eyebrow as you shove your hands into the front pockets of your mom jeans. “why dont you do it?” you fought back as you huff. soyoung bites the inside of her cheek as a moment of silence passes for her to think of an answer.

“because i believe it. and you do not. so you should try it.” you smacked soyoung’s arm, making her flinch back and shouting a loud ‘ouch’. you roll your eyes, knowing you didn’t hit her hard and she was just overreacting. “brilliant excuse,so. but if its going to make you stop talking about it, i might as well.” soyoung face lit up as she jumps happily and starts skipping ahead of you. you laugh and pull the handle at back of her bag to keep her explosion of excitement to the minimum.

“you owe me brown sugar milk tea. large.” you taunted. soyoung waves her hand lazily. “i’ll buy you one after school tomorrow. but you better update me during math.”

you wanted to say how you could just text soyoung to update her, but you remembered the fact that soyoung’s mother took away her phone since she didn’t do well for this year’s midterms. although to you, soyoung’s grades were decent. unfortunately for her, soyoung has to live up to her asian mom’s high expectations. the thought of this made you want to frown, but you showed a bright smile regardless as the two of you finally made it to the school gate, waving to each other and bidding farewell before walking down opposite paths.

once you arrived at home, you took out your phone from your back pocket. you saw a notification from your mother saying that your parents would be home late. you shrug your shoulders as you walk to your room. “as always.” you breathed out.

you did your normal routine of showering and eating leftover dinner that you needed to heat up at the couch while you completed one episode of the anime series you were so hooked on. you continue watching but with the amount of homework you have, you might finish them all by midnight if you dont slack.

you turned off the tv and washed your plate before heading into your room. as you close the door behind you, your eyes immediately went to your desk, which was pretty messed up since you had a test to study for yesterday that you completely weren’t prepared for and had to squeeze in as much information as you can. hence, the scattering of notes and textbooks.

you stroll over to your desk and sat down. you take out your homework from your back which was beside the desk. looking at the stack of homework, you groan in despair as shove it to the back of the desk till it hit the wall. “ah fuck it! im just going to ask kun for help.” you admitted your defeat depsite thinking you would be able to gain some energy from your dinner. you also thought about how you’ve done your homework in the morning plenty of time so i shouldnt be a problem unless kun doesn’t offer his help.

you jump to your bed and lay down, bringing your phone out and immediately start scrolling through instagram. as you swiped your finger up to look at the posts of the people you follow, you stop at one. a picture of a couple who met through the sticky note theory. or so they claim. your thumbs hover over the screen as your eyes look up to the ceiling, starting to remember what soyoung asked to do to get your bubble tea.

yoy tap your index finger on the side of your phone as you constantly started to think whether you should do it or not. you’ve heard the rumours. but are they even true? the more you thought about it, the more intriguing the idea got. but at the same time, you also thought of how stupid it sounded and was probably made to fool people.

after contemplating and having in a debate in your head that felt like forever, you finally place your phone down beside you and take a deep breath. “ill do it.” you groan to yourself, letting curiosity take over your other feelings.

you gather up your strength to stand up from your bed and walk over to your desk. you push all the papers and textbooks aside, grabbing a yellow sticky notepad from your stationery organiser. you had other colours too like pink and purple, but you figured that you should go with the classic.

pulling out a random pen that was laying in between the pages of one of your textbooks, you tilt your head to the side as you start thinking of what to write, unconsciously biting the end of your pen in the process.

you bite the side of your cheek and shrug, deciding to go with the plan of writing whatever that comes to your mind.

um hi? i dont even know if you’re going to see this. its funny, really. i heard a rumour that you can communicate with your soulmate through sticky notes. it’s probably just fake news and im writing to a nobody. that would honestly be embarrassing but it’ll be like love letters.. to myself(?) or my soulmate. write back? haha

you read over what you wrote an endless amount of times, thinking if you should make changes. you groan and immediately stick the sticky note onto your wall, giving up on giving second thoughts about what you call this ridiculousness.

you went about your night, forgetting you have left the sticky note on the wall. as you were on you bed scrolling through tumblr at 2 in the morning, you hear something. it sounded like a piece of paper had fallen from your desk.

unable to see in complete darkness, you turn on the flashlight from your phone and walk around your room, trying to find whatever it is that fell. it didn’t take you long to find a small yellow sticky note that you accidentally stepped on.

you pick it up, remembering that you wrote on the sticky note and thought that it was yours. however, once you were able to get a closer look, you noticed that the words on the sticky note have changed. so has the handwriting.

holy shit. i dont know what is this. but apparently a sticky note appeared on my wall saying i have a soulmate. my friends told me i should write back because of some rumour. so here i am trying. hi im mark. i dont know your name, but hope you’ll tell me once you recieve this. you’re in luck because apparently the rumour is true. im just as crepped out as you are.

you froze in your spot. your fingers shaking as you read the note again. you scratch your head. being too tired and unable to think straight at 2 in the morning, you place the sticky note on your desk and went back to bed to play with your phone. you soon forget about the fact that your soulmate has replied to your message that you have written on your sticky note.

as you got ready for the next period which was math, soyoung immediately runs over to you, dragging the chair from the desk beside you and taking a seat. you flinch a little when you suddenly see her close to you. 

“so did you try it?!” soyoung asks, her voice filled with enthusiasm . you brushed a few pieces of hair behind your ear, nodding your head as you take out your textbook from under the desk. “did you get a reply then?” 

your mind started to take you back to the mysterious encounter that you had last night. “mhm.” you reply simply. “though the only thing i remember because it seems to be the only relevant information is that the person’s name is mark.” soyoung gasped loudly, making you crease your forehead as you watch her overreacting again. 

“your soulmate’s name is mark then.” soyoung concludes, folding her arms confidently as if she made a great discovery. you laugh, rolling your eyes sarcastically. “isnt it obvious?” soyoung frowns fakely. 

your mouth gapes open as you hit soyoung’s arm lightly. “buy me my milk tea!” you demanded with a wide smile. soyoung places her notebook on your table and nods constantly. “i will you addict.” she groans. you happily say thank you as your teacher comes into the classroom and class began. 

“what are you going to do about it now though?” as you recieved the question from soyoung, you kept silent for a moment, giving time to think of an answer.

 “ill write something back? i dont know.. ill have to read the letter again when i get back home.” you whispe to soyoung. she nods in reply as the two of you payed your attention to the front again. it surprised you that soyoung was paying attention but you only assumed that she wanted to do better in class and shrug your shouders, writing down the notes youve missed while talking to soyoung.

as for you, your concentration in class dipped slightly because now, the thing that is occupying your head the most is the thought that the sticky notes theory might actually be real and you cant say its not possible anymore, making you even more shocked than you did last night.

lucky for you, today is the only day of the week where your class ends the earliest, along with two other lower ranked classes. you and soyoung quickly pack up to go to the mall to get your reward. after soyoung buys you your drink, you and soyoung went your separate ways.

after about 30 minutes of taking the bus and walking, you finally arrived at home. you place your drink on the living room table and proceed to place your bag in the room and head for the showers.

once you were done showering, you walk out of the bathroom to head to your room while drying your hair with a small towel. opening the door, you enter and went straight to your clothing rack. just when you were about to grab a shirt from the hanger, you heard the same noise last night. another piece of paper has fallen on the floor.

you turn your head and look down. this time, you found another sticky note right in front of your feet. the colour of the sticky note changed from yellow to a light blue. you tilt your head as you pick up the stick note from the floor, finding it odd as you wonder how the colour of the sticky note changed.

you take a deep breath before reading it, noticing that the handwriting was similar to the one you read last night. a little messier, but still readable.

hi again.. im not sure if you’ll recieve this since its the afternoon and i know people are busy with work or school. i skipped school today so haha. um i just wanted to write to you, despite me not knowing a single thing about you. its odd really. its like i feel the need to write something to an unknown identity that people assume to be my soulmate. i still dont know your name, so i hope youll reply soon. take your time and take care :)

- mark

“skip school? what is he, a bad boy?” you scoff to yourself. you try to take in whatever’s on the note, but another thought comes to mind. you walk over to your desk and saw that the yellow sticky note with mark’s reply was still there. you find everything about this weird and just odd in general. a lot of questions sprouted, but you didn’t want to think of it since you were afraid you would complicate your thoughts and just throw yourself into a stress hole.

you continue to dry your hair with one hand while the other held onto the light blue sticky note. you bit your lip and gulp. after letting out a long sigh, you place the sticky note next to the other one and changed into your clothes, as well as bringing your drink from the living room table to your room, placing it on the desk as you sat down.

you take out your pencilcase from your bag and brought out your fresh new black pen that you just bought at the school’s stationery store. the previous pen you had was full of ink till soyoung was dumb enough to drop it, spoiling the pen and was unable to be used again.

peeling off another yellow stick note from the stack at the edge of your desk, you were about to put your pen on paper when you realise you dont even know what to write. what do you say to this person you barely know about? you continuously tap the edge of the pen against your desk as you take a sip of your drink. you look over to the two sticky notes with the messages that the person has left. its funny how you have to think so hard just to write a short message.

hey again. i actually ended school early today. my name’s raven. but my friends call me ray. i honestly don’t know what to say to you. im still dumbfounded over the fact that you’re my soulmate and we’re here communicating over sticky notes. the world really does work in a strange way. if you dont mind, i guess i want to know how old you are and you’re education status?

you held out the sticky note in front of you and sigh in satisfaction. why? it’s because of your neat handwriting. it was always a trait of yours that you deeply appreciate. you place the sticky note on the wall and advert your attention to the other sticky notes, placing them on the wall beside the new one you have just written.

“will this drive me insane? i might end up with a whole wall of this.” you say to yourself, rubbing your face with your palm before going to your bed and laying down, wanting to have your evening nap.

“this is awesome!”

“no its scary.”

mark and his group of friends stared at the sticky note that has a message written with beautiful handwriting. mark flinched when he felt an arm on his shoulder, turning around to notice it was chenle’s. “when did you write your previous sticky note?” renjun suddenly asked. mark tilts his head as he tried to find an answer.

“less than an hour before you guys came i guess?” mark shrugs, standing up from his desk and taking a seat at the edge of the bed beside jaemin and haechan. “this raven girl is your soulmate then.” chenle walks towards mark and stands in front of him. mark nods slowly. the room grew silent again with everyone having the similar thoughts.

“you know what would be funny?” haechan smacks mark’s thigh, the sound making everyone turn their attention to mark and haechan. “what?” mark asked with a sigh, running a hand through his hair.

“why dont we prank her and say you’re a sugar daddy and live in a mansion?!” everyone gave yuta weird looks, making haechan laugh hysterically. “are you crazy? do you think i want to chase my soulmate away?” mark scolded haechan, smacking him hard on the chest, resulting in haechan’s back falling onto the bed.

“you’re always asking for a beating i swear.” renjun comments, walking towards haechan and balling his hand into a fist and acting as if he was about to attack. jaemin laughs to try and calm them down. “kids let’s not fight.” jaemin announced, looking over to jeno only to find him standing there watching quietly.

“go ahead, mark. you should write something. we cant keep her waiting.” jeno finally spoke up, grabbing the sticky notepad and a random pen from mark’s table and passing it over to him.

mark stared at the blank paper while the others were talking about what to have for dinner. it didn’t take him long to decide what to write. when mark starts writing and began to be in full concentration, everyone crowds around him to see what he’s writing.

sup raven! i wont call you ray since we aren’t friends yet. im still shocked. like the possibility of things like this being possible is just another possibility that can possibly happen. but anyways, to answer you question, im a high schooler from dream high. im in my third year. its kind of awkward for me while im writing this since my friends are reading every word im taking down. i guess i should ask you the same question back then. hope to hear from you soon.

“will you guys stop being nosy?” mark groans, standing up and pasting the sticky note on his wall, along with the other sticky notes he received from you. “you didn’t have to say that we’re here.” haechan retorts. mark rolls his eyes. “jesus..” mark mutters under his breathe. “anyways, yall are paying for dinner since you guys bribed me to write back.” mark sticks his tongue out playfully and runs out to the living room. everyone follows suit.. except for jeno.

jeno slowly walks towards the wall and leans forward to get a closer look of the sticky notes, specifically the two others beside the new one that mark just wrote. “raven? why does that sound so familiar? the handwriting...” jeno brings his finger up and lightly hovers them over the uniquely written words. it looked like calligraphy, and retro looking. jeno felt as though he had seen it before somewhere, or knew someone who wrote like that.

jeno snapped out of his deep thoughts when jaemin called out to him, making him walk towards the door and glancing at the sticky notes once more before joining the others in the living room.

you were currently video calling your friends when you heard the crackling of a piece of paper. of course you knew what that meant. you peered down the the floor from your bed and reached your hand out to pick up the sticky note. “ray?” doyoung called out to you when he noticed your face wasnt on screen. you lay back down on the floor and brought your phone up to show your face.

“what was that sound earlier?” lucas asked, currently sounding hyper. “the mysterious mark sent me another sticky note.” you reply sarcastically, waving the sticky note to the camera to let everyone look at it. everyone nodded their heads at the some time, some letting out a long ‘ah’ as well. “read it out loud!” yuta shouted.

“the fuck no!” you shouted back. you stared at the sticky note, but didn’t bother to read it. you thought of doing that once you’re done video calling them.

“how was today for you guys?” you asked, wanting to know how they’re doing.

“its tiring! we had dance practice, then we have to do recordings for our new albums. we barely get any sleep.” ten whines, his tone filled with stress. you laugh loudly. it made everyone frown and pout. you sigh. “pursuing your NCT world domination is never easy.” you commented, highlighting the word ‘world domination’ with a change of tone.

everyone lets out a long sigh and started to complain one by one, making the whole video call chaotic for almost 10 minutes. you could only smile and shake your head.

after about an hour or so of talking about basically everything and catching up with each other, everyone decided that they should end the call here since it was beginning to get dark and they needed to start practice soon. you bid your goodbye to them once more and ended the call.

you now adverted your attention to the sticky note. reading the letter, you raise both eyebrows. “dream high? that’s not far from here..” you mumbled to yourself. you started to think about everything you know about dream high. you know it’s was about an hour’s journey from where you live. it wasnt really well known either. the overall vibe of the school was mediocre.

however, you felt like you were missing something. something about that school is somehow related to you. you just couldn’t think of an answer despite squeezing all thoughts that you have in your brain. you groan and stood up from your bed and to your desk, proceeding to wanting to write a reply to mark.

hey. sorry if you get this quite late. i was busy video calling my friends. to answer your question, im a third year as well from jookin high. i would ask for your number so we dont have to do this all the time but my friend would scold me saying “but you’re removing the fun out of it.” but anyways, mark aka my soulmate, tell me about yourself, to start off.

you stick the note onto the wall, looking at the row of messages you’ve had recieved so far. you found it weird how the first time you’ve sent the note and got a reply back, it was on the same sticky note, just different handwriting. but you had to write on a new sticky note to send a new message only to get the same sticky note with a different message in return.

you only see his answers lined up on your wall. you started to wonder how this mark guy looked like. is he good looking? what are his hobbies? his attitude towards school? you really wished you could just text him through instagram and not have to go through all this trouble. but that option would earn you a large smack on the back by soyoung and your really didn’t want that.

“do we really need to be here now? like now?!”soyoung whined, while pushing the cart and following behind you while you tossed some packets of frozen bacon. you stopped walking and turn around, nodding your head intensely. soyoung groans and took out her phone, proceeding to use it while still pushing the cart.

you walk around the supermarket, trying to find the ingredients listed on your notes in your phone. it was the weekends and you’re parents were going to be away for a business trip for a week so you thought of inviting soyoung over and making home cooked meals as a bonding session for you two.

after about 30 minutes of gathering the ingredients and having soyoung constantly screaming and fangirling over tiktok edits of jaehyun from NCT. one note: she has yet to know that you know them and that they’re your friends. you figured that it would be best to not let anyone know so as to avoid any situation that would put your friends in a tight spot, since well they’re idols, you were looking for one last item that you had trouble finding.

“soyoung help me! stop watching tiktoks!” you groan, snatching soyoung’s phone away and shoving it in her back pocket. soyoung rolls her eyes lazily and the two of you proceeded to scan the different isles and shelves, looking over every item.

while you were too concentrated looking at the bottom shelves, you felt that you have bumped into someone. you squat down, letting out a soft ‘ouch’ before standing up and looking to see who you bumped into.

“wait. jaemin?” you furrow your eyebrows as you tilt your head, pointing your finger at the guy in front of you. “raven!” you noticed that it was jaemin after all, and both your faces lit up and the same time, grinning widely at each other.

“uhhh..” soyoung says out loud, you and jaemin turn your heads to face soyoung who was behind you. “oh! this is jaemin. we used to be neighbourhood friends before he moved out 4 years ago.” you introduced jaemin to soyoung. jaemin nodded and gave her a bright smile. soyoung only shrugged her shoulders and took out her phone. you turn your attention back to jaemin.

“why are you even here? dont you live quite far?” you ask, your fingers interlocked behind your back. jaemin nods, running a hand through his hair.

“well yes. but we came here to find something that only this supermarket sells.” jaemin replied back, his warm smile never leaving his lips. you smile, reached your hand out to ruffle his hair, laughing softly afterwards. “we? who’re you with?” you stared at jaemin with eyes of suspicion. jaemin started pinching your cheeks, making you whine and begging him to let go.

“with my friend, ray chill. im still single.” jaemin pulled away and folded his arms, pouting. “im sure you’ll find one soon.” you reached out to ruffle his hair and give off a wide smile.

while you and jaemin were catching up and being in your own world, soyoung got too bored of watching the two of you and decided to walk around the supermarket, leaving the cart behind you.

just as she was looking at the drinks isle to get her favourite sweet drink, she sees someone picking up a bunch of bottles one by one and placing them back on the shelve. out of kindness, she decided to help, picking up a bottle and placing it on fhe shelve before looking up to face the guy, who had a straight face while looking at her.

“i was just trying to help. im soyoung.” soyoung smiled, reaching her hand out and waiting for thr guy to greet back. he looked at her but doesn’t respond, proceeding to pick up the last bottle that was seen on the floor. “im jeno.” jeno stands up and nods his head to greet soyoung. soyoung nods back, walking down the isle to grab her drink from the shelve. “have a nice day.” soyoung says before leaving the isle and disappearing out of jeno’s sight. he only shrugged in response and went to do his own thing.

“you met who?!” haechan asks as he takes a sip of his ice cold water. everyone had their heads turned to jaemin, who raised an eyebrow at everyone’s weird expression. “i met my old friend raven. what’s so shocking?” jaemin asks back casually, picking up a few pieces of fries and dipping it into the sauce before shoving it in his mouth.

“dude that’s the name of mark’s soulmate!” haechan screams, making everyone flinch due to the loud noise. “i highly doubt it. there’s plenty of girls in the world with the name raven.” jaemin protests with his mouth full and chugging down gulps of coca cola.

“i mean that’s true. jeno you were with jaemin, right? dont you suspect anything?” renjun starts to question jeno, who was silently playing with his phone. looking up at the others, he gulps.

“i didn’t know he met his friend. i was picking out drinks. i just met a girl named soyoung.” jeno shrugs, taking a bite of his burger. mark scratches the back of his head, now starting to think of the fact that jaemin might have met his soulmate. though he also thought about how that could not be totally possible.

“nah i dont think its her. like really ‘raven’ could be anyone.” mark says, siding with jaemin. haechan tilts his head in awe. “jaemin do you know what school she’s going to?” jaemin only shakes his head.

“i lost all contact with her when i left her neighbourhood. plus we were young. i barely knew her honestly.” the living room falls silent, everyone trying to think of a conclusion to this.

chenle groans, standing up from his seat and slamming his hands on the table, gathering everyone’s attention as their heads shot up. “instead of pondering as if yall are solving some crime, why dont mark just ask her through the sticky note god dammit?” chenle pinches the bridge of his nose.

everyone’s mouths gape open as the room was suddenly filled with ‘ah’s all over. chenle shakes his head. everyone was now looking intensively at mark. mark furrows his eyebrows. “okay guys hold up ill grab the stick note.” mark stands up and takes one bite of his burger before going into his room for awhile and coming out with a sticky note and a pen.

jaemin noticed jeno being silent the whole way. and althought thats normal since its jeno’s nature and personality to not be so outspoken like the others, jaemin could sense that jeno was off and seem to be in deep thoughts.

and jaemin was right. jeno couldnt stop thinking about jaemin’s encounter with ‘raven’. the name sounded so familiar. he tried to recall every girl he has came into contact with during his life. why did he feel like the name was tied to the handwriting he saw on the sticky notes?

“jeno.” jaemin nudged him in the shoulder. jeno mumbled a soft ‘oh’ before turning his attention to mark just like the others. “she didn’t send me a reply after my last one though.” mark says, looking up.

“its fine. she probably didn’t see it. just write already.” chenle says in anticipation. mark shakes his head. “calm the heck down its not like we can get an answer immediately.” mark rolls his eyes and began to write.

hey raven. um i know this may sound weird. but have you gone to a supermarket and met a guy names jaemin? im not a stalker i swear. its just that he’s my friend and apparently you know him. though i dont think that such a coincidence and come by just like that. hope you hear from you soon.

jeno stared at the sticky note that mark proceeded to place at a random wall of the living room while everyone continued to eat and chat. his thoughts finally linked and a imaginary lightbulb appeared on above his head when he finally realises why he was so drawn to mark’s soulmate.

you were focused on wanting to solve a math question when the sticky note above your desk’s wall had fallen in front of you, revealing a new message. you place your pen down and let out a sigh, remembering that you hsve forgotten to write a reply and that mark probably sent you another one.

you tied your hair in a messy low bun before picking up the sticky note to get a closer view. you blink your eyes rapidly as your eyes furrow in awe. what the note said really shocked you and made you freeze in your spot. jaemin is friends with your soulmate? there’s no way.

you sat there for awhile as you constantly read over the words, still in shock with your moutb hanging open. you just couldn’t believe it. was it really what it seemed to be? another thought came to your mind as well. the thought of just who is this friend of jaemin’s? could it be mark? was your soulmate literally in the same place as you yet you never knew?

you grab a fresh new piece of sticky note and proceeded to write a reply after staring at it for so long and thought that it was finally time that you do something.

okay what you wrote really was weird. jaemin’s my old neighbourhood friend. its such a coincidence how you know him. i guess the connections are there. so haha yeah. damn. im very mind blown right now.

you take a look at your handwriting again, smiling to yourself. “i really do love my handwriting.” you mumble under your breath. you stuck the sticky note on the wall and resumed doing your homework, hoping that mark would reply soon.

while the boys were immersed in the horror movie they were watching on friday night, everyone turned their heads to each other when they heard the noise of a piece of paper falling onto the floor. in unison, everyone turned their head to where the noise came from and seeing the sticky note that fell.

jisung grabs the controller and pauses the movie. “we’re watching a scary movie and creepy stuff like that happens?!” jisung asks, stuttering out of complete fear.

mark decided to be the brave one after seeing everyone’s terrified face and stands up to pick up the sticky note, going back to take his seat on the couch soon after. “d-does that always happen?” mark shrugs. “well duh. that’s how i know she sent a reply. it wouldn’t be this scary if we weren’t watching a horror movie.”

everyone’s heads once again gather around mark as he read the note out loud. everyone gapes their mouth open, some covered their mouths while jeno could only stare at it in disbelief. “i guess we’ve confirmed its her.” mark breathes out, placing the sticky note on the table.

jeno reaches out to grab the sticky note to have a look. the unique handwriting that he suspected would belong to you really was yours. out of anger, he tears the sticky notes into two. everyone had their eyes widened at jeno’s sudden shocking action. mark snatches the now torn note back, looking down at them before facing jeno.

“what the heck was that for?!”

“dont talk to her anymore. she’s trouble.”

everyone lets out a sigh in unison except for mark, looking at everyone’s weird reaction. “what do you mean trouble? and why does it look like you all know something except me?” mark furrows his eyes as everyone exchanged glances continuously for a moment.

“she’s just not someone you should be with. that’s all.” jeno stands up and walks to his room, slamming the door shut and produring a piercing noise. the room was silent for awhile until mark speaks up.

“what am i missing here you guys?”

no one replies.

“we’ve been friends for a year and you guys are all keeping secrets for me?” mark scoffs in disbelief, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“we arent in the position to tell you. its jeno.” jaemin murmurs under his breath, looking down on the ground just like the others.

marks keeps silent and stands up from the couch, the palm the torn note was in is balled into a fist as he goes into his room as well.

haechan sighs. “jeno has to tell the truth. he’s been holding onto that grudge almost forever now.”

everyone nods their heads in agreement. “if not, he’s going to live in despair now that he knows she’s his best friend’s soulmate..” jisung adds on. 

everyone could only silently hope that things could go well. 

after that day you’ve sent a reply, you havent heard from mark since. you dont know why. due to your lack of information on him, it felt as if he disappeared into thin air. although only a week has past by, you felt concerned and somewhat worried for him. did something happen to him? what made him cut off his connection with you? its not like you did anything wrong. 

out of pure desperation, you decided to skip school today. youve never skipped school before, and you felt so rebellious and bad. why did you do this? so you could go to dream high and meet mark in person. youve had enough of the sticky notes. you just wanted to see how he was like in real life, not having to think about it through notes. 

with a little help from jaemin by texting him on instagram, you knew that mark’s class should be ending by 4pm, and you were there at 3:50 in the canteen where jaemin told you to wait. funny how the security guard lets a student from another school come in with a pass or anything.

you slowly start seeing groups of students going down the flight of stairs that lead to the canteen which had a path leading to the front gates. some eyes glanced at you as they notice someone who doesnt belong at their school, you couldnt care less though. your thoughts were only filled with mark. how he looked like, how he would carry himself. your anticipation was the only thing you felt.

you wore your headphones yet you could suddenly hear a lot of squealing and shouting. you look up, turning you attention to the stairs. a large group of girls crowding around another group of people, who you assumed to be guys. you scoffed, thinking about how there’s always that one group of good looking guys all girls seem to go crazy for. you watch as the group of guys push through the large crowd.

once you got a closer look, you tilt your head to the side. you slowly bring your headphone down from your ears and let them rest on your neck, getting intrigued by how the girls were getting so crazy, even more crazy than the ones from your school.

“its mark! he’s so cute!” 

you widen your eyes as you heard the word ‘mark’. you stood up from your seat, peering your head up to find which one is the girl referring to. you only see two guys walking. one smiling sheepishly while the other kept a straight and cold face. just which one is mark?

suddenly, you felt an arm grabbing yours and pulling you back. you jump out of fear and turn around noticing it was jaemin. you calmed your breathing as you look at jaemin. 

“meet mark under the block nearby. its too hectic here for you to talk to him.”

jaemin dragged you out of the school grounds and to a secluded block where only a few students where walking past and left you there. you were lost in confusion but decided to trust whatever jaemin was doing, sitting down at a random bench.

“jaemin told us to meet him here where is-” 

“raven.”

“what?”

you immediately stood in front of the two guys you saw at the canteen as you notice a familiar face. you werent able to get a clear look at them before, but now you realise that you knew one of them. “jeno..” you look at a different direction a you tried avoiding his gaze, though you knew you couldnt, forcing yourself to meet his eyes.

mark looks at the both of you, utterly confused as his attention shifts from you to jeno constantly. “this raven?” mark points at you, tilting his head. you nod slowly as your turn your head to face mark. you observed his body up and down. he was good looking, just like jeno.. yet his aura told you that he was way more outgoing and open than jeno. 

“you look...”

everyone was silent.

you gulp in nervousness. “im busy. bye mark.” before jeno could go, mark pulled on his arm to bring him back to stand beside him, earning a glare from jeno. the one you could never forget. “stay. i know something happened. you were always quiet whenever we talked about this girl. and i also know you all kept something from me.”

you slowly turned to jeno. you could he was annoyed whenever he looked at you. you felt it through his eyes, and it was terrifying. jeno took a deep breath in, folding his arms and placing his weight on one leg. 

“if you remember clearly, chenle told you that before we became friends with you, we had a fight and didnt talk to each other for a long time. we didnt tell you this, but it was her who caused it. she brought chaos into our group. everyone forgotten about it clearly, but i cant. after what she did.. i cant forgive her.”

you opened your mouth, wanting to reply but your words were somehow stuck in your throat. you didnt exactly know what to say or do in this awkward situation.

“it.. it was a long time ago jeno, please. my feelings for you were real, even if we werent meant to be. i dont know how many times you need me to say sorry.” you pleaded, biting your lip as you waited for jeno’s reaction.

jeno sighs and runs a hand through his hair as he lets out a huff of rustration. “then why did you leave? you left me stranded, and because of you, i almost left my friends becaused i lived in agony since i missed you so much. i almost pushed everyone away.” you shivered as jeno’s voice started to raise. 

 you also glanced at mark, who still kept his confused expression on his face. through his gaze never left you as you felt his eyes scanning you body up and down. 

“you two used date?” mark asks. you nod in reply.

“we were kids. we didnt know about all this soulmate stuff. but now..” 

“you know what? be together. im not going to leave my friends just because of my pent up grudge and feelings. i cant control fate either.” 

years had now past since you met mark. it really was fate. the two of you became close in no time and now.. you were fianally married. you couldnt be more happy to be with mark. who you were destined to be really was made for you, and you only. and to think this all escalated due to a note you sent out in pure curiosity.

you still remember what happened with jeno after that day, despite the lack of interaction between you two, jeno was open enough to accept you as his friend again. you are now living a happy life with mark, and always being able to hang out with his group of friends. today was no different. 

“haechan get the chilli sauce!” you hear mark shout as you smile widely, feeling his arm snaking around your waist to pull you close. having a barbeque was a great idea to celebrate jisung’s birthday. 

you soon see haechan with the bottle of chilli sause, placing it on the table where everyone gathered around the table which had jisung’s birthday cake. “before we do anything with the cake, let me announce my wish.” jisung announces proudly. you raise an eyebrow. “you cant say you birthday wish out loud!” you scolded jisung, but everyone laughs.

“his wish is something we all know.” jeno says, winking playfully at you. you tilt your head in confusion when you suddenly feel mark’s arm leaving you waist. you look over to mark who was shoving his hand into his pocket as if to find something.

you were completely clueless when mark nods towards jisung, to show some kind of signal. “i wish for mark and raven to get married!” jisung shouts. 

you gaped your mouth open in shock when mark pulls out a small box, opening it in front of you to show a ring. you cover your mouth in disbelief. “did you guys really-”

“please marry me, raven. my sticky note soulmate.” you hear everyone clapping s a tear of happiness drips from your cheek. you quickly wipe it away as you heard the nickname that mark gave you. “we wouldnt normally do this but it was jeno that suggested this.”

you look over to jeno who had a soft smile on his face as he nod his head. looking back at mark, you grin widely as more tears started flowing out. “of course ill marry you, you dork.”

[asahipleaseloveme]

Love is Always Lovely in the End ~ Yamaguchi

Yamaguchi x reader

Warnings: none (please let me know if I missed something)

Word Count: 1.2k

Author's Note: this is partially based on an experience I had in college, only I didn't admit my feelings lol. Also, idk if Humanities is a popular course at Universities outside of the US, but it was what I was somewhat familiar with. (As always, feedback is appreciated 😊)

Tagging: @goldenshoyo

Based on: Love is Always Lovely in the End from The Drowsy Chaperone

Love sneaks up behind you Love drops from above But love would never consciously offend Love has certainly been kind to me and my true love Love is always lovely in the end

But... your late husband was a brute!

I don't mean him, you silly coot!

“Yams! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!” You yelled across the courtyard of campus while waving your arms hysterically. Yamaguchi looked up from his book and stared at you, ears burning red. You ran over to meet him at the table he occupied.

“Yama...guchi…” you huffed, out of breath from your short sprint. “You were supposed to meet me in the library for our study session an hour ago, you goob!” You were half way teasing in the way you spoke to him. You knew that he tended to get carried away with his own studies.

A bright pink flushed across his cheeks.

“Wait, I thought we were supposed to study at 2?” He asked as he checked his watch. “Oh. Oh, no! I’m sorry, ______! We can go right now, if you want! Agh, I can’t believe I lost track of the time, again,” he started to trail off.

But you didn’t mind. You knew that his heart was in the right place.

“Yamaguchi, I don’t really want to go back to the library. I just sat there for an hour,” you laughed. “But, we can go back to my dorm! We can pick up some snacks and maybe some dinner and pull an all-nighter! I have a test tomorrow, did I mention that?”

“Test?! ______, I thought we agreed that after the last time you had to give me two days' notice of any tests you might have?”

“Well, yeah, now that you mention it, we did agree to that,” you say sheepishly.

Last time was a disaster. You had begged Yamaguchi to help you study for your math test. He agreed. Only, he didn’t realize how hard it would be for you to actually focus on the task at hand. You would both end up off topic and end up on the floor laughing your asses off over something stupid. It somehow took you five hours to study, and you only managed to make it through two topics.

The grade you received wasn’t awful, but it wasn’t your best work either. Yamaguchi felt partially responsible for your grade (even though you reassured him that it wasn’t his fault at all; you were the one who had to take the test after all and you knew your limits). He made you agree to tell him at least two days in advance if you had a test, so he could make sure he was able to cover all of the topics with you.

“This one just slipped my mind, I guess. I can understand if you don’t want to help me study, Yams.”

His cheeks started to turn pink again. He would never admit it, but he loved the way that nickname sounded when you said it.

“No, no. It’s okay. I want to help you. I was supposed to meet up with Tsukki tonight, but I can cancel it, no worries,” he said with a smile.

He texted Tsukki, to which he received the reply “Nerd.”

“Tsukki says good luck on your exam,” he chuckled.

“Well, then. Let’s go!” You grabbed Yamaguchi’s hand and dragged him to the nearest convenience store. You hastily went through the aisles and got what you deemed necessary for an all-nighter. Yamaguchi also picked up some things for the evening. You offered to pay for everything, especially since he had to cancel plans on your account. He insisted that you didn’t have to, but you insisted that you did.

“Yams, I’ve got this! You’re already doing me a kindness! I can make a scene if I need to,” you said in a low tone that made him a little scared.

“Um, okay. I guess I can let you get it this time.”

“Wonderful! Now, we’re all set for tonight! This is going to be so much fun!”

“You mean it’s going to be serious. We’re going to be studying, ______.”

“Right, right. Boring. Intense. Rigorous. No fun, only studying. Serious,” you reply with a smirk.

Back at your dorm, you kick your shoes off, dump the snacks on your desk, and dump your backpack on your bed. You’re humming to yourself as you find your humanities books, notebook, and pencil when you notice that Yamaguchi is still standing next to the door.

“Make yourself at home, Yams!” you exclaimed as you slapped the chair next to your desk.

He shuffled over to the chair and plopped into it. You pulled out your study guide that you had half way finished and handed it to Yamaguchi.

“Okay, it looks like you have a good start on this. I can help you finish it out and then go over it with you again. But, ______, I really don’t think pulling an all-nighter will help you get a better grade. Getting a good night’s rest is just as essential as getting in a good study session.”

You take a minute to ponder what he’s said and you have to agree with him.

“You’re right, Yams. So let’s stop talking about studying and actually start studying, goob!”

A slight tint of pink brushed across his cheeks.

“Uh, right! Where are you guys at in your studies?” He was speaking more to himself as he scanned over your study guide.

“I don’t know. Something about the Baroque and Renaissance periods. We had to read Romeo and Juliet. It’s a pretty weird take on romance if you ask me.”

“Uh, Romeo and Juliet was a tragedy, ______,” Yamaguchi said with slight confusion in his voice.

“Yams! I haven’t finished it yet! You’ve gone and spoiled it for me,” you said with a playful huff.

“Oh, uh. I’m sorry...But, hang on! Your test is tomorrow and you haven’t finished it yet? ______?!”

“I’m only messing with you, goob. I know how it ends. I just forgot it’s classified as a tragedy. That’s the main literature piece we need to know for the test. The rest is just art and music. It’s all pretty weird if you ask me.”

You pulled up all of the music and art you learned about in class and it took a few hours, but you and Yamaguchi were able to buckle down and study (minus a couple of off topic conversations). From Bach to Vivaldi to Monteverdi, from Carvaggio to Rembrandt to da Vinci, he helped you with all of it.

“Huh, that didn’t take too long, Yams! And the more that we looked over this stuff, the more it reminds me of this person I really like,” you begin to blush as the words flow from your mouth.

“But, ______, I thought you were over your ex?” Yamaguchi questions so innocently.

“I don’t mean him, you big goob!” You grabbed his hand and interlaced your fingers with his.

His whole face turned bright pink, “Oh! I...I really like you too, ______! I never thought you would like me too,” he said with a look of embarrassment on his face.

“It’s getting late, Yams. Do you want to stay over tonight? I’ll sleep on the futon and you can have the bed.”

“N-No, I really should be going and you should really get a good night’s rest. But,” he paused ever so slightly. “How about we meet for lunch tomorrow after your test? You can tell me all about it,” he smiled.

You smiled back and nodded in agreement. You were so glad that you waited to study for your test.

[katherinewilliams221b]

For A Greater Good 15/18

not my gif just the text. Origins

Summary: Kate Williams, young healer and member of the Order, joins Durmstrang’s staff at Dumbledore’s request. Her mission? Find a   Death Eater and survive long enough to tell the story. Set in 1996.

Pairing: Charlie Weasley x ofc/mc

Masterlist

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4] [Part 5]

[Part 6] [Part 7] [Part 8] [Part 9] [Part 10]

[Part 11] [Part 12] [Part 13] [Part 14]

--

Her pulse failed every time she held a quill to write to Charlie; her eyes stung whenever she closed them. At one point she started to feel a constant pressure on her right temple, and it didn’t abandon her during the next weeks that followed her discoveries.

Kate lay on her side in bed, with her arms tucked against herself, protecting the cursed paper that was causing her nightmares, and curled up in a ball. That was her default position every day since then.

She stared at the candle on her table, the only source of light in the room and in her mind. The fire danced and twisted, hypnotising, captivating.

She thought of being somewhere else, with someone else.

What kind of person you must be to fool one of the greatest wizards alive? Dumbledore wasn’t any saint of her devotion, but… he must have known, right? He had to… or perhaps not.

Her breathing was slow and even, she concentrated on it; in and out. In and out. If she kept her eyes opened they stung, but if she closed them… it was worse.

And just like every other night, the candle consumed itself, leaving Kate in total darkness.

“Don’t give up hope.” She had told her students when they saw that none of the umbrella flowers had teeth. “We still have time.”

“We don’t have time! Exams start on Monday and the AEDA is in less than two weeks from now!” Jon had exclaimed.

“What have we done wrong?” Greta had asked.

“Focus on your exams. Remember that you can have your notebook with the greenhouse notes, so make sure it’s complete. I’ll take care of the flowers.”

She didn’t know how. The migraines had intensified, the parchment she hid under her uniform burned her skin every day, every hour, it was a reminder that she had to get out of there as soon as possible. But she had made a promise, and she had to keep it: those plants would have teeth like her name was Kate Williams.

And there, lying in bed unable to see around her, she discovered what had gone wrong with her project: Dark Arts.

After that revelation, Kate went to the library daily to visit the botany section. Corentin deliberately avoided her, being aware of the rumours about them. They had spent a lot of time together these past few months, and inevitably, the castle residents would wonder why.

Deaf to the gossip, the bat kept one eye on the library and one on Kate. Unaware that her friend had her back from above, the young witch devoured pages and pages about crossbreeding, the only activity that kept her from thinking about the list.

 The day before the Herbology exam, Kate was sitting at her usual table going over all the ingredients for the potion she had found. With Jorgensen's help, maybe she could grow those fangs.

Voices made her look up. Before long, an unusual commotion where they were standing deafened those looking for a quiet study area.

She saw Corentin, in his bat form, swiftly descending towards the shouting, and followed his path with her eyes. Two of her students, Vivien and Jon, were arguing heatedly, surrounded by their friends. The librarian didn't have to say a word; he just transformed into a human right in the middle of the two, glaring disapprovingly at them until the children dispersed.

Unwilling to perform her duties as an authority figure and scold her students for misbehaviour, she dipped her quill into the inkwell and began copying down the ingredients she would need. She had barely written two of them when movement out of the corner of her eye distracted her.

At a glance she recognised Vivien, who was deep in thought, and pulled a book out of her backpack grumbling to herself. The girl dropped it on the table with a thump.

"Has he been bothering you?" Kate couldn't help but ask. She didn't look up from the page she was reading. She managed to catch a few words in Vivien's mind, but they blended into each other in a swirl of acidity.

"He's been hounding me all week to study with him. He won't leave me alone." Kate put down the quill then and watched as Vivien pretended to read. "I hope after this he gets the idea."

"He won't bother you anymore today." Kate said after a while, "Remember the exam will be in class 82. You'll do fine." Vivien nodded as Kate gathered her belongings.

After asking Corentin's permission to take the book, she walked over to the table where Jon Hopkins was ogling Vivien in the distance, surrounded by his friends.

"Gather your things," she said without greeting, "You've found a study partner."

The boy looked at her as if she had six arms and as a protest began to form on his lips, Kate interrupted him, "It's non-negotiable. Come on, I don't have all day."

The group around Jon pitied their friend as he reluctantly advanced in front of the young teacher outside the library.

"I have to study." He complained as they made their way down the hallway.

"You will accompany me to see Professor Jorgensen and then to the greenhouse. You will study there while I experiment."

"What if I don't want to study?" He challenged. Kate just shrugged.

"Much better. You'll help me with my duties in the greenhouse and with the umbrella flowers. I recommend you find the will to study. I have a lot to do today."

"But why?"

"Maybe then you'll understand what it feels like to have unwanted company."

 Kent Jorgensen gave Kate the ingredients without complaint. She had expected more resistance from him, had even prepared a speech to get the professor to agree, but it hadn't been necessary. She supposed he would want to maintain some diplomacy between them with a gesture that wouldn't set off the time bomb that could destroy professor Angelov's career and life.

Once in the greenhouse, Jon sat in the seat furthest away from her and leaned his elbows on the table pretending to read his notes while Kate waved her wand back and forth.

An array of pots, bottles and boxes surrounded her and with a sigh she set about preparing her potion.

The concoction was composed of a mixture of compounds of both plant and animal origin that Kate had never used before and when mixed together, it flooded the greenhouse with a putrid smell.

After two hours, a small explosion of a suspicious liquid, one miscalculation and several incorrect consistencies, Kate managed to obtain the muddy-looking concoction, which she had to leave to steep for fifteen minutes. It was time for the key part of the process: introducing the desired characteristic into the potion.

Jon looked up from his notebook wearily and watched in disgust as Kate cleaned the inside of a geranium's mouth before pulling a fang out of one of them with forceps.

"Why did you say 'sorry' to it?" The boy asked. Kate looked at him in confusion, waiting for him to elaborate further. "You apologised to the geranium." Kate tsked.

"Well, I just knocked his tooth out. He must not have been amused." She set the tusk down in a glass bowl and proceeded cleaning her workbench.

"You're strange... I mean..." Jon stammered out a few words at the look on Kate's face, who misinterpreted her frown as anger. "It's just... you're good. And kind. Like Professor Mawut." Kate smiled.

"Thank you very much, Jon." She raised an eyebrow and added, "But you're not getting rid of me today." He pursed his lips and returned to his notes.

Movement through the glass of the greenhouse caught her attention and squinting she caught a glimpse of Mer Yankelevich hurrying over the bridge towards the forest. Libor Marek was at her heels.

Marek grabbed the teacher's arm and something he said stopped her in her tracks. After a while, Mer released her grip and retraced her steps towards the castle, leaving Marek watching her from a distance.

"Professor Marek is very brutish." Jon commented, having seen the scene as well. Kate tilted her head, agreeing with the comment, and proceeded to grab the fang with a pair of tweezers. She dipped it into the potion and waited as the tooth disintegrated on contact.

"What do you think of Professor Yankelevich?" She asked absently. Jon grimaced and shrugged.

"She's okay, I guess. She's been pretty angry lately, though."

"Angry with you?" Jon shrugged again. He glanced over to where the two teachers had been having the conversation and turned back to Kate. "Professor Marek has been arguing with her a lot," he whispered, "I don't know why... it's almost lunchtime..."

"Great. I'll finish this and we'll eat together." Jon let out a frustrated sigh and rested his head on his fist. "We shouldn't pry into their business." Kate grimaced hearing herself say that.

She swirled the potion with her wand six times to the left and then eleven times to the right. With each twist, the liquid grew thicker and thicker until it hardened so much that the wand had become trapped inside. But she was not to let go of it, no. The instructions clearly stated that there had to be contact with the wizard for at least five minutes.

Practically breathless, she watched as the stone began to crack from the centre of the wand, slowly breaking into a brown powder. She sighed in relief at the desired result and wiped her wand on her overalls.

After adding water, the end result was a bowl of what appeared to be, but nothing could be further from the truth, soil.

She excitedly sprinkled some of it on all the pots of umbrella flowers, and after watering them, covered them all with a leather tarp.

"Tomorrow we'll know if it worked."

 --

Kate watched her students work through the test she had prepared for them. After nearly an hour and a half, she stood up to relieve her stiff muscles. She walked between the rows of children sitting individually and checked out of the corner of her eye that they were only looking at their parchment. A small, fleeting smile broke out on her face, proud to see that most of the pupils were writing with admirable concentration. Some of them, like Micael Angelov, had supplemented their writing with small sketches.

When she reached the end of the class, she went the other way and leaned against the door.

“You have fifteen minutes left,” she remarked, glancing at the clock.

Young Angelov was the first to stand up. Securing his backpack over one shoulder, he handed the parchment to Kate with a shy smile.

“How did it go?” She checked that he’d written his name and looked up waiting for his response.

“Pretty good.”

Kate nodded with a smile and stepped away from the door to make way for him. A voice whispered her name behind her back and Vivien appeared to hand her her exam paper. Kate repeated the question.

“Very good! It was easy... although I didn’t remember you were going to ask about our herbarium... but I was able to answer them. Professor Williams, are you coming to the Glow-bug shower?”

“What’s that?” she whispered, indicating to Vivien to do the same.

“Professor Rhode explained to us that every year thousands of glow-bugs appear and light up all the mountains. It’s Thursday night. According to her, it’s very exciting.”

 Apparently, Astrid was right. In her healer’s uniform, spelled to withstand the cold, and her hood hiding her ears and forehead, Kate made her way through the crowd in one of the castle towers. She found a gap near the stone wall overlooking the quidditch pitch and rested her hands on the stone.

It was the one night of the year when students were allowed to roam the castle at midnight, on the occasion of the very particular event that was about to take place.

She raised her hand to her neck, adjusting her cloak to protect herself from the cold, and looked up. A blanket of infinite dots stretched above them. The stars guarded the terrain from high above, and with no clouds, they were perfectly visible from any point. Despite the voices and the shouting, there was something about watching the sky that left Kate in awe and isolated from the rest of the world.

She took a deep breath, imagining Charlie next to her, stretched out, side by side on the lawn of the Burrow, hands casually brushing and competing to prove who had been paying more attention in Astronomy.

“It’s bright out tonight,” a low, husky voice brought her back to the present, “At least it’s not a full moon, in which case they’d be unnoticeable.”

She looked down to find Professor Marek standing next to her. She raised her eyebrows, “I didn’t think seeing glow-worms would interest you, Professor.”

“There are many things that interest me, Miss Williams, not just winning duels.” he replied in a monotone voice. “I didn’t know you‘d be interested in this sort of thing... always stuck in that greenhouse of yours with dirt on your fingers. Have you had enough of flowers and leaves?”

Kate huffed, but didn’t take the bait. She merely averted her gaze to her left, where another tower of the castle contained the same number of people as there were around her. Marek also looked around, but didn’t move his feet from the ground. Kate suspected she would have an escort during the event. The question was, why?

The torches on the stone walls around them suddenly went out, raising the murmurs and impatient exclamations of the children. Kate and Marek turned their heads as they heard Professor Yankelevich’s shriek, pleading for silence.

“I remember you were good with protective spells,” challenged Marek

“I can defend myself.” The professor nodded and looked at the tower next door waiting for the signal. A light from a wand announced the teachers were ready to begin.

“We’re going to create a bubble around us, make sure it’s not too high.”

Numerous wands rose into the air, coming from different parts of the castle. A silvery layer began to form over their heads, spreading at full speed through the air from the highest point of the castle to the ground. Once every stone and corner of the place was encircled, the colour of the dome faded until it was completely transparent, invisible to the human eye.

There was a collective urge to hold one’s breath. The anticipation was beginning to be palpable, and even Kate noticed how her body leaned forward, as if to concentrate better.

A tiny spark came into view in the mountains. It was an intense white light, but very small, so small that after a few seconds it disappeared. The general disappointment dissipated as dozens of lights began to scatter in the distance, then hundreds, and before long, the stars seemed noticeably extinguished by the cascade of glow worms drifting in the wind.

Kate had only ever seen one glow worm in her life; in a Care of Magical Creatures class where Kettleburn had brought one inside a jar to show how some people used to use them as lamps. The problem was, and also the reason the teachers conjured up a protective bubble, glow-bugs were deadly.

“Takes your breath away, doesn’t it?” commented Marek without looking away.

She nodded, mouth half-open, gawking at the scene before her eyes; the glow-worms were slowly approaching through the air, carried by the breeze to their heads. The creature comprised a transparent shell that resembled the shape of a Muggle light bulb. Inside was the worm, curled in on itself and emitting an incandescent light.

Several of them bounced off the invisible barrier, creating an almost hypnotic effect on the onlookers. The entire castle was under such a blinding spotlight everyone was forced to squint or shield themselves with their hands.

The worms had scattered within moments; some had strayed into the forest, some into the mountains, and the rest had descended the cliffs, leaving the castle in its usual gloom.

Kate turned to Marek the moment the torches were lit again. A particular, never-before-seen gleam decorated the professor’s eyes, which, as the seconds passed, transformed his gaze into a deep, watery unhappiness.

Marek pulled himself together quickly and as much as Kate longed to know the reason for such emotion, she kept her mouth shut and waited patiently for some dry, cutting remark to ease the tension.

“I don’t know my parents. They died when I was very young.” He proclaimed instead. She stood still, afraid to shoo him away like a bird perching in one’s window to say hello. Despite there being so many people around them, the rest of the teachers were ordering them back to the dormitories, giving them some ironic privacy. Marek was staring off into the distance, “But I have a memory, a very vivid one, of a situation like this. It’s like an anniversary for me, I don’t know what, but that’s how I see it.”

A cruel idea flashed through her mind, one that she was dying to spit in his face, but for the sake of their diplomatic relationship she held back inside her. Her eyes began to burn, and she cursed to herself for being so emotional lately. She carved a frown into her forehead to keep her tears from spilling.

“My adoptive parents never knew where I got such a story...”

“And despite...” she couldn’t hold back, her words would be hurtful and she knew it, but she blurted them out to his face all the same, “And despite not knowing your origins, which may well be non-magical, you make a point of despising those who are different from you. You could be a muggleborn.”

Marek peeled his eyes from the mountains and looked at her with his characteristic sternness. The facade had returned to his face and his heart was shut tight.

“No,” he hissed, “my blood is clean.”

Mer Yankelevich was pushing the last student into the building when he made eye contact with Kate. Surely she had been watching the entire exchange, she thought.

Professor Jorgensen appeared through the door at that instant, averting his gaze to Kate and Marek and then to Mer, intermittently. He closed the door behind him and both professors approached them.

“You’ll never be completely sure of that.” Kate shook her head at his comment, wondering why she’d been so concerned about his feelings. The professor turned sharply and without a goodbye, stomped off to enter the castle and disappeared from sight.

“Is Libor all right?” asked Yankelevich.

“He looks really obfuscated, but that’s usual.”

Kate took a step back, suddenly feeling irrationally cornered.

“He’s been acting strangely for some time now, and an unpredictable Libor can be dangerous.” said Mer.

Jorgensen turned to her, “To my mind, Libor is not an irrational creature...”

“Believe me, I know him well. We should stay away from him for a while, let him clear his head.”

“I don’t understand what you mean, Professor,” Kate said, a little upset. Mer walked over to her, holding her gaze.

“If you spend more time with us, you’ll understand that it’s better to give Libor his space. By the way, the year is coming to an end. Will you still be the Herbology teacher next year? From what I hear, Rhode is thrilled with you.”

“And so are the kids.” Jorgensen pointed out, also interested in knowing Kate’s response.

“I haven’t discussed it with Rhode yet...”

“But you’d like to stay on?” insisted Yankelevich.

“It’s been an interesting opportunity, of course, but...” The conversation was entering swampy territory and as eloquent as Kate could be, she was struggling to find the right words. In the end, following her mother’s advice, she opted to speak a truth. “I’m very lonely.”

“Ah,” nodded Jorgensen, “That’s the effect Durmstrang can have, yes. I bet you’re eager to get home as soon as possible, wherever that is.” Kate nodded slowly, recognising a small, complicit smile on the professor’s face, making her remember their talk months ago.

“Exactly.”

Yankelevich hummed, inspecting Kate closely. Uncomfortable with the interrogation and impatient to regain the safety of her room, she said a hasty goodbye and headed for the door leading to the stairs, leaving Jorgensen and Yankelevich in the starlight.

--

[Part 16]

A/N: Not a very exciting chapter I know, but still important. The end is near my friends.

--

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[neocityarchive]

blind love | l.m.k.

— in which mark lee is so much more than just your best friend but you were too blind to realize it.

word count: 7.2k | warnings: light swearing | blind love - lola young |

a/n: i didnt mean for it to be this long but i hope you enjoy!!!

“Just friends,” Mark said, his voice still steady even in the growing tension of the moment. “That’s all you said we are, right?”

Your head dropped down to look at your hands, not knowing what to say. The overbearing guilt of rejecting his sudden confession was crushing your chest that it became painful to breathe.

“I’m sorry, Mark,” was all you could say. You forced yourself to meet his gaze through your already glassy eyes, wanting to let him know the sincerity of your words.

He smiled kindly, shaking his head. There was sadness in his eyes. And in all the years you two have known each other, you could tell how hard he was trying to hide it. “It’s okay. That’s all we’ll be.”

You bumped your head repeatedly against your study table in an attempt to rid yourself of the memory that’s constantly been playing in your head. 

It was a Sunday which meant there were no classes, which meant the university was closed, which meant that you couldn’t even make an excuse to see your best friend Mark who somehow, after almost three years of friendship, suddenly decided that it was a good idea to tell you he loves you more than a friend should love a friend.

You couldn’t say it happened out of nowhere. He’s been saying he has something important to tell you for almost two weeks before the incident but every time you confront him about it, he always makes up some lame excuse to dodge. It took a lot of self-hate for yourself and a nice amount of his protective instinct to finally make him spit it out. 

He came to your apartment that night, finding you barefaced, wearing a pair of sweats and one of his hoodies that you stole some time ago. From that he already knew you weren’t okay. You like wearing his stuff to seek some sort of comfort. Somehow, the smell of his clothes helps calm you down.

You were supposed to help him finish a report but you couldn’t concentrate after getting a below satisfactory grade on a major exam. College has done nothing but give you a shitload of insecurities lately and this just pushed you off the edge. The only thing that has been keeping you sane was the knowledge that you had someone who you can run to at the end of the day. Someone who is willing to listen to your rants and would do almost anything to cheer you up.

That day, however, none of Mark’s usual encouragement worked on you. He was getting frustrated hearing you downplay yourself because of a single exam. You started going on about how stupid you felt, how staying up all night to study did nothing but make you ugly. Mark countered every insult you threw at yourself, throwing in a few jokes here and there, all of which you ignored. But when you went on about how all of this made you unworthy of anything, how no one could possibly love you in this state, he just couldn’t take it anymore.

“I love you,” he snapped, cutting you off from your long self-deprecating speech. 

“You’re my best friend. You’re supposed to say that,” you whined, clearly missing the point.

Mark, on the other hand, was barely holding it all inside. He ran his hands through his hair and sighed. “No, idiot. I love you. Stop saying no one could love you, because I do. And not just because you’re my best friend.”

It wasn’t until you noticed his hands were quivering that you realized what he really meant. Looking back on it, you couldn’t help but hate yourself. You were sure it took a lot of his courage (and frustration) to come clean to you like that, and you couldn’t even take him seriously at first.

“Mark, no,” you remember telling him.

“I do. I hate that I do, but I do.” He looked away. “I love you and I know you’re feeling burdened right now, but you don’t have to say it back.”

A part of you broke that day. You hated rejecting people after having gone through several rejections yourself. It’s the worst feeling. You always wished there was a way you could always return people’s feelings just so no one would get hurt, but the universe just doesn’t work that way.

You muttered about a hundred sorries to which Mark replied a hundred ‘it’s okay’s. Maybe it was meant to make you feel better, but it just felt like your heart was getting ripped off your chest.

Mark didn’t stay long after that. You didn’t even get to help him with his report. He said sorry for suddenly dropping the L-word and you said sorry for not being able to say it back. He smiled sadly and it took your everything not to cry. He asked if he could hug you and you didn’t even answer. You just went straight into his arms, burying your head in his chest like you’ve done so many times before, breathing heavily to keep yourself from breaking down. And when the two of you pulled away, he insisted on being alone for a while. You said okay followed by another sorry.

You didn’t know “being alone for a while” meant ignoring you for god knows how long. You see him at uni but he wouldn’t even meet your eye. Even when you share the same class, he would choose to sit as far from you as possible. Once, he entered a cafe you were in and upon seeing you inside, he immediately turned around and walked away.

He’s ignoring you and he isn’t even being subtle about it. Mark Lee could never be subtle about anything, not even his feelings. You really were just too blind to realize anything.

Even other people saw how he felt. People used to come up to you all the time and ask about your “boyfriend” Mark. Sure, you would blush, shy that people thought you’re in a relationship with your best friend. When you explain that you weren’t actually dating, you would get the same shocked reaction every time. One of your friends even said you acted more like a couple than most people in a relationship do. You always thought it was just because you and Mark were such good friends.

“Friends don’t hold hands in public,” you remember Renjun saying.

“We don’t hold hands. He just grabs me and drags me to places,” you said defensively.

“And they don’t hug each other and stare at each other’s eyes while talking about pizza,” Jaemin scoffed.

You just rolled your eyes at them. It never crossed your mind that maybe they were right. You and Mark have never acted like how friends should. Maybe it’s the reason why you’re in this mess after all.

You sighed to yourself. You miss him. You can’t even pretend that you don’t. He’s become such a huge part of your everyday life that you couldn’t just ignore the sudden empty space he left when he said he wanted to be alone. You know he needed time to be by himself. But a part of you keeps holding on to his promise that even after his confession, you two would still be friends. And friends text each other, right? So all your attempts at communication depended on just that.

Thursday, 5:31 PM

You: wanna go watch a movie? i’ll buy the tickets.

Mark: cant. i have an exam tomorrow. sorry :/ maybe next time?

You: oh. okay. goodluck on your exam :)

Friday, 2:21 AM

You: [photo] this is possibly the cutest cat photo i’ve seen in awhile

Mark: that’s cute but dogs are still cuter

You: … okay?

Mark: go to sleep, y/n

Friday, 12:03 PM

You: i know you dont have class rn. have lunch w me?

Mark: oh i already ate with jaemin. sorry!!

You: it’s okayyyy :>> i’ll see u later? it’s friday night sooo we can hang out.

Mark: idk the boys already asked me to go out tonight

You: oh okay have fun!

Saturday, 6:54 PM

You: maaaark

Mark: y/nnn

You: [types] i miss you kajdhfhdksjdh [deletes]

You: nothing haha wanna grab some coffee?

Saturday, 7:01 PM

You: nvm haha have a nice nighhhttt

Sunday, 10:21 PM

You: hey can we talk

Mark: ???

You: please?

Mark: ye what about?

You: you said we’d still be friends

Mark: lol aren’t we?

You: this isn’t how friends talk to each other. i miss having an actual conversation with you.

You: we dont even see each other anymore.

Mark: i literally reply more to u than i do to jaem wdym haha

You: wow fine okay

Mark: ?????

You: i guess i deserve that haha

Mark: im tired y/n. night.

You: :( nighttt

You checked your messages for the nth time, reading everything as if something was gonna miraculously change with the cold conversation thread. Your fingers have been hovering over the keypad, typing and deleting ‘i miss you’ and ‘talk to me’ for about a hundred times already.

You don’t get why you can’t just say it. What’s so wrong with telling your best friend you miss him? Why is it so hard to press send? Why are you suddenly so afraid of how he would reply or if he would even reply at all?

It was only 10:30 in the evening. You know for sure Mark is only lying about going to sleep. He never sleeps this early unless he really is tired. He does nothing on Sundays so he can’t possibly be tired. Sundays are usually just the two of you hanging out in his apartment or yours, just to watch movies or study together. So what did he do today?

“Stop thinking about him,” you grumbled to yourself. “It’s just Mark. He’s a big boy, he can handle himself.”

But that’s not the point, a voice inside your head said. Just tell him you miss him.

You typed it again, ‘I miss you,’ but deleted it as soon as it was finished. Again. 

You’ve spent everyday with Mark that it suddenly hurts to think he’s enjoying the time you usually spend together alone. It’s crazy how you can’t stop thinking about how his day went or if he’s okay or whether he’s eaten or not. You know how stubborn he can be. Sometimes, he’d get so engulfed in whatever he’s doing that he would accidentally skip meals unless you remind him otherwise. 

“Fuck this,” you muttered to yourself. You figured you won’t ever be left at peace if you don’t do anything about whatever you’re feeling, so you decided to text Jaemin.

Sunday, 10:52 PM

You: jaeeem hi :)

Jaemin: y/n!!!!! hello :>

You: sorry for bothering you but have you talked to mark lately?

Jaemin: im talking to him rn haha why? you want me to ask him something?

You: not really hahaha how is he?

Jaemin: haha why not ask him yourself

You: he doesnt wanna talk to me lol pls just answer

Jaemin: he’s stubborn as always. he wont listen to me.

You: why, what’s he doing?

Jaemin: idk but it’s definitely not talking to you ksjdjkd

You: … very funny

Jaemin: sorry lmaooo he’s running on an hour or two of sleep everyday

You: jaemin!! why won’t you scold him?

Jaemin: we do! he just doesn’t listen. u know he only listens to you.

Jaemin: idk why you guys still arent together lmao bunch of idiots tbh

You: we’re just friends

Jaemin: rlly? oh btw mark hyung is looking for his save the bees shirt. did u see it anywhere?

You: yeah he left it here like two weeks ago when he slept over

Jaemin: LMAOOO DOESNT SOUND LIKE FRIENDS TO ME CHIEF

You: i fckingskjfhfn hate you

Jaemin: HJSJSHHDJD ok but seriously tho mark hyung is fine. just give him time, he’ll come around.

Jaemin: he misses you but u didnt hear it from me

Jaemin: ok bye he’s getting suspicious now lol

You: idk how you’re both an angel and the devil at the same time

You: anw thanks jaem. dont tell him i asked about him lol byeee

You sighed, putting your phone down in surrender. Your mind was more of a mess now than it was before you talked to Jaemin. You hate that he makes sense especially about the weird, more-than-friendly dynamics of your relationship with Mark. But more importantly, your head was beginning to be overfilled with worry.

Mark runs on barely two hours of sleep everyday. No wonder he always looks so out of it whenever you see him in the hallway. You wanted to call him, to tell him that he should sleep already, to remind him that he shouldn’t overwork himself, that doing just enough is okay. But you know he doesn’t want to talk to you. The cold replies and the ‘????’ were more than enough to tell you that.

Still, you figured it was worth a try sending him a little reminder. So you grabbed your phone once again and typed a message, revealing a little more of your emotions than you intended to. And before you could even think twice about it, you hit send.

Sunday, 11:04 PM

You: hey i know you’re still not asleep. dont worry, you dont have to reply to me. i just wanna tell you that you should take care of yourself. i know you. you’re stubborn and sometimes you won’t sleep or eat unless someone reminds you to so,, this is me reminding you haha. stop overworking yourself mark, please? you cant be sick cause i cant take care of you since you wont talk to me… lol jk. but seriously, get more rest (and talk to me,, hahah jk again unless u wanna ;)) please go to sleep now. goodnight. see you around i guess.

You stopped texting Mark after that. You wondered if he would find the initiative to talk to you first if you didn’t start the conversation. Now, two days have passed and your sleep reminder remains to be the last message on your conversation thread. You couldn’t say it didn’t hurt. You were hoping for at least a small thanks but didn’t get anything at all.

You were starting to get more and more frustrated as the days went by. It’s so unfair that you are slowly losing your best friend because of this. It’s unfair that you can’t even be mad at him because you just broke his heart. You wished there was any way you could have changed what happened, but the past remains to be written.

That afternoon, you passed by one of the cafes you and Mark always go to. You went inside, suddenly craving their special banana muffin which he introduced to you some months ago. The owner recognized you right away as you came up to the cashier.

“You’re not with your boyfriend today?” she asked.

You felt your heart skip a beat and not in a good way. It hurt. You figured there was no use in explaining since she probably won’t believe that Mark is not your boyfriend so you just smiled sadly and answered, “No.”

The lady somehow talked you into buying two muffins so you can bring one to your “boyfriend.” After handing her your payment, you realized maybe that wasn’t such a bad idea. Mark always brings you stuff whenever you’re mad or upset. He knows exactly what you’re craving for even before you knew you were craving for it. Why not try if it works on him?

As soon as you headed out the cafe, you whipped your phone out to text Jaemin, asking if he knew where Mark was. It’s Tuesday, his most free day of the week so he could be anywhere. Jaemin replied not after five minutes.

Jaemin: not sure but he mentioned something about the library??

You: okay thank you!

From that, you knew exactly where Mark is. There was a small patio-like spot beside the library that he likes going to. Not a lot of people utilize the place since the tables and chairs are almost always filled with dried fallen leaves from the surrounding trees but Mark likes the thought of being close to nature.

That day though, there were more people around the area than usual. It was lunchtime so most people were out of the classrooms. Still, it wasn’t hard spotting Mark. It has never been much of a challenge finding him in a crowd of people. You saw him as soon as he came into view, sitting by the table on the corner under one of the ginkgo trees. He had his laptop open and a box of food beside it. His eyebrows furrowed in concentration one moment and then he was laughing the next. 

You were about to make your way towards him but immediately stopped in your tracks when you realized he wasn’t alone.

You didn’t know who the girl was. You’ve seen her a lot of times in class and in the hallway. You even have a vague memory of Mark talking to her one time. But you never really bothered to learn her name. She had that soft, innocent look that goes so well with her shy smile. She had her hair tucked in her ears to show just enough of her pretty face. She was beautiful. Unconventionally but undeniably. But none of that mattered.

When she said something with a smirk and Mark let out his trademark laugh, nose scrunching, hand repeatedly hitting the table, shoulders shaking and all, it felt like something punched you in the stomach. He uttered something in reply and now both of them are clutching their sides for laughing too hard. 

He looks happy, you thought, I should be, too.

But you aren’t. You continued watching their exchange, him showing her something on his laptop and both of them laughing once again. Your chest felt heavy, like something was sitting on it and now it hurts to breathe. You didn’t realize you’ve been clutching the plastic bag containing the muffin too hard until you felt the sting of nails digging on your palms. You knew you should look away but you couldn’t. You wanted to run towards him. You wanted to tell the girl to scooch over so you can sit beside Mark and give him his muffin.

This is pathetic. I should be happy for him, you said to yourself. But why am I not?

You wanted to be angry, to scream and say that it should be you he’s laughing like that with. To say that it’s you he should be spending his time with. You wanted to ask if he still feels the way he said he does about you. And if he does, then why this? But you remained glued to the ground.

You hated how you were being selfish. You rejected him, remember? So why do you expect him to follow your tails like an intoxicated mad dog? Why can’t you be happy at the possibility that he found someone that feels the same way he does? Why does it… hurt? It’s not supposed to. If you really are friends, then him being happy with someone after your rejection should make you happy as well. If you really are friends, then you shouldn’t be standing here looking stupid, watching them from afar, wishing he’s with you instead.

“What are you looking at?”

You jumped at the sudden disruption, almost dropping your muffins. “What the hell, Jaemin?!” you whined, finally looking away from Mark.

“Mark hyung and Mina?” he snorted.

So that’s her name. “No,” you lied, forcing yourself to take a step away, then another, then another.

“Are you jealous?” Jaemin teased. “Have you finally realized you’re also whipped for our hyung?”

“No,” you grumbled.

“Then why are you almost crying?” 

You blinked. You didn’t even realize the tears pooling in your eyes. Why are you being like this? “Shut up. I’m not.”

Jaemin only shrugged. “Fine. Torture yourself, then.” He smirked. “By the way, Jeno and I are inviting people to our place this Friday after exams. Just some drinks and maybe karaoke, I don’t know. We all deserve a break from hell. Wanna come?”

You didn’t reply. Your mind was too preoccupied with other things.

“Mark hyung is coming,” he said. “Maybe Mina too.”

“I don’t wanna go,” you said immediately, suddenly coming up with a decision.

The boy laughed. “You are jealous! God, I love it when you prove yourself wrong. You shouldn’t be though. You already know he likes you.”

“I’m not jealous! Stop it,” you whined, really wanting to cry this time. Everything is so frustrating and Jaemin is not being of any help. You wanted to go home and just wrap yourself in your blanket and maybe one of Mark’s hoodies.

“Then come to our place this Friday. It’s gonna be fun.” He grinned.

“Fine. Whatever. Just get away from me, you little shit,” you said, kicking him lightly in the butt.

You didn’t know if it was a lie or not but if Mark really is seeing someone now, you just didn’t like the idea of seeing them flirt with each other in front of your eyes. Even the thought of it makes you want to pull all your hair out. Is that considered jealousy? If so, why are you feeling it for someone who’s supposed to be just a friend?

Thursday came and you found yourself crying after realizing the shirt you’ve been wearing the whole day was Mark’s. No wonder he looked surprised seeing you in the hallway. He looked away immediately though, acting as if you weren’t there. It didn’t even cross your mind since you use this shirt quite a lot.

After calming yourself down, you put your playlist on shuffle and cried some more after Friends by Ed Sheeran started playing. You didn’t even realize how fitting the song was for your situation until now. Mark probably did.

You remembered him singing that song once. The two of you were just lounging in his apartment. He was playing his guitar while you pretended to study when in reality you were just looking at him. You watched as his fingers plucked and strummed the guitar strings while he softly mumbled lyrics, head bobbing to the tune. He’s good. Unsurprisingly, since he’s good at everything.

When he realized you were staring at him, he turned his head slightly to meet your eyes, one side of his lips curling up into a smirk. “No, my friends won’t love me like you do,” he sang. 

You looked away, your cheeks heating up almost immediately. It was hard to focus on your readings when he’s sitting right in front of you looking like that, singing like that. You sighed. He truly was never being subtle about how he felt.

After finishing the song, Mark put his guitar down and laid his head on your lap, not even bothering to ask if it’s okay. That’s how comfortable you were with each other.

“What are you doing?” You remember whining.

“Wake me up after 15 minutes,” he said, already closing his eyes. You took a photo of him that night. He’s cute when he’s asleep. Even cuter when you look at him up close. 

Of course, you just had to search your camera roll to find the photo. When you did, it felt as if a storm was raging on your stomach and a gorilla was pounding on your chest. It never dawned to you just how much it hurts that he suddenly left you alone until that moment.

“Goddamn, I miss you so much,” you muttered, looking at his peaceful expression in the photo.

And then you cried some more. You feel lost.

All you wanted to do was curl up in his arms and inhale his scent and listen to how his day went (and maybe accidentally fall asleep together). It sucks because you really had no one else to turn to. The single person who has always been your safe place doesn’t want to talk to you and even if he did, you really wouldn’t know what to say. Perhaps friends really aren’t like that. The thought of everyone being right when they said that maybe you and Mark were never really just friends has never been stronger than it was tonight.

Still, you couldn’t be bothered to sort your feelings out.

He feels like home, you thought. It was the best way to explain the sense of comfort and safety and the feeling of being more than enough that he provides you. It’s the only thing you can think of when your mind drifts to how he is always the constant person that you run to at the end of the day. But friends can feel like home, too, right?

Not to this extent. Not really.

Friday. You found yourself aimlessly roaming around the neighborhood after your classes in the hopes of distracting yourself from your feelings or whatever the hell they’re supposed to be called. You wouldn’t have remembered Jaemin’s party if you didn’t happen to pass by their apartment building.

You stood in front of it for two solid minutes, contemplating whether to go or not.

Mark might be there, you thought. With everything that’s going on in your head and with all the mess happening in your chest, would it really be a good idea to see him? You thought maybe all these things you’re feeling are just a result of missing him. All these sadness and confusion might just be because you miss your best friend.

So you entered the building. You told yourself that you’ll try talking to him again this time, no matter how stubborn he’s going to be. And if it still doesn’t change anything, then you will take it as a sign to let him go. If not forever, then at least for now.

You reached the door to Jaemin and Jeno’s apartment. Even from the outside, the sound of the bass can already be heard. You wondered how long before the neighbors would file a complaint against them, but knowing Jaemin and Jeno, their neighbors are probably inside, partying with them right now.

Before entering, you looked down on your chest just to make sure you were wearing your own shirt and not Mark’s. It didn’t feel right wearing his stuff anymore. God, it really felt like you just broke up. Why is it like this?

You took a deep breath and opened the door. There were already a lot of people inside even if it was just 8 in the evening. Most of them, you know the faces of. You smiled to greet some and muttered a hi to others.

Renjun spotted you as soon as you came into the living room. “Y/N!” He grinned, handing you a cup of god knows what. “Jaemin said he invited you but we were all pretty sure you were gonna ghost us. But you didn’t!”

You laughed hesitantly. “Thanks, I guess?”

“Drink up. It’s a cocktail I made myself,” he said proudly, almost forcing the cup into your mouth.

You took a sip, figuring it won’t do any harm but you spat the liquid back to the cup as soon as it touched your tongue. “What the hell did you put in this?”

He shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t know. I just mixed in everything I could find. Thanks for trying it out though. I’ve been looking for a volunteer for five minutes already.”

You frowned. There were a lot of things you were unsure of at the moment but there is one thing that’s certain: you have weird friends. You were about to complain to Renjun when he plucked the cup from your grip and went on to find another victim, not even bothering to listen when you said you literally spat on the cup.

Mark didn’t seem to be anywhere. The apartment wasn’t that big so if he was here, it would be easy to spot him. Maybe he decided not to show up after knowing you were coming. And honestly, part of you was relieved. As much as you wanted to talk to him, you still didn’t know what to say. 

I’m sorry I broke your heart, but I miss you so much and I did a lot of thinking and maybe we really shouldn’t be labeled as just friends but I don’t know if I love you, is that okay? That’s just stupid. This whole thing is stupid.

You wanted to leave. Parties have never really been your thing. You usually just go because Mark asked you to since he loves interacting with people. But you figured you needed some alcohol in your system, mainly as a distraction, but also to give you a boost of courage just in case. So you made your way to the kitchen, avoiding eye contact with anyone as much as possible.

You stopped in your tracks as you came to the kitchen. The sound of that laugh was all too familiar.

Great, you thought. Mark was there. And Mina was too. But so were Jeno and Jaemin who exchanged looks as soon as their eyes landed on you. They were all laughing about something before you came.

“You’re here!” Jaemin said a little too enthusiastically in a poor attempt to address the sudden increase of tension in the room.

“Hi,” you said, smiling sheepishly, purposefully avoiding Mark’s gaze which you could feel boring into you. “Just gonna get a drink.”

“Help yourself,” Jeno said. Jaemin smirked beside him. 

The refrigerator was just beside Mark. Just great, you thought again. You walked towards it, desperately trying to ignore the four pairs of eyes following your every move.

“Excuse me,” you muttered, still not looking at your best friend.

Mark took a step sideways before opening the fridge for you. You muttered a quick thanks before grabbing the first bottle your hands landed on, not even bothering to check what it was. You really just wanted to get out of there. Maybe the talking to Mark plan was flawed from the beginning because you clearly can’t find the courage in you to face him now.

Beside you, Mark clicked his tongue. He was so close that you could smell his perfume mixed with a bit of alcohol. It made your knees weak. 

He took the bottle from your hand and put it back before grabbing a different one and handing it to you. “The other one had vodka. Vodkas give you a headache, remember?” he said in a slightly annoyed tone.

“Oh.” Your voice sounded small even to your own ears. Not gonna lie, you wanted to cry at that moment. “Thanks.”

You could hear Jaemin snickering behind you but you couldn’t bring it in yourself to care. You turned to everyone and said a quick goodbye before dashing out of the kitchen.

Your heart was beating hard and rapidly and not because you moved too fast. You didn’t know why but it hurt seeing Mark like that, like he was okay, like nothing changed with the two of you. It hurt knowing that even after everything, he still knows you the best.

You wanted to run. You wanted to disappear. But you couldn’t leave without passing by the kitchen. Somehow, you know someone in there would stop you. If not Mark, then definitely Jaemin. But you really wanted to be alone. So you resorted to the next best thing. You whipped your phone out and sent Jaemin a text.

You: thanks for inviting me to this party. now i feel like shit :D

Jaemin: IM SORRY BUT DONT LEAVE YET TF

You:  i need to be alone and i cant leave without passing by the kitchen and seeing mark. so pls let me use your room for a while.

You: i wont do anything i promise. i just need to calm down.

Jaemin: fine but dont lock the door

You: okay thanks

The door to Jaemin’s room was at the other end of the apartment. You made your way through the noisy crowd, slipping from Renjun’s weird gimmicks when he tried to make you a victim once again, before finally reaching the quiet confines of Jaemin’s room.

The thin walls barely blocked the noise but at least there was no one else here. You sat at the edge of the bed and placed the beer bottle on the floor. You forgot you didn’t even manage to open it. So you just stared at your feet, trying to catch your breath even if you didn’t do anything. That heavy feeling on your chest was back again. It was now associated with being in Mark’s presence.

You started counting to ten to calm yourself down before burying your face on your palms, breaking down into sobs as soon as your forehead came in contact with your fingers. “God, why can’t I just…” you cried, “... admit it to myself already?”

You wanted to thrash around in the bed in frustration but you thought Jaemin didn’t deserve such a mess so you settled with getting up and lightly banging your head against the door. It’s a bad habit you do when you feel annoyed or frustrated. Mark has always been reminding you to stop before you hurt yourself.

Mark. Again. You groaned, hitting your head a little harder this time.

Someone knocked on the door making you stop. You took a step back, thinking you just imagined it. But there it was again.

“Someone’s here,” you said, trying to hide the sound of your voice breaking.

“I know. Can I come in?” It was Mark. There was no question. 

Your heart started pounding on your chest once again. You wanted to tell him to go away but you couldn’t find it in yourself to do so. 

He took your silence as a yes. He swung the door slightly and poked his head through the small opening. Your hands immediately flew to your face to hide the fact that you’ve been crying.

“You know, I came in here because I didn’t wanna see you when I pass by the kitchen if I leave then you come here making me look like a clown,” you said, your voice muffled by your hands.

Mark chuckled softly. “Why didn’t you wanna see me?”

You didn’t reply. Your face felt hot, not just because of the tears that just won’t stop falling but also because all the blood has come rushing to your cheeks.

Mark grabbed both your wrists and gently lowered your hands down, trying to see your face, but your head bent down as soon as it wasn’t covered. “Y/N, look at me,” he said, hands still on your wrists.

“No.”

“Are you crying?” The idiot crouched down to have a glimpse of your face making you whine and cover your face again. “Last I checked, I should be the one looking brokenhearted around here.”

“God I hate you,” you mumbled. “You ignored me for nearly four weeks and you come in here just to make fun of me.”

He let out an empty laugh. “Well, you did break my heart so…”

At that, you removed your hands from your face to look at him. You were going to say sorry but Mark had that smug look on his face that made you want to punch him. It was almost convincing if you weren’t so good at reading the real emotions in his eyes. His expression softened upon finally seeing you properly.

He looked away, not being able to hold your gaze either. That just confirmed how hard he was trying to keep up with the exterior he was showing everyone.

“I’m sorry,” you said, voice breaking.

He sighed.  “I told you. It’s okay.”

“But it’s not,” you cried. “I’m sorry I hurt you. I didn’t realize how easy it was to misread what we had because let’s face it, we don’t act like ‘just friends.’ I’m sorry because I was too blind to see how you felt even when you weren’t really trying to hide it. I’m sorry because even though I rejected you, I was so selfish that I still wanted to keep you for myself without realizing that you probably needed to be away from me to move on. I’m sorry because…” you swallowed.

Mark was just looking at you, eyebrows slightly raised in anticipation of what you were going to say next. You missed him. You missed that cute face of his. You missed being in his presence. You missed his voice and his laugh and how he loves teasing you even if he probably feels like shit inside. You missed everything. Four weeks have been too long without each other. Four weeks is too long without your best friend. Four weeks is too long without your home. And that’s when you realized…

“... I can’t let you go. And I might be too late, but I’m sorry that I only just realized why.”

“Why?” he asked. 

It was a simple question. Why? Yet it managed to carve out every single feeling you’ve ever felt for this boy. Every little moment he made you laugh. Every small heartbreak you get when he fails to keep his tiny promises. Every single night you ‘accidentally’ fell asleep next to each other. Every ounce of fulfillment you get when you finally convince him to sleep after a long day. Every goodnight. Every good morning. Everything.

“I love you,” you said. It sounded almost like an exhale.

For a moment, Mark didn’t reply. Your head immediately started swarming with unwelcomed thoughts. Maybe you were too late. You almost forgot about Mina who he seems to be having an excellent time with. Maybe he managed to move on within those four weeks. It’s possible, right? You had your chance and you missed it. 

Finally, Mark let out a laugh, his head falling down to look at the floor. “I told you you didn’t have to say it back,” he said, voice soft.

You shook your head. “I’m not saying it because you said it first,” you said. “I realize this might be the worst timing but I just thought you should know you weren’t the only one being stupid enough to fall for their best friend. I was just too dumb to realize that that’s what it was.”

“Why would it be the worst timing?” He frowned.

You felt like crying again. You really wish you had some alcohol in your system right now. Why is this whole confession thing taking so long? “‘Cause you’re dating Mina? Or trying to. I don’t know. I tried not keeping tabs on you because our friends are assholes who wouldn’t stop teasing me. She’s pretty, by the way. You two look good together.”

Mark laughed again. It was raw and real this time, and god, the way your chest tightened in endearment at the sound was so pure. “You thought me and Mina are dating?”

“Aren’t you? I’ve seen you guys together a lot.” Well, once. But you tend to overestimate things.

“No!” He snorted. “Jaemin and I are trying to get her and Jeno together. If anything, she made me realize that we definitely aren’t just friends.”

“Really?” Now you just feel stupid. But what else is new? It’s all you’ve been feeling lately. Come to think of it, Mark and Mina didn’t even come close to how you two act with each other.

“Really,” he said. “Friends don’t stay at each other’s place and cuddle with each other just to fall asleep, Y/N. Besides, I said I love you, didn’t I? Did you really think that’s just gonna go away that quickly?”

“Mark, I can’t even sort my feelings out. How am I supposed to figure out how yours work?” You sighed.

“Fine. Just to be clear, I still love you. Even if you don’t, I love you,” he said, taking both your hands and placing it on his shoulder before putting his on your waist.

“But I do.”

“Say it then.”

“I love you. Even if you’re the dorkiest person I know, I love you.” Your fingers tangled themselves in his hair. You’ve run your hands through his hair so many times before. You wondered why it never crossed your mind that you liked doing it not because his hair is soft but because you were sucker for the domestic feeling of it.

Mark couldn’t stop himself from smiling that he had to bury his face at the crook of your neck. “I’m not used to this, sorry.”

“Me neither,” you laughed.

When he finally composed himself, he pulled away just enough to look at you. All those times you’ve stood this close before does not even compare to how it’s like right now. This is the perfect mix of feeling new but familiar.

“You have no idea how many mornings I fought the urge to kiss you whenever we wake up next to each other,” he said in a soft voice.

“Well, nothing’s stopping you know, is there?” you muttered, eyes fluttering to his lips.

You pulled Mark down by the neck as he pulled you closer to him, your lips finally connecting. The idea of kissing him isn’t new to you. There were so many times before that you’ve found yourself inches away from his face and slamming your lips together wouldn’t have been such a bad idea. But this is the first you actually kissed him yet he felt so familiar that you were almost sure you’ve done this a million times before. His lips were soft against yours that it made you weak in the knees. If he weren’t holding onto you like he was, you probably would’ve crumpled already.

The two of you pulled away, breathless.

“Wow,” he breathed. “That didn’t even come close to how I imagined it would feel like.”

You laughed. “This whole night didn’t come close to how I imagined it would be like. I thought you were gonna keep on ignoring me. And honestly, I wouldn’t know how to cope anymore because I really, really miss you already. So thanks for saving me.”

“Stop making me blush. I don’t know how I can possibly love you more than this.”

You rolled your eyes but you couldn’t stop yourself from smiling. This was only one of the very few times that the reality went better than your expectations. But then again, maybe you and Mark have always been meant to happen. It was happening even before you realized it was. And now that you finally managed to sort how you both felt, there was no more wasting chances.

“Do I still have to ask you to be my girlfriend?” he asked.

“We’ve literally slept in the same bed so many times. I’d be more surprised if we’re not dating already,” you joked.

Mark grinned. “You’re literally the only one who didn’t realize that until today, but it’s okay, I still love you.”

You laughed. “Wanna go outside and pretend we didn’t make up? I’m 100% sure Jaemin betted on us.”

“I worry how your mind works sometimes, Y/N,” Mark said with a frown before kissing you on the forehead. “But let’s do it.”

You smiled. You’ve said it a lot but you really missed this proximity. You missed being able to hug him whenever you want, and now you can kiss him whenever you want too. You wanted to say you could get used to this, but the thing is… you already are.

[translations-by-aiimee]

Dig a Grave to Dig Out a Ghost - Chapter 2

Original Title: 挖坟挖出鬼

Genres: Drama, Horror, Mystery, Supernatural, Yaoi

This translation is based on multiple MTLs and my own limited knowledge of Chinese characters. If I have made any egregious mistakes, please let me know.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2 - Ghost Encounter

Before that incident occurred, Lin Yan didn't believe that there were ghosts in the world. He studied history during his undergrad and continued straight into doing his master's in archaeology. When he was on an expedition with his professor, he picked up the bones of a dead body and plucked a jade cicada from the mouth of a mummified body. Ghost stories were always something joked about in their dormitories. If something happened to people after they died, then the world would know about it. For example, if someone picked up the imperial blue bowl of the emperor, the old man would notice and stand up, shouting: "That's mine!" How interesting.

The dead should just let the dust from the past settle and stay quiet.

Lin Yan had just finished dinner when things changed. He didn't live in the school dormitories. He had moved into the apartment his parents had set aside for him when he got married because of the fights his old roommates in the dorms had with their in-laws on the phone. This apartment was much closer to the school, and he had been living alone since then. He cooks alone, plays games alone, and travels halfway across the city to visit his parents on the weekends. Lin Yan is one of the tens of thousands of small researchers in dozens of colleges and universities in this city. If he makes great accomplishments, his future will be bright, but if he's average, then he will be lost in the crowd.

That day, he made himself Fried Sauce Noodles. Once the minced meat was boiled, it was mixed into the sweet stir-fry noodle sauce. The noodles were drained out of the pan, topped with the sauce, and it was delicious. Lin Yan took the bowl and sat in front of the computer, watching "My Old Memories of Old Beijing" and eating the noodles.

The air was humid and stuffy in the early summer weather. Suddenly, halfway through the movie, a clap of thunder rang out outside. It didn't take long for large raindrops to pour down, and the thin lines of water on the window glass became a curtain of rain, pattering against the windows.

Lin Yan was busy turning off the video. Before his computer had fully shut off, a bolt of lightning flashed across the night sky. With a snap, the computer went black.

Afraid that something might happen, Lin Yan complained and unplugged the computer from the socket. He used a desktop computer specially equipped for 3D restoration renderings of cultural relics. As soon as the power came back after the thunderstorm had passed, he would have to submit a repair request.

Tomorrow, he'd have to trouble Yin Zhou to repair the machine again.

Suddenly, a strange feeling washed over him.

Cold, inexplicably cold, sending a shiver up his spine.

He didn't know when the temperature of the room started to drop. He didn't even notice it while he was watching the movie. Now it feels like he was inside an ice cave. The cold is coming out from all corners and enveloping his body. The sweat on his body turning cold, his t-shirt sticking to his back.

Lin Yan vigorously wiped his sweaty hands on his jeans, thinking about how the weather must be cooling down because of the rain, and decided to get up to find a long-sleeved shirt. Before he could get up, his eyes glanced at the computer screen and nervously sat back down.

With the lights on in the room, the situation in the room was clearly reflected on the dark computer screen. In front of the screen was Lin Yan's face, and behind him was the window, which opened wide inward, and the curtains were swept around by the wind. It was the "person" standing in front of the curtain that made Lin Yan frozen from head to toe.

That's not it; it was more like the shape of a person - a person wearing a strange hat.

Lin Yan stared blankly at the things on the screen, a sense of panic slowly creeping up his spine.

It must have been a clothes hanger that he forgot to move, there's no need to jump to conclusions. Lin Yan pulled at the corner of his clothes, took a deep breath, and swung his head around.

Nothing was there. Everything in the house looked normal. The only difference was that the raindrops were coming even larger, the rainwater twisting into small streams on the glass and flowing down.

His suspenseful heart began to calm down.

No! Lin Yan went numb all of a sudden. Not only was there no one there, but the windows were clearly locked, and the curtains were tightly tied on both sides. How could they be blown by the wind? What he saw in the reflection on the screen just now. . . what was going on?

An illusion! It must be an illusion! Lin Yan clenched his jaw. He couldn't help but pinch himself to keep himself sane.

There was a small electric crackle. The power went out, and the whole room fell into silent darkness.

Almost at the same time, the indicator light of the computer monitor suddenly flickered. The two small red lights looked like blinking eyes, accompanied by the squeaking sound of the whirring motors. The screen that was in a completely power-off state glowed green as if the screen saver had been switched. It's like a procedure.

No. . . Wasn't there a power outage? Lin Yan was completely speechless. His whole body was pushed back into the chair by the sudden and weird atmosphere. Then the screen flashed and, as if someone was typing, large characters appeared one after the other on the screen, piercingly red.

"The first day of the month of Wushen; the death date is approaching."

Another clap of thunder boomed outside the window.

Lin Yan swallowed hard and stared at the line of words on the screen. He tried his best to calm himself down, but his mind went blank.

It must be. . . It must be Yin Zhou pranking him.

He was a professional programmer and technical expert. Messing with the program to mess up the power grid. It must be boring to try and scare yourself or something.

"The first day of the month of Wushen; the death date is approaching."

The line of red letters flashed on the screen twice and disappeared. The computer then powered back off. Only Lin Yan's heavy breathing remained in the dark room. He took out his cell phone from his pant pocket and tried to call Yin Zhou. Before he pressed the call button, there was a heavy and repetitive tapping on the windowpane.

"Taptaptap. . . taptaptap"

He couldn't see anything in the heavy curtain of rain.

Lin Yan suddenly jumped up and leaned against the computer desk, staring out the window. This. . . this was the twelfth floor, what could be knocking on the window?

"Taptaptap. . . taptaptap"

The knocking increased as if someone were waiting impatiently.

Materialists couldn't stand immediate losses. Besides, creatures always have the instinct to avoid danger. The atmosphere was so strange. Lin Yan grabbed the car keys from his pocket and rushed out of the house without looking back.

The rain fell harder and faster, and the normally bustling three-ring road was empty. There was only the heavy rain curtains and thick fog. Lin Yan turned on his headlights lights all the way. He hoped to find an exit that was bustling with life and filled with a large crowd. In one night, his normal life was completely messed up. There was no signal from his cell phone and no signal from the radio. He seemed to be isolated in a corner of the world and was just driving around endlessly.

Lin Yan glanced at the fuel gauge. He was running out of fuel as he went further down the road, but he had not found the exit of the overpass. He was a native to this country and yet he was trapped in the city that he had been living in for 22 years. Just saying it was absurd enough to make anyone laugh.

The low-beam light couldn't illuminate the road very far. Under the warm yellow light, only the dense lines of rain could be seen falling diagonally, washing down his windshield. There was a wide road in front of him, turn after turn. There were no people, no cars, and even the sound of the GPS reporting how many kilometres were left was inaudible and his speed on the speedometer was barely visible. Lin Yan looked straight ahead, for fear of missing any fork in the road.

After travelling on the highway for nearly three hours, Lin Yan finally began to panic after passing the IKEA billboard multiple times over.

A deep thought came to mind.

The ghost was making him go around in circles.

The arrow on his fuel gauge was almost at 'empty'. Lin Yan slowed down. He thought he couldn't keep driving forward. Obviously, there was a force trying to stop him. What he should do is to sort out his thoughts and find a solution instead of continuing to drive around aimlessly. He didn't dare think about what would happen if he ran out of fuel.

Lin Yan pulled the car over, leaving only his hazard lights on, then sat in the car and began to think about what happened at night.

Power outages, computers that suddenly freaked out, strange reflections.

The first thing that came to mind was that someone was playing a prank, but he immediately denied it. If it was just the problem with his computer, he might still suspect the unreliable programmer Yin Zhou, but the knocking on the window, preventing him from getting off the highway, and blocking his mobile and radio signals; none of that was this guy's style. Lin Yan searched his mind for a long time to find a candidate that might want to scare a friend like this, but he came up with nothing.

He himself was a very good person. He was a good student from elementary straight through his master's. Apart from skipping classes to play Warcraft, and handing notes to his classmates during an exam, he basically had no blips on his record. He has never even played any tricks on girls, let alone his immediate friend group. Even if someone wanted to play a prank on someone as revenge, that wasn't how Lin Yan handled things.

Lin Yan was a person who, even when he ate toothpaste and cookies on April Fool's Day, still believed that he was just eating something mint-flavoured. To understand what was going on, Lin Yan could only find the solution by going through his process of elimination. By the time he can go through his hilariously incompetent system of thinking, he has probably already vomited up three litres of blood.

Lin Yan rubbed his temples and thought hard. Someone was threatening him in an inexplicable way, or was outright declaring war.

Lin Yan turned on the cell phone's calendar and entered the date of the first day of the Wushan month. The small square immediately jumped to the corresponding date: July 15 and the gates of hell would be wide open.

Something is wrong, Lin Yan thought.

When he looked up again, there was suddenly something that hadn't been there before that appeared in front of his car.

A figure stood near the side of the road as the heavy rain poured down. The figure didn't seem to notice Lin Yan was there, neither holding an umbrella nor wearing a raincoat, quietly standing with his head held down under the dim street lamp. The fog everywhere made Lin Yan unable to see his appearance. He could only make out that it was tall and he was wearing weird, oversized clothes. The caring Lin Yan wanted to offer the figure a ride. Even though he can't really protect himself right now, but he can at least provide some shelter from the rain.

An empty highway, rainy night, a strange individual on the side of the road, this unfortunate picture seemed suspicious at first, but Lin Yan saw something a little more depressing.

The figure seemed. . . very lonely, like waiting for a resolution that will never come.

Lin Yan re-started the car after making sure all the doors were locked, and slowly slid forward along the roadside, thinking that after being trapped in this endless loop for so long anyway, it was more useful to see if this person might be able to help him break the cycle.

When he was less than ten metres away from the person, Lin Yan suddenly froze as though a gong went off beside his ear. He finally realized why he felt there was something wrong with this figure. This person had no shadow.

The streetlamp was casting light on this person, but there was no shadow at his feet. The place where the shadow should have been was just the shape of the streetlamp reflected in the puddle, which was shaken by the continuously falling rain, rippling and disturbing the surface of the water.

Lin Yan knew what he had encountered almost instantly.

He was covered in a cold sweat, he couldn't keep a grip on the steering wheel because of his clammy palms. There was a bitter taste in his mouth. He slammed his foot on the accelerator, not caring how much fuel he had left. He didn't even care if there was any road ahead, he just knew subconsciously that he had to get away.

40km, 60km, 80km, 90km. . .

Suddenly a car sped out in front of him. Lin Yan was stunned, and instinctively stepped on the brakes and jerked the steering wheel to the left!

"Squeel--" After the extremely sharp and piercing sound, the front bumper Lin Yan's Audi A4 was just a few centimetres away from the Buick's back bumper as he brushed past it. Immediately after, Lin Yan drove into the bushes and the car shook before getting stuck. After it stopped shaking, the windshield was covered with holly leaves.

The car had almost been totalled.

Lin Yan lay on the steering wheel, panting heavily, his whole body was frozen.

"Knockknockknock." Something harshly knocked against the car window

Lin Yan jumped nervously and stared at the glass in horror. When he could see the face of a man, he let out a long sigh, and then rolled down the car window.

"Who the hell taught you how to drive? If you were so desperate to die, just tell me and I'll beat you to death!"

A series of harsh curses about his ancestors gave Lin Yan a sense of joy, bringing him back to reality. He almost rushed out and hugged the Buick driver.

"No. . . I'm sorry, I've been on this highway for three hours. I just found my way. I was a little excited, sorry, sorry."

Lin Yan wasn't paying attention to what the other driver said, and couldn't help smiling bitterly since the driver must really consider him an idiot.

The Buick driver stared at Lin Yan for a while, then suddenly stopped the curse, and muttered, "You look like you've seen a ghost." He took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and handed one to Lin Yan: "Did you come across something weird? Smoke a cigarette to calm your nerves. You should bring out a protection charm next time. We all have strange experiences at night every now and again."

Lin Yan got out of the car, and the driver lit the cigarette for Lin Yan. The two stood side by side on the roadside. Strangely, cars began whizzing by on the road. There were rows of shops and tall buildings lit up on both sides of the street where there was originally only fog and dark shadows. Even the rain from earlier had stopped.

Lin Yan took a puff of cigarettes and calmed down, and said in surprise: "Have we met before?"

The driver smiled indifferently: "It often happens, especially in places with a lot of accidents. The more deadly the accident, the more evil will be left behind."

Lin Yan nodded. He didn't know how much his materialistic worldview changed from this information.

After sending the driver away, Lin Yan whipped the sweat off his forehead and took out his phone to check the time. The screen showed two text messages and three missed calls, one every half an hour on average within the past two hours. Lin Yan opened his settings; the phone wasn't muted, the volume wasn't very loud but it was enough from him to hear it. It confirmed that the signal had been blocked this whole time.

Message 1: "Will you come out for a drink? The regular place."

Message 2: "What are you doing? Answer the phone!"

Both the sender and the caller were Yin Zhou.

Previous Chapter Next Chapter

[hajimewhore]

Falling ⛈️ (Matsukawa Issei/Reader)

on [Ao3]

➸Rated T, fem!Reader, 7k+words    ➷Part 1 of the Haikyuu Song Fic Collection    ➷Angst, depression, fluff, humor, Makki is bestest friend   ➷When you met Matsukawa for the first time, you were immediately drawn to him. He’s tall, handsome, has a mysterious air to him. The more you got to know him, the more you saw firsthand how caring, loving, and passionate he could be.

After getting to know him longer, you also began to see how self-deprecating and hard on himself he could be.

[Masterlist] [part 2]

A/N: This is the first part of a two part Matsukawa/Reader piece! It’s also my second fic here, and the first entry to the song fic collection I’ll be doing. Per the title, it’s based on Harry Styles, Falling, ENJOY! ♡

Hanamaki Takahiro, previously ‘between jobs’, was a classmate of yours that recently started working at the restaurant you served at. It was upon your recommendation, something you might’ve come to regret given how much of a smug bastard he could be. Regardless, you enjoyed his company, and morale was boosted whenever he worked.

Currently, you find yourself taking back that sentiment.

The entirety of your Saturday night shift was spent with Hanamaki hovering around you, attempting to convince you to come out to drink with some of his friends and other coworkers.

And by the time you clocked out to get the hell home, Hanamaki was perched at the break table outside ready to pester you some more.

“Hanamaki, can I at least go home and change first?”

You whine, folding your apron and tucking it under your arm.

“No way, that’s the classic ‘I’m just going home to change but I’m actually going to stay in and “forget” to text you’ move, I’m not buying it.”

He loosens his tie with a knowing look, and you grimace at how easily he caught on to your plan. You make sure to chalk ‘perceptive’ before ‘smug bastard’ in your mental description of Hanamaki.

“Besides, there’s a perfectly fine sweater in your backseat and I know you’ve got an extra set of shoes somewhere in there.”

You trudge to said car, regretting giving him a ride to work the other day. You swing open the door with a little more drama than intended, before tossing your apron carelessly to the passenger side.

“I’ll make it up to you, how about next week?”

“Don’t be like that. It’s the weekend, enjoy it before Monday is here.”

He leans back against his car parked besides yours and you sigh. You just finished exams, so you don’t have any material to study. And you haven’t spent much time with your coworkers outside of work. One or two drinks wouldn’t hurt.

And judging by the way Hanamaki is looking at you expectantly, he already knows you don’t have a shift tomorrow or any plans.

“Fine!”

You huff, taking a seat behind the wheel. Hanamaki tilts his head in your line of view to flash a bright smile,

“Great, see you there!”

Perceptive smug bastard.

Downtown is lively tonight, you note, but luckily you were able to snag a good spot close to the bar. Hanamaki should be grateful you didn’t have to circle around for spaces or park by some seedy alley or lot. You might’ve just ditched him if it came to that.

Then again, you’d never hear the end of it if you did.

When you check your phone, you scowl at the texts in your work group chat.

Kazami- Can’t make it, I got a shift in the morning! Hashira- me either :( Hanamaki- laaaaame Iwasaki- sorry man, next week?

“Those flakes!”

You lock your phone without replying. You can’t exactly blame them, you heavily considered bailing too. Hanamaki just happened to be enough of a persistent, perceptive, smug bastard. You note the addition of ‘persistent’ to the growing list of adjectives that describe Hanamaki.

You trudge along the street, dreading the intense socializing you’re about to go through. Since the aforementioned flakey coworkers won’t be there, Hanamaki is the only person you’re going to know.

He’d mentioned some of his friends from high school were meeting up, and that he hadn’t seen some of them in awhile. If you had one, you’d bet your left nut that Hanamaki was going to forget to talk to you and give them all his attention.

You steel your resolve as you step into the bar, scanning for that obnoxious strawberry blonde. Is he not here yet?

You shoulder past some strangers, stealing a seat at the bar. You might as well grab something if you have to wait on him.

“Baybreeze please,”

You smile at the bartender, who nods and promptly snags the liquor off the glowing shelves. You watch, momentarily mesmerized by the shifting colors illuminating the liquor and sleek countertops.

He places the cocktail onto a beer napkin, and you hand him your card to close the order.

Where the fuck is Hanamaki?

You pull out your phone to check for any texts, sipping at the drink.

Your brows furrow, nothing from him. You shoot him a text asking if he made it yet, and he’s quick to respond that he’s looking for parking.

You scowl, the night hasn’t technically started if he’s not here yet, and the dread you were feeling before doubles.

“Here you are, miss.”

When the bartender hands your card back you note there isn’t any receipt.

He shrugs at the questioning look you give him,

“Guy over there covered it.”

He tilts his head and you follow his eyes to the other end of the counter.

You blink when you catch the gaze of the culprit.

He’s tall with dark hair, his curls are perfectly styled tapering to the right side of his face, dark eyes to match. He’s illuminated by the neon colors adorning the bar, highlighting his sharp jawline. You feel a bit nervous under that sharp gaze, and a little lightheaded at the smile he flashes. Did you mention he was really tall?

You flush when he rounds the bar and makes his way towards you.

“Hey.”

A simple introduction, his voice is deep and it sends a shiver down your spine. He cops the empty seat beside you and you find yourself straightening your posture.

“Hey. You didn’t have to buy my drink, you know.”

You take a sip from the cocktail to busy your hands with something.

“I needed a good icebreaker.”

He shrugs, taking a swig from his own beer.

“I think ‘Hey’ is just fine.”

You tease and he laughs lightly at that, and the sound of it alone makes you blush. Hopefully you can blame it on the alcohol.

“Meeting someone?”

He raises a thick brow, and you can tell he’s testing the waters with you.

“Ah, yeah. My friend is on his way right now.”

Though if Hanamaki is inevitably going to ditch you for his other friends, you might as well see where this road is taking you.

You note the contemplative flash on his face and you feel the intense need to clarify,

“Just a friend. He’s my coworker.”

You don’t miss the way his eyes shine at that, and you can’t help but feel a little excited by the way he’s so interested in you already.

“Noted.”

“So—“

You pause, realizing you don’t even know how to refer to tall, dark, and handsome,

“Sorry, I don’t even know your name,”

You introduce yourself and a grin spreads across his cheeks, laughing again. He places an elbow on the counter and rests his chin against his palm, and you once again note how attractive he looks with the shifting colors of the bar highlighting his features like a silver lining on a cloud.

“No, that’s my fault. I should’ve probably started with that. I’m—“

“MATSUKAWA!”

His eyes widen briefly before lifting his head from his palm to see whoever yelled that at the top of their lungs.

You follow the familiar voice to the best of your ability through the cacophony of voices and music, to see none other than your favorite bastard coworker, Hanamaki.

He quickly makes his way before you, slinging his arm around presumably ‘Matsukawa’. He also makes great work of physically and mentally cutting off the momentum that was building between the two of you.

....don’t get the wrong idea though, you are still very, very, interested in who this guy is exactly.

“Hanamaki!”

You both voice at the same time, and the two of you share an equally confused look.

“I see you’ve already met my friend,”

Hanamaki comments so very astutely, and you’re not quite sure which person he’s referring to. He raises a brow at the fact the two of you are sitting together, mid conversation before he barreled in.

At this current moment you’d like nothing more than to swipe that shameless and knowing look of his face.

“This is Matsukawa Issei. He’s one of the friends I told you was coming tonight.”

Hanamaki continues, he pats his shoulder roughly and Matsukawa slaps him on the back to return the gesture.

“Nice to meet you, Matsukawa.”

You smile, and he glances over with those dark eyes you’d love to get lost in if Hanamaki wasn’t here to ruin your fun.

“Likewise.”

A similar shy smile crosses his lips, and it almost looks out of place on his striking features.

“Did Makki seriously just butt himself into Mattsun trying to pick up a girl?”

A different voice jumps in, and it’s attached to a tall brunette with a handsome face.

“Asshole, don’t talk about people when they’re right there!”

Another guy enters the commotion, and to your astonishment he doesn’t hesitate to wack the guy in his gut.

“Ow, Iwa-chan, you brute! Mattsun deserves it for ditching us like that anyways.”

The brunette brushes back a perfect coif in his hair before nursing the wound in his side.

Matsukawa’s cheeks redden, and you can tell it’s not because of the red light the bar lights transitioned to.

“Mattsun, huh?”

You cover the soft laugh that escapes your lips and his lips turn down. Is he pouting?

“Aww, gang is all here now!”

Hanamaki grins, introducing you to ‘Oikawa Tooru’ and ‘Iwaizumi Hajime’.

You’re sneaking glances at Matsukawa, and you can tell he feels grateful the attention of his friends are off of him now.

The five of you make your way to a booth, letting the guys catch up for a bit. Oikawa just flew in from Argentina, Iwaizumi has a break from school in California. Matsukawa actually attends the same college you and Hanamaki attend, to your surprise. The campus is relatively small, and you’re left wondering how you never spotted the tall, attractive man, even in passing.

Initially, you’d felt like the night was going to be a drag, not wanting to get left out of Hanamaki’s circle of friends.

....but at the time, you didn’t know the handsome guy at the bar that paid for your drink was one of them.

You find yourself easily wrapped up in conversation with them, losing track of time, and practically in stitches laughing through their banter.

You’ll apologize to Hanamaki later for making such a fuss. You make it a mental note after wiping a tear of laughter from the corner of your eye.

“Hanamaki surprisingly gets a lot of numbers written on napkins, actually.”

You recount to Matsukawa, who at some point started a conversation with you that broke away from the group’s antics. The other three are still chattering away across the booth, but they’re paying no mind to your end.

Oikawa shouts something unintelligible at Iwaizumi, causing Hanamaki to practically bust a gut.

Matsukawa slides closer to you, and you’re knees brush against each other. The close proximity allows you to converse with a little more ease over the deafening noises surrounding the bar, but it doesn’t help your rapidly increasing heart rate.

“‘Surprisingly’? What, Hanamaki not your type?”

He tilts his head, and you’re able to catch all the little features of his face you weren’t able to at the distance you had before. Beauty marks, imperfections, childhood scars you’d love to question at a later date, but it all comes together to make the man before you seem that much more appealing.

“Mmm, no. I like someone taller. He’s good looking, but I’m not too into the strawberry blond. I like dark hair.”

Realistically, you’re not that nit picky about what features you like in a guy, but you couldn’t resist the opportunity. And the way Matsukawa lights up just fraction, with that self assured expression, makes you bite back a blushing laugh.

“I’m not that much taller than him, you know.”

He responds with confidence, and you narrow your eyes ready to tease him.

“What makes you think I was talking about you?”

You reach over to poke his chest, no longer able to resist touching him. Your hands had been fidgeting at your sides, toying with your sweater sleeves and brushing your hair the entire night. The touch wasn’t even anything special, a fingertip to the fabric of his loose tee wasn’t anything to brag to your friends about, but it sent a wave of excitement through you nonetheless.

“My bad, how presumptuous of me. Forgive me for being so rude.”

He laughs at the set up that played out perfectly for you, resting a hand to your shoulder in his exaggerated apology.

His gesture definitely covered a bigger surface area than yours had, and the contact a little less brief. For some reason, you feel a spike of competitiveness surge in you.

You rest your palm on his knee, using it as leverage to shift closer to him on the booth.

His gaze flicks to your hand briefly, to your thighs that gently press next to his, and he deftly accommodates your intrusion of his space by resting his arm around the back of the seat.

“I’ll forgive you if you tell me what type of girl you’re into. It’s only fair, you know!”

You flash your most innocent smile, eyes catching his when they shift back to you.

“My type hm? Well currently, I think I’m—“

“Mattsuuuun,”

Oikawa takes that exact opportunity to sling his arm around Matsukawa, and his brow ticks at the second interrupted moment of the night.

“Oikawaaaa,”

He mockingly whines back, peeling his friend’s arm off his shoulder. You momentarily feel disappointed for the loss of attention from Matsukawa, but soon find yourself laughing at the display before you.

“Mattsun, ‘m so drunk. Can we please head back? Before I throw up? I might just throw up if we don’t. And it’s gonna be all over your lap. You don’t want that right?”

Thinking back, Oikawa did mention he was crashing at Matsukawa’s place before heading back to Argentina.

“If you throw up in here I’m beating your ass, you hear that Shitty Oikawa? Drunkawa? Learn your limits!”

Iwaizumi scolds with a scowl you’re beginning to think is always present on his face, but he hoists Oikawa’s arm around his shoulder for him to lean on anyways.

“Alright, alright. You don’t have to manipulate me in to taking you home.”

Matsukawa sighs, before tapping your thigh apologetically to slide out of the booth.

“Should’ve made him stay with Hanamaki.”

He mutters under his breath, but you’re able to catch it over the music somehow.

“Good seeing you Hanamaki,”

Matsukawa turns to Hanamaki, throwing a peace sign.

“Don’t give me that, we’re in the same town but I hardly see you! Hang out more often, okay?”

Hanamaki huffs, before pulling him to a brief hug.

“I’ll definitely try.”

He glances back to you, and you’re dying to know what he’s thinking while he’s giving you that smirk.

“Come on big guy,”

Matsukawa aids Iwaizumi in dragging Oikawa out of the booth, wrapping an arm around his side.

“It was nice meeting you.”

He turns to face you with an exasperated look, and you wonder in that moment why you two hadn’t exchanged numbers yet.

Now would definitely be the most inopportune time, considering his hands are full with.... well, Oikawa.

You bite your lip, could you just ask him for it and you could just enter it in your contacts?

No, that’s much worse. Not in front of his friends, especially Hanamaki, and it’ll definitely make you sound desperate.

“You too. I had fun tonight. Get that one home safe, okay?”

You force out a laugh, and he nods at your instructions before saying his goodbyes to drag Oikawa back with Iwaizumi.

You collapse back onto the booth, pressing your hands to your burning face.

Augh, you should’ve asked for his number sooner!

When you pull your hands back, you squawk at the sight of Hanamaki with that shit eating look before you.

“Shut up!”

You blush, this time you might actually smack the look off his face.

“I didn’t say anything!”

He snickers, and you give him an angry stare, but it’s definitely coming across as a red faced pout.

“You didn’t have to. It’s all over your face.”

It’s indeed all over his face. He’s doing a poor job of hiding that smirk, he’s got one eyebrow raised, arms crossed, and that patented, all knowing Hanamaki look in his eyes.

“...I’m just sayin’, the sexual tension between you two was astronomical.”

“Aaaaahhhh! Shut up, shut up!”

You jump from your seat, very animatedly waving your arms frantically in an attempt to physically blast his words out of existence. You can’t believe he just said that. Hanamaki laughs heartily, and your blush reaches maximum red.

“If you want, I can give you his number? You kinda looked like you wanted to ask but—“

“Stop talking, please!”

He throws his hands up in defense, and you do your best to scowl under the embarrassment filling your entire being.

“I’m out, see you Monday. Makki.”

You stick your tongue out and he snorts,

“I heard enough of that during my high school career from Oikawa, please don’t make that a thing.”

You wave him off flippantly, making your way for the exit.

“Then I’ll be sure to tell all our coworkers about it.”

You can’t help but smirk when you hear the groan that escapes his lips,

“And get home safe, okay?”

“Yeah yeah, you too.”

He waves, heading to the bar to close his tab.

It’s been a week already, and you’re still thinking about Matsukawa.

You wonder if you should’ve taken up Hanamaki’s offer at the time for Matsukawa’s number. At the time, you’re certain he would’ve handed it over with only a minimal amount of teasing.

Minimal is still a lot for Hanamaki, but you think you could’ve handled it better back then.

And though you only had two drinks the entire night, you definitely could’ve played the ‘oops I guess I was a little tipsy’ card with him.

But now, the only thing keeping you from asking is the sheer embarrassment that’ll come with it.

‘You must really like him if you’re asking for his digits a whole week later!’, your inner thoughts do an excellent job of replicating Hanamaki’s smug voice.

You tie your apron on, shaking your head of the thoughts. You’ve got a long night ahead of you, and you don’t even really feel like working tonight. You only came in as a favor since Iwasaki had to call out. You’d much rather be at home studying.

By that, you mean procrastinating with video games and/or browsing through shows you won’t end up watching. And what a wonderful night in that would’ve been, you let out a melancholic sigh.

Despite your hopes of a slow night, this Saturday is as busy as the last.

“Hey, you got a one top at 22!”

Hanamaki’s voice calls from down the line, and you briefly wonder why he sounds so shit-eating, or if he’s just always sounded like that and you’re only just now noticing.

“Heard! Thanks, Makki.”

You stick your out tongue at him, and he rolls his eyes at the return of his high school nickname.

A one top is exactly what you needed. Normally, you’d be all for taking bigger tables, but since you weren’t even supposed to work tonight, you’re alright with taking it easy.

“Hey, welcome to—“

When you round the corner of the table, you lock eyes with Matsukawa.

“Hey.”

He gives a short wave, and you briefly panic, ditching the whole specials menu monologue that was readied in your brain.

“Hey.”

You’re proud you didn’t stutter, but it’s not much to pat yourself on the back for considering it was only one word, and ‘Hey’, no less.

“Someone told me you’d be happy for me to take up one of your tables for awhile, and I needed to get out of the house and study so....”

He gestures to his school bag and his laptop with a ‘here I am’.

“And who’s this ‘someone’?”

You glance to the section beside yours, catching Hanamaki’s gaze. He has the audacity to wink before turning to take a table’s order.

“Who else?”

Matsukawa smiles, and you find he looks just as attractive in the restaurant’s warm low light as he did in the neon lights of the bar.

“Well, I’m glad he did then. What can I get for you then, Mattsun?”

“I’ll grab a black coffee. And Matsukawa’s fine, please, only drunk bastards call me Mattsun.”

You laugh at the dig towards Oikawa,

“One black coffee then, Matsukawa. I’ll be right back.”

And black coffee seems so him. He’s probably one of those guys that advocates the natural taste of ground coffee beans, you snort to yourself as you warm the cold ceramic of the mug with hot water. You tend to lean towards more towards lattes and flavored specialty drinks, but you’re not complaining about his tastes. In fact, you’re eager to learn something new about him even if it’s just his coffee preference.

Well, he’ll have to deal with the shit no-name brand your restaurant settles for.

“You’re welcome!”

Hanamaki bursts in the kitchen, nearly dropping half the dirty plates precariously balanced on his arms. He’s obviously referring to the fact that he’s the one who tipped Matsukawa off about tonight.

“Use a tray next time! ...and thank you.”

You blush, shuffling out of the kitchen before Hanamaki can tease you.

Despite Matsukawa’s help camping at one of your tables, it’s still a busy night. So you find yourself flitting between tables and conversation with him.

You also find yourself too chicken to ask for his number, despite the perfect opportunity Hanamaki has orchestrated for you.

“Thanks for coming in again, Matsukawa. You didn’t have to do that.”

You smile nervously, watching him pack away his notebook.

“Not a problem, thank you for giving me a place to get some work done.”

He shoulders his bag, and you work up the courage to ask for his number before he goes.

The way he towers over you, looking so handsome with that cool expression makes you think twice though, and you find yourself far too intimidated to make the first move.

“Have a good night, don’t work yourself too hard.”

He waves, and you bite back the question that’s been weighing at your mind the past hour or so.

“You too!”

You spin around as soon as he’s out of sight, hands pressed to your face. How could you let that opportunity pass you by?!

Aughh!!

“Wow, Hanamaki isn’t the only one getting numbers on the napkins now, huh?”

One of your coworkers snickers, plucking said napkin off of a table.

You peer up to see her by... wait. That’s your table. That’s the table Matsukawa was sitting at. Holy shit.

“Holy shit!”

You run over, practically snatching the napkin out of her hand.

“He seemed kind of scary, but in a handsome kind of way. Lucky girl, nice!”

She pats you roughly on the back as a smile overtakes your features.

Matsukawa actually left his number for you.

You manage to rush to the back storage room to squeal out your joy, before you could startle any customers with your excitement.

Carefully, you tuck it into your book so not to lose it.

Thank you Hanamaki...!

You fell into a relationship with Matsukawa with ease, as if it were the most natural thing for you.

Late night texts turned into prolonged phone calls, which turned to hanging out in person, and those hangouts turned into dates. Eventually, you and Matsukawa found yourself in a comfortable relationship.

Matsukawa went from a stranger you met at a bar to your boyfriend of two years and roommate.

You’d finished your degree, and quit the job at the restaurant for a job at as a graphic designer.

Matsukawa ended up dropping school to help run his father’s funeral home business, eventually he’d take over entirely. It wasn’t exactly what he’d intended, considering he was studying sports medicine. In the end, a career is a career, and it’s honest work.

He’d been mildly upset at the prospect of it, but you’d convinced him it was admirable of him to help with the business, and you’d support him regardless.

“You’re too good to me.”

He kisses along your neck, and you giggle at the feather light touches tracing up to your jawline.

“What are you talking about? If anything, I could do more for you.”

You blush, preening at the attention. He shifts your weight onto his lap, and you wrap your arms around him to balance yourself.

“Exactly, you’re being so modest. Too good for a good-for-nothing like me.”

He seals your lips with a warm kiss before you can complain, and you let him get away with it.

“Hush, you’re perfectly perfect. Come on. Let’s grab coffee at the cafe.”

You stroke his cheek gently, before stealing an extra kiss from him. And two more for good measure.

Despite the plan you tried to initiate, you wind up tangled in the sheets. Lips meeting lips and skin, lingering longer with every new kiss.

He whines in complaint when you finally pull back to ready for your outing. You smile at the cute noise, though you can’t get the conversation from earlier out of your head. Pulling out a new set of clothes, you eye him carefully.

Matsukawa’s been awfully self deprecating lately. He’s always had a dry, witty humor, but the self deprecation has been leaning more towards critical than humorous these days.

You think maybe showering him with a more words of affirmation and affection will do him some good, especially some coffee from the his favorite cafe.

You grab his hand, threading his fingers with yours before walking hand in hand to the cafe near by.

“You know I love you right? So much.”

You swing your hand with his, peering up at him with all the feelings of love and care you can muster, and he returns your words with a soft smile.

“I know.”

He strokes the back of your hand with his thumb.

For a moment, you thought he might’ve been improving. But his mood is quick to drop at any given moment, dipping far more often than it rises.

The worry you felt initially don’t even compare to the concerns you have now.

You can tell he tried to brush it off to start, remembering an incident awhile back.

“Hey, Issei.”

You put away the leftovers from an awfully quiet dinner.

“Hmm?”

He doesn’t bother to glance up from his work book, overviewing a client’s paperwork.

“Are you alright?”

You can’t think of a better way to ask, so you settle for the vague question.

“Yeah, I’m great.”

You bite your cheek, at the comment. Nothing was particularly out of the ordinary today, you haven’t had a fight or anything, and as far as you could tell his work has been tiresome but relatively normal. You know for a fact he’s not ‘great’.

“You just seem... off, lately. Is something wrong?”

You press on the matter, you don’t want to keep prolonging it.

“I work with dead people and sad people all the time, sorry I’m not exactly feeling stoked.”

He sighs, closing his work book and you open your mouth to respond but nothing comes out.

“Issei,”

You warn after a beat of silence. You know it bothered him to start, but he’d grown accustomed to the field quickly and adapted well to handling clients experiencing grief. He’d even confided in you once it gave him fulfillment helping people overcome their heartache.

“What, is it depressing to be around me?”

There’s that self deprecation, rearing it’s head back in.

“What?”

You’re shocked he’d even imply it, you’ve never felt that way. You were a little disappointed he hadn’t been as affectionate as he used to, but you never held it against him. You’ve been worried about his mental health these days, but you never felt depressed to be in his company.

“You can say it. I won’t blame you.”

He runs a hand through his dark locks, exhaustion etched across his features.

“We talked about this Issei! I love you, and I support you. I’m not ashamed of what you do for a living, or who you are.”

You cry out, knowing full well what he’s getting at. In the past, he’s commented on such things in passing. That he’s a guy with a scary face, and someone as sweet and cheery as you looks out of place with him. That your boyfriend is a funeral worker, and it must be so awkward for you to deal with.

The comments had always been nonchalant, and you were sure to shut them down, but you can see now it’s always been at the back of his mind.

“I know, I know. I just keep thinking you’d be happier with someone else.”

He mutters, eyes shifting away from your hard stare.

You sigh softly, closing the distance between you two and wrapping your arms around him. For once, you’re taller than him due to his seated position. You press your nose to his hair, and he tucks his face into the junction between your neck and shoulder.

“If I cared about petty things like that, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. Issei, I love you.”

You’re sure to repeat it again, and you’ll do it as many times as you need to,

“I love you, I love you.”

You press your lips to his head, holding him tight. You feel his hands trail up your sides to lie tightly around your waist.

“Fuck. I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

His face stays pressed to your shoulder, and you rub his back comfortingly.

“Don’t, it’s okay. I love you.”

You won’t even hold it against him if he can’t say it back.

And you wished that was a sign for better, but it was a steady decline from there.

You never ended up talking about the incident, and he always brushed off your concerns, quick to change the topic. You held your tongue most days, not wanting to put any pressure on him.

But you just wanted to understand what he was going through. You wanted to help him, support him, like you said you’d always do.

“Can we talk?”

You know it’s a phrase anyone in a relationship dreads hearing, but it’s the most straightforward way to convey how serious you are on the matter.

“...”

He doesn’t give a response, but he takes a seat at the edge of the bed to give you his attention.

“If you aren’t happy, I want you to be honest with me.”

Matsukawa narrows his eyes, a wash of anxiety overtaking him. His hands fidget, shaking as they clutch at his knees. Was this your way of trying to tell him that you were unhappy with your relationship?

“I’m not happy. Is that what you wanted to hear?”

When the words reach your ears, you bite your lip. Hesitating briefly, you stride towards the bed to sit beside him. You rest your palm overtop his shaking hand, nervously running your thumb along the edge of his knuckles.

“Of course I don’t want to hear that. But I’m glad you’re being honest, I just want to know why you’re hurting.”

“I don’t think this relationship is working out.”

That was the last thing you expected to hear. Your whole body freezes and your eyes widen, unsure how to respond. It feels like someone’s dumped a bucket of ice down your back, and your lucky your sitting or your legs would’ve given out then and there.

“It’s not what it used to be.”

“I-Issei, come on. I know you don’t mean that—“

“We should end things.”

“Why?”

You don’t know the cause for all this turmoil. Your relationship had been fine, almost perfect. Hanamaki had made jokes about the two of you getting married even. You always smacked him for teasing you, but each time you hoped that would be the outcome of your relationship with Matsukawa.

You saw the signs of depression appearing day by day in Matsukawa, but you didn’t think confronting it would lead to this. We’re you wrong? Had you misinterpreted everything completely? Was he bored of this? We’re you really just that bad of a girlfriend?

The intrusive thoughts start to snowball out of control, and you look up to him with watery eyes for a sign of a joke. A tell that he doesn’t mean it. But his face is neutral, and the only thing you can see is him contemplating his next words.

“I cheated on you.”

The tears drip down your cheeks without your permission, and you pull your shaking hand from his to wipe them away.

You think about how he’d always be the one to do it for you, but you quickly dismiss the thought before you have more reasons to cry.

“You’re lying.”

He has to be. He’s not that person. He wouldn’t have the time, he wouldn’t have the lack of care, the lack of composure, he loves you—

“I’m not.”

He shuts you down immediately.

“Then how come I don’t believe you?”

“You’re in denial, it’s the truth. I’m sorry. It was when me and Hanamaki went out for drinks last month. He left early, I stuck around. I met someone. I drank too much, I wasn’t happy with our relationship, I couldn’t help it.”

That night he’d stayed the night at Hanamaki’s, he’d told you himself. Hanamaki had made jokes about it on one occasion. Was that a cover up? Is that the real reason Matsukawa has barely touched you in the past month or so? You can’t believe it. You refuse to. Matsukawa wouldn’t do that to you.

His eyes are trained on yours, but there’s no emotion behind them.

“What ever self destructing thing you’re trying to pull, knock it off.”

“I’m being serious, stop looking for excuses!”

He’s raising his voice now, and you’re practically shaking at this point.

“I’m not! I know you, and you wouldn’t do that! You’re always looking for ways to put yourself down. You need to stop trying to destroy everything good for yourself because you don’t think you deserve it!”

You wish you could’ve told him calmly, gently, like he deserved, but you’re so infuriated and confused you can’t control the way the words spill out in anger.

He clicks his tongue, averting his dark eyes from your heavy stare.

“It doesn’t matter if you don’t believe it. Maybe you don’t know me as well as you thought, I fucked up, it happened.”

“But why?”

You can’t believe you’re even entertaining the blatant lie, but the more he affirms it the more you feel your confidence slipping away.

“Because I don’t love you anymore!”

His own words rattle in his brain, stinging and heavy in his chest. He knows he doesn’t deserve to feel that pain when he’s the one intentionally hurting you.

‘I lied, I’m sorry, I love you’

He wants to take it back immediately, but he forces down the words, keeps his face stern. Why is he doing this?

Your eyes well up with more tears, and his hands ache and itch to reach up and brush them away, tell you that you were right. Caress your face and kiss you softly. That he’s just fucked up, that he just wants the best for you.

You deserved better than him, and this was the only way he knew how to make you leave him.

The tears spill down your cheeks, dripping from your chin and onto your knees. You tell him to quit the act already, and he presses his forehead against yours and screws his eyes shut. It takes everything he has to maintain it.

“I’m sorry.”

He stands, and his heart aches more when you try to pull him back in.

“Issei...”

Your voice is rough, almost a whisper and he clenches his jaw and forces himself to look away.

“I’m gonna crash at Hanamaki’s. I’ll get my things in the morning.”

Before you can say anything else, he’s closing the bedroom door and grabbing his keys.

He quickly toes on a pair of slides and shuffles out the door, but not before he hears the broken sobs coming from the bedroom you shared.

He grits his teeth, biting back the tears.

He almost expected you to chase him out and grab him by the hand, hug his back, anything, something.

But why would you? He’s such a piece of shit for even thinking that, not after how he lied, the hurtful things he said.

For Matsukawa, this only proves he was right to think he wasn’t good for you.

He waits til he’s in his car to lean his head back, willing the tears away. He doesn’t deserve to cry, he repeats to himself, but they’re falling regardless.

“So are you gonna tell me why you came to my door step looking like shit, or am I gonna have to keep sitting here awkwardly pitying you?”

Hanamaki cuts straight to the bullshit, but to his credit he lasted a solid five minutes without saying anything.

Hanamaki lets out a long sigh at the continued silence,

“Fine. You can crash here as long as you need to, but at least tell me if you need anything.”

Matsukawa nods his thanks to him, as Hanamaki shuffles the room. Laying back on the couch, he rests his arms across his eyes and attempts to sleep, but it’s all in vain.

When he went back to your apartment, you hadn’t been around. Simultaneously to his relief and disappointment. As much as he wanted to see your face, it was for the best.

For longer than he’d intended, he found himself laying back in the bed you shared. Your scent fills his nose, and the familiar sheets give more comfort than the couch he’d been crashing on before. The comfort doesn’t last long, considering you’re not laying beside him like he’d gotten so used to.

He can almost hear the words of affirmation in your soft voice, affectionately whispered against the shell of his ear. The light kisses pressed to his lips, his cheeks, nose, brows, eyes as you both laugh in each other’s arms.

He desperately wants to call you, or for you to come back home so he can tell you to forget what he said.

He forces himself out of bed with a sigh, slinging the bag he packed over his shoulder.

The crisp air outside fills his nose, and the warm sun beats against his skin, but the pleasant weather only serves to make him miss your scent and warmth instead.

Hanamaki’s ‘As long as you need to’ turned out to be a week so far.

Work had been hell for him. His father scolded him for acting more depressed than the guests coming in, and the comment alone made him feel like shit for treating his breakup like a loss of life.

Matsukawa finds his feet carrying him to the cafe the two of you frequented. A part of him desperately craving the coffee, but most of him wondered if he’d run into you.

A stupid wish really, what could he possibly even say to you? Why would you want to see him?

“Coffee, black please.”

The barista gives him a expression that reads faux apology,

“Sorry, we didn’t get any in today unfortunately. Can we offer you something else?”

He settles for tea instead. He’d normally feel disappointed and whine about it you, the coffee here is his favorite after all. He can’t feel bothered to at the moment.

A notification sounds from his phone, and he checks without thinking.

‘I miss you’

His grip around his tea tightens, it’s from you.

He locks his phone and pockets it before he can do something dumb like respond with an ‘I miss you too’.

Pitching his nearly full tea, he strides out of the cafe. He heads back to Hanamaki’s apartment, knowing full well he’ll be around since he’s not at the restaurant anymore.

For the most part, Matsukawa tried to stay out of his hair, staying longer hours at the funeral home or eating out. Sometimes just walking or driving around to stay out, feeling sorry for himself. He’s grateful for Hanamaki’s kindness, and didn’t want to burden him anymore than he had been.

But right now he really wanted to see his best friend.

“We broke up.”

Matsukawa finally decides to enlighten him, and Hanamaki doesn’t even try to hide the disbelief from his features.

“Ahh. She wouldn’t talk to me much when I messaged her. I thought you might have had a big fight or something, but breaking up?”

He gives Matsukawa an apologetic look, but he can tell that he’s still skeptical.

Is it really so hard to believe that you could have better than him?

“I told her I cheated on her.”

At that, Hanamaki is quick to switch gears. He grabs Matsukawa by the shirt, nails scratching through the fabric into his chest, but he can’t feel bothered to care about the sting.

He returns his best friend’s manic glare with an indifferent stare.

“You what?! Matsukawa, are you fucking kidding me, how could you do that to her? Are you that much of a piece of shit you’d throw away the best thing that ever happened to you?”

The words hit home, and Matsukawa averts his gaze, not sure he can handle the anger bleeding out of his friend.

He berates himself for his cowardice, for not being able to withstand it when he deserved the harsh words that Hanamaki’s right to dole out.

He’s right, you were the best thing that ever happened to him. But how could he be the best thing that ever happened to you? He’s pathetic, he’s depressing to be around, he’s got an intimidating face, he quit school to work at a funeral home for god’s sake.

“I didn’t, I lied.”

Hanamaki’s sour expression contorts to a baffled one,

“Huh?”

“It was the only way she would leave me.”

Hanamaki’s grip loosens from his tee, and Matsukawa presses his hands to his face.

“Why would you do that?”

Matsukawa doesn’t respond, rubbing his palms against his already red rimmed eyes.

“Matsukawa... talk to me, man.”

His hands drop between his knees and he glances back up to catch Hanamaki’s worried expression.

“What if I’m someone I don’t want around?”

Matsukawa voices the thoughts that have been plaguing his mind for months, the words sounding so familiar to his ears despite never having said them out loud.

Hanamaki’s lips draw into a thin line, unsure what to say to his friend.

“If I can’t even stand myself, how could she be around me?”

“Matsu—“

He cuts off Hanamaki, ignoring his terse tone and stern expression,

“What if I’m someone she won’t talk about?”

His breathing starts to become more labored, and it feels like the walls are closing in on him, he can’t meet Hanamaki in the eye. His chest tightens even more, and he didn’t think that were possible.

“It’s what I wanted, I know that, I was a selfish asshole for keeping her stuck with me. I pushed her away because of it, and I get the feeling that she’ll never need me again,”

He’s almost in a full blown panic attack, his palms are shaking and Hanamaki tries to reach out to him, but he flinches away. Hanamaki is at a loss for words and what to do, he’s never seen his friend like this before. He’s been always cool and composed, never one to wear his heart on his sleeve.

“And I don’t know what I’ll do after that. I miss her too—”

“You idiot!”

Hanamaki sighs, flopping onto the couch beside him.

Matsukawa quiets after Hanamaki’s outburst, lightly panting after his rambling, not used to talking so fast and much in a short span of time.

“Just be honest, tell her how you feel.”

A/N:

Don’t hate me for that guys! Look forward to the next part, I promise I’ll make it better 😭

Leave your thoughts, I’d love to hear them! ¯\_(ツ)

[Masterlist] [part 2]

[ksocialaus]

𝑾𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒔𝒍𝒐𝒘

ᴘᴀɪʀɪɴɢ: CollegeStudent!Rosé (Blackpink) x CollegeStudent!Reader

ɢᴇɴʀᴇ: fluff

ᴡᴀʀɴɪɴɢꜱ: none :)

ᴅɪꜱᴄʟᴀɪᴍᴇʀ: none of the gifs are mine, credits to the owners

ɴᴏᴛᴇꜱ: I didn’t know if you wanted this to be fluffy, smut or something else, so I just got creative! Hope you like it :)

ᴘʀᴏᴍᴘᴛ ʀᴇQᴜᴇꜱᴛ: 11.“We can take it slow”/ 12. “Let’s go all night” (Requests are open! you can find my list here or just ask for anything you’d like)

ᴍᴀꜱᴛᴇʀʟɪꜱᴛ

✨✨🌻🌻🌻✨✨

Midterms were killing you.

You could almost feel how your head was going to explode in any second. All your time was spent in the library or going to tutorings with your teachers or more advanced students. You needed a scholarship asap, and even when your grades were alright, you knew you need them to be perfect. 

Your exams were going to start in 3 days, so you needed to excel in every single one of your classes in those three last days. On your table (at the library) rested four coups of coffees, two bottles of water that you refilled now and then, a pile of books, your computer, and a lot of paper notes. It was a disaster, but somehow you found order in that. 

“Excuse me… can I sit here? every other place it’s occupied.” You raised your head from your book to the owner of the sweet voice calling you. She looked tall, maybe because of the heels she was wearing. Her hair was long, and the color was like if she dyes it with honey. Her lips, tinted with a pale pink lipstick shade, and her hand was holding a bag close to her chest. She was stunning.

“Sure- Let me just...” Quickly, you started to pick up your things, making little piles closer to you, cleaning some space for her “sorry, I’m just a mess right now” nervous laughter escaped from your lips while she started to put her things down “It’s okay. I start my midterms tomorrow, and I’m just starting to study today,” she gave you a small and cute smile while sitting down “I’m Roseanne, but call me Rosie. Nice to meet you,” you just nodded your head, returning her smiler. “I’m YN.”

The next two days went the same way. Rosie was showing up after classes to your table, even if you changed your seat she would look for you and sit with you, which honestly it didn’t bother you. You and Rosie were in the same major, she was in a semester before yours, so every time she’d ask you for help, it helped you to memorize certain things. Plus, it was adorable every time she would look at you with puppy eyes cause she didn’t understand something.

Roseanne’s midterms were finally over; you still had one more to go, so you didn’t know if you were going to see her again, but in case you did, you wanted to remain as friends or maybe more than that. You found yourself liking Rosie more than a classmate. You enjoyed her company and how she relayed on you for small things such as studying. Naturally, you wanted to maintain contact with her and maybe keep your little crush for her to yourself.

It was almost 9 pm, and the students were slowly going back home, just a few like you would stay till midnight to study. “I knew you were going to be here… I brought you some coffee and cookies, you probably haven’t had dinner yet, so take this” she handed you the food, left her bag on the table, and sat next to you. Rosie never sat next to you, always in front of you. “Thank you” you gave her a little smile, she only nodded and started to look at your notes “wha-what are you doing here? Your midterms ended today.” 

“Yes! And you haven’t congratulated me” a little pout was shown on her lips. “Congratulations. How did you do?” she just shrugged while starting to put your things away. You were so concentrated in her that didn’t even notice her actions. “I got great grades on all my classes thanks to you” she smiled at you before hanging your bag and her on her shoulder. “let’s go” she did a little gesture to ask you to leave the library. “Where? Rosie, I need to study.” 

“You’ve been studying all week. Take a break, let’s go for a walk around the campus and eat what I brought you. Once you’re done, we’ll be back, and I’ll help you study all night” you bit your lips unsure of it being a good idea. Of course, you wanted to go wherever she asked you to, but you also needed to study.

It only took you to see Rosie under the moonlight to make up your mind, “Let’s go all night.” Rosie looked at you a little bit confused “I mean… let’s go for a walk all night… I’m tired of studying, and tomorrow is my last exam,” she smiles, showing you her little eyes wrinkles. Rosie took your hand, intertwining your fingers with hers. Every second you spent with her made you feel more attracted to her, she was so sweet to you and made you feel comfortable and like she wanted you around. 

It was around 2 in the morning. Both of you left campus hours ago and went to a little park close to it. You were talking about each other’s likes, hobbies and stuff like that. It was a nice change since you always talked about school. “So… you have a special someone?” Her question took you by surprise. She was waving her brows up and down, waiting for an answer while your feet started to move nervously. “I don’t” a shy smile appeared on your face. “Oh! Really? Why is that? You are adorable and smart, and attractive” blood rushed to your cheeks while you felt like trying to hide somewhere. “I am not. I’m pretty average.” 

Rosie took your face in her hands, looking at you with that sparkle in her eyes that identified her. “No~ you’re the most awesome person I’ve ever met.” Without giving you a second to react, she leaned in, pressing her lips against yours, smiling in between the kiss once she felt how you didn’t respond. Rosíe knew you were not following her kiss cause you were shy, and she didn’t give you a warning before kissing you.

“I like you, but if you don’t feel the same, we can take it slow. I can take my time to win your heart” she was flirty, and that made your heart excited, you liked how bald and fearless Rosie was. “No. I like you too” Rosie smiled again, letting go of your face and reaching for another cookie.