#i kinda hate that my parents want me to pay for whatever furniture i wanted for my room

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

WIBTA for pulling my younger brother from his bedroom for "sleepovers" in the living room in the middle of the night?

I hate how clickbaity that is, but it really is the most succinct way I can try to paraphrase this. I have submitted here before for similar reasons, so this setup may or may not sound vaguely familiar, but this is pretty self-contained as a separate issue, I think. Quick preface- I am one of four siblings. Ages aren't particularly important for this, save for the fact that the oldest three are within a handful of years of each other, while our youngest is several years our junior. I was 11 when he was born, for reference. We'll call him C, and the two middle brothers A and B.

We somewhat recently (within the past few years) moved to a new house with a few more rooms, which shook up our previous sleeping arrangements. Now, instead of A, B, and C sharing the same room while I had my own for gender-related reasons, A gets his own space while B and C continue sharing a room. This means that my room no longer immediately across the hall from all three. A has a bit of a history of being loud in the middle of the night and getting mad when others ask, request, or tell him to be quiet, so this was a relief.

However, my new room is still just a few feet away from B and C, and now B is doing loud enough things to keep me awake- mainly playing video games and either not using headphones, constantly humming loudly along to the music playing, or saying something about the game. As a "bonus," he insists that C has to watch him play the entire time.

Even though this runs well into the early hours of the morning most nights.

And C still has early-morning school to worry about.

Previously, I'd just resigned myself to shutting up, jamming earplugs in my ears each night, and dealing with whatever weirdness is making one of my ears painfully itchy on a daily basis as a result. However, recently our parents started giving C flak for staying up late. They also made sure we knew they wanted B to stop keeping him up, but I'm not sure B actually knows or cares.

C and I did a bit of kvetching about unrelated topics today, this subject came up, C told me he doesn't enjoy being kept up that late either, and I had the idea that, should midnight come and go without B quieting down, I would interrupt whatever they're doing and "ask" C if he wanted to come sleep in the living room with me. I'm putting "ask" in quotations because I voiced this idea almost immediately, and C agreed this would be helpful just as quickly; me asking would serve solely as a way to have me interject into whatever B's doing and give C a quick way out.

At the same time, B can get touchy if he thinks C is brushing him off or I'm "butting in." I mean, C and I kinda will be doing both those things if we wind up needing to do this, but B seems intent on monopolizing as much of C's time and actions as he can get away with. I don't really think they need to fully stop interacting, but maybe B needs some time to himself instead of constantly wringing attention out of the baby of the family.

Then again, B is an adult. Like, legally. He'll be able to drink in a few months. He doesn't need to act like I'm interrupting his playtime with his favorite action figure whenever I remind him C isn't required to pay attention to him 24/7.

Idk. As far as sleeping arrangements in the living room would go, there's enough furniture to go around. I'm just not entirely sure if butting in would be an asshole move. Justified? Almost certainly, I think. An asshole move? That, I don't know. Whatever the case, I'm hoping these things work out quickly enough that we don't lose much more sleep. We're tired of finally managing to get to sleep at 3 AM.

What are these acronyms?

[groovesnjams]

"It's So Good" by Jamie xx

DV:

It's still kinda incredible to me that just over a decade ago Jamie xx was both part of a band considered cutting edge and releasing remixes that made bad songs into good ones, and now he's built an entire career out of "electronic music for people who hate electronic music." Music for backgrounds. Music that makes Sabrina the Teenage DJ seem challenging. He's clearly very talented! He's technically capable of doing much more! And yet "It's So Good" is another entry in the restaurant-playlist catalog. This is a song that wants you to think it's pleasant without really thinking about it too much at all. It's active enough to keep you alert midway through your amuse bouche, but not so active that it might distract you from discussing the latest management strategy with your dining partner. Growing up, my parents had the exact Pioneer tape player that the video shows one side of. Watching that distinctive curved door slide closed, seeing those color-coded trapezoidal buttons, I'm reminded that it's possible to make something everyday seem special and distinctive, if you pay enough attention to the details. That just doesn't seem to be something Jamie xx is interested in anymore, whatever the reason.

MG:

Meh. There's something valuable about being the (almost) only dance (adjacent) artist getting play on a station like Sirius XMU (Yaeji is the other one) because you provide entry to an unconsidered world. This kind of music almost has to be basic, repetitive, accessible, and agreeable. If you're paying attention to the details, "It's So Good" could layer terrifically into a mix or be the sole piece of electronic music on a British folk playlist. You can make it blend, you can make it shocking. I think it's more like department store furniture and decor. The stink of mass manufacture is on it, no doubt, but that doesn't mean it can't competently hang in a room full of vintage pieces that elevate it beyond the ordinary. I can't disagree with DV -- "It's So Good" is inert in its present form, but I see the potential energy.

[galariangengar]

💭

[scullydubois]

What about a time when mulder meets up with scully to go for a walk with queequeg?

i may have gone overboard here, but how could i not? this prompt is so precious, thank you.

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

Friday Night with Queequeg, 2.4k--set in season three

“I can’t, Mulder,” his partner insists, her voice dialed up a few intervals for dramatic effect. “I’ve got Queequeg to worry about.”

Mulder drops his Washington Nationals tickets on the desk in disappointment. How lame to be overshadowed by a dog. “That fluffy little guy?” he whines. “Or girl, I'm not sure.”

“He’s a boy.”

“Okay well, he reminds me of one of those Tamagotchi things, have you seen the commercial?” Mulder rambles while shuffling various stray papers from his desk into a single incoherent stack. He’s careful not to sweep the tickets into it. “It’s a pocket pet--”

“I know what it is, Mulder. I have a godson.”

“And is Queequeg not just a glorified version of one of those?”

“Yes, I suppose you could say that. He needs food and attention and care. But, in case you didn’t know, he is also real and capable of giving much of that back to you.”

“Eh, reciprocated affection is overrated,” Mulder jokes, though life would be a lot damn easier if he believed that. “And it’s one of the few Fridays where we’re not traveling or jet-lagged or wholly tired of each other.”

Scully purses her lips. “I see significantly less of Queequeg per week than I do you,” she mutters, and Mulder wonders whether some of her feigned contempt might be genuine. He’s used to being subtly disliked, but the thought sure makes him sad.

Seeing the passion in his face dissolve, Scully realizes that he’s backing down. It’s not like him to back down, no matter how frivolous the issue is. She knows this about him if she knows anything. It’s as if he’s giving up, and that strikes her more than anything.

“Haven’t you ever had a dog, Mulder?” she asks, ignoring the chair in front of her to perch on the edge of his desk.

“Once. After Samantha.” He laughs out of pure scorn. “I think it was my parents’ way of trying to replace her.”

Scully frowns. She should know by now that any journey into his past will turn into a probe of his eternal wound, and that’s no fault of his own.

“What was its name? And were you fond of it?” Scully feels like a therapist--hopefully a kind and supportive one.

“Sparky. I’ve got no clue where the name came from, or the dog for that matter. He was just kinda there one day when I got home from school. And then in a few months, he was gone in the same way. Taken to my uncle’s cause my parents couldn’t stand all the upkeep.”

A thought pops into Scully’s head that is evidently shared by her partner. “No, he didn’t “go live on a farm’ or whatever, I was old enough not to fall for that,” Mulder insists. “He really did go live with my uncle. Lived like seven more years.”

Scully raises an eyebrow. “But did you like him? Were you sad when he was gone?”

“I was sad about a lot of things at the time, Scully.” He opens his desk drawer and pops a piece of gum in his mouth. He’s out of sunflower seeds. “But about the dog? Eh, he was fine to have around but it wasn’t a quintessential boy and his dog moment. He was already a couple years old and well into his grumpy old man phase, if I remember correctly. And he was a mutt, so I think my parents hated him because he didn’t match the furniture.”

“Mmm.” Scully rolls her tongue over the roof of her mouth. It would be a shame to put Mulder through this whole conversation only to insist that she can’t attend the game. But she wasn’t just making excuses. Queeqeug has been home alone all day. and she always takes him for a walk when she gets home from work. He’s used to their routine now, sitting there at the door when she unlocks it like he’s got an alarm set. He gets his dinner when they get back home and falls soundly asleep. Scully’s convinced this is the only thing keeping him from rebelling for being on his own for ten hours a day, and she doesn’t want to test that theory.

Mulder glances at the office clock. 5:46. First pitch is at 7:05.

“How about this...” He props his feet up on the desk to give himself the air of confidence that he’s lacking. “I’ll run over to your place, walk him, make sure he does his business...the whole shebang. You can finish up here then take a taxi to the park, and I’ll meet you there. Sound good?”

The edges of Scully’s lips turn downward. Mulder notes that today, they are brushed over with a very nice coral. Must be a new shade.

“Do you really care that much about me attending this game?”

Mulder shrugs. Yes he does, but he’ll be nonchalant about it. “I bought the tickets cheap through a newspaper ad. I just thought it would be nice for the two of us to do something that’s not chasing phantoms.”

“Phantoms?” Scully’s left eyebrow arches. “Have I finally broken your spirit?”

Mulder smirks. “Sorry, I thought flattery might get me somewhere here.”

Scully taps a heel against the ugly linoleum floor. He’s so adamant about this...boyhood loves stick, she supposes.

“If it means that much to you, go ahead. But don’t come crying to me when you’re late for the start of the game. Queequeg takes his time.”

Mulder claps his hands together. “That’s fine, that’s fine!” Surely he can hurry the canine up. “You take one ticket and head to the seats, and I’ll find you.”

Scully pulls her lips into a thin line, a hint of humor gleaming in her eyes. “Okay, Mulder. Do you have your key?”

He nods, pulls on his jacket, and edges toward the door. “See you there, Scully!”

“Bye.” Scully smiles at the empty office. Her partner’s enthusiasm is endlessly endearing.

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

Mulder has no time to register that he has no clue where Queequeg’s leash is, or if he’s supposed to bring some sort of bag to pick up any...ehm, droppings, or if there’s some special trick to walking a dog that makes it look easy when it’s secretly hard. In fact, he can’t recall ever walking Sparky. Thirty years old and never walked a dog before...surely that qualifies him for the Guinness World Record books.

Queequeg is alert at the door when Mulder opens it, and he’s glad the thing is more teddy bear than canine--he doesn’t have to deal with any barking or biting. He checks the coat rack for a leash, then begins rummaging around in the front table when he comes up short. It’s all old issues of girly magazines he never would have expected Scully to subscribe to.

Begrudgingly, he looks into Queequeg’s beady eyes. “Where’s your leash, boy? You wanna go for a walk? Show me where your leash is.” He uses a baby voice he didn’t even know he had.

Queequeg does nothing but paw the ground in annoyance.

“I know the feeling,” Mulder quips. He pulls out his phone and chooses Scully’s name from the speed dial list.

It rings and rings, then goes to voicemail. Mulder ends the call, grumbles, then tries the office number instead. She picks up after one ring.

“Hello?” her dainty voice projects through the line.

“Scully, you haven’t left yet?”

“I was just locking up the desk. Is there a problem?” she asks like she knew there would be.

“I can’t find Queequeg’s leash.”

“It’s by the pantry, next to his treats.”

Mulder sighs, heads into the kitchen. “And I suppose I have to take his treats too?”

“Uh-huh. And there’s plastic grocery bags in there that you can use to clean up after him.”

Mulder opens the pantry, sees the hoard. “I feared so.”

“We always go left down the block,” Scully tells her partner. “There’s a patch of grass that way he likes to chew on.”

“And how much does he pay you for such indelible service?” Scully doesn’t listen to a word he says, but she’s at the dog’s beck and call apparently.

There’s a bit of silence as Scully decides not to reply with a smartass remark. Then--”I’m leaving the office now,” she murmurs into the phone. “Better hurry up or I’ll beat you there.”

During this teasing, Mulder attached Queequeg’s leash to his collar. Now, as he tries to lead him into the living room, the dog refuses to move.

“Uh, Scully?”

“Yes?”

“I put his leash on, but Queequeg won’t budge.”

“Do you have the treats?”

Mulder shakes the treat bag and makes kissy noises to encourage the canine. (How humiliating.) Still, nothing.

“He doesn’t want to come with me,” Mulder says. “Even the treats won’t lure him over.”

“Are you sure it’s the right treats?” Scully asks.

“Since when are dogs picky about their treats? Treats are treats. And these are the only ones in the pantry.”

“Huh.”

“If you’re rolling your eyes, I can’t see it,” Mulder mutters.

“I’m not rolling my eyes, I just--we’ve never had this problem.”

“Has anyone else walked him?” Mulder wiggles the leash, which does nothing.

“My mom.”

“Well, maybe he doesn’t like men,” Mulder remarks.

“He lived with Clyde Bruckman…”

“Exactly.”

Scully takes a quick exhale. He has a point. “I’ll head over, okay? But I doubt we’ll make the game.”

“We’ll see.” Mulder sighs. He’s being...well, cockblocked isn’t the right word for it--but something like that--by a dog.

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

Scully arrives half an hour later to find Mulder crouched on the kitchen floor rubbing Queequeg’s belly.

“Am I interrupting something?” she teases. The dog rolls over and leaps into excitement at the sound of her voice, abandoning Mulder altogether.

“Hi buddy.” She scratches his ears and dodges his attempts to lick her face. “You ready to go for a walk?”

Queequeg whimpers and sits as if she commanded him to.

Scully looks to Mulder with a brilliant, taunting smile. “I think he’s ready.”

Mulder stands up, every disk in his back rebelling against him. “That thing--” Mulder jabs a finger in Queequeg’s direction--”has a Jekyll and Hyde situation going on.”

“Really, cause you seemed to be having a great time until I came in.”

“No, no, no, don’t spin this. I had to get down on the kitchen floor because he wouldn’t move! What was I supposed to do while we were waiting for you, ignore him?”

Scully shrugs, tries to hide her smirk. “Well, if you were so bothered by him…”

“Whatever, whatever. Let’s just go for the walk, okay? I don’t want to miss this game, it’s against the Red Sox. It should be good.”

Scully takes Queequeg’s leash from her partner, gestures for him to go ahead. “After you.”

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

It’s a beautiful spring night--the perfect occasion for a baseball game, Scully will give Mulder that. The sun is drifting down the cloudless horizon, and the chill that has hung in the air for months is finally admitting defeat. The sidewalk is crowded with other dogs and their humans, eager to end the week on such a lovely note.

Queequeg trots blissfully in the usual direction. Scully lengthens her stride to keep up with him--for once she and Mulder are walking at the same pace.

“So this is DC on a Friday night, huh?” Mulder says, glancing around at their fellow pedestrians and bicyclists.

Scully nods. “If you got out of the office before seven, you’d know.”

“Doubtful. My usual impression of DC on a Friday night is the traffic on the 14th Street bridge, and I’m pretty sure I can witness that at all hours.”

Scully allows herself a sidelong glance at her partner. She had never realized someone could be too dedicated until she met Mulder.

“Have you ever considered getting a pet?” she asks tentatively.

His gaze snaps to her. He chuckles and sticks his hands in his pockets. “My complex has a hefty monthly pet fee. Rent is already bad enough.”

“Well it’s not like you go out often…” Scully starts, knowing this is short of a compliment. “You’re not a big spender, surely you have the extra cash on hand.”

“Ha, thanks,” Mulder responds. “Should I put that on my resume?”

“I just mean that…” Queequeg finds his beloved patch of grass, and they pause to let him chomp at it. “...you could use the companionship of a dog. Or cat, if that strikes your fancy.”

“I have enough companionship, Scully. More than I know what to do with. Have you heard my answering machine?”

“A woman from an 800 line is not companionship, Mulder. And you never actually answer any of your messages. Friends don’t count if you never see them.”

“Ouch.” Queequeg finishes up, and they resume the walk. “And what are your plans this weekend, Scully?” he asks, hoping to catch her in her own hypocrisy.

“As a matter of fact, I’m going to visit my mother tomorrow afternoon.”

Mulder busts out laughing. “You’re a real party girl!”

She ignores him, focusing on Queequeg. “But you get my point, don’t you? It’s not good to be alone all the time.”

“I seem to recall being told that we spend more time together than you and your dog,” Mulder wisecracks.

“That’s different,” Scully swears. “That’s work.”

“That’s the bulk of modern life, my dear.” He delivers this statement in an old-timey mid-Atlantic accent like some leading man of the 40s. It makes Scully smile.

“I have an idea,” she says, her eyes sparkling.

“Oh boy.” Mulder glances at his watch. 6:51. Damn it. “We’re gonna miss the game.”

Scully nods. “Let’s go to the animal shelter instead.”

Mulder stops. It makes Queequeg, and therefore Scully, stop too. “What?”

“You could make some dog very happy, you know. And Queequeg would have a playmate...I think it would be really good for you, Mulder.”

“Come on, I can’t just adopt a dog on a whim.”

“I did.”

“Shit.”

Scully laughs. “You’re realizing there’s no way out of this, aren’t you?”

Mulder grins. “Yeah, I--” He looks down and sees Queequeg taking a dump in the middle of the sidewalk. Scully readies the plastic bag she brought, then bends down and scoops the pile up like it’s nothing.

Mulder screws up his face. “On second thought…”

“Nuh-uh.” Scully ties the bag and taps it against Mulder’s arm. “You’re empty-handed, take this. It’ll be good practice.”

Mulder frowns but takes the bag. His partner’s huge smile is not lost on him, and it makes him smile despite himself. She knows how to get what she wants, and he has a feeling this one will benefit him too.

[bqstqnbruin]

I hate it when you make me laugh, even worse when you make you cry

All I’m gonna say before this is 😈😈😈

Read the whole series:  I hate the way you talk to me and the way you cut your hair // I hate the way you drive my car // I hate it when you stare // I hate your big dumb combat boots and the way you read my mind // I hate you so much it makes me sick, it even makes me rhyme // I hate the way you’re always right // I hate it when you lie // I hate it when you make me laugh, even worse when you make me cry // I hate it when you’re not around, and the fact that you didn’t call // But mostly I hate the way I don’t hate you, not even close, not even a little bit, not even at all

Flashbacks are in italics

____________________________

“Why do you think?”

“Come on. Tell me.” 

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

Your first night in Calgary was supposed to be spent unpacking yours and Evelina’s new apartment, having spent the entire day lugging boxes and furniture up and down the stairs, not wanting to constantly hog the elevator with your endeavors. You were both exhausted, but apparently she wasn’t exhausted enough to not insist you go and explore your new home.

“Come on!” she whines, practically ripping your arm out of your body in an effort to pull you off the couch, “You know that you want to go wander around! Why can’t we just do it tonight, we’ve spent all day in this building anyway.” 

“Ev, we are gross, and we are tired. We shouldn’t go out,” you tried to counter, even though you knew she was going to eventually wear you down into going out.

“How are we going to make friends! We can’t go into work on Monday only knowing each other!” 

“I love you, too, Ev.” She got up off the couch, her hands clasping under her chin as she juts out her bottom lip. She was right, though: you knew no one in the city and probably should make some sort of effort to change that before you start your new jobs. “Fine. But this doesn’t mean I have to have fun, and we aren’t staying out past midnight.” Evelina starts bouncing up and down in excitement, dragging you to her room so you can start to get ready. “And we have to stay in either tomorrow or Sunday and seriously get to unpacking.”

Both of you start rummaging through the boxes, tearing them open in hopes that one of them will contain clothing that you can wear to go out. “How am I this unorganized?” Evelina asks, tearing open what she thought to be her tenth box, none of them having clothing.

“I don’t think you want an honest answer from me,” you laugh, resulting in her throwing a pillow at your head. “Ok, hey!” you say, throwing it back. “I have my clothes in a few suitcases. Should we raid those and see if we can find anything?” 

She laughs, opening another box, “Y/N, I love you, but you have nothing that we would be able to wear out. Your clothes are either business or athletic, and there’s no in between.” 

“I’m sure we can find something,” you mumble, knowing she was right. 

“No need! I found some clothes!” she said, dumping the box out on her bed. She thrrew a shirt at you, telling you that you were wearing it or else you would be doing all the unpacking yourself. Shooing you off to go clean up, she shuts you out of her room, left in the hallway surrounded by a bunch of boxes.

It’s not that the move was hard, but it definitely didn’t go as you had expected. You and Evelina were both excited for the fresh start, a new group of friends, a new city where no one knew you. Where you wouldn’t let anyone hurt you. 

You were always ready much faster than Evelina, so you decided to start unpacking bits and pieces of your room. You open the box labeled ‘decorations’ figuring you could at least try to start to see where you might hang things up. On top in the box is the one picture you didn’t want to see: the picture of you, Evelina, and Thomas on the day before the spring semester of finals your freshman year. The three of you were sitting at a picnic table on campus, surrounded by your textbooks and notes, mid laugh at something Evelina had said, none of you knowing the picture was being taken. You had known him since you were little, the days of learning to swim at the community pool when you were toddlers being some of your only memories from that time. The school dances you brought each other to as dates instead of stressing about having to ask and possibly get rejected by whoever it was that you liked at the time. The nights in college where you would watch movies with each other and fall asleep with the movie running, Evelina coming home and finding the two of you on the couch with the tv on, all of you going to the diner the next morning. 

He was your other best friend besides Evelina. He knew everything about you, probably more about you than Evelina did, probably more than you even knew about yourself. He was also in love with you without you feeling the same. The night you found out you and Evelina were moving, he told you that, begging you not to go and stay there with him. You told him you couldn’t and you haven’t talked to him since. 

You didn’t know that you had packed it, you thought you left it in your closet back at your parents house. Evelina knocked on your door, letting herself in before you could hide the picture, “Hey, are you ready?” She sees you staring at the picture, tears threatening to fall as you think about the move that cost you your best friend. “Thomas?” You nod, shoving the picture in your desk, hoping that you would be able to look back at it one day. “That’s not going to happen again,” she tries to reassure you, pulling you out the door. “How many girls have their best friend fall in love with them twice?” 

Evelina finds a bar down the street from where you live, walking there instead of paying for an Uber, thankful that you were able to take your mind off Thomas. And Evelina was right, wasn’t she? How many girls' best friends fall in love with them to begin with? So what are the chances of that happening twice?

You get to the bar, taking in the scene around you; a group of guys sitting in the back, some college girls trying and failing to get their attention, some other groups of people, everyone in packs except for you and Evelina. “We could go talk to them,” she says, trying to drag you over to the group of guys. 

“No, come on,” you say, trying to resist her pull. Those guys were attractive and there was no way you were about to go up to them and just start talking to them like she wanted you to. 

“Come on,” she says, ignoring your protest and dragging you in front of the guys, “Hey, I’m Evelina, this is Y/N,” she starts, “We just moved to the city and don’t know anyone.” 

You hated how bold she could be some time, but were at least thankful they made room for two strangers to join them instead of you having to stand awkwardly in the corner, Evelina diving into the conversation with the rest of the group.

The boy next to you didn’t seem to be paying attention to her, just like you weren’t. There was something about him that you couldn’t take your eyes off him, his curly hair, the blue eyes, the stupid grin that was on his face. Whatever it was you saw in him, he found something about you that he couldn’t stop staring at. “I’m Matthew,” he whispers. You smile at him, the guys laughing and bringing your attention right back to the group. 

“You don’t know who we are?” Elias asks Evelina, the rest of the guys looking just as shocked as he was.

“You count on us watching or following sports, so no.” 

Matthew turns to you, seemingly ignoring the rest of the guys. “You know nothing about sports?” 

“Well,” you start, feeling your face getting red. He was close to you, definitely trying to hit on you, but for some reason, it didn’t bother you like it would with other guys. “I know about hockey, a little bit about baseball, and then my dad is weirdly into the NFL so Sundays were spent with lots of yelling at his team, but I don’t have a team that I follow.” 

The guys laugh around you, sucked into whatever it was Evelina was going on about. “Why don’t we get a drink?” Matthew suggests, getting up before you can say anything. He holds out his hand to you, taking you and dragging you to the bar. “So what do you know about hockey?” he asks you, sitting down on the stool as you took the one next to him, leaning against the bar as he orders something for both of you. You couldn’t tell if the muscle in his arm was popping out because he was flexing on purpose or because he couldn’t help it, but you were surprised his shirt wasn’t ripping at the seams the way it was being filled.

“You don’t want that,” you shake your head, suddenly a little embarrassed, “I just start rambling and it’s never good.” 

He laughs, his eyes closing as his smile grew, forcing a smile on your face because of how infectious it was, “Two things will happen: I either zone out while you’re doing something that might make you happy, or I learn something while you’re doing something that might make you happy.” You hesitate, debating on if you should really tell him anything as the bartender brings the drinks he ordered you. “Come on.”

You roll your eyes, smiling at him as you raise your glass to toast to him. “You’re asking for this, Matthew.” 

You dive into what you knew about hockey, knowing enough about the history of the sport no matter how dry it was, knowing some of the basic rules even though he had to explain what counts as goalie interference to you, though he didn’t seem to know himself. The last person who listened to you ramble like this was Thomas. You finish telling him, a wave of sadness washing over you at the thought of him. You bite your lip, looking down at your drink.

Matthew reached over to you, his thumb and forefinger tilting your head back up to him. He looked worried at the sudden change that came over you. “What’s up?”

You shake your head, scrunching your face as a signal that you didn’t really want to talk about it. But for some reason, with him, you felt you could. “Just kinda reminded of someone there.”

He studied your face, trying to get a read on what type of someone you meant. “A boyfriend?”

“No,” you laughed, a sense of relief falling on Matthew, “My best friend. Or, ex-best friend, now, I guess.” 

“Well whoever they are, they’ve just been replaced.” You looked at him, confused. Before you could ask him what he meant, he started, “I’m your new best friend now. And you can’t tell me otherwise.” 

You can’t help but laugh, forgetting about Thomas for a moment. “I think you’ll have to fight Evelina on that one.”

The guys and Evelina sat back at the booth watching the two of you talk with each other the rest of the night. Evelina couldn’t remember the last time she had seen you so animated, so happy to be in an unfamiliar situation. 

“I think someone’s in love,” Elias took her attention away from you and Matthew.

“Y/N? No. She doesn’t let herself fall in love that easy. The last guy she dated I don’t think she said she loved him until they had been together for a year.”

“No, not Y/N,” Elias said, the rest of the guys nodding in agreement. “Matty there.”

Evelina scoffs. “No way.” 

They watched as the two of you laughed so hard you could barely breathe, Matthew not taking his eyes off you even though you were pretty much doubled over. “Trust us. We could make a list of the ways we can tell that one is in love. And he’s doing all of them.”

--------------- 

“What are you talking about, ‘the list?’” you try to play it off as if you didn’t know what he meant.

“I know all about that list you were making with the reasons you hate me. I saw it in your kitchen on the fridge when I was over,” he lies, not wanting to drag Evelina into this. 

“So what? You’ve known? And what have you been trying to do?” 

“I don’t know, trying to convince you that you don’t hate me! Trying to make you forget about that list,” he yells, people around you stopping to stare at the scene you were causing there on the sidewalk. “You know you don’t hate me,” he whispers, take a step towards you.  

“You don’t get to decide that Matthew.” 

“What can I decide? Because if it were up to me then we would have been together after the night we met. It wouldn’t have taken this fucking long for you to get your head out of your ass to see what we have.” 

You take a step back at the bite in his word, feeling the tears fall down your cheeks, your mind running rampant trying to figure out what all this meant. His words stung; you thought he was wrong. You thought everyone was wrong. There was no way this had all been there since you met him the night you moved to the city. “This has not been here since the day we met. That isn’t true.”

“You can’t tell me how I felt about you then, and you can’t tell me how I feel about you now. The one thing I have wanted since the day we met is to be with you,” he tells you, trying to fight back the tears, “And to find out that you were trying to deny that by thinking or stupid ways that you hate me? The way I cut my hair? My driving? You don’t even hate me enough to think of real reasons.” 

You can’t find the words to say, pushing past him and heading down the street. You couldn’t take this. He was never supposed to find out about the list. You knew that you were overreacting, but he had no right to know about that. He had no right to spit that back in your face like he was. 

“No, no, no,” you hear him say, Matthew stepping in front of you. “Look at me,” he says, his hands on your shoulders, shaking you. “How are you the one who’s mad here? You have no right to be mad at me for this.”

You look at him, swallowing hard. “I don’t? Now you don’t have the right to tell me how I feel. I gave you all of me, Matthew. You’re the only person I would ever let get that close to me. And to find out that you’ve been lying to me this entire time? You know what happened with Thomas.”

“Y/N, listen to me,” he starts, trying to get closer to you.

“No! Matthew, no,” you say, stepping away from him. “Whatever the fuck this was? It’s done.” You let out a sob, pushing past him and running down the street back towards your apartment, Matthew calling your name, watching you run away from him. 

“Fucking hell,” he mutters, chasing after you. You were both aware of how this looked, two people running down the street, the one leading in tears while the one trailing was on the brink. “Can you please just hear me out?” he asks, catching up to you. “I saw this list and I panicked. How would you like it if I started listing all the ways I hated you and used those for reasons to not want to be with you?”

“You have reasons you hate me?” you say, not wanting to look at him.

He groans, running his hands through his hair and down to his face. “Of course I don’t. There is nothing that I could think of that you do that would make me hate you. But fuck, Y/N. Ten reasons you hate me? You know how I feel about you. You know that you don’t hate me. So why are you doing this?” 

You knew he was right, crying at the fact that you went along with Evelina’s stupid bet. But that didn’t matter to you. “Because I didn’t want to date you.”

His Adam’s apple bobs up and down, his jaw clenched, clearly hurt by your words. “Then what is this? What have we been doing?” 

“Nothing. You’re nothing more to me than my friend,” you lie, pushing past him. You knew he was going to follow you, no matter how much you didn’t want him to. This was just a stupid mistake. That’s all it was. This is exactly what you were afraid of happening when Evelina first brought it up and when Thomas had told you his feelings. You were going to lose him. 

You get to your apartment, locking the door behind you. You press your back against the wall next to the door, sliding down and bringing your knees to your chest. This was just like with Thomas. This was worse than what happened with Thomas. You were reliving what was the worst day of your life, except now it was with another guy. 

----------

“You guys are moving to Calgary?” Thomas asked you, sitting down on your bed. You had texted him that night to tell him you had to talk to him, him rushing over as soon as he could. “Why are you going there? You aren’t going to know anyone.”

“Well, we’ll make friends. We got these amazing job offers out there, Thomas, we can’t turn them down.” He won’t look at you, staring down at his hands with his eyebrows scrunched together. “Hey, what’s up?”

“Don’t go,” he let out, looking up at you. His eyes were shining, filled with tears that were begging to fall.

“What? No, I can’t do that. Evelina already found an apartment for us out there. We’ve already accepted the jobs.” 

“Don’t go,” he said again, still not looking at you. 

“Why?”

He closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath. “I’m in love with you. I always have been. You can’t leave.”

“Thomas,” you let out, trying to process what he just told you. “You-you’re my best friend, you can’t be in love with me,” you stammer out, trying not to panic even though you were doing a horrible job at hiding it. 

“You don’t love me, do you?” he asked, a single tear rolling down his cheek.

“I don’t think I love you the same way you love me.” 

He nodded, running his tongue along his teeth. “Awesome,” he laughs, pain in his voice. “Have fun in Calgary,” He got up, leaving you there on your bed as you tried to figure out what just happened.

“Thomas, wait!” you called after him, stopping him before he can open your door. “Where are you going?”

“I’m leaving. I can’t be friends with someone when I love them. Especially when they don’t love me back,” he said, pushing past you. 

You stood in the doorway shocked at what just happened. The tears were falling down your face as you watched your best friend walk down the hallway, the last time you would see him. 

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

You pull yourself up off the floor, heading to the kitchen to get some water. There was no way this was happening to you again. You couldn’t be losing yet another guy because he thought he was in love with you.

At least last time, you didn’t have the same feelings for him. You didn’t even know how you felt about Matthew. He’s your best friend, the guy you go to for everything, the one you spend all your time with. You can act however you want around him, say whatever you want to him. He’s the perfect guy for you.

Except that he’s been lying to you this entire time.

You hear the door unlock, hoping that it was Evelina. Whoever it was slammed the door, going towards the bedrooms. “Fuck,” you hear him mutter, freezing at his voice. 

You knew he would follow you here. “Matthew?” you call, trying to figure out where he was in your home. “Matthew, get out.” 

“No. We need to talk about this,” he yells from your room, trying to follow your voice. It wasn’t like your apartment was that big that he wouldn’t be able to find you in the kitchen. “I don’t know how many times I have to tell you this tonight. I want to be with you. Only you. I want you to be my girlfriend.” He finally finds you, slowly walking up to you as if he were afraid you would run from him. “Why don’t you want to be with me?”

You let out a sob, looking away from him. You knew he was hurt over this; you were too. “It’s gonna ruin everything.”

“That’s not a given. This could be so great. This already was so great.” You both stand there in silence, not sure what to say. “Do you want me to be your boyfriend?” 

Did you? He made you so happy. There was no guy that you would rather be with. But he’s Matthew. He came into your life as soon as Thomas left, filling that hole that you left at home when you moved to Calgary. He was supposed to just be like Thomas, just be your best friend and nothing more. 

He slowly lifts his hand to your cheek, the pad of his thumb whipping away the tears on your cheek. “I hate to see you cry like this, but Y/N, I need to know: what am I to you?”

“You’re just my best friend,” you tell him, his hand falling from your cheek. “You need to go Matthew. I don’t want to see you right now.”

“Y/N, come on.” 

“Matthew, she said leave,” you hear from the door way. You both snap your attention to Evelina standing there, keys still in hand, your bag on her arm.

“Ev, you can’t be serious,” Matthew says, walking towards her.

“Out! Now!” she yells, both of you jumping at the sudden change in her tone. He looks back and forth between you and your roommate, panic washing over him. This couldn’t be happening to you two. “Do I have to fucking drag you out, Tkachuk?” 

He finally leaves, Evelina rushing over to hug you as you crumbled in her arms, watching Matthew leave your apartment.

[heresathreebee]

No Touching

[Ava Starr x Female!Reader]

Summary: Friend dates with Ava always brighten your day (and night). Tonight is more enlightening than brightening, though… 

Previous Masterlist Next

Word count: 1.7 words

Warning(s): 14+ | angst, gay panic, dolls, 1 (one) racist antique, Steven Segal movie, chronic pain, tears.

AN: No actually I didn't bother to edit this, not doing that anymore, I think too much as it is. As always, I write with a black reader in mind but feel free to read even if you aren't. 🖤

You are eighty percent sure that you and Ava are dating.

85%... 78%... 81.5% sure.

It would probably be best if you cleared that up (but be cool about it though). You've started seeing each other more and more, and on purpose no less. Never a dull conversation, she's reluctant to share some of her life story but she's eager to know everything about you and you're more than happy to indulge. It's not like you know nothing about her; you just don't know the specifics of her past. 

Her parents died when she was young, she's ex-military (you think?), and she just came off of a huge life change and is getting used to what she calls 'real life.' You figure out she's a bit of a shut in and hates crowds, so you go out of your way to show her quiet places and introduce her to things she's never tried before. The bowl by your front door where you put your keys has 20 or 30 marbles from ramune bottles in it. You can't seem to ring her secret out of her, she just gives you this cryptic knowing smile and laughs at your attempts to sweet talk or annoy it out of her. 

You feel so close, growing closer still, she's quickly become the best part of your week, and you catch yourself thinking about her even when she's not with you. But you've never held hands. Hell, you've never even so much as brushed shoulders with her by accident. If you're dating, shouldn't you at least hug her goodbye? Is she even able to be into you like that?? 

You try not to let the panic set in as you stand outside of the antiques mall. You told her you liked old things and promised to show her your favorite pastime. God, how do you go about this? Should you just flirt with her and see how she reacts? Also how does one flirt? What if you’re fucking up and she really just wants to be friends? God knows you could use some friends right now. 

When she does appear, you do nothing. You continue to act relaxed and enjoy her presence, promising yourself you’ll ask about it afterwards. Ava’s wearing that grey jacket again made of a thin sports fabric and you make a mental note it might rain today. 

“Ava,” you stage whisper, waving her out of the jewelry section by the front desk and into the maze of vintage old clothes and furniture. “Back here, to the left.” 

Deep deep deep in a corner of the massive store, Ava stops dead in her tracks (you run into her but back away quickly) and stares. 

“This... is…” Ava covers her mouth with her hands to hold her laughter in, “ghastly.” 

The shelf is wide, with dark wood trimming and protective glass. The lights are almost fluorescent as they illuminate dozens of humanoid dolls. Some are cute, but some are also creepy, unnerving, down right scary. 

You point at the one with the Jonbenet Ramsey likeness and deep cracks in her porcelain face. It was overly large compared to the rest, having to have stuffed legs crossed like a sitting child. "I think I fear that one the most." 

You felt Ava shiver and didn't even realize you were standing that close. Her eyes darted from face to face, taking in every terrible and wonderful detail of them. You smelled coconut in her hair and tried to distance yourself a bit, missing the conversation. "Huh?" 

"I said they're haunted, aren't they?" 

"That one definitely is." You look over the other dolls. "I don't know, I think the rest are kinda cute. 'Cept that one: that one can fuck off straight to hell." 

Down on the second shelf where the light began to struggle in reach belied an offensive porcelain joke. The decoration portrayed an over animated child at play, with oil black skin, fat red lips, and bulbous eyes. This child was dressed in white rags and sucking on a wedge of fruit. Guess which one. Fucking guess, I dare you. 

"It's not even a fucking doll," Ava grumbled. "Why is it here?" 

You leaned in to whisper, "someday, I'm gonna buy that thing just to fucking smash it on the pavement." 

"Oh, what a lovely sound it would make." 

You hum. "I'm not gonna give nobody money for that trash. Can't steal it either, we'd never make it to the door." 

Ava looked over her shoulder with a cheeky smile. "We?" 

You simply tilt your head at her, and she huffs out a laugh. She nodded as if agreeing with you, then drifted away from the case like a wary woman. You toured through the rest of the store like a treasure trove of other people's memories, war memorabilia, ancient brand merchandise (why would anyone want a life size green m&m in their house? Who is this for?), and paintings from the dadeism era by unpopular artists. You ate lunch at the vendor shops in downtown and retired to your place for a movie. 

You must have fallen asleep at the beginning but you came to during some big shootout between Steven Segal and generic Latino drug dealer #7 when you accidentally dropped your hand into Ava's lap. Quickly, Ava withdrawals, thrusting herself to the other side of the couch as if in disgust. Your head jerks up in hurt and confusion, you hadn't even felt anything except a light tingling. You could barely hear the tv audio over the sound of blood rushing in your ears. 

"You can't touch me," Ava spat. "You just can't. Ever. Please…" 

"I'm sorry. Ava, I– I am so, so sorry I didn't mean to–" 

"It's not your fault and you didn't know," she mumbled and faltered, "it's just… you can't." 

You feel tears prick in the corner of your eyes as you try to swallow. "I'm sorry. Really. It won't happen again." 

Ava looked up at you guiltily and sighed. She folded her legs and eased herself off of the couch arm rest, hands tucked into her lap and unable to meet your eyes anymore. 

"It's not what you think it is," she explained. "I… I have a condition of sorts. And it… it hurts.” 

Her words put a hold on the tears threatening to spill from your eyes. “Like a… skin condition? Or nerves or something?” 

Ava nodded quickly. “Yes. yes, like a nerves thing. My um, my nervous system. It's chronic."

“Oh Ava,” you cover your heart with a breathy sigh, “of course! I wish I’d known I would have never–” 

“It’s not something I like to talk about.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m really glad you understand. Sorry I freaked out, I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings or anything.” 

You tried to blow a raspberry. “It’s whatever, didn’t hurt my feelings.” 

Yeah, you could hear the weakness of the lie, too. Still, Ava went and parked herself on the couch exactly where she was before– close but not too close. Warm but not quite touching. You were ready to let it slide and go right back to pretending to watch the movie when– 

“So what’s going on between us exactly? I like girls– I like you– and I don’t mean just in a friend sort of way– is it maybe sorta possible you might feel the same way about me?” 

Who said that? You? Honestly you’re feeling a little dizzy as you try and stare a hole in the tv screen. And Ava? Well at least she didn’t hold you in suspense for too long. She chuckled– and god you had to look. You had to know if she was laughing at you or with you. Your eyes snapped to her completely unmocking face. 

She blinked at you, bit her lip even. “Yes, I am.. Capable of liking girls. Might prefer them actually. And I definitely like you in a more-than-a-friend sort of way.” 

It takes a second to sink in. OK, it takes a hot minute to sink in. Like the movie ended and you walked Ava home and you slept in until 10 am and made omelettes for breakfast at noon and laid down on your floor staring at the ceiling until sundown. Yeah that kind of hot minute. And your lips curled into a soft smile because you had a girlfriend and she liked girls and you could not be happier than you are right now. 

~

Ava asked you to meet her on the corner by the antiques mall that night. You don’t know how but she got her grubby, thieving little mitts on that disgusting tar baby doll from the haunted doll shelf. You made her swear up and down she didn’t pay real money for it, then nearly pulled out your hair when you realized it meant she definitely stole it and– 

"How the ffffUCK do you just DO that?!" 

"Slight of hand," she mused. 

Fuck, and she was a geek. Yeah, you're definitely in love. She pushes the ugly thing into your hands and despite being cold porcelain it feels like it's burning. 

"Do the honors." 

There's no build up. No ceremony. You don't want to drag this out anymore. You take a swinging leap and spike that shit and watch it shatter into a hundred pieces with the most glorious sound you'll ever hear. You land in slow motion, already replaying the image of thick glass pieces cracking on the indigo pavement. You stand over your mess, triumphant. 

The quiet of the night time street drifts back to you, as does Ava. "I'll be honest I expected a big speech." 

You shrug. "I've been waiting too long to do that. Thank you, Ava. I mean it." 

"Oh believe me it was my pleasure." Ava swaggers closer to you and if you didnt know better you'd think she was going in for a kiss. "Tonight, the tar baby. Tomorrow, the world." 

You resist the urge to clap her on her shoulders and throw your hands in the air instead. "Sounds like a date!" 

Next

[we-arethenewheroes]

I Hate Bullies part1

Stray Kids Felix Imagine

bully!felix x reader

Synopsis : you just got a scholarship (thanks to your amazing grades and talent at handball) and just got transferred to one of the most prestigious high school in Seoul Korea : Inchang Highschool. But of course, life couldn't be so wonderful. (ft enhypen, theboyz, clc and more)

>> Part2 Part3

"The score is 17-17 right now, if we mark, we win, if we don't, they win."

"B-but we have only 1 min left ! Coach, it's impossible !"

"Y/N, do you think you can do it ?"

All eyes turn on you as the coach calls your name. You look at her, straight in the eyes.

"Of course I can."

You hear the high pitch noise of the whistle, signaling to the teams to go back to the field.

Okay, we have the ball, and we've been playing safe so... i just need to...

You look around a little, and as soon as the ball touches your palm, you sprint to the goal, throwing the ball to your teamate who already ran to the other side. The opponents gets it back be you quickly stop the action and get the ball back.

20 second

You get back on your feet and run to the goal again, sprinting and dribbling as fast as you can, you face three other girls trying to stop you, quickly blocked by your teamates.

5 second

You get to the zone, jump and throw the ball. You close your eyes and hear the whistle, ending the game, Then the whole stadium cheering on your side, as your teamates run to you.

"Y/N Oh my god you did it !"

You open your eyes back open to see the ball in the goal, as your opponent goes to shake your hand. You turn to see your coach talking to two inspectors, locking eyes with you, signaling you to join them.

"I must say, you impressed me today Miss L/N"

"You turned around the game and saved your team. You truly have a potential"

"That's why we want you to be part of our handball program, the Hope Pole. It's a girl's scholarship only, it can get you to great universities, and even get you to the national handball team."

"In the meantime, you'll get to study to Inchang High, looking at your grades, you will fit right in. You're actually the first one to get this scholarship, we don't usually go to other schools, but we give it a chance, and we were not disappointed."

You look at the inspectors, shocked of the news.

I did it... I finally got my scholarship...

Your coach looks at you.

"I already talked to your uncle about it, and he wanted the decision to be fully yours. So what do you say ? You're in ?"

She smiles at you.

"Of course I'm in ! Where do I sign !"

You're new trophy in hand, as well as your scholarship papers, you finally get home.

Home sweet home

"Uncle ! I'm home !"

"DON'T GO IN THE KITCHEN !"

This, is my uncle, Kim Jisub.

He's very fun to be around, a great dad to his son and I, and a real, real, loser. He's been trying to be a chef for over 5 years now, with no results.

"Oh my god what did you do..."

"He tried to do some flambé noodles or whatever, didn't really work as you can see"

And this is my cousin, Kim Junho, he's 8 and just starting to get sassy, too sassy actually. He's my uncle's one and only son. His wife dies giving birth to Junho, so for my uncle, his son is very precious to him.

"Uncle ! You can't just burn stuff in the kitchen like that, at leats do it outside, I don't know! Now the only pan we had left is ruined"

"Yessss I'm sorry Y/N, I'll do a few extra shifts at work and I'll buy ten pans, I promise!"

You sigh, seriously...

"Well... Maybe you won't have to do extra shifts...."

"No way.... Don't tell me...."

Your uncle looks at you with big eyes

"You got a job ??"

You sigh again, more annoyed this time.

"No ! iI got my scholarship you idiot !"

Your uncle's eyes get even bigger

"Oh my god- well first of all, don't call me idiot- and Oh My God ! Y/N congrats!"

Your uncle smiles at you and hugs you, congratulating you on your scholarship.

"Hum, am I gonna benefit from your 'scholarship' ?"

You turn to your cousin,

"Well, yes? Probably ?"

"Then, congrats Y/N, I knew you could do it."

He outs on a fake smile, but you know he is actually happy for you. This little brat, I swear

You sitting at the kitchen counter, as your uncle tries to save the burnt pan, while your cousin is in his room.

"So, what's in this scholarship exactly?"

"Well, first, I get to be in the Seoul Girls Team training program, I get to study at Inchang High, AND, I have a big fat check every month to pay for 'school supplies, books and clothes', but we all know here that we just gonna buy some new furniture and pay the rent."

"Oh noo, come one Y/N, you earned it, you do whatever you want with it."

Your uncle goes to clean the burnt pan.

".... How much is it?"

"1 000 000won a month." (~1000$)

Your uncle stop his action and goes quiet for a moment, then turns to you.

"say what now ?"

"You heard it well, Jisub."

Your uncle turns back to the pan, then looks at you, then look at the pan. He picks it up from the sink, goes to the trash can and put the pan in it.

"Uuuh ??? Excuse me sir, you can't just give up like that-"

"Y/N, with 1 000 000won a month, we can pay and the rent, and water, and the gaz, and the electricity, and 20 pans, heck, we can buy new forks and knives, new beddinds- new BEDS"

"Don't go to far"

"You get the point !"

"Yes, I get it. I'll give you the money so you'll be able to pay for everything and don't have to worry about extra shifts."

"Y/N..."

"I knoew your dream is to have your own restaurant, well now you can save your job's money to buy one, and we won't have to worry about money ever again!"

Your uncle looks at you and sits next to you. He sigh.

"I know I'm not the best parent ever, amd can't keep a job to save my life, I forget your birthday, or can't nake it to graduations, but I try my best, to keep you and Junho safe."

You look at your uncle, letting him talk.

"I promised your parents and grandparents to keep you feed and warm, no matter the cost, and I will keep doing that. But this scholarship- this money, you earned it yourself. You accomplished what I couldn't accomplish. This money is yours, keep it. Buy clothes and makeup, video games, new handball outfits- whatever you want to have, have it. Live your teen years. You shouldn't worry about money, you should worry about grades and boys. You'll have plenty of time to worry about money, but this time is not now. Over my dead my body."

You look at your uncle, his eyes tearing, probably sad that he made you worry about money too, also sad talking about your parents.

"Don't worry uncle, I will. I promise."

You smile at your uncle and hug him.

"I hate to see you guys grow up"

"Ookay that's enough sads for today, I'm gonna take a shower"

You get on your feet and head to the shower.

"A few years back I used to shower you ! You were just a little baby!-"

Inchang High, one of the most prestigious school in Seoul, in this school it's just rich kids, sons and daughters of CEO, conglomerates, lawyers, surgeons, heck even politicians. And here I am, daughter of deceased parents, adopted by her jobless uncle. Wow, impressive.

You look at your new school for a few seconds then make your way into the building. You look around and search for the teacher's office. You knock at the open door and get the attention of two professors.

"Ah ! You must be L/N Y/N right? Come over here."

You approach a tall men, pretty young, wearing round black glasses. You stand next to him

"I'm Mr. Choi, your homeroom teacher, and English teacher. Are you excited for your first day?" He asks, smiling at you.

"Yeah, kinda nervous but very excited."

"Don't be, the students are nice, and seeing your excellent grades, you'll get used to this school in no time."

Mr.Choi turns to his well organized and neat desk and get a few books and papers from a drawer.

"Come on, I'll get you to your class, it's the 1-4"

You then follow your teacher out of the office, and into the corridors. He talks to you about the school's history and building but you can't seem to focus.

You look around, seeing all those rich kids. They all look so neat and clean, they all have expensive shoes and bags, jeweleries, immaculate white button ups, well ironed skirts, their uniform all looks so nicely fited. Next to them, I just look like a homeless men, like a fly in the soup..

"Ans here is your class, not everyone is here yet, you can take a sit next to the window, at the 5th row, the class president is at the front row doing some homework, is name is Heeseung, if you need anything you can just ask him, now I gotta go, but I'll see you around, okay?"

You nod at your teacher and bow to him goodbye as he leaves. You take a deep breath before entering the class, you try to look as presentable and open the glass door.

From the outside you could only see the front row, but as you sneak your head inside, you see that every single one of your classmates are already in class, as they turn to you, all going completely silent at the new arrival.

Oh my god they're all looking at me waht do I-

"You must be Y/N," you turn to the voice, "I'm Heeseung, the class president." He stands up,

"Mr.Choi told you about me ?..."

"No" you look at him, quite confused "The principal came to the class lasy friday to tell us you'd be here." Oh boy

"Yeah" you turn to the other voice in the class, this time a girl. "We missed half of our math class because of it."

"O-oh hum well, I-" I'm sweating wdid-

"We should thanks you for that hahhaa" the tension get down immediately as your classmates giggles at the student's comments

"Yeah, the teacher was so pissed, we were supposed to have a test but we couldn't do it"

It's actually goind better than I expected...

Yo see the same girl approaching you "I'm Eunbin, and this is Chanhee, my best friend"

She points at a shy guy with blond hair. You wave at him and he wave back at you.

Heeseung, still standing next to you clears his throat

"Do you know where you have to sit ?"

"Oh, hum yeah, Mr.Choi said I had to sit at the 5th row, next to the window."

Heeseung looks at EunBin, who looks at Chanhee, who looks back at Heeseung. They all seem very... Scared ?

"Wha-what's up guys..?? Is something wrong ?"

Heeseung looks at you "Maybe we should ask the teacher to change your sit or-"

Then, a girl with one of her friend pushes Eunbin to the side to get a look at you. She's scans you from head to toe, cleary judging you.

"Hum, excuse me? Who are you and why are looking at me like I just ran over you dog ?"

"Where did you get those shoes ?"

"Uuhh the store ? Where do you buy shoes, dumbass"

The girl looks at you dead in the eyes "Do you know who I am?"

"well, no, that's why I asked, 'Who are you', or do you not understand ?"

Eunbin holds back her laugh.

"I am the daughter of the-"

"I don't care, actually. What do you want ?"

Even Heeseung can't seem to keep a straight face, turning his back at the girl a little.

"Hu- well- How dare you-"

"Oh my goooood what. do. you. want. Let's get this over with please."

The girl stutters a bit, she clearly didn't expect for you to respond like that.

If she thought that I'd be impressed or scared then she's wrong.

"Look, if you're here to be intimidating, it's not working, okay ? You got here because your the daughter of some conglomerate men, I got here thanks to my talent and hard work, so you're not scaring me."

The girl humphs and turnd on her heels, get out of the room.

"Oh my god, Y/N, you have some balls wtf" Eunbin says, looking at you with her to thumbs up. "You were really cool just now." She looks at Heeseung "She'll do just fine with Lee Felix"

"Lee Felix? Who's that ?" You look at Heeseung.

"He's... Humm your class neighbor !"

"And also a bully." It's the first thing Chanhee ever says to you.

"A bully ? Seriously ? I'm next to a bully? Damn I HATE bullies.."

Chanhee stands up and stans before you. "If you could shut him down like you did with the other girl, I think you could do a lot of good in this class, heck even the school"

You look at Chanhee, "Don't worry, I won't let him bully anyone under my sight, that's for sure."

As you finish talking, you hear the bell ring, and the teacher coming in the room. You take a sit. He's not here yet-

As you think of it, you hear the back door sliding open, seeing a tall guy with black hair, looking at his phone, followed by two other guys talking to each other. The two guys takes sit next to the door as the other guy sit next to you. I assume he's Lee Felix..

You try to not pay much attention to him and concentrate on the lesson.

You can feel the ray of the sunrise shining on your the left side of your face, the warm feeling giving you chills down your back.

You then hear a low voice "You're blocking the light." Lee Felix...

You sigh, not even giving him a look. "Not my problem."

Felix sighs, clearly annoyed at your response. "Who the fuck even are you-" he says as he turns to you, but as his eyes gets to you, he's amazed. It's like seeing an angel...

He's never seen a beauty like your yours, as the sun hugs your features so prefectly, you hair falling on your shoulders, the concentrated look on your face. Everything he sees is perfect.

I found an angel..

A/N: hope you liked it ! Follow me to know the story, part 2 coming very soon !!!! (Class 1-4 is nothing serioussss it's just because my class is the 104 so yeah)

[avatarstories]

izumi’s birthday part three:  sources of wisdom

The next morning, breakfast with the family is awkward. Izumi was a few moments late, having had to stop by the royal seamstress to have the last adjustments fitted for party outfit finished. By the time she arrived at breakfast, everyone was seated, and the only empty chair was between her father and Bumi. Bumi’s stony expression made her want to just be swallowed up by the floor. Maybe she could go find Druk and convince him to eat her. She gives Bumi a sad smile, and he rolls his eyes with a noticeable exhale. Izumi takes her seat quietly trying her hardest to give him as much space as possible. 

“Are we going to talk about how Izumi and Bumi are making the air in the room extremely uncomfortable?” Kya says. “Lover’s quarrel?” she jokes. 

“Fuck off, Kya” Bumi mutters, looking down at the table in front of him. Kya is across from him and leans in trying to get his attention. 

“Excuse me?” she says with a joking lilt in her voice. 

Bumi doesn’t say anything. Instead, he throws his tea at Kya and storms out of the dining room. Everyone is silent but all eyes are on Izumi. Having managed to stop the tea from hitting her, Kya bends it back into a cup. 

“Well, Happy Birthday, Izumi! What an exciting way to start the day,” Kya deadpans. Zuko looks at Izumi with a concerned expression. Azula looks ready to go to murder. Toph and Lin have their eyebrows raised and are taking a big sips of their mango juices. Tenzin hangs his head and focuses intently at his rice. Izumi notices Katara giving Aang a look that says go after him and when he doesn’t move she shakes her head. 

“This looks like a job for a wise old man like me,” Iroh says, pushing his chair back so that he can stand up. 

“General Iroh, it’s really ok, Aang can take care of it,” Katara says. 

“Uh, I kinda agree with General Iroh,” Aang replies sheepishly. 

If looks could kill, the ice in Katara’s eyes would have Aang pinned to the wall. “You are unbelievable,” she says quietly, though the anger and disappointment in her tone are unmistakable. She follows Bumi out the door 

“Looks like Twinkletoes is in the polar bear doghouse,” Toph says. Aang groans and then goes after Katara and Bumi.

“Care to enlighten us, Izumi?” Azula asks. 

“Not really,” she mutters. “I’m going to the training yard,” she announces quietly, and she walks out the door. 

Azula looks between Zuko and Iroh “I would go after her, but I was planning to go boss some staff around to make sure her party is perfect, which I think now needs to be even more perfect,” she says. 

“I will see what is bothering our dear Izumi,” Iroh says pushing out his chair once again. He and Azula leave the room. 

“Man,” Lin says “I thought mom and I would be the ones to start drama.” At that, Sokka laughs so hard he snorts, and Suki punches him in the side for it. ————————————————————————————————— 

Izumi is moving through advanced katas when Iroh finds her.

“I have told you before, forms practiced in anger are like tea steeped in unclean water, dear Izumi.” 

She finishes the form sending an arc of a flame towards the stone wall with an audibly annoyed exhale. 

“Now, are you going to tell me what is wrong or should I guess? Kya suggested a -” 

“IM NOT DATING BUMI! CAN EVERYONE STOP THINKING THAT!” 

Iroh chuckles. “Everyone used to think the same of your father and Katara when they were yours and Bumi’s ages. When people share a special bond others cannot help but wonder. But of course I did not come here to talk about your father’s youthful affections. It appears you and Bumi are experiencing a strain. Care to inform your old grandfather so he can help you?” 

“We had a misunderstanding.” 

“I know that I am old, Izumi, but I am not blind.” 

“Bumi was telling me about some issues in their family between him and his dad, and I basically told him that he should be lucky not to have the weight of a legacy on his shoulders.” 

“So your problem stems from your fear of your future,” Iroh affirms. “Rightfully so on an occasion as momentous as your 17th birthday, but Izumi, you are a kind, gentle, and fair minded young woman, and your father is a picture of health, what has brought about this anxiety?” 

Izumi crosses her arms and says nothing. 

“Izumi?” 

“I overheard some of the noblewomen talking about a curse on the Fire Ladies.” 

“And what is this curse?” 

“That Fire Ladies who die in childbirth give rise to evil Fire Lords. The spirits make them pay the ultimate price for what they bring into the world.”

Iroh takes in her words. “And so you have applied this to your own birth?” Izumi nods.

“You’re young yet Izumi, but I think you will find that destiny is what you make of it,” he says. “You and your father are the descendants of Sozin and Azulon, but you’re also the descendants of Avatar Roku on your grandmother’s side. There’s light and dark in you, and you will have to chose what nature you will allow to flourish. But knowing you, I would largely place my bets on the light side. And,” he takes a pause, “you can always seek to redeem yourself for your faults. I tried to break through the walls of Ba Sing Se, and then I took it back from the Fire Nation. Your father chased Aang halfway across the world, and now they are best friends. Azula was one of the most terrifying people in existence -” 

“She still is.” 

He chuckles. “Yes, she still is. But the original fire bending masters deemed her worthy of regaining her power when she lost it and repented, and they even gifted her a dragon egg as they did to your father,” he explains. 

“Your father’s legacy was to end a war. Yours will be the equally important one of maintaining peace,” Iroh says. “Now, maybe you should go practice that and make your amends with Master Bumi. I am off to make some tea.” 

“What if he won’t speak to me,” she asks. 

“Well then your partner dance in front of the court later on at your party will be terribly uncomfortable!” he says walking back inside. ——————————————————————————————————— Bumi does not really know where he is walking to, and he just follows the direction that instinct takes him. He can hear his parents behind him, but he does not stop. 

“Bumi please,” Katara calls. 

He groans and walks faster. In this instance, he was incredibly pleased with himself because he still remembers some of the secret passageways in the palace that Izumi had showed him as children when they would play hide and explode with Izumi’s Aunt Kiyi and Aunt Azula, so he ducked into one that he knew was coming and hears his parents run right passed. It was slightly dark inside, which made perfect sense considering that usually only firebenders used these hallways and had no need for any other light. 

Bumi went off memory and kept his right hand on the wall. If he had to figure this out like a maze in order to get out, that’s what he would do. After about ten minutes in the dark, he feels a variation in the stone that tells him he’s found a door. If he remembers correctly, this one will let him out by the portrait gallery. However, when he opens the door, he’s stopped by a piece of furniture. 

“Huh?” he hears someone ask, and soon the furniture is being shoved out of the way and the door opens and bright light blinds him, and Azula is standing in front of him.

She stares him up and down. “I would offer to help you but I will warn you first that if you ruin Izumi’s birthday, not even the fact that your father is the Avatar will save you from me.” 

Bumi remains frozen, unsure what to do. 

“Well don’t just sit there,” she says, raising a brow. He stumbles into what he realizes to be Azula’s office. 

“If you are avoiding your parents who ran after you when you caused quite the commotion at breakfast, then my office would definitely be the best place to hide. Push that back into place,” she commands gesturing to the small table she had just moved. 

Bumi has not spent much time alone with Azula. Whenever he would visit the Fire Nation, he and Izumi were attached at the hip. Every summer when Kya would go to the Southern Water Tribe and his dad and Tenzin would go to an Air Temple, Bumi would get dropped off in the Fire Nation for a few months of sword training with Master Piandao. After Piandao passed away, Zuko offered to continue training him since Sokka was busy trying to get Republic City up and running. In all that time, he’d never really gotten to know Azula. From what Izumi had told him, Azula was Zuko’s right hand. She lead his small council and sat in on meetings when he was away on diplomatic trips, which made her an extremely powerful person. 

He looks around her office. It’s clean and tidy. There is a small ink portrait of Izumi on the wall to the right of Azula's desk, and vases of Fire Lilies around the room. 

Azula studies him while he looks around the room. “Should I ask what’s bothering you or should we pretend this exchange never happened?”

“Whatever you prefer,” he replies. 

“I prefer to be well informed.” 

“Izumi and I had a fight.” 

“I gleaned that,” she says flatly. There’s a pause. “Izumi hates celebrating her birthday. She tells us every year it makes her feel guilty, but the 17th birthday of the Heir Apparent is a rite of passage in the Fire Nation.” 

“Why’s that?” 

“Traditionally, it’s when the Crown Prince, or in Izumi’s case, Princess, starts sitting on the small council and has to take up a stronger political role than just kissing babies and doing well in school… it’s seen as the last day of childhood.”  

Oh Bumi thinks. “That’s why she’s so stressed.” 

“Most likely a factor.” 

“She never mentioned it.” 

“Well, you know Izumi. Unless it’s Zuko, getting her to tell you what’s wrong is like pulling teeth. She is like you in that regard.” Bumi looks puzzled. “I read people very well,” she says in reply to his reaction. There’s a pause as she regards him. “I do not imagine it is easy to be a non-bender in a family like yours.” 

“Man, you really don’t hold back.” 

She offers him a half smile. “I understand the fear of being a disappointment too. When I was 12 I was so scared of failure and what would happen if I disappointed my father. It was not even two years by the time I self destructed.” 

“I’m not going to self destruct,” he mutters. 

“Then you might need some help carrying that weight on your shoulders around.” 

He is quiet for a minute. “What if there’s no one to help me?” 

 She glances down at a small ink drawing of her mother, Zuko, and herself  that sits on her desk. “From my experience,  you can often find help in very unexpected places, but you have to be open to being helped.” 

AN: you cannot convince me Azula didn’t get a redemption arc and a lot of healing and become a strange source of wisdom. you just can’t. azula redemptions are a peak of feminist literature. 

I imagine redeemed Azula serves Zuko in a position similar to the hand of the king from GoT. 

[viostormcaller]

Thinking about it, it kinda sucks just how little new horizons has.

Like... I love the game to pieces and maybe this is just bc im in a shitty mood (which i am) but like... god this is gonna be long and ranty and I'm sorry in advance that mobile tumblr doesnt have the read more feature

For starters, holidays are all scheduled on the company's terms, meaning in 7+ years or so there will be no more in-game holidays because by then they'll probably be thinking about/getting ready to release the next installment of the series on whatever console is out at the time and they won't want to update new horizons anymore. And adding onto this, you need the internet to download the updates. What happens to the players who don't have internet?? Can they just never experience the holidays like bunny day and toy day and turkey day? That takes a HUGE part of the fun of the series out right off the bat. Sometimes making everything rely on the internet is a bad idea. Idk if anyone can like tell me if having no internet means you can't take part in the holidays, but like... god if that's true thats really sad.

They recently took out the hybrid flower and big fish islands, which makes no sense whatsoever why they would do that to a game that has so little, but ok?? It's not like that feature was hindering the gameplay any

There's a lot of furniture but Not a Lot of Furniture, you get me? They took out EVERY set except the classic set (renamed "antique") that you can buy for an insanely high price, and the log and wooden block sets that you can craft, but other that that it's all unrelated items that aren't part of any set, aside from the cute set and diner and throwback sets which as far as I can remember are the only other sets you can buy in the game. No alpine, no ranch, no minimalist, no princess or gracie, no modern or sleek, none of that. And 90% of all the buy-only furniture in the game is just the color variants. You can't even customize them! And it's hard as fuck to find the color variants you want, much less for completing a furniture set

And speaking of which, your starting villagers don't get their default house interiors. Your first three + your two starters from the tutorial days have the same generic layouts. You NEVER see what their houses are supposed to look like, and even if you give them the wallpaper and flooring they're supposed to have (if you figure that out online somewhere), their house doesn't change (I tested this with Sherb and was kinda disappointed).

And stuff is so EXPENSIVE. I know it adds a challenge but my final loan was NEVER 1 mil+ bells in New Leaf. And you can't even expand the extra first floor rooms you get. I'm literally getting less for WAY more. The biggest rooms you get are the basement and upstairs rooms. The first floor rooms aside from the main room really don't have a lot of space and with the different furniture they DO offer, I don't have a lot of room to put things in. But it's not like I can even afford it anyway -- just a freaking air conditioner was 63,000 bells. In New Leaf it was 2500. That's a MASSIVE jump. And the kitchen items are so freaking expensive, as well.

And speaking of houses, for someone who was literally in the real estate industry in the last game, tom nook adds very few house exterior options. And the even more shitty thing is that a lot of the colors straight up don't match. They couldn't even add a plain white roof.

God and the fucking DIY recipes. I know I've said this before on my other tumblr but the RNG for this game is the worst I've ever fucking seen. There is no reason why, two months into the game, I can be given a recipe for a simple DIY bench, which EVERYONE LEARNS IN THE TUTORIAL. Who the fuck am I giving it to?! No one, because literally every player knows it already, and you can't gift diy recipes to villagers! And I keep getting repeats of recipes. My villagers give me fruit DIYs all the time, it's so rare for me to get any new ones. And two days in a row I've gotten the recipe for the deer head mount thing from the same villager. New recipes should 100% take the priority before repeats. This game is slow paced, sure, but that's just frustrating. It doesn't make me excited to learn more recipes, it makes me feel like I'm never gonna learn any new ones because I'll get the same fruit DIYs for a week straight.

And speaking of which, you can't put trees, bushes, or flowers in your storage, which to me makes literally no sense. I can fit a giant ass fountain in my storage but I can't put a flower plant? Really? And speaking of storage, for a game that added 300 whole slots for mail instead of the usual 10, I will never understand why they decided to halve the amount of items a player can order a day from the nook shopping, AND make it so that it takes a whole day to get there instead of making deliveries at 9 am and 5 pm like in New Leaf.

And the fact that they made it so hard to get non native fruit and flowers and shit??? Like they at LEAST added Lief so flowers aren't as much of an issue anymore, but you actually have to travel to other people's islands just to get all the fruits?? I know you have to do the same thing in New Leaf but the reason why this is an issue for me is because you have to pay for online access, meaning most of those nook miles for planting all the fruits are locked behind a paywall unless your villagers can gift them to you. And your mom, when you first start the game, has a chance of giving you the one fruit that's on the non-native fruit mystery island, meaning you'll only get ONE new fruit and not two separate ones (for example, my sis got pears from mom but her non native fruit islands have cherries i believe. I got pears from mom and my fruit islands also have pears. Doesnt help that that's the one fruit i hate lmao). They also took OUT a bunch of fruits, like mangoes, durians, lemons, bananas, lychees, persimmons...

And the fact that your nook miles rewards are ISLAND LOCKED. That is the WORST SHIT. Not everyone has the ability to play with others, bc no internet or no money for the subscription every month. Not everyone WANTS to play with others bc maybe they get social anxiety (like me, which is why i havent asked for things that are impossible for me to get even though i want them for my island or house), or maybe they simply just don't want to. But the fact that each island has their own color variants of the same goddamn rewards that CANNOT BE CHANGED makes me so upset. I do not want nor should I have to rely on others to get the items I want because my game doesn't have my preferred color variations. And it's not like I'm far enough in the game to have anything worth trading for said items, nor do I have the bells.

And Isabelle does next to fucking nothing and I'm really irked about how they made her character in this game. Yeah she's cute, but that's ALL she is. She became more ditzy than anything else. She doesn't let you know about visitors in the town or the plaza or if a bridge or incline was built bc of a completed donation goal. Like really useful info to know would be if Flick or CJ is in town or who is selling stuff in the plaza. Flavor text is nice but if that's all you say 24/7 it loses its charm. In New Leaf she was helpful and hardworking and super focused and on top of things. Idk why they changed that aspect of her. I know her role in New Horizons isn't as big as it was in New Leaf, but still.

And then there's glitches that STILL haven't been patched (as far as I know anyway), like the game-breaking villager corruption glitch (which you'd think nintendo would have made a priority but they're too busy removing other features it seems) or the house exterior glitch.

And it's bad enough that your game saves to your fucking system a la Fantasy Life. But even WORSE, no one can have separate islands on one console. It's not enough to own two copies of New Horizons. Each player has to own one copy of the game and a whole new Switch just so they can play on their own islands. Parents can't usually afford that (aka $360 for each kid give or take) so for a game marketed towards kids, I don't know why they thought that was a smart move (well, I DO know, and that's because money, but still). And to top it all off, cloud saves are not supported normally. If you lose your game or your switch and aren't subscribed to nintendo online, well, it looks like all your progress is gone! And there's nothing you can do about it. And they directly claimed that they did this just so people can't manipulate the game because it's supposed to be played in real time. But people can still fucking time travel by setting the system's clock! They achieved nothing except to make the players frustrated!!! If you make a game you need to accept that the player is going to play how THEY want to. You shouldn't try to make everyone conform to the way YOU want them to play. That just makes you a controlling asshole and the game loses a lot of its fun.

This game was 60 bucks and they took so long to make it and we ended up with less than we got in New Leaf. The main thing they gave us was a shit ton more clothing items (which I really like). Like I said, I love this game to pieces and it's actually one of my favorite games right now. There's so much I love about it -- I certainly don't hate it or anything. But this game has SO MANY flaws, a lot of which are needless. And I think the kid in me just misses the days where you can pay for a game and get the whole game right away. No updates in tiny batches, no content locked behind paywalls, no day one patches, no reliance on internet connection and multiplayer... mainstream companies have all gone really downhill with that shit and it just disappoints me to no end. But because Nintendo is kid-oriented, I think that's where it hurts the most. It was supposed to be accessible, family friendly fun like back during the days of the Wii and the DS. But companies get so wrapped up in competing with each other and trying to make the most money that they forget about all that. I dunno. It just sucks.

If you read all this, god damn I'm surprised XD I got super ranty and I apologize. But I'm in a sad mood and I after learning about features they've taken out I just had to get all this off my chest. It's been weighing on me since the game released, especially since for months prior this game was all I could think about and I was really looking forward to it. It just let me down in a lot of ways, I guess.

[fragmentedink-archived]

Hell to Pay: Part Forty-Four

I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII, XIII, XIV, XV, XVI, IX, IX, XX, XXI, XXII, XXIII, XIV, XV, XVI, XVII, XVIII, XVIIII, XXX, XXXI, XXXII, XXXIII, XXXIV, XXXV, XXXVI, XXXVII, XXXVIII, XXXIX, XL, XLI, XLII, XLIII

cowritten by @lux-scriptum​

A/N: trigger warnings for mentions of suggested abortion

Amara flopped down on her couch. Cin was still with Renee, which- well, it sucked. She missed her mate. And she needed help getting rid of all their shitty furniture so she could let him buy some better furniture for the better apartment she was planning on moving to. As soon as she found one anyway.

She was still laying there, staring at the ceiling, when she heard Nik come in the door. “What happened to your door?” He asked.

“Ash. Shut it behind you.”

“No.”

When she levered herself upright, he was setting the piece of plywood she was using as a door against the wall. “You’ll let in a breeze, dickhead,” she said, flopping back with a groan.

“Good,” Nik said. “Maybe it’ll get rid of the charred wood smell.”

“Not my problem much longer. I’m moving.” Amara threw an arm over her eyes. “Hopefully.”

When Nik didn’t speak, or move closer, Amara groaned loudly. After sitting up, she crossed her legs, peering at how Nik’s arms were folded across his chest.

“Come, sit on the shitty couch I plan on replacing.”

“Why are you leaving?”

Amara squinted. “I’ll tell you if you sit down,” she wheedled.

“When were you going to tell me Destris was dead?”

Guilt pricked at Amara, but she lifted her chin stubbornly. “Sit, and then we talk.”

“No. You lied to me.”

“When?” Amara asked, spine straightening.

“I thought you were done not telling me the truth.”

“Not like I’ve been around much to tell you anything.” When she looked at Nik, he looked close to tears. “Seriously. Sit. I’ll tell you everything.”

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why tell me now?”

“Because you’re here, dumbass. And no one’s here to interrupt me this time.” She patted the couch insistently.

“Name calling is not going to work in your favor,” he said, pursing his lips.

“Name calling is my way of showing love and you know it.” Amara leaned back. “I was afraid to fail again. I wasn’t going to put you through that. Besides, I was on a tight schedule. I killed him quick. I had to. I needed his soul. And I felt like shit for bailing on you, but- I needed Lev back. You needed him.” She screwed her face up. “And then Cameron kicked me out of the house.”

Nik gave a grim little smile. “Everyone needs Lev,” he said. He sat down on the couch, facing away from her.

“Yeah well, you were kind of out of commission without him. I need my best friend functional. Or as close to it as you usually are.”

“Doesn’t excuse the fact you lied to me. Again.”

“Right. Next time I’ll drop everything I’m doing on a time sensitive mission and tell you what i'm doing.” She crossed her arms. “I wasn’t trying to leave you out of the loop. That’s not a lie. Shit just happened fast, and then Cameron pushed me out of the house, and I haven’t seen much of you since.”

Nik got up with a muttered, “Whatever.”

“Hey, no,” Amara said, jumping to her feet and grabbing his wrist. “Wait. Please. You’re here. Please. Let’s talk, now that you’re here.”

Nik pursed his lips, clearly thinking about it, before he flopped back down. “Speak.”

“Cyrus said the spell we tried didn’t bother to offer anything in exchange.” Amara tipped her head back. “He’s the one who thought of killing Destris. He killed Lev, he should die. So I killed him. Cameron wouldn’t come, which. I expected. He’s got baggage I don’t think anyone wants to unpack. I wish I could have dragged it out, but I was afraid of Destris getting away if I toyed with him. So I gutted him when he opened his front door. Cameron wouldn’t let me stay while they did the magic. So I came over and cried on you, but you know that. And then we spent days waiting for Lev to wake up, and that’s all I could think about at the time.”

She paused, touched his shoulder. “I’ve been ignoring you,” She finally said. “Worse than usual. And that’s not fair.”

“You didn’t kill him fast enough.” Nik’s voice broke. He curled into the couch, looking away.

“Noted for next time.” Amara hesitated. She leaned against him, closing his eyes. “Hey. I won’t apologize. You hate those. But. I’ll try to be a better friend.”

Nik stared into the couch blankly. Silent tears slipped down his cheeks. “I’m pregnant,” he finally said, voice cracking. “He’s the father.”

Oh. Amara had no idea what to say. “You keeping it?” She finally asked.

“I don’t know.”

Amara considered him. “You don’t have to, you know. If you don’t want to.”

“You mean not carry a sadist’s spawn in my weird omega uterus? Yeah, I’m aware.”

“Plenty of angels are weird about abortions. Won’t even say the stupid word. It really is an option.”

“If i want to get an abortion, I will. I just don’t know what I want.”

Amara considered that. “Okay,” she finally said. “Whatever you decide, it’s the right decision.”

Nik gave her a really tired look. “Okay,” he said dryly. “Thank you, Ash.”

“Ouch,” Amara said, smacking his shoulder. “Take that back right now.”

Nik curled into the couch and rested his head on the back cushion. “What, exactly,” he said, “is Cameron going to say when he finds out I slept with his brother of all people? Cameron puts up with a lot of my shit, but he’s not going to put up with this. Not Destris.”

Amara considered him. “Cameron isn’t going to do anything,” she said. “It’s Destris.”

“Destris did not come onto me,” he said. “I came onto him. I went to him for the drugs and I was more than willing to let him fuck me- and knot me. Even if it’s Destris, I am not Destris, and… this kid sure as hell isn’t either.”

“You went to Destris?” Amara frowned. “You knew it was Destris, and you went to him anyway?”

“No I did not know it was Destris,” Nik said, irritably. “But that doesn’t mean shit.”

“Kinda think it means everything,” Amara said. “If you don’t know who you’re fucking, how the hell do you consent.”

Nik’s eyes narrowed in thought. “Easily. With my mouth. And ass apparently.”

Amara rolled her eyes. “No.” She said. She poked his cheek. “Not how consent works, dumbass.” She leaned against him, and sighed. “But I’m not going to change your mind. I know that. Just... know Cameron will understand.”

“Sure he will,” Nik said. “Because Cameron is capable of forgiveness or empathy or literally anything else on any form of emotional spectrum. Not to mention we already have one kid in the house that he wanted to kill the moment he laid eyes on. And that kid isn’t even a hybrid.”

Amara nodded. “Cameron is just a freak of nature who doesn’t feel shit normally. But I know it’ll work out. I just know.” She tapped her temple.

“Since when were you an optimist?” Nik demanded, voice cracking. “Ugh, stars. I am so sick of crying.” Nik wiped hastily at his tears, his glower faltering. “I’m a horrible person.” he closed his eyes. “Lev literally just got brought back from the dead and I’m pissed off everyone cares more about him than me.”

Amara shrugged. “You’re allowed to be selfish. And everyone will stop fawning over him soon enough. Or, as much. Everyone fusses over Lev. You do, I bet. If you need more attention, more love, more- whatever, ask for it. You know no one will mind. You deserve it too.”

“Do I?” Nik asked, silent tears slipping down his face. He palmed his eyes, sniffling. “I’ve been selfish my entire life,” he said “Now I’m just being an asshole. Not like I was just brutally murdered and then necromancied back into life.”

“You are,” Amara said. “Now go be selfish, or I’ll tattle to Lev and Cameron that you're not getting enough attention that you need.”

“I decided to go out and get high and completely blow off everyone, making Cameron turn into a skeleton, Lev try to make me stay dead and everyone try to handle me. I’ve been nothing but selfish and smothered and now I want erven more attention and it’s even worse because Lev doesn’t remember anything and now I’m pregnant and if i say a word to anyone about it, especially Lev, then he’s going to try to bend over backwards to parent me and Cameron’s going to hate me, even more than he already does, and Nate’s going to get even weirder about me being in Cameron’s house and-” Nik’s mouth snapped shut and he took a deep breath. “Point is, being selfish is what got me into this mess in the first place.”

Amara sighed. “I don’t know how to logic you out, Nik. You'll have to find someone else to do that, but I’ll always be here for you. Cheesy as that sounds. If you can't be selfish around anyone else, then, be selfish around me.”

Nik blinked rapidly, scrubbing his face before moving over to lean against her. His entire body trembled with barely suppressed tears while she put her arm around him. He sniffled. “You’re annoying,” he finally said, petulantly.

“It's my job,” Amara replied. “You wanna stick around a bit longer?”

“Yeah,” Nik sighed against her.

---

With Nik gone for the day, Lev was stuck in bed, though at least Cameron was there. In the chair. Out of arms reach. Lev lasted an hour, ignoring the vague ache pulsing through him, before he cracked.

“Cam?” Lev asked.

“Hm?”

“It hurts,” Lev admitted. “I- can you hold me?” He was quick to add, “I can sit in your lap if you still want to read, but- not being touched… hurts.”

“Sure,” Cameron said eventually. He settled more comfortably, and then shifted so Lev’d have room.

Lev wobbled the few steps it was to Cameron’s lap, and curled in immediately. Cameron pulled a blanket around Lev, and started to play with Lev’s hair absently as he read. Slowly the ache faded, and Lev sighed softly into Cameron’s neck.

“Thank you,” he said softly.

“Mmmhmm,” Cameron replied.

“I guess we should let Ash know… I didn’t realize… I didn’t know it hurt like that. Nik hasn’t let me go since he arrived.”

After a few seconds, Cameron said, “Nik will be back soon.”

Lev nodded. He knew that. And he didn’t begrudge Nik his time away. “I like time with you too,” Lev said. “I like it when you hold me. I feel safe.”

“All you have to do is ask.”

“I know. That’s the hard part.” Lev pressed a shy kiss to Cameron’s cheek. “I’ll work on it.”

“That’s probably for the best.”

Lev snorted softly, and snuggled back into Cameron. “You haven’t changed much.”

“I’ve been at work. I’ve been too busy.”

“That sounds about right.” Lev absently traced Cameron’s collarbone. It stuck out more than he remembered, and he didn’t like it. Not one bit.

Cameron went back to reading, but Lev didn’t mind. His alpha’s hand was still playing with his hair, and Lev was content to let him.

Lev had dozed off by the time Nik came home. Lev only stirred when he ehared Cameron tell Nik… something about dinner. That was enough Lev’s head shot up, peering blearily around.

“Nik?” Lev asked, finally focusing on his boyfriend.

Nik gave him a tired smile. “Hi.”

Lev scrambled clumsily out of Cam’s lap, and wrapped himself around Nik tightly. “How was it?” He mumbled.

Nik wrapped his arms around Lev’s waist. “Amara was being Amara, as usual.”

“A little annoying, and not really helpful, but you feel a little better anyway?”

“Yeah. Exactly that,” Nik said.

“She’s good at that.” Lev pulled away, long enough to flop on the bed wearily. “Nap with me?”

“Yeah,” Nik promised, joining him. “That sounds nice.”

---

Lev had sent the sentries back for proper pillows twice, though he wouldn’t give back the others. He tucked them around Nik, though he tossed a few chosen to the floor. Nik didn’t offer to help, and just watched Lev sleepily. Lev took several breaks, and napped frequently.

He occasionally took small laps around the room. As long as he didn’t stray too long, Nik just waited for him in bed. Lev poked around in the adjoining bathroom, puttered around in the walk in closet. He dragged several pillows in there with him, and one of the extra blankets, too. He left them there, out of the way, and crawled back in bed with Nik once again.

Nik tugged Lev close. “If you keep getting out of bed, you’re going to get in trouble,” Nik mumbled.

“You’re with me,” Lev said. “I’m supervised. And I don’t stay long.”

“I see you’re going to drag me under the bus with you.”

Lev burrowed close. “I didn’t mean to. I- I can stay in bed.” He touched Nik’s cheek lightly, and then, “I’ll try anyway. I’m supposed to try to walk a bit.”

Nik whined at him, and curled into Lev.

Lev stroked his hair. “I’ll stay,” he promised, more firmly this time. He pressed a hesitant kiss to Nik’s forehead. To Lev’s delight, Nik began to purr softly.

Lev settled deeper in the bed, and closed his eyes. Before he knew it, he was dead asleep, one hand fisted in Nik’s shirt.

Tagging: @incandescent-creativity @idreamonpaper @solangelo3088 @halstudies @alittleyellowdinosaur @caelisis

[vitosscaletta]

personality + relationships for julia & background + relationships for lucia 😌

rips you off and makes banners <3

PERSONALITY

What’s their alignment?

chaotic good/neutral. more neutral/lawful later on

Which one of the 16 Personality Types do they fit into?

Not looking at it in-depth but entj 😳

What are their hobbies and interests? Do they have any particular “favorites” (food, books, and so on)?

Writing obviously... Mostly her little newspaper articles though, she’s not creative enough to write fiction :/ Other than that she likes to read, mostly the standard literature of the time (she’s a big fan of Ernest Hemingway.. 😳) or some of her mom’s old stuff and a few other columnists she looks up to :) Also medical books her dad has in their living room. She reads those too. She also picked up sewing at some point in the late 20′s/early30′s but she’s kinda. whatever about it. Mostly did it when she couldn’t afford new clothes and tried to change the silhouette of her old stuff

What are they bad at?

Driving 😔 she’s not... bad... she’ll just yell at anyone for no reason and break speed limit all the time 

Do they have any vices/addictions/mental illnesses?

No lol but she smokes... sometimes 😒

What are their goals and motivations?

God she’s ambitious as hell and it has mostly to do with her job... she wants to be a famous journalist or something but most of all to be taken seriously? Insert that saying about having to work twice as hard as a man to get half as much respect. Besides that, she also believes whatever she puts out into the world could somehow change things for the better :) It’s a little naive so she’d never tell people but. 

What are their manners like? Any habits?

Her manners are.. good? But she’s chatty and won’t shut up and says whatever is on her mind so

RELATIONSHIPS

Do they have any friends? Would they consider anyone to be their best friend?

She’s friends with almost everyone at Salieri’s (except Frank ig just because I couldn’t see them interacting much.. and Vinny..) and mostly just hangs out with them, she doesn’t really interact with other people anymore. Friend group that consists almost exclusively of italians <3 Her best friends are Olive and Sarah, maybe also Carlo since he always hangs around the bar too while the others are doing idk mafia things and plays cards with them :/ She’s friends with the other guys too though. Including Ralphie to some degree, she feels sorry that everyone makes fun of him... then laughs at whatever mean shit the others say about him and feels bad about it 😔

What’s their love life like? (See also: ship question meme.) Do they have any kids?

Oh you know 🙄 has a stupid little crush on Sam because she likes evil men i guess... idk what to say because there’s. A lot. They hold hands on her dads couch, get together like a year later because hes a freak etc. You know how it ends in canon but in the sexy superior au they get married in 1939/1940 something but nothing changes bc she was living in his crappy little italy apartment anyway :) also no kids god.. 

Who do they look up to? Who do they trust?

Hmmm mostly her parents. Yes her dad is a crooked doctor but she wants to be like that too... He ends up in prison in the canon timeline though :c  Also her late mother... she was an author (not a well-known one lmao) who died in the late 1910s :/  She trusts uhhh.. her dad and her friends I suppose.. her close friends. 

Who do they hate? Do they have any enemies?

She dislikes/hates a lot of random people because she’s petty but has no real enemies? Maybe Morello & his gang but just because everyone else does.. She has the exact same opinion on him as Salieri so whenever he talks shit she’s like “haha YEAH! >:(”... then he goes crazy in the end :/

Do they have any pets?

Yes, a cat :) his name is Louie

Are they good with kids? Animals?

With kids... yeah, to some degree? She’s the cool aunt who teaches kids swear words like “oh nuts” and tells them (child-friendly versions of) stories about her mafia friends but she’s not really someone who could take care of a child all day 🙄 Animals... yeah? She’s good with cats but probably nothing else

BACKGROUND

Where were they born? What was their childhood like?

She was born in Parlermo in the 1920s but her family moved to america when she was very young so she has no memory of her old home :/ They weren’t very well off in sicily and that didn’t change when they moved, her parents worked shitty jobs with low pay so they didn’t have much & lived in some ugly little apartment in little italy with their three kids... Lucia had to take care of her brothers most of the time because her parents both worked.. and was usually the one who had to beat the other kids’ asses when they got into trouble with any of them 😒 She spent most of the free time she had studying and doing things for school so she could get a proper job and wouldn’t end up like her parents or whatever

What’s their family like?

Her parents like I said are both from Sicily.. her dad is a mechanic and mostly worked in some little garage. The earning wasn’t that bad for the time but he made a few debts to the bank (and other people trying to pay those off) in the 1930s so you know :/ Her mom worked part-time in some random store lol.. they loved her obviously but they were very strict and had a billion expectations while also not really being around enough. They do support her trying to do well in school, mayyyyybe also going to college and all that but still expect her to get married instead of pursuing a career in the end so she can become a proper housewife 😒  She also has two younger brothers, Antonio and Frank.. they’re closer and like i said... Lucia is the cooler older sister who beats up the other kids who mess with them. They don’t have much lore but.. they exist..

What factions or organizations are they a part of? What ranks and titles do they hold?

None... idk.... empire bay library where she works in the late 40′s/early 50s :) she initially just works there as a librarian but becomes an archivist in 1950 something.

How do they fit into their “story”?

Just like Mia, she’s Vito & Joe’s friend from childhood.. dumb teenage antics that end after high school and they grow apart while Vito is in the army and Joe does... crime things. She’s just doing her own thing until the like 2 months where Vito isnt in prison.. where she has to drive his ass home after he & Joe robbed that one jewelry store :^) also they all meet up again in 1951, life is good for 3 months

Where do they currently live? What’s their place like?

Some crappy little apartment complex in Westside except her apartment looks nice 😌 it’s nothing fancy but it’s cozy and nice, lots of books lying around (there’s a system to it according to her), some old furniture mixed with new mid-century style ones. She has a little sunburst clock hanging there.

How do they eventually die?

Uhhh probably just of old age... in a swamp..

RELATIONSHIPS

Do they have any friends? Would they consider anyone to be their best friend?

Her childhood friend group that I mentioned, consisting of Vito, Joe and Mia :) They all lived in the same crappy neighborhood and went to school together.. Apparently Joe was the neighborhood bully whch is funny as hell to me but also. Lucia got into his “gang” when he picked on her little brother and she threatened to beat his ass.. meanwhile Vito actually had to do that to get into their group lmao. They met Mia like two years later in church and all became friends when Lucia helped her out in school 😳 She’d definitely consider Mia her best friend, they still hung out after their little friend group fell apart :(

She’s also friends with Giuliana and by association Henry (not really she just hears about him from like everyone)

What’s their friend group like? What role do they play in it?

godd obviously she wasn’t the one who started shit but she gladly went along with whatever stupid bullshit the others were doing. She’s supposed to be the responsible smart one or something but she’s not... she’s the one who causes more trouble to help the others somehow 😌 Shoplifting antics

She started being responsible after graduating high school when her parents told her to do something with her life so she’s like... “time to stop hanging out with criminals and focus on college...”. she really misses it though :(

What’s their love life like? (See also: ship question meme.) Do they have any kids?

Ahem.... she and Vito.... Childhood friends to lovers 😌 they were just friends in high school & she thought she’d never see him again after he got arrested but she does in 1945. Then he gets arrested again :)) Uhh she probably briefly dated a few people during that time but nothing ever came out of it. They get together in 1951 though but i cant talk about my mafia ships here or I’ll combust. They also probably have kids idk yet.. they look like kids people

Who do they look up to? Who do they trust?

She trusts..... her friends. and her brothers. Doesn’t really look up to her parents though because that’s exactly what she doesn’t want to be :(

Who do they hate? Do they have any enemies?

She doesn’t have any enemies she just hates some random people by association (the irish gang, some random mafia men she doesnt know)

Do they have any pets?

Two cats. Ocs by me owning cats cinematic universe

Are they good with kids? Animals?

Yes, she’s good with both :)

[szopenhauer]

Has anybody ever told you that you’re too young to be in love? from what I remember that could happen

Did you learn anything from the last BIG mistake you made? no comment...

Do you have a favorite brand of shoes?   nah

Do you like rollercoasters with big drops? I don’t do rollercoasters 

Do you have any inside jokes with your parents? yes

Did you ever want a pony for a gift as a kid? nope

Do you know who your mom’s favorite singer is?   she doesn’t really have one because she doesn’t listen to music tbh except what I blast 

Have you ever gone to a school that made you wear uniforms?   middle school

Have you ever tried to surf? nooo

Do you want to learn? absolutely not

Did you pick out the furniture in your bedroom? I wish...

Yes or no: Apple pie? yes

Yes or no: Candy apples?   no

Are you a heavy sleeper?   not anymore

Honestly, have you ever re-gifted something? What was it? plenty of stuff

How many months away is your birthday? 1-2

Is the closet in your bedroom a walk-in closet? I’d love to have one like this :3

Do you enjoy cooking? I do not

Which one of your family members do you wish you could see more often? grandma... and aunt Alice

Have you ever (accidentally or not) set off a car alarm? just by walking by 

Do you call it sitting “criss-cross” or “Indian-style”? criss-cross is less offensive

Do you have dimples when you smile?   I do indeed

Do you find graveyards scary? Jack kinda does

Have you ever carved anything into a tree? don’t do that :(

Do you give or get advice more often? give

If you have caffeine late in the day, does it cause you to struggle with your sleep? no idea, I don’t drink coffee

If you have a pet, have they ever embarrassed you in public or in front of friends or family members? What happened? sigh...

Do you leave the house every single day? almost

Would you rather spend the day at the beach, or a day in the snow in the mountains? beach

Do you prefer tops that are plain, or ones with patterns/logos/slogans? plain are lame

Do you enjoy buying gifts for other people, or do you never know what to buy them? it’s complicated

What book do you wish they’d make into a film or TV series? few of my favorites 

Do you prefer zip-up or overheard hoodies? overheard, I hate zippers in clothes

When was the last time you stayed overnight away from home? Was this with friends, family or in a hotel somewhere? What was the occasion? recently, my partner[s] apartment, no occasion

Would you ever be interested in seeing a live magic show? I already did but I don’t remember anything 

What’s your favourite period to learn about in history? What got you interested in this particular era? I liked interesting facts no matter of the period, I hated dates and names

Do you still use or carry cash, or do you pay for everything via card? cash forever

Are there any TV shows that remind you of your grandparents for some reason? Moda na sukces głównie

Do you know how to tie a tie without looking it up? Did you have tie in school (uniform)? maybe, we didn’t

Do you prefer having carpets or hardwood floors? hardwood

When was the last time you took a bath? Is this something you do often or do you prefer taking showers? last night and gonna have one now

What’s your opinion on clothes for dogs? If you have a dog, have you ever bought any clothing items for them? cute but my dog doesn’t wear any

What will you be doing once you finish this survey? What were you doing before you started taking it? I will go to sleep, I’m also playing Choices 

When was the last time you played a game of Monopoly? Did you play until the end or did everyone get fed up and start arguing? this year, we don’t argue about it which is weird because we often argue in general

Do you have anything fun or exciting planned for tomorrow? I hope I will meet with Slytherin system

Don’t you love it when you meet a dog or cat and they instantly love you, especially when the owner says “they normally hate strangers!”? awww sounds like Nat don’t ya think? :P

Would you rather do a wordsearch or a crossword? Word Search but sudoku is cooler

Do you prefer multi coloured or plain white fairy lights? good question

Do you have a favourite TV detective (eg. Sherlock, Poirot)?  Poirot <3  and Don Matteo

Do you hear any animals right now? not even kotszop 

Is your trashcan full? it’s small so it’s almost always full

Are you hungry? am not

Is it rainy where you’re at right now? not tonight

Is your dishwasher full? we don’t own a dishwasher

Do you like to wear gloves? not really

Are you wearing anything pink right now? nothing

What is the creepiest bug you’ve ever saw? maggots are

Do you chew on your lip? might

Are you afraid of needles? I’m not

Do you like Batman? mhm

Can you see a star shape in the room you are in? I can

Do you use hand sanitizer? obvi

Are you in any kind of club or group that is trying to save animals? I’ve been signing petitions 

Where were you two hours after you got up, and what were you doing there? dentist...

Have you ever played fetch with a dog? it didn’t listen XD

Do you use Netflix? if I only had an account...

Do you play games on your computer? when I’m in the mood

Did you have anything bad happen to you today? ...

Do you use the term “lol” if you don’t have anything to say? not when I have nothing to say wtf

Should you be sleeping right now instead of taking this survey? yup :x

Do you currently have any blemishes on your face? yep

Do you use smileys often in text convos? maybe

Would you ever consider being a cannibal? hell no

Did you forget something important in the past week? yeah

Are the floors in your house creaky? there are creaky places and I love it

Do you fear death? sorta

Is your mouth dry? it’s complicated

Do you have any scars from an animal? weirdly no

When was the last time it snowed where you live? Do you like snowy weather or is it just a pain? this week, it’s pain!

9 - When was the last time you got off work early? What was the reason? I don’t have a job

What time did you wake up this morning? Did you get out of bed right away? 8 and had to

Do you ever watch movies or TV shows that require you to read subtitles? why not?

When was the last time you had a haircut? When was the last time you dyed your hair (if you ever have)? Nat is gonna kill me for this bangs, I dyed my hair over 5 years ago

Do you prefer wearing tight-fitting or loose-fitting clothes? loose

What was the last piece of good news you received? Was it expected? pfft

What time of year do you start listening to Christmas music? after Halloween

Are there any names you can think of that just go well together? where should I start...

Do you enjoy museums? whatever

Do you have a username you use for everything? Or does it change each site? it changes but not for EACH

Do you have any disorders or disabilities? what I DON’T have...

Do you ever watch How To videos? in my whole life like a few

Did you have a tree house when you were a kid? If so, did you ever fall from it? I wanted to but never did

Do you enjoy designing things? Anything? I sure do

Do you know what a raincheck at stores is? I know

Can you learn the lyrics of a song by ear, or do you have to search them up? I never remember even the titles...

Do you like the name Amy? Amy Anya :(

Who was the last person you spoke to on the phone? Are you close to that person at all? I called my dad but he couldn’t talk so... he’s my friend

Do you enjoy watching bloopers or outtakes from TV shows?  could

Have you ever dreamed of owning your own shop? What kind of thing would you like to sell? antiques and such

Are you a twin? If not, would you ever want to be a twin? If you are a twin, do you ever wish you weren’t? ;)

Would you ever want to go and visit the moon? it’s bought by Tom Cruise, no thx

Does anything on your body hurt or ache right now? shut up...

When was the last time you struggled to get to sleep? Was there was a specific reason for that? constantly

When was the last time you had a cold? With everything going on in the news, did you worry that it was COVID? my dad had a cold

Do you think people should have to pass a test in order to own pets? it’s not the worst idea

When was the last time you fell asleep/had a nap during the day? Is this something that happens often? it happens very rarely

so how are you today? bad

have you ever been to London? in the past life lmfao

do you enjoy going to the library? heh...

what’s the last movie you watched? we rewatched Asterix and Obelix 

[neshabeingchildish]

Share a Char

This turned out longer than I expected. I wrote it in two long sittings, before and after I banged my head hard enough to leave a freakin’ knot on it. There’s some domestic kinda stuff here, but there is also a little angst. I’m sorry. I just got it in me, friends. I go back to work tomorrow, so I had to push out whatever I could get to my loves. @chenoahchantel @adorkable-blackgirl @kiddangers @henryhearts I have no idea if y’all will get your notifications or why you haven’t been. Sorry and hope that eventually y’all find it. I still only got one review and a a one sentence message about the last PW chapter. I don’t know what’s being read and what’s not until y’all tell me.

Share-a-Lair 7

Henry shook his head slowly, his arms folded and hair pulled into a small little curly tail. Jasper licked his lips, nodded in appreciation, and took a sip of water. Charlotte approached them and asked, “What are you two doing?”

Henry said, “Training,” but Jasper said, “Looking at Max,” which Charlotte now saw was the more honest answer, and she looked and understood why. He had on a VR helmet and was apparently either training or playing a very intense fighting game. Either way, the drool about to drop from Jasper’s mouth - relatable. Charlotte blinked out of it though. “Umm, are you going to train today?”

“Just got finished running around the track,” Henry said. “Waiting on Max to finish up here.”

“I thought you two had very different training schedules as to not overlap,” she said.

“Char. Shh! What if you distract him?” Jasper said. “We want him to be able to get all of the training he needs to keep the world safe!” Then, after a little while, more to himself, he said softly, “Look at that… bulge…”

“GROSS!” Char practically squealed. Max turned in that direction at the sound of her voice and lifted his helmet. He checked his watch and realized that he had run over his time. He deactivated the training helmet, summoned his bag, water and towel to himself and began to walk in their direction. 

“You’re lucky,” Jasper said to her.

“For what?” She asked.

Henry laughed, “That bulge!” 

She cringed and shook her head and hands, “I have nothing to do with that!” She accidentally glanced at it, though, thanks to Jasper mentioning it in the first place! “Stop pointing it out!” Her voice was high pitched and anxious. 

Max practically vacuumed a jug of water into his mouth, but paused to say, “Didn’t mean to go over. There’s a button on the post for when that happens, or you can just get Charlotte to yelp. That worked too.” Jasper looked at the post in front of him and pressed the button.

“Alert. You have succeeded your training time. Please be courteous and vacate the training field.” Max narrowed his eyes at him. 

“I wanted to see how it worked,” Jasper explained. 

Max wiped his face and hung the towel around his neck, “Hello, Miss Page.” He was twinkling with perspiration and breathing kind of hard, but was… still everything and that smile always tripped her up.

“Are we… doing last names, now, Mr. Thunderman? No. I hate it. That didn’t feel right.” They started walking away while Jasper watched and Henry went onto the training field.

“Jasper! Come on, Dude. He’s not THAT good looking.”

“First off, he definitely IS. Second off, where is Charlotte going? I thought she was helping with training.”

“I’m coming back!” she called over her shoulder and shook her head. “Nosy..” Max smiled. Charlotte huffed and said, “Okay, SO - I am here, as, I guess a liaison.”

“What’s Henry’s problem now?” He asked.

“He’s really feeling like you treat him like an outsider, in what is supposed to feel like his own home. He’s ready to file a request for a new placement.” Charlotte said. Max furrowed his eyebrows, scoffed, and shrugged his shoulders. “Yeah, yeah. I know. You don’t like Henry. You don’t care about him.”

“It’s not even that. I don’t dislike him and, well, yeah, I don’t care about him. Honestly, I feel like I don’t do anything to make Henry uncomfortable.”

“The snide comments? The nasty looks? The house rules reminders?” 

Max rolled his eyes, “He should man up.”

“Maybe. Or maybe you could give him a little break?” She rubbed his arm and for that reason, he began to consider it. He didn’t feel like he gave Henry a hard time, but maybe he could put just a little more effort into it. Charlotte was tracing his muscles and got a little bit lost in the definition of them. He watched her eyes follow the tracks her fingers made and stopped walking. She stopped too and looked at him. He was… amused. She realized that she was being kind of touchy. 

“Should I flex them for you?” He teased. 

“Don’t be silly,” she said, laughing and folded her arms, then thought for a moment and said, “I mean, go ahead, if you want, but that’s not important.What’s important is…” 

He smiled and flexed his arms, “I’m getting more solid!” he practically cheered. She rubbed on his arm, squeezed the bicep, nodded in agreement. He was slightly bigger than he had been when they moved in, but only someone who was paying extremely close attention might notice that. She pulled her hand back and snapped out of it, “Focus, Charlotte!”

“It is perfectly fine if you focus on these. This is my DREAM, having a really hot girl openly fawn over my muscles. It’s what I deserve.”

Back on task, and ignoring all of what he said, she resumed her concerns, with her hands clasped together to keep from touching him again, “If he files for a new placement, it’ll be paperwork, interviews, and all of that, and a bunch of bull… and if they grant it to him, who knows where we’ll wind up next…”

“We,” he said, dropping his flexed arms to his sides and slumping his shoulders, like he had just realized that Charlotte would definitely be part of an exit made by Henry. She was one third of the Henry Hart package. “Ugh. Fine. What do you want me to do?”

“Well, I was thinking that we could start with a little morale booster. He wanted to do the video game tournament, but I told him that you’ve already got the living room for that… What if you let our friends come too, and hang out with your friends for a night?”

Max looked very not pleased with that idea. She thought out loud, “Of course, I’ll have less than a week to Ray and Schwoz proof the house, but I’ve done more in less time, before.”

“If either of them gets out of line, I will freeze the entire room, I swear to God.”

She smiled and threw her arms around his neck, “Thank you! Henry’s gonna feel a lot better knowing that you’re gonna do this for him.”

His hands held her waist and he looked down at her, “Not doing it for him.” They stared at each other for a while. Charlotte felt… like she was in some type of trance. She was tempted to kiss him again, and that was what broke it! 

She smiled and removed his hands and said, “Well, thank you anyway, I mean. Thank you… Just thank you, please. Not please. JUST thank you. Okay, bye.” She wrung her hands and practically ran back to the training field.

.

Ray and Schwoz arrived earlier than any of Max’s friends. Charlotte told them to come through the tower entrance, but Ray decided that to establish dominance, he needed to barge in through the front door. So, he tried it and got zapped. Max first heard “Alert, Dumbest Hero Alive and his unfortunate science slave approaching,” from his monitor watch. His parents had a big one in their home. He had a small one in his chambers and he connected a system to the front entrance, but instead of a monitor, he simply programmed it to his watch. He was about to disarm the alarms when he heard the zapping noise and Ray scream. He laughed and disarmed them before the poor little science guy got hurt. 

Max opened the door and Schwoz looked absolutely terrified, but also intrigued. What might happen next? Max said, “So, you guys must be Henry’s friends. Charlotte said you’d be coming in through the tower, and also, you’re like 2 hours early. This is how you wound up electrocuted.”

“What type of security system is this?’ Schwoz asked curiously. 

“Kidding me? So that you can hack into it? No. You’ll have to work hard like Charlotte did,” Max said, with a smile as he texted her to let her know that they were here, in case she didn’t already. He resumed setting up the living room to accommodate everyone. 

“Is… is that a pit couch?” Ray asked. 

“Yeah. Had it transported it from my T Force office for tonight. Trying to organize our sectionals around it. There’s gonna be quite a few people here tonight. Exceeding my 9 person maximum for comfort, but… morale.”

“This is something that Charlotte forced on you, isn’t it?” Ray asked.

“Charlotte asked me to allow Henry’s friends to partake tonight.”

“She’s the worst,” Ray said, shaking his head. Max paused and looked at him with the most disdainful expression that he could muster. Ray stared back at him, confused, then glanced at Schwoz to see if he saw it too. Schwoz was inspecting different things in the room, though. Trying to determine what was simply furniture and what served as one of Max’s things. 

“You realize that she’s the only reason that you’re here tonight, right?” Max asked.

Ray scoffed, “I was comin’ whether or not you wanted me to. I’m indestructible. Nothing scares me. Least of all some kid… with… hair that I have to admit is very nice.”

Max smiled, “Nothing scares you. Cool. Tonight’s not about fear. It’s about respecting others. Umm… Everybody is gonna respect Charlotte tonight. That’s a house rule. Non-negotiable.”

“You have a house rule that everyone has to respect everyone on the night of a video game tournament?” Schwoz asked, from near Max’s hammock. 

“I have an everybody respect Charlotte house rule on every night.”

Ray laughed, “What is she like… your girlfriend or something?”

“Just. Heed the rule. Thanks,” Max said. He didn’t add for your own benefit. He wasn’t going to explain himself to this man, especially after saying something mean about his… friend… less than 10 minutes of being here. 

She came into the living room and shook her head, “Sorry. Max. Hope they haven’t been bothering you.” Then, to the two of them, “Umm, why aren’t you in the tower? We’re pregaming up there. Come on. Max has a lot to do here.”

“He’s just rearranging furniture!” Ray pouted and she took him by the elbow and waved Schwoz along too. 

Schwoz cheered to Max, “See you soon!” Then, whenever he followed Charlotte, he said, “Good job, Charlotte. He’s very skilled with technology.”

“What do you mean, ‘good job’?” she asked. Max smirked. He knew what he meant. He always knew what they meant. Every single friend that she had now had tried to let her in on the facts. She was still in denial obviously, and he wouldn’t make it difficult for her. But… That was his lady. He knew it. They knew it. She was the only person who didn’t know it yet. He’d had a similar sort of ignorance whenever he first fell into feelings with his first serious girlfriend. Technically, no… they weren’t “together.” Nobody had officially made any declaration or asked the other for a title or anything like that, but… he knew how he felt and he was pretty sure she was somewhere along the same lines. It was nice to not have to really acknowledge it, though. It made it easy to avoid the deeper topics and to bond through interests and stuff while she figured out her emotions on her own. No pressure. As for him… He was taken and he knew that, and he wasn’t necessarily patient, but smart enough to know that rushing someone as reserved as she was would be a terrible route to winning her over.

.

Max had Oyster, Gideon, Wolfgang, someone named Angus, who Charlotte hadn’t met before, Billy and Nora (who she had only sort of met), and he was unsure if girlfriends were going to be stopping by sporadically. Henry had his usual - Jasper, Ray, Schwoz, and Char, but said that Piper might stop by. Max got in front of everyone and said, “Okay, listen up! This tournament goes on for the entire weekend. You all know those deets, I’m sure. What you will have to understand about this gaming site - Henry and I live here, but our chambers are off limits, unless permission is given. I will be giving none, so bathrooms this weekend are,” he pointed, “The one in the laundry room, or if Henry lets you into the tower.” Henry scoffed. But… his guests were welcome to go to his bathroom, though.

“Charlotte has been gracious and kind enough to make sure that there are little hygiene favors for everyone and set us up a nacho bar.”

“Charlotte’s the best!” Oyster roared in excitement. 

“Awww,” she said with her hand over her heart. Ray rolled his eyes and laughed a little. Max heard it and turned very suddenly to glare at him. 

“I cannot stress this enough - Charlotte gets respect in this house. I expect everyone to respect her, whether or not I’m there to see it.”

“What kind of a MONSTER would disrespect Charlotte?” Gideon wondered. She crossed both hands over her chest and let out a little squeal. 

Ray asked, “Is this one of your pranks that I hear tell of?”

“I… don’t play about that. Charlotte is a valued member of this house’s wellbeing. She works hard and takes care of a lot. We respect her here, and you will too. Invitations will be rescinded if I catch on to any disrespect.” 

She stood up and walked over to him, with her finger raised, “If I might… Say something?”

“Of course.”

“Okay… He’s not talking about if we’re playing against each other. That’s understandable trash talk and I dish it out, too. He’s talking… rolling your eyes and laughing if someone pays me a compliment when you can just shut your old head ass up.” 

“WAIT! Does SHE get to talk to us like that?” Ray asked.

Max said, “I think she was just giving an example,” very innocently, pretending not to realize that was directed, rightfully at Ray.

Ray pouted and said, “Can we get on with the games?”

“Last few rules and concerns,” Max said, then saw two bunnies walking to the couch and made a gesture at them to Charlotte, then mouthed Thank You when she went to collect Colosso and Balfour. “Um, last few things - My 19 year old brother and 17 year old sister are here. Neither of them can have alcohol, because this is mixed company. If you have given them alcohol in the past. Don’t try that this weekend. Oyster… no matter WHAT Nora says, give her zero alcohol.” Oyster nodded his head. “You know what… if Nora asks you for anything, check with me, to see if it’s okay.”

“COME ON!” Nora cried out. 

Henry noticed that Charlotte had vanished, but as Max was wrapping up, she came out of his restricted area. Oh. So he WAS allowing access, just to her. She came to sit in between Jasper and Schwoz and Henry asked, “Hey, where did you go?”

“The rabbits were loose,” she said.

“What… rabbits?” He asked. There were rabbits in this house??? Max was done talking, so his friends rushed to the nacho bar while Nora and Billy made sure they staked their claim on the pit couch and Charlotte got up to talk to Max. Henry let out a frustrated groan and threw his head back. “She acts like I don’t even exist anymore,” he said, shaking his head. 

“Hey. So… Balfour really wanted to watch the game tournament. He was like crying. So, I told him that I’d ask you about some way that could possibly happen?”

Max folded his arms and said, “I guess we could link a signal into Penelope and let her put it on her projector in real time? They can’t come up here, though. They’ll start trouble.” 

“I really wanted Penelope here with me tonight. What if ONLY Balfour comes up and…”

“No. He’s the worse one.” Max said, chuckling. “Char, these are supervillains. They aren’t innocent bystanders who became bunnies.”

“He loved video games and he can’t play anymore. He just wants to watch. I believe him,” she said, playing with his pocket. Henry watched them. 

Max sighed and pointed at her nose, “Anything that goes wrong as a result of him being up here will be on you.”

“I accept,” she said and bit at his finger, “Get that out of my face!” She laughed. He moved it around her face until she swatted it away and took hold of his hand, playing with his fingers. “I’ll go get him.” Max watched her disappear through his chamber door again and Henry narrowed his eyes at the entire thing. Whenever Charlotte returned carrying a white bunny with glasses, he was confused. She sat him next to Penelope as she took her seat again.

.

Charlotte began the night cozied with her friends, but wound up by Max, with the bunnies and Billy… closer to where Max’s friends were. Billy and Max were the only ones currently awake. Oyster was in a nacho eating food coma. Angus and Gideon were resting until their next matches, and Gideon had already been eliminated. Ray and Nora had somehow began a rivalry and were trash talking as they played against each other. Henry and Jasper were watching in entertainment that this was the second teenaged girl that he couldn’t beat in a video game. Henry was going to point this out to Char, but whenever he looked over, she was talking to Max again. Their faces were close together and he was looking all soft at her like he often did. She looked exhausted. “Hey, Char!” Henry called. She jumped. Max frowned as she pulled her face away from him to turn to Henry. “This girl’s giving your old records quite a run!”

“I never even played this game,” Charlotte said, shaking her head. 

“FINISH HIM!” Jasper yelled and then moments later Nora jumped up and got into Ray’s face, “That’s what I’m talking about, MAGGOTCHESTER!” A few of the sleeping ones stirred, but remained sleeping. They either had ear muffs or plugs, for such scenarios.

Charlotte began talking to Max while Nora was screaming, so that whenever she stopped everyone heard her say, “So, I’m just gonna be in your bed…” Her eyes grew wide and she looked around the room. Billy, Nora, Henry, Jasper and Ray all turned and looked right back at her. “Not like that!” She said and shook her head. 

“Where’s Balfour?” Max wondered. She gasped and began to frantically look around.

“Where’s Schwoz?” Ray wondered. Schwoz came from the bathroom, holding Balfour. 

“Schwoz! What were you doing with him?” Charlotte asked and took the bunny off of his hands. 

“He needed to go to the bathroom and you hadn’t brought any of his papers out,” Schwoz explained. 

Max collected him and told Charlotte, “I’ve got him. Go on and get some rest. I’ll bring him whenever I come down.”

“Okay. Thanks.” She wanted to give him a kiss on the cheek, but the others were already watching them kinda closely. He didn’t care about that obviously, because he gave her one and told her goodnight. She was all fluttery inside as she headed for his chambers. 

She was asleep when he did retire for the evening. Billy and Nora came down to wash up and took their sleeping bags to the landing mat. Max climbed into bed and figured he could stay on one side with Charlotte on the other. She definitely woke up wrapped completely around him from behind. 

Charlotte gasped and sat up. Of course, he needed to sleep in his own bed tonight. He had two siblings staying over and friends sprawled all over the couch. She went into the bathroom to wash up and get ready for today, then crept out to get started on at least ordering breakfast to be delivered. 

Jasper and Henry had retired to the tower, while Ray and Schwoz camped out in the van. Angus was the only person awake whenever Char surfaced. “Hi… Angus, right?”

“Right,” he said, with a smile. He was doing some stretches.

“I’m gonna order a bunch of breakfast stuff. I’m more familiar with Max and my friends’ stuff, but do you know about those guys?” She pointed to the sleeping men on the couch.

“Haven’t been around them a huge amount recently, but I’m almost certain that Oyster still will eat just about anything,” he laughed. 

“Bless him. He’s such a sweetheart.” She began to make an online order and also to start on fruit prep, for juice and/or smoothies. 

Henry came, groggily through the double doors, being pushed from behind by Jasper and yawning. Charlotte hoped that they had brushed their teeth. “I’ve got breakfast on the way and at least one of you needs a smoothie, doesn’t he?” She smiled at Henry. 

“Is she speaking to me? Does Charlotte Page see Henry Hart standing here?” He asked, sarcastically. She looked confused as she threw in the ingredients for a wake up smoothie into the blender for him. “Oh, right… Max isn’t around. So, I’m visible. Cool!” She turned off the blender, rolled her eyes and poured his smoothie. “Wonder how much time I have before my nemesis appears and my best friend loses knowledge of my existence.”

Angus asked Jasper, “Is… this awkward for you, as well?”

“It is,” Jasper said.

“Wanna go for a walk with me?”

“No, but I surely don’t wanna stay here for this,” Jasper said and they both headed out of the front door.

“Got it out of your system?” Charlotte asked, handing Henry the smoothie.

“He’s not even that good looking,” he said and nodded once, “Now, it’s out of my system.”

“Okay. Now that it is, let me say this… Whenever you don’t want to have to hang out with me, you think Max is the perfect candidate to take up my time. Whenever you don’t want to listen to me, I have to talk to Max. Whenever you can’t help me out with something, Max does. But, the moment that you have a want or a need and I’m occupied with Max, then you feel a way. Henry, I don’t know how else to tell you this, but Max and I get each other. I know you and me have been friends a long time, but those parts that didn’t make sense, they never started to. That doesn’t mean that we aren’t friends anymore, or that I don’t care about you, hence the reason you are drinking a smoothie from my heart. Thank you for giving me the push that I needed to find another friend. Max was a great choice. You did this, and you did well. Now, appreciate and respect that.”

“It’s not just Max, Dude. I mean, he’s your… cool half or whatever…”

“Wow…”

“But, like… You’re not even hardly chilling with us at this thing. You’re hanging out with his friends and his siblings. You slept in his bed? And.. that didn’t sound like the first time.”

“Probably like the 4th time these past couple of weeks. Usually, he sleeps elsewhere, but his siblings took that, so my options were out here on this super couch with those strangers or in a bed that I’m welcome and comfortable in.”

“You are comfortable in my bed? Me, you and Jasp used to do this all the time.”

“Henry!” She said it snappier than she intended. “You started this year out wanting a little bit less of me, and that’s what you’ve gotten. I would’ve thought you’d be relieved to be able to escape me.” She didn’t want to bring up NYE, because it still hurt, but she had been less engaging with him since then, with both he and Jasper, quite frankly.

“Nobody wanted to escape you, Charlotte. One night, was all it was and I’m sorry we handled it the way that we did. But, we got karma, remember? We got deserted.”

“And I rescued you. Henry, maybe the reason that it’s hard for you to share your friend is because your friend has always been a major resource to you. And maybe the reason it hasn’t been as hard for me to branch out is because my friend hasn’t always been a major resource.”

“You think I… don’t deserve your friendship?”

“I didn’t say that. I think that our friendship has positively impacted your day to day a little more vigorously than mine.”

“So, really it’s you escaping me.”

She frowned and sighed. “This is me getting comfortable with another friend, Henry. I’m still here for you. You only feel like I’m not because I was giving you WAY too much energy before now. I’ve been really happy,” she said, with a guilty look in her eyes, “And I thought that you had been too. This… event is supposed to bring us together. That’s why I was talking to other friends. You can try it too. You and Max should be trying it, because you live together. You share this space, and your both my friend. I’m not… picking. I don’t have to, because I know that I enrich both your lives, so I don’t believe either of you are cutting me off.”

Max came into the room, strutting, shirtless, carrying a shirt in his hands and preparing to put it on. Charlotte was relieved to see him. She thought she’d be awkward after how she woke up, but this talk with Henry had just rocked her and fortunately, as unpredictable as he was, Max was a calming presence for her. “Morning, Max,” she said, with a smile. He threw the shirt on, noticed her eyes, looked at a moping Henry and moved closer to Charlotte to give her a hug.

“Good morning. You okay?” he asked softly. She nodded, with her head against his chest. “What about you, Henry? You alright?” Max asked. Henry shrugged his shoulders. He hated seeing them… like that. She keeps insisting that they’re friends, but they keep doing… this kind of stuff. The doorbell rang and Charlotte went to go answer it. Probably the breakfast. “How are your friends enjoying the tournament?”

“Pretty good. I think you and me are up against each other tonight.”

“That should be fun for me… embarrassing for you.”

“You can’t beat me in everything,” Henry declared.

Max laughed. “That’s absolutely false. Of course I can.”

[emybain]

“We can’t do this” kisses for nodrian

this! was! so! much! fun! to! write! 

okay but like, seriously, this may not be one of my best pieces, but it may compete with one of my favorite’s i’ve written

also, I really need to stop posting after midnight

this is based off of a kiss (kinda) prompt!

    Nova wrung out her hands, eyes flying over the tiny studio apartment that was her home. She was almost nineteen years old and had moved into the apartment right after she had turned eighteen, yet she still had unpacked boxes laying around. But, for today, those boxes were shoved into her bathtub and hidden by the curtain, away from view. She had made her bed for once and wiped down the slab of surface that was her kitchen countertop and even vacuumed. Her apartment was sparsely furnished, which made cleaning for an event like this easier, she supposed. It had all the necessities: a bed, a dresser, a fridge, a stove and oven, a dishwasher, a small breakfast table with mismatched chairs, a second hand couch that had belonged to Ruby, and a coffee table she had salvaged from a garage sale. There was a laundry room downstairs for all of her clothes washing necessities. The only nice thing she had on display was the TV Adrian had given her, and even that was used; it was his old one from his room before he had bought himself a new one.

    Now, Nova was a relatively tidy person. Not the cleanest person she knew, as she tended to leave her bed unmade for long periods and neglected to put dirty clothes in the hamper until laundry day. But today, she had to be the epitome of cleanliness. She scanned the five hundred square foot space for dirty clothes hiding, or, God forbid, the one piece of lingerie that she had received as a gag gift from Danna last Christmas. She had stuffed it deep within her least visited drawer of her dresser, not caring for the showy red lace. Bleh. She hadn’t seen it since she had buried it, but it would be just her luck for it to show up today, of all days.

    She had been living in her apartment for approximately ten months, and Adrian Everhart was just now coming over. Not to see the space. No, they had plans to discuss one of Adrian’s recent projects concerning public schools. After the Final Battle, he had delved into a lot of volunteer work, helping to better the school system and helping the homeless and building shelters for those in need, among dozens of other things. Nova, on the contrary, had been pardoned by the Council for, in simple terms, doing more good than bad, and for helping them beat the Anarchists in the Final Battle. At the time, Nova had still been bitter and angry. She had wanted to yell at them that she wasn’t helping them because she had a change of heart, but she was helping them because her uncle had much more planned for Gatlon than Nova had known, and it would have resulted in thousands upon thousands of innocent lives being lost. But she hadn’t, for one wrong word would’ve sent her to prison, possibly for life. So instead, Nova chose to work with them, and speak out for improving the government and making it a democracy where the citizens could be involved instead of letting the Renegades handle everything. Others joined her cause, even older citizens. While she was still involved with the Renegades creating a plan to change the way their small portion of the world was governed, she had put more time and interest in helping the citizens of Gatlon in self defense and being able to rely on themselves and targeting a large age demographic. The public had been tentative at first, seeing as Nova came from a questionable past, but slowly, her program began to gain popularity. Still, she hadn’t completely earned the public’s trust. She received hate and criticism from strangers, and many still crossed the street when she walked down the sidewalk. But she had gotten used to it.

    There was a knock at the front door, jolting Nova out of her thoughts. Her eyes widened, and she scurried across the room to the kitchenette, opening a drawer and digging through it. When she found the lighter, she rushed over to the coffee table where a small candle waited to be lit. It was pumpkin pie scented, which didn’t match the nearing spring season, but it had been the best smelling candle in the clearance section at the store across from her apartment. There was another knock as Nova hurried back to the kitchenette to put away the lighter. She cursed.

    “Just a minute!” she called out, heading to the door. She paused in front of the mirror, an unnecessary item in her home that Oscar insisted she needed. There was a small tea stain on the corner of her hoodie, and a rip in the knee of her leggings. The socks on her feet didn’t match. Well, it wasn’t like this was a date. It was a meeting. And her attire would have to do. With a small sigh, she went to the door and swung it open.

    “Hey, sorry about that.” Nova smiled brightly up at Adrian. She could’ve sworn he did a once over of her outfit, and the small quirk of his lips only served as evidence. She swallowed and held the door open more. “Ready to get to work?”

    “Yeah.” Adrian stepped inside, and she closed the door behind him, hand tightening around the knob as he looked around her apartment with interest.

    “It may look small, but it’s more than enough.” Nova bit her lip. Even now, she frantically searched for a bra peeking out from under a piece of furniture. Adrian turned back around, offering a supportive smile, but it did nothing to soothe the hammering in Nova’s heart.

    Because Nova had a small problem. Even though they had agreed to break up and be nothing more than allies after the Final Battle, for obvious reasons, Nova was still very much attracted to Adrian Everhart. And as of the past…year or so, very much in love with him.

    “It’s nice.” Adrian looked around again. At his old TV, at the few picture frames on her nightstand, at her bed. “Very…minimalistic.”

    They broke into an awkward silence, Adrian turning his head to see more of her home and Nova watching his face for any bad reactions. Finally, she let out a shaky breath and forced herself to let go of the doorknob,

    “Please, sit.” Nova waved at her couch, only sitting down once Adrian was seated. She made sure they were a good two feet apart. She reached for her notepad, which she had pre-placed on the coffee table for today, and the pen that sat beside it. “So, self defense training lessons in schools? How exactly would that work out?”

    Adrian shifted his knees toward her, and she could’ve sworn he inched closer. “Well, like I told you the other day, we could make a pitch to all the schools in Gatlon once we have a program set up. I’m thinking this could be more for middle school and high school kids, but we could also offer easier stuff for elementary schools. Make it more fun for the younger kids, you know? More of an introduction into self defense, and the basics.” He licked his lips, drawing Nova’s eyes to them. They flickered back to his immediately. She ignored how her cheeks heated up, instead choosing to jot down notes.

    Nova tapped her pen against her notepad. “I work with kids every day, Adrian. The program is open to all ages. Offering time in multiple locations is hard. We only have so much staff, and being in many locations is hard on them, not to mention the cost for new equipment, renting spaces, paying our staff…you get the point.” She waved a hand and cleared her throat. “We’re still new, Adrian, and we’re very, very poor. And while I hate having to even charge for self defense in the first place, I would have to raise our prices to accommodate to your demands.”

    “I mean more like a preview to the program itself.” Adrian shifted closer again. “I’m very aware of the financial side of things, Nova, trust me.” He smiled. Her heart skipped. “But, if we took, say, an hour out of a school day for an assembly once a year, make it a required event, invite parents to observe, etcetera etcetera, and have you, maybe, demonstrate some techniques, talk about the program, whatever, it could help the kids grow up to be more independent, and if parents are interested enough, it could help you as well by bringing in more customers. Not to mention,” he paused, breaking eye contact for a moment, before adding on it a much softer voice “it could help your reputation.”

    Nova’s fingers tightened around her pen. She glanced down at her lap. “This has nothing to do with me, Adrian. What people think of me doesn’t bother me. I could care less what they say.” He opened his mouth to speak, but she didn’t let him. “And yes, I know what they say. I hear it every time I leave my apartment.”

    “I just thought I would bring it up-”

    “This is about the kids and the future of Gatlon,” Nova established sternly. “I’m simply here to help plan and execute it.”

    They were both silent, neither meeting the other’s eyes. Nova did take notice that Adrian was less than a foot away from her now. That was partly her fault, allowing him to get closer instead of scooting away. The Final Battle for Gatlon was over two years ago, and while they had agreed to be allies for the sake of bettering Gatlon, and hopefully the world, Nova and Adrian had dared not stray into relationships of any kind that were not professional or friendly. Adrian had never truly forgiven her for what she had done, and she had never truly forgiven him for similar, yet different, reasons. At first, their relationship after the battle was rocky and awkward, then soon it developed into a professional one. Then, seeing as they were friends with the same people, they began to slowly become vulnerable around one another again, as hesitant friends. And more recently, Adrian had been showing signs that were not signs meant for Oscar or Danna or Ruby.

    But that scared Nova. Their healing relationship was a good sign, yes, but it didn’t help with her very solid and very real feelings for him. And if those feelings were to even be expressed in something as miniscule as a look or accidental brush skin, their relationship could fall apart just as easily and twice as fast as it had reformed. A stitched wound was still an injury. It needed to be cared for and treated delicately so the stitches wouldn’t tear.

    Adrian suddenly grabbed her hand that wasn’t gripping the pen, inching closer until there was very little space between them. Nova’s face grew hot, heart speeding up. She looked anywhere but at him.

    “Is it so bad for someone to care about you? To want you to be safe?” he murmured, breath fanning her hair.

    Nova gulped, lungs not quite functioning properly. “The only person who needs to care about me, is me.” She wanted to tear herself away from him, to rip her hand away from his, which was slowly interlacing their fingers. But she also felt her belly churning, telling her to just stay a moment longer.

    He had the nerve to smile. “Then tell me why I do, too.” He leaned in closer, if that were possible, and when she didn’t object, he took the notepad and pen away from her, setting them on the coffee table. Just so he could take her other hand.

    “Adrian,” she whispered, feeling dizzy and hot and a million things all at once, crashing into her.

    “Nova,” he whispered back, a plea. Their eyes met, and then, by the force of gravity, their lips brushed. For that split second, Nova was on fire.

And then her senses flooded back, filling her body with horror and regret and a self hatred that had been kindling for so long.

She pulled her hands away from him, her dizziness turning to nausea. Her head fell forward, finding the crook in his neck, despite her brain telling her to get as far away from him as possible, that this was impossible, that he could never and would never be hers.

“We can’t do this,” she gasped, desperate for the air that he had taken from her.

Adrian was breathing as heavily as her. His hands found her shoulders. “Why not?”

Nova found the strength to push back, to give her enough space between them so she could collect herself. She could still feel his lips, just barely over hers, just barely kissing her before she had pulled away. “Because of you,” she said bitterly. “And because of me. Who we are, Adrian.”

“Is this about what we agreed on?” Adrian rolled his eyes, sighing exasperatedly. “Nova, that was two years ago. I thought I made it clear long ago that I had forgiven you. I thought you had forgiven me too, but apparently, I was wrong.”

“When did you forgive me,” Nova demanded. Her head was still spinning. She blinked, hoping it would help her.

“When you started showing that you really wanted to bring change.”

“That’s very vague.”

“Oh my-” Adrian groaned, rubbing his eyes underneath his glasses. “When you agreed to work with the Council on a new system.”

“That was, like, two months after the battle,” Nova deadpanned.

“Exactly.” Adrian nodded, tone matching hers.

Nova opened and closed her mouth, feeling like a fish. “Whatever…no, it has nothing to do with that.” Actually, it had a lot to do with that. Nova ran a frustrated hand through her hair. “Adrian, you and I both know that we could never be together.”

“Why is that?” Adrian leaned closer, but this time, Nova leaned away.

She laughed bitterly. “Oh, I don’t know, maybe it’s the fact that my uncle was Ace Anarchy. And not only that, but I am the only well known Anarchist to have walked away from that battle alive, so the destruction my uncle caused is immediately my fault. People aren’t exactly fond of me, Adrian.”

“I thought you didn’t care what other people thought of you.”

“I don’t.” Nova groaned, resisting the urge to go bang her head against the wall. “It’s you who would be affected by it.”

“I don’t care what they think,” Adrian said quickly. Nova gave him a look.

“Really? Tell me that again when, in two months, say we’re out in public together and the media writes about it, you start getting death threats in the mail over our relationship. Trust me,” she said dryly, “you’ll care then.”

“You’re being ridiculous.” Adrian moved closer again. Nova was out of room to move any further back; her back had hit the couch arm. His voice grew soft as he spoke, “Nova, I will never give a horse’s ass what anyone thinks of us. You have been all I can think about for three years, ever since I had to fix that damned bracelet of yours.”

Nova clenched her fists. There were tears at the back of her eyes. She blinked rapidly, hoping that they would go away. “Why? Why me, Adrian? I’m only going to end up hurting you again.”

He grabbed one of her fists and unravelled it, placing her palm over his chest. She could feel his racing heart beneath his shirt. “Then break my heart, Nova Artino. You have my permission. I am not fragile. I will only heal and come back to you, again and again.”

“Adrian, you don’t-”

“I’m in love with you, Nova.”

And then Nova, incapable of controlling her emotions, unable to think straight, because holy hell, Adrian Everhart said that he loved her, no, said that he was in love with her, pulled him to her. Their lips crashed together in sloppy delirium, but very soon, they found a rhythm. Nova shook as she wrapped her arms around his neck. His hands went to her hair, and he twisted them around so he could lay her down on the couch. All of her senses were in overload, spilling over the edge with nothing but Adrian, Adrian, Adrian in them. Far away, she heard herself say his name, and him responding with a soft moan. She thought back to their first kiss, a lifetime ago, and how this was so, so much better.

Only when Adrian kissed her tears away, before moving onto her neck, did Nova realize she had been crying.

-

Nova picked at a snag in Adrian’s long sleeved shirt, head resting in the crook of his arm. Their legs were tangled together. The sun had set not long ago, and they laid together in the dark apartment in silence, just holding one another and listening to the sound of each other’s breathing.

“I’m in love with you too, Adrian.”

[amnachil]

The College Society Chapter 2 Part 5

The next part !

Liam Tuesday December 18

It was the second tuesday in a row when Liam had to woke up early. Maybe he had been cursed by a witch. This time, it was his mother Rachel who showed up. And she had bad news. The poor lad was convoked by the judge to testify against her. His dad and his lawyer ploted the whole thing. And Rachel might lost her visitations rights.

Afterwards began a real time of chaos. Once his mother left in tears because she feared to lose absolutely everything, Liam went bersek. He destroyed his furnitures while screaming with anger and pain. Nick hid with the console in his bedroom and waited the end of the turmoil. For almost an hour, the chestnut just lost it. He hit the wall enough to bleed. At the end, he was worn-out and revolted. When did I become so violent ?! Why things can't be normal ? Since 12th grade, his world was falling apart. And he hated this.

"I'm going for a jog !" he shouted at Nick. "Don't wait me."

And he ran outside as fast as possible.

He headed towards the park, and ran, ran and ran. Liam didn't stop before he was totally incapable of carrying on. He just let himself fall in the grass. This is so unfair. She devoted her life to us. And now she could lose everything, depending on my testimony. The young boy rested there for hours. He skipped the first lecture, but didn't care at all. His cellphone rang several times. Nick and Rebecca both called him, but he didn't care either. All he wanted was some peace.

Eventually, when the sun went down, he left the parc. He was heading home when he ran into Colton. His friend was doing a jogging, but stopped when he saw him.

"Hi dude." he greeted softly. "Glad to see you're... physically fine. Nick thought you would maybe hurt yourself."

Liam looked right through him. He just continued his path, feeling a bit feeble.

"Liam, are you okay ? You look sick."

The lad didn't answered. He just closed his eyes. His body was shaking. And everything went black.

He woke up at the hospital. The doctor told him he had made an anxiety attack and some had been suffering from hypoglycemia. He gave him some medication, and left the room. Nick was there, playing at his gameboy. When they ended up alone, he mumbled :

"Don't worry, I told your parents to not come. Your father wanted to, but I persuaded him it wasn't a good idea."

"Thank you."

"No problem. Look, you need to rest. Don't do anything okay ?"

Liam nodded slowly. He wanted to sleep, but first, he really needed something.

"Give me my phone please." he asked. "I want to hear Nate just a bit."

"Of course."

His bestfriend answered immediately. Liam heard a lot of noises, and understood Nate was partying.

"Hey buddy. What's the deal ? You never call me after 10pm."

"I... I just got some troubles and I'm at the hospital but nothing bad, really."

His bestfriend remained silent for a bit. He got away from the party.

"Tell me."

"It's some stuff with my father. We can speak about that later. And Nick is taking care of me, don't worry. But can you do something for me please ?"

Liam looked out of the corner of his eyes Nick. His roommate had put his headphones and wasn't listenning.

"Whatever you want." promised Nate. "Just say it, and I'll do it."

"Can you tell me I'm not completely worthless ?"

Again, his bestfriend kept quiet for a moment. Liam wanted so deseperatly to see him. Nate's parents were his mother's old friends, and both boys knew eachother since forever. They didn't grow up in the same town and didn't attend to the same school, but they were very close anyway. Right now, Liam needed his soulmate. But it was impossible. He had to wait the christmas holidays. But I don't even know if I'll be with my mother or with my demonic father.

"Bro'. At least to me, you're someone very important." claimed Nate. "And I'm sure it's the same for your family. I know you blame yourself for a lot of things, but you're just wrong. You're not worthless. Liam you hear me ? You're not worthless. Christmas is coming, and I promise we'll spend it together. Okay ?"

"Yeah. Thank you... I think I'll rest a bit now. Good night Nate."

Liam hung up and laid down. He fell asleep like this, miserable and extremely sad.

Rebecca Wednesday December 19

It was the last day before the holidays. Then, they would have until early january to review for the end-of-term examination. But Rebecca had a lot of thing to think through before. Yesterday, Liam ended up at the hospital after a serious break-down. She was worried for him and for Nick. I hope none of them got hurt... She hadn't receive any news yet. Honestly, she felt very bad. She had pretended to be their friend, but didn't see that coming. Now Liam was maybe suffering from depression and Nick was alone to help him. And it wasn't her only problem. Emilio continued to act as his boyfriend. Everyday, he kissed her, cuddled her like if he really loved her. She had done some research about this hunter stuff on the internet. She had found scary things. So there was people in the university who where chasing other people ? And generally for sex ?! Home hunter like Emilio were scary. Those kind of person needed both a steady girlfriend and freedom to see whoever they wanted to. Generally, they were overly possessive towards their official girlfriend. And even more with time. In other word, he'll never let me go. And when I thought things couldn't be worst... Bob had called her parents and had convinced them she was letting herself go. According to him, she wasn't focused. Which is true, but not for the reason he listed... Anyway, when she would be going back home, some shit would happen, she knew it for sure.

For lunchtime, the black girl joined Matthew. According to his text, he had some goods news, and she really needed this.

"Hey Rebbie." he smiled when she sat. "So, I found a way to free you from Emilio."

"I'm listening."

"So Emilio wants a girlfriend and many lovers at the same time. For now, you're his girlfriend, which mean he consider you his precious little property."

Is it supposed to make me feel better ? Because it doesn't. Fuck this sick man and his needs.

"I think we can manage to make him see otherwise. I mean, if you ain't a faithful girlfriend, he will let you be right ?"

"And how the hell are we going to do that ?"

"The easy way. You have to sleep with someone else, and we will bring the truth to him."

Rebecca stared at Matthew for a moment, dazed by his idea. I'm not a slut.

"You think I'll have sex just like that ? And isn't it a bit dangerous ? Emilio will lost it and kill me right after."

The sophomore rolled his eyes.

"C'mon girl, I'm not asking you to date someone. It's just one sex session. I know plenty of man who are eager to help you with this. And don't worry, it's not like if he'll hurt you for real. Especially if we're here to protect you."

"But if you are, why can't I just ditch him ?"

"He'll never accept it and you know that. Look, think during the holidays. In january, you tell me. Trust me he'll still be there for you, until he thinks you're not worthy enough to be his girlfriend."

Damian Nicholas Smith-Carrey Wednesday December 19

The hospital. The fucking hospital. How the hell this baboon managed to wind up in the hospital ? I fucking hate this one in particular. Too many stupid people. The Dean's grandson went along the hallway pissed. According to this Nicolas, Liam was going out today, but needed to go back to his family home, in the middle of nowhere. Which means it's my last chance to make a fucking move before the holidays. Damian Nicholas Smith-Carrey wasn't stupid. He already understood sex would come later. Maybe in one month. And in the meantime, he just had to screw some chicks and chaps. And masturbate a lot. Anyway, he entered in his prey's room hastily when he glanced the nurse he had banged last year come nearer.

"Dami ? What are you doing here ?"

Bloody hell, my name isn't Dami. You're an absolute braindead numbskull.

"You fine ?" he asked more diplomatically.

"Yes, I'm allowed to leave. It was just the tiredness."

"Good, come with me."

There was an avantage to speak with such an idiotic person : Liam was obeying docilely. As long as it's not an absurd request... This dude is smart in a way. A stupid smart guy. That's so weird.

Damian Nicholas Smith-Carrey led his prey at the nearest restaurant. He expected this to be a sort of date. But with Liam, everything could go wrong at anytime. And it was so exciting. The lad ordered a salad, the freshman some rice.

"So Liam. Are you fully recovered ?"

Honestly, he didn't care at all about his prey's health. He once had had sex with a sick boy in highschool, who puke his diner right after. Gross, but he pronounced Damian Nicholas Smith-Carrey's name so well.

"Yeah." replied the chestnut dude. "I got some bad news for my family and I don't really know what happened next but... I'm fine now."

Bad news ? Like Barbara said, this man has troubles. The story of this tiny pussy was kinda interesting to understand Liam's behavior. Because he had done something bad, and because he felt terrible about it, he tried to ran away from reality. And that's why he's so lunatic. But it just make the hunt better. Liam had already finished his plate. This greedy boy was eating fast.

"You should take a second helping." offered the junior. "I'm paying for everything, don't worry."

Damian Nicholas Smith-Carrey expected their unofficial date to last a bit longer. However, he noticed something in Liam's eyes. Something interesting.

"I'm not really hungry." said this one. "But thank you Dami, you're really nice."

Did you just lie ? Oh man, it's the first time you're lying on purpose to me. What the hell was the problem ? Let's see if I can push it a bit.

"It wasn't a proposition." he said with authority. "Take a second helping. See, I'm doing the same."

Liam didn't resist that much. He lowered his eyes, and they both ordered.

Things became fascinating. The freshman ate his plate of pasta really fast. Each time he took a mouthful, his eyes were twinkling with greed. He liked it so much. And this is what I needed. A weak spot. When the plate went empty, Damian Nicholas Smith-Carrey smiled.

"I have some trouble to finish mine." he whispered. "Do you want to finish it ?"

It was a enormous steak with fries. Honestly, it might be enough to feed the Dean's grandson for a day. But Liam licked his lips. He wants this badly. Oh that's good.

"C'mon, we don't want to waste, do we ?"

"No we don't." approved his prey. "I'll help you as I can."

Damian Nicholas Smith-Carrey must've been hallucinating. Liam took the plate, and ate it entirely in no time. He just devoured it. The hell, how's it even possible ? The most impressive ? He didn't seem stuffed at all. His stomach had barely rounded up. Now I'm curious. It was so ironic. Theo had this guy, and failed to catch him ? The best chubby chaser of the campus didn't saw he had a gem right under his nose ? Now I'm getting hard. He had a thrill.

"Maybe we should go for dessert." he said.

Liam smiled. A genuine, naive smile. Don't. I want to put my dick in your mouth when you're like this.

"Sure, we should." he agreed. "But afterwards, I really need to go. Nick is waiting for me."

The Dean's grandson ordered for them both a piece of chocolate cake. And then he gave his to Liam. This one consumed both so easily. When he finished, he let out a soft, slight belch.

"Excuse me." he said. "It was wonderful. You really are nice with me Dami."

Exceptionally, Damian Nicholas Smith-Carrey felt relieved when Liam didn't say his name. I would have cum otherwise. He's hotter than I thought. This man. Damnit, I need to jerk off. They left once he paid the bill. And the Dean's grandson rushed his ferrari. Inside, he started a dvd up with his name on a loop. And he masturbated.

To be continued

Well things went bad for our poor Liam ! His family’s problems are a real pain. But he can count on Dami to feed him and cheer him up !

As for Rebecca, will she accept such a weird plan ? We’ll see that soon !

Next weekend is coming my other story ! I assure you, it’s kinky !

[yoongi-boongi]

feelings aren’t like cupcakes | myg

♡ pairing: yoongi x reader

♡ genre: FLUFF

♡ warnings: tiny sex reference?, slight drinking, a bad joke, maybe the smallest pinch of angst?

♡ word count: 3,007

♡ notes: this is my first fic so be nice i guess. shout-out to @minnsvga for supporting me and helping me throughout this entire thing

It was early into a Friday evening and the cafe had quieted down exponentially compared to the morning hustle. You had finally gotten your cafe open. You had been saving up ever since you were a child, always dreaming to have a small place of your own. It took a bit to transform it into the way it was now, seeing as it used to be a bar. You thought of your cafe as a second home. The cafe was better than you could have ever imagined with bookshelves lining two walls, fairy lights twinkling across the ceiling, and refurbished furniture scattered into groups across the hardwood floors.

You already sent your employees home for the night. Not many people flocked to your cafe this late and hell, most of the time you closed early because of the lack of people and the fact you just wanted to get some sleep. You had a few customers that came around at night, mostly consisting of college kids who wanted a quiet place that isn't crowded. But tonight it’s different seeing as no customers were around tonight.  

You were busy in the kitchen making another batch of red velvet cupcakes when you heard the bell ring from the door. You quickly popped the cookie dough into the fridge and shuffled your way to the front counter, only to be greeted with an annoyed looking man in a suit. He had soft yet striking features and dark eyes that bore into your soul. You realized you haven’t said anything to him yet and promptly put a smile on your face.

“Welcome to Y/N’s Cafe & Bakery! Is there any way I can help you?” The attractive man squinted at your cheerful attitude towards him before speaking.

“Yeah… Can you tell me where the hell the bar went?”

Of course… People come in all the time asking where the bar went and you were kinda getting sick of having to tell the story of how the bar closed.

“Look… Long story short, the bar closed and my cafe opened.” You sighed out, dropping the upbeat look from your face. You can see the irritation growing on his as the seconds pass. You could almost cut the tension coming from the man with a butter knife. It was thick but not like a brick, ya know?

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” He growls out of frustration, “My favorite bar closes and that’s all you can give me?”

“Yup. Now, I don’t like assholes in my cafe. Have a cupcake.”  You grab a random cupcake from the display on the counter and hand it to him before he can protest. He switches back and forth looking at the cupcake and looking at you like you grew a second head. “Sir, I didn’t poison the damn thing so eat it and we can have an actual conversation. Maybe if you are nice I can give you some of the whiskey I keep in the back.” He stares a bit more before biting into the cupcake, eyes widening at the taste. You smile at the sight before heading back into the kitchen.

You clean up the kitchen and headed back out into the main seating area of the cafe with the previously mentioned whiskey bottle. You looked around noticing the only people in the cafe are you and the unnamed and very attractive man. The more you look at him the more you notice. You see his black hair and imagine how soft it would feel in your hands. You see the rings that adorn his fingers and note that he took his suit jacket off.

“Are you going to keep checking me out or are you going to actually say something to me?” The man’s bold words break your chain of thoughts bringing along a deep blush that coats your cheeks. You stutter out a half-assed apology as he smirks. “So this is your place?”

“Uh.. yeah. Got it opened about a month back.. I assume that you haven’t been able to come to the old bar in a while? Seeing as you didn’t know that this is now a cafe?” You answer as you turn the open sign to closed and walk towards where he is sitting.

“You can say that…” He mumbles back, looking at his phone that appeared to be blowing up with text messages. “I haven’t been able to come get a drink because of everything going on my life with work and shit.” You hum in acknowledgement before taking the seat across him at the small table.

“You seem to be better after the cupcake.” You grin at him and he lets out a snort. “So can I get your name before I share my alcohol with you? I’m sure you can tell what mine is based off of the big signs.”

“Min Yoongi, and yes I can tell what your name is Y/N.”  

“I don’t have any glasses or anything so I hope you can bear drinking straight from the bottle.” Yoongi only nods as you open the bottle and take a sip. You cough at the taste and hand the bottle to him. “So, Yoongi… tell me about yourself.”

He looks at you after his swig. He stares at your face for a moment, thinking. “I don’t think you have unlocked my Tragic Backstory™ quite yet…” He watches with a small smirk as you laugh at his joke.

“Okay… seems reasonable enough. Then… Tell me how you ended up here, in my little paradise on a Friday evening.” You counter with. He lets out a deep sigh before speaking.

“Well, Y/N” He starts, putting heavy emphasis on your name, “I had a somewhat of a terrible day at my shitty job so I left and ended up here only to find cupcakes instead of copious amounts of alcohol like I wanted.”

“Hey! I got you some! And my cupcakes are delicious!” You scoff back. Yoongi only smirks as you stick your tongue out at him. The tension that was in the air during the previous completely gone and exchanged for a playful and comfortable one.

“You might not want to do that.”

“And why is that?” You retort back quickly.

“You don’t know what I’m like.” He says back just as quick as you did.

“Oh, on the contrary! I know more about you than you know about me. So HA!” He can only shake his head, trying not to smile at the statement.

“Speaking of which, tell me about you. How did you end up owning a cafe/bakery place?” Yoongi questioned with actual curiosity.

“Well…. Ever since I was young I’ve always liked baking so I decided that I was going to own a cafe. So instead of going to college like my parents insist, I’m putting all of my money and effort into this place. I’d say I’m doing a pretty good job!”

A moment of silence followed. It wasn’t an uncomfortable one though, It was more of a pleasant, understanding kind of vibe.

You begin to ramble to fill the emptiness. “Hey... since you are probably in some deep shit with your boss why don’t I deliver some cupcakes or donuts to try to help and smooth it over? Ya know, so you don’t get fired or something. Being fired is not very pretty on your resume.”

“I have no clue… I should probably read the messages I’m getting to see if I’m not already. But it wouldn’t matter too much seeing as I fucking hate it there…”

“Do you wanna tell me why or do I have to give you some more whiskey first?” You joke.

“I’d honestly prefer the whiskey.” He retorts with a deadpan look.

“OOF, okay, but I seriously think you should come around more often Yoongi. I’d love to get to know you more through cupcakes and maybe more whiskey. And trust me this isn’t the whiskey talking.” You answer back with a wide smile.

“I think I just might. Especially if you are offering me more cupcakes.”

The second time Yoongi showed up it was early in the morning and honestly he looked like shit. It was about seven in the morning and he came in wearing a light blue button-up rolled to his elbows. He walked grungledly to the counter.

“Good morning Yoongi. What can I get you?” You asked with a small smile.

“An iced americano. To go, please.” He muttered back. “He's clearly not a morning person.”

“Anything else? I heard the donuts are preeeetty good.” You added. He sighed before muttering out a “why not.” After being rung up and paying he headed out the door only then he looked down at his cup and found a little message.

“It was nice seeing you again - Y/N :)”

The fifth time he came to the shop was during lunch. You were about to go on break when he walked through the doors.

“Yoongi… I was about to go to lunch. Want to come get something with me?” You proposed. You could tell that he wasn’t expecting the offer by how he stared questionly.  

“Fine, but i’m paying for it.” He insisted which only caused you to run up to him and argue that you were paying because you were the one who offered it. The two of you made it to your favorite sushi place and ended up splitting the bill because of how stubborn you were. Yoongi made you swear that next time you’ll let him pay.

The eighth time he came to the shop you spoke about aspirations and dreams. It took awhile for you to pry out of him but you got it eventually. Mainly through bribing him with some free donuts and cupcakes.

“I want…. To be a producer. Have my own studio that's not my damn apartment. Have my only worries being to be make music and write songs and shit.” He lets out hesitantly even after shoving a cupcake in his mouth.

“Oh! I can see it! But you probably need to have a side job in the beginning… so you have a solid income and stuff. If you hate working in that office or whatever you can work here! I can hire you and you can help me! You're not the biggest people person so you could probably help me bake in the bac-” You cut yourself off when Yoongi places his hands around yours.

“You ramble a lot.” Yoongi laughs out. You simply pouted back.

“I’m serious you know…” You mumble back as you adjust your position in the chair. Yoongi watching you from across the table with a gentle smile on his face, brown eyes shining with admiration.

“I’m sure you are…but thanks. I will consider it.”

It was around the tenth time Yoongi made his way to the cafe but no one could be sure, seeing as no one was counting. He got through the door before noticing that there was only one employee from what he could tell, who was in the process of flipping the sign from open to closed.

“Wait! You guys are closing early?” Yoongi practically growled.

“Huh? Oh, you're the guy that shows up all the time and talks with the boss!” She says with a slight smile and a point at Yoongi.

“Yeah its me… so why are you guys closing so soon? Normally you guys are open till 10?” He replies back with a forced smile.

“Oh yeah… The big boss lady had a date tonight or something and didn’t want us noobies to run the business by ourselves so late at night, or something…. But don’t worry! We will be open for normal times tomorrow!” The employee affirmed. Yoongi could only stare at her face. Searching it with his eyes for anyway for what she said to be a lie. “Um… sir? Are you alright?” She questioned after getting no response.

“Sorry….” He muttered back before looking at his reflection in a window of the shop. He and the employee stood as it started to rain. “How cliche…” Yoongi thought with a soft scoff.

“You really like her don’t you?” The employee spoke up once again, making Yoongi’s line of sight move from the window to her face. How was he supposed to answer her when he didn’t have an answer for himself? “Does she have any idea that you do?” Yoongi let out a sigh. “Man, how could you not say anything if you are so whipped?” She joked.

“I’ll help you out! I’ve always wanted to be a matchmaker! So what if I call her and say that there was an issue with something and it is extremely important that she gets here as soon as possible? After I make the call I’ll scram… If you want me to help and all.” She proposed.

“You… you would do all that for me?” Yoongi questioned in disbelief.

“Yup! But I can’t let you stay inside this place seeing as I technically still have to close up…” The employee stated with a apologetic smile. He nodded and looked out of the window to notice it was raining harder and the shop has no awning.

“Great…” he grumbled.

“Don’t worry! I heard that the restaurant that she's at isn’t too far away! I’d offer an umbrella but I don’t have one myself.” The employee tried to make light of the situation and pulled out her phone.

Your date was going pretty well, a little textbook you could say. The only reason you were on this damned date is because your friend begged you to start dating someone and she promised that this guy would be perfect for you. While he is a great person and has been nothing but great to you, you had someone else in your head the entire time.

“Do you wanna know the safest place during a zombie apocalypse?” You started maybe the twentieth joke of the night.

“Where?” He asked with a smile on his face.

“The living room.” You manage to get out before the two of you burst into laughing.

Your laughter got cut short though as your phone began to vibrate. You looked at who it was and figured it was pretty important seeing as you told Hana to only call you if something big or important happened.

“Sorry but I need to take this it. I’ll be back.” You apologized to your date as you made your way to the restroom. You were expecting the worse as you answered the phone.

“Hello?”

“Y/N!! I’m so glad you answered the first time I called! Look there is a problem back at base camp and I really need you to come help!” Hana quickly squeaked out.

“Wait, slow down! What happened?” You tried to interrogate.

“There isn’t enough time! Please just hurry back!” She rushed out before hanging up on you. You sighed out frustration before putting your phone back in your bag and heading back to your table. You explained the situation to your date and apologized for having to cut the date short. Soon enough you were in your car heading to your shop for the second time today.

Yoongi sat in the rain soaked as he waited for you to show up. He could only think of what the hell he was actually going to say. What could he say? “Hey, your employee made you panic for no damn reason just because I wanted to talk to you. Not to mention I have terrible timing?”

The time seemed to go in slow motion when a car finally pulled up in front of him. As the car door opened, an umbrella popped out and the sound of high heels clicking filled his ears over the sound of the rain.

“Yoongi?” You questioned as you stood in front of the sopping wet man. Yoongi finally looked up at you and opened his mouth but no words came out. He decided he should at least stand up and his jacket let out a loud squelch as he did. You tried to cover you giggle and failed miserably. Yoongi began to laugh back and soon enough you two were standing in the rain laughing over nothing together.

“So….” Yoongi finally spoke. “This isn’t really how imagined this going but eh…. Life is weird sometimes…” You watched as he looked you in the eyes.

“I mean I never expected to get called my employee to rush back to my shop only to find her nowhere in sight and you soaking wet from the rain. But yes, this life, I guess.” You teased back and Yoongi chuckled, a gummy smile forming.

“Yeah…. That's not really what I was talking about though… Look I’m just going to get this out there now. I have feelings for you. I don’t know exactly what they are but they are surely fucking there. You don’t have to have them back but now you know.” He rushed out all in one breath. You just continued to stare back as you processed everything. Yoongi was about to add on something but you started laughing.

You were laughing so hard that you tears almost started to roll down your face. He tried to question you but you stopped him before he could start by quickly pressing your lips to his. He held your face between his hands as he pressed back like if he didn’t you would slip away from him. The rain continued to pour on to the two of you but that didn’t matter now.

Almost too soon in Yoongi’s opinion, you pulled backed up and stared at him with a smile that was probably the biggest it had been in a while. He moved one hand back, the other holding on to the side of your face. Your hands on top of his, the closest you could get to holding his hands at the moment before you finally spoke.  

“About time dumb ass.”