#i may or may not have a signed bookbag like that

[yamanehaize01]

Miracle laid in Serendipity: Unveiling the Voyage of Miraculous Bearers

The Unknowing Tale between Y/n L/n & Adrien Agreste

Description: Y/n L/n is not a very focused and attentive person when it comes to important things, her attention to detail is lower than she could ever admit. That's why the word "Naïve" is sometimes the title above her head. But who would of thought she will be given an opportunity to be better at one important thing? She won't let it slip from her fingers, even if she ended up sacrificing her sanity in the process.

One may never realize the length she gone through with her new responsibility, everyone appreciate her polar opposite. She may never spare herself another rest, but atleast lives won't be at stake anymore when she's here.

Her responsibility as being the beholder of the Ladybug Miraculous...

Towards the bright side, her teammates is here for her. And even if she makes mistakes here and there in her civilian life, she will try her best in the life of saving lives. Although, she realizes the sign from one of the people she trusted too late.. being prey is not what she is, she just needs to remind the 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙙𝙖𝙩𝙤𝙧 of that.

Chapter 01: Roam the Meadows

Subsequent Chapters | 02 | 03 | 04 | Loading...

Second — Point of View.

Perspective of Y/n L/n.

A yawn left your throat, stretching your arms up to rid of the slight numbing that happened when you were asleep. Taking a small look on your bedroom window, a small smile forms on your lips. You set yourself to the side, grabbing your blanket off of you and standing up from your bed and taking two steps that led you to your windowsill. Having a cramped place is something that you’re used to since you were born, having moved into Paris two years ago. You feel this sense of being truly at home when the place is small, is it just you?

You set one of your elbows on the windowsill, bringing your palm under your chin as you look at the view of cars, people, and animals down below. Then you saw some people wearing backpacks and crossing the road, right then you finally realized something. You slightly jolt off from the windowsill, with a look of shock and worry. It's Monday..! You don't get to do extra things when you're supposed to be going to school right about now! Y/n— you idiot..! You lightly hit yourself in the head a few times, and then begin to get ready for school.

By the time you are finished showering, brushing your teeth, and getting dressed. Your mother looked you up and down with an unamused expression and a sigh left her lips. “Y/n, are you really going to school like that?” You gave your mother a nervous laugh and kissed her cheek. “Sorry mom, but I'll be late if I take any more time..!” You say, chugging the glass of water from the dining table, which you almost activated your gag reflex from doing so, thankfully your throat mercy you from it for now.

“Slow down, Y/n..! Haist..” You let out another laugh and apologize, before meeting yourself out and closing the door behind you. You drop your shoulders with a small sigh, holding your bookbag from one hand and the other hugging the three textbooks to your chest. “I better hurry, or I'll definitely be late..” You mumble under your breath, you increase your speed as you walk down the sidewalk. Eyes widening when people are already crossing the pedestrian lane from a few steps ahead.

You outright ran, if you can't catch it there's no saying you’ll be able to catch your class too! Your hair flew down your vision, making it hard to see, you blew air from your lips trying to somehow get it away from your sight. You then had to make a very risky halt, you stumble a bit but you catch your footing fortunately enough. You look back at the traffic light, only to be a bit disappointed that you were late to actually cross.

You set your attention forward towards the sidewalk across the pedestrian lane. Although, your eyebrows knitted together in confusion as to why an old person is still passing across the busy road. Your mind almost did a factory reset, as you sprinted forward and gently grabbed the old man’s arm and led him over and into the safe part of the road.

That was close, you're glad you acted on instinct and possibly saved the old man’s life. “Thank you, young lady.. That was brave of you to do that.” He smiles, and you ended up sending him one of your own. “It's no problem, I couldn't just watch and not do something about it…” The old man nodded and said thank you once again, with you shaking your head saying it's completely alright.

You wipe the small sweat that formed on your forehead with the back of your hand. Patting your pockets, then waist, you jerk your head up in realization. You dropped your textbooks..! Oh no..! Turning your head back to the other side of the road, you didn't expect a familiar bluenette girl trying to wave at you. Struggling to hold the many items in her hands, a few of them — your textbooks.

“Uhm, you dropped this.. I suppose the least I could do is bring it back to you.” The girl said with a chuckle, you giggle back politely taking your textbooks from her hands. “Thank you..” You say, as the old man looks back and forth between the both of you. “How nice of her to do that.” The old man says, making the bluenette girl scratch the back of her head. "It's nothing really.. I-I’ll be going now..!” She waves to the both of you, turning her back and walking towards the school.

“Thank you again, young lady.. I’ll be on my way now as well.” The old man says, and you nod. You hold your textbooks tight against your chest, and you heave a breath. Continuing your walk to school, you're definitely late now, but it was worth being late for.

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You sat down on your seat from the back after apologizing to Ms Bustier. You attempt to place your hand onto the desk before taking a seat, although your hand landed on a soft surface, making you take it away in embarrassment when you found out it was your seatmate’s hand. The redhead boy seems to have his cheeks reddened as well, and he hides his face slightly in his sketchbook down the desk.

“S-Sorry.. didn't mean to.” You say with a small smile, Nathaniel looks back at you, only replying with a nod. You set your stuff aside, finally taking a seat and trying to listen to the lesson Ms Bustier was talking about. You could easily be lost in the topic sometimes, mostly because — even if you deny it deep inside. You're not difficult to be distracted with anything else, you try to focus all the time but the chances are too small sometimes.

That's why you are obligated to ask your seatmate or classmates about the topic and if they could explain it to you again. You were sure that your classmates or friends in your hometown were probably happy when your parents announced that you were moving out. You're just difficult to handle, and pity showers all over you and that’s why they swallow their words before agreeing about explaining it to you once more.

You sort of realized that a bit too late though.. which ended up lowering your self-esteem then, you should really start to be more independent when it comes to your studies… You're certain, you'll only get nowhere if you were to continue down that path of dependending on someone.

A tap has been made on your shoulder, making you flinch and turn to your seatmate. “I- uh.. C-Class is over…” He points out softly, your eyes switches to the front seeing students leave one by one. You scream internally, as you send Nathaniel a smile. The redhead looks away momentarily at that, with a small tinted blush. “T-Thank you for telling me..! Sorry..!” You grabbed your bookbag and your textbooks, before scurrying your way down the small stairs and out of the classroom.

Y/n.. What are you doing… that thought of getting nowhere by yourself will probably be your fate at this point. You shake your head, attempting to think of something else. Slow progress is the answer.. there's still classes that you need to attend, so maybe next class will be your start?

Sigh.. you hope so.

You're finally home after a long day at school.. you could say that there's one or two things that you paid attention to today. One — being getting to class, and Two — being trying to help an old man cross the road safely. Nothing about education though, isn't that great..?

Leaving your bookbag and textbooks down to the floor next to your bed, you walk towards your desk. Sitting on your chair, and laying your head down on the surface. You blankly stare down onto the plain designs of your desk, trying to think of something to be able to focus more on your education.

What method would you use? You don't frankly have a plan also, well- you could think of one right now..! Uh- you just need time to think and then the idea will be there soon enough! You close your eyes, before opening them back, and a small groan leaves your lips after. You can't express your thoughts if you can't write it down.. your extra notebooks helped with those kinds of things well.

Now.. where is your pen, hm…

You sat back up comfortably, scanning your desk for some pen that you probably scattered around somewhere and forgot about tidying it up. Although — you suddenly caught sight of an unfamiliar looking black box. Curious, you lift it up from the corner of your desk, and see the neat type of designs it has on the top of it. Did your mom leave it here? Maybe she did, atleast she is the most likely person that you thought of doing something like this.

Either way, you might as well see what's inside.. you slowly open the small box, attempting to take a peak before it even fully opens. Suddenly — a glowing bright light flashes from the box, making you squint your eyes and move the box away from your face. Placing it down on the desk, you cover your eyes a bit before the light finally shines down.

You took another peak from in between your fingers, your vision came in eye-to-eye with a bug — looking small creature. “W-What..? Are you..?” You immediately stood up from your chair and backed away, you were confused but a bit scared. But you stayed calm, which seems to be working in your favor.

“Hi, Y/n! You have been chosen to be the beholder of the Ladybug Miraculous!” You blinked a few times at that, as the small creature continued to talk. “And I'm Tikki, your Kwami..!” She says with a high pitched and cheerful voice. But her expression changes after a few seconds, as if she's giving you time to manage your situation. “But unfortunately we don't have much time, Y/n! Paris is currently in danger with the akumanization! And they need you..!” Your mouth falls agape at that. Paris? Need you? Why? Danger? Akumanization? Huh..?

This isn't making much sense, but then you heard the loud screams of the people outside and followed by an evil sounding laughter. Your heart beats in panic, as you look towards your bedroom window. “I-I can't possibly — no.. how can I..!” You look around, and Tikki immediately knows that kind of look on your face. You're definitely scared, she floats over to the ladybug earrings and stops you before you even attempt to leave your room.

“Y/n.. calm down. I know we're asking a lot from you, but there's nobody else that can stop this besides you! You need to capture the akuma of the victim..!” Tikki said with a hint of desperation from her voice, she flew down to your hand, gently placing the earrings on your palm. “W-What do you mean..? H-How do I even do that..?” You question, looking at the earrings on your hand with bewilderment.

“Put the earrings on, it’ll grant you special powers. Say — Tikki, spots on! To make you transform into a superheroine. And you say, ‘Lucky charm!’ for your ability.” Tikki explains with a smile, you furrowed your eyebrows in further confusion. “Uhm.. are you sure it’ll work?” You asked, and Tikki nodded her head. Trusting the small creature’s words, you put on the earrings on each side of your ear.

You couldn't believe this is even happening, being a superhero is the least you expected to be in your life! How could they be sure that you won't fail at it too? Tikki waves her small hands in front of you to get your attention, which she succeeded. Gosh, you need to stop dozing off, didn't she say people need you right now? “Uh- sorry.. spots on— wait! Right, your name first—” You let out a half gasp, when the small creature suddenly descended towards you and into the earring.

You immediately transformed into a new, red and black suit. Black being the spots as a ladybug would have, a complete few on your hands presenting gloves. A signature small ladybug on the black dot to the side of your collarbone, a yoyo wrapped around your waist. Down to your feet, kinda looks like boots painted black. With red lines marking a portion of it with a unique design that sort of reminds you of pin clips. Three of both sides, layering top to bottom as a design. As the red lines draw a straight line beneath the markings from up to all the way down the bottom of your feet.

Your hair grew half length — only down in the middle, looking like a hair tail. Two red long thin fabric ties it down, and a red — half black dots to one side and a half white dots mask covers the upper part of your face. It feels weird wearing something too fit on your body, hugging your curves, every area. You grab a small mirror from your drawer, looking at yourself for a bit.

“This.. is strange.” You mumbled, not going to get a few more seconds to yourself though as you heard another scream emerging from outside. “R-Right..! I need to help people!” Opening your bedroom window, you quickly get out of your room and oh dear — you hold for dear life the moment you see the height from below, nervously hugging the walls.

“T-Tikki..! Uh- nope! I can't do this..” You close your eyes, inching yourself back to your room. “Wait.. what is this?” You grab the yoyo from around your waist, looking at it for a second. “A yoyo..? Ah.. I guess this could help me.” You slip the open string in your ring finger, holding the yoyo tight. Before letting out a breath, and walking back to your window.

“This should work, right?” You tell yourself, well- it better work or you’ll fall to your death! You can't have that, not at a time like this at least! You threw your yoyo up towards a nearby chimney, the look of surprise on your face when it actually clung around it. You hold the string tight, hovering over the windowsill, preparing yourself.

So.. Do you need to just jump down and see what happens? You slightly tug on to the string- a BIG mistake on your part, as it propelled you up the sky. “AAHH!” You screamed, waiting for the moment you hit a hard surface. Only to end up hitting another body as well, the female yells in panic, as you both stumble down the roof and into a balcony. You both close your eyes, having a split second of seeing the concrete ground of the balcony.

But you and the girl only swing back and forth, strings trapping both your bodies. And you were thankful it saved you two from meeting the concrete ground, it might've just caused you both concussion and maybe even pass out if that happened. “I-I.. oh- hello?” You blink a couple of times, meeting two ocean blue eyes staring back at you.

“Uhm.. Hi?” The awkward situation was definitely rising, and you don't even know how to untangle both of you from this yoyo. You notice she seems to have a mask too, gray and light pink colored mask and her bluenette hair is lifted and styled into two buns. She kinda reminded you of someone, but couldn't place your finger on it.

“D-Do you know h-how to get us out of this..?” She stuttered and you felt bad, she's clearly uncomfortable, and you are too, but you really have no idea how to undo this. “I'm sorry, but I don't know.. sorry for getting you into this mess. I'm new to this…” You explain with a hint of a smile to reassure her, she shakes her head and smiles back.

“No, it's alright.. I'm new too, so that's a start.” She giggled, you then switched your gaze when you heard something. A person with a black suit comes to your level of vision, sparkling an idea from you. He appears to have a mask as well, and it's not like he's the one people are running from. Could it be that he's a superhero too..? Well- worth a try, you need to get out of this mess quickly.

“Hey, you..! We need help!” You yelled, and his eyes made contact with yours. His lips formed into that of a grin, and you were second guessing yourself if you made the right choice of calling out for him. He could potentially be a villain — this is bad, you can't possibly risk this girl’s safety when it's your fault.

You try to wiggle from the strings, creating momentum, you look back at the black masked guy. And he seems to be making his way right now, making his staff as a bridge to go across the other roof. You could feel panic building, and you didn't even notice how the bluenette girl was asking you to stop moving. But when the figure comes closer, you try everything you could think of to undo those strings.

And it was only luck that you got to move your ring finger where the point of the string is. Making a slight force forward, which was enough for the yoyo to loosen as it is entitled to come back to its original position. The bluenette gasped, both of your bodies meeting the ground.

But you quickly stood from the floor and looked up, quickly swung your yoyo towards that black suited person’s ankle, luckily it latched around it making him lose balance and fall upside down. “Woah- woah! What's going on, ladies?” You furrowed your eyebrows, having a closer look at him now. Now that you think about it, he does resemble a cat. Especially with that long tail and tipped ears.

“You're not evil, are you?” You asked, making the bluenette girl beside you and the blonde blink twice at your accusation. “I'm kinda hurt, Ms– uh Bug? It's my first time on the job!” He announced with a sly voice and a formed smirk. You look at him with a raised eyebrow, as the bluenette girl blankly stared at him, seemingly unamused.

“Well, you don't seem like a threat now..” You say with a finger under your chin, squinting your eyes at him. “See? Now would you do the honor and let this innocent kitty go, purlease~?” You sigh and close your eyes momentarily, he seems to be on the good side. Mainly because you hear a lot of chaos coming at sort of a middle range. You already screwed up, why were you chosen for this.. “I'm sorry..”

You could feel movement from your yoyo’s string, and your hand slowly moving forward. You jolted, seeing the sly feline getting up close and personal with a grin plastered across his lips. “I mean- I wouldn't mind a small kiss for an apology, Cuddlebug.” He says with a flirtatious tone, you stare lightly down, his hand did hold onto the yoyo’s string as you thought. His attempts of flirtation makes you feel sort of uncomfortable, and you accidentally pull on your yoyo when you were thinking of creating distance.

Resulting in the feline falling down, you hold out your hand to try to catch him and you and the bluenette flinch when a thud has been made. “I-Is he okay?” A voice coming from behind you asked with worry, you just shake your head. You need to make sure he's alright, you hovered over the railings, and even though you were scared. You proceeded to jump off — “W-What are you, stop!” The bluenette yelled, and squinted her eyes shut, her first time being a superhero isn't going very well. What is wrong with her teammates?!

By the time you jumped down, he still seemed very much in contact with the floor, his face colliding onto the ground. There isn't blood, is he unconscious..? You ended up hurting your potential teammate, you're only guessing whoever gave you this opportunity made.. a mistake.

You crouched down, placing the palm of your hand onto the back of his shoulder. And the moment you even open your mouth, his hand grabs your wrist and brings you down with him, tackling you to the ground. You tried to fight back– but he unfortunately got the upperhand and pinned both of your wrists down on either side of your head.

“Let go of me!” You demanded, squirming beneath him. “Don’t worry, you should calm down~ Who am I to harm precious little Cuddlebug~?” Your eye twitched at that, especially wanting to get rid of that smirk off his lips. “Stop calling me that! People are in danger, this is not the time..!” You pointed out, as you turn your head to the side, seeing people running from a distance away.

The blonde cat furrowed his eyebrows in concern, you do have a point. He slowly let go of your wrists and helped you up, noticing the obvious worry in your eyes at the citizens from a distance. He brings your hand against his lips, finally enough for you to turn back to him with slightly widened eyes when you realize he kisses the back of it.

He gave you a genuine smile before apologizing. “I'm sorry, Cuddlebug, You're right, we have an entire city to save.” Your expression eases up, a soft smile forming on your lips. “Apology accepted, Mr Cat. We should probably head dow-” A half scream catches both you and the blonde’s attention. The bluenette girl jumped over the balcony, screaming at the height. You move towards the direction she’ll be falling down from, just in case. But she seems to have made it, stumbling a bit but she got her footing back.

“T-That was scary..” She laughs, fiddling with her fingers. “Yeah, I agree.. but this suit seems to grant us the durability to withstand it.” Both nodded at your small explanation, you turn to look back at the chaos and turn back at them. “Time limit is over, we need to know what's causing all of this..!” You say, running towards it and keeping your yoyo in hand, just in case you had enough build-up confidence to actually use it again along the way.

“Wait for us, Cuddlebug!” The blonde cat yelled following after you.

“W-Wait! Guys-! I-I’m not sure about this..! W-What if…” The bluenette girl sighed, and started following you down the path as well.

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Once you and your teammates were at the place causing chaos around the city. You almost turned around and just about to say screw this whole superhero thing when you saw the large metallic monster ahead. He almost looks like a toy robot come to life, now how are you going to turn that person back to normal..? Tikki says you need to capture an.. akuma? She didn't clarify what it is, how are you even supposed to do this?

You feel a hand over your shoulder, cutting you in your daze. “Hey, Cuddlebug. You alright..?” You turn to look him in the eyes, before lowering your gaze in disappointment. “W-What’s wrong..?” Even the bluenette seems to notice the atmosphere. Your teammates are relying on you, but you don't even know what to actually do to fix all of this. You're all in this together, but you feel like you're suddenly holding the role of their leader.. and if you're being completely honest, you don't want to be. You’ll just let them down.

“I.. I'm lost… how are we even supposed to defeat that villain? There has to be a way, but I have no idea what it is.” You admit in defeat, slightly hanging your head. The blonde’s eyes lit in shock. “I thought you'd probably have a plan with the way you were ready to jump into danger, Cuddlebug..” The blonde cat questioned, and you buried both of your hands against your face, not because you wanted to cry it all away. But you felt guilty about initiating this whole thing and also bringing your teammates into danger.

The three of you clearly have no idea what you're going to do. Inexperienced superheroes are probably the easiest way a villain could defeat without much effort. You didn't even know what you were thinking when you ran all the way over here, you know damn well it has nothing to do with logic. It was stupid of you, but when you heard the screaming citizens and the slowly breaking down of buildings and homes. You knew you had to do something about it somehow, not just stand away from it like a coward.

“Yeah, I know.. but I thought the citizens might need our help, and that's the only thing I went here for…” You say, still burying your face in your hands. The black masked cat felt his heart tightened and beating quite fast. He gave your shoulder a gentle squeeze of reassurance, placing his second hand on your other shoulder. “That's very heroic for you to do, Cuddlebug. Acting on your impulse and wanting to save people, even if you were completely unsure if you had the capabilities to do it.” You lift your face a bit from your fingers, and catch the picture of the blonde’s emerald green eyes.

“I-I think that was brave of you too.. I d-didn't even know if I'd have the courage to show up here if you hadn't led me. Your show of bravery is what got me here, so.. I'm sure we’ll be able to figure it out as a team!” The bluenette cheered, before shrinking her shoulders in embarrassment by how loud she sounded. Their words spike some type of confidence within you, your chest feels light with the guilt washing away from it.

“Thank you, guys.. I appreciate that…” You say, the smile slowly coming back to your lips. There's no doubt that fate made these two your teammates, because if you're probably on your own. You would've given up and told Tikki to bring those earrings back and introduce it to a new and more capable owner than you are. You're just glad, is all.. and happy too, to have teammates like them.

Seeing the smile coloring back to your lips, made the blonde cat’s stomach swarm with butterflies. And he couldn't help himself, and hugged you tightly. You were caught off guard, a bit hesitant but you accepted the hug nonetheless. Although it was short-lived when a laser beams towards the three of you. The bluenette heroine screeched, barely dodging just in time. As the blonde cat attempted to dodge, with you in his arms, even though it worked it got both of you rolling over to the side.

And it ended up once again with the black suited cat on top of you. His smirk immediately made you want to flick him in the forehead but you resisted the urge. “This position isn't the worst kind in the world, right Cuddl—ow!” You let your yoyo bonk him in the head when it falls down and hit him on top. This causes the flirtatious cat to rub his head multiple times, enough time for you to slip away and get up on your feet.

“Are you okay? Here..” You held out your hand to the bluenette, she looked at your hand for a moment before placing hers with yours, pulling her up from the ground. She dusted herself a bit, turning back at you. “Thank you, I'm okay..” You nod your head at her confirmation, before heading your attention back to the villain. “We need to capture some type of akuma, I think.” She looks at you with confusion, and you avert your gaze with a nervous laugh. “Sorry, even I don't know what an akuma is. All I know is, we need to capture it somehow or some way.” You explained, your eyes widening and before she could reply, you grabbed her wrist and ran off.

Fortunately the black suited cat was nearby so you also grabbed his arm before he could even open his mouth to talk. Another loud noise of laser hits through the road, thankfully you three weren't there anymore. You led them slightly away from the scene for a little atleast, to come up with a plan. And though you aren't completely certain, you have an idea of what an akuma could be.

“Alright, I thought of something this time.” You say, looking back and forth at the both of them. “Spill it, Cuddlebug. This cat already has pointed ears.” He winked, you didn't really quite get his joke, but you continue on discussing your plan. “I got a split second observation of the villain, and the giant robot appears to have a shiny looking pendant that's planted in the middle of the robot’s knee.” The blonde stares at you, he definitely didn't get your point at first. But he's acting like he does.

You turn towards him, you're not about to let him be on the battlefield without knowing what to do, it could cause accidents and that's the least that you want right now. “Mr Cat, let me expla-” You were suddenly cut off mid sentence when the flirtatious feline put a finger against your lips. “You're gonna need to come up with a better nickname than that, Cuddlebug~” You sent him a light glare, he's clearly not taking this seriously. You just want nothing but get it over with quickly, before that villain causes anymore destruction to Paris.

“I should just go for it, well— if you and Cuddlebug want to stay here and think about it. Then I'll buy you both some time!” He said towards the bluenette, shrugging his shoulders before turning around and going to the battlefield with just one plan in mind and that is to fight the villain with all he's got? Is he kidding right now? You grabbed a hold of his leather tail, making him turn back to you. “Not a good idea, Kitty. Just bear with me for a second, could you do that for me..?” The masked feline blanked out for a minute, just staring at you.

A small cough then left his throat, as he turn his face away for a bit. A tinted blush covering his cheeks, he doesn't know why he's feeling like this all of a sudden. He nodded his head as a response, earning some relief within you now that he's willing to listen. “Okay, an akuma. It may not be true or it is, but I think that's where a villain gain its power from.” The bluenette girl put a finger under her chin, she seems to get it atleast. And the masked feline is also kind of connecting the dots.

“Think of it as a cherished possession of the villain, if we break it I think that's where we're able to capture the akuma. Or whatever it is, then the last bit is probably how the person will turn back to normal!” You snapped your finger with a bright smile, then you heard soft giggles coming from the masked bluenette. And a warm smile illuminating from the flirtatious cat, your head lowered a bit when he placed his hand above your head.

“Seems like Cuddlebug hit the nail for us, that smile can light up anybody's day. Although, I would prefer if it's only for—” You were obligated to change the subject and into the main topic at hand, you were slightly getting flustered and you had to stop it. “W-We know what to do righ–” Now it's your turn to get cut off, as you heard the masked bluenette’s voice. “R-Really he's right.. you were quick to know the situation than either of us.” She looks away, she's not one to be straightforward and say those things sometimes. But she figured you deserve it.

“Thank you, err–” You trailed off, you haven't really caught her name. She sort of panic, mumbling a few words to herself before finally saying her chosen name. Or should you say, her chosen heroine name. “Y-You could call me Multimouse..” She lightly stuttered with a chuckle. “Alright, thank you for saying that.. Multimouse. It really means a lot..!” The bluenette blushes in embarrassment, saying it's nothing.

“What about me, Cuddlebug! Don't you—” It was your time to shut him up with a finger against his pouty lips. “I appreciate your words too, Mr Cat. So thank you..” You lightly pat his head, before turning towards the way you three came from. “Now let's go and break that villain’s evil possession!” You ran back towards the battlefield, already hearing another shot of laser from the robot. Multimouse was about to follow up behind you, but she hesitated again. W-What if she’ll mess it up..? Although before her mind starts to overthink, she hears the masked feline heave out a breath.

“Am I falling, or did I already fall?” Is what he asked, this only made her facepalm herself at the sight of him holding his chest where his heart is, dazedly staring back to where you ran off to. “I-I’ll leave that to you, she needs us, you know!” With that, she begins to make her way to where you went to as well. Although she's right, the cat made a reply back. “Mousie, this cat just wanted advice!” He yelled with a light laugh, before following after as well.

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You move your yoyo in a circular motion repeatedly, trying to think of a better time to lounge onto the metallic robot. There’s something really unique about that pendant on his knee, it's small but it shines very bright. Which what causes your suspicion in the first place, if anything that's the first thing you’ll try to break when you get close enough that is.

“H-Hey.. thinking about a plan?” You turn to see Multimouse, replying to her question with a nod. “One of us could try to distract it.. but I'm thinking of throwing that to the side since none of us really done this before. Getting hurt is not an option..” For a second, Multimouse looked a bit panicked by what your idea was, but slowly felt relieved right after. “I could try to distract it, Cuddlebug!” Said the masked feline, holding up a grin.

“No can do, Mr Cat. There's another and more safe way to approach the—” You try to reason, but the feline seems more interested in going all in. You never doubt that he's a total cat in general with how he's getting difficult to reason with. “Aww you care about me, Cuddlebug? Don't worry, there's no such thing as a cat without fast reflexes.” He says, lifting up his bicep as if to make a point.

“Also— Cataclysm!” Now you are extra confused, even Multimouse scratches the side of her cheek looking baffled. “What is that? A power up?” You asked with curiosity, you don't quite remember Tikki saying anything about a power up, or are you just being you again? “Sort of? But don't come close, Cuddlebug! A small creature said — I can destroy anything I touch with this ability, I don't want the two of you getting near it.” He says, backing up a few steps away.

“Good thinking, how about you, Multimouse? Do you have an ability?” This changes the whole thing, using your abilities to your advantage is a huge step to the right direction. “I think so..? I remember a certain word, hm.. Multi– Multitide..? E-Eh.. M-Multi.. oh-! Multitude..!” Her ability activated, seeing her jumping rope lighten up in a bright light pink. She touches it, holding it with her two hands, before suddenly she starts shrinking.

You and the masked feline watched in surprise, seeing multiple tiny versions of Multimouse gathered looking at each other. And the original Multimouse was shaken up, looking up to the both of you. The masked feline stood back, while you were crouching down placing your knee to the ground. You lower both of your hands for the tiny Multimouses to walk over to.

“How adorable, your ability matches that of a real mouse.” You say with a close-eyed smile, you then turn a bit behind you to see the masked feline. Although to your major shock, he wasn't there anymore, and instead he's already in front of the villain attempting to challenge it with a cocky smirk. “T-That idiot feline..!” You dart your eyes around, desperate to think of a plan to turn this around.

Your luck is unbelievably low with how you only thought of a few things but nothing led up to a secured and high chance of succeeding. “This luck is against me.. wait.” You gasped, gently putting the Multimouses in one hand, and your free hand grabbed your yoyo from your waist. “Lucky charm..?” Your yoyo immediately lights up, the brightness making you accidentally drop it to the ground.

An object was created from the yoyo, the item being plastered with red and black dots all over. “Huh..? A screwdriver? What is this for..?” You look back at the villain, still seeing the feline dodge and fight back against it. If you do say so yourself, he's doing a great job surviving so far. You squint your eyes, your vision lining up with hints on plain sight.

Then suddenly.. an idea finally popped up. And you didn't waste anymore time and ran towards where the masked feline is currently fighting. “Hey, Mr Cat! Have you used your ability yet..!?” You yelled, hoping it was enough for him to hear you as you came closer and closer with your pace. His ear twitched, giving you a glance from a distance. “Yeah I did! I tried to hit the center of the object, but I ended up using my ability below the item!” He clarified, hearing a second beep from his ring.

You take a look at what the masked feline is talking about, your eyes suddenly perking up. “Perfect..! Nice job, Mr Cat!” You say, and the black suited feline’s lips lift up into a silly grin, maybe he just couldn't contain the giddiness even though what came out of your mouth was only a simple compliment. “Always at your mercy, Cuddlebug!” You catch a small wind of his words, although wanting to focus and not ruin this perfect opportunity — you gave the screwdriver to the tiny Multimouses in your one hand.

“W-What will we use this for..?” The original Multimouse questions with a hint of nervousness. “From further observation of our enemy, there's screws that become visible to us when our other teammate uses his ability.” You trail off, before continuing. “That grants us a chance to remove those screws, and possibly remove that odd looking possession in the robot’s knee!” You say, with a hint of hope.

“Since you're tiny, and you are multiplied. I'm going to need you to get into there and unscrew those screws for us. And don't worry, I'll do my best to get you in there safely. Sounds good?” You smile softly, wanting to provide your teammate some reassurance before you could send her to the mission. You could see the hesitation on the original Multimouse’s face, but she quickly shook her head and nodded with new found confidence.

“Great, let's try our best.” You spare a short glance at the masked feline to see how he's holding up, only to see the evident bewilderment in his face. You turn back your attention to the mini Multimouses in your hand, there has to be a way to secure them before you go ahead and decide it's time to meet the villain face to face. Your hand is definitely not secured enough for them, though. You look down at your yoyo, holding it under your armpit and start twisting it to see if it’ll magically unlock or something. And — it failed, it did not unlock whatsoever. You sigh, pressing the top of the yoyo and to your initial surprise. It opened, it was all blank white inside it seems. Either way, you think it's safe enough for the Multimouses to go through for the time being.

The black suited feline keeps looking down to his ring, his only guess is his power is running out, and who knows if it’ll change him back forcefully after the five bars on his ring runs out. He doesn't want to stay around to find out though, how risky that would be. And the minute he even decided to go back to a safe place, just in case his theory was right. You suddenly came into the picture, running at full speed towards the large metallic robot.

The slits in the masked feline’s pupils turned even smaller. What are you thinking..?! He definitely doesn't want to stand here and make sense of your action, he needs to get to you now! “C-Cuddlebug! I don't think that's—” He was about to go ahead and lift himself up with his staff to have a better chance of catching up to you. But he suddenly stood still, inkling emerald eyes watching your every move.

He glances at how precise your movement is, repeatedly motioning your yoyo in a circle with undefeatable determination. And as your eyes caught the perfect time to tackle said opportunity, you did so with no mercy. You swung your yoyo around the robot’s leg, gulping down your remaining bits of fear as you managed to stick yourself to the sides of the metal. Holding onto your yoyo’s strings tightly, as your hand catches a grip of the small opened area that the feline earlier destroyed.

You undo your yoyo, making it come back to your hand, holding it tight. You tap once again on the base of your yoyo, making it open up and reveal the Multimouses that's looking up at you. You gave them a warm smile, before letting them walk out of your yoyo on their own once they feel ready. And one by one, they left the dimension of your yoyo and into the metal storage of the robot. You hand them the screwdriver, and it almost fell out of your hand when the robot stomped his foot in terms of wanting you out of that specific area.

The Multimouses held the black spotted red screwdriver and in sync nodded their heads. You gave them a small wave, before unfortunately losing your level of traction against the metal, earning a yelp from your throat as you fell down. You forgot your yoyo’s weren't supporting your position anymore, with due panic — you did try to shoot your yoyo back to anywhere it could be wrapped around to. But the timing seems too late, and you then land into an unfamiliar type of softness. Only to realize that the knowing masked feline has you caught up in his arms, and just like earlier. You were welcome to by a sly smirk on his lips.

“Didn't know falling could be this, purrfect~!” There's really a lot of questionable things with your feline teammate, you only guess you are going to be dealing with that for as long as you survive as a superheroine. You brush his kitty puns aside, replying back with a thank you, he did save you after all. “Thanks, Mr Cat. I won't doubt those reflexes anymore.” You lightly laugh, ready to be put down and stand on your own again.

A beep has been made from your earring, you place a finger on top of it. Well, that doesn't sound very positive, a bit concerning. You hear another beep, and it seems like the feline heard it too. “Two bars, I think that's a sign I don't have much time left, Cuddlebug.” He says, peeking a bit at his ring to confirm the charges. “I think so too, that's not a good sign.” Seeing your worried look, he couldn't fight a chuckle. “Adorable.. and you got three dots left, Cuddlebug.” He says, looking at your beeping earring. You still wonder why this masked feline isn't setting you to the ground yet, this is not a time for chit-chatting that's for sure.

“O-Oh.. then hopefully Multimouse—” A laser beam strikes in an angled spot, as you and the masked feline caught sight of the robot’s shiny pendant drops from quite a height. The villain expresses anger, whoever is the victim in there, you could only thank the heavens as it has very sloppy movements. The pendant drops to the ground, making it break in the process. You could only feel your eyes perk up in impending happiness. Was that the akuma Tikki was talking about?

You immediately tapped the feline's collarbone in sign to drop you down. Although he only gave you a lopsided grin, and started running towards it with you still in his arms. “I could take you there, Cuddlebug.” He says, earning a soft sigh from your lips. “What a stubborn feline..” You mumble under your breath, the masked feline’s ear twitched hearing your voice clearly. Which dragged his mouth to let out another chuckle.

As you two roughly made it to the broken item, a purple mixture of black colored butterfly flew out of it. Is that the akuma..? You lift up your yoyo, looking at it, only one way to find out. You clearly know how to catch it or if there's anything you need to say for the akuma to be captured. But there is one thing you know, you could trap it in the dimension of your yoyo. At least for now, since you have no idea.

You tapped your yoyo, as it opened up smoothly. “Is that the akuma you're talking about, Cuddlebug?” You gave him a glance, before shrugging your shoulders. “I'm certain it is, even if it's not. I'm not taking any chances.” You shot your attention back to the flying butterfly, steadying your heartbeat. Chances are you could still catch it, you closed your eyes. Hearing a few people's cries, some were asking if any of them were okay, some were asking with a shake in their voices of who those masked people were in a suit. Some.. with desperation in their voices.

You can't let this slide, not in this situation. With that, you let your instincts guide you in this level of accuracy. Targeting your yoyo at the high level of distances the butterfly has gained. It was only a miracle that you succeed in one thing, and you’ll not have it any other way. “Caught it..!” A bright smile forms on your slightly trembling lips. A clumsy thud has been made from a few distance away, you turn towards it. Seeing Multimouse back to her original form, she quickly made her way towards both you and the masked feline.

“W-We did it..?” A small smile elevated from the bluenette’s face. As she softly grabs your hand, returning back the screwdriver from you. “Seems like we did, I'm glad..” You say with a lightened expression, though the blonde feline looked at his ring again, and also a beeping sound emerges from the masked bluenette's necklace. “You should go, Mr Cat.. You're running out of charges, you also Multimouse.” The girl infront of you blink rapidly for a second.

“If you say so, Cuddlebug. I’ll see you when I claw by..!” You spare him a small giggle, this masked feline and his puns. Well, it's not all terrible, which is good. He gestures a salute as a farewell, before he stops in the middle and looks back with a hesitant laugh as if he just realized something.

“Uh- Cuddlebug.. didn't you say something about turning everything back? Or is it just the victim..?” The masked feline pointed at the kneeling robot from behind you.

You blinked twice.

Multimouse blinked as well.

The three of you are looking at each other.

But mostly the attention is on your form.

You gave them a nervous laugh..

“Uhm.. about that.”

Subsequent Chapters | 02 | 03 | 04 | Loading...

[batstorm93672]

What about a story where Damian has an avent like a art competition or something and Damian told his family and he's really excited to show them what he did but no one shows up because they either forgot or they thought it was on another day and Damians really upset that no one came to support him but doesn't say anything because he doesn't want to seem like a kid and than someone remembers and asks when it is and he tells them that it already past and he won. I've thought about for awhile if you can't tell.

"Father, there is... an event at school. I've signed up due to talent in art and I have already extended invitation to the rest of the family. I would be happy if you could come"

He was obviously shy on even asking, yet he looked hopefully up at Bruce. "Of course, it's always amazing to see your art. When is it?" "Here is the paper"

They all said they would, so why is no one here? He can't even begin to recall how many adults he saw enter with smiles as they looked at their child's art. He understands why Bruce might not be able to come... but not even Alfred or Dick? They would make time for him right? Did they not care? Others went past his and complimented the work, he would smile which would never reach his eyes.

Even when awarded for first place he smiled yet felt no pride or joy. He asked everyone... and no one came.

The bell mainly used to know when to go to the next class, rung to show that time is up.

Damian slung his bookbag strap over his shoulder and left, clutching the ribbon they awarded him. A blue ribbon with a shiny gold "1st Place" plastered on it. Tacky yet it held value. Getting in the car with Alfred at the helm.

"Greetings Master Damian, how was school today?"

"It was well Pennyworth" The tip of his tongue the question remained "Why didn't any of you show?" Yet he bit his tongue, he isn't a child, he won't whine or complain about it like a five year old.

.

The day went on, dinner was uneventful and no one seemed to even remember. Or did they not care?

Aren't they proud? They always urge me to do things that any child would yet they don't even show. They said they would and they lied. Tt. Don't know why I even try at this point, it was a mistake to even sign up in the first place.

Two days later during breakfast, Damian believed that he would go another day fuming over the event.

"Damian, when is that art show at your school? Did you finish your project?" Everyone looked expectant as they awaited the answer. Damian stabbed at his food harshly and frowned. "It was two days ago, I got first place"

It got silent, then an uproar of apologies.

"I thought it was tomorrow!"

"Oh my god Damian I'm sorry!"

"Shit two days!? How the hell did I forget?"

"Crap I had it saved on my phone too!"

"Oh no I mixed it up!"

"I'm so sorry"

"Tt. Stop lying, it's unbecoming of you all. If you didn't care to show then say that"

"Master Damian we always care for your work. The mistake is upon us for forgetting your special event"

"Dames why didn't you say anything?"

"I assumed you didn't care to show, so I thought it best not to whine like a toddler"

Bruce held Damian's hand and looked to be full of regret "We're so sorry for not making it. How can we make it up to you?" Damian moved his hand away from Bruce's and crossed his arms. "I don't need your pity. It's over, no use dwelling in it"

"Son please, we want to make it up. May we see the finished project?"

"It's in my room"

They all followed.

Highly detailed realistic colored painting of Titus, Alfred the cat and Ace sleeping by each other as a stream of sunlight was casted over them peeking from the curtain window. The details were immaculate, as was the guilt.

"I... thought none of you cared to show, I was really excited to be there. I wanted to try and no one showed. I wasn't even glad I won, honestly the ribbon feels dull"

"Damian we are so sorry. We can do whatever you want if it can help show how much we regret missing your event"

"You... really didn't mean to miss the event? You all wanted to go?"

"Of course we did. It's our fault we mixed the dates up, we love to see your work out there and it's amazing you got first place. We just wish we were there to see it"

"Okay... can we go out to the arcade?"

"We can spend the day doing whatever you want. Let's get ready to go out"

[deluxewhump]

Erik's Journals pt 9 (2023)

17. An Elemental Rust

Ruin is formal — Devil's work Consecutive and slow —

May, 2023

After the weekend in Virginia, I didn’t speak to Carlo for over a month. I was busy, truly, and part of it was my instinct to let out what I had reeled in, give him space and time and see if he would bite the proverbial hook again of his own volition.

I was not at all surprised when he texted me late one Friday night in early May. I was at dinner with two new colleagues, but it was informal. They were deep in their cups and loud - ordering dessert and speaking of something that happened ten years ago with the wet nostalgia that is often brought on by a few shared bottles of wine. I didn't wait to open his text.

-Max is leaving Monday to help open a new branch for Spartan in Albuquerque, he'd written.

I wondered for a moment what this had to do with me. Then I realized opening a branch of any operation takes time.

-How long does Max expect to be in the land of enchantment?

Three dots appeared almost immediately at the bottom of the screen.

-Could be 3 months

-Are you going?

He said he wasn’t. That he had summer classes and had to take them to graduate on time. And that he had to graduate on time, because he was attending Grad school there beginning the following January. Grad school, I thought. Carlo. How time flies. 

Funny he contacted me tonight. I’d just been thinking of him, sitting on my shaded back porch with a drink this afternoon. I’d remembered so vividly the time the men had clumsily broken his finger out in the warehouse and he came to me out there on the back porch, not knowing what else to do, pale and queasy with pain. That's what he did when he was in pain. He came to me for help, but would not complain of it outright.

-And will you stay alone there?  I probed.

A rhyme came to my head, a Dr Seuss-ism my mother used to say under her breath in her later years that had never left me, like the radio announcer that used to sign off by saying “and that’s all the news from lake Wobegon.” All alone, she’d say in her faded Swedish singsong accent. Whether you like it or not, alone will be something you’ll be quite a lot!

-Yes. Carlo answered me quickly. -Or with Jude sometimes I guess.

He guessed. I smiled. He’d drown right in front of me before outright asking for a lifeline.

All alone in those big woods? I wanted to tease.

-You have a room here always, Carlo. I typed instead, getting right to the point.

-Really?

-Did you even have to ask?

-I might take you up on it, if you mean it.

-I wouldn’t offer if I didn’t want you to take me up on it. Come see me whenever you’re ready. I’m here.

He waited until Max had been gone a week to show up at my door with a bookbag and a suitcase. I gave him a room on the same floor as mine, pine floored with scattered rugs, a queen sized bed with fresh cream linens, a writing desk, an armoire, a dresser, bedside tables with matching lamps, and its own attached half bath. I didn’t want him in his old room. Too many conflicting memories, I’d imagine. I wondered why he’d waited a week, but remembered it was Carlo. He’d wait until he was sure he was lonely up there in the hills and sit and chew on the hurt for a while until he imposed on me.

“I don’t know why you’re avoiding me,” I said on his second night as he passed my study on near silent bare feet.

He backtracked and stuck his head in the open door. “I’m not.”

“You are,” I said, closing my laptop. “Like you don’t want me to remember you’re here and be bothered by your presence. Come in, Lo.”

He came inside. He was wearing a slate gray thermal and a pair of black jeans, barefoot and messy haired, with a thin black cord necklace that disappeared below the collar of his shirt. I saw him at once as he is now, this tall young man in my study, and as he was when he was sixteen and too skinny, both longing to be in my shadow and afraid of it. His eyes drifted over the bookshelf, the record player in the corner. He ran his finger over the spines of vinals I had stacked on the table. “Have I never seen these?”

“My parents. I inherited them. Too sentimental to throw them out.”

He looked at me, gently questioning.

“My father passed this past November. My sister and her lawyers handled most of the estate. I collected a few things.”

“I’m sorry,” he said politely. He sounded like he really was.

“Thank you. When do your summer classes start?”

“Monday.”

“Anything you're excited for?"

He grimaced. “Kind of. I’m a little nervous.”

“Why?”

“The summer classes are like, three hour blocks. You sit with the same people for hours. And the classes are always smaller. It's kind of weirdly intimate. I don't know. I still don’t feel like I really belong there. Like I’m a spy, or a hack. Me and my fake credentials.”

I tilted my head at him. “They are excellent credentials. I procured them myself.”

“Yeah,” he huffed. “Not doubting your ability to create a false identity. I just mean… you know.” He shook his head, dismissing himself.

“It’s not false,” I offered. “It’s as real as anyone else’s pieces of paper. Any other number. Anyone who isn’t a complete fool has a little imposter syndrome. It’s humility. And self awareness. It’s a good thing.”

He nodded. “I guess so.”

He didn’t believe me. I wondered where he’d be if I left him alone that night, with his sloppy drunk keeper looking to make a quick profit off him. I wondered what he’d be like if he’d been born into affluent easiness, not the kind I gave him as a pet but as someone’s son.

“Hey,” I said, in a voice that got him to look at me directly still, after all this time. “You were always my very best company. You’ve always been wanted here.”

He was quiet, deciding whether or not to say something. Eventually he did.

“I have a dream sometimes where everyone at school knows what I am somehow. What I was.”

“And what happens?”

“They treat me weirdly. Of course. It’s that feeling when you walk into a room and realize everyone’s just been talking about you.”

I stood, rounding my desk and going to stand shoulder to shoulder with him. He watched me take a record out of its sleeve and place it on the track, lower the needle. Edith Piaf filled the study with her songbird French, scratchy and somehow removed in the way an old record sounds, frozen in another time.

“That’s why I kept you out of that damned trial,” I said, looking at the dusty record jacket, the list of tracks. “Only a private investigator could find out who you were, your ties to me. And are any of your fellow students in the business of hiring PI’s to stalk their classmates?”

He smiled sadly. “No, Sir. But Jude knows. And Stella Abend. And some of Max’s friends. And one of his ex-girlfriends, Elle.”

“A rather long list. Still,” I said, feeling it my duty to reassure him. “I doubt any paths will cross where it becomes common knowledge. I would say what does it matter if they do, but I understand your desire for privacy. It’s not anyone’s business.”

He lay his head on my shoulder. I reached up and placed a hand on his hair.

“I just didn’t want you to be sick of me.”

I let my smile creep into my voice. “So you admit now you were avoiding me.”

He didn’t answer.

“Lo,” I said, turning to pull him close to me. He lay his cheek on my shoulder, gave me some of his weight to hold. I held him. “I’m honored you want to be here. That you trust me like you do now.”

“I always did,” he said softly.

Either he was taking back what he’d said last fall when he’d said he’d always been a little fearful of me, or he was talking about something more general. Or perhaps faith and fear could fit in the same hand.

“Was that Martin Olsen on the phone earlier?” he asked.

“The very same.”

“He did a speech at MVU my Freshman year.”

“They’ll really let anyone have a podium for an hour,” I said dryly, aware of the poor quality of the joke. “What was he speaking about?”

He shrugged. "Can't remember. I left. I really don’t like him.”

“He's given you no reason to.”

“I always got the strong sense he wanted to fuck me. Or beat me. Both.”

I laughed at the unexpected crassness, pulled back and held his pretty vulgar face in my hands. His skin felt cool, so I knew my hands must feel warm to him. I held him only for a moment and let him go. “I never let him anywhere near you.”

“I feel bad for his pets. Does he still have pets?”

“I think so. Don’t think too hard on it. And he’s more talk than action. He gets bored of them quickly, and then it’s business as usual.”

He pouted. “I used to be afraid you’d let him borrow me.”

Why this? Why now? I knew why. Because he wanted me to sweet talk him. I took the black cord necklace out from under his shirt collar. On a delicate metal loop was a small brass pendant, like an old minted coin, hexagonal and containing something illegible on each side, some Arabesque script or hieroglyph. I put it back inside his shirt against his hot skin.

“I’d never let anyone borrow you,” I said in a hushed tone. “You were mine. For me. Forever. I’d never let anyone else hurt you.”

His eyes were low. “Anyone else?”

“I don’t deny I’ve hurt you. Sometimes it was for your own good. But I protected you, too. I’ll protect you now. You know I want you to have your freedom. You’re a good pet, but it’s a waste. You have more to give the world than that. The world has more to give you.”

“Max would not be happy if he knew I was here.”

Throwing chips on the table to land as they may, I see. In anyone else I would be annoyed at all this fishing and driving, but in Carlo it was exactly what I wanted from him. I got the sense he was only like this with me.

“He'd think you were in some kind of danger here. You and I know you’re not. You can trust your instincts, Carlo.” I brushed my knuckles against his cheek. “You’re home here, too. I’m not going to hurt you.”

“It would disappoint him,” Carlo told me. I listen to what little bits he gives me about his secretive relationship with Max. My gentle and generous talk had melted his protective caution about his other life. “He’s like a dad. But also only thirty-four. He was only five years older than I am now when I met him. I think of that sometimes. It trips me out.”

“Do you want him to be like a father to you?”

Carlo rolled his eyes. “Sometimes. Yeah. I love him. But there’s things I can’t ever make him understand. You know what things.”

“And what am I like?”

He fixed his dark eyes on mine, wondering what he could say. “You’re my master,” he said quietly, afraid of the power in those words.

“You’re not a pet,” I reminded him, though I was pleased.

“Doesn’t seem to matter. I’m still your pet. Right? Am I wrong? Is that only in my head?”

“You will always be my pet,” I told him, knowing he wanted to hear it. “You were my only. I don’t take the responsibility of that lightly. I never did.”

He nodded, swallowing hard. “Thank you. For just saying it. No one will just say anything. I feel crazy sometimes.”

“No,” I said with the neat finality of authority he craved from me. “No, angel. You’re not anywhere near.”

18. Rules of Thumb

June 2023

When I returned home last night, Carlo was unmistakably sulking in my living room, and I made the mistake as to being curious why. He’d seen me get out of the car with Tatiana and put her in a cab, I soon discovered. He was more interested in a confrontation and getting a reaction out of me than hiding why he was upset. Look at me, his eyes said as they followed me, his shoulders and jaw set in the same agonized way. Don’t ignore me. 

Tatiana, or Tanya, is my current kept girl, if you’ll allow me the euphemism. I first met her when I got out of prison, needing some quick company and having few scruples about where I got it from. 

Tatiana, with her Slovenian accent as thick as her short hair, cut and curled like a doll. She’s small, five three and slender, with cheeks like apples she brushes with pastel blush, her brown eyes and brushed dark brows giving her a deceptively open, asking appearance, which she pairs with vintage coats and short dresses, ballet shoes or sometimes absurd rain boots that must be some sort of fashion statement in her mind. She only wears silver jewelry, says gold made her look too tan. She looks like somebody’s daughter, like a college girl still at twenty-six.

She cuts on-the-nose pink and bridal white ribbons and sews them onto blouses, ties them in her hair. For all her coquettish outfits, her oversized bags full of sunglasses and chapsticks and cash, her flat girlish chest that doesn’t fill out the cups of her dresses and is somehow all the more enticing for it, she has not an ounce of silliness or daydream in her. I chalk it up to being first generation, that old world melancholy that sometimes runs to pessimism. 

None the less I grew to like her, and call on her weekly now. She is easy to navigate and impossible to truly know. Her superficiality is agreeable to me. She’s sleepy but soft in bed, not trying to impress like so many others in her line of work. Something about them is hard, painted, antiseptic. Theatrical. Tanya lets me pull her tights down in the first five minutes and fuck her bent over my desk and not think a thing of it, but she also allows me into her studio apartment, lets me touch every inch of her soft pale skin and put her pink parts in my mouth until she begins to quicken, quiet and dreamy as the real thing, which makes me want to feel the honey warmth of her coming on my tongue, under my persistent fingers. 

I wanted nothing more from her than what I was already getting, exactly how I was getting it. In return I got her personal cell, and every time I texted now she answered in a hurry. I am as easy for her as she is for me. We fell into an easy symbiosis, and she was skilled enough to not allow it to become stale and transactional. 

Carlo had seen me with her, and that’s why he was out of sorts. His jealousy was mildly surprising to me, until I realized it for what it was. 

“Is she your girlfriend?” he finally blurted, following me to the coat closet and down the hall to the dark kitchen.

I pressed a glass to the fridge dispenser, smiled at the innocence of the question as I watched it fill with water. “No. Just a girl I see from time to time.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Is she a prostitute ?”

“Don’t be self righteous. It’s ugly.”

He pulled his head back in sharp surprise. “She's a whore, you pay her for sex, and I’m ugly?” 

“More ugly words. Why don’t you think of your next ones carefully?” I said in warning. I realized too late that may have sounded as if I was defending Tanya in some way, instead of simply objecting to his crass outburst, which would only add to the perceived insult. 

He pinched his mouth closed as if to take my advice  but opened it again. “I’m not your property, I can say whatever I want.”

“You want to be my pet when it suits you and not when it doesn’t. Surely you see the hypocrisy in that.” 

Anger turned wounded, as it always did with him. The double edged sword. “Do you love her?”

I laughed again, I couldn’t help it. Perhaps it was my fault, for doing what I did to him. For the scar of pethood that was both noose and umbilical cord. But I hadn’t made him a pet. I had bought him as one, saved him in my own way.

Did I love her, he wanted to know? Doesn’t he know by now, how men love? Has he not been loved by enough of us, not yet loved enough himself? Men will either love you at once— immediately— or never at all, I could have told him.

“No, Carlo,” I said instead, possessed by a true and cruel point I suddenly wanted to drive home. “Just as I haven’t loved any of the others. Did you really think I was celibate all this time because I didn’t touch you?” 

His mouth went slack as he exhaled, absorbing the blow I’d just dealt. He dropped his eyes. I shouldn’t have made him feel stupid. 

“Lo,” I said, gentle and stern and with as much patience and mercy as I could summon, which was always more for Carlo than for anyone else. “You can feel any way you need to feel about that girl. But she’s just that. She’s not my pet. She’s not mine at all. You are. She doesn’t belong to me and I don’t want her to. Do you understand the difference?”

He nodded sharply, perhaps just to stop what he’d started. He didn’t resent my relations with some woman— nameless to him and until today, faceless. He was afraid. Afraid of being less than her. Of having given so much to me and it still not being enough. Of being a pet, of not being one. Second guessing his guilty pleasure of sleeping in the bed I gave him, lying to everyone he claims to love and slipping back to my house, my arms, the very place he knows he should want to leave forever, the mausoleum of all his troubles. And me, the master, the patriarch, the oppressor, the only one who can give him the absolution he starves for out in the bleak world beyond my gates.

And what do I get from all this? Pleasure, I think. Pure, unfiltered pleasure at how loosely and yet deftly I still exerted control over something I had let free. It’s sweeter when it comes back to you. When the fetters are gone and still it turns up at your doorstep craving your touch. 

“I don’t know her last name,” I told him. A lie— but a harmless one. “I don’t know what to order her in a cafe. I don’t know if she's ever broken a bone.” 

Did I imagine his left hand twitch, as if from sudden awareness of the broken finger I'd once set with my own hands? Did I see the softening of the muscles around his mouth? 

I lowered my voice to a confidential, hymnal murmur, used his own uncouth word back at him. “You are not a common whore, Carlo.” 

His eyes were shining when they lifted to mine, irises nearly as dark as his pupils but for flecks of light like unbraided copper wire. “So, just a common pet?” he asked, quiet in the voicing of it— afraid to give it power. 

“There’s never been anything common about you. Pet or citizen. I’ve known that since the moment I laid eyes on you. Have I ever let you believe anything else?”

“No,” he whispered as reflexively as if I’d tapped his knee with a rubber hammer. 

“Then don’t insult yourself with comparison.”

Next

[writing-winters]

SGRoA: Vampire Diaries, S1 E19: Miss Mystic Falls

A beauty pageant? Oh, fuck, I’m so hype for this, y’all have no idea. This is gonna be a shitshow!

Stefan’s back at school! Driving a sports car, getting all the girls all a-giggle. He tells Elena he’s all over those pesky blood cravings, and we all know that’s a lie. He’s too cool, acting too much like Damon. He tells her he’ll catch her up, then goes into the trunk for his bookbag - taking it from its nest in the middle of a bunch of blood bags.

Cut to Damon and the Sheriff: A blood bank’s been burgled. (ooh, look at all those Bs!) The records had been altered, but the night guy didn’t remember doing it. They’ve increased security at the hospital and are giving all the guards vervain. Uncle John suggests that he and Damon team up to find the vampire(s) responsible, and Damon of course has to say yes. I hope he figures out Uncle John’s plans soon. I mean, yeah, obviously John wants the town to know about Stefan and Damon, but like, beyond that? and also Stefan and Damon aren’t terribly keen on all the other vampires out committing vampirey crimes, they’re actually, like, upstanding citizens? They deserve to be on the Founders’ Council, actually.

And speaking of the Founders, Alaric has had his curriculum overridden by the Council so he can give a lesson in local history, since Founders’ Day is COMING UP.

Bonnie comes in slightly late, and I guess she’s been gone? There’s some sort of weird look game going on between her, Elena, and Stefan as she sits down, but I can’t parse that, come on. Give an autist a fuckin break!!!

Anna comes by Damon’s to chat on behalf of Pearl. They’re sorry about the other vamps going after Stefan, and Pearl is dealing with trying to stop them from couping her. Damon says they should have known better, what did they think those vampires would be like? And also, stop stealing from the blood banks! We’re gonna get in trouble!

But Anna says she hasn’t been to the blood bank in… a while (like their concepts of time have any meaning in this world), and the other vamps have cleared out. It’s just her and Pearl. And the gears start turning in Damon’s head, so he should have figured out that Stefan’s drinking blood in about ten minutes. Thank god for Damon.

Elena catches Bonnie after school. She tried to talk to her after class, but Bonnie booked it, apparently. I think she has a haircut? She’s pretty short with Elena, who tried to call her a bunch, and says she shouldn’t know about the raveyard spell not working, for some reason? Did they agree that Bonnie wasn’t going to be involved or something, and I’m forgetting it? Meh. Anyway, Bonnie eagerly accepts Caroline’s hug. Caroline says she missed Bonnie so much, even though they talked every day, it wasn’t the same!

Elena is confused, because she thought she and Bonn were besties, but you can’t continually put your bestie in danger, girl! I would also want to distance myself from your weirdness, though even teen me would have realized that a witch can’t just exempt herself from magical issues. Caroline tells Bonnie that Bonn has to help her choose the perfect dress for the Founders’ Court!

Elena is again confused, because apparently they signed up for this nonsense before Elena’s mom died. Over a year ago? Maybe? In any case, she was picked for the Court, but I think she says she doesn’t want to do it, because of her mom? The literal dialogue:

Caroline: “So, are you dropping out then?”

Elena: “I can’t.”

Bonnie: “Her mom is the one who wanted her to enter.”

So - Elena “can’t” be in the pageant, or “can’t” drop out? Because Caroline said “are you dropping out” and she said, “I can’t” and like - that would mean “I can’t DROP OUT” not “I can’t do the pageant”.

So Elena may or may not be in the Miss Mystic Falls contest. Good job, writers. Excellent work, as usual.

Damon is lying in wait for Stefan to get home from school. Stefan immediately denies being on blood. Damon calls him out on the lie, but Stefan is gaslighting himself super hard at this point. He won’t admit shit to you, Damon. Try again later.

Elena calls Stefan to bring him up to speed - She IS doing the pageant! She needs him to escort her. He gets off the phone, checks his bottom file cabinet drawer for blood, then heads downstairs to the hidden basement chest freezer full of bags from the hospital. Of course, Damon is also lying in wait downstairs, and calls Stefan a liar and a thief.

Stefan tries to argue he has it under control, that Damon shouldn’t care after shoving it on him all these years. Damon points out that he STOLE from a HOSPITAL. Like, y’all are rich, aren’t you? You couldn’t buy a blood bank for your own purposes? Stefan tries to dodge: “Have my actions negatively impacted you?” Yes, bitch, THE ENTIRE COUNCIL IS AFTER VAMPIRES.

Stefan doesn’t have an ounce of self-preservation in that body. Has Damon kept him alive for the last century-and-a-half?

Damon asks what Elena thinks, and Stefan says she doesn’t need to know. Damon says she absolutely does, Stefan’s been a teetotaler for basically his entire life, he won’t be able to control himself, and frankly, just being back on the real stuff presents some behavioral issues. Don’t get fed fast enough? You might just “snap”. Damon doesn’t need to worry about Stefan snapping, not now. Stefan again insists he’s fine, and Damon needs to back off. I hope Damon goes right to Elena.

Miss Mystic Falls includes an interview process. A tribunal including Mrs. Mayor and two ladies I don’t know yet. The Queen this year has the special honor of “taking center stage at the 150th Founders’ Day Gala.”

Caroline sounds great, a lot of volunteer work. Elena is making apologies: she hasn’t been as involved this year. Some other girl thinks she could win two years in a row, and I - I’m so tired of time. Some other girl says it’s an honor to be nominated, since she’s not from a founding family. They’re all intercut with each other, which is a nice little editing trick. Good way to tell the story. Elena finishes up by talking about how important this would have been to her mother. Dead mom, gonna be hard to beat, Caro, but I’m rooting for you. Or maybe the girl who said that just because she got a DUI and had to do community service, didn’t mean she wasn’t committed. That’s ballsy.

Uncle John is annoyed that Damon hasn’t been taking his calls. Damon says that’s a hint, John definitely didn’t need to stop by! I’ll spare you the banter. What it comes down to is that the OG John Gilbert invented something that one of the raveyard vamps stole. He won’t say what, but since the raveyard vamps didn’t die, the invention is now retrievable. So he wants to hunt vampires for the Council - that is, he wants to find the particular vampire who stole from his family and serve that one up to the Council, once he gets the invention back for himself and for Isobel.

If Damon wants his secrets kept, he’ll help John. Damon asks how he can know who has some mystery item, and John says the guy who took it hung out with Pearl, and Damon tells John to GTFO. He was only entertaining any of this because he thought John or Isobel would lead him to Katharine, but no. Katharine and Pearl were close, but John seems not to know that? Katharine probably has his device, whatever it is. John threatens to tell the Council that Damon is a vampire. Damon tells him to go ahead: he’ll kill the Council, sever John’s hand, take his ring, and kill him, too. Don’t threaten Damon with a good time.

The Misses Mystic Falls are learning to dance some sort of non-touching minuet to a Strauss waltz? Ok, sure. Caroline brought Bonnie to fill in for Matt, even though this is the end of the rehearsal? Ok, sure. Bonnie’s mad at everyone, including Caroline, but she’s nicer to Caro. Elena pulls her aside and asks WTF is going on, so at least I’m not alone in this. Oh, she thinks Gram died for nothing, because the raveyard vamps are out, and she blames Stefan. And Damon, but mostly Stefan. She doesn’t want to put Elena in the middle, but she has to step back, because Elena’s involved with them.

Stefan eavesdrops, obviously, and then heads out to the parking lot, where some kid has a skinned and bleeding knee. Stefan gets fixated, Alaric comes up to him, Stefan almost chokes him out because BLOOD, apparently. Ok, sure.

Alaric shows up at Elena’s, because he’s driving them. Where? I mean, I assume to the ball (this is the ball, right, not the festival or the bonfire or the party or the dance or the commemorative bowling tournament or something?), but no one ever says, and god only knows what day or time of day this is. Anyway, John’s annoyed because he thought he was driving, but Jenna’s all, “Nope, bitch, you can drag Jeremy’s ass if he feels like showing up this episode,” and she and Elena go with Ric.

Anna shows up to the ball, in bright fucking sunlight. Her hair is terrible, all slugs, like you don’t own a comb, girl? Damon tells her about John and the invention, and she says she can ask her mom, but why should she bother, Damon doesn’t give a shit about them. He tells her that John Gilbert is hunting vamps, and Damon would much rather she stay in town than John. So think about it.

Jenna and Elena reminisce about Elena’s mom while doing Elena’s hair.

Jeremy complains to John that there’s a WHOLE MONTH of Founders’ Day activities that he has to show up for.

Jeremy’s hair looks dyed darker than it was. Weird. They chat about the OG John’s journal, and John 2 tells Jeremy there’s more. Jeremy’s looking for vampire confirmation, but John won’t give it. Jeremy sees Anna and follows her into the house, excusing himself.

Elena goes to get dressed and Damon pops into the dressing room. He tells her about Stefan’s new habit and warns her that with the Council breathing down everyone’s necks, Stefan cannot be unpredictable. He doesn’t have any sort of solution for this problem, at least not yet, but telling Elena was the right way to go.

Anna doesn’t want to talk to Jeremy. She yells at him for using her to become a vamp for someone else, so he yells back at her for using him to feed her mom. She asks how he knows that, and he says he knows “everything.”

Stefan comes into the dressing room just as Elena says she fed Stefan in the first place. He asks WTF is going on, and Damon says he’s filling Elena in, then leaves so they can fight. He was gonna tell her! He’s fine! Nothing is wrong! If Elena wasn’t such a bitch about it, he totes would have told her! It’s her fault he kept a secret! Not the blood! HE’S FINE!

Mrs. Mayor comes to get Elena for the “lineup”, and sends Stefan downstairs. He goes, but as soon as he gets alone in a room, he freaks out and vamps out and the “not from a founding family” girl - who had to go outside for a panic attack and also isn’t dressed - walks in on him. Chomp? Have to wait out the commercial to see!

We are 25 minutes in! The ball is in full swing, and our Founders’ Court is assembling down the grand staircase. Such flair! Such elegance! Such…

Amber is the maybe-chompee, and Mrs. Mayor is looking for her as the girls start down the stairs. Caro and Elena are last, of course. Stefan isn’t downstairs, because he’s gone rogue, but neither is Matt - he couldn’t get off work. Poor Caro.

Elena says she’s dropping out, she has to go find Stefan, she isn’t this person anymore. Caroline says she had her chance to drop out, and even though Caroline has no chance to beat her, Elena has to do the contest. For her mom. Aw. Caroline’s so sweet.

Anna and Jeremy are finally confessing some feelings. Jeremy knows now that Vicki wanted to hurt him, and he hates remembering her that way, but obviously it wasn’t a relationship at the end. Anna says that she was just going to use him to get to her mom, but she knows him now, she won’t let anything happen to him.

Uncle John hears every word of this.

Stefan has taken Amber to the parking lot. He mojos her and then starts just spewing words all over her - about Elena knowing and being on “the human stuff”. She says he looks sad; he screams that he’s hungry, not sad!

Elena comes down the stairs and is announced to be escorted by Stefan, who of course is nowhere to be seen, so Damon steps in. Aw. Damon’s sweet, too, in his own way. And the chemistry in this dance is off the charts (all on Damon’s side, Elena has as much charisma as a wet toothpick). Ooh, I hope she cheats on Stefan with Damon. I love a good soap opera triangle storyline!

In the parking lot, Stefan is still freaking out. Again, this is very boring. It’s the same stupid shit we’ve seen from most of the vampires on television at this point. I did perk up when he said that feeding doesn’t have to be messy, though! “You don’t have to waste a drop.” That’s what I’ve been saying for years!!!

Amber is still in some sort of mojo-daze fugue state, and she asks why he isn’t killing her if he wants to. He says that if he gives in that far, there won’t be any going back. And also, YOU CAN’T KILL A GIRL EVERYONE IS LOOKING FOR IN THE PARKING LOT OF THE PLACE THEY’RE LOOKING.

But he chomps her anyway.

CAROLINE WINS!!!!!!!

Sheriff and John are checking out the room where Stefan grabbed Amber - he broke a mirror, there’s blood, Sheriff calls for Damon.

In the parking lot, it’s suddenly nighttime - like, full dark - and Stefan has disengaged from the chomp and asks Amber why she isn’t afraid. Because he told her not to be, duh. So he tells her to be afraid, and to run, so he won’t eat her, even though he chases her.

Damon catches Elena up to speed on what he knows: blood on the mirror, Amber missing. Bonnie overhears. Damon and Elena go to find Stefan and Damon follows.

Stefan catches up to Amber for just long enough to get covered in blood before the others find him. Damon starts to fight him, Elena pleads, but Bonnie does something to his brain. He’s doubled over, ears ringing for what seems an eternity and then - shame, guilt, running away. Still covered in blood.

Sheriff finds them all. The official story is that Elena and Bonnie found Amber, then called Damon, then Damon called Sheriff. She sends Bonn and Elena away, then makes sure with Damon that the girls “didn’t see the bite mark”. Damn, errybody lyin’ up in here. Seems like it would be easier on everyone to just… tell their kids what the family business is?

Elena wants Bonnie to stop and talk to her about what happened. Bonnie refuses. She tells Elena that she chooses when and where she’ll involve herself in this vampire business, but she owes nothing to Elena, and she doesn’t have to ever talk about it. IF she ever decides to, she knows where to find Elena.

The ball is winding down. John asks Jenna who Anna is, and Jenna tells him her mother’s name is Pearl and he’s preventing them from buying (back) his building. John’s eyebrows make a break for the ISS, and he says he already knows all about them.

Alaric runs into Elena on the front steps; he immediately asks what’s wrong, and she shrugs.

Damon returns home to Anna and Pearl on his doorstep, offering a truce of sorts. Pearl admits she took the invention from OG John, and hands something to Damon. He asks what it is - it looks like a pocket watch - and she talks about the compass, which was a watch. But that's not what she stole. She has no idea what she took, but it’s not a watch and it’s not the compass, which she was trying to steal. She wants him to consider that an apology.

Elena shows up in Stefan’s room to fight about blood.

She insists it “wasn’t him” and he says it is, yadda yadda, yelling and tears, and then SHE TRANQS HIM.

Damon comes up the stairs and asks if she really wants to do this, and she says yes. So they put Stefan in chains in the dungeon! Damon says it might not work, but Elena says it has to - and she stays downstairs with Stefan, just out of reach. And Damon stays with her.

OMG. Y’all. What a rollercoaster of an episode! SO! MUCH! HAPPENING! An unbelievable amount of plot movement, but with only 3 more in the season, I guess they didn’t have any more time to dilly dally in plotless meadows of bad dialogue. See you next week!

[newsiegirlscout]

FHFIF Headcanons

HEADCANON TIME!!! Woo-hoo!

Today, I was thinking I’d ramble on a headcanon roll about this show by the name of Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends. It was really amazing while it ran, and all-in-all was completely underrated. I just finished the last episode two weeks or so ago and, since I’m still in shock over it, well....the best thing to do with sadness and joy and nostalgia is to give it to the Internet, right? Right! So-onto the headcanons!

MAC

--When Mac gets older, he gets a job at Foster’s, much to the delight of the friends. (He used to joke about his shift ending at 2:59 just to freak out Bloo. Frankie still cleans everything, so Mac’s job is mostly cooking and messing around anyway. Y’know, keeping the more active imaginary friends busy. That, and reading bedtime stories-he has an awesome “scary” voice, but in a silly way, like Mojo Jojo.).

---Mac’s favorite flavor of ice cream is chocolate fudge with caramel and milk chocolate sprinkles. He gains control of his sugar intolerance somewhat when he’s around fourteen....but still goes hyper if he has too much. (Say, the normal sugar-hyped slight bounce for anyone else is Mac’s sugar rush.)

---Mac never actually retired his bookbag. It was intentionally way too large for  a second-grader’s homework load, so he could hide his most prized possessions from Terrence- or, at least, always keep them on his person. (On a regular day, his bag can be found holding his laptop, wallet, pictures of Frankie, library card, marbles, key chain, and water pistol. Yeah, that’s the water pistol that makes him look like an Ironman villain.) When he left for college, everybody at Fosters signed his bookbag. 

---He skipped more than a few grades. In fact, he was in a school for gifted children during the length of the series-which explains why an eight-year-old was writing an essay on the presidents. 

---Mac writes the most flowery, beautiful free-verse poetry you have ever seen. Once, it got published and he won a reward for it, but was still utterly embarrassed when the newspaper arrived at Fosters. He even snuck out around four AM to grab both his and Foster’s papers, but found Mr. Herriman calmly reading it in his study. (Herriman gave his highest stamp of approval-i.e; straightening his monocle, cleaning the lens, and remarking, “By jove!” 

---He tends to wear his hair long when he gets older-that, and typically going unshaven until Mr. Herriman tells him he looks like he’s about to attend a woodstock festival. 

---Additionally, Mac has fluffy, perpetually-askew hair because of his tendency to run his fingers through it when in stress or when he’s thinking. (Frankie’s hair is spiky for the same reason.) 

---He’s a hugger. Always has been, always will be.

---Mac, even as an adult, only prefers (as reading material) Science fiction, action, comedy, and comic books; for viewing, he prefers old movies, comedy films, and cartoons. A lot of cartoons. As in, about 63.547% of the animated films in the DVD case are movies that Mac hauled over at some point or another during his job and intentionally left there. (They all have his name in sharpie on a neat label pressed onto the back.)

FRANKIE FOSTER

--Frankie more or less decided a long time ago that she’s aromantic. The closest thing she’ll allow to love is the filial bond between her and the imaginary friends.

--Her favorite ice cream flavor is pineapple rum. (Yes, that’s a thing.) If any of the younger friends are with her, though, she orders mango. 

---She possesses a secret love for the color pink. She tends not to show it too much, as she feels it’s demeaning to her maturity, but otherwise, it’s her favorite color in the world. 

---Frankie grew up with the Foster’s imaginary friends. Her job started when Madame Foster occasionally asked her to do little chores around the house- say, rocking a baby friend to sleep or washing a pot -so that, by the time she turned fifteen and wanted to get a career so as to earn more cash, she was a first choice caretaker for Foster’s Home. 

--Frankie used to love those little toys that come in cereal boxes. She would eat bowls upon bowls of Choco-Frosted Sugar Bombs Trix and Captain Crunch, etc., until she was on sugar rushes to put Mac’s to shame so she’d get the toy and be able to get another box of cereal as soon as possible. (Her favorites were the superhero rings;((Does anybody else remember those? I feel like those were really big for a while, little plastic rings with superhero emblems?)); she once got so many, she could hook them together into a crown.)

--She loves the arcade games in an almost abnormal way. When she was about nine, she got the high score on Tetris, Paperboy, Centipede, and quite a few others. She is most often the one who will drive friends to the arcade and treat them to tokens partially so she can show off her gaming skills at the classics. (Bloo: “So by classics, you mean Halo and Call of Duty?” Frankie: “ No. The real classics. Defender. Pac-man. Astroids. Games you play in an arcade which was a building outside of your house. You would go there with your friends, listen to music, cute guys everywhere. In ancient times, they call it 'socializing'. “)

Madame Foster

--There are quite a few episodes in the series where an imaginary friend spends money. That was Madame Foster at work-when the house first opened, she distributed around five hundred dollars among the friends. With the addition of a hundred dollars every two years or so, that same cache has been circulating for years. (The trick being that they only spend it inside the house.)

---Madame Foster’s favorite ice cream flavor is butterscotch with caramel, chocolate syrup, rainbow sprinkles, whipped cream, and frosting. (What, you’ve never put frosting on a bowl of ice cream before? My sincerest sympathies.) Typically, she’ll get the chocolate-dipped cone, then have the server put it in a cup for her, so she has a large bowl of ice cream with all the toppings and a fancy cone on top of it all. (Mac starts to shake just looking at it.)

---Madame Foster has managed to scare the horror buffs senseless with her dramatic readings of existing stories, not to mention re-tellings of her own writing.

---Her room is full of stuffed animals. Enough stuffed animals to bury herself in. It is not exactly uncommon to find a stuffed animal hiding somewhere in the house. (Looking for a book? Whoop! A plush cat already beat you to it! Want some pancakes? Seems a small rainbow llama is already on it.)

---Madame Foster also harbors a love for cartoons. The other 44.453% of the animated films are hers. For reading material, she enjoys comedies, including a lot of old storybooks. (Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, Black Beauty, Treasure Island, Little Men...et cetera.) She also loves reading the occasional horror story or adventure. (Do you think she’d enjoy All the Light We Cannot See? Yeah, I think so too. Then again, that was an amazing and beautiful bit of literature. Everybody go read All the Light We Cannot See.)

Mr. Herriman

---Mr. Herriman gives the cuddliest hugs. Receiving a hug from Mr. Herriman, especially when you’re somewhere around stomach-level, is the equivalent of sticking your face into a litter of warm kittens. Unfortunately, he’s not too big on hugging.

---Eduardo is by far his (secret) favorite. 

---His favorite ice cream flavor is butter almond, (and yes, he does take all the almonds out individually before consuming it), though he usually prefers a slice of carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. 

---He doesn’t actually understand Coco’s “language”. He tends to get the gist of what she’s saying primarily through another friend, Madame Foster, or Frankie, but otherwise feels a bit lonesome in that he’s the only person in that universe who isn’t fluent in it. 

---He’s a fairly pleasant conversationalist, though he likes things to be run in such an orderly manner to the point of everyone seemingly hating him in a not-exactly-inconspicuous way. This in turn can make him slightly irritated, gaining him a reputation for his short temper and high standards.

---He LOVES bad puns on an almost-sinful level.

---He also prefers classic tales, romances, and adventure dramas in both viewing and reading entertainment. And yes, when watching a movie, he is That Person ™ who insists on popping popcorn over the fire and turning on subtitles.

BLOO

---Bloo was originally created as a vehicle for Mac to say and do whatever he wanted without having to worry about getting in trouble. (For example, getting to give the snarky response to Terrence and getting away with it.) He also created Bloo as a way to prove to his mom that he was responsible enough to take care of something. (This is NOT my headcanon, though I strongly support it.)

---Bloo was the one who found the secret passages to the Secret Library, the Secret Gaming Room, and The Secret Secret Room. He also found all nineteen secret drawers in each (One of which concealed a stuffed canary named Rod Tango!) on various Adopt-a-Thought Saturdays. (Once or twice, Mac didn’t actually find him and ended up playing with the B-team-or, in other words, the members of Pizza Party.)

---Bloo’s favorite ice cream  flavor is cookies-and-cream-birthday-cake. (No, that’s not actually a flavor; he usually just gets two orders and shmushes them together into one BIG ice cream ball). Additionally, if possible, he’ll top it with M&Ms, whipped cream, chocolate syrup, caramel syrup, butterscotch, gummy bears, rainbow and chocolate sprinkles, crushed Oreos, mini peanut butter cups, and, of course, frosting- but never, never, never, Coconut. (”If you want to get these things done at all, you have to get them done right!”) So far, the only one who’s  willingly treated him was Adult! Mac and Madame Foster-otherwise, he has to go by himself. 

---His ideal adopter would be someone with year-round passes to lots and lots of amusement parks, a paddleball collection including the Automatic Paddleball, pizza every Friday, a 25-inch television with a ton of video games (”No, 50-inch! Wait, is 75-inch a thing? How about we just do like in that nerd book Mac likes, the dys-zopia, and have the TV replace one of the walls?”), and a large freezer just for ice cream, including a retractable shelf for toppings. (I blame @askblooqkazoo for this one) :)

---He loves the Powerpuff girls. Loves, loves, LOVES it. (Bubbles is his favorite.)

WILT

---Wilt’s favorite ice cream flavor is mocha swirl, with chocolate sprinkles and a maraschino cherry. He’s always the one who treats everyone else and waits patiently until everyone has their flavors before ordering, though he tries to exclude Bloo in the most polite way possible. (”I’m sorry! You see, I can’t afford all your toppings, which I’m honestly really sorry about, I mean..I can’t apologize enough for this, really! Maybe Mac will take you out for ice cream if you ask him nicely?”) He refuses to let someone else buy ice cream for him, so behind his back, Adult! Mac and Madame Foster built a mini freezer that looks like a backpack and has a special rack for ice cream, not to mention the extra two canisters of whipped cream and carton of chocolate sprinkles, just so they could treat him to an ice cream cone without his objection.

---Nobody ever actually put a nameplate on Wilt’s bed, because he always prefers to sleep under the floor. He always has ever since Bloo came-Wilt mainly just wants a monopoly on a bed so he can steal the blankets off it in the winter.

---He is fully aware of how brash he can get in later episodes, so he builds up his “Sorry!” to compensate, until it became, “I’m sorry-if that’s okay!”

---He once got a PhD to help out a struggling college student by tutoring him in neuroscience and quadratic equations. (Yes, he never quite got the hang of it until Wilt taught him.)

COCO

---Coco dabbles in the dark arts. (Check the Wiccan Spellbook she was reading in “Fools and Regulations.”)

---Coco knows something the rest of you don’t. Don’t believe her? Look again, she may have noticed that detail you completely passed over. Maybe it’s just the orange juice in the fridge that’s a day past the expiration date; maybe it’s the ending of the world before your eyes. 

---No one is quite sure what ice cream flavor Coco likes the best. Whenever she goes to the ice cream parlor, she’ll say a few phrases and give a slight nod to the server. No matter who, they always come back with an elaborate sundae, topped with a firecracker, at the price of a regular ice cream cone. 

---Coco is an amazing actress. Just amazing. She once got a role in a high-budget movie for her acting skills. (Not to mention that, once the director came to the door asking for her, she laid a pair of reading glasses and went through every single page of the contract. Then, once satisfied, she laid a silver ballpoint pen and signed it-though by then, the director was on his phone, scrolling through random web pages. “Ya done yet?” “CoCo Cococo Co!” “Well, of course I’m not going to put you in a cage and make you perform for long hours with no sleep! Whaddya think I am, the guy from those Deo commercials?”)

---Nerds (See the “Good Wilt Hunting” Nerds) believe that she was created by a very confused islander child, possibly one who has never seen contact with another human being. She is part plane because of the occasional air crafts passing the island, part bird because of the exotic tropical life, and does not speak English because the child never learned how and instead made up a language that only they could understand. 

EDUARDO

---Once, Eduardo got his picture taken with the actress of Lauren Goes Explorin’. (And got it autographed!) He was super excited about it, and eventually got it framed with the same heavy-duty frame that Frankie used to mount her cereal-box ring crown.)

---His favorite ice cream flavor is bubblegum, partially because of the color (”Pink is my favorite! I like it muy, muy, much!) and partially because of the fact that it’s candy as well as ice cream, so he can take out the bubblegum balls and put them in a separate cup for his Malibu Mimi dolls. 

---Wilt is his favorite, though Adult! Mac comes close. (He eventually learned to settle petty disputes, Frankie-style (A la’ Destination Imagination), so he takes care of most of those-often tipping a Bloo/Eduardo argument in favor of Eduardo while still making Bloo satisfied with the outcome.) 

---Eduardo’s tears do not dehydrate him, nor are they made of salt water. He doesn’t even sniffle beforehand, unless he’s trying really hard not to cry-whenever he’s upset, he just gives a stream of fresh water from his eyes. 

---Yep. He’s a hugger. Was there ever any question?

---Eduardo’s strength was added so he could pick up and cuddle people easily. Nina’s parents have quite a few photos of him carrying her home from a late, late rehearsal, school play, or day-long trip to the park while she sleeps peacefully in his arms.

---No, he doesn’t run out of energy when walking long distances or running. His feet sometimes hurt slightly from pounding the floor too long if he’s been running, but he always has the energy to run, or fight. 

GOO

--Goo has actually wrapped her lunch like a present before. (Her usual lunch consists of a bag of chips, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a cupcake she injected with more icing in the center, an apple, and a juice box. It has been observed by Mac jokingly as being “strangely normal.”) She only does it for special occasions, (It makes everyone jealous around Christmas until they see why she brought it to lunch.), though Goo includes “The third Tuesday of March” and “August thirteenth” as major holidays. 

---Goo likes to celebrate her birthday at Foster’s whenever possible. She additionally actually likes Cheese, because she thinks he’s funny and she’s good with him, so he’s almost always helping her open presents or eating streamers as she decorates the table

---Her favorite ice cream flavor is rainbow sherbet, but she also likes (”blueberry, gold ribbon, cookies and cream, and birthday cake! Well, really I like almost every flavor except not coffee since that one’s really gross and I also sometimes make up flavors that I think they should have, like gummy bear sprinkles, and then sometimes there are flavors that sound made up except they’re really not, like pizza and pear with blue cheese, ew, isn’t that gross? Oh! And did I tell you about my idea for an ice cream burrito where instead of the cone, they make it a tortilla instead with the sugar cone stuff?”) She’s definitely the person where, if she’s alone with a month’s allowance, she’ll try to stack the scoops as high as possible and roll each one in a bowl of toppings. (She prides herself on the fact that she once got the server to coat three scoops in gummy bears, rainbow sprinkles, and chocolate chips respectively, and even got him to pour some gummy bears in the cone.) If she’s with someone else, and they’re treating, she’ll just get rainbow sherbet.

---She’s not a hugger. She’s affectionately physical in other ways-friendly slaps on the back, pats on the head, fixing someone else’s shirt collar-but doesn’t really hug a lot. She’s more of a high-fiver, to be honest. 

---When she gets older, she has everybody write a story about Foster’s in an anthology she publishes under the name “Hillary-Britney “Lollipop” Starr”. (Involuntarily included? Mac’s poetry.)

---Goo is the karaoke queen. 

GENERAL

--The soda fountain guy has been through everything. (If you need further proof, just look at the way he casually throws out Mac when he orders all those milkshakes...all, “Dude, I make seven bucks an hour. I’ve seen it all.”)

---Cheese was created with an innate sense of technology. He actually knew full-well what he was doing when he memorized the code to the electronic security system, and sometimes, Frankie has to ask him for his help when fixing her computer. (Usually with her head in her hands while Cheese jumps up and down on the chair and says “No no no, you put too much stuff in the computer! Throw some away! See in the hard drive? See, see, see, see, see? That’s why it’s so slowwwww!”)

---It is impossible to accidentally create an imaginary friend. It’s more of a left-brained thing than a technical thing, and you usually have to have a pretty clear idea of their personality beforehand. Goo’s imagination works at ten miles a minute, so she is the one exception.

---Imaginary friends do not age. Friends like Scrappy (Remember that little guy with the Brooklyn accent and Victorian clothing? That was one of my favorites..) are deemed older by how long they’ve been at Foster’s and how much they’ve matured emotionally. 

---Larry John McGee (Goofball’s creator) had a very silly sense of humor in creating Goofball. He wanted his friend to act as a big brother, and knew that if he ever got lost, he’d go to Foster’s for help and weird out the staff. Goofball did almost all of what he was doing with a straight face to make everyone else in the house laugh when Frankie pulled off his rubber nose to reveal...an imaginary friend. 

---Youngman Rivers actually turned out to be a pretty cool guy when he got older. 

---Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends did not go away after the series finale. Foster’s lives on with many more adventures of its own, including more and more characters as time goes on, until Mac grew into an adult, still coming to tackle Bloo on the first floor every day.

[m7nson]

Hottie hot hot ❥ Joseph Quinn

˙❥˙ your new creative writing professor is sure a hottie

TW - food, cooking, and eating

✎masterlist

An- gender neutral but I made the reader shocked that he's British I apologize-

Not edited

"Hi is this y/n?" You gave a confused face, "yes this is she?" "Hi I'm calling to inform you that you need to retake your creative writing elective again." Your eyes widen. "May I ask why?"

"Everyone who had professor' Carlton has to retake their course, and I'm sure you've heard the scandal about him having sexual intercourse with his students."

You didn't actually think it was true. You would believe it if he was hot; but he was fifty five year old man. He looked like the principal from 'Billy Madison'.

"And because of that, we don't know who had activities with him to pass and who didn't." You signed "well I'm not to happy about this but thank you for calling."

"You can either, retake it and get the credit. Or you can take another course..." You did enjoy this class, and it was quite easy for you. "Yes I'll retake it then," "alrighty, the classes will be just like last year but new professor." You nodded "thank you so much."

"I hope you have a great day, and I apologize for this inconvenience." You nodded "you too, thank you again." You hung up the phone frustrated. Shit, now I have to go through that all over again; you groaned.

✎

"Did you hear about your new creative writing teacher?" Your roommate, Olive said sitting on the other side of your bed closing you laptop. "Other than that It's not professor' Carlton; no."

"Well.." they started as they laying down on their elbow "I heard he's a hottie hot hot." You chuckled "he's that hot eh?" You asked raising your eyebrows.

"I personally haven't seen him.. but I've heard some things." They said smirking, you rolled your eyes. "What have you 'heard'?" She sighed getting up. "Well, first off he's British.." your eyes widen slightly "really?"

They laughed "see! Your so lucky you have a hot creative writing teacher, while I'm stuck with grandma; Mrs. Card." You laughed "just because he's British doesn't automatically make him attractive."

"That's true, but people have been saying he's hot, so I don't think he's a creepy uncle like profess' Carlton." You sighed "of course they hired a hot professor after what happened with that old creep.."

They gave a gross face, "I'll admit that is kinda weird." You nodded, as your attention turned back to your closed laptop. "Don't you have class tomorrow?" You shook your head.

"In two days, don't worry as soon as I see I'm I'll tell you how much of a hottie hot hot he is." You said putting your hands on her shoulder. "Your lucky I wasn't doing anything important."

You said putting your laptop in your nightstand while getting up. "That's why I closed it!" They said walking out as you followed them. "Your cooking tonight right?" They said throwing themselves on the couch.

"Yeah I'll cook, but your cleaning."

✎

Never thought I would have to come back into this room, never thought I would be going down this cracked sidewalk again. Yet here I am, walking into professor' Carlton room; or well, whoever the new 'hottie' is.

You looked at your phone '2:49' sighing deciding on silencing it, of course your ten minutes early. Decided to see if the door was open, you doubted it but good try. Knocking... No answer. Trying the knob, and I was right, it's locked. This isn't your first time being early either remembering last year how you were half an hour early and sat on this dirty concrete.

Things just don't change. You sat down on the step placing your bookbag on your lap. At least it's only ten minutes and not twenty-five. Scrolling on your phone trying to by time, you didn't notice someone walking up onto the steps.

Until you noticed almond slacks in the corner of your eyes. Looking up and, seeing a— woe, holy shit this guy is so fine. Quickly getting up and wiping down your butt, just in case.

"I don't think anyone was gonna be earlier than me.." he started as you didn't realize his accent "Oh, yeah I didn't realize how early I was until I got here.. the door locked so I'm just waiting for the.. new professor..." You started slightly rambling.

"Well glad I got here now instead of later.." he said grabbing his keys from his pockets and unlocking the door. Your eyes widen "Oh! You're the new professor?" Holy shit the rumors were true, he sure was hot.

He smiled opening the door for you, "Professor' Quinn." He said handing out his hand to shake. "Y/n, it's— it's really nice to meet you.. professor' Quinn" oh my his hands are warm and his jawline— Jesus. This is gonna be a long year.

"Met me at Donut Shop at 3:30 IMPORTANT !!!" sent now

✎

You walked into the shop, it's a ghost town. Except for Olive sitting there back facing uou. You took the seat and Olive dropped their phone on the table "what happened!?"

You signed taking a bite out of your donut. "You were right, he is a hottie hot hot." Their eyes widen. "Really?" You nodded "he was actually.. so fine." You said dreamingly.

"Coming from you that's a lot—" you nodded taking another bite "I know!" You shook your head, "I don't know what I'm gonna do." They took a sip of their drink as you did the same.

You heard the bell ring from the door, looking to see who it was. As you spat out your drink, coughing as you two grabbed napkins. "Shit, shit shit— he's here!" You whispered shouted at them.

"Who?" "Hottie hot hot— no don't turn around—" their eyes widen "holy shit you are right—" you looked at him and noticed him coming this way. "He's coming this way— act cool, no smart!"

"Y/n, I feel like you're stalking me eh?" You laughed "I could say the same!" He smiled "I'm actually surprised to see you here! This place is usually always empty." You told him with a slight smile.

"It is usually empty, but their coffee here is fucking amazing." You're eyes widen that he cursed and he seemed to notice that so he smiled "Were not on school property so I think it's ok to swear."

You nodded as you heard the speakers turn on "I'm sorry to break this up but we closed two minutes ago." You three turned to the worker "mate— it's just us three here." They shrugged "I just want to go home." "Alright alright we'll get out of your hair." Olive said getting up, they gave you a look saying 'I'll meet you in the car, you go get him' as they walked out quickly.

"Sorry if I ruined a date or something." He said walking to the door slowly as you got up grabbing you bag, drink, and most importantly your donut. "Oh, god no their my roommate."

He nodded "Are you nervous about the assignment?" He asked trying to keep the conversation going as he opened the door for you. "Oh- thank you! Nope not at all, I already have a concept in mine."

"Wow, I'm impressed." You laughed as he took a sip of his coffee "it's not a difficult, you just asked for a one thousand word essay over anything!" He laughed "I didn't want to make it difficult for the first assignment!"

You laughed taking a bite out of your donut "May I know what the concept is?" He smiled at you, as you chucked "nope, it's a surprise, you professor; get no special treatment." And then it hit you, your talking to your professor like he's a friend...

He laughed "I'll be looking forward to reading it." You smiled nodding "and please call me Joseph or Joe when we're outside of school." You chuckled "ok.. Joseph." You laughed "I'm sure you're a very busy man, so I don't want to be taking any more of your time."

He shook his head "probably just give go home and.. think about what the next assignment is gonna be." You laughed "don't be too hard on us." As he laughed walking too the passenger side "I'll try.. I'll see you in class next week?"

You nodded "Of course, I'll see you professor!" Trying to open the door but Olive started reversing. You gave a smile at Joseph who was watching trying to open it again, as they started reversing again. Making you rush to open the door and succeeded getting in as Olive laughed.

"So how was the professor?" You sighed

"god he's so fine."

✎

[snowywrites]

Monika x Fem!reader

summary: fluffy fic of Monika and the reader on the reader's birthday.

word count: 2.4k

As far as birthdays go, this one wasn't really anything too special. Well, maybe you're being a little too cynical. After all, last year you hadn't really gotten to spend your birthday with any friends- you'd been preoccupied with getting home to watch the newest season of your favorite anime.

This year, however, Sayori had managed to get you into the Literature Club, and it had, not to be dramatic, changed your life. For better or worse, that was yet to be seen.

"Y/N, is everything okay?" Sayori asks expectantly, bright blue eyes examining you with bewilderment.

You focus back on the present, giving your friend a reassuring smile. "Yeah, sorry! Everything's great." And you aren't lying; today for the club meeting, Natsuki had brought cupcakes for everyone to share, Sayori had actually not realized what day it was and so gave you a 'birthday hug,' Yuri had given you a copy of one of her favorite horror novels as a gift, even signed by the author, and yet...

You can't help but give a very small sigh. "I just kind of miss Monika, I guess."

Sayori, Natsuki, and Yuri all exchange glances in their respective chairs at one of the club tables. They then all focus on you with varying expressions: Sayori with mischief, Natsuki with exasperation, and Yuri with knowing amusement.

"What? Don't look at me like that!" You squeak defensively, feeling your face begin to heat up at what they were implying. "I only meant that it's- it's weird being at a meeting without our club president! T-That's all." Not that this could be called a meeting per se- more like a celebration between friends.

Sayori giggles at your reaction, and you hear Yuri whisper to Natsuki, "The lady doth protest too much," which elicits a snort of laughter from the pink-haired tsundere.

You groan, standing up abruptly from your seat and smoothing down your school uniform a bit, self-conscious all of a sudden. As your embarrassment dies down though, you feel a wave of affection for your fellow club members. As much as they tend to tease you about your little crush on Monika, they had made your birthday really special this year, and you were grateful. "Anyway, thank you guys again for everything! I had a lot of fun," you say earnestly, deciding it was probably time to wrap up and head home.

Sayori bounces up to join you, and you bid your farewells to Natsuki and Yuri, gathering up your things and heading out of the classroom.

Sayori glances back to make sure that Natsuki and Yuri are in fact walking away, and then she reaches out to stop you. "Uhm, Y/N...?"

You pause to look at her expectantly, unsure of why she's much less energetic now than she was a few minutes ago. "Yes?"

"I-I was actually supposed to tell you something," your best friend begins, uncharacteristically quiet. You wonder briefly why she hadn't mentioned this before... maybe she had been debating on whether or not she actually wanted to tell you whatever it is, considering how the words are practically being dragged from her at this point. "Ah, well, Monika asked me to, that is. The reason she couldn't come to the Literature Club today was because she was stuck at a meeting with the student council, but..." Sayori exhales in what could be a sigh. "She did still wanna see you for your birthday, so she hoped you could stop by there and wait for her."

You stand there in the mostly empty hall of the school, puzzled at why this news would bring such a reaction from your friend- especially when it makes you feel so fluttery inside. "Oh!" You try not to let it show, but you're fairly certain you're lighting up like a Christmas tree. "I see. Thank you for telling me, Sayori!"

As you turn to leave, you feel Sayori reach out to touch your shoulder, but she retracts her hand quickly. When you look back at her, she's her old self, giving you a big smile. "Yeah, I guess you're gonna go see her, huh? Well, I'll catch you later, Y/N!"

Before you can respond, Sayori dashes off, forgetting to wish you a happy birthday.

Well, that was weird. Then again, Sayori's been pretty off lately whenever you and Monika are involved.

The thought of the brunette is enough to make you forget all about whatever might be troubling your best friend, and you make your way through the school to the student council room with a giddy spring in your step. They must not be out yet since the halls are pretty deserted still.

You risk taking a peek through the little glass window on the door, and your hunch is confirmed. Students belonging to the council are all sitting in a circle of chairs, discussing... well, school-related business stuff. You aren't really sure what they do, exactly.

You catch sight of Monika at the head of them, naturally because she is the president, but you aren't expecting to see her with such an expression.

Usually, Monika seems to you warm, open, patient, and friendly... but here, she looks... not even bored, but more like she's utterly apathetic towards all the conversations going on around her. You've never seen her so uncaring, to the point where she seems almost irritated by the presence of everyone in the room with her.

Maybe she's having a bad day? The thought makes you a bit sad, and you find yourself wondering if she would even want to see you. Do the others in the council even realize she's so unlike herself?

As if to answer your silent question, one of the other students turns to Monika to say something, and when they do, the familiar expression you're used to your club president wearing slips back with ease onto her face. She listens attentively to whatever it is she's being told, and then she smiles and nods, commenting something you can't hear in return.

You watch the exchange, too fascinated to stop watching even if you do worry someone might notice you peeking inside for such a long minute. As soon as the student turns away from her, Monika is once again the picture of discontentment; you even notice her tapping her nails listlessly against the surface of the table they're all seated at.

The sound of the doorknob rattling causes you to leap backwards in shock, stumbling slightly over your own two feet. The meeting must be over, because someone is stepping out, and then another, and then you're hurriedly dodging out of the path of the entire student body as they file out, talking and laughing with one another as they head down the hall, eventually leaving you alone.

"Y/N?"

Looking away from their retreating figures, you face Monika and find her as she always is with you- curious emerald eyes and a friendly air about her. "Ah- hello," you greet her, trying not to sound as awkward as you feel about your... let's be honest, spying.

"I wasn't really sure that you'd show!" She exclaims, startling you with a sudden hug.

You've actually never gotten a hug from Monika, although you have a ton of hugs to compare hers to- Sayori throws herself at you pretty much daily, and hers tend to be suffocating, always too tight and lasting a bit too long.

From Monika, though? Her hug, despite making your head spin and your heart skip a beat, makes you feel so safe, secure... she's so warm and you can't help but be enamored with whatever perfume she uses.

Unfortunately, you're too stunned to return the embrace in time before Monika pulls back from you, and you could swear she has a faint blush on her cheeks. She doesn't apologize for her impromptu action, though, and you're glad for that.

"Why wouldn't I?" You ask, dumbstruck.

She studies you for a few seconds, and you get the idea that she's trying to detect if you're being serious or not. Eventually she says, "Oh, nevermind that! I am glad to see you, though. I have something I wanted to give you."

'Please refrain from saying something really stupid and cheesy like, 'the best gift you could give me is just getting to see you on my birthday,' you think to yourself. "A gift? You really didn't have to- or, I mean, you shouldn't have-! Not that I don't appreciate it, though...!" You don't typically struggle so much with your words, but you're still a little off your game after the lovely hug. It's like your mind is foggy, your tongue is twisted, and you simply can't think straight. Which isn't really new when you're around Monika, but today it's impacting you even more than normal. Maybe because you two are all alone for once, not surrounded by Sayori, Yuri, or Natsuki, or even any other students for that matter.

Monika gives a soft laugh. "I wanted to. Technically it's two somethings rather than one," she admits.

You find your mind racing as it tries to go over the potential possibilities. A book like Yuri? That would be very fitting, since you'd befriended Monika through the Literature Club.

You watch as she takes a gift box out of her bookbag, offering it to you with a sweet, "Happy birthday, Y/N."

God, you're definitely blushing. Like, fierce blushing. Either that or the school suddenly decided to turn fifty heaters on all at once. 'Geez, pull yourself together!! Act normal!' You internally berate yourself. If there had been any doubt before, it was all erased in this one instant- you were head over heels for your club president.

"Awh, thank you! It's nice of you." You accept the gift, examining it momentarily. As expected of the class star Monika, the box itself is wrapped perfectly. It's even your favorite color, with a matching ribbon tying it shut. Whether or not you're a sentimental person, you recognize that this is the sort of memento that could easily be kept for a long, long time. You glance back to your friend. "May I open it now?"

Monika nods. "Please do!"

You feel her gaze on you as you carefully untie the ribbon and open up the gift box to see what's inside.

She was right, it is more than one thing. They sort of go together though, you realize as you lift one of the presents up to admire it.

In your hand is a necklace. The chain is a light silver, and the pendant contains a pretty stone in the shape of a heart. The stone shimmers slightly as it reflects the light of the school hall.

"It's so pretty...!" You breathe.

"I'm glad, I thought it was pretty too," Monika says. She sounds calm, but when you glance at her you think she's ecstatic, but the expression is gone as soon as you blink, leaving you to wonder if it had been your imagination playing tricks on you. "It's your birthstone, did you notice?"

You hadn't noticed until she'd pointed it out, but it was indeed your birthstone. Monika is just... so very thoughtful. It's really no wonder she's so popular. "Thank you so much!!" You chirp, still somewhat surprised that she would go so far just for a birthday gift for you. You hadn't known her personally for very long, after all.

You set the necklace back down inside the box to bring out the other gift, another accessory- it's the same color as your birthstone necklace, but it actually reminds you of something else.

Yes, it's a big bow similar to Monika's own. If you were to wear it, it could even look like she and you were matching. You could just be reading too much into things, though...

"I.. love them. So much." You have an overwhelming urge to put your thoughts onto paper in order to give Monika the proper thanks that she deserves for being possibly the most generous person in existence, and because you feel like you're failing miserably at voicing just how touched you really are by these gifts. "I almost want to get you something in return...!"

Monika shakes her head in amusement. "It's your birthday, not mine." A contemplative finger rests on her chin as she adds, "Although... there is something you could do for me. If you wouldn't mind, of course."

Perplexed, you respond without giving yourself a chance to think about it. "Anything!"

You're rewarded with an affectionate smile from Monika, but it seems as though she was expecting that to be your answer.

She extends a hand for the gift box that you've already set both the bow and necklace back in, inquiring, "May I?"

Wordlessly, your intrigue piqued, you hand it back to her. She takes the bow out first, stepping closer to you.

It's not foolish of you to have been anticipating a kiss- even now you could very easily initiate one if you so chose, because of how terrifyingly close Monika is to you as she gently pulls your hair back for you, tying it back with the Y/FC bow and even brushing a stray lock of hair from your face after she does so.

While you're struggling to recover from your short-circuiting, Monika takes the necklace and places it around your neck. The brush of her fingers sends sparks of static against your skin, and you feel as if time is standing completely still, and it's just you and her in this world.

The faint click of the necklace as it clasps shut is what brings you back to reality, and all too soon Monika is stepping away from you again, still close but at a much more reasonable distance away.

She appraises your appearance and then smiles softly. "As I thought."

Is she being mysterious on purpose or does being around her just happen to kill your brain cells? "E-Eh?"

"You look lovely, Y/N."

The compliment makes you want to bury your face in your hands in the futile hopes of hiding your blush, but by now it's probably too late for that.

You stutter out your thanks, desperately trying to mend your scattered thoughts, and she once again wishes you a happy birthday, reminding you as well to bring your poetry assignment to the club meeting tomorrow.

As she's leaving, you realize you never got the chance to ask about the strange behavior she'd exhibited during the meeting with the other students.

[itsgodthemself]

“I think I'm struggling in every subject."

Hi everyone, here’s some random oc x eddie thing I wrote a few days ago. I wanted to share it with you guys, :) This fanfic includes my oc Kimberly Coleman, she’s just a random nerd and he’s just a random metalhead. Cute couple am I right?

___________________________________________________________

Kimberly brought her hand up to her face, rubbing her temples as she sat in the Hawkins High Library. Tutoring may seem time consuming and boring, and it was a right assumption it completely was and is. Kimberly could admit it was annoying, but still she loved helping her peers understand hard subjects. Plus tutoring looked good on her school record, colleges and universities ate it up. Usually she’d find whoever she was tutoring waiting for her in the library, but this time she found no one. Some kids didn’t show up at all, but the ones that did were usually early or right on time, this was a sign Kimberly should pack up and go home. She couldn’t bring herself to do it, she’d feel bad if she left and the kid was just a little late. 

Kimberly waited for another 5 minutes, sighing softly as she began to pack up her things and put them in her bookbag. As soon as she stood up someone busted into the library, screaming “Wait!” The loud noise was followed by a very aggressive shushing noise and then a few sorries, the boy who burst in quickly walked over to Kimberly. He had long hair down to his shoulders, it was curly. He wore a t-shirt, it read hellfire with symbols on it. “Are you?” Kimberly started, trailing off as she reached into her pocket to pull out a crumpled piece of paper that read ‘Eddie Munson, after school - biology’ “Eddie Munson?” She asked, tilting her head.

The boy smiled and nodded happily, still catching his breath. “Yes, yes that’s me.” He said, pulling out a chair at the table and almost toppling over. “I'm sorry I was late,” Eddie whispered, not wanting to anger the librarian anymore than he already did. Kimberly smiled to herself and sat down, she was glad he showed up, even if he was around 20 minutes late. It showed even if he wasn’t on time, he cared about his academics, Kimberly could admire that. “The note the teacher gave me said you’re struggling with biology?” She asked, trying to clarify, sitting down in a chair next to him. Eddie chuckled and nodded, “I think I'm struggling in every subject, but if that's what the paper says then sure.” He looked down and played with his rings, twirling them around his fingers. Kim pulled her biology notebook out of her bag and placed it on the desk, she moved her chair closer to Eddie and flipped to a page with notes all over it. “Can you tell me some of the concepts you’re struggling with?” Kimberly asked, rereading some of her notes waiting for Eddie to answer. When she realized he was taking a bit to answer she looked at him, Eddie seemed to be staring off into space. “Eddie.” Kimberly said, snapping him back to reality. He shook his head slightly, as if he had to shake the thoughts he was having out of his mind to focus.

Eddie’s eyes met hers and he smiled, trying to remember what she said. “Yeah?” He said, after a few seconds of intense eye contact. Kimberly smiled out of pity and rubbed her temples again, “What concepts are you struggling with in biology?” She asked again, tilting her head at him. Eddie nodded and furrowed his brows as he pretended to think for a few seconds, “Yeah, uhm. All of them basically.” Eddie answered, truthfully. Kimberly’s face fell as she realized this wouldn’t be just one tutoring session, this would be multiple. “Before we start, how about I get to know you, I think we’ll be seeing each other a lot.” Kim said, trying to hint that he’d need more tutoring. He didn’t find her comment rude at all, Eddie knew he’d be seeing her a lot, all of his teachers recommended tutoring, except for his music teacher. Eddie smiled and thought about what he’d want to tell her, “Well I like music, if you couldn’t tell.” He pointed to the different pins and patches on his vest, showing her each one and telling her all about the bands. Kimberly seemed surprisingly interested in the music, Eddie loved telling her about his interests, he seemed so much more focused then when they were discussing biology. Finally it was time for Kimberly to share about herself, “Well, my name's Kimberly. If you didn’t already gather that information from my notebook,” She looked down to her notebook, a sticker on the front reading ���Kimberly Henderson’. Eddie did not notice that was her name, he also did not plan to ask for it. It simply just crossed his mind, he looked down at the notebook and read her name, even if she just told him it.

“You seem to have trouble focusing, is that why you need tutoring?” Kim asked, trying not to come off as rude. Eddie thought about it for a minute, she was right, he had so much trouble focusing unless the topic was something he was interested in. He could talk about music for hours, every concept of it and every song he knew, he could recite millions upon millions of lyrics, play all the chords along with it too. But his brain just couldn’t handle biology. “Yeah, you’re right, curls.” Eddie responded after a little bit of thinking, “Curls?” Kimberly questioned, confused by the nickname. He gestured to her curly hair with his hand, he then twirled one of his curls around his finger. “We almost have the same hairstyle, good choice.” He joked, “it suits you, makes you seem all friendly. That wasn’t what I was really going for, but you pull it off.” Eddie told her, smiling while he spoke, admiring her features. “Why do you tutor kids like me?” He asked Kim, almost immediately after his last comment, he seemed a bit embarrassed about complimenting her. Kimberly thought about it for a second, why was she a tutor? Why did she waste her afternoons doing this? Why did she spend her time trying to wrangle kids like Eddie Munson? “I don’t know actually, I just thought I could. I'm smart and I learned better when my mom helped me than when a teacher explained things, so, I thought maybe it's the teachers that are explaining everything wrong.” She felt bad talking about her teachers like that but she was right, not everyone learnt the same way. Eddie agreed with her, he struggled with learning unless it was one on one, unless he had someone to help him focus. “Thank you for being here, y'know, tutoring. You’re giving me a better chance at graduating this year.” Eddie said softly, smiling to himself as he leant on his arm, he found himself staring at her again. The two began to pack up, Kimberly putting her notebooks away and starting to walk away after waving at Eddie. He noticed her wave and tripped over his chair, apologizing to the librarian and rushing after her. He didn’t know why, but he wanted to keep talking to her. Eddie followed Kimberly through the hallway, “Hey! Hey, Kim!” He yelled, waiting for her to turn around. Kimberly stopped in the hall and slowly turned, yet again Eddie was out of breath. He walked up to her and smiled, she seemed to wait for him to start the conversation but he didn’t. He just stared at her, she stared back for a little bit before saying, “Yes?” Eddie looked up and thought for a second, “Do you wanna hangout for a bit, before I have Hellfire?” He asked, “I can walk you home, or something?” He offered, Kimberly thought about it.

This boy had just met her about an hour ago, was late for his tutoring appointment and he probably didn't even know what biology was! He reeked of weed, listened to hardcore metal and he was certainly unapologetically himself. Something about him was oh so interesting, like a taste you couldn’t get off your tongue, Kimberly wanted to know more. Every kid around Hawkins High talked about Eddie Munson, the freak. Kimberly never understood the gossip, maybe he just seemed weird to others. But as he was standing in front of her right now, chunky rings on his fingers and his smile as wide as ever. She thought, ‘fuck it.’ “You can walk me home, Munson.” Kimberly said, turning on her heel and walking towards the front doors. Eddie followed after her like a puppy, happy to be involved. That was the beginning of their friendship, Eddie and Kim, an unlikely duo.

[sunshineseung]

Journal Part 2 // Jeongin

🍄 | genre: smut ☁️ | pairing: Yang Jeongin x female!reader 🌿 | wc: 3.2k 🌸 | includes: milf!reader x babysitter!college student!virgin!jeongin, solo masturbation (m), “mommy/ma’am”, other pet names, more smut within smut [spanking, punishment], breast play, begging, agreement of safe word, unprotected PIV, choking, creampie, male overstimulation, a lil bit more but that’s the main stuff

🌊 | One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Finale |

The dim light of the desk lamp was all that lit the room as Jeongin desperately jotted his thoughts down into his journal. It was very late at night, almost sunrise, but he couldn’t stop thinking about you. As he was writing, he was completely hard, and his hand was lazily stroking his cock, not in an attempt to reach an orgasm, but rather just to relieve some of the pent up energy he had inside of himself. 

This journal will no longer have to be fantasy. Finally, after years of going after girls and failing miserably, I have a girl that wants me, but not just a girl, a woman. Ms. L/n, the woman this entire book is for, said she needs me, and she did get me like she wanted. Although I wasn’t thinking straight, I remember everything. Her defined hands worshipped my body while she teased me, and even with my underwear on, it was hard not whimpering and moaning as she gripped my cock like I’ve wanted her to for so long. When she went down on me, it felt like a dream. I almost pinched myself out of fear that it was all a dream, but when I looked down to see my release covering her chest, I knew it wasn’t. 

The kiss… Her lips were so pretty and soft. The way she kissed me made my heart burst, like my life was just starting to begin. As cheesy as that sounds, I can’t shake the feeling that my neighbor who I once only lusted for was becoming more than just the woman I think about when I’m needy. I want to be with her all the time, and not just for sex. It’s too early to say I’m in love, of course, but despite her being over ten years older than me, would it be crazy of me to say that I like her?

Jeongin shut the journal, putting it in his bookbag for tomorrow. Looking back out of his bedroom window, the light behind your curtains was off, signaling it was way too late for him to be up. He slept good that night knowing all of his wildest and dirtiest dreams were about to come true, or at least a few of them.

🍓🍰🐤🍀💐🍯

School was always a drag, but only having one class on Friday’s was a gift from God for Jeongin. All he had to do was get through an hour and a half of class, then he could go to your house. Through text, you told him to be prepared to stay late, possibly overnight, and being the overly excited (and horny) teenage boy that Jeongin is, he couldn’t help but let his imagination run wild. Late night sex, morning sex, shower sex, the things he wanted to do with you were endless. Still, he also wanted to hold your hand, as weird as that sounded.

Putting his feelings aside, he joined his last class of the week and scrolled through his phone as his teacher blabbed on about who-knows-what. He needed something to distract him from the massive distraction that was your entire existence. 

He dashed out of his house right when class ended, showing up to your house earlier than usual only by a few minutes. You thanked him for watching your kids and left, and the casualness of your mannerisms alarmed Jeongin. You’re all he’s been thinking about for the past day, so how were you so calm and collected as if you weren’t wearing the same shirt that had his cum on it, albeit washed and dried right after the fact.

Your kids certainly help Jeongin get his mind off of you when they immediately ask him to play once you leave. After going through every jigsaw puzzle and playing with every Barbie doll, he finally put them to bed, giving him over an hour before you get home from work to write whatever he wants in his journal. He just has to avoid falling asleep this time. 

“Please hit me harder ma’am,” I whine as she has me bent over her lap. I deserve this, and even more so, I want this. I want Ms. L/n to spank my ass as hard as she can while I writhe in her lap with my hard cock rubbing against her leg. “I’ve been a bad boy, haven’t I?” The marks she leaves on my ass burn in the best way. Feeling her nails dig into my skin when she grabs the flesh that she’s made bright red, I cry out of pleasure and pain. What’s so rewarding about being punished, and why does it make my cock twitch with excitement when you treat me like shit?

Subconsciously, Jeongin’s free hand has moved to the tent in his pants, rubbing over the fabric of his jeans for the slightest bit of stimulation. Feeling himself, he puts the journal to the side after writing nearly two pages of disgusting fantasies. Despite having a nice, wholesome time with your two daughters under an hour ago, his mind, as usual, wonders to the thought of you pleasuring him and yourself as much as you want. To Jeongin, he’s your babysitter but also your toy that will happily let you use him however you wish, basically making him your slave. 

Getting home a few minutes early, you walk into your house to see the living room empty, although you were expecting your babysitter to be on the couch. Opening the door to your kids’ room, they’re sound asleep with no sign of him. Your head spins when you hear muffled groans coming from your bedroom. Being only mildly pissed, you storm into your room to see none other Yang Jeongin curled into your comforter, jerking off while his head is buried into your pillow.

“Couldn’t wait for me, huh?” Jeongin feels the edge of the bed dip as you sit on the edge, but he doesn’t stop. Actually, he speeds up, moaning louder now that you’ve closed the door. He’s still partially dressed with his cute little ass hanging out of the back of his pulled down jeans. “Aw, is my pretty boy about to cum? Who are you thinking about, hm?” 

“Y-you.” Jeongin sighs loudly, feeling himself get closer to his climax just by you mentioning it. “I was thinking about you, only you, ma’am.” His whines of this new name make your face flush. You reach out for his thigh, turning him so he’s laying on his back. He flops into position like a ragdoll, but his hand remains pumping his cock. Just by feeling your hands on him, he cums all over his wrinkled tee shirt. Embarrassed he came so fast, he apologizes, but you know very well he isn’t really done yet.

“Don’t be sorry, baby. You’re so young, and I’m sure you can go another round.”

You pull his pants and underwear down his legs, making him gasp from the sudden exposure despite you seeing it all before. “Now sit up and take that shirt off.”

Fully obedient, he stands off the bed and strips until he’s totally naked, face red as he awkwardly holds his hands to his sides. You sit in front of him, running your hands down his arms until you grab his hips and bring him closer until his cock is right at your chest. Although he’s still a little soft, you’re sure he’ll get hard in no time.

“Undress me, Jeongin.” His eyes go wide as he looks your figure up and down, scared of what he’s about to see, and even more scared of what he’s about to do. With a dramatic gulp, he unbuttons the familiar work shirt you were wearing, exposing your bra. He slowly leans down, carefully not to faceplant into your chest, unbuttoning your top entirely before you shake it off of your shoulders, the article of clothing falling behind you on the bed. “I’m guessing you don’t know how to unhook a bra?”

“N-no. I’m sorry.” Jeongin moves back and covers his face with his hands as you reach behind you and easily unhook your bra for him, dropping it onto your thighs and tossing it somewhere on the floor. When he removes his hands from his face, his jaw hangs open. He can’t take his eyes off of your tits, which are much nicer than he could ever imagine. “May I touch them, mommy?”

“Of course, baby.” You take his wrist in your hand and pull his right hand to your left breast, basically forcing him to squeeze it between his fingers, not that he minded. Seeing him so flustered and confused only made you more turned on. He was so innocent, yet the things he wrote in his journal were so vulgar. You could hardly believe that the words in that cursed book came from the boy that didn’t know how to unhook a bra. “Put your mouth to the nipple.” 

“Huh?”

“Don’t act so naïve, Jeongin. I know you’ve thought about this before.” He finally looks up to you out of shock. “So shy? Now? But when you write in that book of yours, you’re not shy, are you?” 

“No ma’am. I’m sorry.” 

Stopping his hand, you pull him down to his knees by his wrist. He’s eye-level with your stomach, but he quickly raises himself up to connect his lips with one of your nipples. You moan shortly as your hand tangles in his hair, pulling him closer into your chest. Even after breastfeeding your two kids, your nipples were sensitive as ever. 

“Good boy.” You stare down at him as he’s focused, swirling his tongue around your bud. When he finally looks up to you, your head is thrown back from the mild pleasure Jeongin’s shooting through your nerves. 

He’s starting to feel bold. Jeongin moves from one nipple to the other, massaging your other spit-coated breast with his hand. His fingers rub your nipple, twisting it just enough for it to all feel good. Your moans become more frequent, and being able to hear you groan for him is all he’s ever wanted. 

“Mommy, can I fuck your tits?” You’re the one that’s shocked this time. He pulls back, his hand becoming still on your other breast. “I want to fuck your tits so bad, please?” 

“Whoa there, baby boy. Getting a little ahead of yourself, aren’t you?” You laugh at his eagerness, pulling him by his hair to stand up. Just seeing how hard he’s gotten by sucking on your tits is enough to make you almost laugh again, but you wouldn’t want to be too mean to the poor boy. 

Moving back on the bed, you lay down and spread your legs. His eyes immediately direct towards your heat, still covered by your work pants. When you gesture towards the obstacle, he lets out a tiny “oh” before pulling your pants down, leaving you in your sopping panties. 

He hooks his index fingers on the hips of your panties, gently pulling them down your legs before dropping them to the floor with your panties. Again, this is greater than anything he could have imagined. 

“C’mere, my little prince.” You take his hands in yours, dragging him to sit on your thighs while you lay under him. You don’t let go of his hands, and he really doesn’t want you to. Your pet names for him always make him blush, but this one in particular made his heart beat even faster than before. “Have you written anything about me since yesterday?”

Jeongin’s mind becomes clouded by all of the things he’s written in the past 24 hours. Every scenario and confession fills his head, and it takes him a few moments to answer before he comes back to reality to answer you. “Y-yes mommy.”

“What did you write?”

Pause. “S-spank me?” Jeongin’s voice is only a light whisper. 

“What was that?” You lean up a little, holding your hand behind your ear to tease him. “You have to speak up, Jeonginnie.”

“I wrote about you spanking me.” His voice returns to him, now fully speaking from his chest. “Punishing me, treating me like a doll.”

“Oh my God, baby. That’s so perverted.” You rub his thighs up and down as you stare at his cock, now twitching with your every word. “You want to be my little doll? Let me do whatever I want to you?” 

“Y-yes!” His overexcited nature makes you giggle as you feel around his pelvis, hands getting dangerously close to his dick. “Can I be mommy’s little toy? I’ll be good, I promise!”

“But don’t you want me to punish you too?” You bite your lip as you look up at him. He’s looking off into the distance, imagining all of the nasty things he wants you to do to him. “Spank you, degrade you, deprive you?” 

“Can’t I have both?” His retort is quick. You didn’t know he could answer you so soon since he was clearly dipping into subspace, although he didn’t even know he did that. “Be your good boy and make you punish me?”

“Wow, so dirty~ We’ll need a safe word, alright?” He nods in understanding, watching you as you try to come up with a word that you could both comfortably say. “How about ‘mango’? Would that be good for you?”

“Mango is good, yeah.” You feel around the base of his cock, watching precum drip from his tip as he groans.

“What do you want to do right now, baby boy?”

“Oh,” he ponders for a second, “p-please fuck me.” 

“Ah, I love it when you beg.” You roughly push him over, his body falling onto the bed right where he was jerking off not too long ago. Climbing over him, you line his member up with your entrance, running his tip through your folds. He whimpers under you, biting the side of his hand to hold back any unwanted sounds he might let out. “Are you ready?”

“Y-yes, mommy! Please let me feel you.” The hand he isn’t biting down on goes to one of his nipples, feeling his chest like he just did to you. You slowly lower onto him, watching his facial expressions rapidly change as he gets used to feeling your cunt around him. He isn’t the biggest, but he still manages to fill you up and make you feel just right. 

Once you’re fully lowered onto him, he grabs your hips and holds you, whining your name over and over again. You can tell he’s trying to get something out, but his brain is too blank to form a sentence. Adjusting yourself on his cock, he groans with a high-pitched whine following shortly after.

“Wait, w-what if I cum inside you?” You look down at him, smiling at his cuteness. “I don’t think I’ll be able to last too long.”

“Don’t worry about a thing, baby.” You lean over and kiss his forehead, holding his face in your palms. “No matter what, I’m not stopping until I cum, got it?”

“Y-yes, ah~ Y/n!” Leaning back from his face, you raise up on him while he is mid-sentence, making him moan out for you. When you start to ride him, his sounds just can’t stop. Fearful that he’ll wake your children, you lean forward again and cover his mouth with your hand, still allowing him to breath through his nose. Ignoring your hand, he continues to cry and wail, feeling like he was on cloud nine just from you riding him. 

“You have such a nice cock, Jeonginnie. It’s even better inside me, though.” Your mind starts to fog, ignoring the younger boy’s needs to chase your own high. While one of your hands covers his mouth, your other hand wraps around his neck, choking him just enough to make him sob from the thrill. A few tears rolled down his cheeks, and without being able to warn you, he reached his climax and shot his load inside you, but you didn't stop.

Cum leaks out of your hole as your movements become quicker and rougher. The hand that covered his mouth has now joined your other hand around his neck, choking him as he sobs from the overstimulation, yet the predetermined safe word isn’t even crossing his mind. He loves everything you’re doing to him more than he could ever describe with words.

Your thumb runs across his bottom hip and he opens his mouth, light sobs leaving his throat. Ducking down towards his face, you kiss him with full tongue, something he’s never experienced before. Still, he quickly learned the movements and kissed you back, loving the feeling of your mouth against his. 

Pulling away, you stare down into his eyes. You looked beyond beautiful to him, and the entire visual of your half-lidded eyes, gaping mouth, bouncing tits, and dripping cunt making his cock disappear over and over again, he couldn’t help but get hard again.

“Cum for me, please mommy?” He pouts, giving you the glimmering eyes that always make you shudder. His hand hesitantly makes his way down to your clit, circling it with one finger while you ride his cock. You’re not entirely sure how he knows where the clitoris is, but it feels so good that you don’t even care. 

Mewling with your entire throat, your cunt tightens around Jeongin’s cock as you ride out your high, shallowing your movements. The sight of you cumming from him makes him moan right with you, nearly cumming inside you again. AS you come down from your orgasm, you slowly pull yourself off of him, his cock dropping against his abdomen, covering in the combined juices of you two. Catching your breath, you lay next to Jeongin, secretly hoping he’ll turn to his side so you can spoon him for a minute. 

“I can stay, right?” Jeongin turns to you while you lay on your side, looking to you for any sign of discontent. You nod as you stand up to go to the bathroom and clean up. “Oh, where are you going?”

“I can’t sleep like this.” You laugh as you gesture to your pussy, clearly in no shape to sit overnight. “I’ll be right back out.”

You disappear into the bathroom, ready to take care of the mess between your legs. Jeongin grabs a tissue and wipes himself clean of any release left on himself before laying back down and going on his phone, seeing a plethora of text message notifications from his friends’ group chat. He doesn’t have the mental capacity to check them right now. He just wants to bliss out, joyfully going through the entire night over again in his mind, cementing every action and event in his memory. 

Walking back from the bathroom, you toss yourself onto the bed and lay next to Jeongin, asking him politely to turn over so you can be the big spoon. With your chest pressed against his back, he puts his phone down and falls asleep.

Suddenly, your phone rings, and you quickly reach over to answer the call without seeing who it was. Unfortunately, it was your ex husband's voice coming from the other end, and you wish you had turned your ringer off. Jeongin was asleep, just like your kids, but as you rubbed your eyes from tiredness, you couldn’t help but regret answering the call.

“Y/n, are you fucking one of my students?”

Shit.

[comehomeducklings]

Late Night Run-Ins

Summary: You are heading home from your study session at the library. When the stars cross and you meet someone who's about to change the rest of your life.

Characters: Marcus Lopez from the show Deadly Class, you, and the slight mention of a librarian.

A/N: Thank you for taking the time to read, please don't post my work on any other site without permission, even if you credit me.

~❀❀❀❀~

The constant ticking of the library’s clock rings throughout the silent building. Bouncing off the tall, dark bookshelves. You only have the soft orange glow of a victorian style lamp lighting the scattered papers and books in front of you. The dark atmosphere only adding to your sleep deprivation. A small price to pay for good grades and scores.

The words on the books are starting to blur together. Reading the sentences 10 times to understand it is a good sign that you should head home and try to get some sleep. If you can at least, the big test tomorrow that makes or breaks if you pass the class or not is making you feel sick inside. You are honestly so done with school at this point.

You pack your things in your bookbag and start to exit the building, quickly waving goodbye to the librarian. The wind of the night nips at your exposed arms. Prickling your arm with goosebumps. As you look towards the sky, there is only one star in sight. The pollution and light from the city causing the stars to hide. You always wondered how the sky would look with billions of the big balls of gas littering it. Feeling so small beneath the watchful eyes.

It may not be the best idea to go through alleys to get home. This route is faster though and for how sleepy you are, you might pass out any second now. The walk is seeming to dread on for a while. Even though you’ve only been at it for about 10 minutes. As you move along, you hear footsteps. Seemingly sounding fast as they come quickly one after the other. You turn to your right and left looking for the source of the sounds.

Finally, you turn around to see a dark shadow of a person running towards you. As they get closer you start to see the features of a boy illuminating from the pole light. A boy with dark curls that cling onto his forehead. If you had time to really look at him without the impending fear taking over your systems you would see that he’s quite cute. His eyelashes really sticking his eyes out, you could even go as far as saying that’s his best feature.

The guy running towards you was looking straight at you. Never slowing down like he had a destination he was late to get to. You started panicking and searching your bookbag for anything that could protect you from this random dude. All thoughts going straight to this man wanting to skin you and wear it as a coat. You started freaking out even more and just throwing stuff out of your bookbag looking for something. Something that could save you.

You stand back up and look towards the boy with wide eyes. He suddenly realizes your existence and stops in his tracks. His eyes were also wide in fear.

“Omg, I didn’t see you there I am so sorry,” He exclaims in horror. “I was running because I’m scared of the dark.”

You look at him while you squat down and pick up all your stuff. You sling your backpack over your shoulder and take a few steps back. Furrowing your eyebrows in confusion and understanding.

“Oh, I thought you were going to kill me-“ you start to say. You let out a breath of slight relief while still on your guard.

“No no no, I was running to the light you are standing under. My name’s Marcus, yours? Unless you don’t want to give it to me that's fine too-“

“No it's okay I’m (insert your name here).” You quickly interrupt him. Blood still pumping quickly from the heart caused by the near-death experience. You thought you were about to be on one of those news channels for missing kids.

“Nice to meet you, hey you go to that prestigious school. The one that has access to a bunch of chemicals for science.” Marcus realizes.

“Uh, maybe. Why?” You question.

“I need some help getting a certain chemical. It's for an assignment that's worth half my grade for the semester.” He slowly looks up and down your form. Slowly crawling up back to your eyes.

“Are you willing to help me?”

“I think so, what exactly are you looking for?”

“Sodium hydroxide”

[dirtykpopsnaps]

The Resident Bad Boy — Mark Lee smut

Warnings: This fic contains 18+ material. Anyone under 18 seen interacting with this fic will be blocked!!

Contains: bad boy!Mark. Banter between Mark and Y/N. Hate fucking. Unprotected sex. That’s basically it.

Requested:

Words: 3, 478 (wow...I’m getting these requests out faster than I thought. But, I’ve had this request on my mind since it came in...oops😬😬)

———————————————————————

I sigh softly, nibbling lightly on the toast in front of me. Out the window of the kitchen, I’m just able to people slowly waking up in their homes and starting their days. Calmly, my eyes flit over to the digital clock set into the stove. The clock displays back the time 7:00 AM and I climb off the seat. I grab my plate and place it in the sink, grabbing the toast off the top. I shove the toast into my mouth and grab my bookbag off the floor, throwing it over my shoulder. “I’m heading out, mom! Have a nice day!” I call out before walking to the door and heading out into the street.

Calmly, I walk down the street towards the bus stop. Each house on the street looks similar, but different at the same time. At the end of the street, a large stop sign signals the place for the bus stop. A few students are already gathered around the bus stop, some just waiting for the bus and others already studying. I join the group of students and wait patiently. Thankfully, we don’t have to wait long before the bus shows up. Quickly, students step onto the bus and take their seats. I find a seat at the very front of the bus, setting my backpack next to me.

As the time passes, the bus makes a few other stops. Students climb onto the bus and find their seats, talking excitedly to their friends. Up until the last stop, everything is fine. No one bothers me and I sit alone, looking out the window at everything passing. At the last stop, as I do every day, I duck my head and try to avoid all attention. Sometimes this works, other times it doesn’t. Today is one of the days where it doesn’t work. A few people climb onto the bus, finding their seats and talking happily. Then, a person appears at in the isle next to me. “Is this seat taken?” They ask, their voice filled with mock curiosity. I swallow thickly and shake my head, picking up the backpack and pulling it onto my lap. Chuckling to himself, the person takes the seat next to me.

As soon as he sits down, I look out the window and refuse to look at him. The bus slowly starts moving again and makes its way towards our high school. After a few minutes, the boy next to me speaks up again. “Aww, does someone not want to look at me? Did I upset you?” He asks, using a mocking baby voice and trying to get his face into my line of sight. I huff in annoyance, crossing my arms over my chest.

“Leave me alone, Lee. I don’t need your shit this early in the morning,” I growl. Finally, I turn my head to look at him and scowl at him. Just next to me, a thin but muscular young man is smirking at me. His eyes are large and dark, chocolaty brown. His hair is fluffy and dark brown, as well. Just looking at this boy, some might say he looks angelic. But, this boy’s angelic looks have never fooled me. Since the day I met him, I’ve known just the kind of person he truly is.

This man right next to me is Mark Lee. He’s a year above me, a senior at my high school. This young man, as angelic as he may look, has made my life a living hell since the day I met him. My family moved here just a couple years ago due to a promotion my father got. It moved him to another department in Korea and my mother and I moved with him. The day that I started at Seoul Performing Arts High School, I met Mark. He strutted right up to me and started flirting. Most girls would have melted into a puddle. He was the most popular boy in school. He was a bad boy and add to that that he was debuting as a kpop idol, and every girl wanted to be with him. Every girl, that is, except me. I didn’t know who the hell Mark Lee was, but he was too confident and conceited for me to ever fall for him. I wanted nothing to do with him and, ever since that day, he’s made it his goal in life to bother me and bully me.

At my statement, Mark raises his eyebrows. “Oh, you don’t need my shit, huh? Well, you’ll just have to deal, little miss perfect,” he laughs cruelly. I roll my eyes, huffing and looking out the window again. Mark laughs again. “Oh, don’t act like that. You know you like me,” he laughs, wrapping his arm around the seat of the bus and onto my shoulder. I glare at him, shoving his arm off my shoulder.

“You. Wish,” I glare, turning away from him again. Mark rolls his eyes, letting out a deep sigh.

“Fine. Just meet me at our hall during break,” he says plainly. Instantly, my throat feels dry and I look at him, taking deep breaths.

“Who says I want to meet with you?” I ask, lowering my voice. He shrugs his shoulders lightly.

“Well, you’ve never missed one of our meetings before,” he reminds me. I huff again, slumping down in the seat. Mark laughs at my actions, patting my head like one would a petulant child.

Finally, the bus makes its way up to the high school. Kids begin climbing off the bus and I separate myself from Mark Lee as soon as I can. He doesn’t try to stop me and I can see him meeting up with his friends, talking calmly. However, what they’re talking about doesn’t seem to catch his attention. He keeps throwing glances at me and, when he catches me staring back, he blows me a condescending kiss. I roll my eyes, making my way into the school and heading towards my classroom. When I get into the classroom, I find my seat and immediately take a book out of my bookbag. I open the book on the desk and start flipping through it, looking over random bits of information.

For the most part, my morning is fairly normal. My day starts with my vocal practice lessons. The teacher is critical, but only because they want us to do as well as we can. I stay to myself, working with the techniques that he teaches us. About halfway through the class, I start to feel things being tossed at the back of my head. I frown lightly, refusing to turn around and acknowledge it. I know exactly who’s throwing the trash at me and I’m not encouraging him. However, after about another 10 minutes of having trash tossed at me, I whip around. Mark is sitting at the back of the class, laughing with his best friend and looks away when I whip around. “Stop it!” I hiss at him, turning back around and ignoring him for the rest of the class.

At the end of class, the school bell rings loudly. Everyone begins packing up their bags and heading out of the class, walking towards no specific place. We have a 50 minute break now and the students get to spend it however they see fit. Quickly, I gather my bag and throw it over my shoulder, walking out of the room. Looking around to make sure that no one is watching me, I walk in the opposite direction of most students and head further into the school. I walk along the long hallways, making my way towards an empty wing of the school. The classrooms here aren’t used until later on in the day, so this has become our normal meeting spot. As calmly as possible, I head down the hall and wait for him to appear.

Not long after, I hear heavy footsteps as someone makes their way down the empty hall. The person walks along and then turns down the same hall as me. When he sees me standing there, he chuckles lightly. “See? I knew you would show up,” he smiles knowingly. I glare at him, crossing my arms again.

“I hate you,” I sigh, shaking my head at him.

“Well, obviously, you don’t. I mean, it was your choice to show up. You didn’t *have* to come here,” he points out. I take a deep breath, pressing my lips together tightly.

“Whatever,” I mumble, walking down the hall to one of the empty classrooms. Mark follows after me, making no effort to be any quieter. He walks into the room after me, closing the door quietly behind him.

As soon as he enters the room, I press him against the door and smash my lips against his. Mark grunts in surprise, but falls into the kiss soon afterward. When we pull apart, he shoots an infuriating smile down at me. “What a nice greeting. Finally you’re being nice to me,” he chuckles. I narrow my eyes at him, tugging hard at his hair in response. Mark grunts again, screwing his face up in pain. He swats at my hands, pulling them out of his hair. I flash him a tight-lipped smile and he rolls his eyes. “You know you can drop your act here. No one is around to see that you actually *care* about Mark Lee,” he says.

“I *don’t* care about you. You’re just infuriatingly persistent and persuasive. Not to mention, you’re good with your dick,” I tell him. He laughs lightly and I slap my hand over his mouth to muffle the sound.

See, when Mark had first suggested we fuck, almost a year ago now, I had laughed in his face. I hated him. He was like an annoying gnat that just wouldn’t leave you alone. He would pull at my hair. He would lob balls of paper at the back of my head. He would outright flirt with me in front of everyone and anyone. And I can’t tell you how many girls hate me because of that. But, I couldn’t stop thinking about what he had suggested. So, against my better judgment, I showed up. He broke into this huge, shit-eating grin as soon as he saw me. Then, he pulled me into an empty classroom in this very hall and fucked me better than anyone ever could. I’d never been with anyone before that, but I just...knew. He was a major asshole, but he was *so* good with his dick. And, when I told him I was a virgin, he actually showed me kindness and caring for the first time since I had met him. Ever since then, at least once a week, we would meet up and fuck.

When Mark’s laughter has died down, I take my hand away from his mouth. For a few seconds, we just stare at each other, then I lean up and pull him into another deep kiss. This time, he’s not caught off guard and slips his hands down to my hips, holding them tightly. “Someone’s eager,”he chuckles, working on the buttons of his blazer, “What’s the hurry? Don’t you wanna savor the moment?” I glare up at him.

“No, I don’t, Mark. You know we don’t have that much time,” I remind him.

“Jeez! If you wanted my dick that much, all you had to say was ‘please’,” he laughs.

“Mark Lee, if you don’t shut your pretty mouth right now and I fuck me, I *will* leave you right here,” I warn, pulling off my blazer and throwing it over a chair. Mark does the same, working on his tie and shirt.

For a few moments, neither Mark nor I talk to each other. We busy ourselves with throwing off the pieces of our elaborate uniforms and place them around the room. I start working on the buttons of my skirt to drop it, but Mark stops me. “Hey, you know I like that cute little skirt. Keep it on,” he winks. I roll my eyes and stop trying to take it off. Now just in his boxers, Mark drops to his knees and looks up at me. Slowly he trails his hands up my legs until he reaches my panties. He snaps the band against skin, smirking to himself. “These, however...these need to come off,” he chuckles darkly. Immediately after, he slips them down my legs. When they reach my feet, I kick them off and he sets them on top of my blouse and the little bow. Calmly, I slip off my shoes and socks, leaving me in only my bra and uniform skirt.

Standing to his full height again, Mark steps back and hums happily. “Always so gorgeous,” he chuckles. Without hesitation, he drops his last article of clothing and, suddenly, he’s completely naked in front of me. The morning sun lights up his tanned skin beautifully, but my eyes immediately fall to his cock. It’s already standing at attention and ready for us to play. Just staring at it, my mouth waters slightly. It’s just a little longer than average, but it’s very thick and veiny. It always feels so amazing inside of me. After a few seconds of staring, my eyes flit up to his again and he still has that infuriating smirk.

As soon as my eyes meet his, he strides up to me and holds me close. His hand is pressed against the small of my back, keeping us chest to chest. He captures my lips in a heated kiss, swiping his tongue at the seam of my lips. I open them immediately and his tongue makes it’s way into my mouth, fighting for dominance with mine. Although I fight back, I know that he’ll be the one in charge. He’s always the one in charge. Finally, I give in and allow him to take dominance. I feel him smirk against my lips and I have half a mind to slap him, but I decide against it. If I actually were to slap him, he would probably leave me high and dry. Mark moves his lips away from my mouth and starts pressing light kisses against my jaw and neck. “No...no marks, Mark. I can’t cover them right now,” I moan, leaning my head back to give him more access.

“You’re no fun,” he frowns, nipping at my neck.

“Mark,” I say, gritting my teeth. He sighs lightly and continues descending down to my chest.

Smoothly, he begins pressing kisses to the tops of my breasts. He moves the cup of my bra aside and takes my nipple into my mouth, sucking hard. I gasp loudly, threading my fingers into his hair and tugging. He hums against my breast, nipping lightly at the pebble in his mouth. “You’re always so responsive,” he says, moving to the other breast. I hum lightly, tugging at his hair again.

“Mark, don’t waste time,” I moan, trying to steady my voice.

“You’re still no fun,” he groans, leaning back and adjusting the cups over my breasts again. He steps away and takes in my figure, deciding where he wants me. “I wanna see you bent over that desk,” he stares, gesturing his head towards one of the desks nearby.

As soon as the order escapes his lips, I walk over the desk and press my chest against the top, gripping the far edge. I look over my shoulder and bite my lip. “You coming, Lee?” I ask, catching him staring at my ass as the skirt slowly moves up.

“Be patient,” he chides jokingly, striding over and gripping my ass cheek in his hand. He kneads it for a few seconds before pressing his hard cock against my crack. “Are you ready for this?” He asks.

“Just waiting for you stop being a tease, Lee,” I sigh, tapping my fingers against the desk impatiently. I can almost hear him roll his eyes.

“Jesus Christ, woman. Do you ever just take in the moment?” He groans in annoyance.

“Not when we only have 50 minutes to get ourselves off,” I snap.

“You should come to my dorm sometime. I’d take my time with you there,” he hums.

“In your dreams, Lee,” I growl.

“Oh, you bet. Every single night, darling,” he chuckles. I glare at him over my shoulder.

“Mark Lee, fuck me now or I *will* leave,” I growl. He rolls his eyes again, fisting his cock.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, shut up,” he mumbles in frustration.

Just as I’m about to respond, Mark steps up behind me and rubs his cock through my folds. I moan loudly, tightening my grip on the edge of the table. Mark laughs at my response. “Isn’t it you who’s always chiding me about being too loud?” He laughs.

“Mark,” I growl in annoyance, taking deep breaths to try and calm myself. However, before I can say anything else, Mark moves his cock to my hole and presses in. My breath catches in my throat at the feeling and I gasp, clutching the edge of the desk. Mark groans, slowly working himself into me.

“Jesus. No matter how much I fuck you, you’re always so *tight*,” he groans, slowly pulling his cock in and out. Each time he presses back in, he goes in a little further. After several minutes, he’s finally worked himself all the way in.

For a few seconds, he just sits there and allow me to adjust to his size. I can hear him taking deep breaths through gritted teeth, trying not to move before I say he can. When I’m fully adjusted, I nod my head quickly. “Fuck me, Mark,” I moan, pressing my ass back. He groans again, moving his hands to my hips and pulling out. He slams his cock back into me, finding that spot that only he can. I moan loudly, throwing my head back at the pleasure.

“Good girl. Such a good girl for me,” he moans, quicken his pace.

“Only...Only for you, Mark,” I whine, panting slightly.

“Who’s cock makes you feel this good?”

“Your’s, Mark! Your cock makes me feel so good!” He growls, slamming into me yet again. He presses his front against my back, stopping for a moment.

“That’s right, babygirl, only me,” he growls, nipping at the skin of my neck. I groan at the feeling but, before I can chide him for leaving marks, he’s thrusting again.

Quickly, his thrusts reach a point where the desk is scrapping against the floor. That familiar feeling in my stomach is rising and I whine softly. “Mark...Mark, I’m gonna come,” I moan, leaning back against him.

“Come for me, baby. I’m almost there,” he groans. At his words, I allow myself to fall over the edge. I lift up one of my hands, biting it as I fall over the edge. My cunt flutters around Mark, clenching and unclenching involuntarily. He groans loudly, spilling inside of me. I whine, feeling his cum already dripping down my legs.

“Shit...I didn’t mean to do that,” he pants worriedly.

“It’s okay, Mark. I’m on the pill,” I pant back, resting my face against the desk. He laughs lightly, taking in deep breaths.

“Fuck, that’s great,” he says.

For a few seconds, we both just allow ourselves to come down from our highs. When we’ve calmed down enough, we start pulling our uniforms back on. We pull on all of the different parts, checking each other and making sure that we look presentable. I tug my blazer back on when I suddenly notice the unexpected coolness against my cunt. I gasp loudly, searching around the room frantically. “What, what?!” Mark asks in confusion.

“My panties! Where are they?! They were just on top of my blouse!” I whisper-shout, turning around in circles. Mark laughs lightly and I turn to him, my jaw hanging open.

“Why are you laughing at me?!” I ask in shock. Smirking, he tugs something out of his pocket and I’m just able to recognize the color and lace of my panties. “Hey, give those back!” I say, snatching for them.

Quickly, Mark shoves then back in his pocket and smirks. “You’ll get them back when you come to my dorm,” he says plainly, then he turns on his heel and walks off. I stare after him, my jaw hanging open. He did *not* just do that. Finally getting a hold of myself again, I hurry down the hall after him. I hit his arm, begging him to give them back, but he just keeps laughing at me. When he get back into the occupied part of the school, I’m forced to drop it. However, I keep pleading with him for the rest of the day. Let’s just say...I don’t get my panties back...that day, anyway.

[darkimaginarydesires]

Obsession (Part II) ▪︎ Dark!James Potter x Reader

《 harry potter fandom • dark!james potter x reader • marauders era 》

☆ you are responsible for your media consumption. this content has extreme warnings / triggers. this content may make some people uncomfortable. please be safe and take warnings seriously. if you need help or need to talk to someone, i am available for anyone ☆

♡ warnings: noncon/dubcon, sexual obsession, delusional obsession, physical abuse, mentions of death, definitely 18+ ♡

《 summary: when the reader does not reciprocate love for James Potter, he snaps into a complete delusional obsession with her. 》

○ part one: ○

-

James had fallen asleep holding you. You don't know how you managed to get away from him without him waking up, but you did. You ran harder than you'd ever ran before. Partly from fear, but partly because it felt good to feel your heart pound against your chest. It reminded you that you were still alive. You were almost back into the castle when you collapsed onto the stone ground, unable to move your legs any further. Your whole body felt like jello, similarly to your mind, which was in some distant land refusing to return to accept the events that had occurred. You were sobbing and shaking uncontrollably. You were so far gone, you didn't even feel Severus' arms when they wrapped themselves around you and picked you up. You buried your face into his chest as he carried you to the hospital wing.

-

James awoke in a panic, feeling you not in his arms. He looked around, realizing you were long gone. He should have gone to look for you, but he couldn't help but stop to smile at the thought of you. He could still taste you on his tongue, smell your perfume on his clothes, feel the shape of your lips against his, hear your soft moans. He got hard just thinking about the expression you had when he made you come.

"She loves me," he reminded himself.

He stood up, grabbing your bookbag from under the tree before confidently strolling back down to the castle. He made his way to his dormitory, setting your bag down and sitting on his bed. His mind continued to be overwhelmed with the thought of you. He reached into your bookbag, curiosity overcoming him. He pulled out random study books, stopping when he reached the potions one. He flipped it open, a note falling out of the front page. He opened it, seeing it was a note from Snape.

"I know you are upset you got a bad mark on the last quiz. The professor only gave you a bad mark because you're better than them. Seriously, (y/n), you are amazing at potions making. One day, you'll be working as the Potions Master and I'll be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts and we'll be able to give bad marks to all the kids we don't like. Keep your head up. - Severus"

James slammed the book shut and hastily put it back in your book bag. He was furious that someone would talk to his girl like this. He was furious that you would keep a note like this from someone like Snape. He crumpled the note, tossing it into your bag as Sirius, Remus, and Peter came running into the room.

"Where have you been?" Remus asked, clearly stressed.

"Where have you been?" James retorted, his anger from the note translating into his question.

"(Y/N) is in the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey won't tell us anything. We've been trying to look for you!" Sirius said.

"Come on!" Remus called out, already making his way out of the room.

James quickly followed them, his mind racing with worry for his girl. What could have possibly happened since he saw her last? He thought to himself as they all quickly made their way to the hospital wing. When they arrived, James saw Snape sitting outside of the room. Anger immediately filled him. He knew he would have killed him if it was his fault (y/n) was hurt. He went to confront him, but Sirius grabbed his shoulders roughly.

"Come on."

They all walked into the room. James saw you curled up in the corner of the room and his heart broke for you. He wanted to wrap you up in his arms and never let go.

"(Y/N)? What happened?" Sirius asked.

"No visitors!" Dumbledore yelled.

James looked at you, waiting for you to look back at him, waiting for you to tell the headmaster you wanted him to stay, but you never did. They left the room, the door slamming shut behind them. James thought of you, how you had gone from happy in his arms to the broken girl in the hospital wing. He looked over at Severus, anger immediately engulfing him.

"Snivellus," he called out antagonistically.

He began making his way over to him, but Remus grabbed his arm and held him back.

"Not now, James. Severus is the one who brought her here. He helped her," Remus explained.

"What happened, Snape?" Sirius asked.

"I don't know," Severus responded, his voice showing his irritation.

He clearly did not want to deal with the four idiots. He was more focused on his friend's safety.

"When I found her, she was..." he broke off, having a hard time thinking of the state he had seen his strong friend in. "Someone assaulted her."

James tried to push past his friends to get to Severus, but they held him back.

"Stop!" Sirius yelled. "This is not what she needs right now!"

James ran a hand through his hair, trying to control his anger. Dumbledore opened the door and looked between all of the boys.

"Mr. Snape, you are being requested."

It took everything for James to suppress his anger as Snape stood and entered the hospital wing. The door shut and James mind raced with ideas that only fueled his rage. He remembered how your body felt as you came, he remembered how it felt to slip his cock into you, and then he imagined Snape doing the same things to you. He imagined you moaning his name, kissing his lips. James imagined rushing through the doors and smashing his face then grabbing your face and kissing you. James walked up to the hospital wing door, trying to swing it open, but it wouldn't budge.

"Dumbledore put a charm on it, James. It won't open," Remus explained. "Come on. We'll come back tomorrow."

-

You laid curled up on the bed in the corner of the dark hospital wing, unable to sleep. Severus had left at curfew and you could feel the loneliness echoing off of the room, you wished he could have held you forever. At least in his arms, you felt safe, you felt like someone was looking out for you. You were lost in your thoughts, enslaved by the memories of the night.

The door to the hospital wing slowly creeped open, a sliver of light from the corridor shining through. Adrenaline poured into your system, intensifying every feeling in your body. You reminded yourself of the enchantment Dumbledore had placed over the room. You reminded yourself you were safe.

"Sev?" You called out. "Is that you?"

The door opening widened, but there was no one there. You sat up in the bed, looking intently at the door as if to see if it was truly open or if your mind was deceiving you. You went to stand to close it, but you were stopped in your tracks. You heard footsteps slowly making their way closer towards you. You pushed yourself back on the bed, your back firmly against the headboard. At the foot of your bed, the invisibility cloak slowly lifted, revealing James. You were locked in place, unable to move or scream even though you wanted to.

"Baby, what's wrong?" James asked, his voice sending shivers down your spine.

He moved to sit beside you on the bed. He wasn't touching you, but your skin crawled with the memory of his last touch.

"Get out," you said firmly, somehow finding the strength.

"Get out?" James laughed. "Come on, baby. You know you want me here. Otherwise, how would I have gotten in?"

You never knew confusion was such an intense emotion until that moment. You tried to deny it, but remembered the charm. Did you want him here? Did you want him? Your thoughts were broken by James' hand grabbing your thigh, his thumb gently caressing your skin. You reached for his hand to push it away, but he caught it, bringing it up to his lips. You pulled away aggressively, but James didn't seem to notice.

"Stop, James."

His eyes were focused on your lips as he moved closer to you. He grabbed your ankle, pulling you down onto the bed as he hovered over you. His hand went to your face, cupping it softly. You pushed against his chest, trying to push him off. You could feel his hard on pressing against your stomach.

"James, get off of me! Please, stop!" You screamed.

"Don't do that, baby," he soothed. "I love you. And you love me, you know that."

His hand moved down to your neck as he pressed his lips against yours.

You jolted up in a panic, looking around the empty room frantically. You were out of breath, your throat dry and sore. You pressed the palms of your hands against your forehead, imprudently trying to force the nefarious memories and thoughts from your mind. You spent the rest of the night with your eyes searching the dark, empty room for any sign of movement, paranoid your nightmare would become a reality and you would be forced to relive your worst experience all over again. Somehow, the castle now seemed to be home to many more ghosts.

-

You spent the next week in the hospital wing. Severus brought you all of the classwork you were missing so you were not falling behind. He spent as much time as he could with you, making you feel far less lonely. Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall were incredibly patient and understanding of the incident. They came to check on you at least once a day and never pressured you to leave the hospital wing. You knew it was time to return to your usual daily routine, but the idea of being forced to interact with James felt like a nightmare. You laid on the hospital bed, your books and parchment sprawled out as you worked.

“What happened to you?” Madam Pomfrey exclaimed, breaking your concentration and causing you to look up from your papers.

Severus walked through the doors with a vibrantly purple and black eye. His hair fell over it, but it was impossible to hide.

“It’s nothing,” he said. “I’m just here to visit (Y/N).” 

Madam Pomfrey allowed him to walk past her, but continued to shake her head as she walked over to her healing potions on the side of the room, scanning through them for the appropriate one.

“What happened to you, Severus?” You asked, sitting up on the bed and immediately reaching your hand out to push his hair behind his ear. “That looks awful!”

“It’s nothing, (Y/N). Would you stop?”

He pushed your hand away as he sat on the bed next to you. 

“Was it them? Tell me, Severus.”

“Why don’t we just focus on you? You’re the one in the hospital wing after all.”

“So are you now, Mr. Snape,” Madam Pomfrey stated. “Sit still and look up.”

Madam Pomfrey applied a thick cream to Severus’ eye. The colors dissipated and the swelling went down until eventually the ailment almost completely disappeared. By the time Madam Pomfrey finished treating Severus, it was time for him to leave for his next class. He grabbed his books and began walking out of the hospital wing.

“Wait-” You called out, surprising even yourself. 

You collected you classwork before standing and making your way over to Severus.

“Are you leaving?” Madam Pomfrey asked, clearly contemplating whether to allow you to go.

“Yes, Madam. Thank you for everything,” You said before turning to a shocked Severus. “They know better than to mess with us when we’re together. Let’s go.”

[anderson-residence]

// random irl related rant that I would put under a cut but mobile sucks and has no easy read more

-

So my local CVS has 15, yes that many I counted, big and bright yellow signs that say "ONLY TWO HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS ALLOWED IN AT A TIME YOU MUST LEAVE YOUR BAG AT THE DOOR OR YOU MUST LEAVE IMMEDIATELY" and a few things..

Little back story my local cvs is next door to the local K-12 school campus so after school a lot of people, unattended preteens and teens mostly, go there.

But

1. 15 signs seems excessive?? Big bright neon no less. Fucking obnoxious and rude if you ask me. The new management must be pretty fresh.

2 no matter how much trouble they may or may not have caused in the past... Isn't putting signs like that up gonna push customers away heck not only the kids but even I don't want to shop somewhere with so many 'not allowed' signs up everywhere. Who wants to shop somewhere saying "You must leave immediately"

3 Right Aid is right down the street so yeah good luck cvs like are you trying to make your potential customers go to your competition instead? Especially since they put up signs that say 'students welcome' hmm I wonder why

4 I get people can like easily steal I guess with a bookbag but assuming all teens might shoplift isn't right and like can't a grown adult with a purse just as easily steal by that logic? Is any mom with a baby and a diaper bag really a mastermind jewelry thief? Can't plenty of shit also fit in pockets? If a kid really wants to steal even if they don't have a bag what's stopping them from slipping that candy in a jean pocket? Also the local high school forces kids to all have clear book bags 'for safety' (which is another stupid rule don't get me going there) so like you can see what's in there?? and also if someone steals your bag by the door because you left it unattended I'm sure CVS is gonna be like 'lol not our problem' which isn't right. But they don't have anything that says they aren't responsible so I can't wait until they get in trouble for that lmao.

But yeah Like sorry but if you tell me I have to leave my bag at the door I'm not shopping at your store. if you tell me I need to do something or else I can't enter or must leave immediately for doing nothing wrong I'm not shopping there. If you have those rules for anyone even if it doesn't apply to me I don't want to shop there. Because it doesn't feel welcoming. My old college general store and bookshops used to do that leave your bag shit too and I mean their bookstore is expensive so I wouldn't shop there anyways but I certainly stopped buying snacks there between classes once they started requiring you to leave your bag at the door. I will never leave my bag unattended in public. If you are so scared of someone stealing from you what makes you think my bag isn't also gonna be stolen?

I think the biggest slap in the face that I didn't mention about the signs was that they were in comic sans font. Only the most serious of fonts for our posted bulletins.

[skepticalkoi-catastrophe]

❝ ❤ 𝐿𝑜𝓋𝑒 𝒦𝒾𝓁𝓁𝒶 🔪 ❞

Slasher oc x BlackFem!oc

⇸The following SMAU fanfic is inspired by the movie Scream, the 2015 MTV Scream TV series and fanficThe Final Girl by @ghoularaki . Comments, Reblogs, and Shares are heavily appreciated. Please enjoy ~ ♥︎

⇸ Paring - Slasher oc [@BUNII_ on Twitter] x Reader!oc

⇸ ⚠️ Warning/Genre ⚠️ Horror, slight comedy, interracial couple, slightly angst, fluff, social media au, senior high school/slasher au, character deaths ( major & minor), blood, detailed gore, eventual smut, explicit sexual themes, slow burn, strangers to friends au, friends to lovers au, childhood friends to lovers au.

⇸ Quick Sum up: ❝A rise in missing persons reports render a small town afraid and helpless. But when Ashe, the towns goody two shoes, gets thrown in the middle of copycat killing spree, an unknown contact comes to protect her from the shadows.❞

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↳ Back to School ↲

Ashe manages to weave between the students crowing the hallway, careful not to drop her Starbucks.

Traffic during their usual speedy morning commute had other plans. She exits her mom's Buewick, her mother offering good wishes and for her to be safe and sound. As she enters the double doors August was nowhere to be found. Very much like him to try and kill time just to avoid her so she couldn't rock his shit.

Thought she was sure the last thing he needed was her to chew him out for teasing her and being late. An email was sent school-wide yesterday for students and faculty to report to the Gymnasium. Yellow and navy blue banners from past sports achievements covered the walls. Students flud in, their respective cliques sitting together. Award-winning sports team trophies and medals are on display inside a huge case just before they enter.

Past the bright florescent lights, there, upon the bleachers was Noelle and Sinclair. Brendan and Cal sitting beside them. Still no sign of August. Walking the steps of the bleachers Sinclair yanks Ashe down onto into space beside her.

"Took you long enough," Noelle yawns, the other students settling down. "I was about to call you."

Ashe rests her bookbag between her legs looking around for August.

"Sorry traffic wasn't exactly the greatest."

"Must've been great enough if you were able to get yourself a drink." Sinclair chimes, eyeing her Pink Drink.

Principal Doushaw and Vice-Principal Theodosia stood before them with microphones in hand. The other teachers stood around them patiently.

"Good morning students of Viewridge High. I am proud to announce that all senior activities will be up and running as planned."

Principal Doushaw's voice echoes loudly, earning applause.

"So please put your best foot forward and make it count as these few months pass. You're our graduating class and we all want you to make your mark on the future through us."

Cal chuckled leaning back into Ashe's lap, letting her pet his hair. Brendan fiddled with the wheels on his skateboard while Noelle somehow dozed off hunched over her bookbag. Sinclair was reapplying her lip gloss listening attentively.

"We know how hard you seniors have worked and how far you've come from being an incoming freshman. But let's save the tears for graduation shall we?"

He joked. Or at least tried to.

"But from the bottom of our hearts, I'm extremely proud of you all. Mrs. Theodosia has words for you all as well."

Vice Principal Theodosia raised her mic to her lips, taking Principal Doushaw's place.

"I hope you all are having a pleasant morning. Today is the start of a new year. Or to some of you, a means to an end. Whichever it may be, I want you all to know that you deserve what lies ahead and many more."

More applause and cheers come from the students. Ashe's phone vibrates to reveal August outside the school. The front doors were locked so he had to go around back. The only problem was, the door opens from the inside.

'Fuckin' idiot...' She thought to herself muting his call and texting him back.

Cal caught wind of it before Ashe could say anything.

"He's stuck outside isn't he?" Ashe nods.

"You gotta go get him?" He asks tilting his head back to look at her.

Ashe nods again.

"Fucking idiot." Brendan snickers, overhearing their conversation.

VP Theodosia continued.

"This Friday we will be hosting a pep rally and will be opening up club submissions. Next to sports tryouts for this year will be open as well as cheer sign up and student government voting will soon also be open in the coming weeks. You're all dismissed."

Sinclair shakes Noelle awake, making sure not to draw attention to Ashe as she slugs her tote bag over her shoulder, Cal following behind. Grades nine through twelve floods the halls providing an opportunity to let August inside.

Brendan and Noelle wait as their lookouts while Ashe and Cal found the spear-hidden key in the janitor's closet.

Sinclair was distracting any adults that could come their way.

Cal gets the door open, August slipping inside wearily eyeing Ashe knowing damn well what he's in for. She folds her arms leaning up at him with flared nostrils.

"We'll..uh...leave you two alone."

Cal snickers, hanging up the key and running off. The rest of the gang following suit.

"Good luck dipshit!" Brendan chimes, skating away on his board.

True to form August was trying to talk himself out of a beat down but to no avail. Ashe yanks his ear down to her level, walking him down the hall like a dog on a leash. He yelping as a result.

"Oww, oww, oww, Ashe p-please! I was only joking! Let go, let go!"

"You stay pissin' me off huh? Keep it up and your gonna need Braille to read the real ass-whooping you're about to get do I make me clear August Qhole Emiliano?"

August knows whenever his full government is addressed, she's not playing around. He nods, grimacing.

"Crystal. Crystal clear, now could you please let go?"

She does so, walking ahead of him in a huff.

"Now c'mon. We're late for History."

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During classes, everything was normal. Noelle sneaking off to smoke, Sinclair chatting it up with the popular kids, Cal staying in the music room to practice,  Brendan trying out new skate tricks in the schoolyard, and August buying Ashe lunch to make up for this morning.

It didn't take long for August to the cave. A Venti Pink Drink with Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Foam paired with a Caprese Panini waiting to be hand-delivered as he waited at her locker. Students stopped to berate her with questions as expected. How'd she find the body? How'd she felt when the cops showed up? And so on. Like these questions weren't already asked by her mother the night before.

Sure, her reaction came as odd compared to most but there was nothing to it. Death was inevitable. Before long she and her band of misfits were sitting in English listening to their teacher ramble on about Shakespeare. Her nose in an e-book on the school-provided IPad.

"But enough about that. Let's bring a new narrative to the forefront. How about horror?"

Mx. Espen asked the class. "How would you define horror?"

Cal and Sinclair roll their eyes knowing the beast of a chatterbox August becomes once he's asked something like this. Noelle was asleep behind her textbook, an often spot their teacher finds her in.

"By textbook definition, horror is a fictional genre intended to frighten, scare, and disgust its readers or viewers," August started leaning back in his chair.

Mx. Espen smiled egging him further. "Yes, correct by definition. But what other elements are needed to truly give a horror movie its edge?"

Sinclair jumps in listing them off on her fingers. "Characters, fear of the unknown, emotions, storyline, and a killer ending. Right?"

Mx. Espen agrees walking back to the chalkboard. Grains to yellow chalk fall at their feet as they wrote. "Correct Ms. Lucyana. There should a sense of dread. A sense of unease. A sense of -"

"A sense of anxiety. Foreboding." Ashe speaks up taking out her headphones.

"But the genre is run into the ground with all these remakes and continuations. It's all pointless cash grabs at this point."

"That's one way to put it, Debby Downer." Cal snickers, Brendan holding back a laugh. Mx. Espen stands intrigued.

"I mean, look. The worst that could happen to a horror movie franchise is when it gets turned into a badly written show."

Ashe rests her cheek in her palm looking out the window.

The rest of the class sits in bewilderment. August taking control of the discussions' direction again.

"Ashe is right. You can't do a slasher movie as a TV series. They're too quick to be stretched out. Twenty to twenty-five minutes won't do justice for something worth ninety minutes."

Her phone notification pings are lowly in her pocket. Her post on Twitter getting alike from an unmarked profile. Must be Stranger.

Cal tries to peek over but Ashe lays her phone between her thighs before he could get a good look.

"What's with that smile tomboy?" He asks folding his arms leaning back in his seat.

She knows just how nosey he can be, sticking her tongue out at him.

"Nothing out of the ordinary."

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School ends without a hitch. Returning students and newbies swap goodbyes in the parking lot. Cal opting to carpool for the group as an excuse to show off his new car.  Noelle was passed out in the passenger's seat while Sinclair and Brendan sat next to each other. Ashe slouching back against August in his lap.

Ashe is a car baby so she already drifts off midway through the car ride. It wasn't long before Ashe is the first drop-off.

Groggy, she opens her front door, locking it. She double-checked the windows and closes her bathroom door to shower. Her mother wasn't home again. Probably examining that dead guy's corpse. Too bad she couldn't be there to take notes. Y'know? Learn something.

She still wonders how he knew about him in the first place and how he knew where she was to keep her safe. But she wasn't complaining. Though, she doesn't want to ignore either possibility that she could get her killed or be saved from a greater danger.

"Speak of the devil and he shall appear."

Ashe chuckled drying her face and pulling on her pajamas. Her phone notification pings, Stranger's number across the screen.

She lays in bed, cuddling a golden bear. Stars on its cheeks, clouds on its ears, and a bright sun on its' tummy. Kinda too old for it but it holds a special place. When he was around up till now. Ashe types away, texting her mom first then opening his messages. What may come of them? Of this?

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Tag list- @ebonyslasher @kuromi-kouhai @peachjaem00 @nastyatticman @itzgabz22 @milky-babez @lxstfulbeans @strxwberry-milku @luna-ashe

[igotbulletproof-insomnia]

Adopting Bangtan 06

01, 02, 03, 04, 05

Park Jimin & Kim Taehyung, age 8

Song Jieun is your favorite secretary at the school you work at. She’s like some coffee fairy the way she seems to magically know exactly when you need a fresh cup and you only needed to tell her how you liked it exactly one time. She is also endearingly sweet and hardworking, even if she has a penchant for losing things easily. It’s for that very reason why you are rarely surprised when Jieun approaches your desk in the staff room, like she does now, wearing a sheepish smile.

“What did you lose this time?” you question teasingly.

“I… may have misplaced a few copies of the kids’ grade reports…” she winces at the admission. “I think I threw them away by accident. I spent some time clearing out my things yesterday.”

“That’s right, my coffee fairy is moving to Gwangju,” your face twitches into a brief, playful pout. “How are the boys dealing with the change?”

“They’re fine,” she says quickly. “I’m a bit worried, but they’ll be okay, I’m sure.”

“Why, what’s wrong?” you ask, beginning to sign the small stack of papers. You flip the bottom half of the sheets up just enough to see the line at the bottom that you need to sign. You read them all just a few days ago, there’s no need to do it again.

“My fiance has been hinting that he doesn’t want to raise any step-children,” she explains, her voice tense with worry. “He’s especially concerned about my step-son from my last marriage… Heesung wants me to leave them in a boarding school here in Seoul. He’ll pay for their tuition but… I don’t really feel comfortable. They’re so young... I just don’t want him to leave me this close to the wedding.”

“He’s an idiot if he wants to leave you for being a good mother,” you tell Jieun firmly, but gently. “But I guess I understand the concern. I know you’ll do what’s best for the kids, you’re a good woman like that.” You pause, then flash another teasing smile. “I mean, you could just give them to me. I’m apparently running an orphanage at home.”

“Your boys are still bringing home strays?”

“I think I’ve gotten them to understand that they can’t bring home every sad kid and expect me to keep them. They usually have to go home eventually.” You finish signing the last of the forms.

“They have big hearts, I’m sure they learned that from you.”

“Yes, I taught them how to love,” you scoff indignantly. “If only they would learn to pee in the toilet, I might be a little nicer.”

“You love them,”

“Yes, I really do.”

Saturday evenings are chaotic.

As the parent of four preteen boys (and one first grader), almost everyday is chaotic. There is homework and music and video games and dance practice and guitar playing and piano lessons and why are all of these kids so dramatic, you didn’t raise them like this!

“Yah, I have three years more experience than you, how are you going to tell me --”

“Hyung, the answer is literally right there,” Namjoon sniggered, pointing.

“Listen, you brat --”

“The only brat I see here is you, Seokjin,” you sigh, breezing into the kitchen. Seokjin and Namjoon are perched on stools at the kitchen island, occupied with their homework. They were both clever kids, but Seokjin tended to get frustrated easily, and Namjoon was too quick for his own good. The two fought a lot, but they also depended on one another a lot; Namjoon would help Seokjin with the parts of his homework that became too frustrating and Seokjin would fluster Namjoon to the point where the kid acted his own age. “The others finished already?”

“Yoongi decided to stay at school and work with his friends,” Seokjin answers. “Hoseokie is playing with Kookie in their room. I think they’re building.”

“Okay, good,” you nod, “but that doesn’t explain why the TV is blasting Epik High.” Seokjin doesn’t bother verbalizing an answer, just turns to pointedly stare at Namjoon.

“They make good music!”

“And I am not arguing that point,” you agree. “I’m just saying that I could hear Mithra all the way down the hall before I even got to our floor.”

“That’s impossible, the volume isn’t that loud.”

“Namjoon,” Hoseok comes running into the kitchen. “You need to turn the music down our --” Hoseok stops in his tracks, almost slipping on the kitchen tile. “Oh, hi!”

“What were you saying, Hoseok-ah?”

“Um… I got a text, Joonie. Turn the music down.”

“Uh-huh, and how long ago did I send that text?”

“Uhm… about seven minutes ago?”

“And where, Namjoon, would I have been seven minutes ago?”

“Downstairs…” Namjoon suddenly finds the kitchen lights very interesting, the expression on his face imitating innocence.

“Uh-huh. Go fix it, please,” you roll your eyes. “This is the second time I’ve had to talk to you about your music being too loud. If it happens again I’ll be a week late paying for your subscription.” The fact that it had only been a guess that Namjoon had been blasting his music again was going to go completely unmentioned.

“Got it, won’t happen again,” he calls over his shoulder.

“Hoseok-ah,” you address the kid sneaking out of the kitchen. Your tone implies he’s in trouble and he stiffens. You can practically hear him thinking, wondering which of his shenanigans you may have found out about and which ones would have actually gotten him into trouble. Hoseok is a bit of a wild child when he gets into the right mood, but for the most part he’s actually the easiest one to take care of. They’re all relatively easy and well-mannered children, but they all have their bouts of difficulty. “Please try to deliver my messages promptly, not ten minutes later.” You let the scolding settle before adding, “Also, it’s your turn to choose dinner.” The face Hoseok makes in response, the sheepish, oh, right, I forgot, grin is adorable and you can’t help but smile in response.

“Can we get takeout?”

“Depends where from,” you reply as the doorbell rings.

“Can we please not do Jiwon-ssi’s dumplings again? I’m going to be sick,” Seokjin whines.

“Jiwon-ssi makes the best kimchi!”

You leave the boys to argue in the kitchen while you go answer the doorbell, which rings for the second time. Whoever is at the door is awfully impatient, you think, either that or just obnoxious. The apartment isn’t that big, although it is the biggest one you could find on your budget. Three bedrooms, one toilet, a balcony, kitchen, and living room. Yoongi and Seokjin share one room together with Jungkook while Namjoon and Hoseok share another. The space was a bit cramped, but It isn’t the one bedroom apartment you had when you adopted Namjoon, and it isn’t the two bedroom apartment from when you adopted Seokjin and then Hoseok a few months ago. It’s comfortable, and that’s what’s important.

“Seokjin,” you call while walking to the door, “it’s Hoseokie’s choice. Hoseokie, if Jiwon starts flirting with me again, I will hide your lucky sweatpants in some place you will never find them again.”

You open the door, Hoseok’s indignant spluttering and Namjoon’s cackling behind you. It’s a sort of chaos you’ve grown accustomed to, and it fills you with a warm feeling in your heart. You love these boys and are so happy to have met them and received the chance to raise them.

There are two more kids on the other side of the door.

“Um. Hi.”

“Hello!” One of the boys greet and they both bow to you. You blink at them. They’re cute, but you don’t exactly understand why they’re asking for you. “Thank you for taking us in!”

“What?”

“What?”

“Huh?”

“You said you can’t adopt more!”

“I… don’t…” you trail off, lost and confused. “What?”

“Mommy said me and Jiminie can live with you when she gets married,” the same boy who spoke earlier explained. His face is rather round, dark eyes framed with thick eyelashes. The other one is paler, features softer, prettier. “She said to give you this.” He holds out a piece of paper, one detailing the transferring of parental rights from Song Jieun to yourself. With your signature at the bottom.

“You’re Song Jieun’s kids?” you ask them, just to be sure. Both boys nod.

“Mommy also wanted me to give you…” the same boy starts searching through his pockets, mumbling to himself that I know I had it somewhere… I had it when we left… did I lose it on the bus? Eventually, the smaller one taps his brother on the shoulder and points to the front pocket of his bookbag. “Oh right! Thanks! Here.” the kid thrusts yet another piece of paper at you, this one a handwritten note written on good cardstock.

“Saem,” Seokjin speaks from just behind your shoulder now, “did you seriously fall for the same trick twice?”

“What trick?” You ask absentmindedly, reading the heartfelt apology. Apparently, that day when you signed those grade reports, Jieun slipped in a guardianship form and you unwittingly signed it.

“I gave you a bunch of things to sign and you didn’t even read them, you just signed it all,” your eldest replies. “I did that three years ago. How did you not learn yet?”

“Is that what happened?” You gape at him.

“Yes, but we aren’t talking about me right now,” Seokjin deflected. “We’re talking about you adopting more kids.”

“Um,” that same kid, the one with the thick eye lashes, cuts in. “Can we come in?” It’s a fair question, and in spite of the confusion and frustration in your heart, you know you aren’t going to send these kids back to Jieun and her new husband. She had already expressed her concern for these kids, and they aren’t even old enough to start middle school. How are they going to live in an apartment on their own? You stole Yoongi for that exact reason so you aren’t going to be a hypocrite now and turn these two boys away, even if you have no idea what you would do with seven children.

At least these two come with an added paycheck. And okay, that is bad, that is very, very bad. It isn’t nice to think of these innocent children as a paycheck, but it helps. You are struggling to take care of the five you already have, receiving extra money for the extra mouths is nice. At least Jieun was considerate about throwing her kids at you.

“Hello,” Namjoon waved. He hasn’t moved from his seat on the sofa, remote still in hand. Map the Soul is playing at a more sensible level, and it's a testament to Namjoon’s interest in the situation because he normally skips this song. “I’m Namjoon. Welcome to our home.”

“I’m Seokjin,”

“I’m Hoseok,”

“And I’m Jungkookie!”

“When did you get here?” you ask your youngest, surprised to see him.

“I heard the doorbell.”

“Right, my children are nosey, awesome,” you mumble to yourself. “Hoseok, let these boys stay with you and Joonie for now, okay? Boys what are your names again?”

“I’m Taehyung,” says the same child who’s done all of the talking so far. “This is my brother, Jimin. He’s quiet and doesn’t like to talk.”

“That’s okay. We were going to order dinner soon. Are you boys hungry?”

“I’m always hungry,” Taehyung grinned.

“Of course you are, you’re a young boy. This lot will eat me out of house and home if I let them.”

“Your house is your home, you’re being redundant,” Namjoon scoffs, going back into the kitchen to finish his homework.

“I fail to see where I’m wrong though.”

“I volunteer to not tell Yoongi we’re adopting more kids,” Hoseok laughs as he leads Jimin and Taehyung away.

“One, two, three, not it!” The rest of the boys shout.

“Hey, I’m the parent here! Why are you behaving like I’m afraid of a twelve-year-old?!”

07

[ettawritesnstudies]

for you this year

I will sing the praises of hands cracked from washing, hands calloused from hard labour, hands red from dozens of tiny scrapes and blisters, hands rough from caked-on grime - yes, praise too - for hands stained with ink and graphite.  Honor for fingernails bitten, hangnails torn, cuticles ripped. 

This is my ode to chapped lips, to red eyes and to the dark bags beneath, to creased foreheads, and to laughter lines. 

A song for hair kept simple and neat in braids, hair cut short and left unstyled, hair frizzed from fingers combing through, hair loose and keeping the ears warm when the winter wind wails.

Here’s to the sturdy shoes that bear you through your day and help aching feet, to security sweaters, to stained jeans with rips earned from long wear, to those outfits patched and mended and hemmed again and again, to the bracelt worn like a gauntlet, to the cap worn as a helmet, to the purse carried as a sheild, to the bookbag filled for adventures never experienced. 

You carry your burdens and smile to the people passing on the street, you respond “I’m alright” when someone asks how you’re doing, you put yourself together and carry on. You bear small signs of the tired and careworn who would never admit that out loud. You may not be able to set down your responsibilities yet, a rest may feel forever away, you may be ready stumble and fall. 

I wish you this: A mug of warm tea, a plate of cookies sent for the road, a moment to warm by a fireplace, a chat with an old friend in a doorway, a crash nap on the couch, a favorite song on the radio, a kind letter in the mail, a minute to rest in a chapel while running errands.  I’m proud of you. You’ve made it this far and you’ll go far too and I pray you have a moment of peace before what is to come.