#i mean hell i wasn’t even top third of my class. 200 something in a class of 600 something people

[mars-ipan]

btw i was Really Smart in communications today :]

[nxrthmizu]

| snakes | Suna Rintarou

»»——⍟——««

song | Trust Fund Baby - Why Don’t We 

pairing | Suna Rintarou x Reader 

words | 1.8k 

warning(s) | The reader has undertones of someone who’s sort of mean and sadistic? The story also relates the reader to a snake. I like snakes. I think they’re cool. But if you’re scared of snakes and you’re uncomfortable with the idea of being referenced to a snake,,, don’t read, I guess?  

author’s note | I rewrote this five fricking times and I still hate it but I’m not writing this again so have this 

»»——⍟——«« 

Confidence. 

He could feel it radiating off you in waves. Your presence diffused into the gym, alerting every person in the room of your arrival. Attention was drawn to you like moths were drawn to the light, every pair of eyes magnetised to your form by the gym door. 

Kita instantly rushed over to greet you politely, the details of your conversation too far away to be heard. For a brief moment, Suna registered just how well the two of you looked together. 

L/N Y/N, the representative and top student of his class, the newly-elected second-year secretary of the student council. No one doubted that you would take the president position in your third year, not with the ‘perfect student’ image you had going on. 

Kita Shinsuke, also top in grades, captain of the volleyball club, well-liked by the staff and students alike due to his politeness and nature. 

The two of you looked like a perfect imitation of what a modern royalty would be like. A combination of grace, elegance, and a face that was hardly fazed by anything. Something similar to bitterness ate away in the bottom of Suna’s heart as he turned away, muttering about putting more practice into his blocks. 

“What was she looking for you for?” He overheard Aran asking. 

“Oh, she’s filling in some missing information for our club. She came over to clarify some details.” Kita answered easily. 

Suna wasn’t really surprised when a couple third years, belonging to the student council committee- Showed up on the doorsteps of your shared class, asking to see you. Later on, he learned that the entire council body had brought up your name when asked which second-year should be elected as the secretary. You were well-known, even among the third years, as someone who possessed high intellect and organisation abilities, so it wasn’t a shock that your name was the one that nearly everyone suggested. 

If only they knew. 

If only they knew that you weren’t completely that ‘perfect student’ act that you’d put up. 

If only they knew just how cunning, sly, and sarcastic you really were. 

»»——⍟——««

If Suna had to describe you in one word, it would be snake. 

You were the definition of elegance, grace, and beauty. Every movement you made was meticulously calculated and not a single joule of energy was wasted or passed off as inefficiently used. There was never a hair out of place, and your skirt was never creased, no matter how long you had been sitting at your seat. 

Of course, Suna hadn’t always thought of you as a snake. It was only after that one fine summer day in his first year that his perception of you took a 180 turn, revealing to him what you truly were like. 

He had been on his way home, bag slung over his shoulder, when he caught the slight noise that seemed like a whimper. Never one to leave his nose out of someone else’s business, Suna slunk around, careful to stick to the shadows until the shocking sight befell his eyes. 

“So, you’re the one who’s been bullying [your brother’s name]?” The voice that dripped from your lips was distasteful, as if the junior high student that you had cornered in the alley was a filthy peasant compared to your royal status. “You don’t look very fierce now, do you?” 

If sarcasm was an art, then you’d probably be a DaVinci-level expert. He would even go as far as calling you a prodigy. And if there was a championship for the world’s most sarcastic human being, he would instantly sign you up. There was no doubt that you’d take home the no.1 trophy in that category (not that you weren’t already taking home trophies in other competitions, of course, he overheard that you recently dominated an advanced maths competition). 

“I— I’m sorry!” The student shivered under your piercing gaze. “I— I won’t touch him again, I promise—!” 

The laugh you responded with was overly sweet, combined with something from a Disney movie villain. If the movie also, by chance, happened to have ‘horror’ as its’ genre. Your eyes carried a maniacal threat that Suna believed wholeheartedly that you were capable of carrying out. “Bold of you to assume I’d even let you do it again.” You whispered, just loud enough for Suna to catch your words. 

The junior high student scrambled off, too busy getting away to notice Suna by the entrance of the alley. He slipped away before you reappeared at the beginning of the alley, having fixed your hair and flattened your skirt. 

You looked like a snake that had just finished a very satisfying meal. Suna could hardly believe that he had just heard you— the pride and joy of every teacher, the ‘perfect student’— spitting insults and threats at 200 words per minute, all while maintaining a ‘polite’ and ‘sweet’ tone. 

He was a little breathless after the whole ordeal. He could barely imagine what you would say to him if you’d caught him listening— But damn, part of him wanted to find out if he could withstand your literature-form venom. Truly, you were a snake— A creature that could hold its’ elegance even as your tore your prey apart (verbally). 

Suna always liked snakes. 

»»——⍟——««

“You’ve been spending a lot of time with L/N, Kita.” Aran teased, Suna overhearing as he stepped into the locker room for morning practice. Freezing in his tracks, the middle blocker curved right round the bend, staying out of sight. “There’s been a lot of rumours about how nice the two of you look together.” 

The volleyball captain only hummed in response, which, for some reason, pissed the hell out of Suna. 

“Come on, tell me something.” The other third-year complained. “She’s really pretty, I’d totally see why you’d go for her.” 

Something about the situation made Suna’s blood boil. He bit back his rising anger, setting aside the cause for the moment. Why was he getting so riled up? He never cared much about things in general, anyway, so... So why was the image of you and Kita, matching polite smiles on your lips— Why did it make him so furious he had to physically resist the urge to punch a wall? 

“The two of you do look nice together, though.” Aran continued as Suna pushed down the urge to strangle his upperclass-man. “Gives me the vibes of—” 

Before Aran could finish his sentence, the dark-haired middle blocker marched into the locker room, apologising for how loudly he had slammed the door open. “Sorry.” He drawled lazily, restraining the lava-hot anger in his blood. “I pushed too hard.” 

»»——⍟——««

You didn’t even blink, much less jump when Suna appeared abruptly by your desk. Instead, you simply set down your pencil and gave him a warm smile. “Can I help you with something?” 

Ever the helpful class president, Suna bit back to himself. No, no, he wanted you to like him. Not get a bad impression of him. “Do you... Think you could help me with the physics homework?” 

“It’s due tomorrow.” You said slowly, both of you aware that the assignment was well over forty pages. “Have you... Tried it?” 

“Yes.” He answered. “I’ve got a few questions I need help with. Are you free to stay back today?” 

This raised a tentative eyebrow from you. “Don’t you have volleyball practice?” 

Dammit, why did you have to have such a good memory. 

“Academics are more important than the club sometimes.” He shrugged. “I’ve got permission to skip.” No, he didn’t. 

“Alright then. I’ll meet you in the library after school.” 

»»——⍟——««

He watched you through hooded eyes as you reviewed his work. So you did know how to let loose, Suna murmured to himself in amusement, eyeing your untucked blouse and the beige sweater you’d thrown on in a defence against the library’s air-conditioning. 

“You’ve got most of the parts down, which bits do you need help with?” 

The rest of the time was spent going over the questions, your patience filling the silence along with his occasional ‘ohs’. Your handwriting flooded through his homework in neat rows, providing an easy-to-follow, step-by-step guide on how to work through the questions, for revision purposes. 

“So.” 

You broke the silence, the two of you walking side by side, leaving the school together because he offered to buy you some food as a payment for the tutoring. 

“Are you going to tell me why you faked confusion and asked me to tutor you?” 

He winced. How could he forget that you were always straight to the point? 

“What do you mean?” The look on your face clearly said ‘feigning ignorance, eh?’. 

“I’m going to be frank with you,” You deadpanned. “You’re among the best at physics in our class. Some of the questions you asked me to help you through were ones that had been discussed in classes, and I know that you are listening even though you have your head on the table.” 

Alright, so he had under-predicted exactly how observant and attentive you were. 

“Then why did you agree to help me?” 

“You saw me that day, didn’t you?” 

He stopped walking. “Which day?” 

“That day. In our first year. When I threatened that junior high kid in the alley.” You stopped too, to turn your expressionless gaze on him. “You’ve looked at me differently since that day. I heard someone else’s breathing at the alley, but I didn’t see anyone so I figured they’d ran. I guessed it was you.” 

“... Yeah.” 

“You don’t seem to mind.” 

“Mind what?” 

“The fact that this...” You gestured to yourself. “Is a lie. This whole ‘perfect student’ image is an act that I put up to please my parents. I’m actually someone who has really mean thoughts. I could be a really toxic friend. I’m also probably a sadist.” 

Suna blinked quietly at you, running your words through his head a couple more times for good measure. “You remind me of a snake.”

In that one sentence, you realised that if there was one person in the world that was going to be fine with your personality the way it was, that person would probably be Suna Rintarou. The two of you continued your walk to the takoyaki shop Suna offered to buy you food from, continuing meaningless chatter on the journey. 

“Is that a good or bad thing?” 

“I like snakes.” 

“That’s cool. Me too.” 

“Why?” 

“I don’t know, I think they’re pretty cool. They’re like spiders, except they’re not insects. I don’t like insects very much.” 

“Hmm. I like snakes cause I think they’re really elegant. And pretty.” He paused for a moment. “Like you.” 

»»——⍟——««

taglist. @mrs-kuroojinguji @procrastination-lady @miel-meraki @shoyosun @aka-a-shii @shibayamasbae @churochuu @seijohlogy @dearsukuna @whootwhoot

Haikyuu!! gen taglist. @owlywrites @hikari-writes @whootwhoot @folkloeren @our-tall-slytherin-queen

[nakoujou]

Those Smiles

His whole life, Todoroki Shouto only cared about becoming the Number One Hero. But suddenly, he found himself buying overpriced tea and threatening the senpais in pursuit of another goal. (Todomomo one-shot)

--------

There were few things that Todoroki Shouto needed for a good life. Becoming the top hero for the people, unsoggy soba, and his father not being a jerk. As long as he had those three, he would be satisfied.

But then he made friends who inspired him to pursue a greater purpose. And some friends encourage him better than others. Particularly Yaoyorozu Momo in more ways he could have predicted.

She had complimented on his exciting internship with Bakugo and Midoriya, especially when the three were declared to be the future Top Three by the media. Todoroki had brushed it aside, but Yaoyorozu refused to let him be humble.

“You should be proud! Not everybody can do that! I mean, I’m still with Uwabami, so...not much happens beyond her fan meetups. And you know, my Quirk isn’t that useful on the battlefield since I have to rely on a lot of eating beforehand-” 

She spiraled into her ramblings, her voice weakening upon entering her own limitations and plateau and more things that cause her smile to fade. This part of Yaoyorozu, he discovered, was another bothersome thing to grey his life. Like any hero in training, he controled the situation immediately.

“You're strong, Yaoyorozu,” Todoroki interrupted her.  “...You’ll be a good hero.”

For a moment, Todoroki wasn’t sure if he said the right words. But then, her smile gradually returned, and a strange warm sensation spread within Todoroki that wasn’t there before.

“Thank you, Todoroki-san.”

He hoped that smile never goes away. Maybe, Todoroki decided, he can make that happen as her friend.

As they advance to second year, Todoroki wondered if the gods were messing with him. If they fed him this selfish desire for his raven-hair classmate beyond friendship. That he could not be satisfied until then.

Little things changed first. Although Yaoyorozu offered her tea to the entire class, Aoyama was notorious for hogging them. Days before midterms, Aoyama was the victim of everybody’s death glare for using up Yaoyorozu’s supply.

“Mou, now I have to wait ‘til Mother returns to England,” Yaoyorozu sighed, dejected at the empty tea drawer.

“As your president, I promise to lecture Aoyama-kun and restock your tea!” Iida declared.

“It’s okay, Iida-san! I'll be good for midterms,” Yaoyorozu assured him, smiling gently.

That was a lie, and he disliked seeing her force out that polite smile. When they left the kitchen, Todoroki grabbed the empty box, ran back to his room, and opened his laptop. This act of kindness, he discovered later that week, was not normal to do for a friend.

“Eh?! How did you get it so fast?!” Yaoyorozu asked, puzzled when Todoroki presented her with the large box.

“Online.”

“But Todoroki-san, the shipping must have been high, and you bought so much...” Yaoyorozu looked away, and he could see a blush creep on her cheeks.

“It wasn’t expensive,” Todoroki replied. “You need your favorite tea to study well.”

He liked doing this, along with the funny, nice feeling that followed when he saw Yaoyorozu smile. He wasn’t sure how to describe what was happening to him, this need to do it over again. Whatever consequences should come to him, Todoroki would gladly take it.

Including a deadly phone call from his father after the monthly credit card bill came.

“SHOUTO WHY DID YOU WASTE $200 ON WHITE PEOPLE TEA?!”

And sometimes, the little things were not so innocent.

They often sparred against each other on the weekends. Todoroki didn’t always get the upper hand. Yaoyorozu would find ways to catch him off guard, an admirable sign of her own improvement. Until both messed up and eventually, collapse on each other. When Todoroki toppled over her, it was the first time he understood how dangerous their spars could be to his mental composure.

She was too close, but Todoroki couldn’t bring himself to get up. Instead, he stared into her gunmetal eyes, just as wide as his. Her chest was heaving into his, and he was too aware that they were touching everywhere but their own faces. Hell, their foreheads were grazing each other, lips so close he could feel their breaths mingling.

He could, if he wanted to. He was already leaning toward her, and unless Todoroki was imagining, so was Yaoyorozu...

“15 MINUTES UNTIL CURFEW!”

Iida’s scream jolted the two back to their senses again. Particularly Yaoyorozu. Gasping, she immediately pushed Todoroki off. 

“G-Goodnight, T-Todoroki!” She muttered before sprinting back to the dorm.

He couldn’t process what just happened, nor did he want to. He would escape this mental complication with a shower. A long, cold shower. 

Then there were moments when Todoroki didn’t know what to do. Scary to be specific, one that exceeded his own ability to rescue others.

She killed someone for the first time. A small villain caught Yaoyorozu off guard during a drug raid from her internship. She had panicked and did what was necessary to protect others, Todoroki assumed. Apparently, it was not easy for Yaoyorozu to believe that.

“She didn’t eat today,” Jiroh muttered, holding a barely touched rice bowl.  Every night, each classmate took turns convincing Yaoyorozu to come out. Hell, even Bakugo offered despite his disastrous shouting attempt. Except for bathroom sightings, Yaoyorozu hadn’t left her room since. She wouldn’t even return to her parents nor attend class. 

He scaled the roof until he found Yaoyorozu’s window. When he stepped into her room, he found her curled under her blanket, her face buried into her pillow. She didn’t move as Todoroki stopped at her bedside. 

“Yaoyorozu, can we talk?”

“I’m tired.”

“Everybody is worried, “He pressed on.

“I just need to sleep. Please leave me alone.”

Withdrawn, cold, lifeless. This was not the Yaoyorozu he knew, not the one who made him feel that the world was just and fair. He was scared that Yaoyorozu revealed her true self right there, one he couldn’t confidently stick with.

But he didn’t leave. Instead, he sat down on her bed, hating himself for taking too long to even think of what to say. Why couldn’t he provide the same calming, warm presence that she did for him? How was he terrible with something as simple as comforting her? Especially when Yaoyorozu needed someone the most?

“You had to protect yourself and the others,” Todoroki felt his own voice trembling. “Any hero would have done the same-”

“Heroes don’t kill, no matter what!” She sat up abruptly. Todoroki knew his attempt failed when he met fury within her glare. Not a single hint of the usual kindness she gave everyday before then. He was ready to run until he saw tears brimming around her eyes.

“I could have stopped him without ending his life. What if he had a family? What if he redeemed himself after? What i-i-if-damnit, I’m so weak and stupid-!”

He pulled her into his chest, wrapping his arms around her slim frame.

Idiot, he thought to himself. This was a bad move. Yaoyorozu was still shaking, and he winced as she started punching his chest. 

“L-L-Let me go, Todoroki...p-please...!”

Maybe it was wrong to grab Yaoyorozu in her most vulnerable state; an unwanted, non-consensual hug as she beat the shit out of his upper body. But his own words were not working, and instinct told him to catch her before she broke down. To hold her as her screams fell into soft whimpers, her aggressive fists now gripping his shirt. As she calmed down, Todoroki started to rub her back, hoping it would soothe her even by a bit.

“I’m happy that you’re still here.” With me.

He kept her within his embrace until she fell asleep and stayed with her for the rest of the night. As he watched her sleep peacefully from the chair, Todoroki learned a hard lesson.

Yaoyorozu Momo was not a perfect person. Her plethora of insecurities may never go away. She could be terrible to deal with. If he still wanted to pursue this strange joyous feeling around Yaoyorozu, he would not always get it. There will be times she doesn’t want to smile because the world can be cruel.

She’s worth it, he reminded himself upon waking up to Yaoyorozu’s face. He may have been drowsy and sore, but he saw the smallest glimpse of her smile. The first sign of her recovery. Waking up to her every morning, Todoroki thought, would be nice.

Dealing with Yaoyorozu at her worst should have driven him away. Instead, Todoroki found himself more protective of her own well-being. Particularly around U.A.’s male population. The seniors began noticing Yaoyorozu as more than Class A’s Vice President, according to the girls’ gossip. He couldn’t go one week without hearing about a stupid male asking out Yaoyorozu, often in front of his own eyes.

But one specific guy irked Todoroki. Hiden-senpai was the most stubborn of them all, a big, brawny third year with no sense of personal space when it came to Yaoyorozu.

“Come on, Yaoyorozu, we’re both single and could use a good time in bed,” Hiden-senpai smirked. Todoroki saw the senpai reach for her chin before Yaoyorozu moved back in the hallway.

“I’m sorry, Hiden-senpai, but I can’t go out with you.”

“If you’re trying to be a real hero, then you don’t want me saying bad things about you, right? I am a sidekick for the #7 hero.”

Todoroki didn’t understand dating, but he knew it shouldn’t start like this. Yaoyorozu normally could control the situation, but this was not going well. His fist clenched as the senpai hovered closer to Yaoyorozu, who gasped when her back met the wall.

“Hiden-senpai, forgive me but I need to study,” Yaoyorozu side stepped him until Hiden grabbed her arm.

“Oh, I can help you study. Books, your body, you name it-”

Todoroki stopped thinking. Within seconds, he lunged at the two, grabbed the senpai’s shirt collar and slammed him against the wall.

“What the fuck?!” Hiden-senpai yelled.

“Todoroki-san!” Yaoyorozu gasped. 

“Don’t touch her...or else,” Todoroki growled, steam seeping from his hot fingers around Hiden-senpai’s throat. His flames would have burst if Midnight-sensei didn’t knock him out.

He expected their interaction to be tense after Midnight’s rant on unsupervised Quirks and the spirit of youth. Yaoyorozu, however, was more than displeased.

“You can’t disrespect our senior like that,” Yaoyorozu lectured him. 

“He threatened to ruin your hero career if you didn’t sleep with him. What’s there to respect?!” 

“I was about to push him off, “ she insisted.

“I don’t care.” 

“Why does this matter to you?"

There were many things he wanted to say in response. It was a hero’s duty to protect those in need. He didn’t want weirdos bothering a friend. That his temper would flare whenever he saw guys flirting with her. But none of those reasons escaped, and he settled for less.

“You’re my friend, and friends look out for each other.”

He knew she wanted to hear more than that. Her fallen shoulders and disappointed eyes proved so. Even then, she managed a faint smile.

“I see,” she muttered, her lips struggling to maintain that happy facade.

“Thank you, Todoroki-san. You’re a really good friend.” 

He never thought those words could sting him.

Although hope remained, the longing to be more for Yaoyorozu became too much for Todoroki to handle. He couldn’t explain these feelings yet. They did not reach the levels of “love” but certainly heading on that path. Consequently, he unleashed these so-called feelings on Yaoyorozu before he could realize it.

It happened on a quiet Sunday morning. There was nothing special about that day. He found her washing dishes with messy hair, no makeup and baggy pajamas. This wasn’t Yaoyorozu at her prettiest, yet he could imagine every morning like this beyond U.A.

“Ah, good morning, Todoroki-san!” She noticed him, greeting cheerfully. 

Yaoyorozu proceeded with her normal ramblings; freshly brewed coffee was ready, today was bathroom cleaning day, group study session was at three, and so on. Todoroki didn’t hear the rest because he blurts the question he had been holding out on for the last year.

“Do I make you happy, Yaoyorozu?”

“Eh?” Yaoyorozu blushed, followed by a concerned expression. “Where did this come from? Of course you make me happy. You’re one of my dearest friends.”

“Would you be happier if we were more than friends?”

Another bad thing to say, Todoroki thought, as he watched Yaoyorozu drop the dish sponge. Her entire body shook before slowing turning to face him. 

“Todoroki-san, what are you trying to say?” She asked nervously. She was hesitant to believe his words to be true, her eyes wide and frighten. Todoroki couldn’t blame her, so he begins as earnest as he could.

“I like spending time with you. I think about you when we’re not hanging out. I’m stressed when you’re not happy and relieved when you are. I don’t know if I’m the best choice for you, but if you allow me...” Todoroki paused, not realizing he was already walking toward Yaoyorozu, who leaned against the kitchen sink. 

The logical part of him screeched how this made zero sense in his hero journey. But as he stared into Yaoyorozu’s eyes - with all her love and kindness and insecurities within - he regained his commitment for this new goal in life.

“I will do my best to make you smile everyday.”

“And how would that be different than just...” Yaoyorozu asked softly, stepping closer to him until their bodies were grazing each other. “...being friends?”

Todoroki thought that maybe she was in denial or worse, did not return those feelings. But her eyes kept darting between his eyes and lips, as he did to hers. She wasn’t asking for it, no. Yaoyorozu was inviting him to communicate those feelings in his preferred way; no words, just doing it.

”Like this,” Todoroki whispered before pressing his lips to hers.

Soft was the first thing that came to mind as he kisses Yaoyorozu. Followed by the warm sensation he always felt whenever he was around her. Except, this time was different. He felt enveloped in an unusual aura of safety and joy that he didn’t know he needed. One that increased as her hands held onto his shoulders. 

They broke free sooner than Todoroki wanted, both wide-eyed and shaken from what just happened. He wrapped one arm around Yaoyorozu’s waist and buried his other hand into her hand, steadying her balance as they got lost in each other’s soft gaze. 

“W-Was that okay?” Todoroki asked. He worried that this was the wrong move, for Yaoyorozu didn’t say anything for a long minute. But then her lips curve into a big smile, followed by the gentlest chuckle. He was convinced that Yaoyorozu’s laughter - alongside her wonderful smile - could rescue him from his worst nightmares.

“It was perfect,” she replied, leaning toward him. Todoroki pulled her closer, eager to capture her lips once more until-

“NO ITS NOT, YA CHEESY HALFIE SHIT!” Bakugo screeched from the kitchen counter. “DON’T MAKE OUT WHERE I EAT MY OATMEAL!”

Not that he could care less for Bakugo’s breakfast routine. As long as he could make Yaoyorozu Momo smile and laugh, Todoroki Shouto knew he would lead a good life.

-----

Ahh, can’t believe I finished this given how long it was. Thank you everybody who voted on my poll; it really helped me get productive with my fanfiction writing. Please let me know if you have any feedback as I’m always happy to grow my writing.

Love,

Nakoujou

[weakeninghope]

The (love) story we wrote together

Rating: Teen

AO3 link here

Summary:    He didn't think it was important, it was just a random insult written on his desk, easy to erase -which he did when he saw it- (written in a horrible penmanship, if he had to add something) and he probably knew the culprit. It was most likely Yut-Lung, an underclassman who had his diva-like eyes on Ash for some reason. Well, Ash did know the reason. Turns out Ash Lynx here was the top student in his high school year, with an IQ over 200, he was even smarter than his upperclassmen, and Yut-Lung was jealous, because he was the smartest in his class, but he was still way behind Ash, and that asshole hated losing.

Notes: It's been a long time!! I'm here again hehe this time I'm here with something I read on otpprompts about messaging a person using a table and writing to them and I thought it could be a cute idea for Asheiji.This is my gift to postingpebbles aka @eijis-okuumura on tumblr for the @bananafishvalentines! I hope you enjoy this <3!! Sorry if anything feels weird, this spent two weeks sitting on my drafts because I couldn’t ffind the time or the inspiration to end it, but I did my best anyway ;;;;

I hope everyone likes this, comments and kudos are much appreciated ;;

I'm weakeninghope on tumblr and Shirotxpoison on twitter btw, you can contact me if you want *^* See you soon!

fic under the cut!

The first time it happened, Ash just brushed it off.

 –

 He didn't think it was important, it was just a random insult written on his desk, easy to erase -which he did when he saw it- (written in a horrible penmanship, if he had to add something) and he probably knew the culprit. It was most likely Yut-Lung, an underclassman who had his diva-like eyes on Ash for some reason. Well, Ash did know the reason. Turns out Ash Lynx here was the top student in his high school year, with an IQ over 200, he was even smarter than his upperclassmen, and Yut-Lung was jealous, because he was the smartest in his class, but he was still way behind Ash, and that asshole hated losing.

 Well, too bad for him.

 Ash just hoped it was a one time thing, though, he had enough with Yut-Lung calling him a nerd or making fun of his glasses when they crossed ways in the corridors, he didn't want someone to dirty his desk, the only place besides the high school library where he could be by himself and all right, reading a book or writing stories like his brother had been teaching him ever since he was a brat. The blond just wanted silence, he had already a bunch of reasons for punching the hell out of Yut-Lung and his followers, but if he got expelled that would cause trouble to him in the end.

 And he wouldn't be able to see him.

 That's right. Ash Lynx, 17 years old, the lone wolf, the smartass, had a crush on an upperclassman. He didn't even know his name, he just knew how every time they crossed ways on the corridor to commute classes (there was a course that his crush and the other third year students did on Ash's class) their gazes would cross and Ash would stare agape at those black eyes, that apparently looking silky hair... damn, Ash was enhanced even by their height difference. The boy was slightly shorter.

 Oh, he would have to tip-toe if they were to kiss...

 Damn, snap out of it! Ash thought. He would often space out in class thinking about him, even though every time the teacher asked a question, Ash always got the answer right. But he was constantly spacing out thinking about that boy, even if he didn't even know his name. Sometimes, he would even fantasize with the boy sitting in his desk, being able to be in the same place as he was, even if just for a moment...

 Maybe that was too much.

 Whatever.

 Those bastards better not touch Ash's desk again if they didn't want to be taught a lesson. Ash was a tidy person, and besides that, he hated trash and that “nerd” written in his desk was that, trash. The letters forming the word were ugly as fuck, it wasn't even nice to your eyes, reading that shit. Moreover, weren't desks supposed to be clean? Like, if you don't keep them clean, weren't you supposed to be on detention?

 It turns out that he was wrong.

 –

The second time it happened, Ash was angry.

–

  That time, there were various insults in his desk, those bastards went beyond the classic, recurrent “nerd”, they wrote “asshole” “bastard” “nerd”, “loner”. That last one was written in a puffy, boring penmanship, which Ash identified as Yut-Lung's. Ash had a keen eye for identifying kinds of penmanship, and he had seen Yut-Lung's once, enough for Ash to recognize it forever.

 Instead of staying put like he always did, Ash decided to take action. That winter day in the middle of January, shivering by the cold but with his blood boiling, Ash launched himself at Yut-Lung; he knew where his class was.

 “What the fuck are you doing to my desk?” Ash shouted straight to Yut-Lung’s face.

 “Me? I wouldn't dare doing anything to the genius of this institution.” Yut-Lung replied.

 “The first time you used your lackeys and now you wrote in it yourself. Don't play dumb. Well, you don't have to “play”. You are dumb.” Ash yelled.

 Yut-Lung got angry at that, his face went red and he jerked his arm, grabbing Ash's.

 “You pretentious bastard! I'm tired of you trying to be superior!” Yut-Lung cried, his voice echoing in the hallways.

 “No one's talking about superiority you asshole! I just want you to stop fucking with my desk!” Ash shouted. Having arrived at that point, a lot of people were gathered around them. That highschool loved rumors and fights, huh. Ash just wanted those fuckers to stop messing with him. So what if he was a loner? It was better than to mingle with people like Yut-Lung.  

 (even though Ash would love to mingle with people like his crush)

 Then, Yut-Lung ran away with tears in his eyes. A few minutes after that, he came back with a teacher, and Ash got expelled. Oh well, it looks like it was bound to happen, eventually.

 That day, when he got home, Griffin asked him about what had happened.

 “Got into trouble?” He kindly asked.

 “I'm sick and tired of Yut-Lung.” Ash said.

 “Didn't I told you to ignore him?” Griffin asked in return.

 “I do ignore him! But this time he started writing insults on my desk!” Ash shouted, furrowing his eyebrows.

 “And instead of insulting him couldn't you just erase the insults and keep living your life? I mean, he's an underclassman, he isn't even your classmate.”

 “But I bet he stalks me. He knows in which classes I study. He knows where I sit and he writes stuff in my desk, Griff. And I don't like people sitting in my desk.”

 “Then you won't like the period in which you have to swap classes between those people in third year.”

 Ash's heart skipped a bit. He suddenly got flustered and even blushed a little bit. Griff raised an eyebrow.

 “So there's someone you like in third year? Oh, Ash... Youth is so plentiful...” Griffin acted, putting a hand in his forehead and raising his voice, like he was performing something dramatic.

 Ash remained silent, but Griffin kept going nevertheless.

 “So now you're over Kelly Momsen? The girl you liked when you were 14 years old?” Griffin asked. How the hell did he know about Kelly?

 “Shut up. I don't think about her anymore. We grew apart and that's it. But at least at that time I didn't have to worry about assholes insulting me in my desk.” Ash stated.

 “Well, use those three days to think about you've done and blah blah blah and all the things you know you'd have to do but you won't do. But please don't call one of the favorite pupils “an asshole” in front of the whole class, got it?” Griffin said, winking an eye to Ash, which made clear that he wasn't angry. Griff wasn't angry most of the time, he knew Ash had his reasons.

 Instead of doing what Griffin told him, Ash used his time off the school to think about his crush, to think about how now they wouldn't be looking at each other when commuting classes, which was a shame. But they'd eventually see each other again, so it wasn't that bad.

 And they did, they saw each other again when Ash returned to school the following monday.

 But then it happened again.

 --

 The third time it happened, Ash was tired of this shit already.

 –

 That looked like it was Yut-Lung's revenge, because besides from insults there was stuff like “you'll pay for this” written on his desk. Instead of ignoring it like Griff said, Ash chose to reply that time. He used all the remaining space in his desk to scribble a big, SHUT UP, with the best penmanship he could manage, because he wanted to make Yut-Lung angry, if he were to tell the truth.

 The day after that, he expected to encounter another insult as he sat in his chair (which was right by the window, he could see the snow falling), but what he found instead was a clean desk, only his “shut up” remained. That, and a reply to his comment in a penmanship he had never seen before. It was simple, not much could be said about it, but it still looked cute and attractive.

 That's some nice penmanship.

 And then Ash had a crazy idea. He knew the handwriting of all his classmates by heart, so it had to be someone from another class, or someone from another high school year.

 From another school year.

 His heart skipped a beat.

 There was a possibility. There was a class which was conducted in that room, and his crush attended to that course.

 What if...?

 No, no, wishful thinking.

 But still, he replied something.

 Can't say that about yours, though

 He didn't mean it in a bad way, though, he hoped the receiver of the message got it, it wasn't a threat, or something bad, he just wanted to... start a conversation. For the first time in his life since he met Shorter, his best friend, who was in another class and they didn't coincide in any subject.

 That night, Ash went to sleep thinking about the receiver of the message. What kind of person could they be? They looked like a nice person, erasing those insults. But a little bit nosy too, they minded another person's business after all. However, Ash wasn't... entirely dissatisfied with what happened. Suddenly, all of Ash's class periods didn't matter; he was only focused on the one in which he could talk, well, write, to the person sitting on his desk.

 And so he fell sound asleep hearing the sound of the pouring rain as he thought about the mysterious person.

 The following day, Ash found a clean desk again, with only a single sentence written on it.

 Thank you, thank you. I try to write as well as I can. It's not my speciality, though.

Ash wondered if someone had written insults on his desk again and that kind person had cleaned them off as they did last time, but instead of giving it much thought, he just replied the message.

 What is your speciality, then?

 He swirled the pencil around his fingers, thinking about tomorrow and the answer he'd receive. The days were slowly going by and each day, he exchanged a line with the secret person he was writing to.

 I am on the pole-vaulting team. They wrote one day. Ash slowly imagined his crush in the pole-vaulting team; his crush training, wearing gym shorts, sweating as he ran, his taut muscles exposed for him to see... damn... did he seriously had to think of this?

 It was inevitable, every time he commuted classes and saw the boy, he would look at him as if he knew something Ash wasn't aware of, meanwhile Ash secretly dreamed about the desk person being him.

 If it was really him, he had to work on improving his handwriting though.

 That's nice. I write. Ash replied. My brother taught me, he is a novelist and I love his stories. He really enjoyed Griff's books and stories, he wasn't lying. If Griff was here though, he would probably say that that look like a classic shoujo manga story and that Ash was head over heels for his crush and that the person on the desk was probably interested in  Ash.

 At times like those were when Ash's heart seemed to stop; what if they were really the same person?

 Anyway, he didn't want to worry about that, everything was going smoothly with the receiver, they spent a few days exchanging life stories, anecdotes; and their penmanship was slowly getting better. Ash was starting to love it. Besides from that, every time he crossed ways in the corridor with the boy from third year, he would smile at Ash; a knowing smile. Ash was way too flustered by that, it couldn't be true that he was losing his cool demeanor.

 But he did.

 That's great. By the way, would you like us to meet?

 Boom.

 Ash's head exploded. Of course he wanted to meet them. He had spent an entire month talking to that person, he desperately wanted to know who they were so he could finally know if they were his crush or they were another person. He needed confirmation and he needed it as soon as possible, so he answered that he was okay with it.

 Okay, let’s meet tomorrow by the gym, at lunchtime.

 He hoped he hadn’t sounded rude, but since it was written everything seemed more serious. Deep inside, Ash was afraid of the person not showing up. He had abandonment issues ever since his mother went out of the picture when he was born, and his father neglected both him and Griffin, but that person seemed pretty gentle, right? They would definitely show up, right?

 Yeah, right.

 Ash went to the gym as he said and spent an entire hour waiting, only for uselessly acknowledging that he had kept his hopes up and that he should just give up. He should have never started this to begin with. Who the hell starts a friendship or whatever with someone you’ve never seen?

 That day nothing was written on the table when commuting classes either, and his crush was missing too. Good, February 13th couldn’t get any worse.

 What Ash didn’t know though, was that Yut-Lung had planned it all out. He knew who the person writing those messages was and successfully entertained its subject, Eiji Okumura, so that he couldn’t meet Ash.

 --

 Eiji was so tired. He had spent an entire hour going over his paperwork of the student council and he couldn’t even get a second to sneak out of the student council room to go meet the person he was scribbling with. He didn’t dislike Yut-Lung, but he had to admit that what he did was kind of unfortunate and that he could have waited or could have asked Eiji for his help another day.

 He had to make it up to that person because he didn’t want them to think that Eiji had left them alone.

 That was when Eiji got an idea. That day was February 13th, so the next one was Valentines Day. He could make chocolate for them and tell them to meet in the gym that afternoon, because truth be told, Eiji had a little crush on that person. Was it weird, to like someone you haven’t even seen?

 Eiji shrugged and kept going over his paperwork. He didn’t know if it was normal or not, but it was happening. That person had… nice handwriting; and there was something in the way they spoke that was strangely captivating.

 As captivating as his underclassman, the blond one he kept eyeing when he went into his classroom. Well, Eiji supposed he had to say goodbye to them now, his heart already had an owner.

 Eiji was determined to finish that and to go home to make the chocolate, and this time, he would sign it with his name. It was time to be brave.

 You’ve got this, Eiji. You’ve gone to worse hardships than having to help with the student council paperwork. You’re in the pole vaulting team and you’re doing pretty well. You will ace this.

 --

 The next morning, when the time in which he usually read messages from the person at the other side of the table (which sounded pretty weird, he was really communicating with someone via a table) arrived, Ash found a pretty pleasant surprise.

 Chocolate.

 Oh my god today is Valentines Day. Ash thought.

 Oh my god there’s a note attached to the chocolate. Ash thought. His heartbeat increased. He felt his face grow hot.

 With slightly shaky hands, Ash started reading the note. And then he froze.

 The handwriting.

 It was from the nice penmanship person.

  “It’s me. I’m sorry for not showing up yesterday, I had to help the student council with some paper work. I hope you like this in compensation for what happened. Let’s meet today at 5PM near the gym, if you’d like?

 Eiji Okumura.”

 A name.

 Oh my god the person he had been talking with had finally identified themselves. They weren’t a blurry ghost in Ash’s mind anymore. And today he was going to meet them, but he wanted to do a little investigation, and Shorter was going to help him.

 At lunchtime, he went to look for his friend and told him what had happened.

 “Do you remember the person I was talking to?” Ash asked while looking at Shorter, furrowing his eyebrows.

“Via your table.” His friend deadpanned.

 “Yes.” Ash answered.

 “I still can’t believe you’ve spent a month talking to someone via a fucking table, Ash.” Shorter stated while pointing at Ash.

 “Shut up and listen to me.” Ash grabbed his hand and put it back to its place. Shorter was a bit annoying sometimes.

 “Aye aye, sir.” Shorter motioned, sailor-like.

 “They’ve given me this” Ash held the wrapped box of chocolates in front of Shorter’s eyes. “And sign this note. Eiji Okumura. We need to find out how his face looks like.”

 “You’re talking to the master of figuring out how people’s faces look like”

 “That’s why I’ve come to talk to you”

 “You flatter me.”

 “Let’s go to where the teacher have the data on the students. If we rummage through the computer will find data on the people from third year. And you said he was on the pole vaulting team? We could find something out.”

 And so they did. Shorter entertained the teachers while Ash went inside the faculty room only to find out that the table person was actually his crush.

 Eiji Okumura.

 The boy he had spent so much time dreaming about.

 The boy he imagined in tight shorts running-

 Focus.

 Rummaging through a computer that doesn’t belong to you sent a strange thrill to Ash, knowing he had done something he shouldn’t have, but he had a goal in his mind.

 The rest of the day went by pretty boringly, he was way to flustered and nervous about the encounter with his crush to think about anything else.

 Until the time to meet arrived, and Ash grabbed a pen and went to the gym. Eiji was waiting for him, and without saying anything, he went to where he was and wrote “it’s me” on his hand.

 Eiji then reacted, blushed to the tip of his ears and confessed something. And they started confessing their lives out.

 “To be honest, I have a crush on you.” Eiji confessed.

 “To be honest I’ve been in love with you since I entered this high school.” Ash followed.

 “To be honest I’ve been looking at you when we crossed ways in the corridor.” Eiji continued.

 “To be honest I’ve imagined you in your sport clothes running and thought you were pretty handsome-“ Ash blurted out. Shit! He wasn’t supposed to say that! “Forget what I said.”

 “What if I don’t want to.” Eiji said, approaching Ash and grabbing his hand. It was warm.

 “Well, you’re the upperclassman here.” Ash admitted, his fierce green eyes piercing Eiji’s adorable black ones. “But I’ll make you forget.” He finished.

 “Oh, how?” Eiji asked.

 Ash then closed the distance between them with a kiss. It was fast, harsh and imperfect, a bump of lips more than a kiss, the rim of his glasses smashed Eiji’s nose.

 “That was a terrible kiss.” Eiji chuckled.

 “Want to prove if you can do it better?” Ash taunted.

 And then Eiji shut him up with a kiss and his pen fell, rolling on the floor.

 “Wait!” Ash exclaimed when they parted “I need that to talk to a very special person!” He said.

 “You’re terrible.” Eiji laughed.

 And everything seemed to be all right. Ash was undeniably happy.

 Yut-Lung, who had seen the development of what was happening, on the other hand, wasn’t as happy.

 But honestly,

 Fuck him.

[kumkaniudaku]

Meet the Parents: Two

A/N: This is the second part to @afraiddreamingandloving ‘s request from ages ago. It’s 2 AM so, please, excuse the errors if you find any. Enjoy. 

Word Count: Hella long. I stopped looking after 5k

Warnings: None. All fluff

Miss Howard University Interest Meeting: Tuesday @ 7:00 PM

You didn’t even get to the end of the decorated flyer in the student union before you snatched it off the bulletin board and jammed it into your binder.

Miss Howard was a coveted title. The perks of campus royalty were abundant but, those only factored into part of your motives. After sitting in on several SGA meetings and listening to your teammates discuss their issues with the administration, you began to realize that you were missing a lot in regards to the current state of your beloved institution. You wanted to help the campus community and, in your mind, donning the bedazzled crown and stifling skirt suits was a fast track to achieving that goal. It also wouldn’t hurt to get a little attention from the man you called friend.

The rush to your apartment left your calf muscles burning and your chest heaving to pull in any available oxygen.

“Why the hell do I live on the third floor,” you huffed, fumbling with your keys.

Pushing open the door introduced you to the smell of burning food, incense from your room and sandalwood. Chadwick was somewhere around the small space, probably let in by Tanisha as she made her way to work.

“I stood over this stove all day just for you to come home late. I swear negros can be so unappreciative.”

You rolled your eyes and dropped your duffle bag to the ground, “You burning up my good pots. And stop coming in my house uninvited.”

Chadwick poked his head around the corner to look at you. His smile faded when he watched you pull off your sneakers and toss them across the living room. Slowly, your shoulders rose and fell as you composed yourself.

“You okay, CoCo? Long day?”

“Coach was insane today. I never want to see another baseline again!”

You pulled your drenched hoodie over your head, tossing it on top of the other dirty clothes in the Adidas bag before flopping down on the worn couch against the wall. Leaning your head against the back of the furniture, your brain began to torment you with memories of the most grueling practice of the season. After the weekend’s embarrassing loss, Coach was less than happy to start a week of practices.

“You couldn’t run on offense last weekend so, your asses gone run today! To the baseline!”

You winced at the replaying of her voice in your head and the couch dipping beside you. Chadwick pulled your bag in front of him, rummaging around the dark interior for the tape to wrap your ankle. As often as you reminded him that the trainer would take care of it in the morning, he swore up and down that he knew the best way to keep your injured ankle in tip-top shape.

Gingerly grabbing your leg, he pressed his fingers into your throbbing calf, rubbing and kneading the aches away. His long fingers danced across your ankle, seemingly erasing the pain in every spot he grazed. Your mouth involuntarily let out a drawn-out moan before you could stop it. A crooked smile curved the corner of Chadwick’s lip though he didn’t acknowledge the sound.

“Anything else happen today,” he asked, eyes focused on your smooth legs.

“Eh, not really. I made a C on a quiz I studied for, almost ate milk with my cereal after morning practice, took a Miss Howard interest flyer, told Jerom-”

“Woah, Woah, Woah! Go back.”

Miming a reverse in movements, you started your monologue from the top, “I made a C on my business quiz, I-”

“Don’t play, girl. You picked up a Miss Howard interest flyer.”

“Yeah. Something wrong with that?” You fiddled with your thumbs to avoid eye contact with Chadwick. If you had it your way, you would’ve moved past that snippet of information in favor of talking yourself out of attending the meeting and letting the opportunity pass. Chadwick’s smirk slowly morphed into a toothy grin. “You, Tasha ‘Fuck the System’ Green, want to be Miss Howard. The most prissy position on campus? You serious?”

“I want to help!”

“Was SGA not accepting new members?”

“You know what, forget it. I won’t go.”

“Oh, come on,” he whined, trying to pry your arms out of their folded position against your chest. When you didn’t budge, he moved to pull you into his chest. “I’m sorry, Co. I didn’t mean it like that. It just surprised me.”

“You don’t think I can do, do you?”

“Look at me,” his fingers brushed across your face to turn your head toward him. “I think you can do anything you put your mind to. Is this something you really wanna do?”

“Yes. I wanna show the campus that you don’t have to be the stereotypical beauty to be a campus queen,” you exclaimed, standing on your feet to hobble to the center of the room. “Queens are supposed to be agents of change. I can do that! I know I can. This is the way I wanna affect my campus community. The tall girls with scraped knees and strong shoulders need love too!”

“You do have some strong ass shoulders.”

“See. That’s why I don’t invite your black ass over here.” Your agility and quickness aided you in surprising Chadwick with a shoe to the chest, temporarily injecting a pained grunt into his solo laugh session.

“Got damn, girl. Big ass shoe,” he grumbled. “If this is what you want, I support you 100 percent. I’ll get you on the phone with my sisters, talk to the last queen to give you some pointers...whatever you want me to do.”

“Really?” Your eyes lit up in excitement, contrasting his eye roll in faux annoyance.

“Yes. You the Queen, right?”

“Right?”

Jumping to his feet, he rushed over to grip your shoulders. “Don’t half-ass it! You the Queen, right?” He eyed you expectantly, waiting for you to catch on.

“Hell yeah, I’m the Queen!”

“You damn right, you the Queen. Act like it and let’s go get you this crown.”

The end of Chadwick’s pep talk started six weeks of ‘Boseman Bootcamp.’ Every evening after class and practice, your otherwise chill best friend would force you to spend another two hours on your feet preparing for the pageant. With books on your head, he would watch you wobble around your apartment in heels, trying to keep your head high and back straight.

Conversations with his older sister gave you an idea of how to prepare your opening speech, complete with practice rounds to ensure that you slowed your words to remain clear and concise for judges. Additional sessions with his friend and former Queen, Layla, gave you an inside scoop on how to impress during the solo interviews and group sessions before you even hit the stage.

Chadwick cleared his schedule as much as he could to work on the dance sequence and talent portion, being sure to give his honest opinion every step of the way. The only thing he hadn’t done was pick your outfits for the night, contending that he wanted to be surprised with everyone else.

With all of the prep focused whipping you into perfect pageant form, you forgot to warn him about the possibility of guests. Honestly, you intentionally chose to keep both sides in the dark. From the first mention of the pageant to your mother in passing, plans were crafted to have your family jump on the first flight from Atlanta to D.C. to witness your crowning moment. While your sister was aware of Chadwick’s place in your life and your feelings, you purposely omitted those when it came to your parents. In their minds, no one would hold a candle to your high school boyfriend and Marine standout, Tariq, so there was no need to fill them in on the second man in your life. Especially since the relationship had yet to progress beyond an innocent peck on the forehead and a few kind words. Chadwick wasn’t your boyfriend and, therefore, there was no need for introductions.

Despite never pressing the issue, Chadwick regularly wondered why you never made an effort to introduce him to the rest of the Green clan. Since the night they met you, his family regularly asked about your wellbeing and made you a regular fixture in family moments. If he was on his way home for a break, you were more than welcome to tag along, an invitation you accepted on more than one occasion. They regarded you as a piece of the family, and it hurt him to think about the possibility that you were ashamed of him.

When your family rolled into town early Thursday morning, you made sure to keep the two parties separate. Your mother was the first to walk into your home, looking around for any visible signs of dirt or disarray.

“Well, Tasha, I see you’ve kept the place clean like I taught you,” she lazily ran her fingers across the coffee table’s surface to check for dust.

“Or she’s trying to hide the evidence,” Tiana, your younger sister, snickered. “Where’s lover boy?”

“TiTi,” you hissed in response but, it was too late. The secret was out.

“Loverboy? You got a boyfriend, little girl? And you didn’t even bother to tell your mama?”

“He’s not my boyfriend, ma! We’re...friends. Best friends.”

“I wish all my best friends were that fine,” Tiana laughed, snooping around the pictures on the walls leading to your bedroom.

Before you could defend yourself, loud banging and strained grunts shifted attention from your nervous sputtering to your father wrestling with Tiana’s suitcase to get in the door.

“I’ve carried sacks as heavy as a toddler up a hill. Hell, I’ve carried 200-pound men on my shoulders in the heat of battle. But I have never, ever, carried anything as big as this suitcase. Tiana, what did you bring all of this for?”

“I need options, daddy. There are college educated men all over the place. I have to stay ready!”

You and your father rolled your eyes at Tiana though you silently thanked God for the momentary distraction. Your dad, Gerald, was your best friend before you even knew what one was. He taught you everything you knew about baseball and basketball from the moment you expressed interest. He went to bat for you every time your mother made a fuss about your dirty dresses after church or how much time you spend outside trying to master a fadeaway jumper like Michael Jordan. When Tiana was old enough, you rejoiced in the fact that your mom finally had someone to go on shopping trips with and force into ballet.

Drastic differences between you and your mother put a damper on the relationship in high school but, with the help of family therapy sessions, the two of you came to understand that your differences were not rebellion. You were your own person, and Elaine had to accept that. Still, she told anyone who would listen how excited she was that her oldest girl would follow her campus queen footsteps.

“So, Pumpkin, you ready for Saturday night? Have you been practicing,” your father asked over dinner.

The soft chatter of other patrons did little to help ease the worry clouding your mind. “Yes, sir. Me and...a friend have been working for a month and a half. I feel confident going in.”

“That’s my girl. You’re a winner! Just like your old man!”

Your mother eyed you over the table, not ready to bypass the second mention of your “friend.”

“Is this friend going to be at the pageant? Why didn’t you invite him to dinner?”

Your father nearly choked on his sweet tea, prompting your mother to pat him on the back through his coughing spell. “Him? Pumpkin, do you have a boyfriend.”

If you could’ve, you would have melted into a puddle of embarrassment and slid out of the door to the nearest storm drain. Instead, you were forced to face the three sets of eyes awaiting your explanation. Realizing that you would no longer be able to keep your business private, you opened your mouth to provide details.

“No, daddy, he’s not my boyfriend. He’s my friend who happens to be a boy. He’s dating someone else right now,” you half lied. He wasn’t dating Michelle; he was fucking her and maybe saying hello when he would see her on campus. That didn’t stop her from swearing that they were more.

“And what is this boy’s name?”

“Chad. Well, Chadwick bu-”

“Chadwick? What the hell kind of name is Chadwick?”

“A rich man’s name,” Tiana mumbled while sipping her drink and looking around the restaurant. She didn’t notice that the attention had shifted to her lusty outburst until she turned her head back to the conversation. “What? With all that directing he’s doin’, he better be rich one day.”

“Ti, don’t do this.”

“And you better marry him!”

“Tiana!” She playfully stuck out her fruit punch coated tongue as you rolled your eyes, making a mental note to wait until she was at least 21 before you shared any more information with her.

“Marry,” your mother scoffed. “Oh, I need to meet this boy! Marrying an artist? What has gotten into you? What about Tariq?”

“Elaine, Tariq isn’t the best catch,” your father defended.

“Says who? He’s handsome, his career is stable, and she’s known him since they were kids. He’s clearly her type.”

“Tariq is also gay,” you interrupted, fed up with the discussion. “Even if I was interested in him, the feelings aren’t mutual.”

Holding on to that secret was tough enough without having to blurt it across the sticky table of a chain restaurant. Your mother had no idea what you type was because she spent much of your life setting you up with her type. You loved men with confidence and a free spirit. Elaine enjoyed the bravado of military personnel and the security that came with being a Marine wife. Trying to please her in high school led to several unnecessary heart breaks. As soon as you were accepted to an institution miles away from her overbearing gaze, you vowed to date who you wanted. With the exception of Chadwick, it was working.

Elaine’s jaw slacked with confusion before she could recover. “Well then, I...I guess you have it all figured out. I’ll back off.”

“Ma, I did-”

“No, no,” she started, smoothing out her khaki skirt and looking to you with a smile. “You’re an adult now. You know much more about yourself than I could ever. I know you’re capable of making good decisions.”  

Silence hit the table for a brief moment as you smiled back at your mother. Though small, the breakthrough was more than you had been able to pull out of her in years. Clearing her throat, Tiana injected her contagious energy into the mix.

“So, is he really gay? I knew it!”

                                      ___________

Thursday transitioned into Friday before you could get a grip on what was happening. With your parents in a separate hotel, you felt comfortable enough to bring Chadwick back to your apartment for last-minute pageant prep. Though you hated to admit it, he was becoming your sense of calm in the whole ordeal.

His large knuckles obnoxiously tapped at your door, making you groan, and Tiana’s eyes light up. If you didn’t know her, you would assume that she was about to go on a first date. Her Karl Kani mid-drift and high waist denim showed the most skin she’d ever been able to show in her entire life. When you told her to get dressed for company, you didn’t intend for her to go in your closet to mimic your personal style. Swinging open the door, you watched Chadwick continue to drum against the door with a smile.

“CoCo Green finally decided to call a brotha.”

“Oh, hush. I don’t see you for one day, and you act like I abandoned you!”

Laughing, he pecked your forehead to Tiana’s surprise. Heat rushed to your cheeks, burning your face almost as much as the grin you’d been holding.

“You must be Chadwick,” Tiana boldly assumed, changing her voice to mimic Toni Braxton’s.

Chadwick turned to you with a smile, realizing who she was by the resemblance. “Yeah, that’s me. Tiana, right? I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Oh, have you?” She cooed, batting her eyelashes.

“Tasha talks about you all the time. How’s Mathletes?”

Tiana’s ‘grown-up’ facade quickly dropped at the mention of her high school activities. Rolling her eyes, she slid from the arm of the couch onto the cushions, grumbling incoherent phrases.

Chadwick shared a look with you before following you into the kitchen to keep the conversation private, “How you feeling, Champ. You ready to take your crown?”

“I don’t know, Aaron. I saw LeAndra at dress rehearsals last night, and she’s good. Like, really good. I can’t compete with that.”

His face screwed up, “She can’t even read. Trust me, I know. I had to listen to her audition last semester.” Memories of sitting in on the “closed” auditions with Chadwick temporarily pushed away your negative thoughts. “What can we do to make you feel ready?”

“She needs a hug,” Tiana yelled from the living room. “From you!”

“Do you,” he asked, eyebrows quirking in mischief. “Come here! Let me give you some love.”

Try as you might, you couldn’t escape the long arms of your childish friend. Chadwick easily pulled you into his body, tickling your sides and drawing a cackle from you in response. His arms tightened around you, turning the innocent moment into a hormone-charged embrace. Your eyes locked for a flash before both of you backed up to opposite sides of the kitchen.

“Yeah so, uh, can we go over my talent one more time?”

“We can but, I think you got it. You’re gonna be amazing, girl. And, even if you’re not, I’m gonna tell you that you are.”

“You plan on lying to me?”

“I never lie to you.” Eye contact created another stalemate as you searched his eyes for any indication of a lie. You found none as usual. Throwing your hands up in surrender, you turned to rummage through the fridge to retrieve a Gatorade for both of you. Chadwick shifted his weight in preparation for his next question. “I see your sister is here. Does that mean that I get to meet your parents this weekend?” In surprise, your head slammed against the top of the refrigerator making Chadwick laugh. “I get it if you don’t want to, Co. I’m just saying...I had no problem introducing you to mine.”

“Chad…”

“Don’t explain. Pass me that Gatorade and let’s go practice these questions.”

Before you could rush out an apology, he was out of the kitchen and interacting with Tiana on the way to your room.

The question and answer session did wonders on your anxiety, allowing you to prepare in front of the master of stage presence himself. His constant reminders to smile and exude confidence burned into your brain by the end of the hour-long rehearsal, you felt like you would excel during at least one portion of the competition.

On the way out of your room, Tiana gave you a cheeky smile behind Chadwick’s back, receiving a set of middle fingers in return. Closing the door behind you, you turned to face your friend.

“Tomorrow,” you started abruptly.

“What?”

“Come early tomorrow. You can meet them then, okay?”

A broad smile spread across his face, revealing his beautiful gap, “Okay, girl. I’ll hold you to that. Tomorrow.”

Final goodbyes followed until he was out of sight and off to finish his day. Walking back into your apartment, you found Tiana attempting to jump back onto the couch to act natural.

“Would it kill you to mind your business,” you asked sitting beside her on the sofa.

“I don’t know. Would it kill you to stop actin like you don’t want that man? Introducin’ him to Mama and Daddy? Sounds like Miss CoCo has a maaan!” Her cackle made your turn your nose up in disgust. A quick flick of the wrist sent a decorative pillow against her face, switching the roles. “Dammit, Tasha, I’m telling Daddy!”

“Good! Then I’ll tell him about this outfit stunt you pulled.” Her mouth opened to speak before closing in defeat. “Yeah, that’s what I thought. Now put my shit back!”

                                           ____________

“A little blush here,” a beat, “More on this side...and here we go!” Your mother whipped out a handheld mirror to allow you to judge her makeup application.

Your eyes crinkled as your cheeks rose in a smile, happy with the job she did. While Tiana adjusted the tiny hat over your hair, you turned from side to side to get a better look. Powder foundation rested against your soft skin, a light layer of blush accentuating the apples of your cheeks. Her signature red lipstick was passed to you to add to the look and give you, what she considered feminine appeal.

Still, as you looked around the crowded dressing space at the nine other contestants, you couldn’t help but feel out of place.

Apparently, you missed the extensions memo; your usually short haircut washed and conditioned to form a tightly coiled afro . The other women looked so beautiful and petite in their cruise ship attendant outfits, contrasting the way your long legs and big feet seemed almost manly underneath the short skirt.

Sensing your moment of self-doubt, your mother grabbed the lapel of your jacket, “You know, I didn’t look like a pageant queen either.”

“Impossible. You’re so pretty.”

She smiled and unpinned the broach on her coral dress, sticking the sharp end into the inside of your jacket. “Back then, all the girls looked like you. They were so tall and lean and, there I was, short and could barely see over the microphone.” Without looking at you, she clasped the bedazzled frog pin onto your outfit. “I believe in you, Tasha. You can do it.”

“Mama, this is your lucky pin. I can’t take this.”

“You damn right, you can’t. I’m gonna need that back until you cross those burning sands,” she laughed. “But, tonight, let the power of my founders lead and guide you.”

Her smile matched your own as she pulled you into a hug, rocking your body from side to side. Lost in the moment, you didn’t hear your father walk up until he cleared his throat.

“Uh, pumpkin, this young man says he knows you. Pushed past three people at the door to get back here.”

Opening your eyes, you found Chadwick nervously standing beside your father, cowering away from his death glare. His chest and torso were barely visible behind the assortment of flowers in his hand.

“Yeah, I know him, daddy. This is the friend I was telling you about. Chad, meet my mom and dad.”

“Hi, Mrs. Green,” he nervously replied. As if the light bulb in his head turned on, he jumped to pull a sunflower from the bouquet. “This is for you. I know Tasha has a rose allergy so I, uh, I got these instead. If you don’t like it, I can take them back!”

“No need, Chad. These are lovely. Thank you.” Your mother graciously accepted the single flower, giving you an amused nod before turning to organize the rest of your outfits.

Chadwick made sure to greet Tiana again, handing her a sunflower identical to your mother’s. Your father’s intimidating stare dialed back at your request as he introduced himself, smiling at you over Chadwick’s head.

“And these are yours,” he added, placing the bouquet in your lap. “I wanted to give them to you before it got too crazy at the end. My mom, dad, and Kevin said good luck, by the way. You look...wow. They should go ahead and crown you right now.”

“Whatever. Look at all these girls. I’m so out of place right now.”

Chadwick took a look around, waving at a few of the women that waved at him, before turning back with a shrug. “Between you and me, they all look the same. You stand out, and that’s what’s important. Stop doubting yourself.”

You couldn’t tell but, your family heard every word of Chadwick’s declaration and shared school like giggles in the corner amongst each other. You smiled at his kind words, nuzzling your nose against the flower in your hand.

“Ladies, place! The show begins in ten!”

Bodies scrambled to get into place, prompting you to stand and adjust your skirt. Your support group gave you their last encouraging words on the way to the auditorium, leaving you to do the rest of the pep talking inside your head. In a flash, the big moment approached and sent waves of adrenaline pumping throughout your bloodstream.

Lakeside’s “Fantastic Voyage” fit the cruise ship theme for the opening number to a tee though, you reminded the director on several occasions that the blue costumes resembled flight attendant uniforms. Regardless, your feet and body worked as one to effortlessly carry from point to point, feeling like second nature as the song progressed.

By the end, you were perfectly positioned in the center of the group, smiling down at the judges and audience in a textbook pageant pose. You kept your introduction short and concise like you had been instructed, remaining upbeat and cheery through the opening speech. The bright lights may have skewed your vision but, nothing could stop you from reacting to the loud hoops and hollers of your teammates, family, and Chadwick.

The praises from the audience intensified during the swimsuit portion, further adding to your overall confidence. You waltzed across the stage in a bright red, two-piece and matching wrap skirt, highlighting the athlete’s body that many didn’t know existed. Chadwick attempted to avert his eyes because of his proximity to your father but, he couldn’t seem to look away. He knew that you were beautifully proportioned from the times he’d seen you dressed to party and, still, he wasn’t prepared to see your legs holding a perfect behind and the abs of steel that rested above them.

“Talents” graced the stage following swimwear, becoming a cacophony of botched monologues, off-key song covers, and rhythmless dancing. Your acoustic rendition of Angel of Mine, taught to you day and night by Chadwick captivated the judges and earned you raucous praise from the audience.

A brief intermission allowed you to shimmy out of your swimsuit with the help of your mom and sister and into your formalwear. The red, halter neck dress showed off your toned shoulders and stopped just above the floor. The slit in the front gave you the right amount of room to walk with no obstacles, and the train in the back added drama to the look.

After your walk and bio read by the MC, you waited in line for the question and answer portion. The questions ranged from silly to serious, seemingly alternating as they got closer to you. LeAndra went before you, picking out a slip of paper and handing it to the MC in front of her.

“Contestant Four, do you believe that you are a good role model?”

Year of experience showed through her proud stance as she rolled her shoulders back and flashed a bright smile. You had to admit; she was your stiffest competition in the whole ordeal. LeAndra was beautiful, well known and already involved in campus activities. Her desire to be a politician in her home state of Mississippi made her charming but, her extensive knowledge of pageantry made her a threat.

“What a great question,” she cooed, stretching her Southern drawl. “I do believe that I am a good role model. Howard University has afforded me the opportunity to affect my local and global community in so many ways. Whether it’s working with the Boys and Girl club during my Spring Break or spending time with the elderly, I’m always sure to give back while maintaining an honors-level GPA and participating in extracurriculars. The Bison grind has made me an excellent role model, and I intend to use those principles if I am chosen as the next Miss Howard University.”

Satisfied claps from the audience and impressed head nods followed her answer, making her beam with pride on her walk back to her spot.

Your heart thumped loudly in your ears as your turn drew closer. Dipping a shaking hand into the basket, you chose a question and prayed that it was one of the ones you spent all night going over.

“Contestant five, why do you think you are the best choice for Miss Howard University.”

Taking a deep breath, you released you worry and focused on the question. “Thank you so much for that question. I love your coat by the way,” the audience and judges laughed at your compliment. “In all honesty, my flaws make me the best candidate for Miss Howard University. I’m an unconventional choice that shows the everyday woman that beauty comes in all forms. I’m a little loud, not always graceful and I snort when I laugh. Those quirks make me relatable. Women all over campus can see themselves in me and...that’s how it should be. If I’m chosen, I plan to show other women the beauty in their flaws as well.”

“You sure are beautiful!” ripped through the atmosphere, coming from the only person in the room bold enough to scream out during a formal event. Your smile grew when you spotted your family and Chadwick giving you the thumbs up. No matter the outcome of the night, you felt fortunate to have such amazing people by your side.

Sauntering back to your spot, you felt peace in knowing that you gave it your best effort. The outcome was no longer in your hands, and you would accept whatever result came your way.

Another intermission to tally the votes gave you time to say a quick prayer behind the thick velvet curtain. When the veil was pulled back to reveal the ten contestants for the last time before a winner was crowned, the crowd stood their feet to offer a standing ovation.

“Wow, aren’t these ladies stunning?” the MC asked over the noise. “This is by far the greatest pageant I’ve had the pleasure of hosting, and I wish each of you the best of luck. Without further ado, let’s present the awards voted on by the contestants themselves.” Certificates for Most Reliable, Best Smile and Miss Congeniality were passed out quickly and without much fanfare. The real awards were the most important, and you needed to know the outcome before you exploded on stage.

“Now, for the moment all of these ladies have been waiting for, the announcement of Miss Howard University. First, we’ll announce the first runner-up who will serve as Miss Blue and White for the 1999-2000 academic year. Your new Miss Blue and White is…”

Suspense hung in the air and breath caught in your throat as the MC let the tension build.

“Everyone, stand and congratulate Miss Tasha Nicole Green.”

Your mouth hung open from shock as the reigning Miss Blue and White motioned you over to receive your crown and sash. Loud whistles from the crowd clashed in your ears but, none louder than Chadwick’s. You graciously waved to the crowd, still shocked that you were even called. You fully expected to walk out empty handed and party your disappointment away with your teammates. Instead, you stood as a member of the Royal Court.  

“And, your Miss Howard University for the 1999-2000 academic year is...Miss LeAndra F. Harvey!”

Tyrese’s ‘Sweet Lady’ played in the background for her victory lap as onlookers cheered her accomplishment. Joining them, you clapped for her success earning a sweet smile in return. It was no secret that LeAndra wasn’t the nicest person during the process but, if you were forced to serve beside her for an entire school year, it made sense to be kind sooner rather than later.

Two hours, 1,000 pictures and a set of sore feet later, the ordeal was over, and you were granted the opportunity to sit down and rest in the designated dressing area. Your teammates rushed you first to make jokes about you turning soft on them, you coaching making sure to remind you that being a queen didn’t excuse you from practicing. Other contestants congratulated you and LeAndra came over to compliment you on your performance. Finally, you were greeted by your family, Chadwick noticeably hanging behind.

“Oh, my baby is a queen,” your mother exclaimed, pulling you into the tightest hug you could stand. “I’m so proud of you.”

“Thank you, Mama. I couldn’t have done it without you and the frog,” you smirked.

“Pumpkin can shoot the three and curtsey. Jack of All Trades just like her old man.”

“Thanks, Dad.” You accepted his kiss on the cheek with a smile, noticing Tiana’s expression. “What you got to say, TiTi?”

“I wanna know when the queen perks kick in! Can we get into parties tonight or do we have to wait a weekend? I can come back!”

“See, this is why you’ll be staying home and going to Spelman, young lady,” your mother scolded, pulling your sister away to gather all of your things.

With your family occupied, Chadwick stepped up to greet you, “You did amazing,” he rushed out.

“Thank you, Aaron. You really helped me out. This is your win, too!”

“I wouldn’t be nearly as nice in a dress,” he laughed. Pulling you up and off of your chair, he engulfed you in a hug, the strength of his arms locking you into place. “Congratulation, Co. I’m proud of you.”

You settled into the hug for a moment until you noticed the smiles from your family. Your mother, the naysayer from the beginning, gave you a thumbs up before pulling your sister and father out of the space and to the car.

“I think they like you.”

“Who,” he asked, pulling away to look around.

“My family. They like you. I can tell.”

He laughed loudly, picking up your shoes from the floor beside you and extending his hand for you to grab. “Probably not nearly as much as my family like you. You know my mama tried to come up here for this, right. She’s gonna go crazy when she sees the pictures I took.”

“Oh God, please, don’t show her the swimsuit photos.”

“I won’t,” he agreed, holding the door open for you to walk out of. “Those are for Kevin.”

                                      ____________

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[bibliomint]

short story // 3000+ words

Angst, swearing, OT3. It’s messy and painful. like real life.​

Caleb was one who was almost bipolar in his affection. He would go through periods of constant need for physical attention, then swing in the opposite direction and practically hiss at the idea of even holding hands. It was a little bizarre, but after being together for three years, we had all gotten used to it.

As I stood at the sink, washing dishes, I felt hands slide into my front pockets. I jumped, dropping the chopsticks with a clatter.

I felt the person behind me shake in the attempt to conceal his laughter. “You’re a jerk. Take heavier steps next time, yeah?”

“No thanks, maybe just be more aware of your surroundings next time.” Caleb pressed a kiss behind my ear.

I let out a huff, dropping the chopsticks into the dish drainer. “Whatever. How was your day?”

“Exhausting.”

“200 level chemistry class giving you hell again?”

“What else would? I don’t have Kieren in any of my classes.”

I snorted. “Kieren would make your classes fifty times better.”

“He would just throw things at the back of my head when the professor wasn’t looking.” Caleb rested his forehead on my shoulder.

I giggled. “Well, yeah. You act like this is a problem.”

He changed the subject, nosing along my neck. “You smell good. Are you wearing perfume?”

“No, but I did shower a half hour​​ ago.”

“I like it.”

I failed to hold back a shiver at the feather-light touches, a tiny, breathless whimper escaping as he trailed hot, open mouthed kisses on my skin.

“What’s good, my party people?!” Kieren called out as the front door slammed shut.

We both started, Caleb withdrawing as the last part of our trio sauntered into the kitchen. Keys were tossed onto the table, eyes widening at my flushed cheeks and Caleb’s irritated gaze.

“Oh, y’all were getting freaky. Don’t let me interrupt.” He opened the fridge, nervously avoiding Caleb’s gaze.

Too late, the mood had been completely ruined. I dried my hands, greeting Kieren with as much excitement as I could muster. “I’m glad you’re home! I missed you! How was your day?”

He swooped down, pecking my lips sweetly. “I missed you too! Classes were boring.”

At some point, Caleb had stalked out and both of us had missed it.

“Okay but like, how badly did I fuck up?” Kieren asked me quietly when we both noticed he was gone.

“I mean...we weren’t doing much but I think he was In The Mood.”

Caleb hadn’t felt like doing anything remotely sexual for two months. It was a new record, and had been making us both feel anxious that he might never feel like it again.

Kieren’s eyebrows raised. “Really? Shit.”

I bit my lip, watching him slide leftover chinese takeout into the microwave. “Not sure how to approach it.”

“Me either. Maybe bring it up tomorrow morning? Since he’s more of a morning sexy times person.”

I held back a laugh at his phrasing. “Yeah, sure. If he doesn’t mention it himself.”

The youngest of us leaned his back against the counter. “How are you?”

“Me? I’m okay.”

“Are you still stressed about that paper?”

“Yeah. It hasn’t gotten any easier.”

“Sorry babe.” Kieren frowned. “I’d write it for you if I could, but I know next to nothing about brains.”

I giggled. “That’s okay. I appreciate your moral support.”

He smiled brightly. “I’m good at that part! I will bring you snacks and kisses when you’re struggling.”

“Perfect.”

“Also have I told you that this one girl in my physics class keeps hitting on me and asking me to go out with her?”

My eyes widened as a shot of jealousy stung me. “Wait, really? Is she cute?”

His nose wrinkled. “Hell no. But I finally got so fed up with her that I told her I was gay. She then said that we should still be friends because, and I quote, ‘She would make me straight’.”

I choked. “That’s—what in the world??”

“Right? I’m kind of scared of her now.” Kieren shuddered. “Maybe I should ask Caleb to walk me and then kiss him in front of her or something. Anything for her to get the memo.”

I nodded. “Yeah. I’m sure if you tell him he’ll be on board.”

He smiled, sitting the now empty container on the counter. “I hope so.”

I walked over and leaned into his chest. He wrapped his arms around me and kissed the top of my head. “What’s up?”

“Feeling lonely.” I mumbled.

“You have an excellent man and an almost as good other man and you still feel lonely? This is a crime.” He gently rocked me.

I smiled. “Which one are you?”

“The excellent one, of course.” He laughed.

I lifted my head, smiling up at him. He leaned in and bumped his nose against mine. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” He smiled, kissing me softly.

After a moment, I laid my head back on his chest, listening to the steady sound of his heartbeat.

“Would sex make you feel less lonely?” He asked innocently.

I froze, then buried my face in his chest. “I—you—you can’t just say things like that out of the blue!!”

“But it’s not random.” He protested.

“Kieren!!”

“For real though. Would it?”

I thought about it. Sex wasn’t an infrequent thing between the two of us; if one of us was in the mood, it wasn’t hard to get the other one to agree.

“Yeah, probably. But like...I miss Caleb. He’s here but he’s also not, y’know?”

“Yeah. I know.”

I cast him puppy dog eyes. “Go talk to him? Please?”

Kieren squinted at me. “But you’re the one wanting sex.”

“But you’re the one who got in the way.” I squinted back.

“Fair enough.”

I slipped out of his arms, and he wandered off to go convince Caleb to be a little softer.

Or a little harder, depending on how you looked at it.

I followed him, wanting to watch it play out. It was common knowledge that Kieren had the tact of a brick through a window, meaning this confrontation wasn’t something I wanted to miss.

Caleb was stretched out on the couch, texting someone on his phone and completely ignoring Kieren who had settled on the floor in front of him.

“Babe?”

Nothing.

“Babe?”

Silence.

“Caleb?”

Caleb held up a finger, telling Kieren to wait, then went back to typing. Kieren shot me an exasperated look; I could only shrug. Better to play by his rules than to not play at all.

Caleb sat his phone down. “Sorry. I was emailing a professor. What’s up?”

We both relaxed. Good, he wasn’t being a jerk intentionally.

“I wanted to apologize for um, earlier. Crashing your party and whatnot.”

Caleb just gazed at him. Kieren hurried on. “So, yeah, if you’re back to feeling ready to slide on into third base, then go ahead.”

Silence.

“Could you please say something?”

“What do you want me to say?”

I relaxed at his tone. Caleb didn’t sound angry or cold; he sounded amused, presumably by how flustered Kieren was.

Our dynamic was interesting. While Kieren and I fed off of each other’s energy, Caleb subdued me and made him such a nervous wreck it was laughable.

“I don’t know, anything I guess! Like if you’re angry at me and how I can make it up to you or if you wanna fuck me or if you’re just tired and want to be alone or how you’re feeling in general or how your day went or—“

Caleb cut him off by sitting up, grabbing Kieren’s shirt and pulling him roughly to crash his lips against his. Even though Caleb was barely taller than I was, standing at the slight height of five feet, seven inches, Kieren was 6 feet exactly and always allowed himself to easily be molded into whatever shape Caleb desired.

“You want me to fuck you?” Caleb swiped his thumb across Kieren’s bottom lip.

The younger man stammered. “Well, yeah, but no, but like—“

Caleb raised an eyebrow. Kieren’s shoulders slumped. “Katie was the one who originally wanted your dick, not me.”

“Originally.”

“You’re irresistible?”

“You’re just a hoe.”

“Yeah, that’s true.”

I held back a laugh. What a rollercoaster this entire conversation had been.

My eyes widened as Caleb sat back, pushing Kieren back to the floor with his foot. “Don’t leave me waiting.”

“Now?” Kieren choked. “But what about-?”

“She can wait. I want you right now. Just you.”

I tensed. Oh. I didn’t like that.

Kieren’s eyes flickered up to me, the anguish clear. What was he supposed to do? Caleb was easing back into his want for physical touch, and while we didn’t want to stop him, knowing this was sketchy territory, his words...stung. Caleb knew it was me that wanted the physical touch, not Kieren, but he also knew the youngest wouldn’t turn him down.

I weakly gave Kieren a thumbs up. The signal that everything was okay. “Have fun” I mouthed, then slipped upstairs. I didn’t want to intrude or to overhear the things I apparently wasn’t allowed to share in.

The spare bedroom in our apartment had been turned into a study, and the foldout couch was something we rarely used.

I slept on it that night. It was uncomfortable and lonely and I cried.

Kieren had confided that Caleb wanted to spend the night together, just the two of them. “He says things will be back to normal tomorrow. I’m sorry. I hate this as much as you do, but he won’t listen to me. One night is okay, right?”

I tried not to listen to the noises coming from across the hall. Tried not to listen to the tiny voice whispering “this is why you were hesitant on being poly” and “nice job, loser. The first time in two months Caleb’s horny and he doesn’t even want you.”

Yeah. I cried.

The next morning I thought things were back to normal. Caleb kissed me hello, smiled at me, and I felt better. I could pretend yesterday never happened.

“Oh, yeah, he’s picking me up from physics so we’ll both be home at the same time.” Kieren told me, his hair sticking up in wild directions.

“Okay.” I smiled, trying not to think about how this must have come up in the pillowtalk. “Let me know how it goes?”

“Of course!”

That subway ride to campus was miserable. I tried not to think about how I was being excluded.

One night. That’s it. Don’t get so caught up in it, Katie, really. It’s fine. I insisted, and for a while, it worked. I could convince myself that Caleb was just catching up on missed time and opportunity. Things would balance out soon enough.

“The girl gagged and ran off when Caleb kissed me. A couple of onlookers cheered. It was great.”

“That’s so cute, aww.”

“I love you.” Caleb told me when I opened the door.

I could hear the but in his voice. “But?”

“I want to spend the night with just Kieren. I feel bad for him constantly getting the short end of the stick in this relationship.”

“Dude, my ass hurts. Can—“

Caleb turned around and must have shot him a look, because Kieren fell silent. I swallowed.

“Oh. Yeah. Sure. Can I get my clothes real fast?” I couldn’t believe I wasn’t allowed in my own room.

Caleb stepped to the side.

“Caleb, man, I don’t like excluding her from this.” Kieren sat up, leaning back on one hand. “This is a three way thing. Excluding someone doesn’t sit well with me.”

“It’s not exclusion. I just don’t have enough energy right now to split it between both of you. I’m focusing on you because I’ve neglected you lately.” Caleb argued.

“Yeah, okay, but—“ Kieren tried to protest.

“It’s fine. I get it.” I interrupted.

Both boys turned to look at me. Caleb looked impatient but Kieren looked visibly upset.

“It’s tiring to date one person, much less two. I’m not upset.” That was a bold faced lie, and they both knew it. “Whenever you feel up to it. Take your time.” I told Caleb sweetly, trying to disguise how close to tears I was.

I dropped my clothes off in the study, grabbed my keys, and left the apartment as quietly as I could. I didn’t want to hear them fighting.

One more night. Things will be better. I told myself, walking as fast as I could until I was sprinting, tears blurring my vision. The words echoed in my head in time with my footfalls. One. More. Night.

It was two weeks. Two weeks passed of me not being allowed to sleep in my own bedroom. Two weeks passed of only goodmorning and goodnight kisses. I hated that nothing seemed to change. Kieren still fought Caleb about it and Caleb still refused to be swayed. Nothing I said could change his mind.

One night was particularly bad. I had my headphones in, but I was staring off into space and not really paying attention to anything at all.

“If you don’t change I’m breaking up with you.”

I yanked out my earbuds, my heart freezing. What?

Murmured voices, words I couldn’t understand.

Silence.

“Why haven’t you told her?!”

“I don’t want to hurt her!”

“You already have, you idiotic asshole! It’s too late! If you had said earlier that you weren’t sure then she wouldn’t cry herself to sleep every night!”

Silence. A sob, one, two. Not Kieren. Murmuring.

Silence.

Distorted words that sounded bitter.

I pulled my knees to my chest. I didn’t know what was happening. I didn’t know if I wanted to know.

The morning was rough. When I went to kiss Caleb good morning as always, he turned away. The rejection, so out of the blue and yet something I had been fearing would happen, made my heart break. Kieren was cold to both of us, kissing my forehead instead of my lips and casting Caleb a harsh look. The older man flinched.

“What’s going on?” I don’t know why I dared to ask.

“Caleb has something to tell you.”

I turned. “If it’s what I think it is, I’m not mad.”

Green eyes searched my face. He bit his lip, running his fingers through his hair. “Promise?”

“Pinky promise.”

“I’m not demisexual. Something’s changed, and I can’t...I don’t love you anymore.”

Something broke in my chest. That’s what it was. Of course it was.

“For how long?”

“Five days officially. Three weeks probably.”

Oh.

Three weeks. He’d been lying to me for three weeks.

“You knew?” I turned, looking up at Kieren.

“Only since last night.”

That’s what they had been fighting about.

The fact that tears weren’t streaming down my face was probably due to the fact I couldn’t breathe.

They told me I had had a panic attack. They had wrapped a blanket around me, tried to get me to come back to the present. It took a while.

It was humiliating.

I felt so unbelievably hurt that I couldn’t even look at Caleb. Kieren was a little better, but all I could wonder was if he was lying to me too. Was he not pansexual anymore and just didn’t want to tell me?

Caleb had said it had been sudden. He just woke up one morning and couldn’t feel it anymore. He didn’t want to believe it and kept trying to convince himself.

It hadn’t worked.

I guess I did something. To turn him off completely. What had I done? I couldn’t think of anything, and I was so caught up in it that I had another panic attack.

That strangled feeling, that crushing sense of terror——

I hated it. I hated how worried they looked, how they didn’t know how to comfort me anymore. A wall had been erected.

None of us slept in the same room anymore. It was like Kieren couldn’t bear to rub it in my face that he was still taken. Caleb completely avoided me. If they were hurt over losing one person, it was worse for me. I had lost two people that I still loved. One still loved me. But there wasn’t room for me anymore.

It was time for me to go.

“I love you.”

I hated that line. It was a lie. A temporary feeling that didn’t last. Three years of that so called feeling had died in one night. Three years of shared happiness and struggle and complete devotion. Of giggles and kisses and nightmares. Of tight hugs and all-nighters and soft words. Of mingled breaths and movie nights and slow dancing in the living room. Of promises.

“Good things come in threes. What a joke.” I slammed the trunk shut of my car.

Kieren watched me pack my car from the front porch, miserable. I took the coffee cup from him; he caught my hand, his mouth opening.

“Don’t apologize. Don’t tell me you love me, or you’ll think about me, or you hope to run into me at college.” I said.

He was quiet for a moment, then, “It’s hot.” He glanced at the cup in my hand.

“Thanks.”

“I’m sorry, I love you, I hope to see you again.” He said hurriedly, his voice catching. “I wish you wouldn’t go.”

It wasn’t fair to him. Why was he still dragging this out? Why did he keep digging at the open wound?

“Let go.” I pulled my hand from his and stepped down off the porch.

Only when I had put my car in reverse did I glance back at him. His shoulders were shaking, and I watched Caleb step out and lead him back inside.

A pained keening noise tore its way out of my throat as I left the apartment duplex. I hit the steering wheel, once, twice. Poly relationships are cute in theory, but they don’t work. I don’t know why I convinced myself it could.

[thewnchstrs]

Home is Where I’m With You

Pairing: DeanXsister!reader, SamXsister!reader

Disclaimers: a few tears were shed, fluff

Word count: 1.6K

Masterlist

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I zipped up the last of my bags, panting with the effort of trying to get the rest of my things together, silently cursing myself for procrastinating packing until the day before I was supposed to move in. We had to leave today, the nearly ten and a half hour drive to Texas looming over our heads.

It was bittersweet. As I stood in the middle of my room, trying to memorize every piece of my first real home in over thirteen years, my heart swelled with memories.

“You ready, Y/N?” Sam’s voice asked from the doorway. I turned on my heels to face him, my arms secured over my chest. 

I nodded, taking my last glance before the spring of next year. I reminded myself that this wasn’t an ending- but a new beginning that had so much laid out for me. “Yeah, I’m ready.”

Neither of us made a move to leave, but instead, continued standing and marveling at the small room that had come to be much more than a bedroom. It’s significance to me might have sounded silly to some, but that didn’t matter.

“You know, I remember the day I left for school.” Sam said, nodding his head, his mouth slightly upturned in a smirk. “One of the scariest days of my life.”

I held my breath, worrying my bottom lip between my upper teeth as I looked to Sam, my older brother, someone who I could confide anything in. “Seriously?”

Sam nodded, “It’s a huge step, going to college. You’re an adult now, you’re responsible for much more than you were before. You’re in the driver’s seat now.”

“Damn,” I said, feeling slightly more on edge. “Way to lighten the mood.”

“But that’s not my point.” Sam said, shaking his head as I looked at him. “My point is that...even though it’s scary, and it’s going to be hard, you have so many opportunities laid out for you, Y/N. You’re kind, and strong, and smart as hell. Don’t let those challenges get in the way of all the things you’ll do.”

I smiled and nodded, grateful that Sam always knew exactly what to say. “Thank you, Sammy.”

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

“Pretty nice digs,” Dean said, nodding as he walked the short length of the dorm room we’d just finished setting up. Well, that Sam and I just finished setting up. Dean said he’d be back when the heavy lifting was finished, Sam claimed it was because he didn’t want me to see him cry when he realized I was really going through with my college decision.

The last day and a half flew by quickly. Our ride to the school scarily normal, as if we were on our way to a new town on a new hunt. Dean played his music too loud, Sam pestered him about how he was the only person on the planet to still on cassette tapes. I listened to their back and forth arguments about if Bon Jovi was even all that talented, to which Dean came to the conclusion that it rocked...on occasion.

For the first time in a long time, I didn’t slide my headphones into my ears and I didn’t try to drown them out. Instead, I laughed at their attempts to out do one another, gave my opinion on whatever they seemed to be arguing about at the time, and even- though I’d never admit it- sang along to a few of Dean’s songs.

Where car rides this long used to feel like an eternity, now it felt as if I blinked and we were here, getting ready to say goodbye.

I finished hanging up the last of my clothes and rearranging my desk for the third time before I turned to my brothers who stood in the middle of the room, none of us unsure what to really do now. 

“Well,” Dean said after a few seconds of silence. “I guess, uh, we should get out of your hair, or something.”

“Oh, yeah,” I said nonchalantly even though my heart began to ache, “I mean I have a lot of, you know, things to do. New student things. Like, visit campus and find where my classes are, and stuff.” I opened and closed my mouth, knowing I was just rambling now. My eyes bounced from between the two of them, “So, I guess I’ll see you later. Or something.”

Sam swallowed roughly, pulling me close to his chest. The heartstrings keeping it in place bursting open, torn down the seams as I tried to think of something, anything to say to him. “Thank you for everything.”

Sam pulled away, the skin around his eyes becoming red as he smoothed my hair down as he shook his head,��“Thank you.”

I held onto his hand before he turned making his way out the door, leaving Dean and I in the middle of the room. This would be much harder. Dean was practically my dad after our biological dad died, leaving Dean the responsibilities of parenthood lingering over his head. Dean had to be so much more than just a brother to Sam and I, and he did a damn good job at it. 

“If you need anything, and I mean anything, you call Sam or I okay? Just promise me that much.” Dean said, his voice low which meant he was serious. 

“You know I will.” I nodded. Dean smiled sadly as he pulled me in this time and we stood there for God knows how long. “Thank you.”

It felt as if there were a string tightly wound around us, trying to keep us from going our separate ways. He ruffled my hair and we both pretended not to notice how we cried. 

Dean turned on his heels but before he left, he pulled a small package out of the inside of his coat and laid it on my desk. 

“See you ‘round, kiddo.”

The door clicked behind Dean. I listened, my ear on the door as their footsteps receded farther and farther away, before I pushed myself off the door and grabbed the brown package, carefully opening it in my hand.

A small picture frame held a picture of me, Sam, and Dean out in front of the Impala at Bobby’s salvage yard. I remembered exactly when it was taken, and how mad I was at Bobby for having it printed. My hair blew wildly around my face, my eyes squinted and mouth wide open in mid laughter, Sam and Dean, beers dangling from their fingertips with their heads thrown back. 

I smiled at the framed picture, running my fingertips over the glass as I set it on my desk, knowing they’d be watching over me.

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10 Months Later.

Spring.

I nearly threw my car into park as I pulled up to the bunker, beaming with excitement at the sight of the old, rusting building. The sun hit it just right so that you could see every crack of the stone, every vine that snaked its way up and down the walls. The bunker had never looked so beautiful.

I raced down the concrete stairs to the front door, so excited that my hands shook as I tried to find the right key on my key ring when finally, the last one I tried slid easily into the lock. I pushed the door open with my shoulder, bursting into the bunker at the top of the spiral staircase.

“I’m home!!” I yelled, racing down the stairs. “Sam? Dean?” I ran toward the library where a few open books sat, papers scattered around them, but no Sam and Dean. 

This time, I tried the kitchen, running down the hallway and slamming to a stop in front of it, flicking the lights on when-

“SURPRISE!!”

Numerous voices rang out from the kitchen, balloons scattered the tile floors, a banner strung from wall to wall with “Welcome Home, Y/N” written in sharpie, and most importantly, Sam, Dean and Cas blowing on kazoos. I failed miserably at hiding my smile, throwing my arms around the three of them at once. 

“Welcome home, Y/N.” Cas smiled when I pulled back. I laughed, looking around at their decorations, noticing for the first times the streamers that were taped to the ceilings with duct tape.

“It’s good to be home,” I beamed.

“Good to have you back, kiddo.” Dean smiled, “Now. I’m going to cut into that pie,” he said, pointing in the direction of the carefully made pie sitting on the counter before pointing to me, “and you’re going to tell us everything.”

Dean quickly passed out the pie, all of us sitting around the table in the kitchen as I told them about the last ten months. Everything from the best to the worst classes, and how I bought a twenty year old car for $200 with less than ten thousand miles on it, eliciting an approving head nod from Dean. It all seemed so strange- telling them about my life that had changed so drastically in less than a year. 

“Sounds like an eventful year,” Sam said as I leaned my head on his shoulder. “You planning on going back-”

“Now wait wait wait,” Dean said quickly, licking the rest of his pie from his fork and pointing it toward Sam and I, “She just got back. She ain’t goin’ anywhere for a while.”

We all laughed, just like we did for the rest of the night where we stayed up, filling each other in on our now very different lives. College life is great, and I knew I wanted to go for as long as I could, but I would always savor the moments I had with my brothers most.

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Nurarihyon no Mago Season 1, Volume 1: Charge Forth! A Memorial to School Drama in Nurarihyon no Mago (魁！ぬらりひょんの孫で学園ドラマをやったらメモリアル)

Cast: Rikuo, Tsurara, Aotabo, Kurotabo, Kubinashi, Gyuki

Released: September 23, 2010

Running Time: 33 minutes

Summary: Nurarihyon no Mago has finally been made into an anime! How should the plot of the cast’s first drama cd go? They have some ideas...

Translation was done by a member of the now defunct NuraMago mangafox forums, but I believe they are the same user pika318 over on mangahelpers.

EDIT: Translation was done by x0401x!

Translation below.

Charging ahead! Nurarihyon no Mago in a School Drama-Making Memorial ( Sakigake! Nurarihyon no Mago de gakuen drama wo yattara memoiral )

[wind and footsteps] Yoru: Here, huh? Municipal All-Boys High School Nurari... from now on, this is the place where I’ll develop as man. (TL:Tsurara’s narration was hard to understand at this part, since was talking in a sort of old-fashioned way. But I could figure she was talking about men having to toughen up and how Rikuo was the same, and that was his story.) [stuff being broken] Ao: What’d ya say?! Try to say that again, you rascal!! Kuro: I’ll say it as many times you want – a blockhead that can only rely on an exaggerated physic like you is unfit to be a first-year. Ao: Heeh... then, you think you can do this, Kurotabou? Kuro: Don’t ask what you already know the answer to, Aotabou. Where do you think there’s anyone stronger than me amongst the first years... no... in this entire school? Ao: Ya wanna know? Then I’ll tell ya right now. The one much stronger than ya is right here in front of ya!! Kurotabou: Foolish sack of meat. I shall teach you a lesson!! Kubinashi: Oi, oi!! Stop quarreling, you two! Ao: SHUT UP! Don’t interrupt us, Kubinashi! Kubinashi: I can’t not do it. You know, right? Today comes a transfer student. Let’s all get along, ne? Ao: Hmph! Kuro: Be it transfer student or not, they can’t escape from our reality. Ao: That’s right! If that “Nura” kid is just another weird brat, this ain’t no place for him. Kuro: Hoh, don’t you know that very well? That must be because you’re the weirdest one around here. Ao: What did you say?! Kubinashi: Haa... it has started again... Ao: GET READY, KURO!! ORAAAA!!! Kuro: AAAAH!!! Kubinashi: Like this, no one will be able to stop the– [hitting sound] Ao/Kuro: Huh?! Kubinashi: Eh?! Rikuo: Hm... isn’t it still early for such ruckus? Kubinashi: *thoughts* It’s a lie, right?! Ao: *thoughts* He... Kuro: *thoughts* Stopped our fists... Trio: *thoughts* With dodging?! Rikuo: As the rumors say, this is a very fun-looking place... for this “Nura Rikuo kid”. Ao: Ngh... what the hell are you...?! Rikuo: Nura Rikuo. From now on, let me develop as a man here. Kuro: “Nura... Rikuo”? Kubinashi: You... could you be... the transfer student that was coming here today? Rikuo: Well, guess you could say that. Ao: Haa? What are you implying? I don’t care if you’re transferring or whatever, but hurry up and get out or I’ll smash you! Rikuo: Heh, don’t think I have to obey you or anything. Ao: What?! Rikuo: Then? Where from and what are you? Ao: Oh, I am Aotabou. I’M NURA HIGH’S NUMBER ONE STRONG GU... Kuro: Wait, Aotabou. I already told you the number one is this Kurotabou! Ao: Haa? You’re still sputtering nonsense?! Kuro: You too... Rikuo: Oi, oi... either way is fine for such thing, right? Anyways, if people like you are the number ones, this school’s no big deal... Kubinashi: Ugh?! Ao: What did you saaay...?! Kuro: Underestimating me... UNFORGIVABLE! Rikuo: Alright. Come. The two of you. Ao: Grr... DON’T MESS AROUND!!! *launches forward* Kuro: *does the same thing* Kubinashi: Ao!! Kuro!! [hitting sound] Kuro: Agh!! *falls* Ao: Aaaugh!! Hah...! *falls too* Kuro: The two of us... Ao: Ugh...! Rikuo: Well, just like that? Kubinashi: This dude... by himself... really defeated Ao and Kuro...! Rikuo: Anyhow... it’s settled like this, right? From now on, the strongest first year is... this me. Tsurara’s narration: And so, that was how Nura Rikuo congregated true men and took a big step at Nurari Koukou. After Rikuo transferred and defeated the enemies called Aotabou and Kurotabou, other fearful enemies started coming to him, one after the other. [motorcycle horns] Rikuo: How many of you are here doesn’t matter! If it’s either 100 or 200 of you, doesn’t concern me! Cowards that can’t stand on your own feet... aren’t fit to be my enemies. [motorcyclists start surrounding Rikuo] Rikuo: These guys... Kubinashi: RIKUOOO! Rikuo: Hoh?! [Kubinashi, Kuro and Ao come running] Kubinashi: We’ll fight too, Rikuo! Rikuo: Kubinashi... and you guys...! Ao: Oi, don’t misunderstand. It’d just be troublesome if something happened to ya here. The one who’s gonna defeat you... is this me!! Kuro: An entire group against one... there’s no way I can’t forgive something so unfair! Rikuo: Ao... Kuro...! Kubinashi: Let’s do it, Rikuo! Rikuo: Hmph. Aah. Let’s go, YOU GUYS!! Tsurara’s narration: The motorcycle group members, from the Gagoze alliance, were powerful enemies. However, the one of Rikuo and the first years outshone theirs. And then... Rikuo: *scrolling* “For the students of Nurari High School, we’re calling you out to settle things between us, three days from now. The four fearless ones should come to Jigoku Doujou (Hell Dojo) after class. –From Hebidayuu”. Kuro: “From Hebidayuu”? It can’t be, those guys... Ao: You know them, Kurotabou? Kuro: Hm... they’re said to be merciless killers that formed some sort of assassination group. It seems they have pleasure in committing inhuman acts against others. That’s what I heard from the Gedou group. Ao: W-what did you say...? Rikuo: Fear not, you guys. I’ll just go there and finish everything quickl... Kubinashi: Wait, Rikuo. You’re going alone again? I won’t forgive that. Rikuo: Heh... what’s gonna happen if you don’t forgive me? Kubinashi: I say we... go the four of us together. Rikuo: No way... you... Ao: I’m going too, Rikuo. Rikuo: Ao? Kuro: And with me... we’re four. Rikuo: Kuro... Kubinashi: We’ll follow you anywhere, Rikuo. Because, we’re... nakama, right?  Rikuo: Hm... it can’t be helped, right? Let’s go... you bunch of idiots. Trio: Ou!! Tsurara’s narration: After receiving the challenge letter from Hebidayuu, Rikuo and his nakama formed their strong bonds. Moreover... *sounds of wind and earth shaking* Kuro: *falls* Aaah! *grabs onto something* Rikuo: Kuro!! Kubinashi: Kurotabou! Kuro: Gh... Rikuo: Take my hand! I’ll pull you up in an instant! Kuro: Don’t mind me, Rikuo! Hurry up and climb this mountain! Towards where that Kyuuso bastard is!  Rikuo: Idiot! And leave my nakama behind!? To fall from this height, even someone like you would... Kuro: I’m telling you to leave! Right now, what matters is to fight that Kyuuso bastard and earn our victory! For that sake, I’d offer my life if necessary!  [landslip] Kuro: Ugh! Kubinashi: Kuro!! Kuro: *falling* MAKE SURE TO WIN, RIKUOOO!! Rikuo: KUROOO!! I’M GONNA SAVE YOU RIGHT NOW!! Kubinashi: Wait, Rikuo! Rikuo: Why are you stopping me, Kubinashi?!? Kubinashi: We can’t save Kurotabou anymore! Let’s go by ourselves! Rikuo: Oah...?! You... are you serious? Kubinashi: Obviously! We don’t have time for trivial matters! Rikuo: What did you say?!! You!! *punches him* Kubinashi: Gah...! *falls back* Rikuo: It wasn’t just Kuro, but even Ao... and other first years, too... became sacrifices when coming here... so that we could go forward. Even so, you... don’t feel anything? Kubinashi: I don’t. Rikuo: What?! Kubinashi: Now, let’s go. If we stop here... if we... stop here... Rikuo: Kubinashi... Kubinashi: This way... Ao, Kuro... would have sacrificed themselves in vain... Rikuo: You’re... crying... Kubinashi: Your punch hurt that much, that’s why... heh... Rikuo: My bad... Kubinashi. Kubinashi: There are things you need to do before apologizing, right? For Ao and Kuro’s sake... we’ll defeat that Kyuuso bastard! Rikuo: Yeah! Tsurara’s narration: After the tragic parting with his nakama, he defeated the darkness-lurking Kyuuso. By then, Rikuo thought he had no more enemies. However... [tempest] Tsurara’s narration: The last and worst of the enemies, who controlled Nurari High School from the shadows, the great king of terror, revealed himself before Rikuo. [thunder] Kuro: Here, huh... the castle where the third years are at... Ao: Where the elite men in Nura high gather... the top third-year monsters are... in here... Kubinashi: Huh? Don’t Ao and Kuro seem strangely okay? Ao: Uh... SHUT UP! And are you fine with this, Kubinashi? Kubinashi: I’m fine! Because... there’s no way Rikuo would lose. Ao/Kuro: *sigh* Kubinashi: Right, Rikuo? Rikuo: Hm. Even though we’ve come this far, no matter what, nothing happens. In any case, let’s take a look inside. [creaking door being opened] Kuro: Hm? The path has... Kubinashi: Guess it means the preparations are ready, huh? Rikuo: Then, shall we make our move? Let’s go! [steps and door being opened] Group: *gasps* Gyuuki: You have arrived... little ants. Ao: Aah?! H... HIGH...! Kuro: Such height... he’s in a completely different angle from ours! Kubinashi: It can’t be... like this... Rikuo: Don’t act like you’ve already lost, you lot! Trio: *gasps* Gyuuki: Fufufufufufu... There’s at least a brave one. Rikuo: I’m Nura Rikuo. You’re the third year guy... Gyuuki? Gyuuki: Hmph. You’ve come this far just to get to know me? Looks like you don’t need your own lives. [thunder] Rikuo: You guys, step aside. He and I will settle things by ourselves. Ao: You, alone, against that freak...?! Kuro: Don’t overdo it, Rikuo! Rikuo: I’m not overdoing anything. I’ve come to this Nura High with the intention of developing into a man. For the sake of becoming this place’s number one man... I’ll defeat him. Kubinashi: Rikuo...!! Gyuuki: Fufufufufufu... “Win against me”? Hmph! Says the ant! Fine... mightiest third-year Gyuuki will show you no mercy. Hmmm!! *gets up* Ao: This guy...! He was already huge just sitting! Kuro: Such size... is he really a high-scholar?! Kubinashi: I wanna believe, but... can you win, Rikuo?! Rikuo: Believe, Kubinashi. Watch it... I’ll win with a single strike. Gyuuki: Hoo~? Funny. I was actually thinking the same thing. I’ll turn you into dust... in a second! UUUUOOOOAAAAAAGH!! Kuro: T-this technique is...! Ao: You know it, Kuro?! Kuro: I’ve heard about it. According to tales from China, Ba-haro is a fighting energy that resides within everyone. The concept was brought and incorporated into Tokyo and consists in making said energy return to its original concentrated form and used as an attack. That’s something the Onmyou-shogun from China have been trying to keep as a secret. Kubinashi: Wait!! If it’s Rikuo, he won’t lose!! Rikuo: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa... Kuro: T-this technique is...! Rikuo: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa... Ao: You know it, Kuro?! Rikuo: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa... Kubinashi: I’ve heard about it. According to tales from China of the third decade, it’s said that if one can keep their voice up for longer than anyone, they’ll be able to collect the space around them and open a dimension wall. It’s used as a last resource in a situation of despair, and will combine the limit break of the person in said situation of despair into a blow. That’s something the Onmyou-shogun from China used as basis for Yakiniku Toushoku and Yakiniku Teishoku. Rikuo: ...Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah... a-aah... a-ah... *takes deep breaths* Ao: Aah, seriously?? Rikuo can use such amazing technique?! Kubinashi: Oi, oi, oi... where did you learn all of that? Kuro: I guess you could say he had vast knowledge... my last leader. Gyuuki: UUUUOOOOAAAAAAGH!! Rikuo: Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaah... Ao: *gasps* The power of the two has become immense!! Kuro: It’s very unpredictable what happens... once these two forces... clash...!! Kubinashi: Please win, Rikuo...!! Gyuuki: Let’s go, ANT! Rikuo: Come, Gyuuki... Kubinashi: Rikuo!! R/G: UWOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!! Kubinashi: Woah?!! [explosion] Gyuuki: Gyuu... kh...?! Kuro: This is...!! Ao: A bunch of earth?! Kuro: No! Wrong! Rikuo: *gasps and rises from the pile of wreckage on him* Aaah...!! Ao: *gasps* Gyuuki bastard...! Kuro: Rikuo... stood up before he did... Kubinashi: Win... IT’S RIKUO’S WIN!! Rikuo: *pants* I told you, right? That I’d defeat this guy. Kubinashi: *runs to him* Rikuooo! *hugs him* Rikuo: Ooh?! Kubinashi: You did it! You did it, Rikuo! Rikuo: Damn... don’t cling to me... Kubinashi: I believed, Rikuo! That you’d win!! Rikuo: Idiot... the one who won wasn’t me. Kubinashi: Eh? Rikuo: The ones who won... were us, right? Kubinashi: *cries* Rikuo... you idiot...! Rikuo: *starts laughing* Kubinashi: *starts laughing* Tsurara’s narration: And so, Rikuo became the number one man in Nura High. However, it didn’t mean Rikuo’s battle ended there. There would surely be many more enemies standing before him in the future. More bloody fights of men against men would come... would come... khhh... Tsurara: *holds tightly onto the novel papers and rips them* N’aaah, mou! What is this?! I don’t want any more of it! Kubinashi: Wai—Yuki Onna, the novel I had taken so long to write...! Tsurara: Kubinashi, that’s not the sort of thing I want to do! Kubinashi: But... this thing about doing Gakuen Drama was your idea! We were finally able to record a DVD together, and you just come up saying you don’t want to do it? Tsurara: This isn’t the sort of Gakuen Drama I wanna do! Only men, hot action, not to mention, too many fights!! Kubinashi: But... the human manga I read was like this... Tsurara: Besides, there’s no place for me! Kubinashi: Because... it’s about growing into a man... well, even I... think it was a little too much...  Tsurara: Anyways, no! Definitely not! As I thought... what about I write the scenario? Kubinashi: That’s fine, but... will it be okay?

Tsurara: Isn’t it obvious it’ll be okay~? If I were to make a Gakuen Drama, it would be– Tsurara: *opens door* I’m leavi~ng! Aah, I’m late, I’m late!! Tsurara’s narration: My name is Oikawa Tsurara – first year in Nurari High School. I’m a little clumsy, but overall a bright and healthy girl. Tsurara: *breathing tiredly from running* Why did I oversleep again? *eats toast* I can’t even eat breakfast properly! *eats more runs until she dumps into someone* Ah! *falls* Rikuo: Oops! Tsurara: Ow, ow, ow, ow... Rikuo: Ah, are you okay? Sorry, I didn’t look forward. Tsurara: My apologies, I’m the same... hah?! *thinking* w-what is this...? Just by looking at this person... somehow... somehow, my chest feels warm... Rikuo: Hum... are you really okay? Tsurara: AH! I-I am fine! Definitely fine!! *runs away* Rikuo: Aaah! Hey...! Tsurara: *thinking while running* What is it...? What is it, this feeling?! C-Could it be... by any chance... l... love~~~?! [school bell] Tsurara: Haa... Why did I run like that? But, could it be true? Have I truly... for that boy... Kubinashi: What is it, Tsurara? Tsurara: Ku-Kubinashi...! Kubinashi: Your face seems red... did you catch a cold? Tsurara: I... it’s nothing. And also none of your business, right? Kubinashi: Ah, “none of my business”? Wouldn’t something like that be of your childhood friend’s concern? If you stay like that, you won’t be able to score a boyfriend.  Tsurara: Don’t say such rude things! No need to worry either. Someday, I’ll surely find a wonderful Ouji-sama and... hah...! O-Ouji-sama and... Kubinashi: Aah... really, what happened? Tsurara: Huh... like I said, nothin... Gyuuki: *opens door* Ora! You guys! *closes door* Go to your seats! Kubinashi: *sitting* Ara, Gyuuki-sensei is here. Gyuuki: Today, we’ll welcome a transfer student. Please, enter. Rikuo: *opens door, walks into the room and closes door* Tsurara: *gasp* Rikuo: I’m Nura Rikuo. *bows* Nice to meet you all! [applauses] Tsurara: *thinking while clapping* L-lies...! That boy... was a transfer student?! Besides, we’re in the same class?! Could this be... a fateful encounter?! Gyuuki: Well then, Nura’s seat will be... oh, next to Oikawa. Tsurara: Eh?! Next to m-m-me?! Rikuo: Ah! You’re this morning’s... Tsurara: Ah! I-I’m sorry for back then! E-E-Etto... hum... *gets up* I’m O-O-O-Oikawa Tsurara! N-Nice to meet you! Kubinashi: Tsurara? Why are you getting so worked up? Tsurara: “W-worked up”...?! I-I’m always like thi– Rikuo: I’m in your care from now on, Oikawa-san! Tsurara: Ah? H-Hm. I’m in your care too, Rikuo... kun. Tsurara’s narration: That was mine and Rikuo-kun’s meeting. After the encounter with Rikuo-kun, which I felt that was fate, as the fateful days with him followed, I... came to love Rikuo-kun. Tsurara: Aaah! The homework notes have...! Rikuo: Are you okay, Oikawa-san? *starts picking up the notes* Tsurara: Rikuo-kun...! You don’t have to do that... Rikuo: I can’t leave a troubled classmate alone. Besides, it must be hard, ne? Always doing your best at class duties... Tsurara: T-that’s... I... *giggles* Tsurara’s narration: Such a gentle one, Rikuo-kun! And not only that. Rikuo-kun was also a man of courage. He came for me when I was in a pinch. [motorcycle horns] Ao: Ehehehehe... just a little bit, won’t it be fine? Tsurara: S-stop! Please let go! Ao: Don’t say mean things! It’s fine, just hop onto my bike and come on a night dat– Rikuo: *running* Stop! Ao: Aah? Tsurara: Rikuo-kun! Rikuo: Let go of Oikawa-san! Aren’t you too forceful?! Ao: Who’re ya? Rikuo: I’m Nura Rikuo. Oikawa-san’s classmate! Ao: I dunno about this classmate or whatever, just don’t interfere! Rikuo: Ah! *pushes the bike* Ao: *falls* What are you doing?! Rikuo: Run, Oikawa-san! Ao: You... picking up a fight with Aotabou-sama, huh?! Rikuo: Oikawa-san, hurry and leave! Tsurara: B-but... Rikuo-kun will...! Rikuo: I’ll be fine! Hurry!! Tsurara: Rikuo-kun...! Tsurara’s narration: After that, a lot happened. That horrible person ended up becoming Rikuo-kun’s friend later, but that’s a different story. And... I quickly noticed my feelings towards Rikuo-kun on a rainy day. [rain] Tsurara: Uh? Close to the river bank is... Rikuo-kun? What might he be doing in such rainy day? Random dog: *whines* Rikuo: I see... you’re all alone.  Dog: *whines* Tsurara: Rikuo-kun... is talking to a little dog... Rikuo: I’d like to take you to my house, but... Okaa-san has dog allergy, you see... sorry. Dog: *whines* Rikuo: That’s why... I’ll stay here with you... until the rain is over. Dog: wan, wan, wan~~~! Rikuo: *giggles* oi~! Don’t lick me~! *laughs* Tsurara: Rikuo-kun... Tsurara’s narration: Rikuo-kun’s smile of that time... I definitely will never forget! Because Rikuo-kun was so wonderful, even random people would get along with him quickly. Kubinashi: Let’s go home together, Rikuo! Rikuo: Hm, Kubinashi-kun! Tsurara: Eeh?? Wai—what’s the meaning of this, Kubinashi?! Kubinashi: Hm? “What’s the meaning”, you ask? Tsurara: That... going with Rikuo-kun... filthy! Kubinashi: Ah... yes? What are you saying? Tsurara: Because... because...! All this time, Rikuo-kun and you... have gotten along so well... Kubinashi: Hm... let’s go, Rikuo! Rikuo: Hm! Tsurara: Aah!? Wai...! I-I’m going home with you too~~~! Tsurara’s narration: In a bit, Rikuo-kun was able to befriend everyone. But, the ones he got along well weren’t just classmates... [baseball bat hitting a ball] Kuro: *bows* That’s exactly it! Rikuo: T-that... please raise your head, Kurotabou-senpai!  Kuro: This baseball instructor, Kurotabou, is asking you a favor! Please, on the next match, become my baseball team’s batsman! Rikuo: That... I’m not even a club member! Kuro: No... if it’s you, it can work! I’ve been convinced of that after seeing your move. Please, Nura-kun!! Rikuo: Understood! If I can become everyone’s strength, that is! Kuro: *gasp* Thank you, Nura-kun! You’re a... baseball benefactor! Tsurara’s narration: It was like this that Rikuo-kun became a noticeable person at school. Not even the teachers would leave Rikuo-kun alone. Rikuo: *opens door* Excuse me! Gyuuki: Oh, you came, Nura? Rikuo: Gyuuki-sensei... you called me? Gyuuki: Aah, in fact... I want to invite you to become student council president. Rikuo: Eh?! Me?! But... I just transferred... Gyuuki: That doesn’t matter. You seem to excel in everything, and you are already popular. I don’t think there’s anyone more appropriate than you. Rikuo: That... but... Tsurara: Do your best, Rikuo-kun! Rikuo: Oikawa-san! Kubinashi: If it’s you, it’ll work, Rikuo! Rikuo: Kubinashi-kun too... Gyuuki: Fufufu. Actually, they, too, wanted to invite you to become student council president. It’s the class’s general wish. Tsurara: If it’s Rikuo-kun, you can definitely become council president! Definitely!! Rikuo: Oikawa-san... thank you. Kubinashi: Oh? So that means... Rikuo: I don’t know until when I can keep up with it, but... I’ll give it a try! Kubinashi: Alright! Then we, too, will assist Rikuo in his duties! Tsurara: Ooou! Tsurara’s narration: With everyone’s help, Rikuo-kun’s existence grew bigger, as well as inside of me. And so, I finally decided it – that I would confess to Rikuo-kun! Rikuo: *opens door* Are? Oikawa-san? Tsurara: Ah...! Ri... Rikuo-kun... Rikuo: *comes in* What’s wrong? Staying all alone in the classroom... since it’s late, I thought everyone had already left... Tsurara: B-because... I wanted to talk to Rikuo-kun... Rikuo: Me? Tsurara: Uh... hm. Rikuo: Oikawa-san... could it be... Tsurara: *gasp* Rikuo: You have any favor to ask me? Is there anything troubling you? Tsurara: Uuh? Aah... hm-hm, it’s not that... Rikuo: It’s okay not to be shy! We’re classmates, after all! I’ll do anything in my power! Tsurara: Li-like I said, that’s not it... Tsurara’s narration: As someone who didn’t think of Rikuo-kun as just a classmate, I tried to level up our relationship a little. I made my first obentou for that sake, but... Tsurara: *opens obentou* Rikuo: Aah, this is...! Tsurara: H-hm... how is it, my obentou...? Rikuo: Could it be... Oikawa-san made it? Tsurara: H... hm... Rikuo: Amazing, Oikawa-san! Tsurara: *gasp* Rikuo-kun...! Then... Rikuo: Actually, me too! Tsurara: Eh? Rikuo: Hora! *opens obentou* How’s it, Oikawa-san? Tsurara: “H-how’s it”, you ask? Eh, Rikuo-kun... that obentou... Rikuo: Truth is: I also made it on my own! I’m glad I have a tezukuri nakama! (T/N: nakama who does home stuff) Tsurara: “Te-tezukuri nakama”?! Rikuo: With a nakama, I feel I can do even better! Bye! Tsurara: Ah! That’s not it! I was thinking Rikuo-kun could try it...! Rikuo-kuuun~! Tsurara’s narration: A lot happened, but, I failed a lot. In order to reverse that, I even went as far as going to Rikuo-kun’s house, but... Tsurara: *rings bell* Rikuo: *opens door* Yes? Who is i... ah! Oikawa-san? Tsurara: G-good evening, Rikuo-kun. Rikuo: What is it, Oikawa-san? By the way, you sure knew my address well... Tsurara: That’s... I checked the attendance card... Rikuo: Anyways, come in. There are some rumors going around this area... Tsurara: *thinking* Aah... finally... finally, I’m able to come into Rikuo-kun’s house...! Rikuo: You don’t need to be shy. Right now, I’m the only one home after all. Tsurara: Eeeh?! Rikuo: Everyone’s at a relative’s house, you see... I’m alone until tomorrow. Tsurara: *thinking* T-that means... that means... all alone with Rikuo-kun... in Rikuo-kun’s house??! N-No way... my heart is... a-a-a-ah!! Rikuo: What’s wrong, Oikawa-san? Tsurara: I... I... *runs away* I CAAAAAAN’T!!! Rikuo: Ah! Oikawa-san! Oikawa-saaan! Tsurara’s narration: I ended up not obtaining success in anything... but, I didn’t give up. Because... I really... really... towards Rikuo-kun... And so, three months passed after Rikuo-kun transferred. Finally, the fateful day came. As Rikuo-kun was alone in the classroom after class, I... Tsurara: *opens door* Rikuo-kun! Rikuo: Ah. Oikawa-san... Tsurara: Ne, is it true?? That Rikuo-kun will... Rikuo-kun will... transfer again?! Rikuo: Ah... it’s true. Tsurara: No... no way... Rikuo: Thank you for until now, Oikawa-san. Even if I go to another school, everyone in class– Tsurara: I... like Rikuo-kun!! Rikuo: Eh? Tsurara: Always, always! I liked you ever since we first met! I liked you... Rikuo: Oikawa-san... Tsurara: I’m sorry. I’ve burdened Rikuo-kun, who will have to transfer again, with something like this... but, no matter what, I wanted to say it. Because... I... towards Rikuo-kun... I really... *sobs* Sorry... sorry, Rikuo-kun! Rikuo: Me too.  Tsurara: Eh...? Rikuo: I, too... liked... Oikawa-san.  Tsurara: *gasp* Lies...! Rikuo: It’s true! Tsurara: Rikuo-kun... Rikuo-kun, towards me...?! Rikuo: Oikawa-san... Tsurara: Rikuo-kun... Rikuo-kuuun~~~! *runs and hugs him* Rikuo: Oikawa-san... I won’t let go of you anymore! Tsurara: Rikuo-kun... Me neither! Tsurara’s narration: And so, that was the moment Rikuo-kun and I shared. But, hardships awaited the two who had just been bound together. What will happen to me and Rikuo-kun from now on? Will the power of our love be able to cut through the fateful uneasy waters? Kubinashi: *claps* Okay, okay! This goes as far as here. Tsurara: Wait! Don’t interrupt me, Kubinashi! That’s where the novel’s second part– Kubinashi: No, no, no. There’s no need for a second part. It’s become long enough up to this point. Tsurara: Anyways, this is a true Gakuen Drama. A Memorial about a young woman’s bitter-sweet youth. Wonderful, right~? Kubinashi: Hmm... well, if that’s what you want to do, I don’t mind at all... Ao: *clears throat* I MIND!! Tsurara: Aotabou...! Ao: What’s with that?! There’s just almost no place for me! Kuro: For me, neither. Tsurara: Even Kurotabou... Ao: Not the slightest bits as pleasant as Kubinashi’s! Our real hot action-packed men Drama! Tsurara: No! A Love Story is okay! Ao: It’s fights! Tsurara: It’s romance! Ao: Fights! Tsurara: Romance! Kubinashi: O-oi, oi! Calm down, you two! Kuro: Hmph... it always ends up like this and we can’t choose. As I thought, it’s better to hear Waka’s judgment... Rikuo: Eh?! Me?! I... hum... don’t have an opinion yet... I think Gyuuki can do it in my place!  Gyuuki: “You’ve finally come, little ants. If you’ve come this far just to get to know me, *flips page* looks like you don’t need your own lives”... (T/N: he seems to be reading the scenario) Rikuo: *sweat-drop* Gyuuki...? Kubinashi: He seems pretty motivated, ne, that Gyuuki-sama? Ao: FIGHTS! Tsurara: ROMANCE! Ao: FIGHTS!! Tsurara: ROMANCE!! Gyuuki: Third-year Gyuuki!! I’ll turn you into dust in a second! MUWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA... Ao: FIGHTS! Tsurara: ROMANCE! Ao: FIGHTS! Kuro: Can’t you just cut it out, you guys!? Tsurara: ROMANCE! Gyuuki: ...AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA... Ao: FIGHTS! Rikuo: If you don’t want to do either, just don’t do anything! Tsurara: R-O-M-A-N-C-E!! Ao: FIIIIGHTS! Gyuuki: ...AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA... Rikuo: I still haven’t... this... mou... HEY, EVERYONE!! Ao: FIGHTS!! Tsurara: ROOOMAAAANCEEEE!!

[petri808]

Something Special

@inuvember  Day 25 AU Weekend

As the teacher walks in to the classroom that Monday morning, everyone’s heads turn.  A few snickers from the boys and giggles from the girls but for Kagome, she stares at the young man standing next to the sensei.  There is just something different about him that she can’t seem to put a finger on.  “Class we have a new student transferring in today.  His name is Inuyasha, I’d like everyone to treat him well.  Inuyasha please take that open seat.”  Sensei points to an open desk next to Kagome.  The girl gulps as the two lock eyes for just a moment, but in that flash, a bolt of electricity shoots through her body before they both turn and look away.    

“I don’t wanna sit by a girl.” The boy grouses

“Well unfortunately it’s the only open desk.”

“Ugh fine.” The boy saunters to the desk and sits down, doing everything he can not to look at the girl beside him.  The male student on the other side of him snickers and mutters something under his breath pissing off him off.  “If you wanna make it to tomorrow…” Inuyasha growls through gritted teeth, “…best you just leave me alone.”  That shuts the other male up.

~~x~~

“He’s cute!”  The girls chattering around Kagome whisper and giggle.  “Total bad boy heart throb…” another girl sighs dreamily.  It’s the middle of PE class but since the teacher had an emergency, the students were just told to keep themselves occupied for the rest of the class time.  She watches the young man leaning against one of the fences through her peripheral vision, ‘yeah… I guess he’s cute…’  “Did you see his eyes!”  “Sigh, they were like gold coins!  I’ve never seen someone with that color before…”  “I heard he moved here with his older brother from another part of Japan.”  “Oh yeah?”  “Something about after his mom passed away…”  “That’s so sad…”  Kagome looks at him again, his head is down, and his arms are crossed, ‘maybe that’s why he’s so grouchy?  With that hat on I can’t tell if he’s looking…’  “Hey Kagome?”

Turning back to her friends, “Yeah.”  

“I just asked you a question.”  Her friend giggles.  “But I guess you were too busy staring at him.”  

Kagome immediately flushes, “I-I wasn’t staring at him.” But she can’t help her head from turning and looking at him again and is shocked to see him looking back.  “Oh my god…” she quickly turns away and hides her face, “he was looking at me!”  

The other girls giggle harder, “Maybe he’s checking you out!”

“Hardly, he didn’t even wanna sit by me…”

“Well he’s still looking in this direction…” a friend whispers in her ear.  “Guess he changed his mind.”

Just as she’s about to look for herself, another males voice is heard calling her.  “Higurashi!”  She turns to see a boy waving.

‘Oh, just great!’  Houjou runs up, ��Hey Higurashi, do you have plans this weekend?”

“Um why?”  She looks and sees the new guy walking away from the fence.  “What’s this weekend?”

“If you’re free, would you like to see a movie?”

“Oh… I don’t know…”

“Come on Kagome, go with Houjou, you’ll have fun.” Her friends prod her decision along.

“Shall I pick you up at 6 on Saturday?”

“Um, how about I meet you at 6 at the cineplex…”

“Great.  I’ll see you then!”  he walks back to his group of friends.

“Where did that come from?”  the shaken girl mumbles out and realizes Inuyasha has also disappeared.

Now her friends are really giggling, “Kagome you’ve caught the attention of two guys!  And two cute ones at that!”  “I’m so jealous!”

Laughing half-heartedly, she drops her shoulders, “Then why am I not thrilled…”  She looks back to the spot where the new student had been standing.  ‘Why was he looking at me?  He was too far away to know we were talking about him…’

For the rest of that week, Kagome and Inuyasha avoid contact as much as physically possible, despite sitting right next to each other in class.  Nope no eye contact, no verbal ones; though she swears she catches him staring at her sometimes when he thinks she’s not looking.  Outside of the classroom he continues his loner bit, eating alone at lunch time, only interacting with other students when forced to.  What’s with this guy, she wonders, I can understand maybe feeling sad if his mother passed away, she herself remembering when her own father died when she was younger, but still she gets the sense he hasn’t had much contact with other people even before moving here.  And then there are the odd sensations she receives from him, like that electricity on the first day, I mean she felt like she was shocked by an outlet.  On the few occasions when they’ve brushed against each other while getting up from their desks, or passing in the hallways, she’s felt what she can only describe as a pulse shoot through her body.  She’d mentioned this to a few others she trusted, and everyone had said they felt nothing, so what was that sensation and why was it only happening to her?

~~xx~~

As soon as he went home from school that Monday he immediately went to his brother’s office.  “This is a bad idea, there’s a miko in that class and she’s gonna figure out what I am!”

Without stopping what he was working on, Sesshomaru responds, “Did she?”

“Did she what?”

“Well did she figure it out?”

“Not yet, but she’s bound to.”

“Does she even know she is a miko?”

Inuyasha crosses his arms, “Actually…  No, I don’t think she does.”

“Then just avoid contact with her.”

“Keh.  Easy for you to say.”

Sesshomaru looks up from his papers.  “Why would it be difficult?” he raises an eyebrow.  “Unless you want to get closer to the human…”

“I still don’t understand why you don’t like humans.”

“Simple, they are weaker.   It’s bad enough I was saddled with a half human for a brother, I don’t need more in the family.”

“Fuck you Sesshomaru!”  Inuyasha stomps away to his room, slamming the door behind him.

But his brother just smirks, “Ugh, 200 years old and he still acts like a child.  And he wonders why I treat him like one.”  It had been their fathers dying wish that he take care of his little brother if anything happened to the mother, being human and all, she was more prone to their frailties and sure enough she contracted cancer by the time Inuyasha was less than 10 years old.  Of course, that was almost 200 years ago.  At first, he was absolutely against the idea, but it was his own mother that convinced him to do this.  You must honor your father’s wishes, she had said, as head of this clan now, you are the elder and must act appropriately.  Yeah well, it’s not exactly a picnic raising a hanyo, they mature slower and even though in years he is older, his mentality is closer to a 15-year old most of the time.  ‘Must be the human bloods influence…’  Sesshomaru really didn’t care if that girl figured out what they were, hell, in this day and age, demons were something from legends and fairytales, nothing humans really believed in anymore and this made hiding in plain sight much easier.  Of course, the fact that they age slowly did pose a problem, but fake identities, and moving around helped, even a short stint overseas; as long as they didn’t attract attention, no one cared.  

Inuyasha did stay away from Kagome, well at least in school, but his curiosity about the girl was winning so by the third day, he had tracked her down to her home.  The fact that she lived at a shrine didn’t surprise him, considering miko blood seemed to run in her veins.  It was around midnight and the boy sat crouched on her roof above her bedroom listening to her breathing as she slept.  It was strange how peaceful her very presence felt in this environment, it wasn’t the same at school where the frenetic energy was maybe more skewed but here, it was soothing.  Sigh, ‘this could be a problem…’

That Saturday afternoon, Inuyasha was milling around the shrine again when her scent wafted through the air.  ‘Shit!’  She was close by and when he turned to look, sure enough was heading in his direction but seemed distracted.  He pulls the ballcap lower over his face, put his head down and keeps walking forward hoping she doesn’t notice him.  

Adjusting her top, re-shouldering her purse, ‘Ugh, why did I agree to this movie date!’  Checking her purse again for her money.  ‘I don’t have any interest in Houjou regardless if he’s popular or not...  Why’d he ask me out all of a sudden anyways?’  She looks at her watch, 5:30pm.  ‘Great I may not even make it on time…’  Someone bumps into her as they pass by and that now familiar pulse shoots up her spine.  Turning around, “Hey watch….  It’s you?”

Cursing his yoki for making him walk into the girl, he stops too.  “Sorry,” he mumbles and tries to keep moving but she grabs his arm.

“What are you doing around here anyways?”

“Just exploring the city, what’s it to you.”  He pulls away and starts walking again.

“Hey, don’t walk away from me!” she hurries to catch up with him.  “I’m talking to you.”

“You’re gonna be late for your date if you keep following me.” He mumbles without slowing a step.  

Kagome grabs his hand and tugs him to a stop.  “H-how did you know that’s where I was going?  You were too far away to have heard that conversation.”  Her eyes widen.  “Wait, is that why you walked away?  Because Houjou was asking me out on a date?”  

“No!” he pulls his hand out of her grip and crosses his arms.  “Why they hell would I care if you go out with that boy?!”

“I don’t know, why don’t you tell me why you’re getting all defensive about the topic?!”

“Keh!  I am not getting defensive!”

“Oh, then what would you call this?” she crosses her arms too.  “And I don’t believe you when you say you were just passing by.”

He looks at his own watch, “Why do you care what I was doing, and by the way, you just stood that boy up.”

Without hesitation she retorts, “I don’t care,” stunning him.  “I’m not interested in Houjou anyways.”  He can’t stop the smirk from forming on his face.  “What’s that grin for?!”

“I’m not…”

Her hands fly to her mouth in shock, “You were bothered that I agreed to that date!”

He turns away, but the slight blush gives him away.  “I was not!”

She giggles, “Yes you were!  I see it on your face!”

He pulls his hat off and scratches his head trying to act nonchalantly, “I am not.”  There’s a shimmer over his head for a second.

‘Was that ears!’  She swears in the distorted shimmer there were ears on top of his head!  Her eyes narrow as she goads him further, “Are you attracted to me Inuyasha?” she moves closer to him.  “Is that why you avoid me in school yet somehow manage to find where I live in this big city?” Brushing against his arm, “Maybe that’s why you bumped into me today…”

“Will you shut it wench!”  the shimmer appears for a few more seconds and again she sees the ears.  “Just drop it would ya!” and storms off.  This time she lets him walk away.

As she watches him disappear around the corner a smirk appears on her face.  ‘I think he likes me…  But what the hell was going on with his head?  Is that why he wears a hat?’  She turns back and heads home to leave a message on Houjou’s phone…

Inuyasha cuts through the forests surrounding the city.  He needs to get away and clear his head, or maybe tear something up to vent his frustrations; like a tree trunk…  He can’t believe he was stupid enough to get pulled into a yelling match with that girl!  ‘You see what you caused?!’ he growls at his yoki.  ‘We shouldn’t be going near her, and yet you keep pushing me towards her!’  ‘Oh please, I’m not forcing you to do anything you didn’t wanna do for yourself…’  ‘She’s gonna figure out who I am!’  ‘Let her, she’s a perfect match for you!’  ‘What are you talking about?!’  ‘You know exactly what I’m talking about…’  He jumps up into a tree and starts tearing up the branches.  ‘I am not interested in that.’  ‘Don’t kid yourself…’  ‘She’s too young.’  ‘I’m not telling you to go that far; in this day and age, it’s called dating.  But just for your peace of mind, she’s 17, almost an adult.’  ‘Could you just shut up and leave me alone right now…’

Late that night, after her family had gone to bed, Kagome slips out of her room and with the help of a ladder climbs the Goshinboku.  Her grandfather told her it was a sacred tree that has watched over this area for centuries but for her, its ancient energy was simply a soothing one that she often turned to when something bothered her.  She settles on the lowest sturdiest branch, resting against it’s trunk to clear her mind.  All week she had been distracted by the new student, the strange sensations she would feel from him, the avoidances, and then now that run in earlier today.  Was her mind playing more tricks on her?  Maybe her eyes?  But she knows she’s not going crazy, those were clearly ears she saw on his head!  “That’s not possible, right?” whispering it more to just say something out loud.  As a normal teenage girl, she’s had small crushes on boys before, but beyond the he’s cute stage, no one’s ever struck a deeper cord.  Most of the time her focus was on school with the hopes of moving onto college someday and none of those goals included getting attached to any man.  Yet somehow, she couldn’t seem to stop thinking about him…  

Eventually she dozes off, and that’s how he finds her.  

It had developed into a nightly ritual and despite his run in with her earlier, his yoki compelled him to check on Kagome before he could sleep soundly with the knowledge she was safe.  But when he arrived above her room he immediately could tell she wasn’t in it.  Sniffing the air, he knows she’s somewhere around, the house is all dark, so he follows her scent.  With his keen eye sight, he can see her sleeping in the tree.  ‘Why the hell is she up there?’  Worried she could fall or hell get sick from being out in the cold night air, he debates momentarily about what he should do; leave her there, or get her back to her room.  He sighs and jumps up into the tree.

Praying that she’s a deep sleeper, he moves as quickly and gently as he can, bundling her into his arms before jumping back down to the ground.  But as he walks towards her room she starts to shift, putting her arms around his neck, “Mmm… warm…” He stiffens a little, but it seems she’s just sleep talking for now.  He breathes a sigh of relief when he notices the window of her room is still open and manages to get through without too much trouble.  But after placing her on the bed and pulling blankets over her she whispers, “Inuyasha…”

‘Oh crap!’  Thinking he was just busted, he scrambles out her window and disappears into the night.  She smiles in her sleep as the dream she’s having is centered around a certain new student in her class…

~~xx~~

Monday morning and the exodus continues.  All day as usual, Kagome and Inuyasha pay no attention to each other in the classroom.  But instead of his normal sullen looks, she thinks he almost seems nervous.  Finally, by the last class of the day, PE, she can’t take it anymore and corners him alone on the field.  

“Alright spill it, I can handle your glares but why are so nervous around me today?”

“I’m not nervous.”

“I can feel it from you, is it because I accused you of having a crush on me?”

‘Whew, she doesn’t remember the tree…’  “No, because I don’t.”

“W-well that’s good to know, cause I don’t either.”

“Then why did your voice just crack?”

“My voice didn’t’ crack!”

“Oh-ho, so maybe it’s the other way around?  Is that why you didn’t mind missing your date with that boy?  Cause you have a crush on me!”

Kagome crosses her arms, “Tch, no that’s not it.”

“Then why are you getting defensive over the topic?” he throws the same jab back at her.  But she decides not to let him win this round.  Exhale, unfurling her arms, she reaches up with one hand and waves it over his head.  He moves back, “What are you doing?”

“I swear I saw ears on Saturday so I’m checking to see if I can feel anything.”

He swats her hand away, “I don’t have ears on top of my head.”

“I saw it twice and I know I’m not going crazy.”

She reaches up again but this time he grabs her wrist, “Please stop, don’t attract any attention to me.” he mumbles to her.

“Then tell me the truth.”

Sigh, “Not here.”

“Then where?”  

“Just stay home tonight.”

“Why?”

“Ugh, do you have to be so damn stubborn.  Just stay home.”

“Alright!” she grumbles, “Are you gonna call or something?”

“Or something.” And he walks away leaving her confused.

~~x~~

He listens and waits from the roof over her room until the rest of her family is asleep.  He could hear her complaining that he had stood her up and chuckles, just be patient Kagome…

Finally, when she is the last one awake, he leaps down to her window and jumps through startling her.  “What are you doing in my room!?”

“I told you or something.  Do you wanna know the truth or not?”

Kagome settles down on her bed with her back against the wall, “Yes.”

He sits down on the edge, “Are you sure, cause you better not freak out on me.”

“Why would I freak out?”

“Just swear not to scream or anything.”

“I won’t.”  He turns off the glamor spell and her hand flies up to cover her mouth but instead of a scream she giggles, “I knew it, you do have ears!”  Reaching out to rub them, “Ooh and they are so fluffy!”

“Okay stop that!” he pulls out of her reach.  

With a pout, “But they are so adorable!”  

“How are you not afraid of me, do you not realize what I am?”  Kagome scoots closer to him and reaches out again, but he flinches, “What are you doing?”

Without a response she touches his hair which looks a bit longer.  She grabs his hand and notes the nails that look more claw like.  Now she reaches up to touch his face…  “You look mostly human…” she murmurs, “Yet some of these features are canine…”

“I’m a Hanyo, an Inu Hanyo, do you know what that is?”

“Hanyo…” she ponders, “A half dog demon?”  Cocking her head, “I didn’t know demons still existed.”

“There’s not as many as there were many years ago.  Most of us hide our identities with spells to blend in with humans.”

“Why?”

“What do you mean why?  Because most humans don’t react like this, they, they fear us.”

“Then why are you showing yourself to me?”

Exhale, “Very few humans can sense us, and you are one of those humans.  It’s probably the miko blood running through your lineage and eventually you’d figure it out.”

“Okay, I can understand that, but still why reveal yourself to me?  You could have just, I don’t know convinced me I was seeing things.”

He feels his face flushing and turns away, “I don’t know why…  Maybe because I’m an idiot, at least that’s what my brother would probably say.”

“It must be lonely…  Having to hide who you really are…”  He looks back to her surprised, not just with how well she is taking this, but from the compassion he hears in her tone.  “But I don’t think you’re an idiot Inuyasha.”  Now her cheeks are flushing.  “Could I ask you something?”  he nods.  “Saturday night, I know I fell asleep in the Goshinboku, I do that sometimes when I wanna think, but somehow I woke up in my bed… Did you have something to do with that?”

“Maybe…” he mumbles, “I was worried you might fall.”

Her voice softens, “But how did you know I was up there?”

“I check on you, to make sure you’re safe each night.”  Now it’s her turn to look shocked.  

An uncomfortable silence develops.  “Well um, it’s getting late and you should probably get home already.”

“Yeah,” he scratches his head, “you need your sleep.”

“Don’t you sleep?”

“Not as much as humans.”  He stands up and walks towards the window.

“Inuyasha?”

“What?”

“Could I ask you, is it true you just lost your mom?”

“No, she died over 150 years ago.”

“Wait, 150 years?  How old are you?”

“I think almost 200.”

“But you look my age!”

“We mature slower than humans.  Remember, don’t tell anyone about this…” and jumps out her window leaving her for the rest of the night.

Unbeknownst to Kagome, he simply leapt to her roof waiting for her to fall asleep; but she couldn’t, not after what she just learned about the mysterious boy.  Flopping on her back and letting herself sink into her comfy bed, she sighs.  “Inuyasha…” she breathes out his name.  His ears twitch and swivel.  “It’s so crazy…  And yet…” she sighs again.  “He’s a hanyo, something I’ve only heard about through the stories grandpa tells.  “But he’s so fascinating.”  Fascinating, he thinks to himself, that’s an interesting way of putting it.  He hears her yawn then giggle, “And very cute!”  

‘Gah!  She thinks I’m cute?!’  ‘Aren’t you happy about that?’ his yoki points out.  ‘She looks too much like…’  ‘Oh, get over her man, that was over a hundred years ago and you were still just a pup.’  ‘She smells like her too.’  ‘So maybe that was her in another lifetime.  Will you just move on?’  ‘But Sesshomaru was right, she’s human, she won’t live as long…’  ‘You know there are ways now to keep them around longer…’  Sigh.  His yoki was right, there was a way to lengthen the life of a mate, but it could be a tricky process and death was always still a possibility.  ‘Geez, I’m not telling you to settle down with her, at least you’ve made a friend, and let fate take its course!’  ‘Maybe…’  He hears her breathing even out; she’s asleep.  “Goodnight Kagome…”

~~xx~~

“Doesn’t his butt look great in those jeans?” Kagome’s friend whispers to her as they walk towards their class.  Inuyasha is just up ahead of them, and she swears she saw his head tilt from the comment.  Knowing what she knows now, he probably heard what her friend said so she decides to test the theory.

“Oh yeah, he definitely has a cute ass.”  ‘Did his step just falter?  I bet if I could see his ears, they’d be twitching like crazy!’  She grins, “Perfect for squeezing.”

Inuyasha stops walking and turns around, staring at her for a second; he can’t believe what just came out of Kagome’s mouth!

“He’s looking at you again!” her friend giggles.  “Do you think he heard…”

“Uh-huh…” she gives him a sneaky smile, “I’m sure he did…”

~~xx~~

Two weeks later, on a Friday, Inuyasha is absent from school and Kagome is curious as to why.  They had only spoken a few times since that Monday night, never in school, but he had snuck in to her room a few times to ‘talk’.  Maybe out of boredom, who knew.  He wasn’t much of a talker, but it was better than nothing.  Oh, he had given her an earful about gossiping about him in school, but she just laughed it off that she was just checking to see if he was eavesdropping.  What was nice about the visits, was he seemed to be more relaxed when it was just the two of them in the privacy of her room.  Maybe because he didn’t have to hide who he really was, even turning off the spell while he’d be there.  She almost felt, honored that he was warming up to her, if that’s what you could call it.  So, when he didn’t show up for school she became concerned.

Without the advantage of a canine’s nose to help her, she had to resort to more practical means to find out where he lived; in other words, schmoozing the office worker to give her the information.  Feigning a need to take him his school work for the day but forgetting his address, after some sweet pleading, the office girl finally gave her what she needed.

~~~

It took a short ride on the commuter train, a bus, and finally, a two block walk till she had reached her destination at the edge of town.  ‘Wow…’ she remarked as she walked past all the large homes of the area.  This section was for wealthier citizens, an area she’s never been to before.  Checking the address on her paper again, she finds the house she is looking for and knocks at the door.  A woman answers.  

“May I help you?”

“Um, hi, I’m looking for Inuyasha.  He was absent today and I wanted to give him his school work, so he doesn’t miss anything.”

“Oh, that’s really sweet of you but, he’s um not feeling well.  I wouldn’t want you to catch his cold.”

“It’s really not a problem, I’m sure it would be okay, Miss?”

“Kagura.”

“It’s nice to meet you Kagura, my name is Kagome.”

“Ah, so you are Kagome…”  the woman smiles as she looks the nervous girl up and down.  “Yes, Inuyasha has mentioned you.”

“It’s really important I see him and,” she glances around, “I know he’s ‘different,’ so please could I speak with him?”

“He told you, has he?  I’m not surprised.” The woman sighs, “Sometimes he has a hard time coping with that,” and steps back from the door.  “Well come in, Kagome, let me show you to his room.”

As Kagome follows the woman up a set of stairs to the second floor she can’t help but gasp at the grand furnishings of the home.  “This is a beautiful home.  Are you Inuyasha’s sister-in-law?”

“Why yes, I am,” the woman smiles, “Sesshomaru is my mate.”

“So, does that mean you are a yokai too?”

“Something like that…” she points at a closed door, “He’s in there.”

“Thank you.”  After the woman walks away Kagome knocks.  

“Kagura, I’d rather not be bothered.”

“Inuyasha?”

“Kagome?!”  The door pulls open, “What are you doing here?”

Her eyes widen at the sight before her, “Inuyasha?  Is that you?”  Gone is the white hair and golden eyes, the claws, but instead a totally normal looking human teenage boy!  His hair is black and a slightly different style...  and his eyes are dark too.  ‘His ears are gone…’  Her mouth hangs open just a little the longer she stares…  

“Keh!  If all your gonna do is gawk at me then go home.”

That attitude brings her out of her shock.  “Well how am I supposed to act!  I wasn’t expecting…” she waves her hands up and down motioning to his appearance, “…this!”

“Keep your voice down!” he pulls her into the room and closes the door.  “I don’t need my brother coming to bug me with questions.”  Plopping on his bed.  “So, what are you doing here?”

“You were absent from school and I was worried about you.”

“Well as you can see I’m fine.”

“But you’re…”

“Human.”  She nods...  “Look I’m part human so once a month, during the new moon I lose my yokai side and change to this state…” …but continues to scrutinize his appearance.  “Will you stop staring at me!”

“Sorry,” she averts her eyes embarrassed.  “It’s just, you look so different.  Well not totally but…” she pouts, “I kinda like your other side better.”

“You do?” his eyes register his shock.  “Why?”

Kagome sits next to him on the bed, “I don’t know, it’s just different than most people, you know, and intriguing…” her face flushes a little.  “Not that this look is bad or anything…   I think you look fine either way.”

“You think I’m cute, that’s what you’re trying to say aren’t you.”

“I-I didn’t say that…” her face turning more crimson, “Okay so I think you are attractive, I mean hell, half the girls at school think that.”

“Yeah, but I have no interest in what they think.”

“You care what I think?”

“What!  I didn’t say that either.”

“Oh…” she looks down a little embarrassed and dejected.  “Well, um since you seem fine, I guess I’ll head home now…” and stands to leave.  “I’ll see you at school.”

“Wait, Kagome, you don’t have to leave yet.”  She stops walking.  “I don’t go out when I’m like this, but you can stay and hang out if you want to.”

“Are you sure?”  when he nods, “Okay…” she sits back on his bed.  “So, what do you do when you’re stuck in here?”

He shrugs his shoulders, “Watch TV, play video games, listen to music, whatever.  Sometimes it is kinda boring by myself.  I actually hate it when I get like this, I lose my abilities and I feel vulnerable; that’s why I don’t go out.”

“Have you been attacked or something?”

“Not recently, but in the past, yeah, it was more dangerous for me.  Sesshomaru has had to fend off a few rogue yokai’s...”

~~~

Downstairs in his office, Kagura peeks in with her husband.  “Thought you’d like to know, that Kagome girl came to see Inuyasha.”

He looks up from his desk.  “Really?”

“She seems nice and since she never came back down screaming, everything must be fine.”

“You didn’t warn her that he would look different?”

“No, I wanted to gauge her reaction and so far, I think she’s good for him.”

“She’s the first human he’s allowed to get so close, since that miko years ago.”

��I think Kagome looks like her.”

“Hmm…  Maybe that’s why he was fascinated with her…”

“I think he actually likes this one…”

~~~

Back in his room, Inuyasha has leaned up against the wall with game controllers in his hands and Kagome is lying on her stomach with a textbook in front of her.  “Don’t you need to study, Inuyasha?”

“What for?”

“There’s a test coming up at the beginning of next week, that’s why.”

“Keh, I’ll be fine, I always am.”

“I still think it’s strange… for as long as you’ve lived, why you’re still attending school.”

“It’s part of my cover, you know, to blend in to this city.  I look like I should be a high school student, so my brother insisted I enroll.”

“Does that mean you already know how to do all of this stuff?” gesturing at the textbook.  

“For the most part, yeah.”

“Lucky.  I don’t mind most of the subjects, but I despise math.”

“Oh, I’m not fond of that subject either.”  There’s a knock on the door.

“Inuyasha?”  It’s his brothers voice.  “Would you or your friend like some dinner?”

He looks at Kagome, who nods, whispering, “If it’s no trouble…”

“None at all,” Sesshomaru responds.  “Come down in half an hour to the dining room.”

~~~

Somewhat of an odd sight, the four dinner guests sitting around a large dining table meant for double that.  No plates in front of the two older residents, only her and Inuyasha.  But the food looked wonderful, and smelled just as tasty.  

“So, Kagome,” inquires Sesshomaru from across the dining table, “Inuyasha mentioned you are from the Higurashi shrine.”

“Yes, my family has been its caretakers for two generations and my brother will be groomed to take it over one day.”

Kagura, “Why him and not you?”

“Me?” Kagome puts her chopsticks down, “Why me?”

“Surely you realize that you are the one with the miko abilities in your family.”

“I think Inuyasha pointed that out once, but I don’t know if it’s something I want to do.”

“You and my brother seem to be growing quite close…” Sesshomaru smirks, “…it’s nice to see him moping around less than usual.”

Kagome blushes.  “Well, I just thought he could use a friend.”

“Could we stop with the questions…” Inuyasha grumbles.

“We are just trying to get know her better, I don’t see what is wrong with that.”

Inuyasha starts to open his mouth but Kagome grabs his hand, “I don’t mind.”

Kagura smiles, “You see, Kagome, it’s been a long time since Inuyasha has opened up to anyone from the outside so it’s a nice change for us.  You must be something special in his eyes.”

“Keh!” he turns his head to hide the reddening of his face.  “She’s the one who wouldn’t leave me alone in the beginning.”

“Hey, you bumped into me first!  Remember?”

“That was an accident!”

“Don’t lie, just like how you said you weren’t bothered by Houjou asking me out; I know it was bull!”

All through the argument, Sesshomaru and Kagura sat in silence watching the show unfold.  It didn’t even cross their minds to stop it, but on the contrary, the elder Inu found it amusing that a girl was going toe to toe with his brother.  “I think you’re right,” he whispers to his wife, “they like each other.”

“I said I didn’t care!  You forget, you called me cute first!”

“When did I say that?!”

“In your room, after I left…”  his eyes widen when he realizes he was just caught.

“You were spying on me?!”

Crossing his arms, “No I wasn’t, I was just making sure you went to sleep…  How was I supposed to know you were gonna keep talking about me!”

“I hate to interrupt this amusing conversation…” Sesshomaru finally steps in, “but your dinners are getting cold.”  Inuyasha and Kagome stop and look to their plates while the elder brother just chuckles.  “I suggest a change in subject.”  The pair start eating again.  The young girl is a little embarrassed that she behaved in such a rude manner, but at least no one seemed to care.  “Kagome, since it is dark already and not safe for you to travel by public transportation, would you like a ride home, or maybe you could just spend the night.”

“I um, would have to check with my mom about sleeping over.”

Kagura, “If you’d like, I could speak with her, to allay her concerns.”

Kagome looks at Inuyasha who has that deer in head lights look, then back to Kagura, “Okay.”

“Wonderful, what is your phone number, I’ll call her while you finish your dinner.”  She stands up and leaves the room once Kagome gives her the information.

Now the young girl turns back to her friend, “But I don’t have anything to sleep in or to take a bath.”

“You can just use Kagura’s stuff and I can lend you a shirt or something.”

The thought of wearing something of Inuyasha’s makes the girl blush.  “I’ve never slept over at a boy’s house before.”

“Well it’s not like I’m gonna do anything to you.”

“I would hope not.”

Kagura walks back in.  “Your mom is so sweet.  I told her we’d bring you home tomorrow and she said that was fine, just have fun.”

At that point Sesshomaru takes Inuyasha to have a talk with him and Kagura leads Kagome to a spare room.  Pointing to an adjoining room, “it is stocked with soaps and such when you are ready to take a bath.  I hate to let you feel dirty, I think I have underwear that will fit you.”  She returns with undergarments.  “I shall leave you for the rest of the evening, but if you need anything else, please do not hesitate to ask.”

“Thank you Kagura.”

When she walks out of the room, Inuyasha is trudging up the stairs.  “Um Inuyasha, could I borrow a shirt, so I can change and take a bath?”

“Yeah…” he saunters into his room and pulls out an oversized t-shirt, handing it to her.  

“Thank you.”

“Um, Kagome, do you wanna still hang out some more afterwards?”

“Of course,” she smiles.  

“Cool, I’ll just be in my room then.”

“Aren’t you gonna bathe too?”

“I guess I could do that at the same time as you.” He turns bright red, “I mean in my own bathroom!  Not with you…  Oh hell!” he rushes to his room embarrassed.  

Kagome, stands stupefied for a second processing what just happened, ‘that was awkward…’ and goes into her own room.

After the relaxing bath, thankfully, Kagura’s panties fit her but Inuyasha’s shirt was another matter.  Staring at herself in the mirror, she couldn’t help but chuckle at how much of a dress it was on her; loose and comfortable to sleep in for sure.  But there was one potential issue… no bottom.  Kagura didn’t strike her as the type to wear shorts and there was no way she’d fit one of Inuyasha’s.  ‘Well… at least it comes down to my knees…’

By the time Kagome went back to Inuyasha’s room it was nearing 10pm.  As soon as he saw her in his shirt he was both smitten and bemused by how it looked on her and she could see that on his face.  “I know I look weird…”  

“No, it’s adorable...”  ‘Shit, I didn’t mean to say that out loud!’  He shakes his head, “I mean, it looks fine on you.”

‘Adorable, huh?’  she raises an eyebrow.  “What do you wanna do now?”  

“I don’t know,” he shrugs his shoulders, “It’s not like I’ve had company before.”

“Do you wanna play a game or something?” She plops on his bed.

“Not really.”

“Listen to music or watch TV?” he shakes his head no.  “Just talk?”

“About what?”

“I don’t know…” she sighs and lies on her side with her head propped up with a pillow, “tell me more about your life, in 200 years there’s gotta be some stories you can tell me.”

He lies on his back next to her and puts his arms behind his head.  “My mom was a human Princess and my dad was called the Inu no Taisho.  He ruled over the Western part of Japan, keeping the peace between the yokai in the area and the humans.  One day on a journey he met my mom and they ended up falling in love, hence my existence.  But at the time, feudal Japan was a more war-like state and after battling a very powerful demon, he was fatally wounded.  My mom raised me until I was about 7 when she died of what today they call cancer.”

“So how is Sesshomaru your brother?”

“My father had a yokai mate already, they called her the Inu Daiyokai and he is their first and only son; so that makes him my half-brother.  After both my parents died he took me on as a promise to our father.  Sesshomaru was already two or three hundred years old by this time but more mature than I am, he says.  Every so many years, he moves us around so that we don’t attract attention.”

“What does he do?  This is quite a large home…”

“Oh, he has several businesses that he runs from here.  I don’t know a lot about it since he won’t tell me much and I don’t ask.  He’s paying for everything, so I just leave him alone and with the advent of computers and phones and stuff it’s become easier to do that.  Oh, and he also had to take on the responsibilities left by our dad as the Inu no Taisho.”

“Okay, so explain to me exactly what does that mean?”

“He keeps many of the other yokai’s and hanyo’s in control, away from humans as much as possible.  If any of them cause problems, he takes care of it.”

“Sounds like a lot of work.”

“Yeah it is.  Every so often, I help him deal with issues.”

Kagome yawns, “So did you have to fight battles and stuff?”

“Sometimes.”

“Ever get hurt…” she yawns again but bigger this time.

“Eh…” he shrugs his shoulders, “Nothing I couldn’t handle.”

“That’s good…” her eyes begin to droop.  “You wouldn’t be here talking to me now if…  it had been worse…”

“Yeah…” he sighs and closes his eyes for a moment.  “I’m kinda glad that I’ve met you.  It’s really, nice to have someone other than my brother and stuff to talk to.  Do you feel the same way?”  No response so he opens his eyes and looks over to the girl curled on his bed.  “Kagome?”  She had fallen asleep.  “Great…” he mumbles, “I should take her to her room…”  He sits up and pokes at her shoulder.   “Kagome?”

“Mmm…” she whines but instead of waking she turns over and further hunkers down on his bed.  

“Oh man…” he runs his hand over his face, “Now what?”  Faced with a situation he’s never dealt with before, Inuyasha debates his next move.  ‘I could just take her to her room…  But…’ as he stares down at the sleeping beauty, the attraction he had felt for her intensifies.  Something deep inside is urging him to let her stay…. is coaxing him to savor her presence…  Sighing, ‘I hope she doesn’t freak out in the morning…’

~~~

Kagome groans in her troubled slumber…

Smoke fills the air of the burning homes where a rogue yokai has been ransacking and killing the villagers.  As a miko, she had been asked to please rid them of this terrible demon… and now…  She looks down at her trembling hands and sees the deep red staining them… falling to her side, ‘it’s so strange to feel no pain…’  Her eyes can barely focus but sees the hanyo draw his sword and cut down the yokai that she had been battling…

‘Kikyo!’  Inuyasha rushes to her side and cradles her.  ‘Kikyo!’  He cries out once more as the blood pools beneath her.

...twisting and moaning…  “Inuyasha…”

‘Inuyasha, I’m… sorry…’

‘Why didn’t you wait for me!  Why’d you have to fight that demon on your own!’

She lifts her hand to his face with the last of her strength.  ‘The villagers are safe now thanks to you…  Perhaps, we shall meet again… in another…’ her eyes close for the last time.  

Gasping for air, Kagome bolts upright in bed grabbing onto her chest and checking desperately to gauge the severity of her afflicted wound.  This sudden action startles Inuyasha awake.  She can still feel the heat of the fires, smell the smoke permeating the air.  “Kagome!” he shakes her.  “Wake up!”

“But the wound…  Oh no the villagers, the fire was burning all the homes!” she looks Inuyasha straight in his eyes.  “a-and I-I died, in your arms… I don’t understand… It’s was so real… I can smell the smoke, I can still smell the smoke!”  Tears stream down her face.  “It was like it was really happening…”

“It’s okay…” he rocks her in his arms.  “You were just having a nightmare, that’s all.  See, your still in my room, the sun hasn’t risen yet and there’s nothing to hurt you here.”

Her sobbing winds down as she rests her head on his shoulder.  “It was so scary…  I-I actually felt my heart stop beating…” she leans up to look in his eyes with only the faintest of illumination from the streetlights outside allowing her to see them, “You were there, Inuyasha, but you kept calling me a different name.”

The sudden realization hits him like a ton of bricks; a wound, fire in a village, and her dying in his arms…  “Kikyo…�� he breathes out the name as his own eyes begin to fog over.  “But how could you have known what happened to her?  That was over 100 years ago.”

“How the hell should I know!” her cries ring in his ears.  “Who is this Kikyo and why the hell was I experiencing it like I was there?”

“Maybe because…” he sighs, “you were…”

She stops crying, “What?”

Exhale.  “I’ve only loved one other person in this world and she…” he hangs his head, “…she died fighting a yokai before I could get to her.”  Exhale.  “Kikyo was a, a miko in a village that used to be on the grounds of this very city.  In fact, she was the priestess at the shrine your family now cares for and you just described, how she died…”  Kagome is so shocked and overwhelmed, she faints in his arms and slips into a dreamless unconsciousness.  

~~~

When she awakens for the second time that morning the first thing she notices is the surrounding warmth and finds herself lying on her side with Inuyasha spooned up from behind, his arms wrapped tightly around as if to keep her from leaving him.  Recollections of her dream flood back to her, or were they memories?  She feels him shifting, snuggling his face deeper against her neck and blushes once she realizes the position they are in.  Part of her wants to scream and kick him away but the other tells her this feels, ‘as if it was meant to be…’  Some of his white hair falls over her shoulder telling her he is back to his normal self; if he wasn’t holding on so tight she’d be tempted to turn around and rub his ears.  Well if she’s gonna be stuck in this position she might as well enjoy it, so she presses her body snuggly against his.  

“You smell nice…” his voice rumbles softly against her ear.  She hums in delight, no one’s given her that line before!  Despite the rocky beginnings, Kagome can’t deny the electricity between them, but is this really meant to be?  Can a hanyo and a human have a relationship like this?  Questions bubble to the surface of her mind.  How would it work, I mean he barely ages and she will continue to…  She sighs…  “Are you uncomfortable,” he asks, concern dripping in the inflection of his tone.

“No, that’s not it.  I was just thinking…”

“That this all seems crazy?”

She chuckles, “Hmm, well that too, but no, something else.”

“What?” the raspy tone of his morning voice makes her shiver down to her core.

“How can this be a possibility, a hanyo, and a human?” trepidation evident in her voice.  “I really… like how you make me feel but it scares me too.”

“Because we don’t age…”

“Exactly.”

“You don’t need to worry about that Kagome.” He squeezes her waist.  “If the day comes that you want to stay with me, there is a way for you to live as long as I do.”

“Tell me how?”

“When that time comes…”

“Mmm…  Inuyasha, do you think I have a connection to that Kikyo person?”

“Maybe, you do look a little like her… and smell like her.  But you’re, feistier.”

She laughs, “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

“Jury is still out.”

“Omph!” she slaps his arm.  “Really!”

“I wouldn’t let you be here… right now, if I didn’t mind it.”

Sigh, “I almost wish I didn’t have to go home…”

“Me too…”

[stilinskiimagines]

Grey's Anatomy//Teen Wolf AU - Part 2

Characters: Scott McCall, Stiles Stilinski, Lydia Martin, Kira Yukimura, Isaac Lahey, Alan Deaton, Vernon Boyd, Braeden, Reader.

Stiles was about to go into surgery. It was a routine surgery, a simple appendectomy, but all that mattered was that he was the first intern to go into surgery. You were all gathered in the gallery to watch.

You heard people whispering, making fun of him. “Ten bucks says he messes up the McBird.”

“Twenty says he cries.“ Kira nods.

“I’ll put twenty on a total meltdown.” Someone in the back says.

“Fifty says he pulls the whole thing off.” You say. Everyone looks at you, silent. “That’s one of us down there. The first one of us. Where’s your loyalty?” Everyone stays quiet a bit longer.

“Seventy-five says he can’t even ID the appendix.” Kira blurts out. You sigh.

“I’ll take that action.” Lydia nods and everyone mutters in agreement.

You watch as he grabs the scalpel from the scrub nurse, the scrub cap on his head is a bit too big, it makes him look like a little boy. Everyone cheers and Boyd motions from the OR for everyone to shut up.

“That Boyd…he’s trouble.” Kira grins and everyone laughs.

You glance at the camera, listening to Stiles and Boyd. “Damn, he got the peritoneum and he opened him up.” Someone says.

“I told you he’d pull it off.” You mutter.

“Scalpel.” Stiles sticks his hand out.

“Scalpel.” The nurse repeats and hands it to him.

“Appendix is out.” Stiles takes it out and sits it on the tray, inciting cheers.

“Now all you have to do is invert the stump into the secum and simultaneously pull up on the purse-strings but be careful not to..” There’s a ripping sound. “break them.” Boyd groans. “He ripped the secum. Got a bleeder. You’re filling with stool, what do you do now?”

“Uh…” Stiles looks panicked. “Uh…”

“Think. You start the suction, you start digging for those purse-strings before she bleeds to death. Get him a clamp.”

“BP’s dropping.” A nurse states.

Kira sits forward in her seat, “He’s choking.”

“Come on, Stiles.” You stare intently at the screen.

“Today. Pull your balls out of your back pocket, let’s go. What are you waiting for? Suction.” Boyd is becoming impatient.

The monitor begins to beep. “Getting too low, folks.” A nurse says.

“Get out of the way.” Boyd pushes Stiles back. “Pansy-ass idiot. Get him out of here. Suction. Clamp.”

“007.” An intern behind you mutters. You turn to look at him, he has curls falling in his face and he’s sitting in his chair like he’s at his mom’s house.

“007. Yep. He’s a total 007.” Another intern says.

“What’s 007?” Lydia asks.

“Licensed to kill.” You mumble.

You’re sitting in the spare beds in the hallway. “007. They’re calling me 007, aren’t they?” Stiles sighs.

“No one’s calling you 007.” You and Lydia say in unison.

“I was on the elevator and Murphy whispered 007.” Stiles pouts.

“Oh, how many times do we have to go through this, Stiles? Five? Ten? Give me a number or else I’m going to hit you.” Kira groans.

“He wasn’t talking about you.” Lydia nods.

“You sure?” Stiles looks over at her.

“Would we lie to you?” You raise an eyebrow.

Stiles is quiet for a moment, “Yes.”

“007 is a state of mind.” Kira shrugs.

“Says the girl who finished top of her class at Stanford.” Stiles shakes his head. “Maybe I should’ve gone into geriatrics. No one minds when you kill an old person.” He lets his head fall onto the wall.

“Surgery is hot, it’s the Marines, it’s the macho, it’s hostile, it’s hardcore. Geriatrics is for freaks who live with their mothers and never have sex.” Kira shrugs.

“I’ve got to get my own place.” Stiles sighs.

“4B’s got post-op pneumonia. Let’s start antibiotics.” You hear the intern that started 007 say.

“Are you sure that’s the right diagnosis?” The nurse asks.

“Well I don’t know, I’m only an intern. Here’s an idea, why don’t you go spend four years in med school and let me know if it’s the right diagnosis. She’s short of breath, she’s got fever, she’s post-op. Start the antibiotics.” He walks over to you. “God I hate nurses. I’m Isaac. I’m with Jeremy, you’re with the Nazi, right?”

You glance up at him, “She may not have pneumonia, you know. She could be splinting, or have a PE.”

He scoffs, “Like I said, I hate nurses.”

“What did you just say? Did you just call me a nurse?” You cross your arms.

He shrugs, “If the white cap fits…”

Your pager goes off and you begin to walk away.

“She seeing anybody?” Isaac leans over to Stiles.

“I don’t know.” Stiles shrugs.

Isaac whistles, “She’s hot.”

“I’m friends with her. I mean, kinda friends, I mean…not, you know, actually friends. Not exactly, but we’re tight. We hang out. I mean really only today-”

“Dude.” Isaac interrupts.

“But-” Stiles starts again.

“Dude. Stop talking.” Isaac shakes his head.

You walk into the room, your patient was on the bed, seizing. “What took you so long?” A nurse asks.

“She’s having multiple grand mal seizures, now how do you want to proceed? Dr. Y/L/N? Are you listening to me? She’s got Diazepam, 2 milligrams of Diazepam, I just gave her a second ago, Dr. Y/L/N, you need to tell us what you want to do. Dr. Y/L/N!” Another nurse shouts.

You’re panicked, you don’t know what to do. “Okay, she’s full on Prazepam?” You pick up her chart.

“She’s had 4 milligrams.” A nurse answers.

“Did you page Dr. Bailey and Dr. McCall?”

“The Prazepam’s not working.” A nurse says.

“Phenobarbital. Load her with Phenobarbital.” You nod.

“Pheno’s in.”

“No change.” A third nurse says.

“You paged Dr. McCall?” You ask.

“I just told you.”

“Well, page him again! Stat!”

“What do you want to do? Dr. Y/L/N, you need to tell us what you want to do!” A nurse looks at you. The monitor beeps. “Heart’s stopped!”

“Code blue, code blue! Code blue, code blue!” They pull out the defibrillators.

You take them, suddenly feeling in control. “Charge pulse of 200.” You yell.

“Charged. 200.”

You defib.

“Still defib. Nothing.” A nurse tells you. “Charging. 19 seconds.”

“Charge to 300.” You order.

“300. Anything? 27 seconds.”

“Charge to 360.” You defib again. Nothing. “Come on, Katie.” You mutter.

“49 seconds..” A nurse alerts you. “At 60 seconds you’re supposed to admit her…”

“Charge again!” You defib and her blood pressure registers.

“I see sinus rhythm. BP’s coming up.”

Scott runs in, “What the hell happened?”

“She had a seizure and-” You start.

“A seizure?” He repeats.

“Her heart stopped.”

“You were supposed to be monitoring her.” Scott sighs.

“I checked on her and she-”

“I got it. Just…just..go. Someone give me her chart, please.” He waves you out of the room and you leave.

You approach Bailey, “You get a 911, you page me immediately, not in the five minutes it takes you to get to the emergency…immediately, you are on my team and if somebody dies it’s my ass.” You walk past her. “You hear me, Y/L/N?”

“Y/N?” Kira raises an eyebrow.

You walk past her and she follows you out the front hospital doors, it’s pouring rain. You throw up in the grass. You stand up and sigh before walking back in. “If you tell anyone about this, ever…” You threaten her.

You find her later in the skills lab. “What are you doing?”

“I’m suturing a banana, in the vain hope it keeps my brain awake.”

Stiles laughs.

“What are you laughing at, 007?” She glares at him.

Stiles returns the glare, “You know what? I don’t care. I comforted a family today and I get to hang out in the OR. All is well.”

All of the interns are packed in a small room. Scott walks in and looks at everyone. “Well good morning. I’m going to do something pretty rare for a surgeon, I’m going to ask interns for help. I’ve got this kid, Katie Bryce. Right now, she’s a mystery. She doesn’t respond to her meds. Labs are clean, scans are pure, but she’s having seizures. Grand mal seizures with no visible cause. She’s a ticking clock. She’s going to die, if I don’t make a diagnosis. Which is where you come in. I can’t do it alone. I need your extra minds, extra eyes, I need you to play detective, I need you to find out why Katie is having seizures. I know you’re tired, you’re busy, you’ve got more work than you could possibly handle. I understand. So, I’m going to give you an incentive. Whoever finds the answer rides with me. Katie needs surgery. You get to do what no interns get to do. Scrub in to assist on an advanced procedure. Dr. Bailey’s going to hand you Katie’s chart. The clock is ticking fast, people. If we’re going to save Katie’s life, we have to do it soon.”

Everyone grabs a copy of the chart and runs out the door.

“Look, give the antibiotics time to work.” Isaac crosses his arms.

“The antibiotics should’ve worked by now.” The nurse argues.

Isaac sighs, “She’s old. She’s freaking ancient. She’s lucky she’s still breathing. Now, I’ve got a shot to scrub in downstairs with a patient who wasn’t alive during the civil war. Don’t page me again.” He walks away and Kira approaches you.

“Hey, I want in on McCall’s surgery. You’ve been the intern on Katie since the start. You want to work together? We find the answer we have a fifty-fifty shot of scrubbing in.”

“I’ll work with you, but I don’t want in on the surgery. You can have it.” You nod.

Kira looks taken aback, “Are you kidding me? It’s the biggest opportunity any intern will ever get.”

“I don’t want to spend any more time with McCall than I have to.” You shake your head.

She raises an eyebrow, “What do you have against McCall?”

“If we find the answer, the surgery’s yours. Do you want to work together or not?” You avoid her question. She grins and nods her head.

“Well, she doesn’t have anoxia, chronic renal failure, or acidosis. It’s not a tumor because her CT’s clean. Are you seriously not going to tell me why you won’t work with McCall?” Kira’s sitting in the library with you.

“No. what about infection?” You glance at a book.

“No. There’s no white count. She has no ceteal lesions, no fevers, nothing in her spinal tap…” She sighs. “Just tell me.”

You close the book and look up at her, “You can’t make a face, comment, or react in anyway. We had sex.”

Kira opens her mouth and closes it, “…what about an aneurysm?”

You shake your head, “No blood on the CT, and no headaches.”

“Okay..there’s no drug use, uh..no pregnancy, no trauma…was he good? I mean, he looks like he would be…was it any good?”

You don’t answer her question, “What are the answers? What if no one comes up with anything?” You groan.

“You mean if she dies?”

You nod, “Yeah.”

“This is going to sound really bad, but I really wanted that surgery.” Kira sighs.

“She’s just never going to get the chance to turn into a person. The sum total of her existence will be almost winning Miss Teen whatever. You know what her pageant talent is?” You ask Kira.

“They have talent?” She raises an eyebrow.

“Rhythmic gymnastics.” You deadpan and you both laugh.

“Oh, come on.” Kira shakes her head.

“What is rhythmic gymnastics? I don’t know…I can’t even say it, I don’t know what it is.” You laugh.

“Isn’t it like something with a ball, and a-” You go still and Kira stops talking. “…what? Y/N, what?”

“Get up! Come on!” You jump up. The both run out of the library. You walk by the elevator while Kira’s talking to you. She spots Scott and holds the door.

“-the only thing she could possibly need is a-..Oh, oh, Dr. McCall! Just one moment, um, uh, Katie competes in beauty pageants-”

“I know that, but we have to save her life anyway.” Scott shrugs

“Okay, she has no headaches, no neck pain, her CT’s clean, there’s no medical proof of an aneurysm…” Kira explains.

“Right.” Scott nods.

“But what if she has an aneurysm anyway?” She suggests.

“There are no indicators.” Scott looks at her.

“Ah, but she twisted her ankle, a few weeks ago when she was practicing for the pageant-”

“Look, I appreciate that you’re trying to help, but-”

“This is not helping!” Another doctor in the elevator shouts.

“She fell. When she twisted her ankle, she fell.” You explain to him.

“It was no big deal, not even a bump on the head, you know she got right back up, iced her ankle and everything was fine, it was a fall so minor her doctor didn’t even think to mention it when I was taking her history, but she did fall.” Kira nods.

“Well, you know the chances that a minor fall could burst an aneurysm, one in a million! Literally.” Scott shakes his head.

The both of you step back and sigh, letting the doors close. You hear a ding and look up, Scott walking out of the elevator.

“Let’s go.” He nods.

“Where?” Kira asks.

“To find out if Katie Bryce is one in a million.”

Yore in the scan room, looking at Katie’s recent scan. “I’ll be damned.” Scott shakes his head. “It’s minor, but it’s there. It’s a cerebachnoid haemorrhage. She’s bleeding into her brain.”

The three of you are walking down the hallway.

“She could’ve gone her entire life without it ever being a problem. One tap in the right spot-” Scott explains.

“And explode.” Kira nods.

“Exactly. Now I have to fix it. You two did great work. Love to stay and kiss your asses, but I gotta tell Katie’s parents she’s having surgery. Katie Bryce’s chart, please.” He says to reception.

“Oh, and Dr. McCall, you said that you’d pick someone to scrub in if we helped.” Kira calls out. “Oh, yes, right. Um, I’m sorry I can’t take you both, it’s going to be a full house. Y/N, I’ll see you in OR.”

You and Kira stay planted to your seats, shocked as Scott leaves.

Kira is clearly upset. “Kira..” She walks away, glaring at you over her shoulder.

You approach her and Lydia in the hallway. “I’ll tell him I changed my mind, you can-”

“No, no, don’t do me any favors. It’s fine.” Kira shakes her head.

“Kira…” You start.

“You know what, you did a cutthroat thing, deal with it. Don’t come to me for absolution, you want to be a shark, be a shark.” Kira waves her hands.

“I’m not-” You try to explain yourself.

“Oh, yes you are. Only it makes you feel all bad in your warm gooey places. No, screw you. I don’t get picked for surgeries because I slept with my boss, and I didn’t get into med school because I have a famous mother. You know, some of us have to earn what we get.” Kira rants. You didn’t know she knew about your mother.

You’re in the OR with Scott, he’s shaving Katie’s head. “I promised I’d make her look cool. Apparently being a bald beauty queen is the worst thing that happened in the history of the world.”

Did you choose me for the surgery because I slept with you?“ You raise an eyebrow.

"Yes.” Scott deadpans. “I’m kidding.”

“I’m not going to scrub in for surgery. You should ask Kira. She really wants it.” You shake your head “You’re Katie’s doctor. And on your first day, with very little training, you helped save her life. You earned the right to follow her case to the finish. You…you shouldn’t let the fact that we had sex get in the way of you taking your shot.” Scott looks at you.

You sit outside with Stiles. “I wish I wanted to be a chef. Or a ski instructor. Or a kindergarten teacher.” You sigh.

“You know, I would’ve been a really good postal worker. I’m dependable. You know, my dad tells everyone he meets that his son’s a surgeon. As if it’s a big accomplishment. A superhero or something. If he could see me now…” Stiles shakes his head.

“When I told my mother I wanted to go to medical school, she tried to talk me out of it. Said I didn’t have what it takes to be a surgeon. That I’d never make it. So, the way I see it, superhero sounds pretty damn good.” You shrug.

Stiles looks at you, “We’re going to survive this, right?”

Later you’re inside with Deaton and Isaac. Deaton was the chief of surgery.

“She’s still short of breath. Did you get an ABG or a chest film?” Deaton asks.

“Oh, yes sir, I did.” Isaac nods. “And what did you see?”

“Oh, well, I had a lot of patients last-”

“Name the common causes of post-op fever.” Deaton interrupts.

“Uh…yes, sir.” He pulls a notebook from his pocket.

“From your head. Not from a book. Don’t look it up, learn it, it should be in your head. Name the common causes of post-op fever.” Deaton crosses his arms.

“Uh…the common causes of post-op…” Isaac starts. “Can anybody name the common causes of post-op fever?” Deaton shouts.

“Wind, water, wound, walking, wonder drugs. The five W’s. Most of the time it’s wind, splinting, or pneumonia. Pneumonia’s easy to assume, especially if you’re too busy to do the tests.” You speak up.

Deaton gives Isaac a look before turning to you. “What do you think’s wrong with 4B?”

“The fourth W, walking. I think she’s a prime candidate for a pulmonary ambulus.” You nod. “How would you diagnose?”

“Spinal CT, VQ scan, provide O2, dose with Heparin, and consult for an IVC filter.” “Do exactly as she says, then tell your resident that I want you off this case.” Deaton says to Isaac. “I’d know you anywhere, you’re the spitting image of your mother. Welcome to the gang.” He smiles at you.

You’ve scrubbed in on Katie’s surgery, you’re in the OR with Scott.“

"All right everybody, it’s a beautiful night to save lives, let’s have some fun.” Scott says as the scrub nurse gloves him.

You spot Kira in the gallery.

After the surgery, Kira comes to find you, “It was a good surgery.”

“Yeah.” You nod.

Kira sits and sighs,“ We don’t have to do that thing where I say something, and then you say something, and then somebody cries, and there’s like a moment…”

“Yuck.” You laugh.

“Good. You should get some sleep. You look like crap.”

You scoff, “I look better than you.”

“It’s not possible.” Kira gets up and leaves.

Scott comes in, glancing at paperwork.

“That was amazing.” You sigh.

“Mmmm.” Scott continues looking at the paperwork.

“You practice on cadavers, you observe, and you think you know what you’re going to feel like standing over that table, but…that was such a high.” Scott looks at you and nods. “I don’t know why anybody does drugs.” You smile.

“Yeah.” Scott nods.

“Yeah.” You repeat.

Scott smiles, “I should go do this.”

“You should.” You nod.

Scott leaves, I’ll see you around.“

"See you around. See ya.”

After work you go to visit your mother. You walk inside the building, stopping a reception. You spot your mother in the corner of the room and you walk over to her.

“Are you the doctor?”

“No. I’m not your doctor. But I am a doctor.” You say.

“What’s your name?”

“It’s me, mom. Y/L/N.”

“All right.” She plays with her watch, “I used to be a doctor, I think.”

You take her hand, “You were a doctor, mom. You were a surgeon.”

[saranel]

thesplendidangharadd replied to your post “That's why I didn't understand your logic. While you admitted that...”

I know you hate it when I kinda " hijack" your post but seriously I couldn't stop myself on this one . Kubo did "show" us several times ichigo had latent feelings for Orihime . The lust arc ? The grimmjow fight ? The way he reacted when she was taken to hueco Mundo ? All of this happened around chapter 200 /300 it's not the end of the story . The fandom went out of its way to prove those moments meant nothing and IT DID . The thing is that

all those ichiruki moments you think Kubo "showed" can be interpreted as a strong platonic friendship . Ichigo's showing his feelings for orihime though ? Can only be interpreted as romantic . It's the peak of mauvaise foi for you to show us yoruichi telling ichigo to say something nice to orihime and not show those like 6 panels of him blushing out of his mind just because orihime wore a revealing outfit which was the " show" part of " show don't tell"

Kubo did not separate ichigo and rukia in order to push for ichihime . He separated them because from a story telling point of view their relationship reached its narrative end at the end of the fullbring arc . Ichigo doubted rukia was still his nakama because she did not come to see him while he was powerless but when she came back to gave him his powers he understood the bond he had with her was unbreakable which made him understand the bond he had with his other frien

friends ( who were under tsukishima influence at the time ) was also unbreakable . Showing scenes of them together had no point because the readers knew where they stood , their bond didn't need further developemment . Ichihime did and renruki though and that's why there is more of it in the last arc . Bleach was not a victim of ichiruki chemistry but of the ichiruki fandom who had a frienship who could be interpreted as love for the first 100 chapters and clung to it

for the other 580 chapters of the manga blindly refuting what was irrefutable proof that the manga was going in the ichihime direction

*sigh* You do realize that the reply feature is meant to be used for short messages? Save your interlocutor the trouble and hit ‘reblog’ pls?

(putting this under a cut because I care about my fellow man and their dash)

I know you hate it when I kinda " hijack" your post but seriously I couldn't stop myself on this one

Er... When have I ever said that...? I’m not even sure what you mean by ‘hijack’? Replying to/reblogging a post is not hijacking.  I can ignore your rebuttal if I so wish and if I didn’t want people to react to this post I wouldn’t have made it (though I’d blame the requester for the impetus, I was just replying to an ask).  S’all good 👍 

I’ll tell you what I do dislike, though, since we’re on the subject (hate is a pretty strong word): people who reply to a post in underhanded ways.  Liiiike, say (and this is completely off the top of my head, totes random example) taking screenshots of a post (not even in its entirety), then uploading them to their blog and going off on a rant the OP will receive no notification for and thus cannot respond to unless they stumble upon it by chance. Which of course allows them to be as unpleasant as they like before their audience of sycophants and call the OP names without fear of them actually weighing in.  

Wouldn’t happen to be familiar with a class act like that, would you? :) Just curious!

And yeah, I bet you couldn’t help yourself.  It’s, like, so harrrrd to stay out of the tag of your NOTP.  It’s not like you want to stir up trouble, no siree, not you, not ever.

The thing is that all those ichiruki moments you think Kubo "showed" can be interpreted as a strong platonic friendship . Ichigo's showing his feelings for orihime though ? Can only be interpreted as romantic

[...] Showing scenes of [Ichigo and Rukia] together had no point because the readers knew where they stood , their bond didn't need further developemment . Ichihime did and renruki though and that's why there is more of it in the last arc .

I’m confused.  If the only way to interpret all of Ichigo’s interactions with Orihime is under a romantic light, then why did IH and RR need further development? Weren’t the endgame pairs perfectly clear?

Also, both those points are in my original post.  I do mention the platonic aspect of IchiRuki and I do say that IH and RR needed a lot more development.

It's the peak of mauvaise foi for you to show us yoruichi telling ichigo to say something nice to orihime and not show those like 6 panels of him blushing out of his mind

Mauvaise foi??? Are we talking about the intent to deceive here, or Sartrean existentialism?????? Because either way, how on earth does it apply? Did I maliciously neglect to show some sort of huge moment in IH development? Because let me tell ya, Ichigo blushing at the sight of Rukia’s ass doesn’t really rank high in a list of top IR moments, either. I’d be surprised if it even makes the top 20.  It’s little more than icing, because the rest of the cake is already there.

Ichigo blushing at the sight of Orihime’s outfit isn’t exactly the best pro-IH argument, because this isn’t the first time he’s blushed at the sight of a pretty girl/woman showing some skin:

If blushing is meant to be interpreted as a surefire sign of actual affection and not the result of being a 17-year-old boy in the presence of sexiness, get ready for IchiRukiRanYoruHime, y’all. And they say Harem Anime is unrealistic.

But you know what?  The Orihime moment is unique in a very obvious way: Ichigo didn’t even notice Orihime’s outfit until Chad brought it to his attention, which is precisely the point.

You’ll notice I didn’t use the panel of Ichigo looking at Rukia’s ass and juxtapose the two in my original post, because that would’ve been pointless.  There is a reason I chose that panel of Yoruichi and it’s two-fold: 1) the post you read was the third response in a series of asks I got about Ichigo being teased about Orihime, and 2) the Yoruichi incident, just like the Chad incident before it, is an example of ‘telling.’

Ichigo’s friends need to constantly draw his attention to Orihime because he’s not doing it on his own.  If he was in love with Orihime, he should have been paying attention to her without anyone having to pester him into it. Up until the final arc, Ichigo is completely oblivious to her and her feelings unless they’re the only two people in a room or she’s directly talking to him (the scene where she heals him in SS and tears up comes to mind, or the one directly post the Aizen fight before he collapses).  

And it shouldn’t be this way for a guy who’s in love with a girl, even if he doesn’t yet realize it (since you mentioned ‘latent’ feelings).  She should be the first person he notices in a group, the person he singles out.  That would be showing.  The only time this ever happens is after they meet up with Ishida and Ichigo notices Orihime crying.  And it’s too little too late by that point for someone who, as you claim, has liked her for a while now.  If you want to argue that Ichigo has only just started falling for Orihime around chapter 661, that I can understand and get behind, even though I’m not a fan of the ship. 

I never claimed all those moments you talk about in the Lust arc are meaningless.  I can’t speak for the bulk of the fandom, but I’ve always believed Ichigo cares deeply about Orihime.  That much is undeniable.  But the reason I never thought of this affection as romantic is because it’s not followed through in the story until the very end.  Ichigo would die for every single one of his friends; his rushing to HM to save Orihime has no romantic connotations (just like the act of his rushing to SS to save Rukia is not romantic when examined in a vacuum).  But every time Ichigo and Orihime had a moment in the series, it wasn’t ever shown to change his feelings.

I mean, hell, when he carries Orihime in the HM arc, her ass is literally next to his face and there isn’t a blush in sight.

Have fun trying to picture Ishida in the exact same scenario, guys.  I know I did

Orihime, who actually, canonically likes Ichigo, is blushing like no-one’s business, while Ichigo is all: “Bruh, this is the quickest way.” He just casually picks her up like it’s no big deal, when before he rescued Rukia in SS, the friggin’ dork just stood there with the flames of the Sōkyoku blazing behind him, grinning at her like an idiot and trying to look cool. Which is exactly the kind of crap teenage boys pull to impress the girls they like.

Even after that moment in the Lust arc of Ichigo being brought back by Orihime’s voice (which I know is very big with IH shippers) nothing changes in the way Ichigo sees her.  When he activates his Fullbring, Rukia is still the person he singles out, even after he literally rose from the dead to save Orihime.

This is what I mean by “Show, don’t tell.” In a properly developed romance, the climax of the Ulquiorra fight should’ve been the start of Ichigo at the very least starting to pay more attention to Orihime.

We get all this panel time of Orihime thinking about Ichigo, talking about her feelings for Ichigo, but nothing on his side.  He’s the friggin’ protagonist.  He should’ve spent at least some time thinking about Orihime without anyone having to push him into it.  It wouldn’t even have to be explicitly romantic like it was with Orihime, all Kubo needed to do to show his changing feelings was to occasionally show Ichigo thinking about her.  The only time I can ever recall him specifically doing so was to point out that her powers had grown and that was always after either talking to her or watching her in action.

You said it yourself: IH and RR needed more development.  And that’s the problem right there.  Ichigo and Rukia could’ve jumped straight into a romance almost immediately post Yhwach fight and even people who don’t like the pairing couldn’t have claimed they needed more development.  Even in the RR novel, Ichigo and Orihime don’t get together until 3 years post war.  

I can picture Ichigo and Orihime growing closer and Ichigo falling in love with her at some point after 684.  What I don’t see and never have is evidence of that romance from his side in the manga. The fact that they got married isn’t in itself proof of Ichigo having been in love with her from the start, it’s proof that he’s in love with her now and has been since whenever it was they started dating. 

Kubo did not separate ichigo and rukia in order to push for ichihime . He separated them because from a story telling point of view their relationship reached its narrative end at the end of the fullbring arc .

Oh, that is complete bullcrap and you know it.  Setting aside pairings for a moment, can you honestly tell me that when you thought of the final showdown in Bleach you pictured Ichigo, Aizen and Renji with a dash of last-minute Ishida thrown in?

I’ve seen posts from IH fans rejoicing in “Kubo trolling the IR fandom” and talking about how he deliberately kept Ichigo and Rukia apart, or made certain choices just to spite the fandom.  You can’t have it both ways, claiming that Kubo merely followed the narrative one day, then saying he did it on purpose the next one. It’s one or the other, can’t be both.

Kubo himself called Rukia the protagonist of the Shinigami side and she wasn’t there for any of the confrontations against Yhwach.  Orihime, at least, fought alongside Ichigo in the first one, but Rukia was completely sidelined.  ‘From a story telling point of view,’ she deserved to be there instead of Renji, but since Kubo was pressed for time, he had Renji join Ichigo on his own so they could have a talk on the way there and cement RR.  Renji literally did nothing in the final battle, unlike Aizen and Ishida.  It could’ve been anyone but Ishida in his place and the result would’ve been exactly the same.  There was no reason for him to be there on his own other than to talk about his reconciliation with Rukia.  Which was a lovely moment, but it could’ve happened at literally any other time.  Orihime wouldn’t have been left alone, either, if Rukia had joined them: the Fullbringers were all there to stay with her.

Kubo didn’t have the time to do a full-on nakama fight, so he gave Orihime her moment earlier on; shat all over Chad; shoehorned Ishida in because this was kinda his arc after all, oopsie; used Renji as canon fodder, and devoted a full chapter on Aizen swinging his dick Kyōka Suigetsu around.  But no Rukia.  

Because you know, just as well as I do, that if she had been there for the end, fighting alongside Ichigo (since a group fight wasn’t feasible), the negative reaction to the ending would’ve been ten times as bad.   

[themidnightrulesarebreakin]

119

I’ve been working on this short story for my creative writing class pretty much nonstop. I think I’ve almost gotten it worked out completely, but the ending still feels off. If anyone could let me know what they think, I’d really appreciate it.

TW: eating disorders

Be small. Be invisible. Hope they don’t notice. Be small. Be invisible.

           Her arms trembled, tucked tightly across her chest. Her knees were drawn in close, the cold tile of the pool deck cutting into her backside. Her cap and goggles lay on the ground beside her. There were still ten minutes until practice started. Her teammates were stretching, munching on pre-practice fruit snacks and granola bars, and chatting around her, talking about classes or what they thought practice was going to entail. It was the same thing every day.

           She studied the gently rippling surface of the water, disturbed only by the heavy humming fans at the other end. The blue and white backstroke flags fluttered quietly. With the sticky humidity on deck, she craved the cool embrace of the pool and the silence that came from tracing lap after lap up and down the lanes. But she could wait a few more minutes and enjoy the warmth on deck. She was always cold, nowadays. Her fingertips and toes, especially.

           “Erin?” The light touch of her coach’s hand on her shoulder startled her from her thoughts. Reflexively, she jerked away from the contact, almost falling over onto the deck. She scrambled back up, craning her head back to look him in the eye. He towered over her.

           “A word, please? In my office?” He looked around at the other swimmers stretching lazily on deck and tugging at the straps of their matching black and blue practice suits. “In five minutes, get started on an eight hundred.”

           The other women nodded. Erin noticed Maxine, one of the seniors, watching her carefully; she tried to ignore her. Erin pushed herself to her feet, her shoulders hunched forward, making herself smaller. Everyone was looking at her, and she knew they’d see just how her swimsuit hung from its straps, probably two sizes too big now. So much for being invisible,

           The office was small and cramped, with a desk and a TV and bookshelves lining the walls. The carpet was scratchy beneath her bare feet. She’d never been asked in here during practice. Her coach gestured for her to take a seat in one of the high-backed rolling chairs. She perched on the edge of one, trying to look anywhere but at her coach. Her eyes alighted on one of the photos on the bookshelves, a framed team picture from years ago. The women in it looked delighted as they laughed at their coach doing a handstand in the front row. As Erin and her coach sat there, the quiet whine of the air conditioning was the only sound between them for a breath. It did nothing to alleviate the humidity in the room. Erin could feel her palms beginning to sweat.

           Her coach moved suddenly, startling her as he reached into a drawer and pulled out that damned black notebook. He flipped through it for a moment, until he found what he was looking for. Once he did, he pushed the open notebook across the desk towards Erin.

           “Erin, do you know what this is?”

           Of course she did. He kept track of everything in it, their workouts—both in the weight room and in the pool, what they ate at meets, for every single meal, and their weights. On the page in front of her, a list of all her teammates’ names marched down the page, with their weights dutifully recorded next to their names. It didn’t take any time for Erin to find her own name, but she didn’t need to look at the numbers. Just seeing them made her eyes burn, her stomach twist. She felt like she was going to cry, or throw up.

           Every other Friday morning before weightlifting, all eighteen members of the swim team tromped upstairs to the wrestling room and took off their shoes to stand in a line and inch towards that humiliating moment where they each had to step on the scale in front of everybody else.

           To her chagrin, her coach always reminded them they could step on the scale backwards if they didn’t want to know the number. But stepping on the scale backwards in front of her seventeen nosy teammates would earn her hell in the locker room.

           That first day, way back in September, she had watched as every one of her teammates stepped on that scale facing forward, and looked at the number as their coach wrote it down in that accursed notebook.

           When it was Erin’s turn, she copied her teammates, stepping on the scale facing forward and looking at the little number that flashed up. 133. That couldn’t be right. She’d weighed a solid 140 pounds throughout high school—had running the last few weeks really made her drop so much weight?

           She had tried to put that number out of her mind, but two weeks later, it was even lower. 129. Then 126. Sometimes it went up a pound or two, but it would drop again by the next weigh-in. Most recently, she had weighed in at 119 pounds. She watched as her teammates popped on and off the scale, slipped their shoes back on and laughed about their weights. It never seemed to bother them. Those little numbers consumed Erin. They gnawed at her while she swam, chewing her stomach and rattling around in the back of her mind. They felt embossed on her eyelids when she closed her eyes to go to sleep at night. And those mornings in the weight room, she could feel them glaring at her from every mirror as she watched her form during her squats and pull ups. It didn’t help that her coach walked up and down the rows of lifting swimmers and shouted out encouragement in terms of losing weight, not getting stronger.

           “Our biggest meet so far is in two weeks. Time to get down to our fighting weights!”

           Those words made goosebumps break out on her skin and a cold, clammy feeling crawled down her spine. But they also wiggled their way into the back of her mind, and joined the flashing numbers in their taunting. She didn’t even know what they meant. Swimmers weren’t supposed to have strict weight limitations—right? They weren’t gymnasts or wrestlers.

           One Friday morning, six days before their November championship invite, Erin stepped on the scale backwards in front of all her teammates. Most of them weren’t paying attention, but the sticky air in the room seemed to still nonetheless. Her coach pretended not to notice, just wrote the number down and called up the next swimmer in line.

           No one said anything to her during their workout.

           “Erin?” Her coach broke her from her thoughts. “I’m worried about you.” His voice was gentle, like he was trying to approach the subject politely, but his attempt only made Erin burn with anger. How dare he pretend to care about her now?

           But he just kept talking. “Maxine mentioned to me she thought I should talk to you—she’s worried about you, too. We want to help you—we can set you up with our nutritionist, or—”

           Erin should’ve known Maxine had something to do with this. Those were her words, the same thing she had said to her back in November, after their invite. Erin wasn’t happy with how she swam at that meet. As well as she felt she trained, the results just weren’t what she was expecting. On the bus ride home, she couldn’t help fixating on each of her races. Her 500 freestyle, the first day of the meet, had gone great in prelims. She had come within a few tenths of a second of the school record. She thought she’d come back to finals and break it, but she ran out of gas 200 yards into the race and came in a disappointing eighth. In her 400 individual medley the next day, she never felt like she really got going, gaining an embarrassing twenty-five seconds in one of her favorite events. She hadn’t swam that slow since she was twelve. And since she swam so slowly, she hadn’t qualified in the top 16 to make it back for finals.

           She didn’t even want to think about the mile she swam that evening. She had been seeded top eight, so she didn’t have to swim it in prelims, advancing instead straight to the evening finals. She wasn’t guaranteed eighth, though. And her abysmal race placed her fifteenth overall, barely winning any points for her team.

           When they’d all piled on the bus after finals, her coach had spent the first twenty minutes lecturing and seething. As a team, they hadn’t placed as highly as he wanted them to. Erin couldn’t help blaming herself for that. She thought she would’ve swam better, placed higher, won more points. They finished seventh out of ten teams. They should’ve finished third or fourth.

           As Erin’s teammates fell asleep, Erin kept herself up, her mind circling round and round, trying to understand what had happened. She’d done everything right—so why was she swimming so poorly? She had a notebook open on her lap, the tiny light above her seat illuminating the pages, but Erin couldn’t focus on her class notes. The music playing in her earbuds was only irritating her further.

           That is, until someone tugged her earbud right out of her ear.

           Erin looked up in surprise—she hadn’t noticed Maxine sliding into the seat beside her.      

           “Can we talk?” She whispered, gesturing between Erin and herself. Maxine’s hair was still wet, swept up in a messy bun on top of her head.

           Erin studied Maxine for a moment, and finally nodded. She didn’t pull out her other earbud.

           “I take it you weren’t particularly happy with how you swam this weekend, were you?”

           Erin’s eyes narrowed. “What gave it away?”

           “It happens. You holding up okay?”

           Erin nodded. Her stomach twisted uncomfortably. She wished Maxine would leave her alone.

           “Erin,” Maxine said slowly. “I’ve noticed lately—I don’t mean to intrude—but have you been eating enough?”

           Erin’s head snapped up in alarm, her pulse quickening. “What gives you that idea?” she whispered tersely, glancing furtively towards the front of the bus, where her coach always sat. She prayed he was asleep.

           “You seemed to only really pick at your food this weekend. I just want to make sure you’re doing okay.” Maxine looked like she meant it. “I know Coach can be kinda intense. If you ever need a break from him, we have a fantastic nutritionist. Helen could really help—”

           Erin knew a meeting with the nutritionist was practically a death sentence. Their coach had said as much during their first team meeting back at the end of August. Erin couldn’t afford to lose her scholarship—a visit to the nutritionist would put it in jeopardy. Their coach didn’t tolerate failures. “Max, no offense but—I don’t need any help. I’m fine. Everyone has a bad meet.”

           In the dim glow of the light, Maxine looked taken aback. She fiddled with the zipper on her warm-up jacket. “Okay. Yeah. Sorry I said anything. I’ll let you get back to studying.”

           Erin only felt worse when Maxine went back to her seat, and she was faced with the lonely remainder of the bus ride back to campus.

           Erin had pushed the meet off as a setback, nothing more. She was convinced she would do better at Conferences. That’s what they were really training for anyway, not some mid-November invite.

           But Conferences was three weeks away, and instead of training, Erin was sitting in her coach’s office listening to him babble on about his ‘concerns.’ If he was so worried, why did he only bring granolas bars for the swimmers to eat at their last meet? When some of her teammates had gotten their parents to bring them lunch, her coach had berated them for eating actual, substantial food. They’d all been forced to watch as the other teams got catered sandwiches and whatnot. When they stopped for dinner on the bus ride home, it was at a frozen yogurt shop. Why did he prattle on about how worried he was, then turn around and encourage them to eat as little as possible, to swim more, to lift heavier?

           Erin knew she didn’t eat much. She’d never meant for it to get to this point. But the dining hall food made her stomach twist sourly if she ate before practice, and if anyone threw up during practice, their coach only tacked on extra repeats and made the work outs harder. Whoever was responsible never heard the end of it, and Erin didn’t want to be the one responsible. While she craved attention in the pool, she preferred to be left alone outside of it. She had that little voice in the back of her head reminding her she didn’t need to eat as much before practice as she thought she did—their practices were hard enough without her making them worse.

           “—we really need you to be in top form, I’m sure you understand, with Conferences so close. You’ve been really off at the last few meets. You have the potential to final in every race you’re entered in, and we really need those points—we need you to perform. You should know, your scholarship is based on your performance—” Her coach was still talking.

           That’s all he cared about—those points she could score at Conferences, helping raise the team in rankings to recruit better swimmers for next season, swimmers that would shove Erin to the back of her coach’s mind while he doted on the freshmen. Swimmers that would take her funding. She saw how he treated her classmates compared to the sophomores. The juniors were practically invisible. Erin knew she was replaceable—just by the virtue of having recruited her, her coach could reel in other swimmers like her, even ones that were faster.

           Just a year ago, Erin had been recruited as a talented distance swimmer, the first from her high school to commit to a top tier school. She’d been lured in by the promise of team records that were already so close to her own best times, a significant scholarship, and the caveat she had to swim fast to keep getting her money. A year ago, she had never imagined she wouldn’t be able to keep dropping time. All she had wanted was to swim for four more years, break records, win titles, be successful.

           But Erin wasn’t sure she wanted to spend three more years with him yelling at her, nitpicking, and forcing her on that God forsaken scale. Erin wasn’t sure what would be left of her if she let him worm his way into her head for three more years. She hadn’t failed to notice that the voice keeping her up at night, tormenting her, sounded so much like his own.

           Those points at Conferences, the medals, the school records—if she even broke them—Erin wasn’t convinced they were worth the false concern dripping from her coach’s voice, coating his lies and hiding his role in the thoughts that rattled through her head.

           Erin stood suddenly, her legs shaky under her. Her coach finally, blessedly, stopped talking, his mouth hanging open comically before he snapped it shut. Erin could feel sweat running down her back, slinking under the suit straps that criss-crossed under her shoulder blades. The small office felt stifling, humid and hot despite the best efforts of the air conditioner.

           “I’m sorry—I can’t do this.” Erin swallowed. Her coach opened his mouth to interject. Erin didn’t give him a chance--she turned and bolted out the door, past her teammates midway through their warm-up, her bare feet slapping on the wet tile floor. She ducked into the momentary silence of the locker room, pressing her back against the door. She heaved a deep breath, and then another, before sliding to the ground and burying her face in her hands.

           The small voice in the back of her head told her to go back out on deck, put her cap and goggles on, and get in the pool. She had laps to swim, race paces to train. She couldn’t eat dinner if she didn’t train. She wouldn’t have earned it.

           But Erin couldn’t bring herself to do that. She couldn’t face her coach. Not right now.

           So go to the gym. Go for a run. Erin needed to do something. She needed to workout. She didn’t know how to function without it. But she couldn’t bring herself to move. How had she let herself get to this point?

           She felt the door push against her back, and Erin scuttled away from ot, terrified of being shoved across the locker room floor.

           “Oh my gosh—I’m so sorry, I didn’t know you would be right there!” Erin had expected it to be her coach, barging his way into the women’s locker room. But no, she should’ve known he would’ve sent Maxine to do his bidding.

           Erin scrambled to her feet and turned her back on Maxine, trudging over to her locker and fiddling with the combination. Anything to avoid looking Maxine in the eye.

           All the same, Maxine appeared next to her, still dripping wet, her goggles perched on top of her black swim cap. “Erin, please, we need to talk.”

           “Done letting Coach do it for you?” Erin asked coldly, shrugging the straps of her suit off and pulling on her clothes.

           “Don’t let him get to you—you’re too good for that, and you know it.”

           “What’s that supposed to mean?”

           Maxine sighed, settling onto one of the blue benches that were lined up in front of their lockers. Erin stopped midway through pulling her sweatshirt over her head to study Maxine.

           “I know he can be intense—he means well, but he always seems to get right under your skin, you know?” Erin tugged her sweatshirt the rest of the way over her head and sat down next to Maxine. “But that’s what we’re here for—we’re a team. We help each other. I’ve seen how hard you push yourself every day—if you walk out that door, it’ll all go to waste. The stupid shit he says isn’t worth throwing away your swimming career over. Not when you have us to support your through it.”

           “I hadn’t… decided if I was gonna leave,” Erin mumbled.

           “I know. Look, I get it, okay? My freshman roommate, Amy, went through something similar. I let her walk away from the sport, and she was miserable. Her eating disorder spiraled out of control and—”

           “I don’t have an eating disorder.”

           Maxine stopped short. “You do. But I’m not going to argue with you. The point I’m trying to make is: I want to help you, really. I told Amy to quit, and it was the wrong call. She was a lot like you. I don’t want to see you go through the same thing. Come talk to our nutritionist with me—she can really help, I swear. I know we don’t have that long until Conferences, but—”

           “I can’t go see her,” Erin said, a sadness edging her voice. Her eyes started to burn again.

           “Why not?”

           “I’ll lose my scholarship.”

           “What?” Maxine started laughing, covering her mouth with her hand. “I’m sorry. That is so not how this works. Coach doesn’t even need to know. Helen has a confidentiality agreement—if you go to her on your own, Coach’ll never know. It’s only if he sets it up himself he knows about it. But he doesn’t have to if you don’t want him to. I’ll make sure he doesn’t find out unless you want him to.”

           Erin felt something inside of her deflate. She wiped at her eyes with the backs of her hands, her shoulders hunched forward and shaking.

           “What’s wrong?” Maxine asked.

           “I just feel so stupid,” Erin sniffed, fighting the sobs that were threatening to burst forth. “I can’t believe I let myself get to this point—” That damned 119, bright red like when it lit up on the scale, burned on the back of her eyelids, taunting her.

           Maxine wrapped her arms around her, her damp arms leaving wet splotches on Erin’s sweatshirt. “It happens. It’s not a bad thing. That’s what we’re here for, when things get rough. Do you want to go talk to Helen? I can change really quick and we can go.”

           “Coach won’t care if you miss practice?”

           Maxine just shrugged. “I’m graduating. He can’t do anything to me except threaten to take me out of Conferences, which he’s not going to do. Besides, missing one practice isn’t going to kill me.”

           Erin sat there quietly while she waited for Maxine to change. She studied her locker in front of her, decked out with sparkly duct tape and cutouts of giraffes with cute inspirational quotes and goal times written all over them. One of her teammates had decorated it for her at the beginning of the season. It felt like a lifetime ago. Erin studied those goal times—if she got herself together, could she hit them at Conferences? Probably not, but the thought was enough to lift her spirits marginally.

           “Hey,” Maxine said, startling Erin out of her thoughts. She shrugged her backpack onto her shoulders. “You ready?”

           Erin shakily climbed to her feet and nodded, following Maxine out of the locker room, through a hallway, and into the cool February air that greeted them outside.

[yahoo-from-the-marbles-blog]

NASCAR Power Rankings: Kevin Harvick's back at No. 1

Welcome to the 2018 edition of our weekly NASCAR Power Rankings. Our continuing feature will attempt to rank and assess the moment’s top 12 drivers in the Cup Series. You’ll probably disagree with our rankings. And that’s fine. Give us your feedback either in the comments below or on Twitter.

1. Kevin Harvick (LW: 3): The first driver to four wins in 2018 is deserving of the No. 1 spot. Harvick’s been as consistent as Kyle Busch and Joey Logano and now has more wins than any of them. He’s also had more speed too. With 201 laps led on Sunday, Harvick has led 741 laps in 2018. Busch has led the second-most with 498.

“I felt like we had a really good car from the time we unloaded, and I think you could tell that from when we qualified,” Harvick said. “That’s usually not my strong point, qualifying up here, and to be able to qualify on the front row, we had three great practices and everything just kind of fell into place, and when they dropped the green flag, it was definitely still good.”

2. Joey Logano (LW: 2): Logano was one of three drivers who pitted during the caution that happened when Kyle Busch’s driveshaft when kablooie. He never regained the track position he lost. Logano ended up 13th.

3. Kyle Busch (LW: 1): Busch’s 35th-place finish at Dover is his worst finish since he was 35th in the spring race at Bristol a year ago. Busch knew his car had a problem in the early stages of the race and sure enough, it only made it to lap 271.

4. Clint Bowyer (LW: 9): Bowyer is suddenly turning in his best season since 2012. He’s fourth in the points standings after finishing second to teammate Kevin Harvick and would have won the race if NASCAR called it after 320 laps because of rain.

“Clearly Kevin was up front was the car to beat most of the day,” Bowyer said. “It was our first shot at tires and taking off in clean air. It makes a big difference. When you’re back in dirty air mired in traffic like we were most of the day it’s tough.”

5. Kurt Busch (LW: 7): Busch continues to help make Stewart-Haas the best team in the Cup Series. He finished fifth on Sunday and is sixth in the points standings, meaning half of the top six positions in the points are occupied by SHR drivers.

6. Denny Hamlin (LW: 5): Guess what? Hamlin got another pit road penalty on Sunday! It wasn’t really his fault, however. He was one of many drivers trying to make it to the end of the first stage without making a late pit stop and he ran out of gas right as the stage ended. He then had to pit before the pits were open to make sure his car didn’t come to a stop on the track.

The end of the first stage was intriguing as hell, and it’s a shame that NASCAR broke its own rules to help teams who needed gas get that fuel sooner. NASCAR opened the pits earlier than normal at the end of the first stage because of the fuel situation that had developed during the stage.

Why? Because according to NASCAR vice president Scott Miller, the sport is in the “entertainment” business.

It’s a lame excuse and one that shouldn’t be tolerated by fans, even if there’s no rule on when NASCAR actually opens the pits in the middle of a stage. Cars running out of gas trying to make a strategy play is entertaining too. And the sport shouldn’t be changing its protocol on the fly because some teams tried something. It’s unfair to the teams who weren’t out of gas.

7. Chase Elliott (LW: 4): Elliott was 12th and third among Chevrolets. That second statistic shows just how poor the new Camaro has performed. While Ford may have rebounded from 2017, how much of that is because Chevrolet has taken a step back with its new car?

We have no doubts Chevy teams will get faster as the season goes on, but it’s remarkable that the learning curve is as steep as it seems.

8. Jimmie Johnson (LW: 6): Johnson was best in class once again, finishing ninth and best of all the Chevys. It feels mean to demote him two spots after a top-10 finish, but it also feels mean to demote Elliott four spots after finishing 12th. So it goes.

9. Ryan Blaney (LW: 8): Blaney was eighth and there’s no post-race quote from him in Ford’s notebook. So this will once again be a short entry for Blaney. Kind of weird for a guy being touted as one of the sport’s future stars, but there’s a lot of weird things in this sport.

10. Martin Truex Jr. (LW: 11): Truex finished fourth at the one track that’s legitimately his home track. His post-race comments reflect the quality of racing at Dover on Sunday. Yeah, there were multiple grooves, but passing didn’t seem all that prevalent.

“Just really hard to pass here today,” Truex said. “Our car was fast in clean air, but I couldn’t pass anybody – especially those last 200 laps once we got somewhere up towards the front, so it was all about where we come off pit road and how we restarted and it’s frustrating, but we just couldn’t seem to make the car turn off the corner all day long. It was tight from the get go and that really hindered me in traffic.”

11. Kyle Larson (LW: 10): Larson bounced back after starting at the back of the field and getting a pit road penalty on lap 98. He got a lap back on Busch’s caution and then worked his way back through the field to 10th by the end of the race.

12. Brad Keselowski (LW: 12): Keselowski was far better at the beginning of the race than he was at the end. He was third in the first stage, second in the second and then finished sixth.

“We kind of fell apart on the last two runs,” Keselowski said.

The Lucky Dog: Daniel Suarez tied a career high with a third-place finish.

The DNF: Corey LaJoie’s engine made it a whopping 20 laps.

Dropped Out: N/A

– – – – – – –

Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.

Follow @NickBromberg on Twitter

More from Yahoo Sports: • NBA assistant coach resigns amid reports of misconduct • Report: UFC champ rejected Conor McGregor’s apology • Mike Trout reveals the one pitcher he can’t figure out • Hall of Famer has unusual, grim post-MLB career

[junker-town]

We wrote Boise State off after losing to Virginia, then they looked like Boise State again

That, and all the other story lines from Day 1 of FBS bowl season.

Las Vegas Bowl: Boise State 38, Oregon 28

It's a strange time to be a Boise State fan. Your school is unquestionably still the blue blood of the Group of Five. You have won at least 11 games in 11 of the last 16 seasons, and you're going to finish ranked for the 11th time in that span as well. For a former community college in Idaho, this remains an unbelievable story.

Since losing your greatest coach ever (Chris Petersen, who has since gone on to build a juggernaut at Washington), you are still averaging 10.5 wins per year. You are, for all intents and purposes, still Boise State.

Still, because of the bar that was set at the turn of this decade, there seems to be something missing at times. And there are only a couple of opportunities per year to fill that void.

Most mid-major programs are judged first by how they do in conference play. And to be sure, BSU's just fine there — the Broncos just won their third Mountain West title in seven years, which pairs nicely with the eight WAC titles they won in their nine-year residence there.

By both fans and outsiders, though, Boise State is judged by how it does against the big boys. From 2008-11, the Broncos went 8-2 against teams that are now in power conferences. Seven of those 10 opponents finished with at least 10 wins. They were a legitimate college football powerhouse, no matter the conference affiliation.

Conference realignment wasn't kind to BSU, though. Unlike Utah and TCU (against whom they are 6-2 since joining FBS), the Broncos were a little too isolated to receive a power conference invitation. Their options were remaining in the Mountain West (which they had just joined in 2011) or moving to the AAC, a geographical mismatch.

The MWC is a tricky conference in its own right. You've got to deal with basically every style of offense under the sun, and if you're BSU, you've got to deal with getting everyone's home run swing, too. But the Broncos are still judged primarily by the two or three shots they get at a power conference team each year.

They went just 1-3 against such foes in Petersen's last two years in charge (2012-13) but won five of their first six under Bryan Harsin. They won their third Fiesta Bowl in 2014, then went 4-1 against P5 teams in 2015-16. But they finished 2016 with a confusing blowout loss to Baylor, and after a narrow defeat at Washington State early this season, they got smoked at home by Virginia. Even if you're dealing with a crazy number of early injuries (and BSU was), that's simply not supposed to happen. Anxiety in Boise reached a level unseen in quite a while. Were the Broncos simply just another mid-major program now? Are the glory days officially over?

Since the UVA loss, BSU has been BSU again. They won seven games in a row, including a 31-14 manhandling of No. 19 San Diego State. And after dropping an end-of-year check-up against a good Fresno State, the Broncos turned around and beat the Bulldogs a week later in the MWC tite game. And then they got a shot to officially exorcise the Virginia/P5 demon by facing Oregon in the Vegas Bowl on Saturday.

Saturday, we saw the best version of Boise State. The Broncos had fun, having receivers do pirouettes for some reason and attempting yet another bowl game Statue of Liberty play (evidently they only work in the Fiesta Bowl). And despite some red zone disasters — a fumble that was returned for a touchdown, an interception that was returned for a touchdown, another regular old interception, and a missed field goal — they were never seriously in danger.

Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Their defense also did things that seemingly only BSU can do to Oregon. The Ducks averaged just 1.7 yards per carry, their first time under two since the last time they played the Broncos in 2009. Without Royce Freeman, Oregon was immediately rendered one-dimensional, and BSU was able to tee off on quarterback Justin Herbert, picking him off twice and sacking him four times. UO didn’t cross the 200-yard mark in total offense until well into the fourth quarter, and BSU cruised.

BSU has just one senior starter, by the way. The Broncos entered the game ranked 34th in Def. S&P+ and could enter the top 30 after Saturday’s awesome performance. They will be expected to improve on that a decent amount next year.

This game was a statement opportunity for Boise State, and the Broncos took full advantage. It was a disappointing showing, meanwhile, for the Ducks, who were underwhelming from the opening kickoff in Mario Cristobal’s first game as full-time head coach.

Because we overreact, by a power of about 10, to bowl games, there will be a pocket of Duck fans that treats this as an indictment of the Cristobal hire, and ... whatever. The guy pulled off one of the best coaching performances of the 2000s in dragging moribund FIU to a couple of bowl games, then spent four seasons under Nick Saban and one in Eugene under Willie Taggart. He’ll have a very good chance to succeed at Oregon, and Saturday’s game meant nothing in the long-term.

New Mexico Bowl: Marshall 31, Colorado State 28

Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

I liked BSU as a potential top-30 team heading into the season, and I would say that belief was backed up (eventually). But I had one MWC team ranked higher than the Broncos in my preseason power rankings: Mike Bobo’s CSU Rams.

Two months into the season, they had mostly lived up to my expectations. They blew approximately 28 scoring chances (give or take) in a loss to Colorado, but they were 6-2 overall and began conference play 4-0.

They then proceeded to lose three of four to end the regular season. And for the second year in a row, they had to get knocked to the mat in a bowl game before attempting a rally.

Saturday’s loss in Marshall was not nearly as bad as last year’s bowl performance, in which they trailed Idaho 41-7 late in the third quarter before rallying to lose by 11. But there were some familiar moments all the same.

The score was 14-14 late in the second quarter, but Marshall went on a 17-0 run to open up a commanding lead heading into the fourth quarter. CSU scored twice and got the ball back with a chance to tie or take the lead, but they could only drive to around midfield before turning the ball over on downs.

It was an admirable rally, but once again, pre-Q4 failings doomed them.

Bobo is recruiting well and has engineered three consecutive bowl bids for a program that had bowled only three times in nine years before his arrival. Still, he hasn’t really built the program beyond where it appeared to be headed under predecessor Jim McElwain, and, to me at least, the 2017 campaign was undoubtedly disappointing. And now they’ll have to replace a pretty impressive senior class.

Kudos to Marshall, by the way. The Herd fell off a cliff in 2016, and after a 6-1 start in 2017, they dealt with a series of disappointing results down the stretch — 30-25 to FAU, 9-7 to UTSA, 28-27 to Southern Miss. They took full advantage of one last opportunity to make something of their season, however, and with very few key senior contributors, they’ll head into 2018 with pre-collapse expectations once again.

New Orleans Bowl: Troy 50, North Texas 30

Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

The coaching carousel isn’t finished just yet, so Troy isn’t totally safe just yet, but as of now, it appears that the Trojans might have Neal Brown around for a fourth season. That’s awfully exciting considering what they’ve accomplished in his tenure.

Brown’s Trojans have gone 21-5 in the last two seasons, beating LSU this fall and scaring the hell out of eventual national champion Clemson last year. They capped an 11-win campaign with a decisive victory over C-USA West champ UNT in the Superdome early on Saturday, and they will finish the season in the S&P+ top 40.

Troy held an excellent Mean Green offense to just 295 total yards and, including sacks, minus-8 yards rushing. The Trojans logged 11 tackles for loss, four forced fumbles, and eight passes defensed, good for a 29 percent havoc rate that could easily end up the highest of bowl season.

UNT rallied after a miserable start, turning an early 22-7 deficit into a 22-20 game at halftime. But Troy went on a 28-3 run to start the second half, and that was that.

Cure Bowl: Georgia State 27, Western Kentucky 17

Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports

The current bowl ties do not allow for many P5 vs. G5 opportunities. Instead, it’s a lot of the two groups fighting amongst themselves. There were three Conference USA vs. Sun Belt battles on Saturday, and while C-USA held a slight advantage in terms of average S&P+ during the year, the SBC went 2-1 in these games.

Georgia State was a hard team to figure out in 2017. Shawn Elliott’s first Panther team thrived in close games, beating Coastal Carolina, South Alabama, Georgia Southern, and Texas State each by one possession and eking out bowl eligibility despite playing only 11 games. But four of their five losses were by at least 14 points, and the fifth was a gross 17-10 loss to Tennessee State, a mediocre FCS squad.

Good GSU showed up in Orlando. Against a WKU team that disappointed a bit in Mike Sanford’s first year replacing Jeff Brohm, the Panthers outscored the Hilltoppers 24-3 from the middle of the first quarter through the middle of the fourth. They picked off two passes, recorded six sacks, and connected on just enough big passes to keep WKU at bay. Conner Manning completed 20 of 28 passes for 276 yards, and despite stinking for half the season, the Panthers finished with seven wins for the first time at the FBS level.

Camellia Bowl: MTSU 35, Arkansas State 30

Marvin Gentry-USA TODAY Sports

The first day of bowl season finished in wacky fashion. The Camellia Bowl featured six turnovers and one of the strangest college football plays you’ll ever see. It also saw MTSU take full advantage of an opportunity it didn’t think it would get.

The Blue Raiders thought they had been locked out of bowl festivities when they scored a Camellia bid at the last minute.

The hardest part was saying goodbye to the seniors.

"Me and (senior wide receiver Shane Tucker) embraced and hugged, told him how much I loved him, that kind of thing," [MTSU quarterback Brent Stockstill] said. "I did the same with some other guys. We thought it was over."

The two then went to Firehouse Subs. Stockstill got the call from his father right after he placed his order.

"I'm outside, fist pumping back inside to Chase, telling him that we're in," Brent Stockstill said. "It was a pretty awesome moment. We've got one more game with our seniors."

The good news was made even sweeter, Tucker said, by the bad news that preceded it.

Stockstill completed four passes to Tucker for 63 yards, and their 30-yard touchdown connection early in the fourth quarter all but put away the Blue Raiders’ seventh win of the year. This was a bit of a disappointing, injury-plagued season in Murfreesboro — star receiver Richie James played in only five games, and MTSU lost four of six games that Stockstill missed midseason — but it ended with four wins in five tries.

It was a disappointing finish for ASU, though. The Red Wolves began SBC play 4-0 and had a chance to lock up another conference title before a 32-25 loss to Troy ruined those plans. And with a chance to win at least eight games for the third straight year, they let one get away. They outgained MTSU by 110 yards and picked Stockstill off three times but still couldn’t quite get the job done.