#i said grandma hung up handed it back to him and pretended i saw nothing

[roaringroa]

just accidentally saw my uncle scrolling through men on tinder… not that surprised lmao

[agent-carvour]

'Can I help you?,' the lady at the reception asked. The name tag on her shirt read 'Dora Weinhaus.'

'Yes. My name is Owen Cross. I called a few days ago to visit my grandma?'

'Ah, now I remember you. You mean Nancy Richter, right?'

Owen nodded. At least he was still able to fake confidence. Playing a character helped. This way, he could ignore his own thoughts and feelings and instead pretend to have somebody else's.

'I haven't seen her in a very long time since I lived in England until recently. But I'm trying to reconnect with the American part of my family.'

The nurse nodded. 'I see. Do you mind showing me your ID?'

'Of course.' Owen reached into his pocket to get his wallet. When he saw the fake ID John had given him, he felt a knife being pushed into his heart, but he didn't let it mess with his acting. While Dora had a look at the ID, Owen gave her a friendly smile with a pinch of awkwardness to sell it as sincere.

'That's alright then,' Dora said and handed back the ID. Owen would have liked to just throw it into the next bin he'd see, but he put it back into his wallet as if it was his real ID.

Owen was ready to go, but there was something else Dora had to say. 'Before I lead you inside, I should warn you. Your grandma suffers from late-stage Alzheimer.'

'Alzheimer?,' Owen asked, confused. The look he got from the nurse was one he had seen countless times before. It meant that whatever Altzheimer was was common knowledge these days, and his question was weird.

'It's a neurological disease leading to dementia. She is... senile.'

That, Owen understood clearly. 'Ah, I see.' And suddenly, faking confidence had gotten a little more difficult.

Owen followed the woman to the common room. A big room with beige wallpaper. Several tables with chairs stood on one side of it, several couches and armchairs on the other. Surrounded by one couch and two arm chairs stood a TV and a few shelves housed mostly books and boardgames. And, of course, the entire room was filled with old people. A few of them were in conversations with nurses or other residents, fewer with guests like Owen, and some sat alone. A bigger crowd had formed around the TV while a nurse tried to keep two residents from arguing about which channel to watch. All Owen could think was that this was about the last place he'd expect to find his sister. This place was depressing and grey. He felt it suck the life out of him like time had done with most of the residents. Nothing about this seemed like a place related to his little lively sister with her smile that always brightened up the room.

Dora led Owen to a quieter corner of the room. Two old men sat at a coffee table playing chess. Not far from them, a woman sat in an armchair and seemingly just stared at the wall. Owen didn't understand why Dora had chosen this corner to take him until she addressed the lifeless woman. 'Look, Nancy, there is someone here who wants to talk to you.'

Owen froze. He hadn't even recognised her. Now that he looked again, yes. This woman was his sister. Her facial features were obscured by deep lines, but they were still those of the young woman Owen had last seen on Christmas. Instead of dark brown, the thinned out hair that framed her face was grey, and her limbs were skinny, looking so fragile. She hung in her chair like a lifeless puppet, just a sad immitation of the energetic girl Owen grew up with. And her eyes, they were the same dark brown as Owen's, but they lacked the witty spark he was so used to seeing in them. It felt weird. Seeing her like that. Barely recognisable and yet so clearly her. It felt wrong. A reminder of everything Owen had left behind and lost. Everything he'd never have again. And yet, he had missed the conversations with his sister and was glad he could still have one. He had thought a lot about this. How he'd reveal himself to Nancy without giving her a heart attack, but all those thoughts and plans were quickly forgotten.

'Nancy, it's me. Owen,' he said and stepped towards her, smiling both sad and happy to see her.

The old woman glanced at him for a moment - although it felt more like she glanced through him - then returned to staring at the wall.

'Don't you recognise me?'

No reaction.

'I'm sorry, this isn't one of her better days,' Dora explained.

Owen swallowed. His acting abilities completely failed him now. No character, no confidence, just a desperate attempt to stay somewhat collected. 'I didn't realise she would be this... well...'

The nurse gave him an empathetic look. In a soothing tone, she asked: 'Do you maybe want something to drink?' That gave Owen an idea. He turned back towards his sister. 'How do you feel about a cup'a'tea?' Still no reaction from her, but one of the elder men next to them commented: 'Ay! Don't give ol' Nancy a hot drink! She'll just spill it all over herself!' The other man groaned. 'Oh, leave that poor kid in peace and hurry up with your move. You're taking too long.'

Owen didn't know how to react to that. Luckily, Dora jumped in to help him out. 'Do you want me to get you some tea?' Owen just nodded.

Once Dora had left, he turned back towards his sister for another attempt at starting some sort of interaction. 'I'm Owen. Your brother. Do you remember me?' No reaction. 'Do you remember when we were children? How we used to play together? You always loved exploring the new ruins after the bombings.'

Nothing.

'Please, talk to me!'

His desperation was met by silence.

'please...'

Nancy didn't do anything until Dora returned, handing Owen his tea. Then, the old woman suddenly looked up at the nurse and asked: 'Can I go home now?'

'Sorry, dear, you can't. You're not well.'

Then, the old woman went back to barely reacting to anything. Owen continued talking to her, but the more he talked, the more he just yearned for an actual conversation.

'...Curt and I- You remember Curt, right? My partner? I mean, you probably know about... well, we're engaged. We haven't told anyone. And we're not gonna, but I wanted you to know. I just wish you could...' He sighs. 'I really miss you...'

Then, suddenly, Nancy looked at Owen, and finally, there was something more in her eyes. Awareness. Life. 'Owen!'

Did she finally recognise him? A moment of clearness that made all the painful dullness from before worth it. 'Yes. Yes, Nancy, it's me!'

But then, the something in her eyes took on a clearer form: It was sadness. 'They said... he 's not coming back. They said he's dead!'

'What-' Owen didn't understand what she was trying to tell him. Was she talking about her husband? He knew that he was dead.

'I don't think she means you.'

He hadn't noticed Dora come back. 'I think she had brother who was also called Owen. I don't know much about him, but sometimes Nancy remembers him, and based on what she says, I believe he died at a young age.'

That explained it. Owen nodded. He wasn't able to look at either of the women, and words didn't want to leave his mouth. With much effort, he forced them out anyway, leaving a gross feeling in his throat. 'He had a dangerous job. He died in an accident when he was twenty-six.' Dora said something. Owen didn't hear. He risked a glance at his sister. She still looked sad, even though she already didn't seem to remember why.

'I should go.'

His voice was barely more than a whisper. He wasn't able to produce any more words. Dora nodded understanding and said: 'I'll show you out.'

Before they could leave, Nancy raised her voice again.

'Mum!'

It was directed at Dora, who gave Owen an excusing look before turning away from him to deal with the old woman.

'I am not your mom.'

'Mum, I want to keep him! His name is Quackie and he's my friend now.'

Owen knew that memory. Quackie was the duckling they had found when they were children. The memory made his vision blurry. He couldn’t take any more of this.

By the time Dora turned back to him, he had already disappeared.

The moment he left the building, Owen lighted the cigarette in his shaking hand. He waited for the smoke in his lungs to burn away his thoughts, but it never did. When he reached his motorbike, he just dropped the barely half-smoked cigarette to the ground and stepped on it to put it out. He wanted the poison to soothe his mind, but more than that, he just needed to get away from this place. He climbed onto the bike, unsuccessfully trying to wipe away the tears that made his vision blurry.

He left the helmet off, already having trouble breathing without it, and started the engine. He was off the parking lot in seconds, rolling onto the street and speeding away without wasting a single thought about traffic suggestions. He took a wrong turn - purposefully driving even farther away from Hatchetfield - onto the highway. His bike could go fast, and he had never even gotten close to its full speed. But he just wanted to get away as fast as possible. Just hit the gas and never look back. Already faster than the cars in front of him, he manoeuvred between and around them and accelerated, easily doubling his speed in less than a minute.

[janetbrown711]

"Don't you think you've done enough?"

Wakko was angry.

Very, very angry.

He thought Dot was on his side- but she was easily swayed by that dumb doctor.

Ooh, that doctor made his blood boil. He suggested talking to Yakko, but that wasn't going to work because he was hypnotized by Max. Scratchnsniff didn't understand- he couldn't possibly understand what it was like to watch a brother who swore he'd die for you just... abandon you out of nowhere.

He thought his mother would understand too, but it seemed she was fooled too, wanting him to give Max a shot. Yeah right- would she suggest he "just give Grandma a shot?". No. It was clear she was underestimating Max's control of Yakko. He wasn't just "a little carried away". He was hypnotized- he had to be.

If he wasn't, then...

If Dot and his mom wanted to give up on him, fine. He could save Yakko all on his own. He had the brains. He'd just have to go a little bit further this time- to make sure Max would never want to come back ever again. He had to make sure Max knew he wasn't welcome and do it in a sneakier way so he wouldn't get caught this time.

Wakko was going to lock Max in the tower.

And he knew just how he'd do it.

He had already stolen the key, though his paranoia made him check to see if the door had been blocked up constantly. however- he even took a step beyond, making sure a key similar enough replaced it, to assure no one would notice it was gone.

As far as getting Max there, he knew he wasn't strong enough or tall enough to drag or force him to the tower, so he'd have to make him want go up there himself. Going off of his mom's "advice", he figured he'd just say that he wanted to talk with him alone in a letter or note or something, which was easy enough. The hard part would be getting it to Max without being seen. He didn't have time to send it in the mail, as he was visiting the very next day.

So that meant he'd just have to wait for an opportune moment when the day arrived.

Which he did.

He ate breakfast just with Dot, apparently, his parents and Yakko had gotten up earlier and were busy this morning- which he was fine with. He wasn't exactly feeling chatty, though Dot kept giving him looks which he ignored.

If she knew anything, she didn't say, so Wakko moved on with his day.

When Max arrived at Warnerstock castle, it went much like it did the first time: with Max only giving them side glances but otherwise ignoring their existences and running off with Yakko. What made it different though was Dot going with their parents and goofy, leaving Wakko by himself to enact his plan.

Normally he would've felt offended at such an exclusion but he needed to enact his plan somehow, and he had already set up a room with art supplies to help distract him while he waited for them to break for lunch before he could plant his note.

Thankfully, the hours passed rather quickly, and Wakko was able to make his move. Hurriedly, he ran into the room Yakko and Max always hung out in and placed the note carefully in Max's satchel (he always brought one to bring gifts for Yakko from Disneyland or something like that according to the letters) before running with all his might to the tower, unlocking the first door and climbing up the fifty feet to the top, unlocking that heavy iron door, and slowly and painfully pulling it open and hiding behind, hoping Max wouldn't be suspicious of it being open when he arrived.

Unlike before though, it was a very, very long time before he heard Max at the bottom of the tower. With each step Max took, Wakko's heart raced more and more as he gripped the key in his hands tighter.

He had to do this. He had to make Max hate him- hate all of them. He had to make Max know he wasn't welcome- that he couldn't get away with separating his siblings.

Max was a bad person. He deserved this.

By the time Max reached the top, Wakko's heart was racing, and he kept a hand over his mouth to make sure his breath was silent. He made sure Max was deep into the dark and dusty room before Wakko pushed the heavy door shut with all his might, scrambling to lock it and scurrying down the stairs as fast as he could- ignoring Max's shouts and questions as he pounded against the iron door.

Max was a bad person. He was trying to take Yakko away from him.

As he scrambled down, his mind was flooded with memories.

Dot's cries, the ache in his ears, the horror as he looked down, the banging of his head against the floor, the slamming of the iron door, the hopelessness-

Max was a bad person. He deserved this.

Wakko ran faster, closing his eyes best he could in a poor attempt to suppress the memories. He almost kissed the ground when he reached the bottom, but he didn't waste his time, running out and locking the door as fast as possible before running all the way to his room and laying down in his bed and burying his head under his pillow in hopes his breathing and heart would calm eventually.

However, his head throbbed as the memories he was trying so desperately to swallow surfaced once more.

"Let go of him!" Dot had shouted, pulling on Angelina's dress- and before Wakko knew it, his grandmother's grip was tight around his neck as he felt himself dangling off the ledge. He shouldn't have looked down, but he did.

Dear god- he was going to die.

"Shout at me again young lady, and I will," Angelina threatened, her grip around his neck tightening.

"Wait- please! Don't hurt him-!" Dot got on her knees and begged, tears streaming down her face as she made eye contact with him.

Dear god he wished he was a lot braver.

"Go back downstairs, Angelina. You've done enough today," Angelina spat on Dot's face. It filled Wakko with rage, but he couldn't fight back. He saw Dot's look of defeat as she lowered her head.

"Good girl," That bitch of a grandmother said, and Wakko felt a return to the ground. He immediately went to go hug Dot, but she grabbed his arm and forced him away from his sobbing little sister before tossing him in that disgusting and dark prison.

"How long do you plan to leave me in here, huh?!" He had shouted, his voice betraying him and cracking as tears filled his eyes. He pounded against the door demanding a response, but the only response he got was mumbles from his grandmother, and a yelp of pain from Dot.

He continued to pound his fists against the door with everything he had in him for hours on end. He had to make her suffer- she couldn't get away with this. She couldn't just hurt his siblings like that- she needed to pay.

By the end his hands were bruised and bloody and his voice practically vanished due to the shouting. Eventually- he just gave up, hugging his knees as he begged for this nightmare to end, somehow.

Angelina the First was a fucking monster.

...was Max really the same?

O-of course he was. He was taking Yakko away from him- from him AND Dot. Angelina did that too. She knew they were weaker seperated and always divided them, and Max knows the same.

Sure Angelina never made Yakko happy ever... but that meant Max was just more of a threat, right? His techniques were new- Yakko didn't know how to protect himself against them. Wakko was just doing what he had to to protect his sibs.

Wakko was doing what he had to.

Time passed- a lot of it. Eventually someone came into his room, and Wakko buried himself under his blanket, clutching the key as tight as he could, hoping they'd just assume he was asleep.

"Wak, have you seen-? Oh-" It was Yakko, embarrassed that he "interrupted Wakko's nap".

"Sorry- I'll just-... have a nice nap," Yakko apologized and left.

See? His plan was already working.

...Right?

God, would the pounding in his chest ever stop???

He was just doing what he had to.

Just what he had to.

.o0o.

More time passed, though Wakko couldn't be sure how much. All he knew was that Yakko had begun to worry, seriously searching through every room in the castle (as Wakko could hear from the door slams). He didn't check on Wakko again, but there were a few close calls. Eventually, Yakko must've employed his parents help though, as he soon started hearing them begin to search too.

It dawned on Wakko that perhaps he should've forged a note from Max that said he ran away or something- that would've prevented the searches and made Yakko hate Max too.

Oh well- hindsight and all that.

The pounding in his chest never stopped.

Eventually, he heard his door creak open slowly as he quickly tried to pretend he was still sleeping, but Dot wasn't easily fooled, as she climbed onto his bed and shook his shoulder, pulling back the blanket.

"Max is missing and mom told me to get you to help search. If you have anything to do with this- I swear-" Dot's eyes fell onto the key in Wakko's hands.

"...You didn't-" Dot's eyes widened. Wakko nearly jumped off the bed.

"I-it's not what you think-!" Wakko fumbled in shock, but Dot took the opportunity and snatched the key from his hand and ran out of the room, and after Wakko processed what happened, he chased after.

"Dot give it back!" Wakko shouted at her.

"No! His dad is looking for him and Yakko is really upset! I won't let you keep him there!" Dot shouted back.

"You're just brainwashed! He's manipulating you- just like grandma!" Wakko disputed.

"No he isn't Wakko!" Dot contended. "You're the only one who thinks that!"

"I'm just doing what I have to to protect Yakko! Yakko would never have left us before Max arrived- why can't you see that?!" He argued back.

Eventually, Dot slowed and sighed.

"Max is nothing like Grandma- he's pretty cool and is nice and has a nice dad and Yakko really cares about him. He doesn't deserve to be locked in there- just like how you didn't," Dot's grip on the key tightened.

"Locked in where?"

To Wakko's horror, Yakko and Lena weren't too far away.

Neither sibling responded, As Dot gripped the key tighter. However, she didn't hide it, and eventually Lena noticed, her face mortified with recognition.

She looked at Wakko a moment, before shaking her head and taking the key, hurriedly walking toward the tower.

"Locked where? Where does that key go?" Yakko asked innocently as he followed along- he was the only one of the four who hadn't seen it before.

Dot and Wakko decided to follow too, despite the dread that filled both of them with every step (though Dot's was more of empathy than of direct guilt).

However, Yakko was clever, and eventually he recognized the halls.

He grabbed the key from his mother's hand and bolted to the tower, unlocking the door as fast as he could, and running up the stairs at least 3 at a time.

Lena, Dot and Wakko stayed at the bottom silently.

Eventually, the heavy iron door creaked open, and Max was released- the pair making their way down slowly. Wakko didn't hear a word either of them said- the pounding in his head louder than ever as he suppressed tears.

However, when he reached the bottom, he made eye contact with Max.

He didn't... seem mad. Just tired.

"Max, please give your father our sincerest apologies. We're terribly sorry this happened- if there's anything we can do to make up for it, please let us know," Lena apologized.

"Yeah, okay," Max shrugged, sticking his hands in his pockets. "Where is he, by the way?"

"Likely the grand foyer with William- Yakko, would you-?"

"No, I can walk myself." Max interrupted, giving a quick nod to each of them before walking out, leaving everyone frozen as he walked away.

Shit.

His plan worked, but he still felt like crap. Why??? Max was bad. He tried to seperate- he was bad. He-

"Wakko- what the fuck was that?!" Yakko's face was full of tears as he grabbed his brother's collar.

"Yakko- let go of your brother. Now." Lena ordered.

"No- what the fuck?! First, you try to ruin our hang outs, then you read my letters, and then you lock him in the prison our grandmother threw you in and left you to starve??? What is wrong with you?!" Yakko demanded.

"Yakko, I said now." Lena broke them apart.

"Y-you were so blinded by him-!"

"Because I like him, Wakko! He's a good guy!!!"

"He was trying to take you away!!!"

"No he wasn't-! God- are you even listening to us? How many times have we tried to tell you you're delusional!" Yakko threw his hands in the air.

"I am not!!! Why can't you see it-!" Wakko began to tear up too.

"God- are you seriously gonna cry?! You're the one who decided to possible ruin the only fucking friendship I've ever had outside of my family and not only that- but you also possibly just ruined Warnerstock's relationship with Max's Kingdom too!"

Wakko took a step back at that.

"I-i didn't-"

He looked at his mom and Dot- their looks confirming.

"No... No- i- I can't believe you. You are such an idiot- Did you not consider that would happen at all?" Yakko was baffled.

"Yakko-" Lena tried to interrupt.

"I-i'm not an idiot!" Wakko tried to defend, but it was getting really hard for him to justify his actions...

"Yes, you are!!! God- you never think anything through- and even if you realize it was utterly moronic, you still commit!" Yakko spat. "Fucking wild animals have more sense than you!!!"

"Yakko, that is enough." Lena snapped.

Silence echoed through the empty tower, but the damage had already been done. Wakko looked to his mother for sympathy, she only met him with a look of dead seriousness.

"Wakko- you put Warnerstock's relationship with Disneyland, as well as Yakko's relationship with Max, at great risk due to your recklessness and jealousy. There will be a severe punishment to speak of in the morning." She said firmly.

"I w-was just trying to protect..." He hardly had the strength to say it.

"Wake the fuck up, Wakko. Does anyone here look better off- or "protected"- because of your actions? Haven't you done enough?" Yakko bit. Lena gave him a look, but Wakko saw he was right.

Good god- he really was a screw-up, wasn't he?

"I just..." Wakko practically whispered, as he looked to Dot, who only shook her head and looked away. With that last little betrayal, Wakko had had enough. Before he knew it, he bolted out of the tower and out and around the hallways of the castle, before he made it out into the garden and ran deep, deep, deep within to where the hedges were trimmed high and he knew no one would hopefully ever find him.

God- he was such an idiot. He should've listened- he should've fucking listened. Now Yakko hated him, his mom hated him, his dad probably hated him, and even Dot hated him. He put the kingdom in jeopardy- god- why was he such an idiot??

Grandma was right about him. He never knew his place- always acting out on idiotic decisions, impulsive like a filthy animal (though even rabid animals had more sense than him).

He should just stay in this garden forever and die, then everyone around him would stop being hurt from his stupid decisions.

Wakko curled into a ball, hugging his knees as he laid in the grass as he sobbed and sobbed and sobbed and sobbed until he eventually ran out of energy, and before he knew it, he was totally and utterly asleep.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 The End

[infiniteiram]

I Think You’re In My Seat.

a vds one shot. you can find more on my ao3.

( @ apolloswords )

feel free to comment/message me any suggestions for one shot ideas!

Unfortunately, the airlines messed up the seating arrangement and Jens is forced to sit on his own. Fortunately, someone else's seating arrangement was also messed up.

"Bad news," Moyo announced as Jens followed closely behind him. "They messed up our seats."

"What?" exclaimed Sander, giving the both of them a puzzled look. "How did they manage to do that?"

"The system completely messed up everyone's seats." Jens explained. "So, since we checked in late, we basically got the scraps. Which means, there is a very slim chance we're all stuck together." He reached over and flicked the back of Aaron's head. "I told you if you showered in the morning we would be late."

"I didn't expect you guys to show up so early." He groaned. "I wasn't even awake yet."

Jens snorted. "Well, you know we still had to take the train. Bottom line is, we can thank you for the shitty seats."

"But, not so shitty." Moyo added. He began to pass the new tickets around, the ones with the new seat number on them. "Robbe, Sander, we managed to snag you the last two seats together. Kind of at the front."

"You are a miracle worker." Sander laughed as he patted Moyo's shoulder. "What about you guys? Where are you guys sitting?"

"Jens has a window seat near the middle of the plane, I'm a few rows behind him and Aaron has a seat at the very back of the plane." Moyo continued on. "And no Aaron, we are not switching."

"Oh come on, it's going to take forever for me to get out. And I'm going to be near the bathrooms, I better not see Sander and Robbe going in at the same time."

Robbe blushed and hid his face into Sander's shoulder. "I don't think we're that promiscuous."

Sander only snorted. "Maybe it'll be revenge on Aaron for making us late."

"Hey, Moyo got you guys sitting together, why're you complaining?"

The rising teasing between his friends seemed to be getting louder, but Jens let their conversation fade around him. He was distracted by the bustle of the airport, people of all ages rushing around. The start of the summer months was probably a busy time for this place, and as much as he loved and adored Belgium, it felt nice to be headed somewhere else.

His eyes wandered among the crowd of people. Giggling kids with their decorated backpacks, business executives looking rather posh in their work attire with a cup of coffee in their hands and other older adults double-checking their bags for their passport and boarding passes. But his eyes only lead him somewhere else.

A few feet away were a group of three boys his age. One of them was leaned against the wall, his dark long curls giving contrast to his light brown skin. He was smiling at the guy to his right, who was sitting on top of a small carry-on luggage with a bright yellow backpack on. This boy also had dark hair, though it was cut short and just barely touched the tips of his ear, where a dangly earring hung. But the boy who really caught his attention was standing on an angle in front of them. From Jens' perspective, he could make out the sharpness of his jaw, the straight bridge of his nose and a small smile on his delicate pink lips. His light brown curls hung quite effortless in front of his face, and the denim jacket he had on fit his body nicely. Jens discreetly eyed him up and down, and felt a rush of adrenaline shoot through his body. He'd never been the type to admire strangers from afar, let alone be completely smitten over one.

But that was exactly what he was feeling right now.

His daydreaming was quickly interrupted by a sharp jab into his ribs. Wincing, he gave Aaron a glare.

"What was that for?"

"Moyo said you were staring too long. I asked what you were staring at and he told me just to ask you." Aaron responded rather innocently before shrugging his shoulders. "So what were you staring at?'

Feeling a blush rise to his cheeks, Jens bit his lip and pretended he had no idea what Aaron was talking about. "Nothing that concerns you." He mumbled out, looking down at his feet.

He heard Moyo snicker from his other side. "Aaron, I don't think you're going to have to worry about just Sander and Robbe sneaking off to the bathroom."

Now Jens elbowed Moyo's ribs. Not as harshly as Aaron did, but harsh enough. Moyo laughed and held up his hands in defence. Both Sander and Robbe raised their brows at him, before trying to sneakily turn around to figure out what Jens was eyeing at. Who Jens was eyeing at. When they came face to face with the other trio, they snickered to themselves as Jens gave them a side eye.

"Damn Jens," Robbe teased. "Three options?"

"One." He admitted, mumbling again. "But I'm not saying which one."

"You know what would be extremely lucky." Sander teased. "If you ended up sitting beside him."

Jens felt his face go a bit more red but scoffed, trying to play it cool. "It's better than sitting beside Aaron."

"Hey!" Aaron protested.

-

"Now boarding flight 2121." The intercom announced above them.

From the corner of his eye, he saw Robbe and Sander smile softly at each other. He had no idea what the sentiment meant, but judging by the way they looked at each other, it had something to do with their little love story. Jens tried not to feel the way his heart stung suddenly. He would never admit it, but he envied the way all his friends were very content in a relationship but he was not. For the most part, he never felt left out- just, rather lonely. Slinging his backpack over his shoulder, he made sure both his passport and boarding pass were in his hand as he walked up to the flight information desk. The flight attendant smiled at him and ushered him off. Taking a deep breath, he trudged down the boarding bridge at a slower speed. He couldn't help but to also feel a tinge of disappointment. The boy in the denim jacket from earlier hadn't been sitting around their gate, and he hadn't seen him since him and his friends had wandered off twenty minutes ago. There was now exactly zero chance of scoring a seat beside him, even if his chances from before were still close to zero.

He felt Moyo slap his shoulder, which startled him a bit.

"See you in two hours." He remarked.

"I hope you seat mate is some old grandma who can't hear very well but insists on talking." Jens taunted playfully, as he found his seat. Slipping into the small aisle, he flopped down on the window seat and gave Moyo a handshake before he headed off.

"I hope I get a cute girl." Aaron remarked, as he slowly passed Jens' aisle.

Raising brow, Jens smirked. "How would Amber feel about that?"

"You're right. I hope I get the grandma." Aaron muttered while rolling his eyes.

Jens looked over the other seats as other passengers clambered about, stumbling into their seats or trying to put their carry on luggage up on the overhead storage. A few rows up stood Sander and Robbe, who waved at him before the settled into their seat. When he knew all of his friends were in their seats, he sighed heavily and placed his backpack underneath the seat above him. Tapping his fingers on the arm rest as he bounced his leg, he distracted the remaining minutes before takeoff by looking outside of his window.

Only to be interrupted less than two minutes after.

"I think you're in my seat." A voice with a slightly different accent announced.

Turning his head to face the person the voice belonged to, he felt his face heat up again.

It was the boy from earlier, the one in the denim jacket. Only this time, he was standing very close to Jens. He could now make out the silver rings on his finger, the way his jacket actually hung over more over his shoulders than he thought and the colour of his eyes. The vibrant blue that stared into his brown ones, its colour so bright that Jens didn't believe colour existed before this moment. Realizing he was probably gawking at him, Jens swallowed the lump in his throat and tried to conceal his mess of emotions.

"No? I'm pretty sure this is my seat."

The boy reached over, showing his boarding pass. Squinting a bit, Jens read the seat number and frowned.

"I think they double booked the seat." He stated, looking back up at the boy.

Shrugging, the boy just ran a hand through his curls and sat down. Jens was rather surprised at his chill and confident behaviour, which had him going through an even more internal mess of feelings.

Trying to avoid gazing at him for so long, Jens turned around and started biting the inner corner of his cheek. He suddenly felt very nervous that the boy was beside him now, and if he let his arm up on the armrest, there would be the slightest physical contact between them.

Coming down the aisle was the other two guys, the rest of his trio. The one with the dark curls wiggled his brows at him, only to be lightly smacked on the arm as he passed through. The other boy, the one with shorter hair and was now wearing sunglasses with red lenses, reached out to pinch his cheeks. The boy ducked swiftly and snorted, looking behind him as his friends sat down. Jens noticed that the other two were sitting in different aisles, just like him and the Broerrs.

"Did they fuck up your seats too?" Jens asked, attempting to make conversation.

"Yeah, clearly." He laughed lightly, before fully turning his head to face Jens. "I'm Lucas."

"Jens." He nodded before trying to give him a small smile. It wasn't that smiling at him was an issue, Jens just didn't want to make it so obvious that his slight crush was growing by the second.

Fortunately, Lucas smiled back. "Are you travelling alone?"

"No, my friends are scattered about as well. That's how I figured the airline must have also messed up your seats up as well."

Laughing lightly, Lucas shook his head, his curls gently moving about. "I figured they messed up after seeing someone else in my seat. I just hope I'm not stealing someone else's."

"I don't think so. I think you and your friends were the last ones to board. See? They're closing up the doors now."

Lucas wasn't as tall as Jens, so he couldn't see above the seats. He put his hands on the armrest and lifted himself up a bit. The slight brush of his fingers just barely grazing over Jens' hoodie sleeve was enough to send sparks through his body. The very slight contact had his face turning pink again, and he needed to calm down before Lucas noticed.

"You're right." He agreed, bringing himself back down. "To be honest, I thought they would close the plane before we got on. It's a miracle I'm here right now."

"Why's that?"

"My friend Jayden, he's back there with his red glasses, decided to be an idiot and lose his passport somewhere in the airport. We came from a connecting flight from Amsterdam, so at least it's not there."

"I get that, my friend Aaron also decided to be an idiot. He woke up late which lead us to checking in late, which lead us to shitty seats and being separated." Jens added, before biting his lip. "So, you're from Amsterdam?"

"Not quite. Utrecht, but the closest airport is Amsterdam. So, to get to Rome, we needed a connecting flight." He explained, before tilting his head a bit. "Are you from Brussels?"

"Not quite." Jens repeated, laughing a bit. "Antwerp. We're actually much closer to each other than we would've been."

"Yet we meet on a flight to another country." Lucas remarked, a glint sparkling in his blue eyes.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the departure to Rome, Italy." An attendant called over the intercom.

The plane began to move beneath them and Jens double checked that his seatbelt was on. The attendants began to do the safety instructions in front of them, and Jens turned his head to look back out the window. After a few minutes, his instincts told him to look at Lucas, who hadn't said anything since the departing announcement.

Poor Lucas was squeezing his fists so hard that his knuckles were white and his face was drained of colour. The slight pink of his cheeks were gone and he was squeezing his eyes shut, taking in deep breathes to calm himself down. Jens widened his eyes, internally panicking as he had no idea what to do.

Reaching out slowly and slightly, he put a warm hand on top of one of Lucas' fists. The skin beneath his own was ice cold, and Lucas opened his eyes quickly, surprised to see that Jens was looking at him.

"Nervous flyer?" Jens asked lightly, but softly enough to be comforting.

He huffed out a nervous laugh. "Yeah, can you tell?"

"Just a little." He paused, unsure how to go about this. "Do you, uhh, do you maybe want to hold my hand?"

"May I?"

"Of course."

It took Lucas a second. But after feeling the plane begin to move faster as it lifted off the runway, he unclenched a fist and grabbed onto Jens' hand. His tight grip should have also cut off Jens' circulation, but Jens stayed calm. He let his thumb rub gently circles on top of Lucas' hand, trying to ease him a bit. After a few moments, he felt Lucas' grip loosen a bit, some warmth beneath their hands and Lucas' breathing being a little less restrained. Lucas' eyes were still closed, and Jens eyed him up and down, taking in the entire wonder of this boy.

This boy, who he realized, was holding his hand.

Of course, the intention was innocent. But Jens suddenly felt his heart race as he continued to let his touch calm Lucas down a bit. He couldn't believe he was holding his hand and if any of his friends knew, he would never hear the end of their teasing. When the plane was soaring through the sky at a steady pace, Lucas sighed heavily and fluttered his eyes open. After a few seconds in which he recollected himself, he turned to Jens and gave him a soft smile.

"Thanks, sorry, I didn't think I'd get so nervous. I was fine on my first flight, but to be fair I'm really tired. I didn't sleep much last night."

"It's okay." Jens smiled back, reassuring him. He noticed the way Lucas still hadn't let go of his hand, and he was just fine with that. "Do you always get nervous when you fly?"

"Mostly, yes. But not like, that bad. Except for now. I think I lost all feeling in my body."

"Probably helps if you actually sit by someone you know huh?" He joked.

Smiling a little wider, Lucas huffed out another nervous laugh. Though this time, it felt a bit lighter. "Yeah, but, it also helps to have someone like you to sit by."

"Someone like me?" Jens asked, unsure what the ambiguity of the statement meant.

Lucas only shrugged, giving him a grin before adding another rather vague statement. "Yeah, someone like you."

-

And for the second time today, Jens couldn't believe his luck. After about an hour into the flight, in where him and Lucas had quickly gotten comfortable with each other, Lucas had dozed off. Jens had recalled he was feeling a little tired, but as Lucas fell into a gentle slumber, his head slowly fell onto his shoulder. Lucas, being asleep, obviously didn't realize he had fallen asleep on his shoulder, but Jens couldn't help but feel so giddy. He didn't want to move however, because there was no way he was going to wake Lucas up and ruin this.

So, he aimlessly looked out the window and began to think. He couldn't help but feel like he had missed a chance with this boy when they parted ways after the next hour. But, he didn't know if it was too forward of him to ask for some kind of contact with him. To be fair, they had already held hands so the next natural step in this equation was to somehow get his number.

Feeling Lucas stir gently, he looked down at him. The light brown curls fell over his face gently and Jens could make out the small freckles over his nose and his eyelashes mimicking rays of sunlight as his beautiful blue eyes stayed hidden. Jens didn't know how someone could've been so beautiful, let alone be so close to him.

He truly felt like the luckiest person in the entire world.

"Sorry," Lucas mumbled, his eyes still closed. "I didn't mean to fall asleep on you."

Smiling down at him, Jens reached out to just squeeze his hand again. When they had let go of his hand, Jens tried to conceal his frown. So now, he used this as a gateway to have Lucas' hand back in his. He also liked how Lucas did't remove his head from his shoulder right away.

"It's okay. I don't mind."

He felt Lucas hum against his body, before letting out a loose giggle. "So, what are you heading to Rome for?"

"Just a trip, a quick one to start of the summer and what not. You?"

"The same." Lucas let his eyes look back up at Jens, and once again he was marvelled at the sight of them. "That's kind of a good coincidence."

"Or you know," Jens shrugged, looking away for a second. "Fate."

"Fate?"

"I mean, out of all the seats here, what were the chances you would be sitting by me? Or, let alone, having the same seat as me?"

Lucas grinned, the blue in his eyes clashing together as they became a mess of bright shades. "Seems just like a really good coincidence. Do you believe it that sort of stuff?"

"Fate?"

"Yeah."

For the second time, Jens repeated his shrug. "Sure, why not? It's kind of like, everything happens for a reason. What about you?"

"Do I believe in fate?"

"Yeah, or are you sticking to everything being a coincidence?"

"Mostly coincidence. Though, I am starting to think a little bit of all this might be fate?"

"Why's that?"

A familiar glint sparkled in Lucas' eyes again, as he let himself gaze at Jens above him. There was something knowing about the smile on his face, but Jens couldn't quite place his finger on it.

"I was going to fly out to Italy two weeks ago." Lucas began to say. "But Kes, my other friend here, had to renew his passport so we pushed our departure back. It kind of sucked at first, but not anymore."

"Sucks a little less?" Jens teased, biting the tip of his tongue between his teeth as he smiled widely.

"Definitely sucks a little less."

-

Both boys stood at the baggage claim. When Jens had gotten off the plane, all his friends had given him a suspicious look as the boy they had seen him admiring was suddenly following him. He had to give them credit for not saying much, as he didn't want to be embarrassed before he could even ask for his number. Aaron, and Lucas' two friends, Kes and Jayden, were still making their way towards the baggage claim. Sitting at the back of the plane was probably not idea, but it gave Jens some time with Lucas.

They got their luggage and Jens saw the other two guys, followed by Aaron, head over. Frowning slightly, he was sad to realize that Lucas and him would part ways and they would be nothing more than two random strangers who managed to sit beside each other on the plane. They weren't even from the same country, and he doubted that the universe would allow him to be this lucky again.

"Lucas!" The boy with red glasses called out, who Jens assumed was Jayden. "Who's your friend?"

"Jayden, Kes, this is Jens. Jens, meet Jayden and Kes." He introduced. "I told him I needed new friends who weren't idiots."

"Just friends?" Kes asked, raising his brows and for the first time, Lucas blushed so hard he turned pink. It made Jens smirk, amused at his reaction.

"Jens!" Aaron called out. "Who's your friend?"

Now it was time for Jens to introduce Lucas to the Broerrs. Turning around, he saw Moyo, Sander and Robbe heading towards him. When they reached him, they stood beside him, all three of them smiling widely as the smirked at the very small distance between him and Lucas.

Coughing awkwardly, Jens bounced his leg. "Luc, meet Moyo, Sander, Robbe and Aaron. Guys, meet Lucas. I met him on the plane."

"And you didn't go to the bathroom?" Aaron piped up and Jens reached behind Lucas and quickly swatted the back of Aaron's head. Aaron winced as the rest of the guys continued their smirking.

"So, where in Rome are you staying?" asked Robbe, and Jens was thankful for the opening normalcy of a new conversation.

"I forget the name, but it's like, a quick shuttle ride from here? Napoleon or something." Kes replied.

"No way?" Moyo exclaimed. "Napoleon Hotel Roma?"

"Uhm yes?" Lucas replied, furrowing his brows in confusion.

Moyo clapped Jens' chest, startling him with his excitement. "Dude, that's the one we're staying at! Did you not know that?"

"Honestly, the hotel didn't even come up in our conversation." Jens admitted.

"Well come on!" Jayden exclaimed, calling then out to follow him. "We can all head to the shuttle and get there together. How long are you guys staying in Rome for?"

"Two weeks." Sander responded, wiggling two of his fingers up.

"No way! So are we!" Kes said in surprise.

Jens looked at Lucas, who was still blushing and giggle beside him. The rest of the guys had started to follow Jayden's lead, but Jens let himself bask in Lucas' company for a few more seconds. Lucas looked up to meet his eyes, a happy grin plastered on his face.

"So, is your opinion still changing?" Jens asked, wiggling his brows.

"What?"

"Do you still think this is a big coincidence?"

"A little bit." Lucas shrugged, his grin growing wider as he took in the way Jens was looking down and smiling at him. "But, I think I'd like to think that this is definitely fate."

"And I'm pretty sure that's exactly it."

"So is this fate Jens? Were we meant to meet right here, right now?"

"I think that's what was supposed to happen. I was meant to meet someone like you."

"Someone like me?"

"Someone like you."

And with that, they followed their friends towards the airport shuttle. Jens didn't know what the rest of the trip, the rest of the summer, meant for him, but that was okay. Because when he looked down, he smiled as Lucas shyly slipped his hand into his and intertwined their fingers together. Lucas pretended he hadn't reached out for him, but Jens felt his hand squeeze against his as he repeated the circular motions with his thumb on top of his hand. They didn't have to say anything, but it was clear they were thinking the exact same thing.

Maybe everything did happen for a reason.

[asian-hero]

Can i ask for an emergency bnha request? Maybe main 3 with an S/O who’s hiding their grief (lost my grandma and 2 tios in a month) and she doesn’t want to seem weak or burden so she just shuts down during the day and breaks down at night in the dorm, until something reminds her of them so she starts tearing up during class and the boys confront her after?

A/N: I am sorry for your loss. If you need anyone to talk to, know that I’ll be here for you. I can’t imagine how you feel, but I do know that sometimes, letting things out is the best way to deal with your feelings. So please, don’t lock away your feelings, I promise that things will get better

Midoriya Izuku

If anyone could read you like an open book, it’d be Izuku. Not because you’re an extremely open person who wears their heart on their sleeve, but simply because he cares about you so much that he’s taken the time to learn about you, and now knows you like the back of his hand

So, when you walk into class one morning, he notices immediately that something is off. Not only do you not smile as you walk in, but you also don’t make any move to go and talk to your friends, instead opting to just sit at your desk. Your behavior worries him, at the very least, but he doesn’t ask you what’s wrong, as by the time he’s made up his mind, Aizawa is already taken his spot behind the lecture podium, telling them all to pay attention

Later, when he asks you if you’re alright, you simply shrug him off, telling him that you’re fine, you just don’t feel like talking to anyone at the moment

That immediately puts him into panic mode. There’s probably a million thoughts rushing through his mind, wondering whether he was being too annoying, if there was something that he’d done to make you upset, if there was anything important that he missed. It honestly throws him into a loop, and for the rest of the day, he tries to figure out why you you seem so different

Izuku is always a ball of anxiety, always overthinking, overanalyzing, and your relationship wasn’t exempt from this. He always wondered whether or not he was a good boyfriend, if he was enough for you. So, when you started slowly pulling away, he couldn’t help but think the worst. He almost automatically assumed that you were tired of him, or, even worse, he had somehow messed up along the way, and made you upset without even knowing

While he was going on several different tangents, you were holed up in your room, doing your best to conceal your sobs. In just one month, the world had taken three family members away from you. Every day you’d do your best to maintain a calm facade, not allowing anyone to see you at your worst moment

Since you didn’t want to bother anyone with your issues, you kept them close to your heart. In the daytime you’d keep to yourself, focusing solely on your work, though you didn’t really get much done. In the night, you would cry yourself to sleep, doing your best to keep your sobs as silent as possible. However, once you were finally asleep, you’d dream of those who you lost, and then wake up in a cold sweat, tears streaming down your face, and soon enough, the cycle would start over. It was safe to say that you didn’t get much sleep anymore

Your lack of sleep didn’t go unnoticed by Izuku. Once he saw the seemingly permanent dark circles under your eyes, it threw him into an even greater panic. Why weren’t you sleeping? Was it because of the upcoming midterms? Stress of being a hero in training? What was it? He desperately wanted to reach out to you and comfort you, but his fear of being rejected stopped him

Eventually, though, when you started tearing up in class, looking as if you were about to lose it, Izuku finally steeled his nerves and gently asked what was wrong

At first, you tried to deny that there was anything wrong, it was just simply the stress of school catching up to you. However, after a few more minutes of his gentle pressing, you finally caved, no longer able to hold back your tears. As soon as they left your eyes, Izuku panicked. He tried to reassure you that everything was alright, that he was sorry for pushing too much

In all honesty, he probably cried with you as well, since he’s a sympathetic crier

So, the two of you were just sitting in the middle of class, your classmates long gone, just sobbing as you held each other close, almost as though the other would disappear if you let go. After a few more minutes of tearful sobs, you finally told him what was going on, how you lost some of your family in such a short amount of time

Though he’s never really had anyone important to him die, and he may not be able to understand what you’re going through, he lets you know that he’ll be there for you if you need anything. He wants you to know that he cares for you, and that he’ll do anything to make you feel better

When you tell him that you didn’t want to be a burden, Izuku immediately rejects that idea. To him, you’re one of the most important people in his life, and he doesn’t know what he’d do without you, so it hurts him a little that you feel as if your issues would be a burden to him. He reassures you that you’ll never be a burden to him, and that he wants to be there for you, even if it’s your worst day

All he wants is for you to feel better, and he’ll be there every step of the way

Bakugou Katsuki

It’s widely known that Katsuki isn’t the best when it comes to comfort, and he’s even worse when it comes to people showing weakness

However, just because he has poor comfort skills, it doesn’t mean that he isn’t observant. So, when he sees you start to pull away, you better believe that this boy is both confused as hell and angry

It starts off with the little things, with you being rather silent in class, not speaking unless spoken to. Then, he starts to notice how you don’t bother hanging out with your friends anymore, and even the time that you spend with him is either cut short, or you don’t really say anything at all. He would also notice that you’ve lost the life behind your eyes, and, while you try and pretend that everything’s fine, he notices how devoid of emotion you look, how absolutely empty you are

When he first tries to ask you about it, albeit in a rather forceful manner, you shrug him off, saying that you’ve just had an off day, that you’ll be good tomorrow

Slowly, tomorrow turns into the next day, and the day after that, and soon enough it’s been three weeks and Katsuki’s had enough

While he’s angrily brewing in the corner, you’re crying in your dorm room, wanting nothing more than to just go home, where you can be with your family

It was a rather dark month for your family. Three family members had died in the same month, and you truly couldn’t believe it. It was almost like someone had ripped a part of your heart out, and you couldn’t get it back. Since it was such a short span of time, all of your grief had built up, and every single night you found yourself buried in your blankets, face first in your pillow, sobbing your heart out. You tried to be as quiet as possible, as you didn’t want people to pity you, or for them to think that you’re weak. You were in a heroes course after all, and death was a part of the job, so you felt that you couldn’t allow yourself to be vulnerable, not when you’d have to face death on a regular basis

So, you steeled your heart, and every day you would pretend that nothing was going on. Whenever someone would ask if you were alright, you’d just shrug them off, not sure if your words would fail you. You made sure that you did good enough in school to not cause suspicion, and you mostly stayed away from everyone else. Not because you didn’t care for them, but because you didn’t want them to catch on to your ruse

However, when the night came, and everyone was fast asleep in their rooms, you found yourself sitting in the dark, sobbing as you replayed your final memories with your departed relatives. You kept thinking back to the last time you hung out with them, thinking about what you said, what you didn’t say, and how you desperately wished that you could tell them you loved them once more. You wondered if they knew how much you loved them, if they knew how much you missed them

One day, on a particularly bad one, you found yourself sitting quietly in class, minding your own business when you stared out the window of class 1-A. Watching as some kids were still heading into the building, you couldn’t help but replay the memory of when you told your family that you had made it into U.A., the proud look on their faces when you screamed that you’d be in the best class of one of the most prestigious hero courses. When you reminded yourself of the happy looks on your relatives faces, you couldn’t stop the tears from falling from your eyes, racing down your cheeks.

As you furiously swiped your eyes, you took in a deep breath, doing your best to calm yourself. However, you found yourself unable to pay attention for the rest of class. You just prayed that nothing too important was being taught

Just as you were about to leave, getting ready to hole yourself back up in your dorm, you felt a hang tug on your wrist. Turning around, you found yourself face to face with Katsuki, who seemed to be pissed off. When you asked him what was wrong, he abruptly asked why you looked so pathetic

A little taken aback, you found yourself forcing out a laugh, telling him that you weren’t quite sure what he meant. When he didn’t respond, you looked towards your feet, apologizing for being annoying

That also seemed to be the wrong answer, as he forced you to look back at him, his eyes piercing into yours, almost as if he could see your soul

“What the hell are you on about?” He asked, his normally gruff voice turning slightly softer, as if not to scare you away, “I never said you’re annoying, I just wanna know why you’re so upset,”

Seeing the concerned look on his face caused you to burst into tears. You could tell that you freaked him out, as he tugged you into a hug, burying your face into his chest. He lightly scolded you, saying that you were making it look like he yelled at you. When you finally spilled what was going on, how you lost some family members this month, and how you didn’t want to seem weak because of your grief, Katsuki wasn’t sure of what to say

Instead of trying to say anything, he simply grunted in acknowledgement, letting you know that he was there for you. He told you that mourning the loss of a loved one didn’t make you weak, it made you human. The only thing that would make you weak in his eyes would be if you didn’t give your all in anything that you do

While he may not be the best at comforting a grieving person, if it’s you, he supposes that he doesn’t mind sitting it out with you

Todoroki Shouto

Though Shouto may not be the best when it comes to understanding social cues, it’s glaringly obvious that something has happened to you. While it may have taken him a few days to realize what was off about you, he could tell that something was up

The warm smile he’d receive in the morning, right before class, had disappeared, and instead of replaced by a thinly veiled look of sadness, though you did your best to hide it. The 3 AM chats that the two of you would have about life seemingly vanished into thin air. In fact, you seemed to be the one disappearing, almost as if you were pulling away from his life

When Shouto had first asked you if anything was wrong, you merely shook your head, giving a forced smile while telling him that you were just feeling a bit tired, but he knew that was a lie. He didn’t want to press the topic, though, as he just assumed that you’d work out whatever was going on in your life, and then things would go back to normal. At least, that’s what he told himself to feel better about the situation

In truth, a small, perhaps insecure, part of him was worried that you were distancing yourself because you were going to break up with him. However, when he noticed that you were actually avoiding all of your friends as well, he couldn’t help but feel a shameful breath of relief leave his body. Though he badly wants to ask you if you’re truly okay, he doesn’t want to invade your personal life, and he doesn’t want to force you to talk about your feelings, since he knows that can be a difficult subject

You, on the other hand, were having a hard time keeping a cool exterior. In the past month, not only have you had to say goodbye to one family member, but three. You didn’t tell anyone what had happened, nor did you truly plan on it, either. The idea of being a bother, or a burden, to anyone if you told them about your grief prevented you from speaking, so you decided to keep quiet and instead put all of your focus into your work, hoping that maybe, just maybe, you could work away your feelings

So, in the daytime you’d pretend that nothing happened, shrugging off any concerns that your friends and boyfriend would have for you, and insist that nothing had happened, while in the night you’d let out quiet sobs into your pillow, wishing nothing more than to be in the arms of your dearly departed

Eventually, your facade had cracked, just a bit, but it was enough for your boyfriend to notice

While in class one morning, waiting for the lecture to start, you were vaguely listening to the chatter of the 1-A students. Your attention faded in and out occasionally, not really paying attention, but it wasn’t as though you were called out about it. However, when one of your classmates had talked about a call they received from a relative, and how much they missed them and loved them, you found yourself having an even more difficult time controlling your emotions. As tears had begun to fill your eyes, you hastily wiped them away, though it didn’t really do much, as for the rest of the lecture, you fought the urge to just start sobbing. You just prayed that no one saw what was going on, and that you could continue your day as normal

Unluckily for you, Shouto saw the entire thing

So, after school, while you were packing away your stationary, you noticed a certain red and white boy standing in front of your desk. Bracing yourself, you forced a smile, looking at him curiously. When you asked him what he wanted, he stated that he wanted to walk back with you. Just as you were about to deny the offer, like you had been for weeks, he grabbed your hand, squeezing it gently, almost as if he were begging you to say yes

That’s how you found yourself walking side by side with Shouto, who seemed to be observing your every move. From the small glances that you allowed yourself, it looked as though he was deep in thought, trying to find the right words to say. Before you could question his actions, he spoke:

“I saw you trying to hold back tears this morning,” When he saw your posture stiffen up, he squeezed your hand once more, “And I’ve noticed that you’ve been distant these past few weeks. I don’t want to force you to say anything, but I do want you to know that I’m here for you”

For a few seconds, the two of you stand in complete silence. You can’t think of anything to say to put back up the wall you’ve had, though, if you did have something to say, you weren’t quite sure if you could even speak at the moment. As you finally allowed yourself to look at him, you couldn’t stop the tears from streaming down your cheeks as you saw the look of such concern and care for you

Putting your face in your hands, you felt a sob rip itself out of your throat, along with Shouto’s strong arms being wrapped around your form, as if shielding you from any other negative things in the world. You could hear him whispering small words of comfort, telling you how much he loves you, and how he’s here for you

While Shouto isn’t necessarily comfortable, nor well equipped, to deal with a person in emotional distress, he does try his best, and that’s good enough for you

Once your sobs turned into tiny hiccups, he pulled the two of you to a secluded area on campus, sitting the both of you down. While it took a while, you eventually told him what had happened, and how quickly life seemed to take away your relatives. He never interrupts your story, only listening quietly as you get your emotions off of your chest

After you’ve finished, Shouto envelops you into a hug once more, telling you how sorry he is for your loss. He tells you that you should never feel like a burden to him, that you’re entitled to your emotions, and processing grief doesn’t make you any less important to him. Though there’s probably a million words of comfort running through his head, he can’t seem to find one that feels right

So, he instead suggests that the two of you head back to the dorms, and for the rest of the night, the two of you are cooped up in your room, neither of you really saying anything. He holds you tightly against his chest, letting you cry out as much as you need to, never complaining about how there’s a permanent wet spot on his shirt. 

He simply allows you to feel grief, to feel sad and upset and angry at the world, and, while it doesn’t feel great right now, you do feel much better, now that you have someone to hold you in these quiet nights

[lukealvezhimboextraordinaire]

Daphne+ simon

okay this took me way too long and i apologize! i could seem to find the right theme for them but must admit i had fun writing this one.

so here it goes, a little snippet into simon and daphne's life

As most things in Daphne’s life, it all started with a conversation with her siblings. While she didn’t exactly have many complaints regarding her life as a married woman, she had to admit that she missed the loud family at Bridgerton House. The multiple conversations going at once, the having to make sure Colin was the last one to get to the food or else no one after him would get to indulge in that dish, the ongoing antagonizing game between her youngest siblings, the yelling from across the table, the savage teasing paired with the sarcastic and always on point snarky comments coming from Francesca and Eloise’s witty remarks.

Speaking of Eloise, she was the sole culprit. Well, her and Hyacinth.

Ever since Amelia had been born she had been the centre of every conversation around the dinner table whenever the Bassets had enough energy to put on semi-decent clothes and drive all the way down to Violet’s house. Having a baby was exhausting. Daphne was slightly surprised she had never quite realized how much work babies were considering she had seen her parents go through the same four times. But Amelia was older enough for the hype to have died now and the Bridgerton brand of chaos was slowly returning to the table.

It had started innocently enough. A casual comment about how they barely saw Daphne anymore. Then someone had mentioned that she was probably too busy with the baby. And then it happened. Eloise had leaned back in her seat with a huff, shrugging one shoulder before very solemnly looking at her sister.

“Daphne is no longer fun.”

That seemed to catch everyone’s attention as all conversations died down and the room suddenly grew quiet. Eight pairs of heads turned to look at her. Daphne raised her eyes from her plate, stared at the eight pairs of wide, expectant eyes and pulled her shoulders up into a casual shrug. A dismissive wave of her hand before focusing back on her food sealed her half-decent performance at pretending to not be bothered by it.

“Hey leave Daff alone, she is busy!” Between mouthful and mouthful of food, Colin tried his best to defend his sister. He had a special bond with Daphne and had decided a long time ago that the only person allowed to tease her was, in fact, him.

“Busy being boring,” added one of the younger voices from across the table. Eloise chuckled, pleased, and high-fived the youngest of the clan.

Colin tsked his tongue. “At least she is doing something with her life!”

“I am eleven, Colin.” There was so much resignation in her voice that the room erupted in laughter.

“You are one to talk about wasting your life away,” Anthony mumbled pointedly, biting down a smile.

With an air of resignation to it, Colin let his fork fall against the wooden surface of the very old, very expensive family’s table. The action earned him a cautious look from his mother. “I have a career! I have fans!” At this point he was waving his hands in the air with indignation. “You just love to antagonize me!! Why are you not telling Benedict to go take a shower? He hasn’t showered in three days. He stinks!”

“Me and my body odor would very much like to be left out of this conversation, thank you.”

“Suspicious that you know that, Colin,” Francesca interjected, leaning on her elbows as she looked intently at him.

“Yeah, Colin. Do you keep track of our hygiene routines?” Unable to resist having a go at the easiest to rile up Bridgerton, Eloise joined in the fun.

“I bet that’s why he has so many journals....” Of course, Hyacinth had to get her revenge.

Colin’s ears turned red. He tossed his head to the side and then, in what could be described as the most immature move in men’s recent history, stuck his tongue out at his younger sisters while making funny faces.

The rest of the night went by without any other major conflicts. No one seemed to notice that Daphne had remained quiet for the rest of the evening. Or if they did, nobody dared point it out.

Simon, however, noticed.

He always paid attention to her. Even when seemingly he was entranced by some other activity, a part of him was always watching over her. Not in a creepy or possessive way, no. Just in a… in a need her around way. Daphne was his anchor. Her presence brought him a peace and calm he had never known were possible let alone imagine himself craving. She and Amelia were his whole world and it was only fair to take care of the two more important people in his life. He watched over her to make sure she was okay, to give back a bit of all she had given him.

Simon knew his wife. And knew that when she was silent for so long it could only mean a thing; something was bothering her.

“Princess.” His hand found her thigh and gave the softest of squeezes to it when she didn’t address him. Hopefully, it would make her turn to look at him. There was only so much he could do when his whole attention was supposed to be on the road.

“Huh?” Daphne seemed a little startled to hear his voice, as if she had just been shaken out of a reverie. On any other occasion, the look of bewilderment on her soft features would have made him chuckle. But the worry was starting to set at the bottom of his stomach.

“What is going on in that mind of yours?” His voice was cautious, soft, as if he was taking to a wounded animal.

Daphne pulled her shoulders up only to let them fall back into place. “Nothing.”

Simon opened his mouth to talk but Daphne beat him to it.

“Do you think we are boring?” The despair in her eyes made his stomach churn. He had to ponder it a second before giving her an answer.

“We are not boring,” he sent her a quick glance before returning to the road. “I know we have barely left the house since Amelia was born but that doesn’t make us boring.” It sounded bad even to his own ears. The groan his wife produced confirmed his suspicions. He chuckled. “Okay, maybe we are a bit boring.” She huffed and he laughed loud. Amelia protested in the back and he was reminded that his baby didn’t appreciate noise when she slept. “But we can change that, okay? Let’s go out this weekend. I’m sure your mom won’t mind keeping Lia for a couple hours.”

Daphne’s whole face lit up. “Really?”

He nodded. “Really.”

Violet was delighted to spend some quality alone time with her first grandbaby. But it turned out Daphne and Simon were a bit more hesitant about leaving their baby with her grandmother than either of them had anticipated. As excited as Simon had been all week about the prospect of going on a date with Daphne, as soon as he woke up that morning a strange pressure had settled in his chest. And as the time to leave came closer, it became more and more suffocating. His whole world had revolved around Amelia for months. She was his last thought before falling asleep and the first thought in the morning. He had taken paternity leave under the premise that Daphne needed help but the truth was that he could not fathom being away from his baby. And now that was exactly what he was about to do; willingly spend time away from his daughter.

“I don’t want to see you before midnight,” Violet warned, practically pushing them out of the door of their very own house, Amelia secluded to her hip, happily sucking on her thumb. “Amelia and I will be fine. I raised eight babies and most of them turned out fine.”

Simon sighed. His mother in law was right. They could do this. They had to do this. They needed time for themselves.

“Be good to your grandma, eh,” he placed a sweet kiss on the top of the baby’s head, taking in her scent before moving to kiss Violet on the cheek. “Thank you so much, Violet.” With his arm wrapped around his wife’s waist, Simon watched as she said her own goodbyes to their baby before gently dragging her away when it became evident they would miss their reservation if they didn’t get going soon.

Daphne’s eyes were clouded with tears by the time they got to their car.

“She is going to be just fine,” he tried to reassure her even if he himself wasn’t very convinced.

Daphne nodded, sniffing her nose loudly. “But will we?”

Simon didn’t have an answer for that but he really hoped it was a yes.

Ten minutes into their date and they had already called Violet twice. It was funny how they had become those parents. Especially Simon, who had never cared to picture himself as a dad. Prior to Daphne the life that waited ahead of him was pretty lonely. Hedonistic, yes, but lonely. Filled with parties and luxuries but always an empty house and cold bed awaiting him once his bacchanals were over. Ever since his wife had prompted him the question of if they were bored, Simon had not been able to stop thinking about it. A few months ago no one would have dared call Simon Basset any variant of the word boring and now all he wanted to do was spend his afternoons cuddling his wife and baby on their blue couch. The long nights out, getting drunk and taking strangers back home seemed like something a different man had enjoyed. The thrill he used to feel now turned to disbelief that he had convinced himself that life was enough for him. Now, he looked forward to bath time, to nap time, to any and all those special moments he planned on sharing with his baby. Because he was going to be present in every step. He refused to be half a dad. He refused to only be there for the good, easy parts of fatherhood and let Daphne bear with the weight of raising their children. And oddly enough, he was fine with that. He was content with his life, happy, enraptured. Even if that meant having to endure being called a bore by his new found family.

They called Violet one last time before being escorted to their table. She hung on them, threatening to turn her phone off if she received one more call before they were done with dessert. They looked at each other surprised and then laughed.

“This is weird,” Daphne commented, hiding her face behind the glass of wine for a brief moment. “We are here without Amelia and I miss her but I am also having fun.” As if suddenly a thought had struck her, she froze in place, furrowed her brows and frowned. “Are we terrible parents?”

Simon laughed, shaking his head. He reached for her hand across the table and laced their fingers. “We are great parents. Great parents also enjoy some adult fun.” That mischievous expression she had come to know so well framing his features.

Daphne sighed, feeling the thrill of the unknown starting to bubble up in her stomach. “Adult fun?”

Slowly, Simon nodded, eyes burning into hers.

“Wh-what are you thinking?”

He looked around them and then leaned forward, urging her to do the same. “Do you want to do something bold?”

Daphne nodded. Simon grinned.

“On the count of three, we run.”

Her eyes grew wide with shock but a devilish grin spread across her face. She nodded, eyes shining with excitement. The wine in her veins making her bold.

“One, two...three!!!”

Simon held his hand out to her grinning like an idiot, Daphne took it with a smile so big it rivaled the sun and together they stormed off the elegant restaurant, laughing and screaming, the manager hot on their heels. They ran and ran and ran until they were sure no one was chasing them. Breathless, they took refuge in a deserted alley.

“I can’t believe we just did that!”

Adrenaline rushing down their bodies, they looked at each other for a long second before their mouths crashed one against the other in a hungry kiss.

The next morning Simon dropped by the restaurant to pay for their food. He left a very generous tip.

Nine months later, they welcomed Belinda Basset into the world.

[naruto-ichigo-soul-kyobabe]

Ateez reaction to you being on the phone with someone and calling them “a friend”

This was requested by anon so I hope they like it! :) 

Hongjoong 

You and Hongjoong were having a movie night at your place. The two of you were being all snuggly on the couch when your phone started ringing, which startled you both. 

“Wah, put it on silent, y/n!” Hongjoon said clutching his chest. “Almost gave me a heart attack.” 

You told him to hush as you answered your phone. “Hi mom~ how are you? Oh I’m fine, I’m just watching movies with a friend! I’ll call you later, okay? I love you too.” 

You hung up your phone and were ready to snuggle back into Hongjoong’s arms, but when you turned back to him he had his arms cross and a frown on his face. 

“What’s wrong?” You asked confused. 

“”A friend”?” He asked clearly upset. “I thought I was your boyfriend. But I guess not.” 

“Ah, baby, no. Let me explain.” You said quickly. “My mom is very protective and even though I’m an adult.. she would chew my ear off if she knew I was with my boyfriend late at night.” 

Hongjoong continued to pout and looked away from you. 

“Baby please, don’t be like that.” You said wrapping your arms around him and planting kisses all over his face. “I love you so much. I’m just scared of my mom.” 

He burst into giggles hearing you say that. “Okay okay. I forgive. I’m sometimes scared of my mom too.” He opened his arms and hugged you. “And I love you too.” 

You both went back to enjoying your movie night. 

Seonghwa 

Note: E/n- ex’s name 

You and Seonghwa decided to grab some Starbucks before walking around the mall. You both had some errands that needed to be done there and the two of you often did this together. The two of you were holding hands in a middle of a conversation when your phone rang. 

“So I told Wooyoung that he better clean it up now or -“ 

“Sorry babe, hold on I’m getting a call.” You answered your phone. “Hello..? Oh.. how did you get my number?... My mom.. what for?... Not that it’s any of your business e/n but I am out with a friend right now and I-“ 

Seongwha grabbed the phone from you absolutely upset that not only your ex boyfriend had called you, but that you also referred to him as “friend” 

“Hi, this is y/n’s BOYFRIEND and I am going kindly ask you to NEVER contact her again. Or else you and I are going to have a problem? Got it?” And without waiting for a response he hung up. 

You knew you had messed up by the tone in Seongwha’s voice. You could tell how hurt he was. 

“Seongwha, love, I-I’m sorry..” you trailed off not sure what to say. 

Seongwha grabbed you hand and held it tightly while looking into your eyes. “Y/n, please tell me the truth. Do you have feelings for your ex?” 

“What? Of course no!” You exclaimed, shocked he would even ask that. “I love you and only you!” 

“Then why did you call me your “friend” and not boyfriend?” He asked with teary eyes. 

“Omg baby, I’m sorry I made you feel like that. I’m the one who broke up with him and he took it really hard. His family is very close with mine and I just didn’t want to hurt him again.. I’m sorry that I chose his feelings over yours.” You said stroking his check. “I am so incredibly lucky to have you has my boyfriend. Plus you were so cool earlier when you told him off.” 

Seongwha gave you a shy smile. “R-really? Well, since you were just trying to avoid hurting someone’s feelings I will forgive you. However, to make up for it..” He whispered into your ear what he wanted. You started blushing furiously and just nodded, you wanted to make things right, and you loved your boyfriend so much. 

“Good girl.” He said kissing your cheek. “Let’s head home, shall we?” 

Yunho 

You were FaceTiming with your parent’s and didn’t hear your boyfriend, Yunho come home. He came up behind you and wrapped his arms around you. 

“Hey ba-“ 

“Y/n! Do you have a boyfriend?” You dad asked. 

“Do you guys live together!?” Your mother said shocked. “We allowed you to study overseas to get a good education! Not to date boys!” 

“Ahh! Nono, he’s just a friend. He’s here to study with me! But he’s a hugger just like me!” You said quickly to your parents. 

“‘Just a friend?’” Yunho said dejectedly. 

You looked at him with pleading eyes to go along with you. 

“Ah, yeah. Y/n and I are just friends. Here to study for our upcoming tests.” Yunho said sadly. 

It took a little more to convince your parents that Yunho wasn’t your boyfriend and you soon were able to hangout so you could “study.” 

“That was a close one.” You muttered to yourself. “Right, Yunho?.. Yunho?” 

You turned and saw your big baby of a boyfriend sitting on the couch sulking. You got up and wrapped your arms around him. 

“Baby, what’s wrong?” 

“Why did you have to lie to your parents? I really wanted to meet them as your boyfriend.. not “friend.””

“I’m sorry! If they knew I had a boyfriend.. they would find a way to get me to come home. And that I could no longer be with you!” You started placing kisses in his cheeks. “Do you want me to go away?” 

“No! Of course not!” He said turning around and pulling you onto the couch. “I would be heartbroken.” 

He started tickling you as punishment for hurting his feelings though. He then kisses your forehead. “I’ll pretend to be your friend for now.. but if we get caught again.. no promises.” 

“Okay,” you said smiling. You did want your parents to know you were dating such a wonderful man and they had nothing to worry about. 

Yeosang 

You and Yeosang were hanging out in your room, cuddling while watching TV, and after a while Yeosang was wanting more attention. He started kissing your neck and jaw, and it would have lead to a make-out session but you got a phone call. 

“Hello? Oh hi boss, how are you?” As you were trying to hear what your boss was trying to tell you, Yeosang whined beside you to hang up. 

“Hm, what was that? A boyfriend? No of course! I-I just have a friend over right now and she’s just a bit needy. Had a breakup.. aha y-yeah I remember you saying all men a scum.. oh okay you need me in early tomorrow? Yeah I can do that. Okay bye.” You said sighing as you threw your phone. 

“I’m sorry, y/n, but was that your way of saying you want to break up with me?” Yeosang asked hurt. 

“What are you talking about?” You asked confused. “Of course not! Why would I break up with you?” 

“Well why did you tell your boss your dealing with a “friend” who is going through a breakup?” He asked pouting and letting you go to cross his arms over his chest. 

“Baby, my boss is an older woman who really hates men. If any woman in the office gets a boyfriend.. then she takes out all her anger on them.” You explained. “I don’t want her to make my life a living hell at work.” 

“What, really!? You actually work for a woman like that?” Yeosang asked surprised. “You should quit!” 

“I can’t do that! I need this job until I can find a better one. So please, bare with this until then. You’re still my boyfriend and I still love you.” You pleaded. “Just can’t tell my boss.” 

“Okay. But once you get a new job you better tell everyone you’re taken and have the best boyfriend in the whole world.” He said pulling you back into his arms. 

“I promise.” You giggled. 

You smiled at you before continuing where you guys left off before the phone call had rudely interrupted. 

San 

You and your best friend San were hanging out at the arcade together like usual. You were watching him play the claw machine, he was attempting to win you a pink teddy bear that you said was really cute, and he was determine to win it for you. 

You got a phone call and saw that it was your grandma so you answered it immediately. 

“Hi grandma! How are you?.. yeah I’m good! I’m just with San. Yeah, you remember San, my friend? Yeah.. boyfriend? Aha no... oh? Blind date? I-I don’t know about that.. oh okay. Well alright I guess. Bye grandma.. love you.” You said and sighed as you ended the call. You leaned you head against the claw machine and closed your eyes. You didn’t want your grandma to set you up with anyone because there was only one boy you wanted and unfortunately he only saw you as a friend. 

“So I have been demoted from best friend to friend, now?” San asked. 

“What? Oh you heard that huh? Sorry, my grandma can’t remember a lot besides that I don’t have a boyfriend.” You laughed bitterly. 

“Do you want one?” San asked. “A boyfriend.” 

You jumped back startled from his question. “Wha- well I would. But I don’t think it will happen.” 

“Well think again.” He said smiling as he handed you the pink bear he had managed to win you. “I would like to promote you from my best friend to my girlfriend.” 

You jumped back again surprised by San’s confession. “What? You like me!?” 

“Yeah dummy. Thought it was obvious. I knew you liked me. I was just waiting for the right time to ask you out.” He said nonchalantly. “So, will you accept your promotion?” 

“Y-yes! Yes of course!” You said throwing you arms around San. “I would love to be your girlfriend.” 

He hugged you back and smirked. “Good, now call grandma back and tell her no more blind dates because you’re taken.” 

Mingi 

You, your boyfriend and the members of Ateez decided to spend the day at an amusement park. The 9 of you had been running around crazy all day, riding rides, screaming, and chickening out for certain rides. You all decided to take a break and get some food. 

“Babe, you sit down and I’ll get us something to eat.” Mingi said kissing you cheek before going off to stand in line. 

You sat down at a table waiting for Mingi to return. The others had found tables away from you two, to allow a little alone time. After a little bit you received a phone call from one of the kids you tutored English to. As you were speaking to her on the phone you heard Mingi calling you. 

“Noona! Noona! Where are you?” You spotted your giant boyfriend easily and waved him down.

“Over here, Mingi!” You called. 

“Ah Noona, there you are.” He said coming to you. “Oh you’re on the phone.” He notes as he sat down. 

“Oh what was that, sorry? My brother? Aha, oh no he’s not my brother but my friend. Yeah that’s right! Okay, I’ll see you on Tuesday for our lesson!” You said ending the call and putting your phone away. 

“Did I do something wrong?” Mingi asked quietly. 

“What? No of course not! Why would you think that?” You asked. 

“Because you told the person on the phone that I was your “friend” and not boyfriend.” He pouted. 

“Oh! Baby no. I’m sorry.” You said grabbing both his hands with yours. “It was one of my younger students just asking me a question. I just didn’t want to tell her too much personal information about myself.” 

“Really?” Mingi said giving you those eyes (🥺) that melted and broke your heart every time. 

“Of course! I love you so much and want everyone to know your my boyfriend.” You said reaching out to caress his cheek. “You make me incredibly happy and I would be heartbroken if we weren’t together.” 

He gave you that gummy smile of his while slightly blushing. “I love you too. And I feel the same way.” 

Mingi was extra clingy to you for the rest of the day, determined to let everyone in the park know you two were dating. 

Wooyoung 

You were at the dance studio watching your boyfriend practice for his upcoming stage performance. He liked when you came and kept him company. He always asked you to watch him so you could help him determine which parts need more work than others. Plus he enjoyed teasing you from time to time. Wooyoung just finished practicing when you got a phone call from your best friend, who was a huge fan of Ateez, and didn’t know you were friends with them, let alone that you were dating Wooyoung. 

“Hey, y/f/n, what’s up?” 

“Y/nnnnnnn are you ignoring me already?” Wooyoung whined when he saw you on the phone. 

“Eh, what was that? Wooyoung? No of course not! No I don’t have a boyfriend! It’s just one of my friends from work! Yeah! Okay, I’ll talk to you later.” You pressed end and laid on the floor, your heart racing from the anxiety you had just experienced. 

“Ya, y/n! Why am I your ‘friend’ all of sudden? Hmm? Am I not good enough to be your boyfriend?” Wooyoung asked laying down on you. “Explain yourself. Before I go to Seongwha and tell him how you are mistreating his baby.” 

You burst onto giggles hearing. “You give Seongwha so much stress.. I don’t think you’re HIS baby.. maybe San’s and most definitely mine.” You said stroking his hair. 

“It was my best friend, the one who loves you guys more than anything. She heard your voice and was getting suspicious. You know she can’t know or else all hell would break lose.” 

“Oh is that what happened?” He said. “Ah okay, baby I get it. I’m still your boyfriend and your baby?”

“Of course, my sweet angel.” You said kissing his nose. “Forever and always.” 

Woo started giggling while he placed kisses all over your face. “You know it’s kind of hot having to keep this a secret from people, huh?” 

“Ugh, Woo shush.” You said said pushing his shoulder. 

“Nope. I want you baby, come here.” He said before kissing your lips. “Let’s go home.. unless you wanna stay here?” 

“Omg! No let’s go home then!” You said getting out from under him and leaving the room. 

“Wait for me baby!” Wooyoung called chasing after you. 

Jongho 

You and Jongho were hanging out in his room watching videos on his phone. You were resting your head on his chest and he had his one arm around you. He was usually quite shy when you two were around other people, but when it was just the two of you, he seemed to relax a bit more. As you two were watching a video you saw you noticed you missed a phone call from your mom. 

“Oh Jongho, can you pause for a second? I need to call my mom back.” 

“Sure thing babe.” 

“Hi mom! Sorry I missed your call. What’s up?” 

“The doctor just called and said you started taking birth control!! Why? Are you doing things you shouldn’t be!?” Your mom said so loud that even Jongho could hear her. 

“Birth control?” Jongho asked surprised. 

“Who was that!? Are you with a boy? Are you doing sinful things!?” Your mom yelled. 

“No no mom! Of course not mom! It’s just my friend, a girl, not a boy! Please don’t say she sounds like a boy.. she’s self conscious about her voice.” You reassured your mom that you were good, innocent, and pure daughter, who would never think of such thoughts- after years of lying you could get her to believe anything. 

“Ughhh I shouldn’t have called her.” You said. “I’m sorry you had to what that.” 

“I-I understand why you had to call me “friend” but it kind of hurt.” Jongho said quietly while he had pouty lips. 

“Ohhh my sweet baby I am so sorry about that. If I could tell my mom I had such a loving, caring and handsome boyfriend such as yourself I would.” You leaned up and kissed his pouty lips. 

He smiled shyly at you. “Well, as long as you know I’m your boyfriend than I don’t care too much. Especially because your mom is...” 

“Crazy? Yeah I agree.” You said giggling. “I’ll let her know I have a boyfriend soon. Just gotta wait to find the best time to break her heart.” 

You snuggled back into his arms and continued watching videos together. 

[kookie-doughs]

Y/N L/N AND THE HALFBLOODS

Percy Jackson X Reader

-Y/N L/N met Percy Jackson and everything was now ruined.

CHAPTER 13: I Have Trust Issues But Okay

We spent two days on the Amtrak train, heading west through hills, over rivers, past amber waves of grain. We weren't attacked once, but I didn't relax. I felt that we were traveling around in a display case, being watched from above and maybe from below, that something was waiting for the right opportunity. We tried to keep a low profile because Percy and I's name and picture were splattered over the front pages of several East Coast newspapers. It seemed like when they saw me with Percy they realized me and my family are gone. The Trenton Register-News showed a photo taken by a tourist as we got off the Greyhound bus. Percy had a wild look in my eyes. His sword was a metallic blur in his hands. It might've been a baseball bat or a lacrosse stick. I was holding his hand with my knife on the other hand. The picture's caption read: Twelve-year-old Percy Jackson, wanted for questioning in the Long Island disappearance of his mother two weeks ago, is shown here fleeing from the bus where he accosted several elderly female passengers. The bus exploded on an east New Jersey roadside shortly after Jackson fled the scene. Based on eyewitness accounts, police believe the boy may be traveling with three teenage accomplices. It has been found out one of which is Y/N L/N, a twelve-year-old girl who went missing with her family during a trip. Percy Jackson's stepfather, Gabe Ugliano, has offered a cash reward for information leading to his capture.

"Don't worry," Annabeth told Percy. "Mortal police could never find us." But she didn't sound so sure. The rest of the day we spent alternately pacing the length of the train (because I had a really hard time sitting still) or looking out the windows. Calm Once, I spotted a family of centaurs galloping across a wheat field, bows at the ready, as they hunted lunch. The little boy centaur, who was the size of a second-grader on a pony, caught my eye and waved. I looked around the passenger car, the adult riders all had their faces buried in laptop computers or magazines, Percy and I saw an amazed look. Another time, toward evening, Percy said he saw something huge moving through the woods. He swore it was a lion, except that lions don't live wild in America, and it was the size of a Hummer, then it leaped through the trees and was gone. I told him he might have been seeing things and Annabeth agreed. Our reward money for returning Gladiola the poodle had only been enough to purchase tickets as far as Denver. We couldn't get berths in the sleeper car, so we dozed in our seats. My neck got stiff. I sat between Percy and Annabeth. Grover kept snoring and bleating and waking Percy up. Once, he shuffled around and his fake foot fell off. Annabeth and I had to stick it back on before any of the other passengers noticed. "So," Annabeth asked me, once we'd gotten Grover's sneaker readjusted. "Who wants Percy's help?" "What do you mean?" "You heard it too didn't you? When he was asleep just now, he mumbled, 'I won't help you.' Has he told you what he's dreaming about?" "Gossiping about me?" Percy yawned. "Pretty much everyone is. So I think we'll join." I said. "Annabeth wants to know about your dream. I could tell he was reluctant to say anything. It was the second time he'd dreamed about it. Then he finally told her. Annabeth was quiet for a long time. "If you think it's Hades, that doesn't sound like Hades. He always appears on a black throne, and he never laughs." She pointed out. "He offered my mother in trade. Who else could do that?" We could. If you bring us together we could trade. "What?" Percy and Annabeth looked at me in worry. "Something on my face? Is there something close?" "Y/N, you did it again." Percy said. "Did what?" "You... Talked. Differently. Like weirdly." "Your definition of weird doesn't describe me. I did nothing wrong. I haven't even given an in put on your topic. Which we should get back on." I don't know why I had no idea what they meant by me talking weirdly, but I felt like I should stay away from that topic. "I guess ... if he meant, 'Help me rise from the Underworld.' If he wants war with the Olympians. But why ask you to bring him the master bolt if he already has it?" She explained looking at me as if I was the one that needed convincing. I shook my head, wishing I knew the answer. I thought about what Grover had told me, that the Furies on the bus seemed to have been looking for something. Where is it? Where? Maybe Grover sensed my emotions. He snorted in his sleep, muttered something about vegetables, and turned his head. Percy readjusted Grover's cap so it covered his horns. "Percy, you can't barter with Hades. You know that, right? He's deceitful, heartless, and greedy. I don't care if his Kindly Ones weren't as aggressive this time-" "This time?" I asked. "You mean you've run into them before?" Her hand crept up to her necklace. She fingered a glazed white bead painted with the image of a pine tree, one of her clay end-of-summer tokens. "Let's just say I've got no love for the Lord of the Dead. You can't be tempted to make a deal for your mom." "What would you do if it was your dad?" "That's easy," she said. "I'd leave him to rot." "You're not serious?" Annabeth's gray eyes fixed on me. She wore the same expression she'd worn in the woods at camp, the moment she drew her sword against the hellhound. "My dad's resented me since the day I was born," she said. "He never wanted a baby. When he got me, he asked Athena to take me back and raise me on Olympus because he was too busy with his work. She wasn't happy about that. She told him heroes had to be raised by their mortal parent." "But how ... I mean, I guess you weren't born in a hospital...." "I appeared on my father's doorstep, in a golden cradle, carried down from Olympus by Zephyr the West Wind. You'd think my dad would remember that as a miracle, right? Like, maybe he'd take some digital photos or something. But he always talked about my arrival as if it were the most inconvenient thing that had ever happened to him. When I was five he got married and totally forgot about Athena. He got a 'regular' mortal wife, and had two 'regular' mortal kids, and tried to pretend I didn't exist." I stared out the train window. The lights of a sleeping town were drifting by. I wanted to make Annabeth feel better. I don't know but the only way I could think of was a hug. So I wrapped and arm around her shoulders. She stiffened unsure of what I'd done. "My parents, they loved me all the same. The closet I got to talking about Gods was when they thought me. Not a single hint was dropped about me being a halfblood. I mean if you count my grandma Hestia. Which I think is just named after the goddess. I mean yeah, you had a not so wonderful life... But at least you're who you are now." I smiled at her. Eying Percy I gave him a nod towards Annabeth telling him to comfort her since he'd started it anyway. "My mom married a really awful guy," he told her. "Grover said she did it to protect me, to hide me in the scent of a human family. Maybe that's what your dad was thinking." Annabeth kept worrying at her necklace. She was pinching the gold college ring that hung with the beads. It occurred to me that the ring must be her father's. I wondered why she wore it if she hated him so much. "He doesn't care about me," she said. "His wife-my stepmom-treated me like a freak. She wouldn't let me play with her children. My dad went along with her. Whenever something dangerous happened-you know, something with monsters-they would both look at me resentfully, like, 'How dare you put our family at risk.' Finally, I took the hint. I wasn't wanted. I ran away." "How old were you?" "Same age as when I started camp. Seven." "But ... you couldn't have gotten all the way to Half-Blood Hill by yourself." "Not alone, no. Athena watched over me, guided me toward help. I made a couple of unexpected friends who took care of me, for a short time, anyway." I wanted to ask what happened, but Annabeth seemed lost in sad memories. Luke had already told me some of these part where he went here with Annabeth and Thalia. So I gazed out the train windows as the dark fields of Ohio raced by. Toward the end of our second day on the train, June 13, eight days before the summer solstice, we passed through some golden hills and over the Mississippi River into St. Louis. Annabeth craned her neck to see the Gateway Arch, which looked to me like a huge shopping bag handle stuck on the city. "I want to do that," she sighed. "What?" I asked. "Build something like that. You ever see the Parthenon, Y/N?" "Only in pictures." "Someday, I'm going to see it in person. I'm going to build the greatest monument to the gods, ever. Something that'll last a thousand years." Percy laughed. "You? An architect?" Her cheeks flushed. "Yes, an architect. Athena expects her children to create things, not just tear them down, like a certain god of earthquakes I could mention." "Percy! I think she'll be incredible." I pinched his arm. We watched the churning brown water of the Mississippi below. I took Percy's hand in fear that the water would just grab me and drag me down. "Sorry," Annabeth said. "That was mean." I nudged Percy to apologize as well, "I didn't mean to make fun of you. I'm sorry." "Can't you two work together a little?" I pleaded. "I mean, didn't Athena and Poseidon ever cooperate?" Annabeth had to think about it. "I guess ... the chariot," she said tentatively. "My mom invented it, but Poseidon created horses out of the crests of waves. So they had to work together to make it complete." "Then you two can cooperate, too. Right?" We rode into the city, Annabeth watching as the Arch disappeared behind a hotel. "I suppose," she said at last. We pulled into the Amtrak station downtown. The intercom told us we'd have a three-hour layover before departing for Denver. Grover stretched. Before he was even fully awake, he said, "Food." "Come on, goat boy," Annabeth said. "Sightseeing." "Sightseeing?" "The Gateway Arch," she said. "This may be my only chance to ride to the top. Are you coming or not?" Grover, Percy and I exchanged looks. I wanted to say no, but seeing the stars in Annabeth's as she watched, she was too adorable to say no to. Grover shrugged. "As long as there's a snack bar without monsters." The Arch was about a mile from the train station. Late in the day the lines to get in weren't that long. We threaded our way through the underground museum, looking at covered wagons and other junk from the 1800s. It wasn't all that thrilling, but Annabeth kept telling us interesting facts about how the Arch was built, and Grover kept passing me jelly beans, so I was okay. I kept looking around, though, at the other people in line. "You smell anything?" Percy murmured to Grover. He took his nose out of the jelly-bean bag long enough to sniff. "Underground," he said distastefully. "Underground air always smells like monsters. Probably doesn't mean anything." I took a peek at my knife and saw there was a very weak glow, or maybe a sunlight reflection. Somewhere in between. "Guys," I said. "You know the gods' symbols of power?" Annabeth had been in the middle of reading about the construction equipment used to build the Arch, but she looked over. "Yeah?" "Well, Hade-" Grover cleared his throat. "We're in a public place.... You mean, our friend downstairs?" "Um, right," I said. "Our friend way downstairs. Doesn't he have a hat like Annabeth's?" "You mean the Helm of Darkness," Annabeth said. "Yeah, that's his symbol of power. I saw it next to his seat during the winter solstice council meeting." "He was there?" Percy asked. She nodded. "It's the only time he's allowed to visit Olympus-the darkest day of the year. But his helm is a lot more powerful than my invisibility hat, if what I've heard is true...." "It allows him to become darkness," Grover confirmed. "He can melt into shadow or pass through walls. He can't be touched, or seen, or heard. And he can radiate fear so intense it can drive you insane or stop your heart. Why do you think all rational creatures fear the dark?" "But then ... how do we know he's not here right now, watching us?" I asked. Annabeth and Grover exchanged looks. "We don't," Grover said. "Thanks, that makes me feel a lot better," Percy said. "Got any blue jelly beans left?" Someone else could be watching. Hades isn't the only one to blend in the shadow young vessel. But worry not, all in the darkness, shall be your ally. So Hades will also be my ally? As air and water refuse, land and all there is shall be your ally. Can't I be allies with all? Hades, Zeus, Poseidon. Everyone. The three of them looked at me in surprise. "Don't say their name!" Grover whispered loudly. "Whose name? I haven't said a name!" I could talk through you young vessel. Is this the first time this happened? How can you forget about our conversation? Talk through me? Who are you? I am one of which that'll make sure you become one with yourself. "Y/N!!" Percy yelled. "What? Geez, you're too loud." "We've been calling your name for three minutes." Annabeth said. "Are you... Okay?" "Yeah why wouldn't I be?" When the tiny elevator car came. We got shoehorned into the car with this big fat lady and her dog, a Chihuahua with a rhinestone collar. I figured maybe the dog was a seeing-eye Chihuahua, because none of the guards said a word about it. We started going up, inside the Arch. I'd never been in an elevator that went in a curve, and my stomach wasn't too happy about it. "No parents?" the fat lady asked us. She had beady eyes; pointy, coffee-stained teeth; a floppy denim hat, and a denim dress that bulged so much, she looked like a blue-jean blimp. "They're below," Annabeth told her. "Scared of heights." "Oh, the poor darlings." The Chihuahua growled. The woman said, "Now, now, sonny. Behave." The dog had beady eyes like its owner, intelligent and vicious. I said, "Sonny. Is that his name?" "No," the lady told me. She smiled, as if that cleared everything up. At the top of the Arch, the observation deck reminded me of a tin can with carpeting. Rows of tiny windows looked out over the city on one side and the river on the other. The view was okay, but if there's anything I like less than a confined space, it's a confined space six hundred feet in the air. I was ready to go pretty quick. I could see Percy was too. So I took his hand and gave him a reassuring squeeze to calm him down despite my breakdown. Annabeth kept talking about structural supports, and how she would've made the windows bigger, and designed a see-through floor. She probably could've stayed up there for hours, but the park ranger announced that the observation deck would be closing in a few minutes. I steered Annabeth while Percy with Grover, toward the exit, loaded them into the elevator, and we were about to get in myself when I realized there were already two other tourists inside. No room for me. The park ranger said, "Next car, sir." "We'll get out," Annabeth said. "We'll wait with you two." But that was going to mess everybody up and take even more time, so I said, "Naw, it's okay. We'll see you guys at the bottom. I'll keep an eye on him." Grover and Annabeth both looked nervous, but they let the elevator door slide shut. Their car disappeared down the ramp. Now the only people left on the observation deck were me, a little boy with his parents, the park ranger, and the fat lady with her Chihuahua. Percy and I smiled uneasily at the fat lady. She smiled back, her forked tongue flickering between her teeth. Wait a minute. Forked tongue? Before I could decide if I'd really seen that, her Chihuahua jumped down and started yapping at Percy. "Now, now, sonny," the lady said. "Does this look like a good time? We have all these nice people here." "Doggie!" said the little boy. "Look, a doggie!" His parents pulled him back. The Chihuahua bared his teeth at me, foam dripping from his black lips. "Well, son," the fat lady sighed. "If you insist." Ice started forming in my stomach. "Urn, did you just call that Chihuahua your son?" "Chimera, dear," the fat lady corrected. "Not a Chihuahua. It's an easy mistake to make." She rolled up her denim sleeves, revealing that the skin of her arms was scaly and green. When she smiled, I saw that her teeth were fangs. The pupils of her eyes were sideways slits, like a reptile's. The Chihuahua barked louder, and with each bark, it grew. First to the size of a Doberman, then to a lion. The bark became a roar. The little boy screamed. His parents pulled him back toward the exit, straight into the park ranger, who stood, paralyzed, gaping at the monster. The Chimera was now so tall its back rubbed against the roof. It had the head of a lion with a blood-caked mane, the body and hooves of a giant goat, and a serpent for a tail, a ten-foot-long diamondback growing right out of its shaggy behind. The rhinestone dog collar still hung around its neck, and the plate-sized dog tag was now easy to read: CHIMERA-RABID, FIRE-BREATHING, POISONOUS-IF FOUND, PLEASE CALL TARTARUS-EXT. 954. I immediately pulled out my knife. And waited for the moment to jump in front of Percy who was ten feet away from the Chimera's bloody maw, and I knew that as soon as I moved, the creature would lunge. The snake lady made a hissing noise that might've been laughter. "Be honored, Percy Jackson and Y/N L/N. Lord Zeus rarely allows me to test a hero with one of my brood. For I am the Mother of Monsters, the terrible Echidna!" Percy and I stared at each other for a second stared at her. All he could think to say was: "Isn't that a kind of anteater?" She howled, her reptilian face turning brown and green with rage. "I hate it when people say that! I hate Australia! Naming that ridiculous animal after me. For that, Percy Jackson, my son shall destroy you!" The Chimera charged, its lion teeth gnashing. I managed to take Percy's arm to pull him aside and dodge the bite. We ended up next to the family and the park ranger, who were all screaming now, trying to pry open the emergency exit doors. I couldn't let them get hurt. I positioned myself able to parry any oncoming attack. Percy uncapped his sword, ran to the other side of the deck, and yelled, "Hey, Chihuahua!" The Chimera turned faster than I would've thought possible. Before he could swing my sword, it opened its mouth, emitting a stench like the world's largest barbecue pit, and shot a column of flame straight at him. Percy dove through the explosion. The carpet burst into flames; the heat was so intense, I could feel it where I stand and it was like I was in a sauna. Where Percy had been standing a moment before was a ragged hole in the side of the Arch, with melted metal steaming around the edges. Great, I thought. We just blowtorched a national monument. As the Chimera turned, Percy slashed at its neck. That was a fatal mistake. The blade sparked harmlessly off the dog collar. I saw the serpent tail lifted it whipped around and with all I could I ran and raised my knife to block it. Percy tried to jab Riptide into the Chimera's mouth, but the serpent tail wrapped around his ankles and pulled him off balance, and my blade flew out of my hand, spinning out of the hole in the Arch and down toward the Mississippi River. I pulled a weaponless Percy behind me and raised my small one. We backed into the hole in the wall. The Chimera advanced, growling, smoke curling from its lips. The snake lady, Echidna, cackled. "They don't make heroes like they used to, eh, son?" The monster growled. It seemed in no hurry to finish us off now that we were beaten. I glanced at the park ranger and the family. The little boy was hiding behind his father's legs. I had to protect these people. I couldn't just ... die. I was facing a massive, fire-breathing monster and its mother. And I was scared. There was no place else to go, so I stepped to the edge of the hole. Trust our hero. Jump with him. He had sworn to save us. Far, far below, the river glittered. Percy and I shared a reluctant and fearful look. If we died, would the monsters go away? Would they leave the humans alone? "If you are the son of Poseidon," Echidna hissed, "you would not fear water. Jump, Percy Jackson. Show me that water will not harm you. Jump and retrieve your sword. Prove your bloodline. Maybe your small friend could survive with you." We both knew the water hated me. But I trusted Percy. I'd jump if he told me. The Chimera's mouth glowed red, heating up for another blast. "Either you have no faith," Echidna told me. "You do not trust the gods. I cannot blame you, little cowards. Better you die now. The gods are faithless." Percy took my hand and backed up, he looked down at the water. Percy looked at me and smiled. I knew what he wanted. Holding his hand tighter, I got closer to him. "Die, faithless one," Echidna rasped, and the Chimera sent a column of flame toward our faces. "Father, please," I heard Percy say. "Don't hurt her. Help us." We turned and jumped. Our clothes on fire, we plummeted toward the river.

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[narisjournal-blog]

A Way With Words

Fandom: Cobra Kai

Pairings: Samantha Larusso x Robby Keene, Robby Keene x Miguel Diaz (platonic)

Word Count: 3490

Warnings: sexting

Notes: So in this fic Sam and Robby are together, and there are some strong Kiaz vibes. I’ve made it platonic, but it could get dirtier. I’m not comfortable posting that, though as they are underage.  Please let me know what you think, I’m needy.

This would take place in season 2 after the Lawrusso double date, imagining that Sam and Robby didn’t go to the party and the shit didnt hit the fan. Thanks for reading x

A Way with Words

Robby stood at the door to Jonny’s place taking in what lay before him. His father had clearly attempted to clean but there wasn’t much you could do when so much was ingrained. The couch was old and stained, the walls an off-white that made it feel darker, and there was a constant musty smell that he couldn’t quite put his finger on. At least he had got rid of all the empty beer bottles, Robby thought.

‘I know it’s not much, not compared to the Larussos,’ Johnny said, a hint of shame in his voice. ‘But it’s home. It’s safe. You know you’re welcome any time.’

Robby sighed as the door closed behind him.

‘How long do I have to stay here?’ He asked.

He looked round and he knew from the look in Johnny’s eyes that he had hurt him.

Johnny shook his head, resigning himself to the abuse he probably deserved.

‘Just a couple days. While The Larussos are away.’

Robby gave a wry smile. ‘They don’t trust me with their daughter.’

‘Definitely not,’ Johnny laughed.

Robby rolled his eyes.

‘Oh come on, like you weren’t gonna make a move the second her parents left?’

After a beat, Robby shrugged. ‘Maybe.’

Johnny gave him a slap on the back.

‘Come on, you can suffer a few days with your old man. I think you’ll find a lot more freedom here.

‘Where shall I put my things?’

‘Right through here,’ Johnny said, leading him to the small spare room.

‘I’ll be through there. Make yourself at home.’

He left and Robby slumped down on the bed.

This is a good thing, he told himself with his head in his hands. He’s trying. That’s more than he ever has before.

He had been really resistant to the idea when His father and Mr Larusso had finally sat down to talk and come to an agreement that Robby could stay with his Dad while the family were away. Even Johnny agreed it was better for Robby to live with the Larussos for the time being because he really didn’t have that much to offer in terms of comfort or luxury.

Robby had felt disappointed that he wouldn’t get to spend the time with Sam. It was so rare they got any time alone and he had thought maybe things might heat up a little while her parents were away.

Apparently Mr Larusso was well versed in teenage boy thinking.

He started to unpack his bag when there was a knock at the front door.

‘Carmen?’ Johnny’s voice said.

‘Johnny, I’m so sorry to do this, I know it’s a lot but it’s an emergency.’ She sounded upset. Carmen? Robby thought, trying to think if he knew her.

‘Hey hey, slow down,’ Johnny said. Robby continued unpacking clothes, thinking nothing of it.

‘Are you ok? What happened?’

‘It’s my mother. She collapsed and they don’t know what’s going on, they think she may have had a heart attack. She’s in hospital out of town and’ Johnny cut her off.

‘Yaya? Oh my God I’m so sorry.’

‘Can Miggy stay here for tonight so I can be with her? Please?’

Miggy? Who the hell was... and then it dawned on him.

Miguel.

Instantly Robby’s fists clenched and he rose to his feet.

Why did he think it would be any different? He started throwing his clothes back into his bag haphazardly.

‘I uh...’ Johnny’s voice continued, sounding uncomfortable. ‘I kinda have Robby...’

‘Please, Johnny. We’ve got no-one else.’

‘Mom, come on. I’ll be fine on my own.’ Miguel’s voice.

Carmen snipped at him in rapid Spanish, then quickly switched back to English.

‘He’ll be no trouble, and I’ll pay you for food,’ she added.

‘You don’t have to do that, I...’

Robby knew what was coming. ‘Yeah, sure he can stay. I’ll just have to talk to Robby, since you guys aren’t exactly best of friends.’

‘I don’t want any trouble,’ Miguel mumbled.

Robby slammed his fist into the wall and instantly regretted it as pain shot through his whole wrist.

He sat back on the bed nursing his hand.Swirling around with the anger, he could feel the hurt and the disappointment tightening his throat. His eyes burned and he shook his head to try and control it.

Why did he ever believe it could be any different?

There was a knock at the bedroom door. He stood, throwing his bag back over his shoulder.

The door opened. Johnny looked so awkward, it was pathetic. Like he was trying to pretend the decision was hard.

‘Robby, you probably heard. Miguel’s-‘

Robby cut him off.

‘Yeah I heard. I should’ve known.’

He flexed his hand to see if the pain was easing but it throbbed once again and he winced.

‘Are you ok?’ Johnny nodded to Robby’s hand.

‘Yeah I’m just peachy,’ he retorted.

‘Did you punch a wall?’

Robby didn’t answer.

‘Oh for God’s sake.’

‘Yeah well I should have known it was stupid to think I was your priority for once when you just jump at the chance to help your favourite son,’ Robby said.

Johnny scoffed. ‘Oh will you quit being such a baby. The guy’s going through a hard time, would you just put your hate to the side for one night and be a civilised human being?’

‘Whatever, I’m going back to the Larussos,’ Robby said and made to barge past Johnny.

He forgot just how strong and stubborn his father could be. Johnny grabbed his arm and shoved him back into the room. He stumbled backwards and then found his balance to pull his fist back.

‘The hell you are. What, you just give up? This is your problem Robby, you make it so hard. I know I haven’t been perfect but I’m trying, ok? Any time I try to do right by you, to be there for you or whatever, it’s like you’re just waiting for me to fuck it up and then you shut me out again.’

‘What am I supposed to do? I can’t rely on you,’ he said.

‘Come on just take a second to calm down. Find your centre or whatever that bullshit is that Larusso is teaching you.’

Robby had been caught off guard with a blow he never expected from his father. And he was right, he did need to calm down. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes and tried to focus on his breathing.

He could feel his body calming and he hated that his father was right.

When he opened his eyes, he saw Johnny’s pleading face. Robby felt his defences ease.

‘I guess I’m just disappointed, Dad.’

Johnny’s eyes fell to the floor.

‘I get that, you have every right to be. But I can’t turn him away at a time like this, Robby. It’s the right thing to do. Deep down you know it.’

Robby sat back on the bed, resigned.

‘No fighting, alright?’ Johnny added, pointing at Robby.

‘But I-‘ Robby began to protest but he got cut off.

‘No fighting. My house, my rules.’ Robby exhaled.

‘I’m gonna go see if he’s alright,’

Johnny added then left.

Robby flopped back on the bed and ran his hands through his hair. He pulled his phone out of his pocket to see a text from Sam.

‘How’s it going?’

He wrote back. ‘Not great. Your ex is staying too.’

Almost right away she was ringing him.

‘Miguel is staying with you?’ She asked sounding perplexed.

‘Yeah. Weird right?’

‘How come? Like was it planned, did your dad know?’

‘No, it’s an emergency. His grandma is in hospital.’

‘yaya? Shit...This is going to be really hard for him.’

Of course she would sympathise with Migue, he thought rolling his eyes.

‘Do you think you can be nice to him?’

‘I’m not an asshole Sam.‘

‘No but your defences are up when you’re around your dad and Miguel. You know I’m right.’

Robby sighed. She was right. After what seemed like a long silence, he spoke again.

‘Ok. Tell me how.’

‘Just try and empathise, Robby. I know it’s hard because it’s him, but just try and think about what he’s going through. ‘

Robby sighed.

‘For me?’ She added in that way she knew would make him melt.

‘Sure.’

‘I miss you’ she added, changing the subject swiftly. ‘I was kinda hoping we might get some alone time this weekend.’

‘Me too.’

‘It’s no fun all alone in this big empty house. I miss kissing you.’ Sam’s voice was soft, playful but almost shy.

‘Maybe I can come over tomorrow?’ Robby posed.

‘I can’t stop thinking about all the things we could do if you were here.’

Robby, heart pounding, drew breath to ask for more detail, but he was interrupted .

‘Robby?’ He heard Johnny shout. Then a knock at the door before it pushed open.

‘I’m getting pizza, do you want some?’

Robby sighed. ‘Sam, I gotta go. Text me. I wanna know.’

He hung up.

‘Uh yeah, I’ll go for pizza.

‘Pepperoni?’

‘Sounds good.’

‘Ok, well can you come out here and keep Miguel company while I’m gone? He’s pretty down.’

Robby couldn’t stop himself rolling his eyes. He stood and headed out the door nonetheless.

‘Is he crying?’ He asked with disdain.

Johnny slapped the back of his head on his way past.

‘Don��t be a dick,’ was all he said.

‘Ow!’ Robby rubbed his head, shocked at his father’s response.

‘Back soon,’ Johnny added as he left and closed the front door behind him.

Robby stood at the far side of the room trying to compose himself.

He looked across at Miguel, who was sat on the couch staring in the vague direction of the TV, although it wasn’t on. The boy looked so vulnerable, brown eyes wide with sadness.

Robby approached him.

‘Hey you know you’re supposed to turn it on first, right?’ He said.

Miguel seemed to snap out of some daydream and gave a faintly sarcastic smile.

‘You’re funny,’ he muttered. There was a long pause before Robby spoke again. He was surprised to realise he actually felt nervous.

‘Hey, you want a beer?’ Robby asked.

Miguel furrowed his brow in confusion. ‘We’re not...’ Robby raised an eyebrow.

‘Sure,’ Miguel shrugged, not wishing to argue.

Robby went to the refrigerator and grabbed two of Johnny’s Coors Banquets, looking around for a bottle opener. He opened them both and handed one to Miguel, who took it cautiously. ‘Are you sure? Won’t Sensei be pissed?’

‘Not at you,’ Robby said pointing the bottle to Miguel and sitting on the couch next to him. ‘You can get away with anything right now. I’m using you as a human shield. To your Grandma,’ He added, taking a big swig.

Miguel sighed, raised his bottle and said ‘to Yaya,’ then drank. He pulled a face at the taste and Robby laughed.

‘Yeah it’s shit.’

‘Why are you drinking it then?’

‘Because I can,’ Robby shrugged, taking another big swig.

They drank in silence for a while until Robby knocked back the last of his beer and stood to put the bottle on the table.

He didn’t realise his phone had slid out of his pocket - the shorts he was wearing were tight and had terrible pockets. He always managed to lose his phone when he wore them.

Robby was looking through the cupboards to see if there was anything decent to eat when he heard Miguel exclaim.

‘Woah, dude. You should really lock your screen.’

Robby whipped round to find Miguel holding his phone and reading something.

‘Hey!’ He yelled. ‘Give that back.’ He volted over the back of the couch to try and catch Miguel in a headlock so he could grab his phone back but Miguel was too fast and on his feet before Robby landed.

‘I miss your lips against mine,’ Miguel read, mocking in his tone. ‘I’ve been thinking about the way-’ Robby had grabbed him and pushed him to the wall but Miguel still managed to hold his phone out of reach and finish reading.

‘About the way you pressed me against the wall when you kissed me. I wish we hadn’t got interrupted.’ He laughed but relented and let Robby snatch his phone back. Robby considered punching him in the stomach for good measure, but thought better of it.

He opened the message from Sam and read through it again.

‘That’s private,’ he said, cheeks flushing against his will.

‘Well you certainly made an impression on Sam,’ Miguel added.

Robby was trying to think of some retort, but his mind was still half on what Sam had said.

‘You shouldn’t have read that,’ he said, glaring at Miguel.

‘Ok, I’m sorry. Come on I’m not trying to start anything... it was just there. I need something to take my mind off things anyway.’

‘And my private conversations are what you chose?’

Robby read the message again. He didn’t know where to go with that. He tried to think of what to say back to her but kept drawing a blank. He’d never been that good with words.

‘Are you ok?’ Miguel asked, actually sounding like he meant it.

‘Yeah. I just...’

Robby looked up and saw Miguel was staring at him, so he looked away quickly. He wished it wasn’t Miguel that was here right now. He really didn’t want to mess this up with Sam.

‘Look I’m sorry, but you don’t need to be embarrassed.’ Miguel continued to watch Robby. ‘Are you gonna reply?’

‘What? No that’s none of your business! I’m not talking about this. Just keep out of it ok?’

Robby stormed back to his room and slammed the door.

Miguel rolled his eyes and sighed, taking another drink of the awful beer. He had thought they were getting somewhere, but Robby was just so highly strung it was impossible.

He was trying to work out if he should feel jealous when Robby’s door opened again slowly. Miguel looked round and Robby stood half in half out staring at his phone still.

He looked up.

‘Should I reply?’ He asked.

‘Dude, yes. You have to reply. You can’t leave her hanging like that.’

Robby bit his lip, thinking.

‘What... what though?’

He walked back over to sit beside Miguel again.

‘Just tell her what you want.’

Robby looked up at Miguel, doubt in his eyes.

‘Look, if you were with her right now, what would you do?’

Robby shifted uncomfortably.

‘You do know what to do, right?’

‘Oh fuck off,’ Robby retorted. ‘It’s just not the same. Like, if I was with her, it would just happen. I get a read off her energy, you know?’

Miguel laughed. ‘You are so Miyagi-do.’

‘Just help me ok? What do I say?’ Robby pleaded.

‘Pick up where she left off.’

Robby’s thumbs hovered over the keyboard but nothing came.

Miguel sighed and held his hand out for the phone.

‘What are you crazy? I’m not giving you my phone again.’

‘Look I’m not gonna send anything, I’ll just start you off, ok? Come on. I have a way with words.’

‘Oh like you have a tonne of experience or something?’ Robby scoffed.

‘No, I just...’ he sighed. ‘I read a lot of fanfiction. Don’t,’ he added when Robby laughed. ‘You can learn a lot from fanfiction. Come on.’

Reluctantly, Robby handed over his phone.

He watched over Miguel’s shoulder as he typed and laughed in disbelief at the explicit picture Miguel was painting with his words.

‘Oh my god,’ he said. ‘I can’t send that.’

Miguel didn’t answer while he concentrated.

‘Ok I’ve changed my mind. Give me my phone back. That’s straight up porn, there’s no way I’m sending that.’ Robby tried to grab his phone but Miguel instinctively dodged and held it out of reach again while he finished typing.

‘No come on I said I changed my mind,’ Robby tried again, grabbing Miguel this time and shoving him to the floor, straddling him with his arm across his chest to hold him down.

Miguel gasped and looked at Robby with guilty eyes.

‘What?’ Robby asked, not catching on. Miguel looked down at Robby’s phone, the message bar now empty. It had sent.

‘Fuck,’ Robby said, grabbing his phone back but not letting Miguel up. ‘Are you fucking kidding me?’

‘I’m sorry, you knocked me. I didn’t mean to - I’m sorry,’ Miguel garbled, flinching away but also trying not to laugh.

Robby pressed his arm into Miguel’s chest harder, which made him cough. The cough turned to laughter and Robby wasn’t sure why but he ended up laughing too. It was so absurd and he didn’t know what else to do.

That was when the front door opened and Johnny came in.

Robby realised he still had Miguel pinned and quickly let him go.

‘Were you guys... fighting?’ Johnny asked, not sure what he had walked in on.

‘We we’re just messing around,’ Robby said quickly, glancing at Miguel who was brushing himself off and standing up.

Johnny narrowed his eyes looking from one boy to the other. ‘Whatever. Come give me a hand with this Robby,’ He added and handed him the pile of pizzas.

Robby looked again at his phone, still in shock at what had just happened, gave another glance back to Miguel who was trying not to laugh again. He shoved it in his pocket, and put the pizzas on the table.

Johnny was at the fridge.

‘Did you drink my beer?’ He asked.

‘Sorry sensei,’ Miguel said quickly. ‘It was my idea. I needed something to take my mind off Yaya.’

Johnny looked at them both again, suspecting there was some kind of conspiring happening.

‘Alright...’ he said, looking from one boy to the other. ‘Just nobody tell Carmen alright, I don’t wanna be on her bad side.’

He grabbed a beer, opened it and threw himself onto the couch.

‘You guys wanna watch a movie?’

Robby handed a pizza box to Miguel, grabbed the other two then leaned in as he walked past.

‘He’s totally trying to bang your Mom,’ he muttered, grinning.

***

The three of them had settled into the film and the pizza, all crammed onto that couch. Robby and Miguel had spent half the time pushing each other and complaining that the other was taking up too much space.

Robby felt his phone buzz in his pocket and instantly remembered what had happened. He shared a worried glance with Miguel, who also felt it buzz.

He pulled his phone out to look. It was from Sam, of course.

‘Robby that was hot,’ was all she said. Then the three dots appeared to show she was writing back.

Robby tapped Miguel’s leg, although he was already reading it. They grinned at each other. Miguel shrugged as if to say ‘I told you.’

After a few minutes her message came through. Robby didn’t even try to hide it from Miguel now. His heart raced as he read through her words, telling him what she wanted. Miguel exclaimed and tried to pretend he was coughing so Johnny wouldn’t catch on.

Robby shifted awkwardly. Part of him wanted to go to his room and be alone, but then he also still needed help. The cursor blinked at him.

Miguel, who was now leaning quite heavily into him to see what he was writing, held his hand out. Robby gave him his phone with no hesitation this time.

‘If I was there with you now I would...’ he typed then handed it back.

Robby sighed. He started typing something out as Miguel reached over and grabbed a couple of slices of pizza. He held one out to Robby.

Robby took it absently. He was staring at the screen again.

He looked up helplessly at Miguel. Miguel nodded encouragement and Robby added more to his text.

‘What are you boys doing ?’ Johnny asked, noticing their focus had shifted.

‘Homework,’ Robby said quickly.

‘Group chat,’ Miguel said at the same time.

After a beat, Miguel clarified. ‘It’s a study group chat.’

Johnny shrugged it off. He didn’t believe them but they weren’t fighting so he honestly didn’t care.

Robby sent his message after a nod from Miguel. He left his phone unlocked on his knee and they both stared at the TV while they waited.

After several minutes, a picture flashed up on Robby’s phone. Sam had sent a selfie in her underwear.

Robby gasped and grabbed his phone quickly and locked it, but not before Miguel had seen.

Miguel just gave him an approving slap on the back.

Robby cleared his throat.

‘Yeah I’m gonna get a shower,’ he said, standing up a swiftly and leaving the room.

‘Is he alright?’ Johnny sighed.

Miguel grinned in that knowing way of his.

‘He’s fine, trust me. He’s just really excited about this homework.’

***

If anyone wants to be tagged in future writes then let me know.

[j0elmill3r]

Come What May

Ransom Drysdale x Daughter!Reader

Ransom Drysdale Masterlist

Warnings; Swearing, mentions of suicide, depression, self-doubt, yelling, crying, ransom being angry and sad and scared (oops) ANGST ANGST

word count; 2.4k

A/N; Hope the anon who requested enjoys!

--

The house you lived in felt more like a prison. A prison that had a 72 inch TV in the living room, plush couches, and anything you could ever want or need. Most people would have killed to have your life, you had it all. Well, everything except a dad who cared about you. That wasn't a fair way to explain your dad, I'll rephrase.  Your dad, Ransom, did care. He just wasn't very good at showing it, he wasn't very sure how to be a dad to a daughter that seemed too distant and moody to care about anything or anyone, so he thought it was what you wanted. Neither of you was particularly innocent, but neither of you was completely guilty. When you were younger, you were the apple of your dad's eye, but it was as if you became a teenager and he didn't care anymore. It felt as though he didn't care about you, and that the fancy private school and designer clothes you wore were all an act to make your family think you were a happy family. If you were a happy family, you wouldn't find yourself running to the bathroom to cry about 'how you aren't good enough and you never will be, that your family would be better off without you because you are nothing but a disappointment' and then you would come out and act as if you were perfectly fine and weren't completely torn and beaten down.

-

"I'm heading out, I'll be back later tonight," You looked up from your desk and turned your eyes up to your dad, who was leaning against your doorframe. Putting your AirPods on your desk, you sighed and nodded.

"Okay," You said softly, giving him a small, but hopefully believable smile. "I'll see you tomorrow," Ransom had a weird feeling that something was wrong, but he ignored it, you were always fine when he left you. Ransom walked away and locked the front door, locking you in the prison that you called home. You knew he was going to forget, but it didn't hurt any less when it was confirmed that you would be spending your 16th birthday alone. Everyone else had texted you, your grandma and grandpa, your friends, hell, even Jacob texted you. But your own dad had forgotten your birthday. Putting your pen down on your desk, you stood up from your chair and turned the piece of paper over. You took your phone off charge and put it in the pocket of your hoodie, and walked down the stairs into the living room. You sat on the couch and pulled your favourite throw blanket over you, usually, you would have put on a movie, but you had found yourself losing interest in everything you used to love, nothing could appear to make you happy anymore. As you lay there on the couch, you couldn't help the negative thoughts that were running around your mind and making you even more miserable than you already felt.

You're nothing other than a burden.

No one would miss you.

Do you even deserve to be loved?

You were snapped out of your thoughts by your dad calling your phone. You answered it quickly, having a small glimmer of hope that he would be calling to say that he was coming back and that he was sorry he forgot your birthday.

"Hello?" You answered, your voice sounding hopeful.

"Hey, sweetheart. Something came up, I won't be home until the morning," He said. Your heart broke, but you smiled, even though he couldn't see you, it was as if it was your immediate response for when you had to pretend you were okay.

"Oh-uh, okay. Have a good night," You tried not to let your voice break as tears flooded your eyes. He didn't reply to you, but the phone hung up. You still held your phone to your ear like you were still on the phone to him. "I love you," You said sadly. You looked at the time on your phone, 22:09. It was early, but you decided that you would go upstairs and continue with what you were doing earlier. You put your speaker on and put on (Y/F/A), letting it play as loudly as it could go. You continued writing your note, tears dropping from your eyes and onto the piece of paper below you, leaving small stains on the paper. You read over it one last time before folding it over and writing the word 'dad' in bold capitals on the front. Sighing and sniffling, you stood up from your desk and walked to your dad's room that was down the hall from yours, and you put the note with his name face up on his desk. You didn't know why you did it, because you would never hurt yourself, you had the lowest pain tolerance ever, and you couldn't leave your dad, as much as you were convinced he hated you. When you got back to your room, you threw yourself down on your bed. You sobbed and sobbed, eventually crying yourself to sleep after your speaker had run out of charge.

-

Ransom had a weird gut feeling that something was wrong before he left. He had had the feeling for a while, once you turned around 14 he could tell you were acting strange and distant, so he took it as a notion you wanted space, so it was space he would give you. And anyway, any kid going through the p-word doesn't want their mom or dad peering over their shoulder every 5 minutes. Ransom also had a feeling he had forgotten something important, something that meant something to someone. But as usual, he drank away those feelings with the people he would call his associates since he flat out refused to call anyone his friend. The next morning when he came home, he noticed that your blanket was on the couch, unfolded, the complete opposite of how you liked it. That set another alarm bell off for him. He folded it up and carried it upstairs and into your room, where you were still sleeping. He sighed as he saw you hadn't slept under the comforter, a habit you had if you had been up all night and fell asleep straight after coming up from downstairs. He left your room and went into his own, wanting nothing more than to have a shower and go to sleep in his own bed. The note on his desk caught his eye, it was your handwriting.

Dad.

Believe me when I say I'm sorry.  Fuck, I'm more than sorry. I don't know why, but I don't wanna do this anymore. Everything hurts, and I don't know why or what's going on anymore. I love you, even though you don't love me, but it's okay, you don't have to love something you never wanted. I just don't see the point in doing this anymore if no one cares, especially you. You're all better off without me anyway, I don't do much and I can't do much right anyway. You shouldn't have to pay for everything for me just because you can, I don't deserve it, I don't deserve anything. I know this is going to hurt, nevermind that, I know it won't, but you'll get over it and soon you'll be able to live a normal life again, without a financial and physical burden. I'm sorry.

Y/N.

Ransom had never felt this kind of fear before. It was fear that took a grip on you and never lets you go for minutes, the kind that leaves you paralyzed and cold. He didn't feel his hands shaking, he also didn't feel the cold sweat that took over him. The letter fell from his hands as he ran to your room, opening the door and wishing that you hadn't done anything to yourself.

"Y/N?! Y/N wake the fuck up!" He yelled, not angrily, more of a panic than anything. "What the fuck, Y/N I swear to God this isn't funny, wake up!" He yelled again. He sighed in relief when you groaned and turned around, breath hitching when you saw your dad standing at the end of your bed, unshed tears in his eyes. He looked utterly fucking terrified, you had never seen him like this before.

"Dad, what's wrong?" You asked him, completely forgetting you had left him the note a few hours ago.

"Let me see your arms," He said lowly. Then it hit you like a freight train, he found it. You looked at him in fear.

"I don't-"

"Y/N, show me your fucking arms!" He yelled. You nodded and rolled the sleeves of your hoodie up and showed him both of your arms. He sighed in relief seeing that there were no marks or scars on your arms. "What the fuck was that?!" He said loudly.

"It wasn't real," You said quietly. There had only been one moment when your dad was as scared as he was now, that time being when Jacob had pushed you from the swing and you fell and cut your head open. "I promise it wasn't real," You said louder. The scoff he let out told you that he didn't believe you. You knew that when he left your room he was going to get the note. Ransom read it out loud.

"Well, Y/N, this sounds pretty fucking real," He said. "Why? Why would you write this?" Ransom feared the answer you were going to give to his next question, what would happen if you said yes? "Where-where you going to try and kill yourself?" He asked you, his voice breaking.

"No! I wasn't-I wasn't going to kill myself," You told him.

"And how am I supposed to believe you? Leave you alone again and then I come back and you're dead?" You let out a sob. "Y/N, you said I don't love you, how could you say that?"

"Because it's true, alright?! You-you forgot my birthday, dad. I told you, grandma told you, grandpa told you, everyone fucking told you and you still forgot!" You yelled for the first time. Ransom froze, so that was what he forgot. "I-I just wanna know why you're not around anymore. Do you not love me anymore?" You asked him with so much fear in your voice it genuinely scared Ransom.

"You think I don't love you?" Ransom asked; it didn't even sound like your dad speaking. "Y/N, I love you, so much. My parents were assholes, you know that. I don't have anything to go off of and without your mom, I'm scared you'll turn out exactly like me if I'm the one here to parent you, I don't want you to be me," He said. Ransom had moved from the end of your bed to sit on your bed beside you. "I know that's not even close to a good excuse, but for the first time in forever, I don't have an excuse. I should've noticed sooner. Maybe I should have listened to everyone when they were saying I was being a shitty dad to you,"

"You're not a shitty dad, okay? I should have tried to tell you, it's my fault too," You assured him. Ransom took your hand and looked in your eyes, he was shocked by how tired and empty they looked.

"None of this is your fault," He told you. "We can fix this, okay? We'll talk things out, you can go to therapy. But I have to ask you, did you even plan on hurting yourself last night or at any point?" You shook your head. Ransom pulled you onto his lap like he would do when you were younger, you could feel his heart going a mile a minute.

"No. I couldn't do it to you, I didn't wanna leave you. I never even wanted you to read it, it was like something forced me to put it there. I would never want you to have to read it for real if I ever did do something, but I couldn't," You told him. He nodded and put his chin on top of your head.

"I love you," He said quietly. You smiled at the little phrase.

"I love you too,"

--

After some breakdowns and a lot of therapy, you were happier, and it showed. Your full Drysdale attitude had become prominent, gone was the little girl who would cry when she skinned her knee, in her place stood the new and (not so) improved Y/N Drysdale. If anyone wanted proof you were a Drysdale, Ransom would have filmed the fit you had when he told you that you had to come to yet another family function with him.

"No," You said adamantly. You were laying against your dad on the couch, some movie playing on the TV that you weren't paying attention to.

"Yes, you're going. It'll be fine, I promise," He assured you.

"Can we go if I wanna leave?" You asked him. Ransom nodded and looked down at you. You had been diagnosed with Atypical Depression and Anxiety, both of which you dealt with on your own, but Ransom made it his mission to make sure you understood that he was always there if you needed him, which you consistently told him you understood fine well.

"You say the word if it plays up, alright. And I permit you to cause any harm to the little Nazi dick, if he annoys you, it might add some fun to the night," He said as he took a sip of his drink. "You should take your boyfriend," You scoffed and shook your head. "He's not my boyfriend," You defended yourself.

"Hm, sure. So when he full-blown-"

"Dad!" You complained. Ransom sniggered and put his arm around you.

"If I find out he's your boyfriend Y/N, I'll be severely offended that you didn't tell me," He said. You furrowed your eyebrows and looked up at him.

"Why? I have like a million reasons not to tell you," You reminded him.

"Because I'll miss out on the infamous dad talk to scare him. And to tell him if he knocks you up I'll kill him because I could barely handle you as a baby I don't think I could take your off-spring, kiddo,"

"Okay, that's you implying that he's my boyfriend and that you think I would sleep with him in the first place," You laughed.

"Fine, I'll drop it. Only so I forget about the fact that you're gonna get a boyfriend at some point, 'cause look at you, you got most of my genes, you're fucking beautiful. Well done me,"

You laughed. You were glad that your house didn't feel like a prison anymore, and your head didn't feel like one either. You were happy to be happy again.

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[ricksbowen]

hellooo!🤍 I love your imagines and I was wondering if u could do a fem! Reader where Ricky and the reader hate each other and then Ricky comes to her house after he found out about his mom and dad and they get in like a fight but then they make up by kissing? LMAOAO that was really confusing sorry!🖤

rooftop | r.b

IN WHICH: ricky and y/n don’t agree on a lot of things, but can agree on one thing: their family life sucks.

INSPIRATION: touch — sleeping at last, skinny love — birdy

WARNING: this has some pretty serious topics; the main one is having a parent leave and family arguments.

A/N: i kinda based this off of my own family problems since this request hit a little close to home. i hope i did your request justice babe <3

Living next to Richard ‘Ricky’ Bowen wasn’t fun. You weren’t fond of him, to out it simoly, and you never got along ever since he moved into the house next to yours when you were five.

You lived with your dad — your mom had left a a few years ago without so much as a kiss to your head and a promise that she’d come back some day.

The week she had left, Ricky had found you out on your roof, blanket over your huddled form as you looked up at the stars.

“What’re you doing, Y/N?” he asked from his room window, the usual sarcasm he had when speaking to you replaced by confusion and concern. He was looking outside his window, his head turned to you.

You wanted to talk back, you really did. You wanted to tell him to go away and to leave you alone and ignore you. But the most you could manage was a sob, for the lump in your throat became too much to bear.

Ricky ran outside, yelling up at you to help him get up to your roof. You let him in that night, not only into your house but into the problems into your life.

You sniffed, angrily rubbing off the tears from your eyes as you sat next to the one boy you couldn’t stand. “She’s been gone for 6 days now,” you mumbled, voice hoarse as you looked up at the night sky. “She said she was gonna go visit my grandma. She doesn’t know where she is.” Your voice broke, walls crashing down into dust as another sob left your chest.

Wordlessly, Ricky moved closer to you, allowing you to put your head on his shoulder and cry.

It was a repeated process after that. In public, you’d both pretend nothing ever happened. You’d pick fights and arguments with each other, when in reality you both relied on each other when the night came around.

It took a while for you and your dad to move on. Your dad threw himself into work in order to forget, and you became a recluse that barely spoke to anyone besides a handful of people. But as you began to move on, the second half of your relationship with Ricky vanished. You stayed out of his business, and him out of yours.

The part that stayed was the disliking you had with each other. The witty remarks and arguments in class never stopped and only grew as the years went on. You never spoke to each other in any other way that wasn’t condescending.

The knock you received on your door terrified you.

It was 3 AM and you were up ( naturally ). Your dad had worked the night shift, and you were home alone with your three year old German Shepherd; a gift from your dad after your mom left.

With your dog hot on your heels and a metal bat in your hand, you crept down the stairs. You raised the bat with one hand, motioning for your dog to sit before you looked through the peephole in your door.

Ricky Bowen, covered in a blanket and looking down at his sandals, was on your front doorstep.

You let out a small sigh of relief, leaning your bat against the wall and opening the door. You opened your mouth, about to jump to conclusions about what he was doing at your door, until your gaze softened.

His eyes were puffy and red, and he was hiccuping. He had been crying.

“Come inside,” you said, opening the door wider and shutting it behind him.

You opened the lights, leading him to your kitchen and occasionally looking back at him. You wanted to ask him so many questions, but you bit your tongue as you quietly prepared a mug of hot chocolate. Ricky could explain in his own time.

“My mom’s been in Chicago for two weeks now.”

You paused for just a second before continuing to stir the mug, allowing him to speak.

“We got the call today,” Ricky swallowed, tears blurring his vision as he looked down at the grey blanket he wrapped himself in. “She met someone new.” A few tears dripped from his face, and he gulped down the lump in his throat again.

Silently, you walked back to him and placed the mug in front of him, sitting down next to him. He took the mug gratefully, raising it up to his lips and taking a sip.

“How long has this been going on?” you asked, eyes set on him. You haven’t spoken to Mike or Lynne Bowen since you were six, when you rang Ricky’s doorbell to tell to give your toy back. You didn’t even know his parents had problems until now.

“A while.” Ricky avoided your gaze, wiping the tears from his eyes. “I thought it was gonna pass,” he whispered with a sniff. “But it got so much worse.”

You scooted closer to him, bringing him into your arms and letting him cry quietly into your shoulder. He murmured little nothings under his breath, something along the lines of, ‘I don’t know what to do anymore,’ that made your heart break.

You nodded to yourself, feeling strong sense of déjà vu as you thought of his situation. You pulled away gently, his hand reaching up to wipe the tears from his face. “We can talk upstairs if you want,” you offered with a close lipped smile.

You both made your way up the stairs to your room, and you opened the door for him to enter first. It was different from when he last saw it. Photos adorned your wall, paired with paintings and random doodles. Glowing stars were glued to the ceiling, and the same blanket that Ricky had comforted you in a few years ago hung over your chair. But his eyes stayed on one photo on your wall.

Last time he saw it, your mom was in the picture. She was holding 4 year old you, while you smiled crazily at the camera in a bucket hat and sunglasses that were too big for your face. You tore her out of the picture— literally. Rips adorned one side of the picture.

“I did it while I was mad at her,” you explained, eyeing him as he stared at the photo. “I did it with all the photos I had of her. I thought,” you sighed, sitting on your bed. “that she didn’t love me. And maybe she didn’t.”

Ricky pursed his lips, eyes downcast as he thought. He hadn’t heard from you and how your home life was going in a while. In a way, he was worried that it had gotten worse.

Ricky missed helping you through your problems.

You wanted to pay him back for it.

“I know,” you exhaled. “I know you don’t want to talk to her about it. But Ricky, if she’s still talking to you, you need to talk to her.”

“You didn’t talk to your mom.”

“My mom didn’t want anything to do with me.” You turned your body to him, making him look up. You were looking at him intensely, seriousness the only thing in your eyes. “If she cares enough to even tell you where she is then you need to talk to her.”

“Y/N, she left me.” Ricky’s brows furrowed, his spitting his words out as if they were poison on his tongue. “She, She left my dad and I here like we were nothing and met someone new—“

“Pushing her out of your life isn’t going to help.”

“She pushed me out of hers,” Ricky snapped, emotions running wild and eyes glassy with tears. “It’s only been two weeks and she already has a new boyfriend. It’s not fair how she can just move on like she didn’t just leave my dad and I here.” His voice broke, and without a word you pulled him to you. Sobs wracked his body, mumbled of, ‘it isn’t fair,’ escaping his lips as you hugged him tight.

Your hands ran through his hair, the action soothing him as he cried against you. You pulled away from him, taking his face into your hands and wiping away the tears gently.

“You’ll get through this,” you stated, voice firm as you offered a reassuring smile that made Ricky’s heart skip a beat.

“How’re you so sure?” he asked quietly with a sniff, feeling your thumbs skim over his skin and practically moving into them.

“I just know, Ricky.”

His eyes darted from your lips to your eyes, and when he looked into your eyes he saw you were doing the same. Gently, he placed his lips onto yours.

He tasted like hot chocolate and cinnamon. You tasted like mint and the cold. Ricky’s eyes shut, his lips moving slowly against yours and more tears falling down his face.

Wave upon wave of emotions were crashing over him, and you were the only raft he could cling onto.

You pulled your lips away from his, leaning up to kiss him gently on the forehead. Ricky laid his head on your neck, your hands combing through his hair and bringing him a moment of peace that he needed.

“You’ll be okay. I’ll make sure of it.”

—

TAGS: @tomshufflepuff, @myrandom-fandomlife, @softpeteparker, @sarcarstic-space-weirdo

[uservillanelle]

Killing Eve ― 3x03 (Review)

Alriiight clowns, who’s ready for some 3x03 discussion? I don’t even remember how many times I’ve seen the episode already, but there are still some points I’d like to point out/talk about. So let’s get started!

Andalusia

As bad as it sounds, I enjoy seeing Villanelle do her job. It’s exactly where the show can show off some really incredible places in the world and of course explore different, creative ways of killing someone. However, this time in particular I don’t think it was realistic enough the way they did it. I mean, what kind of strength does Villanelle need to have in order to throw the tuning fork like that and instantly kill a person? You’d think it would take a lot more effort to have the tuning fork pierce human skull. No? 

Anyways, another thing is the nanny that Villanelle also killed. I believe only the pianist was her target, since she appeared to be rather taken aback by hearing the baby’s cries through the baby monitor. She didn’t expect anyone else to be in the house. She could’ve easily left without anyone seeing her, but she didn’t. “You really like that baby, huh? It’s not even yours.” So this kind of explains why she killed the nanny, since the baby wasn’t hers? But then again... I think this scene was needed for her to be able to take the baby and eventually this thing would escalate into her need to find her family. 

The Bathroom

Carolyn and Mo are analysing the circumstances of Kenny’s death. And what’s better way to do it than in a bathtub? Classic Carolyn. This reminds me of Villanelle’s “I have a thing for bathrooms, actually.” One of the recurring themes that the show expresses in such a natural way. 

The fact that the head of MPS still claims that it was suicide despite the lack of note or motivation. Makes me wonder just how many more cases like these are marked as ‘suicide’ when in reality there’s a lot more to the story to uncover. KE is really into all this shady stuff, hm?

Eve is SO done with Carolyn this season. She deserves it though, after betraying Eve but it is just so satisfying for me, at least, to watch them interact with this new formed dynamic. It’s refreshing that Eve was in a way replaced by Mo, who now is basically Carolyn’s assistent and not Eve. She did make her point for not wanting to work for Carolyn anymore, so she found someone else, while Eve is still active and in the game, just in her own way. Gotta love independent Eve Polastri.

Meetings Have Biscuits

Eve is really taking charge this season, not gonna lie. She basically set up this whole meeting, invited Jamie (whose name I constantly keep forgetting) and even ordered everybody on what they should be doing since neither Carolyn nor Jamie showed the initiative to work with one another. “You can have a biscuit when you tell me what the point of you is.” GOLDEN LINE!! I don’t usually agree with Carolyn, but YES! I’m not really sure what is Jamie’s role here. You can have Bear, who already helped to solve the rubbik cube’s puzzle while Jamie did what, exactly? I have a bad feeling about him but I’m not going to say it just yet... in case I’m wrong and do I hope I am.

Young mother with baby and grandma

I absolutely ADORED this scene in all ways. We got to see Villanelle interact with an actual baby without her doing any harm to him! That’s a rare gem we might not get to see again, so let’s appreciate it! Not only that but we got to see A BABY interact with A BABY. Villanelle’s a literal child and I love her to pieces. 

Ever since Villanelle found out that Eve’s alive she’s been back on her BS just like Dasha said and apparently it’s been DAYS. “What got into you?” So.. Dasha doesn’t know that Villanelle knows about Eve. Meaning Dasha is not communicating with Konstantin and probably doesn’t know about Eve. Then again, last episode she and Villanelle did have a talk about how she can’t go down the same road again. So is Dasha pretending not to know what’s going on or she truly isn’t aware?

Villanelle gets her next postcard. It’s London. She freaks out and we all know exactly why. Yeah, it’s like, WE also should be freaking out about it because Villanelle will be going to London in episode 3. Eve and Villanelle usually got her first reunion in episode 5 in previous seasons. So it does feel too soon and that’s exactly what Villanelle says next. “I’m not ready! How about that?” Of course she needs to prepare first. She’s extra like that. Not only she says it but she is actually nervous and her body language is TOO loud about it. 

This brings me to my next point... Dasha sees just how much of a mess Villanelle is and proceeds to “encourage” her once she hears that she’s not ready. “All you need is anorak and a face like cheese”. Okay, hear me out. Last episode Dasha and Villanelle were having a conversation about Felix and how Villanelle will have to “guide” him, encourage him and make him believe that he “can be good”. This is exactly what she’s doing with Villanelle now, or am I seeing things? Last time Villanelle picked up on that, this time she doesn’t because she’s too invested in thinking about Eve and preparation. Then she agrees with Dasha and we see her give this sort of satisfying look which only indicates just how twisted she is. I mean she can’t be that stupid to not realize why Villanelle is the way she is... and STILL encourage her to go to London. Like.. I’m sure The Twelve has many more assassins up their sleeve so why not send someone else to London instead? No. It has to be Villanelle for the show’s sake. It has to be Villanelle because EVE is there and the idea of the Twelve possibly wanting to recruit Eve keeps appealing to me more and more... this might not be the case at all but why would both sides keep setting Eve and Villanelle up even after they seemed to be “over” one another?

On a lighter note, Dasha placing the baby in the trash bin is the most hilarious thing I’ve seen. INCLUDING Villanelle’s reaction. Sooo damn good, but it didn’t seem like anyone saw Dasha do it at first. It’s only later when someone heard the baby crying, people showed up. This show man.. there’s nothing else like KE in television and it’s a fact.

Eve

Let me just start with “But before I go on, you have to understand that once I tell you about them, your lives are in danger.” “Then don’t tell us.” “They’re called The Twelve.” Eve’s really not giving a shit about anything as it seems LMAO! I mean, at least she gave them a warning beforehand? This is yet another recurring trait of Eve’s. She doesn’t care about other’s needs except her own. It happened plenty of times back in S2 and it happened in this season. For example when she called Kenny and asked about the drinks and as soon as she got the answer she needed from him, she hung up not giving a chance for Kenny to say anything. Then now, and the way she treated Mo once she asked if he could trace the Geneva account for them. This reminds me of a scene in S2 where Eve basically ordered Kenny to help her find Villanelle by saying “you work for me.” This is exactly what she’s doing with Mo now. “Did you take this job thinking it would be easier? If you did. quit now. Cause it’s only getting tougher.” This is her own way of manipulation and getting what SHE wants. She even did it with Villanelle back in 2x05 when she asked for her help while interrogating the ghost. She did it and basically had to ASK Eve for a ‘thank you’ which wasn’t even genuine from Eve’s part. It’s not the best thing to have or do... yet I’m not sure if Eve is even aware of what she’s doing or when she does it. Hopefully it won’t cause major trouble further into the story. Hopefully.

The time has finally come. Eve is finally beginning to realize and hopefully accept her feelings for Villanelle. I’m not saying she was in denial before, but more like avoiding the topic in general. Until this episode. I mean the sexual tension between her and Villanelle whenever they meet and especially in this episode was WAY too strong for her to handle and she went for it. She went for the kiss which, can mean a million things, like Sandra mentioned in one recent interview. It can mean she went for it to catch Villanelle off guard, it can mean that she simply gave into the temptation... and accepted the fact that yes, she IS attracted to the assassin and this way unlocked this very personal character journey we are about to see. After meeting Villanelle she still went to the office and all she said was “I don’t want to talk about it.” Clearly it all was too much for her, as it was FOR US, so it’s understandable. But when she came back home and got instantly paranoid, thinking Villanelle was there just got me thinking of just how big of an effect does Villanelle have on Eve. She definitely caught Villanelle’s strong scent there... and then the recording. Sure, she was scared and angry and at first turned it off ASAP. But something changed soon afterwards... something that made her turn the recording back on and bring it to her ear... and close her eyes while taking in Villanelle’s voice. She IS admitting and she DOES wish Villanelle was there. This was a moment where she had time to process everything on her own without anyone else around her. She needed this... and the reveal is just so delicious. I’m sure we all know how the episode really ended, huh?

Now that the reunion happened and Eve found out that Niko apparently discharged himself from the fascility and moved back to Poland, I’m very intrigued to see just how much will Eve and Niko’s dynamic change. Will she still try to get Niko to come back? Try to convince him that there is still a chance for the two of them? Or is she only going to visit him to tie the loose ends and be done with the guy? I do think that the kiss and the meeting itself changed things for her so I cannot wait to see just how her and Niko’s relationship will escalate/end. Niko, on the other hand, is still pretty much UNSTABLE and he’ll cause trouble. I’m telling right now. This is no good so I hope Eve will leave him as soon as she comes and be done with him since she DOES deserve better than him, too.

The Accountant

First, I’m actually glad Suzanne decided to dive deeper into the core of The Twelve. Last season we didn’t really get enough of information about them and this one seems to be way more focused on it. Meaning the story is moving forward. And by story I mean the actual plot. 

Sergei Korchmarev. AKA Charles Kruger. As far as I understood he was the one to stole 6 million euros from the Twelve WHILE working for them? He did that and then asked Konstantin to get him the money to “buy him some time” to find the “scoundrel”. So 6 million wasn’t enough for him, hm? Why do I have a feeling he’s been stealing the money for something bigger than his own greed? It has to be for something “bigger” but then again, guess we won’t be able to find out as Villanelle blew his brains out. 

Again, both Konstantin and Carolyn knew him so that makes me even more suspicious. They seem to be working on different sides now but who knows really? This whole thing just keeps me on my toes, as it should but I want to know a bit more of this whole situation. We are left in the dark and we’ve been there for the past two seasons.

Villanelle

Villanelle in the perfume shop is the definition of a drama queen. Period. The way she described the custom scent she’d like was so captivating and telling. Like, she knew exactly what she wanted and that’s power. Smelling like Roman centurion means smelling like power. “I want to make people gag with it.” It has to be THAT strong, she wants people to know just how much strength she’s carrying, but most importantly Eve. “Well, we have some lovely floral fragrances for ladies over here.” “Maybe I should describe to you what I’m thinking.” OF COURSE he had to suggest some “lovely floral fragnance for LADIES” which is the complete opposite of what Villanelle describes next. So the overly too big suit that she chose to dress to meet Eve should have that very scent sshe was talking about. After all, she does see herself as a warrior.

I wonder if them throwing a baby in this episode is the only reason for Villanelle to have this need to find her family. Sure, Konstantin hinted last season that some members of her family are still alive and right now he doesn’t seem too keen on helping Villanelle find them. Though, knowing that she will be going to Russia in 3x05 means that Konstantin, or someone else, will find out about the location of her family memebers in next episode. It should really be interesting because we haven’t seen Villanelle interact with ANY family members before. Plus... I have a feeling they will force for OKSANA to come to the surface yet again and I am here for it. 

I can’t help but point out, yet again, that after receiving the postcard, Villanelle went to London to buy perfume in preparation for the reunion with Eve, then went to the toy’s shop where she bought a talking bear and a very adorable bear shirt for herself and THEN went to meet Eve. Only afterwards all that she actually went after her target, which should be the main reason why she was in London in the first place. Love comes first for Villanelle. Job after. That’s ironic, because the previous two seasons everything was about JOB for Eve. She let her marriage fall into pieces but she didn’t stop working and obsessing over Villanelle.

Can we just appreciate Villanelle in police officer’s uniform? I mean... she can kill whoever the hell she wants if she will be wearing that. Almost makes me want to be arrested by a cop lmao!!

The bus scene

It’s been over 4 days since the episode came out and I STILL cannot believe we got a villaneve reunion AND A KISS!! Like... I was worried the scene would be too random and I didn’t want that. It was random. That’s why it was so surprising for all of us, because we couldn’t expect them to meet so soon and on a bus. There were no indications we will see them meet and that worked really well.

At the same time I feel like if we cut out the bus scene from the episode, the main plot wouldn’t be affected. This scene could easily be replaced with another one while this one could be thrown in next episode or have them meet in second episode if they found out about each other during the premiere. That’s why I don’t like that aspect... I wish the scene was there because it was NEEDED to be in that episode at that time, you know? It’s only about the placement. I wonder why they decided to include it in this particular episode. 

Other than that the scene itself was PERFECT!! I made a separate in depth post/anaylsis of the scene HERE in case you haven’t read it yet! 

Carolyn

I’m soo glad that we’re finally seeing more of Carolyn investigating things openly for us, viewers. The previous two seasons we barely saw anything she did because she was THAT private and had so many secrets we could only wonder what the hell she’s thinking or doing. Now, though... we can see she’s working on Kenny’s case and is actually trying to solve this mystery surrounding his death. That includes her setting up the meeting with one of her former lovers, Henrik, to find out about the Geneva account. 

Now, I was soo sure Villanelle would go after her so I kind of was prepared to lose Carolyn or have her escape somehow. None of that happened, though they did make us worry for a minute or two during which Carolyn wasn’t moving and had blood/bruises on one side of her head. Again, Villanelle is THAT extra to go through the trouble to nearly shoot Carolyn only to get to the accountant. And we actually got to see Carolyn fearing for her life despite having met Villanelle several times. She knew what Villanelle was capable of so the aftermath of this helped us see that she indeed had feelings but often decided to ignore/avoid them and this way stay in denial. “I’m fine” says a woman who looks like a mess and is shaking at the same time. It’s okay to admit things, Carolyn. 

Overall Thoughts

The first two episodes were there to set the entire plot up, including Eve and Villanelle find out about one another and now that they know... shit’s going down and this episode was definitely the strongest one this season so far. This is very promising since the episode was written by Laura Neal, who will be the showrunner for S4! 

We got to see plenty of action, funny moments, AT LEAST 6 different Villanelle outfits and we got a moment with her and actual baby. PLUS VILLANEVE KISS!! What else could we want?! 

As always, if any of you guys have any predictions/thoughts on previous or future episodes don’t hesitate to ask/message me about them so we could chat and discuss our favorite show together! Thank you guys for reading and see during the review for 3x04 next week!!!

[everythingoesnk]

1957

summary; you come to john’s rescue so he doesn’t fail his test. conversation takes a turn :p

word count; 2 283

warnings; flufliness 🤗🤗

********

On Wednesdays, your older sister was in charge of doing the shopping, but fever had confined her to her bed. By strict orders of your mother, the responsibility was now yours.

That’s why you ran late to meet Mrs Smith and her nephew.

As you stood alone in the hallway, awkward and reluctant, you wished your arrival at 251 Menlon Avenue had been interrupted by the stupidest distraction. Or that you’d have declined to come when you had the opportunity to.

Hearing them arguing upstairs wasn’t what you wanted to do with your evening. Neither was helping John to study for the math test he had the morning after. You couldn’t work miracles, and with this transparency you explained it to your grandma when she compelled you to lend him a hand.

She and Mimi had been good friends for years, and when they were together drinking tea last week, Mimi vented to her how John would distress her in the school field. Music, the young lad was only interested in music. His grades were pitiful, and she found herself running out of stratagems to incite John to get back on track. The guy managed to pass the rest of the subjects, but mathematics were an ordeal for him.

He despised numbers just as he despised having to waste time restricting his Gallotone when he could be rehearsing instead.

“Give me back the guitar, Mimi. Where do you have it?”

“You won’t see it until I hear from the test’s result”

“I’m trying my best!”

“Try harder”

There was a truculent silence that wasn’t a silence per se. They stopped talking, but John’s frantic steps as he paced around the room rummaging around and removing furniture from its place hoping the guitar would be hiding behind were unmistakable.

“It’s not there,” she said, nuisance reflected in her tone, expression inexpressive.

“Unless you ate it it must be somewhere in the house”

Mimi didn’t answer.

“Because it’s in the house, correct?”

Mimi exhaled, giving him a hostile glare. They weren’t in a state where she could throw money around like it was nothing. If she bought him the guitar, it wasn’t to resell it or dispose of it afterwards.

“Of course it is in the house. I’ll return it if you comply with our deal”

After Mimi drew the line, you heard the woman walking down the stairs.

Straightening up, you clasped nervously your fingers around your schoolbag’s strap.

She placed her peculiar hat on top of her hair and covered her figure with a long winter coat. Its corseted structure in the middle cinched in around her already lean frame.

“Do your best” she told you, making sure that she had everything she needed on her. “If you feel like hitting him, you have my permission”

“You’re leaving?”

“I have errands to run”

When Mimi walked over to you, she stopped by your side and looked you up and down.

“The shoes. You dirtied my carpet”

“I’m sorry, Mrs Smith”

You intended to offer cleaning it up yourself until it looked like it did before, but she had other plans.

“When you’re gone I’ll tell John to handle it, the boy lacks discipline. Anyone would think he’s being raised in a jungle rather than a humble home in the northwestern of England and I wouldn’t be able to contradict them”

You had nothing to respond her with, but she didn’t look like she was interested in hearing an answer.

She rekindled her step and marched out the house, half with hurry half slipping away in case John reappeared to keep niggling over how unfair she was.

You’d been in their home previously. Once.

John had been the sergeant who lead the army, devising a prank which sloshed over onto you. Army because his two friends were the ones to set the trap, John keeping his hands clean as the commander and mastermind he thought was. They put a paint bucket on top of the classroom door frame, and the three patiently waited to see who the victim would be.

You spent hours in the shower scraping the tacky liquid off your skin.

That same day, your grandma and you showed up at their doorstep because she wanted him to apologize.

The incident was the reason why you knew where he lived.

You eased down into one of the chairs in the kitchen and dropped your bag onto the table.

John knew you were there, you wouldn’t go searching for him.

Thing is, time went on, and he wouldn’t make an appearance. You checked your wristwatch and cursed. Almost fifteen minutes had ticked by and you were waiting like an idiot for someone who clearly did not care enough.

“Am I dreaming or did I just hear (Y/N) (Y/L/N) saying a bad word?”

You flinched and brought a hand up to your chest.

Looking to the left, you saw him standing barefoot in the doorway with his arms stretched upwards, gripping at the doorframe. Legs crossed at the ankles, a wicked grin curved his lips. He was wearing a white cotton tee and denim trousers that fit him tight in the thighs.

Once recovered from the shock, you shot him a bitter look.

“You’re wasting my time, you know that? The longer you delay it, the worse”

“I’ve had better,” he said, walking over to the sink where two large vertical windows on the wall displayed a perfect view of the back porch.

He closed them, grabbed a plain black sweatshirt that hung from the chair opposite you and put it over his head, messing up even more his already tousled humid hair. It was clear that he had a shower before you showed up. If he hadn’t had, it would be replicating Presley’s.

Until then you didn’t realise that the room was indeed chilly.

“Better what?”

“Better days. Thank you for asking and showing interest” he said, waving vaguely a hand.

He slumped in that same chair and glanced across at you.

“How are you, by the way?”

“Fed up. Tell me what you don’t understand and we’ll practice” you said, pulling out of the schoolbag the book and your pencil case.

John calmly watched you prepare everything. “Geometry, algebraic equations…  The entire book, if you will”

“If that’s the case, I see logic in noting down formulas first, that way you can try and memorize them too” you lifted your gaze and saw him with both hands plunged in the front pocket of his sweatshirt, shoulders relaxed. “Hello? Aren’t you getting something to write on?”

He let silence reign for a moment.

“Out of all the people in class, it had to be you,” he grumbled. You didn’t have a clue about what that was supposed to mean, but now his eyes were piercing into yours to the point where you felt very small very quick. He bounced to his feet with a huff. “I’ll be right back”

Upon his return, he carried with him a notebook with doodlings drawn by him on the cover and a pencil hanging loose between his teeth. Along the way, at some point, he tugged the hood over his face, so now you couldn’t see the top half of it.

He took the seat again and with an unfriendly look began copying the theory.

“If you’d paid attention from the beginning perhaps you wouldn’t be against the clock now”

“I can’t focus if you speak,” he grunted.

“You’re just copying” you said, raising your left eyebrow. “But alright, I’ll shut it”

When he was done, he tossed the pencil and dragged his hands down his face, pulling at the skin under the eyes.

“I hate this” he condemned.

“You hate everything that doesn’t involve music” you clarified, no malice in your statement.

“That’s not true” he scowled, pushing the hood back, actually feeling insulted.

“Alright, tell me something you don’t hate,” you propped your elbows onto the table, laced your fingers and rested your chin there.

“I don’t hate the singing of birds waking me up in the morning, and I don’t hate hanging out with you”

As much as you tried to hide it, John saw how your lips tipped up.

“Am I supposed to feel touched?”

“I’d be really sad if you didn’t. That was smooth”

“Oh wow yes, so smooth, the smoothest” you sneered, taking his notebook to write down a few problems for him to resolve.

“Smoothest” he echoed. “Is that a word?”

“It is” you weren’t sure if he was serious.

“Sounds strange to me, never used it before”

“Venustraphobia sounds awful as well and it’s a real term”

“What does it mean?”

“Fear of attractive women”

“Holy shit, is that true?” he asked, fiddling now with his pencil.

“Yeah”

“So that’s a thing. Does the phobia exist the other way around? Women fearing handsome men?”

“I guess?”

He nodded, amused. “It must be hard for you”

Confused, you raised your eyes and cocked your head with an inquisitive frown.

“Collecting yourself, I mean” he explained, rubbing a hand over his jaw. “You’re doing a terrific job pretending you’re not suffering. As you might know, I’m quite charming myself”

You just stared back for some time, holding back a laugh until it became impossible to restrain.

John was so much fun when he didn’t behave like a dick, you hated to admit, which only happened when his macho friends were around. He was the leader of the group, sure, but it seemed that all he wanted was acceptance from them, to belong somewhere. Pretty much he let them change him. Although when he wasn’t near them, the carefree happy bouncy John you knew returned each time.

Abs burning from laughing, you doubled over as you hugged your abdomen. This bitch, you thought. Your shoulders kept shaking as you tried to subside your chuckles, but you couldn’t stop.

John observed your reaction placidly.

Bright with delight, his eyes gleamed when you kept patting your thigh as a conduit for the laughter.

“My God” you breathed, fanning yourself.

“It’s rude using my name in vain,” he teased, wagging the accusatory finger in your direction.

“You’re far from being God” you retorted, your chuckles fading. You gave him back his notebook. “Enough chitchat. Do these exercises and I’ll correct them”

You waited then, keeping an eye on him as well as inspecting your nails to pass the time.

He raked a hand through his hair and kept it there, closing it in a fist at the top of his head.

A sappy feeling settled in your stomach. Seeing him saturated after half an hour trying to get something done softened your heart.

He suddenly looked up, but when he caught you looking too, John quickly dropped his head.

Five more minutes and he passed you the notebook.

“Voilà. Now you can laugh at me”

“I’m not gonna laugh at you. No one is born knowing” you responded quietly.

Silently revising his answers, you got distracted remembering one thing he said earlier.

Rosiness present in your cheeks, your gaze settled cautiously upon him. “You don’t like me?”

His brows drew together in deep puzzlement.

“What?”

“‘Out of all the people in class, it had to be you’” you quoted him, your heart beating erratically. You were worried that its pumps would tear a hole in your chest. “I wanna know why you said that. Is it because you don’t like me?”

A muscle tickled in his jaw, but his expression was humourless.

“That’s not it”

You hoped his response would bloom into something more specific, but he remained with his mouth shut, tension building up between the two.

“What’s it?” you pressed.

Darkness igniting his eyes, he leaned back in his chair.

“Answering your previous question, I do. A lot, actually. That’s my issue”

Petrified, your pulse shot to the sky.

“Why is it an issue?”

“We both know why”

Was John Lennon telling you with all his chest that he was interested in dating you but that he’d never acted upon it ‘cause he assumed you were out of his league?

“You didn’t ask me about my feelings, not once”

“Why would I? You’re sweet and smart. I’m none of that”

Oh, Johnny boy. His words cracked your heart. Lies, they were cruel lies.

“What are you doing this Friday?” you inquired. “I don’t know if you know, but I really like painting. I held an exhibition at school—”

“I’m aware. I was there”

Warmth radiating up your body, you fought back a stunned gasp. “You went?”

He never mentioned it before.

Gazing in each other’s eyes longingly, a goofy side smile fleetingly graced his lips.

Electric tingles spread through your nervous system. You composed yourself with a toss of the head. And he dared to say he wasn’t sweet? You were drowning in diabetes.

“My point is, the school’s newspaper asked me to present something new, and I have yet to finish my piece. Maybe, if you want, you could join me and we make each other company. You can bring your guitar and play some music”

You’re adorable, he wanted to interrupt, mouth twitching.

“I guess I could do that” he said instead.

“Awesome” you bit on your bottom lip, thrilled.

“I’m concerned, though”

“Concerned?” your eyebrows snapped together. Was he having second thoughts? “About what?”

“Concerned that I will start developing venustraphobia now that I’m gonna spend more time with you”

Your laughter hugged his soul.

John contemplated stupefied how easy you made it to fall in love.

Just hearing your giggles was enough for him to understand he could never compose a melody more lovely and magical than that.

[holylulusworld]

My best friend’s wedding - Part 7 - The decision

Summary: After two years of radio silence your former best friend finally sends you a letter. An invitation to his wedding. The man who never wanted to settle down wants to marry someone who isn’t you.

Will you attend his wedding? Will you bear the pain of losing him forever? Will you find someone new? And even more important can you hide the secret you have?

Pairing: former Dean x Reader, Sam x Reader (platonic), Dean x Lisa (brief), Crowley, Castiel, Jody Mills, Donna Hanscum, Rowena

Warnings: angst, fluff, comforting, tension, mutual pining, two idiots in love, language, arguments, Dean finally pulls his head out of his ass (for now), Lisa bashing

This is partially an AU but the Winchesters and the reader were/are hunters.

My best friend’s wedding Masterlist

The next hours are a blur to Dean. Torturing his brain to remember whatever Castiel showed him Dean kneels in front of the toilette, not able to wrap his head around anything according to Lisa.

All Dean can think about is the woman he wants to marry doesn’t know anything about his life. Lisa doesn’t care about Sam, his friends or the car Dean used to call his home.

Sitting onto the cold bathroom floor Dean looks around the room, hating the colors, and the smell of Lisa’s perfume. But he became a master in pretending. 

“Son of a bitch, Cas…move your feathered ass here and tell me what you did to me! I need…” Feeling another wave of nausea well-up he retches but nothing comes out.

“You should try to talk to the woman you love.” Crowley snickers, standing behind Dean, unseen by the former hunter. 

“And would you please finally investigate your pocket, Squirrel. I’m playing with fire here. I got a bunch of hunters, an angel and my mother hot on my heels. Please, get your head out of your ass and call things off with Lisa…” 

Snapping his fingers Crowley smirks as the toilet lid hits Dean’s head. “Hurry up, idjit as a good friend of ours used to say…” Disappearing once again the king of hell ends up in your hotel room.

----

“Castiel, did you fix the mess you made?” Sam is not amused seeing the angel who blurred out you and Dean have a daughter. “I swear if Y/N and her daughter get hurt…”

“I deleted his memories, just like Lara’s…” Castiel sighs, sitting onto a chair. “I made him this wonderful gift, showed him the wonder Y/N gave birth to and he accused me of using angel dick tricks.”

“No, he didn’t…” Jody balls her hands into fists, glaring at Castiel who silently nods. “Is this all a cosmic joke or are we the crazy people here?”

“I think Dean is in denial. All this time he built his life around a woman he doesn’t love. Now Y/N is back and the card house he built with Lisa slowly crumbles.” Donna explains and everyone looks at her.

“What? I’m not just sexy curves and blonde locks, guys. We all know Dean needs to wake up…soon.”

Huffing Donna grabs a donut, smirking as she remembers the day she met the Winchesters.

“Donna is right, guys. We need to make sure Dean breaks out of the prison he put himself into.” Sam presses the keys to Baby to his heart, closing his eyes for a moment. “We all need to agree to one thing.”

“Spill it, Samuel.” Rowena is beyond pissed as Crowley and Castiel went off alone to use their plans to get Dean and you back together. “I’ll have a wedding to ruin.”

“I don’t want Y/N to get hurt even more. After I got to know everything that happened, I’m not going to put Y/N into a position in which she will have to bear more hurting.” Smirking Rowena pats Sam’s cheek.

“Is the tall hunter in love with Dean’s true love?” Rowena mocks and Sam shakes his head, showing Rowena the keys to the Impala.

“Y/N is my friend, a sister to me, Rowena. She’s the only person loving Dean as much as I do, the only one understanding my brother. Hell, she used all her money to buy Baby.” While Rowena falls silent Jody takes the lead.

“Guys, I have to confess something.” All eyes are on Jody as she laughs, tossing a report onto the table. “I let someone arrest Lisa to make sure she will be out of the game for at least one more day.”

“Jody Mills, I love you…” Donna squeals, hugging her friend tightly. “I knew you will come to the dark side. Do we stage a suicide or an ‘I wanted to pick up the soap’ incident?”

“Donna, I won’t repeat myself. We will not kill Lisa…not yet at least.” Donna smirks, giving Castiel a wink. “That woman for sure can make someone turn into a killer.”

“We all know her too well and wish we could just forget about her. Maybe we should take Fergus offer…” Rowena chuckles as Jody, Castiel and Sam shake their heads. Only Donna nods eagerly.

“Fine, guys. I have to tell you something and after, you’ll understand why I need to make sure Dean will not marry that woman.” Stepping closer Donna clears her throat. “I was the one Y/N called. I was the one holding her the whole night after she left.” 

“Donna?” Sam’s surprised you called Donna, not your mother. “She called you?”

“Her mom was at the hospital back then, fighting cancer. Y/N didn’t want to worry her, so she called me, and I encouraged her to drive back and talk things out with Dean…”

“I get it, Donna. Dean and Lisa were back together, and Y/N came back to you…mad…” Jody squeezes Donna’s hand but the blonde shakes her head, laughing bitterly.

“Not mad, or sad…Y/N was devastated, guys. I never saw someone that hurt, and I was sure back then, she will die from a broken heart.”

“Y/N…” Sam’s hands start shaking as Donna keeps on talking.

“A week later, we found out she’s pregnant. I called Dean; Y/N called him. He never answered a single call. After two months Castiel encouraged Y/N to try one last time only for her to end up hearing Lisa’s voice…”

----

“Crowley, I’m not in the mood.” Opening another filed you ignore the demon standing next to your seat. “Okay…just tell me what you want.”

“Back then, I should’ve stopped Dean. I saw him drive toward Lisa’s house and wondered why he’s not looking for you. I swear…”

“Don’t get all weak now, Crowley.” Huffing you point toward the seat next to you. “Have a seat, Fergus. We both know you couldn’t do a thing back then.”

“I…Dean is not himself, we both know that. Let me bring him here and you can talk things out. Maybe he’ll see you belong together.” Crowley offers but you look at the papers, shaking your head.

“Honestly, I got no clue if we ever belonged together. All this time ago, I thought we are meant to be but now…” Shrugging you meet the demon’s eyes. “What if Lisa and Dean are meant to be? What if we destroy his luck out of selfishness?”

“Bloody hell, woman! Dean is in love with you. Even I can sense his lovey-dovey emotions for you, and it makes me sick, but I hate that woman more! Straighten your back, show off your boobs and get him back.” Crowley smirks before he disappears, leaving you alone once again.

“Love…huh…”

----

Dean’s stomach slowly recovered, still, the nagging feeling something is off won’t wear off.

Frustrated he stuff his hands into the pockets of his jeans only to find a piece of paper. Annoyed he wants to toss it away but your name catches his attention and he infolds the paper.

“Y/N…that’s…” Glancing at the date Dean’s blood freezes. Suddenly he knows what Castiel must’ve shown him. “A child…she has my baby…”

Grabbing his keys and jacket Dean runs out of the apartment he never called home. His mind is racing while his heart doesn’t know how to pump even faster…

----

Answering your daughter's call you smile as she tells you about her day, the zoo and that she saw a giraffe today. Your daughter always loved animals, that’s the reason your mother took her to the zoo once again.

“That’s wonderful, Baby Girl. Will you kiss your grandma for me? I bet she misses me too.” Laughing you hear your daughter sequel, not aware Dean stands behind you. “Mommy loves you, Lara Mary. I’ll be back soon and will never leave you alone, okay.”

Your daughter giggles, babbling something about chocolate as you turn around and freeze. Dean is panting heavily, the ultrasound picture in his hands he looks at you with wide eyes. Not able to form words he listens to you saying goodbye to your daughter.

“Mommy loves you, Baby Girl. Sleep well and don’t forget to kiss granny…”

“Y/N…” Dean holds up the ultrasound picture, choking out your name. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Ending the call with your daughter you look away, shrugging. “I tried, Dean. For over two months I called, and called…and called.” Your eyes meet Dean’s sad ones as you take the picture out of his hands.

“I never answered as I was hurt…”

“The last call…” Sniffling you hug yourself. “Lisa answered it. I told her I will not get between the two of you, but I insisted on talking to you. She said you hate me, and that I shall never call you again.”

“She thought you did something wrong as I ended our friendship. She didn’t know about us…” Dean sniffles, voice cracking.

“I…Castiel he was with me back then and encouraged me to tell her about the baby. I told her and she said I shall go to hell with my bastard child. I wanted to end the call but then I heard you…” Now tears run down your face. “I thought she lied…”

“Y/N…please…” Stepping back you press the ultrasound picture to your heart. “I heard you, Dean. Lisa, she put you on the loudspeaker and I heard you…”

“I was mad and hurt. Please don’t believe I meant what I said…”

“You said I’m the last person you want to talk to, then Lisa snickered and hung up the phone. I assume she never told you about the baby, not that this would have changed anything. I was the villain in your story…always was…”

“I made mistakes, you did too. If only you stayed…” Scoffing you step back. “I waited for two weeks, Dean! After all those years of loving you, I finally knew how it felt to lie in your arms only to feel your rejection. I tried to talk to you, Dean. More than once for over two weeks.”

“I’m sorry but I had to be sure and then I drove through town and saw the ring. Suddenly I was sure it’s you, Y/N…” Your eyes are clouded with tears. “I…”

“I saw you in the kitchen, hiding the ring and I thought you chose her, Dean. How could I have stayed? How should I bear the hurting all over again? So, I ran away. But I came back and you were with that woman…”

“She was my last resort. I didn’t want to be alone…” Dean sniffles, taking your hand in his. “I loved you back then, more than my life.”

“Nice to know. Now go back to the woman you chose a week later after discovering your deep love for me.” Your eyes harden once again as you push Dean’s hand away.

“Wait…can I meet her? My daughter…” Shaking your head you point toward the door.

“No, Dean. I will not let that woman get anywhere near my baby girl. I will not allow she hurts my girl only as you chose that bitch!” Panting heavily, you feel Dean’s lips on yours a heartbeat later. “Dean…”

“It was always you, only you, Y/N. Don’t you remember how it felt? Don’t you still feel me at night? ‘Cause I do feel you…” 

Closing your eyes, you feel his arms around you and his lips pressed against yours as you remember the night changing your fate…

My best friend’s wedding

@unsung-knight, @sherlockedtash88, @idjit-angel-radio, @linki-locks11, @abbiewrites1808, @mychemicalimagines, @carryon-doctor-lock, @heyyy-hey-babyyy, @ofpoetryandlove, @chaoticfiretaconerd, @idalinette, @youaremyfiveever, @marvelslut16, @wolfxlegends, @v3nusc3, @art-by-greenie, @hebshebajwb

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[ificanthaveu]

Snow in California || Shawn Mendes

Description: After a snow emergency, Shawn is left having to spend Christmas with your family. It’d be completely fine if it weren’t for the fact that they all assumed he’s your boyfriend.

Description per my notes (aka JUMBLY): you’re stuck in LA for Christmas but lucky for you my family’s here so you can just come with me….except there’s a catch, I told my family I have a boyfriend

A/N: Dani is EARLY with a FIC? ya bc she got plans tonight ope anyway ok this is LOOSELY based on “Snow in California” by Ariana Grande, and that wasn’t on purpose but then I was thinking of a title and I’m like wait it’s kinda like the song so I just rolled with it bc this bitch sucks at titles :) also there’s a lil part that parallels “A Christmas Miracle” and I wanna see if anyone catches it ;)

Word Count: 5.9k

12 Days of Ficmas

You watched the clock carefully, waiting for it to hit noon so Shawn would be done with this interview and you could finally get something to eat. You clicked through emails and scheduled a few more things before it would start to die down with Christmas being two days away.

You got lost in trying to schedule an interview for Shawn when you felt something kick your foot. You looked up to see Shawn looking down at you.

“Ready for some damn lunch?” He said, obviously just as hungry as you were. 

“Hell freaking yes,” you said as you slammed your laptop shut and followed him out the door to your car. 

You threw your bag in the back seat and started down the road to a small restaurant the two of you had been wanting to try. 

“When do you see your family?” Shawn asked once you pulled on top the main road. 

“I’ll probably leave midday tomorrow. See my grandparents on Christmas Eve night, and then hang out with my family on Christmas Day,” you said with a smile, not being able to wait for it to be Christmas. 

“Your flight leaves at 6:00 tomorrow, right?” you said as you glanced over at him.

He nodded his head with a small smile. 

“It’s only three days, but I can’t wait,” he said softly. 

You pulled into the parking lot, and Shawn stayed in the car while you ran in to grab your take out order. You got back in the car and plopped the large bag of food on Shawn’s lap.

“My place or yours?” You asked before you backed out.

“Mine. I need to bounce that song idea off you,” Shawn said. 

You nodded your head, remembering what he had told you before. 

“As long as we’re at that meeting at 5:00, we should be good,” you thought out loud as you turned onto Shawn’s street.

You and Shawn made your way up to his condo, getting ready to eat the food you could smell the whole ride home. 

You opened his door and were met with his cheerfully decorated living room that he spent so much time on. You sat down by the island and started pulling out food, wanting to try a little bit of everything. Shawn sat across from you, taking the food as you handed it to him. 

You ate in silence for a few minutes as you looked at your phones. A weather alert popped up. Blizzards around Toronto. You didn’t say anything, hoping it’d pass by or Shawn would never see it. 

You set your phone down after a while, talking to Shawn about the interview he just did, and your plans for your few days you both got to spend at home. You couldn’t get the blizzard warning out of your head. 

“Hey, did you see the weather warning?” You asked casually. 

Shawn furrowed his eyebrows and shook his head. 

“There’s supposed to be blizzards around Toronto starting tonight,” you said slowly and carefully. 

Shawn’s face stayed blank, thinking it through. He picked his phone back up to check his email. His face dropped. 

“My flight was canceled,” he said under his breath. He scrolled mercilessly, trying to refresh the page, hoping this was a mistake. 

“Can you maybe find one for Christmas Eve?” You said, immediately pulling out your laptop to search for a new flight for him.

Thirty minutes of Shawn scrolling on his phone, and you looking at every possible way home on your laptop, it was hopeless. There were no flights going into Toronto until two days after Christmas. 

You sat on the arm of his couch, watching him pace back and forth as he talked to someone from the airport. He tugged at his hair and finally sat down on the edge of the couch right next to you. You moved your hand carefully to his back, rubbing it up and down as he tried to speak calmly to the person on the other end. 

“No…no, it’s fine. I get it. Yeah…thanks anyway,” Shawn said as he hung up the phone throwing it on the ground and resting his head in his hand. 

You continued to rub his back, and after a moment, he leaned into you, resting the side of his head on your knee. You could feel his wet cheeks soaking into your jeans. You threaded your fingers through his hair, not talking quite yet. 

You could feel his body shake as his shoulder bumped against your thigh. You moved your hand back down to his shoulders, resting your hand on his opposite one. 

“I’m so sorry, Shawn,” you finally whispered. 

He didn’t say anything. Instead, he let out a sob he definitely didn’t mean for you to hear. At that, you gently pushed him over a little, moving directly next to him and pulled his head into your chest. He adjusted to lay on the couch, his long legs hanging off the end as he rested his head on your lap and you continued to play with his hair. 

You typed out a quick text to Andrew, telling him what happened. He promptly canceled the meeting that was supposed to happen in an hour and asked if he could help with anything.

But there wasn’t.

Because it was two days before Christmas, and Shawn just found out he can’t spend it with his family. 

Instead of saying that, you just told him you’d let him know. 

You sat there with Shawn’s head laid in your lap for longer than you could keep track of. You watched the sunset from his living room window, still running your fingers through his hair as a gentle reminder that you were there when he needed to talk.

After probably an hour, he finally said, “This fucking sucks,” as he turned over to look up at you.

You nodded your head slowly as you looked down at him, “I know.”

It went silent again as he stared up at the ceiling. 

“What am I going to do?” He said barely above a whisper. 

“Anyone here will be glad to have you over. You could always go with Andrew or Josiah, and my family would love to have you as well,” you said. 

“Would they?” He asked as his voice broke.

You nodded your head and said, “Of course, you know they love you.”

He fell silent as he continued to look up at you, and you awaited his answer. 

“When are you leaving?” He asked.

“Tomorrow around 1:00 probably. We’re just going to my grandparents,” you explained. “And then Christmas morning we have breakfast and open gifts just with my family and spend the day lounging around doing absolutely nothing.”

“Are you sure I wouldn’t be intruding?”

“Shawn, my uncle’s ex-wife’s kids with her new husband came to our family Christmas last year. Trust me, everyone is welcome, especially you,” you said. 

“Ok,” he mumbled. “Should I bring flowers or something?”

“You don’t have to, but my grandma is a sucker for flowers,” you said as a small smile finally spread across his face.

“I feel like I should get your family presents, too,” he said as he thought this all through.

“You know you don’t have to,” you said. “Your presence is gift enough.”

He finally sat up and stood up quickly, stumbling a little as the blood rushed from his head.

“Will you go Christmas shopping with me?” He asked quickly as he glanced at the time. “The mall should still be open for two more hours, and I don’t know what your family likes.”

You nodded your head and stood up, following him to the door and then to his car. 

You took a few minutes in the car to call your parents and let them know. 

“Hello, dear!” Your mom cheerfully answered her phone.

“Hey, how are you doing with the Christmas prepping?” You asked as you played with the bottom of your shirt.

“Really good! I wish you’d bring that boyfriend of yours though,” she said with a huff.

You side glanced at Shawn, hoping he couldn’t hear what your mom was saying to you on the phone. Your mom had been trying to set you up with every guy around your age for the past few months, so you told her you were seeing someone. You “refused to tell her his name” so she didn’t “stalk him on social media,” but really, he just didn’t exist.

“Well, I am bringing someone actually. Shawn’s coming with,” you said.

“I should’ve known Shawn was the guy you were seeing! The way you two are always together even when you’re not working. Oh! Your dad will be so happy to hear this,” she rambled on.

Your eyes nearly bugged out of your head. “Mom, I don’t-“

She cut you off before you could finish, “I gotta go, honey, I’ll see you tomorrow!”

And with that, she hung up. 

You dropped the phone into your lap and banged your head against the window.

A look of panic spread across Shawn’s face.

“They don’t want me to come, do they? I should’ve known. It’s fine, really-“ 

You cut him off, “No, no, they’re really excited you’re coming,” you said with a little too much sarcasm, confusing Shawn further. 

“That doesn’t sound like you’re serious,” he said slowly.

“They think we’re dating,” you said, not daring to look at him, as he whipped his head around to look at you. 

“Why?” Shawn said with a laugh. 

You groaned and rested your face in your hands, shaking your head as Shawn continued to laugh to himself.

“I told them I was seeing someone to get them off my back, and when I saw I was bringing you, she assumed,” you said. “And before I could correct her, she was hanging up on me.”

“If this were to happen to literally anyone, it’d be you,” Shawn said. 

“I’ll call her back later and explain,” you mumbled, looking down at your phone.

“Don’t,” Shawn said quickly.

You looked over at him and raised your eyebrow as he kept his eyes on the road.

“I mean…you’re letting me spend Christmas with your family, the least I can do is pretend to be your boyfriend, so your family gets off your back,” he said. 

You studied him as he stayed serious. 

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” You said with hesitation evident in your voice.

“[Y/N], it’ll be easy. It’s for three days. I’ve just gotta throw my arm around you occasionally and embellish our everyday stories a little bit. Trust me. No one will even know,” he said with maybe a little too much confidence.

“So, when did we start dating?” You asked him.

“Well, what did you tell your mom?” He turned the question back at you. 

“I first said I was seeing someone…beginning of October? So we’ve been together since September,” you said.

“What day?” He said. 

“Does it matter?”

“Well, yeah. What if someone asks each of us individually what day, and we say different days?” He said.

“Alright, then it was the twelfth,” you said, thinking of a random date. 

“We were in New York that week. Perfect,” he said as he pulled into the parking lot of the mall. “How did we find out we had feelings for each other?”

“You wrote a song about me,” you said with admiration in your eyes and a hand to your heart. 

He gave you a look, “Really?”

“Yes, really. Come on, it’s really not difficult to believe at all,” you said with a scoff. 

“Is it?” He asked as he parked and got out of the car. 

You followed suit and walked towards the entrance with him. 

“You write songs about every girl that’s looked at you. Of course, you wrote one about me,” you said.

“Ouch,” he said under his breath. 

“You’re only saying that because I’m right,” you taunted. 

“Ok, fine. I wrote a song about you. How did you find out it was about you?” He diverted.

“You played it for me, and you referenced a specific memory that happened between the two of us. So I was able to put two and two together,” you said as the two of you walked in and started walking down the first row of stores. 

“And what’s the memory?” He continued.

“I’m doing all the hard work. You pick the memory,” you said, turning into one of your sister’s favorite stores. 

“Does it have to be a real memory, or can I make that up?” He said as you tried to find the sweater your sister wanted.

“It probably should be real, so we can stay as close to the truth as possible,” you said. 

“Alright…” he trailed off, thinking about his time spent with you. “That time we went shopping at midnight, and then you got me in that car accident.”

“It was not my fault!” You defended as you threw the sweater at him. “She’s been looking at this for weeks, and my mom couldn’t find it anywhere. She’ll love you forever.”

Shawn held up the sweater and nodded his head, “Perfect. And it was totally your fault.”

You and Shawn wandered around the mall as you helped him pick out gifts for your family. Two hours later and you walked out with four gifts and the perfectly fabricated story. 

It was late by the time you got back to your apartment, plopping down on the couch, wanting to go to bed, but knowing you had nothing packed yet. 

Shawn was coming over at 8:00 the next morning to ensure you had all your lies in order, so the packing had to be done now. 

You slowly got up and trudged to your bedroom. You grabbed the outfit you were wearing for Christmas Eve and hung it up on your door to put on the next morning. You threw your Christmas pajamas and your Christmas Day outfit along with some other clothes into a suitcase. 

After packing everything up, you sat on the edge of your bed and stared at your dresser in front of you. On top of it sat a little black box. The gift you’d picked out for Shawn weeks ago.

You had contemplated whether or not you had wanted to give it to him since the moment you ordered it. You knew he’d like it. But you didn’t want him to think it was something someone who was “more than a friend and a coworker” would give him. Even though you definitely wanted that. 

You stood up and grabbed the box, opening it up to run your finger across the cool metal of the bracelet, an almost exact replica of the one he had lost when you were in New York. 

You closed it back up and put it in the bag of gifts for your family. It’d make this relationship more believable. You’d at least try to convince yourself of that. 

You tossed and turned all night, and so did Shawn.

He couldn’t stop stressing over how he was going to ruin this. He ran every single possibility through his head, and he just knew he was destined to somehow mess up the story. 

Of course, it was incredibly hard to mess it up since most of it was true. He had fallen for you in September. It was when you were in New York. He was writing songs about you. 

The small box on his nightstand seemed to be screaming at him.

You’d been complaining for months about needing a ring that matched the bracelet you wore every day. Shawn found one. And it was perfect. The perfect gift a boyfriend would give to his girlfriend, but you were only pretending, and he didn’t want you to feel weird about it. 

Without letting himself regret it, he stood up, grabbed the ring and put it in the top pocket of his duffle bag. 

Both of you fell asleep only a few hours before Shawn had to be at your apartment, so he showed up with two very large coffees.

Once you opened the door for him, he carried in his duffle bag and his own bag of presents. 

“Merry Christmas Eve!” He said as he set his things down. “Alright, babe, let’s practice,” he said with a wink as he handed you your coffee. 

“Well, thank you…honey?” You said with hesitation.

He slightly shook his head at you, “You’ve gotta commit.”

“Thank you, honey,” you said with a small smile as you sat down on the couch. 

“Incredibly believable. When did I ask you out officially?” He asked, sitting across from you.

“September 12. We were in New York, and I walked in on you practicing a song you were writing. I knew it was about me after I asked you to sing it for me,” you said. “How did you know you were falling for me?”

“Well, you were the only person who would call me out on my bullshit, and I wasn’t used to people doing that. So it just drew me to you. I slowly fell for every other aspect of you,” he said. 

Your heart skipped a beat as you had to remind yourself this wasn’t real.

“What’s our favorite thing to do together?” He asked.

“Walks in the park with ice cream from that little shop down the street,” you said, taking a drink from your coffee. “What’s the song that’s about me?”

“Well, it hasn’t been released yet, and an artist never reveals the project before it’s done,” he said with the softest smile. 

“I think we’re good,” you say with a shrug. 

“I just gotta make sure I’m always near you with an arm around you or holding your hand,” he added. 

“Exactly,” you said. You glanced down at the time. It was barely 9:00. 

“We really didn’t have to meet this early,” you whispered. 

“I know, but I was nervous,” he whispered back. 

You spent the next few hours practicing random facts about each other and going over memories you had to make up while you both sprawled across the sofa. 

“Do you think it’s going to look…unnatural?” Shawn asked as he sat up. “With my arm being around you. Do I look comfortable?”

He brought his arm around you, resting it on the top of the couch as you leaned slightly into his side. 

“I feel like we look good,” you said, looking over at him. “Hold my hand.”

He slowly laced his fingers with yours as you both fell silent, staring down at your intertwined hands. 

Shawn coughed after a moment, pulling his hand away. 

“Yeah, looks good,” he said, not meeting your gaze.

You nervously tucked your hair behind your ear as you checked the time. 

“If we leave now, we can get more coffee on the way there,” you said with a hopeful smile. 

“Sounds fantastic to me,” he said as he stood up, turning around to help you up. 

You grabbed your things and walked down to your car waiting in the parking lot. You threw your things in the back, quickly checking to make sure the box was still in the bag. 

A little more than an hour and you were back home, pulling into your parents’ driveway. You parked your car and looked over at Shawn. 

“Are you ready?” He asked. 

You looked out your window to see your mom waiting at the door. 

“Let’s do this,” you said as you got out of the car and waved to your mom. You went to grab your bags, but Shawn stopped you. 

“I got it, babe,” he said, brushing you away. 

You tried not to make it obvious at how shocked you were at how he was playing it up already. This might be easier than you thought. 

I greeted your mom with a big smile and a hug as Shawn followed behind you with his arms filled with bags. 

“Merry Christmas!” She said as she held you tight. She let you go after a moment and watched Shawn struggle. 

She quickly took the two bags of gifts out of his hands, and you both had the same expression on your face. 

“I can take that, Mom,” you quickly said as you grabbed your bag of gifts.

“And I can take that, no worries at all,” Shawn said with a smile. 

Your mom patted him on the shoulder as you both walked into the house. 

“Where is everyone?” You asked as you peaked into the living room.

“Your dad and Rachel ran to the grocery store, Aaron is meeting us at Grandma’s,” your mom explained as she shut the front door. 

“Well, we’re going to go put our stuff upstairs,” you said as you gently nudged Shawn to move forward. 

You slipped in front of him as you lead him to your old bedroom. You kicked the door open and set the bag down in the corner of the room. 

You turned around to see Shawn beaming as he looked at the pictures that lined your walls. You slid the bags off his arms as he continued to look around your room. 

“You were so cute,” he said softly as he pointed at a picture with you and your best friend in second grade. 

After setting the rest of the bags down, you stood next to him, looking at the picture. 

“Who’s that?” He asked as he pointed at a picture of you and your high school boyfriend. 

You cringed as you reached up and tugged the picture down. 

“That was supposed to be thrown away,” you said, tossing it in the trash. 

“Ah, gotcha,” he said. “Now you have to fill the empty space.”

“Shawn, I don’t live here anymore,” you reminded him. 

He shrugged, “Well, yeah, but still.”

For the first time, he turned around and looked at you, his eyes then drifting to your bed. 

“We’re going to have to share that, aren’t we?” He said quietly. 

You nodded your head, “Well, you are my boyfriend, so of course, we’d share a bed. And we don’t have a guest room.”

An awkward silence came between you two. 

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there,” you said with a pat on his shoulder as you tugged him out of your room, gently lacing your hands together as you pulled him down the stairs. 

You were met with your mom baking in the kitchen, finishing up cookies to bring to your grandma’s house in a few hours. Shawn leaned against the counter, and you leaned gently against his side. 

“Need any help?” You asked. 

Your mom simply shook her head, “Nope, I’m in the zone. Rather you did not interrupt me, dear.”

Your jaw dropped as Shawn laughed at your mom. 

“We’ll just get out of your hair then,” you said a little too dramatically as you tugged Shawn into the sunroom at the back of your house. 

You settled into the couch in the corner, crossing your legs and facing him as he did the same. 

“How are you doing?” He whispered. 

You nodded your head, “good,” you whispered back. “This isn’t as bad as I thought it would be.”

“It’s because I’m a really great boyfriend,” he said with a confident smile. 

Before you could respond, the back door opened, and your dad and sister walked in with a few bags. 

“Hey!” Your dad said cheerfully. You stood up and gave him a quick hug, and Shawn followed, shaking his hand. 

“Nice to see you, Shawn,” he said with a small smile. 

“You too, sir,” he said back. 

“Well, we’ll leave you two,” Rachel said as she motioned for your dad to follow her into the kitchen. 

You sat back down on the couch in your original spot, this time turning to rest your head on Shawn’s shoulder. 

“Tired?” He whispered. 

You nodded your head gently, “Didn’t sleep much last night.”

“Me too,” he said, settling back into the couch and pulling you with him so your head lay on his chest. 

“We still have two hours,” you mumbled.

“Then nap,” Shawn whispered.

He didn’t have to tell you twice as you relaxed into him and fell asleep. It felt too real. That this was your actual boyfriend, and it was his first holiday with your family. You had to beg yourself to not believe that. 

You felt someone tug on your foot, and you jolted awake, smacking your head on Shawn’s jaw as you both groaned. 

You shifted up to your knees, rubbing the top of your head as you brought your hand to Shawn’s jaw. 

“Oh my God, I am so sorry, honey,” you said through a laugh as you traced your thumb across his jaw gently. 

“Not the first time, won’t be the last,” he said as he smiled sleepily up at you. 

Your heart skipped a beat. You didn’t even realize what you were doing before you leaned in and kissed the side of his jaw where your head hit. You could feel his breath hitch. 

“All better,” you whispered, as you pulled away, his eyes not leaving yours. 

“Alright, love birds. We’re leaving for Grandma’s,” Rachel said, being the one who tugged on your foot. 

You both nodded and stood up, finding your shoes and hopping into your car. You drove the short distance to your Grandma’s house as the car was silent. 

“That was good,” Shawn said as he broke the silence. 

“What?”

“When you kissed my jaw, that was good. As in, like. Very believable,” he stumbled over his words. 

“Yeah, yeah,” you said. “Rachel’s a sucker for shit like that.”

The silence fell again as you pulled up and parked before making your way into your grandma’s house. 

The night went exactly as it was supposed to. Shawn met all your aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents, while also being introduced to other people who showed up. You spent your night in the back corner of the couch with Shawn’s arm draped around you. You barely stood up all night, as any time you needed something, Shawn said he’d get it and would leave with a gentle pat on your knee. 

Your aunt slid into his spot one of those times, giving you a look. 

“Quite the gentleman, huh?” She said. 

You smiled and nodded, “Yeah, he’s pretty perfect.”

“How long has it been? And how come I just found out yesterday when your mom called me?” your aunt asked. 

“Since September, and you know how it is. His private life has to be incredibly quiet for it to stay private,” you said. 

“Are you ok with that?”

Out of all the questions you were prepared for, this wasn’t one you practiced. 

“Um,” you paused. “Yeah, I am. I mean, I work for him,” you said with a chuckle. “Some people wouldn’t take that too well.”

Your aunt nodded her head, “Well, when it’s real as it is between you two, people shouldn’t even think that but that’s just how it is sometimes,” she said with a sigh. “One day.”

“One day,” you repeated, your heart beating out of your chest at how she said this was so real. You wanted to shake her and tell her it wasn’t but you wanted it to be so bad.

She stood up and went back to her spot as Shawn came back and handed you your glass of wine. 

“Am I going to have to drive?” He asked with a smirk as you took another drink.

“Yep,” you said, curling into his side again. 

The night flew by after everyone ate dinner and opened gifts. Everyone was eager to talk to Shawn and you about your relationship. The two of you answered every question perfectly. No one suspected a thing.

Before you knew it, Shawn was driving you home as you dozed off in the front seat. He pulled into the driveway behind your parents. He rounded the car and opened your door. 

“Come on, love,” he whispered, kneeling down by your door as you looked at him. 

“Do I have to?” You mumbled. 

“Want me to carry you?” He said with a small smile.

You nodded your head as he turned around, and you slid onto his back. He shut the door and walked toward the back door with the rest of your family as you rested your head on his shoulder. 

You heard a chorus of goodnights before you felt Shawn shut your bedroom door and set you on your bed. You laid back and shut your eyes, as you heard Shawn rustling around, presumably changing. 

“Come on, [Y/N],” he said with a quiet chuckle, poking your side as he said it. 

You groaned as you opened your eyes and met his gaze just inches away from you. 

“You’re going to regret falling asleep in jeans,” he whispered. 

You sighed as you finally got up and trudged to your bathroom. You glanced down at the bag of gifts before quickly changing and going back into your room. 

“I’m going to run these downstairs real quick,” you said as you saw Shawn laying in the bed, scrolling through his phone. “Want me to grab yours?”

“No,” he said a little too quickly. “No, I can do it tomorrow morning.”

You walked downstairs quietly and rounded the living room towards the Christmas tree. You took a deep breath as you put the gifts under the tree among the rest. The box holding Shawn’s gift stayed in your hands a little too long. You hesitated before standing up and bringing the gift with you into the sunroom, setting it on the tv stand. 

You went back upstairs to your room, seeing Shawn curled up in the covers with his eyes closed. 

You crawled in on the opposite side, pulling the covers up and facing him. 

“I didn’t get to ask you what side you usually sleep on,” he mumbled, his eyes still closed. 

“You guessed right,” you said. 

His eyes flickered open, and he smiled at you as you returned it. 

With that, you closed your eyes and fell asleep to the sound of Shawn’s deep breaths. 

Shawn woke up first. In fact, Shawn woke up with your head on his chest and his arm around your waist as your arm gripped his middle. He looked down at you peacefully sleeping and again reminded himself that this could never happen. You would never feel that way about him. 

He gently removed your arm from him. You shuffled away, turning the opposite direction and burying your head in the pillow, not waking up. 

Shawn breathed a sigh of relief as he stood up and grabbed his gifts, tiptoeing downstairs. 

He set your family’s gifts among the rest and held the small box that held yours in his hands. Without letting himself think too much, he set it at the very back of the tree. 

He stood up to see your brother leaning against the doorway. 

“Merry Christmas,” Aaron said as he moved to sit on the couch. 

“Yeah, Merry Christmas,” Shawn said back, sitting across from him. 

Aaron motioned to the tree with his head, “What did you get her?” 

“Guess you’ll have to wait and see,” Shawn said. 

Before Aaron could pry further, you walked into the room and sat down next to Shawn as he moved his arm to wrap around you and kissed the side of your head. 

“Morning,” you mumbled.

“Merry Christmas,” he whispered. 

You smiled up at him, “Merry Christmas.”

“Coffee, anyone?” Your dad asked as he peaked into the living room. Everyone said yes as he started brewing a pot as Rachel and your mom made their way into the living room. 

Your dad brought everyone a mug as presents were started. 

Your family all loved their gifts from Shawn, commending him on how well he did, and continuously saying he didn’t have to bring anything. 

The gifts dwindled down as Shawn watched the box get closer and closer. Finally, it was the only present left. 

“Who’s that for?” Rachel asked as your mom grabbed it. 

“[Y/N],” she said as she handed it to you. 

You turned to look at Shawn, “You got me something?” You said quietly. 

Shawn nodded his head as he grabbed the box from your mom. 

“Yours is in the other room,” you whispered. 

“Want to go over there?” He asked.

“We’re going to go, uh-“ you stuttered. 

“Just in the other room,” Shawn finished.

“Yeah, to open ours,” you said with a nod. 

Everyone shrugged their shoulders and nodded as you stood up and tugged Shawn to the sunroom, grabbing the box off the stand and settling into the couch. 

“Who’s going first?” He asked. 

“You can,” you said, the nerves setting in. 

Shawn carefully unwrapped the box and pulled off the top. 

“Oh my God,” he said under his breath. “How did you...I can’t believe-“ he was speechless as he traced his finger across the cool metal of the bracelet. 

“It’s the same one, well almost,” you told him. “I somehow found that place in Thailand and had them send me one.” 

“[Y/N], I don’t know what to say,” he said as he looked at you. 

You shrugged your shoulders, trying to control the heat rising to your cheeks. 

Without another word, Shawn handed you your gift. 

You hesitated before unwrapping it and then opening the top. 

You gasped as you looked at the ring staring back at you. 

“Shawn,” you said slowly as you took the ring out. You slid it on your finger carefully. “It matches,” you said with a small smile as you looked down at it. 

“I know you’ve been wanting one that matches your mom’s bracelet, and then I found that one,” he said. 

Silence fell between you two as the realization hit both of you. 

“Shawn,” you said slowly, looking up at him. “This isn’t a gift you give your coworker.”

“Neither is this,” he whispered back. 

You went quiet again, not being able to look at him again. 

“What if I don’t want you to just be my coworker?” He whispered as his voice shook. 

You looked up at him, finally. He looked nervous. 

“What if I want the same thing?” you whispered back.

“Then Andrew isn’t going to be too happy,” Shawn responded. 

You both smiled, leaning in closer and closer. 

“But who cares what he thinks,” he whispered before finally pressing his lips against yours. 

Sparks flew as Shawn leaned back and you followed, resting your hand on his cheek as he deepened the kiss. After a few moments, Shawn carefully pulled away. 

“I could kiss you all day and more, but I don’t think your parents want to see that,” he said with a smile before you pressed another quick kiss to his lips. 

“I know it sucks, but I’m glad your flight was canceled,” you said as you curled back into his side, this time it was real. 

Shawn rested his head against yours after pressing a kiss to your head.

“Me too.”

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[wizardwomenwisdom]

secret for a secret (or why jj doesn’t like seeing kie kiss other boys)

word count: 1,779

cw: mentions of racism, homophobia, and abuse

summery: jj doesn’t want to go home. kie wasn’t invited to sarah’s birthday. when the two of them commiserate at john b’s, two major secrets come to life. (this is a sucky description i’m sorry pls just read it.)

ships: like bromance jj x kie?

disclaimer: a lot of this content is based off two of my friends’ experiences at this country club near us. yeet.

*****

John B and his dad were off the island, searching for the Royal Mariner. Which meant that no one was home. And that’s just what JJ needed.

It hurt his lungs to try and inhale as his bike sped down the road, but he’d checked. Nothing was broken. He just needed to sleep off the pain on John B’s pullout coach.

That’s what he always did, but he never told John B why. He always had various excuses to employ about Kooks or bike accidents or a mixture of the two, but today he didn’t need one.

He hopped off his bike and started wheeling it up the walk towards the house. Then, he saw her.

They hadn’t talked since late August, and she’d gone full Kook in the meantime, but he’d recognize Kie anywhere. The last few times he’d seen her at keggers, her hair had been straightened just like all the girls she hung with; now it was up in a high messy bun. She looked like his Kie.

He thought about leaving her there, but his ribs hurt and he could already feel his cheek swelling. It was getting darker by the minute. So, he dropped his bike against the side of the house and headed up to the porch.

Kie flinched when the door hit the frame, but she didn’t look up. JJ planned to just move past her, but he realized that her feet were plainly resting on the mat that hid the spare key.

JJ cleared his throat. Nothing. “Hey,” He said awkwardly.

Finally, she looked up. “JJ.” She didn’t sound surprised: in fact, she said it like it was just a fact. “Are you meeting John B?”

She was so far off the radar that she didn’t even know they were gone. “He’s not home.”

“Then why are you here?”

“Why are you?”

Kie looked back down, and didn’t answer. He could’ve just grabbed the key and left her like that. But once upon a time, Kie was his everything: his best friend, his first kiss, his favorite person. He couldn’t leave her like this, even if she left him.

He settled down across from her. “What’s wrong, Kie?”

She laughed lightly. “No one’s called me that in awhile.” Then she glanced up. “What happened to your face?”

“Topper,” JJ replied smoothly, eyes on hers.

“You’re a good liar, J.”

“Maybe because I’m telling the truth?” She tucked a stray bang behind her hair, and didn’t say anything. JJ had the overwhelming feeling that she wasn’t really there on the porch with her. “Penny for your thoughts?”

“How about a secret for a secret?”

It was an old Pogue game, older than his friendship with her. John B started it and Pope instituted the rules and then Kie made them play it all the time when they first met. That’s how he got to know her. The old her. New Kie was different. And so that’s why he said, “Okay.”

“Who gave you the bruises?”

“My dad.” JJ said it just as he’d named Topper, all cool and collected. His brain felt a bit numb from it.

“Fuck.”

“It’s always him. Almost always.” The look on Kie’s face made him back pedal. He didn’t want her pity, he just wanted to say it. So he lied. “It’s never a big deal, just a slap or something.”

“J, that is a big deal. You need to tell someone—“

“And get put in the foster care on the mainland? Fuck that. At least here I have you guys.” He said it without thinking, because, until recently, “you guys” had included her. Maybe it still did.

“JJ, you deserve to be safe. And happy. With a family that loves you.”

“I am, most of the time.” JJ grinned. “Now, you’re turn.” He slid across the space between them, coming to join her on the couch. As he sat, he forced himself not to wince at the pain in his stomach. Maybe he needed to check again for broken ribs, but he couldn’t with Kie there. He didn’t want to scare her.

“Alright, ask away.”

“Why are you here?”

She glanced at him, then leaned back on the couch. “Sarah’s birthday party is tonight, and I wasn’t invited.”

“That’s it?”

She crossed her arms. “What do you mean, ‘that’s it’?”

“It’s a birthday party, Kie.”

“She’s my best friend.”

“I used to say that about you, you know.”

She frowned, and leaned forward again. Her arms rested on her knees, her eyes studied the floorboards. “Last week was her birthday, technically, so we went to the beach.” Maybe it was the pain in her voice, or the way she exhaled before she said it, but JJ could tell that this right here was the real reason. “It was just the two of us, ya know? It was stormy, so everyone was gone, and we didn’t even bring our boards. We just talked.

“And we got to talking about boys and she kept talking about how she hates them. And how they all suck.”

“Ouch.”

“I said I thought it was annoying that boys always roughhouse each other for no reason. And she tackled me. She was on top of my, kneeling over me. Right up in my face.”

“I’m lost.“

“We kissed.” Her voice was small, scared. JJ stared at her. “I kissed her, I guess. And I realized I wanted to. I really, really wanted to.”

JJ didn’t say anything for a long time. Finally, he said, “So that’s why you won’t go out with me.”

She laughed quietly. “Something like that.”

“God, I told John B it wasn’t me. He’s gonna freak when he finds out.” A look of horror crossed Kie’s face.

“No.”

“In a good way.”

“JJ, you can’t tell him. No one can know.”

“What?”

“If my parents find out... If anyone finds out...”

JJ’s brows furrowed. He didn’t get it. It wasn’t like she had his dad. Hell, her parents were liberal. Her mom had photos from pride marches in her youth. “Kie, your parents won’t care.”

“My dad’s the only black man at the country club, did you know that?” She said suddenly. “I mean, there’s Kelce too, but his parents adopted him. They’re doctors. But my dad owns a restaurant. And my dad’s married to a white girl. We get looks at the club every time we’re there together.”

“Kie.”

“Imagine if everyone knew. Imagine the looks they’d give us then. In their eyes, it’s bad enough I’m not a pretty, smiley blonde. But if they knew I kissed her... If they knew that I’m...”

“Gay.”

She nodded. “They’d riot.”

“But that doesn’t mean you can’t tell your parents.”

“My parents always tell me to be proud of who I am, as if that does anything. If they knew I was pretending to be something I’m not for them?”

JJ realized, suddenly, that Kie was crying. And then he realized that he’d only seen her cry once before, when her grandma died in sixth grade. He awkwardly rested his arm around her.

“Promise me you won’t tell?”

“If you keep my secret, I’ll keep yours.”

“Deal.” She rested against him, her eyes closed just slightly. JJ smiled.

“I have one more condition: you come back to the dark side.”

“Fuck the Kooks,” She whispered lazily.

“Fuck the Kooks.”

They sat like that for awhile, arms wrapped around each other, until the sun had gone down completely and they’d retreated into John B’s house.

As Kie fussed around the kitchen, using the little food they had to produce something of substance, JJ leaned against the counter and stared out the window.

“What if we convince John B you’re into him?”

She looked up from the pot she was currently stirring, which smelled entirely too good to come from the Routledge house.

“I’m sorry?”

“It’s the perfect cover. You like John B but you can’t get with him because rules.”

“Why John B?”

“Because he’s an easy target. Sure, he’d be into it, but it’s not like he’s gonna get attached. Pope’s the best of us. Hell, if he falls for you and you pretend to be into it? Game over. But John B’ll just move on.”

“What about you?”

He flexed his arms. “I will never be tied down, Kie.” She rolled her eyes and looked away from him, so he slid to the counter next to the stove. “And I couldn’t with good conscience pretend I like you.”

“Try this,” She held out her spoon for him, and he took a bite. “So, what are you gonna say to him?”

“We’ll hype him up slowly. Just get comfy, ya know? Act like a girl.”

“What does that even mean?”

“I don’t know, just, like, hug him and stuff. Maybe kiss him on the cheek, ruffle his hair. Isn’t that a thing you guys do?”

She elbowed him. “If I’m supposed to come back to you guys, then you can at least drop the toxic masculinity stuff.” JJ grinned. “What’d you think?” Kiara gestured with the wooden spoon, drawing his attention back to the pot.

“Little hot, but hell of a lot better than anything I’ve ever eaten.”

“Except my dad’s surf and turf special?”

“You don’t eat the surf and turf special, Kie.” Hands raised like a preacher, he paused for dramatic effect. “You experience it.”

“That might just be the worst thing you’ve ever said.” She pulled the pot from the stove, and grabbed two bowls from the cabinet. The way she moved around the kitchen reminded JJ that once upon a time, this was a normal night: Kie would make dinner, Pope would work on homework at the counter, JJ and John B would dance around the kitchen to bad country music. He wanted that back so desperately.

“You think we can do this more often?” He asked, as she spooned the thick liquid out. “Bring back Friday night dinners?”

Kie handed him a small metal spoon and a bowl. “If John B ever gets his ass out grocery shopping, sure.”

“And we’ll watch the full original trilogy?”

“If you agree to a John Hughes movie marathon after that.”

“Heathers, too?”

“Sure.”

Kiara started to eat, but JJ just pushed his around with his spoon for a bit. Finally, he said, “Kie?”

“Mmm hmm?”

“I can still flirt with you, right?”

“Eat your dinner.”