#i should just hang his photo in my room instead of the clock cause he is dead to me

[girlivealwaysbean]

do you ever just

[talltalesandbedtimestories]

“Hard Boot” - Dean x Reader

Part of the “Control Panel” Series

Rating Mature

Dean x Reader (Newly Established Intimate Relationship)

Tags: Dean Angst and Self-Loathing, Inability to Word, Adult Language, Dean POV

Word Count: 2500

After one night of sexual exploration, a case lured you both back into hunting mode. There was hardly time to breathe, let alone figure out how you were collectively supposed to handle this new aspect of your relationship. Is it any wonder Dean had to go and mess it up? That’s his expertise.

Note: You don’t have to read the first part, Factory Reset, to get the gist of this “What the heck are we supposed to do now? Friends to lovers” trope. But if you’re intrigued by these two, please try it.

I'm participating in @jacklesversebingo and this part will fill my "Admit it." square.

Image created in Canva (credit for photo used:  Supernatural/Warner Bros.)

The shot glass tinks atop the counter. It’s barely audible. Dean glances up and the bartender appears, summoned by the tell tale call of a drunk.

Not just any drunk. The Fuck It Up Seven Ways To Sunday kind of drunk. Also known as Dean Winchester.

The bar is deserted. It’s 1:00 pm on a Wednesday outside the touristy parts of New Orleans.

The bartender tips the whiskey bottle in her hand. Dean nods. She pours.

“So, what exactly are you tryna drown, cher? Cause it might be easier to head a little north and walk into Lake Pontchartrain.”

Dean snorts. “Trust me, that’s crossed my mind.”

All the wrinkles in the older woman’s face droop along with her frown. “It can’t be that bad. Unless you’re broke… or your heart is.” 

Dean shifts atop the stool. “My wallet’s full, thanks. Leave the bottle.”

Dean grunts at his inability to put one foot in front of the other trekking down the hallway to the hotel room. The air is spinning around him in a vortex, forcing his body to lean to the right even though his brain tries to rationally push forward. He’s in an anti-funhouse of his own creation. 

He doesn’t remember how he finally gets into the room. Just that he is. He flops on the bed. Breathes in deep and holds it. Staving off the nausea that he deserves.

You should be here. Beside him. Celebrating a win.

He closes his eyes and lets the pain and loss keep him company instead in the late afternoon.

Sleep eludes him. He tosses. Turns. Spends time with his head hanging over the toilet bowl.

He stares at the alarm clock on the nightstand as it ticks over into 10 PM territory. When his eyes peel open again, it’s sometime after 1 AM.

He sniffs the air.

He smells you.

Before he can realize it’s a mistake, he springs to sitting. The hammer nailing together a house in his head takes a back seat to the elation seeing you sat at the foot of the bed.

You look demure in your side saddle position. The patient stare has Dean wondering how long you’ve been watching him sleep.

He wants to ask. But he’s afraid anything he says is going to be wrong. So he just stares back.

Your face is void of any discernible emotion.

And that freaks Dean out more than anything. Because even when he couldn’t read you like a book, he could at least hazard a guess. Even if it was wrong, it was something.

But all he sees now is a shield. A wall that he’s caused.

“I’m gonna head out.” You state in a curt tone that leaves no room for debate.

“You already were out.” The head pounding irritation preoccupies him enough that the sass spills out, uncontrolled. Your lids slit for a second. Well, he got some reaction.

“I-” You straighten up. A sorry attempt at a laugh huffs out. “Forget it.” You’re up off the bed and snagging items dropped around the room. Things are stuffed into your bag with haste.

Dean wants the elation to return to the room. Twenty-four hours prior, you were smiling. Eager to track down the Djinn. It had been a day’s drive from Lebanon to New Orleans, with a 6-hour stop in between at the Cradle Rock Motel.

Dean would have done whatever you wanted in that motel room. All that possibility and you had him flying high on adrenaline. You’d handled him with kid gloves and given him an experience he’d cherish, even if he was still sore. He would have let you strap on Marvin again and fold him like Origami. He wanted that again. He wanted it all with you.

But all you had wanted in the end as you laid in bed was to curl up and sleep in his arms. You wanted to rest before getting back on the road in your separate rides. 

And the simple act of being with you. Static. Stationary. Silent. That was wonderful, too.

There was the promise of staying in bed for days after you took care of the monster together. Lingering lips. Suggestive smirks. Greedy gropes.

All of that was a distant memory now.

You throw the duffle over your shoulder. “Bye, Dean.”

He bungees off the bed. Rushes to the door to wedge between you and the exit. “That’s it?” His stomach roils at the exertion but he pushes it down.

Your voice doesn’t waver. “For now. Yeah.”

Dean holds his ground for another second. Two. Three. Four.

“Don’t make it worse.” You plead.

That reminds him the ownness of this whole mess is in fact on him. And he relinquishes.

And watches you walk out the door.

 

Dean clinks down the iron bunker stairs. Three weeks of hunting non-stop has joints creaking, muscles aching. He plans to beeline it to the showers and let the glorious water pressure ease some of the pain. There’s also an 80-year old bottle of Macallan in his bedroom that will ease everything else.

Sam’s out at Eileen’s. The texts back and forth earlier were short and mainly for informational purposes. Sam gave up trying to find out what was going on with Dean two weeks back. As long as he checked in and provided proof of life, Sam didn’t pester for details.

Dean marches through the war room, into the library, weaves the labyrinth of halls to get to his room.

He keeps his head down when he rounds the final corner. He doesn’t want to glimpse the door marked number 16 at the end of the hallway. It’s your bedroom. Well, whenever you crash at the bunker it’s yours.

There’s a twist in his gut when he realizes you might never sleep in that bed or cross the threshold into the Men of Letters homebase again.

He’s been avoiding returning because of all the reminders of you. The wound is as fresh and festering as it was when you left him in New Orleans. He can distract from the pain during moments occupied with cases and bad guys. This, not so much.

He opens his door, good ole number 11. 

When he left this room last, you were here with him. 

And goddammit. You’re all he can see no matter where his gaze lands.

The duffle drops onto the mattress. Another musty bed in another room in another hallway might be a better alternative tonight.

He considers it. He’ll decide for sure after his shower.

Dean grumbles when he gets back to the room.

It shouldn’t be possible and his mind must be playing tricks on him, but he thinks he catches the scent of you. 

Yeah, he can’t sleep in here tonight.

He runs a hand through his towel dried hair and peels off Tad’s robe. He toes out of the slippers and tugs on a pair of sweats and a well-worn henley. The realization he’s donned the shirt inside out takes a backseat to the more important matter of grabbing the bottle of Macallan.

He shuffles over in bare feet and squats by the cabinet under his desk. His mouth is watering in anticipation of that smooth amber-colored nectar coating his throat.

“What the fuck?” he mumbles in confusion.

The bottle is gone.

“Looking for this?”

Dean stills at the question floating over his shoulder.

The voice isn’t something he expected to hear back at the bunker anytime soon. Maybe ever.

He rises, inhales through his nose. Mentally prepares for when he turns and faces you.

When he does rotate on his heels, he purses his lips into a tight line. He can’t let the impulse to smile win out.

You're wearing one of his flannels. It’s the black, white and gray one he hasn’t worn in ages. And the way the sweatpants hang loose and baggy and obscure your feet; well, he’s pretty sure those are his, too. Leaning against the doorsill, you look as if you’re trying way too hard to appear casual about any of this. The bottle of Macallan in your grip is displayed as a peace offering.

There’s the tiniest grin quirking up your lips. You look at the bottle, then to Dean. “I was keeping an eye on it.”

Dean inspects the liquid level of the scotch as a distraction. If he stares at that mouth of yours a second longer, he’ll forgive you for anything.  “That’s about four fingers lighter than when I left.”

Your brows raise. Mouth opens. Dean knows you're ready to dispute his measurements. But something else clicks in Dean’s head and he doesn’t give you a chance.

“How long have you been staying here?”

You sigh and enter the bedroom. The bottle rests on the tiny corner table. You collapse into the chair beside it. “This’ll be my third night.”

Dean stands there. Blinks. You settling in is hopefully a good sign.

“Sam gave me a heads up that you were coming back some time tonight.”

“Why didn’t you high tail it out of here when you got wind of me?” Dean asks.

Your mouth tilts into a frown. “I came here to wait for your slow ass to return, Winchester.” You thumb at the bottle. “I may have needed some liquid courage during my stay to, you know, stick around.”

Dean crosses his arms, determined not to give an inch. Doesn’t matter how goddamn sexy you look. How your hair’s mussed from laying in bed. How his oversized shirt is unbuttoned enough at the collar to display the lovely expanse of skin from the column of your neck to the round of your shoulder. He prepares for the flailing you must have been wanting to give him so badly that you camped here for days. He tries not to think about how much he’d love to bend over so you can give him a spanking.

You stare up at him from the chair. “Oookaayyy.” Palms run over cloth-covered thighs. “I wanted to explain myself. Back in New Orleans.”

Dean shrugs, his crossed arms lifting up with the movement.

“We were a mess on that hunt.” You start. “All sorts of wrong. Second guessing. Getting in each other’s way. That Djinn got the upperhand on us because we were sloppy.”

Dean scoffs. “It wasn’t that bad.”

“You tackled it while I was about to kill the fucking thing.” You counter.

“You were getting choked out WHILE it was lighting up like an electric smurf.” Dean’s voice rises.

“I had the silver knife to its throat UNTIL you hip checked and then rolled around with Mr. Sandman doing the horizontal mambo.”

“Who was trying to pull it off me only to get a nasty throat punch?”

You raise both hands. “Look, my point is we were off our game. And I’ve never, ever had to worry about you having my back. Until that hunt.”

Dean rolls his shoulders like he’s ready to take flight. “What the hell does that mean?”

“Do you think I’m a good hunter?” you ask.

“What the hell kind of question is that?”

“A simple one.” A tap on the table precedes your rise. You stroll with purpose towards him. “Do you think I’m a good hunter?” you repeat.

“Of course I do. You might even be the third best hunter on the planet.”

You smile and, dammit, Dean melts a little. You clear your throat and the smile fades. “Then why didn’t you let me do my job?”

Dean stills. He watches your frame relax. The bravado seeps from your posture.

“Things are different between us now.” You sigh. “I hoped that what we did would bring us closer. More in sync on a hunt. But it did the exact opposite.” Another step brings you right up into Dean’s space. You latch onto a forearm. “Your head wasn’t in that hunt with me.”

“It was.”

You shake your head. “No. Your heart was. And so was mine.” Your voice breaks a little. “All I could think about was how I needed to protect you.”

“When do we not think about protecting a hunting partner?”

“That’s gotta go hand in hand with the mission, though; not take over.” The warm fingers drop from Dean’s arm. “I told Sam what happened.”

Dean rolls his eyes. “And what did Mr. Know It All have to say?”

Your shoulder lifts and almost touches your ear. “He said ‘welcome to the club.’”

“Huh?”

“Sam said you must care about me an awful lot if you were constantly undermining my ability to actually get the fucking job done. That sacrificing yourself is part of your DNA.” A full-watt smile - the one that makes Dean’s insides warm up - graces your face. “That you’ll die a hundred times over to prevent the recipient of all that care and concern from even getting a splinter in their thumb.” The snark in your tone is sharp and cutting. “Admit it.”

“Well, that’s just a flat out exaggeration.”

Suddenly, all of the playfulness in your expression is gone. You frown. “You don’t care about me like that?”

“What? No. I mean, yes, of course I care about you like that.”

“Good.” The smile returns. “Because I know for a fact that none of that is an exaggeration where Sam is concerned. You’ve figured out how to make it work with Sam. You and I are going to have to make that happen, too.”

Dean’s grinning back. “Any suggestions?”

“You could follow my lead and do what I say at all times.” You offer.

“I’m all about that in almost every scenario. Except when we’re hunting.”

You nod. “We’re not hunting now.” Dainty fingers clasp over his hand. “I’m sorry I ran away.” You whisper, staring into his eyes.

Your small frame belies your strength and formidable capability when it comes to a hunt. And though Dean’s only had one taste of your dominance in bed, you handled him with care and exerted contained control. But now Dean needs you to know how much he intends on proving his worth to you. He’s more than a deft hand wielding a machete. More than reliable backup. More than a decades long friend who can keep up with the tequila shots. He wants to be more than all of that for you. 

He wriggles from under the grip to clutch your face with both hands. “I wanna tough it out with you.”

Your head tilts up and down in his hold. “Me too.”

You raise on tiptoes as he dips his head. Your lips meet in a gentle brush of skin. Dean’s skin tingles all over.

It’s only a peck. Dean pulls back so he can witness the bliss on your face. Eyes closed, mouth parted. You release a sigh. “Can we…” you start to ask.

“Anything,” Dean murmurs.

“Can we go to sleep? Start fresh in the morning? I missed you.”

Dean thinks his face will crack at the force of his smile. “Absolutely.”

[tarosin]

did i do that p2

paring implied past platonic tommy/tubbo/ranboo x reader

tw: cursing, de realisation, mentions of suicide/death/paranoia

TW: de realisation, mentions of suicide/death/paranoia

Dear quackity,

if you’re reading this, it’s too late. you’ve probably noticed me and dream are nowhere to be found, you may ask yourself why did sam let the pair out well the answer to that is simple. he didn’t i’m sure you can find what remains of him somewhere around the prison. you really have yourself to blame, now before you start to get defensive and say ‘i didn’t do anything this is bullshit everyone’s trying to attack me’ let me tell you why. before you decided to give us weekly visits just to abuse us mentally and physically, we couldn’t stand each other. I’d go as far as to say I despised dream, but you helped unite us against a common enemy..you. now we’re unstoppable. I'll spare you the details of what happened to your precious warden. see you soon - Y/n + dream :)

“do you think he’ll be convinced we killed sam?”

“dream i’m in here for the murder of a child, of course he’s going to believe it.”

of course the pair of you didn’t actually kill sam, dream simply manipulated ranboo whilst he was enderwalking into bringing supplies you’d need. you have no idea how he managed, but at this point you didn’t care. you know damn well you shouldn’t be in this prison as you didn’t kill michael. you knew this because the ghost, at least you hope it’s his ghost and that your mind wasn’t messing with you, would stand in the corner of the cell telling you that it wasn’t you who murdered him that night. It was a range of factors: the skeletons, fear, pure exhaustion of trying to run from the mobs after him. you often found yourself ranting to dream about what you had been seeing every night for the past god knows how many months at this point, but alas it was no use. he swore he hadn’t seen anyone but you, occasionally sam, and quackity, definitely not the ghost of michael. It was now midnight according to the clock hanging on the wall. the plan was pretty simple, you would scream that dream had disappeared, causing sam to run into the cell, from then you’d use the rope ranboo gave dream to make temporary handcuffs, and whilst you all make your way to the locker room, where you’d temporarily keep sam assuming quackity would find him sooner or later, then that was it you’d finally be free.

“ready?” you nodded and dream hid in the corner, you couldn’t shake the feeling that you were being watched, but nevertheless you began screaming that dream disappeared, laughing to yourself as you heard the platform moving towards the cell.

“y/n calm down what do you mean- dream get off of me i don’t want to have to kill you but i will!”

dream rolled his eyes as you tied sams hands together.

“shut the fuck up sam, do you understand how pathetic you sound? you’re outnumbered you’re not going to do anything. if you know what’s good for you and your beloved quackity, you’ll tell us which pocket has your key cards in, okay?” this seemed to trigger something in sam as within 10 minutes you and dream had him in the locker room.

“bye sam, i’m sure your boyfriend will come and collect you soon enough, we left him a letter in the cell and a note from you where you always sit saying to just go on through, don’t miss us too much!”

there you both stood, in-front of the now locked locker room, no home, no friends, no plan, but you were free, that's all that matters to you.

“dream, i have something to ask, okay? promise no matter whatever happens, whether you don’t see me for weeks or you over hear something, you won’t come looking for me.“

“stay safe y/n, a lot of people aren’t going to be happy you’re out. whatever you do, avoid quackity.”

and just like that you went your separate ways, where dream went, you have no idea, you’ll probably hear something soon enough. as for you, well you didn’t really have a plan, you weren't really sure you wanted to be alive at this point. there was a little voice that sounded a lot like tommys ringing in your head, telling you to go to the old base you and tommy made years ago, so that’s where you went. you were clinging onto the hope tommy would be there and let you explain what happened that night, you’d make up then just like old times you’d plait his hair, as the pair of you sat under moonlight listening to whichever disk tommy felt like playing that night. this of course wasn’t the case, instead you were met with previous memories of your friendship. a photo book lay in the middle of the floor as if someone knew you escaped and would go to this base, you shut the door locking it behind you for your own safety, remembering what ranboo said to you the day you were thrown in the prison. picking up the photo book you noticed something odd, the words ‘i know what you did’ and ‘i know where you are’ were scratched into the leather cover. you threw the book onto the floor scared as hell. after you calmed down, you picked the book up from the floor, which was now open on the page of a group photo of you tommy and michael, which ranboo had taken the day you both agreed to babysit him for a while. as you flicked through the book, the images got dark. It went from photos of you tubbo ranboo and tommy laughing at the beach to the night michael was killed. the last page made your blood run cold, there was two photos, one was of michaels funeral, and the second was a picture of you sat in the middle of the base holding the photo book. this was the final straw. You were no longer in control of your breathing, you began feeling like you were being preyed on by something who really wasn’t happy with you and wanted you gone, you picked up the book one last time and everything was gone. the book was back to normal no threatening messages no pictures of michaels death or of you looking through the book, the cover was back to its original state full of happy memories of when you were friends with everyone, back when you were happy.

“hello y/n.”the rooms temperature dropped suddenly you began feeling like you were being watched, you turned around to see michael sat on the floor holding a photo book a lot like the one that caused you to panic.

“hey y/n why are my parents acting like they can’t see me anymore? this isn’t funny anymore, i miss them. can you talk to them?”

“michael... this isn’t real. you’re not real. GET OUT OF MY HEAD!”

everything went silent as if the world stopped turning for a few seconds, that’s when you heard the child laughing.

“what do you mean i’m not real? of course i am!”

“michael darling, you're dead remember, we spoke about this in prison. the skeletons shot you in the nether”

you continued talking to michael, not even realising ranboo had followed you to the base and was watching you talk to the wall.

“who are you talking to?”

you honestly didn’t know whether you felt relieved he was there with you or if you were pissed he found you, either way you ran to him pulling him into a hug despite him constantly telling you to let go of him.

“michael, he’s over there.”

“Is this some sick joke? There's no one there. he’s dead. you killed him!”

“ranboo please.. you, you don’t understand i didn’t kill him. please just let me explain what happened. he was surrounded by skeletons. they shot him please, you have to understand I loved that boy, I still do, I would never do something like that!”

“save it y/n, i don’t want to hear it now if you don’t mind i’m going to go tell sam that you have somehow escaped.”

you fell to your knees as ranboo walked away, you sat alone with the quiet comprehension of the ending of it all before realising if someone comes back you would be in big trouble, just before you was about to begin the long walk back to dream he showed up to the base you were currently crying in, not knowing tubbo and ranboo were not far behind him listening in to your conversation with dream.

“dream please i’m begging at this point. Please end my suffering. I can't do this anymore, no one’s listening to me. I CAN'T KEEP LIVING LIKE THIS! there’s a bow and arrow in that chest over there.”

“y/n, this isn’t a funny joke.”

“dream, do i look like i’m joking?”

“y/n..”

“hey, what can you say? we were overdue.”

tubbo and ranboo couldn’t believe what they were hearing right now, their best friend was about to die and there was nothing they could do about it. as soon as they heard dream open the chest, they ran as fast as they could to go and get tommy.

dream left straight away, it was hard to feel regret when you’re used to bloodshed. tommy couldn’t believe what tubbo and ranboo said and was convinced they were messing with him.

“Oh, I'm sure they did. how’d they get out the prison? did they fly out?”

he stood laughing, tubbo stood staring in disbelief, ranboo stood wiping his eyes trying not to cry knowing it would scar if he did. tubbo shook his head and grabbed his husbands hand for comfort.

“you’re really joking at a time like this?”

“we should tell phil.”

the three of them made their way to phil, guilt following them as they went they couldn’t believe what just happened. after they told phil, they all made their way to the base. as soon as the three teenagers saw the trail of blood dream left behind, they completely broke down and began walking, holding onto each other in an attempt to convince themselves this didn’t happen, and that you would be there. phil went in and saw your lifeless body laying there, knowing the others wouldn’t be able to handle seeing you like this, he sent them away to go and get technoblade. A few days later they found themselves sitting with puffy explaining what happened and what you had told them. realisation slowly hit them that you did in fact not kill michael, they felt awful the three of them couldn’t sleep since the day you passed. after the funeral, they often found themselves at your house as it was the only place that they could sleep and feel as though you were still with them. everyday they would visit your grave, placing anything they found that reminds them of you, and would apologise for not believing you sooner. now you were gone and there was nothing they could do about it.

tags:

@bozowrites

[darthfrodophantom]

Ectoberhaunt Day 5: Ouija Board

Summary: To get into the spooky season spirit, Tucker and Sam convince Danny to play a video game late at night, and Danny isn’t pleased about the subject of the video game.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/34303123 

Too Close to Home

“Let me get this straight,” Danny interrupted. “I fight ghosts - real ghosts - on a nightly basis. And now that I actually have a free night you want to take up the time that I should be sleeping to fight fake ghosts?”

He shook his head as he looked at his computer screen, the only light in his entire bedroom aside from the digital clock that showed the hour: 11:45. From the first-person view of the computer game on his screen, he watched the avatars of both of his friends attempt to throw basketballs into a hoop.

“But this is way more fun,” Tucker’s voice said over Danny’s headset. “And it hurts a lot less! Ah! Dang it Sam - you messed up my throw!”

Sam cackled triumphantly. “Better pay more attention to your timing then.”

Tucker groaned as his avatar abandoned the basketball for spray paint cans, which he chucked at Sam. “Besides Danny, we’re not fighting ghosts: we’re hunting them.”

“Fine, fight, hunt, whatever. I still do both of them,” Danny argued.

“Not like this you don’t,” Tucker grinned. “God he’s gonna get creamed.”

“You know Danny, maybe we should let you go to bed. You’re gonna ruin my perfect streak,” Sam teased.

Danny rolled his eyes. “Or maybe you’ll actually do better because you have a true ghost hunting professional on the team,” he defended. He had no idea why he was bragging - he’d just been given an out and given the late hour he should take it, but now it felt like he needed to defend his pride as a ghost hunter. …That thought sounded a little too similar to something his parents would say and he quickly dismissed it. “Besides, I played the tutorial, I know what I’m doing. I’m just trying to figure out why we’re doing this.”

“Because it’s spooky season,” Tucker replied with a hint of sarcasm.

“We are only five days into October, Tucker, and if you’re gonna keep doing this all month I am going to hit you with the Fenton Anti-Creep Stick,” Sam threatened.

“I dunno, it might be worth it,” Tucker teased. “What do you think Danny?”

Danny shook his head, even though none of them could see it. “As the only person in this group who has actually been hit by the Fenton Anti-Creep Stick, I would back off,” he advised.

“Listen to Danny Tucker,” Sam chuckled as her avatar walked over to the white board to set up the hunt. “He’s actually speaking wisdom for once. Now come over here and pick out your gear.”

The playful teasing between best friends stopped as they actually got serious and picked out the gear they would need for their mission. Since Danny had no money, he couldn’t really participate in the conversation, but it seemed like Tucker and Sam had played this enough to know what they needed to bring. Sam started the mission, and their avatars found themselves inside the trailer looking at another whiteboard.

“Alright, looks like our ghost is named Thomas Clark and he responds to all of us,” Sam informed the group while Tucker’s avatar walked over to the shelves to equip supplies.

“Well that’s a dumb name for a ghost,” Danny complained as he looked at the bulletin board next to the computer. He had to squint at his screen to read them, but the articles were fairly legible and contained ghost stories he remembered hearing his parents talk about. It also had a recent article that he actually remembered running in USA Today proclaiming Amity Park as the most haunted city in the world - he didn’t know whether to feel proud or annoyed.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Sam agreed, though her voice was laced with sarcasm. “He should have gone with Thomas Phantom instead.”

Danny rolled his eyes as Tucker burst out laughing. “Oh yeah, now that sounds like a proper ghost,” Tucker added between laughs.

“I knew I was going to hate this,” Danny groaned under his breath. “Can we just get this over with?”

Sam’s avatar turned to face the new whiteboard. “Alright, fine. Objective one: find out what kind of ghost we’re dealing with - standard. Objective two: witness a ghost event.”

“I am a ghost event,” Danny smirked, causing Tucker to burst out laughing again.

“Objective three,” Sam snapped, “capture a photo of the ghost.”

Tucker’s avatar grabbed a camera and snapped a picture of Danny’s avatar. “Got one!” he proclaimed, which drove both boys into laughter.

“Objective four,” Sam said louder, “get a ghost to walk through salt.”

“What? That’s dumb. Everyone knows that’s an old wive’s tale,” Danny complained as he shook his head. Did the creators of this game actually do any real research before they made this game?

“Are you regretting this yet Sam?” Tucker asked as he finally stopped laughing.

“Let’s just get in the house,” she groaned. Danny smirked in triumph, and he could tell Tucker was sharing a similar smirk on his end.

They divided up equipment between the three of them, but not before Danny could comment on the inaccuracies of each of the pieces of equipment and how useless they’d be in an actual ghost fight. From faulty science to just being plain incorrect, Danny made sure to have pithy comments about all the equipment. He didn’t know why it bothered him so much that it had to be accurate - he was not his parents - but as a ghost and a ghost hunter, it just felt a little more personal than he wanted to admit.

Because he was the newest one, Danny got stuck with the Spirit Book (“What? Are they trying to imply all ghosts can’t write? That’s alivist!”) and the EMF Reader (“...Okay that one’s actually accurate”) because they were apparently the easiest to use. Laden down with their gear they walked up to the small house. Sam’s avatar unlocked the door and they headed inside. Danny noticed the tonal shift immediately. Outside he could hear wind and crickets chirping, but once he stepped inside the doorway, an oppressive silence covered his headphones. It reminded him of the sensation on a pressurised airplane and it unnerved and unsettled him...a lot more than he planned to admit to his friends.

“Alright, spread out,” Sam instructed. “See if you can find the ghost room.”

Ghost room, right. He remembered that from the tutorial. It had been the garage in the tutorial, so he figured he should start there. He walked back through the dark house, turning lights on as he went. It wasn’t because he was scared - absolutely not, he was a real ghost hunter! - it was just much easier to see. He pulled out the EMF reader and walked into the garage. It had an eerie quality to it, and he couldn’t tell if it was because he remembered seeing the ghost there last time (a mean looking (and inaccurate) ghost covered in blood and holding an axe) or if it was because he was alone and the room was so large, but he did not like being in here.

“You know, in the tutorial, the ghost was a bloody axe-man,” Danny remarked over the walkie talkie.

“Yeah, I think he’s standard in the tutorial,” Sam remarked offhand. He did not want to admit how good it felt to hear her voice in the oppressive silence of the house. They were clearly focused on their tasks, and that was a good thing, but it felt a lot better hearing their voices.

“Red blood,” he continued, simply to trigger more conversation. He didn’t get any EMF readings, so he gratefully left the garage. “Not ectoplasm. It’s like they didn’t even try.”

“Ugh, Danny, they’re going for a horror aesthetic, not something real,” Sam sighed.

“What? Ectoplasm-stains are horrifying,” he countered as he walked through the rest of the first story. Still no EMF readings.

“Only when it’s yours,” Sam said, and the weight of those words echoed in the silence of the house that made him stop moving for a moment. “No cold spots upstairs,” Sam informed them to break the silence.

“Yeah, no EMF downstairs,” Danny added. “I’m gonna check out the basement.” That’s where they loved to hang out in the real world, so it seemed the next best choice.

“Oh hang on, if you’re going down there I’ll go with you,” Tucker spoke up.

Danny stopped halfway down the stairs. “It’s fine, I’m pretty used to basements,” he joked weaky.

“Yeah, well the last time you went into a basement alone with untested ghost equipment you died.” Tucker said it light-heartedly as a joke, and it was one they’d said a bunch of times before, but somehow it just didn’t feel the same in this tense environment. It felt too...personal.

He waited for Tucker’s avatar to appear before they walked down the stairs together into the basement. Unlike Sam’s basement or his own, this basement had a much creepier feel to it, with the foreboding worn brick walls and discolored cement flooring. Honestly he was glad Tucker went down there with him because it just felt better having another person there.

“Sam, maybe you should get down here with the thermometer,” Tucker mentioned as they both walked through the basement. “Because we’re not--”

Danny whirled around as he heard something thud hard against the ground behind him while he jumped in his chair. The EMF reader in his hand jumped up to three dots and blared at them while he stared at a box of tools now on the ground. The ghost was clearly in the room. Danny half-expected his ghost sense to go off, but he had to remind himself it was just a video game. There wasn’t actually a ghost here.

“What happened?” Sam’s urgent voice said over the walkies.

“Ghost knocked something off the shelf down here,” Tucker said as his avatar walked over to the toolbox. “Ooh! We’ve got fingerprints!” he cheered as his avatar shined a light on a glowing handprint.

“Oh that’s so not how that works,” Danny complained, just to help lighten the mood. Honestly he felt a bit jumpy knowing that the ghost was in the room...and he couldn’t sense him. He’d dealt with invisible ghosts before, but his ghost sense always gave him a vague idea of where they were...except for now. He turned in his chair to check the room behind him. No ghosts, no ghost sense. It’s just in the computer game.

“Figures that the ghost would be in the basement,” Sam remarked as her avatar walked down the stairs and opened her journal. Right! Journal. Danny opened his and placed their one piece of evidence inside. The sooner they got all of those the sooner they could leave, and he really liked that idea.

“I’m not seeing freezing temperatures, but it is a little cooler than the rest of the house,” she continued. “So let’s start setting stuff up in here. Tucker get the DOTS up and I’ll place the camera. Danny place the spirit book.”

Okay, this wasn’t so bad with the three of them in the room. He could hear them moving around and he could see them, so it made him feel a bit better. And there was still no sign of the ghost. He put the spirit book down near the toolbox and looked away from it. Maybe the ghost wouldn’t write in it while he was watching? He didn’t know.

“Ooh!” Tucker cried excitedly.

“Did you see it in the DOTS?” Sam asked.

“No - Ouija board! Oh yeah!” Tucker cheered. “Now we’re getting somewhere.”

“Oh I love these,” Sam agreed. Danny’s brow furrowed as he looked at the screen. Why were they acting so happy - didn’t they forget there was a ghost in this room with them?

“Hang on, let Danny try the Ouija board,” Tucker suggested. “You know, because he’s never seen it before.”

“Ooh good idea,” Sam agreed. Danny walked over to where they were and saw Sam’s avatar set down a light brown board.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sus about your motives right now,” Danny said. He had a bad feeling about this...

“No Danny, it’s fine. These are actually pretty cool in this game,” Sam assured him. She quickly explained how the Ouija boards worked in the game and what questions to ask, and against his better judgment, he walked over and activated the board. The numbers and letters glowed orange against the light color of the wood.

He decided to start with something easy, so he swallowed and forced his voice to come out clear. “How old are you?” He jumped in his chair and his avatar backed up quickly as the planchette moved across the letters.

“Y - O - U - N - G,” Tucker read. “A young ghost.”

“Oh God, I hope that doesn’t mean it’s the crawling baby ghost,” Sam sighed. “I really hate that one.”

“Ask it something else,” Tucker encouraged.

“I don’t know,” Danny hedged. For some reason the Ouija board set him on edge. Something deep in his gut did not like this. Even if it wasn’t real and he kept telling himself it wasn’t real, he didn’t like it.

“No dude, it’s okay,” he assured him. “You can ask two questions before a significant sanity drop. Just ask it one more and you can go back to the truck.”

He very much wanted to go back to the truck. He just needed a chance to regroup. He was a ghost and fought ghosts for a living and he could not understand why this game unnerved him so much. But Danny Phantom wasn’t scared of ghosts, any kind of ghosts, and he wasn’t about to show it on a video game. “Fine,” he groaned as he picked up the board again. “Who died?”

This time he knew what to expect, and didn’t jump as much as the planchette started moving. First to the D, then to the A. Over to the N, then looping back to the N. It ended on a Y.

All three of them stopped moving. The silence became even more deafening around them. Danny dropped the Ouija board and backed up as far as the game would let him. He felt a cold sweat drip down his back. Danny. It spelled Danny. How did it know his name?

“...That has got to be a coincidence,” Sam finally said after the silence that seemed to stretch on forever.

“The ghost’s name must be Danny,” Tucker suggested, voice full of forced bravado.

“...No it’s Thomas,” Sam said slowly. “It must just be reading your username to scare you,” she decided.

“No my...my username is GhostBoy,” Danny reminded them, finally feeling like he could speak.

“Is this game actually haunted? Danny, what did you do?” Tucker accused, voice bordering on hysterics.

“What? I didn’t do anything!” Danny yelled back. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest. He put a hand up to feel his breath - still normal temperature. He looked around his room. There wasn’t a ghost here. But how did it know his name? And that he did almost die in a basement? “You’re the one that told me to use it!”

“Okay, let’s just calm down,” Sam interrupted. “It’s gotta be a coincidence. Let me try it and see if it says the same thing or gives me my name. It could be a new update that checks the name on the Steam account or something.”

Sam moved closer to the board, but before she could touch it all their flashlights flickered.

“Shit!” Tucker yelled.

“Run!” Sam cried in a panic.

Danny followed them up the stairs to the main level. The idea of running from a ghost, not fighting it, was so foreign to him, but he had no choice. He was powerless here. No ghost powers, no weapons, no thermos. He was completely helpless against this ghost.

He bolted for the garage, the one other room he knew how to get to. Sam’s avatar was running next to him. He could hear footsteps behind him and he swore as he ran towards the garage. Sam diverted into another room, but he continued into the garage. He found a locker he’d opened before and rushed into it. He barely remembered to turn off his flashlight and he waited. Seconds passed and he realized he was holding his breath. No...not holding his breath. Not breathing. He looked down at his hands and saw the glowing white gloves. When...when did he change into his ghost form?

Sam’s voice over the walkie startled him. “What the--? Oh my G--” The walkie feed cut to static and then nothing.

“I...I think it got Sam,” Tucker’s voice said over the walkie. Danny turned on his flashlight and saw that it was no longer blinking. He threw his head back in relief. The hunt was over. He climbed back out of his locker, keeping the door open again just in case.

“Dude, she was running right next to me. It must have followed her instead of me,” Danny told him. “Ugh, well what are we going to do now? She’s the only one who knew what she was doing!”

“Wait, I thought you would be a pro because you’re a ‘professional ghost hunter’ - isn’t that what you kept saying?” Tucker teased.

“Yeah, well I lied! This is nothing like ghost hunting!” he argued as he walked out of the garage. He was going back to the trailer. “Real ghost hunters would bring some kind of weapon and wouldn’t just run around helpless! We should just call it.”

“What? No! We’ve got two more pieces of evidence to collect. And we haven’t done any of the objectives! Tucker retorted.

“Fine!” he snapped as he walked down the main hallway. “if you want to keep looking for clues you can, but I’m going back to the trailer to check--”

The front door slammed shut. His flashlight blinked again.

“Shit!” Tucker cried.

Danny could hear the footsteps behind him. He could feel a heart thumping in his headset. He started running off to a room but stopped. No, he was not running again. He was going to stare this ghost down and prove that Danny Phantom was not scared of some ghost. His image struck fear in the hearts of ghosts and his name carried respect in the Ghost Zone. He was not going to let some video game ghost get the better of him and spook him with some Ouija board trick.

He turned around to face it, camera at the ready. If he was going down, he was getting a picture of it. The ghost blinked in the hallway and Danny saw the cause of his anxiety for the first time. The ghost floated down the hallway, with white hair and a black and white jumpsuit. It...it was him. The ghost was Phantom.

He completely forgot to take a picture as his own image rushed at him. He saw two gloved hands cover over the screen and then everything went dark. He heard the crash of breaking glass, saw a strange underground cavern for a second, and then he was back in a foggy blue version of the house.

The ghost of Sam’s avatar approached him, and he heard her laughing over the headset. It sounded like she’d been laughing for awhile. “Oh my god Danny, did you see the ghost?” she asked between laughs.

“It...that was...oh my God,” he groaned. It all made sense. Spelling Danny was likely an Easter egg, a cute nod to his name of Danny Phantom. The fact that it happened in the basement was just a coincidence, because it’s a creepy spot and a commonly haunted area. He hadn’t summoned anything. He wasn’t being targeted by some ghost in the computer. It was just an Easter egg paying homage to him.

Suddenly all the stress left him and he laughed. God, it felt so good to laugh after all that panic. This game had gotten him so worked up and over what? Over a ghost that looked like himself? Suddenly it all seemed so silly that it scared him that much. He had felt actual dread and fear, enough to trigger an unconscious transformation out of a need to protect himself, but there weren’t actually any real consequences. Now he just got to walk around unhindered in this ghostly version of the house, but nothing else actually happened.

Sam laughed along with Danny. “So you did see it then?”

“It was...oh my god Sam it was me! It looked just like me!”

“I know!” she exclaimed. “As soon as I saw it I forgot to keep running and stared. So of course it killed me. I did get a picture though,” she bragged.

“Oh man. I meant to, but I was just too stunned.” Now that he felt much better, he decided to wander around the house following Tucker who, for some reason, was still trying to finish the level on his own.

Sam suspiciously stopped her laughing. “Wait...Danny, your voice sounds weird. Are you...are you in your ghost form?”

Danny bit his lip as a slight blush graced his cheeks. “I don’t want to hear it.” But the telltale whoosh of the glowing rings turning him back to his human form seemed to be all the confirmation she needed. Except, he didn’t hear her laugh.

“...Danny, I wanted to apologize,” she said, and that made Danny stop moving and look quizzically at the screen.

“What? Apologize for what?” he asked.

“For goading you into playing this game,” she clarified, her voice surprisingly serious. “While I’ve been hanging out here in the spirit world, I realized why this game set you off so much.”

“What do you mean? I never said it set me off,” Danny defended. How could she possibly know that? He thought he was playing it pretty cool.

“Oh please,” she scoffed. “You’re in your ghost form and you were panicking after the Ouija board thing.”

“Hey you would panic too if--”

“Danny I’m trying to say that I get it,” she interrupted. “Being near a ghost without your powers? Without any weapons? Being powerless? It’s one of your biggest nightmares, that your powers will fail when you need them. And this game, it’s too close to home.”

Danny stopped moving and stared at the screen, because she was absolutely right. This was too close to home. How many times did he have to check to make sure his ghost sense wasn’t actually going off? How many times did he keep thinking about how similar everything felt to his own experiences? How unnerved he was about a ghost in the basement? It was too similar to his real life...except he had the tools he needed in his real life. Not a flashlight and some dumb spirit book, but actual real tools and powers and weapons, but here they were all taken away from him. Everything he relied on to fight ghosts had been stripped from him in the game and trapped him helpless in a house with his friends. Of course that bothered him. It was, as Sam said, one of his more recurring nightmares.

“...Yeah I think I’m good never playing this game again,” Danny admitted, the closest he planned to get to acknowledging everything she said was true.

“Honestly? I don’t blame you,” Sam agreed softly. “I think it’s easier for us because we’re used to this role: when there’s a ghost in the area, we help figure out what’s going on and support you. It’s not all that different from this game,” she explained. Her ghostly avatar followed Tucker out of the house and he followed after them. “But when you’re used to doing the fighting and defending and can’t...I guess it’s probably harder to separate yourself from the game.”

He reached behind him and rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah,” he sighed. As much as he hated to admit it, she was right. It was too similar to his daily life, and as he tried to argue at the beginning, he didn’t need to hunt fake ghosts poorly when he knew how to fight real ghosts well. “You know you sound like Jazz,” he pointed out, trying to lighten the mood and change the subject.

“Wow, you’re going to insult me after I tried to help you?” Sam scoffed. “See if I ever help you again!”

Danny smiled at the screen, glad to be back to the teasing. He definitely felt more relaxed and more like himself. “Oh look, Tucker’s finally calling it quits,” Danny observed as Tucker closed the door to the trailer.

“God, I can’t wait to find out if he saw you.” He could hear her grinning through the headset and honestly he felt the same. Out of all of them, Tucker would be the most excited about this addition.

The screen changed over to the menu screen, showing all their accomplished objectives. It also meant that all three party members could talk to each other again. “I can’t believe you left me!” Tucker complained. “It’s even worse when you’re in there on your own! Do you know how much more evidence we needed to collect? Um, a ton!”

Sam laughed, and Danny had to join in. “Okay so we are sorry about that, but Tucker did you ever see the ghost?”

“No, which is probably why I’m the only one that survived!” he complained.

“Oh my god Sam, he didn’t see it,” Danny groaned.

“Oh my god.”

“No wait, didn’t see what?” Tucker asked. His voice had calmed down a bit and was colored with curiosity.

“Tucker...the ghost was Danny,” Sam told him.

“Uh no, we clarified his name was Thomas,” Tucker corrected.

Sam and Danny both groaned. “No Tucker, the ghost was Danny Phantom. It was skinned to look like Phantom,” she clarified.

Tucker’s line sat silent for a long time before he finally exploded in a shower of shock, excitement, and regret. “NO WAY! No! That is so cool! I mean I knew the developers were fans, but this is so cool! Like literally the best tribute ever. Oh my god I can’t believe I missed it! No!” he cried. He was so loud into the microphone that Danny had a hard time believing Tucker didn’t wake his parents.

“It’s why both of us died,” Danny explained. “We were just too shocked seeing it.”

“We’re going back in. I need to see this,” Tucker demanded.

Danny bit his lip. He was not going back in. He meant it when he said he was done. He almost had his explanation on his lips before Sam spoke up first. “I doubt it’ll show up two times in a row. I Googled it and the skin will be here for the whole month of Halloween as a random draw, so you’ve got time to see it. But if you want to try again tonight, I’ll keep playing if you want. Danny...he needs to get some sleep.”

“What? No, it's so much easier with three people. Come on Danny,” Tucker pleaded.

“Nah, Sam’s right, I should go to bed. Gotta be rested for those real ghosts tomorrow,” Danny chuckled. “Besides, being killed by my own image was a little weird.” And also a little too close to home, considering some of his memories of Dan.

“Yeah, this game isn’t Danny’s jam,” Sam explained simply. He had a feeling Sam would talk to Tucker more about what they discussed while their avatars were dead, and honestly he didn’t mind. He didn’t want to keep secrets from Tucker, he just really didn’t want to talk about it any more tonight.

Tucker sighed. “Alright, fine, you’re off the hook. At least you gave it a try though.”

“I did, and you’re both gonna owe me one for doing it too,” Danny reminded them.

“Dude, pretty sure you’re in the negatives when it comes to IOUs from us,” Tucker pointed out with a good-natured laugh. “Testing out inventions, excuses at school, doing your homework, remembering the thermos when you forget it, distracting your parents…”

“Okay okay, I get it,” Danny groaned as he left the screen and exited out of the game. “Well fine, then I’m less in the negative now. And on that happy subject, I’m going to bed. Good night guys.”

“Good night Danny,” Sam replied. “We’ll see you tomorrow.”

Danny almost hung up on their private Discord server when he heard Tucker speak up. “Hey Danny, wait.”

“What?” he asked curiously, his mouse still hovering over the disconnect sign.

“The type of ghost...was a Phantom.”

I’ve never cross-posted on tumblr before, so this will be a first! I hope you enjoy!

[kagedaddy]

I'm not sure about the rule so can you do inarizaki with a model and streamer s/o? 💖

streamer / model - miya twins, suna & kita

warnings: none

miya atsumu

miya osamu

sun rintarou

kita shinsuke [masterlist]

hey hey, thanks for the request, no worries i don’t have rules for asks! hehe i think this scenario is cute, hope yah enjoy it! asks and dms are open for requests.

model

“Ready up angels!”the stage manager calls your attention, you were nervous and excited, tonight you were given the honour to open for the show, so you were going to be walking down the runway first. The make up team quickly does the last touches on your make up and the stage manager fixes the lingerie and giant (colour) wings on your back. You were ushered to the landing area, waiting for the artist and the music to play. 

“Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome (favourite artist).” 

“Stand by first model, (first name).”the stage manager tells you and you nod your head, the intro of (favoruite song) starts playing and the stage manager cues you in. You make your entrance and the crowd goes wild, you strut down the runaway, looking out into the crowd and the unmistakable faux blonde hair of your boyfriend catches your attention, you meet his eyes and decided to sway your hips seductively a little a lot to the song. You see him bit his lip and it gives you a newfound energy on the runway, as you approach the artist they offer you their hand, twirling you around giving the wings on your back a fluttering effect.

 As you arrive back in the landing you’re quickly pushed to the dressing room for a change of outfit and in minutes you’re out again, after a few more quick changes you are strutting one last time in the runaway, you wave and blow kisses to the audience, finding your blonde lover again and sending him an all too suggestive wink before giving a final pose. Once you’re all backstage, you and all the girls cheer at the success of the show, snapping pictures and all heading to the after party lounge. 

Picking up your phone to message Atsumu but thick toned arms snake around your waist and you’re greeted by the familiar cologne of your boyfriend, “You looked really good, babe.”you turn in his arms, wrapping your own around his neck, pulling each other closer and giving him the kisses you both longed for. “Thanks Tsumu, I wanted to give you a show.”he growls at your words and you pull away, “Or maybe to your friends, kidding.”you tease your blonde lover, pressing hot kisses to his neck. 

“Fuck babe, you were so hot. I’m glad I get to take you home.”

streamer

“Hi hi! Welcome to my stream, its (username) here!”

“I know it’s a little bit different today, we’re not gaming but we’re cooking with my partner and a Q & A!”you wave at the laptop you had set up for the stream session today, Osamu awkwardly waves at your stream, he was too cute, you talk about your plans bringing back the attention to yourself. “So babe what are we making for the stream?”you quickly fix the webcam so it would have a good view of the kitchen, “I’m not sure, what does your chat want.”he juts his thumb to your screen and your chat starts spamming all their suggestions.

‘[(random username) donated ¥ 10,000] It’s my birthday today, how about a cake?’

A donation notification sounded, the robotic voice of your text-to-speak read off the donation, “Ohh Happy happy birthday (random username), nee Osamu can we make a cake?”you clap your hands, singing the happy birthday song for your fan, “We can most definitely bake a cake.”he prepares the ingredients and you cheer as more of your fans begin chatting their favourite flavours and decorations the cake should have.  Osamu mixes the batter and you stand beside him, he wants you to be his assistant and look pretty, while he does that, you begin to read out questions for you both to answer.

‘Osamu-san, is (first name) a good cook, what food has she cooked for you?’

You read out the first question, Osamu thinks about it for awhile before answering, “She isn’t a good cook, she cooked me some pancakes but half of it was burnt.”your face turns red in embarrassment and you smack your grey haired boyfriend, “So mean Samu, I thought you love me.”pouting at your partner and playfully crossing your arms. “I do babe but you really stink at cooking.”he presses a kiss to your forehead, deeping the blush of your cheeks.

“Okay next question!” 

You answered as much questions as you guys could and the next thing you knew that cake was baked and cooled, ready for you to design it. You take the offset spatula and began smearing the icing on the cake, throwing in a couple sprinkles and writing illegible words on the cake. You stare at the monstrosity you designed, the cake was baked well credits to your lovely chef of a boyfriend but you were not skilled enough to do the pipping and the adding of sprinkles, “Good job, looks good babe.”Osamu presses a kiss to your forehead as you finished up the design, you knew he was being nice so you just accepted the affection, you both lifted the cake for your viewers to see. 

“Well, I think it kinda turned out okay.”

streamer

You stifle a yawn as you stretch out your limbs, glancing over your clock it was 3:30 am you’ve been streaming for about four hours now. You were on a winning streak in Call of Duty and didn’t want to stop, your snipes were on fire today. “Babe come on, let’s head to bed. It’s late and you’re literally about to fall asleep.”the voice of your boyfriend draws your attention, “just one more game Shin.”smiling sleepily at the salt and pepper haired male, he pats your head and you lean up close enjoying his warm touch. ‘Aww you guys are the cutest’your chat goes wild, spamming it with hearts and you giggle at your chat but one message catches your attention, it read.

‘(username) get your boyfriend to play’

“Good idea chat!”your eyes light up, “Shin look, they want you to play!”you point at your screen, he turns to the monitor eyes following the chat, “Are you sure I’m not that good.”he rubs the back of his head unsure, “It’s okay, it’s all for fun!”you roll you chair to the side to give him some space but he stops you, instead he gestures for you to get up. Confused you follow anyways, Kita settles in your chair and he pats his lap, “come sit babe.”he pulls your body towards him until you’re sitting quite comfortably on his lap, “Will I get in trouble for this chat?”you laugh as you snuggle into you boyfriend’s warmth, shifting the headphones over to his head and quickly going over the controls with him. You set him up in a lobby and letting him pick whatever skin he prefers. Once he got it done, he was doing great, you were yelling at him on what to do and he panics, causing your chat to go crazy from they way you both interacted.

‘You are my parents, you guys are too cute.’

Your focus shifts to Kita, face morphed into concentration as he did his best in the game, he was so cute. He was able to kill a few players and survived the gulag, it was a funny sight to see. Your eyes become heavy, a small yawn leaving your lips, your eyes droop close and you lean closer into Kita but before you could completely drift off he wraps you up in his arms. 

“Guys, I think I’ll end the stream here. It seems like she’s fallen asleep.”

model

Standing at the gate of Inarizaki high, you were lost, you were from a different school, “Ano, excuse me do you know where the volleyball club is?”you tap the nearest male’s shoulder to get his attention, he had blonde hair and wearing what you assume to be the volleyball club uniform. “You! You’re (last name)! You’re really pretty in person”his eyes widens in realisation, jaw hanging open as it dawns on him the model he’s seen on several magazine covers stands before him. “Shh!”you politely smile at the male, holding up your finger to your lips, he nods his head smiling widely. “I’m heading there, I can definitely take you!”he says a little bit excitedly and you can’t help but laugh at the male, “Thank you thank you.”you slightly bow to the male before following him to the direction of the gym.

“I’m Miya Atsumu by the way. Why are yah headin to the gym?”he introduces himself side glancing at you. “Well you already know me but I’m here to see someone.”walking up to the gym you can clearly hear the loud squeaking of shoes running across the court, you couldn’t help the nervous smile to show on your face. You wanted to surprise your boyfriend, he didn’t know you were in the area for a photo shoot so you wanted to visit him. You both walk in the gym, all the boys were busy warming up so they don’t notice, you wave off the blonde telling him to hush about your presence and walk off to the side sitting at one of the many benches. You watched interest as they played a practice match, you’ve never seen Suna play and man were you more attracted to the man, you were practically drooling as he flexed his muscles to block spikes. The coached called for a break and the boys all went to the benches near where you sat, as soon was Suna walks up, he meets your eyes.

“(first name) you’re here?”his eyes widens at the sight of you, “Surprise!”a smile forms on his lips, his sleepy demeanor changing into a more energetic one, “Do you know her?”Atsumu looks between you and Suna bewildered, “How do you know her, she’s like a big time model!”your boyfriend nods his head. “She’s my girlfriend.”the whole gym goes quiet staring wide eyed at their middle blocker, Suna takes this opportunity to go to sit beside you. Taking the towel from his hand, you wipe of his sweat before leaving a small peck on his cheek, “How do you have a girlfriend before me yah sleepy bastard.”Atsumu grumbles earning a laugh from you, “Aren’t your teammates such sweethearts.”you giggle at the scene, you did rounds of introductions and answer their questions about the both of you until they had to get back to practice.

The boys finished up and you waited for Suna by the gym doors, as soon as he stepped out the door you jumped into his arms, catching you without any problems, you wrap your legs around his waist so he’s carrying you. “I missed you.”finally pressing your lips against his, you sigh in happiness, “I missed you, too babe. But why didn’t you tell me you were coming, I could’ve skipped practice today or even class.”he snuggles closer to you but you just shook your head, “I wanted to surprise you, I was in the area for a photo shoot.”you kiss the tip of his nose, his face breaks out into a smile and connects your lips again. “You were so sexy when you played, you’re so good Rin.”you drop your head to whisper in the dark haired male’s ear, licking a stripe down to his jaw and his breathing hitches.

“Let’s go ‘cuddle’ in my bed.”

//

herro herro! the late valentines special will continue tomorrow click here to see it in [masterlist] under gala days, also added the other members for this request. hope yah guys enjoyed it, i not sure if it’s good, i’ve been super stressed lately some shit came up about my ex and the old apartment we use to live in. anyways leave a like and comment if you liked it! have a great one, jaa ne!

all the love xx

[mxvladdy]

I can't stress enough 'wows' in tve way you write along with the fact that it's you first few posts (i think? Pls correct me) can you do luci mammon and satan with a reader who takes naps bc of overthinking? They just tug their sleeves and shot them a tired look, while looking down shying away. Also, have a nice day and take the time to be yourself!

Aw thanks fam! I am fairly new to posting my works, I tried twice before this with two different writing blogs but I deleted them both bc I felt discouraged. I’m older now and I feel a lot better about my writing, so third time the charm and all that lol! I’m so glad you like my writing! I know I need some work on grammar and expanding my vocabulary.  

This was a super cute prompt ;.; I hope I did it justice!

Lucifer

He is a mix of jealous and pissed. He wishes he could fall asleep so easily when he gets inundated with too many things at once. But also- just don’t do that? Where were your manners?

He starts noticing your little peculiarity in class. Specifically that you tend to nod off in advance alchemy and rune scripting. You were being so studious, jotting down notes, ask great questions. Next thing he knows you're out like a light.

He is shocked for a moment before he will wake you up. Your wide doe-eyed frown does nothing to him. JK his hearts clench at your wounded look.

He makes the other brothers report to him about your behavior and odd sleep habit. Were you ill? Was this just something humans did? Devils, was Belphie rubbing off on you?

They all say the same thing. One moment you are working hard or talking to them about a topic you are passionate about, and the next you are yawning hard enough to pop your jaw and shyly asking to lay down.

Well-he can’t have that.

If you are going to fall asleep around anyone it’s going to be him.

He sets up remedial lessons with you after dinner to make up for the work slept through. You sit by him at his long ornate desk while he tutors you on what you missed.

You weren't having any problems,  you even finished a few pages. He is proud and then-

“I can almost hear those gears slowing my dear.” Lucifer interrupts himself mid-explanation of Zosimos of Panopolis and Maria the Prophetess's theories of alchemy in human medicine.

You jerk awake and turn to him blinking owlishly. "Yeah, I just need to lay down." You admit.

Lucifer eyes you critically. This was sudden, were you ill? You had been fine moments ago, bright-eyed and enthusiastic. He cups your face, turning it from side to side. "So suddenly? We haven't even discussed the properties of mercury yet." You hum letting your eyes droop. He was always so warm.

"Hour nap break? Please?" His stern gaze softens at how your nose scrunches up cutely as you yawn.

“Very well.” He relents letting you slick over to his couch. You flop over face first with a grunt of satisfaction. You toss and turn for a while, moving his pillows around unsatisfied.

“Luci-” You call in defeat. He ignores you at first. If you wanted to nap fine, he would get some work done in the meantime. “Luci~” You say again. You could see his brow twitching. “Lu-”

“My dear,” He shoots you a withering look. “You are treading a thin line. If you have the energy to call for me you have the energy to study.” You say nothing at his brisk tone, instead of opening your arms to him to join you. “You tempt me.” He purrs hiding his smile behind his paperwork.

“Learned from the best.” Lucifer shakes his head laughing at your smug reply. He glances over you to his grandfather clock. Hmmm-perhaps he could spare a few minutes. He rises elegantly discarding his tie and waistcoat to his abandoned chair. Running a hand through his hair he snorts at your little whistle.

“Move.” He commands. You shake your head patting your belly. “I will crush you.” He laughs but lays over you regardless.

“Good-you’re warm.” You say muffled in his shirt. Wrapping your arms around his middle you drift off. Lucifer holds you close, running a still gloved hand up and down your side. Perhaps he should bring out some more complex topics next time. If this was the outcome-

Mammon

He noticed you get drowsy before in class. Your cute little head jerks as you nod off, hands rubbing at your face as you fight to stay awake before giving in to the need to sleep. It was adorable- not that he was watching you because of that! He was just doing his job of looking out for you

Ye-that was all.

Honestly, he thought you were just like him. He never cared for the books being forced on him in class. Boring useless crap in his opinion. He much rather sleep through a lecture on stats too.

Now books on photography? That's where it's at. He has a legitimate passion for it.

He likes being behind the camera just as much as he likes being in front of it. Though he doesn't snap photos often.

He doesn't need more beratement from his brothers than he already gets. Sides, he just feels like they would look down at this like everything else he does.

He'll share his hobby with you though. You at least seem interested in it. He'll show you his collection of vintage to high-tech cameras and talk your ear off about the makes, models, and features.

You nod along and ask questions from time to time, smiling along with Mammon while he prattles on about color theory next to you on the floor.

He was just getting to Auguste Lumiére when he feels a gentle bump on his shoulder.

"O-oi!" Mammon starts, shaking his shoulder to rouse you. You look up at him, blinking the sleep from your eyes. "Was...was I that boring?" He deflates a little, all previous excitement gone in a flash. You had seemed so interested...

"What? Oh, no. No Mammon I'm sorry. It's really all fascinating," You grab for his sleeve so he couldn't run away. "It was just a lot of information all at once. I just got a bit overwhelmed."

"So you fall asleep?" He raises a brow not believing you for a second. Who falls asleep when something is interesting? He'll admit he's fallen asleep while listening to Levi talk about a new anime or Asmo with a make-up release.  But that's because it had been boring. "Is that like a human thing?"

You shrug snuggling closer. "I don't know- but it's a me thing. Give me five? I'd love to hear you talk more about your collection, promise."

Mammon glows scarlet at your words. "Of course you do!" He puffs out his chest excitedly. “I got great taste.” You nod into his shirt before drifting off again. He tilts his head slightly to look at you chuckling internally when your breathing and heartbeat slow down. Damn, out in seconds. Well, better get comfortable.

Uncrossing his long legs he picks up the camera he had been showing you. The old Polaroid lens reflects his face back at him. He remembered the day Land had debuted this marvel of engineering. He just had had to get his hands on one. It was useless now, he had much better quality cameras than this old thing, but he remembered you reminiscing about your human friends and their portable camera. Would you take some pictures with him too? He would take one now, but the sound of the flash would definitely wake you up.

He fiddles with it for a few more minutes, opening and closing the film canister and checking for any parts that needed fixing as he waits. You stir at his side a few minutes later with a little mew of satisfaction. Mammon hears your joints creak and pop as you stretch. "Morning." He says sarcastically, earning himself a light punch to his shoulder. "Ready to continue?"

You nod eagerly, perky and aware. At least for the moment.

Satan

He didn't really notice at first the pattern of your behavior.

You would come over for book club. Which was really just him reading his current novel and you picking something at random to gain a little random knowledge.

You would find a comfortable position on his bed, curl up nice and small and read. Then after a bit yawn and start to snooze.

He first thought it was the atmosphere of his room. It was quiet, warm, and the sound of flickering candles and the rustle of paper sometimes caused him to doze too.

But when it starts happening outside of class he notices.

Hmmm….this is new.

He looks it up in his human anatomy books and finds nothing.

He's not particularly worried about you per se. You always bounce back quickly after a quick snooze.

Then you start dozing when he is talking… >:(

Like his brother/dad he is a little miffed at first but then your behavior reminds him a cat and he loves you 10x harder now

Satan stops in his pacing of the back gardens. His book of poetry hanging limply in his hand. He had been reciting some of the most fascinating lines of work from Lord Byron's later works and wanted a human's perspective. He had thought you were interested. You never complained before when he asked you out here. Perhaps you were just being polite all those times before. Anything to soothe wrath. He snaps his book shut sharply, take some perverse satisfaction in the way you start out of your light sleep at the noise.

"Why'd you stop?" You ask wiping at your face.

"No point talking to someone that doesn't wish to listen." He snaps tersely.

"Oh-Satan, no I was listening. It...it just got to be so much so fast." You flush. “You had some great points going, I just needed a minute.” He watches your eyes grow heavy again, and it dawns on him.

"Do you just sleep when overwhelmed?" He asks incredulously. In all his years with humans, this was new. You shrug making grabby hands for him to move closer. He scoffs but moves into your space. You grab at the hem of his shirt and pull him down to sit next to you. He goes willingly getting comfortable by your side. You eye his lap longingly, hands clutching around his coat sleeve. “Fine-” He rolls his eyes. “Come here you odd thing.” You smile in triumph and crawl into his lap. Once settled you nuzzle into his warm chest.

“Wake me up in ten? I want to hear more about your conversations with Byron.”

“I’ll hold you to it.” He kisses the top of your forehead, opening his book to read again with one hand. You hum at his soft kiss, returning it sleepily with one of your own before passing out again. Ten minutes go by in an instant and Satan looks down at your peaceful face. He smiles to himself, perhaps he’ll let you sleep for a little while longer. You’d need it for his next point.  

[im-a-mint]

Would You Like to Meet him Again?

Bruise fic based on this post by @superstar-rockin-jay

*pls forgive my English and portray of the characters 1.- English is not my first language and 2.- this is my first fanfic*

............................

A sharp gasp for air would slightly echo across the once shared bedroom of two ninja. The elemental master of earth was shaky, sweaty, and panting, clearly having been woken up by a nightmares of sorts. The room was suddenly feeling heavy and hot, as his eyes eventually got accustomed to the dark and it finally was able to see everything more clearly.

How long had it been since they had escaped Prime Empire? Honestly, he had no clue. After the disappointing discovery that Jay didn't come back with them became present, it honestly had felt too...lonely, too silent to be more specific. And God, was it heart crushing for his loved ones? Of course it was. Nya had surprisingly coped with the loss pretty well, isolating herself in work from time to time to forget about it.

Cole... hadn't. He hadn't been able to get over it. And who can blame him?

He had been friends with Jay for as long as he can remember. Jay had been the one to arrive right after him, making him feel not so lonely while being trained by Wu. Jay had been the one to be there for him at any time. Jay had been there to play videogames with him when no one else would. Of course they would be extremely close, close to a point where it almost felt it was them both who were meant to be.

"What time was it, again?" He asked gently to himself. Lucky him that before Jay went missing, they had set the dorms differently. At least now Cole wouldn't need to worry about waking anyone up.

3:00 AM. Great. The perfect time for the horrible feelings that a great loss caused to kick in. Why did he need to have a photo of him and Jay both hanging out right next to the alarm clock, again? He didn't remember his reasoning behind that, yet that didn't stop him from taking the framed picture and admire it silently.

It was just a picture from about 2 years ago. It was of him and Jay at a karaoke. They used to go to those places whenever they felt like having fun. Both Cole and Jay were happily singing, as if they were no preoccupations in life. As if nothing would go wrong. As if they were just two young adults having the time of their lives.

Cole sighed, putting it away and trying to go to sleep once again before remembering something he even nagged himself about not remembering sooner.

Jay hadn't disappeared in the electric hands of any arcade machine that was once affected by Prime Empire. Jay had disappeared in the hands of the source. In the hands of that disheveled, old machine with the original code of Prime Empire.

Maybe he was still there.

Maybe there was a chance to bring him back.

"No, don't give yourself hope, Cole. Don't." He whispered to himself, trying to force himself to sleep yet the thought, the single thought of having Jay back. Of hugging him and, hell, maybe even kissing him close out of having merely missed him for so, so long.

But...he gave in.

Before he could even manage to realize it, there he was. Right infront of the machine with the mother card in hand. When did he get there? No- How did he get there? Wasn't the machine, well, kept in extra security.

It was. It clearly was as it was kept in a case of clearstone and could only be opened if a password was introduced. But the number pad was smashed completely, somehow it managing to unlock the case.

The moment Cole opened it, there was no turning back. As the door that once let him inside the room locked itself up with ultra security. Borg truly thought this through about how to hide something as dangerous as the original Prime Empire machine.

The earth ninja was hesitant at first, should he really do this? Put everyone in danger only for the chance to have Jay back? But well, it's not like he can go back now that he's trapped in the same room with the machine that took his best friend away.

As he plugged the machine in and placed the mother card where it should go, he pressed the button gently.

And nothing. Nothing happened. The utter nothing happened.

Cole sighed, kicking the ground before sitting down against the machine and feeling his eyes flood with tears. Tears of impotence. Tears of lost.

But then...

"Would you like to enter Prime Empire?"

That robotic voice. That stupid robotic voice suddenly awoke happiness and hope in him. He would be back, he would finally, finally be back!

Without a moment to lose, heck without even customizing his character to anything other than a generic skin of himself, Cole began restlessly playing the game. Click, click, click. Tunes and announces every time he beated a level. Eventually, level 13 arrived. The level of which you could enter Prime Empire. And honestly, Cole was nervous. After escaping, he wouldn't believe anyone who told him you could still enter that hellhole.

But eventually, he decided to continue, and instead of the machine opening to reveal it's inside, the screen. That godforsaken screen went red. This didn't startle him though, because it made him feel...safe. The butterflies that bloomed into his stomach everytime he saw Jay blooming once again.

Cole gently placed his hand on the screen, something inside him was telling him to.

"J..Jay?"

Unexpectedly, he felt another hand hold his, making him yelp and jump back because of fear as the image of a guy, clearly resembling Jay, began coming out of the screen. It was him. It was finally him.

"Long-time since we've last seen eachother, huh?"

"Jay you idiot!" The sheer happiness of having his friend back appeared almost instantly, jumping towards Jay and tackling him with a hug, not realizing he had pushed them both back inside the machine.

He didn't care now. He didn't care about anything. Ninjago, Zane, Kai, Nya, Lloyd, Wu, they were all gone now. All that mattered was having Jay back. All that mattered was finally being able to hug him, to hear his voice again, to even kiss him.

They were back in Prime Empire. Which was surprisingly still there. And they decided to just...spend a normal life in that virtual world now, just like they had once dreamed.

Forever 20. Forever together. Forever going to karaokes late at night and singing songs together. Forever cuddling with one another. Forever running through fields of flowers and making flower crowns of once another.

Who cares if Ninjago is now destroyed and taken over by chaos and havoc? They now had eachother, that was all that matters.

............................

NA: I am so sorry for how short this is, but i hope you guys like it. Mwah mwah i love you all.

[bnhasimpgirltm]

Why Is It That You Only Ever Hurt Me? (Part 2)

Parings: Bakugo x Reader (Past), Yo Shindo x Reader (Present)

Warnings: none

Type: Oneshot

Genre: angst? (this hurt my heart to write)

A/N: I had to use Yo Shindo for this because Bakugo DESPISES this guy. It might have been a bit much to do the entire song, but I didn’t want to remove anything because I really like how well this songs fits. I just didn’t write this very well, and it feels a little repetitive, but I think that’s what adds to it. Let me know what you think, and as always, Enjoy!

Song: “Heavy”- Linkin Park ft. Kiiara (2017)

note: the last lyric line “If I just let go I’ll be set free” was added by me so I could tie the story together nicely. It isn’t actually sung at the end in the song. I cried while writing this oh crap.

Read Part 1 HERE

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

I don't like my mind right now

Ever since you broke up with him, Bakugo had been miserable. He couldn’t think, he couldn’t function. The only thing he could do was train. He had lost you and he couldn’t get you back.

Stacking up problems that are so unnecessary

He still loved you, and you didn’t love him back anymore. One sided love creates all sorts of problems. So many problems piled up.

Wish that I could slow things down

He wishes that he could take back what he said. He wishes that he didn’t speak so impulsively, that he slowed down and though about his words before they left his mouth. But he couldn’t turn back the clock, so the only thing he could do was let go.

I wanna let go but there's comfort in the panic

He wanted to let you go, but he couldn’t. He wanted to hold onto you for as long as possible, and every waking moment that he wasn’t training, Bakugo as looking through your social media.

And I drive myself crazy

You had removed all of the pictures of the two of you together after the break up. He missed seeing his tag on your photos. He missed being able to retrace your entire relationship just from your social media page. He missed you.

Thinking everything's about me

Bakugo still had all of the pictures with you on his pages. He knew that if he archived them it meant that you were really gone forever. He didn’t want to think that it was all over, even if deep down he knew the truth. He wanted to hold onto these last threads of your broken relationship. Bakugo knew he had to let go, so he tapped on one of his posts with you in it.

Yeah, I drive myself crazy

He knew you were gone, but he couldn’t do it. Bakugo couldn’t wipe you from his life, so he exited Instagram and opened messages. His finger hovered over your name. He wanted to text you and tell you how much he missed you, how much he loves you.

'Cause I can't escape the gravity

He couldnt escape you. Everywhere he went he saw you. Even if you weren’t really there, to him, every place you went together had a small piece of you. 

I'm holding on

When he saw you for real the first time after the breakup, he thought it was his imagination running wild again. That was until you looked at him. Imaginary you never did that. Bakugo knew that it was really you. He thought that you had finally given up running from him, and that maybe he could move on because you had too.

Why is everything so heavy?

But he couldn’t, because when he saw you, his heart ached so much that it felt like it was physically hurting. It felt like a weight heavier than anything he had ever lifted was placed on his back. He knew that he couldn’t let go. He couldn’t set himself free just yet.

Holding on

He couldn’t let you go. It had been months since the breakup, and he still couldn’t let you go. He still held onto the hope that you still loved him as much as he still loved you.

So much more than I can carry

He wanted to go and apologize to you, to take the weight off of his back, to end it for real. To tell you that he was sorry for everything, and that he wouldn’t bother you anymore. 

I keep dragging around what's bringing me down

But he couldn’t. Bakugo couldn’t bring himself to go and talk to you. Not after everything he did. So he let the weight sit on his back.

If I just let go, I'd be set free

Everytime he saw you, he considered finishing it for real, to tell you that he was sorry and move on. He could be set free from his guilt. 

Holding on

But he didn’t want to. He was going crazy, trying to keep this nonexistent relationship alive, but Bakugo didn’t care that he was being insane. He just needed something to care about, because the only thing that he truly cared about was gone. So if the only thing Bakugo cared about was this pretend relationship he still had going with you, so be it.

Why is everything so heavy? 

When you saw Bakugo, you felt your heart fall. He still made you feel this way, even after all this time. Even after you told yourself that you had moved on.

You say that I'm paranoid

Everywhere you went, you saw him. His blonde hair poking up between the people in the crowds. His black tanktop passing by on the trains. Every time you saw him somewhere, you felt haunted by a ghost. A ghost from your past that you couldn’t let go.

But I'm pretty sure the world is out to get me

You hated that you couldn’t face him. You were too scared of what he would say to you. You were too scared that he would say that he had moved on.

It's not like I make the choice

But you were more scared of what you would say to him. Because if he moved on, then that meant that you would have to move on.

To let my mind stay so fucking messy

So you pushed your emotions back like you always did and continued to live your life with thoughts of Bakugo constantly ravaging your mind. 

I know I'm not the center of the universe

You didn’t mean anything to him, he made that clear, but he was the center of your universe. He was your everything.

But you keep spinning 'round me just the same

You knew he didn’t love you, but deep down, you still loved him. You knew it would take a long time to move on, so you started dating again. Hoping you could move on and find someone else to love. And you did, you found someone else.

I know I'm not the center of the universe

Bakugo knew that he didn’t mean anything to you, you made that clear by avoiding him for months. 

But you keep spinning 'round me just the same

Bakugo knew you didn’t love him, but he still loved you. So he kept himself away from the dating scene.

I'm holding on

Bakugo told himself multiple times that he wasn’t dating because he ddin’t have time, but in reality, he still held onto the hope that you would want him back.

Why is everything so heavy?

Until he saw that Ketsubutsu guy, Yo Shindo, walk into the common room. He wondered what that idiot was doing at UA, until he saw you smile and walk towards him. Then it clicked.

Holding on

Shindo grabbed you in a hug, and threw a dirty look over your shoulder straight at Bakugo. The worst part was that you jumped into his arms willingly. 

So much more than I can carry

He wanted to say that he was okay with it. He wanted to just roll his eyes and walk away.

I keep dragging around what's bringing me down

But he couldn’t lie to himself, he was jealous. Not just jealous, Bakugo was enraged that you were hanging out with that Shindo guy. He was enraged that he had been replaced.

If I just let go, I'd be set free

So instead of going back to his dorm, he followed you and Shindo.

Holding on

Bakugo watched as Shindo did everything he didn’t. Shindo held your hand and talked with you. He kissed your cheek and laughed when you said something funny. He bought you lunch and gave you a flower. 

Why is everything so heavy? I know I'm not the center of the universe

He saw the way you looked at Shindo. Like he was the center of your universe. 

But you keep spinning 'round me just the same

It was the way you used to look at Bakugo. 

I know I'm not the center of the universe

He watched as Shindo looked at you the same way. The way Bakugo looked at you. The way Bakugo still looked at you.

But you keep spinning 'round me just the same

He knew that he wasn’t the center of your universe anymore, but for some reason, he still couldn’t let go, no matter how much he tried.

And I drive myself crazy

He hated himself so much for losing the best thing that ever happened to him. He hated himself for screwing up everything good in his life.

Thinking everything's about me

He hated that he couldn’t get over himself just to keep you with him. He hated that the weight of your breakup was still tied to his back and that it wasn’t getting any lighter after seeing that you had moved on.

Holding on

Years passed, and Bakugo never got into another relationship.

Why is everything so heavy?

He was still dragging around the weight on his back. It never got lighter. Not when he immersed himself in his hero work, or when he saw you and Shindo on the news together as the hero couple that everyone loved.

Holding on

Bakugo felt like he was being crushed, but he continued on with his life. Until one day, he got a letter in the mail. “You are invited to the wedding of Yo Shindo and (y/n) (l/n).” It was at this moment that the weight became too heavy. It crushed him, and Bakugo Katsuki, the pro hero Ground Zero who feared nothing, broke down into sobs.

So much more than I can carry

His entire world shattered that day. It should have been his name with yours on that invite. It should have been him who you were marrying. Bakugo was so overcome with sadness that he did the only thing that he could when he was sad. He masked it as anger. Why the hell would you invite him to your wedding? Was this some sort of joke? 

I keep dragging around what's bringing me down

Bakugo was angry, but he still loved you even after all this time, so he went to your wedding, and he watched as you walked down the aisle to marry a man that wasn’t him.

If I just let go, I'd be set free

He watched as you and Shindo looked into each others eyes with so much love that he regretted his decion to attend the wedding. Bakugo regretted not tearing the invite in half and shoving it into the recycle bin. 

Holding on

He listened as you recited your vows and said “I do”. He listened as he heard the priest say “Any objections?”, and Bakugo wanted to stand up and proclaim his love for you. He wanted to stand up and tell you that you belonged with him. To take you back and love you just as much as you loved him back at UA.

Why is everything so heavy?

But the he remembered what you said to him all those years ago. He remembered: “Were you always this selfish?”, and Bakugo made his decision. For once in his life, it wasn’t selfish. He owed it to you. Maybe the selfish part of him wanted you to be with him, but the part of him that still loved you and wanted the best for you was telling him to let you be happy, so he stayed silent.

Why is everything so heavy?

As Shindo swept you into a kiss, it was all crystal clear to Bakugo. He would never get over you. He would carry the weight of your breakup for the rest of his life. Maybe the weight would get lighter, and maybe it would only get heavier, but it would always be there.

Why is everything so heavy? 

Bakugo finally realized that you had moved on from him. You had Shindo. You didn’t need him anymore. 

If I just let go I’ll be set free.

 You had finally let go. You were finally free.  

[capsteddybear]

Our Playlist - Wanna Be That Song - Brett Eldredge

Song lyrics:

"When you're searching the horizon, When your eyes look back, When you're standing in the moment, Every life has a soundtrack"

----- ------

You wake up to the sound of people getting their suitcases from the overhead cabinets. You stretch out in your seat and open up your window cover and quickly close it from the bright sunlight beaming in. You feel a tap on your shoulder and you look up and it's your fellow colleague Sarah, "hey wake up, sleepy head. We landed."

"Hey, Sarah. Yeah, I'm up, I'm up." You stretch out again and gather up your things and get your carry on bag from the overhead cabinet. As you board off of the plane you see your other coworkers and students waiting at the gate. Once you're all together you guys head to the baggage claim and gather your other bags and guitars.

You guys then hop in a shuttle and head to the hotel where you guys will be staying for the trip. Once you guys arrive at the hotel you help check in all of your students. The lobby is packed with other students from different universities, but luckily enough the check in process doesn't take too long. You head to your room to check it out. As soon as you walk in you carefully prop your guitar case against the wall and toss your bags on the floor and flop onto the bed face first hugging a pillow. You lay there for a moment letting your body relax. You slowly turn over and stare at the ceiling as you listen to the city atmosphere coming from the street below. You sit up and walk over to the window and pull open the window curtain and look down at the street. Your room is on the 15th floor of the hotel so the crowds of people below look like a bunch of ants. You scan the surrounding buildings taking in the scenery.

You hear a knock at the door and it's your colleague Betty, "hey (y/n), we're gonna head out on the town and get an early dinner. Wanna join us?"

"Yeah sure."

"Okay we'll meet up in the lobby in about an hour?"

"Yeah sounds good."

You close the door and decide to unpack some of your stuff. You pull out your phone and call Chris back home. At first he doesn't answer and you look at your clock and figure out that it's around 3 o'clock in the morning back at home. You decided to leave a message instead, "Hey Chris, I know you're sleeping right now, but just wanted to let you know I made it to Japan. I miss you and Dodger. Love you. Bye."

About a minute later your phone is buzzing and you see Chris' face on your screen.

"Hi"

"Hello, beautiful. I got your voicemail."

You can tell he was asleep from the tone of his voice, "Just wanted to let you know I landed."

"I tried to stay awake, but I fell asleep on the couch. I felt the phone vibrating, but it got lost in the covers and by the time I found it, it stopped ringing."

"You didn't have to stay awake."

"I know, but I wanted to…. Or at least try. What time is it there?"

"It's almost 4:30 in the afternoon."

You hear Chris yawn over the phone, "What are you guys gonna do the first day?"

"Just settle in. We're about to go get dinner." You hear Chris yawn again, "I should let you go back to sleep."

"Mmm, call me when you get back to the hotel? I should be better after I get a couple of more hours of sleep."

"It's okay we can talk another time."

"Nooooo, I miss the sound of your voice…. And I miss your face."

You smile, "It's only been a day."

"After a minute passes I miss you."

You giggle, "aww, that's sweet. I think you need to get some sleep."

"Yeah, but please call me later. Promise I'll answer."

"I will. I love you."

"I love you, (y/n). Good night."

"Good night, babe."

You hang up the phone and freshen up a bit before heading down stairs to the lobby to meet up with the others. You guys head out on the town and do a bit of sightseeing before finding a spot to eat. Everyone is tired from the flight so there's not as much talking at dinner, but you know everyone is enjoying their time together.

After dinner you all head back to the hotel. Once you're back in your room you take a quick shower before calling Chris.

It rings a couple of times before he answers, "hello?"

"Hi, did you sleep enough?"

"Yeah…. I wanna see you, can we video chat or is it bedtime for you?"

"Yeah we can for a bit. Let me set up my laptop and I'll call you back, okay?"

"Okay, bye. Love you (y/n)."

"Love you. Bye."

You grab your laptop out of your backpack and hop into bed. You connect to the wifi and call Chris back. It rings twice before you see his handsome face on the screen.

"Hey handsome."

"There's my girl."

You can tell from the background that Chris is in the kitchen, "What are you up to?"

"Cooking breakfast… your favorite… pancakes." He lifts the pan from the stove and shows you.

"Yummy."

"What's some? I think I made a bit too many."

You rub your stomach, "No thank you. I ate enough at dinner."

"How was it? How's the view from the hotel?"

"It was delicious. There was a lot of different food, I couldn't remember the names of everything, but it was really good. Wanna see the view?"

"Yeah!" Chris puts the pan down and concentrates on the screen as you get out of bed to walk to the window. "Oh wait, you were in bed? Sorry, you didn't have to get up."

"No, it's fine. I didn't find my comfy spot yet."

You hear Chris giggle as you open up the curtains to reveal the view. You hold up the laptop closer so he gets a better view and you point out stuff to Chris.

"How far is the university from there?"

"I think the schedule said about a 10 minute drive."

"Ah not too bad, what time do you guys have to be there tomorrow?"

You walk back to bed and snuggle back in the covers with your back leaning against the pillows with the laptop on your lap. "Call time is at 9 so I'll probably wake up at like 7:30-8 and make sure everyone else is up and has eaten breakfast…. And you, what do you have planned after breakfast?"

"Take Dodger for a walk and visit my mom later."

"Tell her I said hi."

"I will."

"How's Dodger?"

"He's doing good. He slept on the couch with me after you called earlier."

"Why didn't you sleep in bed?"

"I fell asleep watching tv waiting for your call, and I was too lazy to walk to the room after you called."

You let out a giggle, "sorry, I didn't mean to keep you waiting."

"It's fine, I'll always wait for you." Chris winks at the screen that causes a big smile to appear on your face.

"I love you."

"I love you too, (y/n). You should get some sleep. You got a long day ahead of you tomorrow."

"I should. I'm really tired from the flight. How do you get used to the time difference?"

Chris laughs, "it'll take another day or so, but you will don't worry."

"Ugh, okay. Gonna sleep now, I'll text or call you when I can okay?"

"Okay. I love you, (y/n). Good night."

"Have a good day, Chris. I love you. Bye."

You close the laptop and place it on the nightstand. You set your alarm clock and soon drift off to sleep.

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

The next morning you're up 20 minutes before your alarm goes off. Your head is pounding so you take some medicine before having breakfast and meeting your students in the lobby. Once at the university you guys head to the music department and auditorium where you guys will be rehearsing. You think the auditorium at your university is big, but this one seems three times as big. First you guys sit in the seating area as the director of the university introduces himself and welcomes you to campus. After the introduction he shows you the practice and dressing rooms. You guys leave your stuff in the rooms before taking a tour of the music department. Once the tour is over you have your students warm up on stage before rehearsing as a group. Your headache is almost gone which makes you happy, but you brought your medicine with you just in case.

During rehearsal you would walk off stage and down the aisle of the seats. Having to perform in a bigger space than you're used to means you have to play a bit louder to fill up the space. Even though there would be mics set up on stage you made notes in your head on certain parts of the piece where you'll need to change the dynamics. You walk back up stage and end the piece. You flip back through your score and add the dynamic changes and tell your students to do the same. You go through your other pieces and add notes as you go along. Your colleagues are also sitting in the audience so you ask for any suggestions that they have and make note of them too.

After you rehearse all of your group pieces you take a 20 minute break before it's time for the solo acts and duets to rehearse their pieces. During your break you send a message to Chris telling him how rehearsal is going and attach a photo of the auditorium with the caption saying "it's 3 times as big as the one back home." When break is almost over you notice that the other ensembles from the other school start to enter the auditorium to watch you rehearse before it's their turn to practice on stage. You start to get nervous. First, it's the bigger concert hall and now it's having unfamiliar people in the audience during practice, not even during the concert yet. You start to fidget in your seat and you feel your phone vibrate in your hand. You look down and it's a message from Chris:

"Hi sweetheart, that's a beautiful spot you get to perform at. I'm so proud of you. You worked really hard to get there. Don't get nervous, okay? You're gonna do great. I love you. 💙 "

You smile and your eyes get teary, but you quickly wipe them away so your students don't notice. However your friend Sarah is sitting in the same row as you and notices you wiping your face and comes to sit next to you.

"Hey, (y/n). You okay?"

"Yeah, just nerves. I'll be fine."

"I'm here if you wanna talk, okay?"

"Thanks, Sarah."

Rehearsal continues and the solo acts and duets from the students sound great. They even get applauses from the other university that's watching. Once all of the students are done rehearsing it's now your colleagues and your turn to take the stage. A few of them perform before you. Once it's your turn you read your message from Chris one more time before placing your phone is your guitar guitar. You take deep breaths as you make your way up to the stage. You perform 2 pieces "Recuerdos de la Alhambra" by Francisco Tarrega and "Asturias" by Isaac Albeniz.

After you finish your time on stage you put your guitar back in your case and take your seat in the audience and watch your other colleagues perform. Once everyone from your university has a chance to perform on stage the next university sets up their ensemble to rehearse. You, your students and colleagues stay in the audience to watch them as well. After 2 hours of rehearsal you guys go to the practice rooms and work on whatever else needs adjusting. You check in on your students if they need any other help with stuff and you give them your notes that you took while watching them rehearse.

The next few days of the trip consists of rehearsals on stage and in the practice rooms. Not only for your students, but also for yourself. When you're practicing in one of the rooms you get text messages from Chris. Mostly of him saying he misses you and that he loves you. But your favorite ones are random photos of him and Dodger throughout the day.

"Dodger misses you." Attached is a photo of Dodger chewing on one of your shoes. "Don't worry, I'll buy you a new pair by the time you come back home."

"Tell Dodger I miss him too. Gotta get back to practice now. I'll call you later."

When you're back in your hotel room you video chat Chris. As you're eating dinner he's eating breakfast so it seems like you're eating together.

"What's for dinner tonight?"

"I just ordered some fruit and a salad. Not really hungry tonight."

"You okay?" As Chris tilt his head in a concerning manner.

"Yeah, I had a big lunch earlier. I'm fine." You smile to reassure him.

"Okay, remember I'm here if you wanna talk."

You let out a deep breath, "I know, thank you. We've been rehearsing a lot and I'm just tired."

"If I was there I would give you a massage."

"Please? I miss your massages …. And your cooking."

Chris laughs, "just another week and I'll give you as many massages and pancakes that you want."

You sigh, "gosh, another week? Don't remind me." You rub the back of your neck from the tiredness.

"Aww come on, besides all of the rehearsing I'm sure you're having an awesome time, right?"

"I am, I just miss you."

"I miss you too, (y/n). I love you."

"I love you, Chris."

"You should get some rest."

"Yeah, you're right…. I'll call you when I can."

"Alright, sweet dreams, sweetheart. I love you."

"Good night, Chris. I love you."

---- -----

The second week of the trip consists of master classes with the instructors from the different universities and the guest judges. When you perform with your students you get a handful of great comments and a few pointers to work on before the final performance at the end of the week. Between rehearsals you always find time to call home and check in with Chris.

"Hi Chris."

"Hey beautiful, how's it going today?"

"It's going great. We finished our master classes this week and we have one more full dress rehearsal tomorrow before the concert."

"Woo, sounds like you've been busy… Gosh, I really wished I could be there to support you in this."

"Aww, I wish you were here too… Promise I'll play my solo pieces for you when I get home."

"Please do. I love listening to you play."

"Okay, I gotta go back to work now. I love you, Chris. Bye."

"Love you too, (y/n). Bye sweetheart."

---- ------

The last dress rehearsal is a success. All of the ensembles from the universities sound amazing. With it being the last night before the concert you go out for dinner one last time with your students and colleagues.

One of your colleagues makes a speech before your food arrives at the table.

"I would like to start off this toast by thanking (y/n) for getting us here. If it weren't for your dedication to your students and your hard work ethics we probably wouldn't have been here."

You turn a light shade of red because now the whole table is looking at you. You take your glass in your hand and raise it up as you stand up from your seat, "I'll take partial credit for getting here. If it weren't for my hard working students we wouldn't be here. These past 2 weeks have really shown me the dedication and time you guys have put into your craft. I really appreciate that, it makes my job easy and fun." The table laughs as you finish up the toast. You enjoy the food and company before heading back to the hotel to sleep.

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

The day of the concert you get to sleep in longer than usual. You feel refreshed and well rested. You have breakfast and lunch with your colleagues and head back up to your room to relax and call Chris.

"Hey."

"Hi, sweetheart, tonight's the concert right?"

"Yeah, in about 2 hours. Wanted to call you before it starts."

"You excited?"

"Uh, yeah, but more nervous than excited."

"Don't be nervous, sweetheart. You're gonna do great. You've worked so hard and so have your students. You guys are gonna rock. I know it."

"Thanks, Chris. I love you. I'll call you later."

"I love you (y/n)."

You take a shower before heading to the university.

Once you're in the dressing room you unpack your concert attire and dress in your conductor outfit for the ensemble pieces first. You stand backstage to the side as you watch the other universities perform first. After they're done it's now your ensemble's turn to take the stage. As you walk across the stage to the conductor podium you hear the applause and your heart starts to race. You take a few deep breaths before you cue your students. You lose yourself in the musical pieces. All of your focus is on the music and your students. And soon enough you're done. You freeze in the cut off position for a moment before you relax your arms and let out a breath of relief as you step down from the podium and the audience applauses your performance. You bow to the crowd and walk off stage as the curtains close to set up for the next ensemble. You miss the next couple of performances as your change into your solo concert attire. As you take one final look in the mirror in the dressing room you notice a single white rose and an envelope with your name on it. Your eyes get watery because you have a feeling you know who it's from. You quickly rip the envelope open and read the note inside:

"Hi sweetheart, I hope you get this in time before you get on stage tonight. Your friend Sarah contacted me and said you were a bit nervous this whole week about performing. I know I probably sound like a broken record when I say this, but don't be nervous. You're gonna sound amazing on stage. I'm so proud of you. I love you. Can't wait to see you when you get back home. - Chris. "

You smile and wipe the tear falling down your cheek as you freshen up before heading back to the stage. You listen to the other solo performances before it's your turn to perform. As you walk on stage again to the concert bench you take deep breaths to steady your heart beat. You take a seat on the bench and get into the playing position and start your performance. After you play the last note of your piece you freeze for a moment and then relax and take a bow as the giant auditorium fills with cheering sounds. A smile of relief appears on your face as you take another bow and walk off stage. You place your guitar back in its case in your dressing room before heading back to watch the rest of the performances.

Once the concert is over you change into more comfy clothes and head back to your hotel room and turn in for the night.

----- -----

You wake up early the next morning for your flight back home. You pack up all of your stuff and meet everyone in the lobby to take the shuttle to the airport.

Before take off you send Chris a text:

"Heading home now. Can't wait to see you. I love you."

While on the plane you stay up and watch multiple movies and read some chapters from a book that Chris recommended for you.

Soon enough you're back home in Boston. As you make your way to the end of the gate you spot Chris in his Boston cap and red flannel. With it being early in the morning you see a sleepy smile appear on his face as soon as he sees. You run up to him and jump into his arms burying your face into his neck as he hugs you tight.

"Chris!!!"

"Hi sweetheart."

He gives you a welcome home kiss before you hug him again and pepper his face in kisses. "Gosh, I missed you so much."

He giggles between kisses, "I can tell. I missed you too." You stand there for a minute in each other's arms, happy to be back together. "Let's go get your luggage and head home." He laces his fingers with yours and you lead the way to baggage claim. When your stuff appears on the belt Chris carries your guitar case in one hand while still holding onto yours.

On the drive back home you lean your head on his shoulder as he drives. He kisses the top of your head and you smile watching the sunrise.

Once you make it back home you're greeted with puppy kisses from Dodger.

"Hi handsome!"

He melts to the floor as you rub his belly. Chris laughs and walks passed you and heads to the kitchen, "you hungry?"

"Depends…. You gonna cook pancakes?" You walk into the kitchen and see Chris with a plate of pancakes already made. You cover your face and bust out laughing.

"You said you wanted pancakes when you got home… I never break my promises." He places the plate on the counter and walks up to you and hugs you.

"Do you remember the other part of your promise?"

A grin appears on Chris' face and he leans in for a kiss, "if you're talking about the massage, then yes I remember."

You kiss him back, "then I'll take the massage first." You wink as you lead the way to the bedroom.

Chris laughs and spins you around into his arms and kisses you passionately before picking you up and carefully placing you on the bed with him laying on top of you.

"Welcome home, sweetheart."

You run your fingers through his hair, "I'm glad to be back."

He peppers you in light kisses before you guys roll around in bed, lost in each other's eyes. Soon enough he does end up giving you that massage he promised. You missed the touch of his warm, strong hands on your body. You moaned as your body relaxed more and more. Soon after you fall asleep. A few hours pass and you wake up from your nap. You roll over in bed and see Chris with his phone and headphones plugged in. You tap his arm to get his attention.

"What are you watching?"

He turns his phone so you can see, "you."

"What?" You rub your eyes to take a better look.

"Your friend Sarah emailed me clips of your performances…. You sound amazing, sweetheart…. You always do…. And you look really beautiful."

You set up in bed and kiss Chris, "I love you so much, babe."

"I love you too, (y/n).... Wanna eat your pancakes now?"

"Yes please!" You hope out of bed and run to the kitchen. You can hear Chris laughing from down the hallway. "Oh nooo!"

Chris jumps out of bed and runs to meet you in the kitchen, "babe, what happened??" You both catch Dodger in the act eating your pancakes and bust out laughing. "It's okay, I'll make a fresh batch for you." He gives you a kiss on the forehead as he walks over to the stove.

"Thank you, Chris." You take a seat on the stool at the kitchen island and tell Chris all about your trip as he cooks pancakes for you.

[imagine-this-fandom]

BNHA x Fem! Reader: The Rescue- Purple Ragdoll

The rescue intro: here

A/N:

Happy New Year everyone! Hope everyone is staying safe and had a good New Years Eve. Thank you all for your support, I'm really happy to be writing for you. I apologize for the lateness of this chapter, but I hope you all enjoy!

~*~*~*~*~*

Inko led you back into the main store and past rows of all sorts of tanks. She paused and tucked Izuku into one of them before she continued along, stopping in front of a door with cute little pawprints running up the side. At the top of the door, the word CATS was in big bold letters. She opened the door and ushered you inside, carefully closing the door behind you.

You took in the chaos of the cat room, eyes following Inko as she expertly dodged cats and weaved through various cat toys on her way to a cat tree in the back. The room was filled with cats of all shapes and sizes.  You decided it would be best if you stayed put. The last thing you needed was to accidentally step on one of the cute animals. That would be a rather unfortunate end to your budding experience as a pet owner. When Inko saw that you were standing alone, she made a tutting noise and went back, grabbing your arm before leading you over to the quiet corner she had scouted earlier.

You followed her curiously, trying not to trip on the felines winding around your legs, which was an intense feat as they seemed to really like you for some reason. You came to a stop in front of one of those hanging cat hammock things. Inside, was a fluffy cat with strangely lilac tinted fur that was ruffled and sticking out at all angles. You searched your limited knowledge about animals before settling on the breed. The cat before you was the sleepiest looking ragdoll cat you had ever seen. The fur under his eyes was darker than the fur around it, giving it the illusion of deep purple eye bags. He looked kind of run down if you were honest as if no amount of naps in the world could make him energetic. He was definitely not what you expected. He reminded you of Grumpy cat but exhausted.

Inko smiled warmly at you while clasping her hands to her chest, watching your reaction closely.

“This is Shinsou! I think he’d be the perfect cat for you.”

Like the black cat from earlier, there was something really intelligent about Shinsou. Either that or the look of confusion he shot Inko was purely coincidental and you were misreading things. Regardless, there was something about him that you gravitated towards.

“You’re sure? He wouldn’t be happier with someone more experienced?” Inko just shook her head and lifted the drowsy cat out of his hammock. He wasn’t too concerned and had accepted his fate at this point in time, not really having the energy to protest anyway. She carefully deposited the cat into your arms and bustled off to gather supplies for you. You looked down at the bundle of fluff in your arms and he, in turn, stared up at you with a bored expression.

Shinsou was vaguely interested in how this would go.  Considering he was not a normal cat by any means, it should prove to be an interesting experience. If all else failed, he was intelligent enough to escape and come back to the store, he mused. But for now, you hadn’t done anything that indicated you were going to be difficult to work with and Inko seemed to approve of you, so he just yawned and settled into your arms, enjoying the change from the flannel hammock to your warm arms.  You were kind of freaked out by the newness of the situation, but Shinsou didn’t seem to care what was going on, and his nonchalant attitude put you more at ease.

While you waited, you began to pet him. A smile tugged on your lips as he basically melted in your arms, face pressed against your collarbone and a contented purr escaping his chest. He was obviously enjoying your soothing touch, more than he wanted to admit to himself even. That was encouraging, and you decided then and there you would die for this animal should the need ever arise.

When inko returned with a cat carrier, you were a bit hesitant to put him inside. You were bonding! As reluctant as you were, the carrier was probably your safest and easiest method of getting him home. You laid him inside on the cat bed and he was out like a light within minutes. He was peacefully sleeping as you latched the carrier shut and listened to the instructions Inko gave you. You were determined to be the best pet owner possible for him.

It wasn’t long before you left the shop, new pet in hand and a strange new warmth settling in your chest at the thought of sharing your home with your sleepy new companion. ~~~~~

You sighed tiredly as you closed the door behind you, happy to be out of the biting cold. You had let Shinsou sleep in his carrier on the way over, so you just popped the door open once you were inside so he could explore when he was ready. You gave his sleeping form a small smile before you retreated to your bedroom for the night.

He was still sleeping when you woke up around 8 the next morning, so you let him be and began your morning routine. You hummed to yourself as you waited for your coffee to brew and scrolled through social media on your phone.

Shinsou roused at the rich scent of coffee filled the air. As a human, he swore it almost ran through his veins. He took after his mentor in his love for coffee, the bitter beverage giving him the energy his training and hero work often stole. Inko always had tea instead when she worked at the pet store, so the familiar scent was quite a shock to his system. He stretched lazily before ambling out of the pet carrier. His purple eyes locked on the mug you held as you made your way to the couch.

You smiled brightly at him as you sat down, not noticing where his intent gaze was directed.

“Hey pretty boy, sleep well?”

He turned his gaze to you, almost disgusted by the fact that you were so awake and perky already. Usually, it took him at least half an hour to fully wake up, so your sunshine smile was absolutely unfair considering how early it was. He gave you a deadpan stare in response that triggered an even wider smile. Good grief.

He hopped up onto the couch beside you, waiting for an opportunity to steal your beverage.

He didn’t have to wait long though, you had just taken a sip before your phone rang. You looked down at the contact name and your expression twisted into one of weary acceptance. You hit the answer button and stood, coffee abandoned as you paced and listened to the voice on the other end of the phone.

Shinsou would smirk to himself if cats could. He made a beeline for the cup and quickly drank his fill. Meanwhile, you were not having nearly as good of a time.

“Sir, please, it’s my first day off in weeks. Are you positive no one else can cover the shift?”

“I wouldn’t be calling you if I didn’t already know, (y/n). Are you going to show, or not? Need I remind you that you’re on thin ice with your attendance?”

You bit your lip, the tiredness settling into your expression before you took a deep breath and forced your customer service smile.

“Yes sir, I’ll see you in an hour and a half”

“Good. Don’t be late.”

You heard the line go dead on the other side and nearly screamed, hands clenching against the phone as you resisted the urge to throw your device. The job was infuriating, but it was steady and dependable. You didn’t have a quirk, so finding work was a bit of a process, and you couldn't afford to be choosy at the moment. You lamented this fact as you sunk onto the couch beside him, any energy the coffee had given was now sapped away.

Shinsou had only caught bits and pieces of the conversation, but he already knew he didn’t care for your boss. He had only known you for a day, but he didn’t like how quickly that sunshine smile disappeared as if covered by stormy clouds. It was disconcerting. He watched your expressions go through the stages of grief before settling on tired acceptance.

You sighed heavily and scratched the top of his head.

“Sorry, buddy. I wanted to spend the day getting to know you, but the big boss says I have to get to work.”

You pouted unhappily before stretching. You hated your job, but you weren’t going to spend time feeling bad for yourself. You had to be strong, this job was what enabled you to have Shinsou too, so at least something good came of it. You scratched behind Shinsou's ears before standing and plastering on a fake smile.

"well, no time to waste if I want to get to work on time. I'll be back before you know it. Try not to wreck the house while I'm gone."

He watched you leave and go to your room to prepare for work. He took this time left alone to look around. The living room was fairly plain but comfortable enough. There weren't any photos or personal touches up on the wall. He wandered the living room, mapping it out in his head and taking careful note of any possible escape routes. By the time he had explored all the open rooms, you had found your way back into the main room. You were holding a few bobby pins in your teeth as you fixed your hair into a high ponytail.

Your uniform was typical of a barista and he could just make out the logo of a local cafe on the corner. Huh. Juniper Glow. He actually recognized the cafe. He frequented the place when he was still human. It was open 24/7 so it was a lifesaver after long patrols. He couldn't remember ever meeting you, but it had been quite some time since he had visited. Maybe you were new?

You grabbed the essentials needed for your job, grimacing as you caught sight of the clock. You crouched down and scratched under Shinsou's chin before you shouldered your purse again.

"Alright Shinsou, I'm heading out. Be good for me, okay? Don't trash the house.  I'll see you in a few hours."

Shinsou stopped himself from nodding, knowing it would only freak you out, and stared at you with a tilted head as if to ask "cause trouble, who, me?"

You gave him one last dazzling smile before dashing out the door.

Shinsou watched the door close and was surprised to find himself a bit disheartened with the quiet now encompassing the house. He supposed he was used to the noise now. From the crowded cat room to the way you spoke to him like a person, he wasn't used to the silence anymore. He wondered how much other things would change as he stayed with you.

~~~~~~

Some things never changed. Despite having no hero work or classes, Shinsou was still tired all the time. You found his tiredness endearing and took every opportunity to cuddle him while he napped.

The first time this happened, he was surprised. He was peacefully napping on the couch while you were occupied with a hero documentary. He was content to snooze next to you when a sudden movement changed his position. You had carefully scooped him up and he was now resting in your lap. He would have moved, but honestly? You were comfortable and warm. Not to mention you were petting him too. The soft strokes and your fingers carding through his fur relaxed him. He melted into your touch and was surprised when he started to purr at the attention. You smiled, your documentary no longer the center of your attention.

He wouldn't admit it, but he was quite enjoying your attention. At first, he thought this whole pet thing was going to be a fun challenge to exploit and then escape. However, he was growing attached to you. That might end up a problem. He was going to be human again, one day. He would make sure of it. And he couldn't let you get too used to him.

Still... this was nice. He liked being held and cared about, even though he was used to being and working alone. He was ostracized for having a villain's quirk, so he was definitely not used to people spending so much time with him. Midoriya and his mentor were his support system, but this was somehow different. He would have to think about this more... But for now, he would enjoy these moments with you.

Fortunately for him, these moments became quite frequent. You loved having Shinsou with you and nearly every moment spent at home was spent with your cat. You talked to him as you cooked, you watched TV with him on your lap, you even let him sit on your bed while you read before heading to bed.

This routine continued for months and you admitted for the first time since you moved to Japan, that you were happy. ~~~~~~~~

You opened the door for Shinsou. The sun shone brightly on the two of you as you waited. Shinsou trotted out and joined you on the porch before you closed the door, being mindful of his tail.

The two of you set off at a leisurely pace. You had decided to take Shinsou with you on your trip to the local farmer’s market. You wanted to get some produce for a fruit dessert you wanted to try and also stop by the bakery that was nearby. You smiled down at Shinsou as he plodded along by your side. He was such a clever cat and you found him fascinating. The few times he had gotten out, he merely followed you to work before going home. Unbeknownst to you, this was his way of making sure you stayed safe. While he couldn't fully protect you in this form, he would do his absolute best to protect you should trouble to arise.  When you took him out on purpose for the first time, he stayed dutifully by your side.  This lead to many walks when the weather was pleasant.

He was secretly pleased now that you trusted him to stay with you as you go places. This also meant he could spend more time with you. Although, he wished he was human for these walks. He had been with you for four months now, and he knew you quite well. He enjoyed his time with you and that simple companionship he shared while living with you had grown to be more than fondness on his end. He started to care for you more than he thought he would. He became more worried about your safety, upset on your behalf whenever your boss inevitably called you in on your few days off. He did his best to remind you of your own health, making sure you went to bed at a semi-decent hour. He cared about you, really cared about you. And it was moments like these he couldn't deny it anymore. He looked up at you as the two of you walked.

He wanted to know what it was like to hold your hand, fingers entwining as you babbled cheerfully about your day, him content to listen to your sweet voice. He wanted to compliment you on the sundress you chose to wear for your trip to the market, he wanted to tease you about how excited you were getting for fruit. But that didn’t seem to be a possibility, so he had to content himself with these small outings and the fact he could still be with you as a friend.

You were chatting about all the delicious things you were going to buy, looking back over at him with a bright sunshine smile that he hadn't expected to adore as much as he did.

"Ooh! And don't think I'm leaving you out, there are a bunch of fruits cats are allowed to eat! I can't just treat myself and leave my best boy hungry!"

He would have smiled, but instead settled on a rumbling meow, purr sneaking into the noise.  Warmth filled his chest as you turned back to face ahead. He walked with you for a while more, the warm feeling of the affection fading but also growing more intense but in a new way.

Shinsou blinked in confusion as a strange sensation started to take over, the warmth shifting, contorting into something different. His head was swimming and his entire body was starting to tingle. He almost tripped over his own paws as he made his way to an alleyway, not wanting you to see him this disoriented. His gaze swimming in front of him. He stumbled into the alleyway, his body felt like it was on fire. Fire spread through his nervous system as his body gave up fighting and the bubbling feeling spreading through his veins surged through him. All at once, there was a pop sound and the feeling disappeared, leaving Shinsou panting on the cold concrete of the alley. He opened his eyes and was quickly struck by the difference in sensations he was feeling as well as the heightened colors. He groaned and threw his arm over his eyes before realizing the change in limbs. He quickly sat up and realized with awe that he was human again. Naked, but human. A grin spread across his face and he wobbled to his feet, getting used to being tall again. He took a few minutes to reorient himself.

He heard your voice calling his name and butterflies took flight in his stomach. You sounded worried and upset, voice frantic as you repeated his name. You were looking for him. Cat him. Well, that was a problem. He looked around for a hiding place and was relieved to spot a fairly out of sight around a corner.

As much as he would love to go out there and sweep you off your feet in his true form, he knew that would be absolutely terrifying and the worst way he could go about this. He peeked out from behind the corner, watching your worried form as you carefully searched the alleyway. He ducked back behind the wall before you saw him and his eyes landed on a convenient clothesline. Huh. How convenient. He’d have to think about the uncanny timing later because he heard male voices floating down the alleyway. He grabbed the clothes and threw them on, making a mental note to compensate the original owner when he gets the chance.

Meanwhile, you were looking between two men in front of you. They had followed you into the alley, insisting they were worthy of your attention and could help you find your cat. However, they didn’t really seem to know what personal space was and were quite insistent. You were obviously uncomfortable, a nervous smile in place, but they didn’t seem to understand. You inched backward until your back met the bricks behind you as you put distance between the men trying to avoid coming off as impolite. You really just wanted to find Shinsou and go home.

“Excuse me gentlemen, but I really should be going…” Your eyes darted around, searching for an opening to escape. Your eyes stopped their search when the man closest to you put his hand on the wall, leaning closer and effectively caging you in.

“Oh come on, we’ll worry about finding your cat later. Besides, you look a little turned around yourself, like a little deer that lost its way.” He smiled in a way that you believed was meant to be charming.

“Oh, no, I'm not lost.” You cringed back and gave him a nervous smile.

“This little deer looks thirsty,” The second man commented, tilting his head as he looked you over appreciatively. “We should take her for a cup of tea.”

You bit your lip, clenching your fists in an effort not to wring them nervously. Or wring their necks, you were undecided at the moment.

“No thanks, my sister's expecting me.” You bluffed, hoping it was enough to deter the two men.

“She's pretty cute for a Deer. How old are you, anyway? You live around here?”

The first man ignored your poor attempt of diversion and continued to press, not giving up.

“Leave me alone.”

You cringed away, dipping your head away as your mind swirled with possible lies and excuses to give to get away from them. You had other things to do, namely finding Shinsou.

The second man rolled his eyes at his friend, nudging his shoulder playfully. “You see? Your mustache scares all the girls.”

The first once chuckled, reaching out a finger to lightly brush against your cheek. “So? She's even cuter when she's scared.”

Tears pricked your eyes as you scrunched them closed, hot embarrassment and anger threatening to spill over. You jolted a little as a hand rested softly on your shoulder from beside you and gently pulled you away from the men and against a warm chest.

“There you are, sweetheart. Sorry I'm late. I was looking everywhere for you.”

A deep voice rumbled from the mystery man behind you. His grip was soft, almost nonexistent to give you the option to escape. But… He felt safe, for some reason.

The first man looked at the stranger, irritated gaze flickering between him and you, prompting you to lean more into the stranger. You were already going with his story, so you were going to make it convincing!

“Hey, we're busy here.” The first man scowled.

You could hear the smirk in the Stranger’s voice with his next words.

“Are you really?”

Both men made sounds of protest before something strange happened. Their limbs went slack, all tension disappearing as a glazed look appeared in their eyes, the words dying on their tongues.

“It looked to me like the two of you were just leaving.”

You watched in awe as the men walked away, just like that. As soon as your would-be tormentors were out of sight you whirled around to face your mysterious hero. Any words of thanks you were thinking of immediately fled your mind upon seeing him.

Oh no, you found him very attractive. He had unruly purple hair that flared out as if he had just been caught in the wind. Striking purple eyes that seemed even more brilliant considering the dark circles under them. You were fairly certain you would have gotten lost in them had you not noticed his bizarre choice of clothes. He was wearing a T-shirt that was a little bit too small for him and sweatpants and was...barefoot? You blinked in confusion at his feet before he cleared his throat and you snapped out of your daze.

“Are you alright?” He regarded you with concern, those dark purple eyes focused on your own.

You nodded quickly.

“I'm alright, thanks to you. What did you do to them, was that your quirk?”

He cringed at the mention of his quirk and one hand went to rub the back of his neck in discomfort as he averted his eyes.

“Yes, my quirk is brainwash. I can control people, but only after they’ve responded to a question of mine.”

He waited for the rejection and distrust that came with telling people about his “Villain” quirk. While people like Midoriya told him it could be used for good, most people still jumped to the criminal conclusion first. And although he hoped you would be different, he knew it would hurt so much more if you found his quirk frightening. He actually cared what you thought of him.

Your eyes widened and you considered the new info you gathered. You noticed he looked apprehensive, he was waiting for you to respond. An excited smile spread across your face.

“That’s an amazing quirk! It’s so useful! You could talk villains into custody, help in hostage situations, and stop fights before they even happen! There are so many possibilities! That’s so cool!”

Shinsou was shocked silent. Your beaming smile was dazzling and his mind refused to form coherent thoughts. The butterflies from earlier came back full force and it took him a second to remember how to breathe.

“You… really think all that?”

His voice was hesitant and hopeful but you misunderstood his quiet for awkwardness.

“I really do! Sorry if I got carried away there, I just think it’s a really cool quirk.”

You gave him a shy smile, trying to tone down your enthusiasm.

“And... Thank you for, you know.”

You gestured awkwardly to the direction the men went.

“I was starting to get really uncomfortable there. You were a lifesaver.”

You shot him another smile and he felt the tips of his ears go hot and his chest fill with warmth but pushed the feeling down and disguised it with a lazy smirk.

“Don’t give me all the credit, I just wanted to prevent their murder. You looked plenty capable. Still, I couldn't pass up my chance to find a smooth way to talk to you."

You grinned, quite taken by his charming words. Still, you had other things to worry about.

"Hmmm, as much as I'd love to continue getting compliments, I'm on a mission."

He raised an amused eyebrow.

"Oh? My apologies for keeping you.  If I can be of any assistance, just say the word."

You looked him up and down before nodding in confirmation.

"Yep. You'll do. You're purple, so I need your help to find my purple cat. Think you can manage it?"

He considered your words before grimacing.

"As much as I'd love to be your knight in shining armor and find him, that's not going to be so easy, all things considering."

Your amused look faded into one of confusion.

"And why is that?"

He avoided looking at you for a moment, his anxious behavior starting to worry you.

"Ask a question only your cat would know."

You stared at him in confusion, starting to wonder if the man was as sane as you had first thoughtAfterall, you had found him in an alleyway without shoes, so your chances weren't the best.

He grimaced and tried again.

"Ask me something only your cat would know, humor me, please. You can decide not to believe me or run or whatever, but please do this for me and listen first."

You were beginning to get scared. His tone was so much more serious than before. Still, something about him was familiar, and felt safe.  Taking a deep breath, you focused on him, scanning his face as you decided on your question.

"What did I call Shinsou when he broke my favorite mug?"

He honestly looked taken aback for a moment, eyes wide before he started cracking up, deep chuckles shaking his shoulders.

"of all things to ask, you chose the moment when I messed up?"

You froze, the implications of his words sinking in. There's no way... You scowled at him, enraged at the idea of someone pretending to be your best friend.  Still, the more you thought about it, the more similarities you saw. He really did look like the human version of your cat, eyebags and all. It was uncanny, but you knew that you wouldn't be able to tell for sure unless he answered.

He stopped laughing a leveled you with an amused smirk. "You called me an emo furbie before flinging yourself onto the couch and proclaiming that love was dead and you had been punished for your addiction to caffeine. "

You felt like you had been sucker-punched. Your brain short-circuited and you inhaled heavily. Shinsou's smirk dropped and he watched you with concern. He reached out to you as if to help you, but hesitated, unsure if you would want him to touch you. He looked at you with panic as your expression morphed between anger and something he couldn't identify.

"Shinsou... It's really you? But how? You're human now, how did that happen?"

He gave a small sigh of relief that you actually believed him.

"It's a really long story, but I was a human first. I'm a pro hero, but I was hit by a quirk that turned me into a cat. I thought I was going to be a cat forever until I met you. Somehow you were the missing piece that countered the quirk"

You nodded tiredly at his explanation, still a bit in shock, but less upset. You sighed and stepped forward, grabbing his hand before yanking him after you as you started walking.

He stumbled after you, confused but also pleased that you were holding onto him.

"uh, where are we going?"

You rolled your eyes before looking back at him.

"First, we're going to go get you some actual clothes. And shoes. Then we, are going home. You're still my Shinsou, and I'm still you're (y/n). Things have just shifted a little."

You flashed him a small smile, some of that sunshine that he loved shining through your eyes and he swore his heart skipped a beat.

"I'd love that. And I can't wait to tell you everything. The story, and how much I care about you."

You blushed as he raised the hand you were holding to his lips and kissed your knuckles, a small smile of his own in place.

Taglist:

@witch-o-memes

[kasienda]

Right Behind You - Chapter 1: Scandal

An Adrino Story - Friends to lovers Maybe the person you need is not the one you’ve had your eye on, but the one who’s been right behind you supporting you the whole time.  Chapter 1: Scandal Nino was awake.

Which was a crime.

His gig the previous evening hadn’t ended until well past four in the morning, and glancing at the glowing clock next to his bed it wasn’t even eight yet. He had managed maybe two hours of sleep.

And he could feel it everywhere in his body. The light peeking through the edges of his blackout curtains felt like an assault on his dry and irritated eyes. His left knee ached from a week-old injury caused by a bad landing during one of Carapace’s patrols. Even his thoughts felt like they were smothered in a thick cold fog.

He hated when the all night events hit on back to back days, but he needed the double pay at least a few times a month to afford his downtown Parisian apartment and without fail the requests for such events tended to land on the same weekend. No doubt, it would be worth it in a few hours. Once he had a cup or three of coffee. 

Or another five hours of sleep.

But his phone clearly had other plans as the blasted digital brick wouldn’t stop buzzing every few minutes. 

Nino left it in the other room every night to avoid this exact scenario, but he must have left it on some plastic container because the vibration was loud. And whoever this was, they were very insistent.

He sat up with a groan, very aware of the dull ache that stretched from one temple to the other. He let his head hang lifelessly to his chest.

The phone went off again. He glared through the open doorway. 

“I’ll make coffee.”

Nino tried to smile at the tiny green floating kwami, but it came out more like a grimace. “Thanks, Wayzz. You’re the best.”

He gave himself five minutes of just sitting with his blankets still wrapped luxuriously around him protecting against the chill of the morning. The phone had mockingly gone silent after almost ten minutes of near constant buzzing. He contemplated letting his head fall back to the pillows. But it was probably too late. Despite his fatigue, Nino was rarely able to go back to sleep.

He reached blindly to the small table beside his bed for his glasses, and then stumbled through his small apartment to the kitchen. Wayzz was already pouring black coffee into a cup.

Nino smiled at the ridiculous sight of the floating green creature handling an object twice its own size. It didn’t even look strange to him anymore. Really, Nino was unsure how he had ever gotten by without the constant support of the ancient kwami. 

He stepped forward to accept custody of the steaming beverage. He added a spoon of sugar and creamer. Before he could take his first sip, the blasted phone went off again.

Alya’s gleaming smile lit up his screen. He frowned at the device and immediately answered, even as he continued mixing his coffee. 

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“How do you do that?” her synthetic voice demanded from the other end of the line.

“Al, except for my birthday, you haven’t called me in two years,” he stated flatly. Why was she even asking? They texted quite often, and whenever she was back in Paris they usually would have lunch or hang out with their mutual friends. But ever since their break up, she had not called. 

Well, except for his birthday.

“And today is not my birthday. And it’s barely morning! You know that I’m never up before ten at the earliest and twelve is really a better bet. And you’ve been blowing up my phone clearly trying to get my ass out of bed. So I ask again, what is wrong?” he said slowly, emphasizing each word before he licked the spoon he was using to mix his coffee.

“Have you talked to Adrien lately?” 

His stomach dropped. This must be really bad news. Alya didn’t usually beat around the bush. She was more like a bulldozer that went straight through things. And if this was about Adrien… “Like three days ago. Why?”

His phone buzzed against his cheek immediately. He pulled it away to see the headline she sent him. 

Supermodel, Adrien Agreste, batting for the other team?

Keep Reading on Ao3

He already hated it, but that didn’t stop him from tapping on the link. Nino sucked in air at the sight of the picture. Nino has seen a lot of professional shots of Adrien over the years. This picture was gorgeous. Or, it would have been in absolutely any other context. 

The picture captured three quarters of Adrien’s face, but only a bit of his partner. His hair caught the light and gleamed gold, not quite as perfectly in place as it would have been in the morning. Like he had run his hands through it just a few times. His normally peach cheeks were dusted with pink and his eyes were closed. He was pulling away from a kiss with a fair-skinned man wearing glasses. But Nino’s eyes focused on his friend’s mouth. Adrien’s lips were upturned in the slightest little smile - the dopey one he had whenever he was talking about the mystery girl he loved.

And that was the only difference between all the professional shots Nino had seen over the years and the front page tabloid. In this picture, Adrien looked… happy. Genuinely so.

And now, that beautiful private moment was now plastered all over every gossip rag from one side of France to the other. 

Likely without Adrien’s permission. 

How unfair that one little moment of indiscretion outed him to all of Paris. 

Nino’s gut twisted painfully. 

All of Paris included Gabriel. Adrien had never told his father about being bi, and it was no wonder as the uptight bastard was an ice statue of propriety with absolutely no feelings. 

“It wasn’t at an event, Nino,” Alya explained. “It’s around the corner from that pub we used to frequent after lycee, almost in an alley outside a club. But the photo’s too good for some random person to have just seen him walking by at this time of day. The lighting should have been terrible and the photo grainy.”

“So?”

“The photographer knew Adrien was going to be there and that there'd be something worth taking a picture of.”

“Shit,” he cursed, his free hand gripping his own shoulder. “I gotta go.” 

“Yeah, I figured.”

“Thanks, Al, for calling. He never would.”

“I know. I might be terrible at keeping in touch, but maybe we could schedule a catch up?”

In spite of the circumstances, he found himself smiling. “I would like that. When are you back in Paris?”

“I’m here now actually. When else do I read trashy gossip rags?”

He laughed. “Fair. How long are you in town for?” 

“Just the long weekend, but I wasn’t going to tell anyone because I didn’t have a whole lot of time and I’m going to be back for like six months in just a few weeks. Then, I read this, and well…”

“Yeah, thanks for the head’s up.”

“Sorry for waking you up so early.”

“You already know this was worth it to me. Thank you.”

“Of course, Nino. Anytime. Now, go track down a certain unfairly attractive supermodel, and make sure he’s okay. I’ll start researching who this bastard is and see if I can ruin his day.”

Nino laughed. Alya was protective of her friends, and positively vindictive. It was a scary combination. But Nino had always loved that about her.

“Nino?” 

“Yeah?” 

“Tell him I love him, too. He’s not alone.”

He smiled again. “I’ll tell him. Thanks again, Al,” and then he ended the call.

He drained his coffee though it was still too hot. Because he definitely didn’t have time to nurse it, and he definitely was going to need the caffeine rush today. He then immediately called Adrien. 

His friend didn’t answer, so Nino called again because there was no way in hell Adrien wasn’t doom scrolling through feeds obsessing over this story.

And again.

On the fifth try Adrien finally answered.

“Did it ever occur to you that when someone doesn’t answer it might mean they don’t want to talk?”

Nino shook his head, put the call on speaker, and thudded back to his bedroom to find clothes he could wear in public. “Never in your case, dude! Where are you? I’m coming over.”

“You don’t have to,” Adrien objected. “What are you even doing up? Didn’t you have an event last night? I was counting on you sleeping until noon!” 

“It went late. I never went to sleep,” Nino lied. He didn’t want to mention Alya’s call or plan for revenge yet, or admit to a monster headache. If he did, Adrien wouldn’t let him come over. 

“You don’t have to come listen to my sob story,” Adrien insisted. “Get some sleep. This isn’t important. It was my own fault. I was stupid.”

Nino rolled his eyes. “Shut up. Where are you?” He pulled a white t-shirt over his head, and placed the phone back to his ear. 

Adrien remained silent on the other end. 

“Dude, if you don’t tell me where you are, I’ll call Chloé and Kagami for back up in tracking you down.”

There was a sigh over the phone. “I’m at the hotel.”

“Room number?”

“427.”

“Be there in fifteen,” Nino promised. He jumped into a pair of khakis, kissed the brim of his red hat before slipping it over his head, and went straight out the door.

“Fifteen minutes is cutting it a little close, young master,” Wayzz chided from his left shoulder.

Nino had long stopped trying to get Wayzz to drop the title. The creature was as stubborn as he was old.

“Not if we take the superhero express.”

Wayzz’s disapproving frown did nothing to dissuade Nino from his plans.

Adrien needed him.

…

The door whipped open barely a second after Nino’s knuckles had knocked. For a second, neither of them spoke. Nino studied Adrien’s face carefully for signs of upset. His friend’s eyes were bloodshot as if he’d been up all night, but they weren’t puffy, so he probably at least hadn’t been crying. And his lips were curled into a relieved smile.

Nino returned the expression before pulling Adrien into a hug.

“How did you get here so fast?” Adrien mumbled into Nino’s shoulder.

Nino pulled away, and followed Adrien into the small hotel room. “Trade secret,” he deflected, hoping the humor had Adrien rolling his eyes instead of insisting on an explanation.

Maybe Wayzz’s paranoia was somewhat justified. Not that Nino had any regrets. Adrien didn’t push, and instead immediately fell backwards on the pristinely made bed. His friend clearly hadn’t even attempted to get any sleep last night. His green eyes stared blankly at the ceiling.

Nino flopped on the bed next to him, lying perpendicular with their heads side by side. 

“So why the hotel?”

Adrien snorted. “The studio has paparazzi.”

“You could’ve crashed my place.”

“But you weren’t there.”

Nino’s head rolled towards his best friend. “So? You have a key.”

Adrien’s gaze remained glued to the ceiling. ”Maybe I’m just embarrassed and didn’t want to explain anything.”

“You don’t have to explain anything,” Nino said. “If you don’t want to talk, fine. But I’m here. And if you do want to talk, I’m here for that, too.”

And then Nino just waited, listening to Adrien’s uneven breathing. He suspected Adrien did want to talk. But it remained silent longer than Nino would have expected under the circumstances. And Nino was blissfully comfortable next to Adrien’s warmth and familiar presence and Nino’s caffeine boost was fading fast. He quickly found himself nodding off. 

“Promise you won’t judge?”

Nino started awake. 

“Nino?” Adrien rolled onto his side toward Nino.

“Yeah?” Nino responded, trying to disguise the crack in his voice. 

“You fell asleep, didn’t you?” Adrien observed dryly.

“No!” Nino denied for all he was worth.

Adrien sighed, returning to his back. “I told you that you didn’t have to come.” 

Nino shook his head. “Come on! Admit it. You wanted me to be here.” 

Adrien sat up on the bed. Nino met his green-eyed gaze easily. “Yeah…” Adrien admitted. “I did.”

Nino gave a slight nod. “So, I’m here.” 

Adrien rubbed the back of his neck. “I just… I hate being high maintenance.” 

“You’re not high maintenance,” Nino said gently for what had to be the millionth time over the last ten years. “Your asshole father just has you brainwashed into believing you have to handle it all yourself. But you don’t. And today, you’re having a bad day, so I’m here.”

“A horrible day!” Adrien agreed. “And it’s only just started.” 

Nino sat up, spun his legs to be at Adrien’s side, and then shoulder bumped his friend. “So, let me make the rest of it better.”

Adrien grinned. “Thank you. Thank you for being here.” 

“You don’t have to thank me for that, mec.”

“I know, but I want to.”

Nino scooted closer. “So, do you want to talk about what happened? Or do you want to be distracted?” 

“How about I tell you what happened, and then you can distract me?” 

“Sounds good, mec.”

“I met him at the university library,” Adrien began, his gaze on the far wall, and not on Nino. But Nino gave him his full attention anyway. “I was doing research for my thesis. And when he saw me fumbling with a stack of textbooks he just offered to help me put my reference books away. And he started talking about physics and when we were done, we just kept talking. We ended up downstairs in the student union just having coffee. It didn’t seem like he recognized me.” Adrien tugged at his blond locks. “I’m such an idiot! Of course, he recognized me. How can anyone not recognize me? My face is on every other billboard!” 

“It makes me feel like you’re always with me,” Nino joked.

Adrien responded with a flick from his middle finger to the brim of Nino’s hat, sending the red keepsake snapping off his head. 

“Hey!” Nino objected. “Anything but the hat.”

“Right. Sorry.” 

“It’s fine, mec,” Nino soothed. If there was one person Nino actually trusted with his older brother’s hat, it was Adrien. “So, what happened over coffee?” 

“Nothing really. Like I said, we just talked. It was nice. Or… I thought it was. We almost split there, but then he whirled back around and asked me out. He seemed genuinely interested, and I had really enjoyed talking to him, I thought maybe it was worth a shot! Especially after…” he trailed off. And yeah, Nino knew Adrien was still pining after this mystery girl he worked with after years of her saying no. “It just felt nice to be wanted.” 

And god, if it wasn’t always the same story.

“We went to dinner at this little cafe. You know, even if he was acting the whole time, he really was a fantastic conversationalist. It was just so easy! And I thought… we had a connection? It was just one kiss. But apparently, the whole thing was a set up. I knew as soon as the flash went off. They had a screen for lighting and everything.”

He must have been good, Nino surmised. Adrien hadn’t been tricked by one of these looking for a moment of fame since they were seventeen.

“But I should have known better. Nathalie always says to never go out the same day they ask.”

“What?! You didn’t give Nathalie time to write a twenty page report on your potential suitor?” Nino asked mockingly.

Adrien barked a laugh. “Twenty? Try forty!” Then his mirth faded. “But I hate it, Nino. I hate being so suspicious and cynical.” 

Nino clamped his hand onto Adrien’s shoulder and squeezed in what he hoped was a reassuring manner. 

“And I hate it more when she’s right,” Adrien added in a whisper. 

At those words, Nino pulled him into a hug. “I’m sorry, dude. Wish the world was filled with more genuine people and less opportunists.”

“Yeah…”

It was silent again, and Nino was at a loss for how to fill it. But he definitely didn’t want Adrien spiraling in his thoughts for too long. 

“How’d your father take it?” It wasn’t the question Nino wanted to ask, but it was always best to get the Gabriel rant out of the way.

Adrien’s whole body went rigid in Nino’s arms. “I haven’t actually talked to him yet.”

Nino just hugged him harder. “How many times has Nathalie called?”

Adrien pulled away, and tossed him his phone. Nino unlocked it with practiced ease. Missed calls - three. Spaced exactly thirty minutes apart. Nino shook his head.

“That’s not that bad.”

“Bet she texts or calls you before she makes it to call number five,” Adrien countered.

Nino laughed. “You’re on. She’ll try you at least three more times. Anything in particular you want me to negotiate for?”

“I don’t want to talk to him today. Tomorrow is fine.” 

Nino waved his hand dismissively. “That one’s obvious, dude. I was thinking more like your working conditions in general?” 

“I would love it if we could move my fittings to early morning. Like super early. Five am? I’ve requested it before, but it costs extra to have a team there that early.”

Nino made a distasteful face. “I don’t know why you’d want to get up so blasted early.”

“I just want to get it over with so I have more time to study or hang out with my friends during the rest of the day. Is my company not worth a dawn wake up in your world?”

“This is my dawn! And here I am!”

Adrien’s grin faded. “Yeah. Sorry.”

“None of that!” Nino waved his arms dramatically. “We already established that when you need me, I am here!”

Adrien’s lips curled up into a soft smile. “Thank you.”

“So, are you okay?” Nino finally asked the question he had been wanting to ask since he arrived. Adrien had just been outed publicly.

Adrien shrugged. “Just embarrassed… mostly. You know I am comfortable with my sexuality. I was really only keeping it under wraps for father and the company.”

“Are you really okay?”

Adrien chuckled darkly. “How do you do that?”

Nino shrugged, his body going limp. “It’s my superpower, clearly. So you’re not okay, I take it?”

Adrien sighed. “I don’t know. I guess I was ready to be out with my friends, and the important people already know, but being outed publicly is terrifying. I feel so exposed. Like more than normal.

“And apparently, I do care what people think. But I hate that I care!” Adrien bit out, the bitterness and self-reproach clear in his tone. “I thought I didn’t, but I definitely do,” he added, his voice softer. “I wish I was brave enough not to.”

“Dude!” Nino objected. “You’re being too hard on yourself. It’s normal to not want to be judged. I know I wouldn’t want to be. Not when it wasn’t by choice.” Nino was out only with his closest friends. He had never talked to his parents. They weren’t exactly traditional, but they grew up in a country where homosexuality was met with prison time. Nino didn’t think they would disown him or anything, but he didn’t expect them to be thrilled. And he didn’t want to risk it. Not unless it was necessary.

Noël didn’t know either. Nino didn’t think his little brother would care, but Nino wasn’t confident Noël would remain discreet either. 

“Know that I’m with you every step of the way,” Nino promised. 

“Thanks, dude.” Adrien didn’t say anything more, but his blond eyebrows scrunched together so he was clearly thinking about something. “I definitely fantasized about my public coming out at some charity or something. Some event that could help the LGBTQ cause and community. And now it just feels so… tawdry. Like it’s just another sex scandal. And I feel like that possibility was stolen from me.”

Nino was quiet. “I’m sorry, mec. This wasn’t cool.”

Adrien shrugged. “And I’m maybe a little heartbroken. But I’m used to that.”

Nino’s chest tightened. It wasn’t fair. If anyone on this earth deserved love, it was Adrien.

“Anything I can do?”

“You’re doing it!” Adrien looked up and genuinely smiled, his green eyes impossibly bright. “You always do.” 

Nino smiled. “That’s because I love you, dude. You know that right?” 

“Yeah, man. Of course I do. And I love you, too.”

“What do you want to do for the rest of the day? Do you just want to hang out just the two of us? Or shall I invite the girls over?”

The girls meant Marinette, Kagami, and Chloé. But maybe Nino would include Alya as well since she was in town. 

“They will tear this guy to pieces.”

Nino nodded. “Exactly. He deserves it.”

“Do you think Marinette will actually come?” 

“I mean, I think if anything will bring her out of her cave of isolation to make you feel better, it would be that headline.” 

Adrien hesitated, another hand on his neck. “I don’t know… I don’t know if I want to face them. I’m so embarrassed. Chloé is going to give me hell for not seeing through this guy.”

Nino didn’t agree on that assessment. Chloé would definitely give him a hard time. But she’d do it at some point weeks or months in the future. She wouldn't tease him today. “If she does, remind her of the Antonia disaster!” 

Adrien laughed. Thank all the kwamis that that relationship had only lasted six months. Six long excruciating months. They had all hated Antonia, and not only because the feeling was mutual, but because she had torn Chloé’s sense of self worth into shreds. 

“Seriously mec, there’s nothing to be embarrassed about. We’ve all had colossal misjudgements in relationships. Like all of us.” 

“When has Marinette screwed up?” 

Nino’s laugh exploded from his chest. “Mec, you have no idea. Unfortunately, I am not at liberty to say.”

“What?! No fair! Why do you get to know, and not me?” 

Nino just shrugged. He probably would have had no trouble gossiping about Marinette to Adrien if so many of her secrets didn’t involve the blond in question. “I don’t make the rules. I just follow them.”

“What about you?” Adrien asked. “When have you screwed up in a relationship?” 

“Does a drunk hook-up count?” Nino asked.

“Depends! Were they cute?” 

“Not as cute as you,” Nino snarked back. 

Adrien actually blushed, and then just threw his arms around Nino again. 

“Thank you,” he said sincerely.

“For?”

“For being here despite my protests, for making me feel better.” 

Nino squeezes Adrien tighter. “Always, mec.”

“You can invite the girls, but can we do it at my place?”

“I thought your place had paparazzi.” 

“Just a van.”

Nino winced. That was almost worse than a crowd. A team on stakeout would be more invasive and they’d stick around for longer. 

They rolled to their feet. Neither had anything in the way of belongings and exited into the hallway.

“Which room is the gorilla staying in?” 

Adrien jerked his thumb towards the adjacent room. 

Nino knocked with a complicated staccato rhythm. The door swung open a few seconds later. 

“Morning, Big G!” Nino greeted enthusiastically offering a fist, which Adrien’s protector reciprocated, though his expression remained devoid of feeling. 

“We’re heading out,” Nino explained. “Back to his place. I’m ordering breakfast on the way. What do you want from Tom and Sabine’s?” 

The stoic man nodded and signed animatedly. 

Nino nodded. “Sounds good! We’ll meet you out front in fifteen.” 

Adrien shook his head as the door closed. “How is it that you know how to talk to him better than I do?”

“Sign language isn’t that hard, man. And I had motivation to learn!” 

It was hard to bribe a man if you didn’t speak his language.

…

Chapter 2

[bh7theseriesblog]

The Origins of Big Hero 7

Big Hero 7: The Series

Origins

*A flicker of black and white starts up for a while, static noises barely blocks out a voice*

Umm…Hello? Can you hear me?

*the flickering and static stops as it shows a 14 year old girl with dyed blue hair and purple eye contacts*

Can you hear me? Oh it's working!

*The girl sits on the chair in front of the camera. She smooths out her sea green skirt as she clears her throat*

Hi! So…after some thinking I decided to make a video diary so I can remember what I said. After all, who knows when it'll come in handy right? Oh right! I forgot to introduce myself! My name is Cora Mizichio.

*Cora chuckles slightly before continuing*

So I guess I should start with my life and such. Let me warn you though, it's kind of a long and wild story.

*she pulls out a phone and starts showing pictures*

I have lived in San Fransokyo for my whole life with my Dad, Mizuchi and Grandmama, Kaguya. My mom, Akemi passed away when I was a baby.

*image of a blonde hair woman smiled warmly before switching to Cora and her family. Her father being Goliath in stature and her grandmother dressed in a kimono with a cane*

Then my family found out that I'm incredibly intelligent for my age. I suppose hacking into your father's computer to send a birthday card at the age of 4 does that. My Dad is very sweet and an old softie, but is very protective of me and wasn't sure that I should go to school. So I was homeschooled, it was fun being taught by Grandmama and such about Marine biology, but…I felt kind of lonely…

After all my studies, I actually made a habit of bot fighting disguised as an unknown cat-masked competitor under the name 'Nekodomo'. It earned good money since at the time Dad hadn't gotten any luck with jobs due to his height. But it was my very first night of bot fighting that I met him…Hiro Hamada

*she flips the photo to a young Asian boy her age, with messy raven hair, large almond brown eyes and a tooth gap in his smile.*

I've never had very much luck when it came to making or having friends, so if I someone told me that I would end up dating this guy I would had laughed. But yeah we did. I was paired up with Hiro in one of those special bot fighting events like the duo duel. We won, but than the cops were coming and I was so scared of getting caught that I couldn't move. But then the next thing I know Hiro grabs my hand and we were running like crazy before the cops even spot us! I have no idea how long we had been running, but to be honest I didn't really care because I was still awe-struck by the fact that Hiro had save me from getting arrested and we didn't even know each other at the time. But that was all about to change, because as we were finally approaching a safe distance from the cops, it was at that moment where I tripped and fell flat on my face, and at the same time broke my mask. Thankfully Hiro picked me back up and we started running again, with me leaving my broken mask behind. Once we finally stopped and knew we were safe, that was when Hiro and I actually first met face-to-face. Now I have to be honest with you, I've never really known if the whole 'Love at first sight' thing was actually real or not, but it's the only thing I can describe how I felt when I first looked into Hiro's eyes. It was there when we properly introduced ourselves to each other and after that, we started seeing each other more. And it was only after 4 months of hanging out together, that I finally got to meet his family, and he got to meet mine.

*The picture now showed Hiro with a woman holding a calico japanese bobtail cat and a young man on either side of him.*

The woman on his left is his Aunt Cass, she runs a coffee shop called the Lucky Cat Cafe. The young man on his right is his older brother Tadashi. And the adorably cute kitty-cat Aunt Cass is holding is Mochi, their family pet. They are really cool people, and they always asked how I was doing and such, and Mochi is such a sweet kitty that he always tries to cuddle up to me whenever I come over. Hiro and I actually became an official thing one night when I saved his butt from Yama's minions. And boy were they surprised! Aunt Cass actually bounced when Hiro told them that I'm his girlfriend! Dad and Grandmama met them that night too, while dad wasn't too happy at first about me dating, Grandmama convinced him…after hitting him on the head with her cane.

*Cora giggled at the memory*

Anyway, After a slight misadventure where Hiro and Tadashi landed in jail and Cass had to bail them out, Tadashi actually took Hiro to SFIT, San Fransokyo institute of Technology that same night. Hiro told me that he met Tadashi's friends. There's Gogo: the cool biker chick, Honey Lemon: the stylish Chem genius, Wasabi: Laser neat freak, and Fred: the secret Billionaire super hero geek. Afterwards Hiro and I actually applied to SFIT by entering the showcase! Hiro made these miniature robots he called Microbots which he can control via head transmitter, I on the other hand did super strength suction cup shoes that can stick on any surface. We both won and we…were gonna celebrate until…a huge fire broke out in the showcase building and Tadashi ran back inside to help Callaghan, a teacher at the school….he didn't make it…

*Cora turned quiet, looking at her hands as she takes a deep breath*

Hiro wasn't himself for a while. I visited him a lot since the fire, and I mostly talked and tried to comfort and be there for him. Then came the day Hiro stubbed his toe and Baymax came along.

*A picture of a white inflated figure came to the picture*

Baymax was Tadashi's project, a robotic nurse to be more specific. He heard Hiro say ow and activated to help him. Then one of Hiro's microbots started acting weird, and Baymax followed the direction it went! It was then we found a guy in a kabuki mask controlling the Microbots. But they were destroyed at the fire right? Once Hiro pieced together that it was the kabuki-masked man that started the fire to steal them, which in turned killed Tadashi…Hiro decided to build Baymax some armor which…well

*the next picture showed Baymax in protective gear*

We traveled down to the port where we saw him take some type of machine out of the ocean. But then it turns out Baymax called the gang to help us, but sadly the guy in the mask saw us. We barely escaped with our lives that night! Thankfully Baymax being a walking marshmallow, also makes him an inflatable raft too. Afterwards we got to Fred's mansion and discussed over what to do next. Side note: it was weird to see that Fred is a billionaire.

*shows portrait of a young Fred and his parents in classy attire*

Hiro and I then built ourselves armor to fight the guy in the mask. Honey lemon got this cute chemistry purse to pull out what she needed, Gogo got some sick skates to zoom past us, Fred got a killer Kaiju costume that breaths fire, Wasabi got awesome laser blades on the backs of his hands, and I got my aquatic camouflage suit with squid strength suction cup shoes! And learning back from his previous work, Hiro turned Baymax from a stay puff marshmallow with bicycle gear to an awesome superhero!

*the next photo shows Baymax in his red armor*

After training and flying around the city we got down to business. We flew to Akuma island where the masked guy was, and it was there we learned something interesting. Krei and some government officials had something called 'Project Silent Sparrow'. It backfired when the portal sucked everything in, and the pilot was stuck. But then the masked guy attacked us! We tried to fight back but….

*a small clip showed Fred jumping only to be punched away *

We bombed, big time.

Hiro and I got lucky to get the mask…but the person was not who we thought….

Turns out Callaghan grabbed the transmitter and used it and the Microbots to protect himself in the fire…leaving Tadashi to die….

It was then that Hiro took out Baymax's health care chip and ordered him to kill Callaghan…

*Cora took a deep breathe before standing up and leaving the room, she returned back with a glass of water and started drinking it. Once she was done She then continued.*

Thankfully the gang got Baymax back to normal but Hiro was furious. He just left with Baymax…but we eventually met up with Hiro at his place, with a video of Tadashi…it was also when we showed him what we discovered. The pilot was no random person Krei hired. She was Callaghan's daughter, and Callaghan was out for blood.

We got to Krei Tech where Callaghan got his portal running. Hiro then learned what we needed to do to beat him; instead of the mask, we take out the Microbots, then he'd be powerless. But despite that, the portal was still open, and ready to tear itself to pieces. Then Baymax dropped the biggest bomb on us, Callaghan's daughter was still alive in there.

Hiro and I got on Baymax to rescue her. We found her pod but Baymax's thrusters were wrecked from the debris…

Baymax…he got us out by rocket punch…but stayed behind in the portal…

It's been weeks since then…

Krei agreed to keep our identities a secret, Callaghan is in prison, and his daughter is making a steady recovery at the hospital. And the news had been exploding over 'the mysterious group of heroes' that saved the city.

Hiro and I had been doing good, we talked to the gang a lot and we actually reapplied to SFIT again.

*Cora then looks at the clock beside her and gasped*

Oh man it's almost midnight! And first day of class is tomorrow! Anyway, thank you for listening! And…Baymax…I don't know if you can hear me..but Hiro has been doing good. We all miss you…especially me and Hiro...wish us good luck, cause who knows what happens tomorrow.

*Cora smiles at the camera before turning it off.*

A.N: This is an updated look for the prolouge chapter of Big Hero 7: The Series!

Liking the new visuals? ;3

This chapter has been edited by WolfWitchHuntress1318 at Fanfiction.net! Thank you for being my patient editor! Thank you for following and reading Big Hero 7! Love ya!

[calumrose]

Leah... hurt me.. “I really love holding you, darling.” with Luke 😌♥️

Lauren, you asked for me to hurt you and I don’t know if I’ve succeeded. If my messages blow up then I know I’ve done something right <3 I hope you enjoy it! 

Prompt:  “I really love holding you, darling.”

The sound of the clock ticking was like an eerie echo, each singular flick of the clock-hand matching with the heartbeat that Luke felt in his chest. He didn’t know why he was awake, his eyes resting open at the late hour, the warmth of the white cotton sheets against his skin protecting him from the gentle breeze that slipped through the crack of the open window on the left side of the room. 

You had requested to keep it open, complaining of the overbearing heat that the room seemed to accumulate throughout the night. To which, Luke automatically left the window open ajar when he went to bed that night, just enough to allow for the cooling air to slip into the room and battle against the growing heat. 

He turned his head, left cheek resting against the soft pillow as his eyes fell onto you as you slept next to him. Luke watched with a kind smile, the overcast of the moonlight that slipped through the open curtains provided a beautiful blue tone to the shared room, the shadows casting over you in the silence of the night. He felt blessed, he felt lucky to have someone like you there, to have someone like you to share his life with. He had everything he could have ever wanted; a partner he adored, a family he treasured, he had a home.

Luke remembered the day you met, the day you got engaged, the day you got married, the day you welcomed Elle into the world, and he knew he would remember the day when you would welcome your next child in a few months’ time. Each date was significant to Luke, each date was a memory he came to treasure. They brought a smile to his face; they caused a vivid rerun to play in his mind every time they came around each year. 

Photographs littered the walls that graced the hallway, elegant coloured frames hung on the pale coloured walls, each frame striking a soft contrast, standing out from the space. Each photograph represented a memory, represented a time of pure emotion that was deemed life changing. And every time Luke caught a glimpse at a stilled memory, he relieved that love he had for that day all over again.

But as of late, the walls had become bare. With every day that passed over recent weeks, a photo was removed, and a memory was erased from the home, although never erased from Luke’s mind. 

He wasn’t sure how he found himself wandering through the house at the late hour, barely remembering the bend of his arms as he pushed himself out of bed, pressing a soft kiss to your forehead before he entered the hallway and made his way through the house. 

It was quiet, the almost static silence filled Luke’s ears as his bare feet carried him across the wooden floors. Boxes stood proud at the bottom of the hall, the last few remaining pieces of cardboard and plastic piled up only to be packed away and moved across the city when the morning came around. 

With a soft hand, Luke pushed open the familiar white door, a sleepy yet loving smile spread upon his face as he was welcomed with the gentle ambience of the nightlight that flowed softly beneath the window. Blue eyes fell to the slow rise and fall of the baby pink duvet that was thrown haphazardly over the small bed. Luke has to stop himself from allowing for a chuckle to slip past his lips, eyes spotting the small leg that was sticking out from the duvet, bare foot hanging over the edge of the bed as the owner slept soundly in her bed. 

She looked so comfortable, little fists balling the duvet in her hands as she tucked it beneath her chin, little tufts of air leaving her pouty lips with every breath. Luke found himself leaning against the door, heart beating with love as he watched Elle, admiring how her curls were untamed against the pillow, her lashes flush against her cheeks, and how she subtly snuggled against her soft sheets, her chin digging into the fabric as she found comfort in the soothing fabric. 

“My sweet girl,” Luke murmured more to himself, eyes never drifting from the restful expression of the sleeping child. Her room was bare around him, the photos and toys being packed away, ready for the following morning, all that was left being her bed, her nightlight, and the girl herself. He wondered how she would settle when the two of you would show her the new house, wondering if it would be as easy as you hoped. 

He knew not to disturb her, to leave her to dream of happy things for him to hear about the following morning. Tomorrow was a big day for all of you, for her more than anyone. She was leaving the only home she had known and was gaining a new one, it was going to be an adjustment. 

Luke leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed over his chest, ankles locked with one behind the other as he watched the peaceful sight. It filled him with a restful warmth, a feeling he lost himself in every time he saw her sweet face. 

He lost himself in the feeling with such ease, the warmth enveloping him and almost numbing him pleasantly that he didn’t hear you behind him. He didn’t hear your bedroom door open, nor did he hear the soft patter of your feet against the floor as you spotted his silhouette in the opening of Elle’s bedroom door. 

“What’re you doing up?” His voice was soft as he felt your arms slip around his waist, your cheek resting against the skin of his back as you held yourself against him. He was warm, like always, his skin matching the warmth that his heart radiated, the gentle heat being something you craved in the cold of the night, something that you found yourself missing when it was gone even for the shortest amount of time. 

“Couldn’t sleep,” Luke could hear the sleep in your voice as you responded, feeling the soft nuzzle of your cheek against his back, your lips pressing a soft kiss to his skin. He smiled at your words, arm lifting as it reached around to go behind you, palm finding the small of your back as he shifted his position, so you were standing just in front of him instead of behind his frame. “She’s been kicking like crazy, so I’m guessing she’s as nervous about the move as I am.”

Luke chuckled at your words, keeping his amusement quiet as to not risk waking Elle who still slept soundly. It had only been a few months but, boy, time was going by fast. Everything seemed to be happening at once; a new house, a new baby, it was all happening. But Luke didn’t mind — he welcomed it in fact. 

“She’s just excited, I think,” Luke pressed a kiss to the top of your hand, warm hands slipping around your waist as they came to rest on the growing bump that kept itself snugly tucked away beneath the fabric of your nightshirt. You let your head fall against his broad shoulder, your eyes closing momentarily as you felt his fingers draw gentle circles through the grey fabric of the shirt, a soft smile curling at your lips at the silent action of comfort he brought to the baby. 

“And just like that, you soothe her as quickly as you do with Elle, you need to teach me your ways, babe,” You smirked, your hands finding his on your stomach, palms resting on the back of his large hands as your fingers slipped between his own. “We should take this opportunity while we can, let’s go back to bed before she wakes up again,” You let out a gentle scoff of a laugh, leaning back against Luke before slowly turning in his arms so you faced him head on. 

You could see the bags under his eyes, the skin evidence of how tired he had grown to become over recent weeks. He had been busy — packing, sorting, writing, parenting… Life had taken over for Luke, consuming his time, and he loved it. 

“Just stay here for a minute,” Luke whispered, hands sliding around from your stomach to meet at your back again, a smile on his face as he felt you take a small step closer, your stomach lightly pressing against him as you leaned into his touch. “I really love holding you, darling, so just let me for a second,” 

“You hold me all of the time.” You couldn’t help but point out, rolling your eyes playfully as you looked up at him, pressing a soft chaste to his chin from where you stood beneath him. 

“I don’t see you complaining.” Luke spoke into your hair, pressing his lips against your hairline, keeping his arms wrapped gently around you, not wanting to let you go, enjoying the feeling of having you right there. 

You were always right there. 

“That’s because I love it just as much as you do,” Your voice was almost hushed, remembering you were still in the doorway of your daughter’s bedroom, arms wrapped around one another as you held one another close. “But we need to go back to bed. We’ve got a big day tomorrow,” 

You were right. Tomorrow was when you would say goodbye to the walls that had been your home for the past few years, where you say goodbye to the walls that held your memories only for you to take them with you and make new ones in your new home. 

Luke’s cheek rested against your head, the soft scent of your shampoo still lingering and filling his nostrils as he held you against his chest. His eyes glancing down the hallway, blue irises settling once again on the packed boxes that sat proudly next to the front door. It was finally happening. After so long, after so many discussions you were starting fresh. 

Tomorrow was a new beginning. 

And Luke couldn’t wait to start it with you.

---

Send me a soft/blush prompt & I’ll write a blurb for it :)

[missskzbiased]

So, as I mentioned before, my friend and I looked at those Clio SKZ pictures and decided to label them as Characters in an Office au Drama SUHAUHSAHUSAUHSUAHA Just because.

I genuinely think about trying some of those (if not all of them) out someday LOL 'cause I think they're really fitting!

I have no idea what this should be called. Is it a scenario? Anyway!

Changbin

I'm sorry to all Changbin's lovers (including myself) but Changbin in this set of pictures for Clio is CLEARLY the support role, okay?

He's the really funny employee that messes around the office.

100% sure changed the time on the clock once, just to get to go home earlier, and screwed someone (Yes, Minho, I'm talking about you) by mistake. Everyone seems to love and hate him at the same time. Friendly and a good listener (Quite possibly will spread some things around too)

Minho

You can look into his eyes in this picture (and the other ones for this thing) and see he's cocky as hell and wants to get laid.

For me, it's clear he has to be the male lead for a plot (along with Seungmin but we'll get there) and his sad past is about working hard to be successful.

He's probably Y/N's boss or just someone occupying a superior position than them. Not too superior, tho. It allows them to be kind of casual with each other but not too much. Instead of a boss, could be just someone that works there longer.

Y/N probably did something really stupid (like spilling coffee on him and trying to wipe it off with their hands) and he uses it to tease them about how they can't take their hands/eyes off him till this very day.

Teasing remarks, cocky smile, smugness overflow, and constant flirting will flatter and piss of Y/N through the plot.

Han

I know Han is an all-rounder in real life but here, he's clearly that guy who got a really high position 'cause he is related to the president LOL.

He could be the nephew or something like this.

CAN'T DO HIS JOB FOR DEAR LIFE

He's kinda flirty like Minho but he's not cocky like him. He's the charming guy, funny and flirting, who walks around the office all day offering to pay for meals, invite them to hang out after work, and stuff like this. Everyone likes him 'cause he's cool but the moment someone says something work-related he vanishes.

He's Minho's friend for some reason.

Probably Minho saved his ass in a work-related scenario and Han is really grateful for him. Because of this, Han saved his ass in return when Changbin tricked everyone to get out of work earlier. Minho totally does his work and Han totally supports his promotion so they can "work" together (which just means Han won't do any work but will be happy 'cause Minho will reach his goals and both of them can be satisfied)

Felix

Flower boy next department.

He's probably the new employee in the building. Everyone thinks he's sweet, cute and wants to know/meet/date him. He's the friendly guy who goes from department to department with brownies, cookies, or other things he baked.

Either Minho doesn't like him because he catches too much attention or doesn't give a shit about the new boy. On the other side, Changbin LOVES the boy. He not only brings lots of potential crushes for Changbin but also is really well informed (loves any kind of social media) and shares everything he sees with Changbin.

It's possible he has a small crush on Y/N but nothing important for the plot? They see him like a little brother and find them adorable. Probably would have a Y/N's friend reaaaally into him.

Jeongin

The President's son

He's Han's cousin and both of them can't understand each other. While Han can't work for dear life, IN does work a lot and is really good at what he does.

His plot would involve Han and how both of them fell for the same person (not the Y/N for Minho) and now have to compete to get their heart. He can't understand how Han can do his job if he's never in his room.

For this scenario, I think he really fits that perfect boss image... Really successful for sure! Probably admires Minho's work but doesn't know he helps Han. Minho has to watch out for this.

Chan

The intern

I know Chan is the older one but in this picture, he gives younger vibes and I'd let him be the intern. Possibly has some contacts to IN/Han's family?

He admires IN a lot and is kinda under his wing. Probably will be used to get some info about IN/Han's Y/N lol

He works with Seungmin, tho.

For me, it's clear that Chan and Felix would have a Y/N for themselves too. The two sweet boys that make it too hard to decide? Not sure! But the triangle would have to be about them.

Seungmin

He's Y/N's Best friend since... Maybe since diaper days.

He doesn't hate Minho but he doesn't like him either. He's constantly telling you he's can only think with his dick and is always watching for his approaches. They exchange some nasty words once in a while but it's really low-key. He's protective and fond of you and - obviously - fell for you at some point along the way.

He lives with his grandma (yeah) and probably his sad background story is about losing his parents and working really hard to give his grandma a good life. He's the straight A's kind of guy.

I don't know about you guys but Seungmin is clearly the fresh guy who always looks like he had just come out of the shower. Smells good.

He and Y/N have been together as friends for a long while, as I said before, and they go with him to visit his parents' graves and always say something kind. They probably knew them, since they're friends for so long. They're really supportive of each other.

Everyone in the family knows Seungmin likes Y/N and no one can see it working out ('cause they don't realize it), so Grandma sets him up for some blind dates once in a while.

Hyunjin

He's not in the photo but he's in my heart so he gets a role too.

He's not a coworker but he's Seungmin's cousin. He's probably younger and is really good with photography and stuff like this. He's a genius/ really talented but people just don't see it.

Totally stole Seungmin's camera when he was younger and that was how he began to take photos.

His life is hanging around at Grandma's (He doesn't admit it but he's checking on Seungmin) and mocking Seungmin for not

He promotes himself on social media and that's how Felix knows him. Felix admires him a lot and has no clue that Hyunjin is Seungmin's cousin. Both of them will totally work together to try and get Y/N and Seungmin alone/together.

Hyunjin would probably meet someone who's rich and has an interest in art and in his job. Maybe he could work for their corporation or something. Maybe it could be where all of them work. Either way, he's completely oblivious to their intentions.

[lovingoneweisalifestyle]

Surprise Visit

A/N: This took a bit long to write, sorry 😬 I hope you enjoy it! It got shorter near the end bc i ran out of ideas 😅 Enjoy!

Yonghoon:

It has only been a week since you left for a work trip but he already missed you. He would look at your photos murmuring to himself about wanting to see you again. He’d stare at the clock and as soon as it was morning in your timezone, he’d call you right away. 

“Isn’t it really late for you right now, what are you doing awake?” you greeted him when you picked up the phone. 

“I'm having trouble sleeping because you weren’t there” you could hear his pout through the phone. 

“Aww, you’re so clingy,” you teased him, “but in all seriousness, you should sleep. You have work too in the morning” you scolded him  

He sighed, “I know, I know. I just wanted to hear your voice. When did you say you’re coming back? I can’t be without you for too long” 

“You’ll be fine, it’s only for one more week.” you assured him “and now i’m going to hang up and you better sleep, i’ll call you later” you hung up the phone before he could say anything. 

Truthfully, your plane was about to take off and you were on your way back. You had finished up your work earlier than expected and decided to surprise Yonghoon knowing how much he missed you. 

After your flight landed, you took a taxi to your house and freshened up before heading to go see Yonghoon. 

You arrived at the dorms but no one seemed to be home so you entered the passcode and allowed yourself in. You stopped at the entrance of Yonghoon’s bedroom. 

“What a mess,” you shook your head at the sight of clothes on the floor and polaroids scattered around. Making sure not to accidentally step on anything, you took a closer look. It was your hoodie that went missing recently, Yonghoon probably kept it with him because of your scent. 

You picked up the polaroid. It was a picture of his arm slung over your shoulders and you staring at him with goofy smiles on both of your faces. You took it together on a date to the movies. He saw a photobooth and practically begged you to take a photo with him. You picked up another polaroid, this time, it’s the polaroid you took of him. 

Yonghoon walked into the room and saw you staring at the polaroids. He gasped “you’re back!” he tackled you onto the bed in a hug

You sat up, “I’m back, I finished work early and decided to surprise you!” you explained 

“But what’s all this? Why are you acting like I'm dead or that we broke up?” you raised an eyebrow, gesturing to his room full of your belongings. 

“Oh….that.” his face burned up as he tried to think of an excuse. “I just missed you too much” he attacked you with more hugs. “Don’t ever go anywhere for too long without me”

“Alright, alright” you hugged him back

Harin:

Your family had family reunions every year in different countries every time. This time, it was held in The Bahamas for a week. Harin already missed you so he decided to shoot you a text. 

You were in the pool, playing around with your cousins when you heard your phone beep. You swam to the side of the pool and pointed to your phone, “what does it say?”

She picked up your phone, “it says, ‘how’s the reunion going? i hope you’re having fun, i miss you. call me when you can’ with a heart and it’s from ‘Perfect Man Harin’ whose Harin?” she wiggled her eyebrows 

You climbed out of the pool and dryed yourself off. Taking your phone you said, “well, whose [sister’s boyfriend’s name]? I heard you talking to them on the phone” you teased back before walking off and calling Harin’s number

“How’s the trip going? Are you having fun?” he greeted you after answering your call 

“It’s going great! I haven’t been able to spend lots of time with my family since I was really busy and this is a great time to catch up. I miss you lots, you should’ve come with me” you said

“You know if I could, I would’ve but we had to do a concert” you could hear the dissapointment in his voice, “but you should enjoy this moment to the fullest!”

You both talked for a while before your phone was about to die so you had to say your goodbyes

“I’ll see you soon in two days” you told him before hanging up the phone “I love you”

As you were headind to the elevators, you sister spotted you. “You’re going upstairs already?” you asked her

“yup! gotta pack for our flight tonight. what about you?” she pushed the button on the elevator

“i went to get my charger but wait, our flight is tonight? I thought it’s in two days?” you ask her

“ah, i see you’re still forgetfull as ever” she laughed 

You decided to pack your stuff too. Night came and your flight left. You headed to your house to drop off your stuff, take a shower and change your clothes.

You decided to go the company to surprise Harin. You entered the practice room where all of ONEWE were practicing. You heard Yonghoon singing and the insturments playing. You didn’t want to distrub them so you quietly walked into the room. 

After the song was over, Dongmyeong noticed you, “Oh, hey y/n. I thought you were on a trip?”

Harin’s head snapped up at the mention of your name, “you’re back!” a smile broke out on his face, “i thought you were coming back in two days”

Harin got out from behind the drums and picked you up and spun you around, “I missed you so much”

“I missed you too and I messed up the dates and accidentally told you the wrong date i would come back” you smiled sheepishly

Harin turned to the other members “practice is over for today right?” they nodded in return and watched as Harin grabbed his bag and your hand, “you haven’t eaten, right? let’s go eat. you need to tell me everything that happened”

Kanghyun:

Hyungu knew that you needed this vacation so he tried not to call and text you too much. He couldn’t help it and still texted you quite often but just small texts like “how’s your day?” “have you eaten?” “I love you”

To be honest, you felt a little lonely all by yourself in the large hotel room. You weren’t too far away from home but you didn’t want to go home just yet becuase then you’d have to go to work again, where you’ll fall under pressure and stress.

You were wishing that Hyungu had come along with you and looked forward to the small messages he sent you so you could call him. 

“Hyungu, are you busy?” you called him 

“No, what’s up?” he asked 

“Talk with me for a while then” you wanted to hear his voice but you wanted to see his face even more. 

That evening, you decided that three days was long enough vacation. You took a week off from work so you’ll just spend the rest of your vacation days with him at his house. 

You took a cab to his house and rang the doorbell. Harin opened the door and was surprised to see you here with your bags in hand. He invited you inside, “Hyungu’s not home right now” he answered before you had asked

“Oh, we’ll i’ll just wait for him then. In the meantime, how have you been?” you talked with Harin for a while. You explained how it was lonely at the hotel by yourself and asked if it was okay to stay with them for the remaining of your vacation. 

“We don’t have a room for you but I guess you can sleep in Hyungu’s bed with him, if you’re fine with sharing the room with Yonghoon hyung and me too” he suggested

“I don’t mind, i’m just thankful that you’ll let me stay here because it’s too lonely at my house too” you hugged Harin as a way to thank him

“You can put your bags in the room and Hyungu will be home soon” Harin said making dinner. 

You helped him make dinner and as you set the food on the table, Hyungu walked through the front door, “what’s for dinner?” he asked staring at his phone, his hand hovering over the ‘send’ button

When no one answered, he looked up. He stares at you for a second before rubbing his eyes. He’s still just standing there, “go wash up for dinner” you say

He walks over to you and hugs you tight, “you’re back early” he mumbled 

“yeah, it was lonely so i’m going to stay with you until the end of my vacation“ you shared the news

He bounced from side to side doing a happy dance, “yay! we can have a sleepover!” he said excitedly 

Dongmyeong:

You went on a year-end field trip for uni. It was held in Jeju Island this year. Dongmyeong was singing all your favorite songs non-stop because he couldn’t see you in person. 

Your hotel got mold so you guys had to cut the trip short. You decided to meet with Dongmyeong. 

You entered his house and heard him singing [your favorite song name]. “Since when have you liked that song so much?” you asked him 

He jumped up out of his seat when he saw you. “y/n! I missed you so much! You’re back!” he rushed over to pull you into a hug and kisses  

“You’re squishing me!” you laugh

He pinched your cheeks, “you’re cute”

You smiled widely, “but i missed you sooooo much~”

He returned your smile, his dimples popping out. You poke his dimples causing him to laugh more, “what have you been up to?” you ask

“singing all your favorite songs“ he replied before burting out into song

You smack him lightly, “you’re too loud, you’ll wake everyone up, it’s like 11 pm”

CyA:

Your friend has been going through a rough patch so you decided to go visit her to comfort her. 

Giuk was keeping busy to avoid missing you too much because he knew your friend needed you. He was working in his studio, late again. 

Usually you brought him food and kept him company whenever he stayed up working but you weren’t coming today. 

Your friend has been doing much better and now she’s back on her feet. You say goodbye to her and head back home. As you’re on your way home you call Dongmyeong to ask if Giuk is at the dorms or the studio. 

You thank him and hang up. You weren’t sure if he’s eaten or not but knowing him, he probably forgot. You bought both a meal and some snacks. You head to his studio. 

The door is open and you see him staring at his phone, almost hesitating.

“I brought food~“ you say holding up the bag

He doesn’t turn around, instead mutters to himself, “I must be going crazy. I can hear y/n’s voice now”

You laugh out loud and walk towards him and hug him from behind, “i’m actually here, dummy” 

He turned around and hugged you immediately, “i missed you so much!”

“me too~ what are you working on?” you pointed to his computer which had a new composition on it

He showed you the song he was working on currently, glad to be by your side again. You both ate in his studio before heading home, he slept over at your place because he wanted to be with you after being away from you for so long.

[robinrunsfiction]

Swing Life Away

Pairing: Gerard Way x Female Reader Rating: Teen Requested By: None Word Count: ~7,000 Author’s Note: This story is about about what can happen between two people whose lives aren’t turning out exactly how they planned and what happens when they turn to each other.  Inspired originally by the song “Hold On To Me” by Mayday Parade, there is a full playlist here of songs that inspired this story. TWs for mentions of substance abuse and depression. Post Bullets-era AU.

Gerard sighed as he pulled up in front of the convenience store. His well worn hoodie didn’t provide much relief against the New Jersey autumn air as he hurried inside. After checking the amount of cash he had in his pocket, he got a small coffee and headed to the counter. He rocked on his heels as he waited for the person being helped ahead of him to finish. Finally it was his turn.

“Anything else?” The girl behind the counter asked as she punched his coffee into the register, then she looked up. “Oh hey Gerard.”

Hearing her say his name, he looked up as well. “Oh, hey (YN), it’s been a while,” he smiled a little awkwardly.  “Umm, can I get a pack of cigarettes?”

“Yea, sure. How’ve you been? I haven’t seen any fliers for a My Chem show recently, are you guys not playing right now?”

Gerard’s eyes widened for a moment and his mouth went dry. He didn’t think he would be having this conversation today, but (YN) had been coming out to My Chem shows since the beginning and he knew she was a genuinely nice person who deserved to hear the truth. “Umm, I broke it up.”

(YN)’s jaw dropped and she started to blush. “Shit, I’m sorry, I hadn't heard, otherwise I wouldn’t have brought it up,” she replied, nervously tucking at her hair.

“It’s ok,” he shrugged, trying not to let on that he was still disappointed about the whole situation. “Ray and Frank already found other bands to play with and I got a job at the comic book store so I’m back to something else I enjoy, so it’s ok really.”

“What about Mikey?”

Gerard rubbed at the back of his neck. “That’s why I broke it up. He, umm, he's got some problems. He’s in rehab,” Gerard mumbled the last part, barely audible to (YN).

“Fuck,” she breathed, looking down at the counter in front of her.

“Yea, our parents blamed me for the whole thing and kicked me out. I’ve been couch surfing for a while, or just staying in my car,” Gerard nodded toward his beat up old car parked out front. “Sorry, I just kinda dumped that all on you.”

“No, I asked, and I understand. Shit, I’m really sorry about all that,” (YN) said as she took Gerard’s money for his purchase. “Hey, please don’t be afraid to say no because this is a crazy idea I just had, but my roommate moved in with her boyfriend because she got knocked up, and I’ve been looking for someone to split the rent with. If you’re looking for a place,” (YN) trailed off with a shrug.

“Really?” Gerard asked, eyebrows raised. He was surprised at the offer. None of his friends that he had been crashing with had offered to let him stay more than a couple days at a time.

“Yea, I mean, why not?” She shrugged. “Wanna come over and check it out tonight?”

“Sure, that sounds good, what time?”

“I get off at 6, so like 6:30?”

“Yea, I can do that,” he smiled and (YN) felt like a massive weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

“Cool, here’s the address and my phone number for whatever,” she said as she scrawled the information on the back of his receipt.

“I’ll see you tonight,” he said with a wave after pocketing the cigarettes. For once in a long time, Gerard finally had some hope that things were about to turn around.

~

When (YN)’s shift was over at 6, she rushed home to quickly straighten up before Gerard arrived. She desperately needed a roommate or she’d have to break her lease and be in the same situation Gerard currently found himself in, but she didn’t want to let any stranger move in. At least she knew Gerard a bit; he was always nice and fun to be around when they hung out after shows, plus he had a regular job, which was good enough for her. 

Shortly after 6:30 the doorbell rang and she rushed to answer it. “Hey Gerard, come on in.”

“Thanks,” he smiled, almost a little nervously. 

(YN) gave him the tour through the small house, showing him the open bedroom across the hall from her own, the kitchen, and bathroom. “As you can see, I don’t really have a lot of furniture,” she said when they got back to the empty living room. “My roommate had all that unfortunately, so I just kinda hang out in my room. I don’t have any weird rules or anything, and the neighborhood is safe, sooo yea. Rent would be $600 a month each plus utilities, if you’re interested after all that.”

Gerard looked around again. “Yea, I mean this would be great.”

(YN) let out a sigh of relief she didn’t realize she was holding. “Oh that’s awesome, thank you. I really didn’t wanna lose this place.”

“Oh yea, I understand,” he smiled his lopsided smile. “How soon can I move in?”

“Whenever you want. My old roommate had paid through the end of this month, so we’re ok there. I’ll let the landlord know and do the paperwork stuff.”

“Do you mind if I stay tonight? ‘Cause I don’t have,” he trailed off.

(YN) felt absolutely gutted when she realized he meant he'd be spending the night in his car, as temperatures dropped near freezing. “Oh, shit, yea, I can help carry stuff in if you want,” (YN) said quickly, grabbing her coat from the closet and following him out to his car.

Gerard didn’t have much with him, a few changes of clothes, a blanket, pillow, and a backpack full of cds and comics. He insisted that he was fine to sleep on the floor, but (YN) still gave him an extra pillow and a couple of blankets to make himself a bit more comfortable.

"Thanks again (YN) for letting me move in here and everything," Gerard said as (YN) turned to go. "I can't begin to tell you how much I appreciate it."

"I think it's gonna work out well for both of us," she smiled as she closed the door behind her.

~

Gerard retrieved the rest of his belongings that weekend and got everything moved into his room. (YN) tried to give him space while he got settled, but eventually they started talking a bit more, getting to know each other as they got used to being around each other.

A few weeks later, (YN) was sitting on the counter next to the microwave when Gerard arrived home from work, the smell of fresh popcorn greeting him. “Hey, what are you doing tonight?” (YN) asked as Gerard walked into the kitchen.

“Umm, nothing, why?” Gerard asked.

“I was getting ready to watch a movie, if you wanna hang out.”

“Yea, sure,” he nodded. “What were you thinking?”

“I dunno, any of the classics that are easy to watch, like Star Wars or Back to the Future,” she shrugged.

Gerard’s eyes lit up. “I was thinking about Empire Strikes Back earlier today.”

“Well let’s watch that one then,” she nodded, hopping off the counter as the microwave beeped.

Gerard went back to his room and dropped his backpack on the bed. He opened it up and examined the bottle of alcohol he had purchased after work. He wasn’t sure why he did it, he had told Mikey that he’d get sober too, but he had been feeling so depressed lately, he thought it might help to take the edge off.

Instead, he stashed it under his desk and changed out of his work clothes and into some pajama pants and a comfortable t-shirt so he could relax. When he walked into (YN)’s room, he was reminded of the lack of places to sit other than with her on her bed. “I’ll go get my desk chair,” he said, turning to leave.

“Oh grow up, you can sit on my bed with me,” she laughed, patting the spot next to her.

“I didn’t wanna assume,” he said rolling his eyes as he sat down, the popcorn bowl between them. Gerard finally had a chance to really look around her room, and the first thing he noticed next to the modest tv was a bookshelf filled with movies. "Woah, I never noticed your movie collection before, how'd you get so many?"

"My cousin worked for Blockbuster up until a couple years ago. She got all those at a discount and when she moved to Chicago she decided she didn't want them anymore and gave them to me."

"That's cool," Gerard replied, continuing to look around. Against the amethyst walls white Christmas lights were hung, bathing the room in a warm glow. Taped to her wall above her bed were dozens of photos, that appeared to be mainly of friends, parties, concerts, and pink roses. "You have a lot of friends."

"I don't talk to most of them any more," she said, glancing up. "They all moved on with their lives and I stayed here."

"There's nothing wrong with that," Gerard replied. He had been one of those people, he had moved on with his life, until it got out of control and now he was here as well.

(YN) shrugged. “Sometimes I wonder if maybe I should try to move on too,” she said with a nod to the photos. “Stop living in the past or whatever. Anyway, what’s it like working at the comic book store?”

Gerard shrugged. “It’s pretty good. On slow days I can just read comics for my whole shift, and the people that come in are pretty cool to talk to.”

“Do you miss music?”

Gerard looked thoughtful for a moment. “Some days. But as long as I’m doing something I enjoy, I’m happy.”

(YN) glanced over at him and smiled. “That’s good.”

Later that night (YN) had gotten up to go to the bathroom when she noticed a sliver of light coming from Gerard's doorway. When she peeked in, she saw him at his desk, working intently.

“What are you working on?” Gerard heard (YN) ask from the doorway.

“Oh umm, just this comic idea I’ve been working on,” he replied. When he looked back at her, he spotted his clock, reading that it was nearly 4 AM. “It’s so late, did I wake you up?”

“No, I just got up to go to the bathroom and I saw your light on,” she said padding quietly into the room. “Can I see?”

“Sure,” he said, turning the paper toward her.

“That’s really really good. What’s it about?”

“They’re like an adopted family of superheroes. They all have different powers and their father is trying to train them to save the world,” he said looking up at her. To his surprise, she seemed to be genuinely interested.

“You’re really talented."

"It's not that great," he shrugged.

“Pfft, are you kidding? That girl is so pretty, and there aren’t even words yet and I can tell this guy is super mad at this other aloof guy.”

Gerard looked back up at her in awe. “I’ve been struggling all night because I didn’t think it conveyed that clearly enough.”

“Nah, it’s great, you’re doing great,” she replied. “Are you just doing it for fun, or are you gonna try to get it printed?”

“I’d love to get a comic printed, but I don’t know if I ever will.”

“Like I said, you’re really talented, I bet you could make it happen. I’ll even buy a copy and tell people that you were my roommate when you were working on it.”

Gerard laughed lightly. “I’ll dedicate it to you.”

“I can’t wait. G’night Gerard,” (YN) said before retreating back to her room.

~

It was a bitterly cold winter day when (YN) returned home from work to find another car in front of the house. When she came in, she heard another voice she thought she recognized.

“Hey (YN),” Gerard called as she walked into her room.

“Yea?” She called back, dropping her things.

“Mikey’s here.”

“Oh! Hey Mikey, how’s everything going?” (YN) asked, as she walked into Gerard’s room and found his brother sitting on the bed. 

“Good,” he nodded.

She nodded as well. “I'll get out of your hair, sorry to interrupt,” (YN) waved as she ducked back into her room. Gerard had been talking about how well Mikey had been doing since finishing his program, but as far as she was aware, this was the first they had seen each other since he had completed it.

A while later she was in the kitchen getting dinner when Gerard walked Mikey to the door,  exchanging a hug before he left. After the door was closed, Gerard let out a sigh.

“Mikey looked like he’s doing good,” (YN) said as Gerard trudged into the kitchen.

“Yea,” he replied, but the tone of his voice wasn’t happy. “But he doesn’t think he can stay clean here so he’s moving.”

“Really? Where?”

“California. We got some family out there that will keep him straightened out, and keep him away from the people who got him messed up in the first place, like me.”

"Did he say you specifically?"

"No, but-"

“Gerard,” (YN) interrupted sternly. “Just because you started the band doesn’t mean you’re to blame for what he chose to do.”

“I shoulda been looking out for him more. I was such a drunk shtihead I didn’t even know what was happening,” he said running his hands through his hair.

(YN) stepped forward grabbing his arms and pulling them down. “Gerard! I have spent months now listening to you talk about Mikey. You guys both learned some lessons the hard way, but he wouldn’t have kept calling you while he was in rehab and come to visit today if he blamed you. He could have cut you off, moved to California without a word, but he didn’t. That means something, right?”

Gerard looked like he was on the verge of tears but he nodded.

“You guys are both gonna be alright,” she said, letting go of his arms, and wrapping him in a hug.“Sorry, “ just felt like,” she said trailing off with a shake of her head when she pulled back.

“It’s fine, I needed that,” he smiled. “All of it, thank you.”

~

It didn’t seem like enough time had passed when in the late spring (YN) checked the mail and found a letter from their landlord with the paperwork to renew their lease. She sighed nervously as she made her way to Gerard’s room. Now it wasn't just that she didn’t want to have to find a new place to live, it was the fact that she liked living with Gerard. She liked hanging out with him and she had come to care for him as a real friend. She also recently realized that she had at some point developed more feelings for him, but she pushed those aside.

“Hey Gee?” She said knocking on his door.

“Yea?” She heard him call from the other side before she opened the door.

“We got the lease renewal paperwork today. Did you wanna extend the lease for a full year?”

“Yea, sure. I like it here,” Gerard replied with a smile.

(YN) let out a sigh of relief. “Good, I’m really glad to hear that. I’ll leave this with you, just bring it back when you get it signed at all the flagged spots.”

“Ok,” Gerard nodded as he flipped through the packet.

A while later (YN) looked up from the magazine she was reading when Gerard knocked on her door. “I got the lease thing signed,” he said, walking in and handing her the paperwork.

“Cool, I’ll drop this off tomorrow,” she nodded. “I’m really glad this has worked out.”

“Me too,” Gerard said. “Umm, I never mentioned it before, but I had been living in my car for a couple weeks when you offered me this place.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize it was that bad,” (YN) murmured.

“I was in a really low place, like I was almost at my breaking point ya know, but umm, when I say this turned everything around for me, I mean it. I was able to pick up more shifts at work and I could afford to go back to my therapist and get on my meds again. So thanks for saving my life,” he said with a nod before turning to leave.

“Gee wait,” she said getting up.

“Yea?”

“I… I don’t know what to say except I’m really glad that you’re here and you matter a lot to me, and,” she shrugged as her words failed her. She just wanted Gerard to know how important he was, not just as someone to share rent with, but as well as all the complicated feelings she kept bottled up inside.

Gerard stepped back across the room and wrapped his arms around her. They stood silently hugging for a while before he pulled back. “Hang on.” (YN) nodded as he hurried over to his room and then came back with a bottle of liquor. “Here, you can have it, or get rid of it, it doesn’t matter to me. I bought it months ago because… it doesn’t matter, but that night you invited me to hang out and that meant a lot. I started working on my comic again that night too.”

“I remember that,” she smiled, as she took the bottle from him. “You’re gonna do big things Gee. I’m glad I can cheer you on.”

~

“Are you sure you don’t wanna come along?” (YN) asked from the doorway of his room. She was heading out to a party with her friend, but to Gerard, she already seemed a little unsteady on her feet. 

“No thanks, I gotta work in the morning,” he replied. Just then, a car horn went off outside the house.

“That’s Eli. I’ll try to be quiet coming in,” (YN) waved before hurrying out to her waiting friend.

Gerard got so wrapped up in the page of his comic he was working on he completely lost track of time until his phone went off. "Hello?" Gerard answered his phone.

"Heeey, is this Gerard? (YN)'s roommate?" He heard a female voice slur from the other end.

"Yea, why?" He asked, panic striking through him. He glanced at his clock, it wasn't that late, why was someone calling him about (YN).

"Can you come get (YN)? She's like super drunk and I'm gonna go back to this guy's place but I don't wanna leave her here alone."

"Wait, is this Eli?"

"Yea, can you hurry up before she barfs or something, I can't deal with that."

"Yea, yea, text me the address, I'm on my way," Gerard replied, already slipping on his sneakers.

A while later Gerard was pulling up in front of the house where the party was happening. As he got out of his car, he saw (YN) sitting on the front lawn with a girl he'd never met before, he presumed it was Eli.

"Hey (YN), are you ok?" He asked as he approached. He could tell (YN) had been crying, despite how dark it was.

"Yea," she sniffled and got up unsteadily.

"I'll call you tomorrow, ok sweetie?" Eli said, already heading toward a guy who had been waiting in the distance.

(YN) waved her off as Gerard helped her to the car. Other than the radio playing an old Radiohead song, there was nothing but silence in the car.

"I've never seen you this drunk," Gerard suddenly blurted out. "Are you ok?"

(YN) sniffled again. "I haven't really eaten in a few days and then Eli wanted to do shots when we got to the party and now I'm stupid and wasted," she whined.

Gerard pulled up to a red light and looked over at (YN). She had her head against the window and was staring blankly ahead. "Why haven't you been eating much? Do you need money for groceries? I can kick in more."

"Because I wanna be skinnier so you'll think I'm pretty like the girl you drew in your comic" she said so softly it was almost a whisper.

Gerard's heart broke at her words. "(YN), I do think you're beautiful. You don't have to change for me at all," he said looking back at her just before the light turned green. (YN) turned her head to look out the window so he couldn't see her reaction.

A few blocks later pulled up in front of a convenience store. "What's your favorite gatorade?" Gerard asked.

"Red," (YN) mumbled.

"Ok, wait here a sec," he said as he got out.

Gerard hurried inside, grabbing a big bottle of the drink, as well as a couple burritos.

"Here you go," Gerard said as he handed her the bag. "At least try to eat one to settle your stomach."

"Thanks," she replied, staring into the bag. She was too embarrassed to look up at Gerard at that moment. She felt like an idiot for getting so drunk that he had to take care of her. If she ever had a shot with Gerard, she was sure she had blown it now. 

The rest of the drive was just as silent as it had started until they arrived back in the house. Gerard put his arm around (YN) and helped her inside. She was already feeling less dizzy as she sat down on the edge of her bed and pulled off her shoes. Gerard took the bottle of gatorade and set it on her bedside table, plugged her phone into the charger, and brought in the garbage can in case she had to be sick. 

"You'll probably feel terrible tomorrow," he said with a slightly sad smile as she pulled the blankets over herself, not even bothering to change out of her clothes.

"I deserve it," she mumbled as she turned her face into her soft, cool pillow.

Before she could fully register what was happening, she felt Gerard kiss her head. "No you don't," he said before turning out the light and shutting the door behind him.

(YN)'s thoughts were spinning like the world had been earlier until she eventually passed out.

~

The next day (YN)’s phone was vibrating on her bedside table, but the sound felt like a jackhammer vibrating through her skull. Groaning, she opened her eyes to find the offending device.

Hey girl! Call me when u get up so i know ur alive the text from Eli read.

(YN) looked at her clock, it was almost 1 in the afternoon. She dragged herself out of bed, discarding the clothes she had worn the night before, and into the shower, the cold water jolting her awake. Climbing back into bed, she picked up her phone to call her friend.

“You survived,” Eli cheered when she answered the call.

“Oh my god, please shut up,” (YN) winced.

“Oh, you’re really feeling it huh?”

“Yea, I think I got run over at some point last night.”

“No, I didn’t let you run across any roads this time. Maybe Gerard did after he picked you up. How'd that go?”

“I don’t remember,” (YN) groaned. “I remember he bought me food and gatorade,” she said, picking up the bottle of the now room temperature drink.

Eli hummed. “Well he seems like a good guy, he came right to get you no questions asked when I called.”

“Yea,” (YN) agreed, pulling her knees up to her chest. “I just feel so dumb for getting so wasted.”

“It happens. And at least he’s seen you at your worst now. Has he said anything?”

“He’s at work I think.”

“Ah, well at least you got some more time to recover before you have to face him.”

“Why do you have to say it that way?” (YN) groaned as Eli laughed.

The friends talked for a while longer until (YN) heard the front door open.

“Shit, he’s back,” (YN) whispered, her embarrassment flooding back.

“Ok talk to you later, and don’t worry about it!” Eli said brightly before hanging up.

(YN) glanced up and saw Gerard hovering awkwardly by her door. “Hey, how you feeling?” 

“Been better,” (YN) replied, tucking a piece of her half wet hair behind her ear awkwardly. “Umm, I don’t really remember a lot from last night, but thanks for coming to get me and everything.”

Gerard nodded. “It’s no problem.”

“I feel really stupid. I won’t be doing that again anytime soon, I promise,” (YN) laughed dryly.

Gerard laughed a little as well. He didn’t know if he should bring up anything that was said between them the night before since she had said she couldn’t remember much, but he couldn’t help but wonder what she did remember.

~

After a few days, (YN)’s embarrassment at her drunken night finally started to diminish and she and Gerard’s interactions went back to normal. A while later, (YN) was hanging out in Gerard’s room talking about a show they had been to the weekend before when her phone rang. 

"Hello? Oh hi," (YN) answered. "What?! Is he ok?" She jumped up and left the room, but Gerard could still hear her end of the conversation, causing him to grow more concerned. "No I didn't see anything, there wasn't anyone… Ok... Yea… Ok let me know."

The color was drained from her face when she walked back into the room.

"What's wrong?" Gerard asked, his brows knitted together.

"Right after my shift ended the store got robbed. My coworker John is in the hospital and they took all the cash. The store is gonna be closed for a couple days I guess."

"Fuck," Gerard replied, totally stunned.

"I think I'm gonna go to bed," she said blankly before turning back toward her room and Gerard heard the door close behind her.

A while later Gerard got up to go to the kitchen to get another cup of coffee, but when he stepped into the hall, he stopped in his tracks. It sounded like crying coming from (YN)’s room.

"(YN), are you ok?" He asked as he knocked on her door, but she didn't answer. Cautiously he opened the door and found (YN) was sitting on her bed, knees pulled up to her chest, sobbing. 

"Shit," Gerard whispered as he rushed over and pulled her against him, letting her cry on his shoulder.

"It coulda been me. I could be in the hospital or dead right now and no one would even notice or care! Just another loser with no direction in life dead. I've wasted everything, I've ruined my whole life!"

"You haven't," Gerard said, rubbing her back. "I'd care very much if anything happened to you. And you have plenty of time. I had a job at a tv network and gave it up to form the band, and now I'm trying to get into comics."

"But I'm not talented like you! I have no skills, I never went to college because I didn't know what I wanted to do and I still don't. I just don't want to be stuck here the rest of my life waiting to get held up at gunpoint," she sobbed. "I'm just too stupid to get out of my own way long enough to figure anything out."

“No you aren't stupid, sometimes it just takes more time to get it figured out."

Eventually (YN)’s sobs started to quiet and she pulled back. “Thanks Gee. You really didn’t need to do this.”

“Yea I did. I couldn’t just let you be alone when you feel like this.”

(YN) sighed. “Every time I close my eyes I just picture it happening to me. I’m so tired, but I don’t think I’m gonna be able to sleep tonight.”

“Hang on,” Gerard said, getting up. (YN) saw the light from his room shut off, and he came back. “Ok, come here, I’ll keep you safe,” he said as he settled in next to her.

(YN) felt like her heart was going to burst through her chest as she slid down next to him. She laid her head on his chest as he wrapped his arms around her, holding her close.

~

Something shifted in Gerard and (YN)’s relationship that night, although nothing was spoken of it. They started trading off whose bed they slept in, crawling into bed together just to be close to the other. When they watched a movie together, she rested her head against his shoulder. When (YN) was in the kitchen making coffee, Gerard would come in and wrap his arms around her and hold her close while she worked. The day after (YN) had a really bad shift at work, she came home and found a pink rose that looked like it had been trimmed from someone’s garden sitting on her bed.

It was a warm early fall evening when Gerard and (YN) showed up at a party held by a friend of a friend. (YN) had gone off to talk to Eli, and Gerard found himself watching her from across the yard. He wished he was by her side, his arm wrapped around her waist, holding her close, that’s where he felt happiest.

"Why are you looking at your roommate like that?" Frank asked, appearing at Gerard's side.

“Jesus,” Gerard muttered under his breath, startled. “What are you talking about?”

“Like you wanna get out here and get on top-”

“Stop, no, it’s not like that,” Gerard shook his head.

“Oh, so you don’t care if I go ask her out then?”

“What? You can’t!” Gerard blurted out. “I mean, what about Jamia?”

Frank grinned and pointed a finger in Gerard's face. “Exactly! So what are you gonna do about it?”

“Everything is fine, we’re fine,” Gerard grumbled.

As the sun began to set more people showed up, filling up the backyard. Without warning there was a shout as two guys started pushing each other, and then punches began to fly. 

(YN) found herself too near the fight and tried to get away from the fray, but more people were rushing to watch or take part in it and she couldn’t get past. Suddenly she felt someone grab her hand, interlacing their fingers with hers. She was about to pull away when she looked up and realized it was Gerard.

“Come on,” he said, pulling her out of the crowd.

“Thanks for not leaving me behind,” (YN) said once they were a safe distance from the fracus. 

“I couldn’t ever leave you behind,” Gerard smiled back at her. 

At that moment she became conscious of how their hands were still intertwined and how closely they were standing. (YN) didn’t want to move and lose the moment, but police sirens started cutting through the shouts of the brawl. “Oh shit," (YN) started laughing. “Let’s get out of here!”

“Here we go again,” Gerard smirked as they took off running, hand in hand, through the backyards until they couldn’t hear any of the commotion any longer. When they finally came out on a side street, they were both out of breath, but laughing. The smell of rain hung in the air.

“I have no idea where we are now,” (YN) laughed.

“Me neither, but,” Gerard trailed off with a shrug as they started walking aimlessly down the street.

(YN) glanced down, not totally understanding why Gerard was still holding her hand, but she still wasn’t planning on letting go. Then she noticed Gerard glancing down as well.

“(YN),” he started.

“Sorry,” she said, starting to pull her hand away, but Gerard held tighter.

“No, it’s not that,” he said, stopping under the street light. A soft rain began to fall around them. "It's that I don't wanna change things between us, but I really want to," he hesitated then took a step closer to (YN). He raised his free hand and gently caressed her cheek before leaning in and pressing his lips against hers.

(YN)'s mind was spinning. She couldn't believe that this was really happening, that Gerard, her roommate, her friend, was now kissing her in the middle of a desolate street. She kissed him back, not knowing if this would happen again, and she wanted to make the most of this chance.

Gerard's hand moved from her cheek to run through her hair, now soaked from the steady rain. He dropped her hand that he was still holding, but only so he could wrap his arm around her and pull her closer against him as he deepened the kiss and she draped her arms over his shoulders.

When they finally pulled apart, the rain had them both soaked and they were laughing together again. “We should try to find our way home,” Gerard said glancing around.

“Let’s go this way,” (YN) suggested with a nod down the street.

Gerard nodded with a smile and wrapped his arm around her shoulder as they headed back to find the car.

~

The next morning (YN) woke up in her bed with Gerard holding her tight. She had hoped to spend all morning being lazy with him, but what had woken her up was her phone ringing on her bedside table.

“Hello?” She whispered.

“Hey (YN), I know you don’t work until this afternoon, but we got a call out, can you come in this morning and work a double?” (YN)’s manager asked.

(YN) let her face fall against her pillow and groaned softly. “Yea I guess so.”

“Great, see you as soon as you can get here.”

When (YN) glanced over at Gerard, he was just waking up. “What’s wrong?”

“I wanted to spend the morning with you here, but I got called in for a double shift,” (YN) pouted.

“Damn,” Gerard frowned. “But I’ll be here when you get back.”

“I know,” she sighed before leaning in and kissing him softly. She climbed out of bed and got ready for work. The day seemed to drag by because all she wanted was to go home to Gerard.

“I’m so glad that day is done!” (YN) announced when she burst through the door. She waited for Gerard to reply but didn’t hear anything. “Gee? Are you here?”

“Yea,” he replied forlornly, coming out of his room.

“What’s wrong?” She asked.

“I’m gonna go out to visit Mikey,” Gerard said.

“Oh cool!” (YN) smiled up at him and he felt like his heart was breaking.

“And when I’m out on the west coast, I’ve got a meeting with Dark Horse Comics about my project.”

“That’s awesome!” (YN) grinned. But when she didn’t see the same level of excitement in Gerard’s face, her own excitement faltered. “Isn’t it?”

“Yea, I guess. I’m just nervous about it. There are a few things they wanna discuss about developing it and stuff. But I might have to move out to the west coast if this all works out.”

“Oh,” (YN) said, surprised. She tried to keep her disappointment hidden. “That’s an incredible opportunity though.”

“I know, but we’ve only just-”

“Gerard, don't you think for even one second about not going because of me,” (YN) interrupted him. “I have wasted my entire life being so afraid that I’ll make the wrong choice, that I let every decent opportunity pass me by. I care about you too much to let you do the same.”

Gerard didn’t know how to respond, other than to take a step forward and wrap (YN) into a tight hug. "Thanks," he mumbled against her neck. 

They stood like that for a while, neither willing to let go. “Come on, let’s order something for dinner to celebrate,” she suggested once they pulled back.

~

The following week, Mikey picked Gerard up from the airport. They put together a list of places Mikey loved to check out the next day.

After stopping at the coffee shop down the street, the comic book store that always had what Mikey was looking for, and the record shop with the friendly owner they went to the beach to kill time before dinner. 

"You ok? Are you nervous about the meetings or something?" Mikey asked. He had noticed Gerard seemed distracted all day, but Gerard just shook his head. "Then what's wrong?" Mikey asked.

"I couldn't sleep last night," Gerard said with a glance at his brother.

"Is the bed uncomfortable?"

“No, it's not that," he paused. "It's that I can’t sleep without her,” Gerard said, looking down at his hands.

"(YN)?"

"Yea."

“How long have you been together?” Mikey asked.

“We haven’t officially, but it’s, I mean...” Gerard stammered, searching for the words to define something that had only just begun and had no definition.

“But you love her?” Mikey filled in the gaps, knowing Gerard better than Gerard knew himself.

Gerard listened to the waves crashing on the shore. He didn't even realize when he had fallen in love with (YN), because it wasn't like a lightning bolt from the sky. It grew out of lazy days talking for hours, nights sleeping in the other's bed just because they wanted to be that close to each other, the way her hair fell in her face, her laugh, her lips, her selflessness, the way she was always pushing him to do more and be better. And now there he was, missing her like crazy, ready to throw away his dream if she asked him to. But she hadn't, and she wouldn’t. She encouraged him to go across the country and chase it down, even if it meant leaving her behind.

“Yea,” he said with a soft smile and Mikey nodded.

Silence hung between the brothers for a while as the sun began to set. “It’s almost time to meet up with Kristin for dinner,” Mikey announced as he got up.

Gerard nodded and followed him back to the car. As they drove away from the beach, Gerard thought about how much he wanted to bring (YN) here. He knew she’d love it. It felt like there were so many possibilities, fresh starts for everyone. He just needed to get them out of New Jersey.

~

(YN) paced outside the arrivals gate, checking the screen with the times over and over. Gerard’s flight was on time, he should be arriving shortly. She had spent most of the day excited that he was coming back today, but now that she was at the airport waiting for him, she felt incredibly nervous.

Gerard hadn’t called since he let her know he had arrived safely. She had insisted that he spend his time with Mikey and getting ready for the meetings and not to worry about her, but that didn’t stop her from thinking about him all the time. The first night she tried to sleep in her own bed, but ended up crawling into his because his pillows smelled like him and it made her heart ache a little less. And it’s where she had spent the rest of the week.

That morning as she sat in his bed, knees pulled up to her chest as she sipped her coffee in the cool morning air, she looked around his space. They’d been living together almost a year now, and the room had become so uniquely his. The comics that were stacked up next to his bed, the drawings that littered his desk, the records in the crate he painted himself. All things that went into what added up to Gerard. She smiled softly as a realization dawned on her as she shivered.

“I love him,” (YN) admitted to herself softly. “I really, truly, love him.”

Now at the airport she glanced up at the screen and saw his flight had arrived. Her heart started hammering in her chest as she started to look around, not knowing how soon he’d appear. What felt like an eternity later, she finally spotted a mop of black hair.

“Gee!” She called as she rushed over to him. Gerard dropped his bag so he could wrap his arms around her in a big hug. He pulled her in for a kiss in the middle of the crowd of travelers.

“I missed you,” he murmured when they pulled back.

“Me too,” she smiled.

"Let's get out of here," he smiled as he took her hand and they went to find her car.

"So how was the trip? How was Mikey? And the meetings, tell me everything!" (YN) gushed as they finally arrived at her car.

"Mikey's doing really good. He has this girlfriend, Kristin, she's super sweet, you'll really like her," he said as he threw his bag in the trunk.

"Oh yea, maybe I’ll meet her one day," (YN) smiled.

“(YN), I wanted to wait until we were someplace nicer than the airport parking ramp, but I can't wait any longer. I got the job at Dark Horse so I’m gonna have to move out west,” he paused, reaching out and taking her hands. “But I can’t leave without you because I love you so much (YN). It’d be a new start for both of us, together. Please?”

It took (YN) a moment to fully process what Gerard said. "Yes!" She finally replied in awe.

Gerard grabbed her face between his hands and pulled her lips to his as tears spilled from behind her closed eyes. He held her close as he kissed her with everything he had. When they pulled back, he rested his forehead against hers. 

“I love you too Gerard,” she murmured. “And thank you for not leaving me behind.”

“I couldn’t ever leave you behind.”