#i somehow ended up as the only graphic designer in a group of friends who are all printmaking majors. 1 out 7 like..

[identityquest]

so im bad at screenprinting

[the-winter-spider]

Invisible | Part Three

Pairings: Bucky x Reader AU

Word Count: 1.8k

Warnings: Angst, unrequited love

-----

You’d been to the bar with your friends countless times, but tonight felt different. You’d spent extra time on your makeup, carefully applying every touch of eyeliner and lipstick, hoping it might catch Bucky’s attention in a way that it hadn’t before. It was one last attempt, and even though you told yourself it didn’t matter, the small flicker of hope lingered all the same.

At the booth, everyone was in high spirits, laughing and talking as Steve waved down the bartender for the first round. You sat at the end of the booth, Steve beside you, with Sam, Wanda, and Natasha across from you. It was your usual spot—comforting, familiar. You caught your reflection in the window beside you, checking your lipstick one last time, anticipation tightening in your chest as you waited for Bucky.

The door jingled, and you glanced up, your heart skipping when you saw Bucky walk in, his usual wide grin lighting up his face. But just behind him, her hand in his, was Kate.

The air stilled as he led her over, his smile somehow brighter than you’d ever seen. “Hey, everyone!” he said, giving a little wave before gesturing to the woman beside him. “This is Kate.”

Everyone exchanged glances, taken aback. Bucky never brought anyone around like this. But they recovered quickly, giving her friendly smiles and welcoming her.

You forced a smile, even as he gestured for Sam, Nat, and Wanda to slide over so he and Kate could sit across from you. It was so casual, yet such a strange departure from his usual spot beside you. The group quickly rallied, one by one, shaking her hand or offering small nods of welcome. Steve was the first to introduce himself, offering her his classic, friendly smile. “I’m Steve, by the way. Nice to meet you.”

Kate returned his smile warmly. “Nice to meet you too, Steve! Bucky’s mentioned you a few times.”

Sam leaned over, reaching across the table with a charming grin. “Sam Wilson, the one and only. I hope he’s been saying good things.”

“Only the best,” Kate replied with a laugh.

Natasha and Wanda both introduced themselves with friendly, if mildly guarded, smiles. Natasha spoke first, her voice cool but welcoming. “Natasha…Pleasure.”

“And I’m Wanda,” Wanda added, giving a soft wave. “Welcome to our spot.”

When it came your turn, you extended a hand with a polite smile, ignoring the uncomfortable flutter in your chest. “I’m Y/N. It’s nice to meet you.”

Kate’s eyes brightened in recognition. “Oh, you’re the one Bucky’s always talking about! I honestly thought you two were… you know.” She laughed lightly. “But I’m glad you’re not—no offense! It’s just… he’s lucky to have such a close friend.”

You felt the heat rise to your cheeks but brushed it off with a laugh. “Yeah, just friends.” You glanced at Bucky, who gave you a reassuring nod.

“Best friends,” he said, smiling.

After introductions, the conversation moved into friendly small talk, everyone asking Kate about her life. Wanda leaned forward, crossing her arms on the table. “So, Kate, what do you do for work?”

“Oh, I’m a graphic designer,” Kate replied. “Mostly freelance, so I get to work from home or whatever coffee shop has the best Wi-Fi. I’ve always loved art, and it’s amazing to make a career out of it.”

Everyone nodded, and Sam let out an impressed whistle. “Freelance? Respect. I’m with the VA, so not much room for coffee-shop flexibility, but I like it.”

“You work with veterans?” Kate asked, her eyes lighting up. “That’s amazing. Bucky actually mentioned you might be ex-military too?”

Sam nodded, his grin softening. “Yeah, I served briefly, college dropout life. Helping other vets find their way now is probably one of the best things I could be doing.”

Kate looked genuinely impressed, nodding before she turned to Natasha. “What about you?”

Natasha smirked, tilting her head thoughtfully. “I work in security consulting. It sounds fancier than it is, but basically, I keep people out of trouble.” She gave a small, mysterious smile, and Sam rolled his eyes.

Wanda chimed in, “And I’m an assistant at a research lab.” She shrugged with a humble smile. “Nothing as thrilling as security consulting, but it’s… fulfilling.”

Kate chuckled. “You all have such interesting jobs! What about you, Steve?”

Steve shifted, looking a bit bashful as he scratched the back of his neck. “I’m a trainer at a gym. Teach some classes, personal training sessions… mostly just try to keep people healthy.”

Kate gave him a kind smile. “That sounds amazing. Keeping people motivated is no easy feat.”

When her eyes met yours, you shrugged with a soft smile. “I’m in publishing, so editing, going through manuscripts… mainly helping authors get their work ready to be out in the world.”

“That’s so cool!” Kate’s enthusiasm felt genuine, which softened the tension in your chest. “So, do you all live nearby?”

“Oh, yeah,” Sam said, laughing. “We’re all practically neighbors. Steve and I are right down the street from Y/N and Bucky.”

Natasha nodded. “And Wanda and I are a block over. We’ve all pretty much lived around here forever.”

Kate’s smile widened. “That’s amazing! I love how close-knit you guys are. So, how did you all meet?”

“We all met through school at some point,” Steve said, pointing around the table “I met Y/N and Buck in what? Grade 7?”

Bucky nodded “You wouldn't believe how tiny this kid was, and now look at him”

Steve rolled his eyes tossing a peanut shell at Bucky before continuing “Bucky and y/n were kind enough to let me in there little duo, then we met Nat in grade 9”

“And Sam and I came along a bit later,” Wanda added, laughing “We met in them college, I was Tasha’s and Y/N roommate”

“And i was these two losers roomate” Sam added, shoving Steve

Bucky, grinning, leaned in as he squeezed Kate’s hand. “Y/N and I have been friends since we were kids, though we met first day of school. Same hometown, neighbours and everything.”

Kate’s eyes sparkled with amusement. “So you’ve been stuck with him that long?”

“Pretty much,” you replied with a smirk, though the words felt heavier than they sounded “It’s hard to get rid of him.”

Bucky laughed, but when you glanced across the table, you noticed the look in his eyes as he turned to Kate. That easy affection, the soft admiration… it wasn’t something you saw often, and it hit you harder than you expected.

“So, does everyone hang out like this all the time?” Kate asked, clearly enjoying the warmth and camaraderie of the group.

Steve chuckled. “Pretty much, Fridays are kind of our thing. Same booth, same round of drinks, same bartender.”

Sam raised his glass. “It’s tradition”

Everyone raised their glasses, and as the night continued, the small, unspoken bonds between all of you filled the air. Kate fit in easily, and her laughter and warmth seemed to lift everyone’s spirits. And even though your heart felt heavier than ever, you held your smile, trying to enjoy the night while it lasted.

The hollow ache in your chest grew as you felt Steve shift beside you, pressing you closer to the edge as he glanced your way, clearly picking up on the tension.

You waved the bartender over, eager to have something to distract you. Sam raised an eyebrow as you ordered your drink, leaning over to tease, “Rough week?”

You laughed, the sound not quite reaching your eyes. “You have no idea.”

Kaye smiled at you “I’ve always admired people who can work with words like that, like you do. It’s so important to connect authors with the right people. I can see how it could be overwhelming" She tried to sympathize with you.

Her kindness made it all feel worse. She was everything you weren’t—bubbly, confident, radiating warmth. And you saw it, clear as day, in the way Bucky looked at her, a soft glow in his eyes that he’d never once turned on you.

Your drink arrived, and you swirled it absently, letting the happy chatter and laughter of your friends wash over you, though the aching in your stomach only grew. You felt Natasha’s gaze on you, sharp and discerning, before she suddenly blurted out, “So, I’m setting y/n up with someone from work, they’re date is next Saturday!”

The entire table went quiet for a moment, everyone turning to you, and you blinked, the words snapping you out of your fog “Wait, what? I didn't know you picked a day?”

Natasha shrugged a smirk on her lips “Slipped my mind i guess? y’know how i get sometimes”

Wanda laughed shoving Natasha’s shoulder “Yeah spacey”

Bucky’s hand slipped on his glass, and he choked a little on his drink, coughing as Kate rubbed his back. Steve chuckled beside you, giving your shoulder a playful shove. “About time! Who’s the lucky dude?”

Natasha smirked, wiggling her eyebrows “Dean”

Sam leaned back, grinning. “Honestly, I don’t even remember the last time you went on a date.”

“Oh, it was with Sam, wasn’t it?” Wanda teased, her eyes twinkling with mischief. “I remember he tried to win you over in college.”

Sam rolled his eyes, laughing. “Yeah, i pulled out all my woo’s and nothing, you broke my heart”

Kate pointed between Sam and you “You two dated?”

Steve laughed “No, Sam tried before we initiated him in the group, our sweet girl right here” Steve’s arm went around your shoulder “Is too polite they went on one date and well the rest is history”

Sam lifted his drink in the air like he was going to do a toast “The one that got away” He laughed taking a drink

You laughed, trying to play it off, but your heart was pounding. “Well, I think it’s about time I put myself out there.”

Bucky’s gaze was on you, and he opened his mouth to speak, but the words that came out were harsh, laced with an edge you hadn’t expected or have ever been on the recipient end of “Right, because you’re such a hopeless romantic. Like you’d even know how to handle a real date.”

The table fell silent. You looked at him, his face still set in that playful mask, but the hurt flared bright and sharp in your chest. His words felt like a slap, twisting the knife that had already been lodged there since Kate walked in.

You swallowed hard, forcing a smile that wobbled. “Excuse me,” you mumbled, sliding out of the booth as quickly as you could, heading toward the bathroom.

The moment you were out of sight, your breath hitched, and you pressed your hands to the cool porcelain sink, trying to steady yourself. You’d spent so long waiting, holding onto hope that he might see you the way you saw him. But tonight, as you watched him sit beside her, watched his eyes light up just at the sight of her… you realized it was time to let that hope go.

But knowing it and feeling it were two different things, and as the tears pricked the corners of your eyes, you wondered if you’d ever be able to truly get over the boy who had your heart, even when he didn’t know it.

[tinyidle]

not happy - khj x yn x jsy

a self-indulgent fic

wc: 4.3k

WARNING: smut, angst, pwp, vampire mafia au, poly relationship, tw: mentions of drug use, se*ual and physical assault (extremely minimal, since that's triggering for even me), harassment, graphic depictions of violence, death and bl**d (minimal), mentions of the (g)i-dle and ateez members, a lot of dialogue, nicknames: hj calls yn 'darling' and sy calls yn 'baby' while yn calls hj 'daddy' and sy 'mommy', punishment (cuckoldry), light bdsm (the b, d, s, and a small part of m), edging with a vibrator, orgasm denial, begging, unprotected sex (vampires can't get preggos, but hybrids can so-), overstimulation, dacriphyllia, creampie, reader (yn) passes out, aftercare (and some fluff if you can squint without hurting your eyes), harddom!hongjoong, vampire!hongjoong, b!gd¡ck!joong (you already knowww), mafia leader hongjoong, harddom!switch!soyeon, vampire!soyeon, mafia leader soyeon, sub!reader, vampirehybrid reader, fem reader, all fiction ofcofcOFC

𖤓 𒂭 𓊑 ¸ ⠀ ݊ 𖤛 𓈒◌ ⃝ ༩ ⠀��� ✧ 𓊆 ◌⃘ 𓊇 ݁ ◍ ◌⠀ ׂ

before meeting you, they were enemies-- sworn to hate each other for the rest of their lives. the infamous male mafia group octet were rivals against the infamous female mafia group coronica.. no way were they ever going to get along. these leaders were feared in the city of seoul, and at night they ran their sides of the huge metropolis. that is, until they died.

both were deep into the drug business, meaning they would partake in things most druglords wished they could get their hands on. when one of the pills they took regularly happened to contain immortal bat blood as one of the ingredients, they didn't expect to fight over it when the dealer was telling the other that 'this leader had a hold on it first' for the last batch available at the time. they both killed the dealer, then turned their guns on the other. both were supposed to be fatal headshots.

waking up the next day was weird for them. they woke up in their respected gang pins, on their beds, craving for their pills instead of asking how they didn't die. but when they were told there weren't anymore, they resorted to taking human lives to survive. the two still hated each other, always attacking each other when one came into the other's view, despite living in such a massive city (blame that on their vampire vision). it felt like a never-ending cycle, but you somehow came into their lives.

they don't know how, but you just did. after they saw you when it was their feeding time (for some odd reason the drug they took before dying tied them together in terms of how they act digestively), they didn't want to eat you. in fact, they wanted to get to know you. they approached you and asked you to be their friend.

days turned into months, and soon you were dating the two mafia vampires. you were the catalyst of both rival gang leaders being cordial with each other now. every now and then, hongjoong would give soyeon the occasional hug, and every now and then, soyeon would give the occasional friendly smile. but it was you they loved, and it was you who loved them.

of course they told you about their past, but surprisingly to them you didn't seem to mind. you nonchalantly told them that the dealer they shot was your shit uncle who cared for nothing more than drug dealing. and you apparently were a vampire too; a hybrid by birth when you found out that your druggie of a mother was taking those dracula pills as well, almost causing you to die. after the icebreaker of each other's history, your life remained as normal as a polyamorous relationship amongst three vampires could be.

out of the three of you being around the same age, you're the only one who goes to school. despite being immortal, you wanted an education to become a product designer. all your life you wanted to leave the dangerous society you grew up in, and during your growing up you realized that you loved design. so, after looking at all the types of designers one could be, you decided on product design.

unfortunately, your adult life wasn't as grand as one would want it to be. despite being in your third year of university, trouble found you as a girl in your 3D art class harassed you for two weeks now. as you packed up your laptop and designer's tablet, the girl shoved your bag off the chair and unto the floor, nearly destroying what was already in your bag.

"hey!" you yelled, frustration and hurt pouring from your heart to your mouth. you needed those materials in order to pass any of your intensive classes. "those cost a lot!" you wanted to mention how your grades were dependant on them too, but that would be oversharing and would subject you to more bullying. she glared at you and began to walk away when suddenly you caught her arm.

"what do you think you're doing?" she said, struggling to get her arm off your grip. now, you had two choices at this point: say sorry to your bully and allow her to get away with her dangerous stunt, as you were already failing almost all your classes; or stand up for yourself in any way you could. you chose the latter.

you swallowed the lump in your throat, and spoke up for yourself for the first time since the girl started picking on you. "if i do whatever you want me to do tomorrow, will you leave me alone?"

the girl thought about this for a moment before smirking and nodding, prompting you to let her now numb arm go. "park, tomorrow afternoon at 2. don't be late," she instructed before leaning in to whisper in your ear, "or else you'll be fucked."

you shivered before nodding slowly, bashfully watching her as she left the nearly empty classroom.

even though you wanted so badly to protest, you had to be honest with yourself. you hated school at this point, you wanted to give yourself a well-needed break-- even if that meant ditching class for the day. you knew hongjoong and soyeon would be worried sick, but you also knew their vampire senses would find you. they always do.

--

the next day, five pm. you were supposed to be at home two hours ago, yet there was no signs of you being even close to home. worried was an understatement. they knew this wasn't like you.

hongjoong paced back and forth while soyeon impatiently tapped her foot in your shared penthouse. "where the hell is she?" he huffed, pushing his sunglasses up his nose bridge before letting it fall down to the tip of it again.

soyeon pushed her trench coat back, pulling her own sunglasses down before answering with an annoyed tone. "i don't know, where do you think she is, wise guy?"

the man stopped in his footsteps, slowly walked towards the short, impatient lady, and stood over her just shy of a few inches. "i. don't. know. and your snarky remark isn't going to help us find her any faster."

as much as she wanted to bop the guy on the nose, soyeon knew better than to fight her indirect boyfriend for the missing nature of her girlfriend. standing up straight, she helped push hongjoong's glasses up before sighing and flattening invisible creases from his two-toned blazer. "look," she began before raising her manicured nails from his blazer to his pale-colored cheeks. "i would love to argue with you and have our baby break up the fight, but she's obviously not here to do that. i only care about you because i care about her, and i know you do too. im sorry i lashed out for no reason, but we got to figure out how we're going to find her without starting a fight."

slightly leaning into her touch, the man sighed himself before replying. "you're right. im sorry for being so worked up." hongjoong took soyeon's small, frigid palm and wrapped it around his own cold ones. "let's call the gang and have them search for her. she shouldn't be far."

soyeon nodded before the two made up with a hug. she pulled back a bit to ask a small question, "what if we find her and she did something stupid?"

hongjoong smirked, pulling back to give soyeon the tiniest peck on her forehead-- the first of its kind in their estranged relationship. "let's just say that when we find her, she'll be in for a treat."

--

seven pm. you and the girl were at the swings, doing your best to settle your differences. key phrase 'did your best', because while you were trying to talk things out with her, she was too busy teasing you about your living situation and your lack of knack for school. when you two were walking to a vacant ice cream booth, she decided to shove you to the ground, pinning you down while you stared in shock.

she smirked as your eyes welled up with tears. "did you really think i was going to settle things with you?" you wanted to think there was some good in her, but she was simply cruel. you wished you never agreed to going out with her today. "remember when i told you that you'd be fucked if you didn't come to the park with me today?"

you nodded, tears now falling rapidly down your cheeks.

she leaned in and licked your ear, much to your disgust. "well, ive been seeing how cute you look. ill just fuck with you right now."

when you winced and mentally prepared for the worst, you heard a tight grunt before opening your eyes to see the girl above you. her eyes rolled to the back of her skull, and her body fell backwards as blood pooled on the floor. you were horrified as her smell permeated the ground, and you were worried you somehow killed her with your hybridity. but no, it wasn't you, it was the crew who found you. your partners' gangs.

mingi put his smoking gun down, blowing what remnants of it away. yuqi quickly bandaged and picked up the slowly decaying body in her arms before having it taken away by yunho and jongho. miyeon picked you up and dusted you off. "

"h- how did- how did you guys find me-"

"you're not hard to find, hybrie," minnie said as she walked up to you and miyeon. "our boss called us, their boss called them," she pointed to the boys wrapping up and pushing the body bag into the truck, "and we did what we did to find you."

miyeon held your cheeks and maneuvered your head around, checking to see any brusing in your face. "did she heard you? shuhua told me that you looked distressed while we were getting here."

you shook your head, wiping your tear-stained cheeks. "thanks, but im okay. just a girl who wanted something from me that i wouldn't have been able to give her."

"she WHATT?!?" you heard as soojin held shuhua back from the body bag in the open trunk of the black truck. "no way did this dead bitch try to molest her!"

"shhh, shuhua!" yeosang tried to hush her, which she landed a death glare at him. his eyes widened before he put his hands up in defense. "im sorry, but we've got to be quiet before somebody suspects something." the woman huffed before giving up on attacking the potential autopsy.

you looked at the bag and saw it slowly compressing. "what are you doing to her body?"

out of the trunk you saw seonghwa motioning to yeosang to get in, holding what looked like an IV tube that was covered dark red. as the man got in, wooyoung and san got out, explaining to the girls that they have you covered and will take you home.

once coronica and most of octet left, san led you to the back of their car as wooyoung went to the drivers' side. you again asked, "what did they do to her body?" you were worried you were going to get in trouble for a crime you were simply a victim of.

san turned to you as wooyoung focused on the road. "seonghwa and yeosang were draining her of all her fluid, particularly her blood, for our boss and the girls' boss to have."

"what?" you said, startled.

"don't speak too loud, please," wooyoung cautioned you. "i just got this license and im not going to get distracted."

the other man looked down and then back up to you, continuing to answer your previous question. "jongho and yunho cleaned up any remaining fluids from the park, and one of the girl's-- yuqi i believe-- wrapped up the wound she got from mingi shooting her."

you were shocked, to say the least. "but, why?"

wooyoung chuckled. "why? because she tried to take advantage of you, that's why. because if mingi didn't shoot her square in the back of the head, one of your boss girl's girls would've beaten her to death, making it extra hard to clean up any signs of foul play. soojin had to hold her down once she found out what we found out."

this was all too much for you, and you felt sick. "what will happen if the public finds out?"

driving into the penthouse area, wooyoung parked neatly before turning around to look at you with all the smugness in the world. "we're the biggest gangs in seoul. nobody will know what happened to her or how it happened. it'll be as if she-"

"-disappeared," san finished.

"exactly, san. vanished." wooyoung nodded.

you nodded before being escorted out the car and into the luxurious home. you saw yuqi and soojin talking to both hongjoong and soyeon, relaying all the information they acquired down to when you were pinned to the ground. as the two were intently listening to every word the women said, their senses detected you, turning to you in sync.

you hesitated before walking up to them and murmuring a small "hey." they nodded before waving you off to the shared bed space. as you went to the bed, you overheard wooyoung and san join in on the conversation, quickly turning the serious incident into a more loose chat mixed with some jokes here and there. you slowly got yourself ready for bed, and felt your eyes drifting to sleep.

--

it was now the weekend morning, and you expected to have your boyfriend and girlfriend reprimand you, or at least scold you. instead, you woke up with your hands tied to your front. your night dress was still on, even your eye mask was secured over your eyes, but you could not move at all. you all talked about light bdsm and wanting to do it, but you didn't think that today would be the day for it.

when you became more-or-less comfortable in your state, you felt tiny, icy fingers take off your eye mask. what you didn't expect to see was a fully naked soyeon next to a fully naked hongjoong. both looked incredibly needy for you-- soyeon's nipples were hard while hongjoong's cock was fully erect-- but you could tell that they weren't going to touch you.

"darling," hongjoong spoke up first, his hands fiddling with something you couldn't recognize. you hope that it isn't you think it is. "you know better than to go somewhere without our permission. especially for so long. mommy and i were worried."

your eyes filled up with tears, "you were?"

soyeon nodded as hongjoong spread your legs open, taking off your underwear in the process. "the good thing is that our gangs caught you in time," she spoke as hongjoong pushed the lubricated toy into your center.

unfortunately it was what you thought it was.

the small toy started vibrating, and you shifted your gaze towards soyeon's fingers as she held a small remote. "the other good thing is that daddy and i settled our differences while you were gone. so we thought-" she paused, looking over at hongjoong to finish her sentence.

as you were doing your best not to squirm, you looked in awe as your boyfriend went behind your girlfriend, holding her waist in his hands before finishing the sentence. "-we should show you how much we actually like each other now."

the two turned to look at each other's face before planting a tantalizing kiss on each other's lips. well, tantalizing to you; cunning to them. "see, baby, you made daddy angry, but he doesn't believe you should be touched as punishment." soyeon pulled back from the man's lips as his hands wandered around her. "he mentioned to me how we never fucked, and how it would make you jealous for us to get together without you."

before she could continue explaining, her voice got caught in her throat as hongjoong pushed her towards your tied form, with the only thing you're seeing is soyeon breathing heavily as the man's icy hands spread her legs wide for his awaiting lips.

hongjoong then picked up where soyeon left off, "so i thought that, not only do you get what you want-- with us fucking with you present because im nice," he flashed a toothy grin, "but you also get punished because you cant touch yourself nor cum."

before you could even begin to protest, the remote notched up the power of the vibrator twice, making you whine. another whine could be heard, but you knew it wasn't yours. looking to the side, you saw as your girlfriend was getting thoroughly eaten out by your boyfriend. in any regular circumstances, you'd be inexplicably turned on, but now all you wanted to do was get your share of pleasure. pleasure not from a mechanical machine, but from your lovers.

while soyeon was moaning and panting from the vampire man's skillful tongue, she moved her eyes back to you. hongjoong brought his mouth away from soyeon, using one of his thumbs to circle her already engorged clit. "how does it feel, hmm mommy?" he breathed, moving up to nip and suck lightly on her nipples to gain her attention from you to him.

soyeon answered while still keeping contact with your pleading orbs, "good, fuck. so good. i want to cum." the man obliged and immediately plunged two fingers in her awaiting hole and leaned down to suck her clit. screaming, soyeon turned off the vibrator, cutting off your impending orgasm while hers kick-started. you sobbed because of the denial of it all while your girlfriend shuddered from the pleasure she just received.

allowing herself to come down, soyeon crawled, up to hongjoong before giving him a lustful kiss as you looked with want in your eyes. they treated you like you were both there and not there. even though you had tears in your eyes, you loved how they didn't acknowledge your presence, which they knew very well you'd love.

pushing your boyfriend down, your girlfriend kissed her way down his pale body until she reached his pelvis. "does daddy want to be sucked, or does he want to fuck mommy instead?"

hongjoong motioned for the remote, and once soyeon gave it to him and he turned it on to a pulse setting, you moaned aloud. he smirked before looking back at the smaller woman, nodding before confirming to "suck daddy off."

you wanted so badly to protest, that soyeon should be encouraging you to give hongjoong head, not for you to be helpless while she gave him head. you had dreams of you and your mommy sharing daddy's cock-- but unfortunately, because of your bad behavior, that dream will have to stay a dream until the next session.

as soyeon bobbed on the man's head and even deep-throated him a few times, you were shaking in excitement, hoping that they would have mercy on you and allow you to cum. however, once soyeon made a particularly harsh suck, the toy stopped again as hongjoong came on your girlfriend's chest, making you cry out again. in tandem, you heard your boyfriend groan as his cum landed all over your girlfriend's chest. soyeon smiled as she took some of it and tasted it for herself before scooping some to feed you, giving you a bit of attention since they started playing with each other.

after you sucked off the remnants of your boyfriend's essence from your girlfriend's finger, hongjoong reached out to pull soyeon to him, making her squeal as you whined from the loss of her fingers in your mouth.

"aww," he fake cooed in sympathy, maneuvering the small woman on her hands and knees. "you really thought you were going to get more? only good babies get mommy's fingers for more than that long. actually, soyeon was more geneorus than she should have been. what do you say, darling?"

you were now having thin streams of tears falling down your cheeks, sniffling before you spoke up, "thank you mommy."

having even more sympathy for you, hongjoong nodded towards soyeon before she looked at you with a small smirk. "no problem, baby. now, we'll have mercy on you and let you cum."

the toy now was on the highest setting, making you shriek before closing your eyes, thrashing about. when you were about to keep your eyes closed in order to bask in the pleaasure of it all, you immediately reopened them when a cry rang out in the room.

there you saw your mommy getting your daddy's cock for the first time, and you were starting to feel a bit envious that you couldn't get a closer view. "fuck," hongjoong grunted, moving carefully to push even more of his thick length into the tiny hole that belonged to his indirect girlfriend. "when was the last time you were dicked down?"

soyeon turned to the side before breathing out a heavy breath, "since before i killed you. and before you killed me." the man rolled his eyes before moving the hand that wasn't over the small woman's hip to her clit, rubbing it to get her wetter. "sh-shit, daddy. no wonder our baby always whines for your cock."

hongjoong only smirked and chuckled in response as he finally eased all his length into soyeon, creating a bump that only he and she could feel; one that you could only imagine from the position they're in. he began thrusting in and out of her steadily, making her moan, pant, whimper, and even scream in the pillow a bit. after a few minutes of him soon fucking into her rapidly, the toy pushed a certain spot within you that made you cum hard.

however, your mommy and daddy weren't done yet, let alone with you. soyeon was turned on her back as hongjoong re-entered her, causing the both of them to moan. you were pushed into overstimulation, but you dared not to speak because you knew this was part of the punishment. the two kept fucking, occasionally looking towards you, but moreover in their own world. it was amazing how you could feel their pleasure being mingled with your own from merely watching the action.

if anything, it was the fact that your mommy looked so happy that made you blush at the same time the vibrator inside you pressed on that certain spot that caused you to cum hard again. you screamed loudly while the toy pushed you to the brink of numbness, your scream echoing throughout the house. after a few minutes of watching you release, soyeon decided to do so herself, pushing herself up against her half-boyfriend's pelvis and crying out as her small cunt finally tightened around his entire length before cumming around him.

the vibrations from the toy echoed through your whole body, making you flow now rivers of tears, begging for the vibrator to be turned off.

once hongjoong's hips were against the mattress, he began bucking against soyeon, picking up the pace as you pleaded for him to make it stop. his muffled grunts told you that you'd have to wait a little longer, which only fueled your tantrum further.

but what you weren't prepared for was the vibration intensifying, numbing your walls until your last orgasm pushed the toy out. the sight was what caused hongjoong to finally let go, holding soyeon's hips as his cum pumped loads into her as she whimpered from the fullness.

hongjoong was now shivering from his orgasm as soyeon trembled underneath him. after letting riding out the waves of pleasure, he sat down on the bed next to her, stroking her hair.

meanwhile, your body remained limp for several minutes, unable to even move an inch as you drifted off to unconsciousness. the buzzing finally ceased, but your tired body failed to react, as if the act had never happened. after laying there in a daze for awhile, the sound of someone running water woke you up. you couldn't help but groan as your mind slowly came to the realization that you had to live with your actions for the rest of the day and the repercussions that may follow. when you felt a pair of arms lift you up and put you onto another pair of arms in a body of water, you felt a bit relieved that they weren't too mad at you.

sniffling from what you know you did to have been punished, you looked up at soyeon behind you, then to hongjoong above you, then apologized. "im sorry for not telling you where i was going."

soyeon rubbed your arms, rubbing her cold cheek against your luke-warm one. "it's okay baby," she comforted you, becoming even more at ease when hongjoong joined in to give the both of you a chilly-warm embrace.

the man leaned down to give you a loving kiss on your forehead. "just make sure to let us know if you plan to go somewhere so that we won't have to worry much, okay darling?" he wiped away the tears that threatened to leave your water line.

you nodded before saying okay. the three of you spent a good portion in the tub, loving and embracing each other.

[lilymaddison]

Hey There! An Introduction

I'm Lily Maddison, a 16 year old musician, writer (lyricist, novelist, poet), music engineer, and graphic designer. I've been doing this since I was five, and I'm looking forward to sharing my work with Tumblr!

Here is the list of my current stories in-progress:

I have two worlds, Drant (fantasy, adventure) and South Side (YA contemporary fiction).

Drant

Sixteenth Summer

Sixteen-year-old Ellie Hunter is quiet, reserved, and friendless. Having spent her whole life on the sidelines, the last thing she ever would have expected was a rain-soaked boy to arrive on her doorstep, claiming to be a significant figure from her past. As Ellie gets to know this boy, who calls himself Tetsu, someone emerges from the shadows who is determined to ruin Tetsu and destroy Ellie. A story is rapidly unraveling, a story much older and bigger than little Ellie Hunter… and somehow revolving entirely around her. (A modern retelling of a Japanese legend)

Mythicals: The Star-Holder

In a human-dominated society, magical creatures known as mythicals have been forced into hiding. But after centuries of mistreatment and abuse, a man called Undric rises to power. His agenda will result in the Earth being a human-free planet— and soon. When Trace’s best friend loses her family to this regime, a message from the divine will provide Trace’s own family with special abilities. Together, they will rise to stop Undric once and for all. (Book 1 of 3)

Kingdoms

Princess Enya of Honthe grows up in the castle, living a soft life- until the stars go out. Then, the world as she knows it will be forever be changed. An ancient beast from Drant's folklore awakes from slumber, leading to the offering of children all throughout Drant. Only a few are chosen by the beast, including Enya, and they are whisked away to an island where they will be 'prepared' for their journey. While on this island, Enya finds out a few dark secrets about Honthe’s past that spark the largest war Drant has seen since before even the beast… and this time, not everyone will make it out alive.

The Petrified Sea

Arthi lives a land all about essence. His essence is Delinquent- the only one that brings shame upon families . While many Delinquents are cast out altogether, Arthi's parents keep him in a gesture of agonized love for their son. But when he’s at the wrong place at the wrong time, a bounty is placed on his head for a crime he didn’t commit. His sister dead and the whole country looking for him, he begins to plan his escape. That is, until he's forcibly taken in by a Delinquent outcast by the name of Risha. She teaches him how to live on the outside, and he's welcomed into her rag-tag family with open arms. Together, they aim to find the Petrified Sea- an ancient myth that can supposedly put an end to their suffering.

The Blackbird King

Meet the Under Earthers, a group of people who have been banished to the undergrounds by the Dictator of Bindarra. But they fought back, and went on to build a civilization underground. 6 hasn’t been there long, but she knows that NOBODY rocks the boat. But then a new kid comes running down the Lift declaring that there are other lands beyond Bindarra, despite the Dictator’s claims that there aren’t. Nobody bothers to believe the boy- who gets dubbed 112- until 729 gets captured by the Dictator’s forces and sent to be killed. There’s only so much time until the Under Earthers get discovered, and the clock is ticking. The Council decides to send a group of teens to see if the Myths are true, and 6 gets chosen to come along.

South Side

Letters in the Rain

In the sea of South Side students, one student drifts unanchored. Struggling with a vicious mental health battle, they travel through their freshman year in an introspective and reclusive haze. What they fail to realize is how many people love them and will stop at nothing to keep them safe. As their illness spirals over the course of the year, their friends rally around them with increasing desperation to show them that, whatever their mind may tell them, they are not fighting alone.

Carol's South Side Survival Guide

Through a turn of events, Carol and her best friend/cousin combo Harper are attending South Side Academy for the first time as freshmen. A whirlwind year ensues, one of explosive friend groups, tricky romances, and painful family developments. The social politics prove hard to master, but Carol is careful to write each rule down in her Survival Guide as she discovers them. When the end of the school year finally arrives, Carol is given her English final: to tell her story, whatever it may be. Stumped, Carol decides to consult the Survival Guide and discovers the single most important rule she missed... and the one that tells her story the best.

The Smoke in the Mirror

What do you do when life as you knew it crashes around your ankles? Stephanie and Zoey North, twins and freshmen at South Side, are about to find out. Zoey and Stephanie both have a crush on the same boy, and with their focus on the related proceedings, they don't notice the real trouble brewing right under their noses. Lies, double-crossers, and unexpected secrets go unseen throughout the school year, finally boiling over in a series of events that change everything they thought they knew about each other, themselves, their friends, and even a few people they swore they'd never trust again.

The Room of Misfits

Penny is, in her friend's terms, “living her best life”. She has a healthy group of friends, a stable home life, and good grades. All the same, she finds herself growing tired of the shallowness in her life. Auden is the elephant of the room. As an autistic boy used to stares, laughs, and pointed looks, he eventually settles into hiding himself in public. Penny and Auden meet face to face for the first time in the park and agree to help each other make friends. As the year progresses, the two of them form a group like nothing South Side has ever seen: a group where Titles mean nothing and nobody is left unheard.

The Buddy System

Clea, a new student at South Side, has never been good at making friends. Almost immediately she catches the attention of Ross, a Christian boy who takes pity on her situation. Despite her noticeably rough edges, he chooses to give her a chance at his friendship. Celestial (Ed Sheeran) meets Cruel Summer (Taylor Swift) when two unlikely friends fall in love.

[giggles8899]

To Love and To Trust - Bitchless Squad

Masterlist

Bitchless Squad

Y/n

Graduated in 2 years with a Graphic Design degree and ended up getting a job in the marketing department at the same university. The only good thing is that you can see your cousins Aether and Lumine along with your two best friends, Xiao and Scara.

You met Xiao and Scara gaming online and ended up all going to the same university

Going to try and set up the others on dates and try to get hookups for them

because heaven forbid your love life to be terrible, doesn't mean that theirs are gonna be

Sings sometimes, though only for her friends (She sounds like Neoni, Riell, AViVA, those deeper sounding gals)

Lumine

Freshman, going for Social Work. 

Is the most outgoing of the group chat by far, except for maybe Aether, but they are tied (being twins ya know)

Has plenty of group chats with her other friends in them, but she only has this group chat pinned

Easily one of the most popular people on campus

May or may not have a crush on Scara someone

Aether

Freshman going for Computer Science

The second most outgoing of the group, though it's usually because Lumine and him do most of the talking in the group

Huge crush on Xiao and Y/n loves to tease him about it

Is good friends with Xiao, and has a not-so-secret crush on him

Is in the same dorm as Scara, in fact even on the same floor

Xiao 

Resident Emo 1

Junior going for Athletic Training

Met Y/n and Scara through gaming online when they were like 12

If he's out in the public, 9/10 either Y/n, Scara, or both of them are with him

He's the track star of the university, mostly in the short-distance sprinting

Obvious a crush on Aether

Is in a separate dorm from Scara and Aether

Scara

Resident Emo 2 who will actually cut you

Junior going for business management

Repeat, met you and Xiao through gaming, though he actually didn't think they were his friends until he was 16

The poor boy only has these 4 as his friends, he considers Childe an annoyance to him

Literally is a cat, and doesn't socialize unless someone drags him out

Crush on Lumine, but has kept a secret from you somehow.

Authors Notes

Hi yes this will be your group chat

I had way too much fun writing for these 4, especially Xiao and Scara

TBH I could see myself being really good friends with them.

(EVEN THOUGH I THINK THEY ARE HOT AS FUCKKKKKK)

Also, the story is mostly gonna be told through this group chat

[floralcrematorium]

okay so no tiermaker bc the one I did was a mess when I got to actual thinking but here's some nonsensical rambling. gonna put most of this under the cut because i just ramble on and on and i'm not subjecting random people's dash's to nonsensical thoughts

for the AU I was thinking largely about just the Shenanigans different people would get up to, so here are a few of my founding thoughts for the AU. Ultimately this AU comes down to one thing and one thing only:

Which characters are willing to put themselves through four soul sucking years of formal art education?

table of contents for what's below the cut:

Important Notes

The Content

Student/Concentration/Year Breakdown

Generic Description of Concentrations (Majors)

SHARE ARTISTS WITH ME!!!

WARNING, THIS POST IS VERY LONG. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

Important Notes

• disclaimer 1: These thoughts are for a human AU because in nationverse I think every character has dabbled in the arts at least once. Art history should and will be taken into account when thinking about a character's area of study, but I'm mainly considering a character's personality above all things. Cause like,,, the United States could be its own art history course when considering past and contemporary Native American art history (which I've taken a course about but it was not perfect whatsoever) and art history following the foundation of the country, but I do NOT think Alfred F. Jones would go through art school. If he's an artist, he's a hobbyist and that's fine. I just cannot see that man having the patience for art school, unless someone can prove me wrong

• disclaimer 2: I went to a very small art college that honestly is very unserious and is very much divided between "fine arts" which are literally all lumped together when it comes to senior thesis (all of the painters, sculptors, art educators, printmakers, photographers, and book arts people were stuck together which was a mess) and the "visual arts" group which had their own separate thesis groups (illustration, animation, and graphic design got to be their own entities). I was an illustrator who nearly fell down the illustrator to animator pipeline (see bullet point about Japan in the actual content section) and was friends with animators and art education majors. My requirements had me taking life drawing/painting classes and typography, so I had some exposure to the painters and graphic designers. My "college experience" is very atypical to others for numerous reasons, especially considering how we weren't even allowed to pick our majors/minors until midway through our 3rd semesters (we had to take foundations courses freshman year)

• disclaimer 3: Actual art history came into play when I was thinking about what some characters' concentrations would be and not really anything else, but because I attended college/live in America, my knowledge is going to have eurocentric bias. I genuinely don't think African arts have been in my curriculum whatsoever other than when dissing Pablo Picasso and Man Ray. We've touched upon South America in bits and pieces and then I took a Buddhist Art History course which was entirely focused on Asia, but of course I still lack knowledge on greater art movements in other regions. I'm very open to learning new things, so feel free to throw things my way! I am very much not an expert and should not be considered as one

• not really important, but I just wanted to bring this up. I somehow managed to escape art school without having formal lectures on THE RENAISSANCE. Blame the pandemic -- we were supposed to cover it at the end of my introductory art history class, but that semester was when the pandemic hit so it threw the curriculum off and we did what we could. My education was thoroughly fucked over by the pandemic (though, who's wasn't?)

• just because I've assigned a character a concentration, it doesn't mean that they haven't taken electives outside of their major. it's fun to explore! despite being an illustrator, i took several animation electives

The Content

expect typos. I am severely over-caffeinated. this stupid AU idea genuinely started with me thinking about how in my freshman year i had a project where I had to tie myself to another student for 8 hours and document what we did every hour and what silly shenanigans heta characters would get up to if they were humans age 19-22 in the same situations i found myself in

• The Ancient characters who are "dead" in canon are faculty? Started this bullet point with Ancient Egypt and Rome in mind. Rome specifically reminds me of my one life drawing teacher who was also one of the main painting professors. Could tell a lot of stories about that guy, but Rome is a more outgoing and less intimidating version of him. Thinking about his emphasis for "you have to feel the model, you have to get inside the model to really understand the form." He would dramatically gesture across his own body to get the emphasis that you need to be actively moving to explore a form, which would then result in him getting charcoal all over his shirts. Same guy threatened to throw a ball at us if we looked at our papers too much instead of the model. He's also made our main model cry before (not a fan of that, our main model was such a nice guy and he brought snacks for us on the last class i ever had with him as a model (homemade spinach stromboli & pumpkin bread)). Maybe we can throw Germania in there as a liberal arts teacher, I don't know. Ancient Greece should be faculty too. Maybe she's another liberal arts professor and Ancient Egypt is the sculpture professor? Arguably we could move China and India to be instructors as well since they're among the oldest canon characters, but I really want them to be students (they are the Tired Seniors who can't wait to get out of here). Regardless, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, and Rome could all be deans. Also, if there's a character with an ancient relative (The Italy bros, Greece, and Egypt), they're attending this AU college

• China, India, and France give me RA vibes. China and India are both fourth years while France is a third year. China and India might've been roommates their freshman year and have been friends through their time at art college. They're definitely always together and one of them's definitely got a car on campus. They run their RA events together. France is definitely an RA for the bonus popularity points it scores him. I love Francis, but he's annoying about it and is lowkey insufferable. France is very buddy-buddy with Campus Life in the worst way possible lmao. I can see China and India being very fed up with campus/administration whereas Francis kisses admin's ass (I say this with a handful of my friends having been RAs for 3 years and hearing about What Goes Down)

• Veneziano and Romano are siblings attending the same college and are roommates. If they're not direct roommates, they at least live in the same apartment (2 bedrooms w/ two people in each, total 4 per apartment). I went to a really small school, but I can name several instances where siblings attended the college at the same time and more often than not they usually roomed together. Maybe it made move-in easier for parents. I remember two animators in particular who were siblings and I almost never saw one without the other unless only one of them was in my class. Veneziano's dragging Romano out to events (they definitely take advantage of the free food on campus), but they both have their own friend circles. They're not in the same major. Veneziano is a painter and Romano is either photography or printmaking (he was originally in painting, too, and is pretty good at it, but his tendency to compare himself to his brother led him to pursue another concentration to distinguish himself as his own person). My college didn't have a meal plan and we were responsible for cooking for ourselves -- Veneziano and Romano's apartment is the place to be because they're willing to cook to feed anyone who needs food (they're giving rich kid vibes -- maybe their grandfather is also a dean rather than just an instructor (administrators could also teach at my school, but were limited to one or two classes per semester))

• Having a hard time figuring out what major each character would be because it's unfair to distinguish one nation to one category of the arts. Honestly I'm going mainly on the character's personality alone supplemented by what I know from my art history classes. So far what I'm thinking for concentrations is China is painting, India is interdisciplinary to pursue both painting and sculpture, France is painting and took some photo classes (he could also be art ed???), Veneziano is painting, Romano is photo or printmaking, Greece is sculpture, and see the next bullet point for Japan. Characters I can't decide on concentrations for are: Korea, Taiwan (she's giving illustration to me and she'd like artists like Tran Nguyen (I think she'd love work heavy in florals, bright colors, and very flowy compositions)), Liechtenstein (don't ask why she's here, it's purely vibes alone. She's either a painter or a kid-lit illustrator), Poland, Portugal, Spain maybe, and Egypt. Turkey could also attend, but I don't know him well enough as a character to make the call over whether or not he'd put up with art school. I also want to include Thailand and Vietnam, but I'm unsure if they'd put up with art school. If so, Vietnam and Taiwan are roommates. As much as I love the Nordics, I'm not sure if I can see any of them attending art school except maybe Norway, and that's a stretch (I also have genuinely no knowledge about Scandinavian arts so take that into account). Other nations are notable for their arts, but I can't see them attending art school with what I know about them as characters. HWS America is not attending art school, I'm sorry guys. Maybe he tried, but flunked out. I can't see him being able to sit still during life drawing classes (just like me, for real). For some reason Germany also comes to mind (Northern Renaissance, one of the few things that comes to mind for Germany and I remember nothing because this is high school knowledge). Unless maybe he's in the metal shop? He could be a metal sculptor. I also want to include Ukraine here, but my only basis for this thought is on Ukrainian embroidery and I don't know anything about Ukrainian arts otherwise (she's someone you would think is an RA because she's very involved on campus, but isn't an RA). I'm also thinking Monaco would be here if France is

• Japan fell down the illustrator to animator pipeline. Since his character canonically loves comics and animation, I think that's what lands him in the illustration concentration. However, a strange phenomenon I noticed among my classmates is the sheer number of illustrators who changed their majors during their sophomore/junior year and became animators. I think part of it had to do with this one particular professor we had in the department, but I can name over five people who made the swap?? Which is a lot considering by the time we graduated, the illustration department had the most graduates (~20 of us). With Kiku specifically, I think it might've just been he couldn't decide between the two fields. Like how I have India and maybe France as interdisciplinary to have two different focuses, maybe Japan is also an interdisciplinary artist. He definitely reminds me of some of the animators I knew who would stay in their senior studios and would hide from security in order to stay all night (because of the pandemic, we weren't allowed to stay in the school buildings past 2 AM, but it was easy to find places to hide once you figured out what times security would come through on rounds)

• Feliciano and Kiku get up to shenanigans. That's really it. Everyone wonders how the hell Feli is getting his work done because he's always in the animation studio bothering Kiku and he??? Cannot do his physical work there because there's no ventilation for oil paints in the animation studio. I think they would also be good roommates, but Kiku's a year above Feli. I think it would be very cool if they collaborated on a project -- Feli paints backgrounds for an animation for Kiku (Kiku's very much able to compose his own backgrounds, but I love when animation is mixed media (think Loving Vincent (I haven't seen it but supposedly every shot is an oil painting) or Scarlet Deer Inn (a video game that's in production right now where the character animation frames are all embroidery). Also considering their vastly different work ethics... that would be an interesting experience

• Wake up IndChu, ItaPan, and Framano shippers. I've already touched upon India/China and Japan/N.Italy's relationships, but now I get to talk about Framano. I hadn't considered Framano as a ship until this one RP I'm doing as France (which is still in progress) where France and Romano meet in their 20s and it's an artist/muse situation. In the RP AU, Francis is an illustrator (think along the lines of Leyendecker stylistically) who hires Lovino as a studio assistant (Lovino hobbies in photography but Francis is unaware of this yet). Lovino is very down on himself and can't see how wonderful he really is, but Francis is absolutely captivated by him -- his attitude, his looks, his story. Anyway, back to art school AU. I think Francis and Lovi would've met in their photo classes and Francis is newer to the practice than Lovino is. He's a big fan of what he sees from Lovi during critique and asks for his help outside of class, meanwhile Lovino is like huh???? me???? I think Lovino definitely puts Francis and his massive ego in his check and between Francis and his brother, Lovino gets dragged to a lot of campus events. Give me Romano learning to appreciate his own worth, PLEASE. If neither of them have Friday classes, I want them to sit in the park sketching and with some lunch

• All of them have caffeine addictions, whether it be coffee or tea. There are at least three cafe's on the main street by my college's main building and at least half of the student population frequents those three places and is a loyal customer to one of them. Most of the characters I've listed are definitely big fans of coffee or tea, so more than half of the time you're gonna see them with a hot or iced drink in hand. I can see Francis working at one of the coffee shops that's open from like 7AM-2PM. His shifts are on days where he doesn't have morning classes -- Since he gets free or discounted food/drink, he's definitely bringing home lunch for Lovino or Charlotte (Monaco) even though he doesn't need to

• I'm unsure who, but there's someone on campus who is notorious for setting the dorm smoke alarms off at 2 or 3 AM. I would consider England, but I'm not sure if I'm including him in this AU. To be honest, I'm entirely unsure of what he would even study (he's more of a writer to me), but thinking about an academic rivalry with France is funny & they're bitter exes

• A shrine dedicated to the school's president (let's just say it's Rome) keeps popping up in one of the dorm common spaces. Every time the RAs send out an email to their respective floors about taking it down, it does get taken down, but it reappears not long after. This. Happened at my school, lol. It was located in a cabinet in the new dorm building that very few people could actually access. There's also an Adam Driver photo collage on the walls in the janitor's closet??? Truly nobody knows who is responsible for that one but it was there the entire time I was a student

Character Breakdowns

But not for everyone bc I've spent too long with this draft open. Using their country names rather than human names because I don't have human names for everyone yet. There are also some characters who I know the year of but not their concentration, or vise versa

Student Body

China: Senior (4th year, ~21-22), Painting Concentration, RA, former roommates with India, but since they were both hired as RA's their sophomore year, they get their own single dorms India: Senior, Interdisciplinary (Painting & Sculpture), RA Ukraine: Senior, unsure of Concentration -- potentially Sculpture Turkey: Senior, unsure of Concentration -- potentially Sculpture Vietnam: Junior (3rd year, ~20-21), possible Painting or Illustration Concentration France: Junior, Art Education Concentration with focus in Painting and Photography, RA Greece: Junior, Sculpture Concentration?? Poland: Junior, unsure of Concentration Portugal: Junior, unsure of Concentration Japan: Junior, Interdisciplinary (Illustration & Animation) Romano: Sophomore (2nd year, ~19-20), Photography Concentration Veneziano: Sophomore, Painting Concentration, dabbled in some sculpture Taiwan: Freshman (1st year, ~18-19), Illustration Concentration Liechtenstein: Freshman, Illustration Concentration or Painting, will probably be applying to be an RA her sophomore year Monaco: Freshman, Photography or Painting Concentration

I guess I should also consider Seborga, who would be a Freshman, but not sure of his concentration.

Faculty

• Rome: President of the school. Teaches painting and life drawing/anatomy courses. His grandsons attend the school, but they were accepted on their own merit. It's probably not legal for them to be in one of his classes though? Unsure • Ancient Egypt: Dean of students. Teaches sculpture classes • Ancient Greece: Dean of academics. Teaches creative writing and art history classes • Germania: I don't know what this man is teaching, but he's here. He's probably another liberal arts teacher, maybe humanities?

Pre-College Concept?

This section is literally only here with Wy and Kugelmugel in mind since parts of their whole characters is just being an artist. Pre-College is a program for high-school students where they get to spend 3 weeks attending classes and living on campus to get a feel for what art school is like and I think they get college credit out of it, too

Generic Concentration Overview

Visual Arts

• Illustration: This was my own major and I don't even know how to describe it. Wow. Covers both traditional and digital mediums. I guess illustrators are like painters but with the attitudes of animators, I guess? We're a mess and I've seen several people cry due to crit. I haven't, but very publicly have had emotional crises (I restarted my thesis twice and had to speed run it with 2 months left in the academic school year. DO NOT DO THIS, EVER). Constantly in a battle of attrition with the school printers. Too many materials and not enough space to store it • Animation: Goddamn, get some sleep please. Their classes are really fun but also very stressful. Have seen my friends do paper animation, cut paper animation, stop-motion with plasticine or legos, on top of digital animation and 3D modeling. They have ridiculous deadlines. Notoriously glued to video games and cartoons (which is why they're here) • Graphic Design: By far the concentration I know the least about. They were very much tucked away in their own corner of the school. I'm so sorry that I can't say more

Fine Arts

• Painting: Kept to themselves or were with the sculpture students. Always in their studios. Were often the ones who take the collaging classes. Also always up late. I won't lie, I was a bit afraid of the painters. Painters typically stuck to oil paints and I don't think I saw a painter who used watercolor or gouache as their main medium, those paints typically being associated with the illustrators • Sculpture: A very broad concentration that can include plaster, wood, metal, glass, textile work, jewelry making, and digital fabrication (3D printing). Bound to when studio hours are because there are studio monitors for the metal, woodshop, and fabrication lab. I haven't met a boring sculptor yet • Photography: Digital & film. I didn't personally know any, but they often took pictures for the school of different events. You'll wanna know one if you want professional headshots done or help photographing your work nicely. Probably also always at war with the school printers • Print Lab: Always very interesting people and I mean that very positively. They're so cool! Wood block prints, lithographs, etching, screen-printing, and others. A surprising amount of chemicals involved. Banished to the basement • Book Arts: They deserve love and attention because they're often forgotten. The major with the least amount of students. They learn bookbinding and papermaking. They're really cool! • Art Education: Usually gets the short end of the stick. Their focus can literally be in anything. They unlock a secret 9th semester where they have to student teach, but still get to walk at graduation after their 8th semester • Interdisciplinary: You basically get to create your own curriculum, but you still have requirements you need to fulfill

END

I genuinely would love to hear about what character you guys think would attend art school in human AUs, whether it be ones I've already mentioned or not

PLEASE share some artists with me!! If artists have been mentioned to me in school, I've forgotten their names because I'm a bit spacey. If I don't write it down, it gets evaporated from my brain. Right now some of my favorite illustrators include Tran Nguyen, Sophie McPike, Loish, Aubrey Beardsley, Alphonse Mucha, or almost anyone within the Art Nouveau movement

Is this a stupid AU idea that could use more thought? probably, but it was thrown into my head as soon as I woke up so here it is. Might expand on it later

trying to figure out which heta characters would attend art school in an entirely self indulgent college AU so i can make fun of art school

⁽ⁿᵒᵗ ᵍᵒⁿⁿᵃ ᵉˣᵖˡᶦᶜᶦᵗˡʸ ⁿᵃᵐᵉ ᵐʸ ˢᶜʰᵒᵒˡ ᶠᵒʳ ˢᵃᶠᵉᵗʸ ʳᵉᵃˢᵒⁿˢ ᵇᵘᵗ ᵐʸ ᶜᵒˡˡᵉᵍᵉ ʰᵃˢ ʰᵃᵈ ᵃ ᶠᵉʷ ᶠᵘⁿⁿʸ ᵛᶦʳᵃˡ ᵗʰᶦⁿᵍˢ ᶜᵒᵐᵉ ᵒᵘᵗ ᵒᶠ ᶦᵗ ᵗʰᵃᵗ ᶦ ˡᵒᵛᵉ ᵗᵒ ˢʰᵃʳᵉ ʷᶦᵗʰ ᵖᵉᵒᵖˡᵉ⁾

gonna do a tiermaker then post it for peer review lmao

[myheelsdontmatchmysweatpants]

Thank you to @doinmybesthere for inspiring this and making me h word with a capital "I'm writing this shit at my desk"

Warnings: v*yerism, c*ckwarming, praise, degradation, no condom, after care

"Hey guys! Don't mind Y/N she had a rough day, so she is gonna chill on my lap while we work!" You have no idea how your boyfriends voice can sound so nonchalant when he was currently balls deep in your aching pussy. Thankfully, you convinced him to let you sit with your back to the computer and a blanket wrapped around you. There was no way you could keep a straight face while doing this.

Honestly, you didn't know why you could win a gaming bet against Denki.... That man was always playing video games when he wasn't with you. He even worked at a graphic design company ffs. But stubborn you couldn't say no to a challenge and that is exactly why you are now in this situation.

"Well, she better not bug us while we are working. We gotta get this presentation done today and I won't except anything less than perfect." No doubt that was Bakugo, that douchebag always sounded pissy.

"You don't have to be so mean BakuBro!" Kirishima, the sweetheart thought he was defending you.

You could hear the smirk in Denki's voice. "No worries man! She just had a hard day; she won't disturb us. Right doll?" He ended his sentence with a shallow thrust that to anyone else, probably looked like he was shifting you to make your position more comfortable.

However, with the way he was holding your hips his cock hit the spot that always made you scream so when he moved you let out a sob. Your face bursts into flames and you cling onto him tighter, the guys on the computer not making a sound for a hot minute.

Someone clears their throat, and you can feel Denki laughing at you.

Kirishima finally breaks the awkward silence "See dude, she's even crying! Someone must have pushed her buttons too much."

You let out a breath you didn't know you were holding but miss the sound of someone coughing to cover a laugh.

As the guys start working you tune out their voices, more concerned with not making any more sounds. You can vaguely hear two other voices and assume its Sero and Mina.

I guess the whole group is working for this job.

Almost like he can tell you aren't thinking of his cock Denki shifts you again. This time thrusting harder, making you gasp and shudder in his hold.

"Just makin’ sure you aren't forgetting about me baby." He whispers in your ear, so close you can feel his lips brush against your skin.

"Oi! Pay attention dunce face! Don't get cocky just because you have Y/N on your lap." Bakugo’s voice sounds deep and breathy for some reason but Denki has started thrusting into you at a slow pace fucking all thoughts out of your brain.

You think you hear whining and can’t tell if the sound came from you or someone else. Denki’s pace picks up and your breathing gets heavy, your mouth open arms wrapping tightly around Denki’s shoulders.

“Y-yeah dude…. don’t wanna get caught in… in a tight spot.” Mina’s voice is wobbly, the sound distracting you from the cock pumping in and out of you for a moment. When your hearing focuses on the sounds from the computer you go very very still.

Heavy breaths, whimpers and moans, the unmistakable sound of skin rubbing against skin that you would know anywhere.

“OH, fuck doll…. you just got so tight. You like having people see what a good slut you are?” Your boyfriend gives up on being discreet and pulls the blanket off of you exposing what’s happening to the camera.

You moan, the sound echoed by the people on the other side of the screen. Your cunt only getting tighter as they say dirty things to you.

“What a dirty little slut, you like being fucked on camera Y/N?”

“Wow pebble, look at you takin that cock so well.”

“What I wouldn’t give to taste that pussy while I sit on your face.”

“Ay dios mío. You got a nice ass baby.”

Denki can feel your orgasm fast approaching as his friends talk to you so he turns you around so they can see your face and holds you up while fucking into you at a merciless pace.

“Oh god…. oh, fuck D-Denki m’gonna cum baby.” You forget about everything as your boyfriend thrusts into you, hitting your g spot and butting against your cervix. You look up at the computer screen and your moans get louder, your orgasm hurtling towards you.

All of Denki’s friends are getting off on watching you. Kirishima and Bakugo sitting in their computer chairs with their shirts in their mouths, stroking their cocks. Mina is laying on her bed with a vibrator pressed against her clit, her tongue lolling out of her mouth while she looks at you with half lidded eyes. Sero is standing up, you can only see from his neck down as he fucks a pocket pussy, timing the thrusts to match Denki’s as he fucks you.

“Why don’t you show them how good I make you feel baby yeah? Cum on my cock and tell me who’s pussy this is doll face.”

You look right into the camera as you come undone, screaming your boyfriends name and cumming hard. As your vision blacks out you can hear the others getting close to finishing, you think it’s over and slump against Denki.

You are surprised when Denki turns the chair back around and leans back, showing even more of your cunt to the group and somehow fucking you even harder. You try to wriggle out of his grip, but he puts an arm around your waist holding you tight then shoving a hand in between you both to rub at your clit.

“Gonna fill this pussy up but you gotta cum for me again baby.”

You let out a sob and shake your head. “Nooo I c-can’t baby. It’s too much.”

“I know you can do it; be a good girl and I’ll give you what you want.”

Despite your protests you can feel your core tightening, the feeling different from your last orgasm.

“Fuck yes baby, I can feel it. Cum for me doll, milk my cock baby.” Denki’s thrusts get sloppy and after a few more swipes of his fingers on your clit you are gushing all over his cock the chair, and the computer.

Your whole body goes limp, but Denki moves his hand and grabs both of your ass cheeks, pulling them apart while he cums and fills your pussy up.

The sounds of his friends reaching their peaks echoing in the speakers, the feeling of Denki’s cum leaking from your abused hole. Everyone is silent for a few minutes catching their breath, minds reeling from the situation that just occurred.

“Alright folks.” Denki sits the chair back up and scoots closer to the computer, trying his best to not jostle you. “Gotta take care of my baby! See ya’ll later.”

Before anyone can protest, he shuts off the computer and gently pulls out of you with a hiss.

“Let’s get you cleaned up yeah?” Denki cups your cheeks and kisses your forehead then your nose. You hum in agreement and wrap your legs around his waist as he stands up.

You are both quiet as he sits you on the bathroom counter and turns on the shower. As you watch him get undressed a thought pops into your head.

“So… umm.” Denki turns to you, a quizzical look on his face. “Who do you think is gonna ask first?”

He tilts his head not catching your meaning then laughs. “Oh, Sero for sure! Mina will be there when he does probably.”

He walks over to you and helps you off the counter, opening the shower door and letting you in first.

“What about Kiri and Bakugou?”

“Oh, Kirishima will take a little bit since he wouldn’t want to hurt my feelings. Bakugou would pretend that Kiri dragged him along, but he would be hard the second he walked through the door and saw you.”

You chuckle, tilting your head into the warm spray and sighing. You both stand there in silence, basking in the post orgasmic bliss.

“So, should I take next weekend off?” You look into your boyfriend’s eyes and smile.

Denki laughs and pats your head. “I would take the whole week baby, there is no way you are walking out of this apartment after that.”

@patchworkpuzzle @eyebagsbutglam @wtf-vickyy @reinawritesbnha

[butgilinsky]

i’ve been looking for you // np

warning; language, angst but also fluff (way more angst than fluff), not proofread but who cares at this point

summary; you don’t believe in love, but nolan’s too far gone to stop himself from falling. 

word count; 5.5k+

he could barely wrap his head around the fact that you were real. the universe did the world a favor when they made you, a bright light he never knew he needed in his life. he spent more time than he cared to admit admiring you, thanking the universe for placing you in his path of life. you seemed to have every attribute he could ever ask for, checking all of the boxes he didn’t know he had. 

but he couldn’t forgive the universe for the tiny detail about you that he couldn’t get past. you didn’t believe in love, and that was a roadblock nolan wasn’t sure he’d be able to conquer. 

the night he met you was straight out of a movie. everything around him seemed to slow down, allowing him a moment to admire you from the other side of the room. he had tuned out travis completely, completely lost in a reality only he would be able to experience as he visualized you in different parts of his life. 

he didn’t realize that he would be given the opportunity to live out a few of those scenarios, though they weren’t the exact same. you’d go to his games, but his name wasn’t stretched across your back. you’d cheer so loud that your throat hurt when he scored, but he wouldn’t get to kiss you after he left the locker room at the end of the night. 

he couldn’t have you, and it would drive him insane. 

but it was too late for him. he wasn’t briefed on your lack of optimism when it came to romance until he’d found himself tumbling over the edge just hours later. you were a dream, you had to be. it was the only thing that made sense. how else would you end up at a party packed full of professional hockey players. maybe you were here with someone. maybe you were friends with one of his teammate’s wives, or maybe you were just a figment of his imagination. 

he couldn’t hide the flush of his cheeks when you laughed at his introduction, taking his outstretched hand and shaking it gently as a bright smile spread across your lips. 

“i know who you are. i work for the flyers.” he thought he was going to combust after the newfound information. you worked for the flyers, and he had never seen you before. how could he have missed you in passing if you were the only thing that held his attention for more than five minutes tonight? 

“then i guess you don’t need an introduction from me either.” travis held out his hand for you to shake after you dropped nolan’s, somehow saving nolan from tripping over himself. 

“i don’t think there’s a single person in the city of philadelphia that doesn’t know who you are.” her voice was teasing, the lilt in it making nolan swoon more than he already had been, which he had been surprised by. 

he didn’t know he was capable of swooning over a person this much in such a short period of time. 

“what do you do for the flyers?” travis saved his friend one more time, filling the air with another question before nolan allowed a thick silence to fall over the three of you. 

“i’m a graphic designer. sometimes i do social media when it gets pretty hectic.” you shrugged, as if your job was a simple detail in your chaotic life that nolan found himself dying to learn about. 

just before nolan could finally get his mouth to catch up with his thoughts, you were being tugged away into a different room by one of your friends. you sent both boys an apologetic smile, about to turn on the balls of your feet when nolan found his voice. 

“wait! what’s your name?” you turned over your shoulder, the same bright smile from before gracing your face as you answered his question. 

he replayed the name over and over again in his mind, allowing it to erase every other word he’d ever learned before now.  

“you’re completely fucked.” travis snickered under his breath, clapping a hand onto his best friend’s back before shoving him out of the kitchen and towards a group fo his teammates. 

it wasn’t too long before he found you again, standing on the balcony as you overlooked the city below you. you had lost track of how long you’d been out here, but it was long enough for you to finish your beer, which was somehow a perfect segway for nolan to join you. he held out a bottle towards you, the same one you’d been nursing all night long, though this one had just been opened seconds prior. 

he found himself tumbling into a conversation with you that took minimal effort. it felt easy, standing beside you and talking about just about anything the two of you could think of. it wasn’t until the friend that you were clearly in charge of came outside, wobbling on her feet as she told you that it was past the time the two of you had originally set as your departure time. 

noaln wanted to protest, wanted to find a reason for you to stay with him. but when you had to lunge for your friend to keep her up, draping her arm around your shoulders, he knew that nothing would be enough to get you to stay. 

it wasn’t until you were out the door, along with a majority of the people that had come to the gathering, that a gentle hand landed on nolan’s shoulder, pulling his attention away from the door you’d just left through. he looked down at cara, one of the photographers that he knew decent enough for her to come offer a hint of advice. 

“i wouldn’t get your hopes up with her, patty.” his eyebrows pulled together, unsure of how everyone was able to pick up on his infatuation with you. he hadn’t realized that he had been so transparent. did you pick up on it too? 

“she doesn’t believe in love.” 

it was something that, looking back on it, he should’ve listened to. he should’ve been able to tell himself to not go any further, to not throw himself down a hole of false hope and empty promises. 

but he couldn’t. he couldn’t live with the face of knowing you and how incredible you were, and just ignore it. he couldn’t go to the arena, knowing you probably weren’t far away from him, and pretend like he didn’t know about your existence. 

he couldn’t do it. 

so he settled for a friendship. it was enough at first. any reason to be close to you, to talk to you about anything other than the view of philadelphia from someone’s apartment that neither of you two particularly wanted to be in. it turned into him looking for you at his games and smiling at you when he saw you in the hallways.

it went further when you started seeing each other outside of work. you’d find each other at team parties, at boring events that you both had to be at despite neither of you wanted to show. it turned into him lying across your couch with his head in your lap as you scratched at his scalp gently. 

nolan though he could stop himself from falling too hard too fast. he hoped he could stop himself from falling at all, but that proved to be out of the question for him quicker than he was hoping for. you were everything he wanted, the only thing he wanted. 

so he kept it to himself. he didn’t even tell travis, nor any of the other boys, despite their relentless chirps about you throughout the season. he thought that if he kept it to himself, didn’t say the words out loud, that it would go away. it would make it less real, it would dissipate until it wasn’t there anymore. 

and as much as it sucked to not be able to tell you how he truly felt, he still thought that it was better than not having you in his life at all. he made a place for you, and there was no way he could kick you at now. 

you heard the chirps about the two of you, sometimes you were on the receiving end of them. you assured them, every time, that you and nolan were just friends. you weren’t looking for anything, and you were trying to steer clear of love all together. romance wasn’t something you were ever successful at, and it was something you’d groan to loathe in more ways than one. 

you didn’t think there was anything wrong with your friendship with nolan. sure, you spent a lot of time at his apartment or with him in general, but that didn’t mean you were falling in love with him. yes, you’d spend hours on his couch, playing with his hair when he had migraines or rubbing knots out of his shoulders after a long day at practice. 

you’d go out with him and travis, sometimes a large group of people, thought the two of you always stuck by each other’s side. you both knew the warning signs when the other one was ready to leave a group setting, hitting your limit of social interaction for the night. you knew when he was beating himself up during a game and would give him the best pep talk you could muster in order for him to finish the game on the highest note possible. 

despite nolan’s feelings, he was able to be there for you in the best way a friend could be. he was doing good at the friend role you’d given him. 

until he showed up. 

you were walking through the flyers’ facility in the middle of a long day for everyone involved. the boys had a long day of practice, currently on their lunch break as travis and nolan walked along either side of you. you were laughing at something travis said, leaning slightly into nolan as you walked. 

until you came to a screeching halt, your heart thudding harshly against your chest as you stared at the man in front of you. 

“liam?” nolan and travis shared a look, one that was filled with confusion over the fact that they knew exactly who liam was, but were unsure of why he was here. 

liam was the one that nolan had blamed for your lack of optimism when it came to love. nolan blamed for liam for not allowing you to love nolan. the one holding nolan back from being able to express everything he felt for you. 

“hi.” liam smiled, though it didn’t reach his eyes as he looked between travis and nolan. 

“oh, uh, yeah, shit. guys, this is liam. liam, this is travis and nolan.” liam nodded, a sentiment that travis returned. nolan stood frigid in his place, hands shoved into the pockets of his sweats as he stared at liam, void of all emotion. 

“what are you doing here?” to nolan’s knowledge, liam didn’t live in the area. you moved to philly as a way to get away from your old life, liam included. 

“i was hoping i could talk to you.” your breath caught in your throat, uncertainty coursing through your veins even when you nodded and excused yourself from travis and nolan. 

they watched you walk off with liam, falling into step beside him as you walked off in a direction that nolan wanted to veer far away from. so much so that he turned on his heel when he could finally move, walking back towards the locker room with travis lingering behind him. 

“patty-”

“don’t.” 

he wasn’t. it showed when lunch ended and the boys were back on the ice. nolan’s slap shot was harder than it had been at the start of the day, his feet were faster and his cheeks were redder. he was playing more aggressive than he usually did, and it didn’t go unnoticed by anyone that was witnessing it. 

he didn’t talk about it, and travis didn’t bring it up. not even when the rest of the boys asked if there was something wrong with nolan. travis would sigh and shrug, despite knowing the exact reason that nolan was acting like this. 

you didn’t see nolan for the rest of the day, and even for a few days afterwards. he steered clear of the hallway he knew you spent most of your time in, and when it rolled around to game day, he ignored your good lucks texts that you always sent him. he played the same way he had been at practice, though it ramped up to 200% when it wasn’t his teammates that he was shoving into the boards. 

it was the most aggressive you’d ever seen him play, and it was confusing to watch. you didn’t know what was going on with him, but you chopped it up to being too lost in his own thoughts and channeling it into his game. 

what an understatement that was. 

when he scored a goal, his celly showed no excitement. he didn’t cheer, didn’t drop down to one knee like he did from time to time. he simply took the slaps on the back from his teammates and lined up for the face off. 

the thing that really got you was the fight he got into. it wasn’t like nolan to fight, you’d only seen him fight once since you’d met him. and this fight was dirty. 

enough to send him to the locker room after for concussion protocol. travis looked towards your seat when nolan headed off the ice, mumbling profanities under his breath when he saw you climbing the stairs. he knew what you were doing, and he knew it wasn’t going to end well for either of you, but there was nothing he could do with three minutes left in the period. 

your feet took you further than you expected them to. you ended up at the locker room without time to think about what you were doing, pounding on the door until it swung open. 

“ma’am, you can’t-”

“i need to talk to him.” you shoved past the man with a towel draped over his shoulder, who called out behind you as you stomped through the room until you caught sight of nolan. 

“ma’am!”

“what's going on with you?” nolan’s head snapped over towards you, along with a few other people who were standing around him. 

“what?” he was confused, along with not fully letting out his anger that had built throughout the game. 

“that! what was all of that? you don’t play like that-”

“how the hell do you know how i play?” 

“because i watch you play all the time, nolan! not only do i sit in the stands every single home game, but i have to rewatch shit over and over game for my job. i know how you play, and it’s not like that.” the laugh that passed his lips had no humor in it, only venom as it pierced through your chest. 

“well then why don’t you go out there and play for me? since you know how i play so well, go do it yourself.” he pointed to his jersey that he’d taken off when he entered the locker room, watching your eyes narrow in his direction. 

“why are you acting like such a dick?”

“now i’m a dick? first i’m not playing like myself and now i’m a dick. what’s next, y/n? you want to tell me that i need a new stick to play with? a new number?” it was your turn to laugh now, attempting to bite your tongue as your hands settled on your hips. 

“what is wrong with you?” 

“you! you’re what’s wrong with me.” your shoulders relaxed, slumping slightly as your hands fell by your side. “why are you even here, y/n? shouldn’t you be at home with your boyfriend or something?”

“my boyfriend? you of all people should know i don’t have a boyfriend.” he scoffed, biting the inside of his cheek when the door to the locker room opened. 

“could’ve fooled me.” he mumbled softly, but you weren’t letting the conversation end there. 

“is that what this is about? you’re mad that liam showed up the other day? well, i didn’t exactly ask him to show up out of the blue after two years, nol.”

“no? you weren’t ready to go back to how things were back in new york? you didn’t want to run back home and start your brand new shiny life with him?” 

“what the fuck are you talking about? why does it matter what i had back in new york? i ran away from all of that, nol. liam asked me to move back with him and do you know what i said? i told him i’d never go back to him. i told him that he doesn’t mean anything to me anymore. i don’t want that shit anymore! i don’t want liam anymore.”

“but you don’t want me either, right?” your breath caught in your throat, your attempt at following the forming lump failing as you stared at him in disbelief. “am i right?”

“nolan.” you sighed, eyes fluttering shut for a moment. 

“it’s not like i haven’t tried, y/n. it’s pretty fucking obvious that i love you, but you’re so set in this idea that you were made to be loved or some shit. you’re so set on not falling in love so you won’t get hurt that you’re ignoring the fact that i wouldn’t hurt you.” your eyes fell to your feet, your nerves spiking as you felt like you were shrinking under his gaze. “tell me i’m wrong.” 

“nolan, you know how i feel about that shit-”

“you don’t think i know that? i know, y/n! it’s the only reason i’ve been bottling this shit up for months. if you weren’t so fucking headstrong i would’ve told you this months ago. but i can’t take it anymore, okay? so, here it is.” he stood up, standing just ahead of you. “i love you. i’m in love with you, and i don’t want you to believe any of the bullshit that guy’s feeding you. you deserve to be loved, and i can do that for you. i want to love you like you’ve never been loved before. i want to prove that love exists, and that it’s right in front of you.” 

his hands cupped your cheeks, cradling your head in his hands and forcing your eyes up to his. he thought maybe he cracked something, maybe the wall of tears building was because you were realizing that what he was saying was true. 

but then you shook your head, breaking the dam of tears and allowing them to roll down your cheeks. 

“i can’t, nolan.” and his heart broke. 

you pulled his hands from your face, gentle hands gripping around his wrists before placing them at his sides. you turned around, only taking a second to acknowledge the crowd of grown men that were watching your exchange. 

travis stood at the front, jaw clenched tight as his eyes shifted from you to nolan. he moved slightly, enough to let you slip by him before attempting at trying to comfort nolan. 

“pat-” 

“i don’t want to talk about it.”

you had the luxury of going home after that, not having to watch the third period as you threw yourself onto your couch and sobbed into your throw pillows. nolan, however, had to play the rest of the game. 

he got into another fight in the third, sent to the penalty box with trail of blood dripping from his nose. he broke a few sticks, took a couple of nasty hits but sent them right back without hesitation. 

travis drove him back to his apartment, not speaking throughout the drive after being shut down three times prior to getting in the car. he dropped nolan off, telling him to call if he needed anything only to have the door slammed in return.

you stopped showing up to games that you were required to be at, stopped wandering the halls during practice hours. you spent most of your nights on your couch, laptop sat on your lap as you sipped wine while you worked. your phone went unanswered unless it was your boss.

weeks went by without hearing from nolan. you didn’t expect to, but a part of you hoped he’d call or text or something in order to talk to you. you didn’t know what you would say, or what he would say, but you found yourself wishing he was there when you got home. 

you found yourself feeling disappointed when he wasn’t hanging around your office during the day. you couldn’t go to games unless you had to, your eyes not being able to leave the number 19 as he skated around the ice. you didn’t know what you wanted, but you knew it wasn’t this. 

when your boss called you into his office on a saturday morning, your heart thudded against your chest harshly. you were expecting notes about how you’d been slacking. maybe something about giving you a warning for turning in half assed projects or missed deadlines. 

you weren’t expecting to walk into a room with your boss as well as someone from the NHL staff, offering you a job back in new york. 

“i’m sorry?” your boss let out a soft laugh, holding a manilla folder in your direction. 

“the NHL wants you on their team. we’ve had an eye on you for a few months, and they want to offer you a position in their new york division. it’s up to you, obviously, but we’d be delighted to have you.” the man that you had just met moments ago gave you a bright smile, watching you have an internal battle in front of them. 

“take your time, let us know once you’d reached a decision.” you nodded slowly, swallowing the lump in your throat to thank the men in front of you before heading out of the office. 

you spent the first two days ignoring it, staring up at your ceiling for what felt like hours as you ran through the possibilities lined up for you. did you want to go back to new york? you were unsure. did you want to stop watching clips of the flyers, nolan specifically, over and over again as you thought about how much you messed things up with him? yes. 

it took you five days before you were knocking on his door, tears streaming down your cheeks as your bottom lip wobbled. sure, you’d gone through two glasses of wine before you showed up, but that was hardly the point. 

travis opened the door, surprised to see you just as much as you were him. his confusion turned to concern quickly, moving to wrap you in a hug and try to coo you out of your tears. 

“tk who is it?” you lifted your head from travis’s shoulder to see nolan standing at the end of the hall, frozen in his place as he watched you unravel yourself from your best friend. “what are you doing here?”

“i got a job offer in new york.” you didn’t plan to lead the conversation with that, but it came out before you could think twice about it. 

the silence that fell over the two of you was thick and uncomfortable, suffocating you like a scratchy turtle neck that you feel obligated to wear when your grandparents are in town. travis had fled the scene, finding solace in nolan’s guest room as he hid himself from the awkward conversation that was about to ensue. 

“that’s great.” the cold tone he used shot through your heart, making you tug at the roots of your hair in frustration. 

“that’s great? after all that we went through you’re just going to say ‘that’s great’ as if it’s a good thing that i might move back to new york?” he shrugged, his own frustration masking the hurt that was thumping in his chest. 

“it’s what you wanted, isn’t it?” 

“no, nolan! it’s not what i want! i want what we had back. i want the late night phone calls and the impulsive outings. i want to come back here and watch a movie after being out with the team all night long.” he stared at you blankly, spurring on your frustration even further. 

“that sounds like a relationship, y/n, and that isn’t what you wanted. you made that crystal clear when i told you i loved you in front of thirty people and you just walked out.” 

“i’m sorry, nolan. i am, i’m sorry. i just-” you chewed on your bottom lip, trying to keep it from wobbling like it did in the locker room, his eyes burning into yours all the same. 

“say it.” he challenged, crossing his arms over his chest as he raised his eyebrows at you. “say it, y/n. because if you don’t say it, i can’t believe it.”

“this isn’t easy for me, nolan!” 

“you think it’s easy for me? i’ve never felt like this before, y/n! i’ve gotten my heart broken too, but it didn’t feel like this. it didn’t feel how it felt when you walked out of the locker room, and it sure as hell didn’t feel like this. nothing has ever hurt this much before.

“love is scary, y/n, and i can’t tell it isn’t. i can’t tell you that you’ll feel comfortable every single second of the future. i can’t promise you that you wan’t be scared as fuck, but i can tell you that it’ll be worth it. for every ounce of fear you fell, you’ll feel ten times the amount of love. you just have to trust me, baby.” 

your head was in his hands once again, eyes glued onto his as he searched for something intently. 

“but i need you to say it.”

“i can’t, nolan.”

it was the same thing all over again. you were breaking his heart the same way you broke it back in the locker room. you built him up just to tear him down again, and he couldn’t handle it anymore. 

“have fun in new york, y/n.” 

the door slamming in front of you broke the dam, a strangled sob bubbling past your lips. nolan leaned against the door, listening to you try to catch your breath out in the hallway. he wanted you to knock, wanted you to yell at him to let you inside. he wanted you to realize that the words sat on the tip of your tongue, all you needed was a push before they’d come out. 

but you didn’t. 

he didn’t hear anything for a while. he went on a few roadies, played a few home games before he heard anything about it. he didn’t ask, but he was hoping the information would land in his lap sooner or later. 

he wasn’t expecting travis to tell him that you took the job. you were moving back to new york, and while it wasn’t a surprise, it was fucking disappointing. nolan still had hope that the two of you would be able to work through all of the bullshit. he was hoping that everything said and done between the two of you would prove to be too much and too strong for you to forget about all of it. 

he wanted you to stay in philly, as selfish as it was. he didn’t want you to live in a different state, but then he came to a realization. it was better for nolan if you left. it was better that you didn’t live him somewhere else, rather than working in the same building as him. he didn’t want to see you if he couldn’t have you. he couldn’t be your friend anymore. 

travis gave him updates, letting him know that you were working for the NHL, and how it’d be a great experience for you. he knew when you were leaving, knew that you were packing up your apartment and moving back to new york, despite the bad memories that lingered there. 

you were leaving, and nolan would probably never see you again. 

and he came to terms with that. well, he thought he did. he was doing fine until he heard your name mixed with the words ‘last day’. then it all came crashing down. 

you were leaving philly. you were going back to new york and nolan would probably never see you again. it weighed heavily on his chest, heavy on his shoulders as he left his things in the locker room, completely forgetting about packing his things as he ran through the hallways of the stadium, searching for anything that told him that you were still here. 

he needed to find you before you left. he needed to see you, even if it was the last time he’d ever see you. he needed to tell you one more time, even if you wouldn’t say it back. he needed to see you. he needed you. 

“y/n!” you turned around, confusion evident in your expression as nolan sprinted in your direction, coming to a screeching halt in front of you, breathing heavily as he hunched over to catch his breath. 

“nolan?”

“don’t go.” you stared at him, eyebrows furrowed together as you struggled to find something to say. “don’t go. i know i told you to go, but don’t. you can’t go. you hate it there! new york’s filled with awful people and nothing you can’t find here.”

“nolan-”

“you love your job! and you love the flyers. if you go to new york you’ll have to go to isles games, or the rangers! who likes the rangers? that’s bullshit, y/n! what’s in new york that you can’t have here? pizza? the pizza’s fine but that doesn’t warrant you to move back!”

“nolan-”

“don’t go. i know i said i couldn’t wait, but i will. i’ll wait as long as it takes. i’ll do anything it takes to prove to you that i love you. you can’t go, baby. you can’t leave, because i haven’t been able to show you what love is supposed to feel like. you can’t go, please. baby, i love you, and if you go now i don’t think anything’s going to be able to stop me from following you.” 

he cradled your head in his hands, one on each cheek as his eyes burned into you for a third time. the third time he held you like you hung the moon and told you all the right things. the third time he looked for something, anything, that told him to stay right here forever. 

“i turned down the job.” 

“what?” it wasn’t exactly what he was expecting, but he wasn’t losing hope just yet. 

“i turned it down. i’m not going to new york.” a grin spread across his face, hope beaming in the back of his mind as he tried not to topple over the edge again. not yet, anyways. 

“why?”

“i can’t leave, nolan. not after falling in love with you.” his heart stopped, his breathing stopped, and he was sure that he was about to collapse in the middle of the hallway. 

“what?” you smiled, leaning into one of his palms as you sighed softly. 

“i love you. i’m in love with you.” you gripped his wrist gently, trying to bring his head out of the clouds and back down to earth as you smiled at him. 

“you what?” you laughed then, finding a light humor in his inability to soak in the meaning of your words. 

“i love you. i always have, i think, i just couldn’t come to terms with it. i was stupid to think that this was anything but love, nolan. i shouldn’t have walked away in the locker room, and i should’ve said it in the hallway last time. i shouldn’t have let you believe i didn’t love you.” 

his lips came crashing down on yours, leaving a bruising kiss on your soft lips that he was sure he could get drunk off of. he had never felt so lightheaded from a kiss, like his enter being was about to burst into flames from how much electricity coursed through him. 

you were sure he was about to knock you off of your feet from the force of it all, but you didn’t mind. you smiled against him, feeling him do the same before separating from you. just enough to press his forehead to yours, keeping his eyes screwed shut as he tried to collect his thoughts. 

“is this real?” he whispered softly, hearing you laugh softly. you reached up and pinched the back of his hand, hearing him hiss in pain. “shit, okay, definitely real. i love you.” 

“i love you.” you said softly, watching him lift his head from yours to finally look back at you. 

“i don’t think i’ll ever get used to hearing that.” you leaned into him, pressing a kiss to his jaw. 

“good, because i don’t think i’ll ever get used to saying it.” 

- 

tagging @thedemonsimpofcamphalfblood​

[myundeadgayson]

DC Street Racing AU — Bart Allen’s Backstory

alright, i know practically nothing about cars. i’ve also never even seen a Fast and the Furious movie, but SOMEONE has gotta fill the void on lack of DC Street Racing AUs, and i’m gonna do it. (if there are some out there though, please let me know! i can barely find ANYTHING, and i’d love to see stuff for this kind of AU!)

so,,, i’m just saying,,, the Teen Titans and Young Justice Crews as Street Racers.

we’ll start off with the characters that sent me into this spiral in the first place: Bart Allen and Wally West.

again, i know practically nothing about this kind of stuff. i know nothing about street racing, or cars, but i’m just saying… i really love imagining Street Racer!Wally being Bart’s inspiration for wanting to race.

even though Iris was never approving of Wally’s racing (she’s supportive, but extremely concerned for his safety), Wally would occasionally bring Bart along to the races that he’d have with friends. sometimes Bart would sneak his way into going without Wally realizing, but either way, Bart would come along.

after years of growing up and watching Wally race, Bart decided he wanted to race too. (note: to save myself a headache since this is No Powers AU and Time Travel doesn’t take place, we’re just gonna pretend that Barry and Iris adopted Bart. i want to say that his parents were close family members of Iris and Wally. perhaps one of the parents was another cousin of theirs, but both Bart’s parents ended up dying in some sort of accident. since then, Bart’s been living with Barry, Iris, and their newly born twins.)

i have so much more to say about this AU, but i want to warn you because this is about to be a VERY long post. however, if you wanna know Bart Allen’s Street Racer AU backstory and more about Wally (and his racing group, The Titans), please read more!

      (TW: small car accident — completely non-graphic, no injuries involved, everything is okay, but it does happen)     Bart’s been interested in racing for YEARS. ever since he was a kid, he’s always craved to know what it’s like — to feel the wind in your hair, the rush of adrenaline in your veins, the feeling of your heart racing as you watch the speedometer go up and up and up. the exhilaration filling your lungs as some part of you realizes “this is dangerous”.

he wants those feelings. he wants that experience that makes Wally’s eyes light up like there’s pure lightening rushing through his veins.

he wants to go Fast.

when Bart was thirteen, Wally let him sit in the driver’s seat for the first time.

Wally didn’t let him drive it, of course. Bart wasn’t tall enough yet to reach the petals even if he wanted to, but he was excited nonetheless. Wally had laughed at him as he grinned, asking how to work everything.

the car wasn’t on — Wally wasn’t dumb enough to give him even the slightest chance of trying to start it. it was a good choice. Bart would be a liar to say that he wouldn’t have instantly tried to drive it. instead, Wally let Bart mess with the gears and pretend he was in a race of his own. he’d adjust the mirror to try to see himself. he was too short to fully be seen in it, but if he sat up tall enough he could see his eyes.

years later, Bart would do the same. he’d look into his reflection and see his eyes, sparkling with that same determination that he had all those years ago.

Wally had explained everything to him. Bart started off by eagerly pointing at things (like the gear, the numbers, and all the weird symbols he could see) and ask questions, and Wally would answer every one. Wally explained other things too, like what made Wally’s special car better for racing than some random car. Bart hung on every word, trying his best to imagine all the pieces, even if he didn’t know what some were at all. he tried to commemorate every bit of information to memory bc maybe one day, he could make himself a cool car too.

the first time Bart actually drove a car was a disaster.

he was barely fourteen. it was hardly even a few months after Wally had verbally explained to him how to work a car.

no one expected him to put that knowledge to use so quickly.

somehow he got ahold of Iris’ keys. he would never explain how he got him (they were RIGHT THERE on the counter. how was he supposed to say no when they made it so easy?), but somehow it happened.

his joyride didn’t last long enough. for a short moment though, he was beyond excited to be beyond the wheel. after lots of adjusting the seat and awkwardly shuffling to sit as close to the wheel as possible to be able to see over the hood, Bart started to drive.

he managed to get down the street. he was a little slow at first. the car wobbled in an unsteady line as it trudged down the road at barely 10mph. Bart’s eyes flickered constantly between the road and the mirror, his small hands gripping the wheel like a lifeline.

the anxiousness he felt subsided as he reached the end of the neighborhood. there was no sign of Iris in sight, and he managed to drive just fine. stunned laughter bubbled from his lips as his eyes flickered back down to the road ahead— he was doing it! he was really doing it! he was driving!

with a newfound confidence urging him on, he turned onto a connected street to keep going. he started pressing on the gas pedal more, trying to gain some speed. the car started going from a slow crawl to a decently safe speed. Bart started pressing down on it harder and harder, going faster and faster. he remembered laughing in delight. the windows were cracked halfway, allowing the air to rush in. it tousled his hair, and for a moment he felt like he was flying.

until he wasn’t.

he hadn’t really considered the thought of other cars. he hadn’t considered a lot of things actually, such as the fact it was the middle of the day and people would be driving.

he didn’t crash into anyone, but it was a close call. when he started getting closer to the main road and noticed the cars zooming across, he panicked.

he hit the brakes. he did what Wally said. he didn’t slam them, but he was still going too fast. the cars were getting closer! Bart pressed his foot door harder and finally, stomped on the brakes altogether.

he yanked the wheel away from the road, shutting his eyes tight.

the wheels spun. he went off the road into the grass, tire skidding rough tracks across the grass and dirt. he didn’t hit a car, but he did hit the stop sign at the end of the street.

it was a miracle he didn’t get hurt, or worse. he ended up a bit banged up hitting the wheel and the seatbelt yanking too tight, but he was overall fine. unfortunately, Iris definitely wasn’t happy.

Bart didn’t drive for a long while after that.

occasionally, Wally would still take him on drives though.

some of Bart’s best memories are riding in the passenger seat late at night. along barren backroads and empty highways, Wally would race through the streets. with the windows rolled down, the two of them would laugh, voices carried through the wind that whipped their hair like reckless flames.

under the passing lights, Bart would grin wide and holler his excitement into the night sky without a care in the world.

the world would need to try pretty hard to catch them.

Bart would also get to attend a few of Wally’s races. it isn’t as often as he used to with Iris and Barry watching him more closely, but he still got to go some times.

he’d only really watch Wally race against friends.

they called themselves the Titans. Wally said the name wasn’t planned, it just happened to stick. Bart assumed it was more because as time went on, they really did become like the titans to beat if you wanted to prove yourself as a racer.

it was who made up the team that once surprised him.

Dick Grayson, Wally’s best friend of many years and infamous son of Gotham’s Bruce Wayne, was the unofficial leader of the group. The Dick Grayson, with his car as dark as the night. the darkness of the car was only disrupted by a few brilliant blue decals. the most memorable one was always the striking blue silhouette of a bird on the hood. (“Nightwing,” Dick affectionately called the car.)

Koriand’r, an incredibly kind woman with hair that was almost more fiery than Bart’s own. her car was a vibrant purple with flames racing along the sides as if it’d caught fire. (“they call me Starfire”, she told him once when caught him fawning over the car, awed as ever. “i like to imagine that if i drive just fast enough, i can see flames.”)

Victor Stone, who indulged all his questions and answered every single one with the same enthusiasm. he’d lost an arm to an accident, but replaced it with an amazing cybernetic one. his designed his own car to have similar robotic style. incredibly futuristic and constantly updated with the best parts he could find. (“someone called me Cyborg,” Victor told him once while working on the car. he let Bart sit in the garage with him, occasionally offering whatever help he could. “i think it was an insult at first, but the name sort of stuck, kind of like with the Titans. so i made it my own.”)

and at last, Garfield Logan, the youngest of the group. with his dark green hair and toothy smile, Garfield was always quick to make him feel welcome and make him laugh with an endless amount of dumb jokes. his charisma and bright personality showed in his car. like his hair, it was a deep green. when he turned it on, the underneath glowed a neon green. black pawprints walked along the sides towards the end of the car. (“they’re actually tiger pawprints,” Gar corrected him once, looking excited as ever to explain. “there’s a few other animals too. i wanted it to look like the animals were really here, or like maybe i’m the animal? i dunno. i told everyone to call me Beast Boy, so i guess this would be my beast.”) they had another friend, Raven, that never raced with them. dressed in black with dark hair that he swore shone purple in certain lights, Raven was much more quiet and reserved than the rest of the group. Bart enjoyed her rare company, despite it being more of a companionable silence. he’d take it none the less. sometimes if Bart was able to hang out with Wally and the group outside of racing nights, he’d occasionally he’d bring along homework, a book, or a comic to read if Wally was meant to be busy at some point. he’d end up hanging out in one of their apartments while they were busy, and sometimes Raven would be there. they’d quietly read in each other’s company, never having to say a word. he’d asked Wally once why she didn’t race too. Wally had only laughed. (”we’re lucky that she doesn’t,” Wally told him, “if Raven raced, we’d all be doomed, trust me. you should never underestimate her.” Bart figured that meant that Raven was an undeniable part of the group too. he hoped he’d see her race one day.)

all of them were amazing, but Bart was a little stunned by each of them had their own unique style. they all had their own story and reason for being inspired to race. the one thing they all shared though was that same spark in their eyes Wally had.

needless to say, Bart would try to spend as much time with them as possible to try and learn from them.

his dream was to race, but his other dream was now to become just like them. he wanted to be a Titan.

he was too young at that time, but he would aim to prove that he could be good enough to join them one day. he would be a Titan.

or at least, he’d be close enough to being a Titan, he’d decide upon meeting a few other faces around his age, but that’s a story for another day.             ...and that’s all we have for now, folks!

if you’re wondering why i chose only those Teen Titans, i didn’t want to make the group too big. i originally considered the OG Young Justice group, but found that i really wanted to save Superboy (Conner Kent, my beloved) to be apart of Bart’s friend group later. (not to mention, i REALLY wanted to talk about Street Racer! Kori existing in this AU. Beast Boy’s another favorite that i just HAD to include, thus we have the animated Teen Titans team, just with Wally and Dick having the same kind of friendship as kids like in YJ.)

let me know if you want any more from his idea! i’d love to know what you guys think of all this so far. if you ever want me to talk about anyone in particular, please feel free to ask! i’d totally be up to come up with more ideas! i’d also love to know if anyone has any thoughts about other characters might be like from this AU!

i really just came up with all this on the fly, but i’m honestly becoming attached to this AU already, so i’d be more than excited to talk more about it!

thanks for reading!!

[rosaetae]

no sweetness | preview

☇ “It’s funny because you remind me exactly of this drink I made last night. Yeah, yeah, it was the black tea with boba. Bitter, with tiny balls.” 

➣  pairing: reader x jungkook

➣  genre: fluff, comedy, bobarista!reader, lacrosseplayer!jungkook, e2l!au lmaosooo 

➣  word count: 2.1k

➣  a/n: just poppin’ in here as your reminder to support small businesses and also if anyone would like to make my design title header graphic thing for this story, that’d be greatly appreciated bc i’m lazy lmao 

➣  summary: jungkook has a thing for pretty girls who work with tiny balls, especially the new fiery bobarista at his favorite boba shop, whom he finds absolutely adorable, but finds out later that she’s just as sweet as she made his milk tea order— not sweet. 

Jeon Jungkook is absolutely whipped as cream.

Why, you may ask?

His favorite boba shop at the very edge of the outskirt of town hired a new bobarista, and her name—supposedly— being ___. Jungkook made it a mental note to ask for it when he goes into Pleasantea with his friends, but word goes around and it out of the many words there are in the world, it's her name that catches his ear.

It is no doubt that Jeon Jungkook comes off as a flirt to every living species he encounters, but seeing that the new bobarista wasn't as happily taking it in as most people would, he was shocked that someone didn't have much interest into him. Sure, call him egotistical, but he was captain of the lacrosse team and he was pretty damn good at almost— well, everything.

The first time he goes into Pleasantea after hearing the news of a new duckling in training was after another win that Friday night. He's there with his group of friends, raiding the popular boba place with cheers while greeting the familiar workers behind the bar.

On Friday nights, it's Luna, Dahlia, and Jihyo working the closing shift, making the drinks and providing impeccable service, especially to the rowdy group of college students that come in almost every Friday to hangout or just to celebrate. Luna's pretty good with taming them down, especially when other customers are there. Dahlia likes to yell at them— she likes to yell at people in general. And Jihyo nurtures them like babies.  

They've gotten close to Jungkook as Luna happened to be in his communications class first semester. He recognized her first, but Luna, being oblivious in all ranges of settings, faked a recognization of his name and face, and gave him a discount anyways. Because of this tiny occurrence, Jungkook came back, then with friends, and eventually with his whole lacrosse team to support the business.

"I'm guessing another win, Team Captain?" Jihyo rhetorically yelled over the cheering voices towards Jungkook who followed behind the group with a smirk. Her doe eyes peeks over the bar where her height was significant from the taller men on the other side, eyebrows raised and awaiting for the cocky response Jungkook can muster.

"What can I say?" Jungkook laughed sonorously, followed by a few encouraging and prideful pats on the shoulder from his teammates. "Wouldn't show up tonight with the boys if I didn't make that winning shot."

Rolling her eyes at the sound of the booming, testosterone-filled voices of his teammates and his vibrant ego, Jihyo scoffed away to work on other orders that Luna and Dahlia were speedily making before Jungkook's teammates and good friends come up to him, ready to order their drinks.

"What should I get?" Yoongi asked Jungkook, eyes scanning the menu of different drinks.

"Dunno. Get the usual," Jungkook advised, crossing his arms over his chest as he pondered what he should get too. "Your matcha milk tea with boba."

"Aight," Yoongi nods before he paused. The pause wasn't obvious enough for Jungkook to look his way, until Yoongi went ahead and nudged Jungkook, taking his complete attention away from the menu. "New worker."

"Hi, welcome!" That odd cheery voice didn't seem to come from the usual cashier he knew as Luna, nor Dahlia, throwing him off a bit. He does a double take behind the counter, finding a girl hurriedly filling a cup up with boba before she's running to the cashier, doe-like eyes widening in surprise at how many people she has to take orders of.

Her eyes catch Jungkook's, and it immediately clicked in his head that the word circling about the new Pleasantea worker were true. Pretty much all of them were aware, but it didn't seem to catch their attention as much as it caught his. Maybe it's the unfamiliarity of having someone foreign in a place he likes to call a second home. Maybe it's the odd satisfaction of meeting the so-called bobarista who's name somehow runs laps around his brain. Really, he was merely curious.

"What can I get you guys?" She asked with a warm smile. Jungkook's worked at a retail shop before, and he can tell good customer service apart from just a single sentence.

Jungkook peered over at the boys, watching Yoongi motioning at the others to go order, but seeing that they were also too busy eye-goggling the new girl behind the counter out of curiosity, Yoongi let out a sigh and ordered first. A smile bursted on the new girl's face when she's nodding to Yoongi's order. Her eyebrows furrowed as she works the register all before Yoongi whipped out his trusty credit card and does the procedural routine of inserting the card, tipping, signing, and saying "no thanks" to the receipt, dropping in a spare dollar or two into their "college funds" tip jar.

The boys filed in line after they've decided on what they wanted that night all while Jungkook started to overthink what he wanted to get.

Jungkook likes to change up his drink from time to time. After practices, he'd like something more refreshing to quickly chug down. After later practices, he'd get something more caffeinated to keep him awake for a night full of assignments. After games, it depends on the outcome of the prior— losing, he wouldn't order anything. Winning, however, he likes Pleasantea bobaristas to choose for him.

It's a good thing they won tonight.

When the line of his teammates dispersed and they all maneuvered into the back where their usual spot was,  Jungkook realized it was his turn already. He didn't notice that he let all the boys go in front of him  on purpose and he was the last of the group to order. However, he does take mental note of how New Girl keeps up a good face after each customer, something that Dahlia lacks because each customer removes a layer of her niceness as they come and go.

Jungkook slides closer to the register, his eyes never leaving hers as her own form into crescents— a silent, but welcoming greeting.

"Hi, what can I get for you?"

His lips forms a smile to hear her voice clear as day. "Do you think you can surprise me?"

The favor evidently takes her by surprise before she lets out a laugh, nodding. "Yeah, I can. Is there anything you're craving specifically?"

"Nope," he shakes his head. "You new?"

She smiles in return. "Yeah. Yesterday was my first day. Still getting a hang of it."

"You got a favorite drink..." Jungkook dragged out his sentence to look at her name badge, realizing that her name really was what he has been told. "___?"

The bobarista hums in thought before she lazily shrugs. "I haven't had many drinks, yet, but I really like the plain milk tea."

"I'll just get that then. Large, boba, light ice."

She nods as she puts it into the register as Jungkook patted his black jeans, searching his pockets for his wallet. In his head, he's pondering about the amount of tips to tip her.

"Sweetness level?"

Jungkook, without even processing he's said it, goes, "you." It takes him by surprise just as much as it took her, but he decides to roll with it. He even mentally pats himself, because damn, that was pretty smooth of him. He noticed that her fingers paused in tapping on the pad, just before meeting his expression consisting of a (douchebag) smirk and kind eyes. She raised her eyebrows before letting out a light chuckle, shaking her head.

"Cute," is all she said before placing the order and directing him to insert his card. As Jungkook mentally fist bumps himself, he decided to tip her the ten dollar bill laying in his wallet into the tip jar, before she glanced up at him with crescent eyes once more. "Your order will be ready at the other end of the counter."

As Jungkook thanked her, he lingered for a bit as she disappeared behind the bar where she met the three other girls shuffling around to finish the end of the night shift with dozens of customers waiting inside and outside. He shoved his wallet into the back of his pocket as he met up with the boys who took up the entire back of the shop where a long table basically welcomed them with open arms.  

"What you get this time, Captain?" Jaehyun made a single nod towards Jungkook.

"Just their milk tea," Jungkook responded.

Jungkook has had the plain milk tea before. It's what Pleasantea was known for. It's their signature drink. A roasted flavor with just the right amount of sweetness with just 75% sugar. However, responding with reference to her as a sweetness, it might be a bit sweeter with just 100%. But it doesn't matter. He managed to get a "cute" from the new bobarista at Pleasantea and he intends to share it with his lacrosse team.

"New worker called me cute."

Jaehyun let out a snort, while Yoongi excitedly leaned in to add onto the list of other cringe-worthy pickup lines Jungkook says to girls. "Did you make another boba pick-up line? Remember when you tried to flirt with Dahlia but ended up only getting roasted by her?"

"Yeah, well, ___ called me cute. She just asked how sweet I wanted my drink to be," he explained. "I answered back with, 'you'."

It's the shove and nudge coming from both directions and the bursted balloon that held crazy laughter coming from not only Jaehyung, but Yoongi and Jaemin who listened to the terrible conversation they were most grateful to not have witnessed first hand. Jungkook grinned widely, pushing off his teammates who were disgusted by such a revolting experience.

"God, you are terrible," Yoongi covered his face with his hands, hiding from sheer embarrassment as Jungkook chuckled broadly. "I hope she spits in your drink because that was god awful."

"She thought it was cute, actually," Jungkook tooted his own horn— something he loved doing. Cocky isn't a pleasant trait on him, but he somehow makes it work.

Jaemin shook his head in mild distaste. "Man, get the fuck out of here."

."Boys!"

The familiar sound of Jihyo calling out a broad name as an endearment to the only boys that she has a love and hate relationship with catches the lacrosse teams' ears, having them get up in excitement. Half of the table decides to go while the other half stays and saves the spot, wanting to spend about half an hour there to settle.

It takes them a minute or two to have all of them come back with max two drinks in hand and while half of the boys passed out the variety of drinks to the others who saved their spot, Jungkook scrolls through his phone as Jaemin places his drink in front of him, a straw on top. Like second nature, Jungkook grabs the straw and stabs the plastic wrap, his jaw preparing to chew the sweet goodness of tapioca pearls.

However, it's not that that he was anticipating prior that made him furrow his eyebrows at the taste. It was the odd flavor that came before the pearls that made him retract the drink from his mouth to look at the label of what type of drink he got.

At first, he furrowed his eyebrows because he thought he had received the wrong drink. But it's in the middle of wanting to ask Jaemin if the drink he got actually belong to him, that he realized where he fucked up. Jaemin was curious as well, arching an eyebrow and turning the cup to its side to see if Jaemin actually grabbed the wrong drink.

It's the hysterical laughter coming from Jaemin's mouth ringing in the air that made Jungkook's lips part, but in all honestly, Jungkook wasn't as surprised. He watches his teammate share the cup around, laughter suddenly becoming louder at what has been witnessed— a rise and downfall of their own team captain.

The mocking sniggering that dispersed into air echoed throughout the boba shop's walls and inevitably, the new bobarista girl must be hearing it crystal clear, probably a playful smile on her lips as she heard the laughter grow at her own doing.

Eventually, Jungkook snatched the drink back and chugs it down anyways, shaking his head. Each time he took a sip, he looks at the side of his cup and wrinkles his nose in disdain.

MLK TEA. LESS ICE. 0% SWEET.  

[stereksecretsanta]

Merry Christmas, browney3dgirl6!

For @browney3dgirl6. I hope you enjoy this gift as much as I did writing it. Have a wonderful holiday with some sterek pining angst with a happy ending! 

Rating: Teen

Word Count: 6000

Tags: Pining, Miscommunication, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - College/University, Roommates, Angst with a Happy Ending, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Getting Together, Friends to Lovers, Oblivious Stiles Stilinski, Oblivious Derek Hale, Idiots in Love

Read On AO3

*****

Call Him More

There was a lot that Stiles could be grateful for in his relatively boring life. Even though he lost his mother at a too young age, he and his father had never been closer. He had gone to high school with a close-knit group of friends that always had each other’s backs through the ups and the downs of adolescent drama. When he graduated, he got into a college not too far from home that offered his dream major of graphic design.

Unlike most of his friends, he took a year off to work and save up some money so he didn’t have to deal with the college roommate situation after the required first year.  When he was assigned his room, however, he thought he might pretend he didn’t have enough money for an apartment. If it meant rooming with tall, dark, and handsome, Stiles figured it wouldn’t be all that bad.

He had known he was not totally straight since his freshman year of high school. Openly gay, Danny, had brought the group to a gay bar that wasn’t exactly thorough with their license checks and Stiles had slowly realized that he didn’t feel as out of place as his friends did. Scott was vaguely uncomfortable but very kind about it because that was just who Scott was, and Stiles thought that maybe the reason he wasn’t as uneasy was that he belonged there.

Forming an identity was the hardest part of growing up for Stiles, but he had done it just as quickly as the rest of his friends. He was open about his attraction to, well, everyone, but never let that dictate any part of his life besides who he decided to date.

That was until he met Derek Hale.

Stiles had seen a lot of hot people in his life - his friends had been considered the prettiest people in Beacon Hills High School and he wasn’t sure how he had stayed a part of the group - but nothing came even remotely close to the perfect pouted smolder, thick arched eyebrows, and kaleidoscope eyes that Stiles thought even the straightest of men would get lost in. Derek Hale was the most gorgeous person Stiles had ever seen in his life and because Stiles had almost no filter from his brain to his mouth, he said as much when they first met.

“I think I’m in the wrong room,” Stiles said as he gaped at the stunning man in front of him. The man raised his impressive eyebrows and sat down on the edge of his bed before gesturing to the twin mattress on the other side of the room.

“Are you in 110?” The man asked and Stiles thought a voice had never sounded so seductive before that moment. The man was a god and Stiles was truly unworthy.

“Can you pinch me, because you’re so fine I must be dreaming.” Stiles regretted the words almost immediately. Scott had told him to lay off the cheesy pick-up lines and that there was a time and place for them and sometimes that was never and nowhere.

The man furrowed his eyebrows before asking, “Do you have a name?” Before Stiles could answer, the man smirked almost shyly and said, “Or can I call you mine?” Stiles couldn’t help the burst of laughter that left his lips. He placed the box in his arms on the bare mattress across from the man before offering a hand.

“Stiles,” he said. The man took his hand firmly and his smile seemed to light up the entire room.

“Derek,” his roommate said and Stiles hadn’t realized how much one name could change his life.

~~~o~~~

“She’s gonna be here in like 15 minutes, Stiles, can you please just clean up the excessive amount of chip bags on the floor?” Derek yelled from where he was making his bed. Stiles rolled his eyes but noticed the stark contrast between their sides of the room. Derek made a point to fix his sheets and fluff his pillows every morning while Stiles was lucky if he washed his on a weekly basis. Derek’s belongings were meticulously stacked on their rightful shelves and his desk looked as though a scholar had been creating their next published work on the smooth top.

“Why do you even care what my side of the room looks like?” Stiles asked through a mouthful of Cheetos. Derek stared at him with the judgmental gaze Stiles had grown to know and love before wiping the corner of his mouth with his thumb. Stiles rolled his eyes but wiped his flannel sleeve across his lips just to appease Derek who smiled sarcastically back at him.

“I actually like to impress the people I want to date, unlike someone,” Derek said pointedly as he stood in front of the mirror and ran a hand through his gelled hair. Stiles ignored how absolutely perfect he looked in favor of standing and brushing off the crumbs that had fallen over him.

“Awe, you want me to impress the people you date, too?” Stiles cooed as he made his fingers into little guns and pointed at Derek with a wink. Stiles saw the dejected sigh in the way Derek’s shoulders rose and fell as he fixed the collar of his shirt.

“You’re my best friend and roommate, Stiles. Anyone I date is bound to spend a lot of time with you. Would it kill you to put a little effort in? For me?” Derek asked as he turned, his eyes pleading in a way Stiles thought no one could ever say no to. He ignored the pang in his heart from the subtle insult and kept his usual sideways smile on his face.

“I’ll put in as much effort as you put into keeping that tie crooked,” Stiles said with a raise of his eyebrows. Derek looked down, tilting his chin as best he could to catch a glimpse at his handiwork. Stiles wiped his cheesy hands on his jeans before stepping up to his best friend and gripping onto the imperfect knot.

“Why don’t you see if Danny is free to go out tonight? I’m worried you’re spending too much time alone,” Derek said softly. Stiles adjusted the tie around Derek’s neck and tried to ignore the ghost of a breath across his cheeks. He wasn’t sure why he kept putting himself in that position; so close to Derek before he left to woo another woman. When he looked up at Derek as he looped the smaller end of the tie into place, though, he remembered that it was worth it to see the bright smile on Derek’s lips.

“I’ll dial up Scott and see if he can tear himself away from Allison for the night, okay?” Stiles never intended to do that, but Derek seemed relieved at the thought so he counted it as a win. Stiles realized that there wasn’t an excuse to help Derek anymore as the tie was sorted, so he patted Derek’s chest with awkward palms and stepped away slowly. “You look great. You taking her to Nonna’s?” Stiles hated that he knew his friend took his first dates to the fancy Italian place across town as Derek nodded in response.

“She said she wasn’t ‘sure’ about Italian food, but…” Stiles gaped at the preposterous notion that anyone could dislike Nonna’s and shook his head as he settled back into his bed. He opened his laptop to try and ignore the slow way Derek coated his lips in chapstick as if preparing for a date ending kiss and fired up an episode of his favorite comfort TV show.

“If she’s a dud, bring me back some fettuccine, yeah?” Stiles asked as Derek opened the door. Derek turned back to him with a small smile on his face that almost looked sad and Stiles wasn’t really sure why. He was the one going out on a Saturday night while Stiles ate junk food and watched the same show he had already seen at least six times through all alone.

“You got it,” Derek agreed.

The door slammed shut behind him and Stiles flinched at the sound. It was one he was all too familiar with. It was the sound of him losing Derek to another person that wasn’t him.

It had only taken Stiles about six months to realize that what he felt for Derek was entirely more than platonic. Derek was the hardest person to figure out but the challenge was one that Stiles couldn’t ignore. He was practically obsessed with trying to get Derek to crack another rare joke or respond with a laugh instead of an eye roll or a scrunch of confusion prominent on his eyebrows. He had put every ounce of his energy during his freshman year of college into figuring out how to get closer to Derek and it took Danny calling him out in front of everyone for him to truly realize that wasn’t quite platonic.

“Is Derek coming out with us tonight, too?” Danny asked as they pushed open the doors to the club they had frequented even before some of the group had turned eighteen. Stiles shook his head and stared at Danny, unsure why he would even ask.

“Derek’s never been out with us unless it involves food,” Stiles reminded him as they caught sight of Scott, Allison, and Lydia waving frantically from the table they had somehow procured in the busy venue.

“Yeah, but I figured things were different now…”

“Guys! You finally made it!” Scott pulled Stiles into a tight hug, but Stiles was too focused on Danny’s words to appreciate the comforting gesture from his best friend. He pushed Scott away a bit quicker than he usually would have and turned back toward Danny who had Lydia in a side squeeze.

“What do you mean ‘different’? Nothing’s different with Derek and me,” Stiles corrected as if the thought offended him. It hadn’t, but he wasn’t about to let his closest friends in on how ridiculously head over heels he was for his straight roommate. Not when they would only try to convince him to stop as if it was possible, as if Stiles hadn’t already tried.

“Yeah, I mean now that you guys are, you know, dating? Hooking up? Whatever you’ve decided to label it,” Danny said with a shrug. A shrug. As if the entire prospect was obvious to everyone. Stiles was torn between disbelief and sheer frustration as Lydia chimed in.

“We figured it would take a little longer, but we’re glad that you’ve figured,” Lydia gestured vaguely at the length of Stiles, “all that out.”

Allison piped up, “Yeah! When Scott told us, we were all ecstatic.” Stiles turned to his best friend in shock, his mouth hanging open so comically wide it was a miracle there were no flies making a home in the cavern.

“When Scott told you?! What exactly did Scott tell you?” Stiles asked but it was clear the question was directed at his best friend. Scott just shrugged - Stiles was really sick of his friends shrugging off his complete panic - before taking a slow, bashful sip of his drink.

“I thought after last weekend you guys had finally decided to, I don’t know, pull your heads out of your asses?” Scott said consideringly and Stiles just stared at him. Nothing had changed last weekend from what Stiles could remember and he was more confused by Scott’s mention of it than ever.

“What the hell are you talking about, Scotty?” Stiles asked as he plopped down into a chair and downed half the drink Lydia had carefully handed him.

“C’mon, Stiles, don’t make me say it!” Stiles thought his jaw somehow dropped even further as he gestured wildly at Scott before running both of his hands through his hair. He leveled Scott with a glare that clearly told him to start talking and, thankfully, he did. “When I came in on Sunday morning to see if you guys wanted to go to breakfast with us and you were… indisposed,” Scott said slowly.

Stiles barely remembered it, and then the entire morning flashed across his mind. Derek had been up late the night before and had come home groggy and exhausted from a night of studying. When he entered their shared room, Stiles was still up playing one of his online games but immediately closed his laptop at how dejected Derek looked. It took everything in him not to launch himself into Derek’s arms and hug him, so instead, he patted the empty side of his bed and just smiled up at Derek in invitation. There were no words exchanged, but both of them apparently needed comfort no one else was around to give them.

Derek must have fallen asleep because before Stiles could react, their front door was opening and Scott’s vibrant voice was echoing through the room. Stiles shushed him as best he could by flinging a pillow in his direction and slid his arm out from underneath Derek’s hard body before meeting Scott out in the hallway. Scott hadn’t even asked what the two were doing and Stiles realized he should have explained something more than ���yeah, sometimes we share a bed to watch movies and play games but it’s totally platonic’.

“You were spooning, Stiles. I don’t know about you, but the only person I’ve ever spooned in my life is my girlfriend,” Scott said with a gross smile in Allison’s direction. The group collectively groaned but Stiles couldn’t join in because he was too focused on what that weekend might have meant to Derek.

“We’re just roommates, guys. Friends, even. But that’s it,” Stiles said and that was that.

He held onto the hope that maybe Derek had felt the same until the following morning when Derek came back to their room with a hickey on his chest that had a pang surging through Stiles’ heart like a lightning strike. He let go of his hope that they would ever be more than platonic and focused on what he could be to Derek; his roommate, his study partner, the person he begrudgingly spent a majority of his time with, and his friend.

Stiles lost himself in a TV show he wasn’t even sure he wanted to watch and tried to stop imagining Derek being the perfect gentleman he probably was on the date Stiles would never be the one to go on.

~~~o~~~

Stiles woke up a few weeks later with one of the worst hangovers he had ever been subject to in his life. He always remembered to stay hydrated, always had glasses of water shoved in his direction by his friends when it was his turn to let loose, but there was some reason he hadn’t the night prior. He wracked his brain but all that he could remember was in flashes of bright lights, thumping music, and Derek.

Derek.

He vaguely remembered Derek showing up at the bar, but definitely recalled his drunken excitement upon noticing his presence. He was pretty sure Danny had to hold him back from launching himself embarrassingly into Derek’s strong arms. He really should grab a coffee with Danny soon as he always seemed to have Stiles’ back when he became unhinged.

One memory surged through the forefront of his mind and his skin heated up as he thought back on what had happened a few hours into the night.

“Der!” Stiles yelled as he reached the table his friends had gotten for the night. Derek was alone and it was ridiculous that he was alone. How was no one in this club hitting on him? There were literally so many eligible– Oh, yeah. Eligible men at the gay bar that probably weren’t Derek’s type. Stiles pouted at his own internal monologue and when Derek noticed, he raised an eyebrow at him. “Finish your drink and let’s go dance!”

When Stiles grabbed for his hand, Derek pulled him down into the booth beside him and said, “Why don’t you take a break, buddy. You should have some water before you get too messy.” Stiles’ alcohol hazed brain was torn between focusing on the backhanded insult and the fact that Derek was trying to take care of him. He decided to focus on the positive because it was his night to be happy.

“I’ll drink the water if you tell me why you decided to hang out with us lowly peasants tonight in favor of sleeping with your girlfriend,” Stiles slurred. It wasn’t exactly how he wanted the question to come out but he figured it was pretty straightforward. Derek laughed, too, so he thought he had won something out of it.

“She had to study with some friends tonight and Scott called me to take you home when you were done so he could leave early with Allison,” Derek said. Stiles glanced around the club and realized that his best friend was nowhere in sight. Stiles was abandoned with only Derek and–

“Danny! Danny, you’ve met Derek. Isn’t he pretty?” Stiles said with wide eyes as he took in what Derek was wearing. If Stiles hadn’t known any better, he would think Derek was there to impress someone. He had the jeans he usually only pulled out for first dates, a dark button-down shirt, and a polka-dotted tie that Stiles had initially bought him as a joke until he put it on and looked amazing. Derek looked amazing in everything.

“Yeah, Stiles, Derek is very pretty,” Danny agreed with a teasing smirk on his lips. Stiles draped an arm over Derek’s shoulder and used the other to straighten his tie. He realized that he was practically in Derek’s lap but he didn’t mind and unless Derek told him to move, he was comfortable right where he was. “You guys gonna join us on the dance floor?” Danny asked as he gestured over his shoulder to where a group of men exactly Danny’s type were waiting for him.

Stiles nodded eagerly as Derek shook his head and said, “I think we’re gonna hang out here until Stiles drinks some water.” Stiles glared at him but Danny left before he could chase after him and enjoy the music.

“Okay, dad. If I drink that water, then will you dance with me?” Stiles begged, pouting his lip for effect. Derek’s eyes searched his face before landing on his mouth and for a moment, Stiles thought he was leaning closer. He closed his eyes to prepare himself for the life changing moment when all of a sudden Derek was a few feet away at the edge of the booth.

“You’re drunk, Stiles,” Derek said and Stiles raised his eyebrows at him because it was very obvious how much alcohol Stiles had consumed and what did that have to do with anything?

“You’re here,” Stiles responded and it made sense in his head. He was there instead of out with his girlfriend on a Saturday night. He was there instead of studying as he usually did with his nights off. He was there - with Stiles - when he could have been almost anywhere else.

“I came because Scott asked me to,” Derek said sternly. He pushed the half-full glass of water in Stiles’ direction and gestured for him to drink it but Stiles wasn’t feeling too thirsty. He shifted closer to Derek, who in turn stood up as if he was about to be burned by lava, and Stiles pushed past him with barely a wave.

“Tell Scott I don’t need his help and I don’t need yours either. I can find my own way home after I’ve finished having fun,” Stiles shouted as he threw himself into the crowd of people.

He would have liked to say that he didn’t watch Derek leave, but he did. He watched as Derek paid for the drinks left on the table and took out his phone before smiling down at it. He watched as Derek took one last glance in his direction and then walked through the doors.

He doesn’t remember much after that.

The slamming door broke him out of his thoughts and he ran a hand through his hair as if it would appease the throbbing in his skull.

“Loud noises are not my friend right now, can you just–” When he opened his eyes to yell at whoever had entered the room, he saw Derek drop a bottle of water onto his bed followed by a container of pain reliever. Stiles bit down on his bottom lip and nodded his head slowly as he glanced up at Derek. “Thanks,” he said lamely.

Derek nodded back and said softly, “I’m heading out, but I figured you’d need this more than I would today.” Stiles smiled at him but he was sure it didn’t reach his eyes. Between the pain and the shame of the night before, he was sure Derek was never going to talk to him again let alone take care of him.

“I’m sorry about last night,” Stiles blurted out before he could stop himself. Derek raised an eyebrow at him as if asking for him to expand on his apology and Stiles figured he owed him that much. “I was pretty wasted and very unreasonable and I shouldn’t have taken it out on you,” Stiles said as he fiddled with the cap of his water bottle. Derek nodded and as he realized Stiles’ struggle to open the bottle, grabbed it from him to uncap the plastic.

“I know, Stiles,” Derek responded. “I was just trying to be a friend because Scott wasn’t there, but I’m not Scott and we’ve got our own kind of friendship, right?” Stiles wished Derek hadn’t used the word friend so much, but it reminded him that was exactly what they were. Stiles was drunk the night before and whatever he thought he saw in Derek’s gaze was wishful thinking. He took a few sips of water before swallowing the pain relievers and falling back into bed.

“You mean the sorta friendship where I embarrass myself and you act like my father?” Stiles joked and then winced at the insinuation of his words. Derek laughed anyway and ran a hand through his hair. It was something he had never seen Derek do before he had started spending more time with Stiles. It made his heart leap to see it.

“The sorta friendship that we have to try our hardest to keep,” Derek said seriously and how was Stiles supposed to respond to that? Derek was more important to him than he realized and Stiles had tried harder every day to ignore his feelings in order to make sure their friendship stayed intact. Stiles briefly wondered why Derek had to try but decided to change the subject in case it started a conversation his hungover brain was not awake enough to have.

“Where are you headed?” Stiles asked and then instantly regretted the question because he knew he wouldn’t like the answer. Derek smiled softly down at his phone as he had the night prior - Stiles hated his mind for recalling that so clearly - and held it up bashfully when it rang.

“We’re headed to the diner a few blocks away. Want me to bring you back some greasy food?” Stiles’ mouth watered both from the idea of greasy hangover food and the fact that ‘we’ meant Derek and the girl that made him smile in the way Stiles had been aiming for for months.  

Stiles shook his head and closed his eyes as he said, “Nah, I’ll see if Danny is up for some post-alcohol coma food. Have fun!” Stiles hadn’t meant it, but he put his best sloppy smile on his face and waved at Derek as he left.

When the door slammed shut again, Stiles felt his heart dive into his stomach and wondered if before noon was too early for another round of mind-numbing drinks.

~~~o~~~

A few weeks passed and Stiles wasn’t sure how much longer he could handle sharing a room with the person he tried so hard not to be in love with. He had thought if he threw all of himself into his friendship with Derek, he could somehow make their relationship just like his and Scott’s. He found out he was sorely mistaken because anytime Derek so much as glanced at him, let alone hugged him or patted his shoulder as friends do, Stiles would melt inside.

He hated that he reacted like that. He had thought he’d gotten over the ridiculous pining aspect of his feelings when he spent ten years obsessing over Lydia, who was never going to be the love of his life. Everyone reminded him of that when they got the chance and Stiles thought maybe that was the problem. Even a year after he had realized his feelings for Derek, his friends were still convinced the two were in some secret relationship that Stiles didn’t want them to know about. If he could get one of them to remind Stiles that Derek was a month into a relationship with someone else - a woman, which Stiles reminded himself of often - maybe he would finally stop feeling like he was the lead in a dumb romantic comedy every time Derek walked into the room.

But lately, Derek seemed annoyed with even a glimpse of Stiles. He would come back to their shared room after a date with the girl Stiles still hadn’t bothered to learn the name of and nitpick everything he could see. He didn’t seem to like the way Stiles tucked in his sheets or the way he organized his side table. He even went as far as complaining about the new detergent Stiles had bought to wash his clothes. Stiles felt like he was walking on eggshells and still, his heart skipped when Derek glanced his way.

Like clockwork, Stiles heard a key in the door and his eyes widened in panic. He was in the same clothes he had been the night prior, his bed unmade and probably covered in cheesy crumbs from another bag of Cheetos, and he was sure the air was stale as he hadn’t been able to get out of bed in the morning to take a shower. He jumped off of his bed and quickly tore off his shirt and pajama pants, throwing on a relatively clean pair as he stripped his sheets and threw them into the overflowing laundry basket. He grabbed the card from the dresser just as Derek opened the door and smiled brightly as he tried to contain how out of breath he was.

“Hey Derek, I’m about to–”

“I’m moving out.”

Stiles was sure he felt his heart shatter.

“Derek, what are you–” Before he could even finish his sentence, Derek was tossing his neatly folded clothes haphazardly onto the bed as if he had no cares in the world. The sheer surprise that flooded through Stiles was just as much about Derek’s words as it was his actions. Tidy, organized Derek had half of his room on his bed before Stiles could even blink.

He launched himself out of his bed just as Derek said, “We can’t keep doing this.” If Stiles had been confused before, he was even more so by the phrase.

“This? What? Derek, what are you talking about?” When Derek said nothing, Stiles continued frantically. “I was just about to go do laundry. I can clean my half of the room in a few hours and we can talk about this,” Stiles pleaded. Derek seemed to grumble to himself as he pulled out flattened boxes from beneath his bed but froze when Stiles rested gentle fingertips against his wrist.

“Don’t pretend you don’t see it, Stiles,” Derek said with humor in his voice that had chills racing down Stiles’ spine. He looked quizzically at Derek who shook his head in response. “We’re at each other’s throats more often than not and I’m not willing to risk our– our friendship because we spend too much time together,” Derek spat the words as if they were dirt on his tongue and Stiles had to stop himself from flinching.

Stiles had no idea where it had come from. He had noticed the tension between them, it was almost impossible to miss when you lived with someone, but he had thought it was completely one-sided. Stiles had started to back off after he had realized things with Derek and his girlfriend had started getting more serious, but he didn’t think Derek had minded.

“I really have no idea what you’re talking about and will you stop?!” Stiles shouted as he let his fingers wrap around Derek’s wrist. Derek turned to him quickly, their chests pressed together so that Stiles could feel Derek’s puffing in and out with his panting breath.

“I can’t just stop because I don’t have a distraction anymore!” Derek yelled causing Stiles to take a tentative step back. He kept his fingers around Derek’s wrist, the steady pulse almost calming to him, reminding him that Derek was still there and hadn’t left yet. Stiles could fix whatever was happening and everything would be okay.

“A distraction? Derek, what are you–”

“I picked classes this term to stay out of this room, I studied late nights so that I wouldn’t be a bother to you, I started dating because it was all I could do to distract myself from–” As if his words had caught up to him, Derek’s eyes widened and he ripped his arm out of Stiles’ grasp. It took everything in Stiles not to reach out to him again.

“Distract yourself from what?” Stiles asked so softly that he wasn’t sure Derek had heard him.

Derek turned around, his shoulders sagging as he let out a deep breath, and said, “From you.”

“Me?” Stiles couldn’t help how broken his voice sounded. The admission barreled toward him like an out of control car looking for its next victim and Stiles was powerless to stop the inevitable pain that came from the crash.

“I didn’t mean it like–” Stiles wasn’t about to let Derek finish so he held up his hands.

“No, obviously things with whatever her name is are more serious than I thought and you want to spend more time with her than the person who thought they were your best friend and you know what?” Stiles took a deep breath to calm the tears that threatened to spill from his eyes. “That’s completely fine, Derek, cause I don’t need someone who is going to nitpick everything that I do. I want someone who wants to spend time with me not because they’re forced to,” he stated as he picked up his laundry basket and propped it on his hip.

“You think I don’t want to spend time with you?” Derek asked as he blocked Stiles’ only exit to the door. Stiles scoffed and narrowed his eyes at Derek, replaying his words in his head over again to be sure he wasn’t making it up.

“Sorry, does distract have another definition that I don’t know about? It seems like you want to keep as far away from me as possible and are choosing to spend time with this girl over me,” Stiles countered. It was the only explanation he could think of and at the moment it sounded incredibly reasonable.

Derek laughed and took a step toward Stiles as he said, “I’m moving in with Boyd and I don’t have a ‘girl’ anymore.” Well, that definitely changed things. Stiles wasn’t sure how long he stood there gaping at Derek, but it must have been long enough for Derek to start to feel at least a little uncomfortable as he started talking again. “I need a distraction from you because if I spend more time with you than I already do, I’m going to fall even more in love with you than I already am. And I can’t have that for obvious reasons,” Derek said, the last piece almost in a whisper.

“Obvious?” Stiles was sure that wasn’t what his next word should have been, but it was rare that he knew what was going on in Derek’s head and he wasn’t going to let the moment pass him by.

“We’re roommates, Stiles, friends. You’ve said it yourself. I’ve been trying to distance myself so that my feelings for you don’t impact that but apparently, I can’t handle it. So, I’m leaving,” Derek said as he stepped to the side as if letting Stiles make a choice, as if Stiles would choose anything other than letting Derek know they had both been stupid.

“You don’t have a girlfriend,” Stiles said slowly as he dropped the laundry basket to the ground. The noise startled Derek from his packing and he turned, nodding slowly. It was enough confirmation for Stiles to continue. “And you love me?” Derek nodded again, more surely this time as if it was easier to answer.

“Yeah,” Derek whispered, “I do, and I understand if–” Stiles grabbed the knot to Derek’s slightly off-kilter tie and before he could change his mind, he crashed their lips together.

That life changing moment that had seemed just out of grasp for so many months was finally becoming reality and Stiles felt his entire world shift into place. Derek’s hands rested gently on his hips before sliding more securely around Stiles’ back and pulling him so they were flush together. Stiles had always wondered whether it would feel like a fairy tale kissing Derek and he was happy to be proven right. Derek’s lips tasted like vanilla chapstick and a spice he couldn’t quite place and being in his arms felt like home. It might have been cliche, but he wasn’t sure he had ever been so happy.

When Derek pulled away, it was only to rest his forehead against Stiles’ and take a few deep breaths. Stiles had done the same, he thought he might have been floating. Stiles opened his eyes to see that bright smile he had always made a point to bring out in Derek and he saw that his eyelashes cast soft shadows against his cheeks as he shook his head.

“How long?” Derek asked and Stiles didn’t need context to know what he was asking.

“Since the first moment I saw you,” Stiles answered honestly because he wasn’t about to keep lying to Derek when it finally felt as though their truths were out in the open. Derek huffed out a laugh and the heat of it sent a shiver down Stiles’ spine. He realized he didn’t need an excuse to be that close to Derek anymore and the thought alone made him smile wider. “You?” Stiles asked.

Derek opened his eyes and ran his hands up Stiles’ body until he could cup Stiles’ flushed cheeks in his hands. He answered, “When you invited me into your bed after one of the worst nights of my college life.”

“We’re idiots,” Stiles chuckled, straightening Derek’s tie that he had messed up in their heated kiss.

“I was only moving out because I couldn’t keep pretending all the things you did around this room annoyed me. God, Stiles, I love every single thing about you and I’m sorry that I made you feel–” Stiles leaned forward and pressed their lips together once more just because he could and pulled away with a small smile.

“You have never made me feel anything less than lucky to have you in my life, Derek,” Stiles said and when Derek nodded, he added, “but there’s no way I’m letting you move out.” It wasn’t a question, but Derek shook his head hastily in response.

“Now you’re never getting rid of me,” Derek responded as if Stiles would ever try. He had Derek finally after months of being roommates and friends. He wasn’t about to let Derek go without being able to call him more.

[cotncandyboifics]

1989 [High School AU]: Chapter 8

AO3 Link

Masterpost

Chapter 1 ~ Chapter 2 ~ Chapter 3 ~ Chapter 4 ~ Chapter 5 ~ Chapter 6 ~ Chapter 7 ~ Chapter 9 ~

Pairings: slight Logince, eventual Prinxiety & Logicality

Word count: 2,407

Story summary: Roman Prince is your stereotypical Jock, with everyone swooning after him. Every day a crowd of people follow him around, only to disperse at his personal whim. In reality, he's lucky to have such good acting skills that help him cover up the disdain he has for his life. He only wishes he could use his skills properly.

Patton Whitelock's always there to lend a helping hand, no matter who you are. If you need a favor or just need someone to talk to, go to him. In reality, he's been taught from a young age that kindness should be held above all else. No one suspects that he took it the wrong way.

Logan Montgomery is the smartest boy in the Senior class. He's stern, and most people are too intimidated to speak to him. In reality, he despises most all of his fellow students. He sticks to his studies and doesn't stray, for fear of being stuck in his father's shadow his whole life.

Virgil Black is the most emo kid in school, let alone 12th grade; everyone knows to leave him be. In reality, he's very fortunate. He has two parents who love him dearly. But everything beyond his life, everything within his mind, is utter chaos and turmoil.

what will happen when they're assigned a biology project together?

General CW: food, swearing, implied s-lf h-rm, non-graphic descriptions of s-lf h-rm scars, graphic and non-graphic descriptions of anxiety attacks and panic attacks, drug abuse, minor character intoxicated on heroin, non-graphic drug overdose description, sickness/description of sickness, blood, non-graphic descriptions of needles, (will be added to as I write more)

Chapter CW: food, (let me know if i missed anything please!)

Author notes: alternate title: Virgil's very subtle epiphany. also Patton has a gay panic moment lol

...

Slam.

Monday morning. Mr. Berry was slapping a small poster on each student's desk like a stamp, one-by-one and painfully slowly.

"This," he began, "Is the official welcome to the schoolyear; audition posters for the Fall Talent Show." His bloated belly hardly fit between the desk rows, and students made futile attempts to scoot away from him before they were bombarded by his tyrannical tummy. "As a retired thespian and a life long supporter of theatre and the arts," he continued, bringing his pile of posters to his chest in his passion, "I highly recommend you at least consider looking into auditions. Everyone has a passion, or at least a hobby, and the talent show is a perfect freelance opportunity to show off your skills."

Roman rolled his eyes too dramatically. This was upsetting him more than he thought it would, and his eyes shot daggers up at his large superior as he slammed the next poster onto Roman's desk.

"Auditions will be held next week, on the specified dates. The show itself will be two weeks later, I believe on Friday night. Be there, and I will award you some extra credit points. All you must do is present me with your ticket, which must have your name on it," he eyed a few mischievous students in the room, "With a stamp on it from the Talent Show admissions booth, on the following Monday." As soon as Mr. Berry had given a poster to Virgil and moved on, Virgil quietly crumpled it and shoved it into a random part of his backpack, proceeding to fold his arms on his desk and put his head down. This caught Roman's attention, and his subconscious latched onto formulating a teasing remark for after class as a distraction from his own feelings about the Talent Show.

After class, the usual place where Roman and Virgil were shortly alone and had a short interaction - most often consisting of some insufferable tease from Roman or occasionally a debate spurred by Virgil making a witty side comment - the two met once again. After their first class of the day was usually the only time they were both at their lockers at the same time, as it happened, and Virgil was always thankful that it was the only time. Since their assignment to the Biology project, however, Roman had taken to walking with Virgil from their English class to their lockers and beginning his bouts of banter prematurely.

"Not a fan of the infamous talent show, are we?" Roman paced quickly over to Virgil, who had just made it outside the classroom door as they'd been dismissed. Virgil huffed in defeat as his attempt to escape before Roman could catch him had been fruitless.

"It's ridiculous," Virgil didn't slow his pace for Roman, and began essentially speedwalking down the hall. Roman was slightly taller than him and was able to keep up, but still got a little out of breath doing it. "Hey everyone, come and show everyone in the school something you really enjoy so they can all collectively judge you and make you self conscious about your interests and - oh no! you don't wanna do it anymore because you feel horribly inadequate? shoooot. Sorry man, no one could have seen that coming. Oh well, better luck next year when you'll just ruin a different passion for yourself!" Virgil flailed his hands at the end of his mini-rant.

"How can you stay that sarcastic for that long consecutively? I'm honestly impressed," Roman said, huffing as they arrived at their lockers. Virgil's permanent frown seemed to somehow deepen. "Though, I guess I really can't argue, Count Woe-laf. I see your point. The pressures of an impromptu performance are... undeniable." Roman focused his attention on the padlock hanging from the latch of his locker, while Virgil looked to him with widened eyes.

"Really?" He didn't look away from Roman until he would look back.

"What?" Roman defended.

"It's just..." Virgil focused on his own padlock now, "You never agree with what I say. It always becomes a debate," he pulled his locker open lazily, pulling his backpack off his shoulders and putting it on backwards so that he could more easily exchange things. When Roman didn't reply, he continued, "like... I don't know. Why is it any different now?"

Roman was exchanging things as well, and didn't have an immediate answer. Well, he knew the answer (or in this case, answers), but it wasn't one he was even ready to admit to himself, let alone anyone else, and especially let alone Virgil. He just eventually shrugged.

This reaction only further alarmed Virgil. He opened his mouth to continue his flabbergasted interrogation, but the bell rang right at that moment. Roman slammed his locker shut suddenly.

"Well, that's our queue I suppose. See you tonight, Incredible Sulk." Roman elbowed Virgil in the shoulder a bit awkwardly and began skipping down the hall to his next class. That left a dumbfounded and nearly-panicking Virgil standing in front of his open locker in an almost completely empty hall.

He wished Roman would stop leaving him like that.

...

Roman had texted the Biology Project group chat that weekend, saying he had an important football practice on Monday that went until 5. they'd have to have their meet-up at Roman's a bit later in the evening. Logan simply waited it out by heading to the school library to get his other homework done, while Patton and Virgil shot the breeze, walking down random hallways of the school.

The two of them were grabbing a snack from a vending machine when Virgil checked his phone. It was 4:50. They got their respective snacks - Patton got a strawberry Pop tart and Virgil got a Sunny D - and made their way to the designated meeting place. It was a concrete bench at the front of the school. They expected to find Logan there, but he wasn't. The two of them simply sat on the cold bench and exchanged bits of each other's snacks, and continued talking until Virgil noticed someone approaching.

He figured it would be Logan, but this person was shorter and more filled out than Logan. He trained his eyes better and realized that it was Roman. Roman, who happened to have a towel around his neck and sopping-wet crimson curly hair unabashedly on display. A drip of water rolled down his cheek and along his jawline, and Virgil realized he was staring. Roman finally got within conversation distance.

"Like what you see, Charlie Frown?" He teased. Patton looked to Virgil, noticing his awe, and giggled.

"Hah, in your dreams, Meta Knight," Virgil deflected half-heartedly, still finding it hard to pull his eyes away from Roman's unfortunate perfection. It was only worse that Roman knew just how attractive he was.

"Why's your hair all wet, silly?" Patton asked, standing energetically to greet him.

"We rinse off after practice. I considered leaving my shirt off so i could just get a clean one when i got home, but i knew that might be a bit too much to handle for some of us," Roman elbow-nudged Patton, who just giggled again and pushed his glasses up. Virgil knew that was extremely forced, especially after their conversation on Friday.

"Well," Roman checked his wristwatch, "Where would my nerdy Wolverine happen to be? It's ten past, and if there's anything Logan certainly is, it's punctual."

"Quite right you are," a stern voice came from behind them, to reveal Logan's lengthy form approaching casually. "My apologies for my tardiness. I got quite engaged in a particular Physics problem." Roman turned to him smiling, and pecked him on the cheek. Virgil didn't need to look at Patton to feel his friend's heart sink through the floor.

"Shall we then?" Roman turned to lead the way on the five-block journey to his house.

...

"hmm, that reminds me," Roman said from his sprawled position on his bed, "what are all your sexualities?"

That sure caught everyone's attention. The clock beside Roman's bed read 6:28 PM. Logan was studying their plants and taking notes, Patton had been cooing quietly to Roman's pet turtle, and Virgil was sitting in Roman's spinning desk chair scrolling on his phone. They all looked at Roman at once, and then at each other.

"Heh," Roman sat up, "My apologies for blurting such an intrusive question, I was just looking up at my-" he gestured toward his ceiling- "glorious flag, and it made me wonder. No man must answer that which he does not desire to." Roman was blatantly referring to the Bisexual flag that was pinned to the ceiling above his bed. They all looked at it, and back at him. "I suppose it's obvious now, but yes, I am undeniably bisexual," He faux bowed.

The silence wasn't doing anyone good, so Patton broke it before it got too much more awkward. "I, I'm gay," he said sheepishly, continuing to observe the turtle. Virgil gave him a soft smile, and decided to offer himself up next.

"I'm pan," he seemed to recoil further into his hoodie, if that were even possible. Logan turned to the other three, adjusting his necktie.

"I'm not usually one to admit this to many people, but since you have all been so transparent and calm about such personal information," He started, "I am comfortable telling you that I am Asexual."

No one regarded this with much surprise, except for Roman. "Oh really?" He said, seemingly surprised and embarrassed. Virgil scoff-laughed at him.

"What, upset you can't make your sexual fantasies a reality?" Virgil teased. Roman gasped, bringing a hand to his chest in an offended gesture.

"Excuse me!" He exclaimed, a look of disgust contorting his face.

Before a classic Roman-Virgil debate could ensue, Patton decided to share his thoughts.

"Well, I, I mean, I'm not ace but I, I guess sex isn't really so important to me," he was fiddling with his ring yet again.

"W-well, it should never be the centerpiece of any relationship!" Roman declared. They all looked at him skeptically. "what? I mean, personally, I prefer grand gestures." As he spoke, he stood and walked to Logan. "In my opinion," he produced a pristine bouquet of deep red roses that none of the others had noticed anywhere in the room before, "they are the key to any person's heart."

Logan seemed tame, Patton thought. As if he were performing. If he were being his normal self, he would have been very confused by where Roman had hidden the bouquet, and how it looked so perfect after being concealed. Instead, he just took it with a very gentle sweet smile, and thanked him quietly. Instead of Logan, Patton was now the one confused.

Virgil's face was red, and his neck a blotchy pink; thankfully he was mostly hidden under his purple bangs and hood. He huffed and excused himself to use the restroom. Patton noticed this time, and grabbed his arm before he made it out of the room.

"You okay?" he whispered gently to Virgil. Virgil just looked at him, mustered a small smile and a nod. Patton knew exactly what that meant. Virgil was okay, he just needed a moment. He returned the smile, and released his gentle paternal grip on Virgil's arm, allowing him to leave.

There was the sound of someone calling Roman's name from another part of the house, and Roman excused himself, rushing off to find its source.

Logan slipped his phone into the pocket of his navy slacks. "Well, I must be going now," He began. Instead of reaching to gather his things, he trained his acute attention directly on Patton, who was startled by the sudden focus on him. "Patton, do you have a ride home today?"

"I, uh, well," He tried blurting out an excuse but none came to his mind. "No, not exactly..."

Logan was slowly approaching, and Patton tried to back up but hit the terrarium containing Roman's turtle after just one small step. "Would you like a ride? My parents would be more than happy to assist in your safe transport home."

"Well, well I really don't want to intrude, or-" He stopped dead when Logan placed a slender hand gently on his shoulder.

"I insist. It's no intrusion or burden to them. They appreciate being able to help others when they can, especially people whose company I enjoy." Logan didn't feel as though he was figuratively lying through his teeth, but he knew that his parents didn't exactly feel that way. The nature of the situation was more that they took kindly to those that Logan worked well with on academically related subjects, such as people from his study group or the like.

Patton caught himself before letting the thought "you enjoy my company?" escape his lips. He just smiled. He knew there was no way he could get himself to deny Logan's offer when his heart was taking the reins.

"I would.. really appreciate, a ride home, yeah," He said quietly. Logan was just looking into his eyes with a tenderness Patton hadn't seen before. He pushed away any thoughts that Logan may have looked at Roman the exact same way during their date. He hoped he hadn't, and cursed himself for hoping it.

"Wonderful," Logan pulled himself out of their shared momentary trance. "I will let them know. I'm sure they will find it a pleasure to become acquainted with you. They should be here in less than five minutes, so I suggest gathering your belongings." Logan's thumbs padded across is illuminated phone screen as he spoke, until he once again slid it into his pocket and began collecting his things along with Patton.

Virgil entered once again, hood off and face slightly red and wet. it was clear that he hadn't been crying due to the sporadic nature of the droplets of water across his face; it looked more like he'd just haphazardly washed his face in the sink and hadn't bothered to wipe the remnants away. Patton smiled at him brightly.

"Ah, Virgil," Logan addressed as he slung his bag over his shoulder, "It was pleasant to see you again. We are on our way out now. Are you ready, Patton?" He looked to Patton, who also slung his bag over his shoulder.

"Yep! Logan's giving me a ride," Patton blatantly could barely contain his excitement in his ever-growing grin, so Virgil only returned it with a small thumbs up.

"Alright, ill see you guys in class tomorrow," He hugged Patton tightly, and half-heartedly saluted to Logan without making eye contact. Logan simply nodded to him, and the two left shortly, leaving Virgil alone in Roman's room.

[steviedupree]

I saw [STEPHANIE ‘STEVIE’ DUPREE ] at a coffee shop in [BROOKLYN] today. I forgot how much [SHE/HER] looks like [DAKOTA JOHNSON]. They are a [TWENTY-EIGHT] year old [GRAPHIC DESIGNER] who’s been in NYC for [TEN YEARS] now. Every time we run into each other, they are always [CARING & CREATIVE] but I’ve heard people say they can also be [MEEK & INDECISIVE]. [FIND MY HERE BY HAYLEY WILLIAMS] reminds me of them every time it comes on the radio. — [gabs, she/her/ 24, est]

hi everyone!! my name is gabs and i bring u my bean baby stevie. i’m so excited to be in this wonderful group, and i’m SO excited to write with you all! pls give this a like if you’d like to plot with me and stevie (and dinah, who’s intro will come later today!) | @villagestart

tw: alcoholism, cheating

about —

full name: stephanie brianne dupree age: 28 birthday: june 23rd, 1992 sexual orientation: bisexual gender: cis female pronouns: she/her

bio —

TW ALCOHOLISM. stevie is known as steph back in her hometown of westport, connecticut. she grew up in a seemingly normal household: the only child of a clean-cut couple, a lawyer and a nurse. it always appeared that the dupree family was perfect. but, behind the scenes, her father was battling with some intense alcoholism that tore the family apart from its roots.

the girl always had bigger dreams than the small coastal city she lived in. like every teenager, she wanted to live in new york — an apartment with a view to central park. her family supported her dreams, but was apprehensive about her living in a city quite as big as new york by herself ( which was of course, stevie’s plan )

she was an overall good student, and began dating one of the smart boys in high school, although she knew for sure she had a crush on the cheerleading squad captain. being so young and having no knowledge of the spectrum of sexuality, she repressed it. she liked her boyfriend, but she never managed to keep her eyes off her crush.

and still, she dated this boy throughout high school. when she got accepted to nyu and he to yale ( he was really smart ), they decided to keep dating, just make it long-distance. it worked for a decent amount of time, they would facetime for hours while stevie lived in dorms, he would help her study for her exams, and they tried to meet every so often.

TW CHEATING. it was all going well for stevie, until she formed a more solid friend group. and within this friend group, she started meeting very open girls. it was during this time where she first kissed a girl. enamored by the feeling, she started secretely going on dates, making out and hooking up with girls she met on campus. all while her boyfriend studied his ass off at yale.

it was all just experimenting, until she met bowie. they were assigned the same dorm room — in her eyes, bowie was the coolest girl she’d ever met. it was almost impossible not to crush on her. they became friends, best friends, bowie changed her nickname to stevie…  and in return, stevie kissed her. after that kiss, the young dupree sort of switched her point of view, and became pretty devoted to the artist.

but she handled this coming of age experience kind of poorly. instead of giving her boyfriend the peace of mind of a breakup, she sort of just… ghosted him. never answered another text, e-mail call… nothing. she just decided to start her life anew as stevie, in new york, with bowie.

their relationship got pretty serious, and the couple moved in together into a brooklyn apartment after graduating, and thought they’d just figure it out from then on out. it wasn’t smooth sailing all the way, as the couple would very often break up and get back together, both of them finding solace in some other people during the in betweens. stevie knew that the relationship would most likely not be good for either of them, but after sacrificing so much for bowie, she thought she’d have to ride it out. so all the pain other people had gone through at both of their expenses was worth it.

sooner than later, stevie got her first graphic designer job out in the real world, which taught her more about herself than the actual job. from there, she decided her goal as a visual artist would be to have her own studio where she got to choose the clients she worked with, and how she’d work with them. in the meantime, she held various designer and even art director jobs in different companies.

despite her new life seemingly going great, not too long ago bowie decided stevie was too boring for her, and decided to end their on-and-off five-year relationship for good. very soon after, stevie came to find that the woman had been scared her off after she suggested marriage — something she had wanted since the moment their relationship got serious. bowie practically moved out overnight, leaving stevie in an apartment that is way too big for her... all alone. the moment she saw all of bowie’s stuff gone, down to the most insignificant things... she knew it was really over. somehow, the same lack of closure she gave her high school boyfriend came to bite her back, and the whole process has been hard to move on from.

headcanons —

stevie really wants children. she’s too afraid of rejection though, so she hasn’t made any steps towards achieving that goal. maybe she’ll get a cat tbh?

she’s a crazy plant lady. the apartment if practically a jungle at this point.

ever since she started dating bowie, stevie hasn’t gone home to her parents’ in connecticut. she’s too afraid of what her father will say. plus, there was a yelling altercation at a family gathering, so it’s only given her more reasons not to visit.

after hers and bowie’s breakup, stevie took up a ridiculous amount of “hobbies” to keep herself busy: baking/cooking, writing, and many sorts of crafting. 

stevie is terrified of ending up an alcoholic like her father, so she drinks very, very little. 

[purplekiwis]

From the Dining Table - Chapter III

Chapter III is here! It’s supposed to be the final chapter, but I’m still feeling kinda icky about the writing in this chapter and the ending, if any of you would like me to keep working on this story please let me know, I’m always happy to get any type of feedback from you. Lots of love to all of you ❤️ Check out the previous chapters: Chapter I | Chapter II Word Count: 6K Warnings: Angst, Cursing, Sexual References Summary: Friends to Lovers; Y/N is a graphic designer working at a small studio in London. She lives a pretty ordinary life, considering she also happens to be friends with an internationally known musician. Which is fine... Until she finds herself having to face the feelings she developed for her friend, who's the last person she expected to fall in love with.

Chapter III - The Comedown

You ended up deciding that the best thing to do would be to call the police and inform them on what had truly happened. Leaving Harry and the band out of it, and pretending like they really hadn’t been there for the whole time the fuss had went down.

Even though Alexa threw a tantrum about it, you could tell she appreciated the fact that she had people there to support her. Besides, deep down, she knew there was no way she would’ve been allowed back there had you told the story she wanted to go for: That she’d had a creative meltdown that resulted in her trashing the studio out of frustration. It sounds quite odd, but the truth is that that version of events would most likely be believable to anyone who happened to be aware of Alexa’s most temperamental side... Although despite being very on brand for her, the tormented artist argument certainly wouldn’t have pleased her fans, nor the management, and much less the studio owners.

The rest of the week went by in the blink of an eye. Next thing you knew it was already Saturday again and you were getting ready for Alexa’s party. Yes, she decided to go through with it regardless of the start of the week’s unfortunate event. She kept it small though, inviting only her closest friends, that made for a considerably small group compared to the usual hundreds of guests that attended her parties.

Y/N put in an extra effort in her outfit that time. Deciding to wear a black floral chiffon dress with sheer details, paired with a pair of plum colored booties, that matched perfectly the shades of the flowers in your dress and the matte lipstick you were wearing. She ended up being one of the first guests to arrive to the house...Not because she wanted to be early, but because Alexa called and begged Y/N to come help her put up some decorations before the party started, since you were used to doing that artsy shit, as she put it. “Damn girl, where’s the rest of the band?” The girl playfully asked as soon as she layed eyes on you.

“What do you mean?” You chuckled at her question. “They won’t be here for a while... You asked me to come early, remember? For the lights...”

“No, I’m not talking about Sarah’s. You know that 70’s band Pussycat? You totally got that vibe going on.” She signaled your dress by drawing a circle in the air with her finger. “Like, a similar sort of indie, effortlessly cool, carefree style.”

“Effortless? Carefree?!” “Not in a sloppy way! In a I don’t even have to try to look this pretty way.”

“Fine, I’ll take it. You look gorgeous. I love that hair on you.” “Thank you, I try…” She shrugged, making a little spin and staring at you from over her shoulder. “Hey, you know who I think will really like your outfit? Your big fat crush.” “Oh, shut it.”

Alexa was right though. Because the first thing Harry did when he arrived was compliment you on your outfit. He was wearing a two piece black suit and LV boots, looking just as amazing as he always did. It got quite annoying, really.

Unlike it happened last time, you were feeling totally relaxed at the party. Maybe it was partly because you were already running with a couple drinks in your system, but mostly, Y/N was pretty sure... was because Harry was in a very chill mood that night, what meant she didn’t have to keep checking on him all the time, since he had been sitting next to her on the couch from the moment he had gotten to Alexa’s. The lot of you had been playing a made-up charades drinking game, because well, let’s face it, there aren't many other games you can play at a party with blasting music on the background... Unless we’re talking beer pong, but that’s just a little too corny for people who are far from being pissed out drunk at university.

Now, the issue with drinking games is that most times, you don’t really notice how drunk you’re getting until it’s already too late to do anything about it... And well… that may have happened to you. All you knew was that one minute you were sitting down, completely sober.... and the next you were losing your mind over the start of Let’s Dance by David Bowie. Luckily Harry was there to share your exhilaration, by grabbing your hand and dragging you to dance with him. At first you were just twirling around and singing your heart out, but when the line “Let’s sway” came in, Harry pulled you into crashing against his chest and jokingly swayed with you around the room that, for unknown reasons, was starting to feel a little too small for your ambitious dance moves. So you kept going down the hallway, somehow making your way into the dining room.

Your giggles were so loud that you could barely make up the music anymore. All you could pay attention to were Harry’s eyes, and how they seemed to swirl you away from reality and into a unknown green paradise where it was only you and him. You couldn’t tell, due to your drunken state but you were fully spacing out inside your head. Allowing for your body move for itself, and for your mind to run wild. When you came back from it, you realized you were no longer swaying... Just hugging and swinging your body to a song by Bread in the middle of Alexa’s empty dining room.

Harry had his hands carefully placed on your hips, your head was buried in his soft chest. You had no idea how long you had been doing this for, but you were enjoying it too much to stop, and apparently so was he.

You only parted your body away from his when the situation became too absurd not to be awkward, in other words, when you cought onto the fact you had been slow dancing to You Spin Me Round, without realizing it. When he felt you pulling away, he gently grabbed your hand and made you do a little spin for him, before letting go of you. “I’m so fucking drunk right now.” You chuckled, burying your face back in his neck.

“Yeah, I know.” You walked towards one of the room’s windows and opened it, leaning your body against the balcony way too confidently for a drunk person, making Harry rush to you and grab your hand to pull you back. “Don’t worry silly, I’m not going to fall.”

“I’m not risking it.” Harry pressed, wrapping his arms around you to pull you closer. His bottom leaned against the dining table, and yours leaned into his lap, not quite sitting in it, just stuck between his arms and legs.

“How could I fall again when I’ve already been falling for so long?” “What did you just say?” He asked, holding you tighter in a playful way.

“Nothing, just forget it.” “You said you’ve been falling? Who’ve you been falling for missy?”

You stared at your feet, playing with the heel of your boot on your toecap to avoid his curious gaze. “No one…”

“Well, I think I know.” He rested his chin on your shoulder, staring at your bashful face with his longing eyes. “I told you I’d figure out your little mystery...”

“Who is it then?” “It’s Alexa, isn’t it?” “What? No! Why would you think that?” You drunkenly scorned, looking at him over your shoulder.

“Let’s see... You coming to her party and vanishing in the middle of the night was super odd… and well, I pulled some strings and found out that apparently, so did she. So, naturally I got suspicious that you two spent the night together. Then, she came and asked me for your number. Adding that to the fact  that you became like great friends from one day to the next, when I know that you used to despise her, it made it pretty clear that there was something fishy going on. Oh! Not to mention the way you jumped to save her from that dickhead. That was some real gay novel shit by the way.” He laughed. “What I’m trying to say is that I’m sure that you two have, at least, a little fling going on.” “Nice try, but you’re... so wrong.” “No way! At least some part of it has to be right…” “It’s not, actually… It couldn’t be further from the truth.” “Right, who is it then?” “You can try to guess, it’s really not that hard…” “Do I know them?” “Yeah…” “But do I know-know them, or just know them?” “You know them very well…” “Is it Sarah?” “No.” “Is it Claire?” “No.” “Is it...” “It’s not a girl.” “Oh, okay… I did not see that one coming.” He scratched the back of his head. “That puts things in a different perspective... So, is it like a boy or is it someone with a different gender?”

“It’s a boy.” “Is he handsome?” “Hmm.. I guess? I would say so, yeah.” “I’m gonna take that as a somewhat… You don’t sound very convinced.” “I mean, if you say so…” You couldn’t help but to laugh at his reasoning. God, is he really that oblivious to the fact that it’s him?

“Is it that guy from your work? I don’t remember his name…”  

“Whoever you’re thinking of, it’s not him.” “So you didn’t meet him at work?” 

“Hm... I guess I kind of did, yeah.” “Is it Mitch?” 

What does Mitch have to do with my work anyway? “No.” “Is it John?”

“Are you serious?” “What? I’m trying… Is it your boss?” “Oh, for fuck’s sake Harry!” In a random act of courage, perhaps even desperation, you jumped off his lap and turned around to face him. Pushing back all the second thoughts, you cupped his face with both your hands and pushed your lips onto his.

He didn’t react at first and you felt his body tensen up. As you were about to pull away and get ready to run, he gave into the kiss, gently caressing your cheek with his thumb as your lips and tongues danced together.

You could feel the blood running wild inside your veins as the kisses became tougher and the mood got steamier. His hands now dived into the folds of your dress, pulling you closer onto his lap. You felt the grip of his hands on your bum as he turned you around so you were the one sitting on the table. His hands moved up and down your thighs, dragging the fabric of your dress along, until it rested on your hips, as he inserted his body in between your legs.

Your hands were all over him, and his were all over you.

You could feel the thrill of it all over you, but the pulsation was definitely predominant and harder to bear in your core, and you could tell he felt the same way when he unwittingly began grinding his hips against edge of the table, desperate for any type of friction he could get.

You grabbed him by the waist and pulled him closer to where your body craved him the most, simultaniously pushing yourself further off the table, to facilitate the access. “Y/N... we shouldn’t. We can’t.” The boy mumbled, eyes closed and body still glued to yours.

You chose to ignore his apprehension, placing kisses on his jawline and down to his neck to keep him going and assure him that you were fine with whatever it was that you were doing, and you could feel him begin to melt into them. “Stop.” He spoke in a harsher tone, talking more to himself than to you as he pushed himself away. “This is wrong.”

“Was it something I did?” “No, it’s not you! It’s just… We’re gonna regret this tomorrow.”

“I won’t”

“Y/N… You’re drunk.”

“I would want this just as much if I was sober.”

“Don’t say that.”

You fell into a silence, but unlike it usually happened between you, the silence was far from confortable, it was deafening. “I’m guessing you don’t feel the same…”

“I...I don’t know…” “It would be easier if you just said you don’t, I can take it.” “Yeah, um... This is…fuck, I don’t know what to say. I never thought about you like that before, we’ve always just been friends.”

“I know, but... You’re right. This was stupid.” You mumbled. You got up in a jump and fixed your dress, trying your hardest to fight back the tears that threatned to escape, you turned your back to him and began walking towards the door. “Where are you going?” He asked.

“Home, Harry.” “But... Seriously? You’re just going to run away?!” “No, I just… I don’t think I can do this right now.” “I’m sorry, you’re right... I get it. It’s a lot and... I’ll come by your house tomorrow so we can talk better, alright?” “I don’t  think that will be necessary. Actually, can we just forget that this ever happened?” “Y/N, it’s okay that you can’t do it right now... but we need to talk.” “It’s fine, Harry. I don’t know what came over me, just let it go.” You felt a tear rolling down your cheek and wiped it away, but you were not quick enough for him not to notice it.

“Hey, hey, hey… Look at me. Please don’t cry.“ He rushed to you, but you held out your hand to urge him to stop. “It’s fine.”

“No it’s not…” “Just forget it, okay? This was stupid, I was stupid.” “Don’t say that.” “It’s true Harry, this was… fuck.” – You attempted to wipe the tears away, but they just kept on coming and you could barely talk anymore due to the clog you felt on your throat.

“I’m so sorry… I never meant to hurt you.” You turned your back to him and ran out of the dining room, stopping past the living room to quickly grab your belongings. You briefly looked towards the sofa where your friends were and met Alexa’s expectant gaze, her facial expression encouraged you to come over, but you just shook your head disappointedly. She deduced what the reason behind your sadness was and got up form the sofa to come comfort you. A pityful frown was drawn on her tinted lips.

You heard Harry’s voice calling your name from the hallway and impulsively ran out the front door, leaving both of them behind on the porch screaming for you to come back, but you didn’t.

You knew it was stupid and irresponsible to drive while you were drunk, but you just couldn’t care, you were too overwhelmed to give a damn about anything other than the devastating feelings you felt over your entire body.

Sadness, hopelessness, shame, pain.  

And god, you hated him.

You hated him for being so gentle, so kind, so polite.

You wished he would’ve taken advantage of you while you were drunk, you wished he would’ve laughed in your face or made you feel stupid, because that would’ve given you a reason to never want to talk to him again. But he didn’t, if anything he’d just given you a reason to love him more.

And it was agonizing... To think about his kisses, because you knew you’d never taste them again.

To hear him say he was sorry for hurting you, because you knew he meant it.

To know he was perfect, because you knew he would never be yours.

After that night, he tried to contact you multiple times, through texts, calls, voicemails… but you never answered. You never meant to avoid him, but you just didn’t have the strenght in you to finish the conversation that unnevitably was going to leave you even more heartbroken.

Days of silence turned into weeks and weeks turned into months, somewhere in the middle he stopped trying to reach you, and you didn’t blame him for it. What was he supposed to do anyway?

Sometimes you would ask Alexa about him, to make sure he was okay. Apparently he was doing great, his first solo album was about to come out and he already had a world tour planned for the next year.

Sometimes you wanted to call and tell him you still loved him and that were proud of him. But how could you?    So you didn’t, and you didn’t show up at his launch party, even though you still got an invitation for it in your e-mail. How come he still wanted you there after what you’d done to him?

Even though you weren’t there to celebrate with him, you got the album on the day it came out. You bought the physical one, so you could see pictures of him as you listened. You must’ve really hate yourself to think that was a good idea, but you weren’t going to waste an opportunity to look at pictures of him without feeling guilty...

The day you picked up the album was actually a work day, what resulted in you listening to the CD while at work, because you were too impatient to wait to get home. You decided you would save the pictures for later though, for when you could suffer and beat yourself up in peace inside the four walls of your bedroom.

From the moment you started playing it, you were over the moon with it. You’d always known how talented he was, but the music was unbelievably good and even though you’d gotten to listen to some snippets that he showed you, nothing could describe the feeling you felt when listening to it all come together in the most amazing way possible.  

While you inspected the copy in your hands, your eyes froze on the title of the last track - “From the Dining Table”. It was an odd song title and you didn’t remember him ever playing you that song. It also reminded you of the moment you shared at Alexa’s house and your stomach flipped, causing you to shrunk in your chair. You tried to push the thought to the back of your mind but it kept wondering... What if he really wrote about that?

You knew it was a long shot and that it obviously hadn’t been that big of a deal for him, at least not to the point where he would write a song about it, but your heart was pumping and your mind was racing to the thought that maybe, just maybe... Well, there’s only one way to find out. You skipped to the last song.

“Woke up alone in this hotel room, Played with myself, where were you? Fell back to sleep, I got drunk by noon I’ve never felt less cool.”

To the sound of his lyrics, your heart was filled by disappointment. Even though you told yourself you were already setting up to get your expectations crushed, apparently you were still naive enough to think that it could be about you. “We haven’t spoke since you went away Comfortable silence is so overrated Why won’t you ever be the first one to break? Even my phone misses your call, by the way.”

Okay, but that could be about anyone else…

“I saw your friend that you know from work He said you feel just fine I see you gave him my old t-shirt More of what was once mine I see it’s written, it’s all over his face Comfortable silence is so overrated Why won’t you ever say what you wanna say? Even my phone misses your call, by the way.”

You dropped the album cover out of shock as the memories came flying by.

A few weeks prior you had found out that your co-worker Alfie had the same shirt Harry gifted you because you’d seen him wearing it around the studio one time. You also remembered that not long after the party, Alfie had been bragging about running into Y/N’s famous friend, as he called him, in the grocery store and how he had complimented his shirt... But you didn’t think much of it, guessing that it was just Harry trying to make small conversation. Somehow you never put two and two together, until now.      “Maybe one day you'll call me and tell me that you're sorry too, But you, you never do”  

You couldn’t argue with that. He was right in his words.          

“Woke up the girl who looked just like you I almost said your name We haven’t spoke since you went away Comfortable silence is so overrated Why won’t you ever say what you want to say? Even my phone misses your call, by the way.”

During the time period you were apart, it never crossed your mind that he might be hurting as well. You just assumed that he was doing fine and that your absence didn’t bother him, and yet apparently, he missed you. He missed you enough to write a song about you and put it in his album.        

You wished you could turn back time and give him a chance to speak his mind about what had happened. You wished you’d stayed when he called you from the hallway instead of running away like you always did when things got complicated.

You didn’t even realize that you were crying until someone tapped you in the shoulder to ask if you were okay. “Actually, no. I think I made a huge mistake.” You pulled off your earphones and shut yout laptop. “I need to go get some air... If Charles asks for me, just tell him I went outside for a call.” You told your coworker, before pushing yourself off your chair and heading towards the door. 

You had been pacing around on the sidewalk for the past five minutes with your eyes stuck to your phone, ocasionally bumping onto passengers on the street. Some of them scoffed when you didn’t make a move to dodge them, but you couldn’t bring yourself to care enough to even apologize.

Your whole body felt numb other than the tight knot you felt on your stomach, begging to be released.

Without giving it a second thought, you went through your contacts and pressed Harry’s number. You had no idea about what you were about to say to him, all you knew was that you needed to listen to his voice. You needed to talk to him, even if that meant that you were going to have to face your biggest fear. “Hello.” His voice came out apprehensive... As if he was wondering if you’d accidently called the wrong number. It made your heart clench. How did you ever let it get to this point?

“I did not give him your shirt, you moron!” “Uh… Okay?” He seemed confused by the way you had decided to start this conversation, and honestly, so were you. “I’m guessing you listened to my song…?” “Yes I did!” “Well, what did you think?” “ I’m so proud of you! Your album is amazing, and... I’m so sorry I didn’t go to your party, I- also I’m sorry, I’m so fucking sorry! I was childish and stupid and...”

“Wow, wow, wow… Slow down.” “I’m sorry.” You apologized again. “You probably don’t even want to be talking to me right now...” “I do.” “You do?” “If I didn’t I wouldn’t have picked up the call, don’t you think?” “Yeah, I guess that makes sense.” “But hmm... before anything else, I hope you’re aware that there’s a pending conversation that we still need to have...” “Yeah, I know…” “Where are you right now?” “I’m at work.” “You’re calling me from work?” “No, I’m outside, I dodged so I could call you.”   “Oh, I must be really important then..” You rolled your eyes a little at the provocation, even though he wasn’t there see you. “Do you want to meet after work? So we can talk properly? I don’t like to have serious conversations on the phone, besides, I don’t want you to get in trouble at work because of me...Again.” “Well, at least we’re not stealing anything this time, right? Where do you wanna meet?” “Hmm… Do you wanna come by the studio after work?” “What are you doing at the studio? You just released an album, you should be at home! ...Sleeping, celebrating, fucking someone... I don’t know, living life!” He laughed a bit at the question. “I guess I’m so used to being here all the time that my body naturally just started to assume that this is where I live now.”

“Have I ever told you how much of an unbelievably peculiar person you are?” The studio wasn’t too far from work to you. So you figured you would be best just walking there. Part of you was nervous, but the relief that you felt in knowing that you were going to see Harry again, turned the prospect of having this overdue conversation into something mildly pleasant. You were expecting Harry to have company with him, so you were surprised when you got to the door and noticed he was alone. Immersed in his notebook while playing cords in his guitar. Y/N stalled herself for a minute by the door, taking a moment to admire him. He looked so beautiful and fascinating when he was focused on his work that it effortlessly triggered your heart into pumping harder on your chest. How come someone so pure could make you hurt so bad?

He stopped whatever song he was playing for a second, bending down over his stomach a little to check the notebook perched on the table, and you took the chance to knock on the door. Carefully opening it with a soft smile painted on your lips.

“Oh! Hey you...” He greeted when his eyes recognized the face peeking at him. His lips were smiling, but you could tell he was reluctant about getting up to come greet you with a hug like he always did, so you just made the first move, walking over and squeezing him in your arms.

You felt his body relax under your hold. The realization that he didn’t mind your affection made your lips part into a relieved sigh. Both of you longed for the hug for a little longer than usual, in a silent way of letting eachother know that, no matter what had happened prior, everything was going to be alright.

He sat down and you followed, sitting on the other end of the couch. You began catching up with eachother, talking mostly about Harry’s album and having meaningless conversations. You could feel the tension in the air, and you knew he felt it too, since both of you had, not so discretly, been avoiding letting the silence settle in, but there was only so much you could talk about, and eventually you fell into an heavy silence.

Just as you were about to adress the subject that you had so desperately been trying to avoid, he spoke. “Do you wanna come see the new rooftop? It’s really nice up there.”

You nodded, not knowing if he was attempting to delay the awkward natured conversation or if he was genuinly that eager to show you the furniture they had up there. Either way, you didn’t mind the change in the scenario, and you definitely appreaciated the feel of the wind in your face, aliviating the feeling of heavyness you felt inside the room. “It really does look nice up here.” You observed as you took a look around yourself, finding comfort in the background noise of the never ending traffic happening just a couple of meters below.

“Be careful where you step though, don’t want you slipping on my vomit.”

“That was ages ago! I’m sure it’s all gone by now...”

“Yeah, you’re right… time does fly, doesn’t it?” He sat in one of the plastic chairs near the edge of the building. You answered with a nod and remained standing, taking in the view of the sun setting in the horizon. “Come here for a second.” The boy asked, pulling one of the plastic chairs from the table, so you could sit next to him.

“Oh boy... This is it, isn’t it? Serious conversation time?” You tried to lighten the sudden serious atmosphere by poking fun of it, sitting down and patting at your own knee with your finger, to avoid looking directly at the boy sitting beside you.

“I think so... Unless you’re about to run from me again.” Harry darted back, but his tone remained calm, with a light playfulness to it even.

“I won’t.” “Good.” He assented with a nod. “So... How ‘ave you been feeling?” “I’m okay... ‘Could be worse. You?” “I mean, career wise and stuff, it’s been great. Can’t complain. But uh... In other matters, ’ve been kinda miserable since that day, you know?” “Because of what we did?” “That’s part of it, yeah. But also...” You interrupted before you could finish. “I ruined our friendship didn’t I? God... It was so stupid, I’m sorry.” “No, it’s not like that at all... And it wasn’t stupid.” He took a big breath before daring to speak again. “I liked it, actually.” You lifted your eyes to look at him, only to realize that now it was him who was staring at his own feet. “What? Are you serious?”

“Yeah...” Harry squinted his eyes and looked at you with a smirk.  “I don’t know what kind of spell you put on me, but it worked... Got me fucked, absolutely fucked.”

“I didn’t do anything eerie, I swear.” “Are you sure? You sounded a bit guilty there.” “I can't even make a decent soup... You really think I could muster making a love potion to give you that didn't come out completely the other way around? I’m flattered, but no.” Both of you allowed for the humorous notes to linger in the air for a while, whilst you prepared to ask the next question. “Do you regret that it happened?” “No, I don’t.” Harry replied easily. “I regret that I let you get away after, though.” “I also regret going away...” “When I called you from the hallway, I was going to ask you to stay...” “You were?” “Yeah,” He laughed at your surprised state. “But going back now, I think that it was a good thing that we had time to think about stuff... Maybe if you’d stayed we’d end up rushing into things.” “I still think it was unfair what I did to you. I was a coward, I didn’t want to deal with the consequences of my own actions, so I ran and left you to deal with it all alone... When the problem wasn’t even yours in the first place.” “It’s fine... seriously.” He took the opportunity to hold your hand in between his, caressing the back of it with his thumbs. “What matters most is that you’re here now, and trying to fix it.”  You placed your other hand on top of his, just so you could caress his skin as well. He gave you a smile, not making a single move to pull away from the intimate moment. “So you’re not mad at me?”

“Oh, I’m fucking pissed at you.” “I don’t blame you, I would too if I was you.” “No you wouldn’t. You’re a softie, you don’t know how to get angry at people.” “I hate that you know that. Can never keep anything from you, can I?” “I think you can. I didn’t know you liked boys, for example...” “I don’t. Usually...” Your first reply came out as quick as a flash. “Guess you’re that special, huh?” “Careful, there. Might get big-headed...” You smiled a little at his words. “So… that means you still feel the same, you know, about me?”

“Yeah, I- I guess I do.” Your answer came out shy, almost like a spoken exhale. “What about you?” You shifted the direction of the conversation before the unavoidable feeling of pity you were expecting could take over Harry’s features. “Have you been seeing someone?” “Hmm… I don’t think it’s a good idea to discuss my love life with you now...” “We’re still friends Harry. We can talk about it, just leave out the gory details.” “So... there’s this girl…” He eased in slowly. “She’s a bit of a nightmare, if I’m honest... But at the same time, she’s also one of the best people I’ve ever known, you know? And I think I really like her... But there’s a part of me that’s scared of taking the next step and asking her out because, well... It’s a little complicated.” “How does she feel about you?” “That’s the thing, I don’t know. I’m assuming she likes me because of the way she acts with me, but she never really uses her words, so...” “So you guys have been sort of dating, is that it...?” “No, it was just a one time thing. I was planning on asking her out, but I never got to do it after all...” “I think you should. There’s only one way to find out if she likes you or not. Take your chance while you can... Don’t be like me, you know?” “You know what? You’re right. I think I’m gonna do it.” He said, getting up from his seat in a jump and grabbing the phone in his pocket.

“Oh. You’re gonna do it right now?” “I was. Do you mind it? I can always do it later…”

“No, no. It’s fine, go ahead. The sooner the better, I suppose.” At that, he walked away from you... And you thanked God beause you felt like you were about to combust under your clothes at how insensitive he was being! Couldn’t he sense that you were dying on the inside? You knew he didn’t mean to make you feel like shit... He was just being casual spontaneous Harry but fuck, it was too soon for this crap!

Harry was pacing around the rooftop while looking through his contacts, making sure to keep a large distance between the both of you, just so you couldn’t listen to his conversation. He took the device to his ear, sparing you a curious look as he did so. When he noticed your eyebrows raising inquisitively, he just grinned and flashed you his thumb. You were trying to figure out the meaning behind the gesture, when you felt your phone start to vibrate inside your pocket, shaking your head when you saw the name displayed on the screen. You chose to pick up the call, trying to poke fun at him. “Wrong number!” You said, expecting nothing but for him to tilt his head back with a smile from his side of the roof before pressing decline and searching for the right contact.

“Sorry, what was that?” “You’re calling me, idiot. Y/N, the one who’s right behind you.” “Yeah, I know. I’ve been meaning to call you for a bit...” “What are you on ab-?” You still managed to question before realization finally kicked in. “Oh.” You exclaimed, still a little flabbergasted. “Was that about me? Am I... her?” “Yeah, look... Like I was saying, I’ve been meaning to call ‘cause I wanted to ask if you would you like to go out on a date sometime...” “Couldn’t you just invite me like a normal fucking person?” “I could... but where’s the fun in that?” He asked back, sparing you a brief look as he walked from side to side across the roof’s open space. Still a little far from where you were sat. “So, what do you say?” “Yes, I would like to go out with you.” “She said yes!” He shouted at the sky, before dropping to his knees in a theatrical way whilst fisting the air in celebration.

“You’re an exhibitionist prick.” “Am I? I thought you liked it.” He asked, finally turning his attention to you and giving you a cocky stare.

“Just come over here and kiss me already.” You concluded, hanging up the call at last, knowing he would come walking over as soon as you did. Almost exactly as you had forecasted, you watched your friend stuff his phone back in his pocket and pacing back towards the chairs with a stupid grin on his face before he bent down over his knees right in front of you.

“Hi.” He smiled. “Hi.” You brushed your noses together, trying to hide the silly smile painted on your face but failing miserably.

Harry leaned in at the gesture, placing a light peck over your lips before pulling away. He kept his nose and lips brushing softly into yours. The push and pull game was driving you mad... Even though you knew he was doing it to tease you on purpose, your eagerness made it impossible for you to resist going after what you wanted. You caved in, pulling him by the collar for a proper kiss. But before you could close the short distance, Harry got up and pulled you up from the chair by your waist, so that you were both standing.

He kissed you, then. Soft and slow at first… but it wasn’t long until the desire took over the both of you and you found yourselves rushing down the stairs back to the studio, making out against practically every wall you came across in the process.

You couldn’t put together when exactly one of you had decided to go back downstairs, let alone which one of you was the leader or follower, but the harshness in the way you were pressing against each other made it clear that both of you had the same thing on your mind.

Between the groping and the wet kisses you lost track of where you were going, only realizing you were back on the place you had started when you felt your back press up against the door knob of the studio’s rented room. You reached behind and opened it, allowing Harry to lock the door and lead your body to where he wanted it. He turned both of you around and sat on the sofa, pulling you by the back so that you sat on his lap.

Almost unconsciously, you began grinding your hips against his thigh, feeling his body begin to stiffen under you. His warm hands slid from the small of your back down to your bottom, caressing your ass over your jeans before giving a sudden tug to pull you closer, so you were positioned right atop of his lenght, causing you to squirm a little.

Your lips began to wonder down his jaw then, placing gente kisses and sucks until you noticed his sped up heatbeat over the larger vein of his neck. The way his breathing was starting to sound all hot and heavy only led you on more... As you grinded your hips again his, now clearly visible, bump.  Harry hissed at the contact, curling his fingers around your hips and tugging to keep you rubbing on him for a while. But it wasn’t enough. He could tell you needed more, judging by the small gasps and hums you were letting out for him, and he was more than happy to keep prodding them on. “Wanna take care of you.” The boy confeesed, moving his hands from your back to your front, and wasting no time before undoing the button and the zipper of your dark colored jeans. “Will you let me?” “Yes, I want you to...” You admitted. “but...”  “You’re nervous, aren’t you?” He guessed.

“A little…yeah.” You buried your face in his neck to hide your embarassment.

“It’s okay love, you’ve got nothing to be ashamed of.” He cupped your face, placing a gentle kiss on your lips.

“I know, it’s just…” “Is it because of my…” He looks down at his own lap. “You know.“

“No, Harry, I’m not scared of your dick if that’s what you’re thinking...” “What is it then?” “I’ve never, you know… did it with a guy before.” “We don’t have to do anything you don’t want to, okay? We don’t even have to do anything at all.” “But I want to. It’s just, what if I’m not good at it?” “We’ll take it slow, start with the basics and we’ll go on from that, okay? I’ll be here for you and you’ll be here for me. We all like different stuff, it’s not like there’s a guide for it, I’ll learn what you like and you’ll learn what I like... This is new for me too.” “Yeah, right…” You scoffed.

“Not everyone likes the same stuff… It’s always new when the partner changes, it doesn’t matter if it’s a guy or a girl, of course some things are a little different but we’re all human, right?”  “Okay, I guess you’re right.” “I’m always right.” “You’re gonna get cocky on me now?” His eyes lit up once he opened his mouth to speak. You could tell he was about to make a filthy pun about his cock. “Don’t you dare saying it.” You playfully warned, pressing a finger to his lips.

“Better hurry to shut me up then, or I might not be able to hold myself.”

[tomiyeee]

Coming right back at ya with the same ask because now I'm curious - thoughts on each Half Life game?

putting under cut cuz it’s kinda long~

hl1 - indifferent, bordering on dislike. i can’t stand older games because the gameplay and quality frustrates me. i played the whole game in gmod (thank u to the person who made the resized maps addon) in order to keep the frustration to a minimum, but i can’t think of much that stood out to me about the game :(

opposing force - second favorite game! i despised fighting the military in the other games because im Bad At Games and they always killed me, so it was nice not having to worry about them so much in this one. the alien designs were cool and i LOVE adrian and the way he just...*clenches fist*...pets bugs.....boss fight sucked tho and the game still kinda got the same problems as all old games. altho the ending felt..really sad. not sure if it was supposed to just end on a black screen til you closed the game yourself but it did for me and somehow that just made it even sadder knowing that my boy is just trapped in purgatory indefinitely until gman/valve finds a use for him (if they ever do)..

decay - fun friend times! unfortunately me not processing plot points goes double for this game bc i can’t focus on that stuff when friends are around but i really like colette! she seems like a really fun character and i wish there were more voice lines from them cuz the few that i could find of hers were Extremely Good. love that woman and the way she just.....*clenches fist*.....*cackles maniacally*

hl2+episodes (grouping them together bc i don’t remember enough about them for it to be worth listing separately) - altho it still isn’t quite my type of game (i prefer open world/exploration and/or LOTS of npc interaction), it certainly is a step up from the older ones in the series in terms of gameplay, graphics, and character development. i don’t remember much past kleiner’s lab - usually when i try to replay it, the moment it throws me into combat im like “hm! i think that’s enough for today :)” - but i do have good feelings towards the whole beginning section bc of how much time me n my bffsie spent fucking around with those scenes in gmod. after that..not much i remember in detail (im sorryyy i only played through them once and i have bad memory + trouble processing what’s happening until the second playthrough), but i can say 1) i adored the antlion battle in ep 2 and played through that section multiple times just for funsies, 2) fuck the strider battle, 3) hunters. are so. fucking. cool.

alyx - aaaaaaa!!! the graphics!!!!!!!! the animation!!!!!!! the environment interaction!!!!! i want to play it!!!! tbh alyx was never really my type of character, but i love hearing her interactions with the other npcs and the dialogue is terrific (LOVE that vortigaunt dude). i’ve watched the first few parts of wayne’s playthru but i kept getting sidetracked so i’ve yet to finish it, but i like what i’ve seen so far :) i do wish more of the environment interaction from the first room(s) had carried throughout the rest of the game, but i can easily see why they didn’t. i just like vr games that allow you to play with ur surroundings (like job simulator) and the combat tends to blend together after a while so i don’t find those parts as interesting.

black mesa - yes!!!!!! favorite game!!!!!1! 10/10!!!!!!!!!! this is the only game in the series that i actively like and would want to replay multiple times. i know it’s technically fanmade but honestly it fixed p much everything that frustrated me about the original game and made it even better. i spent like more than an hour in the starting area just playing with every little thing and talking to all the npcs and i love how much more fleshed out they feel. PLUS!!!!! XEN!!!!!!! HOOOOOLY SHIT!!!!!! it’s SOOO much nicer in this game than the disgusting cheese blocks in og xen..gfuck. i would LOVE to just have a stand alone game that allows me to freely explore bm!xen because it’s so!!! gorgeous!! the puzzles were so much more fun and the environmental storytelling + atmosphere was so much better, and i loved that there was so much variety in the types of environments within xen. it feels like an actual planet with its own unique ecosystems and it looks beautiful. i kinda wish they had kept more true to the feel of the og nihilanth design, but the final boss fight is so much better, i love not having to wander around aimlessly bc the game fails to properly indicate what it is im supposed to do.

[scottymcgeesterwrites]

Final Fantasy VIII Review

(A serious review this time, without spoilers.)

Year: 1999

Original Platform: PlayStation One

Also available on: PC, PlayStation Store

Version I Played: PlayStation One

Synopsis:

Squall Leonhart is a new recruit of SeeD, a mercenary team protecting the world. Rinoa is a resistance fighter against the Republic of Galbadia, led by the Sorceress Edea who is suddenly hellbent on conquering the neighboring nations. Squall and his team attempt to assassinate Edea, but the mission goes awry.

Gameplay:

Final Fantasy VIII throws nearly every previous battle system out of the window. It’s nearly as radical as Final Fantasy II’s battle system. Enemies around the world map average their levels according to your average level among your characters. You only need 1,000 EXP (experience points) to rise to each level, unlike the other games where the EXP needed rises after each level. But that doesn’t mean your character levels up all their stats – that all depends on the summons, known in this game as Guardian Forces.

 Unlike other games, summons are crucial to the gameplay, despite not being crucial to the story itself. The Junction System has you “junction” each character with a GF, allowing you to assign different battle commands (Item, Draw, Magic, GF, etc). If you don’t assign a character a GF, all they can do in battle is “Attack.”

That gets super annoying when you’re moving around GFs between characters a lot but you forget to assign that one character a summon right before a major boss battle, so then they can’t do shit.

The drawing system is my favorite aspect of Final Fantasy VIII’s gameplay. Instead of harnessing magic by a points system (such as MP), you draw magic from enemies. Magic is only limited by the number of spells. For example, you fight an enemy and draw 5 Curas from them. You now have 5 Cura spells. You can hold up to 99 of any spell. You don’t have to worry about ethers or running out of MP. I guess it’s an incentive to battle enemies, as they are resources for magic.

But the way the GFs work annoy me the most. You to call upon GFs at any time in any battle for an infinite number of times. This doesn’t give you any incentive to even try battling. If something annoyed me, I just said, “Fuck it” and spammed GFs. Not only that, but you have to sit through the short cinematic sequence of your summon every time you call them. I must have viewed Shiva’s summoning sequence ten-thousand fucking times before finishing the game. This makes battling feel repetitive, tedious, and unenjoyable. Battling was a chore.

The Junction System overall is so complicated that you have to go through a tutorial within the first twenty minutes of the game. It’s aggravating enough already to sit through Quistis going, “Blah, blah. blah” but it’s actually super important because if you don’t pay attention then this game will be tedious.

The final battle though? That shit was epic. Hard. But epic. One of the best final battles.

Graphics:

This game took a different route in giving realistic proportions to its characters. While that’s a cool idea on paper, the overall effect is. . .boring? Almost every other Final Fantasy game has a cast of very distinct characters, like various species, age groups, or wildly different clothing. To suddenly play a Final Fantasy game with what looks like real people – like Bob, Joe and Jill – seems drab. Selphie by far has been the least interesting character to me. When your characters look and feel like NPCs, it’s hard to become invested in them.

I wasn’t a fan of many of the backdrops because for whatever reason I had trouble discerning some doors. I couldn’t tell what I was looking at in the background sometimes, like if there was a switch or button that I had to press.

The cinematics are great though – some of the best in the series. It has the most memorable opening sequence of any game – the duel between Squall and his rival Seifer. The cinematics were a MAJOR step up from Final Fantasy VII.

Story:

Oh hey, so here’s a serious, non-spoiler, non-inflammatory review of Final Fantasy VIII.

Put this story side-by-side with Final Fantasy VII and you can see how they carried on the inspirations. Once again, the story is set in a more modern setting with cars, trains, etc. Squall is Cloud. Rinoa is Aerith. Etc., etc.

Squall Leonhart is the epitome of angst. You will spend the entire game rolling your eyes at Squall’s angsty introspective thoughts about the situations he’s in and people around him. Squall is essentially a bad version of Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy VII. Take Cloud but only take his cool design and angsty responses. That’s Squall Leonhart. Squall literally has no interesting qualities about him other than his physical design. He can rock that jacket and that scar on his face. Squall’s “romance” with Rinoa Heartilly is also a cardboard copy of Cloud and Aerith’s romance. Squall meets Rinoa by a chance meeting at a military ball. She serves as the optimistic, lively counterweight to Squall’s stoicism. But there’s hardly any depth other than Squall finding her pretty and Rinoa thinking he’s cute and handsome.

The cast of characters is bland, to say the least. They are composed of other students (Quistis being an instructor though) at Balamb Garden (except Irvine, who is a student of another Garden). They look boring. Their introductions are boring. Balamb Garden sounds like a cool idea – a mercenary school – except it plays off more like a poorly written high school anime drama, which is lame. At one point, Squall’s friends – Zell, Selphie, Irvine and Quistis – all try to conspire to get him to talk to Rinoa. You actually have to play through that of the plot and watch it unfold. But Squall tries to understand Rinoa’s upbeat attitude with lots of question marks in his thought bubbles and mumbling, “Whatever”. It’s jarring to sit through four discs of this over and over.

The plot is a butchered mess. After Disc 1 is when the plot gets strange like a fever dream. Plot twists happen left and right after Disc 1 without any rhyme or reason. Very little is explained and many twists are too convenient. Seifer is introduced as Squall’s rival and Rinoa’s original love interest, but then he inexplicably turns evil. In no dialogue or plot points do we ever learn why Seifer switches sides. None at all.

There’s a particular interesting fan theory that actually makes infinitely more sense than the story that Square gave us. Here’s a hot tip – when fan theories start making perfect sense, you probably didn’t write a good story.

The best part of Final Fantasy VIII is actually Laguna Loire. Throughout the story, Squall and his friends pass out for mysterious reasons and you are introduced to Laguna Loire and his two buddies, Ward and Kiros (who are reminiscent of Biggs and Wedge from Final Fantasy VII). They partake in events set in the past. Laguna Loire hearkens back to the pre-Final Fantasy VII heroes – heroes like Bartz and Locke. He’s funny and charming. I wish the game was about him and his friends instead of angsty Squall and his cardboard friends.

 So, for four discs you play through these parallel plots and then they merge by the end. The payoff isn’t so amazing. I expected something better. Time travel is involved, albeit in a way that doesn’t make sense. Time compression! The ability to compress time into a singularity because . . . because why again? I guess you don’t have to wait for the next season of Game of Thrones anymore. Is that what that means?  

Other notes I want to mention – Balamb Garden is an awful, clunky airship and the world map is the least interesting world map in the entire series. The only remotely interesting place is Fisherman’s Horizon.

 Final Fantasy VIII’s story is the second most radical departure from the series, the first being Final Fantasy X, which I will get to later. However, Final Fantasy VII lacks any meaningful depth or existential crisis for its main character to explore. There’s no grand critique on the meaning or life or anything like that. There’s one slight existential question that Rinoa faces near the end but it’s practically nothing. I admire what they tried to do but it fell flat on its face. It’s dull and insipid with its characters and the plot doesn’t steer in a clear direction.

Overall, I admire what they were trying to do by adding time travel to the story. But it became such a warbled mess that it failed to deliver. They took all the cool parts of Final Fantasy VII but didn’t bother to give them depth.

Music:

The music is the biggest highlight of Final Fantasy VIII. Laguna Loire’s battle theme is sexy as hell. It made me so sad to return to Squall’s timeline, because I wouldn’t get to hear that music again for a while. The world map theme irritated me. It has a jingle that didn’t jive well with wandering around. It probably also didn’t help that the world map is dull to run around in.

The game’s theme, Liberi Fatali, is damn epic. Liberi Fatali does have actual lyrics but the famous lines “Fithos lusec wecos vinosec” is actually nonsense. Maybe that nonsense reflects the nonsense that is the actual story. It would have been nice if they had actually incorporated those words into the story somehow, like some magic spell like “abracadabra”.

The love theme is Eyes on Me, performed by Faye Wong. It’s the first time that Uematsu composed a pop song for a Final Fantasy game. Its lyrics are nice and of course fitting for the love story. I like hearing it.

There are no other character themes in this score. The focus was all on Squall and Rinoa having their silly angsty romance.

The final boss theme is actually one of my favorites. It starts out eerie with the chorus singing “Fithos lusec wecos vinosec” but in this drawn out, ghost-like manner. Then the music picks up sounding like a typical Final Fantasy battle theme, then goes crazy from there on out.

Notable Score:

Liberi Fatali.

 Verdict:

My least favorite Final Fantasy game. I would place it right at the bottom tier. The story is absolute gibberish. The gameplay could be fun once you wrap your head around it, which I didn’t and so it was a pain in the ass for me. Finding all the Guardian Forces can be fun. Laguna Loire is the best part of the story, and that’s really it. At the end of the day, probably put this one off until you play the better, more important Final Fantasy games. You are not missing anything if you never play this game.

Direct Sequel?

No.

Keep it that way.