#i started doodling this in class earlier and just continued once i got back home

[thatonechocogirl]

its kinda obvious that after kenais final transformation, he still has a lot to learn about being a bear; so koda would help teach him how to do normal bear stuff (like fishing)

and whenever kenai succeeds after trying over and over, koda gets ecstatic for him, which makes kenai happy and proud of himself :]

[pockyandme]

What happens when you start sending messages anonymously with someone else via a school table, only for a turn of events to occur when you try to find out who the other person was?

pairing: the boyz jacob x reader

genre: thriller + teeny tiny bit of fluff

word count: 1.2k

warnings : minor curses, i said hell like twice

leona was listening to this while writing: never ever getting rid of me — christopher fitzgerald

hi! this is my first ever story here on tumblr so i hope you guys like it! requests are open, just send me an ask <3 story begins under the image!

“The net amount of fluid going out through the surface per unit time is called the ‘flux of velocity’ through the surface,” The physics teacher was currently droning on and on about vector fields and you could honestly care less about what she was saying. The words seemed to enter in one ear and exit out the other.

It had been a long day and you were just waiting for the bell to ring so you could get out of this hellhole and straight home. Sitting up straight, you stretched out your hands and took sight of your other classmates who seemed to already be dozing off over their tables. Naturally, you did the same, resting your head on your arms but instead pulling out your pencil and writing the first thing that came to mind on your table, ‘hi’, followed by aimless doodles. It wasn’t like your teacher cared anyways.

The long awaited moment finally came and students were getting rowdy, packing up their bags. “Don’t forget to do the practices I’ve put up in your class’ forum!”, earning groans from your classmates but you were already out the door, eager to get some rest after yet another uneventful day.

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾

After Literature class, you made your way to the other side of the building for another dreadful physics lesson. You got released a bit earlier so the class was quite empty aside from a group of girls giggling to each other. Sighing to yourself, you placed your bag down beside your table about to take a seat when you saw something different. A hum of confusion rose from you as you recognized a different handwriting beside your small ‘hi’. It was a rather enthusiastic reply as you could make out the multiple exclamation marks.

You jumped into your seat, hastily writing a reply back. ‘who are you? do you know mrs hwang too?’ It was something new to you, having someone reply to your messages as the stranger complimented your drawing.

Waiting a few minutes to get a reply, you went on your phone. Who knows? Maybe it would be like Tom Riddle’s diary and the writing would magically appear? Right as Mrs Hwang entered the classroom, you peered over your textbook, not seeing a new reply much to your dismay. You shrugged off the thoughts of talking to this anonymous person and started writing in your notebook.

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾

Leaving for a small break in the middle of physics, your peers had dispersed into their little corners, some going to the cafeteria like you. As you returned from the snack shop, chocolate bread in your hands, a few words had once again appeared below your earlier reply. ‘yea, i know her, she’s so boring,’ At that, you chuckled slightly.

A surge of adrenaline coursed through you, it had been so long since you experienced something so exciting. Having a little pen-pal? Hell yeah!

Raising your head, you noticed some of your classmates hadn’t left the classroom so you approached them, “Hey, did you guys happen to see anyone come over to my desk while I was gone?”

They simply looked up at you in confusion and shook their heads no. “Ah okay, it’s fine then, thanks!”

Releasing a sigh, you wondered just who was writing to you..

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾

The conversations between you and this mysterious person continued throughout the whole week, them replying only when you were away from your class. It was a shame that you were in that class just for physics but hey, at least you somewhat looked forward to physics lessons now, right?

The messages bounced back and forth and what you could tell from their way of replying was that they were really kind and outgoing. They had a positive aura around which made you want to talk to them more.

Carefully writing on the table, you wrote, ‘i just realised i never found out your name, what is it? i’m y/n btw!’ Impatient to get a reply, your hand shot up and you asked to be excused to the toilet. Thankfully, Mrs Hwang allowed you to go and you were off to the toilet with a spring in your steps.

For some reason as you read the name written on the bottom right of your desk, your heart fluttered and it felt very warm. You were probably smiling like a fool as your hand traced over the pencil mark. ‘it’s jacob :)’

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾

Tapping your best friend on her shoulder, you took a seat next to her in the cafeteria. “Do you happen to know anyone else who sits in my seat during physics, other lessons maybe?” She was your senior of two years - also the head of student council - and you guys met in photography club. You thought maybe she knew more about the people in the school, so you gave it a try to ask her.

“I don’t think anyone else sits there? It’s a pretty inaccessible place since you don’t get a good view of the board in class. Literally no one wants to sit there, the chair seems broken too. I have no idea why you chose to sit there,” She mutters, rolling her eyes at your poor decision choices.

“Hey! Don’t you remember I was the last one to enter the class and that was the only available seat, I didn’t choose it,” You fired back. Then, who was replying to you? You were in deep thought that you almost missed her next part of the conversation.

“Ah right! There was only one other guy who sat there but I’m pretty sure he died a few years back in an accident on the school grounds, his name was Jacob or something,” She said, shoving a spoonful of rice into her mouth. That caused you to look at her in puzzlement. “But.. My pen pal's name is Jacob?” She almost choked on her rice when she processed your words. “What?!”

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾

You were back again in physics class the following Thursday. Your head was in the clouds as you glanced down on your table in uncertainty. Several new messages had appeared but you didn’t have the heart to reply. What does this mean? Have you been replying to a ghost this whole time? You were falling for a ghost? Multiple thoughts took over your mind but your breath hitched at what was happening. You're pretty sure you felt your heart stop for a moment. It wasn’t like other times when you had to be away from class to receive a new written text. This time, the words were appearing one by one. It felt sinister instead of the fluttering feeling you usually felt.

‘You found out, didn’t you?’

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[ahkaahshi]

a parenting moment [miya atsumu x reader]

pairing: miya atsumu x fem reader

genre: fluff

warning(s): none

word count: 2.3k

overview: when yours and atsumu’s five-year-old daughter gets into trouble at school, it’s up to him to practice his good parenting skills

note: though this is a reader insert story, it focuses more on atsumu’s relationship with his daughter and sheds some light on how I think he would be as a dad :) also I wrote this months ago and am just now posting lol hope you enjoy

Atsumu’s features settle into a look of discontentment as his honey colored eyes scan his young daughter’s short figure, taking note of her dirtied shoes and the slightly disheveled appearance of the French braids he’d woven into her dark hair that morning. Wiping a bead of sweat from his forehead and letting out a small sigh, he asks, “What happened, girly?”

She turns her (e/c) gaze towards the polished wooden flooring of the large gym and mutters, “I got in a fight at school and they made Mommy pick me up.”

Instead of towering over her, as he had inadvertently been doing before, Atsumu kneels down in front of her and places his hand on her shoulder. “Hey, look at me, (daughter’s name),” he requests, making her tilt her chin up the smallest amount so her eyes can meet his. When their gazes connect, he purses his lips before saying, “We’ll talk about it when we get home, ‘kay? Right now, Daddy’s gotta practice, so jus’ sit tight with Coach Foster for a bit ‘n hang out.”

She nods slowly and Atsumu lifts her light blue backpack off of her shoulders to carry it with him over to the bench beside the court where his team is currently running through serve-receive drills. The head coach gives him a small nod of acknowledgement and a promise that he’ll protect her from any rogue volleyballs as she takes a seat.

Knowing that his daughter’s safety is in good hands and that she’s occupied--since she had pulled out a notebook from her backpack to doodle and write in--gives Atsumu a sliver of comfort as he returns to his practice. It takes himself some time to get his thoughts off of her, however, given the situation.

Minutes earlier, you had appeared at the gym with (daughter’s name) and offered a brief explanation of the matter at hand. You’d had to pick her up from school after receiving a call that she’d gotten into trouble, but, because of your own responsibilities at work, you’d had to drop her off with your husband. According to what the teachers had explained, she had gotten into a physical altercation with another student that had ended in tears, screaming, a few scrapes, and a dropped popsicle--your daughter’s, unfortunately.

(Daughter’s name) was a well-behaved, studious girl--though she did have a bit of a wild, energetic streak in her, thanks to Atsumu--so to hear that she’d been involved in a fight was understandably shocking to both of you. Sure, she enjoyed roughhousing with her dad and her uncle, but you’d been adamant about reiterating that real fighting was not allowed.

Atsumu hated seeing his daughter so distressed. It broke his heart. Usually, she was upbeat and full of life, but, now, she looks so defeated and ashamed. In an attempt to cheer her up in any way he can, he enlists the help of Bokuto and Hinata to tell her funny stories during each water break; and while they provide her some temporary relief, the cloud of sadness casting a shadow over her still lingers.

Though she holds onto his hand and clings to his side during the commute back home, she’s unnaturally quiet, and goes straight to her room upon returning to the house. He decides it best to leave her alone for a bit, but he can’t ignore how quiet the house feels without the sound of her favorite show blaring from the television in the living room. To busy himself for some time while you’re at work and she’s in her room, Atsumu sets himself to whipping up a snack after he’s taken a shower, and icing his aching joints.

After preparing some onigiri that looks rather sloppy compared to that his brother always serves, Atsumu shuffles down the hallway towards his daughter’s room. Her door is open, so he can see her sitting on her bed with a selection of colored pencils strewn across the comforter, and one in her hand that she’s using to color in a project she has to complete for class.

“Hey, girly,” he greets her and stands in the doorway, “Wanna eat some onigiri with me?”

She doesn’t respond verbally, but nods her head without lifting it to look over at him. So, he walks into her room and plops down on the bed beside her, setting the plate down in front of him. Before he can even get so far as to offer her one of his homemade creations, he hears her sniffle loudly.

Turning his honey-colored gaze to her brings him to the realization that she's stopped coloring and, instead, has her hands pressed against her face as her body shakes with quiet sobs. His paternal instincts to protect and comfort her immediately kick in, and he pushes the plate aside so he can sling an arm around her shoulder to pull her closer to him.

“Hey, hey, li’l princess, what’s goin’ on?” he murmurs.

She leans closer to him but keeps her hands over her face. “It wasn’t my fault, Daddy,” she whimpers softly, the sound of her strained voice nearly shattering her father’s heart, “There’s a really, really mean girl in my class. She always pulls my hair, a-and takes my markers, and cuts in line so she gets the last orange popsicle--and that’s my favorite flavor--and... I hate her!”

Atsumu grabs a tissue to dab at the tears spilling down her cheeks once he gently moves her hands away from her face. He’s silent for a moment as the previous sadness he felt at his daughter’s suffering morphs into anger upon hearing that she was being bullied. “Didja hit ‘er 'cause she was bein’ mean?”

She nods and cries, “S-She pushed me during recess ‘nd I got mad and pushed her back,” before finally lifting her head to gaze up at him with watery, (e/c) eyes. “I didn’t mean to hurt her, Daddy! I-I was just scared she was gonna hurt me!”

Wrapping both of his arms around her small frame, Atsumu brings her face to his chest and holds her tightly in his embrace in an attempt to comfort her. “It’s alright, (daughter’s name). Mommy ‘nd I will make sure this gets fixed, ‘kay?” The grip she has on the back of his t-shirt tightens slightly as she presses her face into his shoulder. One of his hands rubs her back to calm her down while the other smooths down any stray hairs sticking up from her head.

After a few minutes of crying, whimpering, and venting, she’s finally relaxed enough to let her dad lead her into the living room so they can sit and watch a few episodes of her favorite show together while snacking on onigiri.

“Hey,” he calls out to her, making her tear her wide-eyed gaze away from the television screen, “I know me, Mommy, ‘n Uncle ‘Samu always say that fightin’ ain’t the right way ta go about things, but I’m proud of ya for stickin’ up for yourself, girly.”

A small smile sprouts across her lips that’s made even cuter by the fact that her cheeks are puffing out from the amount of rice she has in her mouth. The sight makes him chuckle and ruffle her hair.

“But don’t go tellin’ Mommy I said that. Instead, use yer words, find one of the teachers, ‘n let ‘em deal with whoever’s givin’ ya trouble, alright?”

When she’s finished chewing her food, she replies, “M’kay.”

“Mind tellin’ me what started the fight in the first place?” he asks, one of his thick eyebrows raising in curiosity.

She twiddles her thumbs and slowly directs her gaze back to the television. “She made me drop my popsicle when she pushed me.”

“And it was your favorite flavor, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah...”

With a hearty laugh, he comments, “Man, you really are yer mom’s daughter, ya know that? She don’t mess around when food’s involved.”

The sounds of his daughter's giggles ripple through the air, sending waves of warmth over him as he continues telling her stories about all the times he’d dealt with you getting on his case about food or treat-related issues. He made sure to include an anecdote about a time when you’d nearly knocked him over after he’d jokingly swiped your candy bar during lunch in high school. 

Needless to say, he never did it again out of the fear that Osamu wouldn't let him live it down if he got destroyed by a high school girl over food. However, the passion and unrelenting desire he’d seen in your eyes that day had made him absolutely sure that you were the one for him.

By the time you step into the house a few hours later, your daughter--being the mature, young girl she was--has moved her schoolwork from her bedroom to the living room table to do her assignments while her dad snoozes on the couch. Upon noticing that she’s in a better mood than she had been when you’d dropped her off at the gym with Atsumu, your heart lifts slightly.

“Hey, honey,” you greet her as you slide off your shoes and set your purse down on a table in the entryway, “What’re you up to?”

She holds up a piece of paper with colored markings on it that vaguely resemble Atsumu’s tall figure holding what you assume to be a volleyball, along with a few, familiar faces in the background. “I have to draw a picture of what you and Daddy do at work to show my teacher.”

You smile at her and plant a kiss atop her head before commenting, “Looks good so far. You drew Bokuto-san’s hair perfectly.” She chuckles and quickly returns to her masterpiece, since your compliment seems to spur her to keep creating. “I’m gonna talk to Daddy, real quick, okay? I wanna see how you draw Omi-san’s hair when we’re done.”

With that said and your daughter on a mission to produce her version of the prickly, outside hitter on Atsumu’s team, you rouse your husband from his nap so the two of you can head into your room to talk about the situation. Once out of earshot, he explains what your daughter had told him and the two of you work together to devise a plan and time to speak with her teacher about the true story. Amazingly enough, this entire exchange occurrs without your usual, good-natured--but sometimes cumbersome--squabbling.

“Hey, ‘Tsumu,” you call out to him, reaching for his hand and wrapping your fingers around it gingerly. 

He had been on his way to the bedroom door so he could head to the kitchen and start making dinner while you showered, but he stops in his tracks and turns to face you once more. When your eyes meet, your heart skips a beat, like always.

Taking a deep breath, you tell him, “Even though we may argue from time to time about parenting, and you sometimes let her have just a tad too much sugar before conveniently deciding to take a nap so you don’t have to deal with her going berserk, there's nobody else in the world that I’d rather share a kid with than you. She loves you so much, and so do I.”

His unoccupied hand finds your waist to pull you closer to him, and he leans down towards you to plant a gentle kiss on your lips. As per usual, the tender moment you shared doesn’t last long, since he always has something smart to say. “What’s gotcha all sentimental, (f/n)? Does seein’ me doin’ fatherly things give ya the hots for me, or somethin’?”

“Oh, yeah, sleeping on the couch while our self-starter of a child does homework by herself is so fatherly.”

He frowns. “I had a long practice. Bein’ a professional athlete is hard work, baby.”

 With a sardonic smile on your face, you mention, “Working a nine-to-five is pretty tiring too, baby.”

“Fair,” he groans and slides his arms around your back, “But, seriously, what’s got you feelin’ all in love with me, huh?”

You snicker at his tone and the mischievous look on his face as you brush his golden hair away from his eyes before letting your hands come to rest on his cheeks. “It’s just that when I picked (daughter’s name) up from school today, she was all sad and mopey. Yet, when I come home after dropping her off with you, she’s all smiles and rainbows again. It just reminds me of how good you are to her and it makes me happy that she has you as a father.”

A genuine smile rather than a sly one appears on his lips, and you press your own against them to give him a few, affectionate kisses.

“You know I’d do anything for my favorite, li’l girl, (f/n). She’s only as good of a kid as she is 'cause of you, anyway.”

Your lips form a giddy grin, as if he’s a high school crush who’s just delivered the sweetest of compliments to you, and you allow him to pull you closer so he can shower you with more kisses. “I love you, baby,” you murmur as you plant another peck on his cheek.

“I love you too, sweetheart.”

There’s a short moment of silence as he pulls you into a tight hug that seems to wash away all the stress that you didn't even realize had been building up within you at the day you’ve had. His breath fans across the tender skin of your neck when he nestles his face there and allows his hands to roam up and down your back. However, after the two of you release each other, you notice a sneaky smile playing at his lips that oftentimes makes you wary.

“Hey.”

“Yeah?”

“Wanna go see (daughter’s name)’s rendition of Omi-Omi?”

Chuckling and following him out of the bedroom, you agree, “Wouldn’t miss it.”

masterlist ⭐︎ treat me to a coffee!

taglists (see pinned post on my blog for form)

general: @krynnza, @yamagucji​, @tendo-sxtori, @dinablossom, @newfriendjen, @devlovesramen, @ohbyunhunn, @aftcrlust, @mister-future, @kyleclxin, @kac-chowsballs, @osamusmiya, @nit-sir-hc, @arixtsukki, @shinsurou, @ichorizaki, @dominikmagnus​

atsumu: @pretty-setters, @misora-msby, @why-aminot-dead, @lotsoffandomrecs, @tsumue, @heyhinata

[cobaincreates]

smart decisions

warnings: drinking, angst, smut, fingering, nsfw, 18+

count: 10k+

hiiiiiiiii so i’m a horndog & i can’t get enough of rafe cameron (or drew) or college rafe & i also wanna cry over them so here you go. let me know whatcha thinkin’. please i’m begging you. 

also the photo isn’t mine i got it from here!

songs i imagined - this one & this one

— — —

transferring colleges had to have been your smartest decision to date. going from putting your strengths into a place that was not willing to acknowledge them to, now, receiving credit where credit was most deservingly due. your first choice for school had been some place close to home, you figured why not opt for the cheaper option to save yourself, and your parents, a little money. you spent a few months getting into the swing of things, heading to class each day with a fresh mind and hopeful thoughts. it wasn’t until six months in that you realized you deserved so much better, and at a better school.

it took time, figuring out your best bet and where to go and all the finances. you definitely grew impatient a year in, trying to stick it out at home to receive your credits. but once the moment arrived, you packed all your things and moved states away. you loved it; you loved the classes, you loved your friends, you loved your professors. you were completely happy with your choice to go. your parents might not have been, but the weekly calls home for your progress report were substitute enough.

wednesday, 5 p.m.

you scribbled a doodle you had been going over and over, darkening the lines so much you saw it behind your eyelids now. you snapped out of it and looked back at your textbook.

the library was so quiet, you heard pages being turned from every corner, the chewing of gum from a tense jaw, and the soft snores of someone passed out in one of the private cubicles across the way. none of those things distracted you really since you had come to the study session with a couple of your friends, all three of you making a pact to get shit done.

melly was able to listen to music while she studied and was more of a typer as her fingers moved fast along the keys of her laptop. she came dressed in her comfiest clothes, sporting a knit sweater and joggers. lina had snacks across the table to keep her sustained. she was a strong believer that she learned better while being fed. it made you laugh still. she was a writer like you, very organized in her notes with highlighters and different colored pens. she even drew headers for each page for the hell of it. you wondered where she got the drive. then there was you, black ink, the main topic underlined, things to remember written repeatedly. you learned better after writing things down, you couldn’t just read a book and have the information implanted in your brain. as much as you wished it were that easy.

you were studying for an upcoming psychology test, one that you were sure would be a piece of cake given how well you did in the class itself. it was one you didn’t plan on taking, but you needed another course to get enough credits for the year.

lina was munching on some almonds, turning a page in her notebook, and picking up a blue pen. you were in the middle of writing a definition down and filling up the last of the page, your hand starting to cramp with how much pressure you were using. you flexed it once you put your pen down and squeezed an imaginary ball.

both yours and lina’s eyes flicked up to melly across the table who let out a low moan. she was pulling her headphones off and looking in the completely opposite direction of her computer.

“why is he so fine?” she asked, low enough for the two of you to hear.

you looked over your shoulder at the same time lina did and searched in the general area melly was focused on. all you saw was a guy walking through the library, sporting a backpack and a lacrosse sweatshirt, the hood pulled over his head.

“he really knows what he’s doing, huh?” lina said dreamily.

you furrowed your eyebrows as you watched him turn into a row of books and you glanced at melly as you faced the other way, planning on getting back to your work. melly was dazed as she still looked in his direction.

“who is that?” you asked after a moment of both of them still ogling.

lina turned toward you as melly closed her laptop a little to lean over it. “what did you just say?”

you looked between the two identical shocked expressions and laughed helplessly. “who is that?”

“oh, i forgot. you’re still new.” melly nodded in semi-acceptance then became serious. “that’s rafe cameron. he’s on the lacrosse team and we’re kind of obsessed with him.”

“it’s alarming,” lina said. she gave a quick glance over her shoulder then looked back at her notebook. “i love making myself sad over him not noticing me, but it’s fine. what’s even more alarming is how he’s still single.”

“i cannot express to you, y/n, how good,” melly emphasized, squeezing her eyes shut, “he looks with a little sweat.”

“you guys sound like stalkers.” you pointed out, smiling a little at their explanations.

“i’m not denying it. i said it was alarming.” lina shrugged as she looked from her textbook to her writing. “we’ve talked to him a couple of times at some parties, he’s a super nice guy but we just find him attractive. i think if i were a freshman, i’d be pathetically pining after him.”

melly hummed in agreement, her chin now propped in her palm. she wore a doe-like look, gazing between yours and lina’s heads and into the bookshelves. “don’t they have a game tomorrow? we should go.”

“it’s away.” lina said, but you had already lost interest in the topic and started reading a new chapter. you picked your pen back up, the muscles in your hand now relaxed, and the boy in the bookshelves out of your mind.

monday, 9 a.m.

you were going to be late and you hated the thought. there was no way you could miss this test when you had done nothing but study every last page for it. you even lost track of how many pages of notes you wrote for the test alone. it would be such a waste to miss it and it wasn’t worth getting a negative grade.

being late was not at all your fault. you had set your alarm early, eaten breakfast and read a few more chapters to get ahead, and packed your bag up so you’d be ready after a quick shower. turned out that all the showers on your floor were broken, the yellow “do not cross” tape like a bad omen. you started muttering to yourself as you carried along your shower caddy, going down to the next floor and finding a line to wait in. you knew it was probably your best bet instead of racing to another floor to check if there were more lines, plus you didn’t know how much time you had. you probably annoyed some people with the fidgeting, but all you could think about was the test.

it was ridiculous how long the showers took and how you had to leave your hair damp as you ran back up physical stairs. you burst through your door, threw your bathroom things on your bed, grabbed your bag and the few books you couldn’t stuff in. while leaving, the door shutting behind you, you made do with damp hair, twisting it up and out of your face. as you checked the time, you figured out that you had eight minutes exactly to get across campus and in your seat with a writing utensil ready.

even though you were late, you still held doors open for people, and you dodged others walking the opposite direction instead of the other way around. you kept checking the time as if the minutes would stop moving.

just as you were looking into your bag, your legs moving fast and assuredly, you ran right into something hard. you dropped the textbooks that you had been clutching, even with a death grip on them, and your bag slipped from your shoulder. a notebook poked out along with a pen rolling away on the walkway.

“woah,” the hard surface said.

“i’m so sorry, i was not looking.” you said quickly and bent down to get your things. of course, this would happen while you were in a rush. you supposed you were lucky it didn’t involve cars. god, that would’ve been so much worse.

“nah, it’s alright.” they said easily and bent down beside you, retrieving your things.

you scrambled for everything and shoved the notebook back into your bag. you spotted your keychain near their foot, their fingers closing around it before you could reach for it. you finally looked up as they held the key out to you, the ring hanging from their finger.

rafe cameron.

he looked different now that you could see his face better. and also, because he was so close this time. it was odd to know now that he had blue eyes and a light ghosting of stubble along his jaw and cheeks. it felt too personal being this close to someone you only knew the name of.

you felt a little silly for bumping into him, but you didn’t let it show. “thank you,” you said as you took the key from him and stood quickly to walk away. lina and melly surely wouldn’t give this up when you told them.

rafe had watched after you for a moment before turning back to his friend topper, raising his eyebrows in reference to what happened, and continuing their conversation.

you made it to class about three minutes late and sat in your seat, finally taking a breath. you settled in, putting your things at your feet, and digging around for a pen. all thoughts of bumping into rafe cameron left your mind.

8 p.m.

“you what?” melly coughed violently as she composed herself. lina was clutching her stomach, nearly dying of hysterics when the drink came out of melly’s nose a second earlier.

you held your head in your hands and inwardly groaned at having to tell the story. you were out to dinner with the two girls, munching on french fries and milkshakes. it was typical for you three to hang out on mondays since melly usually had a bad case of them each week. you had innocently slipped in that you just so happened to run into rafe cameron this morning and well, you hadn’t expected that to be melly’s reaction.

“i ran into him. i was late this morning and i wasn’t looking.” you could feel the embarrassment settle in as you recounted the minor event, at least to you.

“did he say anything?” her eyes were blown wide as she leaned across the table.

“i didn’t try to have a conversation with him.” you shrugged and picked at the plate of fries at the center of the table. melly gave you a look of mild bewilderment, the shock of it wearing off.

“missed opportunity.” lina joked, taking a long sip of her shake. “i wouldn’t know what to say either if i ran into him.”

you felt your shoulders loosen as the topic was slowly changing. melly laughed at lina’s remark, teasing her that she would’ve frozen up from bumping into anybody. you smiled and were glad that both of them didn’t take the story too seriously.

minutes later you were laughing loudly, head thrown back as melly was telling a story about her family and a public mishap with a tire. it was interesting to you to hear about what it was like growing up in a completely different environment than the one you did. you supposed that’s something you loved about college; getting to meet people from so many other states and cities.

you were smiling to yourself as you dipped a fry into your shake. just as you put it into your mouth and looked across the table at melly, her composure changed.

“oh, fuck.” she whispered and noticeably tried to look away. “don’t look.”

both you and lina turned around to look toward the front door. a dense group of bodies was coming in through the door, the atmosphere’s volume increasing with their chatter. toward the back you recognized rafe cameron. you weren’t sure at all what it was that made your heart clench in your chest.

“i said don’t look!” melly whispered louder. “oh, god. okay. act normal.” melly straightened up, trying not to be obvious with looking in their direction. you laughed and sat back in the seat. lina practically sunk into hers.

you didn’t watch as they approached, but you did look up once rafe entered your peripheral vision. he was with the guy from this morning, even if you hadn’t noticed him before. you just remembered rafe crouched in front of you while someone just as tall stood behind him, waiting. both of them were sporting lacrosse sweatshirts, along with some others in the group.

“hey, rafe.” melly said easily like she hadn’t just been freaking out over him a second ago.

you watched rafe lift his chin, smiling genuinely at her. you didn’t think anything of it when he glanced at you, the recognition so obvious as his face changed. he continued to walk to his table though, eyes steady on you for what felt like too long.

melly turned around and sank over the table, her mouth open in shock. “oh my god,” she said above the surface.

“oh my god,” lina said, turning to you in bafflement. “i feel like i’m in an alternate universe. did that just happen?”

“he just recognized me.” you brushed it off.

“no, y/n, he knew you. that was longer than five seconds.”

“why are you guys so obsessed with him anyways?” you laughed, trying to take the attention off you.

lina shrugged, seeming taken aback with the question. “i don’t really know.”

“because he’s gorgeous, that’s why.” melly intervened, dipping a fry into her shake.

you looked over melly’s shoulder, wondering what it was exactly that was so intriguing about the lacrosse player. you had had your fair share of athletes and could agree on some being drop dead gorgeous. maybe rafe cameron was just a nice guy all around and melly and lina just had pleasant interactions with him. maybe he was the type of college boy that looked out for everyone’s wellbeing and that’s what made your friends obsess over him. it could be a number of things.

thursday, 8 p.m.

you rubbed your eyes, yawning in the middle of it, and lay back on your bed. you had just closed your computer after typing up a 10-page essay. it was nine when you started it this morning. you were just glad your one class of the day was canceled and that you had time to write the paper before next week. plus, there were no classes tomorrow, and you could have a whole day of doing nothing. you were stoked, to say the least.

feeling a vibration beside you, you reached for your phone and opened a text from lina. incoming in 5, it said, followed by a rattling of knocks on your door. you rolled off the bed and shuffled over, finding her and melly with wide smiles. it was infectious as you felt your own smile appearing on your face.

“what are you guys doing here?” you asked curiously, stepping aside to let them in. the door clicked softly shut as you followed melly to your bed where she went to sit. lina leaned against the wall across from you, careful of your roommate’s things.

“we were invited to a party and we were wondering if you wanted to come with.” lina said, sharing a quick look with melly.

you glanced between them, eyes narrowing. “what’s so special about this party?”

“god, how can you even tell that?” melly asked, slightly rolling her eyes.

“you guys have known each other longer than i've known either of you, but you’re easy to read.” you laughed.

“i don’t like that.” melly said quietly to herself.

you grinned at her, noting her curls springing around her face. melly usually had her hair pulled back out of the way and it was very rare to see her with a different hairstyle. there had been some days where she had braids and you enjoyed seeing the change of pace. lina on the other hand always let her hair down. tonight though, she had straightened it and thrown it into a high ponytail. you hadn’t really gone to a lot of parties with the girls, so seeing them all done-up was always fascinating.

“seriously, what’s the deal?” you asked again, looking to lina since she was the one who had proposed the idea.

she shared another look with melly again before finally coming out with it. “it’s at rafe cameron’s apartment.”

you felt that clenching again in your chest, in that same spot from last night. you swallowed, feeling how dry your mouth was in the span of three seconds.

“well, it’s his and topper’s apartment, so not technically just his.” lina said, waving her hand in enunciation. she crossed her arms. “i have this study group with topper and he invited me and mel and anyone else really.”

“come on, it’ll be fun.” melly said, nudging your arm.

you looked at the girl beside you, ready to say no mostly in panic of seeing rafe. you had nothing to worry about or freak out over, but it was a scary thought. so many things happened at parties. so many things could happen.

“okay,” you said easily.

the prior fears dissipated quickly as lina and melly gave a small cheer and encouraged you to get ready, and to take your time. you spent the next ten minutes asking them what you should wear, going through your side of the closet. all three of you agreed on a plaid skirt you had bought a few weeks before on a spontaneous shopping trip. you only wore it once since then and had been meaning to pull it out again. you paired it with a sweater, something easy to keep you warm through the night instead of bringing a jacket along. lina and melly agreed excitedly when you changed and raised your eyebrows, searching for approval.

9 p.m.

holding on tightly to lina’s hand, you laughed hysterically to the point of tears and a clear indicator in the nether region that you had to pee, badly. a connie bailey rae cover was playing from a speaker near you, your laughter probably not as loud as you thought it to be as you calmed down. melly stopped her ridiculous reenactment and pulled an exaggerated disgusted face as she dodged someone trying to dance with her. you shook with laughter and took a long sip of your drink, tilting your head back to finish it in one gulp.

the party had been way more fun than you thought it would be, especially when you walked the four blocks to get there. lucky for you, you had been smart and worn flat boots. the apartment was a good size for the event and had plenty of space to gather, enough left over for those that wanted a break from either dancing or just to relax. some people you didn’t recognize had the large tv on, a video game on the bright screen. there was plenty of shouting coming from their general direction, a wave of arms and pointing of rigid fingers.

you had seen rafe in passing, but never made the initial eye contact as if to let each other know that you were near. stepping into the apartment and being greeted with his friend topper, you felt like you were intruding or trespassing by being in rafe’s space. you didn’t know him, or topper for that matter, and it felt odd to you to be in their physical home.

“where’s the bathroom?” you asked lina as melly went to get more snacks.

lina stood up on her toes and pointed at a closed door. “i'm pretty positive it’s over there.”

you gave her a nod and walked in the direction she pointed you in, finding a couple people waiting against the wall. you took a place there and acted as a fly on the wall for a total of five minutes since the line went fast. once inside, you took a deep breath, feeling refreshed at the open window and the cool air coming in.

you dried your hands and placed the towel back where it was on the counter and opened the door. the next person waiting rushed in rather quickly, making you stumble against the doorway. you laughed to yourself and felt the rush of sudden wind as the door slammed.

excusing yourself past a small group, you headed toward the refreshments. you were already thirsty after having emptied your bladder seconds before, but you were aware it was just the addictive alcohol buzzing through your system. it was crowded closer to the drinks, rightfully so, and it only took one person to move for you to see rafe acting as a stand-in bartender.

part of you wanted to run right back out of the kitchen and find lina and melly, but the other part of you wanted to give a swift kick to your rear. you chose the latter and walked over to where he was at the counter. he was in the middle of pouring someone else’s drink and you stood on his other side, taking in his appearance while you still could. the blue hat on his head read “obx”, turned backwards. he wore an off-white t-shirt, the graphic design on the back drawing you in. you were too busy staring at his shoulders molded with the fabric to realize he had turned around and you were now staring at his chest. you blinked up at his face, smiling lightly.

“hi.” he said, a small lilt to his voice as he recognized you once again.

“hi.”

“can i get you something?” he asked, and you felt your shoulders falter a little, thinking that was all he was going to say to you. stick to his image of drink tender and have you go on your way. but his body told you differently as he turned fully to face you.

“um, i can get it.” you said, the instant flight taking effect at the very prospect of being shot down.

rafe nodded and stepped out of the way, moving further into the corner of the counter. you smiled at him and poured your own drink, mixing up your favorite. rafe still stood there and you could feel the strong vice his eyes had on you. it made you a little self-conscious, but you relaxed with a deep breath.

“i never got your name.” rafe said just as you took a sip and turned to leave the kitchen. “you know, from the other day.”

“that’s because i was too busy bumping into you.” you let out a small laugh and stepped closer to him, out of the way if someone wanted a drink. you turned your back to the fridge and tried to find a spot to lean on as rafe looked down at you, a smile playing at his lips. “i am sorry about that again. i was in a rush for a class.”

“it’s no problem. i’m just glad you’re okay, we hit pretty hard.”

“y/n.” you said and held out a hand respectfully.

“rafe,” he slipped his hand into yours, warm and strong, and smiled widely.

“i think i’ve heard your name only a million times in the past week.” you admitted, knowing that lina and melly would kill for brownie points. “my friends are a bit obsessed with you and fully willing to educate the newbie.”

“obsessed, huh? lina and mel, right?”

you nodded and took another sip. rafe reached on the counter and grabbed a handful of pretzels. he held some out to you. “they’re nice girls,” rafe said easily. “i’ve hung out with them a couple times, but i didn’t know they were obsessed.” he laughed to himself.

you munched on a pretzel and froze at an idea. “you’re not going to tell them i told you, are you?”

“not unless you want me to.”

you stared at him for a bit longer than you planned, then let out a breath and took another pretzel from his hand. it was odd to be sharing food with him when just the other day you felt like your heart was tearing in your chest. at the moment, you could only feel a dull ache.

“so, how do you like it?” rafe asked.

“like what?”

“campus, the college.”

you nodded and swallowed some of your drink to wash the pretzels down. “things have been really great. i enjoy it here. it’s an immense difference than my first college back home, so i’m happy.”

rafe smiled. “and the party?”

you followed his nod to the people around you, glancing to your original spot where you left lina. you didn’t see her anywhere until some people moved and you found her and melly sat on the couch. they were playing the video game with a whole mess of guys. you grinned.

“the party is great.” you commended, looking back at him. he had finished the rest of the pretzels in his hand.

“good.” he nodded. “i always get nervous when top and i invite people over. we’ve done it a bunch of times, but there’s always the possibility of something going wrong.”

“well, you’re doing great. both of you. hopefully, nothing horrible happens.”

11 p.m.

you would be lying if you said that your conversation with rafe from hours ago wasn’t still running through your head. it was difficult not to think about it when you kept seeing him more often throughout the party. most of the time you’d catch his eye, or vice versa, and instantly smile. you’d then recall the sound of his laugh and would even hear it from feet away. the clenching in your chest was now accompanied by a swirling in your stomach.

you were pacing yourself with your drinks, but by now you were on your fifth of the night. you were completely aware of everything around you and you were enjoying the ongoing buzz. lina and melly were a bit more inebriated than you were, which only added to the fun.

the two girls in front of you were swaying to a song together, not even close to being slow tempo. it was very upbeat, the bass pumping through the walls. the front door to the apartment was now open since it had begun to get warmer with the more and more people that were joining. a few windows were thrown open as well.

“you remember how in freshman year you fell down that flight of stairs and twisted your ankle and practically bashed your head in and then your mom yelled at you and then your sister called to tell you she was pregnant and then your dad! oh my god, and then your dad was like ‘hey i’m thinking of leaving your mom so uh, yeah’ and then your mom was so pissed but then she was fine because she found a total hunk of a man to replace your dad like that,” melly snapped her fingers as your body started to shake with laughter. lina was laughing too, not at all bothered with a quick recap of her, very shitty, first year.

“yes, thank you for reminding me mel. i love when we have tantalizing conversation like this.” lina leaned her head against the others’.

mel giggled, a few hiccups escaping. “i think i need to pee.”

“god, you’re like a peeing machine.” lina sighed and tightened her arm around melly.

“that’s what drinking will do to you.”

lina rolled her eyes and looked at you as she brought melly to the bathroom. you asked quickly if she needed help, but she shook her head and promised they’d be back soon. you watched them go then turned back to the party, turning too fast and not feeling the presence behind you in the moment. a cool liquid pooled over and down your chest, soaking the fabric of your sweater. you gasped at the contact, your mouth dropping open and looking down at the dark stain.

“i— “ you looked up to tell the person it was fine before an apology came out, finding that off-white t-shirt on a very familiar blue-eyed person. “we have to stop meeting like this.”

rafe looked horrified at having spilled his drink all over your sweater, his eyes wide as they stared at your chest.

“that’s the most cliché thing to say.” you said, laughing lightly to ease the tension so obvious in his features.

he let out a laugh too. “you can borrow something of mine. come on,” he held out his hand and you took it willingly, realizing some people were staring at the accident way too curiously. you let rafe lead you up the stairs, the complete darkness on the landing causing you to focus solely on his hand in yours.

rafe opened a door and flipped a light on, your eyes adjusting to the brightness. he led you further in and closed the door behind you before rushing to his dresser, a whole display of cologne bottles on top. as he rummaged through the drawers, you stood just in front of the door, a little timid to step further in. you were holding your sweater away from your chest, already feeling the stickiness of liquid on your skin.

“how’s this one?” he asked, holding out a simple white one.

“you don’t have to give me a shirt.”

“it’s the least i can do. the bathroom is right there.” he handed the shirt to you and nodded just behind your shoulder. you thanked him and went in, closing the door with a click. you pulled the sweater off and dampened a washcloth, wiping the dried drink from your skin. pulling the shirt on, you relished in how soft it was and styled the piece of fabric so it looked better with your skirt.

rafe was sitting on a couch next to his bed, more like a futon, his hands in his pockets and hat off his head. he looked up as you came out, straightening his posture and looking you up and down.

“i’m sorry.” he smiled guiltily.

you smiled and walked over, moving around the small circular coffee table and sitting next to him. “guess it was payback for the other day,” you teased as you folded your sweater and set it next to you.

rafe rolled his eyes with a knowing smile. you glanced at him as you leaned back, feeling the softness and rigidness of the futon. “you look good in my shirt.”

“i feel better in a less damp one.” you said, easing the fluttering in your stomach. your chest clenched again as you crossed your legs.

glancing around rafe’s room, you admired the movie posters on the walls and the multiple lacrosse paraphernalia. one of his jerseys lay crumpled at the end of his bed, the comforter pulled over the pillows to look made. it was better than you did with your bed, you were pretty sure yours was unmade and messy.

it was a decent sized room, plus the bathroom was nice to have. you’d kill for your own bathroom again. it would be nice not to wait in a line. you told yourself that you just had to figure out an earlier schedule so you could beat the crowd.

after a once-over of rafe’s room, you looked over at him to find him already looking at you. he was fully analyzing your face, you could see his eyes flickering to different parts.

you swallowed and licked your lips. “what?”

“nothing.” he said quickly and sighed, laying his head back on the couch.

you squinted at him, now tracing over his features. he looked nervous from what you could tell, his hands moving in his pockets. you stared at his chest moving up and down slowly, the intake of breath coming as it grew bigger. his adam’s apple protruded, bobbing slightly as he swallowed. your chest clenched once again as you looked at his face, watching him look up at the ceiling. he really was handsome. you shifted in your seat, switching your leg over the other.

“that look wasn’t nothing.” you commented, breathing in.

“what look?” he turned his head toward you, eyebrows slightly pushing together. you watched every change in his face, from his eyebrows to his eyes blinking then to his tongue peeking out to lick his lips.

“the look of ‘i want to eat you up’.”

he laughed, the couch shaking with him. “what does that entail?”

“major gazing and bedroom eyes.”

“bedroom eyes, huh?” he hummed and lifted his head. his lips tugged at a smirk.

“am i imagining things?” you asked seriously, slightly doubting if you made the right call. maybe he wasn’t thinking what you thought he had been. maybe you were imagining things.

rafe didn’t answer, instead looking down at the floor. the smirk alone told you that you had been right. his hands flexed in his pockets, hard for you to miss. a few silent minutes passed, the both of you listening to the party still going on downstairs.

“if you want to kiss me, all you have to do is ask.” you said quietly. after a moment you figured he hadn’t heard you, that he had lost himself in staring at the carpet.

“can i?”

“yes,” you nodded.

rafe sat up and met your eyes, moving closer until his thigh was touching yours. you shifted your upper half closer to him, feeling a wave of shivers run through you the second his hand touched your cheek. you instinctively pressed your legs tighter together as your heartbeat picked up and rafe lowered over you, licking his lips once more. they were soft and firm, just as they needed to be. he tilted your chin up, his thumb brushing just beside your mouth as you kissed.

seconds later, you brought your own hands to his face. you were eager to touch him, to feel the solidness of him against you. it was mostly a reassurance that this was in fact happening and that you weren’t dreaming. you pushed a hand into his hair just behind his ear and mirrored the last few pecks he was leaving you before he fully pulled away. you felt a pinch of disappointment, the small taste for him now growing bigger. you had to stop your hands from pulling him back.

he pulled away only a little and you opened your eyes to see him still so close and looking over your face. your breaths mingled together.

“what?” you huffed, letting your head fall back for a second in slight irritation. you just wanted to kiss him again. you let your hand slide down from his hair, resting near his shoulder. you wanted to squeeze the muscle under your hand.

“nothing.” he said again, eyes flickering down to your lips once more. he smiled, holding himself up on the back of the couch. his thumb brushed the same spot on your cheek. “don’t tell anyone, but i’ve been imagining this since you showed up tonight.”

you returned your hand to his hair, slightly scratching with a smile. “i knew you spilled your drink on purpose.”

rafe grinned widely and moved back into you. this kiss was deeper, your lips opening for him when you felt his tongue. his hand left your cheek and appeared on your hip, ever so slightly pushing your shirt up so he could touch your skin at your waist. you smiled against him as you felt his hand slowly creep up the shirt. you were reminded again that it was his and you pulled him closer by the back of the neck, hearing a soft moan leave his lips. your thighs squeezed, your excitement starting to rise.

“you just gave it to me and now you want to take it off?” you teased as rafe’s hand covered one of your breasts, the cool air of the room reaching your skin. rafe smiled and kissed you again.

his hand disappeared, apparently changing his mind, and reappeared on your thigh. you breathed in sharply at the warmth coming from his palm, resting just above your knee. your brain started to spaz for a moment and you imagined a bunch of smaller yous, running in circles like their heads were cut off.

rafe’s hand stayed steady as you uncrossed your legs, a silent invitation. he moved to kiss the corner of your mouth. “is this okay?”

the fact that he was pulling away multiple times to check in on you had to be evidence enough of why lina and melly liked him so much. you hadn’t met many guys that were so in tune with consent or caring about what you wanted. it turned you on seeing it coming from him.

“yes.” you nodded as you touched his forearm, not wanting to seem too eager.

you anticipated his hand moving and when it did, you held back the moan. you were much too eager for teasing and he was showing no signs of not giving you want you wanted. as he got closer to you, you placed your hand over his. he pulled you back for a kiss and you decided to focus on that for a moment to lessen your nerves.

his touch was soft once he met your underwear. his fingers pressed over you and you shivered from how wet you had become because of him. he hummed into your mouth, only adding to the pooling between your legs. his hand reached back and pushed your skirt further up so he could get to you more easily.

you let out a satisfied sigh against his lips as he ran a finger through your folds, collecting your wetness. your underwear had been pushed to the side, out of the way, finally feeling his touch.

“are you this wet for me?” he asked. you nodded against his forehead and pulled him back, letting out a moan as he brushed over your clit. it was only for a second, but you were about ready to burst.

you opened your legs wider for rafe, his fingers moving over you and exploring the new area. you gripped his hand to silently ask him for more along with an impatient moan. you wanted his fingers so badly in places you weren’t ready to admit yet. he wanted the opposite.

“talk to me.” he said, nudging the side of your face with his nose, planting a kiss to your jaw. you opened your eyes that had fallen shut, your breath getting heavier. your chest felt like it was going to cave in.

“please,” you said, adjusting your hips. “please, touch me.”

“i am.” he pulled away, a menacing smirk on his face just to gauge your reaction.

you huffed out and pulled his hand closer. “you know what i mean, rafe.”

“i like when you say my name.” he pressed a kiss to your lips sweetly.

“i might like when you touch me, so get on with it already.”

rafe laughed huskily, his breath blowing over your face. “you want my fingers?”

you wanted to roll your eyes at how badly he wanted you to beg, but you wanted his fingers more. “yes, please. i want your fingers. give me something.”

you let go of his hand as he finally pushed a finger into you. you adjusted around him for a moment and felt the need to close your legs to keep him there. he pulled your lips back to his, his tongue quick to lick into you. you held his face again as his finger started to move inside of you.

“you want another, pretty girl?” he asked after a few moments passed. you nodded again, breathing hoarsely, too intoxicated in him to speak. a second finger pushed into you then, stretching you ever so slightly. you sighed, letting your head fall back to the couch.

“you’re so wet.” he said as he moved his fingers, delighting in the sounds he was making with you in the palm of his hand. “you’re taking my fingers so well, y/n. do they feel good?”

you moaned as he said your name for the first time. it was something you didn’t think you’d like so much, but with the current situation, it was wonderful.

rafe’s lips appeared on your neck. you held the back of his head as he pressed a few kisses then closed his lips over a spot closer to your collarbone. if your breath had been short then, it was even shorter now as he worked to leave a mark on you. with all the attention you were getting, it only brought you closer to your release, and you started to move your hips. he freed your skin, startled at your movements, then amazed as he watched you chase his fingers. the spot he left throbbed now, all your blood rushing to two places at once.

“are you going to come?” he asked as you heard the start of song you had been replaying for the past few weeks. it was muffled and you could barely hear the words, but you knew it by heart.

“yes, fuck.” you looked up at him, taking in the sight. he was breathing over you, his eyes never straying too far from yours as your mouth opened in pleasure. “rafe, make me come.”

you squeezed your eyes shut as he kissed you hard, breathing deeply into your mouth. he reached his thumb to your clit and began to draw circles at a normal pace with his fingers. your stomach started to twist, the familiar feeling forming fast as he picked up the pace. he could tell you were close by the sheer dig of your fingertips on the back of his neck. it only edged him on more to bring you to your climax.

“come on my fingers.” he said, eyes half closed as he looked at you, lips brushing over yours as he spoke. you whimpered and felt your hips twitch before stilling completely, trapping rafe’s hand between your legs, as you came undone. his thumb continued to move to help you through it. your jaw went slack, eyes rolling under your eyelids, as you moaned loudly. you felt an overwhelming sense of content, the adrenaline rush coming and going quickly.

your blood pumped in your ears and it took you a few moments to register rafe giving you subtle kisses all over the underside of your jaw. you breathed in shakily and let your head fall back on the couch, your knees separating. rafe took his hand away and you winced as he did. you already missed the contact.

the moment was completely ruined as his name was called up the stairs. rafe’s lips disappeared from you as he looked toward the door. you didn’t know what came over you as you pulled your skirt down over your thighs, the footsteps heavy outside his door before a couple of his friends burst in.

“guys, come on. get the fuck out!” he shouted in annoyance, sitting up completely, his leg still touching yours.

“woah, sorry.” they said as they took in your presence. you shifted and knew that they could probably tell what you and rafe had been doing. they evidently didn’t care as they went into a whole spiel of something that had taken place downstairs. rafe tried to stop them and their alcohol-induced exuberance.

he looked at you over his shoulder, touching you lightly on the knee. “i'm sorry.” he said, his friends not hearing as they talked to one another. “i'll see you downstairs?”

part of you felt completely stupid when he said it, like everything that had happened moments ago was just an imagination. you felt your shoulders slump, but you nodded and got up anyways. the door was quick to close behind you and you were left in the dark landing, leaning against the wall to catch your breath. you smoothed your hair, took a deep breath, and fixed your underwear and skirt again.

your eyes adjusted gradually as you went down the stairs back into the swing of things. you swallowed, your mouth still dry post-climax. you went into the kitchen and filled up a cup with water, downing it slowly and stepping out of the way of some people. you couldn’t help but feel drained as you watched the people around you, laughing, dancing, and drinking. you had just spent the last 30 minutes in rafe cameron’s room and now you didn’t know what to do with yourself.

“y/n!” you looked up at melly coming toward you, her makeup slightly smudged, but that didn’t change how great she looked. “there you are!”

you gave her an assured smile and finished the water in your cup. “hey.” you tried not to let anything show.

“lina and i are ready to go if you want to come with. i think we’re going to get some food somewhere in town. i was thinking curly fries or a veggie burger. lina is dying for— wait, where did you go? we looked everywhere.” her expression suddenly changed to one of concern as she stepped closer to you.

“i— uh, well clearly not everywhere.” you said shamelessly, feeling your neck grow warm.

melly opened her mouth to say something then stopped. “oh my god, why are you so flushed? what happened to your sweater?” she looked at the shirt, her eyes catching on something near your collarbone. her eyes went wide as you tried to hide the mark. “oh my god!”

monday, 4 p.m.

“i was thinking that it could go more like this,” your friend said as she pressed a few buttons on her laptop. a new beat started from the computer, the screen following along with the track. you bobbed your head along with the beat.

the campus coffeeshop was somewhere you liked to go, mostly to meet your friends, but you also enjoyed the coffee. sometimes before class you’d make it just in time to get an extra scone before they were all gone. it was a cozy place too, filled with older antiques and an endless display of guitars on every wall. sometimes they’d have an open mic for students, letting anyone with any sort of musical or comical talent perform. most of the acts were later in the week though so no one had to worry about coursework.

after your classes today, you had met up with a friend you hadn’t seen in a while. she was eager to show you what she had been working on for her musical composition classes and you had expressed that you were willing to listen.

the past weekend had been spent mulling over a certain party and a certain someone you couldn’t seem to forget. not that you tried to, to be fair. you’d hadn’t seen him since, which was nothing new given the amount of times you had encountered the boy since that day on campus or seen him for the first time in the library. you didn’t find things weird, but things were left upspoken and it had been bothering you. you knew that melly or lina could’ve easily gotten his number for you, had you asked, but you couldn’t bring yourself to, nor did you know what you would say. all you could do was hope that he was doing well and maybe, perhaps, thinking of you too.

it was inevitable to escape having to talk about what happened in rafe’s room with melly and lina. you weren’t willing to share all of the details right down to what he smelled like, but you didn’t deny that nothing occurred. they seemed satisfied when you recounted having to change your sweater and rafe being kind enough to offer you one of his shirts.

speaking of the shirt, you had gone to your dorm that night and taken it off, seeing that “cameron” was written on the back, along with a large number. no doubt it was for lacrosse. the prospect of it made you shiver before folding it up to leave on your desk. you hadn’t touched it since.

“christ, i've got a meeting with my advisor soon.” your friend said, quickly exiting the program on her screen and closing her computer. “thank you again so much for listening. i can’t express how relieving it is to have someone do this.”

you waved her off with a sweet smile and packed up your own things. “i'm always around if you need a first-time listener.”

both of you stood and pushed the metal chairs in. you followed her to the exit, listening to her as she explained the reasoning for her upcoming meeting. both doors opened, the one from her pushing and the other from rafe coming in. you looked up as he met your eyes, and you couldn’t deny how good it was to see him.

“hey,” he smiled at you as all three of you paused.

before you could say anything, the words sticking to your tongue, you looked back to your friend. she was looking between the both of you, unsure of what was going on. you swallowed and acknowledged her. “i’ll see you later?”

a small smile came onto her face as she looked at rafe then back to you and nodded. the door closed softly behind her. you looked back at rafe as you felt his hand ghosting over your forearm.

“hi,” you said finally.

“it’s good to see you. come up with me?” he gestured to the register and you nodded, letting him take your hand. you didn’t think too much of it as you stood alongside him as he ordered. when the cashier asked if there would be anything else, rafe looked at you expectantly. you blanked for a second, remembering that you didn’t get a drink earlier when you first arrived. you had immediately gone for a sandwich, satisfied that that would be your dinner.

rafe pulled out his wallet and paid for the two drinks. he then led you toward the pick-up counter and faced you with a soft smile. “how have you been?”

“okay,” you breathed in deeply. you weren’t exactly sure how to answer. were you supposed to tell him how freaked out you had been? no, you decided, best not to. “the weekend was busy.”

“mine too. i've got practice tonight so i thought i’d stop by for some energy. i’m glad i ran into you.”

you refrained from asking him if he was serious. you could see on his face that he was with the way he looked at you. “rafe—”

before you could say much of anything else, rafe’s hands appeared on your cheeks and his lips pressed to yours. you kissed him back just as gently even though you wanted to do more now that you felt him again. he pulled away as his order was called, turning to thank the barista as he took the two cups.

“come to my place to study? after practice, i mean.” he said as he held your cup out to you. you looked at it then back up at his questioning eyes, a sliver of hope in them. you pushed down the question at the tip of your tongue and accepted the coffee.

“we’re just studying?”

rafe beamed and nodded. “i have a huge test tomorrow that i can’t fail, so yes.”

7 p.m.

before parting ways with rafe earlier he had finally taken your phone and put his number in it, but not before taking an odd photo of himself. it made you laugh watching it happen though. he promised that he would be done with practice around now and you left your dorm a little earlier than you planned to. it was out of pure thrill really.

knocking on the front door, you waited patiently for it to be answered. you shifted the books in your arms as you heard soft footsteps behind the door. rafe opened it, standing in loose-fitting clothes with damp hair. he smiled instantly and welcomed you in.

it was a drastic difference compared to the party. the house was eerily quiet, so quiet you could hear a pin drop. rafe turned to you from the door.

“how many books did you bring?” he asked seriously, glancing at them against your chest.

“just two,” you said defensively only until you saw the grin. you rolled your eyes and turned away from him to kick your shoes off.

he was chuckling to himself as he went into the kitchen and pulled out snacks to have. “do you want anything to drink?”

“water would be great.”

“smart choice. less sticky.” he said, his back to you, but you could hear the satisfied tone of his voice at his remark.

once he gathered drinks and a plate of snacks, he led you upstairs. it was brighter this time with his door already open and lights already on. you glanced at the other closed one down the short hall, finding the sliver underneath completely dark. maybe topper wasn’t home.

“how was practice?” you asked, setting your things down. he placed the plate on the coffee table and took a seat on the floor. you brushed your hair away from your face and sat down beside him.

“good. just ran some drills, normal practice stuff.” he shrugged, munching on a chip.

“is topper not home?” you set your books on the table and opened them up to where you had marked. rafe moved to grab his things from his bag sitting on the couch. he copied your actions and pulled out a pencil and a notebook.

“no, he went out with some of the guys for food.” he said easily, opening to a blank page. you watched curiously as he wrote down the topic he was studying for.

both of you fell into a silence as you started to read from your books. you were worried about it being a strange silence, knowing what happened the last time you were in this room. it was fairly difficult to push it out of your mind and to focus when rafe was right next to you, so close, along with the thoughts and memory of his touch. you pushed everything out of your head and concentrated back on the page you were reading from.

it wasn’t long when rafe’s hand appeared on your bent leg. they were crossed under you and he had placed his hand like it belonged over the side of your knee. you looked at him in your peripheral but didn’t see him look up once to acknowledge that he had in fact done that. instead you let it happen, ignoring the way it warmed up your skin. you swallowed in anticipation of him interrupting your studying session to turn it into a quick make out session, but the longer the minutes passed the longer his hand stayed where it was. after a while, you forgot about it.

if you had taken one look at rafe, with no prior knowledge of him or of the way his hands felt on you, you would have never guessed that he becomes so engrossed in studying. for the whole two hours that you both spent together with your noses in textbooks, he hadn’t once started a conversation. he kept at reading and writing, jotting things down in his notebook, while you held your head above your own book and soaked up every last word. it was comforting knowing that. the plate had even emptied, mostly due to rafe’s insatiable appetite after practice. you weren’t that hungry from your sandwich earlier.

“okay, that’s it.” rafe said abruptly, causing you to look up as his hand left your knee. “my eyes are going to bleed if i read anymore.”

you laughed lightly and looked back at your book. “are you sure you studied enough?”

“i wrote a whole ten pages worth of notes.” he flipped through them, the pages brushing together.

you hummed, still engrossed in your text. rafe shuffled next to you, dropping his notebook over the open pages along with his pencil. he let out a long sigh which turned into a yawn.

“are you done?” he asked innocently, his head appearing on your shoulder.

you glanced at him and shrugged him off with a smile. “maybe.”

“come on,” he groaned and reached for your textbook. you automatically smacked his hand away. he laughed and quickly flipped it closed and took ahold of your chin to face him.

“that was a dick move.” you said, punching him softly on the arm.

“pay attention to me.” he whined, letting go of your chin only to touch your cheek.

you eyed him as he came closer, finally kissing you when you didn’t punch him again or push him away. you kissed him back as best you could with the speculation seeping into your brain then. rafe seemed to be able to tell.

“what is it?” he asked when he pulled away, running his thumb lightly along your cheekbone. it was reassuring almost.

you looked at him, trying to think of the best way to phrase it. you also thought about how badly it could go given the answer you were dreading. “i'm just— it’s nothing.” you shook your head quickly and leaned in to distract him with another kiss.

he reciprocated for only a moment. “what is it? you can tell me.”

“i guess i'm just wondering what we’re doing.” you rolled your shoulder as if you had a knot, pulling away from rafe in case he didn’t want to touch you. his hand fell from your face and he leaned his side against the couch.

“what do you want to do?”

you gave him a serious glare. “don’t make this a game, rafe. i'm just…wondering what your intentions are.”

rafe adjusted his posture and sat up straighter, all his attention on you. his eyebrows creased and you bit the inside of your lip self-consciously, knowing this wasn’t going to go how you wanted it.

“well, i'm enjoying spending time with you.”

“studying?” you asked with a monotone.

rafe glanced away from you as if he were wondering if he said the wrong thing. “yeah. is that so hard to believe?”

you wanted to huff again, but you held the breath in. your shoulders started to tense as you became frustrated. not because of him, mostly because of yourself for not being able to communicate. you felt stupid for asking it, but you did. “do you like kissing me?”

“of course i do.”

“is that all you want to do?” you finally asked, quickly looking away from him. you reached toward your textbook, fiddling with the pages.

“no,” rafe said. “i want to get to know you.”

it was hard for you not to roll your eyes. rafe noticed and a second later his hand touched your shoulder, gently shaking it.

“i'm serious. hey, look at me.” he pleaded, and you did. “i want to get to know you, but only if you’ll let me. i know the other night was weird and i don’t know— spontaneous, but i enjoyed it and i enjoy being around you. you’re not the only one who’s been thinking about it.”

“i’ve probably been thinking about it more than you.” you chided in a quiet voice, trying to tease him. you were pleased by the answer he gave you and you felt a little silly for being so stubborn at first.

rafe smiled slightly, eyes soft. “let’s just keep doing what we’re doing and see where it goes, okay?”

you took a deep breath in, pushing your book away and nodding. “okay.”

rafe’s hand rubbed your shoulder comfortingly before he pulled you in for an awkwardly placed hug. the side of your body fell into his chest, but he hugged you, nonetheless, pressing a quick kiss to the crown of your head. you turned into him and smiled widely, your cheeks strained to hold it, and hugged him around the shoulders.

all the time spent worrying about whether he reciprocated your feelings or thoughts were so obviously wasted as you spent the rest of the night together. you took it slow, never straying from innocent kisses as you curled up together to watch a movie. you couldn’t help grinning multiple times throughout the night, knowing that things wouldn’t be difficult like you thought. it was easy when you expressed yourself and talked things over, even mentioning small things made a difference. maybe this would turn out to be another smart decision. you had a feeling there were plenty of possibilities with rafe cameron, but only time would tell.

[mintchanniemint]

pairing: [coffee shop! au] Bang Chan x reader

wordcount: ~1.3 k

mood board

[09:37 a.m]

It was a sunny morning and you and your friend were lucky enough not to have any lessons to attend in university that day. She had asked you to go to a coffee shop nearby, and it was really easy to convince you since you always drank unimaginable amounts of coffee and hot drinks, and in less than ten minutes, you were already on your way to the shop.

The streets were not as busy as usual, and the light spring breeze was gently moving the pink flowers that were adorning the trees on the sidewalk, some of them delicately leaving the branches, swinging down to touch the grey, hard concrete ground.

The coffee shop was in a little corner, it wasn’t as big as you imagined but just seeing that it was right in front of a park, made you feel warm inside.

The two of you entered, welcomed by the pleasant smell of hot, sweet drinks, and some acoustic music playing in the background. The big windows by the entrance made the whole place look brighter, making the atmosphere even more welcoming. There weren’t many people; some of them were sitting by the counter, sipping some hot drinks while chatting, others were occupying tables with books and laptops, a dark, stressed aura around them as they were definitely college students facing scary exam sessions.

You and your friend took your seats and quickly one of the waiters greeted you: his face was quite familiar, but it wouldn’t really be a surprise if one of the students of the college you attended was working there.

His short curly hair was dyed in an aggressive, rebel red and covered by a black cap, his eyes were clearly signed by tiredness and you could feel he was mentally screaming about how bad he wanted to go home.

You raised your eyebrows in surprise as your friend casually started a conversation with him, signaling how they were probably friends.

“Hey, Chan! It's been a while. Perfect morning to be here, huh?”

“Yeah, sure, tell me about it. Now, let me get your orders before I fall asleep right here.”

He mumbled in response, biting his lip to stop himself from yawning, as he got a notebook and a pen from the pocket of his dark blue apron. You tried not to giggle since he looked both cute and tired; working during weekdays in a shop right next to a university was definitely boring since the majority of students wouldn't populate the shop that much during those hours.

Your friend quickly ordered a simple cappuccino while you were still checking the various options that were written on a blackboard on the wall, right above the counter. You somehow got lost in your own thoughts as you noticed the beautiful handwriting in which those names and doodles were made. You wondered if those were written by one of the workers there.

You were still staring distractedly at a random point in that blackboard when the red haired guy waved a hand right in front of your eyes.

“Hello? Anyone there? You wanna order something or…”

He asked, his voice not filtering his annoyance anymore, as he started tapping on the little notebook with a pen.

You cleared your throat, a little embarrassed, and focused your gaze on the tissue box on the table right in front of you.

“I’ll go with a caramel macchiato…”

The young guy nodded, scribbling quickly on the little notebook in his hand.

“...with twelve pumps of caramel syrup.”

He suddenly looked at your friend, slowly pointing at you with the pen, a smile gradually painting his lips.

Not really a beautiful smile -you had to admit- since it was definitely there to hide the rage that wanted to leave his mouth but, unfortunately, he was not allowed to do so.

Your friend shrugged, not able to stop a little giggle from leaving her mouth, and he just shook his head, sighing.

“Anything else? No? Perfect.”

He barely gave you the time to tell him your name to write on your cup as he went back to the counter to prepare your orders. You could feel his gaze on you and when you gathered enough courage to look in his direction, you noticed he was literally glaring at you.

“What’s wrong with him? I only asked for my usual…”

You mumbled, feeling quite annoyed at the huge dramatic scene he caused, and looked outside the window, letting your eyes distractedly follow people walking on the street.

“Don’t mind him. He's just like that.”

She giggled, enjoying the whole situation. You sighed and shook your head, your eyes moving back to your friend sitting in front of you.

“I bet he’s a Music major.”

You mumbled, biting your lip as you smiled, trying not to laugh too loud as your friend gasped and lightly hit your arm, laughing.

“How did you even know that!”

“You know, they’re all, like, amplifying their reactions and tapping everywhere to make music… plus, his hair is red. But not a normal red. It's highlighter shade of red.”

“Oh, stop it!”

The two of you were still laughing and joking around, now showing each other some random pictures and messages on your phones as you were waiting for your drinks.

The red haired guy arrived at your table, his eyes spilling annoyance everywhere as he left the two drinks in front of you.

“Enjoy the inhuman quantity of caramel, weirdo.”

He said after looking at you with a sarcastic smirk.

You reciprocated the smile and nodded, and once he left, you quickly brought the cup to your lips, the sweet taste of caramel filling your senses. It was really good, and the quantity of caramel in it was just right.

You and your friend spent some time chatting while sipping on your drinks, when suddenly the red haired guy, now without the dark blue apron and the cap covering his hair, decided to sit right next to you.

“Finished your shift, Chan?”

Your friend looked at him before drinking her coffee. He nodded and fiddled with the tissue box on the table.

“Gotta get ready for class... I have a two hours long Physics lecture, does that even sound legal to you? I hate that subject, no wonder why I suck so much at it even though I need it for music-”

“It’s interesting, though.”

You distractedly said as you were focused on drinking your caramel macchiato, and since the silence that slowly appeared as a result was lasting for too many seconds, you glanced at them, seeing that they were both looking at you with a little bit of disgust and disappointment in their faces.

“Not only you order uncomfortable amounts of caramel in your drinks, but you also like Physics? Knew there was something wrong with you the second you stepped into this damn shop.”

He shook his head and you gasped, lightly offended by such a comment and looked at him, slightly pouting, some whipped cream on the corner of your mouth. He pointed at your lips and shook his head, even more disappointed than a few seconds earlier.

“You sure you’re a senior? You look like a total child to me.”

He said, getting a tissue from the box and giving one to you.

“Get lost, brat!”

“What a nice way to introduce each other, hm?”

He sarcastically said right before getting up. He stopped for a second, his gaze moving from your friend to you for a couple of times. He shrugged and, hands in his pockets, walked away.

“See ya’.”

He mumbled, getting his black bag he had previously left behind the counter and leaving, the sound of the door closing right behind you.

“What a guy.”

You mumbled, making your friend laugh.

Your eyes focused back on the cup in your hand as you noticed a black doodle on it. It was a smiley sticking its tongue out, a few words scribbled right next to it:

"senior with malfunctioning taste buds"

A big sigh left your mouth, as you continued sipping your drink, your gaze once again drifting to the street outside, and catching the figure of the red haired guy getting more and more distant as he walked on the grassy path of the park right in front of the shop.

As a first meeting it was way chaotic, but you had to admit that the thought of visiting this shop again just because of him popped up in your mind and, for sure, wasn't going to easily leave.

[pinkhairedlily]

Chapter 11 - Student Council President Sakura / Graduation Chapter

SCPS AO3 | PREVIOUS CHAPTER

Youtube playlist for your reading accompaniment

They held a run-through of the graduation ceremony on the last day of class and technically the last day of the trio’s high school life. Unlike their first general assembly, Uchiha Sasuke was to deliver the graduation speech but not without great sulking from Haruno Sakura who landed a close second despite ranking first in their final exams.

And obviously, not without Sasuke trying to give up his speech privileges by campaigning instead for Sakura.

In the end, all three of them were granted speech slots – one for Sasuke as valedictorian, Sakura as student representative, and Naruto as the school’s first national MVP. It was this debacle that led the three of them to brainstorm in an empty AVR after the dry run.

“Done!” Sakura yelled like the diligent student she was. “Let me look at yours!”

Sasuke presented her a blank paper while saying, “It’s all prepared in my head”, and Naruto showed her his baseball doodles.

“Oh God, you’re all so hopeless.”

Then the electricity suddenly got cut off in the AVR. Sakura expected the boys to screech in surprise and cling to each other, but she only heard silence in the dark. She jumped in her seat when the doors opened with a loud bang, a confetti splash, and the lights coming back to life.

Sasuke and Naruto were still in front of her, holding two bouquets of irises and yellow roses. Behind them were the old and new student council members with other students holding a large banner saying Thank you, Student Council President Sakura!

She started to leave her seat to come to them, but they gestured for her to stay on her seat. In front of the room, the large monitor beeped and showed a compilation of videos.

Sukehiro Aoi, an alumni and currently an intern in an animation studio. “Hello, Ms. Pres. You once asked the body to submit a publication material for an event of the student council, and I sent mine through a dummy email with no expectations of winning. I wasn’t comfortable with the public seeing my art. I was afraid of the unsolicited remarks so sending it anonymously gave me some relief. You chose it however, and you knew how big a credit was to an artist. I was really scared when you were able to hunt me down just by my watermark, but my name in the info blast caught the attention of a school board member and referred me to this animation studio. It was the littlest thing, but you handed me my dream.”

Watanabe Kota was a year below them. He has a small frame, round thick glasses, and battled with face acne. “Ms. Pres! People never had much confidence in my physical appearance, so I don’t know what you saw in me when you asked me to take over the school radio. But here we are – we’re airing daily and we even produce documentaries and radio programs. Thank you for seeing what I didn’t.”

Ito Amanaya, a typical jock in the football team, muscular and came across as intimidating, but he had the gentlest cadence. “I was bullied by the same group that bullied your dynamic duo. When you ran them off, you also saved my life. Thank you, Haruno.”

Kimura Shinze, a classmate in third year, beautiful, popular, and the captain of the cheering squad. “Hope you’re having a great day, Ms. Pres. Remember that time when the class was guessing who were our crushes and I blurted out that it was a girl, you told me thank you for telling us. That was…a big deal to me. Thank you for that gesture.”

Himurata Aoi, president of the koto club. “Sakura, I know you had many people come up and confessed to you so when I did try, I was glad that you didn’t give me a bullshit reason like you’re not into girls. You turned me down because you have someone you already love. I am thankful for your honesty.”

The biology teacher, Takahashi Kande. “Student council, thank you for your mental health program. As a single father to twins, I don’t have the luxury of time to sit in a couch and sort out my issues. To be able to do that in my workplace during breaks is a heaven-sent gift. You saved me and my family. Thank you.”

Many more messages came on, from a classmate she lent spare change to, from a staff she helped clean, from countless students who she wasn’t aware she gave kindness to.

“Why….” She asked breathlessly.

“You’ve been beating yourself lately. We thought you needed some reminding,” Sasuke muttered, under his breath, the bouquet still in his hands. “You left some pretty big footprints, Ms. Pres.

“You might not have noticed,” Naruto jested. “But this is always innate and natural to you, isn’t it?”

“Why did you bother so much?” She was reduced to tears.

“It was Naruto’s idea.”

“Huh? You did all the compiling though!”

“Shut up, it was me,” yelled the current president.

“Thank you, everyone.”

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

It was a weekend, but Sasuke requested Sakura and Naruto to meet him at the school gates. He only gave the time and place, and he knew well enough that they would be there – no questions asked.

They stood there, minutes earlier than planned, a first but nothing more unusual than homebody Sasuke asking them to go out on a weekend. Sakura wore an oversized rust shirt over a pair of muted cotton blue trousers tied with a brown leather belt and tan fisherman sandals, her long hair kept in one single braid at the back. Naruto probably expected a fancy lunch with his outfit – black silky long sleeves over gray pants and black loafers.

Sasuke, high on impulsive decisions, wore bright colors, a complete departure from his usual neutrals; mustard vest over a deep violet polo, baggy pants, off white converse, and a white fanny pack. “Well, we’re mostly dressed for comfort, except for that idiot beside you.”

“What do you mean dressed for comfort? I borrowed these loafers from my vice-captain and my feet aren’t used to them,” Naruto whined. “Besides, aren’t you taking us out to a five-star meal, Mr. Valedictorian?”

“Wow, what a way to show off.” Sakura pursed her lips in annoyance. “Don’t worry Naruto, I got your next café order.”

“Ah no. It was just something we heard from the grape vine.” Naruto scratched his head and carefully glanced at Sasuke. “Grumpy got his trust fund today.”

In bated breaths, they waited for him to respond with a scowl or a retort, but he just nodded. “Come on, we’ll miss the train.”

They traveled for three stations and disembarked on the fourth, Sasuke sandwiched in between the two, his shoulders pillows again to their heads and yet such burdens were light as cotton. The surfacing emotions since last week were taking hold of him, but he needed to pull through somehow because breaking down while commuting was one thing he did not really see doing.

“Word just got in. The house was turned over this morning,” Itachi told him over the phone.

“Impeccable timing when I’m also moving abroad next week.” Sasuke pulled out his Bleachers vinyl and anticipated another lonesome lull for the night.

“Do you miss the cream puffs?”

“Nothing comes close.”

“Hmm. I’ll pay for the rental fee of your car.”

In Itachi’s defense, while he was an afficionado of escapism, he also knew how to read between the lines. “Watch me get a Mercedes-Benz.”

“I have a good driving playlist.” This only meant math rock, and Sasuke wanted something to scream his lungs too.

“Don’t need one.”

“Treat your friends to dinner, okay? Gotta go.”

“We’re walking?!” Naruto almost limped out of the train. Sasuke took one look at his heels and saw that they were bruised red. He took off his converse and socks and gave them to him.

Sakura whipped out a small first-aid kit and covered the rash on Naruto’s heels. “Hey don’t look at me like that. Brought it just in case we’re going on a day survival tour. A camping would be nice too.”

“Did you scrub your feet, idiot?”

“You think so low of me grumpy. Of course – last week!”

With Naruto now comfortable, the three resumed walking on the unfamiliar residential area. Sasuke gestured for them to enter a bamboo forest on the far side of the main road. Hidden in the shadows of the clumped stalks were a small opening, the growth hampered and ground rid of grasses and weeds; many people have also chosen this shortcut, walked through the forest, did a little nature bathing, and emerged behind the bakery, still there, still standing, still operating.

Sasuke tapped on the large glass window cum counter on the front and bought three sets of cream puffs.

“Oh, it’s you,” the old baker greeted. “You brought your friends over? You always buy one set.”

Sasuke offered her a smile, briefly glancing to his periphery where Sakura was fussing with Naruto’s feet, and nodded as he accepted the paper bag. “It’s on the house, kid.”

“You brought us to stalk someone’s house?” Sakura dug in one paper bag, bit the puff in one bite, and with full mouth, she sighed. “This is heaven.”

“It’s our old family house, before the accident that is.” Sasuke also took out one puff and munched on it, ruminating on the sight before him, a two-story house with an imposing façade, his mom’s climbing hydrangea gone and cut by the new owners, beds of roses and daisies already withered, but the wisteria tree on the vacant lot beside continued to grow and shade what he supposed were the children’s rooms. It was in his third bite that he saw the tomato fruits he planted, alive and full with harvest. “Do you think my parents know?”

Naruto slid an arm across his shoulder and grinned sheepishly. “Then they would be happy ghosts or maybe they would voluntarily move away to give the new owners the opportunity to make it a happy a home like yours.

“What part are you gonna miss?” Sakura asked, halfway through her set of puffs.

“The sight of the wisteria before I sleep and after I wake up, and the sunlight in my parents’ room. My dad liked to make these suncatchers for my mom. The play of light was a good morning greeting, she said.”

“What’s your funniest memory?” Naruto sat on the grass, uncaring for the stains that would taint his good pair of pants.

“It was probably Christmas when I was seven, and Itachi had this big idea to bake a cake, but he swapped the sugar for the salt and we were wondering why it wouldn’t make a custard. Our parents still ate it, saying it was a very salty version of dark chocolate cake.”

“It was a good home,” Sakura patted the space between her and Naruto and Sasuke sat down cross-legged too, dipping his hand on the paper bag with the last cream puff.

“It was a good home,” Sasuke agreed as he bit into the last vestige of his family memory. He was suckling the powdered sugar off his fingers when he realized he was already crying, and the two were downright sobbing on his either side.

Such an embarrassing sight to see; he wondered what would the new owners feel if they looked out their windows this instant and saw three teenagers breaking down on the road across. It was honestly stupid and laughable to a point, considering how funny it was for grief to become lighter when someone else cried with him.

Naruto was sniffling so much that he had to offer his handkerchief to him. “I forgot to tell you guys. Hinata confessed to me during the cultural festival.”

“Oh my god. What did you say?” Sakura took a tissue out of her bag and dabbed her eyes. She flashed an apologetic look to Sasuke who already offered his hanky to Naruto’s fluids.

“Ah, what else? I had to reject her.” Naruto sneezed on Sasuke’s handkerchief again. “I told her I was in love with someone else.” He slyly glanced at his raven-haired friend and pursed his lips which Sakura quickly caught.

“Who is it?”

“Sasuke also likes someone.”

“Shut your mouth, blondie. Point is already moot. Besides, we’ve already been rejected.”

“Who are these people and why don’t I know them?” Sakura genuinely looked offended. “I could have vetted them!”

“Exactly why it was fortunate you didn’t meet them,” Sasuke said as an excuse though he pegged Sakura for not being that naïve. She, thankfully, let it go and gathered their trash. She dropped the bomb as she was brushing the grass blades from her trousers. “My parents are divorcing. Such a travesty not to have them show up on graduation day, and I thought I did a great job.”

The two, ever so sure, held onto her hands in case she was trembling again.

“Let’s get that five-star dinner,” Sasuke suggested, “and we need to rent a Mercedes-Benz.”

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

Graduation Day

“Let’s welcome to the stage, class valedictorian, Uchiha Sasuke.” Kakashi was the officiating faculty today so she expected difficulty going through the event, but for some reason, he slipped into her mental back burner, no longer taking up room in her active consciousness. That was a good step, she smiled to herself. Her smile became wider as Sasuke got up the stage.

His fans club’s cheers were heard outside the auditorium, and the graduating class chuckled at the quick interruption. He cleared his throat and started his piece.

“Please get it on record that I was coerced to do this speech. Then again, I also had a hand on the turn of events that led me here today, in front of you. And it’s a little too on the nose, but I came to high school with a clear set of goals – have high grades and lead an uninteresting life. I accomplished the first one rather easily, and it’s a good metric for the future that’s upon us right now. Good grades land us good colleges. Good colleges land us good jobs. Good jobs land us good life.

But it’s not the sole benchmark as I have learned lately. You see, my second goal really missed the mark. Good life can also mean good friends, fun experiences, a caring environment, a complete family. If you ticked off each one, then that’s very notable. You have the four-leaf clover, and it’s a rare blessing. I only ticked off three, but that goes without any regret. If you only have one silver lining in your high school memory, then that makes us all the more human. And if there’s none, there is still is still a whole stretch of possibilities we can discover to find one. Thank you for your kind attention.”

Sakura was pretty sure she heard several sniffles across the student body. “The bastard delivered a good speech,” she muttered to herself.

“We would like to welcome our first national MVP, Uzumaki Naruto.”

Outside, the school band played the cheering anthem for his last national games. The cheerleaders also did a routine in tribute to him. That made him well up when he got to the podium.

“Wait oh my god, I’m tearing up so much.”

Sasuke grunted loudly and went back the stage to hand him a handkerchief which Naruto quickly used to wipe his snot.

“Thanks Sasuke. How can Kakashi-sensei let me follow after that rousing speech, and before Sakura too. It’s kinda evil.”

Laughter broke out.

“Well, this one’s a bare minimum. I didn’t have any goals or expectations, unlike genius grumpy over there. I just wanted to live my life like an ordinary boy. Someone said that how you spend your day is how you live your life so I did just that – ate ramen, slept in class because I am a growing kid, and played each arcade game until I won them. I also believe in serendipitous – thanks Sakura for this word, for the spelling and meaning – serendipitous coincidences. I just pitched and batted for former captain Haru one afternoon and now we landed in the national finals. I had loneliness for a friend, but now I’ve got all of you. And you know what else, the magic of working together. We wouldn’t have stepped foot in the nationals if it weren’t for your collective help. When we work towards a common goal, that also gives us common happiness, right? It’s infectious, a bouncing energy that gets thrown around and still makes it one piece. So wherever you will be after this, believe it!”

When Kakashi called her name next, she thought she was deaf, the noise around her collapsed in muted decibels. It took a minute before her fellow classmates shook her and motioned for her to quickly come up the stairs. Her silver-haired teacher looked so concerned in the shadows, but for what it was worth, she was civil and calm enough (at least in the matters concerning him) to nod at him in quiet exchange of assurance.

It was because she saw both of her parents at the side with a bouquet of roses. She struggled with the paper she brought with her although she had it memorized in her head; she even went through it flawlessly for three times last night. Tears blurred the words and the mere shock of the sight of their togetherness disabled her mental function to string coherent thoughts. She also started hyperventilating, her breaths coming faster than what her lungs could pump.

Then she felt Kakashi’s hand on her shoulder, a steady presence, and it reeled her back to reality. He tapped the mic and the feedback echoed. “Ah, Ms. Haruno had some technical issues. Again, let’s welcome former student council president, Sakura.”

Sasuke and Naruto in the front were almost standing, but she flashed them a smile as if to say she was okay now. “Hello, good day to our honorable guests and graduates. I think it’s safe to say that Sasuke and Naruto provided really good words of advice. So I have nothing more to offer, but to share my gratitude. Everyone was saying the student council did a good job in its programs, but it was actually the lot of you who made this possible – from your activity suggestions to participation and feedback. After all, you were the makers of your memories.

Earlier last week, my councilmates and friends reminded me how small actions go a long way – a smile, a wave across the hallway, a short exchange of good morning and see you soon, and I thought, aren’t we all just an accumulation of these small, little things? As such, it was what you think your insignificant moments were that pushed us to deliver you the best. It was the passing comment, the top-of-your-head tips, the interlude stories we hear during lunch breaks that allowed us to give you grand gestures and memories we hoped were worth keeping. And if we could start to use that perspective as well in our lives then maybe the uncertainties of a future wouldn’t be so heavy on us. We will face tomorrow with a lightness in being.

In behalf of the student council, thank you for allowing us to serve you.”

She bowed at a level where her torso was almost aligned at her hips, and she was confused with the lack of reaction. Sakura sighed, mulling over the deficiencies in her speech, but she straightened her back to a sight of a standing ovation and a thundering applause.

Then, she let her tears fall.

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

“Why would you let Kakashi-sensei take the pic?” Sakura hissed at them.

“Just this one time, Sakura!” Naruto grinned.

“Sakura, you’re out of the frame,” Kakashi remarked. “Okay good. Say cheese.”

In spite of her recent heartbreak with him, she permitted herself to bask in fleeting cordiality. “Cheese.”

“Grumpyyyyyy.”

“Idiot blondie.”

Kakashi took three more shots and handed the camera to the trio. He almost turned away when Sakura caught his sleeve.

“Just one more,” she said. “With you.”

Sakura shifted to the front, almost kneeling with the camera angled for a selfie, her two friends beside her looking equally annoyed as the other, and Kakashi behind them, his hands on either head, smiling with his deceptively charming beauty mark.

It was the last picture of their high school life.

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

The three were rushing through the airport crowd fifteen minutes before the immigration closes gates.

“Here!” Sakura slid a folder on the large pocket on Sasuke’s bag. “It includes your passport, your flight details, your valid IDs, your itinerary, and letters from us! Don’t forget our Friday video calls!”

“I can’t see. These tears are bullies,” Naruto said through tears. He was continuously wiping his eyes with his sleeve.

“And If I don’t get on my flight because you made us eat ramen for one last time and the orders took too long, I’m gonna have you cursed by a witch and a shaman!” Sasuke growled. The guards were starting to close the gates when a sobbing Naruto sprinted and basically tackled the guards on the floor.

“Sasuke come on, hurry up!”

“Drink your vitamins! And if you miss cream puffs, I’ll teach you how to make them.” Sakura was trying hard to keep pace with Sasuke’s brisk walking, but she ended up breathless anyway.

The three of them finally reached the immigration entrance, and Naruto was profusely apologizing to the guards for the interruption. Sasuke showed his documents, wheezing as they looked at it. They gave him a thumbs up and opened the gates.

The two were already slumped at the floor, waving without words, and exhausted from the clock race. Sasuke was almost through when he remembered something he forgot. He muttered a quick sorry, ran through the opening, and hugged his two friends.

“I’ll miss you.”

[juhakx]

Sketchbooks and Soccer Players- Kim Sunwoo

Genre: Fluff with mild cursing, Soccerplayer!Sunwoo / Artist!Y/N (gender neutral), Slight couple Moonbae because why not

Word Count: 2263

REQUESTED

"Y/N!" You hear someone shout, causing you to jump up slightly and release the pencil that was in your hand. "I've been calling your name for like five minutes! You know I can't go inside the art room without Mrs. Park's permission."

"Sorry, Kev, I guess I got too wrapped up in my piece," You chuckle, quickly closing your sketchbook and packing up your things so he wouldn't have to wait on you any longer. Tossing your bag over your shoulder, you jog up to Kevin and greet him. 

"How was your day?" You ask, taking out the lollipop you had stored in your pocket and unwrapping it before placing it in your mouth. 

"Raspberry this time?" He asks. "Also, today was okay before I shouted at my best friend so we could go home, but they ignored me and proceeded to doodle in their notebook. Let me just tell you, it made me feel like I was as worthless as the p in raspberry. What were you drawing that had you so engrossed, anyway?" 

Kevin pushed the school doors, and you made your way to his car as you recounted how much of a luxury it was that your best friend was also your neighbor. 

"You know, just someone," You mumble, putting on your seatbelt. 

"Someone? You don't normally draw people. Is your obsession with Lee Dongwook getting so extreme that you started drawing him?" Kevin giggles, thinking back to your avid Viki sessions of watching Goblin and Tale of the Nine-Tailed together. 

"No, I'm not that weird," You laugh, lightly shoving him to the side. 

"So, who is it?"

Your mind drifts back to yesterday, the day of the encounter. Sceneries: Forests, mountains, valleys. That was more of your expertise when it came to art, however, nothing was as scenic as the boy you met yesterday. 

Kim Sunwoo. Everyone knew him. Everyone wanted to date or be him, there was no in-between. You didn't think much about the kid before because your paths never clashed, not until yesterday. 

"Woah, I'm so sorry!" He said, his chest heaving from running from the direction of the soccer field. 

"Oh, you're fine!" You replied, picking up your sketchbook that fell out of your hands. You were just about to enter the art room, the safe haven where you would draw until Kevin was done with choir practice. 

"Y/N, right?" Sunwoo asked. You couldn't help but remember the shocked look on your face when he knew who you were. 

"Yeah, Y/N," You replied. 

"Y/N," He had repeated, this time with a small smile on his face. It was the most beautiful way you had ever heard your name said, to a point where you swore you heard it echoing in your head right now. 

"Y/N."

"Y/N."

“Y/N, we're here you weirdo, snap out of it," Kevin shrieked, smacking your arm to get you out of your daze. 

"Oh shit," You mumbled, realizing that you were no longer in the school parking lot and instead at your house. 

"You zoned out for like ten minutes after I asked you who you were drawing. Is everything okay? Are the paint fumes getting to your head?" He mocked. 

"No, just thinking. Anyway, you were right earlier. I wanted to try drawing people, so I was like go big or go home and started sketching Dongwook's face today," You reason. No one needed to know that the only thing running through your head was Kim Sunwoo on repeat, even when you saw him passing by the art room once again.

And that's how the next week passed. You continued your sketch of Sunwoo, trying your best to remember exactly what his face looked like up close. However, he continued to pass by the art room every day, just close enough for you to recognize the familiar tan skin and soccer uniform. Though you never made eye contact with him, you knew when he passed by, your eyes catching the movement across the room every time. 

"Aish," You groaned out, erasing his eyes for what felt like the fifteenth time that afternoon. 

"Everything alright in there?" You heard a familiar voice say, causing you to look up from the drawing. Upon seeing his face, you immediately close your sketchbook. 

"Sunwoo!" You exclaim, half in fear and half in genuine excitement. 

"The one and only," He laughs. "I heard you from outside, are you okay?"

There was worry in Sunwoo's voice, causing your heart to clench. "Yeah, I just suck at drawing," You chuckle. 

"Oh, I doubt that. You're always in here, so there must be some artistic bone in your body," He reassures you. 

You sit there in silence for a moment before Sunwoo's eyes widen, and he begins to shake his head from side to side. "Not that- not that I've been watching you or anything, I just like to pass by the art room now cause I always see you in here. Wait, that sounds weird. I don't just come to see you, but you're just always working really hard, and it's really admirable to see you and you look really nice when you draw. Not that you don't look nice any other time! But also the only time I've ever really seen you is in the art room, so I guess I really don't know what you look like any other time. Not that I wouldn't be opposed to it! I just-" Sunwoo heaves, letting out a heavy sigh before standing there with his head in his hands. 

"Sunwoo, calm down!" You giggle. "I mean, I noticed that you were passing by too, and I glance every time whether you notice it or not. The soccer uniform really suits you," You compliment. You could feel your heart beating out of your chest, his sudden outburst making you want to laugh and cry at the same time. 

"Oh, this?" He says, looking down at his jersey. "This is nothing, I would much rather be good at art than soccer."

"You? You're not just good at soccer, you're freaking great. I mean, you've been on varsity since freshman year," You exasperate. A small smile breaks out on Sunwoo's face once he hears a small fact of his life slip from your mouth. 

"Oh shit, speaking of soccer," Sunwoo mumbles, glancing at the clock that was inside the art teacher's room. "I gotta go. I forgot that break was only five minutes. It was really fun talking to you Y/N. Good luck with your drawing!" 

Before you could even say goodbye back, he ran back to the direction he came from.

"Was that Kim Sunwoo?" Kevin says, appearing in front of the doorway from out of nowhere. 

"Don't ask," You breathe out, still breathless from the interaction you just had. "Did choir practice end early today?"

"Yeah, you know Jacob Bae?"

"Brown hair, super cute, part of the basketball team?" You ask, wondering if he was talking about the same guy that was in your calculus class. As you await his answer, you pack up your supplies for the day, leaving the portrait of Sunwoo incomplete for yet another day. 

"Super cute? That man is like jacked. I fell in love with him as soon as he walked into the room. Anyways, apparently, the choir teacher has been trying to recruit him for like two years, and he finally came by to audition. Mr. Lee kicked us out right away and told us we were done for the day.”

"Oh my god, I hope he joins! Maybe you could finally get a boyfriend," You tease, making your way towards Kevin's car. 

"Yeah, well, you aren't much better, sketching Dongwook’s face for the past two weeks."

"Right, Dongwook," You mutter. 

It was truly ironic that the amount of time Kevin thought you were thinking about the famous Korean actor, Lee Dongwook, was actually devoted to Sunwoo. Even after talking to him daily when he passed by the art room, you were still just as enamored by him. 

"Long time no see," Sunwoo smiles, swinging his body across the doorframe. 

"You're right," You look up to see the familiar face that you had quickly grown to love. "It's been a very long 24 hours."

“And how is my favorite artist doing?” Sunwoo asks, making his way over to you. You admire the soccer player, slight sweat beading against his forehead, and his face flushed from the heat outside. 

“You know, you’re not supposed to be in here without Mrs. Park’s permission,” You say, knowing that if the teacher found him in here, he would get in trouble. You wait for a witty response back, but you soon find Sunwoo squinting past your shoulder and looking at something. 

"I- Is that me?" Sunwoo whispers. 

Your head whips back to the sketchbook that you had forgotten to close, Sunwoo’s half-colored face on display for him to see. You shoot up from your chair, hoping that you could somehow fix this, but as you stand up, Sunwoo takes a seat next to the drawing, moving the sketchbook closer so he could examine it. 

"I mean," You strain, wanting to burst into tears right then and there. You were finally getting to know Sunwoo and becoming friends with him, and now he was going to think you were a creep, an absolute loser. "I mean yes, but it's not done yet. I still have to color like half your face. Don't be weirded out, please. I don't really draw people, but when I saw you, I thought I just had to. I'm sorry if you think it's weird, I'll scrap it. I promise," You ramble. 

You glance at Sunwoo from the corner of your eye, but he continues to look at the sketch you made of him. You couldn't tell how he felt from his reaction, the only expression he was making was a look of ponderance. 

"I- You know what," You begin to say, getting up from your seat and reaching for the sketchbook. You pull at the perforation of the page, beginning to tear it out. "I'll actually just get rid of it. It's weird, and I'm really sorry-"

Sunwoo grabs your hand before you can tear it off completely, an exclamation leaving his mouth. "No!"

"What?" You whisper underneath your breath. 

"I love it. You're really talented Y/N," He looks up at you from underneath his eyelashes. A soft smile played on his lips. 

"But, isn't it weird?" You ask, confusion laced in your words. 

"I mean, I passed by the art room every day for three weeks just so I could look at you for a little bit. Every time I passed by, I debated with myself on whether or not I should ask you out. If anyone's the weird one, it's me," He confesses.

The room is silent for a few more seconds, your brain whirring at what felt like a million miles per hour. 

“I didn’t think anyone saw me like this,” Sunwoo says, a soft smile on his face as he traces his drawn eyes with his fingers. 

“What do you mean?” You whisper. “Everyone sees you like that.”

“Not like,” Sunwoo breaths out, his eyes glimmering with something you couldn’t quite place. “Not like this.” 

“Do you think, I don’t know, maybe you’d wanna see me outside of this place? Cause I really fucking like you, and I hope you do too considering you drew me like I hung the stars in the sky,” Sunwoo says, turning to face you. 

You break out into a wide smile, relief flushing through you. 

“Silly, you couldn’t have hung the stars in the sky,” You sigh, reaching down and brushing the hair that was covering his eyes out of the way. “They’re all in your eyes.”

Sunwoo lets out a breathy laugh at the cheesy line before closing the sketchbook and placing it underneath his arm. No matter how hard he denied it though, a light blush littered his cheeks. 

“C’mon, we’re skipping soccer practice,” Sunwoo holds onto your hand and drags you out of the room while you struggle to get your backpack and throw it over your shoulder in time. 

“Sunwoo!” You laugh, trailing behind him as he pulled you all the way outside of the school and to your first unofficial, official date. 

The local art museum. 

-

“What the fuck?” Kevin mutters, finding an empty art room with colored pencils scattered where you would usually sit. 

“Maybe they were drawing so hard that they turned into the colored pencils,” Jacob says, peeking into the room. 

“They probably went out with Sunwoo, I had a feeling something was up with them anyway. They tried to convince me they were drawing Dongwook from Goblin, but I don’t think they know that I look at their sketchbook when they get snacks at their house,” Kevin shrugs.

“Dongwook? What an attractive man,” Jacob mumbles, staring into space.

“But not as hot as me, right?” Kevin jokes, turning back around to leave. He was excited to introduce you to Jacob, but it seems like there was something else on fate’s agenda.

“Oh, never. Actually, since Y/N is busy with their lover, want to go to this coffee place I really like? It’s on me,” Jacob says, throwing a wink in Kevin's direction. 

“What? No, I couldn’t do that,” Kevin refuses, a blush overtaking his face. 

“Nonsense, it’s a date,” Jacob affirms, dragging Kevin out of the very doors Sunwoo pulled Y/N earlier. 

a/n i had too much fun with this... and can u tell i love lee dongwook, because i do.

[graysmiles-world]

Alt Marinette AU

thank you so much for your help @starrynighttime​!!

PSA: I do know that “alt” is not a type of aesthetic or actual ideology, however I drew and wrote this idea without a set subculture in mind, and now cannot find one that I think would fit her. Let me know if you have any ideas!

A little story introducing the AU below! Let me know if you want to continue or I can just leave it at a oneshot lol.

Adrien sighed as he looked at himself in the mirror that resided in the men’s locker room. He ran his fingers through his hair once more, smoothing it down in the back. 

This was the first time that he was lying to his father about where he was, if you didn’t count the akuma attacks that pulled him away to become Coléoptère Rouge. Tikki floated up next to his shoulder pressing, her little pad of a hand against his bare shoulder.

“You don’t have to do this, you know,” she told him with that reassuring smile of hers. 

“I know,” he responded - still looking at the white tank top and blue basketball shorts (that he had borrowed from Kim) in the mirror. “but I want to.”

Before Tikki could respond, Nino came bursting into the locker room and she quickly flew into his bag that laid at his feet. Adrien leaned down to grab it as Nino bounded up to him - dressed in a similar outfit. The only glaring difference was how his bright red cap was still a part of the ensemble. 

“You ready, man?” he asked, clapping Adrien’s shoulder. He looked over and smiled at his best friend.

“Yup!” Pause. “What exactly are we doing again?”

Nino just laughed, leading them out of the locker room and into the courtyard where there was already a crowd of teenage boys. All dressed in white shirts and shorts. 

“This is the Track Team tradition! The Course de Couleur!” 

“Yes, but you haven’t exactly told me what we’re doing yet.”

Nino sighed good-heartedly “Basically, the art kids come with all their extra paint. And while we run the track, they throw it all on us.”

Adrien blinked. “So basically they’re just going to throw paint at us.”

“Yup.”

He grinned, “Sounds fun!”

-

There were a lot of art kids, Adrien found out as he readied himself to run. When Nino had talked about the kids in the different arts, he imagined a few scraggly teens with dyed hair and bright clothes - and that they wouldn’t be strong enough to get enough paint on him. 

He was dead wrong. There were a few with dyed hair and bright clothes, but that was the minority. But there were tons of kids, enough for them to cover each side of the track. And with paint cans scattered among them. He was going to get absolutely covered in paint.

“I’m going to need to shower at your place before going home,” he said to Nino - who was tying his shoes.

“Of course, man.” 

Adrien hadn’t told his father about the little tradition that Nino said he had to come to, knowing that it was probably nothing that he would be allowed to do - especially when he was barely able to join the track team at all. So he just told him that it was the first of track practice. 

Their coach stood off to the side, a large hunking man with the name of Coach Lawerence. He stared at all the boys, his large mustache twitching occasionally. Adrien stretched out his arms one more time before shaking them out and readying himself at the white line. 

Everyone else got ready next to him, and Coach Lawerence started counting. 

“Ready...set-” 

He blew his whistle and the Course de Couleur had begun. 

-

Adrien was in the front quickly, dodging whatever paint he could. But still, paint flew all around and he was bound to get hit. It wasn’t long before he had paint sliding down his cheek and matting in his hair. 

Unfortunately, Tikki’s luck wasn’t with him, as after the second turn - his slid on some paint and landed flat on his back. His shins and shoulders felt painfully sore from the rough material of the track. 

He slowly blinked his eyes open, moving himself up so he was leaning back on his elbows. And right before him, was an angel. 

She wasn’t an actual angel, because he didn’t think that angels wore paint covered pink jeans and had ripped and doodled on gray t-shirts that read “Francoise Dupont Art”

She looked down at him, looking freakishly tall at his angle.

“Are you alright, man?” she asked, a brow raised. Adrien didn’t answer and her brow raised even higher. “Or.. are you just lying there for fun.” 

Adrien felt his ears burn and he just hoped that the rest of his face was pale as he stood up. Looking down and realizing just how covered in paint he really was. The girl was standing off to the side, on the grass. He smiled nervously.

“Uh, hi - sorry about that-” he tried to explain that he didn’t mean to make a fool of himself right in front of her, but everytime he looked at her he found something new to notice.

Her dark locks were mixed with red, except there was one bright green streak under her left ear. Her jeans were patchwork, and looked handmade - doodled on with white paint. Her arms were almost completely covered in what looked like black sharpie, same with her gray t-shirt. She wasn’t actually freakishly tall, but instead being a few inches shorter than he was. She’d probably be shorter without her bright pink boots that looked to be platforms. 

As Adrien continued to babble, she just stared at him - her cherry covered lips never curving into more than a small smile. After a moment, her eyes flickered to the side before she took a giant step back. Immediately, Adrien was slammed into and once more ended up on the ground.

He seemed to forget that the run was still going on and he was still standing on the track. 

“Oh, man - I am so sorry-” Nino apologized as he stood up, his cap askrew on his head. 

“It’s alright,” Adrien groaned - standing up as well. Nino looked over and grinned.

“Oh hey little red!” he greeted the girl, bumping fists with her. Before Adrien could ask how Nino knew the angel-girl, he was shoved back onto the track. Nino running beside him as they got pelted with more paint.

-

After the race, when Adrien’s white t-shirt was probably permanently stained, and Nino and him were walking back to Nino’s place - Adrien brought it up.

“So who’s ‘little red?’” he asked, trying to be as nonchalant as he could be. Nino looked over and shrugged. 

“Just Marinette, she’s apart of the art program at Francoise Dupont.” 

“There are different programs?” Adrien asked, his brow furrowing.

“Yeah man,” Nino laughed. “We all have to take the core classes, like math and English - but everything else is up to us.”

Adrien nodded in understanding and Nino clapped his shoulder. “I’m sure you’ll understand when school starts up tomorrow.”

Oh right, school. Tomorrow. Actual public school. 

“Oh yeah,” Adrien grinned. 

“Good last day of summer?” his friend asked. 

Adrien nodded. “Definitely.”

Pause.

“So we have English and Physics together, right?” Adrien asked, remembering their schedules that they had shared earlier that week, at the first track meeting. Adrien had met Nino then, instantly clicking. 

Nino nodded. “Yup, I know a lot of the kids in those classes, so it’ll be a fun year.”

“Is..Marinette in those classes?”

Nino looked over, his brow furrowed. “Yeah, why?” Adrien stayed silent and slowly a grin began to spread across Nino’s face. “Oooohhh, Adrien’s got his first crush.”

Adrien couldn’t help the burn that spread against his cheeks, kicking at a stone on the sidewalk. 

“Don’t worry, this year is going to be great,” Nino reassured him. 

-

And when Adrien opened the door to classroom 211 to find Marinette doodling on a piece of paper in one of the desks, he knew that Nino was right.

“Oh Adrien!!!” A familiar high-pitched voice called out.

Oh merde. 

[gaarasgirlfriend]

helplessly in love - kaminari x reader

in which kaminari finally gathers up the courage to confess to you

god, that smile. it really brightened up his whole day. kaminari found himself sometimes barely listening to you whenever you were excitedly talking about something to just stare at the smile that was painted on your pretty face. that smile of yours always managed to provide him with some temporary amnesia for whatever tribulations he might have faced earlier.

“kaminari! there you are! i’ve been dying to tell you about the new switch game i finally got…” your voice called out to him but he was too far in a stupor to be pulled back into reality.

he looked into your e/c eyes that shone so brightly as you recounted your new game once more to the blonde-haired boy. whenever you gave a small laugh, the crinkles next to pools of e/c appeared, and kaminari felt his heart skip a beat. subconsciously reaching his hand up to his chest in a pathetic hole to calm the organ down, kaminari noticed you faltering in your words as you peered curiously at him.

“kaminari are you okay?” your soft voice asked him. you reached over to place a hand on his shoulder, your eyes slightly furrowed in concern.

“i-i’m fine! continue talking!” he insisted, noticing the way his heartbeat quickened when you placed your hand on his shoulder.

the concern still had not left your eyes, and honestly? it made kaminari happy. knowing that you cared for him. maybe, just maybe, he had a chance with you. but after taking a glance at your beautiful face that seemed to be what he saw in dreams, he decided that that wasn’t possible. a girl like you could never like a guy like him… right?

“class is about to start, you should tell present mic-sensei if you don’t feel well. i don’t want you to get sick kaminari, i care for you!” you said in a carefree manner, not realizing the effect those words had on the lovestruck boy’s heart. he was really whipped for you.

as he watched you take your seat he walked back to his seat which was only a few seats diagonal to yours— giving him a good view of you. in a daze, he sat back down and placed his chin on his palm, thinking.

thinking about what? thinking about you, of course! what else was there to think about? kaminari has been playing with the idea of finally asking you out on a date for a few weeks now. he even talked about it to kirishima, bakugou, and sero!

‘do it! you’ll never know if she returns your feelings if you never try! despite how much you err… ogle at ladies, you’re a great guy kaminari! i’m sure she’ll at least give you a chance! be manly and ask her out’ his redheaded pal had told him.

‘tch, like i care. i have no clue why y/n would say yes to a dumbass like you!’ bakugou said with an eye roll.

‘you guys have been close friends for awhile right? there’s a chance that she likes you back! based from all the movies i’ve seen at least….’ sero sheepishly said while rubbing the back of his neck.

‘could they be right? could she actually like me back?’ his mind raced as he subconsciously glanced over to you. you were soaking up all the words present mic spoke as he continued his lesson. your pencil moved furiously as you focused intently on writing your notes. kaminari gave a small pout, he couldn’t even focus in class because of you! truth be told, he probably wouldn’t retain the information anyways but still! he would like the option of being able to focus on aizawa’s words rather than paying attention to the h/c strand of hair that fell against your cheek as you tilted your head while writing.

‘not fair…’ he thought as he sighed while picking up his pencil, finally writing down notes. he had no idea what to do about you, but he would deal with you another time. he had more pressing matters to attend to. finally tuning into present mic’s babbles, his eyebrows furrowed. what the hell was an adverb?

kaminari soon gave up on the lecture, opting instead to just doodle on his paper, giving you the occasional glance. god, he really was living the life of a teenage boy in a coming-of-age movie. how lame. after adding finishing touches to the house he drew, kaminari felt someone poke his back. kaminari knew better than to turn and talk to kirishima, so he dropped his hand to the bottom of his seat, palm facing up expectantly. once he felt the folded piece of paper in his hand, he slowly unfurled it under his desk. present mic was facing the chalkboard currently, so he was safe.

‘hey bro, are you finally gonna ask y/n out?’

kaminari gave a small sigh before writing down his response and handling the paper back to the boy behind him.

‘i think i might, it’s just so nerve-wracking.’

after hearing kirishima scribble on the paper once more, he felt the familiar tap on his back before he collected the paper.

‘mina told me some second year student was thinking of asking her out on a date! you better hurry bro!’

kaminari’s heart stopped while reading that. you? with another man? that was just too much for kaminari to handle. he had to confess to you before it was too late! before he lost you to some cool, probably super handsome, super funny upperclassman.

as class went on, kaminari worked on his confession, writing some stuff down for kirishima to look over. it honestly wasn’t going too well. kaminari has so much he wanted to tell you, yet he couldn’t. the poor boy’s nerves were skyrocketing so much that he could barely form a proper sentence. he groaned frustratedly as he grabbed his hair. he felt kirishima pat his back in reassurance. class was about to end, and it was almost time for the students to go home. kaminari walked you home almost everyday, not wanting anything bad happening to you.

as the last teacher finally dismissed class, the students all got up and started to pack up their stuff. kaminari was scrambling to finish his confession letter.

‘what about her hair you idiot? how it smells like coconuts? or it seems so soft? no, no, no! don’t talk about her hair, that makes you sound weird!’ he thought.

he heard you walk up to his desk as he rushed to finish his paper. if only he worked this hard on his notes in class, maybe he would actually learn.

“you ready to leave kaminari?” you asked with that pretty smile of yours.

“y-yeah, just give me a minute.” kaminari said before getting his book bag and packing up.

“you still look a bit off, do you want to go see recovery girl before we leave?”

“haha, no i’m fine!” he chuckled unconvincingly, finally slipping his book bag onto his back.

before you made it out the door, kaminari made it there before you, quickly scanning the hallway in search of this mysterious second year that also harbored feelings for you. his eyes fell on a figure that was a bit taller than him, a brunette boy who was also clad in the ua uniform. he radiated a cool vibe and was also not to mention model worthy.

“nope, not today.” kaminari muttered before taking your hand into his and pulling you out of the door, power walking your way out of the school.

“k-kaminari- slow down! why are we running away? are you okay? what’s wrong?” you asked when you finally made it outside, standing beside kaminari as the two of you caught your breaths.

kaminari didn’t answer, he just focused on his breathing as he worked up the courage to confess to you. kirishima and sero’s words echoed in the back of his mind, urging the boy to tell the girl beside him of his feelings.

“kaminari are-”

“i like you. i’ve liked you ever since we talked during lunch on our first day of school! i liked the way you almost choked on your food because you were laughing at one of my dumb jokes! i like the way that your eyes crinkle whenever you smile! i like the way you do that stupidly cute dance of yours whenever you get food! oh god- don’t even get me started on your smile. that beautiful smile of yours… i just- i’ve liked you for a long time! and i’m tired of keeping it in! i won't wait for someone else to sweep you off your feet and be upset because i did nothing about it! y/n l/n, i like you! accept my confession!”

after he finished his speech it went quiet. kaminari could literally hear his heart beat with every passing second. oh god, bakugou was right, there was no way a girl like you would like him. he’d better start looking at other schools to move to. shiketsu was pretty good, right?

“kaminari… you like me?” your voice called out to him, breaking him away from his thought. he flinched at the mention of him liking you before nodding.

“yeah…” he said, twiddling with his fingers a bit as he waited for you to reply once again.

he looked at your face to see your mouth slightly opened in shock, your glittery orbs wide in shock as well. if he weren’t so terrified of rejection right now he would’ve laughed at that adorable look on your face.

“i-i can't believe it! you like me back!”

‘huh? like you back?’

“h-huh? does that mean...?” he trailed off, hopeful.

“yes! kaminari denki, i like you too!” you said, your face breaking out in the biggest grin he’s ever seen.

kaminari froze for a bit, taking a few second to register the words that you had just said. you, the girl of his dreams, liked him back? was this some kind of prank? no, you were too nice to do anything like that to him. kaminari could almost cry, his heart was overflowing with joy and pure happiness.

“y-you mean it? you’re not messing with me?” kaminari said while smiling, holding her shoulders.

the girl laughed while shaking her head, “of course not! i’ve liked you for the longest time! ever since you offered to charge my phone because it was dead! i thought you were really cute and funny!”

oh gosh, you thought he was cute? that’s it. kaminari could die happy now.

“i’m so happy right now y/n, you have no idea. i’ve waited for this moment for so long… this feels like a dream.” kaminari said while looking into your eyes.

you smiled before linking your hands together, “trust me, i know exactly how you feel.”

kirishima grinned as he saw kaminari and you walk out of the schoolyard while holding hands.

“looks like your plan worked bakugou! that note really did push him to confess to y/n! who knew that you were rooting for him…”

“tch stupid, i only got tired of him always talking about how soft her hair looks or dumb shit like that, not because i care for him.” bakugou said while rolling his eyes.

but maybe, just maybe, he did care for his friend who was so helplessly in love with you.

[smutbymia]

rule breaker (haechan bratty sub au)

WARNING: EXPLICIT CONTENT 18+ (no protection mentioned, sexual content)

Word Count: 6.4k 😯

Themes: femdom, friendship, fwb, switch, sub/dom themes, edging, replacement of the title Mistress with Princess* 

Pairing: Haechan/Lee Dong-hyuck  x Female Reader (ft. appearances from mark lee)

PLOT:  Dong-hyuck, the hyperactive and silly class clown isn’t used to following directions -- inside or outside of the bedroom. After his friend (Y/N) goes through a sudden breakup, and the discovery of a pair of handcuffs leads him to the reasoning why, he finds himself in an interesting position. He may be in for more than he expects when she offers to show him just what it was that her ex couldn’t handle. 

PS: Requests are open for fics and short blurbs

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     You absentmindedly doodled in your notebook as your teacher taught the last lesson of the day. Graduation was quickly approaching and it was clear that most other students, yourself included, had mentally checked out.

The sun poured through the massive glass windows of the classroom, putting emphasis on the speckles of dust that danced through the air and even more emphasis on the boy in the row in front of you, one desk over, who glowed under its rays. 

His tanned skin and bronze hair looked even more rich than they usually did at this time of the afternoon. With nothing else around to distract yourself with, you momentarily admired him. Lee Dong-hyuck. I mean, yes... he was certainly attractive -- but you’d hardly admit it to his face. 

“Haechan, that’s enough,” murmured the teacher, in an exasperated tone. He called the student by the nickname most of his classmates used. The name he preferred. 

The classroom was filled with a fit of giggles, coming from the students. You missed the joke. Not that you missed much. This was a typical occurrence. Hyuck was what most people would refer to as a class clown but not exactly in the traditional sense. He didn’t necessarily crack jokes, or aim for the approval of others through his form of “entertainment”. He was quick witted, and mouthy, and quite frankly a bit of an asshole but with a class this boring -- such things were greatly appreciated to lift the spirits of the students who were surely just watching the clock in hopes of the final bell ringing sooner rather than later.

Hyuck shot a quick apology back at the teacher. Mark lee, his best friend who also happened to be seated directly next to him at the desk right in front of you, pulled him into a headlock the second the teacher turned back towards the blackboard and began to ruffle his hair. The boys tried their hardest to quietly withhold their leftover laughter from whatever stupid comment was made earlier. 

“Hyung, relax!” Hyuck jokingly began, “I know you’re used to having crazy hair, but that life isn’t for me!”. He smoothed out his hair as Mark flicked him -- a punishment for his slick comment.  

“My hair isn’t crazy... its just a bit curly!” he said, trying his best to fix the dark ringlets that cascaded over his forehead. 

You reached across your desk and softly pulled at one of his curls. “Don’t listen to him Mark, your curls are seriously too cute,” you whispered as you shot him a quick wink. His cheeks flushed pink and he responded with a shy smile and quick nod of his head in your direction.

Hyuck swivelled his head around, narrowing his eyes at Mark before turning to you with an expression you were far too familiar with. The boy pouted as he leaned his elbow back onto the empty desk next to you before fluttering his eyes as he rested his cheek in the palm of his hand. 

“And what about me, Y/N?” he asked. As lovely as he looked, still glowing in the sunlight, you had no choice but to take him down a peg... but not before having some fun with the little flirt. 

“Hmm...” you sighed, narrowing your gaze as though you were thinking deeply. You brushed your hand across his exposed cheek and leaned closer to his face. The smug look on his face disappeared with each inch you eliminated between the two of you. By the time your faces were directly in front of each other, he looked a little flustered. 

You lowered your voice seductively before speaking. “I think...” you began, “you’re probably due for a haircut.” Mark chuckled under his breath after witnessing the exchange. 

Just as you thought you’d won the battle, Hyuck quickly snapped back “But then you’d have nothing to pull on, Y/N”. With your faces still close together, he dropped his gaze to your lips before licking his own. 

“Okay, gross...” murmured Mark, before turning his attention back to the teacher who was still aimlessly drawing formulas all over the chalkboard. Hyuck’s intense gaze shifted between your lips and your eyes before you decided to break the distance between the two of you. 

“In your dreams, Dong-hyuck,” you said as you leaned back into your chair, sighing deeply and rolling your eyes. He furrowed his brows, annoyed at your refusal to call him by the name everyone else used. 

“Actually, you usually call me Haechan when you’re screaming my name in my dreams...” he mumbled stubbornly before turning back around in his seat. You couldn’t help but smile to yourself, completely impressed by how nonchalantly he admitted to fantasizing about you. Typical Hyuck. 

The rest of the class passed by painfully slow. The final bell pretty much brought every student back from the dead as they jumped up, excited to start their weekends. You gathered your belongings to leave class with both Mark and Hyuck trailing behind you. 

All three of you had gone to school together for years and were considered to be pretty decent friends. Mark and Hyuck were obviously extremely close, like brothers almost, and you were once a big part of their friendship as well until you all hit puberty and the dynamic seemed to shift. Hyuck got more flirty, Mark got a little more nervous, and the time you all spent together was limited to whatever classes you coincidentally shared and conversations at parties or in passing at school. 

This was one of those moments. The three of you navigated your ways through the halls of your school as other students chattered amongst themselves about the parties happening that weekend, while emptying out their lockers for the day.

Hyuck and Mark were discussing some new album that had just been released when you reached the entrance of your school.

“Hey, isn’t that your boyfriend over there?” Hyuck asked, nudging your shoulder. 

All three of you glanced up at a boy hanging by the bottom of the staircase, speaking with a group of students. His smile dropped from his face the second he looked up and met your gaze, replacing it with an expression of... fear, almost. He quickly wrapped up his conversation and turned in the opposite direction before walking off. 

“Jeez, Y/N. What was that about?” Mark asked. 

“Yeah, he looks terrified. What did you do to him?” Hyuck began, “and where do I sign up?” He chuckled at his own remark as Mark rolled his eyes. 

The two boys turned to you waiting for a response but all they got was a shrug. This wasn’t anything new.

“Just another guy who thought he could handle me. The usual,” you stated, pulling out your phone from your pocket to scroll through the notifications. 

Hyuck and Mark both stared at you wide-eyed, not quite sure what to make of your intentionally ambiguous statement. You gracefully pushed past them, disregarding the encounter with your ex, and continued walking down the stairs. The boys fell right into step behind you.

Your mom had sent you a message, reminding you that you were going to be alone for the weekend while she went away with her new boyfriend -- for the second time this month. 

“Ugh, again?” you mumbled to yourself. Hyuck grabbed the phone out of your hand to read the message as mark peered over his shoulder. 

“You’re so lucky you have us, you know. When’s the last time we camped out at your place anyway?” he said, tilting his head while racking his brain. 

“7th grade” Mark responded, “You almost slipped off the roof when we climbed up through Y/N’s window.”

You all chuckled at the memory. You had almost forgotten just how close you all once were. The thought of being home alone for the second weekend in a row did sound boring.

Hyuck slung his arm around your shoulder as Mark fiddled with his cellphone next to the both of you as you walked your way through campus. The sun still broke through the few clouds left in the sky as students lounged around outdoors and others caught their busses home. 

“You know what you need?” he began, “A real man like me. Someone who can  protect you! Someone who can take control and --” the sound of Marks phone cut him off and quite frankly, you were thankful. 

“Oh jeez, I totally forgot that I promised Jaemin I’d help him with something tonight. Is it cool if I meet up with you guys a little later? I’ll make it just before bed, I promise!” he said, as he walked backwards, nearly stumbling over his feet as he responded to the message before breaking off into a run back towards the school entrance. 

You both shook your heads at his hasty exit. “Meet me in an hour?” Hyuck asked. You nodded in agreement before you both went your separate ways for the time being.

                              ♡━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━♡

      You were just about to step into the shower when there was a knock at your door. You descended the staircase and opened the door to Hyuck standing out front with an overnight bag in hand. 

It may have been a while but he entered your home as if it was his own, kicking off his shoes in the same place your family did and climbing his way up the stairs back towards your bedroom, mumbling about some surprise party Mark and Jaemin were planning for Jeno’s birthday.

Once you got back to the room, Hyuck dropped his bag and flopped backwards into your bed. “Ah, I can’t believe you still have those,” he said, pointing at the glow in the dark stars stuck to the ceiling before pulling out his phone to take a picture that you were certain he’d send to mark. The three of you struggled to get those up there the last time they were over. 

“I’m going to shower -- and before you ask, yes... without you,” you proclaimed. Hyuck, who had been ready to make that exact remark suddenly shut his mouth before nodding his head and returning his attention to his cellphone. 

A few moments later you returned to the room, fresh out of the shower, in a pair of lounge shorts and a white tank top that sat just at your waist. However, Hyuck was no longer on your bed where you left him. 

He had changed into some sweats but stood shirtless with his back facing you, his tanned skin and muscles emphasized by the setting sun that spilled the remainder of its golden orange light through your window. You really couldn’t help but take a brief moment to admire him. As you got closer to him, he turned around with a mischievous grin on his face. That admiration disappeared the second you realized why. 

“You know... I was wondering where those marks on your bed frame came from,” he teased as he held a pair of black handcuffs in his hands. 

“Did you SERIOUSLY go through my stuff?!” you yelled, marching across the room to retrieve the cuffs from him. He lifted them out of your reach and dangled them over your head. 

Your cheeks flushed a deep shade of pink as you jumped up, just now realizing how much taller than you he now was. 

“Y/N, now I see why your ex is so scared of you!” he joked, “Wait.. HEY!”

You had jumped up onto him, wrapping your legs around his waist. He instinctively held onto you to avoid the two of you toppling over. Your handcuffs were finally within your reach again. When the commotion settled, you realized you were still in his arms and pressed against his half naked body. As you began to lower yourself, you were met with the feeling of his erection.

 “Okay, seriously? That quickly?” you questioned, as the bulge grew against your center. Hyuck slowly put you down with a sheepish grin on his face. 

“Its not my fault you’re basically naked!” he retorted. 

“Says you! Besides this is my room,” you countered, slapping his chest. He winced in pain as he rubbed the spot that was now plastered with a faint outline of your hand. 

“Is this how rough you are during sex?” he said jokingly. You furrowed your brows, lips descending into a slight frown, suddenly self conscious about the statement. You weren’t exactly insecure about your kinks, but because they played a role in your recent breakup the topic was a bit sensitive. 

     He noticed the sudden change in your expression and sat himself on the edge of your bed before speaking again. “Hey, I was just kidding. This stuff seems hot, I just --” he began before you interrupted him. 

     “He freaked out and started acting weird, Hyuck. He acted like I was some sort of monster for even suggesting the type of sex I wanted to have. I mean, I get it’s not for everyone but he looks at me now like I’m crazy and we didn’t even try anything,” you confessed. It felt good to get the reasoning behind your breakup off your chest because you hadn’t had anyone to speak to about it yet.

He took the handcuffs from your hand before snapping them open. “Show me,” he demanded. You were taken aback by his sudden proclamation. 

“With all due respect, I don’t think you’re the right candidate for this kind of stuff,” you said, laughing at the thought of Hyuck powerless. Your laugh faded when you watched as he attached himself to your headboard, now laying there with his hands above his head. 

He looked... sexy. Your breathing increased slightly and your nipples hardened through your shirt. You were hoping Hyuck was too distracted by his positioning to notice but his eyes scanned right over your body the second you attempted to meet his gaze. 

“Wow, you must be really into this stuff...” he said, not looking away from the rise and fall of your breasts and their protruding nipples. You were too caught off guard by the sudden change in your rooms atmosphere to speak. Instead, you crawled across the bed before unlocking the handcuffs, and freeing his arms.

“Wait, I thought you were going to...” he began. 

“If you want to see what it’s like, you need to do exactly as I say,” you said in almost a whisper. He stared up at you, still laying on your bed with a surprised look on his face. Your tone had changed. He nodded, and you turned to get off the bed before rummaging through your closet for a box that Hyuck hadn’t yet found. 

You placed it on the edge of your bed and he curiously peered towards it, ready for your demonstration. You weren’t exactly sure how far this would go. You weren’t even sure if you’d end up having sex but you were curious to see how Hyuck would feel about your preferences, and you valued his opinion. 

“Stand up,” you demanded sternly. A smile danced across his face as he excitedly rushed off the bed. “Undress,” you continued. 

“Wait, for real?” he almost yelled. It dawned on you that you were actually about to potentially cross a line between your demonstration and actual sex. You backtracked slightly. 

“Um... just your pants. Keep your boxers on,” you answered. Hyuck’s face fell, clearly disappointed. He sighed and untied the waist band of his sweats before stepping out of them. 

He instinctively stepped forward to tug at the strings on your shorts, assuming that you’d both be getting undressed. You grabbed his wrist in response, with your other hand gripping at his neck. He froze, taken aback by your quick movements. 

“Did I say you could undress me?” you asked, raising your eyebrows. Hyuck was momentarily flustered before his smile broke across his face once more.

“Wow, Y/N. I didn’t think you had it in you,” he laughed, as he freed his wrist from your grasp to rope his hands around your waist. 

“First rule. You refer to me as princess,” you said, as you removed your hand from his neck and swatted his hand away from your waist. “And you seem to be having difficulty keeping your hands to yourself...” you began. 

You returned to your closet to grab a belt -- the solution to your problem. “Can you blame me? Look at you... wait what are you getting that for?” he asked, noticing the leather belt you were carrying towards him. 

“Your actions have consequences, baby. Hold out your hands,” you demanded. He narrowed his eyes at you in defiance, his mischievous smile returning. “I won’t ask you again. Hold out your hands Hyuck,” you repeated. This was already getting exhausting. You knew he’d be a handful but you didn’t expect it to start this early. 

He finally complied, and you fastened the belt around his wrists, tugging at it to make sure that it was secure enough.

“Okay Y/N, what’s next?” he asked.  The look on your face was telling. He knew almost instantly that he had made a mistake and was quick to correct himself, “I- I mean princess,” he stuttered.

“Good, you’re learning. On your knees,” you ordered. He dropped to his knees almost immediately. You sat down on the bed with Hyuck facing you, pausing to stroke his cheek as you examined his face. He looked so beautiful on his knees in front of you like that, even though it took him so long. You could feel yourself getting turned on again at the sight of him in yet another submissive position. 

You took another moment to trail your eyes down his body, pausing at the large erection bulging out of his boxers. “Have you been turned on this entire time, baby?” you asked, still stroking his face. He nodded. 

“Please use your words, Hyuck,” you urged. 

“Yes, princess,” he said calmly. 

“You’ve already given me such a hard time. You like breaking rules don’t you?” you asked him. You had leaned forward to meet him at eye level, your faces centimetres from one another. Your every breath danced against his lips, and his against yours. 

“Yes, princess,” he admitted. 

“If you break the rules, you’ll get punished. I won’t go easy on you, especially if you do it on purpose. Do you understand me?” you said, no gripping his face. 

“Y-yes princess,” he stammered. 

“Undress me,” you ordered. He began to lift himself off his knees before you reached out and pushed him back down towards the floor. A brief look of confusion crossed his face as he looked down at his bound hands. 

“Use your teeth, baby,” you urged. You began by lifting one of your feet towards him. He peeled off your sock before doing the same on the other foot. 

You helped him up to his feet and he proceeded to hook his teeth around one of the straps of your tank top, followed by the other. He struggled slightly but eventually pulled the top down the length of your body, leaving you topless.

He stared at your bare chest, nipples erect, and stepped closer to you with a look of hunger in his eyes. “Keep going,” you demanded. He seemed to snap out of his trance as he glanced back up to meet your gaze. There was a familiar look in his eyes. A look that always came before trouble. 

Hyuck lowered himself to his knees as slowly as he possibly could, blowing air across your nipples, across your chest, and down your tummy. The sensation sent shivers down your body. You didn’t bother stopping him. It felt good. He’d be getting punished for it later anyway. 

As he reached the waistband of your shorts, he untied them with his teeth before dragging them down the length of your legs, followed by your panties. When he was done, he peered up at your naked body. 

“Fuck,” he murmured to himself. His gaze took in every inch of you. “You’re so beautiful, princess.”

Your heart fluttered at his statement. You sat back at the edge of the bed, and he instinctively returned to his position directly in front of you, like an obedient sub. 

“Hyuck, listen. Before we continue, we need to establish a safe word. If you feel uncomfortable, say sunset and i’ll stop whatever i’m doing,” you said. “Yes, princess,” he responded almost immediately, “but i think i’ll be able to handle it.” He flashed a quick wink before running his eyes back over your body again, this time biting his bottom lip between his teeth. 

“I’m serious. I’m not going to go easy on you. Especially since you’ve been such a brat so far,” you said. You slowly spread your legs then reached out and grabbed him by his hair before pulling him towards you. 

Hyuck wasted no time diving towards your heat faster than you even directed him, mouth agape. You had to pull his head back before he could make contact with your skin, no matter how badly you wanted it. 

“Don’t be so eager, baby. Wait for your directions,” you reminded him. You held him centimetres away from your slit by his hair. “Stick your tongue out for me,” you ordered. He quickly complied. You brought him closer to your center and the second he met your hot flesh, he licked the entire length of it. 

You groaned in response at the sudden contact before forcing his head backward. You had to stay in control. No matter how good it felt. 

“I- I didn’t tell you to move your tongue,” you stammered. Your breathing had increased and your chest was now quickly rising and falling. 

“Stick your tongue out. I’m going to ride your face. And you aren’t going to move your tongue until I say you can. Do you understand, baby?” you asked, still out of breath. 

Hyuck groaned, his erection desperately forcing itself against the fabric of his boxer briefs. “Yes, princess. I understand,” he responded, before resuming his position. 

You brought his head back into position, once again moaning at the sudden contact. This time Hyuck followed his orders and remained still. You slowly began rocking your hips back and forth against his tongue. 

“Oh, yes baby. Fuck... You’re doing so well,” you praised. Your other hand reached up to massage your breasts, still moving rhythmically against Hyuck’s face. He stared up at you, wide eyed, admiring the expressions of pleasure on your face. He looked at you like you were the most beautiful thing in the world and it turned you on even more. 

With one hand still wrapped in his hair, you applied more pressure to yourself feeling his tongue slip through your folds as you gyrated your hips faster. His nose brushed up against your clit with every stroke and the higher you raised your hips, the deeper his tongue dove into your entrance. You watched as your juices covered his chin, soaking the entire bottom half of his face. 

“Dong-Hyuck... you- you look so pretty. Like an angel,” you began. It wasn’t like you to shower a sub with so much affection but you couldn’t help it this time. He groaned in response. The sensation increased your pleasure as his mouth vibrated. 

“Do you want me to cum on your face like this?” you asked, getting closer to your orgasm. “I’m so close baby,” you moaned. He groaned once more in response sending the vibrations back through your body, this time shutting his eyes. 

“Fuck me with your tongue. I need you to look me in the eyes while you do it,” you ordered. Hyuck followed your orders, meeting your gaze once more as he altered the angle of his tongue to better penetrate your hole. With your fingers intertwined in his hair, you forced his tongue in and out of yourself. Your free hand dropped from your chest as you began to draw circles on your clit. 

You felt the tension building up inside you. You momentarily threw your head back, enjoying the stimulation -- beads of sweat dripping down the sides of your forehead. One last look at the boy between your legs was all it took to send you over the edge as you reached your climax. It was beyond any orgasm you had ever reached before. You could feel your legs shake as the rest of your body convulsed. Still savouring every last moment, you continued to jerk yourself over Hyuck’s face, body shivering at the overstimulation, before falling back onto your bed. 

The room was filled with gasps from both you and Hyuck, as you attempted to slowed your heart rate and as he caught his breath. After a few minutes, you lifted yourself back up. Hyuck sat there still, gazing curiously at you. He was taken aback by your intense orgasm.

“Are you okay, Princess?” he quietly asked. You must have been laying there longer than you thought. You nodded. His face was still covered in your juices when you got up to grab a towel before kneeling down to him and wiping his chin. 

He watched you, attempting to read your face while you cleaned him up. As you shifted your position to get closer to him your knee brushed against his erection. He winced in pain. The poor baby had been turned on for quite some time now and he shifted his thighs looking for some relief. 

You discarded the towel before motioning for Hyuck to stand. Once he was back up on his feet again, you stripped him of his remaining piece of clothing. 

His erection sprang free from his boxers, nearly hitting you in the face due to your proximity. This time, it was you who was on their knees in front of Hyuck. He looked down at you with an equally pained and eager expression on his face, waiting for your next move. 

“Wow, Hyuck. I didn’t expect you to be this big,” you cooed, as you dragged your fingernails over his length. He shutter in response, moaning under his breath. 

“Did it turn you on when I used your face like that?” you asked, gazing up at him seductively. He shifted his footing before responding. 

“Yes princess, of course,” he said. He reached down, arms still bound by your leather belt, towards his cock. You stopped him immediately. 

“You don’t get to touch yourself. And you don’t get to cum until I say you do, understood?” you ordered. Hyuck groaned in response, clearly frustrated at the predicament he was in. 

Your hands circled around his base as you gripped him. He let out a deep moan and threw his head back, nearly losing his footing. He was so turned on, every touch seemed to numb his senses. You began slowly pumping up and down his length, watching his legs shake. A bead of pre-cum, escaped from his tip as his pleasure increased. Knowing it would push him over the edge, with a quick swipe of your tongue, you tasted him. 

“Y/N... babe, please...” he whined. “I need to come,” he pleaded. 

“You’re breaking a lot of rules, Hyuck. And you know what happens when you break rules right?” you warned.“I get punished,” he responded. 

“So you do know better, after all,” you said, releasing him from your grip. He groaned at the loss of contact. Feeling defeated. You watched as he hung his head, eyes closed. You almost felt bad but you warned him that you wouldn’t go easy on him. 

You motioned for him to lay on the bed and he did. You removed the belt from around his wrists, softly rubbing at the red marks it left behind. Hyuck looked exhausted. 

You raised his arms up and fastened him back to the headboard with the handcuffs he had place himself in before. He complied without complaints. You crawled across the bed to retrieve a black silk blindfold from the box you had brought out earlier. 

Hyuck peered over your shoulder, trying to spot the other objects inside but gave up quickly, overestimating the amount of energy he had left. His head feel back against the pillows on your bed as he awaited his fate. 

You straddled him, with his erection pressing gently against your ass causing him to stir and groan beneath you. Once the blindfold was secure, you directed your attention back towards his erection, once again pumping at his length. 

Hyuck’s body jerked in response to your touch as he raised his hips up, trying to thrust into your hand before you pushed him back into place. “Don’t be fussy. Hold still or else this will take longer than it needs to,” you warned. 

He was breathing deeply now, as more beads of cum gathered at his tip. He was trying his best not to release himself but you could tell he was close. Covering his eyes had probably increased his senses, but it also seemed to calm him down a bit more. You made a mental note of it for next time. 

You froze as you caught yourself absentmindedly thinking about having sex with Hyuck like this again. He groaned again, disappointed at the halt in your strokes. This had been the second or third time you had stopped. 

You had been edging him all this time without realizing and you knew he was nearing his limit. You took the opportunity to lick along base of his cock all the way back up to the tip. He shivered and let out his loudest moan yet. 

“F-fuck. P-please, do that again,” he pleaded. You sunk your mouth over the tip of his throbbing erection and his head fell back onto the pillow. He moaned your name as you slowly took every inch of him into your mouth, feeling the tip brush against your throat. 

Hyuck muttered every curse word he knew, along with a couple of dirty phrases that you didn’t expect to hear. He even moaned your name, which should have warranted another punishment if it hadn’t sounded so fucking amazing falling from his parted lips. Still you couldn’t allow him to speak so freely. 

You removed yourself from his length which generated yet another groan from Hyuck. You sat quietly by his side for a moment, watching his chest rise and fall and a single tear slide down one of his cheeks before picking up the discarded pair of panties he had taken off of you earlier and balling them up in your firsts. 

“You’re too loud baby. I need to fix that. Open your mouth for me,” you cooed as you ran your free hand across his chest. Hyuck whimpered before opening up his mouth. You placed the undies inside carefully. This was it. This was the image you’d have imprinted in your mind forever. The image of Hyuck cuffed and blindfolded to your bed with your panties in his mouth. You couldn’t help but lower your hands to touch yourself. You slipped a finger into your entrance, quietly moaning. 

It took Hyuck a moment to realize what you were doing. it wasn’t until the sounds of you fucking yourself increased that he let out a knowing moan and began pulling at the handcuffs. 

Wetness seeped out of you when you straddled his hips, hovering over his erection. You positioned him at your entrance before slowly sinking down onto him. He let out a deep muffled growl in response and immediately started to thrust himself up into you, hitting your sweet spot. 

“Oh my goodness, Hyuck...” you gasped, with each thrust. You shouldn’t have been letting him move so much. As each stroke became more frantic, you used every ounce of your will power to pull yourself off of him once more. 

This time Hyuck protested even more. He yanked at the handcuffs, rattling the bed frame. You knew you were torturing him at this point. He still hadn’t used the safe word yet but you knew he was at his limit. You reached towards his blindfold first, removing it from his eyes. His eyelids where low but he still shifted his gaze to meet yours. You pulled the panties from his mouth and reached up to free him of his hand cuffs. 

“What are you doing?” he asked in a quiet tone. 

“Sunset,” you whispered. His face twisted in confusion. 

“Huh? But I d-didn’t say it,” he responded.

“I know, baby, But I did. I can’t take it anymore,” you confessed.

“Can I?” his voice trailed off as he moved his hands towards you, hovering them over your skin asking for permission to touch you, as if the rules still applied. He was so well behaved -- the complete opposite from how he was when you first began. You nodded and he let out a sigh of relief as his hands traced the outline of your body, first moving up your arms before gliding over your breasts. 

He delicately ran his fingers over your nipples and then back down your stomach again. He paused at your hips before snaking his hands around you to grip your ass, sighing as though he had been waiting his whole life to do so. 

The pressure was building back up for you both. His erection still hadn’t disappeared and you were shocked he had held off for so long. You reached down as he watched you position yourself to sink down onto him once more before he stopped you. 

“You’re not in charge anymore are you?” he asked, eyes going dark. His demeanour had changed but he still was taking heavy breaths, yearning for his own release. 

“Technically...no,” you hesitantly responded. 

“Good,” Hyuck stated, as he propped himself up on the bed. Within seconds he had repositioned you. Your arms were pressed against your bed frame, as you arched your back. He wanted you from behind. Hyuck wasn’t patient as he placed one of his arms next to yours to steady himself and the other around the base of his cock. 

He thrusted into you, drawing a loud moan from your lips. He wrapped his free arm around you, applying pressure to the lower part of your stomach as he disappeared into you over and over again. 

Your breasts bounced with every stroke. He pulled your hips towards himself, burying himself as deeply into you as he possibly could. 

“I’ve been waiting so long to do this to you,” he groaned into your ear before capturing a lobe between his teeth. The sensation sent tingles down your spine. He proceeded to drop kisses down your neck, marking you, as you approached your orgasm. He quickened his pace, the sound of slapping flesh filling the room. You could feel him throbbing inside you, so incredibly close to his release. 

“Fuck, i- I can’t hold it any longer!” he exclaimed. He reached his free hand down between your legs before rubbing circles onto your clit while thrusting into you. 

“H-Haechan,” you moaned. It was the first time you had ever used his nickname and it was just enough to send him over the edge. 

“Y/N.. baby.. fuck,” he stammered. Your orgasm coursed through you as you felt him fill your insides with his cum. His body went still for a second before he collapsed onto your back, heavily breathing and unable to hold up his own weight. 

Haechan gasped for air as you moved from under him, laying him gently on the bed. Beads of sweat were scattered across his face. Before he could regain his composure, you slipped out of bed to clean yourself up. Minutes later, you returned in a new set of pyjamas and a few other items. Haechan’s eyes shot open as you ran a hot towel over his body, cleaning him up. He simply stared up at you, not moving or saying a word as you took care of him. You rubbed oil onto his wrists, massaging over the red indentations the belt and handcuffs left behind, before massaging his knees as well.

When you were done, you pulled him into your chest and bundled him up under your bedsheets. The two of you didn’t move for what felt like ages. After some time had passed, Haechan had slipped out of bed to put on a new change of clothes. You took the opportunity to grab some water and fruit from the kitchen before you both sat next to each other again, aimlessly chatting as you always did. Things had changed between you two. He brushed your hair out of your face as always, but this time his touches lingered more. He playfully licked the juices off your fingers as you fed him fruit, but still teased you as he typically would. He even stopped to sprinkle your face with kisses before capturing your lips with his own. Neither of you really knew what this meant for your relationship but that wasn’t a conversation that needed to happen now anyway. 

As you giggled with each other, picking at what was left over the fruits, you both fell silent as you heard footsteps on your staircase. 

Marks head popped into your doorway seconds later. “Hey, you idiots didn’t even lock the door, and what happened to your phones I’ve been trying to call you for the past hour!” he complained, dropping his bag next to Hyuck’s. 

“Hyung!” Haechan proclaimed, still taken aback by Marks sudden entrance. 

“Don’t hyung me, what the hell have you guys been --” marks voice trailed off as his eyes zeroed in on the headboard. 

“Yo Y/N, what did you do to your bed... wait,” his voiced trailed off once more as his eyes dropped to the marks on Haechan’s wrists. He tried to cover them up with his sleeves but was too late. 

“Holy shit, you let her use those handcuffs that you showed me on you? WAIT... What the fuck happened here?” he exclaimed, jumping off the bed in shock. 

You and Haechan burst into a fit of laughter at Mark, who looked equally horrified and disgusted. His cheeks were blushing bright red, and the warmth had reached his ears too. 

“You guys are gross, you know that...” he muttered, pulling the plate of fruits away from you both, trying his hardest not to touch the bed. 

Moments later, Marks words registered in your head and soon enough you were pushing Haechan off of the bed and onto the floor to join his best friend.

“I can’t believe you sent him a picture of the handcuffs too! You idiot!” you yelled. 

“It was BEFORE we used them!” he responded. The three of you laughed and bickered back and forth as the sun finally set. 

♡━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━♡

final words: wow this one was a bit tough to write. Haechan is a mischievous little thing in this fic and in real life too but I still couldn’t handle the thought of him suffering too much. He’ll always make me soft no matter what 🥺 also Mark was supposed to have a smaller part in this but he just fit so well I even had to put him in the opening gif! please leave your thoughts/comments or feel free to give any criticism so I can correct anything that may be insensitive/inaccurate in my fics. Thank you!

[stressedkitkatttt]

This Isn’t Going To End Well, Is It?

This is my submission for @papichriscnco​'s writing challenge. Thank you for extending it an extra 2 weeks and congrats on 2.4k followers! I got a little carried away with this but fuck it  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Prompt: This isn't going to end well, is it? (I altered it slightly to fit the story better)

Word Count: 3.3k

Warnings: Richard smut, a little cliché story line for a Richard story but whatever, teasing in a restaurant, hair-pulling, an angry/dominant Richard, some begging, use of kitten and sir, this is filth, just absolute filth, I actually didn't expect this to come out so filthy but enjoy, bonus soft Richard at the end

DISCLAIMER: Do NOT  think it is okay to take my stories and post them somewhere else without my EXPLICIT PERMISSION. Do NOT  think it is okay to take anyone else's stories and post them somewhere else without their EXPLICIT PERMISSION. Giving credit does NOT count as permission. You may reblog my stories, you may NOT repost my stories without MY PERMISSION.

~~~~~~~~~ You were currently at school, watching the clock slowly tick time away as you waited for the class to end. You know that staring at the clock makes time go slower but you can't help it. You were very, very bored. You sigh and begin to doodle in your notebook, getting lost in your thoughts and zoning out completely until the bell rings. You were quick to pack up your things and make your way towards the school parking lot.

You wanted to leave the parking lot before it got busy with other people. You had witnessed enough accidents in this parking lot to make you park more towards the back. You unlock your car and throw your things in the backseat, turning the key, and making your way out. As you begin driving towards your shared apartment, you begin to think about some ways you could relieve some of your stress when you get home. You unconsciously lick your lips at the thought of the shirtless picture Richard had sent you earlier.

When you reach your apartment, you park in your designated parking space and grab your things, rushing to the elevator. You reach your floor and pull out your apartment key and open the door. Looking around and seeing an empty living room, you make your way towards the bedroom and peek inside. Richard was laid out on the bed in his sweatpants and no shirt, scrolling through his phone. He looks up and smiles, motioning for you to go to him. You drop your bag and walk over to him, straddling his lap and burying your face in his neck.

"Hey baby," he says while gently rubbing your back. "How was class?"

"I couldn't focus..." You mumble into his neck.

"Why not?" He asks. You can hear the grin in his voice and you pull away so you're looking into his eyes.

"Because of that photo, you sent me earlier... I was thinking about all the ways you could teach me a few lessons." Richard's grin gets wider and he places his hands on your hips, flipping you over so you're under him.

"Well, I would love to teach you some lessons but I have something planned for tonight. And you know how I get. Once I get a taste for you, that's all we'll be doing for the rest of the day. So be a good girl and wait until after your surprise, okay?"

You whine and buck your hips against his, running your hands up his bare chest. "But papi I -" You begin. He stops you abruptly.

"No buts. If you behave, I'll give you everything you want. But only good girls get rewarded, so are you gonna be a good girl or a bad girl?"

"I'll be good..." You reply, trying not to show your disappointment. He leans in and kisses your lips.

"Good. I want your pretty little ass dressed nice by six, okay?"

"Okay." He nods before climbing off of you and walking out of the room. You lay there for a moment before turning to look at the clock. 3:21. You opt to take a nap before Richard drags you off to whatever he wanted to do tonight, with the promise of satisfying your needs afterward.

Richard's surprise was taking you to a nice restaurant, with an extra surprise that the guys would also be there. He had woken you up at 5:30 and told you to get ready. You remembered him say to dress nicely, so you went through your closet and found a dress you saved for occasions like this. It wasn't so tight it suffocated you, but tight enough it showed off your body in the best way. You start getting ready and by 6 o'clock you were ready to go. You had walked out to Richard nicely dressed and you wanted to throw everything out the window and have him take you then and there. But he quickly diffused your ideas by telling you to behave. But at the end of the night, he'd find out what you were wearing underneath.

~~~~~

You sat next to Richard in the large booth waiting for your food. He was talking with Zabdiel, who sat next to him. You were kind of hoping that tonight would've just been you and Richard, but you also hadn't seen the guys in a long while. But that wasn't going to deter you from doing what you would've done if you were alone.

You start simple, you reach a hand out and touch his thigh. Something he ignores, continuing his conversation with Zabdiel. You begin to rub your hand up and down his thigh, slowly making your way towards his clothed dick. You stop short, and when he doesn't do anything to stop you, you cup him fully through his dress pants. That grabs his attention and he brings a hand to yours and places it back on your thigh. You don't miss the short glare he sends your way. Your reply is a short, sweet smile, telling him that this was only the beginning.

You had to stop because your food had just arrived. You all begin to eat your food, hearing some conversation here and there. You let Richard eat some of his food before going back to your devious little plan. He was about to take another bite of his food when your hand had placed itself directly on his dick. He stopped and glared at you, placing his food down on the plate and leaning in close to you.

"You better stop now, baby." His tone held a warning. You wanted to laugh at how he thought he had any control over you here. He was a dominant man when it came to the bedroom and you rarely had any control. In this situation, you had all the control and he couldn't do anything to you without causing some sort of suspicion. You just raised a brow and squeezed his dick. He scowled at you, grabbing your hand and pried it off of him completely.

You quickly freed your hand from his grip and placed it right back where it was. When Chris called Richard from across the table, he had no choice but to leave your hand where it was. Chris was smart, and if he hadn't figured out what you were doing already, he surely would have if Richard had tried to move your hand. He cursed you mentally and started a conversation with Chris, very thankful for the tablecloth, which gave people the allusion your hand was on his thigh. You keep it gentle, not going too hard on him. You stop again once the waiter comes back to take back all the plates.

He keeps himself calm enough as you rub him through his shorts, keeping his head low but not low enough to have anyone ask what's wrong. You look over at your boyfriend who, for the time being, was at your mercy. You liked this, having control over the situation while Richard sat helplessly. You bite your lip to keep your grin from getting too wide. When you spot the waiter coming over with desserts, you get ready to time everything. You unbutton the top of his pants and when all the attention goes to the waiter, you slip your hand through the band of his boxers and hold his thickened shaft in your hand. He sits upright and straightens his back.

He grunts quietly and stares at you incredulously. He makes a move to remove your hand but you start stroking him, knowing all the right things to do to make him stop. He instead grips the booth seat and starts to focus on not making noise. You lean over and whisper, "I can feel how thick you are, you like this don't you?" He stiffly shakes his head "no". His body betrays him and his tip begins to produce more pre-cum, shaft pulsing. "I wish I could get under the table suck your cock, Richard." He lets out a quiet, airy moan before leaning into you.

"It's not going to end well for you when we get out of this restaurant." He growls. You smile, knowing this was the final straw for him. You accept your fate and find a sensitive spot near his base, making him jump at the sudden jolt of pleasure. The guys look at him weirdly, but you stop your movements entirely.

"Richard, is something wrong? You haven't even touched your desert." Joel says. Richard takes a deep breath before replying.

"Sorry, must've been lost in my thoughts..." He tries to control his voice. Joel raises a brow slightly before leaving him alone. He tries to focus on eating his desert without choking every time your hand reaches his tip and back down again. He couldn't wait to get home and fuck some manners into you. It doesn't take long for everyone to finish their desserts and when the waiter brings the check, the guys all pitch in to pay for the bill. Finally, the guys say their goodbyes and start to move from the booth, except for you and Richard.

You finally release your hold on him and he instantly buttons his pants up and scoots to the end of the booth. He keeps his back to the other guests and faces you, hiding his very prominent bulge. You take your time scooting to him, prolonging the inevitable. When you get within arms reach, your arm is grabbed and he puts you in front of him, hiding his bulge in your lower back. You were in for it now.

The second you were both outside, Richard unwrapped his arms from your shoulders and grabs your arm, dragging you through the parking lot to his car. He unlocks it as you get close and lets go of your arm to walk around to the driver's side. "Get in." He said, sliding himself into his seat. From the tone of his voice, you know not to push him any further. At least not here. So you get into the seat and the second your door closes, he's pulling out of the parking lot and heading down the street.

He begins to take the backroads, taking a route with as few stops as possible. There's tension so thick in the car it's practically suffocating. And even though you had pushed his limit tonight, you can't help but get wet at all the thoughts of how he was going to punish you. He was definitely not going to go easy on you, probably make you beg, teasing you until you're practically sobbing. Richard was an already dominant man, but when he was pushed to his limits? He wasn't going to let you have any control for at least a few weeks.

You get so lost in your thoughts you don't realize that's he pulled into an empty parking lot. He calls your name once and you snap your head towards him, now realizing you didn't know where you were.

"Where -" He doesn't give you time before unlocking the doors and telling you to get in the back seat. You almost want to say something but think better of it. He was subtly trying to make you piss him off more so he had more reason to be rough with you. So you shut your mouth and do as he says, getting into the back seat. Maybe he couldn't wait to get home.

Once you’re there, he's already working on taking off his pants and boxers, making his cock bounce and slap against his abdomen. He decides to leave his shirt on and he waits a moment before looking at you. "Well, it ain't going to suck itself." He growls, eyes pitch black in the low light. You blush and lean over, getting in a comfortable position before you decide you want to tease him one final time. You poke your tongue out and kitten licks his swollen tip. That doesn't sit well with him, so he grabs your hair and makes you look him in the eyes. "You better open that pretty little mouth because I am not in the mood for any more of your little games. You tease me one more time and you won't cum for a week."

You've seen him mad before, had some very hot, rampant sex with him, but this is the first time he's ever threatened to not let you cum. Usually, you were his good little girl and he'd reward you with whatever you wanted but to see you tease him like this? You'll be lucky if you get to cum at all. "Do you understand?" He growls out when you stay silent.

"Yes."

"Yes, what?"

"Yes sir." You didn't often call him sir, usually opting for "daddy" or "papi", and saving "sir" for when you were in trouble. Good, he thinks. He pushes your head down towards his cock and this time you take him in halfway. He shifts so you can have better access to his dick and so he has better traction to thrust the remaining shaft into your mouth.

"Take it all, kitten." You have to hold your gag reflex in, taking deep breaths. It took a few seconds to gain control over your reflex and to Richard, it was a few seconds too long. He pulls your hair back and thrusts himself in as he pushes your head back down and you get the message to start moving.

You set up a fast pace, making sure to lave your tongue against him and even drag your teeth against him. Richard groans and throws his head back, eyes closed and mouth agape as he keeps you going. "Fuck, that feels so good princess." You always thrived on Richard's moans - it let you know that you were doing things right.

Richard loves the feeling of your mouth on his dick and he could never last long when it was your mouth on him. Even if he was mad, the way your mouth worked on him, he couldn't help the slightly diminishing anger he had felt earlier. But that isn't what he wanted. He wanted to punish you for what you did tonight. He had told you that after the whole dinner he would go home and take care of you. Were you that addicted to him that you just couldn't wait? His ego inflated at the thought of you being addicted to him and be willing to fuck him in such a public place. He'd never admit to you that what you had done to him in the restaurant made him horny enough to want to split you in half, not caring who would see or hear.

He groans, the more you work your mouth the more he isn't angry, so he decides to pull your head off of him. In the dim light, he could see a string of saliva connecting your lips to his dick, which glistened. "I wasn't finished with you, papi." Your voice was slightly hoarse from the harsh thrusting of his dick in your mouth. He leans over,

"And I'm far from finished with you. Do you think you'll get off so easily? Just me fucking your mouth until I cum. After what you pulled? Oh no kitten, turn around." You feel the tingling sensation down below get stronger, almost like a pulse, as you comply and turn over, feeling Richard's hand find the zipper on your dress and pulling it down. It crumples at your knees, leaving you in your lace bra and panties. He already knew you were wearing something like this under the dress. He isn't in the mood to mess around and waste more time, so he grabs your panties and pulls them down harshly, ripping them in the process. Good thing it was a rather cheap set and not one of your favorites.

Richard shifts behind you, planting one knee on the back seat and the other on the floor. He lines himself up and begins to feed himself into you. You thought he seemed bigger in your mouth because of how dominant he was acting but now you're beginning to think that he may be a little bit bigger than normal. To be fair, you did stroke him in the restaurant and tease him to high heaven, so it shouldn't be shocking to feel him fill you up. Richard doesn't stop until he's buried balls deep inside you, basically pushing the upper half of your body into the seat and holding your lower half flush against his hips.

He leaves you no time to adjust and begins to fuck you at a fast and hard pace that has the car rocking with his movements. Your eyes close and moans of his name begin spilling from your lips. You're tempted to bite the seat to keep yourself from screaming but you instead bite your lip, trying to stay quiet. When Richard can't hear you, he reaches over and tugs on your hair. "Hey, don't silence yourself. Let anyone walking by know who makes you scream. Let them know how well you take my cock." He punctuates his words with harsh thrusts and you release your hold on your lip and let his name fall freely.

The only noise filling the car is the sound of slapping and your labored breaths as the knot in your stomach gets tighter and tighter with each passing moment. It won't be long until you cum. You try and warn Richard but his hard thrusts keep knocking the wind out of you. But he knows your body well enough and knows you're almost at the edge.

"You're close, aren't you?" He grunts. Your response is a pathetic moan of his name. He suddenly stops, buried completely inside you. "Do you deserve to cum?" You nod, your last act of teasing him. His response is a dark chuckle. "Even after what you pulled in the restaurant?" When you stay silent this time, he pulls out completely, hands holding your hips tightly as his tip rubs at your dripping entrance. You make a noise of weak protest, trying to push back against his hold and fuck yourself on his cock. "You shouldn't be surprised that I pulled out. Now, beg me to let you, cum princess." You whine and he pulls your hair, "What was that?"

You shake your head no. This angers him and he pulls his hand away and smacks your ass. Hard. You whimper at the sting and you finally break, replying to his question. "No, only good girls get to cum, papi."

"Did you learn your lesson?"

"Y-yes, sir." He suddenly pulls you up by your hair and flush against his chest, his lips by your ear. He has you in a position that has your entrance hovering right over his dick, holding you upright with an arm wrapped just under the swell of your breasts. All he'd have to do is thrust.

"Say please."

Your please is drawn out and high-pitched as you submit to him, making him grin. He thrusts up while pulling you down onto his shaft and resuming his pace. He moves his hand that was in your hair down your glistening body to your throbbing clit where he begins to rub harshly. Not even a moment later, you gush all over his shaft, feeling him coat your insides. He lets go of you and you fall forward, arms barely able to catch you as you collapse into the back seat.

Heavy breathing is the only thing that can be heard inside the car. You feel a hand come around your middle and pull you up into his chest. "Are you okay princess?" He asks. You had finally caught your breath.

"Yeah, I'm good. Though I don't know if I can walk," you look up into his softening eyes, "you might have to carry me." He chuckles and nods.

"But you learned your lesson though, right?"

"I don't know... If teasing you like that leads to sex like this? I might do this a few more times." He grins widely.

"Then I guess I'll just have to keep teaching you some lessons in manners."

~~~~~~

Taglist: @cracraforfandoms​ @kmsmedine​ @papichriscnco​

[dalgikiss]

Catch-22 // h. iwaizumi

index

part 10

It’s Iwaizumi’s turn to avoid you now, tips of his ears turning pink when your name is mentioned and flashbacks of his word vomit replaying in his mind. 

You pretend not to notice when he comes in late and how his eyes avoid looking in your direction. It totally doesn’t hurt

It definitely does

Oikawa notices the unspoken tension between you two whenever he decides to come into your classroom, observant brown eyes narrowing in on how Iwaizumi refused to turn towards you, answering his questions rougher than usual and how you’d stare at everything but Iwaizumi. 

“What’s this all about?” He asks you one day, early in the morning before school has started. He had snuck out of his house much earlier than usual, claiming he had a morning meeting with his teacher before class started to get out of walking with Iwaizumi. 

“What’s what all about?” you ask sleepily, eyes struggling to stay open. He lets you lean your head against his shoulder, sitting underneath the giant Weeping Willow in the school courtyard. Your stray strands of hair flutter in the breeze, tickling his nose. 

“You and Iwa-chan don’t even glance at each other anymore. How am I supposed to live when my best friends aren’t talking to each other?” 

You pretend you haven’t heard him, twisting your head so you could face his neck, breathing in the smell of his cologne and let the warmth from his neck flush through your body when you rested your forehead against him. 

“Is my crush on Iwaizumi obvious?” You ask instead and he looks down at you in surprise, eyes studying your relaxed expression. An involuntary shiver runs up his spine when your eyelashes sweep against his neck and tickle him in the process. 

He thinks back to your blushing face and stuttering words when iwaizumi looked at you just a little too long, your slender fingers always reaching for him in crowded areas so they wouldn’t get separated and soft eyes that saw him with something that spoke of a little more than friendship. 

Obvious? Maybe, at least to the trained eye. 

He weighed his options, wondering what kind of answer you were looking for before deciding to deflect your question with another one. “Why do you ask?”

A breath of air fans over his neck and he holds in his laughter when your lips move against him, tickling his neck in the process. “Ryuoko told Iwaizumi that i liked him”

It was as though a lightbulb went off in his head, the pieces all clicking together. Oikawa nods in understanding as he makes sense of the strange behavior the both of you were exhibiting. 

“I didn’t confirm or anything” You continue, “I was just wondering if it was obvious” 

“If it was, Iwaizumi would have gotten the hint by now” Oikawa reassures you but it does nothing to calm you down. You screw your eyes shut, Oikawa feeling the folds of your skin against his neck. 

“What if he totally did know and was just trying to find a way to reject me nicely and I’m actually the oblivious one”

Oikawa thinks back to the late summer afternoons where he watched his longtime friend go numb in position because he was too scared to move and awaken you in the middle of your nap, how Iwaizumi’s tanned skin would turn red under your gaze and he’d blame it on the sweltering summer heat and his calloused hands after years of playing volleyball wrapping around yours in crowded rooms. 

“Do you like her?” Oikawa had asked one summer day, lying on the grass next to Iwaizumi. They both stared ahead at the sky, the setting sun casting brilliant shades of purple and gold along the horizon. 

Iwaizumi watched the plane fly past, the roar of the engine bringing a rush of wind that rustled the tree leaves and made the birds chirp in annoyance. “Don’t ask me stupid questions” He responds gruffly. 

You had long gone home, accompanied by Hanamaki and Matsukawa with the promise of stopping at the convenience store by the park to buy popsicles. Iwaizumi had stayed behind with Oikawa, promising Oikawa’s mother he’d take him home once the sun was no longer in the sky. 

Oikawa let Iwaizumi brood over his answer, raising his fingers to try and trace the shapes of the clouds in the sky as he waited. 

“It doesn’t really matter if I do or don’t like her” Iwaizumi finally admitted and Oikawa dropped his hand back down to his side, rolling over to look at iwaizumi’s side profile and the even rise and fall of his chest with every breath.  

“If she doesn’t like me back, is there a point?” 

Oikawa fell back onto his back, smiling softly. “So you do like her then?”

There’s a small puff of air that’s released from Iwaizumi’s mouth when he heard the question and he finally sat up, stretching his arms up past his head. “Stop asking me questions you already know the answer to” 

Iwaizumi leaned over to poke at Oikawa’s side, gesturing with a nod of his head. “It’s time to go home before your mom gets upset”

Oikawa let out a whine at that, wanting to stay outside longer but got up anyways, picking his volleyball up off the sandy floor. The park behind them becomes further and further with every step they take until it’s swallowed into the darkness. 

He blinks when you pull his hand into yours, interlacing fingers with him, reminding him he’s here in the present. Your thumb smoothes over his, your finger cold against his heated skin. 

“Class is starting soon” You murmur, the courtyard growing louder as students begin to file in. The giant clock that hangs in front of the entrance reminds him they had to go inside soon, class starting in 15 minutes but your soft breathing and relaxed hand held loosely in his said to wait a little more.

Just a little longer, he decides, just a little longer

x.

“Aren’t you tired of ignoring [surname]-chan?” Oikawa asks, sliding into your seat at lunch after you had been whisked away by Matsukawa. 

Iwaizumi stares hard at Oikawa, envisioning burning holes into his forehead. “You’re annoying” 

“I think you need to come up with new insults, they’re getting a bit old. Do you have enough brain cells for that?” 

Iwaizumi reaches forward, sharply tugging on a tuft of Oikawa’s hair and he lets out a yelp of pain. He doesn’t hold the same hostility he used to, mind occupied. Ryuoko passes by the windows, brown eyes glancing once into the classroom before turning back in front of her. Iwaizumi follows her figure, unconsciously making a face when he remembers their last conversation. 

Me or your friends  

Oikawa follows his gaze, cocking his head to the side at the sight of her. “By the way, isn’t she usually here during breaks?”

Iwaizumi returns his gaze back to his desk. “We got into a fight”

“Oh I see, about what?”

Iwaizumi turned to look at him, wondering if now was the right time to bring it up. Oikawa waits patiently, doodling small flowers in the corner of random pages of your notebook. 

“Her or my friends”

Oikawa keeps his eyes on your desk, pencil stilling in the middle of drawing a tulip before resuming, finishing the petals and beginning to draw the stem. 

“And?”

Oikawa’s tone is still as lighthearted as ever, teasing Iwaizumi but Iwaizumi’s already seen it- the fleeting look on his face, chocolate brown eyes darkening and eyebrows furrowing and the hair on the back of Iwaizumi’s neck stand to attention. 

Dangerous

It’s only there for a fraction of a second, gone so fast that anyone else wouldn’t have noticed it but Iwaizumi is not ‘anyone else’. He waits for a few moments, quietly deciding between whether he should bring it up or say nothing at all and goes for the latter. 

He reaches over to tug on Oikawa’s hair again, but it’s not the same. It’s reassuring, the sharp tug on his curly hair reminding Oikawa he wasn’t going anywhere. “Of course I’m not leaving you guys, dumbass”

Oikawa lets out a sharp yelp, hands coming up to try and free himself. “Stop it! My hair- I spent all morning on it, let go!”

It’s only the slightest change in his tone, practically not even there but Iwaizumi knows his job is done and everything is okay. He lets go of his hair, but not before taking his hand and running it through Oikawa’s styled hair as revenge. 

“I’m sure you’ll make the right decision, iwa-chan” Oikawa says as he uselessly tries to fix his hair, “After all, even though you’re a brute with only two braincells-”

“I dare you to finish your sentence” Iwaizumi threatens and Oikawa shrinks back into his seat with a small laugh

“Relax Iwa-chan! Even with your lack of brain cells, I’m sure you’ll be able to make the right decision!- ow!”

The sting on Iwaizumi’s hand reminds him he needs to buy hand lotion and he admires his work, a nice red welt forming at the very center of Oikawa’s head. Oikawa grumbles something about Iwaizumi being too strong for your own good and your hands are rougher than sandpaper before running away, just in time to avoid another smack in the head. 

Make the right choice, Iwa-chan! 

Oikawa doesn’t say it out loud but Iwaizumi knows the hidden meaning beyond what’s not said and he chews on his left cheek as he watches Oikawa make faces at him through the safety of the classroom window. 

What’s the right choice?

He watches Ryuoko walk past his classroom, stopping only briefly to greet Oikawa who waves her away with a half hearted smile that makes his fangirls swoon and Iwaizumi already knows Oikawa has begun to hold a grudge against her. 

The right choice is your friends

[echos-orchard]

Equinox, Chapter 1

...so...I'm rewriting an old story of mine, and was actually pretty proud of the results of the first chapter so...yeah!

Equinox is the story of Chloe and Orion, newfound friends who find themselves struggling for survival after a geometric disaster.

The human mind, a dark and dangerous place...or at least it can be. It’s almost taunting sometimes, how it exploits our deepest fears and insecurities...regrets.

Chloe sat in silence, listening to her psychology teacher ramble on about god knows what. Honestly, she knew that this would probably be on the test, and that she should be paying more attention- but she just couldn’t. Instead, she continued to doodle in her sketchbook- a concentrated look on her face. 

“Psst, hey,” she heard the whisper of a boy's voice. It was probably one of her classmates asking  a question to someone- or seeking the attention of a friend while the teacher was distracted. She continued to draw in silence, stuck within her own little world. 

“Chloe, incoming!” the same voice whispered, a tad louder this time. She looked up, and was about to ask him what he wanted, when the teacher came and scooped up her sketchbook, idly flipping through and saying something about how it was a fine example of personality, but Chloe was far too embarrassed to listen. Mrs.Hemingway turned the book showing the rest of  her students- Chloe’s peers, the weird stuff she would doodle in her free time. 

The teacher placed the book back down on the desk with a smirk before walking back to the front of the classroom...what a bitch. Chloe placed her head in her hands, face redder than a beet. She could hear some of her classmates snickering, of course this would happen. The bell rang, Chloe practically threw her book bag behind her, and sprinted out of the room into the already growing mass of students flooding the halls. 

Lunch time was usually a time for friends to meet up, talk about life, and have fun together in a crowded lunchroom, but Chloe wasn’t about that shit. When she first transferred to this school two months ago to start her senior year, she made a vow to herself that she would never ever eat in that vomit inducing, disease ridden room. Instead, everyday she would go outside and read instead of eat- because fuck people, and fuck overpriced school lunch. Even so she was happy with her schedule. She would sit and read in silence, free from all the annoying assholes she went to school with. She was allowed to be lost in her own little world for forty five minutes before returning to hell. 

Chloe sprinted down the stairs to the first floor, where most of the students had already filed out. Taking a few deep breaths, she stopped in front of the bathroom, walking in cautiously. She checked every stall to make sure that they were absolutely empty, no one else needed to see her mess. She looked at herself in the mirror, sleep deprived dark brown eyes pooling with hurt and anger, her black hair that went down to the middle of her back was  disheveled, all around she just looked fucking terrible. 

She took a shaky breath. What the actual fuck? Why would her teacher do that? Everyone knew Mrs.Hemingway was a bitch but seriously!? It took everything in her power not to cry, but hey, she managed. Chloe combed her hands through her hair, trying to smooth out the previously perfect braid she once had, honestly just trying to regain her composure. She rinsed her face with cold water, reapplied her lip balm, readjusted her black sweater and skinny jeans, just doing some self care after that stressful situation. After calming down, she left the bathroom, entering the empty hallway- or well almost empty. A boy stood awkwardly reading a few feet away, on the opposite side of the hall, smiling ever so slightly. Though the content smile made the situation ever more strange seeing as he was reading outside the girls bathroom? The boys room was down the hall.

The dude had some decent height on him, Estella had to fucking look up to meet his eyes so.... He stood about six foot or six foot one or two?, while she herself stood about five foot five, which was a tad shorter than most of the girls around her school. He wore a red and white varsity jacket over a black t-shirt and some jeans. The guy had a mess of honey blonde hair and bright blue eyes that were looking down at a book he was slowly flipping through, no no not just any book. Chloe’s sketchbook. Fuck. This. Shit! How did he even get that, she was sure she had put it in her bag. What  did he come to tease her about it or something!?  Don’t fucking think so. Chloe snatched the small book from his hands, squaring her shoulders, and looking him dead in the eyes.   

The boy seemed taken aback for a second before smiling at her, “Sorry I didn’t really mean to snoop I just...you’re a killer artist dude!”

Chloe narrowed her eyes, gazing at him warily. Huh? The fuck did this man just say? Her drawings were trash, what was he thinking  of pulling here?  The jock stuck out his hand, “I’m Orion Berry, you’re Chloe Anderson, right?  We have a few classes together!”  He said cheerfully. 

Chloe shook his hand cautiously, honestly just confused about who the fuck this kid was, and why he was talking to her, if not just to bully her. “Yeah nice to meet you, sorry I’m a bit busy right now” Chloe mumbled, walking past him towards the double doors that led outside.

Apparently he didn’t quite catch the hint. Orion followed her, talking on and on about who the fuck knows what, Chloe wasn’t really listening. She sighed, fed up with this shitty day and this annoying kid she didn’t know or want to talk to, following her like a lost puppy...maybe this was why she had no friends actually. Chloe continued walking toward her usual spot on the bench in the courtyard, tuning out the overly excited jock to her left.

 “Sorry Orion, I actually need to meet up with some friends now, I really shouldn’t keep them waiting anymore” Chloe fake laughed, trying to get him to leave her alone.

“But you don’t have any friends Chlo-…” The boy blurted out, it only took a second for his eyes to widen and throw his hands over his mouth. ...okay ouch.

Chloe stopped in her tracks, “Excuse me?” she said, a sad melancholy filling her voice. 

“I have plenty of friends you douche!” She raised her voice slightly, catching the attention of some passersby.

Orion flung his hands off his face, shaking them panickedly  “No no no no that’s not what I meant to say, I just have never seen you hanging out with anyone before-”

“So what, you have been stalking me too!?” Chloe was both absolutely pissed with this kid, and sad at how obviously lonely she apparently was. Orion looked genuinely apologetic, but she didn’t even care, she wanted to but she has had such a shitty day. Her mother yelled at her that morning, and it was raining so she came in late and soaking wet. She forgot her math homework at home, was teased by a group of girls at her locker, had a sore throat from crying the previous night and was off key in choir because of it, and then she was embarrassed in front of her entire psychology class, and the day still wasn’t over! 

“No! We have a lot of classes together, I told you earlier! I just assumed- I’m sorry!” Orion tried to defend himself desperately. He definitely did not need a rumor flying around calling him a stalker. 

Chloe took a deep breath, “What. Do. You. Want.” She spoke clearly and harshly. Orion  frowned and faltered for a minute. “I just wanted to be your friend...you looked like you were having a hard day, and Hemingway obviously didn’t help... I’m sorry.” 

Fuck. Now she just feels bad. He didn’t want her to be stressed out and all alone. God fucking damn it. She sighed and put her face in her hands. “Well why didn’t you say anything before now?” she gritted out.

“I...I  did? Just a few minutes ago?” He mumbled. Of course. Of course he did. Right, when she wasn’t paying attention. I mean this wasn’t all her fault, right?...no it totally was, one hundred percent.

“Okay fine. You can tag along or whatever, just like shut up and yeah...sorry” She gave in. Orion brightened up a little, and the two of them walked in silence to the courtyard. Once she got there, Chloe collapsed onto the bench and closed her eyes. Orion smiled and sat by her. They sat there in awkward silence for a good few minutes, Chloe could feel his eyes on her and she sighed. 

“What do you want?” she asked, meeting his bright blue eyes. 

“What’s your favorite animal?” He responded innocently, a strange sense of wonder in his eyes.

“I don’t know, maybe like a panther, or owl, or something.” She replied. Then she sat there and answered questions for thirty minutes. She actually didn’t even mind it, he was pretty fun to hang out with. What the fuck? Chloe couldn’t believe how much of a bitch she was being to him earlier,  that was kind of fucked up. 

Still part of her struggled to believe it. He had to be planning something, maybe talking to her as a dare? When lunch ended they walked to class together, Orion still being his happy self and Chloe being tired as fuck but whatever.

When Orion said they had a lot of classes together, Chloe was expecting maybe two, not like the entire day...EXCEPT two. Honestly she did start feeling better, after completing her work in history she ranted about her day, it was nice to have someone listen. Orion even seemed happy to listen, and offered her some advice. They just kinda vibed and worked together all day. ...It was nice, unexpected, but nice.

The final bell had rung and Orion was still sitting and talking.  “Can I walk you home Chloe?” He gently asked.

“Absolutely not.” She laughed. Orion whined for a second before pouting. 

“But why not?

“Well first off I said no, second off I just met you, and third I said no, fuck you” Orion laughed at her response. 

“Well what are you doing later?” He asked cheerily.

“Studying, drawing, chores, the usual I guess. What about you?” Chloe said, honestly vibing with her new found...friend? Adopted son? She would totally adopt this dumb puppy.

“Visiting my little brother before his surgery.” Orion responded absentmindedly.

“Is he sick, or injured, or something?” Chloe questioned.

“His name is Oliver, he’s like twelve, he’s getting a tumor removed later today” 

“Oh, I hope it goes well.” She responded empathetically.

Orion smiled and thanked her. “We should hang out soon though, yeah?” Chloe tilted her head to the side “Do you have something in mind?” 

“How about we go to the movies?” 

Chloe nodded, “I’m free Friday?” 

”Sounds good! See you tomorrow Clo!” Orion said, walking out of the classroom, a slight skip in his step. ...Bro...Did she just agree to a date? Is she going on a date? Or like a friend date? Are they hanging out as friends...or? Chloe’s face flushed, no, no way it was just a friendly outing, they had literally just met. Either way she couldn’t help but smile.

...

...

...

...

God, she wished things could have just stayed that way.

[angryhausfrau-writes]

I Travel Troubled Oceans: Chapter 13 - In Which Charles Vane Wanders Towards Domesticity Via Bareknuckle Boxing And Jack Feels Feelings

Charles has been... not ignoring Jack – he's never cold or brusque – brusquer than usual, anyway. But he is giving Jack space that he's never really given him before. Space that they've never really had, living in doorless squalid squats always in arms reach of each other and often closer. But it's fairly easy to stay out of each other's way in a house this big.

And Jack has been exerting plenty of effort to stay out of Charles's way. Unfortunately, Charles has noticed – how could he not, when Jack routinely followed him like a particularly persistent shadow. And damn Anne for pointing that fact out, for now Jack can't help but acknowledge the truth of his long infatuation – there, that's a good word for it – infatuation, not crush, no matter what Anne says.

Anyway, Jack's is pretty sure Charles thinks he's is mad at him when in fact the problem is that entirely the opposite is true – Jack is lovestruck and giddy in Charles's mere presence. Practically doodling little hearts with his and Charles's names written inside them in pink glitter gel pen like it's still the nineties and he's just discovered the magic of perfectly coiffed boy bands. Which Chaz would tease Jack mercilessly about if he ever found out – tease him for both his teenage taste in music and for his feelings for Charles.

So Jack has continued to cloister himself in his workroom with Christine to work on his next fashion show. An activity that isn't quite as much of a safe harbor after the conversation Anne had with her. Something about managing Jack when he gets in a “mood” - as if Jack has moods! And if he does, as a rich eccentric creative genius type person, he's more than entitled to whatever moods he cares to have. So there!

Charles has been out of the house more often than not over the past few weeks. Partly because Jack's been holed up with Christine, putting together another fashion show. And every time Charles has tried to butt in – to remind Jack to eat something, damn it, or to just take a break – he's been very summarily excused by Jack. And ok fine Jack's in a tizzy, what else is new? But it's not like he really wants to be around for that shit.

And. And. And he's got that itch under his skin that means he needs either a fight or a fuck.

Fucking's off the table, cuz he's Jack's pretend boyfriend and they're supposed to be monogamous. Not that he couldn't find someone reasonably discrete and reasonably removed from the world they're moving in now. The world of rich marks who think a night of slumming it means going to clubs that only have twenty pound cocktails on the menu rather than fifty. So he could find someone who'd never have a chance of encountering one of the rick fucks who'd know him as Jack's boy toy and not as a scourge of the streets.

Hell, he could go find a lower class prostitute who doesn't give half a fuck about anything about him other than that he's got cash to pay for their services. Christine may even have been amenable before Jack had driven her crazy with all his ridiculous demands. But he had and now she flees the house at the end of every day, desperate to be away from his shit. Or maybe she's got something to rush too, rather than away from – Charles doesn't know or really care to. Regardless, that's that plan scuppered.

Of course, there's always other fish in the sea. Or corner boys and girls looking for a John. Christine is just the most available. But there's another reason he doesn't go seek someone else out – another prostitute or even just someone looking for a casual fuck after a long day of being a boring corporate drone.

It's because Charles knows now, after months of collecting information and blackmail on various rich shitstains, just how far some of them are willing to go to see their enemies brought low. Hell, Flint's boyfriend – or husband or whatever their actual relationship is with one another – Thomas Hamilton's own father had him exiled. Left him homeless and destitute and unacknowledged simply because his relationship with Flint might someday be a liability to his business.

All the so-called civilized motherfuckers are so ready to toss aside anyone they think of as lesser and then climb the pile of corpses to even more wealth and power. And Charles refuses to hand any one of those sorry fucks any leverage against him or Jack or any one of their crew. Refuses to see their plans, everything they've worked for, thrown away for a quick fuck.

So Charles keeps himself company. And starts looking for a fight.

He's not so far separated from his days on the streets that he doesn't still remember how to find the underground bare knuckle boxing ring that floats through London's abandoned warehouses and highrises. The place where all the flotsam and jetsam of the criminal underbelly congregate to see a little blood spilt. Or to spill it.

And Charles is not so far separated from his days on the streets that the guy watching the door – some big hulking bearded fucker who dwarfs Charles – doesn't gape and stare but still let him in. In to the derelict parking garage that was meant to serve a set of luxury condominiums that were never built and so the land remained solely as a tax dodge for an absentee landlord to launder his actual business's shady money through.

Charles descends into the dank depths of the service corridors underneath the garage. And he stands face to face with a ghost.

Some fucking idiot, with more money than taste – not that Charles himself is a paragon of that, but some of Jack's obsessive rants about good design sense had to have rubbed off on him – some stupid fuck has installed a huge black door, mirror shiny, at the entrance to the illegal fighting ring. And it reflects his face from endless murky depths.

He looks like a dead man.

He looks like he did before. Before prison and before Jack taking over the crew and before Max and before playing pretend. Before dressing like a rich fuck almost too stupid and self obsessed to notice anything beyond his own reflection in the mirror.

He looks strong. He looks casually cruel – looks like a man whose only goal is to gather strength about himself and to crush out weakness. He looks ready to spill blood and have his own spilled.

Charles pushes open the stupid, ugly, ostentatious door.

His reflection may not look changed, but everyone there, all the hard fuckers, all the street trash, they know what happened to him. They know where he's been and what – who – he's been doing. So he gets a lot of shit on first walking in, shit for being a poof and a dandy. For moving out of the streets and into a house – a big posh house and not a crumbling council estate. But mostly he takes shit for him and Jack being bum buddies.

Cuz news like that's always going to travel right down to the lightless, scummy depths of the lowest places in London. Especially when it's about someone like him. Someone strong, since they see that as a weakness. Someone masculine, since they see that as inherently emasculating.

No one had been surprised about Jack swinging both ways, for instance. He looks like a poof and acts like a poof, no big mystery there. And him so unapologetically larger than life like he is, it's not like he kept it quiet. Although the street's acceptance of him might have had something to do with Anne always lurking at his shoulder, ready to slit an adversary's throat before they even knew it had been cut. And with Charles too backing Jack when he'd been in charge of the crew, making it known that if anyone fucked with him they'd have Charles Vane to deal with.

Charles himself, though. That is a surprise. One that ripples around the ring of fighters like the wave that pulls back before a tsunami is unleashed.

Charles steps into the center of the ring. A dare. A challenge.

And once he's knocked a few dozen heads together, knocks a few dozen teeth in. Once he's standing bloody and bruised but unbowed, with his vanquished enemies at his feet. Well, they all leave it alone after that.

Cuz he's still Charles fucking Vane.

And he feels that more clearly here than in the posh streets of Camden or the West End they now frequent. Feels it in the brutality of the fight for his place here, his life. Feels it in the friendlier sparring that replaces it once he's proved he's worthy to stand among them – sparring no less brutal than his earlier fights, but much more full of camaraderie and less full of a genuine desire to kill one another. And it's nice to feel like his old self, to know he's still him even after everything that's changed.

But that doesn't mean it's not nice to go home at the end of the night, bruised and bloody and with his blood finally cooled and settled under his skin. Nice to emerge from the dank underground into the grey miserable filthy dawn of London streets and know he's got a home to go to.

Jack... Well, he's not waiting up for Charles, because that would imply that he's anxious about where he's gone. And Charles is a grown man, more than capable of going wherever he'd like at whatever hour he'd like.

But he may admit to waking up a bit earlier than usual and, when he passes by Charles's room and finds his bed empty and unslept in, drinking his morning coffee in the sitting room that faces the street so that he can see Charles first thing when he arrives.

Not to be a nag or a mother hen or anything. But simply because he finds he's rather missed having Charles around – barging into his space and interrupting his work and generally making a nuisance of himself. And it's Jack's own fault Charles has started going out more. It's Jack who's been driving him away. But Jack misses him.

And Jack's going to nut up and tell Charles he's missed him. Because he doesn't want to keep going on this way. And his feelings aren't Charles's problem and Jack never should have made them be.

So he's going to fix this, he is...

And then he sees Charles coming up the street. At first, Jack thinks he's just drunk – or fucked up. He's moving a little strangely, like his legs won't quite carry him in a straight line. But as Charles gets closer, Jack can see that he's dead sober – and that he's been beaten to a pulp. His hair is stuck to his face with blood from the cut on his forehead and he's got one hell of a bruise blooming on his cheek and his knuckles are split all to hell.

He looks wrecked. He looks almost as bad as he had after he'd killed Albinus.

Jack runs out to him, where he's standing looking lost and alone out on the pavement.

Charles smiles at Jack as he approaches - Jack who must make a ridiculous figure, rushing outside in nothing but a silk robe and fuzzy slippers - and his teeth are stained red with blood and the smile is really more of a baring of teeth.

“Chaz.” And there Jack stops, because he's really not certain how to go on.

“Jack.” And Charles's voice is steady, even if his footsteps aren't.

Jack places an arm under Charles's and helps him towards the house, towards the hanging open front door and the warmth and safety beyond. “Charles, what the fuck happened?”

Charles slumps against the hallway wall while Jack turns to close the door. “Got in a fight.” And he's grinning up at Jack, looking absolutely fucking unrepentant.

Jack throws his hands up in exasperation. “Really Chaz? You got in a fight? I never would have guessed.”

Charles's grin just gets even more smug.

“Who, pray tell, were you fighting? And why?”

Charles moves further into the house, to the hallway bathroom, where he starts dabbing at his cuts with a delicate hand towel. And yeah, that stain's probably never coming out. But it wasn't his decision to buy white towels, Jack. “Just some street toughs. And as for why...” He shrugs. “Sometimes a man just wants a fight. You know how it is.”

Jack certainly does not know how it is. He's always had the philosophy that fights are to be avoided at all costs – he would never seek out a, a recreational skirmish.

And Charles seems to realize that, because he turns away from Jack and begins dabbing in earnest at the cut on his forehead with a now dampened – and frighteningly bloody - hand towel.

Jack purses his lips but squeezes into the bathroom alongside him. “Here, Charles. You'd better let me do that.”

[ahatintimestorybook]

AHIT Twin AU- Vanessa

Hey everyone! Here is the next chapter before I head back to writing angst for you all! Yes angst will be coming back! Prepare yourselves!!

Also just a big side note, as much as I want to do an arc with Luka and Vanessa dating, that’s hard for me due to the nature of their relationship. I’m someone who does shipping stories and I tend to make them romantic and cheesy yet adorable as possible. As much as I’d like to make a cute couple story with the two before...all this...it would be weird to make a cute story with Vanessa and Luka as we all know what kind of relationship the two have and what happens with Luka.

I might write one in the future, but for now I just plan on writing how they met (this one) and the downfall.

Hope you enjoy it!

@winterpower98

Subcon Law Academy was one of the biggest and only law schools in Subcon, and is where 18-year old MJ and Luka would be attending. After doing everything they can since March to get accepted to the school it finally paid off as they were finally here, taking law classes and studying to become lawyers like their mother. When they arrived, MJ parked the car and got out along with his little twin brother.

“Can’t believe we're finally here!” Luka grinned.

“I know! All that work in pulling all nighters, studying, and everything else while balancing senior year of high school was worth it.” MJ added.

“Yeah!” Luka agreed as he gave MJ a high five. The two grabbed their stuff and were ready to enter the building when a limo caught Luka’s eye. He, MJ and a couple of other students stopped to see which celebrity had decided to enroll in law school.

From the limo a long haired blonde haired girl wearing a green outfit over a blue collared blouse, a maroon skirt, and black shoes came out of the limo. She was saying goodbye to the driver, once the driver left she quickly ran inside the building surprising everyone.

“Who was she?” Luka wondered.

MJ shrugged. “I don’t know, but that was pretty weird she just ran off like that.” He pointed out.

Luka flinched and turned towards MJ, “Pretty weird? She’s pretty, pretty.” He gushed.

“Oh brother.” MJ sighed, shaking his head.

Inside the law school building, the blonde girl left the bathroom, and now had her hair tied in a ponytail with a green ribbon. She was ready to walk to class when she tripped and fell, dropping all of her stuff. The girl huffed blowing a stray strand of hair out of her face.

Luka went over to the girl and helped her pick up her stuff. “Are you okay?” He asked.

“Y-yeah I’m fine.” The girl replied. She was about to pick up her dairy when Luka grabbed it as well, touching the girl’s hand. The two looked up at each other, and Luka blushed seeing the young girl in front of him.

The girl blushed seeing Luka, and her red ruby eyes glistened as she stared into Luka’s burning yellow eyes. “Uh...hi there.” Luka spoke still frozen in place staring at the young girl

“H-hello.” The girl replied, stuttering a bit.

The two were just staring at each other’s eyes as everyone around them just disappeared leaving the two alone. Luka picked up the book and handed it to the girl and saw her name written on it. “T-this is yours, right, Vanessa?” He asked as he read the name written on the book.

Vanessa nodded and took the book back before holding it close to her. “Y-yes. I’m Vanessa Queenzel.” She replied, introducing herself.

Luka’s eyes widen hearing the name. “You're the daughter of Elizabeth Queenzel! Your family has been helping Subcon for generations! You're like the ambassadors to Subcon!” He exclaimed. Luka paused himself, blushing in embarrassment as he rubbed the back of his head. “S-sorry if I sounded...creepy just now.” He apologized.

Vanessa chuckled, “It's fine.” She reassured him. Luka smiled and held his hand out for Vanessa to take it. Vanessa stared at Luka’s hand and smiled, taking his hand as he helped her up. The two were just staring at each other smiling and blushing, not saying a word.

Luka chuckled, breaking the silence. “I should introduce myself, I’m Luka Prince, but I should warn you if you see a boy that looks like me except wearing a ponytail, that’s not me, it's my twin brother.” He explained.

Vanessa giggled as she leaned in closer to the younger twin, “I like you Luka.” She commented. Luka blushed harder now. “Y-your really funny.”

“T-thanks.” Luka replied. Luka was blushing harder now and smiling like a complete idiot, and in front of the richest girl in Subcon. He didn’t know what else to say to Vanessa, he never dated nor talked to a girl. I mean he did, but this was different to him.

Now it was Vanessa’s turn to break the silence. “So what’s your class, by the way?” She asked.

Luka pulled out his schedule and Vanessa did the same, the two compared schedules and smiled seeing they had the same class together. “Well want to walk to class together, Vanessa?” Luka asked.

Vanessa giggled and took Luka’s hand. “Of course, Luka.” Luka and Vanessa walked to their class together, and as they were couldn’t stop blushing or glancing at one another. When they did one of them giggled making the other giggle as well.

MJ was sitting in class waiting for his little brother to show up. Class was about to start in a few minutes and Luka wasn’t in class like he promised. MJ sighed and grabbed his cellphone to send his brother a text message, but then he saw Luka walk in holding Vanessa’s hand talking to her.

“So that’s why you're here because you think law will help your family?” Luka asked.

“Yeah.” Vanessa sighed. “I’m not too much of a law major, but its one of the many subjects my family never learned, so I want to be the first Queenzel woman and family member to study it.”

Luka chuckled. “You are something Vanessa.”

“Ahem.” Luka and Vanessa turned to see MJ glaring at the two of them, his fingers drumming on the desk.

Luka chuckled, rubbing the back of his head. “S-sorry MJ.” Luka apologized. MJ glared and turned towards Vanessa. “Oh MJ, this is Vanessa Queenzel, Vanessa this is my older twin brother Michael or MJ.”

Vanessa looked at MJ, who the later raised his eyebrow at and then turned towards Luka. “W-wow you're not wrong, Luka. You two do look alike.” Vanessa noted. Luka smiled and sat down next to his twin brother. Vanessa then followed, by sitting in the chair next to Luka.

MJ raised an eyebrow at the rich girl talking with his brother. Vanessa then turned to MJ and waved at him. MJ gave a sheepish smile and waved at Vanessa back.

“Your brother is nice.” Vanessa told Luka.

“Oh he is!” Luka agreed. The two continued to talk till class started and the two went quiet.

During class, Luka and MJ studied and listened to what was going on in class. Though as the professor wasn’t looking Vanessa took out another sheet of paper and doodled all over it. The drawing was of Luka with hearts and cute words for him.

Luka smiled at the drawing, and as much as he wanted to comment on it, he had to focus on the lesson. MJ was annoyed by this girl, the two just met and now they're acting like they’ve been dating for over a year. Though MJ sighed he couldn’t just assume anything of Vanessa, but it just felt annoying the two were making goo-goo eyes and giggly with each other.

By lunch MJ saved a quiet spot for him and Luka to enjoy lunch together. However, when Luka showed up he brought Vanessa with him. “Hope you don’t mind MJ, but could Vanessa sit with us?” He asked.

MJ sighed. Guess brother time would have to wait till they get home. “I don’t mind at all Luka.” He sighed.

Luka smiled as he and Vanessa sat down to have lunch. MJ was relieved lunch was quiet between Luka and Vanessa. No flirting, no goo-goo eyeing each other, just enjoying lunch. MJ sighed as he took a bite of his sandwich.

“Michael.” Vanessa spoke up.

“Vanessa, just call me MJ.” MJ corrected her.

“Sorry.” Vanessa apologized. “MJ could I see what you look like without the ponytail?” She asked.

MJ looked at his ponytail and held it. “I really don’t put my hair down.” He hesitated.

“Come on MJ just show her for one second. It will surprise her.” Luka pleaded.

MJ sighed and rolled his eyes. He put his lunch down before messing with the blue hair tie he uses to tie his hair and removed it. He shook his head and Vanessa was even more surprised with how much MJ does look like Luka. MJ started to feel uncomfortable and went back to untie his hair, “There you saw it!” Once he got his hair tied back up he went back to finish his lunch.

Vanessa frowned feeling disappointed, but Luka reassured her everything was fine. “MJ is probably just shocked by this whole thing since well you know. Just give him time he’ll open up to you.” Vanessa smiled at Luka’s statement, and hoped so as well.

After lunch the trio went back to class and everything played the same again, however it was more tame then earlier in the morning. After class Vanessa was the first one to leave class, which confused the twins again.

“She’s in a rush.” MJ said.

Luka sighed. “I don’t know why?” He wondered as he and his brother left the building of law school to head back home. As they were walking back towards their car Luka felt the air gave out on him when Vanessa tackled him with a hug.

“Hi Luka!” Vanessa giggled.

Luka sighed seeing it wasn’t a mugger and turned to see it was Vanessa. However, before he could greet her he saw she had removed the ponytail and her hair was long like it was when school started. “Oh.” Luka replied, surprised. “You removed your ponytail.”

Vanessa gave a small smile as she ran her fingers through her long blonde hair. “Y-yeah.”

“I hope this doesn’t sound rude, but I like your hair in a ponytail, it's cute.” Luka commented. Vanessa quickly looked at him in surprise. However, Luka groaned as he gave a face palm. “S-sorry. T-that was stupid! Completely pecking stupid!”

“N-no! It's fine!” Vanessa reassured him. “I’m not offended really.” Luka started to calm down and faced the young girl. Vanessa sighed and twirled a bit of her hair. “It's a long story, you see my-” Vanessa was about to explain why, but was interrupted by her limo driver.

“Vanessa! We have to go! Your mother is waiting for you!” The driver called out.

Vanessa sighed. “See you tomorrow Luka.” She gave Luka a hug, which completely surprised him. As much as Luka was surprised he replied back hugging Vanessa. She said her goodbyes to Luka and ran off to her limo and got in. As the limo drove away she smiled at Luka before she drove away from him. At least till tomorrow.

“He’s perfect.” Vanessa sighed.

“She’s perfect.” Luka sighed as he and MJ were driving home.

MJ sighed and rolled his eyes. “Oh brother.” He whispered.

“I’m going to ask her out tomorrow!” Luka revealed.

“What?!” MJ snapped. Glad he was at a stop light otherwise he would have slammed the car in front of him. “Luka, you just met her and now you want to ask her out on a date?!”

Luka blushed nervously. “Well, yeah.”

MJ groaned. “Luka you and Vanessa just met. Think you could wait a while before asking her on a date?” He asked.

Luka went quiet and thought for a second. “Alright. Alright. I guess I’ll ask her out later.” He sighed.

“Good.” MJ replied. “I don’t mean to be overprotective. It's just I don’t want you rushing into a relationship that fast.”

“I know that.” Luka answered back. MJ and Luka sighed calming down after the whole ordeal. “So, what do you think of law school so far?” Luka asked; changing the subject.

MJ smiled. “I like it so far. We made an excellent choice.” He said.

“Same.” Luka and MJ smiled and laughed before MJ played music on the radio and the brothers decided to jam out to the first song that was being played.

Days passed being in Law School, and it was finally Friday.

“Want to go out sometime?” Luka and Vanessa both asked each other. MJ almost fell out of his seat hearing that question. Luka laughed, “I-I wanted to ask you out first!” Luka and Vanessa said again. “No I wanted too.”

Vanessa and Luka laughed seeing they were saying the same thing. “I mean I’d love to take you out Vanessa, when are you available?” Luka asked.

“Anytime after law school.” Vanessa answered.

Luka smiled. “Great! I know this great ice cream shop we can go to.”

Vanessa smiled and clapped her hands. “Perfect! It's a date!”

MJ sighed and sank down in his seat. He knew his brother was happy about getting a girlfriend, but why in the back of his mind he was so goddamned worried.

[athingthatwantsvirginia]

The Steinbeck Agreement

PART TWENTY-THREE OF THE DO YOU SEE HER FACE? SERIES

Pairing: Jess Mariano x Original Character (Ella Stevens)

Warnings: discussions of familial physical/emotional abuse please read with caution, serious angst, anxiety about future, plentiful pop culture references

Word Count: 6K

Summary: Ella makes some major changes in her life, and Jess reluctantly returns to town for his mother’s wedding.

The afternoon light streamed golden through the diner windows as Liz and Luke came in, Ella leaning on the counter with her sketchbook in front of her. Too enveloped in the drawing of a field of murderous daisies, Ella didn’t even register what they were talking about until she heard them mention her name.

“...maybe Ella could do it,” Liz said, tilting her head at the young woman with dark eye makeup and EAT ME printed across her shirt.

“Hm?” Ella asked, looking up from her sketch with furrowed brows.

Luke rolled his eyes at her distracted nature. Ever since she’d moved out of her childhood home, she’d been in a worse mood, focused almost solely on her terrifying drawings. He’d had to tell her a couple times to make sure to keep the sketchbook off the counter when there were children present.

“Be a flower girl,” Liz said, a big, dreamy smile on her face. She was dressed in a long, floral red dress. “Most of the Renaissance fair crowd doesn’t have small children. But if we’re gonna have a wedding, we’re gonna have a real wedding. Can’t be a wedding without a flower girl.”

“Sorry, whose wedding?” Ella asked, straightening up and raising an eyebrow.

“Mine, sweetie.” Liz had a high, wispy voice that reminded Ella of the fairies she used to imagine playing in her mother’s garden. “We’re having it right out in the square next week. It’s gonna be beautiful, all our Renaissance fair friends will be there, and it’ll have this great medieval theme! And you could be the flower girl!”

“Oh, I don’t…” Ella began with a shy smile, but Liz only waved a dismissive hand at her, continuing.

“I can loan you one of my fair dresses,” she said excitedly, not picking up on Ella’s doubtful expression.

“Yeah, Ella. You can finally perfect your whole Bride of Frankenstein look,” Luke teased. His expression was far more pleasant than Ella could have predicted. Happy. Happy, in its simplest form, looked so strange on Luke. The past few months had seen the true finalization of his divorce and his having to watch Lorelai date some rich snob from her father’s company. But the news seemed to brighten his mood inexplicably. She was sure the laughter at her expense wasn’t exactly a drag on the day either.

Rolling her eyes, Ella shot him a pointed glance. “Y’know, you would be lost without your best waitress.”

“I’m quaking in my boots. Besides, I’ve got Lane working for me now, anyway.”

Though she narrowed her eyes at him, she could think of nothing more to say. He was right. She would never quit on him. The diner was more of a home to her than anywhere else in the world. Hell, it had almost single-handedly fed her during the worst few months of her life. Along with Lorelai’s frequent feasts of junk food.

“I can just see it, Ella! It’ll be so much fun and you’d look so beautiful!” Liz exclaimed, grabbing one of Ella’s hands in a pleading gesture.

Biting the inside of her cheek, Ella did her best to protest. She still wasn’t Liz’s biggest fan, despite wherever it was that she stood with Jess. The alcohol, the neglect. But Luke seemed not entirely angry about the match, especially considering his view on TJ when the two had first been introduced back in February. And Liz’s smile was so large, so radiant. Her eyes were desperate and almost kind. Heaving a huge sigh, Ella nodded. Luke was much more than her boss. And he gave a smile so rare when she agreed. She would do it for Luke, she decided. In fact, it was the least she could do.

.   .   .

Sat on the lumpy couch in Lane’s living room, Ella found herself smiling just a touch. The band, finally named Hep Alien, was getting better with every practice. Though the room was piled high with dirty clothes and video game equipment, and it remained cluttered no matter how many times Ella tried to clean it up, she was beginning to get more comfortable. Her king mattress was so old anyway, and sleeping on the plaid couch wasn’t much different. As she had run from the only house she had ever known, she’d packed as much as she could into her station wagon, which had once been her aunt Julie’s. It wasn’t like her old room fit much anyway. Mostly, the backseat was filled with her records, books, clothes.

Loud music making her ears ring, she sketched Lane behind the drums, living the way she had always wanted. As fun as it was watching band practice nearly every night, Ella was eager for her summer classes to start. If she played her cards right, she could graduate a year early with art as a minor. Ella’s mind drifted to the night she left, the day after she finally finished her first year of college. And, over a modest celebratory dinner, the conversation had drifted, as it always did, to the future.

.   .   .

two and a half weeks earlier

Tugging with one hand at the ends of her hair, Ella felt an odd mixture of distasteful nostalgia and happiness in her stomach. The lasagna tasted exactly as her mother’s had, and Ella knew Fiona had followed the recipe, scribbled in the back of the ancient cookbook, exactly. But she would keep quiet. Fiona truly seemed proud of her, beaming and giving her a hug the moment she walked through the door after work. Slowly, very slowly, Ella was beginning to accept it, the motherly love. Though occasionally it still rubbed her the wrong way, it didn’t send her spiralling into anger and melancholy as it once had.

And it wasn’t as though Fiona was a bad person. She had a sunny disposition, glossy hair, expressive eyes. Ella could understand how her father would want to marry her. But she was just too unlike her mother. Would never understand Ella the way her mother had. It still felt like bizarro-world when Fiona tried to give her advice or compliment her on her piano skills. But she could manage dinner every once and a while, and accept pride in her academic accomplishments. She was on the Dean’s List, after all.

Adam pushed his food around his plate as he spoke. From the glances they’d shared, Ella could tell he tasted the same memories from childhood she did.

“We’ve still got about a month, but I really think we can get first place,” Adam said of his mathlete competition. His voice had gotten deeper, and he was finally growing taller. Ella could tell he would end up looking a lot like Noah.

“That’s great,” Jake said, nodding with a half-smile.

“Really is,” Fiona echoed, grinning widely.

As silence fell on the four of them, forks scraped on the Corelle plates and throats were cleared. Awkward silences had quickly become staples of family dinners. Eventually, Jake began twisting his wedding ring and looked straight at Ella, who sat at his left side. The light in the peach kitchen was bright despite the cloudy darkness outside. The May evening was humid and buzzing with cicadas.

“And what about you, Ellie?” Jake asked.

Looking up carefully, Ella put down her fork and faced him. “What about me?”

“Do you have any prospects for the summer? Besides the diner?”

She shook her head. “No. Unless Patty needs me to fill in. Might start painting more. I’m thinking a small easel would fit pretty well near the window in my room.”

Narrowing his eyes doubtfully, Jake tilted his head slightly. “I don’t know. Seems like a waste of money.”

“Why?” she asked instantly.

“We don’t have to discuss this now,” Fiona interjected patiently.

Adam looked down at his plate as he ate.

Jake breathed a frustrated sigh through his nose. “You’re majoring in history. You’re living with us for at least three more years. I don’t think now’s the time for pipe dreams.”

“Hm,” Ella nodded, giving a thin, vicious smile. “It’s funny you say that. When mom was alive, you always thought I should put as much time into my art as she put into her music.”

“You were a kid. Things change. The best you can hope for is being a history teacher at Stars Hollow High, and you have to be happy with it,” Jake explained with cold logic in his voice. His eyebrows were raised in condescension.

Ella’s cheeks heated up. “Oh, so all this time you’ve just been humoring me? Telling me I had talent?”

“Not exactly. But you’re not O’Keefe, either.”

“Never said I was,” Ella snapped, standing up from her seat. “I can't do this right now. I’m buying my fucking paint, dad.”

“Hey!” he shouted, rising from his own seat and following her as she stormed into the living room towards the hall entrance. “Don’t you use that language with me, young lady!”

“Why not?! Might as well let you know how I actually talk if you’re gonna let me know how you actually feel!” she yelled back, gesturing wildly with her hands.

Jake rolled his eyes at his only daughter. “Toughen up, Ellie! You’ve only got so much time on this earth and I’m not gonna watch you waste it on your doodles!”

“Oh, and lecturing about the revolutionary war in the town where I’ve always lived wouldn’t be a waste?” she asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

“At least you’ll make a living! You’ll still be around people who love you, who take care of you. You’ll always be near us,” he argued.

Ella let out a bitter, humorless bark of laughter. “People who take care of me?! I’ve been taking care of you for almost five years! All of you! Especially you! When mom died, I was the one who fed us, I was the one who cleaned and tried to cook! And you did fuck-all except drink and lie around crying!”

Eyes darkening, Jake took a step closer to her and she immediately recoiled. “I lost my wife. You will never understand that!”

“I lost my mother!” she screamed, hands clenched at her sides, so hard her knuckles turned white. Angry tears snuck up on her eyes but she swallowed them back to the best of her ability.

“If I’d have known how much you’d bitch about helping out, doing what a daughter should, I never would’ve let you take that job at Luke’s!”

“Doing what a daughter should?” she asked immediately, eyebrows shooting up. Her jaw was set firm with tension.

Fiona appeared from the kitchen behind her husband, putting a hand to his shoulder. “Baby, let’s just all take a minute to cool down.”

“You brother and I needed you and all you could do was complain!” he roared.

Ella scoffed. “You needed me? You needed me to keep you alive long enough for you to find a new wife to coddle you and baby you and cry with you when you told her about your tragic high school sweetheart! Why do you think she hates you, huh?”

Her stomach did a flip when she saw the hurt on Fiona’s face from the corner of her eye, but a fire burned so hot inside her, and she couldn’t keep her words contained any longer. She’d tried to play the dutiful woman of the house long enough.

“Do not talk about my marriage!” Jake warned. “It’s none of your business!”

“Of course it’s my business! It’ll be my business when I have to pick up the pieces once she leaves you!”

“You have always been such a little brat! You were a nightmare to raise for me and for Sophia!” A vein had popped out in his forehead, and he shrugged Fiona’s touch from his shoulder.

“Fuck you!”

Crack! Ella seemed to hear it before she felt it: a sharp, searing pain as his open palm struck her cheek. It was a feeling she hadn’t experienced in so long, not since she was ten and had mouthed off at the dinner table. A sinking feeling struck her stomach as silence filled the room. Because she suddenly discovered she had always been expecting it. Always knew it would happen again, someday, somehow. And she’d been almost surprised he hadn’t smacked her in the months following her mother’s death. But, the levee had to break. It always did.

She brought a hand to her stinging flesh, and her father stopped in his tracks. Remorse washed over his features and he went to reach out for her. Flinching away from him, Ella felt her fingers grip at her necklace.

“Ellie, I’m so sorry, baby. I told you not to use that language with me. And you know how my old man was about-”

“No,” she said softly, shaking her head. “No.”

.   .   .

The final, strong bass note of the White Stripes song Hep Alien played broke her from her memories. She could see the dull sky as she packed up her car the best she could, the night crossing over into morning as she offered Adam a quick goodbye. He’d been upset, but also somewhat calm. And when he’d come to visit her a week later during one of her shifts at the diner, he told her he had always known Ella would leave. From the first night after their mother had died, he’d known. Though he knew it was fruitless to try and convince her not to feel guilty, Adam had told her not to worry. He could handle home on his own, he was confident. He’d never been slapped. And they were both smart enough to understand why.

And when she’d come to Lane in the early hours of the morning, still painfully holding back her tears with the entire contents of her life parked out on the street in the station wagon, she knew everything would change. Lane had welcomed her with open arms, of course. Had seen Ella cry for only the third time in all their years knowing each other. There was something so sweet about her new freedom, but a heaviness still sat in Ella’s heart. Constant guilt and fear for Adam, heartache over her mother, who she still missed everyday. And she felt so lost, it was all-consuming. She didn’t know what the next step was. Would she still be able to pay for college? Would she ever speak to her stepmother again? Would she even stay a history major, if she was lucky enough to continue her education? She had never been more glad for Luke’s, and for her friends. There were few comforts in her life, continued existence as a waitress, or knowing Adam was only a few blocks away in case something ever happened. She clung to the only constants left for dear life. She’d been dreaming of leaving the house for so long, but it managed to be even harder than she thought it would be. A gloomy cloud had been hanging over her for a few weeks, as she walked through her existence with an aimlessness she had never known before.

Clapping some, Ella offered a big smile and watched as Zach, Gil, and Bryan began to talk amongst themselves about the new tattoo Gil had shown up to practice with. Lane excused herself from the conversation only because of the temptation. She wanted a tattoo, really did, but didn’t want to increase the chances of her mother disowning her any more than she already had. Instead, she came to join Ella on the couch, plopping down and putting an arm around her friend. Ella kept her smile and rested her head against Lane’s shoulder. Since moving in, Ella was reminded every day of what a wonderful person Lane was. They came from such different worlds, but never judged each other, always took care of each other, helped each other with their respective escapes. Working together at Luke’s had been even more fun than Ella could have ever imagined. It was a welcome end to the long, lonely year after Jess’s departure, just she and Luke sulking around together. There was a place for sulking, but the time for it seemed to be coming to an end.

“You guys were fucking great,” Ella said, then gestured down to the picture she had just drawn. “You’re a regular Meg White up there. Really.”

“Flattery will get you everywhere,” Lane chirped, beaming with pride.

Snorting a laugh, Ella put the sketchbook aside and bit back a yawn. “Don’t I know it.”

“Hey, are you okay?” Lane asked, brows furrowing.

It almost made her want to laugh. Over the past two weeks, Lane had asked her that question more than had once seemed humanly possible. “Yeah, Lane. I’m fine. Just a long day. Got roped into being a flower girl.”

“What?”

“Yeah, Luke’s sister. Liz. Have you met her before? You weren’t working at the diner yet the last time she was in town,” she said tiredly.

“No, I haven’t,” Lane replied. “Jess’s mom, right?”

“She is indeed.”

“And why exactly are you filling what is traditionally a role for a girl in pigtails and Mary Janes?”

Blowing out a sigh, Ella shook her head slightly. “I don’t even know. She just sort of told me...didn’t exactly ask. It’s next week in town square, so there’s not enough time. And Luke really seemed like he wanted me to and I just...I don’t know. Maybe she’s a witch.”

“Always a possibility,” Lane nodded, going along with the bit as she always did. “And have you heard from Jess lately?”

Again, Ella shook her head. “He still doesn’t have an actual phone number, and now I don’t either. Not optimum communication conditions.”

“Yeah, that’s not ideal,” Lane said, commiserating.

“I wish it had crossed my mind, but I moved out in about forty-five minutes,” Ella said, fiddling with her necklace.

A guilty look painted her features. But she’d only been out of the house a little while, maybe he hadn’t called.

“Do you think he’ll come for the wedding?”

Ella scoffed. “Not a chance in hell.”

.   .   .

“Are you sure I can’t help with anything else?” Ella asked, arms crossed over her chest.

Her chewed pencil sat behind her ear, and her hair fell in a loose, hasty braid over her shoulder. One of her booted feet tapped constantly against the tiled floor, and she smoothed over her blue skirt every few minutes. And she only looked half as stressed as Luke. The wedding was in two days, and nearly everything had been dumped on him. As a consequence, Ella had been dealing with the diner business while Luke argued on the phone with vendors who could give him the proper medieval food and decor.

The midday lull had finally come, and Lorelai stopping in was sure to bring a little sunshine. Though she had been pretty overwhelmed herself, lately. The new Dragonfly Inn opening was only weeks away.

Luke shook his head at Ella when he’d finished giving Lorelai the rundown of the week’s events. “Not right now, kid. That was the last call I had to make. At least for the time being.”

“Just say the word,” Ella shrugged, finally letting herself relax a touch, leaning her forearms onto the counter.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“So, am I caught up on everything, then?” Lorelai chimed in, brows raised and eyes expectant.

“Yeah, I’d say so…” Luke began, but the bell over the door jingled.

A familiar scowl appeared in the diner’s entrance, and Jess trudged up to the counter with a finger pointed at Luke. “I’m not paying for a motel, so I’m stayin’ with you!”

Lorelai gasped dramatically and narrowed her eyes at Luke. “Liar!”

As he passed on his way to the stairs, Jess gave Ella a curt nod. She reciprocated, but felt unnerved by his demeanor. Was it shy? Was it angry? It certainly didn’t seem pleasant. They hadn’t spoken in nearly three weeks, the longest time since he had first run away to California.

“I didn’t think he was coming,” Luke muttered, watching Jess disappear up the stairs. A wistful, fond smile crossed Luke’s lips. “I went to see him in New York.”

“You did?” Ella asked, brows furrowed.

“Yeah. It was a total pig sty and he may or may not be a drug dealer. But, hey, at least he came,” Luke said, shaking his head in a mixture of amusement and wonder.

Sighing through her nose, Ella looked down at her feet and bit at the inside of her cheek. Her gaze focused on nothing in particular, thoughts swimming around and colliding with each other inside her already crowded mind. “Yeah. At least. I’m gonna take my ten minutes. That alright?”

Luke was busy, back to his banter with Lorelai, and only gave a half nod her way. She snickered at how enveloped in each other the two of them were. Without much effort, she slipped behind the curtain and climbed up the stairs unnoticed. Nerves coursed through her, and her heart sped up in her chest. She gave two short, harsh knocks on the window of the shabby apartment door.

After waiting a moment and receiving no response, she rolled her eyes to herself. Who was she to be nervous? He was pretty much her best friend, besides Lane. And she hadn’t done anything wrong. With a new, determined quality to her steps, she walked through the front door and found him just where she expected, on his old bed, nose already buried in a book.

Crossing her arms over her chest, she plastered on a confident smirk and sat down on the end of the bed. She recognized the book instantly, her own copy buried in the pile of belongings in her car: Sweet Thursday by John Steinbeck.

“The only author we could ever agree on,” she said, eyeing the book though Jess still hadn’t lifted his head.

“Pretty much,” he replied flatly, biting at his bottom lip as he focused on the words in front of him.

Sighing shortly through her nose, Ella turned to face him fully, sitting criss-cross applesauce on the familiar brown afghan. Jess unconsciously brought his feet in closer to make room for her, his knees up in the air, blocking her view of his face slightly. But she could see his hair, longer still and without any gel.

“See you’ve completely ditched the pompadour look,” she muttered. “Couldn’t handle being mistaken for an Elvis impersonator any longer, huh?”

“My God, you should do stand-up,” Jess said dryly, eyes widening in feigned amazement as he kept reading.

Shaking her head slightly, Ella let a harsh chuckle escape her lips and furrowed her brows at him. “Out with it, jackass.”

“Hm?” he asked dismissively, taking a pencil from his pocket to underline a phrase.

Ella pursed her lips in frustration. “Well, it’s obvious you’re pissed. I say we skip the passive-aggressive theatrics and you just spill it. But, hey, this is a democracy. You also get a vote.”

Rolling his eyes, Jess finally shot a glance over his knees. Heaving a sigh, he shut his book and tossed it into the open duffel bag on the floor next to the bed. In one swift movement, he mirrored her sitting position and tilted his head at her in askance.

“Have you been doing a lot of hard partying lately? Really taking advantage of this college thing? Or have you been avoiding my calls?” he asked, though he wasn’t angry, despite the sarcasm. There was a defeated tone in his voice which surprised her; almost disappointed.

Biting the inside of her cheek, she gave another small shake of her head, and she spoke firmly. “Well, first of all, I’m not required to take your calls. I asked you to call me because you fucked off to California without telling me and I wanted to make sure you hadn’t been serial-killed.”

Jess gave a begrudging nod, almost preparing for a dressing down.

“But, no, I haven’t been avoiding your calls, alright? Paranoid much?”

He scoffed, but she cut him off before he could retort.

“I moved out.”

Immediately, his eyebrows shot up in surprise. “You did?”

She nodded. “Yeah. About two weeks ago. Wasn’t exactly seamless, and I bet my dad will disconnect my old line at some point. I’ve been staying at Lane’s with her and the band. They don’t have a phone yet. And you change your number pretty much every week, so it’s not like I could let you know.”

A smile crossed his features. “I’m...that’s great, Eleanor.”

She snorted a laugh of disbelief. “Yeah, it’s so great living out of my car and sleeping on Lane’s forty-year-old couch.”

Jess shrugged. “Gotta start somewhere.”

“I guess.”

He looked flabbergasted. “I’m so proud of you.”

A blush heated her cheeks and she chuckled breathily in confusion. “What?”

“For moving out. I mean, I can’t imagine it was a quiet affair,” he said, face falling slightly.

Again, she shook her head, glancing down at the space between them on the comforter and clutching her necklace. “No. It wasn’t.”

“What happened?” he ventured without hesitation, searching her face and exposed arms for any yellowed bruises or healing cuts. Sometimes, he could give even Ella a run for her money when assuming the worst.

Ella shrugged noncommittally, throwing a glance down at her watch, then facing him again with a small smile. “Long story. I’ve only got a couple minutes left on break. You gonna be in town for a little while?”

“Until the minute the wedding ends.”

“Okay, we’ll find some time to catch up,” she said, smirking. “Luke tells me you’re a drug dealer now. You’ve gotta let me in on all your behind-the-scenes Scarface facts.”

Jess rolled his eyes. “God, Luke is such a drama queen. I’m a messenger.”

“Nice cover. Very convincing.”

“Don’t you have coffee to pour?” he shot back, defensive.

Snickering, Ella rose from the bed, smoothing down her skirt and apron. “Whatever keeps the guilt at bay, tough guy.”

“G’bye,” he muttered, grumpy, as he settled back against the wall and picked up his book again. But, just before Ella reached the door: “What time are you off, Eleanor?”

“Six-thirty. Luke’s closing up early to play wedding planner,” she said, hand poised over the doorknob.

Jess chuckled. “Pizza at Antonioli’s tonight?”

“Sure. I even promise not to wear a wire.”

The pillow Jess had thrown barely missed her as she exited the apartment, laughing under her breath.

.   .   .

Sighing softly, Ella ran the key along the chain of her necklace and looked down at the half-eaten pizza crusts on her paper plate. The old wooden table in the pizza place was slightly sticky, and carved with the names of various people and couples who had shared a pie there before. But, they could watch the Stars Hollow evening turn from golden to blue as the sun went down, sitting by the front window. Jess had to leave by eight, and it was half past seven by the time the stars came out. Summer had almost come, and the days were long and bright with sunshine. Chilly breezes swept past at night, but it was getting warmer still.

“So...yeah. It only took me about forty-five minutes to pack everything up. Didn’t realize how little stuff I had until I could fit almost everything in my trunk and back seat,” she said, a small, humorless smile on her face.

Jess nodded, rolling a balled-up napkin absently in his hand as he listened, his face stony. “Was it just yelling? Or did he hit you?”

Breathing another long sigh through her nose, Ella bit the inside of her cheek. “Just once. He just slapped me once. He told me not to swear at him, but I-”

“Eleanor,” he interjected, voice firm but gentle. “Once is way too much. Even a slap. It’s way, way too many times.”

She only shrugged. “I know. I mean, of course I know that. It’s just…”

Again, he nodded wordlessly. Jess knew what it was like to have a parent, or a step-parent, who used hurt as a tool. And he knew the confusion. Sometimes monsters wore masks. She didn’t have to say anything more.

“I’m sorry,” he said quietly.

Ella shook her head. “It’s not your fault. And I’m moved out now, Jess.”

“Right...and I meant what I said. I’m so proud of you, Stevens.” Jess reached hesitantly across the table, and took her free hand in his. Gave it one squeeze.

She flashed him a tiny smile, squeezed it back. Then she disentangled their fingers and tucked her hair behind her ears, clearing her throat and straightening her back. The severity left her features, a new, mischievous twinkle lighting up her hazel eyes. Her chest was less heavy, and she was glad he knew. Glad he could understand with so few words.

“Proud of you too, Mariano. This time, I didn’t have to watch you step out of a sheriff’s car when you got to town,” she smirked, picking up one of the crusts and taking another bite out of it.

He frowned. “Ugh, please don’t mention Andy Griffith. That car is my property. The only reason I even called Luke after I got to Venice was to ask about the car and he-”

Still chuckling, Ella raised her hands in surrender, cutting him off. “White flag.”

Jess offered a sardonic, lop-sided smirk. “And, believe or not, Luke will be the sanest person at the bachelor party tonight.”

“Why are you even going?” she asked, brows furrowed as she took a sip of her water, ice melty from time and the May heat seeping through the splintered wood of the front door.

Shaking his head, Jess glanced down at his watch and noticed he had only ten minutes before he and Luke would have to hop in Luke’s ancient green truck. “I don’t know. Luke mentioned me not wanting to go to Liz, and then she spent thirty minutes babbling until she finally wore me down.”

Pursing her lips, Ella nodded. “Yeah, she’s very persuasive.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re looking at the flower girl,” she admitted, gesturing to herself.

He laughed breathily. “No way.”

“Yep. I’ll be there in the renaissance dress and all. Though, Lorelai said she would make some alterations for me. I’m going over to her house in a little while to sort out the whole corset situation.”

Jess snorted another chuckle. “Good luck.”

“Right back at ya, Mariano,” she teased. “Where on earth would TJ want to go for his bachelor party?”

“It’s a cliché I’m sure you’ll be able to guess on the first try,” Jess said with a dejected frown.

After only a moment with brows furrowed, realization flashed across Ella’s eyes and her expression turned to one of disgust. “Ugh, Jesus. A strip club?”

“I know,” he grumbled. “Believe me, I’ll be there in silent protest.”

“Mouth off to one of the owners if you get the chance, would you? For me?” she asked.

“Will do.”

.   .   .

“I don’t hate my mother,” Jess grumbled to Luke, rolling his eyes slightly.

He ran a hand through his messy hair, crossing his leather-clad arms. Maybe he should’ve known he would get into a fight with TJ at some point, considering his history with Liz’s past boyfriends and husbands. All it had taken was TJ hitting the Austen novel out of his hands, as he read begrudgingly in the low-lit strip club. And they’d come to blows. And Luke was pissed. They were sat down at a table in Luke’s, the diner completely dark glowing only from the streetlamps and twinkle lights in the square. All the chairs, save for the two they sat in, were stacked up on the red tables. Luke was interrogating Jess about why he’d come for the wedding anyway, if he was so mad about it. As if he hadn’t stormed into Jess’s apartment trying to convince him to come only a few days earlier.

“You don’t?” Luke asked, eyebrows raised in expectation. “Then why did you come, anyway, if you’re so against your mother finding happiness? And it’s pretty clear you hate me.”

Jess sighed heavily at Luke’s dramatics. “I don’t hate you. I came here because of you.”

“Stop that,” Luke scolded in disbelief.

“You said it was important to you. Remember?” Jess asked, voice tight with annoyance.

“I didn’t think you were listening.”

“Oh, I was listening.”

Luke stared at his nephew for a long moment, leaning back in his chair. “So, you don’t hate your mom. You don’t hate me. But, really, all it took was me coming to New York to yell at you?”

Sighing, Jess said nothing. His lips were set in a thin line, and he averted his gaze from his uncle. He ran a hand over his mouth.

Eyes widening, Luke cracked a knowing grin. “You came because of Ella? But, you haven’t been together in...what? A year?”

Jess gave a sheepish nod. “Yeah, but, we still talk every couple weeks. She didn’t tell you?”

Luke snorted. “Well, I remember her chewing you out that first time you called. Telling you to let her know you were alive. But I didn’t know you were really talking.”

Running a hand over his mouth again, Jess gave another nod.

“So?” Luke asked, prodding. “Why’d you need to come here...if you call so often anyway?”

Jess bit at his bottom lip, squirming under the questions. “Since she moved out, she hasn’t been picking up. I didn’t know what happened. I wanted to...make sure. Because…”

“What?”

“I think...I mean...I’m in love with her, alright?” Jess spit out, an anxious bite in his voice.

Luke’s eyebrows shot up, and a flabbergasted look formed on his face. “Wow!...You think you’re in love with her?”

Jess shrugged. “Pretty sure. But, I’ve been thinking that since I was seventeen. And she doesn’t believe in love, anyway.”

Scoffing, Luke shook his head. “I know she says that, but it’s crap. What do you love about her, Jess?”

“Excuse me?” Jess asked, brows furrowing.

Luke rolled his eyes in exasperation. “Jess, I think it’s great that you know how you feel. And like I said earlier, I’m not gonna keep trying to change you. You are who you are. And Ella is who she is. If you’re gonna tell her how you feel, you have to do it carefully. And you have to be sure. So, tell me what you love about her.”

Scowling, Jess looked long and hard at his uncle. “What, do you wanna hold hands and skip afterwards?”

“Do you want to do this right or not?”

Finally, Jess relented. “Okay. Fine. I love that she...she’s so passionate. About everything. And she talks with her hands. And she eats peanut butter right out of the jar when she’s sick. And she hums while she works, without even realizing it. She..she cares so much about her friends and her brothers and her aunt and...I don’t know. She does everything for other people. She doesn’t think she’s a people person. But she really is. Even the way she talks to customers...you can really see it.

“And she’s such an amazing artist. She can feel art. And music. I’ve never met anyone else like that before. I can talk to her for hours...or not say anything at all. I miss her when she’s gone. Everything is...just better when I’m with her.”

When Jess looked up again, he found his uncle with a smug smirk. As Jess was speaking, his eyes had taken on a far-off quality. And though he didn’t want to be talking, his lips had started to curl upward at the corners anyway. Just from thinking of her. Luke recognized everything in Jess’s expression.

Jess shook his head slightly, jaw tense, embarrassment swirling in his stomach. “What?”

“Nothing,” Luke said lightly, almost mocking. “I’ve just...never seen that look on your face before.”

Rolling his eyes again, Jess scoffed angrily.

“Alright, alright,” Luke said, fighting off good-natured laughter. “Open two-way communication is the foundation of love…”