#i tried avoiding the rumors and stuck to the things we actually have evidence for but | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

ilovebeingcalledawhore · 4 years ago

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BASKETBALL | CHENLE

Content: Fluff, Basketball Player Au, Athlete Au, Highschool Au, Suggestive Content

Summary: Just moments with the man you’re in love with.

IMAGINE

Chenle loved playing basketball, mostly because he was good at it. He’s part of the varsity team in my school and everyone would easily understand why he got the spot out of 200 other students. After convincing me to play with him with chocolate and ice cream I decided to finally agree.

You see, I’ve watched a ton of his basketball games and cheered him on with the cheesy posters he asked me to make, something he did just to make fun of me. When we hang-out, sooner or later you would expect a basketball game coming up on the TV. After dating Chenle, I went from knowing one or two things about basketball to shouting at the screen when a player misses a free throw.

I’m not complaining though, I enjoyed the way we bonded over something he loved. Something that was his passion next to music, which I didn’t know about until six months into the relationship. We always focused on what I liked, what I wanted and I can see how much he wants me to be spoiled with attention and gifts but I wanted to give back as well.

So here I stand in the middle of the empty gym, seven at night wondering when my boyfriend would run out of energy. “Ok so you go like this” he stands beside me and does the action on how to shoot the ball. I slowly copy him making sure that I don’t drop the ball accidentally.

“Now jump and throw, focus on the net!” He reminds me before I did my first try, the ball flew up and landed on the rim, it circled around quite a few times and as it did, I wondered whether it would fall in or out.

Thud! The ball fell in. “Ah!” Me and Chenle screamed in excitement, lady of luck was truly by my side today. He engulfed me in his arms, lifting my legs up the air and wrapping it around his waist. “You’re amazing!” he compliments, giving me a loving peck on the nose.

Butterflies.

“Put me down” I whined even when bits of me wanted to stay. He pouts and I grin, cupping his face and kissing him. He melts into it, his lips molding with mine like it belonged there.

Well...it did.

The boy finally puts me down with an evident smile on his face. “Now let’s play!” he runs to the ball that rolled away.

-----

“Did you have fun?” Chenle asks as he sits on the driver’s seat, shutting his side’s door. “Yeah” I replied as I looked at the time on my phone. It was already nine in the evening and I was tired. He noticed that with the way I replied.

He connects his phone to the plug in his car and starts to search through his playlist. He bites his lip as if this was the most important decision he’s making today. I rolled my eyes and grinned tiredly.

“Ah! Here we go” he mutters as he presses on a random song that I wasn’t able to read.

As the first second of the song played, I felt my heart softening. It was the song we slow-danced to a few years ago, who would’ve thought that I was gonna be with him now.

“Don’t you tell me that it wasn’t meant to be” he sings along, making sure to look me in the eye. “Call it quits, call it destiny” I sing along and we chuckle. He places his head on my shoulder, taking my hand and intertwining our fingers together.

“Just because it won’t come easily, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try”

I shut my eyes, falling asleep.

---

“Y/n” he says my name with his lips dangerously close to my ear. “What?” I muttered continuing to read through the doc my professor sent. “I think you’re cute, will you go out with me?” he asks and I feel a grin coming up my lips but I fight it off.

“I’m sorry, I have a boyfriend” I rejected and I felt him pout. “But I’m better than him!” he whines and I try to hold in my laugh.

“I’m smart”

“He’s smarter”

“I’m funny”

“He’s funnier”

“I’m handsome”

“He’s more good-looking”

“What else?” he asks with a grin and I laugh.

“He plays basketball”

Chenle laughs happily and wraps me around his arms. “What can your boyfriend not do?” he asks and I turn my head to face him, the puppy eyes he gave softened my heart.

“He can’t sleep without me saying, I love you”

The boy snuggles into my neck and I turn my head away to continue reading the doc. He rubs on my waist lovingly, humming against my skin. “Your boyfriend seems cool” he compliments himself and I laugh.

“He really is” I agree and we both laugh together.

____

“Let’s go Chenle!” I screamed as he dribbled the ball into their court. He steps to the side avoiding the other team and shoots it, his form looking perfect. The crowd screams once more knowing that we’ve won already.

It’s cringey how people talk about everything going in slow motion when they make eye-contact with their partner but that shit’s real. It felt like time stopped and my heart beat fastened to the beat of the ball hitting the gym floor.

It was less than a minute before Chenle easily stole the ball from the opponent and gracefully avoided the rest of them, he found himself stuck in between tall players so he decided not to shoot but instead to pass to another great player, Mark Lee.

The boy across him catches it with ease and takes a step back, bending his legs and fixing his form. He shoots the ball into the hoop but it misses by an inch. The crowd groans but there was still a 25 score gap between each team, us winning.

The sound of the whistle going off and the cheerleaders running in the middle to perform in the half-time gave an ease to my mind, he can at least rest till the fourth quarter because his coach doesn’t want him to get worn out by the third quarter.

He sits on the bench in front of me. I reached my hand out and gave him a light massage, hoping to comfort his tired body. “You’re doing so good” I reminded him and I watched as he nodded.

“It’s ‘cause you’re watching” He turns his head and gives me a grin, making me grin back. “Don’t want to disappoint my princess do I?” He asks and I scoff playfully, hiding a smile beneath a pout.

“I swear, we win every single time I watch your games” I reminded him with pride in my voice and we chuckle together. “You’re my goodluck charm, I need you everywhere I go” he says playfully but deep down the boy meant it, you knew he did and you felt the exact same way.

——

“Who was that?” I asked calmly but if you stared at my face hard enough, you’d see the crease between my brow and a forming frown on my lips. Some cheerleader walked up to him and started talking but that itself was nothing to me. What mattered was how she stealthily turned her back towards me and tried to hold Chenle’s hand, the only way I found out was when Mina, my friend, passed by and told me in a whisper, making sure to speedily walk away.

“That was Yuna, rumor says she’s interested” he replies, placing his hands behind his neck, stretching his arms and back. “Ok” I try to brush it off so I look down and continue scrolling through my feed. I feel Chenle’s gaze on me, I feel the way he’s trying to figure out if I was actually fine with it or if I was hating it. With my peripheral vision, I watch as his hands crawl up my thigh, rubbing on the covered skin as a sign of comfort.

“Hey” he speaks but I don’t look at him. I do raise my brow as a sign of acknowledgement. “Hey,” he says again, I hum as a reply. “Hey” he calls out and as I let out a defeated sigh, I turn my head towards him.

“Don’t overthink it, she’s nothing.” There was a brief moment of me searching his eyes for a sign of fear, for a sign of doubt. I stopped because it felt wrong to think that, to think that someone who never failed to stay by my side would even cheat; so this time I nod, facing the flashing device once more.

_____

Chenle pushes me down the bed, ignoring the fact that I hadn’t changed into comfortable clothes. Leaning closer, he leaves pecks on my cheek, my jaw, then down my neck, nipping on the skin to leave love bites.

“Is he trying to make up for what happened?” I thought to myself but before I could process anything further, he gently grabs my chin and turns my head to face him, pressing his soft lips against mine.

I muffle a moan as his hands crawl down to my neck, wrapping his fingers around that part with his cold metal rings sending internal shivers down my body. The rest was a blur but all I knew was that I fell asleep right after.

___

92-89

The crowd screams as the ball enters the hoop the last few seconds. “We won again!” I yelped excitedly, jumping up and down my spot. “Congratulations to Seoul University for getting into the nationals, we’ll see you soon” The announcer officially ends the game and with excitement in my eyes, I shove my things down the seat and I run down the steps to the court.

“You did it!” I screamed, opening my arms wide, mirroring Chenle’s movement. He pulls me off the floor and wraps my legs around his waist like he normally does. Instead of us screaming together, he leans forward and with a smile on his lips, he kisses me.

It was gentle and slow, it felt right. The crowd turns silent and murmurs of awe echo through the gym. Slowly I pulled away but we never broke eye-contact, instead I stayed there telling him how much I love him without needing words.

5 more months and he’s leaving.

____

He intertwined our fingers together, leaving a soft peck on my knuckles. “I’ll see you soon alright?” he whispers, one enough to shatter my already broken heart more. “Okay” I reply, trying to swallow the sobs and the voice crack.

“I love you” he whispers, “I need you, I want you” he reminds me and I feel the motor on my chest fastening. ��Fuck I can’t do this” I let go of his hands and look away, the view of the Incheon Airport exit before my eyes.

He walks closer to me and wraps his arms around my body just like the way he does to catch me off guard. “No” I croak as I feel a single tear slip down my cheek. Chenle gulps frustratedly but he didn’t stop holding me.

“I’ll see you soon” he says and I nod, convincing myself that it was alright.

He gently turns my body to face him and when our eyes met, I swear if I stared harder, I’d drown in his tears. “I love you so much” I cry against his chest and I feel him shaking into the hug.

“Y/n, you’re all I need and nothing else, so don’t worry,” he sobs. “and just in case you forgot, I am never not thinking of you and it’ll stay that way, you’ll be my inspiration for university and when it’s time, we’ll live in a house far far away, just like you wanted. Trust me on this one alright?”

“Flight 307 to New York, now boarding, please enter gate 14”

I nod into his chest once more, trying to remember his scent even in the million times I’ve smelled it. “We’ll get there,” he kisses me. “You promise?” I ask and he smiles.

“I promise”

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kpop-zone · 4 years ago

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Blackpink reaction to their s/o being insecure because of shippers

Jisoo

Jisoo had noticed that something was bothering you for quite some time already. You didn’t speak up about your worries though and she didn’t want to pressure you into talking. Therefore, she kept quiet and simply opted to observe you in case your state would worsen. But overall, you seemed to be fine, so weeks passed without Jisoo ever figuring out what was wrong, and it took a stupid TV commercial to open her eyes.

The two of you were watching some TV when the teaser for the upcoming KBS Music Festival came on which caused Jisoo to chuckle.

“Great, now the shippers will go crazy again.”

She laughed amused, because the clip was cut very unfavorable and showed Jinyoung and her in the same scene.

Since they had been the special MCs for an award show together, countless dating rumors circulated, and a surprisingly high number of fans actually wanted to see them together. For Jisoo, this situation was really funny. She liked Jinyoung, he was a decent guy, but she couldn’t ever picture herself with him. Mostly, of course, because in her head, you were a fixed part of her future, but also because she didn’t think that Jinyoung and her were a good match. Therefore, she sometimes read all the weird conspiracy theories by the fans when she wanted to have a good laugh.

Apparently, however, you weren’t able to laugh about this situation. When Jisoo glanced at you, she could see that you were gulping thickly as if you were choking down some tears. Her demeanor immediately changed, and she reached out to grab your hand.

“What’s wrong, Y/N?”

She asked concerned, but you only shook your head in response.

It was clear to Jisoo though that something was bothering you. Intently, she thought about what could have caused your sudden mood change until the penny dropped at last.

“Jagiya, you’re not worried about Jinyoung and me, right?”

You stayed quiet for a while, confirming Jisoo’s assumption which made her feel guilty for not realizing it sooner.

“I’m not worried that you’ll cheat on me. But the rumors always remind me how much better than me you could do and that your fans would probably tear me apart if they knew that you are dating someone like me.”

Your words knocked the air out of Jisoo’s lungs, and she almost gasped in shock.

“What are you talking about? Please don’t say something like that ever again. You are the only one I want to be with and the only one that can make me happy.”

She stated clearly, wondering whether she hadn’t made her love for you obvious enough in the past.

“If you want to, I can talk with the management and ask whether they can make an official statement, denying the rumors.”

Jisoo wouldn’t let any possibility slide to make you realize that the rumors were absolutely ridiculous and that she didn’t want anyone else beside her but you. If those shippers were making you sad, she had to find a way to handle them.

Jennie

“What’s wrong, baby?”

Your question ripped Jennie from her train of thought, and she cursed herself inwardly for not being able to hide her emotions better.

“Nothing, I’m fine.”

She smiled, hoping that you would believe her. It would be selfish of her to complain about a thing that she knew was making you insecure. Exes were a delicate topic in every relationship, but those conversations were even harder when there were thousands of people out there that still wanted to see you together with your ex.

“I can see that you’re lying, Jennie.”

You softened your voice and laid one hand on her thigh in order to catch her attention.

In defeat, Jennie sighed, but still avoided your gaze. She couldn’t make a scene now, but if she saw the concern in your eyes, she knew that she would probably break down.

“It’s nothing important; just the same old. Rumors have spread again about...Kai and me. Just because we’ve been spotted in the same part of the city on the same night.”

Only saying those words were making Jennie feel nauseous. They brought back the memories about all the hate that she had received during her dating scandal and now every ship with another idol that she was being associated with made her anxious.

“Oh.”

You answered simply, causing Jennie to feel guilty for bringing it up.

“I’m so sorry, Y/N. I swear, I would have never gone to that restaurant if I had known that he was in the area too.”

She immediately apologized, feeling tears starting to pool in her eyes.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Jennie. None of that was your fault.”

You tried to flash her an encouraging smile, but Jennie could still see the insecurity in your eyes.

“I’m so sorry that you have to go through all of that because of me. If I could make it all stop, I would.”

She grabbed your hand and you squeezed hers tightly.

“It’s ok. I guess we both have to learn how to live with all those rumors.”

You sighed while smiling sadly.

Jennie wished that there was a way to stop people from stirring up both of your insecurities over and over again, but there was none. The only thing you could do was to try giving each other strength. Therefore, Jennie pulled you into a hug while apologizing once more for causing all that trouble.

Chaeyoung

New dream couple? 10 reasons why BTS’ Jungkook and Blackpink’s Rosé are a perfect match

When Chaeyoung read the headline of the newest article on one of South Korea’s most popular news pages, she rolled her eyes. For some reason, there seemed to be an army of shippers out there that wanted to see her and Jungkook together and were analyzing every little “interaction” of theirs to the smallest detail. In the beginning, she had ignored them, because there were a million rumors about her going around and she couldn’t pay attention to all of them. But when the voices of the people claiming that they were dating got louder and louder, she began to be bothered. Not because of herself, but because of you.

It was obvious that you were starting to feel insecure, because of the countless fans and reporters that were claiming that Jungkook and her were the perfect match. This article would only rub salt into your wound once more, causing Chaeyoung to feel endlessly guilty. Therefore, she immediately rushed home after work with your favorite takeout and some flowers in her arms.

“Hey baby.”

She greeted you happily right when she entered the apartment before snuggling up to you, causing you to chuckle.

“Hi to you too. What have I done to deserve all this love?”

You joked, but Chaeyoung just played it off.

“I love you and only you. That’s all.”

She smiled, but in that moment, you seemed to have realized what all of this was about.

“So this is about the article...”

Your expression changed immediately, and instead of your cute smile, a heavy frown was decorating your face now.

“I’m so sorry about that, Y/N. I don’t know where that is coming from again. I swear, I haven’t done anything. You are the only one for me. I would never do anything to fire up those ridiculous rumors. Please don’t worry about them.”

Chaeyoung started rambling, but she simply needed to make sure that you weren’t feeling upset. She knew where those insecurities of yours were coming from and they were absolutely valid, but she still wanted to free you of them; not only now, but sustainably.

Therefore, Chaeyoung started to be even more careful in the future. Not that she would have done anything to encourage the rumors in the past, but now she was paying even more attention to everything she was saying or doing. At award shows, for example, she always made sure to stand as far away from BTS as possible, so that there was not a single picture released that showed Jungkook and her in the same frame. In return, however, that lead to a number of opposing headlines.

All about the breakup of Jungkook and Rosé

Why do BTS and Blackpink hate each other?

Chaeyoung couldn’t care less about those articles though. As long as they helped to ease your insecurities, she would bare the hate.

Lalisa

“Which one sounds better, babe? LaBam or BamLisa?”

Lisa laughed while reading the newest articles about another addition to her countless ships; with her best friend BamBam. It was really amusing to her to watch all those fans colleting evidence to prove her relationship with the other Thai idol. Although she had to admit that if she wouldn’t know better, she might have believed those rumors too. Their stories sounded pretty conclusive sometimes.

“I didn’t even notice that I was looking at him!”

Lisa gasped before giggling when she looked at another Twitter post that made it look like she was looking at her friend in awe.

Her amusement soon died down, however, when Lisa realized that she wasn’t hearing any laughter from you. Confused, she averted her gaze from her phone to pay attention to you. You were staring ahead while the glistening in your eyes almost made it seem like you were about to cry.

“Y/N?”

Lisa called out your name in order to shake you from your trance.

“You would make a cute couple, wouldn’t you?”

You smiled, but the sadness in your eyes was giving away that you weren’t joking.

“What?”

Lisa asked perplexed, being caught off guard by your insecurities. She had never known that you were thinking about such things. The two of you were so happy together and Lisa had never even thought about dating BamBam.

“Oh, it’s nothing. Look, Leo is climbing up the curtain!”

Quickly, you tried to play off your statement by drawing attention to the cats, but while Lisa had to rush off to save her curtains, your question was still stuck in her brain.

This didn’t come from nowhere; you must have been seriously insecure all this time. A massive wave of guilt immediately washed over Lisa and she knew that she had to make it up to you. Therefore, she got off work early the next day in order to spoil you and treat you to a nice, homecooked dinner later that night. It took her several hours and some tries to get it right, but in the end, she managed to make some dishes that were actually enjoyable, and everything was ready for you when you came home.

“What is this??”

You gasped astonished and Lisa immediately wrapped her arms around your waist to pull you into the apartment.

“A token of my love and a thank you for always being by my side. I wouldn’t want to conquer this crazy world with anyone else.”

Lisa smiled, causing you to blush cutely.

It seemed like she had to surprise you more often from now on.

#blackpink reactions #blackpink #blackpink imagines #jisoo #jennie #chaeyoung #rose #lalisa #lisa #girl group reactions #girl group #kpop reactions #kpop #girl group imagines

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random-imagines-blog · 4 years ago

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Happy Birthday {Viktor Krum One Shot}

Requested by: Anonymous Wordcount: 2734 Summary: Your birthday did not go as planned.

You stood as still as one of the statues. Well, more still than one of them since this was Hogwarts and nothing ever stayed in one place for very long around here. You shrank back a little more into the shadows as the person that you were avoiding walked past. You even went as far as to hold your breath so there wouldn’t be the slightest sound coming from your direction. Footsteps echoed down the corridor. There were two voices of students at the end of the hall who were speaking about the Hogsmeade visit coming up, but they quickly went quiet as they saw who was coming. Not everyone had the time to hide. Instead, they just lowered their heads and tried to make themselves as inconspicuous as they could. The way that this man looked at people immediately made them feel as if they were doing something wrong and would be severely punished for it, even if there was no bad deed being done. You bit down on your lip harshly to keep yourself from letting out a shaky breath as the shadowy figure went past you. It continued on it’s way, not giving you a glance. Only when you were sure that it was gone did you let yourself breathe, your head falling back in relief.

“Vat are you doing?” A voice said from beside you, making you nearly jump inside your skin. You held your hand to your chest, feeling your heartbeat start to calm down from the scare. The surprise wasn’t over though, for you had never before spoken to the young man who was beside you. Viktor Krum - star of Durmstrang and the Bulgarian Quidditch Team. “I did not mean to scare you-”

“It’s alright,” You said, regaining your composure, and gave him a smile. Of course you knew that he was famous, and well, incredibly good looking, but those things didn’t make you nervous in the slightest. “I was hiding. If I got caught, I would have been in big trouble.”

“Vas that Professor looking for you?” Viktor asked with concern. You nodded solemnly, turning to make sure that he wasn’t coming back. “Vat did you do?”

“Professor Snape, that is,” You said, wondering if he had heard any of the rumors around Hogwarts, such as which teachers to avoid and all that. “I skipped his class this morning, and if he finds out that it wasn’t because of an emergency, well, he’ll be using my body parts for those potions of his.”

Viktor looked horrified by the concept of that, but then slowly grew amused. You could tell by the little smile on his face that he was cooking up some questions for you. Oh boy - here we go. “Vhy did you skip class, and vhy are you sneaking out now?” Here he was, a famous Quidditch player, asking you about skipping class. This certainly was not how you thought your day was going to go. You looked around again before you began to answer.

“Well, you see...” You stammered, trying to figure out how to say this without coming across as seeking attention. There wasn’t really anyway around it. “It’s my birthday today and double potions first thing in the morning is not how I wanted to spend it. So I turned off my alarm clock and I slept in. Until about an hour ago actually. It fell on a weekend the last few years so there wasn’t a problem but... well, obviously, this week it’s my enemy. And I snuck out because I’m off to go and see Hagrid, the groundskeeper. I’m helping him to take care of the Abraxans.”

That was evidently not what Viktor had expected to hear, but he found it curious nonetheless. “You English are so strange,” He said, shaking his head. “You skip class ... to vork ... on your birthday?”

“Oh, it’s not really work! I love to do it. I was honored that he and Madame Maxine approved of me for the task. Only the best Care of the Magical Creatures students were picked. I get to groom them, give them their barrels of whiskey - once I even took a sip for myself before they got their snouts in. Nasty stuff. Not sure why they like it, but that’s creatures for you,” You ranted, barely realizing that you were doing it. Social interaction was not something that you got a lot of. Not that you weren’t liked or anything, you just didn’t have many friends. By the time you started to come out of your shell, all of the cliques had been formed, and had been for years.

It was a little hard for Viktor to take in. He was far from perfect at English, though he understood the basics. Though some of your words were rather rushed, he was able to get the general idea. The light in your eyes and the smile on the corner of your lips was enough for him to see how you were passionate about working with the animals. “Strange,” He repeated.

“Oh Merlin, you’re not going to tell on me are you? Because that would be a very cruel thing to do to me on my birthday,” You said, realizing that you had just admitted your rule breaking to a stranger. “I just really messed up, didn’t I?”

“How could I tell on you, vhen I don’t know your name?” Viktor asked. Immediately, you introduced yourself, saying your name out loud, and you were about to tell him that he didn’t have to introduce himself because everyone and their mother knew about Viktor Krum since the World Cup but -

“Oh Merlin,” You groaned once more. “I really am thick, aren’t I? Now you know my name and you could definitely go and tattle on me. Go on then. Might as well tell Filch to get the thumb-cuffs ready.”

Viktor chuckled, which stopped you from admonishing yourself even more. “Vhat I was going to say vas - happy birthday, y/n. Did you get any presents?”

“Oh, well, thank you,” You blinked. You reached into the pocket of your robe and pulled out the letter that your parents had sent you. You liked to carry it around with you on your birthday, because it made you feel like they were a bit closer to you. “My parents sent me a bit of money to get myself a treat at Hogsmeade tomorrow. I was thinking perhaps a cake-”

“I would not count on that, y/l/n.”

The voice of the person that you dreaded came from the end of the hallway.

You had been out in the open for too long.

You closed your eyes and winced as footsteps came closer, and you could smell the musky scent that came from being around potion ingredients all of the time. Professor Snape always smelled like an apothocary. Even Viktor stood silent as the dark haired professor came in closer. It was like the dementors that he had heard about - like all joy was sucked from the corridor because he had entered in.

“Does this corridor lead to the hospital wing?” Professor Snape asked you. Keeping your eyes closed, you shook your head. “Well?” He prodded.

“No, Professor.”

“I see. It appears that you’re standing, which means that you did not lose your legs. So it is seeming like you had no excuse to miss out on your lesson this morning.”

“No professor,” You repeated. You had learned your lesson against arguing with Snape very early on. He had it in for you, ever since you accidentally spilled the porcupine quills upon him and they had stuck into his cloak and poked his backside.

“That means ten points from your house, and you lose tomorrow’s Hogsmeade privileges,” He said, clearly and concisely so there was no chance of you misunderstanding.

“But Professor, it is-” Viktor said, starting to stand up for you but one look from the Slytherin head made him shut his mouth. The only person who came close to being this intimidating was his own headmaster.

“Do not make excuses for y/l/n. I will not hesitate to get Karkaroff involved.” Snape threatened. Viktor looked like he wanted to say more once the threat was made, but you inched yourself between the two men.

“I’m sorry Professor Snape, it will not happen again,” You said, cutting off Viktor before the first syllable came out of his mouth. This was your way of paying him back for trying to stand up for you. You didn’t want him to get in trouble, especially for your own sake. You put on your most humble expression, your shoulders slouching, your eyes downcast and all. You really were disappointed. This was not turning out to be a good birthday at all.

“We will see.”

You sat by yourself in the Great Hall, Most of the other students hadn’t made it back from Hogsmeade yet, but a few had and were sharing what they had bought not too far away. You sighed, and rested your head against the wooden surface of the table, trying to cool your headache. Your birthday had not been a good one, since Snape had made you go to your afternoon class, then make up for what you missed in his. You didn’t get to go help with the Abraxans and worst of all, you didn’t even get to go to Hogsmeade for a Butterbeer and a slice of cake. “This is the worst year ever,” You grumbled to yourself.

You heard someone parking themselves across the table from you. Expecting it to be some worrisome first year, you said, “I’m fine, I don’t need the Hospital Wing, I’m just miserable.”

“I vould be too,” Viktor’s now familiar voice and accent rang out. “- if my birthday had been like yours.”

“If only it was something a doctor could make better,” You said, rising up to sit with your back straight. You took in the opportunity to drink in the appearance of the good looking man’s face, but became distracted when he put a bag onto the table. It bore the undeniable stamp of Honeydukes on it, making you miss the village even more. Oh Honeydukes - you could barely stand the thought of all of those treats without you being there to admire them, to love them, to pick up a cauldron cake lovingly and take a little bite. “Have you come to rub it in that I couldn’t go?” You asked, feeling more miserable than before.

Viktor looked confused, trying to figure out what you were saying. He almost looked like a lost little puppy when he did that. “It is ... not lotion.” He said, blankly. Then it was your turn to be confused, before realizing that he had taken ‘rub it in’ more literally than you had meant it.

“Right, sorry,” You said instead of explaining. “What goodies did you get for yourself, and won’t you get in trouble for it? Don’t Quidditch players have to be highly disciplined and fit?”

Viktor chuckled at that, reaching into the bag. “Is not all for me,” He explained. He pulled a box out of the bottom of the bag. It was wrapped neatly with a colored ribbon - the same color theme of your Hogwarts house. You gasped as he pushed it towards you, and you were able to see through the plastic top to the contents. Inside of it was a cake, custom made from Honeydukes. It was covered in a chocolate icing with ‘Happy Birthday’ and your name on it. Well, almost your name. It was misspelt, but you imagined it was how Viktor had pronounced it. The icing matched the ribbon, and it had magical swirls on it that looked almost like the sky in Van Gogh’s Starry Night. “Happy Birthday!”

“You’re crazy,” You said, unwrapping the ribbon. You took it off slowly, making sure not to rip it, then tied it around your wrist as a sort of bracelet. You would take every little bit of this as a present, even the wrapping. When you opened up the box, the smell of the freshly baked cake took over your senses, making your mouth water. The buttery goodness, the icing which was just the perfect amount - not too much, the flavors mixed in with the cake. It could not have come cheap. You’ve bought cakes from there before, and even just a small plain one with no decoration could be a couple galleons. “You didn’t have to do this.”

“If I didn’t stop to talk, you vouldn’t have been caught,” Viktor said, a little bit of pink coming through his immaculate facial hair. “It’s my fault.”

“Oh no, I didn’t want you to feel guilty. Talking with you was the best part of my birthday actually,” You fingered the ribbon on your wrist, looking down at the cake. It was so beautiful that the thought of cutting into it was almost physically painful. But it wasn’t all that you were given. Viktor brought out more things - Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans, Chocolate Frogs, Pumpkin Pasties, Sugar Quills. A bit of everything, actually, and soon you were surrounded by all of the treats. “You’re absolutely mental,Viktor Krum.”

“I’ve never had theez-” He said, ignoring your comment and opened up a pack of the every flavored beans. “Are they good?”

“It depends on what you-” Before you could stop him, he pulled a green bean out of the packet and popped it into his mouth.

You winced, knowing that it could have been a variety of flavors, most of them not nice. You had your lime, swamp, broccoli, celery, watermelon, gingerale, kiwi...

Viktor’s face screwed up in unpleasantness, and he forced himself to swallow. “It tastes like - like - grass!” He announced loudly and with disgust. You couldn’t help but laugh at how his face had contorted like that. You patted his arm comfortably, and pushed a pumpkin pasty in his direction.

“It really does mean every flavor. Here, this should help get the taste out of your mouth.” You watched as Viktor opened up the packaging quickly and shoved half of the treat into his mouth. He seemed relieved when it helped, sinking down and his eyes showing gratefulness.

“Thank you. English are strange.”

“Yeah, we are,” You said with a nod and with a shrug. You took the Bertie Bott’s Beans from him and shuffled around. You pulled out one that was a nice golden brown color. Earwax, toffee, tea, mud? You bit off half of it, then let it roll onto your tongue to get the flavor. “Here,” You handed him the other half. “It’s caramel, and not half bad. I promise.”

Viktor took it and rolled it between his fingers. He wasn’t ready for another bad experience, but he trusted you so he put it in his mouth and bit down. The sweet taste of caramel, velvety and rich, filled his mouth, mixing well with the pumpkin. “I get it now - some good and some bad?”

“Exactly. That’s the fun of it.” You took the cake from in front of you and moved it off to the side for now. “Thanks for all of this. My birthday tanked so this was like ... actually really awesome of you.”

Viktor didn’t understand what tanked meant, but he did know awesome so he smiled, brightening up immediately. He took hold of your hand, which startled you, and squeezed it. It was so large compared to yours. And so strong. And so calloused and rough. “You have better birthday today.”

“Much better,” You agreed with a nod. He laughed and the sound was so infectious that you had to join in. Though the two of you got many stares, you sat together for the rest of the day, eating the different sweets, and sharing the beans. You had a half, he had a half, so you both either suffered together or were delighted together. You definitely considered your belated birthday to be your real one, just for this year.

#Viktor Krum #Viktor Krum x reader #Viktor Krum oneshot #Harry Potter #Harry Potter oneshot #oneshot #oneshots #imagines #request #viktork

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katcadecascade · 4 years ago

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Road to Home (RWBY fic)

Summery: Rhodes reaches the Glass Unicorn at 11:40pm because someone asked him, “So who’s at home for you?”

Tags: AU - Canon Divergence, Volume 8 Chapter 6

aka my take on Cinder’s backstory AU

“So who’s back home for you?”

Rhodes kind of hates his name. It’s almost like cruel irony or a bland destiny to always be traveling, constantly on the move, and never staying too long in one place.

“No one. I don’t really have a place to return too.”

He believed that’s just how his life is as a hunter of Grimm. It feels like he’s always taking one mission after the next, a pattern that takes him across the kingdoms. All alone, it’s easier that way, efficient Rhodes believes.

It’s a cold truth he concluded on after his team parted. Talk about a crossroads.

“Hmm.”

Yet every once in a while there’s a hunt that demands many hunters. An abnormally large nest of Nevermores in Vale. If he had the option, Rhodes wouldn’t have joined. The path he wanted to take is the one that’ll take him back to Atlas, all the way back to Cinder.

She’s a tough kid in a not so good situation. That’s all Rhodes can really say on the matter, what with the loose child labor laws and the old reputation that keeps that hotel running. Look, Rhodes ain’t the man for critiquing ethics and socialism, especially Atlas and Mantle of all places.

Still though, he did what he thought was best for Cinder. Train her in secret, visit monthly if possible, and not take her with him. The life of an active huntsman who’s constantly traveling is not ideal for a kid to tag along. At least in the Glass Unicorn, Cinder is under a roof and away from the Grimm.

Or at least that’s what Rhodes keeps telling himself.

Each day he’s away from the girl, he tries to come up with another reason as to why he should not just up and take Cinder with him. For obvious reasons, it’s kidnapping. Then there’s the whole issue of his entire life is not child friendly.

No home for Cinder to be warm in. No extended family that can keep an eye on her when he’s away. No teammates…

And yet last month's visit, there was hesitation on his tongue, wanting to ask if she wanted to accompany him. It’s an outrageous idea, tactless and unreasonable. Training her for the academy entrance exams is the smarter play, a long one but way smarter than just thrusting Cinder onto the road with him of all people.

Rhodes is not the most upstanding role model to look up to, no less having to travel with. Imagine his surprise when a kid looks at him with starry, wide eyes. He doesn’t deserve any of that, not sure if he ever will, yet he kept training her. He kept returning to Atlas for Cinder.

“What’s that humming supposed to mean?”

There’s not many people for Rhodes to return to, even less if anyone ever wanted him in the first place. Cinder is the exception though, his mind excuses. She doesn’t know the mistakes he made, the suffering or aftermath.

In due time, the academy would give her a better life, not him. Just gotta stay in this waiting game, for Cinder’s sake.

“It means that I think you’re lying.”

That’s a long road he’s forcing Cinder to walk. For the longest time, Rhodes believed that was the only course of action for Cinder when really it’s just the path of least resistance. All because he is a coward stuck in the crossroads.

“...Fine. There’s this kid I look out for, that’s all.”

All the excuses he accumulated began the moment he saw Cinder in that dusty storage room. Of course she’s miserable and of course he pities her. Rhodes wasn’t the strategist of his former team, nor was he the heart. He was just the tank, master of waiting for the perfect moment, and the one who ends up walking a long road all alone.

It’s stupid of him to think Cinder should endure it all alone. It’s collassily ignorant of him to give her attention and leave the next day and think that’s proper teaching. It’s akin to constantly relighting a candle wit. One day there will be nothing left to spark.

“That so? It sounds like you must care a lot about her. She must miss you too.”

It took too long for Rhodes to think that maybe his interference has made Cinder’s life worse. He gave her a direction, a goal to reach the academy, a dream of freedom on the open road. Hope can be a powerful and dangerous thing.

Rhodes knows first hand how devastating it can be when hope ends out. He can outlast a storm, a horde of Grimm, nearly anything but that’s no guarantee for the people around him. This always lingers in his head when he’s out on bigger missions with a group of hunters.

“She’s not mine.”

This particular Nevermore hunt had a few familiar faces for Rhodes, all of whom he’d avoided. Then by luck he was caught by some of the newer graduated hunters, probably with only three or five years of experience. Not the ideal team up but the less he complains the quicker they complete the objective.

If only that white hooded huntress wasn’t so talkative and observant. If only she didn’t dig into his vague words and made him think. If only he had learned all of this months early for Cinder’s sake.

“My boyfriend has a baby girl at home. I might not be her birth mother but I will always see her as my daughter.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

There’s a knowing glint in those silver eyes. “You look like you’re eager to return home.”

Rhodes couldn’t get that line out of his head. Eagerness is a burden on long trips, it’s the annoying sibling to waiting, and it’s the very thing on Cinder’s face whenever Rhodes enters the Glass Unicorn.

Eagerness is in his heart that first night after meeting Cinder. He wanted to return. He wanted to take less missions away. He wanted Cinder to finally leave that place.

Why did he insist on making her wait?

Each and every excuse he came up with nipped and lashed at his ankles on every step he took closer to Atlas. The Grimm hunt was dealt with at a near blinding speed and that huntress said she’ll cover for him on the post-hunt reports that he always hated.

For transportation to Atlas, Rhodes had to suck up his pride and call the only other teammate who’s not dead.

“You wouldn’t ask unless it’s an emergency, Rhodes. An airship will be at the airport in an hour.”

“Thank you Willow, I mean it.”

True to his former teammate’s words, the huntsman was later in a private Schnee jet enroute to Atlas. If he was more reckless he would’ve hand it land right at the Glass Unicorn but attention was the last thing he wanted.

Once on the streets, he was practically retracing his steps all the way back to the hotel. Through the late night streets, up the steps and through the fancy lobby. At the reception desk, perfectly orderly is the woman of the establishment.

Her wrinkle lines move along with her cordially smile, prepared for greeting clients no matter the late hour.

Rhodes never thought of this madame in good graces. Rumor has it that the Glass Unicorn didn’t always have child servants back when the lady’s late husband was in charge. Under new management as the saying goes and the regular clients here didn’t bat an eye when the staff dwindled to one young employee.

It’s hypocrisy that he was a part of the silent crowd and only now does he actually react.

On previous visits, he’d always just booked a room and waited for the lobby to empty to get to Cinder. Right now though, Rhodes doesn’t have the patience to wait any longer.

Once upon a time, he had to brainstorm a myriad of lies to get Cinder out of the hotel. Excuses that range from she’s a missing link in a case or outright threatening to her to hand over Cinder. Well he’s not entirely sure how any of those scenarios would play out but it doesn’t matter in the end.

The mood in the air changes when two blonde girls come running out of the staff door. They’re both frightened out of their perfect composure.

“Mom, come quick, we found something.”

“It’s Cinder, she has a weapon!”

Their mother glares at her daughters and clicks her tongue once the sisters notice the client present.

“Leave,” she demands lowly, “now.”

The girls scamper off in another direction while the lady smooths down her skirt. One hand lingers inside the pocket.

“Pardon me, Huntsman Rhodes, I have to attend to the matter.”

She takes one step, one loud clack of her heels away from the reception desk and Rhodes knew that this was it. It had to be now or never.

“Wait,” Rhodes didn’t waste his movement, striding past the lady and blocking her path to the door. “It’ll be best if I go.”

Scowling as politely as possible, she argues, “Sir, I assure you that girl is absolutely under my control.”

“You’re awfully confident,” Rhodes snaps. This is taking too much time, who knows what’s Cinder doing right now.

“I am,” she raises her voice, not appreciating his attitude.

It looks like she’s about to lecture him about respect so he cuts her off. “I’m going in there, not you. Got it?”

He’s not sure what kind of expression he’s making. Yes he’s angry and impatient and just wants this whole hotel gone. Something about him must have conveyed his true rage because the madame stands frozen, confusion and fear in her slacken jaw and how she took a step back.

Then he sees how her eyes flicker to something behind him.

On some sort of instinct, she took her hand out of her pocket. Clasped there is a remote with a yellow button, her thumb pressed down.

There’s a scream in his ears, a chilling shock down his spine as he turns around and sees Cinder at the doorway. She dropped the sword he gifted her and has one hand on the frame to support her shaking body as electricity rumbles and bites at her neck.

Rhodes never thought to ask why she had a fancy necklace. He wonder how stupid he is for failing to recognise lightning dust. He’s even more of a failure to be surprised that this is happening.

To add more evidence that Cinder has spent far too long in this hotel, Cinder grits her teeth and lets go of the doorframe. She starts limping over, the shockwaves going up and down her skin. Rhodes watches in horror and perverse awe before he hears a button getting mashed.

He grabs the madame’s wrist, snatching the remote out of her hand in seconds, and crushing it in a steel hand. It’s pathetically small help, clearly everything Rhodes has trained Cinder for was not the help she really needed.

There’s a momentarily delay in the remote’s signal as the shock collar continues. Cinder reaches a shaky hand up and rips the collar off, glaring at the source of all her pain.

“Cinder,” Rhodes interferes with her path but the girl is still glaring at the madame. “Let’s leave right now. You don’t have to stay here any longer.” He knees down to her, desperately wishing that the fire in her eyes won’t burn her up. “I’m sorry it took me this long to get you out.”

She still hasn’t looked at him. Yet at his apology tears start welling up. Cinder marches past him, stalking up to the madame who’s backed up against the frontdesk.

“Without you, I am nothing,” Cinder tells her and her tone sounds odd to the huntsman, like the words are warped around her tongue and teeth.

She thrusts her hand up, still holding the shock collar, and harshly presses it to the madame’s throat. In mere seconds, the metal is superheated in Cinder’s grip and the madame cries out, jerking away and falling sideways on the desk and then falling to the floor.

The madame clasps a hand around her neck but Rhodes saw the burnt skin there, diamond shaped like the collar’s centerpiece.

“But because of you,” Cinder hisses and throws the collar at the madame’s face, “I am everything.”

The girl is a heaving mess, her hands curling up and steaming.

“Cinder,” he calls and the girl’s whole body flinches.

Swirling around, Cinder angrily demands at him, “She deserves so much worse!”

“And you deserve better and you will get it all if we leave right now.” Rhodes begs her, “Please, will you come with me?”

Cinder quietly gasps at his question. Some combination of awe and surprise on her young face as she starts crying more.

He honestly doesn’t know if he can talk her out of murder, revenge realisticly. But if he can just take her away from this place then maybe she’ll choose otherwise. Maybe she’ll always want to kill these people but for right now, he needs to physically get away from these people.

The heat of her semblance dims from her hands as Cinder wipes the tears off her cheeks. She stumbles over to Rhodes and once close he hugs her tight. The girl bawls into his chest and Rhodes wastes no time to securely carry her in one arm.

He remembers to pick up Cinder’s fallen sword as he gets up. The madame on the other hand is still on the floor, trembling and confused but not making any motion to stop them. There’s a frantic wheezing coming from her too.

When she glares at them, Rhodes frowns back. “No one is going to ask about tonight, got it?”

The madame bitterly coughs and manages to croak out, “Leave.”

He lets her have the final word and marches out. Cinder got her breath back and has wide, teary eyes as they approach the doors. She squirms for a bit and he lets her down.

Standing on shaky legs, Cinder pushes open the doors with all her might. The wide swing of the doors shakes the frame but the girl doesn’t care. On her first step out of the hotel, the grandfather clock in the lobby rings twelve.

One step outside of the Glass Unicorn and Cinder felt like sobbing, running, and collapsing at the same time. Her hand squeezed tight onto Rhodes’ as she trembled against the midnight air. Its chill is heavenly on her overheated skin, an after effect from the electricity.

It’s all over now. She’s finally free from the madame and her hotel. Cinder just wants to run despite her straining muscles so she leans on Rhodes. He mumbles something about hurrying to the airport, hoping that a plane is still there but Cinder barely comprehends.

She’s actually free and Rhodes had wanted her to leave with him. Each visit, Cinder truly thought that he didn't want her around. The plan was for the academy, where he won’t have to deal with her but instead he actually asked.

Granted Cinder had wished he’d asked like the first night they met. Or maybe years earlier, that would’ve been good too. But here they are. It took her obnoxious step sisters to get too nosey and for Rhodes to finally be there at the right time.

Yet it still feels like Rhodes is late. The madame had one last play with the collar and Cinder wanted to finally end her. She can still feel the buzz in her neck.

Even though they’ve only walked down the street so far, Cinder feels too close and so far away from the Glass Unicorn. She feels like sobbing again.

“Hey, hey,” Rhodes moves his arm to comfortably enwrap her with warmth, “it’s okay now Cinder.”

A sob hitches in her throat and it’s like her semblance is burning her from the inside. Cinder doesn’t think she’s okay right now, she doesn’t believe she’ll ever be okay, but finally walking out of those pristine doors felt so good.

Somewhere in her thoughts, there’s the question on how it would feel like if she actually gave what the madame and her daughters deserved. At the same time, Cinder never wants to enter the Glass Unicorn even if her life depends on it. Which it does not though, she doesn’t ever have to be there again.

She’s finally freed.

That hopeful feeling gets lodged into her throat when suddenly a nice looking car pulls up in front of them. Rhodes holds her close as her heart hammers. Cinder can’t phantom what is going on as the well dressed driver exits and approaches them.

“Mr. Kolossos,” the man nods politely and when he looks at Cinder she flinches but he continues with another nod, “Miss.” He opens the backseat door and waves over, “This way please.”

“I didn’t call for a car,” Rhodes said and walked on, guiding Cinder away from the car.

As they’re passing the open car door, someone from inside scoffs, “Just get in here, Rhodes.”

In the nightlight, it’s hard for Cinder to see inside the car but she sees a feminine figure that matches the voice. Cinder can’t help but shake.

Rhodes on the other hand freezes.

“What are you doing here?”

“Picking you up unless you want to walk all the way to the airbay. The jet’s not there by the way.”

The huntsman huffs quietly but up close Cinder can see his lips barely form a smile. He catches her gaze and he winces. Rhodes pinches the bridge of his nose before whispering to her, “Cinder, I know you’ve been through a lot right now but do you still trust me?”

She doesn’t like the unsureness in his eyes, like she’s the one who will hurt him. Cinder knows there has been nights where she outright hates it when he leaves or his plan to wait seven years in that hotel. But every time he comes back, Cinder can’t help but want to hope that this time, she’ll join him.

And now it’s happening she knows that Rhodes is the only person she can rely on. If she’s on her own, well, she’ll have to be everything she needs. Cinder doesn’t know where that will take her but right now, she wants to stay with Rhodes.

“Yes,” Cinder tells him, squeezing his hand back.

“Thank you,” Rhodes smiles and she doesn’t know how to feel about that. Being thanked and stuff, especially over feelings. He looks back over to the car and huffs, “Fine, we’ll get in.”

Rhodes goes in first, still holding Cinder’s hand and worryingly looks between Cinder and the door closed behind her. Cinder kind of appreciates not being in the middle seat. Feeling trapped in a fancy enclosed position is too soon for her anxiety.

Still though, Cinder peeks behind Rhodes’ bulk to see the lady. The car starts up and when they’re passing under streetlights, Cinder sees white long hair of a woman only seen on TV.

“I never imagined this is what your emergency was about.”

“Well, I didn’t need to tell you Willow,” Rhodes said plainly.

Willow Schnee rolls her eyes and accidentally makes eye contact with Cinder. She presses her lips in a thin line, neither mean or annoyed, simply processing. Eventually she sighs and looks away, “You two need a place for the night. We’ll talk more tomorrow, okay Rhodes and…”

The empty silence has Willow awkwardly glance back to her. Cinder has never seen an elegant lady look awkward before, it’s kind of odd.

“Cinder,” she fills in.

“Cinder,” Willow repeats. “Alright, well,” she sighs again, faces the front, “we’ll be at home soon enough.”

At that word, home , Cinder tenses and relaxes. Any place is better than the hotel. She leans into Rhodes’ side and closes her eyes.

Thanks for reading!

#rwby fic #rwby spoilers #rwby #cinder fall #rwby au

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jackjots · 4 years ago

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#8 Tourist

Wayward Guide for the Untrained Eye 30 Day Prompt

(This takes place around Episode 5 )

Day #8 @30daysofwayward

(I do not own any other characters or place names outside of Shelby St. Ranger, this is just for fun)

The walk home felt longer than usual. I was still sore and every step reminded me that I was. When I hit the driveway I leaned on my mailbox and took a little break. I shook my head and wiggled my shoulders with a groan, and started to trek my way-too-freaking-long driveway.

By the time I got home, I was desperately thirsty. I threw everything on the desk and lurched my way into the kitchen. I slammed a cup of water down my throat; leaning on the sink to keep me standing. It was the sweetest water I’d ever had and I took a shuddering breath with water dripping down my chin after I’d gulped it all down.

I took a long, hot shower and when I got out I realized my keys were still in the door. Sans my car key. My car. I sighed and took the keys out and threw them onto my desk.

I took more pain meds and drank two more glasses of water standing in just a towel. As I got dressed, I contemplated everything that had happened. The accident, the conversation with Desmond the night before, and even going to vote had all felt like a weird dream. But it wasn’t.

I sat on my couch with a cup of coffee. The computer’s blank screen stared at me accusingly. I stuck my tongue out at it. I didn’t want to write. In fact, I wanted to go back down to the Dead Cannery. It was an urge I found alien, alarming, but I didn’t know how to fight it. My curiosity had grown so much that it was defying my usual patterns and pushing me to do what I usually only did when I had been secluded for days on end. I wanted to drink a beer, eat one of Quinn’s meals that left me orally confused, and, most importantly, find out more about what was going on. I didn’t know what Truman had done in the meeting she’d held. I didn’t know how the werewolf rumor was affecting the town.

I had to know.

With my hair clean and brushed and in fresh clothes, even with the double black eyes, I felt better about being around people. I packed a small bag, with layers in case I walked back in the cold and an umbrella as dark clouds sat on the edges of the bright blue sky when I had poked my head out of the door to check the weather. Gone were the days where I’d look at the weather app on my phone. I also packed more pain killers as my headache was much like the clouds and sat on the edges of my temples, and my notebook with a couple of pens. I felt prepared for almost anything, except for what I actually found when I got there.

The town was a curled fist of fear and anger. I noted the loudest and the angriest were the Irons family, who I knew only in passing, and I knew they worked for Miner Mole. There was someone who looked vaguely familiar yelling about a dinosaur egg, and new flyers up everywhere for a werewolf hunt. There were other faces that if I had been in other town I would’ve guessed were tourists, but I knew they were probably just people who never spent a lot of time in town and now found themselves shouting about werewolves with bulging eyeballs. It was all about the werewolves.

Worst of all, I found out as his body was taken away, Odie Doty was dead.

My mind raced as I sat in the shadows of my usual spot within the Dead Canary. I had my notebook open and I was furiously writing down everyone I had seen that wanted to kill the werewolves.

Desmond brought me a beer. “I didn’t expect you back so soon.”

“I know. I didn’t think I would be either.”

“Did you hear they’re going to take ore out of the silver mine?” “Was that what Truman had the vote on?”

He gave a somber nod and went back to the bar.

I wrote that down, too.

I then made a list of the names of the alleged victims of the werewolves.

Next to their names I wrote down what I knew about them:

Ryan Reynolds: Running for town council, against Miner Mole, wanted the town to stay the same.

Prism: ??? (I had only met her once,, but I had awkwardly declined a reading and had only seen her in passing after that)

Paul: Attempted murder - outsider, nosey, believes in werewolves.

Odie Doty: Mailman -

I held my pen over the paper. And then I wrote “Read everyone’s mail.”

He must have read something. That was the only thing I could think of. Largely he came across as a harmless, positive guy.

His body had been discovered during the day. And as far as I knew, he had died during the day. If werewolves could transform during the day, if werewolves weren’t bothered by silver- I hissed at my own thoughts. I was annoyed that this was all ifs and maybes. If werewolves really existed, was what we knew about them true as well? Or was I just basing it off of stereotypes? If I didn’t know what was real, how did I know if they were really being set up or not? All my evidence was flimsy and fueled by imagination and guilt. Yes, guilt. I had a lot of guilt swimming about in my belly with the beer that I was drinking way too fast. I pushed the glass a bit far so I’d have to reach across the table to grab it.

Quinn came back from a meeting at town hall and announced to the bar that he was no longer serving meat, in order to starve out any potential werewolves, but also that Barney Fletcher (it took me a moment to remember Barney and his egg, of course, the dinosaur egg guy) had died right in front of him.

“It was horrible.” He said when I inquired further. “He was just bleeding everywhere and kept going on and on about his egg which, and I know eggs, was just a regular ol’ chicken egg. And then he even said “I could’ve told you did it just now” and then he died. It was ridiculous. And so sad.” He added the last part as an afterthought.

“Are you too upset to cook me something? Whatever you feel like making?” I asked cautiously.

“Too upset to cook? Who do you think I am. I’m working on some new meatless ideas, you know to starve out the werewolves, so I’ll get you something like that.” He paused and looked me over. “You’re not a werewolf right?” I was slightly taken aback, but then he smiled, and I smiled and laughed awkwardly. I went back to my table and wrote down what Quinn told me. I added Barney’s name to my list. And more question marks. Like Prism, I hardly knew Barney and the only connection he really had was his affection for the bizarre. He was an in your face kind of person and I tended to avoid him. Great, more guilt. I couldn’t just torture myself about avoiding people. When you avoid everyone, there are bound to be people you regret avoiding. Well, most people I avoided. I liked to interact with people in the Dead Canary because it felt safe and there tended to be very little happening, even when people got drunk they just kind of slouched into the wood grain and didn’t really do anything dramatic. Usually.

I heard the bell ding and looked to see that it was Artemis and Paul. It looked like they were recording their podcast so I made sure to scoot further into the shadows. I looked at what I’d written down. I wondered if any of it would be useful, but I had a feeling they probably had more to tell me than I would to tell them. I didn’t want to talk to them though. Something about the microphone and the inquisitive and hyper energy of Paul, I just couldn’t find the energy to face that. I was a writer, I reminded myself, not a journalist. I didn’t seek out the story, I just made sure it was written down. I observed. That was my job. Unfortunately, I missed most of what they were saying in the midst of my inner struggle about socializing. Typical.

My food came just as they left. Quinn tilted his head to where they had been. “Those two, you know the town got mighty suspicious of them today and how as soon as they got here all this stuff started to happen.”

“So it must be the first time this kind of thing has happened then?”

“Well except for Aubrey and his father, no one else talks about werewolves. Before today that would be, well that would be silly.”

I tried to remember who Aubrey was. “But now it’s not silly?”

“No, because people are dying.”

“Was it the werewolves though?” “Who else could it be? Enjoy.”

Who else could it be was exactly what I was wondering as I stared at the bright green presumably edible contraption sitting on the plate before me.

Who else?

#30daysofwayward #waywardguidefortheuntrainedeye #tin can bros

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skz-belle · 5 years ago

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Meeting the Team

Summary: A collection of stories detailing how Belle met each member of Stray Kids in chronological order

Genre: fluff, angst

Warnings: language, unedited, writing deteriorates as it goes on

Word Count: 5.8k

m.list

one: yang jeongin

The first day of being a trainee is horrifying, yet full of excitement. There was a moment where Belle was contemplating even entering the building, her fears of inadequacy were trying to weigh her down and drown her. She was standing in front of the building when someone bumped into her.

“Oh, sorry! I was on my phone- I didn’t see you there.” The boy that ran into her explained his predicament. He looked very young and Belle felt for him immediately.

“It’s okay. Don’t even worry about it.”

“I still feel bad though.” He looked at the ground with a small pout playing on his lips before whipping his head back up to look Belle in the eyes. “Are you a trainee?”

She was slightly startled by the sudden question and attitude change, yet she still answered. “Yep, today is my first day actually.” His smile grew even bigger after hearing her response.

“That’s great! Welcome to JYP Entertainment! I have been a trainee here for about 6 months, so I could maybe show you around?”

“I couldn’t ask you to do that. I’m sure you’re busy and I don’t want to cause trouble.”

“No! It wouldn’t cause any trouble! Plus I want to get to know you. You seem nice! What did you get in with?”

“Dance. How about you?”

“Singing. Maybe you could help me out with dancing? Oh! Or we could sing a duet together to begin our wonderful friendship!”

At this moment, all the worries Belle had melted away. She saw the pure child-like excitement in this boy’s eyes and she knew that this had the potential to be a strong friendship to help her down the harsh path they were both pursuing. They had just met, but they felt something strange with the other that felt like home. True friendship was blossoming.

“That sounds really nice. I’m Belle by the way.”

“Nice to meet you, Belle. I am Jeongin.”

two- bang chan

Being a trainee at JYP meant unknowingly signing up to be part of a large gossip circle. Most every trainee knew each other, or at least of each other. It was a small pool to pull from, so every single bit of knowledge that could be obtained from the internet or primary sources was put to use; basically everyone knew a lot about Belle, and she knew a lot about them.

Belle had heard the name Chan before, everyone had. Arguably being the most well known trainee, and having been there for as long as he had made it almost impossible to not have heard about him. He was very talented and anyone could see that.

Despite hearing about him so often, Belle did not get the chance to meet Chan until one fateful night when she was struggling to prepare for her second monthly evaluation. Belle shivered at the mere thought of failing during one of those infamous days, so she was pulling an all-nighter to prepare. The dance she had picked was very technical, which left room for multiple errors. This had Belle frustrated and ready to sleep, despite knowing she had many hours of practice ahead of her.

She took a deep breath and played the song once more. After completing the dance for the nth time that night, she heard clapping from the doorway. She assumed it was Jeongin, the only friend she had made thus far and brushed it off. She knew she was about to get an earful for still practicing at this hour.

Instead of Jeongin’s voice, a deep smooth voice spoke up. “Wow, the rumors were not wrong. You’re incredible.” Belle whipped her head around to see the one and only Bang Chan standing in the doorway with a small smile playing on his lips.

“Um, thank you?” All Belle managed to get out were those few words. It was a shock to her system to meet someone so well known and to have him complement her. This earned a small chuckle from the man.

“Sorry, that did come off a little creepy, didn’t it?” Belle finally gave him a bit of a smile as he continued, “I was passing by and I heard the music, and I was kind of curious who was still here at two in the morning. Belle, right?”

“That’s me. Chan, right?”

“The one and only. I was just about to go take a break and get a snack if you want to come with.” Shock took over Belle’s mind. This is the man that trainees swooned over, and he was asking her to take a break with him?

“Sure, I need a break anyways.” She quickly gathered her things and made her way to Chan.

“So, mind telling me why you’re working on an already great dance piece at this ungodly hour?” Chan’s question pierced the momentary silence as they began the walk to the vending machines.

“I have evaluations tomorrow. I guess practicing makes me less nervous?”

“You are already amazing, I can promise you that staying up this late won’t help you.”

“I know it won’t, but I just can’t help it.” She looked over to him to see him looking straight forward down the long hallway. “Enough about me and my stupidity, why are you still up?”

“Would it make me a hypocrite if I said the same reason as you?” Chan let out a nervous giggle and Belle just rolled her eyes.

“That is the exact definition of a hypocrite.” She looked over at him again to see his ears flushed with the tiniest bit of color. “Y’know, you don’t need to stay late either. It’s kind of unfair how talented you are.”

“I never took you for the flattery type.” Chan jokes whilst bumping his shoulder with Belle’s.

“It’s not flattery if it’s true! Half the trainees want to date you, and the other half want to be you. You’re crazy talented, and you should know that.”

“Thank you. I think we should hang out more often, you aren’t as cold as people make you out to be. You’re fun to be around.”

“Why thank you. The rumor mill isn’t that kind to me, but thanks for taking a chance on me. By the way, if I see you spending any more late nights here I will make you get some sleep. Just keep that in mind.” And of course, she carried her promise through like a friend should do.

three: lee minho

There was always such a burden placed on those who entered the trainee life through the way of dance. There was a much bigger strain on them to improve other skills, such as rapping or singing. Belle always tried to work hard, however she tended to focus on dance, as that was a major passion of hers. Rap and other musical forms are also very influential passions, but her first love was dance.

She was focusing on the steps to the current dance she was trying to master and failed to focus on the rest of the room, per usual. Dancing had a strange way of hypnotizing Belle and making her focus solely on the moves and flow of the song. It was part of why it was her first love- the immersive qualities of it that produced euphoria when she completed a dance without errors. However, that was not happening for her. She couldn’t get a simple move down and it irked her. She huffed as she slumped down on the practice room floor and watched the video once more to try to get her bearings.

She focused on the small screen intently- her will to learn and improve was strong and evident in how her eyes followed the figure as it flowed across the screen pixel by pixel. She took a deep breath before attempting the step again, and failing once again. She was a talented dancer according to higher-ups in the company, so why couldn’t she get this right?

“You have to have a lot of skill to mess up a move that simple.” A voice cut through the air in the nearly empty practice room. A boy stood before her; he didn’t look to be that much older than Belle, which confused the poor dancer even more.

“I’m sorry, may I help you?” Belle’s voice was light and soft compared to his rather harsh tone.

“Yeah, you’re Belle, right? Your scheduled time for this room was up nearly fifteen minutes ago and I have been waiting for you to get the hint and leave.” His tone became even more harsh and he sent a rather menacing glare towards Belle.

“I- I’m sorry. I got caught up and lost track of time.” She remembered looking at the sheet earlier. This was Lee Minho, another trainee who just happened to be a dance prodigy. The name stood out to her earlier and she was planning on leaving a few minutes early to avoid meeting him, but that obviously didn’t work out the way Belle planned.

“Yeah well that’s obvious. I would have been more understanding if it was a more complicated move you were stuck on. Who in the world would have trouble with that move? A child?” His voice was now higher, almost as if intentionally mocking Belle who was now close to tears, though she would never let a random, rude stranger see her cry.

“The room is yours now. See you later Lee Minho.” She mumbled as she dashed to gather her things and leave. Minho’s anger from the wait had faded, and he felt a little guilty about being so harsh, but he pushed those thoughts aside to focus on the dance he needed to learn and perfect.

four: han jisung

Friendships tend to blossom due to unforeseen and unusual circumstances, at least in Belle’s case. She had also had a knack for getting into awkward situations inadvertently, which was a true chaotic neutral gift. It was a sunny summer day, and it was one that she had off, which made it all the more better. She knew there were better ways than this to spend such a precious day, but she had to go shopping for new clothes. It’s not that there was anything wrong with shopping, it just wasn’t necessarily something Belle enjoyed doing.

She was in the middle of the mall, which was surprisingly packed for such a perfect day. She was absorbed in the atmosphere; the soft glow of the store signs in contrast to the rather harsh fluorescent overhead lights was suddenly the most interesting aesthetic to the eclectic girl.

While being so wrapped up in the scenery, she bumped into someone headfirst with such force she fell to the ground.

“Oh my gosh,” the other party in the collision, a boy close to Belle’s age, whispered as he took in the events that just transpired. “I am so so sorry- I wasn’t paying much attention to where I was going.”

“It’s okay! No harm done- plus I was kinda lost in thought so it was partially my fault too. Sorry, by the way.” Belle was borderline rambling as she too took in what just happened; it was so sudden and it happened so quickly that her mind still had not quite wrapped around the entire tumble-incident. Plus, after looking at the boy she knew that he looked familiar, but she just didn’t know how.

“It happens. I’m just glad it was with you instead of some mean old lady.” He laughs softly as he tries to keep the conversation flowing smoothly. Belle laughed along, but gasped shortly after once she connected from where she knew his face.

“You’re a trainee at JYP too, aren’t you?” His face morphs into one of shock, then his face breaks out into one of the brightest smiles Belle had ever seen.

“I am! I knew that I knew you from somewhere!”

“Same here! It was bugging me ever since I saw you.” They both chucked at the experience the two had unknowingly shared. “I’m Belle, it’s nice to meet you!”

“I’m Jisung, it’s nice to meet you as well.”

“Since I kinda inconvenienced you, could I interest you in some food? I can pay and we can bond over the wondrous trainee life.”

“If you think I am going to let you pay for all of it, you have something else coming.”

“Alright, it’s on.” A competitive grin was shared between the two of them, and before Jisung had time to react, she was dragging him away, presumably to a restaurant.There was something about him and the chemistry that sparked Belle’s interest. She had a feeling that this was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

five: seo changbin

It had been a month or so since Belle had met Jisung, and it was safe to say that both her and Jeongin were never bored. Belle had discovered that the two knew each other, which led to group hangouts and shenanigans, which always ended with smiles and laughter fresh in their minds.

Belle was currently with Jisung in a studio, and was listening to some of the music he had produced. When Belle found out that he produced music, she was amazed. It wasn’t that she thought he couldn’t, but she just didn’t see that vibe from him. That quickly changed, as she demanded to hear some of his work, which resulted in her becoming his number one supporter and fan.

She also discovered that he worked with two other trainees and had formed a group of sorts. Jisung had not told her the name of the group, but did tell her the stage names of the other two trainees: CB97 and SPEARB. They intrigued Belle, as she wanted to consume all Jisung’s musical endeavors and was near rabid at the thought of what he and two other producers of his skill level could produce.

“Hey, sweet-cheeks, it is getting kinda late- shouldn’t you get to sleep?” Jisung looked over his shoulder at the girl who was still listening to the music playing in the background before she looked to her phone to see the time.

“What are you talking about Ji? It’s still pretty early.”

“I’m not sure if eleven at night qualifies as early, but I just want you to be well rested.” Belle’s eyebrows furrow as she takes in her friend’s strange behavior.

“You’re trying to kick me out, oh my god.” Jisung’s eyes widen in shock as he frantically scrambles to get rid of the accusations.

“No no no no, I just- it was- ugh,” he takes a breath to gather his thoughts, “It was supposed to be a secret, but the guys from the group are coming soon and I didn’t know if you wanted to stay for that, or if you would be comfortable, or if it would be too weird, or-”

“Ji, calm down, okay? I can leave if you want me to with no problem, but I wouldn’t mind staying as long as it is okay with you.”

“I mean, I wasn’t sure but-” Jisung was cut off by the door squeaking open to reveal Bang Chan. Belle had not spoken to Chan too often, of course she checked up on him as much as possible, but with the life of a trainee there was not much time to spare.

“Oh, is this a bad time? I am a bit early.” Chan looked to Belle and Jisung with a bit of confusion before Jisung started explaining.

“No, come on in. This is Belle- I invited her to stay for the session.”

“We met a while ago. You better be getting enough sleep mister.” Belle looked to the man in mock anger causing Chan to laugh.

“I have been. You better be getting enough sleep too.”

“She hasn’t. She stays up to annoy the living shit out of me.” Jisung interjects, and Belle gasps in faux dismay.

“Oh, you know you love me.” She laughs as she pokes his side through an opening on the chair he was still situated in.

“I would, or else I would have slapped you weeks ago.”

“You still haven’t told me the name of this whole group yet! I wouldn’t call that love.” Belle’s teasing was cut short when Chan laughed.

“You brought her to a brainstorming session and she doesn’t even know the name of our group?” Chan’s voice was teasing, which caused a faint wash of red to spear on the younger’s cheeks.

“Yes! He is so mean to me. What is y’all’s name by the way.” Belle looked to Chan with pure curiosity glistening in her brown eyes.

“3RACHA. I’m assuming he didn’t tell you who was in it either?” Belle shook her head and Chan laughed once again, causing the blush on Jisung’s face to darken ever so slightly. “CB97, SPEARB, and J.ONE are our stage names. I’m CB97, for obvious reasons, Jisung is J.ONE, and Changbin is SPEARB.”

“Changbin?”

“You haven’t met him yet?”

“Not yet, no.”

“You will soon- he should be here any minute. He’s cool though, don’t worry.”

“Yeah, he has to be cool to hang with us.” Jisung piped up, making Belle and Chan laugh.

“You cried when you saw a baby bird last week, I wouldn’t classify that as cool, my dude.” Chan laughed at the memory as he recalled the teary eyed boy looking into the sparrow’s nest on the sidewalk.

“And you screamed when you saw a spider yesterday.” Belle added with tears now forming in her eyes from the hilarious memory and new information combined.

“Yah! Stop ganging up on me! This is no fun!” Jisung whined as he hid his face behind his arms.

“What are you fussing about this time, Jisung?” A new voice called out as it entered the room. It belonged to a boy that Belle assumed to be Changbin. He stopped in his tracks once he saw the new face in the room, as he wasn’t expecting anyone other than the boys.

“Changbin! Finally! This is Belle, she is a good friend of mine and is going to stay and watch the coolest people she knows work on some music.” Jisung’s head perked up the moment he heard Changbin’s voice and he said the entirety of his quick introduction with a smile.

“Nice to meet you, Changbin.” Belle shot a smile to the boy, who was looking towards her with a similar smile as well.

“Nice to meet you too, Belle. Also I am sorry about Jisung in advance.”

“Hey! I am a joy!” Jisung adamantly defends his name.

Without missing a beat, Belle replied: “To get rid of.” making the other two boys cackle and Jisung look shocked.

“I’m so hurt.” Jisung put a hand over his heart and let out a fake sniffle or two.

“Awh Jisungie~” Changbin cooes

“Nevermind- go away.” Changbin’s resolve doesn’t budge and he continues to coo at the poor boy. Belle hadn’t even heard any of their music yet, but she was already having a wonderful time with the boys. She knew she would love the music, and probably be a repeat visitor for 3RACHA’s meetings, if they allowed it.

six: kim seungmin

Vocals were a weak point for Belle. She loved to sing and to create a story using only her voice, but she was always told she was lacking at it. She took every aspect of her training unbelievably seriously, but she knew she had to improve her vocal ability, meaning she squeezed every ounce of soul she had into her vocal lessons. She also, like with her dance lessons, tended to stay after to work on some key points solo. This was a good way for her to clear her mind and not focus on anything else except improvement.

One particular day, she was beaten down by her vocal instructor. The song that was selected for her was written in a rather high key. This was to challenge her and test her limits, as well as see how far she had come. Belle’s natural vocal register was rather low. There was nothing wrong with it, but there was pressure to conform to traditional idol standards of having a high register, as a female idol. The pressure was mainly from her vocal coach, but there was a desire within Belle to succeed and be able to do the standard in K-Pop.

She was in the room designated for vocal coaching after hours, and was staring blankly at the sheet of music before her. Nearly half the notes seemed out of reach no matter how she tried and strained her voice. She was frustrated, yes, but she knew she needed to succeed. She glanced at her phone to see a text from Jeongin, which only fueled her resolve to be the best.

Jeongin: You got this! I hope you get some sleep soon… call me if you need anything

She sent a quick thank you message back and resumed her practice.

After a few more attempts at the piece with the same results, she heard a light knock on the door. She cracked it open to see a boy standing there with a few small chip bags in his hands.

“Hi?” Belle timidly said to the stranger.

“Hey, I know this is sudden, but the vending machine gave me some extras by accident, and I heard you in here and wanted to know if you wanted some.” The boy was obviously nervous by asking, but Belle found it endearing, and very generous to be willing to give a stranger late-night snacks.

“I would love some! Thank you for offering. What do you have?” After being shown his limited selection, Belle makes her choice and thanks him once again.

“What are you doing here so late at night anyways?” The girl questions the boy, who has grown more comfortable in her presence.

“I’m working on a song, and I just couldn’t get it how I want. I just finished, thankfully, but I guess kinda lost track of time while I was singing.” The boy says, bringing his hand to the nape of his neck in unease just thinking about the sheer amount of time he spent rehearsing.

“I feel you on that. I have been trying to sing this damn song for hours, but I’m just not getting it.” Belle muttered in exasperation. The boy looked at the sheet music Belle was glaring at and let out a small noise of indignation.

“You have to sing that? You seem to have a lower register based on how you talk…” he trailed off in thought. “I could try to help if you want?”

“Oh no, I couldn’t ask you to do that. You already got me snacks and you were ready to go home.” Belle looked at the boy as if he had grown three heads for offering to help her.

“Nonsense, it is practically my duty to help you. Now, what is your name?”

“Belle. Your’s?”

“Seungmin. Now, let’s hear what you have so far.” Seungmin analyzes Belle’s posture, oral movements, vocal technique, and the sheet music as she sings. It is almost scary how he switched from a pleasant and easy-going teenager to a almost professional artist within the span of seconds- and he is only a trainee!

After Belle had finished, she looked to Seungmin who looked deep in thought. “Your technique is the only thing that needs work. I’m surprised your vocal coach didn’t tell you about this. You seem to be reaching and straining for the higher notes while still in your chest voice. Try putting a bit less pressure on your diaphram and focusing the epicenter of your voice further up and closer to your head rather than your chest.” Belle took in every word Seungmin said like it was the very oxygen she needed to breathe. “Now, take that and try it again. You’ve got this. I believe in you.”

She shot him a smile at his encouraging words, took in a deep breath, and began the song once again. The notes that moments ago seemed so out of reach were now attainable. The song flowed with such a grace that Belle herself wasn’t aware she could produce. Of course, it was not perfect, but it was so much better that Belle was teary-eyed by the end of it.

“Holy shit.” She breathed out once she had completed the song.

“Holy shit indeed.” Seungmin said with a cocky smile adorning his lips. “Again!”

seven: kim woojin

Trainee life is never easy. Everyone who knows about K-Pop knows this fact. Trainees are usually so busy and wrapped up in the monthly activities and weekly classes that they have little time to contemplate this during their actual training period. There are times when a trainee just stops the grueling activities they willingly partake in catch up with them, and they are forced to face the questions and concerns of reality. Of course this has happened to Belle, honestly more times than the girl is willing to admit. She usually finds comfort in those she is close to. However, one special day, she gets to be the calm and anchor for another.

A group dance practice had just ended. It consisted of about ten trainees and a dance coach that was instructing them on how to properly dance to GOT7’s song “Never Ever”. The class ended and Belle was gathering her belongings when she noticed a fellow trainee sitting next to his things idly. This was a red flag, as no trainee usually wasted time doing nothing; they always tried to cram their social and family lives in when they were not enduring the training. The second red flag was the crestfallen look that graced his face. He looked hurt, confused, and heart-broken.

Belle contemplated not going over to the boy, but her hesitation flew out the window when his eyes became more teary by the second. By this point, it was just the two in the practice room. Everyone else had gone about their day to do what had to be done; these two seemed stuck in a moment that never ended.

Belle walked over to the boy. She recognized him: Kim Woojin. Belle thought him to be an amazing vocalist and she believed him to be kind, though the two had never properly met. She knelt down before the boy, “Hey, are you okay?” He looked up, startled by the sudden voice, and the sight almost broke Belle’s heart. His eyes were teary- it was obvious he was doing his best to not break down completely.

“Yeah.” His voice was quiet and wavering. Belle frowned at his answer.

“Are you sure? I know we don’t know each other, but that could make me a good person to vent to. You don’t have to, but the offer stands if you need it.” A moment of silence passes the two and then he breaks.

“What if I’m not good enough?” His question hit home for Belle. Every trainee struggled with this, and it has caused many talented individuals to quit out of fear of rejection. “What if I am wasting this amazing period of my life for a dream that I can never attain?” Woojin lets a single tear trail down his cheek before hurriedly wiping it away. Another moment of comfortable silence passed and Woojin found solstace in another person being with him and not judging him during this vulnerable moment.

“I know we’re strangers, but your talent is indescribable. If anyone is good enough, it is you.” Belle’s kind and true words strike a chord with Woojin. He looked to the girl and gave her a smile full of appreciation and hope.

“Thank you.”

eight: hwang hyunjin

Another month arrived and another monthly evaluation was assigned. This month was special, as it was an opportunity to show a different side of the dance-focused trainees; there was a mandatory duet opportunity that would replace the normal evaluation. Partners were assigned based on skill level, and each pair was given a genre of dance.

When Belle was called in to meet her partner, she was immediately met with disappointment. Hwang Hyunjin was her partner. Belle knew he was talented, and everyone knew he was attractive, but there was a personal issue here. Hyunjin and Jisung were well known enemies. No one knows exactly how the feud began, but Belle was adamant about siding with and supporting her friend.

After gaining the needed information, the two left and only spoke to exchange details of where and when to meet in order to practice. The time to do so came far too quickly for Belle’s liking, and she found herself sitting a few feet from the man while browsing their phones to find a song that fit their dance theme. The theme was hip-hop, yet every song seemed to only appeal to one of the duo.

“Can we please just agree on a song?” Hyunjin pleaded with Belle after fifteen minutes of constant back-and-forth over song suggestions.

“Suggest something decent then.” Belle knew she was being sassy, maybe borderline bitchy, but based on how he had treated Jisung, this was what she deemed best. Hyunjin groaned in frustration, and went back to searching his phone.

After a few more song titles were thrown around, he finally had had enough. “Why do you hate me?”

“I don’t necessarily hate you, but you are rude to a close friend of mine.”

“That’s no reason to be this mean.”

“I believe it is the perfect reason to do so.”

“You’re so goddamn infuriating!”

“Ditto.” The rest of the day progressed similarly; nothing got accomplished with the two bickering.

The next day, they saw that in order to survive the trainee lifestyle, they had to work together. While not happy about it, they did what they had to do. They picked a song within five minutes and began choreographing soon thereafter.

As the days went on, they found that they were not dreading the other’s company. It was a strange shift that both recognized, yet did not speak of. It was refreshing to have another friend at the company for both Belle and Hyunjin. Belle realized that she didn’t have to partake in her friend’s anger towards the boy, which changed her entire attitude towards the boy. She saw him through her own lens, not through anyone else’s.

“Okay, so how about we do a freestyle part of the dance? We could each show off our more personal and technical dance moves.” Belle suggested one day at practice.

“I think it could work. The other person could be a bit in the back like a hype man, y’know?”

“That would be cool. Having Hwang Hyunjin as my hype man.”

“I already am, you idiot.” He gave Belle a playful shove and they continued on rehearsing.

The day to perform for the monthly evaluation panel came too soon for the duo’s liking. They were both confident in their choreography and each other, but the perfectionist side of them craved more time to practice.

They entered the room and nodded towards each other before taking their places to begin the dance. The music began and it seemed like the rest of the room faded away, leaving only the two of them. The teamwork they inadvertently built up showed and they moved as one entity. Their emotions poured from the dance almost as if they were expressing it through a heartfelt speech, not just through movement.

They ended the dance and bowed to the judges before exiting.

“How do you think we did?” Belle asked Hyunjin, her nerves were evident in her voice.

“I think we killed it. How about I take the best dance partner out for a celebratory meal after we get our scores.” Belle laughs at his boldness.

“That sounds like a plan, partner.” Belle’s mind was in awe over the fact that someone she once disliked could become a friend, and that the past could be pushed aside to succeed and gain companionship.

“Stop calling me partner. You sound like a cowgirl, idiot.”

nine: lee felix

Mornings at JYP always seemed intense. Dozens of interns and managers were bustling around prepping for an eventful day, artists were emerging and beginning their daily routines, producers and executives roamed the halls at random, and hand-fulls of trainees were scampering around trying to navigate the seemingly moving walls of the company. To put it lightly, it had great potential to be overwhelming.

Belle had become immune to the chaos of the hallways but always did her best to avoid busiest ones. It wasn’t a matter of if she could handle it, but rather an issue of could the hallways handle her. Yet one day, she had to go down the main passageway and face the hoards of people running and passing her. It was annoying and a nuisance to the girl.

She was almost to the end when she saw a boy pushed against the wall looking up and down the long hallway with a perplexed look on his face. This wasn’t an uncommon sight, but there was something about his kid that made her want to help. Maybe it was the innocence in his eyes, or the soft presece he exuded, but she made her way over to him.

“Hey, are you okay? You look a little overwhelmed.” She had a small smile on her face, as to not scare him off, but the poor boy still looked intimidated.

“I’m looking for practice room 204.” His voice was shaky, yet he was trying to play it off. His Korean was a bit broken, yet understandable.

“I can help. Is there another language you want to converse in?”

“English?”

“Ok! Hi, my name is Belle.”

“I’m Felix.” His accent when speaking English was a shock to Belle; she believed it to be Australian.

“Nice to meet you! And sorry that this hallway is such a bear. It gets better eventually, I promise.”On the walk to the practice room, the two continued talking. Belle discovered Felix was rather quiet, but when he spoke it was well-worth listening. Though she had only spoken to the boy for a few minutes, she was already quite fond of him. The rest of the hallways seemed to quiet down and almost disappear as they focused on the other in an attempt to block it out.

“There’s actually another trainee here that is from Australia. I could introduce you two if you would like.” Belle offered, and the boy’s face lit up.

“That would be great! And thank you so much for the help.”

“It’s no problem. I got to meet you, and that is all the thanks I need.”

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littlekatleaf · 4 years ago

Text

Buried in a burning flame is love and its decisive pain (part 8)

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

Lucio squeezed Roadhog’s arm as he passed on the way to the settlement. Roadhog wanted to say something, to express his gratitude for Lucio’s help, for his kindness to Junkrat. But words weren’t his strong suit - though they had been once upon a time, and he’d certainly improved during his years with Junkrat (when he could get a word in edgewise). But at the moment it all felt inadequate, so he just put his own hand over Lucio’s for a second. “Thanks,” he managed, and though his voice was rough, Lucio smiled at him, still with that endless kindness. As Roadhog followed Junkrat’s plodding figure through the snowy hills, the warmth of Lucio’s hand on his arm lingered.

It didn’t take him long to catch up and for a while they walked together in silence, punctuated only by an occasional sniff from Junkrat. He wasn’t sure how to start a conversation, he wasn’t sure what tack to take - but if there was one thing Junkrat couldn’t handle, it was extended silence. So he bit his tongue and walked.

As usual, it worked.

“Come to tell me yer heading back to Straya?” His voice was hoarse, blurred with congestion.

Roadhog held his silence.

“I mean, ya got my note, ain’t ya?”

Roadhog nodded, though he wasn’t sure Junkrat noticed, because he kept his eyes down. It was unclear whether this was to follow a trail only he could see, to keep from tripping, or to avoid Roadhog’s gaze - though likely it was all three in equal measure.

“I been thinkin’,” Junkrat said finally, then paused. “I know, dangerous prospect.” He coughed a laugh. “I think it’s time to go our own ways.” He coughed again, this time without laughing. “I mean, we can’t go our own ways right now, since we’re stuck with these do-gooders. But ya ain’t gotta babysit me no more.”

Roadhog tilted his head, tried to catch Junkrat’s eyes, failed. He stayed silent because whatever he’d expected Rat to come out with, that wasn’t it.

“Not sayin’ ya ain’t done a fine job. Kept me alive long enough to make some decent dosh. Kept me outta the Queen’s clutches. Got outta Straya. Guess that’s the point, ain’t it. The Queen’s reach’s not long enough to touch me here. An’ even if it was, she ain’t gonna mess with Overwatch. Not gonna take ‘em on. So what I’m sayin’ is… I don’t need you. And with your half of the treasure, you don’t need me, neither.”

To say that Junkrat’s suggestion took him aback was an understatement. He’d thought Rat enjoyed their… whatever it was. Partnership? Friendship? Companionship?

Better that he was wrong, though. He should be jumping at this chance to be alone again, finally. Hell, he’d found Junkrat annoying as shit plenty of times. Most of the time, in the beginning. But… somewhere along the way the sharpness of that anger, the thorn-poke of having someone else intrude on his solitude day after day had smoothed and blunted into something else.

Junkrat gasped sharply and Roadhog turned, heart pounding, to see what happened.

But Junkrat only lurched forward with a particularly violent sneeze. “Haah R’aaasshhh-uh!!”

“Bless…”

“Hiih-Iiishh!” Another wrenching sneeze interrupted and Junkrat waved off the blessing, clearly gearing up for a third. “At’chhh-uh! …. Bloody hell,” Junkrat grumbled, sniffling and wiping his nose on the sleeve of his jacket.”

“For fuck’s sake, blow your nose.” Roadhog shoved a handful of tissues at him, irrationally irritated.

He did, scowling. “What’s yer problem? Thought you’d be happy to be rid of me.”

“Where’d you get a bloody idiotic idea like that?”

Junkrat shrugged. “Maybe from you always callin’ me an idiot?”

“Only when you’re acting like one.”

“Piss off,” Junkrat said, but without any real heat behind the words. He blew his nose again. “I just… maybe you don’t understand ‘bout the treasure. Guess we ain’t never talked about it, so how would you? It’s… it’s worth … a lot. Don’t rightly know how much ‘cause I never tried to sell it. Truth is, liked keepin’ it just cause the Queen wanted it so bad.” He laughed. “You take it to her an’... an’ I bet she’d let you have yer old job back.”

“Don’t think there’s money enough in the world for that.” Not that he’d want it, even if there were. That life was over and done, regardless of Junkrat.

“Ain’t money, mate.”

Well now that was a surprise. Though, why should it be? They’d amassed plenty of money from the jobs they’d pulled. Jewels, too. Some priceless art. Stood to reason this would be something else. Plus, rumor had it Junkrat’d scavenged it from the ruins of the Omnium. Wouldn’t have been money there. Might have been some valuable scrap, but the Queen wouldn’t care about that. “So what is it?”

“Hard drive. From the mainframe.”

Roadhog’s mouth went dry and for a minute the air in his lungs seemed to vanish. This… this was bigger than Junkrat knew. The Queen wasn’t the only one who’d want the information on that drive. Far from it. The information one could get on the Omnics from that drive he could only guess. But the information from the security cams on the night of the… incident? That he could imagine with crystal clarity. He and the others had assumed everything had been destroyed in the explosion that night, mainframe included. No one had been insane enough to delve into the radioactive rubble to check. No wonder the Queen wanted Junkrat so badly - either get the drive or kill him before he did anything with it, she’d not have a real preference.

“Don’t know for sure what’s on it. Ain't had access to a computer capable of taking it. Thinking Overwatch might, though.”

Junkrat went quiet and Roadhog let him. Overwatch likely did. If he tried it and succeeded... if Junkrat found out about that night, about what ALF had done - about what Roadhog had done… Fuck. That would change everything, and rightly so. For the first time since they’d joined Overwatch, or longer, since they left the country for jobs they could pull further afield, Roadhog felt a sudden urge to go back. While Rat was safe with Hana and Lucio and the rest of them, he could find the drive and see what was on it. He could destroy it, permanently this time. Or maybe he could sell it to the Queen - to keep her secret. Not for his job, but for Junkrat’s (and his own) safety - in case she decided they were worth the risk of confronting Overwatch, or if they ever wanted to go back. Go home.

His stomach turned. It was clear - he was going to have to go. Without Junkrat if at all possible. But how? Overwatch was not about to let him take off for Australia on his own, too risky. The longer he left the drive, the greater chance it would be found. How dependable could Junkrat’s hiding place be? Maybe he could tell Morrison what Junkrat’s treasure was? Morrison’d be happy for any intel on the Omnics - something that could give Overwatch an edge. Even if he couldn’t convince Morrrison to send him alone, maybe he could suggest Hana and Lucio. If he had to bring Junkrat, they could keep him busy while Roadhog searched the drive and deleted any incriminating evidence.

He was so focused on his thoughts that he barely registered how uncharacteristically silent Junkrat was. Until he suddenly snapped forward with a sneeze loud enough, even muffled by a handful of tissues, to actually make Roadhog jump.

“Hut’Aaatchhah!” He gasped a breath then, “Issshah!” and one more, “Hupt-choo!” hard enough that it actually knocked him off balance. He grabbed at Roadhog’s arm to stay upright.

Roadhog put a steadying hand on his back. “Jesus, Rat. All right?”

To his surprise, and consternation, Junkrat shook his head. “No. I ain’t… ain’t feelin’ good.”

Roadhog only just registered how white Junkrat had gone before he crumpled. Roadhog dropped his gun and barely managed to catch him before he hit the ground. This was not fucking good. He lowered himself to sit and cradled Junkrat’s head in his lap.

“Junkrat,” he called quietly. “Come on, Rat, wake up.” He cupped Junkrat’s cheek, gently. The heat from his skin was shocking - his fever had clearly worsened. Roadhog sighed, smoothed the hair back from Rat’s forehead. “I’m sorry,” he said, just above a whisper. For all of it, he meant. For Junkrat being sick and the way he was and for never having a chance to become whoever he could have been had he not grown up alone in an irradiated shitheap.

Junkrat’s eyes moved behind closed lids, like he dreamed. He didn’t respond, but his body shivered with chills.

Fuck it all, sitting around whinging about the past not going to do any good. “All right, Rat - need to get you warm. Let’s go.” Put Junkrat’s arm around his neck, slid his own arm under Junkrat’s legs and lifted. He was surprisingly light.

Junkrat’s head lolled against his chest. He’ll be okay, Roadhog told himself. Just pushed too hard with a fever. Get him back to the cabin, put him to bed and he’d be just fine. Give him some meds. Maybe Lucio could help, too. Didn’t need to worry; wouldn’t do any good. Just needed to keep moving forward.

The way back down the hill was a bit more treacherous than up, especially as carrying Junkrat threw off his center of balance just enough to be awkward. Even so, Roadhog relished the need to focus on his movements, because then he couldn’t focus on the fact that Junkrat still wasn’t awake and the heat of his body was making Roadhog sweat even with the chill of the wind whipping down the mountain.

He’d just caught sight of the roofs of the settlement a short way below when Junkrat shifted uncomfortably and groaned.

“Hey,” Roadhog said. “I got you.”

“Ugh,” Junkrat pushed against Roadhog’s chest. “Put me down, Roadie. Ain’t a kid.”

“You fainted. I’m carrying you until Lucio takes a look at you.”

“Fuck that; ain’t fainted. Just…” he paused like he was looking for an alternate explanation. “Just needed a hard reboot. Turn me off, then back on again. ‘M fine.” He struggled against Roadhog’s hold until Roadhog had to put him down before dropping him.

“You’re impossible.”

“So everyone keeps tellin’ me.” Junkrat scowled. He was slightly unsteady as he walked, but Roadhog knew better than to try to help him when he was in one of his moods. Instead, he made sure he walked close enough to catch Junkrat if he fell again, but far enough that he could deny hovering.

They held a strained silence until they reached the settlement. Roadhog knew that anything he might offer would just piss Junkrat off more. The others were waiting in the ute - and the gust of warm air that puffed from the door as Junkrat yanked it open was a relief.

“‘M sorry, Tracer. Couldn’t catch her,” Junkrat said, immediately. “Know I shoulda waited for ya in the first place. Thought I could take care of it without having to interrupt yer holiday.”

Lena sighed, looking at them through the rearview mirror as she drove back to the cabin. “I appreciate the apology, Junkrat. And I appreciate the sentiment, I really do. But you also have got to understand - Overwatch works the way it does for a reason. It might feel like a pain in the ass… ok, it definitely feels like a pain sometimes,” she rolled her eyes, “especially when Morrison’s going on and bloody on… But honestly, we work better as a team. And when you take off on your own - without letting anyone know where you went, we can’t be a team.”

“Got it,” Junkrat said, muffling coughs into his fist.

Hana twisted around in her seat and frowned. “That sounds not great.”

Junkrat shrugged. “Feels not great.”

This time when Lucio reached over to feel his forehead, Junkrat didn’t move away. In fact, Roadhog was almost sure he leaned into the touch. “Looks like you’re going to be spending the rest of the holiday in bed. You’re hotter than hell.”

Junkrat cocked a brow. “Hana, gonna stand for your man propositioning me like that?”

“There’s plenty of room in the bed,” she replied archly.

Roadhog listened to them laugh, even as Junkrat coughed again, and found himself beginning to relax. Junkrat was safe, was warm, and Lucio would be able to tell if there were anything seriously wrong with him. They’d put him to bed, and he’d sleep off the sickness and maybe the mood, and while he did, Roadhog could figure out what to do about the treasure. And what to do about their partnership.

#oversnez #snezfic #Reboot the Rat #constitutionally incapable of writing shortfic #almost complete after many thousand words #Christmas fics in August #just a fluffy holiday fic I thought

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sunlightwoo · 5 years ago

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Wild Hearts (1/31)

plot: you’re already on your way halfway through the semester when you meet a newcomer that is already giving you fuckboy vibes. somehow, you just hope that you don’t encounter him once again on this campus, but we all know that fate is never on our side when it comes to cute guys, now.

wc: 1557 words

a/n: i originally posted this on wattpad about a year ago and just finished it like weeks ago, but never had the time to revise it until now so if this is cringe, i swear i shall make it better over time!!!

taglist: @cupidhaos (if you’d like to be added just send an ask or DM!!)

MASTERLIST | NEXT

The aroma of newly bloomed flowers fill my nose as I walked into the familiar flower shop before my morning classes. A smile is crept onto my face once I had made it towards the clerk’s desk and I watched from the counter the hands a close friendwork his magic as he was helping other customers around the shop. I stood there until I felt a light tap on my shoulder to see my other best friend smiling towards my direction.

“Hey Y/N, what brings you here today? I thought you had class?” Soyeon asks me as I nodded before pulling out a small envelope from my back pocket.

“I do, but Seungkwan was impatient with the money that I owed him from that night of poker, which is why I’m here to pay him back before I leave.” I say handing it to her as she slowly takes it into her hands.

“Poker? Since when did you gamble with life?” She jokes lightly and smiles a bit as I playfully rolled my eyes at her statement.

“It was just for fun. Besides, the only one that went home crying was Joshua which reminds me,” I say with a little smirk on my face and right when I finished my sentence the bell had rung signaling the presence of said person, “there he is now. I’ll see myself out to my classes.”

I bid a small wave to her and went on my way to my classes as I sighed to myself, clinging onto my bag strap. The remainder of the walk didn’t bother me as much as it usually did on most did and neither did any of my classes throughout the day, which made me confused as to how my day was too peaceful.

It began to make me feel paranoid about my surroundings, but who was I to judge one good day?

My legs went on to carry me to the final class I had to attend when I heard the small whispers of my peers in the lecture hall. As soon as I had stepped in, all heads turned towards me as I was immediately confused about the sudden action until the small sound of someone clearing their throat broke away my thoughts. Immediately turning around to face a familiar face, I rolled my eyes at the person before scowling at him.

“Are you going to move, princess, or will I have to do it myself?” He smirks and I scoffed before turning around to get into my seat.

“Don’t get your panties in a twist, Yoon. You might get STDs that way.” I sarcastically smiled before heading towards the back of the hall and sitting down in a seat, mentally preparing myself for the already long class ahead of me.

Slumping into my seat from how easily bored I already felt, I began to play with a pencil in between my fingertips and thought about what to expect in the next few weeks. As I started to also hum to myself, my eyes were locked on the door while waiting for the professor to enter but instead was an unfamiliar face at the front of the room.

His distinct features immediately stood out since I never seen him around campus, meaning he must’ve been a new student despite it being halfway through the semester. I raised an eyebrow to myself before shaking out of the small trance before starting to play with my pencil once more as the class had finally begun until I hear the sound of someone placing their stuff down in the seat beside mine.

I tensed up a bit and laid my head down into my arms as I tried to discreetly take a small peek at who took the spot next to me. Said new student had a very attractive side view with prominent facial features that made his face look defined, as if he were a sculpture that an artist took their time making.

However, my cover was almost blown when the both of us slightly locked eyes momentarily for a second as I hid my face once more into my arms.

“I caught you staring at me, you know.”

The voice itself made me in redden in embarrassment as I lifted my headed up to look at the figure that was smiling towards me mischievously. It must’ve been obvious that I was confused at how I was caught, because he chuckles a little bit to himself before he leaned back in his chair with a small smirk while crossing his arms across his chest almost cockily.

“If you want a good look, you could’ve just told me your name and address.” He winks and every single thought I had earlier about him was already tossed out the window as I rolled my eyes in irritance at his words.

“Is that really your way of trying to get into other girls’ pants?” I scoffed while giving him a small glare, still twirling my pencil in my hand and almost forgetting hat we were still in a lecture hall.

“It’s worked plenty of times in the past, I don’t see why not.” He retorts smirking even wider and from there I decided to just ignore him by focusing back onto the professor that was discussing about who knows what.

For the first ten seconds, I pretended that I was interested in what he was talking about only to just avoid him, however, I knew that he was watching me curiously out of the corner of my eye. I shook it off as I continued to pretend and act like I was actively participating in whatever we were focusing on, until I heard him spoke up again once more .

“Do you even know what he’s talking about?”

I looked over towards him with a small glare and he chuckles a bit before leaning over his seat to see what I was writing about in my notebook in front of me, when the smirk that never seemed to leave his face was still evident.

“I hope you do realize that this entire time, we’ve been discussing about Greek Mythology,” He points out before continuing, “He’s actually talking about the creations of the Gods and how they are related to their Roman side, yet here you are just doodling about-”

“Are you really trying to critique my style of learning, Mr. Egotistic?” I asked while raising an eyebrow at him irritatedly as I watched as he amusedly examines my facial expressions before holding a hand out in front of me to shake.

“Seokmin, but there’s others that call me DK for various reasons.” He says while winking and I scoffed before pushing his hand away from me.

“Yeah, probably because your ego is too big to fit inside your tiny brain.” I retort before the lecture was finally over when the professor had suddenly announced it being finished.

“Feisty then, which means I’ll see you around campus more often then, won’t I?” He proposes winking as I turned to look at him before grabbing my bag with me.

“Not with that type of attitude, I think the hell not.” I sarcastically smiled before leaving and letting out a small breath as I started to walk away from the hall.

With my head held high, I continued to walk down the corridors that had lead to the outdoors of the campus and sighed to myself as my eyes had caught glimpses of my surroundings. I was able to differentiate the different groups of people that were gathered around one area almost instantly, especially one area in particular that made my jaw clench in irritation.

Surrounding the area were a crowd of girls that are particularly fond of the booth that was created for the entertainment of the people running it. I rolled my eyes in disgust as flashbacks went through my mind from when I was easily influenced by them in my freshman year just three years ago, which is how my despise for a particular person began to grow.

The booth itself consisted of only two individuals that were well known on the campus, Yoon Jeonghan and Joshua. Previous rumors at some point in time once said that there was a third member that went by the name of Lee Jihoon, however he had already transferred to another university that was abroad, which is why it had only stuck to those two individuals themselves a year before I went in.

Just the very idea of toying around with another person’s emotions made me infuriated and disgusted once I had found out the truth behind it. It was just the small words that managed to slip out of Joshua’s mouth that was able to help me decipher the reality of the entire ‘game’, where people like Yoon Jeonghan, were players enjoyed seeing the hurt in other girls’ eyes because he wasn’t satisfied in anything but himself.

The entire existence of the booth t made me question why the campus had allowed it to continue on over the years, however in my perspective it was clear of two things. It was fucked up to these girls, mentally and physically, along with a promise to Joshua after the last time anything happened.

Not letting myself get involved with people like Jeonghan again.

#wild hearts #seventeen imagines #seventeen scenarios #seokmin imagines #seokmin scenarios #lee seokmin #dokyeom #seventeen college au #street racer au #jeonghan #joshua #seungkwan #jihoon

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ridiculousyoungicarus · 4 years ago

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Self Para 001: If I Could Grant You Peace Of Mind

TWs: HIV, Self-Harm, Drugs (Heroin & Cocaine - not done but mentioned briefly), Eating Disorders (Balo’s intervention is mentioned), Abuse

Word Count: 2,716

Setting: Luxor’s Orleans, France Campus. Monday, September 21st, 2020. Early morning (about 1am - 4am-ish).

Everything going on with Balo was a mess, and no matter what anyone said, Zander still couldn’t fail to see how it wasn’t his fault. Wasn’t that supposed to be his job? Protecting her. It was the only thing he needed to be good at, and he failed at it. She’d be fine if Ivan was here; he’d always been better at taking care of her. It was a thought that grew more and more persistent as the days went by. He’d have never let her in a situation that resulted in something like this. If he’s been the biological son, Balo would be okay.

And right now, she was far from being okay. Her behavior had become concerning since movie night, and he wasn’t sure if he should ask Ivan for help. He’d been entirely unhelpful the last time he’d reached out concerned about their sister. Maybe if Zander could just-

“You’re actually starting to turn a little blue, holy shit.” Ches’s voice interrupts him from his thoughts. When did she get back? He doesn’t fight as she wraps a blanket around his shoulders and settles in next to him, glancing over to her as she rests her head on his shoulder. “Did you really miss me this much? Oh, my sweet baby boy, whatever will I do with you?”

While the nickname was always affectionate, the lack of teasing in her voice sends his thoughts for another loop. Usually, she used it to pick on him. Did she think he was overreacting?

“Welcome home, I didn’t realize you were back yet.” Although he supposed it made sense, she hadn’t taken time off of school for the funeral. She probably wouldn’t have gotten it excused given the situation.

“Well, it’d be kinda hard to attend classes from Virginia. But enough about me. How are you doing? Other than trying to get hypothermia, of course.” He wants to groan that he would not get hypothermia, that it wasn’t that cold, and her dramatics weren’t helpful. But he’d be lying if he said he didn’t appreciate just how normal it was.

He’d missed normalcy.

“Well, I’m stuck with Jack, my parents disowned Balo, and she’s really scaring me. Nothing’s changed over the span of a weekend. You know how I feel.” It wasn’t the same as the last several times she had poked her head in, though. He’d had a lot more time to think since he’d last saw her.

“Is it the HIV or her mental health?”

Zander quickly tries to sort through their conversations in their mind. Had he let Balo’s diagnosis slip? But he’s yanked from his thoughts as the redhead beside him lifts her head and steals the corner of his blanket to wrap around herself. “You’re cold?”

“I’m still daydreaming about the 17° weather in Virginia, I know 6° isn’t bad, but yeah, I’m cold.” It takes him a few seconds to realize she’s on about Celsius, and he just lifts his arm to let sneak right in under it. “You didn’t answer my question, Zan. Is it her HIV diagnosis or her mental health scaring you?”

“You should really lower your voice; someone is going to overhear you if you don’t start whispering. Balo doesn’t want the entire school to know...”

“The only people awake at 1 am in this school are the insomniacs who are holed up in their rooms and the coke addicts who are way too busy snorting it off of Axel’s dick to care about what you and I are doing outside. Nobody is eavesdropping, and if they were, the rumors would be bullshit like ‘Ches and Zander are entirely too close, I caught them cuddling - they must be fucking.’ We go to school with shallow people who only care about themselves, remember? Nobody cares what we’re doing.” Ches rolls her eyes, “But, seriously I’m gonna keep asking you to tell me what’s on your mind. I know that look, something’s wrong. Please talk to me.”

“Oh, come on, nobody would buy that shit.” Zander knew it wasn’t the point, that he was just grasping at the little outs she was accidentally leaving in her words. “Even Jack would know to laugh that one out of the room.”

“Alekzander, please.”

“Do you nag everyone who doesn’t want to talk, or am I just special? I’m fine. I can handle what’s going on with Balo. I don’t need you mothering me, Hailey.” Still, when the redhead pulls away from him, it takes everything in his power to keep himself from reaching out to pull her back in. Was she mad at him? She didn’t seem angry, although the sudden removal of her body heat wasn’t a good sign.

Before he can start thinking of the words to amend the situation, Ches is standing up. “You’re right, I’m sorry. If you need me, I’ve got to do some studying in the library. Try to get some sleep at some point, the bags under your eyes are really starting to reduce you down to a solid 8.”

She leaves him the blanket when she walks away, and as he tugs it around tighter himself, he’s not sure if it’s a good thing. It was going to continually remind him he needed to take care of himself, that he was sitting outside in the middle of the night alone because he managed to scare off the one person who always seemed to notice he wasn’t okay.

Ivan probably wouldn’t have run Ches off, and Balo wouldn’t be in nearly as bad shape as she was if he was here. For a brief second, Zander reaches for his phone to text the man, but he pauses, stopping himself. He had enough on his plate with Balo without Zander contributing to it. So instead, he settles himself in, allowing himself to get lost in his thoughts.

—

Chessie ☀️: I’m still in the library. Don’t wake the guy at the desk, though; the poor thing just fell asleep. 😕

Zander’s hands are shaking as he reads the text through tears, already heading in the direction of the library. He tries to be quiet as he enters the room, passing the snoring man at the desk as he tries to find Ches. She always chose the back right corner when they were in Lake George, and sure enough, she was quietly pouring over her textbooks with a flashlight when he rounded the corner.

“No wine? Who are you, and what did you do with my Ches?” He cringes at the effect his tears had on his voice. It was bad enough that he was crying without his body making it evident to everyone around him he was trembling even if they weren’t looking.

“I’m testing the waters, thinking about cutting the wine out. A bit more productive, don’t you think?” For a moment, he thinks she might make a comment about the state he’s in, but she just pats the seat next to her as she shuts her textbooks. He’s silent as he sits down; the only sounds filling the room is the chronic snoring from the library’s front and his chair as it grazes across the floor. “But you’re not here for the wine.”

“I’m not.” He confirms, taking a deep breath as he finally removes the blanket she’d left him two hours prior and sets it on the table. “I came to talk if that’s okay.” No matter how many times he’d found himself at her door when he didn’t want to be alone, he still couldn’t suppress the concern that maybe this was going to be the time she turned him away. But she just nods, setting her flashlight onto the table.

“The floor is yours.”

“My parents disowned Balo, and I’ve never seen her like this. She’s always been so bright and cheerful and right now... Chessie, she gave me her sewing kit because she doesn’t trust herself not to misuse her rotary blade. And these things aren’t sudden; how much has been building up that I’ve missed? She won’t really talk to me, and given everything going on with Jack again, I’m pretty sure she’s not talking to anyone. It’s not like she’ll tell our brother. She was upset with me when I talked to him about Jack because I could have worried him.” He explains, “and that’s only the start of it- okay, what’s with the face?”

There was something about Ches’s pensive expression in the lowlight that distracted him, the way she pursed her lips as she listened to him talk. “I was just thinking that I’ve never heard you call Ivan your brother before. Balo’s brother, asshole, my parents disowned him, Ches you’re not allowed to follow him on Instagram to thirst over him that’s weird. Please carry on, I’m listening.”

“Don’t get used to it, I’m not making it a habit.” Still, Zander’s tears slow as a small chuckle briefly escapes from his body. “I can’t stop thinking that if he was here, Balo would be fine. Whatever caused this wouldn’t have happened. I just wish she’d tell me how this happened...”

“She doesn’t know, Zan. I know Jack’s clean, we were fucking - he’d have mentioned it if he wasn’t. Barton would have told her, she hasn’t been anywhere near the Keller boy in a year, and we’d know if she was doing heroin. I thought maybe that night when we took her to the ER, there were hours we can’t account for, but... if your parents disowned her.”

“I wouldn’t write off my father yet.” Zander hadn’t even considered him as a suspect, but he wouldn’t put it past the man to cover his track for the sake of appearances. Maybe there’d been blood on blood contact during the struggle? Balo had a pretty nasty gash on her forehead, and he had avoided his father afterward. “Or medical malpractice, for that matter. It’s happened with healthcare workers before, right? Fuck, Ivan really would have been able to stop this.”

“Zander, this isn’t your fault. You didn’t give Balo HIV, and your brother couldn’t have done more than you did. I know it’s hard, but this isn’t because of anything you did. You couldn’t have stopped this, just like I couldn’t have stopped my maman’s murder, and Fane couldn’t have prevented his parents’ car accident.” Ches’s nose doesn’t crinkle as she speaks; the telltale signs of her being dishonest were nowhere to be seen. Which likely meant she thought she was telling the truth, and while he didn’t believe her, his guilt could wait.

It was the least important thing going on; he knew that.

“I was a dick to Elliot.” He knows the words are sudden. That may be at the moment telling her he’d been mean to her boyfriend would rapidly make the situation worse.

Her green eyes blink, her head tilts to the slide slightly, almost like a puppy’s as she processes his words. Had Elliot not told her anything? “Why would you be a dick to Elli? Fuck. Que vais-je faire de vous?”

“Yell at me? Look, I know I shouldn’t have been so hard on your boyfriend. But he breathed near me and-”

“He breathed near you?” The concern in her voice makes Zander feel even worse than he would have if she’d just yelled at him. “That’s not like you. When did this happen?”

“Before movie night, after we got here.”

“After you learned about Balo.” For a brief moment, the snoring stops, and the panic on Ches’s expression leaves him questioning if they’re allowed to be in the corner they were occupying as they wait. Soon enough, the snoring resumes, and she speaks again, “I’m not mad at you. I want you to get along with him, and I expect you to apologize, but you’re not scaring me off that easily. We left off at you feeling inferior to your brother, please continue.”

“I don’t feel like I’m inferior to Ivan.” He protests, although as he tries to think of examples of how she was entirely off base, he realizes she might have a point. “But I can’t stop running through what if’s. What if he’d be able to stop it? What if he’d know how to help Balo right now? I didn’t ask him for help with her intervention and look at how well that went. She resents me for it now. What if I fuck this up, and she gets hurt because of it?”

“That’s not going to happen because you have me, you have Lucy and Avery, and as much as you hate it - we have Jack and Cait. They’d never let anything happen to her; if she tries something, one of us will grab her. She went to you about her sewing kit. Do you have it?” He nods yes in response to her question, and the girl in front of him relaxes, “from experience, people don’t ask for help unless they want to be stopped. Her coming to you was a good sign.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“I was right about your inferiority complex and that you were stressing Balo’s mental health.”

“I hate you so much sometimes, you know that.” And yet he can’t help the fond smile as he says the words, the way the tension in his shoulders eases when she smiles back at him.

“I know. I’m just the worst sometimes, aren’t I?” She winks at him, “so what’s next on the list? If it’s money, you know she’s got two sugar mommies already, and I’m pretty sure we could convince Jack to be a sugar daddy if we can’t pull enough funds together to take care of her.”

“Two?”

“Barton? Carnifex families are loaded, I have no doubt in my mind if there’re issues affording her medication abroad if I can’t cover it completely, she’d lend me the money temporarily for B.” Ches shrugs, “so that should also ease the healthcare concerns. Correct? There’s no way in hell we’re not going to be able to manage this. She’s been taking her meds, and as long as they’re working medications have gotten to the point she’ll probably outlive you by a couple decades still.”

And as much as Zander hated the thought of asking anyone for money, the thought that maybe people would be willing to help if it became an issue was reassuring. “And here I thought you said you weren’t taking mind reading classes.”

“You’re just predictable. The day you aren’t stressing about money, we’re going to see pigs fly, and lotus storms consume the earth.” Ches jokes, “did we happen to cover everything? Wait, we haven’t discussed Jack being in your classes yet. Shit, maybe we needed the wine...”

“We don’t need wine. There’s not that much to say, he’s annoying, we’re getting stuck together, and I’m just going to have to deal with it.” He shrugs, “probably the most normal thing going on in our lives, come to think of it.”

“You ever realize it’s a bit fucked up Jackaboy acting up is considered normal at this school. I’m not complaining but...”

“If you ever tell him I actually appreciate him being Balo’s pet demon right now, I’ll never talk to you again.” He warns her. Jack would never let him live it down, and he was well aware it was fucked up. But Ches just smiles, shaking her head.

“Your secret’s safe with me. So, what else do you want to discuss?”

He thinks about it for a minute. Was there anything else he felt like he needed to get off his chest? There were the things he couldn’t find the words to say and the things that weren’t worth the effort left, but he couldn’t think of anything he needed to talk to her about. “What were you working on before I interrupted?”

“Well, you see...” Ches starts to open her textbook again as she starts to ramble about what she was working on, and he listens as she gushes eagerly. He doesn’t even realize just how tired he was until his eyes become too heavy to keep open. The last thing he notices before he falls asleep is a blanket being tucked around him as she continues to explain her literature homework.

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vios-rockland-corner · 4 years ago

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RoR Article 2: Do Nothing

To make things easier on myself, I’m splitting up my thoughts on the Rumors of Rockland second article. I already gave an overview of this game. Here, I’ll cover whatever random thoughts and observations I had for the events that occur when you choose to do nothing.

[Major spoilers below for Rumors of Rockland Article 2]

First off, it’s not unrealistic that the MC passing by might not choose to do anything about Callum’s situation. They’re not wrong that they could get hurt or be a hindrance. Shame they wouldn’t think to go get help but let’s be honest…a lot of people prefer to stay out of trouble and leave people to their own devices.

If it makes you feel better, you could always imagine up an MC who has a bit of a deeper reason why they would choose to do nothing in this situation. The MC may suffer from extreme anxiety that won’t allow them to think properly if they try to invest themselves in the situation. This could even be related to trauma in their past. Maybe they even did try to either help directly or get help for someone else in a similar situation like this before…but it ended poorly. Or maybe the MC has the belief that people need to be able to take care of themselves? Could be a lot of reasons you could come up with for that line of thinking, good or bad.

Or yeah, people do just pass by a lot of stuff daily without inserting themselves. Like I said, not unrealistic. At least we know Callum turns out fine here regardless.

When you choose to leave Callum alone though, there’s not much one-on-one interactions that occur afterwards. You pretty much get stuck listening to the chatter in the bar because there’s no real good way to insert yourself from here on out. I think that makes sense that if the MC wasn’t feeling up for helping Callum out, they also really wouldn’t have the confidence here to interject in whatever’s being said. Not to mention, Avery clearly did not like strangers trying to start gossip with him.

Regarding this gossip in particular, there isn’t a whole lot for me to comment on. This feels more like trivia about Trevor and Heidi, who clearly didn’t have a good relationship. I don’t know about Heidi, but we might see Trevor in the future. But otherwise there’s not much else to take from that.

I don’t think the subject of the conversation is the main takeaway here anyway. What’s more important is the lesson about gossip and rumors. By the way, yes I love that the creators actually utilized a “rumor” in this series. Now the title fits.

What happened here is that Avery didn’t get all his details straight. There was definitely some truth being said, but some of the facts were fabricated or exaggerated. It’s a good thing Foal came along when she did to correct Avery. If she hadn’t, rumors and gossips like that could have easily spread further among Avery and Callum’s friend group and reputations and events could have gotten worse for the wrong reasons.

It would have been bad if they kept assuming that Trevor was using, and it would also been bad if they assumed Heidi was providing drugs. Yes as bad as Heidi sounds, it’s very important that you judge a person for what they have ACTUALLY done, not an assumption. People should be judged only for the crimes they actually commit. Don’t ever make up stuff more than what’s been done (even if you hate a person, that’s still not fair regardless).

Brief real talk, this definitely applies to real life. It’s never a bad idea to fact check something very serious if it’s something you’re especially concerned with. If you’re not careful, lots of information about a person or event could end up being exaggerated about or misconstrued along the way. What’s worse, there are people who WILL deliberately lie about something to sway an audience their way. For example, we all know abusers and other toxic people exist. You can even have a person who cheats on their S/O and then gets caught…who will THEN go to their friends or on social media and play the victim saying the S/O was the one who cheated on THEM. I have a particular disgust for people who do that, and unfortunately as long as you act out the part of the victim properly, you can sometimes get people on your side without even providing evidence.

If you can ever find solid research and evidence to support claims made, that’s always best. Getting everyone’s side of the story is good too. I understand though that it’s nearly impossible to NOT form an opinion or have certain emotions about something you’ve just heard. I think what’s more important though is your actions after the fact. I’m not a fan of people who act viscerally to the point where they take extreme measures without having tried to get the details from all sides. But that’s just me.

I’ll stop there with the real talk though (this can be a touchy subject for me for a variety of reasons). Let’s get back to the game. What does mean now as the player?

Basically, it confirms that you can’t ALWAYS trust what some of these characters say to you. Admittedly, I made the mistake of actually believing every word Avery was saying before Foal stepped in. Why? Because I don’t know these characters or this world very well yet, so I’m relying on the characters we’re presented to give me the low down. Yes I know, very bad of me that I wasn’t even following my own advice. But hey, it’s not like I was going out and flipping picnic tables or anything from stuff I heard, so no harm no foul. It’s just a game.

If you’re like me, you were expecting every character to be knowledgeable about the goings-on in Rockland. Unfortunately, it seems not EVERY character’s words can be taken at face value. From now on when a character talks, there’s going to be three types of information they’ll provide us:

- Honest Truth

- Misinformation

- Deliberate Lie

Pretty self explanatory. Honest truth is provided by characters who are both knowledgeable about a subject or person AND see no reason to misconstrue facts to the MC or in an open setting. Misinformation is provided by characters who aren’t INTENTIONALLY trying to lie, but are not actually as knowledgeable about a subject or person as they think they are. The information they have could be an understatement, overexaggerated or misconstrued in some other way such as being taken out of context. Avery serves as a good example of that here. I stated in my previous post that I consider Avery a very honest person. I still do. He was not TRYING to mislead Callum about what had happened. He just had his facts wrong, so not a deliberate lie.

Deliberate lies are provided by people who characters who are indeed knowledgeable about a character or subject, but choose to actively provide false information for their own purposes. No we have no idea yet if we have come across any deliberate liars in RoR. I wouldn’t be surprised though if the MC or other characters are lied to about “certain activities” other people commit to avoid a panic. Especially if it has to do with murder or another crime.

It may not always have to do with crime though. Maybe some characters hate each other and will be trying to spread some nasty rumors so we view their enemy/rival in a more negative light when said person is actually not that bad. Or it could be the opposite case where someone knows a person who is VERY messed up, but they will paint them in a good light because they are either a friend or just trying to cover for them. Maybe they’re even trying to lure people into a false sense of security…

From the characters we’ve seen, here’s my guess list as to what I THINK these characters will provide us so far:

-Whesker: Honest Truth or Deliberate Lie

-Foal: Honest Truth or Deliberate Lie

-Avery: Honest Truth or Misinformation

-Callum: Honest Truth or Misinformation

-Tyler: Honest Truth

-Dylan: Honest Truth

- Shane: Honest Truth or Deliberate Lie

- Sydney: Deliberate Lie?

I don’t have much to go off of here. My reasoning goes as such: If they’re a much older character or appear more sound of mind, they’re likely more knowledgeable. The younger ones I think are more likely to be honest or misinformed, and ones that are more likely to engage in criminal activity or more likely to lie. Foal is the only one of those I don’t THINK engages in anything criminal, I see her more likely just KNOWING what some other people do. Tyler and Dylan I don’t know much about, and I’m only going by how they seemed to view Avery in a different light than Callum does.

Speaking of Callum, I won’t be surprised if there’s a big chance of misinformation from this dude. I’m already thinking he treats Avery a little too lightly at times. “Puppy dog” isn’t really what I’d describe Avery as…more like a “bull dog.” I still have gotten no vibes that he does anything criminal other than use drugs he probably shouldn’t be doing. I’m starting to doubt he even knows what his own brother Quill does on the side. That means even more chances for misinformation.

What does this mean for me writing these posts then? Well, despite everything I just said…I really will just be taking everything at face value. Just like the MC said. I know that sounds crazy, but unless I’m aware of a character’s actions and mannerisms from another game, there’s no way for me to know whether what I hear is accurate or not. So in future posts, just know I will be treating nearly all information received as a fact to make it easier to discuss. BUT, I may still entertain the possibility of the information given being false from time to time. Probably not everything because that’d just be too much work, but things I guess I feel would be very interesting if they were false. If that makes sense.

What else happened here? I did notice that I THINK what Avery was applying to Foal was that she’s been the victim of rumors before? I’m not entirely sure to be honest. It wasn’t very clear what Avery was implying (he was kind of tripping over himself there).

Finally, while we don’t connect with any characters this route, we get the little bonus at the end with Sydney and Shane Dixie. Again, you can get their names if you check the website and scroll over their pictures where you would download the game. The Dixie family is something in Rockland, but I don’t have enough information to really be able to guess what their deal is. Only other Dixie I think I remember is August Dixie. It’s also interesting to note that Sydney’s last name is Dixie, but his father is named Dante Stryker. Sydney’s mom and brother also have Stryker for their last name. Not sure what to make of that yet.

Shane is apparently Whesker’s brother, so more proof that Whesker knows a LOT of dark stuff going on. We don’t have a lot of context in the scene for what just happened other than Sydney was helping a friend and Shane had to either help or completely bail Sydney out of a situation. I won’t be surprised if we see similar situations like this in future where you have the older dubious folks having to keep the younger dubious kids in check. Hey, lots of bad stuff happens in Rockland, but the older ones know they can’t let the younger ones grow up thinking they can get away with ANYTHING without getting caught. That’s not going to be good for the town if it gains a bad reputation OUTSIDE of Rockland.

I could see the younger characters acting out a lot on their emotions or off a high that they can get away with whatever they want because they know people that can clean up after them. But yeah, the older folks need to teach them before it’s too late to use their head or else. That’s probably why this game brought up a lot of names of people who keep things straight around town like Sergio. There’s some order in this chaos.

I’m happy Shane didn’t see the MC as a liability here at least. That’s a relief.

With that, I believe I’ve reached the end of my thoughts on Rumors of Rockland Article 2. See you next time.

#Rockland #Rumors of Rockland #RoR #runawayoutlaw #rottenbonethief #avery greyson #Callum Willow #Foal #Rockland Games #Shane Dixie #Sydney Dixie

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missjosie27 · 5 years ago

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Year 2 Part 3: A Bit of Transfiguration

Hey, guys! Sorry for the wait on the update. This is the next part of the story I am currently writing and I hope you all continue to enjoy!

The next day proved difficult to focus on Transfiguration with Ben in the Hospital Wing. Though David, Penny, and Tonks had been sworn to secrecy, somehow rumor still spread around the school of his absence. Not to mention he wasn’t sure if he was going to avoid punishment for being caught after hours, however, he was pretty sure Merula hadn’t let the general populace that he had beat her again in a duel.

Despite these distractions, he still managed to be only one of two students (the other was a red haired Ravenclaw girl he didn’t know) to properly transfigure his porcupine into a pincushion, much to the delight of Professor McGonagall.

“Very good, Mr. Grant,” she praised after asking him to perform the spell for her. “You are quite the natural in this subject. Five points to Gryffindor.”

“Thank you, Professor.”

“Indeed, you are one of the more gifted students at Transfiguration I’ve seen in some time,” she added. “If you are interested, we may explore more advanced lessons.”

“I’ll consider it for sure.”

McGonagall gave a curt nod. “Alright, that’s enough for today. Class dismissed.”

The Gryffindors and Ravenclaws began shuffling out and for a moment David thought he had successfully avoided the subject of last night. Alas, he was wrong.

“Mr. Grant, do stay. There is a matter we need to discuss.”

Rowan gave him an encouraging look to try and make him feel better, but though his head of house was fairer than Snape he knew she would not let him off easy. Running a hand through his dark brown hair, he decided it was best to face the music.

He walked over to her desk while the others vacated the room and soon he was staring face to face into her stern, gray eyes.

“You wanted to see me Professor?”

“Yes, Grant. It is in regard to last night, your friend Mr. Ben Copper.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Is he okay?”

“At the moment, he is being well cared for by Madam Pomfrey and is no immediate danger. However, his memory is quite spotty, and he does not remember how or when he became trapped in this cursed ice. Rest assured, he is fine and will make a full recovery.”

That at least, was a huge relief off of his mind.

“Thank you, Professor.”

“Indeed, I thought it best you ought to know personally given how close you two are.”

“Soooo….I’m not being punished?”

David hadn’t wanted to push his luck but a part of him couldn’t help popping the question. Better safe than sorry.

“Your heroism in discovering Mr. Copper in the nick of time has warranted a pass for now. But I warn you, I will not overlook future violations of curfew. Is that understood?”

“Yes, ma’am,” he replied eagerly, hardly daring to believe his good fortune.

“Very good,” and suddenly her eyes were full of concern and sympathy. “Though he is fairing well, I daresay he’ll need his friends after such an ordeal. Do see to it to pay him a visit.”

“I will, professor.”

“Good. Let us speak no more of this.”

Rowan was waiting for him outside when he finally exited the classroom.

“What did she say?” he asked with anticipation.

“She let me off the hook for now. Definitely her way of saying ‘thank you’ for finding Ben when we did.”

“I’m sure glad you found him,” Rowan agreed. “I think it explains why he was acting so oddly. You know what this means, right?”

“What?”

“He must have been searching for the vaults himself,” he theorized as they traveled up the stairs towards the Great Hall. “You know that ice only affects you if you touch it. Somehow, he broke through that door again.”

“You don’t know that,” David tried to ease his best friend. “He’s not exactly in a good state right now. Let’s just see how he’s doing before jumping to any conclusions.”

“Alright. It’s just…after that note from ‘R’ or whoever…it’s freaky that someone or something could be watching us…”

“I know. But for now, let’s just pay him a visit before History of Magic. Give him some company.”

Rowan nodded and they climbed another flight of stairs before entering the main ward of the Hospital Wing. It was quite spacious and very tidy, with windows to allow those unfortunate enough to find themselves sick or injured. The ceilings were high and each bed was surrounded by a curtain to allow for privacy if desired. Madam Pomfrey ran a tight ship and was usually not keen on people distracting or distressing her patients, however, she was also quite kind and was usually accommodating within limits.

Today, only two other students were in her care so being able to see their friend was not an otherworldly request.

“Hello, Madam Pomfrey,” David greeted as she approached them. “How’s Ben? Is alright?”

“I believe so,” she said, causing both boys to inwardly sigh in relief. “I’ve certainly seen worse in my time here at Hogwarts, but his memory is rather erratic.”

“May we see him?”

“You may although I must insist you not stay long. He’s still in a minor state of delirium and I don’t want him to get too excited.”

“We’re just here to check in on him. Don’t worry, Madam Pomfrey.”

“Very well, he’ll be waiting for you. Third bed on the right.”

Privately, David could only wonder ‘delirium’ meant in Ben’s current condition. Did he go crazy? Perhaps confounded? That was always a possibility. Of course, at this point, almost anything was.

“Hey, mate,” he said as casually as he could upon reaching his bed, making minor observations along the way. Judging by his physical appearance, there was nothing out of the ordinary. The blue in his face was completely gone and he was certainly no longer shivering. However, Madam Pomfrey had not been lying when she stated he was in a nervous state of mind.

“Hey, Dave, Rowan.”

“How are you feeling?”

“Better but not great. Madam Pomfrey says that a few more pepperup potions should be enough to get rid of the cold, but I’m still sore.”

Though he claimed to be okay, his face told a different story. In truth the second year Gryffindor looked quite shaken.

“Anything we can do to cheer you up?” Rowan asked.

“Just seeing a friendly face is enough. Madam Pomfrey has been really helpful but she’s also kind of strict.”

“I would know,” David nodded. “She almost made me miss the feast last year after the werewolf debacle.”

“Not going to lie, kind of glad I missed that.”

David laughed but he and Rowan both knew that getting to the bottom of the ordeal was equally important.

“Ben, we have to ask, what happened?”

Placing his hand on his head in frustration, he let out a confused groan.

“I feel like I’m losing it.”

“You mean you have no idea what you’ve been doing the past couple days, or how you became stuck in the cursed ice?”

“None, at all. I can’t remember a thing,” came the sad reply. “Madam Pomfrey says she thinks it has something to with the ice but there’s no way to know for sure.”

David and Rowan looked at each other, the latter nodding at the former, who pulled out the letter they found on his person at the time of his discovery.

“This was a note we picked up off the floor after we found you. Do you recognize it?”

He proceeded to read aloud the message from ‘R’ but again it drew a blank.

“I’m sorry, guys, but I don’t know how that got into my pocket or who ‘R’ is.”

“You must remember something,” Rowan pressed him. “Try and think. We need to know who this person is.”

Again, Ben shook his head.

“It’s too difficult right now. All I can really recall is preparing to get on the train and then it’s completely blank after that…almost like I was floating aimlessly or something…cursed vaults…ice everywhere….”

It was then that David knew they weren’t going to get much else out of him as Ben lay back down on the bed, still muttering to himself quietly. Evidently, Madam Pomfrey thought so as well because not a second later they were being escorted out of the Hospital Wing.

“He needs his rest, dears. When he’s ready I’ll be sure to let Professor McGonagall know so she may inform you all. Good day.”

As the doors slammed shut, David began to muse to himself as they headed down for lunch.

“He seems fine enough,” he said to Rowan, who began pulling out several books from his satchel. “But if he can’t remember anything, how are we supposed to know who’s behind this or what’s going on with the vaults?”

“We don’t know enough about ‘R’ to get any closer to finding who they are,” Rowan said, flipping through pages. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t still investigate ourselves. Remember the message we found last year about the hidden staircase? I have a feeling that might be our next lead.”

“The ice knight stands guard past the vanished stairs,” David echoed the deciphered message from the previous year.

“Exactly. Probably guarded by more than a few vanishing and concealment spells.”

“So how do we get in?”

“Easy,” Rowan said, plopping down on the table and serving himself a sandwich with chips. “I’m willing to bet that hidden staircase is in the same corridor as where the ice originates. We find the vault, break the curse, and gather more information. But first, I suggest not going there for the time being.”

“Agreed.”

“At least, not until we learn more complicated magic. The Revealing spell for one thing.”

David began munching relentlessly (he always had an appetite for food despite his wiry build).

“We don’t learn that in Transfiguration until fifth year.”

“I know, that’s why we need to learn it.”

He chuckled.

“I suppose you’ve read the entire curriculum already, Rowan?”

“Close, I’ve already looked into our N.E.W.T. level coursework actually. This doesn’t quite fall under that category but as you said, it’s advanced magic for someone our age.”

“Well, lucky for both of us, I’m quite good at Transfiguration,” David said through a mouth full of chips. “And a certain someone just offered me advanced lessons.”

He swallowed and gave a large belch, which caused a passerby Jae to laugh, and a few of the girls to give disgusted looks their way.

Rowan laughed, as he showed the deciphered message to him once more in his book.

“I think you’re onto something there, Dave. Get a basic understanding of vanishing and revealing spells, and we can check out that corridor once more.”

“Agreed. I think it’s time I pay our head of house another visit.”

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The next day, following Herbology, David stopped by the Transfiguration room, where Professor McGonagall had just finished teaching one of her classes.

“Professor? I hope this isn’t a bad time,” he said peeking through the doorway.

“Mr. Grant. No, not at all. I was just finishing up teaching the fifth year Gryffindors. To what do I owe the pleasure?”

Stepping inside the classroom, David got straight to the point, not wanting to waste anyone’s time.

“I thought about your offer for advanced lessons and I’ve decided to accept.”

Waving her wand, McGonagall sent a handful of her papers back into her desk before addressing him.

“I am certainly glad to hear it. It may take some time to find a consistent schedule, but I have some free time this Thursday after dinner if you are interested.”

“Yes, thank you.”

“We can start off with some spells and motions normally reserved for third years and go from there. Does that sound agreeable?”

David was afraid she might say that. While under normal circumstances, he would have been more than happy to leave the planning of the lessons up to her, he had to insist upon learning something far more specific and at the same time not tipping his sharp head of house to his real intentions.

“Actually, professor, I was wondering if we might start off with something more advanced. Specifically, revealing and vanishing spells?”

As predicted, McGonagall’s eyebrows furrowed at the request.

“Those two particular techniques are not taught until O.W.L. year, Mr. Grant. They are also quite difficult to master for those much older than you. I am not certain that is the best place to start.”

“I understand. But for me, those are the ones I’m really focused on.”

“And why should a second year be so heavily interested in those specific areas of Transfiguration?”

He knew it was coming. David was well aware Minerva McGonagall was no fool and would not hesitate to glean the truth from him if necessary. His next answer had to be extra careful.

“I want to challenge myself, Professor,” he said with a straight face. “You said yourself I’m gifted at this. Let me test my abilities under your supervision.”

After a few seconds deliberation in which David could feel a trickle of sweat go down his back, McGonagall relented.

“Very well. We will not immediately jump into the spells you have mentioned but I do promise that eventually we will reach that point and devote significant time to their mastery.”

That was all he wanted to hear.

“Thank you, Professor.”

“You are welcome. I shall see you this Thursday at seven pm.”

Walking out of the classroom, a renewed sense of purpose filled David Grant. The vault would have to wait awhile yet, but this was a start. With any luck, he could break this curse and discover more clues about his brother and ‘R’ in little time.

#david grant #rowan khanna #ben copper #minerva mcgonagall #hogwarts mystery #hphm fanfiction #fanfiction

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naughty-joestars-blog · 7 years ago

Note

your rohan hc of him walking in on his crush naked was amazing! Would you be able to do a josuke one? :3

Thank you, anon! It was really fun to write this one and I hope I can do even better on this one.

Josuke Higashikata.

It was all a mistake. He’d never try to invade your private space, not in purpose, it just happened to be an accident. You knew Josuke was pretty much a gentleman with you, rumors said that it was because he had a crush on you, but you thought his respectful behavior was something natural on him. (And you didn’t want to give yourself false hope with one of the most dreamy guys of school.)

That’s why you didn’t want to believe the girls gossiping behind you, saying inappropiate things about Josuke and you. It was kinda irritating and you tried to ignore it, but you let it go the first day. The second, too. But by friday, it had spread around school. And you didn’t even know what the fuss was all about! You and Josuke weren’t even as close as you’d like to be. Everytime you tried to talk with him, he dissapeared without a trace. So, after class, you decided to confront one of the students who were said to be the origin of the rumors.

“You’d better stop faking your innocence,“ she quickly said, playing with a strand of her hair, her friends giggling next to her looking at you. “Everybody already know you and Higashikata did it on the dressing room next to the gym the other day. We saw him enter there while you were the last girl there.“

Okay, you did remember being alone there while everyone was outside (you could heard them), you did remember changing your clothes, but you didn’t recall him being there at all, because the door was closed. Or was it…?

Trying to convince the girls nothing happened there that day was impossible. But Josuke had to help you clarify that, and he didn’t seem very likely to cooperate. That could be changed, though.

Seeming to be your lucky day, you found him walking home with those two friends who were almost always around him. Your eyes caught his with determination, and he quickly tried to get ahead to obviously avoid talking to you. He wasn’t stupid, he knew what it was all about. Your chance of cleaning your name wasn’t going to escape this time.

You two were in an empty street when you called his name from behind, tired of following him in circles around Morioh. “Y-yes…?“ he answered without turning to face you. When you put in front of him, you quickly noticed how uncomfortable was him; his face was almost red and he tried to not look at you directly. And, well, you weren’t pleased to talk to him like that either.

Being a reasonable person was the best option, so you didn’t attack him with your words in any moment. You only wanted an explanation. Nothing more, nothing less.

“Okay, I heard about that too, it’s just… I- I didn’t want to talk about it because it’s really not what you think, and you might get mad at me. I know we didn’t do anything that day, but…”

…But?

“I got confused and walked into the room you were changing and… look, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have stayed there looking at you, even if it wasn’t more that five or seven seconds…“ His eves wandered to the sky and the blush on his cheeks became more evident than before. You, on the other hand, were paralyzed, and wanted to die instantly there. In that exact moment and place. “…the door got stuck when I tried to get out, so I had to exit using… other methods. Maybe that’s why people thought you and I… well… I’m sorry, okay? I don’t want you to get the wrong idea of me. Shit, I’m an idiot. I’ll… I’ll try to fix it, don’t wo-“

“Why?“ you asked him, cutting his words. “Why did you stay there? Looking at me.“ That was supposed to sound angry, but instead it went out of your mouth in a way that made you sound actually curious. And, well, you were.

“Because… you’re cute…?“ was his answer. Could you really believe him? Josuke thought you were actually cute? “This isn’t the way that I’d like to say it, but, I kinda like you.“ Oh. “If you… if you want to, to patch up things, you could come over to my place later to see a movie or something.“

The situation could make any girl think he was a pervert who only wanted to use the situation to get between your legs. But there was honesty on his voice and you could tell he didn’t have any intention of the sort. So, why not accept it? To make peace, get closer to a friend, or something else.

This one isn’t as lewd as the Rohan one, but I hope you still like it! c:

#josuke higashikata #jojo's bizarre adventure #diamond is unbreakable #jjba headcanons #jjba imagines #jjba scenarios

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hysterialevi · 7 years ago

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In the Smoke pt. 13 (Cobblebats)

From Bruce’s POV

THE STACKED DECK

After quickly running home and throwing on the hoodie Oz had given me, I simply walked to The Stacked Deck, not wanting to draw any attention with a big, fancy car. I mean, I doubted anyone in Gotham truly sympathized with Hill, and there were probably others out there who would’ve beaten him just like I did, but I still preferred to remain in the shadows. Right now, Oz was the only person I wanted to see, and considering that the press was pretty much at my family’s throats, this hood was the one thing keeping me from drowning in cameras.

Arriving at the bar, I squinted slightly at the neon, card-shaped sign that practically lit up the whole block single-handedly and reflected in the street’s puddles as the sound of glasses clinking reached my ears. There were some patrons chatting outside of the packed building, and the closer I got, the more I could hear the alternative music playing inside. This was definitely the place.

Searching around for a little, I eventually found Oz relaxing in a nearby alleyway, separated from the rest of the crowds. He was leaning against a brick wall with a cigarette in his hand, and the small flame gave off a soft, orange glow as smoke puffed from his nose. Upon noticing me, he threw a casual wave in my direction and straightened his position, putting out the cigarette beneath his boot. I eagerly walked up to him.

“Hey, love,” Oz greeted before pecking a kiss on my cheek. “S’good to see you again--” he chuckled, “--or at least what’s not hidden under that hood of yours.”

I shrugged, grinning. “Thought we could try to avoid a fight, for once.”

Oz rubbed the back of his head. “Yeah, speakin’ of fights...” he frowned a little, “Listen, I’ve been thinking a lot ‘bout it, and I just wanted to say sorry.”

I quirked a brow, crossing my arms. “Sorry for what?”

“For what I did to Harvey, back at the debate. Y’know, drugging him. Melting half his face off. I didn’t realize the two of you were so close. I mean, it was obvious that he was your friend, but admitting to loving you? Woof.”

I averted my gaze from him, a bit uncomfortable. “Oh, um--you heard that?”

“Hard not to.” Oz stepped closer, almost to the point where we were sharing my hood. “...you don’t...love him back, do you? We’ve got a good thing going here. I’d hate to throw it away so soon.”

I shook my head. “Of course I don’t,” I lied. “I wouldn’t be here tonight otherwise.”

Oz smiled, kissing me again. “Good. But back to my original point, I really do regret doin’ all that to Harvey.”

I sighed. “Just...no more planning behind my back, all right?”

“All right.” He lowered his voice. “Look, I know I said we wouldn’t talk ‘bout work here, but since I don’t want there to be any secrets between us, there is someone else you should know about.”

“Someone?”

He nodded. “You see, I ain’t the leader of the Children of Arkham. I’m just the right-hand man.”

I double-checked our surroundings, as if someone were eavesdropping. “Then who is?”

“Brace yourself, but have you ever heard of a reporter called Vicki Vale?”

My eyes popped wide-open. “Vicki Vale? She’s your leader?”

“Yeah, except we don’t call her that. We call her Lady Arkham, since that’s her original name. Her parents were assassinated after they tried turning Hill in, just like your mum. By the same person too. Now that I think about it, the two of you actually have a lot in common. More than you realize. It’s like you are her.”

“...is that a good thing?”

Oz laughed. “Depends which aspect you’re talkin’ about. But anyways, enough of that.” He grabbed my hand and gestured towards the bar. “C’mon. Let’s get some drinks.”

From Thomas’ POV

WAYNE MANOR

I sat in my office, blankly staring at the mountain of paperwork that now lived on my desk, but not actually doing any of it. There was just far too much going on at the moment, and with all the tension between me and Bruce, work was the last thing on my mind right now. Though, according to Regina, if this scandal surrounding my family continued, I might’ve not even had to worry about work soon.

I couldn’t believe it. The press seemed to have an infinite supply of evidence pertaining to me, Hill, and Falcone these days, and all along, my son had been the one giving it to them. What was Bruce thinking? I understood that he disapproved of what I did, but bringing all this attention to us--it was just asking for the media to fan the flames. There was also the possibility it could harm him too. Though, he clearly didn’t care about that.

Rubbing my temple, I thought back to when Martha was still alive. Before she had been killed, Martha and I used to argue around the clock about my “side business,” and whether or not I should step out. It got even worse once Bruce started to grow up, and she’d always say that he was living without a father. And as much as I hated to admit it, I could now see that she was right.

I couldn’t remember the last time Bruce and I spent time together as just father and son, and even when helping the city as Batman, I never felt like I was truly doing any good for him. Well, the best way I could redeem myself now, was to keep him safe from Penguin, and any other threats looking to tear Gotham apart.

Just then, a knock came from the door, Alfred walking in not a second later.

“Sir, I hate to interrupt, but Mr. Falcone is here to see you. Apparently, he has something rather...concerning...to discuss.”

“Thank you, Alfred. Send him in, please.”

Opening the door further, Alfred allowed Carmine to waltz inside the office before leaving us alone and heading down to the kitchen to make some tea. The crime-boss’ face was plastered with agitation, just as Alfred had said, and his usual, suave vibe was nowhere to be seen.

“You look troubled,” I commented. “What’s going on, Falcone?”

Carmine took a seat on the opposite side of my desk, letting out a breath of frustration. I could tell that there were words stuck in his throat, but it took him a moment to actually say them.

“Forgive me for putting this so bluntly, Tommy, but,” he took a breath, “it’s Ham. He’s...dead.”

I fell silent for a while, trying to fully comprehend what he just told me.

“Hill is...dead?” I repeated in shock. “Oh god, Bruce,” I muttered to myself, “what’ve you done...?”

Carmine leaned forward. “Hill’s death is gonna cause a load of problems for us, but I’m afraid that’s not it. There is something else you should hear about.”

I dragged a hand through my hair, taking a sip of the coffee on my desk. “Oh? And what’s that?”

His eyes darted around the room for a second. “I don’t know if you’re aware of this, Tommy, but there are rumors saying that Bruce is working with Penguin.”

I nearly spat my drink out at that, and slapped a hand over my mouth, staring at Falcone with a baffled glare.

“What?”

“I’ll take that as a no.” Falcone adjusted himself in his seat. “But yeah, just before he died, Hill told me his men caught the two of ‘em meeting at Cobblepot Park sometime last week. He also had them report it to the GCPD, and now, Gordon himself is on his way to track Bruce down. They’re starting to think that he was drugged on purpose. So that he could beat Hill to death.”

“Goddammit.” I snatched my coat off the back of my chair, heading for the door. “I gotta find Bruce before the police does. I don’t care what the media says. I wanna hear the story from him before anyone else.”

Falcone stood up, slowly following me from behind. “Well, then, you’d better start searching. If Gordon reaches Bruce first, there’s no doubt he’s getting arrested on the spot. And he won’t be the only one taking the damage. If people find out your son could potentially be working with Penguin, it’ll be the end of everything we’ve worked for. All of it--just gone. No pressure, of course.”

“Well, thanks for letting me know about this, Carmine. Now, I gotta get going.”

“Good luck, Tommy. It’s a shame it’s come to this, what with the scandal and everything. Bruce was always more of a by-the-book kinda kid, despite being somewhat of a free spirit. It’s hard to believe the whispers traveling the streets. Though, like I’ve said a million times before, and will continue to say in the future: you can’t trust anyone in Gotham. Especially those you call friend.”

#cobblebats #batman telltale #bruce wayne #oswald cobblepot #harvey dent #fanfic #story

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leaparrish · 7 years ago

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Stick to the Status Quo || Lea & Amadeo

AJ finds out things he probably shouldn’t. Popular kids can also be jerks.

It was a good fifteen, maybe even twenty minutes after the final bell. Lea had spent some of it in the library, making sure that she had a few books that she'd need for her final projects and essays. The hallways were empty now - with the weather improving, more and more students made their ways outside as quickly as possible. But that was fine, she didn't need all the company right now. She made her way over to her locker and switched the books into the crook of one arm, fiddling with the lock with her other hand. Before she could catch them, she felt the books slipping and did a quick 360 of the hallway before reaching her hand out, palm flat - stopping the books a few inches above the ground. That way they didn't have to fall and make a loud noise or let her papers spill everywhere, creating unnecessary messes. Locker finally unlocked, she bent down to grab her books and scoop them back into her arms, holding them with both arms this time.

AJ had stopped by the main office on his way out of the school. After the locker mishap that had effectively ruined one of his favorite shirts plus permanently stained the bottoms of his Converse he had decided to start keeping his stuff in the office. He spent his free period there working as an office aid for the secretaries anyways, so they were more than happy to let him store his stuff there during the day. The secretaries seemed just about the only three people in the entire school not hell bent on ruining AJ's life recently and he was pretty sure they did most of the kind things they did for him out of pity. AJ didn't need their pity, but he did need them to keep turning a blind eye to his copier and laminator use, so he figured he could keep paying the heartbroken puppy dog for at least one more year. He got trapped in a conversation with one on his way out that put him behind getting out of the school. By now the student parking lot would be backed up with traffic, so AJ was in no real rush to get to his truck. Turning into a hallway heading towards the exit he stopped suddenly when he noticed Lea Parrish out of the corner of his eye. He knew her more by reputation than anything else. He had seen her with the same group of kids that had ostracized AJ on a few occasions. Plus, AJ was in a couple classes with her brother. But until the moment that she dropped a few books and they began levitating mid fall, AJ had never really had any interest in learning more about the girl. "Well, there's something you don't see everyday." He tried to keep his expression neutral, but inside he could feel the wicked grin splitting across his face.

Lea pulled her backpack off her back and set it on the floor before opening the locker more fully. She absent-mindedly fixed a few of the Instax mini-polaroids of herself and her friends that were stuck with magnets to the door of the locker and set about grabbing some of the notebooks that she'd need for tonight's homework plus three of the books that she was reading for fun at the moment. But she felt herself half jump when she heard a comment. Lea had been so sure that she'd been totally alone. "My backpack?" She said, standing up to face the source of the voice. Amadeo - AJ - whatever he preferred to be called. "It's pretty cute, I know." She twirled her ponytail around her fingers. Because of course it was that - it had to be - because there was no way that someone - anyone - had seen her do magic, especially not so shortly after the whole Dustin thing. Dropping the ponytail, she crossed her arms over her chest. "Didn't exactly take it to be your style though, but if you want, I can give you recommendations." Just fake it - she reminded herself. Pretend things like magic aren't real and that one of the most intimidating boys in school didn't just maybe see you do magic.

Stuffing his hands into his pockets and strolling down the hallway towards Lea as slowly as possible, AJ let the tension build. They both knew exactly what he had just seen, and if AJ played it cool for just a moment longer maybe he could get some kind of nervous breakdown of a confession out of the girl. He had certainly never seen anything like that before in his life, although he had always suspected that it had existed. He considered himself a pretty logical guy, but growing up in a town like Ashkent Creek with a detective for a father, a line between logical and impossible had to be drawn. Had Lea's little trick taken him off guard? Yes. But had it surprised him? Not so much. Now standing just a few feet from Lea, he leaned against the lockers and stared her down. The girl seemed innocent and fragile enough, but he had seen first hand just how cruel the people she called friends could be. He wasn't dumb enough to let people off the hook just because they didn't look like they could harm a fly. Especially when they could do whatever the hell Lea had just done. "I'm more interested in your textbooks actually. They looked light as a feather. They practically floated to the ground. You know, if I had books that light I'd just carry them around with me all day. I certainly wouldn't have to use that damn locker of mine." He was assuming she had heard about the blood in the locker prank earlier in the week. Since it had been her friends that had arranged it and her brother that had actually tried to help in the aftermath. "Care to share your secret?"

Every fibre of her being wanted to turn around and leave, but for some reason Lea couldn't move. She watched him carefully as he walked down the hallway before stopping just a few feet from her locker. She slammed the door of her locker shut with as much force as she could manage and raised an eyebrow at the boy in front of her. She shouldn't have stopped the books. But then they would have made too much noise and could have caused unnecessary messes on the hallway floor. Which was absolutely not what she wanted. Too much of a mess of things - of anything, be it books or something more abstract, was bad. "Well, my locker's in a good location." She gave a shrug, one she could only hoped implied a lack of care. "I don't know what you're saying about them being light, though. Sometimes I think my backpack ends up weighing more than I do." She let out a nervous giggle. "Or so my parents say." Lea fiddled with the edges of her sweater, tugging it down a bit more over her leggings. "No secrets to share, unless you want to know how I keep my nails neat for weeks at a time. I don't know what sort of thing you thought you saw." She glanced back behind her. She couldn't leave, still. Not now.

AJ had to admit, Lea was impressively committed to this playing dumb act. If AJ hadn't mastered the art of avoiding the question and changing the subject, he might actually think that the girl was just nervous around him instead of lying to him. Given AJ's reputation, especially coming from the people she considered her friends, he couldn't really blame her for being nervous around him. He had been accused of everything from blindly ignoring that his father was a killer, to helping to cover it up, to committing some of the murders himself. The rumor will was on steroids when it came to AJ Ricci. "Right." AJ released a single, humorless laugh at the awful excuse and feigned disinterest. Two could play at that game. "Maybe I'll just go talk to the principal about getting my locker changed then?" He pointed a finger, hoping Lea would follow it right up to the camera swiveling up and down the hallways. It had only been a year or two since the cameras had been installed following a break in that had resulted in a kid being killed, but AJ had to admit that it had worked in his favor on multiple occasions. "I bet I can even pull up some footage to show him exactly where I want the locker too." He pulled his hand free from his pocket and held it against his heart, giving a heartfelt sigh, "We could even be locker buddies."

Lea should have just left school when the bell had rung. With Jenna and Katie, and any of the others. They could have gone to somebody's house, done homework and just hung out and then she wouldn't be in this situation. Her mother would kill her if she knew how foolish she'd been, especially after Dustin's idiotic move. She was supposed to be the better sibling, the one who never did any wrong. It was part of how she was able to use Dustin's misbehavior as leverage against him. Yet here she was, standing with perhaps one of the worst people who could have seen what just happened, especially because he did not seem all too keen on brushing it off as a sort of trick of the eye. Too tired, too much studying, the brief heat in Maine getting to him. "Can't get lockers moved this late in the school year." She pursed her lips to the side. She'd heard about what had happened to him in his locker - and felt bad - though she didn't know just who it was who had done it. But that didn't excuse what he was doing now. She followed his finger up to the cameras and sucked in a brief breath. "These lockers are all taken." Lea half-snapped, taking a few steps back. "Don't think the administration'll switch up lockers, no matter who they're doing it for."

AJ crossed his arms. From the looks of it, the two were at some sort of stand off. Lea, unwilling to admit what the two of them had both clearly seen and AJ unwilling to let an opportunity like this pass him by. Trying to find the evidence that he would need to prove his dad's innocence would be tricky enough, and while AJ had no clue what all Lea had up her sleeve in regards to the magic he had just witnessed he did know that whatever it was it was a trump card he intended to hold. The two stood in a stare off for what felt like an hour before AJ broke the silence again. "Look, I know what you've heard about me. I know who your friends are. Given the stories that they've told I don't understand why you seem so hell bent on pissing me off." He began. It was dark even for him. Usually he hated playing on the rumor card. He spent so much time vehemently denying anything that related to his father's warrant for arrest that the idea of using those same rumors to get what he wanted just seemed... wrong. As if nothing else he did to get what he wanted wasn't just as morally ambiguous. AJ wasn't going to get the chance to fully play the card anyways it seemed, when he heard the voice behind him squeal out in protest. "Lea! What is he doing?" the voice sounded startled, like low budget thriller film startled. AJ rolled his eyes and shifted his glance over at the group of three girls rushing toward Lea and him. The one leading the charge, Amanda, was a junior like AJ, followed behind her was her little sister Katie and another friend, Jenna. "What the hell do you think you're doing talking to her?" Amanda excused AJ, practically stepping in between the two as if Lea's life had been in danger or something. "Hmm. Free country? Class project? Magic?" AJ spirit fingered in Amanda's direction while giving a quick but hopefully noticeable side-eye to Lea. "Take your pick. You usually just make stuff up for me anyways."

Lea narrowed her eyes at him. She wrapped her fingers tightly around the straps of her backpack and gave a small huff. She'd never flat out say she'd just done magic, especially not in front of him, of all people. If Jenna or somebody had caught her, she might have - but not in front of a stranger who she'd heard more bad than good about. When he finally spoke again she took a few steps back. "Yeah, but if you try anything, there's the cameras, remember?" She snapped back, pointing right up at the cameras. But before much else could be said, Amanda, Katie, and Jenna appeared. Lea startled briefly before reminding herself that they clearly hadn't seen what she'd done, because they would have rushed to intervene long before. When Amanda stepped in front of her, Lea let Katie grab her and pull her back, though she carefully watched Amanda and AJ's interaction. "Not in any of the same classes," she rolled her eyes. Amanda replied, "Maybe it is a free country, but harassment is still frowned upon, especially on school grounds. Especially to freshman girls." Lea glanced around the hallway, wondering if any of Amanda's other friends were around. Right now, she just wanted to go, but at the same time, she wasn't about to step in between Amanda and whatever she was doing. Especially if this got her out of having to circumvent talking about what she'd just done. "All I wanted to do was leave, frankly." She said with a small shrug.

If there had been time before Amanda and her gang of mindless Barbies had shown up to rescue Lea from the big bad wolf, AJ might have mentioned that he controlled those cameras at the school. The footage was kept stored in an otherwise empty office used mostly for storage and the thing went unchecked unless a specific case was brought up against a student. AJ spent enough time in the office to have plenty of opportunity to delete anything that might be used to criminalize him for any reason, but there had been more than a couple of times that a certain disc with footage of a student lighting up in the hallway in between classes or lighting a trashcan on fire had mysteriously found its way onto the Principal's desk. Upon Amanda's threat, or what AJ assumed had meant to be a threat, he let out a single laugh. "Harassment, right." Is that what this was considered? "It's not like it would be the worst thing you've said about me. Does it ever get tiring? It's got to be exhausting to constantly make up lie and after lie. The least you could do is get a little more creative with them." Amanda scowled at him, as if he was nothing more than a gnat that had flown too close to her ear. Behind her, the three freshman stared wide eyed at the exchange. They didn't speak, but they didn't leave either. Two years ago if AJ had been in Lea's place would he have done anything different? "I don't tell anybody anything that shouldn't be heard. We were friends with you. We don't need others making the same mistake." AJ rolled his eyes, using his leg to push himself off of the locker and pacing from locker to locker. "Next time could you tell them that I like skinning Dalmatians for their fur? Or that I like stealing voices from mermaids? Come on, give me something to work with here." He turned to Lea next, "It wasn't like I chained you to the locker. I'm not an X-Men."

Moving closer to Katie and Jenna, Lea watched Amanda carefully. She was incredibly elegant, even if the words she spoke were not done so in a kind manner. But if it distracted from what AJ had seen, it was fine. She quickly admonished herself for thinking so - bullying wasn't okay, but if the things Amanda and others had told her about AJ held any truth, Lea was at least fairly glad that they'd come up before anything else could happen. Her mother would kill her if she found out what had happened. Then Dustin - well, she didn't know what he'd say. He was in the same grade as AJ, but she didn't figure the two knew one another well, if at all. In a small enough school as theirs was, rumors got around and people mostly knew each other at least by vague recognition, but she wasn't entirely sure how much Dustin knew. But he could easily call her a hypocrite, or an idiot, or anything. She wondered if he'd be concerned for his or her well-being at all. "I didn't try and be friends with him." Lea whispered to Katie and Jenna. "He just showed up." Katie rested a firm hand on Lea's shoulder, almost modeling her behavior after her sister's. "No worries." She whispered, low enough that neither Amanda nor AJ would be able to hear. Lea's focus returned to Amanda and AJ. "You don't deserve things to work with." Amanda scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Murderers and the children of them should get nothing - and that'd be a blessing." Lea took half a step forward as AJ addressed her again. "No, the X-Men aren't real anyhow, and I think that'd be a few steps past harassment if you did that." She watched as AJ paced back and forth and bit her lip. "You could've just let me be." Lea continued, all but locking eyes with AJ. He wouldn't say anything, not right now. That much she had a pretty good feeling of. It wasn't like he could get Amanda and Katie and Jenna to believe it, anyhow. Besides, Amanda stepped in to speak again. "You shouldn't have talked to her. You should know better, know your place in this school."

AJ didn't let words get to him. It was the cardinal rule. The one thing that he couldn't get away by just faking. He had constructed a hurried but sturdy wall around himself made of glue, capturing the words and making sure not to lose them. Each harmful thing making his wall that much stronger. He had his own words as weapons, a carefully crafted sword of sarcasm and jokes to keep everyone else at a distance. Things worked better that way. His dad had always called him soft as a child, he had never believed it until he realized how hurt he had been when all of his friends had turned their back on him. He didn't want to feel the sting of that betrayal again. Everyone now was an enemy, all of them ready with daggers to plunge into his back. "And you could have walked away at any time." He didn't even bother trying to defend his father again. That shtick had gotten old long ago. He would show them all. "Don't you worry a head on your pretty little head Amanda. I've already figured out my place." Before leaving, he turned his focus onto Lea one last time, "These used to be my friends too, if they ever get around to telling the truth once in awhile. They dropped me as soon as they found out that my imperfections didn't fit their narrative. So if you have any skeletons in your closet you better hide them. You might end up just like me." Then he turned his back to leave.

Lea sucked in her lower lip. Her father and mother would be displeased to see her act this way. She even knew the term - bystander effect - letting something go wrong when it should not. But if she spoke up, she could be found out, and things could fall apart. Which absolutely could not happen. Lea felt her nails dig into her palms - she knew there'd be light marks there, now. She remained standing by Jenna and Katie, protected by Katie's almost ethereal (despite her cruelty) sister. "We believed in you." Amanda murmured, each word filled with ice. "The last time we'll dare make that mistake." She clicked her tongue against her teeth. Lea startled as AJ addressed her again, giving a rolling of her eyes. "They care about me." She said, seeing Katie and Jenna nod out of the corners of her eyes. "But thank you so much for the advice." She replied, watching as he began to leave. Before he'd even gotten out of earshot, Amanda turned to Lea and the other two, and commented - "Let's go. My car's all ready. Wouldn't want to be around someone like that any longer." As she began following the three out, Lea looked back, giving AJ's back a small glare. She'd have to make sure none of this ever got out, ever. Absolutely and totally simple.

#touchofchatzy #c aj #chatzy #1 #2 #stick to the status quo #// obligatory hsm reference :)#note for some bullying in this and i'll add a warning in tags if you'd like #this was a lot of fun to do and amadeo is so so wonderful and just !!!

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withoutbringingmedreams · 8 years ago

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Eyewitness fic pt. 15

Pt. 1 | Pt. 2 | Pt. 3 | Pt. 4 | Pt. 5 | Pt. 6 | Pt. 7| Pt. 8 | Pt. 9 | Pt. 10 | Pt. 11 | Pt. 12 | Pt. 13 | Pt. 14 or AO3

Has time always moved this slowly? Lukas’ leg bounces up and down, shaking his whole desk. His pencil rolls off the top and clatters to the floor. He leans over, picks it up, and stares back at the clock. Only thirty seconds have passed.

Fucking hell.

No one’s said anything yet. Not out loud, anyway. But it’s still everywhere. His casual conversations have reached peak awkwardness. Eyes dart away from him too quickly. Whispering stops when he passes by. And he didn’t miss the collective stare of what felt like the entire school when he and Phillip walked in together.

What are they saying?

Did you hear Lukas is screwing that Phillip kid?

Lukas is a freak.

Lukas is a fag.

His leg jerks up too high and slams it into his desk. He lets out a stifled groan of pain and his pencil falls again. Someone behind him giggles.

If only he could text Phillip for help. Go to their special place, laugh about stupid things, hold hands, kiss—just relax for a damn minute. But he can’t risk being followed. Who else will “accidentally” stumble upon them? Who will wait behind a barely-open door to snap a picture—hard evidence, proof—that all the rumors are true? They’d be legends. It’d be the biggest thing to hit the school since…since he released his own not-quite-sex tape.

So texting Phillip is not an option. He settles for Rose instead. She’s his only source of information, and not knowing is obviously chipping away at his sanity.

What else have you heard? Is it bad?

Depends on what you mean by bad. I’m just not sure, am I supposed to be denying it if people ask me? What do you want me to do?

“No phones in class.” The teacher passes by his desk with a stern look. That’s a relief, actually, because he has no answers. If Rose keeps defending him and the truth comes out anyway, she’s going to look like the dumb one. And after all he’s put her through, she doesn’t deserve that.

On the other hand, if she says nothing, it’ll make everyone even more suspicious. And the rumors will grow and grow until they swallow his life whole. It’ll drive him insane, and insane Lukas has never been a very good boyfriend to Phillip.

And Phillip is all that matters.

He’s back to square one. Stuck in class, losing his shit, and with no idea what to do.

The girl next to him passes him a note, but of course it’s really from Simone, sitting two rows to the left. She grins over at him. Looks like she decided to go old school to get around the no phones rule.

What’re you doing today after school? We should hang. Wanted to ask you something.

Would that something be, are you gay? Or worse, wanna hook up?

He’s so screwed.

He doesn’t respond to her. Just sort of gestures to the teacher and shrugs. Hopefully that’s enough to buy him…what, a few minutes of peace? Class is almost over, and then it’s going to be a lot harder to avoid her.

Maybe he can text Rose and have her intercept? She’s always up for some passive aggressive pleasantries.

Yeah, maybe he can just continue to have his ex-girlfriend fight his battles for him. Real classy.

The bell rings. There’s a homework assignment on the board, but if he waits to copy it down Simone will definitely have him cornered. He’ll just have to ask another classmate later, if he has the balls to talk to them without breaking into a sweat and blurting out I love Phillip in response to “what’s up.”

Huh. There was that love word again.

“Lukas?” Simone calls out to him as he slings his bag over his shoulder and crosses into the hallway.

“I gotta, um…uh…” Ah, hell. “I gotta find Phillip.”

She stops short, and he darts into the oncoming stream of students.

Way to go Lukas. Why don’t you just kiss him in front of the whole school and be done with it. He’s running out of lies, and if his stupid inner voice is any indication, he’s going to crack at any second. That now-familiar tightening in his throat and chest starts up again.

But Thank God, there’s Phillip, standing by the doors to freedom.

“Hey, man.” He walks toward him too quickly. And exactly how many feet should he keep between them to seem…not gay?

“Hey.” Phillip pinches the bridge of his nose. The dark circles around his eyes are back.

“You okay?” Lukas steps closer. And shit, he is definitely standing way too close now.

“Yeah. I mean, okay-ish. Just kinda tough being back here. I feel like everyone’s either pitying me or avoiding me… more than usual.” Phillip offers up a sad little smirk.

Lukas clenches his jaw shut. If he tells Phillip about the rumors now, it’ll only make things worse. What he needs to do is grab Phillip, get to his bike, and get them the hell out of here. Without actually grabbing Phillip, of course.

“You wanna, um…” He slams his hands into his pockets and points with his elbow toward the parking lot. He’s not over today’s awkwardness, apparently, because he can’t make eye-contact with Phillip for long.

Phillip follows his lead, stuffing his own hands in his pockets as well. So they’re just two friends, walking along with their heads down and a totally normal amount of space between them.

Lukas is staring so hard at the ground he doesn’t see the group by his bike until it’s too late. Fuck, he’s led them right into a trap.

A trap, or friends with questions—whatever. They’re practically the same thing. Eric and Carter and Rose and even Simone are there now. When did she slip around him? Eric’s leaning on his bike, the fucker. If Lukas could afford to waste his air, he’d chew him out.

“Simone’s got the house to herself tonight,” Eric announces. “Gonna be a pretty chill party, though. Just gonna drink and hang. You in?”

“Uh…” He takes too long exhaling. Bad idea, when inhales are getting harder to manage.

“C’mon, man, you need to just relax, right?” Eric play-punches him in the shoulder, and he stumbles back. “After everything, you deserve it. You’re wound up way too tight. Jake’s coming…you guys can clear the air.”

Rose’s eyebrows are little zigzags of worry, but she can’t help him now. And Phillip…Phillip is back to memorizing all the spots of dirt on his shoes. He’s made himself invisible, even while standing in the middle of this whole conversation.

Because that’s what Phillip does. Makes himself, makes what he wants, totally invisible while other people’s needs take center stage. He did it with his mom, with Lukas, and maybe he’ll even do it with the next guy he ends up with.

But there can’t be a next guy. There just can’t.

“I dunno.” He bumps Phillip with his shoulder. “What do you think? Wanna go?”

Phillip’s head jerks up and he blinks several times, like he’s just gone from darkness to sunlight. “I…um…”

Eric stares at both of them, eyes sliding back and forth warily. “Oh. I mean, I guess Phillip can come, if it’s okay with Simone.”

“Sure, yeah.” Simone can’t possibly look less interested as she nods, eyes glued to her phone.

“Great.” Lukas tries to step around Eric. “Maybe I’ll see you guys later, then.”

Eric stands slowly, but doesn’t move aside. “So…” he begins, and that one stretched-out syllable makes all the hairs on Lukas’ neck stand on end. “Are you and Shea like, best friends now? After the whole kidnapper-murderer thing or something?”

Well, damn. That was a nice little lie, right? They’ve been through some crazy shit together. They’ve bonded. They’ve defended their lives together and now they’re comrades in arms…blood brothers. Lukas and Phillip, badasses and best friends. Yeah, that has a nice ring to it. He can totally work with this.

“Lukas?” Rose says softly, drawing him back into the moment. Phillip’s returned to his shoe inspection, and everyone else is still staring at him, waiting.

“We’re…” He shakes his head. “We’re more than friends.”

Rose clamps a hand over her mouth and it’s the last face Lukas really sees before he grabs—yes grabs—Phillip’s arm and yanks him toward the bike. Eric and everyone else scatter. He tosses Phillip his helmet and they’re roaring off within seconds.

#eyewitness fic #philkas #phillip x lukas #When All Is Said and Done #this was supposed to be the last part but it got split in two #anyone out there looking for a writing partner?

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